ACC ~ Matthew 13 v33
LIKE LEAVEN
HILARY: Yeast comes from flour and returns the potency it received to the batch of its own kind. The Lord compared himself with this yeast. It was taken in hand by the woman, that is, the synagogue, and buried with the judgment of death, affirming that the law and the prophets are dissolved in the gospel. This yeast, covered with three measures of flour in equal partsâthat is, the law, the prophets and the gospelâmakes everything one, so that what the law established and the prophets proclaimed is completed by the added ingredient of the gospel. Everything, possessing the same contents and potency, is brought about through the Spirit of God, so that there is no disunity in what is fermented in equal parts. ON MATTHEW 13.5. [1]
[1] SC 254:298-300.
THE THREEFOLD MEASURE
HILARY: Many seem to believe that the three measures of flour refer not only to the sign of faithâthat is, the unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spiritâbut also to the calling of the three nations out of Shem, Ham and Japheth. [1] But I do not know whether reason will permit us to draw this conclusion, for, although the calling of all nations is equal, Christ is not buried in them but manifested to them, and the whole batch is not fermented in so great a multitude of unbelievers. However, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, without the need of yeast applied from without, all things are one in Christ. ON MATTHEW 13.6. [2]
[1] Gen 9:18-19.
[2] SC 254:300.
HID UNTIL IT WAS ALL LEAVENED
CHRYSOSTOM: For as leaven converts the large quantity of meal into its own quality, even so shall you convert the whole world.
Note the wisdom by which Christ introduces natural things. He implies that as the leaven works, so does the flour. Do not say to me, âWhat shall we be able to do, twelve men, throwing ourselves upon so vast a multitude?â Rather, the most conspicuous thing about the apostles is that they were not put to flight when they mixed with the multitude. The leaven then leavens the lump when it comes close to the meal, and not simply close but so as to be actually mixed with it. He said it was not simply put in the flour but hid in it. So you also, when you come close to your enemies and are made one with them, then shall you get the better of them.
The leaven, though it is buried, is not destroyed. Little by little it transmutes the whole lump into its own condition. This happens with the gospel. Do not fear, then, that there will be many dangerous circumstances. For even then you will shine forth and be victorious. By âthree measuresâ here he meant many, for he is prone to taking this number for a multitude. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 46.2. [1]
[1] PG 58:478; NPNF 1 10:289.
THREE MEASURES OF FLOUR
JEROME: The woman who took the yeast and mixed it with three measures of flour until the whole batch of dough was fermented signifies to me either the apostolic preaching or the church, which is made up of different nations. She takes the yeastânamely, the knowledge and understanding of the Scripturesâand mixes it with three measures of flour so that the spirit, soul and body blended into one might not differ from each other but intermingle, obtaining from the Father whatever they ask for. This point is examined also elsewhere. We read in Plato, and it is the teaching of famous philosophers, that there are three passions in the human soul: one, which we may interpret as rational; another, which we call full of anger or irascible; a third, which we call desire. [1] This great philosopher believed that our rational part resides in the brain, anger in the gall bladder and desire in the liver. Therefore, if we accept the evangelical yeast of sacred Scripture that we spoke about, the three passions of the human soul are blended into one, so that in reason we possess prudence, in anger we possess hatred toward vice, in desire the aspiration for virtue. And this all happens through the gospel teaching that holy mother, the church, offers us. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 2.13.33. [2]
[1] Rationable, irascible, concupiscible (logistikon, thymikon, epithymÄtikon).
[2] CCL 77:109.
BRINGING TOGETHER JEWS, GREEKS AND SAMARITANS
THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He calls Greeks, Jews and Samaritans âthree measures of meal,â for when the leaven had been cast into these three it brought about one same nature and fatness in all of them. For human beings, divided from one another, were brought into the same state by my teaching, in its working. The apostle also speaks in the same way, for âin Christ Jesusâ there is neither âGreekâ nor âJewâ and so on. [1] FRAGMENT 74. [2]
[1] Gal 3:28.
[2] MKGK 121.
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