ACC ~ Matthew 25 v14 - 15

HE ENTRUSTED HIS PROPERTY

ORIGEN: This man, therefore, “like a man going abroad, called his servants and delivered to them” his money with pure words. Indeed, his “words” are “words that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 65. [2]

[1] Ps 12:6 (11:7 LXX).

[2] GCS 38.2:153.

A MAN GOING ON A JOURNEY

GREGORY THE GREAT: Who is the man who sets out for foreign parts but our Redeemer, who departed to heaven in the body he had taken on? Earth is the proper place for his body. It is transported to foreign parts, so to speak, when he establishes it in heaven. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 9.1. [1]

[1] PL 76:1106; CS 123:127 (Homily 18).

MATTHEW’S NUMBERS DIFFER FROM LUKE’S

CHRYSOSTOM: In Luke [1] the parable of the talents is told differently, and it is indeed different. For there, from the one pound different degrees of increase were made. From one pound one brought five, another ten, one nothing more, and they received recompense accordingly. Here it is different: The one that received two gave two. The one who received five made five more. But in Luke’s version, from the same investment, one made the greater and one the less increase, with the reward dispensed accordingly. But in both cases he does not require his investment back immediately. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 78.2. [2]

[1] Lk 19:11-28.

[2] PG 58:713; NPNF 1 10:471-72.

THE DISTRIBUTOR OF TALENTS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The man who is the landowner is actually the Creator and Lord of all. The Word compares the time the landowner spends away from home in the parable to either the ascension of Christ into heaven or at any rate to the unseen and invisible character of the divine nature. Now one must conceive of the property of God as those in each country and city who believe in him. He calls his servants those who according to the times Christ crowns with the glory of the priesthood. For the holy Paul writes, “No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God.” [1] He hands over [his property] to those who are under him, to each giving a spiritual gift so that he might have character and aptitude. We think that this distribution of the talents is not supplied to the household servants in equal measure because each is quite different from the other in their understanding. Immediately they head out for their labors, he says, directly indicating to us here that apart from the procrastination of one they are fit to carry out the work of God. Surely those who are bound by fear and laziness will end up in the worst evils. For he buried, Jesus says, the talent given to him in the earth. He kept the gift hidden, making it unprofitable for others and useless for himself. For that very reason the talent is taken away from him and will be given to the one who is already rich. The Spirit has departed from such as these and the gift of the divine gifts. But to those who are industrious an even more lavish gift will be presented. FRAGMENT 283. [2]

[1] Heb 5:4.

[2] MKGK 252-53.

THE FIVE BODILY SENSES

GREGORY THE GREAT: The man setting out for foreign parts entrusted his goods to his servants, for he granted his spiritual gifts to those who believed in him. To one he entrusted five talents, to another two, to another one. There are five bodily senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The five talents represent the gift of the five senses, that is, knowledge of externals; the two talents signify theory and practice; the one talent signifies theory alone. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 9.1. [1]

[1] PL 76:1106; CS 123:127 (Homily 18).