The Penitent Thief (Luke 23:39–43)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 23:39–43), Oxford ed. (J. H. Parker, 1841–45). Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV5

On the condemned man who, unbidden, takes up the office of judge and acquits Christ:

Here the condemned performs the office of judge, and he begins to decide concerning truth who before Pilate confessed his crime only after many tortures. ... But he also pronounces Christ innocent, adding, But this Man hath done nothing wrong: as if to say, Behold a new injury, that innocence should be condemned with crime. We kill the living, He raised the dead. We have stolen from others, He bids us give up even what is our own.

On his turning from the deaf bystanders to the Lord who knows the heart:

The blessed thief thus taught those that stood by, uttering the words by which he rebuked the other. But when he saw that the ears of those who stood by were stopped up, he turns to Him who knoweth the hearts ... Thou beholdest the Crucified, and thou acknowledgest Him to be thy Lord. Thou seest the form of a condemned criminal, and thou proclaimest the dignity of a king.

On the Saviour weighing faith against unbelief, and the swiftness of grace to paradise:

Here then might one see the Saviour between the thieves weighing in the scales of justice faith, and unbelief. The Devil cast Adam out of Paradise. Christ brought the thief into Paradise before the whole world, before the Apostles. By a mere word and by faith alone he entered into Paradise, that no one after his sins might despair of entrance. Mark the rapid change, from the cross to heaven, from condemnation to Paradise, that you may know that the Lord did it all, not with regard to the thief's good intention, but His own mercy.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 153 (on Luke 23:32–43), trans. R. Payne Smith, Library of the Fathers, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_14_sermons_146_156.htm

On the second thief, worthy of admiration, who believed and confessed even upon the cross:

But the other, following a different course, is justly worthy of our admiration: for he believed in Him: and while suffering so bitter a punishment, he rebuked the vehement outcries of the Jews, and the words of him who was hanging with him. He "confessed his sin, that he might be justified:" he became the accuser of his own wicked ways, that God might remit his guilt.

On his blameless testimony to Christ's innocence, the most beautiful of confessions:

He bore to Christ a blameless testimony, and reproved the Jewish want of love to God, and condemned the sentence of Pilate: "for This Man, he says, has done nothing that is hateful." O how beautiful is this confession! how wise the reasonings, and how excellent the thoughts!

On the reward of the first to profess faith, made rich unexpectedly:

He lit upon a treasure worth the having: he became rich unexpectedly, and possessed of every blessing: he won the inheritance of the saints, and to have his name written above, in heaven: he was in the book of life who was bearing the sentence of death, and is numbered with the dwellers in the city that is above.

On seeing a King in the Crucified:

"Jesus, he says, remember me when You come in Your kingdom." You see Him crucified, and call Him a king.

Theophylact of Ohrid (c. 1055–1107)

From his Explanation of the Gospel of Luke, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 23:39–43), Oxford ed. (J. H. Parker, 1841–45). Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV5

On Christ bearing His recovered spoil into paradise like a victorious king:

And as every king who returns victorious carries in triumph the best of his spoils, so the Lord having despoiled the Devil of a portion of his plunder, carries it with Him into Paradise.

On the thief and the saints, even now within the kingdom though the promises are not yet complete:

This however is more true than all, that although they have not obtained all the promises, I mean, the thief and the other saints, in order that without us they might not be made perfect, they are notwithstanding in the kingdom of heaven and Paradise.

St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 23:39–43), Oxford ed. (J. H. Parker, 1841–45). Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV5

On the flaming sword that turns to bar the unworthy yet open to the worthy:

Here again, we must examine how the thief should be thought worthy of Paradise, seeing that a flaming sword prevents the entrance of the saints. But observe that the word of God describes it as turning about, so as it should obstruct the unworthy, but open a free entrance to life to the worthy.

St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397)

From his Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 23:39–43), Oxford ed. (J. H. Parker, 1841–45). Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV5

On the swiftness of pardon, grace more abundant than the prayer:

A most remarkable example is here given of seeking after conversion, seeing that pardon is so speedily granted to the thief. The Lord quickly pardons, because the thief is quickly converted. And grace is more abundant than prayer; for the Lord ever gives more than He is asked for. The thief asked that He should remember him, but our Lord answers, Verily I say unto thee, This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise. To be with Christ is life, and where Christ is, there is His kingdom.

St. Gregory the Great (c. 540–604)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Luke (on Luke 23:39–43), Oxford ed. (J. H. Parker, 1841–45). Public domain. Full text: https://archive.org/details/CatenaAureaNewEdV5

On the heart and tongue, the only members left free upon the cross:

On the cross nails had fastened his hands and feet, and nothing remained free from torture, but his heart and tongue. By the inspiration of God, the thief offered to Him the whole which he found free, that as it is written, With the heart he might believe unto righteousness, with the mouth he might confess unto salvation.

On the three virtues the thief received and preserved in his dying:

He had faith, for example, who believed that God would reign whom he saw dying equally with himself. He had hope, who asked for an entrance into His kingdom. He preserved charity also zealously in his death, who for his iniquity reproved his brother and fellow-thief, dying for a like crime to his own.