← All entriesparable

The prodigal son

Luke 15:11–32 · Journey to Jerusalem

Scripture

Luke 15:11–32

nd he said, A certain man had two sons: 12And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

King James Version · public domain

Lluka 15:11–32

ërsëri tha, Një njeri kishte dy bij; 12edhe më i-vogëli nga ata i tha t’et, Atë, ep-më pjesën’ e gjësë që më bje për-të-marrë. Edhe ay u’a ndau gjënë. 13Edhe pas pak ditsh më i-vogëli mblodhi gjithë ç’pat, edhe iku ndë dhe të-huaj mbë një vënt të-largë; edhe atje çpërndau gjën’ e ti dyke shkuarë jetë plankprishësi. 14Edhe ay si prishi të-gjitha, ubë një zi e-madhe mb’atë vënt, edhe ay zuri të mos kishte më. 15Atëhere vate e u ngjit pas një qytetari t’ati vëndi; edhe ky e dërgoj nd’arat të ti të kullotte derra. 16Edhe dëshëronte të mbushte barkun’ e ti me harupetë që haninë derratë; po as ndonjë nuk’ i epte. 17Edhe si erdhi ndë vetëhet të ti, tha, Sa punëtorëve të t’im et u tepëron bukë, e unë po humbas nga uria! 18Dotë ngrihem e dotë vete tek im atë, edhe dot’i them, O Atë, fëjeva ndë qiellt edhe përpara teje; 19Edhe nukë jam më i vëjyerë të quhem biri yt; bëjmë posi një nga punëtorët’ e tu. 20Edhe ungrit e erdhi tek i ati. Edhe Ay tek po ishte edhe lark, i ati e pa edhe i erdhi keq, edhe usul e ra mbi qafët t’ati, edhe e puthi. 21Edhe i biri i tha, O Atë, fëjeva ndë qiellt edhe përpara teje, edhe nukë jam më i-vëjyerë të quhem biri yt. 22Po i ati u tha shërbëtorëvet të ti, Nxirni jashtë stolin’ e parë edhe vish-j’ani, edhe i viri unazë ndë dorët, edhe këpu-cë ndë këmbët; 23Edhe bini viçin’ e-ushqyerë, edhe ther-e-ni, edhe letë ham’ e të gëzonemi; 24Sepse ky biri im qe i-vdekurë, e ungjall përsëri; edhe qe i-humburë, e ugjënt. Edhe zunë të gëzoneshinë. 25Edhe m’i-madhi bir ishte nd’arët; edhe kur erdhi e u afërua ndë shtëpit, dëgjoj kënk’ e valle. 26Edhe thirri një nga shërbëtorëtë edhe e pyeste, ç’janë këto. 27Edhe ay i tha, Se ka ardhur’ yt vëlla; edhe yt atë theri viçin’ e-ushqyerë, sepse e priti të-shëndoshë. 28Edhe ay uzëmërua, edhe nukë donte të hynte brënda. I ati pra dolli, e i lutej. 29Edhe ay upërgjeq e i tha t’et, Na tek po të shërbenj kaqë vjet, edhe kurrë nukë dolla nga urdhëri yt; edhe kurrë nukë më dhe një kec, që të gëzonem bashkë me miqt’ e mi. 30Po kur erdhi ky yt bir që hëngri gjënë bashkë me kurvatë, i there viçin’ e-ushqyerë. 31Edhe ay i tha, O djalë, ti je përherë bashkë me mua, edhe gjithë të-miatë janë të-tuatë; 32Edhe duhej të gëzoneshim’ e të ngazëlloneshimë, sepse ky yt vëlla qe i-vdekurë, e ungjall përsëri; edhe qe i-humburë, e ugjënt.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

For the Fathers this is the parable of repentance and the Father's measureless mercy. The younger son is the sinner who squanders the ousia of the soul's gifts; the far country is estrangement from God; the famine is the soul's hunger once spent on what cannot feed it; the swine and their husks are the degradation of the passions, which starve a man even as he serves them. "He came to himself" is the awakening of repentance, for the tradition sees sin as a self-exile, and the first step home is remembering who one truly is. The father running to meet him shows God's eagerness to forgive, embracing him before the confession is finished, mercy outrunning words.

The robe, ring, sandals, and fatted calf the Fathers read as gifts of restoration: the recovered dignity and freedom of sonship, the robe and feast often understood as baptismal renewal and the joy of the Church's table. Here the Fathers part ways. St. Ambrose sees in the younger son the Gentile people and in the elder Israel who kept the house, and reads the slain calf as a figure of Christ. St. Cyril of Alexandria declines both: he will not pin the two sons to Gentile and Jew, nor make the calf Christ, lest the parable be narrowed; for him it speaks of anyone who turns from pleasure back to God, and the calf is the festal sacrifice of rejoicing.

The whole tradition converges on the elder brother, whose resentment is gently rebuked as the temptation of the apparently righteous, who begrudge the sinner the mercy they think they have earned. St. Cyril makes this the heart of the parable: true virtue is tested by whether one rejoices when a sinner is received, sharing the Father's gladness rather than a cold vexation. So the parable searches both sons, both kinds of soul within the Church.

In their own words

For He greatly rejoices when He sees those who were lost obtaining salvation, and raises them up again to that which they were in the beginning, giving them the dress of freedom, and adorning them with the chief robe, and putting a ring upon their hand, even the orderly behaviour which is pleasing to God and suitable to the free.

St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Sermon CVII (on Luke 15:11–32); Cyril, Commentary on Luke (R. Payne Smith, 1859)

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11–32)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

The third and greatest of the three parables of the lost is found only in Luke, and the Fathers read it as the summit of the chapter. "A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me." The son takes his inheritance into a far country, wastes it in riotous living, is reduced to feeding swine and longing for their husks, "and when he came to himself" turns home; and the father, seeing him "yet a great way off," runs, falls on his neck, and kisses him, and calls for the best robe, the ring, the shoes, and the fatted calf. Where the sheep strayed and the coin was dropped, the son departs by his own will and returns by his own repentance, and so the Fathers heard in him the whole story of the soul that leaves God and is received back.

Six Fathers are gathered below, three from the East and three from the West, each quoted verbatim from a public-domain translation. Cyril's comes from his own homily on the passage; the others are drawn from the Catena Aurea, the chain of patristic comment compiled by Thomas Aquinas, in John Henry Newman's 1841 translation.

St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

From his Commentary on Luke (Homily 107, on Luke 15:11–32), trans. R. Payne Smith, 1859. Public domain.

On the parable as a call to repentance, in the voice of the prophets:

I hear one of the holy prophets trying to win unto repentance those who are far from God, and saying, "Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God: for you have become weak in your iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the Lord our God." ... And the same truth Christ here also teaches us, by this most beautifully composed parable.

On the true point of the parable, that even the steadfast must rejoice when sinners repent:

The God of all requires even him who is thoroughly steadfast, and firm, and who knows how to live holily, and has attained to the highest praise for sobriety of conduct, to be earnest in following His will, so that when any are called unto repentance, even if they be men highly blameable, he must rejoice rather, and not give way to an unloving vexation on their account.

On the Father's joy, and the robe and ring as the restored dignity of the free:

For He greatly rejoices when He sees those who were lost obtaining salvation, and raises them up again to that which they were in the beginning, giving them the dress of freedom, and adorning them with the chief robe, and putting a ring upon their hand, even the orderly behaviour which is pleasing to God and suitable to the free.

On the God who heals, raises, and seeks, whom we are to imitate in rejoicing:

He heals those who are sick; He raises those who are fallen; He gives a helping hand to those who have stumbled; He brings back him who has wandered; He forms anew unto a praiseworthy and blameless life those who were wallowing in the mire of sin; He seeks those who were lost; He raises as from the dead those who had suffered the spiritual death. Let us also rejoice: let us, in company with the holy angels, praise Him.

St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397)

From his Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Luke 15 (trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). Public domain.

On the inheritance given freely to the one who asks:

Now you see that the Divine patrimony is given to them that seek; nor think it wrong in the father that he gave it to the younger, for no age is weak in the kingdom of God; faith is not weighed down by years.

On the coming to himself, by which the man who left himself is restored to himself:

He rightly returns to himself, because he departed from himself. For he who returns to God restores himself to himself, and he who departs from Christ rejects himself from himself.

On the mercy of the offended father who still answers to the name:

How merciful! He, though offended, disdains not to hear the name of Father.

On the robe and the ring:

The robe is the cloak of wisdom, by which the Apostle covers the nakedness of the body ... The ring is the seal of our unfeigned faith, and the impression of truth.

On the fatted calf as the priestly victim, our salvation the Father's food:

Rightly the flesh of the calf, because it is the priestly victim which was offered for sin. But he introduces him feasting, when he says, Be merry; to shew that the food of the Father is our salvation; the joy of the Father the redemption of our sins.

Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

From his works, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Luke 15 (trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). Public domain.

On the far country, and the likeness preserved only by cleaving to God:

Whoever wishes to be so like to God as to ascribe his strength to Him, let him not depart from Him, but rather cleave to Him that he may preserve the likeness and image in which he was made.

On "I will arise," repentance resolved in the heart and completed in the Church:

The other words are those of one meditating repentance in confession of sin, but not yet working it. For he does not now speak to his father, but promises that he will speak when he shall come. You must understand then that this "coming to the father" must now be taken for being established in the Church by faith, where there may yet be a lawful and effectual confession of sins.

On the best robe and the ring:

Or the best robe is the dignity which Adam lost; the servants who bring it are the preachers of reconciliation ... Or the ring on the hand is a pledge of the Holy Spirit, because of the participation of grace, which is well signified by the finger.

On the fatted calf, which is Christ slain for every believer:

Or, the fatted calf is our Lord Himself in the flesh loaded with insults. But in that the Father commands them to bring it, what else is this but that they preach Him, and by declaring Him cause to revive, yet unconsumed by hunger, the bowels of the hungry son? He also bids them kill Him, alluding to His death. For He is then killed to each man who believes Him slain.

St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395)

From his Oration, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Luke 15 (trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). Public domain.

On the son humbled by hardship and returning chastened:

The younger son had despised his father when first he departed, and had wasted his father's money. But when in course of time he was broken down by hardship, having become a hired servant, and eating the same food with the swine, he returned, chastened, to his father's house.

On the bitterness that had to be tasted before the resolve to rise:

But he returned not to his former happiness before that coming to himself he had experienced the presence of overpowering bitterness, and resolved the words of repentance, which are added, I will arise.

Theophylact of Ohrid (c. 1055–1107)

From his Explanation of the Gospel of Luke, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Luke 15 (trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). Public domain.

On the servants who clothe the returning soul with Christ in baptism:

By the servants (or angels) you may understand administering spirits, or priests who by baptism and the word of teaching clothe the soul with Christ Himself. For as many of us as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ.

St. Bede the Venerable (c. 673–735)

From his Commentary on Luke, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Luke 15 (trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). Public domain.

On the ring as the working of faith:

That is, his working, that by works faith may shine forth, and by faith his works be strengthened.

Note on sources and other Fathers

The reading that runs through every voice is that the parable is about the Father, not chiefly the son: His patrimony "given to them that seek," His mercy that "disdains not to hear the name of Father," His joy that "greatly rejoices when He sees those who were lost obtaining salvation." The elements are read with remarkable agreement. The best robe is "the dignity which Adam lost" (Augustine) and "the cloak of wisdom" (Ambrose); the ring is "the seal of our unfeigned faith" (Ambrose), "a pledge of the Holy Spirit" (Augustine), and "his working" by which faith shines out (Bede); and the fatted calf is, for both Ambrose and Augustine, Christ Himself, "the priestly victim which was offered for sin," "killed to each man who believes Him slain." The "coming to himself" is heard as the turning point: the man "departed from himself" and now "returns to himself" (Ambrose), having first tasted "overpowering bitterness" (Gregory of Nyssa).

Cyril's homily is distinctive for what it refuses. He reports two current allegories of the two sons, that the elder is the angels and the younger humankind, or the elder is Israel and the younger the Gentiles, and he rejects both: the angels could not be the elder son, for they rejoice over repentance rather than resenting it, and Israel could not be called the blameless son "who never transgressed." For Cyril the parable's whole force is the lesson to the murmuring Pharisee, that God "requires even him who is thoroughly steadfast" to rejoice when the lost return. The Catena also carries comment under the name of Chrysostom (the far country as a departure "in heart," not in place), but his attributions on Luke are debated, so it is noted here rather than quoted as his.

Patristic sources

Read the sources: Cyril on Luke, Sermons 99–109 (Tertullian.org)