Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers

parable_of_the_wedding_feast

2 Entries

Wishing to show us that no one enters there clothed in mourning, the Master made this clear in the parable when He said: "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?" and then: "Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness" (Mt.22:12-3). Now, I think that this was said not as if the man had first sneaked past by Him Who is without error, but because it was not yet time to reveal such mysteries. Because, at that time, He did not want to say more plainly that "No one will enter there without wearing the robe of My divinity," He uses this saying to suggest it. St. Paul, too, when he had been taught this by Christ speaking within him, said: "Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven" (1Cor.15:49). St. Symeon the New Theologian, On the Mystical Life

---

`But the king cam in to look at the guests, and saw there a person not clothed in a wedding garment.' What do we think is meant by a the wedding garment, dearly beloved? For is we say it is baptism or faith, is there anyone who has entered this marriage feast without them? A person is outside because he has not yet come to believe. What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy Church, and has faith, but does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator Himself possessed when He came to the marriage feast to join the Church to Himself. St. Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies

---