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99-670: The Prodigal Son is the third and final parable of a cycle on redemption, following the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin . In Revised Common Lectionary and Roman Rite Catholic Lectionary , this parable is read on the fourth Sunday of Lent (in Year C ); in the latter it is also included in the long form of the Gospel on the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Year C, along with

198-455: A Lapide in his Great Commentary writes, So we, by reason of our sinful lusts, were as wandering sheep, treading the path which led to perdition, without a thought of God or of heaven, or of the salvation of our souls. Wherefore Christ came down from heaven to seek us, and to lead us back from the way of destruction to that which leadeth to eternal life. So we read, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and

297-516: A far country and He opens the doors of His house and clothes them in the best robe, and gives them each a ring on their hand and shoes on their feet and commands all the saints to rejoice in them.” + St. Tikhon of Zadonsk: Journey to Heaven Part II: The Way of Salvation The Eastern Orthodox Church traditionally reads this story on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, which in their liturgical year

396-423: A forced obedience, but an obedience springing from love. Roger Baxter in his Meditations describes the second part: As soon as this young prodigal had left his father's house he fell into misfortunes. "He began to be in want." Thus sinners who estrange themselves from the sacraments, from exhortation, and the company of the virtuous, soon begin to be in want of spiritual subsistence. "He joined himself to one of

495-411: A kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. The parable stops with the father explaining that while the older son has always been present and that everything the father owns also belongs to the older son, because the younger son had returned, in a sense, from the dead, celebration

594-529: A morality of virtues without passions, such as lust/desire and anger, but with a "common human sympathy". Commentators can also infer from his mission to Caligula that Philo was involved in politics. However, the nature of his political beliefs, especially his viewpoint on the Roman Empire, is a matter of debate. Philo did suggest in his writings that a prudent man should withhold his genuine opinion about tyrants: he will of necessity take up caution as

693-463: A number of commentators see the request of the younger son for his share of the inheritance as "brash, even insolent" and "tantamount to wishing that the father was dead," Jewish legal scholar Bernard Jackson says "Jewish sources give no support to [the idea] that the prodigal, in seeking the advance, wishes his father dead." The young man's actions do not lead to success; he squanders his inheritance and he eventually becomes an indentured servant, with

792-438: A shield, as a protection to prevent his suffering any sudden and unexpected evil; for as I imagine what a wall is to a city, that caution is to an individual. Do not these men then talk foolishly, are they not mad, who desire to display their inexperience and freedom of speech to kings and tyrants, at times daring to speak and to do things in opposition to their will? Do they not perceive that they have not only put their necks under

891-530: Is Free , § 8 [ii. 454]. Philo did not reject the subjective experience of ancient Judaism; yet, he repeatedly explained that the Septuagint cannot be understood as a concrete, objective history. Philo's allegorical interpretation of scripture allows him to grapple with morally disturbing events and impose a cohesive explanation of stories. Specifically, Philo interprets the characters of the Bible as aspects of

990-571: Is a Jewish work composed in Alexandria , Egypt , around the 1st century BCE, to bolster the faith of the Jewish community in a hostile Greek world. It is one of the seven Sapiential or Wisdom books included in the Septuagint . The Logos has a special relation to humankind. Philo seems to look at humans as a trichotomy of nous (mind), psyche (soul), and soma (body), which was common to

1089-511: Is about a man who leaves his flock of ninety-nine sheep in order to find the one which is lost. In Luke 15, it is the first member of a trilogy about redemption that Jesus addresses to the Pharisees and religious leaders after they accuse him of welcoming and eating with "sinners." In the Gospel of Luke, the parable is as follows: He told them this parable. "Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave

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1188-725: Is also described in Book 2, Chapter 5 of Eusebius 's Historia Ecclesiae Philo along with his brothers received a thorough education. They were educated in the Hellenistic culture of Alexandria and the culture of ancient Rome , to a degree in Ancient Egyptian religion and particularly in the traditions of Judaism , in the study of Jewish traditional literature and in Greek philosophy . In his works, Philo shows extensive influence not only from philosophers such as Plato and

1287-413: Is always the same (ἀΐδιος). God needs no other being (χρῄζει γὰρ οὐδενὸς τὸ παράπαν) for self-existence or the creation of material things, and God is self-sufficient (ἑαυτῷ ἱκανός). God can never perish (ἅφθαρτος), is self-existent (ὁ ὤν, τὸ ὄν), and has no relations with any other being (τὸ γὰρ ὄν, ᾗ ὄν ἐστιν, οὐχὶ τῶν πρός τι). Philo considered the anthropomorphism of the Bible to be an impiety that

1386-524: Is interpreted by Philo as a manifestation of the Logos, which acts as Balaam's—or humankind's—conscience. As such, the Logos becomes the aspect of the divine that operates in the world through whom the world is created and sustained. Peter Schäfer argues that Philo's Logos was derived from his understanding of the "postbiblical Wisdom literature , in particular the Wisdom of Solomon ". The Wisdom of Solomon

1485-508: Is known that Philo came from a family which was noble, honourable and wealthy. It was either his father or paternal grandfather who was granted Roman citizenship from Roman dictator Gaius Julius Caesar . Jerome wrote that Philo came de genere sacerdotum (from a priestly family). His ancestors and family had social ties and connections to the priesthood in Judea , the Hasmonean dynasty ,

1584-448: Is likely that he used the word Κύριος when making a secondary reference to the divine name in his exposition". James Royse concludes: (1) the exegete [Philo] knows and reads biblical manuscripts in which the tetragram is written in palaeo-Hebrew or Aramaic script and not translated by kyrios and that (2) he quotes scriptures in the same way he would have pronounced it, that is, by translating it as kurios ." Philo represents

1683-489: Is open wide to receive those who will repent and return. May we do so without hesitation, as St. Tikhon of Zadonsk writes, “Sinners that repent are still saved; both publicans and fornicators cleansed by repentance enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The compassionate God still calls to Himself all that have turned away, and He awaits them and promises them mercy. The loving Father still receives His prodigal sons come back from

1782-482: Is referenced in the last verse of the traditional Irish folk tune " The Wild Rover ": I'll go home to me parents, confess what I've done and I'll ask them to pardon their prodigal son " Jump Around " by the Los Angeles rap group House of Pain (1992) includes a verse by member Everlast , who references the parable as well as the Bible itself: Word to your moms, I came to drop bombs I got more rhymes than

1881-581: Is specific; no appropriate predicates can be conceived. To Philo, God exists beyond time and space and does not make special interventions into the world because God already encompasses the entire cosmos. Philo also integrated select theology from the rabbinic tradition, including God's transcendence , and humankind's inability to behold an ineffable God. He argued that God has no attributes (ἁπλοῡς)—in consequence, no name (ἅρρητος)—and, therefore, that God cannot be perceived by man (ἀκατάληπτος). Furthermore, he posited that God cannot change (ἅτρεπτος): God

1980-712: Is the Sunday before Meatfare Sunday and about two weeks before the beginning of Great Lent . One common kontakion hymn of the occasion reads: I have recklessly forgotten Your glory, O Father; And among sinners I have scattered the riches which You gave to me. And now I cry to You as the Prodigal: I have sinned before You, O merciful Father; Receive me as a penitent and make me as one of Your hired servants. In his 1984 apostolic exhortation titled, in Latin, Reconciliatio et paenitentia ('Reconciliation and Penance'), Pope John Paul II used this parable to explain

2079-624: Is the purest form of love. In loving the family less, the Son can love God more, even if this love is not returned. The theme of the Prodigal Son plays a major role in Anne Tyler 's novel A Spool of Blue Thread . The parable is also referred to in two comedies by William Shakespeare , specifically The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It , as well as in Shakespeare's romance, The Winter's Tale . In one of his clemency petitions to

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2178-401: Is to lay bare the nature of the divine response to the recovery of the lost." The rejoicing of the shepherd with his friends represents God rejoicing with the angels. The image of God rejoicing at the recovery of lost sinners contrasts with the criticism of the religious leaders which prompted the parable. Justus Knecht gives the typical Catholic interpretation of this parable, writing: By

2277-557: Is untouched by unreasonable emotions, as appears in Exodus 32 :12, wherein Moses, torn by his feelings, perceives God alone to be calm. He is free from sorrow, pain, and other affections. But God is frequently represented as endowed with human emotions, and this serves to explain expressions referring to human repentance in the ancient Jewish context. Similarly, God cannot exist or change in space. He has no "where" (πού, obtained by changing

2376-638: The Bombay Presidency in 1913, the Indian independence activist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar described himself as a "prodigal son" longing to return to the "parental doors of the government". A parable of a lost son can also be found in the Mahayana Buddhist Lotus Sutra . The two parables share the premise of a father and son being reunited after a time apart, and several scholars have assumed that one version has influenced

2475-597: The Herodian dynasty and the Julio-Claudian dynasty in Rome . Philo had one brother, Alexander Lysimachus, who was the general tax administrator of customs in Alexandria . He accumulated an immense amount of wealth, becoming not only the richest man in that city but also in the entire Hellenistic world. Alexander was so rich that he gave a loan to the wife of king Herod Agrippa , as well as gold and silver to overlay

2574-583: The Jewish Scriptures chiefly from the Septuagint , a Koine Greek translation of Hebraic texts later compiled as the Hebrew Bible and the deuterocanonical books . His numerous etymologies of Hebrew names, which are along the lines of the etymologic midrash to Genesis and of the earlier rabbinism , although not modern Hebrew philology , suggest some familiarity. Philo offers for some names three or four etymologies, sometimes including

2673-766: The Roman province of Judaea . In Antiquities of the Jews , Josephus tells of Philo's selection by the Alexandrian Jewish community as their principal representative before the Roman emperor Gaius Caligula. He says that Philo agreed to represent the Alexandrian Jews about the civil disorder that had developed between the Jews and the Greeks. Josephus also tells us that Philo was skilled in philosophy and that he

2772-731: The Stoics , but also poets and orators, especially Homer , Euripides , and Demosthenes . Philo's largest philosophical influence was Plato, drawing heavily from the Timaeus and the Phaedrus , and also from the Phaedo , Theaetetus , Symposium , Republic , and Laws . The extent of Philo's knowledge of Hebrew, however, is debated. Philo was more fluent in Greek than in Hebrew and read

2871-672: The Torah (known in the Hellenic world as the Pentateuch ) but also include histories and comments on philosophy. Most of these were preserved in Greek by the Church Fathers ; some survive only through an Armenian translation, and a smaller number survive in a Latin translation. The exact dates of writing and original organization plans are unknown for many of the texts attributed to Philo. Most of Philo's surviving work deals with

2970-576: The Torah (the first five books of the Bible ). Within this corpus are three categories: Philo's commentary on the Pentateuch is usually classified into three genres. The Quaestiones explain the Pentateuch catechetically, in the form of questions and answers ("Zητήματα καὶ Λύσεις, Quæstiones et Solutiones"). Only the following fragments have been preserved: abundant passages in Armenian – possibly

3069-557: The Torah , with Greek philosophy was the first documented of its kind, and thereby often misunderstood. Many critics of Philo assumed his allegorical perspective would lend credibility to the notion of legend over historicity. Philo often advocated a literal understanding of the Torah and the historicity of such described events, while at other times favoring allegorical readings. Philo's dates of birth and death are unknown but can be judged by Philo's description of himself as "old" when he

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3168-421: The nature of God ; he contrasted the nature of God with the nature of the physical world. Philo did not consider God similar to Heaven , the world , or man; he affirmed a transcendent God without physical features or emotional qualities resembling those of human beings. Following Plato, Philo equates matter to nothingness and sees its effect in fallacy, discord, damage, and decay of things. Only God's existence

3267-399: The "archetypal idea". Philo identified Plato's Ideas with the demiurge's thoughts. These thoughts make the contents of Logos; they were the seals for making sensual things during world creation. Logos resembles a book with creature paradigms. An Architect's design before the construction of a city serves to Philo as another simile of Logos. Since creation, Logos binds things together. As

3366-418: The "name of God," There are, in addition, Biblical elements: Philo connects his doctrine of the Logos with Scripture, first of all, based on Genesis 1:27, the relation of the Logos to God. He translates this passage as follows: "He made man after the image of God," concluding from that place that an image of God existed. The Logos is also designated as " high priest " in reference to the exalted position that

3465-635: The Alexander referenced in the Book of Acts , who presided over the Sanhedrin trial of John and Peter . Philo lived in an era of increasing ethnic tension in Alexandria, exacerbated by the new strictures of imperial rule . Some expatriate Hellenes (Greeks) in Alexandria condemned the Jews for a supposed alliance with Rome, even as Rome was seeking to suppress Jewish national and cultural identity in

3564-515: The Bible's got Psalms And just like the Prodigal Son I've returned Anyone stepping to me you'll get burned Another literary tribute to this parable is Dutch theologian Henri Nouwen 's 1992 book, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming , in which he describes his own spiritual journey infused with understanding, based on an encounter with Rembrandt 's painting that depicts the son's return. The book deals with three personages:

3663-510: The Father’s gifts to his son. As Fr. Potapov cites, Saint Theophan the Recluse compares the sinner with a man sunk into a deep sleep, and in his turning to God he notes three psychological moments that correspond to the parable's events: 1. Awakening from the sleep of sin ( Luke 15:17 ); 2. The ripening of resolve to forsake sin and dedicate himself to pleasing God ( Luke 15:17–21 ); 3. Investing

3762-526: The Good Shepherd rather than as a distinct subject on its own. While there are innumerable references to the Good Shepherd image in Christian hymns , specific references to this parable can be recognised by a mention of the ninety-nine other sheep. A hymn describing this parable is "The Ninety and Nine" by Elizabeth Clephane (1868), which begins: There were ninety and nine that safely lay In

3861-654: The Hebrew Bible, he interpreted the stories of the first five books as elaborate metaphors and symbols to demonstrate that Greek philosophers' ideas had preceded them in the Bible: Heraclitus 's concept of binary oppositions , according to Who is the Heir of Divine Things? § 43 [i. 503]; and the conception of the wise man expounded by Zeno of Citium , the founder of Stoicism , in Every Good Man

3960-564: The Hellenistic view of the mind-body relationship . In Philo's writings, however, mind and spirit are used interchangeably. The soul is the type; man is the copy. The similarity is found in the mind (νοῦς) of humans. For the shaping of the nous, the individual has the Logos for a pattern to follow. The latter officiates here also as "the divider" (τομεύς), separating and uniting. The Logos, as "interpreter," announces God's designs to humankind, acting in this respect as prophet and priest. As

4059-644: The Jewish embassage, a man eminent on all accounts, brother to Alexander the Alabarch, (30) and one not unskillful in philosophy, was ready to betake himself to make his defense against those accusations; but Gaius prohibited him, and bid him begone; he was also in such a rage, that it openly appeared he was about to do them some very great mischief. So Philo being thus affronted, went out, and said to those Jews who were about him, that they should be of good courage, since Gaius's words indeed showed anger at them, but in reality had already set God against himself. This event

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4158-401: The Jewish inhabitants and the Greeks; and three ambassadors were chosen out of each party that were at variance, who came to Gaius. Now one of these ambassadors from the people of Alexandria was Apion , (29) who uttered many blasphemies against the Jews; and, among other things that he said, he charged them with neglecting the honors that belonged to Caesar; for that while all who were subject to

4257-582: The Law then follows in two sections. First come the biographies of the men who antedated the several written laws of the Torah, as Enos , Enoch , Noah , Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob . These were the Patriarchs, who were the living impersonations of the active law of virtue before there were any written laws. Then, the laws are discussed in detail: first, the chief ten commandments (the Decalogue), and then

4356-473: The Logos is directly related to the Middle Platonic view of God as unmoved and utterly transcendent; therefore, intermediary beings were necessary to bridge the enormous gap between God and the material world. The Logos was the highest of these intermediary beings and was called by Philo "the first-born of God." Philo also adapted Platonic elements in designating the Logos as the "idea of ideas" and

4455-532: The Logos is influenced by Heraclitus ' conception of the "dividing Logos" (λόγος τομεύς), which calls the various objects into existence by the combination of contrasts ("Quis Rerum Divinarum Heres Sit," § 43 [i. 503]), as well as the Stoic characterization of the Logos as the active and vivifying power. But Philo followed the Platonic distinction between imperfect matter and perfect Form, and Philo's conception of

4554-541: The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all," Isa. 53:6; and again, "Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." 1 Peter 2:25. The image from this parable of the shepherd placing the lost sheep on his shoulders ( Luke 15:5 ) has been widely incorporated into depictions of the Good Shepherd. Consequently, this parable appears in art mostly as an influence on depictions of

4653-807: The Lost Sheep is followed by those of the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son in Luke's Gospel and shares with them the themes of losing, searching, finding, and rejoicing. The lost sheep or coin represents a lost human being. As in the analogy of the Good Shepherd , some consider Jesus to be the shepherd in the parable, thus identifying himself with the image of God as a shepherd searching for stray sheep in Ezekiel 34:11–16 . Joel B. Green writes that "these parables are fundamentally about God, ... their aim

4752-462: The Pharisees and religious leaders accuse him of welcoming and eating with "sinners." The father's joy described in the parable reflects divine love: the "boundless mercy of God," and "God's refusal to limit the measure of his grace." Justus Knecht , like others, breaks this parable into three parts noting that, "The father in the parable signifies God; the elder son, the just; and the younger son,

4851-406: The Roman empire built altars and temples to Gaius, and in other regards universally received him as they received the gods, these Jews alone thought it a dishonorable thing for them to erect statues in honor of him, as well as to swear by his name. Many of these severe things were said by Apion, by which he hoped to provoke Gaius to anger at the Jews, as he was likely to be. But Philo, the principal of

4950-564: The accent in Genesis 3:9: "Adam, where [ποῡ] art thou?"), is not in any place. He is Himself the place; the dwelling-place of God means the same as God Himself, as in the Mishnah = "God is" (comp. Freudenthal, "Hellenistische Studien," p. 73), corresponding to the tenet of Greek philosophy that the existence of all things is summed up in God. God as such is motionless, as the Bible indicates by

5049-431: The apex of Jewish-Hellenistic syncretism . His work attempts to combine Plato and Moses into one philosophical system. Philo bases his doctrines on the Hebrew Bible , which he considers the source and standard not only of religious truth but of all truth. Its pronouncements are the ἱερὸς λόγος , θεῖος λόγος , and ὀρθὸς λόγος (holy word, godly word, righteous word), uttered sometimes directly and sometimes through

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5148-502: The capacity of his immortal soul by earthly gratifications. In the Eastern Orthodox Church , the parable of the Prodigal Son is central to the Christian understanding emphasizing God's boundless love for humanity. Archpriest Victor Potapov encapsulates this as "a multitude of themes...difficult to enumerate", including the historical contrast between God's chosen people and the pagans, the nature of sin (one reason why

5247-453: The citizens of that country," as a servant. Every sinner is a slave to the Devil; and as the citizen employed the prodigal youth in feeding swine, so the Devil employs his followers in gratifying their own sensual appetites, which brutalize human nature. The prodigal attempted to satisfy his hunger, by feeding on the husks of swine, but he did not succeed: neither can the sinner succeed in filling

5346-644: The complete work – in explanation of Genesis and Exodus, an old Latin translation of a part of the "Genesis", and fragments from the Greek text in Eusebius , in the "Sacra Parallela", in the "Catena", and also in Ambrosius . The explanation is confined chiefly to determining the literal sense, although Philo frequently refers to the allegorical sense as the higher. Νόμων Ἱερῶν Ἀλληγορίαι, or "Legum Allegoriæ", deals, so far as it has been preserved, with selected passages from Genesis . According to Philo's original idea,

5445-508: The correct Hebrew root (e.g., [[[wikt:ירד|יָרַד]]] Error: {{Langx}}: invalid parameter: |lk= ( help ) as the origin of the name Jordan ). However, his works do not display much understanding of Hebrew grammar , and they tend to follow the translation of the Septuagint more closely than the Hebrew version. . Philo identified the angel of the Lord (in the singular) with the Logos . In

5544-539: The degrading job of looking after pigs, and even envying them for the carob pods they eat. This recalls Proverbs 29:3: "Whoever loves wisdom gives joy to his father, but whoever consorts with harlots squanders his wealth." Upon his return, his father treats the young man with a generosity far more than he has a right to expect. He is given the best robe, a ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. Jewish philosopher Philo observes: Parents often do not lose thought for their wastrel ( asoton ) children   [...] In

5643-462: The efficient causes that not only represent the types of things, but also produce and maintain them. Philo endeavored to harmonize this conception with the Bible by designating these powers as angels. Philo conceives the powers both as independent hypostases and as immanent attributes of a Divine Being. In the same way, Philo contrasts the two divine attributes of goodness and power (ἄγαθότης and ἀρχή, δίναμις χαριστική and συγκολαστική) as expressed in

5742-410: The flock confided to them. Moreover Jesus knows His own. He knows all about them, their needs, their weakness, their thoughts, their endeavours; He leads them into the fold of His Church, He helps them by His grace, He enlightens them by His doctrine, and nourishes and strengthens them with His Flesh and Blood in the most Blessed Sacrament. His pastoral love is, therefore, infinite and divine. Cornelius

5841-544: The friendship of good men, neglects the services of the Church and the frequenting of the Sacraments, follows his own way, and shamelessly transgresses God's commandments. He then goes into a strange and distant land, namely further and further from God: The "far country", says St. Augustine , "signifies the forgetfulness of God". Almighty God lets the sinner go his own way, for He has given to man free-will, and does not want

5940-419: The heading to the fifth chapter, titled "The Prodigal Son", of his 1901 novel Kim . The Parable is a recurring theme in the works of Rainer Maria Rilke , who interpreted it in a different way to the conventional reading. Rilke's version is not so concerned with redemption and the forgiveness of family: the love of the family, and human love in general, was seen as less worthy than unreciprocated love, which

6039-529: The high priest occupied after the Exile as the physical center of the Jews' relationship with God. The Logos, like the high priest, is the expiator of the Jews' sins and the mediator and advocate for humankind before, and envoy to, God: ἱκέτης, and παράκλητος. He puts human minds in order. The right reason is an infallible law, the source of any other laws. The angel blocking Balaam 's way in Numbers 22:22–35

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6138-459: The history of primal humanity is here considered a symbol of the religious and moral development of the human soul. This commentary included the following treatises: Philo wrote a systematic work on Moses and his laws, which is usually prefaced by the treatise " De Opificio Mundi ". The Creation is, according to Philo, the basis for the Mosaic legislation, which is in complete harmony with nature ("De Opificio Mundi", § 1 [i. 1]). The exposition of

6237-456: The human being and the stories of the Bible as episodes from universal human experience. For example, Adam represents the mind and Eve , the senses. Noah represents tranquility, a stage of "relative"—incomplete but progressing—righteousness. According to Josephus , Philo was inspired mainly in this by Aristobulus of Alexandria and the Alexandrian school . Philo frequently engaged in Pythagorean-inspired numerology , explaining at length

6336-445: The importance of the first 10 numerals: Philo also determines the values of the numbers 50, 70, 100, 12, and 120. There is also extensive symbolism of objects. Philo elaborates on the extensive symbolism of proper names, following the example of the Bible and the Midrash , to which he adds many new interpretations. Philo stated his theology both through the negation of opposing ideas and through detailed, positive explanations of

6435-468: The intersection of philosophy , politics , and religion in his time; specifically, he explored the connections between Greek Platonic philosophy and late Second Temple Judaism . For example, he maintained that the Greek-language Septuagint and the Jewish law still being developed by the rabbis of the period together serve as a blueprint for the pursuit of individual enlightenment. Philo's deployment of allegory to harmonize Jewish scripture, mainly

6534-401: The latter, the Logos softens punishments by making God's merciful power stronger than the punitive. The Logos has a special mystic influence upon the human soul, illuminating it and nourishing it with higher spiritual food, like the manna, of which the most diminutive piece has the same vitality as the whole. Philo's ethics were strongly influenced by Pythagoreanism and Stoicism , preferring

6633-425: The mouth of a prophet, and especially through Moses , whom Philo considers the true medium of revelation . However, he distinguishes between the words uttered by God himself, such as the Ten Commandments , and the edicts of Moses (as the special laws). Philo regards the Bible as the source not only of religious revelation but also of philosophical truth. By applying the Stoic mode of allegorical interpretation to

6732-399: The names of God; designating "Yhwh" as Goodness, Philo interpreted "Elohim" (LXX. Θεός) as designating the "cosmic power"; and as he considered the Creation the most important proof of divine goodness, he found the idea of goodness especially in Θεός. Philo also treats the divine powers of God as a single independent being, or demiurge , which he designates " Logos ". Philo's conception of

6831-405: The nine gates of the temple in Jerusalem . Due to his extreme wealth, Alexander was also influential in imperial Roman circles as a friend of emperor Claudius. Through Alexander, Philo had two nephews, Tiberius Julius Alexander and Marcus Julius Alexander . The latter was the first husband of the Herodian princess Berenice . Marcus died in 43 or 44. Some scholars identify Alexander Lysimachus as

6930-478: The ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends, his family and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance." The Parable of

7029-414: The other or that both texts share a common origin. However, an influence of the biblical story on the Lotus sutra is very unlikely given the early dating of the stratum of the sutra containing the Buddhist parable. Parable of the Lost Sheep The Parable of the Lost Sheep is one of the parables of Jesus . It appears in the Gospels of Matthew ( Matthew 18:12–14 ) and Luke ( Luke 15:3–7 ). It

7128-480: The parable is read on the third Sunday before Great Lent , also including the subsequent fasting time to encourage spiritual discipline and refreshment), and the process and blessings of repentance. The Father’s forgiving embrace represents God's joy in receiving sinners who return to Him with humility and remorse. It is as an allegory of the Church, with elements like baptism and the Eucharist symbolized through

7227-504: The parable summarize the tale in accordance with the Jewish teaching of the two ways of acting: the way of life (obedience) and the way of death (sin). God, according to Judaism, rejoices over and grants more graces to repentant sinners than righteous souls who do not need repentance. Following the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin , this is the last of three parables about loss and redemption that Jesus tells after

7326-493: The partly interpolated passages on the Essenes. In Legatio ad Gaium ( Embassy to Gaius ), Philo describes his diplomatic mission to Gaius Caligula , one of the few events in his life which is explicitly known. He relates that he was carrying a petition describing the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews and asking the emperor to secure their rights. Philo describes their sufferings in more detail than Josephus's to characterize

7425-771: The phrase "God stands". Philo endeavored to find the Divine Being active and acting in the world, in agreement with Stoicism, yet his Platonic conception of Matter as evil required that he place God outside of the world in order to prevent God from having any contact with evil. Hence, he was obliged to separate from the Divine Being the activity displayed in the world and to transfer it to the divine powers, which accordingly were sometimes inherent in God and at other times exterior to God. In order to balance these Platonic and Stoic conceptions, Philo conceived of these divine attributes as types or patterns of actual things ("archetypal ideas") in keeping with Plato, but also regarded them as

7524-474: The preceding two parables of the cycle. In the Eastern Orthodox Church it is read on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son . The parable begins with a wealthy man who had two sons, the younger of whom asks for his share of the man's estate. The implication is the son did not want to wait for his father's death to receive his inheritance, and instead wanted it immediately. The father agrees and divides his estate between

7623-713: The precepts in amplification of each law. The work is divided into the following treatises: This exposition is more exoteric than allegorical and might have been intended for gentile audiences. Philo is also credited with writing: This is the second half of a work on the freedom of the just according to Stoic principles. The genuineness of this work has been disputed by Frankel (in "Monatsschrift", ii. 30 et seq., 61 et seq.), by Grätz ("Gesch." iii. 464 et seq.), and more recently by Ansfeld (1887), Hilgenfeld (in "Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Theologie", 1888, pp. 49–71), and others. Now Wendland , Ohle , Schürer , Massebieau , and Krell consider it genuine, except

7722-581: The process of conversion and reconciliation . Emphasizing that God the Father is "rich in mercy" and always ready to forgive, he stated that reconciliation is a "gift on his part". He stated that for the Church her "mission of reconciliation is the initiative, full of compassionate love and mercy, of that God who is love." He also explored the issues raised by this parable in his second encyclical , Dives in misericordia ('Rich in Mercy'), issued in 1980. Of

7821-537: The prodigal son were a popular subject in Northern Renaissance art . Albrecht Dürer's 1496 engraving is a famous example. In the seventeenth-century, Rembrandt depicted several scenes from the parable, especially the final episode, which he etched, drew, or painted on several occasions during his career. At least one of Rembrandt's works— The Prodigal Son in the Tavern , is a portrait of himself as

7920-417: The receptacle and holder of ideas, Logos is distinct from the material world. At the same time, Logos pervades the world, supporting it. This image of God is the type for all other things (the "Archetypal Idea" of Plato), a seal impressed upon things. The Logos is a kind of shadow cast by God, having the outlines but not the blinding light of the Divine Being. He calls the Logos "second god [deuteros theos]"

8019-452: The rest of the way to you.' So God says, 'Return to me, and I will return to you.' The older son, in contrast, seems to think in terms of "law, merit, and reward," rather than "love and graciousness." He may represent the Pharisees who were criticizing Jesus. Leviticus Rabbah 13:4 also contains a short saying that matches the character of the parable: R. Aha has said: When a Jew has to resort to carobs, he repents. The last few verses of

8118-818: The roughly 30 parables in the canonical Gospels , the Parable of the Prodigal Son was one of four that were shown in medieval art —along with that of the Wise and Foolish Virgins , the Dives and Lazarus , and the Good Samaritan —almost to the exclusion of the others, though not mixed in with the narrative scenes of the Life of Christ . (The Laborers in the Vineyard also appears in Early Medieval works.) Scenes of

8217-463: The same way, God too   [...] takes thought also for those who live a misspent life, thereby giving them time for reformation, and also keeping within the bounds His own merciful nature. The Pesikta Rabbati has a similar story: A king had a son who had gone astray from his father on a journey of a hundred days. His friends said to him, 'Return to your father.' He said, 'I cannot.' Then his father sent word, 'Return as far as you can, and I will come

8316-492: The shelter of the fold. But one was out on the hills away, Far off from the gates of gold. Away on the mountains wild and bare. Away from the tender Shepherd's care. Away from the tender Shepherd's care. Philo Philo of Alexandria ( / ˈ f aɪ l oʊ / ; Ancient Greek : Φίλων , romanized :  Phílōn ; Hebrew : יְדִידְיָה , romanized :  Yəḏīḏyāh ; c.  20 BCE  – c.   50 CE ), also called Philō Judæus ,

8415-465: The simile of the Good Shepherd our Lord teaches us how great is His compassionate love for all mankind. All men, Jews and Gentiles, are His sheep, and He gave His life for all, being sacrificed on the Cross to redeem them from sin and hell. He is therefore the only Good Shepherd, and all others who are called to the pastoral office are good shepherds only so far as they imitate Jesus in their love and care of

8514-496: The sinner with divine power for this in the "Mysteries of Repentance and Communion". Fr. James Guirguis puts the message in both plainspoken terms, yet also quoting Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk : How God longs to see us come home! How God longs to embrace us and forgive us and restore us to a place of honor, to celebrate our return! How God longs to see those who are dead, restored back to life and health so that they might dwell with Him! The whole universe of God’s mercy and forgiveness

8613-485: The sinner." In the first part: Man begins to fall away from God by allowing unlawful desires to take possession of his heart. In consequence, he will soon come to regard God's commandments as so many fetters, and to long for greater licence. He loses all taste for prayer and the word of God, and imagines that he would be a happier man if he could live according to his passions. Having thus separated himself inwardly from God, an outward separation speedily follows. He renounces

8712-517: The son in the finest robe and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and to slaughter the " fatted calf " for a celebratory meal. The older son, who was at work in the fields, hears the sound of celebration and is told by a slave about the return of his younger brother. He is not impressed and becomes angry. He also has a speech for his father: And 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

8811-620: The son reveling with his wife. The Prodigal Son is a sculpture in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , by George Grey Barnard that depicts the loving reunion of the father and son from the "Parable of the Prodigal Son." In the 15th and 16th centuries, the theme was such a sufficiently popular subject that the 'Prodigal Son play' can be seen as a subgenre of the English morality play . Examples include The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune , The Disobedient Child , and Acolastus . The parable

8910-501: The text attributed to Philo, he "consistently uses Κύριος as a designation for God". According to David B. Capes, "the problem for this case, however, is that Christian scholars are responsible for copying and transmitting Philo's words to later generations", and adds, George Howard surveys evidence and concludes: "Although it is improbable that Philo varied from the custom of writing the Tetragram when quoting from Scripture, it

9009-821: The two sons. Upon receiving his portion of the inheritance, the younger son travels to a distant country, where he squanders his wealth through reckless living. He runs out of money just before a severe famine strikes the land, leaving him desperately poor and forced to take a filthy and low-paying job as a swineherd . He reaches the point of envying the food of the pigs he is feeding. At this time, he finally comes to his senses: And 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! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he

9108-476: The yoke like brute beasts, but that they have also surrendered and betrayed their whole bodies and souls likewise, and their wives and their children, and their parents, and all the rest of the numerous kindred and community of their other relations? ... when an opportunity offers, it is a good thing to attack our enemies and put down their power; but when we have no such opportunity, it is better to be quiet The works of Philo are mostly allegorical interpretations of

9207-423: The younger, prodigal son; the self-righteous , resentful older son; and the compassionate father—all of whom the author identifies with personally. An earlier work with similarities to the parable is " Le retour de l'enfant prodigue " ('The Return of the Prodigal Son'), a short story by André Gide . Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem giving an interpretation of the younger brother's perspective. The poem appears as

9306-723: Was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria , in the Roman province of Egypt . The only event in Philo's life that can be decisively dated is his representation of the Alexandrian Jews in a delegation to the Roman emperor Caligula in 40 CE following civil strife between the Jewish and Greek communities of Alexandria. Philo was a leading writer of the Hellenistic Jewish community in Alexandria , Egypt. He wrote expansively in Koine Greek on

9405-400: Was brother to the alabarch Alexander. According to Josephus, Philo and the larger Jewish community refused to treat the emperor as a god, to erect statues in honour of the emperor, or to build altars and temples to the emperor. Josephus says Philo believed that God actively supported this refusal. Josephus' complete comments about Philo: There was now a tumult arisen at Alexandria, between

9504-422: Was incompatible with the Platonic conception of "God in opposition to matter", instead interpreting the ascription to God of hands and feet, eyes and ears, tongue and windpipe, as allegories. In Philo's interpretation, Hebrew scripture adapts itself to human conceptions, and so God is occasionally represented as a man for pedagogic reasons. The same holds true for God's anthropopathic attributes. God, as such,

9603-407: Was necessary: It 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. The opening, "A man had two sons" is a storyteller's trope and would immediately bring to mind Cain and Abel , Ishmael and Isaac , and Jacob and Esau . Jesus then confounds the listeners' expectations when the younger son is shown to be foolish. While

9702-557: Was part of the delegation to Gaius Caligula in 38 CE. Jewish history professor Daniel R. Schwartz estimates his birth year as sometime between 15 and 10 BCE. Philo's reference to an event under the reign of Emperor Claudius indicates that he died sometime between 45 and 50 CE. Philo also recounts that he visited the Second Temple in Jerusalem at least once in his lifetime. Although the names of his parents are unknown, it

9801-423: Was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. This implies that the father was watching hopefully for the son's return. The son starts his rehearsed speech, admitting his sins, and declaring himself unworthy of being his father's son but does not even finish before his father accepts him back without hesitation. The father calls for his servants to dress

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