The Parable of the Vineyard

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today we hear a parable spoken by our Savior concerning a vineyard. The image of this vineyard as described by our Savior illustrates the fact that God provides all good things and establishes an order for the people of God.

“There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country.”(Matt 21:33)

The Lord of the Vineyard is God Himself and all things belong to Him. There is a tower and a wine press and it is hedged round about. These images symbolize the fulfillment of the promises of God to His people from of old. The wine press is a symbol of what only the New Testament priesthood can provide, the wine pressed out on Golgotha, the Medicine of Immortality and the Antidote of death. The tower is inscribed with the living words of our Savior transmitted to us by Apostolic Tradition.

And then there is the hedge.

There was always a distinction made between the people of God and the nations who followed after their own ways. This distinction between the truth of God and the errors of the nations was, in various places in the Old Testament, illustrated by a hedge, as it is written in the book of the Prophet Ezekiel:

“And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.”

That is, the false prophets did not maintain the wall of separation between the word of truth given by the Spirit of God and the error of the nations.

“They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD. And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.” (Ezekiel 13:1-10)

In this case the false prophets were not careful to acknowledge the singleness of the truth of God’s revelation and they falsely claimed to have the spirit of prophecy when they had the spirit of error and taught the people of Israel to imitate the immoral practices of the nations and worship false gods.

By today’s parable our Savior confronted the men of His day with how Israel behaved in the past towards the Prophets, saying, “And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.” (Matt 21:34-36)

Thus, there were many prophets sent by God that were mistreated in the past by the people of Israel. And then our Savior prophesized how they would soon treat Him:

“But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and seize his inheritance. And they laid hold on him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.” (Matt 21:37-39)

And so our Savior confronted them in order to awaken them from their spiritual stupor that they might repent and acknowledge the Lord of the Vineyard and recognize the Christ Who was sent by God by calling upon them to use their common sense to make a judgment regarding the unjust stewards in this parable of the vineyard, saying, “When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?” (Matt 21:40)

Of course they responded, “They say unto Him, He will evilly destroy those evil men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.” (Matt 21:41)

After they passed judgment on themselves our of their own mouths, our Savior referenced the prophesy concerning Himself from Psalm 117 to them, “Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?” (Matt 21:42)

Even after this admonition and much more, even after and they witnessed innumerable miracles, the rulers of Israel rejected the Christ of God.

This all seems incredible to us, doesn’t it? How can men be so hardhearted and insensitive? How can men be so reckless when it comes to their salvation?

Then we must look at our own day.

Anyone who desires to worship God in spirit and in truth must acknowledge the historical distinction between the truth of God’s revelation and the many errors of the nations that do not know God, that is they must acknowledge that a hedge of separation has always existed between the two. This precisely why the present day pan-heresy of ecumenism is so troubling and so destructive. This is precisely why the Anathema against ecumenism is so important and why one cannot be a Christian without acknowledging this distinction. I quote:

TO THOSE who attack the Church of Christ by teaching that Christ’s Church is divided into so-called branches which differ in doctrine and way of life, or that the Church does not exist visibly, but will be formed in the future when all branches or sects or denominations, and even religions will be united into one body; and who do not distinguish the priesthood and mysteries of the Church from those of the heretics, but say that the baptism and eucharist of heretics is effectual for salvation; therefore, to those who knowingly have communion with these afore-mentioned heretics or who advocate, disseminate, or defend their new heresy of Ecumenism under the pretext of brotherly love or the supposed unification of separated Christians, Anathema.

If we consider the quote found above from the Prophet Ezekiel, the present day ecumenists say there is peace and there really is no peace, and they say there is unity and there really is no unity. Today we have a super abundance of false prophets, false bishops, false elders, and teachers who, just as in the days of the Prophet Ezekiel, speak vanity and see lies and call it truth.

Without the living words of Apostolic Tradition we do not partake of the fruit of the vine pressed out on Golgotha. Without embracing the teachings of the New Testament, we do not partake of the Blood of the New Testament unto the remission of sins and eternal salvation.

The leadership of the so-called orthodox churches who are members of the World Council of Churches have denied the faith. They have denied the distinction between truth and falsehood. They have denied the distinction between the Apostolic Church and the many forms of error that exist today. The member Churches of the World Council of Churches under the category of Eastern Orthodox Christian Churches listed on their own website are:

(http://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/church-families/orthodox-churches-eastern.html)
Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Archdiocese of America
Church of Greece
Church of Cyprus
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
Russian Orthodox Church
Orthodox Church in America
Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania
Orthodox Church in Japan
Orthodox Church in the Czech Lands and Slovakia
Orthodox Church of Finland
Polish Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Poland
Romanian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church

The pro-union pseudo-orthodox who desire union with the Papacy have already had their union. The 1993 False Union of Balamand is equivalent to the False Union at the Council of Florence. The Balamand Statement declares that the Roman Catholic and Orthodox are “Sister Churches,” and that both possess the same Apostolic traditions and Apostolic Faith, Baptism, Eucharist, and Priesthood.

As a theologian from the New Calendar State Church of Greece, Fr. Theodore Zeses, commented regarding the significance of the declaration of the Balamand Union, “There do not exist ‘degrees’ of ecclesiastical communion, so that one could speak of seeking for ‘full communion,’ as though there could be a partial or incomplete communion. One either partakes or does not partake of the Body of Christ.”

Representatives from the following Orthodox Churches signed the Balamand Statement declaring themselves “Sister Churches” with Rome:

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Patriarchate of Alexandria
Patriarchate of Antioch
Patriarchate of Moscow
Patriarchate of Romania
Church of Cyprus
Church of Poland
Church of Albania
Church of Finland

(The Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Churches of Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Czechoslovakia were not represented.)

Even after all of this, there are many self-deceived leaders from within the ecumenist jurisdictions who wish to compromise and say, ‘If one more betrayal occurs, if things get even worse then we will know it is the time to finally leave.’

Those who say such things embrace the heresy of Congregationalism to justify participation in the heresy of ecumenism. Congregationalism is a false Protestant notion that asserts the right for a congregation of laymen to declare that they owe no responsibility to a higher ecclesiastical authority. Congregationalism rejects the Apostolic concepts of priesthood and declares that all believers are priests. Many false shepherds and false elders employ this heretical concept to support their arguments that one can personally reject ecumenism and at the same time continue as a member of a local Church that has an ecumenist heretic for its ruling bishop without suffering harm. This false notion denies the very nature of a hierarchical Church. This false notion contradicts the Apostolic Constitutions:

I shall judge the bishop and the layperson. The sheep are rational and not irrational, so that no layman may ever say that, "I am a sheep, and not a shepherd, and I give no account of myself, but the shepherd shall see to it, and he alone shall pay the penalty for me." For even as the sheep that follows not the good shepherd shall fall to the wolves unto its own destruction, so too it is evident that the sheep that follows the evil shepherd shall acquire death; for he shall utterly devour it. Therefore, it is required that we flee from destructive shepherds. (Apostolic Constitutions PG 1,633)

Our Savior once asked the Apostles, “whom say ye that I am?” (Matt 16:15) Saint Peter confessed and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt 16:16) And our Savior replied, “Blessed art thou, Simon bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in the Heavens. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of the Heavens: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in the Heavens: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in the Heavens.” (Matt 16:17-19)

Our Savior did not say, "thou art the rock" to Saint Peter. Our Savior declared that upon the rock of Saint Peter’s confession of faith He would build His Church. As it is written in today’s gospel, “this is the stone which the builders rejected.” This rock is the foundation stone of the tower constructed by Apostolic Tradition spoken of in today’s parable. This tower is found in the singular Vineyard of our Lord. Today’s false shepherds have destroyed the hedge and torn down the tower of their local Churches. These local congregations are no longer the Vineyard of the Lord. The gates of Hades will not prevail against the Church, but history testifies to the fact that local Churches can fall away. The keys of the Kingdom, the power to bind and loose, i.e., Baptism and the Eucharist, were given to the Apostles and by them to every faithful bishopric that defends the “faith once delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) These keys can be taken away from those who betray this faith.

We have a historical context reaching back from the time of the Old Testament until now concerning the distinction between the People of God and the nations who do not worship God in spirit and in truth. Let us submit ourselves to the Lord of the Vineyard so that we can preserve the Vineyard and partake of the fruits of salvation in this age and in the age to come. Amen.