Concerning the authors of this sermon, compare what we have written in the preface of the appendix. It is written in the Gospel lesson that a certain man, going on a journey abroad, called his servants and delivered to them his goods. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one: to each according to his own ability; and he set out at once (Matt. XXV). This man, the householder, is the Lord Christ, who after His resurrection ascended victorious to the Father, and having called the apostles, delivered to them the Gospel teaching. Not out of generosity or stinginess giving more to one and less to another, but according to the abilities of the receivers: just as the Apostle also says that he gave milk to drink to those who could not receive solid food.
In short, both the man who had made ten of the five talents, and the one who had made four of two, He received with like joy, not considering the greatness of the gain but the zeal of the will. In the five, the two, and the one talent understand either the diverse graces which are delivered to each; or in the first, all the senses examined, in the second, understanding and works, in the third, reason, by which we men are separated from the beasts. Now he who had received five talents went away, worked with them, and gained another five. Having received the earthly senses, he doubled for himself the doctrine of heavenly things, understanding from creatures the Creator, from corporeal things the incorporeal, from visible things the invisible, from brief things the eternal.
Likewise he who had received two gained another two. This one too, according to his ability, doubled in the Gospel whatever he had learned in the law, or understood both knowledge and the works of the present life as a type of future blessedness. Now after a long time the lord of those servants came and reckoned with them. There is a great length of time between the ascension of the Savior and His second coming. And he who had received five talents came forward and offered another five talents, saying: Lord, you delivered to me five talents; behold, I have gained another five besides. His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many: enter into the joy of your lord.
Then he also who had received two talents came forward and said: Lord, you delivered to me two talents; behold, I have gained another two. His lord said to him: Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many: enter into the joy of your lord. To each servant—as I have already said before—both to the one who had made ten of five talents, that is, acting spiritually with the five senses of the body, had multiplied them and had well carried through the active life; and to the one who of two had made four, that is, who preached to his brothers what he had understood, and completed the works, and led those same neighbors by his good example to the faith of Christ—the word of the same householder speaks kindly, and it is said to him: Well done, which is, rejoice well.
And it is to be noted that all things which are had in the present, though they seem great and many, are yet few and small in comparison with things future. Because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many, that is, in eternal rest. And what greater can be given to a servant than to be with the Lord and to see the joy of his lord? For being placed in eternal blessedness, what he shall not have in merit he shall have in charity; and he shall have such joy over another's more eminent glory as if it were seen to be his own. Enter, he says, into the joy of your lord; as if he should say: Receive what neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man.
But this man, going on a journey abroad, delivered his goods to his servants, because to the faithful and holy He granted spiritual gifts. And to one He gave five talents, to another two, to another He committed one. For there are five senses of the body, namely sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. By the five talents, therefore, is expressed the gift of the five senses, that is, exterior knowledge; but by the two are designated understanding and operation. And by the one talent understanding alone is designated to the Lord. But he who had received five talents gained another five: because there are some who, though they know not how to penetrate the internal and mystical things, yet out of intention for the heavenly homeland teach the right things they can, from those very exterior things they have received;
and while they guard themselves from the wantonness of the flesh, from the ambition of earthly things, and from the pleasure of visible things, they also, by admonishing, restrain others from these. And there are some who, as it were enriched with two talents, receive understanding and operation, understand subtle things concerning the internal, work wonders in exterior things. And when both by understanding and by operating they preach to others, they carry back, as it were, a doubled gain from the business. And it is well said that another five, or another two, came into gain: because while preaching is bestowed on both sexes, the received talents are, as it were, doubled. But he who had received one talent, going away, dug in the earth and hid his lord's money.
To hide the talent in the earth is to entangle the received ability in earthly deeds, not to seek spiritual gain, never to lift the heart from earthly thoughts. For there are some who have received the gift of understanding, yet nonetheless savor only the things which are of the flesh; concerning whom He speaks through the prophet: They are wise to do evil (Jer. IV); but they know not to do well. But the lord who bestowed the talents returns to render the reckoning; because He who now devoutly bestows spiritual goods strictly requires the merits in judgment. He considers whatever each has received, and weighs what gain each brings back from the received talents.
The servant who brought back the doubled talents is praised by the lord and led to eternal reward, when the dominical voice says to him: Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your lord. For all the goods of the present life are few, however many they may seem. But then the faithful one is set over many goods, when, every affliction of corruption having been overcome, he glories in the eternal joys in that heavenly seat. Then is he perfectly admitted to the joy of his lord, when, taken up into that eternal homeland and mingled with the assemblies of the angels, he so inwardly rejoices in the gift that there is now nothing over which he should outwardly grieve concerning corruption. [Concerning the deposition …]
Concerning the deposition, therefore, of this saint we celebrate the solemn feast, whose talents named above we do not fail to know were entrusted to him. What is a deposition? not only that which is procured by the hands of clerics for the burial of the remains of the members in the earth, but also that by which a man, loosed from carnal bonds and going free to heaven, brought back to his Lord the talents entrusted to him, doubled. That plainly is the deposition, in which we cast off concupiscence, cease to transgress, lay down sinning. And therefore this day is procured with the greatest solemnity, because it is a true and supreme festival to be dead to vices, to live to justice alone. For it is also called a birthday, because, freed from the prison of our transgressions, we are born into freedom for the Savior.
The birthday, therefore, as I have said, of this our father the confessor we celebrate; in whose praises this first must be said, that he was innocent in his priesthood: gentle and innocent, so as to be at the same time also shrewd. So gentle, that in him severity was mingled with mildness. So humble, that in that very humility he excelled by the authority of greater reverence. He was therefore innocent and shrewd. He fulfilled the saying of the Lord who says: Be shrewd as serpents, innocent as doves (Matt. X). He was innocent in the administration of the Holy Church, shrewd in the suffering of the catholic faith. For always, like the serpent, when he suffers in persecution, he shrewdly protects his head as far as he can and disregards the other members.
For he had read, the Apostle saying, that the head of the man is Christ (1 Cor. XI). What manner of man this blessed confessor was, we here understand; whence for his merit he both here earned the highest priesthood, and afterwards received from the Lord the crown of confession: with the help of Him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen.