Or what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she loses one piece, does not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she finds it?
All Commentaries on Luke 15:8 Go To Luke 15
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Either that woman having ten pieces of silver, &c. "Sweep," or as the Arabic renders it, "cleanse;" not "overturn," as some read with S. Gregory.
The "piece of silver," or drachma, was a coin weighing the eighth part of an ounce. Hence S. Cyril explains, that by the parable of the lost sheep we are to understand, mystically, that we are the creatures of God who made us, and the sheep of His pasture, but that by this second parable we are taught that we were created in the image and likeness of God, just as the coin bears the image of the king.
S. Gregory (Hom34), very fully explains the parable, and applies it in the following manner: "He who is signified by the shepherd, is signified also by the woman. For it is God Himself—God and the wisdom of God. And because there is an image impressed on the piece, the woman lost the piece of silver when Prayer of Manasseh , who was created after the image of God, by sinning fell away from the likeness of his Creator. The woman lighted a candle, because the wisdom of God appeared in man. For the candle is a light in an earthen vessel, but the light in an earthen vessel is the Godhead in the flesh, and when the candle was lit she overturned (evertit) the house. Because as soon as His divinity shone forth through the flesh, all our consciences were appalled. But the word "overturn" differs not from the "cleanse" or "sweep" of the other MSS. Because the corrupt mind, if it be not first overthrown through fear is not cleansed from its habitual faults. But when the house is overturned the piece of silver is found, for when the conscience of man is disturbed, the likeness of the Creator is restored in him." And again, "Who are the friends and neighbours but those heavenly powers afore mentioned, who are near to the Divine Wisdom of Solomon , inasmuch as they approach Him through the grace of continual vision?" Hence in conclusion he says, "The woman had ten pieces of silver, because there are nine orders of angels, but, that the number of the elect might be filled up, Prayer of Manasseh , the tenth, was created, who even after his sin did not fall utterly away from his Maker, because the eternal Wisdom of Solomon , shining through the flesh by His miracles, restored him by the light of the earthen vessel."
Or, as Theophylact interprets it, "The friends are all the heavenly powers; but the neighbours, the thrones—cherubims and seraphims—which are most nigh unto God."
Lastly, S. Gregory Nyssen, says, "The ten pieces of silver are so many virtues, of which we ought to lack none, for like the commandments they are complete in themselves (decem). The candle is the divine word or perhaps the torch of repentance; the neighbours, reason, desire, anger, and such like affections."
