THE PARABLES AND OTHER STORIES (PDFDrive)

THE PARABLES
AND OTHER STORIES

Cover
STYLIANOS ATTESHLIS
The Parables
THE PARABLES
AND OTHER STORIES
A Commentary
by
STYLIANOS ATTESHLIS
(Ph.D., D.D., M. Psy., M. Mcs.)
known as
“DASKALOS”
He never spoke to them except in parables; but

privately to His disciples he explained everything.
Mark 4:34
The Parables
ISBN 9963-7740-1-6
© Copyright Panayiota Atteshlis Theotoki
Printed in Cyprus
by IMPRINTA LTD
P.O. Box 4105
Nicosia.
The Parables
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am most grateful to John and Jeannette Richards, to Ro-

bert and Audrey Browning, and to Paul Skorpen for their help
in the preparation of this book
Stylianos Atteshlis
Nicosia
March 1991
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
Daskalos is often asked for the inner meaning of the par-

ables, which were such a constant feature of the teaching of
Jesus the Christ. Here he comments on each parable in the
terms of his own teaching.
The text used is that given in the ‘New English Bible’, a
fresh translation from the best available sources, made with
the blessing of the Protestant Churches of the United King-
dom. This version of the New Testament was published jointly
by the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses in 1961.
It is not possible in a few paragraphs to give an adequate
summary of what Daskalos teaches his Circles for the Re-
search of Truth, nor of the full significance of the terms he
uses. The reader is therefore strongly advised to obtain and
study Daskalos’ book The Esoteric Teachings, which is a text-
book for the Researchers of Truth.
Copies of The Esoteric Teachings, as well of this com-
panion volume, can be obtained from Daskalos’ daughter,
Mrs. Panayiota Theotoki

P.O. Box 8347
Nicosia
Cyprus
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Index
INDEX
Page
NEW CLOTH ON AN OLD COAT Matt. 9:16-17 10

THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT Matt. 12: 43-45 12
THE SOWER Matt. 13:3-8 & 18-23 16
THE TARES Matt. 13:24-30 & 37-43 18
THE MUSTARD SEED Matt. 13:31-32 22
THE YEAST IN FLOUR Matt. 13:33 24
THE TREASURE IN A FIELD Matt. 13:44 28
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE Matt. 13:45-46 28
THE NET OF FISHES Matt. 13:47-50 30
A LAWYER INTO LEARNER Matt. 13:52 32
THE FEEDING OF FIVE THOUSAND Matt. 14:13-21 34
THE FEEDING OF FOUR THOUSAND Matt. 15:32-39 35
WALKING ON WATER Matt. 14:22-33 38
THE TRANSFIGURATION Matt. 17:1-8 42
THE LOST SHEEP Matt. 18:12-14 46
THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT Matt. 18:21-35 48
THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD Matt. 20:1-16 52
THE MAN WITH TWO SONS Matt. 21:28-32 56
THE LANDOWNER’S VINEYARD Matt. 21:33-43 58
THE WEDDING FEAST Matt. 22:1-14 60
THE FIG TREE Matt. 24:32-35 64
THE TRUSTY SERVANT Matt. 24:45-51 66
THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS Matt. 25:1-13 68
THE TALENTS Matt. 25: 70
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
THE SHEEP & THE GOATS Matt. 25:31-46 76

THE GROWING SEED Mark 4:26-29 80
THE TWO DEBTORS Luke 7:39-50 82
THE GOOD SAMARATIN Luke 10:25-37 88
THE FRIEND IN NEED Luke 11:5-8 92
THE RICH FARMER Luke 12:13-21 98
THE UNFRUITFUL FIG TREE Luke 13:6-9 100
WHEN INVITED TO A FEAST Luke 14:1-11 102
THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP Luke 14:28-43 104
THE LOST COIN Luke 15:8-10 110
THE PRODIGAL SON Luke 15:11-32 114
THE UNJUST STEWARD Luke 16:1-13 120
THE RICH MAN & LAZARUS Luke 16:19-31 124
THE UNJUST JUDGE Luke 18:1-8 128
THE PHARISEE & THE PUBLICAN Luke 18:9-14 130
THE MARRIAGE AT CANA John 2:1-11 132
THE GOOD SHEPHERD John 10:1-16 134
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
NEW CLOTH ON AN OLD COAT Matt. 9:16-17
No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on to an old

coat; for then the patch tears away from the coat, and leaves
a bigger hole. No more do you put new wine into old wine-
skins; if you do, the skins burst, and then the wine runs out
and the skins are spoilt. No, you put new wine into fresh
skins; then both are preserved.
10
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Everything is changing; nothing remains the same, so new

ideas don’t fit into old traditions. Every teaching should be in
ac-cord with its own time and place. When Christianity first ap-
peared, it was Jewish than it is today, and St Paul said that no
woman must enter a church with her head uncovered. That
suited the customs of the time, but now it’s different. We have
learnt that dress has nothing to do with the disposition to go to
church. There are new ways of looking at things, but that doesn’t
mean to say that the old ones were wrong. They were in accord
with their time and place.
Christ said, ‘I come to fulfill the law, not to abolish it.’ He
isn’t saying that anyone becoming a Christian must abandon and
forget all they believed before. He accepts the beliefs and habits
of others. Didn’t he say, ‘Other sheep I have which are not of this
fold’? When I go to a mosque or a Hindu temple, I take off my
shoes, because that is their custom. St Paul, or even my grand-
mother, would have been very shocked to see a bare-headed
woman in a miniskirt going to church. But the Archangels don’t
mind at all. They are most tolerant. Anyway, praying in her mini-
skirt, she may be praying better than her grandmother. Nev-
ertheless, it would be wrong to put your grandmother in a
miniskirt and take her to church, because it would no be in ac-
cordance with her habits and beliefs. We must always respect the
beliefs and traditions of others.
The garment and the wine-skin stand for what people are
believing. Jesus is saying: No one can live according to new prin-
ciples while still having old beliefs and traditions, because the
new principles cannot stick to the old beliefs and traditions. Ev-
erything new should belong to its own time and place.
11
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Unclean Spirit
THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT Matt. 12:43-45
When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it wanders

over the deserts seeking a resting-place; and finding none, it
says, ‘I will go back to the home I left.’ So it returns and
finds the house unoccupied, swept clean, and tidy. Off it goes
and collects seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and
they come in and settle down; and in the end the man’s
plight is worse than before. That is how it will be with this
wicked generation.
12
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Bible speaks of ‘unclean spirits’, as in this parable.

We prefer the term ‘elementals’ instead of ‘unclean spirits’.
Christ also speaks of the unclean spirits as ‘empty, meaning-
less’, and some call them evil spirits. We call them all ‘ele-
mentals’ and in our lessons we classify the elementals into two
groups: the first we call emotional thought-forms, in which the
emotions, the desires, even the weaknesses play the dominant
part. The enslave – or, rather, we help those desires to enslave
– the mind. Then the elemental so created is an ‘unclean spirit’,
that is a spirit to serve certain desires, wishes, emotions; un-
clean, not constructive. We classify the other group of elemen-
tals as the pure thought-forms, created by reason and not emo-
tion. We teach members of our circles to create and to project
the latter kind of elemental.
We don’t use the word ‘spirit’, because by the word ‘spirit’
we mean Absolute Beingness as spirit. We also mean our own
being, which is spirit. ‘God is spirit, and those who worship
Him must worship in spirit and in truth’ (John 4:24). So, to
avoid misunderstanding, we call these thought-forms, whether
emotional thought-forms, or pure thought-forms, ‘elementals’.
Every elemental has a definite form, with energy in it.
Every thought, every emotion, every desire, creates a though-
form, an emotional thought-form or a pure thought-form. Christ
knew that difference, when He called these spirits or ele-
mentals ‘unclean’ and He describes in this parable how these
elementals are created, at the moment when they leave their
‘home’. Their home is the personality of man. When an ele-
mental is created, either by thought or emotion, it vibrates at the
same rate as its creator. So, when an elemental leaves that
personality, the parable says it goes into ‘deserts’, that means
13
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
places where there is no new thought for it to absorb and be re-

vitalized. It passes through the fourth dimensional world, not
deriving strength from it. But it has its own life, its own identi-
ty, and, of course, a kind of intelligence
The elemental says, ‘I will return home’ to my creator to
be re-energized, to get more energy. But in coming back, it
brings with it ‘another seven more wicked spirits’. Why do we
attract such ‘spirits’, such elementals? Because we know that
like seeks like and that the elemental vibrates at the same rate as
other such elementals moving about these ‘deserts’, so they join
it. The elemental, then, attracts such entities, vibrating at the
same rate of vibration as itself, or even worse, and starts
coming back.
Now when they come back, they find that fellow with a
clean home. That means the man is not all the time thinking in
an evil way, he’s sometimes good, sometimes – let us call him a
man who is behaving stupidly. That is what the parable means
when it says the spirit finds its home ‘swept and clean’. It also
finds it unoccupied.
What do we teach? That a man, when disenergizing an
elemental, which he does not wish to return, must replace it
with another good elemental. In this way, it cannot gain en-
trance. That’s what we are doing in our circles, always replac-
ing the antagonistic elementals with creative elementals, so that
their creator does not allow the bad ones to enter their home
again. Finding the mind of a man ‘unoccupied’ and without
any good elementals to resist it, a bad elemental can gain en-
trance.
Now ‘seven’, why seven? When a class of elementals is
joined together they become one. Seven elementals of thought-
14
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
power or energy. Yes, but why did the one elemental call seven
others? Because the gates are seven.
These gates are what we call the energy centres in the
etheric double of a man. When that elemental reaches the size
of the body of the man, it enters through the seven gates: geni-
tals, solar plexus, the spleen, the liver, the heart, the thyroid
and through the head. These are the seven gates. When it enters
it gets control over that present-day personality, forcing it to
think the same thought over and over and over again, so that it
will get more strength to be not only revitalized, but gaining
ever more power to control.
Now, Christ spoke on other occasions about curing peo-
ple possessed by such elementals. In the case of an elemental
calling itself Legion, which had ‘occupied’ or got possession
of a personality, we saw the phenomenon of mobility. In the
Bible Christ described clearly how such elementals are born,
created, projected and how they behave, returning home to their
originator.
The Bible also states clearly that these kinds of spirits, as
they are called, cannot be cast out from a man, except by fast-
ing and prayer. What does it mean ‘fasting’? If a man has a
very loaded stomach, he cannot concentrate well, he cannot
come to sober thinking. So it’s easier to achieve that state of
mind by not overloading his stomach. That’s what ‘fasting’
means here, not in any other sense. And prayer, what’s prayer?
Prayer means creating new elementals, but now pure thought-
forms. Having in his mind the Deity, Divinity, so a man has the
help of believing, as well as having the help of the Archangels,
of the Logos, of God Itself. So, this is how one can cast out
these wicked or evil elementals from a man, by sending him
pure thought-form elementals as prayers.
The Sower
15
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
THE SOWER Matt. 13:3-8 & 18-23
He said: A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed,

some seed fell along the footpath; and the birds came and ate
it up. Some seed feel on rocky ground, where it had little soil;
it sprouted quickly because it had no depth of earth, but
when the sun rose, the young corn was scorched, and as it
had no root it withered away. Some seed fell among thistles;
and the thistles shot up, and choked the corn. And some of
the seed fell into good soil, where it bore fruit, yielding a
hundredfold, or, it might be, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold. If you
have ears, then hear.
I think Jesus explains this, doesn’t he? He gives the full

explanation.
(18)You, then, may hear the parable of the sower. When a

man hears the world that tells of the kingdom but fails to un-
derstand it, the evil one comes and carries off what has been
sown in his heart. There you have the seed sown along the
footpath. The seed sown on rocky ground stands for the man
who, on hearing the word, accepts it at once with joy; but as
it strikes no root in him he has no staying-power, and when
there is trouble or persecution on account of the word he
falls away at once. The seed sown among the thistles repre-
sents the man who hears the word, but worldly cares and the
false glamour of wealth choke it, and it proves barren. But
the seed that fell into good soil is the man who hears the word
and understands it, who accordingly bears fruit, and yields a
hundredfold, or, it may be, sixtyfold or thirtyfold.
16
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
There is no special significance to the ‘hundredfold, sixty-

fold’ and so on. That’s just a quantity. He is saying that if a fel-
low digests the truth, knows what is said according to his capaci-
ty and ability, he will just give whatever fruit he can and God
will be satisfied with whatever he can manage.
What did Jesus mean when He said ‘If you have ears, then
hear’? There’s a difference between just hearing something and
listening and trying to understand what we hear. Just hearing is
not enough.
Now, somebody is speaking: Jesus Christ was preaching,
speaking. Among those multitudes who were attending, some of
those present were thinking about different things, not listening
at all to what Christ was saying, yet they were ‘hearing’ him.
They couldn’t close their ears, and the vibrations of sound were
affecting their ears, but they didn’t really have ‘ears to hear’.
Others had their heart occupied with some other things, not as
holy! Of course, they heard His words, but didn’t have the dispo-
sition, the desire to think about what they heard. They were
thinking about other things. Others maybe had in their minds
wicked, very bad, thoughts, barring the entrance of the words of
Christ. They were hearing, but not listening and not understand-
ing.
The Greeks say ‘Nοῦς ὅϱα ϰαἱ νοῦς ἀϰούει’, which
means it’s the mind which sees and the mind which hears, not
the eyes or ears. When Christ said ‘Those who have ears will
hear,’ He didn’t mean the ears on their heads! People may have
ears on the side of their head, but not those ears of the mind, with
which to listen and really hear. So Christ is saying ‘Those who
want to hear, and understand, will hear my words.’ Otherwise…
17
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Tares
THE TARES Matt. 13:24-30 & 36-43
The kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed his

field with good seed; but while everyone was asleep his ene-
my came, sowed darnel* among the wheat, and made off.
When the corn sprouted and began to fill out, the darnel
could be seen among it. The farmer’s men went to their mas-
ter and said, ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your
field? Then where has this darnel come from?’ ‘This is an
enemy’s doing,’ he replied. ‘Well men,’ they said, ‘shall we
go and gather the darnel?’ ‘No,’ he answered; ‘in gathering
it you might put up the wheat at the same time. Let them
both grow together till harvest; and at harvest-time I will tell
the reapers, “Gather the darnel first, and tie it in bundles for
burning; then collect the wheat into my barn.”’
(36) His disciples came to him and said, Explain to us the
parable of the darnel in the field.’ And this was his answer:
The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is
the world; the good seed stands for the children of the king-
dom, the darnel for the children of the evil one. The enemy
who sowed the darnel is the devil. The harvest is the end of
time. The reapers are angels. As the darnel, then, is gathered
up and burnt, so at the end of time the Son of Man will send
out his angels, who will gather out of his kingdom everything
that causes offence, and all whose deeds are evil, and these
will be thrown into the blazing furnace, the place of wailing
and grinding of teeth. And then the righteous will shine as
brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. If you have
ears to hear, then hear.
(*‘Darnel’ is a type of rye-grass which sprouts among wheat, but is

noticeable until the wheat is fairly well-grown.)
18
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now this is a very, very precious parable. Jesus speaks

about the Truth, the kingdom of heaven, goodness and good
actions. He tells us that circumstances, or awkward times, are
sowing the bad seed in our field. Jesus explains the ‘field’ as
meaning ‘the world’. We can also think of it as meaning our
present-day personality, which is the sum total of our elemen-
tals, good and evil. Both seeds grow, so you cannot pluck out
what you might call evil thoughts, or evil emotions, without
destroying the good emotions as well. Let them both grow,
because in time the harvest will come; that means, what is
good will be acknowledged. But what is evil will also be
known. The Archangels will sort put what’s good from each
person and will disenergize evil elementals, the bad weeds, and
throw them away. And how do they do it? By Reason. So,
a man is living according to his quality and is producing good
fruit and also some evil weeds. Jesus says that the ‘reapers’,
the Archangels and the angels, will sooner or later separate the
good fruit from what you could call the evil weeds. That’s
clear. He speaks about the Law of Destiny, that most wise
Law, and here he gives the perfect explanation. The good seed
will be kept while what is evil will be annihilated, will be
burned. He speaks of fire. What is fire in this case? Michael the
Archangel of the sun – Mind or Reason. Reason will burn every
thought which we consider as evil. Sooner or later the
harvest will come; Everyone will come to acknowledge the re-
ality of things. ‘Fire’ here is Mind, with which we can burn
what is evil.
We should not, think of this selection as keeping ‘good
spirits’ and burning the ‘bad spirits’. There are no bad spirits.
All spirits are good. Spirits are separate from time and space
19
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
and it is only their behaviour which may be considered as bad

in the worlds of separation. But can you easily distinguish
good and bad? You see a man’s actions. You see a man’s
thoughts, wishes, emotions, but you don’t know what’s behind
all those that you see in expression. And then, again, what is
evil and what is good? The ripening of the seeds will show us
what is what.
20
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
21
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Mustard Seed
THE MUSTARD SEED Matt. 13: 31-32
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard-seed, which a

man took and sowed in his field. As a seed, mustard is
smaller than any other; but when it has grown it is bigger
than any garden-plant; it becomes a tree, big enough for the
birds to come and roost among its branches.
22
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
When it is planted in the right place, the mustard-seed

grows more easily than other plants, because although, as the
parable says, it is the smallest of seeds it will grow very large.
So never mind if you think a fellow is very, very small. When
Beingness comes to life, and is well looked after, it will grow
and give much benefit – even food. Christ wanted us not to de-
spise people whom we think of as children, or stupid. Such
people need love and training. Christ planted this small seed in
good ground – that is Christianity – and if you care for it and
look after it, the plant can become so big that birds come and
rest on its branches. Who, then, are the birds? People in need of
shelter. Anyone who is in need can come to take refuge and
such a fellow can then be of help to others and take care of
them.
The mustard-seed also stands for truth. When it starts to
grow within us, it will become our code for life. Just a simple
thought on truth can grow and grow, just like the mustard-
seed, and become a principle which will guide us through our
life. At first, it is so simple and small, we may not recognise it
as the truth, but once we have understood it and have sown it,
it grows into a whole system, guiding our behaviour and build-
ing our character. Such is the kingdom of heaven. It will build
up the truth within us. Can evil be like that? No!
23
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Yeast in Flour
THE YEAST IN FLOUR Matt. 13:13
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman

took and mixed with half a hundred weight of flour till it was
all leavened.
(The Greek literally translated says ‘which a woman took and hid in
three sata of flour. The saton was a large Aramaic measure, of about
35 lbs.)
24
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is a parable we have often explained. Of course, Je-

sus was not just giving advice to bakers! The ‘kingdom of
heaven’ means the whole sense of life from beginning to end;
the realizing of your God-Self. The three measures of flour (I
don’t like ‘half a hundred weight’; it destroys the meaning) are
the three bodies: the material body, with its etheric double, its
yeast, the psychic body (astral body some call it) or emo-
tional body, with its etheric double, its yeast, and the noetic
body, or the mind body; three bodies.
We say that these three bodies, the three of them togeth-
er, compose the present-day personality of a human being. A
human being has a material body, a feeling or emotional body,
and a thinking, if not reasoning (sometime it will be reason-
ing), but thinking body. That present-day personality, the
‘woman’, is ‘mixing’, that means ‘using properly’, reasonably,
these three measures of flour, the material body, the psychic
(emotional) and the noetic (mind) body together, under the
control of the mind, the reason. The water (not mentioned
there, but understood), with which the woman mixes the yeast
into the three measures of flour, until all of them become lea-
vened, is energy. There is no reasoning without energy in it.
She makes one holy substance.
Now, the yeast is what we call etheric vitality, of which
the etheric double is made. Again, it is Mind at a different rate
of vibration. The water, which the woman must use to mix the
yeast into the three measures of flour, can also stand for Truth.
Unless the material body, the psychic body and the noetic
body become one in Truth, how can we enter the kingdom of
heaven? If you, the ‘woman’, do not mix them all together,
unify them, your present-day personality is not doing what it
25
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
must. Mixing only the material body with the psychic body,
the body of the emotions, without mixing in right thinking,
thought and Mind, is not enough.
The personality is one. The ‘woman’ is the present-day
personality and the Permanent Personality behind it. The pre-
sent-day personality is the extension of the Permanent Person-
ality. It is a line with two ends; one end is the present-day per-
sonality, the other is the Permanent Personality. But they are
definitely one. The present-day personality is the expression
from time to time of the Permanent Personality in time and
space. There is a difference all right, but the Permanent Per-
sonality, the Soul-Ego, is the unchanging Personality, which is
assimilating, storing and expressing the experiences of all its
many present-day personalities.
Now, the water; shall we not call that water the pulse of
life? I like this expression - the pulse of life. When Christ was
talking to the Samaritan woman, (John 4:7) He said to her at
the well ‘Give me to drink.’ Of course it was a daring thing to
do, and she told Him, ‘How is it that you, a Judean, are asking
from a Samaritan woman?’ (There was a great enmity between
these two tribes of the Jews.) He said, ‘Woman, give me to
drink.’ And He told her that those who drink water from this
well will get thirsty again. They will be in need of drinking
water and more water and more water. ‘But those who drink
the water I will give them will never feel thirsty in eternity, in
centuries.’ Then of course that woman said to him, ‘Sir, give
me of that water so that I will not be obliged to come to this
well any more.’ What did He say? ‘I am the water of life’.
Christ called Himself the light of the world, as well as the wa-
ter of life. We should notice, in the parables and teaching of the
26
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
God-man, where he mentions the elements in their higher

vibrations and deeper meanings than as we know them, see
them and understand them in the gross material world.
The Treasure in a Field
27
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
THE TREASURE IN A FIELD Matt. 13:44
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure lying buried in a

field. The man who found it, buried it again; and for sheer joy
went and sold everything he had, and bought that field.
The Pearl of Great Price
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE Matt. 13:45-46
Here is another picture of the kingdom of heaven. A

merchant looking out for fine pearls found one of very
special value; so he went and sold everything he had, and
bought it.
28
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
These two parables are about the same thing. In the first,
the ‘field’ is the material body, matter, earth, soil. The ‘treas-
ure’ is Soul-Self-Awareness. Once anyone has found the treas-
ure in the field, which means they have found Self-Awareness
within them, they don’t care any more about external posses-
sions. That person sells everything and concentrates on the
treasure. And the treasure is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Bought
that field’ means realizing that it’s You inside the human
form, so it is You that takes on the human form.
In the second parable, the pearl is our Ego. This is a dif-
ferent way of putting the parable about the field and the treas-
ure. A merchant was on the lookout for fine pearls and was
collecting them, but when he found that most precious pearl,
he didn’t care about the others he had, or the cost, and sold all
that he had to acquire the precious one. ‘Sold them’ means
that he gave them up. The pearls he already had were his ma-
terial body, his emotions, his desires, his way of living, his re-
lationships and all the enjoyment he had from them. This was
something he had spent his life collecting and which he valued
until he found his inner Self, his Ego-Self. Only after banish-
ing his egoism – the sum total of all his other treasures – could
he acquire that precious pearl, his Ego, his inner Self. When
he had found it, he didn’t want anything else and was con-
cerned only with Self-Realization.
29
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Net of Fishes
THE NET OF FISHES Matt. 13:47-50
Again the kingdom of heaven is like a net let down into

the sea, where fish of every kind were caught in it. When it was
full, it was dragged ashore. Then the men sat down and
collected the good fish into pails and threw the worthless
away. That is how it will be at the end of time. The angels
will go forth, and they will separate the wicked from the
good, and throw them into the blazing furnace, the place of
wailing and grinding of teeth.
30
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
What is this ‘blazing furnace, the place of wailing and

grinding of teeth’? It is incarnation on the material plane. All
the ‘fish’, souls, are caught up in the same net, but it is not the
net which counts, it is your quality as a fish; how you have de-
veloped. The net is the act of passing over; so-called death. At
the end of material incarnation, after passing over, the Archan-
gels and all the angels will see what they have collected from
that ‘net’. They choose the good ones (the enlightened ones) to
be absorbed into a higher form of life – isn’t that what hap-
pens when you eat a fish? - and throw the others back into ma-
terial incarnation, to develop further.
There are two sorts of fire, which Jesus speaks of – inter-
nal and external – both of which are derived from the Everlast-
ing Fire, which is God. The internal fire is your real nature,
the Spirit-Soul. The external fire is that part of the Everlasting
Fire, which has been harnessed and formed into worlds of
matter. In this parable, the ‘blazing furnace’ is external fire, by
which Jesus means the world of gaining experience, living on
the planet, the place where ‘fire’ is destroying what ought to be
destroyed. The ‘good’ people, those who have used their
incarnations to learn their lessons, who have been purified by
this external fire, will go to their life of joy. Those who are
‘bad’, who have not made proper use of incarnation, come
back again to learn more of the Truth.
The Everlasting Fire is life, real Life, not manifested as a
phenomenon of life, but as an eternal flame which is God It-
self. You, as a Spirit-Soul, are a spark of the Everlasting Fire,
radiated from God into the material world, the ‘blazing fur-
nace’ of external fire, but each one of you is at the same time a
part of that everlasting Fire. A Lawyer into Learner
31
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
A LAWYER INTO LEARNER Matt. 13:52
When, therefore, a teacher of the law has become a

learner in the kingdom of heaven, he is like a householder
who can produce from his store both the old and the new.
32
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The ‘householder’ is the Permanent Personality. When

the Personality has learnt the new rules of the kingdom of
heaven, it will be able to bring out its ‘store’ (the Perma-
nent Atom, where the experiences of its many present-day per-
sonalities’ expressions are held), precious possessions both
new and old. Jesus is saying that valuable treasures, both old
and new are allowed. We’ll carry them with us, and not lose
them. This is just like the teaching where He tells us to store
our treasures in heaven and not on earth, so that they cannot
be spoilt by rust and moths, or stolen by thieves. Then we shall
be able to have our treasures in the kingdom of heaven.
33
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Feeding of Five Thousand
THE FEEDING OF FIVE THOUSAND Matt. 14:13-21
Jesus withdrew privately by boat to a lonely place; but

the people heard of it, and came after him in crowds by land
from the towns. When he came ashore, he saw a great
crowd; his heart went out to them, and he cured those of
them that were sick. When it grew late, the disciples came up
to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the day has
gone; send the people off to the villages to buy themselves
food.’ He answered, ‘There is no need for them to go; give
them something to eat yourselves.’ ‘All we have here,’ they
said ‘is five loaves and two fishes.’ ‘Let them have them,’ he
replied. So he told the people to sit down on the grass; then,
taking the five loaves and two fishes, he looked up to heaven,
said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the dis-
sciples; and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate
to their hearts’ content; and the scraps left over, which they
picked up, were enough to fill twelve great baskets. Some five
thousand men shared this meal, to say nothing of women and
children.
34
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Feeding of Four Thousand
THE FEEDING OF FOUR THOUSAND Matt. 15:32-39
Jesus called his disciples and said to them, ‘I feel sorry

for all these people, they have been with me now for three
days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away
unfed; they might turn faint on the way.’ The disciples
replied, ‘Where in this lonely place can we find bread
enough to feed such a crowd?’ ‘How many loaves have
you?’ Jesus asked. ‘Seven,’ they replied, ‘and there area
few small fishes.’ So he ordered the people to sit down on the
ground; then he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and
after giving thanks to God he broke them and gave to the dis-
ciples, and the disciples gave to the people. They all ate to
their hearts’ content; and the scraps left over, which they
picked up, were enough to fill seven baskets. Four thousand
men shared this meal, to say nothing of women and chil-
dren. He then dismissed the crowds, got into a boat, and went
to the neighborhood of Megadan.
35
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
In our text of the New Testament, it says that Christ fed,

on one occasion, five thousand and, on another occasion, four
thousand, with only a few loaves of bread and some fishes.
The exact number of people He fed is not really important.
What is important is that He turned ether into matter. Christ is
now feeding thousands and thousands and thousands all over
the planet. Feeding the multitudes was not just done once. He
fed greater numbers or less numbers on various other occa-
sions. The evangelists have just told us about two of them.
Jesus said, ‘I am the Bread from Heaven.’ And we say
‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Now, are the numbers real-
ly of interest to us, or the event? What’s the event? The event is
that Christ, God, the God-Man, was doing what we call mir-
acles. He was the ONLY God-Man; all others who succeeded in
ascending – the masters of the past – were men-gods, who
ascended through many reincarnations; there’s only one God-
Man, Christ, Jesus Christ. So, by reading the Bible, and know-
ing what Christ was doing, we cannot do otherwise man accept
and believe. So Christ Himself is the bread from heaven.
Now, what did He say at the Last Supper? Giving bread
to the disciples, cutting some bread and giving it to them, He
said, ‘Take and eat. This is my body. This is my flesh.’ Giving
them bread; ‘I am the bread from heaven’. Giving them wine,
He said, ‘This is my blood, that gives life.’ These two things
are both symbolical and real. Eating bread we prolong the life
of the material body and the other bodies (cf. Psalm 104:15).
Christ the God-Man was the master of all the elements. We see
on many, many occasions, the phenomena of materialization
and dematerialization. So was it difficult for the God- Man to
take energy from the surrounding ether and form it and
36
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
shape it into bread, real pieces of bread, and then give them to
those hungry people to eat?
Christ, the God-Man, was the master of materialization
and dematerialization. Was the God-Man the only master of
materializations and dematerializations? Many others have
achieved that, and are doing so even now. We have masters of
materialization and dematerialization in our own time, but
they have a great respect towards the work of the Archangels,
the Lords of the elements. They do not do it just to show to
people that they know how it’s done. But Jesus Christ, the
God-Man, was doing everything by authority. By authority.
Other human beings do not have that authority and must re-
spect the work of the Archangels.
37
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Walking on Water
WALKING ON WATER Matt. 14:22-33
Then he made the disciples embark, and go on ahead to

the other side, while he sent the people away; after doing
that, he went up the hillside to pray alone. It grew Me, and
he was there by himself. The boat was already some furlongs
from the shore, battling a head-wind and a rough sea. Be
tween three and six in the morning he came to them, walking
over the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake
they were so shaken that they cried out in terror: ‘It is a
ghost!’ But at once he spoke to them: ‘Take heart! It is I; do
not be afraid.’
Peter called to him: ‘Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to
you over the water.’ ‘Come,’ said Jesus. Peter stepped down
from the boat, and walked over the water towards Jesus. But
when he saw the strength of the gale he was seized with fear,
and beginning to sink, he cried, ‘Save me, Lord.’ Jesus at
once reached out and caught hold of him and said, ‘Why did
you hesitate? How little faith you have!’ They then climbed
into the boat; and the wind dropped. And the men in the boat
fell at his feet, exclaiming, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’
38
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now, this is another actual event, a real event, mentioned

in the Bible. When the disciples went fishing, Jesus usually re-
mained behind to pray. We know from what we read that all
the disciples and Christ used to meet in the garden of Gethse-
mane. What was He saying to them on these occasions? Was
he not teaching them privately things that he was not preach-
ing openly to the multitudes? He was preaching just such
things as this, how to have faith; what they themselves could
do. You will find His instructions in many places in the New
Testament.
Now, why did Christ walk on the water like that? Maybe
to test them? He walked all the way from the shore to their
ship, walking on the water. When he got there, Peter, remem-
bering the lessons to them in the Garden of Gethsemane, wanted
to test himself. He was the enthusiastic disciple. He said, ‘Sir,
if it’s you, I am coming to you.’ Jesus said, ‘Come!’
Well, Peter started walking on the water, but when he
didn’t feel he had enough faith, he began to sink. Then he
called to Jesus to help him, which Jesus did. But we see Christ
rebuking him too. Why? ‘I’m teaching you all that. You know
all that, and still you are doubting.’ Well, Christ taught his dis-
ciples – you will find it in many places in the New Testament –
‘If you have faith only as the seed of a mustard-creeper, you
tell that mountain “Go!” and it will go.’ They were seeing so
many phenomena which are called miracles done by Christ,
all the time they were with Him, shouldn’t they be doing the
same? Why was He taking them with him? Christ Himself
sometimes lost His patience and was blaming them, but of
course it is not for us to do so. So, in this event, Peter tested
his faith.
39
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now, walking on the water was very easy for Christ, the
God-Man, being the Lord God, the Master of elements and all
the laws of the elements. Even now, don’t you think there are
people who can walk on water? All through the centuries in all
parts of the world, haven’t some of those whom the people call
saints been able to walk on water? And not only walk on wa-
ter, but fly in the air? What's that? Levitation! Nothing more
than that. And levitation is a phenomenon you can see even
now. So, this was simply a demonstration of levitation, or
maybe semi-materialization to make His body visible, but
lighter than water.
He was trying to teach His disciples it was something that
was possible for everyone to do.
40
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
41
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Transfiguration
THE TRANSFIGURATION Matt. 17:1-8
Six days later, Jesus took Peter and James and John the
brother of James, and led them up a high mountain where
they were alone; and in their presence he was transfigured;
his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as
the light And they saw Moses and Elijah appear, conversing
with him. Then Peter spoke: ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘how good it is
that we are here! If you wish it, I will make three shelters
here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ While
he was still speaking, a bright cloud suddenly overshadowed
them, and a voice called from the cloud: ‘This is my Son, my
Beloved, on whom my favour rests; listen to him.’ At the
sound of the voice the disciples fell on their faces in terror.
Jesus then came up to them, touched them and said, ‘Stand
up; do not be afraid.’ And when they raised their eyes, they
saw no one, but only Jesus.
42
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Transfiguration of the God-Man, Jesus, was a reali-

ty. What happened, then, when He Himself with three disci-
ples, those who could understand more than the others, went
to that mountain? Maybe that was a necessity for the Man Je-
sus-Joshua, to raise his personality to the level of his Divine
Inner Self, the God-Man, the Logos. Of course, the body of
Joshua-Jesus Christ was in a state which could endure those
most high vibrations of light and fire, which previously human
beings could not stand. Take Elijah. It says in the Old Testa-
ment that Elijah was raised into heaven in a chariot of fire.
This is what they saw or thought they saw. It means that Eli-
jah, the man-god, reaching his Divine state, tried to attune
himself to that state. And what happened? His material body
dissolved in a flame. We read of such events, not only in the
Old and New Testament, but in many stories of other coun-
tries. Christ, the God-Man, had a body which could stand
those vibrations and his body was shining like the sun. It was
no less radiant than the material sun. Maybe it was even
brighter. The disciples could not stand this total light and they
fell to the ground, face downwards.
Now, what is interesting here, and not much observed, is
that near Him stood Moses and Elijah. Who were they? In
another chapter we read that, when speaking of His inner Self,
Joshua, not yet 33 years of age in a material body, said, ‘Your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was
glad’ (John 8: 56). In the Psalms too, we read that ‘before the
mountains and the earth and everything was, thou art God’ (cf.
Psalms 90:2). GOD IS. He was speaking about the Eternal
Now, not as past, present and future. And of course the Phari-
sees there got angry. ‘You’re not even 50 years old and you
43
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
say you’ve seen Abraham?’ They wanted to pick up stones and

stone him. ‘Our fathers,’ they told him, ‘Abraham, Moses,
Elijah and others have died.’ He said ‘No! The God of Abra-
ham, Isaac, and Jacob is not God of the dead, but God of the
living’ (Matt. 22: 32). So Christ was abolishing the idea of
death, of annihilation. So what appeared on the mount with
Christ, whom the Apostles saw as Moses and Elijah? During
the time of Jesus, where were Moses and Elijah? Who knows?
Were they incarnated? Discarnate? In a higher and higher state
of Superconsciousness? It doesn’t say anything about it there.
But anyhow, they were most holy. I believe they were living
in their Superconscious state of existence, so they could ap-
pear in human form. Brilliant though, in that sun of light of Je-
sus.
Someone reading the Bible should not just fix his atten-
tion on the words, but should enter into the meaning of what is
written there and try to understand the truth in it, not just re-
garding Jesus as a human being very little understood, doing
that and that as phenomena, as miracles. As we teach it, there
are NO MIRACLES other than one - Life, the Absolute
Beingness. Everything happening, everything which happened
throughout time, are events in time and space. We must try to
study such events, not only in the Bible, but in the holy scrip-
tures of all civilizations, so as to enter into the Truth behind
them. Studying the Gospel, we should study Jesus Christ as He
presented Himself. I am the Way; the events happening. I am
the Way, Truth and Life. Apart from the Way, the happenings,
the events which happened and will happen, I am the Truth be
hind it. And Life. Life is Truth. Studying the New Testament
we must have eyes to see and ears to hear.
44
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
45
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Lost Sheep
THE LOST SHEEP Matt. 18:12-14
What do you think? Suppose a man has a hundred

sheep. If one of them strays, does he not leave the other nine-
ty-nine on the hillside and go in search of the one that
strayed? And if he should find it, I tell you this: he is more
delighted over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that nev-
er strayed. In the same way it is not your heavenly Father’s
will that one of these little ones should be lost.
46
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is one of the best parables. Jesus is saying that even

for the greatest sinner who has gone astray, the Father cares
and wants to bring him back. ‘For the moment, I care about
him more than the ones who are already there.’ When Jesus
said ‘more delighted’, He didn’t mean that the shepherd went
after the one lost sheep without caring about the other ninety-
nine. The ninety-nine were safe where they were. It’s not that
the Father loves this one and not that one. The ones that are
safe can wait a bit, but the lost one needs His immediate care
and attention and it makes Him happy when he has saved the
one in danger.
Jesus explains things clearly. The Father in heaven is not
disposed to let go of even one Soul-Self awareness. Even if, as
a present-day personality, it is asleep and misled in the world
of separation, the Lord is taking care of it. He will call us
back, He will find us, no matter where we are, in whatever
mud we are now lying, to ‘save’ us so that we can be joined to
the Father. That’s the Love of God.
This story should be read by some of those priests, who
threaten people with a literal hell, burning fire and agonies. I
have spoken to such dignitaries of the Church. ‘What kind of a
merciful God do you believe in,’ I asked them, ‘who created
men to live for 40 years, or maybe 50, 60 or even 100, and
then because of their way of life, which you call evil, would
cast them interminably into a hell of fire? That’s not a merci-
ful God! He must be the worst sadist, the worst sort of devil;
not a merciful God.’
This parable should be read by those who are preaching
or threatening people with an eternal hell. Really, Christianity
has suffered a lot from such stupidity and ignorance.
47
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Unforgiving Servant
THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT Matt. 18: 21-35
Then Peter came up and asked him, ‘Lord, how often

am I to forgive my brother if he goes on wronging me? As
many as seven times?’ Jesus replied, ‘I do not say seven; I
say seventy times seven.’
The kingdom of heaven, therefore, should be thought of
this way: there was once a king who decided to settle
accounts with the men who served him. At the outset there
appeared before him a man whose debt ran into millions.
Since he had no means of paying, his master ordered him to
be sold to meet the debt, with his wife, his children and
everything he had. The man fell prostrate at his master’s
feet. ‘Be patient with me’ he said, ‘and I will pay in full’ ;
and the master was so moved with pity that he let the man go
and remitted the debt. But no sooner had the man gone out
than he met a fellow-servant who owed him a few pounds;
and catching hold of him he gripped him by the throat and
said, ‘Pay me what you owe.’ The man fell at his fellow-
servant’s feet and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I
will pay you’; but he refused, and had him jailed until he
should pay the debt. The other servants were deeply
distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went
to their master and told him the whole story. He accordingly
sent for the man. ‘You scoundrel!’ he said to him; ‘I
remitted the whole of your debt when you appealed to me;
were you not bound to show your fellow-servant the same
pity as I showed to you?’ And so angry was the master that
he condemned the man to torture until he should pay the
debt in full. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with
you, unless you each forgive your brother from your hearts.
48
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This, too, is a very precious parable. ‘And forgive us our

transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us,’
as Yohannan has given me the Lord’s Prayer in English for me
to use in the lectures every day. In this parable, Jesus states
the Law of what we may call Cause and Effect. The Hindus
call it ‘karma’. Jesus just describes karma here; the Law of
Destiny. That means ‘whatever you sow, so shall you reap';
whatever you do that’s what will happen to you. It is telling
you that there is an account to be settled. The ‘king’, whom
the servants in the parable call ‘master’ is the Lord of Life, the
Father. He is most merciful. The servant has karma - an
account to be settled. And he was responsible for creating it,
by the way he lived. He realized that it was the wrong way;
we speak about what you call ‘sin’, which is contravention of
the law. Of course, under the Law of Cause and Effect, you
have to pay, but the Father, the ‘master’, is most merciful. The
man knelt before Him and He forgave him everything.
But when the same man went out he found the other
fellow owing him something. Of course in this world, day and
night, we owe something to someone, just as they owe us
something - good or bad. He grabbed him and said, ‘Now pay
me what you owe!’ The parable tells us that the Master knows
everything, watches everything. In another passage, Jesus tells
us that whatever you relieve others of, it’s gone and whatever
you demand, you get. So, if our Lord and Master sees that our
behaviour with our fellow men is such as not to forgive and
forget, how can we dare ask Him to forgive us? He forgives,
but He watches our subsequent behaviour.
I’ve read this parable many times, and have tried with
deep meditation to enter into the meaning of it, the meaning of
49
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
the Mercy of God, but I have not come to any conclusion yet.
These are very, very deep things to understand. How the Law
of Destiny, of Cause and Effect, and the Law of Mercy work
together are difficult to understand. Jesus gives us
independence and yet he states the Law of Cause and Effect
very clearly ; we can see it clearly all around us in our daily
life. We can also see the working of the Law of Mercy. I think
Jesus could have said more about this.
50
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
51
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Labourers in the Vineyard
THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD Matt. 20:1-16
The kingdom of heaven is like this. There was once a

landowner, who went out early one morning to hire labourers
for his vineyard ; and after agreeing to pay them the usual
day’s wage he sent them off to work. Going out three hours
later he saw more men standing idle in the marketplace. ‘Go
and join the others in the vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay
you a fair wage;’ so off they went. At noon he went out again,
and at three in the afternoon and made the same
arrangement as before. An hour before sunset he went out
and found another group standing there; so he said to them,
‘Why are you standing about like this all day with nothing to
do?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they replied; so he told
them, ‘Go and join the others in the vineyard.’ When evening
fell, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the
labourers and give them their pay, beginning with those who
came last and ending with the first.’ Those who had started
work an hour before sunset came forward, and were paid the
full day’s wage. When it came to the turn of the men who had
come first, they expected something extra, but were paid the
same amount as the others. As they took it, they grumbled at
their employer; ‘These late-comers have done only an hour’s
work, yet you have put them on a level with us, who have
sweated the whole day long in the blazing sun!’ The owner
turned to one of them and said, ‘My friend, I am not being
unfair to you. You agreed on the usual wage for the day, did
you not? Take your pay and go home. I choose to pay the last
man the same as you. Surely I am free to do what I like with
my own money. Why be jealous because I am kind?’ Thus
will the last be first and the first last.
52
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now this parable is most valuable for us, for all of us.
This is what I call Love. I'll not say again the Mercy of God.
I’ll say the Grace of God. Is that synonymous? Not exactly.
He gave certain things to do to some of his workers and told
them how much they would have as their reward; the kingdom
of heaven. Yes! That’s the kingdom of heaven. The others
came later. He didn’t care what they had been doing until that
time, living sinful lives or anything. They are workers and
they will enter the vineyard of life. They worked properly.
Less hours than the first ones, but more than those who came
later. They worked too. Again, he didn’t ask them, ‘What
work have you been doing till now?’ At the end, when he gave
to the last group the same as he gave to the first, there were
complaints. But he said: ‘Look here! How much did I tell you
you would have? So much. Don’t you have it? You have it.
What do you care if I'm generous and gave the others the
same as I gave you? I didn’t deduct anything from your
wages.’ So, the kingdom of heaven is given to everyone, no
matter what time they realize the Truth. I can use the church
word ‘repent’, though I don’t like that word. I call it ‘realizing
the Truth,’ or ‘coming to one’s senses.’ No matter at what
time in your life you find the Truth, you can enter the
kingdom of heaven.
This again is something I don’t understand fully; the
Grace and the Mercy of God. On the one hand we have the
Law, the iron, strong Law of Cause and Effect, and on the
other hand the Mercy and Grace of God, which we cannot
dispute. We see the great truth before us day and night and I
am not one to say ‘Why do you give to the last the same as
you gave to the first,’ because I know the Law of Love and
53
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Compassion. But how does it really work? The Law of Cause

and Effect resulting in the Law of Mercy and Grace is very
difficult to understand now. I’ll be happy some day to
understand it. Perhaps is refers to many lifetimes, but it is better
for us to understand it in one lifetime. Even if in one lifetime
you return from a prodigal life, you'll be favoured by the Mercy
and Grace of God - the ‘sinful’ with the good, just the same.
The good have their reward in their actions.
Every good action has the seed of its reward in it the
moment it is done. And every evil action has its ‘punishment’
(I would rather say ‘consequence') at the very moment when it
is committed. I don’t believe there is any fellow who is not
suffering for doing something evil. That sufferer may not be
under the Grace and Mercy of God. It is the aim of our
teaching to turn everyone back to the right way of life. What is
the difference between Mercy and Grace? I think Mercy is
‘forgiving’. Grace is ‘loving’. That’s what I think. We depend
on God’s Mercy. Grace is His own affair - not ours!
54
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
55
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Man With Two Sons
THE MAN WITH TWO SONS Matt. 21:28-32
What do you think about this? A man had two sons. He

went to the first, and said, ‘My boy, go and work today in the
vineyard.’ ‘I will, sir’ the boy replied; but he never went.
The father came to the second and said the same. ‘I will not,’
he replied, but afterwards he changed his mind and went.
Which of these two did as his father wished? ‘The second,’
they said. Then Jesus answered, I tell you this: tax-gatherers
and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of
you. For when John came to show you the right way to live,
you did not believe him, but the tax-gatherers and prostitutes
did; and even when you had seen that, you did not change
your minds and believe him.
56
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This was a whip for the Pharisees. There are people who at
first are not willing to do something - to do the Will of God.
But they come to their senses and say, ‘Oh! That’s the Will of
God’. And they do it. They become good. Jesus tells us that
we may find this attitude even in prostitutes and many ‘sinful’
people, who do the Will of God in the end. But those who
claim to be good - the priests and Pharisees of that time – don’t
do the Will of God. They pretend to, and they should do it, but
they don’t do it. So, who loves Him more? The ‘prostitutes’
and the ‘tax-gatherers’. That’s why this is a very bitter whip for
many, even now.
57
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Landowner’s Vineyard
THE LANDOWNER’S VINEYARD Matt. 21:33-43
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard: he put

a wall round it, hewed out a winepress, and built a watch-
tower; then he let it out to vine-growers and went abroad.
When the vintage season approached, he sent his servants to
the tenants to collect the produce due to him. But they took
his servants and thrashed one, murdered another and stoned
a third. Again, he sent other servants, this time a larger
number; and they did the same to them. At last he sent to
them his son. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. But when
they saw the son the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the
heir; come on, let us kill him, and get his inheritance.’ And
they took him, flung him out of the vineyard, and murdered
him. When the owner of the vineyard comes, how do you
think he will deal with those tenants? ‘He will bring those
bad men to a bad end,’ they answered, ‘and hand the
vineyard over to other tenants, who will let him have his
share of the crop when the season comes.’ Then Jesus said
to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:
THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED HAS
BECOME THE MAIN CORNER-STONE. THIS IS THE
LORD’S DOING, AND IT IS WONDERFUL IN OUR EYES.
Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken
away from you, and given to a nation that yields the proper
fruit.’
58
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The ‘vineyard’ means the Plan of the Infinite Beingness

regarding the world and life as a phenomenon in it. In this
parable, we are told that the landowner planted a vineyard and
'put walls around it’ (that is, created the human bodies in flesh
and bone). Each one of us is a vineyard. Then he gave it into the
charge of certain workers. Maybe the workers in it are
elementals. So, when he the master, the ‘landowner’, thought
it proper, he sent certain of his servants - in his private service,
not the workers in the vineyard. But those labourers in the
vineyard didn’t like to comply with the wishes of the
landowner, so they did what they pleased in the vineyard.
They did not accept that they had killed the servants which
had been sent. In this story Jesus meant the prophets who
came and had been slaughtered by the Jewish nation from
time to time.
And He says in the parable, ‘Now I'll send my son. Of
course they'll respect him. He’s my son. He’s not any servant,
not a prophet, just preaching. He’s speaking about the
kingdom of heaven.’ The workers understood that he was the
heir of that ‘property’ or condition - Life, all the phenomena
of life in the world. ‘Let us kill him and we'll be the masters
of this little kingdom.’ But the parable goes on to ask, when
the lord himself would come, what would he do to those evil
people, who have slaughtered his servants, his prophets and
even his son, Christ.
59
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Wedding Feast
THE WEDDING FEAST Matt. 22:1-14
The kingdom of heaven is like this. There was a king

who prepared a feast for his son’s wedding; but when he sent
his servants to summon the guests he had invited, they would
not come. He sent others again, telling them to say to the
guests, ‘See now! I have prepared this feast for you. I have
had my bullocks and fatted beasts slaughtered; everything is
ready; come to the wedding at once.9 But they took no no-
tice; one went off to his farm, another to his business, and the
others seized the servants, attacked them brutally and killed
them. The king was furious; he sent troops to kill those
murderers and set their town on fire. Then he said to his
servants, ‘The wedding-feast is prepared; but the guests I
invited did not deserve the honour. Go out to the main thor-
oughfares, and invite everyone you can find to the wedding.’
The servants went out into the streets and collected all they
could find, good and bad alike. So the hall was packed with
guests.
When the king came in to see the company at table, he
observed one man who was not dressed for a wedding. ‘My
friend/ said the king, ‘how do you come to be here without
your wedding clothes?’ He had nothing to say. The king
then said to his attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot; turn
him out into the dark, the place of wailing and grinding of
teeth.’ For many are invited, few are chosen.
60
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
(Alternative version) Luke 14:16-24
A man was giving a big dinner-party and had sent out

many invitations. At dinner-time he sent his servant with a
message for his guests, ‘Please come, everything is now
ready.’ They began one and all to excuse themselves. The
first said, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and 1 must go and
look over it; please accept my apologies.’ The second said, ‘I
have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am on my way to try
them out; please accept my apologies.’ The next said, ‘I have
just got married and for that reason I cannot come.’ When
the servant came back he reported to his master. The master
of the house was angry and said to him, ‘Go out quickly into
the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the
crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ The servant said, ‘Sir,
your orders have been carried out and there is still room.’
The master replied, ‘Go out onto the highways and along the
hedgerows and make them come in; I want my house to be
full. I tell you not one of those who were invited shall taste
my banquet.’
61
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The wedding feast (or ‘the big dinner-party’) here means

‘Creation’. This is the Creation through His Son - His projection
as the Logos, the Expression of God, ‘through whom everything
was made’. What is the Logos? Truth! ‘I am the Way. I am the
Life. I am the Truth,’ He said. Creation is the noetic world, the
psychic world and the material world. It was created for a pur-
pose. That’s the meaning of ‘feast’. He invited people to the
feast, but they just treated the feast, Creation, the kingdom of
heaven, life in the material and the other two worlds as some-
thing to play with. And they didn’t accept his invitation. This
parable is specially directed at the Jews, God’s selected people.
But those people had got stuck in their own way of living in the
material world. In St Luke’s version of the parable, each one
gave an excuse. ‘I’ve bought ten oxen and I have to go and look
after them.’ That one’s saying, ‘I don’t care about your kingdom
of heaven or the feast. I only care about what interests me. I don’t
have time for your feast.’ Another said, ‘I’ve been married to a
woman. I’ve got so many worries. I don’t care about your feast.’
They were all giving excuses according to their material inter-
ests.
What’s the ‘invitation’ then? To live properly in accor-
dance with the joy of God. Live with love and not in a world
of separation. And what did the Jews do to their prophets?
They killed most of the prophets, those servants of God. But
the feast - Creation - goes on. It is going on.
The king was angry. He sent his troops, the Archangels
in charge of the Law of Cause and Effect (‘whatever you sow,
so shall you reap’), to punish those murderers. The Army of
God is the Law of Goodness in Creation. I think Jesus put it
very well.
62
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
So the king sent a message to his servants, that is to the an-

gels and Archangels, ‘Bring everyone in to my feast. Go out
into the streets and roads;’ that means, ‘everywhere’ and ‘don’t
confine yourself only to the Jewish nation. Go into the world, to
all nations.’ Didn’t Jesus send his disciples to go all over the
world and call people to the kingdom of heaven? The Jews
weren’t interested in Jesus’ message. They had their own mate-
rial interests and traditions. But that’s not the aim of life. The
aim of life is the kingdom of heaven within us and the kingdom
of heaven everywhere.
So guests began to arrive. But to take part in the feast you
must have the right clothes on. That means ‘purity of the noetic
and psychic bodies; of the mind and the emotions.’ Those are
the bodies who deserve to take part in the feast, to express love,
according to the Will of God. When the ‘king’ came (that means
the Law of Judgement), he found one there who didn’t have
wedding clothes on. This was one of the offspring of Lucifer, or
what you call the devil. ‘How did you get here?’ said the king,
'It is not your place. You don’t have the right clothes for my
feast.’ He ordered his servants, the Archangels, to cast them
into ‘darkness’, which means ignorance, where there is ‘wailing
and grinding of teeth’. What does this mean? Into incarnation in
material life. Don’t we find that sort of despair in the material
world? It’s not only the so-called devil who had to be cast out
into the darkness, but also those devilish humans, who have to
reincarnate to pay their debt. Jesus speaks of ‘wailing and grind-
ing of teeth’, rather than saying ‘despair’. Others may call it
‘hell’. The hell is man on the material plane as well as on the
psychic and lower noetic planes. The material plane has its hells
too. And paradises. And the feast. And the kingdom of heaven.
63
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Fig Tree
THE FIG-TREE Matt. 24:32-35
Learn a lesson from the fig-tree. When its tender shoots

appear and are breaking into leaf you know that summer is
near. In the same way, when you see all these things, you may
know that the end is near, at the very door. I tell you this: the
present generation will live to see it all. Heaven and earth will
pass away: my words will never pass away.
64
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is an expression of the Law. Fig trees drop their

leaves in the winter, so when you see the new leaves coming,
you know that summer is not far away. That’s the pre-destined
Law, the Law of Growing to which we all have to conform.
You have to follow events; each phenomenon happens at the
right time for it. This is the Law of Destiny. But this has noth-
ing to do with Hindu karma. Destiny and pre-destined events
mean that the cycle of growth will occur, whether you want it
to or not. There has to be birth - the new leaves - and there has
to be growth and passing over. Eventually the leaves fall
down, when winter approaches. That is when old age comes.
The present generation cannot escape anything of this inevita-
ble cycle. Nobody can say that there will not be an event we
call ‘death’. Everything is subject to this cycle of birth, growth
and death, or change, but not Jesus' words. They are not sub-
ject to this Law. His message is eternal.
But, if I'm not mistaken, ‘pre-destined’ does not mean
that our ability to express ourselves in this or that way is re-
moved from us. ‘Summer’ means life to be expressed. What is
pre-destined is simply the cycle of events, birth, growing ev-
ery hour, every day, every year and passing over. But life –
that’s our own.
65
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Trusty Servant
THE TRUSTY SERVANT Matt. 24: 45-51
Hold yourselves ready, therefore, because the Son of

Man will come at the time you least expect him. Who is the
trusty servant, the sensible man charged by his master to
manage his household staff and issue their rations at the
proper time? Happy that servant who is found at his task
when his master comes! I tell you this: he will be put in
charge of all his master’s property. But if he is a bad servant
and says to himself, ‘The master is a long time coming,’ and
begins to bully the other servants and to eat and drink with his
drunken friends, then the master will arrive on a day that
servant does not expect, at a time he does not know, and will
cut him in pieces. Thus he will find his place among the hy-
pocrites, where there is wailing and grinding of teeth.
66
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is a most encouraging parable. He gave his servant -

each human being coming to the material plane to serve His
Law - He gave him His property. What is that property? It is
Mind as matter, Mind as emotion and Mind as reason with
which to use the other two. Now, what does the bad servant
do? He fights his fellow men, kills them, steals from them.
This is what is happening now on the planet.
But the Law and the Lord are observing what is being
done. Sooner or later each of these bad servants will pass over
and see the result. He won’t stay on the material plane, living
his non-essential life forever. And when there is an account he
will be cast away to where there is ‘wailing and grinding of
teeth’ - incarnation again on the material plane - until he
learns his lessons.
But what is promising is that the man who is faithful with
what his master gives him - the material body and the other
bodies and all God’s other gifts - he will be trusted with ev-
erything. ‘All his master’s property’ can only mean the uni-
verses, the whole of Creation! This parable is an extension of
the Parable of the Talents. The trusty servant makes good use
of his life and his body, using Mind.
67
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Wise and Foolish Virgins
THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS Matt. 25:1-13
When that day comes, the kingdom of heaven will be like

this. There were ten girls, who took their lamps and went out
to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five
prudent; when the foolish ones took their lamps, they took no
oil with them, but the others took flasks of oil with their
lamps. As the bridegroom was late in coming, they all dozed
off to sleep. But at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Here is the
bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ With that all the girls got
up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent,
‘Our lamps are going out; give us some of your oil.’ ‘No,’ they
said; ‘there will never be enough for us both. You had better
go to the shop and buy some for yourselves.’ While they were
away the bridegroom arrived; those who were ready went in
with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. And then the
other five came back. ‘Sir, Sir,’ they cried, ‘open the door for
us.’ But he answered, ‘I declare, I do not know you.’ Keep
awake then; for you never know the day or the hour.
68
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Each group of five girls with their five lamps represents

the present-day personality with its five senses. One lot uses
their five senses with reason; that’s the ‘oil’. It gives light.
And the others? They don’t care about what they see or they
taste, what they eat or what they do. They don’t take any no-
tice of what their senses tell them. So what happens to those
who neglect or misuse their Divine gifts, their five senses?
Some are using them wisely, some in a foolish way. The wise
have light; right thought, right emotions. These thoughts and
emotions are the light shining.
Who are they waiting for? The ‘coming of the bride
groom’ is the awakening of the Soul-Ego as God. Nobody
knows the hour. Sooner or later that will come, in the passing
over, or the second, or even the third death, as we call it.
Suppose you have a personality now who is making very,
very bad use of the five senses. How will that personality ad-
vance to realize the coming of the Lord? And who is the
Lord? Who is the bridegroom? The Soul-Ego, the realization
of God-being in Theosis. One day the present-day personali-
ty will gaze at this event without being ready, not having any
‘oil’ in its ‘lamps’. So how can that personality know the Bride-
groom, or acknowledge the Soul-Ego as God within us when
nobody knows when it will happen? Remember, the ‘oil’ is
reason; reason as thought; reason in emotions; and reason in
dealing with the material plane, using the five senses wisely.
That is what gives light.
69
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Talents
THE TALENTS Matt. 25:14-30
The kingdom of heaven is like a man going abroad, who

called his servants and put his capital in their hands; to one
he gave five bags of gold, to another two, to another one,
each according to his capacity. Then he left the country.
The man who had the five bags went at once and employed
them in business, and made a profit of five bags, and the
man who had the two bags made two. But the man who had
been given one bag of gold went off and dug a hole in the
ground, and hid his master’s money. A long time afterwards
their master returned, and proceeded to settle accounts with
them. The man who had been given the five bags of gold
came and produced the five he had made: ‘Master,’ he said,
‘you left five bags with me; look, I have made five more.’
‘Well done, my good and trusty servant!’ said the master.
‘You have proved trustworthy in a small way; I will now put
you in charge of something big. Come and share your
master’s delight.’ The man with two bags then came and said:
‘Master, you left two bags with me; look, I have made two
more.’ ‘Well done, my good and trusty servant!’ said the
master. ‘You have proved trustworthy in a small way; I will
now put you in charge of something big. Come and share
your master’s delight.’ Then the man who had been given
one bag came and said, ‘Master, I know you to be a hard
man: you reap where you have not sown, you gather where
you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went and hid
your gold in the ground. Here it is - you have what belongs
to you.’ ‘You lazy rascal!’ said the master. ‘You knew that
I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not
scattered? Then you ought to have put my money on deposit,
70
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
and on my return I should have got it back with interest. Take

the bag of gold from him and give it to the one with ten bags.
For the man who has will always be given more, till he has
enough and to spare; and the man who has not will for-feit
even what he has. Fling the useless servant out into the dark,
the place of wailing and grinding of teeth!’
71
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
In the Greek and the older English version, the ‘bags of

gold’ were known as ‘talents’ - the talent was a large Roman
measure of silver. Never mind. The five ‘bags of gold’ are
the material body, the etheric double of the material body, the
psychic body with its etheric double and the noetic body - five
in all. The noetic body does not have an etheric double as
such. Mind is Mind and we cannot distinguish Mind as an
etheric double of the noetic (mind) body. It is simply Mind.
Mind is concrete or abstract, concrete or formless super-
substance. Can you call that an etheric double?
The first man made these five into ten. That means de-
veloping them in their nature in higher planes beyond the uni-
verses. We know of seven heavens, but can only experience
four of them and half of the fifth, in what we call the noetic
world.
‘Master’s delight’. What is the ‘master’s delight’? There
is a difference, now, between the master’s delight or joy, and
our joy. Our joy is in obtaining this or that and having what
we call self-satisfaction. But what is our master’s joy? The
master’s joy is creating universes. We have to learn what our
master’s delight or joy really is.
To the next man he gave two talents; that means a materi-
al body and certain emotions - a psychic body. He had worked
on them during his life and when the master came he said to
him, ‘Sir, you have given me two talents; here are four.’ That
means, you have given me a material body and an emotional
body, and I have also made a mind body, by working with
these two - the material body and emotional body. I made a
complete noetic body - not only the lower mind body, but even
a higher mind body as well.
72
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now, let us look carefully at the fellow who got the two
talents and made them four. That is of especial interest for us.
Given a material body and an emotional body, we develop the
two bodies into mind, thought. So we make a mind body and
a causal body (let us call it that), a higher mental body.
What did the master say to that fellow? ‘Well done, you
faithful worker. You have been faithful in little things and I’ll
entrust you with more.’ Master of more! Now it says in St
Luke’s version of the parable (Luke 19: 20), that the one who
doubled his talents, was made the governor of so many cities.
Now what is the difference between a talent and a city? The
one who made the two talents four, he made him master of four
cities. Don’t imagine Christ is talking nonsense, or exag-
gerating things. No. We have been given a material body and a
psychic body and we build our mind body, and our causal
body, or reason.
This lifts us up - where? From subconsciousness and
even consciousness to our self-consciousness and Self-
Superconsciousness. That means Self-Realization, knowing
that we are gods. What did the master say to that servant?
‘Enter into the joy of your master.’ He didn’t say, ‘Feel your
joy,’ a human joy. He said the ‘joy of our master’. This is the
point we should observe. What is the joy of our master - of
the Infinite Beingness? Creation! That is the joy of our master.
The ‘one bag of gold’ is the material body. The master
gave to the last fellow one talent. It says in the parable that
when the time came to get an account, the master asked the
one to whom he gave the one talent, ‘What have you done
with that talent?’ He answered, ‘Look here, I have hidden it in
the earth, because I knew you were coming. You gave me one
73
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
talent. Here! Have it back.’ And the lord said, ‘No. You
should have put it somewhere to get a profit out of it. Back
again to the prison,’ (that means reincarnation) ‘to learn your
lesson.’ I have given you a body and you just return to mother-
earth a body and nothing more than that, and you remain ex-
actly what you were without any ‘profit’. ‘Take him out of the
body I gave him,’ says the master, the lord, ‘He has just hid-
den it in the earth, in matter; made nothing of it.’ So, take him
out of his material body and do what with him? Reincarnate
him in the dark, the material world. Darkness is ignorance, is
it not? This is one of the warning parables.
To us the Parable of the Talents is very, very clear. But
this is a parable for which even dignitaries of the church, of
both Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches, cannot
give an explanation. I have spoken with eminent men, even
Cardinals. But we can give an explanation.
So the Infinite Beingness is entrusting his faithful ser-
vants with, yes, joy, His own joy. Everyone should reach his
own conclusions about that. This is a parable which reveals
much of the truth about Creation and the place of a man with
his bodies in God’s Creation. What is Creation? Some of the
answer can be understood from the Parable of the Prodigal
Son.
74
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
75
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Sheep and the Goats
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS Matt. 25:31-46
When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the an-
gels with him, he will sit in state on his throne, with all the
nations gathered before him. He will separate men into two
groups, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,
and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats
on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand,
‘You have my Father’s blessing; come, enter and possess
the kingdom that has been ready for you since the world was
made. For when I was hungry, you gave me food; when I
was thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was a stranger you
took me into your home, when naked you clothed me; when
I was ill you came to my help, when in prison you visited
me.’ Then the righteous will reply, ‘Lord, when was it that
we saw you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you
drink, a stranger and took you home, or naked and clothed
you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and come to visit
you?’ And the king will answer, ‘I tell you this: anything you
did for one of these my brothers here, however, humble, you
did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left hand, ‘The
curse is upon you; go from my sight to the eternal fire that is
ready for the devil and his angels. For when I was hungry
you gave me nothing to eat, when thirsty nothing to drink;
when I was a stranger you gave me no home, when naked
you did not clothe me; when I was ill and in prison you did
not come to my help.’ And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when
was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or ill or in prison and did nothing for you?’ And he
will answer, ‘I tell you this: anything you did not do for one
76
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
of these, however humble, you did not do for me.’ And they
will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous will
enter eternal life.
77
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now, what is it that we believe? That Christ, Jesus the

Christ, is God, the Logos, or Absolute Beingness in express-
ion. And it is Jesus who is telling this parable. Yohanan says of
Christ at the beginning of his Gospel that He is the light
which lights every man that comes into the world. But the
Christ is not just a person - Joshua or Jesus. It is a Principle,
the Principle of Life, giving us Self-awareness.
At the moment we pass over (into the psychic world), we
see the truth and the reality. We see the Lord, the Master.
That is when the good have what we call
- feeling one with Christ. He says ‘All of you are me!’ That’s
what we call ‘at-one-ment’ with the Logos. When you reach
that stage, you still have your Ego, but you are as He is. And
He’s you. That means union. So the righteous realize that
whatever they have done to anyone else, they have done it to
Christ.
The other ones were not cursed by Christ, by the Logos.
The were already under the curse of separation. What they
have not done to their brothers, they have not done to the king.
Then He sends them to the fire.
Now, this is external fire. That means matter. Each atom is
built of fire, isn’t it? Matter is external fire, because fire in
reality is not something harmful. Christ separates internal
from external fire. Inner fire is Mind and, as we have said,
matter itself is solid Mind. The external fire has been prepared
for ‘the devil and his followers.’ That means those who are
under the Law of Separation and who feel they are different
from everybody else. So the Logos didn’t curse them; they
were already under the curse - the Law of Separation.
In this parable, Jesus is telling us that we are all each-
78
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
other. Of course, this is how the Archangels experience at-

one-ness, one with all and all with one. But human beings do
not feel it because we are in the world of separation. This is
one of the best parables. Although we are separate Egos and
each of us has our I-ness, this parable tells us that we are He.
We are Life. As long as you don’t realize that, you don’t
have at-one-ment with Christ. When you do understand,
you'll see that whatever you do to others, you do to yourself
and to Him.
79
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Growing Seed
THE GROWING SEED Mark 4:26-29
The kingdom of God is like this. A man scatters seed on

the land; he goes to bed at night and gets up in the morning,
the seed sprouts and grows - how, he does not know. The
ground produces a crop by itself, first the blade, then the ear,
then the full-grown corn in the ear; but as soon as the crop
is ripe, he sets to work with the sickle, because harvest-time
has come.
80
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is like the Parable of the Fig-Tree. The kingdom of

heaven on earth is changing and ripening, whether we want it
to or not. We are under the Divine Plan. That means pregnan-
cy, birth, growing, growing, growing, whether we understand
it or not, or are fast asleep, we are growing. We are under the
Law of Life. So one day there is fruit from the seed that has
been sown. And what is that? Mastery of Mind.
This parable is about passing over or ‘death’. It’s about
realizing the cycle of possibilities for each human being. It is
something which will happen and cannot be avoided. It de-
scribes the work of the Lord Himself and of the Archangels of
the elements in producing the phenomena of life.
The parable is also about cause and effect, or karma. ‘A
man scatters his seed on the land.’ He does things: good things
and bad things, but he isn’t always aware of the consequences.
When it is time for him to understand and reap the harvest, he
sees the results. This is when he understands the Law of Cause
and Effect. The parable concerns the mastery of Mind. The
Law of Cause and Effect is the basis of the Law of Life. So,
what’s the Law of Life? What are you living in the material
world for? Isn’t it just to master Mind?
This parable, then, works at two levels. Mastery of Mind
increases with each incarnation (each ‘harvest’). Full mastery
of Mind is achieved when our cycle of incarnations is com-
plete.
81
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Two Debtors
THE TWO DEBTORS Luke 7: 39-50
One of the Pharisees invited him to dinner; he went to

the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table. A woman
who was living an immoral life in the town had learned that
Jesus was dining at the Pharisee’s house and had brought
oil of myrrh in a small flask. She took her place behind him,
by his feet, weeping. His feet were wetted with her tears and
she wiped them with her hair, kissing them and anointing
them with the myrrh. When his host the Pharisee saw this,
he said to himself, ‘If this fellow were a real prophet, he
would know who this woman is that touches him, and what
sort of woman she is, a sinner.’ Jesus took him up and said,
‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Speak on, Master,’
said he. ‘Two men were in debt to a money-lender: one owed
him five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. As neither had
anything to pay with he let them both off. Now, which will
love him most?’ Simon replied, ‘I should think the one that
was let off most.’ ‘You are right,’ said Jesus. Then turning
to the woman, he said to Simon, ‘You see this woman? I
came to your house: you provided no water for my feet; but
this woman has made my feet wet with her tears and wiped
them with her hair. You gave me no kiss; but she has been
kissing my feet ever since I came in. You did not anoint my
head with oil; but she has anointed my feet with myrrh. And
so, I tell you, her great love proves that her many sins have
been forgiven; where little has been forgiven, little love is
shown.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ The
other guests began to ask themselves, ‘Who is this, that he
can forgive sins?’ But he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has
saved you; go in peace.’
82
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now, if you remember, in a previous parable, Jesus

speaks of the reward people are having for different hours of
work - the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. Some
worked so many hours, and others fewer hours and yet others
fewer hours still, and he gave the same to all of them. The first
ones complained and said, ‘We thought he’d give us more.’ In
the forgiveness of sins, though, you don’t usually make a com-
plaint because you’re forgiven, even though you only asked at
the last moment! Once you have asked with all your heart,
which means real repentance, real change of mind and behav-
iour, you’ve repaid your debt. If you’re forgiven for some
transgression earlier than one who ‘owes more’ (which means
unwilling to understand his lesson), what’s there to complain
about? What’s to be forgiven is the debt. When it’s forgiven is
not our business.
You owe that much, so much. That means: the lesson you
have to learn. He asks, who would love the master more? The
one who is forgiven more, who is more indebted. The two par-
ables are the same from two different points of view. He is
saying that it is not the amount which should be taken into
consideration, but simply to learn the lesson. And what is the
lesson? We have transgressed against a Law, so that state of
things must not last for long. There must be balance and har-
mony. This is what counts, to bring back harmony. We learn
our lesson when we realize we are indebted and are willing to
pay. And when we are forgiven it is Absolute Beingness who
decides how much he will free us from owing. That’s the Law
of Mercy, which is so mysterious and which we really don’t
understand.
Let me give you another example. Say you are the tenant
83
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
of a vast - a very big field and you sow weeds in the field in
stead of wheat. And next door to you there is a man with a
very little field, who sows the same weeds. You see them all
growing at the same rate - in the big field and in the little field.
And the owner of the land hears about it and he comes and
says, ‘Wait! What are you doing? What you have sown is not
good quality seed. See what you have done!’ So the owner
tells you both, ‘All right, I want these fields cleared. I entrust-
ed the big field to you and the little field to you. Now start up-
rooting your weeds.’ Of course the man with the little field
will uproot the weeds at the same rate as you with your big
field. So the same amount of weeds will be uprooted by each
of you. Now the owner, seeing the quantity of weeds still to
be uprooted in your very, very big field, comes and brings
some of his servants to help you, because you’ve got fifteen
times as many weeds as the man with the little field. In the
end, both fields are cleared and all right to sow good seed in.
And if the man with the little field complains and says, ‘Hey!
Look here! Those servants you sent to help him, why didn’t
they help me too?’ The owner will say, ‘What’s that to you?
Didn’t he uproot just the same amount of weeds as you did?
That means he got the same lesson you did - that you should
not grow weeds.’
That’s all. That’s how I see Divine Mercy. In one para-
ble He says it to us in terms of reward, and now in this one in
the form of forgiveness of transgressions.
From the human point of view, you may just complain,
but from the Divine point of view it is another matter. In the
Law of ‘Whatever you sow, so shall you reap,’ there is also
the Law of Divine Mercy. I see it around me all the time. So,
84
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
what really counts is not the amount of the debt, but just the
recognition of having a debt to pay.
Now, I discussed with a clergyman the question of con-
fession. And I told this fellow that two bandits were crucified
with Jesus. One of these criminals, we might call him, started
just playing with Jesus, saying; ‘You say you’re the son of
God’ (which means he knew what Christ was teaching). ‘So
why don’t you come down from the cross to save yourself and
save us too?’ He didn’t understand the mission of Jesus Christ
or the Law. The other fellow, who maybe had attended some of
Jesus’ sermons, had a fight going on in him. A fight be-
tween good and evil. He felt the stings of conscience. ‘What
have I done?’ He hadn’t been able to give it up, out of habit
and because of the way he was living. But all the time he real-
ized within himself that he was committing what we call a
crime, a sin, a transgression, whatever you like.
Yet we find Jesus crucified with these two criminals,
these two robbers. One of them didn’t understand his crimes.
He just wanted someone strong enough to save him. He relied
on the power of simple strength. The other one did under-
stand the situation. He told the first robber, ‘What are you
saying? You and I deserve what we’re suffering now.’ Which
shows he knew. ‘But why should this innocent man suffer?’
You will ask, ‘How do you know he attended the ser-
mons of Jesus?’ He knew what Jesus was teaching - the king-
dom of heaven. It wasn’t just at that moment that Jesus taught
him that. What did he say? ‘remember me when you come
into your kingdom.’ He knew for a fact that he had to pay for
his crimes. They were his. But he repented. And what did Je-
sus say to him? ‘truly, I tell you, today you shall be with me
85
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
in Paradise.’ Was this a favour? No. He had earned it. So, no

criminal can say ‘Oh! you have committed so many mur-
ders, come on! count them. So many - and I have committed
less than that’ Murder is murder.
This is what I call the Mercy of God. Do you remember
when Jesus told the rich young man to sell everything he had
and give it away? He said then about the Mercy of God, ‘It’s
as difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven as
for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.’ And when
they were surprised, Jesus said, ‘What is impossible humanly,
is possible for God’ (Mark 10:27). Which means that we
shouldn’t judge with our human intelligence and understand
ing. Because we don’t know what, in reality, the Mercy of
God is. When I make that prayer, before my lessons, I say:
‘God of Love, Life and Mercy.’ That very moment, I feel
within me something very, very strong. I understand Love. I
understand Life. But Mercy? What’s Mercy? Love without
limits? Yes, it must mean that.
86
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
87
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Good Samaritan
THE GOOD SAMARITAN Luke 10:25-37
On one occasion a lawyer came forward and put this

test question to him: ‘Master, what must I do to inherit eter-
nal life?’ Jesus said, ‘What is written in the Law? What is
your reading of it?’ He replied, ‘Love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength
and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’
‘That is the right answer,’ said Jesus; ‘do that and you will
live.’
But he wanted to vindicate himself, so he said to Jesus,
‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was on
his way from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he fell in with
robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went off leaving
him half dead. It so happened that a priest was going down
by the same road; but when he saw him, he went past on the
other side. So too a Levite came to the place, and when he
saw him went past on the other side. But a Samaritan who
was making the journey came upon him, and when he saw
him was moved to pity. He went up and bandaged his
wounds, bathing them with oil and wine. Then he lifted him
up on to his own beast, brought him to an inn and looked af-
ter him there. Next day he produced two silver pieces and
gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Look after him; and
if you spend any more, I will repay you on my way back.”
Which of these three was neighbour to the man who fell into
the hands of the robbers?’ He answered, ‘The one who
showed him kindness.’ Jesus said, ‘Go and do as he did.’
88
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now we know that the Jews, in Jesus’ time, were divided

into twelve tribes. The Samaritans were outcasts. No one
would give them any consideration, even though they were
Jews. If someone was called a Samaritan, it meant something
very, very bad. When Jesus went to the well, where the Sa-
maritan woman found him and He asked her to give Him
some water, she said, ‘Hey! You’re a Jew and you’re asking
a Samaritan to give you water?’ That clearly shows what the
situation was at the time. The Jews thought of the Samaritans
as outcasts.
Now, in this parable, Jesus is giving a strong blow and
great lesson. A priest, who is supposed to be a man of God,
passed the place and saw the man wounded by the bandits.
The priest took no notice of him - he even crossed the road to
keep his distance - and went away. He didn’t have love and
compassion towards his fellow man, though he was claiming
to worship God. That’s the greatest blow. The Levite, sup-
posedly another man of God, did the same. No expression of
love. They were too fixed in their egoism and their tribal be-
liefs. The Samaritan, the outcast, came along. He didn’t say,
‘Oh! that wounded man had better be a Samaritan, or I won’t
help him.’ He knew that he belonged to a class that despised
the Samaritans, yet he didn’t see him like that. He didn’t say,
‘Oh! You are not a Samaritan. You are one of those people
who insult us and chase us away.’ No he said: ‘You are in
need now, nearly dying. I don’t care who you are.’ And he
gave him some of his ‘oil and wine’ (that represents ‘care’
here), bathed his wounds, caressed him with the love of his
heart. And even that was not enough. Somebody had to look
after him, so he took him to an inn, where they had what was
89
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
needed to look after a wounded man. He gave them money and

said, ‘I will come back to see how he is.’ That meant that his
care was not just to that point; not just giving them some money
and forgetting the whole thing. ‘If you need more, I will give it
to you.’ That shows that he would come back to make sure -
more love. By putting the Samaritan into this par-able, who was
a sinner to the rest of the Jews, He gave a very, very strong
lesson to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. What He wants to
say here is ‘What counts is love - no matter by whom it's given
or to whom it’s given.’
90
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
91
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Friend in Need
THE FRIEND IN NEED Luke 11:5-8
Suppose one of you has a friend who comes to him in

the middle of the night and says, ‘My friend, lend me three
loaves, for a friend of mine on a journey has turned up at
my house, and I have nothing to offer him;’ and he replies
from inside, ‘Do not bother me. The door is shut for the
night; my children and I have gone to bed; and I cannot get
up and give you what you want.’ I tell you that even if he
will not provide for him out of friendship, the very shame-
lessness of the request will make him get up and give him all
he asks. And I say to you, ask, and you will receive; seek,
and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened. For
everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him
who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there a father
among you who will offer his son a snake when he asks for
fish, or a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you, then,
bad as you are, know how to give your children what is good
for them, how much more will the heavenly Father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
92
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is quite clear. Seek and you shall find. Ask and it
will be given to you. The fellow, the friend to whom he ap-
plied at the last moment - that’s God. No matter what time it is,
if you come from your journey and need rest, ask God.
Maybe Absolute Beingness is busy with Its creation, or ‘asleep
with his children’ - that means a time when the Arch-
angels are less active, because they also have a cycle of ‘day’
and ‘night’, activity and rest. The Absolute Beingness may
tell you, ‘Now is not the right time to ask me for bread.’ But
if you insist and insist, the Archangels will come to give you
your bread, just to keep you silent and not disturb the peace
of the ‘night’! If you are a fellow, who is rather inconsiderate,
we might say, and you ask and ask all the time, then, even if
Absolute Beingness is busy in Its universes and maybe it’s not
the time you - a present-day personality - should ask for it, be-
cause you insist, you will be given what you ask for. What
shall we call that? Is that the Mercy of God too? God’s not
going to get angry, because He can’t get angry. He is our all-
loving Father. So this is what Jesus means when He says,
‘Ask and it shall be given to you.’ But be careful! No matter
what you desire - good, right, or evil - it will be fulfilled,
sometime.
We teach what we know as being the reality, by observ-
ing and studying all things around us. We have already spok-
en about the nature of elementals. What we know by experi-
ence, from studying and observing, is that once an elemental
is created, it will never be disenergized unless... Let us just
see what we mean by ‘unless’.
If it is not disenergized, it will definitely fulfill its pur-
pose. That’s definite. We don't know when it will fulfill its
93
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
purpose, but it will fulfill its purpose. Again I say, if in the

meantime it is not disenergized. That’s what we are teaching
in our circles. We teach how elementals are created, projected
and how they behave and how they are working.
Now, the life of a human being on the planet in one incar-
nation is very, very short and that fellow is creating and send
ing out thousands of elementals. What happens to these ele-
mentals? When they are alike or similar, they mix together
and they make a stronger elemental, so that in the end we have
all those elementals grouped in certain groups. Now, we said
that all elementals will fulfill the purpose for which they were
created, if we give them time to do their work. We teach that,
in sending out an elemental - a strong desire-elemental, or
wish-elemental - all the time we think about it, that elemental
goes out and comes back to its creator, because we bring it
back. We are not giving it time to work. So it goes out,
comes back to get more energy, goes out, comes back for still
more energy and having ever more and more energy, it domi-
nates us, until it becomes our master, our sole idea. That’s
how we get very, very strong fixed ideas. When it is fulfilled,
it is soon disenergized. You have a desire. It is fulfilled and
you forget about it. Then you have another one, and if that’s
fulfilled, you have again another one. There is no end to desir-
ing and wishing to have, to get.
Nearly all desires are fulfilled and all of us know it, when
we give them time to work. Giving them time to work means
that we have another desire, or something else occupies our
mind, so we forget about the first desire and in this way we
give it time to work.
Some say ‘Oh! This came to me. That desire’s fulfilled
94
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
just when I don’t want it any more.’ Or they don’t want it as

much as they wanted it before. The other day some people
were telling me, ‘Yes, you are right! Our desires are fulfilled,
and it is when we don’t want them.’ No. It’s when you have
given them time to work, to bring you what you wanted. This is
because people do not want to learn about the mechanism of
the elementals, of these emotional thought-forms, or of these
reasoned thought-forms.
Now, what about those desires which are not fulfilled?
We may have desires which our present place in life – accord-
ing to the burden of the debts of the past, or the present -
makes it impossible to fulfill. What happens? They will be
fulfilled in another incarnation. But as I said earlier, make
sure that what you desire and what you want to have will not
be the stepping-stones you will find on your way in another in-
carnation. You will find out that you don’t really need these
things as much as you think you do now!
Let us take some examples. Now, I said before ‘unless... .’
So, all elementals no matter what their quality, evil or good
elementals, tend to be fulfilled. We teach in our lessons that if
we repent - change our minds - before their fulfillment, we
disenergize them. If we are wise enough to disenergize cer-
tain elementals, or ardent desires, we'll find out later that
those desires, if fulfilled, would have damaged us more than
they would have benefitted us. That needs reasoning.
So, what do we do? We have to create and send out new
elementals to replace them and annihilate their power. Now,
how do we disenergize elementals? Can we kill those elemen-
tals? Elementals can never be killed. They continue to exist
and some of them are revitalized by us. To be killed, never!
95
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
But they can be disenergized. We can disenergize those indi-

vidual elementals we have re-energized and send them to the
Cosmic Consciousness, to join their group.
But to disenergize an elemental you must spend energy
and force equal to their energy. So that’s a double loss; the en-
ergy you have spent to build them and then the energy to dis-
energize them and create another elemental - a positive one
now - to disenergize the negative elemental. This is possible.
We can disenergize an elemental in this way, by sending it
away, before it has fulfilled the desire or the wish it was creat-
ed for, to be stored in the Cosmic Consciousness. Of course
these are some of the lessons we are giving.
Now, having this process regarding elementals in mind,
we can come back to the parable or to the sayings of Christ.
When Christ cast the ‘devil’ - the elemental - out of that man
who was, as they now call them, epileptic, He asked the ele-
mental ‘What’s your name?’ It said ‘Legion’. That means a
group, a legion of elementals vibrating in the same way, tortur-
ing that man. Science now calls it neuroses. In another case,
they told Christ, ‘Sir, we brought this man, but your disciples
could not cast away that evil spirit.’ In that case, we see Christ
rebuking them, calling them ‘a faithless generation.’ Later on,
when His disciples asked him why they could not cast the dev-
il out, He told them that this kind of elemental cannot be cast
out unless by fasting and prayer.
The prayer which Jesus means here is the construction of
new, positive elementals to annihilate, or disenergize, the pow-
er of those other elementals, and to send them off to the Cos-
mic Consciousness.
Really, the study of the elementals is the most important in
96
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
our life on this planet. We are teaching it and it should in-

terest everyone; how elementals are created, their nature, their
force or energy, how they behave, how they create what we
call personal egoism and how to study them, by observation,
meditation and concentration, and the ability gradually to dis-
energize some of them at a time, over a period, until we be-
come the masters of our home.
97
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Rich Farmer
THE RICH FARMER Luke 12:13-21
A man in the crowd said to him, ‘Master, tell my brother

to divide the family property with me.’ He replied, ‘My good
man, who set me over you to judge or arbitrate?’ Then he
said to the people, ‘Beware! Be on your guard against greed
of every kind, for even when a man has more than enough,
his wealth does not give him life.’ And he told them this par-
able:
There was a rich man whose land yielded heavy crops.
He debated with himself: ‘What am I to do? I have not the
space to store all my produce. This is what I will do,’ said
he; ‘I will pull down my storehouses and build them bigger.
I will collect in them all my corn and other goods, and then
say to myself, “Man, you have plenty of good things, laid by,
enough for many years: take life easy, eat, drink, and enjoy
yourself.” But God said to him, ‘You fool, this very night you
must surrender your life; you have made your money - who
will get it now?’ That is how it is with the man who amasses
wealth for himself and remains a pauper in the sight of God.
98
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
That’s just the lesson we are giving all the time. I have
spoken of that very rich man I know, who doesn’t ever get any
satisfaction in life. He’s seventy-eight - my age! - and he’s still
just piling up and piling up. What for? We can’t take anything
material with us to the other side. If it’s in another form, of
course, we can take much from the material world; love, com-
passion, real giving to those who are in need - of what we can’t
take over to the other side anyway. So this fellow in the parable
was satisfied with all the material things, the crops of the earth,
and was thinking how to store them and have them for many,
many years. But who decides when you are leaving - passing
over? Jesus was persuading us to seek and store our riches in the
kingdom of heaven and beyond. It’s no good only doing it here,
because we are leaving. We’re not going to stay here for long. So
I think this is what He means. Piling up things on earth is vanity.
And in the next verses He says: ‘take no thought for your Life,
what you will eat; nor for the body, what you will put on. The life
is more than food and the body than clothes.’ Life? What does
He mean ‘Life’? He doesn’t only mean life in the material body
and in the material world, because he speaks about riches in
heaven. He means ‘life here and life there’. What, after all, are
we in need of if we don’t really live? It’s quite clear. He’s talking
about life beyond the material world, as well as in it. Concern for
what you eat and what you wear is not yours, it’s God’s. He
creates everything you need, the food to eat, the materials to man-
ufacture your clothes, so just collect those things and use them,
but don’t make them your main concern. And apart from using
what God has created, you must address yourself to the
question ‘What is life?’ You must ask yourself why you need
these things to feed and clothe yourself. It is more important to
concern your self with the inner meaning than with the
mechanics
99
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Unfruitful Fig Tree
THE UNFRUITFUL FIG-TREE Luke 13: 6-9
A man had a fig-tree growing in his vineyard; and he

came looking for fruit on it, but found none. So he said to
his vine-dresser, ‘Look here! For the last three years I have
come looking for fruit on this fig-tree without finding any.
Cut it down. Why should it go on using up the soil?’ But he
replied, ‘Leave it, Sir, this one year while I dig around it and
manure it. And if it bears next season, well and good; if not,
you shall have it down.’
100
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This means that what is not valuable should be cut out.

But what does ‘valuable’ mean? ‘We’ve had that fig-tree for
three years,’ said the master (which is God, Absolute
Beingness), ‘not giving any fruit.’ That means life’s service,
even what people call doing evil. ‘What’s the use of wasting
good land?’ says the master. ‘If it doesn’t give any fruit, why
should we keep it there?’ But the gardener (which is Christ),
who cares about the land, says: ‘Give it another chance,
please. Maybe I can make that fig-tree give fruit.’
So the meaning of this parable is, don’t despair if for
some years - even for many years - you didn’t ‘give any fruit’
(you have been living a bad life). The Lord of Giving, the
Logos, the Light of the World, the Giver of Self-Awareness, is
waiting to see if with one more ‘year’ (one more chance) you
will give fruit. That means that until the last moment there is
hope of giving satisfaction. There is always hope and an
opportunity to change for the better.
101
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
When Invited to a Feast
WHEN INVITED TO A FEAST Luke 14:1-11
One Sabbath he went to have a meal in the house of a

leading Pharisee When he noticed how the guests were
trying to secure the places of honour, he spoke to them in a
parable: When you are asked by someone to a wedding
feast, do not sit down in the place of honour. It may be that
some person more distinguished than yourself has been
invited; and the host will come and say to you, ‘Give this
man your seat.’ Then you will look foolish as you begin to
take the lowest place. No, when you receive an invitation, go
and sit down in the lowest place, so that when your host
comes he will say, ‘Come up higher, my friend.’ Then all
your fellow-guests will see the respect in which you are held.
For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and
whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
102
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This parable refers to the Law of Cause and Effect. It’s

just to tell us that we shouldn’t overestimate ourselves and
underestimate others. You will be put in the place where you
have a right to sit. Who puts you there? The one who
prepares the feast and invites you to it. Who is that? God. God
has sent you to the material plane, and everyone will do
what God plans for them to do. You are what you are, and
God will find you and take you to your rightful place. If you
are using your thoughts and your emotions properly, you should
be honoured; you have honoured yourself. So even if you
behave with modesty on the material plane, not pushing
yourself forward, not making false claims about yourself, God
knows who you really are.
The one who takes the wrong seat will suffer. Egoism
attracts its own punishment, while modesty is rewarded.
Sooner or later, everyone will get the seat they deserve.
Everyone is trying to obtain a distinction in life. Those who
do it by studying the proper use of the thoughts, the emotions
and life itself, will be put in the place they deserve by the
Host. Those who try to deceive others, in order to get a seat
they don’t deserve, will be forced in the end to sit in the seat
they do deserve.
103
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Cost of Discipleship
THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP Luke 14:28-43
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and

mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own
life, he cannot be a disciple of mine. No one who does not
carry his cross and come with me can be a disciple of mine.
Would any of you think of building a tower without first
sitting down and calculating the cost, to see whether he could
afford to finish it? Otherwise, if he has laid its foundation and
then is not able to complete it, all the onlookers will laugh at
him. ‘There is the man,’ they will say, (who started to build
and could not finish.’ Or what king will march to battle
against another king, without first sitting down to consider
whether with ten thousand men he can face an enemy coming
to meet him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, long
before the enemy approaches, he sends envoys, and asks for
terms. So also none of you can be a disciple of mine without
taking leave of all his possessions.
104
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Every human being coming into the world from the time
of their birth is already carrying a ‘cross’. It is a cross which
that person brought with them from previous incarnations. I
call that ‘cross’ the Law. The Hindus call it the law of karma.
We call it the Law of Destiny, or the Law of Cause and Effect.
So, each one of us, from the time we are born, is already
carrying a cross.
Christ says ‘his cross’ (the cross of each one of us). Now,
he speaks also of His cross as Jesus Christ. What is the cross
of Christ in comparison with the cross each one of us is
carrying? Jesus Christ doesn’t say, ‘He who wants to follow
me, to follow my way, will carry my cross and follow me.’ He
says, ‘carry his cross and follow me.’
So, each of us having a cross, the Law of Destiny, the
Law of Cause and Effect, should look at the cross of Christ
and follow Christ, because only by following Christ in
carrying our cross, that means following His teachings
regarding events in life, can save us, save the person who’s
carrying it. If a person is already carrying his cross and will
not follow Him, then he will have to go on carrying his own
cross to suffering, and more suffering. Christ is stating a great
truth. Each one of us carries a cross.
Now, what cross? How heavy? This depends upon our
previous life and behaviour. Whatever you do, you have to
obey that Law of Cause and Effect; we cannot go against our
destiny. That is what discipleship means. Because whether
we want to or not, we have to carry our cross. But, when we
look at Christ carrying His cross, we can make our own cross
lighter. In another place in the Gospels, Christ says, ‘Come to
me and I'll make your cross lighter’ (cf. Matt. 11:28-30).
105
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
So we must take note of these things not just in one place,

but in many, many places and get the real meaning out of
them.
Now, there’s another question. Someone will ask how it
was that the most innocent of all human beings, the God-Man,
had a cross. Has a cross? What is the nature of the cross of
Christ? Very, very heavy indeed. The cross of Christ was not
simply the wooden cross he was carrying to the hill, where
they crucified His body on that piece of wood. The cross of
Christ is the cross of the world, of all the human race. This is
the true meaning.
The Catholic Church says in Latin, ‘Agnus Dei qui tollis
peccata mundi’ (O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of
the world). The Greek Orthodox also says the same, ‘‘Ο
αϊϱων τὰς ἀμαϱτίας τοῦ ϰόσμου.’ So the cross of Christ is the
cross of the human race, most heavy indeed. When we speak
of the cross of Christ as the cross which Joshua-Jesus was
carrying from the Praetorium, the Governor’s palace, to the
hill where his body was crucified, believe me it was very light.
It was made of wood. That was not the cross of Christ. He did
indeed carry that wooden cross to which they nailed His body,
which he resurrected. But the true cross of Christ exists till
now. Jesus Christ, the Light which lighteth every human
being coming to the world, just by the very nature of His
Beingness and existence, is carrying the cross of all of us, is
carrying the cross of the world.
So it is right that we should listen to what He said. Each
one of us has a cross, heavy or not heavy. We’re carrying our
cross on our shoulders, but near our shoulders are the
shoulders of Jesus, of the Christ, and it is He who is carrying
106
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
our cross. Otherwise we should not be able to bear even our

own cross, by the way we are living. He is carrying the cross
of humanity.
This parable contains practical advice. Consider before-
hand what you are supposed to do. Prepare yourself for that
before you start. You want to become a preacher of the
kingdom of heaven? Of course, you see others doing it and
you say to yourself,’ Why shouldn’t I go and become a
preacher too?’ But qualify yourself before doing it. You may
find that you can’t do it after all. You want to become a
disciple - and I understand you - to go and preach and cure
people and do such things. Just wanting to do it is not enough.
You must qualify yourself before starting.
‘Taking leave of all your possessions’ or ‘giving up your
possessions’ doesn’t mean just throwing them away. Dispose
of them in the right way. You can keep them for your own
use, but don’t be enchanted by them. Hold on to what you
need, but get free of the idea of possessiveness. Jesus didn’t
mean that you should make yourself a beggar and hold out
your hand for alms, or that you should ‘hate’ all your family,
because He wouldn’t like that. He is just saying that you must
detach yourself from all those things. These words have been
most misunderstood, I know. If He had meant that we should
throw everything away, why would He have said ‘Ask and it
shall be given to you’? ‘Give up’ doesn’t mean ‘Kick away!’
‘Give up’ means ‘don’t be a slave of’ that. Why does he tell
us in the Lord’s Prayer to say’ Give us this day our daily
bread’? Spiritual or material bread. It doesn’t matter. Why
not some material bread too? Why ask, if He means you to
give up everything? No!’ Give up’ means’ don’t be a slave of.
107
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
What do we see in life? Making money, making money.

That means being a slave of these things you want to call your
own. That's what he seems to say: ‘Give up all those things.’
An Indian yogi once said to me: ‘Both Christ and Buddha
have been misunderstood. Detachment, as you say, is what
they approved. But “giving up” is very different from
“detachment”.’
It would be foolish to throw everything away, to wear
just a cross round your neck and walk about naked. Because if
you give everything up, kicking everything away from you,
you become a very, very poor person. Now a very poor
person will be in need of others. It means that such a person
will be a nuisance to others, perhaps. This is not Jesus’ aim!
He didn’t want to cause trouble to others. Money will provide
people with things they need, but is not for keeping only to
yourself, making others poorer and seeing them go hungry.
So the message of this parable is ‘Don’t be enchanted by the
things and relationships of this material world.’ Never
overestimate, or overvalue anything, and don’t underestimate
or undervalue anything either. Each thing has its purpose.
108
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
109
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Lost Coin
THE LOST COIN Luke 15:8-10
Or again, if a woman has ten silver pieces and loses one

of them, does she not light the lamp, sweep out the house,
and look in every corner till she has found it? And when she
has, she calls her friends and neighbours together, and says,
‘Rejoice with me! I have found the piece that I lost.’ In the
same way, I tell you, there is joy among the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.
110
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Jesus says in this parable: ‘We belong to Absolute

Beingness.’ So if one of us is ‘lost’, he will not be given up.
God will just try to bring him back. It is the same parable as
the sheep - this fellow who lost one sheep and left the other
ninety-nine to go and look for it and find it and bring it back
to the fold. Now we have the same story with coins. In the
story of the shepherd, Jesus spoke of Himself as Christ, the
Logos. Now, in speaking about a woman, He means the
present-day personality.
The statement is very clear, as Christ is making it. This
is a parable, which was said in different ways. Here a woman,
a present-day personality, loses something belonging to her,
her own, which she thinks of as very, very valuable. Having
lost it, she searches to find it. She lights a lamp to see into all
the corners. That means using thought and reason to make her
search complete. She rejoices after finding it and calling her
friends around her, tells them ‘I found that thing which I had
lost,’ and they rejoice too. And Christ says clearly, that there
is joy among the angels in heaven for one who returns.
So, the ‘woman’ is only an example. Now, if a simple,
ordinary, everyday woman, who loses something takes such
pains to find it, what about the Infinite Beingness? What will
It do, seeing a being, a child of God, lost in ignorance?
In this parable the ‘woman’ means nothing more than a
woman or a personality, but the meaning of the parable is that
if something is lost the fellow owning it wants to have it back.
In speaking of that woman, Jesus also wanted to mention that
she had called her friends to rejoice with her when she had
found what she had lost. When He spoke of a woman and her
neighbours, He was telling us that the angels and the
111
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Archangels, our angels in Heaven, are the neighbours. Finding

that lost coin, she rejoices with her neighbours. So, the
Heavenly Man, as we may call Him, the Logos, finding one
who returns, rejoices with all the Archangels of heaven. This
parable is very, very clear.
Now, apart from this parable, Christ gives another parable.
He says ‘A man had a number of sheep, and he lost one. Will he
not leave all the others in the herd and go, searching to find that
lost lamb and bring it back home?’ So, the same thing repeated
in other parables, tells us that we are not neglected. Never mind
that we now find ourselves in a world of illusion, of shadow, of
death, as Christ says, or considered to be lost. We are cared for
by the Archangels and by the Logos Himself.
112
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
113
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Prodigal Son
THE PRODIGAL SON Luke 15:11-32
There was once a man who had two sons; and the
younger said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the
property.’ So he divided his estate between them. A few days
later the younger son turned the whole of his share into cash
and left home for a distant country, where he squandered it
in reckless living. He had spent it all, when a severe famine
fell upon that country and he began to feel the pinch. So he
went and attached himself to one of the local landowners,
who sent him on to his farm to mind the pigs. He would
have been glad to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were
eating; and no one gave him anything. Then he came to his
senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s paid servants
have more food than they can eat, and here am I, starving to
death! I will set off and go to my father, and say to him,
“Father, I have sinned, against God and against you; I am
no longer fit to be called your son; treat me as one of your
paid servants.”’ So he set out for his father’s house. But
while he was still a long way off his father saw him, and his
heart went out to him. He ran to meet him, flung his arms
round him and kissed him. The son said, ‘Father, I have
sinned, against God and against you; I am no longer fit to be
called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick!
fetch a robe, my best one, and put it on him; put a ring on
his finger and shoes on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and
kill it, and let us have a feast to celebrate the day. For this
son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost
and is found.’ And the festivities began.
114
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now the elder son was out on the farm; and on his way
back, as he approached the house, he heard music and
dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this
meant. The servant told him, ‘Your brother has come home,
and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has him
back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go
in. His father came out and pleaded with him; but he
retorted, ‘You know how I have slaved for you all these
years; I never once disobeyed your orders; and you never
gave me so much as a kid, for a feast with my friends. But
now that this son of yours turns up, after running through
your money with his women, you kill the fatted calf for him.
‘My boy,’ said the father, ‘you are always with me, and
everything I have is yours. How could we help celebrating
this happy day? Your brother here was dead and has come
back to life, was lost and is found.’
115
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
For me, this is one of the most important parables - The

Prodigal Son. What is it that he said to his father? ‘Give me
my share of the property.’ What’s that? Mind – everything
that is Mind, including matter. That’s his ‘portion’, his ‘share
of the property’. Now the ‘younger son’ is a soul passing
through the Idea of Man, the Human Idea, in other words, a
human being. The elder son is an Archangel. He also has his
share of the property, which means that Archangels are using
Mind too. So our Brothers who stayed with the Father have
their ‘share’ - which is Mind. Now the ‘younger son’ - that’s
‘human beings’ - wasted his share with loose women, ‘harlots’
as the Authorised Version puts it. That means ‘matter’ -
material elementals. He wasted it and lived a wastrel’s life, as
Jesus describes it, until the Lords of Earth, the Lords of
Separation, had him as their slave. They sent him out to look
after the pigs. What are those ‘pigs’? The elementals he has
created. And he was content to eat the food those pigs were
eating. That refers to the filthy combination of low
elementals, which pollute mind and emotion. These are the
elementals which Jesus called ‘deaf and dumb spirits’.
But then he came to his senses. ‘What is this I’m
eating?’ he said. ‘What are all those thoughts and emotions
that I have? Do they satisfy me? I'm eating the same food as
the pigs are eating.’ So he decided to leave and go back to his
Father.
Now this is another very important point. All the time he
was thinking those thoughts, his Father knew it. Then he started
thinking how to behave towards his Father. ‘Am I worthy to be
his son? Am I worthy to be God?’ Let me just go back and sell
myself into his service as the lower spirits
116
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
are doing, the nature spirits. (They are the angels, not
Archangels.) But when he had taken some steps towards his
Father, the Father rushed to him and embraced him. So the
Father is waiting for his return.
What did he say, the Father? He told the Archangels to
dress him, in the best clothes he had. ‘You are my son,’ He
said, ‘you’re not a servant. You’re a son!.’ What is meant by
a ‘servant’? The elementals of the Archangels, the angels.
They are the ‘servants’. He gave him his own best clothes. He
didn’t deprive the Archangels of their best clothes. And he
put a ring on his finger. Now an Archangel only gets a ring on
his finger if he returns as a Self-Realized Being, after going
through the human experience. I’ve contacted the Archangels
many times and I tried to make them understand time, what
we humans know as past, present and future. ‘We are in the
Eternal Now,’ they reply. They understand the Eternal Now,
for they’ve always existed ‘now’, they exist ‘now’ and they
always will exist ‘now’. So they don’t understand past,
present and future. Their world, in what they consider the
Eternal Now, is always the same - in building bodies. What
interests them is their work and the Truth, expressing their
nature as they are, without understanding time.
The ring on his finger is giving the younger son the
knowledge and understanding of eternity. What’s eternity?
Movement without beginning and without end. Now, Infinite
Beingness is eternal motion. Suppose somebody moves on
a ring, they will move eternally without having a beginning and
an end. This is the sense of eternity. A human being moving
on the ring can understand the nature of past, present and
future. But for a being at the centre of the ring, and the
117
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
movement, as the Archangels are, there is no past, present, and

future, only the Eternal Now.’
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, it is stated clearly, that
when the prodigal son returned home, first the father sacrificed
the well-fed animal, that means the material body; flesh and
bones and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. That’s
clear. Then it says that the father gave him the best dress he
had as a prince, the same dress that the Archangel his brother
had. There is no distinction between them in that. But when
the prodigal son was given a ring on his finger, his Father
made him different from the Archangels in heaven.
So the ‘elder brother’ (which means the ‘Principalities’,
the ‘Archons’, which are orders of the Archangels) is
complaining, ‘You never gave me something to sacrifice.’ But
the Archangel never had a material body to sacrifice. As we
said, the ‘fatted calf means the material body. His Father told
him, ‘You are working as a lord of the elements for humans
and for animals, but they are not yours. So you have nothing
to kill. But he, my prodigal son, has dressed himself with
matter.’ Sacrificing, killing, a ‘fatted calf means killing the
involvement with matter. The elder brother, the Archangel,
had never enslaved himself to matter, so he had never needed
even a ‘baby goat’ to be sacrificed to set him free. Jesus said
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.
They are out of place there. ‘So why do you complain?’ the
Father asked. ‘Everything I have, are they not also yours?
You haven’t been deprived of anything that is yours.’
In this parable, we see that the prodigal son made bad use
of his ‘share’. The other brother had his own share, the same
share. That means ‘use of Mind’. But the Archangel never
118
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
used Mind in the way humans are using it, projecting

elementals we call evil, or ‘deaf and dumb spirits’. That way
human beings learn lessons leading eventually to their return
to Absolute Beingness, the ‘Father’, with the knowledge and
understanding to be accepted as a child of God.
119
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Unjust Steward
THE UNJUST STEWARD Luke 16:1-13
There was a rich man who had a bailiff and he

received complaints that this man was squandering his
property. So he sent for him, and said, ‘What is this that I
hear? Produce your accounts, for you cannot be manager
here any longer.’ The bailiff said to himself, ‘What am I to
do now that my employer is dismissing me? I am not strong
enough to dig, and too proud to beg. I know what I must do,
to make sure that, when I have to leave, there will be people
to give me house and home.’ He summoned his master’s
debtors one by one. To the first he said, ‘How much do you
owe my master?’ He replied, ‘A thousand gallons of olive
oil.’ He said, ‘Here is your account. Sit down and make it
five hundred; and be quick about it.’ Then he said to
another, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A
thousand bushels of wheat,’ and was told, ‘Take your
account and make it eight hundred.’ And the master
applauded the dishonest bailiff for acting so astutely. For the
worldly are more astute than the other-worldly in dealing
with their own kind. So I say to you, use your worldly wealth
to win friends for yourselves, so that when money is a thing
of the past you may be received into an eternal home.
The man who can be trusted in little things can be
trusted also in great; and the man who is dishonest in little
things is dishonest also in great things. If then you have not
proved trustworthy with the wealth of this world, who will
trust you with the wealth that is real? And if you have
proved untrustworthy with what belongs to another, who will
give you what is your own?
120
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
No servant can be the slave of two masters; for either

he will hate the first and love the second, or he will be
devoted to the first and think nothing of the second. You
cannot serve God and Money.
121
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now, what is the wealth of God which we as stewards are

wasting? It is Mind. It is his ‘property’, which He has
entrusted to us to make good use of. We abuse it all the time,
creating bad elementals, which some call ‘evil’. God knows it.
He is the ‘master’ who has these ‘riches’ and we are His
stewards, or ‘bailiffs’ as it says here. Well, who accused the
steward of abusing the master’s riches? The Archangels. They
are the ones who notice - the Archangels of the elements in
you. When you make bad use all the time of Mind as matter,
as emotion and as thought, in the creation of the wrong
elementals, that's an abuse, isn’t it?
In the face of such an accusation, you have to give an
account. Definitely! And to whom? To the Lord of those
riches, to Absolute Beingness, as Logos. It is quite clear that
‘he who is faithful in little is faithful in much.’ It’s no good
saying ‘I'm only stealing a little, not very much.’ It’s all the
same whatever you steal. It's not the quantity; it’s the dispo-
sition that counts.
Now, the great difficulty in this parable is that Jesus says
that the ‘master applauded the dishonest bailiff. Why did he
do that? I think it means that Absolute Beingness says, ‘Never
mind, never mind. You haven't been faithful to the work of
the Archangels - to your integration into higher planes - which
is what you were supposed to be doing. You have served the
Lord of Separation and his Archangel and their brother angels
instead. That was what you were serving. All right! Make
friends with them, then, and go on working in the lower
planes, if that’s what you want. But do it honestly. Be honest
with them and faithful to them.’
Jesus is telling people that they should be honest in what-
122
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
ever they’re doing. If they are not ready for Divine work and
prefer to do material work, at least be honest about that. No
one is forcing you to work in the company of the holy
Archangels, or to join an Archangelic Order. If your joy is the
material world and that’s where you want to go on living, then
use your time there astutely, so that you make a friend of the
material plane and its joys. If you feel that living in the
material plane, with a material body, perhaps being a
philanthropist doing good work, is what you want to do, then
be honest to the laws of the material plane and it will accept
you.
‘If you don't want to come with me,’ says the Logos, ‘at
least try to be accepted by the lower orders of work. Nobody
is forcing you to go higher.’
123
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Rich Man and Lazarus
THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS Luke 16:19-31
There was once a rich man, who dressed in purple and

the finest linen, and feasted in great magnificence every day.
At his gate, covered with sores, lay a poor man named
Lazarus, who would have been glad to satisfy his hunger
with the scraps from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs
used to come and lick his sores. One day the poor man died
and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The
rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, where he
was in torment, he looked up; and there, far away, was
Abraham with Lazarus close beside him. ‘Abraham, my
father,’ he called out, ‘take pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip
the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue, for I am in
agony in this fire.’ But Abraham said, ‘Remember, my child,
that all the good things fell to you while you were alive, and
all the bad to Lazarus; now he has his consolation here and
it is you who are in agony. But that is not all: there is a
great chasm fixed between us; no one from our side who
wants to reach you can cross it, and none may pass from
your side to us.’ ‘Then, father,’ he replied, ‘will you send
him to my father’s house, where I have five brothers, to warn
them, so that they too may not come to this place of
torment?’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the
prophets; let them listen to them.’ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he
replied, ‘but if someone from the dead visits them, they will
repent.’ Abraham answered, ‘If they do not listen to Moses
and the prophets they will pay no heed even if someone
should rise from the dead.’
124
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is a story of what can happen in the psychic world.

Lazarus, it seems, was paying off his ‘debt’ when he was in
the material world. But when he had done so and left the
material plane, he had earned the right to what we may call a
‘paradise’. Just because he was poor and in distress in the
material world, it doesn’t mean to say that he was not using
Mind creatively. If you don't have much of Mind in its lowest
form as matter, it doesn’t mean that you don't have it
emotionally and mentally. You do! It was Lazarus, by his
own conduct, who earned his right to a paradise. He was
probably praying a lot, ‘Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy
on me.’
Now, the rich man had everything to enjoy on the
material plane, but he didn’t care about compassion and love.
That poor man, Lazarus, was sitting just outside his door,
feeling hungry, longing to be fed with the scraps from the rich
man’s table, but the rich man didn’t care. He only knew him
as ‘that beggar who sits outside my door’. He made himself
hard, by not seeing the truth. The truth is that we are all
children of God, as inner Beings, Souls or Spirits. When we
pass over, where we no longer have the conditions of material
life, we begin to realize what is what.
Yes! Passing over opens the vision - the vision as
understanding. That was when the rich man saw Lazarus in
the distance and realized he was a son of Abraham, that they
both were. He recognized the despised beggar as a son of
God. But their condition in the psychic world was as a result
of the Law of Cause and Effect. The rich man was there, in
Hades, till he understood, which is the meaning of ‘paying his
debt’. The ‘fire’, and the ‘torment’, means the stings of
125
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
conscience. The ‘water’ which he begged for means truth and

when he asked for it to be put on his ‘tongue’, that meant in
his understanding. But it couldn’t be done. Of course,
Abraham or Lazarus could have gone to where the rich man
was, but in the state he was then in, it wouldn't have been any
help to him. He had to realize and understand the Truth for
himself. The stings of conscience (the ‘flames of hell’) were
what he had himself chosen to teach him the Truth. Some-
times you have stings of conscience in the material world and
if you make good use of them, then you’ll avoid having to
have them on the other side. But if you don't have them here,
then you’ll have them there. Until you understand the Truth.
Of course, it doesn’t mean that every rich man that passes
over will find himself in the flames of hell!
The invisible helpers in the psychic world, those who are
very advanced, can visit any hell or paradise, to be of some
help. They do not experience any gap or chasm in going from
the earth state to the other state. But they know there’s a
terrible gap between hells and paradises. You can’t just take
someone out of his hell and move him into a higher sub-plane,
unless you have first persuaded that person to accept being
moved. You have to use comparison. Show that person
something better, but even then he may not accept it. It’s not
easy to take someone away from old habits. Only the one who
deserves it can move himself from one sub-plane to another.
This parable is teaching us that we must make good use
of Mind and do our best to see the Truth while we are in the
material world - or face the consequences!
126
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
127
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Unjust Judge and the Persistent Widow
THE UNJUST JUDGE AND THE

PERSISTENT WIDOW Luke 18:1-8
He spoke to them in a parable to show that they should

keep on praying and never lose heart: ‘There was once a
judge who cared nothing for God or man, and in the same
town there was a widow who constantly came before him
demanding justice against her opponent. For a long time he
refused; but in the end he said to himself, “True, I care
nothing for God or man; but this widow is so great a
nuisance that I will see her righted before she wears me out
with her persistence.”’ The Lord said, ‘You hear what the
unjust judge says; and will not God vindicate his chosen,
who cry out to him day and night, while he listens patiently
to them? I tell you, he will vindicate them soon enough. But
when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’
128
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
Now, who is this lady, this ‘persistent widow’? The

present-day personality. And who is the ‘unjust judge’? The
Law of Order in the material world. Jesus is not speaking of
God, of course, of the justice of God. The present-day
personality is asking and asking and asking - so much that
even the unjust judge is upset and decides that he’s had
enough of this disturbance and will do what she asks. ‘So, if
even this unjust judge will do it, don't you think your Father,
who loves you, will do what you ask Him to do?’ The law in
the world of separation is different from the Divine Law.
That’s the integration of Mercy and Love. Here we have the
Law of Cause and Effect. If you desire this or that as a
present-day personality, and go on asking, sooner or later you
will get it, as I've told you before. What did I say? Every
wish and desire, reasonable or unreasonable, will be fulfilled.
That is the law we have from the unjust judge. If that’s what
you get on the material plane and the psychic plane, surely
you can expect the same or much better treatment from your
heavenly Father, who loves you? I think Jesus told this story
just to make people have confidence in the Lord.
The last sentence of this parable (‘But when the Son of
Man comes, will be find faith on earth?’) is strange and
doesn't seem to fit in. Of course it does not. There was
something in between, which - I don't know for what reason -
was taken out by some writer. It is not the only instance in the
New Testament, in the Greek and in other texts. There is no
connection between the parable and this other saying of
Christ. They have taken away something. It must be
something most important. Why they have taken it out, only
God knows!
129
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Pharisee and the Publican
THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN Luke 18: 9-14
And here is another parable that he told. It was aimed

at those who were sure of their own goodness and looked
down on everyone else.
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee
and the other a tax-gatherer. The Pharisee stood up and
prayed thus: ‘I thank thee, O God, that I am not like the
rest of men, greedy, dishonest, adulterous; or, for that
matter, like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay
tithes on all that I get.’ But the other kept his distance and
would not even raise his eyes to heaven, but beat upon his
breast, saying, ‘O God, have mercy on me, sinner that I am.’
It was this man, I tell you, and not the other, who went home
acquitted of his sins. For everyone who exalts himself will be
humbled; and whosoever humbles himself will be exalted.
(Note: This is the traditional name for the parable, based on the
translation of ‘tax-gatherer’ as ‘publican’ in the King James Version.)
130
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is another parable about egoism, telling people not

to be proud of themselves. It’s like the one about going to a
feast and sitting in the high-up places. The Pharisee thinks
he’s very good and is proud of all the ‘right’ things he does. ‘I
am righteous,’ he says, ‘I am just. I do that and that. So, I
have no need of You, God!’ He’s very satisfied with himself,
because he considers himself as better than others.
The other man is a tax-collector. These were men who
were hated by their own people, who were often greedy and
who made money out of their compatriots, working for the
occupying forces. The Jews called them ‘sinners’, which was
why the Pharisee despised him. But this tax-collector knew
what he was doing and understood his faults, his
transgression. So he says, ‘Forgive me! I am a tax-collector.
I do that and that and maybe sometimes I overdo it. I’m
sorry.’ And only in that way does he come to feel real
satisfaction and to be forgiven. He’s not arrogant, you see,
he’s not self-satisfied. He has realized what he is doing wrong
and is calling on God to have mercy on him. Jesus is telling
the Pharisees and all the others who despise their fellow
human beings that they'd better be careful and not be so sure
about their own goodness and status. They must learn to be
humble. Only then can they be forgiven and raised up to their
proper place.
131
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Marriage at Cana
THE MARRIAGE AT CANA John 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana-in-

Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his
disciples were guests also. The wine gave out, so Jesus’
mother said to him, ‘They have no wine left.’ He answered,
‘Your concern, mother, is not mine. My hour has not yet
come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells
you.’ There were six stone water-jars standing near, of the
kind used for Jewish rites of purification; each held from
twenty to thirty gallons (lit: two or three measures). Jesus
said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water,’ and they filled
them to the brim. ‘Now draw some off,’ he ordered, ‘and
take it to the steward of the feast’; and they did so. The
steward tasted the water now turned into wine, not knowing
its source; though the servants who had drawn the water
knew. He hailed the bridegroom and said, ‘Everyone serves
the best wine first, and waits until the guests have drunk
freely before serving the poorer sort; but you have kept the
best wine till now.’
132
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
This is not really a parable, it describes an event. But it

has the value of a parable. The ‘water’ is the formless
supersubstance Mind. Clean water is Divine and good. By
turning it into wine, you don’t make it something better, but it
becomes something which can be used to better effect by
human beings. So what is the ‘wine’? It is reason. It is the
transforming of Mind supersubstance into reasoning and right-
thinking. What was the setting for this act of Jesus? The
‘wedding-feast’, at which many people are present, so that
they can all drink of the ‘wine’: Mind made reason. The Lord
took pure ‘water’, Mind, and turned it into ‘wine’, right
thought, reason, for human beings to use.
When Jesus told his mother that ‘her concern was not
his’, He was saying that it was not for Him to tell people to fill
themselves with the formless supersubstance of Mind. That
was something they must do for themselves. The full meaning
of ‘My hour is not yet come’ is difficult, but in a good
meditation, you can get it. In the story of the event, there is
the meaning that Jesus’ ‘hour’, His task, was to turn the water
into wine when the pots had been filled. The servants drew
some of the water off, without realizing what had happened.
Only when the guests tasted that ‘water’ did they understand
that it had become ‘wine’. That means that when the people
use the supersubstance Mind in accordance with the teachings
of Jesus, they will taste the perfect ‘wine’ of reason, better
than any that has gone before.
133
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
The Good Shepherd
THE GOOD SHEPHERD John 10:1-16
In truth I tell you, in very truth, the man who does not
enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other
way, is nothing but a thief or a robber. The man who enters
by the door is the shepherd in charge of the sheep. The door-
keeper admits him, and the sheep hear his voice; he calls his
own sheep by name, and leads them out. When he has
brought them all out, he goes ahead and the sheep follow,
because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger;
they will run away from him, because they do not recognize
the voice of strangers.
This was a parable that Jesus told them, but they did not
understand what he meant by it.
So Jesus spoke again. In truth, in very truth I tell you, I
am the door of the sheepfold. The sheep paid no heed to
any who came before me, for these were all thieves and
robbers. I am the door; anyone who comes into the field
through me shall be safe. He shall go in and out and find
pasturage.
The thief comes only to steal, to kill, to destroy; I have
come that men may have life, and may have it in all its
fullness. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays
down his life for the sheep. The hireling, when he sees the
wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away, because he
is no shepherd and the sheep are not his. Then the wolf
harries the flock and scatters the sheep. The man runs away
because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.
I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep
134
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
know me - as the Father knows me and I know the Father -

and I lay down my life for the sheep. But there are other
sheep of mine, not belonging to this fold, whom I must bring
in; and they too will listen to my voice. There will then be
one flock and one shepherd.
135
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
When He speaks about the ‘other sheep which are not of

this fold’ this is promising. He means all the world, apart
from the Jews.
Now, He speaks here about false prophets. There were
good prophets, of course, in Israel, speaking on behalf of God
through the Holy Spirit. But false prophets also came who
misled the people, not caring about them, but only about
accomplishing their own egoistic ambitions as leaders in war,
leaders in attacking the other tribes and other nations. Many
false leaders arose in Israel. He says here, ‘these are the
wolves jumping in at the windows, not coming through the
door,’ that means coming properly through the voice of God,
through the Will of God. He calls himself the ‘door’, the gate.
As he says, the fellow who comes in some other way howls
like a wolf and of course the sheep will not follow him. But
the sheep hear the voice of the shepherd. They recognise the
good prophet to be a shepherd. They follow him, to take them
to the pasture, as it says here. So, he shows here that to be
followed one should use a voice which is known to the others,
with the words of kindness and love. They will follow such a
man. That’s what He meant. They know his voice. And of
course, the gentiles and the others, after the crucifixion of
Christ, when the Apostles went to preach the Gospel, some of
those hearing about love, compassion and mercy, recognised
that voice of love, though they were strangers to the teachings
of Christ. He had been crucified in the mean-time. They
followed them, because they heard the voice of a good
shepherd. Call him Peter, call him Paul, call him Jesus, call him
any name you like.
So the Apostles, after the crucifixion, speaking,
136
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
preaching, presented the church as the Good Shepherd using

the voice of God, which would be recognized by the sheep,
and followed by them. Of course, if the shepherd were to
speak about love to the ‘wolves’ they would just howl and run
away, or attack. But the sheep will follow such a voice.
Leaders of other faiths who are preaching the word of God,
also speak about love, compassion and mercy. Jesus says, ‘I
have a lot of these sheepfolds.’ He meant the other tribes, the
other nations, whose teachers speak his own words - the words
of love and compassion. But those who do not speak of love
and compassion are the ‘wolves’. How many leaders have
come to all nations, not only to the Jews, speaking,
influencing them for a time, towards war, towards killing?
Hitler, for example. But the ‘sheep’ could not follow Hitler.
Only the other ‘wolves’ could follow him.
This is not so much a parable, as a statement; parable and
statement. Now, what is Jesus? What is Christ? St John the
Evangelist, the beloved one, who knew best about everything,
describing the Logos, in the first few phrases at the beginning
of his Gospel, says ‘the Logos is the light which lighteth
every human being coming to the world’ - every human being.
Every human being is a sheep in His fold. Now, what is this
‘light which lighteth every human being coming to the
world’? Reason and self-awareness. So every human being
expresses a self-consciousness, self-awareness, and he can
slowly, slowly learn to use the Mind as reason. Jesus said
there are other ‘sheep’ - that means human beings - who are
His, but not of this fold, who are not called Christians; they
belong to other religions, other beliefs. Yet they are His. That
means they express a self-consciousness. In the course of time
137
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
they will use reason. All those too will hear His voice, hear
reason, and follow Him in the end. And all will come to the
fold and become ‘one fold and one shepherd’. So every
human being expresses the Logos as his self-consciousness
and reason. No matter that now he may belong to other
denominations and religious beliefs or systems, sooner or later
he will use his reason and will hear the teaching of Christ,
which is what? Love towards all. A Doctor of Philosophy
came to me, who was a Buddhist. He had read the Bible and
studied the New Testament - maybe far better than many
Christians have done. The only thing he disagreed with, he
told me, was when Jesus said ‘No man cometh to the Father
but by me.’ Did that mean that unless the Buddhists, the
Hindus, the Moslems and the aborigine animists embraced
Christianity, they could not approach God? I told him that
everyone, every human being, is already a ‘Christian’ in the
sense that they have within them the 'light that lighteth every
man that cometh into the world’. Everyone expressing his
Christ Nature is a ‘Christian’, so Buddhists may be
‘Christians’, Moslems may be ‘Christians’ and even idolaters
may be ‘Christians’, if they are expressing a form of self-
awareness. Many of those calling themselves Christians may
not in reality be so. It is the characteristics of a person which
count and not the labels. What’s Christianity? What’s the
teaching of Christ? Acknowledging the Absolute Beingness
and loving It. Loving with all your heart, your soul and your
power. And Jesus continues, ‘Love your neighbour as
yourself.’ So it’s love; nothing but love. Every man, sooner or
later, who is using Mind as reason will reach this point - that
life is love. One must love. And those who hear the teaching
of love will come to the fold. That’s what Christ means.
138
The Parables
Stylianos Atteshlis
So, though people may not call themselves Christians

now, they still belong to the fold of the Good Shepherd, who
teaches love to all.
139

THE PARABLES AND OTHER STORIES (PDFDrive)

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

THE PARABLES AND OTHER STORIES (PDFDrive)

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

THE PARABLES

AND OTHER STORIES

He never spoke to them except in parables; but

© Copyright Panayiota Atteshlis Theotoki

I am most grateful to John and Jeannette Richards, to Ro-

Daskalos is often asked for the inner meaning of the par-

Mrs. Panayiota Theotoki

NEW CLOTH ON AN OLD COAT Matt. 9:16-17 10

THE SHEEP & THE GOATS Matt. 25:31-46 76

NEW CLOTH ON AN OLD COAT Matt. 9:16-17

No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on to an old

Everything is changing; nothing remains the same, so new

THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT Matt. 12:43-45

When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it wanders

The Bible speaks of ‘unclean spirits’, as in this parable.

places where there is no new thought for it to absorb and be re-

THE SOWER Matt. 13:3-8 & 18-23

He said: A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed,

I think Jesus explains this, doesn’t he? He gives the full

(18)You, then, may hear the parable of the sower. When a

There is no special significance to the ‘hundredfold, sixty-

THE TARES Matt. 13:24-30 & 36-43

The kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed his

(*‘Darnel’ is a type of rye-grass which sprouts among wheat, but is

Now this is a very, very precious parable. Jesus speaks

and it is only their behaviour which may be considered as bad

THE MUSTARD SEED Matt. 13: 31-32

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard-seed, which a

When it is planted in the right place, the mustard-seed

THE YEAST IN FLOUR Matt. 13:13

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman

This is a parable we have often explained. Of course, Je-

God-man, where he mentions the elements in their higher

The Treasure in a Field

THE TREASURE IN A FIELD Matt. 13:44

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure lying buried in a

The Pearl of Great Price

THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE Matt. 13:45-46

Here is another picture of the kingdom of heaven. A

THE NET OF FISHES Matt. 13:47-50

Again the kingdom of heaven is like a net let down into

What is this ‘blazing furnace, the place of wailing and

A LAWYER INTO LEARNER Matt. 13:52

When, therefore, a teacher of the law has become a

The ‘householder’ is the Permanent Personality. When

THE FEEDING OF FIVE THOUSAND Matt. 14:13-21

Jesus withdrew privately by boat to a lonely place; but

THE FEEDING OF FOUR THOUSAND Matt. 15:32-39

Jesus called his disciples and said to them, ‘I feel sorry

In our text of the New Testament, it says that Christ fed,

WALKING ON WATER Matt. 14:22-33

Then he made the disciples embark, and go on ahead to

Now, this is another actual event, a real event, mentioned

THE TRANSFIGURATION Matt. 17:1-8

The Transfiguration of the God-Man, Jesus, was a reali-

say you’ve seen Abraham?’ They wanted to pick up stones and

THE LOST SHEEP Matt. 18:12-14

What do you think? Suppose a man has a hundred

This is one of the best parables. Jesus is saying that even

THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT Matt. 18: 21-35

Then Peter came up and asked him, ‘Lord, how often

This, too, is a very precious parable. ‘And forgive us our

THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD Matt. 20:1-16