HISTINT_LUK_15_CYRIL_SERMON107Evidence state: documented historical interpretation via translated primary work
early 5th century · Patristic · Primary Source Via Translation
Interpreter: Cyril of Alexandria
Work: Cyril of Alexandria — Commentary on Luke, Sermon 107
Tradition / method: Greek patristic / Alexandrian interpretation
Cyril explicitly reports and rejects two interpretations of the two sons: elder = angels / younger = humanity, and elder = Israel / younger = Gentiles. He then appeals to the narrative occasion in Luke 15:1–2 and reads the parable as teaching that even steadfast people should rejoice rather than resent the repentance and restoration of blameworthy sinners.
Interpretive use: Cyril makes the murmuring of the Pharisees and scribes the controlling occasion for the parable and uses the elder son as a warning against loveless resentment toward repentant sinners rather than as a fixed ethnic or angelic symbol.
Original context: Sermon 107 is a late-antique Christian homiletic commentary. The English access point is a nineteenth-century translation from an ancient Syriac version, supplemented from Greek catena fragments; the record therefore documents Cyril through a translation chain, not a direct Greek manuscript transcription.
Documented Reception Only · Curated Pass As Reception History
Inference depth: Direct · Original-meaning weight: No Automatic Weight From Reception
His appeal to the narrative frame is exegetically relevant, but the record remains reception history and the surviving access text is mediated through Syriac and English translation.
Reception History Only
Premises mapped: 4 · Development threads: 1
Curated chronology: early 5th century · Earliest In Curated Corpus Only
This date identifies this curated reception witness, not the historical origin of its ideas. This is not a historical-origin claim.
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Supporting evidence
Work Id: WORK_CYRIL_COMMENTARY_LUKE_SERMON107
Role: primary historical work via translation chain
Citation Id: CIT_CYRIL_LUKE_SERMON107
Role: specific sermon locator
Competing interpretations
Position: elder = angels; younger = humanity
Historical Note: Cyril reports this as an interpretation held by some and rejects it because the elder son's resentment conflicts with Luke 15:7,10 angelic joy over repentance.
Position: elder = Israel; younger = Gentiles
Historical Note: Cyril reports and rejects this identification, arguing that Scripture does not support describing Israel as consistently blameless.
What this does not establish
- Release Introduced
- v54
- Passage Id
- PASSAGE_LUK_15_1_32
- Evidence Classification
- documented historical interpretation via translated primary work
- Status
- CURATED_PUBLIC