The parable of the leaven is one of the parables of Jesus Christ about the kingdom of heaven, contained in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke :
 | He told them a different parable: the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman, taking, put in three measures of flour, until everything was soured. ( Matthew 13:33 ) |  |
| He also said: why will I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman, taking, put in three measures of flour, until everything was soured. ( Luke 13: 20-21 ) | |
Theological interpretation
The purpose of a Christian’s life is deification , spiritual transformation of a person, compared by Jesus Christ with the process of making dough , when the leaven comes in contact with flour and tells it its own property. The mass thus formed is homogeneous, but does not lose its former components and, as it were, symbolizes the integrity of human nature in Christ and the Church, each member of which forms a single organism of His Body Eph. 1: 22-23 ; Eph. 5:30 ; 1 Cor. 12:27
Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria , arguing about the parable, gives the images given in it the following meanings [1] :
- Sourdough - apostles who, by a small number, are able to transform the whole world, just as a dough leaks from a small sourdough; sermon .
- Three measures - three powers of the soul: mind, feelings and will.
- A wife is a soul who hid the sermon in all her strength, mixed up with her, fermented, and all were sanctified from her.
Saint John Chrysostom :
Just as leaven over large quantities of flour produces the fact that the leaven is assimilated by flour, so you [the apostles] will transform the whole world. Pay attention to the meaning: the Lord chooses what happens in nature for the image, to show that His word is as immutable as what is seen in nature occurs according to the necessary laws. Do not tell me: what can we, twelve people, do when we enter the environment of so many people? It is in this very that your power is revealed more clearly that you, intervened in the multitude, will not surrender. As a leaven then only fermentes the dough, when it comes in contact with flour, and not only touches, but even mixes with it ... And how the leaven, when covered with flour, does not get lost in it, but soon it communicates its own property to the whole mixture, so for sure and the sermon will happen ... Like a spark, when it touches the wood, the light that it ignites makes a new source of fire, and thus extends further and further, so does the sermon. But the Lord did not say about fire, but about leaven. Why so? Because there everything does not depend on fire, but much also on lighted firewood; here, leaven produces everything by itself. If twelve people have leavened the whole universe, then it made sense how thin we are when, despite all our large numbers, we cannot fix the rest, we, whom it would have been sufficient to become leaven for a thousand worlds! [2]
Archpriest Seraphim of Slobodskoy, referring to Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich in the Law of God, wrote [3] :
The Lord gave an example to a woman because a woman, like a wife and mother, lovingly prepares homemade bread for children and household members, while a male baker prepares bread for sale, counting on income and profit.
He also pointed out the twofold meaning of the parable: the general historical process of saving people and the personal process of saving each person:
Historical process: After the Flood from the sons of Noah - Shem, Ham and Japheth came three races of the human race: the Semites, Hamites and Japhetes. They are the three measures of torment in which Christ imposes His heavenly yeast — the Holy Spirit, imparts to all human races, without any restriction or exception. Just as a woman, using leaven, turns ordinary natural flour into bread, so Christ, using the Holy Spirit, turns ordinary natural people into sons of God, into immortal inhabitants of the Kingdom of Heaven. The process of leaven began on the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and continues to this day, and will continue until the end of the century - until everything is soured.
Personal process: the Savior, through baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity, gives heavenly sourdough - the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the power of grace - to the soul of every person, that is, to the main abilities or forces of the human soul: mind, feeling (heart) and will (“three measures "). All three forces of the human soul harmoniously grow and rise to heaven, being filled with the light of reason, the warmth of love and the glory of good deeds, becoming sons and daughters of God, heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.