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Can you do this one? Come, that one. Can you not do that one? Come, this one. For this reason He did not show the garment as golden, but interwoven with gold. It is either of silk, or it is of purple, or it is of gold. Can you not be golden? Become silken. I receive you, only in the garment. For this reason Paul also says: If anyone builds on this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones. Can you not be the precious stone? Become gold. Can you not be gold? Become silver, only on the foundation. And again elsewhere: One is the glory of the sun, and another the glory of the moon, and another the glory of the stars. Can you not be the sun? Become the moon. Can you not be the moon? Become a star. Can you not be a great star? Become even a small one, only in heaven. Can you not be a virgin? Marry with chastity, only in the Church. Can you not be without possessions? Show mercy, only in the Church, only in the garment, only under the queen. The garment is interwoven with gold, the garment is varied. I do not shut the way to you; for the abundance of virtues has made the king's economy easy. Clothed in a garment interwoven with gold, richly embroidered. Her garment is varied; and if you wish, unfold the depth of the word that was spoken, and see the garment interwoven with gold. For here some are monastics, and others practice a venerable marriage, not falling far short of them; and some are once-married, and widows are flourishing. Why a paradise? Why varied? Having different flowers, and trees, and many pearls. Many are the stars, but one is the sun; many are the ways of life, but one is paradise; many are the temples, but one is paradise; many are the temples, but one is the mother. One is a body, another eyes, another a finger, but all are one. For the small is the same, and the great, and the lesser. The virgin has need of the married woman; for the virgin is also from marriage, so that she might not despise marriage. The virgin is the root of marriage. All things are bound together, the small with the great, and the great with the small. The queen stood at your right hand, clothed in a garment interwoven with gold, richly embroidered. For the rest, Hear, O daughter. The bridesman says that you are about to go out to the bridegroom, who surpasses your substance, who surpasses your nature. I am the bridesman. Hear, O daughter. Did she immediately become a wife? Yes; for it is nothing bodily. For he both betrothed her as a wife, and loves her as a daughter, and provides for her as a handmaid, and keeps her as a virgin, and walls her as 52.411 a paradise, and cares for her as a limb, and provides for her as a head, and plants her as a root, and pastures her as a shepherd, and betroths her as a bridegroom, and forgives her as an atonement, and is sacrificed as a sheep, and preserves her beauty as a bridegroom, and provides for her care as a husband. Many are the meanings, so that we may enjoy at least a small part of the economy. Hear, O daughter, and see, and behold the marital matters, which are also spiritual. Hear, O daughter. She was first a daughter of demons, a daughter of the earth, unworthy of the earth, and now she has become a daughter of the king. And this he who loves her willed. For he who loves does not examine character; love does not see ugliness; for this reason it is called love, because it often loves even the unlovely. Thus also Christ did; he saw her unlovely (for I would not call her lovely), and he loved her, and makes her new, having no spot or wrinkle. O what a bridegroom, who beautifies the ugliness of the bride! Hear, O daughter, hear, and see. He says two things, Hear, and, See, the two are from you, the one with the eyes, the other with hearing. Since, therefore, her dowry was in hearing; if some have foreseen more sharply, let them wait for the weaker; and I praise you who have gone ahead, and I forgive those who follow; since her dowry was in hearing (what is in hearing? In faith. For faith is from hearing; in faith, not in enjoyment, not in every experience), I said before, that he divided her dowry into two parts, and some things he gave her as a pledge, and others he promised to her for the

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δύνασαι ταύτην; ∆εῦρο ἐκείνην. Οὐ δύνασαι ἐκείνην; ∆εῦρο ταύτην. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔδειξε τὸ ἱμάτιον χρυσοῦν, ἀλλὰ διάχρυσον. Ἢ σηρική ἐστιν, ἢ πορφυρᾶ ἐστιν, ἢ χρυσᾶ ἐστιν. Οὐ δύνασαι εἶναι χρυσοῦς; Γενοῦ σηρικός. ∆έχομαί σε, μόνον ἐν τῷ ἱματίῳ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος· Εἴ τις ἐποικοδομεῖ ἐπὶ τὸν θεμέλιον τοῦτον, χρυσὸν, ἄργυρον, λίθους τιμίους. Οὐ δύνασαι εἶναι ὁ λίθος τίμιος; Γενοῦ χρυσός. Οὐ δύνασαι εἶναι χρυσός; Γενοῦ ἄργυρος, μόνον ἐν θεμελίῳ. Καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ· Ἄλλη δόξα ἡλίου, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα σελήνης, καὶ ἄλλη δόξα ἀστέρων. Οὐ δύνασαι εἶναι ἥλιος; Γενοῦ σελήνη. Οὐ δύνασαι εἶναι σελήνη; Γενοῦ ἀστήρ. Οὐ δύνασαι εἶναι μέγας ἀστήρ; Γενοῦ κἂν μικρὸς, μόνον ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ. Οὐ δύνασαι εἶναι παρθένος; Γάμησον μετὰ σωφροσύνης, μόνον ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ. Οὐ δύνασαι εἶναι ἀκτήμων; Ἐλέησον, μόνον ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, μόνον ἐν τῷ ἱματίῳ, μόνον ὑπὸ τὴν βασίλισσαν. ∆ιάχρυσον τὸ ἱμάτιον, ποικίλον τὸ ἱμάτιον. Οὐκ ἀποκλείω σοι τὴν ὁδόν· ἡ ἀφθονία γὰρ τῶν ἀρετῶν εὔκολον ἐποίησε τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ βασιλέως. Ἐν ἱματισμῷ διαχρύσῳ περιβεβλημένη, πεποικιλμένη. Ποικίλον ἐστὶν αὐτῆς τὸ ἱμάτιον· καὶ εἰ βούλει, ἀνάπτυξον τὸ βάθος τοῦ λόγου τοῦ εἰρημένου, καὶ βλέπε τὸ ἱμάτιον τὸ διάχρυσον. Ἐνταῦθα μὲν γὰρ οἱ μὲν μονάζοντές εἰσιν, οἱ δὲ γάμον σεμνὸν ἀσκοῦσιν, οὐ πολὺ ἐκείνων ἀπολιμπανόμενοι· καὶ οἱ μὲν μονόγαμοι, αἱ δὲ χῆραι ἀνθοῦσαι. ∆ιὰ τί παράδεισος; διὰ τί ποικίλος; Ἔχων ἄνθη διάφορα, καὶ δένδρα, καὶ πολλοὺς τοὺς μαργαρίτας. Πολλοὶ οἱ ἀστέρες, ἀλλὰ εἷς ὁ ἥλιος· πολλοὶ οἱ βίοι, ἀλλὰ εἷς ὁ παράδεισος· πολλοὶ οἱ ναοὶ, ἀλλὰ εἷς ὁ παράδεισος· πολλοὶ οἱ ναοὶ, ἀλλὰ μία ἡ μήτηρ. Τὸ μὲν, σῶμα, τὸ δὲ, ὀφθαλμοὶ, τὸ δὲ, δάκτυλος, ἀλλὰ πάντες εἷς. Τὸ αὐτὸ γὰρ τὸ μικρὸν, καὶ τὸ μέγα, καὶ τὸ ἧττον. Ἡ παρθένος τῆς γεγαμημένης χρείαν ἔχει· καὶ γὰρ ἡ παρθένος ἀπὸ γάμου, ἵνα μὴ καταφρονῇ γάμου. Ἡ παρθένος ῥίζα τοῦ γάμου. Πάντα συνδεδεμένα, τὰ μικρὰ τοῖς μεγάλοις, καὶ τὰ μεγάλα τοῖς μικροῖς. Παρέστη ἡ βασίλισσα ἐκ δεξιῶν σου, ἐν ἱματισμῷ διαχρύσῳ περιβεβλημένη, πεποικιλμένη. Τὸ λοιπὸν, Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ. Ὁ νυμφαγωγός φησιν ὡς μέλλεις ἐξέρχεσθαι πρὸς τὸν νυμφίον, ὑπερβαίνοντά σου τὴν οὐσίαν, ὑπερβαίνοντά σου τὴν φύσιν. Ἐγὼ νυμφαγωγός. Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ. Εὐθέως ἐγίνετο ἡ γυνή; Ναί· οὐδὲν γὰρ σωματικόν. Καὶ γὰρ ὡς γυναῖκα ἡρμόσατο, καὶ ὡς θυγατέρα φιλεῖ, καὶ ὡς δούλης προνοεῖ, καὶ ὡς παρθένον τηρεῖ, καὶ ὡς 52.411 παράδεισον τειχίζει, καὶ ὡς μέλος περιέπει, καὶ ὡς κεφαλὴ προνοεῖ, καὶ ὡς ῥίζα φυτεύει, καὶ ὡς ποιμὴν βόσκει, καὶ ὡς νυμφίος ἁρμόζεται, καὶ ὡς ἱλαστήριον συγχωρεῖ, καὶ ὡς πρόβατον θύεται, καὶ ὡς νυμφίος διατηρεῖ ἐν κάλλει, καὶ ὡς ἀνὴρ προνοεῖ τῆς κηδεμονίας. Πολλὰ τὰ νοήματα, ἵνα κἂν μικροῦ μέρους τῆς οἰκονομίας ἀπολαύσωμεν. Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ, καὶ ἴδε, καὶ βλέπε τὰ γαμικὰ πράγματα, καὶ πνευματικά. Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ. Θυγάτηρ ἦν τῶν δαιμόνων αὐτὴ πρῶτον, θυγάτηρ τῆς γῆς, ἀναξία τῆς γῆς, καὶ νῦν γέγονε θυγάτηρ τοῦ βασιλέως. Τοῦτο δὲ ἠθέλησεν ὁ ἐρῶν αὐτῆς. Ὁ γὰρ ἐρῶν οὐκ ἐξετάζει τρόπον· ὁ ἔρως οὐ βλέπει ἀμορφίαν· διὰ τοῦτο δὲ καλεῖται ἔρως, ὅτι πολλάκις καὶ ἄμορφον φιλεῖ. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἐποίησεν· ἄμορφον εἶδεν (οὐ γὰρ ἂν αὐτὴν εἴποιμι εὔμορφον), καὶ ἠράσθη, καὶ ποιεῖ αὐτὴν νέαν, μὴ ἔχουσαν σπῖλον ἢ ῥυτίδα. Ὢ νυμφίου καλλωπίζοντος ἀμορφίαν νύμφης! Ἄκουσον, θύγατερ, ἄκουσον, καὶ ἴδε. ∆ύο λέγει, Ἄκουσον, καὶ, Βλέπε, τὰ δύο ἀπὸ σοῦ, τὰ μὲν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, τὰ δὲ τῇ ἀκοῇ. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἡ προῖξ αὐτῆς ἐν ἀκοῇ ἦν· εἰ καί τινες ὀξύτερον προεῖδον, ἀναμενέτωσαν τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους· καὶ ὑμᾶς ἐπαινῶ προλαβόντας, καὶ ἐκείνοις συγγινώσκω ἀκολουθοῦσιν· ἐπειδὴ ἡ προῖξ αὐτῆς ἐν ἀκοῇ ἦν (τί ἐστιν ἐν ἀκοῇ; Ἐν πίστει. Ἡ γὰρ πίστις ἐξ ἀκοῆς· ἐν πίστει, οὐκ ἐν ἀπολαύσει, οὐκ ἐν πείρᾳ πάσῃ), προεῖπον, ὅτι εἰς δύο μέρη διεῖλε τὴν προῖκα αὐτῆς, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἔδωκεν αὐτῇ ἀντὶ ἀῤῥαβῶνος, τὰ δὲ ἐπηγγείλατο αὐτῇ εἰς τὸ