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that the spirit might be saved. For this reason God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. 29.405 Since it was necessary to form the typical anointing, and the typical high priests and kings, the flesh of the Lord was anointed with the true anointing, by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon it, which has been called the oil of gladness. And he was anointed beyond his companions; that is, above all men who partake of Christ. Because to them was given some partial communion of the Spirit, but upon the Son of God the Holy Spirit, having descended, as John says, "remained upon him." And the Spirit is rightly called the oil of gladness, since joy is also one of the fruits cultivated by the Holy Spirit. And since the account of the Savior is mixed, because of both the nature of his divinity and the economy of his incarnation, looking again to the human aspect of God, he says: You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; instead of saying, Other men often achieve a disposition toward the good and an aversion to evil things by labor and practice and attention; but for you the affinity for the good and the alienation from iniquity is natural. And for us, if we wish, it is not difficult to take up love for righteousness and hatred for iniquity. For God gave every power usefully to the rational soul; just as the power to love, so also the power to hate; so that, being guided by reason, we might love virtue and hate vice. For it is sometimes possible to use hatred in a praiseworthy way. Did I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and was I not grieved with your enemies? I hated them with a perfect hatred. Myrrh and stacte and cassia from your garments, from ivory palaces, from which the daughters of kings have gladdened you in your honor. The prophetic word, consequently descending and having previously touched upon all things concerning the economy, by the contemplation of the Spirit which reveals hidden things to him, came to the passion: For, he says, myrrh and stacte and cassia from your garments. Now, that myrrh is a symbol of burial, the evangelist John has also taught us, saying that he was buried by Joseph of Arimathea with myrrh and aloes. And stacte is itself the finest form of myrrh. For when the spice is pressed, whatever of it is flowing is separated into stacte; but the thicker part that remains is called myrrh. 29.408 Therefore the fragrance of Christ also breathes forth, of myrrh because of the passion, of stacte because he did not remain motionless nor inactive for the three days and the three nights, but descended into Hades for the sake of the economy of the resurrection, that he might fill all things with himself. And he breathes forth of cassia, because cassia is a very fine and fragrant bark, stretched around a woody stalk. Perhaps, therefore, the Word has deeply and wisely hinted to us, through the name of cassia, of the passion of the cross, undertaken for the benefit of all creation. You have, therefore, myrrh because of the burial, stacte because of the descent into Hades (since every drop is carried downwards), and cassia because of the economy of the flesh concerning the wood. And for this reason, he says, The daughters of kings have gladdened you in your honor. And who could the daughters of kings be but noble and great and royal souls? who, having recognized Christ through his condescension to human affairs, gladdened him in his honor, in true faith and perfect love, glorifying his divinity. And he says that these perfumes are not present in a small way on the garments of Christ (that is, the parable of the words and the structure of the doctrines), but are brought from whole buildings. For he calls the largest of houses 'palaces', and says that these are constructed from ivory, teaching, I think, the richness of Christ's love for the world from the prophet. The queen stood at

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ἵνα τὸ πνεῦμα σωθῇ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔχρισέ σε ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ Θεός σου, ἔλαιον ἀγαλλιάσεως παρὰ τοὺς μετόχους σου. 29.405 Ἐπειδὴ ἕδει σχηματίσαι τὸ τυπικὸν χρίσμα, καὶ τοὺς τυπικοὺς ἀρχιερέας καὶ βασιλέας, ἐχρίσθη τῷ ἀλη θινῷ χρίσματι ἡ σὰρξ τοῦ Κυρίου, τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἰς αὐτὴν ἐπιδημίᾳ, ὅπερ ἀγαλλιάσεως ἔλαιον προσηγόρευται. Ἐχρίσθη δὲ παρὰ τοὺς μετ όχους αὐτοῦ· τουτέστιν, ὑπὲρ πάντας ἀνθρώπους τοὺς μετέχοντας τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ∆ιότι ἐκείνοις μὲν μερική τις ἐδίδοτο Πνεύματος κοινωνία, ἐπὶ δὲ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ κατελθὸν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὥς φησιν Ἰωάννης, Ἔμεινεν ἐπ' αὐτόν. Καλῶς δὲ ἀγαλλιάσεως ἔλαιον τὸ Πνεῦμα προσαγορεύεται, ἐπειδὴ καὶ εἷς τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἁγίου γεωρ γουμένων καρπῶν ἐστιν ἡ χαρά. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ μικτός ἐστιν ὁ περὶ τοῦ Σωτῆρος λόγος διά τε τὴν φύσιν τῆς θεότητος, καὶ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, πάλιν εἰς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀποβλέψας, φησίν· Ἠγάπησας δικαιοσύνην, καὶ ἐμίσησας ἀνομίαν· ἀντὶ τοῦ, Οἱ μὲν λοιποὶ ἄνθρωποι πόνῳ καὶ ἀσκήσει καὶ προσοχῇ πολλάκις κατορθοῦσι τὴν πρὸς τὸ καλὸν διάθεσιν, καὶ τὴν τῶν φαύλων ἀποστροφήν· σοὶ δὲ φυσική τίς ἐστι πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἡ οἰκείωσις, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀνομίαν ἡ ἀλλοτρίωσις. Καὶ ἡμῖν δὲ οὐ χαλεπὸν βουληθεῖσιν ἀναλαβεῖν τὴν πρὸς τὴν δικαιοσύ νην ἀγάπην, καὶ τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἀνομίαν μῖσος. Πᾶσαν γὰρ δύναμιν ὁ Θεὸς χρησίμως ἔδωκε τῇ λογικῇ ψυχῇ· ὥσπερ τὴν τοῦ ἀγαπᾷν, οὕτω καὶ τὴν τοῦ μισεῖν· ἵνα λόγῳ εὐθυνόμενοι ἀγαπῶμεν μὲν τὴν ἀρετὴν, μισῶ μεν δὲ τὴν κακίαν. Ἔστι γάρ ποτε καὶ ἐπαινετῶς τῷ μίσει χρήσασθαι. Οὐχὶ τοὺς μισοῦντάς σε, Κύριε, ἐμίσησα, καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐχθρούς σου ἐξετηκό μην; Τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσουν αὐτούς. Σμύρνα καὶ στακτὴ καὶ κασσία ἀπὸ τῶν ἱμα τίων σου ἀπὸ βάρεων ἐλεφαντίνων, ἐξ ὧν εὔφρα νάν σε θυγατέρες βασιλέων ἐν τῇ τιμῇ σου. Ὑπο καταβαίνων ἀκολούθως ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς κατὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν προεπιβαλὼν, τῷ ἐνατενισμῷ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ ἀποκαλύπτοντος αὐτῷ τὰ κρυπτὰ, ἦλθεν ἐπὶ τὸ πάθος· Σμύρνα γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ στακτὴ καὶ κασσία ἀπὸ τῶν ἱματίων σου. Ἡ μὲν οὖν σμύρνα ὅτι ταφῆς ἐστι σύμβολον, καὶ ὁ εὐ αγγελιστὴς ἡμᾶς Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξεν, εἰπὼν ὑπὸ Ἰωσὴφ τοῦ Ἀριμαθαίου ἐντεταφιάσθαι μετὰ σμύρνης καὶ ἀλόης. Ἡ δὲ στακτὴ καὶ αὐτὴ σμύρνης ἐστὶν εἶδος τὸ λεπτότατον. Ἐκθλιβέντος γὰρ τοῦ ἀρώμα τος, ὅσον μὲν αὐτοῦ ῥυτὸν, εἰς τὴν στακτὴν ἀπομερί ζεται· τὸ δὲ παχύτερον ἀπομένον σμύρνα προσα 29.408 γορεύεται. Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἀποπνέει ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐωδία, σμύρνης μὲν διὰ τὸ πάθος, στακτῆς δὲ διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀκίνητον μεῖναι μηδὲ ἀνενέργητον ἐν ταῖς τρισὶν ἡμέραις καὶ ταῖς τρισὶ νυξὶν, ἀλλὰ κατελθεῖν εἰς ᾅδου τῆς περὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν οἰκονομίας ἕνεκεν, ἵνα πλη ρώσῃ ἑαυτοῦ τὰ σύμπαντα. Κασσίας δὲ ἀποπνέει, διότι ἡ κασσία φλοιός τίς ἐστι λεπτότατος καὶ εὐώ δης, ξυλώδει κάρφει περιτεινόμενος. Μήποτε οὖν τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ πάθος, ἐπ' εὐεργεσίᾳ τῆς κτίσεως πάσης παραληφθὲν, βαθέως ἡμῖν καὶ σοφῶς ὁ λόγος διὰ τοῦ τῆς κασσίας ὀνόματος παρῃνίξατο. Ἔχεις οὖν σμύρ ναν μὲν διὰ τὴν ταφὴν, στακτὴν δὲ διὰ τὴν εἰς ᾅδου κάθοδον (ἐπειδὴ πᾶσα σταγὼν ἐπὶ τὰ κάτω φέρεται), κασσίαν δὲ διὰ τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς περὶ τὸ ξύλον οἰκονο μίαν. Ἐκ δὲ ταύτης τῆς αἰτίας Εὔφρανάν σε, φη σὶ, θυγατέρες βασιλέων ἐν τῇ τιμῇ σου. Θυγατέ ρες δὲ βασιλέων τίνες ἂν εἶεν ἢ εὐγενεῖς καὶ μεγάλαι καὶ βασιλικαὶ ψυχαί; αἳ, διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα συγκατάβασιν ἐπιγνοῦσαι τὸν Χριστὸν, εὔφραναν αὐ τὸν ἐν τῇ τιμῇ, ἐν ἀληθινῇ πίστει καὶ ἀγάπῃ τελείᾳ, δοξάζουσαι αὐτοῦ τὴν θεότητα. Τὰ δὲ ἀρώματα ταῦ τα οὐ μικρολόγως φησὶ προσεῖναι τοῖς ἱματίοις τοῦ Χριστοῦ (τουτέστιν, ἡ παραβολὴ τῶν λόγων καὶ ἡ τῶν δογμάτων κατασκευὴ), ἀλλ' ἀπὸ ὅλων τῶν οἰ κοδομημάτων φέρεσθαι. Βάρεις γὰρ τοὺς μεγίστους τῶν οἴκων λέγει, καὶ τούτους ἐξ ἐλέφαντος εἶναι κατεσκευασμένους, τὸ πλούσιον, οἶμαι, τῆς τοῦ Χρι στοῦ περὶ τὸν κόσμον ἀγάπης τοῦ προφήτου διδάσκον τος. Παρέστη ἡ βασίλισσα ἐκ