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and let Jerusalem come upon your heart.” 3.294 Those who have received benefits from their Savior, being fathers of many children and sons in an anagogical sense, will nourish their own children by the impartation of spiritual food, so that it is reported concerning each one according to the writing of the divine Proverbs: “A righteous father nourishes well.” 3.295 In addition to the anagogical sense, it can also be understood historically; for Zacharias, being a righteous father, nourished well John the Baptist, who was his child, as also Abraham did Isaac, and Isaac did Jacob; and the divine Paul, being himself a father, beneficially and praiseworthily nourished those whom he had begotten through the gospel. 3.296 At any rate, one can hear him writing to the Corinthians: “I gave you milk to drink.” In agreement, Peter also writes to the faithful in the dispersion: “Having been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God, like newborn infants, long for the spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation.” In this manner also the evangelist John, having begotten in the manner of instruction those who had been discipled by him, writes to the whole Church: “Children, keep yourselves from idols.” 3.297 In addition to nourishing their own children, the designated fathers will also turn them with divine exhortations and admonitions, so that they may no longer be with evil men in the lands of the impious, God granting this, as he himself said: “I will turn them back from Egypt, and I will receive them from the Assyrians,” so that they may no longer be worn down by the spiritual tyrant of Egypt, nor be held by the ruler of the Assyrians, called “the great mind” on account of the craftiness and perversity of his thoughts, which ordinary people do not expose, but only those who say with divine wisdom: “For we are not ignorant of his designs.” 3.298 It is possible to say that the same tyrant is the ruler of the Egyptians and Assyrians according to different activities; but if different evil powers should be signified through the various names, it is no trouble; for such a thing is not impossible, there being many “‘rulers and authorities of this darkness, but also world-rulers and spiritual forces of evil’.” 3.299 Having freed from Egypt and Assyria those who nourish their own children well and the fathers who begot them, the giver of great gifts promises to bring them into Gilead and Lebanon, with no evil king troubling them any longer. And see if he leads into Gilead those who are zealous to have the migration of witness, that from vice to virtue; for the one who repents migrates from sin to righteousness, from impiety to piety, with the righteous migrating in another way from the introduction of instruction to the next stage of progress, and from that to the one that follows, until the very end, after which there is no other good, it being the ultimate object of desire. 3.300 In this way, the psalmist says concerning those who migrate: “They will go from strength to strength.” 3.301 And they also migrate from the shadow of the law to its truth, those who have risen above the letter that kills and have come to be in the life-giving Spirit. 3.302 It must be considered whether a migration also follows from knowing in part and prophesying in part; and there will be a witness of the migration or sojourning, operating irrefutably, having the proof from itself. 3.303 Those who have been brought by God into Gilead are also brought into Lebanon, having been deified; for Lebanon signifies divinity in what was said by the divine bridegroom to the divine bride living with him, being a divine soul and a “glorious Church,” intensely sanctified so as “no longer to have a spot or wrinkle or any such thing;” “The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.” And this might be said to each of those who have been deified by participation in the Word of God, concerning whom it was said by the Savior:

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καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἀναβήτω ἐπὶ καρδίαν ὑμῶν.» 3.294 Οἱ εὐεργετηθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἑαυτῶν πολύπαιδες καὶ πολύτεκνοι κατ' ἀναγωγὴν ὑπάρχοντες, ἐκθρέψουσιν τὰ τέκνα ἑαυτῶν μεταδόσει νοητῆς τροφῆς, ὡς περὶ ἑκάστου ἀπαγγέλλεσθαι κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν τῶν θείων Παροιμιῶν· «Καλῶς ἐκτρέφει πατὴρ δίκαιος.» 3.295 Πρὸς τῇ ἀναγωγῇ, καὶ καθ' ἱστορίαν ὑπαρχθῆναι δύναται· δίκαιος γὰρ πατὴρ ὢν ὁ Ζαχαρίας καλῶς ἐξέθρεψεν τὸν βαπτιστὴν Ἰωάννην τυγχάνοντα τέκνον αὐτοῦ, ὡς καὶ Ἀβραὰμ τὸν Ἰσαάκ, καὶ Ἰσαὰκ τὸν Ἰακώβ· καὶ αὐτὸς ὢπατὴρ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος ἐπωφελῶς καὶ ἐπαινετῶς ἐξέτρεφεν οὓς ἐγέννησεν διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. 3.296 Ἀκοῦσαι γοῦν ἔστιν αὐτοῦ γράφοντος Κορινθίοις· «Γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα.» Συμφώνως καὶ Πέτρος γράφει τοῖς ἐν τῇ διασπορᾷ πιστοῖς· «Ἀναγεγεννημένοι οὐκ ἐκ σπορᾶς φθαρτῆς, ἀλλ' ἀφθάρτου διὰ λόγου ζῶντος Θεοῦ καὶ μένοντος̣, ὡς ἀρτιγέννητα βρέφη τὸ λογικὸν γάλα ἐπιποθήσατε, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ αὐξηθῆτε εἰς σωτηρίαν.» Κατὰ τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελιστὴς Ἰωάννης, γεννήσας παιδεύσεως τρόπῳ τοὺς μαθητευθέντας αὐτῷ, ὅλῃ Ἐκκλησίᾳ γράφει· «Τέκνα, φυλάξατε ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων.» 3.297 Πρὸς τῷ ἐκθρέψαι τὰ τέκνα ἑαυτῶν, οἱ ἀποδεδομένοι πατέρες καὶ ἐπιστρέψουσιν αὐτὰ προτροπαῖς καὶ νουθεσίαις θείαις, ἵνα μηκέτ' ὦσιν μετὰ κακῶν ἐν χώραις δυσσεβῶν, τοῦτο τοῦ Θεοῦ χαριζομένου, ὡς αὐτὸς ἔφη· «Ἐπιστρέψω αὐτοὺς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, καὶ ἐξ Ἀσσυρίων εἰσδέξομαι αὐτούς», ἵνα μηκέτι καταπόνωνται ὑπὸ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ τυράννου τῆς Αἰγύπτου, μηδὲ κρατῶνται ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, καλουμένου «νοῦ μεγάλου» διὰ πανουργίαν καὶ σκαιότητα νοημάτων, ἃ οἱ τυχόντες οὐκ ἐλέγχουσι, ἀλλ' ἢ μόνοι οἱ θεοσόφως φάσκοντες· «Οὐ γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὰ νοήματα ἀγνοοῦμεν.» 3.298 ∆υνατὸν τὸν αὐτὸν τύραννον κατ' ἄλλην καὶ ἄλλην ἐνέργειαν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Ἀσσυρίων ἄρχοντα φάναι· εἰ δὲ καὶ δ̣ιάφοροι πονηραὶ δυνάμεις σημαίνοιντο διὰ τῶν ποικίλων ὀνομάτων, οὐ λυπεῖ· οὐ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τὸ τοιοῦτον, πολλῶν οὐσῶν «ἀρχῶν καὶ ἐξουσιῶν τοῦ σκότους τούτου, ἀλλὰ καὶ κοσμοκρατόρων καὶ πνευματ̣ικῶν πονηρίας». 3.299 Ἐλευθερώσας ὁ τῶν μεγάλων δωρεῶν χορηγὸς ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου καὶ Ἀσσυρίας τοὺς καλῶς ἐκτρέφοντας τὰ σφῶν τέκνα καὶ τοὺς τεκόντας αὐτὰ πατέρας, εἰς τὴν Γαλααδῖτιν καὶ τὸν Λίβανον εἰσάξειν αὐτοὺς ἐπαγγέλλεται, οὐδενὸς ἔτι ἐνοχλοῦντος πονηροῦ βασιλέως. Καὶ ὅρα εἰ εἰσάγει εἰς τὴν Γαλααδῖτιν τοὺς σπουδάζοντας ἔχειν τὴν μαρτυρίας μετοικεσίαν, τὴν ἐκ κακίας εἰς ἀρετήν· μετοικίζεται γὰρ ὁ μετανοῶν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας εἰς δικαιοσύνην, ἐξ ἀσεβείας εἰς εὐσέβειαν, ἑτέρῳ τρόπῳ μετοικιζομένων τῶν δικαίων ἐξ εἰσαγωγῆς τῆς παιδεύσεως εἰς τὴν ἑπομένην προκοπήν, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνης εἰς τὴν διαδεχομένην, μέχρις αὐτοῦ τοῦ τέλους, μεθ' ὃ ἕτερον ἀγαθὸν οὐκ ἔστιν, τυγχάνον ἔσχατον ὀρεκτόν. 3.300 Τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ περὶ τῶν μετοικιζομένων ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς λέγει· «Πορεύσονται ἐκ δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν.» 3.301 Μετοικίζονται δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς σκιᾶς τοῦ νόμου εἰς τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτοῦ οἱ ὑπεραναβάντες τὸ ἀποκτεῖνον γράμμα καὶ ἐν τῷ ζωοποιοῦντι Πνεύματι γινόμενοι. 3.302 Ἐπιστατέον εἰ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ἐκ μέρους γινώσκειν καὶ προφητεύειν μετοικισμὸς διαδέχεται· μαρτυρι´̣α δὲ τῆς μετοικεσίας ἢ παροικήσεως ἔσται, ἀναντιρρήτως ἐνεργουμένης ἐξ ἑαυτῆς ἐχούσης τὴν ἀπόδειξιν. 3.303 Οἱ εἰσαχθέντες ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰς τὴν Γαλααδῖτιν εἰσάγονται καὶ εἰς τὸν Λίβανον θεοποιηθέντες· θεότητα γὰρ δηλοῖ ὁ Λίβανος ἐν τῷ λεχθέντι ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου νυμφίου πρὸς τὴν συνοικοῦσαν αὐτῷ θείαν νύμφην, τυγχάνουσαν θείαν ψυχὴν κ̣αὶ «ἔνδοξον Ἐκκλησίαν» σφοδρῶς ἡγιασμένην ὡς «μηκέτ' ἔχειν σπίλον ἢ ῥυτίδα ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων»· «Ὀσμὴ ἱματίων σου ὡς ὀσμὴ Λιβάνου.» Ῥηθείη δ' ἂν τοῦτο πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν θεοποιηθέντων μετοχῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγου, περὶ ὧν εἴρηται ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος·