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“He called them gods to whom the word of God came.” 3.304 “The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.” In the plural, "garments" happen to be the virtues in form, with which “the queen standing at the right hand” of the all-king bridegroom is adorned. 3.305 It has been said by wise men that the frankincense, which the magi offered to the child born of Mary along with gold and myrrh, signifies divinity, with such a thought: since He who was born of the virgin is at once God and man, but also king, it is possible for one who confesses his divinity to bring frankincense as a gift, and to offer gold with this frankincense because of confessing him as king. For it is said in the seventy-first Psalm, both that he who has come is king and that gold is offered to him, thus: “O God, give your judgment to the king,” and after other things: “And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia.” 3.306 Having become man in truth and not in appearance, the one who is glorified, because he is mortal and is about “by the grace of God to taste death for everyone,” myrrh was also offered among the gifts. This gift signifies the burial of the one who died for all. For indeed, those with Joseph and Nicodemus anointed with myrrh the body of Jesus which had been taken down from the cross. 3.307 When the greatly-giving God has brought those redeemed from Pharaoh and the Assyrian into Gilead and Lebanon, no one of the enemies is still left, not by no longer existing, -for it is impossible to destroy a rational substance into non-being, even if it sins greatly and in all things and acts impiously, - but by no longer being an enemy and an adversary to those redeemed by God. 3.308 But this will especially be the case when “God becomes all in all,” “for when all have attained to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” “perfected in the same mind and in the same judgment,” that having come to be which the Son said to the Father: “Grant to them that they may be one in us, just as I and you are one.” Indeed, when all have received the fullness of the Godhead, no one is still left divided from the unity, so as to be outside and on his own. “For when at that time all grief, pain, and sighing have fled away,” the multitude according to number will also flee away, when all have attained to one man. 3.309 Zach. X, 11-12: They shall pass through a narrow sea and shall strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the rivers shall be dried up, and all the pride of the Assyrians shall be taken away, and the scepter of Egypt shall be removed. And I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in his name they shall boast, says the Lord. 3.310 Continually in the divine words the way of life on earth and worldly conduct is called a sea. For the gospel parable about the dragnet hints at nothing perceptible, explaining everything anagogically; for the dragnet cast into human life for the catching of the fish in it, so named allegorically, is the God-inspired scripture, woven in many ways by “the manifold wisdom of God.” And the sea is our condition, made broad and spacious for the lovers of pleasure and lovers of passion who are disposed somewhere near to the motionless; for a fish neither emits a voice, nor has a clear imagination, since it does not even have precise sensation. 3.311 Even if the fish swimming in it have nothing distinct, because of the deficiency of their soul and sensation, yet the holy men, being fishers and hunters of fish, do their work even in the multitude of the water of the sea. For concerning them it is written in the divine hymns: “Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing work in many waters, they saw the works of God and his wonders in the deep.” 3.312 The souls go down into the wave-tossed life of men, filled with storm and brine, in ships, which are human bodies, in order to do

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«Ἐκείνους θεοὺς εἶπεν πρὸς οὓς ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐγένετο.» 3.304 «Ὀσμὴ ἱματίων σου ὡς ὀσμὴ Λιβάνου.» Πληθυντικῶς ἱμάτια αι῾̣ κατ' εἶδος ἀρεταὶ τυγχάνουσιν, οἷς ἐγκαλλωπίζετα̣ι «ἡ παραστᾶσα βασιλὶς ἐκ δεξιῶν» τοῦ παμβασιλέως νυμφίου. 3.305 Εἴρηται σοφοῖς ἀνδράσιν θεότητα δηλοῦν ὃν προσήνεγκαν οἱ μάγοι τῷ ἐκ τῆς Μαρίας τεχθέντι παιδίῳ μετὰ χρυσοῦ καὶ σμύρνης λίβανον, διανοίᾳ τοιαύτῃ· ἐπεὶ Θεὸς ἅμα καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλὰ καὶ βασιλεὺς ὑπάρχει ὁ τεχθεὶς ἐκ τῆς παρθένου, κατὰ τὸν ὁμολογοῦντα τὴν θεότητα αὐτοῦ ἔστιν λίβανον δῶρον κομίζειν, χρυσὸν δὲ μετὰ τούτου τοῦ λιβάνου προσάγειν διὰ τὸ ὁμολογεῖν αὐτὸν βασιλέα. Εἴρηται γοῦν ἐν ἑβδομηκοστῷ πρώτῳ Ψαλμῷ, καὶ ὅτι βασιλεύς ἐστιν ὁ ἐπιδημήσας καὶ χρυσὸς αὐτῷ προσάγεται, οὕτως· «Ὁ Θεὸς τὸ κρίμα σου τῷ βασιλεῖ δός», καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· «Καὶ ζήσεται καὶ δοθήσεται αὐτῷ ἐκ τοῦ χρυσίου τῆς Ἀραβίας.» 3.306 Ἀληθείᾳ καὶ οὐ δοκήσει ἄνθρωπος γεγονὼς ο῾̣ δ̣ο̣ξολογούμενος διὰ τὸ θνητὸς εἶναι καὶ μέλλειν «χάριτι Θεοῦ ὑπὲρ πάντας γεύεσθαι θανάτου̣», καὶ σμύρνα ἐν τοῖς δώροις προσηνέχθη. ∆ηλοῖ τὸ δώρημα τοῦτο τὸ τετάφθαι τὸν ὑπὲρ πάντων θανόντα. Αὐτίκα γοῦν οἱ ἀμ̣φὶ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ καὶ Νικόδημον ἐσμύρνισαν τὸ κατε̣ν̣εχθὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. 3.307 Εἰσάξαντος τοῦ μεγαλοδώρου Θεοῦ τοὺς λυτρωθέντας ἀπὸ Φαραὼ κα̣ι`̣ τ̣οῦ Ἀσσυρίου εἰς τὴν Γαλααδῖτιν ̣ καὶ τὸν Λίβανον, οὐδεὶς ἔτ̣ι τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑπολείπεται, οὐ τῷ μηκέτ' εἶναι, -ἀδύνατον γὰρ λογικὴν οὐσίαν εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν καταστρέψαι, κἂν π̣άντα καὶ μεγάλα ἁμαρτήσῃ καὶ ἀσεβήσῃ, - ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ μηκέτ' εἶναι ἐχθρὸν καὶ ἀντικείμενον τοῖς ὑπὸ Θεοῦ λυτρωθεῖσιν. 3.308 Μάλιστα δὲ τοῦθ' ὑπάρξεται ὅταν «πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν ὁ Θεὸς» γένηται, «πάντων γὰρ καταντησάντων εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ», «κατηρτισμένων τῷ αὐτῷ νοῒ καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ γνώμῃ», ὑπάρξαντος οὗ εἶπεν ὁ Υἱὸς πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα· «∆ὸς αὐτοῖς ἵνα ὦσιν ἓν ἐν ἡμῖν, καθὼς ἐγὼ καὶ σὺ ἕν ἐσμεν.» Πάντων δηλαδὴ ἀπολαβόντων τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος, οὐδεὶς ἔτι ὑπολείπεται διῃρημένος τῆς ἑνώσεως ὡς ἔξω καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν εἶναι. «Ἀποδράσης γὰρ τότε πάσης λύπης, ὀδύνης, στεναγμοῦ», ἀποδράσεται καὶ τὸ κατὰ ἀριθμὸν πλῆθος, εἰς ἕνα ἄνδρα πάντων καταντησάντων. 3.309 Zach. X, 11-12: Ἐλεύσονται ἐν θαλάσσῃ στενῇ καὶ πατάξουσιν ἐν θαλάσσῃ κύματα, καὶ ξηρανθήσεται πάντα τὰ βάθη ποταμῶν, καὶ ἀφαιρεθήσεται πᾶσα ὕβρις Ἀσσυρίων, καὶ σκῆπτρον Αἰγύπτου περιαιρεθήσεται. Καὶ κατισχύσω αὐτοὺς ἐν Κυρίῳ Θεῷ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ κατακαυχήσονται, λέγει Κύριος. 3.310 Συνεχῶς ἐν τοῖς θείοις λόγοις ὁ περὶ γῆν τρόπος καὶ κοσμικὴ διαγωγὴ θάλασσα προσαγορεύεται. Ἡ περὶ τῆς σαγήνης γοῦν εὐαγγελικὴ παραβολὴ οὐδὲν αἰσθητὸν αἰνίττεται, πάντα πρὸς ἀναγωγὴν διαγορ̣εύουσα· ἡ γὰρ βαλλομένη σαγήνη εἰς τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον ἐπὶ ἄγρᾳ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ ἰχθύων, ἀλληγορικῶς οὕτως ὠνομασμένων, ἡ θεόπνευστός ἐστι γραφή, πολυειδῶς πεπλεγμένη ὑπὸ «τῆς πολυποικίλου τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφίας». Θάλασσα δὲ ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐστι κατάστασις, πλατυνομένη̣ καὶ εὐρυνομένη τοῖς φιληδόνοις κα̣ὶ φιλοπαθέσιν ἐγγύς που τοῦ ἀκινήτου διακειμένοις· οὐδὲ γὰρ φωνὴν ἰχθὺς ἀφίησιν, οὐδὲ τρανὴν ἔχει φαντασίαν, ἐπεὶ μηδὲ αἴσθησιν ἠκριβωμένην. 3.311 Εἰ καὶ οἱ ἰχθύες οἱ ἐννη̣χ̣όμενοι αὐτῇ οὐδὲν ἔχουσιν ἐναργές, διὰ τὸ καταδεὲς τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ αἰσθήσεως αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' οὖν οἱ ἅγιοι ἄνδρες ἁλιεῖς ὄντες καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων ἀγρευταί, ποιοῦσιν ἐργασίαν καὶ ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ὕδατος τῆς θαλάσσης. Περὶ αὐτῶν γοῦν γέγραπται ἐν θείοις ὕμνοις· «Οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς θάλασσαν ἐν̣ πλοίοις ποιοῦντες ἐργασίαν ἐν ὕδασιν πολλοῖς, αὐτοὶ εἶδον τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὰ θαυμάσια αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ βυθῷ.» 3.312 Καταβαίνουσιν εἰς τὸν κεκυματωμένον ζάλης τε και`̣ ἁλμυρίδος πεπληρωμένον ἀνθρώπων βίον ἐν πλοίοις τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις σώμασιν αἱ ψυχαί, ἐπὶ τῷ ποιῆσαι