The Fragrance of Divinity and the Unity of the Fullness
Having been made divine: for the Lebanon declares divinity in what was said by the divine bridegroom to the divine bride cohabiting with him, who was being a divine soul and an 'exalted Church' most intensely regarded as 'having no more a wrinkle or a line or anything of this sort' (Song of Songs 4:7); 'The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.' This could be said toward each of those having been made divine through participation in the God the Word, concerning whom it was said by the Savior: 'He called those gods to whom the word of God became' (Psalm 82:6). 'The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.' In the plural, garments are virtues by type, with which the 'queen standing at the right hand' of the all-king bridegroom is adorned.
It has been said to wise men that the divinity which the Magi brought to the child born of Mary, with gold and myrrh and frankincense, is shown by such a thought: since the one born of the virgin is simultaneously God and man, but also is a king, according to the one confessing his divinity, it is fitting to bring frankincense as a gift, and to present gold along with this frankincense because he confesses him as king. For it is said in the seventy-first Psalm, and that the one who has arrived is king and gold is presented to him, thus: 'Give the king his due judgment' (Psalm 71:11), and with other things: 'And he shall live and gold shall be given to him from the Arabia' (Psalm 72:10). In truth, and not by opinion, the one being glorified as a man will not be divine because he is mortal and is destined 'by the grace of God to be above all death' (Romans 6:9), and myrrh was presented among the gifts. This gift declares that he has been buried, the one who has overcome all death. Likewise, those around Joseph and Nicodemus perfumed with myrrh the body of Jesus which was brought from the cross.
When the great-giver God has brought into Gilead and Lebanon those redeemed from Pharaoh and from the Assyrian, no one of the enemies remains any longer, not in being—for it is impossible to turn a rational essence into non-being, even if he sins and acts impiously in all things and greatly—but in no longer being an enemy and an adversary to those redeemed by God. Most especially this will be when 'God is all in all' (1 Cor 15:28) becomes, 'for all having met the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ,' 'having been perfected in the same mind and the same purpose,' of whom the Son said to the Father: 'Give to them that they may be one in us, just as I and you are one' (John 17:21). Namely, of all having received the fullness of divinity, no one remains any longer divided from the union as being outside and by himself. 'For then all sorrow, pain, and sighing will depart' (Rev 21:4), the multitude according to number will also depart, into one man of all those having met.
Greek
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· 111 «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 Γαλααδῖτιν̣ 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
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
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