(.—Christ with chrism, lo! He is sealing the newborn lambs in His flock!)
1. Christ and chrism are conjoined; the secret
with the visible is mingled: the chrism anoints
visibly,—Christ seals secretly, the lambs newborn and spiritual, the prize of His twofold victory; for He engendered it of the chrism, and He gave it birth of the water.
2. How exalted are your Orders! For
she that was a sinner anointed, as a handmaid, the feet of her
Lord. But for you, as though His minister, Christ
by the hand of His servants, seals and anoints your bodies. It
befits Him the Lord of the flock, that in His own person He seal His
sheep.
3. Since then she, that sinner, stood in need of
forgiveness, the anointing was for her an offering, and by it her love
reconciled her Lord. But you who are the flock, among the profane
and unbelievers, the Truth by the chrism is your seal, to separate you
from the strayed.
4. From the peoples he separated the People, by
the former seal of circumcision; but by the seal of anointing, the
peoples He separates from the People. When the peoples were in
error, the People He separated from the peoples; now when the People
has erred from Him, He separates the peoples from thence.
5. Of the dust of the pure soil, Naaman bore away
and returned to his place; that he by this holy dust, might be
separated and known from the unclean. The chrism of Christ
separates, the sons of the mystery from strangers: and by it they
that are within are separated, and known from them that are
without.
6. The oil which Elijah multiplied, might be
tasted with the mouth; for the cruse was that of the widow, it was not
that of the chrism. The oil of our Lord that is in the cruse, it
is not food for the mouth: the sinner that was a wolf
without, it makes him a lamb in the flock.
7. The chrism of the meek and lowly One, changes the stubborn to be like its Lord. The Gentiles were wolves and feared, the severe rod of Moses. Lo! the chrism seals them and makes, a flock of sheep out of the wolves! And the wolves that had fled from the rod, lo! they have taken refuge in the Cross!
8. The leaf of olive arrived, brought as a figure
of the anointing; the sons of the Ark rejoiced to greet it, for it bore
good tidings of deliverance. Thus also ye rejoiced to greet it, even this holy anointing. The bodies of sinners were glad in it, for it brought good tidings of deliverance.
9. The oil again that Jacob poured, upon the
stone when he sealed it, that it should be between him and God, and
that he might offer there his tithes; lo! in it is a symbol of your
bodies, how by chrism they are sealed as holy, and become
temples for God, where He shall be served by your
sacrifices.
10. When Moses had sealed and anointed, the sons
of Aaron the Levite, the fire consumed their bodies; the fire spared
their vestments. But ye my brethren blessed are ye, for the fire
of grace has come down, has consumed utterly your offences, and
cleansed and hallowed your bodies!
11. As for the anointing of Aaron my
brethren, it was the vile blood of beasts, that it sprinkled in
the horns of the altar. The anointing of truth is this; wherein
the living and all-lifegiving Blood, is sprinkled inwardly in your
bodies, is mingled in your understandings, is infused through your
inmost chambers.
12. The anointed priests used to offer, the slain
bodies of beasts; Ye, O anointed and excelling, your offerings are your own bodies. The anointed Levites offered, the inward parts taken, from beasts: ye have excelled the Levites, for your hearts ye have Consecrated.
13. The anointing of the People was—a
foreshadowing of Christ; their rod a mystery of the Cross; their lamb a
type of the Only begotten; their tabernacle a mystery of your Churches; their circumcision a sign of your sealing. Under the shadow of your goodly thing, sat the People of old.
14. Thus the truth is likened, to a great
shadowing tree: it cast its shade on the People; it struck its
root among the peoples. The People abode under its shadows, whose
shadows were its mysteries; but the Gentiles lodged on its bough, and
plucked and ate of its fruits.