The Fragrance Of Knowledge

Τῷ δὲ θεῷ χάρις τῷ πάντοτε θριαμβεύοντι ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ τὴν ὀσμὴν τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ φανεροῦντι δι' ἡμῶν ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ: ὅτι Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμὲν τῷ θεῷ ἐν τοῖς σῳζομένοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, οἷς μὲν ὀσμὴ ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, οἷς δὲ ὀσμὴ ἐκ ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν. καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα τίς ἱκανός; Διὰ τοῦτο, φησί, φανεροῖ ὁ θεὸς δι' ἡμῶν τὴν ὀσμὴν τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἐπείπερ Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμέν· ὡς γὰρ φωτὸς αὐτοῦ τυγχάνοντος οἱ μέτοχοι φῶς εἰσι τοῦ κόσμου, οὕτω καὶ μύρου ὄντος οἱ ἑνούμενοι αὐτῷ εὐωδία αὐτοῦ εἰσιν. αὕτη δὲ ἡ εὐώδης πνοή, τοῖς μὲν ὀσμὴ ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, τοῖς δὲ ὀσμὴ ἐκ ζωῆς εἰς ζωὴν ὑπάρχει. ἀλλ' οὐκ αἰτιατέον εἰ γίνεται ἡ ὀσμὴ ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον· παρὰ γὰρ τὴν πρόφασιν τῶν οἷς συμβεβήκει τοῦτο γίνεται, ὥσπερ καὶ ἡ ὑγιεινὴ τροφὴ βλάπτειν δοκεῖ τοὺς νοσοῦντας ἀκαίρως προσφερομένη. ὅσοι γὰρ ὑπὸ θάνατον ὄντες τὸν ἐπιγινόμενον τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ δέχονται οὐκ ὀρθῇ γνώμῃ τὴν θείαν γνῶσιν, ἐκ θανάτου πρακτικῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐπὶ θάνατον τὸν ἀκολουθοῦντα τοῖς ἀσεβέσι φρονήμασιν ἔρχονται, ὥσπερ τοὺς παραδεχομένους αὐτὴν μετὰ πράξεων ζωοποιῶν ἐκ ζωῆς εἰς ζωὴν φέρει· ὡς γὰρ τὸ αἰσθητὸν μύρον πρὸς ὑγείαν καὶ εὐεξίαν συμβαλλόμενον βλάπτει τὰ ἔντομα ζῶα οὐ φέροντα αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀκροτάτην πνοήν, οὕτως ἡ θεία εὐωδία ὠφελεῖ καὶ εἰς ὑγείαν ἄγει, μᾶλλον δὲ ζωήν, τοὺς τηροῦντας τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν θεοῦ, οὗτοι γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἄνθρωποί εἰσιν, βλαπτομένων ἐξ αὐτῆς τῶν κατὰ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον μεταβαλλόντων, ὡς καλεῖσθαι ἀλληγορικῶς μυίας σαπριούσας σκευασίαν ἐλαίου ἡδύσματος κατὰ τὸν Ἐκκλησιαστικήν. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Τὴν Δευτέραν Ἐπιστολήν Παύλου Πρὸς Κορινθίους Source: Migne PG 39.1692a-b

But thanks be to God who in Christ is always exhibiting us in triumph, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are Christ’s incense to God, among those being saved and those who are perishing, to one as a fragrance from death to death, to the other as a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 1 By this, he says, God has revealed through us the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ in every place, since we are the fragrance of Christ. For as the partakers of His light they are the light of the world, thus where His fragrance is those who cleave to Him breathe out His fragrance. And this breathing out of fragrance is to some the scent of death for death, and to others the scent of life for life. But let us not ask if there can be a fragrance of death for death, for indeed the cause of it is in him who is touched by it, just as wholesome food seems to do harm if it is administered to one ravaged by sickness. For as much as they have been seized by death, which happens by sin, so they cannot receive the Divine knowledge with a right mind, from the death of their sinful deeds, which follows on from their impious thoughts, passing away into death. So, on the other hand, they who receive the Divine knowledge in life-giving works pass from life to life, for as a material unguent is useful for the health and well being of the body, destroying insects which are not able to bear the sharpness of the scent, so the Divine fragrance is able to bring health, indeed life, to those who maintain the image and likeness of God the Creator, they who certainly are true men. But they are harmed by that same fragrance who have changed the man within, who allegorically are called flies rotting in the substance of the oil of sweetness, as Ecclesiastes says. 2 Didymus the Blind, On The Second Letter of Paul to The Corinthians, Fragment 1 2 Cor 2.14-16 2 Eccles 10.1