Quotes from the Great Mystagogue Saint Nicholas Cabasilas

Christ the Lord was Himself anointed, not by receiving chrism poured on the head, but by receiving the Holy Spirit. For the sake of the flesh which He had assumed He became the treasury of all spiritual energy. He is not only Christ [the Anointed One] but also Chrism [anointing], for it says, “Your name is ointment poured forth” (Cant. 1:3) The latter He is from the beginning, the other He became afterwards. As long as that by which God would impart His own did not exist, He was the Chrism and remained in Himself. Afterwards the blessed flesh was created which received the entire fullness of the Godhead (Col. 1:19). To it, as John says, “God did not give the Spirit by measure” (Jn. 3:34), but He infused into Him His entire living riches. It was then that the Chrism was poured forth into that flesh, so it is now called the Christ. By being imparted to the flesh the divine Chrism Himself was poured forth.

He did not change place, nor did He penetrate or pass over a wall, but as He Himself showed, He left no barrier standing which could separate us from Him. Since God occupies every place He was not separated from man by place, but by man’s variance with Him. Our nature separated itself from God by being contrary to Him in everything that it possessed and by having nothing in common with Him. God remained Himself alone; our nature was man, and no more.

When, however, flesh was deified and human nature gained possession of God Himself by hypostatic union, the former barrier opposed to God became joined to the Chrism. The difference gave way when God became man, thus removing the separation between Godhead and manhood. So chrism represents Christ as the point of contact between both natures; there could be no point of contact were they still separate.

Two things, then, commend us to God, and in them lies all the salvation of men.  The first is that we be initiated into the sacred Mysteries, the second that we train our will for virtue.  Human endeavor can have no other function than that of preserving what has been given so as not to waste the treasure: consequently the power of the Mysteries bestows on us all these blessings.

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What could be equal to that affection? What has a man ever loved so greatly? What mother ever loved so tenderly (Is. 49:15), what father so loved his children? Who has ever been seized by such a mania of love for anything beautiful whatever, so that because of it he not only willingly allows himself to be wounded by the object of his love without swerving from his affection towards the ungrateful one, but even prizes the very wounds above everything? Though these prove not only that He loves us but also that He greatly honors us, yet it belongs to the greatest honor that He is not ashamed even of the infirmities of our nature but is seated on His royal throne with the scars which He has acquired from human weakness.

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Ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ ζωὴ φύεται μὲν ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ καὶ τὰς
ἀρχὰς ἐντεῦθεν λαμβάνει· τελειοῦται δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ μέλλοντος,
ἐπειδὰν εἰς ἐκείνην ἀφικώμεθα τὴν ἡμέραν. Καὶ οὔτε ὁ βίος
οὗτος τελείως δύναται ταύτην ἐνθεῖναι ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων
ψυχαῖς, οὔτε ὁ μέλλων μὴ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐντεῦθεν λαβών. Ἐπὶ (5)
μὲν γὰρ τοῦ παρόντος, τὸ σαρκίον ἐπισκοτεῖ, καὶ ἡ ἐκεῖθεν
νεφέλη καὶ φθορά, «μὴ δυναμένη τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν κληρονο-
μεῖν»· ὅθεν ὁ Παῦλος τὸ ἀναλῦσαι πρὸς τὸ συνεῖναι
Χριστῷ καὶ μάλα ἐνόμισε φέρειν· «ἀναλῦσαι γάρ, φησί, καὶ
σὺν Χριστῷ εἶναι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον κρεῖσσον.» Ὅ τε μέλλων (10)
οὓς ἂν μὴ τὰς δυνάμεις καὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις ὧν ἂν δέοι πρὸς
τὸν βίον ἐκεῖνον ἔχοντας λάβοι, τούτοις οὐδὲν ἔσται πλέον
εἰς εὐδαιμονίαν, ἀλλὰ νεκροὶ καὶ ἄθλιοι τὸν μακάριον
ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἀθάνατον οἰκήσουσι κόσμον. Ὁ δὲ λόγος ὅτι τὸ
μὲν φῶς ἀνατέλλει, καὶ ὁ ἥλιος καθαρὰν τὴν ἀκτῖνα παρέχει, (15)
ὀφθαλμὸν δὲ οὐκ ἔνι τηνικαῦτα πλασθῆναι· καὶ ἡ μὲν τοῦ
Πνεύματος εὐωδία δαψιλῶς ἐκχεῖται καὶ τὰ πάντα κατέχει,
ὄσφρησιν δὲ οὐκ ἄν τις λάβοι μὴ ἔχων.

(2.) Καὶ τῶν μὲν μυστηρίων ἔξεστι κοινωνῆσαι τῷ Υἱῷ
τοῦ Θεοῦ τοὺς «φίλους» κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, καὶ «ἃ
ἤκουσε παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς» ἐκεῖνος παρ᾿ ἐκείνου μαθεῖν
αὐτούς, ἀνάγκη δὲ φίλους ὄντας αὐτοῦ καὶ «ὦτα ἔχοντας»
ἀφικέσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν ἐνταῦθα φιλίαν συστῆναι καὶ οὖς (5)
ἀνοιγῆναι καὶ ἱμάτιον νυμφικὸν κατασκευασθῆναι καὶ τἄλλα
ἑτοιμασθῆναι ὧν ἐκείνῳ δεῖ τῷ νυμφῶνι, ἀλλὰ τούτων
ἁπάντων ἐργαστήριον οὗτος ὁ βίος· καὶ οἷς οὐκ ἐγένετο
ἁπάντων ἐργαστήριον οὗτος ὁ βίος· καὶ οἷς οὐκ ἐγένετο
ταῦτα πρὶν ἀπελθεῖν, κοινὸν οὐδὲν εἰς ἐκείνην ἐστὶ τὴν ζωήν.
Καὶ μάρτυρες αἱ πέντε παρθένοι καὶ ὁ εἰς τὸν γάμον (10)
κληθείς, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἔχοντες ἦλθον, μὴ κτήσασθαι δυνηθέντες
μήτε ἔλαιον μήτε ἱμάτιον.