The deaf asp; fragrance of Christ
Origen went on from the psalm: Wrath is theirs according to the likeness of the serpent, as of a deaf asp that stops her ears, which will not listen to the voice of charmers, of a drug being mixed by a wise man.
And you, as many as know yourselves to be at fault, if you hear a word and a drug being mixed by a wise man, and you hear words of charmers, so that it may settle your wrath and your vice, and then you stop your ears, not opening them nor spreading them for the reception of what is said — the word will reach you: Wrath is theirs according to the likeness of the serpent, as of a deaf asp that stops her ears, which will not listen to the voice of charmers, of a drug being mixed by a wise man.
The outer man smells with nostrils, receiving fragrance and stench. And the inner man receives the fragrance of righteousness and the stench of sins with other nostrils — fragrance, as the apostle teaches, saying: We are the fragrance of Christ to God in every place, among those being saved and among those perishing: to the one a smell from death to death, to the other a smell from life to life. And Solomon too says in the Song of Songs, in the person of the young women, the daughters of Jerusalem: After you we will run to the smell of your ointments. As, then, with the nostrils we receive perceptible fragrance and perceptible stench, so according to the inner man there is a reception, in the one who is healthy according to the divine senses, of the fragrance of righteousness.
Greek
ἀσπίδος κωφῆς καὶ βυούσης τὰ ὦτα αὐτῆς, ἥτις οὐκ εἰσακούσεται φωνὴν ἐπᾳδόντων αὐτῇ φαρμάκου τε φαρμακευομένου παρὰ σοφοῦ.».
Καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὅσοι σύνοιδατε ἑαυτοῖς ἐν αἰτίᾳ εἶναι, εἰ ἀκούετε λόγου καὶ «φαρμάκου φαρμακευομένου παρὰ σοφοῦ» καὶ ἀκούετε λόγων ἐπᾳδόντων, ἵνα καταστείλῃ ὑμῶν τὸν θυμὸν καὶ τὴν κακίαν, εἶτα βύετε τὰ ὦτα οὐκ ἀνοίγοντες οὐδὲ ἀναπεταννύντες αὐτὰ πρὸς παραδοχὴν τῶν λεγομένων, φθάσει ἐφ' ὑμᾶς τὸ «Θυμὸς αὐτοῖς κατὰ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ ὄφεως ὡσεὶ ἀσπίδος κωφῆς καὶ βυούσης τὰ ὦτα αὐτῆς, ἥτις οὐκ εἰσακούσεται φωνὴν ἐπᾳδόντων φαρμάκου τε φαρμακευομένου παρὰ σοφοῦ».
Ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος ὀσφραίνεται μυκτῆρσιν, ἀντιλαμβανόμενος εὐωδίας καὶ δυσωδίας· καὶ ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος ἀντιλαμβάνεται εὐωδίας δικαιοσύνης καὶ δυσωδίας ἁμαρτημάτων ἄλλοις μυκτῆρσιν, εὐωδίας μὲν ὡς ὁ ἀπόστολος διδάσκει λέγων· «Εὐωδία Χριστοῦ ἐσμεν τῷ Θεῷ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ, ἐν τοῖς σωζομένοις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, οἷς μὲν ὀσμὴ ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, οἷς δὲ ὀσμὴ ἐκ ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν.». Φησὶν δὲ καὶ ὁ Σολομὼν ἐν τῷ Ἄσματι τῶν ᾀσμάτων ἐκ προσώπου τῶν νεανίδων τῶν θυγατέρων Ἱερουσαλήμ· «Ὀπίσω σου εἰς ὀσμὴν μύρων σου δραμοῦμεν.». Ὥσπερ οὖν τοῖς