But do you want me to show you from the Scriptures that trees or wood are given the name of individual virtues, which we mentioned above? I turn to the most wise Solomon as a witness when he said about wisdom, The tree of life is for all who embrace it.^[1] Therefore, if wisdom is the tree of life, without a doubt, there is another tree of prudence, another of knowledge and another of justice. For logically it is not said that only wisdom, of all the virtues, was worthy to be called the tree of life but that the other virtues did not receive names of similar sort. Therefore, the trees of the field will give their fruit.^[2] This is what I believe the blessed David also understood about himself when he said, But I am as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God. From this he clearly shows that the olive tree designates a just and holy person.

You are being armed not with perishable but with spiritual weapons. The paradise in which you are being planted is the soul’s paradise, wherein you will be named^[1] with a name you did not have before. You were a catechumen till now, but now you are to be called believer. Henceforth you are transplanted among the olives of that paradise or are being grafted on a good olive tree being taken from a wild olive.^[2] You pass from sins to righteousness, from defilements to purity. You are becoming part of the holy Vine. If, then, you abide in the Vine,^[3] you grow into a fruitful branch; but if you do not so abide, you will be burned up in the fire. Let us therefore bring forth worthy fruit. For let not that come about, that there should happen to us what happened to the barren fig tree in the Gospel.^[4] Let not Jesus come in these days and utter the curse on the fruitless; instead may all of you say, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; my trust is in the tender mercy of God, forever and ever; not a material olive tree but a spiritual and glorious one. It is God who plants and waters, but it is yours to bear fruit; God’s to bestow the gift, and yours to receive it and keep it forever. But do not esteem the gift lightly because it is given freely. Rather, receive it reverently and guard it with care.