Беседа 3. Толкование на Песн. 1, 8–13

Song 1:8. I have made you like a horse in the chariots of Pharaoh, my neighbor. Song 1:9. Why are your cheeks adorned like turtle doves, your necks like monists? Song 1:10. Let us create the likeness of gold with the variegations of silver. Song 1:11. Dondezhe the King is at His ascension, my backgammon has given its stink. Song 1:12. Knitting tactics my brother will settle in the middle of my breast: Song 1:13. I dream of my brother Cyprus, in the vineyards of Engadd. What we considered before this reading, in the preface to the Song of Songs, is similar to the dawn appearing after the night around the morning; for this light is not complete, but the beginning of light. And similarly, what has been said, although it foretells to us the ascent of the true light, does not contain the clearly visible solar circle itself. For there the bride, friends and maidens speak; and now, like the circle of the sun, the voice of the Bridegroom Himself shines, with the radiance of its rays eclipsing all the brightness of the previously visible stars and the dawning morning. And all the former has the power of certain cleansing sacrifices and sprinklings, with which the soul brought into purity is prepared to receive the Divine; and the real word is the communion of the Divinity itself, because God the Word, with His own voice, imparts to the listener the communion of undiminished power. And just as at Sinai, with two days of cleansing, Israel, prepared on the third day in the morning, was made worthy of the Epiphany, no longer busy washing their clothes, but clearly accepting God Himself, for the sake of which he washed away spiritual filth with preliminary cleansings, so now, in the previous words in the previous two days, the review of the preface to the Song brought benefit to such an extent that the meaning contained in what was said was washed away and cleansed from carnal filth. On this same day, which is the third after the first and second cleansing, God the Word Himself will appear, not with darkness and storm, not with the sound of trumpets and fire, terribly consuming the circumference of the mountain from the base to the top, announcing and revealing His presence, but pleasant and easily accessible, from that terrible appearance transformed into the joy of the bride. Because the bride needed to know the resting places where the good shepherd resides, so that out of ignorance she would not suffer anything unpleasant. And then friends taught a reliable way to find out the truth - for the soul to pay attention to itself and to know itself (because ignorance of oneself was recognized as the beginning and consequence of ignorance and everything else that should be known; and how can one know anything without knowing oneself?) then, after sufficient purification of what is sovereign in the soul, the Word shines for the loving bride, impelling to perfection with the approval of the present; for the praise of success instills in those who succeed the strongest desire for the best. Therefore, what word was spoken to the virgin by the true Word? “With my horse,” it is said, “in Pharaoh’s chariots I have made you like me, my neighbor” (Song. 1:8). But since it is not possible to discern the meaning of what was said at first glance, it is necessary to carefully examine what is proposed, as much as possible. From history we learn that another force was opposed to Pharaoh's horses - a cloud, a rod, a strong wind, a sea divided into two, sandy depths, hardened waves like a wall, a dry abyss, dry land formed in the middle of the water walls - and all this served to save the Israelites, while Pharaoh with all his army, horses and chariots was covered with waves. Therefore, since no cavalry force was opposed to the Egyptian army, it is difficult to find out which horses, which proved themselves against the Egyptian chariots, are now likened to the bride by the Word. “My horse,” He says, “who won victory in Pharaoh’s chariots, I have made you like my neighbor” (Song. 1:8). Is it not clear that, just as it is impossible to win a victory in a naval battle without crushing the forces of the naval army on the ships of the opponents, so in a cavalry battle one who is not opposed by any cavalry force will not be defeated? Therefore, if in the army of the Egyptians the greatest strength was the cavalry, then the invisible force opposed to it, by which the victory over the Egyptians was accomplished, the Word called horses. For they too felt who was fighting against them, and they cried out to each other: “The Lord will fight against the Egyptians; we flee from the presence of the Lord” (Ex. 14:25). It is clear that the true Military Leader, in accordance with the military preparations of the opponents, armed His own strength. Therefore, there was some invisible force that brought about the destruction of the Egyptians through miracles on the sea; It was these that the Word called “horses.” And we assume that this was the Angelic army, about which the Prophet speaks: “For You are all on Your horses, and Your salvation is waiting” (Hab. 3:8); and David made mention of the chariot of God, saying: “The chariot of God is in darkness” (Psalm 67:18); thousands of “horse-cutters” are harnessed to it. Also, the force that lifts the Prophet Elijah from the earth into the ethereal country is called horses in Scripture, and history calls the Prophet himself “the chariot of Israel and horses” (2 Kings 2:12); and the Prophet Zechariah, who went around the whole universe, those with whom “the earth is inhabited and is silent” (Zech. 1, 11) called horses, turning their speech to the Horseman standing “between” two “mountains” (Zech. 1, 8). Therefore, the One who possesses everything has certain horses, sometimes lifting the Prophet, sometimes inhabiting the universe, sometimes harnessed to a chariot; others, in the matter of saving people, accept God as the horseman, and others crush the Egyptian power. So, since, according to the Holy Scriptures, there is a great difference in the way of actions, then those who approach God through virtue are likened to horses, the destroyers of Egyptian power; for this is what the Word says to her: “I have made you like My horse in Pharaoh’s chariots, O My neighbor” (Song. 1:8). These words contain many great praises, and being likened to these horses constitutes a certain list of successes. For everything that is mentioned about Israel during the reign of the Egyptians is slavery, reeds, clay, plinths, all the earthwork, cruel overseers in such matters, every day demanding from them a tax of clay, for the sake of which the water becomes blood, and the light is darkened, and toads crawl into houses, and the dust of the cave produces burning scabs on the bodies and everything in order, springs, Scnips, caterpillars, hail and what the firstborn suffered - all this and what history retells best, namely, how the salvation of the Israelites was accomplished, serves as a reason for praise for the soul that has entered into unity with God. For the bride would not have been likened to her, who destroyed the evil Egyptians, to the power by which Israel was freed from cruel torment, if she had not succeeded to such an extent in all this, both in the destruction of Egypt, and in preparing for the procession to God from the mud of Egypt those brought into the land of promise. And since, as the divine Apostle says, everything that the Inspired Scripture contains is written for our teaching (Rom. 15:4), then the word that was spoken to the bride advises us that we too, having taken upon ourselves the mounted Word, have overcome the Egyptian horses with their very chariots and horsemen and drowned in the water all their evil dominion, thus becoming like her strength, like some horses, plunging the opposing army into the water. And in order to understand more clearly what was said, here is its meaning. It is impossible to become like those horses with which the Egyptian chariots were sunk in the depths, unless someone, having freed himself from slavery to the enemy by mysterious water and in the water leaving every Egyptian thought and every foreign vice and sin, does not come out of it clean, without bringing with him at all the Egyptian conscience into the life that follows. For whoever is completely clean from all the Egyptian plagues: blood, frogs, rotten scabs, darkness, springs, skrips, hail, fiery rain and other things that history mentions, he is worthy to become like that power, the rider of which is the Word. Without a doubt, it is not unknown to us what is meant by the plagues, why blood, the smell of toads, the transformation of light into darkness, and everything else in order became a plague for the Egyptians. For who does not know, as a result of what kind of life it becomes a different blood from what was previously suitable for drinking, changing into something spoiled, and by what deeds in one’s own house the stench of toads is generated, how the bright life is transformed into deeds, kind nights and dark ones, with which the Gehenna furnace kindles the rotten scabs of condemnation? Likewise, it is not difficult to turn each of the Egyptian evils into the edification and chastity of the listener, but it would be in vain to spread the word about what is recognized by everyone. Therefore, having become better than them and others like them and having drawn closer to God, we ourselves, of course, will hear: “I have made you, my neighbor, like My horse in Pharaoh’s chariots” (Song. 1:8). But perhaps those who are chaste and lead a pure life are upset by being likened to a horse, because many of the Prophets forbid us to be like horses. Jeremiah, by the name of horses, means adulterous fury when he says: “horses of misogyny have been created, every one of them neighing at his sincere wife” (Jer. 5:8). The great David considers it a terrible thing if someone becomes “like a horse and a horse,” and commands those who have become such to tighten their jaws “with bridles and bridles” (Psalm 32:9). Therefore, Solomon, in continuation of the word, rejects such a thought, saying: although you are a horse, your jaws are not such that to compress them there would be a need for a rod and a bridle; on the contrary, your cheek is adorned with the purity of turtle doves, for he says: “Why are your cheeks adorned like turtle doves?” (Song. 1:9) And those who have observed such things have testified that this bird, if the cohabitation is dissolved, does not look for a mate for the next time, and thus chastity naturally succeeds in it. Therefore, in the meaning of praise, the name of this bird is taken here, that is, the jaws of the Divine horses, instead of a bridle, are like a turtle dove, which means that a clean life is appropriate for such horses. Therefore, the Word said to them with surprise: “Why are your cheeks adorned like a turtle dove?” It adds to this another praise in likeness, saying: “Your neck is like a monist” (Song 1:9). For, once delving into the allegorical meaning, from what is visible among the horses he invents praise for the bride; He praises the neck, which arches in the form of a circle, which is what it is, as we see on majestic horses, because the mention of monists points to a circle, the appearance of which, represented by the neck, makes the horse more magnificent than itself. For the word: “ormos” (translated from Greek - a chain, a concavity of the shore, a place for ships to moor) in its proper sense is used about coastal places, where the moon-shaped shore jutting inward receives sea waters into its depths and provides peace to those sailing from the sea; and in a figurative sense, the same word refers to a neck decoration - a chain - based on its appearance. And when instead of “ormos” - “chain” we say diminutively: “ormisnos” - “chain”, then with such a word we show the similarity of appearance in a small outline. Therefore, the likening of the neck to the monists shows that the Word ascribes great praise to the bride. Firstly, because the horse, bending its neck in the form of a circle, watches how its own feet step, with which it runs without stumbling and safely, without stumbling over a stone, without stumbling into a hole; It serves no little to the praise of the soul - to turn its attention to itself, with all security to accelerate the divine flow, overcoming and bypassing all obstacles in the flow that arise from any temptations. Then, the most primitive meaning of the word: “ormos”, from which, due to the similarity of the external appearance, the neck decoration is called by the monists (“ormisnos”), contains an excess of some great praise when the neck is likened to what is signified by the word: “ormos”. What praises does the Word reveal to us through this? The pier is pleasant and life-saving for swimmers; it is pleasant, after suffering at sea, to find some quiet bay (“ormos”), where, having forgotten the disasters experienced at sea, they completely indulge in tranquility, consoling themselves with silence for long labors; they no longer have the fear of shipwreck, nor the thought of pitfalls, nor fear from robbers, nor the raging winds, nor the sea raised by the winds from the depths; on the contrary, those who are overcome find themselves beyond all these dangers, because the sea in the bay is calm. Therefore, if someone brings his soul into such a state that in undisturbed silence it will have silence, not in the least disturbed by the spirits of malice, not puffed up with pride, not foaming with waves of irritability, not overwhelmed by any other passion, not carried by every wind that raises various waves of passions, if someone’s soul itself comes to such a state and is overwhelmed in the sea of life through the troubles of all kinds of evil, he calms within himself, revealing to them a smooth and untroubled virtuous life, so that the one who has entered into it is no longer subject to the disasters of ruin, then he is perfectly likened to the monists praised in the word, since the plural signifies perfection in each kind of virtue. For if it were likened only to the monist, then, of course, the praise would be imperfect, since it does not provide the same evidence about other virtues. Now the likeness to many monists contains in the word a complete testimony of virtues. And this is some advice offered in the word of the entire Church in general, namely, that we should not, having in mind any one of the good deeds, remain negligent about success in others, on the contrary, if chastity has become a monist for you, through pure life, like some kind of beads, decorating the neck, then let you have another monist, containing the precious stones of the commandments and increasing the beauty of the neck. Let you also have another decoration on your neck - a pious and sound faith, encircling the neck of your soul - this golden hryvnia, shining on your neck with the pure gold of God, about which the book of Proverbs speaks: “receive a crown of grace on your neck and a hryvnia of gold on your neck” (Proverbs 1:9). So, this is the advice given to us by the monists. It’s time to examine the subsequent words with which the Groom’s friends address the maiden; They read like this: “We will create the likes of gold with the variegations of silver. Dondezh is the King in his delight” (Song. 1, 10–11). For those who have in mind the connection of the whole speech, the meaning of these words seems to be somewhat dependent on the view communicated to us before and consistently follows from it; The literal meaning, receiving depth from figurative meanings, makes it difficult to understand what is expressed by mysterious speech. Since the beauty of the soul is likened to the horses - the destroyers of the Egyptian chariots, that is, the Angelic army, and to these horses, says the beautiful Horseman, the bridle is purity, which he indicated by likening the cheeks of turtle doves, and the decoration of the necks consists of various hryvnias, shining with virtues, then it is desirable for friends to make some addition to the beauty of the horses, removing the harness in the likeness of gold, which is speckled with the purity of silver, so that the beauty of the decoration shines all the more when the brightness of gold is dissolved with the shine of silver. But, leaving the figurative meanings of words, it is necessary not to deprive speech of a meaning that is useful to us. Although the soul, having achieved purity through the virtues, became like these horses, it had not yet submitted to the Word and did not carry on itself for the sake of salvation what was carried on such horses: the horse had to first be adorned with everything and then take on the King as a rider. But whether He who, according to the word of the Prophet, rests on us, His horses, and performs “eating” for our salvation (Hab. 3:8) adapts a horse to Himself from above (Hab. 3:8), or whether He becomes dwelling in us, walking and penetrating to the depths of our soul, this does not differ at all in meaning. In anyone who has any one of both, the rest will also prosper. For he who has God on him, of course, also has it in himself; and having received it into himself, he lifted up the One who was in him. Therefore, the King will rest on this horse, and for God’s power, as it is said, both the seat and the “reclination” are one and the same; Either one or the other will be in us, grace is equal. Therefore, since the royal minions by the decoration of the horse make it fit to receive the Tsar, and in the reasoning of God it is the same thing: to be in whom and on whom, the minions and servants, leaving the continuation of speech in a figurative meaning, made the horse a bed. For it was necessary for us, they say, to create “the likeness of gold” “with variegated silver,” which would decorate the appearance of the horse, so that the King would be on it, they explain, not as on a seat, but as on “His delight.” This is the type of connection of speech, as the Word showed. But the following is also worth not passing by without paying attention to why not gold itself is taken into decoration, but “the likeness of gold,” and not silver itself, but “variegated patterns” knocked out of this substance in the likeness of gold? Our assumption about this is this: every teaching about the ineffable Nature, although it apparently represents the most divine and lofty thought, is a likeness of gold, and not gold itself; for it is impossible to accurately depict the highest concept of good. Although someone will be Paul, initiated into the secrets of paradise, although he will hear unspeakable verbs, the concepts of God will remain inexpressible, because, according to what the Apostle said, the “verbs” about these concepts are “unspeakable” (2 Cor. 12:4). Therefore, those who give us some good conclusions about the understanding of the mysteries are not able to say what nature itself consists of; they call it “The radiance of glory, the Image of the hypostasis” (Heb. 1:3), the “Image” of God (Col. 1:15), “the Word in the beginning, the Word of God” (John. 1, 1); nevertheless, to us who do not see this treasure, it appears to be gold, but to those who are able to look at the real thing, it is not gold, but the likeness of gold, appearing in thin variegated silver. Silver is the meaning of words, as Scripture says, “the kindled tongue of the righteous is like silver” (Prov. 10:20). Therefore, this is the thought expressed by this: the nature of God exceeds all comprehending understanding, and the concept that is formed about Him in us is the likeness of what we are looking for, because it does not show the very same image, “which no one has seen, who can see below” (1 Tim. 6:16), but as in a mirror and in mysterious features, some idea of ​​what we are looking for is shaded, compiled in souls according to some guesses. Every word denoting such concepts has the force of some indivisible point, which cannot explain what thought requires, so that every understanding is lower than the Divine thought, and every interpretative word seems to be an inconspicuous point that cannot expand to the full breadth of meaning. Therefore, Scripture says that the soul, guided by such concepts to think about the incomprehensible, must, by faith alone, prepare itself for the abode of Nature, which surpasses all mind. This is what our friends say: for you, soul, beautifully like a horse, let us create certain images and likenesses of the truth. For such is the power of these silver words that the sayings seem like some kind of sparkling ignitions that cannot make the meaning contained in them exactly visible. But you, having received them into yourself, through faith, become the under-yoke and abode of the One who, after dwelling in you, intends to bow down to you. For you are His throne, and you will also become a house. Another, perhaps, will say that Paul’s soul, or something else similar to it, was vouchsafed such verbs. For Paul, having once become the chosen vessel of the Master, had the Lord both on himself and in himself, being both a horse, as one who bore “His name before nations and kings” (Acts 9:15), and a house containing an incontainable nature, because he no longer lived himself, but showed Him who lives in him (Gal. 2:2) and represented experiences as Christ speaks in him (2 Cor. 13, 3). When the friends of the Bridegroom brought this as a gift to a pure and virgin soul, that is, “we send ministering souls to serve for those who want to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14), then the bride, with the increase in her talents, becomes to some extent more perfect. And getting closer to the Beloved, before His beauty was revealed to the eyes, he comes into contact with the sought-after with the sense of smell, and by the power of this smell, understanding, as it were, the qualities of a body, he says that he recognized His fragrance by the fragrance of the world, whose name is spikenard, with these words addressing his friends: “my spikenard has given its stench” (Song. 1, 11). Just as you,” she says, “bring me in gifts not the most unalloyed gold of the Divine, but the likeness of gold, in concepts that can be comprehended for us, and not in clear words, revealing what we need to know about God, presenting in small variegated verbal silver some images of what we are looking for, so I, through the fragrance of my world, felt His own fragrance with my senses. It seems to me that what was said has a certain meaning similar to this. Because an artificial and proportionate mixture of many and different, but not of different quality, aromas that have a smell makes up such an ointment, and one certain fragrant plant put into it, whose name is spikenard, gives this name to the whole composition; and this, of all the aromatic qualities combined into one fragrance, the sense that has reached purity accepts it as the very fragrance of the Bridegroom, then, as we think, the Word teaches us what was said, that although it constitutes the very essence - that which is above the production of creatures and the management of them, is unapproachable, inviolable and incomprehensible; however, this is replaced for us by that fragrance, which, like peace, is prepared in us by the purity of virtues, and is likened in its purity to the purest by nature, goodness to the good, incorruption to the incorruptible, immutability to the unchangeable, and with all the virtuous successes in us - true virtue, about which the Prophet Habakkuk speaks, which occupies all the heavens (Hab. 3, 3). Therefore, the bride, uttering these words to her friends: “My spikenard has given its stench to me,” in my opinion, thus, and similarly, philosophizes: if someone, having collected every fragrant flower or aroma from various meadows of virtue, and having made his whole life with the fragrance of each of his undertakings into one world, becomes perfect in everything, then, although by nature he cannot raise an unwavering gaze to God Himself The word is like looking at the solar circle, but in itself, as in a mirror, it sees the sun, because the rays of this true and Divine virtue, flowing from them with dispassion, shining in a life that has achieved purity, make the invisible visible to us and the inaccessible comprehensible, painting the sun in our mirror. And as for the concept contained in this, it is the same thing whether we call it rays of the sun, or outflows of virtue, or fragrant fragrances, for, no matter what we apply from this to the purpose of the word, from all of this one idea is formed: that through virtues we acquire knowledge of a good that surpasses any mind, as if from some image we draw a conclusion about primordial Beauty. So the bride - Paul, who is likened to the Bridegroom in virtues, and with his life painting in himself an unapproachable beauty, from the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace and similar types of the world cooker of this backgammon, said about himself that he is “the fragrance of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:15), and in himself smelling that unapproachable and excellent grace, and leaving himself to others - to freely use it, like some kind of fragrant incense, between while the fragrance, according to each individual’s own disposition, becomes either life-giving or deadly in them. Just as the same ointment, if a kantar (little insect) and a dove touch it, does not have the same effect on both, but the dove becomes stronger from the fragrance of the ointment, and the insect dies; This is how the great Paul, this Divine incense, acted. If anyone was a dove, like Titus, or Silvanus, or Timothy, then he shared with him the fragrance of the world, following his examples, succeeding in every good thing. And if anyone was Demas, or Alexander, or Hermogenes, then, not tolerating the incense of abstinence, like insects, they fled from the fragrance. That is why he who is fragrant with such a world said: “The fragrance of Christ is in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing: I smell the stench of death in death, and I smell the stench of animals in the belly” (2 Cor. 2:15-16). If the Gospel nard also has something akin to the world of the bride, then anyone can conclude from what is written about another very valuable nard, which, being poured out on the head of the Lord (Matthew 26:7), filled the entire church with incense (John 12:3). Perhaps the ointment that “gave the stench” of the Bridegroom to the bride is not alien to this world; in the Gospel, poured out on the Lord Himself, it fills with fragrance the church in which the supper was held, because, it seems to me, even there the wife, in some prophetic spirit, foretold the mystery of death with the world, as the Lord testifies to what she has done, saying: “Make me for burial” (Matthew 26:12). And the Lord gives reason to imagine the church filled with fragrance as the whole world and the whole universe, saying: “If the Gospel is preached throughout the whole world” (Matthew 26:13), the fragrance of this work will be transmitted with the preaching of the Gospel, and the Gospel itself, says the Lord, will be a monument to this woman. So, since in the Song of Songs the spikenard gives the bride the stench of the Bridegroom, and in the Gospel of the whole body of the Church throughout the universe and throughout the world, the anointing makes a fragrance that then filled the entire church; then, perhaps, because of this there is some kind of communication between one and the other, so that both seem to be one. And enough of that. The next saying, in accordance with the content of what is described in the wedding song, is apparently pronounced by someone who is already prepared for the bridal chamber, and shows in itself the highest and most perfect wisdom, in which only the perfect can succeed. Therefore, what does what is said mean: “knitting is my brother; will he settle in the midst of my breast?” (Song. 1, 12). They say that women who love to dress up not only with external decorations are concerned with attracting partners to themselves, but they try, through some kind of incense, to make their bodies pleasant for their husbands, under the cover of clothing, hiding, according to need, the effective aroma, which, emitting its own fragrance, infuses the body with aromatic incense. Given their custom, what does this highly wise maiden dare to do? “Knitting,” he says, “I have, which I hang on my chest, and I give it a fragrance to the body - not any other fragrant aroma, but the Lord Himself; He, having become “stacti”, reclines in the “knitting” of conscience, settling in my very heart, because the local position of the heart, as observers of such things say, is among the breasts. There, in the place where the good treasure is kept, says the bride, she has “knitting”. But they say that the heart is also a certain source of warmth in us; from it, through the beating veins, warmth is shared throughout the whole body, from which the bodily members, warmed by the fire of the heart, become both warm and full of life. Therefore, having received the fragrance of Christ into the sovereign mind and made her heart a “knitting” for such incense, she prepares all the individual undertakings of life, like members of a body, with the spirit emanating from the heart, so that they boil, and no iniquity in any bodily member cools the love of God. But let's move on to the next words. Let us listen to what the grape “vine” says about its fruits, fruitful, spreading branches, as the Prophet puts it, “in all the countries of the house” of God (Psalm 127:3) and entwining rings of love around the Divine and most pure life. “I dream of Cyprus,” she says, “my brother, in the vineyards of Engadd” (Song. 1, 13). Who is so blessed, or better said, who is so above all bliss, that, looking at his own fruit, he sees the Lord of the vineyard in the very grape of his soul? For this is how much she has grown in her own people, cognizing the fragrance of the Bridegroom, making herself a fragrant treat for Him, taking in the aroma in the knitting of her heart, so that this goodness will forever remain with her without fading out; she becomes the mother of the Divine cluster, which remains Cyprus until suffering, that is, blooming, and pouring out wine in suffering; for wine, which gladdens the heart, according to the economy of suffering, is made and is called “the blood of grapes” (Deut. 32:14). Therefore, since the pleasure of a grape is twofold: one is the color, when it delights the senses with its fragrance; another - with already ripened fruit, when you can either enjoy the food at will, or amuse yourself with wine at feasts, then here the bride asks for the fruit from a blooming dream, calling the color of the grapes “Cyprus”. For the child Jesus who was born to us, in those who received Him variously abounding in wisdom and stature and grace (Luke 2:52), is not the same in all, but according to the measure in which He remains, how many people are able to contain Him, He turns out to be so: either infant, or mature, or perfect, according to the nature of a cluster, which is not always seen on the vine in the same form, but changes appearance over time - turning green, blooming, singing, ripening, becoming wine. Therefore, the vine is called its own fruit, which, although not yet ripe for wine, awaits the fulfillment of times, but does not remain without use for pleasure, because instead of taste it amuses the sense of smell, delighting the senses of the soul with the expectation of good things - the vapors of hope: for the fidelity and certainty of hoped-for grace becomes an inheritance for those who patiently wait for what they expect. Therefore, the “dream of Cyprus” is a grape that promises wine, but has not yet become wine, but on the contrary, with color (color is hope) confirming future grace. The addition of the word: “Gaddi” means a fat country where the planted vine produces juicy and sweet fruit. Describers of the area say that the Gaddi site is capable of growing succulent grapes. Therefore, since whose will is in agreement with the law of the Lord, whoever studies in it all night and all day, he becomes an ever-green tree, fattened by the influxes of water, bearing fruit at the proper time; therefore, the vine of the Bridegroom, planted in Gaddi - a fat place, that is, in the depths of the understanding, watered and grown by Divine teachings, bore fruit to this blossoming and “Cyprus dream”, in which it sees its Maker and Planter. How blessed is this work, the fruit of which is likened to the image of the Bridegroom! Since the Bridegroom, as Wisdom says, is true light, true life, true truth and all this like, then when someone in deeds turns out to be the same as the Bridegroom, then he, looking at the grapes of his own conscience, sees in him the Bridegroom Himself, in a bright and pure life, as in a mirror, reflecting the light of truth. Therefore, the fruitful vine says: mine is a “dream”, according to the color of “Cyprus”, that same true dream that showed itself on a wooden “pole” (Numbers 13:24), whose blood is intoxicating and saving for those who are being saved and having fun, in Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. You might be interested in: