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Song 1:1 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his lips. This is what the Bride says while praying to the Father of the Groom. She heard the vows given to the Patriarch Abraham and Jacob, heard the great Moses prophesying about her Bridegroom, heard the psalms - the beauty and power of Him proclaiming; something like: “Beautiful in kindness more than the sons of men, grace was poured out on your lips: for this sake God bless you forever. Gird your sword upon your thigh, O Mighty One, with your beauty and your kindness: and advance, and prosper, and reign for the sake of truth and meekness and righteousness” (Ps. 45:3-5). I learned that He is both God and the Eternal Son, and that Isaiah cries about Him Himself: “Who is this one who came from Edom, whose garments were scarlet from Bozrah, this one is red in utensils, great in strength?” (Isa. 63:1). Having thus recognized the beauty, strength, wealth, kingdom and all-encompassing, eternal, indestructible power of the Bridegroom, therefore he desires to see Him, to throw himself into His arms and kiss Him with the spirit, he desires, and as if he says: “Lord and Father! Send Your Only Begotten Son to me, I have been waiting for Him for a long time, I have been thirsting for Him for a long time and that is why I am already tired. I can no longer bear the heat of love, it burns and flames very much in my womb. Your Son promised to come to me through all the Prophets and has not yet wanted to fulfill His promises. He promised through David, through Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Daniel, he promised to come and be united with me, and I don’t know why he neglects my love. He said to me through Hosea: “And I will betroth you to myself forever, and I will betroth you to myself in righteousness and in judgment and in mercy and in compassion: and I will betroth you to myself in faith, and hang you with the Lord” (Hos. 2:19–20). He said through Isaiah: “Rejoice, you barren ones, you who do not give birth, cry and cry, you who are not sick with stomach, for there are many more empty children than those who have husbands” (Isaiah 54:1); said - and, alas! Every day I look forward to the events of these foreshadowings. This is the meaning of these words: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his lips.” By kissing here we do not mean the contact of lips with lips, but the union of a pious soul with God’s Word. It’s as if the Bride says: I heard Your words through the Scriptures, now I want to hear Your very voice, I want to accept sacred lessons directly from Your lips and kiss them with my intelligent lips. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his lips.” The Groom immediately appears to this Bride, fulfilling his vow: “And yet again I speak unto thee, saying: Behold, I have come.” (Isa. 58:9). She, suddenly seeing the Desired One, is amazed, and marveling at His breasts and fragrance, cries out: for the goodness of your breast is greater than wine, Song 1:2 And the stench of thy peace is more fragrant than all others. I know, she says, the incense composed by Moses - the oil of anointing and the composition of incense, but of all these aromas, your ointment is more fragrant. Peace here refers to spiritual grace, with which the Bridegroom, being filled with it, from His fulfillment bestowed upon us all (John 1:16). “And the stench of your world is more than all aromas.” Why the stench not of your world, but of your worlds? 1 By this she shows that the gifts of Grace are varied and numerous. For, says Paul, “to one is given the word of wisdom by the Spirit, and to another the word of understanding by the same Spirit: to another faith, by the same Spirit: to another the work of powers, to another prophecy, to another spiritual discernment, to another the generation of tongues” (1 Cor. 12:8-10). Having shown that the gifts of grace are varied and numerous, he signifies their One Source, adding: These many and different streams, filling the entire universe with fragrance, have one and the same beginning - Your ointment, for in Him (the Bridegroom) lives every fulfillment of the Divine (Col. 2:9), and He Himself has contained all the gifts of the Spirit in Himself according to humanity. Why does Isaiah cry: “And the Rod shall come out of the root of Jesse, and the flower shall come out of its root: and the spirit of God shall rest upon it, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety: the spirit of the fear of God shall fill it” (Isaiah 11:1-3). So, therefore, he says, “Your name is poured out in peace” - and not just “mirror,” but “poured out.” The hidden myrrh in the vessel also hides its fragrance, but if it spills, the air itself will be fragrant; So the Lord Jesus Christ, before His suffering, was only known to a few, but when He endured the Cross and death, when the vessel of His Body seemed to open, the blessed Apostles immediately felt its fragrance, and going around the earth and sea, preaching the Gospel to everyone, thereby filling the entire universe. That is why the Bride proclaims: “thy name is poured out in peace.” For the name of Christ, as it were, anoints pious souls. For this reason, for the sake of the maiden, I loved you. Song 1:3 Having drawn you, we flow after you into the stench of your world. This is the message of the Bride, the incense of Thy peace, that is, of Thy Divine and saving teaching, sensing the souls of young men and men (for he means them by young women) and have loved you so much that they draw you to themselves, follow you, and in order not to fall behind you, they hasten. Blessed Paul demonstrates this same haste when he says: “I persecute, even if I comprehend, the same thing which I have comprehended from Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12). And again: “Be ye thus ready, that ye may comprehend.” drawn by the fragrance of His peace. But this the Bride says to the Father of the Bridegroom and to the Bridegroom Himself, not having yet been honored with union with him, but when she was worthy to be in the palace and on his bed, then, as if boasting, she says to her household: Lead me into your lie, O king. That is, he explained to me his unknown destinies, showed me the eternal mystery, dark, hidden treasures, revealed to me the invisible, according to Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 45:3). “The king lead me into his lie.” Why was one bride brought into the spoon, and the other girls, standing outside, waited for her, and when she came out and told how the king brought her into his spoon, they cried out: Let us rejoice and be glad in you; we will love your breast more than wine; we will love you in righteousness. Not all the faithful are placed on the same dignity of degree. In My Father’s house there are many abodes (John 14:2), says Christ, that is, the portions of believers are varied. Another is the order of the Patriarchs, another of the Prophets, another of the Apostles, another of martyrs, another of virgins, another of those who preserved the chastity of the marriage bed, another of those who serve God in the midst of wealth, another of those who constantly endured the various oppressions of poverty, another of those who preserve public virtues, another of those who live in solitude, in the mountains and are engaged in a single thought of God. But even in the same routine you can find differences. For some are zealous and thorough, others are more cold-blooded and much more careless in fulfilling their duty. This is clearly seen from the parable of Christ. Christ, presenting ten virgins, shows half as wise and half as fools. He honors the former with marriage, and enters into marriage with the latter, and while respecting their virginity with his response, he does not at all honor marriage for neglecting other virtues. So, because the King brought one bride into his bed, she surpassed everyone in her perfections. “Let us rejoice and be glad in you.” Others do not envy, being outside and not being accepted into the liege, but they rejoice and admire that the Bride has received this honor, and are extremely pleased when they can enjoy her sweetest voice, therefore they add: “We will love your breast more than wine.” What the Bride herself first told the Groom, they tell her out of commitment to her, and therefore, out of love for the Groom. “We will love your breast more than wine.” By the breasts of the Bride, the maidens mean the teachings, the springs that feed everyone with benefits, and they swear to love her breasts more than any worldly pleasure. This means “more than wine.” In the thing itself, the Divinely inspired teaching, the teaching revealed by the Prophets and Apostles, is above all earthly goods - “more than wine. Lead me, O Tsar, into your bed,” says the Bride; the young women respond, “let us rejoice and be glad for you,” and promise, “let us love your breast more than wine,” showing the reason for this: “thou shalt love thee righteously.” If the Lord is good and just, and if therefore He loved you, then we should cleave to you, constantly follow you and enjoy your breasts. Then the Bride speaks again: Song 1:4 Black and good am I, the daughters of Jerusalem, like the village of Kidars, like the veils of Solomon. Song 1:5 Do not see me, for I am blackened, for the sun has scorched me: I think she is no longer speaking to the young women, but to those who boast about the law, dishonor, and blaspheme her because she is not only alien, but also denigrated by idolatry. “I am black and good.” I was previously blind, but now I see, before I wore old clothes, but now I am full of speckles, dressed in robes of gold (Ps. 45:10), I have assumed Royal dignity and stand before the King; Having expelled you, O unfaithful Judea, you, who raged against Him, put Him to death, and desecrated His bed with a multitude of adulterers. So, don’t vilify me for my blackness, don’t expose my former vices. I admit, I was black, but now I am kind and pleasing to the Groom. Fear the example of Mariam. She reproached Moses for having married an Ethiopian as his wife, and for this she became covered with leprosy like snow, was driven out of the camp as unclean, and was not accepted before, but after repentance (Num. 12). And I am also an Ethiopian, but nevertheless the bride of the Great One, the Lawgiver, I am the daughter of the priest of Midian, an idolater husband, but my people and my father’s house have already forgotten, therefore the King desired my kindness (Ps. 45:11-12). “So do not see me, for I am blackened, for the sun has scorched me.” See me washed from this former blackness and shout: who is this who rises white? ( Song 8:5 ). But I will also tell you the guilt of my blackness. I became darkened, serving the creature more than the Creator, and instead of the Sun of Truth, I worshiped the sensual sun; but now she already recognized the difference between one and the other, she recognized it and, leaving the creature, bowed to the Creator. “Do not see me, for I am blackened, for the sun has scorched me. I am black and good, daughter of Jerusalem,” black according to first wickedness, good according to repentance, black according to unbelief, good according to faith; and, moreover, it was so black, “like the village of Kidarsk,” which means darkness; but finally goodness was done, “like the veil of Solomon.” Why then does the Bridegroom call her a lily (Song 2:2). She neither spins, nor weaves, nor cares for life, but the Bridegroom Himself clothes and nourishes her (Matthew 6:28–30). my son's mother is fussing about me, This also applies to the previous one. For the bride teaches the daughters of Jerusalem how she, having been black and ugly, suddenly became beautiful. “My son’s mother is fussing about me.” He calls the Holy Apostles sons, about whom the Holy Spirit says to the Queen: “In place of your fathers were your sons: I have made princes over all the earth” (Ps. 44:17). By his mother he also means the Jerusalem above, about which Paul: “But the Jerusalem above is freedom, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26). “My son’s mother is quarreling about me,” that is, the Apostles raised a battle against idolatry and other wickedness, fought in the souls of their listeners in order to drive out evil inclinations from them and instill piety. They denounced, exhorted, guided, and thus transformed the Bride of the Lord from old to new, from ugly to beautiful, from blackened to pure. So, wanting to show in what ways she became beautiful, she says: He made me a guard in the vineyards: They entrusted me with the Divine commandments as if they were some kind of vineyards, and they commanded me not only to cultivate them, but also to protect them (cf. Gen. 2:15), so that some predatory beast would not damage the fruit. But I You will not save my grapes. This has a double meaning. Either she did not preserve and left the grapes that she should cultivate before the Christian faith, which means the previous laws, or her grapes, that is, she neglected the edification of her soul and preferred her own benefit to the benefit of others. I leave both meanings to the will of the reader, let him choose the truest of them. After this, the Bride, leaving the conversation with the young women and daughters of Jerusalem, turns to the Groom - Song 1:6 Tell me, whom my soul loves, where do you pasture? where do you rest at noon? Yes, not when I will be taxed over the flocks of your friends. Fearing not to lose the Bridegroom and not to go into another flock, not His flock, but His false friends, he prays to Him in this way: since my soul has loved You, then tell me where you “graze” at noon, where you calm your sheep, tell me, so that I, not knowing, should not go here and there, and get lost, and not end up among the flocks that are not worthy to know You, but having other shepherds. It is not in vain that she asks the Groom where exactly He is at noon; but when the light of knowledge shone more, then heresies arose, signified by the name of Christianity, but not having the truth. So, in order not to fall into any heresy, she tries to find out where the Bridegroom is with the sheep at noon. “Let me never be like one who is taxed over the flocks of your friends” - there were Prophets and Apostles, there were also and there will be false prophets and false apostles. Many false prophets will arise, says the Savior, and will deceive many (Matthew 24:11). False prophets? So, for example, Arias, Eunomia, Marcion, Valentina, Manesa and Montana. They have the name and appearance of Christian, build churches, explain the Divine Scripture to the lost sheep, shepherd them and call themselves friends of the Bridegroom; but in the thing itself are his enemies, evil deceivers, those who, instead of nutritious herbs, serve poisonous herbs to the sheep. Among these false friends of the Groom, in order not to get lost, the bride begs the Groom to show him where he is at noon. The groom answers her: Song 1:7 If you do not hang yourself, you who are good among women, go out at the heels of the pastures and feed your goats at the shepherd’s tabernacles. Since you are the most beautiful of all wives, then looking at yourself and examining your kindness, recognize your own kind. If you don’t recognize yourself, follow in the footsteps of the shepherds, tend not only the sheep, but also “your goats at the shepherd’s tabernacles.” For the humane Lord cares not only for the righteous, but also for sinners. Why does he say: “They do not require the health of a doctor, but the sick; the righteous have not come to call, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17). And by desire I will delight in the death of the sinner, and not so that he may turn from the path of evil and live to be him? (Ezek. 18:23) For this purpose he wants the Bride herself to feed the goats. By the name goats he means the Divine Scripture of sinners. So, follow in the footsteps of the flocks, imitate the life of the preceding Saints and “in the shepherd’s tabernacles,” that is, in the Apostolic Churches, “feed your goats.” You heard in the Gospel: “Be careful that you do not despise one of these little ones: for I say to you, for their angels in heaven will always see the face of my heavenly Father” (Matthew 18:10). Song 1:8 I have made you like my horse in Pharaoh's chariots, my neighbor. Here we mean Pharaoh in the improper sense, that is, our common and destructive enemy, whom the Bridegroom, like Pharaoh of old, drowned in the holy waters of baptism. So “my horse,” that is, my strength, I liken you, “my neighbor,” who loved me. For through them I drowned both the sensual and the spiritual Pharaoh and gave you freedom. Song 1:9 Why are your cheeks adorned like turtledoves, and your necks like monists? The cheeks and neck must be understood in a non-sensual way. It is known that Divine Scripture often uses sensual expressions when speaking about the soul. So, for example, this passage of Paul: “Make the weak hands and weak knees straight, and make right paths with your feet, so that the lame may not go astray, but rather may he be healed” (Heb. 12:12–13). Here Paul did not encourage the correction of arms, legs and bodily lameness, but only expressed the moral actions of the soul sensually. This must be understood in the same way: “your cheeks are adorned like turtle doves, your necks are like monists.” The Church, being composed of many husbands and wives, calls some its cheeks, others its eyes, some its ears, some its lips, some its hands, and others its feet. So, the Bridegroom, praising those adorned with purity and chastity, says: “Your cheeks are adorned like turtledoves.” Naturalists say that the turtledove not only loves solitude, but also chastity. Therefore, the Church is rightly likened to her, the Church, which has a union only with Christ, evades communication with others and after His death does not leave Him, but awaits His second coming. “Your neck is like a monist.” Monists are a type of attire that adorns the neck. Thus, the groom extols the Bride that she watchfully bears the yoke of piety, about which he himself speaks in the Gospel: “Take my yoke upon you... for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:29–30). He is amazed at her neck, which bears this yoke, her neck, which is without any external decoration, simple, so beautiful in itself that it is similar to those decorated by monists. But after those words of the Bridegroom, His servants said to the Bride: Song 1:10 We will make the likes of gold with variegated silver, Song 1:11 Dondezhe the King is in his delight, It seems to me that they here mean the time before the appearance of Christ, and they console the Bride as if this: we will spend all the time until the rise of the Tsar with you, we will adorn you with possible decoration and will not leave you before His resurrection, but we will make you the likeness of gold and variegated silver. It was not in vain that they said “the likeness of gold,” and not the gold itself. For the gifts of the Bridegroom are more excellent than the gifts of His servants. Therefore, we respect the Divine Gospel more, although, however, we give honor to the Law and the Prophets and the Apostolic writings. “We will create the likes of gold with the variegations of silver.” By variegation we mean the diversity of God's mercies. "Dondezh the King is in his ascension". Until the King sleeps and rises, we will present everything possible to you. He calls the death of the Tsarev “resurrection.” Why does Balaam prophesy: ​​“He lies down like a lion and like a monk: who will awaken Him?” (Num. 24:9). Then the Bride again says: Song 1:12 Knitting tactics my sister's son 2 me First of all, we need to examine why she calls the Groom her sister’s son. It is known that the Bride signifies the Church of the Gentiles, and the first wife of the Bridegroom is a Jew, who, because of her adultery, took the book of licentiousness. They are sisters to each other. For both have the same father - Adam. But the Bridegroom came from the first according to the flesh, as Paul testifies: “It is clear that our Lord has risen from the tribe of Judah” (Heb. 7:14) So, therefore, it is right that the Bride calls her sister her son. This “my sister’s son” is both “backgammon” and “knitting for me.” I, delighted by the fragrance of His ointment, liken Him to many mastics, but all mastics exceed the pleasantness of His fragrance. I call Him both “backgammon” and “stakti knitting”. “Nard”, because He is anointed with a valuable aroma that fragrances the entire Universe. "Knitting Stacti". Symmachus and Aquila called the stacti myrrh, and myrrh signifies the death of the Bridegroom, which leaves a pleasant stench for the Bride. She further adds: Song 1:12 In the midst of my breast it will be established, that is, in the heart, which is located between the nipples. This completes this prophecy: “I will dwell in them and walk around, and I will be their God, and they will be my people” (Lev. 26:12, 2 Cor. 6:16). Song 1:13 My sister's son Cyprus is a dream for me in the vineyards of Engadd. The Bride, not knowing what worthy name to give to the Groom, collects names from everywhere and adapts them to Him. “I dream of Kiprov, my sister’s son.” "Grezn Kiprov" - beginning to bloom. For at this time the grapes give off a most pleasant smell. He adds, “in the vineyards of Engaddov.” If by them means a place in Judea filled with beautiful grapes, then it must be understood improperly, that is, all these grapes exceed your fragrant dream. But if she aims at the power of the word “Engaddov”, which means the same as the evil eye (Matthew 6:23), then it must be understood in this way. I, being among temptations and suffering attacks from many, feel Your sweetness even to the blossoming grapes at this time, but (taking them in an allegorical sense) among the temptations that arrive, I prefer the fragrance of Your blossoming dream. But if He, while still blooming, is so pleasant, then what will He be like when He begins to ripen, when He ripens? After these words of the bride, the Groom again speaks to her: Song 1:14 Behold, you are good, my sincere one, behold, you are good: your eyes are like a dove. Paki praises her beauty, and repeating “good”, he is surprised at her, but above all he extols her eyes. “Your eyes are like a dove,” that is, spiritual. For the dove forms the Holy Spirit. “Your eyes are like a dove” - filled with Divine grace, alien to all vice, contemplating with a frank face the glory of the Lord, transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Spirit of the Lord. To this the Bride answers and says a second time: Song 1:15 Behold, thou art kind, my sister's son, and yet red: our bed is in the shade, Song 1:16 Thou shalt lay before our house cedar trees, our cypress boards. Hitherto she was amazed at His fragrance, now she is surprised at His beauty, she is surprised, having enlightened, spiritual eyes. “Behold, you are kind, my sister’s son, and still red: our bed is in the shadows.” I think the bed signifies Divine Scripture, on which both the Bride and Groom, having calmed down, are united with each other in a spiritual union. The Groom communicates the seeds of the word, and the Bride accepted them, conceives, carries them in the womb, gives birth and cries with the Prophet: “For the sake of thy fear, O Lord, I received and bore in the womb, and gave birth to the spirit of thy salvation, which I created on the earth” (Is. 26:18). But not just “bed”, but “with overshadowing”, that is, covered by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, clean from all sinful abomination. “Our bed with the autumn, lay it on our house of cedar, our cypress board.” I chose this type of tree because cedar is distinguished by its hardness and agelessness, and cypress is distinguished by its incense. Both properties can be found in the Divine Scripture, which is not only a bed for us, but also a home and a meal and food, not only sharpens the fragrant myrrh, but also promises incorruptibility and immortality. But if anyone understands the Church as the house of the Bride, then he also will not move away from the truth. “Behold, you are good, son of my sister.” But the Groom, thus expressed by the Bride, announces to her that she has not yet seen His essential beauty, and has only seen its shadow. It was translated into the Slavic language in the singular - worlds, in Greek it was translated into the plural - worlds, and that is why blessed. Theodoret suggests this question. Note translation In Greek it says: “My sister’s son,” and translated into Slavic as “my brother.” I put it the same way as in Greek - in accordance with the interpretation. Note translation