Глава 5

Song 5:1 I went into my helicity, my sister-bride: I entered, he says, into My helicopter city, which you decorated for me, Song 5:1 the volume of my myrrh with my spices and I gathered my first myrrh, that is, which I planted. First I wanted to die for you, then you wanted to be buried with Me. For I was buried by baptism into death (Rom. 6:4) and put to death my earthly blessings (Col. 3:5). So, “I embraced my myrrh with my aromas,” and tasted the fruit of your other virtues, which you took from Me, Song 5:1 I have eaten up my bread with my honey, this solid and sweet food of the perfect, In fairness, he believes “Mine”. For He is the true vine (John 15:1) from which this wine is gathered. With My milk, he does not neglect even babies sucking milk, but from them he also receives fruit according to their strength. And being good, he also calls on friends to communicate with these words: Song 5:1 Eat, ye neighbors, and drink, and be drunk, brethren. His neighbors are those perfect men who preserve the image of God unharmed. He not only commands them to drink, but also to get drunk. For there is such an intoxication that produces prudence and non-foolishness, which strengthens and does not upset the members. Blessed David speaks about this intoxication: “Your cup makes me drunken, like a mighty one” (Ps. 22:5) - and in another place: “Your house will be drunk with fatness, and I will give you a stream of your sweetness to drink” (Ps. 36:9). Finally, the Bride speaks: Song 5:2 I sleep, but my heart watches: Although by nature I am forced to close my eyes and indulge in sleep, however, I remain awake with my mind and drive away the sleep of carelessness, awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom. As soon as He knocks on the door, I hear His voice: Song 5:2 My Brother's voice strikes the door O blessed hearing! Blessed are you who, having been chosen to be the [spiritual] Bride, watches, waits for the Bridegroom and speaks to David: “If I give sleep to my eyes, and slumber every where I go” (Ps. 132:4) “The voice of my Brother strikes at the door,” voice: Song 5:2 Open to me, my sister, my neighbor, my dove, my perfect one: for my head is filled with dew, and my breath is filled with the drops of the night. Through the night means the attack that the Jews launched on Him at night, and through dew and drops His three-day death. So, he says, since I suffered death for you, endured all the torments, then open to Me and receive Me. I love your spiritual beauty and the perfection of your virtue, which is why I call you “my sister” and call you “my dove” and “perfect”. Perfect - because you have been adorned with the perfection prescribed by Me in the law. Dove - for you have made yourself spiritual, and have put off the old man with his deeds (Col. 3:9). Near - because you follow My paths and want to come closer to Me. Finally, a sister not only because of nature, but also because of union through piety. Having heard this, the Bride answers: Song 5:3 I have taken off my robe, how shall I put on nakedness? Having washed my noses, how can I defile them? Here we learn how much harm carelessness produces and how much grief it causes to those who possess it. The Bride, having refused to open the door to the Groom, will then be forced not only to come to them, but also to go through the city, flow around the marketplace, fall into the guards and suffer blows from her. But if she had immediately appeared at the voice of the Groom, she would never have experienced any displeasure. “I have taken off my robe, how shall I put on nudes? If I wash my noses, how can I defile them? But the Bridegroom did not command her to do this; he did not want her to again put on the old man, or to defile the feet washed by His holy hands, but so that she would open her ears or eyes for Him, through which He, having entered, could dwell in her sacred soul. But since she, finding excuses, has become slow, He arouses her in another way, and not only hits the door, but also stretches out his hand through a certain hole. What is at hand here should be understood as His Divine power, which the Bride, having felt, exclaims: Song 5:4 My brother sent his hand through the well, and my belly trembled for him. Song 5:5 I rose up to open the door to my brother: my hands have been dipped in myrrh, my fingers are full of myrrh on my hands of imprisonment. Song 5:6 I opened it to my brother: my brother pass away. My soul went out into His word: I sought Him, and found Him not: I called Him, and did not listen to me. Song 5:7 The guards that surrounded me in the city found me: they struck me, they wounded me, and the guards took the outer robe from me. When she did not immediately want to open the hole to the striker, He shakes her through a certain feeling, which He called the deep, stretching out His hand, that is, His power. Love kindles in her, as can be seen from these words - “my belly will quiver for him.” She, intoxicated with love, rises up and, flowing to the door, says: My hands, holding the rivet to open the hole, dug myrrh and my fingers full of myrrh. For I, even to the last particles, was completely subjected to the mortification [of passions]. But having opened the door, I do not see my Brother. He “passed away” and left. Prompted by love, I seek Him, I do not stop crying out to Him, but He does not listen, does not deign to answer Me. So, I, shouting and looking for My beloved, found myself in the presence of the guards of the city, who not only oppressed me and beat me, but also covered me all over with wounds and took away my outer clothing. It seems to me that the Bride here calls principles, powers and tyrants guarding the city, for if they once armed themselves against the Church and the victorious martyrs, having wounded and separated their body from the soul, they killed them like outer clothing. Song 5:8 You, daughters of Jerusalem, have sworn in the mighty places and in the strongholds of the villages: if you find my Brother, tell him that I am wounded by love. The groom often also appears to still imperfect babies, adapting to their weakness and encouraging them to perfection. For “they do not require the health of a doctor, but those who are sick” (Mark 2:17). So, the Bride obliges the daughters of Jerusalem with an oath, so that if they find her Brother, they will tell Him that she is wounded by love for Him. The young women do not reveal the name of her Brother. For they are still imperfect, do not have a deep knowledge of the sacraments, and therefore they say: Song 5:9 What is thy brother better than his brother, who is good in wives? What is your brother from your brother, for you have cursed us? We have often heard you saying: My brother, and we did not understand the meaning of your words. But when you have cursed us, we cannot leave your commandments. Therefore, teach us, “kind in wives,” O most beautiful of all maidens, teach us what this name means? It is constantly in your mouth. If we learn from you who your Brother is, what His excellent characteristics are, we will take care of you and fulfill your commands. So, the Bride shows them the signs of the Groom, saying: Song 5:10 My brother is white and black, chosen from those: Song 5:11 His head is chosen gold, His hair is curly, black like a raven: Song 5:12 His eyes are like doves upon the fullness of the waters, washing in the babe, sitting in the filling of them: Song 5:13 His cheeks are like phials, full of fragrant aroma: His lips are full of dripping myrrh: Song 5:14 His hands were polished with gold, filled with Tarshish: His belly was an ivory vessel set on a sapphire stone: Song 5:15 His pillars are the pillars of Marmor, the foundations of the degrees of gold: His appearance is like Lebanon, chosen like cedars: Song 5:16 His throat is sweetness, and all desire: this is my Brother, and this is my Neighbor, the daughters of Jerusalem. “My brother is white and black.” “Bel” - for God, for he is “the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world” (John 1:9), a light that surpasses all brilliance. “Chermen” - through this means His human nature, which in Him was stained with blood. “Chermen” - although He is God, out of love for man He became man, without, however, changing His Divinity. “My brother is white and black, chosen from those” - Christ is above all nature. He did not create sin, “lower flattery was found in his mouth” (Isa. 53:9, 1 Pet. 2:22) He is the immaculate Sacrifice, cleansing the whole world. In a word, “chosen from those.” "His head is chosen in gold". Symmachus translated: like a precious stone. "His head is chosen in gold". By the head, as before, and by the whiteness, we mean His Divinity, which he likens to a precious stone and gold, because he does not find anything better on earth. “His hair is curly and black, like a corvid.” Hair, I think, is what he calls Grace flowing from His head. “His eyes are like doves on the filling of the waters,” for they are constantly turned to the font of Baptism and contemplate those coming to salvation. “Purge in the babe, who sit in the filling of the waters.” He nourishes others who need milk with milk, others who are rooted in sin, he renews and revives - sitting “in the filling of the waters” and illuminating them. Not without reason she said: “in the filling of the waters” - for she does not accept those who come without perfect and firm faith. “His cheeks are like phials of fragrance, a vegetating fragrance: His mouth is full of dripping myrrh.” By cheeks and lips he means teaching. For through these movements a voice is formed. The cheeks are called phials, vegetating with incense, because of the pleasantness of the teachings, and the lips are likened to krins, because the Divine words themselves shine without any human decoration. “His mouth is full of dripping myrrh.” He teaches here on earth perfect mortification: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor,” and taking up your cross, “come after me” (Matthew 19:21, Mark 10:21) “His hands are polished with gold and filled with Tarshish.” He refers to those active virtues as “hands,” which He performed with such care that He never corrected any action. “The gold is turned, filled with tarshish.” This shows the advantage and superiority of those of His virtues. “His belly is an ivory vessel set on a sapphire stone.” The depth of the sacraments and treasures of Wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3) are an elephant vessel for those who are worthy of Revelation. “His belly is an ivory vessel set on a sapphire stone.” Although the works of God are essentially hidden and deep, they are clear and intelligible to the enlightened. “His pillars are the pillars of Marmor, founded on degrees of gold”: through this he shows His stronghold, steadfastness, immutability and eternal abiding. “His appearance is like Lebanon, chosen like a cedar tree.” And here again, of course, is His essential nature. Lebanon calls the Divinity, and cedar - humanity, which, like this imperishable tree, was alien to the fall of sin. “His throat is sweetness.” What, in fact, is sweeter than Divine broadcasts? Blessed David felt this sweetness and said: “The judgments of the Lord are true, justified in their entirety, desirable more than gold and precious stones in abundance, and sweeter than honey and honeycomb” (Ps. 19:10–11). “His throat is sweetness.” For “no man has spoken like this, like this Man” (John 7:46). “His throat is sweetness, and all desire”: The Bride, exhausted in praise and not knowing how best to describe Him, finally concludes with this single line, as if to say: why am I trying to describe in detail His beauty? He is “all desire,” he forces everyone to love Himself, captivates not only those who see Him, but also those who hear about Him, attracting them to Himself. "All Desire". Having said this, he turns to the young women: “This is my Brother and this is my Neighbor, daughters of Jerusalem.” When you don’t know Him and ask me who my Brother is, and I show Him to you: “this is my Brother and this is my Neighbor.” So, bound by an oath, do not despise the oath, but find my Brother and tell Him my love for Him. But they, having recognized the distinctive features of the Bridegroom, ask her again where He went, where He evaded: