About Isaac, or the soul

The treatise “On Isaac, or the Soul” (79 chapters) was written by St. Ambrose of Milan in 391, contains a commentary on the Book of Song of Songs and the doctrine of the mystical union of the Divine Logos with the soul of the righteous. The treatise begins with the mystery of the birth of Isaac from the barren old woman Sarah, “so that we may believe that God is able to make the Virgin give birth.” The image of Isaac is both an image of Christ and an image of the man Enos. Isaac is Christ, full of grace and a source of joy. To this source comes Rebekah, who is the image of the Church or the image of the soul. In the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah, we can see the image of the union of Christ with the soul reborn in baptism. The saint draws attention to the different meanings of interpretation: moral (or ethical), mysterious, royal. In ch. 20-27 talks about the wells that Isaac dug. These wells of St. Ambrose establishes a correspondence in the three books of Solomon: “...his Proverbs are moral teaching; the book of Ecclesiastes - the doctrine of natural laws...; mysterious are his Songs of Songs. ...he mentioned these wells in his separate books, which he wrote about the moral, natural or mysterious.” In ch. 28-47 continues the interpretation of the Song of Songs: the soul yearns and seeks the Bridegroom (on the bed, in the city in the squares and streets) and, when it finds it, it ascends with Him as a bride to the nuptial rest. Christ rejoices in the faith of souls, calls them and gives them resurrection. In ch. 48-49 contains the famous description of a closed, or reserved, garden. In chapters 50-56 St. Ambrose speaks of 4 movements of the soul towards God. In ch. 64-79 the four virtues are considered: “If the soul is a chariot, it has either good or bad horses. Good horses are the virtues of the soul, bad horses are bodily passions... There are four good horses: prudence, temperance, courage, justice, and bad horses: anger, lust, cowardice, injustice.” The work ends with a call to take wings to fly upward, to purify the soul so that it rushes to spiritual Jerusalem, and not to be afraid of death, which frees the soul from bodily shackles. *The title of the work in Latin is De Isaac vel anima. Contents H.A. Kulkova. Translator's Preface About Isaac, or the Soul H.A. Kulkova. Translator's Preface The essay “On Isaac, or the Soul” (386) opens the present volume, which contains texts dedicated to the Old Testament patriarchs, with the exception of the treatise “On the Good of Death.” Starting with the treatise “On Abraham” (De Abraham, 378–383), St. Ambrose created a number of works of moral and exegetical content, titling them with the names of the Old Testament righteous 1 . He views the Old Testament patriarchs as examples of high life and embodied virtues: for example, Abraham is an “ideal Christian” whose main characteristic is complete devotion to God 2 ; from Isaac we learn purity of mind, from Jacob - patience, from Joseph - chastity 3, from Noah (De Noe) - justice 4, from Elijah (De Ileiia et ieiunio) - abstinence. But the appeal to the Old Testament characters is accompanied not only by a moral interpretation, but also a typological one: the events of their lives are prototypes of New Testament events, and they themselves (Isaac, Jacob, Joseph) prefigure Christ and the events of His earthly life: flight to Egypt, call to preach, rejection by the Jewish people, betrayal of Judas, crucifixion, atoning death on the cross, resurrection. As in other similar works (“On Noah,” “On Elijah and Fasting,” “On the Complaint of Job and David,” etc.), in the treatises “On Isaac, or the Soul,” 5 “On Jacob and the Blessed Life,” “On Joseph,” the literal meaning of the biblical narrative plays a secondary role. The main thing for St. Ambrose - to give a moral characterization of the character, to show his virtues (or his main virtue), to teach his listeners and readers that “the life of the saints is the rule of life for the rest” 6. This is an interpretation of the Old Testament texts in a spiritual sense, according to the word of the blessed. Augustine 7, is closely connected with the understanding of St. Ambrose's role as a bishop as a teacher of the people of Christ. The fact that the events from the life of the Old Testament prophets are only the starting point for reasoning, we clearly see in the treatise “On Isaac, or the Soul,” 8 in which the name of Isaac is mentioned only in ten chapters, and the largest number of quotations are from the Song of Songs, and not from the book of Genesis, which, in fact, tells about the life of Isaac. The treatise begins with the mystery of the birth of Isaac from the barren old Sarah, so that we would believe in the birth of a Virgin 9. The image of Isaac is both the image of Christ and the image of the sage, that is, the man, Enos (1.1); the true Isaac is Christ, full of grace and a source of joy (1.2). To this source comes Rebekah, who is the image of the Church or the image of the soul. We see that the work begins with allegorical images, and the events of Isaac's life will be interpreted in accordance with the author's thoughts: St. Ambrose asks the question: what is the soul? – and seeks to answer it from the position of a Christian. Here it is necessary to look at the treatise “On Isaac, or the Soul” in the broad context of the general literary tradition of this time, because the question of the soul was considered by Christian authors of the 4th century, and often in connection with the problem of self-knowledge 10, which leads to the knowledge of God 11. These questions were posed by the Cappadocian fathers, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Tertullian 12 even earlier wrote about the Christian soul. St. Ambrose also says, addressing the soul: “Know yourself and the beauty of your nature” (4.16). In search of an answer, he turns not only to Christian authors, but also to ancient philosophers: researchers find in him traces of the influence of Plato, Aristotle, Philo of Alexandria, and Plotinus. The influence of Marcus Tullius Cicero and his philosophical treatises “Tusculan Conversations”, “On the Boundaries of Good and Evil”, “On the Nature of the Gods”, and the treatise “On Duties” is not discussed in such detail, although this influence is reflected not only in word usage 13, but also in the appeal to Stoic thought to create a system of Christian ethics and the doctrine of virtues, the reverse side of which is the doctrine of the passions. Unlike later authors and in accordance with his inner inclination, St. Ambrose does not create a scientific work, but an emotional, highly poetic description of the journey of the soul to God. He resorts to the Song of Songs, the text of which provides him with material for interpreting the images of the bride, the Groom, the King, the guards, the garden, and the source of water. In the treatise, the saint pays special attention to the different meanings of interpretation; he notes the moral (or moral), mysterious, royal interpretation. Following St. Ambrose's teaching on the three meanings of Scripture has been repeatedly discussed by scholars 14 using various passages from the writings of St. Ambrose, but very important for understanding his methods of commentary is the text from the treatise “On Isaac,” which talks about the wells (4. 20–27) that Isaac dug. These wells of St. Ambrose establishes - following Origen - a correspondence in the three books of Solomon: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs, which in turn finds a correspondence in the “classical division of philosophy into physics, ethics and logic” 15, or epoptism 16. The following chapters (4. 28–37 – 5. 38–47) continue the interpretation of the Song of Songs: the soul yearns and seeks the Bridegroom - on the bed, in the city in the squares and streets and, when it finds it, ascends with Him as a bride to the nuptial rest, because Christ, “He is love himself” (5. 46), rejoices in the faith of souls, calls them and gives them resurrection. The description of the closed, or reserved, garden, famous for its poetic beauty, is found in 5. 48–49. In the sixth chapter (§ 50–56) St. Ambrose once again reminds us of the four movements of the soul towards God. The seventh chapter (§56-63) contains praise for the soul that pleases God. Here are also interesting examples for the historian of biblical exegesis of the translations of Aquila (Aquila), one of the editors or translators of the Greek text of the Old Testament. The eighth and final chapter (§ 64–79) examines the quadriga, or four, of virtues (8.65): “If the soul is a chariot, it has horses, either good or bad. Good horses are the virtues of the soul, bad horses are bodily passions. And the good charioteer restrains and persuades the bad horses, and encourages the good ones. There are four good horses: prudence, temperance, courage, justice 17, and bad horses: anger, lust, cowardice, injustice.” Although the saint retains Cicero’s terminology (which has become familiar over several centuries), he places these virtues in a Christian context. Since the treatise deals with a soul that strives to break away from the earthly and ascend to the heavenly, to its Heavenly Bridegroom, then it should be imbued with virtues that will help it walk the path. St. Ambrose speaks in detail about what virtues a soul must have in order to ascend to heaven, describes the marriage of the soul and the Heavenly Bridegroom, and speaks of God’s love for the human soul. The essay ends with an inspired call to take wings to fly upward, to purify the soul so that it will rush to spiritual Jerusalem, and not to be afraid of death, which is freedom for the soul. The last chapter of the treatise is, as it were, an introduction to the next work, “On the Good of Death,” in which death is called a safe haven: the soul does not die and ascends to the heavenly abode of righteous souls. Claudio Moreschini, in the preface to his translation of two treatises - “On Isaac, or the Soul” and “On the Good of Death” 18 - writes that they are among the most important among the homiletical works of St. Ambrose, showing him as a significant spiritual writer. He also talks about the importance of the Old Testament Song of Songs in the work of St. Ambrose, who often turned to it in his exegetical constructions (for example, exp. ps. 118). Moreschini briefly discusses the history of interpretation of the Song of Songs in the pre-Ambrose Jewish and Christian traditions. As sources of exegesis of St. Ambrose Moreschini calls St. Hippolytus of Rome, Origen, Philo of Alexandria, from ancient authors - Plato, possibly through Apuleius, and the Neoplatonist Plotinus, whose creative influence on St. Ambrose may be connected with the figure of the priest Simplician, the mentor of Ambrose himself after his election as bishop. Simplician, who was elected bishop after the death of Ambrose in 397, in the 50s. IV century baptized Maria Victorinus, the famous rhetorician and translator of Plotinus' Enneads 19. It is difficult not to agree with Moreschini that the treatise “On Isaac, or the Soul” is the most beautiful in terms of artistic expressiveness 20 among other works of the saint. The text of the treatise allows us to judge the level of education of the saint: he not only translates fluently from Greek into Latin, but also knows perfectly well the previous literary tradition - not only classical, but also Christian. When translating the treatise, the Latin text published in the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL) series by Karl Schenkl 21 was used; edits by C. Moreschini are noted. 1. In book 22 we have enough said about the father of Saint Isaac both about his origin and about grace. It added to his greater glory that he was born from such a great and inimitable man and became a reward for his father Abraham. And this is not surprising, for in him the image of the Nativity and suffering of the Lord appeared especially powerfully 23 , since the barren old woman, according to the promise of God, gave birth to him 24 so that we would believe that God is able to make the Virgin give birth, and the only son appointed as a sacrifice 25 , and not perish for the father, and fulfill the sacrifice. Therefore, with his name he denotes both prototype and grace: Isaac, in translation, means “laughter,” and laughter is a sign of joy 26 . And who does not know that universal joy is the One who became liberation from sins for everyone, having conquered fear and abolished the sadness of frightening death? Therefore, this one was named, and this one was pointed out, this one was depicted, and this one was proclaimed. He is the one who was already being persecuted by the slave 27, he is the one because of whom they were already saying: Cast out this slave, for the son of this slave will not inherit with my son Isaac (Gen. 21:10), he is the one for whom the father found a foreign bride 28, he is the one who is quiet, humble and meek 29 when Rebekah came, that is, patience 30, he left in the field to get away from everyone 31 . It is common for the wise to move away from carnal passions, to elevate the soul and free it from the physical 32; that is, to know oneself as a man, which in the language of the Chaldeans is called Enos, and translated “man.” Enos is the one who called on God in faith and hope 33 and is therefore believed to be exalted 34 . And therefore it seems obvious that he who does not trust in God is not a man. And whoever trusts in God does not live on earth, but, as if ascended, has united with God, as the interpretation of the truth clearly indicates. 2. Therefore, the true Isaac is good, 35 since He is full of grace and is a source of joy. Rebekah went to this spring to fill her water jug. Scripture says that she went down to the source, filled a jug (Gen. 24:16) and went up. So, either the Church or the soul descended to the source of wisdom to fill its entire vessel and draw the instructions of pure wisdom, which the Jews refused to draw from the abundant source. And what kind of source is this, listen to him who says: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters (Jer. 2:13). To this source 36 the thirsty soul of the prophets rushed, just as David says: My soul thirsted for the living God (Ps. 41:3), so that its thirst could be quenched by the abundance of divine thoughts and the blood of foolishness washed away with streams of spiritual streams. After all, this flow of blood opens again, as the law indicates, when the husband is united with his wife, who is in the days of his blood 37 . Wife 38 means pleasure, bodily temptations. So, beware that the strength of your mind does not soften under the influence of intercourse with carnal passion and, being overwhelmed by it, does not weaken and open its source, which must be closed and protected by diligent attention and reasonable reflection: The garden is closed, the well is sealed (Song. 4:12). After all, if the strength of the mind is weakened, feelings of bodily pleasure pour out - destructive and rushing towards lust, leading to grave danger - which would remain in check if the active mind remained on guard and was awake. 3. Therefore, look closely, man, what you are like, how you take care of your salvation and life. So what is a person? Is it the soul 39, or the flesh, or a combination of both? After all, we are one thing, and what belongs to us is another, just as the one who dresses is one thing, and clothes are another. We read in the Old Testament: All the souls that came into Egypt (Gen. 46:26) - this is said about people. And in another place it is said: My spirit will not abide in these people, because they are flesh (Gen. 6:3). From both of these it follows that man is called both soul and flesh. But the difference is that where they say “soul” instead of “man,” it means a Jew devoted to God and not to the body, for example, as here: Blessed is every simple soul (Prov. 11:25). When they say “flesh” instead of “man,” they mean a sinner, as here: But I am carnal, sold to sin. For I do not understand what I do: because I do not do what I want, but what I hate, I do (Rom. 7:14-15). These last words are about both, because one is the one who wants, the other is the one who hates, the other is the one who does. Then the apostle adds: If I do what I do not want, then I agree with the law, that it is good, and therefore it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me (Rom. 7:16-17). And even more expressively: I see... the law of my flesh, warring against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin (Rom. 7:23). And he, having proclaimed that there are two fighting in a person: that is, the inner man fights with the outer, he chose to take the side of the soul rather than the body, because his captive soul is drawn to sin, and he would prefer to abide in it and, according to his own statement, abides in it when he says: Poor man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom.7:24) - as if he wants to free himself from an external enemy. 4. Consequently, the soul is not blood, for blood belongs to the body, and the soul is not harmony 41, for this kind of harmony is inherent in the body, and the soul is not air, for one thing is a stream of breath, and another thing is the soul, and the soul is not fire, and the soul is not entelechy 42, but the soul is living, because Adam became a living soul (Gen. 2:7), therefore the soul gives life to the insensible and soulless body and controls they are 43. There is also a better man, the apostle says about him: A spiritual man judges everything, but no one can judge him (1 Cor. 2:15). This is the one who is superior to others. Therefore David says: What is man, that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit him? (Ps. 8:5). Man has become like vanity (Ps. 143:4). The one who was created in the image of God is not a man of vanity, but only the one who has lost this and fell into sin and slipped into the material - he becomes a man of vanity. 5. Consequently, by its nature the soul is the best part of man, but for the most part, due to its unreasonableness, it becomes subject to corruption, so that it inclines towards the pleasures of the body and self-will, 44 and does not observe the measure of things, or is mistaken in opinion, or, inclining towards the material, clings to the body. So her vision becomes clouded, and she is filled with malice, for, striving for malice, she is filled with its vices and the lack of good becomes too great. 6. The perfect soul turns away from matter, abhors and disdains everything that is immoderate, fickle, and unkind 45 ; she does not see and does not experience the danger of approaching earthly frailty; strives for the divine, flees earthly matter 46. Flight does not mean that it leaves the earth, but while remaining on earth, the soul maintains justice and sobriety, refusing vices, and not the use of things. Saint David fled from the face of Saul, 47 not to leave the land, but to evade the touch of the cruel, rebellious and treacherous. He fled, but clung to God, as he himself said: My soul cleaves to You (Ps. 62:9). He saved himself and freed himself from the vices of this age, elevated his soul, like Isaac in the field, 48 or withdrew, or, as others say, wandered like a wanderer. And this also means that his social circle consisted of virtues, so that everyone wandered in the purity of his heart, 49 did not mix with base vices, and walked along the immaculate path with the undamaged foot of the mind, and did not open any place in himself for corruption. 7. Such was Isaac when he waited for Rebekah to come to him, 50 preparing himself for a spiritual union. After all, she walked, already gifted with divine mysteries, walked with beautiful jewelry in her ears and on her hands, 51 because the beauty of the Church shines in audible words and deeds; Let us turn to her the right saying: May thousands of thousands be born of you, and may your descendants possess the dwellings of your enemies! (Gen.24:60). So, beautiful is the Church, which found sons for itself among hostile pagan tribes. But it is also possible to attribute this to the soul, which subjugates bodily passions and turns them into the service of virtue and subjugates opposing aspirations. Therefore, either the soul of the patriarch says, seeing the mystery of Christ, seeing the coming Rebekah with gold and silver vessels as a Church with a people of pagans, marveling at the beauty of the Word and His sacraments: Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His lips (Song. 1:1), - or Rebekah, seeing the true Isaac, this true joy, true joy, desires to kiss Him. 8. What then does it mean: May He kiss me with the kiss of His lips (Song.1:1)? Consider that this is either the Church, which has been awaiting the coming of the Lord for a long time, which was long ago promised to it through the prophets, or a soul that, soaring above the body, having renounced luxury, pleasures and carnal passions, having also gotten rid of the vain worries of this world, has long desired to be nourished by the divine presence and grace of the saving Word; the soul weakens because He delays and suffers, and therefore it, as if wounded by love 52, because it cannot bear His delay, turning to the Father, asks that He send her God the Word, and exclaims, naming the reason why she is so impatient: May He kiss me with the kiss of His mouth. She asks not just one kiss, but many, so that she can satisfy her desire, because she who loves is not content with one meager kiss, but asks for more, demands many kisses, so she is accustomed to entrusting herself immensely to the Beloved. And that gospel sinner was justified, because she did not stop kissing My feet. And therefore her many sins were forgiven her, because she loved much (Luke 7:45, 47). Therefore, this soul also desires many kisses of the Word in order to be enlightened by the light of divine knowledge. Because this is the kiss of the Word - the light of sacred knowledge; may God the Word kiss us when he enlightens our heart and the very essence of 53 man with the spirit of divine knowledge. Therefore, the soul, gifted with the pledge of marital love, rejoicing and triumphant, says: I opened my mouth and took away the spirit 54 (Ps. 119:131). After all, this is a kiss with which lovers unite with each other and revel in the sweetness of inner attraction. With such a kiss the soul is united with God the Word, with the help of a kiss the spirit of the Kisser is poured out, just as those who kiss are not content with the touch of their lips, but it seems that they are passing on their breath to each other. 9 . Showing in this way that she loves not only the image of the Word and a certain face of Him, but also everything internal to Him, the soul adds to the pleasant gift of kisses: For Your breasts are better than wine, and the fragrance of Your ointment is better than all fragrances (Song. 1:2-3). She begged for a kiss, God the Word poured out all of Himself to her and exposed His breasts to her, that is, His instructions, and the teaching of inner wisdom, and scented her with the sweet aroma of His incense. The soul captivated by them says that the sweetness of divine knowledge is more abundant than the joy of any carnal passion, because the aroma of grace and forgiveness of sins breathes in the Word. This forgiveness spread throughout the entire world and filled everything as if with a fragrance, because the stinking drain of vices was destroyed throughout the entire universe 55 . 10. The soul says: Therefore the maidens loved you. Draw us, we will run to the fragrance of Your incense (Song. 1:2-3). And prudence is wonderful, but mercy is also sweet, because few have this, but this extends to everyone. Thanks to such Thy generosity, she says, souls renewed by the Spirit love You. Therefore, it is said to the soul: Your youth will be renewed like that of an eagle (Ps. 103:5), because the speaker addressed the soul: Bless the Lord, my soul (Ps. 103:1). And so she hurries to the Word and asks to be drawn and not accidentally left behind, for God’s Word strives forward and there are no obstacles to Him. Finally, He rejoices like a giant before running the race (Ps. 18:6), because His departure is from the end of the heavens, and His march is to their end (Ps. 18:7). And, seeing herself unprepared for such great speed, she says: Draw us along! Beautiful is the soul that asks not only for itself, but for everyone! She says: Draw us! We desire to follow, this desire is inspired by the sweetness of Thy fragrances: but since we cannot match Thy movement, draw us on, that with Thy help we may follow Thee. If You encourage us, we will run, and we will catch the speed of spiritual breaths. And a heavy burden is lifted from those who are supported by Your hand, and Your oil is poured, with the help of which the traveler, wounded by robbers, was healed. And so that the soul does not seem impudent to you when it says: Draw us, hear the one who says: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). You see that He Himself draws us of His own free will so that we are not left behind. But that soul that wants the Lord to draw it, runs to achieve it, and runs, forgetting about its former life and striving for what is more important - so it can reach and receive Christ. Therefore, the apostle says: So flee, so that you may receive everything (1 Cor. 9:24). This soul that wants to receive also wants to achieve the reward. It is prudent, therefore, that she asks the Lord to lead, because not everyone can follow on their own. So it was with Peter, who asked: Where are you going? - the Word of God answers: You cannot now follow Me, but later you will follow Me (John 13:36). He entrusted him with the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven 57, but considered it unworthy to follow Him. However, the Lord did not expel this soul because it asked and did not expect it as it should. 11. And finally, the soul says: The king brought me into his palace (Song. 1:3). Blessed is every soul that enters into inner chambers! Because, rising from the body, it moves away from everyone and within itself, if it can search somewhere, it tries to find the divine. As soon as the soul can reach the divine, it, having surpassed the intelligible, is strengthened in the divine and nourished by it. Such was Paul, who knew what it was to be caught up into heaven, but did not know whether he was caught up either in the body or out of the body (2 Cor. 12:2-4). After all, his soul rose from the body, and he freed himself from the womb and from the shackles of the flesh and exalted himself, becoming a stranger to himself, and within himself he retained the unspeakable words that he heard and which he could not reveal to anyone, because, as he says, a person cannot retell them. Consequently, the soul, if it is good, neglects the visible and sensible and does not dwell in them, and does not hesitate or stop a day to consider them, but ascends to those eternal and invisible places filled with miracles, exalting itself with a pure feeling of pious reason. And indeed, the one who strives for perfection devotes himself only to the divine good and believes that there is no need to look for anything else, because he has what is greatest. And a person in whom the beauty of the soul is present abounds in himself, because he is self-sufficient. He whose head is the Lord is never alone. 12. Introduced into that divine mystery, the soul says: Let us rejoice and be glad in you, we will love your breasts more than wine (Song. 1:3). After all, the righteous do not rejoice in wealth and gold and silver treasuries, not in income from their estates, not in strength, not in feasts, but only in God. 13. However, the same soul, conscious that it has become darkened by union with the body, says, turning to other souls or to those heavenly powers appointed for sacred service: Do not look at me, because I have turned black, because the sun has not looked at me 58 . My mother's sons were at enmity with me (Song. 1:5). That is, bodily passions attacked me, made me black, carnal temptations, so the Sun of righteousness (Mal.4:2) 59 did not shine over me. Deprived of His protection, I could not maintain my devotion and complete obedience, this means: I did not preserve my vineyard (Song. 1:5), because I brought thorns, not bunches of grapes, 60 making sins instead of good fruits. 14. And when she speaks about the Word, illuminated by the brilliance of the Word, she turns to Him: Where do you graze? Where do you rest at noon? ( Song 1:6 ). She says correctly: Where do you graze? – because the Word of God is royal; where do you relax? - because it is moral; at noon, - because mysteriously 61, since at noon Joseph, when he was with his brothers at the feast 62, revealed the secrets of future times. But David also says: Open your way to the Lord and trust in Him, and He will perfect and bring out your righteousness like the light and your judgment like the noonday (Ps. 37:5-6). And Paul himself claimed that at noon a light shone upon him 63 when he turned from persecution to grace. So, the soul complains because it is abandoned, because from being rich it has become poor: after all, it abounded in grace-filled gifts, but began to need (Luke 15:14) when it refused the abundance of the divine presence, and therefore the one who previously took for granted the grace of the most precious family ties asks to be accepted at least as a mercenary 64. 15. The Word of God answers her: If you do not know yourself, most beautiful among women (Song.1:7). Even if you complain about abandonment, if you do not know yourself 65, if you do not repent of your fall, if you do not strain all your devotion, if your faith and purity are not strengthened, your complaint will not help. Or this: if you do not know yourself, how beautiful you are, if you do not preserve the beauty of your nature, and if you are not subject to bodily temptations and free from obstacles, the dignity of the best creation will not help you at all. 16. So, know yourself and the beauty of your nature and, freed from shackles, go barefoot, so that you do not feel the covering of the flesh, and bodily shackles do not interfere with the step of your mind, 66 so that your step is beautiful. These are those whom the Lord chooses to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven; it is said about them: How beautiful... are the feet of the evangelist who proclaims peace (Is. 52:7). Such is Moses, to whom it is said: Take off your sandals from your feet (Ex. 3:5), so that, when he is going to call the people to the Kingdom of God, he first puts aside the garments of flesh and enters with a pure spirit and mind. This is what it says: You go after the flocks and feed your kids in the shepherds’ tents (Song. 1:7), - for by “flocks” we mean the Kingdom, because it is characteristic of authority to manage flocks 67 . But everyone rules himself as if with royal power if he subjugates bodily excesses and brings his flesh to slavish obedience. Therefore it is said: The Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). That is why wonderful words were spoken to the soul: You go - that is, you go away from your slavery, get away from the power and dominion of the flesh and go not in the flesh, but in the spirit, go to the helm of power. Therefore, the singer added: and feed your goats - manage those on your left 68, because if you do not manage them, they are easy to lose. Tame self-will, the licentiousness of your body and unreasonable luxury; tame frivolous impulses, feed not those who live in bodily wanderings, but in the tents of shepherds who have learned how to feed a flock 69. After all, they are the beloved tents of Israel, like shady groves over the river 70 in which the soul, as if ready for battle, constantly practices good warfare, scouts out enemy attacks and, with the help of virtue, achieves victory, so that the soul can be likened to Solomon's horse 71, fast in running, fit for the tribe, because the fertility of the soul is desired and desired. 17. Therefore, this horse is valuable and Pharaoh's chariots are fast, and some attribute this to the Church and people of God. But we said more about this mystery in other works, especially in the “Explanation of the 118th Psalm” 72, but here we decided to talk about the soul. The soul is valued like this horse, then the network of the prophetic or apostolic gift, because it is ranked among those who, with the fertility of their preaching, filled the spaces of the entire circle of lands, and although they remained in the body, they did not suffer any loss on their spiritual path. And therefore they praise her because, splendid from the heavenly teaching that has enveloped her, she is already beautiful, showing the beauty of purity on her face, proudly carrying a necklace on her neck, marked with signs of patience and humility 73 . The true Isaac loved the beauty, humility and patience of such a soul and therefore desired to give birth to it. 18. Rebekah conceived and with her patience broke the knot of infertility. Let's look at what the prophetic and apostolic soul gives birth to and how it gives birth. It is said: And she went to ask the Lord (Gen. 25:22), because the babies leaped in her womb. And she received the answer: Two tribes are in your womb (Gen. 25:23) - because she does not wish for anything of her own free will, but in everything asks the High God to be the head of her plans, at the same time, full of peace and piety, she unites both peoples with her faith and prophecy and, as it were, encloses them in her womb. 19. And it is no coincidence that she is called a sister 74 and not a wife, because a meek and peaceful soul would rather take the name of kindred love than a special connection, and because she will consider that she is connected with everyone rather than with someone alone. 20. And Isaac dug even more wells 75 than his father had dug, and the strangers filled up those wells after the death of Abraham his father. In addition, Isaac dug the following wells: one in the valley of Gerar - and found there a well of living water 76, and the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with the shepherds of Isaac (Gen. 26:20), because they believed that the water from this well belonged to them, and Isaac called this well Injustice. And he dug another well, because of which a dispute arose, and called it Enmity. And he dug up a third one, over which the shepherds did not quarrel, and named it Latitude. He dug another well, but found no water in it and called it the well of the Oath 77. 21. What reader would not think that these are earthly matters and not spiritual? Because Abraham and Isaac, the great patriarchs, and even Jacob, as we find in the Gospel 78, dug the well, like sources of the human race and, especially, devotion and faith? What does the source of living water mean if not the depth of inexhaustible teaching 79? Therefore, Hagar saw the angel of God at the well 80, and Jacob found his wife Rachel at the well 81; Likewise, Moses, through good deeds near the well, laid the foundation for a future marriage 82. 22. So, starting with the well of vision 83, Isaac began to dig wells, and in the correct order, so that the water of this well would first wash and nurture the rational part of the soul and its eye, in order to make its vision clearer. He also dug many other wells. That is why it is written: Drink water from your vessels and from the springs of your wells (Prov. 5:15). The more there are, the more abundant the generosity of graces. He nevertheless digs a well, which his father Abraham had previously dug, because of which the shepherds of Gerar, that is, the walls 84, quarreled - because where there is a barrier 85, there is division between the warring parties, there is injustice - and therefore he called this well Injustice. He also dug another well, and there was disagreement, so he called it Enmity. Moral teaching is visibly seen in them, because when the mediastinum is destroyed, the enmity and hostility inherent in human flesh 86 disappear, and from two one is created, in the prototype - Isaac, but in reality - Christ, and subsequently, it is no coincidence that clean water suitable for drinking is again discovered in this well - such is the moral teaching. And the Well of Latitude - what else does it mean if not the doctrine of the natural? That is why it is called “Breadth”, because without strife, without quarrel, the one who overcomes this earthly and sensual is quiet and safe. Consequently, when hostile and alien thoughts have already been defeated, what is so alien as everything worldly, which cannot be eternal? - a wise person can say: the Lord has given us a spacious place and multiplied us on earth (Gen. 26:22), because he surpasses earthly things. The last well of the Oath, in which God appeared to him and said: Do not be afraid, for I am with you (Gen. 26:24), and blessed him. This is already a mysterious teaching. 23. You also have this in Solomon, 87 because his Proverbs are a moral teaching; the book of Ecclesiastes is a teaching about natural laws, in it Solomon seems to look down on the vanity of this world 88; mysterious are his Songs of Songs 89 . You find this in the prophet: Sow for yourselves in righteousness, reap the fruit of life, shine before you the light of knowledge (Hos. 10:12). To have the perfection of love means the light of knowledge 90, which is why it is said: Do not be afraid, for love casts out fear (Gen. 26:24; 1 John 4:18). So that we know that Solomon also interpreted these wells in such a way that he relates them to the moral, natural and mysterious teachings, he mentioned these wells in his separate books, which he wrote about the moral, natural or mysterious. 24. Because in Proverbs, when he says that one must avoid even the sight of earthly temptations, it is said: Drink water from your vessels and from the sources of your wells. Let the waters of your fountain overflow for you (Proverbs 5:15–16). And below: Let the source of your water be your own, and have fun with your wife (Prov. 5:18) - because against the temptations of the world, the medicine for us is true wisdom, as well as moral teaching, which with its water washes away the image of earthly passion, embellished with the rubbings of a harlot, and carries away in a stream from its source. 25. The Book of Ecclesiastes tells you about natural laws: I made myself reservoirs of water to irrigate the young grove from them (Eccl. 2:6). Do not be confused by the fact that instead of “well” he used the word “reservoirs”, because Moses also speaks of the well of Latitude 91, because the one who goes through this age with a pious soul is freed from all care and burden. Therefore, it is not without reason that Ecclesiastes says “reservoirs,” not seeing any abundance and wealth under the sun 92, but if anyone wants to be rich, let him become rich in Christ 93. 26. From what must be understood in a mysterious sense, we have a well, which we have already found in the Song of Songs, when Scripture says: A fountain of gardens, a well of living water and flowing from Lebanon (Song. 4:15). Because if you follow the depth of the mysteries, then the mysterious wisdom, as if located in the depths, will seem to you like a well; if you really want to draw the fullness of love, which is greater and more abundant than faith and hope, 94 then this source is for you. After all, love abounds, so you can scoop it up with your own hands and water your garden, rich in spiritual fruits, with the flow of its abundance. And because this well is further than the well of Latitude itself, which contains love, that is why Solomon said that where there is love, there is a great stream flowing from Lebanon 95. But so that you are not confused by the fact that he used the words “well” and “source” in the same meaning, the Gospel also prepares you for this. It says that Jesus comes to the city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the plot of land given by Jacob to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. And He, weary from the journey, sat down by the well (John 4:5-6). Therefore, we learn that this well relates to the mysterious teaching, because there the Samaritan woman 96, that is, the watchman and not just a guard, but the keeper of the heavenly commandments, drew divine secrets from that well, learning that God is a Spirit, and that He is worshiped not in any specific place, but in the spirit, and that the Messiah - Christ, whom the Jews are still waiting for, has already come. Hearing this, the wife who bears the image of the Church learned the mysteries of the Law and believed. 27. In the Song of Songs itself, Solomon expressed this threefold wisdom as clearly as he said in the Book of Proverbs 97, so that whoever wanted to hear about his wisdom would write it down three times. So the bride speaks about the groom in the Songs: How kind you are, my brother, and beautiful, and our bed is in the shade, the beams of our house are made of cedar, the ceiling is made of cypress (Song. 1:16). We can understand these words in a moral sense. Where do Christ and the Church find peace, if not in the affairs of their people? Consequently, where there is shamelessness, where there is pride, where there is injustice, there, says the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man has no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:20). What should we think about natural laws? 28. I rushed under her canopy and sat down, and her fruit was sweet in my throat (Song. 2:3). He who overcomes earthly things and for whom everything base dies, because for him the world is crucified and he is the world 98, he neglects everything under the sun and runs away from everything. 29. It is also said about the mysterious: Lead me into the house of wine, establish love for me (Song. 2:4). Just as a vine encircles its branches, so the Lord Jesus, like an eternal Vine 99 , embraces His people with His love. 30. Consider separately: in moral laws there is a flower - a lily among thorns, as he himself says: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys (Song. 2:1). In moral laws, therefore, there is a flower, in natural laws there is a sun of truth, 100 which, appearing and rising, illuminates everything, and when setting, plunges everything into shadow. Beware that it does not go down on you, because it is written: Let not the sun go down on your anger (Eph.4:26). In the mysterious there is love, because Christ is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:10). And therefore the Church, which loves Christ, is wounded by love 101. 31. He awakens and excites this love 102 until it hears His voice and calls on Him, because when they seek Him, He does not just come, but comes running, galloping over the mountains, jumping over the hills (Song. 2:8). He leaps over souls that have great grace, and jumps over low souls. So what does it mean to come running at a gallop? In a certain leap 103 He came into this world: He was with the Father 104, came to the Virgin, and from the Virgin jumped into the manger. He was in a manger and shone from heaven, He descended into the Jordan, ascended the Cross, descended into the tomb, rose from the tomb and sat down at the right hand of the Father 105. From there, like a young deer that strives for springs of water 106, He came down to Paul and shone on him (Acts 9:3) and suddenly appeared over the Holy Church, which is Bethel 107, which means “the house of God,” because Paul’s calling is to strengthen the Church. 32. So He came, and first He stands behind the wall 108 to destroy the enmity between soul and body, breaking the mediastinum, which was an obstacle to harmony. Then He peers into the windows. Listen to the prophet, what kind of windows are these: The windows of heaven are open (Is. 24:18). He points to the prophets, through whom the Lord cared for the human race before He Himself descended to earth. 33. And now, if somewhere the soul greatly seeks Him, it will deserve a lot of mercy, since whoever wants a lot is owed more. So, if where the soul seeks Him more earnestly, it hears His voice from afar, and, although it questions others, it hears His voice before those whom it questions. She sees that He is in a hurry to come to her, that is, He is in a hurry and runs, jumping over those who cannot retain His virtue in their weak hearts. Then she sees Him looking through the prophetic riddles; collecting them and keeping their words, she catches His gaze, but He looks as if through a window, and not as if He were present here. She sees Him as if through a net. What does this mean if not that these networks are for us, and not for Him? Networks, because until now the soul is inside the sensual and base, which usually captures the human mind and entangles it with some strong snare. Therefore, to one who is among the things of this age, but nevertheless seeks Him, the Lord is shown through snares. 34. Finally He says to such a soul: Arise, come, my neighbor (Song. 2:10), that is, arise from the pleasures of this world, arise from earthly things and come to Me, you, who until this hour have been working and bearing a heavy burden 109, because you are alarmed by what is in the world. Pass over the world, come to Me, because I have overcome the world (John 16:33). Come closer, already beautiful with the beauty of eternal life, already a dove 110, that is, quiet and meek, already entirely in spiritual grace. For by right the soul should not be afraid of the nets when He calls it to Himself, Whom the nets of this world could not capture. Because if we humans walk among traps, at least because of our addiction to food, there are temptations, snares and traps for us. He, being in the body, was not afraid of the nets, but rose above the nets, that is, above the temptations of this world and the passions of the body, which He taught others to overcome. Therefore, also wanting to strengthen this soul, He said: Arise, come, my neighbor, do not be afraid of snares! 35. Now the winter has passed (Song. 2:11), that is, Easter has come, forgiveness has come, remission of sins has come, temptation has stopped, the downpour has passed, the storm and shock have passed. Before the coming of Christ there is winter, after His coming there are flowers. Therefore it is said: Flowers appeared on the ground. Where once there were thorns, there are now flowers. The time of harvest has come. Where once there was desert, now there is harvest. The voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land (Song. 2:12). The Prophet correctly added the word “our”, as if surprised that where before there was shamelessness, now there is chastity. 36. The fig tree bore its unripe fruit ( Song 2:13 ). The one that was ordered to be cut down as if it was barren begins to bear fruit 111 . But what bothers you that he said “unripe fruit”? He destroys the first fruits so that the next ones will be more mature, just as the fruit of the synagogue is rejected, and the fruit of the Church is renewed. 37. And although complete calm reigns and mysteries are fragrant, He again says: Arise, protected from dangers under the protection of the rock 112 (Song. 2:14), that is, everything is under the protection of My suffering and under the protection of faith. For they sucked honey from the rock and oil from the solid rock (Deut. 32:13). Clothed with this covering, the souls of the pious are no longer naked, and this is protection for them. Therefore, He says to this soul: Come, My dove, under the cover of the rock, near the fortification, show Me your face and let Me hear your voice (Song. 2:14). He encourages her to trust, so that she is not ashamed of either the Cross of Christ 113 or His seal, he encourages her to confess faith, he wants all traps to be removed, so that the good fragrance of faith will blow, so that the day will shine, so that the shadow of a hostile night will not cause harm, as the one who is next to Christ says: The night is past, but the day is approaching (Rom. 13:12). Because both the darkness of this age, which will pass, and the day of the heavenly ages, is Christ, who gives light to His saints. And this soul accepts good pledges of love. 38. But since we must always worry and always be in tension, and since the Word of God leaps like a roe or like a young deer 114, the soul is always awake and strives forward, the soul that seeks Him and that wants to hold on. Therefore, as if by chance, it burst out: On my bed, at night, I sought Him Whom my soul loved (Song. 3:1). He who searches well, let him search on his bed, let him search at night. Let neither holiday, nor night, nor any time of day be free from pious service, and if someone does not find it right away, let him be persistent in his search. Therefore, the soul says: I will arise and search in the city, in the square and in the streets (Song. 3:2). And perhaps that’s why she still hasn’t found it, because she was looking in the square, where there is litigation, on the streets, where there is trade, because Christ cannot be bought with money. 39. We can understand it this way: the soul that seeks Christ in the bed is the one that seeks Him in silence, in peace; she seeks Him at night because He spoke in parables. After all, He put darkness as a covering for Himself (Ps. 17:12), and the night of the night proclaims knowledge (Ps. 18:3). Therefore, what we say in our hearts should torment us on our beds. But, however, she doesn’t find it anyway, and therefore she says: I will rise, - that is, I will raise up and exalt my desire to seek without laziness, to seek diligently, I will go to the city. This is the soul that says: I am a strong city, I am a besieged city (Is. 27:3). This is a city fortified by Christ, this city is that Heavenly Jerusalem 116 in which there are many interpreters of the divine law and those experienced in teaching: with their help the Word of God is sought. She says: I will search in the square of this city, in the square where the lawyers discuss the law, where the oil that the gospel virgins buy 117 will be sold, so that their lamps will always burn and the smoke of unrighteousness will not quench them. She says: I will search in the streets where abundant water flows from the springs from which, as Solomon says, one must drink 118. 40. So, while she is looking for Christ, she finds guards 119 on duty: she asked them about Him. But the soul that seeks God also passes by the guards; after all, there are secrets that even angels want to see. Therefore Peter says: It was preached to you by those who preached the gospel through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, what angels desire to penetrate (1 Peter 1:12). So, whoever passes the guard finds the Word. John passed by and found the Word of the Father 120. 41. There are also many who seek Christ during times of rest and do not find them, but they find Him during persecutions, and quickly find Him 121. And therefore, as if after temptation, because He is in danger next to His faithful, she says: But as soon as I left them, I found Him. She held Him and did not let Him go (Song.3:4). Everyone who seeks finds 122 and whoever has found must cleave to Him so as not to let go. 42. And since in the Gospel on earth we see prototypes of heavenly mysteries, let's go to that Mary, let's go to Magdalene 123. Let's consider how at night they were looking for Christ on the bed of His Body, on which the Buried One lay, when the angel said to them: Are you looking for Jesus crucified? He is not here, He has risen (Matthew 28:5–6). Why are you looking for the living among the dead? (Luke 24:5) What are you looking for in the tomb of Him who is already in heaven? What are you looking for in the grave shackles of Him who destroyed universal bonds? His throne is not a tomb, but heaven! And therefore one of them says: She sought Him and did not find Him (Song.3:1). 43. However, when they go to tell the apostles, Jesus, having compassion on the seekers, met them and said: Rejoice! And they approached, grabbed His feet and worshiped Him (Matthew 28:9). Here they are holding Jesus back, but He is glad that they are holding Him back, because they are holding Him back by faith. He was also pleased with the woman who touched Him and was healed from bleeding, about whom He said: Someone touched Me, for I felt the power that came from Me (Luke 8:46). So, touch, and hold with faith, and truly squeeze His feet, so that the power from Him will come and heal your soul. And even if he says: Do not touch Me, you hold it: For I have not yet ascended to My Father, He said (John 20:17). Once He said: Do not touch Me - when He resurrected, perhaps He said to the one who thought that He was secretly carried away, and was not resurrected by His power. Finally, in another book you read that He said to those who grabbed His feet and worshiped Him: Do not be afraid (Matthew 28:10). Hold him too, O soul, just as Mary held him, and say: I have held Him and will not let him go (Song. 3:4), as they both said: “We will hold you!” Go to the Father, but do not leave Eve, so that she does not stumble again. Lead her with you, no longer wandering, but holding the tree of life. Grab the one clinging to your feet so that she can rise with you. Do not leave me, lest the serpent again pour in its poison, lest it again seek to sting a woman’s heel 124 in order to knock Adam off his feet. Let your soul say: I will take you and lead you into the house of my mother and into the secrets of her who conceived me (Song. 8:2), so that I may know Your mysteries, so that I may draw Your mysteries. So, receive Eve, no longer covered with fig leaves, but clothed with the Holy Spirit and glorious with new grace, because she no longer hides because of her nakedness, 125 but runs towards her, as if clothed in the splendor of a sparkling robe, because grace is her robe. But even at first Adam was not naked, because his clothing was innocence. 44. Seeing her clinging to Christ and ascending with Him - after all, according to His good will, He often comes out to meet those who seek and descends to raise them - the daughters of Jerusalem say: Who is she who comes from the desert? ( Song 3:6 ). Because the desert turns out to be that place on earth that is uncultivated and covered with thorns and thistles of our sins. They seem to wonder how the soul, which formerly dwelt in the bowels of the earth, can unite with the Word of God and spring up like the shoots of a vine, rising upward, like smoke born from fire and rushing upward, then smelling of incense. The aroma is the sweetness of pious speech, which rushes like incense before the eyes of God. And in Revelation we read that the smoke of incense rises with the prayers of the saints (Rev. 8:4), and these incense, that is, the prayers of the saints, are laid by an angel on the golden altar, which is in front of the throne (Rev. 8:3), and the sweet aroma of pious prayer is fragrant, because it consists of a petition for the eternal and invisible, and not for the physical, and is especially fragrant with myrrh and fragrant resin, because the soul died to sin and lives for God 126. 45. And so, seeing her ascending and not stopping, they rejoice in the fragrance of her virtues, recognizing in her the bride of that same Solomon the peacemaker, and even with a zealous retinue they follow her to Solomon’s bed 127 because she has earned true rest in Christ. For Christ is the bed of saints, on which all hearts, tired and exhausted by the battles of this age, find rest. Isaac rested on this bed and blessed his youngest son, saying: The older will serve the younger (Gen. 25:23) 128. Resting on this bed, Jacob blessed the twelve patriarchs 129; resting on this bed, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue rose from death 130; Lying on this bed, the deceased widow, called by the voice of Christ, was freed from the shackles of death 131. 46. And when they took the bride to the groom’s chamber, they sang a wedding song, speaking of love to the daughters of Jerusalem: Go and see King Solomon in the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his marriage ( Song 3:11 ). They sing a wedding song 132 and call upon other heavenly powers or souls to see the love that Christ has for the daughters of Jerusalem. Therefore, He deserved to be crowned by the Mother as the Son of love, as Paul shows, saying that God delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13). Consequently, He is the Son of love, and He Himself is love, having love not as something external or accidental 133, but containing it in His essence, as a kingdom about which he says: For this purpose I was born (John 18:37). Therefore, they say: Go, that is, get rid of worries and thoughts about this age, get out of the physical cramps, get out of worldly vanity and see how great the love of the Peacemaker King 134 on the day of His wedding, you will see how glorious He is, because He gave resurrection to bodies and united souls to Himself. This is the crown of the great competition, this is the glorious marriage gift of Christ - His blood and suffering. What else could He give, Who did not spare Himself, but accepted death for us? 47. Likewise, the Lord Jesus Himself, rejoicing in the faith of this soul, its confession and grace, praising its virtues and calling it closer, says: Come here from Lebanon, bride, come here from Lebanon: come and pass from the beginning of faith, from the head of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards (Song. 4:8). That is, come out of the body and strip off all of yourself, because you cannot be with Me unless you first move away from the body 135 because those who are in the body move away from the Kingdom of God. Come, He says, come! It’s good that He repeated it, because either in the presence of the Lord God, or in His absence, you must be with Him and please Him. Be present when you are here, be present when you are not here, while you are in the body. For I have with me all those whose faith is with me. He who departs from this age is with Me; with Me is the one who thinks about Me, looks at Me, hopes in Me, to whom I am his portion; with Me is the one who leaves himself, with Me is the one who denies himself 136. He is with Me who is not within himself, because whoever is in the flesh is not in the Spirit. He who is with Me, who comes out of himself, is next to Me, who will be outside of himself, he is blameless before Me, who for My sake has lost his soul 137 . And therefore: Come, come bride: come and pass from the beginning of faith. She passes and passes from the earth, and she who comes to Christ passes away. It passes through the merit of faith and the brilliance of deeds that shine like Sanir and Hermon, that is, the soul passes along the path of light, having defeated the temptations of this age and surpassed spiritual laziness, striving for the crown of legal competition, and therefore it deserved praise during the judgment of Christ. 48. A closed garden - my sister, my bride, a closed garden, a sealed source; your shoots, a planted garden of pomegranate trees with the fruits of Cypriot apples (Song. 4:12–13) 138. He praises the bride because she is a garden containing the smell of that full field of which Isaac speaks: The smell of my son is like the smell of a full field (Gen. 27:27). Behold, a good soul is fragrant with the scent of righteousness. And perhaps the field is the patriarch, the garden is the soul of someone who is lower, as part of the field, and the garden is closed so that animals do not break into it, and the spring is sealed - the one who washed away her own sins without breaking the seal and maintaining the faith. After all, anyone who understands the Church by this understands that this is said about the grace of virginity, 139 because, being in the garden of joy, she easily receives spiritual fruits: the souls of the patriarchs bring her their fruits from some rural labor, so that she tastes eternal sweetness. It is deservedly called a sealed source, because the image of the invisible God is imprinted in it 140. They also praise the gifts of the soul that are sent to the Bridegroom, with which it goes to Him. Because the dowry of a pious soul is incense: myrrh, aloe and saffron, with which the grace of gardens breathes and the stench of sins is destroyed. 49. And so, filled with confidence from such great news, she asks the north wind, the harsh Aquilon, to calm down and not scatter the flowers, she asks the south wind, the Austrian, to blow 141, this means that she wants winter to pass and a softer breeze to bring spring. She calls the Groom into her garden. The Bridegroom comes and rejoices, rejoicing in the variety of fruits 142 because He has found food that is more strengthening and sweeter. It’s like verbal bread and honey: one speech is stronger, the other sweeter. So is faith: one is seething like wine, the other is snow-white like milk. Christ holds a feast in us, having such food, such a cup He drinks, and His drink intoxicates us 143 so that we ascend from the lower to the highest and best. 50. Listening to this, the soul became intoxicated with heavenly mysteries and, as if lulled by wine and either in a frenzy or in a stupor, said: I sleep, but my heart watches (Song. 5:2). Then, struck by the light of the Word, even if, having closed her eyes, she dozed off, she awakened from His presence 144. This is already the fourth movement of the soul 145. Previously, impatient in love and unable to bear the delay of the Word, she asked Him to honor her with kisses 146, and deserved to see the Desired One, and was introduced into the palace of the king 147. Her second step was when, having a conversation with Him, she rested in His shadow, and suddenly the Word left her in the middle of the speech, but the seeker withdrew from her for a short time, but then would not let go 148. I said a little about the main thing in my short speech, let's talk about individual issues in order. 51. Even if you sleep, if only Christ has known the devotion of your soul, He comes and knocks on its door and says: Open to Me, My sister (Song. 5:2). Well He says: sister, because the marriage between the Word and the soul is spiritual. Because souls have not known marriage and bodily union, but remain like angels in heaven 149. He says: Open to Me, but shut yourself from strangers. Close yourself from this century, close yourself from this world, and do not go outside to this matter, and do not leave your own threshold, and do not look for someone else’s threshold, because material light brings a dark fog, so that the source of true glory is not visible. So, open to Me, do not open to the enemy, do not give room to the devil. Open yourself to Me, don’t close yourself, but open the door wide and I will fill you. And since, having gone through the circle of the earth, I found too many hardships and with difficulty found a place of peace, so you open so that the Son of Man 150 can lay his head in you, for whom peace is only in the humble and meek 151. 52. The soul, hearing the words: Open to me and my head is covered with dew (Song. 5:2), that is, unexpectedly indignant at the temptations of this age and as if preparing to stand up, for she was ordered to stand up, says: I have taken off my tunic, how can I put it on? I have washed my feet, how can I stain them? ( Song 5:3 ). After all, she fears lest she fall into temptation again, lest she again become guilty and sinful, and lest she stain the path of virtues along its entire length with her traces. Certainly in this way she also points to the perfection of her virtue, which has earned such great love from Christ that He comes to her and knocks on her door and comes with the Father and has supper with that very soul, and she with Him, as John said in Revelation 152. After all, when earlier she heard: Come here from Lebanon, bride, come here from Lebanon (Song. 4:8), and when she learned that in the flesh she cannot be with Christ, but only when she is in the spirit, transforming herself in accordance with His will, so that she herself can become like the image of Christ 153, she no longer feels the clothing of the flesh, she has already, as a spirit, renounced the union with the body, already as as if she forgot about him and, even if she wants, cannot remember the connection with him, and says: I took off my tunic, how can I put it on? ( Song 5:3 ). After all, she took off that skin clothing 154 that Adam and Eve took on after the Fall 155, the tunic of corruption, the tunic of passions. How should I put it on? She does not seek to put it on, but in this way she shows that this tunic has been discarded and that it cannot serve as her clothing. I have washed my feet, how can I stain them? ( Song 5:3 ). That is: I washed my feet while I was walking in order to renounce friendship with the body, from this connection and intimacy of the embrace of the flesh, how can I dirty them and return to the fence of the body and the prison of its dark passions? 156 53. While she is saying this, the Word sent His action as if through an opening 157, there is no face-to-face appearance yet 158, but He seemed to stretch out his hand. She says: And my insides were agitated before Him. I stood up to unlock my brother, my hands dripped myrrh, and my fingers dripped myrrh onto the handles of the lock (Song. 5:4-5). Let's think about what this means. As I have already said, God the Word becomes visible through His actions, as if through an opening, not entirely and not completely. Then love intensifies and grows, conceived from His seeds, which the soul receives, as if by the womb of the mind, the whole fullness of His Divinity, dwelling in Him according to the flesh, as we read, it desires to see. She stood up to take a closer look at this Word of God, and this itself signifies her movement forward, because she stood up thanks to her strength and virtue. Thanks to the presence of the Word, the soul learned virtue, just as the presence of Mary, when she was not idle, taught John, who was in the womb, so that he leaped in the womb and rejoiced 159, recognizing the presence of the Lord. She stood up to open it, and her deeds and actions died for the world. Such should be the soul that is going to accept the Word in order to die to the world and be buried together with Christ 160 , this is how Christ is found and such a one seeks shelter for Himself. Then the performers of the actions themselves are killed, that is, the hands and fingers that receive Christ; we can consider these fingers the visible fruits of our labors. And so, as if from her embrace, when she had already stretched out her mental hands and fingers to receive the Word, the pious soul says that It has passed to her, but, however, has not yet passed through. And this means moving forward when the Word of God passes and passes through the soul, because it is written: And a weapon will pierce your own soul, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed (Luke 2:35). He still passes, but does not pass away, as later perhaps he pierces Mary, when the Lord Jesus relies on her as a seal. 54. Finally, there immediately follows a new advance forward of the coming Word - because the soul went out into His Word, that is, following His Word, it left the body, rising from its abode and making itself a wanderer for Him, in order to be with God and to be a fellow citizen of the saints 161; for at the same time we cannot be members of both the flesh and God. Consequently, in that place the exit of the soul is indicated, as I said, when it removes itself from bodily desires. So it is written: Come out of Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans (Is. 48:20). It is not that the Jew completely avoids the borders of Babylon, but that he avoids their morals, the prophetic word reminds us of this, since there are those who remain Jews in Babylon and, having left Babylon, learn their morals. Because those about whom the prophet speaks sat on the rivers of Babylon 162, they sat, therefore, within the boundaries of Babylon, but did not remain in its vices and confusion 163. Because how did those who repented with tears remain in that confusion of vices that they had fallen from the ark of devotion and faith and from the reward for the virtue of their ancestors? The soul that comes out in the word finds the Word. 55. Therefore, when she was looking, she came across guards who were going around the city. She says: They beat me and wounded me, the guards of the walls took my covering from me (Song.5:7) 164. She walked beautifully, like a bride, with a veil with which she covered her head when the Groom came out to meet her. Just like Rebekah, who, when she learned that Isaac was coming to meet her, got off the camel and covered herself with a veil 165, so this soul sparkled dazzlingly with a wedding robe, so as not to be accidentally rejected as not having a wedding robe, 166 or she covered her head because of the angels 167. But they beat her so that there would be a greater temptation - after all, souls are tempered by temptations. They removed the veil from her, trying to find out whether she carried the true beauty of true virtue, or because he who enters the heavenly city must enter unveiled, not carrying with him any embellishment or covering. There are even those who demand that the soul does not carry with it any clothing of carnal temptation and bodily passion. She strips herself naked, removing the veil as her conscience becomes visible. But she is exposed for good, which is allowed to imitate the One who says: The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me (John 14:30), - undoubtedly, he will find nothing in Him alone, because He has committed no sin 168. Blessed is that soul in whom God will not find grave and numerous sins, but will find in her the veil of faith and the teaching of wisdom. 56. So, without harm to herself, because even if someone wants, she cannot steal true wisdom - even if the enemy interferes, there, however, true chastity shines with the innocence of life - therefore, without harm to herself, she passed by the guards and, finding herself among the daughters of the heavenly city, asks about the Word, and by her desire for Him she builds up love in herself and understands where to look for the Word. Because she learned that He dwells among the prayers of the saints and unites with them, and she realized that He shepherds His Church and the souls of the righteous among the lilies 169. The Lord showed this secret to you in the Gospel, when on Saturday He led the disciples through the sown fields 170. Moses led the Jewish people through the desert, 171 Christ leads through the sown fields, Christ leads through the lilies, because in His suffering the desert blossomed like the lily. Let us follow Him, so that on the Sabbath day, that great Sabbath 172 on which the great rest will come, we will gather fruit. Do not be afraid that the Pharisees will accuse you of gathering in what is sown 173 . Even if they accuse, Christ will justify and make the souls whom He wants to see follow Him similar to David, because David ate the showbread against the law, 174 even then foreseeing with a prophetic mind the mysteries of new grace. 57. So, the Bridegroom praises her 175 because she sought Him so diligently and constantly, therefore she is not only called a sister, but is even called dear, as pleasing to Him, who pleased the Father and is beautiful like Jerusalem, inspires admiration like built phalanxes (Song. 6:4), because she possesses all the secrets of the eternal city 176 and evokes admiration from all who saw her, because she is strong and perfect as justice, and while she looks at the Word, she takes the shine from the lamp of the Word and even in some way inspires fear, having reached the pinnacle of virtues. Therefore, He says to her as if she were perfect: Turn away your eyes from Me, do not look at Me (Song. 6:5). With extraordinary devotion and faith, she surpassed the capabilities of nature and her own position, because it is difficult to look directly at the unapproachable light, and He says: Turn your eyes away from Me, because she cannot withstand the fullness of His Divinity and the brilliance of the true light. We can, however, understand this: Turn your eyes away from Me - even if you are perfect, I still need to redeem other souls, strengthen other souls; You lift Me up with your gaze, but I came down to lift others up. Even if I have risen and sit on the throne of the Father, 177 I will not leave you as orphans, as if deprived of my father’s protection, but I will strengthen you with My presence. So you read in the Gospel: And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). So, turn your eyes away from Me, because you exalt Me. After all, no matter how much someone looks at the Lord, the higher he exalts the Lord and ascends himself. That is why he 178 says: I will exalt You, O Lord, because You have lifted me up (Ps. 29:2). Because the saint exalts the Lord, and the sinner degrades. The Lord wants the soul to remove its gaze, so that He does not ascend, leaving other souls, thinking that this soul is already ready to follow Him upward. Therefore, in the Gospel, not to all the disciples, but to the more perfect ones, He revealed His glory 179. Now imagine some teacher who wants to explain to his listeners an incomprehensible question: even if he himself has the necessary knowledge in both science and language, he will nevertheless condescend to the knowledge of those who do not understand, and will use simpler and clearer and more familiar words so that he can be understood. The listener who has a quicker mind, who is easy to follow the explanation, urges him to hurry. Looking at him, the teacher calls on him to endure a little longer, while his teacher stops at something simpler and clearer, so that the others can keep up with him. 58. This is what Aquila says 180: Sounding like the dawn 181 - he translated “sounding” as “worthy of admiration”, as having great and sonorous deeds: she appeared like the dawn, because her deeds are clear, or because the deeds of her soul will be enlightened before the Father Who is in heaven 182 . Therefore, you understand that her veil was not just removed, but so that she, uncovered and naked, shone with her merits. 59. He also praises her because she is faithful, because she has reached the Word, because she abounds in various fruits, because she, like the dove, has a unity with the Spirit, in which the world, which has made both one (Eph. 2:14), is not composed of the different elements of a divided and conflicting nature. What is more different than fire and water, air and earth, of which our body is composed? After all, every blessed soul is simple (Prov. 11:25) and imitates the One who says: Let them all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so let they also be one in Us (John 17:21); This is execution perfection. Therefore He added: Let them be one, even as We are one. I am in them, and You are in Me; that they may be perfect in one (John 17:22–23). Here is a soul - dove and perfect, which is simple and spiritual and is not disturbed by the passions of this body, outside of which there are attacks, inside - fears (2 Cor. 7:5). Scripture teaches us that the word “unity” denotes harmony and peace, saying: But the multitude of them that believed had one heart and one soul, and there was no division in them (Acts 4:32). 60. It is not in vain that the soul is praised for its fertility, not only because it abounds in virtues, but also because it has nothing bad in itself. After all, that is splendid and beautiful in which there is no bad, because splendid is good, and ugly is bad. The abundance of good deeds is wonderful. The opposite of abundance is scarcity, because whoever is deprived of beauty and dignity is evil; and what is evil is useless and fruitless. Clear proof of this is nature. After all, good land is fertile and abundant, and bad land is poor and barren; what is beautiful is what is fruitful. What is more beautiful than a bountiful field, when the fields are stirring, when the fruits on the trees are blushing, or when bunches of grapes hang in a garland, or when an olive tree bends under the weight of its fruit, or when the tops of the mountains and the lowlands of the valleys are clothed with green grass? Let us use the testimony of Scripture that Jacob was beautiful and therefore there was a smell from the full field (Gen. 27:27), Esau was shaggy and ugly, and therefore was a man of the fields (Gen. 25:27), who cannot bear fruit 183. After the Lord made the Church fruitful, it is also beautifully said about Himself: The Lord reigned, He clothed Himself with splendor (Ps. 92:1), and in another place: You clothed yourself with confession and splendor (Ps. 104:1). So, it is clear that what is beautiful is what is fruitful; What is ugly is that which is not fruitful. The situation is the same with the soul, because that soul is beautiful which bears fruit with good deeds, bears fruit with reasonable advice; that ugly soul is that which is barren 184. For the weaknesses of the soul are sterility and the desire for material things; because infertility deceives the soul with the promise of its fruit, brings need, arouses fear, kindles passions and empty fantasies - this is how the soul falls. What is depravity if not the absence of good 185? She is deprived of her own and has no stranger, she is emptied and filled again without any measure or rules. The base vices of the soul darken grace. Diseases of the soul are ignorance and passion, but they relate more to the form than to the substance of the soul. The substance is the flesh, the external is ignorance and passion. And why is the flesh blamed, although there are so many stains on the surface? Because the external cannot do anything without substance. And for those who are safe, the surface alone without substance can do nothing. What would passion be if the flesh did not excite it? It is cold in old people, and also in children, because their body has no strength: it burns in young men, in whom the strength of the body boils. From good, therefore, evil arose, because evil arises where good is deprived. However, thanks to evil, good became more noticeable 186. So, the absence of good is the root of depravity, and the definition of good includes depravity, because by cognizing good, we discover evil. But goodness does not need anything, it is self-sufficient and determines the measure of perfection for everyone, as well as the limit 187 in which everyone is and on which everything depends. This is the nature of goodness that fills the mind. 61. A pure soul revolves around him, looks into him, and discerns God, and abounds in all good things. Therefore she says: His throat is sweetness, and all he is desire (Song. 5:16). The Creator of all good things is God, and everything that exists unconditionally belongs to Him. There is no evil there in any way, and if our mind abides in Him, it knows no evil. Therefore, that soul that does not abid in God is itself the creator of evil and therefore sins; and the soul that sins will die: freed from the golden bonds of virtue 188, it rushes headlong into the abyss and falls down. And blessed is the soul that no bodily attack can conquer. This soul flies like a sparrow when its catching net is torn 189, because the food for evil is bodily pleasures 190. Anyone who listens to them becomes entangled in a net with his soul. 62. But whoever abstains from the food of the body and leaves its darkness, his soul shines like the dawn, about which it is said: Who is she who looks out like the dawn, beautiful like the moon? ( Song 6:10 ). Free, she looks out, as if from a house, she does not say: Darkness covers me, and the walls close me, and who knows if the Most High sees me? 191 (Sir.23:25). No, she strives for the light: as if from the upper part of her house, that is, her body, being above this world, she peers into the divine and rushes to the eternal in order to be close to God, already carrying with her the lamp of her affairs, just as the moon goes around the entire firmament in a full circle. 63. What does Aquila say: Sounding like the sun - this seems to refer to the celestial axis, to the rotation of the sun and moon, to the movement of the constellations and the consonance of the celestial spheres, as it seems to some of ours 192. Although he had no faith, he still does not seem alien to us thanks to the elegance of his thought. 64. While the Bridegroom praises her, she bashfully avoids public praise, then, called by the Bridegroom’s love, she says: I went down into the walnut garden to see the birth of a stormy stream (Song. 6:11) 193. Where is the Church if not where the rod 194 and the grace of the priest bloom? She often comes there to undergo trials in sorrows and temptations. We understand by the “walnut orchard” the bitterness of sorrows, by the “stormy stream” of temptation, but nevertheless endured, as it is written: Our soul has overcome the stormy water (Ps. 124:5). So, she descended into a place of bitterness, where the vine blossoms and the various and varied fruits of the pomegranate trees 195, protected as if by a single cover of faith and love. In this bitterness the soul did not recognize itself; because the body, prone to decay, weighs down the soul and the earthly abode is quickly destroyed. However, she must always know herself. After all, Peter was tempted 196, and Peter did not know himself, because if he had known, he would not have denied the Creator. But Christ knew him, He who looked at him knew him, because the Lord knows His own 197 and, like the good charioteer, with the help of the bridle of His mercy kept him, as His own, from falling. 65. So, our ruler is Christ 198. Therefore the soul says: Amminadab has made me a chariot (Song.6:12). Therefore, the soul is a chariot that carries the good ruler-charioteer. If the soul is a chariot, it has either good or bad horses. Good horses are the virtues of the soul, bad horses are bodily passions. And the good charioteer restrains and persuades the bad horses, and encourages the good ones. There are four good horses: prudence, temperance, courage, justice 199 - and bad horses: anger, lust, cowardice, injustice, sometimes these bad horses themselves disagree with each other, then anger rushes forward, then cowardice, and they interfere with each other and slow down the run. But good horses fly, and rise from the earth to the highest spheres, and lift up the soul, especially if they bear a good yoke and a light burden of the One who says: Take My yoke upon you... for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matthew 11:29-30). He Himself is a charioteer who knows how to control His horses so that the running of everyone is proportionate. If prudence is swifter, and justice is slower, He drives the slower with His whip. If temperance is softer and courage is firmer, He knows how to unite those who disagree so that they do not break the chariot. Thus, it is possible speculatively to see each soul striving for heaven in the most intense competition, 200 driving its horses, who will be the first to achieve the reward of Christ, who will have the palm first placed on his neck. Those horses are under the yoke of faith, in the bonds of love, in the reins of justice, in the reins of sobriety. The Scripture says beautifully: Abinadab made me a chariot (Song. 6:12), that is, “the father of the people.” After all, the father of the people, Amminadab, is also the father of Nahshon, that is, the “serpent.” Think again about Who, like a copper serpent, hung on the Cross 201 for the salvation of all, and you will understand that that soul is peaceful, of which God the Father is the beginning, Christ the charioteer, because this name is written among us: My Father. My father, the charioteer 202 of Israel (2 Kings 2:2). 66. And the charioteer says Look back, Shulamite, turn around! ( Song 7:1 ). Well He says, as if addressing a chariot: Turn around, Shulamite, that is, “peaceful.” After all, a peaceful soul is quickly converted and corrected, even if it has previously sinned, and Christ quickly ascends to it and deigns to rule over it. He is told: You mount Your horses, and Your ride is saving (Hab. 3:8). And in another place: I sent your horses into the sea (Hab. 3:15) 203. They are the horses of Christ. So, Christ ascends on His horses, the Word of God ascends on pious souls. 67. From this understand that He also ascended to her and led her to the place of the palm tree when He says to the soul: Why have you, love, become beautiful and sweet in your pleasures? Your form has become like a palm tree (Song.7:7-8). And she answers. I said: I will ascend the palm tree (Song.7:9). But love itself is a palm tree, because it is the fulfillment of victory, because love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:10). So let us run to get our reward; let's run to win 204 . Whoever wins climbs the palm tree and receives its fruit. He who overcomes no longer runs, but remains at rest, as it is written: To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also conquered and sat with My Father on His throne (Rev. 3:21). Therefore, the philosophers described in their books these races of souls in running, but they could not reach the palm tree, because their souls did not know the height and depth of the Word. 68. It was known by the soul that turned to the Word. Therefore she says: I belong to my Brother, and His appeal is to me (Song. 6:3). This is mentioned three times in different places in the Song of Songs. At the beginning it says: My brother is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies while the day breathes and the shadows recede (Song. 2:16–17). Then: I belong to my brother, and my brother belongs to me, he feeds among the lilies (Song. 6:3). And at the end: I belong to my brother, and his address is to me (Song. 7:11). First, we are talking about the structure of the soul, so they put it forward: My brother belongs to me - these words show that the soul felt a desire to unite with God. Then comes the second step forward, and in the third movement - perfection. In the first, as if we were talking about dispensation, the soul still sees shadows 205 that have not yet been excited by the revelation of the approaching Word, and therefore the day of the gospel has not yet dawned on it. In the second, without interference or shadows, she absorbs pious aromas 206. In the third, the soul, already perfect, arranges within itself a shelter for the Word 207 so that He would go to her, bow His Head and rest, and, holding, as already deserved, the One Whom it could not find before its search, it invites Him into its fields, saying: 69. Come, my brother, let's go out into the field, let's rest in the villages (Song. 7:12). Previously, she invited him to the garden, now to a field that has not only the grace of flowers, but also wheat and barley, that is, the solid foundations of virtues, to look at its fruits. She says: Let us rest in the villages to which Adam 208 was previously sent when he was expelled from paradise. He rested in them, but worked on the land. The meaning is clear: for what reason does she want Him to go out into the field - so that, like the good Shepherd, shepherding His flock, encouraging the weary, calling the lost to return. Because even if this soul has preserved for Him the new and the old, there are still those who, like lambs, must feed on milk 209 . Therefore, as a soul already perfect, it cares not for itself, but for others, so that He leaves the bosom of the Father 210, so that He comes forward like the Bridegroom coming from His bridal chamber, to run the race 211 to receive the weak, so that He will not tarry on that hidden throne of the Father and in that light, where the powerless cannot follow, but that He may be accepted and brought into the house the bride and into her upper room, let Him go outside of Himself to be inside us 212, let Him be among us 213, even if He is not visible to us. 70. Therefore she says: Who will give you, my brother, who sucks my mother's breasts? Finding you outside the house, I will kiss you (Song 8:1). Good is the soul that stands outside so that the Word can be inside! She is outside the body so that the Word may dwell in us 214. 71. She says: I will take You and bring You in (Song.8:2). It is correct that the Word of God is accepted and introduced, because It knocks on the soul so that the entrance is opened for Him, and if it does not find the entrance open for Itself, it does not enter. If someone opens the door. It enters and sups there 215. So the bride accepted the Word so that, having accepted, she would learn. Therefore, it deservedly ascends to such lofty dwellings and always strives forward. 72. This is indicated by the virtues that say to the soul: Who is she who rises white from the wilderness, leaning on her brother? ( Song 8:5 ). Previously they said: Who is she who appears like the dawn, beautiful like the moon, chosen like the sun? ( Song 6:10 ). Here we can add one more thing, because, leaning on the Word of God, she rose. Those who are more perfect will recline next to Christ at the supper, just as John reclined at the breast of Christ 216. So, she either leaned on Christ, or bowed to Him, or, since we are talking about marriage, already devoted to the right hand of Christ, she was introduced into the bridal chamber of the Bridegroom. 73. And since love is already sealed by marriage bonds, the Bridegroom affectionately addresses her and says: I woke you up under the apple tree: there your mother gave birth to you in pain, there she who gave birth to you gave birth to you in pain (Song. 8:5). Good is that soul that rests under a fruit tree and a beautifully fragrant tree! Because if Nathanael is good, in whom there was no guile 217 and whom Jesus saw under the fig tree, then the one whom the Bridegroom awakened under the apple tree is certainly good. After all, it is more to wake up than to see, it is even more to be awakened by the Groom. Because even if He saw Nathanael under the tree, his soul was not His bride, because he secretly came to Christ out of fear of the Jews. That soul was not beautiful like the moon, chosen like the sun (Song. 6:10), it was in the shadows, and the bride performs her marriage during the day, announcing it to everyone. Therefore, this one was under the apple tree, and that one was under the fig tree, because this one spread widely the fragrance of her recognition, and that one had the sweetness of purity and innocence, but did not have the burning of the spirit. 74. There your mother gave birth to you in pain, there she gave birth to you in pain (Song. 8:5), - there we are born, where we are reborn. Those in whom the image of Christ is portrayed are born in agony. That is why he says: My children, whom I bear in pain, until Christ is formed in you (Gal. 4:19) 218 ​​- after all, he gives birth who receives the spirit of salvation in the womb and pours it out to others. 75. Therefore, although Christ was already depicted in it, it says: Put Me as a seal on your heart, like a ring on your hand (Song. 8:6). Christ is a seal on the forehead, Christ is a seal on the heart: on the forehead, so that we always confess Him, on the heart, so that we always love Him, a seal on the hand, so that we always work for Him. So, let His image shine in our confession, shine in love, shine in deeds and creations, so that, if possible, His whole appearance is imprinted on us. Let Him be our head, because Christ is the head of a man (1 Cor. 11:3): He is our sight, so that through Him we may see the Father. He is our voice, so that through Him we speak with the Father, He is the right hand, with His help we will offer our sacrifice to God the Father. He is also our seal because He signifies perfection and love. After all, the loving Father marked the Son with the seal, as we read: For the Father God set the seal on Him (John 6:27). So our love is Christ. This love is good when He gave Himself to death for sins: this love is good because it forgave sins. 76. And therefore let our soul be clothed in love, and love of the kind that is strong as death (Song. 8:6), because just as death is the end of sins, so is love, because he who loves the Lord ceases to sin. After all, love thinks no evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but covers everything (1 Cor. 13:5-7). Because who is she who does not seek her own (1 Cor. 13:5), but seeks the benefit of others? Death can also be strong in the washing of baptism; through it all sin is buried and guilt is forgiven. So great was the love that that gospel wife brought, about whom the Lord says: Her many sins are forgiven because she loved much (Luke 7:47). The death of martyrs is also strong, which destroys previous sin, and therefore it is strong, and equal to it is love, which is equal to the suffering of martyrs, because it destroys the punishment for sins. 77. Jealousy is like hell (Song 8:6), because whoever is zealous for God does not spare his own for Christ’s sake. Love also has death, love also has jealousy, love also has wings of fire. Christ loved Moses so much that he appeared to him in fire 219, and Jeremiah, having in himself the gift of divine love, said: And there was a burning fire in my bones, and I was completely exhausted and could not bear it (Jer. 20:9). So, good is love, which has wings of blazing fire, which flies in the chest and heart of the saints and burns everything material and mundane, and everything genuine approves and improves what it touches with its fire. The Lord Jesus sent this fire to earth, from it faith shone and devotion was kindled, love shone and justice sparkled. With this fire He inflamed the hearts of His apostles, as Cleopas testifies, saying: Did not our heart burn within us when He explained the Scriptures to us (Luke 24:32). Therefore, the fiery wings are the flame of Divine Scripture. The Lord just opened the Scripture, and the fire came out and penetrated into the hearts of those listening. And indeed, these are wings of fire, because the words of the Lord are pure words, silver tested by fire (Ps. 11:7). When Christ received Paul, he saw a light shining around him from above, above him and above those who were with him, he fell from fear and rose again as a better man, 220 and even the one who came as a persecutor became an apostle. Likewise, the Holy Spirit descended and filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them cloven tongues as of fire (Acts 2:2–3). Good wings of love, true wings that flew through the lips of the apostles, and wings of fire that spoke the purified word. On these wings Enoch flew up, taken to heaven 221 , on these wings Elijah flew up, carried upward on a fiery chariot and fiery horses 222 . On these wings the Lord God led the people of the forefathers out in a pillar of fire 223; the seraphim had these wings when he took a burning coal from the altar and touched the prophetic lips and removed their iniquities, and cleansed their sins 224. By the fire of these wings the sons of Levi were purified 225 and the nations of the pagans were baptized, as John testifies, speaking of the Lord Jesus: He will baptize you with the Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11). David justly wished that his entrails 226 and heart 227 were burned, who knew that there was no need to be afraid of the fiery wings of love: rightly, the Jewish youths in the fiery furnace did not feel the lit flame 228 because the flame of love cooled them. And so that we understand more fully what kind of wings perfect love has, you have just heard the Speaker: How often have I wanted to gather your children together, as a bird gathers its chicks under its wings! (Matthew 23:37) 229. 78. So, let's take these wings, which rush upward like flames. Let everyone rid his soul of miserable veils and, like gold with fire, check how it is cleansed of impurities. This is how the soul is purified, like the finest gold. For true virtue is the beauty of the soul, and true beauty is knowledge of the highest, which allows you to see that Good on which everything depends, and It itself does not depend on anything. Everything lives through them and receives meaning. This supreme Good is the source of life, and His love and desire come to us, and we desire to draw near to Him and unite with Him. And the one who does not see has such a desire, and it is present in the one who sees, therefore he looks down on everything else, since he is consoled and enjoys it. The highest good is that which governs the essence of everything; Remaining within itself, It gives Itself to others and does not accept anything into Itself from others. The prophet says about Him: I said to my Lord: You are my God, and therefore You do not need my blessings (Ps. 15:2). He wanted to see only one thing, as he says in another place: One thing I asked of the Lord, this only I seek, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to contemplate the beauty of the Lord and to visit His church (Ps. 27:4). If someone deserves to see this pure, this incorporeal and highest, what more can he desire? So, Peter saw the glory of the resurrection of Christ and did not want to come down from the mountain, saying: Lord! It is good for us to be here (Matthew 17:4) 230. And that glory of the Divine and the impregnable light 231 are so incomparable that who would want anything else if he saw them? For bliss one does not need to have either a kingdom, or wealth, or honor, glory or power, but blissfully, despising them, remains turned to the highest. So, looking at this beautiful image, let her enter inside, leaving her body outside. Because whoever peers into the physical should not look inside, so as not to be caught and swallowed up by a whirlpool, as happens to a drowning person - someone who has drowned in a deep place will never emerge again. Let's escape to our true homeland. There is our homeland and there is the Father who created us, where is the city of Jerusalem, the mother of all 232. 79. What kind of escape is this? Of course, not with bodily feet, because feet belong to the body; when they run, they run on the ground and move from place to place. We will not flee in ships, or chariots, or horses that get entangled and fall, but we will flee with our spirit, and our eyes, and our inner feet. Let us train our eyes to see the bright and clear, to contemplate the face of abstinence and moderation and all the virtues, in which there is nothing dirty, nothing dark and distorted. And let everyone examine himself and his conscience, let him purify his gaze so that there is nothing base in it, because what is visible must be in harmony with the one who sees, because God wanted us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29). So, we understand that this good is not far from each of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being... after all, we are His race (Acts 17:28), as the Apostle suggested about the Gentiles 233. The very good that we seek is the only good, because no one is good except God alone (Mark 10:18) 234. This is the gaze that contemplates this great and true beauty. Only a healthy and strong gaze can look at the sun, just as only a good soul can see good. So, let him appear good who wants to see the Lord and what is good. Let us become like this good and, following it, we will do what is good. And good is that which is above all action, above all mind and understanding. It is that which always abides, and to Him everything is turned, in Him dwells all the fullness of the Divinity (Col. 2:9), and through Him everything is reconciled in Him. and, so that we can better define what is good, let us say that life is good, because He always abides, giving life and being to everyone, because the source of life for everyone is Christ, of whom the prophet says: Under His shadow we will live (Pl. 4:20), but now our life 235 is hidden with Christ. When Christ, our life, appears, then we will appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). Therefore, let us not be afraid of death, for it is rest for the body, and for the soul it is either freedom or liberation. Let us not be afraid of the one who can kill the flesh, but cannot kill the soul, 236 because we are not afraid of the one who can take away our clothes, we are not afraid of the one who can steal our things, but cannot steal us. So, we are souls if we want to be Jews from the companions of Jacob 237, that is, imitators of him. We are souls, and our members are covers. We must preserve these clothes so that they do not tear or become worn out, but the one who uses them must take better care and preserve himself. About the treatises of St. Ambrose, dedicated to the patriarchs, writes the author of the 5th-6th centuries. Cassiodorus, see: Cassiodorus. De institutione diuinarum litterarum: Item sanctus Ambrosius de patriarchis septem libros edidit, qui multa loca Veteris Testamenti factis quaestionibus suauiter enodauit (PL 70:1111b). It is interesting that in the same work the saint speaks about the virtues necessary in married life and gives advice on organizing family life. See the beginning of the treatise “About Joseph” (1. 1). It can be assumed that St. Ambrose, the patriarchs personify the most important, from his point of view, virtues. See below about the quadriga of virtues. The treatise “On the Good of Death” falls out of this series; it rather continues the ideas of the treatise “On Isaac, or the Soul,” which describes the movement of the soul towards God and the meeting of God with the human soul as a heavenly marriage. But the soul’s leaving the body and moving towards God is the death of a person, therefore St. Ambrose develops in this work the Christian teaching about death and its good for humans. See treatise “About Joseph” (1. 1). In some manuscripts the title of this treatise is De Isaac et anima. For more information about the patristic doctrine of the soul, see: Vladimirsky F.S. The relationship of the cosmological and anthropological views of Nemesius to patristic literature and its influence on subsequent writers // Nemesius of Emes. About human nature. M., 1998. pp. 176–450. Wed. in “Letters of Rev. Anthony the Great" (epist. 7.58) the idea that the wise man must first know himself in order to know God. See: Vladimirsky F.S. Attitude... P. 176–185. Here it would be useful to paraphrase the well-known expression that Christian theology would be impossible without the Greek language, honed by such philosophers as Plato, and to say that theology in Latin would be impossible without Cicero and the terminological base he created based on Stoic teaching. See: Lubac H. de. Exégèse médiévale. Les quatre sens de l'Écriture. 1/1. P., 1959; Savon H. Saint Ambroise dcvant l’exégèse de Philon le Juif. T. 1–2. P., 1977; Pizzolcito L. F. La dottrina esegctica di sant’Ambrogio. Milano, 1978. (Studia Patristica Mediolanensia; 9); Nauroy G. Ambroise de Milan. Écriture et esthétique d'une exégèse pastorale. Bern e. al., 2003; Nesterova O. E. Experience in adapting Origen’s teaching about the three meanings of Scripture in the homiletical writings of St. Ambrose of Milan // Bulletin of PSTGU. Philology Sh: 3 (29), 2012. pp. 18–31. Nesterova O. E. Experience in adapting Origen’s teachings... P. 23. The author points out that Origen considered epoptism instead of logic, see note. 33. In Diogenes Laertius, an author of the early 3rd century, parts of philosophy are also indicated as physics, ethics and dialectics, see: Diogenes Laertius. About the life, teachings and sayings of famous philosophers 1. 18/ Trans. M. L. Gasparova. M., 1995. P. 64. On epoptique as part of philosophy, see: Haclot P. Les divisions des parties de la philosophie dans l’Antiquité // Museum Helveticum. Basel, 1979. Vol. 36. P. 201–223; Nesterova O. E. Experience in adapting Origen’s teachings... P. 23, note. 30, 33. St. Ambrose repeats here the four virtues of the soul, which are mentioned in Cicero’s treatise “On the Limits of Good and Evil”: prudentia, temperantia, fortitudo, iustitia (fin. 1. 45–50), see also off. I. 5, 1. 15, 1. 50, although in tuse. 3. 17 instead of temperantia, Cicero calls frugalitas. St. Ambrose places these four virtues in the apologetic speech of the Jewish priest Eleazar (abstinentia, fortitudo, iustitia, prudentiä lacob 2.10.43), three of them are mentioned in Ioseph 13.75; in bon. mort. 10.44) the four virtues are slightly different: consilia, temperantia, pietas, iustitia. These virtues go back to Plato (Phaed. 69c; Leg. 630b, 964b, 965d). Moreschini C Introduzione // Sancti Ambrosii episcopi Mediolanensis. De Isaac uel anima; De bono mortis; De Iacob et uita beata; De loseph / Introd., trad., not. e indici C. Moreschini e R. Palla // Sant'Ambrogio. Opere esegetische IIÏ Isacco o l'anima. II bene della morte. Giacobbe e la vita beata. Giuseppe. Milanö Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Romä Citta Nuova, 1982. (Sancti Ambrosii Episcopi Mediolanensis opera; 3). P. 9–30 (hereinafter referred to as Moreschini). See: Moreschini C. History of Patristic Philosophy. M.: GLK, 2011. P 454. Moreschini points to the Milanese “Neoplatonic circle” (p. 482), which, of course, should be understood not as something organized, but as the existence of a tendency for the intellectual exchange of thoughts. Moreschini quotes Courcelle, who believed that the homily “On Isaac” was one of those heard by the young Augustine in 386 before being baptized, see: Courcelle P. Recherches sur les “Confessions” de saint Augustin. P., 1968. P. 122–132 (Moreschini. P 25, n. 53). Sancti Ambrosii Opera. Pars 1. Vindobonae, 1896. (CSEL; 32/1). P. 641 – 705. St. Ambrose refers to his treatise “On Abraham” (De Abraham). On Isaac as a prototype of Christ, see: Danié lou J. La typologie d’Isaac dans le christianisme primitif // Biblica. 1947. 28. P. 363–393. Already in the Epistle to the Galatians. Paul speaks of the birth of Isaac (Gal.4:22–30) as a son in the spirit, calling Christians the children of Isaac. The sacrifice of Isaac also prefigures the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. See: Gen. 18:11 et seq.; Gen.21:2. See: Gen.21:6. Philo of Alexandria (praem. 5.31) gives an interpretation of this name (Moreschini. R. 33, paragraph 3). See: Gen. 24:3ff. The image of Rebecca in St. Ambrose is multifaceted: she is also a soul (see below 1. 2). and the Church, which was made up of pagan foreigners (3.7), and the bride from the Song of Songs. It was Rebekah who received from God the prophecy about sons, with her help Jacob received a blessing from his father, see: Iacob 2. 2. 6–9; Cain et A. 1. 2. 5; expl. ps. 47, 5. Below (6.51) St. Ambrose says that only in the humble and meek (humilis atque mansuetus) can the Lord lay his head. The etymology of the name Rebekah may have been taken from St. Ambrose in Philo of Alexandria (congr. 7.37; cherub. 13.47) (Moreschini. P. 35, n. 5). It is also found in other Christian authors (Clement of Alexandria, paed. I. 5. 21. 3; Origen, horn. in Gen. 10. 2). This is the interpretation of St. Ambrose repeats in Iacob. 2. 4. 14. The liberation of the soul from the body, the body as a prison or fetters of the soul is a common theme in ancient philosophy, starting with Pythagorean and Plato (Phaed. 62b, 67d), also developed by Plotinus (enn. I. 6.9). St. Ambrose talks about this in his treatise “On the Good of Death,” when death becomes a good because it frees the soul from the shackles of the body. Read more about the movement of the soul from the body to the Heavenly Kingdom of St. Ambrose speaks further (6. 50–56). Enosh is the first son of Seth, grandson of Adam (see: Gen. 4:26, 5:6–11). The etymology of this name of St. Ambrose already explains in Abr. 2. 7. The true Isaac is Christ. The source of living water is the Holy Spirit, see: spir.s. 1. 15. 154; 16.160. Cp. parade 15.73: mulier symbolum sensus est nostril, uir mentis; Cain et A. 1. 10. 47; 2. 1. 4. Cp. in Arnobius (adu. nat. 2. 13): Quid enim sumus homines nisi animae corporibus clausae? Here and further St. Ambrose develops, filling with Christian meaning, the Platonic idea of ​​the body as the shell of the soul (Alcib. 1. 133a, 133d), see further 8. 79, as well as bon. mort. 7.27. This passage is similar to the following text by Plotinus: “Perhaps, differing from the body, it [the soul] is some property of the body, for example, harmony?” (Plotinus. On the immortality of the soul. 2.4. 7. 8d/ Translated by Yu. A. Shichalin). Further (8e) Plotinus proves that the soul is not entelechy. The term “entelechy,” introduced by Aristotle (“On the Soul”) and used by Plotinus, means a certain completeness of essence, “realized essence.” The peripatetic Dicaearchus of Messina said that the soul is harmony, the Stoics - air or fire, Aristotle - entelechy. The sources of these philosophical views were most likely known to St. Ambrose indirectly (for example: Cicero, tusc. 1. 21–22, 25, 41 etc.). Plotinus proves (2. 4. 7. 9) that the soul is the “beginning of movement”, it gives “life to the animate body.” Plotinus says about the soul in the body that “it acquired irrational lusts and impulses and contained other passions” (2. 4. 7. 10). The terms inrationabilis and principalis (see below 3.8) are Stoic in origin, see for more details: Dassmann E. Die Frömmigkcit des Kirchenvaters Ambrosius von Mailand. S. 230–233. Omne inmoderaium mobile malignum – alliteration. See further: ableuabat... eleuabaf... abalienabat... deambulabat. The homily “On Flight from the World” (Defuga saeculi) is devoted to this topic. For the term ipsum principale, see note. 1 on p.39. Verse continues: For I thirsted for Your commandments. Since St. Ambrose, these words are spoken by the soul, then the predicate is agreed with it. Wed. words of Origen: “But we... stink of sins and vices... Sin smells of rot, but virtue breathes incense” (Origen. Homilies on the Song of Songs 1. 2 / Translated by N. Kholmogorova // Patristics: New translations, articles. P. 53). In the Septuagint: ὅ τ ι παρέβλεψέυ με ό ​​ἣ λιοζ, i.e. the sun looked askance, despised or even disdained. At the beginning of the Song the Bride is called “blackened”; at the end (Song. 8:5) it is said about the Bride: Who is she who rises up white from the desert? Origen interprets this verse in more detail, see: Origen. Homilies on the Song of Songs. 1. 6. pp. 57–59. About Christ as the Sun St. Ambrose also speaks in his hymn (2.5), calling Him Verus Sol (2.2). St. Ambrose quite often uses Origen's trichotomy of meanings when interpreting Old Testament texts: moralis (moral), mysticus (mystical, mysterious), naturalis (natural, natural), which encourages us to find in the Old Testament events both a historical meaning and a typological and allegorical one. Read more about using St. Ambrose of Origen's doctrine of three meanings, see: Nesterova O.E. The experience of adapting Origen's teaching on the sinful meanings of Scripture in the homiletical writings of St. Ambrose of Milan // Bulletin of PSTGU. Philology III 3 (29), 2012. pp. 18–31. In this article, in particular, this particular passage is discussed (see: Ibid. pp. 22–23. 30). Wed: Luke 15:17. St. Ambrose compares the soul to the prodigal son from the parable Moreschini proposes to understand this Socratic expression as “know your sins” (Moreschini, R. 55, paragraph 40). For more information about the body as a prison of the soul, see the treatise “On the Good of Death” (2. 5; 3. 8; 4. 14; 5. 16, etc.) Origen interprets these lines of the Song of Songs differently, cf.: Origen. Homilies on the Song of Songs. I. 9. P. 61. See: exp. ps. 118, 2. 33. The necklace is apparently understood not only as a woman’s decoration, but also as a military award. Wed. in Prudentius, perist. 1. 65: aureos auferte torques, sauciorum praemia. – Note. ed. See: Genesis 26:7, where Isaac introduces Rebekah as his sister, because he is afraid that he will be killed because of her. Rebekah was the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham's brother, and therefore the niece of Isaac. See: Gen. 26:19. Living water (aqua uia) – spring. About the spiritual significance of the wells of St. Ambrose writes in his treatise “On the Holy Spirit” (spir. s. 1. 16. 166). About wells as sources of wisdom and about three types of wisdom (parts of philosophy: physics, ethics, epoptika), see in more detail: Nesterova O.E. Experience in adapting Origen's teachings... P. 25–26. See: Origenes. hom. in Gen. 11.3 – about the well of vision. Gerar means “limit”, “fence”, “district” (Ibid. 13.2). St. himself Ambrose says about this: “All Divine Scriptures are either physical, or mystical, or moral: physical in Genesis, which describes how the heavens, seas and earths were created and how this world was structured: mystical in Leviticus, which describes the sacrament of priestly service; moral in Deuteronomy, where a person is taught to live according to the commandment of the Law. Hence it is also clear why three of Solomon’s several books were chosen: in Ecclesiastes it is treated about the physical, in the Song of Songs about the mystical, in Proverbs about the moral” (expl. ps. 36, 1, Russian translation quoted from: Nesterova O. E. Experience in adapting Origen’s teaching.., pp. 26–27, note 61). See: Eccl.1:2: Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities - all is vanity! The manuscripts retained both the title Song of Songs and Song of Songs. The reservoir is larger, i.e. wider than a well. “Under the sun” ( sole ) is a refrain that appears frequently in the Book of Ecclesiastes. If wealth is given, then it is one gift of God (Ecc.5:18). See: John 4:7ff. The same etymology of the word “Samaritan” by St. Ambrose leads to exp. Luc. 7.74; exp. ps. 118, 21.5: paenit. 1. 11. 51. The word “Samaria” is from Hebrew. Shomrom is a guard fortress (see: Origenes. comm, in Ioh. 20. 35. 310). See: Proverbs 22:20: And thou shalt write this three times in the broadness of thy heart for thyself for counsel and knowledge. See: Song 2:5, 5:8. See above 3. 8. See: Song 2:7, 3:5, 8:4. See also: inst. u. 17.111; exh. u. 9.60. Moreschini writes that the interpretation of St. Ambrose may have taken from the writings of St. who have not reached us. Hippolytus of Rome, whose commentary on the Song of Songs is known from the Georgian translation (Moreschini. R. 69, n. 67). See: Ps.41:2. See also Song 2:9: My brother is like a gazelle or a young deer on the mountains of Bethel. Origen says that the gazelle (chamois) and the deer are mentioned simultaneously in Scripture, the gazelle is “far-sighted”, the deer is “the enemy of snakes and fights with them” (Origen. Homilies on the Song of Songs. 2. 11. P. 75). Bethel is the place where Jacob fell asleep and saw a ladder going up to heaven (Gen. 28:11-19). See: Song 2:9: Here he stands behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the nets. Origen explains this in detail (see: Origen. Homilies on the Song of Songs. 2. 12. pp. 76–77). Understanding this passage is possible in the context of the word stone was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). St. Ambrose slightly paraphrases the text of Scripture, more precisely: I will get up and go around the city, through the squares and streets, and will look for the one whom my soul has loved. See: Heb.12:22; Rev.3:12, 21:2, 10. See: Matthew 25:8–9 (parable of the ten virgins). St. Ambrose lived in the era after the Edict of Milan (313), when persecution was a thing of the past, but he often remembers his relative MC. Soteria, which suffered in the middle of the 3rd century. (see: uirgb. 3. 34; 3. 38; exh. and. X2). In addition, the persecution of Christians under Emperor Julian the Apostate (361–363) occurred during the saint’s youth. St. Ambrose connects two episodes from the book of Genesis: the blessing of the Lord (Gen. 25:11) and the blessing of Isaac (Gen. 27:27) Following Origen (1.1), St. Ambrose uses the Greek word "epitalama", a wedding song sung in front of the newlyweds' chambers. Lit. accident is an adventitious sign. God gave this name to Solomon, see: 1 Chronicles 22:9. The image of a fenced garden - “where logic is identified with the outer wall, physics with fruit trees, and ethics with fruits” - was used by Philo of Alexandria (agric. 14 and 16) (Nesterova O. E. Experience in adapting Origen’s teaching... P. 25). This interpretation is repeated in other writings of St. Ambrose, for example: exp. Luc. 4. 13, uirgt. 7. 34. The garden is discussed in more detail in the essay “On the Good of Death” (5. 19–20). About divine intoxication and the sobria ebrietas associated with it, see below 6. 50. The soul, intoxicated with heavenly mysteries, is filled with the Word of God and ascends upward (see other works of St. Ambrose: hymn Splendor paternae gloriae: fid. 1. 20 135; exp. ps. 118, 15. 28. 3; fug 8. 47; Noe 29. 111, bon. 5. 20, Cain et A 15. 19). This mystical perception of the contemplation of the mysteries of God is already found in Origen (comm, in Ioh 1. 30. 206) (Moreschini (P. 87, n. 90), points to the monograph Lewy H. Sobria Ebrietas. Untersuchungen zur Gcschichte der antiken Mystik. Giessen, 1929. Words of St. Ambrose about the gradual ascent of the soul to God, researchers associate with the influence of either Plato, symp. 211 s (Schenkl, CSEL 32/1. P. XXXI), or Porphyria (Dörrie N. Das fünftach geslufte Mysterium. S. 88–90). Moreschini categorically disagrees with the latter, seeing the influence of Origen in the concept of the movement of the soul, see: Moreschini. Introduction. P. 18–20. Above (1.1) St. Ambrose says that Patriarch Isaac is the image of a quiet, humble and meek soul (mitis humilis atque mansuetus). Already early Christian commentators interpreted the leather clothing of Adam and Eve as an image of the sinful body. Already from the very beginning (1. 1), the theme “the body is the prison of the soul” is important for the homily, because only the soul freed from the body can ascend upward and become the true bride of Christ. In addition to the treatise “On the Good of Death” by St. Ambrose develops this theme in Iacob 2.9.38; exe. fr. 1. 73, 2. 20: exam. 6.9.55; Abr. 2. 6. 27: exp. ps. 118, 4. 6; Cain et A. 2.9.36; parade 12.54; exp. Luc. 2.59, 8.48, 9.29. See: Song 5:4: My brother stretched out his hand through the window. See: Gen. 11:9, where the name “Babylon” is interpreted as “confusion”: For there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. In the treatise “On Virginity” (13.80), quotations and arguments are repeated. There (14 92) pallium is understood as a cloak, the robe of philosophers, “vain wisdom” that must be cast off in order to see God with a pure heart. In this context, pallium is the bride’s veil, which must be removed in order to see the conscience, the inner state of the soul. This is an allusion to John 19:31, but at the same time it is a prototype of the Day of Judgment. And the collection of fruits that St. speaks about. Ambrose, is a harvest of either good deeds or sins. Perhaps this is an allusion to Rev. 21. See: Matthew 17:1 et seq.; Mark 9:2ff. Aquila (Aquila) (II century) - author of one of the Greek translations of the Old Testament; strived for greater literalism. The Greek text he revised was used in synagogues until the 6th century. Sometimes Aquila is identified with the “proselyte Onkelos,” the author of the Targum of the Torah (see: Tov E. Textology of the Old Testament. M., 2003. pp. 137–139). See: Song 6:10. In the Greek text of the Septuagint, the bride is compared to celestial phenomena: dawn (dawn), moon, sun. The book of Genesis (Genesis 25:27) notes that Esau was skilled in hunting. Therefore, the field should be understood not as cultivated arable land, but as a habitat for wild animals that Esau hunted. Moreschini explains that this is a Neoplatonic expression, and points to the research of P. Hadot (see: Hadot P. Platon et Plotin. P. 206) (see: Moreschini. P. 103, n. 109). Wed. with reasoning from the treatise “On Jacob and the Blessed Life” (1. 4. 13–15) about the good commandment of the law, which brings death. In this chapter, the influence on the thought of St. Ambrose of Cicero’s treatise “On the Limits of Good and Evil”, especially 3. 7. 36–9. 30. Finis, used as the Latin equivalent of Greek. τέλος, means “limit”, “completeness” (see: Marcus Tullius Cicero. On the limits of good and evil. Paradoxes of the Stoics / Translated by N.A. Fedorov; Commentary by B.M. Nikolsky; Introductory article by N.P. Grintser. M., 2000) This metaphor, used by Plotinus (1. 8. 15), is repeated by the bl. Augustine (enarr. ps. 89. 13. 1) (see: Moreschini. P. 105, n. 112). Moreschini points to Plato's Timaeus as the source of this expression (Tim. 69a), but doubts that St. Ambrose himself read this dialogue, and suggests an indirect influence through the Neoplatonists (see: Moreschini, R. 105, n. 113). In the Greek text of the Septuagint (ed. A. Rahlfs) these words are not present, but the quotation from St. Ambrose of the Old Testament texts in itself represents important evidence of discrepancies, so I leave these words as a continuation of the quotation from the Book of Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach. Perhaps St. Ambrose is referring to Christian author-commentators. In the treatise “On Virginity” (16.98), the Word of God enters the walnut orchard. See: Song 6:11; Wed: Song 4:13. See: Matthew 26:69 et seq.; Luke 22:55ff; Mark 14:68ff; John 18:17ff. See: 2 Timothy 2:19. Perhaps St. Ambrose also recalls that episode in the Gospel events when the Lord says to Peter: You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:17), and not only that the Lord knew in advance about the fall of the apostle. Petra. Further reasoning finds a parallel in other works of St. Ambrose, in particular “On Virginity” (15. 94–95), where the four passions (horses) are named ira, cupiditas, uoluptas, timor. In Abr. (2 8. 54) St. Ambrose points to Plato as the creator of the image of the winged team, but Plato says that the soul is “the united force of the winged pair of team and the charioteer” (Phaedr. 246a, trans. A.N. Egunov). St. Ambrose repeats here the four virtues of the soul, which Torquatus speaks of in Cicero’s treatise “On the Limits of Good and Evil”: prudentia. temperantia, fortitudo, iustitia (fin. 1. 45–50), although in tuse. 3 17 instead of temperantia, Cicero calls frugalitas. These virtues go back to Plato (Phaed. 69c, Leg. 630b, 964b, 965d). St. Ambrose places these four virtues in the apologetic speech of the Jewish priest Eleazar, Iacob 2 10 43. See: John 3:14; Numbers 21:9. In 2 Kings. chariot of Israel. The translation is based on the correction proposed by Schenkel (tharsis – in mare) See: 1 Cor.9:24. That is, the palm tree is like a badge of honor, an award. See: Song 1:12, 4:10–11. St. Ambrose means that in order to come to man, the Lord must diminish Himself. See: John 1:14; see also: Col. 3:16. The Synodal translation is partially given with editing in accordance with the text of St. Ambrose and the Greek text of the Epistle to the Galatians. St. Ambrose points to the gospel reading that preceded his sermon. The expression lux inaccessibilis is found in New Testament texts only in 1 Timothy 6:16, but the idea of ​​​​the inaccessibility of divine light to human, bodily gaze is expressed in the story of the Transfiguration of the Savior on the mountain, when His appearance and clothes became brilliant. Christ is also called light (lux) in John 1:4–5, 7, 9. See: Gal.4:26. St. Ambrose means the heavenly Jerusalem described in the Revelation of St. John (Rev. 3:12, 21:2, 10–27). In his speech on the Areopagus, St. Paul, quoting words from Arat's poem “Appearances,” shows that not only the entire human race is of one blood, but also pagan philosophers spoke about God. Clement of Alexandria (strom. 1. 19) explains this line from Acts to another: to the Gentiles I am now sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light (Acts 26:18) In the synodal translation: yours... you will appear. See: Gen.46:27. 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