PROCOPII GAZAEI · EJUSDEM PROCOPII FRAGMENTA ALIA IN CANTICUM
A CAP. VI.
VERSUS 8. *Una est columba perfecta matri suae, electa illi quae peperit eam.* Truly such is the soul that, having already believed in God and having been purified by the fear of his threats, is illuminated by the hope of the promises, and is affectionately disposed toward the good; it holds this in esteem for no extrinsic motive, but loves it in itself as being by nature beautiful. This soul is indeed "one," for it is united by character to the one and only God, and remains unmoved in his presence; it is a "dove," as being spiritual and perfect before the Wisdom that is the genetrix of all things; it is joined to this Wisdom gradually through every individual virtue—to this Wisdom, I say, which has wrought such a progress in it, starting from the principle of each virtue; and it is "elect" to this Wisdom from among the female servants and hirelings, having been adopted by her and deified through grace.
*Viderunt eam filiae, et beatissimam praedicabunt eam; reginae et concubinae laudabunt illam.* Clearly, those who have become its sole faithful disciples, whom it brought forth in the laver of regeneration, have been in B the experience of its achievements, and with one praise they shall exalt it. Some, by the splendor of their actions and justice, seek the kingdom of God; while others, out of fear of punishments, abstain from all evils; and by their actions they praise it, for the glory of the teacher is the splendor and purification of the disciples. Of it they shall also say:
VERSUS 9. *Quae est ista faciem detegens sicut aurora, pulchra ut luna, electa ut sol, stupefaciens ut acies ordinata?* Clearly our teacher is worthy of admiration, which shows itself as a certain "aurora" to those who are indeed purified and abstaining from the works of darkness, but not yet performing the works of justice; it reveals itself teacher-wise through the light of doctrine, while covering the mysteries still incomprehensible to them, yet revealing the comprehensible things, and binding them to obedience through the threat of future punishments. But to those who have indeed given C assent by faith to the preaching of the truth, but have not yet been purified from the works of the darkness of wickedness, it shows itself as "good"—since by its lessons [leading] to repentance, like a certain lunar light, it [illuminates]...
A dissipates the night of ignorance. There are also generous souls, who, as in the day, walk honestly, and among these she is elect, just as the sun surpasses the other lights of heaven in splendor and magnitude: she has caused the light of true doctrine to arise for them, and then has astonished those who behold her, even as the manifestation of the angelic orders. Such things, indeed, did the disciples say concerning their teacher; but concerning them, she herself says to her Bridegroom:
VERS. 10. I went down into the nut-garden to see the fruits of the torrent, to see if the vine had flourished, if the pomegranates had flowered.
Truly, I descended from the height of mystical contemplation to the souls which, like nuts—whose outer husk is bitter, the inner part hard, but the fruit within these rinds is pleasant—cultivate the sweetness of virtue, guarded by the bitterness of involuntary passions, whether through the deficiency or the excess of virtue; I descended, that is, to see their patience as if it were the fruit of tribulation flowing down from the winter of temptations; for tribulation produces patience; whether a blessing or a curse be imputed to you by Him who chastens like a physician and not like one seeking vengeance. I descended also to see if you yourself, who said in the Gospel, "I am the vine," were being pre-demonstrated in this patience as the flower of the grape producing wine—wine alienating from nature according to the grace of deification; for he who in patience despises his own nature itself, receives the supernatural grace of deification; that I might also see if, just as pomegranates astringe those who taste their outer rind, but sweeten those who taste the fruit stored within this rind, the virtues—guarded indeed by the fear of you as by a certain astringent force, but delighting those who taste them with the sweetness of the hope which they have in themselves, namely, prudence and simplicity—should appear as flowering fruits in patience: prudence indeed keeping the faith in oneself as a certain head unharmed by the enemy, and simplicity keeping charity toward one's neighbor unshaken B against the varied onsets of temptations, as you yourself said in the Gospels: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
There I will give my breasts to you.
By all means, in the aforementioned garden of virtues, which is in these planted disciples, who nourish these virtues as with milk—with natural and convenient food—by my moral and physical teaching, I will offer myself to you, my Bridegroom, as doing your will from then on; and offering to you those who have been taught by me, she says, as it were, to them, that although I descended to you from a more mystical viewing of my Bridegroom within myself, it was in order to behold him in you as well, as I have said.
VERS. 11. I knew not, my soul.
That is to say, I have not yet beheld him in you, as you are not yet perfected in Christ. Therefore, he D who from this point...
[The chariot] has set me [as] the chariot of Aminadab. That is to say, He has made me His own chariots, so that I might carry Him in myself unto you, in a manner varied and appropriate for you. For Aminadab is interpreted as "leader of my people," which is Christ, the A Leader of our salvation. But they say to her:
Ver. 12. Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. That is, descend from the height of mystical contemplation to provide for us, through the four general virtues, a fourfold moral instruction, moderating us according to the aforesaid virtues—we who still dwell in the tumult of the desires—you who, being free of them, dwell in peace; for the Shulamite is interpreted as "living in peace." And we shall look upon in you those things which we have not yet seen in ourselves, because of our imperfection. And she asks them:
CAP. VII
Ver. 1. What will you see in the Shulamite, she who comes as the choirs of the camps? That is, "What will you behold in me, the one who dwells in peace? No longer as one warring and struggling, manifesting my secret disposition of mind through the body in actions, but as one adhering to true goods with reason and knowledge for the sake of perfection—[just as] the multitude returning from the war against the passions, like those who sing triumphal hymns, the choirs of those returning from battle. For you have struggled nobly in the war against the passions according to the rules of the virtues, and now you sing their lessons gnostically as triumphal hymns." But they, beginning to praise her, say:
How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O daughter of Nadab! B Clearly, your descents toward us through the virtues, in which you manifest the way of their practice, appear to us wondrously beautiful; which you have bound on like shoes, so that they might be shown to us who are imperfect through the body, and we might be molded toward virtue by the example of you, O daughter of God. For you are a daughter of God; for you hear His voice as that of a Father, who rules all indeed, even those who do not wish it, but who offers Himself to you as a guide willingly and lovingly. For Nadab is interpreted as "prince" or "leader who offers himself willingly." Thus your steps through the virtues are beautiful.
The joints of thy thighs are like little chains, the work of the hands of the craftsman. C That is to say, the orderly movements of your practical powers regarding things in generation and decay—I mean desire and spirit—as they are bent by the craftsman, Reason, away from mortal and perishable things toward those above them, are likened to little chains fashioned by the hands of a craftsman, flexible in their shape.
Ver. 2. Thy navel is a rounded bowl, lacking no tempering. D Entirely your sense, through which—just as an infant in a mother's womb is nourished by the navel—you nourish the natural and sensible contemplation of beings, having been conceived by the Mother of all, Wisdom, and while you were yet acting childishly in vice, [it] is a vessel of the natural [knowledge] of visible things...
well-cleansed by the sword of the Spirit, and free from deception; and from this point on, as one not irrationally receiving sensible things, it does not bring forth the mere appearances of visible things, but presents them all mixed with their spiritual reasons. A “Your belly is a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.” That is to say, your faculty of imagination, which, like a belly with the waste matter, bringing forth the juices from food indiscriminately, brings forth at once with the manifestations of visible things their corresponding reasons; it is a storehouse and an abiding place, which the “heap” signifies, of the reason of universal truth hidden within the species of visible things, as a grain of wheat covered under its husk, until the intellect, wisely discerning, draws it out and offers it to the mind stripped of every covering and obstacle; and this subject matter is kept in safety, in the freedom from care B depicted in the Gospels by the “lilies of the field,” so that it might not be corrupted by the cares of this life, and the good husbandman might not be deprived of the spiritual fruit therein; and such is your belly.
3. “Your two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, twins of a gazelle.” That is, your physical and ethical doctrine, by which you feed us when we are imperfect, as if with milk, through natural reasons and ways, toward perfection in Christ, at once demonstrating through you, on the one hand, a sharp gaze in contemplation, and on the other, industrious labor in action. C In addition to these:
4. “Your neck is as a tower of ivory.” That is, the rational faculty which connects the sense to the intelligence, just as the neck connects the rest of the body to the head; as a tower, it is raised by virtue away from carnal things and toward spiritual and heavenly things; and as of ivory, it exists smooth and clean, for the reason that it has been freed from the inequality of the soul, which is contaminating, by way of the deficiency or excess of virtue.
“Your eyes are as the pools in Heshbon, by the gates of the daughter of the many.” That is to say, the contemplative powers of your soul, which are like pools, the collectors of the waters flowing in from it, bring together in the increase of divine fruitfulness according to virtue—which is what “Heshbon” is interpreted to mean—through the medium of the senses, by which, as through certain gates, the knowledge of all things is naturally accustomed to enter into the young soul, producing knowledge born of contemplation from the varied nature of beings. D In addition to these:
“Your nose is as the tower of Lebanon, looking toward the face of Damascus.” That is to say, that which distinguishes fragrance from stench, your judgment is capable of discerning between the admonitions of the ministering spirits, sent into service for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation, and the deceptions of the spirits of wickedness; like a tower on the highest ridge of Mount Lebanon, looking toward the face of the city of Damascus, and from there indicating the incursions of the enemies to Israel, so too [it discerns] from every...
[VARIE LECTIONES.]
harm of those spirits, keeping your judgment untouched.
VERS. 5. *Your head upon you is like Carmel*. Truly, Christ is your Bridegroom, the living and active Word, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit; the knowledge of circumcision—which is called Carmel—is in you, removing from you the veil of passions that take their origin from your birth, by the sword of the Spirit. From this, the eye of your contemplation can clearly see the deceits of the spiritual enemies, with no lust obscuring it. Therefore,
*And the tresses of your head are like purple*. Namely, the teaching of Christ himself, woven together with reasons and rules, like a royal garment, encircles your understanding. Clothed in such a garment, Christ is the ruler of the passions and becomes B
*A king bound in the runnings*. Not, indeed, subject to any passion, but bound by the tie of the aforementioned divine teaching in the transit of this present life, so that he may not fall upon the slippery place of temporal and sensible things. Therefore, because of all these things,
VERS. 6. *How beautiful you have become, and how pleasant!* You were clothed with wondrous beauty, that is, through likeness to the archetype; therefore, joined to your Bridegroom and enjoying Him, you were filled with ineffable pleasure. For indeed,
*Love is in your delights*. Indeed, in the delights of virtue. For tasting and seeing that Christ is the Lord, you are no longer delighted by His holy fear, but you are bound by a perfect charity toward Him, a charity which casts out fear. Hence, C
VERS. 7. *Your stature is likened to a palm tree*. Your elevation is clearly compared to the virtue of the palm tree, which does not drive its roots deep into the earth, but reaches very high indeed. For you yourself, barely touching earthly things with the extremities of your thoughts because of the necessity of the body, attain to the heavenly things themselves, for you have reached the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
*And your breasts like clusters*. Your teaching, whether ethical or physical, by which you nourished us while we were still little ones, introducing us through them to the worship of God, now becomes similar to the clusters of the palm tree, which, to us who have progressed to perfection, offer more divine doctrine, like the honeyed sweetness of the palm's clusters. Therefore, O teacher, the multitude taught by you, comparing your height to the height of the palm tree, adds: D
VERS. 8. *I said: I will ascend into the palm tree; I will lay hold of its branches, and your breasts shall be as clusters of the vine*. Namely, reflecting within myself, I said: I will ascend through imitation to the perfection of my teacher in virtue, and I will lay hold of her most lofty precepts by intelligence; and her doctrines, naturally, like breasts, nourishing me, will entirely be to me as the grapes of the true vine of Christ, providing me with deification in grace; for this deification, like wine that inebriates,
A distracts the mind from nature and transforms it toward things above nature. From this point, *And the scent of thy nose like apples*; that is, the grace of the All-Holy Spirit that fills me with spiritual fragrance, which you yourself breathed into me, having received it from the Bridegroom; but you have breathed it into me, imparting it to me like apples, fair in appearance, fragrant in scent, and sweet in taste; fair indeed according to the ways of the virtues, fragrant according to their arguments, and it will be sweet to me upon experience.
B VER. 9. *And thy throat like good wine, going to my brother toward the straight paths, fitting for my lips and teeth.* That is, your doctrinal word, as the best wine, will be the gladdener of my heart, being offered to my beloved brother; into whom you have instilled for me the desire, that I should remain in the straight paths according to virtue, while holding fast to this as truth, and not allowing me to swerve into passions through either a deficiency or an excess of virtue; furthermore, it satisfies my appetitive powers, through which, as if by lips, I embrace everything according to the will; and my intellectual powers, through which, as if by certain teeth for spiritual food, I soften the difficulty of the thoughts. The crowd of the disciples, then, asked that she, having returned from the height of mystical contemplation, might indulge in their ethical discipline, so that they might contemplate the aforementioned spiritual beauties in her and, through imitation, be raised together to perfection. To these, she says:
C VER. 10. *I to my brother, and his turning is toward me.* That is, I offer to my beloved my prayer for you, I who have devoted myself entirely to him and wish to do nothing without him; and toward me, thus disposed, his turning from his own heights shall be, as he hearkens to my prayer for you, and through me is inclined toward you, and the Invisible is seen. I offer my prayer to him for you. And she says: D VER. 11. *Come, my brother, let us go forth into the field.* That is, Come, my beloved, let us go forth—I, who have mystically contemplated you, and you, having been so considered by me—to the choir of those being discipled by me; whom, like a field, I have cleansed of the thistles and thorns of the anxieties of life and the passionate thoughts which choke it. Let us go forth, manifesting our spiritual union in the practical ways of the virtues. Having gone forth, then, as it has been said, *Let us lodge in the villages.* That is, let us take up our abode in souls that have gathered into the same place everything—their contemplative and appetitive powers, and their senses—in your name, like villages that have those who inhabit them; you indeed making these your dwelling-place in the Holy Spirit, while I present myself as an example to them of how they may be well-pleasing to you.
VER. 12. *Let us rise at dawn to the vineyards.* You yourself, the Sun of righteousness, causing the light of knowledge to rise for the
A souls who bear the fruit of patience in their labors; which patience, like a certain cluster of grapes, distills from many tribulations the wine that gladdens the heart, on account of the hope of future reward. I, too, shall come in the light of this dawning, showing to them in myself an exemplary pattern of patience. Thus, having risen at dawn,
Let us see if the vine has blossomed, if the grape is open, if the pomegranates have flowered. Let us see, that is, both you who see in the secret place, and I who am in the open, whether the faith of those who are being discipled by me in you—which faith is dispersed into diverse virtues, even as a vine is divided into branches—has blossomed both within in the disposition of the reasons for the virtues, and without in the practice of their habits. For the flowering of the soul according to the reasons of the virtues blooms in the body according to their habits; of which faith the mystical and manifest flower already mentioned is the flower of the pomegranates, which have inside a sweet fruit, B but outside a bitter husk. For indeed, the fruit of faith, in regard to the secret disposition of the soul, is gladdening, on account of the hope of the remaining reward; yet in regard to the exterior of the flesh, it is painful, on account of the labor of virtue.
*There I will give my breasts to you.* That is to say, in the aforementioned field of those who are my disciples, I shall bring to you, my Spouse, my ethical and physical doctrine; by which doctrine I have led them to your initiation, showing you as obscurely hidden in the nature of things as if in an enigma—you, the author of nature and the supreme truth; for I have not instructed them in natural sciences as did the foolish Gentiles, such that they might wander further from your truth. C
VER. 13. *And indeed the mandrakes have given their scent.* By all means, the manifestations of sensible things and the symbols of Scripture, which afflict with torpor and stupidity—like certain mandrakes—the mind that remains within them according to sense, and does not vigilantly pass through them to the truth, have nonetheless provided the fragrance of the reasons of universal truth to those who observe them spiritually. Hence,
*And at our doors are all fruits.* That is, at my senses, which are as certain doors by which I go forth to investigate you as the author of all things, contemplating the nature of these things in the spirit; yet the same things introduce them back into my intellect within me through reflection. Furthermore, in these doors are all the discourses of universal truth, inserted both in the symbols of Scripture and in the species of sensible things, which, like certain oaks, used to nourish Jewish and Gentile madness. D Therefore,
*New with old, my little brother, I have preserved for you.* That is, the ones becoming new by the life-renewing grace of the Spirit; the evangelical discourses I have kept for you, O beloved, adding them to those things that have become old through Gentile and Jewish folly, in natural and written discourses. For by the written word I have been purified and instructed in moral conduct, but by the natural word I have been illuminated in the contemplation of things.
having recognized you A as the Author of all things through the contemplation of created beings, and having been perfected by spiritual things, I theologize concerning your consubstantiality with the Father and the Spirit. Henceforth,
CHAPTER VIII.
VERS. 1. *Who shall give you to me as my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother?* Since your first coming was not one in which we might enjoy you, who shall grant me you, my Beloved, when you appear a second time, to remain with us in the kingdom of your Father, which is the mother of us believers, the Jerusalem above? Who shall give me you, who drink that new wine B which flows from her to us immediately by grace, just as milk from a mother's breasts into the mouths of her sucklings? This wine, nourishing our salvation, offering supernatural blessings, now that faith has been taken away, provides divine and ineffable delight, which you yourself produce from yourself, having been united by grace to those who are worthy? For thus:
*After I have found you without, I will kiss you, and they shall not despise me.* That is to say, having recognized you, no longer through faith, but face to face, outside the divine essence, in our own nature, which you will endow with immortality and immutability by the common resurrection, I will enjoy you without being mocked. Even if now I am held in contempt by those who think on worldly things, because of my affection for you, I despise all things that are temporal. *But what will be the manner of my enjoyment of you?* For indeed,
VERS. 2. *I will take hold of you; I will bring you into my mother's house, and into the inner chamber of her who conceived me. I will give you of the aromatic wine, of the fountain of my pomegranates.* Clearly, as you grant me deification, I shall take hold of you, longing for your brightness; and in beholding it, I shall bring you into my intellect, which is the house of her who bore me by baptism as a mother—the grace of the most holy Spirit—inasmuch as it is capable of receiving this grace by way of likeness; C and it is again the inner chamber of that same Spirit, because through the image it has hidden within itself the secret treasures of that grace, which by faith conceived me. In addition, I will offer to you, who thirst for my salvation, as a drink, the doctrine of your truth, of which I could not be forgetful, seasoned with varied discourses, whether of the whole of creation or of Scripture; and this doctrine, like a sweet-smelling wine, gladdening the heart, makes joyful the souls that partake of it. I shall also offer to you the love of your goodness, flowing to me eternally, both from the fear of your transcendence and from the desire for communion with you—fear and desire which, like pomegranates, have both strengthened me with astringent power in virtue and gladdened me with sweetness. Then, turning her speech again to the disciples, she explains the reason for the things she said to her Spouse, saying:
D VERS. 3. *His left hand under my head.* That is to say, since the threats of the punishments those who are on the left of my Spouse [are to receive], now, under the judgment of the head, are the primal...
aspects of my soul, they entirely subject the sensory to the intellectual; for this reason I am in hopes, that *And his right hand shall embrace me.* That is to say, I am promised the goods of the kingdom of God that await those on the right, which will encompass me entirely in the age to come, providing endless joy to soul and body. Having spoken all these things by way of instruction,
Ver. 4. *I have adjured you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and the strengths of the field, why do you arouse and awaken love until he wills it?* Truly, I have confirmed you, as if by an oath, by the exposition of divine mysteries, O my disciples, through the Spirit discerning Him who reconciles us to His own Father; I have thoroughly instructed you for what cause, in the theoretical and practical powers and strengths capable of acting in this world, you arouse through virtue and awaken through understanding—like one who is asleep when you do not recognize the right, nor do the good—Him who loved us and gave Himself as a ransom for us, until He Himself wills it, at His second coming, to make in us B truly that nature which we suffer by grace. But they, filled with wonder, say concerning their teacher:
Vers. 5. *Who is this that comes up white, leaning upon her little brother?* That is, who is she, who, following the custom of a teacher, ascends from mysteries to more mystical things, purified from every stain of sins and supported by firm faith in Him upon the Spouse? But the Spouse, seeing the Spouse’s care for her disciples and having accepted this excitement of hers toward the good, recalls her to the memory of her former life, so that she might remain modest and that praises might not cast her into the evil of presumption; He says, therefore, to her:
*Under the apple tree I awakened thee.* Just as under the apple tree, which delights most of the senses, in the possession of things sensible, delighting all your senses, you were sleeping, being soft and lazy regarding the good, yet clinging to earthly things; but I, by words of prudence and justice, awakened you to desire for Me. C *For there thy mother brought thee forth, there she travailed that brought thee forth.* Clearly, in the attachment to earthly things, your first mother Eve conceived you by generating through pleasure, and brought you forth by giving birth in pain; by which things you were held fast in the yearning for sensible objects, chasing after pleasure while fleeing pain; and from thence you struggle to separate the end of pleasure—I mean pain—from it, which is impossible. If, therefore, you wish to remain free from such an attachment,
Vers. 6. *Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm.* That is, remain in Me, the archetype, keeping in your mind, the mistress of your powers, just as D
A into an image, an immutable consideration and affection of love toward Me; and in the faculty of acting, as a likeness, the sincerity of actions and a proven aversion from evil. Then I Myself shall dwell in you, as a certain seal, keeping the affection and force of your intellect inaccessible to terrestrial pursuits.
*For love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as the underworld.* Clearly, if you persevere in love and in the zeal arising from love, I Myself shall also remain in you; and you shall be guarded, as it is said. For all love in Me is strong, inasmuch as it makes all impulses and motions toward evil to be at rest, just as death does; and zeal in Me is inexorable to evil, inasmuch as it binds up irrational impulses and, like the underworld, B restrains those that are enclosed, so that they do not go forth.
For its wings are wings of fire, its flames. Indeed, the fear of threatened punishments proceeding from faith, and the desire for promised goods arising from hope, are around love as certain wings, by practice and contemplation raising it from all terrestrial things toward Me, Who am above the heavens. And they are, as it were, wings of a fire of love: in that fear suppresses all wickedness and purifies the soul from every pollution of the passions; and desire attaches the soul to God. Love is also like flames, inasmuch as it illuminates the soul, both kindling it with a desire for God and keeping that same C desire, with which it burns, in holy fear that shall remain forever and ever. But that
Vers. 7. *Many waters shall not be able to quench love, nor shall rivers drown it.* Many, indeed, are the tribulations, like the force of waters flowing from a torrent of involuntary temptations, and their onsets, like the flow of rivers, continuous, by which the spirits of wickedness strive to root out the love toward Me—they will not be able to utterly eradicate it through hatred of God, nor cover it through misanthropy, nor entirely quench it through blasphemy, nor drown and abolish it through negligence of My commandments; for these tribulations make manifest the love toward Me, and also aid charity toward one's neighbor.
But *if a man should give his entire substance for love, they shall treat him with contempt.* Clearly, if someone, not weakened by the deception of temporal things, should give all his goods to those in need, for the sake of D love toward Me, the opposing powers will altogether treat him with contempt, just as they treated Job with contempt after the removal of all his exterior wealth, claiming him from Me for a trial of sufferings in the flesh, and inciting his friends to insult him. Knowing these things, then, when you have kept all My commandments and pain of the flesh comes upon you, know that such a thing happens by My permission, so that your own love, which does not yield to temptations,
may become manifest to all, and not because Providence does not extend to all things. The Bride of Christ, the Church, having already received security for herself from Him, and desiring also the perfection in knowledge and virtue—achieved through baptism—for the multitude of Jews and Gentiles who are being catechized by her, says concerning this group to Him:
A Ver. 8. *Our sister is small, and she has no breasts.* That is to say, the multitude, which is called our sister by reason of our common nature, is still imperfect because of its unbelief; therefore it does not possess the reasons and norms of the virtues which lead to You, the Bridegroom, like breasts by which she might enjoy her salvation. *And what shall we do for our sister in the day when speech shall be made to her?* That is, what shall we do for this our sister who has been called, at that time when she will accept the preaching of Your faith?
B Ver. 9. *If she is a wall, let us build upon her silver battlements; and if she is a gate, let us describe upon her a cedar panel.* Namely, if by the practice of the legal commandments she is built up like a wall, let us place upon her, as silver battlements, the intellectual reasons of the symbols contained in the legal Scriptures, which shine from afar according to knowledge. But if, devoted to the contemplation of nature through the senses, she is like a gate, let us fashion her, as a cedar panel, with faith—which binds the senses that divide the mind, and which possesses firmness through works, and which rejects all vain glory, and both the defect and the excess of virtue. Hence, to this C aforementioned multitude you will give your own proper perfection, and I will assist. After the multitude called from among the Jews to the faith heard the words of the teacher and bride speaking of her, saying that she has no breasts and that she is a wall, making a response to both, she says as if demonstratively:
Ver. 10. *I am a wall, and my breasts are as a tower.* Clearly, I am a wall, being from Israel, as one built up in the teaching of the legal commandments: *Thou shalt not commit adultery,* and the rest in order. But the symbols of the legal Scripture are like towers; to me, they are like breasts, providing tender and introductory food, and thus keeping me intact from D the customs of the heathen; for indeed, *I was in his eyes as one finding peace.* Certainly, I was once deemed worthy of divine visitation, and although I did not then recognize the One who reconciled us to His own Father, the true peace, I at least already knew this very peace in the types within the prophets. To her, in the manner of a teacher, the bride says: *Why do you propose to me the things of old?*
Ver. 11. *A vineyard was to Solomon in Beelamon.* That is to say, the spiritual plantation of the Church of the faithful has been for the peaceful King [Solomon] among the multitude of the Gentiles, which "Beelamon" signifies.
A *He gave the vineyard to the keepers.* That is to say, He entrusted the Church to the apostles and teachers, those who watch over her with vigilance, so that the multiform heresies raised up against her might not lay her waste, tearing her unity asunder into monstrous opinions.
*A man shall bring for the fruit thereof a thousand silver pieces.* Clearly, whoever is initiated and has put away the things of a child, by receiving the spiritual fruit of the Church—that which is given by those who have been initiated for this purpose—that is to say, through purification, illumination, and perfection, shall receive what is as a thousand silver pieces, namely the perfection which comes through such purification and illumination. But the Bridegroom, hearing the Bride say regarding Him to those being discipled by her, "I have given the vineyard to the keepers," and wishing that those who hear might not think that He is absent from the care of the vineyard, says to her: B *Vers. 12. My vineyard, which is before me.* Although I have appointed certain keepers of the Church, yet I am its Lord and its Bridegroom; and the zeal of these [keepers] gathers its strength from My own vigilance. For if I do not watch, in vain does he who guards it keep his vigil. The Bride, responding to the Bridegroom, says:
*A thousand for thee, O Solomon, and two hundred for those who keep its fruit.* That is, the perfection is a gift from Thee, who art the Perfecter, O peaceable and peace-making One; yet the restoration of our nature into its original state, through the practice of Thy commandments—which is the fruit of our Church—depends upon the will derived from the duty of those who guard us. For the number one thousand signifies the perfection in Christ, existing as a monad that is in no need of perfection; in that it carries within itself not only the potential but the actual reason for this [perfection]. For it begins from the monad, it is manifested through the monad, and it is productive of the monad; for both the thousand and the myriad are known by the element of the monad. The number two hundred, again, signifies the restoration of our nature into itself through the practice of the commandments; as it multiplies by ten—in accordance with the decade of the commandments—that number which is composed from four times five, and from there reveals our nature, which is composed of matter and form, as a twentieth number. Besides these things, the Bride also tells the Bridegroom of the following, out of her extreme humility and an intense longing for the blessings to come. C D
*Vers. 13. Thou who dwellest in the gardens, others attend to thee; make me hear thy voice.* That is, O my Bridegroom, Thou who restest in the intellectual and sensory creation, as in gardens planted by Thy will, there are others besides us who attend to Thee, with eyes turned unhesitatingly toward Thee, inasmuch as they are not hindered by the bonds of the flesh, namely the entirely immaterial angelic hosts. But I, as one subjected to such a bond, fear the turning away; and for this reason, as I hasten for Thy second descent with my prayers, I beseech Thee, make me one who hears that delightful voice: "Come, ye bless—"