FROM THE COMMENTARY OF SAINT CYRIL ON PROVERBS
A [S. CYRIL’S FRAGMENT ON PROVERBS]
VIII, 22. *Dominus creavit me.*
Cyril. — If you understand "created me" in reference to the Godhead, it will be equivalent to "appointed me"; just as in that saying: "Create a clean heart in me, O God" (Ps. L, 12), and that: "That he might create two in himself" (Ephes. II, 15). For it is not to be understood materially, as if he were creating those who already exist, but that he might appoint them. Therefore, he appointed me as the beginning of his providential and creative works. For even to David he says: "I, however, have been appointed king by him" (Ps. II, 6).
OF SAINT CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA ON THE SONG OF SONGS FRAGMENTS
B [REMAINS OF THE COMMENTARIES OF SAINT CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA ON THE SONG OF SONGS]
I, 1, 2. *Thy name is as ointment poured forth.*
It also indicates the name of the Only-Begotten, which has been invoked among all the nations, by which they certainly smell sweetly to him, bearing his appellation—that is, [the name] of Christians.
Vers. 3. *Therefore, the maidens, etc.*
Paul also was like a maiden, while saying: "I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me" (Philipp. IV, 13). Therefore he also loved [him] exceedingly, saying: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Rom. VIII, 35). But how did they draw him? By following his footsteps, and by partaking of the evangelical ointments. But if we run, having...
A turned away from the discourse of the maidens, according to that which says: "We shall walk after the Lord our God"—a kingdom, in a certain manner, he here calls the bedchamber.
Vers. 5. *They made me a keeper*, etc. Perhaps she accuses herself because she did not guard her own vineyard, allowing it rather to be plundered by anyone passing along the way; for it came to pass that it was corrupted in the forest and laid waste by a wild boar. And perhaps she also praises God, because, although she could not guard her own vineyard—while she neither cultivated nor guarded it—she nevertheless made such progress that she was able to guard many vineyards. Namely, she speaks of the sons of her mother, the Synagogue, the Scribes and Pharisees, who were fighting against those who believe in Christ, ordering them to keep the worship according to the Law; for this was the vineyard. But I, she says, did not guard this one; for "what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ," as the blessed Paul says.
Vers. 6. *As one veiled over the flocks of thy companions.* He calls his apostles "companions." For he said: "I no longer call you servants, but friends; for you are friends." B But she is called "veiled" [obvoluta] instead of "covered." For Paul says: "Until this very day, when Moses is read, a veil lies upon their hearts." Therefore, it is the voice of the Synagogue repenting unto Christ, and saying: "Show yourself to me, lest after you have fed the Churches of your companions, I still remain having a veil upon my heart."
Vers. 7. *If thou know not thyself.* That is, If thou do not repent, she says, thou shalt be found behind the nations, as one who has had no fruits of righteousness, remaining barren, and even behind the flocks which I have fashioned for myself.
Vers. 8. *I have likened thee to my mare.* Namely, O Church, who hast received my faith, thou hast been likened to the apostles, of whom it was said: "Thou shalt mount upon thy horses; and thy riding is salvation," who also are armed against the chariots of the spiritual Pharaoh.
Vers. 9. *Thy cheeks as a turtledove.* C Indeed, she denotes her modesty toward the bridegroom by the likeness of the turtledove. For the cheeks of the turtledove grow red; but to the Synagogue the contrary was said: "Thou hadst a harlot's look, thou hast had shamelessness toward all." He calls the neck an obedient soul; for it is a kind of beautiful ornament if anyone glories in bearing the yoke of Christ.
Silver in the sacred Scriptures [usually signifies] divine doctrine... D
gold, divine gifts. Everything before the advent of Christ was a likeness and shadow of future good things, according to the Apostle. A But rising, Christ bestowed perfect things upon men; before the resurrection, we had only likenesses from his laudators, the Law and the Prophets. By the nard and the bundle of myrrh is signified the burial of Christ, which Nicodemus, bringing [spices], wrapped about his body. The bride bears breasts like the two Testaments, between which Christ dwells. He calls her beautiful, not as before when he spoke [only] among women; but now, when he indicates her by a title near to him, the bridegroom doubles his praise of the bride, commending both her theoretical and practical endowments. B He calls her eyes those of the mind and heart, and as a dove’s for their discernment, which is also accepted regarding the Spirit. He says, therefore, that the bride has received a mind that looks only to God. The eyes are also the innocent and sharp-sighted teachers of the Church.
*I am a flower of the field, a lily of the valleys.*
As having received the rain from above, and having brought forth the fruit of virtue, the bride compares herself to a flower of the field; she shows how much the advent of Christ has availed, for she tells of valleys formerly unsuited for any sowing being filled with such flowers. For she calls the valley that which was hollowed out from the demons that once inhabited it.
*Strengthen me with apples.*
Secure me with the evangelic words; for these waft the fragrance of Christ to us. And may I, she says, be numbered with his saints; for as he himself is an apple, so those who are incorporated with him and are participants become apples.
*His left, etc.*
The left is the Law, the right the Gospel. C Or the left is understood as the present life, and the right as the future, which will embrace me when it shall be said to those on the right: "Come, you blessed of my Father." He also says elsewhere: "Length of life and years of life are in the right hand of wisdom; and in her left, wealth and glory." Her right hand, then, is the science of divine things, from which is eternal life; but the left is the knowledge of human things, from which come wealth and glory. She says, therefore, that "my mind surpasses human things, and divine knowledge shall cover me." For it is said again: "Honor her, that she may embrace you." D He shows, therefore, that he himself is our bridegroom and our archer; and the bride the arrow, a purified soul, which like a dart is aimed toward a good mark. She takes her up, like a bride, into a communion of incorruptible eternity, bestowing the length of life and years of life through his right hand, and through the left, the wealth of eternal goods and the glory of God, of which those who seek the glory of the world are deprived. For this reason she says: "His left is upon my head," through which she is directed by...
A the arrow to its target; but his right hand draws me toward Himself, because He has made me ready for the ascent into the realms above, and has made me rest, sent thither and undivided from the Archer. Then she turns her speech to the daughters of the Jerusalem above. The speech is a prayer of one adjuring them, that they might multiply and increase love, until He who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth might make His will active in Himself. By the "left hand," as it seems, he signifies the goods of the present life which she now enjoys; but by the "right hand," the expectation of future things according to the promise, the use of which, as we have said, is hoped for and promised. And it is well said that one is embraced by the right hand, and that the head rests upon the left: for it is necessary that the goods of the present life, however reputable and conspicuous they may be thought, should be subject to the head of the perfect soul, furnishing only the necessary use to the body, as a pillow for the head. But the goods of the age to come, since they are divine and stand above human nature, are hinted at by the embrace, denoting excellence. And perhaps, since hands are symbols of actions, and the actions of the left hand signify those of the body, while those of the right hand signify those of the soul, the right hand, being the better portion, has been chosen, and contains the bodily necessities. For just as the hand that embraces is both above and holds what is embraced within the crook of the arm, so those actions directed towards the goal of the future life restrain the irrational movement of the body with bonds, and maintain a calm and well-ordered life; since, when the soul is placed in the embraces of the Bridegroom, no one can any longer harm it, keeping her orderly and well-bound, having been taken by the Bridegroom. B
Vers. 9. Thus far for the explanation of those things which were spoken in a dramatic manner up to, "Thy voice is sweet, and thy face is beautiful." Now it is clear that the Bride of the Word is the soul, that is, the Church of Christ, which receives His voice—even if it was previously unknown—as divine, which we ourselves, as believers, do, even before we have understood the voices of the Law and the Prophets, being filled with and moved by divine grace. This is what the words signify, "The voice of my kinsman," which announce the coming of the Word from afar: which, seeing Him now undertaking great counsels, though neglecting not even the lesser ones, she says, "Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills." C Throughout the whole discourse, some things are spoken as if to the Bridegroom present; others, as if He were sought by the Bride: for we also partly investigate problems whose solution we do not know; and partly we enjoy the solution once reached, the Bridegroom Word illuminating our hearts. Then again we are in doubt on other matters, and again it is revealed to us: and this happens often, until we are fully in possession of the Bridegroom, not only coming to us, but also dwelling within us. And the Church indeed desires Him, while she is shaken by temptations as though abandoned; but the Bridegroom reveals Himself to her by given charisms. Therefore she says: "Behold, He says, this one comes leaping"
A upon the mountains." He comes also upon the nets spread by the wicked one near the Church; these she has rent, and He teaches her to trample them underfoot with contempt. For the Church, having passed through every winter of temptation, is shown the signs of the air, and the approach of summer, regarding which it is said in the Psalms: "Summer and spring." For flowers have appeared to her, and the complete cleansing has drawn near, the time of what is called the pruning.
Look out through the nets.
Perhaps he also signified the apostles through the art of fishing. The Church hears these things from the Word through the prophetic windows and the legal nets, receiving the light of truth; while the wall of typical instruction—I mean the Law—still stands, which shadowed forth future goods, not showing the very image of the facts; behind which the truth standing, reaching the place, shines forth afterward. Or he also said this of the pruning of the intellectual harvest, B regarding which the Savior says: "The harvest indeed is great."
In the shelter of the rock, beside the outer wall.
The rock is Christ; for He becomes for us, the believers, both a wall and a shelter, and all security indicated by the outer wall; having arrived where, he says, you will obtain every protection.
Return.
She asks the bridegroom to leave the barren Synagogue and come to those who from a lowly and humiliated spirit, formerly idolatrous, have risen to the celestial height.
On my bed, I sought in the nights.
He indicates the women who came at early dawn on the first day of the week to the tomb of Jesus, and did not find Him. Therefore, she says "on my bed," or calls the tomb of the Lord her own bed, in accordance with which we are buried C with Him. But she did not find Him, hearing: "He is not here; for He is risen." And the angels keeping watch found her, whom she also asks: "Where have you laid the Lord?" But having passed by those who had been asked, He met her, saying: "Rejoice." Therefore she says that having gone a little way from them, I found Him, and I will not let Him go. For she grasped His feet, and heard: "Touch Me not." By the house of [my] mother she indicates the assembly of the apostles, to which she went and brought the good news of Christ's resurrection.
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense.
Myrrh, because she was buried with Him; D and frankincense, when, having risen with Him, she has shared in His divinity. And the ecclesiastical soul is perfumed not only with these, but also with varied contemplations of knowledge. For one who distinguishes them sharply and investigates the facts minutely even to the smallest detail might be called a perfumer, refining and grinding into dust all the words of fragrance; which is now called the bride.
A Perhaps also he who does not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, with a heart not thickened, preserving varied and all-kinds of fragrance, renders a good odor from all the herbs, which are now called those of the perfumer. Another may also say that the holy and ecclesiastical soul, the child once destitute of God, ascends from the synagogue of the nations from the desert; abandoning doctrines and words and actions that are destitute of God, and ascending to those which are of God.
B The spiritual union should be understood as gold, precious and divine. For in the desert, the ark was covered with gold within and without, for a demonstration of the union of God with man. Furthermore, purple is placed upon the multitude of those who are called to the kingdom. But when anyone believes, he receives Christ in his heart, who is the precious pearl. But the litter, he says, was made for him by the daughters of Jerusalem for love alone: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Ecclesia from the nations says this: "Go forth and see." He calls the day of the passion the day of the betrothal, on which he betrothed the Church to himself by his blood.
CHAP. IV, 1. Her silence signifies complete obedience, according to that: "Keep silence and hear, O Israel."
Or the two fawns are moral and dogmatic teaching, that is to say, the two breasts of the bride, from which those who are nourished look sharply toward God. By nostrils, he denotes the fragrance of the apostolic and evangelical doctrines, by which we are fed until the consummation.
Vers. 8. Come from Lebanon, my bride. He teaches us whence the bride is, and that she comes from the worship of idols. For Mount Lebanon is full of idols; whence you shall come, he says; and you shall pass through the law; ignorant of which, you have been catechized in the mystery of Christ. D
Vers. 9. You have ravished our heart, my sister, my bride. That is, you have brought us into a longing for yourself, by one word of confession, which you rightly possessed, looking with your interior eyes. For, being subjected to the ornament of your neck, you have made this confession. These things are spoken to the bride by the friends of the bridegroom, that is, the angelic powers. For since there is a twofold power of vision; the one which looks upon the truth, the other wandering about vanity; because the pure eye of the bride is opened only toward the nature of the Good, but the other is idle, for this reason the friends bestow praise upon one eye: calling her sister indeed, on account of the parity of apathy; but bride, on account of the nuptials with the Word. Since therefore, he says, your eye is one, in that it looks toward one thing; and likewise one soul, in that it ...
is not divided toward diverse dispositions; and the position of your neck has its perfection, having taken up the divine yoke upon itself (for this is the ornament of your neck, that is to say, the yoke of the Lord), for this reason we confess that you have instilled heart into us A by your wonders; which means that you have produced in us a certain soul and mind for the contemplation of the light through yourself. For indeed, in you we contemplate the sun of justice, as in a mirror; and by the repetition, they provide credibility to what is said.
A garden enclosed.
It is enclosed indeed from the world, but it lies open to the heavenly bridegroom. The fountain has been sealed by the Holy Spirit, with whom we are anointed after baptism.For the virtues are signified by the aromatics. By the woods of Lebanon he means the prophets. And through the myrrh and the aloe, that Christ, having been buried, shared with the saints who preceded him; for having descended into Hades, he led them up.
In the cross, he says, I sleep; inasmuch as he bore death for the sake of men; but the heart is awake, because as God he despoiled Hades.
Or, what has your beloved done, or what do you have from your beloved? B He calls those lips that confess death lips dripping with myrrh.
His legs are marble pillars.
These would also be bases. For those who are built up are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Consistently he praises the legs after the belly, which he says are marble pillars founded upon golden bases. And the pillars of the Church, for example Peter and John, C who had Christ, called by the name of gold, as their foundation. They are marble, moreover, being what Paul calls a "firmament"; on account of their firmness and immobility, and because they sustain and support the common body of the Church with their brilliant life and healthy doctrine. But also, the love by which we love God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves, supports the common body of the Church as if on marble columns. For he who is perfected in these two commandments is made a pillar and support of the Church; so that by these two D achievements, the whole body of the Church leans, as it were, upon its legs, containing the golden foundation of the base of faith—unwavering and immovable and firm in every good thing for the understanding.
I to him my faith, and he to me the kingdom. And he feeds in the purity of the Scriptures and the holy dogmas.
From those who do not believe you, turn away your eyes.
A and toward me incline: for they themselves, he says, have awakened love for me.
VII, 1. The Work of the Artisan.
He calls Christ the Artisan and Creator; for just as He became obedient, so too does the Church. He demonstrates at the same time her modesty and obedience; for her soul is subject to faith, and her body to temperance.Vers. 2. He indicates likewise her priesthood, while saying: "Not lacking in mixture," that is, in the blood of Christ: for this is in the hands of the priests.
Vers. 4. By her neck he means the deacons of Christ, for they truly carry Christ, the head of the Church. They carry, indeed, the holy body of Christ in a pure conscience, confessing His mysteries. Therefore he called it "ivory," of the kind that Paul says deacons ought to be: venerable, not addicted to much wine. B
Vers. 5. A King bound in the transits. Or otherwise: he says that the bond of popular love is led into a royal priesthood.
Vers. 8. Or even in your delights, that is, in your love, because one is reckoned among the number of the just. To grapes, however, the breasts are compared, which confer spiritual joy.
Vers. 10. Or, I shall offer my confession to Him, and from Him there shall be a turning toward me; he speaks of this turning either as the second advent, or even as the conversion from the people of the Jews. C
VIII, 1. Therefore the food of the bride is sanctified, with Christ dining with her. The Church indeed prays for the coming of the Savior into Judea, according to the providence of Him who gives Him to men, so that it may be nourished by the milk of the Theotokos.
When I shall find you. That is, outside Jerusalem, where He was crucified.
Vers. 2. Or he speaks of His burial, which Joseph and Nicodemus provided for. He calls them the holy waters.
Vers. 6. Her pinnacles, pinnacles of fire. The walls of the Church, he says, are fiery.
Vers. 11. A vineyard, he says, was made for the spiritual Solomon: he means, of course, the Church. We interpret "Beelamon" D as "in those who believe." For who else have believed, save those who have received His commandments?
Vers. 13. He who sits in the gardens keeps watch over the Churches; but the friends attend, yet they do not judge.