The Travails Of Seeking

Εκὰλεσα αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐχ ὑπήκουσέ μου. Ἀναστήσομαι καὶ κυκλώσω ἐν τῇ πόλει. Ἀναγνώσομαι τὸν νόμον, ἀναγνώσομαι τοὺς προφήτας, ἐρευνήσω τὰ Εὐαγγέλια. Ταῦτα δὲ κατανυγεῖσα τῷ Θείῳ πόθῳ φησί· Ἐπὶ κοίτην μου ἐν νυξίν. Κοίτην ὀνομάζει τὴν τελειοτέραν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μετουσίαν, καὶ νύκτα· λέγει τὸν τῆς κοίτης καιρόν. Διὰ δὲ τοῦ ὀνόματος τῆς νυκτὸς ἐνδείκνυται τῶν ἀοράτων τὴν θεωρίαν, καθ' ὁμοιότητα Μωῦσέως, τοῦ ἐν τῷ γνόφῳ γεγονότος ἐν ᾦ ἦν ὁ Θεός. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Οὐ γὰρ ᾔδειν τίς ἦν ὁ τρώσας με. Θεογνωσίαν μοι κοιμωμένῃ ἐνέσπειρεν ὁ Λόγος. Ταχέως διαναστᾶσα, ζητῶ τὸν τρώσαντα, καὶ παρακαλῷ αὐτῷ ὀφθῆναί μοι, καὶ περιέρχομαι ζητοῦσα τὸν ἀδελφιδοῦν μου. Ἅγιος Ἀθανάσιος, Εἰς Τα Ἀσματα Των Ἀσμάτων, Ἐκλογή Source: Migne PG 27.1348d-1349a

I called him and he did not answer me. I rose up and went about the city. 1 I read the Law, I read the Prophets, I study the Gospel. These things, she says, strike me with Divine love: On my bed in the night. 2 The bed it names the perfect participation in goodness, and the night as the right time for the bed. For by the name of night is indicated the contemplation of invisible things, as in the manner of Moses, who was in the darkness in which was God. 3 On the same. I did not know who it was that wounded me. While I was asleep the Word sowed Divine knowledge in me. Swiftly I rose up seeking the one who wounded me, and I cried out that he be shown to me, and I wandered about seeking my brother's son.  Saint Athanasius, Fragment on The Song of Songs 1 Song 3.2 2 Song 3.1 3 Exodus 20.21