Changing Seasons

Ἀποκρίνεται ἀδελφιδός μου καὶ λέγει μοι ἀνάστα ἐλθέ ἡ πλησίον μου καλή μου περιστερά μου, ὅτι ἰδοὺ ὁ χειμὼν παρῆλθεν ὁ ὑετὸς ἀπῆλθεν ἐπορεύθη ἑαυτῷ, τὰ ἄνθη ὤφθη ἐν τῇ γῇ καιρὸς τῆς τομῆς ἔφθακεν φωνὴ τοῦ τρυγόνος ἠκούσθη ἐν τῇ γῇ ἡμῶν ἡ συκῆ ἐξήνεγκεν ὀλύνθους αὐτῆς αἱ ἄμπελοι κυπρίζουσιν ἔδωκαν ὀσμήν. Ἀνάστα, φησὶν, ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν πρὸς τὰ νοητὰ, ἵνα συνῆμεν· Ὁ ὑετὸς ἀπῆλθεν· εἴπομεν ἂν ὑετὸν γεγονέναι, τὸν πρὸ τῆς Ἐπιδημίας καιρὸν, τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντειλαμένου ταῖς νεφέλαις ὕειν τὸν νομικὸν καὶ προφητικὸν λόγον· πεπαῦσθαι δὲ τοῦτον, ἐπειδὴ ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται ἕως Ἰωάννου· ἔαρ δὲ καὶ θέρος μετὰ τὴν Ἐπιδημίαν· ὅτι μηκέτι ὑετῶν χρεία ὅτε τὰ διὰ Χριστὸν ἄνθη ὤφθη ἐν τῇ γῇ· καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας αὐτοῦ, ἡ συκῆ οὐκ ἐκκόπτεται ἄκαρπος ἐν τῷ προτέρῷ γενομένη καιρῷ· νυνὶ γὰρ ὀλύνθους ἐξήνεγκε, καὶ κυπρίζουσιν αἱ ἄμπελοι· διό φησιν, ἔν τῶν κλημάτων Χριστοῦ, εὐωδία, ἐσμὲν τῷ Θεῷ. Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Τo Ἀσμα Των Ἀσμάτων, Κεφάλαιον Β' Source: Migne PG 17.263 b-d

My beloved replies and says to me: 'Rise up, come, my love, my dove, for behold winter is over, and the rain has passed and is gone away, and the flowers appear in our land, and the time of pruning has come, the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig bears its figs, and the blossoming vines give their fragrance.' 1 Rise up, he says, from sensible things to spiritual things, that we be together. 'The rain has passed.' Here the rain indicates the time before the Incarnation, when God enjoined through clouds as the rain of the the Law and Prophetic words. And this has gone away: 'for the Law and the Prophets were until John.' 2 And spring and summer come after the Incarnation, for no more is rain needed when through Christ flowers appear on the earth; and with His incarnation, the fig is not cut down on account of fruitlessness, as in the time before. 'For now the fig tree bears its figs and the vines are blossoming.' Therefore as branches of Christ, he says, we are a good odour to God. 3 Origen, from the Commentary On The Song Of Songs, Chapter 2 1 Song 2.10-13 2 Lk 16.16 3 2 Cor 2.15