The Garden And The Fountain

Kῆπος κεκλεισμένος ἀδελφή μου νύμφη κῆπος κεκλεισμένος πηγὴ ἐσφραγισμένη... Καὶ καλεῖ μὲν αὐτὴν κῆπον, ὡς οὐχ ἕνα καρπὸν εὑσεβείας καὶ ἀρετῆς ἀλλὰ πολλοὺς καὶ ποικίλους τίκτουσαν· κεκλεισμένον δὲ, ὡς περιπεφραγμένον, καὶ ἀνεπιβούλευτον· Πύλαι γὰρ ᾅδου, φησὶν, οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς· οὐ γάρ ἐστι κατ' ἐκείνην τὴν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετατεθεῖσαν, Ἤν ἐτρύγησαν πάντες οἱ παραπορευόμενοι τὴν ὁδὸν, καὶ ἐλυμήνατο ὗς ἐκ δρυμοῦ, καὶ μονιὸς ἄγριος κατενεμήσατο· ἀλλὰ περιπέφρακται, καὶ τετείχισται, καὶ κήπῳ κεκλεισμένῳ παρέοικε, πολλοὺς μὲν καὶ παντοδαποὺς ἔχοντι καρποὺς, τοὺς δὲ κλῶπας οὐ δεχομένῳ, ἀλλὰ φεύγοντι τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων τὰς χεῖρας, Καὶ πηγὴ δέ ἐστιν ἐσφραγισμένη· οὐ γὰρ πᾶσι προκεῖται, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀξίοις ταῦτα τὰ νάματα· περὶ ταύτης τῆς πηγῆς καὶ ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κύριος φησιν· Ὃς ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος, οὖ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μὴ διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλὰ γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ζῶντος ἀλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Εἰκότως τοίνυν αὐτὴν πηγήν ἐσφραγισμένην καλεῖ, ὡς μὴ πᾶσιν ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀξίοις προκειμένην. Οὐ γὰρ τοῖς ἀμυήτοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς μεμυημένοις πρόκειται τὰ θεῖα μυστήρια· οὐ τοῖς ἐν ἀνομίαις μετὰ τὴν μύησιν καλινδουμένοις, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀκριβείᾳ συζῶσιν, ἢ διὰ μετανοίας καθαιρομένοις Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία Εἰς Το Ἀσμα Των Ασμάτων, Λόγος Tρίτος Source: Migne PG 81.144a-c

An enclosed garden is my beloved, my bride is an enclosed garden, a sealed fountain... 1 He names the bride a garden because it is not just one fruit of piety and virtue she bears but many and various ones, and what is enclosed is as if fenced around and not liable to assault. 'The gates of hell,' He says, 'shall not prevail against it.' 2 For she is not like that which was led from Egypt , 'from which every passer by on the way plucked, and the boar of the wood laid it waste, and a wild beast devoured it,' 3 but she is fenced about and walled in, and she is like an enclosed garden, which bears many diverse fruits, which know not thieves, and the hands of those who plot are far away, The fountain has been sealed because is not available to everyone, but flows only for those who are worthy. Concerning this fountain the Lord says in the Gospel: 'He who shall drink from the water which I give, he shall not thirst again, but in him there shall well up a fount of living waters.' 4 Rightly therefore He calls her a sealed fountain, as she does not flow for all, but only for those who are worthy, since the divine mysteries are not for the uninitiated, but they flow forth for those who have been initiated, not for those who have ventured to sin after initiation, but to those who strictly gird themselves, who are cleansed through penance. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Book 3 1 Song 4.12 2 Mt 16.8 3 Ps 79.13-14 4 Jn 4.14