The Shadow And The Body

Ἰδοὺ εἶ καλός, ἀδελφιδός μου, καί γε ὡραῖος, πρὸς κλίνῃ ἡμῶν σύσκιος... Εἶτα ἐπήγαγε Πρὸς κλίνῃ ἡμῶν σύσκιος. τουτέστιν ἔγνω σε ἤτοι γνώσεται ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις σύσκιον τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ γενόμενον· ἦλθες γάρ φησι σὺ ὁ καλὸς ἀδελφιδός, ὁ ὡραῖος, πρὸς τῇ κλίνῃ ἡμῶν σύσκιος γενόμενος. Eἰ γὰρ μὴ συνεσκίασας αὐτὸς σεαυτὸν τὴν ἄκρατον τῆς θεότητος ἀκτῖνα συγκαλύψας τῇ τοῦ δούλου μορφῇ, τίς ἂν ὑπέστη σου τὴν ἐμφάνειαν; οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὄψεται πρόσωπον Kυρίου καὶ ζήσεται. ἦλθες τοίνυν ὁ ὡραῖος, ἀλλ’ ὡς χωροῦμεν δέξασθαι τοιοῦτος γενόμενος· Ἦλθες τὰς τῆς θεότητος ἀκτῖνας τῇ περιβολῇ συσκιάσας τοῦ σώματος. Πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἐχώρησε θνητὴ καὶ ἐπίκηρος φύσις τῇ ἀκηράτῳ καὶ ἀπροσίτῳ συζυγίᾳ συναρμοσθῆναι, εἰ μὴ τοῖς ἐν σκότῳ ζῶσιν ἡμῖν ἡ σκιὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἐμεσίτευσεν; Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Ἐξηγησις Του Αἰσματος Των Ἀσμάτων Ὁμιλία Δ’ Source: Migne PG 44.835c-d

Behold, you are fair, my kinsman, and glorious, in the shadow by our bed. 1 Finally she adds, 'in the shadow by our bed.' That is, 'I knew you, or human nature will know you, as the One who became shadowed by the Divine economy.' 'For you came,' she says, 'as the fair kinsman, the glorious one, who drew near to our bed in shadow. Since if you had not shadowed yourself, concealing the pure radiance of your Deity in the form of a slave, 2 who could have endured your appearing? For no one shall see the face of the Lord and live. 3 You, then, the glorious one, came in such a way that we could receive you. You came with the radiance of Divinity shadowed by the garment of a body.' For how could a mortal and perishable nature be adapted to live together with the imperishable and the inaccessible, unless the shadow of the body had mediated between us who live in darkness 4 and the Light? Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on The Song of Songs, from Homily 4 1 Song 1.15 2 Phil 2.7 3 Exodus 33.20 4 Isaiah 9.1