Coming Nearer

Ἰδοὺ οὗτος ἕστηκεν ὀπίσω τοῦ τοίχου ἡμῶν παρακύπτων διὰ τῶν θυρίδων, ἐκκύπτων διὰ τῶν δικτύων. Tὸ μὲν οὖν σωματικῶς ἐν τῷ λόγῳ ὑπογραφόμενον τοιοῦτόν ἐστι, ὅτι ἔνδον οἰκουρούσῃ τῇ νύμφῃ διὰ τῶν θυρίδων ὁ ἐραστὴς διαλέγεται καὶ τοῦ τοίχου κατὰ τὸ μέσον ἀμφοτέρους διείργοντος ἀνεμπόδιστος γίνεται τοῦ λόγου ἡ κοινωνία διὰ μὲν τῶν θυρίδων τῆς κεφαλῆς παρακυπτούσης, διὰ δὲ τῶν δικτύων τῶν ἐν ταῖς θυρίσι πρὸς τὰ ἐντὸς τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ διακύπτοντος, ἡ δὲ κατὰ ἀναγωγὴν θεωρία τῆς προεξητασμένης ἔχεται διανοίας· ὁδῷ γὰρ καὶ ἀκολουθίᾳ προσοικειοῖ τῷ θεῷ τὴν | ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ὁ λόγος, πρῶτον μὲν αὐτὴν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν καταυγάζων καὶ τῶν νομικῶν παραγγελμάτων, οὕτω γὰρ νοοῦμεν· θυρίδας μὲν τοὺς προφήτας τοὺς τὸ φῶς εἰσάγοντας, δίκτυα δὲ τὴν τῶν νομικῶν παραγγελμάτων πλοκήν, δι’ ὧν ἀμφοτέρων ἡ αὐγὴ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς ἐπὶ τὰ ἐντὸς παραδύεται· μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ἡ τελεία τοῦ φωτὸς ἔλλαμψις γίνεται, ὅταν ἐπιφανῇ τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν τοῖς ἐν σκότει καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου καθημένοις διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν συνανακράσεως. πρότερον οὖν αἱ αὐγαὶ τῶν προφητικῶν τε καὶ νομικῶν νοημάτων ἐλλάμπουσαι τῇ ψυχῇ διὰ τῶν νοηθεισῶν ἡμῖν θυρίδων τε καὶ δικτύων ἐπιθυμίαν ἐμποιοῦσι τοῦ ἰδεῖν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ τὸν ἥλιον, εἶθ’ οὕτω τὸ ποθούμενον εἰς ἔργον προέρχεται. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Ἐξηγησις Του Αἰσματος Των Ἀσμάτων, Ὁμιλία Ε’ Source: Migne PG 44.864c-d

Behold, he stands behind our wall, leaning through the windows, peering through the lattices. 1 What is literally described in the text is this, that the Beloved converses with the Bride and their talk is unimpeded because though the windows and the wall between them separates them, his face looks in through the windows, and his eyes peers through the latticework of the windows to the interior. The anagogical sense of the words, however, adheres closely to the understanding that we have discovered, for the Word follows a certain path and a certain sequence in adapting human nature to God. First of all He shines on it with the prophets and the law’s injunctions, and in our understanding the windows are the prophets, who bring in the light, and the lattices are the network of the law's commands, and through both of them the beam of the true light slips into the interior. After that comes the Light's perfect illumination, when, by its mingling with our nature, the true Light shows itself to those who are in darkness and the shadow of death. First, then, the beams of the prophetic and legal ideas, which illumine the soul by way of its windows and lattices, as we have understood it, imbue a desire to see the sun in the open air, and then, in the way indicated, the Beloved steps forward to do his work. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on The Song of Songs, from Homily 5 1 Song 2.9