Incarnation And Wedding

Quod Dominus dixit, Simile est regnum coelorum homini regi qui nuptias filio suo: nuptias dixit Verbum incarnatum, quia in ipso homine suscepto Ecclesia Deo copulata est. Quod dixit, Tauri mei et altilia occisa sunt: tauros dixit principes plebium, altilia vero, omnia saginata. Quod dixit Dominus, Ite ad exitus viarum, et quoscumque inveneritis, vocate ad nuptias: viae intelliguntur dogmata Gentium, quia ex omnibus illis ad nuptias venerunt, id est, Christo crediderunt. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Questiones in Evangelium Secundum Matthaeum, Liber Primus, XXXI Source: Migne PL 35 1329

When the Lord said: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who prepared the wedding of his son.' 1 He spoke of the wedding of the Incarnation of the Word; since by this adoption of man, the Church was bound to God. By saying: 'My bulls and my poultry have been slain,' he spoke of bulls as the leaders of the people and by poultry everything that fattens. When the Lord said: 'Go out to the crossings of the roads and invite those you find to the wedding,' the ways are understood as the teachings of the Gentiles, because from all of them guests came to the wedding, that is, they believed in Christ. Saint Augustine of Hippo, Questions on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Book 1, 31 1 Mt 22.2

Raphael And The Wedding

Assumens Raphael quatuor ex servus Raguelis, et duos camelos, in Rages Medorum perrexit, et indicans ei cuncta de Tobia, recepit pecuniam, cumque secum ad nuptias fecit venire. Servi Raguel et cameli praedictores sunt de gentibus electi, per quos Dominus et alios colligit. Servi, quia serviunt necessitati eorum quibus evangelizant. Cameli, quia et onera infirmitatis eorum fraternae subjectione charitatis portant. Quare autem quatuor servi et cameli sint duo, supra monstratum est, ubi vaccae duae, et quatuor occiduntur arietes. [Sunt duae vaccae occisae, quia quicunque pro Christo, vel ipsi corpus suum sponte mortificant, ut hostia viva fiant, vel in manus infidelium tradunt occidendum: tales nimirum per arma justitiae, a dextris et sinistris, id est, in prosperis et adversis, contra hostem stare didicerunt. Sunt quatuor aristes occisi, quia sancti doctores et martyres quatuor libros sancti Evangelii fide et operatione conservant, quia quatuor virtutibus primis, prudentia, fortitudine, temperantia, justitia, muniuntur.] Tales adjuvante Raphael producunt Gabelum ad nuptias Tobiae, cum in unitatem Ecclesiae Christi novos populos, ipso divinitus opitulante, sancti praedictores aggregant. Sanctus Beda, In Librum Beati Partis Tobiae Allegorica Interpretatio

Raphael, taking four servants from Raguel and two camels, travelled to Rages in Media and telling him everything concerning Tobias, he received the money and brought him back with him to the wedding. 1 The servants and camels of Raguel are the preachers which are chosen from the nations, by which the Lord gathers others. And they are servants because they serve the needs of those whom they evangelize. And they are camels because they bear their weaknesses in the service of fraternal charity. 2 And why there are four servants and two camels we have shown above in the sacrifice of the two cows and the four rams. 3 That is, the two cows are those who for Christ either readily mortify their bodies that they be a living sacrifice, or give them into the hands of the infidels to be killed. And such folk certainly, by the arms of righteousness, in the right and left hand, that is, in prosperity and adversity, have been taught to stand against the enemy. And four rams are slain because the holy teachers and martyrs cherished four books for the working of faith, because with the four cardinal virtues, prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice, they are fortified. Such was the help that Raphael gave for the wedding of Tobias, that is, when the holy preachers with the Divine wealth gather a new people into the unity of the Church of Christ. Saint Bede, from An Allegorical Interpretation of the Book of Tobit 1 Tobit 9.6 2 cf Gal 6.2 3 Tobit 8.22

Thoughts On A Marriage

Ὁ μὲν οὖν τῆς ἰστορίας λόγος ἐν τούτοις στήσεται· οἴμαι δὲ δεῖν, καὶ ἑτέραν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐπινοεῖσθαι θεωρίαν, καὶ τί τὸ ἐντεῦθεν ὑποδηλούμενον εἰπεῐν. Καταβέβηκε τοίνυν ἐξ ούρανῶν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ὡς αὐτός πού φησιν, ἵνα τὴν ἀνθρώπου φύσιν νυμφίου δίκην οἰκειωσάμενος κυοφορεῖν ἀναπείσῃ τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς σοφίας σπέρματα. Καὶ νύμφη μὲν εἰκότως ἡ ἀνθρωπότης διὰ τούτου καλεῖται, νυμφίος δὲ ὁ Σωτὴρ, ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς εἰς νόησιν τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς ἀνατεινούσης τὸν λόγον τῆς θείας Γραφῆς· συγκροτείται δὲ ὁ γάμος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τρίτῃ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἐν ἐσχάτοις τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος καιροῖς· ὁ γὰρ τρίτος ἡμίν ἀριθμὸς ἀρχὴν εἰσφέρει, καὶ μεστότητα, καὶ τέλος· οὕτω γὰρ ὁ σύμπας ἐκμετρεῖται χρόνος. Τούτῳ φανεῖται προσεοικὸς, τὸ  δι' ἐνος που τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν εἰρημένον· Πατάξει, καὶ μοτώσει ἡμᾶς, ὑγιάσει ἡμᾶς μετὰ δύο ἡμέρας ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῇ· καὶ ἀναστησόμεθα, καὶ ζησόμεθα ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ γνωσόμεθα διώξομεν τοῦ γνῶναι τὸν Κύριον· ὡς ὄρθον ἔτοιμον εὐρήσομεν αὐτόν. Ἔπληξε μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὴν ἐν Ἀδάμ παράβασιν, εἰπών· Γῆ εἰ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ. Τὸ δὲ φθορᾷ καὶ θανάτῳ πεπληγὸς πάλιν ἐμότωσεν αὐτὸς κατὰ τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν, τοῦτ’ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἐν πρώτοις, οὐδὲ ἐκ μέσοις, ἀλλ' ἐν ἐσχάτοις καιροῖς, ὅτε δι' ἡμᾶς γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος ὑγιᾶ τὴν φύσιν ἀπέδειξεν, ὅλην ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστήσας ἐν ἑαυτῳ. Διάτοι τοῦτο καλεῖται καὶ ἀπαρχὴ τῶν κεκοιμημένων· οὐκοῦν διὰ τοῦ τὴν τρίτην ἡμέραν εἰπεῖν, καθ' ἥν ὁ γάμος ἐτελεὶτο, τὸν τελευταῖον σημαίνει καιρόν· καταμηνύει δὲ καὶ τὸν τόπον· ἐν Κανᾷ γὰρ τῆς Γαλιλαίας, φησίν. Ἐπιτηρείτω δὲ πάλιν ὁ φιλομαθής· οὐ γὰρ έν τοῖς Ἰεροσολύμοις ἡ πανήγυρις ἔξω τῆς Ἰουδαίας τὸ δεῖπνον, ὡς ἐν τῇ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐπιτελεῖται χώρα. 'Γαλιλαία γὰρ τῶν ἐθνῶν, ὡς ὁ προφήτης φησίν. Δῆλον δὲ δήπου πάντως ἐστὶν, ὡς ἡ μὲν τῶν Ἰουδαίων Συναγωγὴ τὸν ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἀπώσατο νυμφίον, προσεδέξατο δὲ, καὶ λίαν ἀσμένως, ἡ ἐξ ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησία. Ἔρχεται δὲ εἰς τοὺς γάμους οὐκ αὐτόμολος ὁ Σωτήρ· πολλαῖς γὰρ ἁγίων ἐκαλεῖτο φωναίς. Ἀλλ' οἴνος ἐπιλελοίπει τοὺς ἐστιωμένους· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐτελείωσεν ὁ νόμος, οὐκ ἐξήρκει πρὸς τὸ εὐπρᾶναι τελείως τὸ γραμμα τὸ Μωσαικόν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ αὐτὸ τὸ τῆς ἐμφύτου νήψεως μέτρον, εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι διασώζειν ἡμᾶς ἐξετείνετο. Οὐκοῦν ἀληθὲς ἄν εἴ καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν, τὸ, οἶνον οὐκ ἔχουσιν, εἰπεῖν· ὁ δὲ πλουσιόδωρος ἡμῶν Θεὸς, οὐ περιορᾷ τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐνδείᾳ πριβομένην τὴν φύσιν. Οἶνον ἡμῖν ἀπέδειξε τοῦ πρώτου Βελτίονα· 'Τὸ γὰρ γράμμα ἀποκτείνει, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ ' Ἅγιος Κυριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας , Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ἰωαννην Εὐαγγελιον,  Λογος Δευτερος

The historical account, then, of the Marriage at Cana 1 I will leave there, but I think we must consider the other view of what has been said and make clear what is there expressed. So then the Word of God came down  from Heaven, as He says, so that having as a Bridegroom made human nature His own He might persuade it to bring forth the spiritual seed of wisdom. And fittingly is human nature called the bride and the Saviour the Bridegroom, since holy Scripture lifts up language from things below to a meaning that is above us. The marriage is consummated on the third day, that is, in the last times of the present age, for the number three carries in it beginning, middle and end, and thus is the whole of time measured. And in similar manner to this we see what was said by Hosea, one of the holy prophets, 'He has struck us and He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight and we shall know how to pursue the knowledge of the Lord; we shall discover him ready like the dawn. 2 For He struck on account of the transgression of Adam, saying, Dust you are, and to dust you shall return.3 That which was struck by corruption and death He bound up again on the third day; that is, not in the first, or in the middle, but in the last times, when for us made Man He showed our nature whole, raising it from the dead in Himself. So He is also called the first fruits of them that sleep and thus it was said that on the third day the marriage was consummated; for it signifies the last time. He makes known the place too; for he says it was in Cana of Galilee. Let the lover of learning again take note: for the celebration is not in Jerusalem but the feast is outside Judea, as it were in the land of the Gentiles. For it is 'Galilee of the gentiles',4 as the prophet Isaiah said. It is very clear that the synagogue of the Jews rejected the Bridegroom from Heaven and that very happily the church of the Gentiles received Him. The Saviour comes to the marriage not without bidding, for He is called by the many voices of the saints. But wine failed those who feasted; for the law did not perfect, the Mosaic writing did not suffice for perfect enjoyment, but neither was the measure of our inborn sobriety able to reach out and save us. It was thus true to say of us: They have no wine.5 But our bountiful God did not overlook our nature weary with lack of good things. He brought forth wine better than the first, 'For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.'6 Saint Cyril of Alexandria, On the Gospel of John, Book II 1 Jn 2.1 2 Hos 6.1-3  3 Gen 3.19 4 Is 9.1 5 Jn 2.3 6 2 Cor 3.6