A List of Important Words in the Commentary on the Song of Songs
by
Gregory of Nyssa
The following is an alphabetical list of key words from the writings of Gregory of Nyssa's Song Commentary in transliterated Greek. Please note that this is the first stage of a project to which more references from Gregory's writings will be added in the future. It is hoped that when such a catalogue is complete, even though partial, it can be used as a study aide not only with reference to the writings of Gregory of Nyssa but for other Church Fathers such as Origen and Bernard of Clairvaux, two authors frequently cited on this Home Page.
The listings follow the Greek alphabet; for those unfamiliar with Greek, I indicate briefly when and where it differs from the English (1). It should be noted that some words in the Song Commentary as well as Gregory's other writings occur with some frequency; in order to limit the already lengthy nature of this document, I present a representative sampling (2). Generally I avoid citations of biblical references; refer to the list of biblical passages of the Song Commentary elsewhere on this Home Page.
Keeping in the same spirit as other documents on this Home Page, I hope that this document presents the reader with a broader perspective into Gregory of Nyssa's writings. Please note the references are according to the critical text by Werner Jaeger (Leiden, 1960).
* * * *
ACHORETOS: unable to be contained, unlimited
Song of Songs
36.13: the divine power is both utterly transcendent and unable to be contained by human conceptions.
61.16: it [bridegroom's name] is ineffable and not contained by any intelligent nature.
337.8: the divine nature effecting such wonders can neither be grasped nor contained.
386.9: she is lead to knowledge of the infinite.
428.10: man receives within his own capacity the one who cannot be contained.
444.11: It [heavenly Jerusalem] contains within itself the uncontainable.
ADELOS: not clear, obscure
Song of Songs
37.1: But starting from certain traces and sparks, as it were, our words aim at the unknown.
ADIALEIPTOS: without interruption
Song of Songs
445.17: the Powers praise God without interruption.
ADUTON: the innermost sanctuary
Song of Songs
22.17: Solomon then initiates the soul into the divine sanctuary by means of the Song of Songs.
25.9: let him enter into the inner sanctuary of the mysteries revealed in this book [Song of Songs].
40.10: she has passed into a more interior part of the mysteries with her mind.
138.18: we have not even approached the outer doors of the sanctuary of contemplation.
323.3: the soul enters within the sanctuary of divine knowledge.
325.21: It is impossible for a person entering the inner part of the sanctuary of the invisible to meet a drenching torrent of knowledge.
369.5: so that Isaiah's contemplation within the inner sanctuary may not be hindered.
AGAPE: love; verb: AGAPAO (3)
Song of Songs
14.11: "Righteousness has loved you" [Sg 1.4].
15.18: the most perfect and blessed way of salvation...the way of love.
16.3: they do possess the good out of love but by the expectation of a recompense.
21.18: In this way Solomon elicits the love of those listening to him.
21.1: the hope of being loved in return disposes the lover to a more intense desire.
23.7: love as much as you can with your whole heart and strength [cf. Dt 6.5].
31.3: God alone is truly sweet, desirable and worthy of love.
38.4: Who cannot help but love such a beauty provide that he has an eye capable of reaching out to its loveliness?
39.3: through love they draw him to themselves.
39.7: "I love those who love me" [Prov 8.21].
39.8: "I will give substance to those who love me" [Prov 8.21].
39.12: The cause of their love is the scent of the perfume to which they eternally run.
41.4: we shall imitate you and love your breasts more than human wine.
41.18: let us love the outflow of your teaching.
46.9: that we might learn of the bridegroom's immense love for mankind.
46.12: He who first made me lovely from my own repulsiveness has showed his love for me.
47.7: the beauty given to me by being loved by righteousness now shines forth.
61.18: How cannot I love you who have loved me so much?
61.20: No greater love than this can be comprehended, for you exchanged your life for my salvation.
95.2: no iniquity can cool her love for God in any member of her body.
95.7: A divine, pure life entwines it by the tendrils of love.
99.19: "Set love before me" [Sg 2.4].
99.21: "I am wounded with love" [Sg 2.21]
100.4: "that you do not rouse or waken my love until he pleases" [Sg 2.7].
120.17: According to St. John, God is love [ cf. 1 Jn 4.8].
122.18: They scarcely show their neighbor the love owed to enemies.
123.7: I am restored to the bridegroom's favor and joined with him through love.
127.11: The archer of these arrows is love.
128.1: the sweet arrow of love by which she was wounded.
128.6: The arrow's penetration opens up a door and entrance for love.
131.11: She adjures them to keep their love alert and watchful.
137.10: the purified soul is exalted through love to participate in this goodness.
138.4: she received the arrow of love in her heart.
153.6: the love of God grew cold through the multiplication of iniquity.
172.9: "that you do not rouse nor awake love until it pleases" [Sg 3.5].
177.16: and excites their love by an oath.
180.17: God is called a bridegroom who the soul loves with her whole heart.
181.15: Then did I love my desired one even though he escaped my thoughts.
183.8: having forsaken every manner of comprehension, I found my beloved by faith.
199.15: "its interior lovingly laid with stones" [Sg 3.10].
211.5: What lies hidden and unapparent is adorned by a pure conscience of precious stones which love puts together.
213.17: whether one calls the son of God the only begotten God or the son of his love.
214.8: love is the plait of this crown.
215.14: she drew near to God through love.
229.6: when love is entwined with faith.
229.10: the thread is interpreted by love.
237.19: when the bride was first loved she was compared to a horse which fought the Egyptian tyrant.
256.15: "God builds it up in love until we all reach the perfect man" [Eph 4.13].
264.4: the affection of two lovers who express to each other their mutual love.
370.5: the bride will always see more of her beloved's incomprehensible beauty throughout all eternity.
370.11: mortally wounded by the arrow of love.
371.1: "I am wounded with love" [Sg 5.8].
377.18: the archer of love.
378.4: For a true, steadfast friend does not cease to love us.
378.12: the noble lover of our souls shows his love.
378.15: The bride, in turn, is inflamed with love and shows the shaft of love deeply placed in her heart.
383: 9: For love which is aroused is called desire.
428.12: two denarii: the love of God with one's whole heart, and the love of one's neighbor as oneself.
442.11: and receives the beauty of him whom she loves.
AGATHOS: (the) good
Song of Songs
7.4: the historical narratives do not offer us examples of a good life.
16.3: They do not possess the good our of love but by the expectation of a recompense.
40.2: She desired to touch the good with the very tip of her lips.
55.12: God...bestowed on man the power to find what he wants that the good might be present in our lives.
91.2: from the virtues we obtain knowledge of the good which transcends all understanding.
137.10: the purified soul is exalted through love to participate in this good.
157.21: For evil has no place and the good is boundless.
158.2: the evil becomes a limit on the good.
175.20: and never remained in the good attained.
181.3: the bride calls "bed" this more perfect participation in the good.
219.12: A good life is evident to everyone.
228.13: the entire Church has one lip and one voice in harmony with the good.
257.15: the bride's purified eye is opened only for the good.
336.6: Then we will no longer know in part [cf. 1 Cor 13.12] the Good.
358.1: the bride understands every function of a name as a sign of the ineffable good.
395.19: Another [fountain] is...desire for the good.
455.14: she herself is a treasure of every good.
469.7: all persons will be united together in fellowship of the Good.
AGELAIUS: angel; AGGELIKOS: angelic
Song of Songs
60.11: growing shoots are the heavenly virtues rising up to the height of the angels.
74.11: We assume this cavalry was the angelic host.
83.9: the soul's beauty was compared to the cavalry, that is, the angelic army.
133.13: the plural form [powers] signifies the spiritual nature of the angels.
134.11: the angelic nature which always exists.
166.16: these hunters could be the angelic powers who escort the Lord.
253.18: the angelic choir around the bridegroom marvels at the bride.
254.2: a state free from passion illumines the bride as well as the angels.
260.9: We have understood the bridegroom's friends as angels who praise the bride.
270.1: the soul is honored by angels.
287.14: This [cinnamon] resembles the angels who do not sleep but are watchful.
287.16: imitate by truth of speech the sleepless angels.
317.17: If we achieve this with the Word's assistance, we will attain the angelic life.
355.10: he is provided with angelic nourishment.
365.6: It is good for the soul to be found by the angels going about the city.
421.8: Legions of angels attend the true king.
AGIOS: holy
Song of Songs
26.11: In the expression "Holy of Holies" we are taught a certain superabundance and exaggeration of holiness.
AIDIOTES: eternity; adjective: eternal
Song of Songs
129.7: He allows his bride to participate in his eternal incorruptibility.
246.18: they will always have a greater participation in God throughout eternity.
246.5: in all the endless ages of eternity the person running to you becomes greater.
370.5: the bride will always see more of her beloved's incomprehensible beauty throughout all eternity.
AINIGMA: riddle, saying; adjective: AINIGMATIKOS
Song of Songs
4.12: and do not take into account the symbolic and allegorical meanings.
8.10: Christ trained his disciples' minds through sayings veiled and hidden in parables...and riddles.
19.4: if the symbol's intent is to point to something better.
27.8: The most acute physical pleasure [erotic passion] is used as a symbol in the exposition of this doctrine on love.
45.4: Such things the Law holds out as an example through mysterious symbols.
54.10: The transmission of these mysterious words is expressed as follows.
79.3: the turtledove was included by the Word in his enigmatic praise.
83.7: the literal meaning is deeply embedded in symbols and is difficult to interpret.
86.17: It does not show its form which no one has seen or can see, but through a mirror and a riddle [cf. 1 Cor 13.12].
109.15: The hidden meanings signified by these woods are clear to those following the sequence of the text.
110.16: by the symbolism contained in the parable [cf. Eccl 10.18].
161.10: If we try to clarify what is expressed in the symbols.
163.17: No longer converse with me through the symbols of the prophets and the Law.
192.19: The person familiar with scriptural concepts and mysteries.
231.14: earnestness in opposing matrimony mysteriously suggests dwelling with a life of virtue.
243.16: adding to this the mystery of the Passion by the symbol of myrrh.
264.10: the symbol of a kiss.
265.4: Such mysterious associations yield an evangelical teaching.
267.20: If any lesson can be gained, it is enjoined upon you in mystery.
272.16: Our mystery of this mystery is as follows.
284.5: The Song seems to mysteriously teach about virtue.
307.9: we are not ignorant of the mystery contained in these words.
350.2: the death-giving tree which is symbolically presented to us.
416.11: This statement compels us to interpret the symbolism of the pillars.
417.21: we must apply this mystery to something else.
424.9: Prophesy reveals these things by symbols.
436.17: We learn from the symbol of a garden.
462.17: this difference in numbers makes clear through symbols the distinction of the groups.
466.4: We have only examined those symbols in a general way that we may not leave them unexamined.
AISTHETERION: organ of sense; AISTHANOMAI: to feel, perceive
Song of Songs
34.6: A certain analogy exists between the activities of the soul and the sense organs of the body.
97.4: by its fragrance [vine] of hope it sweetens the soul's senses.
117.2: the apple tree bears fruit which sweetens the soul's senses.
181.13: When I enter the invisible realm after having forsaken sense perception.
197.2: The person looking towards God does not pay attention to sin with his senses.
215.11: and a young maiden is summoned to go out like Abraham...with regard to the senses.
307.3: the fruit of virtue sweetens the soul's senses.
312.11: As long as the mind lives alone and untroubled by the senses.
312.12: Once all these senses have been put to sleep.
319.7: the soul...perceives its bridegroom standing at the door.
322.1: Now the bride perceives the Word knocking.
367.7: the bride perceives something even more majestic.
400.2: we train with good doctrine the soul's senses to receive the bread of wisdom.
451.21: neither is assessment of beauty entrusted to smell, touch or any other sense organ.
AKATALEPTON: unable to be grasped
Song of Songs
37.3: from what we can grasp we make conjectures by a kind of analogy about the ungraspable.
256.12: they are marveling at his invisible, incomprehensible presence.
323.7: the only thing left for her contemplation is the unseen and unattainable in which God dwells.
337.8: the divine nature effecting such wonders can neither be grasped nor contained.
339.6: the incomprehensible divine nature is made known through these operations alone.
339.16: If we cannot understand God's incomprehensible, unutterable nature, an occasion for heresy against the truth is furnished.
384.16: All these elements constituting the bridegroom's beauty...do not show his invisible, incomprehensible beauty.
AKATANOMATOS: unable to be named
Song of Songs
181.20: I called him by name as far as it was in my power to find him who lacks a name.
AKERATOS: unmixed, pure
Song of Songs
4.1: once the literal meaning has been cleansed by a pure understanding.
15.3: Enter the inner chamber of the chaste bridegroom.
15.7: the pure words of the bridegroom.
23.5: through a union with what is pure and free from passion.
24.20: the consummation of the pure union.
29.11: he indicates a pure meaning through the use of sensuous language.
82.13: golden collar made from the pure gold of the knowledge of God.
88.18: You do not give the pure gold of divinity but gold's likeness through concepts accessible to us.
95.8: A divine, pure life entwines it by the tendrils of love.
100.17: Human nature...shone by reason of its resemblance to the undefiled good.
101.4: changing her color to one which was not defiled.
191.11: the incorruptible beauty is fearful, terrifying and not easily frightened.
213.9: neither can "male" nor "female" defile God's pure nature.
262.15: transfers the outward meaning of the song's words to that which is pure and undefiled.
333.14: The human soul has two natures: the incorporeal, intellectual and pure on the one hand; the bodily, material and irrational on the other.
348.2: What can be better than the image of incorruptible beauty?
391.7: he restored it to purity, and cleansed it from every inherent defect.
408.5: the chiseling effected through much reflection so that their hands may be pure gold.
437.16: he will become a cup of wisdom which receives the pure wine of gladness.
440.6: it represents the image of that pure, unstained beauty.
AKOLOUTHIA: sequence, order
Song of Songs
13.10: following the text of the Song of Songs.
18.6: a certain order and sequence leading to a life in accord with virtue.
45.16: The consequence of what was just examined.
72.11: ignorance of oneself is the beginning and consequence of never having known anything of the thing which one ought to know.
83.5: the intention seems to be in harmony and in order with it.
85.5: leaving aside the order of the figurative sense.
144.19: The Song's text draws human nature to God by a certain method and order.
150.6: How is the sequence of though preserved unbroken in a kind of chain?
191.6: The sense of these words must be examined in consequence of what we said earlier.
230.4: from the sequence of the text.
237.18: He who carefully pays attention to the sequence of the Song's words.
294.15: in the sequence of the Song's divine words.
311.8: Sleep results from inebriation.
347.18: treating it in an orderly fashion.
356.13: the person desiring to see God can behold the desired One by always following him.
361.6: whatever produces the good itself must as a result be good.
389.3: Christ was chosen and unfamiliar with any of birth's consequences.
432.9: "Follow me" [Jn 1.43].
434.7: the Gospel's words which are in accord with the Song of Songs.
447.13: Such expressions are not irrelevant to the sequence we have been considering.
457.20: beings are created and renewed not in accord with the same order and system.
458.16: Human nature...progresses towards the good by an order which gradually gets rid of our inclination towards evil.
AKROTES: extreme (as in height)
Song of Songs
177.18: the soul exalted to such a height has reached the limit of perfection.
179.12: appearing to have obtained the summit of her hope.
181.1: having reached, as she thought, the summit of her hope.
276.10: Praise of the bride in the song would testify to her excellence in virtue.
458.8: Here [cf. Gen 1.26] is the very summit and perfection of goodness.
AKTISTOS: uncreated
Song of Songs
174.2: a spiritual nature has two aspects
380.16: Christ is both uncreated and created.
381.1: the Word was uncreated.
381.11: Christ is uncreated and before all the ages.
ALLOTRIOSIS: estrangement
Song of Songs
60.5: Immortality is the vineyard...likeness to God and estrangement from evil.
252.16: we are to establish it [our mutability] in the good.
258.6: deceived by material phantasms lacking substance.
345.3: mortification and estrangement from evil do not extend throughout one's life.
378.8: this wound is thought to be a separation from what is sweet.
395.19: Another [fountain] is aversion from evil.
438.12: their [lilies] scent is alien to sin's foul odor.
(H)AMARTIA: sin
Song of Songs
77.6: He must leave behind every thought of Egypt, every evil and sin in the water.
197.3: The person looking towards God does not pay attention to sin with his senses.
327.15: she removed her garment of skin with which she clothed herself after her sin.
391.9: He restored it to purity and cleansed it from every inherent defect.
AMETASTATOS: unchangeable
Song of Songs
Establish in me this ordered and unchangeable grace.
ANABASIS: ascent
Song of Songs
25.13: let it [soul] listen to Moses who forbids us to ascend the spiritual mountain before washing the garments of our hearts.
129.3: These two images [bridegroom's left & hands] teach us about the nature of the divine ascent.
159.18: As often as the bridegroom says "Arise" and "Come," he gives the power to ascend to what is better.
178.20: she has reached in her lofty ascent the summit of her desires.
225.21: Paul still continued to move higher and did not cease to ascend.
246.19: the person running to you becomes greater and more highly exalted, always growing in proportion to his ascent through the good.
332.10: After this [bride opening to the Word] the soul once again begins its ascent on high.
359.8: her words which contain an ascent to something more exalted [cf. Sg 5.7].
459.13: yet another remains firmly in his ascent to on high.
ANABLEPO: to look above or at
Song of Songs
47.13: And you, daughters of Jerusalem, look to your mother, the Jerusalem above.
86.8: those capable of looking on the truth.
315.20: the necessity to overcome sleep in searching for the life on high.
376.15: This two-fold notion of the good allows us to consider that which truly exists.
ANABOLE: that which is thrown up; prelude
Song of Songs
63.7: that the prelude of her enjoyment might flare up her desire into something stronger.
ANADOS: ascent
Song of Songs
115.3: What great progress we see in the ascent of the soul!
137.12: in such ascents the purified soul is exalted through love to participate in this goodness.
138.9: the things accomplished earlier were but an introduction to the bride's ascent.
159.11: she always seems to be just beginning her ascent.
161.7: Now you must show a perfect disposition for desiring an ascent to what is better.
370.1: true satisfaction of her desire consists in always progressing in her search and ascent.
443.7: the Word clearly reveals the correct manner of ascent until the soul is exalted.
ANADRAMO: to run, hasten
Song of Songs
16.5: the person who is hastening to spiritual perfection rejects fear.
20.11: Solomon also praises her great size which equals that of a flourishing plant shooting up into full bloom.
279.20: unless she truly hastens on high by advancing in the good.
467.18: He who quickly grew from a youth to a perfect man arrived at the measure of that spiritual age.
ANAGENNESIS: rebirth
Song of Songs
318.9: he betrothed us...as a virgin through a mystical rebirth.
ANAGOGE: anagogy
Song of Songs
5.6: With regards to anagogy, it makes no difference what we call it--tropology or allegory--as long as we grasp the meaning of [scripture's] words.
144.18: The anagogical interpretation is close to the understanding which we developed earlier.
ANAIRESIS: taking up, away
Song of Songs
24.6: the cleansing of sins.
ANAISTHESIAN: lacking perception, feeling
Song of Songs
38.19: it [soul] is neither lacking in perception because of infancy nor enfeebled by old age.
312.6: sleep [resulting from inebriation]...makes one unaware of evils.
452.6: these persons assume the insensitivity of hair when experiencing pain.
ANAKAINIZO: to renew
Song of Songs
263.16: her breasts change to something better and more perfect because they no longer swell with milk...but flow with pure wine.
328.15: she is content with the one tunic which she renewed by a rebirth from above.
385.5: another man is created who is renewed according to his creator's image through a rebirth from above.
ANAKALUPTO: to reveal
Song of Songs
8.1: He reveals to us the meaning of the Law.
147.4: we should be led to the mysteries which are being revealed through these words.
366.8: In this way the soul's beauty is revealed, no longer overshadowed by a covering.
ANAKINEO: to awaken, stir up
Song of Songs
334.6: Wisdom moves all one's thoughts and capacities for investigation to grasp out of curiosity the object of one's search.
342.4: that the Holy Spirit's power might breathe on us and put into motion the waves of our thoughts.
ANAKRASIS: union
Song of Songs
23.1: What is described there is a marriage; but what is understood is the union of the human soul with God.
23.5: a union with what is pure and free from passion.
108.11: The bride uses the term "bed" to interpret in a figurative sense the blending of human nature with the divine.
ANALAMBANO: to take up
Song of Songs
61.9: you who take the entire flock upon your shoulders?
74.17: the power which took up Elijah and removed him from the earth to the ethereal region is named a horse by scripture.
129.6: He allows his bride to participate in his eternal incorruptibility.
304.19: We cannot otherwise be lifted up to the Most High unless the Lord inclines to the humble.
366.12: The soul which looks to God and conceives that desire for incorruptible beauty always has a new desire for the transcendent.
ANALLOITOS: unchangeable
Song of Songs
89.22: by its goodness it imitates his immutability.
158.9: the divine nature is simple, pure, of one kind, unmoved, unchangeable.
252.14: by the changeability of our nature we are to establish it immovably in the good.
ANALOGIA: analogy
Song of Songs
33.14: the wealth of divine milk by which the soul is nourished and draws grace in proportion to its faith.
34.5: A certain analogy exists between the activities of the soul and the sense organs of the body.
37.3: from what we can grasp we make conjectures by a kind of analogy about the ungraspable.
159.7: her desire grows in proportion to her advancement with regard to what ever appears before her.
210.2: to each person the Spirit gives prophecy according to the proportion of his faith.
246.7: they will receive as much as their minds can comprehend.
270.6: The manifold division of spiritual graces are in proportion to the zeal of those who strive after them.
357.13: He has no color, form, quality, quantity, place, appearance, evidence, comparison nor resemblance.
459.5: This analogically [reference to Jn 14.2] corresponds to the good state of each person.
ANALOGIZOMAI: to compare, make an analogy
Song of Songs
91.3: the beauty of an archetype can be inferred from its image.
327.7: how can we form an idea of the river of God from this mere God?
335.15: When the soul looks at these wonders, it makes an analogy of him who is recognized in his works.
386.2: Whoever looks at the visible world and understands the wisdom that has been made manifest by the beauty, can make an analogy from the visible to invisible beauty.
ANAMIMNESKO: to remember, recall; noun: ANAMNESIS
Song of Songs
466.1: one should remember that a person cannot attain the truth contained in the Song's words.
ANAPAUO: to cease, stop; noun: ANAPAUSIS
Song of Songs
62.10: you will make me lie down at midday when I will rest peacefully in the shadowless light.
72.6: the bride asked to learn the place of rest where the Good shepherd passes his time.
168.17: In him I rest and am his dwelling.
181.12: I am resting upon the bed of all I have thus understood.
198.2: the bed signifies rest for the saved.
ANAPHLEXAS: inflamed
Song of Songs
21.16: Solomon has inflamed the desire of the one still young according to the inner man.
63.6: that the prelude of enjoyment might flare up her desire into something stronger.
ANAPOLAUSTOS: not enjoyed
Song of Songs
369.21: her yearning for his beauty cannot be fulfilled nor enjoyed.
ANASTASIS: resurrection
Song of Songs
30.8: After the resurrection, the body which has been transformed into incorruptibility, will again be joined to the soul
134.10: After the resurrection we have been promised a life similar to the angels.
343.10: Resurrection is not effected in us unless a voluntary death precedes it.
344.7: I received the power of the resurrection by mortifying my bodily members on earth.
ANATRECHO: to run, hasten
Song of Songs
15.6: the person who is hastening to spiritual perfection rejects fear.
114.15: that she may become a flower by springing up through his wisdom from the valley of human existence into the beauty of a lily.
131.6: The soul is progressing towards great heights.
187.18: It seems that the desert caused these things and made her shoot rise up and change into such beauty.
188.9: The bride's ascent from the desert testifies that she rose to such a height through her diligence and continence.
279.20: She should not be judged as having this perfume unless she truly hastens on high by advancing in the good.
386.10: the virgins approach the soul running on high to perfection that she may make known to them her beloved.
391.20: The bridegroom's locks are the lofty trees of heaven extending from earth to heaven.
467.18: He who quickly grew from a youth to a perfect man arrived at the measure of that spiritual age [cf. Eph 4.13].
ANATUPOO: to impress (again)
Song of Songs
28.17: the image of the king expressed by them in the chaste concepts.
ANASTOICHEIOO: to restore (in the sense of resolving into original elements)
Song of Songs
318.10: restoring our nature to virginal incorruptibility.
458.20: But in the second restoration an interval of time necessarily accompanies those pursuing the first good.
ANAZETEO: to search, look for
Song of Songs
181.14: I am embraced by the divine night, and I seek him hidden in the cloud.
334.2: it does not cease to search out and seek the origin of created reality.
ANEIKASTON: incomprehensible
Song of Songs
339.16: the incomprehensible divine nature is made know through these operations [hands] alone.
ANENERYETON: nullified
Song of Songs
404.24: Out of a desire for the transcendent good, the cares of this life are nullified and put to death.
ANEPAISCHUNTOS: unashamedly
Song of Song
23.20: the virgin anticipates the bridegroom without shame.
288.8: It [Scripture] unashamedly mentions names from legends to make the sense of its contents more evident.
ANEPIDEKTOS: not admitting
Song of Songs
174.5: Always being itself, it does not admit an increase or diminution with respect to the good.
177.1: Its roof is made of cedar and cypress not susceptible to decay.
ANO: above
Song of Songs
49.5: David looked to the city above.
49.14: Tyre becomes the city above.
125.11: Virtue grows upward and looks to what lies above.
128.20: an arrow in the hands of the powerful archer aiming at a target above him.
129.13: easing my journey upward where I am directed.
129.20: the daughters of the heavenly Jerusalem.
177.12: With his left hand he aims the arrow's tip to the target above.
180.5: the mind running on high through its understanding of transcendent reality.
207.6: a daughter of the Jerusalem above.
236.8: the neck...to perceive those things on high.
262.1: "set your minds on things above" [Col 3.1]
274.14: It [palm tree] keeps treasures on high and does not bring them down to earth.
280.19: Do you now see the bride's capacity to ascend on high?
304.20: The soul rising on high calls upon the help of the transcendent God.
315.20: the necessity to overcome sleep in searching for the life on high.
323.2: Finally the soul is led on high.
334.14: Once it has passed the highest manifestation of water and becomes mixed with air, the wind's movement comes to rest on high.
345.16: the intelligent and light is characteristic of upward movement.
365.10: she boasts about her further advancement on high.
415.8: This image counsels us to be attentive to heavenly matters.
444.8: God's majesty appears like the beauty of the heavenly Jerusalem.
459.16: yet another remains firmly in his ascent to on high.
ANOTEROS: higher
Song of Songs
176.1: Not being satisfied with these, she presses on to what is still higher.
179.13: What can be higher than being in the beloved and having him in oneself?
245.20: Paul still continued to move higher.
246.22: you are always higher and loftier than the capacity of those who are rising.
253.17: it is transformed into a loftier glory by a wonderful alteration.
356.6: Neither did his act of intimately speaking with God as a friend make him cease to desire more.
ANTALLAXAMEMOS: having exchanged
Song of Songs
46.13: having exchanged his very own beauty for my disgrace.
351.1: Man immediately died to the better life, having exchanged divine life for one brutish and devoid of reason.
ANTILEPTIKE: grasping
Song of Songs
34.9: while the intellectual and apprehending capacity of the soul grasps spiritual realities.
ANUPARKTOS: non-existent, unreal
Song of Songs
258.7: For persons whose eyes are at variance have very poor vision regarding non-existent things.
258.13: Some look upon God and are then deceived by material phantasms lacking substance.
279.17: for anything lacking substance is not praised.
317.3: least by our inclination to non-existent things we slip away from what has substance and true being.
AORISTOS: unbounded, infinite
Song of Songs
17.5: His wisdom is infinite.
36.17: the unlimited [divine] nature cannot be accurately contained by a name.
157.21: Every good conceived as belonging to God's nature is present in infinite and unbounded nature.
158.11: it remains unlimited in the good.
173.12: The intelligent is infinite and unbounded.
246.8: The unbounded, incomprehensible divinity remains beyond all understanding.
247.18: The soul progresses through higher realms towards the unbounded.
320.8: You see how boundless is the path for those rising up to God.
321.17: the person looking at the divine, invisible beauty will always discover it anew.
337.2: Human nature is not able to contain the infinite, unbounded divine nature.
370.4: the bride will always see more of her beloved's unbounded, incomprehensible beauty.
387.3: our mind does not first attain God's incomprehensible, invisible nature unless the visible or the flesh is grasped through faith.
APARCHE: first fruits
Song of Songs
40.8: By the first fruits of the spirit of which she was made worthy by the kiss of her spouse she says that she searches the depths of God.
381.20: Once he took on by way of first fruits flesh's mortal nature through the incorruptible virgin, Christ continually sanctified the common mass of mankind.
391.5: He was the first fruit of the common mass of dough by which the Word assumed our nature.
391.12: he is the head of his body the Church, the first fruit of our nature.
427.22: Christ put on our full human nature as the first fruit of the dough [cf. Rom 11.16] which included a part of each race.
APATHEIA: detachment, freedom from passion; adjective: APATHES
Song of Songs
15.1: have been transformed with him into a state which is free from passion.
23.5: through a union with what is pure and free from passion.
25.8: Let him ascend into paradise through detachment.
27.12: The soul must transform passion into passionlessness.
28.22: The form constituted by these terms is blessedness, detachment.
29.6: to make nature purify itself of its own passions and teach detachment in words normally suggesting passion.
30.8: the life we hope for at the resurrection of the saints, an angelic life free from all passion.
90.14: the rays of that true, divine virtue shine forth in a pure life by the outflow of detachment and make the invisible visible.
135.6: they will look to the "powers" and imitate their angelic purity by detachment.
198.7: Rightly does he call "children" those who have achieved a state free from passion through the weapons of justice.
198.16: for the state of infancy is not subject to passion.
254.1: For a state free from passion illumines the bride as well as the angels.
254.7: She is our sister because she lacks passion and a bride because she is united with the Word.
272.19: The garment of your virtues imitates the divine blessedness and resembles the transcendent divine nature by your purity and freedom from passion.
307.12: being fragrant through purity and detachment he [Paul] became a scent of life to those who were saved.
313.18: Pleasure has two aspects: one is effected in the soul by freedom from passion and another by passion in the body.
377.1: they must faithfully look towards God and make their lives free from passion.
388.12: his bed is free from passion.
468.1: he received a royal dignity and the Spirit's glory by detachment and purity.
APEIROPLASIOS: infinite
Song of Songs
38.7: infinitely greater is the beauty of which we get a glimpse from the appearances.
246.1: while what lies beyond our comprehension is always boundless.
321.2: what she does not know is still infinitely greater than what she has already comprehended.
APERIECHETOS: undisturbed, tranquil
Song of Songs
313.15: reason looks above while it remains undisturbed and free from the senses' movement.
355.1: Again, Moses grew by keeping his life tranquil when he spent much time in the desert.
APHORME: occasion, inclination
Song of Songs
31.6: The present enjoyment of God is the starting point for a greater share of his goodness.
55.17: this fall from good was the beginning of evil.
APHRASTOS: ineffable
Song of Songs
19.5: Proverbs...expounds the ineffable beauty so as not to inspire any fear or constraint.
61.15: It [God's name] is ineffable and not contained by any intelligent nature.
167.9: we learn the ineffable greatness of the divine power.
213.7: every name equally indicates God's ineffable nature.
247.2: We learn about the ineffable nature of the good from the Apostle [cf. 1Cor 2.9].
309.8: David explained those ineffable treasures [cf. Ps 115.2].
336.8: we will fully comprehend the form of ineffable beauty according to a different mode of enjoyment.
336.1: our soul's limit of ineffable knowledge consists in appearances.
358.1: every function of a name as a sign of the ineffable good.
358.5: taking these names to indicate an ineffable blessedness.
383.7: the bride sees with pure eyes the ineffable beauty of her spouse.
436.15: He followed the descent of the one who fell among enemies which signifies his descent from his ineffable majesty to the humility of our human nature.
APHTHARTOS: incorruptible
Song of Songs
24.7: the exchange of corruptibility for incorruptibility.
30.9: the body which has been transformed into incorruptibility.
68.6: the image of incorruptible beauty.
89.22: It [fragrance] imitates by its own purity that which by nature is incorruptible.
129.7: He therefore allows his bride to participate in his eternal incorruptibility.
193.4: the beloved lying upon his incorruptible bed
279.12: the soul is one body when joined to her incorruptible bridegroom.
366.12: the soul which looks to God and conceives that desire for incorruptible beauty.
389.16: his incorruptibility and freedom from birth pangs.
427.15: the removal of the garment of incorruptibility.
APLANOS: steady, not deceived
Song of Songs
377.7: when he looks steadily at the truth and lives by it.
397.19: pure as a dove, true and undeceptive as milk.
400.13: The eye...must be washed by unmixed, pure milk.
APLOOS: simple
Song of Songs
158.8: the divine nature is simple, pure, of one kind...
255.10: In previous ages the transcendent powers knew only the simple uniform working of God's wisdom.
308.3: Milk is the first pure, simple nourishment of our human nature [cf. 1 Pt 2.2].
APOGNOSIS: despair
Song of Songs
137.7: For how could anyone not be sorrowful and in despair considering that in such ascents the purified soul is exalted through love?
140.3: These are the things which taken in their literal sense cause me pain.
APOKALUPTO: to reveal
Song of Songs
8.1: He reveals to us the meaning of the law.
135.12: give thanks to him who reveals through the Holy Spirit the mysteries hidden in Christ.
193.7: it [sixty] is clear to those alone whom the Spirit's grace reveals his hidden mysteries.
193.14: the One who reveals the hidden mysteries to those who are worthy.
368.5: a better understanding of the text from him who reveals the hidden mysteries.
APOKLUZO: to wash, cleanse
Song of Songs
45.8: having been purified from the filth of shameful thoughts by the bath of the Word.
49.4: the bath of regeneration which washed away their dark form.
71.17: the two preceding days had the benefit of washing and purifying from the flesh's mire our understanding of its words.
205.16: having washed off their darkness by a mystical washing.
324.2: having washed herself of the ignorance of darkness.
APOKRUPTO: to hide, conceal
Song of Songs
181.7: "He has placed darkness as a concealment round about him" [Ps 17.12].
326.8: each one draws water from dark, hidden and unseen treasures.
393.1: a lock pregnant with heavenly dew for the entire body of the Church and distilled the hidden, obscure mysteries of God's word.
APOLAUSIS: enjoyment, fruition
Song of Songs
31.6: The present enjoyment of God is the starting point for a greater share of his goodness.
32.3: but every enjoyment of God they turn into the kindling of a still more intense desire.
35.11: wine, with its strength and warming capacity, is enjoyment for the more perfect.
97.5: A faith firm in a grace we hope for becomes a delight for us who wait in patience.
119.7: to create a longing for the apple tree whose enjoyment is manifold.
157.7: he urges her to enjoy what is before her.
251.1: By adding these destructive beasts, the bride makes the enjoyment of pleasant things even sweeter.
354.16: he [Moses] preferred to share the afflictions of God's people rather than to enjoy the transitory pleasure of sin.
370.2: the true satisfaction of her desire consists in always progressing in her search and ascent.
425.14: Its [honey] enjoyment does not slacken desire by satiety.
APORREO: to flow
Song of Songs
46.4: grace flowing from the bridegroom's spiritual breasts.
90.13: rays of that true, divine virtue shine forth in a pure life by the outflow of detachment.
105.13: the eye sees by receiving the impression of images emanating from visible objects.
277.10: by not flowing out, it [intellect] will be sealed by the stamp of truth.
325.17: the drops of the night flowing down from my locks.
326.4: these spiritual drops flow from the saints.
343.11: drops of myrrh dripping from the bride's hands.
344.11: it [myrrh] flowed from my own free will.
404.10: Myrrh, a symbol of death, flows from his body.
405.4: [Thekla] received in her soul these flowing drops.
APORRETOS: ineffable
Song of Songs
23.14: through ineffable mysteries it [Song] philosophizes and offers an image of the pleasures of life as a preparation for its instruction.
33.17: Nobody will err if he understands by the heart the hidden, secret power of God.
40.6: she has passed to a more interior part of the mysteries with her mind.
85.21: every teaching concerning the ineffable nature of God.
219.13: A good life is evident to everyone, while what is hidden and secret belongs only to God.
APOTUPOOOMAI: to stamp an impression
Song of Songs
408.2: sculptors chisel and remove material to represent the model's form.
APROSTITOS: unapproachable
Song of Songs
27.9: the need for the soul to reach out to the divine nature's unapproachable beauty.
36.13: the divine power is both utterly transcendent and unable to be contained by human conceptions.
91.6: and make the invisible visible to us and the inaccessible comprehensible.
91.9: Paul...depicted by his fragrance the unapproachable beauty.
APOSTELLO: to send
Song of Songs
88.9: such friends are ministering spirits in service of those about to inherit salvation.
166.16: These hunters might also be the "spirits who are sent to minister to those who are about to inherit salvation" [Heb 1.14; also cf. 364.6].
281.6: The shoots (hai apostolai) from your mouth are a garden of pomegranates." The word "sent" (apostellomenos) from your mouth "is a garden of pomegranates."
281.17: From apostole we learn that the disciples were sent to preach the truth and were named Apostles (apostolai).
ARCHETUPON: archetype
Song of Songs
51.13: it [soul] gleamed by imitation of the archetype's beauty [cf. Gen 1.27].
91.3: just as the beauty of an archetype can be inferred from its image.
102.2: The Song teaches us by these words about the restoration of beauty which the bride gained by approaching the archetypal beauty.
150.18: human nature...was conformed to what it beheld, i.e., the archetypal beauty.
293.10: It seems that she has no further to reach once she has been compared to beauty's archetype.
408.1: sculptors chisel and remove material to represent the model's form.
439.10: a splendid of the archetype's beauty.
439.12: the model's beauty is in the likeness and the archetype is clearly seen by the imitation.
448.2: the first man made according to God's image and likeness was in every way like its archetype [cf. gen 1.26].
ARETE: virtue
Song of Songs
18.6: So too one can see in the soul an analogy to the body's growth where there is a certain order and sequence leading to a life in accord with virtue.
36.2: Each of us has his respective odor: one has wisdom or temperance, another has fortitude or justice or anything else pertaining to virtue.
36.7: However, all together could not compare with that perfect virtue which the heavens contain.
53.3: Once the heat has been extinguished by umbrellas of virtues, our life becomes shaded and dew-like.
91.1: and by everything in us effected through virtue, his true virtue which contains all the heavens.
103.6: Therefore, virtue and vice are diametrically opposed to each other, and they can never be present together at one time in the same person.
123.19: Is it not clear that the virtues, once ordered in us in all their variety, are named according to their different operations?
124.4: Perfume is virtue because it is separated from every unpleasant odor of sin.
125.11: Virtue grows upward and looks to what lies above.
134.9: They are exhorted to be attentive to the angels who ratify the stable, constant life of virtue.
149.6: you must advance through progress in the good to finish the course in virtue.
154.9: He is the forerunner of this radiant spring who points out to mankind the lovely flowers of virtue.
158.20: We now see the bride being led by the Word up a rising staircase by the steps of virtue to the heights of perfection.
161.1: virtue must be uncoerced, voluntary and free of all necessity.
186.7: Thus it is among persons advancing in virtue; being transformed from glory to glory [cf. 2 Cor 3.18], they do not always remain in the same character.
198.11: When a person has his sword girded upon his thigh by devoting his life to virtue, he has rejected passion.
230.17: This virtue's praise [temperance] has two aspects: the external appearances of a well-ordered life and correct actions of a soul free from passion.
231.18: the tower viewed from all around and to which David fixed the choicest booty, looked for the coming of the Church and prefigured those striving in virtue.
259.11: the person looking towards the Word has one soul because of its uniformity in a virtuous life.
271.11: The end of a virtuous life is likeness to God.
283.3: Virtue's fruit is inaccessible to thieves and is protected by the bitter covering of self-control.
284.5: All virtue lies between two evils: a defect or an excess of the good.
298.4: once evil is removed, virtue takes its place.
334.1: When the soul is purged of the gross habits of earthly life, it looks up through virtue to what is connatural and divine.
344.13: As for those who practice virtue, you can see some dead to one passion but alive to others.
352.1: Whoever dies to good lives for evil, and he who dies to evil, lives for virtue.
417.6: Through them [marble pillars] the base of our faith is firm, the course of virtue is completed.
418.6: The concise word of the Gospel leads us to a short, condensed way of perfection for a virtuous life.
439.5: "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine" [Sg 6.3]. Such is the measure and bond of perfection in virtue.
ARMOZO: to join, adapt
Song of Songs
18.12: adapting its words of admonition to that period of life.
24.20: the consummation of the pure union.
263.3: a chaste virgin joined to the Lord.
270.15: The text...is fittingly adapted to all who listen to it.
339.11: Upon hearing them, we prepare ourselves to choose something better than what the Song contains.
AROMA: fragrance, scent
Song of Songs
20.4: Solomon speaks of the fragrance from the bride's mouth.
35.16: We understand the perfumes as virtues.
36.3: Another person may have a good odor within himself compounded from all these perfumes.
89.8: I have received his good odor through the fragrance of my nard by means of sense perception.
89.13: Instead of the Word we have in us this compounded fragrance from the perfection of the virtues.
267.9: It transcends every scent of the Law...no longer hidden by symbol nor shadow.
301.14: [Apostles] freely pour out the good fragrance of their teachings in every language.
302.14: The great Paul, whose stream was a good fragrance of Christ.
303.1: the fragrance of the Gospels.
307.12: being fragrant through purity and detachment.
367.2: with fragrances flowing from her mouth.
437.14: If anyone becomes a bowl of perfume which pours forth choice myrrh, he will become a cup of wisdom.
438.11: Lilies are symbolic of a bright, pure mind, and their scent is alien to sin's foul odor.
ARTOS: bread
Song of Songs
226.11: This bread is not worked over for us [with reference to Gal 4.22, Abraham's two sons]. but how does he [Paul] reduce it to small pieces for eating? He transfers the story into two Testaments, "one born into slavery, the other free from bondage."
306.16: For the person seeking more perfect nourishment, there is bread which is no longer eaten with bitter herbs as the Law commands [Ex 12.8].
307.5: Such an occurrence happened when the bread appeared to the disciples after the Lord's resurrection. It was sweetened with honey from the comb.
307.16: The bread of gladness is a delight sweetened by the honey of the command.
319.18: She [bride]...sets her garden as a table for the Lord of creation who rejects nothing set before him, but says that all things are lovely: the myrrh, spices, bread with honey and with milk.
ARRETOS: unutterable
Song of Songs
86.1: Paul was initiated into the ineffable mysteries of paradise.
245.19: After hearing the unutterable mysteries of paradise.
324.15: We understand by this door the human mind searching for what is hidden.
326.14: Paul was such a river born aloft...to those unutterable, indescribable words.
383.18: for she was unable to manifest the ineffable divinity.
456.14: it [silence] is ineffable and more wonderful than words.
ASEBEIA: impiety
Song of Songs
59.1: Observe the evil guard of idolatry exercised in impiety and greediness.
448.15: By rejecting impiety and worldy desires, we might again grow wings.
ASOMATOS: incorporeal
Song of Songs
10.4: and of tracing in every way possible how something more sublime might be found which leads us to that which is divine and incorporeal instead of the literal sense.
15.14: Through the words of the Song the soul is escorted to an incorporeal, spiritual and pure union with God.
23.10: This affection for incorporeal things is beyond reproach and free from lust.
34.12: There is a certain sense of touch in the soul which takes hold of the Word and works in an incorporeal, spiritual way.
45.3: whatever else that looks to the heavenly, incorporeal way of life.
183.1: After the bride passed throughout that transcendent city and did not perceive her love among immaterial and spiritual beings, she forsakes everything she has found.
208.8: hinting through these things at an incorporeal, spiritual creation.
254.2: it [state free from passion] gives her kinship and sisterhood with the spiritual powers.
333.14: The human soul has two natures: the incorporeal, intellectual and pure on the one hand; the bodily, material and irrational on the other.
342.13: I mean the pure, invisible bridegroom who unites the soul to himself by incorruptibility and holiness.
383.8: the bride sees with pure eyes the ineffable beauty of her spouse and is wounded by a spiritual, fiery shaft of desire.
410.13: Those who know Hebrew say that "Tarshish" as used here in prophecy [cf. Ezk 1.16, LXX] signifies anything spiritual and incorporeal which lacks color.
ASPHALES: firm
Song of Songs
20.14: a firm and stable column for those who lean upon her.
50.6: The text adds further words for strengthening the minds of its pupils.
63.10: advising her about the steadfastness of her future good.
66.1: Human custom is not safe assurance for the future.
72.8: the sure norm of truth.
80.8: hastens without falling on the divine course.
377.5: a person truly establishes certitude within himself when he looks steadily at the truth.
ASTATOS: unstable
Song of Songs
22.11: everything unstable is vain and passing.
64.15: The person who separates himself from what endures will be borne away by instability.
ASTEIROS: refined, polite
Song of Songs
121.6: a more refined doctrine.
156.16: certain distinctive marks of the blessedness hoped for by more proper living.
271.16: that a certain form of the transcendent nature might become present in them due to their more refined way of life.
457.17: the bride's praises are lessons which teach about more refined matters.
ASUGCHUTOS: unconfused, distinct
Song of Songs
446.3: the order of spirits and transcendent powers remains distinct and constant.
ATAKTOS: disordered
Song of Songs
122.3: lest the practice of love be disordered and perverted.
122.12: we observe in many people a confused and disordered love.
ATEINO: to look intently
Song of Songs
90.11: such a person would not have it in his nature to look steadily upon the Word of God as upon the sun.
106.7: First the virgin gazes at her bridegroom's beauty.
139.11: that she can get a good look at him.
ATHANASIOS: immortal
Song of Songs
60.4: Immortality is the vineyard, a state free from passion.
153.1: Instead of leaves, man had the blossom of immortality.
351.6: Our life is mortal, having been deprived of immortality.
361.20: "They struck me" [Sg 5.7], now suggests immortality in light of "If you strike him with a rod he will not die" [Prov 23.13].
ATHEATOS: invisible
Song of Songs
40.11: Paul sees things unseen [cf. 2 Cor 12.4]. 86.7: to us who have not seen the divine nature as gold from that treasure.
309.6: he [David] saw the invisible beauty..
ATREPTOS: unmoved
Song of Songs
158.8: the divine nature is simple, pure, of one kind, unmoved, unchangeable.
258.8: his immutable and eternal nature.
AUPNOS: not sleeping, awake
Song of Songs
287.14: This resembles the angels who do not sleep but are watchful.
287.16: You therefore imitate by truth of speech the sleepless angels.
317.14: His soul remains sleepless and undeceived under truth's rays.
AUTEXOUSIOS: in one's own power, free will
Song of Songs
55.4: God gave to rational nature the grace of free will.
55.7: that the good might be present as...the result of free choice.
345.20: Between these two [our nature, light and heavy] is located our faculty of free choice.
AUXANO: to increase, grow; AUXESIS, noun
Song of Songs
19.11: that our affections may be further intensified.
39.2: such maidens have grown through their virtues.
158.17: the soul continuously grows (meizon) through participation in what is beyond it and never stops growing.
174.9: every changing for the better in its growth in perfection.
174.11: nor can it be circumscribed in its growth towards the good.
175.18: she always made progress and never remained in the good attained.
186.12: a different one succeeds the other because of their increase in the good.
202.8: growing in the bond of peace.
246.20: always growing in proportion to his ascent through the good.
252.12: we are to use our mutability as an ally in our ascent towards higher things.
281.1: she hastens onto a growth with regards to something even greater.
354.13: He [Moses] always grew greater, and never remained stationary at any point of his growth.
461.7: Some grow by studious application of their minds while others are of one body with the Word.
467.18: He who quickly grew from a you to a perfect man arrived at the measure of that spiritual age [cf. Eph 4.13].
BATHOS: depth or height
Song of Songs
32.2: So it is with all others in whom the desire for God is deeply embedded.
40.10: she searches the depths of God.
51.17: before a place is given to the roots in the depths of the earth.
84.11: and penetrating our soul's depths.
98.1: Gadi, a fertile place, that is, in the depths of a mind watered by divine teachings.
127.10: the bridegroom's arrows have penetrated the depths of her heart.
158.20: up a rising staircase by the steps of virtue to the heights of perfection.
278.19: searching the depths of the richness, wisdom and knowledge of God [cf Rom 11.33].
293.6: only the bride has running water with both a well's depth and a continuous flow of water.
365.11: the divine rod has penetrated deep within.
378.15: shows the shaft of love deeply placed in her heart.
383.11: the point of spiritual desire in the depths of her heart.
BEBAIOS: firm, strong; verb: BEBAIOO
Song of Songs
16.15: The one who establishes this law is Solomon.
123.13: she seeks to be supported by perfumes.
133.17: Scripture frequently makes its meaning more emphatic by the use of synonymous terms.
134.4: the oath...to confirm them in what they have learned.
139.3: his voice which allows inference rather than certainty about who the speaker is.
194.17: As the life of virtue according to the Law was strengthened in the people.
328.15: This action [cf. Mt 10.10] confirms the Lord words.
339.20: our faith will become stronger with regard to the Gospel's hidden teachings.
347.10: This teaching is confirmed for us in the bride.
357.3: The words which follow confirm what we have understood thus far.
375.4: The Apostle says that an oath confirming the truth cannot be altered.
375.19: so that the oath may confirm us in the truth of these greater realities.
377.2: the "Yes" which cannot be changed will be confirmed in us.
378.4: a true, steadfast friend does not cease to love us even though we are enemies.
BELOS: arrow
Song of Songs
127.8: the bride praises the bowman for his good markmanship because he its her with his arrow.
127.9: the bridegroom's arrows have penetrated the depths of her heart.
127.10: The archer of these arrows is love [cf. 1 Jn 4.8].
127.16: God introduces the archer into the heart along with the arrow.
128.1: the soul raised up by these divine ascents sees within itself the sweet arrow of love.
128.6: The arrow's penetration opens us a door and entrance for love.
128.11: As soon as the bride receives the arrow of love.
128.19: as if the soul were an arrow in the hands of the powerful archer aiming at a target above him.
177.10: receives his chosen arrow in her heart through a sweet wound.
370.9: she has received God's chosen arrow within her.
378.16: The bride is inflamed with love and shows the shaft of love deeply placed in her heart.
378.20: If we must find a name for this arrow...it is faith produced by love [cf. Gal 5.6].
GAMIKOS: related to marriage
Song of Songs
23.16: The image is one of marriage where the desire for beauty acts as intermediary.
128.6: As soon as the bride receives the arrow of love, the imagery shifts from archery to nuptial delight.
180.10: be mindful that the description of the bridal chamber and marital elements is material for contemplation.
264.3: These words, like nuptial joy, contain the affection of two lovers.
GEORGOS: husbandman; verb: GEORGEO: to cultivate
Song of Songs
10.16: the Father both the husbandman and the dresser.
98.4: that blossoming, fruitful cluster in which one can observe its vine dresser and husbandman.
113.15: the soul was cultivated upon the breadth of human nature.
114.2: the soul cultivated by the husbandman of our nature.
the soul cultivated by the husbandman of our nature blossoms.
114.13: she asked the cultivator that she may become a flower by springing up through his wisdom from the valleys of human existence.
120.6: to see the husbandman of the true vine.
168.10: she immediately committed herself to the husbandman who has taken down the intervening wall.
176.7: Next the bride brings forth a piece of fruit, the husbandman himself.
304.9: She herself becomes the lovely, sweet fruit offered to the husbandman.
436.18: the true husbandman plants a field for himself, that is, us.
437.1: In paradise Christ initially cultivated human nature.
438.8: They have a garden of many different plants cultivated by virtues.
GEUO: to taste
Song of Songs
34.8: Wine and milk are distinguished by taste.
62.6: The person tasting it will become a spring welling up into eternal life [cf Jn 4.14].
97.2: it gladdens our sense of smell instead of our taste with its expectation of the future.
196.7: we can taste, touch and smell by the sword of temperance.
216.9: The faculties of taste, smell and other senses...may be found in the common body of the Church.
248.12: who have already tasted and have learned that the Lord is good [cf. Ps 33.9].
248.14: the faculty of taste becomes a kind of incitement to further progress.
310.2: before material food was offered to him, Peter was hungry and wished to taste it.
451.19: The wise do not judge beauty by sight nor the good by taste.
GINOSKO: to know
Song of Songs
72.10: the soul must watch over herself and know herself.
138.13: she does not enjoy him and know him.
217.18: they [eyes] know that everything alien to our nature is apparent and transitory.
321.24: The bride wonders and is amazed at her knowledge.
326.18: "We know in part" [1 Cor 13.9]; and "If any man thinks he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know" [1 Cor 8.2].
335.1: it marvels and worships him who alone is recognized by his works.
339.8: the incomprehensible divine nature is made known through these operations alone.
351.7: the person knowing that he is in the midst of two lives, crosses over from mortality to immortality.
357.11: How can the bridegroom be found when he does not reveal anything [known, ginoskomenon] of himself?
358.12: God's name is not known in all the earth, yet it is admired.
GLUKUS: sweet
Song of Songs
31.5: For God alone is truly sweet, desirable and worthy of love.
69.16: you will hear that sweet voice.
99.17: "and his fruit was sweet in my throat" [Sg 2.3].
117.2: the apple tree bears fruit which sweetens the soul's senses.
118.13: "How sweet are your words to my mouth" [Ps 118.103].
137.14: She recognized the sweet apple and distinguished it from the barren forest.
177.10: receives his chosen arrow in hear heart through a sweet wound.
230.15: [pomegranate] guards the fruit's sweetness by completely surrounding it.
250.20: by adding these destructive beasts, the bride makes the enjoyment of pleasant things even sweeter.
251.20: The boon of health sweetens our body's sense.
304.9: she herself becomes the lovely, sweet fruit offered to the husbandman.
362.14: If that sweet blow embraces such elements...it is good to be struck by the rod.
380.5: intensified your desire for him through a sweet pain.
399.12: "His throat is sweet" [Sg 5.16].
425.12: Paul offers proof of Christ speaking in him by whom his voice became sweet.
GNOPHOS: darkness
Song of Songs
26.9: This sound comes from the dark obscurity where God is.
71.20: He makes known his presence not in darkness.
181.8: like Moses, she is in the darkness of God's presence [cf. Ex 20.21].
181.14: I am embraced by the divine night, and I seek him hidden in the darkness.
322.12: Having risen higher...Moses saw God in darkness [cf. Ex 24.15-18].
323.9: "Moses entered into the darkness where God was" [Ex 20.21].
324.4: having washed herself of the ignorance of darkness.
355.12: he enters the darkness where God is.
GNORISTIKOS: characteristic, distinctive
Song of Songs
37.4: Whatever name we may adopt to signify the perfume of divinity.
61.16: your name reveals your goodness.
357.18: How can that which is always beyond everything we know be designated by a name?
379.12: and cried out to him who is not summoned by any name.
379.18: Give us...a means to recognize him.
GNOSIS: knowledge
Song of Songs
5.14: both (Law & historical narratives) lead to knowledge of the mysteries and a pure way of life.
17.5: This other Solomon comprehends the knowledge of all things.
91.2: from the virtues we obtain knowledge of the good which transcends all understanding.
139.13: Instead, he removes himself from the bride's view before she comes to perfect knowledge.
180.2: Neither can any measure of knowledge limit the comprehension of our objective.
180.6: all perfection of knowledge...is only the beginning of a desire for more lofty things.
202.14: having held the knowledge of all things in the breadth of his heart.
205.9: It [Church] lived far from knowledge of the true God.
249.18: Ascend with me from these peaks to others, advancing higher by effective knowledge.
324.17: we have knowledge in part [cf. 1 Cor 13.12].
326.3: One must be content, if by a few obscure insights, truth bedews his knowledge.
334.16: the soul reaches from below to a knowledge of the transcendent.
336.11: our soul's limit of ineffable knowledge consists in appearances.
341.17: From this voyage we expect great wealth of knowledge.
342.7: Having traversed the open sea by contemplation, we might traffic in the wealth of knowledge.
357.7: its habits will not interfere with knowing invisible reality.
386.8: led by faith through what is finite and comprehensible to knowledge of the infinite.
403.7: Filled [bowl] with the knowledge of mysteries.
433.12: Thus the light of knowledge was shown to Nathaniel.
457.12: "in every way you were enriched with all speech and all knowledge" [1 Cor 1.5].
DERMA: skin; adjective: DERMATIKOS
Song of Songs
60.18: This skin is a tunic or dark appearance [cf. Gen 3.21].
327.14: she removed her garment of skin.
329.18: by a divine command Moses removed from his feet the covering of dead skins [cf. Ex 3.5].
330.10: A priest must tread on holy ground, and it is unlawful to tread with dead skins.
332.20: She removes the tunic of skins.
DIANOETIKOS: rational
Song of Songs
275.20: our soul's rational faculty swell us and always flows over.
277.8: virtues are God's plants which occupy our soul's intellectual faculty.
227.5: Every soul endowed with the faculty of reason is struck by the wonderful deeds of the divine hand.
DIANOIA: understanding, meaning, sense
Song of Songs
6.19: once the more fleshly sense of the words has been shaken off.
8.12: Christ rebuked their slowness and lack of understanding.
9.9: the literal meaning differs from the text's intention.
10.4: instead of the literal sense.
10.11: but we seek another meaning in this statement.
12.3: contemplating the words according to their deeper meaning.
27.14: our minds may seethe with passion for the spirit alone.
29.12: he indicates a pure meaning through the use of sensuous language.
39.1: The human mind is unable to find any description...of that beauty.
50.6: The text adds further words for strengthening the minds of its pupils.
54.3: [Greek] causes problems for those who follow the superficial value of the literal sense.
57.18: The incoherence of the literal text may be reconciled with the true meaning.
67.16: the meaning exactly agrees with the interpretation of the text.
71.18: purifying from the flesh's mire our understanding of its words.
73.5: it is not possible to interpret these words according to the literal sense.
83.4: the intention seems to be in harmony with it [symbols & literal interpretation].
84.1: We must leave behind these figurative meanings.
85.18: the good transcending the human mind cannot be accurately presented.
86.14: Our understanding of the divine nature resembles what we seek.
87.2: it cannot show what is present in the mind [words vs. conceptions].
87.4: Every word which tries to explain God seems to be a little dot incapable of being coextensive with the breadth of the conception.
98.2: in the depths of a mind watered by the divine teaching.
105.10: her eyes are those of a dove which seem to convey this meaning.
109.16: The hidden meanings signified by these words are clear.
139.6: the bride's words are conjecture rather than full and unambiguous comprehension is clear.
144.19: the anagogical interpretation is close to the understanding which we developed.
161.20: have looked with your mind through the prophetic windows at the bright rays.
163.7: and elevates the meaning of the words to the spiritual and intellectual realm.
165.6: What effect of divine power underlies the meaning of the text?
173.4: we must first draw out the sense contained in the text.
182.5: and goes about in spirit through the spiritual, transcendent realm.
185.2: we have sufficiently examined the sense of these words.
191.5: the sense of these words must be examined in consequence of what we said earlier.
257.7: you put in us a soul and mind to comprehend the light in you.
262.13: not attracted by words with a carnal meaning.
295.12: our mind is taken up in a fiery chariot [cf. 2 Kg 2.11].
308.18: All inebriation makes the mind overcome with wine go into ecstasy.
313.5: with the mind it regards only what transcends visible objects.
314.6: by naked, pure insight the soul will see God in a divine watchfulness.
315.16: They must always keep their minds awake.
317.1: In order that our minds may not partake of illusions.
322.8: Our interpretation will help you grasp the meaning of this text.
324.15: Truth knocks at the mind by means of allegory and mystery.
326.3: one must be content if by a few obscure insights truth bedews his knowledge.
336.4: that life which is beyond anything seen, heard or understood.
337.17: Man's inquiring mind cannot comprehend that operation.
357.4: so that its habits will not interfere with knowing invisible reality.
357.18: and escaped my mind when it drew near to him.
380.21: a better understanding of these divine words if we examine them in relation to scripture.
387.4: our mind does not first attain God's incomprehensible, invisible nature.
387.14: nor to the passions arising from the mind.
393.16: The meaning of these words is beyond our comprehension.
404.22: From them drop myrrh which continuously fills the minds of those who receive it.
405.6: and quenched every carnal thought and desire.
419.8: Such an understanding of columns is not contrary to our earlier considerations.
438.11: Lilies are symbolic of a bright, pure mind.
551.3: if we examine their symbolic content.
459.2: Because our minds incline towards evil.
461.8: some grow by studious application of their minds.
DIASEMAINO: to signify, show
Song of Songs
78.9: Jeremiah uses horses for a symbol of adulterous frenzy [cf. Jer 5.8].
79.7: They signify that a life of purity befits such a horse.
204.3: Solomon's zeal for righteous judgment signifies true judgment of all the earth.
206.11: God's care for us is similarly indicated for us by the chariot's construction.
222.13: the bride's hair...signifies chastity.
237.1: this tower with a multitude of shields and spears signifies the angelic guard.
264.10: the Word proceeding from the divine mouth...as indicated by the symbol of a kiss.
300.8: The north wind signifies the power set up in opposition [to God].
304.17: The bridegroom's coming down signifies his love for mankind.
338.16: her spouse's hand represents the gift of the Gospel.
410.10: These ships signify evil.
420.2: she points out her spouse here more clearly because the beauty she praises is visible.
DIASTEMA: interval
Song of Songs
157.18: For no name or concept can impose limits to it: not time, place...dimension.
205.8: separated by a great gulf of ignorance.
458.20: in the second restoration an interval of time necessarily accompanies those pursuing the first good.
DIDASKALIA: lesson, teaching
Song of Songs
6.14: Paul is teaching us an important lesson.
8.17: leaven had symbolized their teaching.
18.11: the philosophy of the Song of Songs transcends both by its loftier teaching.
24.11: divine gifts...through their prophetic teaching.
26.17: Song of Songs...to teach us the mystery of mysteries.
35.12: the perfection of the wisdom of the world is less than the childlike teaching of the divine world.
85.17: every teaching concerning the ineffable nature of God.
118.12: The fruit is clearly his teaching.
149.9: the symbolic wall of teaching--I mean the Law.
157.12: The very repetition indicates that there is a very important teaching here.
161.12: One who is in this shelter does not need to be taught by types and symbols.
231.6: everything done by the divinely inspired saints becomes a type and lesson.
235.6: the neck has the function of nourishing, I mean teaching.
267.7: we learn that the mystery of truth presented by the Gospel is alone sweet smelling.
292.6: and made the garden of the Church to swell up through his doctrine.
301.19: freely pour out the good fragrance of their teachings in every language.
326.11: the fullness and depth of their teaching.
386.18: The Song begins its instruction with the human body.
392.6: the rain of teaching to water the lifeless land.
403.17: The loveliness of this manifold teaching is combined with every virtue.
404.8: spiritual, immaterial way of life as set forth by his teaching.
437.6: the pure, divine fountain of his teaching.
DIEREUO: to search
Song of Songs
10.1: the necessity of searching the divine words.
40.9: she searches the depths of God within the innermost sanctuary of paradise.
173.16: the person who examines material creation.
182.11: she scrutinizes the entire angelic rank.
278.20: capable of searching the depths...of God [cf. Rom 11.33].
334.2: it does not search out and seek the origin of created reality.
334.15: Such is the case with the soul seeking the divinity.
DIERMENEUO: to interpret
Song of Songs
19.6: Proverbs expounds the ineffable beauty.
229.10: the thread is interpreted by love.
344.6: the Song interprets each activity affected by virtue.
DIORATIKOS: clear-sighted, perceptive
Song of Songs
106.4: when the purified eye of the soul has received the impression of a dove.
176.1: her vision is clearer, and she carefully considers the Word's beauty.
258.19: he who looks only to the good by the soul's eyes has sharp, penetrating vision.
377.16: If we put ourselves under the oath to the powers of the clear-sighted roes and stags.
394.1: the power of clear vision must be united with truth to effect action.
DIPSAO: to thirst
Song of Songs
32.17: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" [Jn 7.37].
62.5: I will drink from the divine stream which you cause to spring up for those thirsting after you.
119.18: And still she thirsts. The intensity of her thirst has become so great.
120.1: The entire cup is not enough to quench her thirst.
188.5: he has this divine thirst.
248.6: The fountain of grace continually draws to itself those who are thirsty.
248.11: By these words [cf. Jn 7.37] Christ set no limit on our thirst nor on movement towards him.
292.15: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink" [Jn 7.37]; also 327.3.
DOGMA: teaching; verb: DOGMATIZO
Song of Songs
10.9: we have learned from our Lord.
18.10: the philosophy of the Song of Songs transcends both by its loftier teaching.
23.15: the pleasures of life as a preparation for its instruction.
27.7: erotic passion is used as a symbol in the exposition of this doctrine on love.
34.1: We are indirectly taught another lesson through the philosophy of this book.
121.6: We are being taught here a familiar doctrine by the bride.
162.6: the teachings of the Law are closely related to those of the Gospel.
172.20: The bride teaches us by examples taken from her own experience.
173.1: to teach lovers of transcendent beauty about God.
173.6: the teaching...says that creation is divided into two distinct classes, one sensible and material, the other intelligible and spiritual.
180.19: Their meaning is transferred to a pure and spiritual level by which the text presents us doctrines.
211.3: where he who constructed the litter reclines his head, is the gold of pure teachings.
227.2: the need for teeth in the Church to clarify its teaching by breaking them into small pieces.
256.5: Such mysterious associates yield an evangelical teaching.
285.13: contrived errors instead of sound teaching.
301.15: freely pour out the good fragrance of their teachings in every language.
333.13: If we linger here a little on the Song we might obtain a lesson from its contents.
339.20: our faith will become stronger with regard to the Gospel's hidden teachings.
343.2: This is clear not only from the Apostle's divine teachings but from the bride.
345.9: Paul preaches this doctrine to the Church: the necessity for death to precede life.
457.17: the bride's praises are lessons which teach about more refined matters.
DOXA: glory
Song of Songs
20.2: she wears the precious wealth of the virtues together with the splendor of glory.
129.9: With his left hand he gives her...the glory of God.
160.3: to be transformed "from glory to glory" [2 Cor 3.18].
160.4: by glory he means what we have grasped and found at any given moment.
186.8: being transformed from glory to glory [cf. 2 Cor 3.18].
243.3: through the sufferings of myrrh and frankincense the song adds the glory of divinity.
253.17: from the glory which the soul had, it is transformed into a loftier glory.
435.6: his glory whose manifestation is salvation to those beholding it.
454.2: They are the glory and praise of the Church set as an ornament in the hair.
467.11: He received this glory which he already had before the world's beginning.
467.13: such a relationship in the glory of the Spirit is distributed to everyone united with Christ.
DUNAMIS: strength, power
Song of Songs
20.19: Strength is included along with the remaining praises.
34.9: the intellectual and apprehending capacity of the soul.
36.18: every capacity for concepts...is unable to grasp his reality.
40.4: power of her prayer.
74.18: the power which took up Elijah.
119.5: unless he has an eager desire for it.
133.10: whenever "power" is used in the singular it refers to God.
195.1: the virtue of Israel indeed became stronger.
224.6: a certain capacity in the soul which reduces teachings into small pieces.
235.7: The neck...gives strength to the entire body of the Church.
255.9: Through the Church God's manifold wisdom was made known to the transcendent powers.
275.21: our soul's rational faculty.
277.9: our soul's intellectual faculty.
300.8: The north wind signifies the power set up in opposition [to God].
311.10: the maintenance of health.
334.4: the source of its beauty from which springs the power whose wisdom is manifested in it.
336.19: her spouse's hand which signifies his capacity for action.
337.5: Every soul endowed with the faculty of reason.
376.6: the world's strength and its power which confirm the truth of an oath.
388.10: his bridal chamber is the power of the Most High overshadowing the virgin.
401.6: if power to recognize the truth comes from washing one's eyes.
438.6: the nature and power encompassing all things.
EGREGORAO: to be watchful, awake
Song of Songs
131.11: to keep their love alert and watchful until his good will comes to fulfillment.
287.14: angels who do not sleep but are watchful.
311.13: sleep and waking succeed and follow one another.
315.20: They must always keep their minds awake.
317.20: Christ admonishes us to be watchful [cf. Lk 12.35].
318.4: Those expecting the Lord's return are watchful at the heavenly gates.
EIDOS: form, image
Song of Songs
5.18: the form of his exposition.
28.12: he beholds instead only the form which the artist has shown.
47.9: Although I am black, I am now this beautiful form.
49.4: the bath of regeneration which washed away their dark form.
53.9: and blackens its form in ugliness.
60.17: having driven out purity, I put on a gloomy form.
96.15: Christ is never seen with the same form upon the vine.
105.16: the image of a dove appears in her pupils.
106.3: When the purified eye of the soul has received the impression of a dove.
139.1: not his form, or race or figure indicating the nature of what is sought after.
139.7: and never has the same image of what she has comprehended.
150.14: Human nature had the image of the serpent as long as it lay upon the earth.
151.1: In this light it takes on the beautiful form of a dove.
157.18: For no name or concept can impose limits to it: not time, color, form.
159.4: by being transformed into a dove's image in the light.
186.2: [actors] change their appearances by a variety of masks.
218.20: a form impresses itself upon the eye like a mirror.
219.7: when they conform their way of life to the Holy Spirit's grace.
320.6: The Word who fashions the Church into an image of a bride.
251.2: Although man was once made in God's image.
290.5: the beauty of the woods of Lebanon which represent the divine image.
336.8: we will fully comprehend the form of ineffable beauty according to a different mode.
357.11: He has no color, form, quality.
368.12: he could not see his form and greatness.
387.10: an apple whose form is composed by a blend of two colors.
399.11: "His form is as Lebanon" [Sg 5.15].
401.13: they are praised because they resemble its shape.
404.5: The form of a lily symbolizes purity and truth.
408.2: sculptors chisel and remove material to represent the model's form.
409.10: Only gold which conforms to the head's beauty must remain.
420.5: his form composes the infinite number of cedars hewn from all over Lebanon.
434.21: When the maidens learn that the bridegroom's appearance is white and ruddy.
440.6: when I look at my beloved's face, the beauty of his form is reflected in me.
442.2: showing in his life each form of virtue.
EIKAZO: to make an analogy, compare
Song of Songs
37.2: from what we can grasp we make conjectures by a kind of analogy about the ungraspable.
38.8: infinitely greater is the beauty of which we get a glimpse from the appearances.
125.18: What is the text driving at here?
EIRENE: peace
Song of Songs
17.3: Solomon, whose name means peace.
62.9: when I will rest peacefully in the shadowless light
201.16: he proclaimed peace to those far off [cf. Eph 2.14-15].
235.11: the harmonious setting of vertebrae...persons joined in a bond of peace.
251.20: A life of peace is sweeter after war.
443.12: the One in the Father's bosom is united with men for bringing peace on earth.
EKKLESIASTIKOS: pertaining to the church
Song of Songs
40.13: The discourse now reveals an ecclesiastical concern.
198.1: united in harmony in the fellowship of one body.
234.13: the neck of the Church's body.
384.20: He made the invisible visible by deeds and was manifested through the Church.
EKSTASIS: ecstasy
Song of Songs
156.19: that inebriation through which men pass ecstatically from the material to the divine realm.
308.17: All inebriation makes the mind overcome with wine go into ecstasy.
309.2: this food and drink contain a constant change and ecstasy from a worse to a better condition.
309.6: he went out of himself and into ecstasy.
310.20: inebriation by which the soul approaches the divinity through ecstasy.
ELPIS: hope
Song of Songs
16.2 because of the hope of the reward held out for a life piously lived.
140.5: We must put our hope in the God who strengthens those who preach the Good News.
144.5: It regards its hope as accomplished fact because it believes so firmly in the promised grace.
156.1: hopes that bloom by means of virtue.
170.11: urges the Word to hasten the realization of her hopes.
262.7: afer we have transferred our hope for life from earth to haven.
340.17: To the sailors' eyes is already present the hoped-for wealth.
EMMORPHOO: to shape
Song of Songs
104.2: Just like a mirror you have taken on my appearance.
277.11: and formed with a disposition towards the good.
EMPATHES: state of emotion; adjective: PASSIONATE
Song of Songs
4.4: your soul's eye is pure from every passionate, unclean thought.
15.4: Let no one bring passionate, fleshly thoughts...for the divine nuptials.
29.5: to make nature purify itself of its own passions.
29.3: he indicates a pure meaning through the use of sensuous language.
30.14: No longer will there be civil war with the passions.
128.8: if we are more prone to passion, we ought to love our wives as our own body.
191.13: our desire for carnal things in the body's members is subject to passion.
271.13: freedom from the disturbance of passion is exercised by attention to the virtues.
376.12: One must have a pure mind which banishes every passion from the soul.
396.3: one fountain...by which the eyes may be purified from any discharge of the passions.
EMPERIECHO: embrace, contain
Song of Songs
230.14: and guards the fruit's sweetness by completely surrounding it.
338.14: whose hand embraces all things.
EMPHASIS: sign, meaning
Song of Songs
7.16: The apparent, reprehensible sense is changed into something having a divine meaning.
25.6: drag down the significance of the divine thoughts and words.
28.19: these words in their obvious meanings.
84.1: We must leave behind these figurative meanings.
89.4: and do not reveal anything of him except by a sign.
104.4: Human nature...takes on differences according to the impressions of free will.
128.16: The significance of these words is evoked through marital imagery.
180.12: Their meaning is transferred to a pure and spiritual level.
262.16: and desire transfers the outward meaning of the Song's words.
EMPSUCHOS: animate, living
Song of Songs
152.14: animate and possessed freedom of choice
202.5: apostles and prophets who are living, animated stones.
214.6: His crown is the Church encompassing his head by living stones.
292.5: The divine Apostle made "living gardens" those among whom he lived.
301.12: the strong wind...fell upon them as "living plants."
302.5: "his garden the Church teeming with "animated trees."
307.14: Paul ground into wheat the living plants of the garden for the Lord.
341.18: the Church is this living vessel.
ENATENIZO: to reach out
Song of Songs
27.10: the need for the soul to reach out to the divine nature's invisible beauty.
105.11: the faces of those gazing at them are clearly reflected.
360.20: her eye is free and unhindered to contemplate her beloved.
ENOIKEO: to dwell in
Song of Songs
47.17: because the ruler of the powers of darkness dwelt in you.
68.16: "I will dwell in them and walk with them" [2 Cor 6.16].
84.10: whether he is the one dwelling in us and walking about.
183.12: the heart which becomes an acceptable dwelling of God.
444.12: God dwells and walks about in it.
ENERGEIA: operation, power
Song of Songs
17.13: Not all period of life according to the flesh are capable of every natural operation.
33.19: the breasts are the activities of God's power for us.
216.7: All do not have the same function.
257.14: for the soul has two faculties of vision.
334.16: the soul reaches from below to a knowledge of the transcendent and to a comprehension of God's wonderful works.
336.7: Then we will no longer know in part [cf. 1 Cor 2.9] the Good through its works.
337.15: Man's inquiring mind cannot comprehend that operation.
339.7: the incomprehensible divine nature is made known through these operations alone.
(H)ENOTES: unity
Song of Songs
202.7: fitted together into the unity of faith.
466.20: united into a single good through the unity of the Holy Spirit.
467.5: Glory is the bond of this unity.
469.7: all persons will be united together in fellowship of the Good.
EPAUXESIS: growth
Song of Songs
113.1: beauty will grow in us.
149.10: advance and progress towards greater perfection.
174.9: ever changing for the better in its growth in perfection.
186.12: a different one succeeds the other because of their increase in the good.
194.21: we expect an increase of the good with time's progression.
237.17: He who carefully pays attention to the sequence of the Song's words understands the growth of the exalted soul in the good.
246.4: a greater participation in God throughout eternity.
EPEKTEINO: to extend, increase
Song of Songs
39.13: they stretch out to what is in front, forgetting what is behind.
119.16: and stretches out toward what lies before her and does not turn back.
245.16: "I stretch forward to what lies in front of me" [Phil 3.13].
291.17: she does not reach out to what is loftier.
352.10: stretching forward to what is before [cf. Phil 3.13].
366.15: Such a soul never ceases to stretch forth to what lies before.
443.9: until the soul is exalted and reaches out for her Lord's glorious deeds.
EPHAPTO: to touch
Song of Songs
34.10: the lips of two persons make contact in a kiss.
88.13: with the sense of smell she touches the one she seeks.
424.12: For who does not know that the child born for us touched the asp?
452.1: When each sense is dead, the soul alone lays hold of and stretches forward to the good.
EPHARMOZO: to fit, adapt
Song of Songs
84.7: Whether the kind conforms the horse to himself.
173.4: and then accommodate the divinely inspired words to what we examined earlier.
183.17: the divine words so that they may agree with what is now under consideration.
211.10: the chariot's parts can be adapted to each order within the Church.
233.10: and then accommodate the name of this bodily member to the Church.
280.8: that what we have set forth may be in harmony with the maidens' words.
EPHELKO: to attract, draw after
Song of Songs
21.19: Solomon elicits the love of those listening to him.
32.14: It fills the mouth drawn to it.
33.14: divine milk by which the soul is nourished and draws grace in proportion to its faith.
104.15: it receives within itself the sun's orb.
129.13: His right hand receives me and draws me back, easing my journey upward.
158.15: when God draws a human soul to participate in himself.
159.7: Then he starts again to draw her to participate in a higher beauty.
160.13: No longer must we look to things that attract and excite us.
248.6: The fountain of grace continually draws to itself those who are thirsty.
248.16: A person always moving towards God never lacks this incitement moving towards greater progress.
266.3: They are now capable of drawing good things from wisdom's cup by their own mouths [cf. Prov 9.2-5].
313.22: If a person...is drawn by pleasure in the body.
353.15: not to forsake her soul's desire but to draw her to himself.
EPIGNOSIS: (full) knowledge; verb: EPIGGIGNOSKO
Song of Songs
15.16: "to come to the recognition of the truth" [1Tim 2.4]; also 130.3, 131.13, 215.1, 304.1.
261.1: assistance from on high to perceive these mysteries.
336.5: Then we will no longer know in part [cf. 1 Cor 13.12].
379.18: Remove the veils from our eyes that we may know where to seek him.
382.18: "the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God" [Eph 4.11-13].
EPIKRUPTO: to conceal
Song of Songs
5.1: If anything in the hidden symbolic sense cannot be of use with regard to the literal sense.
402.14: so that nothing hidden nor deceitful may be seen in their words.
EPINOEO: to intend, know
Song of Songs
37.3: Whatever name we may adopt to signify the perfume of divinity.
61.20: no greater love than this can be comprehended.
295.4: we are unable to know the means by which the stars were created.
EPIPHANEIA: manifestation
Song of Songs
140.12: manifest through the appearance of God in the flesh.
141.11: God has appeared in the flesh to destroy the hostile powers.
173.14: Anything with mass...appearance and shape limits our understanding.
322.10: a more careful understanding of hidden things leads the soul through appearances to God's hidden nature.
334.13: Once it [wind] has passed the highest manifestation of water.
435.6: his glory whose manifestation is salvation to those beholding it.
440.3: accurately reflects the image of a face.
EPISEMAINO: to mark, show
Song of Songs
103.3: it displays the character of each of these virtues in the soul's constitution.
111.10: the text symbolically signifies purity by this example.
290.3: The person showing the divinity in any of life's circumstances.
353.1: By her hands dripping myrrh she shows her own free consent to virtue.
EPISTROPHO: to turn, return; noun: EPISTROPHE
Song of Songs
6.11: the shift from the corporeal to the spiritual "a turning to the Lord" [2 Cor 3.16].
31.2: not to turn to it in our thoughts.
39.4: through love they draw him to themselves.
119.17: bounds toward what lies before her and does not turn back.
178.3: All these examples are like voices summoning the soul to contemplate heavenly mysteries.
361.3: "When a person turns to the Lord, his veil will be removed" [2 Cor 3.16].
EPITASIS: stretching, excess
Song of Songs
26.13: In the expression "Holy of Holies" we are taught a certain superabundance and exaggeration of holiness.
105.1: seeing his spouse's enhanced beauty.
133.15: The term "strength" along with "power" serves to intensify its meaning.
186.20: This is what constitutes the intensity of their amazement.
252.2: The bridegroom imparts to the soul ascending to him an intensity in her enjoyment of goodness.
EPITHUMATIKOS: desirable
Song of Songs
19.11: In order that our affections may be further intensified.
21.16: Solomon has inflamed the desire of the one still young according to the inner man.
22.14: Solomon elevates above everything grasped by sense the loving movement of our soul.
119.15: The soul cannot be refreshed under the shadow of the tree of life unless she has an eager desire for it.
EPOURANIOS: heavenly
Song of Songs
182.8: She calls a market place the solemn assembly of the heavenly host.
254.18: the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.
318.3: Those expecting the Lord's return are watchful at the heavenly gate.
444.13: thereby making the heavenly Jerusalem receive his beauty.
ERASMIA: love, desire
Song of Songs
31.6: it increases our desire for him.
46.16: He who first made me lovely from my own repulsiveness.
48.7: God made us bright and loving through his resplendent grace.
164.2: how much more lovable will be the sight of you face to face!
191.8: Perhaps the loveliness of the divine beauty has something fearful about it.
240.16: desirable for plucking.
426.3: the bridegroom's limbs form a desirable beauty.
ERASTES: lover
Song of Songs
22.2: the hope of being loved in return disposes the lover to a more intense desire.
144.13: the lover speaks through the windows to the bride dwelling within.
173.1: to teach lovers of transcendent beauty about God.
269.4: Wisdom says to her lovers, "Go to the bee and learn its work" [Prov 6.8].
378.12: the honored wounds of a friend are more desirable than an enemy's kiss.
(H)ERMENEUO: to interpret
Song of Songs
9.5: Christ explained his own words.
29.12: he indicates a pure meaning through the use of sensuous language.
51.4: In explaining the property of each soul, Christ...
87.3: Every word signifying these conceptions is like a point lacking extension.
108.12: The bride uses the term "bed" to interpret in a figurative sense the blending of human nature with the divine.
188.11: not even one of them can adequately express it.
203.2: The divine Apostle interprets the prophet [cf. Ps 103.24 & Col 1.16].
284.16: Saffron as treated by the Song pertains to virtue.
336.18: her spouse's hand which signifies his capacity for action.
375.17: We certainly understand the "field" to be the world in a symbolic sense.
376.2: It is necessary for the sake of clarity to give another interpretation.
411.5: the divine Apostle explains this process more clearly.
446.8: Fear signifies consternation.
EROS: (sexual) love; adjective: EROTIKOS
Song of Songs
23.9: Be passionate about it.
23.12: she prescribes passionate love for the divine beauty.
27.7: I mean erotic passion.
27.13: our mind may seethe with passion for the spirit alone
38.9: Passion does not touch those who are still infants.
44.12: The Song of Songs is the true tent of witness...whose terms [are] expressions of love.
182.16: the one whom she loves is known only in her impossibility to comprehend his essence.
192.1: the love of God arises from what is opposed to carnal desire.
264.5: the affection of two lovers who express to each other their mutual love.
383.8: and is wounded by a spiritual, fiery shaft of desire.
383.9: For love (agape) which is aroused is called desire.
461.11: while others are of one body with the Word and cling to affectionately.
EUAGGELIKOS: pertaining to the Gospel
Song of Songs
9.7: We can present many examples from the Gospel where the literal meaning differs from the text's intention..
12.13: Not only does this apply to the Old Testament but also to many of the Gospel's teachings.
92.8: If the nard of the Gospel has any relationship to the bride's perfume.
126.7: it is guided to the heavenly way of life by means of the Gospel's teaching.
148.19: the true light fully illumined the interior by the beams of the Gospel.
161.15: There is one shelter for the human soul, the sublime Gospel.
162.4: the Law was a wall that protected the faith of the Gospel.
163.19: that I may come within the rock of the Gospel and leave behind the wall of the Law.
205.5: to whomever understands the marvels of the Gospel.
365.4: Such mysterious associations yield an evangelical teaching.
267.7: we learn that the mystery of truth presented by the Gospel is alone sweet smelling to God.
302.13: By this image we larn the difference between the Old and New Testaments.
308.15: If anyone carefully examines both texts, he will find the Song's words to be in agreement with the Gospel.
310.5: the "linen sheet" of the Gospel.
339.8: Through the bride's words the divine nature prophesies in advance the gift of the Gospel.
374.6: The sense of these words...by which the Gospel wishes the truth to be confirmed.
412.5: Since the Gospel's clarity removed everything corporeal and earthly.
436.4: we learn about the Gospel's mystery whose each word reveals its mystic sense.
EUKINETOS: graceful (movement)
Song of Songs
144.6: he leaps over mountains with speed and grace.
147.7: when man's changeable nature had been transformed into the nature of the lifeless objects which he worshiped.
EUMORPHIA: good or beautiful form
Song of Songs
63.4: She struggles to learn and to think how her loveliness can remain forever.
66.18: if you wish that your beautiful form abide forever.
101.14: his spouse's beauty resembled a horse.
105.15: the beauty of the bride's eyes is praised.
420.8: Nothing humble nor base composes his bodily form.
EUODIA: scent, odor
Song of Songs
34.18: drawing in the good odor of Christ.
36.4: Another person may have a good odor within himself.
89.6: So too I have received his good odor through the fragrance of my nard.
91.8: "good odor of Christ" [2 Cor 2.15].
94.20: the bride has received the good odor of Christ in the governing part of her soul.
154.3: the violet which is the good fragrance of Christ.
176.2: Through sweet nard she recognizes she recognizes the divine fragrance.
268.14: her life is a sweet smelling odor to the bridegroom.
272.8: the good odor of the bride's perfume exceeded all other spices.
303.2: they become fountains of spices with the fragrance of the Gospels.
EUPHROSUNE: enjoyment
Song of Songs
35.4: the enjoyment obtained from wine we learn that all human wisdom...cannot match the simple nourishment of the divine teaching.
63.8: the prelude of her enjoyment might flare up her desire into something stronger.
72.4: he changed that earlier fearful appearance to one of conjugal joy.
137.17: and entered the inner chambers of his joy.
200.1: "in the day of the gladness of his heart" [Sg 3.11].
251.16: the Word intensifies the gladness of his bride's present happiness.
253.3: that she may delight in her present enjoyment.
266.1: [breasts]...give wine which gladden the hearts of the more perfect.
307.9: The bread of gladness is a delight sweetened by the honey of the command.
313.22: he will life his life without tasting the divine joy.
437.17: a cup of wisdom which receives the pure wine of gladness.
EUPNOIA: fragrance
Song of Songs
20.3: Solomon speaks of the fragrance from the bride's mouth.
89.5: I have received his good odor through the fragrance of my nard by means of sense perception.
89.13: Instead of the Word we have in us this compounded fragrance from the perfection of the virtues.
91.13: and depicted by his fragrance the unapproachable beauty.
91.15: Paul became a fragrance bringing either life or death.
95.14: in her own nard she recognizes the good fragrance of her spouse.
113.9: and the breadth and length of our nature will yield a fragrant and pure blossom.
169.9: his nourishment is the Spirit which the lily's purity and fragrance symbolize.
240.14: The lily's blossom has two benefits: their fragrance...and color.
438.11: their scent is alien to sin's foul odor.
(H)EURISKO: to find, discover
Song of Songs
158.19: the more she recognizes that it transcends her as much as before.
160.4: by glory he means what we have grasped and found at any given moment.
174.17: The good which is superior to the one already attained hods the attention of those participating in it.
183.2: she forsakes everything she has found.
246.1: the blessed nature of the good is eternally much better than what we have received.
321.18: the person looking at the divine, invisible beauty will always discover it anew.
357.8: neither does it stop to seek that which cannot be found.
366.20: what the bride has found seems more beautiful than her earlier discoveries.
369.16: she seeks him who cannot be found.
370.6: the bride will always discover more of her beloved's incomprehensible beauty.
379.10: she sought him who cannot be found by any signs.
EUSCHEMA: elegant, becoming
Song of Songs
44.21: gracefulness of the capitals which refer to the grace in the directing part of the soul.
112.11: we should not neglect our exterior good appearance.
112.18: It is skillfully wrought by a decent life.
121.9: It is necessary that everything be well ordered.
228.3: freedom from passion and dignity in our lives.
230.18: the external appearances of a well-ordered life.
446.6: the soul arranges everything in order.
EUSEBIA: piety, devotion
Song of Songs
11.12: the mystery of piety.
44.19: that solid gold altar of piety.
82.11: piety and sound faith.
205.18: the spices of piety.
310.12: The message of faith is handed down in purity.
381.16: the great mystery of our religion [cf. 1 Tim 3.16].
387.16: not subject to a birth of flesh with respect to the mystery of religion.
394.5: not can an active way of life suffice unless guided by true piety.
406.1: in their struggle on behalf of their religion.
EXEGESIS: explanation, interpretation
Song of Songs
5.16: Paul uses exegesis with an eye to what is useful.
5.18: he is not concerned about the word necessary to designate the form of his exposition.
8.11: Sometimes he gave an explanation which removed their obscurity [cf. Mt 13.13].
190.16: We do not have to stay with the text's literal meaning.
225.21: Persons reducing the divine mysteries into small fragments for a clearer interpretation of the text make spiritual food more easily acceptable.
289.14: a symbolic explanation serves as a means of praise.
EXETASIS: close examination; verb: EXETAZO
Song of Songs
63.16: The intention of these words is clear from what we have closed examined above.
73.5: we must carefully examine the text before us.
224.17: We will examine the teeth's beauty by the praises which follow.
308.14: If anyone carefully examines both texts [Song and Gospel].
EXOTHEN: outside, external
Song of Songs
43.12: the tent's external decoration.
56.14: The "sons of my mother" have made war in me not by outward attacks but by making the soul herself a battleground within.
110.20: so to let into our hearts the rush of these waters from outside.
112.14: we should not neglect our exterior good appearance.
112.16: to conduct oneself becomingly towards "those outside."
219.18: silence is more praiseworthy than anything external.
277.1: Others we appropriate such as external things belonging to the body.
405.5: She put the outer man to death.
441.18: and show from outside the forms within.
EXPLESIS: wonder, awe
Song of Songs
185.8: the bridegroom's friends marveling at his ascent from the desert.
186.20: not only do they marvel at her ascent.
192.10: The sword at the thigh terrorizes and causes fear against dark, nocturnal thoughts.
196.9: against the shock and panic of our dark enemies.
337.3: The term "wonder" signifies amazement and astonishment.
446.8: Fear signifies consternation.
(H)EDONUE: pleasure
Song of Songs
27.6: The most acute physical pleasure is used as a symbol.
59.5: those who have taken pleasure in passion or vanity.
102.8: seized by lust, it dissolves into pleasure.
312.20: anything else giving pleasure to the eyes.
313.22: If a person...is drawn by pleasure in the body.
314.5: When the soul enjoys only the contemplation of Being, it will not arise from those things which effect sensual pleasure.
(H)EDUS: sweet
Song of Songs
72.3: he changed that earlier fearful appearance to one of conjugal joy which is sweet.
157.1: Now the vine blossoms through its buds and emits a fragrant odor, sweet and delicate.
205.4: and honored him with precious stones, gold and sweet smelling perfumes.
282.17: it [pomegranate] is sweet and appealing to the sight.
(H)EGEMONKOS: governing
Song of Songs
45.1: the governing part of the soul.
72.13: Once the governing part of the soul has been cleansed.
94.19: The bride has received the good odor of Christ in the governing part of the soul.
242.8: the governing principle symbolized by the heart.
415.2: The guiding faculty of the soul must be engraved with the clear, pure memory of the divine words.
(H)EDOMAI: to take delight; noun: (H)EDONE
Song of Songs
117.8: a sweet and lovely fragrance.
124.4: to see the husbandman of the true vine who tended the cluster and made it sweet.
189.13: every perfume from virtue in life's course is ground into a fine material to produce that sweet powder.
251.22: The boon of health sweetens our body's senses.
307.5: the fruit of virtue sweetens the soul's senses.
(H)ELIKIA: period of life
Song of Songs
17.13: Not all periods of life according to the flesh are capable of every natural operation.
18.3: each time of life has its own proper activity.
38.18: has attained the flower of spiritual maturity.
96.5: The child Jesus...is present according to the measure of the person receiving him.
256.17: "the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ" [Eph 4.13]; cf. 282.19, 467.19.
460.21: they have attained spiritual youthfulness.
(H)ESUCHIA: rest, quiet
Song of Songs
80.22: and find relief from their long labors.
81.7: If anyone should dispose his soul as to keep it quiet and undisturbed.
299.1: when the Lord ordered the storm to quiet down.
233.4: Once the bride has quieted those who have listened to her.
ZEO: to boil, seethe(4)
Song of Songs
27.13: our mind may seethe with passion for the spirit alone.
77.22: Gehenna's furnace makes the wicked boils of damnation seethe.
94.22: The body's members are heated, animated and nourished by the heart's fire.
ZETEO: to seek
Song of Songs
120.3: She seeks to be brought into the very house of wine.
120.16: she seeks to be subjected to love.
123.14: she seeks to be supported by perfumes.
124.4: The one who wishes to be supported by the perfumes seeks perseverence in virtue.
137.12: it does not yet seem to have grasped what it seeks [cf Phil 3.13].
138.16: and has not fully obtained what she was seeking.
179.19: by describing how she found the object of her search.
182.12: Not having seen him whom she sought among these good things.
182.17: the one sought after is incomprehensible.
193.13: let him seek it [text's hidden marrow] from the One who reveals the hidden mysteries to those who are worthy.
247.10: the limit of his achievement becomes a beginning for the discovery of higher blessings.
324.15: through it [human mind] the object sought after enters.
334.7: to grasp out of curiosity the object of one's search.
369.23: and goes after him who cannot be seized.
379.16: that we may know where to seek him.
380.2: Indicate to us the one whom you seek.
ZOOPOIEO: to give life
Song of Songs
7.2: "the letter kills, but the spirit gives life" [2 Cor 3.6].
91.12: Paul became a fragrance bringing either life or death.
236.3: and nourishes the entire body by these life-giving teachings.
346.18: and the Word bestows life to the other.
349.15: I mean one tree bestowed life and the other's fruit was death.
ZOPHOS: dark, shadowy
Song of Songs
46.11: Although I have become dark through sin.
47.9: My former life has created this dark, shadowy appearance.
48.11: the dark form of its life is changed to resplendent grace.
49.3: the bath of regeneration which washed away their dark form.
60.17: I have put on a gloomy form.
391.14: The bridegroom's locks of hair are dark and black like a raven.
THANATOS: death(5)
Song of Songs
32.10: He who attaches himself to life passes from death into life.
67.5: Once you have passed out of this life and have slipped into the folds of death.
92.7: "the scent of death to those who are to die" [2 Cor 2.15].
126.21: he voluntarily partook of our humility even to the point of experiencing death.
151.18: Everything imitates death's sadness.
165.13: the ruler of the powers of darkness who has power over death.
242.17: when through death, Christ destroy's death's power [cf. Heb 2.14].
249.20: No one is able to live with me unless he has been changed by the death of myrrh into the divinity of frankincense.
255.7: How can life come through death?
290.7: No one can share God's glory unless he has been first conformed to the likeness of Christ's death [cf. Phil 3.10].
311.20: This sleep is like death.
345.11: life cannot be in a person unless it enters death's gate.
347.15: How, then, can death raise us up from death?
350.3: death's nature consists in the cessation of life.
351.3: Once death had been mixed with nature, mortality passed on to successive generations of children.
390.1: he is the first born from the dead [cf. Col 1.18].
THAUMA: wonder; verb: THAUMAZO
Song of Songs
37.15: the wonders visible in the universe give material for theological terms.
38.1: Creation retains the traces of this divine perfume through its visible wonders.
45.11: we will be excluded from seeing the marvels within the tent.
49.5: David looked to the city above and wondrously beheld the spectacle [cf Ps 86.5 ff].
68.19: If you consider this...nor will you consider heaven as marvelous.
69.3: Marvel not at the earth's breadth.
165.4: What marvel of divine greatness does the text contain?
176.12: she marvels how he descended in a shadowy form upon the bed of this life below.
185.6: the bridegroom's friends marveling at his ascent from the desert.
186.18: not only do they marvel at her ascent, but the depths from which she rose.
188.10: she rose to such a height through her diligence and continence to make her spouse's friends marvel.
205.5: evident to whomever understands the marvels of the Gospel.
214.5: that marvelous sight, the bridegroom adorned with his crown.
219.19: The bride's exterior beauty has already been praised by silently marveling at it.
231.3: hidden wonders are seen by that eye alone which beholds hidden things.
253.19: The angelic choir around the bridegroom marvels at the bride.
255.7: it [divine wisdom] effects great wonders by means of contrary elements.
255.12: the simple uniform working of God's wisdom which effected wonders.
258.17: the bride makes her friends marvel at one of her eyes.
293.7: Who can worthily comprehend the wonders applied to the bride?
295.5: we can enjoy their beauty and marvel at them.
320.4: she admires the sound of his voice.
321.10: he would approach it marveling at the endless stream of water gushing forth.
321.23: The bride wonders and is amazed at her knowledge.
334.18: it marvels and worships him who alone is recognized by his works.
335.14: When the soul looks at these wonders, it considers him who is recognized in his works.
337.4: the term "wonder" (throesis) signifies amazement and astonishment.
366.17: Anything great and marvelous always seems inferior to what succeeds it.
407.4: he manifested himself in the flesh through virtues and miracles.
446.7: In imitation of this array, the soul...marvels at these forces.
THEIOTEROS: more divine
Song of Songs
15.1: and transformed within him into a state which is free from passion and more divine.
29.16: transformed in their nature through the Lord's teaching into something more divine.
156.19: inebriation through which men pass ecstatically from the material to the divine realm.
253.16: changed into something divine.
262.12: and transformed into a divine state.
319.10: How can we worthily consider the bride's ascent to what is more divine?
321.22: what he awaits is always more magnificent and more divine.
334.2: it looks up through virtue to what is connatural and divine.
THEOGNOSIS: knowledge of God
Song of Songs
26.2: to approach the spiritual mountain of the knowledge of God.
44.10: Song of Songs...a guide for every type of philosophy and knowledge of God.
323.4: the soul enters within the sanctuary of divine knowledge.
THEOPHANEIA: divine manifestation, theophany
Song of Songs
31.13: [Moses] acquired a still greater desire for these kisses after the theophanies.
71.11: and became a theophany at the dawn of a third day.
164.4: Now she desires his appearance in the flesh.
254.15: God's great concern for us by his manifestation in the flesh.
383.19: she leads the virgins to God's manifestation in the flesh.
THEOPNEUSTOS: divinely inspired
Song of Songs
4.16: there is nothing unusual in searching the divinely inspired scriptures with every means at our disposal.
5.12: all the inspired scriptures is Law for those who read them.
12.12: one could say that the inspired words, when not worked over by a more subtle contemplation, are food for irrational beasts.
25.5: not drag down the significance of the divine thoughts and words.
26.17: there are many songs in the divinely inspired teaching by which we acquire great knowledge about God.
173.5: first draw out the sense contained in the text and then accommodate the divinely inspired words to what we examined earlier.
269.12: by flying over the fields of divinely inspired words.
436.1: We come to know the usefulness of the divinely inspired Scriptures through spiritual contemplation.
447.14: If for some mysterious reason the divinely inspired text that the divine nature has wings.
THEOPREPES: befitting God
Song of Songs
17.6: His wisdom is infinite and his very essence is..every exalted, divine name.
36.19: even if they seem to contain something great and befitting God's glory.
42.3: a more beautiful and fitting name to the Lord.
THEORIA: contemplation, consideration
Song of Songs
3.4: by an appropriate contemplation of the text.
6.3: Paul calls his consideration of them allegory [cf. Gal 4.24].
6.13: In all these different expressions and names of contemplation.
12.3: to teach us the necessity of contemplating the words according to their deeper meaning.
12.12: inspired words, when not worked over by a more subtle contemplation.
15.12: before entering upon the mystical contemplation of the Song of Songs.
27.19: to begin our interpretation of the divine words of the Song of Songs.
71.15: The interpretation of the Song's prologue.
100.14: from a consideration of the text.
137.6: The Song now leads us to desire a contemplation of the transcendent good.
138.18: we have not even approached the outer doors of the sanctuary of contemplation.
178.2: All these examples are like voices summoning the soul to contemplate the [heavenly] mysteries.
179.21: By a contemplation of the words before us, we are clearly taught not to limit the greatness of God's nature.
180.8: Diligently consider what is offered for our examination.
181.5: By "night" the bride shows us the contemplation of what is unseen.
190.17: we should shift our attention from the material appearances to a spiritual contemplation.
209.3: to gain a better understanding of scripture.
226.1: by a more subtle contemplation they make the food delectable.
226.16: Paul reduces the dense body of the Law into fine pieces and makes it spiritual through contemplation.
230.13: the exercise of temperance rightly partakes of contemplation.
294.14: we need to apply greater attention to the text.
313.2: Despising all such wonders through the contemplation of true goodness.
314.3: When the soul enjoys only the contemplation of Being.
323.6: the only thing left for her contemplation is the unseen and unattainable where God dwells.
341.16: The vast sea represents contemplation of the divine words.
342.6: Having thus traversed the open sea by contemplation.
356.14: The contemplation of God's face is a never ending journey.
436.2: We come to know the usefulness of the divinely inspired Scriptures through spiritual contemplation.
THEOTES: divinity, God
Song of Songs
33.17: Nobody will err if he understands by the hart the hidden, secret power of God.
37.4: the perfume of divinity is not the perfume itself.
68.6: the impression of true divinity.
71.6: purification by which souls are prepared to receive God.
88.18: not the pure gold of divinity but gold's likeness through concepts.
107.7: the manifestation of your divinity in the flesh.
108.2: while unveiling the pure rays of your divinity.
213.3: How can anything transitory like this be attributed to God?
242.18: when he ascends to his own glorious divinity.
246.9: God's exceedingly great glory is endless.
249.15: and ascended in the fellowship of my divinity signified by the term "frankincense."
285.17: Indeed, virtue is not separate from the divinity.
378.16: the shaft of love deeply placed in her heart, for this represents fellowship with God.
384.15: but do not show his invisible, incomprehensible divinity.
391.5: He was an offshoot of virginity in which dwelt bodily the fulness of divinity.
KAIROS: time, season
Song of Songs
13.15: insofar as the season and my occupation have allowed me leisure.
27.17: Now the time has come to begin our interpretation of the divine words.
82.17: It is now time to contemplate the words which the bridegroom's friends say to the virgin.
136.9: "the time for pruning has arrived" [Sg 2.12].
154.4: This is the season in which to pluck these flower and plait them into crowns.
283.7: Once the time arrives to enjoy this pomegranate.
KARDIA: heart
Song of Songs
23.7: love as much as you can with your whole heart and strength [cf. Dt 6.5].
94.12: The Lord himself has become myrrh...dwelling in my heart.
95.1: and has made her own heart a kind of sachet for such incense.
176.6: Placed in the space of her heart, it issues divine teachings.
200.1: "in the day of the gladness of his heart" [Sg 3.11].
202.14: having held the knowledge of all things in the breadth of his heart.
235.4: an instrument of his word whose movements pass through the heart.
270.9: From your heart's treasure come your words.
276.15: the radiance and transparency of the bride's heart is unclouded by no mire of evil thoughts.
279.8: that her heart may ascent on high.
305.5: God...attended to the readiness of her heart.
313.14: Once all these senses have been put to sleep...the heart's action is pure.
328.1: The bride opened a way into her soul for her spouse by removing the veil from her heart.
370.8: makes known her heart's affliction through the daughters of Jerusalem.
383.12: receives the point of spiritual desire in the depths of her heart.
413.16: the tablet [is] purity of heart on which our memories have inscribed the divine visions.
414.6: "Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water" [Jn 7.38].
KATAGLUKAINO: to sweeten
Song of Songs
60.7: Immortality...sweetens the soul's senses in chastity.
251.22: the boon of health sweetens our body's senses.
274.5: the fig...sweetens the senses of the soul.
307.3: the fruit of virtue sweetens the soul's senses.
KATAKOSMEO: to adorn
Song of Songs
21.11: The youth now adorned with these nuptial crowns as a bridegroom.
84.6: It is first necessary for the horse to be fully adorned and then receive the king.
210.11: but all parts are tastefully adorned.
KATALAMBANO: to grasp, comprehend; noun: KATALEPSIS
Song of Songs
22.13: Solomon elevates above everything grasped by sense the loving movement of our soul towards invisible beauty.
37.2: from what we can grasp we make conjectures by a kind of analogy.
38.7: The beauty grasped is great.
138.10: clear recognition of the truth.
139.5: conjecture rather than full and unambiguous comprehension.
140.1: What is always comprehended now has one shape and then another.
173.10: The sensible is grasped by sense.
181.12: I am resting on the bed of all I thus understood.
183.3: him whom she loves is known only in her impossibility to comprehend his essence.
245.21: He never allowed the good already attained to limit his desire.
246.9: The unbounded, incomprehensible divinity remains beyond all understanding.
247.9: Although the stage attained is indeed greater than what a person had earlier, it does not limit his good.
258.3: By the term "alone" I mean he who is comprehended in his immutable nature.
320.9: yet how is it that what the soul has already comprehended is the beginning of something beyond her?
323.5: Forsaking what human nature can attain.
324.4: Like a horse she runs through everything she has understood and experienced.
357.4: We cannot comprehend the greatness of the divine nature.
367.12: she seeks him who cannot be grasped.
386.7: This person is led by faith through what is finite and comprehensible to knowledge of the infinite.
334.7: Wisdom limits our comprehension of God.
337.21: how can he comprehend God who lies beyond him?
352.15: the only way for comprehending that power transcending all understanding is never to remain in any notion of him.
353.13: the one whom she desired escapes her grasp.
435.10: He indicates the location of the sought-after One and the direction of his gaze.
KATANOESIS: observation, understanding; verb: KATANOEO
Song of Songs
10.3: how something more sublime might be found
27.4: Human understanding left to its own resources could neither discover nor absorb the Song's mystery.
27.20: First, let us consider the significance of the title.
86.4: any understanding of God remains unutterable.
87.3: Every thought of our falls short of the comprehension of God.
88.14: she has perceived his odor by the fragrance of her perfume.
137.8: when we recognize that we cannot grasp this good.
138.12: The bride does not name all those earlier ascent contemplation and clear recognition of truth.
140.4: doubt that I shall ever attain a true understanding of divine things.
173.11: The sensible is grasped by sense, while the intelligible transcends sensible comprehension.
180.2: Neither can any measure of knowledge limit the comprehension of our objective.
180.5: the mind running on high through its understanding of transcendent reality.
190.17: by more careful consideration we should shift our attention.
207.15: our task is to consider diligently the diverse material before us.
233.6: Our aim is to consider the value of this divinely inspired text.
246.8: They will receive as much as their minds can comprehend.
257.7: you put in us a soul and mind to comprehend the light in you.
319.11: How can we worthily consider the bride's ascent to what is more divine?
322.16: Next, a more careful understanding of hidden things leads the soul through appearances.
324.11: although a clear apprehension escapes it.
337.7: the wonderful deeds of the divine hand which transcends our human capacity.
361.12: to first consider the use of these words in sacred scripture.
386.2: Whoever looks at the visible world and understands the wisdom that has been made manifest by the beauty of creatures.
KAT' ARCHAS: in the beginning
Song of Songs
152.18: Human nature initially flourished while it was in Paradise.
183.13: it returns to that state which it had in the beginning.
205.7: at the beginning the assembly from among the nations was dark from idolatry.
321.8: the fountain...rose from the earth at the beginning of creation.
354.13: Moses grew right at the beginning when he put Christ's humiliation higher.
437.1: Christ initially cultivated human nature.
457.21: creation exists from its very beginning by the divine power.
KATASKEUAZO: to equip, furnish; noun: KATASKEUE
Song of Songs
23.16: an image of the pleasures of life as a preparation for its instruction.
206.11: God's care is similarly indicated for us by the chariot's construction.
252.10: The bridegroom prepares another grace for his spouse by his foresight.
353.10: Through both deeds and faith the Word prepares the key of the kingdom in us.
384.21: The establishment of the Church is the creation of the world.
418.1: the various means to obtain virtue by means of the Law.
419.13: the person perfected by these two commandments is made into a column and support of truth.
440.5: When the soul has prepared itself and has rejected every material stain.
447.15: the first man made according to God's image and likeness was in every way like its archetype.
KATATRUPHO: to enjoy, delight
Song of Songs
24.1: and prays that she may enjoy the bridegroom's kiss.
96.5: by its blossom which gladdens our senses.
146.17: both delight our nostrils with their sweet odor.
240.17: the loveliness of their beauty which delights the eyes.
291.8: they enjoyed a spiritual banquet.
320.15: she has not yet delighted at the appearance of her groom's face.
KATHAROTETOS: purity
Song of Songs
14.17: have wrapped yourselves by the purity of our lives in the bright garments of the Lord.
25.8: having become like God through purity.
46.15: he allowed me to share his own purity and filled me with his beauty.
52.13: relief from the heat...due to their self-control and purity.
68.10: his gleam is reflected by your purity.
89.19: It imitates by its own purity that which by nature is incorruptible.
272.18: resembles the transcendent divine nature by your purity.
307.12: being fragrant through purity and detachment.
325.11: you must lack nothing and be completely filled with innocence and purity.
329.10: clothed with the radiant tunic of the Lord which he put on with purity.
368.8: In view of her current purity the bride does not seem to have removed her covering.
388.8: having been begotten from virginal purity.
468.1: he received a royal dignity and Spirit's glory by detachment and purity.
KATOIKEO: to dwell; noun: KATASKEUE
Song of Songs
50.1: If anyone is a "tent of Kedar," he becomes a dwelling of light.
68.15: God dwells in you, penetrates you.
87.16: you will become submissive and a dwelling place through faith.
202.9: a dwelling of god in the Spirit.
KATORTHOO: to set aright, accomplish
Song of Songs
16.3: conduct themselves virtuously.
55.6: free will...the result of free choice.
72.16: praise of deeds rightly done instills a keener desire for the Good.
79.3: as if chastity were naturally exercised in its life.
90.1: by everything in us effected through virtue.
93.13: a bride preparing herself in her bridal chamber.
113.10: By properly carrying out what we just mentioned.
123.18: the virtues, once ordered in us in all their variety.
135.6: when the detachment of the angels is effected in us.
186.9: according to the degree of perfection established in each person.
198.7: "children" those who have achieved a state free from passion.
219.4: a spiritual and immaterial life is effected in him.
230.19: the external appearances of a well-ordered life.
252.13: by the changeability of our nature we are to establish it immovably in the good.
271.14: a certain form of the transcendent nature might become present in them.
314.8: May we may be made worthy...to keep our soul vigilant in Christ Jesus.
356.16: Contemplation of God's face is a never ending journey toward him accomplished by following right behind the Word.
361.8: the blow which effects its removal.
377.6: A person truly establishes certitude within himself, that is faith.
394.3: actions which direct a morally good life.
419.14: the person perfected by these two commandments is made into a column.
KINESIS: movement
Song of Songs
22.14: the loving movement of our soul towards invisible beauty.
64.14: the material world continuously passes away by a kind of flux and movement.
313.16: reason looks above while it remains undisturbed and free from the senses' movement.
344.1: the operative faculties of the soul.
345.18: the movement of one cannot function properly unless the other is slackened.
(TO) KREITTON: (the) better
Song of Songs
159.17: he gives the power to ascent to what is better.
160.8: once again by being transformed into something better.
161.6: a perfect disposition for desiring to rise to what is better.
174.10: it is always being created while ever changing for the better.
175.19: she always made progress towards what is better.
177.3: She shows by a comparison her change for the better.
187.11: her great change and transformation for the better.
252.12: but by constant progress in perfection towards the better.
265.13: He accepts her breasts and changes them for the better.
313.23: that which is better can be overshadowed by what is inferior.
395.1: We learn about their qualities by comparing their beauty to something better.
459.11: diligence and progress in what is better.
KRUPTO: to hide
Song of Songs
10.15: to learn from the One who reveals the hidden mysteries.
135.12: the mysteries hidden in Christ Jesus our Lord.
193.7: clear to those alone whom the Spirit's grace reveals his hidden mysteries.
193.14: If anyone desires the text's hidden marrow.
322.15: A more careful understanding of hidden things.
325.1: Names such as sister...are keys which open what is hidden.
368.5: better understanding of the text from him who reveals the hidden mysteries.
451.18: "The wise conceal sensation" [Prov 10.14].
455.17: Something like a pomegranate's skin surrounds the hidden treasure of the bride's longings.
LOGIKOS: rational
Song of Songs
55.3: God gave to rational nature the grace of free will.
61.15: It is ineffable and not contained by any intelligent nature.
LOGISMOS: thought, referring to the mind
Song of Songs
15.5: clothe yourselves with the white garments of pure, chaste thoughts.
26.5: It is destroyed with firmer thoughts.
36.13: divine power is...unable to be contained by human conceptions.
65.17: They do not have prudent reason.
86.3: Paul himself says that such conceptions are unutterable.
192.11: The sword at the thigh terrorizes...nocturnal thoughts.
240.12: those pasturing and gathering pure thoughts from it are fattened.
275.21: our soul's rational faculty swells up and always flows over.
313.15: reason looks above while it remains undisturbed.
334.5: Wisdom moves all one's thoughts and capacity for investigation.
346.14: to wipe out from the Lord's city all thoughts desirous of evil [cf. Ps 100.8].
357.16: I have sought him by my soul's capacity of reflection and understanding.
376.12: One must have a pure mind which banishes every passion from the soul.
LOGOS: Word (as Jesus Christ)
Song of Songs
5.4: as the Word teaches and as Proverbs says [cf 1.6].
7.16: the Word who is adorned by all creation.
29.17: The Word testified to his disciples that they were more than men.
40.5: to become worthy of a kiss through the illumination of the Word.
40.19: coming face to face with the Word.
41.2: you love the Word's breasts more than wine.
41.6: John, who...loved the Word's breasts [cf. Jn 13.25].
41.11: John offers us the teat filled by the Word.
45.7: purified from the filth of shameful thoughts by the bath of the Word.
71.6: God's own Word and great power enables a reader to share this text.
71.18: God the Word will appear to the purified soul today.
73.2: What does the true Word say to the virgin?
76.16: we must also receive the Word mounted upon us as upon a horse.
79.4: the turtledove was included by the Word in his enigmatic praise.
86.6: the Word in the beginning, the Word being God [cf. 1 Jn 1.1].
90.10: to look steadily upon the Word of God as upon the sun.
104.11: The soul, when cleansed by the Word from vice, receives within itself the sun's orb.
148.1: Mankind...might be warmed by the Spirit and by the rays of the Word.
148.14: The Word's brightness first came to the Church through the prophets.
148.21: The Word cries out to his Church through the windows.
150.7: The bride hears the command, is strengthened by the Word.
158.21: the bride being led by the Word up a rising staircase.
163.11: The Word cried out these words through the windows to his bride.
164.6: that the Word may become flesh and God may be seen in the flesh.
169.4: Since man is rational, he is nourished by the true Word.
170.10: The bride...urges the Word to hasten the realization of her hopes.
176.12: she carefully considers the Word's beauty.
193.2: the sword signifies the Word.
230.6: The Word who fashions the Church into an image of a bride.
242.11: but gives the teat of the Word to those in need.
249.4: The Word uses such exhortations...to excite the soul for higher things.
252.10: The Word desires us who are changeable by nature not to fall into evil.
253.8: The Word's voice is always one of power.
259.10: the person looking towards the Word has one soul because of its uniformity in a virtuous life.
264.9: the Word proceeding from the divine mouth might come to her mouth.
280.8: When the Word raises his bride to such a point through her ascents.
293.12: God's Word is living, and the soul who has received it is living.
317.16: If we achieve this with the Word's assistance, we will attain the angelic life.
318.11: the Word is espoused to the Church.
320.3: she does not yet receive the Word standing at her door.
322.1: Now the bride perceives the Word knocking and she rises at the sound.
324.14: It is the Word touching the door.
327.8: Let us see how the bride obeys the Word and makes an entrance for her spouse.
328.4: to wash the filth from their soul's feet in the bath of the Word.
328.6: the bride opened a way for the Word.
332.3: These are the means by which the bride's door is opened to the Word.
343.1: In this way we will open the door to the Word that he may enter.
352.4: The Word whom she admits is Life.
353.6: whose bolt the Word offers to persons like Peter [cf. Mt 16.19].
353.10: For through both deeds and faith the Word prepares the key of the kingdom in us.
354.3: The soul thus goes out using the Word as a guide.
356.16: Contemplation of God's face is a never ending journey toward him accomplished by following right behind the Word.
357.1: but touches the Word who leads her onward.
358.17: The soul thus calls the Word as best it can.
362.19: The Word passed by his bride who could not grasp her desired lover.
367.7: as the Word precedes her, her head is filled with dew.
381.2: We say that in the beginning was the Word [cf. Jn. 1.3].
387.1: and he announces the Word as present in the beginning.
391.6: He was the first fruit of the common mass of dough by which the Word assumed our nature.
397.8: the Word requires that we assiduously apply ourselves to the divine teachings.
398.8: Many persons let their spiritual eyes neglect these waters and pay scant attention to the Word of God.
403.6: it became a bowl for pouring out the wine of the Word.
405.9: The Word alone lived in her.
425.3: his voice is the organ of the Word.
425.5: interpreters of the Word in whom Christ speaks.
443.7: By these terms the Word clearly reveals the correct manner of ascent.
460.21: Begotten by the Word of faith.
MAKARIOS: blessed, happy
Song of Songs
15.17: the most perfect and blessed way of salvation.
37.16: theological terms by which we call god wise, powerful...blessed.
98.5: How happy is that orchard whose fruit resembles the bridegroom's beauty!
309.14: blessed Peter participated in this kind of inebriation.
319.3: "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds so doing when he comes" [Lk 12.37].
319.5: It is blessed to obey the One knocking.
468.19: Everyone is drawn to desire what they bless and praise.
MARTURION: witness
Song of Songs
16.16: According to the divine testimony.
112.13: and maintain a good reputation among "those outside" [1 Tim 2.7].
188.8: The bride's ascent from the desert testifies that she rose to such a height.
189.16: After bearing witness to the bride's loveliness.
203.8: The enemies of the Lord testify that he is the king of Israel.
320.12: For what more could she seek after so great a testimony to her perfection?
MATAIOTES: vanity; adjective: MATAIOS
Song of Songs
22.11: everything unstable is vain and passing.
41.16: yoked to an infantile kind of vanity.
147.13: those who attend to the vanity of idols are changed into what they behold.
170.2: They regard shadow and vanity as real.
196.5: The sword of hearing...never receives a vain word.
240.5: The Holy Spirit...whose breath expels the vanity of shadows.
METABAINO: to pass over
Song of Songs
6.17: We must pass to a spiritual and intelligent investigation of scripture.
32.11: He who attaches himself to life passes from death into life.
118.5: who pass over to the grace of a lily.
410.21: One must carefully remove everything superfluous and corporeal in order to pass over into the divine, spiritual realm.
METABALLO: to change
Song of Songs
188.1: made her shoot rise up and change into such beauty.
208.6: wood does not endure but changes into god, silver or anything of value.
259.9 the soul's character is changed to grief and pleasure, courage and fear.
274.10: Later the olive is changed into oil by proper maturation and cultivation.
METALAMBANO: to share, change
Song of Songs
8.6: The bronze serpent elevated on high...was transformed for us into the dispensation of the Cross [cf. Num 21.8; Jn 3.14].
163.6: and elevates the meaning of the words to the spiritual and intellectual realm.
320.13: The exercise of temperance rightly partakes of contemplation.
247.13: He moves from one beginning to another.
409.15: ["Tarshish"] frequently takes on a divine, noble significance.
METAMORPHOO: to change, transform
Song of Songs
14.16: and have been transformed with him into a state which is free from passion.
104.4: [human nature] takes on different appearances according to the impression of free will.
160.3: the Apostle who bids the same image to be transformed "from glory to glory" [2 Cor 3.18], also 186.9.
160.8: the bride is bidden to become a dove once again by being transformed into something better.
251.7: He is changed into that beast [lion] after having been overpowered.
253.17: from the glory which the soul hand, it is transformed into a loftier glory.
329.12: like the tunic Christ showed in his transfiguration on the mountain.
METAPOIEO: to change, alter
Song of Songs
24.8: the exchange of corruptibility for incorruptibility.
29.15: they have been transformed in their nature through the Lord's teaching.
53.11: The Song speaks about our transformation from a good color to blackness.
57.14: [darkness] may be transformed into rays of light.
77.20: each of the evils which befell the Egyptians can easily be transformed into something instructive.
222.5: the king made a litter by changing the trees of Lebanon into gold, etc.
250.15: The river from these springs have become the beginning of our transformation into what is divine.
253.15: changed into something divine.
262.11: and transformed into a divine state.
291.11: They changed sparkling wine into a murky waste.
306.11: plants...are transformed into every kind of nourishment.
466.6: if fear changes into love, then unity follows.
METASTASIS: removal, change
Song of Songs
6.11: " a turning to the Lord and the removal of a veil" [2 Cor 3.16].
162.10: your passage from the wall to the rock is short.
187.12: her great change and transformation for the better.
223.5: our conversion brought us from a Gentile way of life to one of philosophy with regard to God.
322.15: our withdrawal from false, deceptive ideas of God is a transition from darkness into light.
METASTOICHEIO: to transform
Song of Songs
24.17: transformation of nature.
30.9: After the resurrection, the body which has been transformed into incorruptibility.
209.18: He transformed our wood by a rebirth into silver, gold, rich purple and gleaming stones.
262.22: no share in the nature of flesh and blood and have been transferred into the spiritual realm.
METECHO: to partake
Song of Songs
138.1: She called this joy "wine" which gladdens the hearts of those who partake of it.
158.15: he [God] always remains in equal measure superior to the participating soul.
158.18: the soul continually grows through participation in what is beyond it.
246.3: Something similar will occur to those who partake of the good.
246.5: They will always have a greater participation in God throughout eternity.
METHE: inebriation
Song of Songs
156.18: to enjoy a good and sober inebriation.
308.7: "East, my companions, and drink, be inebriated, my brethren" [Sg 5.1].
311.8: Sleep results from inebriation.
362.12: a cup causing sober inebriation.
METOUSIA: participation
Song of Songs
16.13: This is the attitude which he commands to the souls of all who listen to him.
19.7: it draws the child by yearning and desire to participate in the good.
129.6: allows his bride to participate in his eternal incorruptibility.
137.10: the purified soul is exalted through love to participate in this goodness.
158.13: when God draws a human soul to participate in himself.
159.7: Then he starts again to draw her to participate in a higher beauty.
181.3: the bride calls "bed" this more perfect participation in the good.
248.14: the faculty of taste becomes a kind of incitement to further participation.
263.5: Such a person sharing the immaculate bridal chamber is rightly called bride.
320.16: is still led by hearing to participate in the good.
433.16: the Law whose shadow hindered participation in the light.
MIMESIS: imitation; verb: MIMEOMAI
Song of Songs
41.2: we shall imitate you and love your breasts more than wine.
215.8: For the bride has imitated the Lord's love for mankind.
272.18: The garment of your virtues imitates the divine blessedness.
446.5: In imitation of this array.
452.10: Those who imitated the prophet's nobility.
MORPHE: form
Song of Songs
28.21: The form constituted by these terms.
47.12: Although I am black, I am now this beautiful form.
50.15: the bride fashioned by God's hands has been covered by a shadowy, dark form.
85.8: studs of silver to beautify the horse's form.
106.8: the virgin gazes at her bridegroom's form.
108.3: "shaded yourself over" with the form of a servant [cf. Phil 2.7]; cf. 126.18, 381.17
150.10: the mirror has reflected the image of a beautiful form.
187.10: as if she appeared in a form different from her first one.
218.19: a form impresses itself upon the eye like a mirror.
439.13: one form exists in both.
440.10: the beauty of his form is reflected in me.
MUSTAGOGO: to initiate
Song of Songs
22.17: Solomon then initiates the soul into the divine sanctuary by the Song.
25.19: he ordered those being initiated to cleanse themselves from marriage.
308.10: the disciples mystic initiation:..."Eat and drink" [Mt 26.26-7].
324.13: What is the mystic initiation which the soul experiences during this night?
387.2: The bride initiates her maidens by similar notions.
MUSTERION: mystery
Song of Songs
5.15: both lead to knowledge of the mysteries and to a pure way of life.
15.2: listen to the mysteries of the Song of Songs.
25.10: Let him enter into the inner sanctuary of the mysteries revealed in this book.
26.15: Through the title Song of Songs the noble text also promises to teach us the mystery of mysteries.
29.14: those introduced into the hidden mysteries of this book are no longer men.
39.3: at the proper time have entered the bridal chamber of the divine mysteries.
40.20: made worthy of the hidden mysteries.
41.20: filled by an ineffable transmission of the mysteries hidden in the heart of the Lord.
44.17: The elements inside form a kind of brilliant lamp stand and are full of mysteries.
86.4: Those persons who offer us any good thoughts about these mysteries are unable to state anything regarding the divine nature.
212.5: The loving bride was made worthy of her bridegroom's divine mysteries.
245.20: After hearing the unutterable mysteries of paradise.
318.13: the mystical bridal chamber.
393.2: Paul...distilled the hidden, obscure mysteries of God's word.
403.8: Filled with the knowledge of mysteries.
MUSTIKOS: mystical
Song of Songs
15.12: before entering upon the mystical contemplation of the Song of Songs.
77.3: liberated from servitude to the enemy through the mystical waters.
178.2: All these examples are like voices summoning the soul to contemplate heavenly mysteries.
193.6: We have no doubt that this number [sixty] has a mystical significance.
205.15: having washed off their darkness by a mystical washing.
308.8: To the person familiar with the Gospel's mystic words.
318.8: as a virgin through a mystical rebirth.
323.19: and desired to approach the fountain of light by that mystical kiss.
339.21: If we look to the Gospel, we understand the mystery of the bridegroom's hand.
436.5: we learn about the Gospel's mystery whose each word reveals its mystic sense.
NOEMA: thought, understanding
Song of Songs
5.2: the hidden, symbolic sense.
8.1: He reveals to us the meaning of the Law.
15.4: clothe yourselves with the white garments of pure, chaste thoughts.
17.7: his very essence is...every exalted, divine name and thought.
23.5: and have a pure mind.
26.4: If any irrational notion should be seen around this mountain.
28.16: these words in their obvious meanings.
29.1: These concepts testify that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the boundaries of human wisdom.
31.2: not to turn to it [flesh] in our thoughts.
36.18: every capacity for concepts and every form of words and names.
37.18: divinity...transcends every name and thought.
41.5: To make the intention of the passage even clearer.
45.5: All these things can be found in the literal meaning.
53.15: If there is something not completely transmitted from the train of thought.
77.5: He must leave behind every thought of Egypt.
86.1: any understanding of God remains unutterable.
86.19: the divine nature transcends every conception which tries to grasp it.
87.4: Every thought of our falls short of the comprehension of God.
89.1: concepts accessible to us.
113.17: human nature...its capacity for grasping an unlimited multitude of concepts.
133.5: Perhaps we can get a hint of the text's meaning.
145.10: rays of the prophetic writings and the Law illumine our soul through their intelligible windows and lattices.
150.6: How is the sequence of thought preserved unbroken in a kind of chain?
157.13: For no name or concept can impose limits to [the divine nature].
163.13: having been illumined by a ray of comprehension.
165.4: It is possible to do justice to the nobility of these thoughts?
180.12: Their meaning is transferred to a pure and spiritual level.
193.9: the literal understanding of the text suffices.
287.1: rather, it has a symbolic meaning.
291.12: the harmful mixture of evil thoughts.
294.17: we need to apply greater attention to the text.
296.5: if you can measure the loftiness of their [stars] minds.
326.12: Paul was such a river born aloft on the wave of his thoughts.
334.5: Wisdom moves all one's thoughts and capacity for investigation.
342.5: that the Holy Spirit's power might breathe on us and put into motion the waves of our thoughts.
357.17: everything we can discover always transcends our comprehension.
386.14: the entire Church is one body of the bridegroom and gives a meaning to each one of his members.
387.2: The bride initiates her maidens by similar notions.
439.9: It must cleanse itself of every material deed and thought.
457.7: Who will draw out the water of understanding?
NOERAS: intellectual, spiritual
Song of Songs
208.9: hinting through these things at an incorporeal, spiritual creation.
333.14: The human soul has two natures: the incorporeal, intellectual on the one hand; the bodily, material and irrational on the other.
345.8: the subtle, light and spiritual.
NOETOS: intelligent, spiritual
Song of Songs
6.16: we must pas to a spiritual and intelligent investigation of scripture.
34.8: the intellectual and apprehending capacity of the soul grasps spiritual realities.
34.13: certain sense of touch...works in an incorporeal, spiritual way.
34.16: a certain spiritual and immaterial power drawing in the good odor of Christ.
64.13: Since only one thing has an intelligible, immaterial nature.
133.13: the spiritual nature of the angels.
174.1: A spiritual nature has two aspects [uncreated and created].
182.5: The bride goes about in spirit through the spiritual, transcendent realm.
404.7: the spiritual, immaterial way of life.
467.19: a perfect man arrived at the measure of that spiritual age [cf. Eph 4.13].
NOMIZO: to think, hold, believe
Song of Songs
29.5: in words normally suggesting passion.
59.4: thinking it a loss to be deprived of iniquity.
64.2: How can anyone watch over what he does not know?
106.17: Those who look to the senses, these things appear beautiful, but they are not what they seem to be.
106.20: Things held honorable in this world.
139.14: At one time he is thought to be a gazelle.
186.1: those acting the designated plot are reckoned as other persons.
203.8: We accept this testimony even if it is understood as weakening the vastness of his power.
277.2: Others we think to appropriate such as external things belonging to the body.
314.2: they realize that what enters the sense must be avoided.
316.8: They seem to have existence but are not what we think.
378.10: The wound attributed to the first human beings came through the commandment which forbade evil.
NOMOS: (the) Law
Song of Songs
45.4: Such things the Law holds out as an example through mysterious symbols.
162.5: the Law was a wall that protected the faith of the Gospel.
163.7: "The Law is spiritual" [Rom 7.14].
226.17: Paul reduces the dense body of the Law [cf. Rom 7.14].
348.11: God's commandment was the law of life.
418.7: the entire Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
NOOS: mind, understanding
Song of Songs
6.18: considerations of the merely human element might be changed into something perceived by the mind.
11.16: whose meaning becomes clear in the letter of the text.
68.5: in the likeness of that nature which surpasses all understanding.
87.8: must establish in itself a nature transcending every intelligence.
91.2: knowledge of the good which transcends all understanding.
157.15: The blessed, eternal nature surpassing all understanding.
180.5: But the mind running on high through its understanding of transcendent reality.
190.18: we should shift our attention from the material appearance to a spiritual contemplation.
191.15: like a band of robbers it [carnal attractions] ambushes the mind.
298.16: The body...will fear his master, that is, his mind.
352.15: the only way for comprehending that power transcending all understanding is never to remain in any notion of him.
NUX: night
Song of Songs
48.8: When everything is enshrouded by the prevailing gloom of night.
70.16: opening verses of the Song may be compared to the sun's beams at dawn just after night has passed.
181.4: by "night" the bride shows us the contemplation of what is unseen.
181.14: I am embraced by the divine night.
314.16: "and my locks with the drops of the night" [Sg 5.2].
324.9: What is the mystic initiation which the soul experiences during this night?
325.16: and the drops of the night flowing down from my locks.
(H)OMOIOO: to resemble, compare
Song of Songs
76.19: to become like that power leaving behind in the water the opposing army.
81.17: he is aptly compared by the Word to "small necklaces."
98.6: How happy is that orchard whose fruit resembles the bridegroom's beauty!
118.3: when we hear men being compared to trees of the wood.
237.19: she was compared to a horse which fought the Egyptian tyrant.
280.14: having been compared to the scent of frankincense.
324.2: The bride is compared to a horse because of the swiftness of her progress.
OIKONOMIA: dispensation, care
Song of Songs
5.20: to transfer the meaning of the historical sense for showing the dispensation of the two Testaments.
8.6: the dispensation of the Cross.
40.13: an ecclesiastical concern.
96.1: the dispensation of the Passion.
107.10: you overshadow it with your care.
140.10: the dispensation of God's Word.
206.11: God's care for us is similarly indicated for us by the chariot's construction.
254.14: God's great concern for us by his manifestation in the flesh.
254.19: his concern for mankind in Christ.
380.19: his created part administers to us.
384.16: All these elements constituting the bridegroom's beauty are made known for our benefit.
427.13: The Word of God explained in a story the full dispensation of God's love for mankind.
OSPHRESIS: scent, smell
Song of Songs
117.12: he is joy to our eyes, perfume to our scent.
196.7: Similarly, we can arm taste, touch and smell by the sword of temperance.
216.9: The faculty of taste, smell and other senses...may be found in the common body of the Church.
268.10: her life is a sweet smelling odor to the bridegroom.
313.10: The soul keeps far away from our more animal sensations as if they were a foul stench; I mean the sense of smell, etc.
451.20: The wise do not judge beauty by...smell, touch or any other sense organ.
OROS: limit, boundary; mountain
Song of Songs
25.13: Moses who forbids us to ascend the spiritual mountain.
26.5: if any irrational notion should be seen around this mountain.
158.5: the evil becomes a limit on the good.
171.1: The Word runs quickly upon the mountains.
220.22: "I will go to the mountain of myrrh" [Sg 4.6].
249.12: You have come with me to the mountain of myrrh.
336.10: Our soul's limit of ineffable knowledge consists in appearances.
412.2: "Come up to me on the mountain" [Ex 24.12].
423.5: In our human nature Christ became a mountain which filled with cedars those rooted through faith in him.
439.5: Such is the measure and bond of perfection in virtue.
OPHTHALMOS: eye
Song of Songs
4.4: I am persuaded that your soul's eye is pure.
38.6: Who can help but love such a beauty provided that he has an eye capable?
68.18: If you consider this [2 Cor 6.16], you will not let your eye rest on any earthly thing.
170.1: those who have not had the eye of their soul enlightened by the light of truth.
260.5: the one eye and one soul are your dispositions for the true good.
360.19: her eye is free and unhindered to contemplate her beloved.
400.11: The eye situated by the fulness of spiritual waters.
OURANOS: heaven
Song of Songs
45.3: whatever else looks to the heavenly, incorporeal way of life.
53.1: No longer setting foot upon the earth, we are carried away to the life of heaven.
68.11: All of heaven is contained in the grasp of God's hand.
336.3: "Heaven and earth will pass away" [Mt 24.35].
338.13: whose hand embraces all things and measure the heavens.
385.1: a new heaven is created in it [Church].
OUSIA: being, existence
Song of Songs
37.13: the perfume of divinity, whatever it is in its essence, transcends every name.
56.3: all things have, as it were, one mother, the cause of their existence.
56.5: Whatever is perceived in existence is related to everything else.
89.16: the Word teaches us here about his essence underlying the order and structure of creation.
107.1: you are the very substance of beauty.
133.3: What is vain lacks substance.
181.18: that I might know his substance.
202.17: The Lord who is truth, wisdom and power is their essence.
256.11: marveling at his invisible, incomprehensible presence in all creatures.
PALIGGENESIS: rebirth
Song of Songs
49.3: the bath of regeneration which washed away their dark form.
209.19: He transformed our wood by a rebirth into silver, gold.
390.5: He did not experience...a rebirth from the dead.
PAROUSIA: presence
Song of Songs
72.3: but he changed that earlier fearful appearance to one of conjugal joy.
151.2: the dove which indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit.
166.11: angelic powers who escort the Lord when he appears on earth.
318.18: prepared to receive the Lord's coming.
324.11: The bridegroom bestows upon the soul a perception of his presence.
429.11: the care needed for the wounded man will be paid back at the Lord's second coming.
PARRHESIA: courage, freedom of speech
Song of Songs
255.3: "Jesus, in whom we have freedom of speech" [Eph 3.10].
317.13: for his life is illumined by the lamp of confidence.
369.11: the bride...boasts in her freedom at the removal of her veil.
454.1: Those who imitate his zeal follow in the footsteps of his boldness.
PARTHENOS: virgin
Song of Songs
23.3: that a person might be espoused to God by becoming a pure virgin instead of a bridegroom.
23.19: the virgin anticipates the bridegroom without shame.
32.12: The virginal soul desires to draw near to the fountain of spiritual life.
49.13: the prostitute becomes a virgin.
106.7: The virgin gazes at her bridegroom's beauty when she has the dove in her eyes.
108.19: The Apostle Paul joins us as virgins to Christ.
388.21: The virgin [Mary] did not know how the divine body was produced in her body.
405.11: she [Thekla] the virgin had died to the world.
PEGAZO: to spring up
Song of Songs
32.19: the thirsting soul wishes to bring its mouth to the mouth that springs up with life.
62.5: I will drink from the divine spring which you cause to spring up.
264.1: her breasts...flow with pure wine to gladden the more perfect.
275.22: our soul's rational faculty swells up and always flows over.
292.4: the bride is a fountain which does not flow with streams but with gardens.
404.17: The perfect, pure eye makes its cheeks a bowl which pours forth spices.
PEGE: fountain, spring
Song of Songs
16.12: who is the source of all good things.
32.12: The virginal soul desires to draw near to the fountain of spiritual life.
41.8: the Word fills us with the good things he got from the fountain of goodness.
62.4: And running to you, the fountain.
94.15: The heart is said to be a source of warmth.
152.19: Human nature...was nourished by the water of the fountains there [Paradise].
245.2: "a fountain sealed" [Sg 4.12].
248.5: The fountain of grace continually draws to itself those who are thirsty.
255.16: It made all things exceedingly beautiful as they welled up from the fountain of divine beauty.
261.13: "a fountain of gardens" [Sg 4.15].
276.13: Purity seals this fountain.
280.22: good for drinking after having been transformed into a sealed fountain.
291.19: she has become a fountain watering the gardens which flow out from her.
293.11: She closely imitates her bridegroom's fountain by one of her own.
303.14: and lets water flow from his own fountain of life.
323.19: desired to approach the fountain of light by that mystical kiss.
327.2: how necessary it is for us to think of that fountain [cf. Jn 7.37].
334.3: the source of its beauty from which springs the power whose wisdom is manifested in it.
386.3: the fountain of beauty whose emanation established all living beings in existence.
395.16: There are as many virtues as fountains of purifying water.
437.7: the pure, divine fountain of his teaching.
PERISTERA: dove
Song of Songs
99.5: "your eyes are doves" [Sg 1.15].
106.2: the image of a dove in its yes, meaning the stamp of the spiritual life shines from within..
116.2: and gazes at the mystery through dove's eyes.
136.5: "Arise, come, my companion, my fair one, my dove" [Sg 2.10].
136.14: "Come by yourself, my dove, in the shelter of the rock" [Sg 2.14].
151.1: In this light it takes on the beautiful form of a dove, I mean the dove which indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit.
159.4: being transformed into a dove's image in the light.
185.5: If we can somehow ascent with the perfect dove flying to the heights.
219.7: for the Holy spirit is the dove.
314.14: "Open to me, my sister, my companion, my dove, my perfect one" [Sg 5.2].
324.9: The bride is compared to...a dove because of her nimble mind.
325.2: Names such as...dove are clearly keys which open what is hidden.
325.10: You must be perfect like a dove.
400.14: washed by unmixed, pure milk like an innocent dove.
430.23: "My dove, my perfect one, is one" [Sg 6.9].
468.5: We know the mother of the dove.
468.20: the daughters praise the Dove and desire by all means to become doves.
PISTIS: faith
Song of Songs
33.14: and draws grace in proportion to its faith.
87.7: comprehend what cannot be laid hold of except by faith.
162.5: the Law was a wall that protected the faith of the Gospel.
183.9: No longer will I let him go once found by faith.
202.7: stones...fitted together into the unity of faith.
210.2: the Spirit gives prophecy according to the proportion of his faith.
244.5: "you will come and pass from the top of Faith" [Sg 4.8].
250.2: Frankincense is the beginning of faith which you have shared by the resurrection.
282.5: the word of faith in those who receive it becomes a garden planted in their hearts.
284.17: saffron's mystery more properly refers to our faith.
353.8: Through both deeds and faith the Word prepares the key of the kingdom for us.
377.6: A person truly establishes certitude within himself, that is faith, when he looks steadily at the truth.
385.9: many stars in the firmament of faith.
387.4: our mind does not first attain God's incomprehensible nature unless the visible or the flesh is grasped through faith.
417.5: Through them the base of our faith is firm, the course of virtue is completed.
460.22: Begotten by the Word of faith, they do not advance further to marriage.
PNEUMATIKOS: spiritual
Song of Songs
4.8: wisdom hidden [in the Song] leads to a spiritual state of the soul.
15.14: Through the words of the Song the soul is escorted to a...spiritual union with God.
25.13: Moses who forbids us to ascend the spiritual mountain before washing.
32.12: The virginal soul desires to draw near to the fountain of spiritual life.
38.18: and has attained the flower of spiritual maturity.
106.4: the stamp of the spiritual life shines from within.
155.14: The Song describes the spiritual spring to the bride.
162.14: However, the rock is spiritual while the wall is earthly.
163.8: The rock...elevates the meaning of the words to the spiritual and intellectual realm.
190.17: we should shift our attention from the material to a spiritual contemplation.
219.3: a spiritual and immaterial life is effected in him.
225.22: a clearer interpretation of the text makes spiritual food more easily acceptable.
226.18: Paul...makes it spiritual through contemplation.
262.22: and have been transferred into the spiritual realm.
270.5: The manifold divisions of spiritual graces are in proportion to the zeal of those who strive after them.
295.17: divine things which illumine our souls by heavenly, spiritual utterances.
331.17: light, truth, incorruptibility and righteousness with which the spiritual road is paved.
395.5: The spiritual, pure life is expressed by a dove.
399.15: He who nourishes a newly born infant with pure milk during its early spiritual life.
436.2: We come to know the usefulness of the divinely inspired Scriptures through spiritual contemplation.
460.20: "young maidens" because they have attainted spiritual youthfulness.
POLITEIA: (manner of) life
Song of Songs
5.15: a pure way of life.
45.3: whatever else that looks to the heavenly, incorporeal way of life.
126.7: it is guided to the heavenly way of life.
134.9: attentive to the angels who ratify the stable, constant life of virtue.
154.14: and showed us repentance of since and life according to virtue.
171.5: the Word nourishes...on the good fragrance of the lilies of a pure life.
218.9: The function of a purified, healthy [spiritual] eye is manifested to the other members by its exalted manner of life.
223.6: Holy Mount Zion did not prescribe this kind of life.
271.18: It is necessary to have many elements concur to create a virtuous life.
366.2: temperance, the teacher of a virtuous life.
422.1: by showing in his life each form of virtue.
POTHEO: to desire, long for
Song of Songs
24.13: hastens to enjoy the favor of the beauty of the One she so eagerly desires.
32.1: he thereby acquired a still greater desire for these kisses after the theophanies.
32.4: every enjoyment of God they turn into the kindling of a still more intense desire.
61.3: and makes known to her beloved her heart's thoughts.
138.11: she calls them the "voice" of the bridegroom whom she desires.
145.13: Finally, what we desire becomes a reality.
168.12: No longer can the wall of the Law separate her from union with the one she desires.
176.3: but takes what she desires and suspends it between her spiritual breasts.
178.4: The bride begins to see her desired bridegroom.
179.15: What can be higher than being in the beloved and having him in oneself?
181.2: already thinking that she is united to her beloved.
181.15: Then did I love my desired one.
333.10: His hand reaches inside and rouses the bride's desire for seeing him.
353.12: the one whom she desired escapes her grasp.
356.14: the person desiring to see God can behold the desired One by always following right behind the Word.
356.19: and hopes that the desired One will enter within.
369.20: when her desire is fulfilled.
370.1: the true satisfaction of her desire consists in always progressing in her search.
377.14: let us listen to the bride's teachings and see what she desires.
380.14: How does she depict in words his form which she desires?
386.11: that she may make known to them her beloved.
POTHOS: desire
Song of Songs
19.10: it [Proverbs] draws the child by yearning and desire to participate in the good.
23.20: openly makes her passion known.
31.7: The present enjoyment of God...increases our desire for him.
32.2: in whom the desire for God is deeply embedded.
39.6: He is a bridegroom who repays the desire of those who love.
63.6: the prelude of her enjoyment might flare up her desire into something stronger.
119.6: unless she has an eager desire for it [tree's shadow].
321.25: Despite this, she never ceases to long for further vision.
366.12: and conceives that desire for incorruptible beauty.
385.12: the shaft of love which...intensified your desire for him through a sweet pain.
425.17: Its [honey] enjoyment does not slacken desire by satiety.
PROAIRESIS: free will, choice
Song of Songs
35.19: each of us according to our own capacity and choice has a good odor.
50.8: its [darkness] is attributed to the free will of each person.
55.7: God gave to rational nature the grace of free will.
102.5: to wherever the inclination of free will moves, it is changed accordingly.
103.15: our free choice has the capacity to become whatever it desires.
104.3: Human nature...takes on different appearances according to the impressions of free will.
158.2: good and evil exist by turns because we have the capacity to choose either one of two contraries.
215.15: you are beautiful by having drawn near to beauty by your own noble choice.
265.1: God is always present to us inasmuch as we freely present ourselves before him.
304.3: The fruit is our free will which gives God our souls to pluck.
313.19: Of these two, the one which free will chooses has power over the other.
344.10: the myrrh placed in my hands was not someone else's, but it flowed from my own free will.
346.21: Between these two is located our faculty of free choice which of itself makes the weak strong and visa versa.
411.13: our hands might become pure and transformed by our free will into what is immaterial and spiritual.
459.17: God accepts each person according to his free will.
PRODIANUO: to accomplish previously
Song of Songs
174.15: the stretching out to what lies before is related to forgetfulness of earlier accomplishments.
177.19: The end of the bride's advancements already accomplished becomes a beginning for further advancement.
179.1: But this limit of her attainment is the beginning of her hope for what lies beyond.
245.16: He never allowed the good already attained to limit his desire.
366.22: being dead to the past and forgetful of previous things.
PROKOPTO: to progress, advance
Song of Songs
92.1: Titus, Silvanus and Timothy...progressed in every deed with Paul as their example.
96.9: The child Jesus born within us advances by different ways.
96.12: He comes...as a child advancing in age.
249.17: advancing higher by effective knowledge.
320.18: for those who are always advancing to what is greater.
369.23: and goes after him who cannot be seized.
PROPHAINO: to appear, manifest
Song of Songs
25.9: Let him enter the inner sanctuary of the mysteries revealed in this book.
44.15: mention of bodily members of those things which appear on the outside.
159.8: she always seems to be just beginning her ascent.
193.10: the One who reveals the hidden mysteries.
321.20: He continues to wonder at God's continuous revelation.
PROPHETIKOS: prophetic
Song of Songs
24.11: noble bearers who bring them through their prophetic teaching.
92.16: The woman with her perfume seems to prophetically foretell the mystery of Christ's death.
145.10: First the rays of the prophetic writings and the Law illumine our souls.
148.7: receiving the splendor of truth through the windows of the prophets.
159.1: First the Word sends her a ray of light through the windows of the prophets.
163.17: No longer converse with me through the symbols of the prophets.
202.6: upon the foundation of apostles and prophets who are living, animated stones.
302.12: the prophetic river is filled with water while the evangelical rivers are filled with spices.
338.16: For the bride, her spouse's hand prophetically represents the gift of the Gospel.
PROS TO ANO: above
Song of Songs
125.11: Virtues grows upward and looks to what lies above.
128.20: aiming at a target above him.
176.1: Not being satisfied with these, she presses on to what is still higher.
177.12: he aims the arrow's tip to the target above.
304.20: The soul rising on high calls upon the help of the transcendent God.
459.16: some even pass these while others press forward in their upward course.
PROSEGGIZO: to approach, draw near
Song of Songs
32.11: Thus the virginal soul desires to draw near to the fountain of spiritual life.
88.11: As she draws nearer to the object of her desire.
101.19: the restoration of beauty which the bride gained by approaching the true beauty.
104.14: by drawing near to me, you have attained communion with my beauty.
119.7: the apple tree whose enjoyment is manifold for those who have approached it.
135.10: If any other text should be found which brings us closer to the truth we seek.
150.19: By drawing near to the light, human nature becomes light.
159.14: And so we must constantly rise and never cease drawing closer.
215.14: you are beautiful by having drawn near to beauty by your own noble choice.
325.8: You must approach the truth and be its companion.
355.13: and becomes like a sun unable to be approached by those coming near.
357.17: and escaped my mind when it drew near to him.
432.10: he drew Nathaniel to partake of this light.
PROSEIKAZO: to make a comparison
Song of Songs
20.12: This plant to which her height is compared.
73.17: to what cavalry against the Egyptian chariots the bride is now compared.
139.15: at another time he is likened to a young stag.
PROSKOLLAO: to cling to
Song of Songs
108.14: the clinging together of two persons in the union of one body is a great mystery.
273.3: If anyone claims to be a bride clinging to the Lord.
461.11: one body with the Word and cling to him affectionately.
461.13: "For me it is good to cling to God" [Ps 71.28].
PROSOPON: face
Song of Songs
3.3: your concern for the song of Songs which you have expressed to me both in person and by your letters.
108.4: "For no one can see God's face and live" [Ex 33.20].
139.1: "The voice of my beloved," she says, not his form or face or figure.
164.2: how much more lovable will be the sight of you face to face!
168.15: I knew him face to face, the one who exists from eternity.
230.7: her face's loveliness now praises temperance.
256.20: he forms its [Church] countenance with his own features.
320.15: She has not yet delighted at the appearance of her groom's face.
353.12: When she hoped, like Moses, that the king's face would appear to her [cf. Ex 33.13-22].
354.9: In a similar way the Lord's face passed Moses by.
356.2: He implored God to see him face to face.
435.7: "Show us your face, and we shall be saved" [Ps 79.4].
440.9: When I looked at my beloved's face, the beauty of his form is reflected in me.
PROTOTOKOS: first born
Song of Songs
389.20: the first born of the new creation, the first born of many brothers.
389.21: the first born of this divine creation.
SARX: flesh
Song of Songs
188.6: because his flesh was like an arid, unwatered desert, he has this divine thirst.
255.19: the Word becomes flesh, life is mixed with death.
338.9: and filled us with astonishment at his appearance in the flesh.
387.13: He understands that the generation of the flesh belongs to all mankind.
SCHEMA: form; verb: SCHEMATIZO
Song of Songs
7.18: The apparent, reprehensible sense is changed into something having a divine meaning.
103.16: our free choice has the capacity to become whatever [form] it desires.
132.12: This world's form will pass away.
134.15: nor be conformed to this world.
150.17: it conformed to what it beheld, the archetypal beauty.
157.18: No name or concept can impose limits to it: not time, place, color, form.
368.11: though he could not see his form and greatness.
380.19: since it has been formed according to the lowliness of our body.
SEMAINO: to signify, mean
Song of Songs
17.2: No, another Solomon is signified here.
37.5: Whatever name we may adopt to signify the perfume of divinity.
81.19: the plural signifies perfection of virtue in every form.
97.10: The additional mention of En-Gadi signifies a green spot.
111.11: The text symbolically signifies purity by this example [heron].
132.7: whether or not they differ from each other or have the same meaning.
133.19: Scripture frequently makes its meaning more emphatic by the use of synonymous terms.
141.5: "Gazelle" signifies keenness of vision.
151.11: each signifies a different kind of temptation.
193.1: the sword signifies the Word.
337.4: The term "wonder" signifies amazement and astonishment.
343.16: myrrh would mean something accidental and involuntary.
358.5: these names to indicate an ineffable blessedness.
392.8: Apostles are symbolically named "locks" by the Word.
402.4: no part in any deceitful hollowness as signified by the bowl.
410.7: These ships signify evil.
410.14: "Tarshish" as used here in prophecy signifies anything spiritual.
425.5: We will not fail to understand the bridegroom's throat's meaning in this way.
436.14: He followed the descent of the one who fell among enemies which signifies his descent from his ineffable majesty.
447.1: I will now present their meaning as they appear to me.
448.9: They [wings] represent God's power, blessedness, incorruptibility.
SKIA: shadow; verb: SKIAGRAPHO
Song of Songs
53.3: our life becomes shaded and dew-like.
86.17: it provides a reflection of the thing sought.
99.16: "Under his shadow I desired and sat down" [Sg 2.3].
108.9: the covering of your body which shadowed over the rays of your divinity.
119.10: the shadow becomes a chair on which the soul sits.
126.34: "Until the day dawns and the shadows flee" [Sg 2.17].
137.16: She desired her bridegroom's shadow.
148.10: [the Law] forming a shadow of the good things to come.
170.2: They regard shadow and vanity as real.
177.8: She comes under her bridegroom's shadow.
200.21: "Until the day breathes and the shadows depart" [Sg 4.6].
240.6: Shadows must not remain but depart and withdraw once the sun appears.
267.10: no longer hidden by symbol nor shadow.
324.6: she flies like a dove and rests with desire under the apple tree's shadow.
396.19: they [Church's eyes] do not reflect deceptive, shadowy pictures.
434.11: Nathaniel was guided by Philip's light who left the Law's shadow.
SKOPOS: aim, goal
Song of Songs
39.17: those who are still young promise to run towards the goal.
128.12: Then the left hand directs the arrow to the target.
138.5: she herself became an arrow directed at the target of truth.
177.12: With his left hand he aims the arrow's tip to the target above.
469.5: All will look to the same goal.
SKOTEINOS: dark
Song of Songs
5.5: a parable, a dark saying, an utterance of wise men.
47.9: in the beginning I was not radiant but black.
48.13: the dark form of its life is changed to resplendent grace.
50.7: The cause of darkness is not ascribed to the Creator.
187.15: How has the bride washed off her dark form?
196.9: They defend us against the shock and panic of our dark enemies.
205.11: having washed off their darkness by a mystical washing.
326.7: each one draws water from dark, hidden and unseen treasures.
393.1: the Church distilled the hidden, obscure mysteries of God's word.
SOTERIA: salvation; adjective: SOTERIOS
Song of Songs
9.6: the fulfillment of the Father's salvific will.
10.18: two trees in the middle of paradise, one of salvation and the other of destruction.
15.17: the most perfect and blessed way of salvation--I mean the way of love.
61.21: you exchanged your life for salvation.
62.2: By finding the pasture of your salvation.
75.6: the cavalry receives God mounted upon it for man's salvation.
88.10: ministering spirits in service of those about to inherit salvation.
99.1: whose blood is drink and salvation for persons who are saved.
179.3: She hears her spouse exhorting the hunters to save the spiritual vines.
217.10: the eye of Ezekiel was ordained by God for guarding the safety of those entrusted to him.
237.16: shoulders...by which our arms bring about salvation.
241.15: to discern between the lily and thorn, to choose what is salvific.
303.18: and the food offered to him is our soul's salvation.
378.3: The answer is clear to anyone familiar with the mysteries of salvation.
386.12: She describes to them by deeds of salvation some indications of whom she seeks.
429.13: and receive him by the Holy Spirit's guidance for the salvation of our souls.
435.6: his glory whose manifestation is salvation to those beholding it.
460.17: They believe that the Word of mystery is salvific.
461.1: pregnant with fear of the Lord and beget the spirit of salvation.
STAUROS: cross
Song of Songs
8.5: the dispensation of the cross.
201.12: Who...has destroyed the enemy and nailed it to the cross?
203.11: The title over the cross bears witness not only to Christ's sovreignity over the Jews but over all peoples.
225.21: brings down the adversary's power by the weakness of the cross.
STOCHAZOMAI: to aim, shoot; conjecture
Song of Songs
37.11: we get some idea about the perfume of divinity.
38.8: infinitely greater is the beauty of which we get a glimpse from the appearances.
133.5: we can get a hint of the text's meaning.
139.3: his voice which allows inference rather than certainty.
324.14: We get an understanding of this door as the human mind searching for what is hidden.
327.4: Let each person listening to these words form an idea of such a wonder.
STOMA: mouth
Song of Songs
14.2: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth" [Sg 1.1].
20.3: fragrance from the bride's mouth which breathes the good odor of righteousness.
29.9: of cleansing our mouths of talk of passion.
32.13: The fountain is the bridegroom's mouth.
33.1: the thirsting soul wishes to bring its mouth to the mouth that springs up with life.
120.2: to put her mouth right at the vats which bubble over with sweet wine.
229.2: to always have a confession on our mouths by the blood which redeemed us.
264.9: that the Word proceeding from the divine mouth might come to her mouth.
281.2: a garden blossoming from her mouth.
368.17: One of the seraphim touched his mouth with a fiery coal.
404.11: it buds with the lilies of his words from his mouth.
405.1: Paul pours this myrrh from his mouth.
405.17: They become the Church's common mouth.
STULOS: pillar
Song of Songs
199.11: "He made its pillars silver" [Sg 3.10].
210.17: The pillars are understood as belonging to the Church.
415.20: the Church's columns are marble firmly set upon golden bases.
416.14: Paul who applies the term "pillars" to his fellow apostles Peter, James and John.
SUZUGIA: yoke, union(6)
Song of Songs
15.15: the soul is escorted to an incorporeal, spiritual and pure union with God.
24.20: they rejoice at the consummation of the pure union.
108.8: How could a mortal, perishable nature be joined with an imperishable, inaccessible nature?
436.10: the bride betrothed to him for everlasting union.
SUGGENES: related, akin
Song of Songs
27.11: as much as the body is inclined to love what is akin to itself.
92.8: If the nard of the Gospel has an relationship to the bride's perfume.
334.1: it looks up through virtue to what is connatural and divine.
334.12: a spring gushing forth which rushes on high to its connatural state.
467.13: such a relationship in the glory of the Spirit is distributed to everyone united with Christ.
SUGKRISIS: comparison
Song of Songs
35.3: Through the comparison of milk from the divine breasts.
35.8: human wisdom...cannot match the simple nourishment of the divine teaching.
177.3: Next she shows by a comparison her change for the better.
443.6: the bride compares her own beauty to such divine benevolence by imitating Christ.
450.11: Each aspect of the bride has an appropriate comparison.
SUMBOULE: counsel, advise
Song of Songs
14.13: according to the advice of St. Paul.
22.3: Solomon added other counsels by clear and easily grasped utterances.
63.11: the bridegroom's friends...advising her about the eternity of her future good.
76.14: the Word gives us counsel through his words addressed to the bride.
82.3: This is a counsel prescribed by the text for the entire Church.
277.4: The book of Proverbs advises us not to let the fountain of our thoughts be squandered on things alien to us.
361.17: What does wisdom advise him to do that he may not die?
SUNAPHEIA: union
Song of Songs
28.22: blessedness, detachment, union with God, alienation from evil.
168.11: No longer can the wall of the Law separate her from union with the one she desires.
SUNAPTO: to be joined
Song of Songs
76.6: the basis of praise for the soul joined to God.
148.16: The air within the house was joined with the heavenly light.
279.10: Each of these terms joins the soul as bride to its bridegroom.
SUNDESMOS: unity
Song of Songs
202.8: fitted together into the unity of faith.
233.19: Their unity is formed by each of these elements.
235.11: taken singularly [vertebrae] are persons joined in a bond of peace.
466.21: joined in the bond of peace.
SUNEIDESIS: conscience
Song of Songs
15.6: Let no one bring... a garment of conscience unsuitable for the divine nuptials.
45.13: washes the garment of his conscience according to Moses' prescription.
77.7: bringing to his new life no trace of the Egyptian conscience.
94.11: The Lord himself has become the myrrh lying in the "sachet of my conscience."
98.10: he looks into the cluster of his own conscience.
419.6: a good conscience consists of a loving disposition towards one's neighbor.
SUNETHEIA: habit, custom
Song of Songs
23.8: The bridegroom does not initiate the desire according to normal human custom.
65.15: and lack sound judgment about reality.
66.1: Human custom is not safe assurance for the future.
66.14: and takes the passing custom of this world as his guide.
229.23: that part of the face is customarily called an apple.
311.12: This sleep is quite extraordinary and different from one's natural habit.
SUNTEINO: to advance
Song of Songs
459.6: while others press forward in their upward course.
468.19: and desire to become doves.
SUSCHEMATIZO: to conform
Song of Songs
103:16: our free choice has the capacity to become whatever it desires.
134.15: not be conformed to this world.
380.19: it [divine created part] has been formed according to the lowliness of our body.
TAXIS: order
Song of Songs
17.11: and shows us the ascent to perfection in an orderly fashion.
18.6: there is a certain order and sequence leading to a life in accord with virtue.
112.20: Paul knew how to express such things in a becoming, harmonious manner.
121.9: It is necessary that everything be well ordered.
122.1: It is important to realize the order of love for which the Law is a guide.
150.4: What is the order of the words here? [cf. Sg 2.10]
347.17: We will respond to the best of our ability, treating it in an orderly fashion.
446.6: their order is not upset by evil.
TELOS: perfect
Song of Songs
17.11: and shows us the ascent to perfection in an orderly way.
39.16: Those who are not yet perfect in virtue.
131.8: She is instructing less advanced souls in the way of perfection.
160.12: What is the ascent to perfection which these words indicate [Sg 2.14]?
174.12: its present state of goodness, even if especially great and perfect.
177.14: Then, as if the bride has already attained perfection.
325.10: You must be perfect like a dove.
386.10: the soul running on high to perfection.
458.5: right from the beginning it is created perfect.
TELEIOTES: perfect
Song of Songs
22.4: He leads the youth to a more perfect state in the final verses of Proverbs.
35.11: wine...is enjoyment for the more perfect.
72.15: the Word...exhorts her to greater perfection.
81.19: the plural [small necklaces] signifies perfection of virtue in every form.
88.10: The bride is made more perfect by the addition of these graces.
93.13: The text contains a better teaching available only for those who are already perfect.
117.18: Human nature perfected through virtue becomes a flower.
180.6: all perfection of knowledge attainable by human nature is only the beginning of a desire for more lofty things.
181.3: "bed" [is] this more perfect participation in the good.
181.9: far from attaining perfection, she has not even come near it.
186.10: according to the degree perfection established in each person, a different character will shine in their lives.
250.2: do not cease to rise as if you have already attained perfection.
263.19: her breasts change to something better and more perfect because they no longer swell with milk...but flow with pure wine to gladden the more perfect.
281.14: "garden of pomegranates" at a more perfect stage of her advancement.
287.7: something gathered from each element symbolically demonstrates a life of perfection in accord with virtue.
306.16: For the person seeking more perfect nourishment, there is bread which is no longer eater with bitter herbs.
313.4: the more perfect soul is not attracted to anything visible.
322.11: having become more perfect, Moses saw God in darkness [cf. Ex 24.15-18].
372.9: The soul testifies to perfection through the Song of Songs.
383.15: The bride advances in perfection and is obliged to show her maidens the bridegroom's beauty.
418.6: The Gospel leads us to a short, condensed way of perfection.
458.3: Human nature...does not...advance towards its perfection, but right from the beginning it is created perfect.
458.11: for human nature originated in perfection.
458.15: [Human nature] was perfect and lacked evil.
466.9: that perfection symbolized by a dove.
TRECHO: to run
Song of Songs
119.14: How the soul likened to a horse runs on the divine course!
170.19: The Word runs quickly upon the mountains.
193.15: We should not give the impression of leaving the text unexamined.
330.15: You are not unmindful of that holy way on which the disciples are bidden to run.
352.9: the soul runs to what lies beyond, stretching forward to what is before.
TROPIKOS: figurative, symbolic
Song of Songs
120.10: the symbolic meaning of each detail is clear.
263.13: the fountains of good doctrines signified by her breasts.
274.16: Anyone who considers these examples in an allegorical fashion.
289.14: cinnamon where a symbolic explanation serves as a means of praise.
375.15: We understand the "field" to be the world in a symbolic sense.
448.6: The term "wings" may symbolically applied to God.
PHILEMA: kiss
Song of Songs
14.2: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth" [Sg 1.1].
31.13: he thereby acquired a still greater desire for these kisses after the theophanies.
33.5: desires every person to share this kiss, for this kiss purges away all filth.
40.5: She prayed to become worthy of a kiss through the illumination of the Word.
264.10: the Word proceeding from the divine mouth might come to her mouth as indicated by the symbol of a kiss.
323.19: desire to approach the fountain of light by that mystical kiss.
378.10: the kiss is a summons to that which is both pleasant and lovely.
PHAINO: to appear
Song of Songs
22.10: having reproached in that book men's attitudes towards external appearances.
66.9: For our choice made from visible things is unclear.
101.14: he testified that his spouse's beauty resembled a horse.
112.11: we should not neglect our exterior good appearance.
132.15: every visible and passing thing "vanity" [Eccl 1.2].
178.7: nor does he appear in the same place.
217.19: everything alien to our nature is apparent and transitory.
219.9: Both eyes are praised...both his visible and spiritual aspects.
257.4: the Sun of Righteousness [cf. Mal 4.2] who is comprehended by that which is visible.
322.16: A more careful understanding of hidden things leads the soul through appearances to God's hidden nature.
323.5: The soul forsakes everything without, that is, appearances and ideas.
336.6: nor will we understand the Transcendent by its manifestations.
366.18: Anything great and marvelous always appears inferior in comparison to what succeeds it.
381.8: Christ who indeed appeared as man.
PHILOSOPHIA: philosophy
Song of Songs
3.5: the philosophy hidden in its words becomes manifest.
11.5: Unless a person contemplates the truth through philosophy.
17.11: [Solomon] speaks in the philosophy set forth in the Song of Songs.
18.9: the philosophy of the song transcends both [Proverbs & Ecclesiastes].
30.3: the philosophy of divine things by means of chaste concepts.
36.12: a more sublime philosophy...divine power is utterly transcendent.
44.10: The Song is a guide for every type of philosophy and knowledge of God.
93.13: The text contains a better teaching available only for those who are already perfect.
180.11: Their meaning is transferred to a pure and spiritual level.
223.1: holding fast to a philosophic way of life, they gather in herds to perform virtue.
264.17: We learn this from divine philosophy in other sources [cf. Plato's Protagoras].
333.12: If we linger her a little on the Song, we might obtain a lesson from its content.
349.18: The lesson we must understand here is that life is the most central of God's plants.
PHOBOS: fear
Song of Songs
16.5: the person who is hasten to spiritual perfection rejects fear.
192.3: If carnal desire consists of weakness..., the love of God is made up of a fearful, terrifying fortitude.
259.9: Their strong passions usurp the soul's place, and its character is changed to grief and pleasure, courage and fear.
312.4: Sleep...calms fears.
466.5: and if fear changes into love, then unity follows.
PHRONTIZO: to think, consider; noun: PHRONESIS
Song of Songs
5.17: he is not concerned about the word necessary to designate the form of his exposition.
21.3: for he means the same thing by wisdom, prudence, sense perception, etc.
30.13: No longer will there be civil war with the passions set against the mind's law.
126.15: "Have this mind in you which was in Christ Jesus" [Phil 2.5].
191.17: like a band of robbers it [desire] ambushes the mind.
236.8: raise itself [neck] up again to perceive those things on high.
262.1: "Set your mind on things above" [Col 3.1].
298.5: the prudence of the flesh can no longer resist the Spirit.
312.13: As long as the mind lives alone.
398.9: and pay scant attention to the Word of God.
415.8: This image counsels us to be attentive to heavenly matters.
PHULASSO: to guard, keep watch
Song of Songs
57.10: The vineyard must be understood as paradise which man was ordered to guard.
58.4: Deprived of the guarded fruit through disobedience.
58.10: for life was enjoyed in paradise where God placed man to guard and protect it.
64.8: judges its [world] values as worth protecting does not know how to discern what is his own from what is alien to himself.
162.19: He keeps the Sabbath by not committing sin.
199.4: as a warrior he guards the king's bed, that is, his own heart.
221.18: but he guards himself when confronted with any of these adversaries.
276.12: Because a seal protects the inviolability of whatever it guards, it scares off thieves.
330.23: Once the bride has set her feet on this royal road, she watches herself.
353.19: The Lord will guard your going out and coming in [cf. Ps 120.8].
360.17: Those whose task it is to guard the city walls remove the bride's veil.
363.5: But to be found by the city guards is indeed a blessing.
364.5: city guards are the ministering spirits sent to serve those to inherit salvation [cf. Heb 1.14].
PHURMA: dough
Song of Songs
381.22: Christ continually sanctified the common mass of mankind.
391.5: He was the first fruit of the common mass of dough.
427.22: Christ put on our full human nature as the first fruits of the dough [cf. Rom 11.16].
PHUSIS: nature
Song of Songs
27.5: Human nature left to its own resources could neither discover nor absorb the Song's mystery.
30.17: Nature will then be cleansed from all such things.
51.11: human nature was an image of the true light.
61.8: There is one sheep which you have taken upon your shoulders, our human nature.
64.13: Since only one thing has an intelligible nature.
86.13: All these expressions seem to us who have not seen the divine nature as gold.
100.17: Human nature was golden at the beginning.
107.10: Human nature recognizes or will recognize that you will overshadow it with care.
108.8: How could a mortal, perishable nature be joined with an imperishable, inaccessible nature?
117.14: Human nature perfected through virtue becomes a flower.
147.16: Since our nature had turned to stone by idol worship.
152.18: Human nature initially flourished while it was in Paradise.
157.18: Every good conceived as belonging to God's nature is present in infinite and unbounded measure.
158.1: In changeable human nature, good and evil exist by turns.
158.9: On the other hand, the divine nature is simple.
254.16: not only was human nature instructed by grace in the divine mysteries.
350.4: death's nature consists in the cessation of life.
387.5: our mind does not first attain God's incomprehensible, invisible nature unless the visible is grasped through faith.
388.3: Nature did not cooperate in this birth but served it.
438.6: the nature and power encompassing all things.
448.4: human nature was created with wings so that it may be in the divine likeness.
458.4: Human nature is also created but does not, like other created beings, advance towards its perfection.
468.10: the nature of the parent is recognized in the child.
(H)UDOR: water
Song of Songs
61.10: Make know to me the waters of rest [cf. Ps 22.2].
62.5: Water pours out from your side [cf. Jn 19.34].
110.14: the rush of these waters which destroy the treasures stored there.
261.20: "A fountain of gardens, and a well of living water" [Sg 4.15].
264.2: Tavern keepers have not spoiled the goodness of this wine with water.
275.9: This garden needs a fountain so its grove may remain flourishing and unceasingly watered.
278.16: a well of living and flowing water from Lebanon.
292.17: "Out of his belly shall flower rivers of living water" [Jn 7.37].
293.4: only the bride has running water with both a well's depth and a continuous flow of water.
321.15: Even if he remained a long time near the gushing water, he would always behold the water as for the first time, for the water never ceases to gush forth.
397.15: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water" [Jer 2.13].
(H)UPEREXO: to surpass, transcend
Song of Songs
31.4: the surpassing goodness of God.
68.5: the likeness of that nature which surpasses all understanding.
87.8: a nature transcending every intelligence.
91.2: from the virtues we obtain knowledge of the good which transcends all understanding.
91.9: depicted by his fragrance the unapproachable, transcendent beauty.
157.15: The blessed, eternal nature surpassing all understanding.
158.16: The soul continually grows through participation in what is beyond it.
174.7: By participation in the transcendent, it continually remains stable in the good.
352.15: the only way for comprehending that power transcending all understanding is never to remain in any notion of him.
(H)UPERKEIMAI: to lie above, transcend
Song of Songs
137.6: The Song now leads us to desire a contemplation of the transcendent good.
140.3: and make me doubt that I shall ever attain a true understanding of divine things.
179.1: This limit of her attainment is the beginning of her hope for what lies beyond.
180.5: But the mind running on high through its understanding of transcendent reality.
249.9: the bridegroom again exhorts her to stir up her desire for the transcendent.
315.18: Our Lord has given precepts [cf. Mt 24.42] to make the disciples desire the transcendent.
334.16: The soul reaches from below to a knowledge of the transcendent.
354.2: The exit from our present state becomes an entrance to the transcendent good.
404.23: Out of desire for the transcendent good, the cares of this life are nullified.
(H)UPHEGESIS: guide, explanation
Song of Songs
44.10: the Song of Songs is presented to us as a guide for every type of philosophy.
46.1: A teacher should correctly begin his presentation of the good with an explanation of the good.
317.17: If we achieve this with the Word's assistance.
(H)UPNOS: sleep
Song of Songs
311.8: Sleep results from inebriation.
311.11: This sleep is quite extraordinary...for in natural sleep, one is not awake.
311.19: This sleep is like death.312.11:
312.11: As long as the mind lives alone and untroubled by the senses, it is as though the body were overcome by sleep and torpor.
317.14: His soul remains sleepless (aupnos) and undeceived under truth's rays.
(H)UPODEIGMA: example
Song of Songs
38.23: The human mind is unable to find any description, example or adequate expression of that beauty.
47.4: by following the bride's example.
126.10: having manifested in himself examples of every good, fitting behavior.
127.1: by looking upward, I may continually see examples of goodness manifested in my bridegroom.
188.11: They tell of her beauty through many images because not even one can adequately express it.
226.2: It is better to give the sense of these words through some examples.
270.4: The bee's wisdom instructs us to be diligent by following its example.
412.10: An example from the human body helps us to comprehend better these words of the Song.
422.8: The prophets see Lebanon in its different manifestations.
(H)UPODEIKNUMI: to show, point out
Song of Songs
15.17: God...shows the most perfect and blessed way of salvation here.
17.12: and shows us the ascent to perfection in an orderly fashion.
39.17: to run towards the goal which the scent of perfumes represents.
157.10: What great teaching the Word reveals in these few words!
166.13: [angelic powers] go with the King of Glory into the world and manifest him.
293.7: Who can worthily comprehend the wonders applied to the bride?
313.4: the more perfect soul is not attracted to anything visible.
(H)UPOSTASIS: substance
Song of Songs
56.9: evil has no substance: it is separate from the good.
86.6: the stamp of his nature [cf. Heb 1.3].
106.18: How can anything be beautiful which lacks substance?
170.8: They have become sons of light and day and will see the true substance of things.
258.6: God is truly alone...with no separation or division according to the difference of persons.
(H)UPSELOTERAS: higher, loftier
Song of Songs
10.3: how something more sublime might be found which leads us to that which is divine.
18.9: the philosophy of the Song transcends both by its loftier teaching.
36.12: the soul-spouse again touches on a more sublime philosophy.
116.1: And so she becomes still more sublime and gazes at the mystery.
123.12: Having said these words, the bride passes on to loftier matters.
180.7: all perfection of knowledge attainable by human nature is only the beginning of a desire for more lofty things.
246.22: the person running to you becomes greater and more highly exalted.
247.11: the limit of his achievement becomes a beginning for the discovery of higher blessings.
250.4: it is the beginning of progress to loftier goods.
252.13: we are to use our mutability as an ally in our ascent towards higher things.
279.8: that her heart may ascent to higher things.
280.13: The soul is not always led by the Word to what is higher by means of honey and milk.
292.1: Perhaps the bride's praise contains something more sublime.
312.7: We have learned from the bride that she has risen higher.
322.11: Having risen higher...Moses saw God in darkness [cf. Ex 24.15-18].
354.14: Moses put Christ's humiliation higher than the kingdom of Egypt.
360.8: Is it not clear from these words that the bride has advanced to a higher state?
393.16: The meaning of these words is beyond [i.e., higher] our comprehension.
(H)UPSOS: high, lofty; height
Song of Songs
20.12: This plant to which her height is compared is the tree of life.
60.11: heavenly virtues rising up to the height of the angels.
115.3: What great progress we see in the ascent on high of the soul!
125.10: but its [apple] natural inclination is upward.
127.1: by always looking upward.
131.6: the soul is progressing towards great heights.
179.11: Observe the height to which the bride ascends.
185.5: If we can somehow ascend with the perfect dove flying to the heights.
187.18: the desert caused these things and made her shoot rise up on high.
279.19: unless she truly hastens on high by advancing in the good.
289.17: and has attained the summit of praises.
296.5: if you can measure the loftiness of their minds.
367.17: Observe that height to which the bride has run.
391.20: The bridegroom's locks are the lofty trees of heaven extending from earth to heaven on high.
PSUCHE: soul (7)
Song of Songs
4.4: your soul's eye is pure from every passionate, unclean thought.
15.14: Through the words of the Song the soul is escorted to an incorporeal, spiritual and pure union with God.
18.5: in the soul an analogy to the body's growth.
22.14: the sense the loving movement of our soul.
22.19: Solomon then initiates the soul into the divine sanctuary.
27.9: the need for the soul to reach out to the divine nature's invisible beauty.
29.10: he disposes the soul to be attentive to purity.
30.9: After the resurrection, the body...will again be joined to the soul.
31.3: we should only regard the soul.
32.6: Even now the soul united to God never has its fill of enjoyment.
33.10: Once the soul...is no longer hindered by the leprosy of the flesh.
34.9: A certain analogy exists between the activities of the soul and the sense organs of the body.
38.17: This soul obeys the greatest and first commandment of the Law [cf. Dt 6.5].
39.19: But the more perfect soul...is worthy of the treasures in the storehouse.
45.2: the grace in the directing part of the soul.
42.18: "Tell me, you whom my soul loves" [Sg 1.7].
49.17: if he receives a blackened soul, he restores its beauty.
56.15: the soul her battleground of the war within.
61.17: the relationship of my soul towards you.
72.10: the soul must watch over herself and know herself.
80.10: a soul which is attentive and hastens without falling on the divine course.
81.6: If anyone should dispose his soul so as to keep it quiet.
88.8: the virginal soul.
103.4: If human nature assumes patience [etc.]...it displays the character of each of these virtues in the soul's constitution.
104.11: The soul, when cleansed by the Word from vice, receives within itself the suns' orb.
106.2: When the purified eyes of the soul has received the impression of a dove.
108.19: the virgin soul names the union with God a "bed."
113.15: the soul was cultivated upon the breadth of human nature.
117.2: the apple tree bears fruit which sweetens the soul's senses.
119.4: Truly the soul's senses are sweetened at the bridegroom's word.
119.11: The soul cannot be refreshed under the shadow of the tree of life unless she has an eager desire for it.
127.18: The soul raised up by these divine ascents sees within itself the sweet arrow.
128.19: as if the soul were an arrow in the hands of the powerful archer.
131.6: In the present text, the soul is progressing towards great heights.
137.11: the purified soul is exalted through love to participate in this goodness.
143.17: The purified, perceptive eye of the soul.
153.8: But later there came one who brought spring to our souls.
172.1: "Have you seen him whom my soul loves" [Sg 3.3]?
178.2: All these examples are like voices summoning the soul to contemplate the mysteries.
178.20: It is right for the soul to be glad since she has reached in her lofty ascent the summit of her desires.
179.6: God is in the soul, and the soul once again dwells in God.
179.18: and makes known her soul's anxiety.
180.15: the text says that the bride is the soul.
192.6: revealing the soul's beauty as pure and no longer sullied by a desire for carnal pleasure.
224.2: a certain capacity in the soul which reduces teachings into small pieces.
241.5: neither does the soul come before the body, nor is the body created before the soul.
247.17: The desire of a soul rising never remains in its knowledge.
249.4: The Word uses such exhortations...to excite the soul for higher things.
251.18: The bridegroom imparts to the soul ascending to him an intensity in her enjoyment of goodness.
253.13: when the Word bids the soul that has advanced to approach him.
257.13: the soul has two faculties of vision: one sees the truth while the other is deceived by vain things.
258.20: he who looks only to the good by the soul's eye has sharp, penetrating vision.
260.1: You have...one soul because you are not divided according to different affections.
268.7: the soul becomes fragrant in her life.
275.21: our soul's rational faculty swells up and always flows over.
293.13: God's Word is living, and the soul who has received it is living.
295.7: Certain stars of the divine eloquence are bright twinklings and rays of the soul's eyes.
296.1: Look up with the eye of your soul.
304.5: The fruit is our free will which gives god our souls to pluck.
307.3: the fruit of virtue sweetens the soul's senses.
313.4: the more perfect soul is not attracted to anything visible.
317.15: His soul remains sleepless and undeceived.
319.8: the soul which always looks to that blessedness perceives its bridegroom standing at the door.
322.17: a more careful understanding of hidden things leads the soul through appearances to God's hidden nature.
324.10: The bridegroom bestows upon the soul a perception of his presence.
328.4: Those who are about to wash the filth from their soul's feet.
333.15: The human soul has two natures: incorporeal...and pure.
336.10: our soul's limit of ineffable knowledge consists in appearances.
340.11: "my soul went forth at his word" [Sg 5.6].
342.14: The living Word...unites the soul to himself by incorruptibility and holiness.
347.7: it is through death that the soul rises.
354.10: the lawgiver's soul kept going out of that state which it had attained.
357.16: I have sought him by my soul's capacities...he completely transcends them.
364.8: the soul is God's dwelling.
376.13: One must have a pure mind which banishes every passion from the soul.
380.12: Let us...gaze upon the truth with our soul's eye.
400.2: we train with good doctrine the soul's senses to receive the bread of wisdom.
414.1: The rational part of the soul in which is placed the divine teachings is named "belly."
414.18: the Spirit of the living God who fashions these letters in the soul.
415.2: The guiding faculty of the soul must be engraved with the clear, pure memory of the divine words.
441.5: Holiness, purity, incorruptibility, light and truth which nourishes my soul.
449.14: the soul regains its wings lost through the disobedience of our first parents.
465.6: The soul obtains a secondary position after the queen.
CHARAKTER: mark, character; verb: CHARASSO (8)
Song of Songs
51.12: it gleamed by imitation of the archetype's beauty [cf. Gen 1.27].
103.4: it displays the character of each of these virtues in the soul's constitution.
104.2: Just like a mirror you have taken on my appearance.
106.6: When the purified eye of the soul has received the impression of a dove.
139.9: her spouse...never has the same image of what she has comprehended.
140.1: What is always comprehended now has one shape and then another.
156.9: Then he adds to our life certain distinctive marks of the blessedness hoped for by proper living.
186.7: They no longer gaze at her previous characteristics.
256.18: he forms its [Church] countenance with his own features.
271.15: so that a certain form of the transcendent nature might become present in them.
277.10: it will be sealed by the stamp of truth.
289.18: he always shows the characteristics of the divine image in himself.
348.6: the sullen stamp of death.
440.4: a mirror expertly fashioned by hand which accurately reflects the image of a face.
1. For example, the English "ch" is equivalent to the Greek chi which occurs towards to the end of this list.
2. An excellent resource which contains references to the complete corpus of Gregory's works is the microfiche version of A Concordance to Gregory of Nyssa by Cajus Fabricius and Daniel Ridings (Goteborg, Sweden), 1989.
3. Because this verb and noun occur frequently in the Song of Songs, I omit some references but include as many as possible.
4. The Greek letter zeta follows epsilon and should not be confused with the English letter "z."
5. The Greek letter theta follows eta and should not be confused with the English "th."
6. This word contains the English letter "z" which is equivalent to the Greek letter "zeta." In the Greek alphabet, zeta follows the letter "epsilon."
7. The English letters "ps" are equivalent to the Greek letter psi.
8. The English letters "ch" correspond to the Greek letter chi.