The Lily of the Valleys and the Archer
The eyes are also the Church's teachers, guileless and keen-sighted. 'I am a flower of the plain, a lily of the valleys' (Song of Songs 2:1). Since the bride has received the rain from above and has borne virtue, she compares herself to a flower of the plain; and she shows how much the coming of Christ has helped, since it has shown even the valleys, unfit for any sowing, full of such flowers. For by a valley she means what the demons who once dwelt in it had hollowed out.
'Hem me in with apples' (Song of Songs 2:5): make me safe with the words of the Gospel, for these breathe the fragrance of Christ upon us. 'And may I too,' she says, 'be ranked with His saints'; for as He is an apple tree (Song of Songs 2:3), so those who share His body and partake with Him (Ephesians 3:6) are apples.
'His left hand…' (Song of Songs 2:6). The left hand is the Law, the right the Gospel. Or else the left is the present life and the right the life to come: the right hand that will embrace me when He says to those on His right, 'Come, you blessed of My Father' (Matthew 25:34). It also says elsewhere, 'Length of life and years of life are in the right hand of Wisdom, and in her left are riches and glory' (Proverbs 3:16). Her right hand, then, is the knowledge of divine things, from which comes eternal life; her left is the knowledge of human things, from which come riches and glory. So she says, 'My mind rises above human things, and divine knowledge will cover me.' For it is said again, 'Honor her, that she may embrace you' (Proverbs 4:8).
This shows, then, that the same One is both our Bridegroom and our Archer, and that the purified soul is both bride and arrow. As an arrow, then, He aims her at the good mark; as a bride He takes her up into fellowship in incorruptible eternity, granting through the right hand length of life and years of life (Proverbs 3:16), and through the left the riches of eternal goods and the glory of God, in which those who seek the glory of the world have no share. That is why she says, 'His left hand is at my head' (Song of Songs 2:6), the hand by which the arrow is aimed at the mark.
Greek
μόνον ὁρῶντα Θεόν. Ὀφθαλμοὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄκακοι καὶ ὀξυδερκεῖς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας διδάσκαλοι. Ἐγὼ ἄνθος τοῦ πεδίου, κρίνον τῶν κοιλάδων. Ὡς δεξαμένη ἡ νύμφη τὸν ἄνωθεν ὑετὸν, καὶ τεκοῦσα τὴν ἀρετὴν, ἄνθει ἑαυτὴν παραβάλλει πεδίου· δείκνυσι δὲ ὅσον ὠφέλησεν ἡ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημία, ὅσου γε καὶ τὰς κοιλάδας τὰς ἀνεπιτηδείους πρὸς ἅπαντα σπόρον, τοιούτων μεστὰς ἔδειξεν ἀνθέων. Κοιλάδα γὰρ λέγει τὴν ἀποκοιλανθεῖσαν ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκησάντων αὐτὴν πάλαι δαιμόνων. Στοιβάσατέ με ἐν μήλοις. Τοῖς εὐαγγελικοῖς με ἀσφαλίσατε λόγοις· οὗτοι γὰρ ἡμῖν εὐωδιάζουσι Χριστόν. Συνταχθείην δὲ, φησὶ, κἀγὼ μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ· ὡς γὰρ αὐτὸς μῆλον, οὕτως σύσσωμοι καὶ συμμέτοχοι αὐτοῦ μῆλα. Εὐώνυμος αὐτοῦ, κ.τ.λ. Εὐώνυμος ὁ νόμος, δεξιὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον. Ἢ καὶ εὐώνυμος ὁ παρὼν βίος, δεξιὰ ὁ μέλλων, ἥτις με περιλήψεται ὅταν τοῖς ἐκ δεξιῶν εἴπῃ· ∆εῦτε, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου. Λέγει δὲ καὶ ἑτέρωθι· Μῆκος βίου καὶ ἔτη ζωῆς, ἐν δεξιᾷ τῆς σοφίας· ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀριστερᾷ, πλοῦτος καὶ δόξα. ∆εξιὰ γοῦν αὐτῆς ἡ τῶν θείων ἐπιστήμη, ἐξ ἧς ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή· ἀριστερὰ δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων γνῶσις, ἐξ ὧν πλοῦτος καὶ δόξα. Λέγει τοίνυν, ὅτι Ὑπερέχει ὁ νοῦς μου τὰ ἀνθρώπινα· καὶ ἡ θεία γνῶσις καλύψει με. Καὶ γὰρ εἴρηται πάλιν· Τίμησον αὐτὴν, ἵνα σε περιλάβῃ. ∆είκνυσι τοίνυν, ὅτι ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ νυμφίος καὶ τοξότης ἡμῶν ἐστι, νύμφη τε καὶ βέλος ἡ κεκαθαρμένη ψυχή· ὡς βέλος οὖν πρὸς τὸν ἀγαθὸν εὐθύνει σκοπόν. Ὡς νύμφην εἰς κοινωνίαν ἀναλαμβάνει τῆς ἀφθάρτου ἀϊδιότητος, μῆκος βίου καὶ ἔτη ζωῆς, διὰ τῆς δεξιᾶς χαριζόμενος· διὰ δὲ τῆς ἀριστερᾶς, τὸν τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν πλοῦτον καὶ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξαν, ἧς οἱ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ζητοῦντες δόξαν ἀμέτοχοι γίνονται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν, ὅτι Εὐώνυμος αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλήν μου, δι' ἧς