Purify the heart; bridal words are spiritual
Before we come to the text itself, the reader must be warned to approach with purged senses and a purified heart. For it is not of carnal marriages that this book treats, though the words are bridal, but of the union of the Word and the soul. If anyone understands otherwise, that person errs and suffers scandal. Therefore Moses and the prophets and the Gospels must be put first, so that by steps of ascent one may arrive at this Song.
Latin
Antequam ad textum ipsum veniamus, admonendum est lectorem ut purgatis sensibus et purificato corde accedat. Non enim de nuptiis carnalibus hic agitur, licet verba nuptialia sint, sed de coniunctione Verbi et animae. Si quis aliter intellexerit, errat et scandalum patitur. Ideo Moyses et prophetae et Evangelia praemittenda sunt, ut per gradus ascensionis ad hoc Canticum perveniatur.
About this text
Origen’s Commentary on the Song of Songs, Prologus (Rufinus’s Latin). Complete on this page: §§1–20.
English follows Baehrens, Origenes Werke VIII (GCS 33, 1925), Rufinus’s Latin of the Commentary Prologus. Lawson ACW 26 was not used as wording. This page is Prologus §§1–20 (closeout).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Baehrens, Origenes Werke VIII = GCS 33 (1925) (Latin · Commentary Prologus §§1–20)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.