THE ECCLESIAL SYMBOLISM IN GREGORY OF NYSSA’S HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS

Abstract

In the Homilies on the Song of Songs, especially in VII and XIII, Gregory of Nyssa offers a spiritual interpretation which, taking the literal sense as a starting-point, per-mits access to God’s real intention. Gregory interprets the bride of the Canticle as the Church, body of Christ, to which Christ gives life and attracts towards himself. The bride-Church is endowed with beauty (kallos), glory (doxa) and grace (charis), as may be deduced from the imagery of Solomon’s carriage, and the eyes and teeth of the bride who is also the “bridegroom’s crown”. Gregory’s explanation of the “dew of the night” is also interesting, as a description of the knowledge of God that we acquire, simultaneously characterized by apophatism and “epéktasis”.