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    STUDIA THEOLOGIA ORTHODOXA - Issue no. 1 / 2010  
         
  Article:   THEOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ON THE PROLOGUE OF THE GREGORY OF NYSSA`S BOOK „IN CANTICUM CANTICORUM”.

Authors:  LIVIU PETCU. 		 
       
         
  Abstract:  The Song of Songs was interpreted allegorically from the beginning, by both Jewish and Christian exegetes. That was undoubtedly what enabled this profane and erotic love-song to be regarded as holy. Patristic exegesis soared to sublime heights with the allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs. This nuptial tale, replete with evocative imagery and multivalent symbolism, supplied fertile ground for the mystical musings of Origen (ca. 185–254) and Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 335–395). Gregory of Nyssa’s fifteen homilies on the Song of Songs follow the same hermeneutical trajectory that began with Hippolytus of Rome (b. 170–75), whom most scholars agree composed the first Christian allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs. Origen, however, receives the credit for giving the allegorical reading of the Song its classic expression. When the Church Fathers read the Song of Songs, they perceived deep theological truths beneath the surface narrative. The passionate nuptial relationship detailed in the story, often in overtly erotic terms, became in the industrious hands of the Fathers an allegory of Christ’s relationship to the soul and the Church.

Keywords: The Song of Songs, allegoric interpretation, Jewish and Christian exegetes, the passionate nuptial relationship, Gregory of Nyysa, Origen, relation, soul. 		 
         
     
         
         
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