Isaiah names it a surrounding wall, saying: he will set a wall, or a surrounding wall; therefore, he wants it, having departed from corporeal things, not only to be in the wall, which I think is the discourse concerning the world, but also next to the outwork; which discourse is the last of corporeal things, but the beginning of incorporeal things. Catch for us the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vines are in blossom. These things the bridegroom says to his friends, that is, to the angels. or to holy men, who are teachers of the Church; and the exhortation is for the salvation of the vineyards; so that when the crafty powers are caught, which corrupt the beginning of the fruit’s growth, the vines might be able to advance from blossoming to the perfection of the fruit, being cultivated by God; and because of their free will, they are able to bear fruit and not to; or perhaps also men, certain foxes through heterodox harshness hindering those who have begun to run well; whom he wishes to be caught while they are still small, before they advance further in impiety; for having become a great fox, he is invincible to them, but is hunted by the bridegroom alone; for when they begin to work worse things, they are also easily caught by the friends; and he might also call the vineyards small; for the fox has no power against the great ones. My beloved is mine, and I am his: he who feeds among the lilies, until the day breathes, and the shadows move. Or the bride says to the companions of the bridegroom that she has no fellowship with the foxes; for they shared with us, she says, in blood and flesh, and we with him in incorruptibility. Or that God comes to be in the soul, and the soul migrates to God; so also Paul: The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body; for the bride, the Church of Christ, is a body, which is in no way for fornication, but always for the Lord; and the Savior himself: Abide in me, and I in you; but in what follows it is written in reverse: I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. Or perhaps because the beginning of the beneficence came from the bridegroom; for if he had not revealed himself to her, neither would she have been devoted to the bridegroom; for having seen his divine beauty, she came to a saving love, by which being dedicated to his beauty, she says, and I to him; then she took up the order before the perfect had come, saying, I am my beloved's; but when he is perfectly revealed, and leaves nothing hidden, perceiving this she says: and my beloved is mine; and it is said somewhere in the prophecies, the Lord himself will shepherd us forever, but not as he now shepherds us among the lilies which are in the midst of thorns; therefore, having said: I am a flower of the field, a lily of the valleys, he adds: as a lily in the midst of thorns, so is my neighbor among the daughters; and observe how he did not say it of the bride; wherefore he has also come, so that the things being shepherded might not be stuck in thorns. 17.268 Until the day breathes and the shadows pass away. Wherefore he also boasts of speaking mystically in Jacob: I was consumed by the heat of the day; for in the heat of the present life we need the one who shepherds, because of the midday demons; for he says to the obedient one: he shall not be afraid of the midday demon; just as also, The sun shall not burn you; since he who bears our weaknesses and was pained for us was consumed by the heat for our sake; that he might redeem us from them; as also from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; and he shepherds among the lilies, even until the shadows of life pass away; according to that which says, for our days pass by like shadows; and perhaps even before his coming, through the law and the prophets, he shepherded among lilies while the heat still existed; but after his coming, he shepherds, but not among lilies; for as the day has breathed, it is said, beloved, know that it is the last hour. Turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of the valleys. The former things the bride said to the maidens, but the latter now to the bridegroom; so that at the present time

Ἡσαΐας περίτειχον ὀνομάζει, λέγων· θήσει τεῖχος, ἢ περίτειχος· βούλεται τοίνυν τῶν σωματικῶν ἐξελθοῦσαν, οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ τείχει γενέσθαι, ὅπερ εἶναι τὸν περὶ τοῦ κόσμου λό γον νομίζω, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐχόμενα τοῦ προτειχίσματος· ὃς λόγος μέν ἐστι τελευταῖος τῶν σωματικῶν, ἀρχὴ δὲ τῶν ἀσωμάτων. Πιάσατε ἡμῖν ἀλώπεκας μικροὺς ἀφανίζοντας ἀμπελῶνας, καὶ αἱ ἄμπελοι ἡμῶν κυπρίζουσιν. Ταῦτα τοῖς φίλοις ὁ νυμφίος, ἤτοι ἀγγέλοις. ἢ ἀν δράσιν ἁγίοις, ὅσοι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας διδάσκαλοι· ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας δὲ τῶν ἀμπελώνων ἡ προτροπή· ἵνα τῶν πανούργων συλλαμβανομένων δυνάμεων, αἳ διαφθεί ρουσαι τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἐκφύσεως τοῦ καρποῦ, δυνηθῶ σιν αἱ ἄμπελοι προκόψαι ἀπὸ τοῦ κυπρίζειν μέχρι τῆς τοῦ καρποῦ τελειώσεως, ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεωργούμε ναι· διὰ δὲ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον δυνάμεναι ἐνέγκαι καρπόν τε καὶ μή· ἢ τάχα καὶ ἄνθρωποι, ἀλώπεκές τινες δι' ἑτεροδόξου δριμύτητος ἐμποδίζοντες τοῖς ἀρξαμένοις τρέχειν καλῶς· οὓς ἔτι μικροὺς ὄντας βούλεται συλλη φθῆναι πρὶν ἐπιπλέον ἀσεβείας προκόψωσι· μέγας γὰρ ἀλώπηξ γενόμενος, ἐκείνοις μὲν ἀνάλωτος, ὑπὸ μόνου δὲ τοῦ νυμφίου θηρεύεται· ἀρχόμενοι γὰρ ἐνεργεῖν τὰ χείρονα, καὶ τοῖς φίλοις εὐάλωτοι· λέγει δ' ἂν καὶ μικροὺς τοὺς ἀμπελῶνας· οὐ δύναται γὰρ κατὰ τῶν μεγάλων ἀλώπηξ. Ἀδελφιδός μου ἐμοὶ, κἀγὼ αὐτῷ· ὁ ποιμαίνων ἐν τοῖς κρίνοις, ἕως οὗ διαπνεύσῃ ἡ ἡμέρα, καὶ κινηθῶσιν αἱ σκιαί. Ἢ νύμφη πρὸς τοὺς ἑταίρους τοῦ νυμφίου φησὶν ὡς οὐδεμίαν ἔχουσα πρὸς τοὺς ἀλώπεκας μετουσίαν· ἐκοινώνησαν γὰρ ἡμῖν, φησὶν, αἵματος καὶ σαρκὸς, καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτῷ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας. Ἢ ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ψυ χῇ γίνεται, καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ εἰς Θεὸν μετοικίζεται· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Παῦλος· Τὸ σῶμα οὐ τῇ πορνείᾳ, ἀλλὰ τῷ Κυρίῳ, καὶ ὁ Κύριος τῷ σώματι· σῶμα γὰρ ἡ νύμφη Ἐκκλησία Χριστοῦ, τὸ μηδαμῶς τῇ πορνείᾳ, ἀεὶ δὲ τῷ Κυρίῳ· καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Σωτήρ· Μείνατε ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἑξῆς ἀνάπαλιν γέγραπται· Ἐγὼ τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ μου, καὶ ὁ ἀδελφιδός μου ἐμοί. Ἢ τάχα διὰ τὸ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἀπὸ τοῦ νυμφίου γενέσθαι· μὴ ἐμφανίσαντος γὰρ ἑαυτὸν αὐτῇ, οὐδ' αὐτὴ τῷ νυμφίῳ ἀνέκειτο· τὸ γὰρ ἔνθεον αὐτοῦ κάλλος θεασαμένη, ἐπὶ σωτήριον ἀφίκετο φίλτρον, μεθὸ ἀνατεθεῖσα ἐκείνου τῷ κάλλει, λέγει, κἀγὼ αὐ τῷ· εἶτα τὴν τάξιν ἀντέλαβε πρὶν μὲν ἐλθεῖν τὸ τέ λειον, λέγουσα, ἐγὼ τῷ ἀδελφιδῷ μου· ὅταν δὲ τελείως ἀποκαλυφθῇ, μηδὲν καταλίπῃ κεκρυμμένον, αἰσθανο μένη τοῦτο λέγει· καὶ ἀδελφιδός μου ἐμοί· εἴρηται δέ που ταῖς προφητείαις, αὐτὸς Κύριος ποιμανεῖ ἡμᾶς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡς νῦν ἐν κρίνοις ἡμᾶς ποιμαίνει τοῖς ἐν μέσῳ ἀκανθῶν· τοιγαροῦν εἰπών· Ἐγὼ ἄνθος τοῦ πεδίου, κρίνον τῶν κοιλάδων, ἐπάγει· ὡς κρί νον ἐν μέσῳ ἀκανθῶν, οὕτως ἡ πλησίον μου ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν θυγατέρων· καὶ τήρει ὡς ἐπὶ τῆς νύμ φης οὐκ ἔλεξεν· διὸ καὶ παραγέγονεν, εἰς τὸ ἀκάνθαις μὴ ἐμπαγῆναι τὰ ποιμαινόμενα. 17.268 Ἕως οὗ διαπνεύσῃ ἡ ἡμέρα καὶ παρέλθωσιν αἱ σκιαί. ∆ιὸ καὶ αὐχεῖ μυστικῶς λέγειν ἐν Ἰακὼβ τό· ἐγενό μην τῆς ἡμέρας συγκαιόμενος τῷ καύματι· ἐν τῷ τοῦ παρόντος γὰρ βίου καύματι δεόμεθα τοῦ ποιμαίνοντος, διὰ τὰ μεσημβρινὰ δαιμόνια· λέγει γᾶρ πρὸς τὸν εὐ πειθῆ· οὐ φοβηθήσεται ἀπὸ δαιμονίου μεσημβρινοῦ· ὁποῖον καὶ τὸ, Ὁ ἥλιος οὐ συγκαύσει σε· ἐπείπερ ὁ τὰς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν φέρων καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν ὀδυνηθεὶς ἐγένετο ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν συγκαιόμενος τῷ καύματι· ἵνα ἐξ αγοράσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπ' αὐτῶν· ὡς καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου, γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα· ποιμαίνει δὲ καὶ ἐν κρίνοις, καὶ μέχρι παρέλθωσιν αἱ σκιαὶ τοῦ βίου· κατὰ τὸ, ὡς σκιαὶ ἡμέραι ἡμῶν παρά γουσιν· ἴσως δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας αὐτοῦ, διὰ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν, ἐν κρίνοις ἐποίμανεν ἔτι καύ σωνος ὄντος· μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐπιδημίαν, ποιμαίνει μὲν, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐν κρίνοις· ὡς γὰρ τῆς ἡμέρας διαπνευσάσης εἴρηται τὸ, ἀγαπητοὶ, γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστίν. Ἀπόστρεψον, ὁμοιώθητι σὺ, ἀδελφιδέ μου, τῷ δόρκωνι ἢ νεβρῷ ἐλάφων ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη τῶν κοιλω μάτων. Τὰ πρότερα πρὸς τὰς νεανίδας εἶπεν ἡ νύμφη, τὰ δὲ νῦν πρὸς τὸν νυμφίον· ὥστε τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ