Fragments on the Song of Songs

Fragmenta in Canticum canticorum · Ὠριγένους εἰς τὰ Ἄσματα τῶν Ἀσμάτων

Staged by chapter (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8); the text is noisy OCR with many flagged words.

Reading pages: 1–3 · 4–8

1Short comments on Song of Songs 1:2–16 read the bride as the soul or the church from the Gentiles and the bridegroom as Christ the Word.
2Comments on Song of Songs 2:1–17 read the flower, the shade, the call to arise, the little foxes, and the gazelle as figures of Christ's coming and the soul's ascent from the senses.
3Comments on Song of Songs 3:1–6 read the bride's night search as the soul seeking the deeper things of the Word, beyond the world and beyond the ministering angels.
4Comments on Song of Songs 4:2–5:14 read the bride's features as the gifts of the church's teachers and the bridegroom's as Christ's, with the call to open read of the risen Christ and Thomas.
6Comments on Song of Songs 6:4–13 read the queens, concubines, and maidens as ranks of souls sharing in the Word, and the bride's descent to the nut garden as the soul's fall into this toilsome life.
7Comments on Song of Songs 6:13–7:12 read the Shulammite as the church at peace or the despoiled soul called back, and her features as the gifts of teachers and the fruit of love.
8Comments on Song of Songs 8:1–14 read love strong as death as the seal of Christ on the soul's thoughts and deeds, and the small sister as the church still growing on earth.

About this work

Author: Origen
Attribution: disputed · Greek scholia on the Song of Songs printed by Migne under Origen's name from the catena of Procopius of Gaza and others; the attribution is uncertain and Migne's text is a catena mixture.
Standing: Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Deposed by Demetrius of Alexandria (ca. 231) but kept as teacher by the churches of Caesarea and Jerusalem; condemned only long after his death.
Date: ca. 220-254 (approximate) · Date of the original works, which are lost; the excerpts come from later catenae.
Written at: Caesarea, Palestine (probable)
Language: Greek
Genre: commentary
Reference system: chapter of the Song of Songs as headed by Migne (chapter 5 is not found in the OCR; the heading read as zeta is placed at chapter 6)
SBL abbreviation: Frag. Cant.Not yet checked
Clavis: CPG 1437 (not yet checked)
Text from: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca 17 (Paris, 1857) (Printed edition in the public domain; Internet Archive OCR of a public-domain scan)