THEOSISGregory of Nyssa
Let us observe how the bride responds to the Word and how she welcomes the Bridegroom. She expresses, "My garments are torn; how can I wear them? How can I defile my feet?" She faithfully obeyed Him who instructed her to become a sister, a neighbor, a dove, and a complete woman, allowing truth to transform her soul as a result. She acted upon what she had heard, shedding the leather garment she donned after sin and cleansing her feet of the earthly filth that had covered her since her fall from paradise, recalling the words, “for dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
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In doing this, she opened her soul’s entrance to the Word, parting the veil of her heart—representing the flesh—and, in discussing the flesh, I refer to the old nature that the divine Apostle urges those preparing at the font of the Word to cleanse from the uncleanness of their souls’ feet. Thus, having cast off the old self and removed the veil from her heart, the soul opened up to the Word, who, upon entering, became her garment, in line with the Apostle's guidance, commanding those who shed the old man’s fleshly attire to don the new robe created “in righteousness and holiness of truth” (Eph. 4:24). The garment, therefore, symbolizes Jesus. The sign of the bride is that she will not wear the torn garment again, but, in accordance with the mandate given to the disciples, she will be content with the singular garment she has adorned, having been renewed through rebirth, affirming the Lord's command to those who once wore the divine garment not to don the garment of sin again and not to possess two garments, ensuring that the two garments do not clash, for what unity could exist between a soiled garment and one that is pure and incorrupt? The law not only prohibits having two garments but also forbids sewing new cloth onto an old garment (Mk. 2:21), to prevent greater detriment should someone wear such a hybrid, leading to irreparable damage to the old. It is stated, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins are destroyed” (Mk. 2:22), exposing even the unattractive. Thus the bride laments, “My garment is gone, how can I wear it?” For who, having been adorned with the radiant robe of the Lord that was bestowed for purity and lack of shame, much like the one revealed on the mount during the transfiguration, would willingly cover themselves in a ragged garment, as the parable illustrates, the attire of a glutton and a drunkard (Proverbs 23:21)? After cleansing his feet, he refuses to soil them again by walking on the ground, declaring, “My feet are washed; how can I defile them?” It is also noted of Moses, who, by Divine instruction, removed his leather sandals and did not put them on again when entering the consecrated ground. Additionally, when arranging the priestly garments, he combined gold, scarlet, linen, and blue, yet he left the feet unadorned, for the priest's feet had to be bare on holy ground, prohibited from being covered in dead sheepskin. Thus, the Lord instructs the disciples not to wear shoes when He tells them not to “go the way of the Gentiles” but rather to journey through the holy places (Matthew 10:5, 10). Surely, you are aware of this sacred path that the disciples are commanded to travel, having learned from the King: “I am the way” (John 14:6)—a path untrodden by those unburdened from the dead man's garments. Since the bride walks upon this path, where the Lord purifies the feet of travelers with water and cleanses them with His girdle, the girdle symbolizing the power that erases sins, as it is declared, “Strength and honor are His clothing” (Psalm 92:1). Therefore, as the bride proceeds along this divine road, the Lord washes her feet and dries them with the girdle with which He is girded. The bride, having cleansed her feet, remains steadfast on the king’s highway, “not turning to the right or the left” (Deuteronomy 5:32), ensuring she doesn’t misstep and become soiled by the mud veering from the path. You comprehend that this signifies that the soul, once freed from the burdensome footwear of sin through baptism—since it is the baptizer's role to remove the straps of the shoes, as John bore witness (John 1:22) that he alone cannot do this with the Lord, who was never bound by the ties of sin—atoned for her feet, shedding all earthly grime along with the shoes. Therefore, she keeps her feet upon the smooth path unblemished, as David did when he cleansed his feet from clay and placed them upon the rock, expressing, “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure” (Psalm 40:2). This rock symbolizes the Lord, who embodies light, truth, and incorruption—the essence upon which the spiritual path is aligned. He who has not deviated from it, whether to the left or the right, keeps his footsteps untainted from desires of the flesh. Thus, it is by this that the bride, in my view, opens the door to the Word. The pledge that she will no longer accept the stains cast aside, or engage with the earthly pollution on her journey of life, is the entryway into the sanctuary of her prepared soul, with the sanctuary being the Lord. This encapsulates the essence of what has been articulated.