7. The Church mourns in her wise men, who are, as it were, the head of the Church: "For the eyes of the wise man are in his head." [Eccl 2:14] She mourns in her eyes, that is in her faithful members. For it is written "Your eyes are like doves transcending your silence," [cf. Song 4:1 (LXX)] because they see spiritually, and know how to keep silent even about the mysteries which they have seen. The Church mourns in her bishops, who are as it were the cheeks of the Church, who wear the beard of Aaron, that is the beard of the priesthood, onto which the ointment drips from the head [cf. Ps 133(132):2]. These are the men in whom the beauty of the Church resides, in whom the flower of youth is more pleasing, in whom adulthood is more mature, who like the skins of the pomegranates are to display their beauty outwardly through physical abstinence, and inside the Church to feed the people of every age and sex entrusted to them with spiritual wisdom. While they are exposed to injury from the outside world, they dispense the mysteries to those within. The Church mourns in her virgins, who are like lilies, indeed like lilies full of myrrh, in the whiteness of their purity, as they display the glory of having subdued the temptations of the body.

 

(ed. Liebeschuetz 2010: 367-368)