This fascinating and puzzling little book of the Bible has put to work scores of thinkers and commentators over the centuries trying to decipher its content and meaning. It became the most interpreted book in the medieval Christianity, having Gregory of Nyssa, Chrysostom and Jerome, among many others, giving it a serious try.

Today, the controversial little book has not lost its charm. Most of the Christian thinkers find in it this unprecedented hymn for the union of divine and human love, this inexplicable reaching of people, passions, dreams, and everything that is human, to divine territory.

The Variations on the Song of Songs it is not in itself a commentary of the book of the Bible. So if you are looking for something to cite in your exegesis paper this book is not for you.

It is certainly a book of meditation, more philosophical than religious. It is rather a collection of inspired prosaic poetry, ordered according to musical elements (which furthermore increase its charm and musicality).

Expressions of the inner thoughts and emotions of a philosopher about love, humanity, God and many more earthly and divine elements, inspired by this wonderful Hymn of Solomon, has found home in this book.

Since I first read this book (the French edition) I have always consider it a book of poetry, more of a fusion of the power of expression of Jacques Prevert and thinking and poetry of Charles Peguy. Later (when I needed to read some more of Yannaras' books) I discovered his combatant spirit and his metaphysical mind, which are not apparent in the Variations. This is a unique opportunity to discover a different Yannaras. Perhaps, if you have not read the Variations you have not fully understood him.

I would say that the comment of Oliver Cl?ment in the French edition has slightly misinterpreted the real nature of the book. I do find the poetry of the Variations closer to some paintings of Chagall than Byzantine icons, closer to the music of Philip Glass than Byzantine hymnography, closer to Prevert than Lacan.

As for the translation, it is wonderfully accomplished by Norman Russell. I would say with confidence that the English edition reads much better than the French and it is certainly closer to the initial intention of Yannaras when he wrote it.