Gripla - 20.12.2011, Page 101

101
There is a clear, substantial difference, relating to the allegorical inter-
pretation of the red colour, between the Old German poem and the main
trend of Latin exegetical writings about the rainbow, which has passed on
to the Old Icelandic preaching tradition. There, red was usually linked with
fire as one of the four natural elements and also as specifically tied to the
purgation of the final judgement; here it is connected with blood, namely
Christ’s blood, as a powerful and direct image of human redemption
attained through Christ’s passion and death. This connection is also found
in a passage from the glosses to chapter 31 of Bede’s De natura rerum, from
which I have quoted earlier:99
In arcu vero duo sunt colores principales, viridis scilicet, id est aquo-
sus et rubeus: in quibus nimirum designatur aperte aqua baptisma-
tis, et sanguis redemptionis, vel gratia Spiritus sancti. Per haec duo
ab omnibus emundamur peccatis. De quibus duobus mysteriis tota
Ecclesia cingitur, et per haec in novitatem gratiae Dei renovatur. Vel
per duos colores possumus intelligere duo judicia: unum, quod fac-
tum est per aquam: atque aliud, quod faciendum est per ignem.100
“Truly in the rainbow two are the main colours, namely green, i.e.,
watery, and red: by these certainly the water of baptism, and the
blood of redemption, and also the Holy Ghost’s grace, are suggest-
ed. Through these two we are cleansed from all sins. By these two
mysteries the whole Church is encompassed, and through them it
is made anew in God’s grace. On the other hand, by the two colours
we can understand two judgements: one which was carried out by
water; and the other which is to be carried out by fire.”
The explanation here is clear enough, just as it is self-evident that the
allegorical interpretation of the two-coloured rainbow points directly to
a general symbolic view of the Church as a cyclical pattern of sin and
99 Cf. above, the context of note 63.
100 Cf. Glossae et scholia to Bede, De natura rerum 31, in PL 90, col. 252 C. The relevance of
this passage for the Vienna allegory had been suggested before, both by Alfred Weller,
Die frühmittelhochdeutsche Wiener Genesis, Palaestra 123 (Berlin: Mayer & Müller, 1914),
57 (but here the passage is erroneously ascribed to Bede), and by Freytag, Die Theorie der
allegorischen Schriftdeutung, 64.
THE RAINBOW ALLEGORY