TO THE FELLOW-PRESBYTER TIMOTHY (1Pet 5.1)
DIONYSIUS THE PRESBYTER
ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL HIERARCHIES

ΤΩΙ ΣΥΜΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩΙ ΤΙΜΟΘΕΩΙ
ΔΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΣ Ο ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΟΣ
ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΡΧΙΑΣ

CHAPTER I.

What is the traditional view of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and what is its purpose?

What is the traditional view of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy and what is its purpose?

Section I.

We must, then, most pious of pious sons, demonstrate from the supermundane and most sacred Oracles and traditions, that ours is a Hierarchy of the inspired and Divine and Deifying science, and of operation, and of consecration, for those who have been initiated with the initiation of the sacred revelation derived from the hierarchical mysteries. See, however, that you do not put to scorn things most holy (Holy of Holies); but rather treat them reverently, and you will honour the things of the hidden God by intellectual and obscure researches, carefully guarding them from the participation and defilement of the uninitiated, and reverently sharing holy things with the holy alone, by a holy enlightenment. For thus, as the Word of God has taught us who feast at His Banquet, even Jesus Himself----the most supremely Divine ⁶⁸ Mind and superessential, the Source and Essence, and most supremely Divine Power of every Hierarchy and Sanctification and Divine operation----illuminates the blessed Beings who are superior to us, in a manner more clear, and at the same time more intellectual, and assimilates them to His own Light, as far as possible; and by our love of things beautiful elevated to Him, and which elevates us, folds together our many diversities, and after perfecting into a uniform and Divine life and habit and operation, holily bequeaths the power of the Divine Priesthood; from which by approaching to the holy exercise of the priestly office, we ourselves become nearer to the Beings above us, by assimilation, according to our power, to their abiding and: unchangeable holy steadfastness; and thus by looking upwards to the blessed and supremely Divine self of Jesus, and reverently gazing upon whatever. we are permitted to see, and illuminated with the knowledge of the visions, we shall be able to become, as regards the science of Divine mysteries, purified and purifiers; images of Light, and workers, with God, perfected and perfecting.

1  Ὅτι μὲν ἡ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχία͵ παίδων ἱερῶν ἱερώτατε͵ τῆς ἐνθέου καὶ θείας ἐστὶ καὶ θεουργικῆς ἐπιστήμης καὶ ἐνεργείας καὶ τελειώσεως͵ ἐκ τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων καὶ ἱερωτάτων ἡμᾶς ἀποδεῖξαι λογίων χρὴ τοῖς τῆς ἱερᾶς μυσταγωγίας τὴν τελετὴν ἐξ ἱεραρχικῶν μυστηρίων καὶ παραδό σεων τετελεσμένοις. Ἀλλ΄ ὅρα͵ ὅπως οὐκ ἐξορχήσῃ τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων͵ εὐλαβηθήσῃ δὲ καὶ τὰ τοῦ κρυφίου θεοῦ ταῖς νοεραῖς καὶ ἀοράτοις γνώσεσι τιμήσεις ἀμέθεκτα μὲν αὐτὰ καὶ ἄχραντα τοῖς ἀτελέστοις διατηρῶν͵ ἱεροῖς δὲ μόνοις τῶν ἱερῶν μεθ΄ ἱερᾶς ἐλλάμψεως ἱεροπρεπῶς κοινωνῶν. Οὕτω γάρ͵ ὡς ἡ θεολογία τοῖς θιασώταις ἡμῖν παραδέδωκε͵ καὶ αὐτὸς Ἰησοῦς͵ ὁ θεαρχικώτατος νοῦς καὶ ὑπερούσιος͵ ἡ πάσης ἱεραρ ⁶⁴ χίας ἁγιαστείας τε καὶ θεουργίας ἀρχὴ καὶ οὐσία καὶ θεαρχικωτάτη δύναμις͵ ταῖς τε μακαρίαις καὶ ἡμῶν κρείττοσιν οὐσίαις ἐμφανέστερον ἅμα καὶ νοερώτερον ἐλλάμπει καὶ πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον αὐτὰς ἀφομοιοῖ κατὰ δύναμιν φῶς ἡμῶν τε τῷ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνατεινομένῳ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἀνατείνοντι τῶν καλῶν ἔρωτι συμπτύσσει τὰς πολλὰς ἑτερότητας καὶ εἰς ἑνοειδῆ καὶ θείαν ἀποτελειώσας ζωὴν ἕξιν τε καὶ ἐνέργειαν ἱεροπρεπῆ δωρεῖται τῆς θείας ἱερωσύνης τὴν δύναμιν͵ ἐξ ἧς ἐπὶ τὴν ἁγίαν ἐρχόμενοι τῆς ἱερατείας ἐνέργειαν ἐγγύτεροι μὲν αὐτοὶ γινόμεθα τῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς οὐσιῶν τῇ κατὰ δύναμιν ἀφομοιώσει τοῦ μονίμου τε καὶ ἀνεξαλλάκτου τῆς αὐτῶν ἱερᾶς ἱδρύσεως καὶ ταύτῃ πρὸς τὴν μακαρίαν Ἰησοῦ καὶ θεαρχικὴν αὐγὴν ἀναβλέψαντες ὅσα τε ἰδεῖν ἐφικτὸν ἐποπτεύσαντες ἱερῶς καὶ τῆς τῶν θεαμάτων γνώσεως ἐλλαμφθέντες τὴν μυστικὴν ἐπιστήμην ἀφιερώμενοι καὶ ἀφιερωταὶ φωτοειδεῖς καὶ θεουργικοὶ τετελεσμένοι καὶ τελεσιουργοὶ γενέσθαι δυνησόμεθα. 

Section II.

Then what is the Hierarchy of the Angels1 and Archangels, and of supermundane Principalities and Authorities, Powers and Lordships, and Divine Thrones, or of the Beings of the same ranks as the Thrones----which the Word of God declares to ⁶⁹ be near, and always about God, and with2 God, naming them in the Hebrew tongue Cherubim and Seraphim----by pondering the sacred ranks and divisions of their Orders and Hierarchies, you will find in the books we have written----not as befits their dignity but to the best of our ability----and as the Theology of the most holy Scriptures guided, when they extolled their Hierarchy. Nevertheless, it is necessary to say this, that both that, and every Hierarchy extolled now by us, has one and the same power, throughout the whole Hierarchical transaction; and that the Hierarch himself, according to his essence, and analogy, and rank, is initiated in Divine things, and is deified and imparts to the subordinates, according to the meetness of each for the sacred deification which comes to him from’ God; also that the subordinates follow the superior, and elevate the inferior towards things in advance; and that some go before, and, as far as possible, give the lead to others; and that each, as far as may be, participates in the truly Beautiful, and Wise, and Good, through this the inspired and sacerdotal harmony.

2  Τίς μὲν οὖν ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐστὶ καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων ἱεραρχία καὶ τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων ἀρχῶν τε καὶ ἐξουσιῶν καὶ δυνάμεων κυριοτήτων τε καὶ θείων θρόνων ἢ τῶν ὁμοταγῶν τοῖς θρόνοις οὐσιῶν͵ ἃς ἡ θεολογία προσεχῶς καὶ ἀεὶ περὶ θεόν τε εἶναι καὶ μετὰ θεοῦ παραδίδωσι Χερουβὶμ αὐτὰς Ἑβραίων φωνῇ καὶ Σεραφὶμ ὀνομάζουσα͵ ταῖς τῶν διακόσμων αὐτῶν καὶ ἱεραρχιῶν ἁγίαις τάξεσι καὶ διαιρέσεσι περιτυγχάνων εὑρή σεις͵ ἐν τούτοις ἡμῶν οὐκ ἐπαξίως μὲν ὡς ἐφικτὸν δὲ καὶ ὡς ἡ θεολογία τῶν ἱερωτάτων γραφῶν ὑφηγήσατο͵ τὴν κατ΄ αὐτοὺς ἱεραρχίαν ἀν υμνηκότων. Τοσοῦτον δὲ ὅμως εἰπεῖν ἀναγκαῖον͵ ὡς ἐκείνη τε καὶ πᾶσα καὶ ἡ νῦν ὑμνουμένη παρ΄ ἡμῶν ἱεραρχία μίαν ἔχει καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν διὰ ⁶⁵ πάσης τῆς ἱεραρχικῆς πραγματείας τὴν δύναμιν͵ αὐτόν τε τὸν ἱεράρχην͵ ὡς ἡ κατ΄ αὐτὸν οὐσία καὶ ἀναλογία καὶ τάξις ἔχει͵ τελεσθῆναι κατὰ τὰ θεῖα καὶ θεωθῆναι καὶ τοῖς ὑποβεβηκόσι μεταδοῦναι κατ΄ ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ τῆς ἐγγενομένης αὐτῷ θεόθεν ἱερᾶς θεώσεως τούς τε ὑποβεβηκότας ἕπε σθαι μὲν τοῖς κρείττοσιν͵ ἀνατείνειν δὲ τοὺς ἥττους ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσω͵ τοὺς δὲ καὶ προϊέναι καὶ ὡς δυνατὸν ἑτέροις ἡγεῖσθαι͵ καὶ διὰ ταύτης τῆς ἐνθέου καὶ ἱεραρχικῆς ἁρμονίας τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος καλοῦ καὶ σοφοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ μετέχειν ἕκαστον ὅση δύναμις.

But the Beings and ranks above us, of whom we have already made a reverent mention, are both incorporeal, and their Hierarchy is both intelligible and supermundane; but let us view our Hierarchy, comformably to ourselves, abounding in the variety of the sensible symbols, by which, in proportion to our capacity, we are conducted, hierarchically ⁷⁰ according to our measure, to the uniform deification ----God and Divine virtue. They indeed, as minds, think, according to laws laid down for themselves; but we are led by sensible figures to the Divine contemplations, as is possible to us. And, to speak truly, there is One, to Whom all the Godlike aspire, but they do not partake uniformly of this One and the Same, but as the Divine balance distributes to each the meet inheritance. Now these things have been treated more systematically in the Treatise concerning “Intelligible and Sensible 3.” But now I will attempt to describe our Hierarchy, both its source and essence, as best I can; invoking Jesus, the source and Perfecting of all Hierarchies.

Ἀλλ΄ αἱ μὲν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς οὐσίαι καὶ τάξεις͵ ὧν ἤδη μνήμην ἱερὰν ἐποιησάμην͵ ἀσώματοί τέ εἰσι καὶ νοητὴ καὶ ὑπερκόσμιός ἐστιν ἡ κατ΄ αὐτὰς ἱεραρχία͵ τὴν καθ΄ ἡμᾶς δὲ ὁρῶμεν ἀναλόγως ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς τῇ τῶν αἰσθητῶν συμβόλων ποικιλίᾳ πληθυνο μένην͵ ὑφ΄ ὧν ἱεραρχικῶς ἐπὶ τὴν ἑνοειδῆ θέωσιν ἐν συμμετρίᾳ τῇ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἀναγόμεθα [θεόν τε καὶ θείαν ἀρετήν]. Αἱ μὲν ὡς νόες νοοῦσι κατὰ τὸ αὐταῖς θεμιτόν͵ ἡμεῖς δὲ αἰσθηταῖς εἰκόσιν ἐπὶ τὰς θείας ὡς δυνατὸν ἀναγόμεθα θεωρίας͵ ἀληθῶς τε εἰπεῖν ἓν μέν ἐστιν οὗ πάντες οἱ ἑνοειδεῖς ἐφίενται͵ μετέχουσι δὲ οὐχ ἑνιαίως ταὐτοῦ τε καὶ ἑνὸς ὄντος͵ ἀλλ΄ ὡς ἑκάστῳ τὰ θεῖα ζυγὰ διανέμει κατ΄ ἀξίαν τὴν ἀποκλήρωσιν. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ Περὶ νοητῶν τε καὶ αἰσθητῶν πραγματείᾳ διεξοδικώτερον εἴρηται͵ νῦν δὲ τὴν καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίαν ἀρχήν τε αὐτῆς καὶ οὐσίαν ὡς οἷόν τε εἰπεῖν πειράσομαι͵ τὴν πασῶν ἱεραρχιῶν ἀρχήν τε καὶ τελείωσιν Ἰησοῦν ἐπικαλεσάμενος. 

Section III.

Every Hierarchy, then, is, according to our august tradition, the whole account of the sacred things falling under it, a most complete summary of the sacred rites of this or that Hierarchy, as the case may be. Our Hierarchy, then, is called, and is, the comprehensive system of the whole sacred rites included within it, according to which the divine Hierarch, being initiated, will have the communication of all the most sacred things within himself, as chief of Hierarchy. For as he who speaks of Hierarchy speaks of the order of the whole sacred rites collectively, so he, who mentions Hierarch, denotes the inspired and godly man----the skilled in all sacred knowledge----in whom the whole ⁷¹ Hierarchy is clearly completed and recognized within himself.

3  Ἔστι μὲν ἱεραρχία πᾶσα κατὰ τὸ σεπτὸν τῆς ἡμῶν ἱερᾶς παρα δόσεως ὁ πᾶς τῶν ὑποκειμένων ἱερῶν λόγος͵ ἡ καθολικωτάτη τῶν τῆσδε τυχὸν ἱεραρχίας ἢ τῆσδε ἱερῶν συγκεφαλαίωσις. Ἡ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς οὖν ἱεραρ χία λέγεται καὶ ἔστιν ἡ περιεκτικὴ τῶν κατ΄ αὐτὴν ἁπάντων ἱερῶν ⁶⁶ πραγματεία͵ καθ΄ ἣν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης τελούμενος ἁπάντων ἕξει τῶν κατ΄ αὐτὸν ἱερωτάτων τὴν μέθεξιν ὡς ἱεραρχίας ἐπώνυμος. Ὡς γὰρ ἱεραρχίαν ὁ φήσας ἁπάντων ὁμοῦ συλλήβδην ἔφη τῶν ἱερῶν τὴν διακόσμησιν͵ οὕτως ἱεράρχην ὁ λέγων δηλοῖ τὸν ἔνθεόν τε καὶ θεῖον ἄνδρα τὸν πάσης ἱερᾶς ἐπιστήμονα γνώσεως͵ ἐν ᾧ καὶ καθαρῶς ἡ κατ΄ αὐτὸν ἱεραρχία πᾶσα τελεῖται καὶ γινώσκεται.

Head of this Hierarchy is the Fountain of Life, the Essence of Goodness, the one Triad, Cause of things that be, from Which both being and well-being come to things that be, by reason of goodness4. Of this most supremely Divine blessedness ----exalted beyond all, the threefold Monad, the really Being,----the Will, inscrutable to us, but known to Itself, is the rational preservation of beings amongst us and above us; but that (preservation) cannot otherwise take place, except those who are, being saved are being deified. Now the assimilation to, and union with, God, as far as attainable, is deification. And this is the common goal of every Hierarchy,----the clinging love towards God and Divine things divinely and uniformly ministered; and previous to this, the complete and unswerving removal of things contrary, the knowledge of things as they are in themselves; the vision and science of sacred truth; the inspired communication of the uniform perfection of the One Itself, as far as attainable; the banquet of contemplation, nourishing intelligibly, and deifying every man elevated towards it.

Ταύτης ἀρχὴ τῆς ἱεραρχίας ἡ πηγὴ τῆς ζωῆς ἡ οὐσία τῆς ἀγαθότητος ἡ μία τῶν ὄντων αἰτία͵ τριάς͵ ἐξ ἧς καὶ τὸ εἶναι καὶ τὸ εὖ εἶναι τοῖς οὖσι δι΄ ἀγαθότητα. Ταύτῃ δὲ τῇ πάντων ἐπέκεινα θεαρχικωτάτῃ μακαριότητι τῇ τρισσῇ τῇ μονάδι τῇ ὄντως οὔσῃ κατὰ τὸ ἡμῖν μὲν ἀνέφικτον αὐτῇ δὲ ἐπιστητὸν θέλημα μέν ἐστιν ἡ λογικὴ σωτηρία τῶν καθ΄ ἡμᾶς τε καὶ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς οὐσιῶν· ἡ δὲ οὐχ ἑτέρως γενέσθαι δύναται μὴ θεουμένων τῶν σωζομένων· ἡ δὲ θέωσίς ἐστιν ἡ πρὸς θεὸν ὡς ἐφικτὸν ἀφομοίωσίς τε καὶ ἕνωσις. Ἁπάσῃ δὲ τοῦτο κοινὸν ἱεραρχίᾳ τὸ πέρας· ἡ πρὸς θεόν τε καὶ τὰ θεῖα προσεχὴς ἀγάπησις ἐνθέως τε καὶ ἑνιαίως ἱερουργουμένη͵ καὶ πρό γε τούτου τῶν ἐναντίων ἡ παν τελὴς καὶ ἀνεπίστροφος ἀποφοίτησις͵ ἡ γνῶσις τῶν ὄντων ᾗ ὄντα ἐστίν͵ ἡ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀληθείας ὅρασίς τε καὶ ἐπιστήμη͵ ἡ τῆς ἑνοειδοῦς τελειώσεως ἔνθεος μέθεξις͵ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἑνὸς ὡς ἐφικτὸν ἡ τῆς ἐποψίας ἑστίασις τρέφουσα νοητῶς καὶ θεοῦσα πάντα τὸν εἰς αὐτὴν ἀνατεινόμενον. 

Section IV.

Let us affirm, then, that the supremely Divine Blessedness, the essential Deity, the Source of ⁷² deification, from Which comes the deification of those deified, bequeathed, by Divine Goodness, the Hierarchy, for preservation, and deification of all rational and intellectual Beings. And to the supermundane and blessed inheritances there is bequeathed something more immaterial and intellectual (for Almighty God does not move them to things divine, from without, but intelligibly, since they are illuminated as to the most Divine will from within, with brilliancy pure and immaterial), but to us----that which has been bequeathed to them, uniformly, and enveloped, is bequeathed from the Divinely transmitted Oracles, in a variety and multitude of divisible symbols, as we are able to receive it. For the Divinely transmitted Oracles are essence of our Hierarchy. And we affirm that these Oracles----all such as were given from our godly initiators in inspired Letters of the Word of God ----are most august; and further, whatever our leaders have revealed to us from the same holy men, by a less material initiation, and already akin, as it were, to the Heavenly Hierarchy, from mind to mind, through the medium of speech, corporeal, indeed, but nevertheless more immaterial, without writing. Nor did the inspired Hierarchs transmit these things, in conceptions clear to the commonalty of worshippers, but in sacred symbols. For it is not every one that is hallowed; nor, as the Oracles affirm, does knowledge belong to all. ⁷³ 

4  Λέγωμεν τοίνυν ὡς ἡ θεαρχικὴ μακαριότης ἡ φύσει θεότης ἡ ἀρχὴ τῆς θεώσεως͵ ἐξ ἧς τὸ θεοῦσθαι τοῖς θεουμένοις͵ ἀγαθότητι θείᾳ τὴν ἱεραρχίαν ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ καὶ θεώσει πάντων τῶν λογικῶν τε καὶ νοερῶν ⁶⁷ οὐσιῶν ἐδωρήσατο͵ καὶ ταῖς μὲν ὑπερκοσμίοις καὶ μακαρίαις λήξεσιν ἀϋλότερόν τε καὶ νοερώτερον (οὐ γὰρ ἔξωθεν αὐτὰς ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ τὰ θεῖα κινεῖ͵ νοητῶς δὲ καὶ ἔνδοθεν ἐλλαμπομένων αὐτῶν ἐν αὐγῇ καθαρᾷ καὶ ἀΰλῳ τὴν θειοτάτην βούλησιν)͵ ἡμῖν δὲ τὸ ἐκείναις ἑνιαίως τε καὶ συν επτυγμένως δωρηθὲν ἐκ τῶν θεοπαραδότων λογίων ὡς ἡμῖν ἐφικτὸν ἐν ποικιλίᾳ καὶ πλήθει διαιρετῶν συμβόλων δεδώρηται. Οὐσία γὰρ τῆς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας ἐστὶ τὰ θεοπαράδοτα λόγια. Σεπτότατα δὲ λόγια ταῦτά φαμεν͵ ὅσα πρὸς τῶν ἐνθέων ἡμῶν ἱεροτελεστῶν ἐν ἁγιογράφοις ἡμῖν καὶ θεολογικαῖς δεδώρηται δέλτοις καὶ μὴν ὅσα πρὸς τῶν αὐτῶν ἱερῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀϋλοτέρᾳ μυήσει καὶ γείτονί πως ἤδη τῆς οὐρανίας ἱεραρ χίας ἐκ νοὸς εἰς νοῦν διὰ μέσου λόγου σωματικοῦ μὲν ἀϋλοτέρου δὲ ὅμως͵ γραφῆς ἐκτὸς οἱ καθηγεμόνες ἡμῶν ἐμυήθησαν͵ οὐδὲ ταῦτα τῶν ἐνθέων ἱεραρχῶν εἰς τὸ τῆς ἱερουργίας κοινὸν ἀπαρακαλύπτοις νοήσεσιν ἀλλ΄ ἐν συμβόλοις ἱεροῖς παραδεδωκότων. Ἔστι γὰρ οὐ πᾶς ἱερὸς οὐδὲ πάντων͵ ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν͵ ἡ γνῶσις. 

Section V.

Necessarily, then, the first leaders of our Hierarchy, after having been filled themselves with the sacred gift, from the superessential Godhead, and sent, by the supremely Divine Goodness, to extend the same gift successively, and, as godly, earnestly desiring themselves the elevation and deification of those after them, presented to us----by their written and unwritten revelations----in accordance with their sacred injunctions, things supercelestial, by sensible images, the enfolded, by variety and multitude, and things Divine, by things human, and things immaterial, by things material, and the superessential, by things belonging to us. Nor did they do this merely on account of the unhallowed, to whom it is not permitted even to touch the symbols, but because our Hierarchy is, as I said, a kind of symbol adapted to our condition, which needs things sensible, for our more Divine elevation from these to things intelligible. Nevertheless the reasons of the symbols have been revealed to the Divine initiators, which it is not permitted to explain to those who are yet being initiated, knowing that the Lawgivers of things divinely transmitted deliberately arranged the Hierarchy in well-established and unconfused ranks, and in proportionate and sacred distributions of that which was convenient to each, according to fitness. Wherefore trusting in thy sacred promises (for it is a pious duty to recall them to thy recollection) ---- that, since every Hierarchical sacred word is of binding ⁷⁴ force, thou wilt not communicate to any other but those Godlike initiators of the same rank with thyself, and wilt persuade them to promise, according to hierarchical regulation, to touch pure things purely, and to communicate the mysteries of God to the godly alone, and things perfect to those capable of perfection, and things altogether most holy to the holy, I have entrusted this Divine gift to thee, in addition to many other Hierarchical gifts.

5  Ἀναγκαίως οὖν οἱ πρῶτοι τῆς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας καθηγεμόνες ἐκ τῆς ὑπερουσίου θεαρχίας αὐτοί τε ἀναπλησθέντες τοῦ ἱεροῦ δώρου καὶ εἰς τὸ ἑξῆς αὐτὸ προαγαγεῖν ὑπὸ τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἀγαθότητος ἀπ εσταλμένοι καὶ αὐτοὶ [δὲ] ἀφθόνως ἐρῶντες ὡς θεῖοι τῆς τῶν μετ΄ αὐτοὺς ἀναγωγῆς καὶ θεώσεως αἰσθηταῖς εἰκόσι τὰ ὑπερουράνια καὶ ποικιλίᾳ καὶ πλήθει τὸ συνεπτυγμένον καὶ ἐν ἀνθρωπίνοις τε τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἐν ἐνύλοις τὰ ἄϋλα καὶ τοῖς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς τὰ ὑπερούσια ταῖς ἐγγράφοις τε αὐτῶν καὶ ἀγράφοις μυήσεσι κατὰ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἡμῖν παρέδοσαν θεσμούς͵ οὐ τῶν ⁶⁸ ἀνιέρων ἕνεκα μόνον͵ οἷς οὐδὲ τῶν συμβόλων ἅπτεσθαι θεμιτόν͵ ἀλλ΄ ὅτι καὶ συμβολική τίς ἐστιν ὅπερ ἔφην ἀναλόγως ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἡ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχία δεομένη τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἰς τὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τὰ νοητὰ θειοτέραν ἡμῶν ἀναγωγήν. Ἀνακεκαλυμμένοι δὲ ὅμως εἰσὶν οἱ τῶν συμβόλων λόγοι τοῖς θείοις ἱεροτελεσταῖς͵ οὓς οὐ θεμιτὸν ἐξάγειν εἰς τοὺς ἔτι τελειουμένους εἰδότας͵ ὡς οἱ τῶν ἱερῶν θεοπαραδότως νομοθέται ταῖς τῶν διακόσμων εὐσταθέσι καὶ ἀσυμφύρτοις τάξεσι καὶ ταῖς τοῦ ἑκάστῳ κατ΄ ἀξίαν προσ ήκοντος ἀναλόγοις καὶ ἱεραῖς ἀπονεμήσεσι τὴν ἱεραρχίαν διετάξαντο. Διὸ καὶ ταῖς σαῖς ἱεραῖς ὁμολογίαις πεισθεὶς (ἀναμνῆσαι γὰρ αὐτῶν εὐαγές)͵ ὡς ἁπάσης μὲν ὑπερκειμένης ἱεραρχικῆς ἱερολογίας οὐ μεταδώσεις ἑτέρῳ παρὰ τοὺς ὁμοταγεῖς σοι θεοειδεῖς ἱεροτελεστὰς αὐτούς τε πείσεις ὁμο λογῆσαι κατὰ θεσμὸν ἱεραρχικὸν καθαρῶν μὲν καθαρῶς ἐφάπτεσθαι͵ κοινωνεῖν δὲ μόνοις τῶν θεουργικῶν τοῖς θείοις καὶ τῶν τελείων τοῖς τελειωτικοῖς ἁγίοις τε τῶν παναγεστάτων͵ ἄλλων τε ἱεραρχικῶν σοι καὶ τούτου μεταδέδωκα τοῦ ἐνθέου δώρου.

CAPUT II.

I. Concerning things done in Illumination. 

We have, then, reverently affirmed that this is the purpose of our Hierarchy, viz., our assimilation and union with God, as far as attainable. And, as the Divine Oracles teach, we shall attain this only by the love and the religious performance of the most worshipful Commandments. For He says: “He 5 that loveth Me will keep My Word, and My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and will make Our abode with him.” What, then, is source of the religious performance of the most august commandments? Our preparation for the restitution of the supercelestial rest, which forms the habits of our souls into an aptitude for the reception of the other sacred sayings and doings 6, the transmission of our holy and most divine regeneration 7. For, as our illustrious Leader used ⁷⁵ to say, the very first movement of the mind towards Divine things is the willing reception of Almighty God, but the very earliest step of the religious reception towards the religious performance of the Divine commandments is the unutterable operation of our being from God. For if our 8 being from God is the Divine engendering, never would he know, and certainly never perform, any of the Divine instructions, who had not had his beginning to be in God. To speak after the manner of men, must we not first begin to be, and then to do, our affairs? Since he, who does not exist at all, has neither movement nor even beginning; since he, who in some way exists, alone does, or suffers, those things suitable to his own nature. This, then, as I think, is clear. Let us next contemplate the Divine symbols of the birth in God. And I pray, let no uninitiated person approach the sight 9; for neither is it without danger to gaze upon the glorious rays of the sun with weak eyes, nor is it without peril to put our hand to things above us. For right was the priesthood of the Law, when rejecting Osias, because he put his hand to sacred things; and Korah, because to things sacred above his capacity; and Nadab and Abihu, because they treated things, within their own province, unholily. ⁷⁶ 

II. 1 Εἴρηται τοίνυν ἡμῖν ἱερῶς͵ ὡς οὗτός ἐστι τῆς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας σκοπός· ἡ πρὸς θεὸν ἡμῶν ὡς ἐφικτὸν ἀφομοίωσίς τε καὶ ἕνωσις. Ταύτης δέ͵ ὡς τὰ θεῖα διδάσκει λόγια͵ ταῖς τῶν σεβασμιωτάτων ἐντολῶν ἀγαπή σεσι καὶ ἱερουργίαις μόνως τευξόμεθα. Τηρήσει γάρ φησιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με τὸν λόγον μου͵ καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ἀγαπήσει αὐτόν͵ καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλευσόμεθα καὶ μονὴν παρ΄ αὐτῷ ποιήσομεν. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν ἀρχὴ τῆς τῶν σεπτοτάτων ἐντολῶν ἱερουργίας͵ ἡ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἄλλων ἱερολογιῶν ⁶⁹ καὶ ἱερουργιῶν ὑποδοχὴν ἐπιτηδειότατα μορφοῦσα τὰς ψυχικὰς ἡμῶν ἕξεις͵ ἡ πρὸς τὴν τῆς ὑπερουρανίας λήξεως ἀναγωγὴν ἡμῶν ὁδοποίησις; Ἡ τῆς ἱερᾶς καὶ θειοτάτης ἡμῶν ἀναγεννήσεως παράδοσις. Ὡς γὰρ ὁ κλεινὸς ἡμῶν ἔφη καθηγεμών͵ ἡ κατὰ νοῦν μὲν ἐπὶ τὰ θεῖα πρωτίστη κίνησις ἡ ἀγάπησίς ἐστι τοῦ θεοῦ͵ τῆς δὲ ἱερᾶς ἀγαπήσεως ἡ πρὸς τὴν ἱερουργίαν τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν ἀρχικωτάτη πρόοδος ἡ τοῦ εἶναι θείως ἡμᾶς ἀρρητοτάτη δημιουργία. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ εἶναι θείως ἐστὶν ἡ θεία γέννησις͵ οὐ μή ποτέ τι γνοίη τῶν θεοπαραδότων οὔτε μὴν ἐνεργήσειεν ὁ μηδὲ τὸ ὑπάρχειν ἐνθέως ἐσχηκώς. ῍Η οὐχὶ καὶ ἡμῖν (ἀνθρωπίνως φαμὲν) ὑπάρξαι δεῖ πρῶτον͵ εἶτα ἐνεργῆσαι τὰ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ὡς τοῦ μηδαμῶς ὄντος οὐδὲ κίνησιν [ἀλλ΄ οὐδὲ ὕπαρξιν] ἔχοντος͵ τοῦ δέ που ὄντος ἐκεῖνα μόνον ἐνεργοῦντος ἢ πάσχοντος ἐν οἷς εἶναι πέφυκεν; Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ὡς οἶμαι σαφές. Ἑξῆς δὲ τὰ θεῖα τῆς θεογενεσίας ἐποπτεύσωμεν σύμβολα. Καί μοι μηδεὶς ἀτέλεστος ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν ἰέτω. Καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ ταῖς ἡλιοτεύκτοις αὐγαῖς ἐν ἀσθενέσι κόραις ἀντωπεῖν ἀκίνδυνον οὐδὲ τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς ἐγχειρεῖν ἀβλαβές͵ εἴπερ ἀληθὴς ἡ κατὰ νόμον ἱεραρχία τὸν μὲν Ὀζίαν͵ ὅτι τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐνεχείρησεν͵ ἀποστρεφομένη͵ τὸν Κορὲ δέ͵ ὅτι τοῖς ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν ἱεροῖς͵ τὸν δὲ Ναδάβ͵ ὅτι τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀνιέρως ἀπεχρήσατο.

II. Mysterion of Illumination.

⁷⁰ 1Μυστήριον φωτίσματος.1 

Section I.

The Hierarch, then, wishing that all men whatsoever should be saved by their assimilation towards God, and come to recognition of truth, proclaims to all the veritable Good News, that God being compassionate towards those upon earth, out of His own proper and innate goodness, deigned Himself to come to us with outstretched arms, by reason of loving-kindness towards men; and, by the union with Him, to assimilate, like as by fire, things that have been made one, in proportion to their aptitude for deification. “For as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become children of God----to those who believe on His Name, who were begotten, not of bloods, nor of will of flesh, but of God 10.”

1  Ὁ μὲν ἱεράρχης ἑκάστοτε τῇ πρὸς θεὸν ἀφομοιώσει πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐθέλων σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν ἀνα κηρύττει πᾶσι τὰ ὄντως εὐαγγέλια· θεὸν ἵλεω τοῖς ἐπὶ γῆς ἐξ οἰκείας ὄντα καὶ φυσικῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτὸν ὡς ἡμᾶς ἀφικέσθαι διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ἀξιώσαντα καὶ τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἑνώσει δίκην πυρὸς ἀφομοιῶσαι τὰ ἑνω θέντα κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν πρὸς θέωσιν ἐπιτηδειότητα. Ὅσοι γὰρ ἔλαβον αὐτόν͵ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα θεοῦ γενέσθαι͵ τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ͵ οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός͵ ἀλλ΄ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν. 

Section II.

He, who has felt a religious longing to participate in these truly supermundane gifts, comes to some one of the initiated, and persuades him to act as his conductor to the Hierarch. He then professes wholly to follow the teaching that shall be given to him, and prays him to undertake the superintendence of his introduction, and of all his after life. Now he, though religiously longing for his salvation, when he measures human infirmity against the loftiness of the undertaking, is suddenly seized ⁷⁷ with a shivering and sense of incapacity, nevertheless, at last, he agrees, with a good grace, to do what is requested, and takes and leads him to the chief Hierarch.

2  Ὁ δὲ τούτων ἀγαπήσας τῶν ὄντως ὑπερκοσμίων τὴν ἱερὰν μετουσίαν ἐλθὼν ἐπί τινα τῶν μεμυημένων πείθει μὲν αὐτὸν ἡγήσασθαι τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν ἱεράρχην ὁδοῦ͵ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁλικῶς ἐπακολουθήσειν ἐπαγγέλ λεται τοῖς παραδοθησομένοις καὶ ἀξιοῖ τῆς τε προσαγωγῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ συμπάσης τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ ἑξῆς ζωῆς τὴν ἐπιστασίαν ἀναδέξασθαι. Τὸν δὲ τῆς μὲν ἐκείνου σωτηρίας ἱερῶς ἐρῶντα͵ πρὸς δὲ τὸ τοῦ πράγματος ὕψος ἀντιμετροῦντα τὸ ἀνθρώπινον φρίκη μὲν ἄφνω καὶ ἀμηχανία περιίσταται· τελευτῶν δὲ ὅμως ποιήσειν τὸ αἰτηθὲν ἀγαθοειδῶς ὡμολόγησε καὶ πα ραλαβὼν αὐτὸν ἄγει πρὸς τὸν τῆς ἱεραρχίας ἐπώνυμον.

Section III.

He, then, when with joy he has received, as the sheep upon his shoulders, the two men, and has first worshipped, glorifies with a mental thanksgiving and bodily prostration the One beneficent Source, from Which, those who are being called, are called, and those who are being saved, are saved.

⁷¹  3  Ὁ δὲ μετ΄ εὐφροσύνης ὡς τὸ ἐπ΄ ὤμων πρόβατον εἰσδεξάμενος τοῖν ἀνδροῖν ἐσέφθη μὲν πρῶτα διὰ νοερᾶς εὐχαριστίας καὶ σωματοειδοῦς προσκυνήσεως τὴν μίαν ἀγαθοεργέτιν ἀρχήν͵ ὑφ΄ ἧς τὰ καλούμενα κα λεῖται καὶ τὰ σωζόμενα σώζεται. 

Section IV.

Then collecting a full religious assembly into the sacred place, for co-operation, and common rejoicing over the man’s salvation, and for thanksgiving for the Divine Goodness, he first chants a certain hymn, found in the Oracles, accompanied by the whole body of the Church; and after this, when he has kissed the holy table, he advances to the man before him, and demands of him, what has brought him here?

4  Εἶτα πᾶσαν ἱερὰν διακόσμησιν ἐπὶ συνεργίᾳ μὲν καὶ συνεορτάσει τῆς τἀνδρὸς σωτηρίας͵ εὐχαριστίᾳ δὲ τῆς θείας ἀγαθότητος εἰς τὸν ἱερὸν χῶρον συναγαγὼν ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν ὕμνον τινὰ τοῖς λογίοις ἐγκείμενον ἅμα πᾶσι τοῖς τῆς ἐκκλησίας πληρώμασιν ἱερολογεῖ καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο τὴν ἱερὰν ἀσπασάμενος τράπεζαν πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα παρόντα πρόεισι καὶ πυνθάνεται παρ΄ αὐτοῦ τί βουλόμενος ἥκοι. 

Section V.

When the man, out of love to God, has confessed, according to the instruction of his sponsor, his ungodliness, his ignorance of the really beautiful, his insufficiency for the life in God, and prays, through his holy mediation, to attain to God and Divine things, he (the Hierarch) testifies to him, that his approach ought to be entire, as to God Who is All Perfect, and without ⁷⁸ blemish; and when he has expounded to him fully the godly course of life, and has demanded of him, if he would thus live,----after his promise he places his right hand upon his head, and when he has sealed him, commands the priests to register the man and his sponsor.

5  Τοῦ δὲ θεοφιλῶς αἰτιασαμένου κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀναδόχου παράδοσιν τὴν ἀθεότητα τὴν ἀγνωσίαν τοῦ ὄντως καλοῦ τὴν τῆς ἐνθέου ζωῆς ἀνενεργησίαν͵ ἀξιοῦντός τε διὰ τῆς ἱερᾶς αὐτοῦ μεσιτείας θεοῦ καὶ τῶν θείων τυχεῖν͵ μαρτύρεται μὲν αὐτῷ τὴν ὀφειλομένην ὁλικὴν γενέσθαι προσέλευσιν ὡς παντελείῳ καὶ ἀμώμῳ ὄντι θεῷ͵ καὶ τὴν ἔνθεον αὐτῷ πολιτείαν ὑφηγησάμενος καὶ προσερωτήσας͵ εἰ οὕτω πολιτεύσαιτο͵ μετὰ τὴν ὁμολογίαν ἐπιτίθησιν αὐτοῦ τῇ κεφαλῇ τὴν χεῖρα καὶ σφραγισάμενος ἀπογράψασθαι κελεύει τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τὸν ἀνάδοχον. 

Section VI.

When these have enrolled the names, he makes a holy prayer, and when the whole Church have completed this with him, he looses his sandals, and removes his clothing, through the Leitourgoi. Then, when he has placed him facing the west and beating his hands, averted towards the same quarter, he commands him thrice to breathe scorn upon Satan, and further, to profess the words of the renunciation. When he has witnessed his threefold renunciation, he turns him back to the east, after he has professed this thrice; and when he has looked up to heaven, and extended his hands thitherward, he commands him to be enrolled under Christ, and all the Divinely transmitted Oracles of God. When the man has done this, he attests again for him his threefold profession, and again, when he has thrice professed, after prayer, he gives thanks, and lays his hand upon him.

6  Τῶν δὲ ἀπογραψαμένων εὐχὴν ἱερὰν ποιεῖται͵ καὶ ταύτην ἁπάσης αὐτῷ τῆς ἐκκλησίας συμπληρωσάσης ὑπολύει μὲν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπαμφιέν ⁷² νυσι διὰ τῶν λειτουργῶν. Εἶτα στήσας ἐπὶ δυσμαῖς προσέχοντα καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἀπωθοῦντα πρὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ἀπεστραμμένας χώραν ἐμφυσῆσαι μὲν αὐτῷ τρὶς διακελεύεται τῷ Σατανᾷ καὶ προσέτι τὰ τῆς ἀποταγῆς ὁμολογῆσαι͵ καὶ τρὶς αὐτῷ τὴν ἀποταγὴν μαρτυρόμενος ὁμολογήσαντα τρὶς τοῦτο μετάγει πρὸς ἕω καὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀναβλέψαντα καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἀνατείναντα κελεύει συντάξασθαι τῷ Χριστῷ καὶ πάσαις ταῖς θεοπαραδότοις ἱερολογίαις. 

Section VII.

When the Deacons have entirely unclothed him, the Priests bring the holy oil of the anointing. Then he begins the anointing, through the threefold sealing, and for the rest assigns the man to the Priests, for the anointing of his whole body, while himself ⁷⁹ advances to the mother of filial adoption, and when he has purified the water within it by the holy invocations, and perfected it by three cruciform effusions of the altogether most pure Muron 11, and by the same number of injections of the all holy Muron, and has invoked the sacred melody of the inspiration of the God-rapt Prophets, he orders the man to be brought forward; and when one of the Priests, from the register, has announced him12 and his surety, he is conducted by the Priests near the water to the hand of the Hierarch, being led by the hand to him. Then the Hierarch, standing above, when the Priests have again called aloud near the Hierarch within the water the name of the initiated, the Hierarch dips him three times, invoking the threefold Subsistence of the Divine Blessedness, at the three immersions and emersions of the initiated. The Priests then take him, and entrust him to the Sponsor and guide of his introduction; and when they, in conjunction with him, have cast over the initiated appropriate clothing, they lead him again to the Hierarch, who, when he has sealed the man with the most Divinely operating Muron, pronounces him to be henceforward partaker of the most Divinely initiating Eucharist. ⁸⁰ 

7  Τοῦ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πεποιηκότος μαρτύ ρεται πάλιν αὐτῷ τρὶς τὴν ὁμολογίαν͵ καὶ πάλιν αὐτοῦ τρὶς ὁμολογή σαντος ἐπευξάμενος εὐλογεῖ καὶ χειροθετεῖ. Καὶ τελείως ἀπαμφιεσάντων αὐτὸν τῶν λειτουργῶν κομίζουσι μὲν οἱ ἱερεῖς τὸ τῆς χρίσεως ἅγιον ἔλαιον͵ ὁ δὲ τῆς χρίσεως διὰ τοῦ σφραγίσαι τρὶς ἀπαρξάμενος τὸ λοιπὸν τοῖς ἱερεῦσι τὸν ἄνδρα χρῖσαι πανσώμως παραδοὺς αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἔρχεται καὶ τὸ ταύτης ὕδωρ ἱεραῖς ἐπικλήσεσι καθαγιάσας καὶ τρισὶ τοῦ παναγεστάτου μύρου σταυροειδέσι χύσεσι τελειώσας αὐτὸ καὶ ταῖς τοῦ μύρου πανιέροις ἐπιβολαῖς ἰσαρίθμως τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς τῶν θεολήπτων προφητῶν ἐπιπνοίας μελῴδημα συνεπιφθεγξάμενος κελεύει τὸν ἄνδρα προσκομισθῆναι. Καί τινος ἱερέως ἐκ τῆς ἀπογραφῆς αὐτόν τε καὶ τὸν ἀνάδοχον ἀνακηρύξαντος ὁ μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕδατος ἄγεται πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἱεράρχου χεῖρα χειραγωγούμενος͵ ὁ δὲ ἱεράρχης ἄνωθεν ἑστηκὼς ἀναβοησάντων πάλιν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἱεράρχου κατὰ τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ τελουμένου τῶν ἱερέων͵ τρὶς μὲν αὐτὸν [ὁ ἱεράρχης] ⁷³ βαπτίζει ταῖς τρισὶ τοῦ τελουμένου καταδύσεσι καὶ ἀναδύσεσι τὴν τρισσὴν τῆς θείας μακαριότητος ἐπιβοήσας ὑπόστασιν· καὶ παραλαβόν τες αὐτὸν οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐγχειρίζουσι τῷ τῆς προσαγωγῆς ἀναδόχῳ τε καὶ ἡγεμόνι καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ περιβαλόντες ἐσθῆτα τῷ τελουμένῳ κατάλληλον ἐπὶ τὸν ἱεράρχην αὖθις ἄγουσιν. Ὁ δὲ τῷ θεουργικωτάτῳ μύρῳ τὸν ἄνδρα σφραγισάμενος μέτοχον ἀποφαίνει λοιπὸν τῆς ἱεροτελεστικωτάτης εὐχαριστίας. 

Section VIII.

When he has finished these things, he elevates himself from his progression to things secondary, to the contemplation of things 13 first, as one, who, at no time or manner, turns himself to any other thing whatever than those which are peculiarly his own, but from things Divine to Divine,----is persistently and always ranging himself under the banner of the supremely Divine Spirit.

8  Ταῦτα δὲ τελέσας ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ δεύτερα προόδου πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν πρώτων ἀνατείνεται θεωρίαν ὡς κατὰ μηδένα καιρὸν ἢ τρόπον ἐπ΄ ἀλλοτρίῳ τινὶ παρὰ τὰ οἰκεῖα τρεπόμενος͵ ἀλλ΄ ἀπὸ θείων εἰς θεῖα προσεχῶς καὶ ἀεὶ τῷ θεαρχικῷ πνεύματι μεταταττόμενος.

III. Contemplation. 

Θεωρία.

Section I.

This initiation, then, of the holy birth in God, as in symbols, has nothing unbecoming or irreverent, nor anything of the sensible images, but (contains) enigmas of a contemplation worthy of God, likened to physical and human images. For how should it appear misleading? Even when the very divine meaning of the things done is passed over in silence, 14 the divine Instruction might convince, religiously pursuing as it does the good life of the candidate, enjoining upon him the purification from every kind of evil, through a virtuous and Divine life, by the physical cleansing through the agency of water in a bodily form. This symbolic teaching then of the things done, even if it had nothing more divine, would not be without religious value, as I think, introducing a discipline of a well-regulated life, and. suggesting mysteriously, through the total bodily ⁸¹ purification by water, the complete purification from the evil life.

1  Αὕτη μὴν ὡς ἐν συμβόλοις ἡ τῆς ἱερᾶς τελετὴ θεογενεσίας οὐδὲν ἀπρεπὲς ἢ ἀνίερον οὐδὲ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἔχουσα εἰκόνων͵ ἀλλ΄ ἀξιοθέου θεωρίας αἰνίγματα φυσικοῖς καὶ ἀνθρωποπρεπέσιν ἐσόπτροις ἐνεικονι ζόμενα. Τί γὰρ ἂν φανείη διαμαρτάνουσα καὶ τοῦ θειοτέρου λόγου τῶν τελουμένων σεσιγημένου πειθοῖ καὶ θεορρημοσύνῃ τὴν τοῦ προσιόντος εὐζωΐαν ἱερῶς διαπραγματευομένη καὶ τὴν ἁπάσης ὁμοῦ κακίας δι΄ ἐν αρέτου καὶ θείας ζωῆς ἀποκάθαρσιν τῇ δι΄ ὕδατος φυσικῇ καθάρσει σωματικώτερον αὐτῷ διαγγέλλουσα; Ταύτῃ δ΄ οὖν͵ εἰ καὶ μηδέν τι θειότερον εἶχεν ἡ τῶν τελουμένων συμβολικὴ παράδοσις͵ οὐκ ἀνίερος ἦν ὡς οἶμαι διδασκαλίαν μὲν εὐθέτου ζωῆς εἰσηγουμένη͵ τὴν παντελῆ δὲ τῆς ⁷⁴ ἐν κακίᾳ πολιτείας ἀποκάθαρσιν ὁλικῶς τῷ σώματι καθαιρομένῳ φυσικῶς δι΄ ὕδατος αἰνισσομένη.

Section II.

Let this, then, be, for the uninitiated, a conducting guidance of the soul, which separates, as is meet things sacred and uniform from multiplicity, and apportions the harmonious elevation to the Orders severally in turn. But we, who have ascended by sacred gradations to the sources of the things performed, and have been religiously taught these (sources), shall recognize of what moulds they are the reliefs, and of what invisible things they are the likenesses. For, as is distinctly shewn in the Treatise concerning “Intelligible and Sensible,” sacred things in sensible forms are copies of things intelligible, to which they lead and shew the way; and things intelligible are source and science of things hierarchical cognizable by the senses.

2  Ἀλλ΄ ἔστω μὲν αὕτη τοῖς ἀτελέσιν εἰσαγω γικὴ ψυχαγωγία τά τε ἱεραρχικὰ καὶ ἑνοειδῆ τῆς πληθύος ὡς θέμις ἀποδιαστέλλουσα καὶ συμμετροῦσα ταῖς κατὰ μέρος τάξεσι τὴν ἐναρ μόνιον ἀναγωγήν͵ ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀναβάσεσιν ἱεραῖς ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν τελουμένων ἀρχὰς ἀναβλέψαντες καὶ ταύτας ἱερῶς μυηθέντες ἐπιγνωσόμεθα͵ τίνων εἰσὶ χαρακτήρων τὰ ἐκτυπώματα καὶ τίνων ἀφανῶν αἱ εἰκόνες. Ἔστι γάρ͵ ὡς ἐν τῇ Περὶ νοητῶν τε καὶ αἰσθητῶν πραγματείᾳ σαφῶς διηγό ρευται͵ τὰ μὲν αἰσθητῶς ἱερὰ τῶν νοητῶν ἀπεικονίσματα καὶ ἐπ΄ αὐτὰ χειραγωγία καὶ ὁδός͵ τὰ δὲ νοητὰ τῶν κατ΄ αἴσθησιν ἱεραρχικῶν ἀρχὴ καὶ ἐπιστήμη. 

Section III.

Let us affirm, then, that the goodness of the Divine Blessedness is always in the same condition and manner, unfolding the beneficent rays of its own light upon all the intellectual visions without grudging. Should, then, the self-choosing self-sufficiency of the contemplators either turn away from the light contemplated, by closing, through love of evil, the faculties for enlightenment naturally implanted within it, it would be separated from the light present to ⁸² it, not turned away, but shining upon it when shortsighted and turning its face from light generously running to it; or should it overstep the bounds of the visible given to it in due proportion, and rashly undertake to gaze upon the rays superior to its vision, the light indeed will do nothing beyond its proper functions, but it, by imperfectly approaching thing’s perfect, would not attain to things unsuitable, and, by stupidly disregarding the due proportion, would fail through its own fault.

¹¹   3  Λέγωμεν τοίνυν͵ ὡς ἔστιν ἡ τῆς θείας μακαριότητος ἀγαθότης ἀεὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσα τὰς τοῦ οἰκείου φωτὸς ἀγαθοεργέτιδας ἀκτῖνας ἐπὶ πάσας ἀφθόνως ἁπλοῦσα τὰς νοερὰς ὄψεις. Εἰτ΄ οὖν ἀποσταίη τοῦ νοητοῦ φωτὸς ἡ τῶν νοερῶν αὐθαίρετος αὐτεξουσιότης κακίας ἔρωτι συμμύσασα τὰς φυσικῶς ἐνεσπαρμένας αὐτῇ πρὸς τὸ φωτίζεσθαι δυνάμεις͵ ἀπήρτηται τοῦ παρόντος αὐτῇ φωτὸς οὐκ ἀποστάντος ἀλλ΄ ἐπιλάμποντος αὐτῇ μυωπαζούσῃ καὶ ἀποστρεφομένῃ προστρέχοντος ἀγαθοειδῶς· εἴτε τοῦ μετρίως αὐτῇ δοθέντος ὁρατοῦ τοὺς ὅρους ὑπερπηδῆσαι καὶ πρὸς τὰς ὑπὲρ τὴν κατ΄ αὐτὴν ὄψιν αὐγὰς ἀντωπῆσαι τολμηρῶς ἐπιχειρήσοι͵ τὸ μὲν φῶς ἐνεργήσει παρὰ τὰ φωτὸς οὐδέν͵ αὐτὴ δὲ τοῖς τελείοις ἀτελῶς ἐπιβάλλουσα τῶν μὲν ἀνοικείων οὐκ ἂν ἐφίκοιτο͵ τοῦ μετρίου δὲ ἀκόσμως ὑπερφρονοῦσα δι΄ ἑαυτὴν ἀποτεύ ⁷⁵ ξεται.

But, as I said, the Divine Light is always unfolded beneficently to the intellectual visions, and it is possible for them to seize it when present, and always being most ready for the distribution of things appropriate, in a manner becoming God. To this imitation the divine Hierarch is fashioned, unfolding to all, without grudging, the luminous rays of his inspired teaching, and, after the Divine example, being most ready to enlighten the proselyte, neither using a grudging nor an unholy wrath for former back-slidings or excess, but, after the example of God, always enlightening by his conducting light those who approach him, as becomes a Hierarch, in fitness, and order, and in proportion to the aptitude of each for holy things.

Πλήν͵ ὅπερ ἔφην͵ ἀγαθουργικῶς ἀεὶ ταῖς νοεραῖς ὄψεσι τὸ θεῖον ἥπλωται φῶς ἔνεστί τε αὐταῖς ἀντιλαβέσθαι παρόντος αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀεὶ πρὸς θεοπρεπῆ τῶν οἰκείων μετάδοσιν ὄντος ἑτοιμοτάτου Πρὸς ταύτην ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης ἀποτυποῦται τὴν μίμησιν τὰς φωτοειδεῖς αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐνθέου διδασκαλίας αὐγὰς ἀφθόνως ἐπὶ πάντας ἁπλῶν καὶ τὸν προσιόντα φωτίσαι θεομιμήτως ἑτοιμότατος ὢν οὐ φθόνῳ οὐδὲ ἀνιέρῳ τῆς προτέρας ἀποστασίας ἢ ἀμετρίας μήνιδι χρώμενος͵ ἀλλ΄ ἐνθέως ἀεὶ τοῖς προσιοῦσι ταῖς αὐτοῦ φωταγωγίαις ἱεραρχικῶς ἐλλάμπων ἐν εὐκοσμίᾳ καὶ τάξει καὶ ἀναλογίᾳ τῆς ἑκάστου πρὸς τὰ ἱερὰ συμμετρίας. 

Section IV.

But, inasmuch as the Divine Being is source of sacred order, within which the holy Minds regulate themselves, he, who recurs to the proper view of ⁸³ Nature, will see his proper self in what he was originally, and will acquire this, as the first holy gift, from his recovery to the light. Now he, who has well looked upon his own proper condition with unbiassed eyes, will depart from the gloomy recesses of ignorance, but being imperfect he will not, of his own accord, at once desire the most perfect union and participation of God, but little by little will be carried orderly and reverently through things present to things more forward, and through these to things foremost, and when perfected, to the supremely Divine summit. An illustration of this decorous and sacred order is the modesty of the proselyte, and his prudence in his own affairs in having the sponsor as leader of the way to the Hierarch. The Divine Blessedness receives the man, thus conducted, into communion with Itself, and imparts to him the proper light as a kind of sign, making him godly and sharer of the inheritance of the godly, and sacred ordering; of which things the Hierarch’s seal, given to the proselyte, and the saving enrolment of the priests are a sacred symbol, registering him amongst those who are being saved, and placing in the sacred memorials, beside himself also his sponsor,----the one indeed, as a true lover of the life-giving way to truth and a companion of a godly guide, and the other, as an unerring conductor of his follower by the Divinely-taught directions. ⁸⁴ 

4  Ἀλλ΄ εἴπερ εὐταξίας ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ τὸ θεῖον ἱερᾶς͵ καθ΄ ἣν ἑαυτῶν ἐπιγνώμονες οἱ ἱεροὶ νόες͵ ὁ πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον τῆς φύσεως ὁρατὸν ἀνα τρέχων ἐν ἀρχῇ μέν͵ ὅστις ποτέ ἐστιν͵ αὐτὸς ὄψεται καὶ τοῦτο λήψεται πρῶτον ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὸ φῶς ἀνανεύσεως ἱερὸν δῶρον. Ὁ δὲ τὰ οἰκεῖα καλῶς ἀπροσπαθέσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπισκοπήσας τῶν ἀλαμπῶν μὲν ἀπο φοιτήσει τῆς ἀγνωσίας μυχῶν͵ τῆς θεοῦ δὲ τελεωτάτης ἑνώσεως καὶ μεθέξεως ἀτελὴς ὢν αὐτὸς οὐκ αὐτόθεν ἐπιθυμήσει͵ κατὰ βραχὺ δὲ διὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ πρώτων ἐπὶ τὰ ἔτι πρότερα καὶ δι΄ ἐκείνων ἐπὶ τὰ πρώτιστα καὶ τελειωθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρότητα τὴν θεαρχικὴν ἐν τάξει καὶ ἱερῶς ἀνα χθήσεται. Ταύτης ἐστὶ τῆς εὐκόσμου καὶ ἱερᾶς τάξεως εἰκὼν ἡ τοῦ προσ ιόντος αἰδὼς καὶ τῶν καθ΄ ἑαυτὸν ἐπιγνωμοσύνη τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν ἱεράρχην ὁδοῦ τὸν ἀνάδοχον ἔχουσα καθηγεμόνα. Τὸν δ΄ οὕτως ἀναγόμενον ἡ θεία μακαριότης εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῆς μετουσίαν εἰσδέχεται καὶ τοῦ οἰκείου φωτὸς ὥσπερ τινὸς αὐτῷ σημείου μεταδίδωσιν ἔνθεον ἀποτελοῦσα καὶ κοινωνὸν ⁷⁶ τῆς τῶν ἐνθέων ἀποκληρώσεως καὶ ἱερᾶς κατατάξεως͵ ὧν ἐστι σύμβολον ἱερὸν ἡ τοῦ ἱεράρχου τῷ προσιόντι δωρουμένη σφραγὶς καὶ τῶν ἱερέων ἡ σωτηριώδης ἀπογραφὴ τοῖς σωζομένοις αὐτὸν ἐγκαταλέγουσα καὶ μνημοσύνοις ἱεροῖς ἀνατιθεῖσα πρὸς αὐτῷ καὶ τὸν ἀνάδοχον͵ ὡς τῆς ζωοποιοῦ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν πορείας τὸν μὲν ἐραστὴν ἀληθῆ καὶ συνοπαδὸν ἡγεμόνος ἐνθέου͵ τὸν δὲ ἀπλανῆ ταῖς θεοπαραδότοις ἡγήσεσι τοῦ ἑπο μένου χειραγωγόν. 

Section V.

Yet it is not possible to hold, conjointly, qualities thoroughly opposed, nor that a man who has had a certain fellowship with the One should have divided lives, if he clings to the firm participation in the One; but he must be resistless and resolute, as regards all separations from the uniform. This it is which the teaching of the symbols reverently and enigmatically intimates, by stripping the proselyte, as it were, of his former life, and discarding to the very utmost the habits within that life, makes him stand naked and barefoot, looking away towards the west, whilst he spurns, by the aversion of his hands, the participations in the gloomy baseness, and breathes out, as it were, the habit of dissimilarity which he had acquired, and professes the entire renunciation of everything contrary to the Divine likeness. When the man has thus become invincible and separate from evil, it turns him towards the east, declaring clearly that his position and recovery will be purely in the Divine Light, in the complete separation from baseness; and receiving his sacred promises of entire consort with the One, since he has become uniform through love of the truth. Yet it is pretty evident, as I think, to those versed in Hierarchical matters, that things intellectual acquire the unchangeableness of the Godlike habit, by continuous and persistent struggles towards one, and by the entire destruction and annihilation of ⁸⁵ things contrary. For it is necessary that a man should not only depart from every kind of baseness, but he must be also bravely obdurate and ever fearless against the baneful submission to it. Nor must he, at any time, become remiss in his sacred love of the truth, but with all his power persistently and perpetually be elevated towards it, always religiously pursuing his upward course, to the more perfect mysteries of the Godhead.

5  Ἀλλ΄ οὐκ ἔνεστι τῶν ἄκρως ἐναντίων ἅμα μετέχειν οὐδὲ τὸν κοινωνίαν τινὰ πρὸς τὸ ἓν ἐσχηκότα μεριστὰς ἔχειν ζωάς͵ εἰ τῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀντέχεται βεβαίας μεθέξεως͵ ἀλλ΄ ἄσχετον εἶναι καὶ ἀκατάτακτον ἐν πάσαις ταῖς τοῦ ἑνοειδοῦς διαιρέσεσιν. Ὅπερ ἡ τῶν συμβόλων παράδοσις ἱερῶς αἰνισσομένη τὸν προσιόντα τὴν οἷον προτέραν ζωὴν ἀπεκδύσασα καὶ μέχρι τῶν κατ΄ ἐκείνην ἐσχάτων σχέσεων ἀπολύσασα γυμνὸν καὶ ἀνυπόδετον ἵστησι πρὸς δυσμὰς ἀφορῶντα καὶ τῇ τῶν χειρῶν ἀπώσει τὰς τῆς ἀλαμποῦς κακίας ἀναινόμενον κοινωνίας καὶ τὴν ἐγγενομένην αὐτῷ τῆς ἀνομοιότητος ἕξιν ὥσπερ ἐκπνέοντα καὶ τὰς ὁλικὰς ὁμολογή σαντα πρὸς τὸ τοῦ θεοειδοῦς ἐναντίον ἀποταγάς. Οὕτω παντελῶς ἄσ χετον αὐτὸν καὶ ἀκοινώνητον γεγονότα πρὸς ἕω μετάγει τὴν ἐν τῷ θείῳ φωτὶ στάσιν τε καὶ ἀνάνευσιν ἔσεσθαι καθαρῶς ἐν τῇ παντελεῖ τῆς κακίας ἀποφοιτήσει διαγγέλλουσα καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς αὐτοῦ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἓν ὁλικῆς συννεύσεως ὁμολογίας ἑνοειδοῦς γενομένου φιλαλήθως ἀποδεχομένη. Ἀλλ΄ ἔστι που δῆλον ὡς οἶμαι τοῖς τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν ἐπιστήμοσιν͵ ὅτι ⁷⁷ ταῖς διηνεκέσιν ἐν συντονίᾳ πρὸς τὸ ἓν ἀνατάσεσι καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἐναντίων ὁλικαῖς νεκρώσεσι καὶ ἀνυπαρξίαις τὸ ἀναλλοίωτον ἴσχει τὰ νοερὰ τῆς θεοειδοῦς ἕξεως. Οὐ γὰρ ἀναχωρῆσαι χρὴ μόνον ἀπὸ κακίας ἁπάσης͵ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρρενωπῶς ἀμάλθακτον εἶναι καὶ ἀφόβητον ἀεὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐπ΄ αὐτὴν ὀλέθριον ὕφεσιν οὐδὲ τοῦ ἱεροῦ τῆς ἀληθείας ἔρωτος ἐν καταλήξει ποτὲ γενέσθαι͵ προσεχῶς δὲ καὶ αἰωνίως ἐπ΄ αὐτὴν ὅση δύναμις ἀνατεί νεσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ τελεώτερα τῆς θεαρχίας ἀναγωγὴν ἱερῶς ἀεὶ δια πραγματευόμενον. 

Section VI.

Now you may see the distinct illustrations of these things in the religious rites performed by the Hier-arch. For the Godlike Hierarch starts with the holy anointing, and the Priests under him complete the Divine service of the Chrism, summoning in type the man initiated to the holy contests, within which he is placed under Christ as Umpire: since, as God, He is Institutor of the awards of contest, and as wise, He placed its laws, and as generous, the prizes suitable to the victors. And this is yet more Divine, since as good, He devotedly entered the lists with them, contending, on behalf of their freedom and victory, for their power over death and destruction, he who is being initiated will enter the contests, as those of God, rejoicing, and abides by the regulations of the Wise, and contends according to them, without transgression holding ⁸⁶ fast the hope of the beautiful rewards, as being enrolled under a good Lord and Leader of the awards: and when after following in the Divine footsteps of the first of athletes, through goodness, he has overthrown, in his struggles after the Divine example, the energies and impulses opposed to his deification, he dies with Christ----to speak mystically ----to sin, in Baptism.

6  Ὁρᾷς δὲ τὰς τούτων ἀκριβεῖς εἰκόνας ἐν τοῖς ἱεραρχικῶς τελουμένοις. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεοειδὴς ἱεράρχης ἀπάρχεται τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀλοιφῆς͵ οἱ δὲ ἱερεῖς ὑπ΄ αὐτῷ τελοῦσι τὴν τῆς χρίσεως ἱερουργίαν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἐν τύπῳ τὸν τελούμενον ἀγῶνας ἐκκαλούμενοι͵ καθ΄ οὓς ὑπ΄ ἀθλοθέτῃ Χριστῷ γινόμενος͵ ἐπειδὴ ὡς θεός ἐστι τῆς ἀθλοθεσίας δημιουργός͵ ὡς σοφὸς δὲ τοὺς νόμους αὐτῆς τέθεικεν͵ εἰργάσατο δὲ ὡς καλὸς εὐπρεπῆ τοῖς νικῶσι τὰ ἔπαθλα͵ καὶ τὸ ἔτι θειότερον· ἐπείπερ ὡς ἀγαθὸς ἐν τοῖς ἀθληταῖς ἐγεγόνει μετ΄ αὐτῶν ἱερῶς ὑπὲρ τῆς αὐτῶν ἐλευθερίας καὶ νίκης πρὸς τὸ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς φθορᾶς ἀγωνιζόμενος κράτος͵ τοῖς μὲν ἀγῶσιν ὡς θείοις ὁ τελούμενος ἐπιβήσεται χαίρων͵ ἐμμενεῖ δὲ ταῖς τοῦ σοφοῦ νομοθεσίαις καὶ κατ΄ αὐτὰς ἀπαραβάτως ἀγωνιεῖται πρὸς τὴν τῶν καλῶν ἐπάθλων ἐλπίδα βεβαίως ἔχων ὑπ΄ ἀγαθῷ τῆς ἀθλοθεσίας κυρίῳ καὶ ἡγεμόνι ταττόμενος͵ ἐπιβὰς δὲ τοῖς θείοις ἴχνεσι τοῦ ἀθλητῶν πρώτου δι΄ ἀγαθότητα ταῖς θεομιμήτοις ἀθλήσεσι τὰς πρὸς θέωσιν ἐναντίας αὐτῷ καταπαλαίσας ἐνεργείας τε καὶ ὑπάρξεις συν αποθνήσκει Χριστῷ μυστικῶς εἰπεῖν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ κατὰ τὸ βάπτισμα. 

Section VII.

And consider attentively, I pray, with what appropriateness the holy symbols are presented. For since death is with us not an annihilation of being, as others surmise, but the separating of things united, leading to that which is invisible to us, the soul indeed becoming invisible through deprivation of the body, and the body, through being buried in earth in consequence of one of its bodily changes, becoming invisible to human ken, appropriately, the whole covering by water would be taken as an image of death, and the invisible tomb. The symbolical teaching, then, reveals in mystery that the man baptized according to religious rites, imitates, so far as Divine imitation is attainable to men, by the three immersions in the water, the supremely Divine death of the Life-giving Jesus, Who spent three days and three nights in the tomb, in Whom, according to the mystical and secret teaching of the sacred text, the Prince of the world found nothing. ⁸⁷ 

7  Καί μοι συνετῶς ἐννόει τὰ ἱερὰ μεθ΄ ὅσης οἰκειότητος ἔχει τὰ σύμβολα. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπειδὴ θάνατός ἐστιν ἐφ΄ ἡμῶν οὐ τῆς οὐσίας ἀν ⁷⁸ υπαρξία κατὰ τὸ δόξαν ἑτέροις ἀλλ΄ ἡ τῶν ἡνωμένων διάκρισις εἰς τὸ ἡμῖν ἀφανὲς ἄγουσα τὴν ψυχὴν μὲν ὡς ἐν στερήσει σώματος ἀειδῆ γινομένην͵ τὸ σῶμα δὲ ὡς ἐν γῇ καλυπτόμενον ἢ καθ΄ ἑτέραν τινὰ τῶν σωματοειδῶν ἀλλοιώσεων ἐκ τῆς κατ΄ ἄνθρωπον ἰδέας ἀφανιζόμενον͵ οἰκείως ἡ δι΄ ὕδατος ὁλικὴ κάλυψις εἰς τὴν τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τοῦ τῆς ταφῆς ἀειδοῦς εἰκόνα παρείληπται. Τὸν οὖν ἱερῶς βαπτιζόμενον ἡ συμ βολικὴ διδασκαλία μυσταγωγεῖ ταῖς ἐν τῷ ὕδατι τρισὶ καταδύσεσι τὸν θεαρχικὸν τῆς τριημερονύκτου ταφῆς Ἰησοῦ τοῦ ζωοδότου μιμεῖσθαι θάνατον ὡς ἐφικτὸν ἀνδράσι τὸ θεομίμητον͵ ἐν ᾧ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ λογίου μυστηριώδη καὶ κρυφίαν παράδοσιν οὐδὲν εὕρηκεν ὁ τοῦ κόσμου ἄρχων. 

Section VIII.

Next, they throw garments, white as light, over the man initiated. For by his manly and Godlike insensibility to contrary passions, and by his persistent inclination towards the One, the unadorned is adorned, and the shapeless takes shape, being made brilliant by his luminous life.

8  Ἑξῆς δὲ φωτοειδεῖς ἐσθῆτας ἐπιβάλλουσι τῷ τελουμένῳ. Τῇ γὰρ ἀνδρικῇ καὶ θεοειδεῖ τῶν ἐναντίων ἀπαθείᾳ καὶ τῇ πρὸς τὸ ἓν ἐν συντονίᾳ συννεύσει τὸ ἄκοσμον κοσμεῖται καὶ τὸ ἀνείδεον εἰδοποιεῖται τῇ φωτοειδεῖ καθόλου ζωῇ λαμπρυνόμενον. Ἡ δὲ τοῦ μύρου τελειωτικὴ χρῖσις εὐώδη ποιεῖ τὸν τετελεσμένον.

But the perfecting unction of the Muron makes the man initiated of good odour, for the holy perfecting of the Divine birth unites those who have been perfected to the supremely Divine Spirit. Now the overshadowing which makes intelligibly of a good savour, and perfect, as being most unutterable, I leave to the mental consciousness of those who are deemed worthy of the sacred and deifying participation of the Holy Spirit within their mind.

Ἡ γὰρ ἱερὰ τῆς θεογενεσίας τελείωσις ἑνοῖ τὰ τελεσθέντα τῷ θεαρχικῷ πνεύματι. Τὴν δὲ νοητῶς εὐωδοποιὸν καὶ τε λεσιουργὸν ἐπιφοίτησιν ἀρρητοτάτην οὖσαν ἐπιγνῶναι νοερῶς παρίημι τοῖς ἠξιωμένοις τῆς κατὰ νοῦν τοῦ θείου πνεύματος ἱερᾶς καὶ θεουργοῦ κοινωνίας.

At the conclusion of all, the Hierarch calls the man initiated to the most Holy Eucharist, and imparts to him the communion of the perfecting mysteries.

Ἐν τέλει δὲ πάντων ὁ ἱεράρχης ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερωτάτην εὐχαριστίαν καλεῖ τὸν τετελεσμένον καὶ τῆς τῶν τελεστικῶν μυστηρίων αὐτῷ μετα δίδωσι κοινωνίας.

CAPUT III. 

I.  Concerning things accomplished in the Synaxis.

Courage, then, since we have made mention of this (Eucharist) which we may not pass over to celebrate any other Hierarchical function in preference to it. For according to our illustrious ⁸⁸ Leader, it is “initiation of initiations,” and one must first lay down the Divine description of it, before the rest, from the inspired and hierarchical science of the Oracles, and then be borne by the supremely Divine Spirit to its sacred contemplation. First, let us reverently consider this; for what reason that, which is common also to the other Hierarchical initiations, is pre-eminently attributed to it, beyond the rest; and it is uniquely called, “Communion and Synaxis,” when each consecrating function both collects our divided lives into uniform deification, and gives communion and union with the One, by the Godlike folding together of our diversities. Now we affirm that the Perfecting by the communications of the other Hierarchical symbols springs from the supremely Divine and perfecting gifts of it. For it scarcely ever happens, that any Hierarchical initiation is completed without the most Divine Eucharist, as head of the things done in each, ministering the collecting of the person initiated to the One, and completing his communion with God, by the Divinely transmitted gift of the perfecting mysteries. If, then, each of the Hierarchical initiations, being indeed incomplete, will not make perfect our communion and our gathering to the One, even its being initiation is precluded on account of the lack of completeness. Now since the imparting of the supremely Divine mysteries to the man initiated is the head and tail of every initiation, naturally then the ⁸⁹ Hierarchical judgment hit upon an appellation propel to it, from the truth of the facts. Thus, for instance, with regard to the holy initiation of the Divine birth; since it imparts first-Light, and is head of all the Divine illuminations, we celebrate the true appellation from the enlightening effected. For, though it be common to all Hierarchical functions to impart the gift of sacred light to those initiated, yet it 15 gave to me the power to see first, and through its first light I am enlightened to gaze upon the other religious rites. Having said this, let us minutely investigate and examine hierarchically the accurate administration and contemplation of the most pure initiation, in every particular. 

⁷⁹ 1 III. 1 Ἀλλ΄ εὖγε ὅτι ταύτης ἐμνήσθημεν͵ ἣν οὐ θεμιτὸν ἐμοὶ παραδραμόντι τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν τι πρὸ ταύτης ἕτερον ὑμνῆσαι· καὶ γὰρ ἔστι κατὰ τὸν κλεινὸν ἡμῶν καθηγεμόνα τελετῶν τελετὴ καὶ χρὴ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων αὐτὴν ἱερογραφικῶς ἐκθέμενον ἐκ τῆς ἐνθέου κατὰ τὰ λόγια καὶ ἱεραρχικῆς ἐπιστήμης ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερὰν αὐτῆς ἀναχθῆναι τῷ θεαρχικῷ πνεύματι θεω ρίαν. Καὶ πρῶτόν γε τοῦτο ἱερῶς ἐποπτεύσωμεν͵ ὅτου δὴ ἕνεκα τὸ κοινὸν καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἱεραρχικαῖς τελεταῖς ἐκκρίτως αὐτῇ παρὰ τὰς λοιπὰς ἀνατέθειται καὶ ἑνιαίως ἀνηγόρευται κοινωνία τε καὶ σύναξις ἑκάστης ἱεροτελεστικῆς πραγματείας καὶ τὰς μεριστὰς ἡμῶν ζωὰς εἰς ἑνοειδῆ θέωσιν συναγούσης καὶ τῇ τῶν διαιρετῶν θεοειδεῖ συμπτύξει τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἓν κοινωνίαν καὶ ἕνωσιν δωρουμένης. Φαμὲν δέ͵ ὅτι ταῖς τῶν ἄλλων ἱεραρχικῶν συμβόλων μεθέξεσιν ἡ τελείωσις ἐκ τῶν ταύτης θεαρχικῶν καὶ τελειωτικῶν ἔνεστι δωρεῶν. Οὐ γὰρ ἔνεστιν σχεδόν τινα τελεσθῆναι τελετὴν ἱεραρχικὴν μὴ τῆς θειοτάτης εὐχαριστίας ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τῶν καθ΄ ἕκαστα τελουμένων τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ ἓν τοῦ τελεσθέντος ἱερουργούσης συν αγωγὴν καὶ τῇ θεοπαραδότῳ δωρεᾷ τῶν τελειωτικῶν μυστηρίων τελε σιουργούσης αὐτοῦ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν κοινωνίαν. Εἰ τοίνυν ἑκάστη τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν τελετῶν ἀτελὴς μὲν οὖσα τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἓν ἡμῶν κοινωνίαν καὶ σύναξιν οὐ τελεσιουργήσει καὶ τὸ εἶναι τελετὴ διὰ τὸ ἀτέλεστον ἀφῃρη μένη͵ τὸ δὲ τέλος ἁπάσῃ καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον ἡ τῶν θεαρχικῶν μυστηρίων τῷ τελουμένῳ μετάδοσις͵ εἰκότως ἡ ἱεραρχικὴ σύνεσις ἐπωνυμίαν αὐτῇ κυρίαν ἐκ τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἀληθείας ἐφεῦρεν. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν τῆς θεογενεσίας τελετήν͵ ἐπειδὴ πρώτου φωτὸς μεταδίδωσι καὶ πασῶν ἐστιν ἀρχὴ τῶν θείων φωταγωγιῶν͵ ἐκ τοῦ τελουμένου τὴν ἀληθῆ τοῦ ⁸⁰ φωτίσματος ἐπωνυμίαν ὑμνοῦμεν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πᾶσι κοινὸν τοῖς ἱεραρχικοῖς τὸ φωτὸς ἱεροῦ μεταδιδόναι τοῖς τελουμένοις͵ ἀλλ΄ αὕτη τὸ πρώτως ἰδεῖν ἐδωρήσατό μοι καὶ διὰ τοῦ ταύτης ἀρχικωτάτου φωτὸς πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἄλλων ἱερῶν ἐποψίαν φωταγωγοῦμαι. Ταῦτα δὲ εἰπόντες ἀνασκεψώμεθα καὶ κατίδωμεν ἱεραρχικῶς τὴν καθ΄ ἕκαστον ἀκριβῆ τῆς ἁγιωτάτης τε λετῆς ἱερουργίαν καὶ θεωρίαν.

II. Mysterion 16 of Synaxis, that is, Communion.

The Hierarch, having completed a reverent prayer, near the Divine Altar, starts with the incensing, and proceeds to every part of the enclosure of the sacred place; he then returns to the Divine Altar, and begins the sacred chanting of the Psalms, the whole ecclesiastical assembly chanting, with him, the sacred language of the Psalter. Next follows the reading of the Holy Scriptures by the Leitourgoi. After these readings the catechumens quit the sacred enclosure, as well as the “possessed,” and the ⁹⁰ penitents. But those who are deemed worthy of the sight and participation of the Divine Mysteries remain. Of the Leitourgoi, some stand near the closed gates of the sanctuary, whilst others perform some other duty of their own rank. But chosen members of the ministering Order with the Priests lay the holy Bread and the Cup of Blessing upon the Divine Altar, whilst the universal Song 17 of Praise is being professed beforehand by the whole body of the Church. Added to these, the Divine Hierarch makes a sacred prayer, and proclaims the holy Peace to all. When all have kissed each other, the mystical proclamation of the holy tablets is performed. When the Hierarch and the Priests have washed their hands in water, the Hierarch stands in the midst of the Divine Altar, and the chosen Deacons alone, with the Priests, stand around. The Hierarch, when he has sung the sacred works of God, ministers things most divine, and brings to view the things sung, through the symbols reverently exposed 18, and when he has shewn the gifts of the works of God 19, he first proceeds to the sacred participation of the same, and turns and exhorts the others. When he has received and distributed the supremely Divine Communion, he terminates with a holy thanksgiving; whilst the multitude have merely glanced at the Divine symbols alone, he is ever conducted by the Divine Spirit, as becomes ⁹¹ a Hierarch, in the purity of a Godlike condition, to the holy sources of the things performed, in blessed and intelligible visions.

Μυστήριον συνάξεως εἴτ΄ οὖν κοινωνίας.1 Ὁ μὲν ἱεράρχης εὐχὴν ἱερὰν ἐπὶ τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου τελέσας͵ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θυμιᾶν ἀρξάμενος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ἔρχεται τὴν τοῦ ἱεροῦ χώρου περιοχήν· ἀναλύσας δὲ πάλιν ἐπὶ τὸ θεῖον θυσιαστήριον ἀπάρχεται τῆς ἱερᾶς τῶν ψαλμῶν μελῳδίας συνᾳδούσης αὐτῷ τὴν ψαλμικὴν ἱερολογίαν ἁπάσης τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς διακοσμήσεως. Ἑξῆς δὲ διὰ τῶν λειτουργῶν ἡ τῶν ἁγιογράφων δέλτων ἀνάγνωσις ἀκολούθως γίνεται͵ καὶ μετὰ ταύτας ἔξω γίνονται τῆς ἱερᾶς περιοχῆς οἱ κατηχούμενοι καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῖς οἱ ἐνεργούμενοι καὶ οἱ ἐν μετανοίᾳ ὄντες͵ μένουσι δὲ οἱ τῆς τῶν θείων ἐποψίας καὶ κοινωνίας ἄξιοι. Τῶν λειτουργῶν δὲ οἱ μὲν ἑστᾶσι παρὰ τὰς τοῦ ἱεροῦ πύλας συγκεκλεισμένας͵ οἱ δὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν τῆς οἰκείας τάξεως ἐνεργοῦσιν͵ οἱ δὲ τῆς λειτουργικῆς διακοσμήσεως ἔκκριτοι σὺν τοῖς ἱερεῦ σιν ἐπὶ τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου προτιθέασι τὸν ἱερὸν ἄρτον καὶ Τὸ τῆς εὐλογίας ποτήριον προομολογηθείσης ὑπὸ παντὸς τοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας πληρώματος τῆς καθολικῆς ὑμνολογίας. Πρὸς οἷς ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης εὐχὴν ⁸¹ ἱερὰν τελεῖ καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν εἰρήνην ἅπασι διαγγέλλει͵ καὶ ἀσπασαμένων ἀλλήλους ἁπάντων ἡ μυστικὴ τῶν ἱερῶν πτυχῶν ἀνάρρησις ἐπιτελεῖται· καὶ νιψαμένων τὰς χεῖρας ὕδατι τοῦ ἱεράρχου καὶ τῶν ἱερέων ὁ μὲν ἱεράρχης ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου καθίσταται͵ περιεστᾶσι δὲ μόνοι μετὰ τῶν ἱερέων οἱ τῶν λειτουργῶν ἔκκριτοι. Καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς θεουρ γίας ὁ ἱεράρχης ὑμνήσας ἱερουργεῖ τὰ θειότατα καὶ ὑπ΄ ὄψιν ἄγει τὰ ὑμνημένα διὰ τῶν ἱερῶς προκειμένων συμβόλων͵ καὶ τὰς δωρεὰς τῶν θεουργιῶν ὑποδείξας εἰς κοινωνίαν αὐτῶν ἱερὰν αὐτός τε ἔρχεται καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους προτρέπεται. Μετασχὼν δὲ καὶ μεταδοὺς τῆς θεαρχικῆς κοινωνίας εἰς εὐχαριστίαν ἱερὰν καταλήγει τῶν πολλῶν μὲν εἰς μόνα τὰ θεῖα σύμβολα παρακυψάντων͵ αὐτοῦ δὲ ἀεὶ τῷ θεαρχικῷ πνεύματι πρὸς τὰς ἁγίας τῶν τελουμένων ἀρχὰς ἐν μακαρίοις καὶ νοητοῖς θεάμασιν ἱεραρχικῶς ἐν καθαρότητι τῆς θεοειδοῦς ἕξεως ἀναγομένου.

III. Contemplation. 

Θεωρία.

Section I.

Here then, too, O excellent son, after the images, I come in due order and reverence to the Godlike reality of the archetypes, saying here to those yet being initiated, for the harmonious guidance of their souls, that the varied and sacred composition of the symbols is not without spiritual contemplation for them, as merely presented superficially. For the most sacred chants and readings of the Oracles teach them a discipline of a virtuous life, and previous to this, the, complete purification from destructive evil; and the most Divine, and common, and peaceful distribution of one and the same, both Bread and Cup, enjoins upon them a godly fellowship in character, as having a fellowship in food, and recalls to their memory the most Divine Supper, and arch-symbol of the rites performed, agreeably with which the Founder of the symbols Himself excludes, most justly, him who had supped with Him on the holy things, not piously20 and in a manner suitable to his character; teaching at once, clearly ⁹² and Divinely, that the approach to Divine mysteries with a sincere mind confers, on those who draw nigh, the participation in a gift according to their own character.

1  Δεῦρο δὴ οὖν͵ ὦ παῖ καλέ͵ μετὰ τὰς εἰκόνας ἐν τάξει καὶ ἱερῶς ἐπὶ τὴν θεοειδῆ τῶν ἀρχετύπων ἀλήθειαν ἐκεῖνο τοῖς ἔτι τελειουμένοις εἰς ἐναρμόνιον αὐτῶν ψυχαγωγίαν εἰπών͵ ὡς οὐδὲ τῶν συμβόλων ἡ ποικίλη καὶ ἱερὰ σύνθεσις ἀνόνητος αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχει καὶ μέχρι τῶν ἐκτὸς φαινομένη μόνον. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἱερώταται τῶν λογίων ᾠδαὶ καὶ ἀναγνώσεις διδα σκαλίαν αὐτοῖς ἐναρέτου ζωῆς ὑφηγοῦνται καὶ πρό γε τούτου τὴν παντελῆ τῆς φθοροποιοῦ κακίας ἀποκάθαρσιν͵ ἡ δὲ θειοτάτη τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ ταὐτοῦ καὶ ἄρτου καὶ ποτηρίου κοινὴ καὶ εἰρηναία μετάδοσις ὁμο τροπίαν αὐτοῖς ἔνθεον ὡς ὁμοτρόφοις νομοθετεῖ καὶ τοῦ θειοτάτου δείπ νου καὶ ἀρχισυμβόλου τῶν τελουμένων εἰς μνήμην ἱερὰν ἄγει͵ καθ΄ ὃ καὶ ⁸² αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν συμβόλων δημιουργὸς ἀποκληροῖ δικαιότατα τὸν οὐχ ὁσίως αὐτῷ καὶ ὁμοτρόπως τὰ ἱερὰ συνδειπνήσαντα διδάσκων εὐαγῶς τε ἅμα καὶ θεοπρεπῶς͵ ὡς ἡ καθ΄ ἕξιν ἀληθὴς ἐπὶ τὰ θεῖα προσέλευσις τὴν πρὸς τὸ ὅμοιον αὐτῶν κοινωνίαν τοῖς προσιοῦσι χαρίζεται. 

Section II.

Let us, then, as I said, leave behind these things, beautifully depicted upon the entrance of the. innermost shrine, as being sufficient for those, who are yet incomplete for contemplation, and let us proceed from the effects to the causes; and then, Jesus lighting the way, we shall view our holy Synaxis, and the comely contemplation of things intelligible, which makes radiantly manifest the blessed beauty of the archetypes. But, oh, most Divine and holy initiation, uncovering the folds of the dark mysteries enveloping thee in symbols, be manifest to us in thy bright glory, and fill our intellectual visions with single and unconcealed light.

2  Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὡς ἔφην ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν ἀδύτων προπύλαια καλῶς διαγεγραμμένα τοῖς ἀτελέσιν ἔτι πρὸς θεωρίαν αὐτάρκη καταλιπόντες εἰσέλθωμεν ἀπὸ τῶν αἰτιατῶν εἰς τὰ αἴτια κατὰ τὴν ἱερὰν ἡμῶν σύναξιν͵ καὶ τὴν εὐπρεπῆ τῶν νοητῶν Ἰησοῦ φωταγωγοῦντος ὀψόμεθα θεωρίαν τὸ μακάριον ἀποστίλβουσαν ἐμφανῶς τῶν ἀρχετύπων κάλλος. Ἀλλ΄ ὦ θειοτάτη καὶ ἱερὰ τελετή͵ τὰ περικείμενά σοι συμβολικῶς ἀμφιέσματα τῶν αἰνιγμάτων ἀποκαλυψαμένη τηλαυγῶς ἡμῖν ἀναδείχθητι καὶ τὰς νοερὰς ἡμῶν ὄψεις ἑνιαίου καὶ ἀπερικαλύπτου φωτὸς ἀποπλήρωσον. 

Section III.

We must, then, in my opinion, pass within the All Holy Mysteries, after we have laid bare the intelligible of the first of the votive gifts, to gaze upon its Godlike beauty, and view the Hierarch, divinely going with sweet fragrance from the Divine Altar to the furthermost bounds of the holy place, and again returning to it to complete the function. For the Blessedness, supremely Divine above all, even if, through Divine goodness, It goes forth to the communion of the holy who participate in It, yet ⁹³ It never goes outside its essential unmoved position and steadfastness; and illuminates all the Godlike in due degree, being always self-centred, and in nowise moved from its own proper identity; so, too, the Divine initiation (sacrament) of the Synaxis, although it has a unique, and simple, and enfolded Source, is multiplied, out of love towards man, into the holy variety of the symbols, and travels through the whole range of the supremely Divine description; yet uniformly it is again collected from these, into its own proper Monady, and unifies those who are being reverently conducted towards it. In the same Godlike manner, the Divine Hierarch, if he benignly lowers to his subordinates his own unique Hierarchical science, by using the multiplicities of the holy enigmas, yet again, as absolute, and not to be held in check by smaller things, he is restored to his proper headship without diminution, and, when he has made the intellectual entry of himself to the One, he sees clearly the uniform raisons d’être of the things done, as he makes the goal of his philanthropic progress to things secondary the more Divine 21 return to things primary.

3  Δεῖ δὴ οὖν ἡμᾶς (ἐντὸς γὰρ εἶναι τῶν πανιέρων οἴομαι) τὸ νοητὸν τοῦ πρώτου τῶν ἀγαλμάτων ἀπογυμνώσαντας εἰς τὸ θεοειδὲς αὐτοῦ κάλλος ἐνατενίσαι καὶ τὸν ἱεράρχην ἐνθέως ἰδεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ θείου θυσιαστη ρίου μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων τοῦ ἱεροῦ μετ΄ εὐοσμίας ἰόντα καὶ πάλιν ἐπ΄ αὐτῷ τελειωτικῶς ἀποκαθιστάμενον. ῞Η τε γὰρ ὑπὲρ πάντα θεαρχικὴ μακαριότης͵ εἰ καὶ ἀγαθότητι θείᾳ πρόεισιν εἰς τὴν τῶν μετεχόντων αὐτῆς ἱερῶν κοινωνίαν͵ ἀλλ΄ οὐκ ἔξω τῆς κατ΄ οὐσίαν ἀκινήτου στάσεως καὶ ἱδρύσεως γίνεται͵ πᾶσι δὲ τοῖς θεοειδέσιν ἀναλόγως ἐλλάμπει περὶ ἑαυτὴν ὄντως οὖσα καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ὅλως οὐ παρακινουμένη ταὐτότητος. Ὡσαύτως ἡ θεία τῆς συνάξεως τελετή͵ κἂν ἑνιαίαν καὶ ἁπλῆν ἔχουσα καὶ συνεπτυγμένην ἀρχὴν εἰς τὴν ἱερὰν ποικιλίαν τῶν συμβόλων φιλαν ⁸³ θρώπως πληθύνηται καὶ μέχρι πάσης χωρῇ τῆς ἱεραρχικῆς εἰκονογρα φίας͵ ἀλλ΄ ἑνοειδῶς ἐκ τούτων αὖθις εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν μονάδα συνάγεται καὶ ἑνοποιεῖ τοὺς ἐπ΄ αὐτὴν ἱερῶς ἀναγομένους. Κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ θεοειδῆ τρόπον ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης͵ εἰ καὶ τὴν ἑνιαίαν αὐτοῦ τῆς ἱεραρχίας ἐπιστήμην ἀγαθοειδῶς εἰς τοὺς ὑποβεβηκότας κατάγει τοῖς τῶν ἱερῶν αἰνιγμάτων πλήθεσι χρώμενος͵ ἀλλ΄ αὖθις ὡς ἀπόλυτος καὶ τοῖς ἥττοσιν ἀκατάσχετος εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἀρχὴν ἀμειώτως ἀποκαθίσταται καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ ἓν ἑαυτοῦ νοερὰν ποιησάμενος εἴσοδον ὁρᾷ καθαρῶς τοὺς τῶν τελου μένων ἑνοειδεῖς λόγους τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ δεύτερα φιλανθρώπου προόδου τὸ πέρας τὴν εἰς τὰ πρῶτα θειοτέραν ἐπιστροφὴν ποιούμενος. 

Section IV.

The chanting of the Psalms, being co-essential with almost all the Hierarchical mysteries, was not likely to be separated from the most Hierarchical of all. For every holy and inspired Scripture sets forth ⁹⁴ for those meet for deification, either the originated beginning and ordering of things from God; or the Hierarchy and polity of the Law; or the distributions and possessions of the inheritances of the people of God; or the understanding of sacred judges, or of wise kings, or of inspired Priests: or philosophy of men of old time, unshaken in endurances of the things let loose in variety and multitude; or the treasures of wisdom for the conduct of life; or songs and inspired pictures of Divine Loves; or the declaratory predictions of things to come; or the Theandric works of Jesus; or the God-transmitted and God - imitating polities and holy teachings of His Disciples, or the hidden and mystic gaze of the beloved and divinely sweet of the disciples, or the supermundane theology of Jesus; and implanted them in the holy and Godlike instructions of the mystic rites. Now the sacred description of the Divine Odes, whose purpose is to sing the words and works of God throughout, and to praise the holy words and works of godly men, forms an universal Ode and narrative of things Divine, and makes, in those who inspiredly recite it, a habit suitable for the reception and distribution of every Hierarchical mystery. ⁹⁵ 

4  Ἡ δὲ τῶν ψαλμῶν ἱερολογία συνουσιωμένη πᾶσι σχεδὸν τοῖς ἱεραρχικοῖς μυστηρίοις οὐκ ἤμελλεν ἀπηρτῆσθαι τοῦ πάντων ἱεραρχικω τάτου. Πᾶσα μὲν γὰρ ἱερὰ καὶ ἁγιόγραφος δέλτος ἢ τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ τῶν ὄντων γενητὴν ὕπαρξίν τε καὶ διακόσμησιν ἢ τὴν νομικὴν ἱεραρχίαν καὶ πολιτείαν ἢ τῶν τοῦ θείου λαοῦ κληροδοσιῶν διανεμήσεις καὶ κατασχέ σεις ἢ κριτῶν ἱερῶν ἢ βασιλέων σοφῶν ἢ ἱερέων ἐνθέων σύνεσιν ἢ παλαιῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐν ποικιλίᾳ καὶ πλήθει τῶν ἀνιώντων ἀκατάσειστον ἐν καρτερίᾳ φιλοσοφίαν ἢ τῶν πρακτέων σοφὰς ὑποθήκας ἢ θείων ἐρώτων ᾄσματα καὶ ἐνθέους εἰκόνας ἢ τῶν ἐσομένων τὰς ὑποφητικὰς προαναρρή σεις ἢ τὰς ἀνδρικὰς Ἰησοῦ θεουργίας ἢ τὰς τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν θεοπα ραδότους καὶ θεομιμήτους πολιτείας καὶ ἱερὰς διδασκαλίας ἢ τὴν κρυφίαν καὶ μυστικὴν ἐποψίαν τοῦ τῶν μαθητῶν ἀγαπητοῦ καὶ θεσπεσίου ἢ τὴν ὑπερκόσμιον Ἰησοῦ θεολογίαν τοῖς πρὸς θέωσιν ἐπιτηδείοις ὑφηγήσατο ⁸⁴ καὶ ταῖς ἱεραῖς τῶν τελετῶν καὶ θεοειδέσιν ἀναγωγαῖς συνερρίζωσεν͵ ἡ δὲ τῶν θείων ᾠδῶν ἱερογραφία σκοπὸν ἔχουσα τὰς θεολογίας τε καὶ θεουργίας ἁπάσας ὑμνῆσαι καὶ τὰς τῶν θείων ἀνδρῶν ἱερολογίας τε καὶ ἱερουργίας αἰνέσαι καθολικὴν ποιεῖται τῶν θείων ᾠδὴν καὶ ἀφήγησιν πρὸς πάσης ἱεραρχικῆς τελετῆς ὑποδοχὴν καὶ μετάδοσιν ἕξιν οἰκείαν ἐμποιοῦσα τοῖς ἐνθέως αὐτὴν ἱερολογοῦσιν. 

Section V.

When, then, the comprehensive melody of the holy Hymns has harmonized the habits of our souls to the things which are presently to be ministered, and, by the unison of the Divine Odes, as one and concordant chorus of holy men, has established an accord with things Divine, and themselves 22, and one another, the things, more strained and obscure in the intellectual language of the mystic Psalms, are expanded by the most holy lections of the inspired writings, through more full and distinct images and narratives. He, who devoutly contemplates these, will perceive the uniform and one conspiration, as being moved by One, the supremely Divine Spirit. Hence, naturally, in the history of the world, after the more ancient 23 tradition, the new Covenant is proclaimed; the inspired and Hierarchical order teaching this, as I think, that the one affirmed the Divine works of Jesus, as to come; but the other accomplished; and as that described the truth in figures, this shewed it present. For the accomplishment, within this, of the predictions of that, established the truth, and the work of God is a consummation of the Word of God.

5  Ὅταν οὖν ἡ περιεκτικὴ τῶν πανιέρων ὑμνολογία τὰς ψυχικὰς ἡμῶν ἕξεις ἐναρμονίως διαθῇ πρὸς τὰ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἱερουργηθησόμενα καὶ τῇ τῶν θείων ᾠδῶν ὁμοφωνίᾳ τὴν πρὸς τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἀλλήλους ὁμοφροσύνην ὡς μιᾷ καὶ ὁμολόγῳ τῶν ἱερῶν χορείᾳ νομο θετήσῃ͵ τὰ συντετμημένα καὶ συνεσκιασμένα μᾶλλον ἐν τῇ νοερᾷ τῶν ψαλμῶν ἱερολογίᾳ διὰ πλειόνων καὶ σαφεστέρων εἰκόνων καὶ ἀναρ ρήσεων εὐρύνεται ταῖς ἱερωτάταις τῶν ἁγιογράφων συντάξεων ἀνα γνώσεσιν. Ἐν ταύταις ὁ βλέπων ἱερῶς ὄψεται τὴν ἑνοειδῆ καὶ μίαν ἔμπνευσιν ὡς ὑφ΄ ἑνὸς τοῦ θεαρχικοῦ πνεύματος κεκινημένην. Ὅθεν εἰ κότως ἐν κόσμῳ μετὰ τὴν ἀρχαιοτέραν παράδοσιν ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη κηρύσσεται τῆς ἐνθέου καὶ ἱεραρχικῆς τάξεως ἐκεῖνο οἶμαι δηλούσης͵ ὡς ἡ μὲν ἔφη τὰς ἐσομένας Ἰησοῦ θεουργίας ἡ δὲ ἐτέλεσε͵ καὶ ὡς ἐκείνη μὲν ἐν εἰκόσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔγραψεν͵ αὕτη δὲ παροῦσαν ὑπέδειξεν. Τῶν γὰρ ἐκείνης προαναρρήσεων ἡ κατὰ ταύτην τελεσιουργία τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπιστώσατο͵ καὶ ἔστι τῆς θεολογίας ἡ θεουργία συγκεφαλαίωσις. 

Section VI.

Those who absolutely have no ear for these sacred initiations do not even recognize the images,----⁹⁶ unblushingly rejecting the saving revelation of the Divine Birth, and in opposition to the Oracles reply to their destruction, “Thy ways I do not wish to knowz

6  Τούτων οἱ μὲν ἀπερισάλπιγκτοι καθόλου τῶν ἱερῶν τελετῶν οὐδὲ τὰς εἰκόνας ὁρῶσιν ἀναιδῶς ἀπειπάμενοι τὴν σωτηριώδη τῆς θεογενεσίας μύησιν καὶ τοῖς λογίοις ὀλεθρίως ἀντιφθεγξάμενοι τὸ Ὁδούς σου εἰδέναι οὐ βούλομαι·

Now the regulation of the holy Hierarchy permits the catechumens, and the possessed, and the penitents, to hear the sacred chanting of the Psalms, and the inspired reading of the all-Holy Scriptures; but it does not invite them to the next religious services and contemplations, but only the eyes of the initiated. For the Godlike Hierarchy is full of reverent justice, and distributes savingly to each, according to their due, bequeathing savingly the harmonious communication of each of the things Divine, in measure, and proportion, and due time. The lowest rank, then, is assigned to the catechumens, for they are without participation and instruction in every Hierarchical initiation, not even having the being in God by Divine Birth, but are yet being brought to 24 Birth by the Paternal Oracles, and moulded, by life-giving formations, towards the blessed introduction to their first life and first light from Birth in God. As, then, children after the flesh, if, whilst immature and unformed, they should anticipate their proper delivery, as untimely born and abortions, will fall to earth without life and without light; and no one, in his senses, would say from what he saw, that they, released from the darkness of the womb, were brought to the light (for the ⁹⁷ medical authority, which is learned in the functions of the body, would say that light operates on things receptive of light); so also the all-wise science of religious rites brings these first to delivery, by the preparatory nourishment of the formative and life-giving Oracles; and when it has made their person ripe for Divine Birth, gives to them savingly, in due order, the participation in things luminous and perfecting; but, at present, it separates things perfect from them as imperfect, consulting the good order of sacred things, and the delivery and life of the catechumens, in a Godlike order of the Hierarchical rites.

τοὺς δὲ κατηχουμένους ἐνεργουμένους τε καὶ τοὺς ἐν μετανοίᾳ ὄντας ὁ τῆς ἁγίας ἱεραρχίας θεσμὸς ἐφίησι μὲν ἐπακοῦσαι τῆς ⁸⁵ ψαλμικῆς ἱερολογίας καὶ τῆς ἐνθέου τῶν πανιέρων γραφῶν ἀναγνώσεως͵ εἰς δὲ τὰς ἑξῆς ἱερουργίας καὶ θεωρίας οὐ συγκαλεῖται τούτους͵ ἀλλὰ τοὺς τελείους τῶν τελεσιουργῶν ὀφθαλμούς. Ἔστι γὰρ ἡ θεοειδὴς ἱεραρ χία δικαιοσύνης ἱερᾶς ἀνάπλεως καὶ τὸ κατ΄ ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ σωτηρίως ἀπονέμει͵ τὴν ἐναρμόνιον ἑκάστου τῶν θείων μέθεξιν ἐν συμμετρίᾳ καὶ ἀναλογίᾳ κατὰ καιρὸν ἱερῶς δωρουμένη. Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐσχάτη τοῖς κατη χουμένοις ἀπονενέμηται τάξις. Εἰσὶ γὰρ ἀμέθεκτοι καὶ ἀμύητοι παντὸς ἱεραρχικοῦ τελεστηρίου μηδὲ τὴν κατὰ θείαν ἀπότεξιν ἔνθεον ἐσχηκότες ὕπαρξιν͵ ἀλλ΄ ἔτι πρὸς τῶν πατρικῶν λογίων μαιευόμενοι καὶ ζωοποιοῖς μορφώμασι διαπλαττόμενοι πρὸς τὴν ἐκ θεογενεσίας ἀρχίζωον καὶ ἀρ χίφωτον καὶ μακαρίαν προαγωγήν. Ὥσπερ οὖν εἰ ἀτέλεστα καὶ ἀμόρφωτα προεκπέσοι τὰ κατὰ σάρκα βρέφη τῆς οἰκείας μαιεύσεως͵ ὡς ἀμβλωθρίδια καὶ ἐκτρώματα τὴν ἀγέννητον καὶ ἄζωον καὶ ἀφώτιστον ἐπὶ γῆς ἀπόπτωσιν ἕξει καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις εὐφρονῶν εἴποι πρὸς τὸ φαινόμενον ἀποσκοπῶν ἐπὶ τὸ φῶς αὐτὰ προαχθῆναι τοῦ κατὰ γαστέρα σκότους ἀπαλλαγέντα (φαίη γὰρ ἂν ἡ τῶν σωμάτων ἐπιστημονικὴ πρόστασις ἰατρικὴ τὸ φῶς ἐνεργεῖν εἰς τὰ δεκτικὰ τοῦ φωτός)͵ οὕτω καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἡ πάνσοφος ἐπιστήμη πρῶτα μὲν αὐτοὺς τῇ τῶν μορφωτικῶν καὶ ζωο ποιῶν λογίων εἰσαγωγικῇ τροφῇ μαιεύεται͵ τελεσφορήσασα δὲ τὴν πρὸς θεογενεσίαν αὐτῶν ὑπόστασιν ἐνδίδωσι σωτηρίως αὐτοῖς ἐν τάξει τὴν πρὸς τὰ φωτοειδῆ καὶ τελεσιουργὰ κοινωνίαν. Νῦν δὲ ὡς ἀτελέστων ἀποδιαστέλλει τὰ τέλεια τῆς τε εὐκοσμίας τῶν ἱερῶν προμηθουμένη καὶ τῆς τῶν κατηχουμένων ἐν θεοειδεῖ τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν τάξει μαιεύσεως καὶ ⁸⁶ ζωῆς. 

Section VII.

Now the multitude of the possessed indeed is unholy, but it is next above the catechumens, which is lowest. Nor is that which has received a certain participation in the most holy offices, but is yet entangled by contrary qualities, whether enchantments or terrors, on a par, as I think, with the altogether uninitiated and entirely uncommunicated in the Divine initiations; but, even for them, the view and participation in the holy mysteries is contracted, and very properly. For, if it be true that the altogether godly man, the worthy partaker of the Divine mysteries, the one carried to the very summit of the Divine likeness, to the best of his powers, in complete and most perfect deifications, does not even perform the things of the flesh, beyond the most necessary requirements of nature, and then as ⁹⁸ a parergon, but will be, at the same time, a temple, and a follower, according to his ability, of the supremely Divine Spirit, in the highest deification, implanting like in like;----such an one as this would never be possessed by opposing phantoms or fears, but will laugh them to scorn, and when they approach, will cast them down and put them to flight, and will act rather than comply, and in addition to the passionless and indomitableness of his own character, will be seen also a physician to others, for such “possessions” as these; (and I think further, yea, rather, I know certainly that the most impartial discrimination of Hierarchical persons knows more than they 25, that such as are possessed with a most detestable possession, by departing from the Godlike life, become of one mind and one condition with destructive demons, by turning themselves from things that really are, and undying possessions, and everlasting pleasures, for the sake of the most base and impassioned folly destructive to themselves; and by desiring and pursuing the earthly variableness, and the perishable and corrupting pleasures, and the unstable comfort in things foreign to their nature, not real but seeming;) these then, first, and more properly than those, were shut out by the discriminating authority of the Deacon; for it is not permitted to them to have part in any other holy function than the teaching of the Oracles, which is likely to turn them to better things. For, if the ⁹⁹ super-mundane Service of the Divine Mysteries excludes those under penitence, and those who have already attained it, not permitting anything to come near which is not completely perfect, and proclaims, and this in all sincerity, that “I am unseen and uncom-municated by those who are in any respect imperfectly weak as regards the summit of the Divine Likeness” (for that altogether most pure voice scares away even those who cannot be associated with the worthy partakers of the most Divine mysteries).; how much more, then, will the multitude of those who are under the sway of their passions be unhallowed and alien from every sight and participation in the holy mysteries. When, then, the uninitiated in the mysteries, and the imperfect, and with them the apostates from the religious life, and after them, those who through unmanliness are prone to the fears and fancies of contrary influences, as not reaching through the persistent and indomitable inclination towards godliness, the stability and activity of a Godlike condition; then, in addition to these, those who have separated indeed from the contrary life, but have not yet been cleansed from its imaginations by a godly and pure habit and love, and next, those who are not altogether uniform, and to use an expression of the Law, “entirely without spot and blemish,” when these have been excluded from the divine temple and the service which is too high for them, the all-holy ministers and loving contemplators of things all-holy, gazing reverently upon the most pure rite, ¹⁰0 sing in an universal Hymn of Praise 26 the Author and Giver of all good, from Whom the saving mystic Rites were exhibited to us, which divinely work the sacred deification of those being initiated. Now this Hymn some indeed call a Hymn of Praise, others, the symbol of worship, but others, as I think, more divinely, a Hierarchical thanksgiving, as giving a summary of the holy gifts which come to us from God. For, it seems to me the record 27 of all the works of God related to have been done for us in song, which, after it had benevolently fixed our being and life, and moulded the Divine likeness in ourselves to beautiful archetypes, and placed us in participation of a more Divine condition and elevation; but when it beheld the dearth of Divine gifts, which came upon us by our heedlessness, is declared to have called us back to our first condition, by goods restored, and by the complete assumption 28 of what was ours, to have made good the most perfect impartation of His own, and thus tp have given to us a participation in God and Divine things.

7  Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἐνεργουμένων πληθὺς ἀνίερος μὲν καὶ αὐτή͵ δευτέρα δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἄνω τῆς τῶν κατηχουμένων ἐστὶν ἐσχατιᾶς. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴσον ὡς οἶμαι τοῦ παντελῶς ἀμυήτου καὶ τῶν θείων τελετῶν ἄκρως ἀκοινωνή του τὸ μετουσίαν τινὰ τῶν ἱερωτάτων ἐσχηκὸς τελεστηρίων͵ ἔτι δὲ ταῖς ἐναντίαις ἢ θέλξεσιν ἢ ταραχαῖς ἐνησχημένον. Ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἡ τῶν πανιέρων θέα καὶ κοινωνία συστέλλεται͵ καὶ μάλα γε εἰκότως. Εἰ γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθές͵ ὡς ὁ καθόλου θεῖος ἀνὴρ ὁ τῶν θείων ἄξιος κοινωνὸς ὁ πρὸς τὸ τοῦ κατ΄ αὐτὸν θεοειδοῦς ἄκρον ἐν παντελέσι καὶ τελειωτικαῖς θεώσεσιν ἀνηγμένος οὐδὲ τὰ σαρκὸς ἐνεργήσει παρὰ τὰ κατὰ φύσιν ἀναγκαιότατα καὶ τοῦτο εἰ τύχοι παρέργως͵ ναὸς δὲ ἅμα καὶ ὀπαδὸς ἐν τῇ κατ΄ αὐτὸν ἀκροτάτῃ θεώσει τοῦ θεαρχικοῦ πνεύματος ἔσται τῷ ὁμοίῳ τὸ ὅμοιον ἐνιδρύων͵ οὐκ ἂν ὁ τοιοῦτός ποτε πρὸς τῶν ἐναντίων ἐνεργηθείη φαντασιῶν ἢ δειμάτων͵ γελάσεται δὲ αὐτὰ καὶ προσιόντα καταπαλαίσει καὶ ἐκδιώξεται καὶ δράσει μᾶλλον ἢ πείσεται καὶ πρὸς τῷ τῆς οἰκείας ἕξεως ἀπαθεῖ καὶ ἀνενδότῳ καὶ ἑτέροις ἰατρὸς ὀφθήσεται τῶν τοιούτων ἐνεργημάτων. Οἶμαι δὲ ἐγὼ πρὸς τούτῳ͵ μᾶλλον δὲ οἶδα σαφῶς͵ ὡς ἡ τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν ἀμιγεστάτη διάκρισις πρὸ τούτων οἶδεν ἐνεργουμένους ἐναγεστάτην ἐνέργειαν͵ ὅσοι τῆς θεοειδοῦς ἀποστάντες ζωῆς ὁμόφρονές τε καὶ ὁμότροποι τοῖς ὀλεθρίοις γίνονται δαίμοσι τὰ μὲν ὄντως ὄντα καὶ ἀθανάτως κτητὰ καὶ αἰωνίως ἡδέα δι΄ ἐσχάτην καὶ ἑαυτοῖς ὀλέθριον ἀνοησίαν ἀποστρεφόμενοι͵ τὴν πρόσυλον δὲ καὶ πολυπαθε στάτην ἀλλοίωσιν καὶ τὰς ὀλλυμένας καὶ φθοροποιοὺς ἡδονὰς καὶ τὴν ἀβέβαιον ἐν τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις οὐκ οὖσαν ἀλλὰ δοκοῦσαν εὐπάθειαν ἐπι θυμοῦντες καὶ ἐνεργοῦντες. Πρῶτοι δ΄ οὖν οὗτοι καὶ κυριώτερον ἐκείνων ⁸⁷ ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ λειτουργοῦ διακριτικῆς φωνῆς ἀφοριζέσθωσαν. Οὐ γὰρ θεμιτὸν αὐτοῖς ἑτέρου τινὸς ἱεροῦ μετασχεῖν ἢ τῆς τῶν λογίων ἐπιστρε πτικῆς ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω διδασκαλίας. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ τῶν θείων ὑπερκόσμιος ἱερουργία καὶ τοὺς ἐν μετανοίᾳ καίτοι πρὸς αὐτὴν ἤδη γεγονότας ἀπο κρύπτεται τὸ μὴ παντελῶς ἱερώτατον οὐ προσιεμένη͵ προσφωνεῖ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο πανάγνως ὅτι Καὶ τοῖς κατά τι πρὸς τὸ τοῦ θεοειδοῦς ἄκρον ἀτελῶς ἐξασθενοῦσιν ἀθέατός εἰμι καὶ ἀκοινώνητος (ἀποσοβεῖ γὰρ ἡ κατὰ πᾶν ἀμιγεστάτη φωνὴ καὶ τοὺς μὴ δυναμένους συνδεθῆναι τοῖς τῶν θειοτάτων ἀξίως κοινωνοῖς)͵ πολλῷ γε μᾶλλον ἡ τῶν ἐμπαθῶς ἐνεργουμένων πληθὺς ἀνίερος ἔσται καὶ πάσης ἀλλοτρία τῆς τῶν ἱερῶν ἐποψίας καὶ κοινωνίας. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦ θείου γεγόνασιν ἔξω ναοῦ καὶ τῆς ὑπερκειμένης αὐτοὺς ἱερουργίας οἱ τῶν τελετῶν ἀμύητοι καὶ ἀτέλεστοι καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῖς οἱ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀποστάται ζωῆς ἑπομένως τε τούτοις οἱ πρὸς τὰ τῶν ἐναντίων δείματά τε καὶ φάσματα δι΄ ἀνανδρίαν εὐπαθεῖς ὡς οὐκ ἀφικόμενοι διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὰ θεῖα συντόνου καὶ ἀνενδότου συννεύσεως ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς θεοειδοῦς ἕξεως ἀκίνητον καὶ δραστήριον͵ εἶτα πρὸς αὐτοῖς οἱ τῆς ἐναντίας μὲν ἀποστάντες ζωῆς͵ οὔπω δὲ καὶ τῶν φαντασιῶν αὐτῆς ἕξει καὶ ἔρωτι θείῳ καὶ ἀμιγεῖ καθαρθέντες καὶ μετ΄ αὐτοὺς οἱ μὴ καθάπαξ ἑνοειδεῖς καὶ νομικῶς εἰπεῖν ἄμωμοι καὶ ἀλώβητοι παντελῶς͵ τότε οἱ πανίεροι τῶν πανιέρων ἱερουργοὶ καὶ φιλοθεάμονες τὴν ἁγιωτάτην τελετὴν ἁγιοπρεπῶς ἐπο πτεύοντες ὑμνοῦσιν ὑμνολογίᾳ καθολικῇ τὴν ἀγαθουργὸν καὶ ἀγαθο δότιν ἀρχήν͵ ὑφ΄ ἧς αἱ σωτηριώδεις ἡμῖν ἀνεδείχθησαν τελεταὶ τὴν ἱερὰν τῶν τελουμένων θέωσιν ἱερουργοῦσαι. Τὸν ὕμνον δὲ τοῦτον οἱ μὲν ὁμο λογίαν καλοῦσιν͵ οἱ δὲ τῆς θρησκείας τὸ σύμβολον͵ ἄλλοι δὲ ὡς οἶμαι θειότερον ἱεραρχικὴν εὐχαριστίαν ὡς περιεκτικὴν τῶν εἰς ἡμᾶς θεόθεν ⁸⁸ ἀφικομένων ἱερῶν δώρων. Δοκεῖ γάρ μοι τῶν ὑμνουμένων ἁπασῶν θε ουργιῶν ἡ πραγματεία περὶ ἡμᾶς γεγονέναι τὴν μὲν οὐσίαν ἡμῶν καὶ ζωὴν ἀγαθοειδῶς ὑποστήσασα καὶ ἀρχετύποις κάλλεσι τὸ θεοειδὲς ἡμῶν μορφώσασα καὶ θειοτέρας ἕξεως καὶ ἀναγωγῆς ἐν μετουσίᾳ καταστήσασα͵ κατιδοῦσα δὲ τὴν ἐξ ἀπροσεξίας ἐγγενομένην ἡμῖν ἐρημίαν τῶν θείων δωρεῶν ἐπισκευαστοῖς ἡμᾶς ἀγαθοῖς εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀνακαλέσασθαι καὶ τῇ παντελεῖ τῶν ἡμετέρων προσλήψει τὴν τελεωτάτην τῶν οἰκείων μετάδοσιν ἀγαθουργῆσαι καὶ ταύτῃ κοινωνίαν ἡμῖν θεοῦ καὶ τῶν θείων δωρήσασθαι. 

Section VIII.

When the supremely Divine love towards Man has thus been religiously celebrated, the Divine Bread is presented, veiled, and likewise the Cup of Blessing, and the most Divine greeting is ¹⁰1 devoutly performed, and the mystic and supermundane recital of the holy-written tablets. For it is not possible to be collected to the One, and to partake of the peaceful union with the One, when people are divided amongst themselves. For if, being illuminated by the contemplation and knowledge of the One, we would be united to an uniform and Divine agreement, we must not permit ourselves to descend to divided lusts, from which are formed earthly enmities, envious and passionate, against that which is according to nature. This-unified and undivided life is, in my opinion, established by the holy service of the “peace,” which establishes like in like, and separates the Divine and unified visions from things divided.

8  Οὕτω δὲ τῆς θεαρχικῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἱερῶς ὑμνηθείσης ἐγκεκα λυμμένος μὲν ὁ θεῖος ἄρτος προτίθεται καὶ τὸ τῆς εὐλογίας ποτήριον͵ ὁ δὲ θειότατος ἀσπασμὸς ἱερουργεῖται καὶ τῶν ἁγιογράφων πτυχῶν ἡ μυστικὴ καὶ ὑπερκόσμιος ἀνάρρησις. Οὐ γὰρ ἔνεστι πρὸς τὸ ἓν συνάγε σθαι καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς μετέχειν εἰρηναίας ἑνώσεως τοὺς πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς διῃρημένους. Εἰ γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς θεωρίας καὶ γνώσεως ἐλλαμπόμενοι πρὸς τὴν ἑνοειδῆ καὶ θείαν συναγωγὴν ἑνοποιηθῶμεν͵ οὐκ ἂν ἐπὶ τὰς μεριστὰς ἀνασχοίμεθα καταπίπτειν ἐπιθυμίας͵ ἐξ ὧν αἱ πρόσυλοι δημι ουργοῦνται καὶ ἐμπαθεῖς πρὸς τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ὁμοειδὲς ἀπέχθειαι. Ταύτην οὖν ὡς οἶμαι τὴν ἑνοειδῆ καὶ ἀδιαίρετον ζωὴν ἡ τῆς εἰρήνης ἱερουργία νομοθετεῖ τῷ ὁμοίῳ τὸ ὅμοιον ἐνιδρύουσα καὶ τῶν μεριστῶν ἀποδια στέλλουσα τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἑνιαῖα θεάματα. 

The recital of the holy tablets after the “peace” proclaims those who have passed through life holily, and have reached the term of a virtuous life without faltering, urging and conducting us to their blessed’ condition and Divine repose, through similarity to them, and, announcing them as living, and, as the Word of God says, “not dead, but as having passed from death to a most divine life 29.”

9  Τῶν δὲ ἱερῶν πτυχῶν ἡ μετὰ τὴν εἰρήνην ἀνάρρησις ἀνακηρύττει τοὺς ὁσίως βεβιωκότας καὶ πρὸς ἐναρέτου ζωῆς τελείωσιν ἀμεταστάτως ἀφικομένους ἡμᾶς μὲν ἐπὶ τὴν δι΄ ὁμοιότητος αὐτῶν μακαριστήν ἕξιν καὶ θεοειδῆ λῆξιν προτρέπουσα καὶ χειραγωγοῦσα͵ τοὺς δὲ ὡς ζῶντας ἀνακηρύττουσα καὶ ὡς ἡ θεολογία φησὶν οὐ νεκρωθέντας͵ ἀλλ΄ εἰς θειοτάτην ζωὴν ἐκ θανάτου μεταφοιτήσαντας.

Section IX.

But observe that they are enrolled in the holy memorials, not as though the Divine memory were represented under the figure of a memorial, after the manner of men; but as one might say, with ¹⁰2 reverence towards God, as beseems the august and unfailing knowledge in God of those who have been perfected in the likeness of God. For “He knoweth,” say the Oracles, “them that are His,” and “precious, in the sight of the Lord, is the death of His saints, “death of saints,” being said, instead of the perfection in holiness. And bear this religiously in mind, that when the worshipful symbols have been placed on the Divine Altar, through which (symbols) the Christ is signified and partaken, there is inseparably present the reading of the register of the holy persons, signifying the indivisible conjunction of their supermundane and sacred union with Him.

Σκόπει δέ͵ ὅτι καὶ μνημοσύνοις ⁸⁹ ἱεροῖς ἀνατέθεινται τῆς θείας μνήμης οὐκ ἀνθρωπικῶς ἐν τῇ τοῦ μνημο νικοῦ φαντασίᾳ δηλουμένης͵ ἀλλ΄ ὡς ἄν τις φαίη θεοπρεπῶς κατὰ τὴν ἐν θεῷ τῶν τετελεσμένων θεοειδῶν τιμίαν καὶ ἀμετάστατον γνῶσιν. Ἔγνω γὰρ ἔφη τὰ λόγια τοὺς ὄντας αὐτοῦ καὶ Τίμιος ἐναντίον κυρίου ὁ θάνατος τῶν ὁσίων αὐτοῦ (τοῦ θανάτου τῶν ὁσίων ἀντὶ τῆς ἐν ὁσιότητι τελειώσεως εἰρημένου). Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἱερῶς ἐννόησον͵ ὡς ἐπιτεθέντων τῷ θείῳ θυσιαστηρίῳ τῶν σεβασμίων συμβόλων͵ δι΄ ὧν ὁ Χριστὸς σημαίνεται καὶ μετέχεται͵ πάρεστιν ἀδιαστάτως ἡ τῶν ἁγίων ἀπογραφὴ τὸ συνεζευγμένον αὐτῶν ἀδιαιρέτως ἐμφαίνουσα τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερκοσμίου καὶ ἱερᾶς ἑνώσεως. 

When these things have been ministered, according to the regulations described, the Hierarch, standing before the most holy symbols, washes his hands with water, together with the reverend order of the Priests. Because, as the Oracles testify, when a man has been washed, he needs no other washing, except that of his extremities, i.e his lowest; through which extreme cleansing he will be resistless and free, as altogether uniform, in a sanctified habit of the Divine Likeness, and advancing in a goodly manner to things secondary, and being turned again uniquely to the One, he will make his return, without spot and blemish, as preserving the fulness and completeness of the Divine Likeness. ¹⁰3 

¹⁰  Τούτων δέ͵ καθ΄ ὃν εἴρηται θεσμόν͵ ἱερουργηθέντων ἑστὼς ἐπί προσθεν τῶν ἁγιωτάτων συμβόλων ὕδατι τὰς χεῖρας ὁ ἱεράρχης νίπτεται μετὰ τοῦ σεμνοῦ τῶν ἱερέων τάγματος. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν͵ ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν͵ ὁ λελουμένος οὐ δεῖταί τινος ἑτέρας εἰ μὴ τῆς τῶν ἄκρων εἴτ΄ οὖν ἐσχάτων ἑαυτοῦ νίψεως δι΄ ἧς ἀκροτάτης καθάρσεως ἐν πανάγνῳ τοῦ θεοειδοῦς ἕξει καὶ πρὸς τὰ δεύτερα προϊὼν ἀγαθοειδῶς ἄσχετος ἔσται καὶ ἀπόλυτος ὡς καθάπαξ ἑνοειδής͵ καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἓν αὖθις ἑνιαίως ἐπιστρεφόμενος ἄχραν τον ποιήσεται καὶ ἀκηλίδωτον τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν ὡς τοῦ θεοειδοῦς ἀποσώζων τὸ πλῆρες καὶ ὁλόκληρον͵

Section X.

There was indeed the sacred laver, as we have said, in the Hierarchy of the Law 30; and the present cleansing of the hands of the Hierarch and the Priests suggests it.

ὁ μὲν ἱερὸς λουτήρ͵ ὡς εἰρήκαμεν͵ ἐν τῇ κατὰ νόμον ἦν ἱεραρχίᾳ͵ νῦν δὲ τοῦ ἱεράρχου καὶ τῶν ἱερέων ἡ τῶν χειρῶν ἀποκάθαρσις αὐτὸν ὑπαινίσσεται.

For it behoves those who approach the most hallowed service to be purified even to the remotest imaginations of the soul, through likeness to it, and, as far as possible, to draw nigh; for thus they will shed around more visibly the Divine manifestations, since the supermundane flashes permit their own splendour to pass more thoroughly and brilliantly into the brightness of mirrors like themselves. Further, the cleansing of the Hierarch and the Priests to their extremities, i.e. lowest, takes place before the most holy symbols, as in the presence of Christ, Who surveys all our most secret thoughts, and since the utmost purification is established under His all-surveying scrutiny, and most just and unflinching judgment, the Hierarch thus becomes one with the things Divine, and, when he has extolled the holy works of God, he ministers things most Divine, and brings to view the things being sung 31.

Τοὺς γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν παν αγεστάτην ἰόντας ἱερουργίαν ἀποκεκαθάρθαι δεῖ καὶ τὰς ἐσχάτας τῆς ψυχῆς φαντασίας καὶ δι΄ ὁμοιότητος αὐτῇ κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν προσιέναι. ⁹⁰ Φανοτέρας γὰρ οὕτω τὰς θεοφανείας περιαυγασθήσονται τῶν ὑπερκοσ μίων μαρμαρυγῶν εἰς τὴν τῶν ὁμοειδῶν ἐσόπτρων ἀγλαΐαν ὁλικώτερον καὶ διαυγέστερον ἐφιέντων διϊέναι τὴν οἰκείαν αἴγλην. Ἡ δὲ τοῦ ἱεράρχου καὶ τῶν ἱερέων ἄχρι τῶν ἄκρων εἴτ΄ οὖν ἐσχάτων ἀπόνιψις ἐπίπροσθεν γίνεται τῶν ἁγιωτάτων συμβόλων ὡς ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ τοῦ πάσας ἐφορῶντος ἡμῶν τὰς κρυφιωτάτας ἐννοίας καὶ τῆς ἀκροτάτης καθάρσεως ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ πανεπισκόποις ἀκριβασμοῖς καὶ ταῖς δικαιοτάτοις καὶ ἀδεκάστοις κρίσεσιν ὁριζομένης. Οὕτω τοῖς θείοις ὁ ἱεράρχης ἑνοῦται καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς θεουργίας ὑμνήσας ἱερουργεῖ τὰ θειότατα καὶ ὑπ΄ ὄψιν ἄγει τὰ ὑμνημένα. 

Section XI.

We will now explain, in detail, to the best of our ability, certain works of God, of which we spoke. For I am not competent to sing all, much less to know accurately, and to reveal their mysteries to ¹⁰4 others. Now whatever things have been sung and ministered by the inspired Hierarchs, agreeably to the Oracles, these we will declare, as far as attainable to us, invoking the Hierarchical inspiration to our aid. When, in the beginning, our human nature had thoughtlessly fallen from the good things of God, it received, by inheritance, the life subject to many passions, and the goal of the destructive death 32. For, as a natural consequence, the pernicious falling away from genuine goodness and the transgression of the sacred Law in Paradise delivered the man fretted with the life-giving yoke, to his own downward inclinations and the enticing and hostile wiles of the adversary----the contraries of the divine goods; thence it pitiably exchanged for the eternal, the mortal, and, having had its own origin in deadly generations, the goal naturally corresponded with the beginning; but having willingly fallen from the Divine and elevating life, it was carried to the contrary extremity,----the variableness of many passions, and lead astray, and turned aside from the strait way leading to the true God,----and subjected to destructive and evil-working multitudes----naturally forgot that it was worshipping, not gods, or friends, but enemies. Now when these had treated it harshly, according to their own cruelty, it fell pitiably into danger of annihilation and destruction; but the boundless Loving-kindness of the supremely Divine goodness towards man did not, in Its benevolence, withdraw from us Its spontaneous forethought, but ¹⁰5 having truly participated sinlessly in all things belonging to us, and having been made one with our lowliness in connection with the unconfused and flawless possession of Its own properties in full perfection, It bequeathed to us, as henceforth members of the same family, the communion with Itself, and proclaimed us partakers of Its own beautiful things; having, as the secret teaching holds, loosed the power of the rebellious multiplicity, which was against us; not by force, as having the upper hand, but, according to the Logion, mystically transmitted to us, “in judgment and righteousness.”

¹¹  Τίνας μὲν οὖν εἶναι τὰς εἰς ἡμᾶς θεουργίας φαμέν͵ ἑξῆς ἀφηγητέον ὅση δύναμις. Οὐ γὰρ ἁπάσας ὑμνεῖν ἱκανὸς ἐγὼ μήτι γε σαφῶς εἰδέναι καὶ ἑτέρους μυσταγωγεῖν. Ὅσα δὲ πρὸς τῶν ἐνθέων ἱεραρχῶν ἀκολούθως τοῖς λογίοις ὑμνεῖται καὶ ἱερουργεῖται͵ ταῦτα ὡς ἡμῖν ἐφικτὸν ἐροῦμεν τὴν ἱεραρχικὴν ἐπίπνοιαν ἀρωγὸν ἐπικαλεσάμενοι. Τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ἀρχῆθεν ἀπὸ τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν ἀνοήτως ἐξολισθήσασαν ἡ πολυπαθεστάτη ζωὴ διαδέχεται καὶ τὸ τοῦ φθοροποιοῦ θανάτου πέρας. Ἀκολούθως γὰρ ἡ τῆς ὄντως ἀγαθότητος ὀλέθριος ἀποστασία καὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἐν παραδείσῳ θεσμοθεσίας ὑπερβασία τὸν ἐξοιστρήσαντα τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ ζυγοῦ ταῖς θελκτικαῖς τοῦ ἐναντίου καὶ δυσμενέσιν ἀπάταις͵ τοῖς ἐναντίοις τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν͵ οἰκείαις ῥοπαῖς παραδέδωκεν. Ἔνθεν ἐλεεινῶς ἀντὶ μὲν αἰωνίου τὸ θνητὸν ἀντηλλάξατο͵ ⁹¹ τὴν δὲ οἰκείαν ἀρχὴν ἐν φθαρτικαῖς ἐσχηκυῖα γενέσεσιν ἐπὶ τὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς κατάλληλον εἰκότως ἤγετο πέρας͵ ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς θείας καὶ ἀναγωγοῦ ζωῆς ἐθελουσίως ἀποπεσοῦσα πρὸς τὴν ἐναντίαν ἐσχατιὰν ἠνέχθη͵ τὴν πολυπαθεστάτην ἀλλοίωσιν. Πλανωμένη δὲ καὶ τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν ὄντως ὄντα θεὸν ἐκτετραμμένη καὶ ταῖς ὀλεθρίαις καὶ κακεργέτισιν ὑποταττομένη πληθύσιν ἐλάνθανεν οὐ θεοὺς οὐδὲ φίλους ἀλλὰ δυσμενεῖς θεραπεύουσα. Τῶν δὲ ἀφειδῶς αὐτῇ κατὰ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἀνηλεὲς ἀποκεχρη μένων εἰς ἀνυπαρξίας οἰκτρῶς ἐμπεπτώκει καὶ ἀπωλείας κίνδυνον. Ἡ δὲ τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἀγαθότητος ἀπειροτάτη φιλανθρωπία καὶ τὴν αὐτουργὸν ἡμῶν ἀγαθοπρεπῶς οὐκ ἀπηνήνατο πρόνοιαν͵ ἀλλ΄ ἐν ἀληθεῖ μεθέξει τῶν καθ΄ ἡμᾶς γενομένη πάντων ἀναμαρτήτως καὶ πρὸς τὸ ταπεινὸν ἡμῶν ἑνοποιηθεῖσα μετὰ τῆς τῶν οἰκείων ἀσυγχύτου καὶ ἀλωβήτου παντελῶς ἕξεως τὴν πρὸς αὐτὴν ἡμῖν κοινωνίαν ὡς ὁμογενέσι λοιπὸν ἐδωρήσατο καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἀνέδειξε μετόχους καλῶν͵ τῆς μὲν ἀποστα τικῆς πληθύος͵ ὡς ἡ κρυφία παράδοσις ἔχει͵ τὸ καθ΄ ἡμῶν καταλύσασα κράτος οὐ κατὰ δύναμιν ὡς ὑπερισχύουσα͵ κατὰ δὲ τὸ μυστικῶς ἡμῖν παραδοθὲν λόγιον ἐν κρίσει καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ͵

The things within us, then, It benevolently changed to the entire contrary. For the lightless within Our mind It filled with blessed and most Divine Light, and adorned the formless with Godlike beauties; the tabernacle 33 of our soul It liberated from most damnable passions and destructive stains by a perfected deliverance of our being which was all but prostrate, by shewing to us a supermundane elevation, and an inspired polity in our religious assimilation to Itself, as far as is possible.

τὰ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς δὲ πρὸς τοὐ ναντίον ἅπαν ἀγαθουργῶς μετασκευάσασα· τὸ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ νοῦν ἡμῶν ἀλαμπὲς ἐνέπλησεν ὀλβίου καὶ θειοτάτου φωτὸς καὶ τοῖς θεοειδέσιν ἐκόσμησε τὸ ἀνείδεον κάλλεσι͵ τὸ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς οἰκητήριον ἐν παντελεῖ σωτηρίᾳ τῆς ὅσον οὔπω καταπεσούσης ἡμῶν οὐσίας ἐναγεστάτων παθῶν καὶ φθοροποιῶν μολυσμῶν ἠλευθέρωσεν ἀναγωγὴν ἡμῖν ὑπερ κόσμιον ὑποδείξασα καὶ πολιτείαν ἔνθεον ἐν ταῖς πρὸς αὐτὴν ἡμῶν ἱεραῖς ⁹² κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἀφομοιώσεσιν.  . 

Section XII.

But how could the Divine imitation otherwise become ours, unless the remembrance of the most holy works of God were perpetually being renewed by the mystical teachings and ministrations of the Hierarchy? This, then, we do, as the Oracles say, ¹⁰6 “for Its remembrance.” Wherefore the Divine Hierarch, standing before the Divine Altar, extols the aforesaid holy works of God, which proceed from the most divine forethought of Jesus on our behalf, which He accomplished for preservation of our race, by the good pleasure of the most Holy Father in the Holy Spirit, according to the Logion. When he has extolled their majesty, and gazed, with intellectual eyes, upon their intelligible contemplation, he proceeds to their symbolical ministration,----and this,----as transmitted from God. Whence after the holy hymns of the works of God, he piously and, as becomes a hierarch, deprecates his own unworthiness for a service above his merits, first, reverently crying aloud to Him, “Thou hast said, This do for My remembrance.” Then, 34 having asked to become meet for this the God-imitating of service, and to consecrate things Divine by the assimilation to Christ Himself, and to distribute them altogether purely, and that those who shall partake of things holy may receive them holily, he consecrates things most Divine, and brings to view through the symbols reverently exposed the things whose praises are being sung. For when he has unveiled the veiled and undivided Bread, and divided it into many, and has divided the Oneness of the Cup to all, he symbolically multiplies and distributes the unity, completing in these an altogether most holy ministration. For the “one,” and “simple,” and ¹⁰7 “hidden,” of Jesus, the most supremely Divine Word, by His incarnation amongst us, came forth, out of goodness and love towards man, to the compound and visible, and benevolently devised the unifying, communion, having united, to the utmost, our lowliness to the most Divine of Himself; if indeed we have been fitted to Him, as members to a body, after the identity of a blameless and Divine life, and have not, by being killed through destructive passions, become inharmonious, and unfastened, and unyoked, to the godly and most healthy members. For, if we aspire to communion with Him, we must keep our eye fixed upon His most godly Life in the flesh, and we must retrace our path to the Godlike and blameless habit of Its holy sinlessness by assimilation to It; for thus He will communicate harmoniously to us the communion with the similar.

¹²  Τὸ θεομίμητον δὲ πῶς ἂν ἡμῖν ἑτέρως ἐγγένοιτο μὴ τῆς τῶν ἱερωτάτων θεουργιῶν μνήμης ἀνανεουμένης ἀεὶ ταῖς ἱεραρχικαῖς ἱερολο γίαις τε καὶ ἱερουργίαις; Τοῦτο ποιοῦμεν ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν εἰς τὴν αὐτῆς ἀνάμνησιν. Ἔνθεν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης ἐπὶ τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου καταστὰς ὑμνεῖ τὰς εἰρημένας ἱερὰς θεουργίας Ἰησοῦ τῆς θειοτάτης ἡμῶν προνοίας͵ ἃς ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ παναγεστάτου πατρὸς ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ κατὰ τὸ λόγιον ἐτελείωσεν. Ὑμνήσας δὲ καὶ τὴν σεβασμίαν αὐτῶν καὶ νοητὴν θεωρίαν ἐν νοεροῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπο πτεύσας ἐπὶ τὴν συμβολικὴν αὐτῶν ἱερουργίαν ἔρχεται καὶ τοῦτο θεο παραδότως· ὅθεν εὐλαβῶς τε ἅμα καὶ ἱεραρχικῶς μετὰ τοὺς ἱεροὺς τῶν θεουργιῶν ὕμνους ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν ἱερουργίας ἀπολογεῖται πρό τερον ἱερῶς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναβοῶν· Σὺ εἶπας Τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν. Εἶτα τῆς θεομιμήτου ταύτης ἱερουργίας ἄξιος αἰτήσας γε νέσθαι καὶ τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν Χριστὸν ἀφομοιώσει τὰ θεῖα τελέσαι καὶ διαδοῦναι πανάγνως καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἱερῶν μεθέξοντας ἱεροπρεπῶς μετα σχεῖν ἱερουργεῖ τὰ θειότατα καὶ ὑπ΄ ὄψιν ἄγει τὰ ὑμνημένα διὰ τῶν ἱερῶς προκειμένων συμβόλων. Τὸν γὰρ ἐγκεκαλυμμένον καὶ ἀδιαίρετον ἄρτον ἀνακαλύψας καὶ εἰς πολλὰ διελὼν καὶ τὸ ἑνιαῖον τοῦ ποτηρίου πᾶσι καταμερίσας συμβολικῶς τὴν ἑνότητα πληθύνει καὶ διανέμει παναγε στάτην ἐν τούτοις ἱερουργίαν τελῶν. Τὸ γὰρ ἓν καὶ ἁπλοῦν καὶ κρύφιον Ἰησοῦ τοῦ θεαρχικωτάτου λόγου τῇ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἐνανθρωπήσει πρὸς τὸ σύνθετόν τε καὶ ὁρατὸν ἀναλλοιώτως ἀγαθότητι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ προ ⁹³ ελήλυθε καὶ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡμῶν ἑνοποιὸν κοινωνίαν ἀγαθουργῶς διεπραγματεύσατο τὰ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ταπεινὰ τοῖς θειοτάτοις αὐτοῦ κατ΄ ἄκρον ἑνώσας͵ εἴπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς ὡς μέλη σώματι συναρμολογηθῶμεν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸ ταὐτὸν τῆς ἀλωβήτου καὶ θείας ζωῆς καὶ μὴ τοῖς φθοροποιοῖς πάθεσι κατανεκρωθέντες ἀνάρμοστοι καὶ ἀκόλλητοι καὶ ἀσύζωοι γενώ μεθα πρὸς τὰ θεῖα μέλη καὶ ὑγιέστατα. Χρὴ γὰρ ἡμᾶς͵ εἰ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐφιέμεθα κοινωνίας͵ εἰς τὴν θειοτάτην αὐτοῦ κατὰ σάρκα ζωὴν ἀποσκο πεῦσαι καὶ τῇ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀφομοιώσει τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀναμαρτησίας εἰς τὴν θεοειδῆ καὶ ἀλώβητον ἕξιν ἀναδραμεῖν. Οὕτω γὰρ ἐναρμονίως ἡμῖν τὴν πρὸς τὸ ὅμοιον κοινωνίαν δωρήσεται. 

Section XIII.

The Hierarch makes known these things to those who are living religiously, by bringing the veiled gifts to view, by dividing their oneness into many, and by making the recipients partakers of them, by the utmost union of the things distributed with those who receive them. For he delineates in these things under sensible forms our intelligible life in figures, by bringing to view the Christ Jesus from the Hidden within the Divine Being, out of love to man, made like unto us by the all-perfect and unconfused ¹⁰8 incarnation in our race, from us, and advancing to the divided condition of ourselves, without change from the essential One, and calling the human race, through this beneficent love of man, into participation with Himself and His own good things, provided we are united to His most Divine Life by our assimilation to it, as far as possible; and by this, in very truth, we shall have been perfected, as partakers of God and of Divine things.

¹³  Ταῦτα τοῖς ἱερῶς δρωμένοις ὁ ἱεράρχης ἐμφαίνει τὰ μὲν ἐγκεκα λυμμένα δῶρα πρὸς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἄγων τὸ δὲ ἑνιαῖον αὐτῶν εἰς πολλὰ διαιρῶν καὶ τῇ τῶν διανεμομένων πρὸς τὰ ἐν οἷς γίνεται κατ΄ ἄκρον ἑνώσει κοινωνοὺς αὐτῶν ἀποτελῶν τοὺς μετέχοντας. Διαγράφει γὰρ ἐν τούτοις αἰσθητῶς ὑπ΄ ὄψιν ἄγων Ἰησοῦν τὸν Χριστὸν τὴν νοητὴν ἡμῶν ὡς ἐν εἰκόσι ζωὴν ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ τὸ θεῖον κρυφίου τῇ παντελεῖ καὶ ἀσυγχύτῳ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἐνανθρωπήσει φιλανθρώπως ἐξ ἡμῶν εἰδοποιούμενον καὶ πρὸς τὸ μεριστὸν ἡμῶν ἀναλλοιώτως ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἑνὸς προϊόντα καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀγαθουργοῦ ταύτης φιλανθρωπίας εἰς μετουσίαν ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἀγαθῶν καλοῦντα τὸ ἀνθρώπειον φῦλον͵ εἴπερ ἑνωθῶμεν αὐτοῦ τῇ θειοτάτῃ ζωῇ τῇ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἡμῶν κατὰ δύναμιν ἀφομοιώσει καὶ ταύτῃ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν κοινωνοὶ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν θείων ἀποτελεσθησόμεθα. 

Section XIV.

Having received and distributed the supremely Divine Communion, he terminates with a holy thanksgiving, in which the whole body of the Church take part. For the Communion precedes the imparting, and the reception of the mysteries, the mystic distribution. For this is the universal regulation and order of the Divine Mysteries, that the reverend Leader should first partake, and be filled with the gifts, to be imparted, through him, from God to others, and so impart to others also. Wherefore, those who rashly content themselves with the inspired instructions, in preference to a life and condition agreeable to the same, are profane, and entirely alien from the sacred regulation established. For, as in the case of the bright shining of the sun, the more delicate and luminous substances, being first filled with the brilliancy flowing into them, brightly impart their overflowing light to things after them; so it is not tolerable that one, who has not ¹⁰9 become altogether Godlike in his whole character, and proved to be in harmony with the Divine influence and judgment, should become Leader to others, in the altogether divine.

¹⁴  Μετασχὼν δὲ καὶ μεταδοὺς τῆς θεαρχικῆς κοινωνίας εἰς εὐχαρι στίαν ἱερὰν καταλήγει μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἱεροῦ πληρώματος. Ἡ μετοχὴ γὰρ τῆς μεταδόσεως ἡγεῖται καὶ τῆς μυστικῆς διανεμήσεως ἡ τῶν μυστηρίων μετάληψις. Αὕτη γὰρ ἡ καθολικὴ τῶν θείων εὐκοσμία ⁹⁴ καὶ τάξις· πρῶτον ἐν μετουσίᾳ γενέσθαι καὶ ἀποπληρώσει τὸν ἱερὸν καθηγεμόνα τῶν δι΄ αὐτοῦ θεόθεν ἑτέροις δωρηθησομένων οὕτω τε καὶ ἄλλοις μεταδοῦναι. Διὸ καὶ ταῖς ἐνθέοις διδασκαλίαις οἱ τολμηρῶς ἀπο κεχρημένοι πρὸ τῆς κατ΄ αὐτὰς πολιτείας καὶ ἕξεως ἀνίεροι καὶ ἔκφυλοι πάντῃ τῆς ἱερᾶς εἰσι θεσμοθεσίας. Ὡς γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἡλιακῶν μαρμαρυγῶν αἱ λεπτότεραι καὶ διειδέστεραι τῶν οὐσιῶν πρῶται τῆς εἰσρεούσης αἴγλης ἀποπληρούμεναι τὸ κατὰ πᾶν ἑαυτῶν ὑπερχεόμενον φῶς εἰς τὰς μετ΄ αὐτὰς ἡλιοειδῶς ἐποχετεύουσιν͵ οὕτω καὶ θείου παντὸς οὐ τολμητέον ἑτέροις ἡγήσασθαι τὸν μὴ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἕξιν αὐτοῦ γεγονότα θεοειδέστα τον καὶ πρὸς τῆς θείας ἐπιπνοίας καὶ κρίσεως ἁρμοστὴν ἀναδεδειγμένον. 

Section XV.

Meanwhile, the whole order of the Priests having been collected together in hierarchical order, and communicated in the most Divine mysteries, finishes with a holy thanksgiving, after having recognized and sung the favours of the works of God, according to their degree. So that those, who have not partaken and are ignorant of things Divine, would not attain to thanksgiving, although the most Divine gifts are, in their essential nature, worthy of thanksgiving. But, as I said, not having wished even to look at the Divine gifts, from their inclination to things inferior, they have remained throughout ungracious towards the boundless graces of the works of God. “Taste and see,” say the Oracles, for, by the sacred initiation of things Divine, the initiated recognize their munificent graces, and, by gazing with utmost reverence upon their most Divine height and breadth in the participation, they will sing the super-celestial beneficent works of the Godhead with gracious thanksgiving. ¹¹0 

¹⁵  Ἐν τούτοις ἡ πᾶσα τῶν ἱερῶν διακόσμησις ἱεραρχικῶς συναχθεῖσα καὶ τοῖς θειοτάτοις κοινωνήσασα μετ΄ εὐχαριστίας ἱερᾶς καταλήγει τὰς τῶν θεουργιῶν ἀναλόγως ἐπιγνοῦσα καὶ ὑμνήσασα χάριτας. Ὥστε οἱ τῶν θείων ἀμέτοχοι καὶ ἀγνῶτες οὐκ ἂν εἰς εὐχαριστίαν ἀφίκοιντο καίτοι κατ΄ οἰκείαν φύσιν ἀξίων οὐσῶν εὐχαριστεῖσθαι τῶν θειοτάτων δωρεῶν. Ἀλλ΄ ὅπερ ἔφην͵ οὐδὲ προσβλέψαι ποτὲ τοῖς θείοις δώροις ἐκ τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω νεύσεως ἐθελήσαντες ἀχάριστοι πρὸς τὰς ἀπείρους τῶν θεουργιῶν διαμεμενήκασι χάριτας. Γεύσασθε δέ φησι τὰ λόγια καὶ ἴδετε. Τῇ γὰρ ἱερᾷ τῶν θείων μυήσει τὰς μεγαλοδώρους αὐτῶν οἱ μυούμενοι χάριτας ἐπιγνώσονται καὶ τὸ θειότατον αὐτῶν ὕψος καὶ μέγεθος ἐν τῇ μεθέξει πανιέρως ἐποπτεύοντες τὰς ὑπερουρανίας εὐχαρίστως ὑμνήσουσι τῆς θεαρχίας ἀγαθουργίας.

CAPUT IV.

I. Concerning things performed in the Muron, and concerning things perfected in it.

So great and so beautiful are the intelligible visions of the most holy Synaxis, which minister hierarchically, as we have often said, our participation in, and collection towards, the One. But there is another perfecting Service of the same rank, which our Leaders name “Initiation of Muron,” by contemplating whose parts in due order, in accordance with the sacred images, we shall thus be borne, by hierarchical contemplations, to its Oneness through its parts.

⁹⁵ 1 IV. 1 Τοσαῦτα τῆς ἁγιωτάτης συνάξεώς ἐστι καὶ οὕτω καλὰ τὰ νοητὰ θεάματα τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἓν ἡμῶν͵ ὡς πολλάκις εἰρήκαμεν͵ ἱεραρχικῶς ἱε ρουργοῦντα κοινωνίαν καὶ σύναξιν. Ἀλλ΄ ἔστι ταύτης ὁμοταγὴς ἑτέρα τελεσιουργία· μύρου τελετὴν αὐτὴν οἱ καθηγεμόνες ἡμῶν ὀνομάζουσιν. Τὰ μέρη τοίνυν αὐτῆς ἐν τάξει κατὰ τὰς ἱερὰς εἰκόνας ἐπισκοπήσαντες͵ οὕτω πρὸς τὸ ἓν αὐτῆς διὰ τῶν μερῶν ἱεραρχικαῖς θεωρίαις ἀναχθησό μεθα.

II. Mysterion of Initiation of Muron 35.

1Μυστήριον τελετῆς μύρου.

In the same way as in the Synaxis, the orders of the imperfect are dismissed, that is, after the hierarchical procession has made the whole circuit of the temple, attended with fragrant incense; and the chanting of the Psalms, and.the reading of the most Divine Oracles. Then the Hierarch takes the Muron and places it, veiled under twelve sacred wings, upon the Divine Altar, whilst all cry aloud, with most devout voice, the sacred melody of the inspiration of the God-rapt Prophets, and when he has finished the prayer offered over it, he uses it, ¹¹1 in the most holy mystic Rites of things being hallowed, for almost every Hierarchical consecration.

1 Κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τῆς συνάξεως τρόπον αἱ τῶν ἀτελειώτων ἀπολύονται τάξεις προηγησαμένων δηλαδὴ τῆς τε ἱεραρχικῆς ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ ἱερὸν εὐόσμου περιαγωγῆς καὶ τῆς ψαλμικῆς ἱερολογίας καὶ τῆς τῶν θειοτάτων λογίων ἀναγνώσεως. Εἶτα τὸ μύρον ὁ ἱεράρχης λαβὼν ἐπιτίθησι τῷ θείῳ θυσιαστηρίῳ περικεκαλυμμένον ὑπὸ δυοκαίδεκα πτέρυξιν ἱεραῖς ἀναβοώντων πάντων ἁγιωτάτῃ φωνῇ τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς τῶν θεολήπτων προφητῶν ἐπιπνοίας μελῴδημα͵ καὶ τὴν ἐπ΄ αὐτῷ τελουμένην εὐχὴν ἀποπληρώσας ἐν ταῖς ἁγιωτάταις τῶν ἀφιερουμένων τελεταῖς αὐτῷ χρῆται πρὸς πᾶσαν σχεδὸν ἱεραρχικὴν τελεσιουργίαν.

III. Contemplation.

Section I.

Θεωρία.

The elementary teaching, then, of this the perfecting service, through the things done over the Divine Muron, shews this, in my judgment, that, that which is holy and of sweet savour in the minds of devout men is covered, as with a veil, since it Divinely enjoins upon holy men to have their beautiful and well-savoured assimilations in virtue to the hidden God not seen for vain glory. For the hidden comeliness of God is unsullied, and is sweet beyond conception, and manifested for spiritual contemplation to the intellectual alone, through a desire to have the unsullied images of virtue in souls of the same pattern. For by looking away from the undistorted and well imitated image of the Godlike virtue to that contemplated and fragrant beauty, he thus moulds and fashions it to the most beautiful imitation. And, as in the case of sensible images, if the artist look without distraction upon the archetypal form, not distracted by sight of anything else, or in any way divided in attention, he will duplicate, if I may so speak, the very person that is being sketched, whoever he may be, and will shew the reality in the likeness, and the archetype in the image, and each in each, save the difference of substance; thus, to copyists who love the beautiful ¹¹2 in mind, the persistent and unflinching contemplation of the sweet-savoured and hidden beauty will confer the unerring and most Godlike appearance 36. Naturally, then, the divine copyists, who unflinchingly mould their own intellectual contemplation to the superessentially sweet and contemplated comeliness, do. none of their divinely imitated virtues “to be seen of men 37, as the Divine text expresses it; but reverently gaze upon the most holy things of the Church, veiled in the Divine Muron as in a figure. Wherefore, these also, by religiously concealing that which is holy and most Divine in virtue within their Godlike and God-engraved mind, look away to the archetypal conception alone; for not only are they blind to things dissimilar, but neither are they drawn down to gaze upon them. Wherefore, as becomes their character, they do neither love things, merely seeming good and just, but those really being such; nor do they look to opinion, upon which the multitude irrationally congratulate themselves, but, after the Divine example, by distinguishing the good or evil as it is in itself, they are Divine images of the most supremely Divine sweetness, which, having the truly sweet within itself, is not turned to the anomalously seeming of the multitude, moulding Its genuineness to the true images of Itself.

¹¹  1  Ἡ μὲν εἰσαγωγικὴ τῆς τελειωτικῆς ταύτης ἱερουργίας ἀναγωγὴ διὰ τῶν κατὰ τὸ θεῖον μύρον ἱερῶς δρωμένων ἐκεῖνο οἶμαι δηλοῖ· τὸ περικεκαλύφθαι τῶν θείων ἀνδρῶν τὸ κατὰ νοῦν ἱερὸν καὶ εὐῶδες͵ ἥτις ἐνθέως ἐγκελεύεται τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀνδράσι μὴ φαινομένας ἔχειν ἐπὶ δόξῃ κενῇ τὰς κατ΄ ἀρετὴν τοῦ κρυφίου θεοῦ καλὰς καὶ εὐώδεις ἀφομοιώσεις. Ἄχραν τοι γάρ εἰσιν αἱ τοῦ θεοῦ κρυφίαι καὶ ὑπὲρ νοῦν εὐώδεις εὐπρέπειαι καὶ ⁹⁶ νοητῶς ἐμφαίνονται μόνοις τοῖς νοεροῖς ὁμοειδεῖς ἔχειν ἐθέλουσαι τὰς κατ΄ ἀρετὴν ἐν ψυχαῖς ἀπαραφθάρτους εἰκόνας. Τὸ γὰρ τῆς θεοειδοῦς ἀρετῆς ἀπαράγραπτον εὖ μεμιμημένον τὸ ἄγαλμα πρὸς ἐκεῖνο τὸ νοητὸν καὶ εὐῶδες ἀφορῶν κάλλος οὕτως ἑαυτὸ τυποῖ καὶ διαπλάττει πρὸς τὸ κάλλιστον μίμημα. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἰκόνων εἰ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον εἶδος ὁ γραφεὺς ἀκλινῶς εἰσορᾷ πρὸς μηδὲν ἄλλο τῶν ὁρατῶν ἀνθελκόμενος ἢ κατά τι μεριζόμενος αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον ὅστις ἐστὶ τὸν γρα φόμενον εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν διπλασιάσει καὶ δείξει τὸν ἑκάτερον ἐν ἑκατέρῳ παρὰ τὸ τῆς οὐσίας διάφορον͵ οὕτω τοῖς φιλοκάλοις ἐν νῷ γραφεῦσιν ἡ πρὸς τὸ εὐῶδες καὶ κρύφιον κάλλος ἀτενὴς καὶ ἀπαρέγκλιτος θεωρία τὸ ἀπλανὲς δωρήσεται καὶ θεοειδέστατον ἴνδαλμα. Εἰκότως οὖν πρὸς τὴν ὑπερουσίως εὐώδη καὶ νοητὴν εὐπρέπειαν οἱ θεῖοι γραφεῖς τὸ νοερὸν ἑαυτῶν ἀμεταστρέπτως εἰδοποιοῦντες οὐδεμίαν δρῶσι τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς θεομιμήτων ἀρετῶν Εἰς τὸ θεαθῆναι κατὰ τὸ λόγιον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις͵ ἀλλ΄ ἱερῶς ἐποπτεύουσιν ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι τῷ θείῳ μύρῳ τὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἱερώτατα περικεκαλυμμένα. Διὸ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸ κατ΄ ἀρετὴν ἱερὸν καὶ θεοειδέστατον εἴσω τοῦ θεομιμήτου καὶ θεογράπτου νοὸς ἱερῶς περικα λύπτοντες πρὸς μόνην ἀποβλέπουσι τὴν ἀρχέτυπον νόησιν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀθέατοι μόνον εἰσὶ τοῖς ἀνομοίοις͵ ἀλλ΄ οὐδ΄ αὐτοὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνων καθέλκονται θέαν. Ὅθεν ἑαυτοῖς ἀκολούθως οὐδὲ τῶν δοκούντων εἰκῆ καλῶν καὶ δικαίων ἀλλὰ τῶν ὄντως ὄντων ἐρῶσιν οὐδὲ πρὸς δόξαν ὁρῶσι τὴν ὑπὸ πλήθους ἀλόγως μακαριζομένην͵ ἀλλὰ τὸ καλὸν ἢ χεῖρον ἐφ΄ ἑαυτοῦ θεομιμήτως κρίνοντες ἀγάλματα θεῖα τῆς θεαρχικωτάτης εἰσὶν ⁹⁷ εὐωδίας͵ ἥτις ἐφ΄ ἑαυτῆς τὸ ἀληθῶς εὐῶδες ἔχουσα πρὸς τὸ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀνομοίως δοκοῦν οὐκ ἐπιστρέφεται ταῖς ἀληθέσιν αὐτῆς εἰκόσιν ἐντυ ποῦσα τὸ ἀνυπόκριτον. 

Section II.

Come, then, since we have viewed the exterior comeliness of the entirely beautiful ministration, let ¹¹3 us now look away to its more godly beauty (whilst itself, by itself, has uncovered the veils), gazing upon its blessed radiance, shedding its bright beams openly around, and filling us with the fragrance unveiled to the contemplators. For the visible consecration of the Muron is neither uncommunicated in, or unseen by those who surround the Hierarch, but, on the contrary, by passing through to them, and fixing the contemplation above the many, is reverently covered by them, and by Hierarchical direction kept from the multitude.

2  Φέρε δὴ λοιπὸν ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἐκτὸς εὐπρέπειαν ἐθεασάμεθα τῆς ὅλης καλῆς ἱερουργίας͵ εἰς τὸ θειότερον αὐτῆς ἀποβλέψωμεν κάλλος͵ αὐτὴν ἐφ΄ ἑαυτῆς ἀποκαλυψαμένην τὰ παραπετάσματα͵ θεώμενοι τὴν μακαρίαν ἀποστίλβουσαν ἐμφανῶς αἴγλην καὶ τῆς ἀπερικαλύπτου τοῖς νοεροῖς ἀποπληροῦσαν ἡμᾶς εὐωδίας. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἡ φαινομένη τοῦ μύρου τελε σιουργία τοῖς περὶ τὸν ἱεράρχην ἐστὶν ἀκοινώνητος ἢ ἀθέατος͵ ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἄχρις αὐτῶν διήκουσα καὶ ἱστῶσα τὴν ὑπὲρ τοὺς πολλοὺς θεωρίαν ὑπ΄ αὐτῶν ἱερῶς περικαλύπτεται καὶ τῆς πληθύος ἱεραρχικῶς ἀποδιαστέλλεται.

For the splendour of things all holy, by shedding its light clearly and without symbol to men inspired, as being congenial to the thing contemplated, and perfuming their contemplating perceptions without; concealment, advances not yet in the same way to the inferior, but by them as deep contemplators of the thing contemplated is concealed under the enigmas of the wings, without ostentation, so that it may not be defiled by the dissimilar; through which sacred enigmas the well-ordered Ranks of the subordinate are conducted to the degree of holiness compatible with their powers.

Τοῖς γὰρ ἐνθέοις ἀνδράσιν ἡ τῶν πανιέρων ἀκτὶς ὡς συγγενέσι τοῦ νοητοῦ φωτὸς καθαρῶς καὶ ἀμέσως ἐλλάμπουσα καὶ τὰς νοερὰς αὐτῶν ἀντιλήψεις ἀπερικαλύπτως εὐωδιάζουσα πρὸς τὸ ὑφειμέ νον οὐκέτι ὁμοίως πρόεισιν͵ ἀλλ΄ ὑπ΄ αὐτῶν ὡς κρυφίων τοῦ νοητοῦ θεωρῶν ἀνεκπομπεύτως εἰς τὸ τοῖς ἀνομοίοις ἄχραντον ὑπὸ πτερωτοῖς αἰνίγμασι συγκαλύπτεται͵ δι΄ ὧν ἱερῶν αἰνιγμάτων αἱ τῶν ὑποβεβη κότων εὔκοσμοι τάξεις ἀνάγονται πρὸς τὴν κατ΄ αὐτὰς ἱερὰν ἀναλογίαν. 

Section III.

The holy consecration, then, which we are now extolling, is, as I said, of the perfecting rank and capacity of the Hierarchical functions. Wherefore our Divine Leaders arranged the same, as being of the same rank and effect as the holy perfecting of the Synaxis, with the same figures, for the most ¹¹4 part, and with mystical regulations and lections. And you may see in like manner the Hierarch bearing forward the sweet perfume from the more holy place into the sacred precincts beyond, and teaching, by the return to the same, that the participation in things Divine comes to all holy persons, according to fitness, and is undiminished and altogether unmoved and stands unchangeably in its identity, as beseems Divine fixity. In the same way the Psalms and readings of the Oracles nurse the imperfect to a life-bringing adoption of sons, and form a religious inclination in those who are possessed with accursed spirits, and dispel the opposing fear and effeminacy from those possessed by a spirit of unmanliness; shewing to them, according to their capacity, the highest pinnacle of the Godlike habit and power, by aid of which they will, the rather, scare away the opposing forces, and will take the lead in healing others; and, following the example of God, they will, whilst unmoved from their own proper gifts, not only be active against those opposing fears, but will themselves give activity to others; and they also impart a religious habit to those who have changed from the worse to a religious mind, so that they should not be again enslaved by evil, and purify completely those who need to become altogether pure; and they lead the holy to the Divine likenesses, and contemplations and communions belonging to themselves, and so establish those who are entirely holy, in blessed and intelligible visions, ¹¹5 fulfilling their uniform likeness of the One, and making them one.

3  Ἔστι δὴ οὖν ὅπερ ἔφην ἡ νῦν ὑμνουμένη παρ΄ ἡμῶν ἱερὰ τελε τουργία τῆς τελειωτικῆς τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν τάξεως καὶ δυνάμεως. Διὸ καὶ ταύτην οἱ θεῖοι καθηγεμόνες ἡμῶν ὡς ὁμοταγῆ καὶ ταὐτουργὸν τῷ τῆς συνάξεως ἱερῷ τελεστηρίῳ ταῖς αὐταῖς εἰκόσιν ὡς τὰ πολλὰ καὶ μυστικαῖς διακοσμήσεσι καὶ ἱερολογίαις διετάξαντο. Καὶ τὸν μὲν ἱεράρχην ὡσαύτως ὄψει τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ θειοτέρου τόπου καλὴν εὐωδίαν εἰς τὰ ἑξῆς ἱερὰ προφέροντα καὶ τῇ πρὸς τὸ ταὐτὸν ἀναλύσει διδάσκοντα τῶν θείων τὴν μετουσίαν ἐν ἅπασι μὲν γίνεσθαι κατ΄ ἀξίαν τοῖς ἱεροῖς͵ ἀμείωτον δὲ εἶναι καὶ ἀκίνητον πάντῃ καὶ εἴσω τῆς κατὰ θείαν ἵδρυσιν ἰδιότητος ἀπαραλ λάκτως ἑστηκυῖαν. Ἐπίσης δὲ πάλιν αἱ τῶν λογίων ᾠδαὶ καὶ ἀναγνώσεις ⁹⁸ τοὺς μὲν ἀτελέστους μαιεύονται πρὸς ζωηφόρον υἱοθεσίαν͵ ἐπιστροφὴν δὲ ἱερὰν ποιοῦνται τῶν ἐναγῶς ἐνεργουμένων͵ ἀφαιροῦσι δὲ τὴν ἐναντίαν πτοίαν καὶ θέλξιν ἐκ τῶν ἀνάνδρως ἐνεργουμένων τὸ τῆς θεοειδοῦς ἕξεως καὶ δυνάμεως ἀκρότατον ἀναλόγως αὐτοῖς ὑποδεικνῦσαι͵ καθ΄ ἣν ἐκδει ματώσουσι μᾶλλον αὐτοὶ τὰς ἐναντίας δυνάμεις καὶ τῆς ἑτέρων ἰατρείας προστήσονται τὸ θεομιμήτως ἀκίνητον μὲν ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων καλῶν πρὸς δὲ τὰς ἐναντίας πτοίας δραστήριον οὐκ ἔχοντες μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ δωρού μενοι͵ τοῖς δὲ εἰς νοῦν ἱερὸν ἐκ τῶν χειρόνων μεταφοιτήσασιν ἕξιν ἱερὰν ἐντίθενται πρὸς τὸ μὴ αὖθις ὑπὸ κακίας ἁλῶναι͵ τοὺς δὲ πρὸς τὸ εἶναι πανάγνους ἐνδεεῖς τελέως ἀποκαθαίρουσιν͵ τοὺς δὲ ἱεροὺς ἄγουσιν ἐπὶ τὰς θείας εἰκόνας καὶ ἐποψίας αὐτῶν καὶ κοινωνίας͵ ἑστιῶσι δὲ τοὺς πανιέρους ἐν μακαρίοις καὶ νοητοῖς θεάμασιν ἀποπληροῦσαι τὸ ἑνοειδὲς αὐτῶν τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ ἑνοποιοῦσαι. 

Section IV.

What, then, shall I say further? Is it not those Ranks already mentioned, which are not entirely pure, that the present consecrating service excludes without distinction, in the same way as the Synaxis, so that it is viewed by the holy alone, in figures, and is contemplated and ministered, by the perfectly holy alone, immediately, through hierarchical directions? Now it is superfluous, as I think, to run over, by the same statements, these things already so often mentioned, and not to pass to the next, viewing the Hierarch, devoutly holding the Divine Muron veiled under twelve wings, and ministering the altogether holy consecration upon it. Let us then affirm that the composition of the Muron is a composition of sweet-smelling materials, which has in itself abundantly fragrant qualities, of which (composition) those who partake become perfumed in proportion to the degree to which they partake of its sweet savour. Now we are persuaded that the most supremely Divine Jesus is superessentially of good savour, filling the contemplative part of ourselves by bequests of Divine sweetness for contemplation. For if the reception of the sensible odours make to feel joyous, and nourishes, with much sweetness, the sensitive organs of our nostrils, ----if at least they be sound and well apportioned to the sweet savour----in the same way any one might ¹¹6 say that our contemplative faculties, being soundly disposed as regards the subjection to the worse, in the strength of the distinguishing faculty implanted in us by nature, receive the supremely Divine fragrance, and are filled with a holy comfort and most Divine nourishment, in accordance with Divinely fixed proportions, and the correlative turning of the mind towards the Divine Being. Wherefore, the symbolical composition of the Muron, as expressing in form things that are formless, depicts to us Jesus Himself, as a well-spring of the wealth of the Divine sweet receptions, distributing, in degrees supremely Divine, for the most Godlike of the contemplators, the most Divine perfumes; upon which the Minds, joyfully refreshed, and filled with the holy receptions, indulge in a feast of spiritual contemplation, by the entrance of the sweet bequests into their contemplative part, as beseems a Divine participation.

4  Τί δέ; Οὐχὶ καὶ τὰς μὴ πάντῃ καθαρὰς ὧν ἤδη μνήμην ἐποιησά μεθα͵ τάξεις ἀμιγῶς ἀπολύει κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τῆς συνάξεως τρόπον ἡ παροῦσα νῦν ἱερὰ τελετουργία͵ μόνοις ἐν εἰκόσιν ὁρωμένη τοῖς ἱεροῖς καὶ πρὸς μόνων ἀμέσως τῶν πανιέρων ἱεραρχικαῖς ἀναγωγαῖς ἐποπτευομένη καὶ ἱερουργουμένη; Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἤδη πολλάκις ἡμῖν εἰρημένα περιττόν ἐστιν ὡς οἶμαι τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπανακυκλεῖν λόγοις καὶ μὴ πρὸς τὰ ἑξῆς μεταβῆναι τὸν ἱεράρχην ἐνθέως ὁρῶντας ὑπὸ δυοκαίδεκα πτέρυξι περι κεκαλυμμένον ἔχοντα τὸ θεῖον μύρον καὶ τὴν παναγεστάτην ἐπ΄ αὐτῷ τελείωσιν ἱερουργοῦντα. Λέγωμεν τοίνυν͵ ὡς ἡ τοῦ μύρου σύνθεσις συναγωγή τίς ἐστιν εὐπνόων ὑλῶν ἐν ἑαυτῇ πλουσίως ἔχουσα ποιότητας εὐόσμους͵ ἧς οἱ μετασχόντες εὐωδιάζονται κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τοῦ ποσοῦ τῆς ἐγγενομένης αὐτοῖς τοῦ εὐώδους μεθέξεως. Πεπείσμεθα δὲ εἶναι τὸν θεαρχικώτατον Ἰησοῦν ὑπερουσίως εὐώδη νοηταῖς διαδόσεσι τὸ νοερὸν ἡμῶν ἀποπληροῦντα ⁹⁹ θείας ἡδονῆς. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ τῶν αἰσθητῶν εὐωδῶν ἀντίληψις εὐπαθεῖν ποιεῖ καὶ τρέφει σὺν ἡδονῇ πολλῇ τὸ τῶν ὀσφραντῶν ἡμῶν διακριτικὸν εἴπερ ἀβλαβές τε εἴη καὶ πρὸς τὸ εὐῶδες ἐν συμμετρίᾳ κατάλληλον͵ ἀναλόγως ἄν τις φαίη καὶ τὰς νοερὰς ἡμῶν δυνάμεις πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ὕφεσιν ἀπαραφθάρτως διακειμένας ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν κριτικοῦ φυσικῇ ῥώσει κατὰ τὰ θεουργικὰ μέτρα καὶ τὴν κατάλληλον τοῦ νοὸς πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ἐπι στροφὴν ἐν ἀντιλήψει τῆς θεαρχικῆς εὐωδίας γίνεσθαι καὶ εὐπαθείας ἱερᾶς πληροῦσθαι καὶ θειοτάτης τροφῆς. Οὐκοῦν ἡ τοῦ μύρου συμβολικὴ σύνθεσις ὡς ἐν μορφώσει τῶν ἀμορφώτων αὐτὸν ἡμῖν ὑπογράφει τὸν Ἰησοῦν πηγαῖον ὄντα τῶν θείων εὐωδῶν ἀντιλήψεων ὄλβον ἀναλογίαις θεαρχικαῖς εἰς τὰ θεοειδέστατα τῶν νοερῶν ἀναδιδόντα τοὺς θειοτάτους ἀτμούς͵ ἐφ΄ οἷς οἱ νόες εὐπαθῶς ἡδόμενοι καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀντιλήψεων ἀποπληρούμενοι τροφῇ νοητῇ χρῶνται τῇ πρὸς τὸ νοερὸν αὐτῶν εἰσ δύσει τῶν κατὰ θείαν μέθεξιν εὐωδῶν διαδόσεων. 

Section V.

Now it is evident, as I think, that the distribution of the fontal perfume to the Beings above ourselves, who are more Divine, is, as it were, nearer, and manifests and distributes itself more to the transparent and wholesome mental condition of their receptive faculty, overflowing ungrudgingly and entering in many fashions; but as regards the subordinate contemplators, which are not so receptive, piously concealing the highest vision and ¹¹7 participation, it is distributed in a supremely Divine proportion, in fragrance corresponding to the recipients. Amongst the holy Beings, then, who are above us, the superior order of the Seraphim is represented under the figure of the twelve wings, established and fixed around Jesus, casting itself upon the most blessed contemplations of Him, as far as permissible, and filled reverently with the contemplated truth distributed in most pure receptions, and, to speak after the manner of men, crying aloud, with never silent lips, the frequent Hymn of Praise; for the sacred knowledge of the supermundane minds is both untiring, and possesses the Divine love without intermission, and is at the same time superior to all baseness and forgetfulness. Hence, as I think, that phrase, “unceasing cry,” suggests their perpetual and persistent science and conception of things Divine, with full concord and thanksgiving.                       

5  Ἔστι δὲ ὡς οἶμαι δῆλον͵ ὅτι ταῖς ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς οὐσίαις ὡς θειοτέραις ἡ τῆς πηγαίας εὐωδίας ἀνάδοσις ἐγγυτέρα πώς ἐστιν καὶ μᾶλλον ἑαυτὴν ἐκφαίνει καὶ διαδίδωσιν͵ εἰς τὸ διειδέστατον αὐτῶν καὶ εὐεκτικὸν τῆς κατὰ νοῦν ἀντιληπτικῆς δυνάμεως ἀφθόνως ὑπερβλύζουσα καὶ πολυ πλασίως εἰσδυομένη͵ πρὸς δὲ τὰ τῶν νοερῶν ὑφειμένα καὶ μὴ ὡσαύτως δεκτικὰ τὴν ὑπερτάτην ἀχράντως ἀποκρύψασα θέαν καὶ μέθεξιν ἀναλό γοις τῶν μετεχόντων ἀτμοῖς ἐν συμμετρίᾳ θεαρχικῇ διαδίδοται. Τῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς οὖν ἁγίων οὐσιῶν ἡ τόσον ὑπερκειμένη τῶν Σεραφὶμ τάξις ἐν τῇ τῶν πτερῶν δυοκαιδεκάδι σημαίνεται περὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἑστῶσα καὶ ἱδρυ μένη τοῖς μακαριωτάτοις αὐτοῦ θεάμασιν ὡς θεμιτὸν ἐπιβάλλουσα καὶ τῆς νοητῆς διαδόσεως ἱερῶς ἐν πανάγνοις ὑποδοχαῖς ἀποπληρουμένη καὶ τὴν πολυύμνητον αἰσθητῶς εἰπεῖν ἀσιγήτοις στόμασιν ἀνακράζουσα ¹⁰⁰ θεολογίαν. Ἡ γὰρ ἱερὰ τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων νοῶν γνῶσις ἀκάματός τέ ἐστιν καὶ ἀκατάληκτον ἔχει τὸν θεῖον ἔρωτα κακίας τε ἅμα πάσης ὑπερκεῖται καὶ λήθης͵ ὅθεν ὡς οἶμαι τὸ τῆς ἀσιγήτου κραυγῆς ὑπαινίσσεται τὴν αἰώνιον αὐτῶν καὶ ἀμετάστατον ἐν συντονίᾳ πάσῃ καὶ εὐχαριστίᾳ τῶν θείων ἐπιστήμην καὶ νόησιν. 

Section VI.

Now we have, as I think, sufficiently contemplated, in the description of the super-heavenly Hierarchy, the incorporeal properties of the Seraphim, Divinely described in the Scriptures under sensible figures explanatory of the contemplated Beings, and we have made them evident to thy contemplating eyes. Nevertheless, since now also they who stand reverently around the Hierarch, ¹¹8 reflect the highest Order, on a small scale, we will now view with most immaterial visions their most Godlike splendour.

6  Τὰς μὲν οὖν ἀσωμάτους τῶν Σεραφὶμ ἰδιότητας ἐν τοῖς λογίοις αἰσθηταῖς εἰκόσι τῶν νοητῶν ἐκφαντορικαῖς ἱερῶς ἀναγεγραμμένας ἐν τοῖς διακόσμοις τῶν ὑπερουρανίων ἱεραρχιῶν ὡς οἶμαι καλῶς ἐθεασάμεθα καὶ τοῖς σοῖς νοεροῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑπεδείξαμεν. Ὅμως͵ ἐπειδὴ [καὶ νῦν] οἱ τὸν ἱεράρχην ἱερῶς περιεστῶτες αὐτὴν ἡμῖν ἐκείνην ἀποτυποῦσι τὴν ὑπερτάτην διακόσμησιν͵ ἐν ἐπιτομῇ καὶ νῦν ἀϋλοτάταις ὄψεσι τὴν θεο ειδεστάτην αὐτῶν ἀγλαΐαν ὀψόμεθα. 

Section VII.

Their numberless faces then, and many feet, manifest, as I think, their property of viewing the most Divine illuminations from many sides, and their conception of the good things of God as ever active and abundantly receptive; and the sixfold arrangement of the wings, of which the Scripture speaks, does not, I think, denote, as seems to some, a sacred number, but that of the highest Essence and Order around God; the first and middle and last of its contemplative and Godlike powers are altogether elevating, free, and supermundane. Hence the most holy wisdom of the Oracles, when reverently describing the formation of the wings, places the wings around their heads 38, and middle, and feet; suggesting their complete covering with wings, and their manifold faculty of leading to the Really Being.

7  Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀπειροπρόσωπον αὐτῶν καὶ πολύπουν ἐκφαντορικόν ἐστιν ὡς οἶμαι τῆς πολυθεάμονος αὐτῶν εἰς τὰς θειοτάτας ἐλλάμψεις ἰδιότητος καὶ τῆς ἀεικινήτου καὶ πολυπόρου τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν νοήσεως· τὴν δὲ τῶν πτερῶν ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν ἑξαπλῆν θέσιν οὐκ ἀριθμὸν ἱερὸν ἐμφαίνειν οἴομαι κατὰ τὸ δόξαν ἑτέροις͵ ἀλλ΄ ὅτι τῆς περὶ θεὸν ὑπερτάτης οὐσίας καὶ τάξεως ἀναγωγικὰ καὶ ἀπόλυτα παντελῶς ἐστι καὶ ὑπερκόσ μια τὰ πρῶτα καὶ μέσα καὶ τελευταῖα τῶν νοερῶν αὐτῆς καὶ θεοειδῶν δυνάμεων. Ὅθεν ἡ τῶν λογίων ἱερωτάτη σοφία τὴν τῶν πτερῶν διά πλασιν ἱερογραφοῦσα περὶ τὰ πρόσωπα καὶ τὰ μέσα καὶ τοὺς πόδας αὐτῶν ἐντίθησι τὰ πτερὰ τὸ καθόλου πτερωτὸν αὐτῶν αἰνισσομένη καὶ παντοδαπὸν τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ ὄντως ὂν ἀναγωγικῆς δυνάμεως. 

Section VIII.

Now if they cover their faces and their feet, and fly by their middle wings only, bear this reverently in mind, that the Order, so far exalted above the highest beings, is circumspect respecting the more lofty and deep of its conceptions, and raises itself, ¹¹9 in due proportion, by its middle wings, to the vision of God, by placing its own proper life under the Divine yokes, and by these is reverently directed to the judgment of itself.

8  Εἰ δὲ τὰ πρόσωπα καὶ τοὺς πόδας καλύπτουσι καὶ μόνοις πέτανται μέσοις πτε ροῖς͵ ἐννόησον ἱερῶς ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἐξῃρημένη τῶν ὑπερτάτων οὐσιῶν ἡ ¹⁰¹ τάξις εὐλαβής ἐστι περὶ τὰ τῶν νοήσεων αὐτῆς ὑψηλότερα καὶ βαθύτερα καὶ μέσοις πτεροῖς ἐν συμμετρίᾳ πρὸς θεοπτίαν ἀνάγεται τοῖς θείοις ζυγοῖς ὑποτιθεῖσα τὴν οἰκείαν ζωὴν καὶ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἱερῶς εὐθετουμένη πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἐπιγνωμοσύνην. 

Section IX.

And, as regards the statement of Holy Scripture, that “one cried out to the other,” that shews, I think, that they impart to each other ungrudgingly their own visions of God. And this we should deem worthy of religious recollection, that the Hebrew word in the Holy Scriptures names the most holy Beings of the Seraphim by an explanatory epithet, from their glowing and seething in a Divine and ever-moving life.

9  Τὸ δὲ τοῖς λογίοις εἰρημένον ὡς Ἐκέκραγον ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον ἐκεῖνο οἶμαι δηλοῦν ὅτι τῶν θεοπτικῶν αὐτῶν νοήσεων ἀλλήλοις ἀφθόνως μεταδιδόασιν. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἱερᾶς ἀξιώσωμεν μνήμης ὡς ἡ τῶν λογίων Ἑβραία φωνὴ κατ΄ ἐμφατικὴν ἐπωνυμίαν καλεῖ τὰς ἁγιωτάτας τῶν Σεραφὶμ οὐσίας ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ θείαν καὶ ἀεικίνητον ζωὴν διαπύρου καὶ ὑπερζέοντος. 

Section X.

Since, then, as those who understand Hebrew say, the most Divine Seraphim were named by the Word of God, “Kindling” and “Heating,” by a name expressive of their essential condition, they possess, according to the symbolical imagery of the Divine Muron, most elevating powers, which call it to manifestation and distribution of most exhilarating perfumes. For the Being, sweet beyond conception, loves to be moved by the glowing and most pure minds into manifestation, and imparts Its most Divine inspirations, in cheerful distributions, to those who thus supermundanely call It forth. Thus the most Divine Order of supercelestial Beings did ¹²0 not fail to recognize the most supremely Divine Jesus, when He descended for the purpose of being sanctified; but recognizes, reverently, Him lowering Himself in our belongings, through Divine and inexpressible goodness; and when viewing Him sanctified, in a manner befitting man, by the Father and Himself and the Holy Spirit, recognized its own supreme Head as being essentially unchanged, in whatever He may do as supreme God. Hence the tradition of the sacred symbols places the Seraphim near the Divine Muron, when it is being consecrated, recognizing and describing the Christ as unchanged, in our complete manhood in very truth. And what is still more divine is, that it uses the Divine Muron for the consecration of every thing sacred, distinctly shewing, according to the Logion, the Sanctified Sanctifying, as always being the same with Himself throughout the whole supremely Divine sanctification. Wherefore also the consecrating gift and grace of the Divine Birth in God is completed in the most Divine perfectings of the Muron. Whence, as I think, the Hierarch pouring the Muron upon the purifying font in cruciform injections, brings to view, for contemplative eyes, the Lord Jesus descending even to death itself through the cross, for our Birth in God, benevolently drawing up, from the old gulping of the destructive death, by the same Divine and resistless descent, those, who, according to the ¹²1 mysterious saying, “are baptized into His death,” and renewing them to a godly and eternal existence.

¹⁰  Εἴπερ οὖν͵ ὡς οἱ τὰ Ἑβραίων ἀφερμηνεύσαντές φασιν͵ οἱ θειότατοι Σεραφὶμ ἐμπρησταὶ καὶ θερμαίνοντες ὑπὸ τῆς θεολογίας ὠνομάσθησαν ἐκφαντορικῷ τῆς οὐσιώδους αὐτῶν ἕξεως ὀνόματι͵ τοῦ θείου μύρου κατὰ συμβολικὴν εἰκονογραφίαν ἀνακινητικὰς ἔχουσι δυ νάμεις εἰς ἔκφανσιν αὐτὸ καὶ δραστικωτέρων ἀτμῶν διάδοσιν ἐκκαλου μένας. Ἡ γὰρ ὑπὲρ νοῦν εὐώδης οὐσία πρὸς τῶν διαπύρων καὶ καθαρω τάτων νοῶν εἰς ἔκφανσιν ἀνακινεῖσθαι φιλεῖ καὶ τὰς θειοτάτας αὐτῆς ἐπιπνοίας ἐν πανολβίαις διαδόσεσι δωρεῖται τοῖς οὕτως αὐτὴν ὑπερκοσ μίως ἐκκαλουμένοις. Οὐκοῦν ἡ θειοτάτη τῶν ὑπερουρανίων οὐσιῶν τάξις οὐκ ἠγνόηκε τὸν θεαρχικώτατον Ἰησοῦν εἰς τὸ ἁγιάζεσθαι κατεληλυθότα͵ νοεῖ δὲ αὐτὸν ἱερῶς ἐν τοῖς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἑαυτὸν ὑφέντα διὰ θείαν καὶ ἄρρητον ἀγαθότητα͵ καὶ πρὸς τοῦ πατρὸς ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀνθρωποπρεπῶς ἁγιαζόμενον ὁρῶσα τὴν οἰκείαν οἶδεν ἀρχήν͵ ἐν οἷς ἂν θεαρχικῶς δρᾷ͵ ¹⁰² τὸ κατ΄ οὐσίαν ἀναλλοίωτον ἔχουσαν. Ὅθεν ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν συμβόλων παράδοσις ἁγιαζομένῳ τῷ θείῳ μύρῳ τοὺς Σεραφὶμ περιίστησιν ἀπα ράλλακτον εἰδυῖα καὶ διαγράφουσα τὸν Χριστὸν ἐν τῇ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ὁλικῇ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἐνανθρωπήσει. Καὶ προσέτι τὸ θειότερον͵ ὅτι τῷ θείῳ μύρῳ χρῆται πρὸς παντὸς ἱεροῦ τελεσιουργίαν ἐναργῶς ὑποδεικνῦσα κατὰ τὸ λόγιον ἁγιάζοντα τὸν ἁγιαζόμενον ὡς ἀεὶ ταὐτὸν ὄντα ἑαυτῷ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν θεαρχικὴν ἀγαθουργίαν. Διὸ καὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς θεογενεσίας ἡ τελεσιουργὸς δωρεὰ καὶ χάρις ἐν ταῖς τοῦ μύρου τελεῖται θειοτάταις τελειώσεσιν. Ὅθεν ὡς οἶμαι καὶ τῷ κα θαρτικῷ βαπτιστηρίῳ τὸ μύρον ἐν σταυροειδέσι βολαῖς ἐπιχέων ὁ ἱε ράρχης ὑπ΄ ὄψιν ἄγει τοῖς θεωρητικοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἄχρις καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ θανάτου διὰ σταυροῦ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμῶν θεογενεσίας καταδυό μενον αὐτῇ τῇ θείᾳ καὶ ἀκρατήτῳ καθόδῳ τοὺς εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὸ κρύφιον λόγιον βαπτιζομένους ἐκ τῆς τοῦ φθοροποιοῦ θανάτου παλαιᾶς καταπόσεως ἀγαθοπρεπῶς ἀνασπῶντα καὶ ἀνακαινίζοντα πρὸς ἔνθεον καὶ αἰώνιον ὕπαρξιν. 

Section XI.

But further, the perfecting unction of the Muron gives to him who has been initiated in the most sacred initiation of the Birth in God, the abiding of the supremely Divine Spirit; the sacred imagery of the symbols, portraying, as I think, the most Divine Spirit abundantly supplied by Him, Who, for our sakes, has been sanctified as man by the supremely Divine Spirit, in an unaltered condition of His essential Godhead.

¹¹  Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ τελεσθέντι τὴν ἱερωτάτην τῆς θεογενεσίας τελετὴν τὴν τοῦ θεαρχικοῦ πνεύματος ἐπιφοίτησιν ἡ τοῦ μύρου δωρεῖται τελειωτικὴ χρῖσις ὑποτυπούσης ὡς οἶμαι τῆς ἱερᾶς τῶν συμβόλων εἰκο νογραφίας ὑπ΄ αὐτοῦ τοῦ δι΄ ἡμᾶς ἀνθρωποπρεπῶς τῷ θεαρχικῷ πνεύ ματι καθαγιασθέντος ἀναλλοιώτῳ τῆς οὐσιώδους θεότητος ἕξει τὸ θειό τατον πνεῦμα χορηγούμενον. 

Section XII.

And bear this also hierarchically in mind, that the Law of the most pure initiation completes the sacred consecration of the Divine Altar, by the all pure effusions of the most holy Muron. And the super-celestial and superessential contemplation is source and essence, and perfecting power, of all our deifying holiness. For if our most Divine Altar is Jesus----the supremely Divine sanctifying of the Godly Minds ----in Whom, according to the Logion, “being sanctified and mystically offered as a whole burnt-offering, we have the access,” let us gaze with supermundane eyes upon the most Divine Altar itself (in which things being perfected, are perfected and sanctified), being perfected from the most Divine Muron itself; for ¹²2 the altogether most holy Jesus sanctifies Himself on our behalf, and fills us full of every sanctification, since the things consecrated upon them pass fraternally afterwards in their beneficent effects to us, as children of God. Hence, as I think, the Divine Leaders of our Hierarchy, in conformity with a Hierarchical conception divinely transmitted, name this altogether august ministration “consecration of Muron,” from “being consecrated thoroughly,” as one might say, “consecration of God,” extolling its divine consecrating work in each sense. For both the being sanctified for our sakes, as becomes Man, and the consecrating all things as supreme God, and the sanctifying things being consecrated, is “consecration of Him.” As for the sacred song of the inspiration of the God-rapt Prophets, it is called by those who know Hebrew, the “Praise of God,” or “Praise ye the Lord,” for since every divine manifestation and work of God is reverently portrayed in the varied composition of the Hierarchical symbols, it is not unfitting to mention the Divinely moved song of the Prophets; for it teaches at once, distinctly and reverently, that the beneficent works of the Divine Goodness are worthy of devout praise. ¹²3 

¹²  Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἱεραρχικῶς ἐννόησον͵ ὅτι καὶ τοῦ θείου θυσιαστη ¹⁰³ ρίου τὴν ἱερὰν τελείωσιν ἡ τῶν ἁγιωτάτων τελετῶν θεσμοθεσία ταῖς τοῦ ἱερωτάτου μύρου τελετουργεῖ παναγέσιν ἐπιχύσεσιν. Ἔστι δὲ ὑπερου ράνιος καὶ ὑπερούσιος ἡ θεουργία͵ πάσης τῆς θεουργικῆς ἡμῶν ἁγια στείας ἀρχὴ καὶ οὐσία καὶ τελεσιουργὸς δύναμις. Εἰ γάρ ἐστι τὸ θειότατον ἡμῶν θυσιαστήριον Ἰησοῦς͵ ἡ θεαρχικὴ τῶν θείων νοῶν ἀφιέρωσις͵ ἐν ᾧ͵ κατὰ τὸ λόγιον͵ ἀφιερούμενοι καὶ μυστικῶς ὁλοκαυτούμενοι τὴν προσαγωγὴν ἔχομεν͵ ὑπερκοσμίοις ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐποπτεύσωμεν αὐτὸ τὸ θειότατον θυσιαστήριον͵ ἐν ᾧ τὰ τελούμενα τελεῖται καὶ ἁγιάζεται͵ πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ θειοτάτου μύρου τελούμενον. Ἁγιάζει γὰρ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἑαυτὸν ὁ παναγιώτατος Ἰησοῦς καὶ πάσης ἡμᾶς ἁγιαστείας ἀποπληροῖ τῶν ἐπ΄ αὐτῷ τελουμένων οἰκονομικῶς εἰς ἡμᾶς ὡς θεογεννήτους λοιπὸν ἀγα θουργικῶς διαβαινόντων. Ὅθεν ὡς οἶμαι κατὰ νοῦν ἱεραρχικὸν θεοπα ραδότως οἱ θεῖοι τῆς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας καθηγεμόνες τὴν πάνσεμνον ταύτην ἱερουργίαν μύρου τελετὴν ἐκ τοῦ τελουμένου πραγματικῶς ὀνο μάζουσιν͵ ὡς ἄν τις φαίη θεοῦ τελετήν͵ ἑκατέρῳ νῷ τὴν θείαν αὐτῆς τελετουργίαν ὑμνοῦντες. Ἔστι γὰρ αὐτοῦ τελετὴ καὶ τὸ δι΄ ἡμᾶς ἀνθρω ποπρεπῶς ἁγιάζεσθαι καὶ τὸ θεουργικῶς ἅπαντα τελεῖν καὶ ἁγιάζειν τὰ τελούμενα. Τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν τῆς τῶν θεολήπτων προφητῶν ἐπιπνοίας μελῴδημά φασιν οἱ τὰ Ἑβραίων εἰδότες τὸ αἶνος θεοῦ δηλοῦν ἢ τὸ Αἰνεῖτε τὸν κύριον. Ἁπάσης οὖν ἱερᾶς θεοφανείας καὶ θεουργίας ἐν τῇ ποικίλῃ συνθέσει τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν συμβόλων ἱερογραφουμένης οὐκ ἀνάρμοστόν ἐστι μεμνῆσθαι ¹⁰⁴ τῆς θεοκινήτου τῶν προφητῶν ὑμνολογίας. Διδάσκει γὰρ εὐαγῶς τε ἅμα καὶ ἱεροπρεπῶς αἴνων ἱερῶν ἀξίας εἶναι τὰς θεαρχικὰς ἀγαθουργίας. 1

CAPUT V.

I. Concerning sacerdotal Consecrations.

Section I.

Such, then, is the most Divine perfecting work of the Muron But it may be opportune, after these Divine ministrations, to set forth the sacerdotal Orders and elections themselves, and their powers, and operations, and consecrations, and the triad of the superior ranks under them; in order that the arrangement of our Hierarchy may be demonstrated, as entirely rejecting and excluding the disordered, the unregulated, and the confused; and, at the same time, choosing and manifesting the regulated and ordered, and well-established, in the gradations of the sacred Ranks within it. Now we have well shewn, as I think, in the Hierarchies already extolled by us, the threefold division of every Hierarchy, when we affirmed that our sacred tradition holds, that every Hierarchical transaction is divided into the most Divine Mystic Rites, and the inspired experts and teachers of them, and those who are being religiously initiated by them.

V. 1  1  Αὕτη μὲν ἡ θειοτάτη τοῦ μύρου τελετουργία. Καιρὸς δ΄ ἂν εἴη μετὰ τὰς θείας ἱερουργίας αὐτὰς ἐκθέσθαι τὰς ἱερατικὰς τάξεις τε καὶ ἀποκληρώσεις δυνάμεις τε αὐτῶν καὶ ἐνεργείας καὶ τελειώσεις καὶ τὴν ὑπ΄ αὐτὰς τριάδα τῶν ὑποβεβηκυιῶν τάξεων͵ ὅπως ἂν ἀποδειχθείη τῆς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας ἡ διακόσμησις τὸ μὲν ἄτακτον καὶ ἀκόσμητον καὶ συμπεφορημένον ἀμιγῶς ἀποδιαστέλλουσα καὶ ἀποκληροῦσα͵ τὸ κόσ μιον δὲ καὶ τεταγμένον καὶ εὐσταθὲς ἐν ταῖς κατ΄ αὐτὴν ἀναφαίνουσα τῶν ἱερῶν τάξεων ἀναλογίαις. Καὶ τὴν μὲν ἁπάσης ἱεραρχίας τριαδικὴν διαίρεσιν ἐν ταῖς ἤδη παρ΄ ἡμῶν ὑμνημέναις ἱεραρχίαις ὡς οἶμαι καλῶς ἐξεθέμεθα φήσαντες͵ ὡς ἡ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱερὰ παράδοσις ἔχει͵ πᾶσαν ἱεραρχικὴν πραγματείαν εἰς τὰς ὁσιωτάτας τελετὰς διαιρεῖσθαι καὶ τοὺς ἐνθέους αὐτῶν ἐπιστήμονας καὶ μύστας καὶ τοὺς ὑπ΄ αὐτῶν ἱερῶς τελουμένους. 

Section II.

Thus the most holy Hierarchy of the supercelestial Beings has, for its initiation, its own possible and most immaterial conception of God and things Divine, and the complete likeness to God, and a persistent ¹²4 habit of imitating God, as far as permissible. And its illuminators, and leaders to this sacred consecration, are the very first Beings around God. For these generously and proportionately transmit to the subordinate sacred Ranks the ever deifying notions given to them, by the self-perfect Godhead and the wise-making Divine Minds. Now the Ranks, who are subordinate to the first Beings, are, and are truly called, the initiated Orders, as being religiously conducted, through those, to the deifying illumination of the Godhead.

2  Οὐκοῦν ἡ μὲν ἁγιωτάτη τῶν ὑπερουρανίων οὐσιῶν ἱεραρχία τελετὴν μὲν ἔχει τὴν κατὰ δύναμιν οἰκείαν θεοῦ καὶ τῶν θείων ἀϋλοτάτην νόησιν καὶ τὴν τοῦ θεοειδοῦς ὁλόκληρον καὶ ὡς ἐφικτὸν θεομίμητον ἕξιν͵ φωταγωγοὺς δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἱερὰν ταύτην τελείωσιν ἡγεμόνας τὰς περὶ θεὸν πρωτίστας οὐσίας. Αὗται γὰρ εἰς τὰς ὑποβεβηκυίας ἱερὰς τάξεις ἀγαθοειδῶς καὶ ἀναλόγως διαπορθμεύουσι τὰς δωρουμένας αὐταῖς ἀεὶ θεουργικὰς γνώσεις ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτοτελοῦς καὶ σοφοποιοῦ τῶν θείων νοῶν θεαρχίας. Αἱ δὲ τῶν πρώτων οὐσιῶν ὑφειμέναι διακοσμήσεις ὡς δι΄ ἐκείνων ἱερῶς ¹⁰⁵ ἀναγόμεναι πρὸς τὴν θεουργὸν τῆς θεαρχίας ἔλλαμψιν αἱ τελούμεναι τάξεις εἰσί τε καὶ ἀληθῶς ὀνομάζονται.

And after this,----the heavenly and supermundane Hierarchy,----the Godhead gave the Hierarchy under the Law, imparting its most holy gifts, for the benefit of our race, to them (as being children according to the Logion), by faint images of the true, and copies far from the Archetypes, and enigmas hard to understand, and types having the contemplation enveloped within, as an analogous light not easily discerned, so as not to wound weak, eyes by the light shed upon them. Now to this Hierarchy under the Law, the elevation to spiritual worship is an initiation. Now the men religiously instructed for that holy tabernacle by Moses,----the first initiated and leader of the Hierarchs under the Law,----were conductors; in reference to which holy tabernacle,----when describing for purposes of instruction the Hierarchy under the Law,----he called all the sacred services of the Law an image of the type shewn ¹²5 to him in Mount Sinai.

Μετ΄ ἐκείνην δὲ τὴν οὐρανίαν καὶ ὑπερκόσμιον ἱεραρχίαν εἰς τὰ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἀγαθουργικῶς ἡ θεαρχία τὰς ἱερωτάτας αὐτῆς δωρεὰς προφέρουσα νηπίοις μὲν οὖσι κατὰ τὸ λόγιον ἐδωρήσατο τὴν κατὰ νόμον ἱεραρχίαν ἀμυδραῖς τῶν ἀληθῶν εἰκόσι καὶ πορρωτάτοις τῶν ἀρχετύπων ἀπεικο νίσμασι καὶ δυσθεωρήτοις αἰνίγμασι καὶ τύποις οὐκ εὐδιάκριτον ἔχουσι τὴν ἐγκεκαλυμμένην αὐτοῖς θεωρίαν ἀνάλογον φῶς ὡς ἀσθενέσιν ὄψεσιν ἀβλαβῶς ἐπιλάμψασα. Ταύτῃ δὲ τῇ κατὰ νόμον ἱεραρχίᾳ τελετὴ μὲν ἡ πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν λατρείαν ἀναγωγή͵ χειραγωγοὶ δὲ πρὸς ταύτην οἱ τὴν ἁγίαν ἐκείνην σκηνὴν ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως ἱερῶς μυηθέντες τοῦ πρώτου τῶν κατὰ νόμον ἱεραρχῶν μύστου καὶ ἡγεμόνος͵ πρὸς ἣν ἱερὰν σκηνὴν εἰσαγωγικῶς ἱερογραφῶν τὴν κατὰ νόμον ἱεραρχίαν εἰκόνα τύπου δει χθέντος αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸ Σίναιον ὄρος ἐκάλει πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἱερουργούμενα͵ τελούμενοι δὲ οἱ πρὸς τῶν νομικῶν συμβόλων ἀναλόγως ἐπὶ τελεωτέραν μύησιν ἀναγόμενοι.

But “initiated” are those who are being conducted to a more perfect revelation of the symbols of the Law, in proportion to their capacity. Now the Word of God calls our Hierarchy the more perfect revelation, naming it a fulfilment of that, and a holy inheritance. It is both heavenly and legal, like the mean between extremes, common to the one, by intellectual contemplations, and to the other, because it is variegated by sensible signs; and, through these, reverently conduces to the Divine Being

Τὴν τελεωτέραν δὲ μύησιν ἡ θεολογία τὴν καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίαν φησὶν ἀποπλήρωσιν αὐτὴν ἐκείνης ἀποκαλοῦσα καὶ ἱερὰν λῆξιν. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ οὐρανία καὶ νομικὴ κοινωνικῶς τῇ μεσότητι τῶν ἄκρων ἀντιλαμβανομένη͵ τῇ μὲν κοινωνοῦσα ταῖς νοεραῖς θεωρίαις͵ τῇ δὲ ὅτι καὶ συμβόλοις αἰσθη τοῖς ποικίλλεται καὶ δι΄ αὐτῶν ἱερῶς ἐπὶ τὸ θεῖον ἀνάγεται.

. And it has likewise a threefold division of the Hierarchy, which is divided into the most holy ministrations of the Mystic Rites, and into the Godlike ministers of holy things, and those who are being conducted by them, according to their capacity, to things holy.

Τὸ τρισσὸν δὲ ὡσαύτως ἔχει τῆς ἱεραρχικῆς διαιρέσεως εἰς τὰς ἁγιωτάτας τῶν τελετῶν ἱερουργίας διαιρουμένη καὶ τοὺς θεοειδεῖς τῶν ἱερῶν ὑπηρέτας καὶ τοὺς ὑπ΄ αὐτῶν ἀναλόγως ἐπὶ τὰ ἱερὰ προσαγομένους.

And each of the three divisions of our Hierarchy, comformably to that of the Law, and the Hierarchy, more divine than ours, is arranged as first and middle and last in power; consulting both reverent proportion, and well-ordered and concordant fellowship of all things in harmonious rank.

Ἑκάστη δὲ τῶν τριῶν τῆς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας διαιρέσεων ἀκολούθως τῇ νομικῇ καὶ ¹⁰⁶ τῇ θειοτέρᾳ τῶν καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίᾳ πρώτη καὶ μέση καὶ τελευταία τάττεται δυνάμει τῆς τε ἱεροπρεποῦς ἀναλογίας προμηθουμένη καὶ τῆς ἁπάντων εὐκόσμου καὶ κατὰ τάξιν ἐναρμονίου καὶ συνδετικῆς κοινωνίας. 

Section III.

The most holy ministration, then, of the Mystic Rites has, as first Godlike power, the holy cleansing of the uninitiated; and as middle, the enlightening instruction of the purified; and as last, and summary of the former, the perfecting of those instructed in ¹²6 science of their proper instructions; and the order of the Ministers, in the first power, cleanses the uninitiated through the Mystic Rites; and in the second, conducts to light the purified; and in the last and highest of the Ministering Powers, makes perfect those who have participated in the Divine light, by the scientific completions of the illuminations contemplated. And of the Initiated, the first power is that being purified; and the middle is that being enlightened, after the cleansing, and which contemplates certain holy things; and the last and more divine than the others, is that enlightened in the perfecting science of the holy enlightenment of which it has become a contemplator. Let, then, the threefold power of the holy service of the Mystic Rites be extolled, since the Birth in God is exhibited in the Oracles as a purification and enlightening illumination, and the Rite of the Synaxis and the Muron, as a perfecting knowledge and science of the works of God, through which the unifying elevation to the Godhead and most blessed communion is reverently perfected. And now let us explain next the sacerdotal Order, which is divided into a purifying and illuminating and perfecting discipline.

3  Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἁγιωτάτη τῶν τελετῶν ἱερουργία πρώτην μὲν ἔχει θεοειδῆ δύναμιν τὴν ἱερὰν τῶν ἀτελέστων κάθαρσιν͵ μέσην δὲ τὴν τῶν καθ αρθέντων φωτιστικὴν μύησιν͵ ἐσχάτην δὲ καὶ τῶν προτέρων συγκεφα λαιωτικὴν τὴν τῶν μυηθέντων ἐν ἐπιστήμῃ τῶν οἰκείων μυήσεων τελείω σιν. Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἱερουργῶν διακόσμησις ἐν μὲν τῇ δυνάμει τῇ πρώτῃ διὰ τῶν τελετῶν ἀποκαθαίρει τοὺς ἀτελέστους͵ ἐν τῇ μέσῃ δὲ φωταγωγεῖ τοὺς καθαρθέντας͵ ἐν ἐσχάτῃ δὲ καὶ ἀκροτάτῃ τῶν ἱερουργῶν δυνάμεων ἀποτελειοῖ τοὺς τῷ θείῳ φωτὶ κεκοινωνηκότας ἐν ταῖς τῶν θεωρηθεισῶν ἐλλάμψεων ἐπιστημονικαῖς τελειώσεσιν. Ἡ δὲ τῶν τελουμένων δύναμις ἡ πρώτη μέν ἐστιν ἡ καθαιρομένη͵ μέση δὲ μετὰ τὴν κάθαρσιν ἡ φωτιζομένη καί τινων ἱερῶν θεωρητική͵ τελευταία δὲ καὶ θειοτέρα τῶν ἄλλων ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν φωτισμῶν ὧν ἐγεγόνει θεωρός͵ ἐλλαμπομένη τὴν τελειωτικὴν ἐπιστήμην. Τῆς μὲν οὖν ἁγίας τῶν τελετῶν ἱερουργίας ἡ τρισσὴ δύναμις ὕμνηται τῆς μὲν ἱερᾶς θεογενεσίας ἐκ τῶν λογίων ἀποδειχθείσης καθάρσεως καὶ φωτιστικῆς ἐλλάμψεως͵ τῆς συνάξεως δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ μύρου τελετῆς τελειωτικῆς τῶν θεουργιῶν γνώσεως καὶ ἐπιστήμης͵ δι΄ ἧς ἱερῶς ἡ πρὸς τὴν θεαρχίαν ἑνοποιὸς ἀναγωγὴ καὶ μακαριωτάτη κοινωνία τελεσιουρ γεῖται. Νῦν δὲ τὴν ἱερατικὴν διακόσμησιν ἑξῆς ἀφηγητέον εἰς καθαρτικὴν καὶ φωτιστικὴν καὶ τελειωτικὴν εὐταξίαν διαιρουμένην. 

Section IV.

This, then, is the all-sacred Law of the Godhead, that, through the first, the second are conducted to Its most Divine splendour. Do we not see the material substances of the elements, first approaching, by preference, things which are more congenial ¹²7 to them, and, through these, diffusing their own energy to other things? Naturally, then, the Head and Foundation of all good order, invisible and visible, causes the deifying rays to approach the more Godlike first, and through them, as being more transparent Minds, and more properly adapted for reception and transmission of Light, transmits light and manifestations to the subordinate, in proportions suitable to them.

4  Θεσμὸς μὲν οὗτός ἐστι τῆς θεαρχίας ὁ πανίερος τὸ διὰ τῶν πρώτων τὰ δεύτερα πρὸς τὸ θειότατον αὐτῆς ἀνάγεσθαι φέγγος. ῍Η οὐχὶ καὶ τὰς αἰσθητὰς τῶν στοιχείων οὐσίας ὁρῶμεν εἰς τὰ μᾶλλον αὐταῖς συγγενέ ¹⁰⁷ στερα πρῶτον ἰούσας καὶ δι΄ ἐκείνων ἐφ΄ ἕτερα τὴν οἰκείαν διϊείσας ἐνέργειαν; Εἰκότως οὖν ἡ πάσης ἀοράτου καὶ ὁρατῆς εὐκοσμίας ἀρχὴ καὶ ἵδρυσις εἰς τοὺς θεοειδεστέρους πρώτως ἐνδίδωσι τὰς θεουργικὰς ἀκτῖνας ἰέναι καὶ δι΄ ἐκείνων ὡς διειδεστέρων νοῶν καὶ πρὸς μετοχὴν φωτὸς καὶ μετάδοσιν οἰκείως ἐχόντων εἰς τοὺς ὑφειμένους ἀναλόγως αὐτοῖς ἐλλάμπει καὶ ἐπιφαίνεται.

It is, then, the function of these, the first contem-plators of God, to exhibit ungrudgingly to those second, in proportion to their capacity, the Divine visions reverently gazed upon by themselves, and to reveal the things relating to the Hierarchy (since they have been abundantly instructed with a perfecting science in all matters relating to their own Hierarchy, and have received the effectual power of instruction), and to impart sacred gifts according to fitness, since they scientifically and wholly participate in sacerdotal perfection.

Τούτων οὖν ἐστι τῶν πρώτως θεο πτικῶν τὸ τοῖς δευτέροις ἀφθόνως ἐν συμμετρίᾳ τῇ κατ΄ αὐτοὺς ὑποδεῖξαι τὰ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἱερῶς ἐποπτευθέντα θεῖα θεάματα͵ καὶ τὸ μυῆσαι τὰ ἱεραρχικὰ τῶν μετ΄ ἐπιστήμης τελειωτικῆς τὰ θεῖα τῆς κατ΄ αὐτοὺς ἱεραρχίας ἅπαντα καλῶς μυηθέντων καὶ τὴν τελεσιουργὸν τοῦ μυῆσαι δύναμιν προσειληφότων͵ καὶ τὸ μεταδοῦναι κατ΄ ἀξίαν τὰ ἱερὰ τῶν ἐπιστημονικῶς καὶ ὁλοκλήρως μετασχόντων τῆς ἱερατικῆς τελειώσεως. 

Section V.

The Divine Rank of the Hierarchs, then, is the first of the God-contemplative Ranks; and it is, at the same time, highest and lowest; inasmuch as every Order of our Hierarchy is summed up and fulfilled in it. For, as we see every Hierarchy terminated in the Lord Jesus, so we see each terminated in its own inspired Hierarch. Now the power of the Hierarchical Rank permeates the whole ¹²8 sacred body, and through every one of the sacred Ranks performs the mysteries of its proper Hierarchy. But, pre-eminently, to it, rather than to the other Ranks, the Divine institution assigned the more Divine ministrations. For these are the perfecting images of the supremely Divine Power, completing all the most Divine symbols and all the sacred orderings. For though some of the worshipful symbols are consecrated by the Priests, yet never will the Priest effect the holy Birth in God without the most Divine Muron; nor will he consecrate the mysteries of the Divine Communion, unless the communicating symbols have been placed upon the most Divine Altar; and neither will he be Priest himself, unless he has been elected to this by the Hierarchical consecrations. Hence the Divine Institution uniquely assigned the dedication of the Hierarchical Ranks, and the consecration of the Divine Muron and the sacred completion of the Altar, to the perfecting powers of the inspired Hierarchs.

5  Οὐκοῦν ἡ θεία τῶν ἱεραρχῶν τάξις πρώτη μέν ἐστι τῶν θεοπτικῶν τάξεων͵ ἀκροτάτη δὲ καὶ ἐσχάτη πάλιν ἡ αὐτή. Καὶ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὴν ἀποτελευτᾷ καὶ ἀποπληροῦται πᾶσα τῆς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας ἡ δια κόσμησις. Ὡς γὰρ ἅπασαν ἱεραρχίαν ὁρῶμεν εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀποπεραι ουμένην͵ οὕτως ἑκάστην εἰς τὸν οἰκεῖον ἔνθεον ἱεράρχην. Ἡ δὲ τῆς ἱεραρ χικῆς τάξεως δύναμις ἐν πάσαις χωρεῖ ταῖς ἱεραῖς ὁλότησι καὶ διὰ πασῶν τῶν ἱερῶν τάξεων ἐνεργεῖ τὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἱεραρχίας μυστήρια. Ἐκκρίτως δὲ αὐτῇ παρὰ τὰς λοιπὰς τάξεις εἰς αὐτουργίαν ὁ θεῖος θεσμὸς ἀπονε νέμηκε τὰς θειοτέρας ἱερουργίας· αὗται δέ εἰσιν αἱ τελεσιουργοὶ τῆς θεαρχικῆς δυνάμεως εἰκόνες ἀποτελειοῦσαι πάντα τὰ θειότατα σύμβολα καὶ πάσας τὰς ἱερὰς διακοσμήσεις. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἱερέων τελοῦνταί τινα τῶν σεβασμίων συμβόλων͵ ἀλλ΄ οὔποτε τὴν ἱερὰν θεογενεσίαν ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐνεργήσει τοῦ θειοτάτου μύρου χωρὶς οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς θείας κοινωνίας τελέσει μυστήρια μὴ τῷ θειοτάτῳ θυσιαστηρίῳ τῶν κοινωνικῶν ἐπιτε θέντων συμβόλων. Ἀλλ΄ οὐδ΄ αὐτὸς ἱερεὺς ἔσται μὴ πρὸς τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν ¹⁰⁸ τελειώσεων εἰς τοῦτο κεκληρωμένος. Ὅθεν ἡ θεία θεσμοθεσία τὴν τῶν ἱερατικῶν τάξεων ἁγιαστείαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ θείου μύρου τελείωσιν καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τελετουργίαν ταῖς τῶν ἐνθέων ἱεραρχῶν τελε σιουργοῖς δυνάμεσιν ἑνιαίως ἀπεκλήρωσεν. 

Section VI.

It is, then, the Hierarchical Rank which, full of the perfecting power, pre-eminently completes the perfecting functions of the Hierarchy, and reveals lucidly the sciences of the holy mysteries, and teaches their proportionate and sacred conditions and powers. But the illuminating Rank of the Priests conducts those, who are being initiated under the Rank of, the inspired Hierarchs, to the ¹²9 Divine visions of the Mystic Rites, and in co-operation with it, ministers its proper ministrations. Whatever then this Rank may do, by shewing the works of God, through the most holy symbols, and perfecting those who draw nigh in the Divine contemplations, and communion of the holy rites, it yet refers those, who crave the science of the religious services contemplated, to the Hierarch. And the Rank of the Leitourgoi (which is purifying and separates the unfit, previous to the approach to the ministrations of the Priests), thoroughly purifies those who are drawing nigh, by making them entirely pure from opposing passions, and suitable for the sanctifying vision and communion. Hence, during the service of the Birth in God, the Leitourgoi strip him who draws nigh of his old clothing, yea further, even take off his sandals, and make him stand towards the west for renunciation; and again, they lead him back to the east (for they are of the purifying rank and power), enjoining on those who approach to entirely cast away the surroundings of their former life, and shewing the darkness of their former conduct, and teaching those, who have said farewell to the lightless, to transfer their allegiance to the luminous. The Leitourgical Order, then, is purifying, by leading those who have been purified to the bright ministrations of the Priests, both by thoroughly purifying the uninitiated and by bringing to birth, by the purifying illuminations and teachings of the Oracles, and further, by sending ¹³0 away from the Priests the unholy, without respect of persons. Wherefore also the Hierarchical institution places it at the holy gates, suggesting that the approach of those who draw nigh to holy things should be in altogether complete purification, and entrusting the approach to their reverent vision and communion to the purifying powers, and admitting them, through these, without spot.

6  Ἔστιν οὖν ἡ ἱεραρχικὴ τάξις ἡ τῆς τελειωτικῆς δυνάμεως ἀνα πεπλησμένη τὰ τελεσιουργὰ τῆς ἱεραρχίας ἐκκρίτως τελετουργοῦσα καὶ τὰς ἐπιστήμας τῶν ἱερῶν ἐκφαντορικῶς μυοῦσα καὶ ἐκδιδάσκουσα τὰς ἀναλόγους αὐτῶν καὶ ἱερὰς ἕξεις τε καὶ δυνάμεις. Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἱερέων φωταγωγικὴ τάξις ἐπὶ τὰς θείας τῶν τελετῶν ἐποψίας χειραγωγεῖ τοὺς τελουμένους ὑπὸ τῇ τῶν ἐνθέων ἱεραρχῶν τάξει καὶ μετ΄ αὐτῆς ἱερουρ γοῦσα τὰς οἰκείας ἱερουργίας͵ ἐν οἷς μὲν αὐτὴ δρᾷ τὰς θεουργίας ὑπο δεικνῦσα διὰ τῶν ἱερωτάτων συμβόλων καὶ θεωρητικοὺς τοὺς προσιόντας ἀποτελοῦσα καὶ τῶν ὁσίων τελετῶν κοινωνούς͵ εἰς τὸν ἱεράρχην δὲ ἀναπέμπουσα τοὺς τῆς ἐπιστήμης τῶν θεωρηθεισῶν ἱερουργιῶν ἐφιεμέ νους. Ἡ δὲ τῶν λειτουργῶν τάξις ἡ καθαρτικὴ καὶ τῶν ἀνομοίων δια κριτικὴ πρὸ τῆς ἐπὶ τὰς τῶν ἱερέων ἱερουργίας προσαγωγῆς ἀποκαθαίρει τοὺς προσιόντας ἀμιγεῖς αὐτοὺς ἀποτελοῦσα τῶν ἐναντίων καὶ πρὸς ἱερουργικὴν ἐποψίαν καὶ κοινωνίαν ἐπιτηδείους. Ὅθεν ἐπὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς θεογενεσίας οἱ λειτουργοὶ τὸν προσιόντα τῆς παλαιᾶς ἀπογυμνοῦσιν ἐσθῆτος͵ ἔτι μὴν καὶ ὑπολύουσι καὶ πρὸς δυσμὰς εἰς ἀποταγὴν ἱστῶσι καὶ αὖθις πρὸς ἕω μετάγουσι [τῆς καθαρτικῆς γάρ εἰσι τάξεως καὶ δυνάμεως] ἀποβάλλειν ὁλικῶς ἐγκελευόμενοι τοῖς προσιοῦσι τὰς τῆς ¹⁰⁹ προτέρας ζωῆς ἀμφιάσεις καὶ τὸ τοῦ προτέρου βίου σκοτεινὸν ὑποδει κνύντες καὶ ἐκδιδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς ἀποταξαμένους τοῖς ἀλαμπέσιν ἐπὶ τὰ φωτιστικὰ μεταταχθῆναι. Καθαρτικὴ τοίνυν ἐστὶν ἡ λειτουργικὴ δια κόσμησις ἐπὶ τὰς φανὰς τῶν ἱερέων ἱερουργίας ἀνάγουσα τοὺς κεκα θαρμένους καὶ τοὺς ἀτελέστους ἀποκαθαίρουσα καὶ μαιευομένη ταῖς κα θαρτικαῖς τῶν λογίων ἐλλάμψει καὶ διδασκαλίαις καὶ προσέτι τοὺς ἀν ιέρους τῶν ἱερῶν ἀμιγῶς ἀποδιαστέλλουσα. Διὸ καὶ ταῖς ἱεραῖς αὐτὴν ἐφίστησι πύλαις ἡ ἱεραρχικὴ θεσμοθεσία τὴν πρὸς τὰ ἱερὰ τῶν προσ ιόντων εἴσοδον ἐν ταῖς παντελέσι καθάρσεσιν αἰνισσομένη καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὰς ἱερὰς αὐτῶν ἐποψίας καὶ κοινωνίας προσαγωγὴν ταῖς καθαρτικαῖς δυνάμεσιν ἐγχειρίζουσα καὶ διὰ τούτων αὐτοὺς ἀκηλιδώτους εἰσδεχο μένη. 

Section VII.

We have shewn, then, that the Rank of the Hier-archs is consecrating and perfecting, that of the Priests, illuminating and conducting to the light; and that of the Leitourgoi purifying and discriminating; that is to say, the Hierarchical Rank is appointed not only to perfect, but also at the same time,to enlighten and to purify, and has within itself the purifying sciences of the power of the Priests together with the illuminating. For the inferior Ranks cannot cross to the superior functions, and, besides this, it is not permitted to them to take in hand such quackery as that. Now the more Divine Orders know also, together with their own, the sacred sciences subordinate to their own perfection. Nevertheless, since the sacerdotal orderings of the well-arranged and unconfused order of the Divine operations are images of Divine operations, they were arranged in Hierarchical distinctions, shewing in themselves the illuminations marshalled into the first, and middle, and last, sacred operations and Ranks; manifesting, as I said, in themselves the well-ordered and ¹³1 unconfused character of the Divine operations. For since the Godhead first cleanses the minds which He may enter, then enlightens, and, when enlightened, perfects them to a Godlike perfection; naturally the Hierarchical of the Divine images divides itself into well-defined Ranks and powers, shewing clearly the supremely Divine operation firmly established, without confusion, in most hallowed and unmixed Ranks. But, since we have spoken, as attainable to us, of the sacerdotal Ranks and elections, and their powers and operations, let us now contemplate their most holy consecrations as well as we can.

7  Δέδεικται τοίνυν ἡ μὲν τῶν ἱεραρχῶν τάξις τελειωτικὴ καὶ τελε σιουργός͵ ἡ δὲ τῶν ἱερέων φωτιστικὴ καὶ φωταγωγός͵ ἡ δὲ τῶν λει τουργῶν καθαρτικὴ καὶ διακριτική͵ δηλαδὴ τῆς ἱεραρχικῆς τάξεως οὐ τελεσιουργεῖν μόνον͵ ἀλλὰ καὶ φωτίζειν ἅμα καὶ καθαίρειν ἐπισταμένης καὶ τῆς τῶν ἱερέων δυνάμεως ἐχούσης ἐν ἑαυτῇ μετὰ τῆς φωτιστικῆς καὶ τὴν καθαρτικὴν ἐπιστήμην. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἥττους ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω μεταπηδᾶν ἀδυνατοῦσινπρὸς τῷ μηδὲ θεμιτὸν αὐταῖς εἶναι πρὸς τοιαύτην ἐγ χειρεῖν ἀλαζονείαν͵ αἱ δὲ θειότεραι δυνάμεις μετὰ τῶν οἰκείων καὶ τὰς ὑφειμένας τῆς αὐτῶν τελειότητος ἱερὰς ἐπιστήμας γινώσκουσιν. Ὅμως ἐπειδὴ θείων εἰσὶν ἐνεργειῶν εἰκόνες αἱ ἱερατικαὶ διακοσμήσεις τῆς εὐκόσ μου καὶ ἀσυγχύτου τῶν θείων ἐνεργειῶν τάξεως ἐν ἑαυταῖς δεικνῦσαι τὰς τεταγμένας ἐλλάμψεις͵ εἰς πρώτας καὶ μέσας καὶ τελευταίας ἱερὰς ἐνεργείας καὶ τάξεις ἐν διακρίσεσιν ἱεραρχικαῖς ἐτάχθησαν ἐμφαίνουσαι καθάπερ ἔφην ἐν ἑαυταῖς τῶν θείων ἐνεργειῶν τὸ τεταγμένον καὶ ἀσύμφυρτον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ θεαρχία τοὺς ἐν οἷς ἂν ἐγγένηται͵ νόας ἀποκαθαίρει ¹¹⁰ πρῶτον͵ εἶτα φωτίζει καὶ φωτισθέντας ἀποτελειοῖ πρὸς θεοειδῆ τελεσι ουργίαν͵ εἰκότως ἡ ἱεραρχικὴ τῶν θείων εἰκὼν εἰς διακεκριμένας ἑαυτὴν διαιρεῖ τάξεις τε καὶ δυνάμεις ἐναργῶς ὑποδεικνῦσα τὰς θεαρχικὰς ἐνερ γείας ἐν παναγεστάταις καὶ ἀμιγέσι τάξεσιν εὐσταθῶς καὶ ἀσυγχύτως ἑστηκυίας. Ἀλλ΄ ἐπειδὴ τὰς ἱερατικὰς τάξεις τε καὶ ἀποκληρώσεις δυνάμεις τε αὐτῶν καὶ ἐνεργείας εἰρήκαμεν ὡς ἡμῖν ἐφικτόν͵ καὶ τὰς ἱερωτάτας αὐτῶν͵ ὡς οἷοί τέ ἐσμεν͵ ἐποπτεύσωμεν τελειώσεις.

II. Mysterion of Sacerdotal Consecrations.

1Μυστήριον ἱερατικῶν τελειώσεων.

The Hierarch, then, being led to the Hierarchical consecration, after he has bent both his knees before the Altar, has upon his head 39 the God-transmitted oracles, and the Hierarchical hand, and in this manner is consecrated by the Hierarch, who ordains him by the altogether most holy invocations. And the Priest, after he has bent both his knees before the Divine Altar, has the Hierarchical right hand upon his head, and in this manner is dedicated by the Hierarch, who ordains him with hallowing invocations. And the Leitourgos, after he has bent one of two knees before the Divine Altar, has upon his head the right hand of the Hierarch who ordains him, being completed by him ¹³2 with the initiating invocations of the Leitourgoi. Upon each of them the cruciform seal is impressed, by the ordaining Hierarch, and, in each case, a sacred proclamation of name takes place, and a perfecting salutation, since every sacerdotal person present, and the Hierarch who ordained, salute him who has been enrolled to any of the aforenamed sacerdotal Ranks.

Ὁ μὲν ἱεράρχης ἐπὶ τὴν ἱεραρχικὴν τελείωσιν προσαγόμενος ἄμφω τὼ πόδε κλίνας ἐπίπροσθεν τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς ἔχει τὰ θεοπαράδοτα λόγια καὶ τὴν ἱεραρχικὴν χεῖρα καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ πρὸς τοῦ τελοῦντος αὐτὸν ἱεράρχου ταῖς παναγεστάταις ἐπικλήσεσιν ἀποτε λειοῦται. Ὁ δὲ ἱερεὺς ἄμφω τὼ πόδε κλίνας ἐπίπροσθεν τοῦ θείου θυ σιαστηρίου ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς ἔχει τὴν ἱεραρχικὴν δεξιὰν καὶ τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ πρὸς τοῦ τελοῦντος αὐτὸν ἱεράρχου ταῖς ἱεροποιοῖς ἐπικλήσεσιν ἁγιά ζεται. Ὁ δὲ λειτουργὸς ἕνα τοῖν ποδοῖν κλίνας ἐπίπροσθεν τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς ἔχει τὴν τοῦ τελοῦντος αὐτὸν ἱεράρχου δεξιὰν τελειούμενος ὑπ΄ αὐτοῦ ταῖς τῶν λειτουργῶν τελεστικαῖς ἐπικλήσεσιν. Ἑκάστῳ δὲ αὐτῶν ἡ σταυροειδὴς ἐνσημαίνεται πρὸς τοῦ τελοῦντος ἱεράρχου σφραγὶς καὶ καθ΄ ἕκαστον ἀνάρρησις ἱερὰ γίνεται καὶ τελειωτικὸς ἀσπασμὸς ἀσπαζομένου παντὸς ἱερατικοῦ παρόντος ἀνδρὸς καὶ τοῦ τελέσαντος ἱεράρχου τὸν πρός τι τῶν εἰρημένων ἱερατικῶν ταγμάτων ἀποτελεσθέντα.

III. Contemplation.

Θεωρία.

Section I.

These things, then, are common both to the Hier-archs, and Priests, and Leitourgoi, in their sacerdotal consecrations,----the conducting to the Divine Altar and kneeling,----the imposition of the Hierarchical hand,----the cruciform seal,----the announcement of name,----the completing salutation.

1  Κοινὰ μέν ἐστι τοῖς ἱεράρχαις τε καὶ ἱερεῦσι καὶ λειτουργοῖς ἐν ταῖς ἱερατικαῖς αὐτῶν τελειώσεσιν ἡ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον θυσιαστήριον προσαγωγὴ καὶ ὑπόπτωσις͵ ἡ τῆς ἱεραρχικῆς χειρὸς ἐπίθεσις͵ ἡ σταυροειδὴς σφραγίς͵ ἡ ἀνάρρησις͵ ὁ τελειωτικὸς ἀσπασμός·

And special and select for the Hierarchs is the imposition of the Oracles upon the head, since the subordinate Ranks have not this; and for the Priests the bending of both knees, since the consecration of the Leitourgoi has not this; for the Leitourgoi, as has been said, bend the one of two knees only.

ἐξαιρετὰ δὲ καὶ ἔκκριτα τοῖς ἱεράρχαις μὲν ἡ τῶν λογίων ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς ἐπίθεσις οὐκ ἐχόντων τοῦτο τῶν ὑφειμένων ταγμάτων͵ τοῖς δὲ ἱερεῦσιν ἡ ἀμφοῖν τοῖν ποδοῖν κλίσις οὐκ ἐχούσης τοῦτο τῆς τῶν λειτουργῶν τελειώσεως. Οἱ γὰρ λειτουργοὶ καθὼς εἴρηται τὸν ἕνα κλίνουσι τοῖν ποδοῖν μόνον. 

Section II.

The conducting then to the Divine Altar, and kneeling, suggests to all those who are being sacer-dotally ordained, that their own life is entirely placed under God, as source of consecration, and that their ¹³3 whole intellectual self, all pure and hallowed, approaches to Him, and that it is of one likeness, and, as far as possible, meet for the supremely Divine and altogether most holy, both Victim 40 and Altar, which purifies, sacerdotally, the Godlike Minds.

¹¹  2  Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ θεῖον θυσιαστήριον προσαγωγὴ καὶ ὑπόπτωσις αἰνίσσεται πᾶσι τοῖς ἱερατικῶς τελουμένοις ὑποτιθέναι καθόλου τῷ τε λετάρχῃ θεῷ τὴν οἰκείαν ζωὴν καὶ τὴν ἑαυτῶν νοερὰν ὁλότητα πάναγνον αὐτῷ καὶ καθιερωμένην προσαγαγεῖν ὁμοειδῆ καὶ ὡς δυνατὸν ἀξίαν οὖσαν τοῦ θεαρχικοῦ καὶ παναγεστάτου καὶ ἱεροῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ καθιεροῦντος ἱερατικῶς τοὺς θεοειδεῖς νόας. 

Section III.

And the imposition of the Hierarchical hand signifies at once the consecrating protection, by which, as holy children, they are paternally tended, which bequeaths to them a sacerdotal condition and power, and drives away their adverse powers, and teaches, at the same time also, to perform the sacerdotal operations, as those who, having been consecrated, are acting under God, and have Him as Leader of their own operations in every respect.

3  Ἡ δὲ τῆς ἱεραρχικῆς χειρὸς ἐπίθεσις ὁμοῦ μὲν ἐμφαίνει τὴν τελε ταρχικὴν σκέπην͵ ὑφ΄ ἧς ὡς παῖδες ἱεροὶ περιέπονται πατρικῶς αὐτοῖς μὲν ἕξιν καὶ δύναμιν ἱερατικὴν δωρουμένης͵ τὰς ἐναντίας δὲ αὐτῶν δυ νάμεις ἀπορραπιζούσης. Διδάσκει δὲ ἅμα καὶ πάσας τελεῖν τὰς ἱερατικὰς ἐνεργείας ὡς ὑπὸ θεῷ πράττοντας τοὺς τελεσθέντας καὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἐνεργειῶν αὐτὸν ἔχοντας ἐν παντὶ καθηγεμόνα. 

Section IV.

And the cruciform seal manifests the inaction of all the impulses of the flesh, and the God-imitated life looking away unflinchingly to the manly most Divine life of Jesus, Who came even to Cross and death with a supremely Divine sinlessness, and stamped those who so live with the cruciform image of His own sinlessness as of the same likeness.

4  Ἡ σταυροειδὴς δὲ σφραγὶς τὴν ἁπασῶν ὁμοῦ τῶν σαρκικῶν ὀρέξεων ἀνενεργησίαν καὶ τὴν θεομίμητον ζωὴν ἀφορῶσαν ἀκλινῶς εἰς τὴν ἀνδρικὴν Ἰησοῦ θειοτάτην ζωὴν ἄχρι σταυροῦ καὶ θανάτου μετὰ θεαρχικῆς ἀναμαρτησίας ἐληλυ θότος καὶ τοὺς οὕτω ζῶντας ὡς ὁμοειδεῖς ἐνσημαίνοντος τῇ σταυροειδεῖ τῆς οἰκείας ἀναμαρτησίας εἰκόνι. 

Section V.

And the Hierarch calls aloud the name of the consecrations and of those consecrated, the mystery denoting that the God-beloved consecrator is ¹³4 manifestor of the supremely Divine choice,----not of his own accord or by his own favour leading those who are ordained to the sacerdotal consecration, but being moved by God to all the Hierarchical dedications. Thus Moses, the consecrator under the Law, does not lead even Aaron, his brother, to sacerdotal consecration, though thinking him both beloved of God and fit for the priesthood, until moved by God to this, he in submission to God, Head of consecration, completed by Hierarchical rites the sacerdotal consecration. But even our supremely Divine and first Consecrator (for the most philanthropic Jesus, for our sake, became even this), did “not glorify Himself,” as the Logia say, but He Who said to Him, “Thou art Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” Wherefore also whilst Himself leading the disciples to sacerdotal consecration, although being as God chief Consecrator, nevertheless He refers the Hierarchical completion of the work of consecration to His altogether most Holy Father, and the supremely Divine Spirit, by admonishing the disciples, as the Oracles say, not to depart from Jerusalem, but to “await the promise of the Father, which ye heard of Me, that ye shall be baptized in Holy Ghost.” And indeed, the Coryphaeus of the disciples himself, with the ten, of the same rank and Hierarchy with himself, when he proceeded to the sacerdotal consecration of the twelfth of the disciples, piously left the selection to ¹³5 the Godhead, saying, “Shew 41 whom Thou hast chosen,” and received him, who was divinely designated by the Divine lot, into the Hierarchical number of the sacred twelve. Now concerning the Divine lot, which fell as a Divine intimation upon Matthias, others have expressed another view, not clearly, as I think, but I will express my own sentiment. For it seems to me that the Oracles name “lot “ a certain supremely Divine gift, pointing out to that Hierarchical Choir him who was designated by the Divine election; more particularly, because the Divine Hierarch must not perform the sacerdotal acts of his own motion, but, under God, moving him to do them as prescribed by the Hierarchy and Heaven.

5  τὴν ἱερὰν δὲ τῶν τελειώσεων καὶ ¹¹² τῶν τελουμένων ἀνάρρησιν ὁ ἱεράρχης ἀναβοᾷ τοῦ μυστηρίου δηλοῦν τος͵ ὡς ὁ φιλόθεος ἱεροτελεστὴς ἐκφαντορικός ἐστι τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἐκλογῆς οὐκ αὐτὸς ἰδίᾳ χάριτι τοὺς τελουμένους ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερατικὴν ἄγων τελείω σιν͵ ἀλλ΄ ὑπὸ θεοῦ κινούμενος εἰς πάσας τὰς ἱεραρχικὰς ἁγιαστείας. Οὕτω Μωσῆς ὁ νομικὸς ἱεροτελεστὴς οὐδὲ ἀδελφὸν ὄντα τὸν Ἀαρὼν εἰς ἱερα τικὴν τελείωσιν ἄγει καὶ φιλόθεον αὐτὸν εἶναι καὶ ἱερατικὸν οἰόμενος͵ ἄχρις οὗ θεόθεν εἰς τοῦτο κινηθεὶς ὑπὸ τελετάρχῃ θεῷ τὴν ἱερατικὴν τελείωσιν ἱεραρχικῶς ἐτελεσιούργησεν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ θεαρχικὸς ἡμῶν καὶ πρῶτος ἱεροτελεστὴς (ἐγεγόνει γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο δι΄ ἡμᾶς ὁ φιλανθρωπό τατος Ἰησοῦς) οὐχ ἑαυτὸν ἐδόξασεν͵ ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν͵ ἀλλ΄ ὁ λαλήσας πρὸς αὐτόν· Σὺ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδέκ. Διὸ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπὶ τὴν ἱερατικὴν τελείωσιν ἄγων τοὺς μαθητὰς καίπερ ὑπάρχων ὡς θεὸς τελετάρχης ὅμως ἐπὶ τὸν παναγέστατον αὐτοῦ πατέρα καὶ τὸ θεαρχικὸν πνεῦμα τὴν τελεταρχικὴν ἀνατίθησιν ἱεραρχικῶς τελε σιουργίαν παραγγέλλων τοῖς μαθηταῖς͵ ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν· Ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων μὴ χωρίζεσθαι͵ ἀλλὰ περιμένειν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ πα τρός͵ ἣν ἠκούσατέ μου͵ ὅτι ὑμεῖς βαπτισθήσεσθε ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. Καὶ μὴν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν μαθητῶν κορυφαῖος μετὰ τῆς ὁμοταγοῦς αὐτῷ καὶ ἱεραρχικῆς δεκάδος εἰς τὴν τοῦ δυοκαιδεκάτου τῶν μαθητῶν ἐληλυθὼς ἱερατικὴν τελείωσιν ἐπὶ τῇ θεαρχίᾳ τὴν ἐκλογὴν εὐλαβῶς καταλέλοιπεν Ἀνάδειξον φήσας ὃν ἐξελέξω καὶ τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου κλήρου θειωδῶς ἀναδεδειγμένον εἰς τὸν τῆς ἁγίας δυοκαιδεκάδος ἱεραρχικὸν ἀριθμὸν εἰσ εδέξατο. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ θείου κλήρου τοῦ τῷ Ματθίᾳ θειωδῶς ἐπιπεσόντος ἕτεροι μὲν ἄλλα εἰρήκασιν οὐκ εὐαγῶς ὡς οἶμαι͵ τὴν ἐμὴν δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ¹¹³ ἔννοιαν ἐρῶ. Δοκεῖ γάρ μοι τὰ λόγια κλῆρον ὀνομάσαι θεαρχικόν τι δῶρον ὑποδηλοῦν ἐκείνῳ τῷ ἱεραρχικῷ χορῷ τὸν ὑπὸ τῆς θείας ἐκλογῆς ἀναδεδειγμένον͵ πλήν γε ὅτι τὸν θεῖον ἱεράρχην οὐκ αὐτοκινήτως χρὴ τὰς ἱερατικὰς ποιεῖσθαι τελεσιουργίας͵ ἀλλ΄ ὑπὸ θεῷ κινοῦντι ταύτας ἱεραρχικῶς καὶ οὐρανίως τελεσιουργεῖν. 

Section VI.

Now the salutation, for the completion of the sacerdotal consecration, has a religious significance. For all the members of the sacerdotal Ranks present, as well as the Hierarch himself who has consecrated them, salute the ordained. For when, by sacerdotal habits and powers, and by Divine call and dedication, a religious mind has attained to sacerdotal completion, he is dearly loved by the most holy Orders of the same rank, being conducted to a most Godlike comeliness, loving the minds similar to himself, and religiously loved by them in return. Hence it is that the mutual sacerdotal salutation is religiously performed, proclaiming the religious ¹³6 communion of minds of like character, and their loveable benignity towards each other, as keeping, throughout, by sacerdotal training, their most Godlike comeliness.

6  Ὁ δὲ πρὸς τῷ τέλει τῆς ἱερατικῆς τελειώσεως ἀσπασμὸς ἱερὰν ἔμφασιν ἔχει. Πάντες γὰρ ὅσοι πάρεισι τῶν ἱερατικῶν ὄντες τάξεων͵ ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τελέσας ἱεράρχης ἀσπάζονται τὸν τετελεσμένον. Ὅταν γὰρ ἱερατικαῖς ἕξεσι καὶ δυνάμεσι καὶ θείᾳ κλήσει καὶ ἁγιαστείᾳ πρὸς ἱερατικὴν τελεσιουργίαν ἀφίκηται νοῦς ἱερός͵ ἐραστός ἐστι ταῖς ὁμοταγέσι καὶ ἱερωτάταις τάξεσιν εἰς τὸ θεοειδέστατον ἀνηγμένος κάλλος ἐρῶν τῶν ὁμοειδῶν νοῶν καὶ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἱερῶς ἀντερώμενος. Ἔνθεν ὁ πρὸς ἀλλή λους ἱερατικὸς ἀσπασμὸς ἱερουργεῖται τὴν τῶν ὁμοειδῶν νοῶν ἱερὰν κοινωνίαν ὑποδηλῶν καὶ τὴν ἐπ΄ ἀλλήλοις ἐραστὴν εὐφροσύνην ὡς ὁλοκλήρως ἀποσώζουσιν ἱερατικῇ μορφώσει τὸ θεοειδέστατον κάλλος. 

Section VII

These things, as I said, are common to the whole sacerdotal consecration. The Hierarch, however, as a distinctive mark, has the Oracles most reverently placed upon his head. For since the perfecting power and science of the whole Priesthood is bequeathed to the inspired Hierarchs, by the supremely Divine and perfecting goodness, naturally are placed upon the heads of the Hierarchs the Divinely transmitted Oracles, which set forth comprehensively and scientifically every teaching of God, work of God, manifestation of God, sacred word, sacred work, in one word, all the Divine and sacred works and words bequeathed to our Hierarchy by the beneficent Godhead; since the Godlike Hierarch, having participated entirely in the whole Hierarchical power, will not only be illuminated, in the true and God-transmitted science of all the sacred words and works committed to the Hierarchy, but will also transmit them to others in Hierarchical proportions, and will perfect Hierarchically in most Divine kinds of knowledge and the highest mystical, instructions, all the most perfecting functions of the whole Hierarchy. And the distinctive feature of the ordination of Priests, as contrasted with the ordering ¹³7 of the Leitourgoi, is the bending of the two knees, as that bends only the one, and is ordained in this Hierarchical fashion.

7  Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὡς ἔφην ἐστὶ τὰ κοινὰ τῆς ὅλης ἱερατικῆς τελειώ σεως. Ὁ δὲ ἱεράρχης ἔκκριτον ἔχει τὴν τῶν λογίων ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς ἱερωτάτην ἐπίθεσιν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ τελειωτικὴ τῆς πάσης ἱερατείας δύναμις καὶ ἐπιστήμη τοῖς ἐνθέοις ἱεράρχαις ὑπὸ τῆς θεαρχικῆς δωρεῖται καὶ τελεταρ χικῆς ἀγαθότητος͵ εἰκότως ἐπὶ τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν κεφαλῶν ἐπιτίθεται τὰ θεοπαράδοτα λόγια τὰ περιεκτικῶς καὶ ἐπιστημόνως ἐκφαντορικὰ πάσης θεολογίας θεουργίας θεοφανείας ἱερολογίας ἱερουργίας͵ ἑνὶ λόγῳ πάντων τῶν θείων καὶ ἱερῶν ἔργων τε καὶ λόγων τῶν ὑπὸ τῆς ἀγαθουργοῦ θεαρχίας τῇ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίᾳ δεδωρημένων͵ ὡς τοῦ θεοειδοῦς ἱεράρχου ¹¹⁴ πάσης μὲν ἱεραρχικῆς δυνάμεως ὁλοκλήρως μεθέξοντος͵ πασῶν δὲ τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν ἱερολογιῶν τε καὶ ἱερουργιῶν τὴν ἀληθῆ καὶ θεοπαράδοτον ἐπιστήμην οὐκ ἐλλαμφθησομένου μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέροις ἀναλογίαις ἱεραρχικαῖς μεταδώσοντος καὶ τελεσιουργήσοντος ἐν θειοτάταις γνώσεσι καὶ ἀκροτάταις ἀναγωγαῖς ἱεραρχικῶς ἅπαντα τὰ τῆς ὅλης ἱεραρχίας τελεστικώτατα. Τοῖς δὲ ἱερεῦσι τοῖν δυοῖν ποδοῖν ἡ κλίσις ἔκκριτόν ἐστι παρὰ τὴν λειτουργικὴν διακόσμησιν ὡς τὸν ἕνα κλινούσης ἐκείνης καὶ τούτῳ τῷ ἱεραρχικῷ σχήματι τελειουμένης. 

Section VIII.

The bending then denotes the subordinate introduction of the conductor, who places under God that which is reverently introduced. And since, as we have often said, the three Orders of the consecrators, through the three most holy Mystic Rites and powers, preside over the three ranks of those initiated, and minister their saving introduction under the Divine yokes, naturally the order of Leitourgoi as only purifying, ministers the one introduction of those who are being purified, by placing it under the Divine Altar, since in it the minds being purified, are supermundanely hallowed. And the Priests bend both their knees, since those who are religiously brought nigh by them have not only been purified, but have been ministerially perfected into a contemplative habit and power of a life thoroughly cleansed by their most luminous, ministrations through instruction. And the Hierarchy bending both his knees, has upon his head the God-transmitted Oracles, leading, through his office of Hierarch, those who have been purified by the Leitourgic power, and enlightened by the ministerial, to the science of the holy things contemplated by them in proportion to their capacities, and through this science perfecting those who are brought nigh, into the most complete holiness of which they are capable. ¹³8 

8  Ἡ μὲν οὖν κλίσις ἐμφαίνει τὴν ὑποκειμένην προσαγωγὴν τοῦ προσάγοντος ὑποτιθέντος θεῷ τὸ ἱερῶς προσαγόμενον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὡς πολλάκις εἰρήκαμεν αἱ τρεῖς τῶν ἱεροτελεστῶν διακοσμήσεις διὰ τῶν τριῶν ἁγιωτάτων τελετῶν καὶ δυ νάμεων ἐφεστᾶσι ταῖς τρισὶ τῶν τελουμένων τάξεσι καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ τὰ θεῖα ζυγὰ σωστικὴν αὐτῶν ἱερουργοῦσι προσαγωγήν͵ εἰκότως ἡ λειτουργικὴ τάξις ὡς μόνον καθαρτικὴ τὴν μίαν ἱερουργεῖ τῶν καθαιρομένων προσ αγωγὴν ὑπὸ τὸ θεῖον αὐτὴν ὑποτιθεῖσα θυσιαστήριον ὡς ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν καθαιρομένων νοῶν ὑπερκοσμίως ἱερουμένων͵ οἱ δὲ ἱερεῖς ἄμφω τὼ πόδε κλίνουσι ὡς τῶν ὑπ΄ αὐτῶν ἱερῶς προσαγομένων οὐ μόνον κεκαθαρμένων͵ ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς φανοτάταις αὐτῶν ἱερουργίαις ἀναγωγικῶς ἀποκεκαθαρ μένης ζωῆς εἰς θεωρητικὴν ἕξιν καὶ δύναμιν ἱερουργικῶς ἀποτελεσθέντων͵ ὁ δὲ ἱεράρχης ἄμφω τὼ πόδε κλίνων ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς ἔχει τὰ θεοπαράδοτα λόγια τοὺς ὑπὸ τῆς λειτουργικῆς δυνάμεως ἐκκεκαθαρμένους καὶ πρὸς τῆς ἱερουργοῦ πεφωτισμένους πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἐποπτευθέντων ὑπ΄ αὐτῶν ἱερῶν ἀνάλογον αὐτοῖς ἐπιστήμην ἱεραρχικῶς ἄγων καὶ δι΄ αὐτῆς ἀπο τελειῶν τοὺς προσαγομένους εἰς τὴν κατ΄ αὐτοὺς ὁλόκληρον ἀφιέρωσιν.

CAPUT VI. 

I. Concerning the Ranks of the Initiated.

Section I.

These, then, are the sacerdotal Ranks and elections, their powers, and operations, and consecrations. We must next explain the triad of the Ranks being initiated under them. We affirm then that the multitudes, of whom we have already made mention, who are dismissed from the ministrations and consecrations, are Ranks under purification; since one is being yet moulded and fashioned by the Leitourgoi through the obstetric Oracles to a living birth; and another is yet to be called back to the holy life, from which it had departed, by the hortatory teaching of the good Oracles; and another, as being yet terrorized, through want of manliness, by opposing fears, and being fortified by the strengthening Oracles; and another, as being yet led back from the worse to holy efforts; and another as having been led back, indeed, but not yet having a chaste fixedness in more Godlike and tranquil habits. For these are the Orders under purification, by the nursing and purifying power of the Leitourgoi. These, the Leitourgoi perfect, by their sacred powers, for the purpose of their being brought, after their complete cleansing, to the enlightening contemplation and participation in the most luminous ministrations. ¹³9 

¹¹⁵ 1 VI. 1  1  Αὗται μὲν αἱ ἱερατικαὶ τάξεις τε καὶ ἀποκληρώσεις δυνάμεις τε αὐτῶν καὶ ἐνέργειαι καὶ τελειώσεις. Τὴν δὲ ὑπ΄ αὐτὰς τριάδα τῶν τελου μένων τάξεων ἑξῆς ἀφηγητέον. Λέγωμεν τοίνυν͵ ὅτι καθαιρόμεναι μέν εἰσι τάξεις αἱ τῶν ἱερουργιῶν καὶ τελετουργιῶν ἀποδιαστελλόμεναι πληθύες͵ ὧν ἤδη μνήμην ἐποιη σάμεθα͵ τῆς μὲν ὡς ἔτι πρὸς τῶν λειτουργῶν τοῖς μαιευτικοῖς λογίοις πρὸς ζωτικὴν ἀπότεξιν μορφουμένης τε καὶ διαπλαττομένης͵ τῆς δὲ ὡς ἔτι πρὸς τὴν ἱερὰν ἧς ἀπέστη ζωῆς͵ ἀνακικλησκομένης τῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν λογίων ἐπιστρεπτικῇ διδασκαλίᾳ͵ τῆς δὲ ὡς ἔτι πρὸς τῶν ἐναντίων πτοιῶν ἀνάνδρως ἐκδειματουμένης καὶ πρὸς τῶν δυναμοποιῶν λογίων ἐπιρρωννυμένης͵ τῆς δὲ ὡς ἔτι πρὸς τὰς ἱερὰς ἐνεργείας ἐκ τῶν χειρόνων μεταγομένης͵ τῆς δὲ ὡς μεταχθείσης μὲν οὔπω δὲ τὸ πανάγνως ἀνεπί στροφον ἐν θειοτέραις ἕξεσι καὶ ἀσαλεύτοις ἐσχηκυίας. Αὗται γάρ εἰσιν αἱ καθαιρόμεναι τάξεις ὑπὸ τῆς λειτουργικῆς μαιεύσεως καὶ καθαρτικῆς δυνάμεως. Ταύτας οἱ λειτουργοὶ ταῖς ἱεραῖς αὐτῶν δυνάμεσι τελεσιουρ γοῦσι πρὸς τὸ τελέως ἐκκαθαρθείσας αὐτὰς εἰς τὴν φωτιστικὴν τῶν φανοτάτων ἱερουργιῶν θεωρίαν τε καὶ κοινωνίαν μεταχθῆναι. 

Section II.

And a middle rank is the contemplative, which participates in certain Divine Offices in all purity, according to its capacity, which is assigned to the Priests for its enlightenment.

2  Μέση δὲ τάξις ἐστὶν ἡ θεωρητικὴ καί τινων ἱερῶν ἀναλόγως ἐν καθαρότητι πάσῃ κοινωνός͵ ἡ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν εἰς τὸ φωτίζειν αὐτὴν ἀπο νεμηθεῖσα.

For it is evident, in my opinion, that, that having been cleansed from all unholy impurity, and having acquired the pure and unmoved steadfastness of its own mind, is led back, ministerially, to the contemplative habit and power, and communicates the most Divine symbols, according to its capability, filled with every holy joy in their contemplations and communions, mounting gradually to the Divine love of their science, through their elevating powers. This, I affirm, is the rank of the holy people, as having passed through complete purification, and deemed worthy, as far as is lawful, both of the reverent vision, and participation of the most luminous Mystic Rites.

Καὶ γάρ ἐστιν ὡς οἶμαι δῆλον͵ ὡς ἡ καθαρθεῖσα πάσης ἀνιέρου κηλίδος καὶ πάναγνον ἐσχηκυῖα τὴν τοῦ οἰκείου νοὸς ἀκίνητον ἵδρυσιν ἐπὶ τὴν θεωρητικὴν ἕξιν καὶ δύναμιν ἱερουργικῶς μετάγεται καὶ κοινωνεῖ ¹¹⁶ τοῖς κατ΄ αὐτὴν θειοτάτοις συμβόλοις ἐν ταῖς θεωρίαις αὐτῶν καὶ κοινω νίαις ἁπάσης ἱερᾶς εὐφροσύνης ἀποπληρουμένη καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεῖον τῆς ἐπιστήμης αὐτῶν ἔρωτα ταῖς ἀναγωγικαῖς αὐτῶν δυνάμεσιν ἀναλόγως ἀναπτερουμένη. Ταύτην ἐγώ φημι τὴν τοῦ ἱεροῦ λαοῦ τάξιν ὡς διὰ πάσης ἐληλυθυῖαν καθάρσεως καὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς τῶν φανοτάτων τελετῶν ἐποψίας καὶ κοινωνίας ὡς θεμιτὸν ἠξιωμένην. 

Section III.

Now the rank, higher than all the initiated, is the sacred Order of the Monks, which, by reason of an entirely purified purification, through complete power and perfect chastity of its own operations, has attained to intellectual contemplation and communion in every ministration which it is lawful for it to contemplate, and is conducted by the most perfecting powers of the Hierarchs, and taught by their inspired illuminations and hierarchical traditions the ministrations of the Mystic Rites, contemplated, ¹⁴0 according to its capacity, and elevated by their sacred science, to the most perfecting perfection of which it is capable. Hence our Divine leaders have deemed them worthy of sacred appellations, some, indeed, calling them “Therapeutae,” and others “Monks,” from the pure service and fervid devotion to the true God, and from the undivided and single life, as it were unifying them, in the sacred enfoldings of things- divided, into a God-like Monad, and God-loving perfection. Wherefore the Divine institution accorded them a consecrating grace, and deemed them worthy of a certain hallowing invocation----not hierarchical----for that is confined to the sacerdotal orders alone, but ministrative, as being ministered, by the pious Priests, by the hierarchial consecration in the second degree.  

3  Ἡ δὲ τῶν τελουμένων ἁπασῶν ὑψηλοτέρα τάξις ἡ τῶν μοναχῶν ἐστιν ἱερὰ διακόσμησις πᾶσαν μὲν ἀποκεκαθαρμένη κάθαρσιν ὁλικῇ δυ νάμει καὶ παντελεῖ τῶν οἰκείων ἐνεργειῶν ἁγνότητι͵ πάσης δὲ ὅσης θεμιτὸν αὐτῇ θεωρεῖν ἱερουργίας ἐν νοερᾷ θεωρίᾳ καὶ κοινωνίᾳ γεγενημένη καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἱεραρχῶν τελειωτικαῖς δυνάμεσιν ἐγχειριζομένη καὶ ταῖς ἐνθέοις αὐτῶν ἐλλάμψεσι καὶ ἱεραρχικαῖς παραδόσεσιν ἐκδιδασκομένη τὰς ἐποπτευθείσας τῶν κατ΄ αὐτὴν ἱερῶν τελετῶν ἱερουργίας καὶ πρὸς τῆς ἱερᾶς αὐτῶν ἐπιστήμης ἀναλόγως εἰς τελεωτάτην ἀναγομένη τελείωσιν. Ἔνθεν οἱ θεῖοι καθηγεμόνες ἡμῶν ἐπωνυμιῶν αὐτοὺς ἱερῶν ἠξίωσαν οἱ μὲν θεραπευτάς͵ οἱ δὲ μοναχοὺς ὀνομάσαντες ἐκ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ καθαρᾶς ὑπηρεσίας καὶ θεραπείας καὶ τῆς ἀμερίστου καὶ ἑνιαίας ζωῆς ὡς ἑνοποι ούσης αὐτοὺς ἐν ταῖς τῶν διαιρετῶν ἱεραῖς συμπτύξεσιν εἰς θεοειδῆ μονάδα καὶ φιλόθεον τελείωσιν. Διὸ καὶ τελεστικὴν αὐτοῖς ἐδωρήσατο χάριν ἡ ἱερὰ θεσμοθεσία καί τινος αὐτοὺς ἠξίωσεν ἀφιερωτικῆς ἐπικλήσεως οὐχ ἱεραρχικῆς (ἐκείνη γὰρ ἐπὶ μόναις γίνεται ταῖς ἱερατικαῖς τάξεσιν)͵ ἀλλ΄ ἱερουργικῆς ὑπὸ τῶν ὁσίων ἱερέων τῇ ἱεραρχικῇ τελετουργίᾳ δευτέρως ἱερουργουμένης.

II. Mysterion on Monastic Consecration.

¹¹⁷ 1Μυστήριον μοναχικῆς τελειώσεως.

The Priest then stands before the Divine Altar, religiously pronouncing the invocation for Monks. The ordinand stands behind the Priest, neither bending both knees, nor one of them, nor having upon his head the Divinely-transmitted Oracles, but only standing near the Priest, who pronounces over him the mystical invocation. When the Priest has finished this, he approaches the ordinand, and asks him first, if he bids farewell to all the distracted----not lives only, but also imaginations. Then he sets before him the most perfect life, testifying that it is his bounden duty to surpass the ordinary life. When ¹⁴1 the ordinand has promised steadfastly all these things, the Priest, after he has sealed him with the sign of the Cross, crops his hair, after an invocation to the threefold Subsistence of the Divine Beatitude, and when he has stripped off all his clothing, he covers him with different, and when, with all the holy men present, he has saluted him, he finishes by making him partaker of the supremely Divine Mysteries.

1 Ὁ μὲν ἱερεὺς ἕστηκεν ἐπίπροσθεν τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου τὴν μονα χικὴν ἐπίκλησιν ἱερολογῶν. Ὁ δὲ τελούμενος ὀπίσω τοῦ ἱερέως ἕστηκεν οὐκ ἄμφω τὼ πόδε κλίνων οὐχ ἕνα τοῖν ποδοῖν οὐκ ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς ἔχων τὰ θεοπαράδοτα λόγια͵ μόνον δὲ τῷ ἱερεῖ παρεστὼς ἱερολογοῦντι τὴν ἐπ΄ αὐτῷ μυστικὴν ἐπίκλησιν. Τελέσας δὲ αὐτὴν ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐπὶ τὸν τελού μενον ἐλθὼν ἐπερωτᾷ πρῶτον αὐτόν͵ εἰ πάσαις ἀποτάσσεται ταῖς διαι ρεταῖς οὐ μόνον ζωαῖς ἀλλὰ καὶ φαντασίαις. Εἶτα τὴν τελεωτάτην αὐτῷ ζωὴν ὑφηγεῖται μαρτυρόμενος͵ ὅτι χρὴ τῆς μέσης αὐτὸν ὑπερανεστηκέ ναι. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα τοῦ τελουμένου προσεχῶς ὁμολογήσαντος τῷ σταυροειδεῖ τύπῳ σφραγισάμενος αὐτὸν ὁ ἱερεὺς ἀποκείρει τὴν τρισσὴν τῆς θείας μακαριότητος ἐπιβοήσας ὑπόστασιν καὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα πᾶσαν ἀπαμφιέσας ἑτέραν ἀμφιέννυσι καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἱερῶν ἀνδρῶν͵ ὅσοι πάρεισιν͵ ἀσπασάμενος αὐτὸν κοινωνὸν ἀποτελεῖ τῶν θεαρχικῶν μυστη ρίων.

III. Contemplation. 

Θεωρία.

Section I.

The fact that he bends neither knee, nor has upon his head the Divinely-transmitted Oracles, but stands by the Priest, who pronounces the invocation, signifies, that the monastic Rank is not for leading others, but stands by itself, in a monastic and holy state, following the sacerdotal Ranks, and readily conducted by them, as a follower, to the Divine science of sacred things, according to its capacity.

1  Τὸ μηδένα τοῖν ποδοῖν κλίνειν μηδ΄ ἐπὶ κεφαλῆς ἔχειν τὰ θεοπα ράδοτα λόγια͵ παρεστάναι δὲ τῷ ἱερεῖ τὴν ἐπίκλησιν ἱερολογοῦντι δηλοῖ τὴν μοναχικὴν τάξιν οὐκ εἶναι προσαγωγικὴν ἑτέρων͵ ἀλλ΄ ἐφ΄ ἑαυτῆς ἑστῶσαν ἐν μοναδικῇ καὶ ἱερᾷ στάσει ταῖς ἱερατικαῖς ἑπομένην τάξεσι καὶ πρὸς αὐτῶν ὡς ὀπαδὸν ἐπὶ τὴν θείαν τῶν κατ΄ αὐτὴν ἱερῶν ἐπιστήμην εὐπειθῶς ἀναγομένην. 

Section II.

And the renunciation of the divided, not only lives, but even imaginations, shews the most perfect love of wisdom in the Monks, which exercises itself in science of the unifying commandments. For it is, as I said, not of the middle Rank of the initiated, but of the higher than all.

2 Ἡ δὲ τῶν μεριστῶν οὐ μόνον ζωῶν ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ φαντασιῶν ἀποταγὴ τὴν τελεωτάτην ἐμφαίνει τῶν μοναχῶν φιλοσοφίαν ἐν ἐπιστήμῃ τῶν ἑνοποιῶν ἐντολῶν ἐνεργουμένην.

Section III.

Therefore many of the things, which are done without reproach by the middle Rank, are forbidden ¹⁴2 in every way to the single Monks,----inasmuch as they are under obligation to be unified to the One, and to be collected to a sacred Monad, and to be transformed to the sacerdotal life, as far as lawful, as possessing an affinity to it in many things, and as being nearer to it than the other Ranks of the initiated.

Ἔστι γὰρ ὡς ἔφην οὐ τῆς μέσης τῶν τελουμένων τάξεως͵ ἀλλὰ τῆς πασῶν ὑψηλοτέρας. Διὸ καὶ πολλὰ ¹¹⁸ τῶν πρὸς τῆς μέσης τάξεως ἀκατακρίτως ἐνεργουμένων ἀπείρηται τρόπῳ παντὶ τοῖς ἑνιαίοις μοναχοῖς ὡς πρὸς τὸ ἓν αὐτῶν ὀφειλόντων ἑνοποιεῖ σθαι καὶ πρὸς ἱερὰν μονάδα συνάγεσθαι καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἱερατικὴν ὡς θεμιτὸν ἀπομορφοῦσθαι ζωήν͵ ὡς τὸ συγγενὲς αὐτῆς ἔχουσιν ἐν πολλοῖς καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτῇ παρὰ τὰς λοιπὰς τῶν τελουμένων τάξεις πλησιάζουσιν.

Now the sealing with the sign of the Cross, as we have already said, denotes the inaction of almost all the desires of the flesh. And the cropping of the hair shews the pure and unpretentious life, which does not beautify the darkness within the mind, by overlarding it with smeared pretence, but that it by itself is being led, not by human attractions but by single and monastic, to the highest likeness of God.

3  Ἡ δὲ τοῦ σταυροειδοῦς τύπου σφραγίς͵ ὡς ἤδη παρ΄ ἡμῶν εἴρηται͵ δηλοῖ τὴν πασῶν ὁμοῦ τῶν σαρκικῶν ὀρέξεων ἀνενεργησίαν. Ἡ δὲ τῶν τριχῶν ἀπόκαρσις ἐμφαίνει τὴν καθαρὰν καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον ζωὴν οὐκ ἐπιπλάστοις σχήμασι τὸ κατὰ νοῦν δυσειδὲς ἐπιθετικῶς καλλωπίζουσαν͵ ἀλλ΄ αὐτὴν ἐφ΄ ἑαυτῆς οὐκ ἀνθρωπικοῖς κάλλεσιν ἀλλ΄ ἑνιαίοις καὶ μονα χικοῖς εἰς τὸ θεοειδέστατον ἀναγομένην. 

Section IV.

The casting aside of the former clothing, and the taking a different, is intended to shew the transition from a middle religious life to the more perfect; just as, during the holy Birth from God, the exchange of the clothing denoted the elevation of a thoroughly purified life, to a contemplative and enlightened condition. And even if now also the Priest, and all the religious present, salute the man ordained, understand from this the holy fellowship of the Godlike, who lovingly congratulate each other in a Divine rejoicing.

4  Ἡ δὲ τῆς προτέρας ἐσθῆτος ἀποβολὴ καὶ τῆς ἑτέρας λῆψις τὴν ἀπὸ μέσης ἱερᾶς ζωῆς ἐπὶ τὴν τελεωτέραν μετάταξιν ἐμφαίνει͵ καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς θεογενεσίας ἡ τῆς ἐσθῆτος ἄμειψις ἐδήλου τὴν ἀπὸ καθαι ρουμένης ζωῆς εἰς θεωρητικὴν καὶ φωτιστικὴν ἕξιν ἀναγωγήν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ νῦν ὁ ἱερεύς τε καὶ πάντες ὅσοι πάρεισιν ἱεροὶ τὸν τετελεσμένον ἀσπά ζονται͵ τὴν ἱερὰν τῶν θεοειδῶν ἐννόησον κοινωνίαν ἀγαπητικῶς ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ θείᾳ συνηδομένων ἀλλήλοις. 

Section V.

Last of all, the Priest calls the ordained to the supremely Divine Communion, shewing religiously ¹⁴3 that the ordained, if he would really attain to the monastic and single elevation, will not merely contemplate the sacred mysteries within them, nor come to the communion of the most holy symbols, after the fashion of the middle Rank, but, with a Divine knowledge of the holy things received by him, will come to the reception of the supremely Divine Communion, in a manner different from that of the holy people. Wherefore, the Communion of the most holy Eucharist is also given to the sacerdotal Orders, in their consecrating dedications, by the Hierarch who consecrated them, at the end of their most holy sanctifications, not only because the reception of the supremely Divine Mysteries is the consummation of each Hierarchical reception, but because all the sacred Orders, according to their capacity, partake of the self-same common and most godly gifts, for their own elevation and perfection in deification. We conclude, then, that the holy Mystic Rites are, purification, and illumination, and consecration. The Leitourgoi are a purifying rank, the Priests an illuminating, and the Godlike Hierarchs a consecrating. But the holy people is a contemplative Order. That which does not participate in the sacred contemplation and communion, is a Rank being purified, as still under course of purification. The holy people is a contemplative Rank, and that of the single Monks is a perfected Rank. For thus our Hierarchy, reverently arranged in Ranks fixed by God, is like the Heavenly Hierarchies, preserving, so far as man can do, its God-imitated and Godlike characteristics. ¹⁴4 

5  Ἐν τέλει δὲ πάντων ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐπὶ τὴν θεαρχικὴν κοινωνίαν καλεῖ τὸν τετελεσμένον ἐμφαίνων ἱερῶς͵ ὡς ὁ τελεσθεὶς εἴπερ ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ τὴν μοναχικὴν ἀφίκετο καὶ ἑνιαίαν ἀγωγήν͵ οὐ θεωρητικὸς μόνον ἔσται τῶν κατ΄ αὐτὸν ἱερῶν οὐδὲ κατὰ μέσην τάξιν ἐπὶ τὴν κοινωνίαν ἥξει τῶν ἱερωτάτων συμβόλων͵ ἀλλὰ μετὰ θείας τῶν ὑπ΄ αὐτοῦ μετεχομένων ἱερῶν γνώσεως ἑτέρῳ τρόπῳ παρὰ τὸν ἱερὸν λαὸν ἐπὶ τὴν μετάληψιν ἥξει τῆς θεαρχικῆς κοινωνίας. Διὸ καὶ ταῖς ἱερατικαῖς τάξεσιν ἐν ταῖς ἱεροτελεστι ¹¹⁹ καῖς αὐτῶν ἁγιαστείαις ἐν τέλει τῶν ἱερωτάτων αὐτῶν ἀφιερώσεων ἡ τῆς ἁγιωτάτης εὐχαριστίας κοινωνία μεταδίδοται πρὸς τοῦ τελέσαντος αὐτὰς ἱεράρχου οὐ μόνον͵ ὅτι τῶν θεαρχικῶν μυστηρίων ἡ μετάληψις ἑκάστης ἱεραρχικῆς μεθέξεώς ἐστι τὸ κεφάλαιον͵ ἀλλ΄ ὅτι καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς κοινωνικῆς καὶ θειοτάτης δωρεᾶς ἀναλόγως αὐταῖς καθ΄ ἑκάστην αἱ ἱεραὶ πᾶσαι τάξεις μετέχουσι πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν αὐτῶν τῆς θεώσεως ἀναγωγὴν καὶ τελείωσιν. Συνῆκται τοίνυν ἡμῖν͵ ὡς αἱ μὲν ἁγίαι τελεταὶ κάθαρσίς εἰσι καὶ φωτισ μὸς καὶ τελείωσις͵ οἱ δὲ λειτουργοὶ καθαρτικὴ τάξις͵ οἱ δὲ ἱερεῖς φωτιστική͵ τελεστικὴ δὲ οἱ θεοειδεῖς ἱεράρχαι͵ καθαιρομένη δὲ τάξις ἡ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἐποψίας καὶ κοινωνίας ἀμέτοχος ὡς ἔτι καθαιρομένη͵ θεωρητικὴ δὲ τάξις ὁ ἱερὸς λαός͵ τετελεσμένη δὲ τάξις ἡ τῶν ἑνιαίων μοναχῶν. Οὕτω γὰρ ἡ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχία ταῖς θεοπαραδότοις τάξεσιν ἱερῶς εὐθετουμένη ταῖς οὐρανίαις ἱεραρχίαις ὁμοειδής ἐστι τοὺς θεομιμήτους αὐτῆς ὡς ἐν ἄνδρασιν ἀποσώζουσα καὶ θεοειδεῖς χαρακτῆρας. 

Section VI.

But thou wilt say that the Ranks undergoing purification utterly fall short of the Heavenly Hierarchies (for it is neither permitted nor true to say that any heavenly Ordering is defiled), yea, I would altogether affirm myself, that they are entirely without blemish, and possess a perfect purity above this world, unless I had completely fallen away from a religious mind. For if any of them should have become captive to evil, and have fallen from the heavenly and undefiled harmony of the divine Minds, he would be brought to the gloomy fall of the rebellious multitudes. But one may reverently say with regard to the Heavenly Hierarchy, that the illuminating from God in things hitherto unknown is a purification to the subordinate Beings, leading them to a more perfect science of the supremely Divine kinds of knowledge, and purifying them as far as possible from the ignorance of those things of which they had not hitherto the science, conducted, as they are, by the first and more Divine Beings to the higher and more luminous splendours of the visions of God: and so there are Ranks being illuminated and perfected, and purifying and illuminating and perfecting, after the example of the Heavenly Hierarchy; since the highest and more Divine Beings purify the subordinate, holy, and reverent Orders, from all ignorance (in ranks and proportions of the Heavenly Hierarchies), and filling them with the most Divine illuminatings, and perfecting in the most pure science of the supremely Divine conceptions. For we have already said, and ¹⁴5 the Oracles divinely demonstrate, that all the heavenly Orders are not the same, in all the sacred sciences of the God-contemplating visions; but the first, from G.od immediately, and, through these, again from God, the subordinate are illuminated, in proportion to their powers, with the most luminous glories of the supremely Divine ray.

6  Ἀλλ΄ ἐρεῖς͵ ὅτι ταῖς οὐρανίαις ἱεραρχίαις ἐλλείπουσι πάντως αἱ καθαιρόμεναι τάξεις. Οὐ γὰρ θεμιτὸν οὐδὲ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν͵ ὡς ἔστι τις οὐρανία διακόσμησις ἐναγής. Ἐγὼ δέ͵ ὅτι μὲν ἀλώβητοι παντελῶς εἰσι καὶ τὸ πάναγνον ὑπερκοσμίως ἔχουσιν͵ ὁμολογήσαιμι πάντως͵ εἰ μὴ παντελῶς ἀποπέσοιμι τοῦ ἱερωτάτου νοός. Εἰ γάρ τις αὐτῶν ὑπὸ κακίας ἑάλω͵ τῆς μὲν οὐρανίας καὶ ἀμιγοῦς ἀποπεπτώκει τῶν θείων νοῶν ἁρμονίας͵ εἰς τὴν ἀλαμπῆ δὲ τῶν ἀποστατικῶν πληθύων ἐφέρετο πτῶσιν. Ἀλλ΄ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ἱερῶς ἐπὶ τῆς οὐρανίας ἱεραρχίας͵ ὅτι κάθαρσίς ἐστι ταῖς ὑφειμέναις οὐσίαις ἡ παρὰ θεοῦ τῶν τέως ἀγνοουμένων ἔλλαμψις ἐπὶ τελεωτέραν αὐτὰς ἐπιστήμην ἄγουσα τῶν θεαρχικῶν γνώσεων καὶ τῆς ἀγνοίας͵ ὧν οὔπω τὴν ἐπιστήμην εἶχον͵ ἀποκαθαίρουσα διὰ τῶν πρώτων καὶ θειοτέρων οὐσιῶν ἀναγομένας εἰς τὰς ὑπερτέρας τῶν θε ¹²⁰ οπτιῶν καὶ φανοτέρας μαρμαρυγάς. Οὕτω καὶ φωτιζόμεναι τάξεις εἰσὶ καὶ τελούμεναι καὶ καθαρτικαὶ καὶ φωτιστικαὶ καὶ τελεστικαὶ κατὰ τὴν οὐρανίαν ἱεραρχίαν ὡς τῶν ὑπερτάτων καὶ θειοτέρων οὐσιῶν τὰς ὑφει μένας ἱερὰς καὶ οὐρανίας διακοσμήσεις ἀγνοίας μὲν ἁπάσης ἀποκαθαι ρουσῶν ἐν τάξεσι καὶ ἀναλογίαις τῶν οὐρανιῶν ἱεραρχιῶν͵ πληρουσῶν δὲ αὐτὰς τῶν θειοτάτων ἐλλάμψεων καὶ τελειουσῶν ἐν τῇ παναγεστάτῃ τῶν θεαρχικῶν νοήσεων ἐπιστήμῃ. Καὶ γὰρ ἤδη πρὸς ἡμῶν εἴρηται καὶ τοῖς λογίοις θειωδῶς διηγόρευται τὸ μὴ ταὐτὰς εἶναι πάσας τὰς οὐρανίας διακοσμήσεις ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἱεραῖς τῶν θεοπτικῶν ἐλλάμψεων ἐπιστήμαις͵ ἀλλ΄ ἐκ θεοῦ μὲν ἀμέσως τὰς πρώτας͵ δι΄ ἐκείνων δὲ πάλιν ἐκ θεοῦ τὰς ὑφειμένας ἀναλόγως αὐταῖς ἐλλάμπεσθαι τὰς φανοτάτας τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἀκτῖνος αὐγάς.

CAPUT VII.

I. Concerning things performed over those fallen asleep.

Section I.

These things having been defined, I think it necessary also to describe the things religiously performed by us over those who have fallen asleep. For neither is this also the same between the holy and the unholy; but, as the form of life of each is different, so also, when approaching death, those who have led a religious life, by looking steadfastly to the unfailing promises of the Godhead (inasmuch as they have observed their proof, in the resurrection proclaimed by it), come to the goal of death, with firm and unfailing hope, in godly rejoicing, knowing that at the end of holy contests their condition will be altogether in a perfect and endless life and safety, through their future entire resurrection 42. For the holy souls, which may possibly fall ¹⁴6 during this present life to a change for the worse, in the regeneration, will have the most Godlike transition to an unchangeable condition. Now, the pure bodies which are enrolled together as yoke-fellows and companions of the holy souls, and have fought together within their Divine struggles in the unchanged steadfastness of their souls throughout the divine life, will jointly receive their own resurrection; for, having been united with the holy souls to which they were united in this present life, by having become members of Christ, they will receive in return the Godlike and imperishable immortality, and blessed repose. In this respect then the sleep of the holy is in comfort and unshaken hopes, as it attains the goal of the Divine contests.

VII. 1  1  Τούτων δὲ διωρισμένων ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν ὡς οἶμαι καὶ τὰ πρὸς ἡμῶν ἱερῶς ἐπὶ τῶν κεκοιμημένων τελούμενα. Καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ τοῦτο κοινόν ἐστι τοῖς ἱεροῖς τε καὶ ἀνιέροις͵ ἀλλ΄ ὥσπερ ἀλλοῖον εἶδός ἐστι τῆς ἑκατέρων ζωῆς͵ οὕτω καὶ πρὸς θάνατον ἰόντες οἱ μὲν ἱερὰν ἐσχηκότες ζωὴν εἰς τὰς ἀληθεῖς ἐπαγγελίας τῆς θεαρχίας ἀποσκοποῦντες ὡς τὴν ἀλήθειαν αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ κατ΄ αὐτὴν ἀναστάσει τεθεαμένοι μετὰ βεβαίας καὶ ἀληθοῦς ἐλπίδος ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ θείᾳ πρὸς τὸ τοῦ θανάτου πέρας ἴασιν ὡς ἐπὶ τέλος ἱερῶν ἀγώνων ἐν παντελεῖ καὶ ἀτελευτήτῳ ζωῇ καὶ σωτηρίᾳ τὰ κατ΄ αὐτοὺς ἔσεσθαι πάντως εἰδότες διὰ τῆς ἐσομένης αὐτῶν ὁλικῆς ἀναστάσεως. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἱεραὶ ψυχαὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω κατὰ τὸν τῇδε βίον δυνάμεναι καταπίπτειν τροπὴν ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ τὴν ἐπὶ ¹²¹ τὸ ἄτρεπτον ἕξουσι θεοειδεστάτην μετάταξιν. Τὰ δὲ καθαρὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ψυχῶν ὁμόζυγα καὶ ὁμοπόρευτα σώματα συναπογραφέντα καὶ συν αθλήσαντα κατὰ τοὺς θείους αὐτῶν ἱδρῶτας ἐν τῇ τῶν ψυχῶν ἀτρέπτῳ κατὰ τὴν θείαν ζωὴν ἱδρύσει συναπολήψεται τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνάστασιν. Ἑνωθέντα γὰρ αἷς ἥνωντο κατὰ τὸν τῇδε βίον ἱεραῖς ψυχαῖς͵ ὡς μέλη Χριστοῦ γεγονότα τὴν θεοειδῆ καὶ ἄφθαρτον ἀθάνατόν τε καὶ μακαρίαν ἀπολήψεται λῆξιν. Ἐν τούτοις μὲν οὖν ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐστι κοίμησις ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀσαλεύτοις ἐλπίσιν εἰς τὸ τῶν θείων ἀγώνων ἀφικνουμένη πέρας. 

Section II.

Now, amongst the profane, some 43 illogically think to go to a non-existence; others 44 that the bodily blending with their proper souls will be severed once for all, as unsuitable to them in a Divine life and blessed lots, not considering nor being sufficiently instructed in Divine science, that our most Godlike life in Christ has already begun45. But others 46 assign to souls union with other bodies, committing 47, as I think, this injustice to them, that, after (bodies) have laboured together with the godly ¹⁴7 souls, and have reached the goal of their most Divine course, they relentlessly deprive them of their righteous retributions. And others 48 (I do not know how they have strayed to conceptions of such earthly tendency) say, that the most holy and blessed repose promised to the devout is similar to our life in this world, and unlawfully reject, for those who are equal to the Angels, nourishments appropriate to another kind of life. None of the most religious men, however, will ever fall into such errors as these; but, knowing that their whole selves will receive the Christ-like inheritance, when they have come to the goal of this present life, they see more clearly their road to incorruption already become nearer, and extol the gifts of the Godhead, and are filled with a Divine satisfaction, no longer fearing the fall to a worse condition, but knowing well that they will hold firmly and everlastingly the good things already acquired. Those, however, who are full of blemishes, and unholy stains, even though they have attained to some initiation, yet, of their own accord, have, to their own destruction, rejected this from their mind, and have rashly followed their destructive lusts, to them when they have come to the end of their life here, the Divine regulation of the Oracles will no longer appear as before, a subject of scorn 49, but, when they have looked with different eyes upon the pleasures of their passions destroyed, and when they have pronounced ¹⁴8 blessed the holy life from which they thoughtlessly fell away, they are, piteously and against their will, separated from this present life, conducted to no holy hope, by reason of their shameful life 50.

2  Τῶν δὲ ἀνιέρων οἱ μὲν εἰς ἀνυπαρξίαν ἀλόγως οἴονται χωρεῖν͵ οἱ δὲ τὴν σωματικὴν εἰσάπαξ ἀπορρήγνυσθαι τῶν οἰκείων ψυχῶν συζυγίαν ὡς ἀνάρμοστον αὐταῖς ἐν θεοειδεῖ ζωῇ καὶ μακαρίαις λήξεσιν οὐκ ἐννοή σαντες οὐδὲ ἱκανῶς ἐν ἐπιστήμῃ θείᾳ μυηθέντες ἀρχθεῖσαν ἤδη τὴν καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἐν Χριστῷ θεοειδεστάτην ζωήν. Ἄλλοι δὲ σωμάτων ἄλλων ἀπο νέμουσι ταῖς ψυχαῖς συζυγίας ἀδικοῦντες τὸ ἐπ΄ αὐτοῖς ὡς οἶμαι τὰ συμπονήσαντα ταῖς θείαις ψυχαῖς καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀντιδόσεων οὐκ εὐαγῶς ἀποστεροῦντες τὰ πρὸς τὸ πέρας ἐλθόντα τῶν θειοτάτων δρόμων. Ἄλλοι δὲ οὐκ οἶδ΄ ὅπως ἐπὶ προσύλους ἐννοίας ἀποκλιθέντες εἰρήκασιν ὁμοειδῆ τοῦ τῇδε βίου τὴν τοῖς ὁσίοις ἐπηγγελμένην ἁγιωτάτην καὶ μακαριστὴν λῆξιν καὶ τροφὰς οἰκείας ἀλλοιωτῷ βίῳ τοῖς ἰσαγγέλοις ἀθεμίτως ἀπέρ ριψαν. Ἀλλ΄ οὐκ ἀποπεσεῖταί τίς ποτε τῶν ἱερωτάτων ἀνδρῶν εἰς τὰς τοιάσδε πλανήσεις͵ ἀλλ΄ ὅλους αὐτοὺς ἀπολήψεσθαι τὴν Χριστοειδῆ λῆξιν εἰδότες͵ ὅταν ἐπὶ τὸ πέρας ἔλθωσι τοῦ τῇδε βίου͵ τὴν εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν αὐτῶν ὁδὸν ὡς ἐγγυτέραν ἤδη γεγενημένην ἐμφανέστερον ὁρῶσι καὶ τὰς ¹²² δωρεὰς τῆς θεαρχίας ὑμνοῦσι καὶ θείας ἡδονῆς ἀποπληροῦνται τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω τροπὴν οὐκέτι δεδοικότες͵ ἀλλ΄ εὖ εἰδότες͵ ὅτι τὰ κτηθέντα καλὰ βεβαίως καὶ αἰωνίως ἕξουσιν. Οἱ δὲ μολυσμῶν ἀνάπλεοι καὶ ἀνιέρων κηλίδων͵ εἴπερ ἱερᾶς τινος τετυχήκασι μυήσεως αὐτοὶ δὲ ταύτην ἐκ τοῦ οἰκείου νοὸς ὀλεθρίως ἀπορραπίσαντες ἐπὶ τὰς φθοροποιοὺς ηὐτομόλη σαν ἐπιθυμίας͵ ὅταν ἐπὶ τὸ τέλος ἔρχωνται τῆς ἐνθάδε ζωῆς͵ οὐκέτι ὁμοίως αὐτοῖς εὐκαταφρόνητος φανεῖται τῶν λογίων ἡ θεία θεσμοθεσία͵ τὰς ὀλλυμένας δὲ τῶν οἰκείων παθῶν ἡδονὰς ἑτέροις ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπισκο πήσαντες καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν ζωὴν ἧς ἀνοήτως ἐκπεπτώκασιν͵ μακαρίσαντες ἐλεεινῶς καὶ ἀβουλήτως ἀποσχίζονται τοῦ τῇδε βίου πρὸς μηδεμίαν ἱερὰν ἐλπίδα χειραγωγούμενοι διὰ τὴν χειρίστην ζωήν. 

Section III.

Now, whilst none of these attain the repose of the holy men, he himself, when coming to the end of his own struggles, is filled with a holy consolation, and with much satisfaction enters the path of the holy regeneration. The familiar friends, however, of him who has fallen asleep, as befits their divine familiarity and fellowship, pronounce him blessed, whoever he is, as having reached the desired end crowned with victory, and they send up odes of thanksgiving to the Author of victory, praying also that they may reach the same inheritance. Then they take him and bring him to the Hierarch, as to a bequest of holy crowns; and he right gladly receives him, and performs the things fixed by reverend men, to be performed over those who have piously fallen asleep.

3  Τούτων δὲ οὐδενὸς γινομένου κατὰ τὰς κοιμήσεις τῶν ἱερῶν ἀνδρῶν αὐτὸς μὲν ὁ πρὸς τὸ πέρας ἐρχόμενος τῶν οἰκείων ἀγώνων εὐφροσύνης ἱερᾶς ἀποπληροῦνται καὶ σὺν ἡδονῇ πολλῇ πρὸς τὴν ὁδὸν ἐπιβαίνει τῆς ἱερᾶς παλιγγενεσίας͵ οἱ δὲ τοῦ κοιμηθέντος οἰκεῖοι κατὰ τὴν θείαν οἰκειότητα καὶ ὁμοτροπίαν αὐτόν τε ὅστις ἐστὶ μακαρίζουσι πρὸς τὸ νικηφόρον εὐκταίως ἀφικόμενον τέλος καὶ τῷ τῆς νίκης αἰτίῳ χαριστη ρίους ᾠδὰς ἀναπέμπουσι προσέτι καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀφίκεσθαι πρὸς τὴν ὁμοίαν εὐχόμενοι λῆξιν͵ λαβόντες δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν ἱεράρχην ἄγουσιν ὡς ἐπὶ στεφάνων ἱερῶν δόσιν. Ὁ δὲ ἀσμένως ὑποδέχεται καὶ τελεῖ τὰ κατὰ θεσμὸν ἱερὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁσίως κεκοιμημένοις τελούμενα.

II. Mysterion over those who have religiously fallen asleep.

1Μυστήριον ἐπὶ τῶν ἱερῶς κεκοιμημένων.1

The Divine Hierarch collects the reverend Choir, and if the person who has fallen asleep were of the sacerdotal rank, he lays him down before the Divine Altar, and begins with the prayer and thanksgiving ¹⁴9 to God; but if he belonged to the rank of the chaste Monks, or the holy people, he lays him down near the hallowed sanctuary, before the sacerdotal entrance. Then the Hierarch finishes the prayer of thanksgiving to God; and next, the Leitourgoi, after reading the unfailing promises concerning our holy resurrection, contained in the Divine Oracles, reverently chant the odes of the same teaching and power, from the Oracles of the Psalter 51. Then the first Leitourgos dismisses the catechumens, and calls aloud the names of the holy people, who have already fallen asleep; amongst whom he deems the man, who has just terminated his life, worthy of mention in the same rank, and urges all to seek the blessed consummation in Christ; then the Divine Hierarch advances, and offers a most holy prayer over him, and after the prayer both the Hierarch himself salutes the defunct, and after him, all who are present. When all have saluted, the Hierarch pours the oil upon the fallen asleep, and when he has offered the holy prayer for all, he places the body in a worthy chamber, with other holy bodies of the same rank.

Συναγαγὼν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης τὸν ἱερὸν χορόν͵ εἰ μὲν ἱερατικῆς ἐγεγόνει τάξεως ὁ κεκοιμημένος͵ ἐπίπροσθεν τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου κατακλίνας αὐτὸν ἀπάρχεται τῆς πρὸς θεὸν εὐχῆς καὶ εὐχαριστίας. Εἰ δὲ ¹²³ τοῖς εὐαγέσι μοναχοῖς ἢ τῷ ἱερῷ λαῷ κατετέτακτο͵ παρὰ τὸ τίμιον ἱερατεῖον αὐτὸν κατακλίνει πρὸ τῆς ἱερατικῆς εἰσελεύσεως͵ εἶτα τελεῖ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν εὐχαριστήριον εὐχὴν ὁ ἱεράρχης. Ἑξῆς δὲ οἱ λειτουργοὶ τὰς ἐν τοῖς θείοις λογίοις ἐμφερομένας ἀψευδεῖς ἐπαγγελίας περὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἡμῶν ἀναστάσεως ἀναγνόντες ἱερῶς ᾄδουσι τὰς ὁμολόγους καὶ ταὐτοδυνάμους τῶν ψαλμικῶν λογίων ᾠδάς. Εἶτα τῶν λειτουργῶν ὁ πρῶτος ἀπολύει τοὺς κατηχουμένους καὶ ἀνακηρύττει τοὺς ἤδη κεκοιμημένους ἁγίους͵ μεθ΄ ὧν ἀξιοῖ τὸν ἄρτι τελειωθέντα τῆς ὁμοταγοῦς ἀναρρήσεως καὶ προτρέ πεται πάντας αἰτῆσαι τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ μακαρίαν τελείωσιν. Εἶτα προσ ελθὼν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης εὐχὴν ἱεροτάτην ἐπ΄ αὐτῷ ποιεῖται καὶ μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν αὐτός τε ὁ ἱεράρχης ἀσπάζεται τὸν κεκοιμημένον καὶ μετ΄ αὐτὸν οἱ παρόντες ἅπαντες. Ἀσπασαμένων δὲ πάτων ἐπιχέει τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ τὸ ἔλαιον ὁ ἱεράρχης καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ πάντων εὐχὴν ἱερὰν ποιησάμενος ἀποτίθησιν ἐν οἴκῳ τιμίῳ τὸ σῶμα μεθ΄ ἑτέρων ὁμοταγῶν ἱερῶν σωμάτων.

III. Contemplation.

Section I.

1Θεωρία.

Now, if the profane should see or hear that these things are done by us, they will, I suppose, split with laughter, and commiserate us on our, folly. But ¹⁵0 there is no need to wonder at this. For, as the Oracles say, “If they will not believe, neither shall they understand 52.” And as for us, who have contemplated the spiritual meaning of the things done, whilst Jesus leads us to the light, let us say, that, not without reason, does the Hierarch conduct to, and place the man fallen asleep, in the place of the same rank; for it shews reverently, that, in the regeneration, all will be in those chosen inheritances, for which they have chosen their own life here 53. For example, if any one led a Godlike and most holy life here, so far as the imitation of God is attainable by man, he will be, in the age to come, in divine and blessed inheritances; but if he led a life inferior to the divine likeness in the highest degree, but, nevertheless, a holy life, even this man will receive the holy and similar retributions. The Hierarch, having given thanks for this Divine righteousness, offers a sacred prayer, and extols the worshipful Godhead, as subjugating the unjust and tyrannical power against us all, and conducting us back to our own most just possessions (or judgments).

1  Ταῦτα μὲν εἴπερ ἴδοιεν ἢ ἀκούσαιεν οἱ ἀνίεροι πρὸς ἡμῶν τελού μενα͵ πλατὺ γελάσουσιν ὡς οἶμαι καὶ τῆς πλανήσεως ἡμᾶς ἐλεήσουσιν. Οὐ δεῖ δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο θαυμάζειν. Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσωσιν͵ ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν͵ οὐδὲ μὴ συνήσουσιν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ νοητὰ τῶν τελουμένων ἐπο πτεύσαντες Ἰησοῦ φωταγωγοῦντος εἴπωμεν͵ ὡς οὐκ ἀλόγως ὁ ἱεράρχης ἐπὶ τὸν ὁμοταγῆ χῶρον εἰσάγει καὶ ἐπιτίθησι τὸν κεκοιμημένον. Ἐμφαίνει γὰρ ἱερῶς͵ ὡς κατ΄ ἐκείνας ἔσονται πάντες ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ τὰς ἀποκληρώσεις͵ καθ΄ ἃς ἐνθάδε τὴν οἰκείαν ζωὴν ἀπεκλήρωσαν. Οἷον εἰ θεοειδῆ τις ἔσχεν ἐνθάδε καὶ ἱερωτάτην ζωήν͵ ὡς ἀνδρὶ τὸ θεομίμητον ¹²⁴ ἐφικτόν͵ ἐν θείαις ἔσται κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τὸν μέλλοντα καὶ μακαρίαις λήξεσιν· εἰ δὲ τῆς κατ΄ ἄκρον θεοειδοῦς ὑφειμένην ἱερὰν δὲ ὅμως͵ ὁμοειδεῖς καὶ οὗτος ἀπολήψεται τὰς ἱερὰς ἀμοιβάς. Ὑπὲρ ταύτης τῆς θείας δικαιο σύνης ὁ ἱεράρχης εὐχαριστήσας εὐχὴν ἱερὰν ποιεῖται καὶ τὴν σεβασμίαν ὑμνεῖ θεαρχίαν ὡς καθαιρετικὴν τοῦ κατὰ πάντων ἡμῶν ἀδίκου καὶ τυραννικοῦ κράτους͵ μεταγωγὸν δὲ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα δικαιότατα κρί ματα. 

Section II.

Now, the Chants and Readings of the supremely Divine promises are explanatory of the most blessed inheritances, to which those, who have attained a Divine perfection, shall be eternally appointed, and ¹⁵1 descriptive of him who has religiously fallen asleep, and stimulative of those, who are still living, to the same perfection.

2  Αἱ δὲ τῶν θεαρχικῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν ᾠδαὶ καὶ ἀναγνώσεις ἐκφαντο ρικαὶ μέν εἰσι τῶν μακαριωτάτων λήξεων͵ εἰς ἃς οἱ θείαν ἐσχηκότες τελείωσιν αἰωνίως καταταχθήσονται͵ τοῦ δὲ κοιμηθέντος ἱερῶς ἀποδεκ τικαί͵ τῶν ἔτι δὲ ζώντων προτρεπτικαὶ πρὸς τὴν ὁμοίαν τελείωσιν. 

Section III.

Observe, however, that not all the ranks under purification are customarily dismissed, but only the catechumens are expelled from the holy places, for this class is entirely uninitiated in every holy Rite, and is not permitted to view any of the religious celebrations, great or small, inasmuch as it has not participated in the faculty of contemplating the holy mysteries, through the Birth from God, which is Source and gift of light. The rest, however, of the ranks under purification, have already been under instruction in sacred tradition; but, as they have foolishly returned to an evil course it is incumbent to complete their proper elevation in advance, and they are reasonably dismissed from the supremely Divine contemplations and communions, as in holy symbols; for they will be injured, by partaking of them unholily, and will come to a greater contempt of the Divine Mysteries and themselves.

3  Σκόπει δέ͵ ὅτι νῦν οὐ πᾶσαι κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες αἱ καθαιρόμεναι τάξεις ἀπολύονται͵ μόνοι δὲ τῶν ἱερῶν ἐκβάλλονται χώρων οἱ κατηχού μενοι. Καὶ γὰρ αὕτη μὲν ἀμύητός ἐστι καθόλου πάσης ἱερᾶς τελετῆς καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν οὐ μικρὸν οὐ μέγα τῶν ἱερῶς τελουμένων ἐποπτεύειν αὐτῇ θεμιτὸν ὡς οὐδὲ τῆς τῶν ἱερῶν ὀπτικῆς δυνάμεως μετασχούσῃ διὰ τῆς ἀρχιφώτου καὶ φωτοδότιδος θεογενεσίας· αἱ δὲ λοιπαὶ τῶν καθαιρομένων τάξεις ἐν μυήσει μὲν ἤδη γεγόνασιν ἱερᾶς παραδόσεως͵ ἀνοήτως δὲ πρὸς τὰ χείρω παλινδρομήσασαι δέον ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσω τὴν οἰκείαν ἀναγωγὴν ἀποτελειῶσαι τῶν θεαρχικῶν μὲν ὡς ἐν συμβόλοις ἱεροῖς ἐποψιῶν καὶ κοινωνιῶν εὐλόγως ἀποδιαστέλλονται (βλαβήσονται γὰρ ἀνιέρως αὐτῶν μετέχουσαι καὶ πρὸς πλείονα τῶν θείων καὶ ἑαυτῶν ἐλεύσονται περιφρόνησιν)͵

Section IV.

Naturally, however, they are present at the things now done, being clearly taught by seeing both the fearlessness of death amongst us, and the last honour of the saints extolled from the unfailing Oracles, and that the sufferings threatened to the unholy ¹⁵2 like themselves will be endless; for it will perhaps be profitable for them to have seen him, who has religiously finished his course, reverently proclaimed by the public proclamation of the Leitourgoi, as being certainly companion of the Saints for ever. And, perchance, even they will come to the like aspiration, and will be taught from the science of the Liturgy, that the consummation in Christ is blessed indeed.

οὐκ ἀπεικότως δὲ πάρεισιν ἐπὶ τοῖς νῦν τελουμένοις ἐναργῶς ἐκδιδασκόμεναι καὶ ὁρῶσαι τὴν τοῦ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἀδειλίαν θανάτου ¹²⁵ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἁγίων γέρα πρὸς τῶν ἀληθῶν λογίων ὑμνούμενα καὶ τὰς ἠπειλημένας ἔσεσθαι τοῖς κατ΄ αὐτὰς ἀνιέροις ἀτελευτήτους ἀνίας. Ἔσται γὰρ αὐταῖς ἴσως ὄφελος ὁρώσαις τὸν ἱερῶς τετελειωμένον ὑπὸ τῆς λει τουργικῆς ἀναρρήσεως ὡς κοινωνὸν ὄντως ὄντα τῶν ἀπ΄ αἰῶνος ἁγίων ἱερῶς ἀνακηρυττόμενον. Καὶ τάχα καὶ αὐταὶ πρὸς τὴν ὁμοίαν ἔφεσιν ἥξουσι καὶ πρὸς τῆς λειτουργικῆς ἐπιστήμης ἐκδιδαχθήσονται μακαρίαν ἀληθῶς εἶναι ἐν Χριστῷ τελείωσιν. 

Section V.

Then the Divine Hierarch, advancing, offers a holy prayer over the man fallen asleep. After the prayer, both the Hierarch himself salutes him, and next all who are present. Now the prayer beseeches the supremely Divine Goodness to remit to the man fallen asleep all the failings committed by reason of human infirmity, and to transfer him in light and land of living, into the bosom of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob: in a place where grief and sorrow and sighing are no more.

4  Εἶτα προσελθὼν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης εὐχὴν ἱερὰν ἐπὶ τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ ποιεῖται͵ καὶ μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν αὐτός τε ὁ ἱεράρχης αὐτὸν ἀσπάζεται καὶ ἑξῆς οἱ παρόντες ἅπαντες· ἡ μὲν οὖν εὐχὴ τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἀγαθότητος δεῖται πάντα μὲν ἀφεῖναι τὰ δι΄ ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν ἡμαρτημένα τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ͵ κατατάξαι δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν φωτὶ καὶ χώρᾳ ζώντων εἰς κόλπους Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ ἐν τόπῳ͵ οὗ ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη καὶ λύπη καὶ στεναγμός. 

It is evident, then, as I think, that these, the rewards of the pious, are most blessed. For what can be equal to an immortality entirely without grief and luminous with light. Especially if all the promises which pass man’s understanding, and which are signified to us by signs adapted to our capacity, fall short, in their description, of their actual truth. For we must ¹⁵3 remember that the Logion is true, that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man to conceive, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” “Bosoms” of the blessed Patriarchs, and of all the other pious men, are, in my judgment, the most divine and blessed inheritances, which await all godly men, in that consummation which grows not old, and is full of blessedness.

5  Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὡς οἶμαι δῆλα τὰ τῶν ἁγίων μακαριώτατα γέρα. Τὶ γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο τῆς παντελῶς ἀλύπου καὶ φωτιστικῆς ἀθανασίας ἰσόρροπον; Εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα ταῖς ἡμῶν ἀναλόγοις σημασίαις αἱ παντὸς ὑψηλότεραι νοὸς ἐπαγγελίαι σημαινόμεναι τῆς πραγματικῆς αὐτῶν ἀλη θείας ἀποδεούσας ἔχουσι τὰς ὀνομασίας. Ἀληθὲς γὰρ εἶναι τὸ λόγιον οἰητέον ὅτι Ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδεν καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσεν καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη ἃ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν. Κόλποι δέ εἰσιν ὡς οἶμαι τῶν μακαρίων πατριαρχῶν καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἁγίων ἁπάντων αἱ θειόταται καὶ μακαρισταὶ λήξεις αἱ τοὺς θεοειδεῖς ὑποδεχό μεναι πάντας εἰς τὴν ἐν αὐταῖς ἀγήρω καὶ μακαριωτάτην τελείωσιν.

Section VI.

But thou mayst, perhaps, say that these things are correctly affirmed by us, indeed, but want to know for what reason the Hierarch beseeches the supremely Divine Goodness, for the remission of the faults committed by the man fallen asleep, and his most glorious inheritance, amongst godly men of the same rank. For, if every one shall receive, by the Divine justice, equivalents for what he has done in the present life, whether it be good or different, and the man fallen asleep has finished his own activities in this present life, from what prayer offered by the Hierarch will he be transferred to another inheritance, than that due to and equivalent for his life here? Now, well do I know, following the Oracles, that each one will have the inheritance equivalent; for the Lord says, he has closed respecting him, and each one shall receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it ¹⁵4 be good, or whether it be bad.” Yea, the sure traditions of the Oracles teach us that the prayers, even of the just, avail only for those who are worthy of pious prayers during this present life, let alone (by no means) after death. What forsooth did Saul gain from Samuel? and what did the intercession of the Prophet profit the people of the Hebrews? For, as if any one, when the sun is shedding its own splendour upon unblemished eyes, seeks to enjoy the solar splendour by obliterating his own powers of vision; so does he cling to impossible and extravagant expectations, who beseeches the intercessions of holy men, and, by driving away the holy efforts natural to the same, plays truant from the most luminous and beneficent commandments, through heedlessness of the Divine gifts.

6  Φαίης δ΄ ἂν ἴσως ταῦτα μὲν ὀρθῶς εἰρῆσθαι παρ΄ ἡμῶν͵ ἀπορεῖν δὲ ὅτου ἕνεκα τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἀγαθότητος ὁ ἱεράρχης δεῖται τῶν ἡμαρτη μένων αἰτῶν τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ τὴν ἄφεσιν καὶ τὴν τοῖς θεοειδέσιν ὁμοταγῆ ¹²⁶ καὶ φανοτάτην ἀποκλήρωσιν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀμοιβὰς ἀπολήψεται πᾶς ὑπὸ τῆς θείας δικαιοσύνης ὧν ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ χρηστῶν ἢ ἑτέρων ἔδρασεν͵ ἐτέλεσε δὲ τὰς κατὰ τὸν τῇδε βίον οἰκείας ἐνεργείας ὁ κεκοιμημένος͵ πρὸς τίνος ἱεραρχικῆς εὐχῆς ἐφ΄ ἑτέραν λῆξιν μεταταχθήσεται παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐνθάδε ζωῆς ἀμοιβαίαν; Ἐγὼ δὲ͵ ὅτι μὲν ἀμοιβαίαν ἕξει τὴν ἀποκλήρωσιν ἕκαστος͵ εὖ οἶδα τοῖς λογίοις ἀκολουθῶν. Ἀπέκλεισε γάρ͵ φησίν͵ ὁ κύριος κατ΄ αὐτοῦ καὶ Κομίσεται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν͵ εἴτε ἀγαθὸν εἴτε κακόν. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ τῶν δικαίων αἱ προσευχαὶ κατὰ τὸν τῇδε βίον͵ μήτι γε μετὰ θάνατον͵ εἰς τοὺς ἀξίους ἱερῶν εὐχῶν ἐνεργοῦσι μόνον͵ αἱ τῶν λογίων ἡμᾶς ἐκδιδά σκουσιν ἀληθεῖς παραδόσεις. ῍Η τὶ πρὸς τοῦ Σαμουὴλ ἀπώνατο; τί δὲ τὸν τῶν Ἑβραίων λαὸν ὤνησεν ἡ προφητικὴ προσευχή; Καὶ γὰρ ὡς εἴ τις ἡλίου τὰ οἰκεῖα δωρουμένου φῶτα τοῖς ἀβλαβέσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐν μετουσίᾳ τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ φωτὸς αἰτεῖ γενέσθαι τὰς οἰκείας ὄψεις ἐξαφανίζων͵ οὕτω πρὸς ἀδυνάτους ἤρτηται καὶ περιττὰς ἐλπίδας ὁ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων ἐξαιτῶν προσευχὰς καὶ τὰς κατὰ φύσιν αὐτῶν ἱερὰς ἐνεργείας ἐλαύνων ἀπροσεξίᾳ τῶν θείων δώρων καὶ τῶν φανοτάτων καὶ ἀγαθοδοτίδων ἐντολῶν ἀποφοιτήσει.

Nevertheless, according to the Oracles, I affirm that the intercessions of the pious are, in every respect, profitable in this present life, after the following fashion. If any one, longing for holy gifts, and having a religious disposition for their reception, as recognizing his own insufficiency, approaches some pious man, and should prevail upon him to become his fellow-helper, and fellow-suppliant, he will be benefitted in every respect, thereby, with a benefit superior to all;

Φημὶ δὲ τοῖς λογίοις ἑπόμενος͵ ὡς ὠφέλιμοι πάμ παν εἰσὶν ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ τῶν ἁγίων αἱ προσευχαὶ κατὰ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον· εἴ τις ἱερῶν ἐφιέμενος δώρων καὶ πρὸς μετοχὴν αὐτῶν ἕξιν ἱερὰν ἔχων ὡς τῆς οἰκείας ἐπιγνώμων βραχύτητος ἐλθὼν ἐπί τινα τῶν ὁσίων ¹²⁷ ἀνδρῶν ἀξιώσειεν αὐτὸν οἱ γενέσθαι συλλήπτορα καὶ συνικέτην͵ ὠφελη θήσεται πάντως ἐκ τούτου τὴν πάσας ὑπερκειμένην ὠφέλειαν.

for he will attain the most Divine gifts he prays for, since the supremely Divine Goodness assists him, as well as his pious ¹⁵5 judgment of himself, and his reverence for devout men, and his praiseworthy craving for the religious requests requested, and his brotherly and Godlike disposition. For this has been firmly fixed by the supremely Divine decrees, that the Divine gifts are given, in an order most befitting God, to those who are meet to receive them, through those who are meet to distribute them.

Ἐπιτεύξεται γὰρ ὧν αἰτεῖ θειοτάτων δώρων͵ ἀποδεχομένης αὐτὸν τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἀγαθότητος τῆς τε οἰκείας εὐλαβοῦς ἐπιγνωμοσύνης καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁσίοις αἰδοῦς καὶ τῆς τῶν αἰτηθεισῶν ἱερῶν αἰτήσεων ἐπαινετῆς ἐφέσεως καὶ καταλλήλου καὶ θεοειδοῦς ἕξεως. Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς θεαρχικοῖς κρίμασι νενομοθετημένον τὸ τὰ θεῖα δῶρα τοῖς ἀξίοις τοῦ μετασχεῖν ἐν τάξει θεοπρεπεστάτῃ δωρεῖσθαι διὰ τῶν ἀξίων τοῦ μεταδοῦναι.

If any one, then, should despise this sacred regulation, and betaking himself to a wretched self-conceit, should deem himself sufficient for the supremely Divine Converse, and look down upon pious men, and if he should further request requests, unworthy of God, and not holy, and if he should have his aspiration for things divine not sustained, and correlative to himself, he will fail in his ignorant request, through his own fault. Now, with reference to the prayer mentioned, which the Hierarch prays over the man fallen asleep, we think it necessary to mention the tradition which has come to us from our inspired leaders

Ταύτην οὖν εἴ τις ἀτιμάσειε τὴν ἱερὰν εὐκοσμίαν καὶ πρὸς ἀθλίαν οἴησιν ἐληλυθὼς ἱκανὸν ἑαυτὸν οἰηθείη πρὸς θεαρχικὴν ὁμιλίαν καὶ τῶν ὁσίων ὑπερφρονή σοι καὶ μὴν εἰ τὰς αἰτήσεις ἀναξίας θεοῦ καὶ μὴ ἱερὰς αἰτήσοι καὶ τὴν ἔφεσιν τῶν θείων εἰ μὴ σύντονον ἔχοι καὶ ἑαυτῷ κατάλληλον͵ ἀποτεύξεται δι΄ ἑαυτὸν τῆς ἀνεπιστήμονος αἰτήσεως. Περὶ δὲ τῆς εἰρημένης εὐχῆς͵ ἣν ὁ ἱεράρχης ἐπεύχεται τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ͵ τὴν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐλθοῦσαν ἐκ τῶν ἐνθέων ἡμῶν καθηγεμόνων παράδοσιν εἰπεῖν ἀναγκαῖον. 

. The Divine Hierarch, as the Oracles say, is interpreter of the supremely Divine awards; for he is messenger of the Lord God Omnipotent. He has learned then, from the God-transmitted Oracles, that to those who have passed their life piously, the most bright and divine life is given in return, according to their due, by the most just balances, the Divine Love towards man overlooking, through its goodness, the stains which have come to them through human ¹⁵6 infirmity, since no one, as the Oracles say, is pure from blemish.

7  Ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης ἐκφαντορικός ἐστιν͵ ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν͵ τῶν θεαρχικῶν δικαιωμάτων. Ἄγγελος γὰρ κυρίου παντο κράτορος θεοῦ ἐστιν. Μεμάθηκεν οὖν ἐκ τῶν θεοπαραδότων λογίων͵ ὅτι τοῖς ὁσίως βιώσασιν ἡ φανοτάτη καὶ θεία ζωὴ κατ΄ ἀξίαν ὑπὸ τῶν δικαιοτάτων ζυγῶν ἀντιδίδοται παρορώσης ἀγαθότητι τῆς θεαρχικῆς φιλανθρωπίας τὰς ἐγγενομένας αὐτοῖς ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας κηλῖδας͵ ἐπείπερ οὐδείς͵ ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν͵ καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ῥύπου.

Section VII.

Now, the Hierarch knew these things to have been promised by the infallible Oracles; and he asks, that these things may come to pass, and that the right-teous returns be given to those who have lived piously, whilst being moulded beneficently to the Divine imitation, he beseeches gifts for others, as favours to himself; and, whilst knowing that the promises will be unfailing, he makes known clearly to those present, that the things asked by him, according to a holy law, will be entirely realized for those who have been perfected in a Divine life. For the Hierarch, the expounder of the supremely Divine Justice, would never seek things, which were not most pleasing to the Almighty God, and divinely promised to be given by Him 54. Wherefore, he does not offer these prayers over the unholy fallen asleep, not only because in this he would deviate from his office of expounder, and would presumptuously arrogate, on his own authority, a function of the Hierarchy, without being moved by the Supreme Legislator, but because he would both fail to obtain his abominable prayer, and he, not unnaturally, would hear from the just Oracle, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” Therefore, the Divine Hierarch beseeches things divinely promised, and ¹⁵7 dear to God, and which will, in every respect, be given, demonstrating both his own likeness to the good loving God, and declaring explicitly the gifts which will be received by the devout. Thus, the Hierarchs have discriminating powers, as interpreters of the Divine Awards, not as though the All-Wise Deity, to put it mildly, were slavishly following their irrational impulses, but, as though they, as expounders of God, were separating, by the motion of the Divine Spirit, those who have already been judged by God, according to due. For “receive,” he says, “the Holy Spirit, whose faults ye may have remitted, they are remitted; whose ye may have retained, they are retained.” And to him who was illuminated with the Divine revelations of the most Holy Father, the Oracles say, “Whatsoever thou shalt have bound upon the earth, shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou shalt have loosed on earth, shall be loosed in the heavens,” inasmuch as he, and every Hierarch like him, according to the revelations of the Father’s awards through him, receives those dear to God, and rejects those without God, as announcing and interpreting the Divine Will. Further, as the Oracles affirm, he uttered that sacred and divine confession, npt as self-moved, nor as though flesh and blood had revealed it, but moved by God Who revealed to him the spiritual meaning of Divine things. The inspired Hierarchs then must so exercise their separations and all their Hierarchical ¹⁵8 powers as the Godhead, the Supreme Initiator, may move them; and the others must so cling to the Hierarchs as moved by God, in what they may do hierarchically, “For he who despiseth you,” He says, “despiseth Me 55.”

Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ ἱεράρχης οἶδεν ἐπηγγελμένα πρὸς τῶν ἀληθῶν λογίων͵ αἰτεῖ δὲ αὐτὰ γενέσθαι καὶ δωρηθῆναι τοῖς ὁσίως βιώσασι τὰς ἱερὰς ἀντιδόσεις ἅμα μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ θεομίμητον ἀγαθοειδῶς ἐκτυπούμενος καὶ τὰς ἑτέρων ¹²⁸ δωρεὰς ὡς οἰκείας ἐξαιτῶν χάριτας͵ ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὰς ἀψευδεῖς ἐπαγγελίας εἰδὼς ἐσομένας καὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἐκφαντορικῶς ἐμφαίνων͵ ὅτι τὰ παρ΄ αὐτοῦ κατὰ θεσμὸν ἱερὸν ἐξαιτούμενα πάντως ἔσται τοῖς κατὰ θείαν ζωὴν τετελειωμένοις. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ὁ ἱεράρχης ὁ τῆς θεαρχικῆς δικαιώσεως ὑποφήτης ἐξῄτει ποτὲ τὰ μὴ τῷ θεῷ προσφιλέστατα καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῦ δοθήσεσθαι θειωδῶς ἐπηγγελμένα. Διὸ τοῖς ἀνιέροις οὐκ ἐπεύχεται ταῦτα κεκοιμημένοις͵ οὐ μόνον ὅτι τῆς ὑποφητικῆς ἐν τούτῳ παρατραπήσεται τάξεως καί τι τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν αὐθάδως τολμήσει μὴ πρὸς τοῦ τελετάρχου κεκινημένος͵ ἀλλ΄ ὅτι καὶ τῆς ἐναγοῦς εὐχῆς ἀποτεύξεται πρὸς τοῦ δικαίου λογίου καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἀκούων Αἰτεῖτε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε͵ διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖτε. Οὐκοῦν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης ἐξαιτεῖ τὰ θειωδῶς ἐπηγ γελμένα καὶ φίλα θεῷ καὶ πάντως δωρηθησόμενα καὶ τὸ τῆς οἰκείας ἀγαθοειδοῦς ἕξεως ἐπιδεικνὺς τῷ φιλαγαθῷ θεῷ καὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἐκ φαντορικῶς ἐμφαίνων τὰ τοῖς ὁσίοις ἐσόμενα δῶρα. Οὕτω καὶ τὰς ἀφοριστικὰς ἔχουσιν οἱ ἱεράρχαι δυνάμεις ὡς ἐκφαντο ρικοὶ τῶν θείων δικαιωμάτων οὐχ ὡς ταῖς αὐτῶν ἀλόγοις ὁρμαῖς τῆς πανσόφου θεαρχίας εὐφήμως εἰπεῖν ὑπηρετικῶς ἑπομένης͵ ἀλλ΄ ὡς αὐτῶν ὑποφητικῶς ὑποκινοῦντι τῷ τελεταρχικῷ πνεύματι τοὺς κεκριμένους θεῷ κατ΄ ἀξίαν ἀφοριζόντων. Λάβετε γάρ φησι πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Ἄν τινων ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας͵ ἀφίενται· ἄν τινων κρατῆτε͵ κεκράτηνται. Καὶ τῷ τὰς θείας ἀποκαλύψεις τοῦ παναγεστάτου πατρὸς ἐλλαμπομένῳ τὰ λόγιά φησιν Ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς͵ ἔσται δεδεμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς͵ καὶ ὃ ἐὰν λύσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς͵ ἔσται λελυμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ὡς ἐκείνου ¹²⁹ καὶ παντὸς τοῦ κατ΄ αὐτὸν ἱεράρχου κατὰ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ γινομένας τῶν πατρικῶν δικαιωμάτων ἀποκαλύψεις ἐκφαντορικῶς καὶ διαπορθμευτικῶς τοὺς θεοφιλεῖς προσιεμένου καὶ τοὺς ἀθέους ἀποκληροῦντος. Καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν γὰρ ἐκείνην θεολογίαν͵ ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν͵ οὐκ αὐτοκινήτως οὐδὲ σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος ἀποκαλυψάντων ἀλλ΄ ὑπὸ θεοῦ νοητῶς αὐτὸν τὰ οἰκεῖα μυήσαντος ἀπεφθέγξατο. Τοὺς μὲν οὗν ἐνθέους ἱεράρχας οὕτω τοῖς ἀφορισμοῖς καὶ πάσαις ταῖς ἱεραρχικαῖς δυνάμεσι χρηστέον͵ ὅπως ἂν ἡ τελετάρχις αὐτοὺς θεαρχία κινήσοι͵ τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους οὕτω τοῖς ἱεράρχαις͵ ἐν οἷς ἂν δρῶσιν ἱεραρχικῶς͵ προσεκτέον ὡς ὑπὸ θεοῦ κεκινημένοις. Ὁ ἀθετῶν γὰρ ὑμᾶς φησιν ἐμὲ ἀθετεῖ. 

Section VIII.

Let us now proceed to that, which follows the prayer mentioned. When the Hierarch has finished it, he first salutes the fallen asleep, and next, all who are present; for dear and honoured by all Godlike men is he who has been perfected in a Divine life. After the salutation, the Hierarch pours the oil upon the man fallen asleep. And remember, that during the sacred Birth from God, before the most Divine Baptism, a first participation of a holy symbol is given to the man initiated----the oil of Chrism----after the entire removal of the former clothing; and now, at the conclusion of all, the Oil is poured upon the man fallen asleep. Then indeed the anointing with the Oil summoned the initiated to the holy contests; and now the Oil poured upon him shews the fallen asleep to have struggled, and to have been made perfect, throughout those same contests.

8  Ἀλλ΄ ἐπανέλθωμεν εἰς τὰ τῆς εἰρημένης εὐχῆς ἀκόλουθα. Τελέσας γὰρ αὐτὴν ὁ ἱεράρχης αὐτός τε ἀσπάζεται τὸν κεκοιμημένον καὶ ἑξῆς οἱ παρόντες ἅπαντες. Ἡδὺς γάρ ἐστι καὶ τίμιος ἅπασι τοῖς θεοειδέσιν ὁ κατὰ θείαν ζωὴν τετελειωμένος. Μετὰ δὲ τὸν ἀσπασμὸν ἐπιχέει τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ τὸ ἔλαιον ὁ ἱεράρχης. Μέμνησο δέ͵ ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἱερὰν θεογενεσίαν πρὸ τοῦ θειοτάτου βαπτίσματος πρώτη μέθεξις ἱεροῦ συμ βόλου δωρεῖται τῷ τελουμένῳ μετὰ τὴν ὁλικὴν τῆς προτέρας ἐσθῆτος ἀπαμφίεσιν τὸ τῆς χρίσεως ἔλαιον. Ἐν τέλει δὲ νῦν ἁπάντων ἐπὶ τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ τὸ ἔλαιον ἐπιχέεται. Καὶ τότε μὲν ἡ τοῦ ἐλαίου χρῖσις ἐπὶ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀγῶνας ἐκάλει τὸν τελούμενον͵ νῦν δὲ τὸ ἐπιχεόμενον ἔλαιον ἐμφαίνει κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἱεροὺς ἀγῶνας ἀθλήσαντα καὶ τελειωθέντα τὸν κεκοιμημένον. 

Section IX.

When the Hierarch has finished these things, he places the body in an honourable chamber, with ¹⁵9 other holy bodies of the same rank. For if, in soul and body, the man fallen asleep passed a life dear to God, there will be honoured, with the devout soul, the body also, which contended with it throughout the devout struggles. Hence the Divine justice gives to it, together with its own body, the retributive inheritances, as companion and participator in the devout, or the contrary, life. Wherefore, the Divine institution of sacred rites bequeaths the supremely Divine participations to them both----to the soul, indeed, in pure contemplation and in science of the things being done, and to the body, by sanctifying the whole man, as in a figure with the most Divine Muron, and the most holy symbols of the supremely Divine Communion, sanctifying the whole man, and announcing, by purifications of the whole man, that his resurrection will be most complete.

9  Ταῦτα τελέσας ὁ ἱεράρχης ἀποτίθησιν ἐν οἴκῳ τιμίῳ τὸ σῶμα μεθ΄ ἑτέρων ὁμοταγῶν ἱερῶν σωμάτων. Εἰ γὰρ ἐν ψυχῇ καὶ σώματι τὴν θεοφιλῆ ζωὴν ὁ κεκοιμημένος ἐβίω͵ τίμιον ἔσται μετὰ τῆς ὁσίας ψυχῆς καὶ τὸ συναθλῆσαν αὐτῇ σῶμα κατὰ τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἱδρῶτας. Ἔνθεν ἡ θεία δικαιοσύνη μετὰ τοῦ σφετέρου σώματος αὐτῇ δωρεῖται τὰς ἀμοιβαίας λήξεις ὡς ὁμοπορεύτου καὶ συμμετόχου τῆς ὁσίας ἢ τῆς ἐναντίας ζωῆς. Διὸ καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἡ θεία θεσμοθεσία τὰς θεαρχικὰς κοινωνίας ἀμφοῖν  ¹³⁰ δωρεῖται͵ τῇ ψυχῇ μὲν ἐν καθαρᾷ θεωρίᾳ καὶ ἐπιστήμῃ τῶν τελουμένων͵ τῷ σώματι δὲ κατὰ τὸ θειότατον ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι μύρον καὶ τὰ τῆς θεαρχικῆς κοινωνίας ἱερώτατα σύμβολα͵ τὸν ὅλον ἄνθρωπον ἁγιάζουσα καὶ τὴν ὁλικὴν αὐτοῦ σωτηρίαν ἱερουργοῦσα καὶ τελεωτάτην αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀνά στασιν ἔσεσθαι διαγγέλλουσα ταῖς καθολικαῖς ἁγιστείαις.

Section X.

Now, as regards the consecrating” invocations, it is not permitted to explain them in writing, nor may we bring their mysterious meaning, or the powers from God working in them, from secrecy to publicity; but, as our sacred tradition holds, by learning these, through quiet instructions, and being perfected to a more Godlike condition and elevation, through Divine love and religious exercises, thou wilt be borne by the consecrating enlightenment to their highest science. ¹⁶0 

VIIa. 1  ¹⁰  Τὰς δὲ τελεστικὰς ἐπικλήσεις οὐ θεμιτὸν ἐν γραφαῖς ἀφερμηνεύειν οὐδὲ τὸ μυστικὸν αὐτῶν ἢ τὰς ἐπ΄ αὐταῖς ἐνεργουμένας ἐκ θεοῦ δυνάμεις ἐκ τοῦ κρυφίου πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν ἐξάγειν͵ ἀλλ΄ ὡς ἡ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱερὰ παρά δοσις ἔχει͵ ταῖς ἀνεκπομπεύτοις μυήσεσιν αὐτὰς ἐκμαθὼν καὶ πρὸς θειο τέραν ἕξιν καὶ ἀναγωγὴν ἔρωτι θείῳ καὶ ἐνεργείας ἱεραῖς ἀποτελεσθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς τελεταρχικῆς ἐλλάμψεως ἀναχθήσῃ πρὸς τὴν ὑπερτάτην αὐτῶν ἐπιστήμην.

Section XI.

Now the fact that even children, not yet able to understand the things Divine, become recipients of the holy Birth in God, and of the most holy symbols of the supremely Divine Communion, seems, as you say, to the profane, a fit subject for reasonable laughter, if the Hierarchs teach things Divine to those not able to hear, and vainly transmit the sacred traditions to those who do not understand. And this is still more laughable----that others, on their behalf, repeat the abjurations and the sacred compacts. But thy Hierarchical judgment must not be too hard upon those who are led astray, but, persuasively, and for the purpose of leading them to the light, reply affectionately to the objections alleged by them, bringing forward this fact, in accordance with sacred rule, that not all things Divine are comprehended in our knowledge, but many of the things, unknown by us, have causes beseeming God, unknown to us indeed, but well known to the Ranks above us. Many things also escape even the most exalted Beings, and are known distinctly by the All-Wise and Wise-making Godhead alone. Further, also, concerning this, we affirm the same things which our Godlike initiators conveyed to us, after initiations from the early 56 tradition. For they say, what is also a fact, that ¹⁶1 infants, being brought up according to a Divine institution, will attain a religious disposition, exempt from every error, and inexperienced in an unholy-life. When our Divine leaders came to this conclusion, it was determined to admit infants upon the following conditions, viz.: that the natural parents of the child presented, should transfer the child to some one of the initiated,----a good teacher of children in Divine things,----and that the child should lead the rest of his life under him, as under a godfather and sponsor, for his religious safe-keeping. The Hierarch then requires him, when he has promised to bring up the child according to the religious life, to pronounce the renunciations and the religious professions, not, as they would jokingly say, by instructing one instead of another in Divine things; for he does not say this, “that on behalf of this child I make, myself, the renunciations and the sacred professions,” but, that the child is set apart and enlisted; i.e. I promise to persuade the child, when he has come to a religious mind, through my godly instructions, to bid adieu wholly to things contrary, and to profess and perform the Divine professions.

VIIb. 1  ¹¹  Τὸ δὲ καὶ παῖδας οὔπω τὰ θεῖα συνιέναι δυναμένους τῆς ἱερᾶς μετόχους γίνεσθαι θεογενεσίας καὶ τῶν ἱερωτάτων τῆς θεαρχικῆς κοινω νίας συμβόλων δοκεῖ μὲν ὡς φῂς τοῖς ἀνιέροις εὐλόγου γέλωτος ἄξιον͵ εἰ τοὺς ἀκοῦσαι μὴ δυναμένους ἐκδιδάσκουσιν οἱ ἱεράρχαι τὰ θεία καὶ τοῖς μὴ νοοῦσιν εἰκῆ παραδιδόασι τὰς ἱερὰς παραδόσεις͵ καὶ τὸ ἔτι γελοιό τερον· ὡς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἕτεροι τὰς ἀποταγάς φασι καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς ὁμολογίας. Δεῖ δὲ τὴν σὴν ἱεραρχικὴν σύνεσιν μὴ χαλεπαίνειν ἐπὶ τοῖς πεπλανημένοις͵ ἀλλ΄ εὐλαβῶς τε ἅμα καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν φωταγωγίας χάριν ἀγαπητικῶς ἀπολογεῖσθαι πρὸς τὰς ὑπ΄ αὐτῶν προφερομένας ἐνστάσεις προστιθέντα ¹³¹ καὶ τοῦτο κατὰ θεσμὸν ἱερόν͵ ὡς οὐκ ἐν τῇ καθ΄ ἡμᾶς γνώσει πάντα τὰ θεῖα περιγράφεται͵ πολλὰ δὲ τῶν ὑφ΄ ἡμῶν ἀγνοουμένων αἰτίας ἔχει θεοπρεπεῖς ἡμῖν μὲν ἠγνοημένας͵ ἐπιστητὰς δὲ ταῖς ἡμῶν κρείττοσι τά ξεσιν. Πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τὰς ὑπερτάτας οὐσίας λέληθε καὶ πρὸς μόνης ἀκριβῶς ἔγνωσται τῆς πανσόφου καὶ σοφοποιοῦ θεαρχίας. Πλήν γε ὅτι καὶ περὶ τούτου ταῦτά φαμεν͵ ἅπερ οἱ θεοειδεῖς ἡμῶν ἱεροτελεσταὶ πρὸς τῆς ἀρχαίας μυηθέντες παραδόσεως εἰς ἡμᾶς προήγαγον. Φασὶ γάρ͵ ὅπερ ἐστὶ καὶ ἀληθές͵ ὅτι κατὰ θεσμὸν ἱερὸν ἀναγόμενα τὰ βρέφη πρὸς ἕξιν ἱερὰν ἥξουσιν πάσης ἀποτελούμενα πλάνης καὶ ἀνιέρου ζωῆς ἀπείρατα. Τοῦτο τοῖς θείοις ἡμῶν καθηγεμόσιν εἰς νοῦν ἐληλυθὸς ἔδοξεν εἰσδέχεσθαι τὰ βρέφη κατὰ τόνδε τὸν ἱερὸν τρόπον͵ ὥστε τοὺς φυσικοὺς τοῦ προσαγομένου παιδὸς γονέας παραδιδόναι τὸν παῖδά τινι τῶν μεμυημένων ἀγαθῷ τὰ θεῖα παιδαγωγῷ καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ὑπ΄ αὐτῷ τὸν παῖδα τελεῖν ὡς ὑπὸ θείῳ πατρὶ καὶ σωτηρίας ἱερᾶς ἀναδόχῳ. Τοῦτον οὖν ὁ ἱεράρχης ὁμολογοῦντα κατὰ τὴν ἱερὰν ἀνάγειν τὸν παῖδα ζωὴν ἀπαιτεῖ τὰς ἀποταγὰς ὁμολογῆσαι καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς ὁμολογίας οὐχ͵ ὡς ἂν ἐκεῖνοι γελῶντες φαῖεν͵ ἄλλον ἀντ΄ ἄλλου τὰ θεῖα μυῶν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτό φησιν ὡς Ὑπὲρ τοῦ παιδὸς ἐγὼ τὰς ἀποταγὰς ἢ ἱερὰς ὁμολογίας ποιοῦμαι ἀλλ΄ ὅτι Ὁ παῖς ἀποτάσσεται καὶ συντάσσεται͵ τοῦτ΄ ἐστιν Ὁμολογῶ τὸν παῖδα πείσειν εἰς νοῦν ἱερὸν ἰόντα ταῖς ἐμαῖς ἐνθέοις ἀναγωγαῖς ἀποτάξασθαι μὲν ὁλικῶς τοῖς ἐναντίοις͵ ὁμολογῆσαι δὲ καὶ ἐνεργῆσαι τὰς θείας ὁμολογίας.

There is here, then, nothing absurd, in my judgment, provided the child is brought up as beseems a godlike training, in having a guide and religious surety, who implants in him a disposition for Divine things, and keeps him inexperienced in things contrary.

Οὐδὲν οὖν ὡς οἷμαι τὸ ἄτοπον͵ εἰ κατὰ θείαν ὁ παῖς ἀναγωγὴν ἀνάγεται καθηγεμόνα καὶ ἀνάδοχον ἱερὸν ἔχων ἕξιν αὐτῷ τῶν θείων ἐμποιοῦντα καὶ φυλάττοντα τῶν ἐναντίων ἀπείρατον.

The Hierarch imparts to the child the sacred, symbols, in order that he may be nourished by ¹⁶2 them, and may not have any other life but that which always contemplates Divine things; and in religious progress become partaker of them and have a religious disposition in these matters, and be devoutly brought up by his Godlike surety. So great, my son, and so beautiful, are the uniform visions of our Hierarchy, which have been presented to my view; and from others, perhaps, more contemplative minds, these things have been viewed, not only more clearly, but also more divinely. And to thee, as I fancy, more brilliant and more divine beauties will shine forth, by using the foregoing stepping-stones to a higher ray. Impart then, my friend, thyself also, to me, more perfect enlightenment, and shew to mine eyes the more comely and uniform beauties that thou mayst have been able to see, for I am confident that, by what has been said, I shall strike the sparks 57 of the Divine Fire stored up in thee.

Μεταδίδωσι δὲ τῷ παιδὶ ἱερῶν συμβόλων ὁ ἱεράρχης͵ ὅπως ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀνατραφείη καὶ μηδὲ σχοίη ζωὴν ἑτέραν εἰ μὴ τὴν τὰ θεῖα θεωροῦσαν ἀεὶ καὶ κοινωνὸν αὐτῶν ἐν προκοπαῖς ἱεραῖς γινομένην ἕξιν τε ἱερὰν ἐν τούτοις ἴσχουσαν ἀναγομένην τε ἱεροπρεπῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοειδοῦς ἀναδόχου. Τοσαῦτα͵ ὦ παῖ͵ καὶ οὕτω καλὰ τῆς καθ΄ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας ὦπταί μοι τὰ ἑνοειδῆ θεάματα. Πρὸς ἄλλων δὲ ἴσως ὀπτικωτέρων νοῶν οὐ ταῦτα μόνον ἐθεωρήθη͵ φανερώτερα δὲ πολλῷ καὶ θεοειδέστερα. Καὶ σοὶ δὲ ὡς ¹³² οἶμαι πάντως ἐλλάμψει τηλαυγέστερα κάλλη καὶ θειότερα τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐπαναβαθμοῖς χρωμένῳ πρὸς ὑπερτέραν ἀκτῖνα. Μετάδος οὖν͵ ὦ φίλε͵ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμοὶ τελεωτέρας ἐλλάμψεως καὶ δεῖξον ἐμοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς͵ ἅπερ ἂν ἰδεῖν δυνηθείης εὐπρεπέστερα κάλλη καὶ ἑνοειδέστερα. Θαρρῶ γάρ͵ ὅτι τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐγὼ τοὺς ἐναποκειμένους ἐν σοὶ τοῦ θείου πυρὸς ἀνασκαλεύσω σπινθῆρας.