2

the slipperiness of the senses (since there are five), is hinted at by the name of the fifth. But the seventh, also according to Solomon, knows how to signify the age below which, in its conclusion, recycles itself weekly. Moreover, the tenth indicates the purification of the senses of the inner man who has been raised up from external things; so that the eye of the mind may be single and clear, that the whole body will be full of light, as the holy Gospel says; and the hearing of the soul is filled with divine exultation and gladness, which great David also prays to hear; and that its power of taste should be exercised in the goodness of the Lord, as the one who psalms among the prophets proclaims, and in the perception of the fragrance of Christ, which the divine Paul breathed forth, the faculty of smell should be established; and with the inner hands of discernment to handle the word of life, as the son of thunder declared. For the exercise of the spiritual senses in these things, in the abstinence from and alienation from their opposites, is naturally constituted to produce the fast praised by God; and so it comes about that we achieve 46.1156 being infants in malice, but becoming perfect in the wisdom that is according to God.

Thus the sublime thought of the apostolic and prophetic teachings, flowing together from the springs of the Spirit and having filled the river of God with mystical waters, knows how to make glad, with the streams of this river, the heavenly city of God, which is composed of supermundane powers, as we have heard the psalmody crying out. For indeed the holy assembly of the spirits above greatly rejoices in the salvation of men. For thus are the heavenly beings accustomed to celebrate together with the earthly, welcoming the angel-like way of life of those on earth. For when this our God, whom the prophet foretold, appeared on earth, and conversed with men, and the angels beheld the blessedness from above being planted on earth, they cried out, "Glory to God in the highest," and proclaimed peace on earth (divine good will having come to be among men); and thus the blessed companies of the holy angels, glorying in their exceptional and truly pure and single-minded divine liturgy, seeing in us the marks of true holiness, will not make us rejected as companions to be taken up with them into the pure gladness; just as the word of the evangelical parable made the one dressed in a filthy garment excluded from the divine wedding feast. For when at the archetypal time (as one might say) of the present feast he who existed in the form of God, and took the form of a servant, having become the mediator between God and men, fulfilling the legal ordinance, being a forty-day-old infant, the eternal Word proceeded to the temple with the one who bore him, and with the appropriate conduct of the ordained sacrifice, the ranks of the incorporeal beings, servilely bowing the neck, prepared from the unseen realm a procession worthy of God, and they marveled at the ocean of the ineffable wisdom; and they awaited the completion of the more readily apparent ordinance of the letter of the law, as a revelation of the mystery hidden in God who created all things; celebrating the remembrance of which today, let us delight in spiritual contemplations according to the incorporeal minds, and glorifying the majesty of the divine wonders, we shall be partakers of their dignity; not having the eye of the soul obscured by the shadow of the law, but, as was said by the most wise Paul, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. For the Law says that every male that opens the womb is to be consecrated, and that the woman who has just given birth, having become the mother of a male child, having been purified for a period 46.1157 of forty days after giving birth, should thus with a certain clearly defined sacrifice proceed to the sanctuary of God; those who wear the veil over their heart at the reading of the Old Testament,

2

τῶν αἰσθήσεων εὐόλισθον (ὡς πέντε καθεστωσῶν), τὸ τῆς πέμπτης ὄνομα ὑπαινίσσεται. Ἡ ἑβδόμη δὲ, καὶ κατὰ τὸν Σολομῶντα τὸν εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἑβδοματικῶς ἀνακυκλούμενον τῆς κάτω λήξεως αἰῶνα ἐμφαίνειν ἐπίσταται. Ἥ γε μὴν δεκάτη τοῦ ἐντὸς ἀνθρώπου τὴν τῶν αἰσθήσεων κάθαρσιν πρὸς τὰ ἔξωθεν ἀνηγμένου ὑποδείκνυσιν· ὥστε τὸν τοῦ νοῦ ὀφθαλμὸν ἁπλοῦν τε καὶ διαυγῆ ὑπάρχειν, ἵνα ὅλον τὸ σῶμα φωτεινὸν ἔσται, ὥς φησι τὸ ἅγιον Εὐαγγέλιον· ἥ τε τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκοὴ τῆς θείας πληροῦ ται ἀγαλλιάσεώς τε καὶ εὐφροσύνης, ἣν ἀκουτισθῆναι καὶ ∆αβὶδ ὁ μέγας ἐπεύχεται· τὴν δὲ γευστικὴν αὐ τῆς δύναμιν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐγγεγυμνᾶσθαι χρηστότητι, ὡς ὁ ψάλλων ἐν προφήταις ἀναφθέγγεται, καὶ ἐν ἀντιλήψει τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐωδίας, ἣν ὁ θεῖος Παῦλος ἀπέπνεε, τὴν ὀσφραντικὴν ἕξιν καθίστασθαι· καὶ ταῖς ἔσω τῆς διακρίσεως χερσὶ ψηλαφᾷν τὸν λό γον τῆς ζωῆς, ὡς ὁ τῆς βροντῆς υἱὸς διηγόρευσεν. Ἡ γὰρ ἐν τούτοις τῶν νοητῶν αἰσθήσεων γυμνασία, ἐν τῇ τῶν ἐναντίων τούτοις ἀποχῇ τε καὶ ἀλλοτριώσει τὴν ἐπαινουμένην παρὰ Θεοῦ νηστείαν ἀπεργάζεσθαι πέφυκεν· οὕτω τε κατορθοῦν ἡμᾶς περιγίνεται τὸ τῇ 46.1156 κακίᾳ μὲν νηπιάζειν, τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν δὲ φρονήσεως ἐν τελειότητι γίνεσθαι.

Οὕτως ἡμᾶς ἄρδουσα ἡ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν τε καὶ προφητικῶν διδαγμάτων ἐκ τῶν κρουνῶν τοῦ Πνεύμα τος συῤῥέουσα μεγαλόνοια, καὶ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ποταμὸν τῶν μυστικῶν ὑδάτων πληρώσασα, τὴν ἐπουράνιον πόλιν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὴν ταῖς ὑπερκοσμίοις συγκροτουμέ νην δυνάμεσι, τοῖς τοῦ ποταμοῦ τούτου ὁρμήμασιν εὐφραίνειν ἐπίσταται, ὡς τῆς ψαλμῳδίας βοώσης ἠκούσαμεν. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ τῶν ἄνω πνευμάτων ἁγία ὁμήγυρις τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίᾳ λίαν ἐφήδεται. Οὕτω γὰρ κοινῇ πανηγυρίζειν σὺν τοῖς ἐπιγείοις τὰ οὐράνια εἴωθεν, τὴν ἀγγελοπρεπῆ πολιτείαν τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀσπαζομένων. Ὅ τε γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν οὗτος, ὃν προδεικτικῶς ὁ προφήτης διήγγειλεν, ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὤφθη, καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη, καὶ τὴν ἄνω μα καριότητα ἐπὶ γῆς φυτευομένην ἐθεάσαντο ἄγγελοι, ∆όξα ἐν ὑψίστοις Θεῷ, ἀνεφθέγγοντο, καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνην εὐηγγελίζοντο (θείας εὐδοκίας ἐν ἀνθρώποις γεγενημένης)· οὕτω τε τῆς θείας λειτουργίας ἐξαίρε τον καὶ ὄντως καθαρόν τε καὶ μονότροπον αὐχοῦντες οἱ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων μακάριοι θίασοι, τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἁγιότητος ἐν ἡμῖν ὁρῶντες τοὺς χαρακτῆρας, οὐκ ἀπο βλήτους ποιήσονται κοινωνοὺς τῆς ἀκηράτου εὐφροσύνης συμπαραλήψεσθαι· καθάπερ τὸν ῥυπώσῃ ἐστο λισμένον ἐσθῆτι ἀπόκριτον τοῦ θείου γάμου ὁ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς παραβολῆς ἐποιήσατο λόγος. Καὶ γὰρ ὅτε κατὰ τὸν ἀρχέτυπον καιρὸν (ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι) τῆς παρούσης ἑορτῆς ὁ ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, καὶ μορφὴν δούλου ἑλόμενος, ὁ μεσίτης Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος, τὴν νομικὴν πληρῶν διαγόρευσιν τεσσαρά κοντα ἡμερῶν ὑπάρχων βρέφος, ὁ ἀΐδιος Λόγος ἐπὶ τὸν ναὸν ἐχώρει σὺν τῇ τεκούσῃ, καὶ τῇ καταλλήλῳ τῆς διατεταγμένης θυσίας διαγωγῇ, αἱ τῶν ἀσωμάτων ταξιαρχίαι δουλικῶς τὸν αὐχένα ὑποκλίνουσαι, ἐκ τοῦ ἀοράτου θεοπρεπῆ τὴν προπομπὴν ἡτοιμάζοντο, καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀῤῥήτου σοφίας ἐξεθείαζον πέλαγος· καὶ τὴν περαίωσιν τῆς προχειροτέρας τοῦ νομικοῦ γράμμα τος διατάξεως, φανέρωσιν τοῦ μυστηρίου τοῦ ἀποκεκρυμμένου ἐν τῷ Θεῷ τῷ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντι ἐξεδέχοντο· οὗ τινος ἡμεῖς τὴν ἀνάμνησιν ἑορτάζοντες σήμερον, πνευματικαῖς θεωρίαις κατὰ τοὺς ἀσωμάτους νόας τρυφήσωμεν, καὶ τῶν θείων θαυμασίων τὸ μεγαλεῖον δοξάζοντες, κοινωνοὶ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀξίας ἐσόμεθα· οὐ τῇ νομικῇ σκιᾷ τὸ ὄμμα τῆς ψυχῆς ἀμαυρούμενοι, ἀλλὰ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον τῷ σοφωτάτῳ Παύλῳ, ἀνακε καλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου κατοπτριζόμενοι. Τοῦ γὰρ Νόμου λέγοντος, πᾶν ἀρσενικὸν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἁγιάζεσθαι, δεῖν δὲ τὴν ἀρτιτόκον γυναῖκα ἄρσενος παιδὸς γενομένην μητέρα, τεσσαρά κοντα ἡμερῶν μετὰ τὸ τεκεῖν καθηραμένην διαστή 46.1157 ματι, οὕτω μετά τινος εὐκρινῶς διωρισμένης θυσίας ἐπὶ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πορεύεσθαι τέμενος· οἱ μὲν τὸ κάλυμμα ἐπὶ τῇ ἀναγνώσει τῆς Παλαιᾶς ∆ιαθήκης τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν περιφέροντες,