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to hear 14__040 and also to seek an indestructible permanence of the things heard is wiser, as everyone certainly knows who cares even a little for rational nobility, and is not entirely a stranger to the affinity for reason.

And I, for my part, was hesitating at the beginning—for the truth will be told of the matter—declining the subject; not because I did not wish, beloved, to give you in every way according to my ability what is pleasing, but because I have neither partaken of the grace that impels those worthy to this task, nor have the experience of the power and practice of speaking, having been brought up in plainness and being completely uninitiated in the technical discourses which have their charm only in the delivery, in which the many especially delight, confining the pleasure to their hearing, even if often they have nothing of value in depth; and because, to speak more properly and truly, I feared I would insult, by the meanness of our discourse, that blessed man’s sublime speech and thought concerning divine things. Nevertheless, having later yielded to the force of love, which is stronger than all things, I willingly accepted the command, choosing rather to be laughed at for audacity and lack of education out of obedience by the censorious than to seem to you, through postponement, unwilling to be zealous with you in every good thing, having cast the care of how to speak upon God, the only wonder-worker, who teaches man knowledge, who makes clear the tongue of those who speak with difficulty, and who devises a way for the helpless 14__042 and who raises the poor from the earth, and lifts the needy from the dunghill; of the carnal mind, I say, and of the foul-smelling mire of the passions; the poor in spirit or the one who is poor in wickedness, and impoverished of its very state, or on the contrary, also the one still held by the law of the flesh and the passions and for this reason being poor and destitute of the grace of virtue and knowledge.

But since in the treatise 'On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy' by the all-holy and truly God-revealing Dionysius the Areopagite, the symbols concerning the sacred rite of the holy assembly have also been contemplated in a manner worthy of his magnanimity, it must be known that the present discourse does not go through the same things, nor does it proceed through the same means as his. For it is rash and audacious and close to madness for one who is able neither to comprehend nor understand him to attempt to undertake his things, and to bring forward as one’s own the mysteries divinely revealed to him alone through the Spirit, but as many things as were left by him, through the philanthropic will of God, as comprehensible to others for the exposition and exercise of their own disposition concerning divine things according to their desire, and through which the all-radiant beam of the rites being performed, being understood commensurately with them, becomes known and holds fast to itself those seized by longing, so that those after him might not be completely idle for the whole day of the time of the present life, not having the reason that hires them for that divine vineyard-tending, which, for the spiritual work of the spiritual vineyard, gives back the spiritual denarius of the divine and most royal image, which was plundered at the beginning by 14__044 the evil one through deceit in the transgression of the commandment.

I do not promise to speak in order of all the things mystically contemplated by the blessed elder; nor the very things said, as they were understood and spoken by him. For he, being a philosopher and a teacher of all learning, through an abundance of virtue and of more long-standing and more scientific practice and love of labor concerning divine things, having set himself free from the bonds of matter and the phantasms associated with it, reasonably had his mind illuminated by the divine rays, and for this reason was able to see at once the things not seen by the many, and his reason a most accurate interpreter of the things understood; and like a mirror, unimpeded by any stain of the passions, purely the things that cannot be understood by others, and to bear

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ἀκούειν 14__040 τὸ καὶ διαμονὴν ἀκαθαίρετον τῶν ἀκουσθέντων ἐπιζητεῖν ἐστι σοφώτερον, ἐπίσταται πάντως πᾶς ὁ καὶ μικρὸν εὐγενείας λογικῆς ἐπιμελούμενος, καὶ μὴ πάντη τῆς πρὸς τὸν λόγον οἰκειότητος ὑπάρχων ἀλλότριος.

Κἀγὼ μὲν ὤκνουν παρὰ τὴν ἀρχήν, τοῦ λόγου εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθέςτὴν ὑπόθεσιν παραιτούμενος· οὐ τῷ μὴ θέλειν ὑμῖν, ἠγαπημένοι, παντὶ τρόπῳ διδόναι κατὰ δύναμιν τὸ καταθύμιον, ἀλλὰ τῷ μήτε τῆς ἐναγούσης πρὸς τοῦτο τοὺς ἀξίους μετειληφέναι χάριτος, μήτε τὴν πεῖραν ἔχειν τῆς πρὸς τὸ λέγειν δυνάμεώς τε καὶ τριβῆς, ἰδιωτείᾳ συντεθραμμένος καὶ λόγων τεχνικῶν παντελῶς ἀμύητος ὑπάρχων τῶν ἐν μόνῃ τῇ προσφορᾷ τὴν χάριν ἐχόντων, οἷς οἱ πολλοὶ μάλιστα χαίρουσι τῇ ἀκοῇ τὴν ἡδονὴν περιγράφοντες, κἂν εἰ μηδὲν τῶν τιμίων διὰ βάθους πολλάκις ἔχοιεν· καὶ τῷ, [ὡς] κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν καὶ ἀληθέστερον, δεδοικέναι μὴ καθυβρίσειν τῇ εὐτελείᾳ τοῦ ἡμετέρου λόγου τὴν ἐκείνου τοῦ μακαρίου ἀνδρὸς περὶ τῶν θείων ὑψηγορίαν τε καὶ νόησιν. Ὅμως δ᾽ οὖν ὕστερον τῇ βίᾳ τῆς ἀγάπης εἴξας τῆς πάντων ἰσχυροτέρας ἐδεξάμην ἑκὼν τὸ ἐπίταγμα, γελᾶσθαι μᾶλλον ἐπ᾽ αὐθαδείᾳ τε καὶ ἀπαιδευσίᾳ δι᾽ εὐπείθειαν παρὰ τῶν μεμψιμοίρων ἑλόμενος ἢ ὑμῖν διὰ τῆς ἀναβολῆς ἐν παντὶ καλῷ μὴ συμπροθυμεῖσθαι βούλεσθαι νομισθῆναι, τὴν περὶ τοῦ πῶς εἰπεῖν μέριμναν τῷ Θεῷ ἐπιρρίψας τῷ μόνῳ θαυματουργῷ καὶ διδάσκοντι μὲν ἄνθρωπον γνῶσιν, τρανοῦντι δὲ γλῶσσαν μογιλάλων, καὶ τοῖς ἀπόροις πόρον ἐπινοοῦντι 14__042 καὶ ἐγείροντι μὲν ἀπὸ γῆς πτωχόν, ἀπὸ δὲ κοπρίας ἀνυψοῦντι πένητα· τοῦ σαρκικοῦ λέγω φρονήματος καὶ τῆς δυσώδους τῶν παθῶν ἰλύος· τὸν πτωχὸν τῷ πνεύματι ἢ τὸν κακίας πτωχεύοντα, καὶ τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν πενόμενον ἕξεως, ἢ τοὐναντίον καὶ τὸν ἔτι τῷ νόμῳ τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τοῖς πάθεσιν ἐνεχόμενον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῆς κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν πτωχεύοντα καὶ πενόμενον χάριτος.

Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ τῷ παναγίῳ καὶ ὄντως θεοφάντορι ∆ιονυσίῳ τῷ Ἀρεοπαγίτῃ ἐν τῇ 'Περὶ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς Ἱεραρχίας' πραγματείᾳ καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἱερὰν τῆς ἁγίας συνάξεως τελετὴν ἀξίως τῆς αὐτοῦ μεγαλονοίας τεθεώρηται σύμβολα, ἰστέον ὡς οὐ τὰ αὐτὰ νῦν ὁ λόγος διεξέρχεται, οὔτε διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐκείνῳ προέρχεται. Τολμηρὸν γὰρ καὶ αὔθαδες καὶ ἀπονοίας ἐγγύς, ἐγχειρεῖν τοῖς ἐκείνου πειρᾶσθαι τὸν μήτε χωρεῖν αὐτὸν ἢ νοεῖν δυνάμενον, καὶ ὡς ἴδια προκομίζειν τὰ ἐνθέως ἐκείνῳ μόνῳ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος φανερωθέντα μυστήρια, ἀλλ᾽ ὅσα καὶ ἄλλοις ὡς ληπτὰ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ φιλανθρώπως βουλήσει Θεοῦ παρελείφθη πρὸς ἔκθεσιν καὶ γυμνασίαν τῆς αὐτῶν ἐκείνων περὶ τὰ θεῖα κατὰ τὴν ἔφεσιν ἕξεως, καὶ δι᾽ ὧν συμμέτρως αὐτοῖς ἡ παμφαὴς τῶν τελουμένων ἀκτὶς κατανοουμένη καθίσταται γνώριμος καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν κατέχει τοὺς πόθῳ περιληφθέντας, ἵνα μὴ παντελῶς οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτὸν ὦσιν ἀργοί, τὴν πᾶσαν τοῦ χρόνου τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς ἡμέραν, οὐκ ἔχοντες τὸν πρὸς τὴν θείαν ἐκείνην ἀμπελουργίαν μισθούμενον λόγον, τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς πνευματικῆς ἐργασίας τοῦ πνευματικοῦ ἀμπελῶνος, τὸ συλωθὲν κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς ὑπὸ 14__044 τοῦ πονηροῦ δι᾽ ἀπάτης κατὰ τὴν τῆς ἐντολῆς παράβασιν, πνευματικὸν τῆς θείας καὶ βασιλικωτάτης εἰκόνος δηνάριον ἀποδιδόντα.

Οὐ πάντα δὲ τὰ τῷ μακαρίῳ γέροντι μυστικῶς θεωρηθέντα λέγειν καθεξῆς ἐπαγγέλλομαι· οὐδ᾽ αὐτὰ τὰ λεγόμενα, ὡς ἐνοήθη τε παρ᾽ ἐκείνου καὶ ἐλέχθη. Ἐκεῖνος γάρ, πρὸς τὸ φιλόσοφος εἶναι καὶ πάσης παιδείας διδάσκαλος, δι᾽ ἀρετῆς περιουσίαν καὶ τῆς περὶ τὰ θεῖα χρονιωτέρας τε καὶ ἐπιστημονικωτέρας τριβῆς καὶ φιλοπονίας, τῶν τῆς ὕλης δεσμῶν καὶ τῶν κατ᾽ αὐτὴν φαντασιῶν ἐλεύθερον ἑαυτὸν καταστήσας, τόν τε νοῦν εἰκότως εἶχε ταῖς θείαις αὐγαῖς περιλαμπόμενον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δυνάμενον εὐθέως ὁρᾷν τὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς μὴ ὁρώμενα, καὶ τὸν λόγον ἑρμηνευτὴν ἀκριβέστατον τῶν νοηθέντων· καὶ ἐσόπτρου δίκην ὑπ᾽ οὐδεμιᾶς κηλίδος παθῶν ἐμποδιζόμενον, ἀκραιφνῶς τὰ ἄλλοις μήτε νοηθῆναι δυνάμενα, καὶ φέρειν