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being carried around, and a vehement cry which is indistinct because of the violent impulse of the breath? Are not some of these the works of women prostituting themselves at the crossroads, and others of those shouting in the theaters? How then do you dare to mix the games of demons with this angelic doxology? how are you not ashamed of this voice which you utter, saying, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice in Him with trembling"? Is this to serve in fear, to be dissolute and strained and not even to know yourself what you are saying with the disordered resonance of your voice? This is of contempt, not fear; of arrogance, not humility; this is of those who are playing rather than of those who are giving glory. What then is it to serve the Lord in fear? To fulfill every commandment, working it out with fear and modesty, to offer up supplications with a contrite heart and a humble mind. And not only to serve in fear, but also to rejoice in trembling the Holy Spirit exhorts through the prophet. For since the fulfillment of the commandment is accustomed to produce joy in the one practicing virtue, this too, he says, it is fitting to do with trembling and dread, so that we, not being confounded by fearlessness, may lose our labors and provoke God. But how will it be, he says, to rejoice in trembling? For it is not even possible for the two to happen at the same time, there being a great difference between them. For joy is the fulfillment of desires and the enjoyment of pleasant things and the forgetting of sorrows; but fear is the intensification of expected evils, established upon a condemned conscience. How then is it to rejoice in fear, and not simply in fear, but in trembling, which is an intensification of fear and a sign of great agony? but how, he says, will this happen? The Seraphim themselves teach you by their work, fulfilling such a ministry. For they too, enjoying the ineffable glory of the Creator and beholding the unattainable beauty; I do not say that very thing, which it is by nature (for this is incomprehensible and cannot be seen and is unformed, and it is absurd to suppose so about it), but as much as they are able, as much as they have strength to be illuminated by that ray. For since they minister continually around the royal throne, they continue in perpetual joy, in eternal gladness, in unceasing exultation, rejoicing, leaping, unceasingly giving glory. For to stand in the presence of that glory and to be illuminated by the splendor flashing from it, this is to them both joy, and exultation, and gladness, and glory. Perhaps you have experienced some pleasure and have come into a desire for that glory. 1.3 But if you should wish to listen to one exhorting and to offer the present doxology with reverence, you will not be deprived of such joy; for He Himself is that Lord, who is glorified both in the heavens and on earth; "For heaven," he says, "and earth are full of His glory." How then do they, enjoying so great a gladness, mix it with fear? How? Hear what the prophet says: "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." For what reason, having said high, did he also add lifted up? For was it not sufficient through "high" to signify the whole matter and to show that which is transcendent in dignity? why then did he add "lifted up"? So that he might show the incomprehensibility of the session. For since among us "high" provides a certain concept of comparison to things on the ground and more lowly (for example, the mountains are high in relation to the plains and the hollows of the earth, and the heaven is high, raised above all earthly things), but "lifted up" and "exalted" belongs only to that incomprehensible nature, which it is possible neither to conceive nor to interpret; for this reason he says: "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." And what else

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περιφερόμεναι, κραυγή τε σφοδρὰ καὶ τῇ βιαίᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος ὠθήσει τὸ ἄσημον ἔχουσα; Οὐχὶ τὰ μὲν αὐτῶν τῶν ἐν ταῖς τριόδοις ἑταιριζομένων γυναικῶν, τὰ δὲ τῶν ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις φωνούντων ἐστὶν ἔργα; Πῶς οὖν τολμᾷς τῇ ἀγγελικῇ ταύτῃ δοξολογίᾳ τὰ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀναμιγνύειν παίγνια; πῶς δὲ οὐκ αἰδῇ ταύτην τὴν φωνήν, ἣν ἐκφέρεις, "∆ουλεύσατε τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν φόβῳ, λέγων, καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε αὐτῷ ἐν τρόμῳ"; Τοῦτό ἐστιν, ἐν φόβῳ δουλεύειν, τὸ διακεχῦσθαί τε καὶ συντείνεσθαι καὶ μηδὲ σεαυτὸν ἐπίστασθαι περὶ τίνων διαλέγῃ τῇ ἀτάκτῳ τῆς φωνῆς ἐνηχήσει; Τοῦτο καταφρονήσεώς ἐστιν, οὐ φόβου, ἀλαζονείας, οὐ ταπεινώσεως· τοῦτο παιζόντων μᾶλλον ἢ δοξολογούντων. Τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ δουλεύειν τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν φόβῳ; Τὸ πᾶσαν ἐντολὴν ἀποπληροῦντας φόβῳ καὶ συστολῇ ταύτην κατεργάζεσθαι, τὸ συντετριμμένῃ καρδίᾳ καὶ τεταπεινωμένῳ νοῒ τὰς ἱκεσίας προβάλλεσθαι. Καὶ οὐ μόνον δουλεύειν ἐν φόβῳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθαι ἐν τρόμῳ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον διὰ τοῦ προφήτου παρακελεύεται. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ τῆς ἐντολῆς πλήρωσις χαρὰν εἴωθεν ἐμποιεῖν τῷ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀσκοῦντι, καὶ ταύτην, φησί, τρόμῳ καὶ δέει ποιεῖσθαι προσήκει, ἵνα μὴ τῇ ἀφοβίᾳ συγχεόμενοι, τούς τε πόνους ζημιωθῶμεν καὶ τὸν Θεὸν παροξύνωμεν. Πῶς δὲ ἔσται, φησίν, ἀγάλλεσθαι ἐν τρόμῳ; Καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ δυνατὸν κατὰ ταὐτὸν τὰ δύο συμβαίνειν, πολλῆς οὔσης τῆς μεταξὺ αὐτῶν διαφορᾶς. Χαρὰ γάρ ἐστι καταθυμίων πλήρωσις καὶ ἡδέων ἀπόλαυσις καὶ ἀνιαρῶν λήθη· φόβος δὲ ἐλπιζομένων κακῶν ἐπίτασις, ἐπὶ κατεγνωσμένῳ συνιστάμενος συνειδότι. Πῶς οὖν ἔστιν ἀγάλλεσθαι ἐν φόβῳ, καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐν φόβῳ, ἀλλ' ἐν τρόμῳ, ὅπερ ἐπίτασίς ἐστι τοῦ φόβου καὶ πολλῆς ἀγωνίας σημεῖον; πῶς δέ, φησί, τοῦτο γενήσεται; Αὐτά σε τὰ Σεραφὶμ διδάσκουσιν ἔργῳ, τὴν τοιαύτην ἀποπληροῦντα διακονίαν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνα τῆς ἀφάτου δόξης ἀπολαύοντα τοῦ κτίστου καὶ τὸ ἀμήχανον ἐνοπτριζόμενα κάλλος· οὐ λέγω αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τῇ φύσει (ἀκατανόητον γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ ἀθεώρητον καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον, καὶ ἄτοπόν ἐστι τὸ οὕτω περὶ αὐτοῦ ὑπολαμβάνειν), ἀλλ' ὅσον ἐγχωροῦσιν, ὅσον ὑπὸ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἐκείνης ἰσχύουσιν καταλάμπεσθαι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ διηνεκῶς λειτουργοῦσιν κύκλῳ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ θρόνου, ἐν διηνεκεῖ χαρᾷ διατελοῦσιν, ἐν ἀϊδίῳ εὐφροσύνῃ, ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει ἀκαταπαύστῳ, χαίροντα, σκιρτῶντα, ἀσιγήτως δοξολογοῦντα. Τὸ γὰρ ἐνώπιον ἑστάναι τῆς δόξης ἐκείνης καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀπαστραπτούσης καταφωτίζεσθαι αἴγλης, τοῦτο αὐτοῖς καὶ χαρά, τοῦτο καὶ ἀγαλλίασις, τοῦτο καὶ εὐφροσύνη, τοῦτο καὶ δόξα. Τάχα τι πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἐπάθετε καὶ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῆς δόξης ἐκείνης γεγόνατε. 1.3 Ἀλλ' εἴ γε βουληθείητε παραινοῦντος ἀκοῦσαι καὶ μετ' εὐλαβείας τὴν παροῦσαν δοξολογίαν ποιεῖσθαι, οὐκ ἀποληφθήσεσθε τῆς τοιαύτης χαρᾶς· αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ἐκεῖνος ὁ ∆εσπότης, ὁ καὶ ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς δοξαζόμενος· "Πλήρης γὰρ ὁ οὐρανός, φησί, καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ." Πῶς οὖν ἐκεῖνα τῆς τοσαύτης εὐφροσύνης ἀπολαύοντα, φόβῳ ταύτην ἀναμιγνύουσιν; Πῶς; Ἄκουσον τί φησιν ὁ προφήτης· "Εἶδον τὸν Κύριον καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπῃρμένου." Τίνος ἕνεκεν τὸ ὑψηλὸν εἰπών, καὶ τὸ ἐπῃρμένον προσέθηκε; μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἤρκει διὰ τοῦ ὑψηλοῦ τὸ πᾶν σημᾶναι τοῦ πράγματος καὶ δεῖξαι τὸ τῆς ἀξίας ὑπερανεστηκός; διὰ τί οὖν τὸ ἐπῃρμένον ἐπήγαγεν; Ἵνα τὸ τῆς καθέδρας ἀκατάληπτον ἐνδείξηται. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ παρ' ἡμῖν τὸ ὑψηλὸν ἔννοιάν τινα παρέχεται συγκρίσεως πρὸς τὰ χαμαίζηλά τε καὶ ταπεινότερα (οἷον, ὑψηλὰ μὲν τὰ ὄρη πρὸς τὰς πεδιάδας καὶ τὰ κοῖλα τῆς γῆς, ὑψηλὸς δὲ ὁ οὐρανὸς ὁ πάντων ὑπεραρθεὶς τῶν γηΐνων), τὸ δὲ ἐπῃρμένον καὶ ἐξῃρμένον μόνης ἐστὶν ἐκείνης τῆς ἀκαταλήπτου φύσεως, ἣν μήτε ἐννοῆσαι, μήτε ἑρμηνεῦσαί ἐστιν δυνατόν· διὰ τοῦτό φησι· "Εἶδον τὸν Κύριον καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπῃρμένου." Καὶ τί ἕτερον