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Did you see, O prophet? What did you behold concerning him? "And the Seraphim stood," he says, "round about him." Doing what, tell me, and saying what? Enjoying what boldness of speech? "Of no boldness," he says, "but full of fear and astonishment," and by their very posture displaying the unspeakable awe. "For with two wings they covered their faces," at once walling off the ray sent forth from the throne, because they were unable to bear its unbearable glory, and at the same time showing their own reverence, which they have towards the Master. In such joy do they rejoice, in such gladness do they exult. Did you see how they cover not only their faces, but also their feet. For what reason do they do this? Their faces, reasonably, on account of the terror of the sight and being unable to look straight at the unapproachable glory; but why do they cover their feet? And I wished to leave this to you, so as to persuade you also to labor on its solution and to be vigilant in the investigation of spiritual things; but lest by leaving your mind occupied in its inquiry, I should cause you to neglect the exhortation, it is necessary to resolve it. Why then do they cover their feet? They hasten to show an insatiable reverence towards the creator, great anxiety both through their posture and through their voice and through their sight, and through their very stance. Since even so they fail to attain what is desired and what is fitting, by covering themselves on all sides they conceal what is lacking. Have you understood what was said, or is it right to take it up again? But that this may become clearer, I will try to make it plain from examples among us. Someone stands before an earthly king, he contrives by all means to show great reverence toward him, in order that through this he might draw to himself greater favor from him. For this reason, both by the posture of the head and by the voice and by the binding of the hands and the joining of the feet and the composure of the whole body, he practices such reverence. This also happens in the case of those bodiless powers. For having a great desire for reverence toward the creator and contriving by all means to obtain it, then failing in their longing, they cover up the deficiency of their desire with a covering. For this reason, then, they are said to cover both their faces and their feet. Even if there is some other more mystical contemplation contemplated concerning this; for the prophet does not signify this so that we might shout that they have feet and faces—for they are incorporeal, just as is the divine—, but so that through these things he might show that they are composed on all sides, and serve the Master with fear and reverence. Thus must we also stand, offering such a doxology to him, fearing and trembling and, as it were, beholding him with the eyes of the mind. For he is certainly present here and is circumscribed nowhere and he records the voices of all. Thus, then, sending up praise with a contrite and humbled heart, let us make it acceptable and send it up to heaven as a fragrant incense. "For a contrite and humbled heart," it says, "God will not despise." But the prophet, one says, urges that the doxology be made with a shout; "For shout to the Lord, all the earth." But we do not forbid such a shout, but the meaningless cry; not the voice of praise, but the voice of disorder, the contentions with one another, the hands raised in the air rashly and in vain, the prancing feet, the unseemly and dissolute manners, which are the pastimes of those who frequent the theaters and the hippodromes. From there these destructive things

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εἶδες, ὦ προφῆτα; τί περὶ αὐτὸν ἐθεάσω; "Καὶ τὰ Σεραφὶμ εἱστήκεισαν, φησί, κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ." Τί ποιοῦντα, εἰπέ μοι, καὶ τί λέγοντα; ποίας παρρησίας ἀπολαύοντα; Παρρησίας μέν, φησίν, οὐδεμιᾶς, φόβου δὲ καὶ καταπλήξεως γέμοντα, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ σχήματος τὸ ἄφατον ἐπιδεικνύμενα τοῦ δέους. "Ταῖς γὰρ δυσὶ πτέρυξι κατεκάλυπτον τὰ πρόσωπα", ὁμοῦ μὲν ἀποτειχίζοντα τὴν ἐκπεμπομένην ἀκτῖνα τοῦ θρόνου, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι φέρειν τὴν ἄστεκτον αὐτῆς δόξαν, ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν εὐλάβειαν ὑποφαίνοντα, ἣν ἔχουσι πρὸς τὸν ∆εσπότην. Τοιαύτῃ χαρᾷ χαίρουσιν ἐκεῖνα, τοιαύτῃ εὐφροσύνῃ ἀγάλλονται. Εἶδες πῶς οὐ μόνον τὰ πρόσωπα καλύπτουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πόδας. Τίνος ἕνεκεν τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν; Τὰς μὲν γὰρ ὄψεις εἰκότως διὰ τὸ φοβερὸν τοῦ θεάματος καὶ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἀντοφθαλμεῖν τῇ ἀπροσίτῳ δόξῃ· τοὺς πόδας δὲ διὰ τί συγκαλύπτουσιν; Καὶ ἐβουλόμην μὲν ὑμῖν τοῦτο καταλιπεῖν, ὥστε πεῖσαι καὶ ὑμᾶς πονεῖν περὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ λύσιν καὶ ἐγρηγορέναι πρὸς τὴν τῶν πνευματικῶν ἔρευναν· ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἀσχολουμένην τὴν ὑμετέραν διάνοιαν εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ ζήτησιν καταλιπών, ἀμελεῖν τῆς παραινέσεως παρασκευάσω, ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὸ ἐπιλύσασθαι. ∆ιὰ τί οὖν τοὺς πόδας κατακαλύπτουσιν; Ἄπληστον τὴν πρὸς τὸν κτίστην εὐλάβειαν ἐνδείκνυσθαι σπεύδουσιν, πολλὴν τὴν ἀγωνίαν καὶ διὰ τοῦ σχήματος καὶ διὰ τῆς φωνῆς καὶ διὰ τῆς ὄψεως, καὶ δι' αὐτῆς τῆς στάσεως. Ἐπειδή γε καὶ οὕτω τοῦ ἐπιθυμουμένου καὶ τοῦ προσήκοντος ἀποτυγχάνουσιν, τῷ συγκαλύπτεσθαι πανταχόθεν τὸ ἐλλεῖπον περικρύπτουσιν. Ἆρα ἐνοήσατε τὸ εἰρημένον, ἢ πάλιν ἀναλαβεῖν αὐτὸ δίκαιον; Ἀλλ' ἵνα σαφέστερον τοῦτο γένηται, ἐκ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν παραδειγμάτων, φανερὸν αὐτὸ ποιῆσαι πειράσομαι. Παρίσταταί τις τῷ ἐπιγείῳ βασιλεῖ, διὰ πάντων μηχανᾶται, ὥστε πολλὴν τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν εὐλάβειαν ἐπιδείξασθαι, ἵνα διὰ τούτου πλείονα τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐπισπάσηται εὔνοιαν. Τούτου χάριν καὶ διὰ τοῦ τῆς κεφαλῆς σχήματος καὶ διὰ τῆς φωνῆς καὶ διὰ τοῦ δεσμοῦ τῶν χειρῶν καὶ τῆς τῶν ποδῶν συζεύξεως καὶ τῆς συστολῆς τοῦ ὅλου σώματος τὴν τοιαύτην εὐλάβειαν ἐπιτηδεύει. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀσωμάτων ἐκείνων γίνεται δυνάμεων. Πολλὴν γὰρ ἔχοντα τῆς πρὸς τὸν κτίστην εὐλαβείας τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ ταύτην πανταχόθεν μηχανώμενα περιποιεῖσθαι, εἶτα τῆς ἐφέσεως ἀποτυγχάνοντα, τὸ ὑστεροῦν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τῷ καλύμματι ἐπικρύπτουσιν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τοίνυν τάς τε ὄψεις καὶ τοὺς πόδας κατακαλύπτεσθαι λέγονται. Εἰ καὶ ἄλλη τίς ἐστι μυστικωτέρα θεωρία ἡ περὶ τούτου θεωρουμένη· οὐ γὰρ ἵνα βοήσωμεν ὅτι πόδας καὶ πρόσωπα ἔχουσιν, τοῦτο ἐπισημαίνεται ὁ προφήτηςἀσώματα γάρ ἐστιν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ θεῖον, ἀλλ' ἵνα διὰ τούτων ἐπιδείξῃ πανταχόθεν αὐτὰ συνεστάλθαι, φόβῳ τε καὶ εὐλαβείᾳ λειτουργεῖν τῷ ∆εσπότῃ. Οὕτω δεῖ καὶ ἡμᾶς παρίστασθαι τὴν τοιαύτην αὐτῷ δοξολογίαν προσφέροντας, δεδοικότας καὶ τρέμοντας καὶ ὡς αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τοῖς τῆς διανοίας ἐνορῶντας ὀφθαλμοῖς. Πάρεστι γὰρ ἐνταῦθα πάντως καὶ οὐδαμοῦ περιγράφεται καὶ τὰς φωνὰς ἁπάντων ἀπογράφεται. Οὕτω τοίνυν συντετριμμένῃ καρδίᾳ καὶ τεταπεινωμένῃ τὴν αἴνεσιν ἀναπέμποντες, εὐπρόσδεκτον αὐτὴν ποιήσωμεν καὶ ὡς εὐῶδες θυμίαμα πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀναπέμψωμεν. "Καρδίαν γάρ, φησί, συντετριμμένην καὶ τεταπεινωμένην ὁ Θεὸς οὐκ ἐξουδενώσει." Ἀλλ' ὁ προφήτης, φησίν, ἀλαλαγμῷ ποιεῖσθαι τὴν δοξολογίαν προτρέπεται· "Ἀλαλάξατε γὰρ τῷ Κυρίῳ, πᾶσα ἡ γῆ." Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς τὸν τοιοῦτον διακωλύομεν ἀλαλαγμόν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἄσημον βοήν· οὐδὲ τὴν φωνὴν τῆς αἰνέσεως, ἀλλὰ τὴν φωνὴν τῆς ἀταξίας, τὰς πρὸς ἀλλήλους φιλονεικίας, τὰς εἰκῇ καὶ μάτην ἐπαιρομένας χεῖρας ἐν τῷ ἀέρι, τοὺς ἱππαζομένους πόδας, τὰ ἄκοσμα καὶ διακεκλασμένα ἤθη, ἅπερ τῶν ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις καὶ ταῖς ἱπποδρομίαις σχολαζόντων ἐστὶ παίγνια. Ἐκεῖθεν ἡμῖν τὰ ὀλέθρια ταῦτα