indicating symbolically a complete cleansing for the body being cleansed naturally through water. <2> But let this be for the imperfect an introductory spiritual guidance, distinguishing as is right the hierarchical and uniform realities from the multitude, and proportioning to the particular orders their harmonious elevation. But we, having looked up with sacred ascents to the principles of the rites being celebrated, and having been sacredly initiated into them, shall recognize of what characters they are the impressions and of what invisible things they are the images. For, as has been clearly stated in the treatise *Concerning Intelligible and Sensible Things*, the sacred sensible things are representations of the intelligible things, and a guidance and a path to them, while the intelligible things are the principle and science of the hierarchical things according to sense. <3> Let us say, then, that the goodness of the divine blessedness, being ever in the same state and in the same way, spreads the beneficent rays of its own light abundantly over all intellectual visions. If, then, the self-chosen free will of intellectual beings should turn away from the intelligible light, having closed through a love of evil the powers naturally sown in it for being enlightened, it is separated from the light present to it, not because the light has departed, but because it shines upon it as it blinks and turns away, approaching it in a good-like manner; or if it should try to leap over the limits of the visible moderately given to it and should boldly attempt to gaze upon the radiances beyond its own vision, the light will effect nothing contrary to the nature of light, but it, aspiring imperfectly to perfect things, would not attain those things which are unsuitable, and by disorderly disdaining what is moderate, it will fail through itself. Nevertheless, as I said, the divine light is always spread beneficently for the intellectual visions, and it is possible for them to partake of it, being present, and always most ready for a God-befitting communication of its own gifts. In imitation of this, the divine hierarch is molded, spreading abundantly over all the light-like splendors of his divinely-inspired teaching, and being most ready to enlighten the one approaching, in imitation of God, not using envy or an unholy wrath for a former apostasy or lack of measure, but always divinely shining hierarchically upon those who approach his illuminations in good order and rank and in proportion to each one's capacity for sacred things. <4> But if the Divine is the principle of sacred good order, according to which the sacred minds are conscious of themselves, he who runs up to the visible proper to his own nature, whoever he may be, will in the beginning see himself, and will receive this first as a sacred gift from his upward turning to the light. But he who has looked well upon his own things with dispassionate eyes will depart from the dark recesses of ignorance; but being himself imperfect for the most perfect union and participation of God, he will not desire it straightaway, but little by little, through his own primary things to the things yet before them, and through those to the most primary things, and having been perfected, he will be led up in order and sacredly to the Thearchic summit. An image of this well-ordered and sacred rank is the reverence of the one approaching and the self-knowledge of the things concerning himself, having the sponsor as guide on the way to the hierarch. The divine blessedness receives him who is thus led up into participation of itself and imparts to him its own light as a kind of sign, making him divinely-inspired and a partaker of the divine allotment and sacred station, of which the seal bestowed by the hierarch on the one approaching is a sacred symbol, and the saving registration by the priests, enrolling him among those who are being saved and inscribing in sacred memorials both him and his sponsor—the one as a true lover of the truly life-giving journey and a follower of a divinely-inspired leader, the other as an unerring guide of his follower by God-given leadership. <5> But it is not possible to partake of extreme opposites at the same time, nor for one who has had some communion with the One to have divided lives, if he holds fast to a firm participation of the One, but to be unrelated and unordered in all the divisions from the uniform. Which the [teaching] of the symbols

ἀποκάθαρσιν ὁλικῶς τῷ σώματι καθαιρομένῳ φυσικῶς δι' ὕδατος αἰνισσομένη. <2> Ἀλλ' ἔστω μὲν αὕτη τοῖς ἀτελέσιν εἰσαγωγικὴ ψυχαγωγία τά τε ἱεραρχικὰ καὶ ἑνοειδῆ τῆς πληθύος ὡς θέμις ἀποδιαστέλλουσα καὶ συμμετροῦσα ταῖς κατὰ μέρος τάξεσι τὴν ἐναρμόνιον 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 διηγόρευται, τὰ μὲν αἰσθητῶς ἱερὰ τῶν νοητῶν ἀπεικονίσματα καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὰ χειραγωγία καὶ ὁδός, τὰ δὲ νοητὰ τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν ἱεραρχικῶν ἀρχὴ καὶ ἐπιστήμη. <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. Eἰτ' 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 ἀποτεύξεται. 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. <4> Ἀλλ' εἴπερ εὐταξίας ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ τὸ θεῖον ἱερᾶς, καθ' ἣν ἑαυτῶν ἐπιγνώμονες οἱ ἱεροὶ νόες, ὁ πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον τῆς φύσεως ὁρατὸν ἀνατρέχων 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 ἀποφοιτήσει 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 ἀναχθήσεται. Ταύτης ἐστὶ τῆς εὐκόσμου καὶ ἱερᾶς τάξεως εἰκὼν ἡ τοῦ προσιόντος 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 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 ἑπομένου χειραγωγόν. <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