way of life and sacred teachings, or the hidden and mystical vision of the beloved and divine of the disciples, or the supramundane theology of Jesus he has expounded to those suited for deification and has firmly rooted in the sacred and divine upliftings of the rites, but the sacred writing of the divine odes, having as its purpose to hymn all theologies and divine works and to praise the sacred words and sacred rites of divine men, makes a universal hymn and narrative of divine things, implanting a suitable disposition for the reception and participation of every hierarchical rite in those who divinely recite it. <5> When, therefore, the comprehensive hymnology of all sacred things harmoniously disposes our soul’s dispositions toward those things which are to be celebrated a little later, and by the unison of the divine odes establishes unanimity toward divine things and ourselves and one another, as by one and concordant sacred dance, what is more concisely and obscurely expressed in the spiritual sacred text of the psalms is expanded through more numerous and clearer images and proclamations by the most sacred readings of the holy scriptures. In these, he who looks sacredly will see the uniform and one inspiration, as moved by the one divine Spirit. Whence, it is fittingly in the world that after the more ancient tradition the new covenant is proclaimed, with the divine and hierarchical order indicating this, I think, that the one spoke of the future divine works of Jesus while the other accomplished them, and that the former wrote the truth in images, while the latter showed it forth as present. For the fulfillment according to the latter has confirmed the truth of the former's prophecies, and divine work is the summation of theology. <6> Of these, some who are altogether unproclaimed for the sacred rites do not even see the images, having shamelessly renounced the salvific initiation of divine birth and having ruinously spoken against the oracles the words "I do not want to know Your ways"; but the rule of the holy hierarchy allows the catechumens, the possessed, and those who are in penance to hear the sacred reading of the psalms and the divine reading of the all-holy scriptures, but to the subsequent sacred rites and visions it does not call these, but rather the perfect eyes of the initiated. For the godlike hierarchy is full of sacred justice and imparts to each what is fitting for salvation, sacredly bestowing at the proper time the harmonious participation of each in divine things, in due measure and proportion. The last order, therefore, has been assigned to the catechumens. For they are without participation and uninitiated in any hierarchical rite, not yet having obtained a divine existence by divine birth, but are still being brought to birth by the fatherly oracles and being formed by life-giving shapes toward the life-originating, light-originating, and blessed advancement that comes from divine birth. Just as, therefore, if infants according to the flesh should fall forth from their proper birth imperfect and unformed, they will, as miscarriages and abortions, have an unborn, lifeless, and unenlightened fall upon the earth, and no one in their right mind, looking at what is apparent, would say that they have been brought forth into the light, freed from the darkness of the womb (for the scientific rule for bodies, medicine, would say that light acts upon those receptive of light), so also the all-wise science of sacred things first brings them to birth by the introductory nourishment of the formative and life-giving oracles, and having brought their subsistence to perfection for divine birth, it grants to them for their salvation, in due order, communion with the luminous and consecrating things. But for now it separates the perfect things from them as from the imperfect, taking care for both the good order of the sacred rites and for the godlike birth and life of the catechumens in hierarchical order. <7> The multitude of the possessed, is also itself unholy, but is second, in an upward direction, from the last place of the catechumens. For not equal, I think, to one who is completely uninitiated and utterly without communion in the divine rites is one who has had some participation in the most holy mysteries,

πολιτείας καὶ ἱερὰς διδασκαλίας ἢ τὴν κρυφίαν καὶ μυστικὴν ἐποψίαν τοῦ τῶν μαθητῶν ἀγαπητοῦ καὶ θεσπεσίου ἢ τὴν ὑπερκόσμιον Ἰησοῦ θεολογίαν τοῖς πρὸς θέωσιν ἐπιτηδείοις ὑφηγήσατο καὶ ταῖς ἱεραῖς τῶν τελετῶν καὶ θεοειδέσιν ἀναγωγαῖς συνερρίζωσεν, ἡ δὲ τῶν θείων ᾠδῶν ἱερογραφία σκοπὸν ἔχουσα τὰς θεολογίας τε καὶ θεουργίας ἁπάσας ὑμνῆσαι καὶ τὰς τῶν θείων ἀνδρῶν ἱερολογίας τε καὶ ἱερουργίας αἰνέσαι καθολικὴν ποιεῖται τῶν θείων ᾠδὴν καὶ ἀφήγησιν πρὸς πάσης ἱεραρχικῆς τελετῆς ὑποδοχὴν καὶ μετάδοσιν ἕξιν οἰκείαν ἐμποιοῦσα τοῖς ἐνθέως αὐτὴν ἱερολογοῦσιν. <5> Ὅταν οὖν ἡ περιεκτικὴ τῶν πανιέρων ὑμνολογία τὰς ψυχικὰς ἡμῶν ἕξεις ἐναρμονίως διαθῇ πρὸς τὰ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἱερουργηθησόμενα καὶ τῇ τῶν θείων ᾠδῶν ὁμοφωνίᾳ τὴν πρὸς τὰ θεῖα καὶ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἀλλήλους ὁμοφροσύνην ὡς μιᾷ καὶ ὁμολόγῳ τῶν ἱερῶν χορείᾳ νομοθετήσῃ, τὰ συντετμημένα καὶ συνεσκιασμένα μᾶλλον ἐν τῇ νοερᾷ τῶν ψαλμῶν ἱερολογίᾳ διὰ πλειόνων καὶ σαφεστέρων εἰκόνων καὶ ἀναρρήσεων εὐρύνεται ταῖς ἱερωτάταις τῶν ἁγιογράφων συντάξεων ἀναγνώσεσιν. Ἐν ταύταις ὁ βλέπων ἱερῶς ὄψεται τὴν ἑνοειδῆ καὶ μίαν ἔμπνευσιν ὡς ὑφ' ἑνὸς τοῦ θεαρχικοῦ πνεύματος κεκινημένην. Ὅθεν εἰ κότως ἐν κόσμῳ μετὰ τὴν ἀρχαιοτέραν παράδοσιν ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη κηρύσσεται τῆς ἐνθέου καὶ ἱεραρχικῆς τάξεως ἐκεῖνο οἶμαι δηλούσης, ὡς ἡ μὲν ἔφη τὰς ἐσομένας Ἰησοῦ θεουργίας ἡ δὲ ἐτέλεσε, καὶ ὡς ἐκείνη μὲν ἐν εἰκόσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔγραψεν, αὕτη δὲ παροῦσαν ὑπέδειξεν. Τῶν γὰρ ἐκείνης προαναρρήσεων ἡ κατὰ ταύτην τελεσιουργία τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπιστώσατο, καὶ ἔστι τῆς θεολογίας ἡ θεουργία συγκεφαλαίωσις. <6> Τούτων οἱ μὲν ἀπερισάλπιγκτοι καθόλου τῶν ἱερῶν τελετῶν οὐδὲ τὰς εἰκόνας ὁρῶσιν ἀναιδῶς ἀπειπάμενοι τὴν σωτηριώδη τῆς θεογενεσίας μύησιν καὶ τοῖς λογίοις ὀλεθρίως ἀντιφθεγξάμενοι τὸ «Ὁδούς σου εἰδέναι οὐ βούλομαι»· τοὺς δὲ κατηχουμένους ἐνεργουμένους τε καὶ τοὺς ἐν μετανοίᾳ ὄντας ὁ τῆς ἁγίας ἱεραρχίας θεσμὸς ἐφίησι μὲν ἐπακοῦσαι τῆς ψαλμικῆς ἱερολογίας καὶ τῆς ἐνθέου τῶν πανιέρων γραφῶν ἀναγνώσεως, εἰς δὲ τὰς ἑξῆς ἱερουργίας καὶ θεωρίας οὐ συγκαλεῖται τούτους, ἀλλὰ τοὺς τελείους τῶν τελεσιουργῶν ὀφθαλμούς. Ἔστι γὰρ ἡ θεοειδὴς ἱεραρχία δικαιοσύνης ἱερᾶς ἀνάπλεως καὶ τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ σωτηρίως ἀπονέμει, τὴν ἐναρμόνιον ἑκάστου τῶν θείων μέθεξιν ἐν συμμετρίᾳ καὶ ἀναλογίᾳ κατὰ καιρὸν ἱερῶς δωρουμένη. Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐσχάτη τοῖς κατηχουμένοις ἀπονενέμηται τάξις. Eἰσὶ γὰρ ἀμέθεκτοι καὶ ἀμύητοι παντὸς ἱεραρχικοῦ τελεστηρίου μηδὲ τὴν κατὰ θείαν ἀπότεξιν ἔνθεον ἐσχηκότες ὕπαρξιν, ἀλλ' ἔτι πρὸς τῶν πατρικῶν λογίων μαιευόμενοι καὶ ζωοποιοῖς μορφώμασι διαπλαττόμενοι πρὸς τὴν ἐκ θεογενεσίας ἀρχίζωον καὶ ἀρχίφωτον καὶ μακαρίαν προαγωγήν. Ὥσπερ οὖν εἰ ἀτέλεστα καὶ ἀμόρφωτα προεκπέσοι τὰ κατὰ σάρκα βρέφη τῆς οἰκείας μαιεύσεως, ὡς ἀμβλωθρίδια καὶ ἐκτρώματα τὴν ἀγέννητον καὶ ἄζωον καὶ ἀφώτιστον ἐπὶ γῆς ἀπόπτωσιν ἕξει καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις εὐφρονῶν εἴποι πρὸς τὸ φαινόμενον ἀποσκοπῶν ἐπὶ τὸ φῶς αὐτὰ προαχθῆναι τοῦ κατὰ γαστέρα σκότους ἀπαλλαγέντα (φαίη γὰρ ἂν ἡ τῶν σωμάτων ἐπιστημονικὴ πρόστασις ἰατρικὴ τὸ φῶς ἐνεργεῖν εἰς τὰ δεκτικὰ τοῦ φωτός), οὕτω καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν ἡ πάνσοφος ἐπιστήμη πρῶτα μὲν αὐτοὺς τῇ τῶν μορφωτικῶν καὶ ζωοποιῶν λογίων εἰσαγωγικῇ τροφῇ μαιεύεται, τελεσφορήσασα δὲ τὴν πρὸς θεογενεσίαν αὐτῶν ὑπόστασιν ἐνδίδωσι σωτηρίως αὐτοῖς ἐν τάξει τὴν πρὸς τὰ φωτοειδῆ καὶ τελεσιουργὰ κοινωνίαν. Νῦν δὲ ὡς ἀτελέστων ἀποδιαστέλλει τὰ τέλεια τῆς τε εὐκοσμίας τῶν ἱερῶν προμηθουμένη καὶ τῆς τῶν κατηχουμένων ἐν θεοειδεῖ τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν τάξει μαιεύσεως καὶ ζωῆς. <7> Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἐνεργουμένων πληθὺς ἀνίερος μὲν καὶ αὐτή, δευτέρα δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἄνω τῆς τῶν κατηχουμένων ἐστὶν ἐσχατιᾶς. Oὐδὲ γὰρ ἴσον ὡς οἶμαι τοῦ παντελῶς ἀμυήτου καὶ τῶν θείων τελετῶν ἄκρως ἀκοινωνήτου τὸ μετουσίαν τινὰ τῶν ἱερωτάτων ἐσχηκὸς τελεστηρίων,