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I. OF WHAT ARE THE DIVINE READINGS A SYMBOL 14__100 I. Of what are the divine readings a symbol The divine readings of the most holy books, the divine and blessed of the

all-holy God's wills and counsels, the teacher said they signify, through which each one of us receives the instructions for what must be done, according to the power present in him, and we learn the laws of the divine and blessed contests, according to which, by competing lawfully, we are deemed worthy of the crowns of victory of the kingdom of Christ.

XI. OF WHAT ARE THE DIVINE SONGS SYMBOLS 14__102 XI. Of what are the divine songs symbols And the spiritual delightfulness of the divine songs, the manifest

he said it declares the pleasure of the divine good things, which stirs up souls toward the pure and blessed love of God, and further arouses them to the hatred of sin.

XII. WHAT DO THE ACCLAMATIONS OF PEACE SIGNIFY 14__104 XII. What do the acclamations of peace signify And through the acclamations made from within by the priesthood at the command of the high priest at

each reading of peace, the wise man determined that the divine acceptances conveyed through the holy angels are declared, through which God sanctions the contests of those who lawfully struggle for the truth against the opposing powers, dissolving the invisible struggles and giving peace, giving in return to the saints the grace of passionlessness in the abolition of the body of sin and of the toils for virtue, so that, having ceased from warring, they might refashion the powers of the soul toward spiritual husbandry, that is, the working of virtues, through which they scattered the bands of wicked spirits, with God the Word as their general, [who] also scatters the bitter and inescapable machinations of the devil.

XIII. OF WHAT THE READING IS A PARTICULAR SYMBOL FOR EACH PERSON

... 14__106 XIII. Of what the reading of the holy is a particular symbol for each person

Gospel and the mysteries after it Whence immediately after these, the divine reading of the holy Gospel the

sacred ordering of the holy Church legislated to take place; particularly introducing the suffering for the Word to the zealous, after which the Word, who visits them from heaven like a high priest of gnostic contemplation, draws in for them the mind of the flesh as a certain sensible world.

pushing away the thoughts still inclining toward the earth, and having led them from there to the vision of intelligible things through the closing of the doors and the entrance of the holy mysteries, he teaches the ineffable things to those who have already closed their senses to words and things and have come to be outside flesh and the world; who have already been gathered through the kiss to one another and to him, and who introduce to him only the

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Ι. ΤΙΝΩΝ ΕΙΣΙ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟΝ ΤΑ ΘΕΙΑ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΜΑΤΑ 14__100 Ι. Τίνων εἰσὶ σύμβολον τὰ θεῖα ἀναγνώσματα Τὰς δὲ θείας τῶν πανιέρων βίβλων ἀναγνώσεις, τὰς θείας καὶ μακαρίας τοῦ

παναγίου Θεοῦ βουλήσεις τε καὶ βουλὰς ὑπεμφαίνειν ἔλεγεν ὁ διδάσκαλος, δι᾽ ὧν τὰς ὑποθήκας τῶν πρακτέων ἀναλόγως ἕκαστος ἡμῶν κατὰ τὴν ὑποῦσαν αὐτῷ δύναμιν λαμβάνομεν, καὶ τοὺς τῶν θείων καὶ μακαρίων ἀγώνων νόμους μανθάνομεν, καθ᾽ οὓς νομίμως ἀθλοῦντες τῶν ἀξιονίκων τῆς Χριστοῦ βασιλείας ἀξιούμεθα στεφάνων.

ΙΑ. ΤΙΝΟΣ ΕΣΤΙ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΑ ΤΑ ΘΕΙΑ ΑΣΜΑΤΑ 14__102 ΙΑ. Τίνος ἐστὶ σύμβολα τὰ θεῖα ᾄσματα Τὴν δὲ πνευματικὴν τῶν θείων ᾀσμάτων τερπνότητα, τὴν ἐμφαντικὴν

δηλοῦν ἔφασκε τῶν θείων ἡδονὴν ἀγαθῶν, τὴν τὰς ψυχὰς πρὸς μὲν τὸν ἀκήρατον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ μακάριον ἀνακινοῦσαν ἔρωτα, πρὸς δὲ τὸ μῖσος τῆς ἁμαρτίας πλέον ἐγείρουσαν.

ΙΒ. ΤΙ ΣΗΜΑΙΝΟΥΣΙΝ ΑΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΙΡΗΝΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΩΝΗΣΕΙΣ 14__104 ΙΒ. Τί σημαίνουσιν αἱ τῆς εἰρήνης προσφωνήσεις ∆ιὰ δὲ τῶν γινομένων ἔνδοθεν ἐκ τοῦ ἱερατείου κελεύσει τοῦ ἀρχιερέως ἐφ᾽

ἑκάστῳ ἀναγνώσματι τῆς εἰρήνης ὑποφωνήσεων τὰς διὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων διακομιζομένας θείας ἀποδοχὰς δηλοῦσθαι ὁ σοφὸς διωρίζετο, δι᾽ ὧν ὁ Θεὸς ὁρίζει τῶν νομίμως ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας πρὸς τὰς ἀντικειμένας δυνάμεις ἀθλούντων τοὺς ἀγῶνας, τὰς ἀοράτους συμπλοκὰς διαλύων καὶ εἰρήνην διδοὺς ἐν τῇ καταργήσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς πόνων τῆς ἀπαθείας τὴν χάριν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀντιδιδούς, ἵνα τοῦ πολεμεῖν ἀφέμενοι, πρὸς γεωργίαν πνευματικήν, εἴτουν ἀρετῶν ἐργασίαν, τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς μετασκευάσωσι δυνάμεις, δι᾽ ὧν τὰ στίφη τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων διέλυσαν, στρατηγοῦντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Λόγου, [τοῦ] καὶ τὰ πικρὰ τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ δύσφυκτα μηχανήματα διασκεδάζοντος.

ΙΓ. ΤΙΝΟΣ Ι∆ΙΚΩΣ ΕΠΙ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΘ᾽ ΕΚΑΣΤΟΝ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟΝ ΕΣΤΙΝ Η ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΙΣ

... 14__106 ΙΓ. Τίνος ἰδικῶς ἐπὶ τοῦ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον σύμβολόν ἐστιν ἡ ἀνάγνωσις τοῦ ἁγίου

Εὐαγγελίου καὶ τὰ μετ᾽ αὐτὴν μυστικά Ὅθεν εὐθὺς μετὰ ταύτας, τὴν θείαν τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου ἀνάγνωσιν ἡ τῆς

ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας ἱερὰ διάταξις ἐνομοθέτησε γίγνεσθαι· ἰδικῶς μὲν τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Λόγου τοῖς σπουδαίοις κακοπάθειαν εἰσηγουμένην, μεθ᾽ ἣν ὁ τῆς γνωστικῆς θεωρίας ὥσπερ ἀρχιερεὺς οὐρανόθεν ἐπιδημῶν αὐτοῖς Λόγος τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῖς ὥσπερ τινὰ κόσμον αἰσθητὸν συστέλλει τὸ φρόνημα.

Τοὺς ἔτι πρὸς γῆν κατανεύοντας λογισμοὺς ἀπωθούμενος καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν νοητῶν ἐποψίαν ἐντεῦθεν διὰ τῆς τῶν θυρῶν κλείσεως καὶ τῆς εἰσόδου τῶν ἁγίων μυστηρίων αὐτοὺς ἀγαγών, λόγων τε καὶ πραγμάτων μύσαντας ἤδη τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ ἔξω σαρκὸς καὶ κόσμου γεγενημένους, τὰ ἀπόρρητα διδάσκει· συναχθέντας ἤδη διὰ τοῦ ἀσπασμοῦ πρὸς ἑαυτούς τε καὶ αὐτὸν καὶ μόνην ἀντεισάγοντας αὐτῷ τῆς