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gratefully the thanksgiving 14__108 confession for their own salvation because of the great benefit toward them, which the divine Symbol of faith signifies.

Then having numbered them among the angels through the Trisagion and having granted to them the same knowledge of the sanctifying theology as to them, he brings them to God the Father, having been adopted by the Spirit through the prayer, through which they were made worthy to call God 'Father'. And from there again, as if having already traversed with knowledge all the principles in existing things, he leads them unknowingly toward the unknown monad through the "One is Holy" and what follows, united by grace and made like it by participation in an indivisible identity according to their capacity.

14. OF WHAT IS IT A SYMBOL, ... THE DIVINE READING OF THE HOLY GOSPEL 14__110 14. Of what is it a symbol, according to its general meaning, the divine [reading] of the holy

reading of the Gospel? Generally, signifying the consummation of this world. For after

the divine reading of the holy Gospel both the high priest comes down from the throne, and the dismissal and expulsion of the catechumens and of the rest who are unworthy of the divine contemplation of the mysteries about to be shown takes place through the ministers, signifying and prefiguring through itself the truth, of which it is an icon and a type, and as it were crying out in these things, that after "the Gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, then the end will come," as it is written, when our great God and Savior Jesus Christ comes in his second coming, that is, from heaven, "with great glory;" "for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God," says the divine Apostle; and inflicting vengeance on his adversaries and separating through the holy angels the faithful from the unfaithful, and the unjust from the just, and the profane from the holy, and simply, to speak concisely, [separating] those who have walked by the Spirit of God from those who have walked after the flesh, and for infinite and unending ages, as the truth of the divine oracles says, rendering to each a just recompense according to the worth of their lives.

15. OF WHAT IS THE CLOSING OF THE DOORS A SYMBOL... 14__112 15. Of what is the closing of the doors of the holy Church a symbol, which takes place after the

holy Gospel? The [closing] after the sacred reading of the holy Gospel and the expulsion of the

catechumens, the closing of the doors of the holy Church of God which takes place, signifies both the passing away of material things, and the entrance into the intelligible world that will take place after that fearful separation and the more fearful judgment, that is, into the bridal chamber of Christ, the entrance of the worthy, and the complete rejection of the activity in the senses that is according to deceit.

16. WHAT DOES THE ENTRANCE OF THE HOLY MYSTERIES SIGNIFY 14__114 16. What does the entrance of the holy Mysteries signify? The entrance of the holy and venerable Mysteries is the beginning and prelude, as

that great elder used to say, of the new teaching that will take place in the heavens

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περὶ αὐτοὺς πολλῆς εὐεργεσίας εὐγνωμόνως τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίας εὐχαριστήριον 14__108 ὁμολογίαν, ἣν τὸ θεῖον τῆς πίστεως αἰνίττεται Σύμβολον.

Εἶτα τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἐναριθμίους αὐτοὺς καταστήσας διὰ τοῦ Τρισαγίου καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἐκείνοις ἐπιστήμην τῆς ἁγιαστικῆς θεολογίας αὐτοῖς χαρισάμενος τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ προσάγει, υἱοθετηθέντας τῷ Πνεύματι διὰ τῆς προσευχῆς, δι᾽ ἧς Πατέρα καλεῖν τὸν Θεὸν ἠξιώθησαν. Κἀντεῦθεν πάλιν ὥσπερ ἐπιστημόνως ἤδη τοὺς ἐν τοῖς οὖσι πάντας λόγους περάσαντας, πρὸς τὴν ἄγνωστον ἀγνώστως διὰ τοῦ "Εἷς ἅγιος" καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς ἄγει μονάδα, τῇ χάριτι ἑνωθέντας καὶ κατὰ μέθεξιν πρὸς αὐτὴν ὁμοιωθέντας τῇ κατὰ δύναμιν ἀδιαιρέτῳ ταυτότητι.

Ι∆. ΤΙΝΟΣ ΕΣΤΙ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟΝ, ... Η ΘΕΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΥ ΑΝΑΓΝΩΣΙΣ 14__110 Ι∆. Τίνος ἐστὶ σύμβολον, κατὰ τὸ γενικῶς σημαινόμενον, ἡ θεία τοῦ ἁγίου

Εὐαγγελίου ἀνάγνωσις Γενικῶς δὲ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου συντέλειαν ὑποσημαίνουσαν. Μετὰ γὰρ

τὴν θείαν τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου ἀνάγνωσιν ὅ τε ἀρχιερεὺς κάτεισι τοῦ θρόνου, καὶ ἡ τῶν κατηχουμένων καὶ ἡ τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν ἀναξίων τῆς θείας τῶν δειχθησομένων μυστηρίων θεωρίας ἀπόλυσίς τε καὶ ἐκβολὴ διὰ τῶν λειτουργῶν γίγνεται, σημαίνουσα καὶ προτυποῦσα δι᾽ ἑαυτῆς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἧς εἰκὼν ὑπάρχει καὶ τύπος, καὶ οἷον ἐν τούτοις βοῶσα, ὅτι μετὰ «τὸ κηρυχθῆναι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον», καθὼς γέγραπται, «τῆς βασιλείας ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ εἰς μαρτύριον πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι, τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος», παραγινομένου κατὰ τὴν δευτέραν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν, ἐξ οὐρανῶν δηλαδή, «μετὰ δόξης πολλῆς τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ᾽ οὐρανοῦ», φησὶν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· καὶ ποιοῦντος ἐκδίκησιν ἐν τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις καὶ ἀφορίζοντος διὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων τοὺς πιστοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀπίστων, καὶ ἀπὸ δικαίων τοὺς ἀδίκους, καὶ [ἀπὸ] τῶν ἁγίων τοὺς ἐναγεῖς, καὶ ἁπλῶς, ἵνα συνελὼν εἴπω, [ἀπὸ] τῶν Πνεύματι Θεοῦ στοιχησάντων, τοὺς ὀπίσω σαρκὸς πορευθέντας, καὶ ἐπ᾽ αἰῶσι ἀπείροις τε καὶ ἀτελευτήτοις, ὡς ἡ τῶν θείων λογίων ἀλήθειά φησι, κατ᾽ ἀξίαν τῶν βεβιωμένων ἑκάστῳ δικαίαν ἀποδιδόντος τὴν ἀμοιβήν.

ΙΕ. ΤΙΝΟΣ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟΝ ΕΣΤΙ Η ΚΛΕΙΣΙΣ ΤΩΝ ΘΥΡΩΝ... 14__112 ΙΕ. Τίνος σύμβολόν ἐστι ἡ κλεῖσις τῶν θυρῶν τῆς ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας, ἡ μετὰ τὸ

ἅγιον Εὐαγγέλιον γιγνομένη Ἡ δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἱερὰν ἀνάγνωσιν τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου καὶ τὴν ἐκβολὴν τῶν

κατηχουμένων γινομένη κλεῖσις τῶν θυρῶν τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίας, τήν τε τῶν ὑλικῶν δηλοῖ πάροδον, καὶ τὴν γενησομένην μετὰ τὸν φοβερὸν ἐκεῖνον, ἀφορισμόν, καὶ τὴν φοβερωτέραν ψῆφον εἰς τὸν νοητὸν κόσμον, ἤτοι τὸν νυμφῶνα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τῶν ἀξίων εἴσοδον, καὶ τὴν ἐν ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀπάτην ἐνεργείας τελείαν ἀποβολήν.

ΙS. ΤΙ ΣΗΜΑΙΝΕΙ Η ΤΩΝ ΑΓΙΩΝ ΜΥΣΤΗΡΙΩΝ ΕΙΣΟ∆ΟΣ 14__114 ΙS. Τί σημαίνει ἡ τῶν ἁγίων Μυστηρίων εἴσοδος Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ σεπτῶν Μυστηρίων εἴσοδος ἀρχὴ καὶ προοίμιόν ἐστινὡς

ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος ἔφασκε γέρων τῆς γενησομένης ἐν οὐρανοῖς καινῆς διδασκαλίας