of the understanding of the divine goods; but the sixfold position of the wings, as the oracles say, I do not think signifies a sacred number, according to the opinion of others, but that the first, middle, and last of its intellectual and godlike powers are completely uplifting and absolute and super-cosmic, belonging to the highest essence and order around God. Whence the most holy wisdom of the oracles, sacredly depicting the formation of the wings, places the wings around their faces and their middles and their feet, signifying their universal and manifold winged nature of the uplifting power towards that which truly is. <8> But if they cover their faces and their feet, and fly only with their middle wings, understand sacredly that the order of the highest essences, so set apart, is reverent concerning the higher and deeper things of its own intellects, and with its middle wings is uplifted in proportion for the vision of God, submitting its own life to the divine scales and being sacredly directed by them towards its own self-knowledge. <9> And that which is said in the oracles, "They cried one to another," I think signifies that they ungrudgingly impart their visions of God to one another. And let us deem this also worthy of sacred memory, that the Hebrew voice of the oracles, by an emphatic name, calls the most holy essences of the Seraphim from their fiery and super-abundant nature according to their divine and ever-moving life. <10> If, therefore, as those who have interpreted the Hebrew say, the most divine Seraphim were named by theology "burners" and "heaters," with a name manifesting their essential disposition, they have, according to symbolic iconography, moving powers for the divine myrrh, calling it forth into manifestation and the diffusion of more potent vapors. For the fragrant essence that is beyond mind loves to be stirred into manifestation by the fiery and most pure minds, and it bestows its most divine inspirations in all-blessed diffusions to those who thus super-cosmically call it forth. Therefore the most divine order of the super-celestial essences was not ignorant of the most divine Jesus having come down to be sanctified, but it understands Him sacredly as one who submitted Himself to our condition through divine and ineffable goodness, and seeing Him sanctified in a manner befitting a man by His Father and Himself and the Spirit, it knows its own Principle, which, in whatever it divinely does, possesses essential unchangeableness. Whence the tradition of the sacred symbols places the Seraphim around the divine myrrh as it is being sanctified, knowing and depicting the unchanging Christ in His true and total incarnation for our sake. And furthermore, what is more divine, is that it uses the divine myrrh for the consecration of every sacred thing, clearly showing, according to the oracle, the sanctifier and the sanctified as being ever the same with Himself in every divine good work. For which reason also the consecrating gift and grace of the sacred divine birth is accomplished in the most divine perfections of the myrrh. Whence, as I think, the Hierarch also, by pouring the myrrh in cross-shaped streams upon the purifying font, brings before the contemplative eyes Jesus descending even unto His <τοῦ> death on a cross for our divine birth, by that divine and unrestrained descent benevolently snatching those who are baptized into His death, according to the hidden oracle, from the ancient engulfment of the life-giving death, and renewing them to a divine and eternal existence. <11> But indeed, also to him who has completed the most sacred rite of the divine birth, the perfecting unction of the myrrh bestows the visitation of the divine Spirit, the sacred iconography of the symbols prefiguring, as I think, the most divine Spirit being supplied by Him who for our sake was sanctified in a manner befitting a man by the divine Spirit, in the unchangeable state of His essential divinity. <12> And understand this also hierarchically, that the ordinance of the most holy rites accomplishes the sacred perfection of the divine altar by the all-holy effusions of the most sacred myrrh. And the divine work is super-celestial and super-essential, the principle and essence and perfecting power of all our divine sanctification. For if our most divine

τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν νοήσεως· τὴν δὲ τῶν πτερῶν ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν ἑξαπλῆν θέσιν οὐκ ἀριθμὸν ἱερὸν ἐμφαίνειν οἴομαι κατὰ τὸ δόξαν ἑτέροις, ἀλλ' ὅτι τῆς περὶ θεὸν ὑπερτάτης οὐσίας καὶ τάξεως ἀναγωγικὰ καὶ ἀπόλυτα παντελῶς ἐστι καὶ ὑπερκόσμια τὰ πρῶτα καὶ μέσα καὶ τελευταῖα τῶν νοερῶν αὐτῆς καὶ θεοειδῶν δυνάμεων. Ὅθεν ἡ τῶν λογίων ἱερωτάτη σοφία τὴν τῶν πτερῶν διάπλασιν ἱερογραφοῦσα περὶ τὰ πρόσωπα καὶ τὰ μέσα καὶ τοὺς πόδας αὐτῶν ἐντίθησι τὰ πτερὰ τὸ καθόλου πτερωτὸν αὐτῶν αἰνισσομένη καὶ παντοδαπὸν τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ ὄντως ὂν ἀναγωγικῆς δυνάμεως. <8> Eἰ δὲ τὰ πρόσωπα καὶ τοὺς πόδας καλύπτουσι καὶ μόνοις πέτανται μέσοις πτεροῖς, ἐννόησον ἱερῶς ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἐξῃρημένη τῶν ὑπερτάτων οὐσιῶν ἡ τάξις εὐλαβής ἐστι περὶ τὰ τῶν νοήσεων αὐτῆς ὑψηλότερα καὶ βαθύτερα καὶ μέσοις πτεροῖς ἐν συμμετρίᾳ πρὸς θεοπτίαν ἀνάγεται τοῖς θείοις ζυγοῖς ὑποτιθεῖσα τὴν οἰκείαν ζωὴν καὶ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἱερῶς εὐθετουμένη πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῆς ἐπιγνωμοσύνην. <9> Τὸ δὲ τοῖς λογίοις εἰρημένον ὡς «Ἐκέκραγον ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον» ἐκεῖνο οἶμαι δηλοῦν ὅτι τῶν θεοπτικῶν αὐτῶν νοήσεων ἀλλήλοις ἀφθόνως μεταδιδόασιν. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἱερᾶς ἀξιώσωμεν μνήμης ὡς ἡ τῶν λογίων Ἑβραία φωνὴ κατ' ἐμφατικὴν ἐπωνυμίαν καλεῖ τὰς ἁγιωτάτας τῶν Σεραφὶμ οὐσίας ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ θείαν καὶ ἀεικίνητον ζωὴν διαπύρου καὶ ὑπερζέοντος. <10> Eἴπερ οὖν, ὡς οἱ τὰ Ἑβραίων ἀφερμηνεύσαντές φασιν, οἱ θειότατοι Σεραφὶμ ἐμπρησταὶ καὶ θερμαίνοντες ὑπὸ τῆς θεολογίας ὠνομάσθησαν ἐκφαντορικῷ τῆς οὐσιώδους αὐτῶν ἕξεως ὀνόματι, τοῦ θείου μύρου κατὰ συμβολικὴν εἰκονογραφίαν ἀνακινητικὰς ἔχουσι δυνάμεις εἰς ἔκφανσιν αὐτὸ καὶ δραστικωτέρων ἀτμῶν διάδοσιν ἐκκαλουμένας. Ἡ γὰρ ὑπὲρ νοῦν εὐώδης οὐσία πρὸς τῶν διαπύρων καὶ καθαρωτάτων νοῶν εἰς ἔκφανσιν ἀνακινεῖσθαι φιλεῖ καὶ τὰς θειοτάτας αὐτῆς ἐπιπνοίας ἐν πανολβίαις διαδόσεσι δωρεῖται τοῖς οὕτως αὐτὴν ὑπερκοσμίως ἐκκαλουμένοις. Oὐκοῦν ἡ θειοτάτη τῶν ὑπερουρανίων οὐσιῶν τάξις οὐκ ἠγνόηκε τὸν θεαρχικώτατον Ἰησοῦν εἰς τὸ ἁγιάζεσθαι κατεληλυθότα, νοεῖ δὲ αὐτὸν ἱερῶς ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἑαυτὸν ὑφέντα διὰ θείαν καὶ ἄρρητον ἀγαθότητα, καὶ πρὸς τοῦ πατρὸς ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀνθρωποπρεπῶς ἁγιαζόμενον ὁρῶσα τὴν οἰκείαν οἶδεν ἀρχήν, ἐν οἷς ἂν θεαρχικῶς δρᾷ, τὸ κατ' οὐσίαν ἀναλλοίωτον ἔχουσαν. Ὅθεν ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν συμβόλων παράδοσις ἁγιαζομένῳ τῷ θείῳ μύρῳ τοὺς Σεραφὶμ περιίστησιν ἀπαράλλακτον εἰδυῖα καὶ διαγράφουσα τὸν Χριστὸν ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς ὁλικῇ πρὸς ἀλήθειαν ἐνανθρωπήσει. Καὶ προσέτι τὸ θειότερον, ὅτι τῷ θείῳ μύρῳ χρῆται πρὸς παντὸς ἱεροῦ τελεσιουργίαν ἐναργῶς ὑποδεικνῦσα κατὰ τὸ λόγιον ἁγιάζοντα τὸν ἁγιαζόμενον ὡς ἀεὶ ταὐτὸν ὄντα ἑαυτῷ κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν θεαρχικὴν ἀγαθουργίαν. ∆ιὸ καὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς θεογενεσίας ἡ τελεσιουργὸς δωρεὰ καὶ χάρις ἐν ταῖς τοῦ μύρου τελεῖται θειοτάταις τελειώσεσιν. Ὅθεν ὡς οἶμαι καὶ τῷ καθαρτικῷ βαπτιστηρίῳ τὸ μύρον ἐν σταυροειδέσι βολαῖς ἐπιχέων ὁ ἱεράρχης ὑπ' ὄψιν ἄγει τοῖς θεωρητικοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἄχρις καὶ αὐτοῦ <τοῦ> θανάτου διὰ σταυροῦ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμῶν θεογενεσίας καταδυόμενον αὐτῇ τῇ θείᾳ καὶ ἀκρατήτῳ καθόδῳ τοὺς εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὸ κρύφιον λόγιον βαπτιζομένους ἐκ τῆς τοῦ θοροποιοῦ θανάτου παλαιᾶς καταπόσεως ἀγαθοπρεπῶς ἀνασπῶντα καὶ ἀνακαινίζοντα πρὸς ἔνθεον καὶ αἰώνιον ὕπαρξιν. <11> Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ τελεσθέντι τὴν ἱερωτάτην τῆς θεογενεσίας τελετὴν τὴν τοῦ θεαρχικοῦ πνεύματος ἐπιφοίτησιν ἡ τοῦ μύρου δωρεῖται τελειωτικὴ χρῖσις ὑποτυπούσης ὡς οἶμαι τῆς ἱερᾶς τῶν συμβόλων εἰκονογραφίας ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ δι' ἡμᾶς ἀνθρωποπρεπῶς τῷ θεαρχικῷ πνεύματι καθαγιασθέντος ἀναλλοιώτῳ τῆς οὐσιώδους θεότητος ἕξει τὸ θειότατον πνεῦμα χορηγούμενον. <12> Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἱεραρχικῶς ἐννόησον, ὅτι καὶ τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου τὴν ἱερὰν τελείωσιν ἡ τῶν ἁγιωτάτων τελετῶν θεσμοθεσία ταῖς τοῦ ἱερωτάτου μύρου τελετουργεῖ παναγέσιν ἐπιχύσεσιν. Ἔστι δὲ ὑπερουράνιος καὶ ὑπερούσιος ἡ θεουργία, πάσης τῆς θεουργικῆς ἡμῶν ἁγιαστείας ἀρχὴ καὶ οὐσία καὶ τελεσιουργὸς δύναμις. Eἰ γάρ ἐστι τὸ θειότατον ἡμῶν