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21. WHAT DOES THE END OF THE MYSTICAL LITURGY OF THE... 14__124 21. What does the end of the mystical liturgy of the proclaimed

hymns signify, that is, "One is holy, one is Lord," and the rest? The confession of "One is holy" and the rest, made by all the people at the end of the mystical liturgy,

signifies the gathering and union, beyond reason and mind, with the hidden one of the divine simplicity, that will come to pass for those mystically and wisely perfected according to God, in the incorruptible age of intelligible things, in which, beholding the light of the unseen and ineffable glory of the blessed state with the powers above, they themselves also become receptive of purity; after which, as the end of all things, the partaking of the mystery takes place, transforming them to itself and showing those who worthily partake to be like the good in cause, by grace and participation, lacking in nothing of it, as far as is possible and attainable for human beings. So that they too can be and be called gods by adoption according to grace, through God who has wholly filled them whole and left nothing of them empty of His presence.

22. HOW AND IN WHAT WAY THE SOUL IN ITSELF... 14__126 22. How and in what way is the state of the soul, understood in itself, for each

individual, also regarded as deifying and perfecting through the things that have been said? Come now, therefore, proceeding by the same path and order, let us again contemplate the same things concerning

the gnostic soul, and let us—if it seems good, with God as our guide—not prevent the desiring and willing mind from ascending a little, according to its ability, with reverence in discourse to a higher contemplation, to consider and understand how the divine ordinances of the holy Church lead the soul to its own perfection through true and active knowledge.

23. THAT THE FIRST ENTRANCE IS A SYMBOL OF THE VIRTUES OF THE SOUL... 14__128 23. That the first entrance of the holy

assembly is a symbol of the virtues of the soul. Observe, therefore, you who have become a genuine

lover of the blessed wisdom of Christ, with the eyes of the mind at the first entrance of the holy assembly, from the external wandering and confusion of material things—according to that which is written, "Women coming from a spectacle," come; I mean the wandering in appearance and form according to the facade of sensible things; for it is not true to call it contemplation, according to the unwise among those called wise by the Greeks—for they would never be called wise by us who were unable or unwilling to know God through His works—I mean the surface appearance of sensible things, according to which the perpetual war of sensible things against one another is constituted, working destruction for all through one another, with all things destroying one another and being destroyed in one another; and having this alone as fixed: to be unstable and to be destroyed and never to be able to coexist with one another in an unconflicting and peaceful permanence; and the soul coming and fleeing headlong and as if into a Church 14__130 and an inviolable palace of peace, entering into the natural contemplation in the spirit, which is free from conflict and liberated from all confusion, with the Logos and under the Logos, our great and true God and high priest, and, as through the symbols of the divine readings that take place, being taught the principles of beings.

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ΚΑ. ΤΙ ΣΗΜΑΙΝΕΙ ΤΟ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΜΥΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΙΕΡΟΥΡΓΙΑΣ ΤΩΝ... 14__124 ΚΑ. Τί σημαίνει τὸ τέλος τῆς μυστικῆς ἱερουργίας τῶν ἐκφωνουμένων

ὕμνων, τουτέστιν "Εἷς ἅγιος, εἷς Κύριος», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς Ἡ δὲ κατὰ τὸ τέλος τῆς μυστικῆς ἱερουργίας παρὰ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ γινομένη

τοῦ "Εἷς ἅγιος" καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς ὁμολογία τὴν ὑπὲρ λόγον καὶ νοῦν πρὸς τὸ ἓν τῆς θείας ἁπλότητος κρύφιον γενησομένην τῶν μυστικῶς τε καὶ σοφῶς κατὰ Θεὸν τετελεσμένων συναγωγήν τε καὶ ἕνωσιν δηλοῖ, ἐν τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ τῶν νοητῶν αἰῶνι καθ᾽ ὃν τῆς ἀφανοῦς καὶ ὑπεραρρήτου δόξης τὸ φῶς ἐνοπτεύοντες τῆς μακαρίας μετὰ τῶν ἄνω δυνάμεων, καὶ αὐτοὶ δεκτικοὶ γίγνονται καθαρότητος· μεθ᾽ ἥν, ὡς τέλος πάντων, ἡ τοῦ μυστηρίου μετάδοσις γίνεται μεταποιοῦσα πρὸς ἑαυτὴν καὶ ὁμοίους τῷ κατ᾽ αἰτίαν ἀγαθῷ κατὰ χάριν καὶ μέθεξιν ἀποφαίνουσα τοὺς ἀξίως μεταλαμβάνοντας, ἐν μηδενὶ αὐτοῦ λειπομένους, κατὰ τὸ ἐφικτὸν ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἐνδεχόμενον. Ὥστε καὶ αὐτοὺς δύνασθαι εἶναί τε καὶ καλεῖσθαι θέσει κατὰ τὴν χάριν θεούς, διὰ τὸν αὐτοὺς ὅλως πληρώσαντα ὅλον Θεὸν καὶ μηδὲν αὐτῶν τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας κενὸν καταλείψαντα.

ΚΒ. ΠΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΙΝΙ ΤΡΟΠΩ ΚΑΙ Η ΤΗΣ ΨΥΧΗΣ ΚΑΘ᾽ ΕΑΥΤΗΝ... 14__126 ΚΒ. Πῶς καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ καὶ ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς καθ᾽ ἑαυτὴν νοουμένης ἐπὶ τοῦ καθ᾽

ἕκαστον ἰδικῶς ἐκθεωτικὴ καὶ τελειοποιὸς διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων θεωρεῖται κατάστασις ∆εῦρο δὴ οὖν διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ὁδῷ καὶ τάξει βαίνοντες πάλιν τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ περὶ

ψυχῆς γνωστικῆς θεωρήσωμεν, καὶ συναναβῆναι μικρὸν κατὰ δύναμιν τῷ λόγῳ μετ᾽ εὐλαβείας πρὸς ὑψηλοτέραν θεωρίαν, σκοπῆσαί τε καὶ κατανοῆσαι πῶς οἱ θεῖοι τῆς ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας θεσμοὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτῆς τελειότητα δι᾽ ἀληθοῦς καὶ ἐνεργοῦς γνώσεως ἄγουσι, ποθοῦντα τὸν νοῦν καὶ βουλόμενον, Θεοῦ χειραγωγοῦντοςεἰ δοκεῖμὴ κωλύσωμεν.

ΚΓ. ΟΤΙ ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟΝ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΨΥΧΗΝ ΑΡΕΤΩΝ ΕΣΤΙΝ Η ΠΡΩΤΗ ΕΙΣΟ∆ΟΣ... 14__128 ΚΓ. Ὅτι σύμβολον τῶν κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀρετῶν ἐστιν ἡ πρώτη εἴσοδος τῆς ἁγίας

συνάξεως Ἄθρει τοιγαροῦν, ὅστις τῆς μακαρίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ σοφίας γνήσιος

καθέστηκας ἐραστής, νοὸς ὀφθαλμοῖς κατὰ τὴν πρώτην εἴσοδον τῆς ἁγίας συνάξεως ἀπὸ τῆς ἔξωθεν τῶν ὑλικῶν πλάνης καὶ ταραχῆς, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον "Γυναῖκες ἐρχόμεναι ἀπὸ θέας», δεῦτε, τῆς ἐν εἴδει καὶ σχήματί φημι κατὰ τὴν πρόσοψιν τῶν αἰσθητῶν περιπλανήσεως· οὐ γὰρ θεωρίαν εἰπεῖν ἀληθές, κατὰ τοὺς ἀσόφους τῶν παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι λεγομένων σοφῶνμηδὲ γὰρ σοφοὶ κληθεῖεν [ἄν] ποτε πρὸς ἡμῶν οἱ τὸν Θεὸν γνῶναι διὰ τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων μὴ δυνηθέντες ἢ μὴ βουληθέντεςτῶν αἰσθητῶν λέγω τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν, καθ᾽ ἣν ὁ διηνεκὴς τῶν αἰσθητῶν πρὸς ἄλληλα συνέστηκε πόλεμος, πᾶσι τὴν δι᾽ ἀλλήλων φθορὰν ἐνεργῶν, πάντων φθειρόντων ἄλληλα καὶ ἐν ἀλλήλοις φθειρομένων· καὶ τοῦτο μόνον πάγιον ἔχοντα, τὸ ἀστατεῖν καὶ φθείρεσθαι καὶ μηδέποτε συμβαίνειν ἀλλήλοις κατὰ διαμονὴν ἄμαχον δύνασθαι καὶ ἀστασίαστον, ἐρχομένην τε τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ προτροπάδην φεύγουσαν καὶ ὥσπερ εἰς Ἐκκλησίαν 14__130 καὶ ἄσυλον εἰρήνης ἀνάκτορον τὴν ἐν πνεύματι φυσικὴν θεωρίαν τὴν ἄμαχον καὶ πάσης ἐλευθέραν ταραχῆς μετὰ Λόγου τε καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Λόγου τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ ἀληθοῦς ἡμῶν Θεοῦ καὶ ἀρχιερέως εἰσερχομένην, καὶ ὡς διὰ συμβόλων τῶν γινομένων θείων ἀναγνωσμάτων, τοὺς τῶν ὄντων διδασκομένην