Theology calls the more perfect initiation our hierarchy, describing it as the fulfillment and sacred consummation of that other. It is both celestial and legal, participating socially in the mean between the extremes, on the one hand communing with the intelligible contemplations, and on the other, in that it is also variegated with sensible symbols and through them is sacredly led up to the divine. And it likewise has the threefold quality of the hierarchical division, being divided into the most holy sacred rites of the mysteries, the godlike ministers of the sacred things, and those brought by them to the sacred things in due proportion. And each of the three divisions of our hierarchy, in conformity with the legal and the more divine hierarchy, is ranked as first, middle, and last power, providing for the sacredly-fitting proportion and for the well-ordered, harmonious, and cohesive communion of all things according to rank. <3> The most holy sacred rite of the mysteries, then, has as its first godlike power the sacred purification of the uninitiated, as its middle, the illuminative initiation of the purified, and as its last, and recapitulating the former, the perfection of the initiated in the knowledge of their own initiations. The order of the sacred ministers, in its first power, purifies the uninitiated through the mysteries; in the middle, it illuminates the purified; and in the last and highest of the sacred ministers' powers, it perfects those who have communed with the divine light in the scientific perfections of the illuminations they have contemplated. The power of those being initiated, its first is being purified; its middle, after purification, is being illuminated and contemplating certain sacred things; and its last, and more divine than the others, being illuminated with the perfecting knowledge of the sacred illuminations of which it has been a spectator. Therefore, the threefold power of the holy sacred rite of the mysteries is celebrated: of the sacred divine birth, shown from the oracles to be of purification and illuminative radiance; of the synaxis and the rite of myron, of perfecting knowledge and science of the divine works, through which the unifying uplifting to the Godhead and most blessed communion is sacramentally performed. But now the priestly order must be described in sequence, divided into a purificatory, illuminative, and perfective good order. <4> This is an all-holy ordinance of the Godhead, that the second things be led up to its most divine light through the first. Or do we not also see the sensible substances of the elements go first to things more akin to them, and through those extend their own energy to others? Rightly, therefore, the principle and foundation of all invisible and visible good order first grants the theurgic rays to go to the more godlike, and through them, as through more translucent minds and those fitly disposed for the participation and imparting of light, it illuminates and reveals itself to those below them in due proportion. It belongs, therefore, to those who first see God to reveal abundantly to the second, in proportion to them, the divine spectacles sacredly beheld by themselves; and to initiate into the hierarchy those who have been well initiated with perfecting knowledge into all the divine things of their own hierarchy and have also received the sacramental power to initiate; and to impart the sacred things according to the worth of those who have scientifically and completely partaken of the priestly perfection. <5> Therefore, the divine order of hierarchs is the first of the orders that see God, and again the same is the highest and the last. For indeed, in it the entire order of our hierarchy ends and is fulfilled. For just as we see every hierarchy being brought to its consummation in Jesus, so each one is in its own divine hierarch. And the power of the hierarchical order permeates all the sacred entireties and works through all the sacred orders the mysteries of its own hierarchy. But in a pre-eminent way to it, beyond the other orders, the divine institution has assigned for its own performance the more divine sacred rites; and these are the perfecting images of the power of the Godhead, which perfect all the most divine symbols and all the sacred orders.

Τὴν τελεωτέραν δὲ μύησιν ἡ θεολογία τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίαν φησὶν ἀποπλήρωσιν αὐτὴν ἐκείνης ἀποκαλοῦσα καὶ ἱερὰν λῆξιν. Ἔστι δὲ καὶ οὐρανία καὶ νομικὴ κοινωνικῶς τῇ μεσότητι τῶν ἄκρων ἀντιλαμβανομένη, τῇ μὲν κοινωνοῦσα ταῖς νοεραῖς θεωρίαις, τῇ δὲ ὅτι καὶ συμβόλοις αἰσθητοῖς ποικίλλεται καὶ δι' αὐτῶν ἱερῶς ἐπὶ τὸ θεῖον ἀνάγεται. Τὸ τρισσὸν δὲ ὡσαύτως ἔχει τῆς ἱεραρχικῆς διαιρέσεως εἰς τὰς ἁγιωτάτας τῶν τελετῶν ἱερουργίας διαιρουμένη καὶ τοὺς θεοειδεῖς τῶν ἱερῶν ὑπηρέτας καὶ τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἀναλόγως ἐπὶ τὰ ἱερὰ προσαγομένους. Ἑκάστη δὲ τῶν τριῶν τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας διαιρέσεων ἀκολούθως τῇ νομικῇ καὶ τῇ θειοτέρᾳ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίᾳ πρώτη καὶ μέση καὶ τελευταία τάττεται δυνάμει τῆς τε ἱεροπρεποῦς ἀναλογίας προμηθουμένη καὶ τῆς ἁπάντων εὐκόσμου καὶ κατὰ τάξιν ἐναρμονίου καὶ συνδετικῆς κοινωνίας. <3> Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἁγιωτάτη τῶν τελετῶν ἱερουργία πρώτην μὲν ἔχει θεοειδῆ δύναμιν τὴν ἱερὰν τῶν ἀτελέστων κάθαρσιν, μέσην δὲ τὴν τῶν καθαρθέντων φωτιστικὴν μύησιν, ἐσχάτην δὲ καὶ τῶν προτέρων συγκεφαλαιωτικὴν τὴν τῶν μυηθέντων ἐν ἐπιστήμῃ τῶν οἰκείων μυήσεων τελείωσιν. Ἡ δὲ τῶν ἱερουργῶν διακόσμησις ἐν μὲν τῇ δυνάμει τῇ πρώτῃ διὰ τῶν τελετῶν ἀποκαθαίρει τοὺς ἀτελέστους, ἐν τῇ μέσῃ δὲ φωταγωγεῖ τοὺς καθαρθέντας, ἐν ἐσχάτῃ δὲ καὶ ἀκροτάτῃ τῶν ἱερουργῶν δυνάμεων ἀποτελειοῖ τοὺς τῷ θείῳ φωτὶ κεκοινωνηκότας ἐν ταῖς τῶν θεωρηθεισῶν ἐλλάμψεων ἐπιστημονικαῖς τελειώσεσιν. Ἡ δὲ τῶν τελουμένων δύναμις ἡ πρώτη μέν ἐστιν ἡ καθαιρομένη, μέση δὲ μετὰ τὴν κάθαρσιν ἡ φωτιζομένη καί τινων ἱερῶν θεωρητική, τελευταία δὲ καὶ θειοτέρα τῶν ἄλλων ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν φωτισμῶν ὧν ἐγεγόνει θεωρός, ἐλλαμπομένη τὴν τελειωτικὴν ἐπιστήμην. Τῆς μὲν οὖν ἁγίας τῶν τελετῶν ἱερουργίας ἡ τρισσὴ δύναμις ὕμνηται τῆς μὲν ἱερᾶς θεογενεσίας ἐκ τῶν λογίων ἀποδειχθείσης καθάρσεως καὶ φωτιστικῆς ἐλλάμψεως, τῆς συνάξεως δὲ καὶ τῆς τοῦ μύρου τελετῆς τελειωτικῆς τῶν θεουργιῶν γνώσεως καὶ ἐπιστήμης, δι' ἧς ἱερῶς ἡ πρὸς τὴν θεαρχίαν ἑνοποιὸς ἀναγωγὴ καὶ μακαριωτάτη κοινωνία τελεσιουργεῖται. Νῦν δὲ τὴν ἱερατικὴν διακόσμησιν ἑξῆς ἀφηγητέον εἰς καθαρτικὴν καὶ φωτιστικὴν καὶ τελειωτικὴν εὐταξίαν διαιρουμένην. <4> Θεσμὸς μὲν οὗτός ἐστι τῆς θεαρχίας ὁ πανίερος τὸ διὰ τῶν πρώτων τὰ δεύτερα πρὸς τὸ θειότατον αὐτῆς ἀνάγεσθαι φέγγος. Ἢ οὐχὶ καὶ τὰς αἰσθητὰς τῶν στοιχείων οὐσίας ὁρῶμεν εἰς τὰ μᾶλλον αὐταῖς συγγενέστερα πρῶτον ἰούσας καὶ δι' ἐκείνων ἐφ' ἕτερα τὴν οἰκείαν διϊείσας ἐνέργειαν; Eἰκότως οὖν ἡ πάσης ἀοράτου καὶ ὁρατῆς εὐκοσμίας ἀρχὴ καὶ ἵδρυσις εἰς τοὺς θεοειδεστέρους πρώτως ἐνδίδωσι τὰς θεουργικὰς ἀκτῖνας ἰέναι καὶ δι' ἐκείνων ὡς διειδεστέρων νοῶν καὶ πρὸς μετοχὴν φωτὸς καὶ μετάδοσιν οἰκείως ἐχόντων εἰς τοὺς ὑφειμένους ἀναλόγως αὐτοῖς ἐλλάμπει καὶ ἐπιφαίνεται. Τούτων οὖν ἐστι τῶν πρώτως θεοπτικῶν τὸ τοῖς δευτέροις ἀφθόνως ἐν συμμετρίᾳ τῇ κατ' αὐτοὺς ὑποδεῖξαι τὰ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἱερῶς ἐποπτευθέντα θεῖα θεάματα, καὶ τὸ μυῆσαι τὰ ἱεραρχικὰ τῶν μετ' ἐπιστήμης τελειωτικῆς τὰ θεῖα τῆς κατ' αὐτοὺς ἱεραρχίας ἅπαντα καλῶς μυηθέντων καὶ τὴν τελεσιουργὸν τοῦ μυῆσαι δύναμιν προσειληφότων, καὶ τὸ μεταδοῦναι κατ' ἀξίαν τὰ ἱερὰ τῶν ἐπιστημονικῶς καὶ ὁλοκλήρως μετασχόντων τῆς ἱερατικῆς τελειώσεως. <5> Oὐκοῦν ἡ θεία τῶν ἱεραρχῶν τάξις πρώτη μέν ἐστι τῶν θεοπτικῶν τάξεων, ἀκροτάτη δὲ καὶ ἐσχάτη πάλιν ἡ αὐτή. Καὶ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὴν ἀποτελευτᾷ καὶ ἀποπληροῦται πᾶσα τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας ἡ διακόσμησις. Ὡς γὰρ ἅπασαν ἱεραρχίαν ὁρῶμεν εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀποπεραιουμένην, οὕτως ἑκάστην εἰς τὸν οἰκεῖον ἔνθεον ἱεράρχην. Ἡ δὲ τῆς ἱεραρχικῆς τάξεως δύναμις ἐν πάσαις χωρεῖ ταῖς ἱεραῖς ὁλότησι καὶ διὰ πασῶν τῶν ἱερῶν τάξεων ἐνεργεῖ τὰ τῆς οἰκείας ἱεραρχίας μυστήρια. Ἐκκρίτως δὲ αὐτῇ παρὰ τὰς λοιπὰς τάξεις εἰς αὐτουργίαν ὁ θεῖος θεσμὸς ἀπονενέμηκε τὰς θειοτέρας ἱερουργίας· αὗται δέ εἰσιν αἱ τελεσιουργοὶ τῆς θεαρχικῆς δυνάμεως εἰκόνες ἀποτελειοῦσαι πάντα τὰ θειότατα σύμβολα καὶ πάσας τὰς ἱερὰς διακοσμήσεις.