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sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation,” both the holy angels of God and archangels and all the ministering, good, rational substance, which is luminous and servant of all the good things given from God to men, to escort the all-king God of all and then, in the manner of the stars in heaven, to move around the “sun” of “righteousness” and its partner the holy spirit, and to enjoy the supply of their light, for which reason also they are reasonably compared 7.16.2 to the luminaries in heaven; but that which was perverted from these, and deprived of the choir of the better ones through its own worthlessness, and had exchanged darkness for light, contrary to the former things, he names with appellations fitting to the wickedness of its character. 7.16.3 Therefore, the one who initiated the fall, having become the cause for himself and for others of the apostasy from the better things, as one having utterly fallen to the ground from the piety of the more divine beings, and having established himself for himself as a creator of the poison of wickedness and impiety, and having become a maker of darkness and irrationality from his voluntary withdrawal from the light, he is accustomed to call a dragon and a serpent, black and crawling, a producer of deadly poison, and a wild and man-eating beast, a lion, and again a basilisk among reptiles. 7.16.4 But the divine words say that the cause of his fall was madness of mind and ecstasy of thought, narrating in this way both his fall and his insanity together: “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will be like the most High.” 7.16.5 And again: “Thus says the Lord, the Lord, Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a God, I have inhabited the dwelling of God.” And again: “You are the seal of likeness, and a crown of beauty, you were in the delight of the paradise 7.16.6 of God, you have been clothed with every good stone” and the rest. To which he adds: “You were on the holy mountain of God, you were in the midst of fiery stones, you were blameless in your days, from the day you were created, until iniquity was found in you. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, your knowledge was corrupted with your beauty, because of the multitude of your sins I have cast you to the ground.” 7.16.7 Through these things, indeed, we have clearly learned of the former life of the one indicated among the more divine powers, and his fall from the better things through his own vainglory and warring against God. And there is another countless race under him, guilty of similar trespasses, which, on account of impiety, having fallen from the lot of the pious, instead of its former luminous and more divine state, and its honor in the royal courts and its life among the blessed and angelic choirs, by a just judgment and decree of the great God, inhabits Tartarus, the place fitting for the impious, which the divine words call the abyss, and has exchanged for darkness, not that which is among us, but that which is indicated by the divine oracles. 7.16.8 Of these a brief and small detachment, left behind around the earth and the air beneath the moon for the training of the athletes of piety, has become a joint cause of the polytheistic error among men, which in no way differs from atheism. 7.16.9 And the divine scripture has also given to these fitting appellations, more plainly, when it names them evil spirits and demons, principalities and powers and world-rulers and spiritual forces of wickedness, but symbolically, when it urges the God-loving man to fear in no way the host of enemy demons, through which it says: “You shall tread upon the asp and the 7.16.10 basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon.” And a proof of their enmity to God is their wish to be proclaimed gods themselves and the honors due to God for

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ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν» τούς τε ἱεροὺς ἀγγέλους τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἀρχαγγέλους πᾶσάν τε τὴν διάκονον τῶν ἀγαθῶν νοερὰν οὐσίαν, φωτεινὴν οὖσαν καὶ πάντων ὑπηρέτιν τῶν εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐκ θεοῦ δωρουμένων ἀγαθῶν, τὸν παμβασιλέα πάντων δορυφορεῖν θεὸν κἄπειτα, τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν δίκην ἄστρων, τὸν «ἥλιον» τῆς «δικαιοσύνης» καὶ τὸ σύζυγον αὐτῷ ἅγιον πνεῦμα περιπολεῖν τῆς τε τούτων χορηγίας τοῦ φωτὸς ἀπολαύειν, διὸ καὶ φωστῆρσι τοῖς κατ' οὐρανὸν εἰκότως παραβάλ7.16.2 λεσθαι· τὴν δὲ ἐκ τούτων παρατετραμμένην καὶ τῆς τῶν κρειττόνων χορείας δι' οἰκείαν φαυλότητα στερομένην σκότος τε ἀντὶ φωτὸς ἀλλαξαμένην ἔμπαλιν ἢ τὰ πρῶτα ταῖς ἁρμοττούσαις τῇ τοῦ τρόπου μοχθηρίᾳ 7.16.3 προσηγορίαις ὀνομάζει. τὸν γοῦν κατάρξαντα τῆς πτώσεως, αὑτῷ τε καὶ ἑτέροις τῆς τῶν κρειττόνων ἀποστασίας γενόμενον αἴτιον, ὡς ἂν διόλου χαμαὶ τῆς τῶν θειοτέρων εὐσεβείας ἐκπεπτωκότα καὶ κακίας μὲν ἰοῦ καὶ δυσσεβείας αὐτὸν αὑτῷ δημιουργὸν ὑποστάντα, σκότους δὲ καὶ ἀλογίας ποιητὴν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ φωτὸς αὐθεκουσίου ἀναχωρήσεως γεγονότα, δράκοντα καὶ ὄφιν μέλανά τε καὶ ἑρπυστικόν, ἰοῦ θανατηφόρου γεννητικὸν θῆρά τε ἄγριον καὶ ἀνθρωποβόρον λέοντα καὶ πάλιν τὸν ἐν ἑρπετοῖς βασιλίσκον ἀπο7.16.4 καλεῖν εἴωθεν. ὑπόθεσιν δ' αὐτῷ φασιν οἱ θεῖοι λόγοι γεγονέναι τῆς ἀποπτώσεως μανίαν φρενῶν καὶ διανοίας ἔκστασιν, ὧδέ πως ὁμοῦ τὴν πτῶσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν φρενοβλάβειαν διηγούμενοι· «Πῶς ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁ ἑωσφόρος, ὁ πρωῒ ἀνατέλλων; συνετρίβη ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὁ ἀποστέλλων πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. σὺ δὲ εἶπας ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ σου· εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβήσομαι, ἐπάνω τῶν ἄστρων τοῦ οὐρανοῦ θήσω τὸν θρόνον μου, ἔσομαι ὅμοιος τῷ 7.16.5 ὑψίστῳ.» καὶ πάλιν· «Τάδε λέγει κύριος, κύριος, ἀνθ' ὧν ὑψώθη ἡ καρδία σου καὶ εἶπας· θεός εἰμι ἐγώ, κατοικίαν θεοῦ κατῴκηκα.» καὶ αὖθις· «Σὺ ἀποσφράγισμα ὁμοιώσεως καὶ στέφανος κάλλους, ἐν τῇ τρυφῇ τοῦ παραδεί7.16.6 σου τοῦ θεοῦ ἐγενήθης, πάντα λίθον χρηστὸν ἐνδέδεσαι» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. οἷς ἐπιλέγει· «Ἐν ὄρει ἁγίῳ θεοῦ ἐγενήθης, ἐν μέσῳ λίθων πυρίνων ἐγενήθης, ἄμωμος σὺ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις σου, ἀφ' ἧς ἡμέρας σὺ ἐκτίσθης, ἕως εὑρέθη τὰ ἀδικήματα ἐν σοί. ὑψώθη ἡ καρδία σου ἐπὶ τῷ κάλλει σου, διεφθάρη ἡ ἐπιστήμη σου μετὰ τοῦ κάλλους σου, διὰ πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν σου ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἔρριψά σε.» 7.16.7 ∆ιὰ δὴ τούτων ἄντικρυς τὴν μετὰ τῶν θειοτέρων δυνάμεων προτέραν τοῦ δηλουμένου διατριβὴν καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν κρειττόνων δι' οἰκείαν μεγαλαυχίαν καὶ θεομαχίαν ἀπόπτωσιν μεμαθήκαμεν. μυρίον δέ ἐστιν ἄλλο γένος ὑπὸ τούτῳ τοῖς παραπλησίοις ἔνοχον πλημμελήμασιν, ὃ τῆς δυσσεβείας χάριν τῆς τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἀποπεσὸν λήξεως ἀντὶ τῆς πάλαι φωτοειδοῦς καὶ θειοτέρας περιβολῆς τῆς τε ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις τιμῆς καὶ τῆς ἐν μακαρίοις καὶ ἀγγελικοῖς χοροῖς διατριβῆς τὸν ἐφαρμόζοντα τοῖς δυσσεβέσι χῶρον κρίσει δικαίᾳ καὶ ἀποφάσει τοῦ μεγάλου θεοῦ Τάρταρον οἰκεῖν, ὃν ἄβυσσον οἱ θεῖοι λόγοι προσαγορεύουσι, καὶ σκότος οὐ τὸ παρ' ἡμῖν, τὸ δ' ὑπὸ τῶν θείων λογίων 7.16.8 δηλούμενον ἀντικατηλλάξατο. ὧν βραχύ τι καὶ μικρὸν ἀπόσπασμα, γυμνασίου χάριν τῶν εὐσεβείας ἀθλητῶν ἀμφὶ γῆν καὶ τὸν ὑπὸ σελήνην ἀέρα καταλειφθέν, τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις πολυθέου πλάνης κατ' οὐδὲν ἀθεότητος 7.16.9 διαφερούσης συναίτιον γέγονε. τέθειται δὲ καὶ τούτοις ἡ θεία γραφὴ προσφυεῖς τὰς προσηγορίας, γυμνότερον μέν, ὅτε πνεύματα πονηρὰ καὶ δαίμονας ἀρχάς τε καὶ ἐξουσίας καὶ κοσμοκράτορας καὶ πνευματικὰ πονηρίας ἐπονομάζει, συμβολικῶς δέ, ὅτε τὸν θεοφιλῆ παρορμᾷ μηδὲν δεδίττεσθαι τὸ τῶν πολεμίων δαιμόνων στῖφος, δι' ὧν φησιν· «Ἐπ' ἀσπίδα καὶ 7.16.10 βασιλίσκον ἐπιβήσῃ, καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα.» δεῖγμα δὲ τούτων τῆς θεοεχθρίας τὸ θέλειν σφᾶς αὐτοὺς θεοὺς ἀναγορεύεσθαι καὶ τὰς ἐπὶ θεῷ τιμὰς εἰς