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Therefore, he has seen the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ through the things set forth. Thus also to Moses, thus also to Ezekiel, though not making the visions in the same way. But the prophet saw the glory of our Savior not at all with eyes of flesh, but with those of the mind, enlightened by the Holy Spirit; for just as the eyes of the body are assisted in seeing sensible things by the ray of light supplied from without, in the same way the eyes of the purified soul, illuminated by intelligible light, are able to behold divine things. Wherefore the Savior also taught this, saying: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” of whom Isaiah was one, and he saw the Lord at the time of the death of King Uzziah. But why did he not see the aforementioned vision while he was still alive, but in the year in which he died? Because King Uzziah dared the unholy deed, the glory of God that had formerly overshadowed the house had departed for the whole time of his life, during which he dwelt in Jerusalem as a leper; for a leprous king inhabited the place. But when he died, and Jotham his son had succeeded to the kingdom, concerning whom it is written: “He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” Reasonably, in that very year in which the leper passed from life, and the one well-pleasing to God received the kingdom, the glory of God returned again to the house, that is, to the temple, which indeed the prophet relates, saying: And it came to pass in the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord of hosts sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the house was full of his glory; The house, therefore, was filled with glory, but the prophet did not see the Lord inside the house, but him sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. And this was he whom the divine scripture represents when it says: “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven.” And the Lord himself also declared this, saying: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what house will you build for me, says the Lord.” Therefore, the prophet saw with the eyes of the mind the Lord enthroned in the heavenly kingdom, but he says the house on earth was full of glory, as if illuminated by some rays of light from above, from heaven, by the flashes of the divine Word. Certain incorporeal, divine, and super-cosmic powers, which Daniel also indicated, saying: “a thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.” Others, then, have supposed that the seraphim were two, but I, having applied my mind to the scripture which says the seraphim stood round about him, think that they were very many, these attending like a bodyguard on every side like a crown for a great king, and surrounding the throne itself to be enlightened and vivified by him, and because of these seraphim that surrounded him, he was called Lord of Sabaoth, which is interpreted Lord of powers or Lord of hosts. Six wings are said to be attached to each one, because each is adorned, as with wings, by innate virtues and celestial powers, by which they fly and are carried through heaven and the ether, using certain intelligible energies, effective of certain things ineffable to us; for as among men the saints of God partook of “greater gifts,” so as to prophesy future things and to heal diseases and to raise the dead and to speak with tongues of wisdom and to partake of knowledge, or just as in the body we use natural senses, five in number—sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, so somehow, perhaps, it is likely that the nature of angels uses certain divine powers, effective of certain paradoxes and unknown to us, which the word

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οὐκοῦν τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δόξαν διὰ τῶν προκειμένων ἑώρακεν. οὕτω καὶ Μωσεῖ, οὕτω καὶ Ἰεζεκιήλ, οὐχ ὁμοίως τὰς ὀπτασίας ποιούμενος. ἑώρα δὲ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν δόξαν ὁ προφήτης οὐ πάντως σαρκὸς ὀφθαλμοῖς, τοῖς δὲ τῆς διανοίας πεφωτισμένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος· ὡς γὰρ οἱ τοῦ σώματος ὑπὸ τῆς ἔξωθεν χορηγουμένης τοῦ φωτὸς αὐγῆς συνεργοῦνται εἰς τὸ βλέπειν τὰ αἰσθητά, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον τὰ τῆς κεκαθαρμένης ψυχῆς ὄμματα ὑπὸ νοεροῦ φωτὸς καταυγαζόμενα τὰ θεῖα κατοπτεύειν δύναται. διὸ καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦτ' ἐδίδασκεν λέγων· «μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται», ὧν εἷς ὑπάρχων καὶ ὁ Ἠσαΐας εἶδε τὸν κύριον ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ τῆς τελευτῆς Ὀζίου τοῦ βασιλέως. διὰ τί δὲ μὴ ἔτι ζῶντος τὴν προκειμένην ὄψιν ἑώρα, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ, ᾧ ἀπέθανεν; ἐπειδὴ διὰ τὸ τολμῆσαι Ὀζίαν τὸν βασιλέα τὸ ἀνόσιον τόλμημα ἡ δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ πάλαι ἐπισκιάζουσα τὸν οἶκον ἀνακεχωρήκει πάντα τὸν χρόνον τῆς αὐτοῦ ζωῆς, καθ' ὃν λελεπρωμένος κατῴκει τὴν Ἰερουσαλήμ· λεπροῦ γὰρ βασιλέως οἰκοῦντος τὸν τόπον. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐτελεύτα μὲν ἐκεῖνος, Ἰωαθὰμ δὲ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ τὴν βασιλείαν διεδέδεκτο, περὶ οὗ γέγραπται· «εἴκοσι καὶ πέντε ἐτῶν ἦν ἐν τῷ βασιλεύειν αὐτὸν καὶ ἑκκαίδεκα ἔτη ἐβασίλευσεν ἐν Ἰερουσαλήμ. καὶ ἐποίησεν τὸ εὐθὲς ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς κυρίου». εἰκότως κατ' αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν ᾧ ὁ λελεπρωμένος μετηλλάχει τοῦ βίου, ὁ δὲ εὐάρεστος τῷ θεῷ τὴν βασιλείαν ὑποδέδεκτο, αὖθις ἡ δόξα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπανῄει ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον, δηλαδὴ ἐπὶ τὸν ναόν, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἱστορεῖ ὁ προφήτης λέγων· καὶ ἐγένετο τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ οὗ ἀπέθανεν Ὀζίας ὁ βασιλεὺς εἶδον τὸν κύριον σαβαὼθ καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου καὶ πλήρης ὁ οἶκος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ· ὁ μὲν οὖν οἶκος τῆς δόξης πεπλήρωτο, ὁ δὲ προφήτης οὐκ ἔνδον ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τὸν κύριον ἑώρα, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου. οὗτος δὲ ἦν, ὃν ἡ θεία γραφὴ παρίστη ἡ φήσασα· «κύριος ἐν ναῷ ἁγίῳ αὐτοῦ· κύριος, ἐν οὐρανῷ ὁ θρόνος αὐτοῦ». καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ κύριος τοῦτ' ἐδήλου λέγων· «Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου· ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, λέγει κύριος». οὐκοῦν ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς οὐρανίου βασιλείας ἐνθρονιζόμενον τὸν κύριον τοῖς τῆς διανοίας ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁ προφήτης ἑώρα, τὸν δὲ ἐπὶ γῆς οἶκον πλήρη δόξης εἶναί φησιν, ὥσπερ τισὶν φωτὸς ἀκτῖσιν ἄνωθεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ταῖς τοῦ θείου λόγου μαρμαρυγαῖς καταυγαζόμενον. Ἀσώματοί τινες θεῖαι καὶ ὑπερκόσμιοι δυνάμεις, ἃς καὶ ὁ ∆ανιὴλ ἐδήλου λέγων· «χίλιαι χιλιάδες ἐλειτούργουν αὐτῷ, καὶ μύριαι μυριάδες παρειστήκεισαν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ». δύο μὲν οὖν εἶναι τὰ σεραφεὶμ ἐνόμισαν ἄλλοι, ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπιστήσας τῇ διανοίᾳ τῆς λεγούσης γραφῆς κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ τὰ σεραφεὶμ ἑστάναι πλεῖστα εἶναι ἡγοῦμαι, ταῦτα στεφάνου δίκην ἁπανταχόθεν ὥσπερ μέγαν βασιλέα δορυφοροῦντα, περιέποντά τε αὐτὸν τὸν θρόνον τῷ φωτίζεσθαι καὶ ζωοποιεῖσθαι ἐξ αὐτοῦ, διὰ ταῦτα δὲ τὰ κυκλοῦντα αὐτὸν σεραφεὶμ κύριος σαβαὼθ ὠνομάζετο, ὅπερ ἑρμηνεύεται κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων ἢ κύριος τῶν στρατιῶν. ἓξ δὲ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνὶ λέγονται προσπεφυκέναι, τῷ ἕκαστον κεκοσμῆσθαι, ὥσπερ πτέρυξιν, ἐμφύτοις ἀρεταῖς καὶ μετεωροπόλοις δυνάμεσιν, αἷς ἱπτάμεναι δι' οὐρανοῦ καὶ αἰθέρος φέρονται, νοηταῖς τισι χρώμεναι ἐνεργείαις, πραγμάτων τινῶν ἡμῖν ἀρρήτων ἀποτελεστικαῖς· ὡς γὰρ ἐν ἀνθρώποις οἱ ἅγιοι τοῦ θεοῦ «χαρισμάτων κρειττόνων» μετεῖχον, ὡς προφητεύειν τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ νόσους ἰᾶσθαι καὶ νεκροὺς ἀνιστᾶν καὶ γλώσσαις σοφίας τε λαλεῖν καὶ γνώσεως μετέχειν, ἢ καὶ ὥσπερ κατὰ τὸ σῶμα φυσικοῖς αἰσθητηρίοις κεχρήμεθα τὸν ἀριθμὸν πέντε ὁράσει, ἀκοῇ, ὀσφρήσει, γεύσει, ἁφῇ, οὕτω πως τάχα τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων φύσιν εἰκός, δυνάμεσι θείαις τισὶ καί τινων παραδόξων ἐνεργητικαῖς, ἡμῖν τε ἀγνώστοις κεχρῆσθαι, ἃς δὴ πτέρυγας ὁ λόγος