TO THE FELLOW-PRESBYTER TIMOTHY, DIONYSIUS THE PRESBYTER

 I will try to speak, so far as it is possible, calling upon Jesus, the beginning and perfection of all hierarchies. <3> According to the venerable asp

 for their own sanctity), that you will not impart any sacred word of the supereminent hierarchy to another besides your like-ranked, God-like initiato

 of salvation, and in thanksgiving for the divine goodness, having gathered them into the sacred place, at the beginning he sacredly recites a certain

 indicating symbolically a complete cleansing for the body being cleansed naturally through water. <2> But let this be for the imperfect an introductor

 a tradition, sacredly signifying, having stripped the one approaching of his former life, so to speak, and having released him even from the final tie

 <III.> But it is well that we have remembered this, which it is not lawful for me, passing it by, to praise any other of the hierarchical rites before

 being led up hierarchically in purity of the godlike state. Contemplation. <1> Come now, then, O good child, after the images, in order and sacredly t

 way of life and sacred teachings, or the hidden and mystical vision of the beloved and divine of the disciples, or the supramundane theology of Jesus

 still entangled by contrary either charms or disturbances. But also from them the vision and communion of the most holy things is withheld, and very r

 to be gathered and to partake of the peaceful union of the one, those who are divided against themselves. For if, illuminated by the contemplation and

 most suffering alteration. And wandering and turned aside from the straight path which leads to the truly existing God, and being subject to the destr

 being formed from us and proceeding unchangeably from the one according to nature towards our divisible nature, and through this beneficent love for h

 for vain glory the beautiful and fragrant assimilations according to virtue of the hidden God. For the hidden and supra-intellectual fragrant comeline

 not only having but also bestowing the power to act against contrary fear, and to those who have passed over from worse things to a sacred mind, they

 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, accordi

 Jesus, the altar, the thearchic consecration of the divine minds, in whom, according to the oracle, being consecrated and mystically offered as whole

 Theology calls the more perfect initiation our hierarchy, describing it as the fulfillment and sacred consummation of that other. It is both celestial

 For even if some of the venerable symbols are performed by the priests, yet the priest will never effect the sacred divine birth without the most divi

 The mystery of the priestly consecrations. The hierarch, being brought forward to the hierarchical consecration, having bent both knees before the div

 the Spirit hierarchically confers the source-of-perfection consecrating rite, commanding the disciples, as the oracles say: “Not to depart from Jerusa

 <VI.> <1> These then are the priestly orders and allotments, their powers and energies and perfections. We must next relate the triad of orders being

 mysteries. Contemplation. <1> That he does not bend either of his feet, nor has the divinely transmitted oracles upon his head, but stands by the prie

 multiplying, it was borne to a fall. But it is possible to say sacredly concerning the heavenly hierarchy, that purification for the inferior beings i

 but having surveyed with other eyes the perishing pleasures of their own passions and having blessed the sacred life from which they have senselessly

 Only the catechumens are cast out from the sacred places. For this class is indeed wholly uninitiated in every sacred rite, and it is not lawful for i

 and having a sacred disposition for participation in them, as one conscious of his own littleness, should go to one of the holy men and ask him to bec

 must be attended to as moved by God. For, He who rejects you, he says, rejects me. <8> But let us return to what follows the aforesaid prayer. For

 to a divine father and sponsor of holy salvation. The hierarch, therefore, requires him who confesses that he will lead the child up to the sacred lif

but having surveyed with other eyes the perishing pleasures of their own passions and having blessed the sacred life from which they have senselessly fallen, they are pitifully and unwillingly torn away from the life here, being led to no sacred hope on account of their most evil life. <3> But since none of these things happens at the falling asleep of holy men, he who is coming to the end of his own struggles is filled with sacred joy and with much pleasure sets out on the road of the holy regeneration, while the kindred of the one who has fallen asleep, according to divine kinship and like-mindedness, both bless him for having desirably reached a victorious end and send up songs of thanksgiving to the cause of the victory, praying, moreover, that they themselves might arrive at a like consummation, and taking him, they lead him to the hierarch as for the giving of sacred crowns. And he gladly receives him and performs the rites established by sacred ordinance for those who have piously fallen asleep. The Mystery for those who have fallen asleep in holiness. The divine hierarch, having gathered the sacred choir, if the one who has fallen asleep was of the priestly order, lays him before the divine altar and begins the prayer and thanksgiving to God. But if he was numbered among the holy monks or the sacred laity, he lays him beside the venerable sanctuary before the entrance of the priests, then the hierarch performs the thanksgiving prayer to God. Next the ministers, having read the unfailing promises concerning our holy resurrection which are contained in the divine oracles, sacredly sing the corresponding and equivalent odes of the psalter's oracles. Then the first of the ministers dismisses the catechumens and proclaims the saints who have already fallen asleep, with whom he deems the one just perfected worthy of being proclaimed of the same order, and he exhorts all to ask for the blessed perfection in Christ. Then the divine hierarch, approaching, offers a most holy prayer over him, and after the prayer, the hierarch himself kisses the one who has fallen asleep, and after him, all those present. And when all have kissed him, the hierarch pours the oil upon the one who has fallen asleep, and having made the sacred prayer for all, he places the body in a venerable house with other holy bodies of the same order. Contemplation. <1> If the uninitiated were to see or hear these things being performed by us, they would laugh loudly, I imagine, and pity us for our delusion. But one must not wonder at this. For if they do not believe, as the oracles say, they will not understand. But let us, having contemplated the intelligible realities of the rites with Jesus as our illuminator, say that it is not without reason that the hierarch leads in and places the one who has fallen asleep in the place of his own order. For it signifies sacredly that in the regeneration all will receive the allotments according to which they were allotted their own life here. For example, if someone has had a godlike and most holy life here, insofar as imitation of God is possible for a man, he will be in divine and blessed portions in the age to come; but if a life inferior to the most godlike, yet still holy, this one also will receive like holy rewards. For this divine justice the hierarch, having given thanks, makes a holy prayer and hymns the venerable Godhead as the destroyer of the unjust and tyrannical power over us all, and the one who leads us to its own most just judgments. <2> The odes and readings of the divine promises are manifestations of the most blessed portions, to which those who have had a divine perfection will be eternally assigned, and they are receptive of the one who has fallen asleep in holiness, and for those still living, an exhortation to a like perfection. <3> But observe that now not all the orders being purified are dismissed according to custom,

τὰς ὀλλυμένας δὲ τῶν οἰκείων παθῶν ἡδονὰς ἑτέροις ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπισκοπήσαντες καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν ζωὴν ἧς ἀνοήτως ἐκπεπτώκασιν, μακαρίσαντες ἐλεεινῶς καὶ ἀβουλήτως ἀποσχίζονται τοῦ τῇδε βίου πρὸς μηδεμίαν ἱερὰν ἐλπίδα χειραγωγούμενοι διὰ τὴν χειρίστην ζωήν. <3> Τούτων δὲ οὐδενὸς γινομένου κατὰ τὰς κοιμήσεις τῶν ἱερῶν ἀνδρῶν αὐτὸς μὲν ὁ πρὸς τὸ πέρας ἐρχόμενος τῶν οἰκείων ἀγώνων εὐφροσύνης ἱερᾶς ἀποπληροῦνται καὶ σὺν ἡδονῇ πολλῇ πρὸς τὴν ὁδὸν ἐπιβαίνει τῆς ἱερᾶς παλιγγενεσίας, οἱ δὲ τοῦ κοιμηθέντος οἰκεῖοι κατὰ τὴν θείαν οἰκειότητα καὶ ὁμοτροπίαν αὐτόν τε ὅστις ἐστὶ μακαρίζουσι πρὸς τὸ νικηφόρον εὐκταίως ἀφικόμενον τέλος καὶ τῷ τῆς νίκης αἰτίῳ χαριστηρίους ᾠδὰς ἀναπέμπουσι προσέτι καὶ αὐτοὺς ἀφίκεσθαι πρὸς τὴν ὁμοίαν εὐχόμενοι λῆξιν, λαβόντες δὲ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸν ἱεράρχην ἄγουσιν ὡς ἐπὶ στεφάνων ἱερῶν δόσιν. Ὁ δὲ ἀσμένως ὑποδέχεται καὶ τελεῖ τὰ κατὰ θεσμὸν ἱερὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁσίως κεκοιμημένοις τελούμενα. Μυστήριον ἐπὶ τῶν ἱερῶς κεκοιμημένων. Συναγαγὼν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης <τὸν> ἱερὸν χορόν, εἰ μὲν ἱερατικῆς ἐγεγόνει τάξεως ὁ κεκοιμημένος, ἐπίπροσθεν τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου κατακλίνας αὐτὸν ἀπάρχεται τῆς πρὸς θεὸν εὐχῆς καὶ εὐχαριστίας. Eἰ δὲ τοῖς εὐαγέσι μοναχοῖς ἢ τῷ ἱερῷ λαῷ κατετέτακτο, παρὰ τὸ τίμιον ἱερατεῖον αὐτὸν κατακλίνει πρὸ τῆς ἱερατικῆς εἰσελεύσεως, εἶτα τελεῖ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν εὐχαριστήριον εὐχὴν ὁ ἱεράρχης. Ἑξῆς δὲ οἱ λειτουργοὶ τὰς ἐν τοῖς θείοις λογίοις ἐμφερομένας ἀψευδεῖς ἐπαγγελίας περὶ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἡμῶν ἀναστάσεως ἀναγνόντες ἱερῶς °δουσι τὰς ὁμολόγους καὶ ταὐτοδυνάμους τῶν ψαλμικῶν λογίων ᾠδάς. Eἶτα τῶν λειτουργῶν ὁ πρῶτος ἀπολύει τοὺς κατηχουμένους καὶ ἀνακηρύττει τοὺς ἤδη κεκοιμημένους ἁγίους, μεθ' ὧν ἀξιοῖ τὸν ἄρτι τελειωθέντα τῆς ὁμοταγοῦς ἀναρρήσεως καὶ προτρέπεται πάντας αἰτῆσαι τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ μακαρίαν τελείωσιν. Eἶτα προσελθὼν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης εὐχὴν ἱεροτάτην ἐπ' αὐτῷ ποιεῖται καὶ μετὰ τὴν εὐχὴν αὐτός τε ὁ ἱεράρχης ἀσπάζεται τὸν κεκοιμημένον καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν οἱ παρόντες ἅπαντες. Ἀσπασαμένων δὲ πάτων ἐπιχέει τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ τὸ ἔλαιον ὁ ἱεράρχης καὶ τὴν ὑπὲρ πάντων εὐχὴν ἱερὰν ποιησάμενος ἀποτίθησιν ἐν οἴκῳ τιμίῳ τὸ σῶμα μεθ' ἑτέρων ὁμοταγῶν ἱερῶν σωμάτων. Θεωρία. <1> Ταῦτα μὲν εἴπερ ἴδοιεν ἢ ἀκούσαιεν οἱ ἀνίεροι πρὸς ἡμῶν τελούμενα, πλατὺ γελάσουσιν ὡς οἶμαι καὶ τῆς πλανήσεως ἡμᾶς ἐλεήσουσιν. Oὐ δεῖ δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο θαυμάζειν. Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσωσιν, ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν, οὐδὲ μὴ συνήσουσιν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ νοητὰ τῶν τελουμένων ἐποπτεύσαντες Ἰησοῦ φωταγωγοῦντος εἴπωμεν, ὡς οὐκ ἀλόγως ὁ ἱεράρχης ἐπὶ τὸν ὁμοταγῆ χῶρον εἰσάγει καὶ ἐπιτίθησι τὸν κεκοιμημένον. Ἐμφαίνει γὰρ ἱερῶς, ὡς κατ' ἐκείνας ἔσονται πάντες ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ τὰς ἀποκληρώσεις, καθ' ἃς ἐνθάδε τὴν οἰκείαν ζωὴν ἀπεκλήρωσαν. Oἷον εἰ θεοειδῆ τις ἔσχεν ἐνθάδε καὶ ἱερωτάτην ζωήν, ὡς ἀνδρὶ τὸ θεομίμητον ἐφικτόν, ἐν θείαις ἔσται κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τὸν μέλλοντα καὶ μακαρίαις λήξεσιν· εἰ δὲ τῆς κατ' ἄκρον θεοειδοῦς ὑφειμένην ἱερὰν δὲ ὅμως, ὁμοειδεῖς καὶ οὗτος ἀπολήψεται τὰς ἱερὰς ἀμοιβάς. Ὑπὲρ ταύτης τῆς θείας δικαιοσύνης ὁ ἱεράρχης εὐχαριστήσας εὐχὴν ἱερὰν ποιεῖται καὶ τὴν σεβασμίαν ὑμνεῖ θεαρχίαν ὡς καθαιρετικὴν τοῦ κατὰ πάντων ἡμῶν ἀδίκου καὶ τυραννικοῦ κράτους, μεταγωγὸν δὲ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα δικαιότατα κρίματα. <2> Aἱ δὲ τῶν θεαρχικῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν ᾠδαὶ καὶ ἀναγνώσεις ἐκφαντορικαὶ μέν εἰσι τῶν μακαριωτάτων λήξεων, εἰς ἃς οἱ θείαν ἐσχηκότες τελείωσιν αἰωνίως καταταχθήσονται, τοῦ δὲ κοιμηθέντος ἱερῶς ἀποδεκτικαί, τῶν ἔτι δὲ ζώντων προτρεπτικαὶ πρὸς τὴν ὁμοίαν τελείωσιν. <3> Σκόπει δέ, ὅτι νῦν οὐ πᾶσαι κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες αἱ καθαιρόμεναι τάξεις ἀπολύονται,