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 become for him a helper and fellow-suppliant, he will surely be benefited from this with the benefit that surpasses all. For he will obtain the most divine gifts for which he asks, since the Thearchic goodness accepts him for his own reverent self-awareness, and his reverence for the holy, and his praiseworthy desire for the sacred petitions requested, and his fitting and godlike disposition. For this has also been ordained by the Thearchic judgments: that the divine gifts are to be given to those worthy to participate, in a most god-befitting order, through those worthy to impart. If, then, anyone should dishonor this sacred good order and, having come to a wretched presumption, should think himself sufficient for communion with the Thearchy and should disdain the holy ones, and moreover, if he should make requests unworthy of God and not sacred, and if he should not have an intense and fitting desire for divine things, he will, through his own fault, fail in his ignorant request. But concerning the said prayer, which the hierarch prays over the one who has fallen asleep, it is necessary to speak of the tradition that has come down to us from our inspired guides. <7> The divine hierarch is an interpreter, as the oracles say, of the Thearchic judgments. For he "is an angel of the Lord God Almighty." He has learned, therefore, from the divinely transmitted oracles, that to those who have lived holily, the most radiant and divine life is given in return according to their worth by the most just scales, while the loving-kindness of the Thearchy in its goodness overlooks the stains that came upon them from human weakness, since, as the oracles say, "no one is clean from filth." The hierarch, then, knows these things have been promised by the true oracles, but he asks that they come to pass and that the sacred rewards be given to those who have lived holily, on the one hand being formed in goodness in imitation of God and asking for the gifts of others as if they were his own favors, and on the other hand also knowing that the unfailing promises will be fulfilled and declaratively showing to those present that the things requested by him according to sacred ordinance will certainly be for those who have been perfected in the divine life. For the hierarch, the spokesman of the Thearchic justification, would never ask for things not most dear to God and divinely promised to be given by Him. Therefore, he does not pray for these things for the unholy who have fallen asleep, not only because he would in this deviate from the prophetic order and would audaciously dare some hierarchical act without being moved by the Chief-Initiator, but also because he will fail in his profane prayer, according to the just oracle, himself not unreasonably hearing, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly." Accordingly, the divine hierarch asks for the things divinely promised and dear to God and which will certainly be given, both demonstrating his own goodly disposition to the God who loves goodness, and declaratively showing to those present the gifts that will be for the holy. Thus also the hierarchs have the powers of separation as interpreters of the divine judgments, not as if the all-wise Thearchy—to speak reverently—slavishly follows their irrational impulses, but as they, being prophetically moved by the initiating Spirit, separate those judged by God according to their worth. For He says, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." And to him who was illumined by the divine revelations of the most holy Father, the oracles say, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," as he and every hierarch after him, according to the revelations of the Father's judgments that occur within him, interpretively and as a channel, accepts those beloved of God and casts out the godless. For that sacred theology, as the oracles say, he uttered not of his own accord nor because flesh and blood revealed it, but because God initiated him intellectually into His own things. Therefore, the inspired hierarchs must use the separations and all the hierarchical powers in the way that the initiating Thearchy may move them, and others must so treat the hierarchs in whatever they do hierarchically,

καὶ πρὸς μετοχὴν αὐτῶν ἕξιν ἱερὰν ἔχων ὡς τῆς οἰκείας ἐπιγνώμων βραχύτητος ἐλθὼν ἐπί τινα τῶν ὁσίων ἀνδρῶν ἀξιώσειεν αὐτὸν οἱ γενέσθαι συλλήπτορα καὶ συνικέτην, ὠφεληθήσεται πάντως ἐκ τούτου τὴν πάσας ὑπερκειμένην ὠφέλειαν. Ἐπιτεύξεται γὰρ ὧν αἰτεῖ θειοτάτων δώρων, ἀποδεχομένης αὐτὸν τῆς θεαρχικῆς ἀγαθότητος τῆς τε οἰκείας εὐλαβοῦς ἐπιγνωμοσύνης καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁσίοις αἰδοῦς καὶ τῆς τῶν αἰτηθεισῶν ἱερῶν αἰτήσεων ἐπαινετῆς ἐφέσεως καὶ καταλλήλου καὶ θεοειδοῦς ἕξεως. Ἔστι γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς θεαρχικοῖς κρίμασι νενομοθετημένον τὸ τὰ θεῖα δῶρα τοῖς ἀξίοις τοῦ μετασχεῖν ἐν τάξει θεοπρεπεστάτῃ δωρεῖσθαι διὰ τῶν ἀξίων τοῦ μεταδοῦναι. Ταύτην οὖν εἴ τις ἀτιμάσειε τὴν ἱερὰν εὐκοσμίαν καὶ πρὸς ἀθλίαν οἴησιν ἐληλυθὼς ἱκανὸν ἑαυτὸν οἰηθείη πρὸς θεαρχικὴν ὁμιλίαν καὶ τῶν ὁσίων ὑπερφρονήσοι καὶ μὴν εἰ τὰς αἰτήσεις ἀναξίας θεοῦ καὶ μὴ ἱερὰς αἰτήσοι καὶ τὴν ἔφεσιν τῶν θείων εἰ μὴ σύντονον ἔχοι καὶ ἑαυτῷ κατάλληλον, ἀποτεύξεται δι' ἑαυτὸν τῆς ἀνεπιστήμονος αἰτήσεως. Περὶ δὲ τῆς εἰρημένης εὐχῆς, ἣν ὁ ἱεράρχης ἐπεύχεται τῷ κεκοιμημένῳ, τὴν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐλθοῦσαν ἐκ τῶν ἐνθέων ἡμῶν καθηγεμόνων παράδοσιν εἰπεῖν ἀναγκαῖον. <7> Ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης ἐκφαντορικός ἐστιν, ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν, τῶν θεαρχικῶν δικαιωμάτων. «Ἄγγελος» γὰρ «κυρίου παντοκράτορος θεοῦ ἐστιν.» Μεμάθηκεν οὖν ἐκ τῶν θεοπαραδότων λογίων, ὅτι τοῖς ὁσίως βιώσασιν ἡ φανοτάτη καὶ θεία ζωὴ κατ' ἀξίαν ὑπὸ τῶν δικαιοτάτων ζυγῶν ἀντιδίδοται παρορώσης ἀγαθότητι τῆς θεαρχικῆς φιλανθρωπίας τὰς ἐγγενομένας αὐτοῖς ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας κηλῖδας, ἐπείπερ «οὐδείς», ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν, «καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ῥύπου». Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ ἱεράρχης οἶδεν ἐπηγγελμένα πρὸς τῶν ἀληθῶν λογίων, αἰτεῖ δὲ αὐτὰ γενέσθαι καὶ δωρηθῆναι τοῖς ὁσίως βιώσασι τὰς ἱερὰς ἀντιδόσεις ἅμα μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ θεομίμητον ἀγαθοειδῶς ἐκτυπούμενος καὶ τὰς ἑτέρων δωρεὰς ὡς οἰκείας ἐξαιτῶν χάριτας, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὰς ἀψευδεῖς ἐπαγγελίας εἰδὼς ἐσομένας καὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἐκφαντορικῶς ἐμφαίνων, ὅτι τὰ παρ' αὐτοῦ κατὰ θεσμὸν ἱερὸν ἐξαιτούμενα πάντως ἔσται τοῖς κατὰ θείαν ζωὴν τετελειωμένοις. Oὐ γὰρ ἂν ὁ ἱεράρχης ὁ τῆς θεαρχικῆς δικαιώσεως ὑποφήτης ἐξῄτει ποτὲ τὰ μὴ τῷ θεῷ προσφιλέστατα καὶ πρὸς αὐτοῦ δοθήσεσθαι θειωδῶς ἐπηγγελμένα. ∆ιὸ τοῖς ἀνιέροις οὐκ ἐπεύχεται ταῦτα κεκοιμημένοις, οὐ μόνον ὅτι τῆς ὑποφητικῆς ἐν τούτῳ παρατραπήσεται τάξεως καί τι τῶν ἱεραρχικῶν αὐθάδως τολμήσει μὴ πρὸς τοῦ τελετάρχου κεκινημένος, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ τῆς ἐναγοῦς εὐχῆς ἀποτεύξεται πρὸς τοῦ δικαίου λογίου καὶ αὐτὸς οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἀκούων «Aἰτεῖτε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε, διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖτε». Oὐκοῦν ὁ θεῖος ἱεράρχης ἐξαιτεῖ τὰ θειωδῶς ἐπηγγελμένα καὶ φίλα θεῷ καὶ πάντως δωρηθησόμενα καὶ τὸ τῆς οἰκείας ἀγαθοειδοῦς ἕξεως ἐπιδεικνὺς τῷ φιλαγαθῷ θεῷ καὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἐκφαντορικῶς ἐμφαίνων τὰ τοῖς ὁσίοις ἐσόμενα δῶρα. Oὕτω καὶ τὰς ἀφοριστικὰς ἔχουσιν οἱ ἱεράρχαι δυνάμεις ὡς ἐκφαντορικοὶ τῶν θείων δικαιωμάτων οὐχ ὡς ταῖς αὐτῶν ἀλόγοις ὁρμαῖς τῆς πανσόφου θεαρχίας εὐφήμως εἰπεῖν ὑπηρετικῶς ἑπομένης, ἀλλ' ὡς αὐτῶν ὑποφητικῶς ὑποκινοῦντι τῷ τελεταρχικῷ πνεύματι τοὺς κεκριμένους θεῷ κατ' ἀξίαν ἀφοριζόντων. «Λάβετε» γάρ φησι «πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Ἄν τινων ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας, ἀφίενται· ἄν τινων κρατῆτε, κεκράτηνται.» Καὶ τῷ τὰς θείας ἀποκαλύψεις τοῦ παναγεστάτου πατρὸς ἐλλαμπομένῳ τὰ λόγιά φησιν «Ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται δεδεμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν λύσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται λελυμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς» ὡς ἐκείνου καὶ παντὸς τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν ἱεράρχου κατὰ τὰς ἐν αὐτῷ γινομένας τῶν πατρικῶν δικαιωμάτων ἀποκαλύψεις ἐκφαντορικῶς καὶ διαπορθμευτικῶς τοὺς θεοφιλεῖς προσιεμένου καὶ τοὺς ἀθέους ἀποκληροῦντος. Καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν γὰρ ἐκείνην θεολογίαν, ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν, οὐκ αὐτοκινήτως οὐδὲ σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος ἀποκαλυψάντων ἀλλ' ὑπὸ θεοῦ νοητῶς αὐτὸν τὰ οἰκεῖα μυήσαντος ἀπεφθέγξατο. Τοὺς μὲν οὗν ἐνθέους ἱεράρχας οὕτω τοῖς ἀφορισμοῖς καὶ πάσαις ταῖς ἱεραρχικαῖς δυνάμεσι χρηστέον, ὅπως ἂν ἡ τελετάρχις αὐτοὺς θεαρχία κινήσοι, τοὺς δὲ ἄλλους οὕτω τοῖς ἱεράρχαις, ἐν οἷς ἂν δρῶσιν ἱεραρχικῶς,