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one on the left. 1.272 The angel who was speaking in me returned from one revelation to another vision, which, so that I might see it, he awakened me, rousing me as a man who is awakened from sleep, and he says to me: What do you see? And I said to him: I have seen, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, and a lamp on top of it, and seven lamps and an equal number of pipes supplying oil to the lamps. And I saw two olive trees above the lampstand, of which one was on the right and the other on the left of the lamp. 1.273 But what each of the things that appeared to the prophet signifies, it is time to see. 1.274 He awakened me, the saint says, the angel who returned to me, speaking in me continuously and repeatedly, perhaps being none other than "the angel of great counsel." And he awakened me similarly to a man who, waking from sleep, has come to a state of vigilance. And this awakening is praiseworthy, so that the one who awaited it proclaimed with boldness: "I will arise at dawn." When this which was proclaimed beforehand was fulfilled by its outcome, he cries out in thanksgiving: "I was awakened because the Lord will help me." 1.275 And this voice refers to the Savior who was raised from the dead, having slept inasmuch as he became man. For how was he not awakened from sleep when he rose from the dead after having been in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights, benefiting also the souls in Hades, gladdening them and filling them with the delight possible there. 1.276 For he says: "I have satisfied every thirsty soul, and I have filled every hungry soul," providing "wine that gladdens the heart of man and bread that strengthens the governing part of the one who is nourished." And I was awakened and saw the sober intoxication that came upon the souls that drank and how they were filled with the salvific nourishment. Therefore, "my sleep has become sweet to me," that is, "the death which I tasted for all by the grace" of God who was well-pleased. 1.277 Similarly to this "man who is in affliction and knows how to bear weakness," the divine prophet, having been awakened, hears from the angel who roused him: "What do you see?" To whom he who saw the vision that had come to his perception with the enlightened eyes of the heart answered: "I see a lampstand all of gold." By saying that the lampstand is all of gold, he shows that the lampstand, filled throughout with lights, is entirely intelligible and incorporeal. 1.278 We find not infrequently in Scripture that intelligible things are signified by the name of gold; perhaps, then, the intelligible lampstand is the spiritual house and temple of God, as it is said in the Revelation of John, when he who shows the revelation says to the one being initiated: "The seven churches which you saw with the eye of the soul are seven lampstands." 1.279 Upon the whole golden lampstand, a lamp above is the luminous word concerning the Trinity. From this lamp the wise virgins bearing torches lit their own lamps when they went to meet their divine bridegroom; and having themselves lit the light of knowledge, partaking of the light of God in whom there is no darkness of evil and ignorance, and also partaking of the true light, and having become partakers of the Holy Spirit, they dance carrying their lamps. 1.280 And just as the lamp was seen above the interpreted lampstand, so also seven lamps appeared above the lampstand itself, being a sevenfold illumination. For in the same way that the perfect luminous understanding is called seven eyes and seven pillars support the house of wisdom, so also the seven lamps are set upon the lampstand, which in another sense is the soul and flesh that the Savior assumed at his coming. 1.281 For how is this not a lampstand all of gold, which committed no sin nor knew it, upon which are set seven lamps, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of divine counsel, and of might, and of knowledge, and of piety, and of the fear of God. 1.282 But how each of these relates to
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μία ἐξ εὐωνύμων. 1.272 Ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοὶ ἄγγελος ἐπέστρεψεν ἐξ ἑτέρας ἀποκαλύψεως εἰς ἄλλην θεωρίαν, ἥνπερ ἵνα θεάσωμαι ἐξήγειρέν με διαναστήσας με ὡς ἀπὸ ὕπνου καθεύδοντα ἄνθρωπον, καί φησιν πρὸς ἐμέ· Σὺ τί βλέπεις; Κἀγὼ πρὸς αὐτὸν εἶπον· Ἑώρακα καὶ ἰδοὺ λυχνία χρυσῆ ὅλη, καὶ λαμπάδιον ἐπάνω αὐτῆς, καὶ ἑπτὰ λύχνοι καὶ ἰσάριθμοι ἐπαρυστρίδες ἐποχετεύουσαι τοῖς λύχνοις ἔλαιον. Εἶδον δὲ καὶ ἐλαίας δύο ἐπάνω τῆς λυχνίας, ὧν ἣ μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν, ἣ δὲ ἐξ εὐωνύμων τοῦ λαμπαδίου ὑπῆρχον. 1.273 Τί δὲ ἕκα̣στ̣ον τῶν φανέντων τῷ προφήτῃ αἰνίττεται καιρὸς ἰδεῖν. 1.274 Ἐξήγειρέν με, ὁ ἅγιος λέγει, ὁ ἐπιστρέψας πρός με ἄγγελος συνεχῶς καὶ ἐπαλλήλως λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοί, τάχα οὐχ ἕτερος τυγχάνων «τοῦ τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς ἀγγέλου». Ἐξήγειρεν δέ με παραπλησίως ἀνθρώπῳ ἐξ ὕπνου διαγρηγοροῦντι εἰς νῆψιν ἐληλυθότι. Ἐπαινετὴ δὲ αὕτη ἡ διέγερσις, ὥστ' ἀνειπεῖν τὸν προσδοκήσαντα αὐτὴν μετὰ θάρσους· «Ἐξεγερθήσομαι ὄρθρου.» Τούτου πληρωθέντος δι' ἐκβάσεως τοῦ προαναφωνηθέντος, χαριστηρίως βοᾷ· «Ἐξηγέρθην ὅτι Κύριος ἀντιλήμψεταί μου.» 1.275 Ἀναφέρεται δὲ αὕτη ἡ φωνὴ ἐπὶ τὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐξεγερθέντα Σωτῆρα, ὑπνώσαντα καθὸ ἄνθρωπος γέγονεν. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἐξηγέρθη ἐξ ὕπνου ὅτε ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν μετὰ τὸ διατελέσαι ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, ὠφελήσας καὶ τὰς ἐν ᾅδῃ ψυχάς, εὐφράνας αὐτὰς καὶ ἐμπλήσας τῆς ἐνδεχομένης ἐκεῖ τρυφῆς. 1.276 Λέγει γοῦν· «Ἐμύθησα πᾶσαν ψυχὴν διψῶσαν, καὶ πᾶσαν ψυχὴν πεινῶσαν ἐνέπλησα», παρασχὼν «οἶνον τὸν εὐφραίνοντα καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἄρτον τὸν στηρίζοντα τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τοῦ τραφέντος». Καὶ ἐξηγέρθην καὶ εἶδον τὴν ὑπάρξασαν νηφάλιον μέθην ταῖς πιούσαις ψυχαῖς καὶ ὡς ἐνεπλήσθησαν τῆς σωτηριώδους τροφῆς. ∆ιὸ «ἡδὺς γέγονέν μοι ὁ ὕπνος», τοῦτ' ἔστιν «ὁ θάνατος οὗ ὑπὲρ πάντων ἐγευσάμην χάριτι» τοῦ εὐδοκήσαντος Θεοῦ. 1.277 Παραπλησίως τούτῳ τῷ «ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ ἐν πληγῇ ὄντι καὶ εἰδότι φέρειν μαλακίαν» ἐξεγερθεὶς ὁ θεῖος προφήτης ἀκούει πρὸς τοῦ ἐξυπνίσαντος αὐτὸν ἀγγέλου· «Σὺ τί βλέπεις;» πρὸς ὃν ὁ θεασάμενος τὸ εἰς ἀντίλημψιν ε᾿̣λ̣ηλυθὸς ὅραμα τοῖς πεφωτισμένοις ὀφθαλμοῖς τῆς καρδίας ἀπεκρίθη· «Ὁρῶ λυχνίαν χρυσῆν ὅλην.» ∆ιὰ τοῦ εἰπεῖν τὴν λυχνίαν χρυσῆν ὅλην εἶναι, δηλοῖ ὅτι ὅλη δι' ὅλων ἡ φωτῶν πεπληρωμένη λυχ̣ν̣ι´̣α νοερὰ καὶ ἀσώματός ἐστιν. 1.278 Εὑρίσκομεν οὐ πολλαχοῦ τῆς γραφῆς ὡς τὰ νοητὰ ὀνόματι τοῦ χρυσοῦ σημαίνεται· τάχα οὖν ἡ νοητὴ λυχνία ὁ πνευματικὸς οἶκος καὶ ναὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τυγχάνει, ὡς ἐν Ἀποκαλύψει Ἰωάννου λέγεται, ὅτε φησὶν ὁ δεικνὺς τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν τῷ μυσταγωγουμένῳ· «Αἱ ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαι ἃς ὀφθαλμῷ ψυχῆς εἶδες ἑπτὰ λυχνίαι εἰσίν.» 1.279 Ἐπὶ τῆς ὅλης χρυσῆς λυχνίας λαμπάδιον ἐπάνω ἐστὶν ὁ φωτεινὸς περὶ τῆς Τριάδος λόγος. Ἀφ' οὗ λαμπαδίου ἧψαν τὰς ἑαυτῶν λαμπάδας αἱ δᾳδουχοῦσαι παρθένοι φρόνιμοι ἀπαντήσασαι τῷ θείῳ ἑαυτῶν νυμφίῳ· φωτίσασαι δὲ φῶς γνώσεως αὐταί, μετασχοῦσαι τοῦ Θεοῦ φωτὸς ὑπάρχοντος ἐν ᾧ οὐδ̣εμία κακίας καὶ ἀγνοίας ὑπάρχει σκοτία, μετασχοῦσαι δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτός, μέτοχοί τε γενάμεναι ἁγίου Πνεύματος, χορεύουσιν λαμπαδηφοροῦσαι. 1.280 Ὥσπερ δὲ τὸ λαμπάδιον ὤφθη ἐπάνω τῆς ἑρμηνευθείσης λυχνίας, οὕτω καὶ ἑπτὰ λύχνοι ἐπάνω αὐτῆς τῆς λυχνίας ἐφάνησαν, ἑπτάφωτος ἐπίλαμψις οὖσα. Ὅνπερ γὰρ τρόπον ἡ τελεία φωτεινὴ νόησις ἑπτὰ ὀφθαλμοὶ εἴρηνται καὶ ἑπτὰ στῦλοι τὸν οἶκον τῆς σοφίας ἀντιστηρίζουσιν, οὕτω καὶ οἱ ἑπτὰ λύχνοι ἐπίκεινται τῇ λυχνίᾳ, καθ' ἕτερον τρόπον οὔσης ἣν ἀνείληφεν ὁ Σωτὴρ κατὰ τὴν ἐπιδημίαν ψυχὴν καὶ σάρκα. 1.281 Πῶς γὰρ οὐ χρυσῆ ὅλη λυχνία αὕτη, ἁμαρτίαν μὴ ποιήσασα μηδὲ γνοῦσα αὐτήν, ᾗ ἐπίκεινται ἑπτὰ λύχνοι, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς σοφίας καὶ συνέσεως, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς θείας βουλῆς, καὶ ἰσχύος, καὶ γνώσεως, καὶ εὐσεβείας, καὶ φόβου Θεοῦ. 1.282 Πῶς δ' ἔχει τούτων ἕκαστον πρὸς