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§ 1. Every good gift: Note that the blessed 14Ε_200 Dionysius has used the catholic epistle of Saint James; for from there is the saying; and that it had already been published.

For indeed from him: These things he theologizes concerning the Son. § 2. Handed down from the fathers: Here he indicates as fathers those who handed down to him the

dogma, not indeed his natural ones; for he was of the Greeks, as the Acts of the holy apostles declare, and he himself indeed in the epistle to Saint Polycarp and in the 9th chapter of *On the Celestial Hierarchy*.

Symbolically: For he does not speak physically, but through certain symbols and images.

a'. Of intelligences: The philosophers among the Greeks also call the intellectual, that is, angelic powers, intelligences (noas); since each of them is wholly an intelligence, and has its entire substance as a living intelligence substanced into its own form; they are called noes for the sake of a more euphonious declension; since from *ho nous*, *tou nou*, the plural should have been *hoi noi*, but for the sake of euphony from another singular nominative it became *hoi noes*; for this is a custom for the Attics, who say, *Aristophanai* and *Sokratai*, instead of *hoi Aristophaneis* and *hoi Sokrateis*. There are also those who say *hoi nooi*, as from *ho noos*, *tou noou*; and Scripture also calls them by this name, as in Isaiah; A great intelligence, the ruler of Babylon, that is, the devil; according to the Ionians therefore *nous*, *noos*, *noes*, as *chrous*, *chroos*, *hoi chroes*; for the declension is Ionic.

Super-principial: God is super-principial, as being above every principle, and a thearchic light, as principle of the so-called gods, I mean angels and righteous men.

14Ε_202 b'. Of inwardness: By inwardness he means hiddenness; for to all those outside of it, it is unknown.

c'. Blending: Note the blending; and why the divine, being one, is multiplied.

Of veils: He calls veils the things said corporeally about God in the Scriptures, such as human members, or the names of certain powers. Note, that it is for those in the flesh to behold the immaterial and incorporeal things; and this the veils in the tabernacle rather signified, as he here hints.

Connaturally: Instead of connaturally, congenially. § 3. The initiator: An initiation (telete), according to the Greek philosophers, is called the

partaking of the mysteries, since it perfects the one being initiated and happens to be perfecting for those who approach such things. The initiator, therefore, is the divine sacred institution, the disposition and presentation of our sacred mysteries, a principle having come from God through the apostles of these perfecting goods; for the divine apostle Paul calls the initiated perfect, saying: "as many as are perfect, let us be of this mind."

Supramundane: The term supramundane must be understood not sensibly, but intellectually and as above the world we are in. Note, what he says are the figures and the formative compositions, that is, representations, which are set forth in what follows.

Of formations: Note that he says the mystical traditions here are figurative, which he develops in the discourse *On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy*; and this must be understood in a manner befitting God; therefore, to 'formative' should be attributed 'of formations', and to 'composition', 'simple and unformed'.

14Ε_204 Material: He calls it a material guidance to be led up through material things that are spoken of to the concept of things beyond perception.

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§ 1. Πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθή: Σημείωσαι ὅτι κέχρηται ὁ μακάριος 14Ε_200 ∆ιονύσιος τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰακώβου καθολικῇ ἐπιστολῇ· ἐκεῖθεν γάρ ἐστι τό ρητόν· καί ὅτι ἐκδοθεῖσα ἦν ἤδη.

Καί γάρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ: Ταῦτα περί τοῦ Υἱοῦ θεολογεῖ. § 2. Πατροπαραδότου: Πατέρας ἐνταῦθα δηλοῖ τούς παραδόντας αὐτῷ τό

δόγμα, οὐ μήν τούς φυσικούς· ἐξ Ἑλλήνων γάρ ἦν, ὡς δηλοῦσιν αἱ Πράξεις τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων, καί αὐτός μέντοι ἐν τῇ πρός τόν ἅγιον Πολύκαρπον ἐπιστολῇ καί ἐν τῷ θ' κεφαλαίῳ τῷ Περί τῆς οὐρανίου ἱεραρχίας.

Συμβολικῶς: Οὐ γάρ φυσιολογικῶς φησιν, ἀλλά διά συμβόλων τινῶν καί εἰκόνων.

α'. Νοῶν: Νόας καλοῦσι καί οἱ παρ' Ἕλλησι φιλόσσοφοι τάς νοεράς, ἤτοι ἀγγελικάς δυνάμεις· ἐπειδή τό πᾶν νοῦς ἐστιν ἕκαστος αὐτῶν, καί τήν οὐσίαν ἅπασαν νοῦν ζῶντα εἰς τό εἶδος τό ἑαυτῶν οὐσιωμένον ἔχει· νόες καλοῦνται πρός τό εὐφωνότερον τῆς κλίσεως γενομένης· ἐπειδή ἐχρῆν ἀπό τοῦ ὁ νοῦς, τοῦ νοῦ, τό πληθυντικόν οἱ νοῖ εἶναι, ἀλλά διά τήν εὐφωνίαν ἐξ ἄλλης εὐθείας ἑνικῆς γέγονεν οἱ νόες· ἔθος γάρ τοῦτο Ἀττικοῖς, οἵ φασιν, Ἀριστοφάναι καί Σωκράται, ἀντί τοῦ οἱ Αριστοφάνεις καί οἱ Σωκράτεις. Εἰσί δέ καί λέγοντες οἱ νόοι, ὡς ἀπό τοῦ ὁ νόος, τοῦ νόου· καλεῖ δέ αὐτούς καί ἡ Γραφή τῷ ὀνόματι τούτῳ, ὡς ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ· Νοῦς μέγας ὁ ἄρχων Βαβυλῶνος, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὁ διάβολος· κατά Ἴωνας τοίνυν νοῦς, νοός, νόες, ὡς χροῦς, χροός, οἱ χρόες· Ἰωνική γάρ ἡ κλίσις.

Ὑπεράρχιον: Ὑπεράρχιος ὁ Θεός, ὡς ὑπέρ πᾶσαν ἀρχήν καί θεαρχικόν φῶς, ὡς ἀρχή τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν, ἀγγέλων φημί καί ἀνθρώπων δικαίων.

14Ε_202 β'. Ἐνδότητος: Ἐνδότητά φησι τήν κρυφιότητα· πᾶσι γάρ τοῖς ἔξω αὐτῆς ἄγνωστός ἐστι.

γ'. Σύγκρασιν: Σημείωσαι τήν σύγκρασιν· καί διά τί τό θεῖον ἕν ὄν πληθύνεται.

Παραπετασμάτων: Παραπετάσματά φησι τά σωματικῶς περί Θεοῦ λεγόμενα ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς, οἷον μελῶν ἀνθρωπίνων, ἤ δυνάμεών τινων ὀνομασίας, Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι σαρκί ὄντας κατοπτεῦσαι τά ἄϋλα καί ἀσώματα· καί τοῦτο μᾶλλον ἐδήλου τά ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ παραπετάσματα, ὡς ἐνταῦθα αἰνίττεται.

Συμφυῶς: Ἀντί τοῦ ὁμοφυῶς, συγγενῶς. § 3. Ἡ τελετάρχις: Τελετή λέγεται κατά τούς τῶν Ἐλλήνων φιλοσόφους ἡ

μετάδοσις τῶν μυστηρίων, ἅτε τελειοῦσα τόν μυούμενον καί τελειωτική τυγχάνουσα τῶν προσιόντων τοῖς τοιούτοις. Τελετάρχις οὖν ἱεροθεσία ἡ θεία τῆς τῶν ἱερῶν μυστηρίων ἡμῶν διακοσμήσεως θέσις καί παράθεσις, ἀρχή γενομένη ἐκ Θεοῦ διά τῶν ἀποστόλων τῶν τελειωτικῶν τούτων ἀγαθῶν· τούς γάρ μεμυημένους τελείους καλεῖ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος Παῦλος λέγων· «ὅσοι οὖν τέλειοι, τοῦτο φρονῶμεν».

Ὑπερκοσμίου: Τό δέ ὑπερκοσμίου οὐκ αἰσθητῶς νοητέον, ἀλλά νοητῶς καί ὑπέρ τόν καθ' ἡμᾶς κόσμον. Σημείωσαι δέ, τίνα λέγει τά σχήματα καί τάς μορφωτικάς συνθέσεις, ἤγουν εἰκονίσματα, ἅπερ ἑξῆς παρατίθεται.

Πλάσεων: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι πλασματώδεις φησί τάς ἐνταῦθα μυστικάς παραδόσεις, ἅς ἐν τῷ Περί τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἱεραρχίας λόγῳ ἀναπτύσσει· τοῦτο δέ θεοπρεπῶς ἐκληπτέον· πρός μέν οὖν τό 'μορφωτικαῖς' τό πλάσεων ἀποδοτέον, πρός δέ τό 'συνθέσει' τό ἁπλᾶς καί ἀτυπώτους.

14Ε_204 Ὑλαία: Ὑλαίαν χειραγωγίαν φησί τό διά τῶν ὑλικῶν λεγομένων πρός τήν ἔννοιαν ἀνάγεσθαι τῶν ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν.