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Phenomena: And as apparent beauties he calls the adornments of the sacred houses, and as discursive apprenticeships the readings of the holy Scriptures; and as orders of adornments the ranks of the priests. But note, that the visible beauties are images of the invisible adornments, as the Apostle also makes clear in the Epistle to the Hebrews, contemplating the things concerning the tabernacle, and Moses hearing, ‘make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain’.

The discursive: Discursive apprenticeships are the broader demonstrations, by means of visible things and objects, of intelligible realities which impress themselves upon our minds in a unified and simultaneous way.

Of disposition: There, dispositions are what order divine matters; and a disposition is a persistent quality. But here the ecclesiastical orders also give form to the dispositions, since they are incorporeal; for dispositions belong to incorporeal beings. It should be noted that the priestly mystagogy performed among us humans is an imitation of the celestial hierarchy.

Supra-mundanely: The 'supra-mundanely' is not to be understood sensibly, but intelligibly and beyond our world.

By sacred writings: That is, in the accounts concerning them sacredly composed in the Scriptures.

May lead us up: It should be noted how we are led up to theologies, and that Christ leads us up.

Summits: Nothing has been named at random by this blessed one, but with great learning and propriety along with piety; since, therefore, he said that the sacred ordering among us is performed through material and discursive symbols and formations, according to the type accessible to us, being also an imitation of the sacred adornment among the angels, 14E_206 he has rightly called the hierophany among them a 'summit'; for those who have studied these things are accustomed to call 'summit' the purest part of each substance and that from which the substance immediately, that is, contiguously, depends; as for instance, the summit of the soul is its purest intellect, and the summit of love is the fiery love of things that have ascended and are most divine; and thus, the summit of our hierarchy and mysterious adornment is its purest part, from which it is kindled, and that which tends closely to immateriality; the purest symbol among us, therefore, is the summit of the unformed and simple and incorporeal mysteries, to which our hierarchy is joined and on which it embarks, as if it were the hierophany among men; and through the images it leads up to the pure spectacles of the intelligible rite, which is rightly called the summit of the corporeal and material things here below.

ON CHAPTER 2

§ 1. a'. Manifestation: By manifestation he means the declaration; and it is clear that

the one through symbols and types, which he also called formations; and by simplicity, the immateriality of nature.

b'. For he knew that, in hymning the sacred minds in the heavens, as he himself says according to the Scripture, he had the need to speak about beast-shaped living creatures and eagles and the other things to which the divine Scriptures liken the archangelic powers; for he says: ‘lest we too, like the many, should unholily think that the ranks of the many-faced and many-footed beings in the heavens have no explanation’; he has therefore chosen to clarify these things according to the manifestation of the sacred oracles.

14E_208 Simply: Greatly, or in every way, or truly, or simply.

48

Φαινόμενα: Φαινόμενα δέ κάλλη τάς τῶν ἱερῶν οἴκων διακοσμήσεις λέγει, καί διεξοδικάς μαθητείας τάς τῶν ἁγίων Γραφῶν ἀναγνώσεις· διακοσμήσεων δέ τάξεις τούς τῶν ἱερέων βαθμούς. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι τά ὁρώμενα κάλλη εἰκόνες εἰσί τῶν ἀοράτων διακόσμων, ὡς δηλοῖ καί ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρός Ἐβραίους, τά περί τῆς σκηνῆς θεωρῶν, καί Μωϋσῆς ἀκούων, «πάντα κατά τόν τύπον τόν δειχθέντα σοι ἐν τῷ ὄρει ποίησον».

Τάς διεξοδικάς: ∆ιεζοδικαί εἰσι μαθητεῖαι αἱ διά τῶν ὁρωμένων καί διά πραγμάτων πλατύτεραι ἀποδείξεις τῶν νοητῶν ἑνιαίως καί ἀθρόως ταῖς νοήσεσιν ἐπιβαλλόντων.

Ἕξεως: Ἐκεῖ ἕξεις εἰσί τά θεῖα διατάττουσαι· ἕξις δέ ἐστι ποιότης ἔμμονος. Ἐνταῦθα δέ καί ἐκκλησιαστικαί τάξεις τάς ἕξεις, ἅτε ἀσωμάτους, ἐξοικονίζουσιν· αἱ γάρ ἕξεις ἀσωμάτων εἰσί. Σημειωτέον, ὅτι ἡ παρ ' ἡμῖν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τελουμένη ἱερατική μυσταγωγία μίμησίς ἐστι τῆς οὐρανίου ἱεραρχίας.

Ὑπερκοσμίως: Τό ὑπερκοσμίως οὐκ αἰσθητῶς νοητέον, ἀλλά νοητῶς καί ὑπέρ τόν καθ' ἡμᾶς κόσμον.

Ἱερογραφικαῖς: Τουτέστιν ἐν τοῖς ἱερῶς περί αὐτῶν συντεθεῖσι λόγοις ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς.

Ἡμᾶς ἀνάγοι: Σημειωτέον, πῶς ἀναγόμεθα εἰς θεολογίας, καί ὅτι ὁ Χριστός ἡμᾶς ἀνάγει.

Ἀκρότητας: Οὐδέν ὡς ἔτυχεν ὠνόμασται παρά τοῦ μακαρίου τούτου, ἀλλά πολυμαθῶς καί κυρίως μετά τῆς εὐσεβείας· ἐπειδή οὖν τήν παρ' ἡμῖν ἱεράν διάταξιν διά συμβόλων ὑλαίων καί ἐξοδικῶν καί πλάσεων εἶπε τελεῖσθαι πρός τόν ἡμῖν ἐφικτόν τύπον, οὖσαν καί μίμημα τῆς παρ' ἀγγέλοις ἱερᾶς διακοσμήσεως, 14Ε_206 εἰκότως τήν παρ' ἐκείνοις ἱεροφαντίαν ἀκρότητα κέκληκεν· ἀκρότητα γάρ εἱώθασι καλεῖν οἱ περί ταῦτα σχολάσαντες ἑκάστης οὐσίας τό καθαρώτατον καί ἐξ οὗ ἤρτηται προσεχῶς, τουτέστιν ἐχομένως, ἡ οὐσία· ὡς φέρε εἰπεῖν, ψυχῆς ἀκρότης ὁ νοῦς αὐτῆς ὁ καθαρώτατος, καί ἔρωτος ἀκρότης ὁ τῶν ἀναβεβηκότων καί θειοτάτων διάπυρος ἔρως· καί τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οὖν ἱεραρχίας καί μυστηριώδους διακοσμήσεως ἀκρότης τό καθαρώτατον αὐτῆς, ἐξ οὗ ἀνῆπται, καί τό ἐγγύς συντεῖνον ἀϋλίας· τό οὖν ἀκραιφνέστατον ἐν ἡμῖν σύμβολον, ἡ ἀκρότης τῶν ἀτυπώτων καί ἁπλῶν καί ἀσωμάτων μυστηρίων, ᾖ ἡ ἱεραρχία συναπτομένη ἐπιβατεύει, οἱονεί τῇ παρά ἀνθρώποις ἱεροφαντίᾳ· καί διά τῶν εἰκόνων ἀνάγει ἐπί τά καθαρά θεάματα τῆς νοητῆς τελετῆς ἀκρότητος λεγομένης εἰκότως τῶν ἐνθάδε σωματικῶν τε καί ὑλοειδῶν.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Β'

§ 1. α'. Ἐκφαντορίαν: Ἐκφαντορίαν λέγει τήν ἐξάγγελσιν· πρόδηλον δέ, ὅτι

τήν διά συμβόλων καί τύπων, ἅτινα καί πλάσματα εἶπεν· ἁπλότητα δέ τό τῆς φύσεως ἄϋλον.

β'. Ἠπίστατο γάρ, ὅτι ἀνυμνῶν τούς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἱερούς νόας, ὡς αὐτός φησι κατά τήν Γραφήν, ἀνάγκην εἶχεν εἰπεῖν περί ζώων θηριομόρφων καί ἀετῶν καί τῶν ἄλλων οἷς ἀπεικάζουσιν αἱ θεῖαι Γραφαί τάς ἀρχαγγελικάς δυνάμεις· λέγει γάρ· «ἵνα μή καί ἡμεῖς, ὡς οἱ πολλοί, νομίζωμεν ἀνιέρως μή ἔχειν ἐξήγησιν τάς τῶν πολυπροσώπων καί πολυπόδων τάξεις ἐν οὐρανοῖς»· ταύτας οὖν διασαφῆσαι προῄρηται κατά τήν τῶν ἱερῶν λογίων ἐκφαντορίαν.

14Ε_208 Ἀτεχνῶς: Μεγάλως, ἤ παντοίως, ἤ ἀληθῶς, ἤ ἁπλῶς.