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as a man He was directed by angels, both in the flight to Egypt, and in the return from it, and that He Himself is also the creator of the angels. Therefore, the one and same Christ in two natures accomplished the great mystery of the economy; for it is said: "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant." Behold, two forms; for what he says here, He does not leap away from, this is, 'did not consider it robbery', that is, He did not disdain as a man to obey angels as well, but obediently subjects Himself to the instructions of God the Father through angels; for He Himself ordered the human race to be governed.

Unchangeably: For He was not changed in His divine nature. (14Ε_242> He does not leap away: For the things ordered, that is predestined, by Him,

He in the last days took up and showed in Himself. And concerning the angel: That the [matter] of the angel who strengthened the Lord

passage, which is found in Luke, the great Dionysius also mentions, and that it was delivered unwritten, rather secretly in a mystery, to him and to Saint Timothy by the apostle Paul; for Luke wrote down his preaching; and this is shown, that he received it as in a mystery, from the saying, "revealed to our priestly traditions." But see also the other interpretation, which says, for the saying in Isaiah, "angel of great counsel," says that it is fitting for the child who was born to be so named in his flesh, and why he was called angel, because he announced to us the counsel of the Father; for by saving us through his own passion, he showed that the Father also was of this counsel; for he was not called angel as one inferior to the Father; this against the Arians. Do not receive the passage of the angel who strengthened Him contrary to the interpretation of Holy Scripture; for this must be understood with respect to the flesh; for elsewhere the Gospel says, after the temptations, that angels came and ministered to him; and that he grew tired from the journey and that he hungered; for all these things show that He took on a perfect human nature with its passions. But someone will say, what need was there of an angel when divinity was present? We say then that God works most wonders through angels; and all of divine Scripture says this.

Revealing: According to what was said by Him to the Father, "I have manifested your name to men."

ON CHAPTER 5

(14Ε_244> The heavenly substances: Why, when all the holy

angels are of one substance, as the Church says, does the divine Dionysius name many powers? Indeed, the great Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, formerly a rhetorician, in the scholia which he composed on the blessed Dionysius his namesake, says thus, that gentile wisdom is accustomed to calling every invisible nature unbegotten, and likewise [calling] hypostases substances; and from this he says that such terms were used improperly by Saint Dionysius according to the gentiles.

Revelation: That is, the manifestation, or clarification. They name: He says that the lowest rank of the intelligible beings is properly called angels

and the higher ranks otherwise, some of which he also names; but in the next chapter he mystically records the nine orders; but now he says finally, that the higher orders know whatever the lower ones have been initiated into through illumination, but they also know other things unknown to those below them; but even if this is so, nevertheless all the intelligible orders are sometimes called by the general name of angels as well. And he says why, as in the one hundred and second psalm: "bless the

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ἄνθρωπος δι' ἀγγέλων διετάττετο, ἔν τε τῇ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀναχωρήσει, καί ἐν τῇ ἐξ αὐτῆς ὑποστροφῇ, καί ὅτι αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ καί τῶν ἀγγέλων δημιουργός. Ὥστε εἰς καί αὐτός Χριστός ἐν δύο φύσεσι τό μέγα τῆς οἰκονομίας κατεπράξατο μυστήριον· εἴρηται γάρ· «ὅς, ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, οὐχ ἁρπαγμόν ἡγήσατο τό εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ, ἀλλ' ἑαυτόν ἐκένωσε μορφήν δούλου λαβών». Ἰδού δύο μορφαί· ὅπερ γάρ φησιν ἐνταῦθα, οὐκ ἀποπηδᾷ, τοῦτό ἐστι τό, οὐχ ἁρπαγμόν ἡγήσατο, τοὐτέστιν οὐκ ἀπηξίωσεν ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὑπακοῦσαι καί ἀγγέλοις, εὐπειθῶς δέ ὑποτάττεται ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός δι' ἀγγέλων ὑποτυπώσεσιν· αὐτός γάρ οὗτος ἔταξε τό ἀνθρώπινον γένος διέπειν.

Ἀμεταβόλως: Οὐ γάρ ἐτράπη τήν θείαν φύσιν. (14Ε_242> Οὐκ ἀποπηδᾷ: Τά γάρ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ταχθέντα, ἤγουν προορισθέντα,

αὐτός ἐπ' ἐσχάτων ἀνέλαβε καί εἰς ἑαυτόν ἔδειξε. Καί περί τοῦ ἀγγέλου: Ὅτι τό τοῦ ἐνισχύσαντος ἀγγέλου τόν Κύριον

κεφάλαιον, ὅπερ ἐν τῷ κατά Λουκᾶν φέρεται, λέγει καί ὁ μέγας ∆ιονύσιος, καί ὅτι ἀγράφως μᾶλλον ἐν μυστηρίῳ κρυφίως αὐτό παρεδόθη αὐτῷ καί τῷ ἁγίῳ Τιμοθέῳ ὑπό τοῦ ἀποστόλου Παύλου· τό γάρ αὐτοῦ κήρυγμα συνέγραψεν ὁ Λουκᾶς· δηλοῦται δέ τοῦτο, ὅτι ὡς ἐν μυστηρίῳ παρέλαβεν ἀπό τοῦ εἰπεῖν, «ταῖς ἱερατικαῖς ἡμῶν παραδόσεσιν ἐκπεφασμένα». Ὅρα δέ καί τήν ἄλλην ἑρμηνείαν, ἥτις φησί, τό γάρ εἰρῆσθαι παρά τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ «τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελον», ὀνομάζεσθαι τό γεννηθέν παιδίον τῇ σαρκί αὐτοῦ πρέπειν φησί, καί διά τί ἐκλήθη ἄγγελος, ὅτι τήν τοῦ Πατρός βουλήν ἀνήγγειλαν ἡμῖν· σώσας γάρ ἡμᾶς διά τοῦ οἰκείου πάθους, ἔδειξεν, ὅτι καί ὁ Πατήρ ταύτης ἦν τῆς βουλῆς· οὔτε γάρ ὡς ὑποβεβηκώς τοῦ Πατρός ἐκλήθη ἄγγελος· πρός Ἀρειανούς τοῦτο. Τό τοῦ ἑνισχύσαντος ἀγγέλου κεφάλαιον μή παρά τήν ἑρμηνείαν δέξῃ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς· πρός γάρ τήν σάρκα ὀφείλει τοῦτο νοεῖσθαι· καί ἀλλαχοῦ γάρ φησι τό Εὐαγγέλιον, μετά τούς πειρασμούς, ὅτι προσελθόντες ἄγγελοι διηκόνουν αὐτῷ· καί ὅτι ἐκοπίασεν ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας καί ὅτι ἐπείνησε· ταῦτα γάρ πάντα δείκνυσιν, ὅτι τέλειον ἀνέλαβεν ἄνθρωπον μετά τῶν αὐτοῦ παθημάτων. Ἀλλ' ἐρεῖ τις, ποῦ χρεία ἦν ἀγγέλου θειότητος παρούσης; Λέγομεν οὖν ὅτι τά πλείω ὁ Θεός δι' ἀγγέλων θαυματουργεῖ· καί τοῦτο λέγει πᾶσα ἡ θεία Γραφή.

Ἐκφαντορικήν: Κατά τό πρός τόν Πατέρα ὑπ' αὐτοῦ λεχθέν, «ἐφανέρωσά σου τό ὄνομα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις».

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ε'

(14Ε_244> Τάς οὐρανίας οὐσίας: Τί δήποτε, μιᾶς οὐσίας εἶναι πάντας ἁγίους

τούς ἀγγέλους λεγούσης τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, ὁ θεῖος ∆ιονύσιος πολλάς ὀνομάζει δυνάμεις; Ὁ γοῦν μέγας ∆ιονύσιος, ὁ Αλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπος, ὁ ἀπό ρητόρων, ἐν τοῖς σχολίοις οἷς πεποίηκεν εἰς τόν μακάριον ∆ιονύσιον τόν αὐτοῦ συνώνυμον, οὕτω λέγει, ὅτι ἀγέννητον εἴωθε καλεῖν ἡ ἔξω σοφία πᾶσαν ἀόρατον φύσιν, ὁμοίως καί οὐσίας τάς ὑποστάσεις· κἀκ τούτου φησίν, ὅτι κατά τούς ἔξω εἴρηνται τῷ ἁγίῳ ∆ιονυσίῳ αἱ τοιαῦται φωναί καταχρηστικῶς.

Ἐκφαντορίαν: Τουτέστι τήν ἔκφασιν, ἤτοι διασάφησιν. Ὀνομάζουσι: Τήν ἐσχάτην τῶν νοητῶν τάξιν κυρίως ἀγγέλους φησί

προσαγορεύεσθαι, τάς δέ ὑπερβεβηκυίας ἑτέρως, ὧν ἐνίας καί ὀνομάζει· ἐν δέ τῷ ἑξῆς κεφαλαίῳ τῶν ἐννέα ταγμάτων μυστικῶς ἀπομνημονεύει· νῦν δέ τελέως λέγει, ὅτι αἱ ἀνώτεραι τάξεις ἐπίστανται μέν ὅσα αἱ ὑποβεβηκυῖαι δι' ἐλλάμψεως μεμύηνται, γινώσκουσι δέ καί ἕτερα ταῖς ὑποκειμέναις ἄγνωστα· εἰ δέ καί οὕτως ἐστίν, ὅμως γενικῷ ὀνόματι καί ἄγγελοι ἔσθ' ὅτε καλοῦνται πάντα τά νοητά τάγματα. Φησί δέ καί διά τί, ὡς ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ δευτέρῳ ψαλμῷ· «εὐλογεῖτε τόν