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by word; but now I think he means no other, than Saint Paul; for it was of no other than he who reached up to the third heaven and was initiated into the things concerning these.

First triadic order. Thrones, cherubim, seraphim.

Next: Concerning the first of the holy orders that draws near to God. (14Ε_250> Most holy: This first and God-like triadic

hierarchy it is possible for one contemplating intelligently and worthily of God to comprehend from Ezekiel, who speaks first of a throne, on which God appeared, then immediately following, the divine cherubim; and in Isaiah the most holy seraphim are seen standing in a circle around God. And these things declare their highest station above all others beside their God; and these things are made clear in an almost similar way also in the Revelation of Saint John, the apostle, evangelist and theologian.

Immediately: It is said "immediately," because there is no other order before it. But note that the thrones, that is, the many-eyed and many-winged cherubim and seraphim he says are higher powers than all and of the one triadic hierarchy.

The renowned: He alludes to Saint Paul. Of the Authorities: The next two triadic holy hierarchies of intelligible beings from below

he enumerates upwards; for first are the Dominions, then in order the Powers, then the Authorities. But he, having placed the Authorities first, took the Dominions as middle, and of the third ministering triad first are the Principalities, then finally the Archangels, and last the Angels. Now therefore he did not mention them thus in the following chapter, but named them taking them from below upwards. The Apostle, therefore, both in the Epistle to the Romans and in that to the Ephesians mentions some angelic orders, but does not set forth this order. But the great Dionysius declares that the divine Apostle delivered these things to the saints in a mystery.

ON CHAPTER 7

§ 1. Again the inscription ascends from below to the higher things (14Ε_252> for the

third are seraphim, and the second are cherubim, and the first are thrones. Therefore he wrote the inscription in reverse.

Name: Note that every name of the holy ones contains the meaning of the specific activity of the order, as the interpretations of the names of the holy seraphim and cherubim declare, because there is no other order before it.

Theophanies: For the first theophanies work, being active, in the first ones.

Declarative: Instead of interpretive and representative. Of the godlike: Since he speaks of godlike states in the divine intellects, one must not

suppose that the great Dionysius speaks of these intelligible virtues as an accident, since they come to be even in ourselves, as one thing in another subject, as it were a quality that comes to be; for accident and subject have been driven away from there, when also all composition and the formlessness of matter has been banished from there. For if it were one thing in another, like an accident in a subject, that substance would not live in itself, nor could it be deified in itself as far as possible, through only the order that is preserved as one thing in another; therefore the states spoken of in them are self-substantiated, yet not as an accident in a subject, because of their immateriality. Whence the great Dionysius below in the discourse On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy in the fourth chapter says that the states in them are essential.

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λόγῳ· νῦν δέ οὐδένα ἕτερον ἠγοῦμαι λέγειν αὐτόν, ἤ τόν ἅγιον Παῦλον· οὐδενός γάρ ἦν ἄλλου ἤ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἄχρι τρίτου οὐρανοῦ φθάσαντος καί τά περί τούτων μυηθέντος.

Πρώτη τριαδική τάξις. Θρόνοι, χερουβίμ, σεραφίμ.

Προσεχῶς: Περί τοῦ Θεῷ ἐγγίξοντος πρώτου τῶν ἱερῶν ταγμάτων. (14Ε_250> Ἁγιωτάτους: Τήν πρώτην τριαδικήν ταύτην καί θεοειδῆ

ταξιαρχίαν ἔστι τόν νουνεχῶς καί ἀξίως Θεοῦ κατοπτεύοντα καταλαβεῖν ἀπό τε τοῦ Ἰεζεκιήλ, ὅς φησι θρόνον πρῶτον, ἐφ' οὗ ὤφθη ὁ Θεός, εἶτα εὐθύς ἐχόμενα τά θεῖα χερουβίμ· παρά δέ τῷ Ἠσαΐα τά ἁγιώτατα σεραφίμ κύκλῳ ἱστάμενα τοῦ Θεοῦ θεωροῦντα. Ταῦτα δέ δηλοῖ τήν ὑπέρ πάντας ἀνωτάτω παρά τόν Θεόν αὐτῶν λῆξιν· σαφηνίζεται δέ ταῦτα σχεδόν παραπλησίως καί ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου, τοῦ ἀποστόλου, εὐαγγελιστοῦ καί θεολόγου.

Ἀμέσως: Ἀμέσως εἴρηται, ἐπειδή οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο τάγμα πρό αὐτῆς. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι τούς θρόνους, ἤτοι τά πολυόμματα καί τά πολύπτερα χερουβίμ καί σεραφίμ λέγει ἀνωτέρας εἶναι πασῶν δυνάμεις καί τῆς μιᾶς τριαδικῆς ἱεραρχίας.

Ὁ κλεινός: Τόν ἅγιον Παῦλον αἰνίττεται. Ἐξουσιῶν: Τάς ἐφεξῆς δύο τριαδικάς τῶν νοητῶν ἁγίας ταξιαρχίας κάτωθεν

εἰς ἄνω καταλέγει· πρῶται γάρ εἰσιν αἱ κυριότητες, εἶτα ἑξῆς αἱ δυνάμεις, εἶτα αἱ ἐξουσίαι. Αὐτός δέ τάς ἐξουσίας πρώτας τάξας, μέσας ἔλαβε τάς κυριότητας, καί τῆς τρίτης λειτουργικῆς τριάδος πρῶται αἱ ἀρχαί, εἶτα λοιπόν οἱ ἀρχάγγελοι, καί τό τελευταῖον ἄγγελοι. Νῦν οὖν οὐχ οὕτως αὐτῶν ἐμνημόνευσεν ἐν τῷ ἑξῆς κεφαλαίῳ, ἀλλά κάτωθεν εἰς ἄνω λαβών ὠνόμασεν. Ὁ μέν οὖν Ἀπόστολος ἔν τε τῇ πρός Ρωμαίους καί ἐν τῇ πρός Ἐφεσίους μέμνηται ἐνίων ἀγγελικῶν ταγμάτων, οὐ ταύτην δέ τήν τάξιν ὑφηγεῖται. ∆ηλοῖ δέ ὁ μέγας ∆ιονύσιος, ὅτι ἐν μυστηρίῳ ταῦτα παρέδωκε τοῖς ἁγίοις ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ζ'

§ 1. Πάλιν ἡ ἐπιγραφή κάτωθεν ἐπί τά ὑπέρτερα ἄνεισι (14Ε_252> τά γάρ

τρίτα σεραφίμ, τά δέ δεύτερα χερουβίμ, καί τά πρῶτα θρόνοι. Ἀντιστρόφως οὖν ἐπέγραψεν.

Ἐπωνυμία: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι πᾶν ὄνομα τῶν ἱερῶν σημασίαν περιέχει τῆς τοῦ τάγματος ἰδικῆς ἐνεργείας, ὡς τῶν ἁγίων σεραφίμ καί χερουβίμ τῶν ὀνομάτων αἱ ἑρμηνεῖαι δηλοῦσιν, ἐπειδή οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλο τάγμα πρό αὐτῆς.

Θεοφανείας: Εἰς γάρ τούς πρώτους ἐργάζονται, ἐνεργούμεναι αἱ πρῶται θεοφάνειαι.

Ἐκφαντορικῷ: Ἀντί τοῦ ἑρμηνευτικῷ καί παραστατικῷ. Θεοειδῶν: Ἐπειδή θεοειδεῖς ἕξεις φησίν ἐπί τῶν θείων νοῶν, οὐ χρή

ὑπολαμβάνειν τόν μέγαν ∆ιονύσιον τάς ἀρετάς ταύτας τάς νοητάς ὡς συμβεβηκός, ἅτε καί ἐφ' ἡμῶν αὐτῶν προσγίνεσθαι λέγειν, ὡς ἄλλη ἐν ἄλλῳ ὑποκειμένῳ, οἱονεί ποιότητα προσγινομένην· τό γάρ συμβεβηκός καί ὑποκείμενον ἐκεῖθεν ἀπελήλαται, ὅτε καί πᾶσα σύνθεσις καί τό τῆς ὕλης ἄμορφον ἐκεῖθεν ἐξώρισται. Εἰ γάρ ἦν ἄλλο ἐν ἄλλῳ, οἷον συμβεβηκός ἐν ὑποκειμένῳ, οὐκ ἄν ἔζη καθ' ἑαυτήν ἡ οὐσία ἐκείνη, οὐδέ θεοῦσθαι καθ' ἑαυτήν ὡς ἐφικτόν ἠδύνατο, διά μόνην τάξιν τήν ὡς ἄλλο ἐν ἄλλῳ φυλαττομένην· αἱ οὖν ἐν αὐτοῖς εἰρημέναι ἕξεις αὐτουσιωμέναι εἰσίν, οὐ μήν ὡς συμβεβηκός ἐν ὑποκειμένῳ, διά τό ἄϋλον. Ὅθεν ὁ μέγας ∆ιονύσιος κάτωθεν ἐν τῷ Περί τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἱεραρχίας λόγῳ κεφαλαίῳ τετάρτῳ οὐσιώδεις φησίν εἶναι τάς ἕξεις τάς ἐν αὐτοῖς.