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a circular dance, as that of the circle around the point, that is, the center, from which it was formed; for indeed, according to natural necessity, each of the beings dances the dance around God, in its being longing for being. Thus then, all things are around the king of all things, and for His sake are all things, and He is the cause of all good things. But what he said, that the first things dance immediately around God, indicates that they have nothing before them, that the second and the third, that is, the perceptible things, dance analogously around God through the intermediaries before them, as has been said.

The intelligible things: The intelligible things are forms and properties of distinct existences, but in their bodilessness, the immaterial things do not need a place to be separated, as all bodies do; for where there is a body, there is also the place that will contain the bodies without conflict.

As a vulture: These things are from Ezekiel. From his place. How must one understand a place with respect to God, when Scripture everywhere says that the Divine is unlimited, and, "heaven is his throne, and the earth is the footstool of his feet"; (14Ε_268> and again; "he has weighed the valleys with a balance and the earth in his hand"; and again; "if I go up to heaven, you are there; and if I go down into hades, you are present". What place then did Ezekiel conceive for God? We say that God illuminates for those who seek him with their whole movement the things that seem difficult to us; for the divine Scripture says: "if anyone keeps my commandments, I and the Father will come and make our home with him". Therefore the intelligible powers, and the souls of the saints, and all who keep the commandments, might reasonably be called the place and rest of God; for elsewhere he also says: "my Spirit has rested upon them".

In the [writings] concerning the divine hymns: Note that another work by him has been composed On Divine Hymns.

The divine places: What is the place of God. Places of the divine rule: The saying, "what house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest," indicates that it is not spoken about something perceptible, but about these divine intellects; or also thus; God wished to signify that the Divine is uncircumscribable. And otherwise; that among those who heard there was no place of rest for God on account of their unbelief, as the Lord says in the Gospels: "but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head".

It is a monad: Not only, he says, does the thrice-holy hymn and the voice from his place glorifying God indicate that it has been imparted also to the lower orders to know and to hymn God, but it also signifies something else besides these things; and the saying which states this indicates it; and indeed we say that God is a tri-hypostatic henad and monad (14Ε_270> and provides for all things, having grasped all things from the first even to the last things of the earth without contact, that is, not holding them bodily, but super-essentially by divine providence. That He is a henad and a monad, even the impious Evagrius says this in the third chapter of his second Century: 'He is a monad, because the Divine is simple and indivisible; for this reason a monad; for a monad too, arithmetically speaking, is simple and uncompounded; and a henad for this reason, because the holy Trinity is also naturally united to itself, and it unifies all who draw near to it according to what is said in the Gospel, "that they may be one, just as we are one".

By that which has no contact: He calls the providence and grasp of God a cohesion without contact, being entirely transcendent and unconnected to the things being held together.

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κυκλική χορεία, ὡς ἡ τοῦ κύκλου περί τό σημεῖον, ἤτοι κέντρον, ἀφ' οὗ συνέστη· καί γάρ καί κατά φυσικήν ἀνάγκην ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων τήν περί τόν Θεόν χορεύει χορείαν, τῷ εἶναι ἐφιέμενον τοῦ εἶναι. Οὕτως οὖν περί τῶν πάντων βασιλέα πάντα ἐστί, καί ἐκείνου ἕνεκα πάντα καί ἐκεῖνο ἁπάντων καλῶν αἴτιον. Ὅ δέ εἶπεν ἀμέσως τά πρῶτα περί Θεόν χορεύειν, ὡς μή ἔχοντά τι πρό αὐτοῦ δηλοῖ, ὅτι τά δεύτερα καί τά τρίτα, τουτέστι τά αἰσθητά, διά μέσων τῶν πρό αὐτῶν περί τόν Θεόν, ὡς εἴρηται, ἀναλόγως χορεύει.

Τά νοητά: Τά νοητά εἴδη μέν εἰσι καί ἰδιότητες ὑπάρξεων διακεκριμένων, ἐν δέ τῇ ἀσωματίᾳ, καί μή τόπου δεῖσθαι τά ἄϋλα, ἵνα χωρισθῶσιν, ὡς τά σώματα πάντα· ὅπου γάρ σῶμα καί τόπος ὁ μέλλων χωρεῖν ἀμάχως τά σώματα.

Ὡς φηνή: Ταῦτα τοῦ Ἰεζεκιήλ. Ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτοῦ. Πῶς χρή νοῆσαι τόπον ἐπί Θεοῦ, τῆς Γραφῆς ἁπανταχοῦ

λεγούσης, ἀπεριόριστον εἶναι τό Θεῖον, καί τό, «οὐρανός θρόνος αὐτοῦ, ἡ δέ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ»· (14Ε_268> καί πάλιν· «ἕστηκε τάς νάπας ζυγῷ καί τήν γῆν δρακί»· καί αὖθις· «ἐάν πορευθῶ εἰς τόν οὐρανόν, σύ ἐκεῖ· ἐάν δέ καταβῶ εἰς τόν ἅδην, πάρει». Ποῖον οὖν ὁ Ἰεζεκιήλ ἐπενόησε τῷ Θεῷ τόπον; Λέγομεν, ὅτι τά δοκοῦντα ἡμῖν ἄπορα ὁ Θεός τοῖς ἐξ ὅλης αὐτόν ἐπιζητοῦσι κινήσεως φωτίζει· λέγει γάρ ἡ θεία Γραφή· «ἐάν τάς ἐντολάς μου φυλάττῃ τις, ἐγώ καί ὁ Πατήρ ἐλευσόμεθα καί μονήν παρ' αὐτῷ ποιησόμεθα». Ὥστε οὖν καί αἱ νοηταί δυνάμεις, καί αἱ τῶν ἁγίων ψυχαί, καί πάντων τῶν φυλασσόντων τάς ἐντολάς, τόπος κληθεῖεν ἄν εἰκότως τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἀνάπαυσις· καί ἀλλαχοῦ γάρ φησιν· «ἐπαναπέπαυται τό Πνεῦμά μου ἐπ' αὐτούς».

Ἐν τοῖς περί τῶν θείων ὕμνων: Σημείωσαι ὅτι καί ἄλλο σύνταγμα αὐτῷ Περί θείων ὕμνων πεπόνηται.

Οἱ θεῖοι τόποι: Τίς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ τόπος. Τόποι τῆς θεαρχικῆς: Τό εἰρημένον, «ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, λέγει

Κύριος, ἤ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου», δηλοῖ μή λέγεσθαι περί αἰσθητοῦ τινος, ἀλλά περί τῶν θείων τούτων νοῶν· ἤ καί οὕτως· ἡβουλήθη ὁ Θεός σημᾶναι, ὅτι ἀπερίγραπτον τό Θεῖον. Καί ἅλλως· ὅτι ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀκούουσιν οὐκ ἦν τῷ Θεῷ τόπος καταπαύσεως διά τήν ἀπιστίαν αὐτῶν, ὥς φησιν ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κύριος· «ὁ δέ Υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τήν κεφαλήν κλίνῃ».

Μονάς ἐστι: Οὐ μόνον, φησιν, ὁ τρισάγιος ὕμνος δηλοῖ καί ἡ ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτοῦ τόν Θεόν δοξολογοῦσα φωνή, τό μεταδεδόσθαι καί ταῖς ὑφειμέναις τάξεσι γινώσκειν καί ὑμνεῖν τόν Θεόν, ἀλλά καί ἕτερόν τι σημαίνει πρός τούτοις· τοῦτο δέ δηλοῖ τό ρητόν τό λέγον· καί μήν καί ἑνάδα καί μονάδα τρισυπόστατον (14Ε_270> λέγομεν εἶναι τόν Θεόν καί προνοεῖν ἁπάντων, ἀπό τῶν πρώτων καί μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων τῆς γῆς περιδεδραγμένον ἁπάντων ἀσχέτως, τουτέστιν οὐ σωματικῇ κατέχοντα, ἀλλά θεϊκῇ προνοίᾳ ὑπερουσίως. Ὅτι δέ ἐστιν ἑνάς καί μονάς, καί Εὐάγριος ὁ ἀνόσιος ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ ἑκατοντάδι κεφαλαίῳ τρίτῳ φησί τοῦτο· 'Αὐτός ἐστι μονάς, ἐπειδή τό Θεῖον ἁπλοῦν καί ἀδιαίρετόν ἐστι· τούτου χάριν μονάς· καί μονάς γάρ ἀριθμητικῶς εἰπεῖν, ἁπλῆ καί ἀσύνθετός ἐστιν· ἑνάς δέ διά τοῦτο, ἐπειδή καί πρός ἑαυτήν ἥνωται ἡ ἁγία Τριάς φυσικῶς, καί ἑνοῖ πάντας τούς αὐτῆ πλησιάζοντας κατά τό εἰρημένον ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ, «ἵνα ὦσιν αὐτοί ἕν, ὥσπερ καί ἡμεῖς ἕν ἐσμεν».

Ἀσχέτῳ: Ἄσχετον συνοχήν λέγει τήν ἐξῃρημένην πάντῃ καί ἀσυναφῆ πρός τά συνεχόμενα πρόνοιαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί περικράτησιν.

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