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The aforementioned things: He came to an explanation of the preceding text. He was saying then: Concerning the one who said, he says, that it was not the seraphim, the one seen

by Isaiah, but one of the lower angels; for he contends for this opinion, which a little before he reveals at the beginning of the chapter, where he says, 'but another not very absurdly', and so forth.

As in symbols: Because he sees the seraphim as six-winged. And stationed around God: For the saying has it that "they stood round about him". (14E_306> He was learning then: See what Isaiah was learning, whom he calls a theologian,

that the Divine is unknown even to the highest powers, and that nothing of the things that exist is like unto It. Now, by "things that exist" we meant in the book before this one the intelligible and the sensible things; and the prophet is initiated into these things after being purified of his own sins, concerning which we will speak a little later.

He was initiated by the seraphim: What he was initiated into through the seraphim. Appellations: Interpretation of seraphim. Of the wings: What the wings indicate. The movement towards the Divine in the first: For he said above at the end of the tenth

chapter, that every celestial and human mind has first and middle and last orders. Rightly, therefore, he said the power has six wings, so that with two it may cover the faces, and with the middle ones the feet, and with the remaining ones it may fly about the Divine, which he himself called the highest ascent. Note also what is the many-footed and the many-faced of the seraphim, and why they cover certain parts.

Sixfold: Note how he interprets the six wings of the holy seraphim. Of the things seen: That is, of the things contemplated by the prophet. Of the higher things: Through the covering of the faces; and of the deeper things, through

the covering of the feet; and through the middle ones, the symmetry. And the most precious hymnody The, "Holy, holy, holy"; and it signifies that also

an angel, in proportion to its own power, receives the divine illumination, and it itself transmits it to the prophets, as much as they can receive, not as much as it itself knows.

That it is purification: What purification is, and how it comes to the intelligible things from God.

But this itself: That is, the purification or the participation. (14E_308> In exalted ways: For the purification is not such as it is for humans,

as it is also for the incorporeal beings. To those around It: Around the Thearchy Itself, that is, around God. It reveals: The purification, that is. But in the case of the second ones: One must consider that he says every incorporeal power differs not moderately in

its God-likeness; for the highest minds have much of the God-like, but the rest have it in a lesser degree, inasmuch as their order also requires it for the remaining minds, down to the last ones; and even more so than the last ones, our souls; since our soul is indeed very far inferior to all the minds. And so the divine illumination is seen as somehow more collected and contracted in proportion to the, as it were, lengthy distance from the nearness to God, the divine illumination itself gathering, as it were, its own manifestation towards its unified and simple unknowability; for God is unknown not because of a variety of reasonings unknown to us, but according to a certain unified, with respect to our concerns, once and for all incomprehensible immortality.

In a fiery manner: Note that the fiery property belongs to the seraphim, and how, when an angel purifies, it is said that the seraphim purify, and before these, God.

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Τάς εἰρημένας: Ἦλθεν εἰς ἐξήγησην τοῦ προκειμένου. Ἔλεγεν οὖν: Περί τοῦ εἰπόντος φησίν, ὅτι οὐχ ὁ σεραφίμ ἐτύγχανεν, ὁ ὀφθείς

τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ, ἀλλά τις τῶν κατωτέρῳν ἀγγέλων· ταύτῃ γάρ τῇ δόξη ἐπαγωνίζεται, ἥν πρό ὀλίγου ἀναφαίνει τῇ ἀρχῇ τοῦ κεφαλαίου, ἔνθα φησίν, 'ἕτερος δέ οὐ σφόδρα ἄτοπον', καί τά ἑξῆς.

Ὡς ἐν συμβόλοις: Ἐπειδή ἐξαπτέρυγα ὁρᾷ τά σεραφίμ. Καί περί Θεόν ἱδρυμένας: Ἔχει γάρ τό λόγιον ὅτι «εἱστήκει κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ». (14Ε_306> Ἐμάνθανεν οὖν: Ὅρα τί ἐμάνθανεν ὁ Ἠσαΐας, ὅν καλεῖ θεολόγον,

ὅτι ἄγνωστον τό Θεῖον καί ταῖς ἀνωτάτω δυνάμεσι, καί ὅτι οὐδέν τῶν ὄντων ἐμφερές αὐτῷ. Ὄντα δέ εἴπομεν ἐν τῷ πρό τούτου βιβλίῳ τά νοητά καί αἰσθητά· ταῦτα δέ μυεῖται ὁ προφήτης μετά τό καθαρθῆναι τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτιῶν, περί οὗ μικρόν ὕστερον ἐροῦμεν.

Σεραφίμ ἐμυεῖτο: Τί ἐμυεῖτο διά τά σεραφίμ. Ἐπωνυμίας: Ἑρμηνεία σεραφίμ. Πτερῶν: Τί δηλοῖ τά πτερά. Τήν ἐπί τό Θεῖον ἐν πρώταις: Εἶπεν ἄνω γάρ ἐν τῷ τέλει τοῦ δεκάτου

κεφαλαίου, ὅτι πᾶς οὐράνιος καί ἀνθρώπειος νοῦς καί πρώτας καί μέσας καί τελευταίας ἔχει τάξεις. Εἰκότως οὖν ἕξ πτέρυγας εἶπεν ἔχειν τήν δύναμιν, ἵνα ταῖς μέν δυσί καλύπτῃ τά πρόσωπα, ταῖς δέ μέσαις τούς πόδας, ταῖς δέ λοιπαῖς τό Θεῖον περιπετῆται, ὅπερ εἶπεν αὐτός τήν ὑπερτάτην ἀνάτασιν. Σημείωσαι δέ τί τό πολύπουν καί τό πολυπρόσωπον τῶν σεραφίμ, καί διά τί σκέπονται ἔνια.

Ἑξαπλῆς: Σημείωσαι, πῶς ἀνάγει τάς ἕξ πτέρυγας τῶν ἁγίων σεραφίμ. Ὁρωμένων: Τουτέστι τῶν ὑπό τοῦ προφήτου θεωρουμένων. Τῶν ὑψηλοτέρων: ∆ιά τοῦ καλύπτειν τά πρόσωπα· τῶν δέ βαθυτέρων, διά

τοῦ καλύπτειν τούς πόδας· διά δέ τῶν μέσων τήν συμμετρίαν. Καί πολυτίμητον ὑμνῳδίαν Τό, «Ἅγιος, ἅγιος, ἅγιος»· σημαίνει δέ ὅτι καί

ἄγγελος, κατ' ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως, δέχεται τήν θείαν ἔλλαμψιν, καί αὐτός μεταδίδωσι τοῖς προφήταις, ὅσον χωροῦσιν, οὐχ ὅσα γινώσκει αὐτός.

Ὅτι κάθαρσίς ἐστι: Τί ἐστι κάθαρσις, καί πῶς εἰς τά νοητά γίνεται παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Αὐτή δέ: Ἡ κάθαρσις δηλαδή ἤ ἡ μετουσία. (14Ε_308> Ἐξῃρημέναις: Οὐ γάρ οἵα ἐστί τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ κάθαρσις,

τοιαύτη ἐστί καί ἐπί τῶν ἀσωμάτων. Ταῖς περί αὐτήν: Περί αὐτήν τήν θεαρχίαν δηλονότι, τουτέστι περί τόν Θεόν. Ἐκφαίνει: Ἡ κάθαρσις δηλονότι. Ἐπί δέ τῶν δευτέρων: Σκοπεῖν δεῖ, ὅτι διαφέρειν φησίν οὐ μετρίως ἐν τῷ

θεοειδεῖ πᾶσαν ἀσώματον δύναμιν· πολύ μέν γάρ ἔχειν τό θεοειδές τούς ἀνωτάτω νόας, ὑφειμένον δέ λοιπόν, καθόσον καί ἡ τάξις ἀπαιτεῖ τούς λοιπούς νόας, μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων· πλέον δέ καί τῶν ἐσχάτων τάς ἡμετέρας ψυχάς· ἐπεί καί πάντων τῶν νοῶν πολύ λείπεται ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς ψυχή. Καί ἡ θεία τοίνυν ἔλλαμψις συνηγμένη πως μᾶλλον καί συνεσταλμένη θεωρεῖται πρός τήν οἷον εἰς μῆκος ἀπόστασιν τῆς εἰς Θεόν πλησιάσεως, συνάγουσα οἱονεί αὐτή ἡ θεία ἔλλαμψις τήν οἰκείαν φανέρωσιν πρός τό ἑνιαῖον καί ἁπλοῦν αὐτῆς ἄγνωστον· ἄγνωστος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ Θεός οὐ διά ποικιλίαν συλλογισμῶν ἀγνοουμένην ἡμῖν, ἀλλά κατά ἑνιαίαν τινά πρός τά καθ' ἡμᾶς, καθ' ἕν καί καθάπαξ ἀκατάληπτον ἀθανασίαν.

Ἐμπυρίως: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἐμπύριος ἰδιότης τῶν σεραφίμ ἐστι, καί πῶς, ἀγγέλου καθαίροντος, τά σεραφίμ εἴρηται καθαίρειν, καί πρό τούτων ὁ Θεός.