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Or of priests: Note that the priests are subordinate to the hierarch; and that it is one thing to enlighten and another to purify; and that a minister is one thing, and a priest another; and when priests purify or enlighten, it is said that the hierarch does it.

Preserving unchangeable: That God, who is likewise the creator of all intelligible beings, Himself also holds together and preserves the first essences toward unchangeableness and immutability; but one must understand them as unchangeable in that by which they are, for example, in immortality, in life, according to which they are essentiated into being light; for in these things God holds them together (14E_310> and preserves them, both essentially immutable and so as not to turn to degenerate desires, since they have free will. For to strain toward Him is of their own intellectual choice, but to endure in this forever is of God's assistance; for all things need God's help.

The one who teaches me these things: Note that the great Dionysius learned these things from another.

Hierarch: Note that after God, the highest orders are leaders. I was initiated in a godlike manner: The personification of the angel, as if the purifying angel

to Isaiah, said these things to him concerning the seraphim. Or from himself. The syntax, which goes beyond the literal meaning, after many things

being rendered must be constructed thus: it would be of your own intellectual knowledge, either to accept this cause, or to find it from yourself, or to learn it from another and rather discover it for yourself; if indeed it is possible for me likewise to discover a beloved theory concerning angels. And "to honor" instead of "to prefer." Note that the angels procure for us the gifts of God.

Procuring: Consider, when God gives us speech in the opening of our mouth, angels procure it, clearly as interceding on our behalf.

TO CHAPTER 14

Thousands: These things are said in Daniel. The weak and contracted: He called the proportion of

the number of men weak compared to that of the angels; for it was also said by another, namely Didymus the Blind; 'The ninety-nine sheep are the angels, and the one that was lost is us, the humans'.

(14E_312> Gnostically: Note that he says even the angels themselves know the definitions gnostically, not by learning, as it were, what the number of the heavenly essences is, having been enlightened in this too by God.

TO CHAPTER 15

§ 1. Befitting an angel: Like fine linen, like carbuncle. Anagogical elevations: He calls the explanatory interpretations anagogical elevations, through which

the symbols are purified of the seeming absurdities in what is said. For if: For above he said that the higher powers hierarchically rule those after

them, and the middle ones the last, and the last of them the hierarchs among men. For he did not say that the same order both rules the one after it and is ruled by them, but he said thus, that the first order rules the one after it, but is ruled by those before it; and so it must be understood for the rest.

For if to be hierarchically ruled: What he says is this, that if we said that the first orders hierarchically rule the last, and then again that the last themselves hierarchically rule the first orders, by which they are also hierarchically ruled, it would be an absurd thing.

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Ἤ ἱερέων: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι οἱ ἱερεῖς ὑποβεβήκασι τόν ἱεράρχην· καί ὅτι ἄλλο φωτίζειν καί ἄλλο καθαίρειν· καί ὅτι ἄλλο λειτουργός, καί ἄλλο ἱερεύς· καί τῶν ἱερέων καθαιρούντων ἤ φωτιζόντων, ὁ ἱεράρχης λέγεται ποιεῖν.

∆ιατηρῶν ἀτρέπτους: Ὅτι ὁ Θεός ὁ καί πάντων ὁμοίως τῶν νοητῶν δημιουργός, αὐτός καί τάς πρώτας οὐσίας συνέχει καί διατηρεῖ πρός ἀτρεψίαν καί ἀμεταπτωσίαν· ἀτρέπτους δέ νοεῖν δεῖ αὐτάς κατ' ἐκεῖνο καθ' ὅ εἰσιν, οἷον εἰς τό ἀθάνατον, εἰς τήν ζωήν, καθ' ἥν οὐσίωνται εἰς τό εἶναι φῶς· ἐν τούτοις γάρ καί ἀμεταβόλους οὐσιωδῶς, καί εἰς τό μή τρέπεσθαι εἰς ἐκφύλους ἐπιθυμιας, ἅτε καί αὐτεξουσίους, ὁ Θεός συνέχει αὐτούς (14Ε_310> καί διατηρεῖ. Τό μέν γάρ πρός αὐτόν ἀνατείνεσθαι τῆς αὐτῶν ἐστι νοερᾶς προαιρέσεως, τό δέ εἰσαεί περί τοῦτο διαρκεῖν τῆς ἀντιλήψεώς ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ· πάντα γάρ δεῖται τῆς Θεοῦ βοηθείας.

Ὁ ταῦτά με διδάσκων: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ταῦτα παρ' ἑτέρου ἔμαθεν ὁ μέγας ∆ιονύσιος.

Ἱεράρχης: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι μετά Θεόν ἡγεμόνες καί οἱ ἀνωτάτω διάκοσμοι. Θεοειδῶς ἐμυήθην: Ἡ τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἠθοποιία, ὡσανεί ὁ καθαίρων ἄγγελος

τόν Ἠσαΐαν, ταῦτα αὐτῷ ἔλεγε περί τῶν σεραφίμ. Ἤ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ. Τήν καθ' ὑπέρβασιν τοῦ ρητοῦ σύνταξιν μετά πλεῖστα

ἀποδιδομένην οὕτω συντακτέον· τῆς σῆς δ' ἄν νοερᾶς ἐπιστήμης, ἤ τήν αἰτίαν ταύτην δέξασθαι, ἤ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ εὑρεῖν, ἤ παρ' ἑτέρου μαθεῖν καί ἀνακαλύψαι μᾶλλον ἑαυτῷ· εἴπερ δέ οἷόν τε καί ἐμοί ὡσαύτως ἀνακαλύψει περί ἀγγέλων ἐραστήν θεωρίαν. Τό τιμῆσαι δέ ἀντί τοῦ προτιμῆσαι. Σημείωσαι, ὅτι τάς τοῦ Θεοῦ δόσεις προξενοῦσιν ἡμῖν οἱ ἄγγελοι.

Προξενούντων: Σκόπει, ὅτε, Θεοῦ διδόντος ἡμῖν λόγον ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματος ἡμῶν, ἄγγελοι προξενοῦσι, δῆλον ὡς ὑπέρ ἡμῶν πρεσβεύοντες.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ι∆'

Χιλίας: Ταῦτα ἐν τῷ ∆ανιήλ εἴρηται. Τήν ἀσθενῆ καί συνεσταλμένην: Ἀσθενῆ συμμετρίαν ἐκάλεσε τόν τῶν

ἀνθρώπων ἀριθμόν πρός τόν τῶν ἀγγέλων· εἴρηται γάρ καί ἑτέρῳ τινί, ∆ιδήμῳ δηλονότι τῷ τυφλῷ· 'Τά μέν ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα πρόβατα εἶναι τούς ἀγγέλους, τό δέ ἕν τό ἀπόλωλός ἡμᾶς τούς ἀνθρώπους'.

(14Ε_312> Γνωστικῶς: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι καί αὐτούς τούς ἀγγέλους φησί γνωστικῶς, οὐ μαθητικῶς, εἰδέναι τούς ὁρισμούς, οἱονεί τό, πόσος τῶν οὐρανίων οὐσιῶν ὑπάρχει ὁ ἀριθμός, ἐκ Θεοῦ καί τοῦτο φωτισθέντας.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΙΕ'

§ 1. Ἀγγελοπρεποῦς: Ὡς ὀθόνη, ὡς ἄνθραξ. Ἀνακαθάρσεις: Ἀνακαθάρσεις φησί τάς ἐξηγητικάς ἑρμηνείας, δι' ὧν

καθαίρονται τῶν ἐν τοῖς λεγομένοις δοκούντων ἀτόπων τά σύμβολα. Εἰ μέν γάρ: Ἄνω γάρ εἶπεν, ὅτι αἱ ἀνώτεραι δυνάμεις ἱεραρχοῦσι τάς μετ'

αὐτάς, καί αἱ μέσαι τάς ὑστέρας, καί αἱ ὕστεραι αὐτῶν τούς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἱεράρχας. Οὔτε γάρ εἶπεν, ὅτι ἡ αὐτή τάξις καί ἄρχει τῷ μετ' αὐτήν, καί ἄρχεται ὑπ' αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' οὕτως εἶπεν, ὅτι ἡ πρώτη τάξις ἄρχει μέν αὐτήν, ἄρχεται δέ ὑπό τῶν πρό αὐτῆς· οὕτω καί εἰς τά ἑξῆς νοητέον.

Εἰ μέν γάρ ἱεραρχεῖσθαι: Ὅ φησι τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅτι, εἰ τάς πρώτας τάξεις ἐλέγομεν ἱεραρχεῖν τῶν τελευταίων, εἶτα πάλιν αὐτάς τάς τελευταίας ἱεραρχεῖν τῶν πρώτων τάξεων, ὑφ' ὧν καί ἱεραρχοῦνται, ἄτοπον πρᾶγμα ἦν.