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his own tracks, so that they may not be known; whence it is also said concerning God: "Your way is in the sea, and Your paths in many waters, and Your tracks will not be known"; for just as a way is not preserved in the waters, nor the tracks of a lion, so too the goings of God.

Resourceful: For the eagle is a most sharp-sighted creature. For there is a saying that eagles thus distinguish the legitimate from the illegitimate among their offspring; if they gaze at the sun without blinking, they are legitimate; but if not, they are cast out of the nest as illegitimate; so too, therefore, the one who is unable to gaze purely at the sun of righteousness is found to be illegitimate to His knowledge.

And of white ones indeed: Note what are white, dark-blue, red, and mixed horses; but we have fully explained dissimilar similarity above in the second chapter of this book.

The one in a straight line: The "the" must be fitted to "power"; and the rest through the middle. According to another: Another contemplation on the wheels. Gelgel: Note what gelgel means in the prophet Ezekiel. Of joy: How the heavenly things are said to rejoice, and the Divine itself. Impassioned: He speaks of human pleasure as impassioned, as by that concerning the body

consisting of an easily changeable passion. Ease: The name of ease is applied indeed to those not to toil

willing, but choosing to live differently; but the word signifies (14E_328> that which is easy and not laborious; here, however, it suggests that which is blessed and passionless and untroubled. In another sense, he calls ease the facility and spiritual abundance in rest with dispassion; therefore it must be understood analogously in the case of angels as well;

Good passion: He spoke of good passion, taking it from our own terms; but it denotes being well in every way, and the unharmed state.

Holy men: It is not possible to understand these things as they are, except for those who have been deemed worthy of such perfection, such men as it is fitting for them to be, just as this holy priest says, so as to be deemed worthy of divine illuminations concerning the knowledge of beings, and concerning the pure ascent to God; for being deified by such illuminations, the intellect then, having come to an easier end, comes into possession of angelic pleasure, and of the untroubled state among them, in which the intellect, being then at ease, as having come to an easier end, over the salvation of those who are being saved, impassively, as far as possible, imitates God, Who wills all men to be saved, having enjoyed the theurgic visitations of God, that is, those that work and perfect gods. And he calls theurgic visitations those that work and perfect gods.

That of some the super-cosmic: But note, that the one who is ignorant ought not to blush at what he was ignorant of, but to confess his ignorance, and not to answer at random about what he was ignorant of. But it must be known that the titles which the saints had while they were still Greeks, these they also unblushingly ascribed to themselves after converting to Christ. For behold, this one also calls himself Areopagite, and the divine Justin in his Address to the Greeks inscribed "of Justin the Philosopher."

ON THE ECCLESIASTICAL HIERARCHY

ON CHAPTER 1 (14E_332> § 1. a'. Of the theurgic: He says of the theurgic, which is worked by God,

that is, given to men, and that the hierarchy among Christians works and perfects gods.

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ἑαυτοῦ ἴχνη, ἵνα μή γνωσθῶσιν· ὅθεν καί περί Θεοῦ εἴρηται· «ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἡ ὁδός σου, καί αἱ τρίβοι σου ἐν ὕδασι πολλοῖς, καί τά ἴχνη σου οὐ γνωσθήσονται»· ὥσπερ γάρ ὁδός ἐν ὕδασιν οὐ σώζεται, οὔτε ἴχνη λέοντος, οὕτως οὔτε Θεοῦ πορεῖαι.

Εὐμήχανον: Ὀξυωπέστατον γάρ ζῶον ὁ ἀετός. Λόγος γάρ τούς ἀετούς τῶν τικτομένων τά γνήσια ἐκ τῶν νόθων οὕτω διακρίνειν· ἐάν ἀτενίσωσιν ἀσκαρδαμυκτί πρός τόν ἥλιον, γνήσιά εἰσιν· εἰ δέ μή, ὡς νόθα ἀποβάλλονται τῆς καλιᾶς· οὕτως οὖν καί ὁ μή δυνάμενος καθαρῶς τῷ ἡλίῳ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀτενίσαι, νόθος τῆς αὐτοῦ γνώσεως εὑρίσκεται.

Καί λευκῶν μέν: Σημείωσαι τί ἵπποι λευκοί, κυανοί, ἐρυθροί, σύμμικτοι· ἀνόμοιον δέ ὁμοιότητα ἄνω τελέως ἐσαφηνίσαμεν ἐν δευτέρῳ κεφαλαίῳ τούτου τοῦ βιβλίου.

Τήν κατ' εὐθεῖαν: Τό τήν πρός τό δύναμιν ἁρμοστέον· τά δέ λοιπά διά μέσου. Κατ' ἄλλην: Ἑτέρα θεωρία εἰς τούς τροχούς. Γελγέλ: Σημείωσαι τί σημαίνει τό γελγέλ παρά τῷ προφήτη Ἰεζεκιήλ. Χαρᾶς: Πῶς λέγονται χαίρειν τά οὐράνια, καί αὐτό τό Θεῖον. Ἐμπαθής: Ἐμπαθῆ ἡδονήν τήν ἀνθρωπίνην φησίν, ὡς τῇ περί τό σῶμα

εὐαλλοιώτῳ ἐμπαθείᾳ συνισταμένην. Ρᾳστώνην: Τό τῆς ρᾳστώνης ὄνομα τίθεται μέν ἐπί τῶν πονεῖν μή

βουλομένων, ἀλλά διαφόρως ζῇν ἑλομένων· σημαίνει (14Ε_328> δέ ἡ λέξις τό εὐχερές καί οὐκ ἐπίπονον· ἐνταῦθα μέντοι τό μακάριον καί ἀπαθές καί ἀόχλητον ὑποφαίνει. Ἄλλως ρᾳστώνην φησί τήν εὐκολίαν καί εὐμάρειαν ψυχικήν ἐν ἀναπαύσει μετά ἀπαθείας· ἀναλόγως οὖν καί ἐπί ἀγγέλων νοητέον·

Εὐπάθειαν: Εὐπάθειαν ὡς ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς λαβῶν ἔφη· δηλοῖ δέ τό εὖ ἔχειν διά παντός, καί τήν ἀπήμονα κατάστασιν.

Ἄνδρες ἱεροί: Ταῦτα οὐχ οἷόν τε νοεῖν ὥς εἰσι, πλήν εἰ μή τούς ἀξιωθέντας τοιαύτης τελειότητος, ὁποίους ἄρα καί εἶναι προσήκει ἄνδρας, καθάπερ ὁ ἅγιος οὗτός φησιν ἱερεύς, ὥστε καί θείων ἐλλάμψεων ἀξιωθῆναι περί τήν ὄντων γνῶσιν, καί περί τήν πρός τόν Θεόν καθαράν ἀνάτασιν· ἐκ γάρ τῶν τοιούτων ἐλλάμψεων θεούμενος, λοιπόν ὁ νοῦς ὡς ἐν ρᾴονι λήξει γενόμενος, ἐν ἕξει γίνεται τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ἡδονῆς, καί τῆς ἐν ἐκείνοις ἀοχλησίας, καθ' ἥν ρᾳστωνευόμενος λοιπόν ὁ νοῦς, ὡς ἐν ρᾴονι λήξει γενόμενος, ἐπί τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν σωζομένων, ἀπαθῶν, καθ' ὅσον δυνατόν, Θεόν μιμεῖται, τόν θέλοντα πάντας ἀνθρώπους σωθῆναι, ἀπολαύσας τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ θεουργῶν ἐπιφοιτήσεων, τουτέστι τῶν θεούς ἐργαζομένων καί ἀποτελουσῶν. Θεουργούς δέ ἐπιφοιτήσεις φησί τάς θεούς ἐργαζομένας καί ἀποτελούσας.

Ὅτι τῶν μέν τήν ὑπερκόσμιον: Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι δεῖ τόν ἀγνοοῦντα μή ἐρυθριᾶν ἐν οἷς ἠγνόησεν, ἀλλ' ὁμολογεῖν τήν ἄγνοιαν, καί μή ὡς ἔτυχεν ἀποκρίνεσθαι περί ὧν ἠγνόησεν. Ἰστέον δέ, ὅτι τά γνωρίσματα ἅπερ εἶχον ἔτι Ἕλληνες ὄντες οἱ ἅγιοι, οὗτοι καί μετά τό ἐπιστρέψαι πρός Χριστόν ἀνερυθριάστως ἐπέγραφον ἑαυτοῖς. Ἰδού γάρ καί οὗτος Ἀρεοπαγίτην καλεῖ ἑαυτόν, καί ὁ θεῖος Ἰουστῖνος ἐν τῷ Πρός Ἕλληνας λόγῳ Ἰουστίνου ἐπέγραψε Φιλοσόφου.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΗΣ ΙΕΡΑΡΧΙΑΣ

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Α' (14Ε_332> § 1. α'. Θεουργικῆς: Θεουργικῆς φησι τῆς ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐνεργουμένης,

ἤγουν δοθείσης ἀνθρώποις, καί ὅτι θεούς ἀπεργάζεται καί ἀποτελεῖ ἡ ἐν Χριστιανοῖς ἱεραρχία.