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c. Recapitulation: Recapitulation of holy things is the knowledge of every sacerdotal order.

d. Beginning of this: What is the beginning of the hierarchy, and concerning the Trinity. e. Knowable: Note that the holy Trinity has as knowable that of its own

existence's characteristic, as we now say its own essence, this alone knows. The rational: Note that angels and men are rational essences. But not otherwise: namely, salvation. But deification: What is deification. Of the hierarchy: What is the end of every hierarchy, and what things the hierarch must pursue.

But note, that he says the end, that is, the purpose of every hierarchy, of the angelic and of that among men (14E_338> is the love towards God and divine things, and the things enumerated hereafter. But 'sacredly performed in a unified way' indicates to look completely and in a single way towards such worship.

§ 4. To the supercosmic: Note how God moves the intelligible powers, and how we are illuminated.

For not from without: For men receive true knowledge from without, that is from the contemplation of creation and from didactic words and other such things, but angels are illuminated in their own intellectual power from within, and are impressed with the divine will, that is, they are formed into the imitation of God and the knowledge of beings, insofar as they are beings.

But intelligibly: It must be understood how from within, but not from without, the illuminations of God move the divine minds; for he said that God illuminates them intelligibly; for since that which understands is intellectual, and that which is understood is intelligible, and the nourishment and, as it were, constitution of the one understanding is that which is understood, it is fitting that God, being the one who understands the incorporeal beings, himself becoming intelligible and understood by them, as far as they are able, having come to be from within, himself illuminates, while the mind understands and is nourished.

Of diverse symbols: Here he calls symbols the manifold teachings of Scripture, especially those introducing through symbolic words the contemplation concerning the divine nature and intellectual essences; but sometimes also being corrective of action, as the legal precepts, which are elevated to a moral allegory; but much more the rites of the mysteries are contemplated in symbols and types.

For the essence: Note what the essence of our hierarchy is, and what the divine oracles are.

Of hierophants: He calls the apostles hierophants, whom he has also called leaders; and the theological tablets the books of the Old and the New; and a more immaterial initiation the knowledge of the meanings of Scripture, which came to the apostles from the Spirit (14E_340>, which he also called a corporeal word, from which initiation the teachings of the New [Testament] were also established; and he called the illumination of the Spirit that arises in the ruling faculty a neighbor of the celestial hierarchy.

From mind to mind: See the things through the medium of the word, and that the mystical things were handed down through unwritten word. And the term 'of those who handed down' must be taken in a general sense; and he spoke of sacred symbols on account of the mysteries set forth hereafter, which he also deems worthy of anagogical contemplation.

By perceptible images: Concerning images. The folded together: Behold clearly what is folded. By unwritten initiations: Note that the divine things to us also by unwritten initiations

are handed down. Some symbolic [hierarchy]? That the hierarchy among men is symbolic and from perceptible things;

that is, we do not encounter the divine realities themselves in a naked way, but through

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γ'. Συγκεφαλαίωσις: Ἱερῶν συγκεφαλαίωσις ἡ γνῶσις παντός ἱερατικοῦ τάγματος.

δ'. Ταύτης ἀρχή: Τίς ἡ ἀρχή τῆς ἱεραρχίας, καί περί Τριάδος. ε'. Ἐπιστητόν: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἡ ἁγία Τριάς ἐπιστητόν ἔχει τό τῆς οἰκείας

ὑπάρξεως γνώριμον, ὡς τήν νῦν φαμεν τήν ἰδίαν οὐσίαν, μόνη αὕτη ἐπίσταται. Ἡ λογική: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἄγγελοι καί ἄνθρωποι λογικαί εἰσιν οὐσίαι. Ἡ δέ οὐχ ἑτέρως: Σωτηρία δηλονότι. Ἡ δέ θέωσις: Τί ἐστιν ἡ θέωσις. Ἱεραρχίας: Τί τό πέρας πάσης ἱεραρχίας, καί ὁποῖα δεῖ μετιέναι τόν ἱεράρχην.

Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι τό τέλος, ἤγουν τόν σκοπόν ἁπάσης ἱεραρχίας εἶναι λέγει τῆς ἀγγελικῆς καί τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις (14Ε_338> τήν πρός Θεόν καί τά θεῖα ἀγάπησιν, καί τά ἑξῆς κατειλεγμένα. Τό δέ ἑνιαίως ἱερουργουμένη δηλοῖ τό ὁλοσχερῶς καί μονοτρόπως πρός τήν τοιαύτην λατρείαν ὁρᾷν.

§ 4. Ὑπερκοσμίοις: Σημείωσαι, πῶς κινεῖ ὁ Θεός τάς νοητάς δυνάμεις, καί πῶς ἡμεῖς ἐλλαμπόμεθα.

Οὐ γάρ ἔξωθεν: Ἄνθρωποι μέν ἔξωθεν, τουτέστιν ἀπό τῆς κατά τήν κτίσιν θεωρίας καί λόγων διδασκαλικῶν καί ἑτέρων τοιούτων τήν ἀληθῆ γνῶσιν λαμβάνουσιν, ἄγγελοι δέ αὐτήν ἔνδοθεν τήν νοεράν αὐτῶν ἐλλάμπονται δύναμιν, καί τήν θείαν ἐνσημαίνονται βούλησιν, ἤγουν τυποῦνται πρός τό θεομίμητόν τε καί τῶν ὄντων, ᾖ ὄντα ἐστί, γνωστικόν.

Νοητῶς δέ: Κατανοητέον, πῶς ἔσωθεν, ἀλλ' οὐ θύραθεν, αἱ ἐλλάμψεις τοῦ Θεοῦ τούς θείους νόας κινοῦσιν· ἔφη γάρ τόν Θεόν νοητῶς αὐτούς ἐλλάμπειν· ἐπειδή γάρ νοερόν μέν ἐστι τό νοοῦν, νοητέον δέ τό νοούμενον, τροφή δέ καί οἷον σύστασις τοῦ νοοῦντος τό νοούμενον, εἰκότως ὁ Θεός, ἅτε νοῶν ὄντων τῶν ἀσωμάτων, αὐτός νοητός καί νοούμενος αὐτοῖς, καθ' ὅσον ἐφικνοῦνται, γενόμενος ἔσωθεν, αὐτός ἐλλάμπει, τοῦ νοῦ νοοῦντος καί τρεφομένου.

∆ιαιρετῶν συμβόλων: Σύμβολα ἐνταῦθα τάς τῆς Γραφῆς πολυειδεῖς διδασκαλίας φησί, μάλιστα μέν διά συμβολικῶν λόγων τήν περί τῆς θείας φύσεως καί τῶν νοερῶν οὐσιῶν θεωρίαν εἰσηγουμένας· ἔσθ' ὅτε δέ καί τῆς πράξεως οὕσας διορθωτικάς, ὡς τά νομικά παραγγέλματα, εἰς ἠθικήν ἀλληγορίαν ἀναγόμενα· πολλῷ δέ πλέον αἱ τῶν μυστηριων τελεταί ἐν συμβόλοις θεωροῦνται καί τύποις.

Οὐσία γάρ: Σημείωσαι, τίς ἡ οὐσία τῆς καθ ἡμᾶς ἱεραρχίας, καί τίνα τά θεῖα λόγια.

Ἱεροτελεστῶν: Ἱεροτελεστάς μέν τούς ἀποστόλους λέγει, οὕς καί καθηγεμόνας εἴρηκε· θεολογικάς δέ δέλτους τά βιβλία τῆς Παλαιᾶς καί τῆς Νέας· ἀϋλότερον δέ μύησιν τήν ἐκ Πνεύματος (14Ε_340> γενομένην τοῖς ἀποστόλοις γνῶσιν τῶν τῆς Γραφῆς νοημάτων, ἅ καί σωματικόν ἀπεκάλεσε λόγον, ἐξ ἧς μυήσεως καί τά τῆς Καινῆς συνέστη διδάγματα· γείτονα δέ τῆς οὐρανίας ἱεραρχιας τήν τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ ἐγγινομένην τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔλλαμψιν ἔφη.

Ἐκ νοός εἰς νοῦν: Ὅρα τά διά μέσου λόγου, καί ὅτι διά λόγου ἀγράφου τά μυστικά παρεδόθη. Κατά κοινοῦ δέ ληπτέον τό παραδεδωκότων· ἱεροῖς δέ ἔφη συμβόλοις διά τά ἑξῆς τεθειμένα μυστήρια, ἅτινα καί θεωρίας ἀναγωγικῆς ἀξιοῖ.

Αἰσθηταῖς εἰκόσι: Περί εἰκόνων. Τό συνεπτυγμένον: Ἰδού σαφῶς τί ἐπτυγμένον. Ἀγράφοις μυήσεσι: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι καί ἀγράφοις μυήσεσι τά θεῖα ἡμῖν

παραδέδονται. Συμβολική τις; Ὅτι συμβολική καί ἐξ αἰσθητῶν ἡ κατά ἀνθρώπους ἱεραρχία·

τουτέστιν οὐ γυμνῶς αὐτοῖς τοῖς θείοις ἐντυγχάνομεν πράγμασιν, ἀλλά διά