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of death, according to the Apostle; as in Christ he found nothing of his own transgression; "for he committed no sin (14E_358> neither was deceit found," as Isaiah says. Therefore it was also impossible for him to be held by death, as Peter says, but he was left alone among the dead, free, according to David.

§ 8. The unadorned is adorned: Since darkness is a defiled life, according to the Apostle, it exists as something most unadorned and is formless, not having the form of divine thought (for it is a shadow and a barrier against virtue), it is fittingly adorned by the illumination, and the one who approaches receives the form of light, becoming a child of light, and receiving the seed of God, which is light, according to the divine John. And among existing things, he called the misshapen "formless," not that which is entirely without form, just as we often call the ugly "unformed."

To know intellectually: For my part, I suppose that for the purpose of modesty, the great Dionysius kept silent as if feigning ignorance. For that he was deemed worthy of the foreknowledge of the Spirit, he has made clear in the letter to the evangelist John; yet this seems to me to mean that those deemed worthy of the divine Spirit, being everywhere the fragrance of Christ, and united to him in purity according to the Apostle, are sensible of his presence, by speaking in tongues or having the gift of prophecy or performing healings, and as many things as are declared in the Acts and by the most divine Paul. Otherwise; Those who as spiritual men understand spiritual things and compare them with spiritual things, and Paul says that the inspired and spiritual fragrance is those who preach the evangelical things, as leading from the life of faith to the life of the remission through baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the kingdom of heaven through God-befitting works, which things also declare an intellectual fragrance; whence the divine John in the Apocalypse beholds bowls full of incense, which are the (14E_360> prayers of the just. But the stench of the devil are the works of sin, as is also said in the Psalms; "my wounds have become foul and festering from the face of my foolishness," that is, of my sin. Therefore also Christ has been declared in an oracle as ointment poured out, and the Lord smells a pleasing odor in the offering of the just Noah. From this also the Gospel is "to some an odor of life," that is, to the faithful, "but to the unbelievers, of death," instead of to the unbelievers and the impious, an odor again becomes unto death, convicting their works and condemning them to Gehenna, in the same way that a very choice ointment at the same time delights men and destroys pigs, which cannot bear the extreme fragrance. He says these things at length below in the fourth chapter concerning the myrrh.

From the apostolic ordinances. Thus, the baptism is given unto the death of the Lord, and the

water in place of the burial, the oil in place of the Holy Spirit, the seal in place of the cross, the myrrh a confirmation of the confession.

ON CHAPTER 3

A. Leader of the rites: He means the holy Hierotheos. a. Having set forth hierographically: That is, according to the sacred description of the

things manifestly performed. The common: It is by omission of what exists. b. And communion: Concerning communion. The perfection from the: That it is impossible to be perfected without partaking. In a main point: That is, in a most necessary discourse.

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θανάτου, κατά τόν Ἀπόστολον· ὡς ἐν Χριστῷ οὐδέν τῆς οἰκείας παραβάσεως εὗρεν· «ἁμαρτίαν γάρ (14Ε_358> οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδέ δόλον», ὡς Ἠσαΐας φησί. ∆ιό καί ἀδύνατον ἦν αὐτόν ὑπό τοῦ θανάτου κρατεῖσθαι, ὥς φησι Πέτρος, ἀλλ' ἀφείθη μόνος ἐν νεκροῖς ἐλεύθερος, κατά τόν ∆αυίδ.

§ 8. Τό ἄκοσμον κοσμεῖται: Ἐπειδή τό σκότος ἐστίν ὁ ρυπαρός βίος, κατά τόν Ἀπόστολον, ἀκοσμότατόν τι ὑπάρχει καί ἀνείδεόν ἐστι, οὐκ ἔχον τό εἶδος τοῦ θείου φρονήματος (ἀποσκίασμα γάρ καί ἀντίφραγμα τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐστιν), εἰκότως τῷ φωτίσματι κοσμεῖται, καί εἶδος δέχεται φωτός ὁ προσιών, τέκνον φωτός γινόμενος, καί σπέρμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅ ἐστι φῶς δεχόμενος, κατά τόν θεῖον Ἰωάννην. Ἀνείδεον δέ ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τό δυσειδές ἀπεκάλεσεν οὐχί τό εἴδους πάντῃ ἀμέτοχον, ὥσπερ καί τό δύσμορφον πολλάκις ἄμορφόν φαμεν.

Ἐπιγνῶναι νοερῶς: Ἐγώ μέν ὑπολαμβάνω σκοπῷ μετριοφροσύνης, ὡς ἀγνοοῦντα δῆθεν σιωπῆσαι τόν μέγαν ∆ιονύσιον. Ὅτι μέν γάρ Πνεύματος προγνώσεως ἠξίωτο, δῆλον ἐν τῇ πρός τόν εὐαγγελιστήν Ἰωάννην ἐπιστολῇ πεποίηκεν· ὅμως τοῦτό μοι δοκεῖ σημαίνειν, ὅτι Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ὄντες πανταχῇ οἱ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἠξιωμένοι, καί ἑνωθέντες αὐτῷ τῇ καθαρότητι κατά τόν Ἀπόστολον, αἰσθάνονται τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας, τῷ γλώσσαις λαλεῖν ἤ προφητικόν ἔχειν χάρισμα ἤ ἰάσεις ἐνεργεῖν, καί ὅσα ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι δηλοῦνται καί παρά τῷ θειότατῳ Παύλω. Ἄλλως· Οἱ ὡς πνευματικοί τά πνευματικά νοοῦντες καί τοῖς πνευματικοῖς συγκρίνοντες, καί τήν ἔνθεον καί πνευματικήν εὐωδίαν φησίν εἶναι Παῦλος, τούς τά εὐαγγελικά κηρύττοντας, ὡς ἐκ ζωῆς τῆς πίστεως ἡγουμένους ἐπί ζωήν τήν διά βαπτίσματος ἄφεσιν, καί τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος δόσιν, καί βασιλειαν οὐρανῶν δι' ἔργων θεοπρεπῶν, τῶν καί εὐωδίας νοητῆς ὄντων δηλοῦντας· ὅθεν φιάλας θυμιαμάτων μεστάς τάς (14Ε_360> εὐχάς τῶν δικαίων Ἰωάννης ὁ θεῖος ἐν Ἀποκαλύψει θεωρεῖ. ∆υσωδία δέ τοῦ διαβόλου τά τῆς ἁμαρτίας εἰσίν ἔργα, ὡς καί ἐν Ψαλμοῖς εἴρηται· «προσώζεσαν καί ἐσάπησαν οἱ μώλωπές μου ἀπό προσώπου τῆς ἀφροσύνης μου», τουτέστι τῆς ἁμαρτίας μου. ∆ιό καί ὁ Χριστός μύρον ἐκκενωθέν κεχρησμῴδηται, καί ὁσφραίνεται ὁσμήν εὐωδίας Κύριος ἐν τῇ προσφορᾷ τοῦ δικαίου Νῶε. Ἐντεῦθεν καί τό Εὐαγγέλιον «τοῖς μέν ὁσμή ζωῆς», τοῖς πιστοῖς δηλονότι, «τοῖς δέ ἀπίστοις θανάτου», ἀντί τοῦ τοῖς ἀπίστοις καί ἀσεβέσιν, ὀσμή πάλιν εἰς θάνατον γίνεται, ἐλέγχον τά ἔργα καί κατακρῖνον εἰς γέενναν, ὅν τρόπον καί τό ἐξαίρετον πάνυ μύρον κατά ταὐτόν καί ἀνθρώπους ἡδύνει καί χοίρους ἀναιρεῖ, οὐ φέροντας τήν ἄκραν εὐωδίαν. Ταῦτα πλατέως λέγει κάτω ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τετάρτῳ εἰς τό μύρον.

Ἐκ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν διατάξεων. Ἔστι τοίνυν τό μέν βάπτισμα εἰς τόν θάνατον τοῦ Κυρίου διδόμενον, τό δέ

ὕδωρ ἀντί τῆς ταφῆς, τό ἔλαιον ἀντί τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου, ἡ σφραγίς ἀντί τοῦ σταυροῦ, τό μύρον βεβαίωσις τῆς ὁμολογίας.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Γ'

Α'. Καθηγεμόνα τελετῶν: Τόν ἅγιον Ἱερόθεον λέγει. α'. Ἱερογραφικῶς ἐκθέμενον: Τουτέστι κατά τήν ἱεράν διαγραφήν τῶν

ἐμφανῶς τελουμένων. Τό κοινόν: Κατά παράλειψιν τοῦ ὑπάρχοντός ἐστι. β'. Κοινωνία τε: Περί κοινωνίας. Ἡ τελείωσις ἐκ τῶν: Ὅτι ἀδύνατον τελεσθῆναι δίχα τῆς μεταλήψεως. Ἐν κεφαλαίῳ: Τουτέστιν ἀναγκαιοτάτῳ λόγῳ.