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The sacred [text]: Note, that there was no font in the law and that he has another treatise concerning the hierarchy according to the law, which is not extant.

Of the hierarch: Note the divine quality of the priest, which is truly most perfect. "Liturgy to have been purified": That is, by the divine liturgy. "The splendor of mirrors": He calls the souls of the saints mirrors, as being receptive of the divine

light and assimilative of the better portion. "Of those letting pass through": And now, speaking in the Attic dialect, as an Athenian, he composed the saying,

saying, "of the flashings letting forth their own gleam," when it was necessary to say, using the feminine, "of the flashings letting forth," which indeed we showed more extensively above in chapter 7 of the book On the Celestial Hierarchy, that the construction is Attic. Therefore, read there.

But that of the hierarch: Note, why the hierarch washes at the altar, that is, at the holy things, that is, before them.

And of the highest: Namely, of the highest purification. And under sight: Rather, at that time the divine gifts remained covered, until the time

of holy communion; and he indicates this a little later (14Ε_380>. Or, to be precise, that when the hierarch elevates the holy bread, he showed the blessing, saying, "The Holy Things for the holy."

§ 11. Some therefore: Few know all the providences towards us, and perhaps not even a few know; and concerning what the offering is.

Helper: Assistant. The human: Concerning the fall of men. Transgression: Transgression, By their own inclinations: Which is, of their own free will. But the syntax is with reference to what was said above;

for he said that a life full of suffering succeeds human nature, and the other things are in between, from "for consequently" until "whence pitifully".

Soothing: Healing. That of the beginning: Since we also have the beginning of our constitution from earth, for our

corporeal part is from it, it is fitting that after the transgression we also have an end suitable to the beginning; for returning to earth; since it was said, "you are earth, and to earth you shall return."

End: That is, death. Of an uplifting life: And he calls an uplifting life the one that seeks the things above and is turned towards God.

A most passible alteration: What alteration is in the case of bodies, we have discussed in On the

Divine Names. Hostile: Wretched. Pitifully into non-existence: But into non-existence on account of sin; for the

sinner in a way does not exist; for evil is non-existent. Most infinite love for humanity: Concerning the incarnation, that this

He effected out of love for humanity. (14Ε_382> Our own Maker: Note the precision of the doctrines, in

a great number of words expressed and warring against all heretics; for "to become our own Maker" indicates the providence of God towards us, that He Himself was God the Word; and not another in another, as some rave along with Nestorius. But "in true participation of all our [attributes] sinlessly" casts down the Manicheans and Eutychians and Apollinarians and Acephali and simply all who hold heretical views.

Of state: Here "of state" should not be understood as of some immanent quality, but of possession and permanence, that is, of holding fast.

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Ὁ μέν ἱερός: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι οὐ λουτήρ ἦν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ καί ὅτι σύνταγμα ἔχει ἄλλο περί τῆς κατά νόμον ἱεραρχίας, ὅπερ οὐ φέρεται.

Τοῦ ἱεράρχου: Σημείωσαι τό ἔνθεον τοῦ ἱερέως, τό ἀληθῶς τελειότατον. Ἱερουργίαν ἀποκεκαθάρθαι: Τῇ θείᾳ ἱερουργίᾳ δηλονότι. Ἐσόπτρων ἀγλαΐαν: Ἔσοπτρά φησι τάς τῶν ἁγίων ψυχάς, ὡς τοῦ θείου

φωτός δεκτικάς καί τῆς κρείττονος λήξεως ἀφομοιωτικάς. Ἐφιέντων διϊέναι: Καί νῦν Ἀττικίζων, ὡς Ἀθηναῖος, συνέταξε τό ρητόν,

φάσκων, τῶν μαρμαρυγῶν ἐξιέντων τήν οἰκείαν αἴγλην, δέον πρός θηλυκόν τῶν μαρμαρυγῶν ἐφιεισῶν εἰπεῖν, ὅ δή καί ἄνω ἐν κεφαλαίῳ ζ' τοῦ Περί οὐρανίας ἱεραρχἰας βιβλίου πλατύτερον ἐδείξαμεν, ὡς Ἀττικόν τό σχῆμα. Ἐκεῖ οὖν ἀνάγνωθι.

Ἡ δέ τοῦ ἱεράρχου: Σημείωσαι, διά τί ἐπί τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου νίπτεται ὁ ἱεράρχης, ἤτοι ἐπί τῶν ἁγίων, τουτέστιν ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν.

Καί τῆς ἀκροτάτης: Τῆς ἄκρας καθάρσεως δηλαδή. Καί ὑπ' ὄψιν: Μᾶλλον τότε ἔμενον κεκαλυμμένα τά θεῖα δῶρα, ἕως καιροῦ

τῆς ἁγίας μεταλήψεως· καί τοῦτο δηλοῖ μετ' (14Ε_380> ὀλίγᾳ. Ἤ τό γε ἀκριβές, ὅτι κουφίζων ὁ ἱεράρχης τόν ἅγιον ἄρτον, ἐδείκνυ τήν εὐλογίαν, λέγων, «τά Ἅγια τοῖς ἁγίοις».

§ 11. Τινάς μέν οὖν: Τάς εἰς ἡμᾶς προνοίας πάσας ὀλίγοι ἴσασι, τάχα δέ οὐδέ ὀλίγοι ἴσασι· καί περί τίνος ἡ προσκομιδή.

Ἀρωγόν: Βοηθόν. Τήν ἀνθρωπείαν: Περί τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀποπτώσεως. Ὑπερβασία: Παραβασία, Οἰκείαις ροπαῖς: Ὅ ἐστιν αὐθαιρέτως. Ἡ δέ σύνταξις πρός τά ἄνω εἰρημένα

ἐστίν· εἶπε γάρ, ὅτι τήν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν ἡ πολυπαθεστάτη ζωή διαδέχεται, τά δέ ἄλλα διά μέσου, ἀπό τοῦ 'ἀκολούθως γάρ' ἕως τοῦ 'ἔνθεν ἐλεεινῶς'.

Θελκτικαῖς: Θεραπευτικαῖς. Τό τῆς ἀρχῆς: Ἐπειδή καί ἀρχήν τῆς συστάσεως ἐκ γῆς ἔχομεν, τό γάρ

σωματικόν ἡμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς, εἰκότως μετά τήν παράβασιν καί τό τέλος πρόσφορον ἔχομεν τῇ ἀρχῇ· εἰς γῆν γάρ ἀναλύοντες· ἐπεί ἐρρήθη, ὅτι «γῆ εἶ, καί εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ».

Πέρας: Τουτέστι τόν θάνατον. Ἀναγώγου ζωῆς: Ἀναγωγόν δέ ζωήν τήν τά ἄνω ζητοῦσαν καί πρός Θεόν

ἐπεστραμμένην φησι. Πολυπαθεστάτην ἀλλοίωσιν: Τί ἐστιν ἀλλοίωσις ἐπί σωμάτων, ἐν τῷ Περί

τῶν θείων ὀνομάτων διεξήλθομεν. ∆υσμενεῖς: Ταλαιπώρους. Εἰς ἀνυπαρξίας οἰκτρῶς: Εἰς ἀνυπαρξίαν δέ διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν· ὁ γάρ

ἁμαρτωλός τρόπον τινά οὐχ ὑπάρχει· τό γάρ κακόν ἀνύπαρκτον. Ἀπειροτάτη φιλανθρωπία: Περί τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, ὅτι ταύτην

φιλανθρώπως ἐνήργησεν. (14Ε_382> Αὑτουργόν ἡμῶν: Σημείωσαι τήν ἀκρίβειαν τῶν δογμάτων, ἐν

πολυπληθείᾳ λέξεων φραζομένην καί πολεμοῦσαν πάντας αἱρετικούς· τό μέν γάρ αὐτουργόν γενέσθαι τήν εἰς ἡμᾶς πρόνοιαν τοῦ Θεοῦ δηλοῖ, ὅτι αὐτός ἦν ὁ Θεός Λόγος· οὐ μήν ἄλλος ἐν ἄλλῳ, ὥς τινες μαίνονται σύν Νεστορίῳ. Τό δέ ἐν ἀληθεῖ μεθέξει πάντων τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀναμαρτήτως καί Μανιχαίους καί Εὐτυχιανιστάς καί Ἀπολλιναριστάς καί Ἀκεφάλους καί πάντας ἁπαξαπλῶς τούς αἱρετίζοντας καταβάλλει.

Ἕξεως: Τό ἕξεως ἐνταῦθα οὐ ποιότητός τινος ἐμμόνου νοητέον, ἀλλά καθέξεως καί διαμονῆς, ἤτοι κατασχέσεως.