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nor does he say that every union, nor every illumination, comes through them. For having mentioned that much-hymned doxology delivered to those on earth by a multitude of the heavenly host at the birth of Christ, and how an angel announced this good news to the shepherds, who were purified by their withdrawal from the many and by their quietude, he did not say that the glory of God that shone around them came through angels; but neither from the glory that shone around them did the shepherds receive the revelation of salvation; but when they were afraid—for they were unaccustomed to such sights—the angels announced what the presence of the light meant. And the Virgin Mother was initiated by an angel into the fact that and (p. 464) how she would have God in her womb and would give birth in the flesh, but the union of God with her did not happen through an angel. And it must be considered here that she was not initiated into that union, but she needed the one who announced it. And what need is there for more, when he himself says very clearly that by the union with the light above, which exists only for 'those angels deemed worthy of knowledge beyond angelic knowledge, by this the godlike minds are also united in the manner of angels through the cessation of all noetic activity'; and again, 'just as those skilled in our sacred rites say that the self-manifest fulfillments of divine things are more perfect than the participations through others, so I think also that the unmediated participation of the angelic orders of those first raised up to God is more effective than those accomplished through mediation.' But Zacharias sees one of the first angels and those around God, as the great Dionysius also teaches this: 'And Ezekiel says that this was most sacredly decreed by the most glorious divinity itself who is enthroned upon the cherubim'.

Thus not only among angels, but also among us, not only mediately and through others, but also immediate and self-manifest visions of God are accomplished, not coming through the first orders by way of transmission to the second; for the Lord of lords is not subject to the laws of creation. Wherefore also according to our sacred traditions Gabriel is the first and only one initiated into the mystery of the ineffable emptying of the Word, although not being of the angelic order established first and immediately around God. For it was necessary that the beginning of the new creation be new. For He who for our sake emptied Himself even unto our state made all things new; wherefore also being taken up into heaven He makes the angels of a subordinate rank and more concerned with the world, as Saint Cyril says, illuminators and initiators (p. 466) of the higher hierarchy, commanding their rulers to lift up the eternal gates and initiating them into how He who is clothed in flesh for ineffable love of mankind enters and will ascend and is seated above every rule and authority. For He is the Lord of hosts and the King of glory, able to do all things, and to make the last above the first when He wishes. But before the epiphany of God in the flesh, we have been taught no such thing among the angels, and among the prophets accordingly, except for those who prefigured the grace to come, which having now been made manifest, it is not necessary for all things to be accomplished through mediation. These things therefore also according to the great Paul, 'now was made known to the principalities and powers through the Church the manifold wisdom of God,' and according to Peter, the chief of the choir of the apostles, 'through those who preached the gospel to us in the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, these things have now been announced to us, things into which angels long to look.' But with the lesser being perfected by the greater in this way through grace, again the order of seemliness is at once safely and wondrously preserved.

But he who reveals the angelic name most beautifully and as could not be better, explained and clarified and taught us for what reason they were both brought forth and so called in the beginning. That he who was immediately entrusted with the mystery of the Word's descent to us, even if he was an arch-commander, yet not of those around

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οὐδέ πᾶσαν ἕνωσιν, οὐδέ πᾶσαν ἔλλαμψιν δι᾿ ἐκείνων γίνεσθαί φησιν. Εἰπών γάρ τήν πολυύμνητον ἐκείνην δοξολογίαν ὑπό πλήθους οὐρανίου στρατιᾶς ἐπί τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γεννήσει τοῖς ἐπί γῆς παραδοθεῖσαν, καί ὡς ἄγγελος εὐηγγελίσατο τοῖς ποιμέσι ταύτην, ἅτε τῇ τῶν πολλῶν ἀναχωρήσει καί ἡσυχίᾳ κεκαθαρμένοις, τήν περιλάμψασαν αὐτούς δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ εἶπε δι᾿ ἀγγέλων γεγονέναι˙ ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ὑπό τῆς περιλαμφθείσης δόξης οἱ ποιμένες τοῦ σωτηρίου τήν ἀποκάλυψιν ἐδέξαντο˙ φοβηθέντων δέ αὐτῶν - καί γάρ ἀήθεις ἦσαν τοιούτων θεαμάτων - ἐξήγγειλλον οἱ ἄγγελοι τί βούλεται τοῦ φωτός ἡ παρουσία. Καί ἡ παρθενομήτωρ, ὅτι τε καί (σελ. 464) ὅπως ἐν γαστρί ἕξει τόν Θεόν καί τέξεται σαρκί δι᾿ ἀγγέλου ἐμυεῖτο, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί δι᾿ ἀγγέλου ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἕνωσις πρός αὐτήν ἐγίγνετο. Σκεπτέον δέ κἀνταῦθα ὡς οὐδ᾿ ἐκείνη τῇ ἑνώσει ἐμυεῖτο, ἀλλά τοῦ ἐξαγγέλλοντος ἐδεῖτο. Καί τί δεῖ πλειόνων, αὐτοῦ λέγοντος ἀριδήλως ὅτι τῇ πρός τό ὕπερθεν φῶς ἑνώσει, ἥ μόνοις ἐνυπάρχει «τοῖς ὑπέρ γνῶσιν ἀγγελικήν κατηξιωμένοις ἀγγέλοις, ταύτῃ καί οἱ θεοειδεῖς ἀγγελομιμήτως ἑνοῦνται νόες κατά πάσης νοερᾶς ἐνεργείας ἀπόπαυσιν»˙ καί αὖθις, «καθάπερ οἱ δεινοί περί τάς ἱεράς ἡμῶν τελετάς τάς αὐτοφανεῖς φασι τῶν θείων ἀποπληρώσεις τῶν δι᾿ ἑτέρων μεθέξεων εἶναι τελεωτέρας, οὕτως οἶμαι καί τῶν ἀγγελικῶν τάξεων τήν ἔμεσον μετουσίαν τῶν πρώτως ἐπί Θεόν ἀνατεινομένων ἐνεργεστέραν εἶναι τῶν διά μεσότητος ἀποτελουμένων». Ὁ δέ Ζαχαρίας ἕνα τῶν πρώτων καί περί Θεόν ἀγγέλων ὁρᾷ, ὡς ὁ μέγας ∆ιονύσιος καί τοῦτ᾿ ἐκδιδάσκει˙ «Ἰεζεκιήλ δέ καί πρός αὐτῆς φησί τοῦτο πανιέρως νομοθετηθῆναι τῆς τοῖς χερουβίμ ἐπιβεβηκυίας ὑπερενδόξου θεότητος».

Οὕτω μή μόνον ἐν ἀγγέλοις, ἀλλά καί ἐν ἡμῖν, οὐχ ὅπως ἐμμέσως καί δι᾿ ἑτέρων, ἀλλά καί ἄμεσοι καί αὐτοφανεῖς θεοπτίαι τελοῦνται, οὐ διά τῶν πρώτων διαπορθμευτικῶς ἐπί τά δεύτερα ἰοῦσαι˙ ὁ γάρ Κύριος τῶν κυρίων νόμοις οὐχ ὑπόκειται κτίσεως. ∆ιό καί κατά τάς ἱεράς ἡμῶν παραδόσεις πρῶτος καί μόνος ὁ Γαβριήλ μυεῖται τό τῆς ἀφθέγκτου κενώσεως τοῦ λόγου μυστήριον, καίτοι μή τῆς πρώτως καί ἀμέσως περί Θεόν ἱδρυμένης ἀγγελικῆς τάξεως ὑπάρχων. Ἔδει δ᾿ ἄρα καινήν εἶναι τήν τῆς καινῆς κτίσεως ἀρχήν. Ὁ γάρ μέχρις ἡμῶν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν κενώσεως ἑαυτόν τά πάντα ἐποίησε καινά˙ διό καί ἀναλαμβανόμενος εἰς οὐρανόν τούς ἐν ὑποβεβηκυίᾳ τάξει καί μᾶλλον περικοσμίους ἀγγέλους καθά φησιν ὁ ἅγιος Κύριλλος, φωτιστικούς καί τελεσιουργούς (σελ. 466) ποιεῖται τῆς ἀνωτέρω ταξιαρχίας, αἴρειν πύλας αἰωνίους τοῖς ἄρχουσιν αὐτῶν διακελευομένους καί μυοῦντας, ὡς εἰσελεύεται καί ἀνελεύσεται καί πάσης ἀρχῆς καί ἐξουσίας ἐπάνω καθιεῖται ὁ σάρκα περικείμενος διά φιλανθρωπίαν ἄφατον. Κύριος γάρ ἐστι τῶν δυνάμεων καί βασιλεύς τῆς δόξης, πάντα δυνάμενος, καί τούς ἐσχάτους ποιεῖν ὑπέρ τούς πρώτους ὅτε βούλοιτο. Πρό δέ τῆς διά σαρκός τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιφανείας, ἐν μέν ἀγγέλοις οὐδέν τοιοῦτον ἐδιδάχθημεν, κἀν τοῖς προφήταις καταλλήλως, πλήν τῶν τήν μέλλουσαν χάριν προϋπογραφόντων, ἧς νῦν ἐπιφανείσης, οὐκ ἀνάγκη πάντα τελεῖσθαι διά μεσότητος. Ταῦτ᾿ ἄρα καί κατά τόν μέγαν Παῦλον, «νῦν ἐγνωρίσθη τοῖς ἀρχαῖς καί ταῖς ἐξουσίαις διά τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ», καί κατά τόν κορυφαῖον τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν ἀποστόλων Πέτρον, «διά τῶν εὐαγγελισαμένων ἡμᾶς ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ ἀποσταλέντι ἀπ᾿ οὐρανῶν νῦν ἀνηγγέλη ταῦθ᾿ ἡμῖν, εἰς ἅ ἐπιθυμοῦσιν ἄγγελοι παρακύψαι». Μειζόνων δέ κατά τοῦτο τῶν ἐλαττόνων τελουμένων διά τῆς χάριτος, πάλιν ἡ τῆς εὐκοσμίας τάξις ἀσφαλῶς ἅμα συντηρεῖται καί θαυμασίως.

Ὁ δέ τήν ἀγγελικήν ἐκκαλύπτων ἐπωνυμίαν κάλλιστα καί ὡς οὐκ ἄν εἴη βέλτιον ἐξηγήσατο καί διετράνωσε καί ἐδίδαξεν ἡμᾶς, τίνος ἕνεκεν οὗτοι καί παρήχθησαν καί ἐκλήθησαν οὕτω τήν ἀρχήν. Ὅτι δέ ὁ τό μυστήριον ἀμέσως τῆς πρός ἡμᾶς καθόδου τοῦ λόγου πιστευθείς, εἰ καί ἀρχιστράτηγος ἦν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῶν περί