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These things are so. For it is not so written that Stephen, being great in power or full of angelic assistance, saw what he saw, but that Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, saw the glory of God and the only-begotten of God. For it is not possible, as the prophet said, for the light to be seen unless seen in light.” If then in the paternal light, the Spirit, we see the light, the Son, then there is for us a certain unmediated union with God and a participation of light from there, not partaken of through the mediation of angels, even if this philosopher denies it and thinks that the great Dionysius teaches this, not accurately understanding the power of this hierophant's theology.

For he, in revealing the reason for the angelic appellation, says that many visions are made manifest to us through them, but not all self-manifestations, nor does he say that every union, or every illumination comes through them. For having spoken of 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 which shone around them came through angels; but neither was it from the glory that shone around them that the shepherds received the revelation of salvation; but when they were afraid—for they were unaccustomed to such visions—the angels announced what the presence of the light meant. And the Virgin Mother was initiated by an angel into the mystery that (p. 464) and how she would conceive God in her womb and give birth to him in the flesh, but the union of God with her did not happen through an angel. And it must be considered here also that she was not initiated by the union itself, but 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 "the angels deemed worthy of more than angelic knowledge, by this the godlike minds are also united in imitation of the angels in cessation of all intellectual 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 stretching 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," he says, "says that this was most sacredly legislated by the all-glorious divinity itself who is seated upon the cherubim."

Thus, not only among angels but also among us, not only mediated visions and those through others, but also unmediated and self-manifest visions of God are accomplished, not proceeding from the first to the second by way of conveyance. For the Lord of lords is not subject to the laws of creation. For this reason also, according to our sacred traditions, Gabriel first and alone is initiated into the mystery of the ineffable emptying of the Word, although he does not belong to 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, coming even unto us, made all things new; for this reason also, when he was taken up into heaven, he makes the angels of a lower 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 unspeakable love of mankind enters and will ascend and is set 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 whenever he wishes. But before the epiphany of God in the flesh, we have not been taught any such thing among the angels, and suitably among the prophets, except for the

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ἔστι ταῦτα˙ οὐ γάρ οὕτω γέγραπται ὅτι Στέφανος τῇ δυνάμει πολύς ἤ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς βοηθείας πλήρης γενόμενος εἶδεν ἅ εἶδεν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι Στέφανος, πλήρης ὤν Πνεύματος ἁγίου, εἶδε τήν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί τόν μονογενῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ˙ οὐ γάρ ἔστι, καθάπερ ὁ προφήτης εἶπε, τό φῶς ὀφθῆναι μή ἐν φωτί καθορώμενον». Εἰ δέ ἐν φωτί πατρικῷ τῷ Πνεύματι φῶς ὁρῶμεν τόν Υἰόν, ἔστιν ἄρ᾿ ἡμῖν ἕνωσίς τις ἄμεσος πρός τόν Θεόν καί μετάδοσις φωτός ἐκεῖθεν, μή διά μέσων μετεχομένη τῶν ἀγγέλων, εἰ καί ὁ φιλόσοφος οὗτος ἀπαναίνεται καί τόν μέγαν ∆ιονύσιον τοῦθ᾿ οὕτως οἴεται διδάσκειν, μή τήν δύναμιν ἀκριβῶς τῆς τοῦ ἱεροφάντορος τούτου θεολογίας συνιείς.

Τήν γάρ αἰτίαν οὗτος τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ἐκκαλύπτων ἐπωνυμίας, ὁράσεις μέν πολλάς δι᾿ αὐτῶν ἡμῖν ἐκφαίνεσθαί φησιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί καί τάς αὐτοφανεῖς ἁπάσας, 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