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of things, having already closed the senses; and having become outside of the flesh and the world, He teaches the ineffable things; having already been gathered through the kiss to themselves and to Him, and gratefully introducing to Him, for His great beneficence towards them, only the eucharistic confession for their own salvation; which the divine symbol of the faith signifies. Then, having numbered them among the angels through the Trisagion, and having graced them with the same knowledge of the sanctifying theology as those, He brings them to God the Father, having been adopted as sons by the Spirit through the prayer, by which they were deemed worthy to call God "Father." And from there again, as if having already knowledgeably traversed all the principles in existing things, through the "One is Holy," and what follows, He leads them unknowably to the unknown monad, having been united by grace, and by participation made like unto it in an indivisible identity according to their capacity.

CHAPTER 14.

Of what the divine reading of the holy Gospel is a symbol and its general meaning.

In general, it signifies the consummation of this world. For after the divine reading of the holy Gospel, the hierarch descends from the throne; and the dismissal and expulsion of the catechumens, and of the rest (693) of those unworthy of the divine contemplation of the mysteries about to be shown, is done by the ministers; signifying and prefiguring through itself the truth, of which it is an image and a type, and as if crying out in these things, that after the Gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world, as it is written, for a testimony to all the nations, then the end will come; when our great God and Savior Jesus Christ comes in His second coming, that is, from the heavens, with great glory; For the Lord Himself, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, says the divine Apostle; and executing vengeance on His adversaries, and separating through the holy angels the faithful from the unfaithful, and the unjust from the just, and the profane from the holy; and simply, to speak concisely, those who walked according to the Spirit of God from those who walked after the flesh; and for ages infinite and unending, as the truth of the divine oracles says, rendering to each a just reward according to the worth of their lives.

CHAPTER 15.

Of what the closing of the doors of the holy church, which takes place after the holy Gospel, is a symbol.

But the closing of the doors of the holy church of God, which takes place after the sacred reading of the holy Gospel and the expulsion of the catechumens, signifies both the passing away of material things, and the entrance of the worthy, which will happen after that fearful separation and the more fearful decree, into the intelligible world, that is, the bridal chamber of Christ; and the complete rejection of the activity of delusion in the senses.

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πραγμάτων, μύσαντας ἤδη τάς αἰσθήσεις· καί ἔξω σαρκός καί κόσμου γεγενημένους, τά ἀπόῤῥητα διδάσκει· συναχθέντας ἤδη διά τοῦ ἀσπασμοῦ πρός ἑαυτούς τε καί αὐτόν, καί μόνην ἀντεισάγοντας αὐτῷ τῆς περί αὐτούς πολλῆς εὐεργεσίας, εὐγνωμόνως, τήν ὑπέρ τῆς ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίας εὐχαριστήριον ὁμολογίαν· ἥν τό θεῖον τῆς πίστεως αἰνίττεται σύμβολον. Εἶτα τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἐναριθμίους αὐτούς καταστήσας διά τοῦ Τρισαγίου, καί τήν αὐτήν ἐκείνοις ἐπιστήμην τῆς ἁγιαστικῆς θεολογίας αὐτοῖς χαρισάμενος, τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί προσάγει, υἱοθετηθέντας τῷ Πνεύματι διά τῆς προσευχῆς, δι᾿ ἧς Πατέρα καλεῖν τόν θεόν ἠξιώθησαν. Κἀντεῦθεν πάλιν ὥσπερ ἐπιστημόνως ἤδη τούς ἐν τοῖς οὖσι πάντας λόγους περάσαντας, πρός τήν ἄγνωστον ἀγνώστως διά τοῦ, Εἷς ἅγιος, καί τῶν ἑξῆς, ἄγει μονάδα, τῇ χάριτι ἑνωθέντας, καί κατά μέθεξιν πρός αὐτήν ὁμοιωθέντας τῇ κατά δύναμιν ἀδιαιρέτῳ ταυτότητι.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ι∆´.

Τίνος ἐστί σύμβολον καί τό γενικῶς σημαινόμενον, ἡ θεία τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου ἀνάγνωσις.

Γενικῶς δέ τήν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου συντέλειαν ὑποσημαίνουσαν. Μετά γάρ τήν θείαν τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου ἀνάγνωσιν, ὅ τε ἀρχιερεύς κάτεισι τοῦ θρόνου· καί ἡ τῶν κατηχουμένων, καί ἡ τῶν λοιπῶν (693) τῶν ἀναξίων τῆς θείας τῶν δειχθησομένων μυστηρίων θεωρίας, ἀπόλυσίς τε καί ἐκβολή διά τῶν λειτουργῶν γίγνεται· σημαίνουσα καί προτυποῦσα δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς τήν ἀλήθειαν, ἧς εἰκών ὑπάρχει καί τύπος, καί οἷον ἐν τούτοις βοῶσα, ὅτι μετά τό κηρυχθῆναι τό Εὐαγγέλιον, καθώς γέγραπται, τῆς βασιλείας ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ, εἰς μαρτύριον πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι, τότε ἤξει τό τέλος· παραγινομένου κατά τήν δευτέραν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν, ἐξ οὐρανῶν δηλαδή, μετά δόξης πολλῆς τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· Αὐτός γάρ ὁ Κύριος ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου καί ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ᾿ οὐρανοῦ; φησίν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· καί ποιοῦντος ἐκδίκησιν ἐν τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις, καί ἀφορίζοντος διά τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων τούς πιστούς ἀπό τῶν ἀπίστων, καί ἀπό τῶν δικαίων τούς ἀδίκους, καί τῶν ἁγίων τούς ἐναγεῖς· καί ἁπλῶς, ἵνα συνελών εἴπω , τῶν Πνεύματι Θεοῦ στοιχησάντων, τούς ὀπίσω σαρκός πορευθέντας· καί ἐπ᾿ αἰῶσι ἀπείροις τε καί ἀτελευτήτοις, ὡς ἡ τῶν θείων λογίων ἀλήθειά φησι, κατ᾿ ἀξίαν τῶν βεβιωμένων ἑκάστῳ δικαίαν ἀποδιδόντος τήν ἀμοιβήν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΕ´.

Τίνος σύμβολόν ἐστι ἡ κλεῖσις τῶν θυρῶν τῆς ἁγίας ἐκκλησίας, ἡ μετά τό ἅγιον Εὐαγγέλιον γιγνομένη.

Ἡ δέ μετά τήν ἱεράν ἀνάγνωσιν τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου, καί τήν ἐκβολήν τῶν κατηχουμένων γινομένη κλεῖσις τῶν θυρῶν τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκλησίας, τήν τε τῶν ὑλικῶν δηλοῖ πάροδον, καί τήν γενησομένην μετά τό φοβερόν ἐκεῖνον ἀφορισμόν καί τήν φοβερωτέραν ψῆφον, εἰς τόν νοητόν κόσμον, ἤτοι τήν νυμφῶνα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τῶν ἀξίων εἴσοδον· καί τήν ἐν ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι τῆς κατά τήν ἀπάτην ἐνεργείας, τελείαν ἀποβολήν.