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of each of the divine symbols of salvation being performed in it, the grace operating, proceeding according to sequence and order from the things that come first until the end of all things.

During the first entrance, the casting off of unbelief, the increase of faith, the decrease of evil, the progress of virtue, the disappearance of ignorance, the addition of knowledge. And through the hearing of the divine oracles, the firm and unchangeable states and dispositions of these things I have mentioned, I mean, of faith and virtue and knowledge. And through the divine hymns upon these things, the voluntary assent of the soul to the virtues, and the intellectual pleasure and delight arising in it upon them. And through the sacred reading of the holy Gospel, the consummation of the earthly mind, as of the sensible world. And through the closing of the doors after this, the passage and transfer of the soul according to its disposition from this corruptible world to the intelligible world; through which, having closed the senses like doors, it makes them pure of the images of sin. And through the entrance of the holy mysteries, the more perfect and more mystical and new teaching and knowledge concerning the economy of God towards us. And through the divine kiss, the identity of concord and unanimity and love of all towards all and first of each towards himself and God. And through the confession of the symbol of faith, the fitting thanksgiving for the paradoxical ways of our salvation. And through the Trisagion, the union and equality of honor with the holy angels, and the unceasing, harmonious vigor of the sanctifying doxology of God. And through the prayer, by which we are deemed worthy to call God Father, the most true adoption as sons in the grace of the Holy Spirit. And through the, "One is Holy," and what follows, the unifying grace and intimacy with God himself. And through the holy partaking of the undefiled and life-giving mysteries, the communion and identity with him through participation made possible through likeness; through which man is deemed worthy to become god from man. For those gifts of the Holy Spirit of which we believe we have partaken here in the present life through the grace in faith, we believe we will attain these in the age to come in truth, hypostatically in the thing itself—according to the unwavering hope of our faith and the sure and inviolable promise (705) of the one who promises, having kept the commandments according to our ability—passing from the grace in faith to the grace in form; that is, our God and Savior Jesus Christ transforming us into himself, by the removal of the marks of corruption in us and bestowing upon us the archetypal mysteries shown through the sensible symbols here.

And for the sake of being easy to remember, if you please, having run through the meaning of what has been said in summary, let us summarize thus. The holy Church is therefore a type, as has been said, and an image of God; because she works an unconfused union among the different essences of beings, according to his infinite power and wisdom, as a creator holding them together perfectly in himself; and joining the faithful to one another in a single form according to one faith and grace and calling; and the practical and virtuous, according to a single identity of will; and the contemplative and gnostic, in addition to these things, also in unbroken and undivided concord.

And she is a type of the world, both the intelligible and the sensible; having the sanctuary as a symbol of the intelligible world, and the nave, of the sensible.

And of the holy synaxis celebrated in her, the first entrance generally signifies the first coming of our God; but specifically, the ... of those from ... through him and with him

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ἑκάστου τῶν τελουμένων θείων συμβόλων τῆς σωτηρίας ἐν αὐτῷ χάριν ἐνεργοῦσαν, καθ᾿ εἱρμόν καί τάξιν ἀπό τῶν προσεχῶν μέχρι τοῦ πάντων τέλους ὁδεύουσαν.

Κατά μέν πρώτην εἴσοδον ἀπιστίας ἀποβολήν, πίστεως αὔξησιν, κακίας μείωσιν, ἀρετῆς ἐπίδοσιν, ἀγνοίας ἀφανισμόν, γνώσεως προσθήκην. ∆ιά δέ τῆς ἀκροάσεως τῶν θείων λογίων, τάς τῶν εἰρημένων τούτων, πίστεώς φημι καί ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως, παγίας καί ἀμεταθέτους ἕξεις τε καί διαθέσεις. ∆ιά δέ τῶν ἐπί τούτοις θείων ᾀσμάτων, τήν πρός τάς ἀρετάς τῆς ψυχῆς ἑκούσιον συγκατάθεσιν, καί τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐταῖς ἐγγινομένην αὐτῇ νοεράν ἡδονήν καί τερπνότητα. ∆ιά δέ τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀναγνώσεως τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου, τήν τοῦ χοϊκοῦ φρονήματος, ὥσπερ αἰσυητοῦ κόσμου, συντέλειαν. ∆ιά δέ τῆς μετά ταῦτα τῶν θυρῶν κλείσεως, τήν κατά διάθεσιν ἀπό τούτου τοῦ φθαρτοῦ κόσμου πρός τόν νοητόν κόσμον μετάβασιν τῆς ψυχῆς καί μετάθεσιν· δι᾿ ἧς τάς αἰσθήσεις, θυρῶν δίκην, μύσασα, τῶν καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν εἰδώλων καθαράς ἀπεργάζεται. ∆ιά δέ τῆς εἰσόδου τῶν ἁγίων μυστηρίων, τήν τελειωτέραν καί μυστικωτέραν καί καινήν περί τήν εἰς ἡμᾶς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ διδασκαλίαν καί γνῶσιν. ∆ιά δέ τοῦ θείου ἀσπασμοῦ, τήν πάντων πρός πάντας καί πρός ἑαυτόν ἑκάστου πρότερον καί τόν Θεόν, ὁμονοίας καί ὁμογνωμοσύνης καί ἀγάπης ταυτότητα. ∆ιά δέ τῆς τοῦ συμβόλου τῆ ς πίστεως ὁμολογίας, τήν ἐπί τοῖς παραδόξοις τρόποις τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν πρόσφορον εὐχαριστίαν. ∆ιά δέ τοῦ Τρισαγίου, τήν πρός τούς ἁγίους ἀγγέλους ἕνωσίν τε καί ἰσοτιμίαν, καί τήν ἄπαυστον τῆς ἁγιαστικῆς δοξολογίας τοῦ θεοῦ σύμφωνον εὐτονίαν. ∆ιά δέ τῆς προσευχῆς, δι᾿ ἧς Πατέρα καλεῖν τόν Θεόν ἀξιούμεθα, τήν ἐν χάριτι τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἀληθεστάτην υἱοθεσίαν. ∆ιά δέ τοῦ, Εἷς Ἅγιος, καί τῶν ἑξῆς, τήν πρός αὐτόν τόν Θεόν ἑνοποιόν χάριν καί οἰκειότητα. ∆ιά δέ τῆς ἁγίας μεταλήψεως τῶν ἀχράντων καί ζωοποιῶν μυστηρίων, τήν πρός αὐτόν κατά μέθεξιν ἐνδεχομένην δι᾿ ὁμοιότητος κοινωνίαν τε καί ταυτότητα· δι᾿ ἧς γενέσθαι θεός ἐξ ἀνθρώπου καταξιοῦται ὁ ἄνθρωπος. Ὧν γάρ ἐνταῦθα κατά τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν, διά τῆς ἐν πίστει χάριτος, πιστεύομεν μετειληφέναι δωρεῶν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, τούτων ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι κατά ἀλήθειαν ἐνυποστάτως αὐτῷ τῷ πράγματι, κατά τήν ἄπτωτον ἐλπίδα τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν, καί τήν τοῦ ἐπαγγειλομένου (705) βεβαίαν καί ἀπαράβατον ὑπόσχεσιν, φυλάξαντες κατά δύναμιν τάς ἐντολάς, πιστεύομεν καταλήψεσθαι, μεταβαίνοντες ἀπό τῆς ἐν πίστει χάριτος, εἰς τήν κατ᾿ εἶδος χάριν· μεταποιοῦντος ἡμᾶς πρός ἑαυτόν δηλαδή τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· τῇ περιαιρέσει τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν τῆς φθορᾶς γνωρισμάτων, καί τά παραδειχθέντα διά τῶν ἐνταῦθα αἰσθητῶν συμβόλων ἡμῖν ἀρχέτυπα χαριζομένου μυστήρια.

∆ιά δέ τό εὐμνημόνευτον, εἰ δοκεῖ, τή τῶν εἰρημένων δύναμιν κατ᾿ ἐπιτομήν ἐπιδραμόντες, οὕτω κεφαλαιώσωμεν. Ἔστι μέν οὖν ἡ ἁγία Ἐκκλησία τύπος, ὡς εἴρηται, καί εἰκών, τοῦ μέν Θεοῦ· διότι ἥν ἐργάζεται κατά τήν ἄπειρον αὐτοῦ δύναμιν καί σοφίαν, περί τάς διαφόρους τῶν ὄντων οὐσίας ἀσύγχυτον ἕνωσιν, ὡς δημιουργός κατ᾿ ἄκρον ἑαυτῷ συνέχων· καί κατά μίαν τῆς πίστεως καί χάριν καί κλῆσιν τούς πιστούς ἀλλήλοις ἑνοειδῶς συνάπτουσα· τούς δέ πρακτικούς καί ἐναρέτους, κατά μίαν γνώμης ταυτότητα· τούς δέ θεωρητικούς καί γνωστικούς πρός τούτοις καί καθ᾿ ὁμόνοιαν ἀῤῥαγῆ καί ἀδιαίρετον.

Τοῦ δέ κόσμου, τοῦ τε νοητοῦ καί τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ τύπος ἐστίν· ὡς τοῦ νοητοῦ κόσμου τό ἱερατεῖον σύμβολον ἔχουσα· τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ δέ, τόν ναόν.

Τῆς δέ τελουμένης ἐν αὐτῇ ἁγίας συνάξεως, ἡ μέν πρώτη εἴσοδος γενικῶς μέν δηλοῖ τήν πρώτην τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν παρουσίαν· ἰδικῶς δέ, τήν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ καί σύν αὐτῷ τῶν ἐξ