О небесной иерархии 30

Having comprehended the much lordship inherent in the wisdom of the angels, you gave people to see the Star, consisting of the mind. Co-priest Timothy - priest 31 Dionysius Chapter 1. That every divine illumination, by the goodness of God, is diversified into what Providence takes care of; what passes through not only remains simple, but also unites what is illuminated 1. “Every good gift 32 and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). But every outflow of light moved by the Father, which gracefully comes to us, again as a single-creating power, elevates us, fills us and turns us to the unity and idolizing simplicity of the Gatherer of the Father (cf. Mix. 2:12; John 17:21). “For from Him 33 are all things and into Him,” as the sacred Word said (cf. Rom. 11:36). 2. So, having called on Jesus, the Father’s “Light”, existing, true, Who enlightens every person who comes into the world,” through Whom we have gained access to the luminary Father, let us ascend, as far as possible, upward to the radiances of the most sacred Sayings transmitted by the Fathers 34 and, as much as we have strength, we will contemplate with them for us symbolically 35 and constructively open hierarchies of heavenly minds 36; and the initial and super-initial 37 light-giving of the God-primary Father, showing us in pictorial symbols the most blessed hierarchies of angels, having perceived with immaterial and unshaking eyes of reason, we again rush from him to his simple radiance. It never leaves its single core 38, splendidly multiplying and proceeding for the elevating and one-creating mixture 39 of all whom Providence cares for, remains within itself firmly and unshakably established in motionless identity and shines for those who incline towards it in a proper manner, according to their measure, and creates oneness in accordance with its simple unity. For it is impossible for the God-originating ray to shine upon us otherwise than elevatingly shrouded in the diversity of sacred veils, 40 naturally 41 and equipped for us by Fatherly providence. 3. Why is it that the Ultimate Sacred Establishment 42, having deigned our most reverend hierarchy to be a supermundane 43 likeness of the heavenly hierarchies and having dotted the mentioned immaterial hierarchies with material images and combinations of forms, allowed us to rise in proportion to itself from the most sacred inventions 44 to simple and ugly constructions and comparisons, since it is impossible for our mind to rise to this immaterial the likeness of the heavenly hierarchies and their contemplation, if he does not use the corresponding material guidance 45, understanding that beautiful phenomena 46 are reflections of invisible beauty, and perceived by the sense of fragrance - imprints of the spread of the intelligible, and material lights - images of immaterial light-giving, and detailed sacred teachings 47 - a way of saturation inherent in the mind with contemplation, and the ranks of the local orders - a reflection of the harmonious with the divine property of 48 order, communion in the most divine Eucharist - a symbol of communion with Jesus; and everything else is given to heavenly beings supramundanely 49, and to us figuratively (symbolically). For the sake of this, our, in our measure, deification, the humane Perfection, revealing to us the heavenly hierarchies and making our hierarchy co-serving with them, described the supra-heavenly minds in sacredly written compositions of Sayings 50 according to our power by assimilating their god-like sacredness to images accessible to the senses, in order to, through what is perceived by the senses, raise 51 us to what is comprehended by the mind and with the help of sacred symbols - to simple peaks heavenly hierarchies. 52 Chapter 2. That the divine and heavenly are appropriately revealed by symbols unlike them 1. So, we should, as I believe, first of all set out what we consider the purpose of every hierarchy and what is the benefit of the participants in each of them, and then - glorify the heavenly hierarchies according to the testimony of 53 Sayings about them, and accordingly tell them in what sacred images the scriptures of the Sayings represent the heavenly orders and to what degree of simplicity we must rise with the help of these images, so that we, like many, do not impiously assume that the heavenly god-like minds are - certain multi-legged and many-faced creatures, having the appearance of domestic bulls, wild lions and crooked eagles (cf. Eze. 1:10-11), or feathered, hairy birds (cf. Is. 6: 2; Eze. 1: 6-11) and do not imagine certain fiery wheels above the sky (cf. Eze. 1: 15-21), and material thrones needed by God for sitting (cf. Dan.7:9; Rev.4:2), and certain horses of different colors (cf. Zech.1:8) and archangels-spear-bearers (cf. Josh.5:13; 2Mac.3:25), and everything else that is sacredly conveyed to us by the Sayings in the diversity of revealing symbols. Theology, after all, decisively 54 took advantage of poetic 55 sacred thoughts in relation to minds without image, having studied, as said, our mind, providing for its characteristic and innate ability of construction and creating constructive scriptures for it. 2. If it seems to someone that sacred compositions 56 should be perceived as images of a simple, in itself 57 unknowable and invisible to us, but the images of holy minds written in the Sayings seem absurd and this whole theater of angelic names, let’s say, crude 58, then he says that when starting to create bodily images of something completely incorporeal, theologians need to create close and, if possible, related images, borrowing them from the creatures most revered by us, to some extent immaterial 59 and above us, without imparting to the heavenly god-like simplicity 60 anything extremely earthly and diverse (for the first contributes to our construction and does not reduce supermundane phenomena to an absurd dissimilarity, and the second unlawfully insults the divine forces, and our mind is misled by this 61 and, perhaps, unsacred combinations, so that he can soon begin to imagine that the supercelestial sphere is full of certain herds of lions 62 and horses 63, chants in the form of mooing, flocks of birds 64 and other living beings 65 and things less venerable, how many of them are described in everything unlike, inclining to an absurd, false and passionate 66 assimilation of supposedly revealing Sayings), but the search, as I believe, for the truth 67 reveals the most sacred wisdom of the Sayings, which fully provided for the depiction of each of the heavenly minds, so that the divine 68, one might say, would not be insulted, and so that we, earthly ones, would not be struck by a passion for the baseness of images. The reason for the fact that with sufficient reason 69 images of the unimaginable and views of the formless 70 are exhibited can be called not only our inherent inability 71 to directly achieve mental contemplations and the need to build up to them with the help of what is characteristic and akin to us, which offers forms accessible to us 72 for contemplating the formless and superior to us, but also what mystical Sayings are more appropriate to hide with the help of silences and sacred mysteries and keep the sacred, secret and supra-mundane truth of heavenly minds inaccessible to many. For not everyone is sacred, and “not everyone, as the Sayings say, has understanding” (cf. 1 Cor. 8:7). If anyone considers that the iconography is absurd and says that it is a shame to offer such offensive images to the godlike and most holy celestial ranks, it is enough to say that the image of the sacred is twofold 73 . 3. One, as it is natural, consists in the creation of images similar to sacred prototypes, and the other - in the form-creation of images that are dissimilar 74 to the point of complete dissimilarity and otherness. Of course, the mysterious traditions of the revealing Sayings sing of the revered Bliss of the super-essential Godhead sometimes as the Word 75 (John 1:1), as the Mind (cf. Rom. 11:34), as the Essence - in order to show the rationality appropriate to God, its wisdom, the truly existing existence and the true reason for the existence of what exists; They represent Him as light (cf. John 8:12; 1 John 1:5), and are also called life 76 (cf. John 14:6). Although these sacred images are more sublime and seem to have some advantage over the material ones, they also lack God’s original resemblance to the Truth (for She is above all essence and life, so that no light can characterize Her, and every word and mind is immeasurably distant from Her resemblance). And sometimes by the same Sayings She is super-peacefully glorified in negative definitions, calling Her invisible, 77 limitless, incontainable, etc., and pointing not to what She is, but to what She is not. This, as I think, is more accurate in relation to Her, since, as the secret sacred tradition teaches, we are right that She does not exist as anything existing exists, but we do not know Her super-essential, inaccessible to thought 78 and inexpressible uncertainty. Thus, if the negations 79 in relation to the divine are true, and the affirmations are not consistent with the hiddenness of the inexpressible, then for the invisible it is much more suitable to reveal through unlike images. Thus, the scriptures of the Sayings honor 80 and do not dishonor the heavenly orders, depicting them in forms unlike them and thus showing that they exist supramundanely beyond the boundaries of all material things. And that unlike images elevate our minds better than similar ones, I do not think that any prudent person would dispute. For in the more valued 81 sacred images one can be deceived, believing that there really exist certain golden-shaped heavenly beings and light-like, sparkling beautiful men, dressed in light clothes, shining with harmless fire 82 (cf. Matt. 28:3; Mark 16:5; Acts 1:10; Rev. 4:4), and other similar beauties with the help of which theology has depicted heavenly minds. Therefore, so that those who do not imagine anything higher than the revealed beauties do not suffer, the exalting wisdom of the holy theologians sacredly descends to the dissimilarity that seems strange, not allowing our earthliness to calm down, dwelling on inappropriate 83 images, prompting to action that which is sublime that is in the soul, and hurting it with the ugliness of these compositions, so that even overly earthly people would find it unacceptable and incredible that the super-heavenly divine the visions of 84 were truly similar to such a low one. And besides, it should be taken into account that there is absolutely nothing in existence 85 that would be devoid of participation in beauty, since, as the truth of the Sayings says, “Everything is very good” (Gen. 1:31). 4. So that from all of them it is possible to obtain beautiful intuitions in the mind and from material material to create for intelligible and rational beings the mentioned dissimilar similarities, although rational beings exist in a different way than is given to those perceived by the senses. For the rage 86 of the dumb is born from a passionate impulse, and their movement generated by rage is filled with all sorts of unreason, and among rational beings the rage should be understood differently - as revealing, in my opinion, their courageous rationality 87 and unmitigated fidelity to godlike and immutable foundations. In the same way, we call lust among the dumb a certain thoughtless and base attraction that uncontrollably arises in those subject to changes from natural movement, or mating, and the reckless power of bodily desire, pushing every animal towards the sensually desired. When we, applying dissimilar resemblances to rational beings, attribute to them an attraction 88, it should be understood as divine love for the Immateriality that exceeds word and reason and a steady and unflagging desire for super-essentially pure and dispassionate contemplation and truly eternal mental participation in this pure highest radiance and invisible beauty-creating Beautification. And let us perceive uncontrollability as swiftness and irreversibility, which cannot be prevented by anything due to the unalloyed 89 and unchanging love 90 for divine beauty and a complete deviation towards the truly Desired. And we rightly call the very dumbness and insensibility of dumb animals or soulless things the absence of reason and feeling; As for immaterial mental beings, we recognize them in a manner worthy of a saint, as supra-mundane, superior to our transient 91 bodily words and material feelings alien to disembodied minds. It is possible, therefore, to create non-deceptive images of the heavenly from the least revered parts of matter 92, since it, having received being from the truly Beautiful, in all its material order has a certain echo of mental splendor, and with their help one can be raised to immaterial archetypes, perceiving similarities, as said, dissimilarly and the same thing 93 not the same, but harmoniously and appropriately delimiting the features mental and sensory. 5. And we will discover that mystical theologians sacredly apply this not only to reveal the heavenly orders, but sometimes even to the very manifestations of the Godhead 94. And sometimes they sing of Him, drawing images from revered phenomena 95, such as the “Sun of righteousness” 96 (Mal. 4:2), somehow the “morning star” (2 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 22:16), sacredly rising in the mind, and like a light that openly illuminates the mind; and sometimes - among the average, such as fire, shining without causing harm (see Ex. 3:2), somehow water, the giver of life-giving filling (cf. Jer. 2:13; Rev. 7:17), "into the belly, symbolically speaking, penetrating and flowing out in rivers, flowing uncontrollably" ( John 7:38; Rev. 22:1); and sometimes - among the extreme, somehow “scented ointment” (cf. Song 1:2), as a “cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). But they also ascribe to Him the appearance of animals: they give Him the properties of both a lion and a panther (see Hos. 5:14; 13:7), and they say that He will become a leopard and a bear rearing up (cf. Hos. 13:7–8). unworthy and most strange: those knowledgeable in the divine convey that It even applies to Itself the form of a worm (cf. Ps. 22:7). Thus, all God-wise thinkers and interpreters of secret inspiration completely separate the Holy of Holies from the imperfect and unholy and at the same time prefer an unlike sacred imagery, since the divine is not easily accessible to the uninitiated, and those who love to contemplate images of the divine 97 do not stop at images as true, and since the divine is revered with the help of true negations and distinguishing likenesses to the last of its echoes 98. So it is not unheard of if, for the reason already stated, celestial beings are imagined with the help of seemingly absurd dissimilar comparisons. Perhaps, we would not have come from bewilderment to research and to ascent through a careful search for the sacred, had we not been led into confusion by the absurdity of the 99 images representing angels, which does not allow our mind to dwell on the lying form, urging us to abandon material attachments and teaching us to sacredly strive upward through the visible to the supra-mundane. So much has been said by us regarding the material and seemingly absurd iconography of angelic images 100 in the sacred Sayings; and then we need to determine 101 what, in our opinion 102, the hierarchy itself is and what is the benefit of the hierarchy itself for the hierarchy of those honored. And let the word of Christ, if I may say mine, guide every explanation of hierarchy. But you, child 103, in accordance with what is established by the holy tradition of our hierarchy, listen to what is sacredly spoken in a befitting sacred manner, becoming divinely inspired from God-inspired teaching, and, having hidden the sacred in the secrecy of the mind, preserve it from the unsacred multitude 104 as one. For it is not proper, as the Sayings say (see Matt. 7:6), to throw unalloyed, light-like beauty, creating good order, mental pearls to pigs. Chapter 3. What is hierarchy and what are the benefits of hierarchy 1. Hierarchy 105, in my opinion, is a sacred organization, knowledge and activity that perceives, as far as is accessible 106, the image of God and is proportionately erected to the illuminations revealed by God for the imitation of God. Divine beauty, as simple, as good, and as the beginning of perfection, 107 is completely devoid of any admixture of any dissimilarity, 108 and imparts its light to everyone according to their dignity and perfects it in the most divine fulfillment in accordance with its unchangeable appearance. 2. Thus, the goal of the hierarchy is to assimilate as much as possible to God and unite with Him, having Him as a mentor in every sacred art and action, steadily looking at His most divine splendor and becoming, as much as possible, His imprint and making the participants in their round dances 109 divine likenesses, the most transparent, unpolluted mirrors, receiving the ray of the Light and the Godhead, sacredly filled with the bestowed light and then abundantly shining with it in others, according to the laws of the Godhead. After all, it is not permissible for those sacredly initiated to do anything at all 110 contrary to the sacred precepts of their Perfection 111, nor even to exist otherwise, since they turn to the divine Lordship itself, look at it sacredly and reflect It with themselves, according to the measure of each of the sacred minds. Therefore, the one who speaks of hierarchy reveals a certain completely sacred order, an image of the beauty of the Godhead, sacredly carrying out the hierarchical ranks 112 and knowledge of the sacrament of his illumination and becoming similar, to the extent possible, to his Origin. For for everyone who has the lot to belong to the hierarchy, perfection 113 consists in being raised to the imitation of God to the best of his ability and, what is most divine of all, becoming, as the Sayings say, “a fellow worker with God” 114 (1 Cor. 3:9) and showing in himself, as far as possible, manifesting the divine energy. So, since the order 115 in the hierarchy is for some to be purified and others to be purified, some to be enlightened 116 and others to be enlightened, some to be perfected and others to be perfected, the imitation of God by everyone depends on the observance of this order. Divine bliss 117, as people say, does not have any admixture of any dissimilarity, is filled with eternally existing light, is perfect and does not need any perfection - purifying, enlightening and perfecting, it is rather purification itself, enlightenment and perfection, above purification, above light and remaining to perfection, the Self-perfect beginning and the cause of any hierarchy, removed from everything sacred in its superiority. 3. So, I think, those who are purified must become completely unalloyed and freed from every admixture of unevenness; enlightened - to be filled with divine light, being raised to the ability to see and strength in the all-immaculate eyes of the mind 118; those who are perfecting - to become, leaving imperfection, partakers of the perfecting art of contemplated shrines; and those who purify 119 - with the richness of purification, convey to others their purity; to those who enlighten, as more transparent minds, capable of both communing with the light and transmitting it, all blissfully filled with sacred radiance, send all the light poured on them to those worthy of light; and perfection - to those who create, as those who are skillful in teaching the perfector - to perfect those being perfected by the all-sacred teaching of the art of the contemplated sacred. So, each rank of the hierarchical order, in accordance with its measure, is elevated to divine cooperation, accomplishing by grace and gracious power that which is naturally and supernaturally inherent 120 in the Divine Authority and is essentially fulfilled by Him and sacredly appears initially to God-loving minds for their imitation. Chapter 4. What does the name of angels indicate? 1. Well, it seems to me, having defined what hierarchy is in general, we must then sing about the hierarchy of angels and see with supermundane eyes its sacred forms in the Sayings, so that, with the help of the fruits of the mysterious imagination, we can be led to their, the angels, most godlike simplicity and with due reverence to God, sing the Beginning of all hierarchical knowledge in thanksgiving to the Perfection. First of all, it is true to say that the super-essential Godhead, having composed with goodness all the essences of existence, brought them into existence. This is a characteristic feature of the Cause of everything and all-exceeding Goodness - to call on existing things to participate 121 in Himself, as each of the existing 122 is determined by its measure. So, everything that exists 123 participates in Providence, poured out from the super-essential and all-causal Deity, for it simply would not exist 124 if it did not participate in the Essence and Origin of existence 125 . After all, everything inanimate 126 participates in Him by its existence (for the existence of everything is the Divinity that exceeds being), the living - His 127 life-giving power that exceeds all life, and the verbal and rational - His self-perfect and pre-perfect wisdom, exceeding all word and mind. And it is clear that those beings are close to Him who participate in Him in many ways. 2. After all, the holy orders of heavenly beings 128 in their participation in the divine teaching exceed only the existing, the wordless living, and the rational that corresponds to us. For, striving to mold themselves mentally 129 in the image of God, supramundanely looking at the likeness of God the beginning and conforming to Him the image of their mind, they are truly more fully communed with Him as the closest 130 and stretching, as far as is permissible, to the top in the zeal of divine and unshakable love, and as immaterial and not perceiving the initial illuminations, and partaking of them. And having as a mental 131 all their lives. They, therefore, turn out to be the first and in a variety of ways to participate in the divine and the first and in a variety of ways to reveal the Divine hiddenness, and therefore, bypassing everyone else, they are exclusively honored with the name angels 132 - because the Divine illumination comes first from them, and they send down to us manifestations that exceed us. So, as theology says, through angels the Law was given to us (see Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2), and our famous 133 fathers, who lived before the Law and after the appearance of the Law, were led by angels to the divine, either by teaching what needs to be done and leading us out of error and ungodly life onto the straight path of truth, or by revealing sacred rites or secret visions of the supermundane. secrets, or prophetically revealing certain divine prophecies. 3. If anyone says that theophanies of some saints happen directly and immediately 134 (Gen. 2:7; 28:13), let him clearly learn from the most sacred Sayings that the most hidden of God, whatever it is 135, “no one has seen” (cf. John 1:18) and will not see, but theophany of the saints took place in the form of manifestations appropriate to God through certain sacred and to the extent of contemplating the corresponding visions. All-wise Theology rightly calls that vision, which revealed in itself, as in an image 136, the inscribed divine likeness of the Indescribable, because it raises those who contemplate to the divine, a theophany, 137 - since thanks to it the divine illumination of those who contemplate occurs and they comprehend something of the divine. Our illustrious fathers were taught by such divine visions through the mediation of heavenly powers. And about the sacred statute of the Law 138, the tradition of the Sayings says that it was given to Moses directly from God, is it not in order to truly teach us that this is an imprint of the divine and sacred? Theology wisely teaches that through angels it 139 came to us, since the divine order established that the second should be raised to God through the first 140 . After all, not only for higher and lower, but also for equal minds, this law is determined by the universal super-essential Order of Order 141 - so that in each hierarchy there are first, middle and last ranks and powers, and so that the more divine ones are the initiators and leaders of the lesser ones during the divine elevation, illumination and communion. 4. I see that the angels were the first to be initiated into the divine mystery of Jesus’ love for mankind, then through them the grace of knowledge passed to us. Thus, the most divine Gabriel 142 revealed to the priest Zechariah that the son who, beyond his hope by divine grace, would be born to him, would become a prophet of the masculine and saving work of Jesus 143 revealed to the world (see Luke 1:11-20), and to Mary 144 - that the God-originating sacrament of inexplicable adoration of God would take place in her (see Luke 1:26–38 ). Another of the angels instructed Joseph that what God had promised to his great-grandfather David would truly be fulfilled (see Matt. 1:20–23) (2 Sam. 7:12–17). The third preached the gospel to the shepherds as being purified by removal from the world and purified by silence (see Luke 2:8), and with him “the multitude of the heavenly host” conveyed that much-sung word to those on earth (see Luke 2:13–14). Let us turn to the highest manifestations of the Sayings. I see that Jesus Himself, the super-essential Cause of the super-celestial beings, having immutably 145 come to us, does not refuse 146 the decency He established and chose for people, but dutifully obeys the instructions of the Father and God, transmitted through the angels. And through their mediation, Joseph is announced about the departure of Jesus into Egypt, as envisaged by the Father (see Matt. 2:13) and again about the coming from Egypt to the Jews (see Matt. 2:19–20). And we see that He subordinates the angels to the Father’s statutes. I will not tell you, as one who is knowledgeable, what was revealed in our priestly traditions about the angel who strengthened Jesus 147 (see Luke 22:43), or that Jesus Himself, in a saving grace for us, entered into the rank of the bearer 148, was called the “Angel of the Great Council” (cf. Is. 9:6). After all, as He Himself says angelically, He told us what He heard from the Father (John 8:26–28; 15:15). Chapter 5. Why all heavenly beings are collectively called angels This, in my opinion, is the reason for calling Him an angel in the Sayings. But it is necessary, as I think, to investigate for what reason theologians and in general all heavenly beings 149 are called angels, and, moving on to identifying 150 their supermundane orders, the angelic order is called especially 151 as completely ending the 152 divine heavenly orders, in front of it, above, placing the orders of the archangels, as well as the principles, powers and powers - how many superior beings are known to the revealing heavenly traditions Speeches. We say that in every sacred dispensation, the highest ranks also have the lights and powers of the lower ones, but the latter are not involved in what belongs to their superiors 153 . Thus, theologians also call the holiest orders of the highest beings angels because they too are the revealers of God’s initial illumination. There is no reason to call the last rank of heavenly minds principalities, or thrones, or seraphim, for it is not involved in the highest powers. But just as he raises 154 our divinely inspired hierarchs 155 to the rays of the Godhead known to him, so the all-sacred powers of the essences exceeding him are the ones that raise the final 156 angelic hierarchy to the divine - unless someone says that the name “angels” is common to all 157 due to the lesser or greater involvement of all heavenly powers in the image of God and from God given light. But in order to make our word more orderly, let us sacredly consider the sacred features of each heavenly dispensation revealed in the Sayings. Chapter 6. What is the first order of heavenly entities, what is the middle and what is the last? 1. In what quantity and what orders of supercelestial beings there are and how their hierarchies are realized, 158 knows exactly, I say, only the Supreme Command that deifies them; Moreover, they themselves know their powers, their luminosities, and their sacred and supermundane decency. We are not able to know the mysteries of the supercelestial minds and their most holy perfections, unless, someone will say, to the extent that through them, as those who know themselves well, the Divine Command has initiated us. So we won't say anything on our own; but how many angels were seen by sacred theologians in visions, having found out, we will set forth as best we can. 2. In total, theology has named nine 159 categories of heavenly beings by revealing names (see Jude 1:9; Eph.1:21; Col.1:16; 2:10). Our divine celebrant 160 divides them into three trinitarian dispensations. And the first 161, he says, always remains near God, close 162 to Him and, before others, directly, according to legend, unites with Him. For the most holy thrones 163 (see Col. 1:16) and the many-eyed and many-winged ranks, called in the Hebrew language cherubim and seraphim, are placed in the greatest proximity, directly 164 near God, as he conveys, he says, the expression of the sacred Orations. Our glorious mentor 165 called this threefold order a single, equal and truly first hierarchy, more godlike than which and closer to the primary illuminations of the Godhead. The second, he says, consists of powers 166, dominions and powers, and the third, consisting of the last ranks among the heavenly hierarchies - the dispensation of angels, archangels and principles. Chapter 7. About seraphim, cherubim, thrones 167 and their first hierarchy 1. Perceiving the order of the holy hierarchies in this way, we say that every name of the 168 heavenly minds contains an indication of the God-given peculiarity of each. And the holy name of the seraphim, say those knowledgeable in Hebrew, means “burners” or “warmers,” and the cherubim means “multitude of knowledge” or “outpouring of wisdom.” It is fair, therefore, that the first of the heavenly hierarchies is sacredly carried out by the highest beings, who have a higher rank than all others, for it is located directly next to God, and the manifestations of God 169 and accomplishments that begin to act first descend into it, as the closest. They are called “warmers”, thrones and “outpouring of wisdom” - names that reveal 170 their god-like 171 properties 172 . Thus, the eternal movement around the divine and the incessancy, heat, speed and ebullience of this constant, unrelenting and eternal movement; the ability to liken to oneself, elevating and encouraging, the lower ones, as if bringing them to a state of boiling and igniting them to a similar heat; purify them like lightning and all-consuming fire; a special, undisguised and inextinguishable image, always equally light-like and enlightening, capable of expelling and destroying every dark product of darkness - revealing all this, reveals the name seraphim. The name of the cherubim is their intelligence and God-likeness, the ability to perceive the highest light and contemplate in the primordial power the beauty of the Godhead, to be filled with wise teaching and to abundantly involve the secondary in the outpouring of the gifted wisdom. And the highest and exalted thrones 173 - unalloyed withdrawal in relation to any lowering down to the feet 174 and aspiration above the world 175; undisturbed stay beyond any limit; by no means unshakable, strong affirmation near the truly Highest; acceptance in complete dispassion and immateriality of visiting God's Head and God-bearing 176, and devoted openness to divine feasts. 2. This is our explanation of their names. And now we should say how we imagine their hierarchy. That the goal of any hierarchy is inextricably linked with the God-imitating image of God and that all the work of the hierarchy is divided into sacred communion of unalloyed purification, divine light, perfecting knowledge and the teaching of this to others, we have already said enough, I believe. Now I pray to tell in a manner worthy of the highest minds how their hierarchy is revealed by the Sayings. The first 177 beings, located directly behind the Godhead who carries them out, placed, as it were, on His threshold, surpassing every invisible 178 and visible force that has arisen 179, have, presumably, their own uniform hierarchy throughout. They must be considered pure not as free from filth and abominations incompatible with the sacred, not as immune to dreams associated with matter 180, but as unalloyed higher than any reduction, and above everything that lies below the sacred in the highest purity by all the most god-like powers exalted, and - as invariably adhering to their eternally and identically in the immutability of God's love of the moving 181 rank, and in anything derogation leading to deterioration, completely unaware, but always having the purest abode of their god-like peculiarity, stable and motionless. They should also be considered contemplative 182 not because they are contemplators 183 of symbols accessible to the senses or mind, or ascend to the divine thanks to the diversity of the contemplated scripture, but because they are filled with a light that exceeds all immaterial knowledge and are filled, as far as is permitted, with the super-essential tri-luminous contemplation 184 of the beautiful-creating primordial Beauty; and - as in the same way worthy of communion with Jesus 185 not through sacredly created images 186 visibly capturing His theurgic likeness 187, but as in the primary participation in the knowledge of His theurgic lights truly approaching Him; and because the opportunity to imitate God is granted to them to the highest degree, and they participate, as far as possible for them, in the primordial 188 power of the virtues of His theurgy and love for mankind. And - initiated 189, in the same way, not as illuminated by the analytical knowledge 190 of sacred diversity, but as the first and predominantly fulfilled by deification in accordance with the highest knowledge of God’s deeds accessible to angels. For not through other holy beings, but by the Godhead himself, those who are sacredly commanded 191, rushing directly to Him with superior strength and rank, in a most pure and completely unshakable position they are established, and are drawn to the contemplation of immaterial intelligible beauty to the extent permitted, and into the logoi of God’s deeds accessible to knowledge, as the first and near God, they are dedicated, themselves The absolute superiority of the clergy is supreme. 3. So, - theologians clearly show this 192 - the lower orders of heavenly beings are disciplined 193 taught theurgic knowledge from the higher ones, and those above all 194 are illuminated, to the extent permitted, by initiations from the Godhead himself. Some of them are represented as being sacredly initiated first into the fact that He who ascended into heaven in human form 195 is the “Lord of the heavenly hosts” (cf. Ps. 23:10, 79:20) and “King of glory” ( Ps. 23:10), while some are represented as asking Jesus Himself and wanting to study the art of His deeds perfect for us 196 and by Jesus Himself directly into this those initiated and the first to receive explanations of His philanthropic beneficence. “I,” He says, “speak the truth and the judgment of salvation” 197 (Is. 63:1). But I am surprised 198 that the first of the supercelestial beings, so superior to all, reverently desire the God-original lights, as if floating in the middle 199. It is not God Himself that they ask 200: “Why are Your garments scarlet?” (Isa.63:2), - but first they are perplexed to themselves, showing that they want to understand this and thirst for theurgic knowledge, but do not anticipate the illumination given during the divine appearance. Thus, the first hierarchy of heavenly minds, sacredly commanded by the Perfection itself, directly extending to Him, with the all-holy purification 201, the immeasurable light 202, preceding perfection, being fulfilled by perfect action in proportion to itself, is purified, enlightened and perfected, 203, unalloyed for any reduction, filled with the first light and participating in the first given knowledge and art. Summarizing, this is what I will say, perhaps not unreasonably, - that participation in the art of the Godhead is both purification, enlightenment, and perfection, since it cleanses from foolishness by the orderly knowledge of more perfect initiations, enlightens with the divine knowledge itself, through which it purifies the one who has not previously contemplated that which is now revealed by a higher illumination, and perfects again with the same light - assimilated 204 by the art of the most luminous initiations. 4. This, as I know, is the first order of heavenly beings, “around God” 205 (cf. Ps. 75:12; Is. 6:2; Rev. 7:11) and standing directly next to God and simply and constantly surrounding in a circle dance His eternal glory in the highest of the angelic constantly moving sanctuaries; many beatific visions are purely contemplative; illuminated and filled with simple and unmediated flashes of divine food, many in the primary outpouring, but one in the diversified and single-creating unity of God’s initial treat; worthy of much communication with God and accomplishments thanks to assimilation to Him, as far as possible, with wonderful properties and energies; He knows much of the divine in an excellent way and finds himself, to the extent permitted, participating in the divine art and knowledge. That is why Theology transmitted his hymns to those living on earth, in which the superiority of his highest radiance is sacredly revealed. For some of his ranks - let us use an image accessible to the senses - “like the voice of waters” 206 (Ezek. 1:24; Rev. 19:6), cry out: “Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place” 207 (Ezek. 3:12), - while others cry out that often sung: and the most revered theology: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts, full all the earth is His glory” (Isaiah 6:3). But we have already revealed these highest hymns of the supercelestial minds to the best of our ability in the work “On Divine Hymns” 208, and there, it seems to us, they are talked about enough; It is enough to remind, to say from this at the present time only what the first order, properly illuminated by theological knowledge from the very God-initiated Goodness, has given; him, as a plausible hierarchy, following him, teaching, in short, how this revered super-blessed and all-blessed Godhead should, as far as possible, be appropriately sung and glorified by God-receiving minds (for they, as godlike ones, are the divine “places” 209, as the Sayings say, of the God-first 210 “peace”), and also - that It is the Monad 211 and the Trinitarian Unit, from the supercelestial beings to the very limits of the earth, extending His supremely good providence to all things, like the super-initial Beginning and Cause of every essence, containing everyone in a super-essentially indissoluble embrace 212. Chapter 8. About dominations, forces, authorities and their average hierarchy 1. And now we need to move on to the middle order of heavenly minds, examining with supermundane eyes, as far as possible, these dominions and truly possible 213 visions of divine powers and forces. After all, every name of beings superior to us reveals the God-imitating features of their God-likeness 214. Thus, the name, which reveals holy dominion, indicates by its meaning, I think, a certain indomitable 215 and free ascension from any humiliation to the level of the feet, in no way inclined to any of the dissimilarities that distinguish tyranny; on the most free, immutable dominion 216, every weakening enslavement exceeding, inaccessible to any derogation, devoid of any dissimilarity, to true domination and to the Lord's rule 217 incessantly striving and, according to its lordly features, as far as possible, itself and those who are behind it, godlike transforming; not to something that seems to exist, but to the truly Existing One, completely turned and becoming, to the extent possible, eternally participating in the goodness inherent in the Lord. The name of the holy powers means a certain strong and unshakable masculinity in all the god-like actions characteristic of them, allowing them, no matter the given God-primary illuminations, not to faint powerlessly, to be powerfully elevated to God-imitation, not to abandon 218 due to their unmasculinity the god-like movement, but to steadily look at the super-essential force-creating Power, Its force-like likeness doing as much as possible, turning to Her as the Main Power with strength, descending to the secondary ranks as the giver of power in a godlike manner. The name of the holy authorities indicates a well-ordered order equal in status to the divine dominions and powers and, with divine perceptions, not disorderly, 219 the establishment of a supra-mundane rational power, not tyrannically using the powers inherent in power for the worst, but irresistibly ascending to the divine with decorum and those following it, decently elevating, becoming like 220, to the extent permissible, power the creative Authority, and Him, as much as possible for the angels, shining in the well-ordered ranks of the authority that follow her. Having such God-like features, the middle order of heavenly minds 221 is purified, enlightened and improved, as stated, by the God-primary illuminations given to it a second time through the first hierarchical order, and through this middle order 222 transmitted further. 2. Of course, we will choose the transition of the so-called 223 message from one angel to another as a symbol of perfection coming from afar and - as we move into the secondary - weakening. Just as people who are skilled in our sacred sacraments say that the first-revealed fulfillments of the divine are more perfect than the divinely visible communions through others, so I believe that the direct participation in God of the angelic ranks, the first to rush to Him, is more effective than what is accomplished through some medium. That is why our priestly tradition 226 calls the first minds perfecting, luminous and purifying the lesser ones, because with their help they are raised to the super-essential Beginning of everything and become, as far as they are allowed, partakers of completely initial purifications, enlightenments and perfections. The Divine Office has completely legitimized this in a manner worthy of God, so that the latter may partake of the Divine radiance through the former 227 . You will find this often said by theologians. After all, when the divine Fatherly love for mankind, in order to incline Israel to its sacred salvation, punished it, handing it over to the punishing cruel 228 nations for correction, guiding in every possible way 230 those who were hunted for the better, and then compliantly 231 rescued it from captivity and returned it to its former well-being, then one of the theologians, Zechariah, saw how one of the first, as I believe, and angels close to God (the name angels, as I said, is common 232 for all of them) from God Himself heard, as it is said, “words of comfort” (Zech. 1:13), and another, of the lesser 233 angels, went forward 234 to meet the first as if to perceive and participate in the illumination, and then was taught by him as a hierarch the divine 235 will: he was instructed to inform the theologian that “Jerusalem will be fruitfully peopled with a multitude of people” (Zechariah 2:4). The second of the theologians, Ezekiel, says that this was ordained by the most sacred law by the most glorious Deity, superior to the cherubim. For It, through Fatherly, as it is said, love for mankind, through education leading Israel to the better, recognized, according to the justice inherent in God, it was right to separate 236 the innocent from the guilty. The first angel after the cherubim, “girded around the loins with sapphire” (see Ezek. 9:2) and “clad in a subdir” 237 as a symbol of hierarchy, learns about this. The other angels who have axes are commanded by the Divine Office to find out God’s determination about this from the first. After all, he told the first to go through the middle of Jerusalem and leave a mark on the foreheads of 238 innocent people, and to the remaining angels - “Go into the city after him and flog him, and do not spare your eyes, but do not approach any person who has a mark on him” (cf. Eze. 9: 5-6). What can we say about the angel who said to Daniel: “The word has gone out” (Dan.9:23)? Or about the very first one who took fire from among the cherubim (see Eze. 10:6)? Or that the cherubim - and this once again shows the angelic deanery 239 - put fire into the hands of one dressed in holy clothing? Or about him who called the most divine Gabriel 240 and said to him: “Explain to him the vision” (Dan. 8:16)? Or how many other things have been said by sacred theologians about the God-like arrangement of the heavenly hierarchies, to which the deanery of our hierarchy 241, assimilating to the best of its ability, will acquire, as if in images, angelic splendor, being formed by it and elevated to the super-essential Order of every hierarchy? Chapter 9. About the principles, archangels and angels, and about their last hierarchy 1. What remains for us for sacred consideration is the order that closes the angelic hierarchies, formed by the godlike principles, archangels and angels. And first I consider it necessary to state, as far as I can, what their holy names reveal. The name of the heavenly principles reveals the ability to command and rule in a godlike manner in accordance with the sacred order, which is highly consistent with the commanding forces, to turn oneself entirely to the supra-initial Principle, and to direct others in a commanding way, to imprint in oneself, to the best of one’s ability, that very beginning-creating Principle, and to manifest His super-essential authority 242 in the improvement of the commanding forces. 2. The order of the holy archangels 243 is identical with the heavenly principles. After all, they and the angels, as I said, have the same hierarchy and structure 244. However, since there is no hierarchy that does not have first, middle and last powers, the holy Archangel rank, thanks to its middle position in the hierarchy, sociably comes into contact with the edges. And he communicates with the most holy 245 principles, and with the holy angels - with some because he is initially directed towards the super-essential Principle and reflects It as much as possible, and unites the angels with his well-ordered, orderly and invisible leadership; with others - because he belongs to the prophetic rank, hierarchically, through the first forces, receiving divine illuminations and gracefully announcing them to the angels and through the angels revealing to us, according to the sacred measure of each of those divinely illumined. Angels, as we have already said, finally complete all the orders of heavenly minds as the last 246 among heavenly beings possessing angelic characteristics, and they, with greater right than the first 247 heavenly powers, are called angels by us, since their hierarchy exists near what is more obvious to us and is closer to the world. After all, the highest 248 order, as it has been said, as located first in relation to the Hidden One, the hidden ones, must be understood in the manner of the sacred authority of the second, the second, composed of holy dominions, powers and authorities, is the mentor of the hierarchy of principles, archangels and angels, and although it is more open than the first hierarchy, it is more hidden 249 than the one behind it; and the heralding order of the principles, the archangels and angels - the mentor of human hierarchies 250 - each instructs the other, so that the erection, conversion, communion with God and unity occurs according to order, as well as from God 251 to all hierarchies in a manner appropriate to the Good and everyone, uniting, attending the performance. Therefore, Theology subordinated our hierarchy to the angels, naming the ruler of the Jewish people as Michael (see Dan. 10:13, 12:1), and other angels among other nations. After all, the Almighty “set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God” (Deut. 32:8). 3. If someone says: why was the Jewish people alone raised to the divine radiance? 252, - it should be answered that it is not the direct leadership of the angels that should be blamed for the fact that other peoples have deviated towards non-existent gods, but they themselves, with their aspirations 253 falling away from direct elevation to the divine - because of selfishness, conceit and corresponding veneration of what seemed godlike to them 254. There is evidence 255 that the Jewish people themselves suffered from this 256 . For “the knowledge of God,” says Scripture, “thou hast rejected” (cf. Hos. 4:6) and “thou hast walked after thy heart” (cf. Jer. 9:13; Num. 15:39). After all, our life is not subject to necessity 257, and the divine lights of providential radiance do not weaken due to the autocracy of those for whom Providence cares. But characteristic of mental vision 258 dissimilarity 259 makes 260 the light-giving, filled with Fatherly goodness, either completely uncomplicated and, due to their insensitivity, incommunicable, or the communion makes it different - small and great, vague and clear, while the flowing ray is single and simple, and always the same, and super-widespread. And in order to be convinced that other peoples (among whom we too have risen 261 to the wide-spread, boundless and abundant sea of God’s original light, ready for distribution to all) were mentored not by some alien gods, but by the one Beginning of all, and to Him the angels who were in charge of each nation raised their followers, we need to remember Melchizedek 263, the true God-loving the hierarch of not the non-existent gods, but the truly existing highest God. And it was not for nothing that the godly wise people called Melchizedek not only a God-loving man, but also a priest (see Gen. 14:18), but in order to clearly show prudent people that not only he himself turned to the truly existing God, but in addition, as a priest, he instructed others to ascend to the true and one God-Superior. 4. And let us also remind your priestly mind that both the angel standing over the Egyptians and the ruler of the Babylonians (see Dan. 2:1-11) their angel announced in visions about the care and will of universal Providence and Dominion; and the servants of the truly existing God 265 were mentors to these peoples - when God, through the angels, revealed to the holy people close to the angels, Daniel (see Dan. 2:14–44) and Joseph (see Gen. 41:25–32), the meaning of the visions produced by the angels. For there is one universal Principle and Providence, and one should not think in any way that it fell to the Godhead by lot to lead the Jews, while the angels separately - in the same dignity or in the opposite of God - or some other gods, were assigned to other peoples. But this saying (Deut. 32:9) must be understood in accordance with the same sacred thought - not in the sense that God divided power over us with other gods or angels and He was destined by lot to be the ethnarch and leader of the people of Israel, but in the fact that the single Providence of the Most High saved all people, entrusting them to the upward guidance of their own angels, and that almost alone of all the nations Israel turned to light and knowledge of the true Lord. Therefore, theology says, showing that Israel accepted the lot of serving the truly existing God: “And he was a part of the Lord” 267 (Deut. 32:9). Showing that he, along with other nations, was entrusted to one of the holy angels, so that with his help he would know the one Beginning of everything, it says that the people of the Jews were led by Michael 268, clearly teaching us that there is one Providence over all, super-essentially super-established above all invisible and visible forces, and all the angels, each placed over his people, raise to Him as their Beginning those who voluntarily 269 follow them. Chapter 10. Repetition and reduction of what has been said regarding angelic deanery 1. So, we have shown that the oldest order of minds surrounding God, sacredly commanded by the Absolutely Primary 270 illumination, directly extends to Him, and more than others, by the hidden and clear light of the Godhead 271 is purified, enlightened and perfected. More intimate - as more than others, mental, simpler and single-creating, and more clear - as the first given, first revealed, more integral and to a greater extent poured into this order as more than others, transparent. By this order, then, respectively, the second, the second, the third, and the third, our hierarchy is hierarchically in divine harmony and proportionality - according to the same sacred law of well-ordered rank - raised to the super-initial Beginning and Limit of all well-being. 2. All heavenly ranks are revealers 272 and messengers of those who are in front of them: the elders - of God who moves them, the rest, respectively, of those moved by God. For the super-essential Harmony took care of the sacred order and the proper elevation of each of the verbal and rational beings to God to such an extent that it established the ranks appropriate for the sacred for each of the hierarchies. And we see that each hierarchy is divided into first, middle and last forces. But, it must be said separately, she divided each order into the same divinely inspired harmonies. Why, say theologians, the most divine seraphim themselves 273 “call out to each other” (see Is. 6:3), thereby clearly, as I believe, showing that the first of them transmit theological knowledge to the second. 3. It would be possible, not without reason, to add 274 that in itself each heavenly and human mind has its own first, middle 275 and last ranks and powers for interpreting the illuminations revealed to each, according to his elevation, thanks to which everyone, to the extent of accessibility and possibility, turns out to be involved in super-immaculate purity, super-abundant light and perfect perfection. For there is nothing perfect in itself or not in need of perfection at all, except what is truly perfect in itself and the Perfect One. Chapter 11. Why all celestial beings are called the same celestial forces 1. Now that they have been defined, we need to think about why we are accustomed to calling all angelic beings heavenly powers. After all, it cannot be said, as about the angels 276, that the order of the holy powers is the last of all and that the orders of the highest beings participate in the sacred radiance of the latter, 277 but the latter never share in the radiance of the first, and therefore all divine minds are called heavenly powers, but not seraphim, thrones or dominions. For the latter are not involved in all the properties of the higher ones. After all, angels and the archangels preceding the angels, principles and powers, placed by Theology after the powers, are often generally called by us - together with other holy beings - heavenly powers 278 . 2. We say that by using the common name of the heavenly powers for all, we do not introduce any confusion into the particularities of each order. But since all divine minds are divided, we relate to them by the supermundane logos threefold: into essence, power 279 and energy, then when we indifferently call all or some of them celestial beings or celestial powers 280 which of those whom we periphrastically represent we are talking about should be understood according to the essence and power of each of them. It is impossible, after all, to attribute a superior feature of the holy powers, already well defined by us, to the lower ones 281 - in violation of the unified rank of angelic orders. For, according to the plan that has been directly explained by us many times, the superior orders also have in abundance the sacred characteristics of the lower ones, but the latter do not possess the superior aggregates of the characteristics of the elders, since the initial illuminations are transmitted to them through the former - accordingly to them - partially. Chapter 12. Why do people call their leaders angels? 1. 283 And this is what zealous researchers of the intelligible Sayings ask: after all, if the last ranks are not involved in higher wholes, then for what reason is our hierarch called by the Sayings “the angel of the Lord Almighty” (Mal. 2: 7; cf. Rev. 2: 1, 8, 12, 18; 3: 1, 7, 14)? 2. This does not contradict, as I think, what was previously defined. We say that the latter lack the full and superior power of the higher orders, but they participate partially and proportionately to them thanks to a single harmonious community connecting everyone. Let's say, the order of holy cherubim participates in the highest wisdom and knowledge, and the orders of beings below them also participate in wisdom and knowledge, but partly in comparison with those and less. And in general, to participate in wisdom and knowledge is common to all godlike rational beings, but either entirely and primarily, or secondarily and less - in no case equally, but as determined by each by his measure 286 . The same can be said without error about all divine minds. After all, just as the former have the magnificent characteristics of the lower ones in abundance, so the latter have the properties of the former, but not to the same, but to a lesser extent. So, I think, there is nothing strange in the fact that Theology calls our hierarch an angel, who, to the best of his ability, participates in the ability of divination inherent in angels and strives to become like those in proclaiming God’s will, as far as this is possible for people. 3. You will find 287 that Theology calls both the heavenly beings above us and our most God-loving and sacred men gods (see Ex. 7:1; Ps. 82:6), although the divine Hiddenness is super-essentially removed 288 from everything and above all, and nothing that exists can truly and completely be called like It. However, when any of the mental and rational beings, as much as possible, turns upward to unite with Her and, as far as possible, incessantly rushes upward towards Her divine illuminations, then, to the extent of its strength, so to speak, God-likeness and divine homonymy are awarded. Chapter 13. Why it is said that the prophet Isaiah was purified by the seraphim 1. Let's look at it to the best of our ability, why it is said that a seraphim was sent to one of the theologians 289 (see Is. 6:6). Someone may be perplexed 290 why it is not some of the lesser angels, but the seraphim himself, who belongs to the oldest beings, who purifies the prophet. 2. Some argue that the Speech says - in accordance with the already stated law of communication of all minds - that it was not one of the first minds surrounding God who came to purify the Theologian, but one of the angels standing before us, who, as the priest of the purification of the prophet - because he instantly destroyed the said sins 291 and ignited the purified one for divine obedience - and was called homonymously seraphim; and the Speech, they say, simply called one of the seraphim not one of the angels instituted around God, but one of the purifying powers that are coming to us. 3. And another person presented me with a not entirely 292 inappropriate response to this statement. He said that that great one (whoever the angel 293 was who carried out the vision to teach the Divine to the Theologian) attributed his cleansing sacred act to God 294 and the first hierarchy operating according to God. And is this idea really not true? The one who said this said that the divine power, spreading, “reaches everything and passes through everything 295 without delay” (cf. Wisdom 7:24) and at the same time it is not visible to anyone - not only because it itself is super-essentially above everything, but also because it extends its providential actions to everything hidden. Including all intelligent beings, she appears in proportion to 296 and, handing over her own light-giving to the eldest of them, through them, as through the first, she decently transfers it to those below, according to the ability of each dispensation to see God. To speak more clearly, I will give 297, perhaps, my own examples, although unworthy of what is beyond all God, but more understandable to us. The sun's ray 298 safely enters the first, most transparent of all substances and through it shines brightly with its radiance; getting into denser matter, it passes through and shines worse due to the inability of the materials receiving light to transmit it, and as a result, little by little, it almost completely loses its ability to spread. Again, the heat of fire 299 is better transmitted to materials that are more receptive to it, more suitable and pliable to resemble it, but in resisting 300 or opposite entities either no trace of the influence of fire is found, or some weak trace. And what’s more, it is transmitted to materials that are not related to it through those that are related to it, first igniting, if it happens, something that easily ignites, and with the help of that, heating up, as needed, either water or something else that is not easily flammable. In accordance with this law of physical 301 deanery, the Order of 302 all visible and invisible well-being initially reveals the lordship of its own light-giving in rich outpourings to the highest beings; and through them their lower beings also participate in the divine ray. For those who are given the first to know God and supernaturally partake of divine virtue are the first to be, as far as possible, the owners of God-imitating strength and energy; and already, as much as they have the strength, they plausibly direct upward the beings that are below them, abundantly transmitting to them the light that has come to them, and those again to the smaller ones; and in each order, the first transmits to the next the divine light bestowed and reaching everyone in an appropriate manner thanks to Providence. So, the beginning of enlightenment for all those who are enlightened is God, by nature, truly and properly being the essence of light 303 and the Cause of being itself and the ability to see; Divine lights pour out from that which is to some extent superior to another in position and likeness to God, to everyone that is below it, through it - to that one. So the highest order among heavenly minds is rightly considered by all other angelic beings, 304 after God, to be the beginning of all sacred knowledge of God and imitation of God, as through them transmitting the original illumination of God to everything and to us. Why is every sacred and God-imitating energy associated with God as a cause, and as with the first creators of the divine and teachers - with the first god-like minds. Thus, the first order of holy angels most of all has the property of fiery 305, the ability to transmit the poured-out divine wisdom, knowledge of the highest art of divine illuminations and the property of thronefulness 306, demonstrating wide acceptance of God. And the orders of lower beings 307 participate in the igniting, wise power that gives knowledge and acceptance of God, but to a lesser extent, and looking at the first, and being by them - as originally awarded the imitation of God - are raised, as far as possible, to God-likeness. So the named 308 holy properties, of which the beings following them become partakers through the first ones, are associated after God with them as with the leaders of the priesthood (hierarchs). 4. So, the one who said this said 309 that that vision was revealed to the Theologian by one of the saints and blessed angels who care for us and that thanks to his enlightening guidance he was elevated to that sacred contemplation in which he saw the highest beings, who are, symbolically speaking 310, under God, with God and around God 311, he also saw the Superprimitive Top, super inexpressibly distant from all of them, sitting in the midst and above the highest powers. And what he saw taught 312 the Theologian that the Divine, thanks to its super-essential superiority in everything, is incomparably above every visible and invisible force, and also that It is transcendentally higher than everything and completely unlike even the first of beings, and in addition, it is the Beginning and the essence-creating Cause of everything, and the unchanging Place of the indestructible Abode, from Which the most excellent forces are given existence and good existence. Then he learned 313 about the god-like powers of the most holy seraphim themselves, whose sacred name 314 means “igniting,” which we will talk about a little later, as far as it is in our power to talk about the ability of the igniting power to elevate to god-likeness, and that the sacred image of wings 315, numbering six 316, means the absolute and highest extension to the Divine of the first 317, middle and latest understandings. And then, seeing the countless number of their legs and the diversity of faces, and that with their wings they covered the view that is under their feet, and the view that is above their faces, and in their middle wings there is eternal movement, the holy Theologian was raised to the intelligible knowledge of what he saw 318, and the multiform power of the highest minds, which has many paths, and their sacred reverence, which they super-peacefully have in exploring the higher, was revealed to him. 319 and deeper, daring, bold and not achieving the goal, and commensurate with the God-imitating energies, the unceasing eternal movement of high soaring. He was also secretly acquainted with this divinely revered chant 320, when the angel creating the vision, to the best of his ability, conveyed his sacred knowledge to the Theologian. He also taught him that purification 321 serves for those who are somehow purified by communion, as far as possible, with God's original lordship and purity (see Is. 6: 5–7). And it 322, this purification, is carried out by the Godhead himself for transcendental 323 reasons in all sacred minds with super-essential mystery, in those forces that around Him 324, as the highest, manifests 325 and is communicated somewhat more clearly and stronger, and secondly 326, either the latter, or in our mental powers, depending on how far each of them is separated from Him in God-likeness - to the same extent It reduces Its bright illumination down to complete ignorance, corresponding to His own unique hiddenness. The illumination occurs for each of the second through the first, and - if it should be said briefly - initially it is brought out from hiddenness into manifestation through the first forces. This means what the Theologian learned from the angel who guided him - that purification and all the God-originating energies, having shone through the first beings, are transmitted to all others as each one is ready for the god-created sacraments. Therefore, he rightly attributed the igniting 327 -purifying property, after God, to the seraphim. So there is nothing inappropriate when it is said that the Theologian was purified by the Seraphim. For just as God, being the Cause of all purification, purifies everyone, or rather (I will use a close example) as our hierarch, through his servants, or priests 328, purifies or enlightens, he himself, it is said, purifies and enlightens, and the ranks purified through him connect their sacred actions with him, so the angel who performs the purification of the Theologian connects his purifying knowledge and power with God as the Cause, and with the seraphim as with the first-acting hierarch, with angelic, one might say, reverence, teaching those being purified by him that “The Transcendental Beginning and Being, the Creator and Reason in you for the purification I perform, is the One who brings into being the first beings and, having established them around Himself, Contains them and Preserves them immutable 329 and unchangeable, and Moves them to be the first to participate in His providential energies (teaching I was told this 330 that it is precisely in this that the apostleship of the seraphim is expressed (see Is. 6:6), while the hierarch 331 and the first leader according to God is the rank of the first beings with whom I was taught to purify in a godlike manner 332 . It is he who purifies you through me, and through him the Cause of everything and the Creator of purification brought His providential energies out of the state of concealment and extended them to us.” He taught me this, and I am passing it on to you. And it depends on your ability to think and understand either to resolve the bewilderment with one of the stated arguments and prefer it to another, as it rightly possesses both plausibility and, apparently, the truth, or to invent something more akin to the truly True, or to learn from another - of course, when God gives a speech, and the angels procure it - and for us, who love angels, to reveal a clearer one, if only this perhaps a more acceptable theory for me. Chapter 14. What does the number of angels reported by tradition mean? And I think it is worthy of mental attention that the tradition of the Sayings of the Angels says that their “thousands of thousands” 335 (Dan.7:10; Rev.5:11) and “thousands of thousands” (Rev.5:11) are the utmost of our numbers, turning and multiplying upon themselves and with their help clearly showing that it is impossible for us to calculate the orders of heavenly beings. After all, the blissful armies of supra-mundane minds are numerous, and they exceed in number the weak 336 and meager measure of our material numbers, and their limits are known 337 only to their characteristic supra-peaceful heavenly understanding and knowledge, generously bestowed upon them by the God-originating, immeasurably knowing Creator of wisdom, who is the Beginning of all things in general and the Cause of creating and containing essences. strength and the boundaries that cover them. Chapter 15. What forms do the images of angelic powers have? 1. Well, finally, if you want, let us descend, giving our mental eye a rest from the tension befitting angels during sublime contemplations of the One, to the divided 338 and many-part breadth of diversity inherent in the creation of form in the depiction of angels, and then again from them, as from images, we will ascend back to the simplicity of heavenly minds. But let it be known to you first that the revelations of 339 images capturing the sacred reveal the orders of heavenly beings, either sacredly commanding, then, in turn, sacredly commanding, and the latter turn out to be sacredly commanding, and the first are under the sacred command, and the same ones, as has been said, have both the first, and the middle, and the last powers; and that not a single inappropriate word is introduced by this method of explanation. After all, if 340 we were to say that some ranks are under the sacred authority of 341 the first, then - that they are also their sacred commanders, and again - that the first, who are the sacred rulers of the latter, are under the authority of these same sacred commanders, the result would be sheer absurdity, filled with much confusion. When we say that the same ones are the sacred authorities and are under the sacred authority, then in no case - by themselves or themselves, but - that each of them is under the sacred authority of the former, and is the authority of the latter. And it is not without reason 342 that one can say that the same sacred images can be properly and truly applied in the Sayings to the first, middle, and last forces. So, to strive, having turned, to the top 343, to invariably gather around oneself protective ones from among one’s own forces, and in the participatory procession for the sake of secondary ones to be involved in the power that provides for them - it is not falsely appropriate for all heavenly beings, although some to the highest degree and completely, as has been said many times, and others partially and less. 2. So, one should begin the word and, when first comprehending the images, examine 344 for what reason Theology, in describing the sacred, prefers ardor to almost everything. You, of course, will notice that it depicts not only fire-shaped wheels (see Dan. 7:9), but also fiery animals (see Eze. 1:13-14), and men like shining fire (see Matt. 28: 2-3), and around the heavenly creatures themselves there are piles of fiery coals (see Eze. 10: 2) and burning rivers with an unbearable noise of fire (cf. Dan. 7:10). It also speaks of thrones of fire (see Dan. 7:9; Rev. 4:4), and from the names of the highest seraphim themselves it deduces that they are igniters, 345 and endows them with the property and effect of fire, and in general, above and below, it resolutely prefers to create images associated with fire. Fiery reveals, as I think, the highest degree of godlikeness of the heavenly minds. And sacred 346 theologians often describe the super-essential and indescribable essence in the form of fire - as having much, if I may say so, characteristic of the Godhead, as if in visible images. The fire 347 perceived by the senses is present, so to speak, in everything and passes through everything, without mixing, separate from everything; and, being bright, at the same time it is also, as it were, hidden; unknowable in itself, if there is no substance on which it would show its effect, elusive and invisible, it is the autocrat of everything; and what he finds himself in for his activity, he changes; he conveys himself to everyone who approaches him in any way; it is renewed from the heat of a spark and illuminates everything with unconcealed radiances; indomitable, unalloyed, dividing 348 , unchanging, directed upward, quickly running, tall, not tolerating any reduction under one's feet 349 , ever moving, equally moving 350 , the mover of others, embracing, unembraced, having no need 351 for anything else, imperceptibly growing and showing the substances that perceive it its greatness, enterprising, powerful, everything invisibly present, ignored, seemingly non-existent; during friction, as if due to some kind of research, suddenly appearing in a kindred, friendly way and again flying away unattainably; not diminishing with all the generous giving of oneself. And many more features characteristic of fire can be revealed as images of the energy of the Godhead accessible to the senses. Knowing this precisely, the godly wise men create images of heavenly beings from fire, showing their godlikeness and, to the extent possible, their godlikeness. 3. But they also write about them as anthropomorphic 352 - because of the intelligence and upward direction of a person’s visual powers, as well as the directness and verticality of the figure and the inherent command and authority of his nature, and because of the fact that in terms of feelings 353 he is the least - if compared with other abilities of dumb animals, but surpasses everyone with the abundant power of his mind, the advantage of the art of speech and the indomitability and inherent nature of the soul. insubordination. It seems to me that it is possible, in each component of our bodily plurality, to find an image suitable for the heavenly forces - saying, for example, that the ability of vision 354 indicates the purest upward turning towards the divine lights, as well as a gentle, soft, not hostile, but sharply mobile, pure and dispassionately open acceptance of the divine radiances 355 " the ability to distinguish odors - to perceive, as far as possible, a fragrance that exceeds the mind, the ability to distinguish, by analyzing, what is not such and to completely avoid it; the ability to hear - to participate in the divine inspiration and its cognitive perception; taste - to be filled with food for the mind and accept divine nutritional outpourings 356; touch - the ability to distinguish, recognizing, useful from harmful; eyelids and eyebrows - for the protection of divine understanding; young, youthful age - for always blooming vitality; teeth - the ability to share the perfection given with food (for each mental being divides and multiplies the uniform 357 understanding given to it by providential power 358 from the more divine, for the construction of the lower according to its measure); shoulders, elbows, and also hands - on the ability to act, energy and enterprise; and the heart 359 is a symbol of god-like life, gracefully extending its life force to what Providence cares about; the chest, in turn, indicates strength and the ability to protect 360 the distribution of life-giving force inherent in the heart located under it; back – to the totality of all life-giving forces; the legs are for mobility, speed and suitability for eternal rapid movement towards the divine. Why did theology depict the feet of holy minds as winged 361. Wings, after all, indicate the speed of ascent, the sky, the direction of upward movement and - thanks to the upward striving - distance from everything that is degraded. And the lightness of 362 wings means a complete lack of grounding and the possibility of a completely clean and unencumbered lift; nakedness and shoelessness - for freedom, unboundness, uncontrollability, and cleansing from what is brought from outside 363, and likening, as far as possible, to divine simplicity. 5. But since, again, simple and “manifold wisdom” 364 (Eph. 3:10) also clothes the unveiled (cf. Eze. 16:8-11), and gives them certain tools to carry (cf. Eze. 9:1), let us, as far as we can, talk about the meaning of the sacred veils and tools of the heavenly minds. Light (see Matthew 28:3; Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4) and fiery (Rev. 9:17) clothing means, I think, godlikeness, corresponding to the image of fire, and the ability to enlighten - thanks to the heavenly abodes, where everything is light, everywhere intelligibly shining, or mentally illuminated; and the priestly vestment 366 - the ability to lead to divine and mysterious contemplations and sanctify the whole life; the belts (see Ezek.9:2; Dan.10:5; Rev.15:6) - the protection of their productive forces and the property 367 of collecting them together in oneself and turning around oneself in strict order and unchanging identity; the rods (see Judgment 6:21; Zechariah 11:10) - royalty, dominion and directness in the implementation of everything; spears and axes (cf. Eze. 9:2) - separation of the unlike 368, as well as the speed, energy and enterprise of their distinguishing powers; and surveying 369 and construction tools (see Ezek.40:3, 5; Am.7:7; Rev.21:15) - the ability to found, create and complete, and in general do everything that relates to the craft of constructing and turning to God secondary powers. Sometimes the instruments with which the holy angels are depicted (see Numbers 22:23; Rev. 20:1) are symbols of the divine judgment over us, of which some instruments indicate corrective 370 instruction or retributive justice, and others indicate liberation from adversity, or the end of punishment, or the return of previous well-being, or the addition of other gifts, small or great, perceived by the senses or intelligible. And it is not at all difficult for a discerning mind to properly connect the visible with the invisible. 6. And calling them winds 371 (see 2 Kings 22:11; Ps. 17:11, 103:3; Ezek. 1:4; Dan. 7:2), reveals their speed and flight 373 that achieves everything almost without spending time, as well as the ability to move, moving from top to bottom 374 and from below again up, stretching the secondary ones upward, to a greater height, and moving the primary ones to an inclusive and providential outward appearance for the sake of the lower ones. It can also be said that the name airy 375 breath filled with wind 376 reveals the godlike nature of heavenly minds. For the image and imprint of God’s initial energy (as we showed more extensively when explaining the four elements in “Symbolic Theology” 377) is present in the mobility and life-giving nature of angels, and in the speed and uncontrollability of their movements and the unknown and invisible intimacy of the beginnings and endings of their movement. “For you do not know,” as the evangelist says, “from where it comes and where it goes” (John 3:8). Also, theology envelops them in the form of a cloud (see, for example, Eze. 1:4, 10:3; Acts 1:9; Rev. 10:1), denoting by this sacred minds, super-peacefully filled with the hidden light 378, undetectably 379 perceiving its first manifestation of light and abundantly secondary in the order of the secondary manifestation in proportion to those sending it and - that They are characterized by a fertile, life-giving, growing and perfecting force that generates intelligible rain 380, with abundant rains inducing the receiving womb 381 to the life-giving birth pangs. 7. If theology applies to heavenly beings the form of copper (see Eze. 1:7, 40:3; Dan. 10:6), amber and multi-colored stones (see Eze. 1:26, 10:1, 9; Rev. 4:3), then amber, as golden-shaped and at the same time silver-shaped, reveals unclouded, like gold, inexhaustible, undiminished and pure lightness and light, like silver, light-like heavenly shine. And copper, according to the explanations already given, let it emphasize either fiery or golden-likeness. Multi-colored types of stones, one must think, show either luminosity, like white, or fiery, like red, or golden-like, like yellow, or a youthful blooming age, like green; and for each type you will find an explanation of figurative forms that goes back to the angels. But since we have, to the best of our ability, said enough about this, I think we should move on to the sacred explanation of the sacred images of heavenly minds in the form of animals 382. 8. The image of the lion 383 (see Ezek.1:10; Rev.4:7) shows, one must think, dominance, strength, indomitability and feasible likeness to the hiddenness of the ineffable God - thanks to the secrecy of mental traces and the mysteriously irremovable envelopment of the path leading to Him through divine illumination; the image of the calf (see Ezek.1:10; Rev.4:7) - strength, blooming age and the ability to expand mental furrows to receive heavenly fruitful rains, and the horns - the ability to protect and invincibility; the image of an eagle (Ezek.1:10; Rev.4:7) - royalty, height and speed of flight, vigilance 384, intelligence, dexterity and skill in obtaining food that gives strength, and the ability, in intense aspiration of the gaze upward, to unhindered, directly and steadily contemplate the abundant multi-light rays of the Divine Sunlight; and the image of horses 385 (see Joel.2:4; Zech.2:8, 6:2-3; Rev.19:11, 14) - humility and goodness, with white ones symbolizing lightness and, as it were, a special kinship with the divine light, black ones - intimacy, red ones - fiery and energetic, mixed from white and black - the ability to combine the transferring force extremes and connect, turning to each other, or providing for them, the first ranks with the second, and the second with the first. But if we did not strive to observe the measure in the word, then the properties of the named animals separately, and all their bodily forms, not without reason, would be connected by the method of dissimilar similarities with heavenly powers, elevating, for example, their ability of rage to intelligent courage, the last echo of which is anger, and the desire for divine love, and - to put it briefly - all the feelings and multipartity of dumb animals - to immaterial understandings and uniform powers of celestial beings. But for those who have intelligence, not only this, but also the interpretation of one image that seems strange is enough for a similar understanding of all images of this kind. 9 . We must also consider what is said about rivers (Rev. 22:1), wheels (Ezek.1:15, 10:6; Dan.7:9) and chariots (2 Kings 2:11, 6:17; Zech.6:1) in relation to heavenly beings. Rivers of fire (Dan.7:10) point to God's original channels, allowing them to flow abundantly and continuously and feeding them with life-giving fertility; and the chariots are a conjugate community of angels of the same rank; the winged wheels, irrevocably and inexorably moving forward, mean 386 the ability to follow a straight and true path in their activity, onto which every track laid by their mind is super-peacefully directed on a steady straight path. It is possible to explain the iconography of smart wheels through another 387 construction. After all, they are given the name, as the theologian says, “Gel-gel” 388 (cf. Ezek. 10:13), and this means in Hebrew “rotations” and “revelations”. It is common for the fiery god-shaped wheels to revolve in eternal motion around one and the same Good; revelation is in the manifestation of the hidden, the erection of those who are below and the lowering transfer of high illuminations to the lower. It remains for us to give explanations regarding the joy of the 389 heavenly orders. After all, they are completely immune to our pleasure associated with passions 390, but they say that they rejoice with God in the finding of the lost, enjoying in God-like carelessness 391 and free joy a noble and non-envying joy in the providence of those who turn to God and their salvation and that inexpressible bliss 392 to which sacred men have often participated 393 during the god-created invasions of divine illuminations. Let me say so much about sacred images - it is not enough to explain them in detail, but how much is useful, as it seems to me, so as not to linger cowardly in figurative fantasies. If you also say that we have not mentioned all the angelic powers, or actions, or images in the Sayings, we will truthfully answer that their super-worldly art is unknown to us, 394 and rather we ourselves need a different light guide, and we left what was said untouched, being concerned with the proportionality of the word and honoring the secrecy that exceeds us with silence. Since the name contains the word “hierarchy”, and usually he calls bishops hierarchs, you should know that the hierarchy is the beginning of the very order of everything sacred and in some way the care of it, and the hierarch is the one who commands the sacred, cares and takes care of it, and not of the priests, but who disposes of the sacred and its charter, as well as the structure of the Church and the sacraments, but not a bishop. The great Dionysius himself offers this interpretation below in the word “On the Church Hierarchy.” Note that the name “priest” (presbyter) also represents a bishop, since a bishop is also a priest. This is also clear from the “Acts of the Holy Apostles,” which tells how the Holy Apostle Paul bid farewell to its churches in Asia (see Acts 20:17 ff.). Note that Blessed Dionysius uses the Council Epistle of St. James, for the statement is from there, and that it has already been published. It is he who theologizes about the Son. Here he represents as fathers those who passed on the tradition to him, and not physical ancestors: after all, he was from the Hellenes, as they say in the “Acts of the Holy Apostles” and he himself in the letter to Saint Polycarp and in the ninth chapter of the book “On the Heavenly Hierarchy.” He speaks using certain symbols and images, and not in natural science. Hellenic philosophers also call smart, or angelic, powers minds, since each of them is entirely mind and possesses the fullness of its being as a living mind realized in its own form; they are called minds (νόες) for the sake of greater euphony of the resulting method of inflection. Since from the word “mind, mind” the plural is οι νοΐ, for the sake of euphony, the form οί νόες was formed from another form of the nominative case singular, for this is customary among the inhabitants of Attica, who say (Άριστοφάναι) “Aristophanes”, (Σωκράται) "Socrates" instead of Άριστοφάνεις, Σωκράτεις. But there are also those who say “minds” (οί νόοι), as if from νόος, του νόου. And Scripture calls them, angels, by this name, as in Isaiah: “Great mind, prince of Babylon” (cf. Is. 10:12), that is, the devil. But among the Ionians, “mind, uma, minds” (νους, νοός, νόες) is declined as “skin, skin, skin” (χρούς, χροός, οί χρόες), for this is the Ionic form of declension. God is super-principal as the highest of all beginnings and the God-originating light, as the beginning of the so-called gods - I’m talking about angels and righteous people. He calls the innermost the core, because for everyone outside it it is invisible. Pay attention to the word “confusion” and why the Divinity, being one, multiplies. “Veils” he calls what the Scriptures say about God “bodily,” for example, by naming human members or some abilities. And note that in addition to images and symbols, it is impossible for us, who exist in the flesh, to see the immaterial and incorporeal. This is what the curtains in the tabernacle most likely show, as he hints here. “Naturally” is said instead of “related”, “kin”. Perfection (initiation) among the Hellenes is the transfer of the sacraments, which carries out the initiation of the initiate and is the final one for those who begin them. And the “Perfectly Initial Sacred Establishment” is the divine establishment and determination of the order of our sacred sacraments, which received its beginning from God through the apostles, the performers of these perfecting blessings. After all, the divine Apostle Paul calls those who are ordained perfect, saying: “Therefore, if anyone among us is perfect, he should think this way” (Phil. 3:15). “Supramundane” must be understood as - not perceived by the senses, but comprehended by the mind and exceeding our world. And notice what “images and combinations of forms” he is talking about, that is, images, which he lists below. Note that he calls the local mystical traditions, which he reveals in the word “On the Church Hierarchy,” fictitious. But this must be understood in a manner appropriate to God. Connect “inventions” with “forms”, and “simple and ugly” with “combinations”. He calls “material guidance” the elevation through what is called material to the idea of ​​what exceeds the senses. “Beautiful phenomena” he calls the decorations of sacred churches, and “detailed sacred teachings” - the readings of the Holy Scriptures, and “ranks” of “orders” - the degrees of priests. And note that visible beauties are images of invisible decorations, as the Apostle Paul shows in the Epistle to the Hebrews, considering what concerns the tabernacle and Moses hearing: “Make everything according to the image shown to you on the mountain” (Heb. 8:5; Exod. 25:40). “Detailed teachings” are more extensive explanations with the help of what we see and what we deal with, which appears to the mind as a single and total intelligible thing. There, “properties” are what organizes the divine. In general, a property is a stable quality. And here the church ranks depict properties there that are not connected with the flesh. “Properties”, after all, are meant – incorporeal. It should be noted that the priestly secret teaching performed among us people is an imitation of the heavenly hierarchy. “Supramundane” must be understood as “inaccessible to the senses,” but intelligible and above our world. That is, in the sacredly composed words about them in the Scriptures. It should be noted how we are raised to theology, and that Christ raises us. Nothing is named by these blessed ones as it should be, but everything is called with great knowledge and genuine piety. Since he said that the sacred order is carried out - in order to be accessible to us - with the help of material symbols, verbal distributions and creations, being an imprint and imitation of the sacred dispensation characteristic of the angels, he rightly called their supreme sacred dignity the pinnacle. After all, specialists usually call the peak the purest manifestation of a given essence, from which the essence is directly, that is, directly, comprehended. So, let’s say, the peak of the soul is its purest mind, and the peak of love is a fiery attraction to the highest and most divine. And the top of our hierarchy and secret leadership structure is its “purest”, with which it is connected and which is close to the immaterial. Our purest symbol is the pinnacle of indescribable, simple and incorporeal mysteries, to which the angelic hierarchy associated with it ascends, as if to the highest sacred rank among people, and raises through images to pure contemplation of the mind-perceivable perfection, rightly called the pinnacle of the local corporeal and having a material image. He calls notification a testimony, and it is clear that - with the help of symbols and images, which he also calls images; he calls simplicity the immateriality of nature. After all, he understood that, chanting the heavenly sacred minds in agreement, as he himself says, with the Scriptures, he is forced to talk about animals, and about beasts, and about eagles, and about other creatures to which the divine Scriptures liken the Archangelic powers, for he says: “So that we, like many, do not wickedly assume” that there is no explanation for the images of the many-faced and many-legged heavenly ranks. It is these that he promises to explain in accordance with the testimony of the sacred Sayings. Widely, in every possible way, truly, or directly. Note that Scripture used certain poetic inventions to guide human thought, which is still incapable of perceiving the teaching of something more. After all, heavenly symbols are similar, as this sacred man says, to the fantasies of poets (by poets mean, for example, those revered by the Hellenes, such as Homer, Hesiod and others), or to poetic, as if plastic, sketches. For God’s wise condescension, knowing the weakness of our mind, incapable of higher contemplation, having created an uplift akin to it, thus made the Archangelic orders accessible to his perception, showing them not as they truly are, but as we can perceive them. So do not imagine anything alien to the heavenly powers. He calls the mentioned fabrications and images additions. “In itself,” means what it tends to be by nature; but it exists, he says, unknowable to us and invisible. It seems to me that he calls a strange and seemingly far from accepted method and method of creativity rude. That's why he calls it theater, explaining that the painted images of holy angels do not reflect the truth. For in fact they are not such as the Holy Scripture represents them, but they are depicted in such a way that we comprehend their greatness. The divine Dionysius himself tries to collect what has been said about them and show that the angelic orders can, thanks to clarification, be thought of as stated. To some extent immaterial - that is, partly, because not completely immaterial. He calls the sky and what is in the sky, such as the stars, beings that are above us, for their subtlety and one-essence is in some way close to immateriality. He calls intelligible beings Godlike simplicity, for they are immaterial and completely uncomplicated, not being a mixture or complex combination of elements; Bodies are made up of these, but these are incorporeal. Placing and forcing to remain. In these forms, the divine and holy cherubim are described both by the divine Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:10) and by the divinely inspired John in Revelation (Rev. 4:7). A herd is a composed multitude. As if from bird-shaped creatures and from birds. “Other living creatures” he calls such as horses, mules and the like; “things less honorable” - such as thrones made of wood, wheels, swords made of iron, like the sword drawn against Balaam (cf. Num. 31:8), and the one that David saw, as described in the Second Book of Samuel (cf. 2 Samuel 23:16), and as if wooden chariots (cf. 1 Sam. 6:14). He says “passionate” because the image of a lion serves as a certain sign of rage, and the appearance of a calf - lust, which passions are great. He calls likening fictions similarities. Thus, Ezekiel says that he saw “the likeness of a throne” (cf. Ezek. 1:26) and the likeness of a lion (cf. Ezek. 1:5), which shows the imagery of what is imagined in fantasy. That is why it is said “unlike similarities”: the prophet does not see everyone alike, but some this way, and others that way. But even those who are thought to be similar are completely unlike, for in reality they have nothing in common with a lion, or a calf, or other animals. And what the dissimilarity shows, you will find later. He promises by his interpretation to show both, so that it does not seem that an insult is being made to the heavenly, and that we are plunged into degrading humiliation by speaking of angels as animals. Here he says why images of the unimaginable and forms of the formless are symbols. Said instead of "formless". That is, not through images, but immediately, upon first contact. And “offers” is the same thing as “represents” and “exposes”. Notice that the incorporeal is formless. So, when you hear about the Superessential “being in the form of God” (Phil. 2:6), understand that He is no different from the Father Himself. This is also shown by the expressions “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) and “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). This is how Saint Basil explains in his word to his brother about the difference between essence and hypostasis. Note that the Divinity is glorified in two ways: either as similar to everything, for everything is contained in It, or as unlike, for It is nothing of everything. He says here that images are created with the help of both similar and dissimilar and how they are created. Notice why it is said that God is Word and Mind in the expressions: “Who knew the mind of the Lord” (1 Cor. 2:16) and “And the word of the Lord came to me, speaking” (Jer. 1:4) and others. He speaks about the rationality of God not in order to show that God is rational as participating in reason, this is obvious, but because He is rationality in itself, being entirely the Logos. The essence of God is meant when they say: “I am who I am,” “He who is has sent me” (Ex. 3:14), “but You are the same” (Ps. 101:28). After all, from the verb “to be” and from “existence” comes “existence” and the derivative “essence”, or “existence”. Note that God is called “life”, “light”, “mind” and “essence” not in the proper sense of the word, but as their cause (etiologically). For He is above them and not as they are. Note that what is said about God in the order of negation, such as “invisible”, “incomprehensible” and so on, is incongruous, for it reveals not what He is, but what God is not. So says Gregory the Theologian. “Inaccessible to thought” he says, meaning not dementia, but that no one can think of It. God is indefinable as not falling under any definition, but Himself being the limit of everything and defining everything in it, He does not fall under definition, because definitions are made up of statements, and statements to God are inappropriate as lying. For God is superior to such as not being an essence, but exceeding the essence. He says that not only in relation to God, but also in relation to everything divine, that is, to what is conceivable after God, denials are true, and affirmations are unsuitable. Thus, statements are inappropriate when we call God or intelligent forces life or light, for they are neither a kind of life that exists due to inhalation and exhalation, nor light that is visible and makes objects visible, but they are something higher than this. Negative definitions are to some extent better suited to the intelligible. We say that they are invisible, and we think that they are inaccessible to vision. What the Unmanifest itself is, the mind, it seems, can neither explore nor imagine. Although it seems that the words “light” and “life” show what He is, they do not in the least clarify what God is. Look how well he justified the fact that the heavenly, or rather its image, resembles animals. After all, if God who exists in everything has nothing akin to Himself in anything, then it is natural that absolutely nothing can reveal Him. But then we theologize using a different method, talking about what God is not, what he calls “through the unlike.” Likewise, the theologians approached the heavenly powers, which are lower than God, skillfully, not likening them to anything intelligible, but borrowing similarities from what is perceived by the senses, which he calls devoid of honor, doing this to their honor, so that the likeness to it would be imaginary and not true. After all, if the many-legged and many-winged angel, likened to a lion, is intelligent and immaterial, is it not clear that he has transcendentally surpassed the material and imaginable by us? Here is another consideration on the basis of which Scripture used such comparisons for heavenly powers. After all, if it had used more revered images, saying, for example, that the divine powers are golden or shining, the listeners would fully agree, receiving confidence from the fact that people value them so much. That is why Scripture introduced inappropriate and shameful images - so that, knowing for sure that the heavenly powers are not like that, we would strive to find the truth about their real ones. The fiery flame in question is not the burning, but the life-giving divine essences. Notice why it is not disgraceful for symbols [of the intelligible] to consist of material objects. Visions are things that people look at with wonder. Note that nothing in existence is devoid of beauty. It should also be noted what is meant by passion among the dumb and what is meant by the verbal, and what is the lust of both. Note that the outburst of rage is not simply full of unreason, but in the nature of wordless. You need to read the last chapter of his book, where he talks about the appearance of the holy cherubim, for there, too, all this is explained in detail. It should be noted that in relation to angels he speaks of rationality. And “unmitigated” means undiminished and unshakable. Note that the attraction of intelligible beings is an irresistible love for God, Whom he calls the Immateriality. He calls unalloyed love that is pure and leaves no room for anything else. After all, he who is embraced by divine love belongs to it entirely and strives only for what he desires, without being stopped by any passing or bodily consideration. Speaking about dumbness among incorporeal beings, we do not attribute to them thoughtlessness when we assert that the heavenly ranks are appropriate for images and symbols of dumb ones - in the form of lions, calves and birds like eagles, but mystically we denote the difference between their rationality and ours. After all, we demonstrate our intelligence through language and phonetic forms, striking the air with our tongue, through the word passing from us to the ears of the listeners, from body to body, as the divine Basil says in the word on the topic “Listen to yourself”; but here it is not so, but, being in disembodiment, containing each other and separating, perceiving each other’s thoughts more clearly than any word, they seem to be talking with each other, passing the word to each other in silence. Said instead of "conversion". Our spoken word is transitory because it passes from the speaker to the listener; “corporeal” is said to be in contrast to immaterial, for it is neither corporeal nor moving. The least revered matter he calls all corporeal nature, ordered by God in a variety of animate, inanimate and other species; “mental” “beauty” is what is said about God, moderate and unclear images of which we find in existence, such as: simple being, being alive, feeling, and the like. That all matter has its existence from God - not a single reasonable word can contradict this. And it carries within itself evidence that it came from God and was ordered by Him. So every material order has certain vague and unclear features of similarity and resemblance to the mental one. For just as mental beings are capable, as far as possible, of perceiving providential emanations from God, and, being alive, are given life by the God who exceeds all life, and have the strength to contribute beneficially, and some super-mundane movement, so material ones, all together and in parts, have the ability to appropriately perceive the providence of God and come to life, and can become life, as it is said: “Let the earth bring forth living creatures” (Gen. 1:24), and also: “Let the water bring forth living creatures” (Gen. 1:20). But the products of the earth are also full of beneficial powers, as shown by the use of plants and metals. And the material has a movement that leads successively to birth into existence and death, and accepts the order proposed and proposed by God. But it is also common for material things to be illuminated by the presence of rational forces, as at the resurrection of the Lord, when an angel shone and illuminated the surroundings. All this is possessed by the undergoing matter, but not in the same way as the active mental forces possess. That is why it is said that it has this as the last echo. What imitation and the last echo are, I will explain in the word “On the Divine Names.” Notice that he does not say that all matter is intelligent; in fact, the stars are inanimate, for they have no mind. Although he uses the same names, they are not understood in the same way, but are defined and perceived according to the natural characteristics of the subject. Notice what he calls the most revered, such as the sun and stars, that the middle, such as fire and water, that the last, such as myrrh, and that which is not revered, such as animals and worms; and - that both symbols in the images of animals and those borrowed from matter are applied to God - both revered, and average, and non-revered. The prophet Malachi calls Him “the Sun of righteousness” (Mal.4:2). The Divine Peter in his conciliar letter writes: “Until the morning star rises in your hearts” (cf. 2 Pet. 1:19) and so on. It is He who is the “morning star.” Moses says: “Fire in the thorn bush, which does not burn” (cf. Ex. 3:2), which means shining without causing harm. Jeremiah calls Him water: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water” (Jer. 2:13). And others - differently. And the Lord says: “Rivers of living water will flow from his belly” (John 7:38). And Solomon in the “Song of Songs” calls Him peace: “Oil poured out is your name” (Song.1:2). Among the twelve prophets who prophesied about God, Hosea and Micah list the animals named here. David calls Him a worm: “I am a worm, and not a man” (Ps. 21:7): ​​speaking on behalf of the Lord, he likened Himself to a worm, as not born of a seed, as we are, but without a seed, like worms, which are not born of a seed, but from the earth or from rot. After all, “I am a worm, and not a man” is said as if from the person of God incarnate, although it is perceived not in relation to divinity, but in relation to the visible baseness of the flesh. [He calls the prophets God-wise interpreters. Some images were already presented in the word “On Divine Names.”] What hidden images these words point to is explained in the word “On the Divine Names” at the beginning of the ninth chapter. The last of the echoes of God in creation he calls what he described above as “the least revered of material formations.” And why this is called the last echo, we will say in more detail in the word “On the Divine Names”, in Chapter Four. Understand absurdity as bestiality and bestiality in the stories about the angels of Scripture. And “representing” means “revealing” or “naming”. Well, he called the figurative iconography, which he had previously spoken about, the iconography not of angels, but of angelic images, for the images are not written of the angels themselves, what they are, but it is only shown in what forms the incorporeal are depicted, as he explained himself. He usually says “define” when something needs to be particularly limited and clarified. “In our opinion” must refer to everything in general: ...in our opinion, there is a hierarchy, and what, in our opinion, is the benefit that hierarchs receive from sacred rites [that is, hierarchy can be useful]. It is worth reflecting on why the great Dionysius calls the divine Timothy “child.” Or, I think, he says this as being superior to him in years and more knowledgeable in philosophy, which is why he asked him questions, as the works that you have in your hands show. For although Saint Timothy believed before the divine Dionysius, as the Acts of the Holy Apostles show (see Acts 16:1), the great Dionysius was more outwardly educated. Or he calls him “child,” imitating the Lord who says: “Children, do you have any food?” (John 21:5). Or because “children” were those who strive for goodness, as both Papias say in the first book of “Sunday Interpretations” and Clement of Alexandria in “Pedagogue”. He contrasted the many with the one, for he makes the holy one. What is generally accessible and sinful, thanks to division, multiplies the number to many. So now he calls it “multiple”, meaning general availability. How, that is, possible. That is, making it perfect. By sameness, equality and identity, the one and the same-creating is called simple, unalloyed and uncompounded. As for unequal, unequal, otherness, mixed and being in variability, they speak of being associated with matter. So God, of course, is the One. The procession in honor of the deity, strictly speaking, is a round dance. Here he refers to those who circle around the divine as participants in round dances. “Most transparent” - light, translucent, and “unpolluted” - unstained. This, I think, shows that it is not appropriate for anyone assigned to one of the priestly orders to do anything more than what is required by his rank, but it is proper for the student to do and convey only what is appropriate to his dignity, and not to accept what exceeds his dignity. Thus, priests (presbyters) must teach, bring holy gifts, but not ordain; deacons - teach, but not baptize, for they will not teach the Holy Spirit, just as Philip did not teach the deacon in the “Acts of the Holy Apostles” (see Acts 8:39), but also not make offerings. And so and others. Likewise, those who are ordained should do only what is appropriate, so that what is said by the divine Paul will be well observed: “In whatever rank anyone is called, let each one remain in that” (1 Cor. 7:24). After all, the endowment of knowledge must correspond to the difference and height of ranks. Notice what perfection is among the hierarchs and how they are “co-laborers with God,” according to the divine apostle (1 Cor. 3:9). That is, a person who does God’s work, makes himself wise and improves himself, and does the same for those being instructed, to the best of his ability. Notice what the order and execution of the hierarchy are and that those who approach should, firstly, be cleansed through teaching from the sinful mixtures that must be separated, then be enlightened by the knowledge of the dogmas of the inspired Scriptures concerning the knowledge of God, and then become perfect in the “bath of regeneration” (Titus 3:5). Note that enlightenment occurs before baptism. Divine bliss purifies, enlightens, perfects, teaching, elevating, idolizing. The Ionic dialect uses the forms ό νους, τού νοός, οί νόες, while the inhabitants of Attica say ό νους, τού νοϋ, and in the plural οί νοΐ, τών νών and νοισί. Here he speaks about the clergy themselves, having previously said about the clergy, showing both the ranks and how those who purify are lower, being exorcists (casting out demons), while educators, thanks to teaching, are higher, that is, presbyters and deacons; and the realizers of perfection are people who are filled with the Holy Spirit through baptism, such as bishops. He says the same thing below, in the word “On the Church Hierarchy.” Note that what enlightens one to salvation can be natural or supernatural. He perfectly explained the order of church rites, namely: those approaching divine baptism must first make a renunciation, purifying themselves, and then be enlightened by the teaching of the elders allocated for this. Such are purifiers, worthy to teach holiness to others. And then the bishops finally baptize. After all, he calls them perfect workers. This order must be observed. Pay attention to the calculation, guided by which God brought all things into existence - so that everyone, to the extent of each, would partake of His goodness. This is indicated by: “The Father has many mansions” (cf. John 14:2). After all, everyone, according to their own deeds, will partake of His goodness. So Titus says in the words “Against the Manichaeans.” Here he designates everything created together with the name “existent” - everything both intelligible and visible. After all, God created everything from non-existence only so that it would partake of His goodness. They partake for the sake of Providence as everyone can, for God’s Providence is the beginning of the being of all things. Note that everything that exists participates in God’s providence, for in existence there is nothing that is not involved in God. So evil is without foundation, since it does not participate in God, but appears as a result of the loss of some property, but not in itself primarily existing in existence. We talked about this in more detail above. In this place, he calls the divine, that is, the Holy Trinity, the existent (d.b. “Essence”), in which, as the creator and the beginning or the cause of creations, those who, thanks to Her, have come to the state of essence, participate, they say. Everything that exists is Note that the inanimate also participates in the providence of God - by what exists. Inanimate are, for example, stones and everything that does not come through birth. In general, to each of the things mentioned one should mentally add: “through which it participates in Providence.” Note in relation to each rank that the beings of higher powers are different. “Only existing” he speaks of what he called “non-living”. Please note that the intelligible forces, by their own choice, for the most part partake of the Good, as they strongly strive for it. After all, he says “to fashion oneself,” which means to act voluntarily. It is not false, therefore, the statement that the devil fell from heaven, for he turned to evil of his own free will. “Nearby” is said instead of “in contact with.” For their beings are living minds. Note that everything intelligible first participates in God. “Reveal” – that is, proclaim. Notice what an angel is in the proper sense of the word and that he says that they have the first rank; and also that through angels we are taught and that through them the Law was given, and that before the Law and after the appearance of the Law, angels raised our fathers to the divine. Illustrious. And “what must be done” - as in Joshua, Gideon and others (see Judges 6:20–22); from “ungodly life to the straight path” - like Cornelius the Centurion, because he was the first to be converted from unfaithful pagans (see Acts 10); “holy ranks” - as Daniel had a vision of “darkness” (Dan.7:10), Ezekiel of cherubim (Ezek.1:5-14), and Isaiah of seraphim (see Is.6:2-3); “supramundane visions” - as to Paul, caught up to the third heaven (see 1 Cor. 12:2), and in the Revelation of the divine John (see Rev. 1:10 et seq.). That is, without the service of angels. Look how he interprets the saying: “No one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18), which I consider to be the truest. And knowing that there are sayings in Scripture saying that God appeared to people, such as to Adam in paradise, to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (see Gen. 18:1), and when three angels came to Sodom (see Gen. 19), and to Moses on the mountain, although it is said that he saw God from behind (Ex. 33:23), he asserts that “no one has seen the most hidden things of God and will never see” that is, His essence; or even higher: “no one can comprehend or explain what God is.” Although there were epiphanies to some saints, understand that according to the measure of each person’s own faith, a person was granted a certain vision that revealed the Divinity to him, thanks to which he received the illumination of the divine knowledge that came to him. I think that he is talking about the Transfiguration, or about the miracle of the appearance of fire on Mount Sinai. He says that theophany does not consist in revealing and showing God what He is, for this is impossible, but in the fact that the saints are granted divine illumination through certain sacred visions corresponding to their measure and occurring, he says, through angels. Note that the Law is an imprint of another divine law, i.e. divine incarnation of Christ. And Saint Stephen also shows that the first law was given through angels, saying: “You who received the law while the angels served and did not keep it” (Acts 7:53). Notice how “through the first,” that is, superior, the “second” (the same as “those below”) are raised to God, and about the angelic orders. He calls the “Super-essential Order of Order” the Beginning and the creative Cause of these orders. Note that the angels were the first to be instructed about the incarnation, as is shown by what is known about the most divine Gabriel, who informed about St. John who preached the good news to the Virgin that from the Holy Spirit she would conceive the Word of God incarnate. “Male action of God” is Christ’s incarnation, thanks to which God, being in the flesh, performed divine deeds. Look how, by calling Jesus here “masculine action of God,” by saying “manly,” he showed that He was a perfect man, and by saying “act of God,” that God and man are one and the same, Who created the signs of God. A little further he says that He is “immutable,” for He remained, Who He was, forever. See also how he says: in Saint Mary the “divine-originating sacrament of the ineffable worship of God” took place: “the worship of God” he says, explaining that God was created as Man, as it is said: “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14). “God-beginning” - because it was the sacrament of the incarnation of God, the Cause and Beginning of the so-called gods and righteous people, which God the angel named Jesus. Note that this is against the Nestorians. Not all the angels learned the secret of Providence, because when the Lord, having endured suffering, ascended, there were some who said: “Who is this King of glory?” ( Ps. 23:8, 10 ). The question reveals ignorance. Note - against the Nestorians and Acephalians - that he calls Jesus the “supra-essential Cause” - as the Creator of everything, and also says that He immutably became like us. It is not the same and the same nature in Him, if He combines both. And that He Himself is both the Lawgiver and under the Law, mind you, and that He, as a man, receives the command from the angels to go to Egypt and to return from there, and He is also the creator of angels. So the same Christ in two natures fulfilled the great mystery of Providence, for it is said: “He, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:6-7). Here are two forms of one thing: what he says here “does not refuse” is in fact - “he did not consider it robbery” - that is, he did not consider it unworthy as a person to obey the angels and humbly obeys the Father and God through the angels. After all, He Himself commanded them to rule the human race. For He did not suppress His divine nature. For what was established by Him, or previously determined, He Himself accepted in the last days and manifested in Himself. Note that the chapter about the angel strengthening the Lord, which is in the Gospel of Luke, is also retold by the great Dionysius, and that not in writing, but most likely secretly, this was conveyed to him and Saint Timothy by the Apostle Paul, for his sermon was recorded by Luke. It turns out that he seemed to know this secretly, from his words: “what is revealed by our priestly traditions.” Pay attention to another explanation that he gives - that the words of Isaiah, that the “Great Council Angel” is called the born Child, should be attributed to His flesh. Why is he called an angel? Because he announced to us the advice (will) of the Father. After all, by saving us by His suffering, He showed that such was the will of the Father. Not as less than the Father, He was called an angel. This is against the Arians. Otherwise. The chapter about the angel who strengthened Him must not be taken contrary to the interpretation of Holy Scripture, for this is understood in relation to the flesh. And in another place, the Gospel says that after the temptations “the angels came and ministered to Him” (Matthew 4:11), that He “were weary from the journey” (John 4:6) and that He was “hungry” (Matthew 4:2). All this shows that He took into Himself a perfect man along with his sufferings. But someone will ask: “What was the need for an angel when the Divinity was here?” We answer that God most often works miracles through angels, and all divine Scripture speaks about this. According to what He said to the Father: “I have made Your name known to men” (John 17:6). Why, although the Church says that all holy angels are one essence, does the divine Dionysius name many powers? The great Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, one of the rhetoricians, in the interpretations that he created for the blessed Dionysius, his namesake, says that external wisdom usually calls all invisible nature unborn and in a similar way hypostases - beings. And therefore, he says, Saint Dionysius, like external ones, did not use these expressions in their proper sense. That is, enumeration, or explanation. The last of the intelligible ranks, he says, are called “angels” in the proper sense of the word, and his superior ones are called differently, some of whom he names. In the next chapter, he mystically recalls the nine ranks, and now he definitely says that the higher ranks know what the lower ones know through illumination, but they also know other things unknown to the lower ones. Although this is true, the generic name “angels” is sometimes used to refer to all intelligibly comprehended orders. And he says why, as in the hundred and second psalm: “Bless the Lord, all His angels” (Ps. 103:20), and in the hundred and third: “He who makes His angels spirits” (Ps. 103:4) and so on. But this rule does not have retroactive force, for the lower ones are not called by the names of the higher ones. And note that through the higher powers the lower ones are secretly guided. That is, the extreme rank of angelic order. Someone may ask: did these heavenly ranks - higher, lower and even lower - appear in such a way that one turned out to be higher and the other lower? And we answer that God created all intelligible powers autocratic. If man was already created autocratic, being a mixture of dust and soul, how much more were the intelligible forces, which have nothing earthly or heavy, created more autocratic? This is what the divine Scripture represents, saying that the devil fell from the rank of angels voluntarily, and this divine man a little earlier, speaking about the angelic powers: “striving to mentally fashion himself in the image of God, supramundanely looking at the likeness of the God-Superior and conforming to Him the image of his mind” (4:2) - and from all this it is revealed that the intelligible powers have freedom of choice and are autocratic. So he thoroughly asserts that everyone, according to his good desire, is illuminated by divine understanding. That is why ranks are named by degrees - according to the desire that exists in them. That’s why he says here that it makes no sense to call the last rank seraphim or thrones. And notice why all ranks are called angels. Of course, of course, the order of angels. Filled with these highest degree of contemplation of the associated sacraments, the sacred Dionysius reveals in his speech that the last heavenly rank, called “angels,” guides the hierarchs of the Church among people, leading them to God, and the lowest rank itself, our teacher, is secretly taught by those who are higher, rising stepwise above it, like a lesser one. That is, I say, the latter, angelic. And note that he believes that all the names - of each rank of the nine ranks - are common because Those are jointly illuminated for the image of God by the light given by God, although not in the same way. It is possible, he says, to collectively name all the rational incorporeal ranks in another way, that is, by God-likeness, which represents an approach to God, as far as each of them is possible. So all supermundane ranks are called godlike; and they all have another thing in common - the gift of the brightest illumination from God, although in accordance with the possibility of each - either less or more - illumination is given. In the word “On Divine Names” he says that only officials of each order are called divine. Note that he calls the measure of each rank a feature. Note that God alone, who idolizes them, knows exactly them and their services; and they know themselves and theirs. We know nothing exactly about them, except as far as we have learned from the Divine Scripture. Note that there are nine divine orders of intelligible beings. He usually calls either the most divine Apostle Paul or Saint Hierotheus his celebrant, as stated in the word “On Divine Names.” Now it seems to me that he is talking about none other than St. Paul. After all, there was no one else besides him who would even reach the third heaven and would know about them. The first trinity order: thrones, cherubim, seraphim. This is said about the first to approach God from the sacred orders. The student can learn about this first trinity of God-like orders in a meaningful and worthy manner worthy of God from Ezekiel, who first names the throne on which God appeared to him, and right there were the divine cherubim (see Ezekiel 10:1); Isaiah sees the most holy seraphim standing around God (see Is. 6: 1–2). This reveals their highest, compared to everyone else, lot. This appears almost the same way in the Revelation of St. John, the apostle, evangelist and theologian (cf. Rev. 8:2). “Directly” is said because there is no other order before it. And note that the thrones, as well as the many-eyed and many-winged cherubim and seraphim, are higher, he says, than all powers and belong to one triple hierarchy. He alludes to St. Paul. He lists the next two threefold holy orders of intelligible powers from bottom to top, for the first are dominions, then come the powers and then the powers. And he, having put the authorities first, made the domination middle. And in the third service triad, the first are the beginnings, then come the archangels, and the last are the angels. And now, in the next chapter, he didn’t remember them that way, but he named them, listing them from bottom to top. But the Apostle Paul in his Epistles to the Romans (Rom. 5:35) and to the Ephesians (Eph. 6:12) mentions some angelic orders, but does not cite this order. The great Dionysius explains that the divine apostle conveyed this secretly to the saints. The title follows the reverse order, ascending from bottom to top, for the seraphim are third, the cherubim are second, and the thrones are first. So he wrote them backwards. Note that every name of the sacred ranks contains indications of the activity inherent in the rank, as the interpretation of the names of the holy seraphim and cherubim shows, because there is no other order before them. Beginning (the first) theophany affects, after all, occurring primarily on the first. Said instead of “interpreting” and “explaining.” Since he speaks of god-like properties in relation to divine minds, one should not believe that the great Dionysius claims that these intelligible virtues are added to them in the form of accidental ones, as happens with us - like something else to a different basis, as if an attached quality. For the concepts of “random property” and “ground” are unacceptable here, since any connection and formlessness of matter are excluded from there. After all, if it were another in another, as if an accidental property attached to the basis, then this being would not live on its own and could not be deified, as far as possible, by itself, but only thanks to the order preserved as another in another. Therefore, the named properties in them are self-realizing, and not attached as something accidental to the basis, due to intangibility. Why does the great Dionysius - below, in the word “On the Church Hierarchy”, in chapter four - say that their properties are substantial. Note that divine powers as a property have godlikeness. Property is a constant quality. And from here it becomes clear that those who have virtues as properties are autocratic. This is presented more extensively by Ammon of Adrianople in the words “On the Resurrection,” which he wrote against Origen. Notice why they are called thrones. It is said instead of “descending to the lowest.” And notice what the purpose of any hierarchy is. By a certain highest nature, established under God, immediately below Him, he reveals thrones that do not come into contact with anything material, as shown by the fact that they do not have any “lowering down to the level of the feet,” or weakness, but have an upward aspiration directed toward God. He used the word “supramundane” well - and not “incorporeal”, “immaterial” and “intelligible”, or “mentally”. And so that you don’t think that “to the top” means a bodily path, he added “immaterially.” Note that he also called the order of the holy thrones God-bearing, as bearing the intelligibly resting God. Pay attention to this: since Blessed Basil of Cappadocia called God-bearing flesh, we must consider why it is said so. But the flesh of the Lord Himself was in essence and hypostasis united with God the Word Himself, which is why the fathers say that He bears flesh and is clothed in flesh. What is strange if His flesh is also called God-bearing as bearing God the Word in an indissoluble union, both being called His flesh and appearing by right and in truth? And they, the thrones, by grace having God within them in a way inexpressible to words and inconceivable to thought, are God-bearing and for this reason they are called, because as the first powers of God they are the first to participate in Him, and the illumination they receive they then transmit to those below. This passage should be read, jumping over the middle, like this: “The first essences, presumably, have their own hierarchy, homogeneous in everything”; the rest is in the middle. Notice that these first three ranks are greater than any invisible and visible power. Note that they are immune to any dreams associated with matter and are not involved in any degradation, and that the divine powers are not only themselves free from defilements and abominations, but are also immune to any dreams related to matter, are pure from all damage and are completely unaware of any worsening degradation. Understand this in such a way that they are not unchangeable by nature, but, being free to choose, because of an ardent desire for the good, inclined towards the Good, they remained so, and immutability became, as it were, their property. By nature, God alone is unchangeable. If they had been created this way, the devil would not have fallen away. But they all belong to the same rank as him. After all, what is good by nature has no decline. This saint calls their movement identical, as unchangeable and unwavering, occurring in the same way. Their movement is the activity of understanding, for they are incessant minds. Note also the expression “in the immutability of love for God” and read the fourth chapter of the word “On Divine Names” and the eighth chapter of this word. Notice why these holy ranks are called contemplative and that they do not acquire knowledge of God through the symbols or images of Scripture, unlike us. Observers of the sacraments are called contemplatives. This is revealed to the saints by means of what is said about God in forms accessible to the senses symbolically, which is impossible to conceive in relation to higher powers. Notice that “tri-luminous contemplation” is said instead of “tri-hypostatic one Divinity.” By communion with Jesus he calls participation in the glory and ineffable radiance of the body of Christ, for with the flesh He is seated with the Father. What was said “images (feminine) imprinting (adv. masculine) likeness,” whereas one should say “impressing” in the feminine gender, no one will perceive as a mistake of the great Dionysius: be absolutely sure that he speaks like a true Athenian, a true inhabitant of Attica. For there it is customary to coordinate the masculine participle with the feminine, as Homer does in the address of Iris on behalf of Zeus to Hera and Athena: You are in your chariot, struck by my thunder. Note that the likeness to the Lord Jesus is theurgic, i.e. makes those who become like gods, and how these ranks directly, bypassing symbols, become like Christ, perceiving this from Him. Observe that these powers are primordial and that these heavenly orders have the virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ as powers. Notice why these divine powers are called initiates. He calls knowledge of diversity the ability to give a revealing and clarifying interpretation of the intricate sacred tradition, which is needed both by the lower angelic ranks, as he further says, and much more by people. For apart from interpretations that analyze the multicolored wisdom of the holy visions, it is impossible for us to understand them, nor for the first three ranks to understand anything superior to them. This is why he says that only each first rank, and not some other power, is in charge of the subordinate ranks. And the hierarchy of these highest dispensations is headed by God alone, and not by some other power. That is, introduced into the sacraments. Evidence from the Scriptures for what is said. Notice this “learn”: it shows that they are not like that by nature. After all, since they are above everyone and nothing that relates to other powers surpasses them, it is natural that they are the first to learn divine knowledge from the One God Himself, as the highest. Note that - contrary to the Basilians or Nestorians - Christ Jesus, ascended as a man, is Himself the Lord of all intelligible powers and the King of glory, as initiates learn from those who say: “Lift up, O gates, your heights” (Ps. 23:7), and ask: “Who is this King of glory?” (Ps.23:10), - and again they hear: “The Lord of hosts” (Ps.23:10) and so on. What testifies against the acephalians and eutychians is that although He is the Lord of hosts, He is flesh and a manifest man, which the other principles are surprised at as strange. Well, he called the act of God to provide for us. For truly all the acts of the Lord’s providence are God’s: Holy Nativity, healings, signs during suffering and the Resurrection. The words “I speak the truth and the judgment of salvation” belong to Isaiah, and see how he understood them. Compose the phrase like this: “I am surprised that the first, like the middle ones, desire the divine illumination.” He called them “floating in the middle” because they do not fly to the maximum height, but only touch the middle. “They are perplexed” means they say: “Who is this that comes from Edom?” (Isa.63:1). Look with what fear and reverence the highest ranks of all, as if they were middle and not first, first ask each other what Isaiah said: “Who is this that comes from Edom, wearing scarlet robes from Bozrah? (Is.63:1) - and then, as if encouraged by God, they turn to Him: “Why are Your garments scarlet?” (Isa.63:2). Notice how, he says, the divine rites are purified, enlightened and perfected. Immeasurable – big and much. Notice how these divine ranks are purified, enlightened and perfected. Mastered art is a permanent and inalienable possession of the knowledge acquired in insight. Since he says that these first ranks stand and dance directly around God, it is necessary to explain how they stand and move, as if in a dance, around God. First he took as his basis the words of Isaiah, who says: “And the seraphim stood around him, six wings of one,” and so on; and adds: “And in two they flew” (Is. 6:2). How did they fly around while standing? And you need to understand it this way. Every mind, having shone from the Author of everything, God, since it has shone from the Creator, moves, they say, around Him as around a center, and this movement is not some kind of spatial, but mental and vital. The circular movement of the mind is like this. Everything that thinks thinks, either being the mind, or as participating in the mind. He who is the mind thinks primarily, and what is part of the mind thinks secondarily. Because precisely because it, being the mind, thinks, it is said that it moves. This movement appears circular because it is reciprocal and takes place around Him. Thus, by thinking about himself and the One who preceded him, from whom he shone, since he was produced by God, who wanted this, he will revolve around Him, not to say around the desire and love for God, as if around the center. After all, the latter do not unite with those in front of them, and what is happening is likened to a kind of round dance. After all, the thing being born, sent to exist in its place, looks carefully at the One who gave birth. Turning the thought back to what precedes it introduces the idea of ​​circular motion. Since God is everywhere, those who follow Him everywhere in the eternal desire to understand Him rejoice in Him and surround Him, as if having fun, in a round dance. They say that the mind abides within itself and hurries towards itself. And whoever abides within himself and discovers immortality has a state of peace. In relation to being, being immortal is understood as being at peace. And the one who does not want to be dissipated in any way by thoughts about material things external to him moves towards himself in a hurry. Making the same movement, he does not stand, but moves; remaining essentially always the same, it is at rest and not in motion. So, in the nature of each of the minds there is a double movement - a desire for God and a circular movement around Him, like around a center, a round dance - as if in a circle around a point, that is, the center from which it was formed. And by natural necessity, each of those who exist dances around God, drawn by existence to Being. So everything exists around the universal King, and thanks to Him everything is, and He is the cause of everything beautiful. And what he said, that the first heavenly powers dance directly around God, as if they have nothing else in front of them, shows that the second and third, that is, perceived by the senses, dance in circles, as said, according to their measure, having as intermediaries those who are in front of them near God. How should we understand “place” in relation to God, when Scripture says everywhere that the Divinity is limitless and that “Heaven is His throne, and the earth is His footstool” (Is. 66:1), and again: “I have made the hills weighed with scales and the earth by handfuls” (cf. Is. 40:12), and again: “If I ascend into heaven, You are there; Shall I go down to hell, and there You are” (Ps. 139:8)? What place did Ezekiel come up with for God? We say that what seems incomprehensible to us, God illuminates for those who seek Him with all their might. After all, the Divine Scripture says: “If anyone keeps My commandments, then I and the Father will come and make our abode with him” (cf. John 14:23). So that both the intelligible powers and the souls of the saints and all those who keep the commandments can truly be called the place and resting place of God. And somewhere else He says: “My Spirit rested on them” (cf. Numbers 11:25–26). Note that he also created another work, “On Divine Hymns.” Notice what God's place is. Said: “What house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what place for My rest?” (Acts 7:49; cf. Isa. 66:1) - shows that it is not something perceivable by the senses that is being spoken of, but these divine minds. Or this: God wanted to show that the divine is indescribable. And otherwise, that among those who heard Him there was no place for God to rest because of their unbelief, as the Lord says in the Gospels: “But the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). The Trisagion hymn and the voice praising God from “His place” (cf. Ps. 103:22), not only, he says, show that even lesser ranks are given the opportunity to know and sing of God, but in addition to this they also mean something else. This makes clear the statement that says: we say that the Trinitarian God is Unity and Monad and that He provides for everyone, from the first to the last of the earth, containing everyone indissolubly, not bodily, that is, holding, but superessentially by divine providence. And that He is the One and the Monad, and Evagrius the Venerable in the second sotitsa, in chapter three, says this: “He Himself is the Monad, since the Divinity is simple and indivisible. For this reason - the Monad, that the monad, in the language of arithmetic, is simple and uncomplicated. And Unity - because the Holy Trinity is one in itself by nature and unites all those who approach Her, according to what is said in the Gospels: “That they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:11). “Indissoluble embrace” he calls God’s providence and retention completely separated from and inaccessible to what is embraced. Notice that their name shows what their specialty is. Middle ternary order: dominion, strength, power. Note that every intelligible power has an inclination towards the worse. Here he piously ridicules the error of the Hellenic philosophers, who called three certain special forces inexorable, which came into being from some three forces preceding them, and not specially created from God’s light. And they say that these unyielding forces exist as the footstools of the intelligible forces that produced them, pushing back and, as it were, preventing those that are higher than them, and holding themselves back from falling into matter, and therefore weaker than those who produced them, which is why they need to keep themselves from falling. These, in brief, are their ideas. The great Dionysius wisely says everything opposite to them, for he says that they, these forces, appeared as God’s creation and have His image in dominion, being, like us, created in His likeness. They, he says, are inflexible to any reduction - according to the meaning of domination - as if cutting and dissecting and not allowing sensual lust to rule, but they do not restrain those who are above them. He speaks of what is perceived by the senses and the body as befitting slaves, lack of freedom and frivolity. “Enslavement” he says instead of “befitting slaves,” since they are not inclined to comprehend what truly exists, but descend from unshakable firmness to yielding to vanity. “Dissimilarity” he again calls the material, as never abiding in identity, but always changing. He called the Divinity the Lord, because It is the beginning and the cause of all dominion. Notice that he says throughout that the forces above transmit theirs to those behind them and strengthen their lower forces. As we know, it is written that an angel strengthened Daniel (see Dan.6:22), and others, and - most of all - our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, since He was a man, as it is written in the Gospel of Luke (see Luke 22:43). This passage should be related to the text above: the words “indicates, I believe” also apply to it. Note that the intelligible powers transfer power to those who follow them, as far as they are allowed as real angels. Notice how and with what the middle ranks are purified, enlightened and improved, and that Scripture says that one angel transmits divine symbols to another (cf. Rev. 14:18). Note that the perfections transmitted through the average are weaker than those first revealed by God, which are primary. According to the texts of the prophets Zechariah (see Zech.1:11, 2:3–4), Daniel (see Dan.12:6–7) and Ezekiel (see Ezek.10:7). He said “weak” not because it itself is weak, but because of the weakness of those who perceive it. This is also indicated by his words “secondary nature of improvement” - they mean that it improves the secondary ranks more weakly. Note that the priests conveyed this to the great Dionysius. He called the first divine powers “self-manifested” because they themselves perceive divine illuminations. Other powers do not receive the divine gifts of knowledge on their own, but through higher ones. Note that this priestly tradition is knowledge about the order of minds. Proof of what has been said, that the second are dedicated first, is from the prophet Zechariah (see Zech. 2: 3–4). We are talking about the inhabitants of Jerusalem, loyal to the Babylonian. Please note that God arranges everything in order to convert those who are mistaken. Understand “compliantly” as “humane” or “completely and extremely.” Note that all intelligible powers are called by the general name “angels.” Below, secondary. He went, perhaps ahead of the prophet, and perhaps before the greater angel approached him. He wants to show that in the angelic order, the first proclaim God's will to the second. “Fruitful” - instead of “completely” - from Ezekiel (Zech. 2-8). The Lord said beautifully in the prophet Ezekiel: “Separate the sinners from the righteous” (see Eze. 9:3): after all, this is what He did in the Gospels, it turns out, when He separated the sheep from the goats (see Matt. 25:32–33). Now, in this too the Old Testament agrees with the New. About an angel dressed in a subdir, or tunic. Note that the angel who was commanded to cast the sign had a tunic as his undershirt, and had a belt around his loins - clothing befitting a priest. Other angels had axes in their hands, which indicates some kind of punitive power. So from this we understand that the angels are depicted in a form appropriate to the work they have to do; and we must realize this in relation to the seraphim, cherubim and other powers - that they have an appearance corresponding to their rank. After all, those who sing the “trisagion” hymn seem to have many faces (see Is. 6:2), and the Word explains that their hymn is incessant and lengthy. The same applies to other things. Note that this proclaimed a divine image - the imposition of a life-giving sign on the forehead of the faithful for salvation from the destroyer. But then this was ordered to be done by angels in the guise of priests on the foreheads of innocent people - the belt and clothing reaching down to the feet indicate the sacred appearance of the priest - now we ourselves, by depicting the sign of the cross on our foreheads, the faithful, avoid the enemy. Here is another similarity between the Old Testament and the New. Note that these are the essence of the threefold orders of intelligible powers. First triad: thrones, then cherubim, then seraphim. Second triad: domination, strength, power; they are also called average. Third triad: beginnings, archangels, angels. By common name they are all angels. We are talking about the deanery of the second in rank in relation to the highest. Note that Gabriel is not from the higher powers, but from the subordinates. Note that the imitation of the highest, mysterious hierarchy is what is happening today in the Church. After all, the priests also put the seal of the life-giving cross on those approaching the sacrament in order to separate them from the infidels and so that they avoid the enemy. And besides this, the following rule is preserved in the Holy Church: what the subdeacon is commanded to do, the lesser ones do not do; and what the priest does does not the deacon do; and, simply to say, everyone has a service due to him. By common name they are all called clerics and clergymen, just like angels are angels. From this we should understand why the divine Stephen said: “You who received the law through the ministry of angels and did not keep it” (Acts 7:53). The super-essential order of beginnings itself manifests this order of beginnings. It is about the order of the archangels and what it reveals. Note the general rule that every hierarchy has first, middle and last powers, that is, three ternary ranks. It is written “and the most holy.” Notice how the divine archangels communicate with those before and after them. Note that the order of angels is the last and closest to the world. The last trinity order: principles, archangels, angels. Note that the last rank of heavenly powers is more worthy to be called angels as they are closest to people, through which people learn the divine. Note that the first triad presides over the second, the second over the third, and the third over the priests among the people and oversees what they do. Notice how it turns out that some hierarchies are more secret, while others are more open. Some of us are hierarchical. Pay attention to the testimony of Daniel, namely, that the extreme angelic order is above our hierarchy. It must be read together with the words “so that it happens according to order” - so that it is connected: “so that it happens according to order and from God” and so on. Why, although good angels are assigned to all nations, Israel alone knew God. After all, every nation has an angel assigned to it, like the Jews - Michael, whom they rank among the last rank of holy angels. He says that this happened not through the fault of the assigned angels, but from his own unauthorized deviation towards inappropriate things. Note that everyone is his own cause of both good and evil. The words “conceit” and “conceit” both indicate self-satisfaction. Notice that God not only chose Israel, but that Israel alone wanted to follow God. This is (and) the interpretation of his name indicates: “The mind that sees God.” This is how we must understand what was said in the song of Moses: “Jacob’s inheritance has become part of the Lord” (cf. Deut. 32:9), which points to Israel. But God loved not only Israel, as the apostle repeatedly demonstrated when he said: “Is God really not the God of the nations? Of course, also of nations, because there is one God” (cf. Rom. 3:29–30). But Israel was the first to follow God; and because he later retreated, he was expelled. Having free will, people, when they want, do so that God is with them. Notice that Israel itself apostatized from God. This means that a person is free of his own will. What the father is talking about here can also be seen in the example of sunlight: it passes through transparent things, but not so through denser things - either it does not pass at all, or it passes weakly. The very thing that is influenced here by the difference of matter, in the divine illumination, depends on the dissimilarity of what free choice inclines towards. This refers to the error of the eyes of the mind. Look - he says that we ourselves are the reason for how we perceive the divine illumination - either little, or much, or we do not perceive it at all - when we resist it, as if becoming hardened and petrified. But the Lord Himself says in the Gospels: “God is able to raise up children for Abraham from this stone” (Luke 3:8). After all, what is difficult and impossible for us is possible for God. Note that especially what is clear from here silences the inappropriate and incapable of discernment ignorance of some critics who dare to assert that these divine writings belong to Apollinaris, neither by the persons that the author mentions, not guessing the antiquity of this man, but calling the nickname of Dionysius a pseudepigrapha, nor by the fact that he now speaks of himself as a convert from idolaters, while Apollinaris was not one of those. Note that God, being by nature good, readily offers Himself to everyone for the communion of His holiness and enlightenment of the soul. The rest depends on us - how much we want to partake of His knowledge - so that free will will manifest itself. For God is not guilty of evil, such as separation from Him. The connection here is this: “that other peoples had mentors not of some alien gods, but of the one Beginning of all.” And the rest, therefore, is read in the middle. And since other peoples also have a single beginning - God's, it means that they are also ruled by their priests through their own angels. Note that Melchizedek is spoken of as a real hierarch, who, thanks to angelic guidance, came to know the truly existing God. He said “followers”, meaning free choice and lack of coercion. Note that through the mediation of angels, he says, the visions of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar and their explanations, or interpretations, occurred in dreams. Joseph to the Egyptians, and Daniel to the Babylonians, when the angels who instructed these peoples revealed to them God's will and visions. Pay attention to the words of the song of Moses: “When the Most High divided the nations whom He had scattered, the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God. And His people Jacob were the portion of the Lord, His inheritance Israel” (Deut. 32:8–9). It is not proper, he says, to think that the peoples were divided with other gods or angels; Israel was not given to God by lot, but to other angels according to the people especially, so that they would not serve God at all. As if, for example, if a certain people were given to a certain angel, then God does not care about this people, or the angel of the people does not try to please God in anything else. It was not on an equal basis with God or in spite of Him that God chose this people, but each of the angels chose his own people, as it is said in Isaiah, which the devil said that he has in his power the northern mountains, that is, the nations, and resists God, and tries to be like the Most High (see Is. 14: 13–14). After all, everything works for God, and He Himself rules over everyone, but He prefers those who know Him. And that is why they say that He rules over them, even if they have an angel over them, like Israel Michael. But how is it that the God who rules over all is called the God of Israel preeminently, and Israel His people? We say that God is the God of all, but He is rightly called the God of those who approach Him and Him alone who worship. For others, worshiping idols, create other gods for themselves. He explains well the words “Israel was a portion of the Lord, worthy of Him.” It would be fitting, if Israel alone knew God, that only the Lord and His angels should visit her. But the immeasurable and incomprehensible mercy of God is also revealed in this, that even to those who think that they do not belong to His part, He assigned a special angel, the guardian of the people. “For He makes His sun to rise on the just and the unjust” (cf. Matt. 5:45). And also: “He who does not want the sinner to die, so that he may turn and live” (cf. Eze. 33:11). But you will say: How, having angels given by God to instruct and guide, did they depart from the living God and worship idols? – We answer that from those who look to God, all compulsion has been banished and free will has taken its place. If someone chooses to be with God, then he is guarded by an angel and acts under him, “For the Lord,” it is said, “knows the way of the righteous” (Ps. 1:6). And also: “I was young, and I am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken” (Ps. 37:25). If someone chooses the opposite, the angel does not force him to do anything specific. This is rather a bestial life, rather than an independent life in choice. That’s why he says about Israel when he sinned and created the calf: “For you rejected the knowledge of God and followed your own heart” (cf. Hos. 4:6; Jer. 9:14; Num. 15:39) - that is, you preferred your desire. Note that although Israel became part of the Lord, they also had their own special angel, Michael. He says this in reference to free will and the absence of coercion. “Perfectly Beginning” refers to the Origin and Cause of their perfection. Note that here he clearly shows why the ranks of the heavenly powers are such that one is higher, another is average, and the third is last. For about the highest rank, that is, about thrones, seraphim and cherubim, he says that it is illuminated by divine knowledge itself, because it rushes directly to it and has no antecedent; and thus, by the divine Perfection itself, it is purified, enlightened and perfected. After all, if he was created in such a way that he is the first, then he does not need either purification or enlightenment, so molded as to be worthy of the first rank. Moreover, pay attention to what this divine man says a little further - that he is more hidden because he is “more mental and more simple.” From here we can also conclude about the freedom of their choice. After all, if he, this rank, had not stretched himself and thought more than the lesser ones, he would not have approached God. Having approached God voluntarily, he is more purified, enlightened and improved, that is, he “does what is perfect,” which means close to God. This, I think, is what Scripture hints at: “Come to him and be enlightened, and your faces will not be ashamed” (Ps. 33:6). In the same way, understand about the following powers - that each sees God in its own measure. He says this more clearly at the end of this chapter. Notice that all angels show to the lesser ranks the light transmitted from those before them. “Identifiers” must be understood in a general sense. “Moved by God” he speaks of the first order of rank, the seraphim. Why does the divine hymn about the seraphim say that they call: to each other? - Because the first proclaim the divine secrets to the second. For ascending from simpler teachings, which the apostle called drinking milk (see Heb. 5:12-13), to the middle ones, and from them to the great ones, that is, to the food of the perfect, he explains the last order and power. But we can also understand this place differently and call first the prostration towards the superior, the middle - staying and turning around it, the last - the erection of the lower ones, which should be understood as more characteristic of angels. Notice that each of us has a mind with first, middle and last ranks, in order to understand these three ranks around God. This must be understood in such a way that every mind has an essence according to which it, this is the first thing, exists; then the strength by which he overcomes difficulties; and, finally, the energy thanks to which he, while doing his own thing, remains pious. He explains this in the next chapter. Therefore, based on this, we must clearly and unquestioningly accept that what we wrote just above is true. This is how he says: “Every heavenly and human mind has first, middle and last elevations, in accordance with which everyone becomes a partaker of the divine ecclesiastical illuminations.” First of all, it is worthy of attention that he spoke about the rank of people and higher powers as equal, and we do not know a single person, neither a prophet nor a righteous man, who would not put forward his own reason for approaching God. Look what Paul, who has reached the third heaven, says: “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, so that, having preached to others, I myself should not remain unworthy” (1 Cor. 9:27). Then he clearly speaks here about the free will of both the angels and their own impulse of passion. And so that none of those who are very fond of objecting would argue, as a conclusion he says that nothing is sufficient and perfect in itself, that is, having received perfection from itself, with the exception of God alone. So humans and angels need to grow and improve. For the forces are in the second, middle, triad, located after the dominions. So all orders are called powers not because they are the last, as in the case of the angels. Note that what the latter possess, those above them possess, but what the superiors have, the latter do not. This is also said above, since the former have the illumination entirely, while the latter partly, as he further says. The same thing can be noticed in the Church: a priest can do everything that his subordinates, such as a deacon and others, do, but a deacon is not allowed to do what a priest does. We said above that our hierarchy imitates the heavenly order. He added “to all” well, because they partake in part. The words “It’s impossible to say” must be combined with these and made the beginning of an aporia. Why are they all called forces? After all, the order of the beginnings, the archangels and angels is the last, however, they also happen to be called powers. As an example, it should be said that essence is the nature of fire, strength is its lightness, and energy is a derivative of strength, that is, the ability to shine and burn. The name “power” is a homonym: this is how a special rank is called, that is, the second in the third ternary order, and in general all ranks are called as having some kind of power. “It should be understood that we are” - in the generally accepted sense. Notice that above he says that the angelic ranks are divided into three: essence, strength and energy. And here he talks about the reason why they are all called forces. He seems to be saying here that the angelic orders were established by the Creator according to dignity, but he does not show this clearly. Above, in the chapter preceding this one, he clearly says that their aspiration and thinking are the real reasons for their higher or lower order. Of course, he said that they are being purified, enlightened and improved. One can, therefore, decide to piously say that, foreseeing the movement of their desire, God introduced them to ranks worthy of them, from which no one would say that they could fall away, because they acquired, thanks to great aspiration and desire, a certain attachment to the Good. Angels, that is, the last orders, can also turn to the worst. He said that they are close to the world, and among them, I think, there was once the devil - before the fall. If anyone knows better about this, please teach me. And notice how, according to the ranks, the angelic orders were brought into being by the Creator. Why are our priests called angels? Note that although the latter are inferior in integrity to superior forces, they also participate in part in wisdom and knowledge. Notice what the integral wisdom and communion are and what the partial ones are. And in the words “according to one’s own strength” one must understand the ability to make a choice. Note that the word “determined” does not indicate some harsh fate and irresistible necessity, as many are accustomed to say, but “determined” is said instead of “established” - in accordance with some certain measure of strength, perhaps mental, beyond which one should not understand. Notice why both angels and God-loving people are called by the general name “gods,” according to what was said: “I said, you are gods” (Ps. 81:6; John 19:34). Notice who, how, what and why was awarded divine names. Note that “seraphim” is inflected in the masculine gender. Because it seems to contradict what has already been said. After all, before this he said that the lower ones learn from those who are above them, but not from the highest ones, that is, the third rank is from the middle one, and the middle one from the highest of all. This has already been studied and is devoid of contradictions. Note that it is impossible to be initiated into the divine unless absolution occurs first. “Seraphim” is interpreted as a “burner” or “warmer”. Note that “not at all” is not said at all to contrast the norm. It is not said here “not completely inappropriate” so that we think that it is completely inappropriate, but that it is partly inappropriate. But instead of saying affirmatively, that is, “it does not seem inappropriate to me,” - carefully, as is customary among philosophers, - and instead of writing “in no way,” he seemed to say, “in no way inappropriate.” Notice, he says, that when the angels assigned to them create divine visions of the prophets, they bring them into the imagination of those who think that they see them. After all, they saw hints and symbols, and not real things and entities. You see that the angels, initiating the prophets into revelations, did it this way: raising them, first of all, to God, truly the Cause of everything, and secondly, to the first minds after God in position and the God-like leaders of the hierarchy existing under God. This is what he teaches further. Note that God's providence extends to everything in secret and that the lowest angel is called the same as seraphim. That is, it extends illumination according to the strength of those who perceive it. Using an example, he explains why divine illuminations are given to some more pure, and to others more vague. He gave this example above. The first substance he calls glass and the like, and the denser substances are houses, caves and the like. Otherwise: the first he calls the substance is thin, airy and pure. He perfectly likens fire to God, for the Scripture says: “God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29), and it is also excellent because it heats one thing and burns the other: so God enlightens those who come to Him, but burns those who do not believe - those who do not come and do not approach Him with faith. He calls the physical what is perceived by the senses and what is visible. It should be known that in creatures comprehended by the mind, virtues are not inherent, as they are with us, and God is a living virtue, perfect and self-sufficient in itself, which is super-essentially realized and generously descends on the existing intelligible that comes from it as from the existent Cause. After all, God is the source of virtue, which enlivens and, as far as possible, deifies those who participate. But, providentially proceeding into the intelligible things realized by Him, He, however, because of this, does not cease to be in the procession the pinnacle and perfection of minds. So the heavenly minds do not have perfections as accessories, unlike us, - for example, the ability to reason, acquired by exercise or training, or justice, or prudence, achieved through self-control, or courage as a consequence of the good condition of the body and nerves. For virtue does not exist in them as another in another; but to do what is characteristic of her and continuously direct others to God and to themselves - this is their imitation of God and virtue. However, the order of “another in another” is observed, such as: “Your soul lives in me,” and not as the scientific statement says: “the incidental in the subject,” which is not here, for they are simple and immaterial, and their types are lives, not like matter. This is what the writer meant. Keep in mind my notes, which are three sheets above: and there, the word “striving” contributes to my understanding. And the fathers thought the same, and it seems to him that the angels are free in their choice, as you will find a little further. Observe that God is the essence of light, and both by nature He is virtue, so by definition He is virtue. Note that after God, the beginning of all virtue is the highest minds, through which, as the first, we have God’s illumination. Note that the highest minds are fiery in nature. He explains beautifully that being throned in heaven means having an openness to thinking about God. He calls the power of the holy thrones given to them as a throne feature. This is said about the lesser ranks - how through the first they participate in the divine. He moved on to interpret the previous one. He speaks of the one who said that what Isaiah saw was not a seraphim, but one of the lower angels. After all, he objects to the opinion that he gives a little earlier, at the beginning of the chapter, where he says: “And the other... is not completely inappropriate...” and so on. Because he sees seraphim with six wings. For the Speech says: “They stood around Him” (Is. 6:2; cf. Rev. 7:11). Look what Isaiah, whom he calls the Theologian, learned - that the Divine is incomprehensible to the highest powers and that nothing in existence is like Him. Existence, as we said in the previous book, is perceived by the mind and feelings. The prophet learns about this after being cleansed of his sins, which we will talk about a little later. Notice what was revealed to him by the seraphim. Explanation of the name "Seraphim". Notice what the wings show. Notice to what he raises the six wings of the holy seraphim. Above, at the end of the tenth chapter, he said that every mind, including the human mind, has first, middle and last ranks. He thoroughly said that this power has six wings: two to cover the faces, the middle ones to cover the legs, the others to fly around the Deity, which he called the highest upward extension. Note also that the seraphim have many legs and many faces, and note why some of their parts are covered. This means - contemplated by the prophet. “Higher” - because they cover their faces; and “deeper” - because they cover the feet; proportionality is due to the middle wings. Hymn "Holy, Holy, Holy" This means that the angel, according to his strength, receives divine illumination and himself conveys to the prophets how much they contain, and not how much he himself knows. Notice what purification is and how it is carried out by God among intelligible beings. That is, purification, or communion. For purification among the incorporeal is not the same as among people. That is, near the Godhead itself, which means near God. It should be borne in mind that, he says, every incorporeal force differs a lot from another in its God-likeness, for the highest minds are characterized by God-likeness to a large extent, and to others to a lesser extent, down to the last, as far as rank requires it; and to a much lesser extent than the latter - to our souls, because our soul is much inferior to all heavenly minds. So the divine illumination is contemplated by us somewhat more compressed and abbreviated - according to the distance, as if in measures of length, from those close to God - as if this illumination itself gradually reduces its manifestation to a single and simple ignorance of it. God is unknown not because we are unaware of the variety of syllogisms, but because of a certain incomprehensible immortality that is common to us, individually and all together. Note that fiery is a feature of the seraphim and why, when an angel cleanses, it is said that the seraphim cleanse, and before them God. Note that the priests are subordinate to the hierarch, and that it is another thing to enlighten and another to cleanse, and that it is another thing for the minister (liturgist) and another for the priest, and that when the priests cleanse or enlighten, it is said that the hierarch does this. Note that God is the Creator of intelligible beings as well; He also contains and preserves the first beings in immutability and immutability. They should be considered immutable in the forms in which they exist, be it in immortality, in life in which they are realized, in being light. In such, God contains them and preserves them not subject to significant changes and not indulging in unnatural desires as autocratic. For striving upward towards Him is a matter of their mental choice, and the ability to maintain this forever depends on God’s support. Everything needs God's help. Note that the great Dionysius learned this from another person. Notice that, after God, the highest orders are the leaders of the lower ones. Personification of an angel: as if the angel purifying Isaiah was telling him this about the seraphim. The inverse construction of this phrase should, after much rearrangement, be presented as follows: Let it be a matter of your ability to think whether to accept this reason, or independently invent another, or learn from another, or rather discover for yourself, and if possible, equally for me, a more acceptable theory about angels. Notice that God's gifts are procured for us by angels. Keep in mind that angels, clearly, when God gives us “the word to open our mouths” (Eph. 6:19), are busy interceding for us. He called the number of people relative to the number of angels a weak measure. The same was said by another person, namely Didymus the Blind, that ninety-nine sheep are angels, and the one lost is us people. Notice that he says that the angels themselves, by understanding, and not by studying, know their limits, that is, what is the number of heavenly beings, and in this they are enlightened by God. White as canvas and black as coal. He calls “disclosures” interpretive clarifications, thanks to which symbols are cleared of what seems inappropriate in what is said. Above, he said that the higher powers are the hierarchs who follow them, the middle ones are the last, and the last of them are the hierarchs of people. He did not say that the same rank commands those following him, and is under their command, but that the first rank commands those following him, and is under the command of those in front of him. The same must be understood about others. What he says means that if we were to say that the first ranks are the last, and then also that the same last are the first ranks under whose sacred authority they are, it would be absurd. He says that it is not inappropriate that in the sayings of Scripture all the heavenly powers are equally given images - since they can all be said to be high, salutary and capable of knowing, although not in the same way, but some of them in the highest degree, and others less. To the higher and superior. Notice why fiery is used predominantly when depicting angels, and why Scripture speaks of the heavenly for the most part as fiery, and that the seraphim are called devourers. Interpretation of the name Seraphim. Why was God seen in the form of fire? Amazing words about the physical properties of fire. We see fire in everything scattered, but unalloyed, that is, not mixed with anything in which it exists, but it “passes through everything.” That is, not like water, which forms an obvious mixture with earth, so fire is mixed: burning and destroying everything, it turns out to be outside everything, or surpasses everything, that is, the elements, in its exclusivity, in its enterprise. “Unknowable” and “hidden” he calls it as existing in some substances, but not manifested without friction and without matter perceiving its action, not shown, and therefore “elusive and invisible.” In a similar way, one should consider other characteristics of fire, which this father, through pious construction and reflection, applied to God and the angelic natures. Note also why the Lord God was often seen as fire and why the likeness to fire is applicable to God. Pay attention to the speech or praise dedicated to the fire perceived by the senses. After all, it separates substances from each other, for example, lead from silver, and melts the alloys. It is unchangeable because it is incapable, as long as the basis remains, that is, the very essence of fire, to change in its properties, for example, to become round or conical, which can be observed in earthly things, or to suffer like air, for example, to be spoiled by smoke, or to harden, or to undergo changes like water. For it never extends to what is below. Moving in the same way. Note that fire does not require anything else, although it does require some material to ignite. But this is not what he says, but that fire is not associated with another element and does not mix, like water with earth. This is why some have called it consubstantial in the elements. Notice why angels are depicted as anthropomorphic. Note the difference in the acuity of feelings between dumb animals and intelligent ones, I’m talking about us. The dumb are characterized only by feelings, which guide them, being unreasonable. But for us, feelings play a small role, because we are guided not by them, but by the mind, which is why even after death we still exist, being a rational soul. And angels do not have feelings in the slightest degree, but what is characteristic of us is a rough imprint of what they have. He calls man the least in sensory perception, not because other animals have more senses, but because they have stronger and more acute senses. This allegory has the meaning that angels do not use the feelings characteristic of us, but are much superior to us with abundant mental power, just as a person dominates his dumb nature with the height of his intellect and reason. Note what the eyes of intelligible beings reveal, what is the faculty of smell, that is, the nostrils, what are the ears, what is taste, what is the touch, which he calls tactile, what is the eyelids and eyebrows, what is youth, what is the teeth, what is the shoulders, what is the forearms, which he calls elbows, what is the chest, what is the back, what is the legs, what is the lightness of the wings, and so on. Here he speaks of the natural peculiarity of the bodily eye, and, ascending, he applies this, like the properties of other human members, to the consideration of the natural powers inherent in angels. By outpouring, understand the immeasurable outpouring of wisdom, according to what was said: “I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2:28), and so on. For divine knowledge passes from God through intelligible powers to divine people [to the extent of each]. According to the perception of understanding. He says that every intelligible power multiplies the divine understanding that appears in it, that is, it makes clear for our understanding by interpreting what we saw, as you will find in Daniel, when the angel interpreted to him the dream that he saw (see Dan. 7). Our heart is formed, as if the center was the first to receive life, since, according to the divine Basil, the heart is the first to be created. Then, as from the center, the whole body is formed, so that from it the life in the body spreads everywhere. Whether natural warmth animates the body, breath, or blood, the source of all this is the heart. That is why it seemed to some people that in general everything that gives life is primarily and most of all concentrated here, although, being everywhere in the body, not being connected with a place and not limited to any place, it is not retained by the body. The same is true for the invisible ranks, either everywhere or somewhere in accordance with the service of those acting providentially. For they must be imagined as if in the center, in the place of the heart, created as the center of the overflowing life, although they are uncontrollable and are not limited to either the place or the part of the body of those whom they protect, for whom they are appointed by God to take care. Construct the statement in this way: first put “to protect the spread of life-giving power,” then “characteristic of the heart located under it.” Notice why the legs of the angels are winged - to show their self-mobility, aspiration towards God and non-involvement in earthly things, since they have no passion, although angels were visible on earth. Notice what light wings are. “From things brought in from outside,” such as food and clothing, with which we sustain life. “The manifold wisdom of God” (Eph. 3:10) is an apostolic expression. Why did the divine husband call her diverse? Although we usually associate multi-personality and multi-intricacy with a villain, the great Dionysius here especially calls it both simple and multi-faceted, and these seem to be opposite things in meaning. We say that he called wisdom simple in order to show the simplicity of God, who has no duality, for God is not made of wisdom as a result of the study, but because he is Wisdom itself. Wisdom is diverse because it is transformed into many types of intelligence - for the sake of the weakness of those illuminated. For He is the great High Priest, compassionate with our weaknesses (cf. Heb. 4:15). Or so. The simple wisdom of God is called in the state before the economy, when He created everything like God and undisguisedly showed His power in the righteous people of that time, as in Moses, Abraham and others. When the sacrament of economy (cf. Eph. 3:9) was fulfilled, it was rightly called manifold. After all, having become a man, having submitted to the Law, having suffered and found himself among the dead, He thus, with the help of the flesh and the inherent weakness of that one, triumphed over every enemy and defeated hell, granting resurrection to those contained there. This is the difference of His wisdom - that through weakness He defeated seemingly strong enemies. And in the word “On the Divine Names,” in the fourth chapter, it is explained at length what is “intelligible” and what is “mental.” Now the great Dionysius himself explains: “the intelligible” is the conceivable, which, rightly said, shines with light, and the “mental” is what is itself the mind, illuminated. And to put it briefly: higher beings are intelligible, and lower beings are mental, and the thinking is lower than the intelligible. Otherwise. After all, what is intelligibly radiant is the divine nature, and what is mentally illuminated is angelic. Notice what priestly clothing is in Ezekiel (see Ezekiel 10:6, 42:14, 44:17) and Daniel (see Dan.7:9, 10:5, 12:6). Above we said what a stable property is in relation to incorporeal things. And read in the seventh chapter about the concentration and undistractedness of minds - thus the father makes explanations about divine illuminations and genuine, constantly strengthened identity in the abode of the good God. About surveying tools - in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 40:3, 47:3) and in Daniel (see Zech.1:16, 2:1). Like the sword in the book of Kings (see for example 1 Kings 18:40) and the sickle in Zechariah (cf. Zechariah 1:18–19). I think he remembered the words of David, “He who walks on the wings of the wind” (Ps. 103:3), apparently indicating the ascension of Christ, because the father nearby says that they are covered by the appearance of a cloud, since it is said: “A cloud took Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). “Without the expenditure of time,” he said with sufficient reason, for while for those endowed with feelings everything happens only in time and more slowly, for incorporeal intelligibles everything happens timelessly, constantly and effortlessly. So it is not proper to name time in relation to intelligible things. Said instead of “breathing” or “flight” (?). From top to bottom - like the stairs in Jacob’s dream (see Gen. 28:12). Note that he refers to wind as air breathing. Another look at the name of the winds. Note also his other work, which has not survived. And he called “explanations of the four elements” an allegory about the meaning of the four elements. Most likely, it seems, he revealed there, by consideration, the symbolic meaning of the four elements. And notice how he explains the words “The Spirit breathes where it will” (John 3:8) - through what follows, for he says: “You do not know where it comes from and where it goes” (ibid.). For just as a cloud “calls” water from the sea and pours it on the face of the earth, according to what is said: “He who calls on the water of the sea and pours it out on all the face of the earth” (cf. Am. 5:8), so minds, absorbing their knowledge, spread it, like clouds, to those below them. He says “undetectable,” that is, mixed: after all, the light in the cloud is inalienable. Here he has a different take on what the clouds mean. Going through it in order, he goes on to say what amber, copper, what colors and types of animals mean in relation to angels. He called the “receiving womb” the earth that receives the rains, thanks to which it gives birth to its fruits. About images in the form of animals. Note that from here we are talking about the nature of a lion. They say that a lion, in order to hide from hunters, when walking, covers its tracks with its tail so that they are not identified. That is why it is said about God: “Thy way is in the sea, and Thy paths are in many waters, and Thy footprints are not identified” (Ps. 76:20). Just as the path on water and the feet of a lion, so God’s passage leaves no traces. For the eagle is the fastest flying animal. They say about eagles that they distinguish their chicks from strangers in this way: if they look at the sun with open eyes, then they are their own, and if not, then they are thrown out of the nest as if they were aliens. Likewise, one who is unable to directly look at the Sun of Truth turns out to be alien to His knowledge. Notice what the horses symbolize: white, black, red and piebald. And what non-similar similarity is, we have fully explained above, in the second chapter of this book. The article should be attributed to the word “ability”, and the rest - between them (This means that in the original the words following the article, preceding the word “ability” - in translation they follow it - refer to this word). Notice what “Gelgel” means in the prophet Ezekiel. Notice how, they say, the heavenly powers and the Divine itself rejoice. He calls human pleasure associated with passions as dependent on the easily changeable passion inherent in the body. The concept of “carefree” applies to those who do not want to work and prefer to live differently. This word denotes ease and ease; and here it indicates bliss, absence of suffering and serenity. In other words: he calls carelessness simplicity and spiritual ease with relaxation and the absence of suffering. Understand this in the same way in relation to angels. “Bliss” he said, taking as if from what is characteristic of us; This indicates constant well-being and a state of serenity. This cannot be thought of otherwise than by being rewarded with such perfection, which such men should have, as this holy priest says, in order to be worthy of divine illuminations in the understanding of things and in pure aspiration towards God. Indeed, from such illumination, the adored mind finally becomes characterized by angelic joy and angelic serenity, thanks to which the mind finally remains in carelessness, as if having found an easier lot; experiencing bliss because of the salvation of those who are being saved, he imitates God, as far as possible, who wants all people to be saved by enjoying God's god-making, that is, making gods and perfecting visits. [And note] that the ignorant should not blush because he does not know something, but admit ignorance of what he has not understood.