Mystagogy

^A requests that I should provide you with a written account of these things; and this because you consider writing to be a cure for forgetfulness and an aid to memory, maintaining that time is by nature a conqueror and destroyer of all things, and that it is of such a character that it can, through oblivion, rend away and utterly abolish the images and forms of noble things—so that they are not even perceived—and that for this reason it absolutely requires a renewing method, by which the power of the Word, flourishing at all times, is naturally accustomed to preserve the memory unaffected and undiminished. That it is wiser to ensure that what has been heard remains fixed in the mind so that it cannot be pulled away, rather than merely perceiving it by hearing alone, is something clearly understood by anyone who cares even in the slightest for noble reason, and who is not entirely estranged from a familiarity with the Word.

^B Maximi modestia. Senis illius auctoris operis prædicatio. — And I, indeed, at the beginning of the discourse (for the truth shall be told), was hesitant, refusing to undertake this proposed type of argument: not because I did not desire, beloved, to grant your wish in every way according to my ability, but because I have neither part in the grace that induces those who are worthy toward this, nor do I have any experience or practice in the power of speaking, being reared in an uneducated manner and being wholly uninitiated in artistic speeches—those which have their charm only in the delivery, in which the masses take the greatest delight, defining their pleasure by what they hear, even if it often contains nothing profound or hidden that might ^C merit being considered of greater value; and what is more, and more truly to be said, I feared lest by the commonness of my own speech I should nearly bring injury to the lofty eloquence and understanding of divine matters belonging to that blessed man. Nevertheless, yielding to the force of love, which is stronger than all things, I willingly accepted the command, choosing rather to be laughed at for stubbornness and lack of learning, on account of a prompt obedience to those who find fault, than to be thought, through delay, not to desire to join in the zeal for every good thing with you; casting the care of how to speak upon God, the only wonder-worker, who teaches man knowledge, who makes the tongue of the stammerers articulate, and finds a way out of impossible situations; ^D and who raises the needy from the earth, and lifts the poor from the dunghill—that is, from the carnal mind and the foul mire of the passions—the one who is poor in spirit, or the one who is destitute of wickedness and whose poor condition consists in being bereft of it; or, conversely, the one who is still held by the law of the flesh and by the passions, and for this reason is destitute and poor in virtue and in the knowledge of grace.

Dionysii tractandi ratio sacrorum rituum, alia ac Maximi. — But since by the most holy and truly divine interpreter Dionysius the Areopagite, in the work concerning the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, the matters concerning the sacred

celebration of the holy synaxis and its symbols were contemplated in a manner worthy of his great mind, it must be noted that my discourse now does not pursue the same things, nor does it proceed by the same path as he. For it would be bold and arrogant, and next to madness, to attempt to handle the things he has treated, when one is not even able to comprehend or understand them; or to present as one's own those mysteries which were revealed to him alone divinely through the Spirit. Rather, I shall present those things which, as they were perceivable by others, were kindly left by him—God willing—to be explained for the exercise of their own disposition toward divine things in accordance with their desire. By these things, the all-radiant ray of the things being performed, being contemplated in a measure corresponding to them, becomes known, and holds in itself those gripped by longing, so that those who come after him should not be utterly idle during the whole day of the present life, ^B lacking the word hired for that divine cultivation of the vineyard, the word which, for the spiritual labor of the spiritual vineyard, renders back the spiritual denarius of the divine and most royal image, which had been plundered at the beginning by the evil one through deceit at the transgression of the commandment.

I do not profess to speak in order everything that was mystically contemplated by the blessed elder, nor even of those things which are spoken, exactly as they were understood and expressed by him. ^C For he, being a philosopher and a teacher of all wisdom, through the abundance of his virtue and his more long-lasting and scientific application and diligence regarding divine things, had rendered himself free from the bonds of matter and the fantasies born of it. Consequently, he naturally had a mind illuminated by divine rays, and because of this, he was able immediately ^D to see the things not seen by the many, and to be the most accurate interpreter of the things understood. Like a mirror unimpeded by any stain of the passions, he was able to purely carry and speak of things that others could neither understand nor even think of, so that he could make his hearers see their own mind entirely carried by his word, and have the things understood clearly revealed to their whole mind in its entirety, and—as they were ferried over through the mediation of the word—receive them. I, however, will relate only what I hold in my memory, and as I am able to understand dimly, and to speak even more dimly; yet I do so piously, by the grace of God who illuminates the things that are in darkness. For I do not think that you, who know how to weigh things with the equal scales of judgment, should suppose that I can understand or speak in any other way than as I am able to understand and speak, and as the grace from above grants, in accordance with the proportion of the provided strength, even if the one who transmitted and taught it is most sublime. For to seek equal things from those who are not equal in virtue and knowledge does not seem to me to be far removed from those who attempt to show the sun by the moon, according to the equal...

light they give, and to force those that are not entirely the same to be able in all respects to agree with one another—which is impossible and unattainable.

^A Let God be considered the principle of things spoken and thought, the only Mind of those who think and of what is thought, the Word of those who speak and of what is said; the Life of those who live and are made living; for all things, he is all things, existing through them as the One who is coming to be [in them], while through himself he is in no way or manner anything of the things that are or are coming to be, since he is not naturally associated with any of the things that exist at all. And for this reason, he accepts the "not to be" more appropriately, as it is said of him, because of his super-essentiality. For if it is truly necessary for us to know the difference between God and creatures, the denial of existing things must be the affirmation of the super-essential, and the affirmation of existing things must be the denial of the super-essential. ^B And both designations must be considered strictly in relation to him, and yet neither can be truly applied—I mean the "to be" and the "not to be." Both, indeed, are true in a strict sense: the one, because it is the cause of the existence of beings, by way of affirmation; the other, because of his transcendent nature, which denies any existence to the things that are, by way of superiority. And yet neither is strictly true, as neither presents a definition of what he is according to his essence and nature. For since absolutely nothing is naturally joined to him by way of causality, whether as being or non-being, nothing of the things that are and are said, nor of the things that are not and are not said, is reasonably near to him. For he possesses an existence that is simple, ^C unknown, and inaccessible to all, and altogether ineffable, being beyond every affirmation and negation. So much for these matters; now let us proceed to the proposed subject of our discourse.

CAPUT I. How and in what way the holy Church of God is an image and figure of God.

^D The blessed elder used to say, therefore, that the holy Church, when considered by the first apprehension and perception of spiritual intelligence, bears the figure and image of God, as it possesses the same operation as he does by way of imitation and figure. For just as God, having created all things by his infinite power and brought them into being, contains, gathers, and circumscribes them, and providentially binds and connects them, both to one another and to himself—both those that fall under the mind and those that fall under the senses; and as he holds all things around himself as their Cause, Beginning, and End, he makes those things which are separated by nature to be inclined toward one another, according to the one power of their relation to him as the Beginning, by which into

one, through which they are compared to him, he causes ^A all things to conspire and agree with one another; by the power of which, all things are conducted toward the one and the same form of motion and substance, having neither distinction nor confusion; so that no thing differs from or is severed from any other by any primary reason through a distinction of nature or motion, and all things cohere without confusion through one single and indissoluble relation and guardianship of the principle and cause; being of such a kind that it encompasses all things, even those which are most separated from one another, and, through its superiority, shines above them, and appears as the whole reason for the parts, or even as the cause itself of the whole reason; through which ^B both that whole reason itself, and the parts of that whole, have been allotted to exist and to appear, as those which obtain the whole cause shining more purely and more highly and resplendent: which, indeed (just as the sun, shining with a more powerful light and more clearly, obscures both the nature and the illuminating power of the stars), so likewise does the excellence of the cause obscure the excellence of its effects. For it is arranged such that, just as the parts arise from the whole, so also the effects arise from the cause, both to be, and to be known; and they possess their own property as vacant and idle, having been embraced by that relation with which they look toward the cause, having put on its quality from the whole through the one, as has been said, power of relation to him. For God, who is all in all, and who excels all things in infinite measures, will be beheld as most singular by those ^C who have been pure in mind; when the mind, gathering together the reasons of beings through contemplation, shall rest in God himself as the author and beginning and end of the production and generation of the universe, and the indivisible depth of the containment of all things.

In the same way, the holy Church of God will be shown to perform the same things regarding us as God does as the archetype, acting as an image and likeness, and itself being the exemplar and chief form. For although there are almost numberless men, women, and children, ^D divided and differing most greatly from one another in race and form, and in nations and languages, and in lives and ages and opinions, and in arts and ways and habits and pursuits; and again in sciences and dignities, and in chances and characters and dispositions—those who come to it, and are regenerated and recreated by it in the Spirit—it grants and bestows upon all equally one divine form and title, that they are and are called of Christ; and one relation according to faith, simple and indivisible and undivided, which does not even permit the many and countless differences existing in each to be known as even existing, on account of the universal reference and gathering of all into it; according to which no one is at all separated for himself from the common, for all are grown together with one another

according to the one simple and indivisible grace and power of faith. For all, it says, were of one heart and one soul; so that from diverse members, there was both one body and it was so perceived, and it was truly worthy of Christ Himself, who is our true head. In whom, says the divine Apostle, "there is neither male nor female, nor Jew nor Greek, nor circumcision nor uncircumcision, nor barbarian, nor Scythian, nor bond, nor free, but Christ is all and in all" ^A; He who by one simple, infinite, and most wise power of goodness, encloses all things in Himself (like a center from which certain lines depend), according to one simple and singular cause and power; not allowing the principles of things to be separated from their ends, but circumscribing their extensions and prolongations as if by a line drawn in a circle; and bringing back to Himself the distinctions of those things which exist and were made by Him, that the creatures and works of the one God might not be altogether strange and hostile to one another, having nothing in regard to which, or in which, they might show forth their friendship, peace, and identity toward one another; and that there might not be a danger, through their being separated from God, that their very existence would collapse into non-being.

Therefore, the holy Church of God is an image of God, as has been said, providing for the faithful a union almost the same as God, even though those who are united in it through faith are distinct in their properties and originate from different places and customs. God Himself is ready to work this union regarding the essences of things, while, as has been shown, He mitigates—and brings to existence as that very thing—the distinction of those things which are referred to Him as cause, principle, and end, and are united to Him, ^B and are made one and identified with ^C Him through the reference and union to Himself as cause, principle, and end.

CAPUT II.

According to a second mode of contemplation, he said that the holy Church of God is a type and image of the whole world, which is constituted of visible and invisible substances; for it likewise receives in itself, according to the structure, both a union and a distinction similar to that of the world. For just as it is one house in its building, yet it receives a distinction by a certain property, namely that which consists in figure and situation, while it is divided into that place which is attributed only to priests and ministers, which we call the sanctuary (or *hierateion*), and that which is open to all the faithful people, which we call the nave (or *naos*); and again, it is one according to its subsistence, not divided along with its own parts on account of the difference of the parts from one another, but rather it also refers those parts to its own unity, dissolving the difference in the calling, ^D and receiving both union and distinction.

^A For it shows both to be identical to each other, and each to be an interchange of the other, that which each is constituted as in itself; making the temple, through its capacity, a sanctuary, in that it is consecrated to the end of the mystagogy; and conversely, making the sanctuary a temple, in that it possesses the beginning of the very mystagogy that is its own operation, so that it remains one and the same through both. Thus also the whole world of existing things, brought forth from God by creation, is divided into the intelligible world, which is composed of incorporeal substances and minds, and this sensible and corporeal world, which is magnificently woven together from many types and natures. In another way, it exists as the unmade Church, and is wisely revealed through this made one; with the upper world being, as it were, a sanctuary, and assigned to the powers above, and the lower world being a temple, and accessible to those who are allotted to live through sense-perception.

^B Again, the world is one, not divided by its own parts. On the contrary, it limits the difference that those parts have from their natural properties by referring them to its own single and indivisible unity, and by showing that they are, in an unconfused alternation, one and identical with themselves and with each other; showing that the one has wholly entered into the whole of the other, and that both, like parts, complete the whole as one, and that the parts, according to the whole, are completed in a unified and holistic manner. For the whole intelligible world shines in the whole sensible world, mystically fashioned through symbolic forms for those able to see; and the whole sensible world exists ^C knowledgeably in the whole intelligible world, simplified in the mind according to its *logoi*. For in that one, this one exists in its *logoi*, and that one in this one exists in its types; and their work is one, just as if one were to say a wheel in a wheel, as the wonderful spectator of great things, Ezekiel, says, speaking, I think, of the two worlds. And again: "For his invisible attributes, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made," says the divine Apostle. And if the invisible things are clearly seen through the visible, as is written, then by far the visible things will also be understood through the invisible by those who attend to spiritual contemplation. For the symbolic contemplation of intelligible things is through visible things, while the spiritual knowledge and understanding of visible things is through invisible things. For things that are indicators of one another must, in every way, have true and clear manifestations of one another, and ^D the relationship established between them must remain uninjured.

CAPUT III. That the holy Church of God is an image of the sensible world alone.

^A Again, he used to say that the holy Church of God is a symbol of the sensible world alone, viewed by itself and in isolation, just as it possesses the heavens as the divine sanctuary and the earth as the adornment of the temple. Conversely, he said that the world is also a Church, having the heavens, which resemble a sanctuary, and the earth, which resembles the adornment of the temple.

CAPUT IV. How and in what manner the holy Church of God symbolically represents man, and in turn, how man represents it as a human being.

^B Again, according to the mode of spiritual intelligence, he said that the holy Church of God is man, having the soul as the sanctuary, the mind as the divine altar, and the body as the temple; in that it exists as an image and likeness of the man who was made according to the image and likeness of God. Through the temple, as if by the body, it sets forth moral philosophy; through the sanctuary, as if by the soul, it explains natural contemplation spiritually; and finally, through the divine altar, as by the mind, it brings forth mystical theology. And in return, he called man a mystical Church, for he signifies the body as a temple, brightening the practical aspect of the soul through the active performance of the commandments according to moral philosophy; through the soul as a sanctuary, he correctly offers to God in the spirit, through reason, those perceptions derived from the senses, having cut away their materiality, by means of natural contemplation; and finally, through the mind as an altar, he invokes that most praiseworthy and hidden silence of the Deity — that silence which is in the inner chambers, obscured and unknown—by means of another articulate and most vocal silence; and, as far as is granted to man, he becomes conjoined to Him through mystical theology, and becomes such as it is fitting for him to be who has been deemed worthy of the presence of God and has been marked by His most radiant beams.

CAPUT V. How and in what manner the holy Church of God is again an image and type of the soul considered in itself.

^D Nor did he teach that the holy Church of God could be an image only of the whole man, who is constituted from soul and body (insofar as he is a composite being), but also of the soul itself when considered by reason in isolation from the body. For he said that the soul is composed of an intelligent faculty and an animal faculty, and that the intelligent power is moved freely according to the will, whereas the animal power remains as it is by nature, without any choice, and possesses a free movement. Again, he said that the power of contemplation and the power of action belong to the intelligent faculty, and that the contemplative power is called mind, while the practical power is called reason; and that of the intelligent power...

it is the role to move the faculty of understanding; while of the rational power, it is to provide for the vital or animal faculty. And he said that the former is and is called wisdom (the mind, that is, when it has kept the motions by which it is borne toward God entirely immovable), and in like manner that the reason is and is called prudence, when, prudently joining the animal power—which it guides with more careful attention—to the operations, it shows it not to be separated from the mind by any distinction, indeed clearly bearing the same and similar impression of the divine through virtue; which ^A he also said was naturally shared between the mind and the reason; so that the soul is shown to consist primarily, and more fundamentally, from the mind and from the reason, as being endowed with intelligence and reason, because the vital power is seen in both of them equally, I mean both in the mind and in the reason. For it is not permitted to think that either of these is devoid of life, or distributed between the two ^B by which, the mind, although we have said it is called wisdom, being expanded by the contemplative habit in ineffable silence and knowledge, is led toward the truth through unforgetful and incomprehensible knowledge; while the reason, which we have called prudence, ends in the good through the practical habit, bodily, by way of virtue, through faith. From both of these the true knowledge of things divine and human consists; the truly unerring knowledge, and the goal of all the most divine philosophy according to the Christians.

The first powers and operations of the soul, and the second. God as the end of the soul's acts, as the true good; interpretation of the voice.

And to speak more clearly about these things: he said that one part of the soul is contemplative, as has been said, and the other is practical, and he called the contemplative part "mind," and the practical, "reason," as being the first powers of the soul; and again the mind, "wisdom," and the reason, "prudence," as being the first operations. ^C Again, explaining it more extensively, he said that the soul, in its intellectual aspect, consists of the mind, wisdom, contemplation, knowledge, and unforgetful knowledge—the goal of which is the truth. And in its rational aspect, it consists of the reason, prudence, action, virtue, and faith—the goal of which is the good. He said that the truth and the good signify God, but with this distinction: that the truth signifies God when He is seen as being designated from His essence (for truth is something simple and singular, one and the same, ^D which is indivisible, immutable, impassive, and altogether inseparable), but the good when [He is designated] from His operation. For the good is of such a kind that it bestows benefits, provides for those things that are from it, and preserves and guards them; from which it is called in Greek *agathon*, from the fact of *agan* (abundantly) being, or being set, or running—according to the opinion of etymologists—being the source of existence, persistence, and motion for all things that exist.

^A

The Conjunctions of the Soul and of God. The mystical decade of the spiritual psalter.

He said that the five conjunctions which we understand in the soul exist around that one conjunction which signifies God. I mean by "conjunction" now the mind and the reason, wisdom and prudence, contemplation and action, knowledge and virtue, and that knowledge which no ^B oblivion shall obscure, and constant faith. That which signifies the Divine is truth and goodness, by which the soul, moving in progress, is united to the God of all things, imitating the immutability and beneficence of His essence and operation through the firm, stable, and immovable habit of free will toward that which is good. And, that I may intermix a small useful contemplation of these: perhaps this is the divine decade of the strings of the psalter of the soul, which is understood by the mind, having the reason resounding in the spirit through the other blessed decade of the commandments, and producing perfect, harmonious, and tuneful sounds by which God is praised, in an intelligible concert; so that I, indeed, may understand what the rationale of this decade is, what is singing and what is sung, and how the decade, mystically united and joined to the decade, leads back to Himself Jesus, my God and Savior—who is perfect and always most full, and never able to depart from Himself—having been completed by me who am being saved; and how He wonderfully restores me, man, to myself; or rather, to God, to whom I offer that which I am, and toward whom I hasten, desiring from afar to receive "being." ^C He who is able to know this, from having experienced the things being said, will surely know it, having already clearly recognized by experience his own dignity: by what rationale that which is "according to the image" is given back to the image; how honor is held for the primal form; what is the power of the mystery of our salvation; and for whose sake Christ died; and in what way, again, we are able to remain in Him, and He in us, as He said; and how "the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are in faith." But let us lead our style back to the sequence of the discourse, and let these things said thus far suffice.

For he said that the mind, moved by wisdom, comes to contemplation; through contemplation as a middle, to knowledge; through knowledge, to that knowledge which no oblivion obscures and which persists constantly; and by the aid of such knowledge, to the truth, in which the mind has the end of its motion, its essence, its power, ^D its habit, and its operation or act being encompassed.

Motion concerning God, both perennial and terminated.

For he said that wisdom is a faculty or power of the mind, and that the mind itself is wisdom by power; contemplation is a habit; knowledge is an operation; that constant knowledge is of wisdom, and contemplation, and knowledge—that is, of power, and habit, and operation—that which concerning

^A that which is to be known, which is beyond all knowledge, incomprehensible, and a habitual constant motion; the end of which is, as an unforgetting object of knowledge, the Truth. And it is worthy of wonder how that which is unforgettably attained is circumscribed, or—clearly—how it is perfected by God, who is the Truth. For God is the Truth, about whom the mind, being moved incomprehensibly and unforgettably, never has an end to its motion, finding no limit where there is no space. For the wonderful magnitude of the divine infinity is something without bulk, and indivisible, and altogether without intervals; and it reaches out toward the mind for the purpose of being known—whatever it is in essence—without the mind having any comprehension of it. That which has no interval or comprehension in any way is not limited for anyone.

Likewise, it ^B says that reason, being moved by prudence, proceeds to action; and through action to virtue; and through virtue to faith—that truly firm and unfallen conviction of divine things. This faith, which reason possesses first in potentiality through prudence, it later displays in actuality through virtue, by means of the manifestation in works. For faith without works is a "dead thing," [*] as it is written. But whatever is dead and inactive, no one of sound mind would ever dare to say should be counted among those things which are good. But through faith, reason reaches toward the Good, in which it receives its end, resting from its own operations, with its power, habit, and operation being delimited.

For he said that ^C prudence is the power of reason; and that reason itself is prudence in potentiality; its habit is action; its operation is virtue; and faith is the steadfast and unchangeable confirmation in the mind of prudence, action, and virtue—that is, of power, habit, and operation. The final end of this is the Good, upon which reason, arriving, ceases its motion. For the Good is God, by whom every power—and the power of every reason—is naturally intended to be brought to an end. How and in what way each of these is accomplished and brought into act; and which of these are opposed to one another or are akin, and to what extent—to distinguish and to state this is not the purpose of the present inquiry, ^D except insofar as we know that every soul, when through the grace of the Holy Spirit and its own labor and diligence it is able to join and weave these together—I mean to join reason to the mind, prudence to wisdom, action to contemplation, virtue to knowledge, and faith to that unforgetting knowledge—with nothing failing or abounding in relation to another, with every excess and defect cut away from them, and, to speak summarily, to make its own unit into a decad; then it also, to God

^A genuinely and to the Good, and to him alone, is united; both beautiful and magnificent, and becoming in so far as it is possible like unto Him, through the completion of the four general virtues—which declare the divine decad within the soul, and contain the other blessed decad of the commandments. For the tetrad is a decad in potentiality, being put together from the monad in a sequence according to progression. And again, the same is a monad, by union containing the Good monadically, and showing the simplicity and indivisibility of the divine operation, divided indivisibly within itself; by which the soul has vigorously and constantly preserved what is its own, by protecting the Good, and has manfully struck away what is foreign, as evil; as one possessing a rational mind, and wise prudence, and practical contemplation, and virtuous knowledge, and upon these, an unforgetful knowledge, at once most trustworthy and immutable; and as one having brought to God the effects joined to their causes, and the operations joined to their faculties in an orderly way; and for these, as a reward, has received back that deification which produces simplicity. ^B For the operation and manifestation of the mind is reason, as the effect is of a cause; and of wisdom, prudence; and of contemplation, action; and of knowledge, virtue; and of the unforgetful knowledge, faith; from which arises that interior affection of the soul toward the Truth and the Good—I mean towards God—which he said was divine knowledge, and errorless awareness, and love, and peace, in which and through which is deification: namely, knowledge—in Greek [ἐπιστήμη]—as the completion of all awareness of God and divine things that men are able to attain, and the inviolable synthesis of the virtues; awareness—in Greek [γνῶσις]—as that which sincerely ascends to the truth and provides as much experience of the Deity as is sufficient; love—in Greek [ἀγάπη]—as that which, in its entire affection, exists as a participant in all divine sweetness; and peace—in Greek [εἰρήνη]—as that to which the same things happen by experience as happen to God, and which brings it about that the same things happen to those who have been deemed worthy to be affected according to it. ^C For since the Deity is entirely immovable, as one that has nothing at all to trouble it (for what can reach his height and enclosure?), and since peace is an unshaken and immovable stability, and, moreover, an untroubled joy, does not the divine happen to any soul that has been deemed worthy to obtain that peace? Since that soul, not only having struck away vice and ignorance, falsehood and wickedness—those evils contrary to virtue, knowledge, truth, and the Good, which grow like offshoots upon the unnatural movements of the soul—but having now even passed beyond the boundaries of virtue itself and knowledge, of truth and goodness, which we know, (if it is permitted to say so) has, according to his most truthful promise, settled in the most truthful and most excellent bedchamber of God in an ^D unspoken and unknown manner; for it no longer has anything of those things that are prone to trouble it reaching the hiddenness of it in God, in accordance with which blessed and all-

-sanctifying couch that ^A fearful mystery of unity—which transcends every thought and reason and discourse of the mind—is accomplished; by whose grace, one flesh and one spirit, both God with the Church (that is, the soul) and the soul with God, is brought to be. O how shall I marvel at and look up to thy goodness, Christ! For I would not dare to say "I will praise," being myself not endowed with sufficient virtue to admire and look up to it worthily; for "the two shall be one flesh. This mystery is great," I say, however, in Christ and in the Church," says the divine Apostle. And again: "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit."

When, therefore, the soul has become uniform in this way, and has been gathered into itself and into God, there will no longer be any reason that divides it by subtle thought into many things, since it has its head crowned by the first and sole and one Word and God; in whom, according to one inconceivable simplicity, all the reasons of created things exist and subsist uniformly, as in their author and maker. ^B Toward Him, looking intently—not as though He were outside it, but in the whole being in the whole—it will, by a simple approach, itself also know the reasons and causes of created things, by which, perhaps, before it was betrothed to the Word and God, it was being enticed in the way and manner of division; and by which, with salvation, it was being borne multifariously and harmoniously toward Him who contains every reason and every cause, and is their author.

Since, therefore, these things belong to the soul, as we have said, which has wisdom in potentiality in its intellect, and from wisdom contemplation, and from that knowledge, and from knowledge that indelible and perpetual knowledge by which it is led to the truth as the limit and end of the goods of the mind; and which has prudence in its reason, and from that action, and from action virtue, and from that faith, by whose office it ends and rests in the good as the blessed end of the operations of reason; by which things ^C that knowledge of divine things is gathered and prepared through the concurrence of the union of these things with one another; to all these things the holy Church of God clearly corresponds, being made like to the soul in contemplation. Those things which are in the mind and which are shown to exist by procession from the mind, the sanctuary signifies; but those which are in the reason and which are shown by distinction to exist from the reason, the temple declares; and it gathers all things toward the mystery performed upon the divine altar, which whoever has been able to be taught, skillfully and wisely, by the things performed in the Church, has truly made his own soul a Church of God and divine; for whose sake, perhaps, and as whose symbolical model, the hand-made Church clearly, through the variety of the divine things in it... ^D

and their wisdom, was delivered to us for our guidance toward the better.

CHAPTER VI.

As he spoke of the Church as a spiritual man through anagogical contemplation, and of man as a mystical Church, so too he maintained that the entire holy Scripture, considered as a whole, is man: the Old Testament having the body, and the New having the soul, spirit, and mind. And again, of the whole holy Scripture, I mean both Old and New, he said that the letter pertaining to history is the body, while the sense of what is written and the goal toward which that sense is directed is the soul. Having heard these things, I greatly admired the accuracy of the comparison, and I duly praised to the best of my ability Him who distributes gifts to each according to the measure of their merit. For just as this man of ours is mortal in respect to what is visible, but immortal in respect to what is invisible, so also the holy Scripture has a letter which is visible and passing away, while the spirit hidden in the letter, which never ceases to be, establishes the true logic of contemplation. And just as our man here, with philosophy as his guide, holds the desire and impulse of passion under control and makes the flesh wither and grow weak, so also the holy Scripture, when understood spiritually, circumcises its own letter. For the great ^B Apostle says: "Though our outer man is perishing, yet the inner man is being renewed day by day." This should be understood and stated also in regard to the holy Scripture, when it is understood morally. For in proportion as the letter is withdrawn from it, the spirit abounds; and in proportion as the shadows of the temporary cult pass away, so the truth of the faith, which is all-shining and entirely brilliant and devoid of shadow, enters in. According to this truth, and for the sake of which it was primarily enacted and written and is called Scripture, it is imprinted on the mind by the gift of spiritual grace. Just as the man who is in us is primarily and most of all called man on account of the soul which is endowed with reason and mind—through which he is the image and likeness of God who created him, and is naturally set apart from the rest of the animals, having no power of affinity or sufficient genuine similarity of nature with them—so it is with this.

CHAPTER VII.

Following this image again, in a manner worthy of imitation, the whole cosmos, consisting of things visible and invisible...

he subordinated to man; and again, he subordinated man, consisting of soul and body, to the cosmos. For he said that the intelligible things hold the reason of the soul, just as the soul holds the reason of the intelligible things; and that the sensible things hold the type of the body, just ^A as the body holds the type of the sensible things. And that the intelligible things are the soul of the sensible things, while the sensible things are the body of the intelligible things. And just as the soul is in the body, so the intelligible cosmos is in the sensible one; and to the intelligible one, the sensible one is as a body constituted by a soul: so that there is one cosmos from both, just as man is one from soul and body, neither of these—which have been united one to another—refusing or rejecting the other on account of the law of the one who bound them together. By this law, the reason of the unitive power is sown into all things, not allowing the identity of their subsistence in the union to be hidden by their natural difference; nor allowing the property which defines each of these to itself to be declared more powerful for division and partition than the friendly kinship mystically implanted in them by the union. By this kinship, the one mode of the presence—obscure and unknown—of the Cause that holds all things together, existing variously in all, establishes the whole both as ordered in itself and together in one another, unconfused and indivisible; and it shows them to be more related to one another through this unitive relation than they are to themselves, until it shall seem good to the one who bound them, for the sake of a greater and more mystical economy, at the time of the hoped-for universal consummation. At which time the cosmos itself, as man, will die ^B to the things that appear, and again will rise anew from that which has grown old, according to the resurrection that is expected immediately thereafter; when also our man, as a part with the whole and a small world with the great one, will be resurrected with the cosmos, having obtained the power of being able no longer to be destroyed; when both the body to the soul, and the sensible things to the intelligible things, in beauty and glory, will be made, by one manifest and efficacious presence in all, with the divine power shining forth proportionately to the capacity and grasp of each, and by itself preserving the indissoluble bond of union through infinite ages.

^C If, therefore, anyone desires to have a life and reason beloved of God and pleasing to God, let him value more highly and hold in greater honor the better things of these three men—I mean the cosmos, holy Scripture, and this man of ours. Let him take care of the soul, so far as his faculty allows, as that which is immortal, divine, and rendered godlike by virtue; and let him despise the flesh, which is subject to corruption and death, and [let him not allow] what is neglected by the soul to defile...

its dignity. For as it says, *The corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earth-born tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth on many things.* And again, *The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.* And once more, *He that soweth in his own flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.* Let [the mind] engage in the contest with bodiless and intelligent powers in contemplation, letting go of things present and visible; for *the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal,* in which, surely, God rests by reason of the abundance of his peaceful state. And let it ascend to the Holy Spirit through the sagacious meditation of Holy Scripture, having overcome the letter, that it may emerge wisely; in whom exists the fullness of good things, and in whom are *the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge.* And if anyone shall appear worthy to be versed in these, he will find God himself inscribed upon the tablets of the heart, by the grace of the Spirit, contemplating the glory of God with face unveiled as in a mirror, ^B once the veil of the letter has been removed.

CAPUT VIII. Of what [events] the first entry into the holy synaxis and the things performed after it are symbols.

Now, after the brief exposition of the contemplations and abstruse meanings concerning the holy Church given by the blessed elder, my discourse now girds itself and proceeds to set forth, as far as possible, the things that pertain to the holy synaxis of the Church. He taught, therefore, that the first entry of the pontiff into the church, when the holy synaxis is to be celebrated, bears the type and image of the first advent of the Son of God and our Savior Christ in the flesh into this world; by virtue of which he liberated and redeemed the human race, which had been abandoned to corruption and had of its own accord been sold to death through the harm of sin, and was oppressed by the tyranny of the devil; and having paid all the debt by which it was held, as though he were the debtor ^C of it—he who was free from all debt and without sin—he brought it back again to the glory of the kingdom which had existed from the beginning, having given himself as a ransom and exchange for us, and having given his own life-giving passion in return for our soul-destroying passions, as a healing remedy and as that by which the salvation of the whole world is prepared. From this advent, subsequently, his ascension into the heavens and to the supercelestial throne, and his restoration ^D thereto, is symbolically figured by the entry of the pontiff into the sanctuary and his ascending to the priestly seat.

CAPUT IX. What the entry of the people also into the holy church signifies.

But the entry into the church made by the people together with the hierarch, [signifies] that those who are faithless [are brought] from ignorance and error

to the knowledge of God, and the transition of the faithful from wickedness and ignorance to virtue and knowledge, the blessed elder used to say. For that entry into the church signifies not only the conversion of the infidels to the one true God, but also the correction through repentance of each one of us who, while we believe and have given our names to the register of the faithful, nevertheless violate the commandments of the Lord through a licentious and shameful way of life, and make them of no effect. For every person, whether a murderer, or an adulterer, or a thief, or proud, or arrogant, or insolent, or covetous, or greedy, or a slanderer, or one who holds a grudge, or one easily stirred to passion and anger, or a reviler, or a false accuser, or a whisperer, or one easily overcome by envy, or a drunkard—and simply, not to lengthen my discourse by enumerating every type of vice—whoever was held by any vice, once he has ceased of his own will and by his own counsel to be held by these things and to act according to his own will, and having changed his life for the better, has preferred virtue to vice, such an one should rightly and truly be understood and called as entering, together with Christ God and High Priest, into virtue, which is understood tropologically as the Church. ^A

CHAPTER X. Quorumnam divinae lectiones sint symbola.

The divine readings of the most holy books, the master said, signify the divine and blessed wills and counsels of the all-holy God; from which we receive, according to the capacity of each of us and the power of the ability that is in us, the instructions and precepts for things to be done; and we learn the laws of the divine and blessed contests, by which, striving lawfully, we are made worthy of the victorious crowns of Christ’s kingdom. ^B

Chapter 11. Of what the divine canticles are a symbol.

The spiritual sweetness of the divine canticles, he said, signified the delight and the expression of the power of divine goods, which moves souls toward the perfect and blessed love of God, and stirs them more to the hatred of sin. ^C

CHAPTER XII. Quid significent pacis acclamationes.

By the peace acclamations, which are made from within the sanctuary at the command of the high priest upon every reading, the wise man determined that the divine praises ^D and favors brought down by the holy angels are signified; by which God finishes the struggles of those who lawfully perform their combat for the truth against the opposing powers, and settles their invisible conflicts.

^A And, by destroying and granting peace in the destruction of the body of sin, he gives back to the saints the grace of dispassion as a reward for the labors undertaken for the sake of virtue; so that, having been released from that burden of combat, they may transfer the powers of the soul to spiritual cultivation—that is, the practice of the virtues. By the force and endeavor of these, they have routed the throngs of the most wicked demons, with God and the Word as their leader, who disperses the bitter and inescapable machinations of the devil.

CHAPTER XIII.

Wherefore, as soon as these are completed, the sacred constitution of the holy Church has decreed that the divine reading of the holy Gospel take place; which properly instructs the studious in the labors to be sweat out for the sake of the word and the preaching, and the hardships to be endured. After this, when that Word of wise contemplation—as if a High Priest coming upon them from heaven—contracts their sense and prudence, as if it were a certain sensible world, regarding the flesh; ^C pushing aside thoughts that still incline toward the earth, and those that are more prone, and leading them thence to a view of the intelligible reasons and things, by the closing of the doors and the entry of the holy mysteries, it teaches the arcana to those who, with senses now closed, have already departed from the flesh and the world. Through the kiss, they are gathered both to themselves and to Him, and, in return for the many benefits conferred upon them, they offer with pure mind, as the one requital for the many, a confession of thanksgiving for their own salvation; ^D of which the divine Symbol of the faith exists as a sign, albeit darkly and as if in an enigma. Then, having joined them to the angelic hosts through the Trisagion hymn, and having gifted them with the same knowledge of the sanctifying theology as those have, He leads them to God and the Father, having obtained adoption in the Spirit through the prayer, by which they have been deemed worthy to call God Father. And thence, again, as if having at last surpassed all the reasons that are in the things by the gift of knowledge, He leads them to the Unknown, in an unknown way, through the "One is holy" and what follows, united by the gift of grace and, through communion with Him, made like unto Him in an indivisible identity, insofar as that is possible.

CHAPTER XIV.

Generally, however, it darkly signifies the consummation of this world. For after the divine reading of the holy Gospel, the high priest descends from the throne, and the [ejection] of the catechumens and of the rest [begins].

who are unworthy of the divine contemplation of the mysteries about to be displayed, is performed by the ministers; which act, by its very nature, designates and prefigures the truth of which it is an image and figure, and as it were cries out in these things, that after the Gospel of the kingdom has been preached, as it is written, in the whole world, for a testimony to all the nations, then shall the end come; when He arrives at His second coming, that is to say from the heavens, with much glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. For the Lord Himself, says the divine Apostle, will descend from heaven with the cry of an archangel and with the trumpet of God; and He shall exact vengeance upon the adversaries, and shall separate the faithful from the unbelievers through His holy angels, and the just from the unjust, and from the holy the wicked; and simply, that I may sum it up, those who walked in the Spirit of God from those who followed after the flesh; and for infinite and never-ending ages, as the truth of the divine oracles says, shall render to each a just recompense according to the worth of their deeds. ^A

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

The closing of the doors of the holy church of God, which occurs after the holy reading of the Gospel and the ejection of the catechumens, signifies both the passing away of material things, and the entry into the intelligible world—that is, the bridechamber of Christ—which shall take place after that terrible separation and the more terrible judgment, for those who shall be worthy; and also the complete casting away of the operation arising from error within the senses. ^B

CAPUT XVI. What the entry of the holy mysteries signifies.

The entry of the holy and venerable mysteries is the beginning and prelude (as that great elder used to say) of the new doctrine of God which shall take place in the heavens concerning the dispensation of His providence toward us, and the revelation of the mystery of our salvation, which is hidden in the sanctuaries of divine secrecy. For God the Word says to His own disciples: I shall not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father. ^C

CAPUT XVII. Of what the divine kiss is a symbol.

The spiritual kiss which is offered to all, prefigures and signifies the future ^D

^A revelation of those ineffable goods that are to come, through faith and love, concord and unanimity, and the logical identity through which the worthy receive an assimilation to the Word and God. For the mouth is a symbol of the Word and of reason, by which all who have partaken of the Word are most of all joined together as rational beings, and are united to the first and only Word, and to the author of all word and reason.

CAPUT XVIII. What the divine Symbol of faith signifies.

The confession of the divine Symbol of faith which all proclaim ^B together, prefigures the mystical thanksgiving which is to be rendered in the world to come, because of the wondrous ways and reasons of the all-wise providence of God toward us, by which we have attained salvation; through which the worthy demonstrate their grateful mind for the abundance of divine beneficence, having nothing else whatsoever to render in return for the infinite divine goods bestowed upon them, other than this.

CAPUT XIX. What the glorification of the Trisagion hymn signifies.

The threefold exclamation of the divine sanctification of praise, which is made by the mouth of the whole faithful people, ^C shows the union and equality of honor that will appear in that future age together with the incorporeal and intellectual Powers; by which, in agreement and concord with the supernal powers, because of the identity of the immutable and perpetual motion around God, human nature will be taught to praise and sanctify the tri-subsistent one Deity with three sanctifications.

CAPUT XX. What is the symbol of the holy prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven."

The most holy and supremely venerable invocation of the great and blessed God and Father is a ^D symbol of the true adoption, to be given by the grace and gift of the Holy Spirit, which truly is; through which all the saints, every human property being overcome and overshadowed by the advent of grace, will be called and will be children of God, as many as have already shone forth splendidly and gloriously from this point on, by the cultivation of virtues, through the divine beauty of goodness.

CAPUT XXI. What the purpose of those canticles which are exclaimed during the mystical celebration of the sacred rite signifies: namely, "One Holy, One Lord," and what follows.

The confession which is uttered by the whole people at the close of the mystical celebration of the sacred rite, with the words "One Holy," and what follows, signifies the gathering and union, superior to all speech and thought, of those who have been mystically and wisely initiated into divine things, with that one arcane mystery of divine simplicity, in which

^A they, gazing upon the light of that invisible and ineffable glory, become themselves capable of the purity of the blessed along with the powers above; after which, as the end of all things, the gift of the mystery takes place, transforming into itself those who receive it worthily and rendering them, by the gift and participation of grace, like to the Good by essence, lacking nothing of Him, to the extent that is attainable and possible for men. So that they too can be and be called gods by adoption through grace, on account of Him who has wholly filled them with the whole God, and left no part of them void of His presence.

CHAPTER XXII

Come then, proceeding by the same path and order, let us again consider these same things regarding the soul that desires knowledge, and let us ascend a little to the extent of our ability with the Word, with reverence, toward a higher contemplation. And let us examine and understand how the divine rites and ceremonies of the holy Church lead the soul to its own perfection through true and active knowledge; and let us not hinder the mind, if it is willing and desires to be led by God (if it seems good).

CHAPTER XXIII

Look then, you who have become a genuine lover of the blessed wisdom of Christ, and consider with the eyes of the mind, at the first entrance ^D into the holy synaxis—away from the outer error and turbulence of earthly things, according to what is written: *Women coming from the spectacle, see* (Isa. xxvii, 11)—away from that which is created by the wandering of the mind in the form and figure, I say, of the appearance of sensible things. For it is not true to call the observation of the surface of sensible things "contemplation," as it pleases the unwise among those called wise by the Greeks (for let it not be that we should ever call wise those who were unable or unwilling to know God through His works)—that surface, I say, which strikes the eyes, by reason of which sensible things constantly wage war among themselves, causing destruction to one another through the effort of each, with all things destroying and being destroyed by others, and having only this one thing as constant: that they are unsteady and perishable, and can never come together to enjoy a tranquil and lasting peace, nor avoid being incited to mutual destruction. Consider the soul, therefore, fleeing quickly as if toward a church and an inviolable temple of peace, namely, the natural contemplation in the Spirit, which is free from all conflict and every disturbance, with the Word and by the Word of the great and...

true God our High Priest ^A leading the way; being taught, through the symbols of the divine readings that take place, the principles of beings, and the wonderful and great mystery of the divine providence revealed in the Law and the Prophets; receiving these individually, as a reward for the beautiful instruction and diligence in them, through the holy powers—which discourse intellectually to her mind—peace-giving signs, along with a strengthening and preserving allurement of divine and burning desire toward God, by means of the pleasure of the divine songs which is mystically sung to her soul in an intellectual manner.

Then, passing from these, she gathers herself together within the one and only ^B summit that unites these principles singularly—namely, the holy Gospel, in which all the principles of both providence and all beings pre-exist in a unified way through the power of a single comprehension. Once this has been read, it is permitted to her, by a divine sense, with the undisturbed eyes of a religious mind, to see the Word and God Himself descending to her from heaven—as the descent of the high priest from the priestly throne signifies—perfectly distinguishing those thoughts of hers that still fashion images in the soul of things sensible and of the concepts concerning them that are divided, in the manner of catechumens; and from there, again, she departs from sensible things, as the closing of the doors of the holy Church of God ^C suggests, in order to lead the way to the knowledge of those things apprehended only by the mind, which is revealed through the entrance into the ineffable mysteries, being immaterial, simple, immutable, godlike, and free from every form and shape; by which, having gathered her own powers into herself, and having reached out to the Word, she unites through an intellectual kiss the ineffable reasons and modes of salvation concerning herself, and is taught to confess them thankfully with a grateful and faithful mind through the Symbol of the faith.

Following this, she is again ^D led to a knowledge of theology that is clear and manifest, having become, by the simple and indivisible power of the knowledge acquired through instruction, comprehensive of the principles of both sensible and intelligible things. Having transcended all things, she is provided with an understanding equal to that of the angels, insofar as it is attainable, and is wisely taught to know one God, one essence, three persons: an essence that is a Trinity of subsistences, and a Trinity of subsistences that is one in essence; a Monad in Trinity, and a Trinity in Monad, not one and another, nor one beside another, nor one through another, nor another through another, nor one in another, nor one from another; but the same in itself, and through itself, and by itself, being both unity and trinity, free from all [...]

^A composition, and also having an inconfused union, undivided and cut into no parts, and distinction: unity indeed according to the rationale of essence (that is, of being), but not according to composition or contraction, or any confusion; but trinity according to such a rationale of existence and subsistence; and truly not according to division or diversity, or any partition. For the Monad is not divided by the hypostases, nor does it exist and is it considered in them relatively; nor are the hypostases composed into a Monad, or do they fill it up by ^B composition; but it is the same itself to itself, yet in one way or another. For the holy trinity of hypostases is a Monad, unconfused in essence and in the simple logic thereof; and the holy Monad is a trinity in the hypostases and the mode of existence; the same being completely understood as this and that differently, according to one rationale and another, as has been said, as one and only, indivisible and unconfused, and simple and undiminished and unchangeable Deity; a Monad existing wholly according to essence, and the same being a whole trinity to the hypostases, and one. It is the beam of light of one triple-illuminating light shining forth in a single form; by which also the soul, having received the clear and attainable ideas concerning the Deity, together with the holy angels, and having learned to sing, in harmony with them, without ceasing, the one Deity in a trinitarian way, is led ^C to the adoption which is by grace through likeness; through which, along with prayers, having God the Father in a mystical way by grace and him alone, it shall be gathered into the unity of his hiddenness, through the ecstasy of all things; and it will the more experience, rather than know, the divine things, to such a degree that it does not wish to be of itself, nor to be able to be known from itself, by itself, or by any other, save only by him who fully and beneficently has taken it up—God entirely—and who entirely, as befits God, and without passion, has infused himself into it entirely, and has deified it entirely; so that it is, as the all-holy Areopagite Dionysius says, an image and manifestation of the unseen light, a mirror most pure, most transparent, unwounded, undefiled, unspotted, receiving entirely, if it be lawful to say, the beauty of the Good-Archetype, shining forth in itself deiformly and undiminishedly, as far as is possible, the goodness of that silence which is in the inmost depths.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Of what mysteries is the grace of the Holy Spirit, which stands by in the faithful and those who are gathered by faith, the worker and effecter, through the rites that are performed during the holy synaxis?

The blessed elder indeed thought that one ought ^D to, and he did not cease to exhort every Christian to devote himself to the holy Church of God, and never to depart from the holy synaxis performed in it, both because of the holy angels who remain with it, and daily those who in

enter recording, and manifesting to God, ^A and making prayers and vows on their behalf; and because of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is always invisibly present, but in a peculiar and most special manner during the time of the holy synaxis; and each of those who are present, it transforms and changes and truly refashions toward the more divine, according to their capacity, and conducts them to that which is signified by the mysteries being performed—even if he himself does not perceive it, provided he is still among those who are babes in Christ ^B and is unable to look into the depth of what is taking place—and the grace which is signified through each of the divine symbols of salvation being performed, works within him, proceeding in sequence and order from the things nearest to the final end of all.

By the first entrance, the expulsion of unbelief, the increase of faith, the diminution of vice, the growth of virtue, the abolition of ignorance, and the accession of knowledge. By the hearing of the divine oracles, the firm and unshakable habits and dispositions of ^C those things just mentioned—I mean faith, virtue, and knowledge. By the divine chants that follow these, the soul's spontaneous consent to the virtues, and the intellectual pleasure and delight generated in it by them. By the sacred reading of the holy Gospel, the consummation of the earthly mind, like that of the sensible world. By the subsequent closing of the doors, the passage and transition of the soul, according to its disposition, from this corruptible world to the intelligible world; by which, as if closing the doors to the senses, it renders them clean of the idols of sin. By the entrance of the holy mysteries, a more perfect and ^D more mystical and new teaching and knowledge concerning the dispensation of God toward us. By the divine kiss and salutation, the identity of concord and unanimity and love of all with all, and first of each with himself and with God. By the confession of the Creed, the fitting thanksgiving for the unheard-of and marvelous modes of preparing our salvation. By the Trisagion hymn, the union and equality of honor with the holy angels, and the unending harmonious consonance of the sanctifying glorification of God. By the prayer through which we are counted worthy to call God Father, the truest adoption in the grace of the Holy Spirit. By the "One Holy" and what follows, the unifying grace and intimacy with God himself. By the holy participation in the immaculate and life-giving mysteries, the communion and identity with Him, as far as is granted to mortals, through resemblance—by which man is counted worthy to become god from man. For those gifts of the Holy Spirit which we believe in the present life, while we live a mortal life, we partake of through the grace which is in faith, these in the world to come we shall truly and substantially possess in the very reality, according to the unfailing hope of our faith, and that of the promised

and immutable assurance, having kept the commandments according to our ability, we believe we shall attain, ^A moving from the grace which is in faith to the grace which is according to appearance. For God and our Savior Jesus Christ transforms us unto Himself by removing the tokens of corruption within us, and bestowing upon us the primordial mysteries through those symbols which here fall under the senses.

Summary of statements and recapitulation

It is also a figure of the world, both of that which is perceived by the mind alone and of that which is perceived by the senses; for it has the sanctuary ^C as a symbol of the intelligible world, and the nave as a symbol of the sensible world.

Again, it is an image of man, for it mimics the soul through the sanctuary, and presents the body through the nave. And of the soul itself, as it is considered by itself and apart, it is a figure and image, for it bears the splendor through the sanctuary for that part which is studious of contemplation, and possesses the order through the nave for that which is active.

Now, of the holy synaxis performed in it, the first procession ^D generally signifies the first coming of our God; but specifically, it signifies the conversion of those who, through Him and under His auspices, are led from unbelief to faith, from vice to virtue, and from ignorance to knowledge.

The readings that follow it generally signify the divine wills and counsels, according to which it is necessary for all to be instructed and to conduct their lives; but specifically, they denote the instruction and progress in the faith of those who have believed; and for those who cultivate action, the firm disposition toward virtue, by which, following the divine law of the commandments, they stand manfully and unshakeably against the machinations of the devil, and flee and avoid his hidden power and wiles; and for those who cultivate knowledge, the habit according to contemplation, by which those who contemplate the realities of the sensible world and the providence over them—

collecting the reasons, they run without error toward the truth. ^A

The divine melodies of the chants signify the divine joy and delight springing up in the souls of all; by which, being mystically strengthened and taking on forgetfulness of all previous labors of virtue, they are enkindled with a vehement and intense desire for the remaining divine and incorruptible goods.

The holy Gospel is, generally speaking, a symbol of the consummation of this age; ^B but specifically, for those who have believed, it signifies the complete abolition of ancient error in every respect; for those who cultivate action, the mortification and consummation of the law and thought of the flesh; and for those who cultivate wisdom and contemplation, the gathering and reference of the many and diverse reasons into one most ample reason of greatest scope, once the more lengthy and varied natural contemplation and speculation has been brought to a conclusion and finished for them.

The descent of the high priest from the throne, and the ejection of the catechumens, generally signifies the second coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ from heaven, the separation of sinners from the saints, and the just repayment for each according to his merits; ^C but specifically, it signifies the perfect certainty in faith for those who have believed, which God and the Word brings about by arriving invisibly; by which every thought and reasoning that in any way limps in faith (like a catechumen) is expelled from them; for those who cultivate action, it signifies perfect tranquility of an undisturbed soul, through which every lustful thought, not gifted with illumination, departs from the soul; and for those who cultivate wisdom and ^D contemplation, it signifies the comprehensive knowledge of things known, by whose power and light all images of earthly things flee from the soul.

The closing of the doors, the entrance of the holy mysteries, the divine kiss, and the proclamation of the Symbol of faith, generally signify the passing away of the things that fall under the senses, and the manifestation of those things that are understood by the mind; likewise, the new teaching of the divine mystery concerning us; the future power of harmony, consensus, and love of all with all, and of themselves with God; and thanksgiving for the salvation which we have obtained through these means. Specifically, however, it signifies the progress of the faithful from simple faith to the teaching of dogmas, initiation, consensus, and thanksgiving (for the closing of the doors signifies the first; the entrance of the holy mysteries the second; the kiss, or embrace and greeting, the third; and the proclamation of the Symbol the fourth); and for those who cultivate action, it signifies the passage from action to contemplation.

^A (where the senses have been shut out, and they have departed from the operations of the flesh and the world) transition; and the ascent from the mode of the commandments to their inner logic; and furthermore, the kinship and union, according to their proper logics, of the commandments themselves with the powers of the soul; and the fitting habit for that thanksgiving which partakes of the nature of theology: but for those who cultivate wisdom, it signifies the transition from natural contemplation to the simple apprehension of intelligible things, whereby they no longer pursue the divine and ineffable logic through sense or any of the things that appear; and the union of the soul with its own powers; and that simplicity which, in a uniform manner, intellectively grasps the logic of providence.

The ceaseless, sanctifying glorification ^B of the Trisagion by the holy angels, while signifying in a general way the future existence in the age to come of the heavenly and earthly powers, who will then share an equal life and conduct and harmony of divine glorification—now that the body has been rendered immortal for men through the resurrection, and no longer weighs down the soul with corruption, but, having received both power and fitness for the reception of God's presence through its change into incorruption, is no longer burdened—signifies, in a particular way: for the faithful, their theological emulation of the angels in faith; for those who cultivate action, a splendor of life and an intensity of divine praise equal to the angels, as far as is possible for men; and for those who cultivate wisdom, thoughts, hymns, and constant movements regarding the Godhead that are equal to the angels, as far as human condition allows.

The blessed invocation ^C of the great God and Father, the exclamation "One holy," and what follows, and the participation in the holy and life-giving mysteries, signify the adoption as sons, union, bond, divine likeness, and deification that will take place in all those who are worthy of it, through the goodness of our God. Through this, God himself will be all in all to those who are being saved 523 in a like manner; as the archetypal beauty, reigning by causality in them, he bestows upon those who excel through virtue and knowledge—and who will, through grace, ^D excel in a like manner with him—that which is excellent.

He called the faithful, the virtuous, and the wise—those who are being introduced, those who are progressing, and the perfect—that is to say, slaves, hired servants, and sons, the three ranks of those who are being saved. The faithful are slaves, who out of fear of the threatened things fulfill the commands of the Master, and who graciously work at the things entrusted to them. The hired servants are those who, out of desire for the promised good things, bear with patience the burden and the scorching heat of the day; that is to say, the affliction that is innate and conjoined to our present life from the ancestral sentence, and those things which, for its sake, are...

^A occurrences of the virtues’ trials; and who wisely exchange the life of the present for the life to come, according to the free resolve of their own will. And they are sons who, neither by the fear of threats nor by the desire for promises, but by that manner and habit whereby they tend with a well-disposed will of the soul toward the good and the honorable, are never separated from God, just like that son to whom it was said, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours"; ^B they exist as such through the adoption [deification], which is grace, insofar as it is granted for them to be that which God is both believed to be and is by nature and the reason of causality.

*The Church is to be frequented.* Therefore, let us not induce in our minds the thought of being absent from the holy Church of God, which in the holy arrangement of the divine symbols that are celebrated and of the rites, encompasses such great mysteries of our salvation; through these, it builds up each one of us who leads a life of virtue, in a manner consonant with Christ, according to what he is capable of, bringing forth into the light—by Christian morals—the gift of adoption which was given through holy baptism in the Holy Spirit. ^B Rather, let us with all power and diligence show ourselves worthy of the divine gifts, pleasing God through good works; not living as the Gentiles, who do not know God, in the passion of desire and lust; but, as the holy Apostle says, mortifying the members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; for which things’ sake the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ^C And let us put away all anger, indignation, filthy speech, and lying—and, to speak briefly, the whole old man, who is being corrupted according to the desires of deceit—together with his deeds and desires, and let us walk worthily of God, who has called us into his own kingdom and glory; clothing ourselves with hearts of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, and longsuffering; forbearing one another in love, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, just as the Lord also forgave us. ^D Above all, let us put on that bond of perfection, charity and peace, into which we were also called in one body; and, to express it in summary, the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. For as we thus order the ways of our life, we shall surely be able to attain to the end of the divine promises, supported by good hope and being filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of the Lord; strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory, for all building up [of the soul] and longsuffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has made us fit to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.

^A A clear proof of this grace is a voluntary disposition of affection toward those related to us by kinship; the work of which is to make our own, as far as possible, the man who in any way needs our assistance, and not to leave him neglected and uncared for, but by the appropriate zeal in action to demonstrate the living disposition within us toward both God and neighbor. For the proof of a disposition is its work. For nothing is so easy regarding justice, nor—that I may so speak—conducive to deification and to the nearness to God, as is mercy, offered from the soul with pleasure and joy to those in need. For if the Word showed that God is the one in need of kindness—"For in as much as you did it," he says, "unto one of these least, you did it unto me"—and it is God who says this, then much more will he show that the one who has the power to do good and who does it is truly, by grace and participation, God, as having received the efficacy and property of his own beneficence. And if the poor man is God, by reason of the condescension of God who became poor for our sake, and who sympathetically accepts into himself the sufferings of each, and—until the consummation of the age, according to the proportion of the suffering in each—always mystically suffers out of goodness; then clearly, and all the more logically, ^B will he be God who, in imitation of God and through love for mankind, by himself treats the sufferings of those who suffer in a manner worthy of God, and who, having the same disposition as God, is shown to possess the power of saving providence according to what is proportionate.

Who then is so sluggish and unmoved toward virtue as not to desire godhead, since its acquisition is so cheap, easily procured, and effortless? A safe and inviolable guardian of these things—and an easy path to salvation—is that without which, I think, nothing of the good can be kept truly unharmed by the one who possesses it: self-action, or rather, minding one’s own business (idiopragia), by which, learning to observe and contemplate only our own affairs, we are freed from having to suffer the vain harm from others. For if we should learn to see and examine only ourselves, we would never set ourselves upon the things of others, however they may happen to be. Knowing one sole judge, wise and just—God, who wisely and justly judges all things that come to pass according to the reason for which they were generated, and not according to the manner in which they have appeared—a manner which men might perhaps be able to judge, looking dimly at what is apparent, in which the truth is not entirely situated, nor the reason of what comes to pass. But God, seeing the hidden movement of the soul, and the invisible impulse, and the very reason according to which the soul is moved, ^C and indeed the goal of that reason—that is to say, the end of every matter, which is forethought—judges...

^A all things done by men, as I was saying. If we strive to accomplish this and restrain ourselves, not rushing toward external things, and do not allow the eye, the ear, or the tongue to perceive the things of others—if it is possible, avoiding them entirely; but if not, then acting toward them with a spirit of compassion rather than passion, allowing ourselves to see, hear, and speak only as much as the divine Word that guides these things deems appropriate—then we shall succeed. For nothing is more prone to lead these organs into sin than when they are not guided by Reason; nor, on the other hand, is anything more conducive to their salvation when Reason orders, composes, and directs them toward what is beneficial and toward what it wills.

Let us not, therefore, neglect to obey God to the best of our ability, as He calls us to eternal life and a blessed end through the practice of His divine and saving commandments, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for timely help. For grace, says the divine Apostle, is with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption; that is, with those who love the Lord in the incorruption of virtue and in the honesty of a life that is pure and possesses no semblance of hypocrisy, by doing His will and not corrupting any of His divine commandments.

The eulogies of Dionysius the Areopagite. The manifold allegory of the widow and her two mites.

These things I have set forth regarding these matters, to the best of my ability, as I was taught, impelled by the hoped-for reward of obedience, not daring to lay a hand upon things that are more abstruse and sublime. If any of the studious wish to know these things more thoroughly, let them read what the holy Dionysius the Areopagite has ^C divinely elaborated concerning these topics, and they will truly encounter a revelation of unspeakable mysteries, granted to the human race through the divine mind and tongue given to him, for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. And if what has been said has not fallen far short of your desire, thanks be to Christ, the Giver of all good things, and to you, who compelled me to speak. But if they fall far and wide of your expectation, what shall I suffer, or what shall I do, having failed in my speech as a human, and having proven weak? For weakness does not invite punishment, but pardon; and that which is possible and attainable is worthy of praise rather than blame, especially for you whose purpose it is to love for the sake of God. For it is dear and acceptable to God, whatever is offered sincerely from the soul according to one's ability, ^D even if, when compared to greater things, it appears meager. For He did not reject the widow who brought her two mites; and whoever this widow was, and whatever those two mites were—whether a soul widowed of wickedness, and having, as it were, cast off the old husband, the Law, yet not being up to the point of being worthy of the ultimate union with the Word and God, yet nevertheless offering to Him as a pledge

^A of this, as it were, two copper coins—the balanced reason and life; or faith and a good conscience; or the habit and act concerning the honorable; or the contemplation and action suitable to these; or knowledge and virtue corresponding to these; or those things slightly above these, I mean the reasons residing in the natural and the written law, which the soul possessing, by passing out and away from these as being the whole of life and existence, and wishing to be joined to the Word and God alone, accepts being widowed, as it were, from the natural and legal violent modes, decrees, and customs—or any other thing more spiritual than these, and intelligible only to those who are pure in mind—the Word [in the text] hints at through the letter which has been historically fulfilled. For all human things, even if they seem great in virtue, are small ^B when compared to the divinely-contemplative Word. Yet, even if they are small, and from entirely humble and not very precious material, they nevertheless, like gold coins (than which there is no material more precious) which the more opulent offer, carry the royal image in equal measure, and perhaps even excel in the intention of the one offering from their whole disposition.

The modesty of Maximus, declining to write.

I, too, imitating this widow, have offered ^C to God and to you, beloved, these small and humble things, thoughts and words brought forth and produced from a humble and poor mind and tongue, as though they were copper coins, concerning the things which you commanded; beseeching and most earnestly entreating your blessed and holy soul, first, that you should no longer seek to record in writing those things said by me, for two reasons: one, because I have not yet acquired the pure and abiding fear of God, nor the robust habit of virtue and the firm and unshaken foundation of true justice—things which most especially lend authority to words and doctrine; the other, because, still being tossed, like a wild sea, by the many waves of passions ^D and standing quite far from the divine harbor of the soul’s tranquility and imperturbability, and having an uncertain end to my life, I do not wish that, in addition to my deeds, my doctrine also, recorded in writing, should act as an accuser against its author. Then, for the sake of obedience, if it is right, accepting this, commend me by your prayers to Christ, the great and only God and Savior of our souls, to whom be glory and power, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, unto the ages. Amen.

Ps. XVIII, 10.