The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite — trans. John Parker

ve been placed on the Divine Altar, through which (symbols) the Christ is signified and partaken, there is inseparably present the reading of the register of the holy persons, signifying the indivisible conjunction of their supermundane and sacred union with Him. When these things have been ministered, according to th6 regulations described, the Hierarch, standing before the most holy symbols, washes his hands with water, together wdth the reverend order of the Priests. Because, as the Oracles testify, when a man has been washed, he needs no other washing, except that of his extremities J, i.e. his lowest ; through which extreme cleansing he will be resistless and free, as altogether uniform, in a sanctified habit of the Divine Likeness, and advancing in a goodly manner to things secondar)^, and being turned again uniquely to the One, he will make his return, w^ithout spot and blemish, as preserving the fulness and completeness of the Divine Likeness.

li 2 Tim. ii. 19. i Ps. cx\a, 15.

J John xiii. 10.

071 the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. 103

Section X.

There was indeed the sacred laver, as we have said, in the Hierarchy of the Law ^ ; and the present cleansing of the hands of the Hierarch and the Priests suggests it. For it behoves those who approach the most hallowed service to be purified even to the remotest imaginations of the soul, through likeness to it, and, as far as possible, to draw nigh ; for thus they will shed around more visibly the Divine manifestations, since the supermundane flashes permit their own splendour to pass more ■ thoroughly and brilliantly into the brightness of mirrors like themselves. Further, the cleansing of the Hierarch and the Priests to their extremities, i.e. lowest, takes place before the most holy symbols, as in the presence of Christ, Who surveys all our most secret thoughts, and since the utmost purification is established under His all-surveying scrutiny, and most just and unflinching judgment, the Hierarch thus becomes one with the things Divine, and, when he has extolled the holy works of God, he ministers things most Divine, and brings to view the things being sung ^

Section XL

We will now explain, in detail, to the best of our ability, certain works of God, of which we spoke. For / am not competent to sing all, much less to know accurately, and to reveal their mysteries to

^ Deut. xxi. 6. ^ As is the use in Denmark.

104 Dionysius the Areopagite others.

to the best of our ability, certain works of God, of which we spoke. For / am not competent to sing all, much less to know accurately, and to reveal their mysteries to

^ Deut. xxi. 6. ^ As is the use in Denmark.

104 Dionysius the Areopagite others. Now whatever things have been sung and ministered by the inspired Hierarchs, agreeably to the Oracles, these we will declare, as far as attainable to us, invoking the Hierarchical inspiration to our aid. When, in the beginning, our human nature had thoughtlessly fallen from the good things of God, it received, by inheritance, the life ^subject to many passions, and the goal of the destructive ~ death "\ For, as a natural consequence, the pernicious falling away from genuine goodness and the transgression of the sacred Law in Paradise delivered the man fretted with the life-giving yoke, to his own downward inclinations and the enticing and hostile wiles of the adversary — the contraries of the divine goods ; thence it pitiably exchanged for the eternal, the mortal, and, having had its own origin in deadly generations, the goal naturally corresponded with the beginning ; but having willingly fallen from the Divine and elevating life, it was carried to the contrary extremity, — the variableness of many passions, and lead astray, and turned aside from the strait way leading to the true God, — and subjected to destructive and evil-working multitudes — naturally forgot that it was worshipping, not gods, or friends, but enemies. Now when these had treated it harshly, according to their own cruelty, it fell pitiably into danger of annihilation and destruction ; but the boundless I>oving-kindness of the supremely Divine goodness towards man did not, in Its benevolence, withdraw from us Its spontaneous forethought, but

«" The Fall.

on the Ecclesiastical Hie7'arcJiy. 105 having truly participated sinlessly in all t'lings belonging to us ^, and having been made one with our lowliness in connection with the unconfused and flawless possession of Its own properties in full perfection, It bequeathed to us, as henceforth members of the same family, the communion with Itself, and proclaimed us partakers of Its own beautiful things ; having, as the secret teaching holds, loosed the power ° of the rebellious multiplicity, which was against us; not by force, as having the upper hand, but, according to the Logion, mystically transmitted to us, "in judgment and righteousness p."

The things within us, then, It benevolently changed to the entire contrary.

f the rebellious multiplicity, which was against us; not by force, as having the upper hand, but, according to the Logion, mystically transmitted to us, "in judgment and righteousness p."

The things within us, then, It benevolently changed to the entire contrary. For the lightless within our mind It filled with blessed and most Divine Light, and adorned the formless with Godlike beauties ; the tabernacle^ of our soul It liberated from most damnable passions and destructive stains by a perfected deliverance of our being which was all but prostrate, by shewing to us a supermundane elevation, and an inspired polity in our religious assimilation to Itself, as far as is possible.

Section XII.

But how could the Divine imitation otherwise become ours, unless the remembrance of the most holy works of God were perpetually being renewed by the mystical teachings and ministrations of the Hierarchy ? This, then, we do, as the Oracles say, n Hcb. iv. 15. o Ps^ Ixxiv. 14. P Ibid, xcviii. 2.

<l Plato, Ciat. i. 295.

io6 Dionysius the Areopagite

"for Its remembrance ^" Wherefore the Divine Hierarch, standing before the Divine Altar, extols the aforesaid holy works of God, which proceed from the most divine forethought of Jesus on our behalf, which He accomplished for preservation of our race, by the good pleasure of the most Holy Father in the Holy Spirit, according to the Logion ^. When he has extolled their majesty, and gazed, with intellectual eyes, upon their intelligible contemplation, he proceeds to their symbolical ministration, — and this, — as transmitted from God. WHience after the holy hymns of the works of God, he pjously and, as becomes a hierarch, deprecates his own unworthiness for a service above his merits, first, reverently crying aloud to Him, '' Thou hast said. This do for My remembrance ^" Then, "having asked to become meet for this the God-imitating of service, and to consecrate things Divine by the assimilation to Christ Himself, and to distribute them altogether purely, and that those who shall partake of things holy may receive them holily, he consecrates things most Divine, and brings to view through the symbols reverently exposed the things whose praises are being sung. For when he has unveiled the veiled and undivided Bread, and divided it into many, and has divided the Oneness of the Cup to all, he symbolically multiplies and distributes the unity, completing in these an altogether most holy ministration. For the " one," and " simple," and " hid-

'^ Luke xxii. 19.