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. 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 down-
ward 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 Di-
vine 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 destruc-
tive 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 be-
longing to us ^, and having been made one with our
lowliness in connection with the unconfused and
flawless possession of Its own properties in full per-
fection, 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. 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 per-
fected deliverance of our being which was all but
prostrate, by shewing to us a supermundane eleva-
tion, and an inspired polity in our religious assimi-
lation 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 intel-
lectual 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 unworthi-
ness for a service above his merits, first, reverently
crying aloud to Him, '' Thou hast said. This do for
My remembrance ^" Then, "having asked to be-
come 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 minis-
tration. For the " one," and " simple," and " hid-
'^ Luke xxii. 19. ^ Ps. xl. 6 — 8. * Luke xxii. 19.
^ Prayer of humble access.
on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. 107
den," of Jesus, the most supremely Divine Word,
by His incarnation amongst us, came forth, out of
goodness and love towards man, to the compound
and visible, and benevolently devised the unifying ^
communion, having united, to the utmost, our low- j
liness to the most Divine of Himself; if indeed we I ■
have been fitted to Him, as members to a body,
after the identity of a blameless and Divine life, and I
have not, by being killed through destructive passions,
become inharmonious, and unfastened, and unyoked,
to the godly and most healthy members. For, if we
aspire to communion with Him, we must keep our
eye fixed upon His most godly Life in the flesh, and
we must retrace our path to the Godlike and blame- I'
less habit of Its holy sinlessness by assimilation to
It ; for thus He will communicate harmoniously to
us the communion with the similar.
Section XIIL
The Hierarch makes known these things to those
who are living religiously, by bringing the veiled gifts
to view, by dividing their oneness into many, and by
making the recipients partakers of them, by the ut-
most union of the things distributed with those who -''
receive them. For he delineates in these things
under sensible forms our intelligible" life in figures,
by bringing to view the Christ Jesus from the Hidden
within the Divine Being, out of love to man, made
like unto us by the all -perfect and unconfused
^ iTphs TCI iv ols ylyverai.
io8 Dioiiysius the Aj'eopagite
incarnation in our race, from us, and advancing to
the divided condition of ourselves, without change
from the essential One, and calling the human race,
through this beneficent love of man, into partici-
pation with Himself and His own good things, pro-
vided we are united to His most Divine Life by our
assimilation to it, as far as possible ; and by this,
in very truth, we shall have been perfected, as
partakers of God and of Divine things.
Section XIV.
Having received and distributed the supremely
Divine Communion, he terminates with a holy thanks-
giving, in which the whole body of the Church take
part. For the Communion precedes the imparting,
and the reception of the mysteries, the mystic dis-
tribution. For this is the universal regulation and
order of the Divine Mysteries, that the reverend
Leader should first partake, and be filled with the
gifts, to be imparted, through him, from God to
others, and so impart to others also. Wherefore,
those who rashly content themselves with the in-
spired instructions, in preference to a life and con-
dition agreeable to the same, are profane, and
entirely alien from the sacred regulation established.
' For, as in the case of the bright shining of the sun,
the more delicate and luminous substances, being
first filled with the brilliancy flowing into them,
brightly impart their overflowing light to things after
them ; so it is not tolerable that one, who has not
oJi the Ecclesiastical Hieraj'cJiy. 109
become altogether Godlike in his whole character,
and proved to be in harmony with the Divine
influence and judgment, should become Leader to
others, in the altogether divine.
Section XV.
Meanwhile, the whole order of the Priests having
been collected together in hierarchical order, and
communicated in the most Divine mysteries, finishes
with a holy thanksgiving, after having recognized
and sung the favours of the works of God, according
to their degree. So that those, who have not par-
taken and are ignorant of things Divine, would not
attain to thanksgiving, although the most Divine
gifts are, in their essential nature, worthy of thanks-
giving. But, as I said, not having wished even to
look at the Divine gifts, from their inclination to
things inferior, they have remained throughout' un-
gracious towards the boundless graces of the works
of God. "Taste and see," say the Oracles, for, by
the sacred initiation of things Divine, the initiated
recognize their munificent graces, and, by gazing with
utmost reverence upon their most Divine height and
breadth in the participation, they will sing the super-
celestial beneficent works of the Godhead with gra-
cious thanksgiving.
no Dionysius the Areopagite
CAPUT IV.
/. Concernino things perforined in the Muron, and concerning things pej-fec/ed in it.
So great and so beautiful are the intelHcrible
visions of the most holy Synaxis, which minister
hierarchically, as we have often said, our partici-
pation in, and collection towards, the One. But
there is another perfecting Service of the same rank,
which our Leaders name " Initiation of Muron," by
contemplating whose parts in due order, in accor-
dance with the sacred images, we shall thus be
borne, by hierarchical contemplations, to its One-
ness through its parts.
//. Mysierion of I/iitiation of Miii'on ^.
In the same way as in the Synaxis, the orders
of the imperfect are dismissed, that is, after the
hierarchical procession has made the whole circuit
of the temple, attended with fragrant incense; and
the chanting of the Psalms, and the reading of the
most Divine Oracles. Then the Hierarch takes the
Muron and places it, veiled under twelve sacred
wings, upon the Divine Altar, whilst all cry aloud,
with most devout voice, the sacred melody of the
inspiration of the God-rapt Prophets, and when he
has finished the prayer offered over it, he uses it,
^ Ap. C. iii. s. 17 ; viii. s. 28. See note, p. 68, The Greeks have two kinds of sacred oil or Unguent, one specially blessed or consecrated by the Bishop, and another not necessarily so.
on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. iii
in the most holy mystic Rites of things being
hallowed, for almost every Hierarchical consecra-
tion.
///. Co nte m plat ion . Section I.
The elementary teaching, then, of this the per-
fecting service, through the things done over the
Divine Muron, shews this, in my judgment, that,
that which is holy and of sweet savour in the minds
of devout men is covered, as with a veil, since it
Divinely enjoins upon holy men to have their
beautiful and well-savoured assimilations in virtue
to the hidden God not seen for vain glory. For
the hidden comeliness of God is unsulhed, and is
sweet beyond conception, and manifested for spiri-
tual contemplation to the intellectual alone, through
a desire to have the unsullied images of virtue' in
souls of the same pattern. For by looking away
from the undistorted and well imitated image of
the Godlike virtue to that contemplated and fragrant
beauty, he tlius moulds and fashions it to the most
beautiful imitation. And, as in the case of sensible
images, if the artist look without distraction upon the
archetypal form, not distracted by sight of anything
else, or in any way divided in attention, he will dupli-
cate, if I may so speak, the very person that is being
sketched, w^hoever he may be, and will shew the
reality in the likeness, and the archetype in the
image, and each \\\ each, save the difference of
substance ; thus, to copyists who love the beautiful
112 DioJiysius the Arcopagite
ill mind, the persistent and unflinching contempla-
tion of the sweet-savoured and hidden beauty will
confer the unerring and most Godlike appearance ^
Naturally, then, the divine copyists, who unflinching-
ly mould their own intellectual contemplation to the
superessentially sweet and contemplated comeliness,
do none of their divinely imitated virtues "to be seen
of men%" as the Divine text expresses it; but rever-
ently gaze upon the most holy things of the Church,
veiled in the Divine Muron as in a figure. Where-
fore, these also, by religiously concealing that which
is holy and most Divine in virtue within their God-
like and God-engraved mind, look away to the arche-
typal conception alone ; for not only are they blind
to things dissimilar, but neither are they drawn down
to gaze upon them. Wherefore, as becomes their
character, they do neither love things, merely seeming
good and just, but those really being such ; nor do
they look to opinion, upon which the multitude ir-
rationally congratulate themselves, but, after the
Divine example, by distinguishing the good or evil
as it is in itself, they are Divine images of the
most supremely Divine sweetness, which, having
the truly sweet within itself, is not turned to the
anomalously seeming of the multitude, moulding
Its genuineness to the true images of Itself.