Chapter XII.—Concerning the Same.

The following, then, are the mysteries which we have learned from the holy oracles, as the divine Dionysius the Areopagite said194    Dionys., De div. nom., c. 1.: that God is the cause and beginning of all: the essence of all that have essence: the life of the living: the reason of all rational beings: the intellect of all intelligent beings: the recalling and restoring of those who fall away from Him: the renovation and transformation of those that corrupt that which is natural: the holy foundation of those who are tossed in unholiness: the steadfastness of those who have stood firm: the way of those whose course is directed to Him and the hand stretched forth to guide them upwards. And I shall add He is also the Father of all His creatures (for God, Who brought us into being out of nothing, is in a stricter sense our Father than are our parents who have derived both being and begetting from Him195    Athan., Orat. 2, Cont. Arian.; Cyril, Thes., assert. 13.): the shepherd of those who follow and are tended by Him: the radiance of those who are enlightened: the initiation of the initiated: the deification of the deified: the peace of those at discord: the simplicity of those who love simplicity: the unity of those who worship unity: of all beginning the beginning, super-essential because above all beginning196    Text reads, ὡς ὑπάρχιος: surely a misprint for ὡς ὑπεράρχιος.: and the good revelation of what is hidden, that is, of the knowledge of Him so far as that is proper for and attainable by each.

Ἔτι περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν

«Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν μεμυήμεθα λογίων», ὡς ὁ θεῖος ἔφη Διονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης, «ὅτι ὁ θεὸς πάντων ἐστὶν αἰτία καὶ ἀρχή, τῶν ὄντων οὐσία, τῶν ζώντων ζωή, τῶν λογικῶς ὄντων λόγος, τῶν νοερῶς ὄντων νοῦς, καὶ τῶν μὲν ἀποπιπτόντων αὐτῆς ἀνάκλησίς τε καὶ ἀνάστασις, τῶν δὲ παραφθειρόντων τὸ κατὰ φύσιν ἀνακαινισμὸς καὶ ἀναμόρφωσις, τῶν κινουμένων κατά τινα ἀνίερον σάλον ἵδρυσις ἱερὰ καὶ τῶν ἑστηκότων ἀσφάλεια καὶ τῶν ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἀναγομένων ὁδὸς καὶ ἀνατατικὴ χειραγωγία. Προσθήσω δέ, ὅτι καὶ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πεποιημένων πατήρ (κυριώτερον γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐστι πατὴρ ὁ ἐκ μὴ ὄντων εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγὼν ἢ οἱ γεννήσαντες οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ εἶναι καὶ τὸ γεννᾶν εἰληφότες), τῶν ἑπομένων καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ποιμαινομένων ποιμήν, τῶν φωτιζομένων ἔλλαμψις, τῶν τελουμένων τελεταρχία, τῶν θεουμένων θεαρχία, τῶν διεστώτων εἰρήνη καὶ τῶν ἁπλουμένων ἁπλότης καὶ τῶν ἑνιζομένων ἑνότης, ἀρχῆς ἁπάσης ὑπερούσιος καὶ ὑπάρχιος ἀρχὴ καὶ τοῦ κρυφίου ἤτοι τῆς αὐτοῦ γνώσεως κατὰ τὸ θεμιτὸν καὶ ἐφικτὸν ἑκάστῳ ἀγαθὴ μετάδοσις».