(11) Into Thee enter these hosts of gods, and some in fear extol Thee with folded hands. And bands of Rishis and Siddhas exclaim, “May there be peace!” and praise Thee with splendid hymns.

(246) 252 See, how N. stands there among (you), the two horns on him (like) two wild-bulls, 252 for thou art the black ram, son of a black sheep. 252 born of a white sheep, nursed by four sheep. 253 The blue-eyed Horus comes against you; guard yourselves against the red-eyed Horus, 253 furious in wrath, whose might no one withstands. 253 His messengers go; his runner hastens. 253 They announce to him who lifts up his arm in the East 254 that this One passes in thee of whom Dwn-`n.wi said: "He shall command my (?) fathers, the gods." 254 The gods are silent before thee; the Ennead lay their hands upon their mouth, 254 before this One in thee (of whom) Dwn-`n.wi said: "He shall command my (?) fathers, the gods." 255 Stand at the doorway of the horizon; open the double doors of b.w, 255 that thou mayest stand at their (the gods') head, as Geb at the head of his Ennead-- 255 they (the gods) enter, they are smitten with fear; they depart, they lift up their head. 256 They see thee like Min, chief of the two 'itr.t-palaces. 256 He stands, he stands behind thee, thy brother stands behind thee, thy relative (n) stands behind thee. 256 Thou perishest not; thou art not destroyed. 256 Thy name remains among men; thy name has its being among the gods.

(11) When I behold Thy mouths, striking terror with their tusks, like Time’s all-consuming fire, I am disoriented and find no peace. Be gracious, Ο Lord of the gods, Ο Abode of the universe!

(11) This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; how to these your (worshippers) may (that Piety once again and evermore) approach, to them to whom O Lord, Thy Faith is uttered? Yea, I beseech of Thee to tell me this, I who am known to Thee as Thy foremost of (servants); all other (Gods, with their polluted worshippers), I look upon with (my) spirit's hate .

(1) BUT since even the great and the small are attributed to the Cause of all, arid the same, and the different, and the similar, and the dissimilar, and the standing, and the movement. Come! and let us gaze upon these images of the Divine Names, such as have been manifested to us. Almighty God, then, is celebrated in the Oracles as great, both in greatness and in a gentle breeze, which manifests the Divine littleness; and as the same, when the Oracles declare "thou art the same"; and as different, when He is depicted, by the same Oracles, as of many shapes and many forms; and as similar, as mainstay of things similar and similitude; and as dissimilar to all, as the like of whom there is not; and as standing, and unmoved, and seated for ever; and as moving, as going forth to all; and whatever other Divine Names, of the same force with these, are celebrated by the Oracles.

(3) But you will find that the Word of God calls gods, both the Heavenly Beings above us, and the most beloved of God, and holy men amongst us, although the Divine Hiddenness is transcendently elevated and established above all, and no created Being can. properly and wholly be said to be like unto It, except those intellectual and rational Beings who are entirely and wholly turned to Its Oneness as far as possible, and who elevate themselves incessantly to Its Divine illuminations, as far as attainable, by their imitation of God, if I may so speak, according to their power, and are deemed worthy of the same divine name. Next: Caput XIII. Sacred Texts | Christianity « Previous: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: On the Heavenly Hi... Index Next: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite: On the Heavenly Hi... » Sacred Texts | Christianity

(2) There are, then, [certain] Gods who are the principals of all the species. Of Heaven,—or of whatsoe’er it be that is embraced within the term,—the essence-chief is Zeus; for ’tis through Heaven that Zeus gives life to all. Sun’s essence-chief is light; for the good gift of light is poured on us through the Sun’s disk.

(220) 194 The two doors of the horizon are open; its bolts slide. I 94 He has come to thee, N.t (Crown of Lower Egypt); he has come to thee, Nsr.t (Uraeus); 194 he has, come to thee, Great One; he has come to thee, Great-inmagic (Crown of Lower Egypt). 194 He is pure for thee; he is in awe of thee. 195 Mayest thou be satisfied with him; mayest thou be satisfied with his purity; 195 mayest thou be satisfied with his word, which he speaks to thee: 195 "How beautiful is thy face, when it is peaceful, new, young, for a god, father of the gods, has begotten thee!" 195 He has come to thee, Great-in-magic (Crown of Lower Egypt). 195 It is Horus, who has fought in protection of his eye, Great-inmagic.

COME, blessed Dionysius, various nam'd, Bull-fac'd, begot from Thunder, Bacchus fam'd. Bassarian God, of universal might, Whom swords, and blood, and sacred rage delight: In heav'n rejoicing, mad, loud-sounding God, Furious inspirer, bearer of the rod: By Gods rever'd, who dwell'st with human kind, Propitious come, with much-rejoicing mind.

(11) Thou art Wind and Death and Fire and Moon and the Lord of Water. Thou art Prajāpati and the Great-grandsire. Salutations, salutations to Thee a thousand times, and again and yet again salutations, salutations to Thee!

(39) Friends or enemies, all bow the head under the yoke which God, in his wisdom, imposes; and, a thing astonishing, he watches over us all.

(1) Come, then, let us at last, if you please, rest our mental vision from the strain of lofty contemplation, befitting Angels, and descend to the divided and manifold breadth of the many-shaped variety of the Angelic forms, and then return analytically from the same, as from images, to the simplicity of the Heavenly Minds. But let this first be made plain to you, that the explanations of the sacredly depicted likenesses represent the same ranks of the Heavenly Beings as sometimes ruling, and, at other times, as being ruled; and the last, ruling, and the first, being ruled; and the same, as has been said, having first, and middle, and last powers --without introducing anything absurd into the description, according to the following method of explanation. For if indeed we were to say that some are ruled by those above them, and then that they rule the same, and that those above, whilst ruling those below, are ruled by those same who are being ruled, the thing would manifestly be absurd, and mixed with all sorts of confusion. But if we say that the same rule and are ruled, but no longer the self-same, or from the self-same, but that each same is ruled by those before, and rules those below, one might say appropriately that the Divinely pictured presentations in the Oracles may sometimes attribute, properly and truly, the very same, both to first, and middle, and last powers. Now the straining elevation to things above, and their being drawn unswervingly around each other, as being guardians of their own proper powers, and that they participate in the providential faculty to provide for those below them by mutual communication, befit truly all the Heavenly Beings, although some, pre-eminently and wholly, as we have often said, and others partially and subordinately.

(611) 1724 To say: Thou who livest art living, father, in this thy name of "With the gods"; 1724 thou shalt dawn as Wepwawet, a soul at the head of the living, 1724 that mighty one at the head of the spirits. 1725 The king N. is a d-wr, who is at your head, spirits; 1725 the king N. is the great mighty-one, who is at your head, spirits; 1725 the king N. is a Thot among you, gods. 1726 The bolt is drawn for thee, 1726 (the bolt) to the two ram-portals, which hold people back. 1726 Thou countest enemies; thou takest the hand of the imperishable stars. 1727 Thine eyes are open; thine ears are open; 1727 enter into the house of the guardian; let thy father Geb guard thee. 1728 The water-holes are united for thee; the lakes are brought together for thee, 1728 for Horus who will avenge his father, for king N. who will avenge his body. 1729 A vulture greater than thou (does) triple homage to thee. 1729 It is agreeable to thy nose on account of the smell of the 'i.twt.t-crown.

(252) 272 To say: Lift up your head, ye gods, who are in the Dw.t, 272 for N. is come. Ye see him (how) he becomes as, a great god. 272 Introduce N. with trembling; adorn N., 273 who has honoured ye all, (as) he commanded mankind (also to do). 273 N. judges those who live in the midst of the land of R`, 273 as N. speaks to this pure land, wherein he has established his residence, with the judge of the two gods, 274 N. is mighty in his presence; N. bears the m-sceptre, when he (Thot) would reject N. 274 N. sits with those who row R`. 274 N. commands the good, and he (Thot) does it, (for) N. is the Great God.

(1) THE time, then, is come for our discourse, to sing the God of many Names, as "Sovereign Lord," and as "Ancient of days." For He is called the former, by reason that He is an all-controlling basis, binding and embracing the whole, and establishing and supporting, and tightening, and completing the whole. Continuous in itself, and from itself, producing the whole, as it were from a Sovereign root, and turning to itself the whole, as to a sovereign parent stock, and holding them together as an all-embracing basis of all, securing all the things embraced, within one grasp superior to all, and not permitting them, when fallen from itself to be destroyed, as moved from an all-perfect sanctuary. But the Godhead is called Sovereign, both as controlling and governing the members of His household, purely, and as being desired and beloved by all, and as placing upon all the voluntary yokes, and the sweet pangs of the Divine and Sovereign, and in dissolvable love of the Goodness itself,

(260) 316 To say: O Geb, bull of Nut, N. is a Horus, heir of his father. 316 N. is the goer, the comer, the fourth of these four gods, 316 who have brought water (and) made themselves clean, who rejoice over the "power" of their fathers. 316 He desires that he be justified by that which he has done. 317 Since Tfn and Tefnut have judged N.; since the Two Truths have heard (him); 317 since Shu has been advocate (tongue); since the Two Truths have given verdict; 317 he has encompassed the thrones of Geb, he has raised himself to that which he wished. 318 (So now that) his limbs are united, which were hidden (in the grave), 318 he unites himself with those who are in Nun. He puts an end to his words in Heliopolis, 318 as N. goes forth on that day in the true form of an . 319 N. destroys battle; he punishes revolt. 319 N. goes forth (as) the protector of truth; he brings her, for she is with him. 319 Those who were furious, (now) busy themselves for him; those who are in Nun, (now) give life over to him. 320 The refuge of N. is in his eye; the protection of N. is in his eye; 320 the power of N. is in his eye; the strength of N. is in his eye. 321 O gods of South, North, West, East, respect N., fear him; 321 he has sat in the t of the two courts. 321 That uraeus-serpent dnn-wt.t might have burned you, for she attained your heart, 322 you (they) who might have come to N. as an adversary; come to him (as a friend), come to him. 322 N. is the dd of his father, the nb of his mother. 323 The abomination of N. is to walk in darkness, 323 lest he see those who are upside down. 323 N. will come forth in this day; he will bring truth with him. 323 N. will not be delivered up to your flame, O gods.

(6) From this cause, therefore, the perfectly incorporeal Gods are united to the sensible Gods that have bodies. For the visible Gods also are external to bodies, and on this account are in the intelligible world; and the intelligible Gods, through their infinite union, comprehend in themselves the visible Gods; and both are established according to a common union and one energy. In a similar manner, also, this is the illustrious prerogative of the cause and orderly distribution of the Gods, on which account the same union of all the divinities extends from on high, as far as to the end of the divine order. But if this deserves to be doubted, the contrary would be wonderful, viz. that there should not be this union of the visible and intelligible Gods. And thus much concerning the contact with, and establishment of, the sensible in the intelligible Gods.

(42) Behold! what the Deity does, that they do also, when the spirits of God lovingly generate one in another, and rise up one in another, as in a loving saluting, embracing, kissing and feeding one another; in which taste and smell the life riseth up, and the eternal refreshing; of which thou may read before at large.

(97) But here thou must know that the Deity does not stand still, but works and riseth up without intermission, as a pleasant wrestling, moving or struggling.

(11) The Rudras, Ādityas, Vasus, and Sādhyas; the Viśwas, Aświns, Maruts, and Ushmapās; and the hosts of Gandharvas, Yakshas, Asuras, and Siddhas— all behold Thee and are amazed.