(2) The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

(4) Let me also recall this to your Hierarchical judgment--that both to Pharaoh, from the Angel who presided over the Egyptians, and to the Babylonian Prince, from his own Angel, the watchful and ruling care of the Providence and Lordship over all, was interpreted in visions; and for those nations, the worshippers of the true God were appointed leaders, for the interpretation of things shaped by Angelic visions revealed from God through Angels to holy men akin to the Angels, Daniel and Joseph. For there is one Prince and Providence over all. And never must we think that the Godhead is leader of Jews by lot, and that Angels, independently, or as of equal rank, or in opposition, or that certain other gods, preside over the other nations. But that particular phrase of the Divine Word must be accepted according to the following sacred intention; not as though God had divided government amongst men, with other gods, or Angels, and had been elected by lot to the government and leadership of Israel, but in this sense--whilst the one Providence of Highest over all, assigned all mankind, savingly, to the directing conduct of their own Angels, yet Israel, almost alone in comparison with all, turned himself to the Light-gift, and recognition of the true Lord-Hence the Word of God, as shewing that Israel elected himself for the worship of the true God, says this, "He became Lord's portion;" and as indicating that he was assigned equally with the other nations, to one of the holy Angels, for the recognition, through him, of the Head of all, said "That Michael became leader of the (Jewish) people," demonstrating distinctly that there is one Providence of the whole, superessentially established above all the powers, unseen and seen, and that all the Angels who preside over each nation, elevate, as far as possible, those who follow them with a willing mind, to It as their proper Head. Next: Caput X. 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

(12) But the third Kingdom is not also in the Eternity, but is generated out of the one Element in the Time of the Kindling of the Fiat; that now is corruptible, and has a certain Seculum, Limit and Time, [how long it shall last;] and so this Region in the Soul (when the Light of Life kindles itself) has also a certain Seculum, and Time of its Breaking; and that Kingdom brings Man up, and gives him the Source of his Manners [Conditions and Disposition,] Will and Desires to Evil and Good, and sets him in Beauty, Glory, Riches and Honour, and makes him an earthly God; and it opens to him the great Wonders i in him, and runs along with him inconsiderately to the End of his Seculum, Term, and End, and then it departs from him; and as it helped Man to his Life, so it helps him also to Death, and breaks off from the Soul.

(2) Then the seed of Ham and Japheth forms twelve kingdoms, and their other seed enters into the kingdom of other people.

(1) FOR the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

(4) "And Yew and the guard of the veil of the Great Light, and the receiver of Light and the two great guides and the great Sabaōth, the Good, will be kings in the first saviour of the first Voice of the Treasury of the Light, [the saviour] who will be in the region of those who have received the first mystery of the First Mystery. For in sooth Yew and the guard of the region of those of the Right and Melchisedec, the great receiver of the Light, and the two great guides have come forth out of the purified and utterly pure light of the first Tree up to the fifth. "Yew in sooth is the overseer of the Light, who hath come forth first out of the pure light of the first Tree; on the other hand the guard of the veil of those of the Right hath come forth out of the second Tree; and the two guides again have come forth out of the pure and utterly purified light of the third and fourth Trees of the Treasury of the Light; Melchisedec again hath come forth out of the fifth Tree; on the other hand Sabaōth, the Good, whom I have called my father, hath come forth out of Yew, the overseer of the Light. "These six then by command of the First Mystery the last Helper hath caused to be in the region of those of the Right, for the economy of the ingathering of the upper light out of the æons of the rulers and out of the worlds and all races in them,--of every one of whom I will tell you the employment over which he hath been set in the expansion of the universe. Because, therefore, of the importance of the employment over which they have been set, they will be fellow-kings in the first [saviour] of the first Voice of the Treasury of the Light, who will be in the region of the souls of those who have received the first mystery of the First Mystery.

(7) My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

(2) Then what is the Hierarchy of the Angels and Archangels, and of supermundane Principalities and Authorities, Powers and Lordships, and Divine Thrones, or of the Beings of the same ranks as the Thrones--which the Word of God declares to be near, and always about God, and with God, naming them in the Hebrew tongue Cherubim and Seraphim--by pondering the sacred ranks and divisions of their Orders and Hierarchies, you will find in the books we have written--not as befits their dignity but to the best of our ability--and as the Theology of the most holy Scriptures guided, when they extolled their Hierarchy. Nevertheless, it is necessary to say this, that both that, and every Hierarchy extolled now by us, has one and the same power, throughout the whole Hierarchical transaction; and that the Hierarch himself, according to his essence, and analogy, and rank, is initiated in Divine things, and is deified and imparts to the subordinates, according to the meetness of each for the sacred deification which comes to him from God; also that the subordinates follow the superior, and elevate the inferior towards things in advance; and that some go before, and, as far as possible, give the lead to others; and that each, as far as may be, participates in the truly Beautiful, and Wise, and Good, through this the inspired and sacerdotal harmony. But the Beings and ranks above us, of whom we have already made a reverent mention, are both incorporeal, and their Hierarchy is both intelligible and supermundane; but let us view our Hierarchy, comformably to ourselves, abounding in the variety of the sensible symbols, by which, in proportion to our capacity, we are conducted, hierarchically according to our measure, to the uniform deification --God and Divine virtue. They indeed, as minds, think, according to laws laid down for themselves; but we are led by sensible figures to the Divine contemplations, as is possible to us. And, to speak truly, there is One, to Whom all the Godlike aspire, but they do not partake uniformly of this One and the Same, but as the Divine balance distributes to each the meet inheritance. Now these things have been treated more systematically in the Treatise concerning "Intelligible and Sensible." But now I will attempt to describe our Hierarchy, both its source and essence, as best I can; invoking Jesus, the source and Perfecting of all Hierarchies.

Afterward he created an angelic assembly —thousands, myriads without number belong to it—that was like the assembly in the eighth heaven, and a first-born called Israel, that is, the one who sees god, and also another called Jesus Christ, who is like the savior above in the eighth heaven and who sits at his right upon an excellent throne. But at his left the virgin of the holy spirit sits upon a throne praising him. And the seven virgins stand before her, with thirty lyres and harps and trumpets in their hands, glorifying him. And all of the armies of angels glorify him and praise him. But he sits on a throne concealed by a great light-cloud. And there was no one with him in the cloud except Sophia, the daughter of Pistis, teaching him about all those that exist in the eighth heaven, so that the likeness of those might be created, in order that his kingdom might continue until the consummation of the heavens of chaos and their powers. Now, Pistis Sophia separated him from the darkness and summoned him to her right, but the chief creator she put at her left. Since that day right has been called justice, but left has been called injustice. Moreover, because of this they all received a realm in the assembly of justice, and injustice is set over all their creations.

(9) Afterward he revealed many confronting, self-begotten ones, equal in age (and) power, being in glory and without number, who are called 'The Generation over Whom There Is No Kingdom among the Kingdoms That Exist'. And the whole multitude of the place over which there is no kingdom is called 'Sons of Unbegotten Father.'

(18) But the middle one reached to heaven like the throne of God, of alabaster, and the summit of the throne was of sapphire.

(17) ¶Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

(36) Thus I give you accurately to understand what Man is, and what Man sows, and what grows in the Seed, viz. three Kingdoms, as is above-mentioned; and seeing the three Kingdoms are thus sown, so are they in like Manner before the Tree of Temptation; and there begins the Struggling and great Strife; there stands the three Kingdoms in one another. The Element in Paradise will keep the pure Mind and Will, which stands in the Love in the Tincture of the Seed; and the outward Elements, viz. that which went forth from the Element, will have the Element, and mix itself therewith; and then comes the outward Fierceness of the Stars, and draws it together i with the outward Fiat, and sets itself [in the Rule or Dominion,] whereby the inward Will in the Love together with the Element and the Paradise becomes darkened; and the Love in the Paradise goes into its Ether, and is extinguished in the Tincture of the Seed; and the heavenly Center goes under, for it passes into its Principle.

(4) Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into a garden in his field; and it grew, and waxed a great tree, and the birds of the air lodged in the branches thereof, in the shadow of it.

(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.

(27) The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

(1) How many, and of what sort, are the Orders of the supercelestial Beings, and how the Hierarchies are classified amongst themselves, I affirm, the deifying Author of their consecration alone distinctly knows; and further, that they know their own proper powers and illuminations, and their sacred and supermundane regularity. For it is impossible that we should know the mysteries of the supercelestial Minds and their most holy perfections, except, some one might say, so far as the Godhead has revealed to us, through them, as knowing perfectly their own condition. We, then, will utter nothing as from ourselves, but whatever angelic visions have been gazed upon by the holy Prophets of God, we, as initiated in these, will set forth as best we can. The Word of God has designated the whole Heavenly Beings as nine, by appellations, which shew their functions. These our Divine Initiator divides into three threefold Orders. He also says that that which is always around God is first and is declared by tradition to be united closely and immediately, to Him, before all the rest. For he says that the teaching of the Holy Oracles declares, that the most Holy Thrones, and the many-eyed and many-winged hosts, named in the Hebrew tongue Cherubim and Seraphim, are established immediately around God, with a nearness superior to all. This threefold order, then, our illustrious Guide spoke of as one, and of equal rank, and really first Hierarchy, than which there is not another more Godlike or immediately nearer to the earliest illuminations of the Godhead. But he says, that which is composed of the Authorities, and Lordships, and Powers is second; and, as respects the lowest of the Heavenly Hierarchies, the Order of the Angels and Archangels and Principalities is third. Next: Caput VII. 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

(5) "And the Virgin of Light and the great guide of the Midst, whom the rulers of the æons are wont to call the Great Yew after the name of a great ruler who is in their region,--he and the Virgin of Light and his twelve ministers, from whom ye have received your shape and from whom ye have received the power, they all will be kings with the first saviour of the first Voice in the region of the souls of those who will receive the first mystery of the First Mystery in the inheritances of the Light. "And the fifteen helpers of the seven virgins of the Light who are in the Midst, they will expand themselves in the regions of the twelve saviours, and the rest of the angels of the Midst, every one of them according to his glory, will rule with me in the inheritances of the Light. And I shall rule over them all in the inheritances of the Light.

(32) The other Kingdom is that of Antichrist, with a golden [Splendor or] Glance, prancing in State, glistering on every Side. Every one says, It is a happy Thing, for it adorns itself most sumptuously, and sets its Seat over the Hills and Mountains; every one salutes it, [or does it Reverence.] It draws the Tincture of the Earth to itself, that it may glister alone; it bereaves the Kingdom of Christ of its temporal [Food, Livelihood, or] Bread; it devours the Sweat of the Needy, and says to him, You are mine, I am your God, I will set you where I please; you are the Dog that lies at my Feet: If I had a Mind to it, I could hunt you out of my House, you must do what I will; and the needy Worm must say, I am your poor Servant, do but spare my Life. And if he squeezes out the Sweat of his Brows, so that he smarts, which his Master consumes [or spends,] then he grows impatient with his Master, and curses him, and seeks out Ways of Lying and Deceit, and by what Way he might make his heavy Burden lighter.

(90) Now the heavenly [Body] must overcome the earthly, that the earthly may be as it were dead and impotent, and that the heavenly may xkeep the Dominion. And now as Adam stood in the Angle (between Love and Wrath) when he was tempted, there stood both Kingdoms against him, and pulled at him; and as God the Father (direct forward in his reconciled Will) is the Kingdom of Heaven, and the clear Deity; and backward (in the eternal Root of Nature) there is his Wrath and Anger, and yet both of them are in the eternal Father; and as in the eternal Nature of the Wrath, the Light or the Kingdom of Heaven is not known, and also in the eternal Light, the Kingdom of Fierceness and Wrath is not known, because each Kingdom is in itself, so is the Soul of Man also; it has Kingdoms in it, in which it a trades, in that it stands. If it trades in the Kingdom of Heaven, then the Kingdom of Hell is dead in it; not that it is ceased, but the Kingdom of Heaven is predominant, and the Kingdom of Fierceness is changed into Joy; so also, if it trades in the Kingdom of Wrath, then that is predominant, and the Kingdom of Heaven is as it were dead; although indeed (in itself it does not vanish) yet the Soul is not in it.