(23) All men become of one voice and administer loud praise to Aûharmazd and the archangels.

(1) When the Septentrion of the highest heaven (Which never either setting knew or rising, Nor veil of other cloud than that of sin, And which made every one therein aware Of his own duty, as the lower makes Whoever turns the helm to come to port) Motionless halted, the veracious people, That came at first between it and the Griffin, Turned themselves to the car, as to their peace. And one of them, as if by Heaven commissioned, Singing, "Veni, sponsa, de Libano" Shouted three times, and all the others after. Even as the Blessed at the final summons Shall rise up quickened each one from his cavern, Uplifting light the reinvested flesh, So upon that celestial chariot A hundred rose 'ad vocem tanti senis,' Ministers and messengers of life eternal. They all were saying, "Benedictus qui venis," And, scattering flowers above and round about, "Manibus o date lilia plenis." Ere now have I beheld, as day began, The eastern hemisphere all tinged with rose, And the other heaven with fair serene adorned;

(4) This, then, according to my science, is the first rank of the Heavenly Beings which encircle and stand immediately around God; and without symbol, and without interruption, dances round His eternal knowledge in the most exalted ever-moving stability as in Angels; viewing purely many and blessed contemplations, and illuminated with simple and immediate splendours, and filled with Divine nourishment,--many indeed by the first-given profusion, but one by the unvariegated and unifying oneness of the supremely Divine banquet, deemed worthy indeed of much participation and co-operation with God, by their assimilation to Him, as far as attainable, of their excellent habits and energies, and knowing many Divine things pre-eminently, and participating in supremely Divine science and knowledge, as is lawful. Wherefore the Word of God has transmitted its hymns to those on earth, in which are Divinely shewn the excellency of its most exalted illumination. For some of its members, to speak after sensible perception, proclaim as a "voice of many waters," "Blessed is the glory of the Lord from His place" and others cry aloud that frequent and most august hymn of God, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of His glory." These most excellent hymnologies of the supercelestial Minds we have already unfolded to the best of our ability in the "Treatise concerning the Divine Hymns," and have spoken sufficiently concerning them in that Treatise, from which, by way of remembrance, it is enough to produce so much as is necessary to the present occasion, namely, "That the first Order, having been illuminated, from this the supremely Divine goodness, as permissible, in theological science, as a Hierarchy reflecting that Goodness transmitted to those next after it," teaching briefly this, "That it is just and right that the august Godhead -- Itself both above praise, and all-praiseworthy--should be known and extolled by the God-receptive minds, as is attainable; for they as images of God are, as the Oracles say, the Divine places of the supremely Divine repose; and further, that It is Monad and Unit tri-subsistent, sending forth His most kindly forethought to all things being, from the super-heavenly Minds to the lowest of the earth; as super-original Origin and Cause of every essence, and grasping all things super-essentially in a resistless embrace. Next: Caput VIII. 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

(6) And as a little child, that towards its mother Stretches its arms, when it the milk has taken, Through impulse kindled into outward flame, Each of those gleams of whiteness upward reached So with its summit, that the deep affection They had for Mary was revealed to me. Thereafter they remained there in my sight, 'Regina coeli' singing with such sweetness, That ne'er from me has the delight departed. O, what exuberance is garnered up Within those richest coffers, which had been Good husbandmen for sowing here below! There they enjoy and live upon the treasure Which was acquired while weeping in the exile Of Babylon, wherein the gold was left. There triumpheth, beneath the exalted Son Of God and Mary, in his victory, Both with the ancient council and the new, He who doth keep the keys of such a glory.

(36) And there all the holy Souls and Angels (in one Love) will highly rejoice, that the poor Soul is delivered from such great Necessity [or Misery;] and the great Joy then takes its Beginning from thence, of which Christ said; That there is more Joy for one Sinner that repents, than for ninety and nine Righteous that need no Repentance. And the Soul will praise God, that he has redeemed it out of these great Sins; and herewith the Praise of Christ [in] his Merit, Passion, and Dying for the poor Soul, springs up in Eternity, and it is the right Song of the redeemed Bride, which rises up in the Father, where the Souls so highly rejoice, that the Driver is captivated, and his Confederates [or Followers.]

(5) Whatever melody most sweetly soundeth On earth, and to itself most draws the soul, Would seem a cloud that, rent asunder, thunders, Compared unto the sounding of that lyre Wherewith was crowned the sapphire beautiful, Which gives the clearest heaven its sapphire hue. "I am Angelic Love, that circle round The joy sublime which breathes from out the womb That was the hostelry of our Desire; And I shall circle, Lady of Heaven, while Thou followest thy Son, and mak'st diviner The sphere supreme, because thou enterest there." Thus did the circulated melody Seal itself up; and all the other lights Were making to resound the name of Mary. The regal mantle of the volumes all Of that world, which most fervid is and living With breath of God and with his works and ways, Extended over us its inner border, So very distant, that the semblance of it There where I was not yet appeared to me. Therefore mine eyes did not possess the power Of following the incoronated flame, Which mounted upward near to its own seed.

(1) "Glory be to the Father, to the Son, And Holy Ghost!" all Paradise began, So that the melody inebriate made me. What I beheld seemed unto me a smile Of the universe; for my inebriation Found entrance through the hearing and the sight. O joy! O gladness inexpressible! O perfect life of love and peacefulness! O riches without hankering secure! Before mine eyes were standing the four torches Enkindled, and the one that first had come Began to make itself more luminous; And even such in semblance it became As Jupiter would become, if he and Mars Were birds, and they should interchange their feathers. That Providence, which here distributeth Season and service, in the blessed choir Had silence upon every side imposed. When I heard say: "If I my colour change, Marvel not at it; for while I am speaking Thou shalt behold all these their colour change. He who usurps upon the earth my place, My place, my place, which vacant has become Before the presence of the Son of God,

(5) Unto the canticle divine responded From every part the court beatified, So that each sight became serener for it. "O holy father, who for me endurest To be below here, leaving the sweet place In which thou sittest by eternal lot, Who is the Angel that with so much joy Into the eyes is looking of our Queen, Enamoured so that he seems made of fire?" Thus I again recourse had to the teaching Of that one who delighted him in Mary As doth the star of morning in the sun. And he to me: "Such gallantry and grace As there can be in Angel and in soul, All is in him; and thus we fain would have it; Because he is the one who bore the palm Down unto Mary, when the Son of God To take our burden on himself decreed. But now come onward with thine eyes, as I Speaking shall go, and note the great patricians Of this most just and merciful of empires. Those two that sit above there most enrapture As being very near unto Augusta, Are as it were the two roots of this Rose.

(61) And He will summon all the host of the heavens, and all the holy ones above, and the host of God, the Cherubic, Seraphin and Ophannin, and all the angels of power, and all the angels of principalities, and the Elect One, and the other powers on the earth (and) over the water.