The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite/Ecclesiastical Hierarchy/Caput IV

by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

I. Concerning things performed in the Muron, and concerning things perfected in it

  So great and so beautiful are the intelligible visions of the most holy
  Synaxis, which minister hierarchically, as we have often said, our
  participation 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 accordance
  with the sacred images, we shall thus be borne, by hierarchical
  contemplations, to its Oneness through its parts.

II. Mysterion of Initiation of Muron.^[1]

  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, in the most holy mystic Rites of things being hallowed, for almost
  every Hierarchical consecration.

III. Contemplation

Section I

  The elementary teaching, then, of this the perfecting 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
  unsullied, and is sweet beyond conception, and manifested for spiritual
  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 thus 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 duplicate, if I may so speak, the very person
  that is being sketched, whoever he may be, and will shew the reality in
  the likeness, and the archetype in the image, and each in each, save
  the difference of substance; thus, to copyists who love the beautiful
  in mind, the persistent and unflinching contemplation of the
  sweet-savoured and hidden beauty will confer the unerring and most
  Godlike appearance.[2] Naturally, then, the divine copyists, who
  unflinchingly mould their own intellectual contemplation to the
  superessentially sweet and contemplated comeliness, do. none of their
  divinely imitated virtues "to be seen of men,[3] as the Divine text
  expresses it; but reverently gaze upon the most holy things of the
  Church, veiled in the Divine Muron as in a figure. Wherefore, these
  also, by religiously concealing that which is holy and most Divine in
  virtue within their Godlike and God-engraved mind, look away to the
  archetypal 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 irrationally 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.

Section II

  Come, then, since we have viewed the exterior comeliness of the
  entirely beautiful ministration, let us now look away to its more godly
  beauty (whilst itself, by itself, has uncovered the veils), gazing upon
  its blessed radiance, shedding its bright beams openly around, and
  filling us with the fragrance unveiled to the contemplators. For the
  visible consecration of the Muron is neither uncommunicated in, or
  unseen by those who surround the Hierarch, but, on the contrary, by
  passing through to them, and fixing the contemplation above the many,
  is reverently covered by them, and by Hierarchical direction kept from
  the multitude.

  For the splendour of things all holy, by shedding its light clearly and
  without symbol to men inspired, as being congenial to the thing
  contemplated, and perfuming their contemplating perceptions without;
  concealment, advances not yet in the same way to the inferior, but by
  them as deep contemplators of the thing contemplated is concealed under
  the enigmas of the wings, without ostentation, so that it may not be
  defiled by the dissimilar; through which sacred enigmas the
  well-ordered Ranks of the subordinate are conducted to the degree of
  holiness compatible with their powers.

Section III

  The holy consecration, then, which we are now extolling, is, as I said,
  of the perfecting rank and capacity of the Hierarchical functions.
  Wherefore our Divine Leaders arranged the same, as being of the same
  rank and effect as the holy perfecting of the Synaxis, with the same
  figures, for the most part, and with mystical regulations and lections.
  And you may see in like manner the Hierarch bearing forward the sweet
  perfume from the more holy place into the sacred precincts beyond, and
  teaching, by the return to the same, that the participation in things
  Divine comes to all holy persons, according to fitness, and is
  undiminished and altogether unmoved and stands unchangeably in its
  identity, as beseems Divine fixity. In the same way the Psalms and
  readings of the Oracles nurse the imperfect to a life-bringing adoption
  of sons, and form a religious inclination in those who are possessed
  with accursed spirits, and dispel the opposing fear and effeminacy from
  those possessed by a spirit of unmanliness; shewing to them, according
  to their capacity, the highest pinnacle of the Godlike habit and power,
  by aid of which they will, the rather, scare away the opposing forces,
  and will take the lead in healing others; and, following the example of
  God, they will, whilst unmoved from their own proper gifts, not only be
  active against those opposing fears, but will themselves give activity
  to others; and they also impart a religious habit to those who have
  changed from the worse to a religious mind, so that they should not be
  again enslaved by evil, and purify completely those who need to become
  altogether pure; and they lead the holy to the Divine likenesses, and
  contemplations and communions belonging to themselves, and so establish
  those who are entirely holy, in blessed and intelligible visions,
  fulfilling their uniform likeness of the One, and making them one.

Section IV

  What, then, shall I say further? Is it not those Ranks already
  mentioned, which are not entirely pure, that the present consecrating
  service excludes without distinction, in the same way as the Synaxis,
  so that it is viewed by the holy alone, in figures, and is contemplated
  and ministered, by the perfectly holy alone, immediately, through
  hierarchical directions? Now it is superfluous, as I think, to run
  over, by the same statements, these things already so often mentioned,
  and not to pass to the next, viewing the Hierarch, devoutly holding the
  Divine Muron veiled under twelve wings, and ministering the altogether
  holy consecration upon it. Let us then affirm that the composition of
  the Muron is a composition of sweet-smelling materials, which has in
  itself abundantly fragrant qualities, of which (composition) those who
  partake become perfumed in proportion to the degree to which they
  partake of its sweet savour. Now we are persuaded that the most
  supremely Divine Jesus is superessentially of good savour, filling the
  contemplative part of ourselves by bequests of Divine sweetness for
  contemplation. For if the reception of the sensible odours make to feel
  joyous, and nourishes, with much sweetness, the sensitive organs of our
  nostrils, --if at least they be sound and well apportioned to the sweet
  savour--in the same way any one might say that our contemplative
  faculties, being soundly disposed as regards the subjection to the
  worse, in the strength of the distinguishing faculty implanted in us by
  nature, receive the supremely Divine fragrance, and are filled with a
  holy comfort and most Divine nourishment, in accordance with Divinely
  fixed proportions, and the correlative turning of the mind towards the
  Divine Being. Wherefore, the symbolical composition of the Muron, as
  expressing in form things that are formless, depicts to us Jesus
  Himself, as a well-spring of the wealth of the Divine sweet receptions,
  distributing, in degrees supremely Divine, for the most Godlike of the
  contemplators, the most Divine perfumes; upon which the Minds, joyfully
  refreshed, and filled with the holy receptions, indulge in a feast of
  spiritual contemplation, by the entrance of the sweet bequests into
  their contemplative part, as beseems a Divine participation.

Section V

  Now it is evident, as I think, that the distribution of the fontal
  perfume to the Beings above ourselves, who are more Divine, is, as it
  were, nearer, and manifests and distributes itself more to the
  transparent and wholesome mental condition of their receptive faculty,
  overflowing ungrudgingly and entering in many fashions; but as regards
  the subordinate contemplators, which are not so receptive, piously
  concealing the highest vision and participation, it is distributed in a
  supremely Divine proportion, in fragrance corresponding to the
  recipients. Amongst the holy Beings, then, who are above us, the
  superior order of the Seraphim is represented under the figure of the
  twelve wings, established and fixed around Jesus, casting itself upon
  the most blessed contemplations of Him, as far as permissible, and
  filled reverently with the contemplated truth distributed in most pure
  receptions, and, to speak after the manner of men, crying aloud, with
  never silent lips, the frequent Hymn of Praise; for the sacred
  knowledge of the supermundane minds is both untiring, and possesses the
  Divine love without intermission, and is at the same time superior to
  all baseness and forgetfulness. Hence, as I think, that phrase,
  "unceasing cry," suggests their perpetual and persistent science and
  conception of things Divine, with full concord and thanksgiving.

Section VI

  Now we have, as I think, sufficiently contemplated, in the description
  of the super-heavenly Hierarchy, the incorporeal properties of the
  Seraphim, Divinely described in the Scriptures under sensible figures
  explanatory of the contemplated Beings, and we have made them evident
  to thy contemplating eyes. Nevertheless, since now also they who stand
  reverently around the Hierarch, reflect the highest Order, on a small
  scale, we will now view with most immaterial visions their most Godlike
  splendour.

Section VII

  Their numberless faces then, and many feet, manifest, as I think, their
  property of viewing the most Divine illuminations from many sides, and
  their conception of the good things of God as ever active and
  abundantly receptive; and the sixfold arrangement of the wings, of
  which the Scripture speaks, does not, I think, denote, as seems to
  some, a sacred number, but that of the highest Essence and Order around
  God; the first and middle and last of its contemplative and Godlike
  powers are altogether elevating, free, and supermundane. Hence the most
  holy wisdom of the Oracles, when reverently describing the formation of
  the wings, places the wings around their heads,[4] and middle, and
  feet; suggesting their complete covering with wings, and their manifold
  faculty of leading to the Really Being.

Section VIII

  Now if they cover their faces and their feet, and fly by their middle
  wings only, bear this reverently in mind, that the Order, so far
  exalted above the highest beings, is circumspect respecting the more
  lofty and deep of its conceptions, and raises itself, in due
  proportion, by its middle wings, to the vision of God, by placing its
  own proper life under the Divine yokes, and by these is reverently
  directed to the judgment of itself.

Section IX

  And, as regards the statement of Holy Scripture, that "one cried out to
  the other," that shews, I think, that they impart to each other
  ungrudgingly their own visions of God. And this we should deem worthy
  of religious recollection, that the Hebrew word in the Holy Scriptures
  names the most holy Beings of the Seraphim by an explanatory epithet,
  from their glowing and seething in a Divine and ever-moving life.

Section X

  Since, then, as those who understand Hebrew say, the most Divine
  Seraphim were named by the Word of God, "Kindling" and "Heating," by a
  name expressive of their essential condition, they possess, according
  to the symbolical imagery of the Divine Muron, most elevating powers,
  which call it to manifestation and distribution of most exhilarating
  perfumes. For the Being, sweet beyond conception, loves to be moved by
  the glowing and most pure minds into manifestation, and imparts Its
  most Divine inspirations, in cheerful distributions, to those who thus
  supermundanely call It forth. Thus the most Divine Order of
  supercelestial Beings did not fail to recognize the most supremely
  Divine Jesus, when He descended for the purpose of being sanctified;
  but recognizes, reverently, Him lowering Himself in our belongings,
  through Divine and inexpressible goodness; and when viewing Him
  sanctified, in a manner befitting man, by the Father and Himself and
  the Holy Spirit, recognized its own supreme Head as being essentially
  unchanged, in whatever He may do as supreme God. Hence the tradition of
  the sacred symbols places the Seraphim near the Divine Muron, when it
  is being consecrated, recognizing and describing the Christ as
  unchanged, in our complete manhood in very truth. And what is still
  more divine is, that it uses the Divine Muron for the consecration of
  every thing sacred, distinctly shewing, according to the Logion, the
  Sanctified Sanctifying, as always being the same with Himself
  throughout the whole supremely Divine sanctification. Wherefore also
  the consecrating gift and grace of the Divine Birth in God is completed
  in the most Divine perfectings of the Muron. Whence, as I think, the
  Hierarch pouring the Muron upon the purifying font in cruciform
  injections, brings to view, for contemplative eyes, the Lord Jesus
  descending even to death itself through the cross, for our Birth in
  God, benevolently drawing up, from the old gulping of the destructive
  death, by the same Divine and resistless descent, those, who, according
  to the mysterious saying, "are baptized into His death," and renewing
  them to a godly and eternal existence.

Section XI

  But further, the perfecting unction of the Muron gives to him who has
  been initiated in the most sacred initiation of the Birth in God, the
  abiding of the supremely Divine Spirit; the sacred imagery of the
  symbols, portraying, as I think, the most Divine Spirit abundantly
  supplied by Him, Who, for our sakes, has been sanctified as man by the
  supremely Divine Spirit, in an unaltered condition of His essential
  Godhead.

Section XII

  And bear this also hierarchically in mind, that the Law of the most
  pure initiation completes the sacred consecration of the Divine Altar,
  by the all pure effusions of the most holy Muron. And the
  supercelestial and superessential contemplation is source and essence,
  and perfecting power, of all our deifying holiness. For if our most
  Divine Altar is Jesus--the supremely Divine sanctifying of the Godly
  Minds --in Whom, according to the Logion, "being sanctified and
  mystically offered as a whole burnt-offering, we have the access," let
  us gaze with supermundane eyes upon the most Divine Altar itself (in
  which things being perfected, are perfected and sanctified), being
  perfected from the most Divine Muron itself; for the altogether most
  holy Jesus sanctifies Himself on our behalf, and fills us full of every
  sanctification, since the things consecrated upon them pass fraternally
  afterwards in their beneficent effects to us, as children of God.
  Hence, as I think, the Divine Leaders of our Hierarchy, in conformity
  with a Hierarchical conception divinely transmitted, name this
  altogether august ministration "consecration of Muron," from "being
  consecrated thoroughly," as one might say, "consecration of God,"
  extolling its divine consecrating work in each sense. For both the
  being sanctified for our sakes, as becomes Man, and the consecrating
  all things as supreme God, and the sanctifying things being
  consecrated, is "consecration of Him." As for the sacred song of the
  inspiration of the God-rapt Prophets, it is called by those who know
  Hebrew, the "Praise of God," or "Praise ye the Lord," for since every
  divine manifestation and work of God is reverently portrayed in the
  varied composition of the Hierarchical symbols, it is not unfitting to
  mention the Divinely moved song of the Prophets; for it teaches at
  once, distinctly and reverently, that the beneficent works of the
  Divine Goodness are worthy of devout praise.

Footnotes

1. 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.
2. Plato, Rep. i. 6, ii. 116.
3. Matt. xxiii. 5.
4. Isa. vi. 2.