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]
[edit] 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Plato, Rep. i. 6, ii. 116.
- ↑ Matt. xxiii. 5.
- ↑ Isa. vi. 2.
