EPIGRAM UNTO THE BLESSED

Ornamental woodcut initial 'Ε' featuring a seated figure amidst foliage.I dare even to say, O Dionysius,
That thou wast not fashioned from a woman’s womb;
But rather, ranked most closely with the angels,
Thou camest from above from the celestial pole, a strange nature,
Announcing all things in part to mortals,
Concerning how it stands with the immaterial ranks.
Thus thou knowest the immaterial essences;
Thus thou beholdest the divine choirs;
Thus thou beholdest the natures of the angels;
Thus, what is greater: thou art an angel by nature.

Unto the same, concerning the same Celestial Hierarchy.

Having attained many gleams of angelic wisdom,
Thou didst reveal to men the sight of a most noetic star.

Epigram concerning the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.

O initiate, thou didst reveal the symbols of the divine priests;
Thou didst resolve them into the unitary, single radiance of the one light.

Epigram unto the blessed Dionysius, on the work concerning Divine Names.

Dipping thy God-writing lips into a radiant mind,
Thou adornest the sacred-named beauties, and after death,
Binding down God-shining hymns with life-bearing oracles.

Epigram concerning the Mystical Theology.

Thou didst leave behind both radiant mind and knowledge of beings,
Passing through the ambrosial night, which it is not lawful to name.

Another epigram on the work concerning Mystical Theology.

Having watered thy mind, O Dionysius, with the streams of Paul,
And having yearned for the whole ray of the triple-shining Godhead,
Thou didst grant unto men the imperishable radiance of divine naming.