The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite

This manuscript page is a parchment palimpsest. The primary text, written in dark brown Syriac Serto script, is oriented horizontally. Underneath, an earlier Greek text is faintly visible, written diagonally across the page. Large library stamps from the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) are present on the right and bottom, sometimes obscuring the original text. Small ink marks and a signature appear in the lower-left margin.

It is the knowledge of the pure and chosen soul original: "napsha dakita wa-gbita"
that delivers authority over everything that does not possess
its own power... if it is possible to be from God,
to him belong all those things in which
the soul is changed or transformed because of sin.
But he, however, cannot be changed
concerning those things in which he possesses a mediator mediator: or "means" (met'aya); likely referring to a middle state or intercessory element in the soul's ascent
as I have said in another place:
that a new voice is not given to them which says,
"towards perfection" original: "l-apay gamirowta"... for that which he desires,
and sees, and knows: he becomes a ruler by his word.
And no man is able to become a
heavenly body original: "pagra shmayana" and full of providence providence: the Syriac "mdabranuta" also carries the sense of "economy" or "divine administration"
and instruction is considered as
one who calls everyone according to their own power, not simply
distributed. And he knows that he holds all things, and he received
unchangeableness, and he knows that the soul will become
those things in which souls are changed.

The Syriac numeral "Kaph-Waw" representing the number 26, likely a folio or quire mark.