προχεει σειρει
το, τε κυδηεν
γενος ηρωων,
εργα τα θνητων
κρυφιαισιν οδοις
διανισσομενον,
εργα βροτεια.
ψυηα τ’ ακλινης,
και κλινομενα
ες μελαναυγεις
χθονιους ογκους.
viz. “Thee, father of the worlds, father of the æones,[1] artificer of the Gods, it is holy to praise. Thee, O king, the intellectual Gods sing, thee, O blessed God, the Cosmagi, those fulgid eyes, and starry intellects, celebrate, round which the illustrious body [of the world] dances. All the race of the blessed sing thy praise, those that are about, and those that are in the world, the zonic Gods, and also the azonic,[2] who govern the parts of the world, wise itinerants, stationed about the illustrious pilots [of the universe,] and which the angelic series pours forth. Thee too, the renowned genus of heroes celebrates, which by occult paths pervades the works of mortals, and likewise the soul which does not incline to the regions of mortality, and the soul which descends into dark terrestrial masses.”
In another part also of the same hymn, he informs us that he adored the powers that preside over Thrace and Chalcedon.
Ικετευσα θεους,
δϱηστηϱας οσοι
γονιμον Θϱῃκης
- ↑ What these are will be shortly explained, when we come to speak of the Apostle Paul.
- ↑ Synesius does not here speak conformably to the Chaldean theologists, from whom he has derived these appellations. For the ζωναιοι and the αζωνοι, are according to them Gods, the former being the divinities of the stars, and the latter forming that order of Gods which is called by Proclus in the sixth book of this work απολυτος, liberated. Both these orders therefore, are superior to the angelic series. This unscientific manner however of calling both the highest and lowest divine powers by the common name of angels, is not peculiar to Synesius and the Jews, but to all the fathers of the church, and all the Christian divines that succeeded them.
