I.
The rite of the ointment, and what is perfected by it.
1. Of such a kind, then, is the most
holy synaxis. Such as the beautiful visions of the mind which, as I have often
said, sacredly and hierarchically effect our communion and gathering with the
One. There is, however, another rite of perfection belonging to the same order.
Our teachers have named it the sacrament of ointment. After we have examined in
detail the sacred imagery its parts present, we shall thus be uplifted in
hierarchical contemplation through its parts to be the One.
II
Mystery of the sacrament of ointment.
As happens with the synaxis, the
imperfect orders have to be excluded as soon as the hierarch has spread the
fragrance around the whole sacred space, and all have reverently completed the
singing of the psalms and the readings of the most divine scriptures. Then the
hierarch takes the ointment, covered by a dozen sacred folds, and places it on
the divine altar. Everyone joins in that sacred song which God inspired in the
prophets. A consecrating prayer is offered over the ointment and this is then
used in the holy sacraments of sanctification for almost all of the hierarchy’s
rites of consecration. (The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, 4.1-2, in Pseudo-Dionysius:
The Complete Works [trans. Colm Luibheid; The Classics of Western
Spirituality; New York: Paulist Press, 1987], 224-25)