On Creation VI

On the Conduct of the Angels Homily Thirty-Eight On the Conduct of the Angels I saw the world of time running in silence, and I desired to learn what makes it run toward stillness. I saw its running and its silence wisely ordered, and I said, "What wisdom taught it to move in order?" At the changes of its times I marvelled greatly at the hidden order, and I sought to know what conceals it and reveals it. Amid its changes I stood as a spectator, to see how the beautiful order that overcomes is also overcome. With its movement I wished to direct my thoughts to wander, that I might learn where is the beginning of its path and the end of its running. Its running and its order made me seek with a prayer concerning it, that when I sought it I might know and make known to those who seek it. In its wake I pursued it as a stone pursues bread, and I was wearied that I might fill my mind from its treasures. Its beauty enticed me to approach its side and to be immersed in it, that my speech, full of pains, might be sweetened by it. With words concerning it I desired to be a companion in its beauty, and I wished to bring to light the desire of my mind. The desire of the world ground my mind away from order, and behold, it is difficult for me to produce words in likeness and in type. Like a woman in labour, my mind is confounded by the cause concerning it, that when it produces the offspring of speech before the hearers.

The cause of the world is the cause that gave birth to my thought. And what moves it and changes it, while it is silent? What changes summer into winter and winter into summer? And what turns its coldness into heat? What makes the sphere of the sun shine at the time of morning? And what hides the beauty of its light at the time of evening? What makes it run swiftly over the face of the firmament? And what holds it so that it does not slip and fall to the earth? What makes the moon small on the first day? And what raises it to fullness at the middle of the month? What, in its silence, casts down the commands of the order, so that the great order of the night is not disturbed? What makes the stars run in order, one after another, and shows them a path of guidance that is not cut off? What moves the silent air toward the service of the seasons? And what, in its silence, makes thick sounds resound? What hardens and thickens its coldness? And what makes it release floods of water and moisten the earth? What raises it like a rod from the sea? And what sinks its heavy mass by means of its winds? What calms its turbulence when it is stirred up? And what is still and stirs it up when it is quiet? Where is the one who makes it hard when it does not think? And from where does the harsh frost come in winter?

What turns the fire of lightning from its thunder? And what makes the sounds of thunder heard from its silence? What mixes its coldness with the heat that becomes the drink from which the fruits of the earth are produced? What preserves it when it is mixed in thick bodies, so that it is not lost from the elements that are proper to it? Are these actions of the nature of change their own power of change, or of others? Were the magicians of old the word in their incantations, or perhaps the eloquent ones set the word in motion for the poor? The ancients of the word, perhaps, had the power to do this, or perhaps again by the power of the Creator they are empowered? The thought of these cast into my mind the thought of these, and I thought that one does these by the power of his will. One is the power that does its power by means of the winds, and it becomes, arranging its works by the works of its hands. By means of speakers it moves the silent ones that are not sentient, and by the winds it completes its love towards the creatures. To their speech it turned the world from the beginning, and they preserve the change of the seasons without confusion. For them it made angels stewards of its goodness, to distribute from the treasury of its mercies to the earthly ones. For them it set up viceroys over its service, who give a share in its season to the sons of its house.

To him who gives the world the measure of youth as to an elder, he entrusted the ordering of his wisdom from youth to perfection. To their greatness he delivered the course of his swiftness, ordering them from the deeds of speed. He made the elements a father for the fool, so that he would not be troubled to go about as he wished. The fool was much from the mixture of blackness, for he set up the elements over his service. He hastened the wealth of darkness to their authority, which was necessary for him, so that they might be anxious that his ascent be day by day. He was wantonly gluttonous for the fruit that eats and drinks, and he placed the food in the hand of the orders that distribute his portions. In the hand of the orders he wished to order his gluttony, so that when he eats wantonly he might not die evilly. The good wise one, the lord of the world, the elemental one, wisely made him wise with the word of speech. He set up speakers over the service of the speechless one, so that their wisdom might choose his choice by their elementality. Through them, by the speakers, he governs all, he orders all, and there is no deed that is not completed by their hands, delivering his course. To him who delivers the course of the deaf and the speakers, and according to their word he interprets the hidden one with his signs. Through their mediation he shows his love and also his wrath, and he gives blessings and loosens bonds for those who are bound.

In his embassy he performs all that is fitting, and chooses and rejects as he sees fit his command from the beginning. To him who sends in embassy to the lands, they turn and show him as he knows. From him follows the course of fire and the change of seasons, and they hasten well to preserve the order of the waters in his hands. In him he performs the activity of his activity, and at times he drives and at times he stands as he passes. In him he delivers the wombs of his love when they are distressed, and in him he drives the messengers when they are inflamed. In him he governs the dominion of kings and the division of peoples, and by their strength he arranges thrones and transfers thrones. Like a chariot he mounts his command upon their movements, and in the likeness of horses they are yoked and fly through the air. O spiritual chariot of God, all of it, in which are yoked the horses of the spirit on the courses of the spirit! O chariot that holds the world not with hands, that drives the courses of the heavenly ones on the faces of the height! O charioteer who raises his riding above riding, who drives a course without visible limbs! From the beginning he rode upon something that is not ridden, and beneath him are yoked a nature that is not yoked beneath senses. Who has not been disturbed by the great course of the great mountain, for behold, in a short while six thousand of his one course?

He does not say that the one who bears all runs his course, and his power strengthens the weakness of the work of his hands. His power sets the heavens in motion beneath his command, and by his command the world runs beneath his servants. Or the wonder of wonders, the abyss is filled, when the world beneath the Creator and the stars is silent. The watchers are silent beneath the sign that was established, and the worlds are silent beneath the authority that was empowered. By the power of his love, creation is silent beneath the spirits, and their authority is above its midst like a seal. By the channels of the spirit, they clothe the air without corporeality, and guide it according to the will of the guide of all. All together are silent and subject to their authority, and with all they run and for all they guard without weariness. By the commands of their authority they divide the world, and each one of them is vigilant in the work of turning in his hands. There is one who clothes the sun in rays without substance, and shows it a path of courses without stations. With him the swift watcher runs like a whisper, and arranges for him without confusion the path of his course. With its beginning, the swift wind flies lightly, and completes the circuit of the earth by night and day. There is one who bears the moon on his shoulder without corporeality, and guides it by means of changes as if it were a child.

He errs in his course, making without distinction, and governs it without being governed by a guide. He sets orders and ranks, his standing like a learner who knows how much descends and ascends. There are those who liken the rising of the stars to lamps, and in their risings they pursue the darkness of the nights. A straight path he makes equal in the air for the swift ones, and they travel on it and are not turned away from its guidance. Ranks upon ranks travel on a path without disturbance, and the heavenly ones at the head of their ranks like leaders. The orders and their arrangements resemble the encampment of a king, and the spiritual ones, great powers that are not to be halted. There are those who command the air, which is moved, to stand, and they move it with hidden motions of their thoughts. With a motion he moves incorporeal things without a body, and he composes it while he himself is his own nature without composition. Not bodies are suspended in him without a body, and he suspends it with measures like a solid thing. From the incorporeal he makes a body for incorporeal things, so that by its corporeality the body of solid waters is held. The lower ones, bound, draw from it its sharpness, so that by their binding they hold waters from the streams. Clouds spread in the midst of the circle of height and depth, and above them they conceal waters like a veil.

In the waters and the wind he sprinkles the house of the market of life, and from his sprinkling he brings down waters and steeps them in the earth. There are those who, for thunder, set in motion a power whose sound is fearful, and they shake the earth with the sound of its swiftness. In the air they make channels of water and give voice when waters are mingled with waters. The sound of the wind passes through the hollow of the water and scatters the mass of water that is in the clouds. The waters fill the hollow of the air with the blast of the wind, and when the sound of thunder passes through it, it is shattered and poured out. Like a lyre of two strings and one speaker, hidden within it is the cause of the commotion of the watchers and the wakeful. To the cause of the commotion the watchers teach battle against the evil one, that their inequality may not destroy the commotion of fruits and seeds. In a motherly way, speaking teachers teach the deaf, and from the air the seed of those who are moved in it is ground. Millstones of stone are ground from it when they are hidden, and they send them to the face of the height with a hard stone. As against iron, his stones strike with a hard stone, and from it come forth bright sparks. Brightly he makes shine through the midst of the light, and swiftly he shows the light and hides it. The channel is full of the sight of the light for the one who comes after it, that with its beginning also its end is without weariness.

He does not let go of the swift one in him of the beautiful thunder, for with him he seizes his light from his clouds. Woe to the swift one that does not see the swiftness. And to those who see it, he does not let go of the beautiful thunder. Leave the thunder of the beautiful one in the silence of your tranquility; do not disturb it with a swiftness that is not yours. It is not his that the lightning runs swiftly; he is the one who runs his silence while he is not perceived. He is the watchful one who steers clouds to the sea swiftly, and the cargoes of water are not submerged in the weight of the waters. Like a laden ship, the cloud is a treasure of water, and it rises and stands on the face of the height and is not opened. The sails of the wind are filled with wind and steer it so that it is not submerged in the depth of the waters that are in its midst. Woe to the sailor who runs his ship of air in the air and changes the sails, steering it with spiritual movements. With movements he steers the spiritual one to the wind of the air, and when it is shaken, it gives a sound that shakes the earth, as if a stone were held in the swiftness of its speed, and it strikes the face of the earth when it does not wish. O swift one that has no rest to remain in the earth, that it might run gently on the face of the height like a heavy one. Woe, how great is the folly of the good one who is with the bodies, that he might hide reasons from us outside the order.

his swiftness, the swift one of the beautiful thunder stands in his swiftness, and this is the wonder that ascends to the height and descends to the depths. The power of the angel resists the power of his swiftness, and it restrains the high course toward the clouds. One angel is appointed as commander over his camp, and he governs it by means of the changes of all the forms. One who makes the beginning over his changes, while with him are the sons of service who are obedient to him. Instead of the satan who turned aside and fell, a holy one is appointed, and the workers with him instead of the legions of the hostile demons. He and his companions arrange the air in a stormy manner, and they direct the signs and the other things that are needed in it. They divide the authorities of the rulers by means of orders, and in an orderly manner they proceed on the path of their actions. There are those who are appointed to arrange the kings and their thrones, and they give rule to some and release others from authority. There are those who divide battle, giving to the warriors, and according to his judgment he purifies the good and drives away the evil. There are those who guard the fire every day from the sparks, and they drive away from them the forces of the hostile demons. One angel is joined to every human being in the union of love, and with him he is from the day of his birth until his death. With his life, the living one runs the course of life, and at the side of his bed he stands firm on the day of his passing.

he separates her living soul from the members, and he carries her to where the Creator commands. Under the command of the nature, she is known and subjugated, and it is not her own to do this which is done in her. It is not he who gives the measure of life and a limited span, and he is not permitted to add an hour or subtract an hour. And also for man, he does not direct his life by a cord, and he cannot make them neither bitter nor sweet. The freedom of the soul stands in man in his own likeness, and he can sin and also be justified as a divider. The freedom of the soul in man is not hindered, and it is not directed to do anything without will. One nature of the soul of man and of the angels, and it is not diminished except its own deficiency for its standing. In a perfect day, it stands in its place from the beginning, as the limit of the angels is also perfect. Her life is from him and from the taste which is theirs it is. And for her life, she is compelled every hour by their actions. To that daughter of the voice which called man by the name of covering, he honors her by the honor of the side of man. In man, they show their great love for the Creator, for that which does not weary in the course of their life and in their service. Our words are worn out greatly and are also worn out, and they are not extended to the blood which is extended in the filling of the womb.

Because of them, he casts into the crucible of change the offerings, so that by their change they might remember the life without end. Because of them, he labors and toils in the labors, and when they do not labor with him, the truth is revealed. Because of them, he stirs the air with the motion that is in it, so that through its waves the seeds of the resurrection of the living might be established. Because of the living, he orders the course of the months of the year, so that the order of the seasons might not turn aside and go astray. Because of them, he shows the way to the sun and the moon, so that the path of the discipline of the hunt of the Creator might not go astray. Because of them, he divides the hours for light and darkness, so that they might not be divided against the Creator who created them. Because of his rank, the authority of ranks and orders stands, and they show that they command and are commanded, because of his rank they have entered into a pledge. To his honor, the orders of their authority do honor, and because of his order, order rules among their ranks. The great order has been loosed among the orders of the ordainers, and when one was, there was that which commands and is commanded. In their command, the great herald of the peoples has become worn out, and he has become weary in the name of the authority of their authority. And because of their need, he has written that which is revealed and also that which destroys, so that when the need is sent, it might put on glory. All of creation is with them, and they are with it, so that when the day of birth from the house of the dead comes.

With the silent ones, the Watchers toil and labor over that hope which was the hope of their loss. By the hope of their hope, creation hangs, and the Watchers are more vigilant in that they fill the multitudes with the hope that prepares her. By the good hope of salvation, the lives of all are adorned, and it is true that they receive it through actions. Because of his hope, he wrote that they enslaved themselves to vanity, and the world will receive the reward of renewal on the day of its renewal. True is the labor that the Watchers labor for the sake of man, and behold, the proof of its truth in the change of offerings. The offerings testify to the labors of the silent ones, and instead of a mouth, they cry out in silence, how much they are despised. In silence, the deaf elements cry out with man, "Look, O man, your reasons are despised, O Watchers." Your reasons are cast into the air, the eloquent and the deaf, and that man does not perceive how much they are despised on his behalf. Look, O man, at their toil for a little while, and toil yourself in the good thought of the Watchers, your brothers. See that on your behalf many are despised and are also despised, and with your upbringing they raise fruits for your vanity. Theirs is the upbringing of fruits and the ripening of seeds, and by their word the course of the months of the year is ordered. Swiftly they run in the air with their movements, and mighty is the beauty of their labors.

They all act and they all watch over in a hidden manner, and by their actions they render praise to the Maker of all. Praise stands still when they are loosed in their actions, and that wonder is with action also praise. The two together complete each one without confusion, the activity for the sake of man and praise for the hidden One. There are doers of divine activity who are not hindered from fulfilling the two together. There are ministers, ministers of all of the Lord of all, whose love is perfect toward the Creator for the sake of his creatures. There are messengers of the King of kings, the immortal one, who by their message preserve the life of mortality. There are peacemakers and lovers of peace, of the whole and in the whole, who incline the peace of man by the love that is in them. There are heralds of the power of the Creator for the sake of creatures, who without voice make the deaf elements hear a voice. How great is the word that is in them beyond history, so that even the silent hear the voices of their interpretations. Without the daughter of voice, each one speaks with the silent. And when there is no word, they complete words by means of actions. In secret they speak with the elements, which are not sentient, and they give perceptible voices like those of sentient beings. And as if with hands, they take hold of the air by its four corners, and they spread out the lightness of its surface to the four directions.

By their actions the living beings move the air, and also the animals. And by its movement it stirs the earth to produce fruits. Artfully they work the pains of the sick world. By coldness and heat, two opposites. By its coldness it purifies at all times with heat. And it proceeds like medicines for pains and sicknesses. Woe to the healing, the incorporeal one without bodies, which purifies the spiritual ones and is fitting for the body. To their art the Lord of the world gave to the world, that it might know how to work the pains of his creation. The power of his will he placed in their hands from the beginning, that they might be sufficient to manage the sick world by sin. From him they learned art, and then they were adorned, and the power of his help runs with them until the end. With them runs the power of the will swiftly, and with it it guides without measures of steps. Subtly it signals its sign without a daughter of voice, and it hears its voice without a bodily hearing. According to the hearing of the ear they become interpreters with them, that they might be sufficient to perceive in the air a hidden voice. In the air they hear that daughter of voice which is all this, and by signs they are revealed in it when they are vigilant. Woe, how great is the greatness of the wonder of the spiritual ones, and small the mouth of all creation that would tell its wonder.

How sharp is the air that cuts the surfaces of the air, which suffices for the reception of the sound of the cutting from all the airs. How light is that mixture which is mingled in it, so that when there is nothing visible to it, it is true. How hidden is that concealment which is above it, and how manifest are the actions before their eyes. How true is the hidden truth of their thoughts, and it is not possible to search for the depth of that concealment. Hidden from them as it is hidden from all creatures, and that wonder, how hidden it is to them as if it were manifest. By faith they see a vision that is not seen, and without vision they direct the air of their thoughts. By faith they hear a sound that is not a sound, and they receive it without perceptible perceptions. By faith they completed the course of faith, and they believed that it is possible to believe in the name of the Creator. By faith they completed the race of faith, and they believed that it is possible to believe in the name of the Creator. By faith they stood to arrange the power of the elements, and in it they restrained the harsh power of their hardness. By faith they established the service of the image of the human being, and they did not dispute over that sound which called its image. Faith adorned their nature with the labor of its life, and it strengthens it without its form reaching faith.

The trust sent forth a sign to its sister, and in it they were hidden in the spiritual covering of its soul. Spiritual and not material, they trusted that it is, just as also the signs are spiritual and not material. From that genus which begets genera, its genus is, and it also is without composition and without vision. From that species which governs its species without current, and it also is in that form from nothing. Woe to the knowledge of the soul of man and of the spirits, which cut short lives not mortal like their Creator. O from man of the soul, in whom there is no mortality, that he who bears her is called mortal in their holes. O from the iniquity which reveals its iniquity even to the blind, who hide her in the holes of the eye in the form of love. O error which makes the erring one err in the ways of error, whose likeness is like that error in Paradise. Rejoice, O victory of the reasoning of this and that, and be a reasoning which reasons taste and leads astray here. It is fitting that this error of mortality be likened to that error of completion and of compression. From evil he said that all is for the devourer of the fruit, and in love he led astray now that he might receive the likeness. In love he did not die; he made man taste because of man. Behold, the error which fills the ways of error without measures.

The difficulty of the measure of this confusion from the measures, and as the narrative of words lengthens, they are cut short from it. Its abundance I saw, that it terrified the demon of matter concerning this error, its narrative in the narrative of the heavens. I saw the heavens, that they are higher than all sensations, and I thought much that their lower parts make sensible the fools. In the sensation of him I thought much and filled sensation, and I left the way and went down in the way of the descent of the shadows. Now turn myself to your word, to the way of the word concerning the spirits, and do not be hindered in the path of the zeal of the lovers of sensation. So that I may speak correctly in the narrative, the correct narrative of the signs of the air, and seek well in the good request of their activities. I seek how the silent natures can be moved, and by what power the power of the elements is hidden. How does the air, which is incorporeal, become corporeal, and how do the spiritual things enter and make its corporeality? How does its moisture mix with heat, and again separate from it and establish it in its former order? How does their density pass through his density, when the weight of the sun and moon is suspended in it? How much does the hollow in which they are strike in their activities, and the balance of the order of the lights is not disturbed?

How do they fly from the sphere in which is the circuit of the earth, and how do they reach the limit of evening for another circuit? How do the hours of night and day weigh, and they do not err and stray from the order they received from the beginning? How many thousands of their legions are there, who were with everything and everything with them, and all in their hands? What is sufficient for the counting of the stars and the number of men, for behold, every star and every man has one with him? What knows that the beautiful light in all its changes, that there is not one change in which they were not? What contemplates the dominion of kings and the conduct of peoples, that their actions turn the order of their actions? What has heard the word of David concerning their sanctity, that the sanctifiers and glorifiers were as they? With one word the spirit of holiness showed them, and showed that they are able to praise him in that which they praise. How then can one take up the order of their actions, for which there is no number to the causes that come from them? Only one who measures and considers what they were, and according to their number your heart becomes the limit of their actions. He knew them, how many they were and how they were, and he orders them until they stand upon dominion.

He was looking into the furnace of his testing until now, and the truth of their being and the falsehood of their being was revealed to him. The signs of how many of them stand before him were revealed to him, and how many go out beyond the boundary of his command. The rebellious demons were driven away by him until they were submerged, and the watchers of the heights entered into his household. The chief of the air was loosed from his authority, and those of the house of Gabriel were established in the place of his rank. They honored him with order and rank after the times, and there was no order lacking its proper arrangement. With being, these of the lower realm existed, not in being but in the mystery of the future things. In the future things they existed, not in deeds, and they knew and were given as one who knows. They knew that knowledge which is the daughter of the sign, for the time of knowledge which they were seeking in the time of the helper. In the time of the helper, the Creator created the creation of the outside, and he showed the way by means of the angels who would drive before him. By means of the angels, he taught the world about his lordship, by which he guides and makes it wise until the end. With his life, he performs the life of the one who lives the life, and he does not cease to do anything without them.

There is nothing in the world that is hidden from the angels, nor do the angels have authority beyond their course. He runs a race, a race of perfect victory, and is wearied by the weariness of their ordering, which has no beginning. By the labor of the world, the Lord of the world made the world, so that they might become rich from the poverty that sustains him. The difficulty of their lives fills his hours with difficulty, and when they give to him, they take from him, like the needy. Not the difficulties of God alone fill his hands, for the world is not worthy of his course to be compared to him. The power of the creature is not less than nothing, to direct the works of his hands without the watchers. He and his servants honor each other in his hands, supporting through their hands, and his authority is exalted and raised toward his greatness. They repay the kindnesses of the heights with their actions, and when one says that they repay, they cannot repay. Small is the recompense if it is compared with kindness, when one says it is small, and small, when it does not exist. There is no recompense, no reward, for the Creator, and if it exists, it exists by grace, not by labor. Not from labor do the watchers receive reward, but by grace they take reward from kindness. I said that they receive blessings for nothing, not for nothing, but because the world cannot suffice for the price of blessings.

good is the beauty, and also the toils of the heavens, and no man is able to depict the beauty of their thoughts. Their beauty has made the lords of beauty envious, and if they were not beautiful, they would not be pleasing to the giver of beauty. The greatness of their love has brought the king near, and even to the king himself, the beauty of his ordering has greatly pleased. What a wonder, from greatness to the maker, that the works made by him stand before the authority of making. By the power of the maker, all is moved by the maker, and it is not lost to them that by the power of his power, all is preserved. They did not err in the name of the maker who is empowered by him, and in the evil ones they erred and were cast down by the air that is in them. In the name of the maker, the works that erred were established, and to their authority they gave the authority of making. They divided the great name of divinity among their names, and to one of them they gave the gift of creation. Let the erring ones not be cast down and err greatly, saying that there is one and from him and to him is everything. One creator to whom creation is fitting, and one creator to whom the name of being is fitting. The name of the maker did not escape the works that erred, nor did the maker give his rank to the work of his hands. The spiritual ones do not touch this error, and if a man says that he touches it, he does not touch it.

In their movements they show the power of the Creator, and if it were possible, they would cry out with a voice that there is one Creator. They knew the one Creator beforehand, when they were established, and they do not know another power except him. By the will of his love, the love of their thoughts is bound, and they are very careful not to be separated from his service. By that service which they perform, they stand in every season, and there is no season in which their thoughts do not meditate on him. A good meditation is placed between them by night and day, and the more they meditate, they meditate on him without satiety. By good hope they were bound to the goods above them, and this wonder, how they are moved, is not to be separated. The love of goods is not satiated for the good ones who are in them, and their nature yearns for the love of goods with the tenderness of their nature. Good goods are a possession for them and for mankind; blessed is the one who preserves the memory of goods within his thought. He directs his mind to the high kingdom with their ranks; blessed is the one who bows down and enters with them to the place where they enter. Come, mortals, become companions to the immortals, and be with them in the inheritance of the tranquil goods.