Iamblichus: On the Mysteries · 122 of 218 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Chapter XXVI-a
Since, however, prayers are not the smallest [but on the contrary a very great] part of sacrifices, especially give completion to them, and through these the whole operation of them is corroborated and effected; and since, besides 271 this, they afford a common utility to religion, and produce an indissoluble and sacred communion with the Gods, it will not be improper to discuss a few particulars concerning prayer.
For this is of itself a thing worthy to be known, and renders more perfect the science concerning the Gods.
I say, therefore, that the first species of prayer is collective ; and that it is also the leader of contact with, and a knowledge of, divinity.
The second species is the bond of concordant communion , calling forth, prior to the energy of speech, the gifts imparted by the Gods, and perfecting the whole of our operations prior to our intellectual conceptions.
And the third and most perfect species of prayer is the seal of ineffable union with the divinities , in whom it establishes all the power and authority of prayer; and thus causes the soul to repose in the Gods, as in a never failing port.
But from these three terms, in which all the divine measures are contained, suppliant adoration not only conciliates to us the friendship of the Gods, but supernally extends to us three fruits, being as it were three Hesperian apples of gold.
The first of these 272 pertains to illumination ; the second , to a communion of operation ; but through the energy of the third , we receive a perfect plenitude of divine fire .
And sometimes, indeed, supplication precedes ; like a precursor preparing the way before the sacrifice appears.
But some times it intercedes as a mediator ; and sometimes accomplishes the end of sacrificing .
No operation, however, in sacred concerns, can succeed without the intervention of prayer.
Lastly, the continual exercise of prayer nourishes the vigour of our intellect, and renders the receptacles of the soul far more capacious for the communications of the Gods.
It likewise is the divine key , which opens to men the penetralia of the Gods; accustoms us to the splendid rivers of supernal light; in a short time perfects our inmost recesses, and disposes them for the ineffable embrace and contact of the Gods; and does not desist till it raises us to the summit of all.
It also gradually and silently draws upward the manners of our soul, by divesting them of every thing foreign to a divine nature, and clothes us with the perfections of the Gods.
Besides this, it produces an indissoluble communion and friendship with divinity, nourishes a divine love, and inflames the divine part of the soul.
Whatever is of an opposing and contrary nature in the soul, it 273 expiates and purifies; expels whatever is prone to generation, and retains any thing of the dregs of mortality in its etherial and splendid spirit; perfects a good hope and faith concerning the reception of divine light; and, in one word, renders those by whom it is employed the familiars and domestics of the Gods.
If such, then, are the advantages of prayer, and such its connexion with sacrifice, does it not appear from hence that the end of sacrifice is a conjunction with the Demiurgus of the world?
And the benefit of prayer is of the same extent with the good which is conferred by the demiurgic causes on the race of mortals.
Again, from hence the anagogic , perfective , and replenishing power of prayer appears; likewise how it becomes efficacious and unific; and how it possesses a common bond imparted by the Gods.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
Prayer establishes a bond of concordant communion with Gods prior to speech.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Prayer is described as a mediator that accomplishes the end of sacrificing and effects divine operations.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The text describes a hierarchy of prayer species flowing from collective to perfect union with divinities.
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
Prayer is described as an exercise that nourishes the vigour of intellect and opens penetralia.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The text describes the soul being clothed with the perfections of the Gods through prayer.