Moreover, as that most holy, and sacred, and
gifted theologian, Dionysius the Areopagite Dionys., De
Cœl. Hier., ch. 6., says, All theology, that is to say, the
holy Scripture, has nine different names for the heavenly
essences But cf.
August., Enchir., ch. 8; Greg. Naz., Orat. 34; Greg.
Nyss., Contra Eunom., Orat. 1; Chrysost., De incomprehens., hom.
3, &c.. These
essences that divine master in sacred things divides into three groups,
each containing three. And the first group, he says, consists of
those who are in God’s presence and are said to be directly and
immediately one with Him, viz., the Seraphim with their six wings, the
many-eyed Cherubim and those that sit in the holiest thrones. The
second group is that of the Dominions, and the Powers, and the
Authorities; and the third, and last, is that of the Rulers and
Archangels and Angels.