The Sun is thirty times the size it appears: looks very small because it
is very high up from the earth.
The Sun has an apparel and a crown which would befit a Tsar, and fifteen
thousands of angels of the Lord accompany him and deck him every day.
And when the Sun wanes to the West, then the angels strip off from him
that garb and crown which would befit a Tsar, and lay it on the throne
of the Lord.
Three angels remain with the Sun and make him ready, and God has
consigned one hundred angels to enrobe the Sun in an apparel and a crown
meet for a Tsar.
And when the Sun arises from the East crossing to the West, then fiery
phœnixes and the _Ksálavy_ of paradise fly in front of the Sun, but
first wet their wings in the waters of the ocean and asperse with their
wings the Sun that he may not sear them with his golden rays.
But from the fire of the Sun the feathers even of these birds are
consumed, because they are scorched away. And they again bathe in the
ocean and are renewed.
For this reason the cock is a prophet, and it has under its wings a
white feather belonging to the other birds.
And when the Sun wanes to the West, then the cock’s feathers warp.
But when the Lord’s angels take the dress and the crown from the throne
of the Lord, the cock awakens, lifts up his voice, flutters with his
wings, the first time to announce the resurrection to the world and to
tell the angels of the law; then to say: “O Christ, Giver of Light, look
down on us and bestow on the world Thy light”; and the third time to
sing: “Christ is the Life and accomplishes all things.” And thus the
cock sings to the light, magnifies its Creator, and announces joy to the
just. Amen.