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Of the things I wish to speak, I know I have never accomplished any of them. But I know precisely that our Lord and God does not bless only the one who speaks, but the one who has also acted before speaking; "For blessed," He says, "is the one who has done and taught; this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven;" For when the disciples hear such a teacher, they become eager to imitate him, and they do not receive so much benefit from his words as they are stirred up by his good deeds and are compelled to do the same things, which I myself do not know in myself; for I am conscious of no good in myself. But I beseech and exhort all of you, my beloved brothers, not to look upon my dissolute life, but upon the commandments of the Lord and the teachings of our holy fathers. For those luminaries wrote nothing that they had not first done and, having done, had not accomplished.

Therefore, let the one common way for us be the commandments of Christ, which lead us up to heaven and to God. For even if the word describes different ways, it is not at all according to its nature, but it is said to be divided into many according to the power and purpose of each one. For beginning from many and various works and actions, as if setting out each one from certain places and many cities, we strive to arrive at one lodging, the kingdom of heaven. But one must understand the actions and ways of men according to God to be the spiritual virtues, in which those who have begun to walk ought to run towards one goal, so that from different regions and places (23) they may come together into one city, as has been said, the kingdom of heaven, and be deemed worthy to reign together with Christ, being under one king, God the Father. Understand then here one city for me and not many, the holy and inseparable trinity of virtues, or rather the first of the rest, which they also call the last, as being the end of good things and happening to be the greatest of all, I mean love, from which and in which all faith is founded and hope is built, and without this nothing that exists was created, nor indeed will it ever be created at all. Many are its names, many are its actions, more are its characteristics, its properties are divine and very many, but its nature is one and likewise in every way ineffable to all, to angels and to men and to every other creature, which is perhaps unknown to us. Incomprehensible in word, unapproachable in glory, unsearchable in its counsels, eternal because it is also timeless, unseen because it is perceived by the mind, but not comprehended. Many are the beauties of this unmade and holy Zion, which he who has begun to see no longer delights in perceptible spectacles, no longer clings to the glory of this world.

Grant me, then, from the outset to converse with it a little and to address it and to dedicate my longing, as I have it, to this. Since, my beloved fathers and brothers, I remembered the beauty of blameless love, and suddenly its light was found in my heart and I was carried away by its sweetness and I lost my outward senses, becoming completely mindless to life, and I have forgotten the things at hand. But far away, I know not how to say it, it again departed from me and left me to lament my own weakness. O (24) all-desired love, blessed is he who has embraced you, for he will no longer desire with passion to embrace the beauty of an earthborn thing. Blessed is he who has been entwined with you out of divine love; for he will renounce the entire world and, drawing near to any man, will in no way be defiled. Blessed is he who has kissed your beauties and has reveled in them out of infinite longing, for he will be sanctified in soul from the water and blood that immaculately drop from you. Blessed is he who has desirously embraced you, for he will be changed with a good change and will rejoice spiritually and in soul, because you are the

5

ὧν λαλεῖν βούλομαι, οἶδα μηδέν ἐξ αὐτῶν διαπραξάμενός ποτε. Οἶδα δέ ἀκριβῶς ὅτι ὁ Κύριος καί Θεός ἡμῶν οὐχί τόν λέγοντα μακαρίζει μόνον, ἀλλά τόν πρό τοῦ εἰπεῖν καί πράξαντα· "Μακάριος γάρ, φησίν, ὁ ποιήσας καί διδάξας· οὗτος μέγας κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν·" Τοῦ γάρ τοιούτου διδασκάλου καί οἱ μαθηταί ἀκούοντες, μιμεῖσθαι αὐτόν γίνονται πρόθυμοι καί οὐ τοσοῦτον ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνου λόγων δέχονται τήν ὠφέλειαν, ὅσον ἀπό τῶν καλῶν αὐτοῦ πράξεων διεγείρονται καί τά αὐτά ποιεῖν ἀναγκάζονται, ὅπερ αὐτός ἐγώ ἐν ἐμαυτῷ οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι· οὐδέν γάρ ἀγαθόν ἐμαυτῷ σύνοιδα. Ἀλλά δέομαι καί πααρακαλῶ πάντας ὑμᾶς, ἀγαπητοί ἀδελφοί μου, μή εἰς τόν διακεχυμένον μου βίον ὁρᾶν, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς τά τοῦ Κυρίου προστάγματα καί εἰς τάς τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν τῶν ἁγίων διδασκαλίας. Οὐδέν γάρ οἱ φωστῆρες ἔγραψαν ἐκεῖνοι, ὅπερ πρότερον οὐκ ἐποίησαν καί ποιήσαντες οὐ κατώρθωσαν.

Τοιγαροῦν καί γενέσθω κοινή μία ἡμῖν ἡ ὁδός, αἱ ἐντολαί τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πρός οὐρανόν ἡμᾶς καί Θεόν ἐπανάγουσαι. Εἰ γάρ καί διαφόρους ὁ λόγος ὁδούς ὑπογράφει, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πάντως κατά τήν φύσιν ἐκείνου, κατά δέ τήν ἑκάστου δύναμίν τε καί πρόθεσιν εἰς πολλάς σχίζεσθαι λέγεται. Ἐκ πολλῶν γάρ ἀρχόμενοι καί διαφόρων ἔργων καί πράξεων, ὥσπερ ἐκ τόπων τινῶν καί πολλῶν ἀπαίροντες ἕκαστος πόλεων, εἰς ἕν καταντῆσαι σπουδάζομεν καταγώγιον, τήν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. Πράξεις δέ καί ὁδούς τῶν κατά Θεόν ἀνδρῶν τάς πνευματικάς χρή νοεῖν ἀρετάς, ἐν αἷς οἱ βαδίζειν ἀρξάμενοι πρός ἕνα τρέχειν σκοπόν ὀφείλουσιν, ὅπως ἐκ διαφόρων χωρίων καί τόπων (23) εἰς μίαν συνέλθωσι πόλιν, ὡς εἴρηται, τήν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν καί συμβασιλεύειν Χριστῷ ἅμα καταξιωθήσωνται, ὑφ᾿ ἑνί βασιλεῖ τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί γενόμενοι. Πόλιν οὖν ἐνταῦθα μίαν μοι νοήσεις καί οὐ πολλάς, τήν ἁγίαν καί ἀχώριστον τριάδα τῶν ἀρετῶν, μᾶλλον δέ τήν πρώτην τῶν λοιπῶν, ἥν καί λέγουσιν ἐσχάτην, ὡς τέλος τῶν καλῶν οὖσαν καί μείζω πασῶν τυγχάνουσαν, τήν ἀγάπην φημί, ἐξ ἧς καί ἐν ᾗ πίστις πᾶσα τεθεμελίωται καί ἐλπίς ᾠκοδόμηται, καί δίχα ταύτης συνέστη τῶν ὄντων οὐδέν, οὔτε μήν καθόλου συστήσεται. Πολλά δέ ταύτης ὀνόματα, πολλαί αἱ πράξεις αὐτῆς, πλείονα τά γνωρίσματα, τά ἰδιώματα θεῖα καί πλεῖστα, ἡ φύσις δέ μία καί ἐπίσης πάντῃ πᾶσιν ἀπόρρητος, τοῖς τε ἀγγέλοις καί τοῖς ἀνθρώποις καί πάσῃ κτίσει ἑτέρᾳ, τῇ ἴσως ἀγνοουμένῃ ἡμῖν. Ἀκατάληπτος τόν λόγον, τῇ δόξῃ ἀπρόσιτος, ἀνεξιχνίαστος τοῖς βουλεύμασιν, αἰώνιος ὅτι καί ἄχρονος, ἀθεώρητος ὅτι νοεῖται μέν, οὐ καταλαμβάνεται δέ. Πολλά τά κάλλη ταύτης τῆς ἀχειροποιήτου καί καί ἁγίας Σιών, ἅ ὁ βλέπειν ἀρξάμενος οὐκέτι αἰσθηταῖς ἐπευφραίνεται θεωρίαις, οὐκέτι τοῦ κόσμου τούτου τῇ δόξῃ πρόσκειται.

∆ότε οὖν μοι ἐκ προοιμίων προσομιλῆσαι αὐτῇ μικρόν καί προσφθέγξασθαι καί τόν πόθον ὡς ἔχω ταύτῃ ἀφοσιώσασθαι. Ἐπειδή, ἀγαπητοί μου πατέρες καί ἀδελφοί, ἐμνήσθην τοῦ κάλλους τῆς ἀμωμήτου ἀγάπης, καί αἴφνης τό φῶς αὐτῆς εὑρέθη ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου καί τῇ γλυκύτητι αὐτῆς συνηρπάγην καί τάς ἔξωθεν αἰσθήσεις ἀπώλεσα, ἔκνους ὅλως τῷ βίῳ γενόμενος, καί τῶν ἐν χερσίν ἐπιλέλησμαι. Μακράν δέ, οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως εἰπεῖν, πάλιν ἀπέστη ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ καί τήν ἰδίαν με ἀφῆκε θρηνεῖν ἀσθένειαν. Ὦ ἀγάπη (24) παμπόθητε, μακάριος ὁ σέ ἀσπασάμενος, ὅτι οὐκέτι κάλλος γηγενοῦς ἐμπαθῶς ἐπιθυμήσει ἀσπάσασθαι. Μακάριος ὁ σοί περιπλακείς ἐξ ἔρωτος θείου· ἅπαντα γάρ τόν κόσμον ἀρνήσεται καί παντί πλησιάζων ἀνθρώπῳ οὐδαμῶς μολυνθήσεται. Μακάριος ὁ τά σά κάλλη καταφιλήσας καί κατατρυφήσας αὐτῶν ἐξ ἀπείρου πόθου, ὅτι ψυχικῶς ἁγιασθήσεται ἐκ τοῦ ἀχράντως ἀποστάζοντος ὕδατος καί αἵματος ἀπό σοῦ. Μακάριος ὁ ποθεινῶς σε κατασπασάμενος, ὅτι ἀλλοιωθήσεται τήν καλήν ἀλλοίωσιν πνευματικῶς καί ψυχικῶς εὐφρανθήσεται, ὅτι σύ ὑπάρχεις ἡ