15

for you have been formed in their upright heart and they dwell with your form in you, my Christ. O wonder, o paradoxical gift of goodness! For men to be in the form of God 170 and for the one uncontainable by all, the unchangeable God, the one immutable in nature, to be formed in them, the one wishing to dwell in all the worthy ones, (43) so that each one has the king entirely within, both the kingdom itself and the things of the kingdom 175 and to shine, just as my God shone having risen, beyond the rays of this visible sun and thus standing beside the one who glorified them, they remain amazed by the excess of glory and by the continual addition of divine brightness; 180 for there will be no end of progress for ages, for the cessation of the addition of the endless end will surely also make a comprehension of the incomprehensible, and he who is insatiable to all will become satiety. But his fullness and the glory of the light 185 will be an abyss of progress, and an endless beginning; and just as having Christ formed within they stand beside this very one shining unapproachably; so the end in them happens to be a beginning of glory, and that I may make the meaning clearer to you - 190 in the end they will have a beginning and in the beginning the end. Understand for me the one who is over-full as lacking no addition, and the end of the endless as those running not reaching. For if this visible heaven and earth and all things on earth should pass away, consider, what I have said: 195 there will be a comprehension of place, where you will find an end; I do not say to you a bodily one, but with the mind you will be able to comprehend the fullness of the bodiless world; not a world, however, but it is air just as before; nor air, but an unutterable space, which they call the all, 200 and it is an endless abyss in every way, wholly equal from all sides, from both parts; this all has been filled with the divine divinity. Those therefore partaking of it, and dwelling in it, (44) how might they embrace the whole, so that they might also be sated? 205 Or how might they grasp the end of the endless, tell me? Impossible and indeed in every way it is impracticable; for neither here for the saints being in the flesh, nor there, having passed on into God, is such a thought able to enter into them at all; 210 for indeed they are veiled by the light of the divine glory, they are illuminated and they shine and they delight in these things and they know truly with all full assurance, that their perfection will be endless and the progress of glory will be everlasting.

15

μεμόρφωσαι καί γάρ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ εὐθεῖ καρδίᾳ καί κατοικοῦσι σύν τῇ σῇ μορφῇ ἐν σοί, Χριστέ μου. Ὤ θαῦμα, ὤ παράδοξον ἀγαθωσύνης δῶρον! Ἐν τῇ μορφῇ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ τούς ἀνθρώπους γενέσθαι 170 καί μορφωθῆναι ἐν αὐτοῖς τόν ἀχώρητον πᾶσι, τόν ἀναλλοίωτον Θεόν, τόν ἄτρεπτον τῇ φύσει, τόν εἰς πάντας βουλόμενον ἐνοικειν τούς ἀξίους, (43) ὡς ὅλον ἔχειν ἕκαστον ἐντός τόν βασιλέα, τήν βασιλείαν τε αὐτήν καί τά τῆς βασιλείας 175 καί λάμπειν, ὥσπερ ἔλαμψεν ἀναστάς ὁ Θεός μου, ὑπέρ ἡλίου τάς βολάς τοῦ ὁρωμένου τούτου καί οὕτως τῷ δοξάσαντι αὐτούς παρεστηκότες ἔκθαμβοι διαμείνουσιν ὑπερβολῇ τῆς δόξης καί προσθήκῃ διηνεκεῖ λαμπρότητος τῆς θείας˙ 180 οὐδέ γάρ τέλος ἔσεται προκοπῆς εἰς αἰῶνας, ἡ στάσις τῆς προσθήκης γάρ τοῦ ἀτελέστου τέλους ποιήσει καί κατάληψιν πάντως ἀκαταλήπτου, καί προσκορής γενήσεται ὁ ἀκόρεστος πᾶσιν. Ἀλλά τό πλήρωμα αὐτοῦ καί τοῦ φωτός ἡ δόξα 185 ἄβυσσος ἔσται προκοπῆς, ἀτέλεστος ἀρχή δέ˙ καί ὥσπερ ἔχοντες Χριστόν ἔνδον μεμορφωμένον τούτῳ αὐτῷ παρίστανται λάμποντι ἀπροσίτως˙ οὕτω τό τέλος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀρχή τυγχάνει δόξης, καί ἵνα σοι σαφέστερον τό νόημα ποιήσω - 190 ἐν τέλει ἕξουσιν ἀρχήν καί ἐν ἀρχῇ τό τέλος. Τόν ὑπερπλήρη νόει μοι ἀνενδεῆ προσθήκης, τοῦ ἀτελοῦς τό τέλος δέ τούς τρέχοντα μή φθάνειν. Εἰ γάρ παρέλθῃ οὐρανός ὁ ὁρώμενος οὗτος καί γῆ καί πάντα τά ἐν γῇ, στοχάσθητι, τί εἶπον˙ 195 ἔσται τόπου κατάληψις, ἔνθα τέλος εὑρήσεις˙ οὐ λέγω σοι σωματικόν, ἀλλά νοΐ ἰσχύσεις καταλαβεῖν τό πλήρωμα τοῦ ἀσωμάτου κόσμου˙ οὐ κόσμος δέ, ἀλλά ἀήρ ὑπάρχει ὥσπερ πρῴην˙ οὐδέ ἀήρ, ἀλλ᾿ ἄφθεγκτος χῶρος, ὅνπερ τό πᾶν καλοῦσι, 200 καί ἔστιν ἄβυσσος ἀτέλεστος εἰς ἅπαν, ἐξ ἴσης ὅλον πάντοθεν, μερῶν ἐξ ἑκατέρων˙ τοῦτο τό πᾶν πεπλήρωται θεότητος τῆς θείας. Οἱ οὖν αὐτοῦ μετέχοντες, ἐν αὐτῷ τε οἰκοῦντες, (44) πῶς ὅλον περιλάβωσιν, ἵνα καί κορεσθῶσιν; 205 Ἤ πῶς τοῦ τέλους δράξωνται τοῦ ἀτελοῦς, εἰπέ μοι; Ἀδύνατον καί πάντῃ δέ ἀμήχανον ὑπάρχει˙ οὔτε γάρ ὧδε πέλουσιν ἐν σαρκί τοῖς ἁγίοις, οὔτε ἐκεῖ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ μεταστᾶσι τοιαύτη ἔννοια ὅλως ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑπεισελθεῖν ἰσχύει˙ 210 καί γάρ κατακαλύπτονται φωτί τῆς θείας δόξης, ἐλλάμπονται καί λάμπουσι καί τρυφῶσιν ἐν τούτοις καί ἴσασιν ὡς ἀληθῶς πᾶσῃ πληροφορίᾳ, ὡς ἔσεται ἀτέλεστος ἡ τούτων τελειότης καί ἡ τῆς δόξης προκοπή ἀέναος ὑπάρξει.