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But she was recognized as being alive by her groans and her posture. And she often philosophized to me about the matter, that prayer is an encounter with the Better One and the one encountering must not be changed, until the One speaking departs; and she called the soul's unsuitability the departure of the Divine. "For one must not say," she says, "that It extends or contracts, but It is unable to depart from Itself, and stands everywhere like light, like air, like some other common and available thing, like a resounding trumpet. And those see this and perceive Its sounding for whom 'the eye of the soul' is fit for seeing; and the perception of the sounding is well-disposed to hear the sound. But as many as seeing do not see again or 'hearing do not hear,' for these the attunement of both sight and hearing has failed; for with matter the mind perceives the immaterial, whence, wherever it may be separated, it has purely seen the visible and heard the audible; but when matter is mixed with it, it immediately loses its fitness. Thus, at any rate, many have seemed to hear voices and to perceive a sound, having received a divinely inspired soul and one that rages with soberness. We must therefore keep prayer with the body uninclined and unmoved. Since not all the soul has descended into the vessel of the body, but so much of it as was mixed with the flesh has resulted in sensation, while the other part floats lightly on the surface from above, like a topsail, just as a light cork, not being dragged down by the nets; this at least some other angelic mind from without turns toward itself and leads it up to God." This was her truly spiritual and divine wisdom, which she was initiated into from above, into which she initiated us from below. 18. But I will speak about my mother again, but the account again looks toward my father. Who was otherwise gracious in both body and soul, but when he was "deemed worthy of the rite" and of the ascent and exaltation toward the better, he became still more beautiful and more gracious. For he seemed to have been freed from some bond and precisely winged and free, as if he had become a living offering to God. For he went about having his soul full of pure pleasure, and; "If indeed some other," he often said, "'kingdom of heaven' has been stored up for those who have pleased God, surely God knows and 'He who spoke is without falsehood.' But also the life which they live who are directed toward Him does not seem to me at all to fall short of the other and first one. Therefore, for my part, the soul is not immersed in the body as before, but as if within the bounds of divine precincts it dances and rejoices. And for me now its immortality has not been deduced by reasoning, but has been beheld. For it has been released from the body and subsists, and has been separated from what is connate with it, not only in its activity, but also in its essence. But it has not been released to the extent that He who bound it has willed; meanwhile at least it purely returns to itself and has been turned toward the mind and through the mind toward God." He, philosophizing on these things, also for me resolved many of the "illogical syllogisms" and gave an immediate understanding, at once proposing and concluding from the mind and not requiring the middle error. For I saw him becoming different from what he was and by the "anagogical powers" being lifted up to the highest point and singing the steps up from Babylon and being led up to Jerusalem. Not much time had yet passed when, having been summoned, I went to him and as I entered; "But now," he said, "my child, that bright-eyed joy is not at all present in me, but a certain mist has suddenly wandered over my soul, and I know indeed that this has run upon me from the worse natures. For this portion—and he added more, philosophizing about this, what it does, how it enters the soul, and the other things concerning their nature and the precise observation of those who have experienced it—; but I am not able to push away the siege, but as if besieged the soul

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ἐγνωρίζετο δὲ ὅτι γε ζῴη τοῖς στεναγμοῖς καὶ τῷ σχήματι. Ἐφιλοσόφει δέ μοι πολλάκις περὶ τοῦ πράγματος, ὅτι ἐντυχία τίς ἐστι τοῦ Κρείττονος ἡ εὐχὴ καὶ οὐ δεῖ μεταβεβλῆσθαι τὸν ἐντυγχάνοντα, ἄχρις ἂν τὸ ὁμιλοῦν ἀποστῇ· ἀπόστασιν δὲ τοῦ Θείου τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἔλεγεν ἀνεπιτηδειότητα. «οὐ γάρ που δεῖ-φησίν-ἐκεῖνο λέγειν ἐκτείνεσθαι ἢ συστέλλεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἀνεκφοίτητόν τέ ἐστιν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ἁπανταχοῦ ἕστηκεν ὡς φῶς, ὡς ἀήρ, ὡς ἄλλο τι τῶν κοινῶν τε καὶ ἐκκειμένων, ὡς σάλπιγξ ἠχοῦσα. ὁρῶσι δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἠχοῦντος αἰσθάνονται ὅσοις «τό τε τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμμα» ἐπιτηδείως πρὸς τὴν ὅρασιν ἔχει· ἥ τε τοῦ ἠχοῦντος αἴσθησις εὐηκόως ἔχει πρὸς τὴν ἠχώ. ὅσοι δὲ ὁρῶντες οὐχ' ὁρῶσιν αὖθις ἢ «ἀκούοντες οὐκ ἀκούουσιν», ἀπείρηκε τούτοις ἡ συντονία καὶ τῆς ὁράσεως καὶ τῆς ἀκοῆς· μετὰ γὰρ τῆς ὕλης ὁ νοῦς τῆς ἀϋλίας αἰσθάνεται, ὅθεν ὅπῃ μὲν ἀποκριθείη, καθαρῶς οὗτος εἶδέ τε τὸ θεατὸν καὶ ἠκηκόει τοῦ ἀκουστοῦ· ἐμμιχθείσης δὲ αὐτῷ τῆς ὕλης τὸ ἐπιτήδειον εὐθὺς ἀπόλλυσιν. οὕτω γοῦν πολλοί τινες ἔδοξαν ἀκούειν φωνῶν καὶ ἠχοῦς αἰσθάνεσθαι, τεθειασμένην λαβόντες ψυχὴν καὶ σωφρόνως βακχεύουσαν. τηρητέον γοῦν ἡμῖν τὴν εὐχὴν ἀκλινεῖ καὶ ἀμεταθέτῳ τῷ σώματι. ἐπεὶ μηδὲ πᾶσα ψυχὴ τῷ σωματικῷ σκάφει κατέδυ, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ὅσον αὐτῆς ἐμίγη σαρξὶν εἰς αἴσθησιν ἀπετελεύτησε, τὸ δὲ ἕτερον ἐπιπλέει ἄνωθεν ἀκρόπλουν, οἷον ἄρτημα κορυφαῖον, φελλὸς καθαπερεὶ κοῦφος, μὴ κατασπασθεὶς τοῖς δικτύοις· τοῦτο γοῦν ἔξωθέν τις ἄλλος ἀγγελικὸς νοῦς μεταστρέφει πρὸς ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀνάγει πρὸς τὸν Θεόν». αὕτη ἐκείνης ἡ πνευματικὴ τῷ ὄντι καὶ θεία σοφία, ἢν ἄνωθεν ἐμυήθη, ἣν ἡμᾶς ἐμύει τοὺς κάτωθεν. 18. Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῆς μητρὸς καὶ αὖθις λέξω, ὁ δὲ λόγος καὶ πάλιν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ὁρᾷ. ὃς ἦν μὲν καὶ ἄλλως χαρίεις καὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχήν, ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τῆς «τελετῆς ἠξιώθη» καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἀναβάσεως καὶ ὑψώσεως, ἔτι μᾶλλον καλλίων καὶ χαριέστερος γέγονεν. ἐῴκει γοῦν δέσμης ἀπηλλαγμένος τινὸς καὶ ἀκριβῶς ἐπτερωμένος τε καὶ ἐλεύθερος, ὥσπερ τι ἀνάθημα ἔμψυχον τῷ Θεῷ γεγονώς. περιῄει γοῦν ἡδονῆς ἀκηράτου πλήρη τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχων, καί· «εἰ μέν τις ἑτέρα-πολλάκις ἔλεγεν- «οὐρανῶν βασιλεία» τοῖς εὐηρεστηκόσι Θεῷ τεταμίευται, πάντως οἶδε Θεὸς καὶ «ὁ εἰπὼν ἀψευδής». ἀλλὰ καὶ ἣν ζῶσι ζωὴν οἱ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἀπευθυνόμενοι οὔ μοι πάνυ δοκεῖ ἀποδεῖν τῆς ἑτέρας καὶ πρώτης. ἔμοιγ' οὖν ἡ ψυχὴ οὐχ ὡς τὸ πρότερον τῷ σώματι συμβεβάπτισται, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν θείων τεμενῶν ὁρίοις χορεύει καὶ γέγηθε. καί μοι νῦν οὐ συλλελόγισται αὐτῆς τὸ ἀθάνατον, ἀλλὰ τεθεώρηται. ἀφεῖται γὰρ τοῦ σώματος καὶ ὑφέστηκε, καὶ κεχώρισται τοῦ συμφυοῦς, οὐ τὴν ἐνέργειαν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν. τοσοῦτον δ' οὐκ ἀπολέλυται ὅσον βεβούληται τῷ δεσμήσαντι· τέως γοῦν καθαρῶς ἐπαναστρέφει πρὸς ἑαυτὴν καὶ πρὸς νοῦν ἔστραπται καὶ διὰ νοῦ πρὸς Θεόν». ταῦτα φιλοσοφῶν ἐκεῖνος κἀμοὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς διέλυε τῶν «ἀσυλλογίστων συλλογισμῶν» καὶ ἄμεσον ἐδίδου τὴν νόησιν, ἀπὸ νοῦ προτεινόμενος ὁμοῦ καὶ συμπεραινόμενος καὶ τῆς μέσης πλάνης μὴ προσδεόμενος. ἑώρων γοῦν αὐτὸν ἕτερον ἐξ ἑτέρου γινόμενον καὶ ταῖς «ἀναγωγοῖς δυνάμεσι» πρὸς τὸ ἀκρότατον ἐπαιρόμενον καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος ἀναβαθμοὺς ᾄδοντα καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀναγόμενον. Οὔπω πολὺς διεληλύθει καιρὸς καὶ παρ' αὐτὸν ἐφοίτησα προσκληθεὶς καὶ εἰσιόντι· «ἀλλὰ νῦν-ἔφη-, τεκνίον, οὐ πάνυ τι τὸ χαροπόν μοι ἐκεῖνο ἐμπέφυκεν, ἀλλά τις ἀχλὺς ἀθρόον ἐπιπεπλάνηται τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ οἶδα μὲν ὅτι παρὰ τῶν χειρόνων τοῦτό μοι ἐπιδεδράμηκε φύσεων. ἡ γὰρ μερὶς αὕτη-καὶ προσέθηκε περὶ τούτου φιλοσοφῶν πλείονα, τί ποτε δρᾷ, πῶς εἴσεισι τὴν ψυχήν, καὶ τἆλλα τῆς τε φύσεως ἐκείνων καὶ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς τῶν πεπειραμένων παρατηρήσεως-· ἀπώσασθαι δὲ οὐκ ἔχω τὴν πολιορκίαν, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τειχήρης ἡ ψυχὴ