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If therefore God, the creator of all, having made the sun, has made it without need, 15 to shine with an abundant light and to need nothing more from any other, how could he receive glory from me, the humbled one? For the creator of the sun is completely without need, the one who fills all things with all good things, 20 (38) possessing the power by the nod of his will. At this my tongue is at a loss for words and the mind sees what is taking place, it does not interpret it; it sees and wants to speak and finds no word; for it beholds invisible things, completely formless, 25 simple, in every way uncompounded, infinite in magnitude. For it beholds no beginning, nor does it see an end at all; it is seen, I think, as a whole summed up; not in its essence, certainly, but by participation. For you kindle from a fire and receive a whole fire, and that one remains undivided, undiminished as before, except the part that is imparted is separated from the first and becomes many torches; for it is corporeal. But that One is spiritual, being indivisible, 35 and is completely inseparable and undivided; for being imparted it is not divided into many parts, but both remains undivided and exists in me; it rises up within me from inside my wretched heart like the sun or like the disk of the sun, shown to be spherical, luminous, for it is like light. I do not know, as has been said, what to say about this, and I would wish to be silent, if only I were able, but the awesome wonder moves my heart and opens my defiled mouth, and makes me, though unwilling, both to speak and to write. He who has just now risen in my dark heart, He who has shown me wonders which eyes have not seen, He who descended even into me as into the last of all, He who proved me to be a disciple and son of an apostle, me, whom the terrible and man-slaying dragon (39) formerly had as a worker and servant of all lawlessness, the sun from before the ages who shone in Hades, and afterwards illuminated my darkened soul and granted to me a day without evening, 55 a thing unbelievable to the lazy and indolent like me, He who has filled my poverty with all good things, You yourself also grant speech and provide words

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Εἰ οὖν ποιήσας ἥλιον Θεός ὁ πάντων κτίστης 15 ἀνενδεῆ πεποίηκεν, ἄφθονον σέλας φαίνειν καί μηδαμῶς παρά τινος ἄλλου πλείονος χρῄζειν, πῶς δόξαν λάβοι παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ τοῦ τεταπεινωμένου; Ἀνενδεής γάρ παντελῶς ὁ τοῦ ἡλίου κτίστης, ὁ ἐμπιπλῶν τά σύμπαντα τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων 20 (38) νεύματι βουλήματι τήν ἰσχύν κεκτημένος. Ἐν τούτῳ καί ἡ γλῶσσά μου ἐξαπορεῖ ῥημάτων καί τά τελούμενα ὁ νοῦς ὁρᾷ, οὐχ ἑρμηνεύει˙ βλέπει καί βούλεται εἰπεῖν καί λόγον οὐχ εὑρίσκει˙ ἀόρατα γάρ καθορᾷ, ἀνείδεα εἰς ἅπαν, 25 ἁπλᾶ, πάντῃ ἀσύνθετα, ἄπειρα τῷ μεγέθει. Οὔτε ἀρχήν γάρ καθορᾷ, οὐ τέλος ὅλως βλέπει; Ἀνακεφαλαιούμενον ὅλον, δοκῶ, ὁρᾶται˙ οὐ τῇ οὐσίᾳ πάντως δέ, ἀλλά τῇ μετουσίᾳ. Ἐκ τοῦ πυρός ἀνάπτεις γάρ καί πῦρ ὅλον λαμβάνεις, κἀκεῖνο μένει ἄτμητον, ἀνέκλειπτον ὡς πρῴην, πλήν τό μεταδιδόμενον χωρίζεται τοῦ πρώτου καί εἰς λαμπάδας γίνεται πολλάς˙σωματικόν γάρ. Ἐκεῖνο δέ πνευματικόν, ἀμέριστον ὑπάρχον, 35 καί παντελῶς ἀχώριστον καί ἄτμητον ὑπάρχει˙ οὐ γάρ μεταδιδόμενον εἰς πολλά διαιρεῖται, ἀλλά καί μένει ἄτμητον καί ἐν ἐμοί ὑπάρχει˙ ἐξανατέλλει ἐν ἐμοί ἔνδοθεν τῆς ταλαίνης καρδίας μου ὡς ἥλιος ἤ ὡς δίσκος ἡλίου σφαιροειδής διεκνύμενος, φωτοειδής, ὡς φῶς γάρ. Οὐκ οἶδα, καθώς εἴρηται, τί εἴπω περί τούτου, καί ἤθελον τοῦ σιωπᾶν, εἴθε καί ἐδυνάμην, ἀλλά τό θαῦμα φρικτόν κινεῖ μου τήν καρδίαν καί ἐξανοίγει στόμα μου τό κατεσπιλωμένον, καί μή βουλόμενον ποιεῖ λαλεῖν μέ τε καί γράφειν. Ὁ ἀνατείλας ἄρτι μου ἐν σκοτεινῇ καρδίᾳ, ὁ δείξας μοι θαυμάσια, ἅ ὀφθαλμοί οὐκ εἶδον, ὁ κατελθών καί ἐν ἐμοί ὡς εἰς ἔσχατον πάντων, ὁ ἀποστόλου μαθητήν καί υἱόν ἀποδείξας ἐμέ, ὅν εἶχεν ὁ δεινός δράκων καί βροτοκτόνος (39) τό πρίν ἐργάτην ὑπουργόν πάσης παρανομίας, ὁ πρό αἰώνων ἥλιος ὁ ἐν τῷ ᾅδη λάμψας, ὕστερον καί φωτίσας μου ψυχήν ἐσκοτισμένην καί χαρισάμενος ἐμοί ἀνέσπερον ἡμέραν, 55 τό δύσπιστον τοῖς κατ᾿ ἐμέ ὀκνηροῖς καί ῥαθύμοις, ὁ πλήσας πάντων ἀγαθῶν τήν ἐν ἐμοί πτωχείαν, αὐτός καί λόγον δώρησαι καί ῥήματα παράσχου