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which subsisted, or came from God, but that this is our own work and that of the evil one, having entered into us from our carelessness, but not from the Creator. Believe, the Son of God, the pre-eternal Word, who was begotten of the Father timelessly and incorporeally, that He in the last days, for your sake became also Son of man, born of the Virgin Mary, ineffably and without impurity (for nothing is impure where God is, and through whom is salvation), whole man, and the same one also God, for the sake of the whole of what has suffered, that He might grant salvation to the whole of you, having loosed the whole condemnation of sin; impassible in his divinity, passible in that which He assumed; so much man for you, as you may become god for His sake; that He was led to death for our iniquities, and was crucified and buried, so as to taste of death, and rose again on the third day, ascended into the heavens, that He might gather you up who are lying below; and that He will come again with His glorious presence, to judge the living and the dead; no longer in flesh, yet not without a body, but in ways which He Himself knows, with a more Godlike body, so that He may be seen by those who pierced Him, and may remain God without materiality. Receive besides these a resurrection, a judgment, a recompense by the just measures of God. That this is light for those who have been purified in mind, that is, God seen and known, according to the proportion of their purity, which indeed we also call the kingdom of heaven; but darkness for those whose ruling faculty is blinded, that is, alienation from God according to the proportion of their dimsightedness in this life. Tenth, work what is good upon this foundation of doctrines; since, Faith without works is dead, as are works without faith. You have 36.425 the public part of the mystery, and what is not forbidden to the ears of the many. The rest you will learn within, by the grace of the Trinity, which you will also keep hidden within yourself, held fast by a seal.

46. But I announce this good news to you. The station which you will at once take after your baptism before the great bema, is a prefiguration of the glory from that place. The psalmody with which you will be received is a prelude to the hymnody of that place. The lamps which you will light are a mystery of the illumination from that place, with which we will meet the Bridegroom, our souls bright and virginal, with the bright lamps of faith, neither sleeping through laziness, lest the awaited one arrive unexpectedly and escape our notice, nor unfed, and without oil, and lacking good works, lest we be cast out of the bridal chamber. For I see the suffering, how pitiable. He will be present, when the cry demands the meeting; and those who are wise will meet him, with a bright light, and an abundance of its fuel; but others will be thrown into confusion, seeking oil not in time from those who have it. And he will enter quickly; and some will enter with him; and others will be shut out, having spent the time for entering on preparation, and they will lament greatly, learning too late the penalty of their laziness, when the bridal chamber is no longer accessible to them, though they plead much, which they wrongly shut against themselves; in another way imitating those who are late for the wedding feast, which the good father hosts for the good bridegroom, on account of a new wife, or a newly bought field, or a yoke of oxen, which they wrongly acquired, losing the greater things for the sake of the smaller. For no one there is contemptuous and lazy, nor of those who are dressed filthily, but not in wedding garments, even if from here one should deem himself worthy of the bright apparel there, and should secretly slip in, being deceived by empty hopes. What then? When we are within, then the Bridegroom knows what He will teach, and what He will be to the souls that have entered with Him. He will be with them, I think, teaching the more perfect and pure things; of which may we also partake, both we who teach these things and those who learn, in Christ Himself our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

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ὑποστᾶσαν, ἢ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ γενομένην, ἀλλ' ἡμέτερον ἔργον εἶναι τοῦτο καὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ, ἐκ τῆς ἀπροσεξίας ἐπεισελθὸν ἡμῖν, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ τοῦ κτίσαντος. Πίστευε, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὸν προαιώνιον Λόγον, τὸν γεννηθέντα ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἀχρόνως καὶ ἀσωμάτως, τοῦτον ἐπ' ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν, γεγενῆσθαι διὰ σὲ καὶ Υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου, ἐκ τῆς Παρθένου προελθόντα Μαρίας, ἀῤῥήτως καὶ ἀρυπάρως (οὐδὲν γὰρ ῥυπαρὸν οὗ Θεὸς, καὶ δι' οὗ σωτηρία), ὅλον ἄνθρωπον, τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ Θεὸν, ὑπὲρ ὅλου τοῦ πεπονθότος, ἵνα ὅλῳ σοι τὴν σωτηρίαν χαρίσηται, ὅλον τὸ κατάκριμα λύσας τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ἀπαθῆ θεότητι, παθητὸν τῷ προσλήμματι· το σοῦτον ἄνθρωπον διά σε, ὅσον σὺ γίνῃ δι' ἐκεῖνον Θεός· τοῦτον ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀνομιῶν ἦχθαι εἰς θάνατον, σταυρωθέντα τε καὶ ταφέντα, ὅσον θανάτου γεύσασθαι, καὶ ἀναστάντα τριήμερον, ἀνεληλυθέναι εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, ἵνα σε συναγάγῃ κάτω κείμενον· ἥξειν τε πάλιν μετὰ τῆς ἐνδόξου αὐτοῦ παρου σίας, κρίνοντα ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς· οὐκ ἔτι μὲν σάρ κα, οὐκ ἀσώματον δὲ, οἷς αὐτὸς οἶδε λόγοις, θεοει δεστέρου σώματος, ἵνα καὶ ὀφθῇ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκεντη σάντων, καὶ μείνῃ Θεὸς ἔξω παχύτητος. ∆έχου πρὸς τούτοις ἀνάστασιν, κρίσιν, ἀνταπόδοσιν τοῖς δικαίοις τοῦ Θεοῦ σταθμοῖς. Ταύτην δὲ εἶναι φῶς τοῖς κεκα θαρμένοις τὴν διάνοιαν, τουτέστι Θεὸν ὁρώμενόν τε καὶ γινωσκόμενον, κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς καθαρό τητος, ὃ δὴ καὶ βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν ὀνομάζομεν· σκότος δὲ τοῖς τυφλώττουσι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν, τουτέστιν ἀλλοτρίωσιν Θεοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἀμβλυωπίας. ∆έκατον, ἐργάζου τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπὶ τούτῳ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν δογμάτων· ἐπειδὴ, Πίστις χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρὰ, ὡς ἔργα δίχα πίστεως. Ἔχεις 36.425 τοῦ μυστηρίου τὰ ἔκφορα, καὶ ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν ἀκοαῖς οὐκ ἀπόῤῥητα. Τὰ δὲ ἄλλα εἴσω μαθήσῃ, τῆς Τριάδος χαριζομένης, ἃ καὶ κρύψεις παρὰ σεαυτῷ σφραγῖδι κρατούμενα.

Μςʹ. Πλὴν ἐκεῖνο εὐαγγελίζομαί σοι. Ἡ στάσις, ἣν αὐτίκα στήσῃ μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα πρὸ τοῦ μεγάλου βήματος, τῆς ἐκεῖθεν δόξης ἐστὶ προχάραγμα. Ἡ ψαλμῳδία, μεθ' ἧς δεχθήσῃ, τῆς ἐκεῖθεν ὑμνῳδίας προοίμιον. Αἱ λαμπάδες, ἅσπερ ἀνάψεις, τῆς ἐκεῖθεν φωταγωγίας μυστήριον, μεθ' ἧς ἀπαντήσομεν τῷ νυμφίῳ φαιδραὶ καὶ παρθένοι ψυχαὶ, φαιδραῖς ταῖς λαμπάσι τῆς πίστεως, μήτε καθεύδουσαι διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν, ἵνα μὴ λάθῃ παρὼν ἀδοκήτως ὁ προσδοκώμενος, μήτε ἄτροφοι, καὶ ἀνέλαιοι, καὶ καλῶν ἔργων ἐπιδεεῖς, ἵνα μὴ τοῦ νυμφῶνος ἐκπέσωμεν. Ὁρῶ γὰρ τὸ πάθος, ὡς ἐλεεινόν. Ὁ μὲν παρέσται, ἀπαιτούσης τῆς κραυγῆς τὴν ἀπάντησιν· αἱ δὲ ἀπαντήσονται, ὅσαι φρόνιμοι, μετὰ λαμπροῦ τοῦ φωτὸς, καὶ δαψιλεστέρας τῆς τούτου τροφῆς· αἱ δὲ ταραχθήσονται ζητοῦσαι τὸ ἔλαιον οὐκ ἐν καιρῷ παρὰ τῶν ἐχόντων. Ὁ δὲ εἰσελεύσεται δρομαῖος· αἱ δὲ συνεισελεύσονται· αἱ δὲ ἀποκλεισθήσονται, τὸν τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν καιρὸν εἰς τὸ παρασκευάσασθαι δαπανήσασαι, καὶ πολλὰ μετακλαύσονται, ὀψὲ μαθοῦσαι τὴν ζημίαν τῆς ῥᾳθυμίας, ὅταν μηκέτι ὁ νυμφὼν αὐταῖς εἰσιτητὸς ᾖ, καὶ πολλὰ δεομέναις, ὃν κακῶς ἑαυταῖς ἀπέκλεισαν· ἄλλον τρόπον μιμησάμεναι τοὺς ὑστεροῦντας τοῦ γάμου, ὃν ὁ καλὸς πατὴρ ἑστιᾷ τῷ καλῷ νυμφίῳ, διὰ τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν νεόνυμφον, ἢ διὰ τὸν ἀγρὸν τὸν νεώνητον, ἢ τὸ ζεῦγος τῶν βοῶν, ἃ κακῶς ἐκτήσαντο, διὰ τῶν μικρῶν τὰ μείζονα ζημιούμενοι. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐκεῖ τῶν ὑπεροπτικῶν καὶ ῥᾳθύμων, οὐδὲ τῶν ῥυπαρῶς, ἀλλ' οὐ νυμφικῶς ἐστολισμένων, κἂν ἐντεῦθεν ἑαυτὸν ἀξιώσῃ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν λαμπροφορίας, καὶ λαθὼν ἑαυτὸν παρενείρῃ, κεναῖς ἐλπίσιν ἐξαπατώμενος. Εἶτα τί; Ὅταν ἔνδον γενώμεθα, τότε οἶδεν ὁ νυμφίος ἃ διδάξει, καὶ ἃ συνέσται ταῖς συνεισελθούσαις ψυχαῖς. Συνέσται δὲ, ὡς οἶμαι, διδάσκων τὰ τελεώτερά τε καὶ καθαρώτερα· ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς μεταλάβοιμεν, οἵ τε διδάσκοντες ταῦτα καὶ οἱ μανθάνοντες, ἐν αὐτῷ Χριστῷ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.