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But His fullness and the glory of the light 185 will be an abyss of progress, and an unending beginning; and just as having Christ formed within, they stand before Him shining unapproachably; so the end in them happens to be a beginning of glory, and that I may make the meaning clearer for you - 190 in the end they will have a beginning and in the beginning the end. Conceive for me the one who is over-full as needing no addition, but the end of the unending as that which those running do not reach. 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 speak to you of a bodily one, but with the mind you will be able to comprehend the fullness of the incorporeal world; not a world, but it is air as it was before; nor air, but unutterable space, which they call the All, 200 and it is an unending abyss in every way, a whole equally from every side, from both parts; this All has been filled with the divine divinity. Those therefore who partake of Him, and dwell in Him, (44) how might they encompass the whole, so that they might also be satiated? 205 Or how might they grasp the end of the unending, tell me? It is impossible and in every way impracticable; for concerning the saints, neither here in the flesh, nor there having passed over into God, is such a thought able to enter into them at all; 210 for they are covered 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 unending and the progress of glory will be perpetual. 215 But those who fall away from God, I wonder, where can they even stand, having stood far off from Him who is everywhere, and truly, brothers, it is a wonder full of great horror, and needing the reasoning of an enlightened mind, so that one may understand this well and not fall 220 into heresy as one who disbelieves the words of the Divine Spirit. They will certainly be within the All, but outside the divine light and truly outside God; for just as those who do not see while the sun is shining, even if they are completely illumined, are outside the light, 225 having been separated from it by sense and by sight;
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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. 215 Οἱ δέ Θεοῦ ἐκπίπτονες θαυμάζω, ποῦ καί στῶσιν, ἀπό τοῦ ὄντος πανταχοῦ ἀφεστηκότες πόρρω, καί ὄντως φρίκης, ἀδελφοί, θαῦμα μεγάλης γέμον, δεόμενόν τε λογισμοῦ νοός πεφωτισμένου, ἵνα καλῶς νοήσειε τοῦτο καί μή ἐμπέσῃ 220 εἰς αἵρεσιν ὡς ἀπιστῶν Θείου Πνεύματος λόγους. Ἐντός μέν πάντως τοῦ παντός ὑπάρξουσι καί οὗτοι, ἔξω τοῦ θείου δέ φωτός καί Θεοῦ ὄντως ἔξω˙ ὥσπερ γάρ οἱ μή βλέποντες λάμποντος τοῦ ἡλίου, κἄν ὅλοι περιλάμπωνται, ἔξω φωτός τελοῦσιν, 225 αἰσθήσει θεωρίᾳ τε κεχωρισμένοι τούτου˙