22

Thus in the universe is the divine light of the Trinity and in the middle the sinners are confined in darkness, not seeing, not having any divine perception at all, but being burned by their conscience 230 and being condemned, they will have ineffable affliction and unspeakable anguish for ages.

II

What the alteration that occurred in this father was and how, having been completely purified, he was united to God, and what he became from what he was, his words of love for God show here; who, theologizing, also speaks about angels toward the end. (45)

What is your immeasurable compassion, O Savior? How did you deem me worthy to become your member, me, the unclean, the profligate, the fornicator? How did you clothe me in a most splendid robe, flashing forth the radiance of immortality and making all my members light? For your body, the immaculate and divine, shines all over with the fire of your divinity, having been ineffably mixed and mingled with it; this, therefore, you have also granted to me, my God. For this defiled and corruptible tabernacle, having been united to your all-pure body, and my blood having been mingled with your blood, I have been united, I know, also to your divinity, and I have become your most pure body, a shining member, a truly holy member, a far-shining, translucent, and radiant member. I see the beauty, I behold the radiance, I reflect the light of your grace and I am amazed at the ineffable splendor (46) and I am beside myself contemplating myself; from what I was, to what I have become, O wonder! And I am in awe and reverence for myself and, as you yourself, I both honor and fear, and I am perplexed, being altogether ashamed, as to where I should sit and whom I should approach and where I should recline your members,

22

οὕτως ἐστίν ἐν τῷ παντί φῶς τῆς Τριάδος θεῖον καί μέσον οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί ἐν σκότει καθειργμένοι, μή βλέποντες, μή αἴσθησιν ὅλως ἔχοντες θείαν, ἀλλά κατακαιόμενοι αὐτῶν τῇ συνειδήσει 230 καί καταδικαζόμενοι, ἀπόρρητον τήν θλῖψιν καί τήν ὀδύνην ἄφθεγκτον ἕξουσιν εἰς αἰῶνας.

Β΄

Τίς ἡ ἐπί τῷ πατρί τούτῳ γενομένη ἀλλοίωσις καί πῶς καθαρθείς εἰς ἄκρον ἡνώθη Θεῷ καί οἷος ἐξ οἵου ἐγένετο, οἱ πρός Θεόν ἐρωτικοί αὐτοῦ λόγοι δηλοῦσιν ἐνταῦθα˙ ὅς καί θεολογῶν λέγει πρός τό τέλος περί ἀγγέλων. (45)

Τίς ἡ ἄμετρος εὐσπλαγνία σου, Σῶτερ; Πῶς ἠξίωσας μέλος σόν με γενέσθαι, τόν ἀκάθαρτον, τόν ἄσωτον, τόν πόρνον; Πῶς ἐνέδυσας στολήν με λαμπροτάτην ἀπαστράπτουσαν αἴγλην ἀθανασίας καί φῶς ποιοῦσαν ἅπαντά μου τά μέλη; Σῶμα γάρ τό σόν, τό ἄχραντον καί θεῖον, ἀπαστράπτει ὅλον πυρί θεότητός σου ἀναφυραθέν καί συμμιγέν ἀρρήτως˙ τοῦτο οὖν κἀμοί ἐδωρήσω, Θεέ μου. Τό γάρ ῥυπαρόν καί φθαρτόν τοῦτο σκῆνος τῷ παναχράντῳ ἑνωθέν σώματί σου καί μιγέν τό αἷμά μου τῷ αἵματί σου ἡνώθην, οἶδα, καί τῇ θεότητί σου καί γέγονα σόν καθαρώτατον σῶμα, μέλος ἐκλάμπον, μέλος ἅγιον ὄντως, μέλος τηλαυγές καί διαυγές καί λάμπον. Ὁρῶ τό κάλλος, βλέπω τήν λαμπηδόνα, ἐνοπτρίζομαι τό φῶς τῆς χάριτός σου καί τό ἄρρητον ἐκπλήττομαι τῆς αἴγλης (46) καί ἐξίσταμαι κατανοῶν ἑαυτόν˙ ἐκ ποίου οἷος ἐγενόμην, ὤ θαῦμα! Καί εὐλαβοῦμαι καί ἐμαυτόν αἰδοῦμαι καί, ὡς σέ αὐτόν, καί τιμῶ καί φοβοῦμαι καί ἐξαπορῶ, ἐντρεπόμενος ὅλως, τό ποῦ καθίσω καί τίνι προσεγγίσω καί ποῦ τά μέλη τά σά προσανακλίνω,