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He who has it is God by adoption, enlightening the souls that seek him. These alone will live, let no one be deceived! O deifying love, which is God! This is an astonishment and a thing hard to find.
6.
Quatrains of the same, showing from this his love for God. (57) How are you also a gushing fire, how are you also refreshing water, how do you both burn and sweeten, how do you make corruption disappear? How do you make men gods, how do you make darkness light, how do you lead up from Hades, how do you make mortals incorruptible? How do you draw the darkness to the light, how do you grasp the night, how do you illumine the heart, how do you change me completely? How do you unite yourself to men, how do you make sons of God, how do you kindle with your desire, how do you wound without a sword? How do you tolerate, how do you bear, how do you not immediately give back, how, existing outside all things, do you see the deeds of all? (58) How, being far from us, do you see the action of each? Give patience to your servants, may affliction not cover them!
7.
A prayer of the same to God; and how, being united to God and seeing the glory of God working in himself, he was astonished. (59)
How do I worship you within me, and how do I see you far away,
23
ὁ ἔχων αὐτήν θέσει Θεός ὑπάρχει, ψυχάς φωτίζων τάς αὐτόν ἐκζητούσας˙ αὗται μόναι ζήσονται, μηδείς πλανάσθω! Ὧ θεοποιός ἀγάπη, Θεός οὖσα! Ἔκπληξις τοῦτο καί δυσεύρετον πρᾶγμα.
Στ'.
Τετράστιχα τοῦ αὐτοῦ τόν πρός Θεόν αὐτοῦ ἐντεῦθεν δεικνύοντα ἔρωτα. (57) Πῶς καί πῦρ ὑπάρχεις βλύζον, πῶς καί ὕδωρ εἶς δροσίζον, πῶς καί καίεις καί γλυκαίνεις, πῶς φθοράν ἐξαφανίζεις; Πῶς θεούς ποιεῖς ἀνθρώπους, πῶς τό σκότος φῶς ἐργάζῃ, πῶς ἀνάγεις ἐκ τοῦ ᾅδου, πῶς θνητούς ἐξαφθαρτίζεις; Πῶς πρός φῶς τό σκότος ἕλκεις, πῶς τήν νύκτα περιδράσσῃ, πῶς καρδίαν περιλάμπεις, πῶς με ὅλον μεταβάλλεις; Πῶς ἑνοῦσαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, πῶς υἱούς Θεοῦ ἐργάζῃ, πῶς ἐκκαίεις σου τῷ πόθῳ, πῶς τιτρώσκεις ἄνευ ξίφους; Πῶς ἀνέχῃ, πῶς βαστάζεις, πῶς εὐθύς οὐκ ἀποδίδως, πῶς ὑπάρχων ἔξω πάντων βλέπεις πάντων τά πρακτέα; (58) Πῶς μακράν ἡμῶν τυγχάνων καθορᾷς ἑκάστου πρᾶξιν; ∆ός ὑπομονήν σοῖς δούλοις, μή καλύψῃ τούτους θλῖψις!
Ζ'.
Ἔντευξις τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς Θεόν˙ καί ὅπως Θεῷ συναπτόμενος καί δόξαν Θεοῦ ὁρῶν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἐνεργοῦσαν ἐξεπλήττετο. (59)
Πῶς σε ἐντός μου προσκυνῶ, πῶς δέ μακράν σε βλέπω,