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How do I perceive You in me, yet see You in heaven? You alone know, You who do these things and shine like the sun in my material heart, immaterially. You who made the light of Your glory shine on me, my God, through Your apostle and disciple and servant, the all-holy Symeon, You Yourself even now shine on me and teach me in the Spirit to sing hymns to him, new and old together, divine and hidden, so that through me Your knowledge may be marveled at, my God, and Your great wisdom may be shown forth more greatly; and all who hear will praise You, my Christ, because I speak in new tongues by Your grace. Amen, may it be so, Lord, according to Your will. I labor, I feel pain in my humble soul, whenever Your light appears shining clearly within it; for me, desire is both called and is pain. Pain exists for me in not being strong enough to embrace all of You and be satisfied, as I long to be, and I groan; yet because I also see You, this is enough for me and will be glory and joy and a crown of kingship, (60) and beyond all the delightful and desirable things of the world; this will show me to be like the angels, and perhaps will make me even greater than them, my Master. For if You are invisible to them in Your essence, and unapproachable in Your nature, yet You are seen by me, then certainly You mingle Your nature with my essence; for Your attributes are not separated, nor are they divided at all, but Your nature is Your essence and Your essence is Your nature. Therefore, having partaken of Your flesh, I partake of Your nature and I truly receive Your essence, becoming a co-sharer of divinity, but also an heir in body, I consider myself greater than the incorporeal beings, I become a son of God, as You said, not to angels, but to us, thus calling us gods: I said: You are gods, and all sons of the Most High. Glory to Your compassion and Your economy, that You became man, being God by nature, unchangeably, unconfusedly remaining both this and that, and You have made me a god, though I am mortal by nature, by adoption and Your grace through Your Spirit, wondrously uniting as God things that were separated.

8.

To whom God reveals Himself and who come into possession of the good through the practice of the commandments. (61)

How do You see, being hidden, how do you watch over all things,

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πῶς ἐν ἐμοί κατανοῶ, ἐν οὐρανῷ δ᾿ ὁρῶ σε; Σύ μόνος οἶδας, ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα καί λάμπων ὥσπερ ἥλιος ἐν καρδίᾳ μου, τῇ ὑλικῇ, ἀΰλως. Ὁ διαυγάσας μοι τό φῶς τῆς δόξης σου, Θεέ μου, διά τοῦ ἀποστόλου σου καί μαθητοῦ καί δούλου, τοῦ παναγίου Συμεών, αὐτός καί νῦν μοι λάμψον καί δίδαξον ἐν Πνεύματι ὕμνους ἐκείνῳ ᾆσαι, καινούς ὁμοῦ καί παλαιούς, θείους καί κεκρυμμένους, ἵν᾿ ἐξ ἐμοῦ θαυμαστωθῇ ἡ γνῶσίς σου, Θεέ μου, καί ἡ σοφία ἡ πολλή παραδειχθῇ μειζόνως˙ καί πάντες σε αἰνέσουσιν ἀκούσαντες, Χριστέ μου, ὅτι καιναῖς ἐγώ λαλῶ γλώσσαις τῇ χάριτί σου. Ἀμήν, γένοιτο, Κύριε, κατά τό θέλημά σου. Ἐγώ πονῶ, ἐγώ ἀλγῶ τήν ταπεινήν ψυχήν μου, ὅταν φανῇ ἐντός αὐτῆς λάμψαν τρανῶς τό φῶς σου˙ ὁ πόθος πόνος παρ᾿ ἐμοί καί καλεῖται καί ἔστιν. Ἄλγος τῷ μή ἰσχύειν με ὅλον περιλαβεῖν σε καί κορεσθῆναι, ὡς ποθῶ, ὑπάρχει μοι καί στένω˙ ὅμως ὅτι καί βλέπω σε, ἀρκετόν μοι καί τοῦτο καί δόξα ἔσται καί χαρά καί στέφος βασιλείας, (60) καί ὑπέρ πάντα τά τερπνά καί ποθεινά τοῦ κόσμου˙ τοῦτο καί τῶν ἀγγέλων με ὅμοιον ἀποδείξει, ἴσως καί μείζοντα αὐτῶν, ∆έσποτά μου, ποιήσει. Εἰ γάρ ἀόρατος αὐτοῖς ὑπάρχεις τῇ οὐσίᾳ, τῇ φύσει τε ἀπρόσιτος, ἐμοί δέ καθορᾶσαι, πάντως καί τῇ τῆς φύσεώς σου μίγνυσαί μοι οὐσία˙ οὐ γάρ διΐσταται τά σά, οὐ τέμνονται δέ ὅλως, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ φύσις οὐσία σου καί ἡ οὐσία φύσις. Τῆς οὖν σαρκός σου μετασχών τῆς φύσεως μετέχω καί τῆς οὐσίας ἀληθῶς τῆς σῆς μεταλαμβάνω, συγκοινωνός θεότητος, ἀλλά καί κληρονόμος γινόμενος ἐν σώματι, μείζων τῶν ἀσωμάτων ὑπολαμβάνω, γίνομαι υἱός Θεοῦ, ὡς εἴπας, οὐ πρός ἀγγέλους, πρός ἡμᾶς δέ, θεούς οὕτω καλέσας˙ Ἐγώ εἶπα˙ Θεοί ἐστε καί υἱοί Ὑψίστου πάντες. ∆όξα τῇ εὐσπλαγχνίᾳ σου καί τῇ οἰκονομίᾳ, ὅτι ἄνθρωπος γέγονας Θεός ὤν κατά φύσιν, ἀτρέπτως, ἀσυγχύτως τε μείνας τοῦτο κἀκεῖνο καί θεόν με πεποίηκας, βροτόν ὄντα τήν φύσιν, θέσει καί χάριτι τῇ σῇ διά τοῦ Πνεύματός σου τά διεστῶτα ὡς Θεός παραδόξως ἑνώσας.

Η'.

Τίσι Θεός ἐμφανίζεται καί τίνες ἐν ἕξει γίνονται τοῦ καλοῦ διά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐργασίας. (61)

Πῶς βλέπεις κεκρυμμένος ὤν, πῶς ἐφορᾷς τά πάντα,