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veil, then he himself is also seen as intellectual light, as we have shown and will show from the saints themselves who both experienced and saw the splendor of God.

Just as fire, if it is covered by non-transparent matter, can indeed warm it, but not illuminate it, so also the intellect, when it has lying upon it the dark veil of evil passions, could indeed provide knowledge, but not also light. Since the intellect is not only a light visible to the intellect, even if it is the last of the things seen in this way, but it is also capable of seeing, being like the eye of the soul, for, he says, "the vision for the soul is its connate intellect," just as physical sight would not become actualized, unless light from without shone upon it, so also the intellect, having intellectual perception, would not see and would not become actualized in itself, unless the divine light shone around it. And just as sight, when it is active, itself becomes light and is united with the light and sees this very thing first, poured out over all things seen, in the same way also the intellect, when it should arrive at the actualization of its intellectual perception, is itself entirely like a light and is with the light and with the light it knowingly sees the light, not only beyond the bodily senses, but also beyond everything known to us and, simply, beyond all beings. For those who are pure in heart see God, according to the unerring beatitude of the Lord, who, being light, according to the most theological voice of John, the son of thunder, both dwells in and manifests himself to those who love him and are loved by him according to his own promise to them; and he manifests himself as in a mirror to the purified intellect, being in himself invisible. For such is the form in a (p. 170) mirror: being manifest, it is not seen, and it is almost impossible both to see in a mirror and at the same time to see the very thing that forms the image in the mirror.

Now, in this way God is seen by those purified in love, but then, he says, "face to face." But those who, by not experiencing the divine things nor seeing them, in no way believe that God is seen as light beyond light, but is contemplated only rationally, are like blind men, who, perceiving only the heat of the sun, disbelieve those who see that the sun is also brilliant. And if the blind also attempt to teach those who see that the sun, the most manifest of all sensible things, is not a light, these men will indeed be ridiculous to those who see with their senses. But those who experience similar things concerning the sun of righteousness established above the universe, will be lamented not only by those who truly see with the intellect, but also by those who believe the ones who see, not only because they themselves remain unloved in regard to that love which sees and understands directly, while God, through the excess of his goodness towards us, invisibly condescends from that which is removed from all things, ungraspable, and ineffable, to that which is participable and contemplated by the intellect, according to his own unoriginate, transcendent power, but also because they are unwilling to follow the saints who out of love for mankind guide them by their words towards that light, they hurl themselves over cliffs and attempt to drag down with them those who are persuaded, so that they might have companions when "they see as fire," according to Gregory the Theologian, "him whom they did not recognize as light," nor believed. But indeed that fire is dark, or rather, identical to the threatened darkness. And these things have been prepared beforehand for the devil and his angels (p. 172) according to the word of the Lord. Therefore it is not simply perceptible by the senses, for it has been prepared beforehand for the wicked angels who are without sense perception, nor is this darkness simply ignorance, for those who are now persuaded by the heirs of that darkness will not be more ignorant of God then than now, but rather they will know even better; for, he says, "every flesh shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the"

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κάλυμμα, τηνικαῦτα καί αὐτός ὡς φῶς ὁρᾶται νοερόν, ὡς δι᾿ αὐτῶν τῶν καί παθόντων καί ἰδόντων λαμπρότητα Θεοῦ ἐδείξαμέν τε καί δείξομεν ἁγίων.

Ὥσπερ δέ τό πῦρ, ἄν ἐπικαλυφθῇ δι᾿ ὕλης οὐ διαφανοῦς, θερμαίνειν μέν αὐτήν δύναται, φωτίζει δέ οὐχί, οὕτω καί ὁ νοῦς, ὅταν ἐπικείμενον ἔχῃ τό ζοφῶδες κάλυμμα τῶν πονηρῶν παθῶν, γνῶσιν μέν παρέχειν δύναιτ᾿ ἄν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί καί φῶς. Ἐπεί δέ μή μόνον φῶς ἐστιν ὁ νοῦς νῷ θεωρητόν, εἰ καί ἔσχατον τῶν τοῦτον τόν τρόπον ὁρωμένων, ἀλλά καί θεωρητικόν, οἷον ὀφθαλμός ὑπάρχων τῆς ψυχῆς, «ὄψις» γάρ, φησί, «τῇ ψυχῇ ὁ συμφυής αὐτῇ νοῦς», ὥσπερ ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ὄψις οὐκ ἄν ἐνεργείᾳ γίγνοιτο, μή ἔξωθεν ἐπιλάμψαντος αὐτῇ φωτός, οὕτω καί ὁ νοῦς οὔκ ἄν ᾖ νοεράν ἔχων αἴσθησιν ὁρῴη καί καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν ἐνεργείᾳ γίγνοιτο, μή τοῦ θείου περιλάμψαντος αὐτόν φωτός. Ὥσπερ δέ ἡ ὄψις, ὅταν ἐνεργῇ, φῶς αὐτή τε γίνεται καί μετά τοῦ φωτός συγγίνεται καί τοῦτ᾿ αὐτό πρῶτον ὁρᾷ πᾶσι τοῖς ὁρωμένοις περικεχυμένον, τόν αὐτόν τρόπον καί ὁ νοῦς, ἠνίκ᾿ ἄν εἰς ἐντελέχειαν ἀφίκοιτο τῆς νοερᾶς αἰσθήσεως, αὐτόν ὅλος οἷον φῶς ἐστι καί μετά τοῦ φωτός ἐστι καί σύν τῷ φωτί γνωστῶς ὁρᾷ τό φῶς, οὐχ ὑπέρ τάς σωματικάς αἰσθήσεις μόνον, ἀλλά καί ὑπέρ πᾶν ὅ τι τῶν ἡμῖν γνωρίμων καί ἁπλῶς τῶν ὄντων πάντων. Θεόν γάρ ὁρῶσιν οἱ κεκαθαρμένοι τήν καρδίαν, κατά τόν ὑπό τοῦ Κυρίου ἀψευδῆ μακαρισμόν, ὅς φῶς ὧν, κατά τήν θεολογικωτάτην Ἰωάννου τοῦ τῆς βροντῆς υἱοῦ φωνήν, οἰκίζει τε καί ἐμφανίζει ἑαυτόν τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν καί ἀγαπηθεῖσιν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ κατά τήν πρός αὐτούς ἑαυτοῦ ἐπαγγελίαν˙ ἐμφανίζει δέ ὡς ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ τῷ κεκαθαρμένῳ νῷ, τό καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν ἀόρατος ὑπάρχων. Τοιοῦτον γάρ ἡ ἐν (σελ. 170) ἐσόπτρῳ μορφή˙ φαινομένη οὐχ ὁρᾶται καί σχεδόν ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν ὁρᾶν τε ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ καί αὐτό κατά ταὐτό τό μορφοῦν τό ἔσοπτρον ὁρᾶν.

Νῦν μέν οὕτω τοῖς ἐν ἀγάπῃ καθαρθεῖσιν ὁ Θεός ὁρᾶται, τότε δέ, φησί, «πρόσωπον πρός πρόσωπον». Οἱ δέ τῷ μή παθεῖν τά θεῖα μηδ᾿ ἰδεῖν μηδαμῶς πιστεύοντες ὡς φῶς ὑπέρ φῶς ὁρᾶσθαι τόν Θεόν, ἀλλά λογικῶς μόνον θεωρεῖσθαι, τυφλοῖς ἐοίκασιν, οἵ τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου θέρμης μόνης ἀντιλαμβανόμενοι τοῖς ὁρῶσιν ἀπιστοῦσιν ὅτι καί φαιδρός ἐστιν ὁ ἥλιος. Εἰ δέ καί τούς ὁρῶντας οἱ τυφλοί μεταδιδάσκειν ἐγχειροῦσιν, ὡς οὐ φῶς ἐστιν ὁ ἐν αἰσθητοῖς φανότατος ἁπάντων ἥλιος, καταγέλαστοι μέν οὗτοι τοῖς αἰσθητῶς ὁρῶσιν ἔσονται. Ἐκεῖνοι δ᾿ οἱ τά παραπλήσια πάσχοντες περί τόν τοῦ παντός ὑπερανιδρυμένον τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιον, οὐ παρά τῶν νοερῶς ὡς ἀληθῶς ὁρώντων μόνον, ἀλλά καί παρά τῶν πιστευόντων τοῖς ὁρῶσι θρηνηθήσονται, μή μόνον ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ δι᾿ ὑπερβολήν τῆς περί ἡμᾶς ἀγαθότητος, ἐκ τοῦ πάντων ἐξῃρημένου καί ἀλήπτου καί ἀφθέγκτου, πρό τό νῷ μεθεκτόν τε καί θεωρητόν ἀοράτως συγκαταβαίνοντος καθ᾿ ὑπερούσιον ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν ἀνεκφοίτητον, αὐτοί μένουσιν ἀνέραστοι πρός τόν αὐτοπτικόν καί αὐτονόητον ἐκεῖνον ἔρωτα, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι καί τοῖς πρός τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο χειραγωγοῦσι διά τῶν λόγων ὑπό φιλανθρωπίας ἁγίοις οὐκ ἐθέλοντες ἕπεσθαι, κατά κρημνῶν φέρουσιν ἑαυτούς καί συγκατασπᾶν ἐπιχειροῦσι τούς πειθομένους, ὡς ἄν δήπου κοινωνούς σχοῖεν ὅταν «ὡς πῦρ ἴδωσι» κατά τόν θεολόγον Γρηγόριον «ὅν ὡς φῶς οὐκ ἐγνώρισαν», οὐδέ ἐπίστευσαν. Ἀλλά γάρ καί τό πῦρ ἐκεῖνο σκοτεινόν, μᾶλλον δέ τῷ ἠπειλημένῳ σκότει ταὐτόν. Ταῦτα δέ τῷ διαβόλῳ καί τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ (σελ. 172) προητοίμασται κατά τόν τοῦ Κυρίου λόγον. Οὐκοῦν οὔτε αἰσθητόν ἁπλῶς, ἀμοιροῦσι γάρ αἰσθήσεως προητοίμασται τοῖς πονηροῖς ἀγγέλοις, οὔθ᾿ ἁπλῶς ἄγνοια τουτί τό σκότος, οὐ γάρ ἀγνοήσουσι τότε μᾶλλον τόν Θεόν ἤ νῦν οἱ νῦν τοῖς κληρονόμοις τοῦ σκότους ἐκείνου πεπεισμένοι, μᾶλλον μέν οὖν καί βέλτιον εἴσονται˙ «πᾶσα» γάρ, φησί, «σάρξ ἐξομολογήσεται ὅτι Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός εἰς