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and there is no other sensation in me. For by as much as the purest bread is more precious and sweeter than dung, by so much more, incomparably, are the things above superior to the things below for those who have tasted them aright. Be ashamed, O wisdom of the wise, you who are deprived of true knowledge! For the simplicity of our words possesses in deed true wisdom, approaching and worshipping God, from whom is given all wisdom of life, by which I am remolded or even deified, beholding God unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Ι'.

That death through grief attacks even the strongest. (67) I heard a strange thing and full of astonishment, an incorporeal nature, firmer than stone, suffering like what is called adamant, which, not softened by either fire or iron, became wax mixed with lead. Just now I believed that a small stream of water, over time, hollows out the hard rock, and truly nothing in life is unchangeable. Let no one think to deceive me from now on! Alas for the one who sees the fleeting things of life as if they are held fast and who delights in them! He will suffer these things, just as I, wretched one, have. Night separated me from a most sweet brother, cutting the indivisible light of love.

ΙΑ'

How God was seen by him as by Stephen and Paul the apostles, here the father, being amazed, narrates. (68)

What is the new thing of the wonder that is even now taking place? Does God then wish even now to be seen by sinners, He who long ago ascended on high and sat down on a throne, in the paternal heaven, and is hidden? For He was hidden from the eyes of the divine apostles, and only Stephen, as we have heard, after these things saw the heavens opened and then said:

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καί οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἐμοί αἴσθησις ἄλλη. Ὅσῳ γάρ κόπρου καθαρώτατος ἄρτος τιμιώτερος καί ἡδύτερος πέλει, τοσούτῳ πλέον ἀσυγκρίτως τά ἄνω ὑπέρ τά κάτω τοῖς καλῶς γεγευμένοις. Καταισχύνθητι τῶν σοφῶν ἡ σοφία, ἡ τῆς ὄντως γνώσεως ἐστερημένη! Ἡ γάρ ἁπλότης τῶν ἡμετέρων λόγων ἔργῳ κέκτηται τήν ἀληθῆ σοφίαν Θεῷ πλησιάζουσα καί προσκυνοῦσα, ἐξ οὗ πᾶσα δίδοται ζωῆς σοφία, δι᾿ ἧς ἀναπλάττομαι ἤ καί θεοῦμια Θεόν καθορῶν εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων˙ ἀμήν.

Ι'.

Ὅτι ὁ θάνατος τῇ λύπῃ καί τῶν στερροτέρων καθάπτεται. (67) Ἤκουσα πρᾶγμα ξένον καί πλῆρες θάμβους, φύσιν ἄϋλον, τήν λίθου στερροτέραν, ἶσον ἀδάμαντος καλουμένου παθοῦσαν, ὅς μή μαλαχθείς ἤ πυρί ἤ σιδήρῳ γέγονε κηρός ἐμπλεχθείς τῷ μολύβδῳ. Ἄρτ᾿ ἐπίστευσα μικρόν ὕδατος ῥεῦμα πέτρας τό στερρόν ἐγχρονίζον κοιλαίνειν καί ὄντως οὐδέν ἄτρεπτον τῶν ἐν βίῳ. Μηδείς μ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ νῦν ἀπατᾶν νομιζέτω! Φεῦ τῷ βλέποντι τά φεύγοντα τοῦ βίου ὡς κρατούμενα καί τερπομένῳ τούτοις! Ταῦτα πείσεται, ἅπερ κἀγώ, ὁ τάλας. Νύξ μ᾿ ἐχώρισεν ἀδελφοῦ γλυκυτάτου, τό ἄτμητον φῶς τῆς ἀγάπης τεμοῦσα.

ΙΑ'

Ὅπως ὡράθη αὐτῷ Θεός ὡς Στεφάνῳ καί Παύλῳ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις, ἐνταῦθα ὁ πατήρ ἐκπληττόμενος διηγεῖται. (68)

Τί τό καινόν τοῦ θαύματος τοῦ καί νῦν γινομένου; Θεός καί νῦν ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἄρα ὁρᾶσθαι θέλει, ὁ πάλαι ἄνω ἀναβάς καί καθεσθείς ἐν θρόνῳ, ἐν οὐρανῷ τῷ πατρικῷ, καί κεκρυμμένος πέλων; Ἐκρύβη γάρ ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν τῶν θείων ἀποστόλων καί μόνος, ὡς ἠκούσαμεν, Στέφανος μετά ταῦτα ἀνεῳγότας οὐρανούς εἶδε καί τότε εἶπεν˙