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incorporeal, inseparable, incomprehensible to all nature, how were you seen as I am, were you known to those in darkness and held in the hands of your holy mother, and bound as a murderer, you suffered bodily as a malefactor, O king, desiring completely to save me and to bring me back again to the paradise of glory? This is your economy, this is your presence, this is your compassion and your love for mankind, which came to be for our sake, for all men, O Word, faithful, unfaithful, gentiles, sinners, saints; for your epiphany became common to all, salvation and redemption for the living and the dead. (79) But that which secretly happens in me, the prodigal, and is partially fulfilled in a known unknowing—known indeed completely by me, but unknown to others—what tongue could speak, what mind interpret, what word express, that my hand too might write it? For it is truly awesome, Master, awesome and beyond reason, that the light is seen by me, which the world does not have, and he who is not within this world loves me, and I love him who is nowhere among visible things. I sit on my bed, being outside the world, and being in the middle of my cell I see him who is and was outside the world, with whom I also speak—I dare to say it—and I love, and he loves me, I eat, I am well nourished by the vision alone and being united with him I pass beyond the heavens, and I know this to be true and certain, but where the body then is, I do not know. I know that he who is unmoved descends; I know that he who is invisible is seen by me; I know, he who is separate from all creation takes me within himself and hides me in his arms, and I am found then outside the whole world. And I again, a mortal and small in the world, see within myself the whole creator of the world, and I know that I shall not die, being within life, and I have the whole of life gushing up within me; he is in my heart, and he is in heaven, here and there he is seen by me equally resplendent. But how these things happen, how could I well understand, and how could I be able to tell you all that I understand and see? For they are truly ineffable and completely unspoken, things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, (80) nor has ever entered into a heart of flesh. I thank you, Master, that you have had mercy on me and have granted me to see these things and to write them thus, and to proclaim your love for mankind to those with me, so that now peoples, tribes, and tongues might also be initiated,

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ἀσώματον, ἀχώριστον, ἄληπτον πάσῃ φύσει, πῶς καθωράθης ὡς ἐγώ, ἐγνώσθης τοῖς ἐν σκότει καί ἐκρατήθης ἐν χερσί μητρός σου τῆς ἁγίας, καί ἐδεσμεύθης ὡς φονεύς, ἔπαθες ὡςκακοῦργος σωματικῶς, ὦ βασιλεῦ, θέλων πάντως με σῶσαι καί πάλιν ἐπαναγαγεῖν εἰς παράδεισον δόξης; Τοῦτο οἰκονομία σου, τοῦτο ἡ παρουσία, τοῦτο ἡ εὐσπλαγχνία σου καί ἡ φιλανθρωπία, ἡ γενομένη δι᾿ ἡμᾶς, πάντας ἀνθρώπους, Λόγε, πιστούς, ἀπίστους, ἐθνικούς, ἁμαρτωλούς, ἁγίους˙ κοινή γάρ πάντων γέγονεν ἡ ἐπιφάνειά σου, σωτηρία καί λύτρωσις ζώντων καί τῶν θανόντων. (79) Τό δέ κρυπτῶς γινόμενον ἐν ἐμοί τῷ ἀσώτῳ καί μερικῶς τελούμενον ἐν γνωστῇ ἀγνωσίᾳ γνωστῇ μέν πάντως παρ᾿ ἐμοί, ἀγνώστῳ δέ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ποία γλῶσσα λαλήσειε, ποῖος νοῦς ἑρμηνεύσῃ, ποῖος λόγος ἐκφράσειεν, ἵνα καί χείρ μου γράψῃ; Φρικτόν γάρ ὄντως, ∆έσποτα, φρικτόν καί ὑπέρ λόγον, ὅτι ὁρᾶταί μοι τό φῶς, ὅ ὁ κόσμος οὐκ ἔχει, καί ἀγαπᾷ με ὁ μή ὤν ἔνδον τούτου τοῦ κόσμου, καί ἀγαπῶ τόν μηδαμοῦ ὄντα ἐν ὁρωμένοις. Ἐπί τῆς κλίνης κάθημαι ἔξωθεν ὤν τοῦ κόσμου καί μέσον ὤν τῆς κέλλης μου τόν ἔξωθεν τοῦ κόσμου ὄντα τε καί γενόμενον βλέπω, ᾧ καί ὁμιλῶ εἰπεῖν δέ τόλμα - καί φιλῶ, φιλεῖ με καί ἐκεῖνος, ἐσθίω, τρέφομαι καλῶς μόνῃ τῇ θεωρίᾳ καί συνενούμενος αὐτῷ οὐρανούς ὑπερβαίνω καί τοῦτο οἶδα ἀληθές καί βέβαιον ὑπάρχειν, τό ποῦ τό σῶμα τότε δέ ὑπάρχει, οὐ γινώσκω. Οἷδα, ὅτι κατέρχεται ὁ ὑπάρχων ἀκίνητος˙ οἶδα, ὅτι ὁρᾶταί μοι ὁ τυγχάνων ἀόρατος˙ οἶδα, ὁ πάσης κτίσεως ἀποκεχωρισμένος ἔνδον αὐτοῦ λαμβάνει με καί ἐν ἀγκάλαις κρύπτει, καί ἐκ παντός εὑρίσκομαι ἔξω τότε τοῦ κόσμου. Ἐγώ δέ πάλιν, ὁ βροτός καί μικρός ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἐντός μου ὅλον καθορῶ τόν ποιητήν τοῦ κόσμου, καί οἶδα, ὡς οὐ θνήξομαι ἔνδον ζωῆς τυγχάνων, καί ὅλην ἔχω γτήν ζωήν βλυστάνουσαν ἐντός μου˙ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου ἐστίν, ἐν οὐρανῷ δ᾿ ὑπάρχει, ὦδε κἀκεῖ ὁρᾶταί μοι ἐπίσης ἀπαστράπτων. Ὅπως δέ ταῦτα γίνονται, πῶς ἄν καλῶς νοήσω, πῶς δ᾿ ἐξειπεῖν σοι δυνηθῶ, ὅσα νοῶ καί βλέπω; Εἰσί γάρ ὄντως ἄφθεκτα καί ἄρρητα εἰς ἅπαν, ἅ ὀφθαλμός οὐχ ἑώρακεν, οὐκ ἀκήκοεν οὖς δέ, (80) ἐπί καρδίαν σέ ποτέ οὐκ ἐνέβη σαρκίνην. Εὐχαριστῶ σοι, ∆έσποτα, ὅτι ἠλέησάς με καί δέδωκας ἰδέσθαι με ταῦτα καί οὕτως γράψαι, τοῖς μετ᾿ἐμοῦ κηρῦξαί τε τήν σήν φιλανθρωπίαν, ἵνα καί νῦν μυηθῶσι λαοί, φυλαί καί γλῶσσαι,