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and having left the whole world, was he hidden? Alas for the worthlessness of knowledge and words! For where was he hidden, who passed through the world and became outside of all that he sees? Tell me, wisdom of the wise, set at nought—that I may not say, made foolish by God, as Paul says and every servant of God. This man of the desires of the Spirit, this man drawing near in body to bodies, (66) is able to be holy in spirit; for outside the world and these bodies there is no appetite for fleshly passion, but a certain dispassion. He who has loved this and from the kiss has gained life, even if you see him seemingly acting unseemly and as if deserting to the deed, know that a dead body is doing this! I do not say without a soul, through which it is moved, but outside of evil desire; for the pleasure of good dispassion and the light from it that loves me ineffably enraptures my whole mind, taking it out of itself, and holding it naked with an immaterial hand, does not permit me to fall from its love or to conceive a thought of passion, but it draws me down unceasingly and longing sets my soul on fire 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 well. Be ashamed, O wisdom of the wise, deprived of true knowledge! For the simplicity of our words possesses in deed the true wisdom, drawing near to and worshipping God, from whom all wisdom of life is given, through which I am refashioned or even deified, beholding God unto ages of ages. Amen.

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καί κόσμον πάντα καταλείψας ἐκρύβη; Βαβαί γνώσεως καί λόγων εὐτελείας! Ποῦ γάρ ἐκρύβη ὁ τόν κόσμον περάσας καί πάντων ἔξω γενόμενος, ὧν βλέπει; Λέγε, σοφία σοφῶν ἠθετημένη, ἵνα μή λέγω, Θεῷ μεμωραμένη, ὡς φησί Παῦλος καί πᾶς τις Θεοῦ δοῦλος. Οὗτος ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀνήρ τῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος, οὗτος σώματι σώμασι πλησιάζων (66) δύναται τῷ πνεύματι ἅγιος εἶναι˙ ἔξω γάρ κόσμου καί τῶν σωμάτων τούτων οὐδέ ὄρεξίς ἐστι σαρκικοῦ πάθους, ἀλλ᾿ ἀπαθείά τις. Ὁ ταύτην φιλήσας καί ἐκ τοῦ φιλήματος ζωήν κερδήσας, εἰ γάρ καί βλέπεις δῆθεν ἀσχημονοῦντα καί πρός τήν πρᾶξιν ὥσπερ αὐτομολοῦντα, νεκρόν τό σῶμα γίνωσκε τοῦτο πράττειν! Οὐ λέγω δίχα ψυχῆς, δι᾿ ἧς κινεῖται, ἀλλά τῆς κακῆς ἐκτός ἐπιθυμίας˙ ἡ γάρ ἡδονή τῆς καλῆς ἀπαθείας καί τό ἐξ αὐτῆς φιλοῦν με φῶς ἀρρήτως ὅλον μου τόν νοῦν ἐξιστῶν ἀφαρπάζει καί γυμνόν αὐτόν κρατοῦν χειρί ἀΰλῳ πεσεῖν οὐκ ἐᾷ τῆς αὐτοῦ με ἀγάπης ἤ ἐννοῆσαι λογισμόν ἐμπαθείας, ἀλλά κατασπάζεται ἀδιαλείπτως καί τήν ψυχήν μου ὁ πόθος καταφλέγει 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.