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on his face, like Moses, but on his whole body.” Does it therefore shine there in vain, with no one perceiving that light? In vain indeed, if it is perceptible by the senses. Or is this truly the food of spirits, both of angels and of the just? This is why, when we pray for the departed, we ask Christ to rank their souls where the light of His countenance watches over them. How then will souls enjoy, and how will they at all dwell in a light that shines perceptibly? But Basil the Great says that those who were then pure in heart, during the Lord's epiphany (p. 212) in the flesh, continually saw this power shining forth from His adorable body. How then is it a perceptible light, that which is seen through purity of heart? “Christ sent forth from one vantage point a boundless radiance of form,” according to the divine hymnographer Kosmas. How then is it boundless if it is perceptible?

But Stephen, who after Christ bore witness for Christ, looked intently and saw the heavens opened and the glory of God in them, and Christ standing at the right hand of God. Is it possible, then, for a faculty of sense-perception to reach as far as the super-celestial realities? But indeed he saw there from below, from earth, and what is greater, not only Christ, but also His Father. For how could he have seen the Son at His right hand, if he did not also see Him? Do you see that the invisible is seen by those who are pure in heart, but not by the senses, nor by the intellect, nor by negation, but by a certain ineffable power? For the exceeding greatness of the height and the glory of the Father in no way admit of perception. The standing was symbolic, but not the vision. But even this standing at the right hand, although a symbol of the fixed and unchangeable and most abiding establishment of the divine nature, what that was, was also ineffably seen. For the Only-begotten was not pretending to stand at the right hand, in order to show something else by this, but, being always at the right hand of the Father, He was pleased to show His own glory, while he was still in the flesh, to the one who was also surrendering his soul for His glory. But by negation it is not possible to see or to understand anything; yet he saw the glory of God. But if that vision was intelligible, either by cause or by analogy, then we too see in the same way as he, for we also reason by analogy about the standing and session of the incarnate God in heaven at the right hand of the majesty. And how is it that the disciple of the gospel did not think this before and always, but understood it then? “Behold,” he says, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of man (p. 214) standing at the right hand of God.” And what need was there both for him to gaze into heaven and for the heavens to be opened, if the vision was only knowledge, occurring intelligibly?

How then did that first martyr see this, if he saw neither intelligibly, nor by the senses, nor by negation, nor by thinking of divine things by cause or analogy? I will tell you plainly: spiritually, as I said of those who see the uncreated light through revelation, which also many of the fathers have declared before. For this the divine Luke himself taught, saying: “But Stephen, being full of faith and the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God.” You too, therefore, if you become full of faith and the Holy Spirit, will see spiritually the things that are invisible even to the intellect; but if you are entirely empty of faith, you will not even believe those who bear witness to what they have seen. For having at least a moderate faith, you will listen reverently to those who narrate, as far as is possible from experience, the ineffable things, neither dragging these down to perceptible things or intelligible things, even if they are called by the same name, and thus fighting against the truth as if it were an error, nor rejecting the ineffable grace of God given to us.

For something of this kind is also the contemplation called by the fathers exceptionally true and the heartfelt energy of prayer and the spiritual warmth from it and

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προσώπῳ, ὡς ὁ Μωϋσῆς, ἀλλ᾿ ὅλῳ τό σώματι». Ἆρ᾿ οὖν ἐκεῖ μάτην φαίνει, μηδενός ἀντιλαμβανομένου τοῦ φωτός ἐκείνου; Μάτην γάρ, εἴπερ αἰσθητόν. Ἤ τοῦτό ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἡ τῶν πνευμάτων τροφή, τῶν τε ἀγγέλων καί τῶν δικαίων; ∆ιό καί προσευχόμενοί φαμεν ὑπέρ τῶν κεκοιμημένων πρός Χριστόν κατατάξαι τάς ψυχάς αὐτῶν ἔνθα ἐπισκοπεῖ τό φῶς τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ. Πῶς οὖν ἀπολαύσονται ψυχαί, πῶς δέ καί ὅλως ἐνσκηνώσουσιν αἰσθητῶς ἐπιλάμποντι φωτεῖ; Ὁ δέ μέγας Βασίλειος τούς τηνικαῦτα καθαρούς τήν καρδίαν, κατά τήν διά σαρκός δεσποτικήν (σελ. 212) ἐπιφάνειαν, ὁρᾶν φησι διηνεκῶς τήν δύναμιν ταύτην ἐκ τοῦ προσκυνητοῦ διαυγάζουσαν σώματος. Πῶς οὖν αἰσθητόν φῶς, τό διά καθαρότητος τῆς καρδίας ὁρώμενον; «Χριστός δ᾿ ἑνί σκοπιῇ σέλας ἄπλετον εἴδεος ἧκεν», κατά τόν θεῖον ὠδικόν Κοσμᾶν. Πῶς οὖν ἄπλετον εἴπερ αἰσθητόν;

Στέφανος δέ ὁ μετά Χριστόν ὑπέρ Χριστοῦ μαρτυρήσας ἀτενίσας εἶδε τούς οὐρανούς ἀνεῳγμένους καί δόξαν ἐν αὐτοῖς Θεοῦ καί τόν Χριστόν ἑστῶτα ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἔστι τοίνυν αἰσθητικήν δύναμιν μέχρις αὐτῶν φθάνειν τῶν ὑπερουρανίων; Ἀλλά μήν οὗτος κάτωθεν ἐκεῖσε ἀπό γῆς ἑώρα, καί τό μεῖζον ὡς οὐ τόν Χριστόν μόνον, ἀλλά καί τόν αὐτοῦ Πατέρα. Πῶς γάρ ἄν ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ ἑώρα τόν υἱόν, εἰ μή καί αὐτόν ἐκεῖνον ἔβλεπεν; Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ὁρᾶται ὁ ἀόρατος ὑπό τῶν κεκαθαρμένων τήν καρδίαν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ αἰσθητῶς, οὐδέ νοητῶς, οὐδέ ἀφαιρεματικῶς, ἀλλ᾿ ἀρρήτῳ τινί δυνάμει; Τό μέν γάρ τοῦ ὕψους ὑπερβάλλον καί ἡ δόξα τοῦ Πατρός οὐδαμῶς προσίεται τήν αἴσθησιν. Συμβολική δ᾿ ἡ στάσις ἦν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ἡ ὅρασις. Ἀλλά καί αὐτή ἡ ἐκ δεξιῶν στάσις, καίτοι σύμβολον οὖσα τοῦ παγίου καί ἀναλλοιώτου καί τῆς μονιμωτάτης τῆς θείας φύσεως ἱδρύσεως, ὅ ἦν ἐκείνη, τοῦτο καί ἀρρήτως ἑωρᾶτο. Οὐ γάρ ὑπεκρίνετο τήν ἐκ δεξιῶν στάσιν ὁ μονογενής, ἵνα τι δείξῃ διά τούτου ἕτερον, ἀλλ᾿ ἀεί ὤν τοῦ πατρός ἐκ δεξιῶν, τήν οἰκείαν δόξαν εὐδόκησεν, ἔτι ὄντι ἐν σαρκί, τῷ καί τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ ὑπέρ τῆς ἐκείνου δόξης προεμένῳ. Ἀφαιρεματικῶς δέ οὐκ ἔνι τι ὁρᾶν, οὐδέ νοεῖν˙ ἐκεῖνος δέ ἑώρα δόξαν Θεοῦ. Νοητή δ᾿ εἴπερ ἦν ἡ ὅρασις ἐκείνη, ἤ κατ᾿ αἰτίαν ἤ κατά ἀναλογίαν, καί ἡμεῖς λοιπόν ὁμοίως βλέπομεν ἐκείνῳ, καί γάρ καί ἡμεῖς ἀναλογιζόμεθα τήν ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς μεγαλειότητος στάσιν καί καθέδραν τοῦ ἐνανθρωπήσαντος Θεοῦ. Πῶς δέ καί μή πρότερον καί ἀεί διενοεῖτο τοῦτο ὁ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου μαθητής, ἀλλά τότ᾿ ἐνόησεν αὐτό; «Ἰδού φάρ, φησί, «βλέπω τούς οὐρανούς ἀνεῳγότας καί τόν υἱόν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (σελ. 214) ἐκ δεξιῶν ἑστῶτα τοῦ Θεοῦ». Τίς δέ καί χρεία ἦν αὐτόν τε ἀτενίσαι εἰς τόν οὐρανόν καί τούς οὐρανούς διανοιγῆναι, εἰ γνῶσις ἦν ἡ ὅρασις μόνη, νοητῶς προσγινομένη;

Πῶς οὖν ἑώρακε τοῦθ᾿ ὁ πρωτομάρτυς ἐκεῖνος, εἰ μήτε νοητῶς εἶδε, μήτε αἰσθητῶς, μήτ᾿ ἐξ ἀποφάσεως, μήτε κατ᾿ αἰτίαν ἤ ἀναλογίαν διανοούμενος τά θεῖα; Ἐγώ σοι παρρησίᾳ ἐρῶ˙ πνευματικῶς, ὡς καί τούς τό ἀκήρατον φῶς δι᾿ ἀποκαλύψεως ὁρῶντας εἶπον, ὅ καί πολλοί τῶν πατέρων πρότερον ἐξεῖπον. Τοῦτο γοῦν καί αὐτός ὁ θεῖος ἐδίδαξε Λουκᾶς εἰπών˙ «ὑπάρχων δέ Στέφανος πλήρης πίστεως καί Πνεύματος ἁγίου, ἀτενίσας εἰς τούς οὐρανούς εἶδε δόξαν Θεοῦ». Καί σύ τοίνυν, ἄν πλήρης πίστεως καί Πνεύματος ἁγίου καταστῇς, τά καί νῷ ἀόρατα πνευματικῶς θεάσῃ˙ εἰ δέ κενός εἰ παντάπασι τῆς πίστεως, οὐδέ τοῖς μαρτυροῦσιν ὅ ἑωράκασι πιστεύσεις. Πίστιν γάρ ἔχων μετρίαν γοῦν, εὐλαβῶς ἀκούσῃ τῶν διηγουμένων κατά τό ἐκχωροῦν ἐκ τῆς πείρας τά ἀπόρρητα, μήτε πρός τά αἰσθητά ταῦτα κατασπῶν ἤ τά νοητά, εἰ καί ὁμωνύμως λέγονται, καί οὕτω κατά τῆς ἀληθείας ἀγωνιζόμενος ὡς πλάνης, μήτε τήν ἡμῖν δεδομένην ἀθετῶν ἀπόρρητον χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Τοιοῦτον γάρ τί ἐστι καί ἡ ἐξαιρέτως ἀληθής ὑπό τῶν πατέρων ὀνομαζομένη θεωρία καί ἡ τῆς εὐχῆς ἐγκάρδιος ἐνέργεια καί ἡ ἐξ αὐτῆς πνευματική θέρμη τε καί