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was seen. For the only-begotten was not feigning the standing at the right hand, in order to show something else by this, but being always at the Father's right hand, he was pleased to show his own glory, while he was still in the flesh, to the one who was also giving up his soul for his glory. By negation it is not possible to see anything, nor to conceive; but he saw the glory of God. But if that vision was intellectual, either according to cause or according to analogy, then we too see similarly to him, for we too reason by analogy about the standing and session in heaven at the right hand of the majesty of the incarnate God. But how did the disciple of the gospel not think this before and always, but understood it then? "For 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 for him to gaze into heaven and for the heavens to be opened, if the vision were only knowledge, coming about intellectually?

How then did that protomartyr see this, if he saw neither intellectually, nor sensorially, nor by negation, nor by thinking about divine things by cause or analogy? I will tell you frankly: spiritually, as I also said of those who see the uncreated light through revelation, which also many of the fathers have declared before. For the divine Luke himself taught this, saying: "But Stephen, being full of faith and the Holy Spirit, gazing into the heavens saw the glory of God." And you, therefore, if you become full of faith and the Holy Spirit, will spiritually see things invisible even to the mind; but if you are entirely devoid of faith, you will not even believe those who testify to what they have seen. For having at least a moderate faith, you will listen reverently to those who recount, as far as possible from experience, the ineffable things, neither dragging them down to these sensible or intelligible things, even if they are spoken of homonymously, and so struggling against the truth as if it were error, nor rejecting the ineffable grace of God given to us.

For such is also the contemplation called by the fathers exceptionally true, and the heartfelt activity of prayer, and the spiritual warmth and pleasure from it, and the gratifying tear from grace. For the causes of these are properly grasped by an intellectual sense. I say 'sense' because of the clear, vivid, completely unerring, and imageless nature of the apprehension, and in addition to these things, that the body also somehow partakes of the grace working in the mind and is transformed by it and itself receives a certain co-perception of the ineffable mystery in the soul, and provides to those who possess it a certain perception of the things working in them, to those outside who at that time see sensorially the... Thus the face of Moses shone, with the inner brilliance (p. 216) of the mind being poured out also upon the body, and it shone so much that not even those who looked at him sensorially were able to gaze at the abundance of that radiance. Thus the perceptible face of Stephen appeared as the face of an angel; for within him the mind, in an angel-imitating and angel-befitting manner, whether by application or by reception, being united with the light established above all things by an ineffable participation, became angel-like. Thus the Egyptian, or rather heavenly, Mary became suspended in body as she prayed, locally and sensorially, for, as the mind was lifted up, the body was also lifted up with it and, rising from the earth, was seen in the air.

Thus when the soul is divinely inspired and, as it were, moved by the irresistible love for the only desirable one, the heart is also moved, showing the communion of grace with spiritual leaps and as if setting out from here for the meeting with the Lord in the clouds with the body, as promised. Thus in the intense

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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 ἡδονή κάι τό ἐκ τῆς χάριτος θυμῆρες δάκρυον. Τά γάρ τούτων αἴτια νοερᾷ κυρίως καταλαμβάνεται αἰσθήσει. Λέγω δέ αἰσθήσει, διά τό τρανόν καί ἐναργές καί ἀπλανές πάντῃ καί ἀφάνταστον τῆς καταλήψεως, καί πρός τούτοις ὅτι καί τό σῶμα μεταλαμβάνει πως τῆς κατά νοῦν ἐνεργουμένης χάριτος καί μεταρρυθμίζεται πρός ταύτην καί λαμβάνει τινά συναίσθησιν αὐτό τοῦ κατά ψυχήν ἀπορρήτου μυστηρίου, καί τοῖς κεκτημένους αἴσθησίν τινα παρέχει τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐνεργουμένων, ἔξωθεν αἰσθητῶς κατά τόν καιρόν ἐκεῖνον βλέπουσι τούς κε . Οὕτως Μωσέως ἔλαμψε τό πρόσωπον, τῆς ἐντός λαμπρότητος (σελ. 216) τοῦ νοῦ κἀπί τό σῶμα περικεχυμένης, καί τοσοῦτον ἔλαμψεν ὡς μηδέ τούς αἰσθητῶς προσβλέποντας αὐτῷ πρός τήν περιουσίαν τῆς αὐγῆς ἐκείνης ἀτενίζειν ἔχειν. Οὕτως ὤφθη τό αἰσθητόν πρόσωπον Στεφάνου ὡσεί πρόσωπον ἀγγέλου˙ καί γάρ ἔνδοθεν αὐτῷ ὁ νοῦς ἀγγελομιμήτως καί ἀγγελοπρεπῶς, εἴτε κατ᾿ ἐπιβολήν εἴτε κατά παραδοχήν, ἑνούμενος τῷ ὑπερανῳκισμένῳ τοῦ παντός φωτί κατά μέθεξιν ἀπόρρητον, ἀγγελοειδής ἐγίγνετο. Οὕτως ἡ αἰγυπτία, μᾶλλον δ᾿ οὐρανία, Μαρία μετέωρος γέγονε καί τό σῶμα εὐχομένη τοπικῶς καί αἰσθητῶς, καί γάρ, ὑψουμένου τοῦ νοῦ, συνανυψώθη καί τό σῶμα καί τῆς γῆς ἀπαναστάν ὤφθην ἐναέριον.

Οὕτω τῆς ψυχῆς ἐνθουσιώσης καί οἱονεί συγκινουμένης τῷ ἀσχέτῳ ἔρωτι τοῦ μόνου ἐφετοῦ, καί ἡ καρδία συγκινεῖται, σκιρτήμασι πνευματικοῖς τήν κοινωνίαν τῆς χάριτος ἐνδεικνυμένη καί ὥσπερ ἐνθένδε ὁρμωμένη πρός τήν μετά σώματος ἐν νεφέλαις κατά τό ἐπηγγελμένον τοῦ Κυρίου ὑπαντήν. Οὕτως ἐν τῇ συντόνῳ