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of the power of the Spirit, through which the light of grace is seen. But that which is not perceptible through such senses is not properly perceptible; and the saint himself indicated this there to those who have understanding. For since he says that in the age to come we will be illumined by this light, where there is need neither of light nor of air nor of anything else pertaining to the present life, as we are taught from the divinely inspired Scriptures, for “then God will be all in all,” according to the apostle, we will not, then, have need of perceptible light at that time; for if God will then be all things to us, then that light, too, is divine. How then is it properly perceptible? But also that which is added concerning the more divine imitation of the angels and can be said according to the three modes, shows that the angels also partake of that light. How so, if it is perceptible? And yet, if it is perceptible, it is visible through the air; therefore each will see the light more brightly or more dimly not according to the measure of his own virtue and the purity resulting from it, but according to the measure of the purity of the surrounding air. And if “the righteous will shine like the sun,” each of these will accordingly appear more radiant or more dim, not by their good works, but by the purity of the surrounding air. Furthermore, the things of the age to come will be apprehensible now and hereafter by perceptible eyes, things which not only “eye has not seen, nor ear heard,” but which have not even “entered into the heart of man,” as he delves into the incomprehensible with the approaches of reasonings. And how is it invisible to sinners, if it is perceptible? Or will there then also be that which obstructs, and shadows and cones, and consequently eclipsing conjunctions and multiform circles of illuminations, so that there would be need of the much-occupied vanity of the astrologers during the life contemplated in the unending ages?

(p. 226) But how will a bodily sense perceive a light that is not properly perceptible? By the power of the almighty Spirit, by which the chief of the apostles also saw this on Tabor, flashing forth not only from the flesh that bore the Son in itself, but also from the cloud that bore the Father of Christ in itself. Besides, the body will then be spiritual, not psychic, according to the apostle; for he says, “it is sown a psychic body, it is raised a spiritual body;” and being spiritual and seeing spiritually, it will fittingly perceive the divine radiance. And just as it is now a task to see how we have an intelligible soul, able to subsist by itself because of this dense, mortal, and resistant flesh overshadowing and dragging it down, rendering the soul especially corporeal and fantastical, for which reason we are ignorant of the intelligible sense according to the intellect, so in that most blessed life of the age to come, for the sons of the resurrection the body will, as it were, be hidden, having been transformed into the dignity of angels according to the gospel of Christ; for it will be refined, so as to seem not to be matter at all, nor to impede the intelligible activities, since the intellect has prevailed. For this reason they will enjoy the divine light also with bodily senses.

And what am I to say of the kinship of the body then with the intelligible nature? For Saint Maximus says, “the soul becomes God by participation in the divine grace, having itself ceased from all its activities according to intellect and sense, and having caused the natural activities of the body to cease with it, the body having been deified with it according to the participation in deification analogous to it, so that God alone then appears through both the soul and the body, their natural characteristics (p. 228) having been overcome by the excess of glory.” Since, therefore, as I also said at the beginning, God is invisible to created things, but not invisible to Himself, then, not only through our soul but also through the body—O, the wonder!—it will be God who sees, for this reason we shall then see the divine and unapproachable light clearly even through bodily organs and of this great gift of God that is to be ours, the pledge and the prelude on Tabor to the

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τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος δυνάμεως, δι᾿ ἧς τό φῶς τῆς χάριτος ὁρᾶται. Ἡ δέ μή διά τοιούτων αἰσθητηρίων αἰσθητή, οὐδέ αἰσθητή κυρίως˙ καί αὐτός δέ ὁ ἅγιος τοῦτ᾿ ἐκεῖ τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσιν ὑπέδειξεν. Ἐπεί γάρ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι περιαυγάζεσθαί φησιν ἡμᾶς τούτῳ τῷ φωτί, ὅπου μήτε φωτός μήτ᾿ ἀέρος μήτε τινός ἑτέρου χρεία τῶν κατά τόν παρόντα βίον, ὡς ἐκ τῶν θεοπνεύστων διδασκόμεθα Γραφῶν, «ἔσται γάρ τότε ὁ Θεός τά πάντα ἐν πᾶσι» κατά τόν ἀπόστολον, οὐδέ γοῦν αἰσθητοῦ τότ᾿ ἄρα δεησόμεθα φωτός˙ εἰ γάρ πάνθ᾿ ἡμῖν ἔσται τότε ὁ Θεός, θεῖον ἄρα καί τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο. Πῶς οὖν αἰσθητόν κυρίως; Ἀλλά καί τό κατά τήν τῶν ἀγγέλων θειοτέραν μίμησιν προσκείμενον καί κατά τῶν τριῶν τρόπων λέγεσθαι δυνάμενον, καί τούς ἀγγέλους δείκνυσιν ἐκείνου τοῦ φωτός ἀντιλαμβανομένους. Πῶς οὖν, εἴπερ αἰσθητόν; Καί μήν, εἴπερ αἰσθητόν, δι᾿ἀέρος ὁρατόν˙ οὐκοῦν οὐ κατά τό μέτρον ἕκαστος τῆς οἰκείας ἀρετῆς καί τῆς ἀπό ταύτης καθαρότητος, ἀλλά κατά τό μέτρον τῆς περί τόν ἀέρα καθαρότητος, τηλαυγέστερον ἤ ἀμυδρότερον ὄψονται τό φῶς. Εἰ δέ καί «οἱ δίκαιοι λάμψουσιν ὡς ὁ ἥλιος», ἀναλόγως καί τούτων ἕκαστος, ταῖς μέν ἀγαθοεργίαις οὔ, τῇ δέ τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀέρος καθαρότητι, λαμπρότερος ἤ ἀμαυρότερος φανεῖται. Πρός δέ καί ὀφθαλμοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ἔσται ληπτά νῦν καί εἰς ἔπειτα τά τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, ἅ μή μόνον «ὀφθαλμός οὐκ εἶδεν οὐδέ οὖς ἤκουσεν», ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ «ἐπί καρδίαν ἀναβέβηκεν ἀνθρώπου», λογισμῶν ἐφόδοις τοῖς ἀκαταλήπτοις ἐμβατεύοντος. Πῶς δέ καί τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἀόρατον, εἴπερ αἰσθητόν; Ἤ καί τό διαφράττον ἔσται τότε καί σκιαί καί κῶνοι, τούτοις ἑπομένως ἐκλειπτικοί τε σύνδεσμοι καί φωτισμῶν κύκλοι πολυσχήμονες, ὡς καί τῆς πολυασχόλου δεῖν τῶν ἀστρολόγων καταιότητος κατά τήν ἐνθεωρουμένην τῷ ἀκαταλήκτῳ τῶν αἰώνων ζωήν;

(σελ. 226) Ἀλλά πῶς αἴσθησις σωματική φωτός ἀντιλήψεται μή κυρίως αἰσθητοῦ; Τῇ τοῦ παντοδυνάμου Πνεύματος δυνάμει, καθ᾿ ἥν καί οἱ πρόκριτοι τῶν ἀποστόλων τοῦτο κατεῖδον ἐν Θαβώρ, οὐκ ἀπό τῆς ἐν ἑαυτῇ φερούσης τόν υἱόν σαρκός μόνον ἀποστράπτον, ἀλλά καί ἀπό τῆς ἐν ἑαυτῇ φερούσης τόν Πατέρα τοῦ Χριστοῦ νεφέλης. Ἄλλως τε καί τό σῶμα τότε πνευματικόν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ ψυχικόν ἔσται, κατά τόν ἀπόστολον˙ «σπείρεται» γάρ, φησί, «σῶμα ψυχικόν, ἐγείρεται σῶμα πνευματικόν˙ πνευματικόν δ᾿ ὄν καί πνευματικῶς ὁρῶν τῆς θείας εἰκότως ἀντιλήψεται αὐγῆς. Καί ὥσπερ νῦν ἔργον ἐστίν ἰδεῖν ὡς ἔχομεν νοεράν ψυχήν, καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν ὑφεστάναι δυναμένην διά τήν παχεῖαν ταύτην σάρκα καί θνητήν καί ἀντίτυπον ἐπηλυγάζουσαν καί κατασπῶσαν, σωματοειδῆ τε καί φανταστικήν μάλιστα καθιστῶσαν τήν ψυχήν, διό καί τήν κατά νοῦν νοεράν ἀγνοοῦμεν αἴσθησιν, οὕτως ἐν τῇ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος ἐκείνῃ μακαριωτάτῃ διαγωγῇ τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς ἀναστάσεως ὡσανεί τό σῶμα κρυβήσεται εἰς ἀγγέλων κατά τό εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ μεταποιηθεῖσιν ἀξίαν˙ διαλεπτυνθήσεται γάρ, ὡς μηδ᾿ ὕλην ὅλως εἶναι δοκεῖν, μηδ᾿ ἐπιπροσθεῖν ταῖς νοεραῖς ἐνεργείαις, ἐκνικήσαντος τοῦ νοῦ. ∆ιά τοῦτο καί σωματικαῖς αἰσθήσεσιν ἀπολαύσονται τοῦ θεϊκοῦ φωτός.

Καί τί λέγω τό συγγενές πρός τήν νοεράν φύσιν τοῦ τότε σώματος; Ὁ γάρ ἅγιος Μάξιμος, «ἡ ψυχή», φησί, «γίνεται Θεός τῇ μεθέξει τῆς θεϊκῆς χάριτος, πασῶν τῶν κατά νοῦν τε καί αἴσθησιν αὐτή τε παυσαμένη καί τάς τοῦ σώματος συναποπαύσασα φυσικάς ἐνεργείας, συνθεωθέντος αὐτῇ κατά τήν ἀναλογοῦσαν αὐτῷ μεθέξιν τῆς θεώσεως, ὥστε μόνον τόν Θεόν διά τε τῆς ψυχῆς καί τοῦ σώματος τότε φαίνεσθαι, νικηθέντων αὐτῶν τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῆς δόξης τῶν φυσικῶν (σελ. 228) γνωρισμάτων». Ἐπεί τοίνυν, ὅ καί τήν ἀρχήν εἶπον, τοῖς κτιστοῖς ἀόρατος ὁ Θεός, ἑαυτῷ δέ οὐκ ἀόρατος, τότε δέ οὐ μόνον διά τῆς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ψυχῆς ἀλλά καί διά τοῦ σώματος, ὤ τοῦ θαύματος, ὁ Θεός ὁ βλέπων ἔσται, διά τοῦτο καί διά σωματικῶν ὀργάνων τότε τό θεϊκόν καί ἀπρόσιτον φῶς τηλαυγῶς ὀψόμεθα καί τῆς ἐσομένης εἰς ἡμᾶς μεγαλοδωρεᾶς ταύτης τοῦ Θεοῦ τόν ἀρραβῶνα καί τό προοίμιον ἐν Θαβώρ τοῖς