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Christ showed to the apostles in an ineffable way. Indeed, the ray of the divinity which is beyond all reason and all sight, how could it be perceptible to the senses? Have you understood that the light that shone around the apostles on Tabor was not, properly speaking, perceptible to the senses?

Nevertheless, if the divine light, which exists beyond all sensation, was seen by sensible eyes (as indeed it was seen, just as those who contradict those spiritual men say, agreeing with them and us on this point); if, therefore, the divine light was seen by bodily eyes, why will it not also be seen by noetic eyes? Or is the soul something evil and unable to be joined with the good and insensible to it, something which not even one of the most audacious heretics has ever said? Or is it good, but the body is better than it? For how is the soul not less than the body, if the body is receptive and perceptive of the light of God, but the soul is not? And how is this material and mortal body not more akin to the soul, and more closely related, and nearer to God, if through its mediation the soul sees God in light, but the body does not see through the soul? And if the Lord's Transfiguration on Tabor is also a prelude to the future visible theophany of God in glory, and the apostles were deemed worthy to receive this with the eyes of the body, why should not those who are pure in heart now receive with the eyes of the soul the prelude and pledge of His theophany according to the mind? Since the Son of God not only united His own divine hypostasis, oh the ineffable love for mankind, to our nature, and taking an ensouled body and (p. 230) an intellectual soul "was seen on earth and conversed with men," but, oh wonder leaving no room for hyperbole, He is also united to human hypostases, mingling Himself with each of the believers through the partaking of His holy body, and He becomes of one body with us and makes us a temple of the whole divinity (for in the very body of Christ "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"), how will He not, through the divine radiance of His body within us, shining around, enlighten the souls of those who worthily partake, just as on Tabor He enlightened the bodies of the disciples? For at that time, that body which has the fount of the light of grace, not yet being mingled with our bodies, enlightened from without those worthy ones who drew near, and through the sensible eyes sent illumination into the soul; but now, being mingled with us and existing in us, it fittingly illumines the soul from within.

What then? Shall we not see the invisible One face to face in the age to come, according to what is written? Therefore, even now, those who are pure in heart, receiving the pledge and prelude of this, see His noetic formation, invisible to sensation, arising within them. For the mind, being an immaterial nature and a kindred light, if one may say so, to the first and highest and participable by all and absolute light of the universe, and through its complete elevation toward the true light, by immaterial and unceasing and utterly pure prayer, having ascended unswervingly to God Himself and thus having already been refashioned to an angelic dignity, being illumined in a manner befitting an angel by the first light itself, appears by participation to be that which the archetype is by cause, and through itself it reveals the beauty of that hidden loveliness and its most manifest and unapproachable radiance, which the divine psalmist David (p. 232), perceiving noetically in himself, rejoicing, taught the faithful this great and ineffable thing, saying: "the brightness of our God be upon us." For who, not having experienced and seen the brightness of God in himself, and then seeking it by divisions and syllogisms and analyses, but not believing the fathers with simplicity of heart, would ever endure to accept by hearing that any man could possess the brightness of God? Rightly, therefore, did John through the Apocalypse reveal to us that what is on the white stone, which he who conquers receives from God, no one is able to know, if

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ἀποστόλοις ὁ Χριστός ὑπέδειξε ἀρρήτως. Ἡ γοῦν ὑπέρ πάντα λόγον καί πᾶσαν ὅρασιν τῆς θεότητος ἀκτίς, πῶς ἄν εἴη αἰσθητή; Συνῆκας ὅτι τό περιαστράψαν φῶς ἐν Θαβώρ τούς ἀποστόλους οὐκ αἰσθητόν κυρίως ἦν;

Οὐ μήν ἀλλ᾿ εἴπερ αἰσθητοῖς ὤφθη ὀφθαλμοῖς τό θεῖον καί ὑπέρ πᾶσαν αἴσθησιν ὑπάρχον φῶς (ὥσπερ οὖν καί ὤφθη, καθάπερ καί οἱ τοῖς πνευματικοῖς ἐκείνοις ἀνδράσιν ἀντιλέγοντές φασι, κατά τοῦτ᾿ ἐκείνοις καί ἡμῖν ὁμολογοῦντες)˙ εἴπερ οὖν τό φῶς τό θεῖον σωματικοῖς ὤφθη ὀφθαλμοῖς, διατί μή καί νοεροῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὀφθήσεται; Ἤ πονηρόν τι πρᾶγμα ἡ ψυχή καί ἀσυνδύαστον τῷ ἀγαθῷ καί ἀνεπαίσθητον αὐτοῦ, ὅ μηδέ τῶν παντόλμων κακοδόξων πώποτέ τις εἴρηκεν; Ἤ καλόν μέν, κρεῖττον δέ τό σῶμα ταύτης; Πῶς γάρ οὐχ ἧττον ἡ ψυχή τοῦ σώματος εἴπερ τό μέν σῶμα μεταληπτικόν καί ἀντιληπτικόν ἐστι φωτός Θεοῦ, ἡ ψυχή δ᾿ οὐχί; Πῶς δ᾿ οὐ τῆς ψυχῆς συγγενέστερόν τε καί προσεχέστερον καί μᾶλλον ἐγγίζον Θεῷ τό σῶμα τουτί τό ὑλικόν τε καί θνητόν, εἴπερ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ μέν αὕτη μεσιτεύοντος ἐν φωτί Θεόν ὁρᾷ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί τοῦτο δι᾿ αὐτῆς; Εἰ δέ καί προοίμιον τῆς ἐν δόξῃ μελλούσης ὁρατῆς Θεοῦ θεοφανείας ἡ ἐν Θαβωρίῳ τοῦ Κυρίου μεταμόρφωσις, καί ταύτην οἱ ἀπόστολοι ὀφαλμοῖς σώματος λαβεῖν κατηξιώθησαν, διατί μή καί τό προοίμιον καί τόν ἀρραβῶνα τῆς κατά νοῦν αὐτοῦ θεοφανείας ὀφθαλμοῖς νῦν λήψονται ψυχῆς οἱ κεκαθαρμένοι τήν καρδίαν; Ἐπεί δέ μή μόνον τήν ἑαυτοῦ θεϊκήν ὑπόστασιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱός, βαβαί τῆς ἀνεικάστου φιλανθρωπίας, ἥνωσε τῇ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς φύσει, καί σῶμα λαβών ἔμψυχον καί (σελ. 230) ψυχήν ἔννουν «ἐπί γῆς ὤφθη καί τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη», ἀλλ᾿ ὤ θαύματος οὐδεμίαν ἀπολείποντος ὑπερβολήν, καί αὐταῖς ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ὑποστάσεσιν ἑνοῦται, τῶν πιστευόντων ἑκάστῳ συνανακιρνῶν ἑαυτόν διά τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου σώματος αὐτοῦ μεταλήψεως, καί σύσσωμος ἡμῖν γίνεται καί ναόν τῆς ὅλης θεότητος ἡμᾶς ἀπεργάζεται (καί γάρ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ σώματι «κατοικεῖ πᾶν τό πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς» πῶς οὐχί διά τῆς θεϊκῆς αὐγῆς τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν σώματος αὐτοῦ τάς ψυχάς περιαστράψας φωτίσει τῶν ἀξίως μετεχόντων, ὡς τῶν μαθητῶν ἐν Θαβώρ καί τά σώματα ἐφώτισε; Τότε γάρ μήπω φυραθέν ἡμῶν τοῖς σώμασι τό τήν πηγήν ἔχον τοῦ φωτός τῆς χάριτος ἐκεῖνο σῶμα τῶν ἐγγιζόντων τούς ἀξίους ἔξωθεν ἐφώτιζε καί διά τῶν αἰσθητῶν ὀμμάτων ἐπί τήν ψυχήν εἰσέπεμπε τόν φωτισμόν˙ νῦν δ᾿ ἀνακραθέν ἡμῖν καί ἐν ἡμῖν ὑπάρχον εἰκότως ἔνδοθεν περιαυγάζει τήν ψυχήν.

Τί δέ; Οὐ πρόσωπον πρός πρόσωπον ἐπί τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος ὀψόμεθα τόν ἀόρατον κατά τό γεγραμμένον; Οὐκοῦν καί νῦν τούτου λαμβάνοντες τόν ἀρραβῶνά τε καί τό προοίμιον οἱ κεκαθαρμένοι τήν καρδίαν ὁρῶσι τήν αὐτοῖς ἐγγινομένην νοεράν αὐτοῦ καί ἀόρατον αἰσθήσει μόρφωσιν. Φύσις γάρ ὤν ἄϋλος ὁ νοῦς καί φῶς συγγενές, εἰ χρή λέγειν τῷ πρώτῳ καί ἀνωτάτῳ καί μεθεκτῷ πᾶσι καί ἀπολελυμένῳ τοῦ παντός φωτί, καί διά τῆς πρός τό ὄντως φῶς ὁλικῆς ἀνατάσεως, τῇ ἀΰλῳ καί ἀδιαλείπτῳ καί ἀπειλικρινημένῃ προσευχῇ, πρός αὐτόν τόν Θεόν ἀνεπιστρόφως ἀνανεύσας καί οὕτω πρός ἀγγελικήν ἤδη μετασκευασθείς ἀξίαν, ἀγγελοπρεπῶς ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πρώτου φωτός καταλαμφθείς, αὐτό φαίνεται κατά μέθεξιν, ὅ τό ἀρχέτυπον κατ᾿ αἰτίαν ἐστί, καί δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ φαίνει τοῦ κρυφίου κάλλους ἐκείνου τήν ὡραιότητα καί τήν φανοτάτην καί ἀπρόσιτον αὐγήν, ἥν καί ὁ θεῖος ᾠδικός ∆αυίδ (σελ. 232) νοερῶς αἰσθόμενος ἐν ἑαυτῷ, γηθόμενος τούς πιστούς τό μέγα τοῦτο χρῆμα καί ἀπόρρητον ἐδίδασκε λέγων˙ «ἡ λαμπρότης τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς». Τίς γάρ μή λαμπρότητα Θεοῦ ἐν ἑαυτῷ παθών τε καί ἰδών, εἶτα διαιρέσεσι καί συλλογισμοῖς καί ἀναλύσεσιν αὐτήν ζητῶν, ἀλλά μή ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας πιστεύων τοῖς πατράσιν, ἀκοῇ γοῦν ἀνάσχοιτό ποτε παραδέξασθαι λαμπρότητα Θεοῦ σχεῖν τινα ἀνθρώπων; Καλῶς ἄρα Ἰωάννης διά τῆς Ἀποκαλύψεως ἀπεκάλυψεν ἡμῖν ὅτι τά ἐν τῇ ψήφῳ τῇ λευκῇ, ἥν ὁ νικῶν παρά Θεοῦ λαμβάνει, γνῶναι δύναται οὐδείς, εἰ