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For who of those who have known you needs the glory of the world? (78) For one thing is the will of the fleeting flesh, another that of the Spirit, and another that of my soul. Yet I am not threefold, but twofold, as a man; my soul is ineffably bound to my flesh, yet each does not seek its own things appropriately, such as to eat and to drink, such as to sleep, which I say are also earthly wills of the flesh. But since again, when separated from the soul, it seeks nothing of the sort, but is dead, senseless, just as it happens to be clay, I think the whole is of the soul, one will of man. Therefore, the one who has united his own will to the Divine Spirit has become godlike, having received Christ in his breast, a Christian from Christ, having Christ formed within himself in every way, the ungraspable and only one, the one truly inaccessible to all created things. But, O undefiled nature, hidden substance, love for mankind unknown to most men, mercy not seen by those who live foolishly, unchangeable substance, indivisible, thrice-holy, simple and formless light, entirely uncompounded, incorporeal, inseparable, ungraspable by any nature, how were you seen as I am, were you known to those in darkness and held in the hands of your holy mother, and were you bound as a murderer, did you suffer bodily as an evildoer, O king, wishing by all means to save me and to lead me back again to the paradise of glory? This is your dispensation, this your coming, this your compassion and your love for mankind, which came to be for our sake, for all men, O Word, believers, unbelievers, gentiles, sinners, saints; for your epiphany became common to all, salvation and redemption for the living and the dead. (79) But that which takes place secretly in me, the profligate, and is partially accomplished in a known unknowing—known indeed in every way by me, but unknown to others—what tongue could speak of it, what mind interpret it, what word could express it, that my hand too might write it? For it is truly awesome, Master, awesome and beyond reason, that the light is seen by me, which the world does not have, and he who is not within this world loves me, and I love him who is nowhere among visible things.

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Τίς γάρ τῶν ἐπιγνόντων σε χρῄζει δόξης τοῦ κόσμου; (78) Ἄλλο καί γάρ τό θέλημα σαρκός ῥευστῆς ὑπάρχει, ἕτερον δέ τοῦ Πνεύματος, καί ἄλλο τῆς ψυχῆς μου. Πλήν οὐ τριπλοῦς, ἀλλά διπλοῦς, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ὑπάρχω˙ ἡ ψυχή μου συνδέδεται ἀρρήτως τῇ σαρκί μου, πλήν οὐ ζητεῖ τά ἑαυτοῦ ἕκαστον καταλλήλως, οἷον φαγεῖν τε καί πιεῖν, οἷον τό καθευδῆσαι, ἅ καί σαρκός θελήματα χοϊκά εἶναι λέγω. Ἐπεί δέ πάλιν χωρισθέν ψυχῆς οὐδέν ζητεῖ τοιοῦτον, ἀλλά νεκρόν, ἀναίσθητον, ὥσπερ πηλός τυγχάνει, τό πᾶν ψυχῆς εἶναι δοκῶ, ἕν θέλημα ἀνθρώπου. Ὁ οὖν τῷ Θείῳ Πνεύματι τό ἴδιον ἑνώσας θεοειδής ἐγένετο Χριστόν λαβών ἐν στέρνοις, Χριστιανός ἀπό Χριστοῦ, Χριστόν μεμορφωμένον ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ πάντως τόν ἄληπτον καί μόνον, τόν ἀληθῶς ἀπρόσιτον τοῖς ποιήμασι πᾶσιν. Ἀλλ᾿, ὦ φύσις ἀμόλυντε, οὐσία κεκρυμμένη, φιλανθρωπία ἄγνωστε τοῖς πλείοσιν ἀνθρώποις, ἔλεος οὐχ ὁρώμενον τοῖς ἀφρόνως βιοῦσιν, οὐσία ἀναλλοίωτε, ἄτμητε, τρισαγία, φῶς ἁπλοῦν καί ἀνείδεον, ἀσύνθετον εἰς ἅπαν, ἀσώματον, ἀχώριστον, ἄληπτον πάσῃ φύσει, πῶς καθωράθης ὡς ἐγώ, ἐγνώσθης τοῖς ἐν σκότει καί ἐκρατήθης ἐν χερσί μητρός σου τῆς ἁγίας, καί ἐδεσμεύθης ὡς φονεύς, ἔπαθες ὡςκακοῦργος σωματικῶς, ὦ βασιλεῦ, θέλων πάντως με σῶσαι καί πάλιν ἐπαναγαγεῖν εἰς παράδεισον δόξης; Τοῦτο οἰκονομία σου, τοῦτο ἡ παρουσία, τοῦτο ἡ εὐσπλαγχνία σου καί ἡ φιλανθρωπία, ἡ γενομένη δι᾿ ἡμᾶς, πάντας ἀνθρώπους, Λόγε, πιστούς, ἀπίστους, ἐθνικούς, ἁμαρτωλούς, ἁγίους˙ κοινή γάρ πάντων γέγονεν ἡ ἐπιφάνειά σου, σωτηρία καί λύτρωσις ζώντων καί τῶν θανόντων. (79) Τό δέ κρυπτῶς γινόμενον ἐν ἐμοί τῷ ἀσώτῳ καί μερικῶς τελούμενον ἐν γνωστῇ ἀγνωσίᾳ γνωστῇ μέν πάντως παρ᾿ ἐμοί, ἀγνώστῳ δέ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ποία γλῶσσα λαλήσειε, ποῖος νοῦς ἑρμηνεύσῃ, ποῖος λόγος ἐκφράσειεν, ἵνα καί χείρ μου γράψῃ; Φρικτόν γάρ ὄντως, ∆έσποτα, φρικτόν καί ὑπέρ λόγον, ὅτι ὁρᾶταί μοι τό φῶς, ὅ ὁ κόσμος οὐκ ἔχει, καί ἀγαπᾷ με ὁ μή ὤν ἔνδον τούτου τοῦ κόσμου, καί ἀγαπῶ τόν μηδαμοῦ ὄντα ἐν ὁρωμένοις.