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is separated from communion, insofar as knowing (p. 238) is distinguished from possessing. For to say something about God and to encounter God are not the same thing. The former requires speech, that is, the uttered word, and perhaps also the art pertaining to it, if one is not only to have but also to use and transmit the knowledge; and furthermore, syllogisms of every kind of matter and the necessities of demonstration and worldly examples, from which all or the greatest part is gathered by seeing and hearing, and it belongs almost to those things that revolve in this world and could indeed be found even among the wise of this age, even if they are not purified in life and soul. But to possess God in oneself and to be purely united with God and to be mingled with the most pure light, insofar as is possible for human nature, is among the impossible things, unless, in addition to purification through virtue, we go outside, or rather above, ourselves, leaving behind all that is of the senses along with sense-perception, having been lifted above reasonings and thoughts and the knowledge that comes through them, and becoming wholly of the immaterial and intellectual energy according to prayer, and attaining an ignorance beyond knowledge, and being filled in it with the super-luminous splendor of the spirit, so as to behold invisibly the prizes of an immortal world of nature. Do you see where the much-vaunted philosophy of words has been left below, since it has its principles from sense-perception, and its end is the knowledge of its most diverse forms, a knowledge not found through purity, nor one that purifies from the passions? But of spiritual contemplation, the beginning is the good, acquired through purity of life, and the true and genuine knowledge of beings for those who have it, since it appeared not from the passions but from purity, being alone able to distinguish what is truly beautiful and advantageous from what is not such; and its end is the earnest of the age to come, the ignorance beyond knowledge and the knowledge beyond thought, the hidden participation of the hidden and the ineffable vision, (p. 240) the mystical and secret contemplation and taste of the eternal light.

But that this is the light of the age to come, and how this same light that shone around the disciples at the transfiguration of Christ also now illumines the mind that has been purified through virtue and prayer, you will know if you listen with understanding. For by Dionysius the Areopagite it is clearly stated that by the light of Christ that appeared on Tabor the bodies of the saints in the age to come will be adorned and will shine. And the great Macarius says, "the soul united to the light of the heavenly image, is even now initiated into the knowledge of mysteries in its very substance, and on the great day of the resurrection, its body too will be illumined by the same heavenly image of glory"; and he said "in its very substance" lest anyone should think this illumination comes through knowledge and concepts. Besides, the spiritual man consists of three things: the grace of the heavenly Spirit, a rational soul, and an earthly body. Listen then again to the same author: "the godlike image of the Spirit, now as it were imprinted within, will then make the body godlike and heavenly on the outside." And again: "God, being reconciled to humanity, restores the soul that has believed in truth, while still in the flesh, to the enjoyment of the heavenly lights and again gives eyes to its intellectual senses by the divine light of grace, and later He will also clothe the body itself with glory." And again: "Of what great goods and mysteries the souls of Christians are able to partake here is made manifest only to the one who has received it by experience in the eyes of the soul; but in the resurrection it is possible for the body itself to attain such things, both to see them and, as it were, to grasp them, whenever it too becomes spirit." (p. 242) Has it not been made manifest that the divine light is one and the same, both that which was seen by the apostles on Tabor and by the purified now

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ὁμιλίας κεχώρισται, καθ᾿ ὅσον καί τό εἰδέναι τοῦ (σελ. 238) κεκτῆσθαι διώρισται˙ περί Θεοῦ γάρ τι λέγειν καί Θεῷ συντυγχάνειν οὐχί ταὐτόν. Ἐκεῖνο μέν γάρ καί λόγου δεῖται, τούτου τοῦ προφερομένου δηλαδή, ἴσως δέ καί τῆς κατά τοῦτον τέχνης, εἰ μή μέλλει τις ἔχειν μόνον, ἀλλά καί χρῆσθαι καί διαδιδόναι τήν εἴδησιν, ἔτι δέ συλλογισμῶν παντοδαπῆς ὕλης καί τῶν ἐξ ἀποδείξεως ἀναγκῶν καί τῶν κατά κόσμον παραδειγμάτων, ὧν ἐκ τοῦ ὁρᾶν καί ἀκούειν τό πᾶν ἤ πλεῖστον ἀθροίζεται καί σχεδόν τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ στρεφομένων ἐστί καί γένοιτ᾿ ἄν δήπου καί τοῖς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου σοφοῖς, κἄν μή κεκαθαρμένοι τόν βίον ὦσι καί τήν ψυχήν. Θεόν δ᾿ ἐν ἑαυτῷ κτήσασθαι καί Θεῷ καθαρῶς συγγενέσθαι καί τῷ ἀκραιφνεστάτῳ φωτί κραθῆναι, καθ᾿ ὅσον ἐφικτόν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἐστίν, εἰ μή πρός τῇ δι᾿ ἀρετῆςκαθάρσει καί ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἔξω, μᾶλλον δέ ὑπεράνω, γενοίμεθα, καταλιπόντες μέν πᾶν ὅ τι τῶν αἰσθητῶν μετά τῆς αἰσθήσεως, ὑπεραρθέντες λογισμῶν καί διανοιῶν καί τῆς διά τούτων γνώσεως, ὅλοι δέ γενόμενοι τῆς ἀΰλου καί νοερᾶς κατά τήν προσευχήν ἐνεργείας καί τυχόντες ὑπέρ τήν γνῶσιν ἀγνοίας καί πλησθέντες ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ τοῦ πνεύματος ὑπερφαοῦς ἀγλαΐας, ὡς ἀθανάτου κόσμου γέρα φύσεως ἀοράτως καθορᾶν. Συνορᾷς οὗ κατελείφθη κάτω τά τῆς πολυθρυλήτου τῶν λόγων φιλοσοφίας, εἴπερ ἐκείνη μέν ἐξ αἰσθήσεως ἔχει τάς ἀρχάς, τέλος δέ τῶν διαφορωτάτων ταύτης εἰδῶν ἡ γνῶσίς ἐστι, καί γνῶσις μή διά καθαρότητος εὑρημένη, μηδέ καθαίρουσα παθῶν; Τῆς δέ πνευματικῆς θεωρίας ἀρχή μέν τἀγαθόν, διά καθαρότητος βίου πεπορισμένον, καί γῶσις τῶν ὄντων ἀληθής καί γνησία τῶν ἐχόντων, ἅτε μή ἐκ παθημάτων ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ καθαρότητος ἀναφανεῖσα, μόνη δυναμένη διακρίνειν τί τό ὡς ἀληθῶς καλόν τε καί λυσιτελές καί τί τό μή τοιοῦτον, τέλος δέ ὁ ἀρραβών τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, ἡ ὑπέρ γνώσιν ἄγνοια καί ὑπέρ ἔννοιαν γνῶσις, ἡ κρυφία τοῦ κρυφίου μετουσία καί ὅρασις ἀνέκφραστος (σελ. 240) ἡ μυστική καί ἀπόρρητος τοῦ αἰωνίου φωτός θεωρία τε καί γεῦσις.

Ὅτι δέ τοῦτό ἐστι τό τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος φῶς καί ὡς αὐτό τό τούς μαθητάς περιαστράψαν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μεταμορφώσει φῶς καί τόν δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί προσευχῆς κεκαθαρμένον ἀρτίως καταυγάζει νοῦν, συνετῶς ἀκούων εἴσῃ. ∆ιονυσίῳ μέν γάρ τῷ Ἀρεοπαγίτῃ τῷ ἐν Θαβωρίῳ φανέντι τοῦ Χριστοῦ φωτί τά σώματα τῶν ἁγίων ἐπί τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος κοσμεῖσθαί τε καί περιαστράπτεσθαι σαφῶς εἴρηται. Μακάριος δέ ὁ μέγας «ἡ τῷ τῆς ἐπουρανίου», φησίν, «εἰκόνος ἑνωθεῖσα φωτί ψυχή, καί νῦν μέν μυστηρίων γνῶσιν ἐν ὑποστάσει μυεῖται, ἐν δέ τῇ μεγάλῃ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἡμέρᾳ τῇ αὐτῇ ἐπουρανίῳ τῆς δόξης εἰκόνι καί τό σῶμα ταύτης καταυγασθήσεται»˙ «ἐν ὑποστάσει» δέ εἶπεν, ὡς ἄν μή τις νομίςῃ διά γνώσεως καί νοημάτων εἶναι τοῦτον τόν φωτισμόν. Ἄλλως τε καί ὁ πνευματικός ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τριῶν ὑφέστηκε˙ χάριτος Πνεύματος ἐπουρανίου, ψυχῆς λογικῆς καί γηΐνου σώματος. Ἄκουε δή πάλιν τοῦ αὐτοῦ˙ «ἡ θεοειδής τοῦ Πνεύματος εἰκών νῦν ἔνδον ὥσπερ ἐντυπωθεῖσα, καί τό σῶμα θεοειδής ἔξω τότε καί οὐράνιον ἀπεργάσεται». Καί πάλιν˙ «τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι καταλλαγείς ὁ Θεός, ἀποκαθίστησι τήν πιστεύσασαν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ψυχήν, ἐν σαρκί οὖσαν ἔτι, εἰς τήν τῶν οὐρανίων φώτων ἀπόλαυσιν καί τά νοερά αὐτῆς αἰσθητήρια τῷ θείῳ πάλιν φωτί τῆς χάριτος ὀμματοῖ, ὕστερον δέ καί αὐτῷ σώματι περιβαλεῖ τῇ δόξῃ». Καί πάλιν˙ «οἵων ἀγαθῶν καί μυστηρίων ψυχαί χριστιανῶν ἐνταῦθα κοινωνεῖν δύνανται, τῷ πείρᾳ παραλαβόντι μόνῳ τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοῖς καταφανές γίνεται˙ ἐν δέ τῇ ἀναστάσει καί αὐτῷ τῷ σώματι τοιούτων πάρεστι τυχεῖν, βλέπειν τε αὐτά καί οἱονεί κρατεῖν, ὁπόταν καί αὐτό πνεῦμα γένηται». (σελ. 242) Ἆρ᾿ οὐ γέγονε καταφανές ὡς ἕν καί τό αὐτό ἐστι τό θεῖον φῶς, τό τε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐν Θαβώρ ἑωραμένον καί ταῖς κεκαθαρμέναις νῦν