45

he himself has made it manifestly clear through himself; for he says: "And I have given them the glory that you have given me, that they may be one, just as we are one." Do you see that the glory given by God the Father to the Son before the ages has been bestowed by the Son himself upon the saints and all are one.

Therefore, those who say that the saints, being in the contemplation of God, will not see, nor will they recognize one another, truly walk in darkness and have not come into participation or contemplation and knowledge of God and they speak and testify to things they neither understand nor have ever seen. For they say, as it were, that the saints will be in ecstasy then, just as now, and will forget both themselves and those with them, thinking, as I suppose, or rather, badly understanding the things of the divine Scriptures, that the same alteration and rapture will happen to the saints from of old both now and in the future. For when they hear that a certain saint, being in the contemplation of God and his mind having been caught up, spent so many days and nights, mindful of nothing earthly at all, but along with all other things forgot even his own body, remaining wholly united with his whole soul and all his senses together, being there, they suppose that something of this kind will also be then, I mean in the kingdom of heaven, being wholly ignorant of the divine things of the Spirit (107) and the invisible, incomprehensible, and unknown mysteries of the invisible God to those who are in darkness, and that this rapture of the mind is not for the perfect, but for beginners. For just as one who from birth has been in a dark and most gloomy prison, and being illuminated by a very small lamp's light, barely sees even a few small things, not knowing that there is sunlight outside, being completely ignorant of the things outside the prison, I mean this visible world and the ineffable works and creations of God, so also he who is still in the dark prison of this world's perception and illuminated by a very small knowledge, barely receives a little and dim knowledge about the mysteries of our faith, being completely ignorant of the eternal good things of God and what things are to succeed the saints in the future.

And just as that man, sitting for many years in that lightless prison, if it should happen that an opening is made in the roof of the prison and he suddenly sees the ether of heaven, a little and in proportion to the size of the opening made, which he had never seen nor suspected such a most brilliant light to exist, astonishment immediately seizes him and he is as one out of his mind, having his eyes upward for a long time and marveling at the sudden event within him, so indeed he who has suddenly come into contemplation of the noetic light, having just been freed, that is, from the bonds of the passions and of perception, is astonished and is considered by those who do not see well as one who is out of his mind, that is, having gathered his whole mind into himself and marveling at the vision and the splendor of what has appeared to him. And just as again, when that man looks frequently and daily at that opening, now widened and illuminating the gloomy space of the prison more and remaining in the light for sufficient periods of time, the habit of seeing the light little by little takes away the great astonishment (108), in the same way as has happened to us with the sun; for by the habit of seeing it, we consider it as something to be taken for granted; for if we had not yet seen it, and such a thing had suddenly appeared to us, we would have cried out from astonishment, in the same way also the gradual progress of the soul, coming into the habit of seeing the noetic light, departs from great astonishment, having been initiated from this into something else being more perfect and higher than this state and contemplation.

And just as again the long confinement from his birth makes that man realize for a time that he is in a most gloomy prison, and outside of it

45

αὐτός δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ ἀριδήλως δεδήλωκε· φησί γάρ· "Καί ἐγώ τήν δόξαν ἥν δέδωκάς μοι δέδωκα αὐτοῖς, ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν, καθώς ἡμεῖς ἕν ἐσμεν". Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ἡ ἀπό τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός δοθεῖσα πρό τῶν αἰώνων τῷ Υἱῷ δόξα ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῖς ἁγίοις δεδώρηται καί εἰς ἕν οἱ πάντες εἰσί.

Τοιγαροῦν οἱ λέγοντες, ὅτι οὐ μή ὁρῶσιν, οὐδ᾿ οὐ μή γνωρίζωσιν ἀλλήλους οἱ ἅγιοι ἐν τῇ θεωρίᾳ γινόμενοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὄντως ἐν σκότει πορεύονται καί ἐν μετουσίᾳ ἤ θεωρίᾳ καί ἐπιγνώσει Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐγένοντο καί λαλοῦσι καί διαμαρτύρονται ἅ οὔτε ἐπίστανται, οὔτε ποτέ ἐθεάσαντο. Οἱονεί γάρ λέγουσιν ἐν ἐκστάσει καί τότε γίνεσθαι, ὥσπερ καί νῦν, τούς ἁγίους καί ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι ἑαυτῶν τε καί τῶν σύν αὐτοῖς, δοκοῦντες, ὡς οἶμαι, μᾶλλον δέ κακῶς τά τῶν θείων νοοῦντες Γραφῶν, ὅτι ἡ αὐτή ἀλλοίωσις καί ἁρπαγή νῦν τε καί εἰς τό μέλλον ἔσται τοῖς ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος ἁγίοις. Ὅταν γάρ ἀκούσωσιν ὅτι ὁ δεῖνα ὁ ἅγιος, ἐν θεωρίᾳ Θεοῦ γενόμενος καί τόν νοῦν ἁρπαγείς, τόσας ἤ τόσας ἡμέρας καί νύκτας ἐποίησε, μηδέν ὅλως τῶν ἐπιγείων ἐνθυμηθείς, ἀλλά μετά τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων καί αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος ἐπελάθετο, ὅλος ὅλῃ ψυχῇ καί πάσαις ὁμοῦ ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι κεκολλημένος ἔμεινεν, ὤν ἐκεῖ, τοιοῦτόν τι ὑπολαμβάνουσι καί τότε, ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ λέγω τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἔσεσθαι, ἀγνοοῦντες ὅλως τά θεῖα τοῦ Πνεύματος (107) καί τοῦ ἀοράτου Θεοῦ τά ἀόρατα καί ἀκατάληπτα καί ἄγνωστα τοῖς ἐσκοτισμένοις μυστήρια καί ὅτι ἡ ἁρπαγή αὕτη τοῦ νοός οὐχί τελείων, ἀλλ᾿ ἀρχαρίων ἐστίν. Ὡς γάρ ὁ ἀπό γεννήσεως ἐν σκοτεινῇ καί ζοφωτάτῃ ὤν φυλακῇ καί ὑπό λυχνιαίου καί βραχυτάτου φωτός φωτιζόμενος, μόλις κἄν μικρά τινα καθορᾷ, μή εἰδώς ὅτι φῶς ἡλιακόν ἐστιν ἔξωθεν, ἀγνοῶν παντάπασι τά ἔξω τῆς φυλακῆς, λέγω δή τόν ὁρώμενον κόσμον τοῦτον καί τά ἀνεκδιήγητα ἔργα καί κτίσματα τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὕτω καί ὁ ἔτι ἐν τῇ σκοτεινῇ φυλακῇ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου τούτου αἰσθήσεως ὤν καί ὑπό βραχυτάτης γνώσεως ἐλλαμφθείς, μόλις περί τῶν μυστηρίων τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν ὀλίγην τινά καί ἀμυδράν γνῶσιν λαμβάνει, τά τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ παντάπασιν ἀγνοῶν καί τίνα τά μέλλοντα διαδέξασθαι τούς ἁγίους.

Καί καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος ἐπί πολλά ἔτη ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἀφεγγεῖ καθεζόμενος φυλακῇ, εἰ συμβῇ διανοιχθῆναι ὀπήν ἐν τῷ ὀρόφῳ τῆς φυλακῆς καί θεάσασθαι αὐτόν αἴφνης τόν αἰθέρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὀλίγον καί κατά μέτρον τῆς γενομένης ὀπῆς, ὅν οὐδέποτε εἶδεν οὐδέ εἶναι τοιοῦτόν τι λαμπρότατον φῶς ὑπενόησεν, ἔκπληξις εὐθύς λαμβάνει αὐτόν καί ὡς ἐξεστηκώς ὑπάρχει, ἐπί πολύ ἄνω τά ὄμματα ἔχων καί θαυμάζων τό ἀθρόον γεγονός ἐν αὐτῷ, οὕτω δή καί ὁ αἴφνης ἐν θεωρίᾳ τοῦ νοητοῦ φωτός γεγονώς, ἄρτι δηλονότι τῶν δεσμῶν ἀπολυθείς τῶν παθῶν τε καί τῆς αἰσθήσεως, ἐκπλήττεται καί ὡς ἐξεστηκώς τοῖς οὐ καλῶς ὁρῶσι νομίζεται, εἰς ἑαυτόν ὅλον δηλαδή τόν νοῦν ἐπισωρεύσας καί θαυμάζων τοῦ φανέντος αὐτῷ τήν θεωρίαν καί τήν λαμπρότητα. Καί ὥσπερ πάλιν, ἐπάν ἐκεῖνος συχνῶς καί καθ᾿ ἡμέραν πρός ἐκείνην τήν ὀπήν ἀποβλέπῃ, ἄρτι πλατυνθεῖσαν καί φωτίζουσαν ἐπί πλέον τόν ζοφώδη χῶρον τῆς φυλακῆς καί ἐφ᾿ ἱκανούς χρόνους ἐν τῷ φωτί διαμένουσαν, ἡ συνήθεια τῆς ὁράσεως τοῦ φωτός τήν πολλήν ἔκπληξιν ἐκ τοῦ κατά μικρόν ἀφαιρεῖται (108) ὅν τρόπον καί ἐπί τοῦ ἡλίου γέγονεν ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς· τῇ γάρ συνηθείᾳ τῆς ὁράσεως ὡς εὐκαταφρόνητον αὐτόν λογιζόμεθα· εἰ γάρ μηδέπω ἦμεν αὐτόν θεασάμενοι, αἴφνης δέ τοιοῦτος ὡράθη ἡμῖν, ὑπό τῆς ἐκπλήξεως διαπεφωνήκαμεν ἄν , τόν αὐτόν τρόπον καί ἡ κατά μικρόν τῆς ψυχῆς προκοπή, ἐν συνηθείᾳ τῆς τοῦ νοητοῦ φωτός ὁράσεως γινομένη, τῆς πολλῆς ἐκπλήξεως ἐξίσταται, μυηθεῖσά τι ἐντεῦθεν ἕτερον εἶναι τῆς καταστάσεως ταύτης καί θεωρίας τελεώτερόν τε καί ὑψηλότερον.

Καί καθάπερ αὖθις ἐπιγινώσκειν ποιεῖ τέως τόν ἄνθρωπον ἐκεῖνον ἡ χρονία καί, ἀπό γεννήσεως αὐτοῦ κάθειρξις ὅτι ἐν φυλακῇ ζοφωτάτῃ ἐστί, καί ἔξω ταύτης