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He himself has made it very clear through himself; for he says, "And I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one, just as we are one". Do you see that the glory given before the ages by God the Father to the Son 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 or 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, misunderstanding the divine Scriptures, that the same alteration and rapture will happen both now and in the future for the saints of all ages. For when they hear that so-and-so, a saint, having entered into the contemplation of God and being caught up in mind, spent so many days and nights, mindful of nothing earthly at all, but along with all other things forgot even his own body, and remained wholly bound with his whole soul and all his senses together, being there, they suppose that something like this will also happen then, I mean in the kingdom of heaven, being entirely ignorant of the divine mysteries of the Spirit (107) and of the invisible God, which are invisible and incomprehensible and unknown to those in darkness, and that this rapture of the mind belongs not to the perfect, but to beginners. For just as one who from birth is in a dark and gloomy prison and is illuminated by the very small light of a lamp, barely sees even a few small things, not knowing that there is sunlight outside, being completely ignorant of what is outside the prison, I mean this visible world and the ineffable works and creations of God, so too one who is still in the dark prison of this world's perception and is 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 goods of God and what things are to succeed the saints.

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 beholds the ether of the sky, a little bit and in proportion to the size of the opening made, which he has never seen nor supposed that such a brilliant light exists, astonishment immediately seizes him and he is as one ecstatic, keeping his eyes upwards for a long time and marveling at the sudden event within him, so too he who has suddenly come into contemplation of the intelligible light, having just been freed, that is, from the bonds of the passions and of perception, is astonished and is considered as one ecstatic by those who do not see clearly, having gathered his whole mind, that is, into himself and marveling at the vision and the splendor of what has appeared to him. And just as again, when that man looks often and daily toward that opening, now widened and illuminating more of the gloomy space of the prison and remaining in the light for sufficient periods of time, the habit of seeing the light gradually removes 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 never seen it, and such a thing had suddenly appeared to us, we would have cried out from astonishment, in the same way also the soul's gradual progress, becoming accustomed to the vision of the intelligible light, departs from its great astonishment, having been initiated from this into something else that is more perfect and higher than this state and contemplation.

And just as again, the lengthy imprisonment from his birth makes that man for the time being recognize that he is in a most gloomy prison, and outside of it

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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