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to those who are in this prison [they are] invisible and unknown, unutterable and inexplicable, even if some seem to understand and contemplate them through the Scriptures; for to the majority it is not even known that something exists beyond these things.

When therefore with all faith and all desire we shall seek, not to see the light outside of this prison, nor the things in that light and world - for no one of those who seek these things has been deemed worthy to see, nor will he ever be deemed worthy to behold them at all, (109) but first to keep the commandments of God, to repent, to mourn, to be humbled and the rest of the things we said before, then there is opened for us as it were a small hole in this visible roof of heaven and the immaterial and intelligible light above it is shown; which the soul, having perceived, is wholly and completely ecstatic, is wholly astonished, seeing a new wonder, a paradoxical wonder and what until then it had never yet beheld, in which it also remains as though caught up into heaven and is constrained to be there and to comprehend its incomprehensibility and especially in seeing it day and night and is taught from there each day that it is without evening, that it exists infinite and ineffable, wherefore it absolutely does not wish to turn back to this prison and again to see the things in it.

Know this then to be the beginning of the introductions to piety and for those now stripped for the struggles of virtue. When, therefore, he has spent a long time without turning back toward that contemplation, how I know not, there is opened to him, I know not if it is heaven, I know not if it is the eye of his heart, and this rather than that, so to speak, by that light, and within the house of his soul, I mean of this tabernacle, that wondrous and most brilliant light enters, illuminating him commensurately, as much as nature clearly allows. And so again having spent a long time, as is usual little by little, and as if always being with this, he considers such a thing; but wonders upon wonders and mysteries upon mysteries and contemplations upon contemplations, being illumined by it hour by hour, so to speak, and seeing and understanding and being initiated he is taught; which, if he should wish to write them, neither paper nor ink would suffice for him, and time, I think, would fail him as he explains these things in detail. Or rather, how could he possibly write things that cannot be spoken, being altogether ineffable and unutterable? Wherefore also then as in light, (110) rather with the light, he is present and does not remain as if in ecstasy, but sees both himself and his own affairs and beholds his neighbors in what state they are and foretells and foreknows that, if he should be outside this prison and especially after the resurrection, and should behold that unbearable light as much as it is, and the good things in it "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him" will be revealed to him more clearly through the light now existing in him by which he is also illumined; for we are not then deprived of knowing or seeing, but as the discourse above has shown, according to the brilliance and contemplation of the light, so also proportionally the knowledge of God and the contemplation, and the recognition and knowledge of one another will be more and more clearly in inexpressible gladness and exultation for ever and ever. And this both in the Old [Testament] the prophets and in the New many of the saints have shown by their deeds, calling by name those whom they had never seen, but indeed also they recognized those whom they did not know.

Those therefore who say that the saints do not recognize nor see one another, being persuaded by these things not to inquire about incomprehensible matters, should rather, if they are persuaded by me, pay attention to themselves and not cease from examining themselves. But you who are ignorant of all the things that have been said and have not come to be in perception and knowledge and experience of divine illumination and contemplation, how do you not shudder to write or speak at all about such things? For if we must give an account for every idle word, how much more shall we be examined concerning such things and be punished as idle talkers. For an idle word is not,

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τῇ φυλακῇ ταύτῃ γενομένοις ἀόρατά τε καί ἄγνωστα, ἄφθεγκτα καί ἀνερμήνευτα, εἰ καί δοκοῦσί τινες διά τῶν Γραφῶν ταῦτα νοεῖν τε καί θεωρεῖν· τοῖς γάρ πλείοσιν οὐδέ ὅτι πέρα τούτων ἐστί τι γινώσκεται.

Ὁπηνίκα οὖν πάσῃ πίστει καί παντί πόθῳ ζητήσομεν, οὐχί τό ἰδεῖν τό ἔξωθεν ταύτης τῆς φυλακῆς φῶς, οὐδέ τά ἐν τῷ φωτί ἐκείνῳ καί κόσμῳ πράγματα - οὐδείς γάρ τῶν ταῦτα ζητούντων ἠξιώθη ἰδεῖν, οὐδ᾿ οὐ μή ἀξιωθήσεταί ποτε αὐτά καθόλου θεάσασθαι , (109) ἀλλά τό φυλάξαι ἐν πρώτοις τάς ἐντολάς τοῦ Θεοῦ, τό μετανοεῖν, τό πενθεῖν, τό ταπεινοῦσθαι καί τά λοιπά ἅ προείπομεν, τηνικαῦτα καί διανοίγεται ἡμῖν ὥσπερ ὀπή τις μικρά ἐν τῷ ὁρωμένῳ τούτῳ ὀρόφῳ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καί τό ὑπεράνω τούτου φῶς ἄϋλόν τε καί νοητόν παραδείκνυται· ὅ καί ἡ ψυχή κατιδοῦσα ὅλη καθόλου ἐξίσταται, ὅλη ἐκπλήττεται, θαῦμα καινόν ὁρῶσα, θαῦμα παράδοξον καί ὅ μέχρι τότε οὐδέπω τεθέαται, ἐν ᾧ καί ἐπιμένει ὥσπερ καί ἁρπαζομένη εἰς τόν οὐρανόν καί βιαζομένη εἶναι ἐκεῖ καί κατανοεῖν τό τούτου ἀκατανόητον καί μάλιστα ἐν τῷ βλέπειν αὐτό ἡμέρας τε καί νυκτός καί διδάσκεσθαι καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἐκεῖθεν ὅτι πέλει ἀνέσπερον, ὅτι ἄπειρον ὑπάρχει καί ἄφραστον, ὅθεν καί πρός τήν φυλακήν ταύτην ἐπιστραφῆναι καί βλέπειν αὖθις τά ἐν αὐτῇ ὅλως οὐ βούλεται.

Τοῦτο τοίνυν ἀρχήν ἴσθι τῶν εἰσαγωγικῶν εἰς εὐσέβειαν καί ἄρτι πρός τούς τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀποδυσαμένων ἀγῶνας. Ἐπάν οὖν χρονίσῃ ἀνεπιστρόφως πρός τήν θεωρίαν ἐκείνην, ὡς οὐκ οἶδε, διανοίγεται αὐτῷ, οὐκ οἶδα ὁ οὐρανός, οὐκ οἶδα ὁ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ ὀφθαλμός καί οὗτος μᾶλλον ἤ ἐκεῖνος, εἰπεῖν, ὑπό τοῦ φωτός ἐκείνου καί ἔνδον τοῦ οἴκου τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ, λέγω δή τούτου τοῦ σκήνους, τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο εἰσέρχεται τό θαυμαστόν καί ὑπέρλαμπρον, φωτίζον συμμέτρως αὐτόν, ὅσον ἡ φύσις δηλονότι χωρεῖ. Οὕτω δέ πάλιν χρονίσας, ὡς σύνηθες ἐκ τοῦ κατ᾿ ὀλίγον, καί ὡς ἀεί ποτε τούτῳ συνών, λογίζεται τό τοιοῦτον· θαύματα δέ ἐπί θαύμασι καί μυστήρια ἐπί μυστηρίοις καί θεωρίας ἐπί θεωρίαις, ἐλλαμπόμενος ἐξ αὐτοῦ καθ᾿ ὥραν, ἵν᾿ εἴπω, καί ὁρῶν καί νοῶν καί μυούμενος ἐκδιδάσκεται· ἅ καί εἰ γράφειν θελήσει, οὐδέ χάρτης οὐδέ μέλαν ἀρκέσει αὐτῷ, ἐπιλείψει δέ, οἶμαι, καί ὁ χρόνος αὐτόν ἐξηγούμενον ταῦτα λεπτομερῶς. Μᾶλλον δέ, πῶς ἄρα γράψαι δυνήσεται τά μή δυνάμενα ῥηθῆναι, ἄφραστα ὄντα καί ἄρρητα πάντῃ; Ὅθεν καί ὡς ἐν φωτί τότε, (110) μᾶλλον μετά τοῦ φωτός, σύνεστι καί οὐχ ὡς ἐν ἐκστάσει διατελεῖ, ἀλλά καί ἑαυτόν καί τά κατ᾿ αὐτόν καθορᾷ καί τούς πλησίον βλέπει ἐν οἵοις εἰσί καί προλέγει καί προγινώσκει ὅτι, ἐάν ἔξω τῆς φυλακῆς ταύτης γένηται καί μάλιστα μετά τήν ἀνάστασιν, καί τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο τό ἄστεκτον ὅσον ἐστί θεάσηται, καί τά ἐν αὐτῷ ἀγαθά "ἅ ὀφθαλμός οὐκ εἶδε καί οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε καί ἐπί καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ἅ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεός τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν" ἀποκαλυφθήσονται αὐτῷ τρανότερον διά τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ ὄντος νυνί φωτός ὑφ᾿ οὗ καί φωτίζεται· οὐ γάρ στερούμεθα τότε τοῦ γνωρίζειν ἤ βλέπειν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ὁ λόγος ἀνωτέρω ἀπέδειξε, κατά τήν τοῦ φωτός λαμπρότητα καί θεωρίαν, ἀναλόγως μᾶλλον καί ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσις καί ἡ θεωρία, καί ὁ ἀναγνωρισμός καί ἡ γνῶσις ἀλλήλων πλεῖον καί καθαρώτερον ἐν ἀνεκφράστῳ θυμηδίᾳ καί ἀγαλλιάσει ἔσεται εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων. Καί τοῦτο καί ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ οἱ προφῆται καί ἐν τῇ νέᾳ πολλοί τῶν ἁγίων ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἀπέδειξαν, ἐξ ὀνόματος καλέσαντες οὕς οὐκ εἶδόν ποτε, ἀλλά δή καί ἐγνώρισαν οὕς οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον.

Οἱ οὖν λέγοντες μή γνωρίζειν μηδέ βλέπειν ἀλλήλους τούς ἁγίους, ἐκ τούτων πεισθέντες μή ζητεῖν περί ἀκαταλήπτων πραγμάτων, ἑαυτοῖς μᾶλλον, εἴπερ ἐμοί πείθονται, προσέχειν καί ἑαυτούς ἀνακρίνειν μή παύσωνται. Οἰ δέ τά μέν εἰρημένα πάντα ἀγνοοῦντες καί αἰσθήσει καί γνώσει και πείρᾳ θείου φωτισμοῦ καί θεωρίας μή γεγονότες, πῶς γράφειν ὅλως ἤ λέγειν περί τοιούτων οὐ φρίττετε; Εἰ γάρ ὑπέρ παντός ἀργοῦ ῥήματος λόγον ἀποδοῦναι ὀφείλομεν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον περί τῶν τοιούτων ἐτασθησόμεθα καί ὡς ἀργολόγοι κολασθησόμεθα. Ἀργός γάρ λόγος οὐχ,