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to be numbered, O Master, with those who worked before, I who have never kept even one of your commandments? But I know, you can do all things, you do all things as you wish, and to the last, O Master, you give as also to the first, and first, O the wonder, of the first to the last. As I say these things to you, the creator of the world, who appeared above before and was hidden from me for a long time and later encircled me completely with your rays, suddenly I behold you entirely within me, having become he who appeared above before, but hidden again by a cloud, just as the sun is entirely without rays. As therefore that one is accessible to those who behold (87) and then rather, as it were, is seen whole by all, so also you happen to be accessible to me, hidden within me, you the inaccessible, being seen by my spiritual eyes, as you know, growing little by little, being shown more brightly, flashing more brightly; at other times again you appear to me completely inaccessible. Therefore I also magnify your incomprehensibility, proclaiming your goodness I cry out to you: Glory to him who thus glorified our substance, glory to your immeasurable, Savior, condescension, glory to your compassion, glory to your power, glory to you, because being unchanging, unalterable you are both entirely immovable, being ever-moving, entirely outside of creation, and entirely in all creation, you entirely fill the universe, being entirely outside of all things, above all things, O Master, and above every beginning, above all substance, above the nature of nature, above all ages, above all light, O Savior, above intellectual substance, for they are also your work, or rather they happen to be the work of your thought. For you are none of all things, but higher than all things; for you are the cause of beings as the creator of all things and for this reason you are separated from all things, being understood somehow from above beyond all beings, invisible, inaccessible, incomprehensible and intangible, being incomprehensible you remain unalterable, being simple yet you are entirely variegated, and the mind is altogether unable to comprehend the variety of glory and the loveliness of your beauty. He therefore who is none of all things as being above all things,

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ἀριμνηθῆναι, ∆έσποτα, τοῖς προεργασαμένοις, ὁ μηδέν μίαν ἐντολήν ποτε τετηρηκώς σου; Ἀλλ᾿ οἶδα, πάντα δύνασαι, πάντα ποιεῖς, ὡς θέλεις, καί τοῖς ἐσχάτοις, ∆έσποτα, δίδως ὡς καί τοῖς πρώτοις, καί πρῶτον, ὤ τοῦ θαύματος, τῶν πρώτων τοῖς ἐσχάτοις. Ταῦτα πρός σέ λέγοντος, τόν ποιητήν τοῦ κόσμου, τόν ἄνω πρίν φαινόμενον καί πάλαι με κρυβέντα καί ὕστερον ἀκτῖσί με ὅλον περικυκλοῦντα, αἴφνης σε ὅλον ἐν ἐμοί καθορῶ γεγονότα, τόν ἄνω πρίν φαινόμενον, ἀλλά κρυβέντα πάλιν νέφει, καθάπερ ἥλιος ἀκτίνων ὅλως δίχα. Ὡς οὖν ἐκεῖνος προσιτός ἐστι τοῖς καθορῶσι (87) καί τότε μᾶλλον οἱονεί ὅλος πᾶσιν ὁρᾶται, οὕτω καί σύ μοι προσιτός κεκρυμμένος ἐντός μου τυγχάνεις, ὁ ἀπρόσιτος, ὄμμασι νοεροῖς μου, ὡς οἶδας, ὀπτανόμενος, κατά μικρόν αὐξάνων, φαιδρότερον δεικνύμενος, φαιδρότερον ἀστράπτων˙ ἄλλοτε πάλιν φαίνῃ μοι ἀπρόσιτος εἰς ἅπαν. ∆ιό καί μεγαλύνω σου τήν ἀκαταληψίαν, τήν ἀγαθότητα τήν σήν κηρύττων ἐκβοῶ σοι˙ ∆όξα τῷ οὕτως τήν ἡμῶν δοξάσαντι οὐσίαν, δόξα τῇ ἀμετρήτῳ σου, Σωτήρ, συγκαταβάσει, δόξα τῇ εὐσπλαγχνίᾳ σου, δόξα τῇ δυναστείᾳ, δόξα σοι, ὅτι ἄτρεπτος, ἀναλλοίωτος μένων ὅλος τε εἶ ἀκίνητος, ἀεικίνητος πέλων, ὅλος ἐκτός τῆς κτίσεως, ὅλος δ᾿ ἐν πάσῃ κτίσει, ὅλος τά σύμπαντα πληροῖς, ὅλος ὤν ἔξω πάντων, ὑπέρ τά πάντα, ∆έσποτα, ὑπέρ ἀρχήν δέ πᾶσαν, ὑπέρ οὐσίαν ἅπασαν, ὑπέρ φύσεως φύσιν, ὑπέρ αἰῶνας ἅπαντας, ὑπέρ φῶς ἅπαν, Σῶτερ, ὑπέρ οὐσίας νοεράς, ἔργον σόν γάρ κἀκεῖναι, μᾶλλον δέ ἐννοήματός σου τυγχάνουσιν ἔργον. Σύ γάρ τῶν πάντων εἶ οὐδέν, ἀνώτερος δέ πάντων˙ τῶν ὄντων γάρ εἶ αἴτιος ὡς τῶν πάντων κτίστης καί διά τοῦτο πάντων εἶ ἀποκεχωρισμένος, ἄνωθέν που νοούμενος ὑπέρ τά ὄντα πάντα, ἀόρατος, ἀπρόσιτος, ἄληπτος ἀναφής τε, ἀκατανόητός τε ὤν ἀναλλοίωτος μένεις, ἁπλοῦς τυγχάνων ὅλος δέ σύ εἶ πεποικιλμένος, καί ὅλως νοῦς ἀδυνατεῖ δόξης τήν ποικιλίαν καί ὡραιότητα τοῦ σοῦ κάλλους κατανοῆσαι. Ὁ οὖν τῶν πάντων ὤν οὐδέν ὡς ὑπεράνω πάντων,