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but I suspected you of saying a blasphemy, calling Him like the unseemly member. You have, then, supposed wrongly, for these things are not unseemly! But they are the hidden members of Christ, for they are covered, and for this reason they are more honorable than the rest, as the hidden members of the Hidden One are unseen by all, from which the seed is given in a divine union, divine in a divine form, awesomely formed from the whole of divinity itself, for He is wholly God, who is united with us, O awesome mystery! And a marriage truly takes place, the ineffable and divine one; (91) He is mingled with each one, and again I will say these things with pleasure, and each one is united to the Master. If therefore you have put on the whole Christ with your whole flesh, you will understand without shame all the things that I say. But if you have not at all, or only a small patch, of the undefiled tunic of Christ, I say, put upon your soul, you exist in an old garment, in one place for certain, and you are ashamed of all the other members, but rather possessing a body wholly defiled, clothed in filth, how will you not blush? While I speak the awesome things concerning the holy members and see much glory and my mind is illumined and rejoices and thinks of nothing carnal, you, on the other hand, see your defiled flesh and in your mind you review your shameful deeds, and your mind is always wallowing in these things like a worm in mud. Therefore you attach to Christ and to me your own shame and you say: Are you not ashamed concerning the unseemly parts, or rather, to bring Christ down to unseemly members? But I say to you again: See Christ in the womb, and understand the things in the womb and Him who came out of the womb, and see through what place my God passed when He came forth! And you would find something greater, beyond what I have said, which things He also accepted for our glory, so that no one may be ashamed imitating Him, nor speaking of the things He suffered, or even suffering them himself. He became wholly man and truly wholly God, this one Person, He is not divided, in every way a perfect man; and this same one is God, whole in all His members. Thus became even now in the last times the holy Symeon, the Pious, the Studite,

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ἀλλά ἐκεῖνον ὅμοιον τοῦ ἀσχήμονος μέλους ῥηθέντα βλασφημίαν σε εἰπεῖν ὑπενοήθην. Κακῶς ἄρα ὑπέλαβες, οὐ γάρ ἄσχημα ταῦτα! Μέλη δέ Χριστοῦ εἰσι κρυπτά, καλύπτονται γάρ, καί κατά τοῦτο τῶν λοιπῶν σεμνότερα ὑπάρχει ὡς πᾶσιν ἀθεώρητα τοῦ κρυπτοῦ κρυπτά μέλη, ἐξ οὗ τό σπέρμα δίδοται ἐν συνουσίᾳ θείᾳ, θεῖον ἐν θείᾳ τῇ μορφῇ φρικτῶς μεμορφωμένον ἀπό θεότητος αὐτῆς ὅλης, ὅλος Θεός γάρ, ὅς συνενοῦται μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν, ὤ φρικτοῦ μυστηρίου! Καί γάμος ὄντως γίνεται, ὁ ἄρρητος καί θεῖος˙ (91) ἑνί ἑκάστῳ μίγνυται, καί πάλιν ταῦτα λέξω ὑφ᾿ ἡδονῆς, καί ἕκαστος ἑνοῦται τῷ ∆εσπότῃ. Εἰ οὖν ὅλῃ ὅλον Χριστόν σαρκί σου ἐνεδύσω, ἀνεπαισχύντως ἅπαντα νοήσεις, ἅπερ λέγω. Εἰ δέ οὐδ᾿ ὅλως ἤ ἐπίβλημα μικρόν, ἀχράντου χιτῶνος λέγω τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐπέβαλες ψυχῇ σου, ἐν ἱματίῳ παλαιῷ, ἐν ἑνί πάντως τόπῳ ὑπάρχεις καί αἰσχύνεσαι τά λοιπά πάντα μέλη, τό σῶμα κεκτημένος δέ ῥυπαρόν ὅλον μᾶλλον, ἐνδεδυμένος ῥυπαρά, πῶς οὐκ ἐρυθριάσεις; Ἐμοῦ λαλοῦντος τά φρικτά περί μελῶν ἁγίων καί δόξαν βλέποντος πολλήν καί τόν νοῦν λαμπομένου καί χαίροντος καί σαρκικόν μηδέν ἐνθυμουμένου, σύ μέν τάς σάρκας βλέπει σου τάς κατερρυπωμένας καί τῷ νοΐ τάς πράξεις σου διέρχῃ τάς ἀτόπους, καί ὁ νοῦς σου τούτοις ἀεί ὡς σκώληξ ἰλυσπᾶται. ∆ιό προσάπτεις τῷ Χριστῷ κἀμοί τήν σήν αἰσχύνην καί λέγεις˙ Οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ σύ περί τῶν ἀσχημόνων, μᾶλλον δέ εἰς ἀσχήμονα μέλη Χριστόν κατάγειν; Ἐγώ δέ πάλιν λέγω σοι˙ Βλέπε Χριστόν ἐν μήτρᾳ, καί τά ἐν μήτρᾳ νόησον καί μήτραν ὑπεκδύντα, καί πόθεν ἐξερχόμενος ὁ Θεός μου διῆλθε! Καί πλεῖόν τι εὑρήσειας, ὑπέρ ἅ ἐγώ εἶπον, ἅπερ καί κατεδέξατο εἰς ἡμετέραν δόξαν, ἵνα μηδείς αἰσχύνηται μιμούμενος ἐκεῖνον μηδέ, ἅ πέπονθε, λαλῶν ἤ καί αὐτός πανθάνων. Ἄνθρωπος ὅλος γέγονε καί Θεός ὅλος ὄντως, εἷς οὗτος, οὐ μεμέρισται, ἀνήρ τέλειος πάντως˙ ὁ δέ αὐτός Θεός ἐστιν, ὅλος μέλεσιν ὅλοις. Οὕτως ἐγένετο καί νῦν ἐν τοῖς ἐσχάτοις χρόνοις ὁ Συμεών ὁ ἅγιος, Εὐλαβής ὁ Στουδίτης,