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(106) is of no benefit at all to the one who possesses it. Whoever, therefore, is deprived of both love and all the things that have been said, tell me, where will he appear, what will he do, how will he dare to call himself faithful to those who ask? For this reason, one must pay attention to the one speaking about love. I sit in the cell by night or by day, love co-exists with me invisibly and unknowingly. But being outside of all created things, it is also with all things; it is fire, it is also splendor, it becomes a cloud of light, it is formed into a sun. As fire, therefore, it warms my soul and sets my heart ablaze and raises it to desire and love, that for the creator. And having been sufficiently set on fire, like a light-bearing splendor it flits all around me, sending brilliant rays to my soul and making my mind radiant, and shows it fit for the height of contemplation, (107) having made it capable of seeing. This was what I previously said is the flower of fear. But having beheld the splendor and being filled with ineffable joy, I did not rejoice because I saw, but it itself, having filled me with divine joy, departed and seized my mind and my perception and every worldly desire.

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(106) εἰς οὐδέν τῷ κεκτημένῳ ὄφελος ὅλως ὑπάρχει. Ὅστις οὖν καί τῆς ἀγάπης καί τῶν εἰρημένων πάντων ἀποστέρηται, εἰπέ μοι, ποῦ φανεῖται, τί ποιήσει, πῶς πιστόν τοῖς ἐρωτῶσιν εἰπεῖν ἑαυτόν τολμήσει; ∆ιά τοῦτο προσεκτέον λέγοντι περί ἀγάπης. Κάθημαι ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ ἐν νυκτί ἤ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, συνυπάρχει ἀφανῶς μοι καί ἀγνώστως ἡ ἀγάπη. Ἔξω δέ κτισμάτων πάντων οὖσα ἔστιν αὖ καί μετά πάντων, ἔστι πῦρ, ἔστι καί αἴγλη, γίνεται φωτός νεφέλη, ἥλιος ἀποτελεῖται. ˙Ως οὖν πῦρ ψυχήν θερμαίνει καί καρδίαν μου ἐκκαίει καί διανιστᾷ πρός πόθον καί ἀγάπην, τήν τοῦ κτίστου. Ἱκανῶς δέ πυρωθέντα ὥσπερ αἴγλη φωτοφόρος περιΐπταταί με πᾶσα, φεγγοβόλους ἀφιεῖσα τῇ ψυχῇ μου τάς ἀκτῖνας καί τόν νοῦν λαμπρύνουσά μοι καί πρός θεωρίας ὕψος ἐπιτήδειον δεικνύει (107) ὀπτικόν ἐργασαμένη. Τοῦτο ἦν, ὅπερ προεῖπον ἄνθος εἶναι τό τοῦ φόβου. Κατιδών δ᾿ ἐγώ τήν αἴγλην καί πλησθείς χαρᾶς ἀφάτου οὐκ ἐχάρην ὅτι εἶδον, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτή χαρᾶς με θείας ἐμφορήσασα ἀπέστη καί συνήρπασε τόν νοῦν μου καί τήν αἴσθησιν καί πᾶσαν κοσμικήν ἐπιθυμίαν˙