63

and my mind ran down and sought with longing to apprehend the splendor that had appeared. But the creature did not find it, nor was it able to go completely outside of created things, in order to grasp the uncreated and ungraspable splendor. Nevertheless, it went about everywhere and contrived to see, it searched the air, it roamed about the heavens, it went around the abysses and it sought out the ends of the world, as it seemed. But in all these things it found nothing, for all are created; and I was lamenting and mourning and my bowels were inflamed and as one out of his mind, having fallen into ecstasy, thus I spent my time. (108) It came, therefore, as it willed, and like a form of a luminous cloud falling upon me, it was seen sitting entirely upon my head and it made me, who was in amazement, cry out. However, tearing itself away again, it left me alone and as I was seeking it intensely, suddenly it was all found again knowably within me, in the middle of my heart like a luminary, it was seen indeed like the disk of the sun. And having thus appeared and been shown knowably, it turned to flight a swarm of demons, drove away cowardice, created courage, of the perception of the world

63

καί κατέτρεχεν ὁ νοῦς μου καί καταλαβεῖν ἐζήτει τήν φανεῖσαν αἴγλην πόθῳ. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ εὕρισκε τό κτίσμα, οὐδ᾿ ἠδύνατο γενέσθαι τῶν κτισμάτων ὅλως ἔξω, ἵνα δράξηται τῆς αἴγλης τῆς ἀκτίστου καί ἀλήπτου. Ὅμως περιῄει πάντα καί ἰδεῖν ἐμηχανᾶτο, ἐξηρεύνα τόν ἀέρα, οὐρανούς περιεπόλει, περιήρχετο ἀβύσσους καί τά ἔσχατα τοῦ κόσμου, ὡς ἐδόκει, ἐξεζήτει. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέν ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν εὕρισκε, κτιστά γάρ πάντα˙ καί ἐθρήνουν καί ἐπένθουν καί τά σπλάγχνα ἐφλεγόμην καί ὡς ἔκφρων ἐν ἐκστάσει γεγονώς οὕτως διῆγον. (108) Ἦλθεν οὖν, ὡς ἠβουλήθη, καί νεφέλης ὥσπερ εἶδος φωτεινῆς ἐπιπεσοῦσα καί ὅλη πρός τῇ κεφαλῇ μου ἑωρᾶτο καθημένη καί κραυγάζειν ἐνεποίει ἐν ἐκπλήξει γενομένῳ. Ὅμως πάλιν ἀποσπᾶσα ἐγκατέλιπέ με μόνον καί ζητοῦντί μοι ἐμπόνως ταύτην, αἴφνης ὅλη πάλιν ἐν ἐμοί γνωστῶς εὑρέθη, ἐν καρδίᾳ μοῦ τε μέσον ὡς φωστήρ, ὡς δίσκος ὄντως τοῦ ἡλίου καθωράθη. Οὕτω δέ ἀναφανεῖσα καί γνωστῶς ἀποδειχθεῖσα ἔτρεψε δαιμόνων στῖφος, ἀπεδίωξε δειλίαν, ἐνεποίησεν ἀνδρείαν, τῆς αἰσθήσεως τοῦ κόσμου