64

He stripped my mind bare and clothed me in a spiritual tunic of perception, He separated me from visible things and joined me to invisible things and granted me to see the Uncreated One and to rejoice, because I was separated from all created and visible things that quickly perish, and I was united to the Uncreated, the Incorruptible, the Unoriginate, (109) the One invisible to all; for this is love. Let us, the faithful, run eagerly, let us, the sluggish, hasten with toil! Let us, the slothful, be aroused, so that we may become masters of love, or rather partakers of it, and thus depart from things here, so that with it we may stand before the Creator and Master, having become outside of visible things with it! But if not, let us be left behind with visible things and with created things, being ourselves creatures, in fire and Tartarus and dreadful torments, being found without it, without love, I mean. But if it is even possible to be saved without it, O my Christ, how will this happen at all? For this will in no way be! If we are separated from the light, how shall we flee the darkness? If we are deprived of joy, how shall we be freed from sorrow? Being outside the bridal chamber, how could we ever rejoice?

64

ἀπεγύμνωσε τόν νοῦν μου καί αἰσθήσεως χιτῶνα νοερᾶς ἐνέδυσέ με, ὁρατῶν δ᾿ ἐχώρισέ με καί συνῆψεν ἀοράτοις καί τόν ἄκτιστον ὁρᾶν με ἐχαρίσατο καί χαίρειν, ὅτι πάντων ἐχωρίσθην τῶν κτιστῶν καί ὁρωμένων καί συντόμως φθειρομένων, καί ἡνώθην τῷ ἀκτίστῳ, τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ, τῷ ἀνάρχῳ, (109) τῷ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀοράτῳ˙ τοῦτο γάρ ἀγάπη πέλει. ∆ράμωμεν πιστοί εὐτόνως, σπεύσωμεν νωθροί ἐμπόνως! Ὀκνηροί διεγερθῶμεν, ὅπως ἐγκρατεῖς ἀγάπης, μέτοχοι δέ ταύτης μᾶλλον γενησόμεθα καί οὕτως μεταβῶμεν τῶν ἐνθένδε, ἵνα σύν αὐτῇ τῷ Κτίστῃ καί ∆εσπότῃ παραστῶμεν, ἔξωθεν τῶν ὁρωμένων γεγονότες σύν ἐκείνῃ! Εἰ δέ μή, τοῖς ὁρωμένοις καί τοῖς κτίσμασιν ὡς κτίσμα ὄντες ἐναπολειφθῶμεν ἐν πυρί τε καί ταρτάρῳ καί φρικτοῖς κολαστηρίοις, δίχα ταύτης εὑρεθέντες, δίχα τῆς ἀγάπης λέγω. Εἰ δέ καί σωθῆναι ἔνι δίχα ταύτης, ὦ Χριστέ μου, πῶς ὑπάρξει τοῦτο ὅλως; Οὐδαμῶς γάρ ἔσται τοῦτο! Τοῦ φωτός εἰ χωρισθῶμεν, πῶς φευξόμεθα τό σκότος; Τῆς χαρᾶς εἰ στερηθῶμεν, πῶς ἀπαλλαγῶμεν λύπης; Τοῦ νυμφῶνος ὄντες ἔξω πῶς ἄν ὅλως εὐφρανθῶμεν;