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that is in us comes forth and is revealed to others and it is not possible otherwise to speak or to declare it, except through the sound of the mouth, so also the Son of God and Word, unless he is spoken or, that is, revealed through the Holy Spirit as through a mouth, cannot be known or heard. And “cannot” we say here instead of “it is not possible,” or “does not will,” as in “it is impossible for God to lie.” And just as if we do not open our mouth, for our word cannot come out while it is shut, so also the mouth of God, that is, His Holy Spirit itself, unless it is opened through the illumination that comes to be in us, not the Spirit, but our mind which is illumined by it, the Son and Word of God is neither seen, nor known, nor is He revealed to our sense of sight and hearing.

The unspeakable words, then, which the divine Paul, as he said, heard, are nothing other than, according to the comprehension of our weak intellect, certainly the mystical and truly inexpressible contemplations through the illumination of the Holy Spirit and the exceedingly majestic unknown knowledge, or rather, the unseen contemplations of the super-luminous and super-unknown glory and divinity of the Son and Word of God; which, being revealed more manifestly and clearly to the worthy, are shown to be the unheard hearings of the unutterable words, the comprehension in incomprehension of incomprehensible things. But if he said: “I heard unspeakable words,” and we say that these are the Son, and otherwise the Word of God the Father spoken through the Holy Spirit and at the same time revealed through His illumination to the worthy, and that the illumination or revelation happens through contemplation rather than through hearing, do not be surprised at this, but having heard the solution to this (156), learn to be faithful and not unfaithful. And it is as follows.

God, the cause of all things, is one; and this one is light and life, spirit and word, mouth and utterance, wisdom and knowledge, joy and love, the kingdom of heaven and paradise, heaven of heavens, just as he is also called sun of suns and God of gods and a day without evening; and whatever good you might say among visible things, and seeking beyond everything, you will find this one existing hypostatically and properly called good. But it is not such as visible things, but incomparably and ineffably beyond all visible things; nor is that one found separately as one of these things, but remaining one, unchangeably the same, it is all-good and beyond every good. In this way, therefore, man also, created in the image and likeness of God, has been honored, having one sense in one soul and mind and word, even if it is divided in five ways by the natural needs of the body, being divided undividedly for corporeal things through the five senses, which, being altered unalterably, shows its activity, seeing not itself, but the soul through it, and so also hearing and smelling and tasting and distinguishing by touch. But in spiritual things it is no longer compelled to be divided by the windows of sense, no longer does it seek to open the eyes to see or to behold any of the things that exist, nor the ears to receive a word, nor to clear the sense of smell to smell keenly; nor does it need lips or a tongue for the tasting and distinguishing of sweet or bitter, nor hands to touch and to know through them the rough and the smooth and the even. But the sense, having gone outside of all these and being entirely drawn away with the mind, as naturally following them (157) and being inseparably one, has the five senses in itself, as being one or even many, to speak more accurately.

And consider for me from this the precise examination of the argument. Soul, mind and word are one, as has been said, in one substance and nature. And this one perceives, reasons—for it is rational—, thinks, conceives, considers, deliberates, desires, wills, does not will, chooses, does not choose, loves, hates; and, so that we do not prolong the argument, the one

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ὁ ἐν ἡμῖν προέρχεται καί τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀποκαλύπτεται καί ἄλλως οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ἤ δηλῶσαι αὐτόν, εἰ μή διά τῆς τοῦ στόματος φθογγῆς, οὕτως οὐδέ ὁ Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Λόγος, εἰ μή διά τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ὡς διά στόματος λαληθῇ ἤγουν ἀποκαλυφθῇ, γνωσθῆναι ἤ ἀκουσθῆναι οὐ δύναται. Τό δέ οὐ δύναται ἀντί τοῦ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται, οὐδέ βούλεται, λέγομεν ἐνταῦθα, ὡς καί τό ἀδύνατον ψεύσασθαι Θεόν. Καθάπερ δέ τό ἡμέτερον στόμα εἰ μή ἀνοίξομεν, οὐδέ γάρ ἐσφιγμένου ὑπάρχοντος ὁ λόγος ἡμῶν ἐξελθεῖν δύναται, οὕτως οὐδέ τό στόμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, αὐτό δή τό Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, εἰ μή διά τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν γινομένης ἐλλάμψεως αὐτοῦ ἀνοιγῇ, οὐ τό Πνεῦμα δέ, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐλλαμπόμενος νοῦς ἡμῶν, ὁ Υἱός καί Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁρᾶται, οὔτε γινώσκεται, οὔτε μή ἀποκαλύπτεται τῇ ὀπτικῇ καί ἀκουστικῇ αἰσθήσει ἡμῶν.

Τά γοῦν ἄρρητα ῥήματα ἅ ὁ θεῖος Παῦλος, ὡς ἔφη, ἀκήκοεν, οὐδέν ἕτερόν τι εἰσι κατά γε τήν ἡμετέραν τῆς ἀσθενοῦς διανοίας κατάληψιν ἤ πάντως αἱ μυστικαί καί ἐπ᾿ ἀληθῶς ἀνέκφραστοι διά τῆς ἐλλάμψεως τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος θεωρίαι τε καί ὑπερμεγαλοπρεπεῖς ἄγνωστοι γνώσεις, εἴτ᾿ οὖν ἀθέατοι θεωρίαι τῆς ὑπερφώτου καί ὑπεραγνώστου τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί Λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξης τε καί θεότητος· αἵτινες, τοῖς ἀξίοις ἐκφαντικώτερόν τε καί τρανότερον ἀποκαλυπτόμεναι, δείκνυνται αἱ τῶν ἀφθέγκτων ῥημάτων ἀνήκοοι ἀκοαί, ἡ τῶν ἀκαταλήπτων πραγμάτων ἐν ἀκαταληψίᾳ κατάληψις. Εἰ δέ ἐκεῖνος μέν εἶπεν· "Ἀκήκοα ῥήματα ἄρρητα", ἡμεῖς δέ ταῦτα τόν Υἱόν εἴπομεν εἶναι καί ἄλλως τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός διά τοῦ Ἁγίου λαλούμενον Πνεύματος καί ἅμα διά τῆς ἐλλάμψεως αὐτοῦ ἀποκαλυπτόμενον τοῖς ἀξίοις, τήν δέ ἔλλαμψιν εἴτ᾿ οὖν ἀποκάλυψιν διά θεωρίας γίνεσθαι μᾶλλον καί οὐχί δι᾿ ἀκοῆς, μή ξενισθῆς ἐπί τούτῳ, ἀλλά τήν λύσιν τούτου (156) ἀκηκοώς μάθε εἶναι πιστός καί μή ἄπιστος ᾖς. Ἔχει δέ οὕτως.

Ὁ Θεός ἡ τῶν ὅλων αἰτία εἷς ἐστι· τό δέ ἕν τοῦτο φῶς καί ζωή ἐστι, πνεῦμα καί λόγος, στόμα καί ῥῆμα, σοφία καί γνῶσις, χαρά καί ἀγάπη, βασιλεία οὐρανῶν καί παράδεισος, οὐρανός οὐρανῶν, ὥσπερ καί ἥλιος ἡλίων καί Θεός θεῶν καί ἡμέρα καλεῖται ἀνέσπερος· καί πᾶν ὁτιοῦν ἄν εἴποις ἀπό τῶν ὁρωμένων καλόν, καί ὑπέρ τό πᾶν ζητῶν, εὑρήσεις τό ἕν τοῦτο ἐνυποστάτως ὄν καί κυρίως καλούμενον ἀγαθόν. Οὐχ ὡς τά ὁρώμενα δέ τοιοῦτον κἀκεῖνό ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἀσυγκρίτως καί ἀρρήτως ὑπέρ ἅπαντα τά ὁρώμενα· οὐδέ καθ᾿ ἕν τούτων ὡς ταῦτα καί τό ἕν ἐκεῖνο κεχωρισμένως εὑρίσκεται, ἀλλ᾿ ἕν μένον ἀναλλοιώτως καί τό αὐτό πανάγαθόν ἐστι καί ὑπέρ πᾶν ἀγαθόν. Οὕτω τοιγαροῦν τετίμηται καί αὐτός ὁ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ καί ὁμοίωσιν κτισθείς ἄνθρωπος, μίαν αἴσθησιν ἔχων ἐν μιᾷ ψυχῇ καί νοΐ καί λόγῳ, εἰ καί πενταχῶς διαμερίζεται ταῖς φυσικαῖς ἀνάγκαις τοῦ σώματος, πρός μέν τά σωματικά διά τῶν πέντε διαιρουμένη ἀδιαιρέτως αἰσθήσεων, ἥτις καί ἀναλλοιώτως ἀλλοιουμένη τήν ἐνέργειαν δείκνυσι, βλέπουσα οὐκ αὐτή, ἀλλά δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἡ ψυχή, οὕτω δέ καί ἀκούουσα καί ὀσφραινομένη καί γευομένη καί τῇ ἁφῇ διακρίνουσα. Ἐν δέ τοῖς πνευματικοῖς οὐκέτι θυρίσιν αἰσθήσεως διαιρεῖσθαι καταναγκάζεται, οὐκέτι ζητεῖ ἀνοιγῆναι τούς ὀφθαλμούς τοῦ ἰδεῖν ἤ τι τῶν ὄντων θεάσασθαι, οὐδέ τά ὦτα λόγον εἰσδέξασθαι, οὐδέ ὄσφρησιν ἐκκαθᾶραι εἰς τό ὀξέως ὀσφραίνεσθαι· οὐδέ δεῖται χειλέων ἤ γλώττης πρός τήν τοῦ γλυκέος ἤ πικροῦ γεῦσιν ὁμοῦ καί διάκρισιν, οὐδέ χειρῶν τοῦ ἐπαφᾶσθαι καί εἰδέναι δι᾿ αὐτῶν τό τραχύ τε καί λεῖον καί ὁμαλόν. Ἀλλά τούτων ἁπάντων ἡ αἴσθησις ἐκτός γενομένη καί ὅλη καθόλου συναπαχθεῖσα τῷ νῷ, ὡς φυσικῶς αὐτῶν συνεπομένη (157) καί ἀχωρίστως μία οὖσα, τάς πέντε ἔχει αἰσθήσεις ἐν ἑαυτῇ, ὡς οὔσας ἕν ἤ καί πλείστας, εἰπεῖν ἀκριβέστερον.

Καί σκόπει μοι ἐντεῦθεν τήν ἀκριβῆ τοῦ λόγου ἐξέτασιν. Ψυχή, νοῦς καί λόγος ἕν, ὡς εἴρηται, εἰσίν ἐν μιᾷ τῇ οὐσίᾳ καί φύσει. Τοῦτο δέ τό ἕν αἰσθάνεται, λογίζεται - λογικόν γάρ , νοεῖ, ἐπινοεῖ, ἐνθυμεῖται, βουλεύεται, ἐπιθυμεῖ, θέλει, οὐ θέλει, προαιρεῖται, οὐ προαιρεῖται, ἀγαπᾷ, μισεῖ· καί ἵνα μή τόν λόγον μηκύνωμεν, τό ἕν