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What then is this and what sort of first-fruit of the contemplation of the Word is it? The unspeakable utterances which the divine Paul, having been caught up to the third heaven, heard. But from their very beginning, let us first seek what an utterance is, so that, thus proceeding on our way, we may well understand the power of the apostolic utterances. An utterance, therefore, is a word, just as a word is also called an utterance: For it says, "Speak a word and my servant will be healed." And in Job: "Speak some utterance against the Lord and die." And elsewhere: "The utterances of his mouth." And the utterances and words of men are spoken by the mouths of men and are likewise heard by human ears, but the utterance of God and His word, coming forth through His mouth, is utterly ineffable for a human tongue and completely incomprehensible to a fleshly ear, and not only that, but also unable to come into its perception, since perception, that is, is not strong enough to perceive what is beyond perception.

Therefore, at the first approach of contemplation, we know of no other utterance and word than the Son of God and the Father, Himself our Lord Jesus Christ, who is truly existing God; and His mouth which speaks the unspeakable utterances is none other than the Holy and consubstantial Spirit Himself, as the prophet says: "For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things," instead of "the Spirit of the Lord." Therefore, the mouth of God is the Holy Spirit, and the utterance and word is His Son and God. But why is the Spirit called the mouth of God, and the Son the utterance and word? Because, just as through our mouth (155) the word that is in us comes forth and is revealed to others, and it is not possible otherwise to speak or declare it, except through the sound of the mouth, so also the Son of God and Word, unless He is spoken, that is, revealed, through the Holy Spirit as through a mouth, cannot be known or heard. But "cannot" we say here instead of "it is not possible," or "He does not will it," as also in "it is impossible for God to lie." And just as, if we do not open our mouth—for when it is shut our word cannot come forth—so also the mouth of God, that is, His Holy Spirit, unless it is opened through His illumination that comes to be in us, not the Spirit, but our mind illuminated by Him, the Son and Word of God is neither seen, nor known, nor is He revealed to our sense of sight and hearing.

The unspeakable utterances, therefore, which the divine Paul, as he said, heard, are, according to the comprehension of our weak intellect, nothing other than surely the mystical and truly inexpressible contemplations through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, and the exceedingly magnificent unknown knowledges, or rather, the unseen contemplations of the super-luminous and supremely unknown glory and divinity of the Son and Word of God; which, being revealed more manifestly and more clearly to the worthy, are shown to be the unheard hearings of the unutterable utterances, the comprehension of incomprehensible things in incomprehension. But if he said: "I have heard unspeakable utterances," and we have said that these are the Son, spoken otherwise of God and the Father through the Holy Spirit and at the same time revealed through His illumination to the worthy, and that the illumination, or rather revelation, comes about through contemplation rather than through hearing, do not be surprised at this, but having heard the solution of this (156), learn to be believing and not unbelieving. 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 thing you might say from among visible things, and seeking beyond the all, you will find this One existing hypostatically and properly called good. But He is not such as visible things, but incomparably and ineffably beyond all visible things; nor according to any one of these as these and that One separately

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Τίς οὖν ἐστιν αὕτη καί ὁποία τῆς θεωρίας τοῦ λόγου ἀπαρχή; Τά ἄρρητα ῥήματα ἅ εἰς τρίτον οὐρανόν ὁ θεῖος ἁρπαγείς Παῦλος ἀκήκοεν. Ἀλλά γάρ ἐκ προοιμίων αὐτῶν τί ἐστι ῥῆμα πρῶτον ζητήσωμεν, ἵν᾿ οὕτω καθ᾿ ὁδόν ἐρχόμενοι τήν δύναμιν γνῶμεν τῶν ἀποστολικῶν ῥημάτων καλῶς. 'Ρῆμα τοιγαροῦν ὁ λόγος ἐστίν, ὥσπερ οὖν καί ὁ λόγος ῥῆμα καλεῖται· "Εἰπέ" γάρ, φησί, "λόγον καί ἰαθήσεται ὁ παῖς μου". Καί ἐν τῷ Ἰώβ· "Εἰπέ ῥῆμά τι πρός Κύριον καί τελεύτα". Καί ἀλλαχοῦ· "Τά ῥήματα τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ". Καί τά μέν ῥήματα καί οἱ λόγοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων στόμασι λαλοῦνται ἀνθρώπων καί ὠσίν ὡσαύτως ἀνθρωπίνοις ἀκούονται, τό δέ ῥῆμα τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ, διά τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ἐξερχόμενος, ἄφραστός ἐστι παντελῶς ἀνθρωπίνῃ γλώσσῃ καί ἀκοῇ σαρκίνῃ πάντῃ ἀχώρητος, οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί εἰς αἴσθησιν αὐτῆς μή δυνάμενος ἐλθεῖν, τῆς αἰσθήσεως δηλονότι μή ἰσχυούσης αἰσθανθῆναι τά ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν.

'Ρῆμα οὖν καί λόγον κατά πρώτην ἐπιβολήν θεωρίας οὐδένα ἄλλον γινώσκομεν ἤ τόν Υἱόν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός, αὐτόν τόν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν τόν ὄντως ὄντα Θεόν· στόμα δέ αὐτοῦ τό λαλοῦν τά ἄρρητα ῥήματα οὐδέν ἕτερον ἤ αὐτό τό Ἅγιον καί ὁμοούσιον Πνεῦμα, καθώς ὁ προφήτης φησί· "Τό γάρ στόμα Κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα" ἀντί τοῦ τό Πνεῦμα Κυρίου. Στόμα τοίνυν Θεοῦ τό Ἅγιον Πνεῦμά ἐστιν, ῥῆμα δέ καί λόγος ὁ Υἱός αὐτοῦ καί Θεός. ∆ιά τί δέ τό Πνεῦμα στόμα καλεῖται Θεοῦ, ὁ δέ Υἱός ῥῆμα καί λόγος; Ἐπειδή, ὥσπερ διά τοῦ στόματος (155) ἡμῶν ὁ λόγος 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