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who does not become deaf and blind to the world's affairs and customs, to its deeds and words, seeing indeed whatever the eye is by nature able to see, but allowing nothing from within to enter the heart and for types and forms of these things to be depicted in it, hearing whatever human hearing receives, and remaining like a lifeless and senseless stone, not remembering the sound, not the power of the voices, cannot offer the mystical and bloodless sacrifice to God purely, to Him who is pure by nature. For when he has perceived how to do these things in truth, he has been separated from the whole world and the things of the world by knowledge, and he will believe me in what I am about to write again. The dark air, which David calls a wall and the Fathers named the sea of life, he has passed over, he has crossed, he has entered into a harbor, in which everyone who has arrived finds every good thing. For there is paradise, there the tree of life, there the sweet bread, there the divine drink, there the inexhaustible wealth of gifts. There the bush burns without being consumed and the sandals of my feet are immediately loosed; (136) there the sea is parted and I pass through alone and I see the enemies being drowned in the waters; there I behold the wood cast into my heart and all bitter things are transformed; there I partook of the rock gushing honey and my soul since then has had no share in affliction; there I have found Christ, the provider of these things, and I have followed Him with all my soul; there I ate the manna and the bread of Angels and no longer desired any of human things; there I both saw Aaron's dry rod budding and marveled at God's wondrous works; there I saw my barren soul bearing fruit and how the dry wood produces beautiful fruit; there I beheld my muddy and profligate heart pure and chaste and virgin and hearing: Hail, full of grace, for the Lord is with you and in you forever! There I heard: Wash, in a pool of tears! and having done so I believed and suddenly I received my sight;

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ὅς οὐ κωφός τε καί τυφλός γένηται τοῖς τοῦ κόσμου πράγμασί τε καί ἤθεσι, πράξεσί τε καί λόγοις ὁρῶν μέν ὅσα ὀφθαλμός φύσει ὁρᾶν ἰσχύει, μηδέν δέ ἔνδοθεν ἐῶν εἰσελθεῖν ἐν καρδίᾳ καί τύπους τούτων καί μορφάς ἀνιστορεῖσθαι ταύτην ἀκούων δ᾿ ὅσα ἀκοή δέχεται ἀνθρωπίνη, καί μένων ὥσπερ ἄψυχος καί ἀναίσθητος λίθος, μή ἠχήν, μή τήν δύναμιν τῶν φωνῶν μεμνημένος, οὐ δύναται τήν μυστικήν καί ἀναίμακτον θύειν Θεῷ θυσίαν καθαρῶς τῷ καθαρῷ τήν φύσιν. Ὅταν γάρ ταῦτα αἰσθηθῇ ποιεῖν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἀπεχωρίσθη τοῦ παντός κόσμου καί τῶν τοῦ κόσμου καί γνώσει καί πιστεύσει μοι, ἅ μέλλω πάλιν γράφειν. Τόν ἀέρα τόν σκοτεινόν, ὅν ∆αυίδ τεῖχος λέγει καί θάλασσαν ὠνόμασαν τοῦ βίου οἱ Πατέρες, ὑπερέβη, ἐπέρασεν, εἰσῆλθεν εἰς λιμένα, ἐν ᾧ πᾶς ὁ γενόμενος πᾶν ἀγαθόν εὑρίσκει. Ἐκεῖ γάρ ὁ παράδεισος, ἐκεῖ ζωῆς τό ξύλον, ἐκεῖ ὁ ἄρτος ὁ γλυκύς, ἐκεῖ πόμα τό θεῖον, ἐκεῖ ὁ ἀνεξάντλητος πλοῦτος τῶν χαρισμάτων. Ἐκεῖ ἡ βάτος καίεται μή καταφλεγομένη καί τῶν ποδῶν μου λύονται πέδιλα εὐθέως˙ (136) ἐκεῖ θάλασσα ῥήγνυται καί διέρχομαι μόνος καί ὁρῶ ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν ἐχθρούς ποντιζομένους˙ ἐκεῖ τό ξύλον θεωρῶ ἐν τῇ ἐμῇ καρδίᾳ βαλλόμενον καί τά πικρά πάντα μεταποιοῦνται˙ ἐκεῖ τήν πέτραν βλύζουσν μέλι ἐκαρπωσάμην καί ἡ ψυχή μου ἔκτοτε θλίψεως οὐ μετέσχεν˙ ἐκεῖ εὕρηκα τόν Χριστόν, τόν παροχέα τούτων, καί ἠκολούθησα αὐτῷ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς μου˙ ἐκεῖ τό μάννα ἔφαγον καί ἄρτον τῶν Ἀγγέλων καί οὐδενός ἐπεθύμησα τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἔτι˙ ἐκεῖ τήν ῥάβδον Ἀαρών τήν ξηράν ἐξανθοῦσαν εἶδόν τε καί ἐθαύμασα Θεοῦ τερατουργίας˙ ἐκεῖ τήν στεῖράν μου ψυχήν εἶδον καρποφοροῦσαν καί πῶς τό ξύλον τό ξηρόν ποιεῖ καρπόν ὡραῖον˙ ἐκεῖ τήν βορβορώδη μου καί ἄσωτον καρδίαν ἐθεασάμην καθαράν καί ἁγνήν καί παρθένον καί τό˙ Χαῖρε, ἀκούουσαν, ἡ κεχαριτωμένη, μετά σοῦ γάρ ὁ Κύριος καί ἐν σοί εἰς αἰῶνας! Ἐκεῖ τό˙ Νίψαι, ἤκουσα, κολυμβήθρα δακρύων! καί ποιήσας ἐπίστευσα καί ἀνέβλεψα αἴφνης˙