84

There I was buried in a tomb with perfect humility, and Christ came with immeasurable mercy and removed the heavy stone of my evils from there and said: Come, come forth as from the tomb of the world! There I saw how He suffered, my God, impassibly, and how He became dead, though being immortal, and rose from the tomb without breaking the seals. There I saw the future life and incorruption, (137) which Christ grants to those who seek Him, and I found the kingdom of heaven existing within me, which is the Father, the Son and the Spirit, the undivided Godhead in three persons, which those who have not preferred above the whole world and have considered as glory and honor and wealth to worship, to minister and to stand before it alone are unworthy both of the immaculate vision and of the delight and of the joy and of all good things, which they will not partake of, not having repentance, unless, as we have said, they are taught all things and do all things with zeal, which my God has said, and then only, with much fear and reverence, if God should command, may he touch the untouchable things. For not everyone is permitted to minister in such things, but even if he receives all the grace of the Spirit and is pure of sin from his mother, unless by God's command and by His choice, which assures his soul by divine illumination and enflames it with the longing of divine love, it would not seem reasonable to me for him to perform the sacred rites and to touch the untouchable and awesome mysteries, to which are due all glory and honor and worship now and always and forever, unto all the ages.

20.

Thanksgiving and confession with theology: and concerning the gift and participation of the Holy Spirit. (138)

You appeared for my sake on earth from a Virgin, You who before the ages were invisible, and you became flesh and were shown as a man,

84

ἐκεῖ ἐτάφην μνήματι ταπεινώσει τελείᾳ, καί παρεγένετο Χριστός ἀμετρήτῳ ἐλέει καί λίθον ἦρε τόν βαρύν ἐκεῖθεν τῶν κακῶν μου καί εἶπε˙ ∆εῦρο, ἔξελθε ὡς ἐκ τάφου τοῦ κόσμου! Ἐκεῖ, πῶς ἔπαθεν, εἶδον, ἀπαθῶς ὁ Θεός μου καί πῶς νεκρός ἐγένετο ἀθάνατος ὑπάρχων καί ἀνέστη τοῦ μνήματος μή λύσας τάς σφραγίδας. Ἐκεῖ τήν μέλλουσαν εἶδον ζωήν καί ἀφθαρσίαν, (137) ἥν ὁ Χριστός χαρίζεται τοῖς αὐτόν ἐκζητοῦσι, καί βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν οὖσαν ἐντός μου εὗρον, ἥτις ὑπάρχει ὁ Πατήρ, ὁ Υἱός καί τό Πνεῦμα, θεότης ἀδιαίρετος ἐν τρισί τοῖς προσώποις, ἥν οἱ μή προτιμήσαντες ἀντί παντός τοῦ κόσμου καί δόξαν ἡγησάμενοι καί τιμήν τε καί πλοῦτον τό προσκυνεῖν, τό λειτουργεῖν καί παρίστασθαι μόνον ἀνάξιοι τυγχάνουσι καί τῆς ἀχράντου θέας καί τῆς τρυφῆς καί τῆς χαρᾶς καί τῶν καλῶν ἁπάντων, ὧν οὐ μή μεταλάβωσι μετάνοιαν μή σχόντες, εἰ μή πάντα ὡς εἴπομεν, γένωνται διδαχθέντες καί πάντα πράξωσι σπουδῇ, ἅ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός μου, καί τότε μόλις τις πολλῷ φόβῳ καί εὐλαβείᾳ, εἰ ὁ Θεός κελεύσειεν, ἁπτέσθω τῶν ἀψαύστων. Οὐδέ γάρ πᾶσιν ἔξεστι λειτουργεῖν τοῖς τοιούτοις, ἀλλ᾿ εἰ καί πᾶσαν δέξεται τοῦ Πνεύματος τήν χάριν καί καθαρός ἀπό μητρός ὑπάρχει ἁμαρτίας, εἰ μή Θεοῦ κελεύσματι καί ἐκλογῇ ἐκείνου, πληροφοροῦντος τήν αὐτοῦ ψυχήν ἐλλάμψει θείᾳ καί ἐμπυρίζοντος αὐτήν πόθῳ θείας ἀγάπης, οὐκ ἄν δοκῇ μοι εὔλογον ἱερουργεῖν τά θεῖα καί τῶν ἀψαύστων καί φρικτῶν ἅπτεσθαι μυστηρίων, οἷς πρέπει δόξα καί τιμή καί προσκύνησις πᾶσα νῦν καί ἀεί διά παντός, εἰς πάντας τούς αἰῶνας.

Κ'.

Εὐχαριστία καί ἐξομολόγησις σύν θεολογίᾳ˙ καί περί δωρεᾶς καί μετουσίας Πνεύματος Ἁγίου. (138)

Ὤφθης δι᾿ ἐμέ ἐπί γῆς ἐκ Παρθένου, ὁ πρό αἰώνων ἀόρατος ὑπάρχων, καί σάρξ ἐγένου καί ἄνθρωπος ἐδείχθης,