90

Know only what is yours or rather yourself more fully, and then you will know how I am altogether incomprehensible, being with the alone, loving only those who love me and are ever mindful of my commandments with fervor, and in no way attaching themselves to any of the fleeting things; with whom I, speaking, will be now and unto the ages, amen.

23.

A precise theology concerning the incomprehensible and uncircumscribable Godhead; and that the divine nature, being uncircumscribable, is neither within nor without the universe, but both within and without as the cause of all things; and that the Divine is apprehended by man only in the mind, ungraspably, as the rays of the sun by the eyes. (171)

O Trinity, creator of all, O my God alone, uncircumscribable in nature, incomprehensible in glory, ineffable in works, unchangeable in essence. O life, God of all, O you who are above all good things, O beginning of the beginningless Word, O you who are beyond beginning my God, who has not come to be, but were, having no beginning. How shall I find you, whole, the one who carries me within? Who will grant me to grasp you, whom I carry within me? How are you both outside created things, and how inside them again, and you were neither inside nor outside? As ungraspable, you are not inside, (172) but as graspable, you are outside; and being uncircumscribable, you are neither inside nor outside. For of what is the creator inside, and of what, tell me, is he outside? I carry all things within, as holding together all creation; but I am outside of all, being separated from all. For how will the creator of created things not be outside of all? And he who exists before all things

90

Γνῶθι δέ μόνον τά σαυτοῦ ἤ σαυτόν μᾶλλον πλέον καί τότε γνώσεις, ὡς ἐγώ ἀκατάληπτος πάντῃ μόνοις συνών, μόνους φιλῶν τούς ἐμέ ἀγαπῶντας καί τῶν ἐμῶν ἀεί θερμῶς ἐντολῶν μεμνημένους καί μηδαμῶς προσκρίνοντας αὐτῶν τι τῶν ῥεόντων˙ οἷς ὁμιλῶν συνέσομαι νῦν καί εἰς τούς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν.

ΚΓ'.

Περί τῆς ἀκαταλήπτου καί ἀπεριγράπτου Θεόητος ἀκριβής θεολογία˙ καί ὅτι ἀπερίγραπτος οὖσα ἡ θεία φύσις οὔτε ἐντός οὔτε ἐκτός ἐστι τοῦ παντός, ἀλλά καί ἐντός καί ἐκτός ὡς τῶν ὅλων αἰτία˙ καί ὅτι μόνον κατά νοῦν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ληπτόν ἀλήπτως τό Θεῖον ὡς τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αἱ τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτῖνες. (171)

Ὦ Τριάς, ἡ κτίστις πάντων, ὦ Θεέ μου μόνῳ, ἀπερίγραπτε τῇ φύσει, ἀκατάληπτε τῇ δόξῃ, ἀνερμήνευτε τοῖς ἔργοις, ἀναλλοίωτε οὐσίᾳ. Ὦ ζωή, Θεέ, τῶν πάντων, ὦ καλῶν ἁπάντων ἄνω, ὦ ἀρχή ἀνάρχου λόγου, ὑπεράναρχε Θεέ μου, ὅς οὐ γέγονας οὐδέπω, ἀλλά ἦς ἀρχήν μή ἔχων. Πῶς εὑρήσω τόν ἐντός με περιφέροντά σε ὅλον; Τίς μοι δώσει κατασχεῖν σε, ὅν ἐντός μου περιφέρω; Πῶς καί ἔξω τῶν κτισμάτων, πῶς καί ἔσω τούτων πάλιν καί οὐδ᾿ ἔσω ἦς οὐδ᾿ ἔξω; Ὡς μέν ἄληπτος οὐκ ἔσω, (172) ὡς ληπτός δ᾿ ἔξω πέλω ἀπερίγραπτος δ᾿ ὑπάρχων οὔτε ἔσω οὔτε ἔξω. Τίνος γάρ ὁ κτίστης ἔσω, ποίου δέ, εἰπέ μοι, ἔξω; Πάντα ἔνδον περιφέρω ὡς συνέχων πᾶσαν κτίσιν˙ πάντων ἔξω δέ τυγχάνω, πάντων ὤν κεχωρισμένος. Ὁ γάρ κτίστης τῶν κτισμάτων πῶς οὐκ ἔσται πάντων ἔξω; Ὁ πρό πάντων δέ ὑπάρχων