91

21.

Letter to a monk who asked: How do you separate the Son from the Father, by thought or in reality? In which you will find a wealth of theology overturning his blasphemy. (147) You have shone, you have revealed the light of glory, the unapproachable light of Your essence, O Savior, and you have illumined a darkened soul, or rather one that was darkness from sin, as having lost its natural beauty, as You have brought it up from Hades where it lay and granted it to see the light of the divine day and to be illuminated by the rays of the sun and for it to become light, O great wonder! They who have not despised the glory of men do not believe, as You have commanded, for they have not tasted of the divine glory, which You have given and now give, my God, to those who have sought You from their soul with their whole disposition, the eternal glory, You, the truly glorified God, whom to behold is the height of glory. But he who has been deemed worthy to see You always has certainly obtained angelic dignity, even if he is bound to the flesh by nature. And if You have deigned to remain with him (148) and willed him to remain in You, You have fulfilled Your economy and made the corruptible one like You, a god, O God, who co-exists by nature, who is pre-beginningless with the co-beginningless God, the Son and Word, who was born of You, not separated from You by thought, but in reality being inseparable from You. And if He is separated, it is not by nature, but rather by hypostasis, or indeed by person, for [separation] in reality is of the impious and atheists, but [separation] by thought is of those who are completely darkened. For the mind has its word being born unceasingly, in every way and somehow separated; but if it is truly born and proceeds

91

ΚΑ'.

Ἐπιστολή πρός μοναχόν ἐρωτήσαντα˙ Πῶς χωρίζεις τόν Υἱόν ἀπό τοῦ Πατρός, ἐπινοίᾳ ἤ πράγματι; Ἐν ᾗ εὑρήσεις πλοῦτον θεολογίας ἀνατρεπούσης τήν αὐτοῦ βλασφημίαν. (147) Ἔλαμψας, ἐξέφανας φῶς τό τῆς δόξης, φῶς ἀπρόσιτον τῆς σῆς οὐσίας, Σῶτερ, καί κατηύγασας ψυχήν ἐσκοτισμένην, μᾶλλον δέ σκότος οὖσαν ἐξ ἁμαρτίας ὡς τό φυσικόν ἀπολέσασαν κάλλος, ὡς ἐξ ᾅδου τε ἀνήγαγες κειμένην καί φῶς ἰδεῖν δέδωκας θείας ἡμέρας καί τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτῖσιν ἐλλαμφθῆναι καί φῶς γενέσθαι ταύτην, ὦ μέγα θαῦμα! Οὐ πιστεύουσιν οἱ δόξης τῶν ἀνθρώπων μή καταφρονήσαντες, ὡς ἐνετείλω, οὐδέ γάρ ἐγεύσαντο δόξης τῆς θείας, ἥν δέδωκας σύ καί δίδως νῦν, Θεέ μου, τοῖς ἀπό ψυχῆς ὅλῃ τῇ διαθέσει σέ ζητήσασι, τήν αἰώνιον δόξαν, σέ, τόν ἀληθῶς Θεόν δεδοξασμένον, ὅν τό κατιδεῖν ἀκρότης ἐστί δόξης. Ὁ δέ ἀεί σε βλέπειν ἠξιωμένος πάντως ἔλαχεν ἀγγελικῆς ἀξίας, εἰ καί δέδεται τῇ σαρκί κατά φύσιν. Εἰ δέ καί μεῖναι παρ᾿ αὐτῷ κατεδέξω (148) καί καταμένειν ἐν σοί προσηβουλήθης, τήν σήν ἐξεπλήρωσας οἰκονομίαν καί ὅμοιόν σου τόν φθαρτόν ἀπειργάσω θεόν, ὁ Θεός, ὁ συνυπάρχων φύσει, ὁ προάναρχος Θεῷ τῷ συνανάρχῳ Υἱῷ καί Λόγῳ, τῷ ἐκ σοῦ γεννηθέντι, οὐκ ἐπινοίᾳ ἐκ σοῦ χωριζομένῳ, ἀλλά πράγματι ἀχωρίστῳ σου ὄντι. Εἰ δέ καί χωρίζεται, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τῇ φύσει, τῇ ὑποστάσει δέ μᾶλλον, εἴτ᾿ οὖν προσώπῳ, τό γάρ πράγματι ἀσεβῶν καί ἀθέων, τό δ᾿ἐπινοίᾳ ὅλως ἐσκοτισμένων. Ἔχει γάρ ὁ νοῦς γεννώμενον τόν λόγον ἀπαύστως πάντως καί πως κεχωρισμένον˙ εἰ δέ γεννᾶται καί προέρχεται ὄντως