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if you have not sensed the divine sweetness, if you have not been illumined by the Divine Spirit, if you have not wept painless tears, if you have not beheld your mind seized with wonder, if you have not known your heart purified and shining with bright reflections and unexpectedly found Christ within you and were amazed seeing the divine beauty and forgot human nature, seeing your whole self transformed, how, tell me, do you not shudder to speak of God? And how do you dare, being yourself entirely flesh (153) and not yet having become spirit like Paul, to philosophize or speak about the Spirit, which you hear does not dwell in such people because they are flesh, as the word says? But I have written these things that you may know how I believe, and if you wish, you may be persuaded by me and become sober. For if you truly do not have the treasure, which the world cannot contain, if you have not yet received the glory of the fishermen, which those who received it truly received God, you will leave the world and the things in the world, you will hasten, you will run before the gates of life and of the theater here are closed to you, and the festival is dissolved, alas, and the sun and the stars grow dark and the earth passes away and hades is opened and the universe will become darkness and chaos; and then you will know, dear soul, and you will learn, that those who do not have the Divine Spirit shining like a lamp in their mind and dwelling inexpressibly in their heart are sent away into the eternal darkness. For the Spirit is the Lord, and God the Father of the Lord is Spirit, in any case one Spirit, for it is not divided. He who has this truly has the three, but unconfusedly, even if undividedly. For He is Father; and how shall He be Son? (154) For He is unbegotten in essence, and He is Son; and how may He become Spirit?

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εἰ οὐκ ᾐσθήθης γλυκύτητος τῆς θείας, εἰ οὐκ ἐλλάμφθης τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ Θείῳ, εἰ οὐκ ἔκλαυσας δάκρυα ἀνωδύνως, εἰ ἐκπληθέντα τόν νοῦν οὐκ ἐθεάσω, εἰ καθαρθεῖσαν οὐκ ἔγνως σήν καρδίαν καί ἐκλάμψασαν φαιδράς ἀντανακλάσεις καί ἀνελπίστως εὗρες Χριστόν ἐντός σου καί ἐξεπλάγης κάλλος ἰδών τό θεῖον καί ἐπελάθου φύσεως ἀνθρωπίνης ὅλον σεαυτόν βλέπων ἠλλοιωμένον, πῶς περί Θεοῦ λαλεῖν, εἰπέ, οὐ φρίττεις; Πῶς δέ καί τολμᾷς σάρξ αὐτός ὅλος πέλων (153) καί μήπω πνεῦμα γεγονώς ὡς ὁ Παῦλος περί Πνεύματος φιλοσοφεῖν ἤ λέγειν, ὅ ἐν τοιούτοις μή κατοικεῖν ἀκούεις διά τό εἶναι σάρκας αὐτούς, ὡς λόγος; Ἀλλ᾿ ἔγραψα ταῦθ᾿ ἵνα γνῷς πῶς πιστεύω, καί εἰ θελήσεις, πεισθῇς μοι καί στυγνάσῃς. Εἰ γάρ ἀληθῶς τόν θησαυρόν οὐκ ἔχεις, ὅνπερ ὁ κόσμος οὐ δύναται χωρῆσαι, εἰ οὔπω ἔλαβες δόξαν τῶν ἁλιέων, ἥν οἱ λαβόντες Θεόν ἔλαβον ὄντως, καταλείψεις κόσμον καί τά ἐν κόσμῳ, ὀξυποδήσεις, δράμεις πρό τοῦ κλεισθῆναι πύλας βίου σοι καί τοῦ τῇδε θεάτρου, καί διαλυθῇ ἡ πανήγυρις, οἴμοι, καί συσκοτάσει ἥλιος καί τά ἄστρα καί γῆ παρέλθει καί ἀνοιχθῇ ὁ ᾅδης καί τό πᾶν γενήσεται σκότος καί χάος˙ καί τότε γνώσῃ, φίλη ψυχή, καί μάθῃς, ὅτι οἱ μή ἔχοντες Πνεῦμα τό Θεῖον ἐν διανοίᾳ λαμπάδος δίκην λάμπον καί ἐν καρδίᾳ ἐνοικοῦν ἀνεκφράστως τῷ αἰωνίῳ παραπέμπονται σκότει. Καί γάρ τό Πνεῦμα ὁ Κύριος ὑπάρχει, Πνεῦμα δ᾿ ὁ Θεός, ὁ Πατήρ τοῦ Κυρίου, ἕν πάντως Πνεῦμα, οὐδέ γάρ διαιρεῖται. Τοῦτο ὁ ἔχων ὄντως ἔχει τά τρία, ἀλλ᾿ ἀσυγχύτως, εἰ καί ἀδιαιρέτως. Ἔστι γάρ Πατήρ˙ καί πῶς Υἰος ὑπάρξει; (154) Ἔστι γάρ ἀγέννητος τό κατ᾿ οὐσίαν, ἔστι τε Υἱός˙ καί πῶς γένηται Πνεῦμα;