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obviously they speak and those who disbelieve them or even slander them sin against the one who speaks through them.

You have been taught, therefore, beloved, that the kingdom of heaven is within you, if you wish, and all the eternal good things are in your hands. Hurry then to see and to receive and to possess within yourself the good things that are laid up, and do not, by thinking you have these things, be deprived of all of them; (222) weep, fall down, just as the blind man once did, so now you also, and say: "Have mercy on me, Son of God, and open the eyes of my soul, that I may see the light of the world, you, O God, and I too may become a son of the divine day; and do not leave me, as one unworthy, without a share in your divinity, O Good One. Reveal yourself to me, Lord, that I may know that you have loved me, as one who has kept your divine commandments, Master. Send the Paraclete, O merciful One, upon me also, that he may teach me the things concerning you and announce your things to me, O God of all. Shine upon me the true light, O compassionate One, that I may see your glory, which you had before the world came to be with your Father. Abide, as you said, in me also. Be pleased to be formed, O invisible One, in me, so that seeing your ineffable beauty, I may bear your image, O heavenly One, and forget all visible things. Give me the glory which the Father has given you, O compassionate One, that I may become like you, as all your servants are, a god by grace, and I will be with you continually now and forever and unto endless ages, amen".

Yes, my beloved brother, believe and be persuaded that it is so and this is our faith. This then is, believe it, brother, to be born again and to be renewed and to live the life in Christ. Or do you not hear Basil the Great saying in his exhortatory discourse on the Theophany: "Do you not desire to see yourself, O man, become young from being old?", and Paul: (223) "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new". What "all things" does he mean, then? You say, say it. Has the heaven been changed? Has the earth? But the sun, or the stars, or the sea, or has any of the things seen become new and recent? But you cannot say this; for he has said this to us and for us. For being dead, we are raised to life; corruptible, and we are transformed into incorruptibility; mortal, and we are changed into immortality; earthly, and we become heavenly; carnal, having our birth from the flesh, and we become spiritual, being born again and refashioned by the Holy Spirit.

These things, therefore, are the new creation in Christ, brethren; these things are accomplished and come to be for the true believers and the elect every day, and they become partakers of all these things partially, as we have often said, while they are in the body, in a knowable way; and not only this, but also after death they hope to inherit these things completely and surely, that is, becoming whole in all the good things now received. For if indeed we are taught to eat and drink Christ, and to put Him on and to see Him and again to be seen by Him always, and we know that we also have Him in us and abide in Him in turn, so that He is our indweller, and we in turn are His indwellers, He obviously becoming a house for us just as we in turn become a house for Him, then also we are His sons, and He becomes our father, and He is a light shining in darkness, and we say we see Him according to "the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light", if therefore all these things and the rest, as has been shown, which obviously the divine Scriptures teach happen in us in the present time of this present life, we say do not happen at all to us, or that they do happen (224), but mystically and imperceptibly, with us knowing nothing concerning these things, how do we differ from the dead?

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δηλονότι φθέγγονται καί οἱ αὐτοῖς ἀπιστοῦντες ἤ καί ἐνδιαβάλλοντες εἰς τόν δι᾿ αὐτῶν φθεγγόμενον ἁμαρτάνουσιν.

Ἐδιδάχθης τοίνυν, ἀγαπητέ, ὅτι ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐντός σου, εἰ θέλεις, ἐστί καί τά αἰώνια ἅπαντα ἀγαθά ἐν χερσί σου εἰσί. Σπεῦσον οὖν ἰδεῖν καί λαβεῖν καί ἐν σεαυτῷ κτήσασθαι τά ἀποκείμενα ἀγαθά καί μή διά τοῦ οἴεσθαι ταῦτα ἔχειν ἀποστερηθήσῃ πάντων αὐτῶν· (222) κλαῦσον, πρόσπεσον, ὥσπερ ποτέ ὁ τυφλός, οὕτω καί νῦν καί σύ καί εἰπέ· "Ἐλέησόν με, Υἱέ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί διάνοιξόν μου τούς ὀφθαλμούς τῆς ψυχῆς, ἵνα ἴδω τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου, σέ τόν Θεόν, καί γενήσομαι υἱός ἡμέρας θείας κἀγώ· καί μή ἄμοιρον, ὡς ἀνάξιον, τῆς σῆς θεότητος καταλείψῃς με, Ἀγαθέ. Ἐμφάνισόν μοι, Κύριε, σεαυτόν, ἵνα γνώσωμαι ὅτι ἠγάπησάς με, ὡς τάς θείας τηρήσαντά σου, ∆έσποτα, ἐντολάς. Πέμψον τόν παράκλητον, οἰκτίρμον, καί ἐπ᾿ ἐμοί, ἵνα αὐτός με διδάξῃ τά περί σοῦ καί τά σά ἀναγγείλῃ μοι, ὦ Θεέ τοῦ παντός. Λάμψον ἐπ᾿ ἐμοί τό φῶς τό ἀληθινόν, εὔσπλαγχνε, ἵνα ἴδω τήν δόξαν τήν σήν, ἥν εἶχες πρό τοῦ τόν κόσμον γενέσθαι παρά τῷ σῷ Πατρί. Μεῖνον, ὡς εἶπας, καί ἐν ἐμοί. Μορφωθῆναι θέλησον, ἀόρατε, ἐν ἐμοί, ἵνα βλέπων τό ἀμήχανον κάλλος σου, τήν εἰκόνα, ἐπουράνιε, φορέσω τήν σήν καί πάντα τά ὁρατά ἐπιλάθωμαι. ∆ός μοι τήν δόξαν ἥν σοι δέδωκεν, εὔσπλαγχνε, ὁ Πατήρ, ἵνα ὅμοιός σοι ὡς πάντες οἱ δοῦλοί σου γένωμαι κατά χάριν θεός καί συνέσομαί σοι διηνεκῶς νῦν καί ἀεί καί εἰς ἀπεράντους αἰῶνας, ἀμήν".

Ναί, ἀδελφέ μου ἀγαπητέ, πίστευσον καί πείσθητι ὅτι οὕτως ἐστί καί αὕτη ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν. Τοῦτο οὖν ἐστι, πίστευσον, ἀδελφέ, τό ἀναγεννηθῆναι καί ἀνακαινισθῆναι καί ζῆσαι τήν ἐν Χριστῷ ζωήν. Ἤ οὐκ ἀκούεις τόν μέγαν Βασίλειον λέγοντα εἰς τόν προτρεπτικόν αὐτοῦ λόγον τῶν Φώτων· "Οὐκ ἐπιθυμεῖς σεαυτόν ἰδεῖν, ἄνθρωπε, ἀπό γέροντος νέον γινόμενον;", καί τόν Παῦλον· (223) "Εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινή κτίσις· τά ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν, ἰδού γέγονε τά πάντα καινά". Ποῖα πάντα λέγει τοιγαροῦν; Εἰπέ, σύ, εἰπέ. Μή ὁ οὐρανός ἐνηλλάγη; Μή ἡ γῆ; Ἀλλά ὁ ἥλιος, ἤ οἱ ἀστέρες, ἤ ἡ θάλασσα, ἤ τι τῶν βλεπομένων καινόν καί πρόσφατον γέγονεν; Ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἔχεις τοῦτο εἰπεῖν· πρός ἡμᾶς γάρ καί δι᾿ ἡμᾶς τοῦτο εἴρηκε. Νεκροί γάρ ὄντες, πρός ζωήν ἀνιστάμεθα· φθαρτοί, καί εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν μεταποιούμεθα· θνητοί, καί εἰς ἀθανασίαν μεταβαλλόμεθα· γήϊνοι, καί γινόμεθα ἐπουράνιοι· σαρκικοί ἐκ σαρκός τήν γένεσιν ἔχοντες, καί πνευματικοί γινόμεθα, τῷ Ἁγίῳ ἀναγεννώμενοι καί ἀναπλαττόμενοι Πνεύματι.

Ταῦτα τοιγαροῦν ἡ ἐν Χριστῷ καινή κτίσις εἰσίν, ἀδελφοί· ταῦτα εἰς τούς ἀληθινούς πιστούς καί ἐκλεκτούς καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἐπιτελοῦνται καί γίνονται, καί τούτων ἁπάντων μέτοχοι μερικῶς, ὡς πολλάκις εἴπομεν, ἐν σώματι ὄντες, γνωστῶς γίνονται· οὐ μόνον δέ ἀλλά καί μετά θάνατον ὁλοτελῶς ταῦτα καί βεβαίως κληρονομῆσαι ἐλπίζουσιν, ὅλοι δηλαδή ἐν ὅλοις τοῖς νυνί μεταληφθεῖσι γινόμενοι ἀγαθοῖς. Εἰ γάρ καί τόν Χριστόν ἐσθίειν καί πίνειν, ἐνδύεσθαί τε καί ὁρᾶν καί αὖθις ὁρᾶσθαι παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἀεί διδασκόμεθα, ἀλλά καί ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτόν ἔχειν καί ἐν αὐτῷ πάλιν μένειν ἡμᾶς οἴδαμεν, ὡς αὐτόν μέν εἶναι ἡμῶν ἔνοικον, ἡμᾶς δέ πάλιν ἐνοίκους αὐτοῦ, οἰκίᾳ γινομένῳ δηλονότι ἡμῖν καθά καί ἡμεῖς πάλιν οἰκία γινόμεθα αὐτῷ, εἶτα καί υἱοί μέν ἡμεῖς αὐτοῦ, αὐτός δέ πατήρ ἡμῶν γίνεται, καί φῶς ἐκεῖνος ἐν σκότει λάμπον ἐστίν, αὐτόν δέ βλέπειν ἡμεῖς λέγομεν κατά τό "ὁ λαός ὁ καθήμενος ἐν σκότει εἶδε φῶς μέγα", ἐάν οὖν ταῦτα πάντα καί τά λοιπά, ὡς δεδήλωται, ὅσα δηλονότι αἱ θεῖαι Γραφαί γίνεσθαι ἐν ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ ἐνεστῶτι καιρῷ τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς ἐκδιδάσκουσι, μηδόλως γίνεσθαι λέγωμεν εἰς ἡμᾶς, ἤ γίνεσθαι (224) μέν, μυστικῶς δέ καί ἀνεπαισθήτως, μηδέν πρός ταῦτα γινωσκόντων ἡμῶν, τί νεκρῶν διαφέρομεν;