99

forgetting himself, he will be astonished, falling upon Him, and he will love to see Him alone. And when He is hidden from his eyes, (230) this man, being at a loss, beginning the way again from the start, runs more vehemently, more intensely, more surely; he looks down, walks thoughtfully, is inflamed with memory, is burned with longing, is kindled by the hope of seeing Him again; and, when after running much he becomes weary and is not able to arrive, but even falls down completely, unable to run, then he sees the one pursued and overtakes the one who flees and holds the one desired and becomes wholly outside the world and forgets this whole world itself, he is joined to the angels, is mingled with the light, tastes of life, is intertwined with immortality, comes into the enjoyment of delight, ascends to the third heaven, is snatched up to paradise, hears unspeakable words, enters into the bridal chamber, comes to the bedchamber, sees the bridegroom, partakes in the spiritual marriage, is filled from the mystical cup, from the fatted calf, from the living bread, from the drink of life, from the blameless lamb, from the spiritual manna, he comes into the enjoyment of all those good things, at which not even the powers of the angels dare to gaze without fear.

Being in this state, he is set on fire by the Spirit and becomes wholly fire in his soul, imparting also to the body of its own radiance, just as visible fire imparts its own nature to iron, and the soul becomes to the body what God has become to the soul, as the theological voice says: for neither can a soul live, unless it is enlightened by the Creator, (231) nor a body, unless it is empowered by the soul. Consider carefully the power of what is being said. Body, soul, and God, these three. God, without beginning, without end, unapproachable, unsearchable, invisible, ineffable, intangible, untouchable, impassible, indescribable, at the end of days was revealed to us in the flesh through the Son and was made known through His most holy Spirit, as we believe, equal to us in all things apart from sin, is mingled with a rational soul for the sake of my soul, as someone said, so that He might save the spirit and make the flesh immortal. But He also promises, saying: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. And I and the Father will come and make Our home with them,” that is, with those who believe and show their faith by the aforesaid works. But pay attention. When God, according to His unfailing promises, dwells in us, His genuine servants, and walks about in our souls through the energies and illuminations of the most holy Spirit, we confessedly believe that the souls worthy of such things are inseparable from God. And since souls again pass through the whole body and are absent from no part, it is entirely necessary that the flesh itself, being inseparable from the soul, or rather not even being able to live without it, is wholly led by the will of the soul; and as it is not possible for a body to live without a soul, so it is not possible for the body then to have a will apart from the soul.

It has been shown, therefore, that just as in Father and Son and Holy Spirit one God is worshipped without confusion and without division, so again in God and soul and body man becomes god by grace without division and without confusion, (232) with neither the body being changed into soul, nor the soul being transformed into divinity, nor God being confused with the soul, nor the soul being fixed into flesh, but God remaining as He is God, and the soul as it is by nature, and the body, as it was formed, clay. He who paradoxically bound them together and mixed the intelligible and immaterial with the clay, He Himself is united to both of these without confusion, and I become in His image and likeness, as the Word has shown. But again, if you please, let us take up the discourse again; for moved by pleasure and joy, I still wish to abide in what has been said, so that I might also set in order more clearly the meaning of such things.

99

ἐπιλαθόμενος ἐκπλαγήσεται προσπεσών αὐτόν καί μόνον ὁρᾶν ἀγαπήσει. Οὗ καί κρυβέντος ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ, (230) ἀπορήσας οὗτος, πάλιν τήν ὁδόν ἄνωθεν ἀπαρξάμενος, τρέχει σφοδρότερον, ἐντονώτερον, ἀσφαλέστερον· ὁρᾷ κάτω, περιπατεῖ σύννους, τῇ μνήμῃ φλέγεται, τῷ πόθῳ καίεται, τῇ ἐλπίδι τοῦ πάλιν ἐκεῖνον ἰδεῖν ἀνάπτεται· καί, ὅταν πολλά δραμών κατάκοπος γένηται καί φθάσαι μή δυνηθῇ, ἀλλά καί παντελῶς καταπέσῃ, δραμεῖν μή δυνάμενος, τηνικαῦτα βλέπει τόν διωκόμενον καί τόν φεύγοντα φθάνει καί κρατεῖ τόν ποθούμενον καί γίνεται ὅλος ἔξω τοῦ κόσμου καί αὐτοῦ ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου ἐπιλανθάνεται, συνάπτεται τοῖς ἀγγέλοις, τῷ φωτί ἀναμίγνυται, ἀπογεύεται τῆς ζωῆς, τῇ ἀθανασίᾳ συμπλέκεται, ἐν ἀπολαύσει γίνεται τῆς τρυφῆς, εἰς τρίτον ἀνέρχεται οὐρανόν, ἁρπάζεται εἰς παράδεισον, ἀκούει ἄρρητα ῥήματα, εἰς τόν νυμφῶνα εἰσέρχεται, εἰς τόν παστόν παραγίνεται, τόν νυμφίον ὁρᾷ, τοῦ πνευματικοῦ γάμου ἐν μετοχῇ γίνεται, τοῦ μυστικοῦ κρατῆρος ἐμπίπλαται, τοῦ μόσχου τοῦ σιτευτοῦ, τοῦ ἄρτου τοῦ ζωηροῦ, τοῦ πόματος τῆς ζωῆς, τοῦ ἀμώμου ἀμνοῦ, τοῦ μάννα τοῦ νοητοῦ, πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐκείνων ἐν ἀπολαύσει γίνεται, εἰς ἅ οὐδέ τῶν ἀγγέλων αἱ δυνάμεις ἀδεῶς ἐνατενίσαι τολμῶσιν.

Οὕτως ἔχων πυροῦται τῷ πνεύματι καί πῦρ ὅλος γίνεται τῇ ψυχῇ, μεταδιδούς καί τῷ σώματι τῆς οἰκείας λαμπρότητος, δίκην τοῦ ὁρωμένου πυρός τήν οἰκείαν τῷ σιδήρῳ φύσιν μεταδιδοῦντος, καί γίνεται ἡ ψυχή τῷ σώματι ὅπερ γέγονε τῇ ψυχῇ ὁ Θεός, καθά φησιν ἡ θεολόγος φωνή· οὔτε γάρ ψυχή ζῆν δύναται, μή φωτιζομένη παρά τοῦ κτίσαντος, (231) οὔτε σῶμα, μή παρά τῆς ψυχῆς δυναμούμενον. Σκόπει ἀκριβῶς τῶν λεγομένων τήν δύναμιν. Σῶμα, ψυχή καί Θεός, τά τρία ταῦτα. Θεός ἄναρχος, ἀτελεύτητος, ἀπρόσιτος, ἀνεξιχνίαστος, ἀόρατος, ἄρρητος, ἀναφής, ἀψηλάφητος, ἀπαθής, ἀνεκδιήγητος, ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν φανείς ἡμῖν ἐν σαρκί δι᾿ Υἱοῦ καί γνωρισθείς διά τοῦ παναγίου αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος, ὡς πιστεύομεν, ἴσος ἡμῖν κατά πάντα χωρίς ἁμαρτίας, ψυχῇ νοερᾷ μίγνυται διά τήν ἐμήν ψυχήν, ὥς πού τις ἔφη, ἵνα καί τό πνεῦμα σώσῃ καί τήν σάρκα ἀθανατίσῃ. Ἀλλά μήν καί ἐπαγγέλεται λέγων· "Ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καί ἐμπεριπατήσω. Καί ἐγώ καί ὁ Πατήρ ἐλευσόμεθα καί μονήν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ποιησόμεθα", δηλαδή τοῖς πιστεύουσι καί τήν πίστιν ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων ἔργων ἐνδεικνυμένοις. Ἀλλά πρόσεχε. Θεοῦ κατά τάς ἀψευδεῖς ἐπαγγελίας ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς γνησίοις δούλοις αὐτοῦ καί διά τῶν ἐνεργειῶν καί ἐλλάμψεων τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἐμπεριπατοῦντος ἐν ταῖς ἡμετέραις ψυχαῖς, ἀχωρίστους εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ τάς ἀξίας τῶν τοιούτων ψυχάς ὁμολογουμένως πιστεύομεν. Τῶν δέ ψυχῶν πάλιν διϊκνουμένων ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι καί μηδενί μέρει ἀπολιμπανομένων, ἀνάγκη πάντως καί αὐτήν τήν σάρκα, ἀχώριστον οὖσαν τῆς ψυχῆς, μᾶλλον δέ μηδέ ζῆν χωρίς αὐτῆς δυναμένην, ὅλην ἄγεσθαι τῆς ψυχῆς τῷ θελήματι· καί ὡς οὐκ ἔστι σῶμα ζῆν ἄνευ ψυχῆς, οὕτως οὐδέ θέλημα ἔνι τό σῶμα ἔχειν τότε παρεκτός τῆς ψυχῆς.

Ἀποδέδεικται τοίνυν ὅτι, ὥσπερ ἐν Πατρί καί Υἱῷ καί Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι εἷς Θεός ἀσυγχύτως καί ἀδιαιρέτως προσκυνεῖται, οὕτω πάλιν ἐν Θεῷ καί ψυχῇ καί σώματι ἀδιαιρέτως καί ἀσυγχύτως θεός κατά χάριν ὁ ἄνθρωπος γίνεται, (232) μήτε τοῦ σώματος εἰς ψυχήν μεταβαλλομένου, μήτε τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς θεότητα μεταποιουμένης, μήτε τοῦ Θεοῦ τῇ ψυχῇ συγχεομένου, μήτε τῆς ψυχῆς εἰς σάρκα μεταπηγνυμένης, ἀλλά μένων ὁ Θεός καθό Θεός ἐστι καί ἡ ψυχή καθώς ἔχει φύσεως καί τό σῶμα, καθώς ἐπλάσθη, πηλός. Ὁ παραδόξως συνδήσας αὐτά καί τό νοερόν τε καί ἄϋλον τῷ πηλῷ συγκεράσας, αὐτός ἀμφοτέροις τούτοις ἀσυγχύτως ἑνοῦται κἀγώ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα καί ὁμοίωσιν ἐκείνου, ὡς ὁ Λόγος ἀπέδειξε, γίνομαι. Ἀλλά πάλιν, εἰ δοκεῖ, τόν λόγον ἐπαναλάβωμεν· ὑφ᾿ ἡδονῆς γάρ κινούμενος καί χαρᾶς, ἔτι τοῖς εἰρημένοις προσμένειν βούλομαι, ἵνα καί τόν νοῦν τῶν τοιούτων ἐκδηλότερον ἀνατάξωμαι.