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in one Godhead and beginning and power, amen.

22.

Thanksgiving with theology; and concerning those things by which the divine grace of the Spirit is named through its energies. (164)

What is this new mystery, O Master of all, which you have shown to me, the prodigal and fornicator? What is this great wonder understood within me, yet not comprehended, but hidden? For it is seen by me as a star rising from afar, and again it is made like a great sun, having no measure or weight or limit in its greatness, and it becomes a small radiance, and again a flame is seen in the midst of my heart and my inward parts, turning often and enflaming all that is within my bowels and making these things light, and so speaking and kindly teaching me who am completely at a loss and seeking to learn. I am the sweet star which you once heard rises out of Jacob, do not doubt, and I am shown to you as a sun rising from afar, I who am unapproachable light for all the righteous in the life to come and in eternal life. I am shown also as radiance and I am seen by you as light, burning up without consuming the passions of your heart and with the dew of my sweetness and divine grace washing away your filth and completely extinguishing (165) the coals of the body, the pleasures of sin, and working all things by my love for mankind, things which I have long ago done in all the saints. Have mercy on one who is grieving, pity one who is afflicted, be not angry with me for wishing to speak again. How are you a star from Jacob, you who are everywhere uncontainable, and how do you exist and become so for all even until now? And how are you shown like a rising sun, you who are nowhere and everywhere and above all creation, and are proclaimed as invisible to all? And how do you become radiance and are seen by me as a flame

103

ἐν μιᾷ τῇ θεότητι καί ἀρχῇ καί δυνάμει, ἀμήν.

ΚΒ'.

Εὐχαριστία σύν θεολογίᾳ˙ καί περί ὧν ἡ θεία χάρις τοῦ Πνεύματος διά τῶν ἐνεργειῶν ὠνόμασται. (164)

Τί τό καινόν μυστήριον, ∆έσποτα τῶν ἁπάντων, ὅ εἰς ἐμέ, τόν ἄσωτον ἐπεδείξω καί πόρνον; Τί τό κατανοούμενον μέγα θαῦμα ἐντός μου καί μή περινοούμενον, ἀλλά κεκαλυμμένον; Ὡς ἄστρον γάρ ὁρᾶταί μοι ἀνατέλλον μακρόθεν καί πάλιν ὥσπερ ἥλιος μέγας ἀποτελεῖται, μή ἔχων μέτρον ἤ σταθμόν ἤ ὅρον τῷ μεγέθει, καί αἴγλη γίνεται μικρά καί φλόξ πάλιν ὁρᾶται μέσον ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου καί τοῖς ἐμοῖς ἐγκάτοις, περιστρεφόμενον συχνῶς καί περιφλέγον πάντα τά ἔνδοθεν τῶν σπλάγχνων μου καί φῶς ταῦτα ποιοῦντα καί οὑτωσί φθεγγόμενον καί φιλικῶς διδάσκον ἀπορουμένῳ παντελῶς καί μαθεῖν ἐκζητοῦντι. Ἐγώ τό ἄστρον τό γλυκύ, ὅπερ ποτέ ἀκούεις ἀνατελεῖν ἐξ Ἰακώβ, ὑπάρχω μή διστάσῃς, καί ἥλιός σοι δείκνυμαι μακρόθεν ἀνατέλλων, ὁ τοῖς δικαίοις ἅπασι φῶς ἀπρόσιτον εἶναι ἐν τῇ μελλούσῃ βιοτῇ καί ζωῇ αἰωνίᾳ. Ἐγώ καί αἴγλη δείκνυμαι καί φῶς σοι καθορῶμαι, ἀκαταφλέκτως φλέγων σου τά πάθη τῆς καρδίας καί δροσισμῷ γλυκύτητος καί χάριτός μου θείας ἀποπλύνων τόν ῥύπον σου καί εἰς ἅπαν σβεννύων (165) ἄνθρακας τούς τοῦ σώματος, ἡδονῶν ἁμαρτίας, καί πάντα ἐργαζόμενος ἐμῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, ἅ καί πάλαι πεποίηκα ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις. Ἐλέησον λυπούμενον, οἴκτειρον τεθλιμμένον, μή ὀργισθῇς, λαλῆσαί μοι καί πάλιν βουλομένῳ. Πῶς ἄστρον ἐκ τοῦ Ἰακώβ, ὁ ἀχώρητος πάντῃ, ὑπάρχεις τε καί γίνῃ σύ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν τοῖς πᾶσι; Πῶς δέ καί ὥσπερ ἥλιος δείκνυσαι ἀνατέλλων, ὁ μηδαμοῦ καί πανταχοῦ καί ὑπέρ πᾶσαν κτίσιν ὧν τε καί κηρυττόμενος ἀόρατος τοῖς πᾶσι; Πῶς δέ καί αἴγλη γίνῃ σύ καί φλόξ μοι καθορᾶσαι