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of divisible and sensible things, not mutable, not composite, not joined to beings, that is, to created things?

Since he saw, the things set before him were visible; therefore, either as light, they were visible in another light; but all things there are simple; therefore, all those things are light. Since, having ascended beyond himself and having entered into the darkness, he saw, he saw neither by sensation nor by mind; therefore that light is self-seeing and is transcendently hidden from minds that have not become eyeless (for how could that which is self-seeing and self-known be seen by any activity of the mind whatsoever (p. 520)?), but when the mind, having ascended beyond every intellectual activity, becomes transcendently eyeless, it is filled with this exceedingly beautiful splendor, having become in God by grace and through the union beyond mind ineffably having and seeing the self-seeing light through itself. What then? Might someone say that the divine is no longer hidden? And how, when it does not depart from its hiddenness, but even imparts it to others, hiding them under the divine darkness? For Moses was no longer seen then, having become alone in it, as it is written; and what is yet greater, is that having caused himself to ascend beyond himself and ineffably released himself from himself and placed himself beyond all sensory and intellectual activity, he made himself, O wonder, hidden to himself, as did the divine Paul, so that seeing, they did not know themselves but were at a loss as to what it was that was seeing; and what, again, transcendently surpasses all paradoxical excess, is that even in that ineffable and supernatural manifestation He remains hidden even to those who have been released and hidden, hiding not only all others, but even themselves. And a proof of this more-than-unknowable hiddenness is the desire and request and ascent of Moses toward the clearer vision, but also that of the angels and of the saints in the unending age, the perpetual progress toward the more manifest of the visions, so that even seeing, by the vision itself they know that light to be beyond vision, how much more the God who is manifested through it. For even our eye, having gazed at the solar disk, seeing it, knows it to be beyond vision.

And let no one again criticize the not entirely suitable nature of the example; but let him understand only this, that to those who behold the divine light in a revelation the surpassing nature of the divine hiddenness is known no less, if not even more, and (p. 522) and pre-eminently more than to us, who attempt through symbols or the concepts derived from these or through negation to see the incomprehensibility of the divine nature, that it is incomprehensible. For even the blind man knows, having heard and believed, that the brightness of the sun surpasses the capacity of the physical eyes, but not as one who sees; and when the sun is under the earth, we are able to see it intellectually, not only those who have experienced healthy vision, but also anyone of the blind who is persuaded by those who see. And not only this, but even one whose eyes have been put out could know that the sun's disk has a brilliance beyond vision; but it is impossible for him to partake of and enjoy this light. So, therefore, to see God intellectually and to know Him to be beyond mind through negation is possible both for those who have briefly experienced the vision of Him and for those who have not yet raised to Him that beyond-mind eye of union, but are nevertheless persuaded by those who have raised it, but this vision is not union; and he who does not believe those who see through the union beyond mind might himself also opine the divine to be beyond mind, but only beyond his own intellectual powers. But he who has removed from his own soul every relation to things below and been released from all things through the keeping of the commandments and the dispassion resulting from this, and has surpassed every cognitive activity through intense and pure and immaterial prayer, and there through an unknown union is transcendently illumined by the unapproachable radiance, this one alone, having become light and beholding through the light and seeing light in the vision and enjoyment of that light, and truly the super-luminous and inconceivable

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μεριστῶν καί αἰσθητῶν, οὐ τρεπτόν, οὐ σύνθετον, οὐ τοῖς οὖσι συνημμένον δηλονότι τοῖς κτιστοῖς;

Ἐπεί δ᾿ ἑώρα, ὁρατἀ ἦσαν τά προκείμενα˙ ἤ οὖν φῶς, ἐν φωτί ἄλλῳ ὑπῆρχον ὁρατά˙ ἀλλά ἁπλά πάντα τά ἐκεῖ˙ φῶς ἄρα πάντ᾿ ἐκεῖνα. Ἐπεί δ᾿ ἑαυτόν ὑπεραναβάς καί ἐν τῷ γνόφῳ γενόμενος ἑώρα, οὔτε κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἑώρα οὔτε κατά νοῦν˙ αὐτοπτικόν ἄρα ἐστί τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο καί τούς μέν μή ἀνομμάτους γενομένους νόας ὑπεροχικῶς ἀποκρύπτεται (πῶς γάρ τό αὐτοπτικόν καί αὐτονόητον δι᾿ ἐνεργείας νοῦ (σελ. 520) ὁραθείη οἱασοῦν;), ὅταν δ᾿ ὑπεραναβάς πᾶσαν νοεράν ἐνέργειαν ὁ νοῦς ἀνόμματος ὑπεροχικῶς τελέσῃ, πληροῦται τῆς ὑπερκάλου ταύτης ἀγλαΐας, ἐν Θεῷ χάριτι γενόμενος καί διά τῆς ὑπέρ νοῦν ἑνώσεως αὐτό δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τό αὐτοπτικόν φῶς ἔχων ἀπορρήτως καί ὁρῶν. Τί οὖν; Οὐκέτι λοιπόν κρυφίον τό θεῖον εἴποι τις ἄν; Καί πῶς, ὅ γε οὐκ ἐξίσταται τῆς κρυφιότητος, ἀλλά καί τοῖς ἄλλοις μεταδίδωσι, κρύπτον αὐτούς ὑπό τόν θεῖον γνόφον; Οὐ γάρ ἔτι Μωσῆς ἑωρᾶτο τότε μόνος ἐν αὐτῷ γενόμενος, κατά τό γεγραμένον˙ τό δ᾿ ἔτι μεῖζον, ὅτι καί αὐτόν ἑαυτοῦ ὑπεραναβιβάσας καί ἀπολύσας ἀπορρήτως ἑαυτοῦ καί ὑπέρ πᾶσαν θείς αἰσθητικήν καί νοεράν ἐνέργειαν, κρύφιον αὑτόν ἑαυτῷ, ὤ τοῦ θαύματος, ἐποίησεν, ὡς καί τόν θεῖον Παῦλον, ὥσθ᾿ ὁρῶντας, αὑτούς μή εἰδέναι ἀλλά διαπορεῖν, τί ἦν ἐκεῖνο τό ὁρῶν˙ τό δ᾿ αὖθις ἔτι πᾶσαν παράδοξον ὑπερβολήν ὑπερβολήν καθ᾿ ὑπεροχήν ἐκβαῖνον, ὅτι καί ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἀπορρήτῳ καί ὑπερφυεῖ ἐκφάνσει κρύφιος ἐκεῖνος μένει καί αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀπολυθεῖσι καί κρυβεῖσιν, οὐ τούς ἄλλους πάντας μόνον, ἀλλά καί ἑαυτούς. Τεκμήριον δέ τῆς ὑπεραγνώστου ταύτης κρυφιότητος, ἡ τοῦ Μωσέως ἐπί τήν τρανοτέραν θέαν ἔφεσίς τε καί αἴτησις καί ἀνάβασις, ἀλλά καί ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων καί τῶν ἁγίων ἐν ἀπείρῳ αἰῶνι διηνεκής ἐπί τά φανότερα τῶν θεαμάτων προκοπή, ὥστε καί ὁρῶντες αὐτῇ τῇ ὁράσει ὑπέρ ὅρασιν γινώσκουσι τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τόν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐπιφαινόμενον Θεόν. Καί ὁ ὀφθαλμός γάρ ὁ ἡμέτερος, τῷ ἡλιακῷ ἐνατενίσας δίσκῳ, ὁρπων αὐτόν, ὑπέρ ὅρασιν γινώσκει.

Καί μηδείς πάλιν τῷ μή πάντῃ καταλλήλῳ τοῦ παραδείγματος ἐπιφυέσθω˙ τοῦτο δ᾿ ἐνοείτω μόνον, ὅτι τοῖς ἐν ἀποκαλύψει τό θεῖον θεωμένοις φῶς τό ὑπερβάλλον τῆς κρυφιότητος τῆς θείας μηδέν ἦττον ὅτι μή καί μᾶλλον καί (σελ. 522) καί διαφερόντως μᾶλλον ἤ ἡμῖν ἐπιγινώσκεται, τοῖς διά συμβόλων ἤ τῶν ἀπό τούτων νοημάτων ἤ δι᾿ ἀποφάσεως ἐπιχειροῦσι τό ἀκατάληπτον συνορᾶν τῆς θείας φύσεως, ὅτι ἀκατάληπτον. Οἶδε γάρ καί ὁ τυφλός, ἀκούσας καί πιστεύσας, ὅτι ἡ φαιδρότης τοῦ ἡλίου τήν συμμετρίαν ὑπερβαίνει τῶν αἰσθητῶν ὀμμάτων, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὡς ὁ ὁρῶν˙ καί τοῦ ἡλίου δ᾿ ὄντος ὑπό γῆν, νοητῶς ἔχομεν ὁρᾶν αὐτόν, οὐ μόνον οἱ δ᾿ ὑγιοῦς ὄψεως πεπειραμένοι, ἀλλά καί ὅστις τῶν πεπηρωμένων μέν, τοῖς δ᾿ ὁρῶσι πειθομένων. Καί οὐ μόνον, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι καί ὑπέρ τήν ὄψιν ἔχει τήν λαμπρότητα ὁ τοῦ ἡλίου δίσκος εἰδείη ἄν καί ὁ τούς ὀφθαλμούς ἐκκεκομμένος˙ μετέχειν δέ καί ἀπολαύειν τοῦτον τοῦ φωτός ἀμήχανον. Οὕτω τοίνυν καί τόν Θεόν νοητῶς ὁρᾶν καί ὑπέρ νοῦν αὐτόν δι᾿ ἀποφάσεως γινώσκειν γένοιτ᾿ ἄν καί τοῖς πρός βραχύ πεπειραμένοις τῆς ἐκείνου θέας καί τοῖς μήπω διάρασι τό ὑπέρ νοῦν ἐκεῖνο τῆς ἑνώσεως ὄμμα πρός αὐτόν, πειθομένοις δ᾿ ὅμως τοῖς διάροσιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ἕνωσίς ἐστιν αὕτη ἡ ὄρασις˙ καί ὁ μή πιστεύων δέ τοῖς διά τῆς ὑπέρ νοῦν ἑνώσεως ὁρῶσιν ὑπέρ νοῦν καί αὐτός τό θεῖον δοξάσειεν ἄν, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπέρ τάς νοητικάς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεις μόνας. Ὁ δέ πᾶσαν τήν πρός τά κάτω σχέσιν τῆς οἰκείας ἀφελών ψυχῆς καί ἐκ πάντων ἀπολυθείς δά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν τηρήσεως καί τῆς ἐκ ταύτης ἀπαθείας, καί ὑπερβάς πᾶσαν γνωστικήν ἐνέργειαν δι᾿ ἐκτενοῦς καί εἰλικρινοῦ καί ἀΰλου προσευχῆς, κἀκεῖ δι᾿ ἑνώσεως ἀγνώστου καθ᾿ ὑπεροχήν περιλαμφθείς τῷ ἀπροσίτῳ φέγγει, μόνος οὗτος, φῶς γεγονώς καί διά τοῦ φωτός θεώμενος καί φῶς ὁρῶν ἐν τῇ τοῦ φωτός ἐκείνου θέᾳ τε καί ἀπολαύσει, καί τό ὑπερφαές καί ἀπερινόητον ὄντως