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having come forth from the bosom of His blessed Father without departing, He came down and for this reason came upon the earth. If, therefore, we also are willing, nothing at all will be able to hinder us in this; let us only hasten to Him through fervent repentance, and He, drawing near to us and touching our hearts with only His immaculate finger, will light the lamps of our souls and will no longer allow them to be extinguished until the end of the age and for ages and beyond, for to Him is due all glory, honor, and worship, now and unto the unending ages of ages. Amen.

DISCOURSE 8. (264)

Concerning love of God and faith, and how one becomes pregnant with the love of God. And concerning illumination and the vision of light, and the mystical discourse of the Spirit.

If it seems good, then let us listen to our Savior God crying out plainly and

saying to us: "I did not come to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Me." And wishing to show the way of salvation, He says: "God sent His Son into the world, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Therefore, the one who believes these things from the heart and is fully assured that Christ did not come to judge him but to save him, and not by works or toils and sweats, but through faith in Him alone, how, tell me, would he not love Him with all his soul and with all his mind? And especially when he hears how many things He suffered, wishing to save him and all, such as His descent from heaven, His entry and conception in the womb of the Virgin and Theotokos, and how He unchangeably became man, He who is above all the heavens, He who is equal in honor and consubstantial with the Father and holds all creation in the hand of His power, He who is above (265) with the Father and condescended to become a babe below according to the sequence of our nature.

And with these, when he calls to mind the other mysteries of His economy, and not only these, but also the passions which He who is impassible by nature endured for his sake, such as His ineffable birth, the swaddling clothes, the cave itself, the manger of the irrational beasts in which the King of all was poorly laid, the flight into Egypt, the return from Egypt, the reception by Symeon, and how as one of the common men He was blessed by him and brought into the temple, the subjection to His parents, the baptism by John in the Jordan, the temptation by the devil, His miracles, and because of these, not being marveled at, but rather being envied and reviled and mocked by all (by whom then? by wicked and godless men whose unbridled mouths He could have stopped, both openly and secretly, and dried up their tongues and extinguished the voice within them), the betrayal by the disciple, the bond He endured from the murderers, and how He was led by them as a criminal, and was handed over to Pilate as one condemned, and received a blow from a slave, and keeping silent received the sentence of death (For, he says, "You do not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to crucify You and I have authority to release You?"), then the scourging, the mockery, the reproaches, the purple robe, the reed, with which upon His immaculate

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τῶν κόλπων τοῦ εὐλογημένου Πατρός αὐτοῦ ἀνεκφοιτήτως ἐξελθών κατῆλθεν καί ἦλθεν διά τοῦτο ἐπί τῆς γῆς. Εἰ τοίνυν θελήσομεν καί ἡμεῖς, οὐδέν οὐδαμῶς εἰς τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ἐμποδίσαι δυνήσεται· μόνον ὁρμήσωμεν διά μετανοίας θερμῆς πρός αὐτόν καί αὐτός ἐγγίσας ἡμῖν καί ἐφαψάμενος τῶν καρδιῶν ἡμῶν μόνῳ τῷ ἀχράντῳ δακτύλῳ αὐτοῦ ἀνάψει τάς λαμπάδας τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν καί οὐκέτι ἐάσει σβεσθῆναι αὐτάς ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος καί ἐπ᾿ αἰώνων καί ἔτι, ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα, τιμή καί προσκύνησις νῦν καί εἰς τούς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Η΄. (264)

Περί ἀγάπης Θεοῦ καί πίστεως καί ὅπως τις ἐγκύμων γίνεται τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγάπης. Καί περί ἐλλάμψεως καί θεωρίας φωτός καί μυστικῆς ὁμιλίας τοῦ Πνεύματος.

Εἰ δοκεῖ, τοίνυν ἀκούσωμεν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Θεοῦ διαρρήδην βοῶντος καί

λέγοντος πρός ἡμᾶς· "Οὐκ ἦλθον ἵνα κρίνω τόν κόσμον, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι᾿ ἐμοῦ". Καί δεῖξαι βουλόμενος τόν τρόπον τῆς σωτηρίας, φησίν· "Ἔπεμψεν ὁ Θεός τόν Υἱόν αὐτοῦ εἰς τόν κόσμον, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτόν μή ἀπόληται, ἀλλ᾿ ἔχῃ ζωήν αἰώνιον". Ταῦτα τοιγαροῦν ὁ πιστεύων ἀπό καρδίας καί πληροφορούμενος ὅτι οὐκ ἦλθεν ὁ Χριστός κρῖναι αὐτόν ἀλλά σῶσαι, καί οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων ἤ κόπων καί ἱδρώτων, ἀλλά διά μόνης τῆς εἰς αὐτόν πίστεως, πῶς, εἰπέ μοι, ἄρα μή ἀγαπήσῃ αὐτόν ἐξ ὅλης αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς καί ἐξ ὅλης αὐτοῦ τῆς διανοίας; Καί μάλιστα ὅταν ἀκούσῃ ὅσα ἐκεῖνος ἔπαθε, σῶσαι αὐτόν καί πάντας βουλόμενος, οἷον τήν ἐξ οὐρανῶν αὐτοῦ κάθοδον, τήν ἐν γαστρί τῆς Παρθένου καί Θεοτόκου εἴσοδόν τε καί σύλληψιν καί τό ὅπως ἀτρέπτως γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος ὁ ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὁ ἰσότιμος καί ὁμοούσιος τῷ Πατρί καί πᾶσαν τήν κτίσιν τῇ χειρί περικρατῶν αὐτοῦ τῆς δυνάμεως, ὁ ἄνω (265) σύν τῷ Πατρί ὤν καί κάτω βρέφος γενέσθαι κατά τήν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς ἡμετέρας καταδεξάμενος φύσεως.

Καί σύν τούτοις, ὅταν εἰς νοῦν ἀναλάβῃ τά λοιπά τῆς οἰκονομίας αὐτοῦ μυστήρια, οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί ἅ ὑπέμεινε πάθη ὁ τῇ φύσει ἀπαθής δι᾿ αὐτόν, οἷον τόν τόκον αὐτοῦ τόν ἀπόρρητον, τά σπάργανα, τό σπήλαιον αὐτό, τήν φάτνην τῶν ἀλόγων ἐφ᾿ ᾗ πενιχρῶς ὁ βασιλεύς τοῦ παντός ἀνεκλίθη, τήν φυγήν τήν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, τήν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἐπάνοδον, τήν τοῦ Συμεών ὑποδοχήν, καί ὅπως ὡς εἷς τῶν κοινῶν ἀνθρώπων παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ηὐλογήθη καί εἰσήχθη ἐν τῷ ναῷ, τήν τῶν γονέων ὑποταγήν, τήν παρά τοῦ Ἰωάννου βάπτισιν ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ, τόν πειρασμόν τοῦ διαβόλου, τάς θαυματουργίας αὐτοῦ καί διά ταῦτα οὐ θαυμαζόμενον, ἀλλά φθονούμενον μᾶλλον καί λοιδορούμενον καί διακωμῳδούμενον ὑπό πάντων (τότε τίνων; πονηρῶν καί ἀθέων ἀνδρῶν ὧν φανερῶς τε καί ἀφανῶς ἐμφράξαι ἠδύνατο τά ἀπύλωτα στόματα καί ξηρᾶναι τάς γλώσσας αὐτῶν καί τήν ἐνοῦσαν αὐτοῖς φωνήν ἀποσβέσαι), τήν προδοσίαν τοῦ μαθητοῦ, τόν δεσμόν ὅν ὑπέστη παρά τῶν μιαιφόνων, καί ὅπως ὡς κακοῦργος ἤγετο παρ᾿ αὐτῶν, καί παρεδίδοτο τῷ Πιλάτῳ ὡς κατάκριτος, καί ῥάπισμα ἔλαβεν ὑπό δούλου, καί τήν τοῦ θανάτου σιωπήσας ἀπόφασιν ἔλαβεν (Ἐμοί γάρ, φησίν, οὐ λαλεῖς; Οὐκ οἶδας ὅτι ἐξουσίαν ἔχων σταυρῶσαί σε καί ἐξουσίαν ἔχων ἀπολῦσαί σε;), εἶτα τόν φραγγελισμόν, τούς ἐμπαιγμούς, τά ὀνείδη, τήν πορφύραν, τόν κάλαμον, μεθ᾿ οὗ ἐπί τῆς ἀχράντου