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the Son wills to reveal him". Through these and such words, therefore, He shuts the shameless and unbolted mouths of those who say and think that through external wisdom and the learning of letters they can come to know the true reality, God Himself, and acquire the knowledge of the hidden mysteries in the Spirit of God. For if no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son wills to reveal His depths and mysteries—for 'my mystery is for me and for mine'—who then of the wise men or orators or mathematicians on earth, other than those whose mind has been purified by the highest philosophy and ascetic practice, and who truly possess the trained senses of the soul, could, without the revelation from above through the Lord, be able to know from human wisdom alone the hidden mysteries of God, which are revealed through noetic contemplation, which is activated by the divine Spirit, to those to whom it was given and is always given to know these things through grace from above? The knowledge of these things belongs to those whose mind is illumined each day by the Holy Spirit on account of the purity of their soul, whose eyes have been clearly opened by the rays of the sun of (275) righteousness, whose word of knowledge and word of wisdom come through the Spirit alone, whose understanding and fear of God are preserved through love and peace in goodness and in the excellence of their ways, with self-control and with faith. The knowledge of divine things belongs to these, and to them it is spoken, just as indeed it was by Christ to the apostles, as those who imitate them: "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of God, but to the rest in parables".

These, therefore, moved by the divine Spirit, know the equality and union of the Son with the Father. For in the Father they see the Son and in the Son the Father through the Spirit, as it is written: "I am in the Father and the Father is in me," the Spirit evidently being with the Father; for if He proceeds from the Father, and the Father is wholly in the whole Son, then the Holy Spirit is also wholly in them. And Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one God, who is worshipped by every breath. And how will you be able to say that three suns are one? For if you unite them, they will be united, and the three will become one; but if not, you have missed the unity. But you will in no way find the Father without the Son and the Spirit, nor the Son without the Father and the Spirit, nor the Holy Spirit estranged from the unity of the one from whom He proceeds. For in the Spirit, believe in the Father and the Son; and in the Son, the Father with the Spirit; and in the Father, the Son co-eternally ever existing and abiding and having the Holy Spirit shining forth with Him. These are one God and not three, in three hypostases, the one who is and ever is and is likewise, hymned for the one co-naturality and kingdom and divinity by countless powers. For even if in each of these the co-natural properties of the (276) divine nature are seen, yet the three are one, and in respect to one, they are three, which is impossible to happen in the case of suns.

But I wanted to give some image faintly representing the power of what has been said to those who are emboldened to know the depths and mysteries of God through falsely-called knowledge alone and without the searching Spirit, but I am cautious of the God who has said not to give what is holy to the shameless and audacious, nor to cast pearls before those who consider divine things as common and who, as it were, through their groveling thoughts and insatiable souls dishonor and trample them; whose mind God has blinded, as the prophet says, and has hardened their heart, so that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. And rightly so; for since they made themselves unworthy through their conceit and wicked practices, for this reason they were left by God in the darkness of

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ὁ Υἱός ἀποκαλύψαι". ∆ιά τούτων οὖν καί τῶν τοιούτων ῥημάτων ἀποφράττει τά ἀναίσχυντα καί ἀπύλωτα στόματα τῶν λεγόντων καί νομιζόντων διά τῆς ἔξωθεν σοφίας καί τῆς τῶν γραμμάτων μαθήσεως ἐπιγινώσκειν τήν ὄντως ἀλήθειαν, αὐτόν τόν Θεόν, καί τήν ἐπίγνωσιν κτᾶσθαι τῶν κεκρυμμένων μυστηρίων ἐν Πνεύματι τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἰ γάρ τόν Υἱόν οὐδείς ἐπιγινώσκει εἰ μή ὁ Πατήρ, οὐδέ τόν Πατέρα τις ἐπιγινώσκει εἰ μή ὁ Υἱός καί ᾧ ἄν βούληται ὁ Υἱός ἀποκαλύψαι τά βάθη τούτου καί τά μυστήρια - τό γάρ μυστήριόν μου ἐμοί καί τοῖς ἐμοῖς , τίς ἄρα τῶν ἐπί γῆς ἀνθρώπων σοφῶν ἤ ῥητόρων ἤ μαθηματικῶν ἕτερος, πλήν τῶν κεκαθαρμένων τόν νοῦν ἐξ ἄκρας φιλοσοφίας τε καί ἀσκήσεως, καί γεγυμνασμένα τά τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιφερομένων ἀληθῶς αἰσθητήρια, ἄνευ τῆς ἄνωθεν διά τοῦ Κυρίου ἀποκαλύψεως ἐκ μόνης γνῶναι δυνηθείη τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης σοφίας τά κεκρυμμένα μυστήρια τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἅ διά νοερᾶς θεωρίας, τῆς ὑπό τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος ἐνεργουμένης, ἀνακαλύπτονται οἷς ἐδόθη καί ἀεί δίδοται εἰδέναι ταῦτα διά τῆς ἄνωθεν χάριτος; Ἐκείνων ἐστίν ἡ τούτων γνῶσις, ὧν ὁ νοῦς καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ὑπό τοῦ Ἁγίου καταλαμπάνεται Πνεύματος διά τήν τῆς ψυχῆς καθαρότητα, ὧν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί ὑπό τῶν ἀκτίνων τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς (275) δικαιοσύνης τρανῶς ἠνεῴχθησαν, ὧν ὁ λόγος τῆς γνώσεως καί ὁ λόγος τῆς σοφίας διά μόνου τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὧν ἡ σύνεσις καί ὁ φόβος τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς ἀγάπης καί τῆς εἰρήνης τετήρηται ἐν τῇ ἀγαθωσύνῃ καί τῇ τῶν τρόπων χρηστότητι ἐγκρατῶς μετά πίστεως. Τούτων ἡ γνῶσις τῶν θείων, τούτοις καί λέγεται καθά δή καί τοῖς ἀποστόλοις παρά Χριστοῦ, ὡς μιμουμένους αὐτούς· "Ὑμῖν δέδοται γνῶναι τά μυστήρια τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῖς δέ λοιποῖς ἐν παραβολαῖς".

Οὗτοι τοιγαροῦν ἴσασιν, θείῳ κινούμενοι Πνεύματι, τήν πρός τόν Πατέρα τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἰσοτιμίαν καί ἕνωσιν. Ἐν γάρ τῷ Πατρί τόν Υἱόν καθορῶσι καί ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ τόν Πατέρα διά τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὡς γέγραπται· "Ἐγώ ἐν τῷ Πατρί καί ὁ Πατήρ ἐν ἐμοί", τοῦ Πνεύματος τῷ Πατρί δηλονότι συνόντος· εἰ γάρ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός ἐκπορεύεται, ὁ δέ Πατήρ ὅλος ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Υἱῷ ἐστιν, ὅλον ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐστι καί τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον. Πατήρ δέ καί Υἱός καί Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα εἷς Θεός, ὁ ὑπό πάσης πνοῆς προσκυνούμενος. Καί πῶς τρεῖς ἡλίους ἕνα εἰπεῖν ἰσχύσεις; Εἰ γάρ ἑνώσεις αὐτούς, ἑνωθήσονται, καί εἰς ἕνα οἱ τρεῖς ἔσονται· εἰ δ᾿ οὖν, ἀλλά διήμαρτες τῆς ἑνότητος. Πατέρα δέ, Υἱοῦ καί Πνεύματος δίχα, οὐδαμῶς εὑρήσεις, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ Υἱόν, τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Πνεύματος, οὐδέ Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον τοῦ ἐξ οὗ ἐκπορεύεται ἀλλότριον τῆς ἑνώσεως. Ἐν μέν γάρ τῷ Πνεύματι τόν Πατέρα καί τόν Υἱόν, ἐν δέ τῷ Υἱῷ τον Πατέρα καί μετά τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἐν δέ τῷ Πατρί τόν Υἱόν συναϊδίως ἀεί ὄντα καί μένοντα καί συνεκλάμπον ἔχοντα τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἁγιον πίστευε. Εἷς ταῦτα Θεός καί οὐ τρεῖς, ἐν τρισίν ὑποστάσεσιν ὁ ὤν καί ἀεί ὤν καί ὡσαύτως ὤν, τῇ μιᾷ συμφυΐᾳ καί βασιλείᾳ καί θεότητι ἀνυμνούμενος ὑπό ἀπείρων δυνάμεων. Εἰ γάρ καί ἐν ἑκάστῳ τούτων τά συμφυῆ τῆς (276) θείας ἰδιότητος καθορᾶται, ἀλλά τά τρία ἕν καί καθ᾿ ἕν τά τρία εἰσίν, ὅπερ ἐν ἡλίοις γενέσθαι ἀμήχανον.

Ἀλλά γάρ ἐβουλόμην καί εἰκόνα δοῦναί τινα ἀμυδρῶς παριστῶσαν τῶν λεγομένων τήν δύναμιν τοῖς θρασυνομένοις εἰδέναι διά μόνης τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως καί ἄνευ τοῦ ἐρευνῶντος Πνεύματος τά βάθη καί τά μυστήρια τοῦ Θεοῦ, εὐλαβοῦμαι δέ τόν εἰρηκότα Θεόν μή διδόναι τά ἅγια τοῖς ἀναιδέσι καί τολμηροῖς, μηδέ τούς μαργαρίτας βάλλειν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ὡς κοινά τά θεῖα λογιζομένων καί οἱονεί διά τῶν χαμερπῶν νοημάτων καί ἀπλήστων ψυχῶν ἀτιμούντων καί καταπατούντων αὐτά· ὧν τετύφλωκε τόν νοῦν ὁ Θεός, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, καί πεπώρωκεν αὐτῶν τήν καρδίαν, ἵνα βλέποντες μή βλέπωσι καί ἀκούοντες μή συνιῶσι. Καί εἰκότως· ἐπειδή γάρ ἀναξίους διά τῆς οἰήσεως ἑαυτούς καί τῶν πονηρῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐποίησαν, διά τοῦτο ἐάθησαν ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ σκότει τῆς