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I no longer wish to see the light of this world, nor the sun itself, nor the things in the world; for I see my Master, I see the King, I see the truly existing light and creator of all light, I see the source of all good, I see the cause of all things, I see the beginning without beginning, from which all things were brought forth, through which all things are given life and are filled with nourishment. For by His will they come to be and are seen, and by His will all things cease to be. (218) How then can I leave Him and go out of my cell? Leave me, I will mourn and I will weep day and night for the days I lost seeing the light of the world, which is sensible and dark, which does not illumine the soul, without which even the blind in their eyes live in the world and after they depart they will be equal to those who now see; in which I too, wholly deceived, was delighting, and did not at all consider that there was another light, which is also life, as it is said, and the cause of being, of whatever is or will ever be, and I was like an atheist, ignorant of my God. But now, as He was pleased by His ineffable compassion to appear to wretched me and be revealed, I have seen and have known that He is truly the God of all, a God whom no one among the men in the world has seen. For He is outside the world, outside light and darkness, outside air and mind and all sensation; therefore, having seen Him, I found myself to be under sensation. You, therefore, who are under sensation, allow me not only to close my cell and sit within, but also, having dug a pit under the earth, to hide myself; and living there I will be outside the whole world, and seeing my immortal Master and Creator I will choose to die from longing, knowing that I will not die. What benefit, then, have I received from the world, and what do those who are in the world gain now? Truly nothing, but they will inhabit their tombs naked and they will rise naked and all will be judged, (219) because, having abandoned the true life, the light of the world, I mean Christ, they loved the darkness and all chose to walk in it, they who did not receive the light that shone in the world, which the world does not contain nor has the strength to see. Therefore abandon and leave me alone, I beg you, to weep and to seek Him, that He may be richly given to me and abundantly be seen. For not only is He seen, not only is He contemplated, but He is also imparted and dwells and remains and is, like a treasure hidden in the bosom, which he who carries it enjoys and seeing it rejoices,

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Οὐ θέλω ἔτι κατιδεῖν τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, οὐδέ αὐτόν τόν ἥλιον, οὐδέ τά ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ˙ βλέπω γάρ τόν ∆εσπότην μου, βλέπω τόν Βασιλέα, βλέπω τόν ὄντως ὄντα φῶς καί παντός φωτός κτίστην, βλέπω πηγήν παντός καλοῦ, βλέπω αἰτίαν πάντων, βλέπω ἀρχήν τήν ἄναρχον, ἐξ ἧς παρήχθη πάντα, δι᾿ ἧς ζωοῦνται καί τροφῆς ἅπαντα ἐμπιπλῶνται. Τούτου γάρ τῷ βουλήματι γίνονται καί ὁρῶνται καί τούτου τῷ θελήματι ἐκλείπουσι τά πάντα. (218) Πῶς οὖν αὐτόν καταλιπών ἐξέλθω μου τῆς κέλλης; Ἄφετέ με, θρηνήσομαι καί κλαύσομαι ἡμέρας καί νύκτας, ἅς ἀπώλεσα ὁρῶν τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου, τό αἰσθητόν καί σκοτεινόν, ὅ ψυχήν οὐ φωτίζει, οὗ καί τυφλοί τούς ὀφθαλμούς δίχα ἐν κόσμῳ ζῶσι καί μεταστάντες ἔσονται τῶν νῦν βλεπόντων ἴσοι˙ ἐν ᾧ κἀγώ πλανώμενος ὅλος ἐνευφραινόμην, ὅλως δέ εἶναι ἕτερον φῶς οὐκ ἐλογιζόμην, ὅ καί ζωή, ὡς εἴρηται, ὑπάρχει καί αἰτία τοῦ εἶναι, ὅ τι καί ἐστίν ἤ γνήσεται ὅλως, καί ἤμην ὥσπερ ἄθεος ἀγνοῶν τόν Θεόν μου. Νυνί δέ, ὡς ηὐδόκησεν ἄρρήτῳ εὐσπλαγχνίᾳ ὀφθῆναι τῷ ἀθλίῳ μοι καί ἀποκαλυφθῆναι, εἶδον καί ἔγνων ἀληθῶς Θεόν τῶν πάντων εἶναι, Θεόν, ὅν οὐδείς τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἶδεν ἀνθρώπων. Ἔξω τοῦ κόσμου γάρ ἐστιν, ἔξω φωτός καί σκότους, ἔξω ἀέρος καί νοός καί αἰσθήσεως πάσης˙ διό οὖν ὑπό τήν αἴσθησιν κατιδών ἐγενόμην. Οἱ οὖν ὑπό τήν αἴσθησιν ὄντες ἐάσατέ με μή κέλλαν μόνον κλεῖσαί τε καί ἔνδοθεν καθίσαι, ἀλλά καί λάκκον ὑπό γῆν ὀρύξαντα κρυβῆναι˙ κἀκεί διάγων ἔσομαι ἔξω παντός τοῦ κόσμου, καί βλέπων τόν ἀθάνατον ∆εσπότην μου καί Κτίστην πόθῳ θανεῖν αἱρήσομαι, εἰδώς ὡς οὐ θανοῦμαι. Τί οὖν μοι προσεγένετο ὄφελος ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, τί δέ καί νῦν κερδαίνουσιν οἱ ὄντες ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ; Ὄντως οὐδέν, ἀλλά γυμνοί ἐνοικήσουσι τάφοις καί ἀναστήσονται γυμνοί καί κριθήσονται πάντες, (219) ὅτι ζωήν τήν ἀληθῆ, ὅτι τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου, Χριστόν λέγω, ἐάσαντες ἠγάπησαν τό σκότος καί ἐν αὐτῷ περιπατεῖν ᾑρετίσαντο πάντες, οἱ μή τό φῶς δεξάμενοι τό λάμψαν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ὅπερ ὁ κόσμος οὐ χωρεῖ οὐδέ ἰδεῖν ἰσχύει. ∆ιό ἐγκαταλείψατε καί ἄφετέ με μόνον, παρακαλῶ, τοῦ κλαύσασθαι καί ἐκζητῆσαι τοῦτον, πλουσίως τοῦ δοθῆναί μοι καί ἀφθόνως ὀφθῆναι. Οὐ μόνον καθορᾶται γάρ, οὐ μόνον θεωρεῖται, ἀλλά καί μεταδίδοται καί κατοικεῖ καί μένει καί ἔστιν, ὥσπερ θησαυρός ἐν κόλπῳ κεκρυμμένος, ὅν ὁ βαστάζων ἥδεται καί βλέπων τοῦτον χαίρει,