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of the one who receives. Thus in many ways God exists beyond such a light and such an uncreated effulgence and life and similar things. So then, these things from Basil the Great.

But Symeon the God-inspired Metaphrastes, having compiled Chapters from the first book of Macarius the Great, explains more fully, both melodiously and clearly, concerning this light and this glory. There is nothing like setting forth here some excerpts from them, as concisely as possible, which greatly contribute to the present discourse and are no less profitable for the benefit of the readers. Thus, in the sixty-second chapter he says: «The blessed Moses showed a type, through the glory of the Spirit shining on his face which no man was able to gaze upon, how in the resurrection of the just the bodies of the saints will be glorified, which glory the faithful souls of the saints are deemed worthy to have from now on in the inner man; for we, he says, 'with unveiled face,' that is, with the inner man, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory». And in the sixty-third: «the glory with which, as has been said, the souls of the saints are enriched from here, (p. 586) that glory will cover and clothe the naked bodies in the resurrection and will make them caught up to heaven, clothed with their good works and with the glory of the Spirit, which, as I said, the souls of the saints have obtained to have from here; and thus the saints, having been glorified by the divine light, will be with the Lord forever». This, then, is that light, according to Dionysius the Great, which shone around the chosen of the apostles on the mountain: «for when», he says, «we become incorruptible and immortal and attain the Christ-like and most blessed end, we shall always be with the Lord, according to the saying, being filled with his visible theophany in all-holy contemplations, which illumines us with the brightest splendors, as it did the disciples in that most divine transfiguration». This, then, is a divine light, as John also said in the Apocalypse and as all the saints agree. But Gregory, surnamed the Theologian, says, «He will come with a body, as my discourse holds, but such as he appeared, or was shown, to the disciples on the mountain, with the divinity vanquishing the flesh».

«But that light», he says, «was sensible and visible through the air, having come into being then for astonishment and immediately passing away, and it is called divinity as a symbol of divinity». This neologism has been heard: a divinity of a single day, sensible and created, coming into being for a day and perishing for a day, like the so-called ephemeral creatures, or rather, even more short-lived than these, coming into being and being dissolved in an instant, or rather, «having once come into being, but never existing»? Such a divinity, then, is called a symbol of divinity». Did such a divinity, then, which never is a divinity, vanquish that adorable and co-divine flesh? Rather, it did not vanquish once, but vanquishes perpetually; for he did not say 'having vanquished', but 'vanquishing', and not only in the present, but also in the age to come. What do you say? Will the Lord be united with (p. 588) and vanquished by such a divinity for infinite ages? And while God will be all in all for us there, according to the apostolic and patristic sayings, will Christ, instead of divinity, have a sensible light? And though we will have no need of air and place and such things there, according to the same sayings, will we see the divinity through the air? And how can there be such symbols there? again mirrors, again riddles, again the face-to-face vision in hopes? Rather, if even then there are such symbols and mirrors and riddles, alas for the deceit and the fraud, we have been cheated of our hopes, we have been deceived by sophistry: having expected to possess divinity through promise, we are not even permitted to see divinity, but a sensible light instead of it, a most alien nature

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χωροῦντος τοῦ λαμβάνοντος. Οὕτω πολυτρόπως ὑπέρ τό τοιοῦτον φῶς καί τήν τοιαύτην ἄκτιστον ἔλλαμψίν τε καί ζωήν καί τά παραπλήσια ὑπάρχει ὁ Θεός. Ταῦτα μέν οὖν ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος.

Συμεών δέ ὁ ἔνθεος Μεταφραστής, ἐκ τοῦ πρώτου βιβλίου τοῦ μεγάλου Μακαρίου συνταξάμενος Κεφαλαιώδεις λόγους, περί τοῦ φωτός τούτου καί τῆς δόξης ταύτης ἐμμελῶς ἅμα καί ἐναργῶς ἐξηγεῖται διεξοδικώτερον. Οὐδέν δ᾿ οἷον καί τινα ἐξ αὐτῶν ὡς οἷόν τε συνελόντα καί ὑποτεμόμενον ἐνταυθοῖ προθεῖναι πρός τῷ μέγα τι τῷ προκειμένῳ λόγῳ συντελεῖν, οὐδέν ἧττον λυσιτελοῦντα καί πρός τήν τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ὠφέλειαν. Ἐν γοῦν τῷ ἑξηκοστῷ δευτέρῳ κεφαλαίῳ φησί˙ «Μωσῆς ὁ μακάριος ὑπέδειξε τύπον διά τῆς τῷ προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ ἐπιλαμπούσης τοῦ Πνεύματος δόξης ᾗ οὐδείς ἀνθρώπων ἀτενίσαι ἠδύνατο, πῶς ἐν τῇ τῶν δικαίων ἀναστάσει τά σώματα δοξασθήσεται τῶν ἁγίων, ἥν δόξαν ἀπό τοῦ νῦν ἐν τῷ ἔσω ἀνθρώπῳ αἱ πισταί τῶν ἁγίων ἔχειν καταξιοῦνται ψυχαί˙ ἡμεῖς γάρ, φησίν, "ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ", τουτέστι τῷ ἔσω ἀνθρώπῳ, τήν δόξαν Κυρίου κατοπτριζόμεθα, τήν αὐτήν εἰκόνα μεταμορφούμενοι ἀπό δόξης εἰς δόξαν». Καί ἐν τῷ ἑξηκοστῷ τρίτῳ˙ «τήν δόξαν ἥν ἐντεῦθεν, ὡς εἴρηται, πλουτοῦσιν αἱ τῶν ἁγίων ψυχαί, (σελ. 586) ἐκείνη καλύψει καί ἀμφιάσει τά γυμνά σώματα ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει καί εἰς οὐρανούς ἀνάρπαστα ποιήσει, περιβεβλημένα τῷ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων καί τῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος δόξῃ, ἥν ἐντεῦθεν, ὡς ἔφην, αἱ τῶν ἁγίων ἔλαχον ἔχειν ψυχαί˙ καί οὕτω δοξασθέντες οἱ ἅγιοι θείῳ φωτί σύν τῷ Κυρίῳ διαπαντός ἔσονται». Τοῦτ᾿ ἄρα τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο, κατά τόν μέγαν ∆ιονύσιον, ὅ τούς τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐκκρίτους περιέλαμψεν ἐπί τοῦ ὄρους˙ «ὅταν» γάρ, φησίν, «ἄφθαρτοι καί ἀθάνατοι γενώμεθα καί τῆς χριστοειδοῦς καί μακαριωτάτης ἐφικώμεθα λήξεως, πάντοτε σύν Κυρίῳ, κατά τό λόγιον ἐσόμεθα, τῆς μέν ὁρατῆς αὐτοῦ θεοφανείας ἐν πανάγνοις θεωρίαις ἀποπληρούμενοι φανοτάταις μαρμαρυγαῖς ἡμᾶς περιαυγαζούσης, ὡς τούς μαθητάς ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ θειοτάτῃ μεταμορφώσει». Τοῦτ᾿ ἄρα θεϊκόν ἐστι τό φῶς ὡς καί Ἰωάννης ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει ἔφη καί τοῖς ἁγίοις πᾶσι συνδοκεῖ. Γρηγόριος δέ ὁ τῆς θεολογίας ἐπώνυμος, «ἥξει μέν», φησί, «μετά σώματος, ὡς ὁ ἐμός λόγος, τοιοῦτος δέ οἷος ὤφθη τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἐν τῷ ὄρει, ἤ παρεδείχθη, ὑπερνικώσης τό σαρκίον τῆς θεότητος».

«Ἀλλ᾿ αἰσθητόν ἦν», φησί, «τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο καί δι᾿ ἀέρος ὁρατόν, τότε γεγονός πρός ἔκπληξιν καί εὐθύς ἀπογενόμενον, καί θεότης λέγεται ὡς σύμβολον θεότητος». Τῆς καινοφωνίας ἤκουσται καί αὐθημερινή θεότης, αἰσθητή καί γενητή, ἐφ᾿ ἡμέραν γινομένη καί ἐφ᾿ ἡμέραν φθειρομένη, κατά τά καλούμενα τῶν ζώων ἐφήμερα, μᾶλλον δέ καί τούτων ὀλιγοχρονιωτέρα, αὐθωρόν γινομένη τε καί λυομένη, μᾶλλον δέ «γενομένη μέν ποτε, οὖσα δέ οὐδέποτε»; Τοιαύτη οὖν θεότης λέγεται ὡς σύμβολον θεότητος». Τοιαύτη οὖν θεότης ὑπερενίκησε τήν προσκυνητήν ἐκείνην καί ὁμόθεον σάρκα, ἡ μή οὖσα θεότης οὐδέποτε; Μᾶλλον δέ οὐχ ὑπερενίκησέ ποτε, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπερνικᾷ διηνεκῶς˙ οὐ γάρ εἶπεν ὑπερνικησάσης, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπερνικώσης, καί οὐκ ἐπί τοῦ παρόντος μόνον, ἀλλά κἀπί τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος. Τί φῄς; Τοιαύτη θεότητι (σελ. 588) συνημμένος ἔσται καί ὑπερνικώμενος εἰς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας ὁ Κύριος; Καί ἀντί πάντων μέν ἡμῖν ἐκεῖ, κατά τάς ἀποστολικάς καί πατερικάς φωνάς, ἔσται ὁ Θεός, τῷ Χριστῷ δέ ἀντί θεότητος φῶς προσέσται αἰσθητόν; Καί ἀέρος μέν καί τόπου καί τῶν τοιούτων κατά τάς αὐτάς φωνάς οὐ δεησόμεθα ἐκεῖ, δι᾿ ἀέρος δέ ὀψόμεθα τήν θεότητα; Πῶς δέ καί τοιαῦτα σύμβολα ἐκεῖ; πάλιν ἔσοπτρα, πάλιν αἰνίγματα, πάλιν ἐν ἐλπίσιν ἡ πρός πρόσωπον θέα; Μᾶλλον δέ, εἰ καί τότε τοιαῦτα σύμβολα καί ἔσοπτρα καί αἰνίγματα, φεῦ τοῦ δόλου καί τῆς ἀπάτης, ἐψεύσθημεν τῶν ἐλπίδων, κατεσοφίσθημεν˙ θεότητα δι᾿ ἐπαγγελίας κτήσεσθαι προσδοκήσαντες, οὐδ᾿ ἰδεῖν θεότητα συγχωρούμεθα, φῶς δ᾿ αἰσθητόν ἀντ᾿ ἐκείνης, φύσιν ἀλλοτριωτάτην