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they needed the laying on of the hands of the apostles; for in receiving the Holy Spirit, they were receiving the Lord Jesus. For Christ is not one thing and the Spirit another; and who says this? The God-Logos himself, addressing the Samaritan woman (302), said, "God is Spirit." If, therefore, Christ is God, he is spirit according to the nature of the divinity, and he who has him, has the Holy Spirit; and he who has the Spirit, again has the Lord himself, as Paul also says: "Now the Lord is the Spirit."

We must, therefore, look at ourselves, brothers, and understand our souls precisely, if we have received the Lord Jesus who was preached to us and possess him in ourselves, so that, as the evangelist John says, we may know if we have received authority from him to become children of God. Therefore, let each one pay attention to the things said by the Holy Scriptures and understand himself, as we have said, lest, deceiving himself in vain, thinking he is a believer, he be found an unbeliever, and supposing he has the Lord in himself, he should depart from the body empty and be condemned as having nothing, having taken away from him what he seems to have, and he will be cast into the fire. How then will we know if Christ is in us, and how shall we understand ourselves? By taking up the words from the divine Scriptures and placing them opposite, like mirrors, to our souls, let us in them understand ourselves completely. But let us take the discourse higher, and, with God giving me speech in the opening of my unclean mouth, I will set forth to you, my brothers, in some way the manner of understanding. But pay attention, I ask; for the discourse is about fearful things.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. In him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." Having said these things, then, he revealed the indivisible Trinity, speaking of God the Father, the Word the Son, (303) life the Holy Spirit, which three are also one light shining in the darkness. In what darkness, then? In the visible creation, he says assuredly; for God is present to all and everywhere, being light and shining; and the darkness did not overcome him, which means: the defilement of sin did not approach him at all, nor did creation hinder him from shining, nor did it know, nor find, nor was it united, nor has it seen him. Therefore, repeating the same thought, in order to make it clear, he added and says: "There was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world; he was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him." From the beginning God was everywhere, he says, the one who gives life to every man coming into the world, and before he made the world he was in the world. How? Because all things pre-existed with him and in him; for those not yet born are with God, not as not existing, but as already having come into being. Then, having made the world, he was not separated from the world by place, he says, but was in it, and the world did not know him.

How, then, before making the world was he everywhere and, having made the world, was in the world shining and the world did not overcome him? Pay attention with precision. "He who is everywhere present and fills all things" was not separated by place, he says, when God brought forth this sensible world, but by nature and the glory of the godhead, with nothing of the things that have come to be, clearly, having approached or at all overcome him; for being inseparable from all things, he is manifestly in all things. "And no one knows him," he says, "except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." This one, therefore, being in the world and being unknown by the world, came to his own, and his own did not receive him. And he called the world his own, and those in the world, (304) both because he is their creator and master and because of the kinship from the flesh. Do not, then, run past the things that have been said, but know that the Word who was in the beginning with God, and being God and having life in himself and having made all things and being the light that all

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τῶν χειρῶν τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐδεήθησαν ἐπιθέσεως· λαμβάνοντες γάρ Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον, τόν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν ἐλάμβανον. Οὐ γάρ ἄλλο ὁ Χριστός καί ἄλλο τό Πνεῦμα· καί τίς τοῦτο φησίν; Αὐτός ὁ Θεός Λόγος τῇ Σαμαρείτιδι (302) προσειπών· «Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός». Εἰ οὖν ὁ Χριστός Θεός, πνεῦμα κατά τήν τῆς θεότητος φύσιν ἐστίν καί ὁ ἔχων αὐτόν, Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον ἔχει· ὁ δέ τό Πνεῦμα ἔχων, αὐτόν πάλιν ἔχει τόν Κύριον, καθώς καί ὁ Παῦλός φησι· «Τό δέ Πνεῦμα ὁ Κύριος ἐστι».

Βλέπειν οὖν ἑαυτούς ἡμᾶς χρή, ἀδελφοί, καί κατανοεῖν ἀκριβῶς τάς ψυχάς ἡμῶν, εἰ τόν Κύριον Ἰησοῦν εὐαγγελισθέντα ἡμῖν ἐδεξάμεθα καί ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἡμῖν αὐτόν κεκτήμεθα, ἵνα, καθώς ὁ εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης φησί, γνῶμεν εἰ ἐξουσίαν ἐλάβομεν παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ τέκνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι. Προσεχέτω τοιγαροῦν τοῖς λεγομένοις ὑπό τῶν ἁγίων Γραφῶν ἕκαστος καί ἑαυτόν κατανοείτω, καθώς εἴπομεν, ἵνα μή μάτην ἑαυτόν φρεναπατῶν, πιστός εἶναι οἰόμενος, ἄπιστος εὑρεθήσεται, καί τόν Κύριον ἔχειν νομίζων ἐν ἑαυτῷ κενός ἐξέλθῃ τοῦ σώματος καί ὡς μηδέν ἔχων κατακριθήσεται, ἀφαιρούμενος ὅ δοκεῖ ἔχειν, καί εἰς τό πῦρ ἐμβληθήσεται. Πόθεν οὖν γνωσόμεθα εἰ ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ Χριστός ἐστι, καί πῶς ἑαυτούς ἡμᾶς καταμάθωμεν; Τά ἀπό τῶν θείων Γραφῶν λόγια ἀναλεγόμενοι καί ἀντιπαρατιθοῦντες ὡς ἔσοπτρα ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν, ἐν αὐτοῖς ὅλους ἑαυτούς καταμάθωμεν. Ἀλλ᾿ ἀνωτέρω τόν λόγον ἀγάγωμεν, καί Θεοῦ διδόντος λόγον ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ ἀκαθάρτου μου στόματος, τόν τῆς κατανοήσεως τρόπον ποσῶς ὑμῖν, τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου, ἐκθήσομαι. Ἀλλά προσέχετε, ἀξιῶ· περί φρικτῶν γάρ ὁ λόγος ἐστίν.

«Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος καί ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρός τόν Θεόν καί Θεός ἦν ὁ Λόγος· οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρός τόν Θεόν. Πάντα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο. Ἐν αὐτῷ ζωή ἦν καί ἡ ζωή ἦν τό φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων· καί τό φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει καί ἡ σκοτία αὐτό οὐ κατέλαβεν». Ταῦτα τοίνυν εἰπών, τήν ἀδιαίρετον Τριάδα ἐδήλωσε, Θεόν τόν Πατέρα λέγων, Λόγον τόν Υἱόν, (303) ζωήν τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον, ὅπερ καί ἕν φῶς τά τρία ἐστίν ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαῖνον. Ἐν ποίᾳ ἄρα σκοτία; Ἐν τῇ τῶν ὁρωμένων κτίσει, πάντως φησίν· ὁ γάρ Θεός παντί καί πανταχοῦ πάρεστι, φῶς ὤν καί φαίνων· καί ἡ σκοτία αὐτόν οὐ κατέλαβεν, ἀντί τοῦ· μολυσμός αὐτῷ ἁμαρτίας ὅλως οὐ προσήγγισεν, οὐδέ ἡ κτίσις αὐτόν φαίνειν παρενεπόδισεν, οὐδέ ἔγνω, οὐδέ εὗρεν, οὐδ᾿ ἡνώθη, οὐδέ αὐτόν ἑώρακεν. ∆ιό τό αὐτό νόημα δευτερῶν, ἵνα σαφές αὐτό ἀπεργάσηται, ἐπήγαγε καί φησιν· «Ἦν τό φῶς τό ἀληθινόν ὅ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τόν κόσμον· ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν καί ὁ κόσμος δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο καί ὁ κόσμος αὐτόν οὐκ ἔγνω». Ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς ἦν ὁ Θεός πανταχοῦ, φησίν, ὁ ζωογονῶν πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τόν κόσμον, καί πρό τοῦ ποιῆσαι τόν κόσμον ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν. Πῶς; Ὅτι προϋφέστηκε παρ᾿ αὐτῷ καί ἐν αὐτῷ τά πάντα· οἱ γάρ μήπω γεννηθέντες, οὐχ ὡς μή ὄντες, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἤδη γεγονότες, παρά τῷ Θεῷ εἰσιν. Εἶτα ποιήσας τόν κόσμον, οὐ τόπῳ, φησί, διέστη τοῦ κόσμου, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν αὐτῷ ἦν καί ὁ κόσμος αὐτόν οὐκ ἔγνω.

Πῶς οὖν πρό τοῦ ποιῆσαι τόν κόσμον πανταχοῦ ἦν καί, τόν κόσμον ποιήσας, ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν φαίνων καί ὁ κόσμος αὐτόν οὐ κατέλαβεν; Προσέχετε μετά ἀκριβείας. Οὐ τόπῳ διέστη «ὁ πανταχοῦ παρών καί τά πάντα πληρῶν», φησίν, ὅτε τόν αἰσθητόν τοῦτον κόσμον παρήγαγεν ὁ Θεός, ἀλλά φύσει καί δόξῃ θεότητος, μηδέν ἐκ τῶν γεγονότων δηλονότι προσεγγίσαν ἤ ὅλως καταλαβόν αὐτόν· καί γάρ ἀχώριστον ὤν τῶν πάντων, ἐν τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀριδήλως ἐστί. «Καί οὐδείς αὐτόν ἐπιγινώσκει, φησίν, εἰ μή ὁΥἱός καί ᾧ ἐάν βούληται ὁ Υἱός ἀποκαλύψαι». Οὗτος οὖν ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ὤν καί παρά τοῦ κόσμου ἀγνοούμενος, εἰς τά ἴδια ἦλθεν καί οἱ ἴδιοι αὐτόν οὐκ ἐδέξαντο. Ἴδια δέ αὐτοῦ τόν κόσμον ἐκάλεσε καί τούς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ (304) καί διά τόν κτίστην αὐτόν καί δεσπότην τούτων εἶναι καί διά τήν ἐκ τῆς σαρκός συγγένειαν. Μή οὖν παραδράμῃς τά εἰρημένα, ἀλλά γνῶθι ὅτι ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὤν πρός τόν Θεόν Λόγος, καί Θεός ὤν καί τήν ζωήν ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ καί πάντα ποιήσας καί φῶς ὤν ὅ πάντα