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they acquire in addition by the working of the commandments, as he says in another place: “You shall be holy, for I am holy,” and again: (305) “Be merciful, just as your heavenly Father is merciful.” Then after these things he also reveals the manner of adoption, saying: “Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Here he calls birth the spiritual transformation, which is effected and seen in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, just as the unerring Lord himself says: “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” In this, therefore, those who are baptized become light as in light and know the one who begot them; for indeed they see him.

But that baptism alone is not sufficient for our salvation, but that the partaking of the flesh of Jesus our God and of his precious blood is more proper and necessary for us, hear what follows: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” and that he is referring to these things, hear the Lord saying thus: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” For when this has happened, and we have been spiritually baptized through the all-holy Spirit and have become children of God, and the incarnate Word has dwelt as light in us through the partaking of his immaculate body and blood, we have seen his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father. Having been born, he says, by him and from him spiritually, and he having dwelt bodily in us and we having dwelt consciously in him, then at that very moment, at that very hour, when these things happened, we saw the glory of his divinity, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, which clearly no other, not angel, not man, has. For since God the Father is one, (306) his only-begotten Son is also one, and the glory of both is one, being made known and revealed to all whom the Son wills through the Spirit who proceeds from the Father.

Therefore, each of you, brethren, having looked into the power of these words with his own mind, let him examine himself. If he has received God the Word who came, if he has become a child of God, if he has been born not only of blood and flesh but also of God, if he has known the incarnate Word dwelling in him and if he has seen his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, behold, he has become a Christian and has seen himself reborn and has known the father who begot him, not by word only, but by the work of grace and truth. Let us remain, brethren, in this mirror of truth and let us turn away from the harmful and heretical teaching and suspicion of those who say that the glory of the divinity of the Lord Jesus is not revealed now in us the faithful through the gift of the Holy Spirit; for the gift is given in the revelation and the revelation is effected through the gift. Therefore, no one receives the Holy Spirit, unless it is revealed and seen intellectually, nor does he see a revelation, unless he is illumined in the Holy Spirit, nor can he be called a complete believer, unless he receives the Spirit of God, as Christ said to the Samaritan woman: “Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty, but it will become in him a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” “This,” the evangelist says, “he said about the Spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive.” Do you see how those who do not have the Spirit working and speaking in themselves are unbelievers? For Christ is without falsehood, because he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. (307) If therefore he says to give the Spirit to those who believe in him, then certainly those who do not have the Spirit are not believers from the heart.

But if anyone should say that each of us believers receives and has this unknowingly and insensibly, he blasphemes, making Christ a liar who said that “It will become in him a spring of water gushing up to eternal life,” and again: “He who believes in me,

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ἐντολῶν ἐργασίᾳ προσεπικτῶνται, ὡς ἐν ἑτέρῳ φησί· «Γίνεσθε ἅγιοι, ὅτι ἐγώ ἅγιός εἰμι», καί πάλιν· (305) «Γίνεσθε οἰκτίρμονες, ὡς καί ὁ Πατήρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος οἰκτίρμων ἐστίν». Εἶτα μετά ταῦτα καί τόν τρόπον δηλοῖ τῆς υἱοθεσίας, εἰπών· «Οἵ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδέ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός,οὐδέ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν». Γέννησιν ἐνταῦθα τήν πνευματικήν καλεῖ ἀλλοίωσιν, ἥτις ἐνεργεῖται και καθορᾶται ἐν τῷ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος βαπτισμῷ, καθώς αὐτός ὁ ἀψευδής Κύριος οὕτω φησίν· «Ἰωάννης μέν ἐβάπτισεν ὕδατι, ὑμεῖς δέ βαπτισθήσεσθε ἐν Πνεύματι Ἁγίῳ». Ἐν τούτῳ τοίνυν οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι ὡς ἐν φωτί φῶς γίνονται καί τόν γεγεννηκότα γνωρίζουσι· καί γάρ ὁρῶσιν αὐτόν.

Ὅτι δέ οὐκ ἀρκεῖ μόνον ἡμῖν πρός σωτηρίαν τό βάπτισμα, ἀλλά καί τῆς σαρκός τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καί Θεοῦ καί τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ τιμίου αὐτοῦ οἰκειοτέρα καί ἀναγκαιοτέρα ἡμῖν ἐστιν ἡ μετάληψις, ἄκουσον τῶν ἑξῆς· «Καί ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο καί ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν». καί ὅτι περί τούτων ταῦτα δηλοῖ, ἄκουε τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος ὧδε· «Ὁ τρώγων μου τήν σάρκα καί πίνων μου τό αἷμα ἐν ἐμοί μένει, κἀγώ ἐν αὐτῷ». Τούτου γάρ γεγονότος καί πνευματικῶς διά τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἡμῶν βαπτισθέντων καί τέκνων Θεοῦ γεγονότων καί τοῦ σαρκωθέντος Λόγου διά τῆς τοῦ ἀχράντου σώματος καί αἵματος αὐτοῦ μεταλήψεως σκηνώσαντος ὡς φῶς ἐν ἡμῖν, ἐθεασάμεθα τήν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρά πατρός. Γεννηθέντες, φησίν, ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ καί ἐξ αὐτοῦ πνευματικῶς καί σκηνώσαντος αὐτοῦ σωματικῶς ἐν ἡμῖν καί ἡμῶν κατοικησάντων γνωστῶς ἐν αὐτῷ, τότε κατ᾿ αὐτόν εὐθύς τόν καιρόν, κατ᾿ αὐτήν τήν ὥραν, ὅτε ταῦτα ἐγένετο, ἐθεασάμεθα τήν δόξαν αὐτοῦ τῆς θεότητος, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρά πατρός, οἵαν δηλονότι οὐδείς ἕτερος οὐκ ἄγγελος ἔχει, οὐκ ἄνθρωπος. Ἐπειδή γάρ εἷς Θεός ὁ Πατήρ, (306) εἷς καί ὁ Υἱός αὐτοῦ ὁ μονογενής, μία δέ τῶν ἀμφοτέρων ἡ δόξα, γνωριζομένη καί ἀποκαλυπτομένη πᾶσιν οἷς ὁ Υἱός βούλεται διά τοῦ ἐκπορευομένου Πνεύματος παρά τοῦ Πατρός.

Τοιγαροῦν ἕκαστος ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοί, τῇ ἑαυτοῦ διανοίᾳ εἰς τήν τῶν ῥημάτων τούτων ἐγκύψας δύναμιν, ἑαυτόν θεασάσθω. Εἰ τόν Θεόν Λόγον ἐλθόντα ἔλαβεν, εἰ τέκνον Θεοῦ ἐγένετο, εἰ οὐκ ἐξ αἵματος καί σαρκός μόνον, ἀλλά καί ἐκ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται, εἰ ἔγνω τόν σαρκωθέντα Λόγον σκηνώσαντα ἐν αὐτῷ καί εἰ ἐθεάσατο τήν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς μονογενοῦς παρά πατρός, ἰδού γέγονε χριστιανός καί ἀναγεννηθέντα ἑαυτόν ἐθεάσατο καί τόν γεννήσαντα αὐτόν πατέρα ἐγνώρισεν, οὐ λόγῳ μόνῳ, ἀλλ᾿ἔργῳ χάριτος καί ἀληθείας. Ἐμμείνωμεν, ἀδελφοί, ἐν τούτῳ τῷ ἐσόπτρῳ τῆς ἀληθείας καί ἀποστῶμεν τῆς βλαβερᾶς καί αἱρεσιώδους διδασκαλίας καί ὑπονοίας τῶν λεγόντων μή ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι νῦν ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς πιστοῖς τήν δόξαν τῆς θεότητος τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ διά τῆς τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος δωρεᾶς· ἡ γάρ δωρεά ἐν τῇ ἀποκαλύψει δίδοται καί ἡ ἀποκάλυψις διά τῆς δωρεᾶς ἐνεργεῖται. Οὔτε οὖν Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον λαμβάνει τις, μή ἀποκαλυπτόμενον καί ὁρώμενον νοερῶς, οὔτε ἀποκάλυψιν βλέπει, εἰ μή ἐν Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι φωτισθῇ, οὔτε πιστός τελείως δύναται λέγεσθαι, εἰ μή τό τοῦ Θεοῦ Πνεῦμα λάβῃ, καθώς τῇ Σαμαρείτιδι ἔλεγεν ὁ Χριστός· «Ὁ πίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγώ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μή διψήσῃ πώποτε, ἀλλά γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγή ὕδατος ἀλλομένου εἰς ζωήν αἰώνιον». «Τοῦτο δέ» ὁ εὐαγγελιστής φησιν «ἔλεγεν περί τοῦ Πνεύματος οὗ ἔμελλον λαμβάνειν οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς αὐτόν». Ὁρᾷς πῶς οἱ μή τό Πνεῦμα ἐνεργοῦν καί λαλοῦν ἔχοντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἄπιστοί εἰσιν; Ἀψευδής γάρ ὁ Χριστός, ὅτι ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησε καί δόλος οὐχ εὑρέθη ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ. (307) Εἰ οὖν ἐκεῖνος λέγει τό Πνεῦμα διδόναι τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς αὐτόν, πάντως οἱ μή ἔχοντες τό Πνεῦμα οὔκ εἰσιν ἐκ καρδίας πιστοί.

Εἰ δέ λέγοι τις ἀγνώστως τοῦτο καί ἀναισθήτως λαβεῖν καί ἔχειν ἕκαστον ἡμῶν τῶν πιστῶν, βλασφημεῖ, ψεύστην ποιῶν τόν εἰπόντα Χριστόν ὅτι «Γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγή ὕδατος ἀλλομένου εἰς ζωήν αἰώνιον», καί αὖθις· «Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ,