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they acquire in addition by the working of the commandments, as he says in another place: “Be holy, for I am holy,” and again: (305) “Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful.” Then after this he also declares 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 alteration, which is effected and perceived in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as the unfailing Lord Himself says thus: “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.” In this, therefore, those who are baptized become light, as in light, and they know the one who has begotten them; for they see him.

That baptism alone is not sufficient for our salvation, but also that the partaking of the flesh of Jesus and God and of His precious blood is more intimate and necessary for us, hear what follows: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” and that he declares these things concerning these matters, 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 baptized spiritually through the all-holy Spirit and have become children of God, and the incarnate Word has tabernacled as light in us through the partaking of his immaculate body and blood, we have beheld His glory, a glory as of an 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 time, at that very hour, when these things happened, we beheld the glory of his divinity, a glory as of an only-begotten from the Father, such as, clearly, no other has, not angel, not man. For since God the Father is one, (306) and his only-begotten Son is one, and the glory of both is one, being known and revealed to all whom the Son wishes through the Spirit who proceeds from the Father.

Therefore, let each of you, brothers, having peered with his own mind into the power of these words, behold himself. If he has received the God Word who came, if he has become a child of God, if he has been born not of blood and flesh only, but also of God, if he knew the incarnate Word dwelling in him, and if he has beheld His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten from the Father, behold, he has become a Christian and has beheld 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, brothers, in this mirror of truth and let us depart from the harmful and heretical teaching and suspicion of those who say that the glory of the divinity of the Lord Jesus is not now revealed 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 by the mind, nor does he see a revelation, unless he is enlightened 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 leaping 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 unfailing, because he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. (307) If, therefore, He says that He gives the Spirit to those who believe in Him, certainly those who do not have the Spirit are not believers from the heart.

But if someone should say that each of us believers receives and has this unknowingly and without perception, he blasphemes, making a liar of Christ who said that “it will become in him a spring of water leaping 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,