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of the experienced as of the deluded. Do not be over-curious, therefore, but follow those who are experienced, especially in deeds, but if not in these, at least in words, being content with its exemplary manifestations; for deification is beyond naming. Wherefore we too, having written many things about stillness, sometimes at the urging of the fathers, sometimes at the request of the brethren, have nowhere dared to write about deification; but now since it is necessary to speak, we shall speak, piously indeed by the grace of the Lord, but not sufficiently to demonstrate it; for even when spoken of (p. 628) it remains ineffable, named only, as the fathers say, by those who have been blessed with it.

Therefore, the Godhead by nature, the principle of deification, from which as an unparticipated cause being deified belongs to those who are deified, this most divine blessedness beyond all things is in itself invisible both to sense and to intellect, both to the incorporeal and to that bound with a body; even if one of these should stand outside itself, deified for the better; for it is believed to be and to become visible only to the intellect and body united hypostatically, even if not according to their own nature. For those alone were deified "by the presence of the whole anointing one" and received an energy equal to the deifying essence, having contained it all without lack and manifested it through themselves; for "in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily," according to the apostle. Wherefore there are also saints who after the sojourn of God in the flesh saw that light as a kind of limitless ocean, paradoxically poured forth from a single disk, that is, the adorable body, just as the apostles did on the mountain. Thus, then, the first-fruit of our lump has been deified. But the deification of deified angels and men is not the super-essential essence of God, but an energy of the super-essential essence of God, indwelling in those who are deified, not as skill in the thing skillfully made (for thus the power that brought them forth is in things brought forth creatively, appearing to all or even being manifest in them), but "as skill in one who has acquired it," according to the great Basil; (wherefore the saints are also instruments of the Holy Spirit, having received the same energy as He), and the proof of what is said is ready: the gifts of healing, the workings of miracles, foreknowledge, the wisdom that cannot be contradicted which also (p. 630) the Lord called the Spirit of our Father, and not only this, but also the sanctifying participation of the Spirit, supplied from them and through them to those sanctified after them "for I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put it upon them," said God to Moses, and when Paul laid his hands on the twelve Ephesians "the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they at once spoke with tongues and prophesied." Therefore, when we consider the proper dignity of the Spirit, we behold Him with the Father and the Son, but when we reflect on the grace that is at work in the participants, we say that the Spirit is in us, "poured out upon us, not created; given to us, not made; graciously bestowed, not crafted;" indwelling in those still imperfect, according to the great Basil again, as a sort of disposition "on account of the instability of their will," but in the more perfect as an acquired state, and in some it is rooted even more than this; "for as the power," he says, "of seeing is in a healthy eye, so is the energy of the Spirit in a purified soul."

Therefore, the deifying gift of the Spirit is not the super-essential essence of God, but the deifying energy of the super-essential essence of God, and not even all of this, even though it is in itself indivisible. For which of the created beings could contain the whole infinitely-powerful power of the Spirit, except for Him who was conceived in a virgin's womb, by the presence of the Holy Spirit and the overshadowing of the power of the Most High? Wherefore He indeed contained "all the fullness of the Godhead," but from the

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πεπειραμένων ὡς πεπλανημένων πνεῖ. Μή πολυπραγμόνει τοίνυν, ἀλλ᾿ ἕπου τοῖς πεπειραμένοις, μάλιστα μέν ἔργοις, εἰ δέ μή τούτοις, τοῖς λόγοις γοῦν, ἀρκούμενος ταῖς παραδειγματικαῖς ἐκφάνσεσιν αὐτῆς˙ ἡ γάρ θέωσις ὑπερώνυμος. ∆ιό καί ἡμεῖς πολλά περί ἡσυχίας συγγραψάμενοι, νῦν μέν τῶν πατέρων προτρεψαμένων, νῦν δέ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αἰτησαμένων, οὐδαμοῦ περί θεώσεως ἀναγράψαι τεθαρρήκαμεν˙ νῦν δ᾿ ἐπείπερ ἀνάγκη λέγειν, ἐροῦμεν, εὐσεβῆ μέν τῇ ροῦ Κυρίου χάριτι, παραστῆσαι δέ οὐχ ἱκανά˙ καί λεγομένη γάρ (σελ. 628) ἄρρητος ἐκείνη μένει, μόνοις ἐνώνυμος, κατά τούς πατέρας φάναι, τοῖς εὐμοιρηκόσιν αὐτῆς.

Ἡ φύσει τοιγαροῦν θεότης, ἡ ἀρχή τῆς θεώσεως, ἐξ ἧς ὡς αἰτίας ἀμεθέκτου τό θεοῦσθαι τοῖς θεομένοις ἐστιν, αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ πάντων ἐπέκεινα θεαρχικωτάτη μακαριότης ἀόρατός ἐστι καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν αἰσθήσει τε καί νῷ, ἀσωμάτῳ τε καί σώματι συνδεδεμένῳ˙ κἄν ἐκστῇ ἑαυτοῦ τι τούτων ἐπί τό κρεῖττον θεωθέν˙ μόνῳ γάρ τῷ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἡνωμένῳ νῷ καί σώματι εἶναί τε καί γενέσθαι θεατή πιστεύεται, εἰ καί μή κατά τήν οἰκείαν φύσιν ἑαυτῶν. Μόνα γάρ ἐκεῖνα «παρουσίᾳ τοῦ χρίοντος ὅλου» ἐθεώθησαν καί τήν ἴσην ἐνέργειαν τῇ θεούσῃ οὐσίᾳ προσελάβοντο, πᾶσαν αὐτήν ἐνελλιπῶς χωρήσαντα καί δι᾿ ἑαυτῶν ἐκφήναντα˙ καί γάρ «ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ πᾶν τό πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς» κατά τόν ἀπόστολον «οἰκεῖ». ∆ιό καί τῶν ἁγίων εἰσίν οἵ μετά τήν διά σαρκός τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιδημίαν οἷόν τι πέλαγος ἀπεριόριστον τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο εἶδον, ἐξ ἑνός δίσκου, τοῦ προσκυνητοῦ δηλονότι σώματος, παραδόξως προχεόμενον, ὡς καί οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἐπί τοῦ ὄρους. Οὕτω μέν οὖν ἡ ἀπαρχή τεθέωται τοῦ ἡμετέρου φυράματος. Ἡ δέ τῶν τεθεωμένων ἀγγέλων καί ἀνθρώπων θέωσις οὐχ ἡ ὑπερούσιός ἐστιν οὐσία τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλά τῆς ὑπερουσίας οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνέργεια, τοῖς τεθεωμένοις ἐνυπάρχουσα, οὐχ ὡς ἡ τέχνη ἐν τῷ τεχνητῷ (οὕτω γάρ τοῖς δημιουργικῶς προηγμένοις ἔνεστιν ἡ προαγαγοῦσα ταῦτα δύναμις, ἐπιφαινομένη πᾶσιν ἤ καί ἐμφαινομένη), ἀλλ᾿ «ὡς ἡ τέχνη ἐν τῷ ἀναλαβόντι αὐτήν», κατά τόν μέγαν Βασίλειοιν˙ (διό καί ὄργανά εἰσι τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος οἱ ἅγιοι, τήν αὐτήν ἐκείνῳ προσειληφότες ἐνέργειαν), καί ἡ τῶν λεγομένων πίστις ἑτοίμη, τά χαρίσματα τῶν ἰαμάτων, τά ἐνεργήματα τῶν δυνάμεων, ἡ πρόγνωσις, ἡ μή ἀντιλεγομένη σοφία ἥν καί (σελ. 630) Πνεῦμα τοῦ Πατρός ἡμῶν ὁ Κύροις προσηγόρευσεν, οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἁγιαστική μετάδοσις, ἐξ αὐτῶν καί δι᾿ αὐτῶν χορηγουμένη τοῖς ἁγιαζομένοις μετ᾿ αὐτούς «λήψομαι γάρ ἀπό τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ ἐπί σέ καί θήσω ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς», πρός τόν Μωϋσῆν εἶπεν ὁ Θεός, καί τοῦ Παύλου τάς χεῖρας ἐπιθέντος τοῖς δεκαδύο Ἐφεσίοις «ἦλθε τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς, ἐλάλουν τε» πάραυτα γλώσσαις καί προεφήτευον». Οὐκοῦν ὅταν μέν τήν οἰκείαν ἀξίαν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐννοῶμεν, μετά Πατρός αὐτό καί Υἱοῦ θεωροῦμεν, ὅταν δέ τήν εἰς τούς μετόχους ἐνεργουμένην χάριν ἐνθυμηθῶμεν, ἐν ἡμῖν εἶναι τό Πνεῦμα λέγομεν, «ἐκχεόμενον πρός ἡμᾶς, οὐ κτιζόμενον, διδόμενον ἡμῖν, οὐ ποιούμενν, χαριζόμενον, οὐ δημιουργούμενον»˙ ἐνυπάρχον τοῖς μέν ἀτελέσιν ἔτι, κατά τόν μέγαν αὖθις φάναι Βασίλειον, ὥσπερ τις διάθεσις «διά τό τῆς γνώμης ἀνίδρυτον», τοῖς δέ τελειωτέροις ὡς ἕξις ἐπίκτητος, ἔστι δ᾿ ἐφ᾿ ὧν ἐνερριζωμένη καί ταύτης μᾶλλον˙ «ὡς γάρ ἡ δύναμις», φησί, «τοῦ ὁρᾶν ἐν τῷ ὑγιαίνοντι ὀφθαλμῷ, οὕτως ἡ ἐνέργεια τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν τῇ κεκαθαρμένῃ ψυχῇ».

Τοιγαροῦν οὐχ ἡ ὑπερούσιος οὐσία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστιν ἡ θεοποιός δωρεά τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἀλλ᾿ ἡ τῆς ὑπερουσίου οὐσίας τοῦ Θεοῦ θεοποιός ἐνέργεια, καί οὐδέ αὕτη πᾶσα, εἰ καί καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν ἀμέριστος ἐκείνη. Τίς γάρ τῶν κτιστῶν χωρῆσαι δύναιτ᾿ ἄν ὅλην τήν ἀπειροδύναμον δύναμιν τοῦ Πνεύματος, πλήν τοῦ κυηθέντος ἐν παρθενικῇ νηδύι, παρουσίᾳ Πνεύματος ἁγίου καί τῆς τοῦ ὑψίστου δυνάμεως ἐπισκιάσει; ∆ιό καί «πᾶν» μέν οὗτος ἐχώρησε «τό πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος», ἐκ δέ τοῦ