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kingdom of heaven, as carrying that very thing, that is, within ourselves - for we receive all these things from here already in the perception of the soul and in knowledge, unless we are reprobate in faith or deficient in the practice of the divine commandments, but no longer bodily, but we carry it corruptible, as Christ and God before the resurrection, and being encompassed by it and our soul bound, we are not now able to receive the whole glory revealed to us, but beholding in a mirror the ineffable sea of glory, we consider that we see one drop of it and for this reason we say we see now in a mirror and in a riddle, yet we see ourselves spiritually like Him who is seen by us and sees us in the present life; but after the resurrection, the body itself will be spiritual; just as He Himself, having transformed it, raised it from the tomb by divine power, so too all of us will receive it as spiritual and we who were formerly made like Him in soul will be made like Him then both bodily and in soul, that is, we shall be like Him, human by nature, gods by grace, just as He Himself, God by nature, became man by His goodness. And those who know this mystery exactly, how do they not long and desire for death, as the Apostle says: "For we who are in this tent groan, eagerly awaiting the revelation of the sons of God."

For if this is not so, and if we, while in the body, do not from here come into participation and communion of the eternal goods, (315) and if we, the elect, do not receive grace, then Christ Himself is a prophet and not God; and all that His gospel says is a prophecy concerning future things and not a gift of grace; and likewise the apostles too were entrusted with a prophecy, but not the fulfillment of what was prophesied, nor did they receive anything nor did they impart it to others. But oh, the ignorance of those who think thus and their darkness! Therefore, according to them, our faith is empty words, devoid of works. For if the grace of God that brings salvation to all men has appeared in word only and not in deed, and we think that the mystery of our faith has happened thus, who is more wretched than we? If Christ is the light of the world and God, yet we believe that He is seen continually by no man, who then is more faithless than we?

If, then, He is light, but we say that those who put Him on do not perceive it, how do we differ from a corpse? And if He is the vine, and we are the branches, if we do not know the union with Him completely, we are lifeless and fruitless and dry wood, material for unquenchable fire. And if those who eat His flesh and drink His blood have eternal life according to His divine saying, but we, eating these things, perceive nothing more happening in us than from sensible food, nor do we receive another life in knowledge, then we have partaken of mere bread only, and not also of God. For if Christ is God and man, and His holy flesh is not flesh only, but flesh and God inseparably, and also unconfusedly, being visible in the flesh, or rather in the bread, to the sensible eyes, but invisible in His divinity to the sensible ones, yet seen by the eyes of the soul. Therefore also elsewhere, (316) "He who eats my flesh," He says, "and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." And He did not say, "abides in them and they in him," but "in me," that is, in my glory, in my light, in my divinity. "For I," He says, "am in the Father and the Father in me; and I in you and you in me." If, therefore, we think all these things happen in us unknowingly and imperceptibly, who do we think it happens imperceptibly in us, who then could worthily lament our insensibility? Truly, no one.

But blessed are those who received Christ, who came as light into the darkness, because they themselves became sons of light and of the day.

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βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὡς αὐτήν ἐκείνην ἐντός ἡμῶν δηλονότι περιφέροντες - ταῦτα γάρ πάντα ἀπ᾿ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη ἐν αἰσθήσει ψυχῆς καί γνώσει λαμβάνομεν, εἰ μή τι ἀδόκιμοι τῇ πίστει ἤ ἐλλιπεῖς ἐν τῇ τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν ἐργασίᾳ ἐσμέν , σωματικῶς δέ οὐκέτι, ἀλλά φθαρτόν αὐτό, ὡς ὁ Χριστός καί Θεός πρό τῆς ἀναστάσεως, περιφέρομεν, καί παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐμπεριεχόμενοι καί δεσμούμενοι τήν ψυχήν, οὐ χωροῦμεν νῦν τήν ἀποκαλυπτομένην ὅλην ἡμῖν εἰσδέξασθαι δόξαν, ἀλλά τό ἄρρητον πέλαγος τῆς δόξης ἐνοπτριζόμενοι, ῥανίδα βλέπειν ἐκείνου μίαν ἡγούμεθα καί διά τοῦτο ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ λέγομεν ἄρτι βλέπειν καί ἐν αἰνίγματι, πλήν ὁμοίους ἡμᾶς ἑαυτούς πνευματικῶς ὁρῶμεν ἐκείνου τοῦ παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁρωμένου καί ἡμᾶς βλέποντος κατά τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν· μετά δέ τήν ἀνάστασιν, καί αὐτό τό σῶμα πνευματικόν· ὡς αὐτός ἐκεῖνος ἐκ τοῦ μνημείου τοῦτο ἀλλοιώσας θεϊκῇ δυνάμει ἀνέστησεν, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς πάντες τοῦτο ληψόμεθα πνευματικόν καί οἱ ὁμοιωθέντες αὐτῷ πρότερον ψυχικῶς ὀμοιωθησόμεθα αὐτῷ καί τότε σωματικῶς τε ἅμα καί ψυχικῶς, τουτέστιν ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα, ἄνθρωποι τῇ φύσει, θεοί τῇ χάριτι, καθά δή καί αὐτός ἐκεῖνος Θεός τῇ φύσει, ἄνθρωπος τῇ ἀγαθότητι ἐχρημάτισεν. Οἱ δέ τό μυστήριον τοῦτο ἀκριβῶς ἐπιστάμενοι, πῶς μή ποθοῦσι καί ἐπιθυμοῦσι τόν θάνατον, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· «Οἱ δέ ἐν τῷ σκήνει τούτῳ ὄντες στενάζομεν, τήν ἀποκάλυψιν ἀπεκδεχόμενοι τῶν υἱῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ».

Καί γάρ εἰ μή τοῦτό ἐστι μηδέ ἀπ᾿ ἐντεῦθεν ἐν σώματι ὄντες τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν ἐν μετοχῇ καί κοινωνίᾳ γινόμεθα, (315) μηδέ τήν χάριν λαμβάνομεν οἱ ἐκλεκτοί, λοιπόν καί ὁ Χριστός αὐτός προφήτης ἐστί καί οὐ Θεός· ἀλλά καί πάντα ὅσα τό αὐτοῦ εὐαγγέλιον λέγει, προφητεία περί μελλόντων ἐστί καί οὐχί δωρεά χάριτος· ὁμοίως δέ καί οἱ ἀπόστολοι προφητείαν ἐνεχειρίσθησαν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί τῶν προφητευθέντων ἐκπλήρωσιν, οὐδέ ἔλαβόν τι ἐκεῖνοι οὐδέ ἑτέροις μετέδωκαν. Ἀλλ᾿ ὤ τῆς ἀγνοίας τῶν οὕτως ἐχόντων καί τῆς σκοτώσεως! Λόγοι λοιπόν κατ᾿ αὐτούς ἐστι διακενῆς ἡ πίστις ἡμῶν, ἔργων ἔρημοι. Εἰ γάρ ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ σωτήριος πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐπέφανε λόγῳ μόνῳ καί οὐ πράγματι, καί οὕτω γεγονέναι νομίζομεν τό μυστήριοιν τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν, τίς ἡμῶν ἀθλιώτερος; Εἰ τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου ὁ Χριστός ἐστι καί Θεός, παρά μηδενός δέ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῦτον ἀδιαλείπτως ὁρᾶσθαι πιστεύομεν, τίς ἄρα ἡμῶν ἀπιστότερος;

Εἰ τοίνυν αὐτός φῶς ἐστι, τούς δέ ἐνδιδυσκομένους αὐτόν μή ἐπαισθάνεσθαι λέγομεν, τί νεκροῦ διαφέρομεν; Εἰ δέ αὐτός μέν ἡ ἄμπελος, ἡμεῖς δέ τά κλήματα, ἐάν μή τήν πρός αὐτόν γινώσκομεν πάντως ἕνωσιν, ἄψυχοι καί ἄκαρποι καί ξύλα ξηρά, ὕλη πυρός ἀσβέστου τυγχάνομεν. Εἰ δέ καί οἱ τρώγοντες αὐτοῦ τήν σάρκα καί πίνοντες αὐτοῦ τό αἷμα ζωήν αἰώνιον ἔχουσι κατά τό θεῖον αὐτοῦ λόγιον, ταῦτα δέ ἡμεῖς ἐσθίοντες οὐδέν τῆς αἰσθητῆς τροφῆς πλέον γενόμενον ἐν ἡμῖν αἰσθανόμεθα οὐδέ ζωήν ἄλλην ἐν γνώσει λαμβάνομεν, ἄρτον λοιπόν μόνον ψιλόν, οὐδέ δέ καί Θεόν μετελάβομεν. Εἰ γάρ Θεός καί ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστός, καί ἡ ἁγία σάρξ αὐτοῦ οὐ σάρξ μόνον, ἀλλά σάρξ καί Θεός ἀχωρίστως, ἀλλά καί ἀσυγχύτως, ὁρατός μέν τῇ σαρκί εἴτ᾿ οὖν τῷ ἄρτῳ τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ὑπάρχων, ἀόρατος δέ τῇ θεότητι τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς, τοῖς δέ γε τῆς ψυχῆς ὄμμασι καθορώμενος. ∆ιό καί ἀλλαχοῦ· (316) «Ὁ τρώγων μου τήν σάρκα» φησί «καί πίνων μου τό αἷμα ἐν ἐμοί μένει, κἀγώ ἐν αὐτῷ». Καί οὐκ εἶπεν, ἐν αὐτοῖς μένει καί αὐτά ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ἐμοί, τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ ἐμῇ δόξῃ, ἐν τῷ ἐμῷ φωτί, ἐν τῇ ἐμῇ θεότητι. «Ἐγώ γάρ, φησίν, ἐν τῷ Πατρί καί ὁ Πατήρ ἐν ἐμοί· καί ἐγώ ἐν ὑμῖν καί ὑμεῖς ἐν ἐμοί». Εἰ οὖν ταῦτα πάντα ἀγνώστως καί ἀναισθήτως γίνεσθαι νομίζομεν ἐν ἡμῖν, τίς τήν ἡμῶν ἀναισθήτως γίνεσθαι νομίζομεν ἐν ἡμῖν, τίς τήν ἡμῶν ἀναισθησίαν ἀξίως ἄρα θρηνήσειεν; Ὄντως οὐδείς.

Ἀλλά μακάριοι οἱ ὡς φῶς ἐλθόντα τόν Χριστόν ἐν τῷ σκότει δεξάμενοι, ὅτι αὐτοί υἱοί φωτός καί ἡμέρας ἐγένοντο.