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God the Word, has not become a monk, alas, at all. Therefore this one is also alone, separated from God, but also each of us is separated from other men in every way, and indeed we are all isolated orphans, even if we seem to have unity by living together and to mix with one another in the assembly of the many. For in soul and in body we are separated, which death shows to be true, separating each one from both relatives and friends and producing a forgetting of all those now beloved. Thus also night and sleep and the actions in life naturally dissolve the unity of the many. But he who through virtue has made his own cell a heaven, and in it perceives and sees and worships the creator of heaven and earth sitting there, and is always with unsetting light, with the eveningless light, with the unapproachable light, from which he is in no way separated, he is not at all distanced, not in day or night, not in food or drink, nor yet in sleep or on a journey or in a change of place, but just as when living, so when dead, or rather all the more clearly, his soul is with Him eternally. For how shall the bride be separated from the bridegroom, or the husband from the wife, to whom he was once joined? The lawgiver, tell me, will he not keep the law? He who said: 'And the two shall be one flesh,' (213) how will He Himself not become completely one spirit with her? For the wife is in the husband, and the husband in the wife, and the soul in God and God in the soul is united and is known in all the saints. Thus are united to God those who through repentance cleanse their own souls in this world, and they become monks, being apart from others, who receive the mind of Christ, which is also a mouth and a tongue truly without falsehood, with which they speak to the Father Almighty, with which they ever cry out: 'O Father, O King of all, O creator of all things!' The cell of these is heaven, and they are the sun, and the light is in them, the unsetting and divine, which also enlightens every man coming into the world and born of the Holy Spirit.

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Θεόν Λόγον, οὐ γέγονε μοναχός, οἴμοι, ὅλως. Ὅθεν καί μόνος ἐστί τοῦ Θεοῦ κεχωρισμένος οὗτος, ἀλλά καί ὁ καθείς ἡμῶν ἐσμέν κεχωρισμένοι ἀνθρώπων ἄλλων πάντως γε καί ὀρφανοί δέ ἅπαντες μεμονωμένοι ὦμεν, εἰ καί δοκοῦμεν ἕνωσιν τῇ συνοικήσει ἔχειν καί μετ᾿ ἀλλήλων μίγνυσθαι τῇ τῶν πολλῶν συνάξει. Ψυχῇ γάρ καί τῷ σώματι ἐσμέν κεχωρισμένοι, ὅπερ καί εἶναι ἀληθές ὁ θάνατος δεικνύει, ἀποχωρίζων ἕκαστον συγγενῶν τε καί φίλων καί λήθην πάντων ἐμποιῶν τῶν νῦν ἀγαπωμένων. Οὕτω κάι νύξ καί ὕπνος τε καί πράξεις αἱ ἐν βίῳ τήν ἕνωσιν τήν τῶν πολλῶν ὡς εἰκός διαλύει. Ὁ δέ ποιήσας οὐρανόν δι᾿ ἀρετῆς τήν κέλλαν τήν ἑαυτοῦ, καί ἐν αὐτῇ καθήμενον τόν κτίστην τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τε καί τῆς γῆς κατανοεῖ καί βλέπει καί προσκυνεῖ καί σύνεστιν ἀεί φωτί ἀδύτῳ, φωτί τῷ ἀνεσπέρῳ τε, φωτί τῷ ἀπροσίτῳ, οὗ οὐδαμῶς χωρίζεται, οὐ μακρύνεται ὅλως, οὐκ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἤ νυκτί, οὐκ ἐν τροφῇ ἤ πόσει, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ἐν ὕπνῳ ἤ ὁδῷ ἤ μεταβάσει τόπου, ἀλλ᾿ ὥσπερ ζῶν οὕτω θανών, μᾶλλον δέ τρανοτέρως ὅλως ἐκείνῳ σύνεστι τῇ ψυχῇ αἰωνίως. Πῶς γάρ καί χωρισθήσεται ἡ νύμφη τοῦ νυμφίου, ἤ ὁ ἀνήρ τῆς γυναικός, ᾗ συνηρμόσθη ἅπαξ; Ὁ νομοθέντης, λέγε μοι, τόν νόμον οὐ φυλάξει; Ὁ εἰρηκώς˙ Καί ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς μίαν σάρκα, (213) πῶς οὐ γενήσεται αὐτός σύν αὐτῇ πνεῦμα ὅλως; Ἐν τῷ ἀνδρί γάρ ἡ γυνή, ἐν γυναικί ἀνήρ δέ, καί ἡ ψυχή ἐν τῷ Θεῷ καί Θεός ἐν ψυχῇ δέ ἑνοῦται καί γνωρίζεται ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις πᾶσιν. Οὕτως ἑνοῦνται τῷ Θεῷ οἱ διά μετανοίας τάς ἑαυτῶν καθαίροντες ψυχάς ἐν κόσμῳ τῷδε, καί μοναχοί καθίστανται τῶν ἄλλων ὄντες δίχα, οἵ νοῦν Χριστοῦ λαμβάνουσιν, ὅπερ καί στόμα ἔστι καί γλῶσσα ὄντως ἀψευδής, μεθ᾿ ἧς προσομιλοῦσι Πατρί τῷ παντοκράτορι, μεθ᾿ ἧς ἀεί βοῶσιν˙ Ὦ πάτερ, ὦ παμβασιλεῦ, ὦ κτίστα τῶν ἁπάντων! Τούτων ἡ κέλλα οὐρανός, ἥλιος δέ ἐκεῖνοι, καί τό φῶς ἐστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς, τό ἄδυτον καί θεῖον, ὅ καί φωτίζει ἅπαντα ἐρχόμενον ἐν κόσμῳ ἄνθρωπον καί γενόμενον ἐκ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου.