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after the resurrection and after receiving that spiritual and incorruptible body will they be? Certainly not only equal to angels, but also like the master of the angels, as it is written: “But we know,” he says, “that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him.”

Blessed is that monk who in prayer stands before God and sees Him and is seen by Him and feels himself to be outside the world, but being in God alone, and not being able to know whether he happens to be in the body or out of the body, for he will hear inexpressible words which it is not lawful for a man to speak, and will see what (319) eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the fleshly heart of man.

Blessed is he who has beheld the light of the world formed within himself, for he, having Christ as an embryo, will be considered His mother, as that very one who does not lie promised: “My mother,” he says, “and brothers and friends are these.” Who? “Those who hear the word of God and do it.” So those who do not keep the commandments voluntarily deprive themselves of such grace, since the thing is possible and was and is and will be and has been and is happening and will happen to all who fulfill His commands.

But lest, leaving this unattested, we should be suspected of saying something on our own authority and of dogmatizing about things that are impossible as if they were possible, let us bring into your midst again the blessed Paul, the mouth of Christ, who presents this clearly in saying: “My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” So where does he say He will be formed, or in what place and part of our body do you reckon this to be—on the forehead, or on the face, or on the chest? Not at all, but inside, in our heart. And have you supposed that He is formed bodily? Far from it, but He is formed, yet incorporeally and as is fitting for God. However, just as a woman knows clearly when she is pregnant that the infant leaps in her womb and she could never be ignorant that she has it inside her, so also he who has Christ formed within himself knows His movements or illuminations and is not at all ignorant of His leapings or His flashes of lightning and sees His formation within himself; just as the light of a lamp is shown from within in a mirror, not in an unsubstantial phantasm as that is, (320) but being shown in light hypostatically and essentially, being seen invisibly in a formless form and in a figureless figure and being comprehended incomprehensibly.

Thus, then, the incomprehensibility of our faith is comprehended, O brethren. Thus, with those among whom the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit might come and truly make their dwelling, they are seen and comprehended without doubt, unchangeably, being known in one light, as we have said. But just as one pursuing someone who is fleeing, even if he thinks he is near him and at his heels and already seems to be touching and approaching him with his fingertips, cannot get a hold of him, being, as they say, a hair's breadth away, so neither, if we have some small thought or combination—I mean of unbelief or double-mindedness or cowardice, or any passion at all in negligence and laziness, or if we lay claim at all to some small and least thing—would we become partakers of the divinity, nor would we be led up to the height of this glory. For as the hair's breadth is there, so also this little thing becomes in spiritual matters. And unless we completely despise even our soul and body, as though called to martyrdom, and give over our whole selves and our souls to every punishment and every death, not even remembering anything for the life and sustenance of this corruptible body, let alone being anxious,

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μετά τήν ἀνάστασιν καί μετά τό ἀπολαβεῖν τό πνευματικόν ἐκεῖνο καί ἄφθαρτον σῶμα ἔσονται; Πάντως οὐκ ἀγγέλων μόνον ἴσοι, ἀλλά καί τοῦ τῶν ἀγγέλων δεσπότου ὅμοιοι, καθώς γέγραπται· «Οἴδαμεν δέ, φησίν, ὅτι, ὅταν ἀποκαλυφθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα».

Μακάριος ὁ μοναχός ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἐν εὐχῇ τῷ Θεῷ παριστάμενος καί βλέπων αὐτόν καί βλεπόμενος παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ καί ἔξω τοῦ κόσμου γεγονότα ἑαυτόν αἰσθανόμενος, ὄντα δέ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ μόνῳ, καί μή δυνάμενος γνῶναι εἴτε ἐν σώματι εἴτε ἐκτός τυγχάνει σώματος, ὅτι αὐτός ἀκούσει ἄρρητα ῥήματα ἅ οὐκ ἐξόν ἄνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι, καί ἴδῃ ἅ (319) ὀφθαλμός οὐκ εἶδεν, οὐδέ οὖς ἤκουσεν, οὐδέ ἐπί καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου σαρκίνην ἀνέβη.

Μακάριος ὁ τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου ἐν ἑαυτῷ μορφωθέν θεασάμενος, ὅτι αὐτός ὡς ἔμβρυον ἔχων τόν Χριστόν, μήτηρ αὐτοῦ λογισθήσεται, καθώς αὐτός ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἀψευδής ἐπηγγείλατο· «Μήτηρ μου» λέγων «καί ἀδελφοί καί φίλοι οὗτοί εἰσι». Ποῖοι; «Οἱ ἀκούοντες τόν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ποιοῦντες αὐτόν». Ὥστε οἱ μή τηροῦντες τάς ἐντολάς, ἑαυτούς τῆς τοιαύτης χάριτος ἑκουσίως ἀποστεροῦσιν, ἐπεί δυνατόν τό πρᾶγμα καί ἦν καί ἔστι καί ἔσεται καί ἐγένετο καί γίνεται και εἰς πάντας τούς τά προστάγματα αὐτοῦ ἐκπληροῦντας γενήσεται.

Ἵνα δέ μή καταλιπόντες τοῦτο ἀμάρτυρον, ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτῶν τι λέγειν καί τά ὄντα ἀδύνατα ὡς δυνατά δογματίζειν ὑποπτευθῶμεν, αὐτόν καί αὖθις τόν μακάριον Παῦλον, τό τοῦ Χριστοῦ στόμα, εἰς μέσον ὑμῖν παραγάγωμεν, τοῦτο παριστῶντα τρανῶς ἐν τῷ λέγειν· «Τεκνία, οὕς πάλιν ὠδίνω ἄχρις οὗ Χριστός μορφωθῇ ἐν ὑμῖν». Ἄρα ποῦ λέγων αὐτόν ἤ ἐν ποίῳ τόπῳ καί μέρει τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν μορφωθήσεσθαι, ἐν τῷ μετώπῳ, ἀλλά ἐν τῷ προσώπῳ ἤ τῷ στήθει τοῦτον λογίζεσθε; Οὔμενουν, ἀλλά ἔνδον, ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἡμῶν. Μή δέ καί σωματικῶς μορφοῦσθαι αὐτόν ὑπελάβετε; Ἄπαγε, ἀλλά μορφοῦται μέν, ἀσωμάτως δέ καί ὡς Θεῷ πρέπον ἐστί. Πλήν ὥσπερ γινώσκει ἡ γυνή σαφῶς, ὅταν ἔγγυός ἐστιν, ὅτι σκιρτᾷ τό βρέφος ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ αὐτῆς καί οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἀγνοήσῃ ὅτι αὐτό ἔνδον ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῇ, οὕτω καί ὁ τόν Χριστόν ἔχων μεμορφωμένον ἐν ἑαυτῷ καί τάς κινήσεις ἤτοι ἐλάμψεις αὐτοῦ γινώσκει καί τά σκιρτήματα ἤτοι τάς ἀστραπάς αὐτοῦ ὅλως οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ καί τήν μόρφωσιν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἑαυτῷ καθορᾷ· οἷον τό φῶς τῆς λαμπάδος ἔνδοθεν ἐν τῷ κατόπτρῳ δείκνυται, οὐκ ἐν φαντάσματι ἀνυποστάτῳ καθάπερ ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν, (320) ἀλλ᾿ ἐν φωτί ἐνυποστάτως καί οὐσιωδῶς δεικνύμενον, ἐν μορφῇ ἀμόρφῳ καί ἐν ἀνιδέῳ ἰδέᾳ ἀοράτως ὁρώμενον και ἀκατανοήτως κατανοούμενον.

Οὕτως οὖν ἡ ἀκαταληψία καταλαμβάνεται τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν, ὦ ἀδελφοί. Οὕτω παρ᾿ οἷς ἄν ὁ Πατήρ καί ὁ Υἱός ἐν Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι παραγένωνται καί μονήν ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας ποιήσωσι, καθορῶνται καί κατανοοῦνται ἀναμφιβόλως, ἀπαραλλάκτως, ἐν ἑνί φωτί, καθώς εἴπομεν, γινωσκόμενοι. Πλήν ὥσπερ ὁ καταδιώκων τινά φεύγοντα, κἄν ἐγγύς αὐτοῦ καί κατά πόδας εἶναι νομίζῃ καί ἤδη δοκῇ ἅπτεσθαι καί ἄκροις δακτύλοις προσεγγίζειν αὐτῷ, οὐ δύναται ἐγκρατής γενέσθαι αὐτοῦ, παρά τρίχα τό δή λεγόμενον ὤν, οὕτως οὐδέ, ἐάν λογισμόν τινα μικρόν ἤ συνδυασμόν, ἀπιστίας λέγω ἤ διψυχίας ἤ δειλίας, ἤ τό οἱονοῦν πάθος ἐν ἀμελείᾳ καί ῥᾳθυμίᾳ ἕξομεν, ἤ καί πράγματός τινος μικροῦ καί ἐλαχίστου εἰ ὅλως ἀντιποιησόμεθα, οὐκ ἄν θεότητος κοινωνοί γενησόμεθα, οὐκ ἄν εἰς τό ὕψος τῆς δόξης ταύτης ἀναχθησόμεθα. Ὡς γάρ τό παρά τρίχα ἐκεῖ, οὕτω καί τό μικρόν τοῦτο ἐπί τῶν πνευματικῶν γίνεται. Καί εἰ μή τελέως καί αὐτῆς τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν καί τοῦ σώματος, ὡς ἐπί μαρτύριον κληθέντες, καταφρονήσωμεν καί πρός πᾶσαν τιμωρίαν καί πάντα θάνατον ὅλους ἑαυτούς καί τάς ψυχάς ἡμῶν ἐκδώσομεν, μηδέ μιμνησκόμενοί τινος τῶν πρός ζωήν καί σύστασιν τοῦ φθαρτοῦ τούτου σώματος, μή τί γε μεριμνῶντες,