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how can it grant you sight? In no way, you would surely tell me, could it ever be possible. (254) Thus, therefore, you too be eager to do so and you will receive What do I say to you, that you will receive? a spark of the divine nature, which the Creator likened to a pearl of great price and to a grain of mustard seed. What do I say you should do? Listen with diligence, child: let your soul and body be in place of the stone and the iron, and let the intellect, as the master of the passions, be occupied with virtuous actions and God-pleasing thoughts, and holding the body as the stone, and the soul as the iron, with noetic hands, let it drag and lead them to these actions with force; for the kingdom of heaven is taken by force. What actions do I mean? Vigil and fasting, fervent repentance, showers of tears and mourning, unceasing remembrance of death, unceasing prayer and patience in all sorts of temptations that come upon you; before all these, silence and deep humility (255) and perfect obedience and the cutting off of the will. When the soul is occupied with these and such things and is always constrained, it causes your intellect to receive illuminations at first, but they are quickly extinguished, because it has not yet been refined, so that it might also be quickly kindled. But when the divine ray touches the heart, then it illuminates it and purifies the intellect

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πῶς τοῦ βλέπειν σοι παράσχει; Οὐδαμῶς, μοί πάντως εἴπῃς, δυνατόν ποτε γενέσθαι. (254) Οὕτως οὖν καί σύ ποιῆσαι προθυμήθητι καί λήψῃς Τί σοι λέγω, ὅτι λήψῃ; θείας φύσεως σπινθῆρα, ὅν ὡμοίωσεν ὁ κτίστης πολυτίμῳ μαργαρίτῃ καί σινάπεως τῷ κόκκῳ. Τί ποιῆσαι δέ σοι λέγω; Ἄκουσον ἐμπόνως, τέκνον˙ ἔστω σοι ψυχή καί σῶμα ἀντί λίθου καί σιδήρου, ὁ δέ νοῦς ὡς αὐτοκράτωρ τῶν παθῶν ἀδολεσχείτω πράξεσι ταῖς ἐναρέτοις καί ἐννοίαις θεαρέστοις καί ὡς λίθον μέν τό σῶμα, ὡς δέ σίδηρον τήν ψυχήν χερσί νοηταῖς κρατήσας ἑλκυέτω καί ἀγέτω πρός τάς πράξεις μετά βίας˙ βιαστή καί γάρ ὑπάρχει οὐρανῶν ἡ βασιλεία. Ποίας πράξεις δέ σοι λέγω; Ἀγρυπνίαν καί νηστείαν, θερμήν τε μετάνοιαν, δακρύων ὄμβρους καί πένθος, ἄπαυστον θανάτου μνήμην, ἀδιάλειπτον εὐχήν τε καί ὑπομονήν πάντοίων πειρασμῶν ἐπερχομένων˙ πρό τούτων πάντων σιωπήν καί ταπείνωσιν βαθεῖαν (255) καί ὑπακοήν τελείαν καί θελήματος ἐκκοπήν. Τούτοις οὖν καί τοῖς τοιούτοις ἡ ψυχή ἀδολεσχοῦσα καί ἀεί συνεχομένη λαμπηδόνας μέν ἐν πρώτοις δέχεσθαι ποιεῖ τόν νοῦν σου, ἀλλά σβέννυται συντόμως, ὅτι οὔπω ἐλεπτύνθη, ἵνα καί συντόμως ἅψῃ. Ὅτε δέ καί τῆς καρδίας ἅψεται βολίς ἡ θεία, τότε καί αὐτήν φωτίζει καί τόν νοῦν ἀποκαθαίρει