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you will truly benefit nothing. For being Joy, he does not condescend to enter a house of the afflicted and grieving, just as the money-loving bee does not enter a house of smoke; but when you have been made ready in freedom from care and in exultation, again he will be found within you, and then allow the Master to rest untroubled upon your soul as upon a couch.

And do not begin again to say within yourself that, if I do not weep before him, he will turn away from me as from one who is contemptuous. For if he wanted you, having arrived at perfection, to weep as one still repenting, he would have granted this to you for the purification and adornment of your house, by being seen by you from afar rather than being hidden or even shining upon you; but after repentance and your cleansing through tears, he has come to grant you rest from toils and groans, and joy and gladness instead of grief. Stand, therefore, I do not tell you only upright in body, but in the movements of the soul and its impulses. Give quiet, as the king of kings has come to your house. Say to all the gatekeepers of your house with sternness, I mean, to the senses themselves: (330) “The king,” he says, “stand well at the gates; stand in quiet and great fear.” Let no one coming to the door knock, let no cry from anyone near or far enter within, lest someone secretly leap inside unnoticed; and immediately the king, leaving us, will depart again.” Therefore, having said these things, stand in exultation of soul and cheerfulness, seeing your Master, the uncircumscribable, circumscribed within you uncircumscribably, and learning his unattainable beauty, perceiving incomprehensibly his all-holy face, which is unapproachable even to angels and archangels and all the heavenly powers. Be amazed, rejoice and, leaping spiritually, be glad and exult, paying attention with reverence to what he might command you to say or do.

Pay attention, therefore, to what is said to you. For not like earthly kings, being himself also in need of those under his hand, will he seek anything for his own service or need; for he is without need and, unless he first enriches his own servants, he does not come to their house. Since he, therefore, as has been said, is without need, and has enriched you and made you without need by his presence, pay attention to what he will speak in you, he who from so great a height has come forth inseparably from the blessed bosom of the Father and has come down from the heavens even to your lowliness. For you would never find him having done this incidentally, but our good and man-loving Master is always accustomed to do this for the salvation of many others as well. If therefore, as we said, you will honor and receive and give place and grant him quiet, know well that you will hear the ineffable things from the treasures of the Spirit, not by falling on the Master’s breast, (331) as formerly John, the beloved of Christ, but by carrying the whole Word of God within your breast; you will speak theologies both new and old, and you will understand well all the theologies already spoken and written, and you will become a melodious instrument, struck and sounding beyond all music.

But if you allow grief that has come from somewhere to emerge within the house, immediately joy flies away; if anger or wrath, at once the meek and serene one withdraws; if hatred and aversion toward someone, immediately he flees who is called Love and is in truth Love itself, self-subsistent and personal; if you let envy or strife draw near, the one who is unmindful of evils and good, abominating them, will become wholly invisible. And if he should perceive wickedness or duplicity with meddlesomeness wandering about outside the house and you do not quickly pursue them with anger, but he sees you rather mild toward his enemies

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ὠφελήσεις ὄντως οὐδέν. Χαράν γάρ ὤν, εἰς οἶκον θλιβομένων καί λυπουμένων εἰσελθεῖν οὐ καταδέχεται, ὡς οὐδ᾿ ἡ φιλαργός μέλιττα εἰς οἶκον καπνοῦ· ἐν ἀμεριμνίᾳ δέ καί ἀγαλλιάσει εὐτρεπισθέντος σου, πάλιν ἔνδον ἐν σοί εὑρεθήσεται, καί τότε ἔασον τόν ∆εσπότην ἀταράχως ἐπί τῆς ψυχῆς σου ὡς ἐπί κλίνης ἐπαναπαύσασθαι.

Καί μή ἄρξῃ πάλιν λέγειν ἐν σεαυτῷ ὅτι, εἰ μή κλαύσω ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, ὡς καταφρονητήν με ἀποστραφήσεται. Εἰ γάρ ἐβούλετο εἰς τελειότητά σε ἐλάσαντα ὡς ἔτι μετανοοῦντα κλαίειν, ἀπό μακρόθεν μᾶλλον ὁρώμενός σοι ἤ κρυπτόμενος ἤ καί ἐλλάμπων σε, τοῦτο ἄν πρός κάθαρσιν καί φιλοκαλίαν τῆς σῆς οἰκίας παρέσχε σοι· ἀλλά μετά τήν μετάνιαν καί τήν διά δακρύων σου κάθαρσιν παρεγένετο ἀνάπαυσίν σοι τῶν κόπων καί στεναγμῶν καί χαράν καί εὐφροσύνην ἀντί τῆς λύπης χαρίσασθαι. Στῆθι οὖν, οὐ λέγω σοι μόνον τῷ σώματι ὄρθιος, ἀλλά τοῖς κινήμασι τῆς ψυχῆς καί ταῖς ταύτης ὁρμαῖς. ∆ός ἡσυχίαν, ὡς τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν βασιλευόντων ἐπί τῆς οἰκίας παραγενομένου τῆς σῆς. Εἰπέ πᾶσι μετ᾿ ἐμβριμήσεως τοῖς ἐπί τῆς οἰκίας σου θυρωροῖς, αὐταῖς δή, φημί, ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι· (330) «Ὁ βασιλεύς, φησί, στῆτε καλῶς ἐπί τῶν θυρῶν· στῆτε ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ καί φόβῳ πολλῷ». Μηδείς πρός τῇ θύρᾳ ἐλθών κρούσειε, μή κραυγή τινος ἐγγύς που ἤ μακρόθεν ἐντός εἰσελεύσεται, μή λάθῃ τις ἔνδον εἰσπηδήσας λαθραίως· καί εὐθύς ὁ βασιλεύς καταλιπών ἡμᾶς πάλιν οἰχήσεται». Ταῦτα τοιγαροῦν εἰπών, στῆθι ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει ψυχῆς καί φαιδρότητι, τόν σόν ∆εσπότην τόν ἀπερίγραπτον ἐν σοί περιγραπτόν ἀπεριγράπτως ὁρῶν καί καταμανθάνων τό ἀμήχανον κάλλος αὐτοῦ, κατανοῶν δέ ἀκατανοήτως τό πανάγιον πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ, τό καί ἀγγέλοις καί ἀρχαγγέλοις καί πάσαις ταῖς οὐρανίαις δυνάμεσιν ἀπρόσιτον. Ἐκπλήττου, χαῖρε καί πνευματικῶς σκιρτῶν εὐφραίνου καί ἀγαλλία, προσέχων ἐν εὐλαβείᾳ τί ἄν κελεύσῃ εἰπεῖν ἤ ποιῆσαί σε.

Πρόσεχε τοίνυν τοῖς λεγομένοις σοι. Οὐ γάρ ὡς ἐπίγειοι βασιλεῖς, ἐπιδεής ὤν καί αὐτός τῶν ὑπό χεῖρα, εἰς ἰδίαν θεραπείαν ἤ χρείαν ἐπιζητήσοι τι· ἀνενδεής γάρ ἐστι καί, εἰ μή τούς ἑαυτοῦ δούλους πλουτίσει πρῶτον, οὐ παραγίνεται εἰς τήν οἰκίαν αὐτῶν. Ἐκείνου οὖν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ὄντος ἀνενδεοῦς, σέ δέ πλουτίσαντος καί ἀνενδεῆ πεποιηκότος τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ, πρόσεχε τί λαλήσει ἐν σοί ὁ τοσούτου ὕψους ἐκ τοῦ εὐλογημένου κόλπου τοῦ Πατρός ἐξελθών ἀχωρίστως καί ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν μέχρι τῆς σῆς ταπεινότητος κατελθών. Οὐ γάρ παρέργως τοῦτό ποτε εὕροις αὐτόν ἐργασάμενον, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπί σωτηρίᾳ καί ἄλλων πολλῶν εἴωθεν ἀεί τοῦτο ποιεῖν ὁ καλός καί φιλάνθρωπος ∆εσπότης ἡμῶν. Εἰ οὖν, ὡς εἴπομεν, τιμήσεις καί ἀποδέξῃ καί δώσεις τόπον καί ἡσυχίαν παράσχῃς αὐτῷ, εὖ ἴσθι ὅτι ἀκούσεις ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος θησαυρῶν τά ἀπόρρητα, οὐκ ἐπί τοῦ στήθους πίπτων τοῦ ∆εσποτικοῦ, (331) καθά τό πρίν ὁ ἠγαπημένος Χριστοῦ Ἰωάννης, ἀλλ᾿ ὅλον ἐνστήθιον φέρων τόν Λόγον τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ· θεολογίας θεολογήσεις καινάς τε καί παλαιάς καί πάσας νοήσεις τάς ἤδη ῥηθείσας καί γραφήσας θεολογίας καλῶς, καί γενήσῃ ὄργανον εὔηχον ὑπέρ ἅπασαν μουσικήν ἀνακρουόμενον καί φθεγγόμενον.

Ἐάν δέ λύπην ποθέν ἐπελθοῦσαν ἐάσῃς προκῦψαι τῆς οἰκίας ἐντός, εὐθύς ἀφίπταται ἡ χαρά· εἰ δέ ὀργήν ἤ θυμόν, αὐτίκα ὑποχωρεῖ ὁ πρᾷος καί γαληνός· εἰ δέ μῖσος καί ἀηδίαν κατά τινος, εὐθύς φεύγει ὁ ἀγάπη κληθείς καί ἀγάπη ὤν αὐτοφυής ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας καί ἐνυπόστατος· ἐάν φθόνον ἤ ἔριν πλησιάσαι ἀφῇς, ὁ ἀμνησίκακος καί ἀγαθός βδελυξάμενος αὐτά ὅλος ἀφανής γενήσεται. Εἰ δέ καί πονηρίαν ἤ ποικιλίαν μετά περιεργίας ἔξωθεν γνῷ τῆς οἰκίας περιερχομένας καί μή διώξῃς μετ᾿ ὀργῆς συντόμως αὐτάς, ἀλλά πραέως ἴδῃ σε μᾶλλον πρός τάς ἐχθράς αὐτῷ