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to the heavenly powers. Glory to you, who has ineffable mercy towards us and deems us worthy, through repentance, to dwell and walk within us.

O the greatness of unspoken glory, O the excess of love. He who holds all things together, dwells within a corruptible and mortal man, all of whose parts are held together by the power of the one dwelling within, and man becomes like a pregnant woman. O ecstatic wonder and incomprehensible works and mysteries of the incomprehensible God. Man consciously bears God within himself as light, the one who brought forth and created all things, and him who bears him; he bears him within like a treasure that is ineffable, unspeakable, without quality, without quantity, without form, immaterial, unshaped, formed in impossible beauty, wholly simple like light, the one who is above all light, and clasping his hands on the outside he walks in our midst, unknown to all those who are with him. Who then shall worthily narrate the joy of such a man? For what else would such a man desire? Than what king will he not be more blessed and more glorious? Than what ruler not exceptionally more powerful? Than what, or how many visible worlds, will he not be richer? Of what, then, will such a man ever be in need? Truly, of none of God’s good things whatsoever.

But see, you who have been deemed worthy to become such a man, that I may direct my word to you, who has acquired the whole of God as a dweller within yourself, lest you ever do or bring forth from your lips anything unworthy of his will, and you will immediately lose the treasure hidden in you, as he departs from you. Honor him as much as you can and introduce nothing that is not pleasing to him, nor naturally belonging to him, into his house, and he will leave you and depart, angry with you. (329) Do not speak much to him, nor fall down shamelessly, reasoning in yourself and saying, “I will show exceeding warmth and much zeal of love for him, so that he may accept my intention and know that I love and honor him.” Know then that, before you think these things, he knows all your thoughts and nothing is hidden from him. But do not even attempt to grasp him with intelligible hands; for he is ungraspable and as soon as you dare to touch him or think to restrain him, you will have nothing inside, but immediately he will disappear completely from you and you will repent greatly and weep, crushing and scourging yourself, and you will truly profit nothing. For being joy, he does not deign to enter a house of the afflicted and grieving, just as the industrious bee does not enter a house of smoke; but when you have been prepared in freedom from care and in exultation, he will be found again within you, and then allow the Master to rest untroubled upon your soul as upon a couch.

And do not begin to say again in yourself that, if I do not weep before him, he will turn away from me as a despiser. For if he wished you, having advanced to perfection, still to weep as one repenting, being seen by you rather from afar or being hidden or even shining upon you, he would have granted this to you for the cleansing and beautification of your house; but after repentance and your cleansing through tears he came 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. Grant quiet, as the king of kings has come to your house. Say to all the gatekeepers of your house with sternness, that is, I say, to the senses themselves: (330) “The king,” it says, “stand well at the gates; stand in quiet and with much fear.” Let no one at the door

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οὐρανίαις δυνάμεσι. ∆όξα σοί, τῷ ἄφατον ἔχοντι τό πρός ἡμᾶς ἔλεος καί ἐν ἡμῖν διά τῆς μετανοίας καταξιοῦντι ἐνοικεῖν τε καί ἐμπεριπατεῖν.

Ὤ μέγεθος δόξης ἀρρήτου, ὤ ἀγάπης ὑπερβολή. Ὁ τά πάντα συνέχων, ἐντός ἀνθρώπου ἐγκατοικεῖ φθαρτοῦ καί θνητοῦ, οὗ τά πάντα ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἰσχύϊ διακρατούμενά εἰσι, καί γίνεται ἄνθρωπος οἷα δή ἐγκυμονοῦσα γυνή. Ὤ θαύματος ἐκστατικοῦ καί ἀκατανοήτου Θεοῦ ἀκατανόητα ἔργα τε καί μυστήρια. Ἄνθρωπος βαστάζει γνωστῶς ἐντός αὐτοῦ τόν Θεόν ὡς φῶς, τόν τά πάντα, καί αὐτόν τόν βαστάζοντα, παραγαγόντα καί κτίσαντα· βαστάζει τοῦτον ἐντός ὥσπερ θησαυρόν ἄφραστον, ἀνεκλάλητον, ἄποιον, ἄποσον, ἀνίδεον, ἄϋλον, ἀσχημάτιστον, ἐν ἀμηχάνῳ κάλλει μεμορφωμένον, ὅλον ἁπλοῦν ὥσπερ φῶς τόν ὑπέρ πᾶν φῶς, καί περισφίγγων ἔξω τάς χεῖρας περιπατεῖ μέσον ἡμῶν, ἀγνοούμενος παρά πάντων τῶν συνόντων αὐτῷ. Τίς οὖν τήν χαράν τοῦ τοιούτου ἀνθρώπου ἀξίως ἐκδιηγήσεται; Τίνος γάρ ἄλλου ἐπιθυμήσειεν ὁ τοιοῦτος; Ποίου βασιλέως οὐκ ἔσται μακαριώτερός τε καί ἐνδοξότερος; Ποίου δυνάστου οὐ διαφερόντως δυνατώτερος; Ποίου, ἤ πόσων ὁρωμένων κόσμων, οὐκ ἔσεται πλουσιώτερος; Τίνος δέ ἄρα ὑστερηθήσεται ὁ τοιοῦτος ποτε; Ὄντως οὐδενός οὐδαμοῦ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Ἀλλά βλέπε, ὁ τοιοῦτος γενέσθαι ἀξιωθείς, ἵνα πρός σέ τόν λόγον ἰθύνω, ὁ ἔνοικον κτησάμενος ὅλον ἐν σεαυτῷ τόν Θεόν, μήποτε ἀνάξιόν τι τοῦ θελήματος, αὐτοῦ ἤ πράξῃς ἤ ἐκ χειλέων προφέρῃς, καί εὐθύς ἀπολέσεις τόν ἐν σοί κεκρυμμένον θησαυρόν, ἀπαναστάντος αὐτοῦ ἀπό σοῦ. Τίμησον αὐτόν ὅσον εἰς δύναμιν καί μηδέν τῶν αὐτῷ μή ἀρεσκόντων, μηδέ προσόντων αὐτῷ φυσικῶς, παρεισάξῃς εἰς τήν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ, καί ἐάσας σε ἀναχωρήσει ὀργισθείς κατά σοῦ. (329) Μή πολυλόγει πρός αὐτόν, μηδέ πρόσπιπτε, ἀναισχύντως ἐν σεαυτῷ λογιζόμενος καί λέγων «Ἐπιδείξομαι ὑπερβάλλουσαν θερμότητα καί ζῆλον ἀγάπης πολύν τῆς πρός αὐτόν, ἵνα μου τήν πρόθεσιν ἀποδέξηται καί γνῷ ὅτι ἀγαπῶ καί τιμῶ αὐτόν». Ἴσθι οὖν ὅτι, πρό τοῦ ταῦτα ἐννοῆσαί σε, ἐκεῖνος πάντας τούς διαλογισμούς σου ἐπίσταται καί οὐδέν αὐτόν λέληθεν. Ἀλλά γάρ μηδέ νοεραῖς χερσί κρατῆσαι αὐτόν ἐπιχειρήσῃς· ἄληπτος γάρ ἐστι καί ὅσον ἅψασθαι αὐτοῦ τολμήσεις ἤ κατασχεῖν αὐτόν οἰηθῇς, ἕξεις ἔνδον οὐδέν, ἀλλ᾿ εὐθύς ὅλος ἀφαντωθήσεται ἀπό σοῦ καί πολλά μεταμεληθήσῃ καί κλαύσεις, συντρίβων σεαυτόν καί μαστίζων, καί 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