143

and raises this one to a height and leads him up to heaven and unites him with the divine light. The things I have told you, before you do them, how, tell me, will you be purified? But before you are purified, how will your mind receive the divine splendors? And how, tell me, and from where else, will the divine fire, having fallen into your heart, be kindled and set it ablaze and enflame it and unite it and join it and make the created inseparable from the creator? By no means ever, you will say to me, will this be possible (256) for anyone who has been born or who is about to be born. Do not ask the things that come after! For if you are united with the light, it itself will teach you all things and will reveal all things and will show you as much as is profitable for you to learn. For otherwise it is impossible for you to learn the things there by word; to our Lord be glory unto the ages of ages; amen.

31.

Concerning theology and that the divine nature is unsearchable and in every way incomprehensible to men. (257)

O Lord, our God, Father, Son and Spirit, You are without form in shape, but all-beautiful in appearance, obscuring every sight by Your unapproachable beauty, beautiful beyond sight, for You are above all things. Unquantifiable in quantity, being seen by whom You will, super-essential essence, unknown even to angels; for that You were, they know from Your energies, since You named Yourself God, the one who truly is, this we call essence, we name hypostasis; for that which is not, being without essence, is without hypostasis, and for this reason we boldly call You en-essenced, we say You are en-hypostasized, whom no one has ever seen, the tri-hypostatic God, one unoriginate origin.

143

καί εἰς ὕψος τοῦτον αἴρει καί πρός οὐρανόν ἀνάγει καί ἑνοῖ φωτί τῷ θείῳ. Ἅ σοι εἶπον, πρίν ποιήσῃς, πῶς, εἰπέ μοι, καθαρθήσῃ; Πρό τοῦ καθαρθῆναι δέ σε, πῶς ὁ νοῦς σου λαμπηδόνας ὑποδέξεται τάς θείας; Πῶς δέ, λέγε μοι, καί πόθεν ἄλλοθεν τῇ σῇ καρδίᾳ ἐμπεσόν τό πῦρ τό θεῖον ἀναφθήσεται καί ταύτην ἐξανάψει καί πυρώσει καί ἑνώσει καί συνάψει καί ἀχώριστον ποιήσει τό κτιστόν μετά τοῦ κτίστου; Οὐδαμῶς ποτέ, μοί φήσεις, τοῦτο δυνατόν ὑπάρξειν (256) οὐδενί τῶν γεννηθέντων ἤ γεννήσεσθαι μελλόντων. Τά δ᾿ ἐντεῦθεν μή ἐρώτα! Εἰ ἑνωθῇς γάρ τῷ φωτί, πάντα σοι αὐτό διδάξει καί ἀποκαλύψει πάντα καί καθυποδείξει, ὅσα καί συμφέρει τοῦ μαθεῖν σε. Ἄλλως γάρ ἀδύνατόν σε τά ἐκεῖσε μαθεῖν λόγῳ˙ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν δόξα εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων˙ ἀμήν.

ΛΑ'.

Περί θεολογίας καί ὅτι ἀνεξερεύνητος ἡ θεία φύσις καί πάντῃ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀκατανόητος. (257)

Κύριε, ὁ Θεός ἡμῶν, Πάτερ, Υἱέ καί Πνεῦμα, σύ τῇ μορφῇ ἀνείδεος, παγκαλής δέ τῇ θέᾳ, τῷ ἀμηχάνῳ κάλλει σου ἀμαυρῶν πᾶσαν θέαν, ὡραῖος ὑπέρ ὅρασιν ὑπέρκεισαι γάρ πάντων. Ἄποσος ἐν ποσότητι, ὁρώμενος, οἷς βούλει, οὐσία ὑπερούσιος, ἄγνωστος καί ἀγγέλοις˙ ὅτι γάρ ἦς, γινώσκοντες ἐκ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν σου, ἐπεί αὑτόν ὠνόμασας Θεόν, τόν ὄντως ὄντα, τοῦτο οὐσίαν λέγομεν, ὑπόστασιν καλοῦμεν˙ τό γάρ μή ὄν ἀνούσιον ὄν ἀνυπόστατον πέλει, καί διά τοῦτο τολμηρῶς ἐνούσιον καλοῦμεν, ἐνυπόστατον λέγομεν, ὅν οὐδείς ποτε εἶδε, τόν τρισυπόστατον Θεόν, ἀρχήν ἄναρχον μίαν.