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come and knock, lest a cry from someone near or far enter within, lest someone leap inside secretly unnoticed; and immediately the king will leave us and go away again." Therefore, having said these things, stand in the exultation and brightness of soul, seeing your uncircumscribable Master indescribably circumscribed in you and perceiving His unapproachable beauty, and understanding incomprehensibly His all-holy face, which is inaccessible to angels and archangels and all the heavenly powers. Be astonished, rejoice and, leaping spiritually, be glad and exult, paying attention with reverence to what He might command you to say or to do.

Pay attention therefore to what is said to you. For not like earthly kings, being himself 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 came forth inseparably from the blessed bosom of the Father and came down from the heavens to your lowliness. For you would never find Him doing this incidentally, but our good and man-loving Master is always accustomed to do this for the salvation of many others also. If therefore, as we said, you will honor and receive Him and give Him place and grant Him quiet, know well that you will hear the ineffable things from the treasures of the Spirit, not by falling upon the Master's breast, (331) as did John, the beloved of Christ, before, but carrying the whole Word of God in your breast; you will speak theologies new and old, and you will understand well all the theologies already spoken and written, and you will become a well-sounding instrument, struck and uttering sound beyond all music.

But if you allow a grief that has come from somewhere to peep inside the house, joy immediately flies away; if you allow anger or wrath, the meek and calm One at once withdraws; if you allow hatred and aversion against someone, He who is called Love and is in truth innate and personal Love, immediately flees; if you permit envy or strife to approach, the One who forgets evils and is good, abominating them, will wholly disappear. And if He perceives wickedness or duplicity with meddlesomeness wandering outside the house, and you do not swiftly drive them away with anger, but He sees you being gently disposed rather toward His enemies and deigning that they approach Him, the simple and guileless and unmeddlesome One will not even make His withdrawal known to you, but will leave you as one who is insensible. But if you, who were deemed worthy to encounter such a Master, who became a spectator of such glory, who came into possession of such wealth, I mean the kingdom of heaven, which is God Himself, and you keep all the things mentioned from entering the house of your soul, and also make complete quiet from these things for the king, but turning your face, that is, your mind, elsewhere, you converse and speak with another, having clearly given your back to the inaccessible God, upon whom all the heavenly armies gaze fixedly with fear and trembling, will He not justly abandon you at once as a scorner and an unworthy one? But you say He is a lover of mankind? I too say this to you, but toward those who are sensible (332) of His love for mankind and worthily honor and thank Him. But if, counting His love and sweetness as nothing, you should incline toward the love of another and bind the whole impulse of your soul in it and be delighted with some pleasure, perhaps of food or drink or clothing or a beautiful sight or gold or silver, or your soul should take the impression of the desire for some other thing within, will not the One who is by nature pure and chaste and undefiled, who also made you such through the

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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 φερόμενον καί ταύτας αὐτῷ πλησιάζειν καταδεχόμενον, οὐδέ τήν ὑποχώρησιν αὐτοῦ ὁ ἁπλοῦς καί ἄκακος καί ἀπερίεργος γνῶναί σε ποιήσει, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἀναίσθητον καταλείψει σε. Ἐάν δέ σύ, ὁ τοιούτῳ ∆εσπότῃ καταξιωθείς ἐντυχεῖν, ὁ τοιαύτης δόξης γενόμενος θεατής, ὁ τοιούτου πλούτου, τῆς βασιλείας λέγω τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἥτις αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός, ἐν κατασχέσει γενόμενος, ἐκ μέν τῶν εἰρημένων ἁπάντων φυλάξῃς τοῦ μή εἰσελθεῖν ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ σου τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀλλά καί ἡσυχίαν πᾶσαν ἐκ τούτων ποιήσῃς τῷ βασιλεῖ, τό δέ πρόσωπόν σου ἤτοι τόν νοῦν στρέψας ἄλλοθεν, ἑτέρῳ προσδιαλέγῃ καί ὁμιλεῖς, τόν νῶτόν σου δούς δηλονότι τῷ ἀπροσίτῳ Θεῷ, ᾧ πᾶσαι μετά φόβου καί τρόμου ἀσκαρδαμυκτί ἐνατενίζουσιν αἱ οὐράνιαι στρατιαί, οὐχί δικαίως ὡς καταφρονητήν καί ἀνάξιον εὐθύς αὐτός καταλείψει σε; Ἀλλά λέγεις εἶναι τοῦτον φιλάνθρωπον; Κἀγώ τοῦτό σοι λέγω, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς τούς ἐπαισθανομένους (332) τῆς φιλανθρωπίας αὐτοῦ καί ἀξίως τιμῶντας καί ἀπευχαριστοῦντας αὐτῷ. Εἰ δέ, καί τήν ἀγάπην καί τήν τούτου γλυκύτητα εἰς οὐδέν ἡγησάμενος, πρός ἑτέρου τινός νεύσεις ἀγάπην δεσμεύσεις ὅλως τήν ὁρμήν ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς ψυχῆς σου καί ἡδονῇ τινος ἡδυνθῇς, βρώσεως τυχόν ἤ πόσεως ἤ ἐνδύματος ἤ ὄψεως εὐειδοῦς ἤ χρυσίου ἤ ἀργυρίου, ἤ τινος ἑτέρου εἴδους ἐπιθυμίαν ἐναπομάξῃ σου ἔνδοθεν ἡ ψυχή, ἆρα ὁ φύσει καθαρός καί ἁγνός καί ἀμίαντος, ὁ καί σέ τοιοῦτον ποιήσας διά τοῦ