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neither sensible nor intelligible, nor does it fall under sensation as sensation, nor under the intellectual power in itself. Therefore, not only that which is seen, but also the seeing power—that spiritual light—is neither sensation nor intellection, but a certain spiritual power, which comes into being by grace in the pure rational natures of created beings.

For this reason Gregory the great Theologian has called the good angels not only “beholders of eternal glory,” but also “eternally,” showing that the angels behold the eternal glory of God not by a created, natural, and intellectual power, but by an eternal, spiritual, and divine power, “not so that God may be glorified,” he says, “for there is nothing that can be added to the full one who is (p. 674) the provider of good things to others, but so that being benefited may not be lacking even to the first natures after God.” Do you see how they do not possess from their nature the ability to see the eternal glory eternally, but being benefited by the eternal nature, they receive this power and vision, just as the saints do? “For that which has been moved by the Holy Spirit with an eternal motion has become a holy living being,” according to Basil the Great. “And man, when the spirit came to dwell in him, received the dignity of a prophet, an apostle, an angel, of God, though he was formerly ‘earth and ashes’.” And the intellects that are blessed with such a power are themselves said to see; thus that light is according to the intellect and beyond the intellect. But they are also said to see themselves, for that light allows one to see oneself, since by a created cognitive power it is incomprehensible, but visible to the worthy.

For this reason Dionysius the Great said that the intellects “move circularly, being united to the unoriginate and unending illuminations.” And one must also note this, that this one who was more precise in all things than all others did not simply say that the intellects move circularly, being united to the unoriginate illuminations, but that they are “said” to move, indicating, as I suppose, that such a union is not natural to them, even if, because they never had experience of defilement, they happen to be allotted grace from the beginning. And that such a light and the power that sees it are not naturally present in the supermundane angels, there is even from their most hated enemy a more trustworthy testimony, which they say he furnishes: for the fall of those ones and the demonic race is deprived of the light and the power that sees it, but of none of their natural attributes. Therefore neither that light nor that vision is natural. And indeed the demonic race is not deprived of intellection either; for they are intellects and have not cast off their being and, “I know who you are,” they say, (p. 676) “the Holy One of God,” who “did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.” Therefore the Theologian also said: “Do you disbelieve in the divinity? Not even the demons do.” But if they know the divinity, they must also know this, that it is none of the created things.

Therefore that light is not knowledge, neither that which comes about through affirmations nor that which comes about through negation. And indeed each of the wicked angels is an intellect, but an "Assyrian," to speak prophetically, using knowledge badly. But it is not possible for anyone to use that light badly; for as soon as one inclines toward worse things, it immediately flies away, leaving desolate of God the one who has used his consent wickedly. Therefore that light and the illumination are not intellection, unless it be said homonymously, especially because of the blessed intellect, just as divinity is because of the one who energizes the ineffable grace. For it is a deifying energy, in no way separated from the energizing Spirit, of the one who is illuminated through purity and in the very act of being illuminated, which is why it is also called purity by the fathers, while the light and the illumination are unoriginate. And this is shown more in the case of men, that is, of those who have been angelically illuminated and have attained deification, who according to the

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αἰσθητόν μήτε νοητόν οὐδ᾿ αἰσθήσει ᾗ αἰσθήσει ὑποπίπτει οὐδέ νοερᾷ δυνάμει καθ᾿ αὑτήν. Οὐκοῦν οὐ μόνον τό ὁρώμενον, ἀλλά καί ἡ ὁρῶσα δύναμις τό πνευματικόν ἐκεῖνο φῶς, οὔτ᾿ αἴσθησίς ἐστιν οὔτε νόησις, ἀλλά πνευματική τις δύναμις, τῶν κτιστῶν λογικαῖς καθαραῖς φύσεσιν ἐγγινομένη χάριτι.

∆ιά τοῦτο καί Γρηγόριος ὁ μέγας θεολόγος οὐ μόνον «θεωρούς δόξης ἀϊδίου» τούς ἀγαθούς ἀγγέλους εἴρηκεν, ἀλλά καί «ἀϊδίως», δεικνύς ὡς οὐ κτιστῇ, φυσικῇ καί νοερᾷ δυνάμει τήν ἀΐδιον δόξαν οἱ ἄγγελοι θεωροῦσι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλά δυνάμει ἀϊδίῳ, πνευματικῇ καί θεϊκῇ, «οὐχ ἵνα δοξασθῇ Θεός», φησίν, «οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ὅ προστεθήσεται τῷ πλήρει καί (σελ. 674) τοῖς ἄλλοις χορηγῷ τῶν καλῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα μή λείπῃ τό εὐεργετεῖσθαι καί ταῖς πρώταις μετά Θεόν φύσεσιν». Ὁρᾷς ὡς οὐκ ἀπό φύσεως ἔχουσι τήν ἀΐδιον δόξαν ἀϊδίως ὁρᾶν, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπό τῆς ἀϊδίου φύσεως εὐεργετούμενοι τήν δύναμιν ταύτην καί τήν θεωρίαν προσλαμβάνονται, καθάπερ καί οἱ ἅγιοι; «Τό γάρ κινηθέν ὑπό Πνεύματος ἁγίου κίνησιν ἀΐδιον, ζῶον ἅγιον ἐγένετο» κατά τόν μέγαν Βασίλειον˙ «ἔσχε δέ ἄνθρωπος, πνεύματος εἰσοικισθέντος ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀξίαν προφήτου, ἀποστόλου, ἀγγέλου, Θεοῦ, ὤν πρότερον "γῆ καί σποδός". Τοιαύτης δέ δυνάμεως οἱ νόες εὐμοιροῦντες, αὐτοί λέγονται ὁρᾶν, οὕτω κατά νοῦν καί ὑπέρ νοῦν ἐστι τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο˙ ἀλλά καί ἑαυτούς λέγονται ὁρᾶν, αὐτοπτικόν γάρ ἐκεῖνό ἐστι τό φῶς, ἐπεί γνωστικῇ κτιστῇ δυνάμει ἄληπτον, ὁρατόν δέ τοῖς ἀξίοις.

∆ιά τοῦτο ὁ μέγας ∆ιονύσιος «κυκλικῶς εἶπε κινεῖσθαι τούς νόας, ἑνουμένους ταῖς ἀνάρχοις καί ἀτελευτήτοις ἐλλάμψεσιν. Ἐπιστῆσαι δέ καί τοῦτο χρή, ὡς οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὁ πάνθ᾿ ὑπέρ ἅπαντας ἠκριβωμένος οὗτος κυκλικῶς τούς νόας εἴρηκε κινεῖσθαι ταῖς ἀνάρχοις ἑνουμένους ἐλλάμψεσιν, ἀλλά "λέγεσθαι" κινεῖσθαι, ὑποσημαίνων, ὡς ἐγᾦμαι, τό μή φυσικήν αὐτοῖς εἶναι τήν τοιαύτην ἕνωσιν, εἰ καί διά τό μολυσμοῦ πεῖραν οὐδέποτε λαβεῖν συγκεκληρωμένοι τυγχάνουσιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς τῇ χάριτι. Ὅτι δέ τό τοιοῦτο φῶς καί ἡ ὁρῶσα τοῦτο δύναμις οὐ φυσικῶς τοῖς ὑπερκοσμίοις ἔννεστιν ἀγγέλοις καί παρά τοῦ ἐχθίστου τούτοις ἔνι μαρτυρίαν αὖθις ἀξιοπιστοτέραν, ὅ φασι παρίσασθαι˙ τό γάρ ἔκπτωσιν ἐκείνων καί δαιμόνιον φῦλον τοῦ μέν φωτός καί τῆς ὁρώσης τοῦτο δυνάμεως ἐστέρηται, οὐδενός δέ τῶν φυσικῶν οὐκ ἄρα φυσικόν οὔτε τό φῶς οὔτε ἡ ὅρασις ἐκείνη. Καί μήν οὐδέ νοήσεως ἐστέρηται τό δαιμόνιον φῦλον˙ νόες γάρ εἰσι καί τό εἶναι οὐκ ἀποβεβλήκασι καί, «οἶδά σε τίς εἶ», φασίν, (σελ. 676) «ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ», ὅς «καί οὐκ ἠφίει τά δαιμόνια λαλεῖν, ὅτι ἤδεισαν τόν Χριστόν αὐτόν εἶναι». ∆ιό καί ὁ θεολόγος εἶπεν˙ «ἀπιστεῖς τῇ θεότητι; τοῦτο οὐδέ οἱ δαίμονες». Εἰ δέ θεότητα ἴσασι, καί τοῦτ᾿ εἰδέναι αὐτούς ἀνάγκη, ὅτι τῶν κτιστῶν οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐκείνη.

Οὐκ ἄρα γνῶσίς ἐστι τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο, οὔτε ἡ διά καταφάσεων οὔτε ἡ δι᾿ ἀποφάσεως προσγενομένη. Καί μέν δή νοῦς μέν ἐστι τῶν πονηρῶν ἕκαστος ἀγγέλων, ἀλλ᾿ "ἀσσύριος", προφητικῶς εἰπεῖν, κακῶς χρώμενος τῇ γνώσει˙ τῷ δέ φωτί ἐκείνῳ χρῆσθαί τιναν κακῶς οὐκ ἔνι˙ πρός γάρ τά χείρω νεύσαντος εὐθύς ἀφίπταται, καταλιπών ἔρημον Θεοῦ τόν πονηρᾷ χρησάμενον συγκαταθέσει. Τοιγαροῦν τό φῶς ἐκεῖνο καί ἡ ἔλλαμψις νόησις οὐκ ἔστιν, εἰ μή ὁμωνύμως λέγοιτο, μάλιστα διά τόν εὐμοιροῦντα νοῦν, ὥσπερ καί θεότης διά τόν ἐνεργοῦντα τήν ἀπόρρητον χάριν˙ θεοποιός γάρ ἐστιν ἐνέργεια, τοῦ ἐνεργοῦντος Πνεύματος ἥκιστα χωριζομένη, ἠργμένου μέν τοῦ διά καθαρότητα πεφωτισμένου καί κατ᾿ αὐτό τό πεφωτίσθαι, διό καί καθαρότης τοῦτο παρά τῶν πατέρων ὀνομάζεται, τοῦ δέ φωτός καί τῆς ἐλλάμψεως ἀνάρχου οὔσης. Καί τοῦτο δείκνυται μᾶλλον ἐπί τῶν ἀνθρώπων, δηλαδή τῶν ἀγγελικῶς πεφωτισμένων ἐπιτυχόντων τῆς θεώσεως, οἵ κατά τόν