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life nor being united to us does he provide life. Again, the creator is incorruptible, but created things are corruptible; for those who have sinned have introduced not only the body, but also their very souls into corruption, and in body and soul, according to this account, we are corruptible, as having all been seized together by the corruption of intelligible death and by that of sin. If then he who is by nature incorruptible be united to me who am corruptible, truly one of these things will be, which I am about to tell you: either he will change me and make me incorruptible, or the incorruptible one will be changed towards corruption; and thus perhaps I will not know him, he having suffered and become as I am; but if I, from being corruptible, become wholly incorruptible, being joined to the incorruptible, how would I not perceive it, how by the very experience would I not see nor know that I have become what I was not? For to say that God, being united to men, does not impart to them divine incorruptibility, but is rather dragged down with their corruption, (275) he who says this dogmatizes the destruction of the indestructible and blasphemes and himself falls completely away from life. But if this is impossible, accept rather the other option and hasten to partake of incorruptibility before the end. God is the light, but we are in darkness, or, to speak more truly, we ourselves are the darkness. For God will not shine elsewhere, do not be deceived, except only in the souls with which he is united before the end. But to the others, even if the preachers should shine, as I said, he will appear to them as a fire completely unapproachable, and he will test the work, of what sort each person's is, and again will be separated from them as from unworthy ones, and they will receive a fitting punishment. Nevertheless, here and there, he alone is the light of souls, but we are darkness, having un-illuminated souls; if therefore the light of souls be united to my soul, will that light be extinguished and become darkness, or will my soul, being illuminated, become as the light. For the light, when it is kindled, the darkness immediately flees, and yet that is the work of perceptible light. But if the light, being produced, works such things for you and illuminates your eyes and gladdens your soul and grants you to see things you did not see before, what will its creator not do, shining in the soul, he who said, "Let there be light," and it was immediately brought in? What then does it seem to you, if he shines intelligibly in the heart or in the mind like lightning or like a great sun, what will he be able to produce in the soul that is illuminated? Will he not illuminate it and grant it to know in precise knowledge, who he is?

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ζωή οὐδέ ζωήν ἡμῖν ἑνούμενος παρέχει. Πάλιν ὁ κτίστης ἄφθαρτος, τά κτίσματα φθαρτά δέ˙ καί γάρ οἱ ἁμαρτήσαντες οὐχί τό σῶμα μόνον, ἀλλά καί τάς ψυχάς αὐτάς εἰς φθοράν παρεισῆξαν, καί σώματι καί ψυχῇ κατά τόν λόγον τοῦτον φθαρτοί ἐσμεν, ὡς τῇ φθορᾷ τοῦ νοητοῦ θανάτου κρατηθέντες ὁμοῦ πάντες καί τῇ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Εἰ οὖν ὁ φύσει ἄφθαρτος ἑνωθῇ τῷ φθαρτῷ μοι, ὄντως ἕν τούτων ἔσεται, ὧνπερ λέγει σοι μέλλω˙ ἤ γάρ ἐμέ μεταβαλεῖ καί ἄφθαρτον ποιήσει ἤ πρός φθοράν μεταβληθῇ ὁ ἄφθαρτος˙ καί οὕτως ἴσως ἐγώ οὐ γνώσομαι ἐκείνου πεπονθότος καί γεγονότος ὡς ἐγώ˙ ἐγώ δ᾿ εἰ γένωμαί γε ἄφθαρτος ὅλος ἐκ φθαρτοῦ κολληθείς τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ, πῶς ἄν οὐκ αἰσθανθήσομαι, πῶς ἄν αὐτῇ τῇ πείρᾳ οὐκ ἴδω οὐδέ γνώσομαι γεγονώς, ὅ οὐκ ἤμην; Τό γάρ εἰπεῖν ὅτι Θεός ἑνούμενος ἀνθρώποις οὐ μεταδίδωσιν αὐτοῖς τῆς θείας ἀφθαρσίας, ἀλλά ἐκείνων τῇ φθορᾷ συγκατασπᾶται μᾶλλον, (275) τοῦ ἀνωλέθρου ὄλεθρον ὁ λέγων δογματίζει καί βλασφημεῖ καί τῆς ζωῆς αὐτός ὅλως ἐκπίπτει. Εἰ δέ τοῦτο ἀδύνατον, δέξαι μᾶλλον τό ἄλλο καί ἀφθαρσίας μετασχεῖν σπούδασον πρό τοῦ τέλους. Τό φῶς ὑπάρχει ὁ Θεός, οἱ ἐν σκότει ἡμεῖς δέ, ἤ ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, ἡμεῖς αὐτοί τό σκότος˙ οὐδέ γάρ λάμψει ἀλλαχοῦ ὁ Θεός, μή πλανᾶσθε, εἰ μή ἐν μόναις ταῖς ψυχαῖς, αἷς ἑνωθῇ πρό τέλους˙ τοῖς δ᾿ ἄλλοις, εἰ καί λάμψειεν οἱ κήρυκες, ὡς εἶπον, ὡς πῦρ αὐτοῖς φανήσεται ἀπρόσιτον εἰς ἅπαν, τό ἔργον δοκιμάσει τε, ὁποῖον τό ἑκάστου, καί πάλιν χωρισθήσεται τούτων ὡς ἀναξίων, ἐκεῖνοι δ᾿ ἀπολήψονται κόλασιν ἐπαξίαν. Ὅμως ἐνταῦθα καί ἐκεῖ φῶς ψυχῶν αὐτός μόνος, ἡμεῖς δέ σκότος τάς ψυχάς ἔχοντες ἀφωτίστους˙ εἰ οὖν τό φῶς τό τῶν ψυχῶν ἑνωθῇ τῇ ψυχῇ μου, ἐκεῖνο συσβεσθήσεται καί γενήσεται σκότος ἤ ἡ ψυχή μου ὡς τό φῶς ἔσεται φωτισθεῖσα. Τό φῶς γάρ, ὅταν ἀναφθῇ, φεύγει εὐθύς τό σκότος, καίτοι ἐστί τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ φωτός ἐκεῖνο ἔργον. Εἰ δέ τό φῶς παραχθέν ἐνεργεῖ σοι τοιαῦτα καί ὀφθαλμούς φωτίζει σου καί ψυχήν κατευφραίνει καί, ἅ τό πρίν οὐκ ἔβλεπες, χαρίζεται ὁρᾶν σοι, τί οὐ ποιήσει ἐν ψυχῇ λάμψας ὁ τούτου κτίστης, ὁ «Γενηθήτω φῶς» εἰπών καί εὐθύς παρεισήχθη; Τί δοκεῖ οὖν σοι, εἰ λάμψει νοερῶς ἐν καρδίᾳ ἤ ἐν νοΐ ὡς ἀστραπή ἤ ὡς ἥλιος μέγας, ἐμποιῆσαι δυνήσεται ψυχῇ τῇ ἐλλαμφθείσῃ; Οὐχί φωτίσει ταύτην γε καί γνωρίσαι παρέξει ἐν ἐπιγνώσει ἀκριβεῖ αὐτόν, ὅστις ὑπάρχει;