156

ΛΕ'.

That all the saints, being illumined, are enlightened and behold the glory of God, as it is permitted for human nature to see God. (278)

Look from above, my God, and be pleased to appear and to converse with a poor man. Reveal your light, opening the heavens for me, open my mind rather, enter even now within me. Speak, as of old, through my defiled tongue, concerning what some say, that now there is no one who has seen God knowingly, nor has there been before this, except for the apostles. But they say that not even those themselves clearly saw your God and Father, but they dogmatically declare [Him] to be unknown to all, likewise unseen, (279) putting forward the saying of your most beloved disciple John, who says: No man has ever seen God. Yes, my Christ, speak quickly, so that I may not seem to be speaking nonsense to the foolish. “Write,” He said, “what I say, write and do not hesitate. I was God before all days, hours, and times, but also all ages and all things seen and intelligible creatures. I was beyond mind and reason, and beyond all thought, alone with the Alone alone, and nothing of the things seen, nor even of the things unseen, truly was before it came to be. I alone uncreated with my Father and my Spirit

156

ΛΕ'.

Ὅτι πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι ἐλλαμπόμενοι αὐγάζονται καί τήν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καθορῶσιν, ὡς θεμιτόν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει Θεόν ὁρᾶν. (278)

Βλέψον ἄνωθεν, Θεέ μου, καί εὐδόκησον φανῆναι καί πτωχῷ προσομιλῆσαι. Ἀποκάλυψον τό φῶς σου διανοίξας οὐρανούς μοι, ἄνοιξον τόν νοῦν μου μᾶλλον, εἴσελθε καί νῦν ἐντός μου. Λάλησον, καθάπερ πάλαι, διά ῥυπαρᾶς μου γλώσσης, περί ὧν τινες λαλοῦσιν, ὅτι νῦν οὐδείς ὑπάρχει, ὅς Θεόν γνωστῶς κατεῖδεν, οὐδέ γέγονε πρό τούτου παρεκτός τῶν ἀποστόλων. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ αὐτούς ἐκείνους λέγουσι τρανῶς ἰδέσθαι τόν Θεόν σου καί Πατέρα, ἀλλά ἄγνωστον τοῖς πᾶσιν, ἀθεώρητον ὡσαύτως δογματίζουσιν ὑπάρχειν, (279) προβαλλόμενοι τό ῥῆμα τοῦ ὑπερηγαπημένου μαθητοῦ σου Ἰωάννου λέγοντος˙ Θεόν οὐδέπω ἑωράκει τις ἀνθρώπων. Ναί, Χριστέ μου, λέξον τάχος, ἵνα μή τοῖς ἀσυνέτοις ἔγωγε δόξω ληρεῖν. Γράφε, εἶπεν, ἅπερ λέγω, γράφε καί μή κατοκνήσῃς. Ἦ Θεός ἐγώ πρό πάντων ἡμερῶν, ὡρῶν καί χρόνων, ἀλλά καί αἰώνων πάντων καί τῶν ὁρωμένων πάντων νοουμένων τε κτισμάτων. Ἤμην ὑπέρ νοῦν καί λόγον, ὑπέρ ἔννοιάν τε πᾶσαν μόνος μετά μόνου μόνος, καί οὐδέν τῶν ὁρωμένων, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ τῶν ἀοράτων ἦν πρό τοῦ γενέσθαι ὄντως. Μόνος ἄκτιστος ἐγώ σύν Πατρί καί Πνεύματί μου