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man, the very eternal and unsuccessive kingdom of God, the very light beyond mind and inaccessible, a heavenly light, infinite, timeless, eternal, a light flashing forth incorruption, a light deifying those being deified; for they saw this very thing which they later also possessed as an indwelling, the grace of the Spirit; for there is one grace of the Father, Son, and Spirit, which, though they saw with bodily eyes, yet with them opened, so as to become seeing from being blind, according to the divine John of Damascus, and to see that uncreated light, which even in the age to come will be ceaselessly visible to the saints alone, according to Saint Dionysius and Maximus.

Do you see that the divine energies in God, which are invisible to created power, the saints, having transcended themselves, see through the Spirit? "For he who has been deemed worthy," he says, "to be in God, will know all the pre-existing principles of beings in him through a certain simple and undivided knowledge"; and again, "the soul, having been gathered to itself and to God, will no longer be subject to the reason which divides it into many things and according to conception, its head being crowned (p. 712) by the first and only and one Word and God, in whom all the principles of beings pre-exist uniformly in one incomprehensible simplicity, on whom gazing, not as on one outside of itself, but being wholly in the Whole in a simple application, it will itself also know the principles of beings, on account of which, perhaps, before being wedded to the Word and God, it was subject to divisive methods." Do you see how those who have come to be in God and have been deified and gaze divinely upon him do not see as we do? For wondrously they see with the senses things beyond sense, and with the mind things beyond mind, the power of the Spirit arising in their human faculties, through which they see things beyond us. Since we, then, always join what is beyond sense to sense, so that the supernatural and the above-named aspect of that vision might be shown, the sophist of evil, dividing sophistically, thinks he is saying something against us and deceives those who are childish in mind, babbling against those who perhaps think the divine is sensible, as if one were to say that God has substance, or is one of the universals which is contemplated by mere conception alone and does not truly exist, or one of the particulars. To whom I would say what we too rightly say to this aptly-named Latin-Greek, "you seem to understand the discourses about God as much as an ox and an ass understand singing." For thus you mishear and accuse us who speak of what is spiritual and beyond mind from our perspective as if we were speaking of it as sensible, and, while that which is relative is most different from that which is in itself, you yourself hear it as the same, and as many things concerning God as you consider natural and relative.

"But God," he says, "will be no different from visible things, if he is seen from the things around him; for each of these is seen (p. 714) not from what it is in itself, but from the things around it; for sight does not perceive the substance of the sun, but the things around it." First, then, from the example you have proposed, you willingly show yourself a slanderer of God and of his saints; for the sun and the ray and that from which the ray is called, and there are not two suns because of this; therefore there is one God, even if the deifying grace from God is spoken of as divine, and the light is one of the things around the sun, not, therefore, the substance of the sun. How then is the light from God that shines upon the saints the substance of God? And what of the light of the sun? Does it become visible or did it exist even before being seen? Surely much more so the light that deifies those who behold it. Furthermore, if because of this God differs in no way from visible things, how then is he not seen by you and those like you, and indeed by men much better than you? Let your eyes, therefore, being blind to the light beheld by the saints, also shut your mouth, which blasphemes against that divine light with such things, teaching that it is not natural, nor visible through the air. He himself affirming this, not even the age to come unaffected

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ἄνθρωπος, αὐτήν τήν ἀΐδιον καί ἀδιάδοχον βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, αὐτό τό ὑπέρ νοῦν καί ἀπρόσιτον φῶς, φῶς οὐράνιον, ἄπλετον, ἄχρονον, ἀΐδιον, φῶς ἀπαστράπτον ἀφθαρσίαν, φῶς θεοῦν τούς θεουμένους˙ αὐτήν γάρ εἶδον ἥν καί ἔνοικον ἐσχήκασιν ὕστερον τήν χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος˙ μία γάρ χάρις Πατρός Υἱοῦ καί Πνεύματος, ἥν εἰ καί σωματικοῖς εἶδον ὀφθαλμοῖς, ἀλλά διανοιγεῖσιν, ὡς ἐκ τυφλῶν γενέσθαι βλέποντας, κατά τόν ἐκ ∆αμασκοῦ θεῖον Ἰωάννην, καί ἰδεῖν τό ἄκτιστον ἐκεῖνο φῶς, ὅ κἀν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι τοῖς ἁγίοις μόνοις ἀκαταλήκτως ἔσται θεατόν, κατά τούς ἁγίου ∆ιονύσιόν τε καί Μάξιμον.

Ὁρᾷς ὅτι τάς κτιστῇ δυνάμει ἀοράτους ἐν τῷ Θεῷ θείας ἐνεργείας οἱ ἅγιοι διά τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὑπεραναβάντες ἑαυτούς, ὁρῶσιν; «Ὁ γάρ ἀξιωθείς», φησίν, «ἐν τῷ Θεῷ γενέσθαι, πάντας εἴσεται τούς ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν ὄντων προϋφεστῶτας λόγους καθ᾿ ἁπλῆν τινα καί ἀδιαίρετον γνῶσιν»˙ καί πάλιν, «τήν ψυχήν πρός ἑαυτήν καί τόν Θεόν συναχθεῖσαν, οὐκ ἔσται ὁ εἰς πολλά καί κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν αὐτήν ἔτι διαιρῶν λόγος, τῷ πρώτῳ καί μόνῳ καί ἑνί λόγῳ τε καί Θεῷ κατεστεμμένην (σελ. 712) τήν κεφαλήν, ἐν ᾧ κατά μίαν ἀπερινόητον ἁπλότητα πάντες οἱ τῶν ὄντων λόγοι ἑνοειδῶς προϋφεστήκασιν, ᾧ ἐνατενίζουσα οὐκ ἐκτός αὐτῆς ὄντι, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ὅλῃ ὅλῳ καθ᾿ ἁπλῆν προσβολήν, εἴσεται καί αὐτή τούς τῶν ὄντων λόγους, δι᾿ οὕς τυχόν πρίν νυμφευθῆναι τῷ Λόγῳ καί Θεῷ, ταῖς διαιρετικαῖς ὑπήγετο μεθόδοις». Ὁρᾷς ὡς οὐ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ὁρῶσιν οἱ ἐν Θεῷ γενόμενοι καί θεωθέντες καί πρός αὐτόν ἐνθέως ἀτενίζοντες; Αἰσθήσει γάρ τά ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν καί νῷ τά ὑπέρ νοῦν ὁρῶσι θαυμασίως, ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ἕξεσιν ἐγγινομένης τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος δυνάμεως, δι᾿ ἧς ὁρῶσι τά ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς. Ἡμῶν οὖν τῇ αἰσθήσει συναπτόντων ἀεί τό ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν, ὡς μετά τοῦ ὑπερφυοῦς καί τό ὑπερώνυμον δειχθῆναι τῆς ὁράσεως ἐκείνης, διαιρῶν σοφιστικῶς ὁ τῆς κακίας σοφιστής οἴεταί τι καθ᾿ ἡμῶν λέγειν καί τούς παιδαριώδεις τήν διάνοιαν ἐξαπατᾷ, καταφλυαρῶν τῶν αἰσθητόν τάχα τό θεῖον οἰομένων, ὥσπερ ἄν εἴ τις τῶν οὐσίαν ἔχειν τόν Θεόν φατε, ἤ τῶν καθόλου τί ἐστι ψιλῇ μόνῃ ἐπινοίᾳ θεωρούμενον καί οὐκ ἔστιν ἀληθῶς, ἤ τι τῶν ἀτόμων. Πρός ὅν ἄν εἶπον ὅπερ καί ἡμεῖς πρός τόν φερωνύμως λατινέλληνα δικαίως τοῦτον, ὡς "ἔοικας οὕτω τῶν περί Θεοῦ λόγων ἐπαΐειν ὡς βοῦς καί ὄνος τῶν ᾀδόντων". Οὕτω γάρ τό παρ᾿ ἡμῶν πνευματικόν καί ὑπέρ νοῦν λεγόμενον ὡς αἰσθητόν λεγόντων παρακούων ἡμῶν κατηγορεῖς, καί, διαφορωτάτου ὄντος τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτόν τοῦ καθ᾿ αὑτό, ὡς ταὐτοῦ αὐτός ἀκούεις καί τῶν περί Θεόν ὅσοι φυσικά κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἡγῇ.

«Ἀλλ᾿ οὐδενός», φησίν, «ἔσται διαφέρων ὁ Θεός τῶν ὁρωμένων, εἰ ἐκ τῶν περί αὐτόν ὁρᾶται˙ καί γάρ ἕκαστον τούτων οὐκ ἐκ τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτό, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τῶν περί αὐτό ἐστιν (σελ. 714) ὁρώμενον˙ ἡλίου γάρ οὐ τῆς οὐσίας ἀντιλαμβάνεται ἡ ὄψις, ἀλά τῶν περί αὐτήν». Πρῶτον έν οὖν ἀπό τοῦ σοί προτεθέντος παραδείγματος συκοφάντης ἑκών ἀναφαίνῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ˙ ἥλιος γάρ καί ἡ ἀκτίς καί ὅθεν ἡ ἀκτίς καλεῖται, καί οὐ δύο παρά τοῦτο ἥλιοι˙ τοιγαροῦν εἷς Θεός, εἰ καί ἡ ἐκ Θεοῦ θεοποιός θεολογεῖται χάρις, καί τῶν περί τόν ἥλιόν ἐστι τό φῶς, οὔκουν οὐσία τοῦ ἡλίου. Πῶς οὖν οὐσία Θεοῦ τό ἐκ Θεοῦ τούς ἁγίους ἐπιλάμπον φῶς; Τί δέ τό τοῦ ἡλίου φῶς; Ὁρώμενον γίνεται ἤ καί πρό τοῦ ὁρᾶσθαι ἦν; Πολλῷ μᾶλλον δήπουθεν τό θεουργοῦν τούς θεωμένους φῶς. Ἔπειτα, εἰ μηδέν παρά τοῦτο μηδενός τῶν ὁρωμένων διαφέρει ὁ Θεός, πῶς ἆραί σοί τε καί τοῖς κατά σέ, μᾶλλον δέ καί τοῖς πολλῷ σου κρείττοσιν ἀνθρώποις, οὐχ ὁρᾶται; Οἱ σοί τοίνυν ὀφθαλμοί, τυφλοί ὄντες πρός τό τοῖς ἁγίοις φῶς ἐποπτευόμενον, καί τό σόν στόμα ἐμφραξάτωσαν, τοιαῦτα εἰς τό θεῖον φῶς ἐκεῖνο βλασφημοῦν, διδάξαντες ὡς οὐ φυσικόν, οὐδέ δι᾿ ἀέρος ἐκεῖνο ὁρατόν. Ὅ διαβεβαιούμενος αὐτός, οὐδέ τόν μέλλοντα αἰῶνα ἀνεπηρέαστον