162

Amen.

38.

Concerning theology; and that the mind, purified of the matter of the passions, immaterially beholds the immaterial and invisible one. (289)

What road shall I travel, what path shall I avoid? What ladder shall I ascend, what gate shall I enter, or how shall I open the door of what chamber? And within what kind of house shall I find the one who holds all things in his hand and palm? To what mountain shall I ascend, and from what part, and what cave shall I then grope for there, or passing through what marsh shall I, wretched one, be deemed worthy to perceive and to grasp the one who is present everywhere and is ungraspable and invisible? To what hades shall I descend, to what heaven shall I ascend, and having come to the ends of what sea might I find the one who is in every way unapproachable, the one completely uncircumscribable, entirely intangible, the immaterial in material things, the creator in creation, the incorruptible in corruptible things, tell me, how shall I find him? How shall I be outside the world, being in the world, how shall I be joined to the immaterial, I who am joined to matter? How shall I embrace the incorruptible, being entirely corruptible, how shall I who am in death approach life at all, how shall I, the dead, then draw near to the immortal? How will I, all grass, dare to touch the fire? (290) But nevertheless, hear now the solution of the ineffable things! Before heaven came to be, before the earth was brought forth, God existed, the Trinity, alone and solitary, light without beginning, uncreated light, light completely ineffable, yet God immortal, endless, alone, everlasting, eternal, exceedingly most good. Understand well God alone in the beginning, the Trinity, being indeed beyond beginning, and beyond every beginning, unimaginable, immeasurable in height, depth and breadth, possessing no limit of magnitude and light. There was no air, as there is now, there was no darkness at all, no light, no water, no ether, nothing else of the things that exist; but God was spirit alone, luminous in every way, at once both omnipotent and immaterial. And he made angels, principalities and powers, the Cherubim and Seraphim, dominions, thrones, and the unnameable orders ministering to him and standing by in fear and trembling. And afterwards he brought forth heaven as a vault,

162

ἀμήν.

ΛΗ'.

Περί θεολογίας˙ καί ὅτι ὁ νοῦς τῆς ὕλης τῶν παθῶν καθαρθείς ἀΰλως τόν ἄϋλον καί ἀόρατον καθορᾷ. (289)

Ποίαν ὁδόν ὁδεύσοιμι, ποίαν ἐκκλίνω τρίβον; Ποίαν ἀνέλθω κλίμακα, ποίαν εἰσέλθω πύλην ἤ πῶς ἀνοίξω θύραν δέ καί ποίου κουβουκλίου; Ὁποίας δέ καί ποταπῆς ἔνδον οἰκίας εὕρω τόν ἐν χειρί τά σύμπαντα καί παλάμῃ κρατοῦντα; Ὄρος εἰς ποῖον ἀναβῶ, ἐκ ποίου τε τοῦ μέρους καί ποῖον ἄρα σπήλαιον ἐκεῖσε ψηλαφήσω ἤ ποῖον ἕλος διελθών τόν πανταχοῦ παρόντα καί ἄληπτον τυγχάνοντα ἀόρατόν τε ὄντα τοῦ κατιδεῖν ἀξιωθῶ καί κατασχεῖν, ὁ τάλας; Εἰς ποῖον ᾅδην καταβῶ, εἰς οὐρανόν δέ ποῖον ἀνέλθω καί εἰς ἔσχατα ποίας θαλάσσης ἆρα γενόμενος εὑρήσαιμι τόν ἀπρόσιτον πάντῃ, τόν πάμπαν ἀπερίγραπτον, ἀφηλάφητον ὅλον, τό ἄϋλον ἐν ὑλικοῖς, τόν κτίστην ἐν τῇ κτίσει, τόν ἄφθαρτον ἐν τοῖς φθαρτοῖς, εἰπέ μοι, πῶς εὑρήσω; Πῶς δ᾿ ἔξω κόσμου γένωμαι, ὁ τυγχάνων ἐν κόσμῳ, πῶς τῷ ἀΰλω συναφθῶ, ὁ συνημμένος ὕλῃ; Πῶς τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ συμπλακῶ, φθαρτός ὅλος ὑπάρχων, ὁ ἐν θανάτῳ τῇ ζωῇ πῶς ὅλως πλησιάσω, τῷ ἀθανάτῳ ὁ νεκρός τῶς ἆρα προσπελάσω; Ὁ χόρτος ὅλος τῷ πυρί πῶς προσψαῦσαι τολμήσω; (290) Ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως ἄρτι ἄκουε τῶν ἀπορρήτων λύσιν! Πρό τοῦ γενέσθαι οὐρανόν, πρό τοῦ γῆν παραχθῆναι Θεός ὑπῆρχεν, ἡ Τριάς, μόνος μεμονωμένος, φῶς ἄναρχον, φῶς ἄκτιστον, φῶς ἄφραστον εἰς ἅπαν, ὅμως Θεός ἀθάνατος, ἀτελεύτητος, μόνος, ἀΐδιος, αἰώνιος, ἀγαθώτατος ἄγαν. Νόει καλῶς μόνον Θεόν ἐν ἀρχῇ τήν Τριάδα ὑπερανάρχως οὖσαν μέν, ὑπέρ ἀρχήν τε πᾶσαν ἀνείκαστον, ἀμέτρητον ὕψει, βάθει καί πλάτει, τοῦ τε μεγέθους καί φωτός πέρας μή κεκτημένον. Οὐκ ἦν ἀήρ, καθάπερ νῦν, οὐκ ἦν σκότος οὐδ᾿ ὅλως, οὐ φῶς, οὐχ ὕδωρ, οὐκ αἰθήρ, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν ὄντων˙ πνεῦμα δέ μόνον ὁ Θεός, φωτοειδές εἰς ἅπαν, ὁμοῦ τε παντοδύναμον καί ἄϋλον ὑπῆρχεν. Ἐποίησεν ἀγγέλους δέ, ἀρχάς καί ἐξουσίας, τά Χερουβίμ καί Σεραφίμ, κυριότητας, θρόνους καί τά ἀκατονόμαστα τάγματα λειτουργοῦντα αὐτῷ καί παριστάμενοα ἐν φόβῳ τε καί τρόμῳ. Ὕστερον δέ παρήγαγεν οὐρανόν ὡς καμάραν,