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material and visible, sensible and dense, and He stretched this out in an instant, as He alone saw. Both earth and waters and all the abysses in the midst of it He made with the same single thought, just as they are all seen by us now. And the sensible heaven, having been stretched out, remained, as I said, not having the immaterial light within, it did not cut off the splendors of the immaterial light. For being material, as has been said, it was found to be outside the immaterial things, not entirely by place, but by nature and essence. For the immaterial is separated from the material, (291) not having its own place, for it is uncircumscribed; it itself by reason produces all things in itself and by nature is entirely separated from created things, and bearing all things in itself, is outside of all things. For just as mind and angel are not kept out of a house by walls and doors nor are held within, so the maker of these things is not at all outside, not within the heaven, nor in another place, but God is in every way everywhere, separated from all material and created things produced by Him. Therefore, the heaven became material and was separated by nature, as has been said, from the immaterial light and remained without light, like a great house. But the Master of all kindled the sun and the moon, so that it might shine sensibly upon sensible things, and He has given also in our hands a light to shine in the night, ineffably born from iron and stone. But He is separated from all light, more than light, more than brilliant, unbearable to all creation; for as the stars do not appear when the sun is shining, so, if the Master of the sun should wish to shine, no living thing will withstand His rising. Therefore He joined the mind to the material dust and has placed all of us human beings among material things, so that in firm faith and observance of the commandments, having cleansed again the immaterial mind which we had confined in the gloom of transgression by the desire of material passions and the taste of pleasures, we might see immaterially in material things the immaterial light, which I said was God beyond all beginning, invisible to the sensible and material eyes, (292) inaccessible to the noetic eyes of the heart. For I marvel how the soul, being entirely immaterial and possessing the noetic eye of the mind, using the eyes of the body sensibly as two little windows, as it were, peeking out, sees through them all visible things and again turns back, seeing immaterially the intelligible and immaterial things,

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ὑλικόν καί ὁρώμενον, αἰσθητόν καί παχύν τε καί ἐν ῥιπῇ ἐξέτεινε τοῦτον, ὡς εἶδε μόνος. Γῆν τε ὁμοῦ καί ὕδατα καί ἁπάσας ἀβύσσους μέσον αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἐννοήματι μόνῳ πεποίηκεν, οἷα καί νῦν πάντα ἡμῖν ὁρῶνται. Καί ἔμεινεν, ἔνδον τό φῶς τό ἄϋλον μή ἔχων, ὁ οὐρανός ἐκτανυσθείς αἰσθητός , καθώς εἶπον, οὐ περιέκοψε φωτός ἀΰλου λαμπηδόνας. Ἔνυλος γάρ, ὡς εἴρηται, ὤν, τῶν ἀΰλων ἔξω, οὐ τόπῳ πάντως, φύσει δέ εὑρέθη καί οὐσίᾳ. Ἐνύλων γάρ ὁ ἄϋλος ἔστι κεχωρισμένος, (291) οὐκ ἔχων τόπον ἴδιον, ἀπερίγραπτος γάρ ὤν˙ αὐτός λόγῳ τά σύμπαντα ἐν ἑαυτῷ παράγει καί φύσει ἔστι τῶν κτιστῶν πάντῃ κεχωρισμένος καί φέρων πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ ἔξω ἐστί τῶν πάντων. Ὥσπερ γάρ νοῦς καί ἄγγελος τοίχοις καί θύραις ἔξω οἰκίας οὐκ ἀπείργονται οὐδέ κρατοῦνται ἔνδον, οὕτως ὁ τούτων ποιητής ὅλως οὐκ ἔξω πέλει, οὐκ ἔνδοθεν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οὐδ᾿ ἐν ἑτέρῳ τόπῳ, ἀλλ᾿ ἔστι πάντως πανταχοῦ Θεός κεχωρισμένος ἐνύλων πάντων καί κτιστῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ παραχθέντων. Ἐγένετο οὖν οὐρανός ἔνυλος καί διέστη τῇ φύσει, καθώς εἴρηται, τοῦ φωτός τοῦ ἀΰλου καί ἔμεινε δίχα φωτός, οἶκος καθάπερ μέγας. Ὁ δέ ∆εσπότης τοῦ παντός τόν ἥλιον ἀνῆψε καί τήν σελήνην, αἰσθητοῖς αἰσθητῶς ὅπως λάμπῃ, δέδωκε δέ καί ἐν χερσί φῶς ἐν νυκτί τοῦ φαίνειν, ἀπό σιδήρου λίθου τε τικτόμενον ἀρρήτως. Ἐκεῖνος δέ παντός φωτός ἐστί κεχωρισμένος, ὑπέρφωτος, ὑπέρλαμπρος, ἄστεκτος πάσῃ κτίσει˙ ὡς γάρ ἠλίου λάμποντος οὐ φαίνονται τά ἄστρα, οὕτως, εἰ λάμψαι βουληθῇ ἡλίου ὁ ∆εσπότης, οὐχ ὑποστήσεται πᾶς ζῶν ἀνατολήν τήν τούτου. ∆ιό συνέζευξε τόν νοῦν τῷ χοΐ τῷ ἐνύλῳ καί ἐν ἐνύλοις τέθηκεν ἡμᾶς ἀνθρώπους πάντας, ἵν᾿ ἐν βεβαίᾳ πίστει γε καί ἐντολῶν τηρήσει τόν, ὅνπερ συνεχέαμεν παραβάσεως ζόφῳ, νοῦν ἄϋλον ἐν ὑλικῶν παθῶν ἐπιθυμίᾳ καί γεύσει τῇ τῶν ἡδονῶν ἐκκαθάραντες αὖθις, τό ἄϋλον ἐν ὑλικοῖς ἀΰλως καθορῶμεν φῶς, ὅπερ εἶπον, ὅτι ἦν Θεός ὑπερανάρχως, ἀόρατον τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς καί ἐνύλοις, (292) ἀπρόσιτον τοῖς νοεροῖς ὄμμασι τῆς καρδίας. Θαυμάζω γάρ πῶς ἡ ψυχή, ὅλη ἄϋλος οὖσα καί νοερόν τόν τοῦ νοός ὀφθαλμόν κεκτημένη, ὥσπερ θυρίσι γε δυσίν αἰσθητῶς κεχρημένη τοῦ σώματος τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς παρακύπτουσα βλέπει δι᾿ αὐτῶν πάντα ὁρατά καί πάλιν ὑποστρέφει, τά νοητά καί ἄϋλα ἀΰλως καθορῶσα,