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more than you, and we wretchedly enslave ourselves to them, so that we may receive small and perishable things from them and give over to them our wretched souls and bodies as dishonored vessels to be abused? And being members, O Master, of you, the holy Master of all, entirely holy members of the autocratic Master, do we not shudder to voluntarily cast ourselves to the evil demons, into the dishonorable works of sin? Who then of your faithful and genuine servants would not weep, who would not lament the audacity of such great willfulness? And who would not shudder at your great forbearance, my God, who would not tremble at the divine retribution of judgment, the unbearable and unquenchable fire, alas, that of Gehenna, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth and inconsolable pain and unspeakable anguish? But, O sun of the sun and moon, creator of all stars and of light and of everything else, hide me outside of these things in your light, so that seeing you alone in your light I may not see the world nor the things in the world, but seeing I will be as one not seeing and hearing as one not hearing, O Word, and just as it is with those who sit in the darkness of the pleasures of life, covered by the darkness of vainglory, seeing they do not see your divine glory (295) and hearing they do not understand at all your commandments and your ordinances, so also I will be in your light, not seeing the world nor the things in the world. For who, having seen you and having had his senses illumined by your glory, by your divine light, was not changed in mind, soul, and spirit, and was not most wonderfully deemed worthy, O Savior, to see differently and to hear likewise? For the mind is immersed in your light and is made brilliant and becomes a light like your glory, and such a one, having been deemed worthy to become so, is called your mind, and then is deemed worthy to have your mind and becomes one with you inseparably; and how does he not see as you do and hear all things dispassionately? And how will he, having become a god, desire any sensible, fluid, and perishable thing at all, or glory, he who has become above all these things and beyond all visible glory? For he who has become above all visible things and has drawn near to God,

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ὑπέρ σέ πλέον καί αὐτοῖς δουλούμεθα ἀθλίως, ἵνα μικρά ληψόμεθα καί φθαρτά παρ᾿ ἐκείνων καί αὐτοῖς ἐκδιδόαμεν ψυχάς ἡμῶν ἀθλίας καί σώματα ὡς ἄτιμα σκεύη τοῦ καταχρᾶσθαι; Καί μέλη ὄντες, ∆έσποτα, σοῦ τοῦ πάντων ∆εσπότου ἁγίου, πάντως ἅγια αὐτοκρατοῦς ∆εσπότου, τοῖς πονηροῖς οὐ φρίττομεν δαίμοσιν αὐθαιρέτως ῥίπτειν αὑτούς εἰς ἄτιμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἔργα; Τίς οὖν μή κλαύσῃ τῶν πιστῶν καί γνησίων σου δούλων, τίς μή θρηνήσῃ τῆς πολλῆς αὐθαδείας τήν τόλμαν; Τίς δέ μή φρίξῃ τήν πολλήν ἀνοχήν σου, Θεέ μου, τίς μή τρομάσῃ κρίσεως ἀνταπόδοσιν θείας, τό ἄστεκτον καί ἄσβεστον πῦρ, οἴμοι, τό τῆς γεέννης, ἔνθα κλαυθμός τε καί βρυγμός ὑπάρχει τῶν ὁδόντων καί πόνος ἀπαράκλητος καί ἄφραστος ὀδύνη; Ἀλλ᾿, ὦ ἥλιε ἡλίου καί σελήνης, ἀστέρων πάντων καί φωτός καί παντός ἄλλου κτίστα, τούτων ἔξω με κρύψον ἐν τῷ φωτί σου, ἵνα μόνον σέ βλέπων ἐν τῷ φωτί σου κόσμον μή ὁρῶ μηδέ τά ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ἀλλά βλέπων ἔσομαι ὡς μή βλέπων καί ἀκούων ὡς μή ἀκούων, Λόγε, καί καθώσπερ πάσχουσιν οἱ ἐν τῷ σκότει καθεζόμενοι τῶν ἡδονῶν τοῦ βίου, φιλοδοξίας σκότει κεκαλυμμένοι, βλέποντες οὐ βλέπουσι δόξαν σου θείαν (295) καί ἀκούοντες οὐ συνιοῦσιν ὅλως τάς ἐντολάς σου καί τά προστάγματά σου, οὕτως κἀγώ ἔσομαι ἐν τῷ φωτί σου μή βλέπων κόσμον μηδέ τά ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. Τίς γάρ ἰδών σε καί ἀστραφθείς αἰσθήσεις ἐκ τῆς δόξης σου, ἐκ φωτός σου τοῦ θείου, οὐκ ἠλλοιώθη νοῦν, ψυχήν καί τάς φρένας, καί βλέπειν ἄλλως καί ἀκούειν ὡσαύτως, Σῶτερ, κατηξίωται πανεξαισίως; Ἐμβάπτεται γάρ ὁ νοῦς ἐν τῷ φωτί σου καί λαμπρύνεται καί φῶς ἀποτελεῖται ὅμοιον τῆς δόξης σου, καί νοῦς καλεῖται σός ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀξιωθείς γενέσθαι, καί νοῦν ἔχειν σόν τότε καταξιοῦται καί ἕν μετά σοῦ γίνεται ἀχωρίστως˙ καί πῶς μή βλέπει ὥσπερ σύ καί ἀκούει πάντα ἀπαθῶς; Πῶς δέ ἐπιθυμήσει Θεός γεγονώς αἰσθητοῦ τινος ὅλως ῥευστοῦ καί φθαρτοῦ πράγματος εἴτε δόξης, ὁ ὑπεράνω γεγονώς τούτων πάντων καί ὑπέρ πᾶσαν δόξαν τήν ὁρωμένην; Ὑπεράνω γάρ πάντων τῶν ὁρωμένων ὁ γενόμενος καί Θεῷ πλησιάσας,