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(456) For just as in the case of a blind man who is gradually regaining his sight and perceives the features of a person and what he is like by inquiring little by little, it is not the features that are changed or remolded for his vision, but rather the visual faculty of his eyes, being cleansed, sees the features as they are, as his whole likeness is impressed, as it were, on the visual faculty and through this passes through and is stamped and, as on a tablet, is engraved on the intellectual and mnemonic faculty of the soul, so also were You seen, having clearly and completely cleansed my mind with the light of the Holy Spirit. And as it saw more clearly and purely, You Yourself seemed to me to come forth from somewhere and to appear more brilliant, and You granted me to see the feature of a formless form, and then You put me outside the world—I think I should say, even outside the body, for You did not grant me to know this precisely—, but You did indeed shine forth and appeared to me as I seemed to be seeing entirely and well, and as I was saying, "O Master, who might you be?", then for the first time You deemed me, the prodigal, worthy of a voice, and thus You addressed me kindly, as I was starting up, astonished, and trembling, and somehow considering within myself and saying: "What can this glory and the greatness of this radiance mean? How or from where have I been deemed worthy of such good things?" - "I am," he says, "God who for your sake became man, and because you sought me with your whole soul, behold, from now on you will be my brother and my co-heir and my friend." As I was therefore astonished at these things (457) and poured out in my soul and my strength scattered, and answered, "Who am I or what have I, the wretched one, done, Master, and miserable one, that you should make me worthy of such good things and a partaker and co-heir of such glory?" - and as I reckoned this glory and joy to be beyond understanding, You, the Master, again, as if a friend speaking to a friend through Your Spirit speaking in me, said to me: "These things I have bestowed on you, and will bestow more, because of your intention and purpose and faith alone. For what else do you have or have you ever had of your own, having been produced by me naked, that I might take that and in exchange for it give you these things? For unless you are released from the flesh, you will not see the perfect thing, nor will you be able to enjoy all of it properly." But when I said: "And what is greater or more brilliant than this? For me, for the time being, it is enough to be thus even after death"—"How very fainthearted you are," you said, "to be content with such things. For these things, in comparison with the things to come, are like a heaven drawn on paper and held in the hands; for by as much as this falls short of the true heaven, by so much more incomparably will the future glory be revealed beyond what is now seen by you."

Having said these things, you fell silent, and little by little, O sweet and good Master, you were hidden from my eyes—whether because I had moved far from you, or you had gone away from me, I do not know. For the time being, then, I came to be wholly within myself again, thinking I had come from somewhere, and I entered my former tabernacle. Wherefore, remembering the beauty of the glory and your words, (458) while walking, sitting, eating, drinking, and praying, I wept and passed my time in inexpressible joy, having come to know you, the Creator of all things. For how could I not rejoice? But then again, being grieved and thus longing to see you again, as I once went to venerate the immaculate icon of her who bore you and fell down before it, You yourself, before I arose, appeared to me within my wretched heart, making it as light, and then I knew that I have you knowably within me. From that time on, therefore, it was not by remembering you and the things concerning you that I loved you out of the memory of such things, but I truly believed that I have you, the hypostatic love, within me. For you are love indeed, O God.

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(456) Ὥσπερ γάρ ἐπί τυφλοῦ κατά μικρόν ἀναβλέποντος καί τόν χαρακτῆρα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατανοοῦντος καί οἷός ἐστιν ἐκ τοῦ κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ἀνιστοροῦντος, οὐχ ὁ χαρακτήρ πρός τήν ὅρασιν μεταποιεῖται ἤ μεταπλάττεται, ἀλλά τό ὀπτικόν μᾶλλον τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ ἀποκαθαιρόμενον, τόν χαρακτῆρα, οἷός ἐστιν, ὁρᾷ, ἐντυπουμένης οἱονεί τῆς ἐμφερείας αὐτοῦ ὅλης τῷ ὀπτικῷ καί διά τούτου διϊκνουμένης καί ἀπομασσομένης καί ὡς ἐν πίνακι ἐγχαραττομένης τῷ νοερῷ τε καί μνημονευτικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς, οὕτω καί αὐτός ὡράθης, τῷ φωτί τρανῶς τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐκκαθάρας μου τόν νοῦν ὁλικῶς. Κἀκείνου τρανότερον καί καθαρώτερον βλέποντος, αὐτός μοί ποθεν ἐδόκεις ἐξέρχεσθαι καί λαμπρότερος φαίνεσθαι, καί χαρακτῆρα μορφῆς ἀμόρφου ὁρᾶν ἐμπαρεῖχές μοι, καί ἔξω με τοῦ κόσμου τότε πεποίηκας - δοκῶ εἰπεῖν καί τοῦ σώματος, τοῦτο γάρ ἀκριβῶς γνῶναι οὐκ ἔδωκας , ὑπερηύγασας δ᾿ οὖν καί τῷ δοκεῖν ὅλως ὅλῳ καλῶς βέποντι ὤφθης μοι, καί "Ὦ ∆έσποτα" λέγοντά με, "τίς ποτε ᾖς;", τότε φωνῆς με πρῶτον τόν ἄσωτον κατηξίωσας καί οὑτωσί προσηνῶς προσεφθέγξω μοι, ἐξανισταμένῳ καί θαμβουμένῳ καί τρέμοντι καί ἐν ἐμαυτῷ ποσῶς ἐννοοῦντι καί λέγοντι· "Τί ποτε ἄρα ἡ δόξα αὕτη καί τό τῆς λαμπρότητος ταύτης μέγεθος βούλεται; Πῶς δέ ἤ πόθεν ἐγώ τοιούτων ἀγαθῶν κατηξίωμαι;" - "Ἐγώ, φησίν, εἰμί ὁ Θεός ὁ διά σέ γεγονώς ἄνθρωπος, καί ὅτι με ἐξ ὅλης ψυχῆς ἐπεζήτησας, ἰδού ὑπάρξεις ἀπό τοῦ νῦν ἀδελφός μου καί συγκληρονόμος μου καί φίλος μου". Ἐπί τούτοις οὖν καταπλαγέντος (457) μου καί τῇ ψυχῇ ἐκχυθέντος καί τήν ἰσχύν διασκορπισθέντος καί "Τίς εἰμι"ἀνταποκριθέντος "ἐγώ ἤ τί πεποιήκα ὁ ἄθλιος, ∆έσποτα, καί ταλαίπωρος, ἵνα με τοιούτων ἀγαθῶν ἄξιον καταστήσῃς καί τοιαύτης δόξης συμμέτοχον καί συγκληρονόμον ποιήσῃς;" - λογισαμένου μου δέ ταύτην ὑπέρ νοῦν εἶναι τήν δόξαν καί τήν χαράν, ὁ ∆εσπότης πάλιν σύ, οἱονεί φίλος φίλῳ διαλεγόμενος διά τοῦ ἐν ἐμοί λαλοῦντος σου Πνεύματος, εἶπάς μοι· "Ταῦτα διά μόνην τήν πρόθεσιν καί προαίρεσιν καί πίστιν σου ἐδωρησάμην σοι καί ἔτι δωρήσομαι. Τί γάρ ἔχεις ἄλλο ἤ ἔσχες ποτέ σόν, γυμνός παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ παραχθείς, ἵνα ἐκεῖνο λαβών ἀντ᾿ ἐκείνου ταῦτά σοι δώσοιμι; Ἐάν γάρ μή λυθῇς τῆς σαρκός, τό τέλειον οὐ θεάσῃ, οὐδέ ἐπαπολαῦσαι ὅλου αὐτοῦ ἰσχύσεις καλῶς". Ἐμοῦ δέ εἰπόντος· "Καί τί τούτου μεῖζον εἴτε λαμπρότερον; Ἐμοί τέως ἀρκεῖ τό οὕτως εἶναι καί μετά θάνατον" - "Ὡς λίαν εἶ σύ μικρόψυχος, εἶπας, τοῖς τοιούτοις ἀρκούμενος. Ταῦτα γάρ πρός τά μέλλοντα ἴσον εἰσιν ἱστορηθέντος ἐν χάρτῃ οὐρανοῦ καί ταῖς χερσί κρατουμένου· ὅσῳ γάρ οὗτος τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀπολείπεται, τοσούτῳ πλέον ἀσυγκρίτως ἡ μέλλουσα δόξα ὑπέρ τήν νῦν ὁρωμένην σοι ἀποκαλυφθήσεται".

Ταῦτα εἰπών ἐσιώπησας καί μικρόν μικρόν ὁ γλυκύς καί καλός ∆εσπότης ἐκρύβης ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν μου, εἴτε ἐμοῦ μακρύναντος ἀπό σοῦ, εἴτε σοῦ ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ ἀπελθόντος, οὐκ οἶδα. Τέως δ᾿ οὖν ἐγενόμην πάλιν ὅλος ἐν ἐμαυτῷ, ποθέν νομίσας ἐλθεῖν, καί εἰσῆλθον ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ σκηνώματι. Ὅθεν μιμνησκόμενος τοῦ κάλλους τῆς δόξης καί τῶν ῥημάτων σου, (458) περιπατῶν, καθεζόμενος, ἐσθίων, πίνων καί προσευχόμενος, ἔκλαιον καί ἐν χαρᾷ διῆγον ἀνεκφράστῳ γνωρίσας σε, τόν Ποιητήν τῶν ἁπάντων. Πῶς γάρ καί μή ἔχαιρον; Ἀλλά γάρ πάλιν λυπούμενος καί οὕτως αὖθις ἰδεῖν σε ἐπιποθῶν, ὡς ἀπῆλθόν ποτε πρός τό τήν ἄχραντον εἰκόνα τῆς σέ Τεκούσης ἀσπάσασθαι καί ταύτῃ προσέπεσα, αὐτός πρό τοῦ ἀναστῆναί με, ἐντός τῆς ταλαιπώρου καρδίας μου, ὡς φῶς ἀποτελέσας αὐτήν, ὡράθης μοι, καί τότε ἔγνων ὅτι ἐν ἐμοί σε γνωστῶς ἔχω. Ἀπό οὖν τότε οὐχί μνημονεύων σου καί τῶν περί σέ ἠγάπων σε ἀπό τῆς τῶν τοιούτων μνήμης, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ἐμοί σέ, τήν ἐνυπόστατον ἀγάπην, ἔχειν ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας ἐπίστευσα. Ἡ γάρ ὄντως ἀγάπη σύ εἶ, ὁ Θεός.