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so that in firm faith and observance of the commandments, having cleansed anew the immaterial mind which we had confined in the gloom of transgression through the desire for material passions and the taste of pleasures, we might see immaterially the immaterial light in material things, which I said was God, who exists 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, peeking out as if through two sensible windows, using the eyes of the body, sees through them all visible things and returns again, seeing immaterially the intelligible and immaterial things, being held ineffably between the incorruptible and the corruptible; by the latter it is dragged down toward pleasures, toward passions, but by the former it is given wings toward heaven; it is constrained to remain there, yet it is dragged down, and again it always strives fervently to be lifted up, wishing to tread the air, away from things that are seen. For seeing all things in the world as snares, it is afraid to step or sit upon the earth at all, lest it be completely ensnared and held fast in these things and become food for savage beasts. Such is the life of all the pious and faithful and holy, which all must imitate, so that with them they may stand blameless before Christ, God, the judge of all, and will be partakers of His glory and kingdom for ever, amen.

XXXIX.

That longing and love for God surpasses all human love and all human longing; and the mind of those who are being purified, having been dipped in the light of God, is wholly deified and is thenceforth called the mind of Christ. (293)

Your beauty is beyond contrivance, your form is incomparable, your comeliness is ineffable, your glory is beyond reason, your character, O Master Christ, your good and gentle nature, surpasses all the thoughts of mortals,

194

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, μέσον δ᾿ ἀφθάρτων καί φθαρτῶν ἀρρήτως κρατουμένη˙ ὑπό μέν τῶν καθέλκεται πρός ἡδονάς, πρός πάθη, ὑπό δέ τῶν πρός οὐρανόν πτερουμένη ἐκεῖσε μένειν μέν ἐκβιάζεται, κατασπᾶται δέ ὅμως καί πάλιν ἀναφέρεσθαι ἀεί θερμῶς σπουδάζει ἀεροβάμων θέλουσα εἶναι ἐξ ὁρωμένων. Ὡς γάρ παγίδας βλέπουσα τά ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πάντα φοβεῖται ὅλως ἐν τῇ γῇ πατῆσαι ἤ καθίσαι, ἵνα μή πάντως ἐμπαγῇ κρατηθεῖσα ἐν τούτοις καί γένηται κατάβρωμα θηρίων ἀνημέρων. Τοιοῦτος ὁ τῶν εὐσεβῶν καί πιστῶν καί ἁγίων ἁπάντων βίος, ὅνπερ χρή ἐκμιμεῖσθαι τούς πάντας, ἵνα καί σύν αὐτοῖς Χριστῷ, Θεῷ, κριτῇ τῶν πάντων ἀμέμπτως παραστήσονται καί κοινωνοί τῆς δόξης καί βασιλείας τῆς αὐτοῦ ἔσονται εἰς αἰῶνας, ἀμήν.

ΛΘ'.

Ὅτι ὁ πόθος καί ἡ πρός Θεόν ἀγάπη ὑπερβαίνει πᾶσαν ἀγάπην καί πάντα πόθον ἀνθρώπινον˙ βαφείς δέ ὁ νοῦς τῶν καθαιρομένων ἐν τῷ φωτί τοῦ Θεοῦ ὅλος θεοῦται καί νοῦς ἐκεῖθεν χρηματίζει Χριστοῦ. (293)

Ἀμήχανον τό κάλλος σου, ἀσύγκριτον τό εἶδος, ἡ ὡραιότης ἄφατος, ὑπέρ λόγον ἡ δόξα, τό ἦθος, ∆έσποτα Χριστέ, τό ἀγαθόν καί πρᾷον τῶν γηγενῶν ὑπέρκειται τάς ἐννοίας ἁπάντων,