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For having been baptized I have put on Christ, not perceptibly, but certainly intelligibly. And how is he not a god by grace and adoption, at least by perception and knowledge and contemplation, who has put on the Son of God? If the God Logos became man in ignorance, it is fitting to suppose as likely that I too became a god in ignorance. But if in knowledge, and in practice and contemplation the whole God-man was so called, one must certainly think orthodoxly that I have wholly become a god by communion with God in perception and knowledge, not by essence, but by participation. For just as God was born unchangeably as man in a body and was seen by all, so inexpressibly, spiritually he begets me and while I remain a man he makes me a god; and just as He, being seen in the flesh, was unknown by the crowds to be God, so also we, such as we were, to all a wonder! - being seen certainly as men (365) that which we have become by divine grace, is not by nature seen by the many. But only to those who have a purified eye of the soul do we appear as in a mirror, but to the impure, God, nor indeed are we seen, nor are we believed at all ever to have become such. For they are unbelieving and rely on faith alone without works; but if they are not unbelieving, they are nevertheless completely dead, as the divine Paul declared. Do not disbelieve, but speak to me and answer wisely. Which of these two will you prefer: a dead faith deprived of works or unbelief accompanied by works? Certainly you will say to me: What is the value of works without right and perfect faith? And I in turn will reply to you: What is the benefit of faith without works? If then you wish to know the things which we have said before and to become a god by grace, not in word, not in appearance, not in thought, not by faith alone deprived of work, but by experience, in reality, and by intellectual contemplation and by most mystical knowledge, do what the Savior commands you and what He endured for you, and then you would see a most brilliant light appearing,

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καί γάρ βαπτισθείς Χριστόν ἐνεδυσάμην οὐχι αἰσθητῶς, νοητῶς δέ γε πάντως. Καί πῶς οὐ θεός χάριτί τε καί θέσει, αἰσθήσει καί γνώσει γε καί θεωρίᾳ, ὁ τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱόν ἐνδεδυμένος; Εἰ ἀγνοίᾳ γέγονεν ὁ Θεός Λόγος ἄνθρωπος, κἀμέ ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ γενέσθαι θεόν ὡς εἰκός ὑπονοεῖσθαι πρέπον. Εἰ δ᾿ ἐν γνώσει, πράξει τε καί θεωρίᾳ θεός ἄνθρωπος ἐχρημάτισεν ὅλος, ὅλον με θεόν τῇ Θεοῦ κοοινωνίᾳ ἐν αἰσθήσει καί γνώσει, οὐχί οὐσίᾳ, μετουσίᾳ δέ γενέσθαι πάντως χρή φρονεῖν ὀρθοδόξως. Ὥσπερ ἐγεννήθη γάρ Θεός ἀτρέπτως ἄνθρωπος ἐν σώματι καί πᾶσιν ὤφθη, οὕτως ἀφράστως, πνευματικῶς γεννᾷ με καί ἄνθρωπον μένοντα θεόν ποιεῖ με˙ καί ὥσπερ ὁρώμενος σαρκί ἐκεῖνος τό Θεός εἶναι ἠγνοεῖτο τοῖς ὄχλοις, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς, οἷον ἦμεν, τοῖς πᾶσιν θαῦμα! - βλεπόμενοι ἄνθρωποι πάντως (365) τό, ὅπερ γεγόναμεν χάριτι θείᾳ, οὐ πεφύκαμεν τοῖς πολλοῖς καθορᾶσθαι. Μόνοις δ᾿ οἷς ὄμμα ψυχῆς κεκαθαρμένον πρόσεστι, φαινόμεθα ὡς ἐν διόπτρᾳ, τοῖς δ᾿ ἀκαθάρτοις ὁ Θεός, οὐδ᾿ ἡμεῖς γε οὔθ᾿ ὁρώμεθα οὔθ᾿ ὅλως γεγενῆσθαι τοιοῦτοί ποτε πιστεύομαθα πάντως. Ἄπιστοι καί γάρ τῇ πίστει καί μόνῃ προσεπερειδόμενοι χωρίς τῶν ἔργων˙ εἰ δ᾿ οὐκ ἄπιστοι, τέως νεκροί εἰς ἅπαν, ὥσπερ ὁ θεῖος ἀπεφήνατο Παῦλος. Μή ἀπιστήσῃς, ἐμοί δέ λέγε καί σοφῶς ἀποκρίνου. Ποῖον ἐκ τούτων προτιμήσεις τῶν δύο˙ νεκράν γε πίστιν ἔργων ἐστερημένην ἤ ἀπιστίαν τῆς πίστεως ἐν ἔργοις; Πάντως ἐρεῖς μοι˙ Τίς τῶν ἔργων ἡ χάρις πίστεως δίχα τῆς ὀρθῆς καί τελείας; Κἀγω σοι πάλιν ἀντιφθέγξομαι˙ Τί δέ ὄφελος τῆς πίστεως τῶν ἔργων δίχα; Εἰ οὖν τά, ἅπερ προειρήκαμεν, γνῶναι βούλει τε θεός κατά χάριν γενέσθαι, οὐ λόγῳ, οὐ δοκήσει, οὐκ ἐπινοίᾳ, οὐ μόνῃ πίστει ἐστερημένῃ ἔργου, ἀλλά πείρᾳ, πράγματι καί θεωρίᾳ νοερᾷ καί γνώσει τε μυστικωτάτῃ, πρᾶξον ἅτινα ὁ Σωτήρ σοι προστάττει κἀκεῖνος ταῦτα διά σέ καθυπέστη, καί τότε ἴδοις φῶς λαμπρότατον φάναν,