211

from afar, rising like a star, you are seen, you broaden little by little not yourself suffering this but opening the mind of your servant to see. More greatly, like the sun, you are seen little by little, for as the darkness flees and disappears, I reckon that you are coming, you who are present everywhere. But when you encompass me wholly, as before, Savior, when you cover me wholly, when you embrace me wholly, I am freed from evils, I am redeemed from both the darkness and temptations and all the passions and thoughts, for I am filled with goodness, I am filled with gladness and I am filled up with joy, with ineffable delight, seeing awesome mysteries, seeing strange wonders, seeing things which an eye has not seen, nor would a man's eye have the strength to look upon, nor ear to hear, nor has it entered at all into the heart of mortals, and I am exceedingly amazed, I am astounded at these things and I am wholly estranged from all things on earth with unceasing voices singing hymns to you, my God, (372) perceiving in myself the strange alteration and the manner of the help of the almighty hand, how by the flash of your light alone and by your appearance you drove away all grief, you snatched me from the world and mystically united with me, you immediately restored me to heaven, there, where there is no grief, no sighing, no tear, no serpent biting the heel, and you showed the untiring, effortless path, the opposite one, the narrow, the difficult for men or, to speak more truly, being impassable for all. For who of men was ever able or who will ever be able to be in heaven in the body or even without the body, flying with what sort of wings? Elijah was lifted up on a chariot of fire and before him Enoch, but not into the heavens, but in another place, not himself by himself, but nevertheless he was translated. But what are these things compared to what happens in us? How will there be any comparison at all of a shadow and truth, or of a ministering and servile spirit, tell me, to the masterful and all-working and divine Spirit, which strengthens and empowers every created being? For the other things are a creation, but it alone is creator, as inseparable from the Father and likewise from the Son. The three are God, for the Trinity is one God; this one gave substance to the universe, this one created all things, this one created the Word and Son of the Father in the world according to the flesh for our salvation, being inseparable from both the Father and the Spirit. And he is truly incarnate by the coming of the Spirit (373) and becomes what he was not, a man like me,

211

ἀπό μακρόθεν ὡς ἀστήρ ἀνατέλλων ὁρᾶσαι, πλατύνεσαι κατά μικρόν οὐκ αὐτός τοῦτο πάσχων ἀλλά τόν νοῦν τοῦ δούλου σου διανοίγων τοῦ βλέπειν. Μειζόνως ὥσπερ ἥλιος κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ὁρᾶσαι, καί γάρ τοῦ σκότους φεύγοντος καί ἀφανιζομένου ἔρχεσθαί σε λογίζομαι, τόν πανταχοῦ παρόντα˙ ὅτε δέ ὅλον, ὡς τό πρίν, περικυκλώσῃς, Σῶτερ, ὅτε ὅλον σκεπάσῃς με, ὅλον με περιλάβῃς, ἐλευθεροῦμαι τῶν κακῶν, λυτροῦμαι καί τοῦ σκότους καί πειρασμῶν καί τῶν παθῶν καί λογισμῶν ἁπάντων, πληροῦμαι γάρ χρηστότητος, πληροῦμαι εὐφροσύνης καί καταπίμπλαμαι χαρᾶς, ἀφάτου θυμηδίας, ὁρῶν φρικτά μυστήρια, ὁρῶν θαύματα ξένα, ὁρῶν ἅ οὐ τεθέαται ὀφθαλμός οὐδέ βλέψαι ἀνθρώπου ἐξισχύσειεν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ οὖς ἀκοῦσαι, ἐπί καρδίαν δέ βροτῶν οὐκ ἀνέβη οὐδ᾿ ὅλως, καί καταπλήττομαι σφοδρῶς, ἐξίσταμαι ἐν τούτοις καί πάντων τῶν ἐπί τῆς γῆς ὅλως ἀλλοτριοῦμαι ἀκαταπαύστοις ἐν φωναῖς ἀνυμνῶν σε, Θεέ μου, (372) κατανοῶν ἐν ἐμαυτῷ ἀλλοίωσιν τήν ξένην καί τρόπον ἀντιλήψεως χειρός παντοδυνάμου, πῶς λάμψει μόνου σου φωτός καί τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ πᾶσαν λύπην ἐδίωξας, ἐξήρπασας τοῦ κόσμου καί ἑνωθείς μοι μυστικῶς εἰς οὐρανόν εὐθύς με ἀποκατέστησας ἐκεῖ, ἔνθα οὐκ ἔστι λύπη, οὐ στεναγμός, οὐ δάκρυον, οὐκ ὄφις δάκνων πτέρναν, καί ἔδειξας ἀκάματον, ἀταλαίπωρον τρίβον τήν ἐναντίαν, τήν στενήν, τήν δύσβατον ἀνθρώποις ἤ, ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, ἄβατον πᾶσιν οὖσαν. Τίς γάρ ποτε ἐξίσχυσεν ἤ τίς ποτε ἰσχύσει ἀνθρώπων εἰς τόν οὐρανόν ἐν σώματι γενέσθαι ἤ καί χωρίς τοῦ σώματος, ποίοις πτεροῖς πετάσας; Ἠλίας ἅρματι πυρός ἐπήρθη καί πρό τούτου Ἐνώχ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ εἰς οὐρανούς, ἐν ἑτέρῳ δέ τόπῳ, οὐχί αὐτός ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτόῦ, πλήν ὅμως μετετέθη. Τί δέ πρός τά γινόμενα ἐν ἡμῖν εἰσί ταῦτα; Πῶς ὅλως ἔσται σύγκρισις σκιᾶς καί ἀληθείας, ἤ πνεύματος λειτουργικοῦ καί δουλικοῦ, εἰπέ μοι, πρός πνεῦμα τό δεσποτικόν καί παντουργόν καί θεῖον, τό στερεοῦν καί δυναμοῦν πᾶσαν κτιστήν οὐσίαν; Τά μέν γάρ ἄλλα ποίημα, ποιητής δ᾿ αὐτό μόνον, ὡς τοῦ Πατρός ἀχώριστον καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ ὡσαύτως. Θεός τά τρία, εἷς Θεός ἡ Τριάς καί γάρ ἔστιν˙ αὕτη τό πᾶν οὐσίωσεν, ἔκτισεν αὕτη πάντα, αὕτη τόν Λόγον καί Υἱόν τοῦ Πατρός ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ κατά τήν σάρκα ἔκτισεν εἰς ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν, ἀχώριστον τοῦ τε Πατρός καί τοῦ Πνεύματον ὄντα. Σαρκοῦται δέ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὄντως τῇ ἐπελεύσει (373) καί γίνεται ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν, ἄνθρωπος ὅμοιός μοι,