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except for sin and apart from all lawlessness, God and man at once seen by all, having His Divine Spirit united with His nature, with Whom He gave life to the dead, opened the eyes of the blind, cleansed lepers and cast out demons. This one, having endured the cross and death likewise, having risen again in the Spirit, was taken up in glory and inaugurated the path to the heavens for all those who believe in Him with unwavering faith, and poured out the All-Holy Spirit abundantly upon all those who show their faith by their works and now He pours it out lavishly upon such people, and deifies through It those with whom It is suddenly joined, and from men He transforms them unchangeably and shows them to be children of God, brothers of the Savior, co-heirs with Christ, and heirs of God, gods with God in the Holy Spirit, bound only by the flesh, but free in spirit, ascending with Christ to the heavens with ease, and possessing their entire citizenship there in the vision of good things, which eyes have not seen. What then is the chariot of fire that snatched up Elijah, what is the translation of Enoch compared to these things? I think, as the sea divided by a rod of old and the manna that came down from heaven, were certainly only a type and symbols of the truth the sea of baptism, the manna of the Savior, (374) so too are those things symbols and a type of these, which possess an incomparable preeminence and glory, as much as the uncreated excels the created in nature. For the manna, which is called bread, the food of angels, which men ate in the desert then, failed, was lost, and all died who ate it; for it did not partake of life. But the flesh of my Lord, being deified, and being full of life, makes all who eat it partakers of life and renders them immortal; and it leads them across not an expanse of sea, nor does it transfer them from Egypt to another land which brings forth corruptible fruits again for men, nor for forty years does the redeemer of the world command us to walk, so that we might also reach the land of promise, but having been baptized at once with unwavering faith, and having partaken of His blood and flesh, from death to life, and from darkness to light, He brings us up immediately from earth to the heavens. First stripping me of corruption and of death and liberating me completely in perception and knowledge,

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πλήν ἁμαρτίας καί πάσης ἐκτός γε ἀνομίας, Θεός ὁμοῦ καί ἄνθρωπος ὁρώμενος τοῖς πᾶσιν, ἔχων τό Πνεῦμα τό Θεῖον αὐτοῦ συνόν τῇ φύσει, μεθ᾿ οὗ νεκρούς ἐζώωσε, τυφλῶν ἤνοιξε κόρας, λεπρούς τε ἐκαθάρισε δαίμονας ἀπελάσας. Οὗτος σταυρόν ὑπενεγκών καί θάνατον ὡσαύτως ἐξαναστάς ἐν Πνεύματι ἀνελήφθη ἐν δόξῃ καί τρίβον τήν εἰς οὐρανούς ἐνεκαίνισε πᾶσι τοῖς εἰς αὐτόν πιστεύουσιν ἐν ἀδιστάκτῳ πίστει, καί Πνεῦμα τό Πανάγιον ἐξέχεε πλουσίως εἰς πάντας τούς δεικνύοντας τήν πίστιν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων καί νῦν ἀφθόνως τοῦτό γε ἐκχεῖ πρός τούς τοιούτους, θεοποιεῖ τε δι᾿ αὐτοῦ, οἷς συναφθῇ ἀθρόον, καί ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλοιοῖ τούτους ἀναλλοιώτως καί τέκνα δείκνυσι Θεοῦ, ἀδελφούς τοῦ Σωτῆρος, συγκληρονόμους μέν Χριστοῦ, Θεοῦ δέ κληρονόμους, θεούς Θεῷ συνόντας γε Πνεύματι ἐν Ἁγίῳ, δεσμίους μέν μόνῃ σαρκί, πνεύματι δ᾿ ἐλευθέρους, συνανιόντας τῷ Χριστῷ εἰς οὐρανούς εὐκόλως, ὅλον τε τό πολίτευμα κεκτημένους ἐκεῖσε ἐν θεωρίᾳ τῶν καλῶν, ὧν ὀφθαλμοί οὐκ εἶδον. Τί οὖν τό ἅρμα τοῦ πυρός, τό Ἠλίαν ἁρπάσαν, τί ἡ Ἐνώχ μετάθεσις ὑπάρχουσι πρός ταῦτα; Ἐγώ δοκῶ, ὡς θάλασσα τμηθεῖσα ῥάβδῳ πάλαι καί μάννα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατελθόν, τύπος μόνον καί ἀληθείας σύμβολα ταῦτα πάντως ὑπῆρχον ἡ θάλασσα βαπτίσματος, τό μάννα τοῦ Σωτῆρος , (374) οὕτω κἀκεῖνα σύμβολα τούτων εἰσί καί τύπος, ἀσύγκριτον ὑπεροχήν κεκτημένων καί δόξαν, ὅσον κτιστοῦ τό ἄκτιστον ὑπερέχει τῇ φύσει. Τό μάννα γάρ, ὅ λέγεται ἄρτος, τροφή ἀγγέλων, ὅ ἔφαγον οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τότε, ἐξέλιπεν, ἀπώλετο, ἀπέθανόν τε πάντες καί ὅσοι τοῦτο ἔφαγον˙ ζωῆς γάρ οὐ μετεῖχεν. Ἡ σάρξ δέ τοῦ ∆εσπότου μου τεθεωμένη οὖσα, ζωῆς μεστή τε πέλουσα πάντας ζωῆς μετόχους τούς τρώγοντας ἀποτελεῖ καί ποιεῖ ἀθανάτους˙ διαβιβάζει τε αὐτούς οὐ πέλαγος θαλάσσης, οὐδ᾿ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μεθιστῶν πρός ἄλλην γῆν μετάγει φθαρτούς καρπούς προφέρουσαν καί αὖθις τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ τεσσαράκοντα ἐπί χρόνοις βαδίζειν διακελεύεται ἡμᾶς ὁ λυτρωτής τοῦ κόσμου, ἵνα καί καταλάβωμεν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, ἀλλ᾿ ἀδιστάκτῳ πίστει γε βαπτισθέντας ἀθρόον, αἷματός τε καί τῆς αὐτοῦ σαρκός μεταλαβόντας ἀπό θανάτου εἰς ζωήν, εἰς φῶς τε ἀπό σκότους, ἀπό τῆς γῆς εἰς οὐρανούς ἀναφέρει εὐθέως. Πρότερον ἀπεκδύσας με φθορᾶς καί τοῦ θανάτου καί ὅλον ἐλευθερώσας με ἐν αἰσθήσει καί γνώσει,