213

But the most awesome thing of all! - He showed me a new heaven and in me dwelled the creator of all things, of which none of the ancient saints was deemed worthy. For formerly He spoke through the Divine Spirit and by His energy performed miracles, but in no way was God united essentially with anyone before Christ my God became man. (375) For having taken a body He has given His Divine Spirit, and through it He is essentially united to all the faithful and their union becomes inseparable. Woe is me! - for I groan bitterly at the error of men. How do we not believe in Christ, how do we not follow, how do we not long for life, how do we not desire His inviolable, incorruptible wealth, the ageless glory of the life with Him, how do we not desire it? How do we, being attached to corruptible things, think to be saved, we who do not love Christ more than visible things nor hope to be with Him after death? But they are more senseless than wood and stones. But, O my Christ, deliver me from their irrationality and teach me to love you, the life of all the faithful. For to you, with the Father and your Divine Spirit, is due glory and praise, honor and worship, now and forever as king unto the ages of ages, and to the maker of all things, God and Master, amen.

NB'.

Concerning theology; and that for one who has not been changed by the participation of the Holy Spirit and has not become God by grace in knowledge, it is not permitted to teach divine things to men. (376)

Who will console the pain of my heart? And having said pain, I have indicated the longing for the Savior, and the longing is an energy of the Spirit, or rather it is essentially His presence, seen hypostatically within me as a light inside; and the light is incomparable, it is entirely unutterable. Who will separate me from sensible things, from which I was once delivered and was hidden from them, having become outside the world? Who will give me the calm and quiet of all things, so that I may be sated with the beauty and the vision of Him, of whom the incomprehensible inflames the longing, and as much as is comprehensible, is hypostatic longing. For love is not a name, but a divine essence, able to be participated in and yet ungraspable, but divine in every way; what is participated in is comprehensible, what is more than this, not yet.

213

τό δέ πάντων φρικτότερον! - οὐρανόν καινόν ἔδειξέ με καί ἐν ἐμοί κατῴκησεν ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων κτίστης, οὗπερ οὐδείς τῶν πρόπαλαι ἁγίων ἠξιώθη. Ἐλάλει γάρ γό πρότερον διά Πνεύματος Θείου καί ἐνεργείᾳ τῇ αὐτοῦ τά θαύματα ἐποίει, οὐσιωδῶς δέ οὐδαμῶς νινι Θεός ἡνώθη πρό τοῦ γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον τόν Χριστόν καί Θεόν μου. (375) Λαβών γάρ σῶμα δέδωκεν αὐτοῦ Πνεῦμα τό Θεῖον, οὐσιωδῶς ἑνοῦται δέ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ πιστοῖς πᾶσι καί γίνεται ἀχώριστος ἡ ἕνωσις ἡ τούτων. Φεῦ μοι! - στενάζω γάρ πικρῶς τήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πλάνην . Πῶς οὐ πιστεύομεν Χριστῷ, πῶς οὐκ ἀκολουθοῦμεν, πῶς οὐ ποθοῦμεν τήν ζωήν, πῶς τόν ἐκείνου πλοῦτον τόν ἄσυλον, τόν ἄφθαρτον, τήν δόξαν τήν ἀγήρω διαγωγῆς τῆς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, πῶς οὐκ ἐπιθυμοῦμεν; Πῶς τοῖς φθαρτοῖς προσκείμενοι νομίζομεν σωθῆναι, οἱ μή φιλοῦντες τόν Χριστόν πλεῖον τῶν ὁρωμένων μηδέ ἐλπίζοντες αὐτῷ συνεῖναι μετά πότμον; Ἀλλά ἀναισθητότεροί εἰσι ξύλων τε καί τῶν λίθων. Ἀλλ᾿, ὦ Χριστέ μου, ῥῦσαί με τῆς τούτων ἀλογίας καί σέ φιλεῖν ἐκδίδαξον, τήν ζωήν πιστῶν πάντων. Σοί γάρ σύν τῷ Πατρί καί Πνεύματί σου Θείῳ δόξα πρέπει καί αἴνεσις, τιμή προσκύνησίς τε νῦν καί ἀεί ὡς βασιλεῖ εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων, κα΄τῶν ἁπάντων ποιητῇ, Θεῷ τε καί ∆εσπότῃ, ἀμήν.

ΝΒ'.

Περί θεολογίας˙ καί ὅτι τῷ μή ἀλλοιωθέντι τῇ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος μετουσίᾳ καί γεγονότι θέσει ἐν γνώσει Θεῷ διδάσκειν τά θεῖα τούς ἀνθρώπους οὐκ ἔξεστι. (376)

Τίς μου παραμυθήσεται τόν πόνον τῆς καρδίας; Πόνον δ᾿ εἰπών ἐδήλωσα τόν τοῦ Σωτῆρος πόθον, ὁ πόθος δέ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνέργεια τυγχάνει, μᾶλλον δ᾿ αὐτοῦ οὐσιωδῶς ἐστίν ἡ παρουσία, ἐνυποστάτως ἐν ἐμοί φῶς ἐντός ὁρωμένη˙ τό φῶς δ᾿ ἀσύγκριτόν ἐστιν, ὁλον ἄφθεγκτον πέλει. Τίς με χωρίσει αἰσθητῶν, ὧν ἀπηλλάγην ἅπαξ καί ἀπεκρύβην ἐξ αὐτῶν γεγονώς ἔξω κόσμου; Τίς μοι δώσει γαλήνην γε καί ἡσυχίαν πάντων, ἵνα τοῦ κάλλους κορεσθῶ καί τῆς ἐκείνου θέας, οὗ τό ἀκατανόητον ἀναφλέγει τόν πόθον, ὁπόσον δέ καταληπτόν, ἐνυπόστατος πόθος. Ἀγάπη γάρ οὐκ ὄνομα, ἀλλά οὐσία θεία, μεταληπτή καί ἄληπτος, θεϊκή δέ γε πάντως˙ τό μεθεκτόν καταληπτόν, τούτου τό πλεῖον οὔπω.