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Or rather, first He is seen in the heavens and immeasurably above the heavens, He is seen very faintly, invisibly. But when I seek with toil and persistently ask that He may shine, either He is seen there more clearly and separates me from the things below and joins me to His brightness ineffably, or He is shown suddenly whole within me, a light spherical, calm and divine, formless, without shape in a formless form, being seen and speaking these things to me: Who circumscribes me as being in the heavens and seeks me there and thinks I dwell there? Why do you suppose me to be on earth and announce me to be with all things and legislate that I exist everywhere? Therefore, "everywhere" imputes size to me, but I am altogether without size; for know that my nature is beyond size. And "on the earth" implies circumscription, but I am entirely and completely uncircumscribable. (360) But for you to say that I am with all things, you make your own ignorance manifest to all; for you hear that I am with the saints, I myself whole in substance in perception, in contemplation, and also in participation, with my Father and the Divine Spirit, and that I clearly rest in these. If, therefore, you say we are with each one, you will make us many, divided among many; if you say one, how can the one be also with each one, or rather how can the one be both above and below, and how will the same one be with all things? How will He who fills all things dwell in one, and how will He who is in one also fill all things? Hear the mysteries of the ineffable God, ineffable, paradoxical, and in every way strange: God truly is, He really is, all the pious confess this, but He is none of the things that we know at all, nor is He from those things that the angels know,
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μᾶλλον δέ πρῶτον εἰς οὐρανούς ὁρᾶται καί τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀμέτρως ὑπεράνω, ἀμυδρῶς πάνυ ἀοράτως ὁρᾶται. Ὅτε δέ ἐγώ ἐμπόνως ἐκζητήσω καί ἐπιμόνως αἰτήσομαι τοῦ λάμψαι, ἤ τρανότερον ἐκεῖσε καθορᾶται κάμέ τῶν κάτω χωρίζει καί συνάπτει τῇ ἐκείνου λαμπρότητι ἀρρήτως, ἤ ἐντός μου δείκνυται ἀθρόον ὅλον, φῶς σφαιροειδές, γαληνόν τε καί θεῖον, ἄμορφον, ἀνείδεον μορφῇ ἀμόρφῳ, ὁρώμενόν τε καί λαλοῦν πρός με ταῦτα˙ Τίς εἰς οὐρανούς εἶναί με περιγράφεις κἀκεῖ τε ζητεῖς καί κατοικεῖν νομίζεις; Τί με ἐπί γῆς εἶναι ὑπολαμβάνεις καί μετά πάντων συνεῖναι διαγγέλλεις καί πανταχοῦ με νομοθετεῖς ὑπάρχειν; Τό οὖν πανταχοῦ μέγεθός μοι προσάπτει, ἀμέγεθες δέ τό παράπαν ὑπάρχω˙ ὑπερμεγέθη γνῶθι γάρ μου τήν φύσιν. Τό δ᾿ ἐπί τῆς γῆς περιγραφήν ἐμφαίνει, πάντως δ᾿ ἀπερίγραπτος καθάπαξ πέλω. (360) Τό δέ λέγειν σε συνεῖναί με τοῖς πᾶσιν, ἄγνοιαν σαυτοῦ δήλην ποιεῖς τοῖς πᾶσι˙ συνεῖναι γάρ με τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀκούεις αὐτόν ὅλον με οὐσίᾳ ἐν αἰσθήσει, θεωρίᾳ τε, ἀλλά καί μετουσίᾳ, σύν τῷ Πατρί μου καί Πνεύματι τῷ Θείῳ, καί ἐπαναπαύεσθαι σαφῶς ἐν τούτοις. Εἰ οὖν καθ᾿ ἕνα εἴπῃς ἡμᾶς συνεῖναι, πολλούς ποιήσεις εἰς πολλούς μερισθέντας˙ εἰ ἕνα φράσῃς, πῶς ὁ εἷς καί καθ᾿ ἕνα, μᾶλλον δέ ὁ εἷς πῶς καί ἄνω καί κάτω, μετά δέ πάντων πῶς ὁ αὐτός συνέσται; Τό πᾶν ὁ πληρῶν πῶς ἐν ἐνί οἰκήσει, ὁ ὤν ἐν ἑνί πῶς καί τό πᾶν πληρώσει; Ἄκουε μυστήρια Θεοῦ ἀφράστου, ἄφραστα, παράδοξα καί πάντῃ ξένα˙ ἔστι μέν Θεός ἀληθῶς, ὄντως ἔστι, τοῦτο εὐσεβεῖς πάντες ὁμολογοῦσιν, οὐδέν δέ ἐστιν, ὧν ἡμεῖς ὅλως ἴσμεν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ἐξ ὧν ἄγγελοι ἴσασιν ἔστι,