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that I become wholly a god by communion with God in perception and knowledge, not by essence, but by participation, one must in every way think orthodoxly. For just as God was born unchangeably a man in a body and was seen by all, so ineffably, spiritually He begets me and, while I remain a man, He makes me a god; and just as He, being seen in the flesh, His being God was unknown to the crowds, so also we, such as we were, a wonder to all! - being seen in every way as men (365) that which we have become by divine grace, is not naturally seen by the many. But only to those for whom the eye of the soul is purified, do we appear as in a mirror, but to the impure, God, and neither we, are we seen, nor indeed are we believed ever to have become such. For they are unbelievers and rely on faith alone without works; but if they are not unbelievers, they are at any rate 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 a lack of faith in works? In every way you will say to me: What is the grace of works without right and perfect faith? And I in turn will answer you: But what is the benefit of faith without works? If then you wish to know the things 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 noetic contemplation and most mystical knowledge, do what the Savior commands you and He endured these things for you, and then you would see a most brilliant shining light, in the completely whitened air of the soul, immaterially the immaterial substance clearly truly penetrating the whole through the whole,

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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, ἀέρι ψυχῆς πάμπαν λελευκασμένῳ, ἀΰλως τήν ἄϋλον σαφῶς οὐσίαν ὅλην δι᾿ ὅλου ὄντως διϊκνουμένην,