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bound indeed in flesh alone, but free in spirit, ascending easily with Christ to heaven, and possessing their entire citizenship there in the contemplation of the good things which eye has not seen. What then are the chariot of fire that snatched up Elijah, what is the translation of Enoch, in comparison to these things? I think, as the sea parted 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 also those things are symbols and a type of these, which possess an incomparable preeminence and glory, inasmuch as the uncreated surpasses the created in nature. For the manna, which is called bread, the food of angels, which men ate then in the wilderness, ceased, perished, and all who ate it died; for it did not partake of life. But the flesh of my Lord, being deified and 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, removing them from Egypt, transfer them to another land which brings forth perishable fruits again for men, nor does the redeemer of the world command us to walk for forty years, in order that we might seize the land of promise, but having been baptized at once with unwavering faith, having partaken of His blood and flesh, from death to life, from darkness to light, from earth to heaven He immediately bears us up. First having stripped me of corruption and of death and having set me wholly free in perception and in knowledge, and—most awesome of all!—He has shown me a new heaven and the creator of all things has dwelt in me, of which not one of the ancient saints was deemed worthy. For He formerly spoke through the Divine Spirit and by His energy performed miracles, but in no way was God united to him in substance before Christ my God became man. (375) For having taken a body He has given His Divine Spirit, and through it He is united in substance to all the faithful, and this union of theirs becomes inseparable.

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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, 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.