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they themselves indeed dwell in that which is altogether unapproachable. This is true faith, this is the work of God, this is the seal of Christians, this is divine participation, this is the divine communion and pledge, this is life, this is the kingdom, this is the garment, the tunic of the Lord, which those being baptized put on in faith, not in ignorance, I tell you, nor in insensibility, but through faith in perception and knowledge. So that you might not say: "I believe I have put on Christ"; I do not say: "Believe this"; but: "Have the work of faith and the confirmation of faith and the seal of faith and the indubitable perfection of faith from having put on Christ in perception and knowledge, shining forth, flashing with the glory of divinity and in the most brilliant light, changing you completely, while remaining unchangeably twofold from both, God by grace, but by nature being wholly man." Having become entirely such, as I told you, then come and stand with us, O my brother, on the mountain of divine knowledge and divine vision, and we shall hear together a fatherly voice, alas, (379) how far we fall short of divine worth, and how far we are from eternal life. As far as heaven is from the subterranean places of the earth and from those unhappily long held there, so far or even farther are we all truly from the worthiness of God and from divine vision, even if we say that we paradoxically dwell with Him and have within ourselves Him who dwells in unapproachable light, abiding and dwelling wholly; and we want, while sitting in the subterranean places, to philosophize about the things above the earth and in heaven and even above the heavens, as if knowing them precisely, and to narrate them to all and be called gnostics, and precise theologians and initiates of the ineffable mysteries, which is in every way a sign of insensibility. For one who was unhappily born in the subterranean places and dwells in the total darkness of the present world, and has not seen the light of the age to come, which certainly has shone on earth and shines eternally, and says that he thinks and knows the things in heaven,

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οἰκοῦσιν αὐτοί γ᾿ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ πάμπαν ἀπροσίτῳ. Τοῦτο πίστις ἡ ἀληθής, τοῦτο Θεοῦ τό ἔργον, τοῦτο σφραγίς Χριστιανῶν, τοῦτο μέθεξις θεία, τοῦτο ἐστίν ἡ μετοχή καί ἀρραβών ὁ θεῖος, τοῦτο ὑπάρχει ἡ ζωή, τοῦτο ἡ βασιλεία, τοῦτο τό ἔνδυμά ἐστιν, ὁ χιτών τοῦ Κυρίου, ὅνπερ οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι ἐπενδύονται πίστει, οὐχί ἀγνοίᾳ, λέγω σοι, οὐδέ ἀναισθησίᾳ, ἀλλά διά τῆς πίστεως ἐν αἰσθήσει καί γνώσει. Ἵνα μή λέγῃς˙ Τόν Χριστόν ἐνδεδύσθαι πιστεύω˙ οὐ λέγω˙ Τοῦτο πίστευε˙ ἀλλά˙ Πίστεως ἔργον καί πίστεως βεβαίωσιν καί πίστεως σφραγῖδα καί πίστεως τελείωσιν ἀναμφίβολον ἔχε ἐκ τοῦ ἐνδύσασθαι Χριστόν ἐν αἰσθήσει καί γνώσει ἐκλάμποντα, ἀστράπτοντα θεότητος τῇ δόξῃ καί τρανοτάτῳ ἐν φωτί ὅλον σε ἀλλοιοῦντα, ἀναλλοιώτως μένοντα διπλοῦν ἐξ ἑκατέρων, θέσει Θεόν, τῇ φύσει δέ ἄνθρωπον ὅλον ὄντα. Τοιοῦτος δέ γενόμενος ὅλος, καθώς σοι εἶπον, τότε ἐλθέ καί σύν ἡμῖν στῆθι, ὦ ἀδελφέ μου, ἐπ᾿ ὄρους θείας γνώσεως, θείας τε θεωρίας, καί ἀκουσόμεθα ὁμοῦ πατρικῆς φωνῆς, οἴμοι, (379) ὁπόσον ἀπολείπομεν τῆς θεϊκῆς ἀξίας, ὁπόσον δέ ἀπέχομεν ζωῆς τῆς αἰωνίου. Ὅσον ἀπέχει οὐρανός τῶν γῆς καταχθονίων καί τῶν ἐκεῖσε δυστυχῶς πάλαι κεκρατημένων, τοσοῦτον ἤ καί πλέον γε ἀπέχομεν οἱ πάντες ὄντως ἀξίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καί θείας θεωρίας, κἄν σύν ἐκείνῳ κατοικεῖν λέγωμεν παραδόξως καί τόν οἰκοῦντα ἐν φωτί τῷ ἀπροσίτῳ ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτόῖς καί μένοντα καί κατοικοῦντα ὅλον˙ καί θέλομεν καθήμενοι ἐν τοῖς καταχθονίοις φιλοσοφεῖν τά ὑπέρ γῆν καί τά ἐν οὐρανῷ γε καί οὐρανῶν ὑπέρτερα, ὡς ἀκριβῶς εἰδότες, καί διηγεῖσθαι ἅπασι καί γνωστικοί καλεῖσθαι, θεολόγοι τε ἀκριβεῖς καί μύσται τῶν ἀρρήτων, ὅπερ καί ἔνδειγμά ἐστι πάντως ἀναισθησίας. Ὁ γεννηθείς γάρ δυστυχῶς ἐν τοῖς καταχθονίοις καί σκότος ὅλος κατοικῶν τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος κόσμου, φῶς τε μή θεασάμενος τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, ὅ πάντως ἔλαμψεν ἐν γῇ ἀενάως λάμπει, καί λέγων τά ἐν οὐρανῷ φρονεῖν καί εἰδέναι,