V.  God is Light:8    1 John i. 5.  the highest, the unapproachable, the ineffable, That can neither be conceived in the mind nor uttered with the lips,9    1 Tim. vi. 16. That giveth life to every reasoning creature.10    John i. 9.  He is in the world of thought, what the sun is in the world of sense; presenting Himself to our minds in proportion as we are cleansed; and loved in proportion as He is presented to our mind; and again, conceived in proportion as we love Him; Himself contemplating and comprehending Himself, and pouring Himself out upon what is external to Him.  That Light, I mean, which is contemplated in the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, Whose riches is Their unity of nature, and the one outleaping of Their brightness.  A second Light is the Angel, a kind of outflow or communication of that first Light, drawing its illumination from its inclination and obedience thereto; and I know not whether its illumination is distributed according to the order of its state, or whether its order is due to the respective measures of its illumination.11    S. Thomas Aquinas (Summa I qu. 108) seems to solve this question in accordance with the second of these alternatives.  A third Light is man; a light which is visible to external objects.  For they call man light12    φώς (masc) is a common poetical word for Man.  It is probably derived from the root (Indo-Eur. Bha) of φάω, which also appears in φημί and modified in φαίνω. because of the faculty of speech in us.  And the name is applied again to those of us who are more like God, and who approach God more nearly than others.  I also acknowledge another Light, by which the primeval darkness was driven away or pierced.  It was the first of all the visible creation to be called into existence; and it irradiates the whole universe, the circling orbit of the stars, and all the heavenly beacon fires.

Εʹ. Θεὸς μέν ἐστι φῶς τὸ ἀκρότατον, καὶ ἀπρόσιτον, καὶ ἄῤῥητον, οὔτε νῷ καταληπτὸν, οὔτε λόγῳ ῥητὸν, πάσης φωτιστικὸν λογικῆς φύσεως. Τοῦτο ἐν νοητοῖς, ὅπερ ἐν αἰσθητοῖς ἥλιος: ὅσον ἂν καθαιρώμεθα, φανταζόμενον: καὶ ὅσον ἂν φαντασθῶμεν, ἀγαπώμενον: καὶ ὅσον ἂν ἀγαπήσωμεν, αὖθις νοούμενον: αὐτὸ ἑαυτοῦ θεωρητικόν τε καὶ καταληπτικὸν, ὀλίγα τοῖς ἔξω χεόμενον. Φῶς δὲ λέγω, τὸ ἐν Πατρὶ, καὶ Υἱῷ, καὶ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι θεωρούμενον: ὧν πλοῦτός ἐστιν ἡ συμφυΐα, καὶ τὸ ἓν ἔξαλμα τῆς λαμπρότητος. Δεύτερον δὲ φῶς ἄγγελος, τοῦ πρώτου φωτὸς ἀποῤῥοή τις, ἢ μετουσία, τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸ νεύσει καὶ ὑπουργίᾳ τὸν φωτισμὸν ἔχουσα: οὐκ οἶδα, εἴτε τῇ τάξει τῆς στάσεως μεριζομένη τὸν φωτισμὸν, εἴτε τοῖς μέτροις τοῦ φωτισμοῦ τὴν τάξιν λαμβάνουσα. Τρίτον φῶς ἄνθρωπος, ὃ καὶ τοῖς ἔξω δῆλόν ἐστι. Φῶς γὰρ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὀνομάζουσι, διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν λόγου δύναμιν: καὶ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν πάλιν οἱ θεοειδέστεροι, καὶ μᾶλλον Θεῷ πλησιάζοντες. Οἶδα καὶ ἄλλο φῶς, ᾧ τὸ ἀρχέγονον ἠλάθη σκότος, ἢ διεκόπη, πρῶτον ὑποστὰν τῆς ὁρατῆς κτίσεως, τήν τε κυκλικὴν τῶν ἀστέρων περίοδον, καὶ τὴν ἄνωθεν φρυκτωρίαν, κόσμον ὅλον αὐγάζουσαν.