書信集 第 1 章 第 11/17 段

Neither the outward piety, nor the humble and lowly demeanor, is the light nor the radiance of the light of which I speak to you; for all these are actions and the fulfillment of the commandments, if indeed they are rightly accomplished and fulfilled, as the Creator himself commands.

Tears are shed in many ways, and either they are beneficial, or they even do harm rather; meanwhile, in themselves they are altogether unprofitable.

And vigil-keeping is by no means the practice of monks alone, but also of the common people occupied with their labors; and women who weave keep more vigils, as do goldsmiths and coppersmiths, more than most monks; and for this reason we say that none of all these virtuous actions is called light.

For even when all actions and virtues are gathered together as one without deficiency, they are not the divine light; for all human actions are distinct from it. And these actions fulfilled by us, insofar as they concern us in relation to others living in wickedness, are called light, in that they lead them toward what is good; and what is darkness in me and blinds me becomes light to my neighbor and shines for those who see it.

And lest I be suspected of speaking paradoxes to you, listen, and I will tell you the solution to the riddle: perhaps I fast on account of you, so that I may appear to be fasting, and this is a thorn in my eyes and is lodged like a beam right in their midst; but you, seeing me, are illumined—provided you do not condemn me but rather blame yourself as a glutton; for from this you are guided toward self-control of the stomach, and you plainly learn to look down upon indulgence.

Again, I am clothed in cheap and ragged garments, and walking everywhere in a single tunic, I suppose that I am hunting glory and praise from those who see me, and that I appear to them as another new apostle; and this becomes for me the cause of every harm, and truly darkness and a thick cloud in my soul; but for the people who see me it gives light and teaches them to despise ornamentation, to despise also wealth, and to cling to cheap and coarse clothing—which is indeed truly the garment of the apostles.

These are actions outside the light, works without a ray; for all of them, gathered together, as I said before, and all the virtuous actions becoming one—if indeed it is even possible for this to occur in a man—would be likened to a lamp deprived of light.

For just as unlit coals alone cannot be called fire, nor again can wood be called embers or flame, so likewise not every faith, not works nor actions, not the fulfillment of the commandments, are worthy to be called the divine fire, flame, or light—for they are not this in reality; but that they are able to receive the fire, and to draw near to the light and be kindled by it in an ineffable union—this is the praise and glory of the virtues.

And for this reason every ascetic labor and all actions are accomplished by us, so that we may partake, as it were, of the divine light like a lamp—the soul offering all of them, as it were a single wick, to the unapproachable light; or rather, just as a papyrus wick is dipped in wax, so the soul, fattened with all the virtues, will be wholly kindled from that light, as much as it will have strength to see, as much as it will be able to admit into its house; and then the virtues, being illumined, having communed with the divine light, are themselves called light too—or rather, they themselves are light mingled with light—and they irradiate with light the soul itself and the body, and they shine truly, first for the one who possesses them, and then for all the rest who are in the darkness of life; whom illumine in the Spirit, O Christ, the All-Holy Spirit, and make them heirs of the kingdom of heaven with all your saints, now and forever. Amen.

That the union of the All-Holy Spirit with purified souls occurs in clear conscious perception, that is, in full knowledge; and in those souls in which it occurs, it renders them light-like, similar to itself, and makes them light.

For then my Savior united the things that were separated; but the blind did not see the union, and the dead say that they have not had any conscious perception of it at all, and yet they suppose that they are living and seeing—O utmost madness!—and, disbelieving, they say: "No one has known or experienced this by experience, no one has seen it in conscious perception, but it comes about only by hearing and the teaching of words."

But O my Christ, teach me what to say in response to these things, and to draw these men out of their great ignorance and unbelief, and grant them to see you, the light of the world!

God is invisible, but we are altogether visible; if, then, he unites himself by will to the visible, a union of both then occurs in knowledge.

But if you should say that this happens without knowledge and without conscious perception, then it is altogether a union of the dead, and not of life with the living.

God is the Creator of creatures, and we likewise are created beings; if, then, God the Creator condescends to the creature and is united to it, and the creature becomes as it were the Creator, they would indeed receive conscious perception of true contemplation, that the created has been united ineffably to the Creator.

But if we do not grant this, faith is destroyed, and the hope of things to come is altogether abolished; there will be no resurrection nor the general judgment.

Since indeed, as you say, we creatures are united to the Maker without conscious perception, understanding nothing knowingly, then, according to you, God is in danger of not being life, nor of giving us life when he is united to us.

Again, the Creator is incorruptible, but the creatures are corruptible; for those who sinned brought not only the body but also the souls themselves into corruption, and according to this reasoning we are corruptible both in body and in soul, since we have all together been held fast by the corruption of noetic death and of sin.

...and having become as I am. But if I, from being corruptible, become wholly incorruptible, joined to the Incorruptible, how shall I not perceive it? How shall I not, by experience itself, see and know that I have become what I was not?

For to say that God, when united to men, does not impart to them the divine incorruption, but is rather dragged down together with their corruption, is for the one who says it to teach doctrine that the indestructible is destroyed, and to blaspheme, and he himself falls altogether from life.

But if this is impossible, accept rather the other alternative, and strive to partake of incorruption before the end.

God is the light, but we are in darkness, or, more truly to say, we ourselves are the darkness; for God will not shine anywhere else—do not be deceived—except in those souls alone with which he has united himself before the end; but to the others, even if he should shine—O preachers, as I have said—he will appear to them altogether as an unapproachable fire; it will test the work, of what sort each one's is, and he will again be separated from these as unworthy, and they will receive a fitting punishment.

Nevertheless, both here and there, he alone is the light of souls, while we, having our souls unilluminated, are darkness; if, then, the light of souls should be united to my soul, either that light will be extinguished together with it and become darkness, or my soul, having been illumined, will become as the light.

For when light is kindled, darkness immediately flees, even though that is only the work of sensible light.

But if the light that has been brought into being works such things in you, and illumines your eyes and gladdens your soul, and grants you to see what you did not see before, what will he not do, having shone in the soul, who is the Creator of this light—he who said "Let there be light," and it was immediately brought in?

What then do you think it will be able to effect in the soul that is illumined, if it shines noetically in the heart or in the mind like lightning or like a great sun?

Will it not indeed illumine it, and grant it to know, in precise full knowledge, who he is?

It is taught, and speaks out, and writes for all others, and sets forth doctrines befitting God, as all the holy Fathers who went before teach; for thus they formulated the divine Creed, having themselves become such as we have said, and, in company with God, they uttered and spoke the things of God.

For who has theologized the triadic Monad, or who has routed heresies, without having become such a one? Or who has been called holy without partaking of the Holy Spirit?

But those who say that they partake of this without conscious perception, they in reality call themselves imperceptive; and we [call them] also dead, deprived of life, even though they seem still to be living—O what delusion, O what madness!

But, O light, shine upon them, shine, so that, having seen, they may truly be persuaded that you are indeed the true light, and that, like light, you make like yourself those with whom you are united.

I shine, as always, before the face of the blind, but they do not wish to see; rather they shut their eyes and do not want to look up toward me, O child.

Moreover, they turn their gaze away elsewhere, and I turn about with them, and stand in front of them, and again they cast their eye elsewhere, and do not behold at all the light of my face.

What then should I do with them? I am utterly at a loss; for to save them against their will and perhaps by force—this too would seem an affliction, since they are unwilling to be saved.

For the good, done by will, will be truly good; but the good done against one's will will not be good; and therefore those who are willing, I both see and am seen by, and I make them fellow-heirs of my kingdom, but those who are unwilling I leave willing to remain in the world, and they become judges of themselves before the judgment, because, while I the unapproachable light was shining, they alone procured darkness for themselves, unwilling to see the light and remaining in darkness.

That all the saints, being illumined, are radiant, and behold the glory of God, as far as it is lawful for human nature to see God.

Look down from above, my God, and be well pleased to appear and to converse with a poor man.

Reveal your light, opening the heavens to me; rather, open my mind, and enter now within me.

Speak, as of old, through my unclean tongue, concerning what certain people say—that now there exists no one who has seen God knowingly, nor has there been anyone before this except the apostles.

But they say that not even those [apostles] clearly saw your God and Father, but rather they teach that he is unknown to all, and likewise incontemplable, putting forward the saying of your most-beloved disciple John, who says: "No one has ever yet seen God."

Yes, my Christ, speak quickly, lest I myself seem to the unintelligent to be talking nonsense.

I am indeed God before all days, hours, and times, and also before all ages, and before all visible and noetically perceived creatures.

Alone with the alone, alone, and none of the visible things, nor indeed of the invisible things, truly existed before coming into being.

I alone, uncreated, together with my Father and my Spirit, alone am without beginning, from my Father who is without beginning; but none of the angels, not even yet, nor of the archangels, nor of the other ranks, has ever seen my nature, nor me myself, the Creator, wholly, as I actually am.

But they behold only a ray of glory and an effluence of my light, and are deified.

For as a mirror that has received the rays of the sun, or as a crystalline stone illumined at midday, so do all receive the rays of my godhead.

But no one has yet been deemed worthy to behold me wholly—neither of angels, nor of men, nor of the holy powers.

For I am outside all things, and invisible to all, yet not at all begrudging them so that they should not see me, nor, as being unlovely, do I hide myself from appearing; but no one has been found worthy of my godhead, nor has the creature become equal in power to the Creator.

...and with astonishment and fear they minister, singing hymns to me.

For it is not possible for another God by nature to be brought into being, equal in power to the Creator, nor of the same nature as him; for it is not at all possible for the created to become consubstantial with the Creator.

For how could the created ever be made equal to the Uncreated?

The things that are created are lesser than him who exists always in the same way, and is without beginning and uncreated; for you will testify that they exist, and differ as much from him as a cart and a saw differ from the one who fashioned them.

How, then, could a cart come to know the one who fashioned it?

And how, tell me, will a saw come to know the one who moves it, unless the one who made them gives them knowledge, unless he who fashioned them should implant sight in them—which is impossible for all created things?

...now, always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Thanksgiving for the exile and the afflictions which he endured in the persecution against him.

I thank you, Lord, I thank you, sole knower of hearts, righteous king, all-compassionate one!

I thank you, beginningless, almighty Word, who came down to earth and was made flesh, my God, and became what you were not, a man like me, without change and without flux and without any sin, so that you, the one free from passion, having suffered unjustly at the hands of the lawless, might grant me — condemned as I am — freedom from passion through the imitation of your sufferings, my Christ.

Righteous, then, is your judgment, and likewise the command which you commanded us to keep, all-compassionate one.

And this is the imitation of your humility: that just as you yourself suffered, though sinless, so we, who have sinned, should endure all things — trials and persecutions and scourgings and afflictions, and finally death at the hands of the lawless.

For your words were as a sword to the lawless, and your silence, O king, was the cause of condemnation; therefore, unable to bear the sight of you, the only righteous one, the unrighteous handed you over to a most shameful death.

Whence you were struck on the head and crowned with thorns, and clothed in a scarlet robe.

Your face was spat upon — woe is me! — and you were mocked: "Hail!"

having heard this mockingly, O king, from the Hebrews.

You bore the cross, O Savior, upon your shoulders, and were fastened to it, lifted up upon it, my God.

You were nailed through hands and feet, and given vinegar to drink, and your side was pierced with the lance, all-compassionate one.

Unable to bear these things, the earth was shaken with fear and quickly gave back the dead who were in it; the sun, seeing you, was turned to blood, and the moon then put on darkness.

The veil of the temple was then torn, split in two from top to bottom, and the transgressors understood none of these things at all, but even set guards over you as you lay in the tomb, and sealed the stone, thinking to hold you fast.

You then rose, Master, by your own authority, and left the seals intact for the transgressors; and the presence of angels rolled away the stone and struck those who were guarding there with fear — yet they were not willing at all to understand, but they remained blind in mind, keeping their heart hardened to the end.

What great thing, then, is it for me if I too should suffer these things which you yourself suffered, though sinless, for the sake of the world, Master, that you might save the world — I who have sinned so greatly from my youth and have provoked you to anger, Christ, in deeds and in words?

It is truly a great thing for me — indeed, beyond all glory — that the fellowship of your sufferings, the imitation of your works, makes me a partaker of your ineffable glory, and that your humility becomes the procurer of divinity for those who pursue it with knowledge.

I thank you, Master, though I suffer unjustly — but if justly, let it be for me a repayment of my offenses, a cleansing of my measureless transgressions, Christ; and never allow labors to be brought upon me beyond my strength, Master, nor trials nor afflictions, but always grant me, my God, the way out, and the strength to be able to bear my sorrows.

now and always and forever, unto ages of ages, amen.

Supplication and prayer of the same [author] to God for help from him. Master Christ, Master who saves souls, Master God of all the visible and invisible powers, as creator of all things in heaven, of those above the heaven and above all the heavens, of those beneath the earth and likewise those on earth!

Your hand, Master, is the great power which, fulfilling the will of your Father, creates and works and builds and administers our affairs ineffably; this hand, then, having now brought me forth out of non-being, made me to be — and when I had come to be in this world, I was wholly ignorant of you, the good Master, of you, my creator, of you, O my maker, and I was like a blind man in the world, and like one without God, not knowing my God.

You yourself, then, had mercy and visited me, and turned toward me, shining light for me in darkness, and drew me to yourself, O Fashioner, and led me out from the lowest pit, from the darkness of the passions, from the deepest darkness of desires and pleasures of life; you showed the way, you gave me a guide to lead me toward your commandments.

Following him, I continued free from care, I rejoiced with a joy that cannot be spoken, O Word, seeing this man following in your footsteps and often conversing with you.

But also, seeing you, the good Master, present together with my guide and father, I had ineffable love and longing, and I was beyond faith and hope, and I said: "Behold, I see the things to come, and the kingdom of the heavens is present, and the good things which eye has not seen, ear has not heard, I see before my eyes, and possess them — and what more should I hope for, or in what other way should I show my faith?"

For there will be nothing else greater than these things.

While I was in this state and delighting in these things, you took my father from the earth — woe is me! — you removed my guide from before my eyes, O lover of mankind, and left me alone, wholly orphaned, wholly solitary, wholly without help from anyone; and — woe is me! — you yourself, by judgments known to you, had appointed as protector and shepherd of the flock one who was in truth a stranger, without a protector of his own.

For this reason I now earnestly entreat you, now I beg, I implore, falling before you: do not turn away, do not forsake me, nor leave me alone, O my Master!

You know the difficult passage of the road, you know the fury of the robbers against us, you know the multitude of the evil beasts, you know my weakness, my Christ, and the ignorance which I have as a man.

Yet I do not even think myself to be a man at all, but to fall far short of men; for in every respect I am the last of all, and I am truly the least of all men.

Concerning theology; and that the mind, purified from the matter of the passions, immaterially beholds him who is immaterial and invisible.

What road should I travel? What path should I turn aside to?

And within what sort and manner of house shall I find him who holds all things in his hand and palm?

Up what mountain shall I climb, and from what side, and what cave there shall I grope my way to, or through what marsh shall I pass, in order to be counted worthy to behold and to hold fast him who is present everywhere, yet ungraspable, and invisible — wretch that I am?

Into what hades shall I descend, or up into what heaven shall I climb, and having come to the ends of what sea, might I find him who is wholly inaccessible, altogether uncircumscribable, entirely untouchable — the immaterial one amid material things, the creator amid creation, the incorruptible amid corruptible things — tell me, how shall I find him?

And how shall I get outside the world, I who am within the world? How shall I be joined to the immaterial one, I who am joined to matter?

How shall I be intertwined with the incorruptible, I who am entirely corruptible? I who am in death — how shall I ever draw near to life? I who am dead — how then shall I approach the immortal one?

How shall I, all grass, dare to touch the fire?

But nevertheless, now hear the resolution of these unspeakable things!

Before heaven came to be, before earth was brought forth, God existed — the Trinity — alone, singular, beginningless light, uncreated light, light wholly ineffable, yet God immortal, without end, alone, everlasting, eternal, most exceedingly good.

Understand well: only God, the Trinity, existed in the beginning — existing beyond-beginninglessly, beyond every beginning, incomparable, immeasurable in height, depth, and breadth, possessing no limit either of magnitude or of light.

And God alone was spirit, wholly light-formed, at once almighty and immaterial.

Afterward he brought forth the heaven like a vault, material and visible, perceptible and dense, and in a moment he stretched it out, as he alone saw fit.

And earth together with waters and all the abysses in its midst, he made by that same single thought alone, just as all these things are now seen by us.

And the heaven, once stretched out, remained perceptible, not having the immaterial light within it; as I have said, it did not cut off the radiance of the immaterial light.

For being material, as has been said, it was found outside the immaterial — not indeed in place, but in nature and in essence.

For the immaterial one is separated from material things, having no place of his own, since he is uncircumscribable; he himself, by his word, brings forth all things within himself, and by nature he is wholly separated from created things, and while bearing all things within himself, he is outside of all things.

For just as mind and angel are not kept outside a house by its walls and doors, nor held within, so the maker of these is wholly neither outside nor within the heaven, nor in any other place, but God is altogether everywhere, separated from all material and created things brought forth by him.

The heaven, then, came to be material, and, as has been said, was set apart by nature from the immaterial light, and it remained without that light, like a great house.

But the Master of all kindled the sun and the moon, so that it might shine perceptibly for perceptible beings, and he also gave light for the hand to hold, to shine at night, brought forth ineffably from iron and stone.

But he is separated from all light, above light, above brightness, unbearable to all creation; for just as when the sun is shining the stars do not appear, so likewise, if the Master of the sun should wish to shine forth, no living thing would be able to withstand his rising.

...so that, in firm faith and the keeping of the commandments, having again purified the mind — immaterial, yet confused by us with the darkness of transgression through the desire for material passions and the taste of pleasures — we may again immaterially behold the immaterial light amid material things, which, as I said, was God beyond-beginninglessly, invisible to the perceptible and material eyes, inaccessible to the intellectual eyes of the heart.

For I marvel how the soul, being wholly immaterial and possessing the intellectual eye of the mind, using, as it were, the two windows of the body's eyes in a perceptible manner, peers out through them and sees all visible things, and again turns back, beholding intelligible and immaterial things immaterially; and is held, ineffably, in the middle between incorruptible and corruptible things: by the one it is dragged down toward pleasures, toward passions, while by the other, winged toward heaven, it is impelled to remain there, yet it is dragged down again all the same, and it ever eagerly strives to be borne up again, wishing to walk on air, apart from visible things.

For, seeing all the things in the world as snares, it altogether fears to set foot on the earth or to sit down, lest it be caught fast, held by these things, and become food devoured by savage beasts.

Such is the life of all the pious and faithful and holy ones, which all must imitate, so that together with them they may stand blamelessly before Christ, God, the judge of all, and become partakers of his glory and kingdom forever, amen.

That longing and love toward God surpass every love and every human longing; and the mind of those being purified, once dyed in the light of God, is wholly deified and is thenceforth called the mind of Christ.

And for this reason, the longing and the love toward you surpass every love and longing of mortals.

For to the degree that you surpass visible things, O Savior, to that same degree the longing toward you is greater, and it covers over every human love and turns away the desires for fleshly pleasures, and swiftly repels every appetite; for desire is truly the darkness of the passions, and the practice of shameful sins is deep night, but the love and longing toward you are light, O Savior.

Wherefore, rising in God-loving souls, it immediately produces the day of freedom from passion, my God, driving away the darkness of passions and pleasures; O wonder, O paradoxical work of the Most High God, and power of mysteries accomplished in secret!

You grant us both the incorruptible and the corruptible things, you also grant the earthly things, O God, together with the heavenly, the things present and the things to come, O Word, as the maker of all things without exception, as the one who has authority, Master, over the heavenly things and the things beneath the earth; and how is it that we wretches love men more than you, and enslave ourselves to them wretchedly, in order that we might receive small and corruptible things from them, and hand over to them our wretched souls and bodies, as dishonored vessels, to be misused?

And though we are, Master, members of you, the holy Master of all — of the holy self-ruling Master, without doubt — do we not shudder to fling ourselves, by our own free will, before the wicked demons, into dishonorable works of sin?

Who, then, among your faithful and genuine servants would not weep, who would not lament the audacity of such great self-will?

And who would not shudder at your great forbearance, my God, who would not tremble at the recompense of divine judgment, the unbearable and unquenchable fire — woe is me! — of gehenna, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, and inconsolable pain and ineffable anguish?

...and hearing as though not hearing, O Word; and just as those who sit in the darkness of the pleasures of life suffer, covered by the darkness of love of glory — seeing, they do not see your divine glory, and hearing, they do not understand at all your commandments and your ordinances — so shall I too be, in your light, not seeing the world nor the things in the world.

For who, having seen you, and having his conscious perceptions flashed upon by your glory, by your divine light, has not been transformed in mind, soul, and understanding, and been counted worthy, O Savior, most extraordinarily, to see and likewise to hear otherwise?

For the mind is immersed in your light and is made bright, and becomes a light like your glory, and such a mind, having been counted worthy to become this, is called yours, and is then deemed worthy to have your mind, and becomes one with you inseparably; and how should it not see as you see, and hear all things without passion?

And how shall he who has become God desire any perceptible, wholly transient and corruptible thing at all, or glory, seeing that he has become superior to all these things, and above all visible glory?

For how should he, who has become superior to all visible things, and has drawn near to God — or rather, has himself been made God — wish to seek out any glory or delight at all among the things that lie below?

For these things are, to him, truly shame, insult, contempt, and dishonor.

But his glory and delight and wealth are God, the Trinity, and the things of God and things divine — to whom belongs all glory, honor, and dominion, always, now and unto all ages, amen.

A confession of the grace of God's gifts; and how the father who writes these things was moved by the Holy Spirit; and teaching spoken by God, concerning what one must do in order to attain the salvation of those who are being saved.

Again the light shines upon me, again it is seen clearly, again it opens the heavens, again it cuts through the night, again it brings forth all things, again it alone is seen, again it places me outside all visible things, and likewise, O wonder, it separates me from all perceptible things.

Again He who is above all the heavens, whom no man has ever seen, without opening the heavens, without splitting the night, without parting the air or the roof of the house, comes wholly, indivisibly, to be with me, wretched as I am, within my cell, within my mind, and in the midst of my heart — O awesome mystery!

While all things remain as they are, the light comes to me and raises me above all things; and while I am in the midst of all things, it makes me outside of all things.

I do not know whether I am there in the body also; but in any case I truly become wholly present there, where there is light alone, simple light — and beholding it, I become simple in guilelessness.