3. But I beg you to tell me: Those who have written about what was said before this, how did they know it? Likewise, he who now writes about this, how does he know this? Tell me, whose is all this? "Of course, you say, this is a human thing, the work of a man is the essence of these words. "But by saying so, you show that you know the inner state of the other person's soul. And what does St. Paul say? "Who is the message of man, which is in man, the spirit of man that dwelleth in him?" (1 Corinthians 2:11). But if it is difficult for a man to know with certainty the inner man as a man, then how is it possible for him to know what is divine in someone, that is, those changes and states that occur in the saints under the influence of the contemplation of God? On the other hand, if those words are, as you say, the work of a man as a man, then it is evident that the thoughts contained in those words are also the work of man. But what is contained in those words should not be called thoughts (νοηματα, something speculative), but the contemplation of what truly exists, for we speak of it by contemplation. For this reason what is said should be called rather a narration of what is contemplated, and not a thought (νοημα). Thought should be called thinking that is born in the mind about some desire or deed that has not yet been done, that is, thinking about how to do some good or evil that has not yet been done, which then passes from thinking into action, so that thought is the beginning of a deed that is to be done by us, as Gregory the Theologian says about God: "In the first place, God invents the powers of heaven, and thought has become a deed."

Who can say what is of himself about any object that he has not seen before? And where could he get to say something about something that he had not seen at all? And it is utter senselessness and ignorance to speak of what one has not seen and does not know. If in this way no one can say anything true about visible and earthly things without seeing it with his own eyes, then how can one say and announce anything about God, about divine things, and about the saints of God, that is, what communion with God the saints are vouchsafed to have, and what kind of knowledge of God is this, which occurs within them and which produces in their hearts inexplicable effects? - How can anything be said about this to one who is not enlightened beforehand by the light of knowledge?

But when you hear of the light of knowledge, do not think that this is only knowledge without light, for this is not called a story or a word of knowledge, but the light of knowledge, or the light of knowledge, because this light gives birth to knowledge in us, for it is impossible for anyone to know God in any other way than by contemplating the light sent from this very light (that is, God).

But he who hears from the Divine Scriptures about those who have seen God by the grace of the Holy Spirit and speak of God, learns only that he sees it written in the Scriptures, and therefore cannot say about himself, so that he may know God through hearing what is written. For how can you know him whom you do not see? If we cannot know the man we see through one vision, then how is it possible for us to know God through one hearing? Light is God, and the contemplation of Him is like light, which is why through the sight of light there is the first knowledge by which it is known what God is.

As in the case of a man of whom one first hears, and then sees him, it happens that he who hears only when he sees him knows that he is the same man of whom he has heard, or even in this way he cannot be convinced of what is said, because no matter how much someone tells you about another, you cannot when you see him, you can know and be convinced by this one hearing that this is the same person of whom you have heard, but you hesitate and ask either him himself or someone else who knows him, and then you are convinced that this is the same one; so it also happens in relation to God, that when a man sees God appearing to him, he sees a light, and when he sees him, he is amazed, but he does not immediately know who is he who appeared to him, and does not dare to question him, for how can he ask him, when he cannot lift up his eyes to see better what it is, but looks with great fear at his feet? Who has appeared, knowing only that there is someone who has appeared to him? But if he is close to him who previously told him that he had seen God, he goes to him and says: O father! I saw what you told me. He asked him, "What have you seen, my child?" "I saw, father, a certain sweetest light, but what kind of sweetness it was, I cannot express. When he says this, his heart trembles with joy and rejoices, and burns with love for Him Who appeared to him.

He answered and said to him, "This is the One of Whom I have spoken to you; - and with this word he immediately sees Him again. - From this time he is purified more and more, and, being purified, he accepts boldness and asks Him Who has appeared, saying: Are you my God? He answers: I am God, who was made man for you, that I might make you also a god, and now, as you see, I have done and will do it. If in this way he continues in weeping and tears, and in humble adhesion to God, then little by little he begins to come to know more what is the essence of God, and, having achieved this, to understand the will of God, holy, pleasing and perfect. For if one does not see God, he cannot know Him, and if he does not know Him, he cannot know His holy will.

4.

All these things the saints do not receive, however, in the present life (although some slander that I say that the saints receive everything here). For if we assume that they receive all the blessings of God here, then, according to their word, one should renounce the very resurrection of the dead, and judgment and retribution, and willingly reject the hope of future blessings. But not only do I not have such wisdom and do not say so, but, on the contrary, I anathematize those who say this. I say and confess that in the present life the saints only to a certain extent receive pledges of future blessings, yet they fully have, I hope, after death (and the general resurrection), as the divine Paul says: now I understand in part... But when the perfect comes, then, in part, it will be abolished (1 Corinthians 13:12,10); and John the Theologian: "Now we are the children of God, and we shall not appear that we shall be." And we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). I will now continue my speech with questions and answers, and I will ask him who said this: O beloved and friend of Christ! Tell me, how do you know that you have to be like God? From the Spirit, He says, Whom He has given us, from this we know that we are children of God, and Christ Himself is in us. He Himself told me this in a mysterious voice (1 John 3:24).

5. But let us turn again to our subject. We have said that thought (νοημα) is called when a word or a thought of some deed, good or bad, is born in our minds - to acquire, for example, something or to do good to someone, or, on the contrary, to do evil; but a story (διηγησις), and not a thought, is when we tell of what has happened or what we have seen. We have also said that nothing certain can be said about things, deeds, spectacles, people whom we have not seen and do not know, it is impossible to say what they are in their properties, appearance, and position; And if anyone says anything about them, it is fair to call him a fabulist. - And so, the Prophets and Apostles, who told us about the Day of the Lord, about His most glorious and dreadful coming, that He would come as a thief in the night and as a sickness that gives birth, and that He was revealed by fire, how did they know this and told us? Of course, they either heard it from someone or saw it themselves: otherwise, how could they speak of what they themselves did not see and what they did not hear from anyone else? If you have heard, tell me from whom you heard (I am not yet saying now what they themselves saw and said, but just heard) - tell me, if you know, how did they know about it? If you do not know what to say to this, then listen and know that from the Holy Spirit they heard it and said, as our Lord Jesus Christ said to them: "The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send you in My name, He will teach you all things, and will remember to you all things that are given to you" (John 14:26). And that the Holy Spirit, when He came, taught them, and told them even that which Christ did not say, listen to what Christ says again: "Many more Imam will speak to you, but you cannot bear it now." And when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth: for it is not of thyself that thou shalt speak, but if He heareth, thou shalt speak, and that which is to come shall shew unto you (John 16:12-13). Do you now understand how they learned what they wrote about that dreadful Day, about the second coming of the Lord, and about what will follow for both the righteous and the sinners? So also of everything else that we do not see, they wrote, having seen it from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit.

But tell me, I beg you, what is the Holy Spirit? It is known that He is the true God, proceeding from the true God. And so, following the dogmas of the Church, you say that the Holy Spirit is God, as you see written in the Scriptures of the Saints; why do you affirm that those who have the Holy Spirit have God in them who is always with them, as Christ said to the Apostles: "If you love Me, keep My commandments." And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever (John 14:15-16). You now know that the Holy Spirit both abides and dwells (in the saints) for ever and ever, for our Lord, saying, "May He be with you for ever," shows that the Holy Spirit is always, unceasingly, and unendingly, is and will be inseparable from them, both in the present life and in the life to come. And that the divine Apostles and all others who were vouchsafed to receive Him saw the Holy Spirit, listen to what Christ says after the words quoted: "The Spirit of truth, but the world cannot receive Him, because it does not see Him, but knows Him below; but you know Him, for He dwells in you, and will be in you" (John 14:17). And that Christ also is seen by those who love Him and keep His commandments, listen again to Christ Himself, Who says: "If you have My commandments and keep them, you will love Me: but if you love Me, you will be loved by My Father; and I will love him, and I will appear to him Myself (John 14:21).

6. Let all Christians know that Christ is the most true and true God, and truly, according to His promise, He is those who love Him and keep His commandments, and together with His appearing gives them the Holy Spirit, and that, again, through the Holy Spirit, both the Father and the Son dwell with them. Such men are spirit-bearers, when they speak, they do not speak on their own behalf, and whoever says that they speak on their own behalf, clearly gives the idea that a person can know what is in another person, and not only know this, but also that which is God's. And if they do not say this, then in every way they consider those liars and fabulous people who speak from the Holy Spirit, believing that they teach from themselves what they have not seen and heard about. But let them know that although they, the Spirit-bearers, speak in words similar to the words of the ancient God-bearing Fathers, yet they undoubtedly speak from the Spirit, Who dwells in them, why those who do not believe them and blaspheme them sin against the Holy Spirit who speaks in them.

Have you finally understood, O beloved, that the kingdom of heaven is to be within you, and all eternal blessings are in your hands? Strive to see, to acquire, and to receive into thyself these eternal blessings, so that thou mayest not be deprived of them, and be empty, thinking that thou hast them. Weep, pray, fall down as the blind man once did, and say: have mercy on me, Son of God, and open the eyes of my soul, that I may see Thee, my God, the Light of the world, and that I also may become a son of the divine day. Do not leave me, O Good One, deprived of Thy Divine grace, as unworthy. Show me, O Lord, Thyself, that I may understand that Thou lovest me, as I keep Thy divine commandments. Send me, O Gracious Mother, the Comforter, that He may teach me about Thee, and reveal Thy essence. O God of all! shine in me the true light, that I may see Thy glory, which Thou hadst with the Father, before the world was. Be with me, as Thou hast promised, that I also may be worthy to dwell with Thee, and then that I may enter into Thee intelligently, and that I may acquire Thee within myself intelligently, that is, with the feeling of my soul. Desire, O Invisible One, to be imagined within me, that I may see Thy beauty and Thy incomparable kindness, that I may always bear Thy one image, O Most Heavenly One, and that I may forget all that is visible and earthly. Grant me, O gracious Lord, the glory which the Father has given Thee, that I may be like Thee, as all Thy servants were, and that I may be with Thee always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

To her, my beloved brother, believe me that this is true and that this is our faith. Believe, brother, that this is what it is, to be regenerated and renewed, and to live a life that is in Christ. Do you not hear what St. Basil the Great says in his homily on the feast of the Lights (Theophany)? Oh, human! Do you not wish to be made new from the old, as the Apostle Paul says: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; ancient mimoidosha, behold, all things are new (2 Corinthians 5:17)? Is it all new? "Tell me." Or has the heavens, the earth, the sun, the stars, or any other visible thing changed, and become new? But you cannot say this, because the Apostle says of us that we are dead and rise, corruptible and changed into incorruptible, mortal and transformed into immortals, earthly and become heavenly, carnal, born of the flesh, and made spiritual, being regenerated and recreated by the grace of the All-Holy Spirit. This, my brother, is the new creation in Christ, of which the Apostle speaks! And this is done every day in the true believers and the elect; and, as we have said many times, true Christians consciously partake of all this, though only partially, while they are still in the body, with the true hope, however, that after death they will fully inherit and abundantly taste, both soul and body, all these blessings, which are partaken of here only partially. If, as Christ Himself teaches us, we eat Christ, drink Him, put on Him, see Him, and are seen of Him, if He dwells in us, and we in Him, so that Christ dwells in us, and we dwell in Him, we are a dwelling place for Christ, and He for us, if we are His sons, and He is our Father, if He is the Light shining in darkness, and we see Him, according to the words of the Gospel: "People who sit in darkness have seen the great light" (Matt. 4:16), - if, I say, all this, as the Divine Scripture teaches us, happens in us in this life, then if, as you say, this does not happen in us in this life, or it happens mysteriously, without us feeling it and being conscious, - What is the difference between us and the dead?

Do not, my brethren, be so unfaithful, and do not fall into such a pit of destruction. But if hitherto you did not expect that you would perceive such blessings with your senses and consciously receive them in this life, and therefore did not try to acquire them, then at least be convinced and believe that this is true and in accordance with the Divine Scriptures. Reread all the Scriptures with attention and make sure that even in the present life the seal of the Holy Spirit is given to us, consciously for us. And when you are convinced of this, then strive in this way, that you may comprehend it, and strive not as the air beats (1 Corinthians 9:26), that is, with all diligence strive to receive these blessings, of which we have spoken, and strive not in vain or fruitlessly, but with the aim of acquiring the grace of the Holy Spirit. Ask again, and it shall be given unto you... push, and it shall be opened unto you (Matt. 7:7), whether in this life or in the life to come. Do not be ashamed to learn this from others; again, repent, weep, fast, pray, deny your will through obedience, and by means of this and the like, flow, strive, seek, push, ask, and do not turn to this and to this and thither, until you comprehend, until you take it in your hands, until the door is opened to you, until you enter into the bridal chamber, you see the Bridegroom of Christ, you hear: O good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a little, I will set thee over many (Matt. 25:21), until ye become sons of light and of the day. But before you see, before you receive, before you experience all this, do not deceive yourselves, believing in deceit that you eat something that is nothing.