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| "In Thy light shall we see light". (Theophanes the Greek. Late 14th and early 15th centuries) |
I weep, I
am pierced with sorrow, when the light shines on me,
that I see
my poverty and that I realize where I am,
what world
I live in, what mortal world, mortal myself;
and I am
filled with joy, with bliss, when I understand
what
condition God has bestowed upon me, what glory,
and I
consider myself like an angel of the Lord
completely
adorned with the immaterial garment.
Thus joy
kindles my love for the Giver
and the One
who transforms me, God - and
love causes
streams of tears
to gush
forth and makes me still more brilliant.
hasten,
run, energetically, by your works,
to receive
and to seize upon the matter of the immaterial fire
- and I say: Matter, it is the Divine
Essence
that I show you-,
to light
the spiritual lamp of your soul,
so as to
become suns which shine in the world
even if
they are not seen by those who are in the world,
so as to
become like gods, possessing within yourselves
the entire
glory of God in two essences,
yes, in two
natures, in two activities
and in two
wills, as Paul cries it to us:
different
indeed is the will of weak flesh,
different
that of the spirit, different again that
of my soul.
However I
am not triple, but double, in
as much as
I am a man.
My soul is
linked to my body in an inexpressible way,
nevertheless
each does not seek its interest separately,
for
example, drinking and eating, for example sleeping,
all that I
call the earthly desires of the body.
But since,
separated from the soul this will
no longer
seeks for anything as such,
but dead, insensible, it is
like mud.
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| Saint Symeon the New Theologian. |
I think
that man has but one will which is entirely that of the soul.
The one,
therefore, who has united his own spirit
To the Divine Spirit,
has become
like to God for having received Christ
into his
breast,
Christian
according to Christ, since he possesses as well
within
himself the formed Christ, yes, the
only One,
the unseizable One,
the One who
is truly inaccessible to all creatures.
- But, O
immaculate Nature, hidden essence,
goodness
unknowable to most men,
invisible
mercy for those who live like senseless people,
unchangeable
essence, indivisible, thrice holy,
simple and
formless light, absolutely without composition,
incorporeal,
inseparable, unseizable to all nature,
how have
You shown Yourself human like me, known
to the
inhabitants of darkness,
carried by
the hands of Your most holy Mother
and bound as a murderer,
how have
You suffered as a criminal in Your body, O King,
wishing all
the while to save me and to lead me
back again
into the Paradise of glory?
This was
Your plan of salvation,
this Your
appearance,
this Your
mercy and Your love for mankind,
which was
manifested for us, O Word, for all men,
for the
faithful, the unfaithful, the pagans, sinners, saints,
for Your
manifestation became a sharing for all,
salvation
and redemption for the living and the dead.
But that
which was produced secretly in me, the prodigal,
is also
accomplished partially in a conscious unconsciousness,
certainly
conscious in that which concerns me,
unconscious
for the other -
what
language can speak of it,
what mind
can explain it,
what word
can express it so that my hand may write it down?
Indeed, it
is an awesome thing,
Master,
awesome even beyond any word,
that I see
the light that the world does not possess,
that He
loves me who is not within this world,
and that I
love Him who has no part with visible things.
I am seated
on my couch completely lost to the world.
And, being
in the middle of my cell, I see Him
who is
outside of the world as here present,
I see Him
and I converse with Him
and, dare I
then to say it!
I love Him
and He loves me.
I eat, I
nourish myself with only this contemplation.
And being
made one with Him, I am transported above to the heavens.
That this
is true and certain I know,
but where
then is my body, this I do not know.
I know that
He who remains immovable descends.
I know that
He who is invisible appears to me.
I know that
He who is separated from all creation
takes me
within Himself and hides me in His arms.
And I am
completely outside of the whole world.
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| Christ Heals the Two Blind Men on the Road to Jericho. Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. Ravenna ITALY. 6th century |
But I, so
mortal, so insignificant in the world, contemplate in myself
completely
the Creator of the world.
And I know
that I will not die
because I
am inside of life,
I and that I
have the entire life that completely flows out from within me.
He is in my
heart .
He dwells
in Heaven;
both here
and there He is seen by me equally dazzling.
But in what
way does all of this happen?
How can I
exactly comprehend it?
And how
could I express all that I comprehend and see?
These are
indeed indescribable things,
absolutely
ineffable that eye has not seen,
that ear
has not heard
and which
have never entered into a heart of flesh.
Master, I
give You thanks for having had pity on me;
You have
granted me to see these things,
to write
about them thus,
and to
proclaim Your goodness for man to my companions,
so that now
peoples, tribes, languages know this mystery:
that You
have pity on all those who repent with fervor
like Your
apostles and all Your saints,
that You
fill them with blessings, with honor
and glory,
my God,
because
they seek You with great love and great fear
and see
only You, Creator of the world,
to whom is
due glory and honor, power, majesty ,
as to the
King, to the God of the universe
and to the
Master,
now and
always, in all ages, forever and ever. Amen.
Reference:
Hymns of
Divine Love. Saint Symeon the New Theologian.