Letter 208

To Eugrammios the Notary [legal officer]. "Moses," Scripture says, "entered into the thick darkness" [Exodus 20:21] - the darkness that surrounds God signifying nothing other than the incomprehensible and inscrutable nature of God. For by its very nature the appearance of the thick darkness is murky and lightless, concealing the things within it by means of the densest and most shadowy air, and barring the sight of those who gaze into it - and barring, further, the over-curious endeavors of their own thoughts concerning God. "For darkness," it says, "is his hiding place, and he shall not be seen" [cf. Psalm 17:12].

«Εἰσῆλθε, φησὶ Μωϋσῆς, εἰς τὸν γνόφον·» τοῦ περὶ Θεὸν γνόφου, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἐμφαίνοντος ἢ τὸ ἀπερινόητον, καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστον τοῦ Θεοῦ· σκοτοει- δὴς γὰρ καὶ ἀφεγγὴς ἡ τοῦ γνόφου πέφυκεν ὄψις, τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ κρύπτουσα διὰ τοῦ πυκνοτάτου, καὶ σκοτο- ειδοῦς ἀέρος ἐείργουσα τὰς ὄψεις τῶν ὁρώντων εἰς αὐτόν, ἔτι καὶ τῶν ἐννοιῶν αὐτῶν τὰς περιέργους περὶ Θεοῦ ἐπιχειρήσεις· «Σκότος γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀπο- κρυφὴ αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐχ ὁραθήσεται.»