Letter 714

To the Same. As long as we are infants in mind, the kingdom of heaven has not yet drawn near; but when we advance in spiritual wisdom and stature, and become ready to receive the ancestral wisdom of the fullness of the times, which has been hidden in the tutoring Law [the Mosaic Law as paidagogos, cf. Galatians 3:24], no longer being under tutors and guardians [cf. Galatians 4:2], then the Lord says, "I am a God who draws near, and not a God afar off" [Jeremiah 23:23]. But for the holy man, made perfect both in virtue and in knowledge, the kingdom of heaven has already come. "For behold," he says, "the kingdom is within you" [Luke 17:21], and it dwells and abides within you, not only in potentiality, but also in active operation.

Μέχρις ὅτε ὑπάρχομεν νήπιοι κατὰ τὴν φρένα, οὔπω ἤγγισεν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν· ὅταν δὲ προκόψωμεν ἐν τῇ πνευματικῇ σοφίᾳ καὶ ἡλικίᾳ, καὶ ἕτοιμοι γενώμεθα εἰς τὸ παραλαβεῖν τὴν πατρῴαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν σοφίαν ἐγκεκρυμμένην τῷ παιδαγωγῷ νόμῳ, μηκέτι ὄντες ὑπὸ παιδαγωγοὺς ἐπιτρόπους, τότε φησὶ Κύριος, ὅτι « Ἐγγίζων θεὸς ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐ θεὸς πόῤῥωθεν. » Τῷ δὲ ἁγίῳ, καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ κατὰ τὴν γνῶσιν τελειωθέντι ἀνδρὶ, ἤδη ἐνέστηκεν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν. « Ἰδοὺ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἡ βασιλεία ἐντὸς ὑμῶν τυγχάνει, » καὶ ἐν ὑμῖν κατοικεῖ καὶ διαιτᾶται, οὐ μόνον δυνάμει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ.