The Variegated Beauty of the Treasure

The Great “I AM”
~ St. Simeon the New Theologian, 10th C, edited by Dom Anselm+

“Christ Jesus
who Himself is the Treasure hidden in the field
has said, and still says:
I am the Word,
I am the Light of the world,
I am the Lamb of God,
I am the Lion of Judah,
I am the Ladder ascending into heaven,
I am the Mustard Seed,
I am the Seed sown by the sower,
I am the Pearl of great cost
I am the Door of the sheep,
I am the Good Shepherd,
I am the true Bread of Life,
I am the Resurrection and the Life,
I am the true Vine,
I am He who makes the lame to walk
and the blind to see,
I am the Kingdom of Heaven
that is hidden in your midst,
I am the Kingdom to Come,
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,
I am He who takes the place of the physical Paradise,
I become the spiritual Paradise for My servants,
I am in all who believe in Me and are born again,
I am stronger than all,
I am that I am,
I am the God who sees, and
I am seen by the eyes of the soul,
I am seen by those who have sought and found me,
I am shining even now,
I cannot be contained,
Though I am invisible I become visible,
I remain entire while I am being seen,
I am the leaven that the soul receives,
I am the luminous source
of the immortal stream and river,
I am the sun who rises in them as in the morning,
I am seen by the mind,
just as in times past I manifested
myself in the prophets
When they saw me
they sang My praise and called on Me,”
As the sweet psalmist of Israel says,
“In the morning hear my voice,
in the morning I shall stand before Thee,
and Thou wilt look upon me” (Ps. 5:3 LXX).