Restoration of glory is called glorification by desert Hesychasm and glorification begins and ends in glory, proceeding from the originating image of glory to eschatological likeness as glory. Glorification is initiated in purification, empowered by Baptism and it is sustained by illumination, empowered by Chrismation, but its ultimate fulfilment is revealed in glorification itself, empowered by the Holy Liturgy of the Eucharist. Purification opens access to the Holy Sanctuary of Paradise, the Holy Place, in the language and topography of Temple wisdom. Illumination indwells the Holy of Holies, uniting the uncreated and the created in the sanctuary, whilst glorification indwells the Bridal Chamber, the Holiest of the Holies, hidden at the heart of the Holy of Holies. Here wisdom and glory conjoin in the mysteries of mystical marriage, here Cherubic wisdom conjoins with Seraphic glory in the midst of each conjunction above and below, within or without, each centre of mystical union on every plane of heavenly and earthly creation. Purification, illumination and glorification proceed in the Spirit from glory to glory, wisdom unveiling glory from one state of illumination to another, from one degree of union to another, in accordance with the receptivity of the given receptacle. Restoration to glory unfolds from glory to glory in accordance with the capacity of the illumined to restore glory to God. The Holiest of Holies is mystical union in the midst of every conjunction, every state of heavenly union and every state of earthly communion. Christ is enthroned in the midst as a union of wisdom and glory, Cherubic wisdom conjoined at centre with Seraphic glory, like an axis of uncreated light where heaven and earth are joined.
Glorification dies with Christ, resurrects in Christ, ascends with Christ in glory and is enthroned with Christ in glory, centred in the wisdom and glory of Christ in the Bridal Chamber, the Holiest of Holies in the midst. Christ unveils his wisdom and glory in accordance with our capacity to receive him. His wisdom overcomes death by death in glory, resurrects death to life in glory, ascends from God to God in glory, proceeding from light to light in the Spirit of glory. The Spirit proceeds from the Father to anoint the Son, who in turn anoints prophets and apostles with wisdom, in glory. The Spirit anoints elders and saints in the desert by unveiling the wisdom and glory of Christ in them, by unveiling the Holiest of Holies within them. Wisdom and glory conjoin to reveal rebirth in the Spirit in the Holiest of Holy unions, veiled yet revealed to wisdom, unveiled yet veiled by clouds of glory. The children of God are children of the Bridal Chamber, but only wisdom and glory know the mysteries of the mystical marriage that generate and regenerate their wisdom. Restoration of glory is the Spirit’s hidden labour, the secret of secrets concealed in the Holiest of Holies. Here in the midst, wisdom regenerates the image of God in the likeness of the glory of God. We experience the fruits of their mystical union, wrought in Spirit and in Truth, but the mysteries of the Holiest of Holies are not divulged except to Cherubic wisdom and then only in Seraphic glory. The mysteries of glorification are not exposed to proud profanation but glorification restores glory to God.
Wisdom reposes in glory, bearing witness to God, from glory to glory, even when on the shallow surface, ignorance confuses the uncreated with the created. Wisdom and glory watch and wait for the moment of truth when confusion may be exposed and division overcome. The Spirit of truth undoes confusion and dissolves division by purifying and enlightening hearts, opening wisdom to glory and glory to wisdom without removing the veil that protects their union from profanation. But wisdom knows glory and loves to communicate the mysteries of the Holiest of Holies, the mysteries of the conjugal union of the uncreated energies of wisdom and glory, generating and regenerating the children of God. But the Holiest of Holies continues to veil the mystical union of wisdom and glory from the profane scrutiny of vainglory and pride. The crucifixion of the slaughtered Lamb rends the veil from top to bottom, from heaven above to earth below, but only wisdom knows the glory of this rending. The wisdom of the Cross unveils the glory of love and as love’s glory, wisdom and glory can be loved and known. The veil was torn from top to bottom at the ninth hour, making Good Friday good, but the tear of the veil in heaven and the tear in the veil on earth revealed love’s glory as it was concealed by the veil, although known and loved by wisdom and glory in the midst.
The holiest of holy mysteries continues to unveil wisdom and glory but only to wisdom and glory, only to Cherubic wisdom and Seraphic glory, not to the profane scrutiny of external objectification. Wisdom’s light reveals uncreated light from light, whilst glory’s flame reveals uncreated fire through fire, but wisdom and glory never expose the Holiest of Holies to degenerative reification. Wisdom veils what is unveiled and glory hides what it reveals, protecting each other from vainglory and presumptuous pride. But when wisdom meets vainglory, its vanity is consumed and glory restored, made whole in the Name, single and sound, restoring glory to God. When glory encounters pride, it transmutes it into insightful clarity that cures confusion and heals division. Wisdom and glory generate children of light in the Holiest of Holies, regenerating children of glory in the womb of ineffable light. The Holiest of Holies is indeed the Bridal Chamber but only Cherubic wisdom has the key and only Seraphic glory can open the lock, and that only from the inside, never from without. Wisdom consummates a conjugal union with glory, generating and regenerating every child of God. But only wisdom knows the glory of this grace, and only glory witnesses wisdom’s insight into generative union and regenerative communion. Concealed when revealed, unveiled when safely veiled, the Holiest of Holies renews wisdom and glory in the midst of the Cherubic embrace of Seraphic glory, illumining the Holy of Holies, uniting the uncreated and the created at the heart of the Holy Place. The embrace of wisdom and glory glorifies the inner courts of the holy temple of awakened hearts. Restoration to glory veils even as it rends the temple veil, resurrecting the dead with ineffable power.