St. Macarius the Great on Apophaticism

St. Macarius the Great

Let us therefore, set aside such matters and seek rather, as skilled merchants, to possess the heavenly inheritance and those things that are of profit to our soul. Let us learn to lay hold of the good possessions that will remain always with us. But if man were to begin to investigate the mind of God and say: “I have discovered something and truly understand it,” the human mind would be found transcending the mind of God. Truly you wander far into error in such thinking. For the more you wish through knowledge to search and penetrate God, the more deeply you descend away from him and you comprehend nothing.

Those visits of God to you that happen each day, they are so mysterious and incomprehensible. You can receive them only with gratitude and belief. Have you been able to know your own soul from the moment of your birth until now? Tell me, then, from morning to night what are the thoughts that spring up in you? Tell me your thoughts over three consecutive days. If, then, you cannot understand the thoughts of your own soul, how can you scrutinize the thoughts of God and his very mind?

*Taken from Fifty Spiritual Homilies.