"The morning star's rays[...] are more distant from the divine beauty than the depth of night and moonless gloom are from the pure light of noonday."

"The lightning flashes of the divine beauty are absolutely unutterable and ineffable; speech cannot convey them; the ear cannot receive them. The morning star's rays, and the moon's brightness, and the sun's light, all these are unworthy to be mentioned in comparison to that glory, and are found greatly wanting as analogies to the true light. They are more distant from the divine beauty than the depth of night and moonless gloom are from the pure light of noonday. This beauty is not contemplated by fleshly eyes but is grasped by the soul alone and the mind. If at any time it shined upon the saints, it also left behind in them the unbearable pain of yearning.[...]" (Basil of Caesarea, tr. Harrison, On the Human Condition, 2005, pp. 113-114)

" Ἄῤῥητοι παντελῶς καὶ ἀνεκδιήγητοι τοῦ θείου κάλλους αἱ ἀστραπαί· οὐ παρίστησι λόγος, οὐ δέχεται ἀκοή. Κἂν ἑωσφόρου αὐγὰς εἴπῃς, κἂν σελήνης λαμπρότητα, κἂν ἡλίου φῶς, πάντα ἄτιμα πρὸς εἰκασίαν τῆς δόξης, καὶ πλέον ἀπολειπόμενα πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς σύγκρισιν, ἢ καθόσον βαθεῖα νὺξ, καὶ στυγνὴ σκοτομήνη μεσημβρίας καθαρωτάτης. Τοῦτο τὸ κάλλος σαρκίνοις μὲν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀθεώρητον, ψυχῇ δὲ μόνῃ καὶ διανοίᾳ καταληπτὸν, εἴπου τινα περιέλαμψε τῶν ἁγίων, καὶ ἀφόρητον τοῦ πόθου τὸ κέντρον αὐτοῖς ἐγκατέλιπεν” (Asceticon magnum sive Quaestiones (regulae fusius tractatae) 31.192)