Letter 33: The way into the Holy of Holies was hidden within the temple, sealed off by the veil that separated God's presence...

To Alpheios. On why no one greater among those born of women than John has arisen, and what is more in him. Why is John greater among those born of women, you asked, and if John is a prophet, what was in him that was more than a prophet? Because the Lord says this. Hear, then, much in few words. John is greater among those born of women because from his mother's very womb he prophesied, and, hidden in darkness, he did not fail to recognize the light that had come [a reference to John leaping in Elizabeth's womb, Luke 1:41]. And what makes him more than the prophets is that he himself saw in the flesh the one who was foretold, whom all the patriarchs and prophets beheld in imagination through dreams or visions, but never managed to look upon with their own eyes.

Διὰ τί μείζων ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν Ἰωάννου οὐκ ἐγήγερται· καὶ τί περισσότερον ἐν αὐτῷ. Διὰ τί μείζων ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν, ἔφης. Ἰωάννης, καὶ εἰ προφήτης ὁ Ἰωάννης, τί ἦν ἐν αὐτῷ περισσότερον προφήτου; Ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο λέγει ὁ Κύριος. Ἄκουε τοίνυν πλεῖστα ἐν ὀλίγοις· μείζων ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν ὁ Ἰωάννης, ἐπειδὴ ἐξ αὐτῆς νηδύος μητρικῆς προεφήτευσε, καὶ ἐν σκότει κρυπτόμενος, τὸ φῶς ἐλθὸν, οὐκ ἠγνόησε. Περισσότερον δὲ προφήτων, τὸ καὶ αὐτὸν ἰδεῖν ἐν σαρκὶ τὸν προφητευόμενον, ὃν πάντες οἱ πατριάρχαι καὶ προφῆται, δι' ὀνείρων μὲν ἢ ὀπτασιῶν ἐφαντάσθησαν, θεωρῆσαι δὲ αὐτοξεὶ οὐκ ἐπέτυχον.