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De anima contra Arianos (fragmenta)

ON THE SOUL, AGAINST THE ARIANS

10 And what would they say, looking upon the upbringing of the infant, or the increase of age, or the extension of time, or the growth of the body? But, that I may pass over speaking of the miracles accomplished on earth, let them see the revivifications of the dead, the symbols of the passion, the marks of the scourges, the welts of the blows, the wounded sides, the prints of the nails, the pouring out of the blood, the signs of death, and, to sum it all up, the very resurrection of his own body.

11 And indeed, if anyone looks to the birth of the body, he would clearly find that, having been born in Bethlehem, he was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and in Egypt he was nourished for some time on account of the plot of the accursed Herod, and in Nazareth, having come to manhood, he grew.

12 For the tabernacle of the Word and God is not the same thing, through which the blessed Stephen beheld the divine glory.

13 Before the passion he always foretold his own bodily death, saying he would be handed over to the chief priests, and proclaiming the trophy of the cross. But after the passion, having risen from the dead on the third day, when his disciples were doubting that he had been raised, he appeared to them in his very body, he confesses that he has all flesh with bones, and he subjects his wounded sides to their sight, and shows them the prints of the nails.

14 And it is possible in a few words to refute their impious slander; for especially if he had not willingly given over his own body to the slaughter of death for the sake of the salvation of men. First, they attribute great weakness to him, because he was not able to check the attack of his enemies.

15 But why do they make it a great point to show that Christ assumed a soulless body, fabricating earthly deceptions? So that if they should be able to corrupt some people into determining that these things are so, then by attributing the alterations of the passions to the divine Spirit, they might easily persuade them that the mutable was not begotten from the immutable nature.

16 And in agreement with these things the same Jeremiah, relating them, introduces the ministering voices of God, through which he shows that he does not accept the intercessions of the righteous, if they should wish to ask a favor on behalf of the blood-guilty. And the Lord said to me, saying: If Moses and Samuel should stand before my face, my soul is not with them.

17 But if through the appearance of Christ he leads the race of men into paradise, and when he was crucified he foretold that he would lead the thief in there on that very day, while his body was still cast in the tomb, it is established that the soul of Christ, properly living together with the Word and God, who contains all created creation together, led the kindred soul of the man into paradise. For it is not written that before the resurrection of the holy body, the body of the thief was raised up, having received the promise. It is therefore logical to suppose prudently that the soul, kindly guiding the kindred soul, inasmuch as it possessed greater authority, brought the promise to fulfillment on that very day, and led it into the special inheritance, opening paradise.

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De anima contra Arianos (fragmenta)

ΠΕΡΙ ΨΥΧΗΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΑΡΕΙΑΝΩΝ

10 Τί δ' ἂν εἴποιεν εἰς τὰς τοῦ βρέφους ἀναβλέψαντες ἀνατροφὰς, ἢ τὴν τῆς ἡλικίας ἀνάδοσιν, ἢ τὴν ἐπίτασιν τῶν χρόνων, ἢ τὴν τοῦ σώματος αὔξην; Ἵνα δὲ παρῶ λέγειν τὰς ἐπὶ ἐδάφους ἐκπληρωθείσας θαυματουργίας, ὁράτωσαν τὰς τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναβιώσεις, τὰ τοῦ πάθους σύμβολα, τὰ τῶν μαστίγων ἴχνη, τοὺς τῶν πληγῶν μώλωπας, τὰς τετρωμένας πλευρὰς, τοὺς τῶν ἥλων τύπους, τὴν τοῦ αἵματος ἔγχυσιν, τὰ τοῦ θανάτου σημεῖα, καὶ τὸ σύμπαν εἰπεῖν, αὐτὴν τὴν τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος ἀνάστασιν.

11 Καὶ μὴν εἴ τις εἰς τὴν τοῦ σώματος γέννησιν ἀφορᾷ, προδήλως εὑρήσειεν ἂν ὡς ἐν τῇ Βηθλεὲμ τεχθεὶς ἐσπαργανώθη, κἀν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ χρόνοις ἐτράφη τισὶν ἕνεκεν τῆς τοῦ ἀλάστορος ἐπιβουλῆς Ἡρώδου, κἂν τῇ Ναζαρὲτ ἀνδρωθεὶς ηὐξήθη.

12 Οὐ γὰρ ταὐτόν ἐστιν ἡ σκηνὴ τοῦ Λόγου καὶ Θεοῦ, δι' ἧς τὴν θείαν ἐθεώρει δόξαν ὁ μακάριος Στέφανος.

13 Πρὸ μὲν τοῦ πάθους ἑκάστοτε τὸν σωματικὸν αὑτοῦ προὔλεγε θάνατον, τοῖς ἀμφὶ τοὺς ἀρχιερέας ἐκδοθήσεσθαι φάσκων, καὶ τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ τρόπαιον ἀπαγγέλλων. Μετὰ δὲ τὸ πάθος, τριταῖος ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν ἀναστὰς, ἐνδοιαζόντων αὐτὸν ἐγηγέρθαι τῶν μαθητῶν, ἐπιφανεὶς αὐτοῖς αὐτῷ σώματι, σάρκα μὲν ἅπασαν σὺν ὀστέοις ἔχειν ὁμολογεῖ, ταῖς δὲ ὄψεσι τούτων τὰς τετρωμένας ὑποβάλλων πλευρὰς, καὶ τοὺς τύπους αὐτοῦ ὑποδεικνύει τῶν ἥλων.

14 ∆ι' ὀλίγων δὲ ἔστιν ἐλέγξαι τὴν ἀσεβῆ συκοφαντίαν αὐτῶν· μάλιστα μὲν γὰρ εἰ μὴ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἕνεκεν σωτηρίας εἰς τὴν τοῦ θανάτου σφαγὴν τὸ ἴδιον ἑκουσίως ἐξεδίδου σῶμα. Πρῶτον μὲν πολλὴν αὐτῷ περιάπτουσιν ἀδυναμίαν, ὅτι μὴ οἷός τ' ἐγένετο τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ὁρμὴν ἐπισχεῖν.

15 ∆ιὰ τί δὲ περὶ πολλοῦ ποιοῦνται δεικνύναι τὸν Χριστὸν ἄψυχον ἀνειληφέναι σῶμα, γεώδεις πλάττοντες ἀπάτας; Ἵνα εἰ δυνηθεῖεν ὑποφθεῖραί τινας, ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχειν ὁρίζεσθαι, τηνικαῦτα τὰς τῶν παθῶν ἀλλοιώσεις τῷ θείῳ περιάψαντες Πνεύματι, ῥᾳδίως ἀναπείσωσιν αὐτοὺς, ὡς οὐκ ἔστι τὸ τρεπτὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀτρέπτου φύσεως γεννηθέν.

16 Σύμφωνα δὲ τούτοις διεξιὼν ὁ αὐτὸς Ἱερεμίας εἰσηγεῖται τὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ διακονούμενος φωνὰς, δι' ὧν δείκνυσιν, ὅτι μήτε τὰς τῶν δικαίων προσίεται πρεσβείας, εἰ βουληθεῖεν τῶν μιαιφόνων χάριν ἀξιῶσαι. Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρός με λέγων· Ἐὰν στῇ Μωϋσῆς καὶ Σαμουὴλ πρὸ προσώπου μου, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς αὐτούς.

17 Εἰ δὲ διὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιφανείας εἰς τὸν παράδεισον τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰσάγει γένος, ὁπηνίκα δὲ ἐσταυρώθη τὸν λῃστὴν αὐθήμερον εἰσάξειν αὐτόθι προηγόρευσεν τοῦ σώματος ἔτι βεβλημένου τῷ μνήματι, συνέστηκεν ὅτι συνδιαιτωμένη κυρίως ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τῷ Λόγῳ καὶ Θεῷ, τῷ πᾶσαν ὁμοῦ τὴν τῶν γενητῶν περιέχοντι κτίσιν, τὴν ὁμογενῆ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ψυχὴν εἰς τὸν παράδεισον εἰσήγαγεν. Οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστι γεγραμμένον ὅτι πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τοῦ ἁγίου σώματος τὸ τοῦ λῃστοῦ προηγέρθη σῶμα τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἀπολαβόν. Ἀκόλουθον ἄρα ἐστὶν ὑπολαμβάνειν ἐμφρόνως ὅτι ἡ ψυχὴ τὴν συγγενῆ ψυχὴν ὁδηγοῦσα φιλοφρόνως, ἅτε δὴ καὶ μείζονος ἐξουσίας ἐχομένη, τὴν μὲν ὑπόσχεσιν αὐθήμερον ἐπὶ πέρας ἦγεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν ἐξαίρετον εἰσῆγε κληρονομίαν ἀνοίγουσα τὸν παράδεισον.