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of John the disciple of our Lord, and of the other apostles with whom he associated, having always kept it; nor, however, did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to keep it, as he said that he was bound to maintain the custom of the presbyters before him. And though matters were in this state, they communed with each other; and in the church Anicetus yielded the Eucharist to Polycarp, manifestly out of respect, and they parted from each other in peace, the whole church being at peace, both those who observed and those who did not observe. 4 In whatsoever a man might be able to do good to his neighbors, and does not do it, he shall be reckoned a stranger to the love of the Lord. 5 The will and energy of God is the creative and providential cause of all time and place and age, and of every nature. Will is the reason in us of the intelligent soul, as it is its self-determining power. Will is an appetitive mind, and an intellectual appetite, inclining towards what is willed. 7 And not to kneel on the Lord's day is a symbol of the resurrection, through which, by the grace of Christ, we have been freed from our sins and from death that was put to death by him. And this custom took its beginning from apostolic times, as the blessed Irenaeus, martyr and bishop of Lyons, says in his discourse concerning Easter, in which he makes mention also of Pentecost, on which we do not kneel, because it is of equal significance with the Lord's day, for the reason that has been stated concerning it. 8 For just as the ark was gilded within and without with pure gold; so also the body of Christ was pure and radiant; adorned within by the Word, and guarded without by the Spirit; so that from both the distinctness of the natures might be shown. 9 By always speaking well of the worthy, and never ill of the unworthy, we too shall obtain the glory and kingdom of God. 10 It is truly proper and fitting to God to be propitious, to be merciful, to save His own works, even if they are brought to the danger of destruction; for with Him, it says, is propitiation. 11 The work of a Christian is nothing else than to practice dying. 12 We therefore have believed that bodies also rise. For even if it decays, yet it does not perish. For the earth, having received their remains, keeps them, like a seed being fattened and intertwined with the richness of the soil. Again, just as a bare grain is sown, and by the command of God the creator it sprouts, it rises clothed and glorious, not before it has died, been dissolved, and mingled with the earth; so that we have not believed in vain in the resurrection of the body. But even if it is dissolved for a time, on account of the disobedience that occurred from the beginning, it is placed as into a crucible of the earth, to be remolded again, not corruptible as before, but pure, and no longer corruptible; as to each body its own soul will be given back, and having put this on it will not grieve, but will rejoice, having remained pure, having accompanied a righteous and not a treacherous bridegroom; in all things having with all ... will receive, not altered, nor changed by passion or disease, nor will it receive the bodies as glorious, but as they died in sins or in good deeds; and as they were, so having been revived they will be clothed, and as they are in unbelief, so they will be judged faithfully. 13 For Greeks, having arrested the slaves of Christian catechumens, and then forcing them to learn from them something supposedly secret about the Christians, these slaves, having no way to say what would please those who were forcing them, since they had heard from their masters that the divine communion was the blood and body of Christ, themselves thinking it to be actual blood and flesh, told this to their interrogators. And they, taking it that this was literally performed by the Christians, indeed published this to the other Greeks, and they compelled the martyrs Sanctus and Blandina to confess through tortures. To whom Blandina aptly and boldly said, "How could they endure these things, who for the sake of asceticism do not even enjoy permitted meats?" 14 How is it possible for the serpent, which was made by God irrational and mindless by nature, to be rational and

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Ἰωάννου τοῦ μαθητοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν, καὶ λοιπῶν ἀποστόλων οἷς συνδιέτριψεν, ἀεὶ τετηρηκότα· οὔτε μὴν ὁ Πολύκαρπος τὸν Ἀνίκητον ἔπεισε τηρεῖν, λέγοντα τὴν συνήθειαν τῶν πρὸ αὑτοῦ πρεσβυτέρων ὀφείλειν κατέχειν. Καὶ τούτων οὕτως ἐχόντων, ἐκοινώνησαν ἑαυτοῖς· καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ παρεχώρησεν ὁ Ἀνίκητος τὴν εὐχαριστίαν τῷ Πολυκάρπῳ, κατ' ἐντροπὴν δηλονότι, καὶ μετ' εἰρήνης ἀπ' ἀλλήλων ἀπηλλάγησαν, πάσης τῆς ἐκκλησίας εἰρήνην ἐχόντων, καὶ τῶν τηρούντων, καὶ τῶν μὴ τηρούντων. 4 Ἐν ᾧ ἄν τις δύναιτο εὖ ποιεῖν τοῖς πλησίον, καὶ οὐ ποιεῖ, ἀλλότριος τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Κυρίου νομισθήσεται. 5 Θέλησις καὶ ἐνέργεια Θεοῦ ἐστὶν ἡ παντὸς χρόνου καὶ τόπου καὶ αἰῶνος, καὶ πάσης φύσεως ποιητική τε καὶ προνοητικὴ αἰτία. Θέλησίς ἐστι τῆς νοερᾶς ψυχῆς ὁ ἐφ' ἡμῖν λόγος, ὡς αὐτεξούσιος αὐτῆς ὑπάρχουσα δύναμις. Θέλησίς ἐστι νοῦς ὀρεκτικὸς, καὶ διανοητικὴ ὄρεξις, πρὸς τὸ θεληθὲν ἐπινεύουσα. 7 Τὸ δὲ ἐν κυριακῇ μὴ κλίνειν γόνυ, σύμβολόν ἐστι τῆς ἀναστάσεως, δι' ἧς τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριτι, τῶν τε ἁμαρτημάτων, καὶ τοῦ ἐπ' αὐτῶν τεθανατωμένου θανάτου ἠλευθερώθημεν. Ἐκ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν δὲ χρόνων ἡ τοιαύτη συνήθεια ἔλαβε τὴν ἀρχὴν, καθώς φησιν ὁ μακάριος Εἰρηναῖος, ὁ μάρτυρ καὶ ἐπίσκοπος Λουγδούνου, ἐν τῷ περὶ τοῦ Πάσχα λόγῳ, ἐν ᾧ μέμνηται καὶ περὶ τῆς Πεντηκοστῆς, ἐν ᾗ οὐ κλίνομεν γόνυ, ἐπειδὴ ἰσοδυναμεῖ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κυριακῆς, κατὰ τὴν ῥηθεῖσαν περὶ αὐτῆς αἰτίαν. 8 Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ κιβωτὸς κεχρυσωμένη ἔσωθεν καὶ ἔξωθε χρυσίῳ καθαρῷ ἦν· οὕτω καὶ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ σῶμα καθαρὸν ἦν καὶ διαυγές· ἔσωθεν μὲν τῷ Λόγῳ κοσμούμενον, ἔξωθεν δὲ τῷ Πνεύματι φρουρούμενον· ἵνα ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τὸ περιφανὲς τῶν φύσεων παραδειχθῇ. 9 Εὖ μὲν λέγοντες ἀεὶ τοὺς ἀξίους, κακῶς δὲ οὐδέποτε τοὺς ἀναξίους, τευξόμεθα καὶ ἡμεῖς τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξης καὶ βασιλείας. 10 Ἴδιον καὶ πρεπῶδες ὡς ἀληθῶς τῷ Θεῷ, τὸ ἱλάσκεσθαι, τὸ ἐλεεῖν, τὸ τὰ ἔργα σώζειν ἑαυτοῦ, κᾂν εἰς κίνδυνον διαφθορᾶς καταφέρηται· Παρ' αὐτῷ γάρ, φησιν, ὁ ἱλασμός ἐστιν. 11 Τὸ ἔργον τοῦ Χριστιανοῦ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐστὶν, ἢ μελετᾷν ἀποθνήσκειν. 12 Ἡμεῖς οὖν καὶ σώματα ἀνίστασθαι πεπιστεύκαμεν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ φθείρεται, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀπόλλυται· τούτων γὰρ τὰ λείψανα γῆ ὑποδεξαμένη τηρεῖ, δίκην σπόρου πιαινομένου καὶ τῷ γῆς λιπαρωτέρῳ συμπλεκομένου. Αὖθις ὥσπερ κόκκος γυμνὸς σπείρεται, καὶ κελεύσματι τοῦ δημιουργήσαντος Θεοῦ θάλλων, ἠμφιεσμένος καὶ ἔνδοξος ἐγείρεται, οὐ πρότερον εἰ μὴ ἀποθανὼν λυθῆ, καὶ γῇ συμμιγῇ· ὥστε τὴν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ σώματος οὐ μάτην πεπιστεύκαμεν· Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ λύεται πρὸς καιρὸν, διὰ τὴν ἀπ' ἀρχῆς γενομένην παρακοὴν, ὡς εἰς χωνευτήριον τῆς γῆς καθίσταται, πάλιν ἀναπλασθησόμενον, οὐ τοιοῦτον φθειρόμενον, ἀλλὰ καθαρὸν, καὶ μηκέτι φθειρόμενον· ὡς ἑκάστῳ σώματι ἡ ἰδία ψυχὴ ἀποδοθήσεται, καὶ τοῦτο ἐνδυσαμένη οὐκ ἀνιαθήσεται, ἀλλὰ χαρήσεται, καθαρὰ παραμείνασα, νυμφίῳ δικαίῳ συνοδεύσασα, καὶ μὴ ἐπιβούλῳ· ἐν πᾶσιν ἔχουσα μετὰ πάσης ... ἀπολήψεται, οὐκ ἀλλοιωθέντα, οὐδὲ πάθους ἢ νόσου μεταστάντα, οὐδὲ ἔνδοξα ἀπολήψεται τὰ σώματα, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν ἁμαρτήμασιν ἢ κατορθώμασιν ἐτελεύτων· καὶ ὁποῖα ἦν, τοιαῦτα ἀναβιώσαντα ἐπενδύσονται, καὶ ὁποῖα ἐν ἀπιστίᾳ γίνωνται, τοιαῦτα πιστῶς κριθήσονται. 13 Χριστιανῶν γὰρ κατηχουμένων δούλους Ἕλληνες συλλαβόντες, εἶτα μαθεῖν τὶ παρὰ τούτων δῆθεν ἀπόῤῥητον περὶ Χριστιανῶν ἀναγκάζοντες, οἱ δοῦλοι οὗτοι, μὴ ἔχοντες πῶς τὸ τοῖς ἀναγκάζουσι καθ' ἡδονὴν ἐρεῖν, παρόσον ἤκουον τῶν δεσποτῶν, τὴν θείαν μετάληψιν αἷμα καὶ σῶμα εἶναι Χριστοῦ, αὐτοὶ νομίσαντες τῷ ὄντι αἷμα καὶ σάρκα εἶναι, τοῦτο ἐξεῖπον τοῖς ἐκζητοῦσι. Οἱ δὲ λαβόντες ὡς αὐτόχρημα τοῦτο τελεῖσθαι Χριστιανοῖς, καὶ δὴ τοῦτο τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν ἐξεπόμπευον, καὶ τοὺς μάρτυρας Σάγκτον καὶ Βλανδίναν ὁμολογῆσαι διὰ βασάνων ἠνάγκαζον. Οἷς εὐστόχως Βλανδίνα ἐπαῤῥησιάσατο, Πῶς ἂν, εἰποῦσα, τούτων ἀνάσχοιντο οἱ μηδὲ τῶν ἐφειμένων κρεῶν δι' ἄσκησιν ἀπολαύοντες; 14 Πῶς δυνατὸν τὸν φύσει ἄλογον καὶ ἄνουν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ γενόμενον ὄφιν, λογικὸν καὶ