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being, it did not however undergo corruption and dissolution into the elements because it rose without corruption by the power of the Word, for which reason it also did not see corruption. 9. And it is possible to find this also in the case of those found living at the consummation, about whom it is said in the first epistle to the Thessalonians: For we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. And again: Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 10. You see that he says the dead and those whose bodies have been corrupted will rise, but as living they are caught up immediately in the clouds undergoing the change to the immortal and incorruptible, from the corruptibility which in actuality has not happened to them; for they were neither corrupted into the elements, even if they had a corruptible nature in their body. And the dead in Christ will rise, as he also says in the first to the Corinthians: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. It is clear here also that at the consummation they do not die, just as those before the consummation, but in a certain moment in time they receive incorruptibility. 11. If therefore those, having a truly corruptible body, did not see corruption, but only a | state towards the incorruptible, how should we not suppose this also in the case of the Lord's body, consubstantial with bodies from the earth, differing from them in this: for men the natural passions occur unwillingly, but for the Lord not by necessity, but rather with his yielding for nature to effect its own properties, as the teaching of the holy fathers has instructed us. 12. And how again shall we understand that in the Acts, That he raised him up no more to return to corruption. For "no more" shows it was susceptible to corruption before the resurrection. And how again did the apostle say: Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest? and again: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the things of the children, who have a corruptible body. The corruptible is in no way similar to the incorruptible.

II. Testimonies of the holy fathers that the body of Christ was corruptible before the resurrection 1. From the third discourse against the Greeks of Justin the philosopher: Man having thus been made and having immediately looked towards transgression, naturally received corruption. And since corruption was added by nature, it was necessary for the one wishing to save it to destroy the corrupting substance. And this could not happen otherwise, unless the life according to nature was joined to that which had received corruption, destroying the corruption, and for the rest preserving immortal the one who received it. 2. Of Athanasius, against Apollinarius: So that by death he might abolish death in the manifestation of the soul, and in the tomb might abolish corruption in the burial of the body; showing forth immortality and incorruptibility from Hades and from the tomb, having traveled our road in the form that is ours. 3. From the same discourse: For this reason in the soul of God the power of death was loosed and the resurrection from Hades took place and was preached to the souls, but in the body of God corruption was abolished and incorruptibility was shown forth from the tomb. 4. From the third discourse against the heresies: For the things of the body would not have happened in an incorporeal one, unless he had taken a body that was corruptible and mortal; for mortal was Mary from whom he was

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ὑπάρχον οὐ μέντοι φθορὰν ὑπέστη καὶ διάλυσιν τὴν εἰς τὰ στοιχεῖα διὰ τὸ ἄνευ φθορᾶς ἀναστῆναι τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ λόγου, διὸ καὶ οὐκ εἶδε διαφθοράν. 9. Τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν εὑρεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ εὑρισκομένων ζώντων περὶ ὧν εἴρηται ἐν τῇ πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς πρώτῃ ἐπιστολῇ· Ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες, οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ κυρίου οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες, οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα. 10. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι τοὺς νεκροὺς καὶ ἐφθαρμένους τὸ σῶμά φησιν ἀναστήσεσθαι, ὡς δὲ ζῶντας ἁρπαζομένους εὐθὺς ἐν νεφέλαις ἐπὶ τὸ ἀθάνατον καὶ ἄφθαρτον τὴν ἐναλλαγὴν ὑφισταμένους, τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς φθαρτότητος ἥτις ἐνεργείᾳ οὐ γέγονεν αὐτοῖς· οὔτε γὰρ ἐφθάρησαν εἰς τὰ στοιχεῖα, εἰ καὶ φθαρτὴν εἶχον τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος. Καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους πρώτῃ φησίν· Πάντες μὲν οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγησόμεθα. ∆ῆλον καὶ ὧδε ὅτι ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ οὐκ ἀποθνήσκουσι, καθάπερ οἱ πρὸ τῆς συντελείας, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀκαριαίῳ τινὶ χρόνῳ τῆς ἀφθαρσίαν λαμβάνουσιν. 11. Εἰ οὖν ἐκεῖνοι φθαρτὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἔχοντες σῶμα διαφθορὰν οὐκ εἶδον, ἀλλὰ μόνον μὲν | στάσιν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄφθαρτον, πῶς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ σώματος τοῦτο μὴ ὑποθώμεθα, τοῖς ἀπὸ γῆς σώμασιν ὁμοού- σιον, διαφέρον μὲν αὐτοῖς κατὰ τοῦτο· τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μὲν ἄκουσι τὰ φυσικὰ προσγίνεται πάθη, τῷ δὲ κυρίῳ οὐ κατ' ἀνάγκην, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ μᾶλλον ἐνδιδόντος τῇ φύσει τὰ οἰκεῖα ἐνεργῆσαι, ὡς ἡμᾶς ἡ τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων ἐπαίδευσε διδασκα- λία. 12. Πῶς δὲ πάλιν νοήσομεν τὸ ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσιν, Ὅτι ἀνέστησεν αὐτὸν μηκέτι μέλλοντα ὑποστρέφειν εἰς διαφθοράν. Τὸ γὰρ μηκέτι δείκνυσιν ἐπιδεκτικὸν φθορᾶς πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως. Πῶς δὲ πάλιν ὁ ἀπόστολος ἔφη· Ὅθεν ὤφειλε κατὰ πάντα τοῖς· ἀδελφοῖς ὁμοιωθῆναι, ἵνα ἐλεήμων γένηται καὶ πιστὸς ἀρχιερεύς; καὶ πάλιν· Ἐπεὶ οὖν τὰ παιδία κεκοινώνηκεν αἵματος καὶ σαρκός, καὶ αὐτὸς παραπλησίως μετέσχε τῶν παίδων, φθαρτὸν ἐχόντων τὸ σῶμα. Οὐδαμῶς παραπλήσιον τὸ φθαρτὸν τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ.

II. Χρήσεις ἁγίων πατέρων ὅτι φθαρτὸν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως 1. Ἰουστίνου φιλοσόφου ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Ἑλλήνων λόγου τρίτου· Οὕτω γεγονὼς ὁ ἄνθρωπος καὶ πρὸς τὴν παράβασιν εὐθὺς ἰδών, τὴν φθορὰν φυσικῶς εἰσεδέξατο. Φύσει δὲ τῆς φθορᾶς προσγενομένης, ἀναγκαῖον ἦν τῷ σῶσαι βουλομένῳ αὐτήν, τὴν φθοροποιὸν οὐσίαν ἀφανίσαι. Τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἦν ἑτέρως γενέσθαι, εἰ μὴ ἡ κατὰ φύσιν ζωὴ προσεπλάκη τῷ τὴν φθορὰν δεξαμένῳ, ἀφανίζουσα μὲν τὴν φθοράν, ἀθάνατον δὲ τοῦ λοιποῦ τὸν δεξάμενον διατηροῦσα. 2. Ἀθανασίου κατὰ Ἀπολιναρίου· Ὅπως θανάτῳ καταλύσῃτὸν θάνατον ἐν ἐπιδείξει ψυχῆς, ἐν δὲ τῷ τάφῳ καταργήσῃ τὴν φθορὰν ἐν ταφῇ σώματος· ἐξ ᾅδου καὶ ἐκ τάφου τὴν ἀθανασίαν καὶ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἐπιδεικνύμενος, ἐν μορφῇ τῇ καθ' ἡμᾶς τὴν ἡμετέ- ραν ὁδεύσας ὁδόν. 3. Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου· ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἐν μὲν ψυχῇ θεοῦ ἡ κράτησις τοῦ θανάτου ἐλύετο καὶ ἡ ἐξ ᾅδου ἀνάστασις ἐγίνετο καὶ ταῖς ψυχαῖς εὐηγγελίζετο, ἐν δὲ σώματι θεοῦ ἡ φθορὰ κατηργεῖτο καὶ ἡ ἀφθαρσία ἐκ τάφου ἐδείκνυτο. 4. Ἐκ τοῦ πρὸς τὰς αἱρέσεις τρίτου λόγου· Οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἀσωμάτῳ τὰ τοῦ σώματος ἐγεγόνει, εἰ μὴ σῶμα λαβὼν ἦν φθαρτὸν καὶ θνητόν· θνητὴ γὰρ ἦν ἡ Μαρία ἐξ ἧς ἦν