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by his bruise we were healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has gone astray in his own way. And the Lord delivered him up for our sins.” Therefore, the bodily instrument of the divine Word was consecrated for these reasons, but the great high priest, who serves the all-governing and all-kingly God, being other than the sacrifice, the Word of God and “the power of God and the wisdom of God,” not long after recalled the mortal thing from death and presented this, the first-fruits of our common salvation, as a partaker of divine life and immortality, a trophy of victory over death and over the demonic array, raising this up for all mankind as an averting of the human sacrifices formerly performed, whence also the title of Christ was applied to him, which corresponds to the high priest among the Hebrews. For he received two names, of which the name of Jesus signifies the saving victim, while that of Christ declares, according to the custom of the Hebrews, the Word of God who is high priest for us all. In addition to what has been said, there would be another very great reason for his saving death, which will now be stated. For since it was necessary for his disciples to see with their own eyes the clear regeneration of life after death, on which he taught them to hang their hopes, and for which he exhorted them to hold fast to the yoke of piety, he reasonably provided that they see this accurately with their own eyes; for it was necessary for those who were about to pursue a pious life to receive this first and most necessary lesson of all through clear sight, and much more so those who were soon about to proclaim him to the whole world and to announce to all people the teaching and knowledge of God put forth by him for all nations. It was necessary for these men to receive the greatest conviction of the life after death, so that, without dread and fear of death, they might readily undertake the struggle against the polytheistic error; for unless they had practiced despising death, they would never have been prepared for terrible things. Therefore, of necessity arming them against the dominion of death, he did not deliver the lesson with little words and sounds, nor, like men, compose persuasive and probable arguments about the immortality of the soul, but by deed itself he showed them the trophies over death. For was not death, the destroyer of the mortal race, formerly terrible to all? And its dominion was considered the dissolution of the whole human nature, of soul and body together, and no one from of old was able to remove this terror from men, but all cowered in fear of death, small and great, rulers and slaves, kings and common people, multitudes of all nations and tribes, and there was no comfort for the evil for men, no word, no way, no life, no reasoning of wise men, no writings of the ancients, no oracles of prophets, no appearances of angels; but death, being stronger and superior to all, held the victory over all, lofty, boastful, arrogant, by whom the mortal race, having been enslaved, was rolled in all kinds of lawlessness, blood-guilt, unholy deeds, impieties, and manifold error; for death was the cause of all these things. For as if they would no longer exist after death, they spent their lives doing things worthy of a myriad deaths, and as if they were in no way subject to accounts because of the release from death, they lived an unlivable life, not taking God into their minds, not expecting the tribunals of divine judgment, not rekindling the memory of their own intellectual substance according to the soul, but using one terrible master, Death, and having persuaded themselves that the corruption of bodies from this was the dissolution of their whole being, they proclaimed Death a rich god, and hence Pluto. And Death was a god to them, not only he, but also the honorable things before this, namely those things contributing to a life of pleasure for them. Therefore for them, god was that of the flesh

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μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν. πάντες ὡς πρόβατα ἐπλανήθημεν, ἕκαστος τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ ἐπλανήθη. καὶ κύριος παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἡμῶν.» τὸ μὲν οὖν σωματικὸν τοῦ θείου λόγου ὄργανον διὰ ταύτας καθιεροῦτο τὰς αἰτίας, ὁ δὲ μέγας ἀρχιερεὺς ὁ τῷ πανηγεμόνι καὶ παμβασιλεῖ θεῷ ἱερώμενος, ἕτερος ὢν παρὰ τὸ ἱερεῖον, θεοῦ λόγος καὶ «θεοῦ δύναμις καὶ θεοῦ σοφία», οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν τὸ θνητὸν ἀνεκαλεῖτο τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τοῦτο τῆς κοινῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας τὴν ἀπαρχὴν ζωῆς ἐνθέου καὶ ἀθα νασίας μέτοχον παρίστη, τρόπαιον ἐπινίκιον κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου καὶ κατὰ τῆς δαιμονικῆς παρατάξεως τῶν τε πάλαι συντελουμένων ἀνθρωποθυσιῶν ἀποτρόπαιον τοῦτο ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀνεγείρας, ὅθεν ἐπετέθη αὐτῷ καὶ ἡ τῷ παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβραίοις ἀρχιερεῖ συσχηματιζομένη τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσηγορία. δύο γοῦν ἔλαβεν ὀνόματα, ὧν τὸ μὲν τοῦ σωτηρίου θύματος σημαίνει τὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὄνομα, τὸ δὲ τοῦ ἀρχιερέως τοῦ ὑπὲρ πάντων ἡμῶν ἱερωμένου θεοῦ λόγου κατὰ τὸ τῶν Ἑβραίων ἔθος δηλοῖ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ ἄλλη τις γένοιτ' ἂν τοῦ σωτηρίου θανάτου μεγίστη αἰτία ἡ λεχθησομένη. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοῖς αὐτοῦ φοιτηταῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδεῖν ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ζωῆς τῆς μετὰ θάνατον ἐναργῶς παλιγγενεσίαν, ἐφ' ἣν τὰς αὐτῶν ἐλπίδας ἀναρτᾶν αὐτοὺς ἐδίδασκεν, δι' ἣν καὶ προὔτρεπεν αὐτοὺς ἔχεσθαι τοῦ τῆς θεοσεβείας ζυγοῦ, εἰκότως τοῦτο ὁρᾶν αὐτοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀκριβῶς παρεῖχεν· ἐχρῆν γὰρ τοὺς μέλλοντας εὐσεβῆ μετιέναι βίον τοῦτο πρῶτον πάντων ἀναγκαιότατον μάθημα δι' ἐναργοῦς ὄψεως παραλαβεῖν καὶ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἐκείνους τοὺς εἰς ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην μέλλοντας αὐτὸν ὅσον οὔπω κηρύττειν καὶ τὴν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι προβληθεῖσαν διδασκαλίαν τε καὶ θεογνωσίαν εἰς πάντας καταγγέλλειν ἀνθρώπους. οὓς δὴ πεῖσμα μέγιστον λαβεῖν ἐχρῆν τῆς μετὰ τὸν θάνατον ζωῆς, ὡς ἂν ἀδεεῖς καὶ ἄφοβοι θανάτου τὸν κατὰ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης ἀγῶνα προθύμως ἀναδέξοιντο· μὴ γὰρ θανάτου καταφρονεῖν μελετήσαντες, οὐκ ἂν πώποτε πρὸς τὰ δεινὰ παρεσκευάζοντο. διὸ δὴ ἀναγκαίως ὁπλίζων αὐτοὺς κατὰ τῆς τοῦ θανάτου δυναστείας, οὐ ῥηματίοις καὶ φωναῖς παρεδίδου τὸ μάθημα οὐδὲ λόγοις ὁμοίως ἀνθρώποις τὸν περὶ ψυχῆς ἀθανασίας πιθανῶς καὶ ἐξ εἰκότων συντάττων, αὐτῷ δὲ ἔργῳ τὰ κατὰ τοῦ θανάτου ἐπεδείκνυ αὐτοῖς τρόπαια. ἦν μὲν γὰρ πάλαι πρότερον φοβερὸς τοῖς πᾶσιν ὁ τοῦ θνητοῦ γένους ὀλετὴρ θάνατος; καὶ λύσις ἐνομίζετο τῆς ὅλης ἀνθρώπου φύσεως ψυχῆς ὁμοῦ καὶ σώματος ἡ τούτου δυναστεία, οὐδέ τις ἦν τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος οἷός τε τουτὶ τὸ φόβητρον ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀνελεῖν, πάντες δ' ἐπτήχεσαν φόβῳ μικροὶ καὶ μεγάλοι ἄρχοντές τε καὶ δοῦλοι βασιλεῖς ὁμοῦ καὶ δῆμοι πλήθη τε πάντων ἐθνῶν καὶ φῦλα τὸν θάνατον, οὐκ ἦν τε τοῦ κακοῦ παραμύθιον ἀνθρώποις οὐ λόγος οὐ τρόπος οὐ βίος οὐ σοφῶν λογισμὸς οὐ παλαιῶν συγγράμματα οὐ προφητῶν θεσπίσματα οὐκ ἀγγέλων ἐπιφάνειαι· πάντων δὲ κρείττων ὢν καὶ ἀνώτερος τὴν κατὰ πάντων νίκην ἐπεῖχεν ὁ θάνατος ὑψηλός, μεγάλαυχος, ὑπερήφανος, ᾧ δὴ καταδεδουλωμένον τὸ θνητὸν γένος παντοίαις ἐκαλινδεῖτο παρανομίαις, μιαιφονίαις, ἀθεμιτουργίαις, δυσσεβείαις, πολυπλόκῳ πλάνῃ· τούτων γὰρ ἦν ἁπάντων θάνατος αἴτιος. ὡς γὰρ μηκέτι ὄντες μετὰ θάνατον, τὰ μυρίων θανάτων ἄξια δρῶντες διῆγον καὶ ὡς εὐθύναις οὐδαμῶς ὑποκείμενοι διὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου λύσιν βίον ἔζων ἀβίωτον, οὐ θεὸν ἐν νῷ λαμβάνοντες, οὐ θείας κρίσεως δικαιωτήρια προσδοκῶντες, οὐ τῆς σφῶν κατὰ ψυχὴν νοερᾶς οὐσίας τὴν μνήμην ἀναζωπυροῦντες, ἑνὶ δὲ δεινῷ προστάτῃ τῷ Θανάτῳ χρώμενοι, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τούτου τῶν σωμάτων φθορὰν λύσιν τοῦ παντὸς ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι πείσαντες, θεὸν πλούσιον, παρὸ καὶ Πλούτωνα, τὸν Θάνατον ἀνηγόρευον. καὶ Θάνατος ἦν αὐτοῖς θεὸς οὐ μόνος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ πρὸ τούτου τίμια, τὰ δὴ πρὸς ἡδυπαθῆ ζωὴν αὐτοῖς συμβαλλόμενα. θεὸς γοῦν αὐτοῖς ἦν ἡ τῶν σαρκῶν