he differs in no way from the Sadducees; since the resurrection of the flesh is a power of God and above all reason, confirmed indeed by faith, but observed by works. *** Resurrection is of the fallen flesh; for spirit does not fall. The soul is in the body, but what is soulless does not live; a body, when the soul leaves it, is no more. For the body is the house of the soul, and the soul is the house of the spirit. And these three will be saved for those who have a sincere hope and an unhesitating faith in God. Therefore, considering also the secular arguments, and according to them not finding it to be impossible for the flesh to have regeneration, and in addition to all these things, the Savior showing through the whole gospel the salvation of our flesh, why then do we endure faithless and scandalous arguments, and forget ourselves, turning back, whenever we hear that the soul is immortal, but the body is corruptible and no longer able to live again? For these things we heard from Pythagoras and Plato even before learning the truth. If, then, the Savior said these things and proclaimed life for the soul alone, what new thing did he bring us beyond Pythagoras and Plato and their school? But now he came proclaiming a new and strange hope to men. For it was strange and new indeed for God to promise not to preserve incorruption through incorruption, but to make corruption incorruption. But since the ruler of wickedness was not able to corrupt the word in any other way, he sent out his apostles, introducing evil and pestilential teachings, having chosen them from among those who crucified our Savior, who bore the name of the Savior, but did the works of the one who sent them, on account of whom blasphemy also followed the name. But if the flesh does not rise, why is it also preserved and why do we not rather permit it to use its desires, and not imitate physicians, who, whenever they have given up on a person as not being able to be saved, permit him to indulge his desires? For they know that he is perishing. This is precisely what those who hate the flesh do, casting it out of the inheritance, as far as it is in their power; for this reason they also dishonor it as being about to be dead. But if our physician Jesus Christ, having drawn us away from our desires, governs our flesh with a temperate and self-controlled regimen according to himself, it is clear that he guards it as having a hope of salvation from sins, just as physicians do not allow men who have hope of being saved to indulge their pleasures.

οὐδὲν τῶν Σαδδουκαίων διαφέρει· ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἀνάστασις τῆς σαρ κὸς δύναμις θεοῦ ἐστι καὶ ὑπεράνω λόγου παντός, βεβαιου μένη μὲν πίστει, θεωρουμένη δὲ ἔργοις. *** Ἀνάστασίς ἐστι τοῦ πεπτωκότος σαρκίου· πνεῦμα γὰρ οὐ πίπτει. Ψυχὴ ἐν σώματί ἐστιν, οὐ ζῇ δὲ ἄψυχον· σῶμα, ψυχῆς ἀπολειπούσης, οὐκ ἔστιν. Oἶκος γὰρ τὸ σῶμα ψυχῆς, πνεύματος δὲ ψυχὴ οἶκος. Τὰ τρία δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς ἐλπίδα εἰλικρινῆ καὶ πίστιν ἀδιάκριτον ἐν τῷ θεῷ ἔχουσι σω θήσεται. Θεωροῦντες γοῦν καὶ τοὺς κοσμικοὺς λόγους, καὶ κατ' αὐτοὺς οὐχ εὑρίσκοντες ἀδύνατον ὑπάρχειν τῇ σαρκὶ τὴν παλιγγενεσίαν, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσι τὸν σωτῆρα διὰ παντὸς τοῦ εὐαγγελίου δεικνύντα τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν, τί λοιπὸν ἀνεχόμεθα τῶν ἀπίστων καὶ σκανδάλων λόγων, καὶ λανθάνομεν ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιστρέφοντες εἰς τοὐπίσω, ὁπόταν ἀ κούσωμεν ὅτι ἡ μὲν ψυχὴ ἀθάνατός ἐστι, τὸ δὲ σῶμα φθαρτὸν καὶ οὐκέτι δυνάμενον ἀναζῆσαι; Ταῦτα γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ μα θεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν παρὰ Πυθαγόρου καὶ Πλάτωνος ἠκούομεν. Eἰ οὖν ταῦτα ἔλεγεν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ μόνης τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ζωὴν εὐηγγελίζετο, τί καινὸν ἡμῖν ἔφερε παρὰ Πυθαγόραν καὶ Πλά τωνα καὶ τὸν τούτων χορόν; Νῦν δὲ τὴν καινὴν καὶ ξένην εὐαγγελιζόμενος ἦλθεν ἀνθρώποις ἐλπίδα. Ξένον δὲ ἄρα ἦν καὶ καινὸν τὸ τὸν θεὸν ὑπισχνεῖσθαι μὴ τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν τηρεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὴν φθορὰν ἀφθαρσίαν ποιεῖν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ ἄλλως λυμαίνεσθαι τὸν λόγον δυνάμενος ὁ τῆς πο νηρίας ἄρχων ἐξέπεμψε τοὺς ἀποστόλους αὐτοῦ, κακὰς καὶ λοιμώδεις διδασκαλίας εἰσάγοντας, ἐκλεξάμενος αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν σταυρωσάντων τὸν σωτῆρα ἡμῶν, οἵτινες τὸ μὲν ὄνομα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἔφερον, τὰ δὲ ἔργα τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτοὺς ἐποί ουν, δι' οὓς καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι ἠκολούθησεν ἡ βλασφημία. Eἰ δὲ μὴ ἀνίσταται ἡ σάρξ, διὰ τί καὶ φυλάσσεται καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον αὐτῇ συγχωροῦμεν χρήσασθαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, καὶ οὐ μι μούμεθα τοὺς ἰατρούς, οἵτινες, ἐπειδὰν ἀπεγνωσμένον ἔχωσιν ἄνθρωπον σώζεσθαι μὴ δυνάμενον, ἐπιτρέπουσιν αὐτῷ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις ὑπηρετεῖν; Ἴσασι γὰρ ὅτι ἀπόλλυται. Ὅπερ ἀμέλει ποιοῦσιν οἱ τὴν σάρκα μισοῦντες, ἐκβάλλοντες αὐτὴν τῆς κληρονομίας, τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτοῖς· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὡς νεκρὰν ἐσομένην ἀτιμάζουσιν αὐτήν. Eἰ δὲ ὁ ἡμέτερος ἰα τρὸς Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἡμῶν ἀπο σπάσας, διαιτᾶται τῇ κατ' αὐτὸν σώφρονι καὶ ἐγκρατεῖ διαίτῃ τὴν σάρκα ἡμῶν, δῆλον ὡς ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας ἔχουσαν ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτὴν φυλάσσει, καθάπερ τοὺς ἐλ πίδα σωτηρίας ἔχοντας ἀνθρώπους οἱ ἰατροὶ οὐκ ἐῶσιν ὑπη ρετεῖν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς.