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He is established above every limit and boundary, and this mystery teaches that with the incarnate and completely humanized God the Word, there is and exists the body taken from us and united to Him hypostatically, being of one substance, with which He also was taken up into the heavens, above every principality and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come, and is seated with God the Father now and for the boundless ages, having passed through all the heavens, and become higher than all, and He will come again for the transformation and alteration of the universe and for the salvation of our souls and bodies, as we have believed and do believe and may we remain believing forever, who is so bold and audacious, and knows only how to fight rashly 14Ε_038 against things that are clear and manifest, as to even simply imagine that bodies will ever have a passage 1333 into non-being, according to the progress of rational beings toward the perfect, as they say, believing that the Lord Himself and God of all is with a body now and forever, the one who provides to others the power to be able to progress, and leads and invites all to His own glory, as is possible by the power of the incarnation, as the author of everyone's salvation, and cleanses the stains in all?

But He is not led by them, as by types of His perfection, toward the putting away of the body—if they would even dare to conceive of this at all. For He does not follow others toward perfection, nor does He possess perfection as something contemplated through progress, being the only one most perfect by nature and the maker of all perfection, nor does He wait with others to receive the perfect, being in no way at all like any of the beings that need progress, so that He too might then put away the nature of the body, when for the rest the utmost progress causes the putting away of the body to occur. For then He is no longer the author of the saved and Savior, since He has not shown mystically, once for all, in Himself the goal of our perfection, but He too will be revealed as one of the saved and the ruled and those in need of another who shows in himself that perfection toward which all who have naturally partaken of reason are hastening.

But this is not so. How could it be? Nor does the word of truth tolerate those who say these things. For the divine Apostle says He is the author and perfecter of our salvation, as one who was incarnate for our sake in order to destroy our sin in Himself, and to give Himself to all who believe in Him as a type and model 14Ε_040 for a life of virtue, as a good and wise teacher, first fulfilling through Himself what is to be said and done for our example, having died and risen and been taken up into the heavens, and having been seated with the body at the right hand of God the Father, so that we too, when we die, may firmly hope to rise again, and to live a life completely separated from all death and all corruption, and to be taken up into the heavens, and to receive honor and glory in God the Father through His Son as mediator, and the blessed and eternal dwelling with Him, and not to expect any putting away of the body whatsoever, because not even the word of Holy Scripture teaches us this. Nor indeed have we seen this happen beforehand in the author of our salvation. For if it were His will for this to happen too, He Himself would have first accomplished this in Himself along with the other things, to which, as a lover of mankind, He subjected Himself for our sake and was perfected according to our nature, so that we, believing in this along with the other things, might have hope.

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παντός ὅρου καί πέρατος ὑπεράνω καθέστηκε, τοῦτο δέ τό μυστήριον μετά τοῦ σαρκωθέντος καί τελείως ἐνανθρωπήσαντος Θεοῦ Λόγου εἶναί τε καί ὑπάρχειν διδάσκει τό σῶμα τό ἐξ ἡμῶν ληφθέν καί ὁμοούσιον ἡνωμένον αὐτῷ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν, μεθ᾿ οὗ καί ἀνελήφθη εἰς οὐρανούς, ὑπεράνω πάσης ἀρχῆς καί ἐξουσίας καί δυνάμεως καί κυριότητος καί παντός ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου, οὐ μόνον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλά καί ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι, καί τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί νῦν τε καί εἰς τούς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας συγκαθέζεται, πάντας διεληλυθώς τούς οὐρανούς, καί ὑπεράνων πάντων γενόμενος, καί πάλιν ἐλεύσεται ἐπί μεταποιήσει τε καί μεταστοιχειώσει τοῦ παντός καί σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν τε καί σωμάτων, καθώς ἐπιστεύσαμέν τε καί πιστεύομεν καί εἰς ἀεί πιστεύοντες διαμένοιμεν, τίς οὕτως τολμηρός ἐστι καί αὐθάδης, καί πρός τά δῆλά τε καί προφανῆ μάχεσθαι μόνον εἰδώς 14Ε_038 προπετῶς, ὥστε κἄν ψιλῶς ἐνθυμηθῆναι πάροδον τήν 1333 εἰς τό μή ὄν ἕξειν ποτέ τά σώματα, κατά τήν εἰς τό τέλειον, ὡς ἐκεῖνοί φασι, τῶν λογικῶν προκοπήν, τόν Κύριον αὐτόν καί Θεόν τῶν ὅλων πιστεύων μετά σώματος εἶναι νῦν τε καί εἰς ἀεί, τόν καί τοῖς ἄλλοις τήν τοῦ προκόπτειν δύνασθαι παρεχόμενον δύναμιν, καί πάντας πρός τήν οἰκείαν δόξαν, ὡς ἐφικτόν τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, ἐνάγοντά τε καί προσκαλούμενον ὡς ἀρχηγόν τῆς πάντων σωτηρίας, καί τάς ἐν ὅλοις ἀνακαθαίροντα κηλῖδας;

Ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑπ᾿ ἐκείνων ὡς τύπων τῆς αὐτοῦ τελειότητος, εἴπερ ὅλως τοῦτο κἄν ἐννοῆσαι τολμήσαιεν, ἀγόμενον πρός ἀπόθεσιν τοῦ σώματος. Οὐ γάρ ἕπεται πρός τελείωσιν ἄλλοις, οὔτε διά προκοπῆς ἐνθεωρούμενον ἔχει τό τέλειον, ὁ μόνος κατά φύσιν τελειότατος καί πάσης ποιητής τελειότητος, οὔτε σύν ἄλλοις ἀναμένει τό τέλειον δέξασθαι, κατ᾿ οὐδέν οὐδενί τῶν ὄντων τό σύνολον εἰς τό δεῖσθαι προκοπῆς ὑπάρχων ὅμοιος, ἵνα καί αὐτός τότε τοῦ σώματος τήν φύσιν ἀπόθηται, ὅτε τοῖς λοιποῖς ἡ ἐπ᾿ ἄκρον προκοπή τήν τοῦ σώματος ἀπόθεσιν γενέσθαι παρασκευάζει. Ἐπεί οὐκ ἔτι ἀρχηγός τῶν σωζομένων ἐστί καί Σωτήρ, ὡς τό καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς τέλος τῆς τελειότητος μυστικῶς ἐφ᾿ ἅπαξ ἐν ἑαυτῷ μή παραδείξας, ἀλλ᾿ εἷς τῶν σωζομένων καί ἀρχομένων καί δεομένων ἄλλου τοῦ δεικνύοντος ἐν ἑαυτῷ τήν ἐφ᾿ ἥν πάντες οἱ λόγου φυσικῶς μετειληφότες ἐπείγονται τελειότητα καί αὐτός ὑπάρχων ἀναφανήσεται.

Οὐχ οὕτω δέ τοῦτ᾿ ἔχει. Πόθεν; Οὐδέ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος τῶν ταῦτα λεγόντων ἀνέχεται. Ἀρχηγόν γάρ καί τελειωτήν τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας αὐτόν φησιν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, ὡς σαρκωθέντα δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἵνα τήν ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ δαπανήσῃ, καί τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἀγωγῆς ἑαυτόν πᾶσιν δῷ τύπον καί πρόγραμμα 14Ε_040 τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς αὐτόν, ὡς διδάσκαλος ἀγαθός τε καί σοφός, τά ῥητέα καί τά πρακτέα πρός ὑποτύπωσιν ἡμῶν δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ πρότερον ἐκτελοῦντα, ἀποθανόντα καί ἀναστάντα καί ἀναληφθέντα εἰς οὐρανούς, καί καθεσθέντα μετά τοῦ σώματος ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός, ἵνα καί ἡμεῖς ἀποθνήσκοντες βεβαίως ἐλπίζωμεν ἀναστῆναι, καί ζωήν ζῆσαι παντός θανάτου καί πάσης φθορᾶς παντελῶς κεχωρισμένην, καί ἀναληφθῆναι εἰς οὐρανούς, καί τήν ἐν τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί διά τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ μεσιτεύοντος τιμήν τε καί δόξαν λήψεσθαι, καί τήν σύν αὐτῷ μακαρίαν καί αἰώνιον μονήν, σώματος δέ καθ' ὁτιοῦν ἀπόθεσιν μή ἐκδέχεσθαι, ὅτι μηδέ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς ὁ λόγος ἡμᾶς τοῦτο διδάσκει. Μήτε μήν ἐν τῷ ἀρχηγῷ τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν τεθεάμεθα τοῦτο προγεγενημένον. Εἰ γάρ φίλον ἦν αὐτῷ καί τοῦτο γενέσθαι, πρῶτος ἄν αὐτός ἐν ἑαυτῷ προενήργει καί τοῦτο μετά τῶν λοιπῶν, οἷς ἑαυτόν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ὡς φιλάνθρωπος ὑποθείς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐτελείωσεν, εἰς τό ἡμᾶς μετά τῶν ἄλλων εἰς τοῦτο πιστεύοντας ἐλπίζειν.