16

Therefore, when the living being is dissolved by death, whether we look upon the dust, or some of the bones, or even if we wish to say something about the soul, we call these things 'of a man,' not 'a man'; since this is not even called the form of a man. Therefore, the man who is deemed worthy of the resurrection is raised again the same as the one who died, being different with respect to corruption and various passions, both of soul and body, but not with respect to that by which he is, and is called, a man, which is this very form or shape. For if, along with the passions, he should also cast off the form itself, the one raised from the dead is no longer a man, but something else, since only that which has such a form is called a man. Therefore, the divine Scripture, even if some divine power was manifested to some in the form of men, calls it a man, because it simply signifies this visible thing, unless from the action or from the result it should call it something else, because the things that happen are beyond man. For instance, it says: 'God appeared to Abraham'; then, explaining the manner of the vision, he says, 'And looking up with his eyes, he saw, and behold, three men stood before him,' not being men in nature, but calling them men from their form. Thus again, the one wrestling with Jacob, he called a man from his form, since everything with such a form, even if it is not a man in nature, we call a man because of such a form. Therefore, what does not have such a form is clearly not a man, but something else. Since, therefore, the Lord appeared in such a form even after the resurrection, and proclaimed a resurrection of men, even his own, and the apostles preached it, and the Church under heaven awaits the resurrection with such a hope, what is this new and strange fabrication of those who, with technical proofs, attempt to muddy the simple and 96.492 guileless preaching of the Church, and to set aside the resurrection of man? For we will not call anything else a man, if it does not have such a form. But again, chattering to us from outside wisdom, they attempt with technical methods to deceive the ecclesiastical account, both from what is called grammar among them, or geometry, or from somewhere else. For we have no leisure for such undertakings. And they say, 'Among forms, such and such a form is more seemly than such and such, and again that one is more beautiful than this one'; and they reveal to us, and compare all sorts of differences of forms, until having drawn a conclusion from all this they supposedly prove that the spherical form is more beautiful and more suitable than all forms; and finally, with these things thus being proven among them, they impose a necessity upon the Creator, as if perhaps having comprehended his depths and counsels with their own reasonings, they declare that it is altogether fitting, and necessary, and owed, to rise in such a form in which it was judged by them to be more beautiful; so much are they offended by the form of man, that not even for that short time, until they manage to cast off and send away all bodily nature, and become pure minds, do they endure it, in order to receive what appears to them a more comely form. But since not all forms please all people equally, nor are all delighted by the same things, just as with taste, or hearing, or smell, but one person is pleased in one way, another in another, and similarly also with forms one is gratified in one way, another in another, what will become of us, and those with us, who are more pleased with our present form than with the spherical, while you are more pleased and prefer the spherical to the form judged fit to be given to us by the Creator in the beginning? What then, according to you, will the Master of all do? Angered by the disagreement, will he do away with the resurrection? But this is impossible. For, foreseeing these things, he did not withhold his grace, but bestowed all things, which were provided to us through our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. But will he grant to each the form that pleases and satisfies him? But it is unfitting for those who were in one form in this life to receive one form or another in the life to come. For if also of the glory, and of the

16

Ὅθεν θανάτῳ διαλυομένου τοῦ ζώου, εἴτε τὴν κόνιν, εἴτε τι θεασώμεθα τῶν ὀστῶν, ἢ καὶ περὶ ψυχῆς λαλῆσαί τι βουληθῶμεν, ἀνθρώπου ταῦτα καλοῦμεν, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον· ὡς τούτου οὐδὲ σχήματος ἀνθρώπου λεγομένου. Οὐκοῦν πάλιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀξιούμενος ἄνθρωπος, [ὁ] αὐτὸς πάλιν ἐγείρεται τῷ τεθνηκότι, περί τε φθορὰν καὶ πάθη διάφορα, ψυχικά τε καὶ σωματικὰ ἀλλοίως ἔχων, οὐ περὶ αὐτὸ οὗπερ εἶναι, καὶ λέγεται ἄνθρωπος, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ τοιόνδε σχῆμα ἢ εἶδος. Εἰ γὰρ μετὰ τῶν παθῶν, καὶ αὐτὸ ἀπαλλάξει τὸ σχῆμα, οὐκέτι ἄνθρωπος ὁ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγερθεὶς, ἀλλ' ἕτερόν τι, ἀνθρώπου τοῦ τοιοῦδε καὶ μόνου σχήματος ὀνομαζομένου. Ὅθεν ἡ θεία Γραφὴ, κἂν θεία τις δύναμις ἐφανερώθη τισὶν ἐν τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σχήματι, ἄνθρωπον ὀνομάζει, ὅτι ἁπλῶς τοῦτο τὸ ὁρώμενον σημαίνει, εἰ μή τι δ' ἂν, ἢ ἐκ τῆς πράξεως, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ ἀποτελέσματος ἄλλο τι καλέσαι, διὰ τὸ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον εἶναι τὰ γινόμενα. Οἷον λέγει· Ὤφθη ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἀβραάμ· εἶτα τὸν τρόπον τῆς ὀπτασίας ἐξηγούμενος, Καὶ ἀναβλέψας, φησὶν, εἶδε τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, καὶ ἰδοὺ τρεῖς ἄνδρες εἰστήκεισαν ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, οὐκ ἄνδρας ὄντας τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ σχήματος ἄνδρας καλέσας. Οὕτω πάλιν τὸν παλαίοντα τῷ Ἰακὼβ, ἐκ τοῦ σχήματος ἄνθρωπον ἐκάλεσεν, ὡς πᾶν τὸ τοιόνδε σχῆμα, κἂν μὴ τὴν φύσιν ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος, ἄνθρωπον ὀνομάζομεν διὰ τὸν τοιόνδε σχῆμα. Τὸ οὖν μὴ τοιοῦτον σχῆμα, οὐκ ἄνθρωπος δηλονότι, ἀλλ' ἕτερόν τι. Τοῦ οὖν Κυρίου καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ φανέντος σχήματι, καὶ ἀνθρώπων ἀνάστασιν, καὶ αὐτοῦ εὐαγγελισαμένου, καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων κηρυξάντων, καὶ τῆς ὑπ' οὐρανὸν Ἐκκλησίας ἐπὶ τῇ τοιαύτῃ ἐλπίδι τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἀπεκδεχομένης, τίς ἡ καινὴ καὶ παράδοξος τερατολογία τῶν τεχνικαῖς ἀποδείξεσιν ἐπιχειρούντων τὸ ἁπλοῦν καὶ 96.492 ἄδολον τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐπιθολοῦν κήρυγμα, καὶ ἀθετεῖν τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀνάστασιν; Ἡμεῖς γὰρ οὐκ ἄλλο τι καλέσομεν ἄνθρωπον, μὴ τοιόνδε σχῆμα τυγχάνον. Ἀλλὰ πάλιν ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς ἔξωθεν περιλαλοῦντες σοφίας, τεχνικαῖς ἐπιχειροῦσι μεθόδοις τὸν ἐκκλησιαστικὸν παραλογίσασθαι λόγον, καὶ ἐκ τῆς γραμματικῆς παρ' αὐτοῖς ὀνομαζομένης, ἢ γεωμετρικῆς, ἢ ἑτέρας ποθέν. Οὐ γὰρ ἡμῖν σχολὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐπιχειροῦσι. Καὶ φασίν, Ἐν τοῖς σχήμασι τὸ τοιόνδε σχῆμα τοῦ τοιοῦδε εὐπρεπέστερον, καὶ πάλιν ἐκεῖνο τούτου κάλλιον· καὶ φανεροῦσιν ἡμῖν, καὶ συγκρίνουσι διαφορὰς παντοίας σχημάτων, ἕως οὗ συναγαγόντες ἐκ πάντων ἀποδείξωσι δῆθεν, ὅτι τὸ σφαιροειδὲς πάντων τῶν σχημάτων κάλλιόν τε, καὶ εὐθετώτερόν ἐστι· καὶ λοιπὸν, τούτων οὕτως παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀποδεικνυμένων, ἀνάγκην ἐπάγουσι τῷ ∆ημιουργῷ, εἰ τάχα τὰ ἐκείνου βάθη, καὶ τὰς βουλὰς λογισμοῖς καταλαβόντες ἰδίοις ἀποφαίνονται, ὅτι πάντως πρέπον, καὶ ἀναγκαῖον, καὶ ὀφειλόμενον, ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ σχήματι ἀναστῆναι, ἐν ᾧ παρ' αὐτῶν ἐδοκιμάσθη κάλλιον εἶναι· τοσοῦτον προσοχθίσαντες τῷ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου σχήματι, ὡς οὐδὲ αὐτὸν τὸν ὀλίγον καιρὸν, ἕως οὗ φθάσωσι πᾶσαν ἀποβαλεῖν, καὶ ἀποδιαπομπήσασθαι σωματικὴν φύσιν, καὶ γενέσθαι καθαροὶ νόες, ἀνεχόμενοι, παρὰ τὸ φανὲν αὐτοῖς εὔμορφον σχῆμα λαβεῖν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδήπερ οὐ πάντα πᾶσιν ὁμοίως ἀρέσκει τὰ σχήματα, οὔτε τέρπεται τοῖς πᾶσιν, ὥσπερ οὔτε γεύσει, οὔτε ἀκοῇ, οὔτε ὀσφρήσει, ἀλλὰ ἄλλος ἄλλως ἀρέσκεται, ὁμοίως δὲ, καὶ ἐν τοῖς σχήμασιν ἄλλος ἄλλως θεραπεύεται, τί γενήσεται, ἡμῶν τε, καὶ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀρεσκομένων πλέον τοῦ σφαιροειδοῦς τῷ νυνὶ ἡμῶν σχήματι, ὑμῶν δὲ μᾶλλον ἀρεσκομένων, καὶ προτιμώντων τὸ σφαιροειδὲς, τοῦ παρὰ τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ κατ' ἀρχὰς δοκιμασθέντος δοθῆναι ἡμῖν σχήματος; Τί οὖν ἄρα ποιήσει καθ' ὑμᾶς ὁ τῶν ὅλων ∆εσπότης; ὀργισθεὶς τῇ διαφωνίᾳ ἀνελεῖ τὴν ἀνάστασιν; ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἀδύνατον. Προειδὼς γὰρ ταῦτα, οὐκ ἐπέσχε τὴν χάριν, ἀλλ' ἐδωρήσατο πάντα διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ παρασχεθέντα ἡμῖν. Ἀλλ' ἑκάστῳ παράσχῃ τὸ ἀρέσκον αὐτῷ καὶ πληροφοροῦν σχῆμα; Ἀλλ' ἀπρεπὲς ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ ἐν ἑνὶ σχήματι γενομένους, ἐν τῇ μελλούσῃ ζωῇ ἄλλον ἄλλο σχῆμα λαβεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῆς δόξης, καὶ τῶν