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will cease to be. And hear the divine Paul exhorting this: "And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man." And so much for these things; let the discourse again follow in sequence.

For since through His bodily presence the God over all has come upon earth to refashion and renew man and to bless all creation cursed because of him, listen with understanding! First, He gave life to the soul which He assumed and, making it incorruptible, He deified it, but His immaculate and divine body, even if He deified it, He still bore it as corruptible and material. For that which eats and drinks, which toils and bears sweats, which is bound and beaten, which is hung upon a cross and nailed, is clearly corruptible and material; for all these are established properties of a corruptible body, whence also He died and was laid dead in a tomb. But after rising incorruptible, He also raised up the body itself as spiritual, entirely divine and immaterial; hence, upon exiting, He did not even break the seals of the tomb, but also entered and exited unhindered though the doors were closed. But why did He not immediately, along with the soul, make the body which He assumed spiritual and incorruptible? Because when Adam ate from the tree from which God had commanded him not to eat, having transgressed he immediately died the death of the soul, but the death of the body (63) many years later, and for this reason, the soul which had received the penalty of death's punishment, He first resurrected and gave life and deified, and then so the body, in accordance with the long-standing sentence to return to the earth through death, He ordained that it should receive incorruptibility through the resurrection; and not only this, but descending into Hades, He freed the souls of the saints held there from eternal bonds, raised them up, and set them in a place of rest and unwaning light, but their bodies not yet, but He left them in tombs until the general resurrection.

This mystery, therefore, has not only happened in the aforementioned way from the beginning of Christ in the whole world, but it also happened for each one of the ancient saints and continues to happen even now. For receiving the Spirit of our Lord and God, we become partakers of His divinity and His essence; and eating His all-pure flesh, I mean the divine mysteries, we become entirely of the same body and kindred with Him in truth, just as the divine Paul himself says that "we are bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh," and again, that "from the fullness of His divinity, we, that is, all, have received, and grace for grace." And becoming this, we become like Him, our philanthropic God and Lord, by grace, our soul being renewed and restored, being made incorruptible and rising up as if living from the dead, that is, we who have been deemed worthy to become like Him see Him who deigned to become like us, and are seen by Him, as if someone from afar beholds the face of his friend and converses with him and speaks with him and hears his voice.

(64) Thus, therefore, the saints from of old, both ancient and new, who see spiritually, see not a shape or a form or a likeness, but unformed light, as they too are called light from the light of the Spirit. But when each of the saints becomes such, his body does not also immediately become incorruptible and spiritual, but just as iron, being heated by fire, partakes of its brightness and immediately casts off its blackness, but when separated again from the fire it is seen and becomes cold and black, so indeed the bodies of the saints, partaking of the grace united to their soul, that is, of the divine fire, are sanctified and, being heated, they too become transparent and are rendered much different from and more honorable than other bodies. But when the soul departs

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γίνεσθαι λήξουσι. Καί ἄκουε Παύλου τοῦτο παραινοῦντος τοῦ θείου· "Καί καθώς ἐφορέσαμεν τήν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, φορέσομεν καί τήν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου". Καί ταῦτα μέν περί τούτων· ἐχέσθω δέ καί αὖθις τῆς ἀκολουθίας ὁ λόγος.

Ἐπειδή γάρ διά τῆς σωματικῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ ὁ ἐπί πάντων Θεός τοῦ ἀναπλάσαι καί ἀνακαινίσαι τόν ἄνθρωπον ἐλήλυθεν ἐπί γῆς καί τήν δι᾿ αὐτόν καταραθεῖσαν ἅπασαν κτίσιν ἐπευλογῆσαι, ἄκουε νουνεχῶς! Πρῶτον μέν τήν ψυχήν ἥν ἀνέλαβεν ἐζώωσε καί ἀφθαρτώσας ἐθεοποίησε, τό δέ ἄχραντον αὐτοῦ καί θεῖον σῶμα, εἰ καί ἐθέωσεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι φθαρτόν αὐτό καί ὑλικόν περιέφερε. Τό γάρ ἐσθίον καί πῖνον, τό κοπιοῦν καί ἱδρῶτας φέρον, τό δεσμούμενον καί τυπτόμενον, ἐπί σταυροῦ τε ἀναρτώμενον καί καθηλούμενον, φθαρτόν ἐστι δηλονότι καί ὑλικόν· ταῦτα γάρ ἅπαντα φθαρτοῦ σώματος ἰδιώματα καθεστήκασιν, ὅθεν καί ἀπέθανεν καί ἐν μνημείῳ κατετέθη νεκρός. Μετά δέ τό ἀναστῆναι ἄφθαρτον, καί αὐτό τό σῶμα πνευματικόν, θεῖον πάντῃ και ἄϋλον, συνανέστησεν· ἔνθεν τοι οὐδέ τάς σφραγῖδας τοῦ μνήματος ἔλυσεν ἐξελθών, ἀλλά καί τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων ἀκωλύτως εἰσήρχετο καί ἐξήρχετο. ∆ιατί δέ οὐκ εὐθύς σύν τῇ ψυχῇ καί τό σῶμα ὅπερ ἀνέλαβε πνευματικόν καί ἄφθαρτον ἀπειργάσατο; Ἐπειδή φαγών καί ὁ Ἀδάμ ἐκ τοῦ ξύλου, οὗ ἐνετείλατο αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός μή φαγεῖν, εὐθύς μέν τόν τῆς ψυχῆς παραβάς ἀπέθανε θάνατον, τόν δέ τοῦ σώματος (63) μετά πολλούς ὕστερον ἐνιαυτούς, καί διά τοῦτο τήν τό ἐπιτίμιον δεξαμένην ψυχήν τῆς τοῦ θανάτου τιμωρίας πρῶτον ἀνέστησέ τε καί ἐζώωσε καί ἐθέωσεν, εἶθ᾿ οὕτως τό σῶμα, κατά τήν πάλαι ἐξενεχθεῖσαν ἀπόφασιν ἀποστρέφειν διά τοῦ θανάτου εἰς γῆν, τήν ἀφθαρσίαν διά τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀπολαβεῖν ᾠκονόμησεν· οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά κατελθών ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ, τῶν μέν ἐκεῖσε κατεχομένων ἁγίων τάς ψυχάς τῶν αἰωνίων ἐλευθερώσας δεσμῶν ἐξανέστησε καί εἰς τόπον ἀναπαύσεως καί φωτός ἀνεσπέρου κατέταξε, τά δέ σώματα αὐτῶν οὐκέτι, ἀλλ᾿ εἴασεν αὐτά ἐν σοροῖς μέχρι τῆς κοινῆς ἀναστάσεως.

Τό γοῦν μυστήριον τοῦτο οὐ μόνον τῷ ῥηθέντι τρόπῳ γέγονεν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς Χριστοῦ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ, ἀλλά καί ἐφ᾿ ἑνί ἑκάστῳ τῶν πάλαι ἁγίων ἐγένετο καί μέχρι τοῦ νῦν ἀεί γίνεται. Λαμβάνοντες γάρ τό τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν καί Θεοῦ Πνεῦμα, συμμέτοχοι αὐτοῦ τῆς θεότητος καί τῆς οὐσίας γινόμεθα· ἐσθίοντες δέ τήν παναμώμητον αὐτοῦ σάρκα, τά θεῖα λέγω μυστήρια, σύσσωμοι αὐτοῦ καί συγγενεῖς ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ὁλοκλήρως γινόμεθα, καθώς καί αὐτός ὁ θεῖος Παῦλός φησιν ὅτι "ὀστοῦν ἐσμεν ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ καί σάρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός αὐτοῦ " καί πάλιν, ὅτι "ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ τῆς θεότητος, ἡμεῖς, δηλονότι πάντες, ἐλάβομεν καί χάριν ἀντί χάριτος". Τοῦτο δέ γινόμενοι, ὅμοιοι αὐτῶ τῷ φιλανθρώπῳ Θεῷ καί ∆εσπότῃ ἡμῶν κατά χάριν γινόμεθα, ἀνακαινιζόμενοι καί ἀνανεούμενοι τήν ψυχήν, ἀφθαρτοποιούμενοί τε καί ὡς ἐκ νεκρῶν ζῶντες ἐξανιστάμενοι, αὐτόν δηλαδή τόν ὅμοιον ἡμῖν γενέσθαι καταξιώσαντα βλέποντες καί βλεπόμενοι ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ οἱ ἀξιωθέντες ὅμοιοι γενέσθαι αὐτῷ, ὡς εἴ τις ἀπό μακρόθεν πρόσωπον φίλου αὐτοῦ καθορᾷ καί διαλέγεται αὐτῷ καί προσομιλεῖ καί φωνῆς ἀκούει αὐτοῦ.

(64) Οὕτω τοιγαροῦν οἱ ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος ἅγιοι, οἱ πάλαι τε καί νῦν πνευματικῶς βλέποντες, οὐ σχῆμα ἤ εἶδος ἤ ἐκτύπωμα βλέπουσιν, ἀλλά φῶς ἀσχημάτιστον, ὡς καί αὐτοί φῶς ἐκ τοῦ φωτός Πνεύματος χρηματίζοντες. Τοιοῦτος δέ ἕκαστος τῶν ἁγίων γινόμενος, οὐχί καί τό σῶμα αὐτοῦ εὐθύς ἄφθαρτον καί πνευματικόν γίνεται, ἀλλά καθάπερ σίδηρος ὑπό τοῦ πυρός ἐκπυρούμενος τῆς λαμπρότητος μέν αὐτοῦ μεταλαμβάνει καί τήν μελανίαν εὐθύς ἀποβάλλεται, χωριζόμενος δέ πάλιν τοῦ πυρός ψυχρός καί μέλας καθορᾶται καί γίνεται, οὕτω δή καί τά σώματα τῶν ἁγίων ὑπό τῆς ἑνωθείσης τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτῶν χάριτος, ἤτοι τοῦ θείου πυρός μταλαμβάνοντα, ἁγιάζονται καί ἐκπυρούμενα διαυγῆ καί αὐτά γίνονται καί πολύ τῶν ἄλλων σωμάτων διαφορώτερα καί τιμιώτερα ἀποκαθίστανται. Ἐπειδάν δέ ἡ ψυχή ἐξέλθῃ