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And again: "Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s". For since he became a perfect man in soul and body, like us in all things except sin, through faith in him imparting to us from his own divinity, he makes us also kinsmen of his according to the nature and essence of his divinity. And behold for me the new and paradoxical aspect of the mystery. The God-Logos took on flesh which he did not have by (62) nature and became man, which he was not; he imparts to those who believe in him his own divinity, which no one, whether of angels or men, has yet possessed, and they become gods, which they were not, by adoption and by grace; for thus he bestows on them the power to become sons of God, wherefore they also became and always likewise become and will never cease from becoming. And hear the divine Paul exhorting this: "And 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; but let the discourse once again hold to its sequence.

For since through his bodily presence the God over all has come upon the earth to refashion and renew man and to bless all of creation, which was cursed on his account, listen attentively! First, he made alive the soul which he assumed and, having made it incorruptible, he deified it, but his undefiled and divine body, even if he deified it, he still bore as corruptible and material. For that which eats and drinks, that which toils and bears sweat, that which is bound and struck, and is hung upon a cross and nailed, is clearly corruptible and material; for all these have become properties of a corruptible body, wherefore he also died and was laid in a tomb, dead. But after he rose incorruptible, he also raised up the body itself as spiritual, entirely divine and immaterial; whence, indeed, in coming out he did not 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, also make the body which he assumed spiritual and incorruptible? Because Adam, having eaten from the tree from which God commanded him not to eat, immediately, having transgressed, died the death of the soul, but that of the body (63) many years later, and for this reason he first raised, made alive, and deified the soul that had received the penalty of the punishment of death, and then likewise the body, which according to the sentence long ago delivered was to return through death to the earth, he ordained to 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 and raised them up and appointed them to a place of rest and of unsetting light, but their bodies he did not, but left them in tombs until the general resurrection.

This mystery, then, has not only occurred in the aforementioned way from the beginning of Christ in the whole world, but has also happened in the case of each one of the saints of old and continues to happen always even until now. For receiving the Spirit of our Lord and God, we become partakers of his divinity and of his essence; and eating his all-blameless flesh, I mean the divine mysteries, we become completely of the same body with him and his kinsmen in truth, as the divine Paul himself also 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 Master, according to grace, being renewed and restored in soul, being made incorruptible and rising up as living from the dead, that is, seeing him who deemed it worthy to become like us, and being seen by him, we who have been deemed worthy to become like him, as if someone from afar sees the face of his friend and converses with him and speaks to him and hears his voice.

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Καί πάλιν· "Ἀπαρχή Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ". Ἐπειδή γάρ ψυχῇ καί σώματι τέλειος ἐχρημάτισεν ἄνθρωπος ὅμοιος ἡμῶν κατά πάντα πλήν ἁμαρτίας, διά τῆς εἰς αὐτόν πίστεως μεταδιδούς ἡμῖν ἐκ τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος, συγγενεῖς καί ἡμᾶς αὐτοῦ κατά τήν τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ φύσιν καί οὐσίαν ἐργάζεται. Καί ὅρα μοι τοῦ μυστηρίου τό καινόν καί παράδοξον. Ἔλαβεν ὁ Θεός Λόγος ἥν κατά (62) φύσιν οὐκ εἶχε σάρκα καί ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος, ὅπερ οὐκ ἦν· μεταδίδωσι τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς αὐτόν τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος, ἥν οὐδείς οὐδέπω ἀγγέλων ἤ ἀνθρώπων ἐκτήσατο, καί γίνονται θεοί, ὅπερ οὐκ ἦσαν, θέσει καί χάριτι· οὕτω γάρ χαρίζεται αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τοῦ υἱούς Θεοῦ γίνεσθαι, διό καί ἐγένοντο καί ἀεί ὡσαύτως γίνονται καί οὐδέποτε τοῦ μή 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.