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2.96 Wherefore they did not cease from the ministry, which the angels performed for the sake of corruptible and mortal men; for this he says: "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly," as if: They did not wish to labor and minister in vain; nevertheless, he says, "because of him who subjected it in hope." In what hope? It is quite clear that, seeing after the transgression that God did not act according to the threat of his decree, but acted with love for humanity and cared for man and fashioned tunics for him, they received better hopes concerning man, so as not to give up, but to minister on his behalf. Then again he says that "creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God," as if: The angels themselves will also be set free, and with them all of creation, when human beings are freed from corruption and are glorified, being made immortal and sons of God at the consummation of the world, when the form of this world passes away and the resurrection of the dead occurs and the change of this present state. 2.97 For when the stars fall, according to the divine Scripture, and the course of night and day ceases, and the angels who move these things are set free because human beings will be beyond corruption and will not need any of these things, what would the new lawgivers say, those who think the heaven is spherical and say that it moves and moves the stars? For what use, let them tell us, will the heaven then revolve, they who define themselves as Christians? But away with the foolish labors and the uncertain things. 2.98 For the Apostle still cries out that: "The whole creation groans and suffers together until now," by this again indicating all of creation, but especially the angels themselves, being weighed down in this life, serving corruption and change. For being changeable, they too are always wearied by change, reflecting upon and hoping for freedom and desiring to attain it, which they do attain, as has been said, when human beings rise from the dead. 2.99 For some of them would not have transgressed, if they had not received this law from God; wherefore the transgressors were cast down to the earth from the height. "I was watching," says the Lord, "Satan fall from heaven like lightning." For if they themselves had not received a law, what to do and what not to do, they would not have fallen under sin. For without law it is impossible to transgress, as the Apostle says: "But where there is no law, there is no transgression," and: "Without law sin is dead," so that in every way they too need to obtain freedom from the law and from change; and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ has become and will yet be the cause of this. "To sum up all things in Christ," says the divine Scripture, "both the things in heaven and the things on earth," and: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new." 2.100 Since this hope, then, is set before Christians, that both angels and men and all creation will be renewed into a better and blessed state, who is so malicious and opposed to God as to abandon this and rely on the new and deceptive futility of the outsiders? For he will hear from the Judge on that day: "Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Depart from me, all you workers of lawlessness." For it is truly a great lawlessness to reject the oracles of God and, in direct opposition to them, to bestow a spherical shape upon the heaven. For such men are not able to await "the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us," nor do they wish to hear with the faithful the Lord Christ calling from on high: "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," but, always wandering according to their own hypothesis, they are carried about with an unstable motion along with their own sphere, not hoping for a cessation of these things. Sidenote

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2.96 Ὅθεν οὐκ ἐπαύσαντο τῆς διακονίας, ἧς ἐποίουν διὰ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οἱ ἄγγελοι τοὺς φθαρτοὺς καὶ θνητούς· τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει· "Τῇ γὰρ ματαιότητι ἡ κτίσις ὑπετάγη, οὐχ ἑκοῦσα", ὡσανεί· Ματαίως πονεῖν καὶ διακονεῖν οὐκ ἐβούλοντο· πλήν, φησί, "διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι". Ποίᾳ ἐλπίδι; Εὖ δῆλον ὅτι ὁρῶντες μετὰ τὴν παράβασιν τὸν Θεὸν μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀπειλὴν τῆς ἀποφάσεως ποιήσαντα, ἀλλὰ φιλανθρωπευσάμενον καὶ ἐπιμελούμενον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καὶ χιτῶνας αὐτῷ κατασκευάζοντα, οὗτοι χρηστοτέρας ἐλπίδας ἐδέχοντο περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὥστε μὴ ἀπειπεῖν, ἀλλὰ διακονεῖν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ. Λοιπὸν πάλιν φησὶν ὅτι "καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ κτίσις ἐλευθερωθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τῆς φθορᾶς εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ Θεοῦ", ὡσανεί· Ἐλευθερωθήσονται καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι καὶ μετ' αὐτῶν πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις, ὅταν οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐλευθερῶνται τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ δοξάζωνται ἀθάνατοι καὶ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ καθιστάμενοι ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τοῦ κόσμου, ὅταν τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου παράγῃ καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν γίνηται καὶ ἡ τροπὴ ταύτης τῆς καταστάσεως. 2.97 Τῶν γὰρ ἄστρων πιπτόντων κατὰ τὴν θείαν Γραφὴν καὶ δρόμου καὶ νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας παυομένου, καὶ ἐλευθερουμένων τῶν ἀγγέλων τῶν ταῦτα κινούντων διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἔξω τῆς φθορᾶς γίνεσθαι καὶ τούτων ὅλων μὴ χρῄζειν, τί φήσαιεν οἱ καινοὶ νομοθέται, οἱ σφαιρικὸν εἶναι νομίζοντες τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ κινεῖσθαι καὶ κινεῖν τὰ ἄστρα λέγοντες; Εἰς τί χρήσιμον, εἰπάτωσαν ἡμῖν, τότε ὁ οὐρανὸς περιστραφήσεται, οἵ τε χριστιανοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ὁρίζοντες; Ἀλλ' ἄπαγε τῶν ματαιοπόνων καὶ τῶν ἀβεβαίων. 2.98 Ἔτι γὰρ βοᾷ ὁ Ἀπόστολος ὅτι· "Πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις συστενάζει καὶ συνωδίνει ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν", διὰ τούτου πάλιν δηλώσας πᾶσαν μὲν τὴν κτίσιν, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ αὐτοὺς τοὺς ἀγγέλους, βαρυνομένην ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ, τῇ φθορᾷ δουλευόντων καὶ τῇ τροπῇ. Τρεπτοὶ γὰρ ὄντες καὶ αὐτοὶ κάμνουσιν ἀεὶ τῇ τροπῇ, ἀναλογιζόμενοι καὶ ἐλπίζοντες τὴν ἐλευθερίαν καὶ ἐπιθυμοῦντες ταύτης τυχεῖν, ἧσπερ καὶ τυγχάνουσιν, ὡς εἴρηται, ὅταν οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῶσιν. 2.99 Οὐκ ἂν γάρ τινες ἐξ αὐτῶν παρέβησαν, εἰ μὴ τοῦτον τὸν νόμον εἰλήφεισαν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὅθεν οἱ παραβάντες ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ἐκ τοῦ ὕψους κατερρίφησαν. "Ἐθεώρουν" γάρ, φησὶν ὁ Κύριος, "τὸν Σατανᾶν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεσόντα ὡς ἀστραπήν". Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἔλαβον καὶ αὐτοὶ νόμον, τί δεῖ ποιεῖν καὶ τί μὴ ποιεῖν, οὐκ ἂν ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν ἔπιπτον. Χωρὶς γὰρ νόμου ἀδύνατον παραβῆναι, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· "Οὗ δὲ οὐκ ἔστι νόμος, οὐδὲ παράβασις", καί· "Χωρὶς νόμου ἁμαρτία νεκρά", ὥστε κατὰ πάντα τρόπον καὶ αὐτοὶ δέονται τυχεῖν τῆς ἐλευθερίας τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῆς τροπῆς· ἡ δὲ παρουσία τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ταύτης αἰτία γέγονε καὶ ἔτι γενήσεται. "Ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι γὰρ τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ", φησὶν ἡ θεία Γραφή, "τά τε ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς", καί· "Εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις. Τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν, ἰδοὺ γέγονε τὰ πάντα καινά." 2.100 Τῆς οὖν ἐλπίδος ταύτης προκειμένης τοῖς χριστιανοῖς, ὥστε καὶ ἀγγέλους καὶ ἀνθρώπους καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν ἀνακαινίζεσθαι εἰς κρείττονα καὶ μακαρίαν κατάστασιν, τίς οὕτω βάσκανος καὶ ἀντίθεος ταύτην καταλιπεῖν καὶ τῇ καινῇ καὶ ἀπατηλῇ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἐπιστηρίζεσθαι ματαιότητι; Ἀκούσεται γὰρ παρὰ τοῦ Κριτοῦ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ· "Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς. Ἀποχωρεῖτε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ πάντες οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομίαν." Ἀνομία γὰρ ὄντως μεγάλη τὸ ἀθετεῖν τὰ λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἄντικρυς αὐτῶν τὸ σφαιρικὸν σχῆμα τῷ οὐρανῷ δωρεῖσθαι. Οἱ τοιοῦτοι γὰρ οὐ δύνανται προσδέχεσθαι "τὴν μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα καὶ ἐπιφάνειαν τῆς δόξης τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς ἔδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν", οὔτε βούλονται ἀκοῦσαι μετὰ πιστῶν ἐξ ὕψους προσκαλουμένου τοῦ ∆εσπότου Χριστοῦ· "∆εῦτε, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου", ἀλλ' ἀεὶ κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν ὑποθήκην πλανώμενοι ἀστάτῳ φορᾷ περιφέρονται σὺν τῇ ἑαυτῶν σφαίρᾳ, παῦλαν τούτων μὴ ἐλπίζοντες. Παραγραφή