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You see how we rightly said that this creation, too, was entirely incorruptible in the beginning and was brought forth by God in the order of paradise, but having been cursed, it was changed to corruption and bondage, subjected to the vanity of men. See, too, what its final splendor will be.

5. What the final splendor of creation will also be. Therefore, when it is renewed, not such as it was brought forth from the beginning will it again

be. May it not be! But, just as a natural body is sown, as the Scripture says, and a body is raised not such as that of the first-formed man was before the transgression, that is, material and sensible and mutable, needing sensible food, but a body is raised that is wholly spiritual and immutable, such as that of our Lord and God was after the resurrection, that is, of the second Adam, who became the firstborn of us from the dead, differing greatly from that one; in this same way, the entire creation will become by the divine will not as it was brought forth, material and sensible, but it will be transformed in the regeneration into an immaterial and spiritual dwelling place beyond all sensation. And besides, just as the divine Paul says that (69) "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," so also the creation, set ablaze by the divine fire, will be altered, so that the prophetic saying might also be fulfilled which says: "But the righteous shall inherit the earth," not a sensible one, by any means, for how could it be, for those who are spiritual? but one that is entirely spiritual and immaterial, so that those who possess incorporeal bodies, and have become beyond sensation while in sensation, and who, being circumscribed, are uncircumscribed in uncircumscribed realms, may have a dwelling place worthy of their glory.

Therefore, conceive for me now a world that is spiritual and exists beyond our sensation. Therefore, that which is beyond sensation and is spiritual is entirely incomprehensible and invisible to us; but that which is neither seen nor grasped at all, how can it be at all circumscribed by us, or who in his right mind would say this? No one, by any means. Such, then, is our account concerning the angels. For they too are, as it were, somehow bodily and circumscribed when compared to the immaterial and incorporeal nature of the Godhead, as it is written: "celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies," the latter being material, but those above us immaterial; and elsewhere: "Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire." Since, then, the heavenly intelligences are ministering spirits sent forth to serve, as seems true to Paul, the mystagogue of such things, whenever a divine angel is sent down from God to minister the divine command upon the earth, he leaves the heavenly choirs and admittedly comes to worldly things and to us. But if this seems so to the comprehension of truth, he is shown in this to be circumscribed and limited; (70) for in relation to that divine and uncreated nature, which is entirely incorporeal and uncircumscribed, they are created and circumscribed, but in relation to ours, they are entirely incorporeal, incomprehensible, and invisible.

Such also is our account concerning the soul. For when compared to God, who is by nature incorporeal, and to the angels, it is, as it were, somehow bodily and circumscribed, but only for Him who is able to bind it and has authority to cast it with the body into the hell of fire; but to mortal sense and sight it is entirely incorporeal and incomprehensible, being unable to be circumscribed at all by sensible places or regions. And let no one marvel hearing these things, considering how, even with the doors closed, the incorporeal angels can enter and exit invisibly, and in the same way also the souls

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Εἶδες πῶς οὐκ ἀπεικός εἴπομεν ὅτι καί ἡ κτίσις αὕτη ἄφθαρτος πᾶσα τό κατ᾿ ἀρχάς καί εἰς παραδείσου τάξιν παρήχθη παρά Θεοῦ, καταραθεῖσα δέ εἰς φθοράν καί δουλείαν μετήχθη, τῇ ματαιότητι τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑποταγεῖσα. Ὅρα δέ καί οἵα ἔσται ἡ ἐσχάτη λαμπρότης αὐτῆς.

ε΄. Ὁποία ἔσται καί ἡ ἐσχάτη λαμπρότης τῆς κτίσεως. Τοιγαροῦν καί ἀνακαινιζομένη, οὐχί οἵα ἐξ ἀρχῆς παρήχθη τοιαύτη καί αὖθις

γενήσεται. Μή γένοιτο! Ἀλλά, καθάπερ σπείρεται σῶμα ψυχικόν, ὡς τό λόγιον, καί ἐγείρεται σῶμα οὐχ οἷον τό τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου πρό τῆς παραβάσεως ἦν, ὑλικόν δηλαδή καί αἰσθητόν καί τρεπτόν, δεόμενον τροφῆς αἰσθητῆς, ἀλλά ἐγείρεται σῶμα πνευματικόν ὅλον καί ἄτρεπτον, οἷον τό τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν καί Θεοῦ μετά τήν ἀνάστασιν ἦν, τοῦ δευτέρου Ἀδάμ δηλονότι καί πρωτοτόκου ἡμῶν γενομένου ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, κατά πολύ διαφέρον ἐκείνου, τόν αὐτόν δή τρόπον καί ἡ κτίσις ἅπασα θείῳ γενήσεται νεύματι οὐχ οἵα παρήχθη, ὑλική τε καί αἰσθητή, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς ἄϋλον καί πνευματικόν ὑπέρ πᾶσαν αἴσθησιν ἐν τῇ παλιγγενεσίᾳ μεταποιηθήσεται οἰκηκήριον. Ἄλλως τε δέ καί καθώς ὁ θεῖος Παῦλός φησιν ὅτι (69) "πάντες μέν οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, πάντες δέ ἀλλαγησόμεθα ἐν ἀτόμῳ, ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ" οὕτω καί ἡ κτίσις ὑπό τοῦ θείου φλεχθεῖσα πυρός ἀλλοιωθήσεται, ὡς ἄν καί τό προφητικόν πληρωθήσεται λόγιον τό οὕτω φάσκον· "∆ίκαιοι δέ κληρονομήσουσι γῆν", οὐκ αἰσθητήν πάντως, πῶς γάρ, οἱ πνευματικοί χρηματίζοντες; ἀλλά πνευματικήν πᾶσαν καί ἄϋλον, ἵνα οἱ ἀσώματα κεκτημένοι τά σώματα καί ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν ἐν αἰσθήσει γενόμενοι, καί ἀπερίγραπτοι ἐν ἀπεριγράπτοις ὄντες οἱ περιγραπτοί, ἄξιον ἔχωσι τῆς ἑαυτῶν δόξης κατοικητήριον.

Τοιγαροῦν καί νόει μοι ἄρτι κόσμον πνευματικόν καί ὑπέρ τήν ἡμῶν αἴσθησιν πέλοντα. Τό οὖν ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν ὄν καί πνευματικόν χρηματίσαν ἄληπτόν ἐστι πάντως τό καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς καί ἀόρατον· τό δέ μήτε ὁρώμενον, μήτε ὅλως κρατούμενον, πῶς κἄν ὅλως ἔσται περιοριστόν παρ᾿ ἡμῖν, ἤ τίς εὖ φρονῶν τοῦτο εἴποιεν; Οὐδείς οὐδαμῶς. Τοιοῦτος τοίνυν ἐστίν ἡμῖν καί ὁ περί τῶν ἀγγέλων λόγος. Καί γάρ καί αὐτοί οἱονεί σωματοί πώς εἰσι καί περιγραπτοί τῇ ἀΰλῳ καί ἀσωμάτῳ φύσει συγκρινόμενοι τῆς θεότητος, καθώς γέγραπται· "σώματα ἐπουράνια καί σώματα ἐπίγεια", ὑλικά μέν ταῦτα, ἄϋλα δέ τά ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς· καί ἀλλαχοῦ· "Ὁ ποιῶν τούς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καί τούς λειτουργούς αὐτοῦ πυρός φλόγα". Ἐπεί οὖν λειτουργικά εἰσι πνεύματα καί οἱ νόες οἱ ἐπουράνιοι εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα, ὡς δοκεῖ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ καί Παύλῳ τῷ μυσταγωγῷ τῶν τοιούτων, ὅτε πάντως ἄγγελος θεῖος ἄνωθεν καταπεμφθῇ ἐκ Θεοῦ τῷ θείῳ λειτουργήσων προστάγματι ἐπί τῆς γῆς, τάς μέν οὐρανίους χοροστασίας καταλιμπάνει, πρός δέ τά ἐγκόσμια καί ἡμᾶς ὁμολογουμένως γίνεται. Εἰ δέ τοῦτο οὕτως δοκεῖ τῇ καταλήψει τῆς ἀληθείας, περιγραπτός ἐν τούτῳ ὤν δείκνυται καί περιοριστός· (70) πρός γάρ ἐκείνην τήν θείαν καί ἄκτιστον φύσιν, τήν ἀσώματον πάντῃ καί ἀπερίγραπτον, κτιστοί καί περιγραπτοί πέλουσι, πρός δέ τήν ἡμετέραν καί πάντῃ ἀσώματοι, ἄληπτοι καί ἀόρατοι.

Τοιοῦτος καί ὁ περί ψυχῆς ἡμῖν λόγος. Θεῷ γάρ τῷ φύσει ἀσωμάτῳ καί ἀγγέλοις συγκρινομένη, σωματή πως οἱονεί ἐστι καί περιγραπτή, ἀλλά μόνῳ τῷ δεσμεῖν δυναμένῳ ταύτην καί ἐξουσίαν ἔχοντι σύν τῷ σώματι εἰς γέενναν ἐμβαλεῖν πυρός, αἰσθήσει δέ καί ὄψει βροτείᾳ πάντῃ ἀσώματός τε καί ἀκατάληπτος, μή δυναμένη περιγραφῆναι τόποις ἤ χωρίοις αἰσθητοῖς τό καθόλου. Καί θαυμάσῃ μηδείς ταῦτα ἀκούων, ἐννοούμενος ὅπως καί τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων ἀοράτως εἰσέρχεσθαι καί ἐξέρχεσθαι γίνεται τούς ἀσωμάτους ἀγγέλους, τῷ αὐτῷ δέ τρόπῳ καί τάς ψυχάς