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the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her and present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she might be holy and without blemish". And a little later: "'He who loves his own wife'—pay attention to me, to the depth of the word, I beg you!—'loves himself,' he says; 'for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church, because we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones'". Do you see how he has shown us that, just as Eve was taken from the flesh and from the bones of Adam and the two were one flesh, so also Christ, imparting himself to us for communion from his flesh and (78) from his bones, which he showed to the apostles after he rose from the dead, saying thus: "Handle me, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have," from these very things he gives us to eat and makes us one with him through this communion. And furthermore, wishing to show exceedingly our connection to God, he adds, saying: "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother"—for the sake of Christ, he says, he will leave them—"and shall be joined to his wife"—that is, to the Church—"and the two shall become one flesh," namely that of Christ and God.

And that the word has this meaning, and that we do not utter these things from reasonings, the same one adds and says: "This mystery is great, but I am speaking of Christ and the Church". Truly then, great and beyond great is and will be this mystery, that whatever communion and union, intimacy and kinship a wife has with her husband and a husband with his wife, such a one, in a manner befitting God and beyond all thought and reason, the master and maker of the universe also has with the entire Church, as with one wife, being blamelessly and ineffably united to her and inseparably and indivisibly being and abiding with her, as with one beloved and cherished by him. So also the Church, united to her beloved God, is joined like a whole body to its own head. For just as a body cannot live at all without its attached head, so neither can the Church of the faithful—I mean, of the sons of God, enrolled in heaven—be a perfect and whole body to God without its head, (79) Christ God himself, or live the true and indestructible life, if not nourished by him each day with the daily bread, from which comes life and growth into a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of his fullness, for all who love him.

But since these things have been so splendidly demonstrated, and the aforesaid question has been clarified by the discourse—how the saints from the beginning of time, those up to the present and those who will be until the consummation, are to become one body with Christ and in Christ—come now, let us also philosophize about how the world above must be filled. But open your ears for me and apply your governing mind to attend to what will be said, since our discourse in each question is about divine matters.

7. How the world above must be filled, and of what sort it is, and in what

manner it will be filled. But it is necessary to inquire first what the word calls a world, which must be filled and not

if it is not filled the end will not come, and this end itself, which is mentioned, what is it. To me, it seems that an adorned world is the Church of Christ and the whole man himself, in whom God is said to dwell and walk about and to send down the bright rays of his gifts, being the sun of righteousness; which also body

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ἐκκλησίαν καί ἑαυτόν παρέδωκεν ὑπέρ αὐτῆς, ἵνα αὐτήν ἁγιάσῃ καί παραστήσῃ αὐτήν ἑαυτῷ ἔνδοξον τήν ἐκκλησίαν μή ἔχουσαν σπίλον ἤ ῥυτίδα ἤ τι τῶν τοιούτων, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα ᾖ ἁγία καί ἄμωμος". Καί μετ᾿ ὀλίγα· "Ὁ ἀγαπῶν τήν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα" πρόσεχέ μοι τῷ βάθει τοῦ λόγου, παρακαλῶ! "ἑαυτόν, φησίν, ἀγαπᾷ· οὐδείς γάρ ποτε τήν ἑαυτοῦ σάρκα ἐμίσησεν, ἀλλά τρέφει καί θάλπει αὐτήν, καθώς καί ὁ Κύριος τήν ἐκκλησίαν, ὅτι μέλη ἐσμέν τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός αὐτοῦ καί ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ". Ὁρᾷς ὅπως ἔδειξεν ἡμῖν ὅτι, ὥσπερ ἡ Εὔα ἐκ τῆς σαρκός καί ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων ἐλήφθη τοῦ Ἀδάμ καί μία σάρξ οἱ δύο ὑπῆρχον, οὕτω καί ὁ Χριστός, μεταδιδούς ἡμῖν ἑαυτόν εἰς μετάληψιν ἐκ τῆς σαρκός αὐτοῦ καί (78) ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ, ὧν ἔδειξε τοῖς ἀποστόλοις μετά τό ἀναστῆναι αὐτόν ἐκ νεκρῶν, οὕτως εἰπών· "Ψηλαφήσατέ με καί ἴδετε ὅτι πνεῦμα σάρκα καί ὀστέα οὐκ ἔχει, καθώς ἐμέ θεωρεῖτε ἔχοντα", ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων τρώγειν ἡμᾶς δίδωσι καί ἕν μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ διά τῆς κοινωνίας ταύτης ποιεῖ καί ἡμᾶς. Ἔτι δέ καθ᾿ ὑπερβολήν δεῖξαι θέλων τήν πρός Θεόν ἡμῶν συνάφειαν, ἐπάγει λέγων· "Ἀντί τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τόν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καί τήν μητέρα", ἀντί τοῦ Χριστοῦ, φησί, καταλείψει αὐτούς, "καί προσκολληθήσεται τῇ γυναικί αὐτοῦ", ἤγουν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, "καί ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν", τήν τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί Θεοῦ δηλονότι.

Καί ὅτι οὕτως ἔχεται τῆς διανοίας ὁ λόγος καί οὐκ ἀπό συλλογισμῶν ταῦτα φθεγγόμεθα, ἐπιφέρει καί φησιν ὁ αὐτός· "Τό μυστήριον τοῦτο μέγα ἐστίν, ἐγώ δέ λέγω εἰς Χριστόν καί εἰς τήν Ἐκκλησίαν". Ὄντως οὖν μέγα καί ὑπέρ τό μέγα ἐστί καί ἔσεται τό μυστήριον τοῦτο, ὅτι οἵαν κοινωνίαν καί ἕνωσιν, οἰκειότητά τε καί συγγένειαν ἔχει ἡ γυνή πρός τόν ἄνδρα καί ὁ ἀνήρ πρός τήν γυναῖκα, τοιαύτην θεοπρεπῶς καί ὑπέρ πᾶσαν ἔννοιαν καί λόγον ἔχει καί ὁ δεσπότης καί ποιητής τοῦ παντός μετά τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἁπάσης, ὡς πρός μίαν γυναῖκα, ἀμωμήτως ταύτῃ καί ὑπεραρρήτως ἑνούμενος καί ἀδιασπάστως καί ἀχωρίστως ὤν καί συνών αὐτῇ, ὡς ἠγαπημένῃ καί πεφιλημένῃ αὐτῷ. Οὕτω δέ καί ἡ Ἐκκλησία τῷ αὐτῆς πεφιλημένῳ Θεῷ ἑνωθεῖσα κεκόλληται ὡς ὁλόκληρον σῶμα τῇ κεφαλῇ τῇ ἰδίᾳ αὐτοῦ. Καθάπερ γάρ οὐ δύναται σῶμα ἄνευ τῆς προσπεφυκυίας αὐτῷ κεφαλῆς τό καθόλου ζῆν, οὕτως οὐδέ ἡ τῶν πιστῶν Ἐκκλησία, τῶν υἱῶν, φημί, τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, δύναται εἶναι εἰς σῶμα ἄρτιον καί ὁλόκληρον τῷ Θεῷ ἄνευ τῆς κεφαλῆς, (79) αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί Θεοῦ, ἤ ζῆν τήν ὄντως ζωήν καί ἀνώλεθρον, μή τρεφομένη ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ καθ᾿ ἑκάστην τόν ἐπιούσιον ἄρτον, παρ᾿ οὗ τό ζῆν καί αὔξειν εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσι τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν ἐπιγίνεται.

Ἀλλά γάρ τούτων οὕτως ἀποδειχθέντων λαμπρῶς καί τρανωθέντος ὑπό τοῦ λόγου τοῦ ῥηθέντος ζητήματος, ὅπως οἱ ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος ἅγιοι οἱ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν καί ἕως τῆς συντελείας γινόμενοι ἕν σῶμα μέλλουσι γενέσθαι μετά Χριστοῦ καί ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, ἄγε δή καί περί τοῦ πῶς πληρωθῆναι δεῖ τόν ἄνω κόσμον φιλοσοφήσωμεν. Ἀλλά διαπεράσατέ μοι τάς ἀκοάς καί τόν ἡγεμόνα νοῦν τοῖς ῥηθησομένοις προσέχειν ἐπιστήσατε, ἐπειδή περί θείων πραγμάτων ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος ἑκάστῳ ζητήματι.

ζ΄. Πῶς δεῖ πληρωθῆναι τόν ἄνω κόσμον καί ὁποῖός τίς ἐστι καί τίνα

πληρωθήσεται τρόπον. Χρεών δέ ζητῆσαι πρῶτον τίνα καλεῖ κόσμον ὁ λόγος, ὅν δεῖ πληρωθῆναι καί οὐ

μή πληρωθέντος οὐχ ἥξει τό τέλος, καί αὐτό τοῦτο τό τέλος ὅ λέγεται, τί ἐστιν. Ἐμοί δοκεῖ κόσμον ὡραϊσμένον εἶναι τήν Ἐκκλησίαν Χριστοῦ καί αὐτόν ὅλον τόν ἄνθρωπον, ἐν ᾧ κατοικεῖν λέγεται καί ἐμπεριπατεῖν τόν Θεόν καί τάς ἀκτῖνας τῶν χαρισμάτων αὐτοῦ φαιδράς, ὡς ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης ὤν, καταπέμπειν· ἥν καί σῶμα