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In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Here he has shown the trustworthiness of the resurrection and the manner of it. 2. And since the matter seems to be difficult, he himself shows that just as it is easy for the living to be caught up, so also for the departed. But the 'We,' he says not of himself; for he was not going to remain until the resurrection, but he means the faithful. For this reason he added, We who are left unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them that are asleep; as if he had said: Do not think it is some difficult task, when you hear that those who are then living shall not precede those who have been dissolved, who have decayed, who have been dead for countless years; it is God who does it. But just as it is easy for Him to bring those who are complete, so also those who have been dissolved. But there are some who disbelieve the matter, because they do not know God. For what, tell me, is easier, to bring into being from non-being, or to raise up again one that has been dissolved? But what do they say? 'So-and-so,' it is said, 'was shipwrecked, and sank, and as he fell many fish received him, and each of the fish ate a limb.' Then of these very fish, one was caught in this gulf, another in that, and was eaten by another man, and he by another. And these again in other places died, those who ate the fish that had devoured the man, and they themselves perhaps were eaten by wild beasts. After so great a confusion and dispersion has occurred, how shall the man be raised again? Who is it that gathers the dust? For why do you say this, O man, and weave chains of nonsense, and posit it as an impossibility? For tell me, if he does not fall into the sea, if a fish does not eat him, nor is the fish in turn eaten by countless men, but the man is laid out for burial in a coffin, and neither worms, nor anything else has troubled him, how will that which is dissolved be raised? how will the dust and the ashes be glued together, whence then will be the bloom of the body? is this not an impossibility? If then they are Greeks who raise these questions, we will say countless things to them. Why so? For there are among them those who lead souls into plants and bushes and dogs; tell me, what is easier, to take up one's own 62.437 body, or an alien one? Others again say things are consumed by fire, and that a resurrection of clothes and of shoes takes place, and are not laughed at; others introduce atoms. But with those we have no argument; but to the faithful, if indeed we must call them faithful who ask such questions, we will nevertheless say the apostolic word, that all life comes from corruption, all plants, all seeds. Do you not see the fig tree, what a trunk it has, and what stems? and how many leaves, branches, stalks, roots spreading so far and enfolded in the earth? This tree, then, so great and of such a kind, comes from that small grain that was cast down, and which first corrupted; and unless it rots and is dissolved, none of these things will be. Tell me, whence does this come to be? And the vine, too, so beautiful both to see and to partake of, comes from that which is unsightly. What then, tell me, is it not one water that is brought down from above? and how is it changed into so many things? For this is more wonderful than the resurrection. For there both the seed itself and the plant itself are the subject, and the kinship is great; but here tell me how, having one quality and one nature, it is turned into so many things? In a vine it becomes wine, not only wine, but also leaves and sap; for not only the cluster of grapes, but also the rest of the vine is nourished by it; again in an olive tree oil, and the other things, which it is not possible to tell. And the wondrous thing is, here moist, there dry, here sweet, there sour, there astringent, elsewhere bitter. How, tell me, is it turned into so many things? Tell the reason; but you could not. And in your own case, tell me (for it is closer), how is this seed that is cast down fashioned and formed into eyes, into ears, into hands, into a heart, into so many things? are there not countless differences in the body, of shapes, of sizes,

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Ἐν ἀτόμῳ, ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ. Ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἀξιόπιστον τῇ ἀναστάσει καὶ τῷ τρόπῳ παρέστησε. βʹ. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ τὸ πρᾶγμα δοκεῖ δύσκολον εἶναι, δείκνυσιν αὐτὸς ὅτι ὥσπερ ἐστὶν εὔκολον τοὺς ζῶντας ἀρθῆναι, οὕτω καὶ τοὺς ἀπελθόντας. Τὸ δὲ, Ἡμεῖς, οὐ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φησιν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἔμελλεν αὐτὸς μέχρι τῆς ἀναστάσεως μένειν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς πιστοὺς λέγει. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο προσέθηκεν, Οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ Κυρίου, οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας· ὡς ἂν εἰ ἔλεγε· Μὴ νομίσῃς ἐργωδίαν εἶναί τινα, ἀκούων ὅτι οἱ ζῶντες τότε τοὺς διαλυθέντας, τοὺς σαπέντας, τοὺς μυρία ἔτη ἔχοντας οὐ μὴ προλάβωσι· Θεός ἐστιν ὁ ποιῶν. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ εὔκολον αὐτῷ ἐκείνους τοὺς ἀπηρτισμένους ἀγαγεῖν, οὕτω καὶ τοὺς διαλελυμένους. Ἀλλ' εἰσί τινες, οἳ διαπιστοῦσι τῷ πράγματι, ἐπειδὴ τὸν Θεὸν οὐκ ἴσασι. Τί γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, εὐκολώτερον, ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγεῖν, ἢ διαλυθέντα ἀναστῆσαι πάλιν; Ἀλλὰ τί φασιν; Ὁ δεῖνα, φησὶ, ναυάγιον ὑπέστη, καὶ κατεποντίσθη, καὶ πεσόντα αὐτὸν ἰχθύες ἐδέξαντο πολλοὶ καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων ἕκαστος μέλος ἔφαγεν. Εἶτ' αὐτῶν δὴ τούτων ὁ μὲν ἐν τῷδε τῷ κόλπῳ, ὁ δὲ ἐν τῷδε συνελήφθη, καὶ ἐβρώθη ὑφ' ἑτέρου, καὶ οὗτος ὑπὸ ἄλλου. Καὶ οὗτοι πάλιν ἐν ἄλλοις χωρίοις ἀπέθανον οἱ τοὺς ἰχθῦς φαγόντες τοὺς τὸν ἄνδρα καταφαγόντας, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἴσως ὑπὸ θηρίων. Τοσαύτης δὲ τῆς συγχύσεως γενομένης καὶ διασπορᾶς, πῶς πάλιν ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀνήρ; τίς ὁ τὸν χοῦν συνάγων; ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ τοῦτο λέγεις, ἄνθρωπε, καὶ ὁρμαθοὺς λήρων ὑφαίνεις, καὶ ὡς ἄπορον τιθεῖς; Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, ἂν μὴ εἰς θάλατταν καταπέσῃ, ἂν γὰρ μὴ ἰχθὺς φάγῃ, μηδὲ βρωθῇ πάλιν ὁ ἰχθὺς ὑπὸ μυρίων ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ κηδευθεὶς ἐν λάρνακι ὁ ἀνὴρ τεθῇ, καὶ μήτε σκώληκες, μήτε ἄλλο τι διενοχλήσῃ, πῶς ἀναστήσεται τὸ διαλυθέν; πῶς ἡ κόνις καὶ ἡ τέφρα συγκολληθήσεται, πόθεν τὸ ἄνθος λοιπὸν ἔσται τοῦ σώματος; τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἄπορον; Ἂν μὲν οὖν Ἕλληνες ὦσιν οἱ ταῦτα διαποροῦντες, πρὸς αὐτοὺς μυρία ἐροῦμεν. Τί δήποτε; εἰσὶ γὰρ παρ' αὐτοῖς οἱ τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ εἰς φυτὰ καὶ εἰς θάμνους ἄγοντες καὶ εἰς κύνας· εἰπέ μοι, τί εὐκολώτερον, τὸ οἰκεῖον 62.437 σῶμα ἀναλαβεῖν, ἢ τὸ ἀλλότριον; Ἄλλοι πάλιν φασὶν ὑπὸ πυρὸς ἀναλίσκεσθαι, καὶ ἱματίων ἀνάστασιν γίνεσθαι καὶ ὑποδημάτων, καὶ οὐ καταγελῶνται· ἕτεροι ἀτόμους εἰσάγουσιν. Ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἐκείνους οὐδεὶς ἡμῖν λόγος· πρὸς δὲ τοὺς πιστοὺς, εἴ γε πιστοὺς δεῖ καλεῖν, τοὺς ἐρωτῶντας, ὅμως ἐροῦμεν τὸ ἀποστολικὸν, ὅτι πᾶσα ἡ ζωὴ ἀπὸ φθορᾶς γίνεται, πάντα φυτὰ, πάντα σπέρματα. Οὐχ ὁρᾷς τὴν συκῆν ἡλίκον μὲν ἔχει κορμὸν, ἡλίκα δὲ στελέχη; φύλλα δὲ πόσα, κλάδους, ἀνθέρικας, ῥίζας τοσοῦτον ἐπεχούσας καὶ ἐγκεκολπισμένας; Αὕτη τοίνυν ἡ τηλικαύτη καὶ τοιαύτη ἀπὸ τῆς κέγχρου γίνεται ἐκείνης τῆς καταβληθείσης, καὶ αὐτῆς διαφθαρείσης πρῶτον· κἂν μὴ σαπῇ καὶ διαλυθῇ, οὐδὲν τούτων ἔσται. Εἰπέ μοι, πόθεν τοῦτο γίνεται; Καὶ ἡ ἄμπελος δὲ ἡ οὕτω καλὴ καὶ ἰδεῖν καὶ μετέχειν, ἀπὸ τοῦ εἰδεχθοῦς γίνεται ἐκείνου. Τί δὲ, εἰπέ μοι, οὐχὶ ὕδωρ ἐστὶν ἓν τὸ ἄνωθεν καταφερόμενον; καὶ πῶς εἰς τοσαῦτα μεταβάλλεται; Τοῦτο γὰρ τῆς ἀναστάσεως θαυμασιώτερον. Ἐκεῖ μὲν γὰρ καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ σπέρμα, καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ὑπόκειται φυτὸν, καὶ ἡ συγγένεια πολλή· ἐνταῦθα δὲ εἰπέ μοι πῶς μίαν ἔχον ποιότητα καὶ μίαν φύσιν, εἰς τοσαῦτα τρέπεται; Ἐν ἀμπέλῳ γίνεται οἶνος, οὐχὶ οἶνος μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ φύλλα καὶ ὀπός· καὶ γὰρ οὐχ ὁ βότρυς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς ἀμπέλου αὐτῷ τρέφεται· πάλιν ἐν ἐλαίᾳ ἔλαιον, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ὅσα οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. Καὶ τὸ θαυμαστὸν, ἐνταῦθα ὑγρὸν, ἐκεῖ ξηρὸν, ἐνταῦθα γλυκὺ, ἐκεῖ ὀξὺ, ἐκεῖ στῦφον, ἑτέρωθι πικρόν. Πῶς, εἰπέ μοι, τρέπεται εἰς τοσαῦτα; εἰπὲ τὸν λόγον· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις. Ἐπὶ δὲ σοῦ αὐτοῦ, εἰπέ μοι (ἐγγύτερον γὰρ), τοῦτο τὸ σπέρμα τὸ καταβαλλόμενον πῶς εἰς ὀφθαλμοὺς, πῶς εἰς ὦτα, πῶς εἰς χεῖρας, πῶς εἰς καρδίαν, πῶς εἰς τοσαῦτα ῥυθμίζεται καὶ διατυποῦται; οὐχὶ μυρίαι διαφοραὶ ἐν τῷ σώματι, σχημάτων, μεγεθῶν,