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is demonstrated, and this we have learned not by word only, but from those very persons who returned to life from the resurrection, we have received by deed the proof of the promise; what pretext remains for those who do not believe? Will we not, after saying, 'Farewell,' to those who through philosophy and empty deceit delude their simple faith, hold to our plain confession? having learned in brief through the Prophet the manner of the grace, by what he says: “You will take away their spirit, and they will fail, and to their dust they will return. You will send forth Your Spirit, and they will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth.” When he also says that the Lord rejoices in His works, when sinners fail from the earth. For how will anyone be named from sin, when sin does not exist?

CHAPTER 20.

That the resurrection is not beyond probability. But there are some who, on account of the

weakness of human reasonings, judging the divine power by our measures, conclude that what is impossible for us is not even possible for God. For they point to the disappearance of the ancient dead, and the remains of those who were reduced to ashes by fire, and in addition to these things they bring forward in their argument the flesh-eating animals, and the fish that has taken the flesh of the shipwrecked into its own body, and this again having become food for men, and having been converted into the bulk of the one who ate it through digestion. And many such paltry things, unworthy of the great power and authority of God, they go through for the overthrow of the dogma; as if God were not able again by the same ways, through dissolution, to restore to man what is his own. But we in brief shall cut short their long circumlocutions of logical vanity, confessing that the dissolution of the body into those things of which it is composed does take place, and not only is the earth resolved into earth according to the divine word, but also the air and the moisture return to what is of the same nature, and the transference of each of the elements in us to what is kindred takes place, even if the human body is mixed with carnivorous birds, or with the most savage beasts through being eaten, or if it comes under the tooth of fishes, or if it is changed into vapor and dust by fire. But wherever one might, for the sake of argument, carry man in his reasoning, he is entirely within the world; and this is held fast in the hand of God, as the divinely-inspired voice teaches. If, then, you are not ignorant of anything in your own palm, do you think that the knowledge of God is weaker than your power, 225 so as not to be able to find out with precision what is contained within the divine span?

CHAPTER 27.

That it is possible, when the human body has been resolved into the elements of the universe,

for what is its own to be restored again to each from the common stock. But perhaps, looking at the elements of the universe, you think it difficult that when the air in us has been diffused into its kindred element, and the heat and moisture, and likewise the earthy part, have been mixed up with things of their own nature, what is proper should run back again from the common stock to its own. Then do you not reckon from human examples that not even this surpasses the bounds of the divine power? You have surely seen somewhere in human dwellings a common herd of certain animals, formed from a common stock. But when it is again divided among its owners, both habituation to their homes and the marks placed upon them restore to each its own. Thinking some such thing also concerning yourself, you will not err from what is fitting. For by a certain natural relation and affection towards the

37

ἐπιδείκνυται, τοῦτο δὲ οὐ λόγῳ μεμαθήκαμεν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξ αὐ τῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἐξ ἀναστάσεως ἐπανελθόντων, ἔργῳ τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἐλάβομεν· τίς ὑπολείπεται τοῖς μὴ πιστεύουσιν ἀφορμή; Οὐκ, Ἔῤ ῥωσθε, φράσαντες τοῖς διὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης παρακρουομένοις τὴν ἀκατάσκευον πίστιν, ψιλῆς ἑξόμεθα τῆς ὁμολογίας; μαθόντες ἐν ὀλίγῳ διὰ τοῦ Προφήτου τὸν τρόπον τῆς χάριτος, δι' ὧν φησιν· «Ἀντανελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐκλεί ψουσι, καὶ εἰς τὸν χοῦν αὐτῶν ἐπιστρέψουσιν. Ἐξ αποστελεῖς τὸ Πνεῦμά σου, καὶ κτισθήσονται, καὶ ἀνακαινιεῖς τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς.» Ὅτε καὶ εὐφραίνεσθαι τὸν Κύριον ἐπὶ τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ λέ γει, ἐκλειπόντων τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. Πῶς γάρ τις ἐξ ἁμαρτίας ὀνομασθήσεται, τῆς ἁμαρ τίας οὐκ οὔσης;

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Κʹ.

Ὅτι οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ εἰκότος ἡ ἀνάστασις. Ἀλλ' εἰσί τινες, οἳ διὰ τὴν τῶν

ἀνθρωπίνων λο γισμῶν ἀτονίαν, πρὸς τὰ ἡμέτερα μέτρα τὴν θείαν δύναμιν κρίνοντες, τὸ ἡμῖν ἀχώρητον οὐδὲ Θεῷ δυ νατὸν εἶναι κατασκευάζουσι. ∆εικνύουσι γὰρ τῶν τε ἀρχαίων νεκρῶν τὸν ἀφανισμὸν, τῶν τε διὰ πυρὸς ἀποτεφρωθέντων τὰ λείψανα, καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις τὰ σαρκοβόρα τῶν ζώων τῷ λόγῳ προφέρουσι, καὶ τὸν ἰχθὺν τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματι τὴν σάρκα τοῦ ναυαγή σαντος ἀναλαβόντα, καὶ τοῦτον πάλιν τροφὴν ἀνθρώ πων γενόμενον, καὶ εἰς τὸν τοῦ βεβρωκότος ὄγκον μετακεχωρηκότα διὰ τῆς πέψεως. Καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα μικροπρεπῆ, καὶ τῆς μεγάλης τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμεως καὶ ἐξουσίας ἀνάξια, ἐπ' ἀνατροπῇ τοῦ δόγματος δι εξέρχονται· ὡς οὐ δυναμένου τοῦ Θεοῦ πάλιν διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν ὁδῶν, δι' ἀναλύσεως ἀποκαταστῆσαι τῷ ἀν θρώπῳ τὸ ἴδιον. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς ἐν ὀλίγῳ τὰς μακρὰς αὐ τῶν τῆς λογικῆς ματαιότητος περιδρομὰς ὑποτεμνώ μεθα, ὁμολογοῦντες τὴν μὲν διάλυσιν τοῦ σώματος εἰς τὰ ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκε, γίνεσθαι, καὶ οὐ μόνον τὴν γῆν κατὰ τὸν θεῖον λόγον εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀναλύεσθαι· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἀέρα, καὶ τὸ ὑγρὸν προσχωρεῖν τῷ ὁμο φύλῳ, καὶ ἑκάστου τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς τὴν μεταχώρησιν γίγνεσθαι, κἂν τοῖς σαρκοβόροις ὀρνέοις, κἂν τοῖς ὠμοτάτοις θηρίοις ἀναμιχθῇ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον σῶμα διὰ τῆς βρώσεως, κἂν ὑπὸ τὸν ὀδόντα τῶν ἰχθύων ἔλθῃ, κἂν εἰς ἀτμοὺς καὶ κόνιν μεταβληθῇ τῷ πυρί. Ὅπου δ' ἄν τις καθ' ὑπόθεσιν περιενέγκῃ τῷ λόγῳ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐντὸς τοῦ κόσμου πάντως ἐστί· τοῦτον δὲ τῇ χειρὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ περικρατεῖσθαι, ἡ θεόπνευστος διδάσκει φωνή. Εἰ οὖν σύ τι τῶν ἐν τῇ σῇ παλάμῃ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς, ἆρ' οἴει τῆς σῆς δυνάμεως 225 ἀτονωτέραν εἶναι τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν, ὡς μὴ ἂν ἐξευρεῖν τῶν ἐμπεριεχομένων ὑπὸ τῆς θείας σπιθα μῆς τὴν ἀκρίβειαν;

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΚΖʹ.

Ὅτι δυνατόν ἐστιν, εἰς τὰ τοῦ παντὸς στοιχεῖα τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου σώματος

ἀναλυθέντος, πάλιν ἐκ τοῦ κοινοῦ ἑκάστῳ τὸ ἴδιον ἀποσωθῆναι. Ἀλλὰ τυχὸν πρὸς τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ παντὸς βλέπων, δύσκολον οἴει τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν ἀέρος πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς στοιχεῖον ἀναχεθέντος, καὶ τοῦ θερμοῦ τε καὶ ὑγροῦ, καὶ τοῦ γεώδους ὡσαύτως τοῖς ὁμοφύλοις ἐγκατα μιχθέντων, πάλιν ἐκ τοῦ κοινοῦ τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον ἀναδραμεῖν. Εἶτα οὐ λογίζῃ διὰ τῶν ἀνθρωπί νων ὑποδειγμάτων, τὸ μηδὲ τοῦτο τῆς θείας δυνά μεως ὑπερβαίνειν τοὺς ὅρους; Εἶδές που πάντως ἐν ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις οἰκήσεσι κοινὴν ἀγέλην ζώων τι νῶν, ἐκ κοινοῦ συνισταμένην. Ἀλλ' ὅταν πάλιν πρὸς τοὺς κεκτημένους αὐτὴ καταμερίζηται, ἤ τε πρὸς τοὺς οἴκους συνήθεια, καὶ τὰ ἐπικείμενα σημεῖα τὸ ἴδιον ἑκάστῳ ἀποκαθίστησι. Τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ περὶ σεαυτὸν ἐννοῶν, οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεις τοῦ πρέποντος. Φυσικῇ γάρ τινι σχέσει καὶ στοργῇ πρὸς τὸ