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in will-worship and humility, and severity to the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. A word, he says, not power; therefore not truth. So that even if it has a word of wisdom, let us turn away from it. For it seems to be something pious and moderate, and to despise the body; but it is not. Not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. For God gave it honor, but they have not used it with honor. Thus, when it is a dogma, he knows to call it honor. They dishonor the flesh, he says, depriving it, and taking away its authority, not allowing it to have self-control willingly; God has honored the flesh. If then you were raised with Christ. He therefore gathers them above, having established that they died. For this reason he says, If then you were raised with Christ, seek the things that are above. There is no observance there. Seek the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Wonderful! To what a height has he raised our mind? With what a greatness of mind has he filled them? It was not enough to say, ‘the things that are above,’ nor, ‘where Christ is,’ but he adds, ‘sitting at the right hand of God.’ From there, then, he prepared them not to see the earth. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. This is not, he says, your life; your life is some other one. He is already eager to make them pass over, and strives to show them as sitting above, and as being dead, from both arguments establishing that they should not seek things here. For if you are dead, you ought not to seek; and if you are above, you ought not to seek. Christ does not appear? Therefore neither does your life. It is above, in God. What then? When shall we live? When Christ, your life, shall appear, then seek the glory, then the life, then the delight. These things are preparatory to lead them away from luxury and from ease. It is his custom, while establishing some things, to leap to others; for instance, just as when discoursing about those who take their supper beforehand, he fell suddenly into the observance of the mysteries. For great is the reproof, when it comes unexpectedly. It is hidden, he says, from you. Then you also will appear with him. So that now you do not appear. See how he has translated them to heaven itself. For as I said, he ever strives to show that they have the same things as Christ; 62.346 and through all his Epistles this is the argument: to show that they are partakers with Him in all things. For this reason he speaks of Head, and of body, and does all things, that he may show this. If, therefore, we appear then, let us not grieve when we do not enjoy honor; if this life is not life, but is hidden, we ought to live this life as dead men. Then you also, he says, will appear with him in glory. - In glory, he said, not simply; since the pearl also is hidden, as long as it is in the oyster. Whether then we are insulted, let us not grieve, or suffer anything whatever; for this life is not our life; for we are strangers and sojourners. For you died, he says. Who is so foolish as for a dead and buried body to buy servants, or build houses, or prepare costly garments? No one. Let us not do so then either; but just as we seek one thing only, that we may not be naked, so here too let us seek one thing only. Our first man was buried; he was buried not in earth, but in water, not with death dissolving him, but with the One who dissolved death burying him, not by a law of nature, but by the command of the Lordship, which is more powerful than nature. For things that come about by nature one might dissolve, but those by His command, no longer. Nothing is more blessed than this burial, at which all rejoice, both angels and men and the Lord of angels; for this burial there is no need of garments, nor of a coffin, nor of anything else of that kind. Do you wish to see the symbol? I will show you a font, in which the one was buried, and the other

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ἐθελοθρησκείᾳ καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ ἀφειδίᾳ σώματος, οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινι πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός. Λόγον, φησὶν, οὐ δύναμιν· ἄρα οὐκ ἀλήθειαν. Ὥστε κἂν λόγον ἔχῃ σοφίας, ἀποστρεφώμεθα. ∆οκεῖ γὰρ εὐλαβής τις εἶναι καὶ μέτριος καὶ τοῦ σώματος καταφρονεῖν· οὐκ ἔστι δέ. Οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ τινι πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκός. Ὁ Θεὸς γὰρ τιμὴν ἔδωκεν, αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἐν τιμῇ κέχρηνται. Οὕτως, ὅταν δόγμα ᾖ, οἶδεν αὐτὸ τιμὴν καλεῖν. Ἀτιμάζουσι τὴν σάρκα, φησὶν, ἀποστεροῦντες αὐτὴν, καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἀφαιρούμενοι, οὐχ ἑκόντος κρατεῖν συγχωροῦντες· ὁ Θεὸς τὴν σάρκα ἐτίμησεν. Εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ. Συνάγει αὐτοὺς λοιπὸν ἄνω κατασκευάσας ὅτι ἀπέθανε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν, Εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ παρατήρησις. Τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε, οὗ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθήμενος. Βαβαί! ποῦ τὸν νοῦν ἀνήγαγε τὸν ἡμέτερον; πῶς φρονήματος αὐτοὺς ἐπλήρωσε μεγάλου; Οὐκ ἤρκει τὰ ἄνω εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲ, οὗ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ προστίθησιν, Ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Θεοῦ καθήμενος. Ἐκεῖθεν λοιπὸν οὐ τὴν γῆν ὁρᾷν παρεσκεύαζε. Τὰ ἄνω φρονεῖτε, μὴ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Ἀπεθάνετε γὰρ, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ. Ὅταν ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ, ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν, τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόξῃ. Οὐκ ἔστιν αὕτη, φησὶν, ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν· ἡ ὑμετέρα ζωὴ ἑτέρα τίς ἐστιν. Ἤδη βιάζεται μεταστῆσαι αὐτοὺς, καὶ φιλονεικεῖ δεῖξαι καθημένους ἄνω, καὶ νεκροὺς ὄντας, ἐξ ἑκατέρων κατασκευάζων μὴ ζητεῖν τὰ ἐνταῦθα. Εἴτε γὰρ νεκροί ἐστε, οὐκ ὀφείλετε ζητεῖν· εἴτε ἄνω ἐστὲ, οὐκ ὀφείλετε ζητεῖν. Μὴ φαίνεται ὁ Χριστός; οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν. Ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ἄνω ἐστί. Τί οὖν; πότε ζησόμεθα; Ὅταν ὁ Χριστὸς φανερωθῇ, ἡ ζωὴ ὑμῶν, τότε τὴν δόξαν ζητεῖτε, τότε τὴν ζωὴν, τότε τὴν τρυφήν. Ταῦτα προκατασκευαστικὰ τοῦ τῆς τρυφῆς αὐτοὺς ἀπαγαγεῖν καὶ τῆς ἀνέσεως. Τοιοῦτον ἔθος αὐτῷ ἄλλα κατασκευάζοντι εἰς ἄλλα μεταπηδᾷν· οἷον, ὥσπερ περὶ τῶν προλαμβανόντων εἰς τὰ δεῖπνα διαλεγόμενος, ἐνέπεσεν ἀθρόον εἰς τὴν τῶν μυστηρίων παρατήρησιν. Μέγα γὰρ ἔχει ἔλεγχος, ὅταν ἀνυπόπτως γένηται. Κέκρυπται, φησὶν, ἀφ' ὑμῶν. Τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε. Ὥστε νῦν οὐ φαίνεσθε. Ὅρα πῶς αὐτοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανὸν μετέστησεν. Ὅπερ γὰρ ἔφην, ἀεὶ φιλονεικεῖ δεῖξαι τὰ αὐτὰ ἔχοντας ἅπερ καὶ ὁ Χριστός· 62.346 καὶ διὰ πασῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν οὗτος ὁ λόγος ἐν πᾶσι κοινωνοῦντας αὐτῷ δεῖξαι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ κεφαλὴν, καὶ σῶμα λέγει, καὶ πάντα ποιεῖ, ἵνα τοῦτο παραστήσῃ. Εἰ τοίνυν τότε φανερούμεθα, μὴ ἀλγῶμεν, ὅταν τιμῆς μὴ ἀπολαύωμεν· εἰ μή ἐστιν αὕτη ἡ ζωὴ ζωὴ, ἀλλὰ κέκρυπται, ὡς νεκροὶ ζῇν ὀφείλομεν ταύτην τὴν ζωήν. Τότε καὶ ὑμεῖς, φησὶ, σὺν αὐτῷ φανερωθήσεσθε ἐν δόξῃ. - Ἐν δόξῃ, εἶπεν, οὐχ ἁπλῶς· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ μαργαρίτης κέκρυπται, ἕως ἂν ᾖ ἐν τῷ ὀστρέῳ. Ἄν τε οὖν ὑβριζώμεθα, μὴ ἀλγῶμεν, ἄν τε ὁτιοῦν πάσχωμεν· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἡμῶν ζωὴ αὕτη ἡ ζωή· ξένοι γὰρ καὶ παρεπίδημοί ἐσμεν. Ἀπεθάνετε γὰρ, φησί. Τίς ἐστιν οὕτως ἀνόητος, ὡς τῷ νεκρῷ σώματι τῷ ταφέντι ἢ οἰκέτας ἀγοράζειν, ἢ οἰκίας οἰκοδομεῖν, ἢ ἱμάτια κατασκευάζειν πολυτελῆ; Οὐδείς. Μὴ τοίνυν μηδὲ ἡμεῖς· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἓν μόνον ζητοῦμεν, ὥστε μὴ γεγυμνῶσθαι, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἓν μόνον ζητῶμεν. Ἐτάφη ἡμῶν ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος· ἐτάφη οὐκ ἐν γῇ, ἀλλ' ἐν ὕδατι, οὐ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτὸν καταλύοντος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ τὸν θάνατον καταλύσαντος θάψαντος αὐτὸν οὐ φύσεως νόμῳ, ἀλλὰ τῷ τῆς φύσεως ἰσχυροτέρῳ προστάγματι τῆς δεσποτείας. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὸ φύσεως γενόμενα κἂν ἀναλύσειέ τις, τὰ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ προστάγματος αὐτοῦ, οὐκέτι. Οὐδὲν ταύτης μακαριώτερον τῆς ταφῆς, ἐφ' ᾗ πάντες χαίρουσι, καὶ ἄγγελοι καὶ ἄνθρωποι καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀγγέλων ∆εσπότης· ταύτῃ τῇ ταφῇ οὐχ ἱματίων, οὐ λάρνακος, οὐκ ἄλλου τῶν τοιούτων οὐδενὸς χρεία. Βούλει τὸ σύμβολον ἰδεῖν; ∆είξω σοι κολυμβήθραν, ἐν ᾗ ὁ μὲν ἐτάφη, ὁ δὲ