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Which Christ also then says, The powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Why then with a trumpet? For we see this also on Mount Sinai, and angels there too. But what does the voice of the archangel mean? Just as it was said concerning the virgins: Arise, the bridegroom has come. It either means this, or that just as in the case of a king, so also will it be then, with angels ministering to the resurrection. For he says, Let the dead arise; and the work is done, not by the angels being powerful for this, but by his word; as if a king commanded and said: Let those who are shut up come forth, and the servants lead them out, no longer then do they do this from their own strength, but from that voice. This also Christ says elsewhere: He will send his angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, 62.440 from their ends. And everywhere you see the angels running about. I think, therefore, the archangel is the one set over those who are sent, crying this, Make all ready; for the Judge is present. What is, At the last trumpet? He shows here that there will be many trumpets, and that the Judge descends at the last one. And the dead, he says, in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words If he is about to descend, for what reason shall we be caught up? For the sake of honor. For when a king enters a city, the honorable go out to meet him, but the condemned remain within to await the judge; and when an affectionate father arrives, the children, and those worthy to be children, are brought out on a chariot to see and kiss him; but those of the household who have given offense remain within. We are carried on the chariot of the Father; for He also received him in the clouds, and we shall be caught up in the clouds. Do you see how great the honor is? And we go to meet him as he descends, and, what is most blessed of all, we will be with him thus. Who will declare the mighty acts of the Lord, or make all his praises heard? With how many good things has he counted the human race worthy! first the dead rise, and thus the meeting takes place together. Abel who died before all others will meet him then together with the living. So that they will have no advantage in this respect, but he who has decayed, who has been so many years in the earth, will meet him with them, and all the others. For if they waited for us, that we might be crowned, as he says elsewhere writing, The Lord having foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect; much more also we them; or rather they waited, but we no longer; for the resurrection happens in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. But to say that they are gathered together, means this, that they rise everywhere, but are gathered together by the angels. To rise, therefore, is the work of God's power, as he commands the earth to release its deposit, and no one serves, just as he then called Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth; but to bring them, is the work of the ministers. But if the angels gather them and run about, how are they themselves caught up here? After he has descended they are caught up, after they have been gathered; for this happens at once, with no one knowing. For when they see the earth shaken, dust mixed up, 62.441 perhaps the bodies always rising, with no one ministering to this, but the command being sufficient to empty the whole filled earth; for consider what a thing it is for all those from Adam until his coming to be standing then, with women and children; when they see so great a commotion upon the earth, then they will know. Therefore, just as in the economy according to the flesh they had foreseen nothing, so also then.

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Ὅπερ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς τότε φησὶν, Αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν σαλευθήσονται. Τί δήποτε ἐν σάλπιγγι; Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Σιναίῳ ὄρει τοῦτο ὁρῶμεν, καὶ ἀγγέλους κἀκεῖ. Τί δὲ βούλεται ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου; Καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν παρθένων ἔλεγεν· ἐγείρεσθε, ἦλθεν ὁ νυμφίος. Ἤτοι τοῦτό φησιν, ἢ ὅτι καθάπερ ἐπὶ βασιλέως, οὕτω καὶ τότε ἔσται, ἀγγέλων πρὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν ὑπηρετουμένων. Λέγει γὰρ, ἀναστῶσιν οἱ νεκροί· καὶ γίνεται τὸ ἔργον, οὐ τῶν ἀγγέλων πρὸς τοῦτο ἰσχυόντων, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ῥήματος αὐτοῦ· ὡσανεὶ βασιλέως κελεύσαντος καὶ εἰπόντος· Ἐξέλθοιεν οἱ συγκεκλεισμένοι, καὶ οἱ ὑπηρέται ἐξάγοιεν, οὐκέτι λοιπὸν ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκείας ἰσχύος, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς φωνῆς ἐκείνης τοῦτο ποιοῦσι. Τοῦτο καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ ὁ Χριστὸς λέγει· Ἀποστελεῖ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὑτοῦ μετὰ σάλπιγγος μεγάλης, καὶ ἐπισυνάξουσι τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων ἀνέμων, 62.440 ἀπ' ἄκρων αὐτῶν. Καὶ πανταχοῦ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ὁρᾷς διατρέχοντας. Τὸν οὖν ἀρχάγγελον οἶμαι τὸν ἐφεστῶτα εἶναι τοῖς ἀπεσταλμένοις βοῶντα τοῦτο, ὅτι ἑτοίμους ποιεῖτε πάντας· πάρεστι γὰρ ὁ κριτής. Τί ἐστιν, Ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ σάλπιγγι; ∆είκνυσιν ἐνταῦθα πολλὰς τὰς σάλπιγγας γινομένας, καὶ πρὸς τῇ ἐσχάτῃ καταβαίνοντα τὸν κριτήν. Καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ, φησὶν, ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον, ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ οὕτω πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα. Ὥστε παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις Εἰ μέλλει καταβαίνειν, τίνος ἕνεκεν ἁρπαγησόμεθα; Τιμῆς ἕνεκεν. Καὶ γὰρ βασιλέως εἰς πόλιν εἰσελαύνοντος, οἱ μὲν ἔντιμοι πρὸς ἀπάντησιν ἐξίασιν, οἱ δὲ κατάδικοι ἔνδον μένουσι τὸν κριτήν· καὶ πατρὸς φιλοστόργου παραγενομένου, οἱ μὲν παῖδες, καὶ ἄξιοι παῖδες εἶναι, ἐπ' ὀχήματος ἐξάγονται ὥστε ἰδεῖν καὶ καταφιλῆσαι· οἱ δὲ προσκεκρουκότες τῶν οἰκετῶν ἔνδον μένουσιν. Ἐπὶ τοῦ ὀχήματος φερόμεθα τοῦ Πατρός· καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐν νεφέλαις ὑπέλαβεν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν νεφέλαις ἁρπαγησόμεθα. Ὁρᾷς τὴν τιμὴν ὅση; καὶ τὴν ἀπάντησιν καταβαίνοντι ποιούμεθα, καὶ τὸ πάντων μακαριώτερον, οὕτω σὺν αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα. Τίς λαλήσει τὰς δυναστείας τοῦ Κυρίου, ἀκουστὰς ποιήσει πάσας τὰ αἰνέσεις αὐτοῦ; Ὅσων ἀγαθῶν ἠξίωσε τὸ γένος τὸ ἀνθρώπινον! πρῶτοι οἱ τελευτήσαντες ἐγείρονται, καὶ οὕτως ὁμοῦ ἡ ἀπάντησις γίνεται. Ἄβελ ὁ πρὸ πάντων τετελευτηκὼς ὁμοῦ μετὰ τῶν ζώντων τότε ἀπαντήσει. Ὥστε οὐδὲν ἔσται πλέον ἐκείνοις κατὰ τοῦτο, ἀλλ' ὁ διαφθαρεὶς, ὁ τοσαῦτα ἔχων ἐν τῇ γῇ ἔτη, μετ' ἐκείνων ἀπαντήσεται, καὶ ἅπαντες οἱ ἄλλοι. Εἰ γὰρ ἡμᾶς ἐκεῖνοι ἀνέμειναν ἵνα στεφανωθῶμεν, καθὼς ἑτέρωθί φησι γράφων, Τοῦ Κυρίου περὶ ἡμῶν κρεῖττόν τι προβλεψαμένου, ἵνα μὴ χωρὶς ἡμῶν τελειωθῶσι· πολλῷ μᾶλλον καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐκείνους· μᾶλλον δὲ ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἀνέμειναν, ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐκέτι· ἐν γὰρ ἀτόμῳ ἡ ἀνάστασις γίνεται, ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ. Τὸ δὲ λέγειν, ὅτι συνάγονται, τοῦτο δηλοῖ, ὅτι ἀνίστανται μὲν πανταχοῦ, συνάγονται δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀναστῆναι, τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμεως ἔργον ἐστὶ, τῇ γῇ κελεύοντος ἀφεῖναι τὴν παρακαταθήκην, καὶ οὐδεὶς ὁ ὑπηρετούμενος, ὥσπερ τότε ἐκάλεσε τὸν Λάζαρον, Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω· τὸ δὲ ἀγαγεῖν, τῶν ὑπηρετῶν γίνεται. Ἀλλ' εἰ συνάγουσι, καὶ περιτρέχουσιν ἄγγελοι, πῶς αὐτοὶ ἐνταῦθα ἁρπάζονται; Μετὰ τὸ καταβῆναι ἁρπάζονται, μετὰ τὸ συναχθῆναι· ἅμα γὰρ οὐδενὸς εἰδότος τοῦτο γίνεται. Ὅταν γὰρ ἴδωσι τὴν γῆν κλονουμένην, κόνιν ἀναμι 62.441 γνυμένην, ἴσως πάντοτε ἐγειρόμενα τὰ σώματα, οὐδενὸς πρὸς τοῦτο ὑπηρετοῦντος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ κελεύσματος ἀρκοῦντος τὴν γῆν πεπληρωμένην πᾶσαν κενῶσαι· ἐννόησον γὰρ ὅσον ἐστὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας πάντας ἐκείνους ἑστάναι τότε μετὰ γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων· ὅταν ἴδωσι τοσοῦτον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς θόρυβον, τότε εἴσονται. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ σάρκα οἰκονομίας οὐδὲν προεωράκεισαν, οὕτω καὶ τότε.