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So again, the beginning of a new portion and of a new world and with the portion a strange, new, and paradoxical mixture. The things up to this point were types and shadows and riddles of this, but this is the truth and the (140) renewal and restoration of the whole world. For the portion that came from Adam was corruptible, and having become a great multitude of a corruptible and mortal people, was entirely destroyed by the flood; and Noah alone from it and his sons were left behind as a portion again from this, the beginning of a second world. But since they again attempted to ascend to heaven, and God promised to no longer make a flood nor to kill all living flesh upon the earth, he again took a portion, Abraham, by an election of faith, and scattered all the others into the world. From this portion of Abraham, therefore, a portion of his seed, that very side, as I have often said, God himself took and built for himself and was built into flesh without change and became a man, not a mere one. For he was not the firstfruits of carnal children, of a corruptible people, just as Noah became at that time, so that, when his people were about to multiply and be destroyed, he might later take another firstfruits from it for the genesis of another people, but he became an immortal and ever-living firstfruits of spiritual children and of those being reformed into his character, as the Apostle says: "Christ the firstfruits, then those who are Christ's," and elsewhere: "until Christ is formed in you." For all those forefathers were mortal, but he who took the portion from the portion of the seed of Abraham, and became Son of God and son of Adam himself, is incorruptible and immortal, not begetting carnally but re-forming spiritually.

And consider for me the manner of the re-formation. What is it? In paradise a woman came from a man, being the mother of all those born from the earth; but in the Church of the faithful, from a woman a man, Christ our God, was born, the firstfruits and life of all who are reborn spiritually (141) from faith in him. There was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which, having been partaken of, became for them the cause of death; here is the wood of the cross, on which Christ, the second Adam and God, was nailed, his hands for the hands of Adam that touched, his feet for the feet that walked in transgression. And Adam, having tasted from that tree, became the cause of death and a curse to those from him; but Christ and God, having tasted gall and drunk vinegar, delivered them from the curse and freed them from the corruption of death, and to those who believe in him he granted new life and strengthened them to have a way of life like the angels in this world. There the tree of life was in the midst of paradise, which Adam was not permitted by providence to eat, but was cast out of paradise, for which reason the flaming sword was set to guard its entrance; here Christ was pierced in the side by a lance and turned away that sword and opened the entrance and planted the tree of life in the whole world, or rather, he has given us the authority to plant it daily, which also grows abundantly and becomes the cause of eternal life for all who eat from it.

O the paradise now planted by Christ our God! O new mystery and dreadful wonders! For there, admittedly, there were sensible and visible trees, Adam and Eve, and the tree of knowledge itself and also the tree of life, being other than this; but here the new Adam becomes all things together for the faithful: both delight and knowledge, not causing death and shutting them away from the tree of life, but teaching what words are fitting to answer the serpent; "Get thee, he says, behind me, Satan" (142) and so on; and not only this, but also leading to the life which he himself is again. But where, he says, is the new paradise which you say Christ has made? For behold, we see that all the

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Πάλιν μέν οὖν νέας μερίδος ἀρχή καί νέου κόσμου καί μετά τῆς μερίδος φύραμα ξένον, καινόν καί παράδοξον. Τά μέν μέχρι τούτου τύποι καί σκιαί καί αἰνίγματα ταύτης ἦν, αὕτη δέ ἠ ἀλήθεια καί ἡ τοῦ κόσμου παντός (140) ἀνακαίνισίς τε καί ἀνανέωσις. Ἀλλά γάρ μερίς μέν ἡ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀδάμ γεγονυῖα φθαρτή καί εἰς πολύ πλῆθος λαοῦ φθαρτοῦ καί θνητοῦ γενομένη ὑπό τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ πᾶσα ἀπώλετο· καί Νῶε μόνος ἐξ αὐτῆς καί οἱ υἱοί αὐτοῦ μερίς πάλιν ἐκ ταύτης ἐναπελείφθησαν, ἀρχή κόσμου δευτέρου. Ἐπεί δέ πάλιν εἰς οὐρανόν ἀνελθεῖν ἐπεχείρουν, κατακλυσμόν δέ μηκέτι ποιήσειν ἐπηγγείλατο ὁ Θεός μηδέ ἀποκτεῖναι πᾶσαν σάρκα ζῶσαν ἐπί τῆς γῆς, αὖθις μερίδα ἔλαβε τόν Ἀβραάμ κατ᾿ ἐκλογήν πίστεως καί πάντας ἄλλους εἰς τόν κόσμον διέσπειρεν. Ἀπό ταύτης οὖν τῆς τοῦ Ἀβραάμ μερίδος μερίδα τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ, αὐτήν δή τήν πλευράν, ὡς πολλάκις εἶπον, αὐτός ἐκεῖνος ἀνέλαβεν ὁ Θεός καί ᾠκοδόμησεν ἑαυτῷ καί ᾠκοδομήθη εἰς σάρκα δίχα τροπῆς καί ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος οὐ ψιλός. Οὐδέ γάρ ἀπαρχή τέκνων σαρκικῶν, λαοῦ φθαρτοῦ, καθά καί ὁ Νῶε τηνικαῦτα ἐγένετο, ὡς ἄν, ἐν τῷ πληθυνθῆναι καί ἀπόλλυσθαι μέλλοντος αὐτοῦ, ἄλλην ἀπαρχήν πάλιν εἰς ἑτέρου λαοῦ γένεσιν ὕστερον ἐξ αὐτοῦ λάβῃ, ἀλλά ἀπαρχή ἀθάνατος καί ἀείζωος γέγονε τέκνων πνευματικῶν καί τόν χαρακτῆρα ἀναμορφουμένων αὐτοῦ, καθά φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· "Ἀπαρχή Χριστός, ἔπειτα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ", καί ἑτέρωθι· "μέχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστός ἐν ἡμῖν". Οἱ μέν γάρ προπάτορες ἅπαντες ἐκεῖνοι θνητοί ὑπῆρχον, ὁ δέ ἐκ τῆς μερίδος τοῦ σπέρματος Ἀβραάμ τήν μερίδα λαβών καί Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ καί αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἀδάμ υἱός γεγονώς, ἀφθαρτός ἐστι καί ἀθάνατος, οὐ γεννῶν σαρκικῶς ἀλλά ἀναπλάτων πνευματικῶς.

Καί σκόπει μοι τόν τρόπον τῆς ἀναπλάσεως. Τίς οὗτος; Ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἀπό ἀνδρός γυνή γέγονε, μήτηρ οὖσα πάντων τῶν ἀπό γῆς γεννηθέντων· ἐν δέ τῇ τῶν πιστῶν Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀπό γυναικός ἀνήρ Χριστός ὁ Θεός ἐγεννήθη, ἀπαρχή καί ζωή πάντων τῶν ἀναγεννωμένων πνευματικῶς (141) ἐκ τῆς εἰς αὐτόν πίστεως. Ἐκεῖ ξύλον τοῦ γινώσκειν καλόν καί πονηρόν, ὅ καί μεταληφθέν θανάτου ἐκείνοις γέγονεν αἴτιον· ἐνταῦθα τό ξύλον τοῦ σταυροῦ, ἐν ᾧ τάς μέν χεῖρας ἀντί τῶν ἁψαμένων χειρῶν τοῦ Ἀδάμ, τούς δέ πόδας ἀντί τῶν ἐπί τῆ παραβάσει βαδισάντων ποδῶν, προσηλώθη Χριστός ὁ δεύτερος Ἀδάμ καί Θεός. Καί ὁ μέν Ἀδάμ, γευσάμενος ἀπό τοῦ ξύλου ἐκείνου, θανάτου καί κατάρας αἴτιος τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γέγονεν· ὁ δέ Χριστός καί Θεός, χολῆς γευσάμενος καί ὄξος πιών, ἐκείνους μέν τῆς κατάρας ἀπήλλαξε καί τῆς τοῦ θανάτου φθορᾶς ἠλευθέρωσε, τοῖς δέ πιστεύουσιν εἰς αὐτόν ζωήν καινήν ἐδωρήσατο καί ἰσάγγελον ἔχειν πολιτείαν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ ἐνίσχυσεν. Ἐκεῖ τό ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ παραδείσου ἦν, ὅ καί φαγεῖν οἰκονομικῶς οὐ συνεχωρήθη ὁ Ἀδάμ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐξεβλήθη τοῦ παραδείσου, διό καί φυλάσσειν ἐτάχθη τήν τούτου εἴσοδον ἡ φλογίνη ῥομφαία· ἐνταῦθα λόγχῃ τήν πλευράν ἐνύγη Χριστός καί τήν ῥομφαίαν ἐκείνην ἀπέστρεψε καί τήν εἴσοδον ἤνοιξε καί ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ τό τῆς ζωῆς ξύλον ἐφύτευσε, μᾶλλον μέν οὖν καί καθ᾿ ἡμέραν τοῦτο φυτεύειν ἐξουσίαν ἡμῖν δέδωκεν, ὅ καί ἀθρόον αὐξάνει καί ζωῆς αἰωνίου πᾶσι τοῖς ἐσθίουσιν ἐξ αὐτοῦ πρόξενον γίνεται.

Ὤ παραδείσου τοῦ νυνί παρά Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ φυτευθέντος! Ὤ μυστηρίου καινοῦ καί θαυμάτων φρικτῶν! Ἐκεῖ μέν γάρ δένδρα αἰσθητά καί ὁρατά ὁμολογουμένως ὑπῆρχον ὁ Ἀδάμ τε καί ἡ Εὔα, αὐτό τε τό ξύλον τῆς γνώσεως καί τό ξύλον ὁμοῦ τῆς ζωῆς ἕτερον παρά τοῦτο ὄν· ἐνταῦθα δέ ὁ νέος Ἀδάμ τά πάντα ὁμοῦ τοῖς πιστοῖς γίνεται καί τρυφή καί γνῶσις, οὐ θανατοῦσα καί τοῦ τῆς ζωῆς ξύλου ἀπείργουσα, ἀλλά διδάσκουσα ἅ διά ῥημάτων δεῖ τῷ ὄφει δεόντως ἀνταποκρίνεσθαι· "Ἄπελθε, φησίν, ὀπίσω μου, Σατανᾶ" (142) καί τά ἑξῆς· καί οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλά καί εἰσάγουσα πρός τήν ζωήν ἥτις αὐτός ἐκεῖνος πάλιν ἐστίν. Ἀλλά ποῦ, φησίν, ὁ νέος παράδεισος ὅν λέγεις πεποιηκέναι Χριστόν; Ἰδού γάρ ὁρῶμεν ὅτι ἅπας ὁ