60

Again, then, is the beginning of a new portion and a new world, and with the portion a mixture strange, new, and wondrous. The things up to this point were types and shadows and riddles of this, but this is the truth and the renovation and renewal of the entire world (140). But 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 again from this as a portion, the beginning of a second world. But since they again attempted to ascend to heaven, and God had promised to no longer bring a flood nor kill all living flesh upon the earth, He again took a portion, Abraham, according to the election of faith, and scattered all the others throughout 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 did not become a first-fruit of carnal children, of a corruptible people, just as Noah then became, so that, when it was about to multiply and be destroyed, He might later take from it another first-fruit for the generation of another people, but He has become an immortal and ever-living first-fruit of spiritual children who are being reformed into His character, as the Apostle says: “Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ’s,” and elsewhere: “until Christ be formed in us.” For all those forefathers were mortal, but He who took the portion from the portion of the seed of Abraham and became the Son of God and the son of Adam himself, is incorruptible and immortal, not begetting carnally but re-creating spiritually.

And consider for me the manner of the re-creation. What is this? In paradise a woman came from a man, being the mother of all those born of the earth; but in the Church of the faithful, from a woman a man, Christ God, was born, the first-fruit and life of all who are reborn spiritually (141) through faith in Him. There was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which, when partaken of, became the cause of death for them; here is the wood of the cross, on which Christ, the second Adam and God, was nailed, His hands in place of the hands of Adam that touched, and His feet in place of the feet that walked in transgression. And Adam, having tasted from that tree, became the cause of death and a curse for his descendants; 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 bestowed a new life and enabled them to have a life equal to the angels in this world. There the tree of life was in the middle of paradise, which Adam was providentially not permitted to eat, but was cast out of paradise, for which reason the flaming sword was appointed to guard its entrance; here Christ was pierced in the side with a spear and turned that sword away and opened the entrance and planted the tree of life in the whole world; or rather, He has given us authority to plant it daily, and it grows abundantly and becomes for all who eat of it a cause of eternal life.

O the paradise now planted by Christ God! O new mystery and awesome wonders! For there, admittedly, were sensible and visible trees: Adam and Eve, the tree of knowledge itself, and also the tree of life, being different from this; but here the new Adam becomes all things together for the faithful: both delight and knowledge, not one that brings death and bars from the tree of life, but one that teaches what things must be duly answered to the serpent in words: “Get thee behind me, Satan,” it says, (142) and the rest; 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

60

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