63
but light itself. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." And: "As many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death; so that just as Christ was raised through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall certainly be united with him in his resurrection." The divine Apostle has taught us to think these things about the all-holy baptism, that being buried with Christ, we shall share in his resurrection. But more mystical words are needed here; besides, having written twelve mystical discourses, we shall refer the lovers of learning to them, but we shall make an examination of the remaining chapters. XIX. -On the resurrection. Thus, in celebrating the mystery of baptism, we receive the hope of the resurrection, and we await the resurrection of bodies. For the name itself indicates this. For resurrection (anastasis) is a standing up again (anothen stasis). The body is that which is corrupted and dissolved, and turned into dust. "For," it says, "his spirit shall go forth, and he shall return to his dust." And again: "You will take away their spirit, and they will fail and return to their dust." And the Creator himself said to Adam, that "You are earth, and to earth you shall return." Therefore, the re-constitution of this from above is rightly called resurrection. For of the immortal soul, there is not a resurrection, but a return to the body. 83.513 But Marcion, and Cerdon, and Manes, and all who did not accept the resurrection of bodies, cast out this life as utterly impossible. For just as they thought that God could not create without matter, so they thought him least able to bring back again to its former form that which was once dissolved, and changed into a little dust, and consumed by time. And yet they themselves say that God, having taken one clod from the earth, formed man. And they ought to have understood that, just as God of all then most easily changed that clod into a body and made many different members, so it is easy for him from these few remains to construct the substance of the body. For we see this even now happening in the womb according to the ancient creation. For from the small matter of the seed, bones grow, and membranes, and nerves, and veins, and arteries, and skin, and fat, and flesh, and all the other things of which the body is composed. For nature proceeds according to the divine decree, and like a sculptor, forms the living statue, and neither the smallness of the matter, nor the narrowness of the place, nor the surrounding darkness constrains the creation. It is therefore the greatest folly to disbelieve what is seen, and especially when God promises. For Christ himself has said that, "Those in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who have done good will come out to a resurrection of life; but those who have done evil, to a resurrection of judgment." But no one in their right mind would say that souls pass their time in the tombs; for the bodies lie in them. And the Lord, rebuking the Sadducees who did not accept the doctrine of the resurrection, said these things: "Concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? And he added: He is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And he said to Martha: "Your brother will rise." And she, having been taught this from the Old Scripture, answered: "I know that my brother will rise in the resurrection, on the last day." Then the Lord, taking up, said: "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die
63
δὲ αὐτὸ φῶς. "Ὅσοι γὰρ εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐν εδύσασθε." Καί· "Ὅσοι εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτί σθημεν, εἰς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ ἐβαπτίσθημεν· ἵνα ὥσπερ ἠγέρθη Χριστὸς διὰ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Πατρὸς, οὕτω καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατήσωμεν. Εἰ γὰρ σύμφυτοι γεγό ναμεν τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐσόμεθα." Ταῦτα φρονεῖν ἡμᾶς περὶ τοῦ παναγίου βαπτίσματος ἐδίδαξεν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπό στολος, ὅτι συνθαπτόμενοι τῷ Χριστῷ, τῆς ἀναστά σεως κοινωνήσομεν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ μυστικωτέρων δεῖ λόγων ἐνταῦθα· ἄλλως τε δέκα καὶ δύο λόγους συγ γράψαντες μυστικοὺς, εἰς ἐκεῖνα τοὺς φιλομαθεῖς ἀναπέμψομεν, ἡμεῖς δὲ τῶν λειπομένων κεφαλαίων ποιησόμεθα τὴν ἐξέτασιν. ΙΘʹ. -Περὶ ἀναστάσεως. Οὕτω τελοῦντες τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ βαπτίσματος, τὴν περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐλπίδα δεχόμεθα, ἀνάστασιν δὲ σω μάτων περιμένομεν. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἡ προσηγορία δη λοῖ. Ἀνάστασις γὰρ ἡ ἄνωθεν στάσις. Τὸ σῶμα δέ ἐστι τὸ φθειρόμενον καὶ διαλυόμενον, καὶ εἰς χοῦν μεταβαλ λόμενον. "Ἐξελεύσεται γὰρ, φησὶ, τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπιστρέψει εἰς τὸν χοῦν αὑτοῦ." Καὶ πάλιν· "Ἀντ ανελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐκλείψουσιν καὶ εἰς τὸν χοῦν αὑτῶν ἐπιστρέψουσι." Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Ποιητὴς πρὸς τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἔφη, ὅτι "Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπ ελεύσῃ." Τούτου τοίνυν ἡ ἄνωθεν σύστασις, εἰκότως καλεῖται ἀνάστασις. Τῆς γὰρ δὴ ἀθανάτου ψυχῆς οὐκ ἀνάστασις, ἀλλ' ἐπάνοδος γίγνεται πρὸς τὸ σῶμα. 83.513 Μαρκίων δὲ, καὶ Κέρδων, καὶ ὁ Μάνης, καὶ ὅσοι τῶν σωμάτων οὐκ ἐδέξαντο τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ὡς ἀδύνατον παντελῶς τόνδε τὸν βίον ἐξέβαλον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ᾠήθησαν ὕλης δίχα μὴ δύνασθαι δημιουργεῖν τὸν Θεὸν, οὕτως αὐτὸν ἐνόμισαν ἥκιστα δύνασθαι τὸ καθάπαξ διαλυθὲν, καὶ εἰς κόνιν ὀλίγην μεταβληθὲν, καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ δαπανηθὲν, εἰς τὴν προτέραν ἐπαν αγαγεῖν αὖθις ἰδέαν. Καὶ μὴν καὶ αὐτοί φασι μίαν βῶλον ἐκ τῆς γῆς τὸν Θεὸν εἰληφότα διαπλᾶσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Καὶ ἐχρῆν συνιδεῖν, ὅτι καθάπερ τότε τὴν βῶλον ἐκείνην ῥᾷστα εἰς σῶμα μετέβαλεν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς, καὶ πολλὰ καὶ διάφορα πεποίηκε μόρια, οὕτως αὐτῷ ῥᾴδιον ἐκ τῶν ὀλίγων τούτων λειψάνων τὴν οὐσίαν κατασκευάσαι τοῦ σώματος. Τοῦτο γὰρ δὴ καὶ νῦν κατὰ παλαιὰν δημιουργίαν ὁρῶμεν ἐν τῇ μήτρᾳ γιγνόμενον. Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς ὀλίγης ὕλης τοῦ σπέρματος, καὶ ὀστᾶ φύεται, καὶ ὑμένες, καὶ νεῦ ρα, καὶ φλέβες, καὶ ἀρτηρίαι, καὶ δέρμα, καὶ πιμε λὴ, καὶ σάρκες, καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ἐξ ὧν τὸ σῶμα συνέστηκε. Κατὰ γὰρ δὴ τὸν θεῖον ὅρον ἡ φύσις ὁδεύει, καὶ οἷόν τις ἀγαλματοποιὸς, τὸ ἔμψυχον ἄγαλμα διαπλάττει, καὶ οὔτε ἡ τῆς ὕλης σμικρότης, οὔτε ἡ τοῦ χωρίου στενότης, οὔτε ὁ περικείμενος ζόφος τὴν δημιουργίαν περιέχει. Ἀνοίας τοίνυν ἐσχάτης τὸ τοῖς ὁρωμένοις διαπιστεῖν, καὶ μάλιστα ὑπισχνουμένου Θεοῦ. Αὐτὸς γὰρ εἴρηκεν ὁ Χριστὸς, ὅτι "Ἀκούσονται οἱ ἐν τοῖς μνημείοις τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐξελεύσονται οἱ τὰ ἀγαθὰ ποιήσαντες εἰς ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς· οἱ δὲ τὰ φαῦ λα πράξαντες, εἰς ἀνάστασιν κρίσεως." Ἐν δὲ τοῖς μνημείοις οὐ τὰς ψυχὰς διάγειν εἴποι τις ἂν εὖ φρο νῶν· τὰ σώματα γὰρ ἐν τούτοις κατάκεινται. Καὶ τοῖς Σαδδουκαίοις δὲ οὐ προσιεμένοις τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λόγον ἐπιτιμῶν ὁ Κύριος, ἔφη ταῦτα· "Περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τῶν νεκρῶν οὐκ ἀν έγνωτε τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, λέγοντος, Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακώβ; Καὶ ἐπήγαγεν· Οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ Θεὸς, Θεὸς νε κρῶν, ἀλλὰ ζώντων." Καὶ τῇ Μάρθᾳ δὲ ἔφη· "Ἀνα στήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός σου." Ἐκείνη δὲ ἐκ τῆς Πα λαιᾶς τοῦτο δεδιδαγμένη Γραφῆς, ἀπεκρίνατο· "Οἶδα ὅτι ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός μου ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει, ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ." Εἶτα ὑπολαβὼν ὁ Κύριος, εἶπεν· "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή· ὁ πι στεύων εἰς ἐμὲ, κἂν ἀποθάνῃ