65

and to grow flesh, and sinews, and skin. "And it came to pass, he says, when I prophesied, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone, each to its joint. And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh came up upon them, and the skin was stretched over them above." Then he teaches how the spirits, having been commanded from all sides, returned, and how when these were joined to those, the type of the future resurrection was prefigured. But if the prophets foretold these things even before the appearance of the Savior, what penalty would not those justly pay who, after the resurrection of the Savior and the preachings of the apostles, disbelieve the word of the resurrection? 20. -Concerning judgment. But how will the judgment be just, if, according to the argument of the unbelievers, the bodies are by no means raised, but the souls alone are made to pay the penalties for their sins? For it is not just for the soul, having sinned with the body—and through the eyes having admitted both envy and improper desires, and through the ears having been charmed by lawless words, and through each part of the body having received certain not-good incitements—to pay the penalty for its sins alone, and to endure this, not for some short time, but for infinite ages? For we have been taught this by the divine Scripture. "For these, he says, shall go away into eternal life, and these into eternal punishment and shame." And how, on the other hand, is it holy for the souls of the saints alone to enjoy the promised good things, when they have accomplished virtue with their bodies? For the eyes pour forth tears of compunction, the ears convey the divine oracles to the soul, the tongue both hymns the benefactor and continually offers prayer, the hands minister to the care of the needy, and 83.520 the feet now run to houses of prayer, now endure standing in prayers, and a very great amount of labor. How then is it just for the body, which gathered the wealth of virtue with the soul, to be dust and cast aside, while the soul alone is proclaimed as victorious? But if this is cruel, it is just, then, for the bodies to be raised first, and then for them jointly to render an account of their lives. For the divine Apostle also said this. "For we shall all, he says, stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad." And the blessed David speaks in harmony: "For you will render to every man according to his works." Pythagoras, then, invented the myth of the transmigrations of souls, saying that they pass not only into the bodies of irrational animals, but also into plants. And Plato also followed this myth in some such way. From this, Manes, and before him, the impious band of those called Gnostics, taking their starting-points, said this was punishment. But the all-defiled Carpocrates and Epiphanes, and Prodicus, and the Cainites, legislating a swinish life, said that souls are sent into other bodies, so that through lust and all licentiousness, they might serve each of the world-making angels. But the Church of the pious abominates these and such myths, and following the divine oracles, believes that the bodies are raised, and with them the souls are judged, and that those who have lived in wickedness are punished, while those who have cared for virtue obtain the ineffable things.

65

καὶ σάρκα φῦσαι, καὶ νεῦρα, καὶ δέρματα. "Καὶ ἐγένετο, φησὶν, ἐν τῷ ἐμὲ προφητεῦσαι, καὶ ἰδοὺ σει σμὸς, καὶ προσήγαγεν ὀστᾶ, ὀστέον πρὸς ὀστέον, ἕκαστον πρὸς ἁρμονίαν αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐπεγένοντο αὐτοῖς νεῦρα, καὶ σάρκες ἀνεφύοντο, καὶ ἀνέβαινον ἐπ' αὐτὰ, καὶ περιετάθη ἐπ' αὐτοῖς δέρμα ἐπάνωθεν." Εἶτα διδάσκει, πῶς κελευσθέντα πανταχόθεν ἐπανῆλθε τὰ πνεύματα, καὶ ὡς τούτων τούτοις συναφθέντων, ὁ τῆς μελλούσης ἀναστάσεως προδιεγράφη τύπος. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐπιφανείας ταῦτα προὔλεγον οἱ προφῆται, ποίαν οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως τίσαιεν δίκην οἱ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἀνάστασιν, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἀπο στόλων κηρύγματα, διαπιστοῦντες τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀναστάσεως; Κʹ. -Περὶ κρίσεως. Πῶς δὲ καὶ ἡ κρίσις ἐνδίκως γενήσεται, ἥκιστα μὲν τῶν σωμάτων κατὰ τὸν τῶν ἀπίστων λόγον ἀν ισταμένων, μόνων δὲ τῶν ψυχῶν εἰσπραττομένων τὰς τῶν πεπλημμελημένων εὐθύνας; Οὐδὲ γὰρ δίκαιον, τὴν μετὰ σώματος ἡμαρτηκυῖαν ψυχὴν, καὶ διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ φθόνον, καὶ πόθους ἐκτόπους εἰσδεξα μένην, διὰ δὲ τῶν ἀκοῶν λόγοις παρανόμοις κατα θελχθεῖσαν, καὶ δι' ἑκάστου μορίου τοῦ σώματος ἐρεθισμούς τινας οὐκ ἀγαθοὺς δεξαμένην, μόνην εἰσπράττεσθαι τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν πεπλημμελημένων ποι νὴν, καὶ τοῦτο ὑπομένειν, οὐκ ἐν σμικρῷ τινι χρόνῳ, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀπείροις αἰῶσιν; τοῦτο γὰρ ὑπὸ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς ἐδιδάχθημεν. "Οὗτοι γὰρ ἀπελεύσονται, φησὶν, εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, καὶ οὗτοι εἰς κόλασιν καὶ αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον." Πῶς δ' αὖ πάλιν ὅσιον, τὰς τῶν ἁγίων ψυχὰς μόνας τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύειν μετὰ τῶν σωμάτων κατωρθωκυίας τὴν ἀρετήν; Ὀφθαλμοὶ μὲν γὰρ τὰ τῆς κατανύξεως προχέουσι δάκρυα, αἱ δὲ ἀκοαὶ τὰ θεῖα λόγια διαπορ θμεύουσι τῇ ψυχῇ, ἡ δὲ γλῶττα καὶ ὑμνεῖ τὸν εὐερ γέτην καὶ διηνεκῶς προσφέρει τὴν προσευχὴν, αἱ δὲ χεῖρες ὑπουργοῦσι τῇ θεραπείᾳ τῶν δεομένων, καὶ 83.520 οἱ πόδες νῦν μὲν εἰς εὐκτηρίους θέουσιν οἴκους, νῦν δὲ στάσιν ἐν προσευχαῖς, καὶ πλεῖστον ὅσον ὑπομέ νουσι πόνον. Πῶς οὖν δίκαιον, τὸ σῶμα μετὰ τῆς ψυχῆς συναθροῖσαν τὸν πλοῦτον τῆς ἀρετῆς, κόνιν εἶναι καὶ παρεῤῥίφθαι, μόνην δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν ὡς νικη φόρον ἀνακηρύττεσθαι; Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο σχέτλιον, δίκαιον ἄρα πρότερον ἀναστῆναι τὰ σώματα, εἶθ' οὕτως κοινῇ δοῦναι τὰς τῶν πεπολιτευμένων εὐθύνας. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ θεῖος εἶπεν Ἀπόστολος. "Πάντες γὰρ, φησὶ, παραστησόμεθα τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χρι στοῦ, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, εἴτε ἀγαθὸν, εἴτε κακόν." Συνῳδὰ δὲ λέγει καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αβίδ· "Ὅτι σὺ ἀποδώσεις ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ." Πυθαγόρας μὲν οὖν τὰς μετενσωματώσεις ἐμυθολόγησε τῶν ψυχῶν, οὐκ εἰς ἀλόγων σώματα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς φυτὰ με ταβαίνειν ταύτας εἰπών. Ἠκολούθησε δὲ οὕτω πως καὶ ὁ Πλάτων τῷδε τῷ μύθῳ. Ἐντεῦθεν ὁ Μάνης, καὶ πρό γε τούτου, ὁ τῶν καλουμένων Γνωστικῶν δυσσεβὴς ὁρμαθὸς, τὰς ἀφορμὰς εἰληφότες, ταύτην ἔφασαν εἶναι κόλασιν. Οἱ δὲ παμμίαροι, Καρποκρά της καὶ Ἐπιφάνης, καὶ Πρόδικος, καὶ οἱ Καϊηνοὶ, τὸν συώδη βίον νομοθετοῦντες, εἶπον εἰς σώματα μεταπέμπεσθαι τὰς ψυχὰς, ὥστε διὰ λαγνείας, καὶ πάσης ἀκολασίας, τῶν κοσμοποιῶν ἀγγέλων ἕκαστον θεραπεῦσαι. Ἡ δὲ τῶν εὐσεβῶν Ἐκκλησία τούτους μὲν καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους μύθους μυσάττεται, τοῖς δὲ θείοις ἑπομένη λόγοις, ἀνίστασθαι πιστεύει τὰ σώ ματα, καὶ σὺν τούτοις κρίνεσθαι τὰς ψυχὰς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν κακίᾳ συνεζηκότας κολάζεσθαι, τοὺς δὲ ἀρετῆς πεφροντικότας τυγχάνειν τῶν ἀναῤῥήσεων.