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did the devil enslave human nature? {ERAN.} Through sin he took captive the one who had become a citizen of paradise. {ORTH.} And what penalty did God decree for the transgression of the commandment? {ERAN.} Death. {ORTH.} Therefore, sin is the mother of death, and the devil is its father. {ERAN.} True. {ORTH.} Human nature, therefore, was assailed by this. For this, enslaving those who obeyed, both led them to the all-wicked father, and delivered them to the most bitter offspring. {ERAN.} It appears so. {ORTH.} With good reason, then, the Creator, wishing to destroy both powers, assumed the nature that was assailed by them, and keeping it uninitiated into all sin, he declared it free from the tyranny of the devil, and through it he destroyed the power of death. For since death was the punishment of those who had sinned, but the Lord's body had no stain of sin, which death 206 unjustly seized contrary to the divine law, He first raised that which was unlawfully held, and then He promised release to those who were justly imprisoned. {ERAN.} And how does it seem just to you that the bodies justly delivered over to death should share in the resurrection of the one unlawfully held? {ORTH.} And how does it seem just to you that, since Adam transgressed the commandment, the race followed its forefather? {ERAN.} Even if the race did not share in that transgression, yet it committed other sins, and for this reason it partook of death. {ORTH.} And yet not only sinners, but also the just and patriarchs and prophets and apostles and those who shone in various forms of virtue have fallen under the snares of death. {ERAN.} For how is it possible for those who sprang from mortal fathers to remain immortal? For Adam, after the transgression and the divine sentence, being under the power of death, knew his wife, and was called a father. Having become mortal, therefore, he became the father of mortals. With good reason, therefore, all who have received a mortal nature follow their forefather. {ORTH.} You have shown us perfectly the cause of our participation in death. This very same thing, therefore, must be granted also in the case of the resurrection. For the remedy must be suitable to the disease. For just as when the progenitor was condemned, the whole race was condemned with him, so when the Savior broke the curse, nature enjoyed freedom. And just as those who shared his nature followed Adam when he descended into Hades, so all human nature will share in the revival of the Lord Christ when he rose. {ERAN.} The dogmas of the church must be stated demonstratively, not declaratively. Show, therefore, that the divine scripture teaches these things. {ORTH.} Hear the apostle writing to the Romans and through them teaching all men these things: "For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. 207 For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." And again: "Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." And to the Corinthians, offering his discourse on the resurrection, he reveals to them in summary the mystery of the economy, and

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διάβολος ἐξηνδραπόδισε τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ιὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας αἰχμάλωτον ἔλαβε τὸν τοῦ παραδείσου καταστάντα πολίτην. {ΟΡΘ.} Τίνα δὲ τῇ τῆς ἐντολῆς παραβάσει ζημίαν ὥρισεν ὁ θεός; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Θάνατον. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν μήτηρ μὲν τοῦ θανάτου ἡ ἁμαρτία, ταύτης δὲ πατὴρ ὁ διάβολος. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὑπὸ ταύτης οὖν ἐπολεμεῖτο τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις. Αὕτη γὰρ δουλουμένη τοὺς πειθομένους καὶ τῷ παμπονήρῳ προσῆγε πατρί, καὶ παρέπεμπε τῷ πικροτάτῳ κυήματι. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Φαίνεται. {ΟΡΘ.} Εἰκότως ἄρα ὁ ποιητὴς ἑκατέραν δυναστείαν καταλῦσαι θελήσας τὴν ὑπὸ τούτων πολεμουμένην ἀνέλαβε φύσιν, καὶ πάσης αὐτὴν ἁμαρτίας διατηρήσας ἀμύητον καὶ τῆς τοῦ διαβόλου τυραννίδος ἐλευθέραν ἀπέφηνε, καὶ τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κράτος διὰ ταύτης κατέλυσεν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τιμωρία τῶν ἡμαρτηκότων ὁ θάνατος ἦν, τὸ δὲ σῶμα τὸ κυριακὸν οὐκ ἔχον ἁμαρτίας κηλῖδα ὃ παρὰ τὸν θεῖον νόμον ὁ θάνατος 206 ἀδίκως ἐξήρπασεν, ἀνέστησε μὲν πρῶτον τὸ παρανόμως κατασχεθέν, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐνδίκως καθειργμένοις ὑπέσχετο τὴν ἀπαλλαγήν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ πῶς δίκαιον εἶναί σοι δοκεῖ τὰ δικαίως τῷ θανάτῳ παραδοθέντα σώματα τῷ παρανόμως κατασχεθέντι κοινωνῆσαι τῆς ἀναστάσεως; {ΟΡΘ.} Σοὶ δὲ πῶς εἶναι δίκαιον φαίνεται, τοῦ Ἀδὰμ παραβεβη κότος τὴν ἐντολήν, ἀκολουθῆσαι τῷ προγόνῳ τὸ γένος; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Εἰ καὶ μὴ τῆς παραβάσεως ἐκείνης ἐκοινώνησε τὸ γένος, ἀλλ' οὖν ἑτέρας ἁμαρτάδας ἐξήμαρτε, καὶ τούτου χάριν τοῦ θανάτου μετέλαβεν. {ΟΡΘ.} Καὶ μὴν οὐχ ἁμαρτωλοὶ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ δίκαιοι καὶ πατριάρ χαι καὶ προφῆται καὶ ἀπόστολοι καὶ οἱ ἐν διαφόροις εἴδεσιν ἀρετῆς διαλάμψαντες ὑπὸ τὰς ἄρκυς τοῦ θανάτου γεγένηνται. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Πῶς γὰρ οἷόν τε ἀθανάτους διαμεῖναι τοὺς ἐκ θνητῶν πατέρων βλαστήσαντας; Ὁ γὰρ Ἀδὰμ μετὰ τὴν παράβασιν καὶ τὴν θείαν ἀπόφασιν ὑπὸ τὴν τοῦ θανάτου δυναστείαν τελέσας ἔγνω τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ πατὴρ ἐχρημάτισεν. Θνητὸς τοίνυν γεγονὼς θνητῶν κατέστη πατήρ. Εἰκότως τοίνυν ἅπαντες θνητὴν εἰληφότες φύσιν ἕπονται τῷ προπάτορι. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἄριστα ἡμῖν τῆς τοῦ θανάτου κοινωνίας τὴν αἰτίαν ἀπέδει ξας. Ταὐτὸ τοίνυν τοῦτο δοτέον καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως. Χρὴ γὰρ πρόσφορον εἶναι τῷ πάθει τὸ φάρμακον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῦ γενάρχου κατακριθέντος ἅπαν συγκατεκρίθη τὸ γένος, οὕτως τοῦ σωτῆρος λύσαντος τὴν ἀράν, ἀπήλαυσεν τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἡ φύσις. Καὶ καθάπερ κατελθόντι τῷ Ἀδὰμ εἰς τὸν ᾅδην ἠκολούθησαν οἱ μετασχόντες τῆς φύσεως, οὕτως ἀναστάντι τῷ δεσπότῃ Χριστῷ κοινωνήσει τῆς ἀνα βιώσεως πᾶσα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀποδεικτικῶς οὐκ ἀποφαντικῶς χρὴ λέγειν τῆς ἐκκλη σίας τὰ δόγματα. ∆εῖξον τοίνυν ταῦτα διδάσκουσαν τὴν θείαν γραφήν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἄκουσον τοῦ ἀποστόλου Ῥωμαίοις γράφοντος καὶ ταῦτα δι' ἐκείνων πάντας ἀνθρώπους διδάσκοντος· "Εἰ γὰρ τῷ τοῦ ἑνὸς παραπτώματι οἱ πολλοὶ ἀπέθανον, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἡ δωρεὰ ἐν χάριτι τῇ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐπερίσσευσεν, καὶ οὐχ ὡς δι' ἑνὸς ἁμαρτήσαντος τὸ δώρημα. 207 Τὸ μὲν γὰρ κρῖμα ἐξ ἑνὸς εἰς κατάκριμα, τὸ δὲ χάρισμα ἐκ πολλῶν παραπτωμάτων εἰς δικαίωμα. Εἰ γὰρ τῷ τοῦ ἑνὸς παραπτώματι ὁ θάνατος ἐβασίλευσε διὰ τοῦ ἑνός, πολλῷ μᾶλλον οἱ τὴν περισσείαν τῆς χάριτος καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς καὶ τῆς δικαιοσύνης λαμβάνοντες, ἐν ζωῇ βασιλεύσουσι διὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ." Καὶ πάλιν· "Ἄρα οὖν, ὡς δι' ἑνὸς παραπτώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς κατάκριμα, οὕτως καὶ δι' ἑνὸς δικαιώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς δικαίωσιν ζωῆς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἁμαρτωλοὶ κατεστάθησαν οἱ πολλοί, οὕτως καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς τοῦ ἑνὸς δίκαιοι κατασταθήσονται οἱ πολλοί." Καὶ Κορινθίοις δὲ τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀναστά σεως προσφέρων λόγον, ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας αὐτοῖς ἀποκαλύπτει μυστήριον, καί