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The things which the Gospel says happened—the hunger, the thirst, the nails, the piercing of the side, the death—did not happen in reality. But if it happened in appearance, the mystery of the economy is a delusion and a stage-play, and he became man in appearance and not in reality, and we have been saved in appearance and not in reality. But away with it, and may those who say these things be deprived of salvation. But we have obtained and shall obtain true salvation. But according to the second meaning of corruption, we confess the Lord's body to be incorruptible, that is, uncorrupted, as the God-bearing Fathers have handed down to us. However, after the resurrection of the Savior from the dead, we say the Lord's body is incorruptible, even according to the first meaning; for to our own body also the Lord has granted, through His own body, both the resurrection and the subsequent incorruptibility, He himself having become for us the first-fruits of the resurrection and of incorruptibility and of impassibility. "For this corruptible must put on incorruption," says the divine apostle.

73 Concerning the descent into Hades The deified soul descends into Hades, in order that,

just as the sun of righteousness rose for those on earth, so also the light might shine on those under the earth sitting in darkness and shadow of death; in order that, just as to those on earth he preached peace, release to the captives and sight to the blind, and became for those who believed the cause of eternal salvation, but for those who disobeyed a proof of their unbelief, so also to those in Hades; "that at his name every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth," and so, having loosed those who had been bound from eternity, he returned again from the dead, preparing for us the way of resurrection.

74 Concerning the things after the resurrection And after the resurrection from the dead all

the passions he laid aside, I mean corruption, hunger and thirst, sleep and weariness and such things. For though he tasted food after the resurrection, it was not by the law of nature (for he did not hunger), but by way of economy, confirming the truth of the resurrection, that it is the very same flesh that suffered and rose again; and he laid aside none of the parts of his nature, not the body, not the soul, but possesses both the body and the soul, rational and intelligent, willing and active, and so ascended into heaven and so sits at the right hand of the Father, willing and working our salvation both divinely and humanly, divinely indeed in the providence and preservation and governance of all things, but humanly remembering his sojourns on earth, both seeing and knowing that he is worshipped by all rational creation. For his holy soul knows that it is united hypostatically to God the Word, and is co-worshipped as the soul of God and not simply as a soul. And the ascending from earth to heaven and the descending again are activities of a circumscribed body; "For he shall so come again," he says, to you, "in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."

75 Concerning the session at the right hand of the Father And we say that Christ is seated bodily at the right hand of God and the Father, but we do not speak of a local right hand of the Father. For how could the uncircumscribed have a local right hand? For right and left belong to things that are circumscribed. But by the right hand of the Father we mean the glory and honor of the Godhead, in which the Son of God, existing before the ages as God and consubstantial with the Father, in the last days became incarnate and sits bodily, his flesh having been co-glorified; for he is worshipped with one worship with his flesh by all creation.

76 To those who say: If Christ has two natures, either you serve the creation by worshipping a created nature, or you say one nature is to be worshipped and one not to be worshipped The Son of God with the Father and the

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οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ γέγονεν, ἃ γεγονέναι φησὶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, τὴν πεῖναν, τὴν δίψαν, τοὺς ἥλους, τὴν τῆς πλευρᾶς νύξιν, τὸν θάνατον. Εἰ δὲ δοκήσει γέγονε, φενακισμὸς καὶ σκηνὴ τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον, καὶ δοκήσει καὶ οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ δοκήσει καὶ οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ σεσώσμεθα. Ἀλλ' ἄπαγε, καὶ οἱ ταῦτα λέγοντες τῆς σωτηρίας ἀμοιρείτωσαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τῆς ἀληθοῦς σωτηρίας ἐτύχομεν καὶ τευξόμεθα. Κατὰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον τῆς φθορᾶς σημαινόμενον ἄφθαρτον ἤτοι ἀδιάφθορον ὁμολογοῦμεν τὸ τοῦ κυρίου σῶμα, καθὼς ἡμῖν οἱ θεοφόροι πατέρες παραδεδώκασι. Μετὰ μέντοι τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον σημαινόμενον ἄφθαρτον τὸ τοῦ κυρίου σῶμά φαμεν· καὶ τῷ ἡμετέρῳ γὰρ σώματι τήν τε ἀνάστασιν καὶ τὴν μετὰ ταῦτα ἀφθαρσίαν ὁ κύριος διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου ἐδωρήσατο σώματος, αὐτὸς ἀπαρχὴ τῆς τε ἀναστάσεως καὶ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας καὶ τῆς ἀπαθείας ἡμῖν γενόμενος. «∆εῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν», φησὶν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος.

73 Περὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ καθόδου Κάτεισιν εἰς ᾅδην ψυχὴ τεθεωμένη, ἵνα,

ὥσπερ τοῖς ἐν γῇ ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀνέτειλεν ἥλιος, οὕτω καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ γῆν ἐν σκότει καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου καθημένοις ἐπιλάμψῃ τὸ φῶς· ἵνα, ὥσπερ τοῖς ἐν γῇ εὐηγγελίσατο εἰρήνην, αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν, καὶ τοῖς πιστεύσασι γέγονεν αἴτιος σωτηρίας αἰωνίου, τοῖς δὲ ἀπειθήσασιν ἔλεγχος ἀπιστίας, οὕτω καὶ τοῖς ἐν ᾅδου· «ἵνα αὐτῷ κάμψῃ πᾶν γόνυ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων», καὶ οὕτω τοὺς ἀπ' αἰῶνος λύσας πεπεδημένους αὖθις ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνεφοίτησεν ὁδοποιήσας ἡμῖν τὴν ἀνάστασιν.

74 Περὶ τῶν μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν Μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν πάντα

μὲν τὰ πάθη ἀπέθετο, φθορὰν λέγω πεῖνάν τε καὶ δίψαν, ὕπνον καὶ κάματον καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐγεύσατο βρώσεως μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ἀλλ' οὐ νόμῳ φύσεως (οὐ γὰρ ἐπείνασεν), οἰκονομίας δὲ τρόπῳ τὸ ἀληθὲς πιστούμενος τῆς ἀναστάσεως, ὡς αὐτή ἐστιν ἡ σὰρξ ἡ παθοῦσα καὶ ἀναστᾶσα· οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν τῆς φύσεως μερῶν ἀπέθετο, οὐ σῶμα, οὐ ψυχήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν λογικήν τε καὶ νοεράν, θελητικήν τε καὶ ἐνεργητικὴν κέκτηται, καὶ οὕτως εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνεφοίτησεν καὶ οὕτως ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ πατρὸς καθέζεται, θέλων θεϊκῶς τε καὶ ἀνθρωπίνως τὴν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν καὶ ἐνεργῶν, θεϊκῶς μὲν τὴν τῶν ὅλων πρόνοιάν τε καὶ συντήρησιν καὶ κυβέρνησιν, ἀνθρωπίνως δὲ μεμνημένος τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς διατριβῶν, ὁρῶν τε καὶ γινώσκων, ὡς ὑπὸ πάσης προσκυνεῖται τῆς λογικῆς κτίσεως. Γινώσκει γὰρ ἡ ἁγία αὐτοῦ ψυχή, ὅτι τε καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἥνωται τῷ θεῷ λόγῳ, καὶ συμπροσκυνεῖται ὡς θεοῦ ψυχὴ καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἁπλῶς ψυχή. Καὶ τὸ ἀναβῆναι δὲ ἐκ γῆς εἰς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὸ καταβῆναι πάλιν ἐνέργειαί εἰσι περιγραφομένου σώματος· «Οὕτως» γὰρ πάλιν «ἐλεύσεται», φησί, πρὸς ὑμᾶς, «ὃν τρόπον ἐθεάσασθε αὐτὸν πορευόμενον εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν». 75 Περὶ τῆς ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ πατρὸς καθέδρασ Ἐκ δεξιῶν δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς κεκαθικέναι φαμὲν τὸν Χριστὸν σωματικῶς, οὐ τοπικὴν δὲ δεξιὰν τοῦ πατρὸς λέγομεν. Πῶς γὰρ ὁ ἀπερίγραπτος τοπικὴν σχοίη δεξιάν; ∆εξιὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀριστερὰ τῶν περιγραφομένων εἰσί. ∆εξιὰν δὲ τοῦ πατρὸς λέγομεν τὴν δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν τῆς θεότητος, ἐν ᾗ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς πρὸ αἰώνων ὑπάρχων, ὡς θεὸς καὶ τῷ πατρὶ ὁμοούσιος, ἐπ' ἐσχάτων σαρκωθεὶς καὶ σωματικῶς κάθηται συνδοξασθείσης τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ· προσκυνεῖται γὰρ μιᾷ προσκυνήσει μετὰ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως. 76 Πρὸς τοὺς λέγοντας· Εἰ δύο φύσεις ὁ Χριστός, ἢ καὶ τῇ κτίσει λατρεύετε φύσιν κτιστὴν προσκυνοῦντες ἢ μίαν φύσιν προσκυνητὴν λέγετε καὶ μίαν ἀπροσκύνητον Τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ σὺν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ