Chapter XXVIII.—Concerning Corruption and Destruction.

The word corruption834    Leont. De sect., Act. 10, and Dial. cont. Aphthartodoc. has two meanings835    Anast. Sinait., Hodegus, p. 295.. For it signifies all the human sufferings, such as hunger, thirst, weariness, the piercing with nails, death, that is, the separation of soul and body, and so forth. In this sense we say that our Lord’s body was subject to corruption. For He voluntarily accepted all these things. But corruption means also the complete resolution of the body into its constituent elements, and its utter disappearance, which is spoken of by many preferably as destruction. The body of our Lord did not experience this form of corruption, as the prophet David says, For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine holy one to see corruption836    Ps. xvi. 10..

Wherefore to say, with that foolish Julianus and Gaïanus, that our Lord’s body was incorruptible, in the first sense of the word, before His resurrection is impious. For if it were incorruptible it was not really, but only apparently, of the same essence as ours, and what the Gospel tells us happened, viz. the hunger, the thirst, the nails, the wound in His side, the death, did not actually occur. But if they only apparently happened, then the mystery of the dispensation is an imposture and a sham, and He became man only in appearance, and not in actual fact, and we are saved only in appearance, and not in actual fact. But God forbid, and may those who so say have no part in the salvation837    Anast. Sinait., Hodegus, p. 293.. But we have obtained and shall obtain the true salvation. But in the second meaning of the word “corruption,” we confess that our Lord’s body is incorruptible, that is, indestructible, for such is the tradition of the inspired Fathers. Indeed, after the resurrection of our Saviour from the dead, we say that our Lord’s body is incorruptible even in the first sense of the word. For our Lord by His own body bestowed the gifts both of resurrection and of subsequent incorruption even on our own body, He Himself having become to us the firstfruits both of resurrection and incorruption, and of passionlessness838    1 Cor. xv. 20.. For as the divine Apostle says, This corruptible must put on incorruption839    Ibid. 53..

Περὶ φθορᾶς καὶ διαφθορᾶς

Τὸ τῆς φθορᾶς ὄνομα δύο σημαίνει. Σημαίνει γὰρ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ταῦτα πάθη: πεῖναν, δίψαν, κόπον, τὴν τῶν ἥλων διάτρησιν, θάνατον ἤτοι χωρισμὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα. Κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ σημαινόμενον φθαρτὸν τὸ τοῦ κυρίου σῶμά φαμεν: πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα ἑκουσίως ἀνέλαβε. Σημαίνει δὲ ἡ φθορὰ καὶ τὴν τελείαν τοῦ σώματος εἰς τά, ἐξ ὧν συνετέθη, στοιχεῖα διάλυσιν καὶ ἀφανισμόν: ἥτις μᾶλλον ὑπὸ πολλῶν διαφθορὰ λέγεταί τε καὶ ὀνομάζεται. Ταύτης πεῖραν τὸ τοῦ κυρίου σῶμα οὐκ ἔσχεν, ὥς φησιν ὁ προφήτης Δαυίδ: «Ὅτι οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς ᾅδου οὐδὲ δώσεις τὸν ὅσιόν σου ἰδεῖν διαφθοράν».

Ἄφθαρτον μὲν οὖν κατὰ τὸν ἄφρονα Ἰουλιανὸν καὶ Γαϊανὸν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ λέγειν κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον τῆς φθορᾶς σημαινόμενον πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀσεβές. Εἰ γὰρ ἄφθαρτον, οὐχ ὁμοούσιον ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ δοκήσει καὶ 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. «Δεῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν», φησὶν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος.