77

{ORTH.} In that passage concerning the bread of life, having gone through many arguments, he added these things also: "And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." And it is possible to see in these words both the munificence of the divinity and the gift of the flesh. {ERAN.} One testimony is not enough to resolve the dispute. {ORTH.} The Ethiopian eunuch did not read many scriptures, but having found one prophetic testimony, through it he was guided to salvation. But you, all the apostles and prophets, and those after them who became heralds of the truth, are not sufficient to persuade. But nevertheless I will bring you other testimonies concerning the Lord's body. You know that passage of the evangelical history, where after eating the Passover with the disciples, he showed the end of the typical lamb, and taught what body that shadow represented. {ERAN.} I know this history. {ORTH.} Then recall what the Lord took and broke, and what he said when he named what was taken. {ERAN.} For the sake of the uninitiated, I will speak more mystically. Taking and breaking and distributing to the disciples, he said: "This is my body which is given for you," or "broken," according to the apostle; and again: "This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many." {ORTH.} He did not, then, make mention of divinity when showing the type of the passion? {ERAN.} Indeed not. {ORTH.} But of body and blood? {ERAN.} True. {ORTH.} So was it a body that was nailed to the cross? {ERAN.} It seems so. {ORTH.} But let us examine this further. When after the resurrection the Lord entered to the holy disciples while the doors were shut, and he saw they were afraid, in what way did he dispel their fear, and instill faith instead of fear? 222 {ERAN.} He said to them: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." {ORTH.} So he showed his body to them who disbelieved? {ERAN.} Clearly. {ORTH.} Therefore, the body was raised? {ERAN.} It appears so. {ORTH.} And that which rose, had surely also died? {ERAN.} It seems so. {ORTH.} And that which had died, was that nailed to the cross? {ERAN.} Necessarily. {ORTH.} The body, then, suffered, according to your argument. {ERAN.} The train of the arguments compels me to say this. {ORTH.} Let us also consider it this way. I will ask again, and you answer truthfully. {ERAN.} I will answer. {ORTH.} When the all-holy Spirit came upon the apostles, and the paradoxical sight and sound gathered many myriads of people by that room, what did the first of the apostles, addressing them at that time, say about the Lord's resurrection. {ERAN.} He brought forward the divine David, and said that he had received promises from the God of all, that the Lord Christ would spring from the fruit of his loins; and having believed these, he foresaw prophetically his resurrection, and said expressly that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. {ORTH.} Therefore, the resurrection is of these things. {ERAN.} And how could anyone in his right mind speak of the resurrection of a soul that has not died? {ORTH.} You who say that the passion and the death and the resurrection belong to the immutable and uncircumscribable divinity, how have you suddenly appeared to us to be in your right mind, so as to refuse to apply the name of resurrection to the soul? 223 {ERAN.} Because the term resurrection is appropriate for what has fallen. {ORTH.} But the body does not receive the resurrection without the soul, but being remade by the divine will, and being joined to its partner, it receives life again. Or did the Lord not raise Lazarus in this way? {ERAN.} It is clear that not only the body is raised. {ORTH.} The divine Ezekiel teaches these things more clearly. For he shows how God commanded the bones to come together, and how each of them its own

77

{ΟΡΘ.} Ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χωρίῳ περὶ τοῦ ἄρτου τῆς ζωῆς πολλοὺς λόγους διεξελθὼν ἐπήγαγε καὶ ταῦτα· "Ὁ δὲ ἄρτος ὃν ἐγὼ δώσω, ἡ σάρξ μού ἐστιν, ἣν ἐγὼ δώσω ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωῆς." Καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις καὶ τὴν τῆς θεότητος φιλοτιμίαν καὶ τὴν δωρεὰν τῆς σαρκός. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐκ ἀπόχρη μαρτυρία μία τὴν ἀμφισβήτησιν λῦσαι. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὁ Αἰθίοψ εὐνοῦχος οὐ πολλὰς ἀνέγνω γραφάς, ἀλλὰ μίαν εὑρὼν προφητικὴν μαρτυρίαν δι' ἐκείνης ἐποδηγήθη πρὸς σωτηρίαν. Ὑμᾶς δὲ οὐχ ἱκανοὶ πεῖσαι πάντες ἀπόστολοι καὶ προφῆται, καὶ οἱ μετ' ἐκείνους τῆς ἀληθείας γενόμενοι κήρυκες. Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ ἑτέρας σοι περὶ τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ σώματος μαρτυρίας προσοίσω. Οἶσθα τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἱστορίας ἐκεῖνό γε τὸ χωρίον, ἔνθα τὸ πάσχα φαγὼν μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν ἔδειξε μὲν τοῦ τυπικοῦ προβάτου τὸ τέλος, ἐδί δαξε δὲ τῆς σκιᾶς ἐκείνης ποῖον ὑπάρχει σῶμα. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οἶδα τήνδε τὴν ἱστορίαν. {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐκοῦν ἀναμνήσθητι, τί μὲν ὁ κύριος λαβὼν ἔκλασε, τί δὲ τὸ ληφθὲν προσαγορεύσας εἴρηκεν. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τῶν ἀμυήτων ἕνεκα μυστικώτερον λέξω. Λαβὼν καὶ κλάσας καὶ τοῖς μαθηταῖς διανείμας ἔφη· "Τοῦτό μού ἐστι τὸ σῶμα τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον," ἢ "κλώμενον," κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον· καὶ πάλιν· "Τοῦτό μού ἐστι τὸ αἷμα τὸ τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκχυνόμενον." {ΟΡΘ.} Οὐ τοίνυν θεότητος ἐμνημόνευσε τοῦ πάθους τὸν τύπον ἐπιδεικνύς; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Οὐ δῆτα. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλὰ σώματός γε καὶ αἵματος; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀληθές. {ΟΡΘ.} Σῶμα ἄρα τῷ σταυρῷ προσηλώθη; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἔοικεν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἄταρ δὴ τόδε προσεξετάσωμεν. Ἡνίκα μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων πρὸς τοὺς ἁγίους ὁ δεσπότης εἰσελήλυθε μαθητάς, καὶ δείσαντας ἐθεάσατο, τίνι τρόπῳ τὸ δέος ἔλυσε, καὶ πίστιν ἀντὶ τοῦ δέους ἐνέθηκεν; 222 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· "Βλέπετε τὰς χεῖράς μου καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου, ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐγώ εἰμι· ψηλαφήσατέ με, καὶ ἴδετε, ὅτι πνεῦμα σάρκα καὶ ὀστέα οὐκ ἔχει, καθὼς ἐμὲ θεωρεῖτε ἔχοντα." {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ σῶμα τοίνυν αὐτοῖς ἀπιστοῦσιν ἐπέδειξεν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ῆλον. {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ σῶμα τοιγαροῦν ἐγήγερται; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Φαίνεται. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὃ δὲ ἀνέστη, τοῦτο δήπου καὶ ἐτεθνήκει; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἔοικεν. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὃ δέ γε ἐτεθνήκει, τοῦτο τῷ σταυρῷ προσηλώθη; {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀνάγκη. {ΟΡΘ.} Τὸ σῶμα ἄρα πέπονθε κατὰ τὸν σόν γε λόγον. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τοῦτο φάναι βιάζεται ὁ τῶν λόγων εἱρμός. {ΟΡΘ.} Σκοπήσωμεν δὲ καὶ ὡδί. Ἐγὼ δὲ πάλιν ἐρήσομαι, σὺ δὲ φιλαλήθως ἀπόκριναι. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ἀποκρινοῦμαι. {ΟΡΘ.} Ὁπηνίκα τὸ πανάγιον τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἐπεφοίτησε πνεῦμα, καὶ τὸ παράδοξον θέαμά τε καὶ ἄκουσμα πολλὰς ἀνθρώπων παρὰ τὸ δωμάτιον ἐκεῖνο μυριάδας συνήθροισε, τίνα τῶν ἀποστόλων ὁ πρῶτος τηνικαῦτα δημηγορῶν περὶ τῆς δεσποτικῆς εἴρηκεν ἀναστάσεως. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Τὸν θεσπέσιον ∆αβὶδ εἰς μέσον παρήγαγεν, ἔφη τε αὐτὸν ὑποσχέσεις παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων δεξάμενον, ὡς ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς ἐκ καρποῦ τῆς ὀσφύος αὐτοῦ βλαστήσει· καὶ ταύταις πεπι στευκότα, προϊδεῖν τε προφητικῶς αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, καὶ διαρρή δην εἰπεῖν, ὡς οὐκ ἐγκατελείφθη εἰς ᾅδου ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ, οὐδὲ ἡ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ εἶδε διαφθοράν. {ΟΡΘ.} Τούτων τοιγαροῦν ἡ ἀνάστασις. {ΕΡΑΝ.} Καὶ πῶς ἄν τις τῆς οὐ τεθνηκυίας ψυχῆς ἀνάστασιν εἴποι γε σωφρονῶν; {ΟΡΘ.} Οἱ τῆς ἀτρέπτου καὶ ἀπεριγράφου θεότητος καὶ τὸ πάθος καὶ τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν εἶναι λέγοντες, πῶς ἡμῖν ἐξαίφνης ἀνεφάνητε σώφρονες, ὡς παραιτεῖσθαι καὶ τῇ ψυχῇ προσάπτειν τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ὄνομα; 223 {ΕΡΑΝ.} Ὅτι τῷ πεπτωκότι πρόσφορον τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως πρόσ ρημα. {ΟΡΘ.} Ἀλλ' οὐ δίχα ψυχῆς τὸ σῶμα τυγχάνει τῆς ἀναστάσεως, νεουργούμενον δὲ τῷ θείῳ βουλήματι, καὶ τῇ ὁμόζυγι συναπτόμενον, ἀπολαμβάνει τὸ ζῆν. Ἢ οὐχ οὕτω τὸν Λάζαρον ὁ δεσπότης ἀνέστη σεν; {ΕΡΑΝ.} ∆ῆλον ὡς οὐ σῶμα μόνον ἀνίσταται. {ΟΡΘ.} Σαφέστερον ταῦτα διδάσκει ὁ θεῖος Ἰεζεκιήλ. Ἐπιδείκνυσι γὰρ ὅπως τε συνελθεῖν τὰ ὀστέα προσέταξεν ὁ θεός, καὶ ὅπως τούτων ἕκαστον τὴν οἰκείαν