Book IV.

Chapter I.—Concerning what followed the Resurrection.

After Christ was risen from the dead He laid aside all His passions, I mean His corruption or hunger or thirst or sleep or weariness or such like. For, although He did taste food after the resurrection847    ἄλογον; without Word, or, without Reason.    St. Luke xxiv. 43., yet He did not do so because it was a law of His nature (for He felt no hunger), but in the way of economy, in order that He might convince us of the reality of the resurrection, and that it was one and the same flesh which suffered and rose again848    Greg. Nyss., Catech., c. 1.    Theodor., Dial. 2; Greg. Naz., Orat. 49, Ep. 1 ad Cled.. But He laid aside none of the divisions of His nature, neither body nor spirit, but possesses both the body and the soul intelligent and reasonable, volitional and energetic, and in this wise He sits at the right hand of the Father, using His will both as God and as man in behalf of our salvation, energising in His divine capacity to provide for and maintain and govern all things, and remembering in His human capacity the time He spent on earth, while all the time He both sees and knows that He is adored by all rational creation. For His Holy Spirit knows that He is one in substance with God the Word, and shares as Spirit of God and not simply as Spirit the worship accorded to Him. Moreover, His ascent from earth to heaven, and again, His descent from heaven to earth, are manifestations of the energies of His circumscribed body. For He shall so come again to you, saith he, in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven849    In R. 2427 is added, ‘Who is the Son.’    Acts i. 11..

[Book IV] 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».