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of the wicked, is the final punishment and merciless judgment; for the judgment and punishment of this one corresponds to that state. 5.189 Let us come now also to the evangelists and apostles and show that they also, in agreement with the ancients, say that these two states alone have come from God: this first one, in which we now live, and the future one, to which all Christians look. Let us therefore portray Matthew, the first of the evangelists, speaking about such things. 5.190 This one, the first of the evangelists, wrote a Gospel; and a gospel is called a message of good things. When a persecution arose in Jerusalem, at the time they stoned Stephen, he himself, being about to leave Jerusalem, and when some of the faithful asked him to leave them a written teaching, approved of it and wrote down the Lord's life in the flesh on earth, purposing to teach them a model of a virtuous life, of heavenly conduct, and of a divinely-inspired way of life. Preserving this purpose, therefore, he begins his own writing, saying thus: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham," saying this: To you, O most faithful, I address my account of a paradoxical generation and an excellent way of life and heavenly conduct and a new state, I set forth for you a book. 5.191 Since God made promises to David and to Abraham that in their seed all the nations would be blessed, and that their seed would reign forever, I relate the generation of that very one from their seed, through whom God blesses and recreates the world and grants an eternal kingdom, how he is the author of a second state, having been conceived and born in a new way and having lived sinlessly in all righteousness and holiness. 5.192 For just as the first-formed man, Adam, was brought forth from earth not yet sown, nor tilled by man, by divine power, so also the author of the second state was brought forth from among men, as one might say, from virgin earth without seed, without a man, by the power of the Holy Spirit; and just as then the female was brought forth from the male, so also here the male was brought forth from the female; and just as that one, having been defeated by the devil, introduced death to the race, so also this one, having conquered, abolished death from the race and acquired for the race immortality and unending life. 5.193 Having the purpose to say these and such things, the blessed Matthew set forth his writing: how he was conceived without seed from the Holy Spirit, and that having advanced in age he lived sinlessly, fulfilling both the life according to the law and the evangelical life and all righteousness. And having been given over to the tempter, he was shown to be a victor, remaining undefeated and, outside the wrestling ground, out-throwing the adversary of human nature; then also, having been plotted against by the Jews and unjustly handed over to death, he accepts this too willingly on behalf of the race, that he might reasonably tear up the old bond, nailing it to the cross, and pay the death owed for all as a rational sacrifice, offering himself without blemish to God; then, finally, rising on the third day from the dead, he showed to all the destruction of death and exhorts all to rejoice, having now overthrown the power of death. 5.194 Matthew himself also makes mention of the ascension into heaven, if not at the end, yet at least in the writing itself, when he speaks about John the Baptist thus: "In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," as if to say: The dwelling place in the heavens is now ready to be revealed, with the coming of Christ; but also in the Beatitudes and in the entire writing he makes mention of the kingdom of heaven, and especially when to the Pharisees

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τὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν, ἐσχάτη τιμωρία καὶ κρίσις ἀνελεὴς τυγχάνει· ἀναλογεῖ γὰρ τῇ καταστάσει ἐκείνῃ καὶ ἡ ταύτης κρίσις καὶ τιμωρία. 5.189 Ἔλθωμεν λοιπὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς εὐαγγελιστὰς καὶ ἀποστόλους καὶ δείξωμεν καὶ αὐτοὺς συμφώνως τοῖς παλαιοῖς λέγοντας ταύτας καὶ μόνας τὰς δύο καταστάσεις παρὰ Θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι, ταύτην πρώτην, ἐν ᾗ καὶ διάγομεν νῦν, καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν, εἰς ἣν πάντες οἱ χριστιανοὶ ἀφορῶμεν. ∆ιαγράψωμεν οὖν τὸν πρῶτον τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν Ματθαῖον λέγοντα περὶ τῶν τοιούτων. 5.190 Οὗτος ὁ πρῶτος τῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν συγγραψάμενος Εὐαγγέλιον· εὐαγγέλιον δὲ λέγεται ἀγαθῶν πραγμάτων ἀγγελία. Οὗτος διωγμοῦ γενομένου ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις, ὅτε τὸν Στέφανον ἐλιθοβόλησαν, μέλλων καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα καταλιπεῖν, αἰτησάντων αὐτόν τινων τῶν πιστῶν ἔγγραφον αὐτοῖς διδασκαλίαν καταλιπεῖν, δοκιμάσας τὴν ἐν σαρκὶ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ γῆς διατριβὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἀνεγράψατο, εἰκόνα πολιτείας ἐναρέτου καὶ διαγωγῆς οὐρανίου καὶ ἐνθέου ἀναστροφῆς αὐτοὺς διδάξαι προθέμενος. Τοῦτον οὖν τὸν σκοπὸν ἀποσῴζων ἄρχεται τῆς ἑαυτοῦ συγγραφῆς λέγων οὕτως· "Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, υἱοῦ ∆αυΐδ, υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ", τοῦτο λέγων· Πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ὦ πιστότατοι, τὸν λόγον ποιούμενος παραδόξου γενέσεως καὶ ἀρίστης πολιτείας καὶ διαγωγῆς οὐρανίου καὶ καινοπρεποῦς καταστάσεως, ὑμῖν ἐκτίθεμαι βίβλον. 5.191 Ἐπειδήπερ πρὸς τὸν ∆αυῒδ καὶ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ὁ Θεὸς ἐπαγγελίας ἐποιήσατο ἐνευλογεῖσθαι διὰ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτῶν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ τὸ σπέρμα αὐτῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα βασιλεύειν, αὐτοῦ ἐκείνου τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν σπέρματος, δι' οὗ ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον εὐλογεῖ καὶ ἀνακτίζει καὶ βασι λείαν αἰώνιον χαρίζεται, τὴν γένεσιν διηγοῦμαι, ὅπως ἀρχηγός ἐστι δευτέρας καταστάσεως καινοπρεπῶς συλληφθεὶς καὶ τεχθεὶς καὶ ἐν πάσῃ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἁγιότητι ἀναμαρτήτως πολιτευσάμενος. 5.192 Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ πρωτόπλαστος ἄνθρωπος Ἀδὰμ ἐκ γῆς μήπω σπαρείσης, μηδὲ γεωργηθείσης παρὰ ἀνθρώπου, δυνάμει θείᾳ παρήχθη, οὕτως καὶ ὁ τῆς δευτέρας καταστάσεως ἀρχηγὸς ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι, ἐκ παρθένου γῆς ἀσπόρως, ἄνευ ἀνδρός, δυνάμει τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος παρήχθη· καὶ ὥσπερ πάλιν τότε τὸ θῆλυ ἐκ τοῦ ἄρρενος παρῆκται, οὕτως καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὸ ἄρρεν ἐκ τοῦ θήλεος παρῆκται· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος ἡττηθεὶς ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου τὸν θάνατον τῷ γένει παρεισήγαγεν, οὕτω καὶ οὗτος νικήσας τὸν θάνατον ἐκ τοῦ γένους κατήργησε καὶ τὴν ἀθανασίαν καὶ ζωὴν ἀτελεύτητον τῷ γένει προσεκτήσατο. 5.193 Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σκοπὸν ἔχων εἰπεῖν ὁ μακαρίτης Ματθαῖος ἐξέθετο τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γραφήν, ὅπως τε ἐγένετο συλληφθεὶς ἀσπόρως ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου, καὶ ὅτι προβὰς ἐν ἡλικίᾳ ἀναμαρτήτως ἐπολιτεύσατο, τήν τε κατὰ νόμον πολιτείαν καὶ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν καὶ πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην ἐπλήρωσε. Παραδοθεὶς δὲ καὶ τῷ πειράζοντι νικητὴς ἀπεφάνθη, ἀήττητος διαμείνας καὶ ἔξω τοῦ σκάμματος ὑπερακοντίσας τὸν ἀντίπαλον τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως· εἶτα καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐπιβουλευθεὶς καὶ παραδοθεὶς ἀδίκως εἰς θάνατον δέχεται καὶ τοῦτον ὑπὲρ τοῦ γένους ἑκοντί, ἵν' εὐλόγως τὸ παλαιὸν χειρόγραφον σχίσας τῷ σταυρῷ προσηλώσῃ καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ ἁπάντων ὀφειλόμενον θάνατον ὡς θυσία λογικὴ ἀποτίσῃ, ἑαυτὸν ἄμωμον προσενέγκας τῷ Θεῷ· τότε λοιπὸν τριήμερος ἀναστὰς ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν πᾶσιν ἔδειξε τοῦ θανάτου τὴν κατάλυσιν καὶ χαίρειν πᾶσι παρεγγυᾷ, τοῦ θανάτου λοιπὸν τὸ κράτος καθελών. 5.194 Μέμνηται δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς Ματθαῖος τῆς ἀνόδου τῆς εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐν τῷ τέλει, ἀλλ' οὖν γε ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ συγγραφῇ, ἡνίκα λέγει περὶ Ἰωάννου τοῦ Βαπτιστοῦ οὕτως· "Ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις παραγίνεται Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστὴς κηρύσσων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, λέγων· Μετανοεῖτε, ἤγγικε γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν", ἵνα εἴπῃ· Τὸ οἰκητήριον τὸ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς λοιπὸν ἕτοιμόν ἐστι, τοῦ Χριστοῦ παραγινομένου, ἀναδείκνυσθαι· ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς Μακαρισμοῖς καὶ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ συγγραφῇ μέμνηται βασιλείας οὐρανῶν, ἐξαιρέτως δέ, ὅτε πρὸς τοὺς φαρισαίους