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that I lay down my life for the sheep. And again; Now is my soul troubled And again; My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death. And concerning the body he says; And the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And having delivered the divine mysteries, and having broken and distributed the symbol, he added; This is my body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins. And again; This is my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. And again; Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. And; He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life in himself. And it is possible to find countless other such things, both in the Old and in the New [Testament], showing the assumption of both the body and the soul, and how he traces his lineage in these things from Abraham and David. And Joseph of Arimathea, having approached Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus. And the tetrad of the holy Gospels teaches us explicitly, both how he took the body, and how he wrapped it in the linen cloth, and how he delivered it to the tomb. But I lament and grieve, that the proofs which I formerly offered to those who had received the plague of Marcion—and having persuaded more than ten thousand through divine grace I brought to the all-holy baptism—, this sickness which has now attacked compels me to offer to those who are considered to be of the same faith. For what dispute has ever arisen concerning these things among those nourished by the Church? And which of the holy Fathers did not offer this teaching? For the writings of the great Basil are full of this, and those of his fellow-combatants Gregory and Amphilochius, and of those who were eminent in the West in the teaching of grace, Damasus of great Rome, and Ambrose of Milan, and Cyprian of Carthage, who also received the crown of martyrdom for these very doctrines. That much-celebrated Athanasius was driven from the flock five times, and was compelled to live in exile. And Alexander, his teacher, also contended for these doctrines. And Eustathius, and Meletius, and Flavian, the luminaries of the East, and Ephrem, the lyre of the Spirit, who waters the Syrian nation daily with the streams of grace, and John and Atticus, the loud-voiced heralds of the truth; and those still more ancient than these, Ignatius and Polycarp, and Irenaeus, and Justin, and Hippolytus, the greater part of whom not only shine forth as high priests, but also adorn the choir of the martyrs. And indeed also he who now directs great Rome, and extends the rays of the orthodox doctrines everywhere from the West, the most holy Leo, has offered to us this character of the faith through his own doctrines. All these clearly taught, that the one Son is the only-begotten of God, Son and God, begotten from the Father ineffably before the ages; and that after the incarnation he was also called Son of man and man, not having been changed into this—for he has an unchangeable nature—, but having assumed what is ours; and that he himself was both impassible, and immortal as God, and mortal and passible as man; but after the resurrection, also according to his humanity, he received both impassibility and immortality. For even if the body has remained a body, yet it is impassible and immortal, and truly a divine body, and glorified with divine glory; and the blessed Paul clearly taught us this; For our citizenship, he says, is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our lowliness, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory. And he did not say 'to his glory', but 'to the body of his glory'. And the Lord himself also having said to the apostles; There are some of those standing here, who shall not taste
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ὅτι ἐγὼ τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν μου ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων . Καὶ πάλιν· Νῦν ἡ ψυχή μου τετάρακται Καὶ αὖθις· Περίλυπός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή μου ἕως θανά του . Καὶ περὶ τοῦ σώματος δέ φησιν· Ὁ δὲ ἄρτος ὃν ἐγὼ δώσω, ἡ σάρξ μου ἐστίν, ἣν ἐγὼ δώσω ὑπὲρ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου ζωῆς . Καὶ τὰ θεῖα δὲ παραδοὺς μυστήρια, καὶ τὸ σύμβολον κλάσας καὶ διανείμας, ἐπήγαγε· Τοῦτό μου ἐστὶ τὸ σῶμα, τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν θρυπτόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν . Καὶ πάλιν· Τοῦτό μου ἐστὶ τὸ αἷμα, τὸ ὑπὲρ πολλῶν ἐκχυνόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν . Καὶ αὖθις· Ἂν μὴ φάγητε τὴν σάρκα τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀν θρώπου, καὶ πίητε αὐτοῦ τὸ αἷμα, οὐκ ἔχετε ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς . Καί· Ὁ ἐσθίων μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα ἔχει ζωὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ αἰώνιον . Καὶ ἕτερα δὲ τοιαῦτα μυρία ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, κἀν τῇ Παλαιᾷ κἀν τῇ Καινῇ, καὶ τοῦ σώματος καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς δεικνύντα τὴν πρόσληψιν, καὶ ὡς ἐξ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ∆αβὶδ ἕλκει ταῦτα τὸ γένος. Καὶ Ἰωσὴφ δὲ ὁ Ἀριμαθαῖος τῷ Πιλάτῳ προσελθών, ᾔτησε τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Καὶ διδάσκει ἡμᾶς διαρρήδην τῶν ἱερῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἡ τετρακτύς, ὅπως τε ἔλαβε τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ὅπως ἐνείλησε τῇ σινδόνι, καὶ ὅπως τῷ τάφῳ παρέδωκεν. Ἐγὼ δὲ θρηνῶ καὶ ὀδύρομαι, ὅτι ἃς πρώην τοῖς τὴν Μαρ κίωνος λύμην εἰσδεξαμένοις προσέφερον ἀποδείξεις-καὶ πλείους ἢ μυρίους διὰ τῆς θείας χάριτος πείσας προσήγαγον τῷ παναγίῳ βαπτίσματι-, ταύτας νῦν τοῖς νομισθεῖσιν ὁμο πίστοις ἡ ἐπισκήψασα νόσος προσφέρειν καταναγκάζει. Τίς γὰρ πώποτε περὶ τούτων τοῖς τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τροφίμοις ἀμφισ βήτησις γέγονε; Τίς δὲ τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων οὐ τήνδε τὴν δι δασκαλίαν προσήνεγκε; Πλήρη γὰρ ταύτης καὶ τὰ τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου συγγράμματα, καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐκείνου συναγωνιστῶν Γρηγορίου καὶ Ἀμφιλοχίου, καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ ∆ύσει διαπρεψάντων ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τῆς χάριτος, ∆αμάσου τοῦ τῆς μεγά λης Ῥώμης, καὶ Ἀμβροσίου τοῦ Μεδιολάνων, καὶ Κυπριάνου τοῦ Καρχηδόνος, ὃς καὶ τοῦ μαρτυρίου τὸν στέφανον ἀνεδέ ξατο ὑπὲρ τουτωνὶ τῶν δογμάτων. Ἀθανάσιος ἐκεῖνος ὁ πολυθρύλητος πεντάκις ἐξηλάθη τῆς ποίμνης, καὶ τὴν ὑπερ ορίαν οἰκεῖν ἠναγκάσθη. Καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ὁ ἐκείνου διδάσκα λος ὑπὲρ τούτων ἠγωνίσατο τῶν δογμάτων. Καὶ Εὐστάθιος, καὶ Μελέτιος, καὶ Φλαβιανός, τῆς Ἀνατολῆς οἱ φωστῆρες, καὶ Ἐφραίμ, ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος λύρα, ὁ τὸ Σύρων ἔθνος ἄρδων ὁσημέραι τοῖς τῆς χάριτος νάμασι, καὶ Ἰωάννης καὶ Ἀττικὸς οἱ τῆς ἀληθείας μεγαλόφωνοι κήρυκες· καὶ οἱ τούτων ἔτι πρεσβύτεροι, Ἰγνάτιος καὶ Πολύκαρπος, καὶ Εἰρηναῖος, καὶ Ἰουστῖνος, καὶ Ἱππόλυτος, ὧν οἱ πλείους οὐκ ἀρχιερέων προλάμπουσι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν τῶν μαρτύρων διακοσμοῦσι χορόν. Καὶ μὲν δὴ καὶ ὁ νῦν τὴν μεγάλην Ῥώμην ἰθύνων, καὶ τῶν ὀρθῶν δογμάτων τὰς ἀκτῖνας ἐκ τῆς Ἑσπέρας πάντοσε ἐκτείνων ὁ ἁγιώτατος Λέων, τοῦτον ἡμῖν τῆς πίστεως τὸν χαρακτῆρα διὰ τῶν οἰκείων δογμάτων προσήνεγκεν. Οὗτοι πάντες σαφῶς ἐξεπαίδευσαν, ὡς εἷς Υἱὸς ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱὸς καὶ Θεὸς προαιώνιος ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἀρρήτως γεγεν νημένος· καὶ ὡς μετὰ τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν καὶ Υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἄνθρωπος ἐχρημάτισεν, οὐκ εἰς τοῦτο τραπεὶς-ἄτρε πτον γὰρ ἔχει τὴν φύσιν-, ἀλλὰ προσλαβὼν τὸ ἡμέτερον· καὶ ὅτι αὐτὸς καὶ ἀπαθὴς ἦν, καὶ ἀθάνατος ὡς θεός, καὶ θνητὸς καὶ παθητὸς ὡς ἄνθρωπος· μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπειον, καὶ τὴν ἀπάθειαν καὶ τὴν ἀθανασίαν ἐδέξατο. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μεμένηκε σῶμα τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλ' ἀπαθές ἐστι καὶ ἀθάνατον, καὶ θεῖον ὄντως σῶμα, καὶ θείᾳ δόξῃ δεδοξασμένον· καὶ τοῦτο σαφῶς ἡμᾶς ὁ μακάριος ἐδίδαξε Παῦλος· Ἡμῶν γάρ, φησί, τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει, ἐξ οὗ καὶ Σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, ὃς μετασχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸ σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ . Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε τῇ δόξῃ αὐτοῦ , ἀλλὰ τῷ σώ ματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ . Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Κύριος εἰπὼν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις· Εἰσί τινες τῶν ὧδε ἑστώτων, οἵτινες οὐ μὴ γεύσονται