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from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. And again: And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. And again, having written to the same people, he has also set down these things: Now we ask you, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him. And after a little, foretelling the destruction of the Antichrist, he added: whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the manifestation of his coming. And having exhorted the Romans to concord, he also added these things: But why do you judge your brother, or why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God. And the Lord himself, foretelling his second coming, has said these things along with many others: Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ,’ or ‘there,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. And after the immortality and incorruptibility of the body, he called himself Son of man, naming himself from the visible nature. For this will also then be manifest. For the divine nature is invisible even to angels. For no one has ever seen God, according to the voice of the Lord himself. And to the great Moses he said: No one shall see my face and live. For the statement: we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer, the divine Apostle did not say for the destruction of the assumed nature, but for the confirmation of the incorruptibility and immortality and spiritual life that will be ours. For which reason he added: Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. But he has spoken of the things that will be as if they have already happened. For we have not yet obtained immortality, but we shall obtain it, and having obtained it we shall not become bodiless, but we shall put on immortality. For we do not wish, says the divine Apostle, to be unclothed, but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. And again: For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So then, he has not said the Lord is bodiless, but taught us to believe that the visible nature is also incorruptible and immortal, and glorified with divine glory. For he taught us this more clearly in the epistle to the Philippians. For our citizenship, he said, is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus, who will transform the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory. And through these things he clearly taught that the Lord's body is indeed a body, but a divine body, and glorified with divine glory. Let us not then flee from the name through which we have enjoyed salvation, through which all things were renewed, as the teacher himself said when writing to the Ephesians: according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him as a plan for the fullness of time, to sum up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him. But let us learn from this blessed tongue also how we must glorify our benefactor, attributing the name of Christ to God the Father. For in writing to the Romans he says thus: my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God through Jesus
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τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὃν ἤγειρεν ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν, Ἰησοῦν, τὸν ῥυόμενον ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ἐρχομένης . Καὶ πά-λιν· Ὑμᾶς δὲ ὁ Κύριος πλεονάσαι, καὶ περισσεύσαι τῇ ἀγάπῃ εἰς ἀλλήλους, καὶ εἰς πάντας, καθάπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰς ὑμᾶς, εἰς τὸ στηρίξαι ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας ἀμέμπτους ἐν ἁγιωσύνῃ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἡμῶν, ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ . Καὶ αὖθις δὲ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιστείλας καὶ ταῦτα τέθεικεν· Ἐρωτῶμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, ὑπὲρ τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπισυναγωγῆς ἐπ' αὐτόν . Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα δέ, τοῦ Ἀντιχρίστου τὸν ὄλεθρον προθεσπίζων, ἐπήγαγεν· Ὃν ὁ Κύριος ἀναλώσει τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὑτοῦ, καὶ καταργήσει τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῆς παρουσίας αὑτοῦ . Καὶ Ῥωμαίους δὲ εἰς ὁμόνοιαν προτρέψας καὶ ταῦτα προστέθεικε· Σὺ δὲ τί κρίνεις τὸν ἀδελφόν σου, ἢ καὶ σὺ τί ἐξουθενεῖς τὸν ἀδελφόν σου; Πάντες γὰρ παραστησόμεθα τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Γέγραπται γάρ· Ζῶ ἐγώ, λέγει Κύριος, ὅτι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ, καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται τῷ Θεῷ . Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Κύριος, τὴν δευτέραν αὑτοῦ παρουσίαν προαγορεύων, πρὸς πολλοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ ταῦτα εἴρηκε· Τότε ἐάν τις ὑμῖν εἴπῃ· Ἰδοὺ ὧδε ὁ Χριστός, ἰδοὺ ἐκεῖ, μὴ πιστεύσητε. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀστραπὴ ἐξέρχεται ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν, καὶ φαίνεται εἰς δυσμάς, οὕτως ἔσται ἡ παρουσία τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου . Καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἀθανασίαν καὶ ἀφ θαρσίαν, Υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου ἑαυτὸν προσηγόρευσεν, ἀπὸ τῆς ὁρωμένης φύσεως ὀνομάσας. Αὕτη γὰρ καὶ τότε φανήσεται. Ἡ γὰρ θεία φύσις καὶ ἀγγέλοις ἀόρατος. Θεὸν γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε , κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου φωνήν. Καὶ τῷ μεγάλῳ Μωϋσεῖ ἔφη· Οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸ πρόσωπόν μου, καὶ ζήσεται . Τὸ γάρ· Οὐδένα οἴδαμεν κατὰ σάρκα, εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐγνώκαμεν Χριστόν, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν · οὐκ εἰς ἀναίρεσιν τῆς ληφθείσης φύσεως ὁ θεῖος εἶπεν Ἀπόστολος, ἀλλ' εἰς βεβαίωσιν τῆς ἐσομένης ἡμῖν ἀφθαρσίας τε καὶ ἀθανασίας, καὶ πνευματικῆς ζωῆς. Οὗ δὴ χάριν ἐπήγαγεν· Ὥστε εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ καινὴ κτίσις, τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν, ἰδοὺ γέγονε τὰ πάντα καινά . Τὰ δὲ ἐσόμενα ὡς γεγενημένα εἴρηκεν. Οὐδέπω γὰρ τῆς ἀθανασίας ἐτύχομεν, τευξόμεθα δέ, καὶ τυχόντες οὐκ ἀσώματοι γενησόμεθα, ἀλλ' ἀθανασίαν ἐνδυσόμεθα. Οὐ θέλομεν γάρ , φησὶν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, ἐκδύσασθαι, ἀλλ' ἐπενδύσασθαι, ἵνα καταποθῇ τὸ θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς . Καὶ πάλιν· ∆εῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν, καὶ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀθανασίαν . Οὕτω τοίνυν τὸν Κύριον οὐκ ἀσώματον εἴρηκεν, ἀλλ' ἄφθαρτον εἶναι καὶ τὴν ὁρωμένην φύσιν, καὶ ἀθάνατον, καὶ τῇ θείᾳ δόξῃ δεδοξασμένην πιστεύειν ἐδίδαξε. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Φιλιππησίους σαφέστερον ἡμᾶς ἐξεπαίδευσεν. Ἡμῶν γάρ, ἔφη, τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει· ἐξ οὗ καὶ Σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα Κύριον Ἰησοῦν, ὃς μετασχηματίσει τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως ἡμῶν εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸ σύμμορφον τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ . Ἐναργῶς δὲ διὰ τούτων ἐδίδαξεν, ὅτι σῶμα μὲν ἔστι τὸ ∆εσποτικὸν σῶμα, θεῖον δὲ σῶμα, καὶ τῇ θείᾳ δόξῃ δεδοξασμένον. Μὴ τοίνυν φύγωμεν προσηγορίαν δι' ἧς ἀπελαύσαμεν σωτηρίας, δι' ἧς ἀνεκαινίσθη τὰ πάντα, ὡς αὐτὸς ἔφη ὁ διδάσκαλος Ἐφεσίοις γράφων· Κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν αὐτοῦ, ἣν προέθετο ἐν αὐτῷ εἰς οἰκονομίαν τοῦ πληρώματος τῶν καιρῶν, ἀνακεφαλαιώ-σασθαι τὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐν αὐτῷ . Μάθωμεν δὲ παρὰ τῆς μακαρίας ταυτησὶ γλώττης καὶ ὅπως δεῖ δοξάζειν τὸν εὐεργέτην, τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσηγορίαν προσάπτοντας. Ῥωμαίοις μὲν γὰρ ἐπιστέλλων ὧδέ φησι· Τὸ Εὐαγγέλιόν μου, καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, κατὰ ἀποκάλυψιν μυστηρίου χρόνοις αἰωνίοις σεσιγημένου, φανερωθέντος τε νῦν διά τε Γραφῶν προφητικῶν κατ' ἐπιταγὴν τοῦ αἰωνίου Θεοῦ, καὶ εἰς ὑπ-ακοὴν πίστεως εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη γνωρισθέντος, μόνῳ σοφῷ Θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ