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they will enter. Deem us also worthy, O Lover of mankind, while we walk according to your rule and believe, though we are unworthy on account of our disorderly works, you who alone are the great giver of gifts and compassionate and full of mercy, our Savior with the Father and the Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. The text 5.248 The whole purpose of the treatise and the description is to show that from beginning to end God, through all the ancient men, and also through the cosmographer Moses and all the prophets and apostles, revealed what he had established, two states, this one and the one to come, having declared also the figure of the whole cosmos, and that Christians rather follow their own principles, showing that the ends are consistent with their own principles, and at the same time revealing the goodness of God, which provides a cessation to this place of training and to the struggles and to corruption and to death, but which has revealed in the Lord Christ immortality, incorruptibility, immutability, sanctification, and eternal righteousness to all men, just as He had prepared from the foundation of the world the second place, the one in the heavens, the second state, just as He also revealed beforehand to us again in a type through the tabernacle, and that the opinion of the Greeks is without hope, since they neither expect a second state nor believe there will be a resurrection of our bodies, but they wander and are led astray, rolling along in their minds with their sphere, thinking it is impossible for God to raise the bodies of all men, when, as wise men, they ought to know that if God is the judge of the thoughts and hearts of all men and is able to discern the thoughts of each one from eternity, how is He not rather able to discern the bodies of each person? For if He is able to discern the things of the spirit, much more the bodies. 5.249 For He shakes all of creation from its foundations, heaven and earth and the other elements together, at the consummation, and each of them gives back the human body it holds, being distinguished by His power; for just as someone sifting with a sieve will find what is sought in the middle, so when all creation is shaken, those who are sought in the middle will be found. "For yet once more I will shake," He says through the prophet, "not only the earth, but also the heaven"; but "yet once more" indicates, said the Apostle, the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what is unshaken may remain. "Therefore, receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and fear." 5.250 And the Lord, speaking about the consummation, says thus: "And the stars of heaven will fall to the earth, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; and then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory; and then He will send His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other end of heaven." And again to the Thessalonians, the Apostle says in the first epistle: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words." Likewise he says in the first Epistle to the Corinthians: "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 5.251 These are the gospels of the Christians, these are the great and wonderful hopes of the faithful, the resurrection of the dead and the kingdom of heaven prepared from the foundation of the world for men, who also first immortality and incorruptibility and immutability

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εἰσελεύσονται. Ἀξίωσον καὶ ἡμᾶς, φιλάνθρωπε, στοιχοῦντας μὲν τῷ σῷ κανόνι καὶ πιστεύοντας, ἀναξίους δὲ ὄντας διὰ τὰ ἀσύστροφα ἡμῶν ἔργα, ὁ μόνος μεγαλόδωρος καὶ οἰκτίρμων καὶ πολυέλεος ὑπάρχων Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν σὺν Πατρὶ καὶ Πνεύματι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν. Τὸ κείμενον 5.248 Ὁ σκοπὸς ὅλος τῆς συγγραφῆς καὶ τῆς διαγραφῆς πρὸς τὸ δεῖξαι ὅτι ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ἕως τέλους ὁ Θεὸς διὰ πάντων τῶν ἀρχαίων ἀνθρώπων, ἔτι τε καὶ τοῦ κοσμογράφου Μωϋσέως καὶ πάντων τῶν προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων, ἐδήλωσεν ἅπερ κατεσκεύασε, δύο καταστάσεις, ταύτην καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν, δηλώσας καὶ τὸ σχῆμα ἅπαντος τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ ὅτι οἱ χριστιανοὶ μᾶλλον ἕπονται ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἀρχαῖς δεικνύοντες καὶ τὰ τέλη ἀκόλουθα ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ἀρχαῖς, καὶ ἐν ταὐτῷ μηνύοντες τὴν ἀγαθότητα τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὴν παρέχουσαν παῦλαν τῷ παιδευτηρίῳ τούτῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀγῶσι καὶ τῇ φθορᾷ καὶ τῷ θανάτῳ, ἀναδείξασαν δὲ ἐν τῷ ∆εσπότῃ Χριστῷ ἀθανασίαν, ἀφθαρσίαν, ἀτρεπτότητα, ἁγιασμὸν καὶ δικαιοσύνην αἰώνιον πᾶσι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὥσπερ ἦν ἑτοιμάσας ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου τὸν δεύτερον χῶρον, τὸν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, τὴν δευτέραν κατάστασιν, καθάπερ καὶ διὰ τῆς σκηνῆς πάλιν ἐν τύπῳ προεδήλωσεν ἡμῖν, καὶ ὅτι ἀνέλπιστός ἐστιν ἡ τῶν Ἑλλήνων δόξα μήτε δευτέραν κατάστασιν προσδοκώντων μήτε πιστευόντων ἀνάστασιν ἔσεσθαι τῶν ἡμετέρων σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ πλανώντων καὶ πλανωμένων, μετὰ τῆς ἑαυτῶν σφαίρας ἅμα κυλιόμενοι ταῖς φρεσίν, ἀδύνατον εἶναι νομίζοντες τῷ Θεῷ ἀναστῆσαι τὰ σώματα πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὀφείλοντες ὡς σοφοὶ γνῶναι ὅτι, εἰ κριτής ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς ἐννοιῶν καὶ καρδιῶν πάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ δύναται διακρῖναι τὰς ἐννοίας ἑκάστου τὰς ἀπ' αἰῶνος, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον δύναται σώματα διακρῖναι ἑκάστου ἀνθρώπου; Εἰ γὰρ τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος δύναται διακρῖναι, πολὺ μᾶλλον τὰ σώματα. 5.249 Τινάσσει γὰρ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν ἐκ θεμελίων, οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν ἅμα καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ στοιχεῖα, ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ καὶ ἕκαστον αὐτῶν ἀποδίδωσιν ὃ κατέχει σῶμα ἀνθρώπειον διακρινόμενον ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν κοσκίνῳ κοσκινεύων τις τὸ ζητούμενον μέσον εὑρήσει, οὕτω σαλευομένης πάσης τῆς κτίσεως οἱ ζητούμενοι μέσοι εὑρεθήσονται. "Ἔτι γὰρ ἅπαξ ἐγὼ σείσω", φησὶ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου, "οὐ μόνον τὴν γῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν οὐρανόν"· τὸ δὲ "ἔτι ἅπαξ" δηλοῖ, εἶπεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, τὴν τῶν σαλευομένων μετάστασιν ὡς πεποιημένων, ἵνα μείνῃ τὰ μὴ σαλευόμενα. "∆ιὸ βασιλείαν ἀσάλευτον παραλαμβάνοντες ἔχομεν χάριν, δι' ἧς λατρεύομεν εὐαρέστως τῷ Θεῷ μετὰ εὐλαβείας καὶ δέους." 5.250 Καὶ ὁ Κύριος περὶ συντελείας λέγων οὕτως φησί· "Καὶ οἱ ἀστέρες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεσοῦνται ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ αἱ ∆υνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν σαλευθήσονται· καὶ τότε ὄψονται τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐρχόμενον ἐν νεφέλαις μετὰ δυνάμεως καὶ δόξης πολλῆς· καὶ τότε ἀποστελεῖ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ μετὰ σάλπιγγος μεγάλης καὶ ἐπισυνάξει τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων ἀνέμων, ἀπ' ἄκρου γῆς ἕως ἄκρου οὐρανοῦ." Καὶ πάλιν πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ φησίν· "Ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ, καταβήσεται ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον. Ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες, οἱ περιλειπόμενοι, ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα, ὥστε παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις." Ὁμοίως λέγει ἐν τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους πρώτῃ Ἐπιστολῇ· "Ἰδοὺ μυστήριον ὑμῖν λέγω. Πάντες μὲν οὐ κοιμηθησόμεθα, πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγησόμεθα ἐν ἀτόμῳ, ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ, ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ σάλπιγγι. Σαλπίσει γὰρ καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἀναστήσονται ἄφθαρτοι, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀλλαγησόμεθα. ∆εῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν, καὶ τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀθανασίαν." 5.251 Ταῦτα τῶν χριστιανῶν τὰ εὐαγγέλια, αὗται τῶν πιστῶν αἱ μεγάλαι καὶ θαυμασταὶ ἐλπίδες, ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν καὶ βασιλεία οὐρανῶν ἡτοιμασμένη ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, οἱ καὶ πρῶτον ἀθανασίαν καὶ ἀφθαρσίαν καὶ ἀτρεπτότητα