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of God who created all things. 7.30 Consider that "God gives it a body just as he wishes, and to each of the seeds he gives a body of its own, according to its kind," meaning: Not an alien or foreign body, but a similar body he gives to each, multiplying and corresponding to it. Then again, after comparing different kinds of flesh and earthly and heavenly bodies, and having shown their great difference, he adds: "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body; so it is also written, "3The first man Adam became a living soul,"3 the last Adam a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man, the Lord, is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven; and just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. This I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable." 7.31 Here he wishes, by a parallel from nature, to persuade those who live in the wisdom of the world, and from the example of the grain he has passed on to the resurrection of the dead, saying that just as the grain is sown and decomposes, so also the bodies of men, being sown dead in the earth, decompose, and just as it is brought forth with great increase and security and beauty, so also the bodies of men are raised with great honor and glory and power and ineffable beauty, being distinguished by the all-powerful wisdom and ineffable strength of the God who creates and re-creates all things. For in whatever element a human body is found consumed and digested by countless other bodies, being shaken from its foundations on the last day, it gives back to their own souls the things sought; and just as in a shaken sieve the thing sought is found in the middle, so also the bodies of men, when the elements are shaken and agitated, the things sought are brought into the middle. 7.32 And this is not wonderful for God; for as he is the judge of hearts and thoughts and intentions and distinguishes from eternity the thoughts and intentions of each one at every time until the consummation, so also it is possible for him to do the lesser thing and to distinguish bodies from bodies; "For yet once more," he says, "I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven"; and the "yet once more" indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what is not shaken may remain, meaning: In the consummation I will shake all things yet once more, moving them toward each one's own transformation; for as they have already been made from the beginning and have undergone corruption or change, I will easily reshape each to its own nature, so that for the future they may remain in a better state, no longer undergoing agitation or shaking. 7.33 But again someone will say: How do our same bodies rise, having already been digested and changed into countless other bodies? To this we will say that just as we, being small, eat much other flesh, such as of oxen, swine, and other various animals, and birds, and fish, and being digested they increase our body, which is not changed, nor does it become one thing instead of another, but remains in its identity, so also in the resurrection, when we suffer the opposite, and our bodies are dissolved into the elements, you would easily see the forms restored by a certain motion, being distinguished by the divine power. For just as while we are living it is not changed by its association with others, God having so ordained, so also when we die, being easily distinguished by his power, it is preserved from being changed into another. 7.34 See again, O wonderful one, the Apostle, heavenly

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τοῦ τὰ πάντα δημιουργήσαντος Θεοῦ. 7.30 Λογίσασθε ὅτι "ὁ Θεὸς αὐτῷ δίδωσι σῶμα καθὼς βούλεται, καὶ ἑκάστῳ δὲ τῶν σπερμάτων ἀναλογοῦν ἴδιον σῶμα δίδωσιν", ἵνα εἴπῃ· Οὐκ ἀλλότριον, οὐδὲ ξένον, ἀλλ' ὅμοιον σῶμα πληθῦνον ἑκάστῳ καὶ ἀναλογοῦν δίδωσιν. Εἶτα πάλιν, μετὰ τὸ συγκρῖναι σάρκας διαφόρους καὶ σώματα ἐπίγεια καὶ ἐπουράνια, καὶ πολλὴν δείξας αὐτῶν τὴν διαφορὰν ἐπάγει· "Οὕτως καὶ ἡ ἀνάστασις τῶν νεκρῶν. Σπείρεται ἐν φθορᾷ, ἐγείρεται ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ· σπείρεται ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ, ἐγείρεται ἐν δόξῃ· σπείρεται ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ, ἐγείρεται ἐν δυνάμει· σπείρεται σῶμα ψυχικόν, ἐγείρεται σῶμα πνευματικόν. Εἰ ἔστι σῶμα ψυχικόν, ἔστι καὶ πνευματικόν· οὕτως καὶ γέγραπται "3Ἐγένετο ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος Ἀδὰμ εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν"3, ὁ ἔσχατος Ἀδὰμ εἰς πνεῦμα ζωοποιοῦν. Ἀλλ' οὐ πρῶτον τὸ πνευματικόν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ψυχικόν, ἔπειτα τὸ πνευματικόν. Ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἐκ γῆς χοϊκός, ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος ὁ Κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ· οἷος ὁ χοϊκός, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ χοϊκοί, καὶ οἷος ὁ ἐπουράνιος, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ ἐπουράνιοι· καὶ καθὼς ἐφορέσαμεν τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, φορέσομεν καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου· τοῦτο δέ φημι, ἀδελφοί, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα βασιλείαν Θεοῦ κληρονομῆσαι οὐ δύναται, οὐδὲ ἡ φθορὰ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν κληρονομεῖ." 7.31 Βούλεται ἐνταῦθα ἐκ παραλλήλου φυσικώτερον ἐπιχειρῶν πείθειν τοὺς ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ τοῦ κόσμου ἀναστρεφομένους, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ τὸν σῖτον παραδείγματος μετελήλυθεν ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν λέγων ὅτι ὥσπερ ὁ σῖτος σπείρεται καὶ διαλύεται, οὕτως καὶ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀνθρώπων σπειρόμενα νεκρὰ ἐν τῇ γῇ διαλύεται, καὶ ὥσπερ μετὰ πολλῆς προσθήκης καὶ ἀσφαλείας καὶ κάλλους ἀναδίδοται, οὕτω καὶ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀνθρώπων μετὰ πολλῆς τιμῆς καὶ δόξης καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ ἀφάτου κάλλους ἀνίστανται, διακρινόμενα ὑπὸ τῆς παντοδυνάμου σοφίας καὶ ἀφάτου ἰσχύος τοῦ τὰ πάντα κτίσαντος καὶ ἀνακτίζοντος Θεοῦ. Ἐν ᾧ γὰρ στοιχείῳ εὑρεθῇ σῶμα ἀνθρώπειον δεδαπανημένον καὶ πεπεμμένον ὑπὸ ἑτέρων μυρίων σωμάτων, τινασσόμενον ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκ θεμελίων τὰ ζητούμενα ταῖς ἰδίαις ψυχαῖς ἀποδίδωσι· καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν κοσκίνῳ σαλευομένῳ τὸ ζητούμενον μέσον εὑρίσκεται, οὕτω καὶ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀνθρώπων, σαλευομένων τῶν στοιχείων καὶ τινασσομένων, τὰ ζητούμενα εἰς μέσον ἄγονται. 7.32 Καὶ οὐ θαυμαστὸν τοῦτο τῷ Θεῷ· ὡς γὰρ κριτής ἐστι καρδιῶν καὶ λογισμῶν καὶ ἐννοιῶν καὶ διακρίνει ἑκάστου ἐξ αἰῶνος τοὺς καθ' ἕκαστον χρόνον λογισμούς τε καὶ ἐννοίας μέχρι τῆς συντελείας, οὕτω καὶ δυνατὸν αὐτῷ ἐστι τὸ εὐτελέστερον ποιῆσαι καὶ σώματα ἐκ σωμάτων διακρῖναι· "ἔτι γὰρ ἅπαξ ἐγώ, φησί, σείσω οὐ μόνον τὴν γῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν οὐρανόν"· τὸ δὲ "ἔτι ἅπαξ" δηλοῖ τὴν τῶν σαλευομένων μετάστασιν, ὡς πεποιημένων, ἵνα μείνῃ τὰ μὴ σαλευόμενα, ἵνα εἴπῃ ὅτι· Ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τινάξω ἔτι ἅπαξ πάντα σαλεύων πρὸς τὴν ἑκάστου ἰδίαν μετάθεσιν· ὡς ἤδη γὰρ αὐτῶν πεποιημένων ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ φθορὰν ἢ τροπὴν ὑπομεινάντων ῥᾴδιον ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν ἕκαστον μεταρρυθμίσω, ἵνα καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ μείνωσιν ἐν κρείττονι καταστάσει, μηκέτι κλόνον ἢ σάλον ὑπομένοντα. 7.33 Ἀλλὰ πάλιν ἐρεῖ τις· Πῶς τὰ αὐτὰ ἡμῶν σώματα ἀνίστανται ἤδη πεπεμμένα καὶ μεταβληθέντα εἰς ἕτερα μυρία σώματα; Πρὸς τοῦτον ἐροῦμεν ὅτι ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς μικροὶ ὄντες ἐσθίομεν σάρκας ἑτέρας πολλάς, οἷον βοῶν, χοίρων καὶ ἑτέρων διαφόρων καὶ πετεινῶν καὶ ἰχθύων, καὶ πεπτόμενα αὔξουσι τὸ ἡμέτερον σῶμα μὴ μεταβαλλόμενον, μήτε ἄλλο ἀντὶ ἄλλου γινόμενον, ἀλλὰ μένει ἐν τῇ ταυτότητι, οὕτω καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει τὸ ἔμπαλιν ἡμῶν πασχόντων, καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων σωμάτων ἐν τοῖς στοιχείοις ἀναλυθέντων, ῥᾳδίως κινήσει τινὶ τὰς ἰδέας ἀποκαθισταμένας ἂν ἴδοις, διακρινομένας ὑπὸ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ζώντων ἡμῶν οὐ μεταβάλλεται ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἑτέρων κοινωνίας, τοῦ Θεοῦ οὕτω διαταξαμένου, οὕτως καὶ τελευτώντων εὐχερῶς ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως διακρινόμενα σῴζεται ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς ἕτερον μεταβολῆς. 7.34 Ὅρα δὲ πάλιν, θαυμάσιε, τὸν Ἀπόστολον οὐρανίους