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and others, new ones, to be brought in? For if the place in the heavens is even now a dwelling for the incorruptible and immortal and immutable, how will it not also receive us when we rise, having become incorruptible and immortal and immutable? 7.65 Away, then, with such madness. For God has not changed his mind about what he has made, destroying these and bringing in others, but he renews all creation for the better, as we have also often said; for if man, who is the bond of all creation, is renewed, becoming incorruptible and immortal in body and immutable in soul, is it not clear that all the elements, from which the body of man is also composed, and all rational beings which are also kindred to the soul of man, are renewed and come to a better state? "For to sum up all things," says the Apostle, "in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth," and again: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, all things have become new," saying "all things new," meaning the renewal of all beings; for by saying "summing up" and "new creation" he signified the same thing by both, which has already happened in Christ. 7.66 For just as Christ, having risen from the dead according to the flesh, was not another Christ than the one who had died, but was himself the one who endured both death and resurrection alike, having become superior to suffering and death, so too all creation, not being destroyed, but being the same, is transformed for the better; "For he established them for ever and for the age of ages, he gave a command, and it will not pass away," says the divine oracle. For this reason "God did not take hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham," as it is written; for if he had taken hold of angels, only the rational beings would hope to be renewed as being kindred to them; but now by taking hold of the seed of Abraham, that is, of a body and a rational soul, and leading it up to the heavenly place, he has laid a foundation of hope of salvation for all creation. 7.67 Therefore, what is said in the Catholic Epistles, "in which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; but new heavens and a new earth," has this meaning: that with a rushing noise, as in the twinkling of an eye, as if being burned and purified in a crucible, all the elements undergo a change for the better, both the heavens and the earth, these very things becoming new and being altered in the state of their commonwealth, as what is said by Paul: "For the form of this world is passing away," as if the present governing state, with the succession of night and day ceasing, and the stars not completing their course, and the air not moving, neither water nor earth producing fruits, but some other state being introduced, fitting for immortal and incorruptible and immutable men and angels. 7.68 But let us be silent about the fact that from the beginning the Church has held the Catholic Epistles to be of doubtful authority, and all who have written commentaries on the divine Scriptures, not one of them has made an account of the Catholic Epistles; but also those who established the canon of the testamentary books of divine Scripture all placed them as of doubtful authority, I mean Irenaeus, the bishop of Lugdunum, a distinguished man of a brilliant life, who lived not long after the apostles, and Eusebius son of Pamphilus, and Amphilochius, who became bishop of Iconium, a friend and associate of the blessed Basil, and he himself in his Iambics written to Seleucus declared them to be of doubtful authority, and likewise Severian of Gabala in his discourse Against the Jews rejected them. For most say they are not by the apostles, but by certain other, more simple presbyters. 7.69 Whence the son of Pamphilus in his Ecclesiastical History says that in Ephesus there are two tombs, one of John the evangelist, and one of another John, a presbyter, who wrote the two epistles of the Catholic Epistles, the second and the third, where it is written at the beginning: "The presbyter to the elect lady," and: "The presbyter to the beloved Gaius." For unless

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καὶ ἑτέρους καινοὺς εἰσάγεσθαι; Εἰ γὰρ οἰκητήριόν ἐστι καὶ νῦν ἀφθάρτων καὶ ἀθανάτων καὶ ἀτρέπτων ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς χῶρος, πῶς καὶ ἡμᾶς οὐ δέξεται ἀνισταμένους ἀφθάρτους καὶ ἀθανάτους καὶ ἀτρέπτους γινομένους; 7.65 Ἄπαγε οὖν τῆς τοιαύτης μανίας. Οὐ γὰρ μεταμεμέληται ὁ Θεὸς ἐφ' οἷς πεποίηκε, τούτους μὲν ἀπολλύων, ἑτέρους δὲ εἰσάγων, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τὴν κτίσιν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον ἀνακαινίζει, καθὰ καὶ πολλάκις εἰρήκαμεν· εἰ γὰρ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὁ σύνδεσμος ὢν πάσης κτίσεως, ἀνακαινίζεται κατά τε τὸ σῶμα ἄφθαρτος καὶ ἀθάνατος καὶ κατά γε τὴν ψυχὴν ἄτρεπτος γινόμενος, εὔδηλον ὅτι πάντα τὰ στοιχεῖα, ἐξ ὧν καὶ σύγκειται τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ πάντα τὰ λογικὰ συγγενῆ ὄντα καὶ αὐτὰ κατὰ ψυχὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἀνακαινίζονται καὶ εἰς βελτίωσιν ἔρχονται; "Ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαι γὰρ τὰ πάντα, φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς", καὶ πάλιν· "Εἴ τις ἐν Χριστῷ, καινὴ κτίσις· τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν, ἰδοὺ γέγονε τὰ πάντα καινά", "καινὰ" λέγων "τὰ πάντα" τὴν ἀνακαίνισιν πάντων τῶν ὄντων· "ἀνακεφαλαίωσιν" γὰρ εἰπὼν καὶ "καινὴν κτίσιν" δι' ἑκατέρου τὸ αὐτὸ ἐσήμανεν, ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ ἤδη γενομένην. 7.66 Ὥσπερ γὰρ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς κατὰ σάρκα ἀναστὰς ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν οὐκ ἄλλος ἦν Χριστὸς παρὰ τὸν τετελευτηκότα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ καὶ τὸν θάνατον ὑπομείνας ὁμοίως καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, κρείττων γενόμενος παθῶν καὶ θανάτου, οὕτως καὶ πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις μὴ ἀπολλυμένη, ἀλλ' ἡ αὐτὴ ὑπάρχουσα ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεθίσταται· "Ἔστησε γὰρ αὐτὰ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος, πρόσταγμα ἔθετο καὶ οὐ παρελεύσεται", φησὶ τὸ θεῖον λόγιον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο "οὐκ ἀγγέλων ἐπελάβετο ὁ Θεός, ἀλλὰ σπέρματος Ἀβραάμ", καθὰ γέγραπται· εἰ γὰρ ἐπελάβετο ἀγγέλων, τὰ λογικὰ μόνον ἤλπιζον ἀνακαινίζεσθαι ὡς συγγενῆ αὐτῶν ὄντα· νυνὶ δὲ σπέρματος Ἀβραὰμ ἐπιλαβόμενος, τουτέστι σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς λογικῆς, καὶ ἀναγαγὼν εἰς τὸν οὐράνιον χῶρον πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας προκατεβάλετο. 7.67 Τὸ ἐν ταῖς οὖν Καθολικαῖς εἰρημένον "ἐν ᾗ οὐρανοὶ πυρούμενοι λυθήσονται, στοιχεῖα δὲ καυσούμενα τήκεται· καινοὺς δὲ οὐρανοὺς καὶ καινὴν γῆν" τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν νοῦν, ὅτι ῥοιζηδόν, ὡς ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ, ὥσπερ ἐν χωνευτηρίῳ πυρούμενοι καὶ καθαριζόμενοι, τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον ἀλλαγὴν ὑπομένουσι τὰ στοιχεῖα πάντα, καὶ οἱ οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ, καινῶν αὐτῶν τούτων γινομένων καὶ τῇ καταστάσει τῆς πολιτείας ἐναλλαττομένων, ὡς τὸ παρὰ τῷ Παύλῳ λεγόμενον· "Παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου", ὡσανεὶ ἡ νῦν πολιτευομένη κατάστασις, τῆς διαδοχῆς τῆς νυκτὸς καὶ τῆς ἡμέρας παυομένης, καὶ τῶν ἄστρων δρόμον μὴ τελούντων, καὶ τοῦ ἀέρος μὴ κινουμένου, μήτε τοῦ ὕδατος μήτε τῆς γῆς φυούσης καρπούς, ἀλλ' ἑτέρας τινὸς καταστάσεως ἐπεισαγομένης, ἁρμοζούσης ἀθανάτοις καὶ ἀφθάρτοις καὶ ἀτρέπτοις ἀνθρώποις καὶ ἀγγέλοις. 7.68 Σιωπῶμεν δὲ ὅτι τὰς Καθολικὰς ἀνέκαθεν ἡ Ἐκκλησία ἀμφιβαλλομένας ἔχει, καὶ πάντες δὲ οἱ ὑπομνηματίσαντες τὰς θείας Γραφάς, οὔτε εἷς αὐτῶν λόγον ἐποιήσατο τῶν Καθολικῶν· ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ κανονίσαντες τὰς ἐνδιαθήκους βίβλους τῆς θείας Γραφῆς πάντες ὡς ἀμφιβαλλομένας αὐτὰς ἔθηκαν, λέγω δὴ Εἰρηναῖος, ὁ Λουγδούνων ἐπίσκοπος, ἀνὴρ ἐπίσημος καὶ λαμπροῦ βίου, μετ' οὐ πολὺ τῶν ἀποστόλων γενόμενος, καὶ Εὐσέβιος ὁ Παμφίλου καὶ Ἀμφιλόχιος, ἐπίσκοπος γενόμενος τοῦ Ἰκονίου, φίλος καὶ κοινωνικὸς τοῦ μακαρίου Βασιλείου, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τοῖς πρὸς Σέλευκον αὐτῷ γραφεῖσιν Ἰάμβοις ἀμφιβαλλομένας αὐτὰς ἐξεῖπεν, ὁμοίως καὶ Σευηριανὸς ὁ Γαβάλων εἰς τὸν Κατὰ Ἰουδαίων λόγον αὐτοῦ αὐτὰς ἀπεκήρυξεν. Οὐ γὰρ τῶν ἀποστόλων αὐτάς φασιν οἱ πλείους, ἀλλ' ἑτέρων τινῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἀφελεστέρων. 7.69 Ὅθεν ὁ Παμφίλου εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησιαστικὴν αὐτοῦ ἱστορίαν λέγει ὅτι ἐν Ἐφέσῳ δύο μνήματά εἰσιν, ἓν Ἰωάννου τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, καὶ ἓν ἑτέρου Ἰωάννου πρεσβυτέρου τοῦ γράψαντος τὰς δύο ἐπιστολὰς τῶν Καθολικῶν, τὴν δευτέραν καὶ τὴν τρίτην, ἔνθα προγέγραπται· "Ὁ πρεσβύτερος τῇ ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ", καί· "Ὁ πρεσβύτερος Γαΐῳ τῷ ἀγαπητῷ". Εἰ μὴ γὰρ