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of form, according to which the things that are added are given their specific character. And so, if we are not the same even for a few days in body, but in the form that is in the body—for this alone has remained from birth—much more will we not then be the same according to the same flesh, but according to the form which both now and always is preserved in us and remains. For what the skin is there, this the form is here; and what the water is there on the image, this here is that which is added and taken away. Just as, therefore, now, though the body is not the 2.429 same, yet the characteristic stamp according to the same shape is preserved the same, so also then, though the body is not the same, the form, having been increased to something more glorious, will no longer be shown in a corruptible body, but in an impassible and spiritual one, just as was that of Jesus at the transfiguration, when he went up the mountain with Peter, and that of Moses and Elijah who appeared to him. 18. Let these things, then, be considered up to this point; for this, as in summary, is the sense of Origen's doctrines. But if one of the disputants, bringing forward the body of Christ, because he is called "the firstborn of the dead" and "the firstfruits" "of those who have fallen asleep," should say that just as he was raised, so also we must expect all bodies to be raised in like manner to him, so that just as Christ was raised, "so also God will bring with him through Jesus those who have fallen asleep," and the body of Jesus was raised, having the flesh and the bones which it had, as Thomas also was convinced, we will say: But the body of Christ was not "of the will of man," "from pleasure coming together in sleep," "conceived in iniquities and formed in sins," but "of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High and a virgin," but yours is of sleep and pleasure and filth. And for this reason also the wise Sirach "for when a man dies" declares, "he will inherit creeping things and beasts and worms," and David in the eighty-seventh psalm, "Will you work wonders for the dead? Or will physicians raise them up and confess to you? Will anyone declare your mercy in the tomb, and your 2.430 truth in destruction? Will your wonders be known in the darkness, and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" And other such sayings it is possible for one who wishes to collect from the scriptures, which * so that we, by mentioning all of them at length, do not increase the discourse many times more than what has been said. The rest from Methodius: 19. When, therefore, Proclus had with difficulty ceased, and there was a long silence from those present, who had been sufficiently cast down towards disbelief, and I perceived that he had in fact finished, gently raising my head and taking a breath like sailors when the wave is already abating, still trembling and dizzy—for I had been cast down, as I may say to you, overwhelmed by the cleverness of his arguments—I turn to Auxentius and calling him: O Auxentius, I think, I said, that the poetic verse "when two go together" was not spoken in vain. For our opponents are two. "Therefore let us both have the strength of both." For I choose you as a helper and fellow combatant in the battle against them, lest Aglaophon, with Proclus and Origen, armed with subversive arguments against us, utterly destroy the resurrection. Come then, let us array ourselves against their sophisms, fearing none of the counter-arguments with which the timid are assailed; for indeed there is nothing sound at all in them nor steadfast, but only a specious phantom of words constructed to startle and persuade the hearers, not for the sake of truth and what is beneficial, 2.431 but for their words to seem wise to those present. Hence, at any rate, to the many, arguments from probabilities, artfully adorned for beauty and pleasure, are sometimes considered more serious than those examined for accuracy, with the teachers no longer striving for what is better and noble, but to please and be popular, just as those

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εἴδους, καθ' ὃ εἰδοποιοῦνται τὰ προσγιγνόμενα. καὶ τοίνυν εἰ μή ἐσμεν οἱ αὐτοὶ κἂν ἐπ' ὀλίγας ἡμέρας τῷ σώματι, ἀλλὰ τῷ εἴδει τῷ ἐν τῷ σώματι τοῦτο γὰρ μόνον ἕστηκεν ἀπὸ γενέσεως, πολλῷ μᾶλλον οὐδὲ τότε οἱ αὐτοὶ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν σάρκα ἐσόμεθα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ εἶδος τὸ καὶ νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ διασῳζόμενον ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ μένον. ὃ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸ δέρμα, τοῦτο τὸ εἶδος ἐνθάδε· ὃ δὲ ἐκεῖ τὸ ὕδωρ ἐπὶ τῆς εἰκόνος, τοῦτο ἐνταῦθα τὸ προσγιγνόμενον καὶ ἀπογιγνόμενον. ὥσπερ οὖν νῦν τοῦ σώματος οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ 2.429 αὐτοῦ, ὅμως ὁ χαρακτὴρ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν μορφὴν ὁ αὐτὸς σῴζεται, οὑτωσὶ καὶ τότε οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ σώματος τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ ἐνδοξότερον τὸ εἶδος αὐξηθὲν οὐκέτι ἐν φθαρτῷ, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀπαθεῖ καὶ πνευματικῷ δειχθήσεται σώματι, ὥσπερ οἷον τὸ Ἰησοῦ κατὰ τὴν μεταμόρφωσιν ἦν, ὅτε εἰς τὸ ὄρος ἀνέβη μετὰ Πέτρου, καὶ τὸ Μωυσέως καὶ τὸ Ἠλίου τῶν ὀφθέντων αὐτῷ. 18. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὖν μέχρι τοσούτου διεσκέφθω· οὗτος γὰρ ὡς ἐν κεφαλαίῳ τῶν Ὠριγένους δογματισμῶν ὁ νοῦς. ἐὰν δέ τις τῶν ἀμφισβητούντων προβαλλόμενος τὸ σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, διὰ τὸ «πρωτότοκον τῶν νεκρῶν» καὶ «ἀπαρχὴν» αὐτὸν εἰρῆσθαι «τῶν κεκοιμημένων», λέγοι ὅτι καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος ἀνέστη, καὶ τὰ πάντων σώματα ὡσαύτως ἐκείνῳ δεῖν προσδοκᾶν ἀναστήσεσθαι, ἵνα ὥσπερ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται, «οὕτως ὁ θεὸς τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἄξει σὺν αὐτῷ», ἐγήγερται δὲ τὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ σῶμα, καὶ τὰς σάρκας ἔχον ἃς εἶχε καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ, καθάπερ ἐπείσθη καὶ Θωμᾶς, λέξομεν· ἀλλὰ τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ σῶμα οὐκ ἦν «ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός», «ἡδονῆς ὕπνῳ συνελθούσης», «ἐν ἀνομίαις συλληφθὲν καὶ κισσηθὲν ἐν ἁμαρτίαις», ἀλλὰ «ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ δυνάμεως ὑψίστου καὶ παρθένου», τὸ δὲ σὸν ὕπνος ἐστὶ καὶ ἡδονὴ καὶ ῥύπος. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ σοφὸς Σειράχ «ἐν γὰρ τῷ ἀποθνῄσκειν ἄνθρωπον «ἀποφθέγγεται» κληρονομήσει ἑρπετὰ καὶ θηρία καὶ σκώληκας», καὶ ∆αυὶδ ἐν ὀγδοηκοστῷ ἑβδόμῳ ψαλμῷ «μὴ τοῖς νεκροῖς ποιήσεις θαυμάσια ἢ ἰατροὶ ἀναστήσουσι καὶ ἐξομολογήσονταί σοι; μὴ διηγήσεταί τις ἐν τάφῳ τὸ ἔλεός σου καὶ τὴν 2.430 ἀλήθειάν σου ἐν τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ; μὴ γνωσθήσεται ἐν τῷ σκότει τὰ θαυμάσιά σου καὶ ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου ἐν γῇ ἐπιλελησμένῃ;» καὶ ἕτερα δὲ ῥήματα τοιαῦτα τῷ βουλομένῳ συνάγειν ἐκ τῶν γραφῶν πάρεστιν ἃ * ἵνα μὴ πάντων ἡμεῖς εἰς πλῆθος μνημονεύοντες πολυπλασίονα τῶν εἰρημένων αὐξήσωμεν τὸν λόγον. Λοιπὸν Μεθοδίου· 19. Ὡς οὖν ἐπαύσατο μόγις ὁ Πρόκλος καὶ σιγὴ τῶν παρόντων ἦν ἐπὶ πολύ, καταβληθέντων ἱκανῶς πρὸς ἀπιστίαν, καὶ ἐγὼ ᾐσθόμην ὅτι τῷ ὄντι πεπαυμένος εἴη, ἠρέμα τὴν κεφαλὴν ἐπάρας καὶ ἀναπνεύσας ὥσπερ οἱ πλέοντες τοῦ κύματος ἤδη λωφῶντος, ὑποτρέμων ἔτι καὶ σκοτιζόμενος ἐβεβλήμην γάρ, ὡς πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰρήσθω, τῇ δεινότητι κατηντλημένος τῶν λόγων τρέπομαι πρὸς τὸν Αὐξέντιον καὶ καλέσας αὐτόν· ὦ Αὐξέντιε, νομίζω, ἔφην, μὴ μάτην λελέχθαι τὸ ποιητικόν «σύν τε δύ' ἐρχομένω». καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἀνταγωνισταὶ δύο. «διὸ σθένος ἀμφότεροι ἀμφοτέρων περ σχῶμεν». συναντιλήπτορα γὰρ καὶ συναγωνιστὴν αἱροῦμαί σε τῆς πρὸς αὐτοὺς μάχης, μὴ ἡμῖν ὁ Ἀγλαοφῶν μετὰ Πρόκλου καὶ Ὠριγένους τοῖς ἀνατρεπτικοῖς καθ' ἡμῶν ὡπλισμένος λόγοις ἐκπέρσῃ τὴν ἀνάστασιν. ἄγε οὖν ἀντιπαραταξώμεθα τοῖς σοφίσμασιν αὐτῶν, μηδὲν τῶν ἀντιλογικῶν, οἷς οἱ δειλοὶ βάλλονται, φοβηθέντες· καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲν ἐν αὐτοῖς ὑγιὲς ὅλως οὐδὲ πάγιον, ἀλλὰ φαντασία μόνον εὐπρεπὴς ῥημάτων πρὸς κατάπληξιν τῶν ἀκουόντων καὶ πειθὼ κατεσκευασμένη, οὐ τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τοῦ συμφέροντος χάριν, 2.431 ἀλλὰ τοῦ δόξαι τοῖς παροῦσι σοφοὺς τοὺς λόγους. ἐντεῦθεν γοῦν τοῖς πολλοῖς οἱ ἐκ τῶν εἰκότων ἔσθ' ὅτε λόγοι πρὸς κάλλος καὶ ἡδονὴν πεποικιλμένοι μᾶλλον τῶν εἰς ἀκρίβειαν ἐξητασμένων νομίζονται σπουδαιότεροι, τῶν διδασκάλων οὐ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἁμιλλωμένων ἔτι καὶ σεμνόν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ ἀρέσαι καὶ εὐημερῆσαι, καθάπερ οἱ