343

For these were the captives of the camp, those who were bound in Hades; and it says "likewise those who provoke, those who dwell in tombs," in order to speak of the bodies of those who had risen, and it did not say: those who were provoked or are being provoked, but those who provoke. For having appeared in the city to many, those who had recently died along with the most ancient—for I think that he began to perform the resurrection from Adam, but the recent ones * of the same bodies, * buried them in the place of Golgotha upon him * being crucified and fulfilling what was written, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you," he who was crucified above you, —and with others among them recognizing them from their own people, they first astonished those who saw them. For if a father met a child who had risen, or a brother a brother, or a relative a relative who had died twenty or ten years before, and asking out of wonder: Are you not so-and-so, who was buried by us in this place? How did you rise and come here? But being asked in turn by the one who had risen again that: What was done here among you three days ago, when the earth was shaken, and they saying that, having seized a certain deceiver who was misleading the people, Jesus by name, we crucified him and the deception ceased, then he, for his part, confessing the grace of the Lord and the truth and saying, "Woe to you, because you denied and crucified the author of the world's salvation; for he raised us by his own strong power of divinity and incarnation," there, then, was the divine scripture fulfilled, that says, "likewise those who provoke, those who dwell in tombs." For hearing from the risen ones that they rose through the Lord Jesus, they were provoked, having attempted to the point of death both to deny and to 2.522 crucify the author of life. And perhaps the philanthropic Lord worked this too for the benefit of those who saw the risen ones. For we think that many, seeing the risen ones and being pierced to the heart, were benefited and believed. Therefore you also, Origenists, be persuaded and believe, and do not destroy many by your error. 72. But these things will be enough for me against the would-be philosopher Origen, who vainly took upon himself the name of Adamantius, and against his absurdity against the truth, having wickedly devised a destructive teaching in many parts of the faith. And having passed over his heresy, I will examine the others in order, my longed-for ones, as is my custom calling upon God as a helper of our simplicity, so as to be able to stand against every vain voice raised against the truth and to defeat it according to what was said by the holy Isaiah, that "every voice that shall rise up against you, you will defeat them all, and the guilty shall be in it," so that in this way, having completed the task in God for those who wish to read intelligently, as a training ground of truth and a medicine of healing concerning each beast and venomous reptile, I mean the persons of the heresies, in the manner of an antidote even for this one of the Origenists, which is formed like a toad from much moisture, stirring it up and croaking with a louder voice, let us, taking the resurrection of the Lord as a toast, so to speak, spew out the slimy iniquity 2.523 of the venom of the wicked toad and reptile. For it has befallen him to suffer this also, along with all those who are persuaded by him, for which reason I groan over him, that 'Alas, how you were harmed, and how many others you have harmed, as if bitten by a terrible viper'—I mean by worldly education—'and have become a poison to others.' For the naturalists say that the dormouse burrows and bears many offspring at once, up to five and even more, and that vipers hunt these. And if the viper finds the whole den, not being able to devour them all, it eats one or two at once to its fill, and having pierced the rest of the

343

οὗτοι γὰρ ἦσαν οἱ δέσμιοι τῆς παρεμβολῆς, οἱ ἐν Ἅιδῃ πεπεδημένοι· καί φησιν «ὁμοίως τοὺς παραπικραίνοντας, τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐν τάφοις», ἵνα εἴπῃ τὰ σώματα τῶν ἀναστάντων, καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν· τοὺς παραπικρανθέντας ἢ παραπικραινομένους, ἀλλὰ τοὺς παραπικραίνοντας. ὀφθέντες γὰρ ἐν τῇ πόλει πολλοῖς οἱ πρόσφατον τελευτήσαντες μετὰ τῶν παλαιοτάτων-νομίζω γὰρ ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἤρξατο τὴν ἀνάστασιν ποιεῖσθαι, οἱ δὲ πρόσφατοι * τῶν αὐτῶν σωμάτων, * τεθαμμένους αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ Γολγοθᾷ τόπῳ ἐπ' αὐτὸν * σταυρωθεὶς καὶ πληρῶν τὸ γεγραμμένον «ἔγειρε ὁ καθεύδων καὶ ἀνάστα ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν καὶ ἐπιφαύσει σοι ὁ Χριστός», ὁ ἐπάνω σου ἐσταυρωμένος, -καὶ ἄλλων μετ' αὐτῶν ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων αὐτοὺς ἐπιγινωσκόντων πρῶτον μὲν ἐξέπληττον τοὺς ὁρῶντας. εἰ γάρ τις συνέτυχε πατὴρ τέκνῳ ἀναστάντι ἢ ἀδελφὸς ἀδελφῷ ἢ συγγενὴς συγγενεῖ πρὸ ἐτῶν εἴκοσι ἢ δέκα τελευτήσαντι, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θαύματος ἐρωτῶντες· οὐκ εἶ σὺ ὁ δεῖνα ὁ ἐν τῷδε τῷ τόπῳ ταφεὶς ὑφ' ἡμῶν; πῶς ἀνέστης καὶ ἦλθες; ἀντερωτώμενοι δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀναστάντος πάλιν ὅτι· τί ἐπράχθη ἐνταῦθα πρὸ τριῶν ἡμερῶν παρ' ὑμῖν, ὅτε ἡ γῆ ἐκλονεῖτο, καὶ λέγοντες ὅτι πλάνον τινὰ ἀπατῶντα τὸν λαὸν Ἰησοῦν ὀνόματι κρατήσαντες ἐσταυρώσαμεν καὶ ἐπαύσατο ἡ πλάνη, ἐκείνου δὲ λοιπὸν ὁμολογοῦντος τὴν χάριν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ λέγοντος «οὐαὶ ὑμῖν ὅτι τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τοῦ κόσμου τῆς σωτηρίας ἠρνήσασθε καὶ ἐσταυρώσατε· ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἤγειρεν ἡμᾶς ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ ἰσχυρᾷ δυνάμει τῆς θεότητος καὶ ἐνανθρωπήσεως», ἐκεῖ λοιπὸν ἐπληροῦτο ἡ θεία γραφή, τό «ὁμοίως τοὺς παραπικραίνοντας, τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐν τάφοις». ἀκούοντες γὰρ παρὰ τῶν ἐγηγερμένων ὅτι διὰ τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ ἀνέστησαν παρεπικραίνοντο, ἕως θανάτου ἐπιχειρήσαντες τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ζωῆς ἀρνήσασθαί τε καὶ 2.522 σταυρῶσαι. τάχα δὲ καὶ τοῦτο εἰς ὠφέλειαν τῶν θεασαμένων τοὺς ἐγηγερμένους εἰργάσατο ὁ φιλάνθρωπος κύριος. νομίζομεν γὰρ ὅτι θεασάμενοι τοὺς ἐγηγερμένους καὶ κατανυγέντες ὠφελήθησάν τε καὶ ἐπίστευσαν πολλοί. διὸ καὶ ὑμεῖς, Ὠριγενιασταί, πείσθητε καὶ πιστεύσατε καὶ μὴ πολλοὺς ἀπολέσητε τῇ ὑμῶν πλάνῃ. 72. Ἀλλὰ ἀρκέσει μοι ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν ἐθελόσοφον Ὠριγένην, τὸν ματαίως ἑαυτῷ ἐπιθέμενον ὄνομα Ἀδαμαντίου καὶ πρὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ ἀτοπίαν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐν πολλοῖς μέρεσι τῆς πίστεως κακῶς ἐπινενοημένον ὀλεθρίαν διδασκαλίαν. παρελθὼν δὲ καὶ τούτου τὴν αἵρεσιν καθεξῆς τὰς ἄλλας διασκέψομαι, ἐπιπόθητοι, θεὸν συνήθως ἐπικαλούμενος ἀρωγὸν τῆς ἡμῶν ἰδιωτείας, πρὸς τὸ δυνηθῆναι ἀντισχεῖν πρὸς πᾶσαν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπεγειρομένην φωνὴν μάταιον καὶ ἡττῆσαι κατὰ τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἠσαΐου ῥηθέντα ὅτι «πᾶσα φωνὴ ἐπαναστήσεται ἐπὶ σέ, πάντας αὐτοὺς ἡττήσεις, οἱ δὲ ἔνοχοι ἔσονται ἐν αὐτῇ», ἵν' οὕτως ἐν θεῷ τὸ ἐπάγγελμα περαιωσάμενοι τοῖς βουλομένοις νουνεχῶς ἐντυγχάνειν εἰς γυμνάσιον ἀληθείας καὶ φάρμακον ἰάσεως περὶ ἑκάστου θηρὸς καὶ ἰοβόλου ἑρπετοῦ, τῶν προσώπων τῶν αἱρέσεών φημι, δίκην ἀντιδότου καὶ ταυτησὶ τῆς τῶν Ὠριγενιαστῶν, φρύνου δίκην μεμορφωμένης ἐκ νοτίδος πολλῆς κυκῶντος καὶ φωνῇ μείζονι ἐπικραυγάζοντος, λαβόμενοι τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἀνάστασιν προπότιον ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἀποβλύσωμεν τὸ γλισχρῶδες 2.523 τοῦ ἰοῦ τοῦ φρύνου καὶ ἑρπετώδους μοχθηροῦ τὴν ἀδικίαν. συμβέβηκε γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ πάντων τῶν πειθομένων αὐτῷ πάσχειν, δι' ὃ καὶ στενάζω ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι οἴμοι πῶς ἐβλάβης, πόσους δὲ ἄλλους ἔβλαψας, ὡς ὑπὸ δεινῆς ἐχίδνης δηχθείς, ὑπὸ τῆς κοσμικῆς προπαιδείας φημί, καὶ ἄλλοις δηλητήριον γέγονας. Φασὶ γὰρ οἱ φυσιολόγοι τὸν μυωξὸν ἐμφωλεύειν καὶ τὰ γεννήματα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πολλὰ τίκτειν, ἕως πέντε καὶ ἔτι, τὰς δὲ ἐχίδνας τούτους θηρᾶσθαι. καὶ ἐὰν εὕρῃ ὅλον τὸν φωλεὸν ἡ ἔχιδνα, μὴ δυναμένη τοὺς ὅλους καταφαγεῖν, ὑπὸ ἓν ἐσθίει εἰς κόρον ἕνα ἢ δύο, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν κατακεντήσασα τοὺς