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to impart goodness. You will take away their spirit, and they will fail, and to their dust they will return. You will send forth Your Spirit, and they will be created, and You will renew the face of the earth. But the word is about men, and I think indeed that through these things the consummation of the present age is signified, and the renewal of the age to come; so that no one may suppose that the present constitution of the world extends to infinity, but that we might have hopes for that new age and the resurrection, which the word presents after saying, To their dust they will return, by adding: You will send forth Your life-giving Spirit, and they will be created, rising from the earth, and You will renew the face of the earth, the beauty of the earth, that is, the men fashioned from the earth. Here he clearly proclaimed to us both the resurrection, and the revival through the all-holy Spirit, and the refashioning of human bodies in the last times of the age; and their production into being again. And he shows that He Himself is the master of both death and life. For he does not wish to dwell on gloomy things, but having said enough to cause fear, he brings the discourse back again to good things, and what is said elsewhere, that He Himself is Lord of both death and life, this he declares here, and says that those who have returned to the dust are created by the Spirit, and the race of men is renewed; for the resurrection is a restoration to the original state. And he calls the "sending" of the Spirit its condescension to act, not its transition from place to place; 23.1288 because the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world, by whom the face of the earth is renewed. For this is the beauty of the world: the animals in it, the plants, the race of men; and for these things to exist, there is need of the breath and life given by Him; which it is easy for Him both to give and to take away, and all things with speed and ease. And this especially shows His strength. You see the resurrection being practiced even in the present life in the seeds, in the plants, and in the very race of men. For both animals and plants possess their being by a final echo of life; when this is taken away, according to the saying, all life fails, and the things that have failed, by their weakness in partaking of it, return again to one state, and again become living creatures. But the most divine thing is that He has promised to translate us completely, I mean our souls and their kindred bodies, to a perfect life and immortality; a thing which to old custom may seem contrary to nature, but is in truth both divine and above our nature, not the all-powerful nature; for to that nature not one life is contrary to nature or above nature, so let the contradictory words of Simon's drunken rage about these things be driven away. But some understand the verses thus: You will send Your Spirit, which comes through holy baptism, and they will be created into a new creation, into a new people; so that the former interpretation is understood to be about the resurrection from the dead, when the earth also will be renewed and will be freed from corruption, and the second about the regeneration from baptism. Let the glory of the Lord be for ever; the Lord will rejoice in His works. He who looks upon the earth and makes it tremble, who touches the mountains and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord in my life, I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist. Since I have been taught these things, he says, for this reason I will spend my whole life in a hymn to the Creator; and as long as I live and exist in this life I will render the due psalm to my God. And the addition shows a great disposition and intimacy towards God. For he did not say, "I will sing praise to God," but, "to my God." For he seems to be saying, "to the one who created me and nourished me and has been for me the cause of all good things." And here he means a song not through words, but also through deeds. For since he found himself responsible to God for many things, and

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χρηστότητος μεταδοῦναι. Ἀντανελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐκλείψουσι, καὶ εἰς τὸν χοῦν αὐτῶν ἐπιστρέψουσι. Ἐξαποστελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμά σου, καὶ κτισθήσονται, καὶ ἀνακαινιεῖς τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς. Περὶ ἀνθρώπων δὲ ὁ λόγος, καὶ οἶμαί γε διὰ τούτων τὴν τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος δηλοῦσθαι συντέλειαν, καὶ τὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀνανέωσιν· ὡς ἂν μή τις ὑπονοήσῃ εἰς ἄπειρον κατατείνειν τὴν παροῦσαν τοῦ κόσμου σύστασιν, ἀλλ' ἔχοιμεν ἐλπίδας εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν νέον αἰῶνα καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ἣν ὁ λόγος παρίστησι μετὰ τὸ φάναι, Εἰς τὸν χοῦν αὐτῶν ἐπιστρέψουσιν, ἐπαγαγών· Ἐξαποστελεῖς τὸ πνεῦμά σου τὸ ζωοποιὸν, καὶ κτισθήσονται, ἐκ γῆς ἀνιστάμενοι, καὶ ἀνακαινιεῖς τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς, τὸ κάλλος τῆς γῆς, δηλαδὴ τοὺς ἀπὸ γῆς πλασθέντας ἀνθρώπους. Ἐνταῦθα σαφῶς ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν προεκήρυξε, καὶ τὴν διὰ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἀναβίωσιν, καὶ τὸν ἐν ἐσχάτοις τοῦ αἰῶνος καιροῖς τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων σωμάτων, ἀναπλασμόν· τήν τε εἰς τὸ αὖθις εἶναι παραγωγήν. Καὶ δείκνυσιν, ὡς αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ καὶ θανάτου καὶ ζωῆς δεσπότης. Οὐ γὰρ βούλεται τοῖς σκυθρωποῖς ἐνδιατρίβειν, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον εἰπὼν ὅσον φοβῆσαι, πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰ χρηστὰ ἐπανάγει τὸν λόγον, καὶ ὅπερ ἀλλαχοῦ εἴρηται, ὅτι καὶ θανάτου καὶ ζωῆς αὐτός ἐστι Κύριος, τοῦτο ἐνταῦθα δηλοῖ, καί φησι τοὺς εἰς τὸν χοῦν ἐπιστρέψαντας ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος κτίζεσθαι, καὶ ἀνακαινίζεσθαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ γένος· ἡ γὰρ ἀνάστασις εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖόν ἐστιν ἀποκατάστασις. Ἀποστολὴν δὲ καλεῖ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἐνεργεῖν αὐτοῦ συγκατάβασιν, οὐ τὴν ἐκ τόπου εἰς τόπον μετάβασιν· 23.1288 ὅτι Πνεῦμα Κυρίου πεπλήρωκε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ὑφ' οὗ τὸ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς ἀνακαινίζεται. Τοῦτο γὰρ κάλλος, τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ζῶα τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, τὰ φυτὰ, τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸ γένος· ὥστε δὲ ταῦτα συστῆναι, τῆς παρ' αὐτοῦ διδομένης χρεία πνοῆς καὶ ζωῆς· ἣν καὶ δοῦναι καὶ λαβεῖν αὐτῷ ῥᾴδιον, καὶ πάντα μετὰ τάχους καὶ εὐκολίας. Καὶ τοῦτο μάλιστα δείκνυσιν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἰσχύν. Ὁρᾷς καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ μελετωμένην τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἐν τοῖς σπέρμασιν, ἐν τοῖς φυτοῖς, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ ζῶα γὰρ καὶ φυτὰ κατ' ἔσχατον ἀπήχημα τῆς ζωῆς ἔχουσι τὸ εἶναι, ἧς ἀνταναιρουμένης κατὰ τὸ λόγιον, ἐκλείπει πᾶσα ζωὴ, καὶ πρὸς ἓν τὰ ἐκλελοιπότα τῇ πρὸς τὸ μετέχειν αὐτῆς ἀσθενείᾳ πάλιν ἐπιστρεφόμενα, πάλιν ζῶα γίνεται. Τὸ δὲ θειότατον, ὅτι καὶ ὅλως ἡμᾶς, ψυχάς φημι καὶ τὰ συζυγῆ σώματα, πρὸς παντελῆ ζωὴν καὶ ἀθανασίαν ἐπήγγελται μεταθήσειν· πρᾶγμα τῇ παλαιότητι μὲν ἴσως παρὰ φύσιν δοκοῦν, τῇ δὲ ἀληθείᾳ καὶ θεῖον καὶ ὑπὲρ φύσιν τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς, οὐ τὴν πανσθενῆ· αὐτῇ γὰρ οὐδὲ μία ζωὴ παρὰ φύσιν, ἢ ὑπὲρ φύσιν, ὥστε οἱ περὶ τούτων τῆς παροινίας Σίμωνος ἀντιῤῥητικοὶ λόγοι ἀπεληλάσθωσαν. Τινὲς δὲ οὕτω νοοῦσι τοὺς στίχους· Ἀποστελεῖς τὸ Πνεῦμά σου, τὸ διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ἐπιφοιτῶν, καὶ κτισθήσονται εἰς καινὴν κτίσιν, εἰς νέον λαόν· ὡς νοεῖσθαι τὴν μὲν προτέραν ἑρμηνείαν περὶ τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως, ὅτε καὶ ἡ γῆ ἀνακαινισθήσεται καὶ ἀπαλλαγήσεται τῆς φθορᾶς, τὴν δὲ δευτέραν περὶ τῆς ἐκ βαπτίσματος παλιγγενεσίας. Ἤτω ἡ δόξα Κυρίου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα· εὐφρανθήσεται Κύριος ἐπὶ τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ. Ὁ ἐπιβλέπων ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ ποιῶν αὐτὴν τρέμειν, ὁ ἁπτόμενος τῶν ὀρέων καὶ καπνίζονται. Ἄσω τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν τῇ ζωῇ μου, ψαλῶ τῷ Θεῷ μου ἕως ὑπάρχω. Ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα δεδίδαγμαι, φησὶ, τούτου χάριν πᾶσαν τὴν ζωήν μου εἰς ὕμνον καταναλώσω τῷ δημιουργῷ· καὶ ἕως ἂν ζῶ καὶ ὑπάρχω ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ τὸν ὀφειλόμενον ψαλμὸν ἀποδώσω τῷ Θεῷ μου. Πολλὴν δὲ ἐμφαίνει διάθεσιν καὶ οἰκείωσιν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἡ προσθήκη. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε, ψαλῶ τῷ Θεῷ, ἀλλὰ, τῷ Θεῷ μου. Ἔοικε γὰρ φάσκειν, τῷ κτίσαντί με καὶ θρέψαντι καὶ πάντων αἰτίῳ μοι γεγονότι τῶν ἀγαθῶν. Ὠδὴν δὲ ἐνταῦθα λέγει οὐ τὴν διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν διὰ τῶν ἔργων. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εὗρεν ἑαυτὸν πολλῶν ὄντα ὑπεύθυνον τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ