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De immaculato corpore

A CHAPTER BY THE SAME, Concerning the immaculate body, of which we partake. 1. The body of our Lord and God of which we partake, brothers, is the very body which He took from our substance, which He assumed from the immaculate Theotokos. For we should not assign two bodies to Christ; for His body is one, and He offered one sacrifice for us to God the Father. For even if we often celebrate the mystical unbloody sacrifice, so that in every place and time every faithful person may partake of the divine body and blood, yet it is the same sacrifice; for we offer the same body, the same Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Since if that were one thing, and this another, many sacrifices, and not one, would have been offered for us, as the divine apostle has variously said in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." And after other things: "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." And a little after: "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." And again: "And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of the Father, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected for 95.408 ever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin." 2. Just as, therefore, the infant born of a woman is a perfect man; and by eating and drinking he grows, and does not take on another body, and we do not speak of two or many bodies of his, but one, that which is born of a mother, and nature works out the growth through its natural economy; so also now since Christ is our head, and we have become one body with him, we are his body, ever-growing.

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De immaculato corpore

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Περὶ τοῦ ἀχράντου σώματος, οὗ μεταλαμβάνομεν. αʹ. Τὸ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν σώματος οὗ μεταλαμβάνομεν, ἀδελφοὶ, αὐτό ἐστι τὸ σῶμα, ὃ ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας οὐσίας ἀνέλαβεν, ὃ ἐκ τῆς ἀχράντου καὶ Θεοτόκου προσείληφεν· οὐ γὰρ δύο σώματα δώσωμεν τῷ Χριστῷ· ἓν γάρ ἐστιν αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ μίαν θυσίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀνήνεγκε τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλάκις τὴν μυστικὴν ἀναίμακτον θυσίαν ἐπιτελοῦμεν, διὰ τὸ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ καὶ χρόνῳ πάντα πιστὸν μεταλαμβάνειν τοῦ θείου σώματός τε καὶ αἵματος· ἀλλ' ἡ αὐτὴ θυσία ἐστί· τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ σῶμα προσφέρομεν, τὸν αὐτὸν ἀμνὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν αἴροντα τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. Ἐπεὶ εἰ ἄλλο ἦν ἐκεῖνο, καὶ ἄλλο τοῦτο, πολλαὶ θυσίαι, καὶ οὐ μία, προσηνέχθησαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ὡς διαφόρως ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος εἴρηκεν ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους Ἐπιστολῇ· «Τοιοῦτος γὰρ ἡμῖν ἔπρεπεν ἀρχιερεὺς, ὅσιος, ἄκακος, ἀμίαντος, κεχωρισμένος ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, καὶ ὑψηλότερος τῶν οὐρανῶν γενόμενος· ὃς οὐκ ἔχει καθ' ἡμέραν ἀνάγκην ὥσπερ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς, πρότερον ὑπὲρ τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτιῶν θυσίας ἀναφέρειν, ἔπειτα τῶν τοῦ λαοῦ. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐποίησεν ἐφάπαξ, ἑαυτὸν ἀνενέγκας.» Καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· «Χριστὸς δὲ παραγενόμενος ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελειοτέρας σκηνῆς, οὐ χειροποιήτου, τουτέστιν, οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως, οὐδὲ δι' αἵματος τράγων καὶ μόσχων, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος εἰσῆλθεν ἐφάπαξ εἰς τὰ ἅγια, αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος.» Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· «Οὐ γὰρ εἰς χειροποίητα ἅγια εἰσῆλθεν ὁ Χριστὸς ἀντίτυπα τῶν ἀληθινῶν, ἀλλ' εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανὸν, νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν· οὐδ' ἵνα πολλάκις προσφέρῃ ἑαυτὸν, ὥσπερ ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὰ ἅγια κατ' ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν αἵματι ἀλλοτρίῳ· ἐπεὶ ἔδει αὐτὸν πολλάκις παθεῖν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Νῦν δὲ ἅπαξ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων, εἰς ἀθέτησιν ἁμαρτίας, διὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωται· καὶ καθόσον ἀπόκειται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἅπαξ ἀποθανεῖν, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο κρίσις, οὕτω καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἅπαξ προσενεχθεὶς τὸ πολλῶν ἀνενεγκεῖν ἁμαρτίας, ἐκ δευτέρου χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας ὀφθήσεται τοῖς αὐτὸν ἀπεκδεχομένοις εἰς σωτηρίαν.» Καὶ αὖθις· «Καὶ πᾶς μὲν ἀρχιερεὺς ἕστηκε καθ' ἡμέραν λειτουργῶν, καὶ τὰς αὐτὰς πολλάκις προσφέρων θυσίας, αἵτινες οὐδέποτε δύνανται περιελεῖν ἁμαρτίας. Οὗτος δὲ μίαν ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν προσενέγκας θυσίαν, εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρὸς, τὸ λοιπὸν ἐκδεχόμενος, ἕως τεθῶσιν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ· μιᾷ γὰρ προσφορᾷ τετελείωκεν εἰς τὸ διηνε 95.408 κὲς τοὺς ἁγιαζομένους. Μαρτυρεῖ δὲ ἡμῖν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ προειρηκέναι· αὕτη ἡ διαθήκη, ἣν διαθήσομαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς μετὰ τὰς ἡμέρας ἐκείνας, λέγει Κύριος, διδοὺς νόμους μου ἐπὶ καρδίας αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν διανοιῶν αὐτῶν ἐπιγράψω αὐτοὺς, καὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν ἀνομιῶν αὐτῶν οὐ μὴ μνησθῶ ἔτι. Ὅπου δὲ ἄφεσις τούτων, οὐκέτι προσφορὰ περὶ ἁμαρτίας.» βʹ. Ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ ἐκ γυναικὸς βρέφος γεννώμενον τέλειός ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος· ἐσθίον δὲ καὶ πίνον αὐξάνει μὲν, καὶ οὐχ ἕτερον προσλαμβάνεται σῶμα, καὶ οὐ δύο ἢ πολλὰ αὐτοῦ λέγομεν σώματα, ἀλλ' ἓν, τὸ γεννώμενον ἐκ μητρὸς, καὶ ἡ φύσις τὴν αὔξησιν διὰ τῆς φυσικῆς οἰκονομίας ἐργάζεται· οὕτω καὶ νῦν ἐπειδὴ κεφαλὴ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ γεγόναμεν αὐτοῦ σύσσωμοι, καὶ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ἐσμεν ἀεὶ αὐξανόμενον.