Fragments on the Gospel of Matthew 4 _2_ _ _ In these things, it seems to me that Elias is not said to be the soul, lest I fall into the dogma of metensomatosis, which is foreign to the church of God, neither handed down by the apostles nor appearing anywhere in the scriptures; for it is contrary to 'the things which are seen are temporal' and that this age will suffer a consummation, but also to the fulfillment of <the> 'heaven and earth will pass away' and 'for the form of this world is passing away' and 'the heavens will be destroyed' along with what follows it. For if (hypothetically) the same soul can come to be in the body twice in the state of things from 5 the beginning until the consummation of the world, for whatever reason it might be in it, which (or edd.) having come to be in a body twice on account of sin, why will it not be in it also a third time and many times more, since the punishments for this life and the sins committed in it are to be rendered in this manner alone (according to metensomatosis)? If this is granted as a consequence, there will perhaps be no time when a soul is not subject to metensomatosis. For it will always sojourn in the body on account of its former sins, and thus the destruction of the world, according to which 'heaven and earth will pass away,' will have no place. But in order that (according to this hypothesis) it may be granted that the one who is completely sinless will no longer come into a body through birth, after how many ages do you think 6 one soul will be found that is completely purified and not in need of metensomatosis? Nevertheless, even so, with one soul always being removed from the fixed number of souls. and no longer coming into a body, generation will at some point cease, as if through certain almost infinite ages, when the world has been reduced to some one or two or a few more, after whom, when they too have been perfected, the world will be destroyed, since those who come into a body will have ceased to be. This does not please scripture; for it knows of a multitude of sinners at the time of the world's destruction. This is clear when we examine along with it, 'Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, <will he> find faith on the earth?' as we find it stated thus in Matthew 7: 'But as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man; for as they were in the days of the flood,' and what follows. But for those at that time, the requital for their sins will not be in metensomatosis; for if they are taken while still sinning, they will either be punished in another manner of punishment after this (and accordingly there will be two general manners of punishment; one in metensomatosis, the other outside of such a body. And let them state the causes and differences of these), or those left at the consummation will not be punished, having cast off their sins all at once, or (which is better) there is one manner of punishment for those who have sinned in the body, which is to suffer outside of it, from the state of this life, according to the worth of their sins. 8 And each of these, to one who is able to see into the matter, is subversive of metensomatosis. But if the Greeks who introduce metensomatosis (since they posit things consistent with it) necessarily do not wish the world to be destroyed, it is time for them also, looking at the scriptures which show that the world will be destroyed, either to disbelieve them or to quibble about the narrative of the things concerning the consummation; which, even if they should wish to do, they will not be able to.2

Fragmenta in evangelium Matthaei 4 _2_ _ _ ̓_Ε_ν_ _τ_ο_ύ_τ_ο_ι_ς_ _ _ ̓_Η_λ_ί_α_ς_ _ο_ὐ_χ_ _ἡ_ _ψ_υ_χ_ὴ δοκεῖ μοι λέγεσθαι, ἵνα μὴ ἐμ πίπτω εἰς τὸ ἀλλότριον τῆς ἐκ κλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ περὶ τῆς μετ ενσωματώσεως δόγμα, οὔτε πα ραδιδόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων οὔτε ἐμφαινόμενόν που τῶν γρα φῶν· καὶ γὰρ ἐναντίον ἐστὶ τῷ «τὰ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα» εἶναι καὶ συντέλειαν πείσεσθαι τὸν αἰ ῶνα τοῦτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ πληρω θῆναι <τὸ> «ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσονται» καὶ τὸ «παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τού του» καὶ τὸ «οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἀπολοῦν ται» μετὰ τῶν ἑξῆς αὐτῷ. Εἰ γὰρ (καθ' ὑπόθεσιν) δὶς δύναται γενέσθαι ἐν τῇ ἀπ' 5 ἀρχῆς μέχρι συντελείας τοῦ κόσ μου καταστάσει ἡ αὐτὴ ψυχὴ ἐν τῷ σώματι, δι' αἰτίαν ἣν ἂν γέ νοιτο ἐν αὐτῷ, ἡ (ἢ edd.) δι' ἁμαρ τίαν γενομένη δὶς ἐν σώματι διὰ τί οὐχὶ καὶ τρὶς καὶ πλεονάκις ἔσται ἐν αὐτῷ, τῶν διὰ τὸν βίον τοῦ τον καὶ τὰ ἡμαρτημένα ἐν αὐτῷ κολάσεων τούτῳ ἀποδοθησομέ νων μόνῳ τῷ τρόπῳ (κατὰ τὴν μετενσωμάτωσιν); ὅπερ ἐὰν ἐξ ἀκολουθίας δοθῇ, οὐκ ἔσται τάχα ὅτε ψυχὴ οὐ μετενσωματωθήσε ται. ἀεὶ γὰρ διὰ τὰ πρότερα ἁμαρ τήματα ἐπιδημήσει τῷ σώματι καὶ οὕτως οὐχ ἕξει χώραν ἡ τοῦ κόσμου φθορά, καθ' ἣν «ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσονται». Ἵνα δὲ (κατὰ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ταύτην) δι δῶται τὸν πάντη ἀναμάρτητον μηκέτι ἥξειν εἰς τὸ διὰ γενέσεως σῶμα, διὰ πόσων χρόνων οἴει 6 μίαν εὑρήσεσθαι πάντη καθα ρεύσασαν ψυχὴν καὶ μὴ δεομένην μετενσωματώσεως; Ὅμως δὲ καὶ οὕτως μιᾶς τινος ἀεὶ ἐκ τοῦ ὡρισμένου τῶν ψυχῶν ἀριθμοῦ μεθισταμένης. καὶ μη κέτι εἰς σῶμα ἐρχομένης, ἐπι λείψει ποτὲ ὡς διά τινων ὡσπερεὶ ἀπείρων χρόνων ἡ γένεσις, καταν τήσαντος τοῦ κόσμου ἐπί τινα ἕνα ἢ δεύτερον ἢ ὀλίγῳ πλείους, μεθ' οὓς καὶ αὐτοὺς τηλειω θέντας ὁ κόσμος φθαρήσεται ἐπιλειπόντων τῶν εἰς σῶμα ἐρ χομένων. ὅπερ οὐκ ἀρέσκει τῇ γραφῇ· πλῆθος γὰρ οἶδεν ἁμαρ τωλῶν ἐν τῷ χρόνῳ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου φθορᾶς. ὅπερ ἐστὶ δῆλον συνεξεταζομένου τοῦ «πλὴν ἐλθὼν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου <ἆρα> εὑρήσει τὴν πίστιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς;» ὡς εὕρομεν παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ 7 οὕτως εἰρημένον «ὥσπερ δὲ αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ Νῶε, οὕτως ἔσται ἡ παρουσία τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώ που· ὡς γὰρ ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἔσται δὲ τοῖς τότε ἡ τῶν ἁμαρ τημάτων εἴσπραξις οὐκ ἐν μετεν σωματώσει· εἰ γὰρ ἔτι ἁμαρ τάνοντες παραλαμβάνονται, ἤτοι ἄλλῳ τρόπῳ κολάσεως μετὰ τοῦ το κολασθήσονται (καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο ἤτοι δύο τρόποι κολάσεων ἔσονται γενικοί· ὁ μὲν ἐν μετεν σωματώσει, ὁ δὲ ἔξω τοῦ τοιού του σώματος. καὶ λεγέτωσαν τὰς τούτων αἰτίας καὶ διαφοράς), ἢ οὐ κολασθήσονται ὡς ἀθρόως ἀποβαλόντες τὰ ἁμαρτήματα οἱ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ καταλειφθέντες, ἢ (ὅπερ βέλτιον) εἷς ἐστι τρόπος κολάσεως τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσιν ἐν σώματι τὸ ἔξω αὐτοῦ τῆς κατα στάσεως τοῦ βίου τούτου τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν τῶν ἡμαρτημένων 8 παθεῖν. ἕκαστον δὲ τούτων τῷ ἐνορᾶν δυναμένῳ τοῖς πράγμα σιν ἀνατρεπτικόν ἐστι τῆς μετ ενσωματώσεως. εἰ δὲ ἀναγκαίως οἱ τὴν μετενσωμάτωσιν εἰσάγοντες Ἕλληνες (ὡς ἀκόλουθα αὐτοῖς τιθέντες) οὐδὲ φθείρεσθαι βού λονται τὸν κόσμον, ὥρα καὶ τού τους, ἀντιβλέψαντας ταῖς ἐκ φαινούσαις γραφαῖς φθαρήσεσθαι τὸν κόσμον, ἢ ἀπιστῆσαι αὐταῖς ἢ εὑρεσιλογεῖν περὶ διηγήσεως τῶν κατὰ τὴν συντέλειαν· ὅπερ κἂν βούλωνται ποιῆσαι οὐ δυνήσονται.2