Fragmenta in sancti Pauli epistulam i ad Corinthios

Of the Same Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, a Few Fragments on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Cyril, Archbishop of Alexandria, a Few Fragments on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Paul, called apostle of Jesus Christ. The divine Paul says that he was sent by Christ, by the will of God the Father; for this, I think, is what "by the will of God" means. For since the willing and the acting of the Father is through the Son, we say that the saints are again chosen for the apostolate through him. And Sosthenes the brother, etc. That the power of the proclamations will benefit not only the Corinthians but also all those called in Christ to sanctification through faith, he makes clear by saying, "To those sanctified in Christ in every place, both theirs and ours." For the law did not command this to be done in every place, but to go to the divine temple itself in Jerusalem; for it feared, as is likely, the instability of their mind, lest, if commanded to worship or sacrifice in every place, they might have the law as a pretext for a change to worse things, and worship graven images, setting up temples and altars for themselves. But since we who are from the nations have been called through faith in Christ to a relationship with God, and have acquired the security through the Holy Spirit, we are ordered to worship not all in Jerusalem, but in every place.

And this, then, was what was said through the prophets: "And they shall worship the Lord, each from his own place." So he writes together with Sosthenes to the Church of God, which Christ himself established for himself; and who saw it? All those sanctified and called through Christ to righteousness, invoking his name in every place of theirs and ours, that is, whether in the land of the Jews or in the cities and regions of the Gentiles. He proclaims Christ as God by nature, and together with him and through him he procures glory for God the Father; for he calls the sanctified the Church of God, but again assigns them to Christ, saying, "But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, that one is not his." Grace to you and peace from our God and Father and Lord Jesus Christ. He crowns with grace those who have believed, by the grace from God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ; for through him and in him are all things from God the Father, and he is co-giver and co-supplier with the one who begot him of the goods from above, and distributor of the gifts from heaven, and he himself is the peace of all, illuminating with his own grace beginnings, thrones, and authorities, and, to speak simply, every rational creation. And you were united in the same mind and in the same purpose.

That it was necessary and wise to persuade that one must pride oneself on the Lord's name, he himself says through one of the holy prophets: "To those who serve me a new name will be given, which will be blessed upon the earth." For we have been named Christians, and we have acquired the new name, of which some who depart from the right ways of the Church are justly deprived; and adhering to deceptive spirits and the marvels of certain unholy false teachers, they have taken their name, and quite reasonably so; for they are not of Christ, having shared in blasphemy against him, and being divided into various opinions and doctrines, although Christ has called his own in peace. And that he himself is one and not divided; therefore we are all one in Christ, and we have been fitted for this in the same mind and the same opinion, he having bound us together in like-mindedness through the spiritual union of the one who says to God and Father concerning us: "I wish that just as I and you are one, so also they may be one in us." Is Christ divided? Was not Paul crucified for you? If another endured the cross for us, let us be called his; and if we have been baptized perhaps into the name of another, let him have us, and let us inscribe him as savior and redeemer; but if "Christ died for our sins," and we have been buried with him alone "through baptism into death," let him, he says, possess those whom he has purchased; for we have been saved through him and by him who laid down his own life for us. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel.

It is admittedly sent to proclaim Jesus to the nations; but we say that it is the work of the apostolate to fulfill, as occasion and need require, even if one should choose it, also to baptize some. Lest he appear to be spending the time needed for preaching on other pursuits, leaving it very well to those in the regions and all appointed to oversight to do this at their leisure, he himself rather evangelized, since indeed he was entrusted with the need for discourse and had very precisely examined the mystery of Christ. But just as the divine Stephen, although appointed a deacon of tables, did not reject the need to initiate, so also the divine Paul, although set to the task of evangelizing the mystery of Christ, fulfilled as occasion required also the need for baptism, the authority for both being available to him, and nothing preventing him if he should choose to do this. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputant of this age? To those who think highly of worldly wisdom and do not accept the faith—clearly the faith in Christ—the gospel is folly; but to us it is not so, far from it; for we hold that it is a power of God, and a path of salvation leading to sanctification, and wisely guiding to the knowledge of truth through abundant proclamations. I myself think that he now calls "wise" the rhetoricians, who by the cleverness of their words always weave plausibility together with falsehood, and strove to create for falsehood the appearance of truth.

I think that by "scribes" he means the grammatists, that is, the grammarians, whose custom it was to scrutinize the writings of the poets and interpret them for the young; and by "disputers" he means those accustomed to wrangle over words and to be, as it were, examiners of the precision of matters, who, by the discoveries of concepts, as if each of the subjects under consideration were held to be unassailable in one respect, pretend to seek the truth, but not at all correctly, but rather in a completely careless manner; for they have been ignorant of the God of all, who constructed this entire universe effortlessly by ineffable energies and brought all non-existent things into being by merely nodding. Truly, then, the wisdom of the world has been made foolish. For since the world did not know God through wisdom in the wisdom of God, God deigned to save those who believe through the foolishness of the proclamation. By "wisdom of God" he also calls human understanding and eloquence, that is, the very charm of expression, in order to teach that God is the creator of mind, the supplier of prudence and eloquence, even if some used them for what was not fitting; and by "foolishness of the proclamation" he means the simplicity of the words; for the divine disciples were laymen in speech, but rich in knowledge. Since the Jews ask for a sign and the Greeks seek wisdom, Paul's word is true in both respects; for when Christ once drove out from the sacred precincts those selling sheep and oxen,

...turtle doves and pigeons, and saying, "Do not make the house of my Father a house of merchandise," they objected, saying, "What sign do you show us that you do these things?" and "Who gave you this authority?" And some of the scribes also approached, after a very great display of signs, saying maliciously, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you." 254 So, deeming the voices of the saints, through which they might reasonably have learned that he was the Christ, to be of very little account, they sought divine signs. Hence the Savior said to those sent by John, "Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind see, the lame walk," etc. And the Greeks, seeking brilliance in word and speech, also consider the manner of the economy with flesh to be folly, and say, "Why indeed did the Word from God, being God by nature, able to accomplish what he wills by will and nod, need to become man and undergo death? How, they say, could a virgin give birth? And how will that which has been destroyed by death be resurrected?" But it is not unreasonable for them to say such things, for "the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit; they are folly to him." But to us it is the power and wisdom of God; for through it God the Father has saved the world, as through the power naturally inherent in him, and through his own ineffable wisdom. For the Son is the wisdom and power of God the Father, through which all things have been brought to generation, and created things are preserved.

And if someone, he says, should choose to compare the power in God with human powers, he will certainly observe that what seems to be done in weakness among divine works, as if not with the full power of the doer, is nevertheless beyond and superior to all human strength. In the same manner, you will understand concerning wisdom, that what seems foolish is wiser than humans. As if, for example, someone wished to compare the small and least of creatures with the greatness and beauty of the elements—I mean heaven, sun, and the rest of the stars, fire, water, and the others—the power and wisdom found in these would be entirely slight, and would seem to be inferior. But none of us could become a worker even of such things. Truly, then, the weakness of God is stronger than humans, and the foolishness of God is wiser than humans. Therefore, the all-wise economy holds sway, for Christ has wisely reigned over everything under heaven in wisdom. Announcing to you the testimony of God. He calls Christ the testimony of God, for God the Father has testified concerning him, saying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." And I, in weakness and in fear, etc. For although I used such moderate instruction, I was greatly afraid, he says, lest those who are found to be superior in understanding to the mind present in us might benefit nothing, but rather do harm.

For those who are childish in mind, a tender and gentle discourse would be suitable for knowledge, "but solid food is for the perfect," "those who, by their condition, have their senses trained "for distinguishing good and evil." So then, he says, the discourse came to you as if in great weakness, and not with the full power of the mystagogue; nor indeed in the persuasiveness of human wisdom, but in a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might not be in human wisdom but in the power of God. For the apostles added to their proclamation also divine signs, making the matter a clear proof that it was necessary to believe that God in these things is attested through the Spirit and through the very facts themselves; as if employing some ineffable and indescribable power and energy, and easily accomplishing the miraculous works. For the mythologies of the Greeks would naturally need a supporting argument, one that somehow conceals their lack of beauty. But for the divine proclamation, a bare and gentle discourse, attested as in the power of God, is sufficient. Wisdom, however, is not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are being abolished. The discourse of the holy mystagogues proceeds through lowly expression, but it instills in us the unadulterated knowledge of the divine mysteries, and reveals Christ as being wisdom, attested not through the fine speech of the world's wise men, but from his own nature, whom none of the rulers of this age knew, who are the evil and opposing powers, which have spoken through the wise men of the world. For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

The argument is highly plausible: for Christ through his own cross has triumphed over the evil and opposing powers, having nailed to the wood "the hand-written bond against us," he has driven away Satan from his tyranny over us, he has abolished the sin of the world, he has opened the gates of Hades to the spirits below, he has cast down the power of death; then how is the passion on the cross not abhorrent to the unclean demons? They would not have crucified him, then, if they had known precisely that he was the redeemer and Lord of glory. For that it was a work of diabolical savagery for Christ to be crucified through the madness of the Jews, the inspired John clearly demonstrated when he said concerning Judas, "For after the morsel, he says, Satan entered into him," who did not know that Jesus was God; for if he had known and been convinced, how did he tempt him in the wilderness saying, "If you are the son of God, say that these stones become loaves?" And it was admittedly a concern for the Savior himself to escape the notice of the rulers of this age, so that he might suffer unnoticed and by his own blood acquire for himself and his own Father the whole world under heaven. And the depths of God. Depths of God are the hidden and secret knowledge of the sacred scriptures, which the Spirit, knowing, reveals to the souls of the saints, making manifest a certain divine mind in them. A psychic man. A psychic man is one who lives according to the flesh and has not yet had his mind illuminated through the Spirit, but possesses only the innate and human understanding which the creator instills in all souls. But the spiritual man examines everything.

The spiritual man examines everything and, as it were, minutely analyzes it with precision, but is himself examined by no one. And that those who are said to be psychic must indeed be brought to benefit and instruction by spiritual teachers, he makes clear by adding and saying, "For who knows the mind of the Lord who will interpret him?" It is as if he were saying, "No one could interpret the psychic man unless he had the mind of Christ." And he uses "interpret" in the sense of "prepare to understand." And who those are who have the mind of the Lord, he again demonstrated by saying, "But we have the mind of Christ," that is, the Spirit that speaks in the saints and reveals mysteries to them, declaring a certain divine mind in them. Therefore, those who have written the better and higher things have measured their exposition economically, so as to be able to understand and speak, in accordance with the dispositions of those being initiated. And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. Not because I lacked the word, which is capable of bringing to perfect knowledge, was I prevented from speaking the more perfect things to you, but because you are infants in disposition and have an unstable mind, not advanced to the knowledge of the more perfect things, and not yet able to receive mysteries. I planted. Paul planted, but Apollos watered, and God called to growth. What then is the planting but the beginning of faith, and that the Lord God of all is to be known and spoken of? And what is the watering but the sowing and pouring forth, as it were, of words from teaching, nourishing to strength the

When one has believed, what mind is there that it might appear and be fruitful? And what is the growth from Christ except the strengthening through the Spirit and the progression "to a perfect man," granted proportionally to each one's efforts and zeal? You are God's field, God's building. Since Christ purchased us with his precious blood, having endured the death of the flesh, we belong entirely to the one who bought us, not to others, even if some have become for us servants and reconcilers and mediators and initiators into the grace from him; therefore we are named not after others but after Christ alone, who also rules over us. As a wise architect, I have laid a foundation. Since he called the believers God's house, he fittingly names Christ the foundation; and many teachers have arisen among the Corinthians, but Paul boasts of being first among the others, and like a kind of firstfruit of those who proclaimed to them the mystery of Christ, who is an unshakable foundation, supporting those built upon him, and revealing temples, fitted together with one another through faith and, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, coming into harmony of soul; concerning this foundation God and Father said through a prophet, "Behold, I place into the foundations of Zion a precious cornerstone, honorable, into its foundations, and the one who believes in it will not be put to shame." Therefore Paul says that he himself has very well laid the foundation, and that others are able to work upon and build, but not to lay down another foundation besides the one already placed, which is Jesus Christ.

For there is not another name 'under heaven given among men, in which we must be saved.' 'For there is one God and Father, from whom are all things and we to him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and we through him, and he is the head of the body of the church.' If, then, one denies the foundation and rejects the rock, he does not build upon it but upon the sand; and this will be very easily shaken; for what does not hold Christ, this will certainly be moved, not having a firm standing. And because I was not coming to you, some became puffed up. Since there were some in Corinth who thought they were sufficient for themselves and had no need of teachers, and who exalted themselves in wisdom of worldly eloquence over Paul; and because of this they were inflated with arrogance, rising up against the others, yet they were not blameless in their life. Since, then, some are puffed up in my absence and think that because of this I am staying away as if afraid to come to words with them, which is not the case, I will come, God willing and permitting. And I will come quickly to you, if the Lord wills. He promised to come, but not unconditionally, but as was fitting, adding with propriety the necessary 'If the Lord wills'; for we must neither think nor speak otherwise than this and only this. And I will know not the speech of the puffed up, but the power. What benefit is there in brilliant speech that has nothing of the good, such as that of the Greeks?

But the simple and customary style of the divinely inspired scripture, though rich, benefits abundantly and leads brilliantly to true knowledge of the God who is by nature. It also produces stewards of every worthy thing. And when this happens, one would be enriched also with the acceptable grace of the gifts through the Spirit. For the kingdom of heaven is not in speech, but in power. And you will understand "in power" if it is applied to the holy apostles themselves, as in strength and activity through the Spirit, by which they are also wonder-workers; but if applied to us ourselves, you will take the saying as in the power of holy and pure life. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod or in love? Do you wish, he says, that I bring a wise rebuke, as with some rod, upon those who have sinned? Or that I approach in a spirit of gentleness and, as in love, pass over in silence? But it was better for them that the rebuke both cut off the evil and the negligence and the attempt at such lawlessness. Concerning this, the divinely inspired scripture also said, through the voice of Joel, about those from Israel: "And a son and his father went in to the same slave girl, in order to profane the name of their God." This fornication, he says, is not even heard of among the Gentiles. For he had heard somewhere that Theseus, as is likely, was sharpened against his own son, cursing him and even killing him, slandered by a stepmother; and certain others, on such charges, were mocked by the eloquence of the poets. To hand over such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

He demonstrated through those things by which he gave the fornicator over to destruction of the flesh so that the spirit might be saved, what it means that "the kingdom of heaven is not in word but in power"; for it is a clear indication of the wondrous authority given to him from above. For our Lord Jesus Christ has honored the saints. Is judgment to be made concerning the unjust and not concerning the saints? He calls "saints" those who have been sanctified in spirit, and "unjust" those who have not yet believed, as being very readily disposed toward any evil whatsoever; for nothing improper is unstudied for those who do not yet know God, who is by nature and truly. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? They will judge it, however, not entirely and absolutely as presiding judges; "for the lawgiver and judge is one." But by the dignity of their life and by their obedience to everything, they almost define the sin of the world, because they have not become imitators of them. For we are all of one nature, even if we have the earth as our mother and are in these perishable bodies; but if some among us have become lovers of God and good, what argument will then assist those who have chosen the inglorious and accursed life before the divine tribunal? For it is possible to be equally esteemed with the others, but they have willingly proceeded to every kind of outrageous conduct. Do you not know that we will judge angels? Is that a matter of daily life? We shall read the verse as if with a question and a comma, as this must be read with a question according to a comma: For who dares to say that you are unworthy of such most humble tribunals, you who judge the world by the splendor of your life?

Then he also introduces a reasoning for what has been said, establishing the certainty of the argument by the juxtaposition of the greater. By "angels" here he means not the holy ones, but rather the apostates, those who have not kept their own principality, who, being from above and not burdened with bodies from the earth, will be condemned by the holy ones in a manner equal to the world, through the clemency of the holy ones, being accused of all the most shameful things. If, then, the holy ones are better than angels, how could they be unworthy of the least judgments concerning worldly matters? Now, if you have secular courts, judging worldly matters in the church is a very small thing, worth nothing to those who are exceedingly clement. But we have also been taught this by the Lord: for someone approached him saying, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me." And he said to him, "Man, who appointed me judge or divider over you?" For it would be more fitting and prudent in the church to judge spiritual matters, to skillfully examine the discourse concerning faith. This has been numbered among the goods from above and through the Spirit; for a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge are given to some, and to others also a discernment of spirits. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? How could our bodies be members of Christ? We have him in ourselves both sensibly and intellectually; for he dwells in our hearts through the Spirit.

We have also partaken of his holy flesh, and have been sanctified in a twofold manner; and he has dwelt in us as life and life-giver, so that he might abolish through himself the death that has beset our members. And this delivers us from corruption and the snares of death, and makes us superior to fleshly passions. And we receive within ourselves the unleavened teaching of the divine oracles, which nourishes the ruling principle, and we live together with Christ—clearly, spiritually—having overcome the passions of the flesh. If, then, he is "the head of the body of the church," we are accordingly the individual members. Therefore, when we fall into base pleasures, it is then that we sin against him, whose members we have become; for we will grant to fornicators, as it were, his own things: his members are defiled by sin and are made members of a harlot. For just as a man who cleaves to a woman will be one body with her, so also one who is mentally bound to God will be one spirit with him; for we have become "partakers of the divine nature," and have been united and sanctified through the Spirit in Christ.

From the same Cyril, from the third tome on the Epistle to the Corinthians. Every sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the one who commits fornication sins against his own body. Someone might say: The murderer, tell me, in what manner will he effect the murder? Is it not through blood? And if someone should choose to slander others, is he not such through the tongue? Then what kind of transgression would be committed that is not through the body? Will the spirit-bearer then appear false somewhere? Let it not be; for he speaks in Christ, and Christ is truth; therefore he will be truthful. If we examine the matter in this way, if someone should choose to be perverse in his ways, he will be such toward others entirely and not toward himself. For the murderer will kill not himself but others, and the reviler will insult not himself but others, and the covetous man will wrong not himself but others, and for each of the extraordinary deeds you will find such a path in the things done. Therefore, in this manner: Every sin is outside the body, but the one who commits fornication sins against his own body. For he will be convicted of wronging his own body, and I will say in what manner. The members of our body, having remained members of Christ through chastity, will surely partake of the life and glory from him; "for he will transform the body of our humility into the form of the body of his glory." But if they should become members of a harlot, how could they receive the transformation and the intelligible splendor of conformity to him?

For when the bodies are raised from the earth at the time of the resurrection, "the righteous will shine like the sun," but the impious and profane and those who have lived in a depraved manner will indeed be raised, yet they will no longer live a glorious life, and they remain without a share of glory; for they will rise "not in judgment nor in the counsel of the righteous," but for punishment and penalty, for they will depart into the outer darkness; for how can that which is punished be in glory? And he adds something else, not without power to persuade one to hate the accursed pleasure of the body. Since even the murderer and the one who dishonors and the reviler, even if they commit the sin with the body, yet they do it to others, of these ways it is said: Every sin is outside the body, but the one who commits fornication wrongs his own body. Our bodies, through chastity, remain members of Christ, and partake of the life and glory from him; but if they are defiled, they are deprived of such glory. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? For the Spirit of adoption, that is, the Holy Spirit, has dwelt in us, "in whom we cry, 'Abba, Father'"; and we have been bought at a price, our Savior Christ having given his own life for all of us. Therefore we are temples of the living God, for Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit, having in his own nature also the Father and God from whom he substantially proceeded.

For he himself said, "If someone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him." Therefore let foul pleasure be far from our minds as from a temple of God; rather let the fragrance of continence rise up like incense, and let us present "our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, our rational worship"; for we were bought "not with perishable silver or gold, but with precious blood," as it is written; so let us serve the one who bought us, present ourselves to him in obedience, "and our limbs as weapons of righteousness for God"; for it is written that "The body is not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body." Therefore when we keep the members of the body free from the defilement that comes from love of the flesh, then the Lord will also be for the body; for he dwells in holy ones, being holy by nature as God. I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain as I do. The Israelites were found to be very light and easily swayed toward anything that pleased them; for this reason they were rightly deprived of the authority to give judgment by law; for concerning them, it is said, one cannot add to them nor take away from them. But the proponents of the evangelical ordinances, having their mind steadfast in the good and having Christ speaking within them, were naturally emboldened to make their words of instruction with great authority, even if nothing of what is to be done is laid down in the sacred writings.

Such a one also is the divine Paul. "I say," he says, to the unmarried and to widows, "it is good for them if they remain as I do," and so forth. For where there is no divine law for us, he has necessarily placed "I say." But where Christ was the one commanding, he says "I command," immediately adding, "Not I, but the Lord." And what then has been overlooked of the necessary things when Christ is legislating? Do the mystagogues devise what is better? Yet how is it not utterly ignorant and senseless to think that the things from Christ are not perfectly correct? What then shall we say? The evangelical and divine proclamation did not forbid marriage, God, I think, somewhere apportioning the commandment to human nature. For the Lord said to the testing Pharisees who asked him, "Is it permitted to divorce one's wife?" not on grounds of fornication, that "he who divorces his wife except for a reason of fornication makes her commit adultery." To this his disciples say to him, "If the man's liability with the woman is thus, it is not advantageous to marry." And he said to them, "There are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to proceed, let him proceed." For he set it before those who wish to succeed, but did not subject them to law, because he knew that not all are able to overcome the movements of the flesh.

This too has something of the sort in every respect, and so does the shadow of the law. For it commanded that the modes of sacrifices be performed for the glory of God, some for sins and transgressions, others for purification and the casting off of filth, and indeed also those on the Sabbath, those at the new moon, and those at the festivals. Yet it also allowed, in addition to these, that some be voluntary, that is, offered to God. These voluntary offerings were those beyond the law, as fruits of a good and God-loving ambition. But it was not permitted to neglect the sacrifices prescribed by law. God, however, considered those who added to them from their own resources and from their own intention worthy of praise. This, we say, has now been arranged in a similar way. For Christ did not forbid that if someone should choose, he might also engage in the communion according to the law. But nothing would prevent us from achieving the greater, if we are eager to lay claim to the glory that leads to a blessed end. Therefore Paul speaks excellently: to the unmarried and to widows he says, "It is good for them if they remain as I do," and so forth. But to those who are married, I do not command, but the Lord does, and so on. And he brings forward his own example as a pattern of the chosen and undisturbed life, surely setting the celibacy of the other before us. Therefore, if someone has cast off the yoke of the law, let him remain, he says, in continence. For thus he will inherit the kingdom of heaven.

And the distributor of crowns will confirm this, saying, "Thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: 'As many as shall keep my sabbaths and choose what I will and hold to my covenant, I will give them in my house and in my wall a renowned place, a name better than sons and daughters, an eternal name I will give them, and it shall not fail.'" Therefore the reward of continence is worthy of acceptance. But for those already bound by marriage, it does not permit separation from the one once joined, lest the saving proclamation under heaven be filled with disturbances. For our Savior Christ does not praise this practice, even if the law economically allowed the ancients to do this on account of "their hardness of heart," as the Savior himself says. And that those in Christ are more secure and stronger than the ancients is easy to see for those who wish: for the law forbade those from Israel to consort with and marry foreigners; but for us, Paul says, "If any brother has an unbelieving wife," and so forth. For in them the mind was rotten and unstable, but we are not so; for we have been anointed for adoption by the Holy Spirit, and Christ dwells in us. Being thus established in every good thing, we are in no way afraid to consort with any unbeliever; rather, we are confident that we will net them into piety, and that we will not become prey to the ignorance present in them. And we bless those who do not yet believe rather than being defiled by them; for it is said, "The unbelieving husband is sanctified in his wife.

Thus are your children also holy, the sanctification of those who believe surely prevailing everywhere over the filth of those who have not yet believed. But if the unbeliever separates himself, he says, let him separate; the brother or sister is not enslaved in such matters; for let the polluted one depart, if he wishes, from the one who sanctifies, having as his own reward the loss in this matter; and the one who follows the divine commandments is completely blameless; for he will be blessed as obedient by our Savior Christ. Was someone called circumcised? Let him not draw back the foreskin; was someone called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Some, as is likely, of those from the circumcision reasoned among themselves: How shall we be acceptable and honor the life in Christ, already having circumcision? Perhaps we must also draw back the foreskin, that is, revert to uncircumcision, and force the nature of the flesh; while those coming from Greek error, learning perhaps from those still honoring the shadow of the law that circumcision is a valuable thing and preserved for all the saints, even when they had sometimes accepted the faith, performed it on the flesh, just as indeed some of those in Galatia, whom the divine Paul rebukes, saying, "Having begun in spirit, now in flesh

are you performing?" It was therefore necessary to open the way for them with a clear and most evident proclamation of the truth, and that circumcision is nothing deprived of the other commandments of God; likewise, uncircumcision is nothing unless adorned with an evangelical life. It is therefore fitting that the one called remain in the calling, whatever its form may be. And it necessarily passes to the need to again, as it were, dispel another blasphemy against the divine proclamation. For a spirit of servitude existed among those under the law; but the evangelical ordinance says that the spirit of adoption is instilled in those willing to believe, and no longer calls to servitude, but to a free status. OF THE SAME, FROM THE FOURTH BOOK OF CYRIL'S TO THE CORINTHIANS. Were you called a slave? Let it not concern you. Since some, being deemed worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit, shook off the yoke of carnal servitude, he writes also through others, "Only do not use freedom as an occasion for the flesh," and he beguiles them, as it were, most urbanely through these words, saying, Were you called a slave? Let it not concern you; but if you are able to become free, rather use it; that is, even if you were called, having the yoke of carnal servitude suspended over you, through faith into free adoption, even if you have become a partaker of the divine nature, it is better to be free of pettiness; you will find the toil of servitude not unrewarded. For the creator knows nature to be free, for it was made thus by him; but some greed, having somehow crept in at times, marred the beauty of freedom.

It is absolutely necessary that those who have suffered should unburden themselves of the evil, as Christ transforms everything toward the beginnings; for in him there is a new creation, and there is neither slave nor free, but he himself is all things and in all things. And indeed Isaiah has already proclaimed the state of the expected and future life and the equality before God, saying, "And the people shall be as the priest, and the servant as the master, and the handmaid as the mistress." Therefore, even if one could become free, it is better to use it; for, as I said, the yoke is not without profit for those who have employed good will and have lived rightly in it. And the fact that the slavery of the flesh has now been imposed on some out of greed will do no harm at all, since for all, in equal manner and account, freedom is preserved before God, who judges justly and weighs our affairs piously. Besides, he says, it would not be among the possible things for us, being human, to escape the name of slavery; for everything that is made is a slave and is subject to the divine scepter, everything that is called into generation; so that the slave is a freedman of Christ, but the one called to freedom is certainly also a slave, as the Psalm says, "For all things are your slaves." The mystagogue also declares that those who have been saved through Christ are benefited in another way; for this reason he says, "You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men.

For we have been bought, admittedly, at the price of the very blood of our common Savior Christ, which he laid down for us, and we have been rescued from the greed of the devil, from the savagery of the demons, and we have been called to freedom through Christ. Therefore, as those who have been purchased and owe their own life to the one who bought them, he says, do not become slaves of men. And we do not claim that he persuades us to flee from slavery of the flesh, but rather he teaches this, and quite rightly, not to be slaves to those who attempt to lead the faithful away into legalistic observance, and who pour out the venom of ancient deception into the souls of the simpler ones, and persuade them to watch for days and months, and to practice so-called will-worship, and advise others to choose to fulfill it. Since, then, he says, you were bought at a price, and "you were ransomed not with perishable silver or gold, but rather with the precious blood as of a spotless and unblemished lamb, Christ," let us rather submit to his laws. Concerning meat sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Since the faithful in Corinth were convinced that God is one and only by nature, and that idols are not gods, and they mocked those who sacrificed to them, saying that the sacrificial meat is nothing at all, and they ate it indiscriminately, considering no defilement from this; but they scandalized the weak who thought they were not offending God if they honored the festivals of the idols; for this reason Paul restrains these practices, wishing the faithful to be single-minded, worshiping only the all-holy God. We know that there is no idol in the world.

To those who are entirely ignorant of idols, or who know precisely that they are mere wood and stone, there is no idol in the world, for they do not deem them worthy of any account at all, but thinking thus, they believe in one God and Father from whom are all things, and in one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things. The glory of lordship belongs to God the Father, and the preeminence of the one born from him belongs to the one who begot him, as he exists and is conceived as God in his own nature, not by participation in the Spirit, by which many are called gods and lords—a knowledge which few possess. Just as there are many gods and many lords, according to being deemed worthy of participation in the Holy Spirit, many are called gods and lords, and this mystical knowledge few possess. For the unbelievers still suppose there are many gods, and some of those who have believed in Christ have not wholly abandoned the customs of idolatry. Some, with the conscience of the idol, still eat as if it were idolothyton, and their conscience, being weak, is polluted. Some of those who have believed in Christ, not having wholly abandoned idolatry, have a weak conscience that is polluted. For from a weak soul, they perhaps think it benefits them to partake of sacred sacrifices, to purify themselves, and to make a meal of the hierothyton. But it is necessary to lead the weak by spiritual teachings, not to eat indifferently and recline with unbelievers. But see that this authority of yours does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

Being indifferent about eating idol-offered food and associating with the unbelievers in the temples, they made a pretext of scandal for some by the display of their own steadfastness. For one must not in all matters, nor out of season and indiscriminately, abuse the authority of faith, but rather everything should be done by us with seemliness. Thus sinning against the brethren and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. By scandalizing the brethren, we commit an offense against Christ himself, who died for the salvation of us all; what wrong could be equal to that? For the weak one perishes in your knowledge, and our good has become a sin, and the steadfastness of faith a scandal to brethren, and knowledge a pit. The matter is utterly grievous; for it is almost as if you leap upon the weaknesses of the brethren and do not rather make it your earnest to strengthen their weak conscience. For one must "not place a stumbling block or scandal before a brother," bearing in mind the written word: "Do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels continually behold the face of the Father." Then how is it not utterly grievous that we should be accused even by the holy angels themselves, as all but leaping upon the weaknesses of the brethren?

leaping upon them, and not rather making it their earnest concern to strengthen their weak conscience? BOOK 4, DISCOURSE 3. But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, that all our fathers were under the cloud. Having commanded that those who supposedly possess perfect knowledge should not eat idol-offered food, Paul then attempts to persuade from what happened to those of earlier times that the matter is not beneficial, but rather perilous, and that it is not without harm to leap upon those accustomed to doing wrong; for it leads to doing what is not lawful, the human mind being easily lulled into what is not fitting, little by little. He therefore adopts a not unbecoming image of the matter, indeed a very fitting one, the events that befell those of the blood of Israel in the desert; and he demonstrates quite vividly that wishing to live together with unbelievers would not be without harm even for those who are firmly established. What he says is this: they were being perfected through the cloud in the sea, the cloud suspended over them, with Moses mediating, those freed from slavery; they ate the bread from heaven, they drank the life-giving drink; for Christ himself, who is the rock, gave them to drink; for he is unbreakable as God, even if he willingly underwent the onset of death. We say that such things are prefigurations of a spiritual reality; and what happened after this to those of earlier times? In what manner did they stumble? They were profaned in Shittim, they worshipped idols, they were initiated into the rites of Baal-peor.

Observe then how those baptized in the cloud and in the sea, although they had eaten the bread from heaven and drunk the spiritual drink, became entangled with the idolaters. But since they were fellow-diners with them and touched the idolatrous table, they were immediately easily led astray and slipped into apostasy, and they danced together with women. "And the people, assembling, consorted with a harlot," according to the voice of the prophet; for this is what it means that they rose up to play. Therefore it is dangerous to live together with wicked and unbelieving men. And indeed Solomon said somewhere, "He who walks with the wise will be wise, but he who walks with fools will be known." For we too, before faith in Christ, being yoked under the rapacities of the demons, served the spiritual Pharaoh, that is, the primeval evil Satan. We toiled for him in vain, engaged in the works of the flesh like mud and brick-making. But the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, also delivered us. He conveyed us across the surge of the present life as across a sea, and perfected us through holy baptism. For he himself is the cloud from above and intelligible, which supplies living water to those who love it. And the living water is the Spirit.

And indeed Christ said, "He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his belly," and the divine evangelist, clarifying what was said, immediately added to his words on this matter, "This he said concerning the Spirit which those who believe in him were about to receive." We too have truly eaten the life-giving bread and drunk the spiritual drink, just as they, of course, drank the water from the rock. The rock was Christ, who also for us caused his own blood mixed with water to gush forth from his own side, when the soldiers of Pilate pierced him with the lance. He brings forward the entire narrative in the book of Numbers, teaching that those baptized in the cloud and the sea, and deemed worthy of spiritual foods, slipped because they ate with the idolaters. And "they rose up to play" means to commit fornication with the Midianite women. I speak of conscience not as one's own but as that of another. Therefore, one must abstain from what one must abstain from for the sake of conscience. I speak of conscience not as one's own—for it is gnostic—but as that of another, so that he who does not know, imitating ignorance, may not be badly edified, becoming a despiser instead of a magnanimous person. Book Four, Discourse Four. I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man. Since some of the recent converts in Corinth, ignorant of the manner of prayer, having taken up residence in the faith but not yet having precisely learned in what manner one must enter the house of God, approached to pray to God and offer supplications on their own behalf, then found this in a most unseemly posture.

For men, not baring their heads according to customary coverings, made their approach, while women likewise, with their hair uncovered and unshaded, approached God, with nature itself almost crying out against both: for to man is granted freedom of speech, while shame restrains the woman toward modesty. But since it was fitting to persuade them by necessary reasoning to choose to think what is right, and to make the law of nature, as it were, an arbiter of what befits each, Paul attempts to persuade them from natural law to think what is right, and he ascends to the creation of man in the beginning. Here he calls "head" the archetypal beauty, whose image each of those named might reasonably be understood to possess, and in some way to have allotted an essential mode of nobility, or otherwise of consubstantiality. For the first man, that is Adam, was made in the image and likeness of God; for thus the creator of all says somewhere: "That I made man in the image of God." Therefore, the head of man is Christ, archetypal as God, but by the law of our nature also of the same form when he appeared as man, although he is God the Word, and indeed he is everywhere called the son of man, although he has an ineffable generation from God the Father. So then, the woman was made in the image and likeness of man, that is Adam, and not at all of a different kind, but rather of the same nature and form as him; and this the forefather Adam himself clearly acknowledged, saying: "This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh," and so forth.

Since some say that the Son is created, like the rest of the creatures, of whom, they say, Christ is the head—for Christ is the head of every man—it is necessary to consider, before all else, that the force of the blasphemy will not touch only the contemplation concerning the Son, but will also penetrate, as if by an unrestrained course rushing onward, even to the Father himself. And I will explain how. For if they say that the Word from God the Father is created and ought to be counted among the creatures, since he is the head of every man, how would not the Father himself be understood in the same way to exist as created and made, if indeed he is the head of the Son, who has an essential relation to us, that is, to creatures? For as they themselves say, the head is entirely and in every way bound to the rest of the body by natural laws of identity. Therefore, through the Son as an intermediate, the kinship with every man will reach even to God and Father himself. How then does he still transcend the nature of things that have come to be? Or whom shall we seek as the Creator of all? But we will not follow their follies; far from it. For we believe that the Son from him is unbegotten, as from an unbegotten Father.

...the Word. And we say that he is called the head of every man as the archetype, as I said, since he appeared as a man in the last times of the age, and as sharing the same nature with men in respect of the human, for "the head of the church, which is his body"; for he himself is first among all, according to the voice of Paul. "Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered dishonors his head," etc. Do you see how he makes the law of nature the arbiter and definer of what is fitting for each? For men, frankness is most becoming, but for a woman, being covered is seemly. Therefore, it would be an insult to the archetype, and quite reasonably so, if the image is unseemly. For if man is the image and glory of God—for he was made thus according to the Scriptures—let him preserve for God the proper frankness, having his head uncovered, and nature does not reproach him for needing to be uncovered; for the divine is free and beyond any blemish, enriched and admired by its own glory. And if woman is made in the likeness of man, and is an image of an image, and a glory of a glory, and nature also legislates for her to have long hair, why does that which is inferior in grace contend with the first? For she too is according to the image and likeness of God, but through the mediation of man, so that she differs somewhat in nature. I will not accuse modesty, which as much as possible veils the creature and crowns it with hair; for being outspoken is not without harm for women. Therefore, let her be covered, he says, on account of the angels—clearly those angels who are established in the churches by God. Not that they suffer anything in seeing women.

For men, having this thick body from earth and being driven down by innate pleasures toward base things, would suffer harm when incited by women's beauty toward what is not proper. But concerning the holy angels, what could one either conceive or say of such a thing? For they are holy and superior to all defilement, since they are without flesh and use bodies that are subtle, intelligible, and beyond the human mind. Yet they are greatly distressed if the law of what is fitting is neglected by anyone. And it is fitting for women to be covered; and nature bears witness to this, for hair, it is said, has been given to her as a covering. Therefore let what is fitting be observed also in this matter, because of those who know the Creator's will better than we. The inspired Paul again uses another artful device: for he said that man was made in the image and likeness of God, but then he clearly asserted that the female is, as it were, cast behind his own honor and glory, by adding the following: "For the woman," he says, "is the glory of the man; for man was not created for the woman, but woman for the man." Then, carefully mitigating what might naturally distress the female, he adds and says: "Yet neither woman without man nor man without woman." For woman admittedly came from man, and this is true; but she is also found not to be useless for the generation of man. And nature, bringing both together into one, has made them mutually necessary, linking them economically toward love. And that God is the creator of all things, he further confirms by saying: "But all things are from God," for all things have been brought into being through Christ.

Book 5. Discourse 1. No one speaking in the Spirit of God says "Anathema Jesus," etc. Our Lord Jesus Christ promised that after he departed he would send us the Paraclete; and he added to these words, "He will glorify me." And we understand, and quite rightly, that his Spirit glorifies Christ, making wise those in whom it comes to be, and establishing him in the saints through itself; for he is in us through the Holy Spirit. It glorifies him also in another way, for it works things for his glory through the hand of the saints. But if his Spirit glorifies the Son, how could anyone speaking in the Spirit utter blasphemy against him? For he will rather say, "Lord Jesus." Therefore, those who rank among creation the one through whom all things have been brought to generation would be utterly without a share of the Holy Spirit; for they plainly say, "Anathema Jesus." But those who confess that Jesus is God and Lord will be piously attested by the fact itself, that they have been initiated into the knowledge of the vision of God concerning him through the Spirit; "for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God." And the Spirit, knowing the things hidden in God, conveys them to the souls of the saints, instilling in them unerring and blameless knowledge. And the divine Paul himself is a witness to this, adding and saying, "There are divisions of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are divisions of ministries, and the same Lord; and there are divisions of operations, and the same God who works all things in all.

For just as those who hold sway over earthly affairs and grace the thrones of the kingdom crown with various honors the more genuine of their own shield-bearers, so the holy and consubstantial Trinity distributes to those who love it from a sound heart and a whole mind the ample possession of goods from above, through the one Spirit as through Christ from the Father; for all things are from the Father through the Son in the Spirit. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is beneficial; for to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, etc. For it knows, it knows the times fitting for each of the things done by it, "in which are all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge," according to what is written; what kinds of gifts and what sorts of distributions, and indeed also the operations of the powers, it makes clear, saying: "For to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom"; a word of wisdom, in my opinion, is that which is "in the opening of the mouth," the ready and fluent one, and as if flowing from a very smooth tongue. But to another, a word of knowledge; for there are some among us who do not have readiness in speech, and do not possess the freedom to speak easily, but are very deep in understanding, approaching the sacred texts most intelligently and with great precision, and are able to initiate others and easily expound the details of the doctrines. But both the word of wisdom and that of knowledge are supplied through the one Spirit to those worthy to receive them, from the Father through the Son.

It is a gift of knowledge when one understands the meaning of the divine oracles and is able to unfold their thoughts, yet is unable to teach them eloquently. And both this and that are supplied through the one Spirit to those who are worthy, from the Father through the Son, who is said to distribute the ministries. For he commanded some of the holy apostles to proclaim the word of faith to those of the blood of Israel, while he assigned others to the regions of the Gentiles. And this too was effected through the Holy Spirit; indeed, we will find it written in the Acts of the Holy Apostles that "While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'" And the divine Paul was placed in the apostleship of the Gentiles, and he received this ministry; and he himself will confirm it, writing: "Insofar then as I am an apostle of the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry." Therefore, the Son distributes the ministries, while the Holy Spirit effects the matter with authority; for it is the Spirit of the Son. But also the workings of the powers, that is, the divine signs through the saints, the same God accomplishes for us. For all things, as I said, are from the Father through the Son in the Spirit, and in all that is accomplished, the holy and consubstantial Trinity is glorified. For observe how it begins from the Spirit, as being in us and effecting the distribution of divine gifts.

Having raised the discourse to the Son, who is Son by nature, he thus ascends further to the Father, attributing to him the activity through the Spirit by way of the Son as intermediary. In another, there is faith in the same Spirit. Faith in these matters would be, as I think, the steadfastness toward any good whatsoever and toward whatever God might will; for we say that the hierophant Moses became faithful "in his whole house" in this way. For it is not only the necessity of believing that by nature and truly there is one God of all that would be understood and called faith, but also the state of being well-established in soul, "and being ready to go with the Lord God," according to the prophet's voice. Indeed, the divine disciples once approached Christ, saying plainly, "Add faith to us." In addition to this, gifts of healings are also given in the one Spirit. And observe again carefully: while the Spirit is said to distribute the gifts of healings, it is Christ who gives them; for he gave to the holy apostles "authority over unclean spirits so as to expel them." And indeed he said, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and expel demons; you received freely, give freely." And certainly the workings of the powers are his as well, but in the one Spirit. For example, Moses threw his staff to the ground and it became a serpent, he turned the rivers into blood, he brought forth water from a rock. And the blessed prophets accomplished very many things beyond word and wonder. These, we say, are the workings of the powers through the one Spirit.

Another also prophesies, but not without the Spirit; another has discernment of spirits, but in the Spirit itself—what spirits these are has been stated earlier. He also insists that he gives fullness and enables others to know kinds of tongues, and indeed also interpretations; this we say is a gift proper and supplied economically to some at a time and need. But some spoke in tongues, though previously not knowing them, while others understood, interpreting, though their ear had long been unaccustomed and not practiced in such things. The divine Paul insists that speaking in tongues was given to those then, not as a share of a gift, but as a sign to the faithful; and he even cited a prophetic saying thus: "That in other tongues and in other lips I will speak to this people, and not even then will they believe." The Spirit works variously in each, distributing the gifts. So that, he says, just as this dense and earthly body is composed of parts, so also Christ, that is his body, the Church, through a great multitude of saints, has its constitution in perfect intelligible unity. And the divine David says it is clothed "in a gold-embroidered garment" richly variegated, signifying, I think, the manifold and precious nature of the gifts. Therefore, since the mystagogues of the whole world under the sun were to address the evangelical and salvific proclamation in every tongue and to every nation, a sign was given them in tongues.

Being men of Galilee and brought up in Judaea, Hebrews and from Hebrews, they spoke in their own tongues to Medes and Parthians, and indeed also to Elamites, and to those dwelling between the rivers, to Cappadocians and Egyptians. And the matter was accomplished for them by the energy and grace of the Spirit; for it is written that "there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire" and so forth; but the event was a manner of economy, and not all understood. Since once they spoke in the tongues of others, making a kind of display of the grace through the Spirit, and receiving the sign as an occasion for vainglory, they were negligent of the need to discourse to the crowds from the holy prophets and to advocate the evangelical doctrines, as having been proclaimed from above and long beforehand; and priding themselves solely on being able to speak in tongues, they thought they ought to lay claim to this and this alone; and the matter was among the most urgent concerns. For just as the body is one and has many members, etc. For we are united to one another and have become of one body in Christ, who has raised us up and all but bound us together through the one Holy Spirit in all, which we have drunk as a life-giving draught.

And indeed Christ said, when he spoke to the woman at Jacob’s well, “He who drinks from this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will have in himself a spring of leaping water for eternal life.” And he said somewhere also to the Jews, “He who believes in me, as the scripture said, rivers of living water will flow from his belly; and this he said, it is said, concerning the Spirit which those believing in him were about to receive.” And do not be amazed; for if he himself is “the river of God,” according to the psalmist’s voice, full of waters, the winter torrent of delight, whom God and Father is said to give drink to those who love him, how should his Spirit not be understood as a drink and life-giving water? Therefore, called into unity through the Spirit, and having become fellow members of Christ, let us keep the bond of love unbroken. BOOK FIVE, DISCOURSE TWO. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God, etc. He diverts them from needing to think that speaking in tongues is more glorious than interpreting the words of the prophets; for when faith and hope and indeed love for God and brothers, which contains the fulfillment of the whole law, are already established in us and honored, let the other things be added; for then, and only then, at the right time, we will be filled even with the gifts from God, and we will be enriched with the gifts through the Spirit—I mean the ability to prophesy, that is, to interpret the words of the prophets.

Since the Only-begotten once became incarnate, suffered, and rose, and the economy concerning us has been completed, what occasion was there still for prophecy, or what further announcement of events? Therefore, to prophesy in these matters would be nothing other than the ability to interpret prophecy, and, as far as possible, clarifying them for the hearers, then establishing our own discourse from them in accordance with truth, we shall be upright and unerring interpreters of the finest things. So he who speaks in a tongue, he says, speaks not so much to men as to God. But how, and in what manner? For no one hears, he says. For if it is granted, for instance, to one of the disciples to be able to speak in the Median tongue, and to another in the Elamite, and then they were to converse with the Jewish synagogues, that is, with the Greek assemblies, who would hear, or what benefit would the words have? For no one would understand, except only the all-knowing God. For he speaks mysteries in spirit, he says. And observe how he who speaks to God speaks in spirit; therefore God is the Spirit. So he who speaks in a tongue speaks to God rather than to men, he says; but he who prophesies speaks to men for edification, exhortation, and consolation. Understanding, then, that to prophesy in these matters is to interpret the words of the prophets, through which the discourse of exhortation is confirmed and the mind of the initiated is led to the truth concerning Christ, he demonstrates that interpreting the prophets is incomparably superior to speaking in a tongue. For he who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, he says.

For he himself understands, but no one else at all does; but the one who uses the voices and predictions of the holy prophets as testimony builds up the church. Therefore, prophesying is greater and among the highest boasts, and in bright hopes, since it is admittedly better to build up the church than to converse with oneself and oneself alone in a tongue. I wish that all of you spoke in tongues, but rather that you prophesied, etc. Since it was extraordinary and truly God-given for men who were Hebrews to be able to speak in other tongues, lest anyone think that the apostle recklessly determines that what was granted through the energy of the Spirit was worthless—for it was given as a sign to the faithful—he accepts the matter and says, I wish that all spoke in tongues. But he immediately clearly cuts off any zeal in this matter and redirects to the better by adding at once, Rather that you prophesied, declaring most clearly that the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in a tongue; and he shows that the latter is not entirely useless to those who have it and to those who hear, adding, Unless he interprets, that is, unless he has someone always attending and interpreting for the initiates.

Book 5, Discourse 3. And none of them is speechless. Some people used to enter the churches, having been enriched by the energy of the Spirit with the ability to speak in tongues; then, when it was necessary to make prayers in them, and before these, litanies, that is, psalmody, being able to use the language of those present, they did not do this, but priding themselves only on the gift of tongues, they made neither prayers nor psalmody. Paul teaches this: that if those who hear are not knowledgeable in the language in which the one having the gift speaks, there is no benefit from the matter; for there are countless nations and many languages of men; but nothing that is once among rational beings or among men is entirely speechless. He says that nothing among rational beings, that is, among men, is entirely speechless; but if someone does not happen to know the power of each one's voice, nor are those people knowledgeable in his language, they will be barbarians to each other, even though they speak correctly according to each one's own language. Therefore, it is necessary for those who wish to teach others to utter the speech customary to the hearers; but if it is unintelligible and

The sound was unusual and the voice unfamiliar, having merely struck the hearer's ear with a random, empty noise, to no purpose. "It is necessary," he says, "for those who wish to teach to speak a discourse familiar to their hearers, otherwise they labor in vain; for speaking merely in tongues does not build up the church. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays." Here he calls "spirit" the grace given through the Spirit, that is, the ability to speak in tongues. "If, then," he says, "I pray the prayers in the churches with the spirit," that is, using the tongue given through the Spirit, "I will have my mind fruitless; for in prayers one must be intent and seek from God what contributes to salvation, not take pride in a tongue and simply engage in speaking in tongues; for then the mind becomes fruitless, deriving no benefit from such ambition. I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the mind. Therefore," he says, "if I should choose to pray in a tongue," that is, to excel in speaking in tongues, "I must earnestly endeavor not to have my mind fruitless, nor to be merely one who speaks in tongues, but to rouse the mind within myself. And if I should happen to sing in a tongue, I must no less sing also with the mind, in understanding the power of the psalmody and prophecy, and not leave such words unexamined. For if I utter empty sounds, 'I have become a sounding brass.' Hence it is better to prophesy, that is, to interpret the divine scriptures in church, than simply to be fond of using tongues. What, then, will be the better? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the mind.

Here again by "spirit" he means the gift through the Spirit. Since his aim is to show, through as many necessary thoughts as possible, that speaking in a tongue is useless when the ability to expound the prophets clearly to others does not follow, he adds further points by which one might see someone speaking clearly. "For if you bless in spirit, how will the one who fills the place of the layman say the Amen?" When, he says, you yourself speak in a tongue, and the other, placed in the rank of the layman, does not know your voice, how will he respond with the Amen in his own thanksgivings or prayers? For it is clear to everyone that in the churches it is customary for the prayers of those in authority to be joined by those of the people under them. They respond with the Amen, bringing their own supplications to God to a close with the priest's voice, so that what seems to be lacking in the perfection of the priests may be filled by the measures of the people, and God may receive "the small with the great," as it were, in unity of spirit. For the people under authority, joining their own prayers to those of the priests, have believed that they will be acceptable. With this aim, God also commanded that meager sacrifices be brought to the altar along with the whole burnt offerings, so that the small, mingled with the perfect, might become acceptable to God; for we are all one in the Lord. Therefore, he says, when you speak in a tongue—for this is what "blessing in spirit" means—and the other does not know what you are saying, how will he say the Amen over his own thanksgiving? For you yourself may act correctly, according to the mind you have, but the other is not edified.

All things must be done by us for the building up and benefit of the brethren. Book Five, Discourse Four. I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I proclaimed to you. Very opportunely and wisely he calls the proclamation concerning the resurrection of the dead a gospel, and that of Christ himself, surely, somewhere; for it is truly an announcement of every good thing to those who have received the faith; and in it, he says, they stand and are saved. The word "stand" signifying that the believers are in steadfastness of hope and in the good of glory; and "are saved" signifying that they have been shown to be superior to sin itself and to have run beyond the snares of death. For I delivered to you in the first place what I also received. He says that he delivered to them not what came to mind simply and was received without examination, but a gospel which he received, the knowledge of the one who became man for our sake being instilled in him; for the same man said again through the gospel, "For I did not receive it from a man, nor was I taught, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ." If, then, the one who delivers is taught by God, how is what is proclaimed through him not true, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, clearly both the old and the new? For there are very many witnesses of the death and resurrection of Christ; therefore, in no way is it doubtful that Christ Jesus died for us in the flesh, in order to remove sin from the world, and that he rose again, trampling death, so that we too might gain the benefit.

Necessarily, for the present, he says that he not only died but was also buried; for, to confirm that Emmanuel truly died, he was placed in a tomb. Yet he revived, as I just said. Through his death in the flesh, he gives full assurance that he became flesh, although he is God the Word; through his trampling upon death, he clearly shows that he is God by nature. However, the Word from God the Father does not give life to a temple that is alien, nor simply to someone else's body, but rather to his own body, through which he is said to have died for us, so that the good of the resurrection may be found to have truly occurred for us. For the whole of human nature was in him, trampling upon death; for thus we are said to have been buried and raised together with him, and to have sat together with him "in the heavenly places." Therefore, he says that he has been raised according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to the holy apostles, both individually to some as chosen ones, and also in a group. And he appeared even to me, as if to the miscarriage of the apostles. He is very moderate, and he insists that he persecuted the Church, yet he was pitied by Christ and called to the apostleship. To declare the great mystery of the resurrection was not unknown even to the ancient saints; for it was foretold. Nor was it unknown to those chosen for the apostleship, who became "eyewitnesses and servants of the word." And if Christ is proclaimed to have been raised from the dead, how can some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

He is astounded at those who, I know not how, have been persuaded to oppose the sacred and divine scriptures, and who dare to think something other than this. For if Christ died not in order to remain dead, but so that, having been found superior to death and corruption, he might become, as it were, a path and a door for human nature both to be able to tread down corruption and to run back to life, how, when the one who died for us among the dead has been raised so that we also might be with him to life, do the snares of death still bind those for whose sake Emmanuel, who is God by nature, is said to have died and come to life? Why do they deprive the human race of the benefits of the resurrection, and why do they misrepresent the outcome of the economy in the flesh? For if Christ has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep and the firstborn from the dead, then what is lacking to the firstfruits will surely follow it, and what is understood as firstborn will, quite naturally, accompany the firstborn. And the divine Paul himself will bear witness, saying, "For if

we have become united with the likeness of his death, "but we shall also be partakers of the resurrection." Therefore, if some agree that Christ has indeed risen, yet do not accept the mystery of the resurrection from the dead, they have completely failed to understand the purpose of the incarnation of the Only-Begotten. For the God Word became man not for his own sake, "but instead of the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising shame." For what reason, the most wise Paul himself will teach, saying: "For since the children have partaken of blood and flesh, he likewise partook of the same, so that through death he might destroy the one who holds power over death, that is, the devil, and set free all those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery throughout their lives." Therefore, if death is not destroyed, his plan is in vain, and the mystery of the economy with flesh is useless to us as well; and we have been disappointed in our hope for life. And how have we been called to adoption and are children of God, as the wise John says? If it is true that "we await adoption as the redemption of our body," what redemption is there at all, if Christ has not shown us to be superior to death? Or how "will he transform the body of our humiliation into the form of his glorious body"? For what time will there be for this, if death is not rendered inactive? Or what transformation will there be for those who remain in identity, or rather in worse condition? Observe how skillfully he leads to the necessary confession that it must be said that our bodies from the earth will come to life again at the appointed times.

For if, he says, Christ has been proclaimed as risen from the dead throughout all of divinely inspired Scripture, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? For he died, as we have already said, not so much for himself as for us, so that, since he is life by nature as God, he might abolish death through the death of his own flesh, with human nature following along with him. For he revived and became, as it were, a firstfruit of humanity migrating into life and being recreated into incorruption and conquering death. For the things in Christ are a new creation. Since the matter has taken its beginning, how shall we remain on earth? Or how do some among you dare to say that the dead will not revive? These are Sadducees, in all likelihood; for they themselves asserted that there is neither resurrection nor angel nor spirit. But Hymenaeus and Alexander have also misrepresented the mystery of the resurrection, saying that the resurrection has already occurred. Nevertheless, those men suffered shipwreck concerning the faith, as do all who choose to follow their corruptions. But if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is also empty. For the second follows upon the first, and with the second the first is also abolished. If this has happened—that is, if it has been accepted by us in faith—then the preaching of the holy apostles will be empty and powerless; empty also will be the faith. For the word of faith here guides through the holy mysteries those who have been initiated throughout the whole earth. How then shall we still believe, if according to some he has not revived? For we are found, he says, to be false witnesses against God, in that we say he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if indeed the dead are not raised.

Then how could such a multitude of saints escape the charge of false accusation? Therefore they would not even be saints; whence? For those to whom the offense of false accusation against God would belong. But this is not the case, for the mystagogues who say that Christ has been raised are truthful. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain. Most truly and very rightly he adds this also to the others; for faith justifies, but if someone purges it of vanity on the ground that Christ has not been raised, what difference remains then? Therefore we are entangled in the ancient accusations, we have an unwashable sin. In vain also the divine psalmist said, "You have been pleased, Lord, with your land, you have remitted the lawless acts to your people, you have covered all their sins," and again, "Blessed are those whose lawless acts have been remitted, and whose sins have been covered; blessed is the man for whom the Lord will not reckon a sin." Yet the blessed Paul in the Epistle to the Romans says that the blessing in these things extends both to the circumcision and to those from the nations; for we have been justified in Christ, "who was delivered up for our transgressions and was raised for our justification." Therefore those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. For they have been deceived, as it seems, and have laid down their life for him without reward, if indeed Christ has not been raised; if the hope of the saints is not full of immortality, if they do not expect to reign together with him, they have perished somewhere, and having endured even death itself for nothing useful, they have a loss from their labors. Away with such terrible ignorance.

The dead will rise, and those in the tombs will be raised, according to the voice of the prophet, and the distributor weighs out to each the crown most fitting for him, and he will certainly bring punishment upon the impious; for he is judge of all as God. But now Christ has risen from the dead, he became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, etc. He therefore accepts as agreed that it is necessary to believe that Christ revived and became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, the first of those on earth to trample death; just as, of course, the forefather Adam was the first to step into it and became the firstfruits of those who slipped into corruption. And he will add that with the resurrection of our Savior, the resurrection of the dead also follows, saying, For just as through a man came death, so through a man comes the resurrection of the dead. Observe how he again shows that the mystery of the incarnation is full of godly skill; for it was necessary, he says, that a man should conquer death for us; and for this reason the God Word from God, appearing, did not take hold of angels, as he himself says, but of the seed of Abraham, so that he might be made like his brothers in all things. For it was necessary, as I said, that the sick be healed, the fallen be raised; it was necessary to crush death through obedience and righteousness what had come under it through transgression and sin. For this reason the Only-begotten Word of God became a man not knowing sin, so that, just as in Adam we were all condemned, the human nature having suffered death, so also, being justified in Christ, we might together with sin cast off the death that arose from it.

And the divine Paul will testify, saying, "For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were rendered sinful." Therefore, just as in Adam all die, the nature being condemned in him, as I said, on account of the transgression, so in Christ they will be made alive, the nature being blessed in him in the same way on account of justification. Thus the second things are the solution of the first: "For he was delivered up on account of our transgressions and was raised on account of our justification." So then, since he is raised, we also are raised together with him; for the Word from God is life by nature. He does not, of course, bestow the good of his own nature—I mean life—only upon his own flesh, but transmits it to the whole nature of man. For Christ has admittedly been raised as a firstfruits, "so that he himself might be preeminent in all," as it is written; but the others will follow in due time to be revived, yet not indiscriminately, but in order and distinctly and as if at a command. For after the firstfruits, that is, Christ, he says his own will be raised; it is clear that these are those who lived at the time of his advent, that is, those who came after the incarnation, and who fell asleep in faith. For there were admittedly saints at various times in Israel, those of the

the law of life being praised and still prevailing. But those in Christ are better, for they have been justified through faith, and have become partakers of the divine nature, and have obtained the Spirit of adoption. They are also called into brotherhood by grace of the Son who is by nature and truly Son. And there was a spirit of slavery among those under the law, but we cry out, "Abba, Father." Therefore, as I said, those in Christ are better than the ancients. Consequently, he says that they will be revived first, as if following in the footsteps of the beginning of all things, because they are more proximate to it and have been honored before others by it. And our Lord Jesus Christ himself hints at something of this sort in the Gospel parables. For he said, when hiring workers for the vineyard—the master of the house being this one—"When evening had come," he said to his steward, "Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first." Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God and Father, when he abolishes every beginning and every authority and power. He says that the kingdom will be delivered to God and Father by the Son, when every beginning of the unclean spirits has been abolished and death itself is henceforth inactive. And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all things in all.

Since some attempt to disparage the Son as far as they can, saying that he hands over the kingdom to the Father and is subordinate as to a greater, it must be said that the Son endured voluntary kenosis, having become like us, and having humbled himself, as it were, from on high, being of the same form and equal to the Father; and he is hidden in God, but will be revealed in glory at the time of the consummation of the present age, now sitting at the right hand of the Father. But if he is brought down from the honor now present in him, does he then undergo a second kenosis? And if he hands over the kingdom, how does he come "with the holy angels in the glory of his Father"? Therefore, it is also undesirable for the Son that "his enemies be placed under his feet," if indeed he now co-reigns with the Father, but then falls from the kingdom. Yet even if the Son is subordinate to the Father, he is not inferior to the Father in this respect; for the matter of subordination is not a definition of nature and essence, but indicates a mode of action. If this were the case even among us, it does not declare us to be of different substance from one another; why? For a son is subordinate to a father, a slave to a master, a student to a teacher, and one who is under authority and subject to a leader. But in these cases the doctrine of consubstantiality is not harmed; for they are of the same species with one another, even if they have this manner, yielding to and being subordinate to one another, and not dishonoring the thing for the sake of advantage. Therefore, how do they strengthen this on God when it is weak even among us?

For if being subordinate is a property or measure of nature, as they say, for the Son, then not being subordinate is a property of a different nature for him, one that perhaps has the better part compared to that nature, if indeed subordination belongs to lesser things; for he is subordinate economically for our sake. But the meaning of the texts is as follows: since man, having sinned, came under corruption and under the devil and the demons, having fallen away from the God who is by nature, the Only-begotten became man for our sake and abolished the power of death, removed even the root of death, which is sin, and cast out the ruler of this age. Having done all these things, and the whole economy having been completed, he hands over, that is, presents to the Father the kingdom that was formerly seized and had come under others, restoring to him the authority over all things on earth, with death and the satan who tyrannized them having been abolished; the Son will again have, even in the future age, the preeminence of authority over all.

Volume 7. But someone will say: How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come? etc. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed the mystery of the resurrection from the dead, how it will happen at the times when God nods assent and with ineffable power transforms what death has mastered into life, crying out beforehand: "The dead will rise, and those in the tombs will be raised, and those in the earth will rejoice; for the dew from you is a healing for them." By "dew," I think, he means tropically the life-giving energy of God, by which he assigns being to things that are not, and to things already brought into existence he grants well-being; for all things are established in him, just as indeed they were brought forth to generation through him. And the inspired David also sings somewhere concerning those on earth to the Savior God of all: "When you open your hand, all things will be filled with goodness; when you turn away your face, they will be troubled; you will take back their breath, and they will fail, and return to their dust; you will send forth your breath, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the earth." For human nature suffered the turning away of the divine face in Adam because of the transgression; therefore it is, so to speak, confounded and troubled, and has sunk back into its own dust, and has been brought down to death and corruption. But since the Only-begotten Son of God has become incarnate among us, and we have been enriched with participation in the Holy Spirit, we are being re-formed to what we were in the beginning and, as it were, re-created; for we have been called to a newness of life, escaping the power of death.

And the most wise Paul will testify, saying, "If the spirit of the one who raised Jesus dwells in you, the one who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit dwelling in you." Therefore, since Christ revived, having trampled the power of death, and became the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, as they will certainly follow in his footsteps, how is it not utterly astonishing to still have any doubt at all about the mystery of the resurrection? If one should choose to apply the eye of his own mind more curiously to the works of the divinity and attempt to examine the manner of each thing's production and the origin of its generation, he would never arrive at a conclusion, saying, "How is this not astonishing?" For how was the heaven made, from what matter or whence? What seat does it have? And the earth, how or whence and where is it fixed? And how was the circle of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the other creatures brought forth? And how did the Creator of all things, taking dust from the earth, fashion man? How was the earth transformed into bones, sinews, and flesh? If we will not be found to give an account for each of the things that have been made, shall we also on this account deny that they have come into being at all? Where, then, would the outcome of such notions or ill-advised undertakings finally end? To doubt the resurrection after the resurrection of Christ is a sign of poor judgment, ignorance, and arrogance. To say "how" concerning the works of God, and indeed to say "with what body do the dead rise," is also foolish; for it is evident that it is with the same body.

For the Lord also raised his own flesh as it was. But since some say that the soul pre-exists and is bound to the body for the sake of punishment, they reject not only the account of creation according to which man came to be for incorruption, but also that of the resurrection; for God does not perform the resurrection for punishment, but because of his own compassion. But perhaps you will say this: "Yes, you speak correctly; I now set aside the need to inquire how the dead are raised; yet it is necessary to discern with what body they come. For will this body, which is from earth and subject to corruption, be revived, or some other thing besides it, yet from it?" I would say to this at once that the right account of faith directs us to the resurrection in this flesh; for Christ, the firstborn from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, was revived in this way. But since the doctrine is not very pleasing to some, come, let us set forth the argument they think is good and say what is fitting. (Then, after setting forth the mythologies of those who say the souls pre-exist, he says:) Then how does God boast over the construction of man? For he says somewhere to the blessed Job, "If you, taking clay from the earth, molded a living thing, and set it, capable of speech, upon the earth?" For I think it would surpass every wonder to produce a rational living thing from earth.

How then, when man had been made and fashioned from earth, did the Creator immediately bless him, saying, "Increase and multiply and fill the earth"? (And after saying many other things to them, he adds) the inspired Paul uses an excellent example, saying that the body falls into the earth like a grain, but will not rise again just as it was sown, naked, but rather as if clothed and enveloped in what naturally grows upon it, I mean the stalk and the leaf; for God, he says, gives to each seed its own body. For since he says that not all who have fallen asleep will rise again in glory, even if all rise in incorruption—for it is not fitting that the unseemly and the workers of base deeds be crowned with the glory that comes from God—he usefully mentions different seeds, to which God, in whatever manner he chooses, assigns the distinction of being borne in one form or another; for he says, "And what you sow is not the body that will come to be." And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The principle is one, in that the body of each both is and is called body, but it is divided into different kinds according to another principle; and the bodies of all will rise again in incorruption, yet there will be some difference regarding the glory and the covering that God provides, distributing to each according to his worth. But the glory of the heavenly ones is one thing, and that of the earthly ones another.

It should be noted that with the two examples recently brought before us—I mean that of the grain and that which reveals the difference of the heavenly bodies as in glory—he finally bears the resemblance of the resurrection of the dead to the power of the first, and says the following: "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption." For just as the grain of wheat, cast naked and dead into the clod, is marveled at when it springs up clothed in a body and with an added beauty, in this same manner the human body is sown in corruption and in weakness and in dishonor, yet it will revive adorned with honor and incorruption and indeed with strength. And it is worthy to admire the sobriety of the divine speaker; for having his faith firmly grounded, and being persuaded that it will certainly and absolutely revive, he likens the corruption of the body to sowing, very skillfully and wisely assimilating the nature of the matter to the example in every respect. Therefore, he says, the body will revive not naked, like the grain, but well clothed in incorruption and glory, and in addition to these, in vigor, and indeed also enjoying this: that it comes to be in a spiritual state, with grace from above, as it were, reshaping it, and the incomparable power of the Creator of all transforming everything in it to the opposite. For in the fallen body there exists, as it were, something that goes into the earth

to the sown state belong corruption, weakness, and lack of beauty, as well as the psychic mind, which we affirm is identical to the fleshly and more earthly mind. But since it was brought forth to generation in the beginning, it did not naturally possess these; these crept in through the transgression and the penalty of death, as our nature is recalled to its original state. By the power and energy of God, the removal of the intervening elements is necessarily effected, and the participation in the first and original goods that were in us is introduced in their place. For we have been renewed in Christ, according to the Scriptures. For a holy prophet said: "Take heart, Zion; do not let your hands be slack; your Lord God is in you, mighty to save you, and he will renew you in his love." For when God the Father loved us, then indeed he renewed us in Christ. And it is true that all things in him are "a new creation; the old things have passed away, and have become new." What does he mean by old things? Those that have run their course. And what by new? Those that have been introduced. Old are corruption, and indeed weakness, and along with this, ignobility, and the reproaches of the psychic mind. New through Christ are glory, incorruption, power, and the spiritual mind. For our body will be spiritual. What might the spiritual be, O mystagogue? Will it no longer be flesh, and will it not be composed at all, as indeed now it is from bones and sinews through which the nature of our body is constituted? Will it rather be thin and airy and yielding little to shadows, as he says? Not at all.

For if some think that these things are so, that which falls into the earth will by no means revive as the same thing, but as something other than that, and bearing no resemblance to the first. I would say that it is spiritual, not in the form of a shadow, that is, of an incorporeal spirit, but rather that which is separated and wholly freed from the fleshly and more earthly mind. For if, he says, there is a psychic body, there is also a spiritual one. Just as if one were to choose to call our body from the earth psychic, one would not reasonably attribute to it the form of the soul, but would rather turn the force of the argument toward the psychic mind, that is, the fleshly mind, just as indeed we understand psychic and earthly wisdom to be that which is according to us and human. So also if a body were called psychic, I do not think that by attributing the form of the soul to the same thing one would escape the charge of error in scripture, since in what way, while still living and in these very bodies from the earth, are some called psychic and spiritual? For it is written that "a psychic man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him; but the spiritual man examines everything, but is himself examined by no one." And since it was necessary to confirm the argument on this point also through facts, he adds and says: The first man Adam was made into a living soul, the last Adam into a life-giving spirit. So he called Adam psychic; for this, I think, is what it means to be made into a living soul, as not being wholly freed from fleshly desires.

For the appetites that look to and are turned toward the passions of the flesh, even if they had the law as their advocate, would still, in truth, be accusations of fleshly weakness, if one looks to the nature of the things done. For instance, I say: "Marriage is honorable and the bed is undefiled." For an appetitive motion has been implanted in the nature of the body by the Creator of all, rousing the living being to a desire for childbearing. For it was said to man: "Increase and multiply and fill the earth." And the one who formed them, it is said, in the beginning, "made them male and female." Therefore, the desire directed solely toward childbearing is not blameworthy. Yet, insofar as it pertains to the nature of the thing done, the passion would be fleshly or psychic. So it is also with the other blameless passions. Thus, the first man, Adam, was for a living soul. But the second, who is from heaven, that is, Christ, came not so much for a soul, but for a life-giving spirit. For the Word, who is God by nature from God the Father, having united the human to himself, did not live a human life like ours, but a divine, God-befitting, and entirely blameless life. For he committed no sin, keeping his mind untouched by base pleasures and not captured by desires for food. For even if he is seen to have partaken of food and drink, in order to be believed truly to be a man like us, yet he partook freely. For he was in the flesh for us by economy, but above the flesh again; for he was a life-giving spirit as God.

But the forefather Adam did not receive the desire for food entirely without blame; for he was made into a living soul, and, being overcome by the pleasure of foods, he ate from the tree of life, even though the divine law forbade doing so. Therefore, that the psychic man would not indicate a difference of nature for us, but rather a quality of life, character, and ways, according to which one person is possessed by the more earthly and fleshly mindset, while another is conspicuous by the freedom of the spirit, is clearly demonstrated from both the first and the second Adam. For both were born in earthly bodies, but the quality, as it were, of their mindset, and indeed the choice to live differently, made one appear psychic, and the other incomparably superior, that is, spiritual. But the spiritual is not first, but the psychic; then the spiritual. And he takes hold, in a way, of the times in which they were born, and says: But the spiritual is not first, but the psychic, then the spiritual. Since he said that the psychic body is sown into the earth, he plainly shows that it is not unacceptable for the nature of man to pass from a psychic mindset to a spiritual one, and that the psychic would be older than the spiritual. And what would be the proof of such things? The first man from earth, made of dust, etc. The first man, he says, that is Adam, was made into a living soul, that is, earthly and fleshly; but the second is from heaven. For even if the Word of God became flesh according to the Scriptures, yet he is from heaven and "above all," according to the voice of John.

Therefore both were, as I said, in earthly bodies, but not yet in equal ones, either in their disposition or in their manner of life. For the first was in a fleshly mindset, while the second was a life-giving spirit and from heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, that is, the likeness to Adam, being overcome by passions and weak toward sins, even though we have been subjected to the yokes of corruption, so let us also bear the image of the heavenly one, that is, Christ; and having become superior to love of the flesh and to the will to transgress, and having already conquered even death, which long ago was terrible, repulsive, and savagely tyrannical against us. That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He establishes the mystery of the resurrection also through this: for as long as the human body is flesh and blood, that is, mortal and corruptible, it could not inherit the kingdom of God, that is, perpetual existence. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that corruption be swallowed up and the perishable be obliterated, and that it be transformed into incorruption and be adorned with some divine and ineffable glory; for then it will inherit the kingdom of God. Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed. The mystery is great and truly heavenly, and it was certainly revealed to him through Christ speaking in him, "in whom are all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge." For he himself is also of the things expected to be.

distributor of goods. He will transform creation, renew the whole, and release it "from slavery into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." And if these things are true, how was it not necessary, entirely and in every way, that the one for whom creation exists—I mean man—be renewed together with creation? It was necessary that he too be seen as new, not tyrannized by the first corruption, not overcome by fleshly pleasures into sins, but rather raised up in incorruption, in strength, in honor, and arrayed in some divine glory. For the inspired Isaiah said somewhere, "Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will clothe you." And indeed our Lord Jesus himself affirmed clearly that at the time of the end of this age, the dead will revive, and "those who understand will shine like the brightness of the firmament." Yet the grace of such honor and glory will not lie before all without distinction. It would rather be fitting, to put it plainly, for those who are preeminent among the rest, who have become "conformed to the image of his Son." For all bodies will admittedly revive, adorned with the grace of incorruption, but not all will be changed. Rather, the wicked will remain in a form of dishonor, solely for the purpose of being punished, while the righteous alone will be changed, both for the good of incorruption and having obtained the array of divine glory.

Therefore, by his own power and godly energy, he will transform the body of our humiliation, making it conformable to the body of his glory. And what is the body of our humiliation? This one from earth, the one held by death from that ancient curse, which Christ has dissolved, having become a curse on our behalf. The transformation will not carry us away into some other nature, for we will be what we are, that is, human beings, but incomparably better: for we will be imperishable and indestructible, and, in addition to this, glorified. And what the last trumpet, which rouses the dead, might signify, the divine Paul himself will clarify for us, saying that the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a command, in the voice of an archangel and with a trumpet of God, and the dead will be raised imperishable. Therefore, he likens the voice of the archangel and that divine and most awesome command to a trumpet. And even if the archangel is the one who cries out and gives the signal of resurrection to those lying in the earth, nevertheless it will be the voice of Christ; for he himself, by his own power, raises the dead, and the voice of the archangel is not at all something else: for all rational creation is subject to the master's commands. What kind of resurrection, then, will there be in truth, if we do not say that the very thing held by death will come to life again? Or in what way will we say, almost dancing in triumph over corruption, "Death was swallowed up in victory," and so forth? Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O Hades, is your victory?

It should be noted that the blessed Paul made the citation of the present passage according to the Hebrew version; the Septuagint does not have it thus, for it is written in the Prophets: "Where is your justice, O Death? Where is your sting, O Hades?" Nevertheless, the sting of death, he says, is sin, and the power of sin is the law; for he who has the sting of death, that is, Satan, strikes like a scorpion. But he strikes in no other way than through sin. Yet the Saviour has given us "to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon every power of the enemy." For the sting of death has been blunted, sin having been removed and the law no longer having power; for the law condemns those who sin. Therefore the divine Paul says that the law is the power of sin; and this too has been dissolved in Christ, for sin will not rule over us, because we are not under law but under grace. And without law, sin is dead. Who then is the giver of all these things to us, the governor of righteousness, the bestower of freedom, and the source and occasion of every good, we shall learn from the blessed Paul saying: "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.