On the Resurrection of the Dead 7
Authorship disputed: The Arethas codex ascribes it to Athenagoras, and the end of the Plea (ch. 36) promises a treatment of the resurrection. Some scholars (notably R. M. Grant, 1954) have argued that its style and arguments point to a later author of the third or fourth century; others (e.g. B. Pouderon) defend Athenagoras's authorship.
Summary: Even if some unnatural food were absorbed, it would not become a true part of the body, and so would not rise with it.
Greek text · Otto 7:210–214
Ὅλως δὲ κἂν συγχωρήσῃ τις τὴν ἐκ τούτων εἰσιοῦσαν τροφήν (προσειρήσθω δὲ τοῦτο συνηθέστερον), καίπερ οὖσαν παρὰ φύσιν, διακρίνεσθαι καὶ μεταβάλλειν εἰς ἕν τι τῶν ὑγραινόντων ἢ ξηραινόντων ἢ θερμαινόντων ἢ ψυχόντων, οὐδʼ οὕτως ἐκ τῶν συγχωρηθέντων αὐτοῖς γενήσεταί τι προὔργου, τῶν μὲν ἀνισταμένων σωμάτων ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων μερῶν πάλιν συνισταμένων, οὐδενὸς δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων μέρους ὄντος, οὐδὲ τὴν ὡς μέρους ἐπέχοντος σχέσιν ἢ τάξιν, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ παραμένοντος πάντοτε τοῖς τρεφομένοις τοῦ σώματος μέρεσιν, ἢ συνανισταμένου τοῖς ἀνισταμένοις, οὐδὲν συντελοῦντος ἔτι πρὸς τὸ ζῆν οὐχ αἵματος οὐ φλέγματος οὐ χολῆς οὐ πνεύματος, οὐδὲ γὰρ ὧν ἐδεήθη ποτὲ τὰ τρεφόμενα σώματα, δεηθήσεται καὶ τότε, συνανῃρημένης τῇ τῶν τρεφομένων ἐνδείᾳ καὶ φθορᾷ τῆς ἐξ ὧν ἐτρέφετο χρείας, ἔπειτʼ εἰ καὶ μέχρι σαρκὸς φθάνειν τὴν ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης τροφῆς μεταβολὴν ὑποθοῖτό τις, οὐδʼ οὕτως ἀνάγκη τις ἔσται τὴν νεωστὶ μεταβληθεῖσαν ἐκ τῆς τοιᾶσδε τροφῆς σάρκα προσπελάσασαν ἑτέρου τινὸς ἀνθρώπου σώματι πάλιν ὡς μέρος εἰς τὴν ἐκείνου τελεῖν συμπλήρωσιν, τῷ μήτε αὐτὴν τὴν προσλαμβάνουσαν σάρκα πάντοτε φυλάττειν ἣν προσείληφεν, μήτε τὴν ἑνωθεῖσαν ταύτην μόνιμον εἶναι καὶ παραμένειν τοῖς μέρεσιν ἃ συνδεῖν ἢ στέγειν ἢ θάλπειν πέφυκεν τὴν ὑπὸ τῆς φύσεως ἐξειλεγμένην καὶ τούτοις προσπεφυκυῖαν οἷς τὴν κατὰ φύσιν συνεξέπλησε ζωὴν καὶ τοὺς ἐν τῇ ζωῇ πόνους. Ἀλλʼ οὔτε γὰρ καθʼ ὃ δεῖ κρινομένων τῶν ἔναγχος ἐξητασμένων, οὔτε κατὰ συγχώρησιν παραδεχθέντων τῶν ἐπʼ ἐκείνοις γεγυμνασμένων, ἀληθὲς δεικνύναι δυνατὸν τὸ πρὸς αὐτῶν λεγόμενον, οὔτʼ ἂν συγκραθείη ποτὲ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σώματα τοῖς τῆς αὐτῆς οὖσι φύσεως, κἂν ὑπʼ ἀγνοίας ποτὲ κλαπῶσι τὴν αἴσθησιν διʼ ἑτέρου τινὸς μετασχόντες τοιούτου σώματος, κἂν αὐτόθεν ὑπʼ ἐνδείας ἢ μανίας ὁμοειδοῦς τινος μιανθῶσι σώματι· εἴ γε μὴ λελήθασιν ἡμᾶς ἀνθρωποειδεῖς τινες ὄντες θῆρες, ἢ μικτὴν ἔχοντες φύσιν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων καὶ θηρίων, οἵους πλάττειν εἰώθασιν οἱ τολμηρότεροι τῶν ποιητῶν.
English · Claude translation
And in general, even if one grants that the nourishment coming in from such sources (let it be called nourishment, to use the ordinary word), though it is contrary to nature, is separated out and changed into one of the things that moisten or dry or warm or cool, not even so will anything be gained from the concession. For the bodies that rise are reconstituted from their own parts. None of the things mentioned is a part, or holds the relation or position of a part; nor does it always remain with the parts of the body that are nourished, or rise with those that rise, since nothing will then contribute to life any longer, neither blood nor phlegm nor bile nor breath. Nor will bodies then need what the nourished bodies once needed, since the need for what nourished them is done away with, together with the want and corruption of the bodies that were nourished. Again, even if one supposes that the change from such nourishment reaches as far as the flesh, not even so will there be any necessity that the flesh newly formed from such nourishment, when it attaches to the body of another human being, should serve as a part to complete that body. For the flesh that takes it on does not always keep what it has taken on; nor is the flesh so united permanent, remaining with the parts it naturally binds, covers, or warms, as does the flesh that nature has chosen and grown onto the parts with which it has lived out the natural life and its labors. So neither when the matters just examined are judged as they should be, nor when the arguments against them are accepted for the sake of argument, can it be shown that what the objectors say is true. Human bodies would never be blended with bodies of the same nature, even if people at some time, in ignorance, are deceived in their senses and partake of such a body through some other creature, or directly defile themselves with a body of their own kind through want or madness; unless there are beasts in human form that have escaped our notice, or beings of a nature mixed from human beings and beasts, such as the more daring poets like to invent.
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Notes
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (dittography: word printed twice; misprint: ματαβάλλειν for μεταβάλλειν): καὶ ματαβάλλειν → καὶ μεταβάλλειν; παραμένειν παραμένειν → παραμένειν.
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Athenagoras, Res. 7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-resurrection/7/).
Plain text
Athenagoras, Res. 7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-resurrection/7/).
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