On the Resurrection 2.20–3.4

Methodius of Olympus · On the Resurrection · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · place unknown · 13 passages

Greek text: Bonwetsch, GCS 27 (Greek text and German translation of the Old Slavonic: G. N. Bonwetsch, Methodius (GCS 27, 1917); OCR made for this site).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 6 (1886).

Chapter 2

2.20Bonwetsch GCS 27:372

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

"If we wish to see the nature of the body more clearly, let us consider from how small a seed bodies of what size come to be! We do not think that the greatness of the growth comes from the power of the seed, but from the power of God. For wisdom, caring greatly for man, adorns him in every way like a painter, giving him both size and beauty. For how can he become so great, when a very small seed has fallen into your mother's womb, which is dead and unshaped matter? By what else is he formed or brought into being in the womb than by the wisdom of God, which arranges everything for the best? For if this were not so, the fruit would be burned up by the abundance of blood and would split, as slaked lime does now when water is added, if this were not done by the power of God. For when the monthly power has returned, and the blood has increased, and the members have become fuller, and fertilization has taken place for increase, conception occurs, the mother receiving all the materials. By whose oversight is the child preserved and not destroyed by that sharpness? By whose power is the infant, lying as in water, not suffocated? How is it not burned in so great a heat of blood? For it is ... in the craftsmen. For it is not so difficult, after melting a bronze vessel, to form it into the same shape, as to make something new from material not yet worked. For there is much labour here: first the burning of the metal, then the melting, that is, the purification, and further the obtaining of the shape from ...

[21] "... [in] the resurrection will be? But that the bodies of men will inherit immortality by the power of God, changed into whatever he wills, whether for dissolution or for restoration, the forty years' wandering of the people in the desert is a great testimony to the truth: there not only did their bodies remain healthy and free of suffering, but even their clothes and shoes did not wear out, as he says in Deuteronomy. If, then, these perishable, quickly aging clothes held out for so long a time because God so commanded, and he has made this known to us, how is it possible not to believe in the resurrection of the bodies which he himself created and has promised to raise again?"

Deut 29:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Deut 8:4 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The growth of a child from a tiny seed, preserved in the womb by God's wisdom, and the clothes of Israel that did not wear out in the desert, show God's power to raise the body.

Book 2, chapter 20, with part of chapter 21 (heading lost; it begins at "[21]", placement probable). Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic. The Slavonic is defective at the points marked '...'. The staged text ends with a stray fragment from page 379 (Book 2, chapters 23-24) and a speaker heading, which are not translated here.
Deut 29:5 (cf. 8:4).

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.20 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:372; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of N. Bonwetsch, 1917, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-20). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Translation: Greek passages translated by Claude from Bonwetsch's Greek text (GCS 27, 1917, OCR made for this site) and compared afterwards with ANF 6 where it translates them; chapters lost in Greek translated from Bonwetsch's German of the Old Slavonic (route 3), re-read against the German.

2.21Bonwetsch GCS 27:374

Ἐπεὶ τί βουλόμενος ὁ θεολόγος Μωσῆς τὴν κατὰ τὴν σκηνοπηγίαν ἑορτὴν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ μυστικῶς εἰσηγήσατο; ἆρα γὰρ ἵνα οὕτως ἑορτάσωμεν τῷ θεῷ, καθάπερ ἐξηγοῦνται χυδαιότερον οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι νοοῦντες τὰς γραφάς, ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ σκηναῖς τοιαύταις ἐκ καρπῶν καὶ κλάδων καὶ εὐφύλλων ⟨ξύλων⟩ κατεσκευασμέναις ἀρεσκομένου, ἃ εὐθέως μαραίνονται τὴν χλόην ἀποσυλώμενα; οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. τίνος οὖν ἡ σκηνοπηγία, φράσατε, εἰσήχθη μήνυμα; τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἡμῶν, ὦ ἄνδρες, ταύτης σκηνῆς, ἣν καταπεσοῦσαν εἰς φθορὰν διὰ τὴν παράβασιν καὶ λελυμένην τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ αὖθις συμπήξας ἀνώλεθρον ἀναστήσειν ὁ θεὸς ἐπηγγείλατο, ὅπως ἑορτάσωμεν αὐτῷ ἀληθῶς τὴν μεγάλην ἑορτὴν καὶ πολυθρύλλητον τῆς σκηνοπηγίας ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει, ὁπότε συμπηγνύμενα ἡμῶν εἰς κατακόσμησιν τῆς ἀθανασίας καὶ συμφωνίαν τὰ σκηνώματα ἐκ τοῦ χοὸς ἄφθαρτα ἀνίστανται, ὁπότε ἀκούουσι »τὰ ὀστᾶ τὰ ξηρὰ« ⟨τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ⟩, κατὰ τὴν ἀψευδεστάτην προφητείαν προσαγόμενα πρὸς τὰς ἁρμονίας αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ζῳοπλάστου θεοῦ καὶ ἀριστοτέχνου ἀνακαινοποιοῦντος αὖθις τὴν σάρκα καὶ συμπηγνύντος, οὐ τοιούτοις ἔτι δεσμοῖς οἷς καὶ τὸ πρῶτον συνείχετο, ἀλλ᾽ ἀκηράτοις πάμπαν λοιπὸν καὶ ἀλύτοις. ⟨»ἰδοὺ« γάρ φησι »δώσω ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς πνεῦμα ζωῆς καὶ ζήσεσθε καὶ δώσω (ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς) νεῦρα καὶ ἀνάξω ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς σάρκα καὶ ἐκτενῶ ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς δέρμα« καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. πάλιν δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος· ὅταν »καταβήσηται ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου«⟩, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον, ἔπειτα »ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες«, τουτέστιν αὐτὰ ἡμῶν ταῦτα τὰ σώματα· »ἡμεῖς« γὰρ »οἱ ζῶντες« αἱ ψυχαί ἐσμεν, οἱ ἀπολαμβάνοντες ἐγερθέντας ἐκ τῆς γῆς τοὺς νεκρούς, ἵνα »εἰς ἀπάντησιν« »ἅμα αὐτοῖς« ἁρπασθέντες τοῦ κυρίου ἐνδόξως ἑορτάσωμεν αὐτῷ τὴν φαιδρὰν τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἑορτήν, ἀνθ᾽ ὧν αἰωνίους ἡμῶν τὰς σκηνάς, (τουτέστι τὰ σώματα,) οὐκέτι τεθνηξομένας ἢ λυθησομένας, ἀπειλήφαμεν. ⟨»ἀναστήσω« γάρ φησι »τὴν σκηνὴν Δαυὶδ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν καὶ τὰ πεπτωκότα αὐτῆς ἀνοικοδομήσω καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος«⟩.

Epei ti boulomenos ho theologos Mōsēs tēn kata tēn skēnopēgian heortēn en tǭ Leuïtikǭ mystikōs eisēgēsato? ara gar hina houtōs heortasōmen tǭ theǭ, kathaper exēgountai chydaioteron hoi Ioudaioi noountes tas graphas, hōs tou theou skēnais toiautais ek karpōn kai kladōn kai euphyllōn ⟨xylōn⟩ kateskeuasmenais areskomenou, ha eutheōs marainontai tēn chloēn aposylōmena? ouk estin eipein. tinos oun hē skēnopēgia, phrasate, eisēchthē mēnyma? tēs alēthinēs hēmōn, ō andres, tautēs skēnēs, hēn katapesousan eis phthoran dia tēn parabasin kai lelymenēn tę̄ hamartią authis sympēxas anōlethron anastēsein ho theos epēngeilato, hopōs heortasōmen autǭ alēthōs tēn megalēn heortēn kai polythryllēton tēs skēnopēgias en tę̄ anastasei, hopote sympēgnymena hēmōn eis katakosmēsin tēs athanasias kai symphōnian ta skēnōmata ek tou choos aphtharta anistantai, hopote akouousi »ta osta ta xēra« ⟨ton logon tou theou⟩, kata tēn apseudestatēn prophēteian prosagomena pros tas harmonias autōn hypo tou zǭoplastou theou kai aristotechnou anakainopoiountos authis tēn sarka kai sympēgnyntos, ou toioutois eti desmois hois kai to prōton syneicheto, all᾽ akēratois pampan loipon kai alytois. ⟨»idou« gar phēsi »dōsō eph᾽ hymas pneuma zōēs kai zēsesthe kai dōsō (eph᾽ hymas) neura kai anaxō eph᾽ hymas sarka kai ektenō eph᾽ hymas derma« kai ta hexēs. palin de ho apostolos; hotan »katabēsētai ho Christos en keleusmati, en phōnę̄ archangelou«⟩, kai hoi nekroi en Christǭ anastēsontai prōton, epeita »hēmeis hoi zōntes«, toutestin auta hēmōn tauta ta sōmata; »hēmeis« gar »hoi zōntes« hai psychai esmen, hoi apolambanontes egerthentas ek tēs gēs tous nekrous, hina »eis apantēsin« »hama autois« harpasthentes tou kyriou endoxōs heortasōmen autǭ tēn phaidran tēs anastaseōs heortēn, anth᾽ hōn aiōnious hēmōn tas skēnas, (toutesti ta sōmata,) ouketi tethnēxomenas ē lythēsomenas, apeilēphamen. ⟨»anastēsō« gar phēsi »tēn skēnēn Dauid tēn peptōkuian kai ta peptōkota autēs anoikodomēsō kathōs hai hēmerai tou aiōnos«⟩.

[21] "For what did the theologian Moses intend in mystically introducing the feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus? Was it that we should keep festival to God in this way, as the Jews explain it, understanding the Scriptures too crudely, as though God were pleased with such tents made of fruits and branches and leafy trees, which at once wither when stripped of their green? It cannot be said. Tell me, then, of what was the feast of Tabernacles introduced as a sign? Of this true tent of ours, men, which fell into corruption through the transgression and was dissolved by sin, and which God promised to fix together again and raise up indestructible, so that we may truly keep for him the great and much-celebrated feast of Tabernacles at the resurrection, when our tents, fixed together for the adornment and harmony of immortality, rise incorruptible from the dust; when 'the dry bones' hear the word of God, brought, according to the most truthful prophecy, to their joints by God, the life-shaper and best of craftsmen, who renews the flesh again and fixes it together, no longer with such bonds as those that first held it together, but with bonds entirely undefiled and indissoluble from then on. 'For behold,' he says, 'I will put upon you the breath of life, and you shall live; and I will put sinews upon you and bring up flesh upon you and stretch skin over you,' and so on. And again the apostle: when 'the Lord descends with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive,' that is, these very bodies of ours; for 'we who are alive' are the souls, which receive back the dead raised from the earth, so that, caught up 'together with them' 'to meet' the Lord, we may gloriously keep for him the bright feast of the resurrection, since we receive our tents, that is, our bodies, eternal, no longer to die or be dissolved. 'For I will raise up,' he says, 'the tent of David that has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, as in the days of old.'"

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Lev 23:34 (allusion, high confidence) · Ezek 37:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 37:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Ezek 37:6 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Thess 4:16 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Thess 4:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Amos 9:11 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The feast of Tabernacles prefigures the resurrection, when God will fix our fallen 'tents', our bodies, together again for ever.

Greek of Book 2, chapter 21 (first part), not staged. ANF 6 Part I.14 translates it from Photius. The interpretation of the Jews' observance is the author's polemic, translated as written.
Lev 23:34-43; Ezek 37:4-6; 1 Thess 4:16-17; Amos 9:11.
In the Greek, the quotations of Ezek 37:5-6 and 1 Thess 4:16 ('For behold ... archangel') and the closing quotation of Amos 9:11 are not in the Greek witness (Photius) but are supplied by the editor in angle brackets from the Slavonic version and the biblical text; so are the words 'the word of God' and 'trees'.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR debris of the accent line removed; line number removed; OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); editor's supplement brackets restored (misread by the OCR); OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); editor's supplement brackets restored (misread by the OCR); apparatus, page number and running head removed; apparatus, page number and running head removed; OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); chapter numeral removed; OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); editor's supplement brackets restored (misread by the OCR)): XXI. ᾿Επεὶ τί βουλόμενος ὁ θεολῦγος Δωσῆς τὴν κατὰ τὴν σκη- γνοπηγίαν ἑορτὴν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ μυστικῶς εἰσηγήσατο; ἄρα → Ἐπεὶ τί βουλόμενος ὁ θεολόγος Μωσῆς τὴν κατὰ τὴν σκηνοπηγίαν ἑορτὴν ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ μυστικῶς εἰσηγήσατο; ἆρα; οἱ ᾿Ιου- δαῖοι → οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι; ἐκ καρ- πῶν → ἐκ καρπῶν; (ξύλων) χατεσχευασμέναις ἀρεσκομέ- γου, → ⟨ξύλων⟩ κατεσκευασμέναις ἀρεσκομένου,; 14 Lev. 23, 39. 40. Symp. 9, 2 5. 116, 7ff — 16 vgl. Symp. 8. 50, 14 u. zu De lepra 14, 5. Vgl. Tert. De res. 26. Orig. z. B. In Exod. hom. 3 IX 26 Lomm. 1 »schwierig« bedno [nü] S 6 γοῦν Co: οὖν C* | δεῖξαι --- ὑπόστασιν Ζ. 10: »werden wir aber nun erkennen, was mehr ist: ein Tropfen Frucht oder ein gestorbener Leib, der annimmt und hat die Gestalt des Menschen ?« S; »an- nimmt ἃ. Gest. ἃ. M.« (»d. M.« zweimal) als Überschrift inS 7 παραγάγομεν CC | xard τὸ αὐτὸ Co: αὐτὸ καθ᾽ ἑαιτὸ C* 8 πιστεύουσι © 10 ἔχοντα hinter ὑπόστασιν CT 11 τὸ ὕλως οὐδὲν: »nicht dies nicht jenes seiend« S | μό- γον übersetzt nicht S . τοῦ «-ΟΤ 111 ζῷον τὸ κάλλιστον] πάλιν τὸ αὐτὸ ἄνθρωπος CT, »ein wie großes Lebewesen« 8 12 πολλῷ] CC 84 | τὸ ἤδη — γίνεται Ζ. 13] »kann von dem in Selbständigkeit (ὑπόστασις oder ἐδιότης) ge- wesenen Menschen gemacht werden« ὃ 12f θελήσαντος Co 18 τὸ αὐτὸ πάλιν CT | γενέσθαι CT 14 vor Ἐπεὶ »Daß auch die Errichtung der Hütten nichts anderes anzeigt als die Auferstehung« ES | ὁ 9e0löyos <S | μωυ- σῆς ΟἹ 14} τὴν --- ἑορτὴν und μυστ. εἰσηγήσατο: »die Errichtung der Hütten geboten« S 1207 16 ἐξηγοῦνται: »gebieten« »wollen« S | χυ- δαιότερον: »schwach und kleinliche S οἷς Ὁ 11 σχηναῖς — κατε- σχευασμέναις Ζ. 18: »an schönblättrigen Nuß- und anderen Bäumen« S 18 φυλ- λων ΟΣ | ξύλων +8 19 τὴν χλόην ἀποσυλ. <S ἀποσυλόμενα ΟΤ | οὐχ & εἰ: »Nicht nun« übersetzt S De resurreectione II, 20, 8—21, 4 375 → ; σκχηνοπηγία → σκηνοπηγία; σχηνῆς. ἣν → σκηνῆς, ἣν; αὐθις συμπήξας → αὖθις συμπήξας; ἐπηγγείλατο. ὅπως → ἐπηγγείλατο, ὅπως; σχηνοπηγίας ἐν τῇ ἀνα- στάσει. ὁπότε → σκηνοπηγίας ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει, ὁπότε; »τὰ ὀστᾶ τὰ ξηρὰς {τὸν λύγον τοῦ θεοῦν, κατὰ τὴν ἀψευδε- στάτην → »τὰ ὀστᾶ τὰ ξηρὰ« ⟨τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ⟩, κατὰ τὴν ἀψευδεστάτην; αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ,» - N ) N > - 5 \ 10 ζῳοπλαστου θεοῦ καὶ ἀριστοτέχνου ἀνακαινοποιοῦντος AUÜLS τὴν \ ’ 2 , χω τ < - σάρχα καὶ συμπηγνύντος, οὐ τοιούτοις ἔτι δεσμοῖς οἷς καὶ τὸ πρῶτον τῷ 7 a? > , ’ \ x DE , ᾿ συνείχετο, ἀλλ ἀκηράτοις πάμπαν λοιπὸν καὶ ἀλύτοις. (εἰδοῦς, γὰρ 8 ’ 3 KK "Ἢ zZ Ἢ , X ’ .»)ς “ φησι, δώσω ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς πνεῦμα ζωῆς καὶ ζησεσθε καὶ δώσω (ἐφ᾽ υμᾶς) - ᾿ ὦ » εὖᾧῷ ’ - Σ - νεῦρα καὶ ἀνάξω ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς σάρκα καὶ ἐκτενῶ ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς δέρμας καὶ τὰ 1 , N € > ᾿ - « x ’ [4 ‘ > ἑξῆς. πάλιν δὲ ὁ ἀποστολος᾽ ὁτὰν »καταβησηται ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν κε- - 2 \ - 2 ’ λεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλουλ, καὶ οἱ νεχροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστῆη- “- a" - ς - , x NS σονται πρῶτον, ἔπειτα νημεῖς οἱ ζῶντεςς, → αὐτῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ ζῳοπλάστου θεοῦ καὶ ἀριστοτέχνου ἀνακαινοποιοῦντος αὖθις τὴν σάρκα καὶ συμπηγνύντος, οὐ τοιούτοις ἔτι δεσμοῖς οἷς καὶ τὸ πρῶτον συνείχετο, ἀλλ᾽ ἀκηράτοις πάμπαν λοιπὸν καὶ ἀλύτοις. ⟨»ἰδοὺ« γάρ φησι »δώσω ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς πνεῦμα ζωῆς καὶ ζήσεσθε καὶ δώσω (ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς) νεῦρα καὶ ἀνάξω ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς σάρκα καὶ ἐκτενῶ ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς δέρμα« καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. πάλιν δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος· ὅταν »καταβήσηται ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου«⟩, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον, ἔπειτα »ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες«,; τουτέστιν αὐτὰ ἡμῶν 2 vgl. Amos 9, 11; De res. 1, 51, 5. II, 21, 4 — 5 vgl. Symp. 9, 2 8. 110, 7f — 8 vgl. Ezech. 37, 4 — 10 vgl. S. 23, 5. 11. 231, 2. 275, 4. 384, 8 — 12 Ezech. 37, 5. 6 — 15 I Thess. 4, 10 1 vgl. Greg. Nyss. De an. et res. 244 Β (136 Oehler) — 16—5. 376, 6 Phot. Bibl. 234 5. 295}, 14—22 ᾿ 1 οὖν] μὲν ΟΥ | φράσατε <S | εἰσήχθη: »ward geboten« S | μή- γυμα verbindet S mit dem Folgenden 1ff Greg. τούτου χάριν .. ὁ .. κύριος ἑαυτὸν ἐπέφανεν ἡμῖν, ὡς ἂν συσταίη τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει ἡ τοῦ διαλυθέντος ἡμῶν οἰχητηρίου σχηνοπηγία 11 τῆς ἀληθ. Yu... τ. σχηνῆς: »υ͵ὺπ uns . . der Auf- erstehung unserer Hütte« 5 ῷ ὦ ἄνδρες < ΟΥ | ἣν] τὴν Co | Σεἰς φθο- ρὰν < ὃ 3 καὶ) ἣν S | ταῖς ἁμαρτίας 8 | συμπήξας ἀνώλεθρον < 8 | συμπήξασαν CT | ἀνόλεθρον 1. Hd. Co 4 ἀναστῆσαι Co | ἀληθῶς <5S öf ἐν τῇ ἀν.) τῆς ἀναστάσεως W. 6. Sch. S ὁ ὁπότε --- ἀνίστανται Z. 7 < ὃ, wohl wegen des Homoioteleuton | ὅπου τε Co συμφωνίας C 8 ἀχούσουσι 8. | ξηρᾶ ΟΥ̓ΘΙΥ | τ΄ λόγον τ. θ.-- 5. 9 προσαγ. --- ἀλύτοις Z. 12 <5S | τ᾿ ἁρμονίας] τὰς ἁρμογὰς Jh, aber vgl. Ezech. 37, 7 10 ἀσιστοτέχνα 1. Hd. Ce 11 συμμιγνῦντος ΟΥ | τοιούτοις] τοῖς πρῶτοις 1. HA. CC | τὸ «- CT 12 ἰδού etc. — »verheißen« 8. 377, 10 <C | ἰδού --- ἀρχαγγέλου Z. 10 8, der griech. Text aus Ezech. 37, 5. 6 und I Thess. 4, 16 18 ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς vor νεῦρα + Ezech, 37, 6 16 ἀρχ. 8180 1 καὶ οἱ — ἀπειλήφαμεν 8. 376, 6 ΡᾺ | & Χριστῷ << ὃ 11 ἔπειτα --- ζῶντες <S | ζῶντες) ὁ ἅγιος Μεθόδιος οὕτω φησί — Ph | αὐτὰ... ταῦτα 8. 376, 1: »jene« 8 10 376 Methodıus ταῦτα τὰ σώματα᾽ → τουτέστιν αὐτὰ ἡμῶν ταῦτα τὰ σώματα·; τἡμεῖςε γὰρ νοἱ ζῶντες: αἱ Ῥηχαί ἐσμεν. οἱ ἀπο- λαμβάνοντες → »ἡμεῖς« γὰρ »οἱ ζῶντες« αἱ ψυχαί ἐσμεν, οἱ ἀπολαμβάνοντες; τοὺς νεκροιῖς, ἵνα νεὶς ἃ ἀπάντη- σινᾳ« »ἅμα αὐτοῖς« ἁρπασθέντες τοῦ κυρίου ἐνδόξως & ἑορτάσωμεν → τοὺς νεκρούς, ἵνα »εἰς ἀπάντησιν« »ἅμα αὐτοῖς« ἁρπασθέντες τοῦ κυρίου ἐνδόξως ἑορτάσωμεν; φιαδρὰν → φαιδρὰν; σχηνάς, (τουτέστι τὰ σώματα, οὐχέτι τεθνηξομένας ἢ λυ θησομένας, ἀπειλ φαμεν. (ἀναστήσω, γάρ φησι, »τὴν σκηνὴν “αυὶδ τὴν πεέπτεω- κυῖαν → σκηνάς, (τουτέστι τὰ σώματα,) οὐκέτι τεθνηξομένας ἢ λυθησομένας, ἀπειλήφαμεν. ⟨»ἀναστήσω« γάρ φησι »τὴν σκηνὴν Δαυὶδ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν; αἰῶνος). → αἰῶνος«⟩..

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.21 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:374; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-21). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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2.22Bonwetsch GCS 27:376

Εἰ τιμιώτερον σῶμα ἀνθρώπου τοῦ ἄλλων ζῴων, ὅτε χερσί τε θεοῦ λέγεται πεπλάσθαι καὶ ὅτι τιμιωτέρου τῆς ψυχῆς τετύχηκεν ὄχημα, πῶς τοῦτο μὲν ὀλιγοχρόνιον, ἀλόγων δέ τινων πολλῷ πολυχρονιώτερα; ἢ δῆλον ὡς ἡ τούτου πολυχρόνιος ὕπαρξις μετὰ

Ei timiōteron sōma anthrōpou tou allōn zǭōn, hote chersi te theou legetai peplasthai kai hoti timiōterou tēs psychēs tetychēken ochēma, pōs touto men oligochronion, alogōn de tinōn pollǭ polychroniōtera? ē dēlon hōs hē toutou polychronios hyparxis meta

"If the body of man is more honourable than that of the other living creatures, both because it is said to have been formed by God's hands and because it has become the vehicle of the more honourable soul, how is it short-lived, while the bodies of some irrational creatures live much longer? Or is it plain that its long-lasting existence will come after [the resurrection]?"

Gen 2:7 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The human body, though more honourable than those of animals, is short-lived now, which shows that its lasting existence belongs to the time after the resurrection.

Book 2, chapter 22. Only the opening sentence of the Greek is staged; its last words ('the resurrection will be?') were staged at the end of ref 2.20, and the rest of the chapter is in the German of the edition. Gen 2:7.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR: split words and misreadings): ψυχῆς τε τύχηκεν ὄχημα, πῶς τοῦτο μὲν ὀλιγοχρόνιον, ἀλόγων δέ τινῶν πολλ ῷ πυλυχρονιώτερα; ἢ δῆλον ος → ψυχῆς τετύχηκεν ὄχημα, πῶς τοῦτο μὲν ὀλιγοχρόνιον, ἀλόγων δέ τινων πολλῷ πολυχρονιώτερα; ἢ δῆλον ὡς.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.22 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:376; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-22). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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2.23Bonwetsch GCS 27:377

Ἐθεασάμην γὰρ ἐν Ὀλύμπῳ ἐγὼ — ὅρος δέ ἐστιν ὁ Ὄλυμπος τῆς Λυκίας — πῦρ αὐτομάτως κατὰ τὴν ἀκρώρειαν τοῦ ὄρους κάτωθεν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀναδιδόμενον, περὶ ὃ πῦρ ἄγνος φυτὸν ἑστώς, οὕτω μὲν εὐθαλὲς καὶ χλοερόν, οὕτω δὲ σύσκιον, ὡς ὑποτοπῆσαι παρ᾽ ὕδωρ μᾶλλον ἀένναον αὐτὸ βεβλαστηκέναι. δι᾿ ἣν αἰτίαν οὖν, εἰ φύσεις εἰσὶ φθαρτῶν καὶ ὑπὸ πυρὸς καταναλισκομένων σωμάτων καὶ ἀδύνατον ἄκαυστα διαμεῖναι τὰ ἅπαξ φύσεως ὑπάρχοντα καυστικῆς, οὐ μόνον οὐ καταφλέγεται τὸ φυτὸν τοῦτο. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀκμαιότερον μᾶλλον ὑπάρχει καὶ χλοερώτερον, ὁ τῇ φύσει ἐστὶν εὔκαυστον, καὶ ταῦτα περὶ αὐτὰς αὐτοῦ τὰς ῥίζας τοῦ πυρὸς ἐντυφομένου; κλάδους γοῦν ἐγὼ δένδρων ἐκ τῆς παρακειμένης ὕλης ἔρριψα εἰς ὃν ἀνερεύγεται τὸ πῦρ τόπον, καὶ εὐθέως εἰς φλόγα ἀρθέντες ἐτεφρώθησαν. φράσατε οὖν δή, δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν τὸ μὴ ὑποφέρον μηδὲ τὴν ἐξ ἡλίου δέξασθαι ἔκκαυσιν, ἀλλὰ ξηραινόμενον ἐὰν μὴ ἀρδευθῇ βραχύ, τοσούτῳ πυρὸς φλογμῷ συνεχόμενον οὐ καταναλίσκεται, ἀλλὰ ζῇ τε καὶ θάλλει; τί οὖν βούλεται τὸ παράδοξον; δεῖγμα τοῦτο τῆς μελλούσης ὁ θεὸς ἡμέρας καὶ προοίμιον ἔθετο, ἵνα γινώσκωμεν ἐνδηλότερον ὅτι πάντων πυρὶ καταβασίῳ κατομβρουμένων τὰ ἐν ἀγνείᾳ σώματα διατρίψαντα καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ καθάπερ ψυχρῷ ὕδατι τῷ πυρί, οὐδὲν ἀλγυνόμενα πρὸς αὐτοῦ, ἐπιβήσονται. ἀληθῶς γάρ, ὦ μεγαλόφρον καὶ μεγαλόδωρε δέσποτα, ἡ »κτίσις σοι τῷ ποιήσαντι ὑπηρετοῦσα ἐπιτείνεται εἰς κόλασιν κατὰ τῶν ἀδίκων καὶ ἀνίεται εἰς εὐεργεσίαν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπὶ σοὶ πεποιθότων«, καὶ θέλοντός σου πῦρ μὲν καταψύχει, λυμαινόμενον οὐδὲν ὧν αὐτὸς κρίνεις διασῴζεσθαι, ὕδωρ δὲ ἔμπαλιν δριμυτέραις καταφλέγει πυρὸς προσβολαῖς, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀντιτάσσεται τῷ ἀνικήτῳ σου κράτει καὶ τῇ σῇ ἰσχύϊ. πάντα γὰρ ἔκτισας ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων· διὸ καὶ πάντα μεταλλεύεις, σὰ ὑπάρχοντα, ὁ μόνος ὑπάρχων θεός, ὡς θέλεις. Αὐτίκα γοῦν τῶν τῇδε βασιλέων αἱ εἰκόνες, κἂν μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς πολὺ τιμιωτέρας ὕλης, χρυσοῦ, ἀργύρου, ἠλέκτρου ἢ ἐλέφαντος, κατεσκευασμέναι, τιμὴν ἔχουσι πρὸς ἁπάντων· οὐ γὰρ τὰς μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς πολὺ τιμιωτέρας ὕλης τεχνημένας θεραπεύοντες ἐξολιγωροῦσι τῶν ἄλλων οἱ ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλὰ πάσας ἐπίσης τιμῶσιν, εἰ καὶ ἀπὸ γύψου ἢ χαλκοῦ ὑπάρχουσιν, καὶ ὁ δυσφημήσας εἰς ὁποτέραν οὔτε ὡς πηλὸν ἀτιμάσας ἀφίεται, οὔτε ὡς χρυσὸν ἐξευτελίσας κρίνεται, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀσεβήσας τὸν βασιλέα καὶ κύριον. τὰς μὲν ἀπὸ χρυσοῦ κατεσκευασμένας εἰκόνας τοὺς αὐτοῦ ἀγγέλους, τάς τε ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας, »εἰς τιμήν« καὶ δόξαν αὐτοῦ ποιηθέντας νοοῦμεν. ἐννόει γάρ μοι τὸν θεὸν τὰς μὲν ὡς ἀπὸ χρυσοῦ κατεσκευασμένας ἔχειν εἰκόνας ἑαυτοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς πνευματικῆς καθαρωτέρας οὐσίας, οἷον τοὺς ἀγγέλους (καθὼς ὁ Δαυὶδ »ὁ ποιῶν« φησίν »τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πῦρ φλέγον«), τὰς δὲ ὥσπερ ἀπὸ γύψου ἢ χαλκοῦ, οἷον ἡμᾶς (»ἔλαβε« γάρ φησι »χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς« »ὁ θεός« »καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον«)· τῷ γηΐνῳ γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν ἥνοωσε τὴν »κατ᾽ εἰκόνα θεοῦς γεγενημένην. ὡς οὖν πάσας ἐνταῦθα τοῦ βασιλέως τὰς εἰκόνας τιμᾶσθαι χρή διὰ τὴν ἐν αὐταῖς μορφήν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς θεοῦ εἰκόνας ὑπάρχοντας (»ὁ θεὸς γὰρ ἔκτισε τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπ᾽ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ εἰκόνα τῆς ἰδίας ἀϊδιότητος ἐποίησεν αὐτόν«) ἀνένδεκτόν ἐστι, θεοῦ εἰκόνας ὑπάρχοντας, πρὸς ἀπώλειαν λελωβημένους χωρῆσαι παντελῆ. ὅθεν καὶ κατῆλθεν εἰς τὴν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένην ὁ λόγος καὶ ἐσαρκώθη ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν, ὅπως εἰς τὸ θεοπρεπέστερον τὴν εἰκόνα ἐπισκευάσας, καθάπερ ὑπὸ (πολλοῦ) χρόνου διαλελυμένην, ἀναστήσῃ ἀνώλεθρον.

Etheasamēn gar en Olympǭ egō — horos de estin ho Olympos tēs Lykias — pyr automatōs kata tēn akrōreian tou orous katōthen ek tēs gēs anadidomenon, peri ho pyr agnos phyton hestōs, houtō men euthales kai chloeron, houtō de syskion, hōs hypotopēsai par᾽ hydōr mallon aennaon auto beblastēkenai. di᾿ hēn aitian oun, ei physeis eisi phthartōn kai hypo pyros katanaliskomenōn sōmatōn kai adynaton akausta diameinai ta hapax physeōs hyparchonta kaustikēs, ou monon ou kataphlegetai to phyton touto. alla kai akmaioteron mallon hyparchei kai chloerōteron, ho tę̄ physei estin eukauston, kai tauta peri autas autou tas rhizas tou pyros entyphomenou? kladous goun egō dendrōn ek tēs parakeimenēs hylēs erripsa eis hon anereugetai to pyr topon, kai eutheōs eis phloga arthentes etephrōthēsan. phrasate oun dē, di᾽ hēn aitian to mē hypopheron mēde tēn ex hēliou dexasthai ekkausin, alla xērainomenon ean mē ardeuthę̄ brachy, tosoutǭ pyros phlogmǭ synechomenon ou katanalisketai, alla zę̄ te kai thallei? ti oun bouletai to paradoxon? deigma touto tēs mellousēs ho theos hēmeras kai prooimion etheto, hina ginōskōmen endēloteron hoti pantōn pyri katabasiǭ katombroumenōn ta en agneią sōmata diatripsanta kai dikaiosynę̄ kathaper psychrǭ hydati tǭ pyri, ouden algynomena pros autou, epibēsontai. alēthōs gar, ō megalophron kai megalodōre despota, hē »ktisis soi tǭ poiēsanti hypēretousa epiteinetai eis kolasin kata tōn adikōn kai anietai eis euergesian hyper tōn epi soi pepoithotōn«, kai thelontos sou pyr men katapsychei, lymainomenon ouden hōn autos krineis diasǭzesthai, hydōr de empalin drimyterais kataphlegei pyros prosbolais, kai ouden antitassetai tǭ anikētǭ sou kratei kai tę̄ sę̄ ischyï. panta gar ektisas ex ouk ontōn; dio kai panta metalleueis, sa hyparchonta, ho monos hyparchōn theos, hōs theleis. Autika goun tōn tę̄de basileōn hai eikones, kan mē apo tēs poly timiōteras hylēs, chrysou, argyrou, ēlektrou ē elephantos, kateskeuasmenai, timēn echousi pros hapantōn; ou gar tas men apo tēs poly timiōteras hylēs technēmenas therapeuontes exoligōrousi tōn allōn hoi anthrōpoi, alla pasas episēs timōsin, ei kai apo gypsou ē chalkou hyparchousin, kai ho dysphēmēsas eis hopoteran oute hōs pēlon atimasas aphietai, oute hōs chryson exeutelisas krinetai, all᾽ hōs eis auton asebēsas ton basilea kai kyrion. tas men apo chrysou kateskeuasmenas eikonas tous autou angelous, tas te archas kai tas exousias, »eis timēn« kai doxan autou poiēthentas nooumen. ennoei gar moi ton theon tas men hōs apo chrysou kateskeuasmenas echein eikonas heautou apo tēs pneumatikēs katharōteras ousias, hoion tous angelous (kathōs ho Dauid »ho poiōn« phēsin »tous angelous autou pneumata kai tous leitourgous autou pyr phlegon«), tas de hōsper apo gypsou ē chalkou, hoion hēmas (»elabe« gar phēsi »choun apo tēs gēs« »ho theos« »kai eplase ton anthrōpon«); tǭ gēïnǭ gar tēn psychēn hēnoōse tēn »kat᾽ eikona theous gegenēmenēn. hōs oun pasas entautha tou basileōs tas eikonas timasthai chrē dia tēn en autais morphēn, houtō dē kai hēmas theou eikonas hyparchontas (»ho theos gar ektise ton anthrōpon ep᾽ aphtharsią kai eikona tēs idias aïdiotētos epoiēsen auton«) anendekton esti, theou eikonas hyparchontas, pros apōleian lelōbēmenous chōrēsai pantelē. hothen kai katēlthen eis tēn kath᾽ hēmas oikoumenēn ho logos kai esarkōthē ek tou sōmatos hēmōn, hopōs eis to theoprepesteron tēn eikona episkeuasas, kathaper hypo (pollou) chronou dialelymenēn, anastēsę̄ anōlethron.

"For I myself saw on Olympus (Olympus is a mountain of Lycia) fire rising of itself from the earth below on the summit of the mountain, and beside the fire stood a chaste-tree, so flourishing and green and so shady that one would rather suppose it had sprung up beside an ever-flowing spring. For what reason, then, if bodies are by nature corruptible and consumed by fire, and it is impossible for what is once by nature combustible to remain unburned, is this plant not only not burned up, but rather more vigorous and greener, though by nature it burns easily, and that while the fire is kindled around its very roots? I threw branches of trees from the nearby wood onto the place where the fire bursts out, and at once they went up in flame and were reduced to ashes. Tell me, then, for what reason that which cannot bear even the heat of the sun, but dries up if it is not watered a little, is not consumed when surrounded by so great a blaze of fire, but lives and flourishes? What does this marvel mean? God set it as a sign and prelude of the coming day, so that we might know more clearly that, when all things are deluged with fire coming down, the bodies that have lived in chastity and righteousness will walk upon the fire as on cold water, suffering no pain from it. For truly, most magnificent and bountiful Master, 'creation, serving you its maker, is intensified for punishment against the unjust and relaxed for benefit on behalf of those who trust in you'; and when you will, fire cools, harming nothing that you judge should be preserved, and water, conversely, burns with sharper assaults than fire; and nothing withstands your invincible might and your strength. For you created all things out of what is not; therefore you also change all things, since they are yours, as you will, being the only God.

[24] "Thus the images of kings here, even if they are not made of the more precious material, gold, silver, electrum or ivory, are honoured by all. For men do not reverence those made of the more precious material and despise the others, but honour all equally, even if they are of plaster or bronze; and one who has insulted either is neither let off as having dishonoured clay, nor judged as having made light of gold, but as having committed impiety against the king and lord himself. The images made of gold we understand to be his angels, the principalities and the powers, made 'for' his 'honour' and glory. For consider with me that God has images of himself made, as it were, of gold, from the purer spiritual substance, such as the angels ('who makes his angels spirits,' says David, 'and his ministers a flaming fire'), and others as of plaster or bronze, such as us ('God took dust from the earth,' he says, 'and formed man'); for he united the soul made 'according to the image of God' to what is earthy. So just as all the images of the king here must be honoured because of the form in them, so too it is impossible that we, who are images of God ('for God created man for incorruption and made him an image of his own eternity'), should go maimed to utter destruction. That is why the Word came down into our world and became flesh from our body, so that, restoring the image to a state more fitting for God, as one dissolved by long time, he might raise it up indestructible."

Ps 104:4 (103:4 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:14 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: A plant flourishing unburned beside a natural fire on Mount Olympus in Lycia prefigures the righteous passing unharmed through the final fire; and since even humble images of a king are honoured, God will not let his images perish but raised them up through the incarnate Word.

Book 2, chapters 23 and 24 (the heading of chapter 24 survives as a garbled numeral, removed by a logged correction; it begins at "[24]"). A few words lost before 'That is why the Word came down' were staged at the end of ref 2.20; they are supplied here from that fragment.
The 'chaste-tree' (ἄγνος, Vitex agnus-castus). Wis 16:24; Ps 104:4 (LXX 103:4); Gen 2:7; Gen 1:27; Wis 2:23; John 1:14.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR misreading; OCR misreadings; OCR misreadings and a leaked line number; OCR misreadings and leaked line numbers; OCR misreadings; words lost here (λελωβημένους χωρῆσαι παντελῆ. ὅθεν καὶ κατῆλθεν), staged as a stray fragment at the end of ref 2.20, are restored from the OCR of page 379; OCR: Latin letters and split words; OCR: accent; OCR: garbled letters; OCR: garbled word; OCR: letters for quotation mark; OCR: split word; OCR: stray letter; OCR: stray marks, Latin letters and leaked line numbers; OCR: χ for κ; chapter numeral (XXIV) removed; punctuation): ᾿Εθεασάίμην → Ἐθεασάμην; τῆς «Ἰυχίας → τῆς Λυκίας; κατὰ τὴν ἀχρώφειαν τοῦ ὀρους χάτωθεν → κατὰ τὴν ἀκρώρειαν τοῦ ὄρους κάτωθεν; ἀναδιδύμενον, περὶ ὃ πῦρ ἄγνος φυτὸν ἕστός → ἀναδιδόμενον, περὶ ὃ πῦρ ἄγνος φυτὸν ἑστώς; παρ ὕθωρ μᾶλλον → παρ᾽ ὕδωρ μᾶλλον; καταναλισχομένων → καταναλισκομένων; οὐ χαταφλέ γεται → οὐ καταφλέγεται; ἀχμαιοτερον → ἀκμαιότερον; εὐχαυστον → εὔκαυστον; τοῦ AU οὺς ἐντυ φομένον; κλάδους → τοῦ πυρὸς ἐντυφομένου; κλάδους; ἔρρεψα ad 8 ὅ ὃν ἀνερεύγεται → ἔρριψα εἰς ὃν ἀνερεύγεται; δι ἣν αἰτίαν τὸ μὴ ὑποφέρον μηδὲ τὴν 4 ἐξ ἡλίου δέξασθαι ἔχχκαυσιν → δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν τὸ μὴ ὑποφέρον μηδὲ τὴν ἐξ ἡλίου δέξασθαι ἔκκαυσιν; ἀρδευθῇ βραχέν, τοσούτῳ πυρὸς φλογμῷ συνεχύμενον ος οὐ καταναλίσκεται → ἀρδευθῇ βραχύ, τοσούτῳ πυρὸς φλογμῷ συνεχόμενον οὐ καταναλίσκεται; δεῖγμα τοῖτο τῆς 5 10 μελλούσης Ö θεὸς → δεῖγμα τοῦτο τῆς μελλούσης ὁ θεὸς; χαθάπερ ψυχρῷ ὕδατι τῷ πυρί, οὐδὲν ἀλγυνομενὰ → καθάπερ ψυχρῷ ὕδατι τῷ πυρί, οὐδὲν ἀλγυνόμενα; ἀληθῶς γάρ, M μεγα- ὃ λόφωτε → ἀληθῶς γάρ, ὦ μεγαλόφρον; ἡ »κτίσις σοι τῷ ποιήσαντι ὑπὴρετοῖσι ἐπιτείνεται εἰς κόλασιν χατὰ → ἡ »κτίσις σοι τῷ ποιήσαντι ὑπηρετοῦσα ἐπιτείνεται εἰς κόλασιν κατὰ; πεποιθότωνςε, → πεποιθότων«,; αὐτὸς χρίνεις → αὐτὸς κρίνεις; τῷ ἀνιχήτῳ σου κράτει → τῷ ἀνικήτῳ σου κράτει; πάντα γὰρ ἔχτισας ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων διὸ καὶ πάντα μεταλλεύεις, σὰ ὑπάρχοντα, καὶ > μόνος → πάντα γὰρ ἔκτισας ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων· διὸ καὶ πάντα μεταλλεύεις, σὰ ὑπάρχοντα, ὁ μόνος; ΧΧΙΥ... Αὐτίκα γοῦν → Αὐτίκα γοῦν; χθυ σοῦ, ἀργύρου, ἠλέκτρου 7 ἐλέφαντος, σι κατεσκευασμέναι → χρυσοῦ, ἀργύρου, ἠλέκτρου ἢ ἐλέφαντος, κατεσκευασμέναι; ἁπάντων οὐ γὰρ → ἁπάντων· οὐ γὰρ; καὶ ὃ δυσφημήσας → καὶ ὁ δυσφημήσας; οὔτε ος χρυσὸν ἐξευτελίσας χρίνεται, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀσεβήσᾳς → οὔτε ὡς χρυσὸν ἐξευτελίσας κρίνεται, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀσεβήσας; κατεσχευασμένας εἰκόνας τοὺς αὐτοῦ ἀγγέλους → κατεσκευασμένας εἰκόνας τοὺς αὐτοῦ ἀγγέλους; »εἰς τιμὴνε καὶ δόξαν αὐτοῦ ποιζηθέντας νογοῦμεν ἐν νόει γάρ μοι τὸν θεὸν τὰς μὲν ος ἀπὸ χρυσοῦ → »εἰς τιμήν« καὶ δόξαν αὐτοῦ ποιηθέντας νοοῦμεν. ἐννόει γάρ μοι τὸν θεὸν τὰς μὲν ὡς ἀπὸ χρυσοῦ; οἷον σι τοὺς ἀγγέλους, .. ἐκαθὼς ὁ Δαυὶδ 20 ποιῶνε, φησίν, ντυὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πῦρ φλίγονε) τὰς de ὥσπερ ἀπὸ γύψου N χαλχοῦ, οἷον ἡμᾶς" (ἔλαβε , γάρ φησι, ᾿χοῦν ἀπὸ THE γης-« »0 θεὸςς »καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἀνθρώπονε«" → οἷον τοὺς ἀγγέλους (καθὼς ὁ Δαυὶδ »ὁ ποιῶν« φησίν »τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα καὶ τοὺς λειτουργοὺς αὐτοῦ πῦρ φλέγον«), τὰς δὲ ὥσπερ ἀπὸ γύψου ἢ χαλκοῦ, οἷον ἡμᾶς (»ἔλαβε« γάρ φησι »χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς« »ὁ θεός« »καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον«)·; γιγενημένην. ὡς οὖν πάσας ἐνταῦθα τοῦ βασιλέος τὰς εἰκόνας τιμᾶσθαι χρή. . → γεγενημένην. ὡς οὖν πάσας ἐνταῦθα τοῦ βασιλέως τὰς εἰκόνας τιμᾶσθαι χρή; (θεοῦ εἰκόνας ὑπάρχοντας — 50 θεὸς γὰρ ἔχτισε τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπ᾽ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ εἰκόνα τῆς ἰόίας ἀιδιότητος ἀνένδεκτόν ἐστι θεοῦ εἰκόνας ὑπάρχοντας πρὸς ἀπώλειαν ὡς ἡτιεἰς τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένην → θεοῦ εἰκόνας ὑπάρχοντας (»ὁ θεὸς γὰρ ἔκτισε τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐπ᾽ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ εἰκόνα τῆς ἰδίας ἀϊδιότητος ἐποίησεν αὐτόν«) ἀνένδεκτόν ἐστι, θεοῦ εἰκόνας ὑπάρχοντας, πρὸς ἀπώλειαν λελωβημένους χωρῆσαι παντελῆ. ὅθεν καὶ κατῆλθεν εἰς τὴν καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένην; εἰς τὸ θεοπρεπέστερον τὴν εἰχόνα → εἰς τὸ θεοπρεπέστερον τὴν εἰκόνα.

Extrabiblical texts: Wis 16:24 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation); Wis 2:23 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)

Topics: Eschatology, Christology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.23 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:377; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-23). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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2.25Bonwetsch GCS 27:380

Καὶ γοῦν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ προφήτου Ἰωνᾶ μυστηριωδῶς πεπραγματευμένην οἰκονομίαν δηλοῦντες, ἅπαντα εἰς τοῦτο ἀναφανδὸν συντείνοντα εὕρομεν τὸν λόγον. περιέχει δὲ καὶ μέγα μυστήριον ἡ κατὰ τὸν Ἰωνᾶν ἱστορία. ἔοικε γὰρ τὸ μὲν κῆτος νοεῖσθαι ὁ χρόνος, ἅτε μηδέποτε ἑστώς, ἀλλὰ πορευόμενος ἀεὶ καὶ καταδαπανῶν τὰ γεννώμενα μακροῖς τε καὶ βραχυτέροις διαστήμασιν. ὁ δὲ φεύγων Ἰωνᾶς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος, ἀθετήσας τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔφυγεν ἀφθαρσίας ὀφθῆναι γυμνός, τὴν πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας παρρησίαν ἀφῃρημένος. τὸ δὲ πλοῖον, εἰς ὃ ἐπιβὰς ἐχειμάζετο, ἡ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν βραχύβιός ἐστιν αὕτη καὶ δυσάρεστος ζωή, οἷον τραπέντων ἡμῶν καὶ μετοικισάντων ἀπὸ τῆς μακαριωτάτης ἐκείνης καὶ ἀκινδύνου ζωῆς εἰς τὸν πολυχειμαστότατον τοῦτον βίον καὶ ἀκατάστατον, καθάπερ ἀπὸ γῆς εἰς πλοῖον. ὃ γὰρ πλοῖον πρὸς γῆν, τοῦτο ὁ παρὼν βίος πρὸς τὸν ἀθάνατον. ὁ δὲ χειμὼν καὶ αἱ ἐπισυνιστάμεναι καθ' ἡμῶν λαίλαπές εἰσιν οἱ ἐνταῦθα πειρασμοί, ὥσπερ ἐν κλύδωνι τῷ κόσμῳ ἀλύπως εὐθυδρομῆσαι τὸν βίον ἡμᾶς ἐν γαλήνῃ καὶ νηνεμίᾳ κακῶν μὴ ἐπιτρέποντες. ἡ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ πλοίου εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν ἔκριψις τοῦ Ἰωνᾶ γεγενημένη τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ ζῆν εἰς τὸ τελευτῆσαι τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου δηλοῖ μετάπτωσιν, ἀποφάσεως τυχόντος, ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἁμαρτήσας ἀπέδρα τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τῷ »γῆ εἶ καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ«. τὸ δὲ καταποθῆναι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ κήτους τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου γεγενημένην ἀπαραίτητον ἡμῶν δηλοῖ ἀναίρεσιν. ἡ γὰρ κοιλία (τοῦ κήτους, ὑφ᾽ ἧς ἐκαλύφθη καταποθεὶς ὁ Ἰωνᾶς, ἡ παντοδόχος ἐστὶ γῆ, τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ χρόνου δαπανώμενα (σώματα) δεχομένη. ὡς οὖν Ἰωνᾶς »ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας« ἐνδιατρίψας »καὶ νύκτας« τοσαύτας αὖθις ὑγιὴς ἀπεδόθη, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες τὰς τρεῖς τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος διαστάσεις ποιήσαντες ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἀρχὴν λέγω καὶ μεσότητα καὶ τέλος, ἐξ ὧν σύγκειται πᾶς οὗτος ὁ παρὼν χρόνος, ἀναστησόμεθα. τρία γὰρ καθολικὰ χρόνου διαστήματα, παρῳχηκὼς καὶ μέλλων καὶ παρών. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ κύριος τοσαύτας ἡμέρας συμβολικῶς ποιήσας ἐν τῇ γῇ ἐδίδαξε σαφῶς ὅτι πληρωθέντων τῶν προειρημένων τοῦ χρόνου διαστημάτων ἔσται ἡμῶν ἡ ἀνάστασις, τοῦ μέλλοντος μὲν ἀρχὴ αἰῶνος ὑπάρχουσα, τούτου δὲ τέλος. ἐν αἰῶνι γὰρ οὔτε παρῴχηκέ τι οὔτε μέλλει, ἀλλὰ μόνον ὑφέστηκεν. ἔτι ὁ Ἰωνᾶς »ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας« ποιήσας οὐ κατεφθάρη συντηκομένων αὐτῷ τῶν σαρκῶν κατὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ γινομένην φυσικὴν σῆψιν τῶν εἰσφερομένων βρωμάτων διὰ τὴν πλείονα ἐν τοῖς ἐνύδροις θερμότητα, ἵνα δειχθῇ ὅτι δύναται εἶναι ἡμῶν τὰ σώματα ταῦτα ἀνώλεθρα.

Kai goun tēn epi tou prophētou Iōna mystēriōdōs pepragmateumenēn oikonomian dēlountes, hapanta eis touto anaphandon synteinonta heuromen ton logon. periechei de kai mega mystērion hē kata ton Iōnan historia. eoike gar to men kētos noeisthai ho chronos, hate mēdepote hestōs, alla poreuomenos aei kai katadapanōn ta gennōmena makrois te kai brachyterois diastēmasin. ho de pheugōn Iōnas apo prosōpou tou theou autos ekeinos ho prōtos anthrōpos, athetēsas tēn entolēn ephygen aphtharsias ophthēnai gymnos, tēn pros to theion hypo tēs hamartias parrēsian aphę̄rēmenos. to de ploion, eis ho epibas echeimazeto, hē kata ton paronta kairon brachybios estin hautē kai dysarestos zōē, hoion trapentōn hēmōn kai metoikisantōn apo tēs makariōtatēs ekeinēs kai akindynou zōēs eis ton polycheimastotaton touton bion kai akatastaton, kathaper apo gēs eis ploion. ho gar ploion pros gēn, touto ho parōn bios pros ton athanaton. ho de cheimōn kai hai episynistamenai kath' hēmōn lailapes eisin hoi entautha peirasmoi, hōsper en klydōni tǭ kosmǭ alypōs euthydromēsai ton bion hēmas en galēnę̄ kai nēnemią kakōn mē epitrepontes. hē de apo tou ploiou eis tēn thalassan ekripsis tou Iōna gegenēmenē tēn apo tou zēn eis to teleutēsai tou prōtoplastou dēloi metaptōsin, apophaseōs tychontos, anth᾽ hōn hamartēsas apedra tēs dikaiosynēs, tǭ »gē ei kai eis gēn apeleusę̄«. to de katapothēnai auton hypo tou kētous tēn hypo tou chronou gegenēmenēn aparaitēton hēmōn dēloi anairesin. hē gar koilia (tou kētous, hyph᾽ hēs ekalyphthē katapotheis ho Iōnas, hē pantodochos esti gē, ta hypo tou chronou dapanōmena (sōmata) dechomenē. hōs oun Iōnas »en tę̄ koilią tou kētous treis hēmeras« endiatripsas »kai nyktas« tosautas authis hygiēs apedothē, houtō dē kai hēmeis pantes tas treis tou parontos aiōnos diastaseis poiēsantes en tę̄ gę̄, archēn legō kai mesotēta kai telos, ex hōn synkeitai pas houtos ho parōn chronos, anastēsometha. tria gar katholika chronou diastēmata, parǭchēkōs kai mellōn kai parōn. kai dia touto kai ho kyrios tosautas hēmeras symbolikōs poiēsas en tę̄ gę̄ edidaxe saphōs hoti plērōthentōn tōn proeirēmenōn tou chronou diastēmatōn estai hēmōn hē anastasis, tou mellontos men archē aiōnos hyparchousa, toutou de telos. en aiōni gar oute parǭchēke ti oute mellei, alla monon hyphestēken. eti ho Iōnas »en tę̄ koilią tou kētous treis hēmeras kai treis nyktas« poiēsas ou katephtharē syntēkomenōn autǭ tōn sarkōn kata tēn en tę̄ koilią ginomenēn physikēn sēpsin tōn eispheromenōn brōmatōn dia tēn pleiona en tois enydrois thermotēta, hina deichthę̄ hoti dynatai einai hēmōn ta sōmata tauta anōlethra.

"Indeed, when we explained the dispensation enacted mystically in the case of the prophet Jonah, we found the whole account plainly tending to this. The story of Jonah contains a great mystery. For the whale seems to signify time, which never stands still but always goes on and consumes what is born in longer and shorter intervals. Jonah, fleeing from the face of God, is that first man himself, who, having set aside the commandment, fled from being seen naked of incorruption, deprived by sin of his freedom of speech toward the divine. The ship he boarded, in which he was storm-tossed, is this short-lived and displeasing life of the present time, since we turned and migrated from that most blessed and safe life into this most stormy and unsettled one, as from land into a ship. For what a ship is to land, the present life is to the immortal life. The storm and the tempests that gather against us are the temptations here, which, as in the surge of the world, do not allow us to sail through life straight and without grief, in calm and stillness from evils. The casting of Jonah from the ship into the sea signifies the fall of the first-formed man from life into death, when he received the sentence, because by sinning he had run away from righteousness: 'You are earth, and to earth you shall return.' His being swallowed by the whale signifies our inexorable destruction by time. For the belly of the whale, in which Jonah was hidden when swallowed, is the all-receiving earth, which receives the bodies consumed by time. As, then, Jonah, having spent 'three days' and as many 'nights in the belly of the whale,' was given back whole, so we too, all of us, having passed the three intervals of the present age on the earth (I mean the beginning, the middle and the end, of which all this present time is composed), shall rise. For there are three general intervals of time: past, future and present. And for this reason the Lord too, having symbolically spent so many days in the earth, taught clearly that when the intervals of time just mentioned are fulfilled, our resurrection will come, being the beginning of the age to come and the end of this one. For in eternity nothing is past or future, but it only is. Moreover, Jonah, having spent 'three days and three nights in the belly of the whale,' was not destroyed, though his flesh would have melted away through the natural putrefaction of the food brought into the belly, because of the greater heat in creatures of the water, so that it might be shown that these bodies of ours can be indestructible."

Jonah 1:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Jonah 1:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Jonah 1:17 (quotation, high confidence) · Jonah 2:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 3:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 12:40 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The story of Jonah is read as a figure of man's fall, his swallowing by time and death, and his resurrection after the three intervals of time, as Christ's three days in the earth also teach.

Book 2, chapter 25. The staged text ran on into Greek fragments of chapters 27, 28 and 30 (pp. 384-388) and the heading of Book 3, which belong to other units; they are removed here by a logged correction, and their translation is supplied separately (see the report).
Jonah 1:3-2:10; Matt 12:40; Gen 3:19.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Greek fragments of Book 2, chapters 27, 28 and 30 (Bonwetsch pp. 384-388) and the heading of Book 3, which belong to other units, removed from the end of this unit (see the translator report); OCR misreading; OCR misreading and a leaked line number; OCR misreadings; OCR: Latin letters; OCR: accent; OCR: garbled words and Latin letters; OCR: split words; OCR: stray mark; OCR: stray marks; OCR: stray marks and misreadings; OCR: ς for quotation mark; OCR: χ for κ): {(Ἰωνῶ) μυστηριωδῶς → Ἰωνᾶ μυστηριωδῶς; ἔοιχε γὰρ τὸ μὲν κῆτος νοεῖσθαι Ö χρόνος, , ς , > . ’ dx " τ ἢ ατε μηδέποτε → ἔοικε γὰρ τὸ μὲν κῆτος νοεῖσθαι ὁ χρόνος, ἅτε μηδέποτε; μαχροῖς TE καὶ → μακροῖς τε καὶ; ὁ δὲ φεύγων Ἰωνῶς → ὁ δὲ φεύγων Ἰωνᾶς; πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος" ἀθετήσας → πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος, ἀθετήσας; ἐχειμάζετο. ἡ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν βραχυύβιός → ἐχειμάζετο, ἡ κατὰ τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν βραχύβιός; μετα αστευσάντων ἀπὸ τῆς μακαριωτάτὴης → μετοικισάντων ἀπὸ τῆς μακαριωτάτης; νηνεμίᾳ χακῶν → νηνεμίᾳ κακῶν; ἔχρεψις 5 τοῦ Ἰωνᾶ → ἔκριψις τοῦ Ἰωνᾶ; ἀνθ'᾽ ὧν ἁμαρτῆήσας → ἀνθ᾽ ὧν ἁμαρτήσας; εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃς. → εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ«.; χαταποθῆναι → καταποθῆναι; ἐκαλίφθη → ἐκαλύφθη; ax οὖν Ἰωνᾶς νἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας x ἐν- 8 Jet role ἐξ: »καὶ νύχτας τοσαύτας αὖθις ὑγιὴς ἀπεδόθη, οὕ το δὴ καὶ “ἡμεῖς, πάντες → ὡς οὖν Ἰωνᾶς »ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας« ἐνδιατρίψας »καὶ νύκτας« τοσαύτας αὖθις ὑγιὴς ἀπεδόθη, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες; ἐν τῇ γῆ. ἀρχὴν λέγω καὶ μεσύτητα → ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἀρχὴν λέγω καὶ μεσότητα; πᾶς οὗτος ὁ παρὼν χρύνος, ἀναστησόμεθα. τρία γὰρ καθολικὰ χρύόνον διασ στήματα, παρφκηκοὺὴς → πᾶς οὗτος ὁ παρὼν χρόνος, ἀναστησόμεθα. τρία γὰρ καθολικὰ χρόνου διαστήματα, παρῳχηκὼς; ἐδίδαξε σαφῶς ὕτι → ἐδίδαξε σαφῶς ὅτι; ὑπάρχουσ σα, τούςτου δὲ τέλος → ὑπάρχουσα, τούτου δὲ τέλος; ἔτε ὁ Imvas → ἔτι ὁ Ἰωνᾶς; ἵνα δειχθῇ, ὁτι δύναται → ἵνα δειχθῇ ὅτι δύναται; σφόδρα κατὰ σὲ δυνατώτεροι οἱ ἄνθρωποι τοῦ θεωῦ δείκνυνται. καὶ περισσὸν τὸ λέγειν τὸν σωτῆρα TA παρ᾽ ἀνθρώποις ἀδένατα παρὰ τῷ θεῷ δυνατάς. οἱ ἀνθρώποι μὲν γὰρ οἶνον ὕδατι συγκραθέντα χωρίζουσι, τέχνῃ καὶ ἐπιστήμῃ χρώμενοι, καὶ ἀργύριον ἀπὸ χαλκοῦ, καὶ πλείστων ὕσων τὰς διακρίσεις ἴσασι ποιεῖσθαι. ὁ δὲ θεός, ὁ ἀνυπέρβλητος δυνάμει τεχνίτης τε καὶ δημιουργὸς πάντων, ᾧ ὑπὸοτέταχται (πῦρ) ἀήρ, ὕδωρ, γῆ, φόβῳ δουλεύοντα καὶ ἕχαστον τηροῦντα τὸ ἴδιον μέρος, πῶς οὐκ ἂν ἑκάστῳ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἀποδοίη τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα; NXVIIL 24220 μὴν καὶ τὰ γλυκέα ὕδατα ἐπιρρέοντα τῇ θαλάσσῃ, σιγκιρνώμενα καὶ συγκυλινδούμενα πάλιν ὕδατα γλυκέα διὰ τῶν νεφελῶν χεῖται, διαχωριξόμενα ἀπὸ τῶν ἁλμυρῶν. καθὼς καὶ ὁ προPens φησίν» »ὁ προσκαλούμενος τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ἐχχέων ῃ " < ,’ > , < ’ ἐπίστησον δὲ μήποτε καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης »ἔδωοκεν ἢ θάλασσα ν - Ἢ « ’ < τοὺς νεχροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ« λέγων »>XAl ὁ θάνατος καὶ ὁ KONG ἔδωκαν τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖςς τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων ἀναδιδόμενα πρὸς ἀποκατάστασιν ἑκάστου μόρια ἐδήλωσε. τὴν μὲν γὰρ θάλασσαν - « 2 Ὡ x ‘ > ν 2 , εἶναι τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν, ἀδην δὲ τὸν ἀέρα παρὰ τὸ ἀειδές, διὰ τὸ Un ὁοράσθαι, καθάπερ ἐλέχθη καὶ QoryEvet, καὶ θανατον τὴν γῆν παρὰ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ κλίνεσθαι τὰ θνησχοντα, σ9ὲν καὶ χοῦς ἐκλήθη εθανάτους ἐν ψαλμοῖς, κεἰς χοῦν θανάτουςε χκατῆχθαι εἰρηκότος Χοιστοῦ. ὥι Πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἐκ χαθαροῦ ἀέρος κιὼὰ καθαροῦ πυρὸς συνιστάμενον σύγκριμα, καὶ τοῖς ἀγγελικοῖς ὁμοούσιον ὑπάρχον, οὐ ὀύναται γῆς ἔχειν ποιότητα καὶ ὕδατος. ἐπεὶ συμβήσεται ἔσεσθαι αὐτὸ γεῶδες. τοιοῦτον καὶ ἐκ τούτον τὸ ἀναστῆναι μέλλον σῶμα ἀνθρώπου ὁ ᾿ὡριγένης ἐφαντάζετο, 0 καὶ πνευματικὸν ἔφησεν. ΛΟΓῸΣ T. → .

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.25 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:380; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-25). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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2.26Bonwetsch GCS 27:382

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

And when Memianius had spoken, he began again with these words: "Come, Proclus, we have easily dissolved the many-twisted arguments of the heterodox, but not yet what you have said. Come now, let us inquire truthfully whether our body, divided into many things, into fire and air and water (so great a scattering and separation does it undergo), can become the same again when it is put together from them. 'How is it possible, after the warm has departed and mixed with fire, the airy with the element of air, and the earthy with the earth, that it should be separated again from the mixture and become the same real body? For it is not possible for waters that have united to be separated again, and the same is true of fire and air; since all men and all monsters and animals [are mixed] into the same air ...; and what has been mixed in so great a quantity of water and has departed into its own substance, from which it was taken, cannot be without mixture. For suppose someone has taken many images of wax and melted them together with much other wax: when he makes images again, can he make them from that same wax without mixture, whether in substance or in the same likeness? This is never possible. And whoever says that the same body rises says not only that the righteous will share in the substance of sinners, but also in the bodies of animals. For everything is mixed into the same mass of water.'"

Notes and citation

Summary: Memianius restates Proclus's objection that a body dissolved into the elements cannot be separated out again unmixed, like statues melted into one mass of wax.

Book 2, chapter 26. Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic. The opening words are garbled in the Slavonic. The objection restates Proclus in 1.14-1.16.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.26 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:382; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of N. Bonwetsch, 1917, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-26). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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2.27Bonwetsch GCS 27:384

σφόδρα κατὰ σὲ δυνατώτεροι οἱ ἄνθρωποι τοῦ θεοῦ δείκνυνται. καὶ περισσὸν τὸ λέγειν τὸν σωτῆρα »τὰ παρ᾽ ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατα παρὰ τῷ θεῷ δυνατά«. οἱ ἄνθρωποι μὲν γὰρ οἶνον ὕδατι συγκραθέντα χωρίζουσι, τέχνῃ καὶ ἐπιστήμῃ χρώμενοι, καὶ ἀργύριον ἀπὸ χαλκοῦ, καὶ πλείστων ὅσων τὰς διακρίσεις ἴσασι ποιεῖσθαι. ὁ δὲ θεός, ὁ ἀνυπέρβλητος δυνάμει τεχνίτης τε καὶ δημιουργὸς πάντων, ᾧ ὑποτέταχται ⟨πῦρ⟩, ἀήρ, ὕδωρ, γῆ, φόβῳ δουλεύοντα καὶ ἕκαστον τηροῦντα τὸ ἴδιον μέρος, πῶς οὐκ ἂν ἑκάστῳ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ἀποδοίη τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα; … Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὰ γλυκέα ὕδατα ἐπιρρέοντα τῇ θαλάσσῃ, συγκιρνώμενα καὶ συγκυλινδούμενα πάλιν ὕδατα γλυκέα διὰ τῶν νεφελῶν χεῖται, διαχωριζόμενα ἀπὸ τῶν ἁλμυρῶν. καθὼς καὶ ὁ προφήτης φησίν »ὁ προσκαλούμενος τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ἐκχέων αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς«. … ἐπίστησον δὲ μήποτε καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης »ἔδωκεν ἡ θάλασσα τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ« λέγων »καὶ ὁ θάνατος καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἔδωκαν τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς« τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν στοιχείων ἀναδιδόμενα πρὸς ἀποκατάστασιν ἑκάστου μόρια ἐδήλωσε. τὴν μὲν γὰρ θάλασσαν εἶναι τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν, ᾅδην δὲ τὸν ἀέρα παρὰ τὸ ἀειδές, διὰ τὸ μὴ ὁρᾶσθαι, καθάπερ ἐλέχθη καὶ Ὠριγένει, καὶ θάνατον τὴν γῆν παρὰ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ κλίνεσθαι τὰ θνήσκοντα, ὅθεν καὶ χοῦς ἐκλήθη »θανάτου« ἐν ψαλμοῖς, »εἰς χοῦν θανάτου« κατῆχθαι εἰρηκότος Χριστοῦ. … Πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἐκ καθαροῦ ἀέρος καὶ καθαροῦ πυρὸς συνιστάμενον σύγκριμα, καὶ τοῖς ἀγγελικοῖς ὁμοούσιον ὑπάρχον, οὐ δύναται γῆς ἔχειν ποιότητα καὶ ὕδατος, ἐπεὶ συμβήσεται ἔσεσθαι αὐτὸ γεῶδες. τοιοῦτον καὶ ἐκ τούτων τὸ ἀναστῆναι μέλλον σῶμα ἀνθρώπου ὁ Ὠριγένης ἐφαντάζετο, ὃ καὶ πνευματικὸν ἔφησεν.

sphodra kata se dynatōteroi hoi anthrōpoi tou theou deiknyntai. kai perisson to legein ton sōtēra »ta par᾽ anthrōpois adynata para tǭ theǭ dynata«. hoi anthrōpoi men gar oinon hydati synkrathenta chōrizousi, technę̄ kai epistēmę̄ chrōmenoi, kai argyrion apo chalkou, kai pleistōn hosōn tas diakriseis isasi poieisthai. ho de theos, ho anyperblētos dynamei technitēs te kai dēmiourgos pantōn, hǭ hypotetachtai ⟨pyr⟩, aēr, hydōr, gē, phobǭ douleuonta kai hekaston tērounta to idion meros, pōs ouk an hekastǭ en tę̄ anastasei apodoiē to idion sōma? … Alla mēn kai ta glykea hydata epirreonta tę̄ thalassę̄, synkirnōmena kai synkylindoumena palin hydata glykea dia tōn nephelōn cheitai, diachōrizomena apo tōn halmyrōn. kathōs kai ho prophētēs phēsin »ho proskaloumenos to hydōr tēs thalassēs kai ekcheōn auto epi prosōpon tēs gēs«. … epistēson de mēpote kai ho makarios Iōannēs »edōken hē thalassa tous nekrous tous en autę̄« legōn »kai ho thanatos kai ho hądēs edōkan tous nekrous tous en autois« ta apo tōn stoicheiōn anadidomena pros apokatastasin hekastou moria edēlōse. tēn men gar thalassan einai tēn hygran ousian, hądēn de ton aera para to aeides, dia to mē horasthai, kathaper elechthē kai Ōrigenei, kai thanaton tēn gēn para to en autę̄ klinesthai ta thnēskonta, hothen kai chous eklēthē »thanatou« en psalmois, »eis choun thanatou« katēchthai eirēkotos Christou. … Pan gar to ek katharou aeros kai katharou pyros synistamenon synkrima, kai tois angelikois homoousion hyparchon, ou dynatai gēs echein poiotēta kai hydatos, epei symbēsetai esesthai auto geōdes. toiouton kai ek toutōn to anastēnai mellon sōma anthrōpou ho Ōrigenēs ephantazeto, ho kai pneumatikon ephēsen.

(a) "... According to you, men are shown to be very much more powerful than God, and it is superfluous for the Saviour to say, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.' For men, using art and knowledge, separate wine mixed with water, and silver from bronze, and know how to make the separation of very many things. But God, the craftsman unsurpassed in power and the maker of all things, to whom fire, air, water and earth are subject, serving in fear and each keeping its own part: how would he not give back to each his own body in the resurrection?"

(b) [28] "Moreover, the sweet waters that flow into the sea, mingled and rolled together with it, are poured out again as sweet waters through the clouds, separated from the salt. As the prophet too says, 'He who calls the water of the sea and pours it out on the face of the earth.' ... And consider whether blessed John too, in saying, 'The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them,' did not mean the portions given back by the elements for the restoration of each. For the sea is the moist substance; Hades is the air, from 'unseen' (aeides), because it is not seen, as Origen too said; and death is the earth, because the dying are laid in it; that is why it was called 'the dust of death' in the Psalms, Christ saying that he had been brought down 'into the dust of death.'"

(c) "... For every compound made of pure air and pure fire, being of the same essence as the angelic beings, cannot have the quality of earth and water; otherwise it would turn out earthy. Such, and made of such things, was the body that Origen imagined would rise, which he also called spiritual."

[Slavonic version, translated from N. Bonwetsch's German:] "This, then, is what you say, Proclus; and understanding it, I take it up again and again, so that nothing of it may escape us. Come, let us look at it again. According to the true state of things there are three kinds of liquid: water, oil and molten things. Let everything watery belong to water, and again let everything fatty be oily, and molten things be such as lead and bronze and the rest. And it is possible to separate after mixing not only these, but many other things too ... The purple-dyers in their art, when, as they dye silk, the blood of the purple-fish somehow mixes with water, separate the water from the blood of the purple-fish with sponges by their art. It is also recorded that in Tiberias, a city of Judea, there is a spring which brings forth five kinds of water without confusion, so that whoever wants to draw pure water takes it from the middle; on one side it is sweet as honey, on the other bitter. God gives this as a sign, so that we may believe that our watery element too cannot be found mixed with another in the resurrection. For see how one spring makes various waters flow forth for you, and that without mixture.

[28] "... 'on the face of the earth.' For the rains do not come down from the waters above the firmament; they would often flood the earth, since the sea could not hold the quantity of water coming down. One of the holy initiates sings: 'All the rivers go into the sea, and the sea is not filled; to the place where the rivers go, from there they return' to their places; and the waters of the rivers rise again from the sea as rain at God's command. Great too is this knowledge, that the sweet waters are separated from the salt, after the union that takes place in the water, that is, in the salt water. For while the more watery part is seized by the heat of the sun and lifted into the air, all that is salty remains behind."

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Matt 19:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Amos 5:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 20:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 22:15 (21:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Eccl 1:7 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Fragments: God, who is more powerful than men who can separate mixtures, will give back each person's own body; the sea, Hades and death of Revelation 20:13 are the elements returning their portions; Origen imagined a risen body of pure air and fire.

Only excerpts of this chapter survive in Greek (shown in the original column and translated first). The whole chapter survives in the Old Slavonic version; it follows in brackets, translated from Bonwetsch's German (GCS 27, 1917), and so overlaps the Greek excerpts.
Greek fragments of Book 2, chapters 27, 28 and 30, removed from staged 2.25. ANF 6 synopsis 9-10 translates (b) and (c) from Photius.
Matt 19:26 (Luke 18:27); Amos 5:8 (9:6); Rev 20:13; Ps 22:15 (LXX 21:16).
Book 2, chapter 27, with the beginning of chapter 28 (heading lost; it begins at "[28]", where the Greek of the edition resumes: its first words, 'He who calls the water of the sea and pours it out on the face of the earth,' Amos 5:8, are partly lost). Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic.
Amos 5:8 (9:6); Eccl 1:7. The spring at Tiberias is otherwise unattested in this form.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR debris of the accent line removed; OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); OCR debris of the accent line removed; OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); OCR debris of the accent line removed; Greek words lost in the extraction supplied from the page; German passage omitted; OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); editor's supplement brackets restored; OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page); fragments joined; fragments joined; chapter numeral and line number removed; OCR misreadings (checked against a second OCR of the page)): θεωῦ → θεοῦ; TA παρ᾽ ἀνθρώποις ἀδένατα παρὰ τῷ θεῷ δυνατάς. → »τὰ παρ᾽ ἀνθρώποις ἀδύνατα παρὰ τῷ θεῷ δυνατά«.; οἱ ἀνθρώποι μὲν → οἱ ἄνθρωποι μὲν; ὕσων → ὅσων; ὑπὸοτέταχται (πῦρ) ἀήρ → ὑποτέταχται ⟨πῦρ⟩, ἀήρ; ἕχαστον → ἕκαστον; σῶμα; NXVIIL 24220 μὴν → σῶμα; … Ἀλλὰ μὴν; σιγκιρνώμενα → συγκιρνώμενα; διαχωριξόμενα → διαχωριζόμενα; ὁ προPens φησίν» → ὁ προφήτης φησίν; καὶ ἐχχέων ῃ " < ,’ > , < ’ ἐπίστησον → καὶ ἐκχέων αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον τῆς γῆς«. … ἐπίστησον; ἔδωοκεν ἢ θάλασσα ν - Ἢ « ’ < τοὺς νεχροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ« → ἔδωκεν ἡ θάλασσα τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ«; »>XAl ὁ θάνατος καὶ ὁ KONG ἔδωκαν τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖςς → »καὶ ὁ θάνατος καὶ ὁ ᾅδης ἔδωκαν τοὺς νεκροὺς τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς«; γὰρ θάλασσαν - « 2 Ὡ x ‘ > ν 2 , εἶναι τὴν ὑγρὰν → γὰρ θάλασσαν εἶναι τὴν ὑγρὰν; ἀδην δὲ → ᾅδην δὲ; διὰ τὸ Un ὁοράσθαι → διὰ τὸ μὴ ὁρᾶσθαι; καὶ QoryEvet, καὶ θανατον → καὶ Ὠριγένει, καὶ θάνατον; τὰ θνησχοντα, σ9ὲν καὶ χοῦς ἐκλήθη εθανάτους ἐν ψαλμοῖς, κεἰς χοῦν θανάτουςε χκατῆχθαι εἰρηκότος Χοιστοῦ. ὥι Πᾶν γὰρ → τὰ θνήσκοντα, ὅθεν καὶ χοῦς ἐκλήθη »θανάτου« ἐν ψαλμοῖς, »εἰς χοῦν θανάτου« κατῆχθαι εἰρηκότος Χριστοῦ. … Πᾶν γὰρ; ἐκ χαθαροῦ → ἐκ καθαροῦ; κιὼὰ καθαροῦ → καὶ καθαροῦ; οὐ ὀύναται → οὐ δύναται; ὕδατος. ἐπεὶ → ὕδατος, ἐπεὶ; ἐκ τούτον → ἐκ τούτων; ὁ ᾿ὡριγένης ἐφαντάζετο, 0 καὶ → ὁ Ὠριγένης ἐφαντάζετο, ὃ καὶ.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.27 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:384; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-27). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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2.29Bonwetsch GCS 27:386

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

"What more is needed? It has been shown that waters can be separated from waters after mixing, those of one kind from those of another. We do not prove it by asserting that it is impossible or unheard of, since this visible world bears us witness. But they, like the blind, have neither looked at this in the visible world nor seen that the All-good, before whom 'the whole world is like a drop of dew,' has unwearied power, and they thought that what is impossible and unreasonable for them is likewise impossible and unreasonable for God. That is why one clothes the soul with an airy body formed after another likeness, while another makes the same form rise again, but in another body, of light and without flesh, neither wishing to seek nor fearing him who is the author of all being."

Notes and citation

Summary: Since even visible nature shows that mixed waters can be separated, those who deny bodily resurrection measure God's power by their own and invent airy or luminous bodies instead.

Book 2, chapter 29. Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic. Wis 11:22. The 'airy' and 'luminous' bodies refer to views of the soul's vehicle current among Platonists and attributed to Origen's followers.

Extrabiblical texts: Wis 11:22 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.29 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:386; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of N. Bonwetsch, 1917, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-29). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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2.30Bonwetsch GCS 27:386

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

"The Greeks, who philosophized not for the sake of truth but rather for glory, have lost the true philosophy. For some of them, who thought that the principles of the universe are indivisible (atoms), like a heap of sand, according to the proposition that infinite monads are separated in an infinite void, became sluggish as though without understanding. For how can what is reckoned by years that have passed still be held infinite? The infinite cannot extend and pass through successive intervals. But the nature of man is comprehended not only by the intervals of the year but also by knowledge. For if the substance of knowledge entered all bodies to unite what was separated, embracing all the monads, not only infinite ones, giving them for the completion and adornment of each form ... But if, as they would have it, our bodies had come into being bound together from atoms or primary bodies or indivisibles or homoeomeries, and had fallen apart into them again, the resurrection would have no difficulty at all, since God, who with his exceedingly great wisdom holds together all things, even the invisible and elementless substances of the world-system, is able to give each its own form for the completion of the same body. In accordance with the truth, one will also blame those who think that the elements, being unlike themselves, are changed, as when fire, corrupted, changes into air, earthy air becomes water, earthy water becomes earth, rarefied earth becomes water, and rarefied water changes into air, so that the very same thing comes into being and passes away rarefied. If there were one substance and element for all of these, remaining after the change while each goes both to being and to not-being, and if the universe were built by chance without providence, it would be right to say that each passes without quality into what is opposite to it in power. But if fire and water, air and earth are unmixed, and are the first bodies from which God put together and made all things, each of them according to its own substance and being, how is it fitting to say that earth becomes water and fire and takes on the form of air and fire, changing at times unsuitably into other substances? For the change would have to take place for lack of this or that element, as though God did not have enough of the substance before him for the components of what comes into being, but were compelled to transform the powers of the richer elements to fill out the meagre ones, if at some time he took thought to gain this for the preservation and maintenance of the world ... But how utterly far this is from the truth is clear to all. Let no one lead us astray with fine and artful words, wishing to make a lie true. But there is no need now to continue the discussion on their account. The decision we have reached about the substance of water is enough, if you, Proclus, accept what has been said as sufficient."

Notes and citation

Summary: The speaker rejects the atomists and those who hold that the elements change into one another, arguing that God, who holds all things together, can give each body its own form again.

Book 2, chapter 30. Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic; the Slavonic is defective at the points marked '...'. The last sentence of the chapter survives in Greek (it was staged inside ref 2.25; see the report). The staged German continues past the end of Book 2 into Book 3, chapter 1 and the first words of chapter 2; that part belongs to other units and is not translated here (chapter 1 is supplied separately, and chapter 2 is staged as 3.2).
The cycle of the elements is that of Plato, Tim. 49b-c; atoms and homoeomeries are the principles of Democritus and Anaxagoras.

Extrabiblical texts: Plato, Tim. 49b (Plato (works); allusion)

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 2.30 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:386; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of N. Bonwetsch, 1917, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-2-30). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 3

3.1Bonwetsch GCS 27:386

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

"Exceedingly so," I took up the word, "and I myself am persuaded that the body of each of us, when it rises, will be put together as it was before. For since it has been shown that even now water can be separated from water after mixing, I do not wonder that the body of each of us too will be put together without mixture from the same components." He acknowledged that this was acceptable enough. "Consider now what the prophets say about the resurrection. For what else did Daniel want to make known than the matter before us? 'And many,' he says, 'of those who sleep will rise from the dust of the earth, some to eternal life, others to eternal shame,' and so on. What else did David want to make known than the resurrection, when he cried, 'Leading out the prisoners with strength, those who dwell in tombs'? And immediately after, to show who 'those in the tombs' are, he adds: 'Command, O God, your strength, and strengthen what you have wrought in us.' What else does this show than the dead rising from the tombs? And in the second book of Maccabees it is said that a certain good man, summoned by Nicanor to eat what was unclean, 'threw himself down' because of the great cruelty of the torturer, and when he had 'risen' and saw his 'entrails' come out, threw them away, calling upon ..."

Dan 12:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 68:6 (67:7 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 68:28 (67:29 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: At the beginning of Book 3 the narrator, satisfied that mixed elements can be separated, turns to the prophets' witness to the resurrection: Daniel, the Psalms and 2 Maccabees.

Book 3, chapter 1. Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic; the phrase 'He acknowledged that this was acceptable enough' is uncertain in the edition; the chapter breaks off at the end.
Dan 12:2; Ps 68:6 (LXX 67:7, 'those who dwell in tombs'); Ps 68:28 (LXX 67:29); 2 Macc 14:37-46 (Razis).

Extrabiblical texts: 2 Macc 14:37-46 (2 Maccabees [in RC, EO canons]; allusion)

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 3.1 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:386; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of N. Bonwetsch, 1917, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-3-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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3.2Bonwetsch GCS 27:390

Βούλεται τοίνυν ὁ Ὠριγένης τὴν μὲν αὐτὴν σάρκα μὴ ἀποκαθίστασθαι τῇ ψυχῇ, τὴν δὲ ποιὰν ἑκάστου μορφήν, κατὰ τὸ εἶδος τὸ τὴν σάρκα καὶ νῦν χαρακτηρίζον, ἐν ἑτέρῳ πνευματικῷ ἐντετυπωμένην ἀναστήσεσθαι σώματι, ἵνα ἕκαστος πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς φανῇ κατὰ τὴν μορφήν. καὶ τοῦτο εἶναι τὴν ἐπαγγελλομένην ἀνάστασιν. Ῥευστοῦ γάρ, φησίν, ὑπάρχοντος τοῦ ὑλικοῦ σώματος καὶ μηδέποτε μένοντος ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλὰ ἀπογινομένου καὶ ἐπιγινομένου περὶ τὸ εἶδος τὸ χαρακτηρίζον τὴν μορφήν. ὑφ᾽ οὗ καὶ συγκρατεῖται τὸ σχῆμα, ἀνάγκη δὴ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ἐπὶ μόνου εἴδους ἔσεσθαι. Χρὴ δὲ πάντα τὸν φιλαλήθη περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀγωνίσασθαι, σῷσαί τε καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀρχαίων παράδοσιν, καὶ φυλάξασθαι μὴ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς φλυαρίαν πτωχῶν νοημάτων, ἀδυνάτων τε ἅμα καὶ θεοῦ ἀναξίων. τοῦτο οὖν εἰς τὸν τύπον διαληπτέον, ὅτι πᾶν σῶμα ὑπὸ φύσεως συνεχόμενον, τῆς καταταττούσης ἔξωθέν τινα δίκην τροφῆς εἰς αὐτό, καὶ ἀποκρινούσης ἀντὶ τῶν ἐπεισαγομένων ἕτερα. ὥσπερ τὰ τῶν φυτῶν καὶ τῶν ζῴων, τὸ ὑλικὸν ὑποκείμενον οὐδέποτε ἔχει ταὐτόν. διόπερ οὐ κακῶς ποταμὸς ὠνομάσται τὸ σῶμα, διότι ὡς πρὸς τὸ ἀκριβὲς τάχα οὐδὲ δύο ἡμερῶν τὸ πρῶτον ὑποκείμενον ταὐτόν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ σώματι ἡμῶν, καίτοιγε τοῦ οἱονεὶ Παύλου ἢ Πέτρου ἀεὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ὄντος (οὐ τοῦ κατὰ ψυχὴν μόνον, ἧς ἡ οὐσία οὔτε ῥεῖ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὔτ᾽ ἐπεισαγόμενόν τι ἔχει ποτέ), κἂν ῥευστὴ ᾖ ἡ φύσις τοῦ σώματος, τῷ τὸ εἶδος τὸ χαρακτηρίζον τὸ σῶμα ταὐτὸν εἶναι, ὡς καὶ τοὺς τύπους μένειν τοὺς αὐτοὺς τοὺς τὴν ποιότητα Πέτρου καὶ Παύλου τὴν σωματικὴν παριστάνοντας, καθ᾽ ἣν ποιότητα καὶ οὐλαὶ ἐκ παίδων παραμένουσι τοῖς σώμασι καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ ἰδιώματα (ἐν τῷ σώματι), φακοὶ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις εἴ τί ἐστιν ὅμοιον. τοῦτο τὸ εἶδος, καθ᾽ ὃ εἰδοποιεῖται ὁ Πέτρος καὶ ὁ Παῦλος, τὸ σωματικόν, ὃ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει περιτίθεται πάλιν τῇ ψυχῇ, ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβάλλον, οὐ πάντως δὲ τόδε τὸ ἐκτεταγμένον τὸ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ὑποκείμενον. ὥσπερ δὲ ταὐτὸν εἶδος ἐστὶν ἐκ βρέφους μέχρι τοῦ πρεσβύτου, κἂν οἱ χαρακτῆρες δοκῶσι πολλὴν ἔχειν παραλλαγήν, οὕτως νοητέον καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος εἶδος ταὐτὸν εἶναι τῷ μέλλοντι, πλείστης ὅσης ἐσομένης τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ κάλλιον μεταβολῆς. ἀναγκαῖον γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐν τόποις σωματικοῖς ὑπάρχουσαν κεχρῆσθαι σώμασι καταλλήλοις τοῖς τόποις. καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν θαλάσσῃ ζῆν ἡμᾶς ἐνύδρους γενομένους εἰ ἐχρῆν, πάντως ἂν ἡμᾶς ἔδει βράγχια ἔχειν καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἰχθύων κατάστασιν, οὕτως μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν καὶ ἐν τόποις διαφόροις ἔσεσθαι, ἀναγκαῖον χρῆσθαι σώμασι πνευματικοῖς, οὐχὶ τοῦ εἴδους τοῦ προτέρου ἀφανιζομένου, κἂν ἐπὶ τὸ ἐνδοξότερον γένηται (αὐτοῦ ἡ τροπή, ὥσπερ ἦν τὸ Ἰησοῦ εἶδος καὶ Μωυσέως καὶ Ἠλίου, οὐχ ἕτερον ἐν τῇ μεταμορφώσει παρ᾽ ὃ ἦν.

Bouletai toinyn ho Ōrigenēs tēn men autēn sarka mē apokathistasthai tę̄ psychę̄, tēn de poian hekastou morphēn, kata to eidos to tēn sarka kai nyn charaktērizon, en heterǭ pneumatikǭ entetypōmenēn anastēsesthai sōmati, hina hekastos palin ho autos phanę̄ kata tēn morphēn. kai touto einai tēn epangellomenēn anastasin. Rheustou gar, phēsin, hyparchontos tou hylikou sōmatos kai mēdepote menontos eph᾽ heautǭ, alla apoginomenou kai epiginomenou peri to eidos to charaktērizon tēn morphēn. hyph᾽ hou kai synkrateitai to schēma, anankē dē tēn anastasin epi monou eidous esesthai. Chrē de panta ton philalēthē peri tēs anastaseōs agōnisasthai, sǭsai te kai tēn tōn archaiōn paradosin, kai phylaxasthai mē empesein eis phlyarian ptōchōn noēmatōn, adynatōn te hama kai theou anaxiōn. touto oun eis ton typon dialēpteon, hoti pan sōma hypo physeōs synechomenon, tēs katatattousēs exōthen tina dikēn trophēs eis auto, kai apokrinousēs anti tōn epeisagomenōn hetera. hōsper ta tōn phytōn kai tōn zǭōn, to hylikon hypokeimenon oudepote echei tauton. dioper ou kakōs potamos ōnomastai to sōma, dioti hōs pros to akribes tacha oude dyo hēmerōn to prōton hypokeimenon tauton estin en tǭ sōmati hēmōn, kaitoige tou hoionei Paulou ē Petrou aei tou autou ontos (ou tou kata psychēn monon, hēs hē ousia oute rhei kath' hēmas out᾽ epeisagomenon ti echei pote), kan rheustē ę̄ hē physis tou sōmatos, tǭ to eidos to charaktērizon to sōma tauton einai, hōs kai tous typous menein tous autous tous tēn poiotēta Petrou kai Paulou tēn sōmatikēn paristanontas, kath᾽ hēn poiotēta kai oulai ek paidōn paramenousi tois sōmasi kai alla tina idiōmata (en tǭ sōmati), phakoi kai epi toutois ei ti estin homoion. touto to eidos, kath᾽ ho eidopoieitai ho Petros kai ho Paulos, to sōmatikon, ho en tę̄ anastasei peritithetai palin tę̄ psychę̄, epi to kreitton metaballon, ou pantōs de tode to ektetagmenon to kata tēn prōtēn hypokeimenon. hōsper de tauton eidos estin ek brephous mechri tou presbytou, kan hoi charaktēres dokōsi pollēn echein parallagēn, houtōs noēteon kai to epi tou parontos eidos tauton einai tǭ mellonti, pleistēs hosēs esomenēs tēs epi to kallion metabolēs. anankaion gar tēn psychēn en topois sōmatikois hyparchousan kechrēsthai sōmasi katallēlois tois topois. kai hōsper en thalassę̄ zēn hēmas enydrous genomenous ei echrēn, pantōs an hēmas edei branchia echein kai tēn allēn ichthyōn katastasin, houtōs mellontas klēronomein basileian ouranōn kai en topois diaphorois esesthai, anankaion chrēsthai sōmasi pneumatikois, ouchi tou eidous tou proterou aphanizomenou, kan epi to endoxoteron genētai (autou hē tropē, hōsper ēn to Iēsou eidos kai Mōyseōs kai Ēliou, ouch heteron en tę̄ metamorphōsei par᾽ ho ēn.

"So Origen holds that the same flesh is not restored to the soul, but that the particular form of each, after the form that characterizes the flesh even now, will rise imprinted on another, spiritual body, so that each may appear again the same in form; and that this is the promised resurrection. 'For since the material body,' he says, 'is in flux and never remains in itself, but is taken away and added to around the form that characterizes the shape, by which the figure too is held together, the resurrection must necessarily be of the form alone.' ...

"But every lover of truth must contend for the resurrection, preserving the tradition of the ancients and at the same time taking care not to fall into the nonsense of beggarly notions, which are both impossible and unworthy of God. This, then, must be understood on this point: every body, being held together by a nature that brings certain things into it from outside by way of food and excretes others in place of those brought in (as the bodies of plants and animals do), never has the same material substrate. That is why the body has not been badly called a river. For, strictly speaking, the first substrate in our body is perhaps not the same for even two days, although Paul or Peter, so to speak, is always the same (not only in respect of the soul, whose substance on our view neither flows nor ever has anything brought into it), even though the nature of the body is in flux. For the form that characterizes the body is the same, so that the same features remain that present the bodily quality of Peter and Paul; and according to this quality scars from childhood remain on bodies, and certain other peculiarities in the body, moles, and anything else of the kind. This form, by which Peter and Paul are formed, the bodily form, is what is put around the soul again in the resurrection, changed for the better; but by no means this particular substrate that was laid out at first. Just as the form is the same from infancy to old age, even though the features seem to undergo much alteration, so one must understand that the form of the present body is the same as that of the future one, though there will be a very great change for the better. For a soul that exists in bodily places must use bodies suited to those places. And just as, if we had to live in the sea as water creatures, we would certainly need gills and the rest of the make-up of fish, so, since we are to inherit the kingdom of heaven and to be in places that are different, we must use spiritual bodies; not that the former form disappears, even if its change is to something more glorious, just as the form of Jesus, and of Moses and Elijah, was not other in the transfiguration than it had been."

[Slavonic version, translated from N. Bonwetsch's German:] "... 'him who can destroy soul and body in fire.' So here he is not speaking of that spiritual body; Christ answered that those killed by men are to receive punishment with the soul. And it must be recognized that the body cannot be destroyed by men. So it is not by having another body instead of this one, Origen, that the one who has sinned is thrown into the lake of fire. But if not another, then rather the one with which we are clothed outwardly, so that Christ too appears so; the resurrection of the dead will take place in the whole body ... that 'gnashing of teeth' is spoken of. But if they object again, saying, 'But the story of the rich man and Lazarus: how is the soul said, after its separation from the flesh, to have a tongue and teeth and fingers, unless there is another body finer than this one?', we must answer: even if the soul had another fine body, inseparable from it even after it departed from this life, this would contain no contradiction to the regeneration, since Christ said that only this dying body rises. But the body of which you speak cannot be killed by men. We would also have set out their supposed replies, if there were time; for it is no trouble to refute this unreason too. And first, if that body goes through the whole body, so that the soul is a substantial power, the soul cannot move together two bodies which have opposite motions. For the one is heavy and the other light, the sensible one heavy and the fine one light; and the heavy inclines downward, the light upward. So the two opposite motions cannot move the one substance."

Matt 17:2 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:44 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 10:28 (quotation, high confidence) · Rev 20:15 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 8:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · Luke 16:24 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The narrator states Origen's view that only the bodily form, not the flesh, rises in a spiritual body, and quotes Origen's own words again.

Only excerpts of this chapter survive in Greek (shown in the original column and translated first). The whole chapter survives in the Old Slavonic version; it follows in brackets, translated from Bonwetsch's German (GCS 27, 1917), and so overlaps the Greek excerpts.
This Greek (Bonwetsch page 390) belongs to Book 3, chapter 2 rather than chapter 1: chapter 1 survives only in German (staged at the end of ref 2.30; supplied separately, see the report), and the German of chapter 2 is staged as 3.2. A block of the edition's apparatus that had leaked into the text is removed by a logged correction.
The second paragraph is the same passage of Origen (preserved by Photius and Epiphanius) that is quoted in Book 1, chapter 22 (staged as '1.16'); it is printed again here as the starting point of the refutation in Book 3. Matt 17:2-3; 1 Cor 15:44.
Book 3, chapter 2. Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic; the Slavonic is defective at the points marked '...'. The first words of the chapter were staged at the end of ref 2.30.
Matt 10:28; Rev 20:14-15; Matt 8:12; Luke 16:19-31.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR misreading; OCR misreadings; OCR: 0 for ὃ; OCR: accent; OCR: stray letters (leaked line number); OCR: stray mark; OCR: stray marks and a leaked line number; OCR: ε for ι; OCR: κ for χ; OCR: χ for κ; OCR: χ for κ; stray bracket; a German phrase and the edition's apparatus that had leaked into the text removed (with the following correction); the first word of the quotation restored; leaked apparatus of the edition removed): ὧι τὸ Βούλεται τοίνυν ὁ ᾿ὡριγένης τὴν μὲν αὐτὴν σάρκα μὴ ἀποκαθί- 4 στασθαι τῇ ψυχῇ" .. → Βούλεται τοίνυν ὁ Ὠριγένης τὴν μὲν αὐτὴν σάρκα μὴ ἀποκαθίστασθαι τῇ ψυχῇ,; κατὰ τὸ εἶδος τὸ τὴν σάρχα → κατὰ τὸ εἶδος τὸ τὴν σάρκα; ἀνύγκη δὴ → ἀνάγκη δὴ; εἴδους ἔσεσθαι. Denn wie in 1—9 Ph, → εἴδους ἔσεσθαι. Χρὴ; εἰς φλυαρίαν πτωχῶν νοημάτων; ἀδυνάτον τε ἅμα → εἰς φλυαρίαν πτωχῶν νοημάτων, ἀδυνάτων τε ἅμα; τοῦτο οὐ» εἰς τὸν τόπον → τοῦτο οὖν εἰς τὸν τύπον; ἀπεχκρινούσης → ἀποκρινούσης; διότι OS πρὸς τὸ ἀχριβὲς → διότι ὡς πρὸς τὸ ἀκριβὲς; Παύλου ἢ) Πέτρου → Παύλου ἢ Πέτρου; κατὰ φυχὴν μόνον ἧς ἢ οὐσία ο᾽ τε ῥεῖ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὐτ᾽ ἐπεισαγόμενόν τι ἔχει ποτῶ, κἂν ῥευστὴ ἡ ἢ φύσις → κατὰ ψυχὴν μόνον, ἧς ἡ οὐσία οὔτε ῥεῖ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὔτ᾽ ἐπεισαγόμενόν τι ἔχει ποτέ), κἂν ῥευστὴ ᾖ ἡ φύσις; τοῦ σώματος) τῷ τὸ εἶδος τὸ χαραχτηρίζον → τοῦ σώματος, τῷ τὸ εἶδος τὸ χαρακτηρίζον; ταὐτὸν εἶναι, ος καὶ → ταὐτὸν εἶναι, ὡς καὶ; καὶ οι οὐλαὶ ἐκ παίδων → καὶ οὐλαὶ ἐκ παίδων; (ἐν τῷ σώματιν, → (ἐν τῷ σώματι),; καθ᾽ ὁ εἰδοποιεῖται → καθ᾽ ὃ εἰδοποιεῖται; τὸ σωματικόν, 0 ἐν τῇ → τὸ σωματικόν, ὃ ἐν τῇ; ἐχτεταγμένον τὸ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ὑποχείμενον → ἐκτεταγμένον τὸ κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ὑποκείμενον; μέχρε τοῦ πρεσβύτου → μέχρι τοῦ πρεσβύτου; ἀγαγχαῖον γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐν τύποις σωματιχοῖς → ἀναγκαῖον γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐν τόποις σωματικοῖς; βασιλείων οὐρανῶν → βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν; τοῦ προτέρον ἀφανεζομέγου. κιὼν ἐπὶ → τοῦ προτέρου ἀφανιζομένου, κἂν ἐπὶ; καὰ Μωυσέως καὶ Πλίου, οὐχ ἕτερον ἐν τῇ μεταμωσφώσει παρ᾽ ὁ ἦν. → καὶ Μωυσέως καὶ Ἠλίου, οὐχ ἕτερον ἐν τῇ μεταμορφώσει παρ᾽ ὃ ἦν.; einleitend ὅτε φησὶν ἐξελέγχων τὸν Ὡριγένην 1 τὴν μὲν --- χαφαίνεσθαι las schwerl. 5 nach ὁ αὐτὸς las schwerl. ὧν 8 5 εἶναι τ. ἐπ. ἀνθοώπον σῶμα οὐκ ἐκ παίδων μέχρι γήρως TO αὐτὸ παραμένει, ῥευστῆς οὐσίας ὑπάρχον. Z. 13 ῥευστῆς οὐσίας ὃν τὸ σῶμα ὑπεχρεῖ, ἐκ τῆς τροφῆς . ἕτερον) γινόμενον καὶ ὑλ. ὑπάρχ. (od, ὄντος) jetzt S ὑπάρχοντος] ὄντος De res. I, 25, 8 τοῦ σώμι. TOT ὑλικοῦ 1, 25,3 6f μηδ. μένοντος .. ἀπογινομένου .. ἐπιγιν. βραχὺ + 1, 25,3 ἀλλὰ] καὶ 8, hat aber ἀλλὰ vor περὶ προσγιν. καὶ ἀπογιν. I, 25, 8 8 τὴν μορφήν: τὸν ἄνθρωπον I, 25, 3 τὸ σχῆμα < 8 ςι → ; τὴν τῶν ἀρκαίων παράδοσιν → τὴν τῶν ἀρχαίων παράδοσιν.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 3.2 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:390; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-3-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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3.3Bonwetsch GCS 27:390

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

"But leaving this here, let us examine Origen's other statements about the resurrection. For it is good not to follow those who force us to bend the understanding of Scripture into self-contradiction. 'Even if an angel preaches a gospel to us' other than the one we received, we will not listen to it. I have not entered this discussion out of envy of the man, nor wishing to persuade or convict him artfully (for that would rather be a matter of ambition), but to set forth the truth with a sound mind, so that many may not be offended, and not wishing to show myself off; the Son of God is my witness to this. So, in order that we may now answer the words Origen spoke against the resurrection, let those who do not believe us go to the commentary on the Psalms that he composed, so that they may learn his explanation of the resurrection too. [Origen says:] '... as in a skin bored at the front the water cannot remain in the same shape even for a short moment, but some flows out and some flows in, while the skin enclosing it remains outside; so too,' he says, 'with sensible bodies: through the flow of food, like water, others come in while the first flow out, and so they cannot remain in the same shape even for a short time. These pass away and change, but the form remains according to which the bodies are formed.' If, then, the flesh flows, Origen, but the form remains, have you not taken on a worse folly? How does the form remain through the ages of life? For we see one form in children, another in youths and another in the old. In place of the child's body, the youth's becomes firm and taut, and in place of the handsome one the old becomes feeble. It would be better, then, to say that the flesh that comes in remains from childhood to old age, rather than the form."

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Gal 1:8 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The narrator turns to refute Origen's own account of the resurrection, beginning with his image of the waterskin, and objects that the bodily form changes with age more than the flesh does.

Book 3, chapter 3. Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic. The staged German also contains lines of the edition's apparatus and the Greek variant notes, which are not translated; part of Origen's illustration (cf. 1.25, the waterskin) is lost at the gap after 'the resurrection too'.
Gal 1:8. Origen's commentary on the Psalms (on Ps 1:5) is the source quoted in Book 1, chapters 20-24.

Topics: Eschatology, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 3.3 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:390; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of N. Bonwetsch, 1917, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-3-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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3.4Bonwetsch GCS 27:392

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

"But I will set out his own words. For he says: ... But if it is only like that first body, and not that first body itself, how will it be worthwhile any longer to hope for the resurrection? If some bronze-smith destroys an image made of bronze and plans to set another of gold in place of the destroyed one, like the first, one will say that it is like the first, but not that it is that image, the first one, itself renewed. So if a spiritual body rises in place of this one, then, according to this argument, neither the form rises nor the material, but another body like it, not the one that died. For qualities arise from bodies, not bodies from qualities. For wax that is remoulded, when it has been melted down, shows after the remoulding the shapes into which one wishes to remake it by art, different from its former shape."

Textual problem in this passage: see the notes.

Notes and citation

Summary: A spiritual body merely like the present one, as a gold statue replaces a bronze one, would not be a resurrection of the body that died.

Book 3, chapter 4. Translated from Bonwetsch's German translation of the Old Slavonic. Origen's words, which the narrator promises to set out, are lost at the gap marked '...' (in the edition they stand in Greek; cf. 1.25).

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Methodius, Res. 3.4 (Bonwetsch GCS 27:392; trans. Sophia Scriptura from the German of N. Bonwetsch, 1917, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/methodius-de-resurrectione/2-20/#p-3-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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