Greek Questions to Christians 3.1–3.26

Anonymous · Greek Questions to Christians · 5th century (disputed) · place unknown · 22 passages

Pseudonymous: Transmitted under Justin's name; a 5th-century work often ascribed to Theodoret of Cyrrhus, not by Justin.

Greek text: PG 6.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).

Chapter 3

3.1PG 6

Τὸ τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἶναι ἣ γενέσθαι ἰχθυόδρωτον, καὶ τὸν ἰχθὺν ἀνθρωπόδρωτον, οὔτε τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἰς ἰχθὺν ἀναλύει οὔτε τὸν ἰχθὺν εἰς ἄνθρωπον " ἀλλ᾽ ἑχατέρου ἣ ἀνάλυσις γίνεται εἰς τὰ στοιχεῖα ἐξ ὧν τὴν ἀρχὴν συνετέθησαν. Εἰ καὶ ὁ τρόπος τῆς ἐτέφων ἀναλύσεως γίνεται διὰ τῆς ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων βρώσεως" ἀλλὰ πάσης ἀναλύσεως τῆς χαθ᾽ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον γινομένης τὸ τέλος ἐστὶ τὸ εἰς τὰ στοιχεῖα χωρεῖν τὰ ἀναλυόμενα. Οὐ χρὴ οὖν διὰ τὴν ὑπ᾽ ἀλλήλων βρῶσιν ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἰχθύος σεσοφισμένην χαταπρὸς τὴν δύναμιν ἀφορᾷν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ μὴ μόνον α ἐπαγγελλομένου ποιεῖν τῶν νεχρῶν τὴν ἀνάστασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῆς ἤδη ἡργμένης ἀναστάσεως τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ βεδαίαν παρεσχηκότος ἡμῖν ταύτης τὴν πίστιν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ εἰ τὰ στοιχεῖα ὑπόχειται εἰς τὴν χτίσιν τῶν γινομένων καὶ εἰς ἀνάχτισιν τῶν φθαρέντων, πῶς, εἰ ἄπιστον καὶ ἀδύνατον ἡγεῖται ὃν τὴν ἀνάχτισιν τῶν φθαρέντων, οὐχ ἄπιστος καὶ ἀδύνατος ἔσται καὶ ἡ χτίσις τῶν γινομένων τὴν ἀρχήν; Ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἄτοπον.

To ton anthrōpon einai hē genesthai ichthyodrōton, kai ton ichthyn anthrōpodrōton, oute ton anthrōpon eis ichthyn analyei oute ton ichthyn eis anthrōpon " all᾽ hechaterou hē analysis ginetai eis ta stoicheia ex hōn tēn archēn synetethēsan. Ei kai ho tropos tēs etephōn analyseōs ginetai dia tēs hyp᾽ allēlōn brōseōs" alla pasēs analyseōs tēs chath᾽ hoiondēpote tropon ginomenēs to telos esti to eis ta stoicheia chōrein ta analyomena. Ou chrē oun dia tēn hyp᾽ allēlōn brōsin anthrōpou kai ichthyos sesophismenēn chatapros tēn dynamin aphorąn tou Theou, tou mē monon a epangellomenou poiein tōn nechrōn tēn anastasin, alla kai dia tēs ēdē hērgmenēs anastaseōs tou Sōtēros hēmōn Christou bedaian pareschēkotos hēmin tautēs tēn pistin. ᾿All᾽ ei ta stoicheia hypocheitai eis tēn chtisin tōn ginomenōn kai eis anachtisin tōn phtharentōn, pōs, ei apiston kai adynaton hēgeitai hon tēn anachtisin tōn phtharentōn, ouch apistos kai adynatos estai kai hē chtisis tōn ginomenōn tēn archēn? Hoper estin atopon.

[1] For a human being to be or become food for fish, and a fish food for a human being, does not dissolve the human being into a fish or the fish into a human being; rather, the dissolution of each takes place into the elements from which they were composed in the beginning, even if the manner of the dissolution of the one comes about through their eating one another. The end of every dissolution, in whatever manner it takes place, is that the things dissolved go back into the elements. So one should not, because of a sophistical argument about human being and fish eating one another, look away from the power of God, who not only promises to bring about the resurrection of the dead, but has also given us a firm faith in it through the resurrection of our Savior Christ, which has already begun it. But if the elements underlie both the creation of the things that come into being and the re-creation of the things that have perished, how, if one considers the re-creation of the things that have perished incredible and impossible, will not the creation of the things that came into being in the beginning also be incredible and impossible? Which is absurd.

Notes and citation

Summary: Bodies eaten by fish or by other bodies are dissolved into their elements, from which God, who has already raised Christ, can re-create them as he created them in the beginning.

The answers on the resurrection are numbered α, β, γ… in Migne; the refs 3.1, 3.2… follow those numerals. Text: archive.org OCR of Migne PG 6, with the Latin column removed by logged corrections.