SITE DISCLAIMER This page and all others linked to it — All copyrighted sources are quoted and used for comment and education in accord with the nonprofit provisions of: Title 17 U.S.C., Section 107 - for Education and Discussion. The use of these sites is in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., Section 107 Fair Use doctrine and is protected under: The First Amendment - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

My Blog List

Friday, June 14, 2013

Apostasy: The Antichrist with Freemasonry and Ecumenism prior to the Return of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Apostasy: The Antichrist with Freemasonry and Ecumenism prior to the Return of Our Lord Jesus Christ


The Antichrist and his precursors - Freemasonry and Ecumenism.

At the end of the age the Return of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Freemasonry (the root and substance of modern Ecumenism) is condemned by the Traditional Orthodox Church and the Traditional Catholic Church, but just the opposite by the Apostate Orthodox and Apostate Catholic Churches.


Ecumenism
http://www.orthodoxfaith.com/ecumenism.html



The Frankish Papacy's
Involvement in Judeo-Masonry
[Excerpts from "The Two Babylons," Bible Believer's Newsletter, #167, Sydney, 2002.]
The Pope's Attitude towards Judaism
http://www.orthodoxfaith.com/ecumenism_papacy_masonry.html



The Attitude of the Holy Fathers Towards Heretics and Pagans Compared to the Contemporary Hierarchs of "World Orthodoxy"

1. Testimonies from the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Fathers on the Necessity of Having No Communion with Heretics and Schismatics, the Enemies of Christ

By Dr. Vladimir Moss 
http://www.orthodoxfaith.com/ecumenism_exposed.html

[Showing pictures of: 33 Degree Mason "Patriarch" Athenagoras with 33 Degree Mason Pope Paul VI and including Pope Paul VI abandons the papal tiara to the United Nations, no pope has worn it since;
Pope Paul VI begins using a new papal staff with a broken Masonic cross and a limp Christ;
Pope Paul VI with a Judeo-Masonic emblem, the Ephod of Caiaphas, hanging from his loins.]



Vladimir Moss
Can be found at
The Pilgrims’ Way: Articles

THE BOOK OF THE END
An Interpretation of the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian - by Vladimir Moss
http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/Polemics/TheBookOfTheEndP1.htm
http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/Polemics/TheBookOfTheEndP2.htm
http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/Polemics/TheBookOfTheEndP3.htm
http://uk.geocities.com/guildfordian2002/Polemics/TheBookOfTheEndP4.htm





Related sites:


End of the World

Bisho Alexander (Mileant)
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/end_w.htm



The Antichrist OrthodoxPerspective
Compiled By Archimandrite Nektarios Serfes
Boise, Idaho
USA
October 1999
http://www.serfes.org/orthodox/theantichrist.htm



Especially see:

The Antichrist
http://theantichristhuchede.blogspot.com/


The Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ


THE PLOT
AGAINST
THE CHURCH

BY
MAURICE PINAY

1962

Translated from the German and Spanish
http://www.catholicvoice.co.uk/pinay/
Freemasonry by Right Rev. Mgr. George Dillon, D.D.http://www.catholicvoice.co.uk/dillon/text.htm
Freemasonry: Official Statement of the Church of Greece (1933)http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/masonry.aspx
Ecumenism
Rev. E. Sylvester Berry, D.D.
On opening of the sixth seal we catch a glimpse of the last persecution and the destruction of the world. This is to show that the prayers of the martyrs have already been heard in the designs of God and shall be answered in due time. These verses make it clear that there is no question of real locusts such as those that ravaged Egypt in the days of Moses. They are purely symbolic, and their ravages chiefly spiritual. Their sting burns and poisons the soul with false doctrines but has no power to injure those who remain faithful to the graces received in Baptism and Confirmation. For a short time these locusts are permitted to harass and persecute without killing, but they cannot destroy the church. In those days men shall seek death and find it not. The good would welcome death as an escape from the evils and miseries that surround them. Many who have been led astray by false doctrines would likewise welcome death as a relief from their doubts and remorse of conscience. The locusts resemble horses accoutred for war. Heresy and schism are ever fruitful sources of religious wars and persecutions. The crowns indicate that rulers – emperors, kings, and princes will be arrayed against the Church as actually happened at the reformation of the 16th century. The crowns merely resembled gold, because there was but a mere semblance of real Christian charity in those days. The human faces prove that these locusts symbolize real persons. The hair of the woman probably signifies vanity and immorality; the teeth of a lions strength and cruelty. The breastplates of iron show preparedness for defense as well as for attack. The sound of their innumerable wings resembles the thunder of chariots rushing to battle. This indicates their great numbers and impetuousity. The scorpion like sting is a symbol of heresy that stings and poisons the soul. Its location in the tail signifies deceit and hypocrisy. The king of these symbolic locusts is called the destroyer (Exterminans). He is Lucifer, the angel of the abyss, the leader of the rebel angels. His minions on earth are the leaders of heresy, schism and persecution. The invasion of the locusts is the first woe predicted by the eagle. The two yet to come will fill up the mystery of iniquity with the appearance of Antichrist and his prophet. God sends a sixth angel to instruct and guide the church. This mission will still further reveal the thoughts of many hearts. The wicked continue to be separated from the just.
Rev. E. Sylvester Berry, D.D.
The Apocalypse of St. John

Parousia of Jesus Christ Our Lord: The First Amendment: Right to Life: Anti-God and Anti-Life are the same thing

Parousia of Jesus Christ Our Lord: The First Amendment: Right to Life: Anti-God and Anti-Life are the same thing


The First Amendment: Right to Life: Anti-God and Anti-Life are the same thing









VATICAN AND BABYLON

VATICAN AND BABYLON

ECUMENISM -- A PATH TO PERDITION
THE VATICAN AND BABYLON
The age-old break of Latins with the Universal Church has irreversibly obscured their understanding of truth and spiritual consciousness. It was not by chance that the founders of the Reformation and their followers, who hated the lies of Roman Catholicism, had never joined holy Orthodoxy. Neither did the Old Catholics [293], nor the remarkable people like the above-cited Mgr. Strossmayer (who openly opposed the doctrine of infallibility) and Lefebvre, who broke with the Vatican. They both remained captives of the Papist ideology. Describing the "lawlessness" of the Second Vatican Council in the Chapter entitled "Le complot libéral de satan" the latter laments over the fact that this Council which declared itself to be pastoral, not doctrinal, had turned all its attention to the problems of aggiornamento and ecumenism. In the opinion of Lefebvre this resulted in Pope John XXIII and Paul VI "depriving themselves of the charisma of the infallibility which could have protected them from all the errors" [294]. While observing private deviations of the Vatican and expressing their indignation at them, neither Lefebvre nor others like him, seem capable of discerning that the reason for them is the generally deplorable, if not terrible, state of Roman Catholicism. The same may be said also about many Orthodox theologians, who condemn private deviations of papism seemingly unaware of the total apostasy of Roman Catholicism.

One thousand years of trampling the dogmas of the Holy Church by Latins has inevitably given rise to false spirituality imbued with pharisaic adherence to law, which includes their calculating casuistic attitude to God, to the matter of salvation, and to Sacraments. Beside the above deviations from Orthodoxy in the area of dogmatics,Rome allows also deviations in performing sacraments and church rites as well as deviations in ecclesiastical regulations. This topic could fill a separate book. We will list only some of the deviations: affusion instead of triple immersion at baptism; performance of proskomidia (office of preparation) with leavened bread; abolition of "epiclesis", depriving children of the Holy Communion, and adults -- of the Lord's Blood; fasting on Saturdays and non-observance of fasting days; celibacy of clergy (contrary to the 5th Apostolic Rule, to the 13th Rule of the Council in Trullo, and the 4th Rule of the Council in Gangra); introducing disarray into arrangement of clerical degrees as a result of instituting of the rank of "cardinals" unknown to the Church; prohibiting laity in the course of many centuries to read Holy Scripture. Having rendered their faith insipid Roman Catholics cultivate obvious spiritual delusion and false mysticism, which stimulates sensualism, making them pass for sanctity. They widely practice suspicious staginess and exaltation accompanied by stigmata and visions, alien to the Church asceticism and engendering the characteristically Latin pseudo-cults of the Heart of Jesus, the Heart of the Mother of God, etc. Finally, by the resolutions of the Second Vatican Council, Papism severed its last ties with patristic tradition and is now a complete prototype of the pseudo-church of Antichrist which pursues the task of seducing and deceiving "if it were possible, the very elect" (Mt. 24,24).

At the present time Roman Catholicism presents by far the more repulsive picture than ever before. "Roman Catholic clergy and theologians are moving as fast as they can away from any form of Christianity that they once might have possessed. (Comp.:"Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have" -- Luke 8,18). Although this has been going on for some years, and the liberals have shown no sign of remorse or desire to change the direction of their activities, nevertheless the Pope refuses to censure them. This state of affairs has prompted many to observe that in matters of faith -- if the case of the now deceased Roman Catholic theologian Hans Kung is any indication -- the Pope will discipline such individuals only when they question the doctrine of Papal Supremacy and Papal Infallibility. In other words, for the papacy the primary concern is over matters of authority [295].

Lately, many prominent Catholic newspapers and periodicals have joined the ranks of major secular periodicals which in their publications have rejected the historical Savior, attacked Holy Tradition and the whole Christianity in general. Thus, the pages of The Catholic World presented reflections of Father John Meier, professor of The Catholic University of America, who in one of his dubious works "A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus", among other things, casts doubt not only on the authenticity of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also on His Resurrection. There they have printed also sacrilegious ideas of John Dominic Crossan, professor of Religious Studies at the DePaul University in Chicago, of Father Jerome Neyrey, professor of the Catholic University of Notre Dame, who produced a blasphemous work: "Jesus the Peasant: Viewing Jesus in a Cultural and Social Perspective", and equally impious ideas of Father Raymond Brown.

This theologian-modernist, who energetically opposes the historicity of the Bible and the main foundations of Christian doctrine, has been described by Time as "probably the premier Roman Catholic scripture scholar in the US". Brown was appointed by Pope Paul VI to the Roman Pontifical Biblical Commission and with Vatican's approval he has served for many years on the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. In "The New Jerome Biblical Commentary", which Brown edited together with two other liberal Roman Catholic scholars, he expresses not only his own views but also the views of 70 contributors who represent Roman Catholic universities, colleges and seminaries in the U.S., Canada, and other countries [296]. The authors of this work are of the opinion that the Lord Jesus Christ is not the preexistent omniscient Son of God the Father, Who rose from the dead, and that Christianity is not the divinely-revealed faith, but a man-made religion which has gradually evolved. Besides, they share the views of the Pope who says that Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christians worship the true God and will achieve salvation without the faith in Jesus Christ. Father Raymond Brown's ideas regarding our Savior are such as to permit Rabbi Burton Visotzky of Jewish Theological Seminary in New York to say that he counted him among his rabbis [297].

The National Catholic Register (Jan. 3, 1994) has published the interview with Father Marcel Jacques Dubois, "the best known and respected expert in Jewish-Catholic dialogue in Israel", who serves as a representative and consultant to the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations Between Israel and the Vatican. This Catholic clergyman does not believe that Christianity is the one and only divinely revealed religion, and Jesus Christ -- the only way to salvation. He declares that "a Jew who is faithful to his identity, and particularly to the Torah and who is practicing its laws, is in contact with God, just as we (i. e. Christians - L.P.) are in communion with Him through Jesus Christ". According to him "Buddhists, Shintoists and Hindus have no reason to be disturbed by Jesus Christ. He is not in their tradition. For more than 20 centuries we've been divided by a family quarrel -- a bloody one. I emphasize, that we are one family. We are witnesses of the same God (sic!) and are thinking of one and the same kingdom" (sic!).

Since Fr. Dubois is the Vatican's expert and representative in interreligious matters we must conclude that the views he expresses are officially those of the Roman curia.

Dubois, Brown, Meier, Crossan and hundreds of other Roman Catholic theologians and clergy, who propagate their frankly ungodly, antichristian views throughout the world, remain not only unpunished but even uncensored by the Vatican. On the contrary, the Pope maintains that the views expressed by Father Brown (and those like him - L.P.)should be tolerated within the Roman Catholic Church. However, according to the demands of common sense it has to be admitted that the officials "who gave their writings permission -- nihil obstat, imprimatur should be exposed for either their incompetence or complicity" [298].

Theoretical blasphemy of Papists has its application also in practice. The Second Vatican Council has widely opened the doors to all the possible kinds of spiritual adultery -- Syncretism, Naturalism, Marxism, Renovationism, etc. Today the Pope and Catholicism under his guidance are increasingly encouraging the New Age ideology, this contemporary planetary movement of "the prince of this world" and his legion which is widely advertised and professed by almost the entire population of the earth: "when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18,8). The neo-paganism of the New Age movement with its many gods, esoterism, occultism and the widely practiced black magic was fostered and adopted by the Vatican and Geneva before it became a daily occurrence for the dechristianized masses, manipulated TV viewers, and computer addicts. It is well known that in America and other countries there are Catholic parishes offering "a course in miracles" or training in "dreamwork". At several seminaries instructors use "guided imagery" to lead students in "energy-raising" Witchcraft rituals during liturgy classes [299]. Practicing "Christian Yoga", "Christian Zen-Buddhism" and Eastern cults has become the routine of many Catholic monasteries and schools. Therefore hardly surprising, although frightening, are the results of the poll of public opinion conducted by the Princeton Religious Resource Center in 1994: nearly 60% of American Catholics said that Catholicism and New Age beliefs are entirely compatible (23% of Protestants are of this opinion). According to the Gallup poll only few of them know what the Eucharist is. Even when the Catholic definition of Christ's Real Presence was read to them, only 30% recognized it; among younger adults only 21% [300].

The Vatican's attitude to anti-scriptural universalism is more than condescending. For many years, without being afraid of offending the Lord, papists have been approving an ugly mixture of Christianity with indigenous beliefs of aborigines. This is particularly widely practiced in Latin America where Catholicism represents a blend with indigenous sorcery and occultism such as umbanda. The BBC World Service Report informs that the Brazilian Roman Catholic Church admits local mysticism and spiritism into conventional Roman beliefs [301]. In Guatemala Roman beliefs have blended with the predominant indigenous Mayan religion, which can be observed in the major cathedrals. In India there flourishes the so called Hindu-Catholicism, propagated by the monk Abhishiktananda, alias Dom Henri le Saux. Apart from the famous Jesuit and Marxist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who has had a great influence on the New Age Movement, great success in this direction was achieved by such well known Catholic proponents of syncretism, as Thomas Merton, Fr. Bede Griffiths, and Don Aelred Graham. Making use of modern concepts (such as cosmic spiritual evolution, Points of Omega, a.o.) they contribute to dissemination of inter-religious amalgamation in which Christianity is considered to be equal to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Mohammedanism, thus denigrating and devaluating the Divine Incarnation.

Today the Vatican has become the center of a syncretistic preparation which completely denies Christian soteriology. This is confirmed by even a brief survey of its official statements.

The unruly sodomy and all kinds of "sexual scandals", which have become the scourge of the Papist clergy and many parishes in various countries, constitute a symptom of spiritual agony of Catholicism. Activity of homosexual clergy, nuns, bishops and some cardinals undermines all the foundations of Christian morality [302]. A three-weekend seminar held at the Holy Name of Jesus parish by Bishop Matthew Clark's Diocese of Rochester is an example of an aggressive promotion of homosexuality and the homosexual lifestyle. In this outrageous, blasphemous enterprise Bishop Clark was supported by his most trusted aides, including priests, monks, ex-nuns, and also H. Darrell Lance, a specialist on the Old Testament and a former professor at Rochester-Colgate Divinity School. Speaking from the sanctuary of the church he told his audience that the oldest liturgies of the Catholic Church were homosexual marriage rites, which predate rituals for "heterosexual" marriage... A notice which appeared in the Bulletin of the Sacred Heart Cathedral on April 10, 1994 invited parishioners to discuss biblical teaching and gay and lesbian Catholic way of thinking and experiences [303].

... From the ascetic experience of holy Fathers we know that after unsuccessful attempts of a devil to seduce the spiritual struggler there appears a more powerful demon in the form of an "angel of light" (2 Cor. 11, 14) who tries to win him over, to win his trust, thus enticing him into perdition. Today this seduction takes place on world scale. In our world, where consciousness of the majority of people is shamelessly manipulated by mass media, anyone may easily and quickly attract general sympathy and trust to oneself. All one has to do is to invest one's hypocrisy with the more or less plausible gestures and words, particularly when dealing with the sore subjects, such as ecology, artificial insemination and abortions, divorce, violence and drug addiction. Very effective are also impelling speeches and lamentations about the divided humanity, needing to be speedily united...

Pope John Paul II in particular has become famous with his "apostolic journeys" the aim of them being the "mutual enrichment of religions". He tirelessly travels throughout the world for the purpose of "widening inter-religious horizons". Not only in churches, but also in huge stadiums he attracts crowds of thousands and strives to "minister" to the maximum number of peoples of the most diverse religions and confessions. "Woe unto you... hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves" (Mt. 23,15).

Tiara and bright vestments cannot, however, hide the dark side of papal mission: in the actions of the Pope ecumenism increasingly shows its beastly, apocalyptic face. The Vatican and Babylon have become related, and in keeping with the spirit of our times -- lithesome like snakes and mobile like airliners and telephones. Vatican's refined tactics regarding ecumenism lies in the fact that until lately, while contriving in the course of several decades, to formally remain outside the WCC, in fact it has been one of the main inspirers and leaders of the ecumenical movement, and apparently has the keys to the infernal stratum of the WCC...

Aspiring to the role of Religious World Leader and not wishing to lose this sublime position by participating on equal terms with other denominations in the WCC (how can one possibly place oneself on an equal footing with all kinds of Protestants and other "schismatics" ?!), for a long time the Pope did not permit the Vatican to join the official structures of this organization. But in his specific actions he has been long since outstripping and surpassing the official ecumenists. The ancient Catholic churches have contained and endured a great deal under John Paul II.

On the 26th October 1986 in Assisi (Italy) this Pope summoned 150 representatives of diverse religions of the world for the "common prayer for peace".

«Almost all the existing religious persuasions were represented there, including even worshippers of Satan, various wild African tribes, and American Indians. The Dalai Lama of Tibet was one of the first to respond to the Pope's invitation... A startling common prayer of all these groups took place in the Christian Basilica of St. Mary of Angels in Assisi. Buddhists and leaders of wild pagan tribes appeared in their ritualistic garments. The Pope observed the various acts of his guests affectionately. With his head inclined sideways, he looked reverently at the "peace pipe" as it was being smoked by two Indian tribal leaders in honor of a great heavenly spirit... "There must be peace on earth before we acquire peace in our hearts"; -- said one of the two tribal leaders, thus expressing the idea of total opposition of his religion to Christianity. In the church of St. Gregory the Indian tribal leader from America announced that along with the traditional demon worship, which he represents, he isalso a Roman Catholic!» [304]. It should be mentioned that a delegation from the Moscow Patriarchate was also present in Assisi.

Here are also some comments on this "Assisi Gathering" made by the Italian newspaper Si Si No No. "Never has our Lord been so outrageously offended, never have His holy places been so profaned, His Vicar so humiliated, His people so scandalized by His own ministers, as at Assisi. The superstitions of several false religions practiced at Assisi pale by comparison to the betrayal of our Lord by these ministers.

In St. Peter's church bonzes adored the Dalai Lama (for them, a reincarnation of the Buddha). In that same church a statue of Buddha was placed atop the Tabernacle on the main altar.

In St. Gregory's, American Indians prepared their peace pipe on the altar; in Santa Maria Maggiore's, Hindus, sitting around the altar, invoked the whole range of Hindu gods; in Santa Maria degli Angeli's John Paul II sat in a semi-circle of wholly identical seats amidst the heads of other religions so that there should be neither first nor last."
[305]

The New World Order with its syncretism and "sweetness of compromise and sin" (Saint John Maximovitch) especially manifests itself in inter-religious gatherings. For over ten years the Vatican has been regularly organizing Babylon in various locations -- in Assisi (1986) and Rome (1987-88), Varna (1989) and Bari (1990), in Malta (1991) and Bruxelles (1992), in Milan and Chicago (1993) and now again in Assisi...

The Papists have broken with their past on all levels -- liturgical, theological, moral. "It is very late for the Church of John Paul II.. and he himself came to the same conclusion... It is late for control of his bishops. Late for control of theologians... Late, above all, for any credibility... John Paul II now has the agonizing problem of what to do?" [306]. Nevertheless, he well knows what should be done. "He wants to bring the Orthodox Churches into full union with himself and his own diseased, cancerous Church. This, he thinks, may be the only hope for his Church" [307].

At the present time Roman Catholics no longer scorn open participation in the activities of the WCC. Thus, in 1994 they have officially joined National Council of Churches in Australia. They even placed their cathedral of St. Christopher in Canberra at the disposal of the blasphemous festival to mark the formation of this organization (see the preceding Chapter). Now Papists are actively participating in the ecumenical movement everywhere. Pope John Paul II now quite openly advocates the promotion of any ecumenist undertaking, especially rapprochement with Orthodoxy, as is evident from many of his publications, particularly in his encyclical letters "Orientale Lumen" (of May 2, 1995) and "Ut unum sint" (of May 30, Bulletin ENI, 7.6.1995).

The Roman Pope who thinks of himself as the archpastor of the entire mankind, is supported in this ambitious view of himself also by "Orthodox" hierarchs-ecumenists, particularly those of Constantinople. Patriarch Athenagoras, who went down in history when on the 17th December 1965 he arbitrarily removed anathema of 1054 from the Pope of Rome (thus placing himself under the anathema), addressed the latter in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome (26.10.1967) as the "Archbishop of the older Rome, the bearer of apostolic grace... in honor and the first rank of Christian Churches, embracing the universe..." [308]

Patriarch Athenagoras' (Spirou) successor Demetrius (Pandopoulos), when celebrating 10 years of the removal of anathema, greeted Pope John Paul VI as "the first in rank and honor in the entire Body of the Lord" who "presides according to the dictates of love and honor in the God-pleasing (? - L.P.) incense of the Pentarchy of One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church" [309].

Bartholomeos (Archondonis), the present Patriarch of Constantinople, who has many times concelebrated with Pope John Paul II is of similar disposition. At the same time both he and his predecessors, while being hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, cannot but be aware of the falsehood of their confirmation of the Supremacy of Roman Popes "in rank and honor in the entire Body of the Lord". Moreover, only a very dubious economiamay admit the very existence of apostolic succession in the Latin Church, because according to the Church Canons, bishops-heretics are not only deprived of their clerical rank, but also excommunicated from the Church. Therefore they can neither preserve, nor pass on to somebody that which they do not possess: neither grace, nor apostolic succession. Apparently it is not by chance that, contrary to the rules of the Local and Ecumenical Councils, the papists deny the very possibility of a cleric, or bishop losing his rank [310].

Athenagoras and his successors-heresiarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople tirelessly continue their work of demoralization of Orthodoxy, and of the "anti-ecclesiastical vandalism" [Metr. Anthony (Khrapovitsky)], begun by the well known mason and modernist Meletius N (Metaxakis) in the 20ies of the twentieth century [311].

That same Church of Constantinople which in the course of centuries was the luminary of Orthodoxy and the Mother-Church for Russia, and which gave many saints to the world, among them Sts. Cyril and Methodius, the enlighteners of Slavs, for more than seven decades now has been fighting Orthodoxy. Its hierarchs of today, "metropolitans without people, bishops, who have no flock to guide (i.e. without dioceses of their own)" [312] are dragging out a heretical, destructive existence. In all appearance, these false hierarchs, along with the Pope of Rome, wish to hold the destiny of the entire Church in their hands. Having found themselves "on the verge of disaster, as was the case at the pseudo-Council in Florence", they disregard "faith and the Kingdom of God for the sake of the earthly kingdom" [313] and become persecutors of the Orthodox confessors (see the Chapter dedicated to Athonite monks). Undoubtedly, today they would become also persecutors of Saint Mark of Ephesus, who over five centuries ago in no uncertain terms has expressed Orthodox attitude to Romans: "Inasmuch as you have violated this prohibition (to change anything in the Creed - L.P.), your bishops and clerics are no longer bishops and clerics since they are now deposed by the great and ancient Councils, and your lay people are subject to anathema and excommunication" [314].

"Orthodox" ecumenists of the Local Churches, who have sold their souls to the WCC, are operating in common with the apostates from Constantinople. Already for many years they have been in fact realizing Union with the apostate Catholicism and calling the adulterous Vatican the "sister church". But here is what one of the lone voices says to them: "Orthodox patriarchs, bishops, priests, and theologians: all you who actively pursue a policy of rapprochement with Rome, BEWARE. You are trying to bring the Orthodox Church into a lion's den of unbelievable malignancy. You cannot save the Catholic Church but the Catholic Church can and will contaminate and then destroy you if you open the doors of the Church any wider" [315].

In olden times in Russia an opinion that the Roman Pope was Antichrist was widespread. And F.M. Dostoevsky, a talented contemporary of Pope Pius IX created the magnificently sinister image of the "Great Inquisitor" who wished to "improve on Christ's mission" and to replace the Savior by the other, the one who will come "in his own name". It looks like this literary personage has become embodied in quite a real person...


Pope of Rome -- the Archpastor of the Mankind.
Pope of Rome -- the Archpastor of the Mankind.
"Brotherly embrace" of Patriarch Demetrios Pandopoulos and Pope Paul VI of Rome.
"Brotherly embrace" of Patriarch Demetrios Pandopoulos and Pope Paul VI of Rome.
Patriarch Bartholomeos Arhondonis and Cardinal Cassidy: brotherly communion with Roman Catholics -- the kiss of Judas
Patriarch Bartholomeos Arhondonis and Cardinal Cassidy: brotherly communion with Roman Catholics -- the kiss of Judas
... and blessing.
... and blessing.
[293] As it is reported by The New York Times (of 28 June 1996 in International section), in the city of Constance (Germany) Old Catholic Bishop Joachim Fobbe ordained two women priests, both married: theologian Angela Berlis and teacher Regina Pickel-Bossau. This event has attracted great public attention, particularly in connection with the expected visit of the Roman Pope to Germany. It is well known that the Vatican receives hundreds of thousands petitions with a demand to institute "priesthood" of women. Although John Paul II has expressed a negative reaction with regard to women's ordination by Old Catholics, like his predecessors he has not made use of his right "ex cathedra" to condemn the phenomenon of the "priesthood" of women (Church News, N.Y.,1996, No. 4 (53), pp. 9-10). The circumspection of the Roman Pontiff is understandable: amongst Roman Catholics, particularly in Holland and the USA, the quite real possibility of "ordaining" women has become ripe already during the lifetime of John Paul II (Malachi Martin, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church", 1981). As to Old Catholics, this "evolution" of theirs is similar to the degradation of Protestants.

[294] Mgr. Marcel Lefebvre, "Ils L'ont Decouronne", p. 163.

[295] See "Sister Churches -- Five Hundred Years After Florence". Boston, 1994, p. 17.

[296] Ibid., p. 27.

[297] Ibid., p. 29.

[298] Ibid., pp 28-29. Ibid., p. 13.

[299] Ibid., p. 13.

[300] Ibid.

[301] Ibid., p. 30.

[302] See Archpriest Alexy Young, "The Rush to Embrace", New York, 1996, p. 47.

[303] "Sister Churches", pp. 33-34.

[304] Orthodoxos Typos, No. 718, Athens, 7 November, 1986, pp. 1-4.

[305] "Sister Churches", p. 16.

[306] Malachi Martin, "The Decline..." Quoted from: Archpriest Alexey Young, "The Rush...", p. 48.

[307] Archpriest Alexey Young, "The Rush...", p. 48.

[308] See: Athanasios I Delikostopulos, "Outside the Walls: Athenagoras I, the Ecumenical Patriarch", Athens, 1988, p. 226. Quoted from: <<The Real "Triumph" of the Vatican Diplomacy in the Orthodox-Papist Dialogue "Balamand Union">>. Publ. by the Holy Metropolis of Oropos and Fili, Attica, Greece, No. 14, July/Sept., 1993 (transl. from the Greek).

[309] Episkepsis, No. 139, 13.1.1976, pp. 13-15.

[310]. In connection with this, from the Catholic point of view, even the Sacraments performed by priests involved in satanic "black masses" are valid.

[311] About Meletius IV (Metaxakis) and his masonic-renovationist activity see Prof. S. Troitsky's article "Let Us Jointly Fight the Danger", JMP, No. 2, Moscow, 1950, p. 37 and pp. 46-47; Monk Gorazd, "Quo vadis, the Patriarchate of Constantinople?" Orthodox Russia, 1992, No. 2, pp. 7-11; Photius, Bishop of Triaditsa "The Fatal Step on the Way to Apostasy". To the 70th Anniversary of the "Pan-Orthodox Congress in Constantinople", Orthodox Russia, 1994, Nos. l and 6; Bishop Photius of Triaditsa, "The 70th Anniversary of the Pan-Orthodox Congress in Constantinople. In "The Orthodox Church Calendar", Printshop of St. Job of Pochaev, Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, N.Y., 1996, pp. 5-29.

[312] Archim. Justin (Popovich), "Epistle to the Bishops' Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church of 7th May, 1977". Quoted from Monk Gorazd, op.cit. p. 10.

[313] Archim. Justin (Popovich). Ibid.

[314] Archim. Ambrose, "Saint Mark of Ephesus and the Florentine Union". Printing Press of St. Job of Pochaev, Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, N.Y. 1963, p. 181.

[315] Archpriest Alexey Young, "The Rush...", p. 48. 

Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapters 1 to 18 | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry


All of the legalisms of East and West do not even begin to compare to the simplicity and utter truthfulness of St. Irenaeus


Irenaeus




Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapters 1 to 18 | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry


Irenaeus Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapters 1 to 18

BOOK 5.

PREFACE.

IN the four preceding books, my very dear friend, which I put forth to thee, all the heretics have been exposed, and their doctrines brought to light, and these men refuted who have devised irreligious opinions. [I have accomplished this by adducing] something from the doctrine peculiar to each of these men, which they have left in their writings, as well as by using arguments of a more general nature, and applicable to them all.(1) Then I have pointed out the truth, and shown the preaching of the Church, which the prophets proclaimed (as I have already demonstrated), but which Christ brought to perfection, and the apostles have handed down, from whom the Church, receiving [these truths], and throughout all the world alone preserving them in their integrity (bene), has transmitted them to her sons. Then also -- having disposed of all questions which the heretics propose to us, and having explained the doctrine of the apostles, and clearly set forth many of those things which were said and done by the Lord in parables -- I shall endeavour, in this the fifth book of the entire work which treats of the exposure and refutation of knowledge falsely so called, to exhibit proofs from the rest of the Lord's doctrine and the apostolical epistles: [thus] complying with thy demand, as thou didst request of me (since indeed I have been assigned a place in the ministry of the word); and, labouring by every means in my power to furnish thee with large assistance against the contradictions of the heretics, as also to reclaim the wanderers and convert them to the Church of God, to confirm at the same time the minds of the neophytes, that they may preserve stedfast the faith which they have received, guarded by the Church in its integrity, in order that they be in no way perverted by those who endeavour to teach them false doctrines, and lead them away from the truth. It will be incumbent upon thee, however, and all who may happen to read this writing, to peruse with great attention what I have already said, that thou mayest obtain a knowledge of the subjects against which I am contending. For it is thus that thou wilt both controvert them in a legitimate manner, and wilt be prepared to receive the proofs brought forward against them, casting away their doctrines as filth by means of the celestial faith; but following the only true and stedfast Teacher, the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.



CHAPTER 1 -- CHRIST ALONE IS ABLE TO TEACH DIVINE THINGS, AND TO REDEEM US: HE, THE SAME, TOOK FLESH OF THE VIRGIN MARY, NOT MERELY IN APPEARANCE, BUT ACTUALLY, BY THE OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, IN ORDER TO RENOVATE US. STRICTURES ON THE CONCEITS OF VALENTINUS AND EBION. 

1. FOR in no other way could we have learned the things of God, unless our Master, existing as the Word, had become man. For no other being had the power of revealing to us the things of the Father, except His own proper Word. For what other person "knew the mind of the Lord," or who else "has become His counsellor?"(2) Again, we could have learned in no other way than by seeing our Teacher, and hearing His voice with our own ears, that, having become imitators of His works as well as doers of His words, we may have communion with Him, receiving increase from the perfect One, and from Him who is prior to all creation. We -- who were but lately created by the only best and good Being, by Him also who has the gift of immortality, having been formed after His likeness (predestinated, according to the prescience of the Father, that we, who had as yet no existence, might come into being), and made the first-fruits of creation(1) -- have received, in the times known beforehand, [the blessings of salvation] according to the ministration of the Word, who is perfect in all things, as the mighty Word, and very man, who, redeeming us by His own blood in a manner consonant to reason, gave Himself as a redemption for those who had been led into captivity. And since the apostasy tyrannized over us unjustly, and, though we were by nature the property of the omnipotent God, alienated us contrary to nature, rendering us its own disciples, the Word of God, powerful in all things, and not defective with regard to His own justice, did righteously turn against that apostasy, and redeem from it His own property, not by violent means, as the [apostasy] had obtained dominion over us at the beginning, when it insatiably snatched away what was not its own, but by means of persuasion, as became a God of counsel, who does not use violent means to obtain what He desires; so that neither should justice be infringed upon, nor the ancient handiwork of God go to destruction. Since the Lord thus has redeemed us through His own blood, giving His soul for our souls, and His flesh for our flesh,(2) and has also poured out the Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man, imparting indeed God to men by means of the Spirit, and, on the other hand, attaching man to God by His own incarnation, and bestowing upon us at His coming immortality durably and truly, by means of communion with God, -- all the doctrines of the heretics fall to ruin.

2. Vain indeed are those who allege that He appeared in mere seeming. For these things were not done in appearance only, but in actual reality. But if He did appear as a man, when He was not a man, neither could the Holy Spirit have rested upon Him, -- an occurrence which did actually take place -- as the Spirit is invisible; nor, [in that case], was there any degree of truth in Him, for He was not that which He seemed to be. But I have already remarked that Abraham and the other prophets beheld Him after a prophetical manner, foretelling in vision what should come to pass. If, then, such a being has now appeared in outward semblance different from what he was in reality, there has been a certain prophetical vision made to men; and another advent of His must be looked forward to, in which He shall be such as He has now been seen in a prophetic manner. And I have proved already, that it is the same thing to say that He appeared merely to outward seeming, and [to affirm] that He received nothing from Mary. For He would not have been one truly possessing flesh and blood, by which He redeemed us, unless He had summed up in Himself the ancient formation of Adam. Vain therefore are the disciples of Valentinus who put forth this opinion, in order that they my exclude the flesh from salvation, and cast aside what God has fashioned.

3. Vain also are the Ebionites, who do not receive by faith into their soul the union of God and man, but who remain in the old leaven of [the natural] birth, and who do not choose to understand that the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High did overshadow her:(3) wherefore also what was generated is a holy thing, and the Son of the Most High God the Father of all, who effected the incarnation of this being, and showed forth a new [kind of] generation; that as by the former generation we inherited death, so by this new generation we might inherit life. Therefore do these men reject the commixture of the heavenly wine,(4) and wish it to be water of the world only, not receiving God so as to have union with Him, but they remain in that Adam who had been conquered and was expelled from Paradise: not considering that as, at the beginning of our formation in Adam, that breath of life which proceeded from God, having been united to what had been fashioned, animated the man, and manifested him as a being endowed with reason; so also, in [the times of] the end, the Word of the Father and the Spirit of God, having become united with the ancient substance of Adam's formation, rendered man living and perfect, receptive of the perfect Father, in order that as in the natural [Adam] we all were dead, so in the spiritual we may all be made alive.(5) For never at any time did Adam escape the harms(6) of God, to whom the Father speaking, said, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness." And for this reason in the last times (fine), not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the good pleasure of the Father,(7) His hands formed a living man, in order that Adam might be created [again] after the image and likeness of God.



CHAPTER 2 -- WHEN CHRIST VISITED US IN HIS GRACE, HE DID NOT COME TO WHAT DID NOT BELONG TO HIM: ALSO, BY SHEDDING HIS TRUE BLOOD FOR US, AND EXHIBITING TO US HIS TRUE FLESH IN THE EUCHARIST, HE CONFERRED UPON OUR FLESH THE CAPACITY OF SALVATION. 

1. And vain likewise are those who say that God came to those things which did not belong to Him, as if covetous of another's property; in order that He might deliver up that man who had been created by another, to that God who had neither made nor formed anything, but who also was deprived from the beginning of His own proper formation of men. The advent, therefore, of Him whom these men represent as coming to the things of others, was not righteous; nor did He truly redeem us by His own blood, if He did not really become man, restoring to His own handiwork what was said [of it] in the beginning, that man was made after the image and likeness of God; not snatching away by stratagem the property of another, but taking possession of His own in a righteous and gracious manner. As far as concerned the apostasy, indeed, He redeems us righteously from it by His own blood; but as regards us who have been redeemed, [He does this] graciously. For we have given nothing to Him previously, nor does He desire anything from us, as if He stood in need of it; but we do stand in need of fellowship with Him. And for this reason it was that He graciously poured Himself out, that He might gather us into the bosom of the Father.

2. But vain in every respect are they who despise the entire dispensation of God, and disallow the salvation of the flesh, and treat with contempt its regeneration, maintaining that it is not capable of incorruption. But if this indeed do not attain salvation, then neither did the Lord redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist the communion of His blood, nor the bread which we break the communion of His body.(1) For blood can only come from veins and flesh, and whatsoever else makes up the substance of man, such as the Word of God was actually made. By His own blood he redeemed us, as also His apostle declares, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the remission of sins."(2) And as we are His members, we are also nourished by means of the creation (and He Himself grants the creation to us, for He causes His sun to rise, and sends rain when He wills(3)). He has acknowledged the cup (which is a part of the creation) as His own blood, from which He bedews our blood; and the bread (also a part of the creation) He has established as His own body, from which He gives increase to our bodies.(4)

3. When, therefore, the mingled cup and the manufactured bread receives the Word of God, and the Eucharist of the blood and the body of Christ is made,(5) from which things the substance of our flesh is increased and supported, how can they affirm that the flesh is incapable of receiving the gift of God, which is life eternal, which [flesh] is nourished from the body and blood of the Lord, and is a member of Him? -- even as the blessed Paul declares in his Epistle to the Ephesians, that "we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."(6) He does not speak these words of some spiritual and invisible man, for a spirit has not bones nor flesh;(7) but [he refers to] that dispensation [by which the Lord became] an actual man, consisting of flesh, and nerves, and bones, -- that [flesh] which is nourished by the cup which is His blood, and receives increase from the bread which is His body. And just as a cutting from the vine planted in the ground fructifies in its season, or as a corn of wheat falling into the earth and becoming decomposed, rises with manifold increase by the Spirit of God, who contains all things, and then, through the wisdom of God, serves for the use of men, and having received the Word of God, becomes the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Christ; so also our bodies, being nourished by it, and deposited in the earth, and suffering decomposition there, shall rise at their appointed time, the Word of God granting them resurrection to the glory of God, even the Father, who freely gives to this mortal immortality, and to this corruptible incorruption,(8) because the strength of God is made perfect in weakness,(9) in order that we may never become puffed up, as if we had life from ourselves, and exalted against God, our minds becoming ungrateful; but learning by experience that we possess eternal duration from the excelling power of this Being, not from our own nature, we may neither undervalue that glory which surrounds God as He is, nor be ignorant of our own nature, but that we may know what God can effect, and what benefits man receives, and thus never wander from the true comprehension of things as they are, that is, both with regard to God and with regard to man. And might it not be the case, perhaps, as I have already observed, that for this purpose God permitted our resolution into the common dust of mortality,(10) that we, being instructed by every mode, may be accurate in all things for the future, being ignorant neither of God nor of ourselves?



CHAPTER 3 -- HE POWER AND GLORY OF GOD SHINE FORTH IN THE WEAKNESS OF HUMAN FLESH, AS HE WILL RENDER OUR BODY A PARTICIPATOR OF THE RESURRECTION AND OF IMMORTALITY, ALTHOUGH HE HAS FORMED IT FROM THE DUST OF THE EARTH; HE WILL ALSO BESTOW UPON IT THE ENJOYMENT OF IMMORTALITY, JUST AS HE GRANTS IT THIS SHORT LIFE IN COMMON WITH THE SOUL. 

1. The Apostle Paul has, moreover, in the most lucid manner, pointed out that man has been delivered over to his own infirmity, lest, being uplifted, he might fall away from the truth. Thus he says in the second [Epistle] to the Corinthians: "And lest I should be lifted up by the sublimity of the revelations, there was given unto me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. And upon this I besought the Lord three times, that it might depart from me. But he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for strength is made perfect in weakness. Gladly therefore shall I rather glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me."(1) What, therefore? (as some may exclaim:) did the Lord wish, in that case, that His apostles should thus undergo buffering, and that he should endure such infirmity? Even so it was; the word says it. For strength is made perfect in weakness, rendering him a better man who by means of his infirmity becomes acquainted with the power of God. For how could a man have learned that he is himself an infirm being, and mortal by nature, but that God is immortal and powerful, unless he had learned by experience what is in both? For there is nothing evil in learning one's infirmities by endurance; yea, rather, it has even the beneficial effect of preventing him from forming an undue opinion of his own nature (non aberrare in natura sua). But the being lifted up against God, and taking His glory to one's self, rendering man ungrateful, has brought much evil upon him. [And thus, I say, man must learn both things by experience], that he may not be destitute of truth and love either towards himself or his Creator.(2) But the experience of both confers upon him the true knowledge as to God and man, and increases his love towards God. Now, where there exists an increase of love, there a greater glory is wrought out by the power of God for those who love Him.

2. Those men, therefore, set aside the power of God, and do not consider what the word declares, when they dwell upon the infirmity of the flesh, but do not take into consideration the power of Him who raises it up from the dead. For if He does not vivify what is mortal, and does not bring back the corruptible to incorruption, He is not a God of power. But that He is powerful in all these respects, we ought to perceive from our origin, inasmuch as God, taking dust from the earth, formed man. And surely it is much more difficult and incredible, from non-existent bones, and nerves, and veins, and the rest of man's organization, to bring it about that all this should be, and to make man an animated and rational creature, than to re-integrate again that which had been created and then afterwards decomposed into earth (for the reasons already mentioned), having thus passed into those [elements] from which man, who had no previous existence, was formed. For He who in the beginning caused him to have being who as yet was not, just when He pleased, shall much more reinstate again those who had a former existence, when it is His will [that they should inherit] the life granted by Him. And that flesh shall also be found fit for and capable of receiving the power of God, which at the beginning received the skilful touches of God; so that one part became the eye for seeing; another, the ear for hearing; another, the hand for feeling and working; another, the sinews stretched out everywhere, and holding the limbs together; another, arteries and veins, passages for the blood and the air;(3) another, the various internal organs; another, the blood, which is the bond of union between soul and body. But why go [on in this strain]? Numbers would fail to express the multiplicity of parts in the human frame, which was made in no other way than by the great wisdom of God. But those things which partake of the skill and wisdom of God, do also partake of His power.

3. The flesh, therefore, is not destitute [of participation] in the constructive wisdom and power of God. But if the power of Him who is the bestower of life is made perfect in weakness -- that is, in the flesh -- let them inform us, when they maintain the incapacity of flesh to receive the life granted by God, whether they do say these things as being living men at present, and partakers of life, or acknowledge that, having no part in life whatever, they are at the present moment dead men. And if they really are dead men, how is it that they move about, and speak, and perform those other functions which are not the actions of the dead, but of the living? But if they are now alive, and if their whole body partakes of life, how can they venture the assertion that the flesh is not qualified to be a partaker of life, when they do confess that they have life at the present moment? It is just as if anybody were to take up a sponge full of water, or a torch on fire, and to declare that the sponge could not possibly partake of the water, or the torch of the fire. In this very manner do those men, by alleging that they are alive and bear life about in their members, contradict themselves afterwards, when they represent these members as not being capable of [receiving] life. But if the present temporal life, which is of such an inferior nature to eternal life, can nevertheless effect so much as to quicken our mortal members, why should not eternal life, being much more powerful than this, vivify the flesh, which has already held converse with, and been accustomed to sustain, life? For that the flesh can really partake of life, is shown from the fact of it; being alive; for it lives on, as long as it is God's purpose that it should do so. It is manifest, too, that God has the power to confer life upon it, inasmuch as He grants life to us who are in existence. And, therefore, since the Lord has power to infuse life into what He has fashioned, and since the flesh is capable of being quickened, what remains to prevent its participating in incorruption, which is a blissful and never-ending life granted by God?



CHAPTER 4 -- THOSE PERSONS ARE DECEIVED WHO FEIGN ANOTHER GOD THE FATHER BESIDES THE CREATOR OF THE WORLD; FOR HE MUST HAVE BEEN FEEBLE AND USELESS, OR ELSE MALIGNANT AND FULL OF ENVY, IF HE BE EITHER UNABLE OR UNWILLING TO EXTEND EXTERNAL LIFE TO OUR BODIES. 

1. Those persons who feign the existence of another Father beyond the Creator, and who term him the good God, do deceive themselves; for they introduce him as a feeble, worthless, and negligent being, not to say malign and full of envy, inasmuch as they affirm that our bodies are not quickened by him. For when they say of things which it is manifest to all do remain immortal, such as the spirit and the soul, and such other things, that they are quickened by the Father, but that another thing [viz. the body] which is quickened in no different manner than by God granting [life] to it, is abandoned by life, -- [they must either confess] that this proves their Father to be weak and powerless, or else envious and malignant. For since the Creator does even here quicken our mortal bodies, and promises them resurrection by the prophets, as I have pointed out; who [in that case] is shown to be more powerful, stronger, or truly good? Whether is it the Creator who vivifies the whole man, or is it their Father, falsely so called? He feigns to be the quickener of those things which are immortal by nature, to which things life is always present by their very nature; but he does not benevolently quicken those things which required his assistance, that they might live, but leaves them carelessly to fall under the power of death. Whether is it the case, then, that their Father does not bestow life upon them when he has the power of so doing, or is it that he does not possess the power? If, on the one hand, it is because he cannot, he is, upon that supposition, not a powerful being, nor is he more perfect than the Creator; for the Creator grants, as we must perceive, what He is unable to afford. But if, on the other hand, [it be that he does not grant this] when he has the power of so doing, then he is proved to be not a good, but an envious and malignant Father.

2. If, again, they refer to any cause on account of which their Father does not impart life to bodies, then that cause must necessarily appear superior to the Father, since it restrains Him from the exercise of His benevolence; and His benevolence will thus be proved weak, on account of that cause which they bring forward. Now every one must perceive that bodies are capable of receiving life. For they live to the extent that God pleases that they should live; and that being so, the [heretics] cannot maintain that [these bodies] are utterly incapable of receiving life. If, therefore, on account of necessity and any other cause, those [bodies] which are capable of participating in life are not vivified, their Father shall be the slave of necessity and that cause, and not therefore a free agent, having His will under His own control.



CHAPTER 5 -- THE PROLONGED LIFE OF THE ANCIENTS, THE TRANSLATION OF ELIJAH AND OF ENOCH IN THEIR OWN BODIES, AS WELL AS THE PRESERVATION OF JONAH, OF SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO, IN THE MIDST OF EXTREME PERIL, ARE CLEAR DEMONSTRATIONS THAT GOD CAN RAISE UP OUR BODIES TO LIFE ETERNAL. 

1. [In order to learn] that bodies did continue in existence for a lengthened period, as long as it was God's good pleasure that they should flourish, let [these heretics] read the Scriptures, and they will find that our predecessors advanced beyond seven hundred, eight hundred, and nine hundred years of age; and that their bodies kept pace with the protracted length of their days, and participated in life as long as God willed that they should live. But why do I refer to these men? For Enoch, when he pleased God, was translated in the same body in which he did please Him, thus pointing out by anticipation the translation of the just. Elijah, too, was caught up [when he was yet] in the substance of the [natural] form; thus exhibiting in prophecy the assumption of those who are spiritual, and that nothing stood in the way of their body being translated and caught up. For by means of the very same hands through which they were moulded at the beginning, did they receive this translation and assumption. For in Adam the hands of God had become accustomed to set in order, to rule, and to sustain His own workmanship, and to bring it and place it where they pleased. Where, then, was the first man placed? In paradise certainly, as the Scripture declares "And God planted a garden [paradisum] eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed."(1) And then afterwards when [man] proved disobedient, he was cast out thence into this world. Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also Paul the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as regards us in our present condition(2)), and that there shall they who have been translated remain until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude to immortality.

2. If, however, any one imagine it impossible that men should survive for such a length of time, and that Elias was not caught up in the flesh, but that his flesh was consumed in the fiery chariot, let him consider that Jonah, when he had been cast into the deep, and swallowed down into the whale's belly, was by the command of God again thrown out safe upon the land.(3) And then, again, when Ananias, Azarias, and Misael were cast into the furnace of fire sevenfold heated, they sustained no harm whatever, neither was the smell of fire perceived upon them. As, therefore, the hand of God was present with them, working out marvellous things in their case -- [things] impossible [to be accomplished] by man's nature -- what wonder was it, if also in the case of those who were translated it performed something wonderful, working in obedience to the will of God, even the Father? Now this is the Son of God, as the Scripture represents Nebuchadnezzar the king as having said, "Did not we cast three men bound into the furnace? and, lo, I do see four walking in the midst of the fire, and the fourth is like the Son of God."(4) Neither the nature of any created thing, therefore, nor the weakness of the flesh, can prevail against the will of God. For God is not subject to created things, but created things to God; and all things yield obedience to His will. Wherefore also the Lord declares, "The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God."(5) As, therefore, it might seem to the men of the present day, who are ignorant of God's appointment, to be a thing incredible and impossible that any man could live for such a number of years, yet those who were before us did live [to such an age], and those who were translated do live as an earnest of the future length of days; and [as it might also appear impossible] that from the whale's belly and from the fiery furnace men issued forth unhurt, yet they nevertheless did so, led forth as it were by the hand of God, for the purpose of declaring His power: so also now, although some, not knowing the power and promise of God, may oppose their own salvation, deeming it impossible for God, who raises up the dead; to have power to confer upon them eternal duration, yet the scepticism of men of this stamp shall not render the faithfulness of God of none effect.



CHAPTER 6 -- GOD WILL BESTOW SALVATION UPON THE WHOLE NATURE OF MAN, CONSISTING OF BODY AND SOUL IN CLOSE UNION, SINCE THE WORD TOOK IT UPON HIM, AND ADORNED WITH THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, OF WHOM OUR BODIES ARE, AND ARE TERMED, THE TEMPLES. 

1. Now God shall be glorified in His handiwork, fitting it so as to be conformable to, and modelled after, His own Son. For by the hands of the Father, that is, by the Son and the Holy Spirit, man, and not [merely] a part of man, was made in the likeness of God. Now the soul and the spirit are certainly a part of the man, but certainly not the man; for the perfect man consists in the commingling and the union of the soul receiving the spirit of the Father, and the admixture of that fleshly nature which was moulded after the image of God. For this reason does the apostle declare, "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect,"(6) terming those persons "perfect" who have received the Spirit of God, and who through the Spirit of God do speak in all languages, as he used Himself also to speak. In like manner we do also hear many brethren in the Church, who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and bring to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men, and declare the mysteries of God, whom also the apostle terms "spiritual," they being spiritual because they partake of the Spirit, and not because their flesh has been stripped off and taken away, and because they have become purely spiritual. For if any one take away the substance of flesh, that is, of the handiwork [of God], and understand that which is purely spiritual, such then would not be a spiritual man but would be the spirit of a man, or the Spirit of God. But when the spirit here blended with the soul is united to [God's] handiwork, the man is rendered spiritual and perfect because of the outpouring of the Spirit, and this is he who was made in the image and likeness of God. But if the Spirit be wanting to the soul, he who is such is indeed of an animal nature, and being left carnal, shall be an imperfect being, possessing indeed the image [of God] in his formation (in plasmate), but not receiving the similitude through the Spirit; and thus is this being imperfect. Thus also, if any one take away the image and set aside the handiwork, he cannot then understand this as being a man, but as either some part of a man, as I have already said, or as something else than a man. For that flesh which has been moulded is not a perfect man in itself, but the body of a man, and part of a man. Neither is the soul itself, considered apart by itself, the man; but it is the soul of a man, and part of a man. Neither is the spirit a man, for it is called the spirit, and not a man; but the commingling and union of all these constitutes the perfect man. And for this cause does the apostle, explaining himself, make it clear that the saved man is a complete man as well as a spiritual man; saying thus in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians, "Now the God of peace sanctify you perfect (perfectos); and may your spirit, and soul, and body be preserved whole without complaint to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ."(1) Now what was his object in praying that these three -- that is, soul, body, and spirit --  might be preserved to the coming of the Lord, unless he was aware of the [future] reintegration and union of the three, and [that they should be heirs of] one and the same salvation? For this cause also he declares that those are "the perfect" who present unto the Lord the three [component parts] without offence. Those, then, are the perfect who have had the Spirit of God remaining in them, and have preserved their souls and bodies blameless, holding fast the faith of God, that is, that faith which is [directed] towards God, and maintaining righteous dealings with respect to their neighbours.

2. Whence also he says, that this handiwork is "the temple of God," thus declaring: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man, therefore, will defile the temple of God, him will God destroy: for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are."(2) Here he manifestly declares the body to be the temple in which the Spirit dwells. As also the Lord speaks in reference to Himself, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. He spake this, however," it is said, "of the temple of His body."(3) And not only does he (the apostle) acknowledge our bodies to be a temple, but even the temple of Christ, saying thus to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?"(4) He speaks these things, not in reference to some other spiritual man; for a being of such a nature could have nothing to do with an harlot: but he declares "our body," that is, the flesh which continues in sanctity and purity, to be "the members of Christ;" but that when it becomes one with an harlot, it becomes the members of an harlot. And for this reason he said, "If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy." How then is it not the utmost blasphemy to allege, that the temple of God, in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members of Christ, do not partake of salvation, but are reduced to perdition? Also, that our bodies are raised not from their own substance, but by the power of God, he says to the Corinthians, "Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. But God hath both raised up the Lord, and shall raise us up by His own power."(5)



CHAPTER 7 -- INASMUCH AS CHRIST DID RISE IN OUR FLESH, IT FOLLOWS THAT WE SHALL BE ALSO RAISED IN THE SAME; SINCE THE RESURRECTION PROMISED TO US SHOULD NOT BE REFERRED TO SPIRITS NATURALLY IMMORTAL, BUT TO BODIES IN THEMSELVES MORTAL. 

1. In the same manner, therefore, as Christ did rise in the substance of flesh, and pointed out to His disciples the mark of the nails and the opening in His side(6) (now these are the tokens of that flesh which rose from the dead), so "shall He also," it is said, "raise us up by His own power."(7) And again to the Romans he says, "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies."(8) What, then, are mortal bodies? Can they be souls? Nay, for souls are incorporeal when put in comparison with mortal bodies; for God "breathed into the face of man the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Now the breath of life is an incorporeal thing. And certainly they cannot maintain that the very breath of life is mortal. Therefore David says, "My soul also shall live to Him,"(1) just as if its substance were immortal. Neither, on the other hand, can they say that the spirit is the mortal body. What therefore is there left to which we may apply the term "mortal body," unless it be the thing that was moulded, that is, the flesh, of which it is also said that God will vivify it? For this it is which dies and is decomposed, but not the soul or the spirit. For to die is to lose vital power, and to become henceforth breathless, inanimate, and devoid of motion, and to melt away into those [component parts] from which also it derived the commencement of [its] substance. But this event happens neither to the soul, for it is the breath of life; nor to the spirit, for the spirit is simple and not composite, so that it cannot be decomposed, and is itself the life of those who receive it. We must therefore conclude that it is in reference to the flesh that death is mentioned; which [flesh], after the soul's departure, becomes breathless and inanimate, and is decomposed gradually into the earth from which it was taken. This, then, is what is mortal. And it is this of which he also says," He shall also quicken your mortal bodies." And therefore in reference to it he says, in the first [Epistle] to the Corinthians: "So also is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it rises in incorruption."(2) For he declares, "That which thou sowest cannot be quickened, unless first it die."(3)

2. But what is that which, like a grain of wheat, is sown in the earth and decays, unless it be the bodies which are laid in the earth, into which seeds are also cast? And for this reason he said, "It is sown in dishonour, it rises in glory."(4) For what is more ignoble than dead flesh? Or, on the other hand, what is more glorious than the same when it arises and partakes of incorruption? "It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power:"(5) in its own weakness certainly, because since it is earth it goes to earth; but [it is quickened] by the power of God, who raises it from the dead. "It is sown an animal body, it rises a spiritual body."(6) He has taught, beyond all doubt, that such language was not used by him, either with reference to the soul or to the spirit, but to bodies that have become corpses. For these are animal bodies, that is, [bodies] which partake of life, which when they have lost, they succumb to death; then, rising through the Spirit's instrumentality, they become spiritual bodies, so that by the Spirit they possess a perpetual life. "For now," he says, "we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but then face to face."(7) And this it is which has been said also by Peter: "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom now also, not seeing, ye believe; and believing, ye shall rejoice with joy unspeakable."(8) For our face shall see the face of the Lord? and shall rejoice with joy unspeakable, -- that is to say, when it shall behold its own Delight.



CHAPTER 8 -- THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHICH WE RECEIVE PREPARE US FOR INCORRUPTION, RENDER US SPIRITUAL, AND SEPARATE US FROM CARNAL MEN. THESE TWO CLASSES ARE SIGNIFIED BY THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS IN THE LEGAL DISPENSATION. 

1. But we do now receive a certain portion of His Spirit, tending towards perfection, and preparing us for incorruption, being little by little accustomed to receive and bear God; which also the apostle terms "an earnest," that is, a part of the honour which has been promised us by God, where he says in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "In which ye also, having heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation, believing in which we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance."(10) This earnest, therefore, thus dwelling in us, renders us spiritual even now, and the mortal is swallowed up by immortality.(11) "For ye," he declares, "are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."(12) This, however does not take place by a casting away of the flesh, but by the impartation of the Spirit. For those to whom he was writing were not without flesh, but they were those who had received the Spirit of God, "by which we cry, Abba, Father."(13) If therefore, at the present time, having the earnest, we do cry, "Abba, Father," what shall it be when, on rising again, we behold Him face to face; when all the members shall burst out into a continuous hymn of triumph, glorifying Him who raised them from the dead, and gave the gift of eternal life? For if the earnest, gathering man into itself, does even now cause him to cry, "Abba, Father," what shall the complete grace of the Spirit effect, which shall be given to men by God? It will render us like unto Him, and accomplish the will(14) of the Father; for it shall make man after the image and likeness of God.

2. Those persons, then, who possess the earnest of the Spirit, and who are not enslaved by the lusts of the flesh, but are subject to the Spirit, and who in all things walk according to the light of reason, does the apostle properly term "spiritual," because the Spirit of God dwells in them. Now, spiritual men shall not be incorporeal spirits; but our substance, that is, the union of flesh and spirit, receiving the Spirit of God, makes up the spiritual man. But those who do indeed reject the Spirit's counsel, and are the slaves of fleshly lusts, and lead lives contrary to reason, and who, without restraint, plunge headlong into their own desires, having no longing after the Divine Spirit, do live after the manner of swine and of dogs; these men, [I say], does the apostle very properly term "carnal," because they have no thought of anything else except carnal things.

3. For the same reason, too, do the prophets compare them to irrational animals, on account of the irrationality of their conduct, saying, "They have become as horses raging for the females; each one of them neighing after his neighbour's wife."(1) And again, "Man, when he was in honour, was made like unto cattle."(2) This denotes that, for his own fault, he is likened to cattle, by rivalling their irrational life. And we also, as the custom is, do designate men of this stamp as cattle and irrational beasts.

4. Now the law has figuratively predicted all these, delineating man by the [various] animals:(3) whatsoever of these, says [the Scripture], have a double hoof and ruminate, it proclaims as clean; but whatsoever of them do not possess one or other of these [properties], it sets aside b themselves as unclean. Who then are the clean? Those who make their way by faith steadily towards the Father and the Son; for this is denoted by the steadiness of those which divide the hoof; and they meditate day and night upon the words of God,(4) that they may be adorned with good works: for this is the meaning of the ruminants. The unclean, however, are those which do neither divide the hoof nor ruminate; that is, those persons who have neither faith in God, nor do meditate on His words: and such is the abomination of the Gentiles. But as to those animals which do indeed chew the cud, but have not the double hoof, and are themselves unclean, we have in them a figurative description of the Jews, who certainly have the words of God in their mouth, but who do not fix their rooted stedfastness in the Father and in the Son; wherefore they are an unstable generation. For those animals which have the hoof all in one piece easily slip; but those which have it divided are more sure-footed, their cleft hoofs succeeding each other as they advance, and the one hoof supporting the other. In like manner, too, those are unclean which have the double hoof but do not ruminate: this is plainly an indication of all heretics, and of those who do not meditate on the words of God, neither are adorned with works of righteousness; to whom also the Lord says, "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say to you?"(5) For men of this stamp do indeed say that they believe in the Father and the Son, but they never meditate as they should upon the things of God, neither are they adorned with works of righteousness; but, as I have already observed, they have adopted the lives of swine and of dogs, giving themselves over to filthiness, to gluttony, and recklessness of all sorts. Justly, therefore, did the apostle call all such "carnal" and "animal,"(6) -- [all those, namely], who through their own unbelief and luxury do not receive the Divine Spirit, and in their various phases east out from themselves the life-giving Word, and walk stupidly after their own lusts: the prophets, too, spake of them as beasts of burden and wild beasts; custom likewise has viewed them in the light of cattle and irrational creatures; and the law has pronounced them unclean.



CHAPTER 9 -- SHOWING HOW THAT PASSAGE OF THE APOSTLE WHICH THE HERETICS PERVERT, SHOULD BE UNDERSTOOD;VIZ., "FLESH AND BLOOD SHALL NOT POSSESS THE KINGDOM OF GOD." 

1. Among the other [truths] proclaimed by the apostle, there is also this one, "That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."(7) This is [the passage] which is adduced by all the heretics in support of their folly, with an attempt to annoy us, and to point out that the handiwork of God is not saved. They do not take this fact into consideration, that there are three things out of which, as I have shown, the complete man is composed -- flesh, soul, and spirit. One of these does indeed preserve and fashion [the man] -- this is the spirit; while as to another it is united and formed -- that is the flesh; then [comes] that which is between these two -- that is the soul, which sometimes indeed, when it follows the spirit, is raised up by it, but sometimes it sympathizes with the flesh, and falls into carnal lusts. Those then, as many as they be, who have not that which saves and forms [us] into life [eternal], shall be, and shall be called, [mere] flesh and blood; for these are they who have not the Spirit of God in themselves. Wherefore men of this stamp are spoken of by the Lord as "dead;" for, says He, "Let the dead bury their dead,"(1) because they have not the Spirit which quickens man.

2. On the other hand, as many as fear God and trust in His Son's advent, and who through faith do establish the Spirit of God in their hearts, -- such men as these shall be properly called both "pure," and "spiritual," and "those living to God," because they possess the Spirit of the Father, who purifies man, and raises him up to the life of God. For as the Lord has testified that "the flesh is weak," so [does He also say] that "the spirit is willing."(2) For this latter is capable of working out its own suggestions. If, therefore, any one admix the ready inclination of the Spirit to be, as it were, a stimulus to the infirmity of the flesh, it inevitably follows that what is strong will prevail over the weak, so that the weakness of the flesh will be absorbed by the strength of the Spirit; and that the man in whom this takes place cannot in that case be carnal, but Spiritual, because of the fellowship of the Spirit. Thus it is, therefore, that the martyrs bear their witness, and despise death, not after the infirmity of the flesh, but because of the readiness of the Spirit. For when the infirmity of the flesh is absorbed, it exhibits the Spirit as powerful; and again, when the Spirit absorbs the weakness [of the flesh], it possesses the flesh as an inheritance in itself, and from both of these is formed a living man, -- living, indeed, because he partakes of the Spirit, but man, because of the substance of flesh.

3. The flesh, therefore, when destitute of the Spirit of God, is dead, not having life, and cannot possess the kingdom of God: [it is as] irrational blood, like water poured out upon the ground. And therefore he says, "As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy."(3) But where the Spirit of the Father is, there is a living man; [there is] the rational blood preserved by God for the avenging [of those that shed it]; [there is] the flesh possessed by the Spirit, forgetful indeed of what belongs to it, and adopting the quality of the Spirit, being made conformable to the Word of God. And on this account he (the apostle) declares, "As we have borne the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is from heaven."(4) What, therefore, is the earthly? That which was fashioned. And what is the heavenly? The Spirit. As therefore he says, when we were destitute of the celestial Spirit, we walked in former times in the oldness of the flesh, not obeying God; so now let us, receiving the Spirit, walk in newness of life, obeying God. Inasmuch, therefore, as without the Spirit of God we cannot be saved, the apostle exhorts us through faith and chaste conversation to preserve the Spirit of God, lest, having become non-participators of the Divine Spirit, we lose the kingdom of heaven; and he exclaims, that flesh in itself, and blood, cannot possess the kingdom God.

4. If, however, we must speak strictly, [we would say that] the flesh does not inherit, but is inherited; as also the Lord declares, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth by inheritance;"(5) as if in the [future] kingdom, the earth, from whence exists the substance Of our flesh, is to be possessed by inheritance. This is the reason for His wishing the temple (i.e., the flesh) to be clean, that the Spirit of God may take delight therein, as a bridegroom with a bride. As, therefore, the bride cannot [be said] to wed, but to be wedded, when the bridegroom comes and takes her, so also the flesh cannot by itself possess the kingdom of God by inheritance; but it can be taken for an inheritance into the kingdom of God. For a living person inherits the goods of the deceased; and it is one thing to inherit, another to be inherited. The former rules, and exercises power over, and orders the things inherited at his will; but the latter things are in a state of subjection, are under order, and are ruled over by him who has obtained the inheritance. What, therefore, is it that lives? The Spirit of God, doubtless. What, again, are the possessions of the deceased? The various parts of the man, surely, which rot in the earth. But these are inherited by the Spirit when they are translated into the kingdom of heaven. For this cause, too, did Christ die. that the Gospel covenant being manifested and known to the whole world, might in the first place set free His slaves; and then afterwards, as I have already shown, might constitute them heirs of His property, when the Spirit possesses them by inheritance. For he who lives inherits, but the flesh is inherited. In order that we may not lose life by losing that Spirit which possesses us, the apostle, exhorting us to the communion of the Spirit, has said, according to reason, in those words already quoted, "That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Just as if he were to say, "Do not err; for unless the Word of God dwell with, and the Spirit of the Father be in you, and if ye shall live frivolously and carelessly as if ye were this only, viz., mere flesh and blood, ye cannot inherit the kingdom of God."



CHAPTER 10 -- BY A COMPARISON DRAWN FROM THE WILD OLIVE-TREE, WHOSE QUALITY BUT NOT WHOSE NATURE IS CHANGED BY GRAFTING, HE PROVES MORE IMPORTANT THINGS; HE POINTS OUT ALSO THAT MAN WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS NOT CAPABLE OF BRINGING FORTH FRUIT, OR OF INHERITING THE KINGDOM OF GOD. 

1. This truth, therefore, [he declares], in order that we may not reject the engrafting of the Spirit while pampering the flesh. "But thou, being a wild olive-tree," he says, "hast been grafted into the good olive-tree, and been made a partaker of the fatness of the olive-tree." As, therefore, when the wild olive has been engrafted, if it remain in its former condition, viz., a wild olive, it is "cut off, and cast into the fire;"(2) but if it takes kindly to the graft, and is changed into the good olive-tree, it becomes a fruit-bearing olive, planted, as it were, in a king's park (paradiso): so likewise men, if they do truly progress by faith towards better things, and receive the Spirit of God, and bring forth the fruit thereof, shall be spiritual, as being planted in the paradise of God. But if they cast out the Spirit, and remain in their former condition, desirous of being of the flesh rather than of the Spirit, then it is very justly said with regard to men of this stamp, "That flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God;"(3) just as if any one were to say that the wild olive is not received into the paradise of God. Admirably therefore does the apostle exhibit our nature, and God's universal appointment, in his discourse about flesh and blood and the wild olive. For as the good olive, if neglected for a certain time, if left to grow wild and to run to i wood, does itself become a wild olive; or again, if the wild olive be carefully tended and grafted, it naturally reverts to its former fruit-bearing condition: so men also, when they become careless, and bring forth for fruit the lusts of the flesh like woody produce, are rendered, by their own fault, unfruitful in righteousness. For when men sleep, the enemy sows the material of tares;(4) and for this cause did the Lord command His disciples to be on the watch.(5) And again, those persons who are not bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, and are, as it were, covered over and lost among brambles, if they use diligence, and receive the word of God as a graft,(6) arrive at the pristine nature of man -- that which was created after the image and likeness of God.

2. But as the engrafted wild olive does not certainly lose the substance of its wood, but changes the quality of its fruit, and receives another name, being now not a wild olive, but a fruit-bearing olive, and is called so; so also, when man is grafted in by faith and receives the Spirit of God, he certainly does not lose the substance of flesh, but changes the quality of the fruit [brought forth, i.e.,] of his works, and receives another name,(7) showing that he has become changed for the better, being now not [mere] flesh and blood, but a spiritual man, and is called such. Then, again, as the wild olive, if it be not grafted in, remains useless to its lord because of its woody quality, and is cut down as a tree bearing no fruit, and cast into the fire; so also man, if he does not receive through faith the engrafting of the Spirit, remains in his old condition, and being [mere] flesh and blood, he cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Rightly therefore does the apostle declare, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;"(8) and, "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God:"(9) not repudiating [by these words] the substance of flesh, but showing that into it the Spirit must be infused.(10) And for this reason, he says, "This mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption."(11) And again he declares, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."(12) He sets this forth still more plainly, where he says, "The body indeed is dead, because of sin; but the Spirit is life, because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, because of His Spirit dwelling in you."(13) And again he says, in the Epistle to the Romans, "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die."(14) [Now by these words] he does not prohibit them from living their lives in the flesh, for he was himself in the flesh when he wrote to them; but he cuts away the lusts of the flesh, those which bring death upon a man. And for this reason he says in continuation, "But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the works of the flesh, ye shall live. For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God."



CHAPTER 11 -- TREATS UPON THE ACTIONS OF CARNAL AND OF SPIRITUAL PERSONS; ALSO, THAT THE SPIRITUAL CLEANSING IS NOT TO BE REFERRED TO THE SUBSTANCE OF OUR BODIES, BUT TO THE MANNER OF OUR FORMER LIFE. 

1. [The apostle], foreseeing the wicked speeches of unbelievers, has particularized the works which he terms carnal; and he explains himself, lest any room for doubt be left to those who do dishonestly pervert his meaning, thus saying in the Epistle to the Galatians: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, luxuriousness, idolatries, witchcrafts,(1) hatreds, contentions jealousies, wraths, emulations, animosities, irritable speeches, dissensions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and such like; of which I warn you, as also I have warned you, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."(2) Thus does he point out to his hearers in a more explicit manner what it is [he means when he declares], "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God." For they who do these things, since they do indeed walk after the flesh, have not the power of living unto God. And then, again, he proceeds to tell us the spiritual actions which vivify a man, that is, the engrafting of the Spirit; thus saying, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, benignity, faith, meekness, continence, chastity: against these there is no law."(3) As, therefore, he who has gone forward to the better things, and has brought forth the fruit of the Spirit, is saved altogether because of the communion of the Spirit; so also he who has continued in the aforesaid works of the flesh, being truly reckoned as carnal, because he did not receive the Spirit of God, shall not have power to inherit the kingdom of heaven. As, again, the same apostle testifies, saying to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not err," he says: "neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor revilers, nor rapacious persons, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And these ye indeed have been; but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."(4) He shows in the clearest manner through what things it is that man goes to destruction, if he has continued to live after the flesh; and then, on the other hand, [he points out] through what things he is saved. Now he says that the things which save are the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God.

2. Since, therefore, in that passage he recounts those works of the flesh which are without the Spirit, which bring death [upon their doers], he exclaimed at the end of his Epistle, in accordance with what he had already declared, "And as we have borne the image of him who is of the earth, we shall also bear the image of Him who is from heaven. For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."(5) Now this which he says, "as we have borne the image of him who is of the earth," is analogous to what has been declared, "And such indeed ye were; but ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God." When, therefore, did we bear the image of him who is of the earth? Doubtless it was when those actions spoken of as "works of the flesh" used to be wrought in us. And then, again, when [do we bear] the image of the heavenly? Doubtless when he says, "Ye have been washed," believing in the name of the Lord, and receiving His Spirit. Now we have washed away, not the substance of our body, nor the image of our [primary] formation, but the former vain conversation. In these members, therefore, in which we were going to destruction by working the works of corruption, in these very members are we made alive by working the works of the Spirit.



CHAPTER 12 -- OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH; OF THE BREATH OF LIFE AND THE VIVIFYING SPIRIT: ALSO HOW IT IS THAT THE SUBSTANCE OF FLESH REVIVES WHICH ONCE WAS DEAD. 

1. For as the flesh is capable of corruption, so is it also of incorruption; and as it is of death, so is it also of life. These two do mutually give way to each other; and both cannot remain in the same place, but one is driven out by the other, and the presence of the one destroys that of the other. If, then, when death takes possession of a man, it drives life away from him, and proves him to be dead, much more does life, when it has obtained power over the man, drive out death, and restore him as living unto God. For if death brings mortality, why should not life, when it comes, vivify man? Just as Esaias the prophet says, "Death devoured when it had prevailed."(6) And again, "God has wiped away every tear from every face." Thus that former life is expelled, because it was not given by the Spirit, but by the breath.

2. For the breath of life, which also rendered man an animated being, is one thing, and the vivifying Spirit another, which also caused him to become spiritual. And for this reason Isaiah said, "Thus saith the LORD, who made heaven and established it, who founded the earth and the things therein, and gave breath to the people upon it, and Spirit to those walking upon it;"(1) thus telling us that breath is indeed given in common to all people upon earth, but that the Spirit is theirs alone who tread down earthly desires. And therefore Isaiah himself, distinguishing the things already mentioned, again exclaims, "For the Spirit shall go forth from Me, and I have made every breath."(2) Thus does he attribute the Spirit as peculiar to God which in the last times He pours forth upon the human race by the adoption of sons; but [he shows] that breath was common throughout the creation, and points it out as something created. Now what has been made is a different thing from him who makes it. The breath, then, is temporal, but the Spirit eternal. The breath, too, increases [in strength] for a short period, and continues for a certain time; after that it takes its departure, leaving its former abode destitute of breath. But when the Spirit pervades the man within and without, inasmuch as it continues there, it never leaves him. "But that is not first which is spiritual," says the apostle, speaking this as if with reference to us human beings; "but that is first which is animal, afterwards that which is spiritual,"(3) in accordance with reason. For there had been a necessity that, in the first place, a human being should be fashioned, and that what was fashioned should receive the soul; afterwards that it should thus receive the communion of the Spirit. Wherefore also "the first Adam was made" by the Lord "a living soul, the second Adam a quickening spirit."(4) As, then, he who was made a living soul forfeited life when he turned aside to what was evil, so, on the other hand, the same individual, when he reverts to what is good, and receives the quickening Spirit, shall find life.

3. For it is not one thing which dies and another which is quickened, as neither is it one thing Which is lost and another which is found, but the Lord came seeking for that same sheep which had been lost. What was it, then, which was dead? Undoubtedly it was the substance of the flesh; the same, too, which had lost the breath of life, and had become breathless and dead. This same, therefore, was what the Lord came to quicken, that as in Adam we do all die, as being of an animal nature, in Christ we may all live, as being spiritual, not laying aside God's handiwork, but the lusts of the flesh, and receiving the Holy Spirit; as the apostle says in the Epistle to the Colossians: "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth." And what these are he himself explains: "Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence; and covetousness, which is idolatry."(5) The laying aside of these is what the apostle preaches; and he declares that those who do such things, as being merely flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven. For their soul, tending towards what is worse, and descending to earthly lusts, has become a partaker in the same designation which belongs to these [lusts, viz., "earthly"], which, when the apostle commands us to lay aside, he says in the same Epistle, "Cast ye off the old man with his deeds."(6) But when he said this, he does not remove away the ancient formation [of man]; for in that case it would be incumbent on us to rid ourselves of its company by committing suicide.

4. But the apostle himself also, being one who had been formed in a womb, and had issued thence, wrote to us, and confessed in his Epistle to the Philippians that "to live in the flesh was the fruit of [his] work;"(7) thus expressing himself. Now the final result of the work of the Spirit is the salvation of the flesh.(8) For what other visible fruit is there of the invisible Spirit, than the rendering of the flesh mature and capable of incorruption? If then [he says], "To live in the flesh, this is the result of labour to me," he did not surely contemn the substance of flesh in that passage where he said, "Put ye off the old man with his works;"(9) but he points out that we should lay aside our former conversation, that which waxes old and becomes corrupt; and for this reason he goes on to say, "And put ye on the new man, that which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him who created him." In this, therefore, that he says, "which is renewed in knowledge," he demonstrates that he, the selfsame man who was in ignorance in times past, that is, in ignorance of God, is renewed by that knowledge which has respect to Him. For the knowledge of God renews man. And when he says, "after the image of the Creator," he sets forth the recapitulation of the same man, who was at the beginning made after the likeness of God.

5. And that he, the apostle, was the very same person who had been born from the womb, that is, of the ancient substance of flesh, he does himself declare in the Epistle to the Galatians: "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles," (10) it was not, as I have already observed, one person who had been born from the womb, and another who preached the Gospel of the Son of God; but that same individual who formerly was ignorant, and used to persecute the Church, when the revelation was made to him from heaven, and the Lord conferred with him, as I have pointed out in the third book,(1) preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, his former ignorance being driven out by his subsequent knowledge: just as the blind men whom the Lord healed did certainly lose their blindness, but received the substance of their eyes perfect, and obtained the power of vision in the very same eyes with which they formerly did not see; the darkness being merely driven away by the power of vision, while the substance of the eyes was retained, in order that, by means of those eyes through which they had not seen, exercising again the visual power, they might give thanks to Him who had restored them again to sight. And thus, also, he whose withered hand was healed, and all who were healed generally, did not change those parts of their bodies which had at their birth come forth from the womb, but simply obtained these anew in a healthy condition.

6. For the Maker of all things, the Word of God, who did also from the beginning form man, when He found His handiwork impaired by wickedness, performed upon it all kinds of healing. At one time [He did so], as regards each separate member, as it is found in His own handiwork; and at another time He did once for all restore man sound and whole in all points, preparing him perfect for Himself unto the resurrection. For what was His object in healing [different] portions of the flesh, and restoring them to their original condition, if those parts which had been healed by Him were not in a position to obtain salvation? For if it was [merely] a temporary benefit which He conferred, He granted nothing of importance to those who were the subjects of His healing. Or how can they maintain that the flesh is incapable of receiving the life which flows from Him, when it received healing from Him? For life is brought about through healing, and incorruption through life. He, therefore, who confers healing, the same does also confer life; and He [who gives] life, also surrounds His own handiwork with incorruption.



CHAPTER 13 -- IN THE DEAD WHO WERE RAISED BY CHRIST WE POSSESS THE HIGHEST PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION; AND OUR HEARTS ARE SHOWN TO BE CAPABLE OF LIFE ETERNAL, BECAUSE THEY CAN NOW RECEIVE THE SPIRIT OF GOD. 

1. Let our opponents -- that is, they who speak against their own salvation -- inform us [as to this point]: The deceased daughter of the high priest;(2) the widow's dead son, who was being carded out [to burial] near the gate [of the city];(3) and Lazarus, who had lain four days in the tomb,(4) -- in what bodies did they rise again? In those same, no doubt, in which they had also died. For if it were not in the very same, then certainly those same individuals who had died did not rise again. For [the Scripture] says, "The Lord took the hand of the dead man, and said to him, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And the dead man sat up, and He commanded that something should be given him to eat; and He delivered him to his mother."(5) Again, He called Lazarus "with a loud voice, saying, Lazarus, come forth; and he that was dead came forth bound with bandages, feet and hands." This was symbolical of that man who had been bound in sins. And therefore the Lord said, "Loose him, and let him depart." As, therefore, those who were healed were made whole in those members which had in times past been afflicted; and the dead rose in the identical bodies, their limbs and bodies receiving health, and that life which was granted by the Lord, who prefigures eternal things by temporal, and shows that it is He who is Himself able to extend both healing and life to His handiwork, that His words concerning its [future] resurrection may also be believed; so also at the end, when the Lord utters His voice "by the last trumpet,"(6) the dead shall be raised, as He Himself declares: "The hour shall come, in which all the dead which are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."(7)

2. Vain, therefore, and truly miserable, are those who do not choose to see what is so manifest and clear, but shun the light of truth, blinding themselves like the tragic OEdipus. And as those who are not practised in wrestling, when they contend with others, laying hold with a determined grasp of some part of [their opponent's] body, really fall by means of that which they grasp, yet when they fall, imagine that they are gaining the victory, because they have obstinately kept their hold upon that part which they seized at the outset, and besides falling, become subjects of ridicule; so is it with respect to that [favourite] expression of the heretics: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" while taking two expressions of Paul's, without having perceived the apostle's meaning, or examined critically the force of the terms, but keeping fast hold of the mere expressions by themselves, they die in consequence of their influence (;periautas), overturning as far as in them lies the entire dispensation of God.

3. For thus they will allege that this passage refers to the flesh strictly so called, and not to fleshly works, as I have pointed out, so representing the apostle as contradicting himself. For immediately following, in the same Epistle, he says conclusively, speaking thus in reference to the flesh: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So, when this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory?"(1) Now these words shall be appropriately said at the time when this mortal and corruptible flesh, which is subject to death, which also is pressed down by a certain dominion of death, rising up into life, shall put on incorruption and immortality. For then, indeed, shall death be truly vanquished, when that flesh which is held down by it shall go forth from under its dominion. And again, to the Philippians he says: "But our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who shall transfigure the body of our humiliation conformable to the body of His glory, even as He is able (ita ut possit) according to the working of His own power."(2) What, then, is this "body of humiliation" which the Lord shall transfigure, [so as to be] conformed to "the body of His glory?" Plainly it is this body composed of flesh, which is indeed humbled when it falls into the earth. Now its transformation [takes place thus], that while it is mortal and corruptible, it becomes immortal and incorruptible, not after its own proper substance, but after the mighty working of the Lord, who is able to invest the mortal with immortality, and the corruptible with incorruption. And therefore he says,(3) "that mortality may be swallowed up of life. He who has perfected us for this very thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit."(4) He uses these words most manifestly in reference to the flesh; for the soul is not mortal, neither is the spirit. Now, what is mortal shall be swallowed up of life, when the flesh is dead no longer, but remains living and incorruptible, hymning the praises of God, who has perfected us for this very thing. In order, therefore, that we may be perfected for this, aptly does he say to the Corinthians, "Glorify God in your body."(5) Now God is He who gives rise to immortality.

4. That he uses these words with respect to the body of flesh, and to none other, he declares to the Corinthians manifestly, indubitably, and free from all ambiguity: "Always bearing about in our body the dying of Jesus,(6) that also the life of Jesus Christ might be manifested in our body. For if we who live are delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, it is that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh."(7) And that the Spirit lays hold on the flesh, he says in the same Epistle, "That ye axe the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart."(8) If, therefore, in the present time, fleshly hearts are made partakers of the Spirit, what is there astonishing if, in the resurrection, they receive that life which is granted by the Spirit? Of which resurrection the apostle speaks in the Epistle to the Philippians: "Having been made conformable to His death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection which is from the dead."(9) In what other mortal flesh, therefore, can life be understood as being manifested, unless in that substance which is also put to death on account of that confession which is made of God? -- as he has himself declared, "If, as a man, I have fought with beasts(10) at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if the dead rise not? For if the dead rise not, neither has Christ risen. Now, if Christ has not risen, our preaching is vain, and your faith is vain. In that case, too, we are found false witnesses for God, since we have testified that He raised up Christ, whom [upon that supposition] He did not raise up.(11) For if the dead rise not, neither has Christ risen. But if Christ be not risen, your faith is vain, since ye are yet in your sins. Therefore those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are more miserable than all men. But now Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of those that sleep; for as by man [came] death, by man also [came] the resurrection of the dead."(1)

5. In all these passages, therefore, as I have already said, these men must either allege that the apostle expresses opinions contradicting himself, with respect to that statement, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" or, on the other hand, they will be forced to make perverse and crooked interpretations of all the passages, so as to overturn and alter the sense of the words. For what sensible thing can they say, if they endeavour to interpret otherwise this which he writes: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality;"(2) and, "That the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh;"(3) and all the other passages in which the apostle does manifestly and clearly declare the resurrection and incorruption of the flesh? And thus shall they be compelled to put a false interpretation upon passages such as these, they who do not choose to understand one correctly.



CHAPTER 14 -- UNLESS THE FLESH WERE TO BE SAVED, THE WORD WOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN UPON HIM FLESH OF THE SAME SUBSTANCE AS OURS: FROM THIS IT WOULD FOLLOW THAT NEITHER SHOULD WE HAVE BEEN RECONCILED BY HIM. 

1. And inasmuch as the apostle has not pronounced against the very substance of flesh and blood, that it cannot inherit the kingdom of God, the same apostle has everywhere adopted the term "flesh and blood" with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, partly indeed to establish His human nature (for He did Himself speak of Himself as the Son of man), and partly that He might confirm the salvation of our flesh. For if the flesh were not in a position to be saved, the Word of God would in no wise have become flesh. And if the blood of the righteous were not to be inquired after, the Lord would certainly not have had blood [in His composition]. But inasmuch as blood cries out (vocalis est) from the beginning [of the world], God said to Cain, when he had slain his brother, "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to Me."(4) And as their blood will be inquired after, He said to those with Noah, "For your blood of your souls will I require, [even] from the hand of all beasts;"(5) and again, "Whosoever will shed man's blood,(6) it shall be shed for his blood." In like manner, too, did the Lord say to those who should afterwards shed His blood, "All righteous blood shall be required which is shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation."(7) He thus points out the recapitulation that should take place in his own person of the effusion of blood from the beginning, of all the righteous men and of the prophets, and that by means of Himself there should be a requisition of their blood. Now this [blood] could not be required unless it also had the capability of being saved; nor would the Lord have summed up these things in Himself, unless He had Himself been made flesh and blood after the way of the original formation [of man], saving in his own person at the end that which had in the beginning perished in Adam.

2. But if the Lord became incarnate for any other order of things, and took flesh of any other substance, He has not then summed up human nature in His own person, nor in that case can He be termed flesh. For flesh has been truly made [to consist in] a transmission of that thing moulded originally from the dust. But if it had been necessary for Him to draw the material [of His body] from another substance, the Father would at the beginning have moulded the material [of flesh] from a different substance [than from what He actually did]. But now the case stands thus, that the Word has saved that which really was [created, viz.,] humanity which had perished, effecting by means of Himself that communion which should be held with it, and seeking out its salvation. But the thing which had perished possessed flesh and blood. For the Lord, taking dust from the earth, moulded man; and it was upon his behalf that all the dispensation of the Lord's advent took place. He had Himself, therefore, flesh and blood, recapitulating in Himself not a certain other, but that original handiwork of the Father, seeking out that thing which had perished. And for this cause the apostle, in the Epistle to the Colossians, says, "And though ye were formerly alienated, and enemies to His knowledge by evil works, yet now ye have been reconciled in the body of His flesh, through His death, to present yourselves holy and chaste, and without fault in His sight."(8) He says, "Ye have been reconciled in the body of His flesh," because the righteous flesh has reconciled that flesh which was being kept under bondage in sin, and brought it into friendship with God.

3. If, then, any one allege that in this respect the flesh of the Lord was different from ours, because it indeed did not commit sin, neither was deceit found in His soul, while we, on the other hand, are sinners, he says what is the fact. But if he pretends that the, Lord possessed another substance of flesh, the sayings respecting reconciliation will not agree with that man. For that thing is reconciled which had formerly been in enmity. Now, if the Lord had taken flesh from another substance, He would not, by so doing, have reconciled that one to God which had become inimical through transgression. But now, by means of communion with Himself, the Lord has reconciled man to God the Father, in reconciling us to Himself by the body of His own flesh, and redeeming us by His own blood, as the apostle says to the Ephesians, "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins;"(1) and again to the same he says, "Ye who formerly were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ;"(2) and again, "Abolishing in His flesh the enmities, [even] the law of commandments [contained] in ordinances."(3) And in every Epistle the apostle plainly testifies, that through the flesh of our Lord, and through His blood, we have been saved.

4. If, therefore, flesh and blood are the things which procure for us life, it has not been declared of flesh and blood, in the literal meaning (proprie) of the terms, that they cannot inherit the kingdom of God; but [these words apply] to those carnal deeds already mentioned, which, perverting man to sin, deprive him of life. And for this reason he says, in the Epistle to the Romans: "Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, to be under its control: neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves to God, as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."(4) In these same members, therefore, in which we used to serve sin, and bring forth fruit unto death, does He wish us to [be obedient] unto righteousness, that we may bring forth fruit unto life. Remember, therefore, my beloved friend, that thou hast been redeemed by the flesh of our Lord, re-established(5) by His blood; and "holding the Head, from which the whole body of the Church, having been fitted together, takes increase"(6) -- that is, acknowledging the advent in the flesh of the Son of God, and [His] divinity (deum), and looking forward with constancy to His human nature(7) (hominem), availing thyself also of these proofs drawn from Scripture -- thou dost easily overthrow, as I have pointed out, all those notions of the heretics which were concocted afterwards.



CHAPTER 15 -- PROOFS OF THE RESURRECTION FROM ISAIAH AND EZEKIEL; THE SAME GOD WHO CREATED US WILL ALSO RAISE US UP.
1. Now, that He who at the beginning created man, did promise him a second birth after his dissolution into earth, Esaias thus declares: "The dead shall rise again, and they who are in the tombs shall arise, and they who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew which is from Thee is health to them."(8) And again: "I will comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem: and ye shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish as the grass; and the hand of the Lord shall be known to those who worship Him."(9) And Ezekiel speaks as follows: "And the hand of the LORD came upon me, and the LORD led me forth in the Spirit, and set me down in the midst of the plain, and this place was full of bones. And He caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were many upon the surface of the plain very dry. And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live ? And I said, Lord, Thou who hast made them dost know. And He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and thou shalt say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD to these bones, Behold, I will cause the spirit of life to come upon you, and I will lay sinews upon you, and bring up flesh again upon you, and I will stretch skin upon you, and will put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. And I prophesied as the Lord had commanded me. And it came to pass, when I was prophesying, that, behold, an earthquake, and the bones were drawn together, each one to its own articulation: and I beheld, and, lo, the sinews and flesh were produced upon them, and the skins rose upon them round about, but there was no breath in them. And He said unto me, Prophesy to the breath, son of man, and say to the breath, These things saith the LORD, Come from the four winds (spiritibus), and breathe upon these dead, that they may live. So I prophesied as the Lord had commanded me, and the breath entered into them; and they did live, and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great gathering."(10) And again he says, "Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will set your graves open, and cause you to come out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall open your sepulchres, that I may bring my people again out of the sepulchres: and I will put my Spirit into you, and ye shall live; and I will place you in your land, and ye shall know that I am the LORD. I have said, and I will do, saith the LORD." (1) As we at once perceive that the Creator (Demiurgo) is in this passage represented as vivifying our dead bodies, and promising resurrection to them, and resuscitation from their sepulchres and tombs, conferring upon them immortality also (He says, "For as the tree of life, so shall their days be"(2)), He is shown to be the only God who accomplishes these things, and as Himself the good Father, benevolently conferring life upon those who have not life from themselves.

2. And for this reason did the Lord most plainly manifest Himself and the Father to His disciples, lest, forsooth, they might seek after another God besides Him who formed man, and who gave him the breath of life; and that men might not rise to such a pitch of madness as to feign another Father above the Creator. And thus also He healed by a word all the others who were in a weakly condition because of sin; to whom also He said, "Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee:"(3) pointing out by this, that, because of the sin of disobedience, infirmities have come upon men. To that man, however, who had been blind from his birth, He gave sight, not by means of a word, but by an outward action; doing this not without a purpose, or because it so happened, but that He might show forth the hand of God, that which at the beginning had moulded man. And therefore, when His disciples asked Him for what cause the man had been born blind, whether for his own or his parents' fault, He replied, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."(4) Now the work of God is the fashioning of man. For, as the Scripture says, He made [man] by a kind of process: "And the Lord took day from the earth, and formed man."(5) Wherefore also the Lord spat on the ground and made clay, and smeared it upon the eyes, pointing out the original fashioning [of man], how it was effected, and manifesting the hand of God to those who can understand by what [hand] man was formed out of the dust. For that which the artificer, the Word, had omitted to form in the womb, [viz., the blind man's eyes], He then supplied in public, that the works of God might be manifested in him, in order that we might not be seeking out another hand by which man was fashioned, nor another Father; knowing that this hand of God which formed us at the beginning, and which does form us in the womb, has in the last times sought us out who were lost, winning back His own, and taking up the lost sheep upon His shoulders, and with joy restoring it to the fold of life.

3. Now, that the Word of God forms us in the womb, He says to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou wentest forth from the belly, I sanctified thee, and appointed thee a prophet among the nations." (6) And Paul, too, says in like manner, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, that I might declare Him among the nations."(7) As, therefore, we are by the Word formed in the womb, this very same Word formed the visual power in him who had been blind from his birth; showing openly who it is that fashions us in secret, since the Word Himself had been made manifest to men: and declaring the original formation of Adam, and the manner in which he was created, and by what hand he was fashioned, indicating the whole from a part. For the Lord who formed the visual powers is He who made the whole man, carrying out the will of the Father. And inasmuch as man, with respect to that formation which, was after Adam, having fallen into transgression, needed the layer of regeneration, [the Lord] said to him [upon whom He had conferred sight], after He had smeared his eyes with the clay, "Go to Siloam, and wash;"(8) thus restoring to him both [his perfect] confirmation, and that regeneration which takes place by means of the layer. And for this reason when he was washed he came seeing, that he might both know Him who had fashioned him, and that man might learn [to know] Him who has conferred upon him life.

4. All the followers of Valentinus, therefore, lose their case, when they say that man was not fashioned out of this earth, but from a fluid and diffused substance. For, from the earth out of which the Lord formed eyes for that man, from the same earth it is evident that man was also fashioned at the beginning. For it were incompatible that the eyes should indeed be formed from one source and the rest of the body from another; as neither would it be compatible that one [being] fashioned the body, and another the eyes. But He, the very same who formed Adam at the beginning, with whom also the Father spake, [saying], "Let Us make man after Our image and likeness,"(9) revealing Himself in these last times to men, formed visual organs (visionem) for him who had been blind [in that body which he had derived] from Adam. Wherefore also the Scripture, pointing out what should come to pass, says, that when Adam had hid himself because of his disobedience, the Lord came to him at eventide, called him forth, and said, "Where art thou?"(1) That means that in the last times the very same Word of God came to call man, reminding him of his doings, living in which he had been hidden from the Lord. For just as at that time God spake to Adam at eventide, searching him out; so in the last times, by means of the same voice, searching out his posterity, He has visited them.



CHAPTER 16 -- SINCE OUR BODIES RETURN TO THE EARTH, IT FOLLOWS THAT THEY HAVE THEIR SUBSTANCE FROM IT; ALSO, BY THE ADVENT OF THE WORD, THE IMAGE OF GOD IN US APPEARED IN A CLEARER LIGHT. 

1. And since Adam was moulded from this earth to which we belong, the Scripture tells us that God said to him, "In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat thy bread, until thou turnest again to the dust from whence thou weft taken."(2) If then, after death, our bodies return to any other substance, it follows that from it also they have their substance. But if it be into this very [earth], it is manifest that it was also from it that man's frame was created; as also the Lord clearly showed, when from this very substance He formed eyes for the man [to whom He gave sight]. And thus was the hand of God plainly shown forth, by which Adam was fashioned, and we too have been formed; and since there is one and the same Father, whose voice from the beginning even to the end is present with His handiwork, and the substance from which we were formed is plainly declared through the Gospel, we should therefore not seek after another Father besides Him, nor [look for] another substance from which we have been formed, besides what was mentioned beforehand, and shown forth by the Lord; nor another hand of God besides that which, from the beginning even to the end, forms us and prepares us for life, and is present with His handiwork, and perfects it after the image and likeness of God.

2. And then, again, this Word was manifested when the Word of God was made man, assimilating Himself to man, and man to Himself, so that by means of his resemblance to the Son, man might become precious to the Father. For in times long past, it was said that man was created after the image of God, but it was not [actually] shown; for the Word was as yet invisible, after whose image man was created, Wherefore also he did easily lose the similitude. When, however, the Word of God became flesh, He confirmed both these: for He both showed forth the image truly, since He became Himself what was His image; and He re-established the similitude after a sure manner, by assimilating man to the invisible Father through means of the visible Word.

3. And not by the aforesaid things alone has the Lord manifested Himself, but [He has done this] also by means of His passion. For doing away with [the effects of] that disobedience of man which had taken place at the beginning by the occasion of a tree, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;"(3) rectifying that disobedience which had occurred by reason of a tree, through that obedience which was [wrought out] upon the tree [of the cross]. Now He would not have come to do away, by means of that same [image], the disobedience which had been incurred towards our Maker if He proclaimed another Father. But inasmuch as it was by these things that we disobeyed God, and did not give credit to His word, so was it also by these same that He brought in obedience and consent as respects His Word; by which things He clearly shows forth God Himself, whom indeed we had offended in the first Adam, when he did not perform His commandment. In the second Adam, however, we are reconciled, being made obedient even unto death. For we were debtors to none other but to Him whose commandment we had transgressed at the beginning.



CHAPTER 17 -- THERE IS BUT ONE LORD AND ONE GOD, THE FATHER AND CREATOR OF ALL THINGS, WHO HAS LOVED US IN CHRIST, GIVEN US COMMANDMENTS, AND REMITTED OUR SINS; WHOSE SON AND WORD CHRIST PROVED HIMSELF TO BE, WHEN HE FORGAVE OUR SINS. 

1. Now this being is the Creator (Demiurgus), who is, in respect of His love, the Father; but in respect of His power, He is Lord; and in respect of His wisdom, our Maker and Fashioner; by transgressing whose commandment we became His enemies. And therefore in the last times the Lord has restored us into friendship through His incarnation, having become "the Mediator between God and men;"(4) propitiating indeed for us the Father against whom we had sinned, and cancelling (consolatus) our disobedience by His own obedience; conferring also upon us the gift of communion with, and subjection to, our Maker. For this reason also He has taught us to say in prayer, "And forgive us our debts;"(5) since indeed He is our Father, whose debtors we were, having transgressed His commandments. But who is this Being? Is He some unknown one, and a Father who gives no commandment to any one? Or is He the God who is proclaimed in the Scriptures, to whom we were debtors, having transgressed His commandment? Now the commandment was given to man by the Word. For Adam, it is said, "heard the voice of the LORD God."(1) Rightly then does His Word say to man, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;"(2) He, the same against whom we had sinned in the beginning, grants forgiveness of sins in the end. But if indeed we had disobeyed the command of any other, while it was a different being who said, "Thy sins are forgiven thee;"(2) such an one is neither good, nor true, nor just. For how can he be good, who does not give from what belongs to himself? Or how can he be just, who snatches away the goods of another? And in what way can sins be truly remitted, unless that He against whom we have sinned has Himself granted remission "through the bowels of mercy of our God," in which "He has visited us"(3) through His Son?

2. And therefore, when He had healed the man sick of the palsy, [the evangelist] says "The people upon seeing it glorified God, who gave such power unto men."(4) What God, then, did the bystanders glorify? Was it indeed that unknown Father invented by the heretics? And how could they glorify him who was altogether unknown to them? It is evident, therefore, that the Israelites glorified Him who has been proclaimed as God by the law and the prophets, who is also the Father of our Lord; and therefore He taught men, by the evidence of their senses through those signs which He accomplished, to give glory to God. If, however, He HimSelf had come from another Father, and men glorified a different Father when they beheld His miracles, He [in that case] rendered the mungrateful to that Father who had sent the gift of healing. But as the only-begotten Son had come for man's salvation from Him who is God, He did both stir up the incredulous by the miracles which He was in the habit of working, to give glory to the Father; and to the Pharisees, who did not admit the advent of His Son, and who consequently did not believe in the remission [of sins] which was conferred by Him, He said, "That ye may know that the Son of man hath power to forgive sins."(5) And when He had said this, He commanded the paralytic man to take up the pallet upon which he was lying, and go into his house. By this work of His He confounded the unbelievers, and showed that He is Himself the voice of God, by which man received commandments, which he broke, and became a sinner; for the paralysis followed as a consequence of sins.

3. Therefore, by remitting sins, He did indeed heal man, while He also manifested Himself who He was. For if no one can forgive sins but God alone, while the Lord remitted them and healed men, it is plain that He was Himself the Word of God made the Son of man, receiving from the Father the power of remission of sins; since He was man, and since He was God, in order that since as man He suffered for us, so as God He might have compassion on us, and forgive us our debts, in which we were made debtors to God our Creator. And therefore David said beforehand, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD has not imputed sin;"(6) pointing out thus that remission of sins which follows upon His advent, by which "He has destroyed the handwriting" of our debt, and "fastened it to the cross;"(7) so that as by means of a tree we were made debtors to God, [so also] by means of a tree we may obtain the remission of our debt.

4. This fact has been strikingly set forth by many others, and especially through means of Elisha the prophet. For when his fellow-prophets were hewing wood for the construction of a tabernacle, and when the iron [head], shaken loose from the axe, had fallen into the Jordan and could not be found by them, upon Elisha's coming to the place, and learning what had happened, he threw some wood into the water. Then, when he had done this, the iron part of the axe floated up, and they took up from the surface of the water what they had previously lost.(8) By this action the prophet pointed out that the sure word of God, which we had negligently lost by means of a tree, and were not in the way of finding again, we should receive anew by the dispensation of a tree, [viz., the cross of Christ]. For that the word of God is likened to an axe, John the Baptist declares [when he says] in reference to it, "But now also is the axe laid to the root of the trees."(9) Jeremiah also says to the same purport: "The word of God cleaveth the rock as an axe."(10) This word, then, what was hidden from us, did the dispensation of the tree make manifest, as I have already remarked. For as we lost it by means of a tree, by means of a tree again was it made manifest to all, showing the height, the length, the breadth, the depth in itself; and, as a certain man among our predecessors observed, "Through the extension of the hands of a divine person,(11) gathering together the two peoples to one God." For these were two hands, because there were two peoples scattered to the ends of the earth; but there was one head in the middle, as there is but one God, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.



CHAPTER 18 -- GOD THE FATHER AND HIS WORD HAVE FORMED ALL CREATED THINGS (WHICH THEY USE) BY THEIR OWN POWER AND WISDOM, NOT OUT OF DEFECT OR IGNORANCE. THE SON OF GOD, WHO RECEIVED ALL POWER FROM THE FATHER, WOULD OTHERWISE NEVER HAVE TAKEN FLESH UPON HIM. 

1. And such or so important a dispensation He did not bring about by means of the creations of others, but by His own; neither by those things which were created out of ignorance and defect, but by those which had their substance from the wisdom and power of His Father. For He was neither unrighteous, so that He should covet the property of another; nor needy, that He could not by His own means impart life to His own, and make use of His own creation for the salvation of man. For indeed the creation could not have sustained Him [on the cross], if He had sent forth [simply by commission] what was the fruit of ignorance and defect. Now we have repeatedly shown that the incarnate Word of God was suspended upon a tree, and even the very heretics do acknowledge that He was crucified. How, then, could the fruit of ignorance and defect sustain Him who contains the knowledge of all things, and is true and perfect? Or how could that creation which was concealed from the Father, and far removed from Him, have sustained His Word? And if this world were made by the angels (it matters not whether we suppose their ignorance or their cognizance of the Supreme God), when the Lord declared, "For I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,"(1) how could this workmanship of the angels have borne to be burdened at once with the Father and the Son? How, again, could that creation which is beyond the Pleroma have contained Him who contains the entire Pleroma? Inasmuch, then, as all these things are impossible and incapable of proof, that preaching of the Church is alone true [which proclaims] that His own creation bare Him, which subsists by the power, the skill, and the wisdom of God; which is sustained, indeed, after an invisible manner by the Father, but, on the contrary, after a visible manner it bore His Word: and this is the true [Word].

2. For the Father bears the creation and His own Word simultaneously, and the Word borne by the Father grants the Spirit to all as the Father wills.(2) To some He gives after the manner of creation what is made;(3) but to others [He gives] after the manner of adoption, that is, what is from God, namely generation. And thus one God the Father is declared, who is above all, and through all, and in all. The Father is indeed above all, and He is the Head of Christ; but the Word is through all things, and is Himself the Head of the Church; while the Spirit is in us all, and He is the living water,(4) which the Lord grants to those who rightly believe in Him, and love Him, and who know that "there is one Father, who is above all, and through all, and in us all."(5) And to these things does John also, the disciple of the Lord, bear witness, when he speaks thus in the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."(6) And then he said of the Word Himself: "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. To His own things He came, and His own people received Him not. However, as many as did receive Him, to these gave He power to become the sons of God, to those that believe in His name."(7) And again, showing the dispensation with regard to His human nature, John said: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."(8) And in continuation he says, "And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten by the Father, full of grace and truth." He thus plainly points out to those willing to hear, that is, to those having ears, that there is one God, the Father over all, and one Word of God, who is through all, by whom all things have been made; and that this world belongs to Him, and was made by Him, according to the Father's will, and not by angels; nor by apostasy, defect, and ignorance; nor by any power of Prunicus, whom certain of them also call "the Mother;" nor by any other maker of the world ignorant of the Father.

3. For the Creator of the world is truly the Word of God: and this is our Lord, who in the last times was made man, existing in this world, and who in an invisible manner contains all things created, and is inherent in the entire creation, since the Word of God governs and arranges all things; and therefore He came to His own in a visible(1) manner, and was made flesh, and hung upon the tree, that He might sum up all things in Himself. "And His own peculiar people did not receive Him," as Moses declared this very thing among the people: "And thy life shall be hanging before thine eyes, and thou wilt not believe thy life."(2) Those therefore who did not receive Him did not receive life. "But to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God."(3) For it is He who has power from the Father over all things, since He is the Word of God, and very man, communicating with invisible beings after the manner of the intellect, and appointing a law observable to the outward senses, that all things should continue each in its own order; and He reigns manifestly over things visible and pertaining to men; and brings in just judgment and worthy upon all; as David also, clearly pointing to this, says, "Our God shall openly come, and will not keep silence."(4) Then he shows also the judgment which is brought in by Him, saying, "A fire shall burn in His sight, and a strong tempest shall rage round about Him. He shall call upon the heaven from above, and the earth, to judge His people."