XX. The saint says at the end: The words, "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living," [2962] must be taken as referring to souls and bodies; the souls being the living, as being immortal, and the bodies being dead.
XXI. Since the body of man is more honourable than other living creatures, because it is said to have been formed by the hands of God, and because it has attained to be the vehicle of the reasonable soul; how is it that it is so short-lived, shorter even than some of the irrational creatures? Is it not clear that its long-lived existence will be after the resurrection?
[2902] From Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 234.
[2903] Rom. vii. 9.
[2904] Rom. vii. 7.
[2905] Gen. ii. 17.
[2906] Rom. vii. 8.
[2907] Rom. vii. 9, 10.
[2908] Gen. ii. 17.
[2909] Rom. vii. 12.
[2910] Rom. vii. 13.
[2911] Rom. vii. 14.
[2912] Rom. vii. 14.
[2913] Jer. xxi. 8; Ecclus. xv. 8; Deut. xxx. 15.
[2914] Rom. vii. 15.
[2915] Rom. vii. 19.
[2916] Ps. xix. 12, 13.
[2917] 2 Cor. x. 5.
[2918] Rom. vii. 19.
[2919] 1 Cor. xi. 1.
[2920] Eph. vi. 13, 14-17.
[2921] 2 Cor. x. 5.
[2922] Eph. vi. 12.
[2923] Rom. vii. 15-18.
[2924] Rom. vii. 23.
[2925] Rom. vii. 23.
[2926] Ps. xix. 12.
[2927] Rom. vii. 22-24.
[2928] Rom. vii. 25.
[2929] Rom. viii. 2, 11, 3, 4.
[2930] Methodius.
[2931] 2 Cor. v. 1.
[2932] The Word means literally, "by an abuse, or misapplication;" but the author's meaning is very nearly that expressed in the text.--Tr.
[2933] Gen. iii. 19.
[2934] Luke xvi. 9.
[2935] skenas.
[2936] ependusasthai. 2 Cor. v. 2, 3.
[2937] 1 John v. 19.
[2938] 2 Cor. v. 4.
[2939] 2 Cor. v. 7.
[2940] 1 Cor. xv. 50.
[2941] 1 Cor. xv. 53.
[2942] 1 Cor. xv. 42.
[2943] 1 Cor. xv. 49.
[2944] Gen. iii. 19.
[2945] Commonly known as St. Justin Martyr.--Tr. [See his treatise On the Resurrection, vol. i. p. 295; also On Life, p. 198, this series.]
[2946] 1 Cor. xv. 50.
[2947] Cf. p. 368, supra. [Pyragnos = fire-proof agnos.]
[2948] Rev. xx. 13.
[2949] Hades.
[2950] Ps. xxii. 15.
[2951] 1 Cor. xi. 7.
[2952] [Justin Martyr, vol. i. p. 295, this series.]
[2953] Phil. iii. 21.
[2954] Dan. ix. 23, marginal reading.
[2955] Rev. i. 5.
[2956] The Israelites.
[2957] Luke xvi. 28.
[2958] 1 Sam. xxviii. 12. [See vol. v. p. 169, note 11, this series.]
[2959] The reading of Jahn, "kath' heauten," is here adopted.--Tr.
[2960] Jahn's reading.
[2961] John i. 18.
[2962] Rom. xiv. 9.
Fragments.
------------------------
On the History of Jonah.
From the Book on the Resurrection. [2963]
I. The history of Jonah [2964] contains a great mystery. For it seems that the whale signifies Time, which never stands still, but is always going on, and consumes the things which are made by long and shorter intervals. But Jonah, who fled from the presence of God, is himself the first man who, having transgressed the law, fled from being seen naked of immortality, having lost through sin his confidence in the Deity. And the ship in which he embarked, and which was tempest-tossed, is this brief and hard life in the present time; just as though we had turned and removed from that blessed and secure life, to that which was most tempestuous and unstable, as from solid land to a ship. For what a ship is to the land, that our present life is to that which is immortal. And the storm and the tempests which beat against us are the temptations of this life, which in the world, as in a tempestuous sea, do not permit us to have a fair voyage free from pain, in a calm sea, and one which is free from evils. And the casting of Jonah from the ship into the sea, signifies the fall of the first man from life to death, who received that sentence because, through having sinned, he fell from righteousness: "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." [2965] And his being swallowed by the whale signifies our inevitable removal by time. For the belly in which Jonah, when he was swallowed, was concealed, is the all-receiving earth, which receives all things which are consumed by time.
II. As, then, Jonah spent three days and as many nights in the whale's belly, and was delivered up sound again, so shall we all, who have passed through the three stages of our present life on earth--I mean the beginning, the middle, and the end, of which all this present time consists--rise again. For there are altogether three intervals of time, the past, the future, and the present. And for this reason the Lord spent so many days in the earth symbolically, thereby teaching clearly that when the forementioned intervals of time have been fulfilled, then shall come our resurrection, which is the beginning of the future age, and the end of this. For in that age [2966] there is neither past nor future, but only the present. Moreover, Jonah having spent three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, was not destroyed by his flesh being dissolved, as is the case with that natural decomposition which takes place in the belly, in the case of those meats which enter into it, on account of the greater heat in the liquids, that it might be shown that these bodies of ours may remain undestroyed. For consider that God had images of Himself made as of gold, that is of a purer spiritual substance, as the angels; and others of clay or brass, as ourselves. He united the soul which was made in the image of God to that which was earthy. As, then, we must here honour all the images of a king, on account of the form which is in them, so also it is incredible that we who are the images of God should be altogether destroyed as being without honour. Whence also the Word descended into our world, and was incarnate of our body, in order that, having fashioned it to a more divine image, He might raise it incorrupt, although it had been dissolved by time. And, indeed, when we trace out the dispensation which was figuratively set forth by the prophet, we shall find the whole discourse visibly extending to this.
[2963] [A fragment given by Combefis, in Latin, in the Bioliotheca Concionatoria, t. ii. p. 263, etc. Published in Greek from the Vatican ms. (1611), by Simon de Magistris, in Acta Martyrum ad ostia Tiberina sub Claudio Gothico. (Rome, 1792, folio. Append. p. 462.)]
[2964] [Matt. xii. 40. This history comes to us virtually from the Son of God, who confirms the testimony of His prophet. See the very curious remarks of Edward King in his Morsels of Criticism, vol. i. p. 601, ed. 1788.]
[2965] Gen. iii. 19.
[2966] Or, dispensation.
Extracts from the Work on Things Created. [2967]
I. This selection is made, by way of compendium or synopsis, from the work of the holy martyr and bishop Methodius, concerning things created. The passage, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine," [2968] is explained by Origen as signifying that the pearls are the more mystical teachings of our God-given religion, and the swine those who roll in impiety and in all kinds of pleasures, as swine do in mud; for he said that it was taught by these words of Christ not to cast about the divine teachings, inasmuch as they could not bear them who were held by impiety and brutal pleasures. The great Methodius says: If we must understand by pearls the glorious and divine teachings, and by swine those who are given up to impiety and pleasures, from whom are to be withheld and hidden the apostle's teachings, which stir men up to piety and faith in Christ, see how you say that no Christians can be converted from their impiety by the teachings of the apostles. For they would never cast the mysteries of Christ to those who, through want of faith, are like swine. Either, therefore, these things were cast before all the Greeks and other unbelievers, and were preached by the disciples of Christ, and converted them from impiety to the faith of Christ, as we believers certainly confess, and then the words, "Cast not your pearls before swine," can no longer mean what has been said; or meaning this, we must say that faith in Christ and deliverance from impiety have been accorded to none of the unbelievers, whom we compare to swine, by the apostolic instructions enlightening their souls like pearls. But this is blasphemous. Therefore the pearls in this place are not to be taken to mean the deepest doctrines, and the swine the impious; nor are we to understand the words, "Cast not your pearls before swine," as forbidding us to cast before the impious and unbelieving the deep and sanctifying doctrines of faith in Christ; but we must take the pearls to mean virtues, with which the soul is adorned as with precious pearls; and not to cast them before swine, as meaning that we are not to cast these virtues, such as chastity, temperance, righteousness, and truth, that we are not to cast these to impure pleasures, for these are like swine, lest they, fleeing from the virtues, cause the soul to live a swinish and a vicious life.
II. Origen says that what he calls the Centaur is the universe which is co-eternal with the only wise and independent God. For he says, since there is no workman without some work, or maker without something made, so neither is there an Almighty without an object of His power. For the workman must be so called from his work, and the maker from what he makes, and the Almighty Ruler from that which He rules over. And so it must be, that these things were made by God from the beginning, and that there was no time in which they did not exist. For if there was a time when the things that are made did not exist, then, as there were no things which had been made, so there was no maker; which you see to be an impious conclusion. And it will result that the unchangeable and unaltered God has altered and changed. For if He made the universe later, it is clear that He passed from not making to making. But this is absurd in connection with what has been said. It is impossible, therefore, to say that the universe is not unbeginning and co-eternal with God. To whom the saint replies, in the person of another, asking, "Do you not consider God the beginning and fountain of wisdom and glory, and in short of all virtue in substance and not by acquisition?" "Certainly," he says. "And what besides? Is He not by Himself perfect and independent?" "True; for it is impossible that he who is independent should have his independence from another. For we must say, that all which is full by another is also imperfect. For it is the thing which has its completeness of itself, and in itself alone, which can alone be considered perfect." "You say most truly. For would you pronounce that which is neither by itself complete, nor its own completeness, to be independent?" "By no means. For that which is perfect through anything else must needs be in itself imperfect." "Well, then shall God be considered perfect by Himself, and not by some other?" "Most rightly." "Then God is something different from the world, and the world from God?" "Quite so." "We must not then say that God is perfect, and Creator, and Almighty, through the world?" "No; for He must surely by Himself, and not by the world, and that changeable, be found perfect by Himself." "Quite so." "But you will say that the rich man is called rich on account of his riches? And that the wise man is called wise not as being wisdom itself, but as being a possessor of substantial wisdom?" "Yes." "Well, then, since God is something different from the world, shall He be called on account of the world rich, and beneficent, and Creator?" "By no means. Away with such a thought!" "Well, then, He is His own riches, and is by Himself rich and powerful." "So it seems." "He was then before the world altogether independent, being Father, and Almighty, and Creator; so that He by Himself, and not by another, was this." "It must be so." "Yes; for if He were acknowledged to be Almighty on account of the world, and not of Himself, being distinct from the world,--may God forgive the words, which the necessity of the argument requires,--He would by Himself be imperfect and have need of these things, through which He is marvellously Almighty and Creator. We must not then admit this pestilent sin of those who say concerning God, that He is Almighty and Creator by the things which He controls and creates, which are changeable, and that He is not so by Himself."