Catechetical Lectures 11 part 11/12

And may God himself, the God of all, who spoke by the Holy Spirit through the prophets, who sent it forth upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost here, send this same Spirit now upon you, and thereby keep us also—granting to all of us in common the benefit, that we may always render the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control, in Christ Jesus our Lord; through whom and with whom, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory to the Father, both now and ever and unto the ages of the ages.

The Eighteenth Catechesis of the Illuminandi, delivered extempore in Jerusalem, on the words “And in one holy catholic Church, and in the resurrection of the flesh, and in life everlasting.”

And a reading from Ezekiel:

“The hand of the Lord came upon me, and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me in the midst of the plain; and it was full of human bones,” and so forth.

The root of all good works is the hope of the resurrection.

For the expectation of the reward nerves the soul to good work.

For every labourer is ready to endure toils, if he foresees the wage of his toils;

but for those who toil without reward, the soul too sinks down along with the body.

A soldier expecting prizes is ready for wars;

but no one serving under a thoughtless king who gives no rewards for toils is ready to die for him.

So too every soul that believes in the resurrection naturally spares itself, but that which disbelieves the resurrection gives itself over to destruction.

He who believes that the body abides for the resurrection spares the garment and does not defile it with fornications; but he who disbelieves the resurrection gives himself over to fornications, as one abusing his own body as if it were another’s.

A great precept, then, and teaching of the holy Catholic Church is the faith concerning the resurrection of the dead.

Great and most necessary, though contradicted by many, yet confirmed by the truth.

Greeks contradict it, Samaritans disbelieve it, heretics deride it.

The contradiction is multiform, but the truth is one in form.

And the Greeks together with the Samaritans say these things to us:

“The man who has died has fallen and rotted and been wholly dissolved into worms; and the worms have died.

Such corruption and destruction has taken over the body;

how then is it raised? Fishes have devoured those who were shipwrecked, and the fishes themselves were devoured.

Bears and lions have ground up and consumed the very bones of those who fought with beasts.

Vultures and crows have eaten the flesh of the dead cast upon the ground and flown off into all the world.

Whence is the body gathered together? For it is possible that of the birds which ate it, one died in India, another in Persia, and another…

Of others burned by fire, a downpour or wind has scattered the very ashes.

Whence is the body gathered? To you, a man very small and weak, India is far from Gothia, and Spain from Persia;

but to God, who holds the whole earth in his hand, all things are near.

Do not therefore accuse God of inability because of your own weakness, but rather attend to his power.

Then, the sun, being a small work of God, warms the whole world with one casting of its rays; and the air which God made surrounds all things in the world; and shall God, the maker both of the sun and of the air, be far from the world? Suppose for me that different seeds of produce have been mixed (for to you who are weak about the faith, I give weak examples too), and that these different seeds are held in your one hand.

Is it then a great thing for you, the man, or an easy one, to separate your handful and to gather each of the seeds according to its own kind and to restore it to its species? Then if you can separate the things in your own hand, can God then not separate and restore the things held in his own hand? Consider what is said, whether the denial be not impious.

Attend to me also in the very argument of righteousness, and come to yourself.

Some men turn out to be good, others bad;

you therefore honour the good, and beat the bad.

And if you happen to be a judge, you praise the good and punish the lawless.

Then with you, a mortal man, justice is preserved; and with God, the king of all who has no successor, is there then no requital of righteousness? But the denial is impious.

For consider what is said.

Many murderers have died unpunished upon their beds.

Where then is the justice of God? And often too a murderer guilty of fifty murders has had his head cut off but once;

where then shall he give satisfaction for the forty-nine? If there is no judgment and requital after this world, you accuse God of injustice.

But do not marvel at the postponement of the judgment.

Every contestant, after the contest is past, is either crowned or put to shame;

and never does the umpire crown those who are still contesting, but he awaits the end of all the contestants, that, having afterward judged, he may bring on the prizes and the wearing of crowns.

So too God, while the contest still stands in this world, for the present helps the righteous in part, but afterward renders the rewards in full.

But if according to you there is no resurrection of the dead, why do you condemn the grave-robbers? For if the body has perished and the resurrection is hopeless, why does the grave-robber undergo punishment? You see that, even if you deny it with your lips, the conscience of the resurrection remains in you unbroken.

Then, a tree that is cut down blossoms again, but a man cut down does not flourish? And the things sown and reaped abide for the threshing-floor; but a man reaped from this world does not abide for a threshing-floor? And the branches of the vineyard and of other trees, when cut off entirely and transplanted, are brought to life and bear fruit; but man, for whose sake those also exist, having fallen to the earth, shall he not rise? And as a comparison of labours: which is greater, to fashion from the beginning a statue that did not exist, or to recast one that has fallen into the same form? God, who made us out of nothing, is he then unable to raise again those who exist and have fallen? But you disbelieve what is written about the resurrection, being a Greek.

Then look at things from the nature of existing things, and from what appears even to this day take thought.

Wheat is sown, it may be, or some other kind of seed;

and falling, it as it were dies and rots, and is henceforth useless for food;

but the rotted thing is raised up green, and the small thing that fell is raised most beautiful.

And the wheat came to be for our sake.

For it was for our use that the wheat and the seeds came into being, not for their own sake.

Then if the things that came to be for our sake, when put to death, are brought to life, shall we then—for whose sake those also came to be—when put to death, not be raised?

It is wintertime, as you see.

The trees now stand as though dead.

For where are the leaves of the fig tree? Where are the clusters of the vine? But in winter these are dead, and in spring green; and when the season comes, then, as from death, the bringing back to life is rendered.

For God, knowing your unbelief, has wrought a resurrection year by year in these visible things, that, beholding what happens in things lifeless, you may believe also concerning living and rational beings.

Then flies and bees, often drowned in waters, have risen again after a while; and kinds of dormice, remaining motionless in winter, have afterward risen in summer (for to you who consider, paltry examples like these are given). And shall not he who beyond nature gives life to creatures irrational and despised—shall he then not grant it to us, for whose sake he made those also? But the Greeks seek still a more manifest resurrection of the dead, and say that, even if these things are raised, yet they did not rot completely; and they seek to see plainly an animal that has rotted completely and risen again.

God knew the unbelief of men, and for this purpose fashioned a bird called the phoenix.

This bird, as Clement writes and as more authors relate, being the only one of its kind, coming at periods of five hundred years in the land of the Egyptians, shows forth the resurrection—not in desert places, lest the mystery occurring be unknown, but coming in an open city, that the thing disbelieved may be handled.

For having made for itself a nest of frankincense and myrrh and the rest of the spices, and at the completion of the years entering into it, it dies in the open and rots.

Then from the rotted flesh of the dead bird a worm is engendered, and this worm, when grown, takes shape into a bird.

For indeed you see the offspring of bees thus shaped from worms; and from the moistest eggs you have observed the feathers and bones and sinews of birds coming forth.

Then the aforesaid phoenix, having grown feathers and become perfect, such as the former phoenix was, flies up into the air such as it had died, showing to men a most plain resurrection of the dead.

The phoenix is a marvellous bird, but a bird irrational, and it never sang psalms to God.

It flies about the air, but does not know who is the only-begotten Son of God.

Then has resurrection of the dead been granted to the irrational animal that does not know its Maker, and is resurrection not given to us who glorify God and keep his commandments? But since the sign of the phoenix is remote and rare, and they still disbelieve, take the proof again from the things that appear to you daily.

A hundred or two hundred years ago, where were we all, both we who speak and you who hear? Do we not know the underlying origin of our bodies’ substance? Do you not know how we are begotten from weak and shapeless and uniform things? And from the uniform and weak thing a living man is shaped, and the weak thing, made flesh, is changed into strength of sinews and brightness of eyes and smell of nose and hearing of ears and a speaking tongue and a beating heart and working of hands and running of feet and every form of limbs.

And that weak thing becomes a shipwright and a builder and an architect and a worker of every craft, and a soldier and a ruler and a lawgiver and a king.

God, having made us out of paltry things, is he then unable to raise those who have fallen? He who thus forms a body out of the meanest thing, is he unable to raise again the fallen body? And he who fashioned what did not exist into what does exist, does he then not raise what has fallen? Take for me a plain proof of the resurrection of the dead in heaven and in the luminaries, witnessed month by month.

For the body of the moon, wholly failing so that nothing of it appears any longer, is again filled up and restored to what it was.

And for a perfect proof of the matter, at certain periods of years the moon, being eclipsed and plainly changed into blood, again takes back its light-like body—God having so contrived this, that you also, the man composed of blood, may not disbelieve the resurrection of the dead…

…but that what you behold in the moon you may believe also concerning yourself.

Use these words, then, towards the Greeks.

For with those who do not receive the written Scriptures, you must fight with unwritten weapons, from reasonings alone and demonstrations.

For to these, neither who Moses is is known, nor who Isaiah is, nor the Gospels, nor Paul.

Now pass over with me to the Samaritans, who, receiving the Law only, no longer accept the prophets; to whom, as it seems, the present reading from Ezekiel is of no use;

for they do not receive the prophets, as I said.

Whence then shall we persuade the Samaritans also? Let us come to the written things of the Law.

God says, then, to Moses:

“I am the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob”—assuredly of those who are and subsist.

For if Abraham has died, and Isaac and Jacob, then he is the God of those who do not exist.

When did a king say that he is a king of soldiers he does not have? When did anyone display wealth he did not possess? It is necessary, then, that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob subsist, so that God may be the God of those who are.

For he did not say “I was their God,” but “I am.”

And that there is a judgment, Abraham says to the Lord:

“Shall not the judge of all the earth do justice?” But against this too the foolish Samaritans again contradict, and say that it is possible for the souls of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob to abide, but their bodies cannot rise.

Then it was possible for the rod of Moses the righteous to become a serpent, but the bodies of the righteous cannot live and rise? And the thing against nature came to pass, but the thing according to nature is not restored? And the rod of Aaron, cut off and made dead, apart from the scent of waters budded forth—and that, being under a roof, and budding the things of the fields, and lying among dry things, gave back through one night, with fruits, what belongs to plants watered over many years.

The rod of Aaron rose as it were from the dead, and shall Aaron himself not be raised? And to preserve the high priesthood for him, God worked a wonder in a piece of wood, but to Aaron himself he does not grant the resurrection? And a woman becomes salt against nature, and flesh is changed into salt, but flesh is not restored into flesh? And the wife of Lot became a pillar of salt, but the wife of Abraham then does not rise? And by what power was the hand of Moses changed, which both in one hour became as snow and again was restored? Assuredly by the divine command.

Then was the command strong at that time, but is it no longer strong now? And whence at all, from the beginning, was man begotten, O most foolish of all men, Samaritans? Come to the first book of Scripture, which you too accept.

“And God formed the man of dust from the earth.”

Dust is changed into flesh, and is flesh not again restored into flesh? You must be asked: whence did the heavens and earth and seas subsist? Whence sun and moon and stars? How did the birds and the swimming things come from the waters? And how did all the animals come from the earth? So many myriads were brought from non-being into being; and shall we men, who bear the image, then not be raised? Truly the matter is full of unbelief, and great is the condemnation of the unbelievers, when Abraham says to the Lord “the judge of all the earth,” and those who learn the Law disbelieve; when it is written that man is from earth, and those who read disbelieve.

To those unbelievers, then, these things; but the things from the prophets are for us who believe.

But since some who do use the prophets nevertheless disbelieve what is written, and bring forward to us that text “The ungodly shall not rise in judgment,” and “For if a man go down to Hades, he shall not [not] come up again,” and “The dead shall not praise you, O Lord” (for they have abused what is well written), it is good, in passing and as far as is now possible, to meet them.

For if it says that the ungodly shall not rise in judgment, this declares that it is not in judgment, but in condemnation;

for God has no need of much examination, but immediately upon the rising of the ungodly the things of punishment also follow.

And if it says “The dead shall not praise you, O Lord,” this declares that, since repentance and forgiveness have their appointed term in this life only—in which those who enjoy it shall praise you—there is no longer, after death, for those who have died in sins to praise as if benefited, but to lament.

For praise belongs to those who give thanks, but lamentation to those who are scourged.

The righteous, then, praise at that time; but those who have died in sins have henceforth no time for confession.

And concerning “If a man go down to Hades, he shall not [not] come up again,” look at the sequel.

“He shall not [not] come up again, nor shall he return to his own house.”

But when the whole world passes away and every house is destroyed, how shall he return to his own house, since another, new earth then comes into being? But they ought to have heard Job saying:

“For if it be cut down, it will blossom again, and its shoot shall not cease.

For if its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the rock, yet from the scent of water it will blossom, and will produce a harvest like a new plant.

“But a man, having died, is gone? And a mortal, having fallen, is no more?” For he all but rebukes and reproves (for thus it must be read, interrogatively, “is no more?”): does then, he says, a man—for whose sake the trees came to be—not rise, when a tree falls and is raised? And that you may not think I do violence to the text, read what follows.

For after saying interrogatively—

“But a mortal, having fallen, is he no more?” he says:

“For if a man die, he shall live.

I will wait until I come into being again.

…who is to raise upon the earth my skin that draws up these things.”

And Isaiah the prophet says:

“The dead shall rise, and those in the tombs shall be raised.”

And most plainly the present prophet Ezekiel says:

“Behold, I open your graves, and will bring you up out of your graves.”

“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise, these to everlasting life, and these to everlasting shame.”

And many Scriptures bear witness concerning the resurrection of the dead.

For there are many more passages about this.

But by way of reminder only, we now pass over the four-days’ resurrection of Lazarus; we pass it over because of the shortness of time, and the son of the widow who was raised;

for a reminder only let there now be brought forward also the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue; and let there be mentioned the splitting of the rocks, and that many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised when the tombs were opened.

But first and foremost let it be remembered that Christ has been raised from the dead.

I have passed over Elijah and the son of the widow raised by him, and Elisha who raised the dead twice, both in his life and after his own death.

For while living he wrought the resurrection through his own soul;

but that not only the souls of the righteous might be honoured, but it might be believed that there is a power lying in the bodies of the righteous also, the dead man cast into the tomb of Elisha, touching the dead body of the prophet, was brought to life.

And the dead body of the prophet performed the work of a soul, and the dead and lying body gave life to the dead man; and having given the life, it itself likewise remained among the dead.

Why? That, when Elisha rose again, the deed might not be ascribed to the soul alone, but it might be shown that even when the soul is not present, a certain power lies in the body of the saints, because of the righteous soul that dwelt in it for so many years, whose minister it had been.

And let us not, like infants, disbelieve as though this had not happened.

For if handkerchiefs and aprons, things external to the bodies, by touching the sick raised up the weak, how much more did the very body of the prophet raise the dead man? And one might say many things on these matters, expounding one by one the marvel of the deeds that came to pass;

but because of the weariness that has come upon you, both from the prolonging of the fast of the preparation and from the watching, let those things for the present be said in passing, sown in but a few words, that you, like fairest soil,…

…having received the seed, may bear fruit, spreading wide.

And let it be remembered that the apostles also raised the dead—Peter at Joppa Tabitha, and Paul Eutychus at Troas—and all the rest of the apostles, even if not all the wonders wrought by each are written.

And remember all the things spoken in the first Epistle to the Corinthians, which Paul wrote against those who said “How are the dead raised? And with what body do they come?” and that, “if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,” and that he called those who do not believe “fools,” and all his teaching there about the resurrection of the dead; and that to the Thessalonians he wrote, “But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, that you sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope,” and all that follows, and especially “and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

And mark this especially, that Paul speaks almost pointing with his finger:

“For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”

For this body is raised—not remaining such, weak, but this very body is raised, and having put on incorruption is transformed, just as iron, coming into contact with fire, becomes fire; or rather, as the Lord who raises knows.

This body, then, is raised;

but it does not remain such; rather, it remains everlasting.

It no longer has need of such food for life, nor of ladders for ascent;

for it becomes spiritual, a marvellous thing, such as we are unable to describe worthily.

“Then the righteous,” it says, “shall shine as the sun and the moon, and as the brightness of the firmament.”

And God, foreseeing the unbelief of men, has given to the smallest worms in summer light-like rays to shine from their bodies, that from the things visible the thing expected may be believed.

For he who granted the part can grant the whole also; and he who made a worm shine forth light will much more cause a righteous man to shine.

We are raised, then, all having everlasting bodies, but not all alike;

but if anyone is righteous, he receives a heavenly body, that he may be able worthily to converse with angels;

but if anyone is a sinner, he receives an everlasting body, enduring of the punishment of sins, that, burning everlastingly in fire, he may never be consumed.

And justly does God grant this to both ranks.

For nothing has been done by us without the body.

We blaspheme with the mouth, we pray with the mouth;

we fornicate with the body, we are chaste with the body;

we rob with the hand, we give alms with the hand, and the rest likewise.

Since, then, the body has served in all things, it shall also share in the things to come of what has been done.

Let us therefore spare our bodies, brethren, and not abuse them as though they were another’s.

Let us not say, like the heretics, that the tunic of the body is another’s, but let us spare it as our own.

For we must give account to the Lord concerning all that has been done through the body.

Do not say “No one sees me,” nor think that there is no witness of what is done.

For a man often is not there, but the Fashioner, an unerring witness, abides in heaven, faithful, and beholds what is done.

And the stains of sins remain in the body.

For just as, when a blow has been inflicted on the body, even if some healing takes place, yet the scar remains, so also sin smites the soul and the body, and the marks of the scars remain in all; but they are taken away only from those who receive the washing.

The past wounds of soul and body, then, God heals through baptism; but against those to come let us all henceforth in common secure ourselves, that we may keep this tunic of the body clean, and may not, through a little fornication or sensuality or some other sin, lose the heavenly salvation that is in store, but that we may inherit the eternal kingdom of God—of which may God by his own grace count you all worthy.

And let these things be said for the proof of the resurrection of the dead.

But the profession of the faith,

once more set forth to you by us, let it with all diligence be recited and remembered by you word for word.

And since the professed faith consequently contains the clause “and in one baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and in one holy catholic Church, and in the resurrection of the flesh, and in life everlasting,” concerning baptism and repentance it has been said by us in the first catecheses; and the things now said about the resurrection of the dead have been said because of the clause “and in the resurrection of the flesh.”

And let what remains now be said also, for the sake of the clause “and in one holy catholic Church,” concerning which it was possible to say much, but we shall say it in a few words.

It is called “Catholic” (universal), then, because it is throughout the whole world, from the ends of the earth to the ends; and because it teaches universally and without omission all the doctrines that ought to come to the knowledge of men, concerning things visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly; and because it brings into subjection to godliness every race of men, rulers and ruled, learned and unlearned; and because it universally treats and heals every kind of sins committed through soul and body, and possesses in itself every form of virtue that is named, in deeds and words and spiritual gifts of every kind.

And it is called “Church” (ecclesia) by a fitting name, because it calls forth all and gathers them together, as the Lord says in Leviticus:

“And assemble all the congregation at the door of the tabernacle of testimony.”

And it is to be noted that the word “assemble” is first said in the Scriptures here, when the Lord was appointing Aaron to the high priesthood.

And in Deuteronomy God says to Moses:

“Assemble the people to me, and let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me.”

And it mentions the name “Church” again, when concerning the tablets:

“And on them were written all the words which the Lord spoke to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly.”

As if to say more plainly, “in the day in which, being called by God, you were gathered together.”

“I will confess to you, O Lord, in the great church; in a mighty people I will praise you.”

For previously the Psalmist sang:

“In the churches bless God the Lord, from the fountains of Israel.”

But from the time that, because of the plots made against the Saviour, the Jews were cast out of the grace, the Saviour built from the Gentiles a second Church, the holy Church of us Christians, concerning which he said to Peter:

“And upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

And prophesying plainly concerning both of these, David said—concerning the first, the one cast out:

“I have hated the church of evildoers;”

but concerning the second, the one being built, he says in the same psalm:

“Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house;”

“In the churches I will bless you, O Lord.”

For the one in Judaea having been cast out, henceforth the churches of Christ multiply throughout the whole world, concerning which it is said in the Psalms:

“Sing to the Lord a new song; his praise is in the church of the holy ones.”

In accord with these the prophet also said to the Jews:

“I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord almighty,” and immediately following, “for from the rising of the sun to its setting my name has been glorified among the Gentiles.”

Concerning this holy catholic Church Paul writes to Timothy:

“That you may know how one ought to behave in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”