5. If, in your opinion, there will be no resurrection of the dead, then why do you accuse the Tikh who rob the dead? If the body is lost, and the resurrection cannot be hoped, then why will he who robs the dead be punished? Do you see that although you deny the resurrection with your lips, yet in your conscience the truth of it remains invincible?

6.

Wheat is sown, if it happens, or some other kind of seed: the seed that falls dies, rots, and becomes unfit for food. However, having rotted, it appears in the greenery, and having fallen in a small form, it now appears in a beautiful form: but the wheat was created for us. For the wheat and the seed is for our use, and not for their own use. Thus, what was created for us, having been put to death, comes to life; but we, for whom these things were created, having died, shall we not rise?

7. Wintertime is now, as you see; The trees stand as if dead: for where are the fig leaves? Where are the bunches of grapes? However, they are dead in winter, and green in spring; and when the time comes, then, as it were, the very deadness gives them life.

God, foreseeing your unbelief, manifests the effect of the resurrection in what you see every year, so that you, looking at what happens to soulless things, may believe it in relation to inspired, rational beings. Flies and bees, for the most part suffocated in water, are resurrected in due time, and some kinds of terrestrial animals, remaining motionless in winter, are resurrected during summer. Since your concepts are weak, I present to you examples that are in accordance with them. And so, He Who supernaturally imparts life to dumb and contemptible animals, does He not deign to bestow it upon us, for whom He created them?

8. However, the Greeks want to be even more clearly convinced of the resurrection of the dead; they say that although those animals come to life, they are not yet completely rotten. They clearly want to see an animal that is completely rotten and resurrected. God foresaw the unbelief of men, and for this purpose He created a bird called a phoenix [6]. She, as Clement writes, and many others, narrate, being in her own way alone, after five hundred years flying to the land of Egypt, shows the resurrection, not appearing in empty places, where the mystery that is happening would be unknown; but in the midst of the city, so that it may be possible to touch what is not believed. Having made for herself a nest of frankincense, myrrh, and other fragrant substances, and having sat down in it at the end of these years, she clearly dies and rots. Then a worm is born from the rotten flesh of the dead phoenix. When he grows up, he becomes a bird. (You must not but believe this, for you see that bees are formed in the same way from worms; you see that from the thinnest eggs, feathers and bones and compositions of birds are made.) Then the phoenix of which I have spoken, covered with feathers, and having become exactly the same as it was before, a phoenix, flies into the air in the form in which it died; and by this he very clearly shows people the resurrection of the dead. The phoenix bird is amazing, but it is a dumb bird that has never glorified God. It flies through the air, but does not know the Only-begotten Son of God. Thus, the dumb animal, who does not know the Creator of all mortals, is granted resurrection; Will not we, who glorify God and keep His commandments, be granted resurrection?

9. But because the phoenix, the sign of the resurrection, is remote from us and appears rarely, and they do not yet believe in its existence; then you have the proof of the resurrection in what you see every day.

And this weak is made a builder of ships and houses, and an architect, and an artist in every art, and a warrior, and a lawgiver, and a King. God, Who created us from uneducated substances, will He not be able to raise up the dead? He Who forms a body from the weakest substance, is it not possible to resurrect a dead body? He Who created things that did not exist before, is it not possible to raise up those who already existed and those who died?

10. Here is another clear proof of the resurrection of the dead in heaven and in the luminaries, which is confirmed every month. The lunar body, which completely ceases its light, so that it is no longer visible in the least, is again filled with light and returns to its former state. And in order to prove this subject to thee perfectly, the moon, after the lapse of several years, is eclipsed and visibly transformed into blood, and afterwards again assumes a luminous body. God has arranged this so that you, a man who is made of blood, should not be in disbelief concerning the resurrection of the dead; but that he should believe the same in the reasoning of himself, what he sees on the moon. Use such proofs against the Greeks. With those who do not accept what is in the Holy Scriptures, fight not with the instrument of Scripture, but only with reasoning explanations. For they do not know who Moses is, who Isaiah is; neither the Gospel nor Paul is known.

11. Now go over to the Samaritans, who accept only the law, but do not accept the prophets; for them the present reading from Ezekiel is also unconvincing; for prophets, as I have said, they do not receive. How are we to convince the Samaritans? Let's turn to what is written in the law. Thus God said to Moses: I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus 3:6, 15, 16); there is no doubt that He is the God of those who have being and actual existence. For if Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ceased to be, then obviously God will be the God of those who are not. Does the King ever say that he is King over the warriors whom he does not have? Does anyone show riches that he does not have? Thus, it must be assumed that Abraham and Isaac and Jacob really exist, that God may be the God of those who exist. He did not say, "I was, but I am their God." And what will be the judgment, of this Abraham says to the Lord: "Judge of all the earth, shall he not execute judgment" (Gen. 18:23)?

12. But again the foolish Samaritans contradict this, saying that the souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can have existence, but the bodies cannot be resurrected.

Yes! then the Divine command was strong, but now is it no longer strong?

13. Moreover, from what in the beginning was man created, the most foolish of all men, the Samaritans? Open the first book of Scripture, which you also accept: "And God created man, a finger (to the ground) from the earth" (Gen. 2:7).

Abraham says to the Lord: "Judge all the earth" (Gen. 18:25). And those who learn in the law do not believe this. It is written that man was created from the earth, and those who read the law do not believe.