Many people ask: "How is it possible for the body to be resurrected, since it has decayed?"

Before we answer this question, it must be said that the Holy Fathers consider the corruption of the body to be a great blessing of God, and therefore a cause for joy.

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St. Gregory of Nyssa characterizes the decay of the body as "an excess of divine beneficence." He emphasizes that this decay does not cause any harm to the "divine image" of man, because although death "decomposes the sensuous" (the body), it is not "destroyed" [1011]. "The farmer rejoices," says the divine Chrysostom, "when he sees how the seed decays in the ground where he sowed it, but he fears and trembles when he sees it undecayed, for he knows that decay is the beginning of future fruiting. In the same way we rejoice when a man is sown (buried)." The Divine Apostle rightly called burial sowing (1 Corinthians 15:42-44), for the sowing of the body is higher than any other sowing. For the sowing of seed replaces "corruption and death," while the burial of the body, if we live according to God, is replaced by "incorruption, immortality, and infinite blessings" [1012].

In another place, the divine Chrysostom considers the corruption of the body as the work of the good and all-wise Providence of God, which is why we should rather rejoice when the deceased "rots" and becomes dust. After all, when someone decides to rebuild a house that is about to collapse, he first of all evicts the tenants, then demolishes the house and builds a new and better one. Eviction does not upset the residents, since the matter is not limited to the demolition of the old house, but the construction of a new one is expected, which, if they do not yet see, but already anticipate. The all-wise God acts in a similar way. In order to destroy the perishable abode of the body and make it better, He first of all takes the soul out of it, separating it by bodily death. When the body is resurrected, then He will bring the soul into it again, and with greater glory! So let us not pay attention to the corruption of the body, but rather concentrate on future beauty and glory [1013].

In addition, as the divine Chrysostom notes (and here he agrees with St. Gregory of Nyssa), "the existence of the body" does not end with death. The saint says the following: "Just as when we see a statue crumbling in a smelting furnace, we do not think that the metal is being destroyed, but that this happens in order to achieve a better manufacture of a new statue, so we must also think about the impending decay of the body. Just as the melting in the furnace is not the destruction but the renewal of the statue, so the death of our bodies is not "destruction" but "renewal," that is, restoration, perfection. So, when you see the decay and decay of the body, then expect "remelting", reconstruction. Follow this example further. The master foundry throws a bronze statue into the furnace to cast a bronze statue for you again. But God destroys the material and mortal body in the earth in order to make you a statue of gold and immortality. For the earth, having received a perishable and mortal body, will restore to you an incorruptible and immaculate body [1014] – glorious and eternal."

The Divine Chrysostom answers the perplexity of those who say: "Why should the body rot and decay in order for its renewal to take place? This could happen without the destruction of bodies; let them remain untouched and thus undergo transformation" – as follows: "If the bodies did not decay, then, first, pride would take possession of many – the greatest evil of all evils. If even now, when the body is subject to decay and full of worms, many wanted to be worshipped as gods, what would not happen when the body remained incorruptible? Secondly, they would not believe that the body was taken from the earth. If even now, in spite of the fact that the very end clearly testifies, some doubt it, why would they not think if they did not see this end? Thirdly, then bodies would be excessively loved, and the majority of people would become even more carnal and coarse... Fourthly, we would not be very committed to the future. Fifthly, those who assert that the world is eternal would be even more firmly established in this idea and would not recognize God as the Creator of the world. Sixthly, they would not be sure of the dignity of the soul, nor of how closely the soul is connected with the body. Seventhly, many who have lost their relatives, having left the cities, would live in tombs and, like madmen, would constantly begin to talk to their dead. If even today, people, since they are not able to hold the body itself (and it is impossible, because it smoulders and disappears against their will), when drawing portraits, stick to the boards, then what absurdities would not be invented then?.. Many would have erected temples in honor of their beloved bodies, and those who practice sorcery would have tried to convince them that by means of them the demons give answers, especially since even now those who have the audacity to engage in summoning the dead do many absurdities. What innumerable forms of idolatry would not arise from this? Thus, God, taking away everything that can serve as a pretext for such absurdities and teaching us to renounce all earthly things, smites the bodies with decay before our eyes... If the bodies did not decay, then a great disorder would occur: none of the commoners would take care of their souls, would not accept the teachings of immortality" [1015].

However, how will the body be resurrected after its incorruption?

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Resurrection of Dead Bodies

Today, of course, unbelievers do not recognize the resurrection of the dead. The same thing, as we have already said, happened in the first centuries of Christianity with pagan philosophers. During the persecution under Marcus Aurelius, idolaters burned the bodies of Christian martyrs thrown on the roads, scattered their ashes along the Rhone and mockingly said: "Let us see if they will be resurrected and whether their God will be able to help them" (1016). But Christians had a firm belief in the resurrection of the dead, no matter how incomprehensible it may seem to the human mind. For both the Lord and the holy Apostles taught this truth. In addition, "the whole Christian and the sacraments of the Christian are based on faith." True faith, on the other hand, is an "incurious agreement" with what God has revealed to us in the inspired Scriptures. If we try to revise the words and commandments of the Divine Scriptures, then "we perish and fall into the abyss of unbelief." And if we allow Satan to sow "thoughts of unbelief" in our souls, then he will not hesitate to sow similar thoughts about God Himself. Therefore, let us accept "and the word about the resurrection of the dead" with faith [1017].