Chapter 28.

But if the universe is not destroyed, the opponents will say, then why did the Lord say that heaven and earth will pass away (Matt. 24:35); And the prophet: For the heavens will vanish like smoke, and the earth will become old like a garment? (Isaiah 51:6) This is because, we say, in the Scriptures the change of the world from its present state to a better and more glorious one is usually called annihilation, since the former form disappears with the change of everything into a better form; there is no contradiction or incongruity in the Divine words. For the image of this world passes away (Cor. 7:31), and not the world, says the Scriptures. Thus in the Scriptures it is commonly called annihilation to change the former form into a better and more beautiful form, just as if one were to call annihilation the change of the infantile form into that of a perfect man, when the age of the infant changes in size and beauty. When I was a baby, I spoke like a baby, I thought like a baby, I reasoned like a baby; but when he became a man, he forsook the things of a child (1 Cor. 13:11). Therefore it is to be expected that the creature will suffer, as if it were doomed to die in the time of burning, but in order to be recreated, and not to perish, so that we, renewed, may live in a newened world without sorrow, according to the words of the one hundred and third Psalm: "Send forth thy spirit, they shall be built, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth" (v. 30), since God will give prosperity to those around (us). And if the earth continues to exist after the present age, then of necessity there will also be inhabitants who will not die, nor marry, nor be born, but, like the angels, will always enjoy bliss in incorruption. Therefore it is foolish to say what kind of life bodies will lead at that time, when there will be no air, no earth, and nothing else.

Chapter 29.

In addition to what has been said, it is worthy, Aglaophon, to consider what a great error one can fall into when giving oneself freedom to reason about such subjects. For having said that the Lord, when the Sadducees tempted Him, explained that those who would attain that resurrection would be at the same time as the angels (Luke 20:35; Mark 12:25), you added: "But the angels, as bodiless, therefore abide on the height of blessedness and glory; therefore, we, too, who are equal to the Angels, need to be naked from bodies like them." Thou hast not noticed, most beloved, that Thou Who created and made the universe out of nothing, Thou didst bestow the nature of the immortals not only upon the Angels and ministering spirits, but also upon the Principalities, Thrones, and Powers. For there is another kind of Angels, another kind of Powers, because there is not one rank, not one host, generation, and tribe of immortals, but there are (several) genera, ranks, and ranks. Neither the Cherubim, emerging from their nature, are changed into the image of Angels, nor are the Angels changed into the image of others. For they must be what they are, and what they have come to be. And man, who is appointed to live in the world and to have dominion over all that is in it, being immortal by the original order, will never change from the human state into the image of angels, or other beings, because the angels do not depart from the original form and do not change into the image of other beings. And Christ came not to preach the transformation or change of human nature into another image, but its return to the state in which man was at first before the fall, when he was immortal. Wherefore each of the created beings must remain in the manner of state which he has learned, that all things may be filled with all things, the heavens with angels, thrones, and powers, the lights with ministering spirits, the divine places and the clear lights with the Seraphim who stand before the great Council which rules the universe and the world men. If, however, we assume that men are changed into angels, then we must admit that the angels also change in power, and the powers into another and another form, until the word, ascending higher and higher, is exposed to danger.

Chapter 30.

And this cannot be admitted, as if God, having created man bad, or having made a mistake in his construction, subsequently decided to make him an angel, repenting, like the worst artists; or that at first He wanted to create an Angel, but not having the strength to do so, He created man. This is weak. Why did He create a man and not an angel, if He wanted man to be an angel and not a man? Was it because he couldn't? This is blasphemous. Or did he postpone the best to the future and do the worst? This is ridiculous. He does not make mistakes in the creation of beauty, does not delay, does not feel powerless, but as He wants and when He wants, He has the opportunity to do it, since He is power. Therefore, desiring that there should be man, He created man in the beginning. But if He desires the beautiful when He wills something, and the beautiful is man, and man is called a being composed of soul and body, then it follows that man will not exist without a body, but with a body, so that there is no other man besides man. For God must preserve all immortal generations; And man is immortal. For God created man, says Wisdom, for incorruption, and made him the image of His eternal existence (Wis. 2:23). Therefore, the body will not be destroyed, because man consists of soul and body.

Chapter 31.

Therefore, notice how the Lord wants to teach this, when the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the flesh. For this is the teaching of the Sadducees. They, having prepared the parable of the woman and the seven brothers, in order to reject the teaching of the resurrection of the body, came to Him, as the Evangelist says: "The Sadducees came to Him, who say that there is no resurrection" (Matt. 22:23). If there had been no resurrection of the body, but only one soul had been preserved, then Christ would have agreed with them, as with those who think well and correctly. Meanwhile, He answers: In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but they dwell as angels of God in heaven (v. 30); It is not that people will then have no body, but do not marry or enter into marriage, but remain in incorruption, approaching, He says, the Angels in that just as the Angels in heaven, so we in Paradise will no longer be occupied with marriages and feasts, but with the contemplation of God and the organization of our lives, under the rule of Christ. He did not say, "They shall be angels," but, "As angels, as crowned with glory and honor, according to what is written: Thou hast made him little less than the angels" (Psalm 8:6), and they are close to being angels. As if a man, in the midst of the air and silence, during the night, when all is adorned with the clear light of the moon, were to say, "The moon shines like the sun," we would certainly not say that he testifies that the moon is the sun, but only as the sun. In the same way, that it is not gold, but close to gold, is usually said to be like gold, and not gold itself. If it were gold, they would not say, "Like gold, but gold." And since it is not gold, but is close to gold, and is represented as gold, it is said, "Not gold, but like gold." Thus, when the Lord says that the saints in the resurrection will be like angels, we do not understand this as if He promises that the saints in the resurrection will be angels, but close to being angels. Therefore it is very foolish to say that since Christ proclaimed that the saints in the resurrection will appear as angels, therefore the present bodies will not arise. The very expression clearly shows the meaning of what is going to happen. For the word "rising" is used not of that which has not fallen, but of that which has fallen and is rising, just as the prophet says: "I will restore to David the tabernacle that has fallen" (Amos 9:11). But the tabernacle of the soul fell, having undergone change, not descending into the dust of the earth (Dan. 12:2). For it is not that which does not die that descends, but that which dies. The body dies, for the soul is immortal. And so if the soul is immortal, and the body dies, then those who say that there is a resurrection, but not the body, deny the existence of the resurrection; For that which is not standing, but that which has fallen and is lying down, rises, as it is written, Do not those who have fallen rise, and having turned from the way, do not return? (Jeremiah 8:4)

Chapter 32.

And that the soul is immortal, the Lord clearly taught, speaking both Himself and through Solomon. He himself is in the story of the rich man and the poor Lazarus, presenting the latter, after the laying down of his body, resting in the bosom of Abraham, and condemning him to torture, and bringing Abraham into conversation with them. And through Solomon in the book which is inscribed, "Wisdom," in which it is written, "But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and torment shall not touch them." In the eyes of the foolish they seemed dead, and their departure was considered destruction, and their departure from us was destruction: but they dwell in peace, and their hope is full of immortality (Prov. 3:1-4). And so the resurrection belongs to the body, and not to the soul; For they do not lift up the one who stands, but the one who lies down, just as they do not heal the healthy, but the sick. But if anyone tries to assert that there will be a resurrection of the soul, and not of the body, this is great foolishness and madness. For first it is necessary to prove the corruption and destruction of the soul, in order to prove its resurrection, in order to show oneself not to talk idlely, but to speak thoroughly. However, let us yield to him, let him recognize the soul as mortal. Then one of two things must be supposed: either that the Lord proclaimed the truth when He taught that the soul is immortal, and therefore it is not fair to say that it is subject to corruption: or that it is subject to corruption: and that Christ, both in His speech about the rich and the poor, and in the appearance of Moses and Elijah, falsely taught that it is not perishable and immortal. But the Lord did not say anything unjust or false. For it was not as a ghost and a ghost, out of a desire to deceive the Apostles, that He showed them Moses and Elijah on the mountain, but that they really were. From this, so to speak, even the most uneducated will understand that by this He confirmed the immortality and indestructibility of the soul.

Chapter 33.

And so the resurrection belongs to the body, and not to the soul, so that the tabernacle of David, which fell into corruption, may arise, and when restored and rebuilt, it may remain unharmed and indestructible, as in the days of old (Amos 9:11); for it is not proper for God to build a stone house for David in the future, so that in the kingdom of heaven he may have a beautiful dwelling, but to restore the abode of the soul, the flesh which He created with His own hands. So you must reason about this, the wisest Aglaophon! And you will understand this most easily if you pay attention to the example of sleep and awakening. For if waking is followed by sleep, and sleep by awakening, then this is the doctrine of death and resurrection; Since "sleep and death are twins," the quickening from the dead, in order for the flesh to come to life, is as necessary as rising from sleep. For just as sleep is followed by wakefulness, and the sleeper certainly does not remain forever in the same sleepy state, but rises again, so death will be followed by life, and the dead will certainly not remain in the same state. Thus, if after sleep there is wakefulness, after the fall there is rebellion, after destruction there is recreation, then how can it not be expected that the fallen will rise and the dead will come to life? And we confess without flattering ourselves that the dead bodies will come to life again. This, if you will, conclude not only from sleep and rebellion, but also from seeds and plants, since the resurrection is proclaimed by all of them. Look at the seeds, how they are naked and skinny thrown into the ground, and from there they appear again fruitful. If the seeds had died and rotted, and no new life and plant had sprung from the seeds, then what else would have come of it but that all things should have been destroyed by death?

Chapter 34.

But we will not say more about this now, sovereign Theophilus and the other judges of our words, but will consider what follows in order, since our speech has allowed too far a deviation. For according to the opponent's strained and incongruous interpretation of the prophecy in Psalm 65, God, as if as a punishment for sins, imprisons the soul in the body, as in bonds. This is more absurdity than a fair opinion. For if before the transgression, as we have previously stated, the souls received a body, how is it that after the transgression they are shut up in a body, as in bonds, when there is no time in which they have sinned before receiving the body? He is not clever who says that the souls have sinned because of the body, and that after they have sinned, the body has become a prison and a bond in condemnation for it. If souls have sinned because of the body, it means that the body was united to them from the beginning, even before sin. For how could they have sinned because of something that did not yet exist? And again: if the human body is taken for chains, fetters, and prison, then both of them are not guilty of sin together, but one soul. For what happens to the sinner after sin? Prison, chains and fetters are prepared for him. But we have admitted that the body cannot be called the bond of the soul; for the body cooperates with her in both, that is, in righteousness and in unrighteousness, and the bonds restrain her from unrighteousness. Therefore, as I say, one of two things must be admitted: either we have sinned with the body from the beginning, and there is no time in which we would be without a body, and consequently the body together with the soul is the guilt of both good and evil deeds; or we sinned when we lived without a body, and therefore the body is completely innocent of evil. But the soul without a body is not conquered by irrational voluptuousness, and yet the primordial are vanquished, having been caught by irrational voluptuousness; therefore, the soul was united with the body even before sin.