On the Soul and the Resurrection 143–159

Gregory of Nyssa · On the Soul and the Resurrection · ca. 379–380 · Nyssa · 9 passages

Greek text: PG 46.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 5 (1893), "On the Soul and the Resurrection".

Chapter 143

143PG 46:144a–144d

νὸντων ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας τὰς ἀλγεινὰς τῶν κολάσεων, τῶν τε αὖ μαλακιζομένων πρὸς ταῦτα διὰ τῆς σωματικῆς αἰσθήσεως, ἑκατέρων τούτων ἐπιδεικνυμένων, πῶς ἔστι παρὰ τὴν κρίσιν διασωθῆναι τὸ δίκαιον ; Ἦ τοῦ αὐτοῦ νῦν μὲν πεπλημμεληκότος, αὖθις δὲ διὰ μεταμελείας ἑαυτὸν ὲκκαθάραντος, κᾶν οὕτω τύχῃ πάλιν ἐπὶ τδ πλημμελὲς ὁλισθήσαντος, ὑπαμειφθέντος δὲ κατὰ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς φύσεως, καὶ τοῦ μεμολυσμένον καὶ 106 ἀμολύντου σώματος, καὶ μήθʼ ἑτέρουβό) τούτων είς τὸ διηνεκὲς ὲξαρκέσαντος, ποῖον τῷ ἀκολάστῳ σῶμα συγκολασθήσεται, τὸ ρικνωοὲν ὲν τῷ γήρᾳ πρὸς τῷ Θανάτῳ; Ἀλλʼ ἕτερον ῆν τοῦτο παρὰ τὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κατειργασμένον, ἀλλʼ ὅπερ κατεμολύνθη τῷ πείθεις καὶ ποῦ 6 πρεσβύτηςς Ἢ γὰρ οὐκ ἀναστήσεται οὗτος, καὶ οὐκ ἐνεργὸς ὴ ἀνάστασις · ἢ οὗτος ἐγερθήσεται, καὶ διαφεύξεται τὴν δίκην 661:0κείμενος. “ Είπω τι κα) · ἄλλο τῶν προφερομένων ἡμῖν παρά τῶν οὐ δεδεγμένων τὸν λόγον. Οὐδὲν, φησὶν, ἄπρακτον τῶν ὲν τῷ σώματι μορίων ἡφύσις ἐποίησε. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ τὴν 106 ζῇν αίτίαν καὶ δύναμιν ἑν ἡμῖν ἔχει, ὧν ἄνευ συστῆναι διὰ σαρκὸς ζωὴν ἡ μῶν, οὐκ ἐνδέχεται, οἷον, καρδία, ἧπαρ, ἐγκέφαλος, πνεύμων, γαστὴρ, καὶτὰ λοιπὰ σπλάγχνα ο τὰ δὲ τῇ αἱ· σθητικῇ κινήσει ἀποκεκλήρωται ο τὰ δὲτῆς παρεκτιο κῆς καὶ μεταβατικῆς ἐνεργείας ἐστίνʼ ἄλλα δὲ πρὸς τὴν διαδοχὴν τῶν ἐπιγινομένων ἐπιτηδείως ἔχει. El μὲν οὖν ὲν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἡμῖν 6 μετὰ ταῦτα βίος ἔσται, πρὸς οὐδὲν ἠ μετάστασις γίνεταιο εἰδὲ ἀληθὴς 6 λόγος (ὥσπερ οὖν ἐστιν ἀληθὴς), 6 μήτε γάμον ὲμπολιτεύεσθαι τῷ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν βίῳ διοριζόμεvoc, μήτε διὰ βρώσεως καὶ πόσεως τὴν τότε διακρατεῖσθαι ζωὴν, τίς ἔσται χρῆσις τῶν μερῶν τοῦ σώμαι τος, οὐκέτι τῶν διʼ ἃ νῦν ἐστιτὰ μέλη κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν ἐκείνην ὲλπιζομένωνς Εἰ γὰρ 106 γάμου χάριν τὰ πρὸς τὸν γάμον ἐστὶ μέλη, ὅταν ἐκεῖνος μὴ ᾖ, οὐδὲ τῶν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον δεόμεθα. Οὕτω πρὸς τὸ ἔργον αί χεῖρες, καὶπρὸς τὸν δρόμον οί πόδες, καὶ πρὸς τὴν παραδοχὴν (AM) τῶν σιτίων τὸ στόμα, καὶ οἱ ὀδόντες πρὸς τὴν τῆς τροφῆς ὑπηρεσίαν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν πέψιν τὰ σπλάγχνα, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἀποβολὴν τῶν ἀχρειωθέντων αἱ ὲξοδικοὶ τῶν πόρων. Ὅταν οὖν ἐκεῖνα μὴ ᾖ, τὰ διʼ ἐκεῖνα γινομένα πῶς ἢ

nontōn hyper tēs eusebeias tas algeinas tōn kolaseōn, tōn te au malakizomenōn pros tauta dia tēs sōmatikēs aisthēseōs, hekaterōn toutōn epideiknymenōn, pōs esti para tēn krisin diasōthēnai to dikaion ? Ē tou autou nyn men peplēmmelēkotos, authis de dia metameleias heauton ekkatharantos, kan houtō tychę̄ palin epi td plēmmeles holisthēsantos, hypameiphthentos de kata tēn akolouthian tēs physeōs, kai tou memolysmenon kai 106 amolyntou sōmatos, kai mēthʼ heteroubo) toutōn eis to diēnekes exarkesantos, poion tǭ akolastǭ sōma synkolasthēsetai, to riknōoen en tǭ gērą pros tǭ Thanatǭ? Allʼ heteron ēn touto para to tēn hamartian kateirgasmenon, allʼ hoper katemolynthē tǭ peitheis kai pou 6 presbytēss Ē gar ouk anastēsetai houtos, kai ouk energos ē anastasis ; ē houtos egerthēsetai, kai diapheuxetai tēn dikēn 661:0keimenos. “ Eipō ti ka) ; allo tōn propheromenōn hēmin para tōn ou dedegmenōn ton logon. Ouden, phēsin, aprakton tōn en tǭ sōmati moriōn hēphysis epoiēse. Ta men gar tēn 106 zę̄n aitian kai dynamin hen hēmin echei, hōn aneu systēnai dia sarkos zōēn hē mōn, ouk endechetai, hoion, kardia, hēpar, enkephalos, pneumōn, gastēr, kaita loipa splanchna o ta de tę̄ hai; sthētikę̄ kinēsei apokeklērōtai o ta detēs parektio kēs kai metabatikēs energeias estinʼ alla de pros tēn diadochēn tōn epiginomenōn epitēdeiōs echei. El men oun en tois autois hēmin 6 meta tauta bios estai, pros ouden ē metastasis ginetaio eide alēthēs 6 logos (hōsper oun estin alēthēs), 6 mēte gamon empoliteuesthai tǭ meta tēn anastasin biǭ diorizomevoc, mēte dia brōseōs kai poseōs tēn tote diakrateisthai zōēn, tis estai chrēsis tōn merōn tou sōmai tos, ouketi tōn diʼ ha nyn estita melē kata tēn zōēn ekeinēn elpizomenōns Ei gar 106 gamou charin ta pros ton gamon esti melē, hotan ekeinos mē ę̄, oude tōn pros ekeinon deometha. Houtō pros to ergon ai cheires, kaipros ton dromon oi podes, kai pros tēn paradochēn (AM) tōn sitiōn to stoma, kai hoi odontes pros tēn tēs trophēs hypēresian, kai pros tēn pepsin ta splanchna, kai pros tēn apobolēn tōn achreiōthentōn hai exodikoi tōn porōn. Hotan oun ekeina mē ę̄, ta diʼ ekeina ginomena pōs ē

“… endure the painful punishments for godliness, and of those who are soft toward them through bodily sensation, since both show themselves in this, how can justice be preserved at the judgment? Or, when the same man has now sinned and then purified himself by repentance and then perhaps slipped back into sin, and both the defiled and the undefiled body have been changed by the sequence of nature, and neither of them has lasted continuously, what kind of body will be punished along with the licentious man? The one shrivelled in old age near death? But this was other than the one that did the sin. The one defiled by passion, then? And where is the old man? For either this one will not rise, and the resurrection is not effective; or this one will be raised, and the guilty one will escape justice. Let me say something else too of what is brought against us by those who have not accepted the doctrine. Nature, they say, made none of the parts in the body idle. Some have in us the cause and power of living, without which our life through the flesh cannot exist, such as the heart, liver, brain, lungs, stomach, and the other inner organs; others are allotted to the movement of sense; others belong to the activity of handling and moving about; others are fitted for the succession of offspring. If, then, the life afterward is to be in the same things, the change is for nothing; but if the saying is true (as indeed it is) which lays down that marriage has no place in the life after the resurrection, and that life then is not sustained by food and drink, what use will there be for the parts of the body, when the things for which the members now exist are no longer hoped for in that life? For if the members for marriage exist for marriage, when that is not, we do not need what is for it either. So the hands are for work, the feet for running, the mouth for receiving food, the teeth for serving nourishment, the inner organs for digestion, and the passages for expelling what is useless. When those things are not, how or …”

Matt 22:30 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 20:35 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Gregory continues the objections: which body will be judged, since the body of the sinner and the penitent keep changing? And what use will the organs of eating and procreation have in a life without marriage or food?

References: Matt 22:30 and Luke 20:35 (no marriage in the resurrection).

Topics: Eschatology, Marriage

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 143 (PG 46:144a–144d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-143). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne's Patrologia Graeca (scan OCR, corrections logged; lines lost in the scan marked …), then compared section by section with the public-domain English of NPNF² 5 (Moore and Wilson, 1893); differences checked against the Greek.

Chapter 145

145PG 46:145a–145d

με ὑπὲρ τινος ἔσται, ὼς ἀνάγκην εἶναι, ει μὲν εῖη περιττά τά σώματα πρὸς οὐδὲν πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ὲκείνην συνεργεῖν μέλλοντα, μηδὲ εἷναί τι τῶν νῦν συμπληρούντων ἡμῖν τὸ σῶμα (ὲν ἀλλοις γὰρ ἡ ζωὴ), καὶ οὐκέτι τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀνάστασιν ὀνομάσειε, τῶν καθʼ ἕκαστον μελῶν διὰ τὴν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ζωῇ ἀχρηστίαν οὑ συνανισταμένων τῷ σώματι; Εί δὲ διά πάντων ἔσται τούτων ἐναργὴς ἡ ἀνάστασις, μάταια ἡμῖν καὶ ἀνόνητα ’ πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν ἐκείνην δημιουργήσει ό ἐνεργῶν,τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Ἀλλά μὴν καὶ εἶναι πιστεύειν χρὴ τὴν ἀνάστασιν, καὶ μὴ ματαίαν εἶναι. Οὐκοῦν προσεκτέον τῷ λόγῳ, ὅπως ἀν ἡμῖν διά πάντων ἐν τῷ δόγματι τὸ εἰκὸς διασώ- Μ. Ἐμοῦ δὲ ταῦτα διεξελθόντος, Οὐκ ἀγεννῶς, φησὶν ἡ διδάσκαλος, κατά τὴν λεγομένην ῥητορικὴν τῶν τῆς ἀναστάσεως δογμάτων κατεπεχείρησας, πιθανῶς τοῖς ἀνασκευαστικοῖς τῶν λόγων ὲν κύκλῳ περιδραμὼν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ὥστε τοὺς μὴ λίαν ὲπεσκεμμένους τὺ τῆς ἀληθείας μυστήριον παθεῖν ἀν πως τὸ κατά τὸ εἰκὸς πρὸς τὸν λόγον, κα). οἰηθῆναι μὴ ἔξω τοῦ δέον ο τος ὲπῆχθαι τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὴν ὲπαπόρησιν. Ἔχει δὲ οὐχ οὕτω, φησὶν,ή ἀλήθεια, κᾶν ἀδυνάτως ἔχωμεν ἑκ τῶν όμοίων ἀντιρητορεύειν τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλʼ ό μὲν ἀληθὴς περ) τούτων λόγος ὲν τοῖς ἀποκρύφοις σοφίας θησαυροῖς τεταμίευται, τότε είς τὸ ὲμα φανὶς ἥξων, ὅταν ἔργῳ τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως διδαχθῶμεν μυστήριον, ὅτε οὐκέτι δεήσει ῥημάτων ἡμῖν πρὸς τὴν ἐλπιζομένων φανέρωσιν. Ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ὲν νυκτὶ πολλῶν κινουμένων τοῖς διαγρυπνοῦσι λόγοις περὶ τῆς τοῦ ἡλίου λαμπηδόνος, οἵα ἐστὶν, ἀργὴν ποιεῖτὴν τοῦ λόγου ὑπογραφὴν προφανεῖσα μόνον τῆς ἀκτῖνοςή χάρις, οὕτω πάντα λογισμὸν στοχαστικῶς τῆς μελλούσης καταστάσεως ἐφαπτόμενον, ἀντʼ οὐδενὸς ὑποδείκνυσιν, ὅτε γένηται ἡμῖν ὲν τῇ πείρα τὸ προσδοκώμενον. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ χρὴ μὴ παντάπασιν άνεξετάστους ὲαθῆναι τὰς ἀντυπεν. εχθείσας ἡμῖν ἐνστάσεις, οὑτωσὶ τὸν πε ρ). τούτων λόγον διαληψόμεθα. Νοῆσαι χρὴ πρῶτον τίςό σκοπὸς τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν δόγματος, καὶ ὅτου χάριν καὶ εἴρηται τοῦτο παρά τῆς ἀγίας φωνῆς καὶ πεπίστευται. Οὐκοῦν, ὡς ἀν τις ὅρῳ τινὶ τί τοιοῦτον περιλαβὼν ὑπογράψειεν, οὕτως ἐροῦμεν

me hyper tinos estai, ōs anankēn einai, ei men eiē peritta ta sōmata pros ouden pros tēn zōēn ekeinēn synergein mellonta, mēde heinai ti tōn nyn symplērountōn hēmin to sōma (en allois gar hē zōē), kai ouketi to toiouton anastasin onomaseie, tōn kathʼ hekaston melōn dia tēn ekeinę̄ tę̄ zōę̄ achrēstian hou synanistamenōn tǭ sōmati? Ei de dia pantōn estai toutōn enargēs hē anastasis, mataia hēmin kai anonēta ’ pros tēn zōēn ekeinēn dēmiourgēsei o energōn,tēn anastasin. Alla mēn kai einai pisteuein chrē tēn anastasin, kai mē mataian einai. Oukoun prosekteon tǭ logǭ, hopōs an hēmin dia pantōn en tǭ dogmati to eikos diasō- M. Emou de tauta diexelthontos, Ouk agennōs, phēsin hē didaskalos, kata tēn legomenēn rhētorikēn tōn tēs anastaseōs dogmatōn katepecheirēsas, pithanōs tois anaskeuastikois tōn logōn en kyklǭ peridramōn tēn alētheian, hōste tous mē lian epeskemmenous ty tēs alētheias mystērion pathein an pōs to kata to eikos pros ton logon, ka). oiēthēnai mē exō tou deon o tos epēchthai tois eirēmenois tēn epaporēsin. Echei de ouch houtō, phēsin,ē alētheia, kan adynatōs echōmen hek tōn omoiōn antirētoreuein tǭ logǭ, allʼ o men alēthēs per) toutōn logos en tois apokryphois sophias thēsaurois tetamieutai, tote eis to ema phanis hēxōn, hotan ergǭ to tēs anastaseōs didachthōmen mystērion, hote ouketi deēsei rhēmatōn hēmin pros tēn elpizomenōn phanerōsin. Allʼ hōsper en nykti pollōn kinoumenōn tois diagrypnousi logois peri tēs tou hēliou lampēdonos, hoia estin, argēn poieitēn tou logou hypographēn prophaneisa monon tēs aktinosē charis, houtō panta logismon stochastikōs tēs mellousēs katastaseōs ephaptomenon, antʼ oudenos hypodeiknysin, hote genētai hēmin en tę̄ peira to prosdokōmenon. Epeidē de chrē mē pantapasin anexetastous eathēnai tas antypen. echtheisas hēmin enstaseis, houtōsi ton pe r). toutōn logon dialēpsometha. Noēsai chrē prōton tiso skopos tou kata tēn anastasin dogmatos, kai hotou charin kai eirētai touto para tēs agias phōnēs kai pepisteutai. Oukoun, hōs an tis horǭ tini ti toiouton perilabōn hypograpseien, houtōs eroumen

“… for what will they be? So that necessarily, if the bodies are superfluous, going to contribute nothing to that life, none of the things that now make up our body will exist (for that life is in other things); and one would no longer call such a thing resurrection, the individual members not rising with the body because of their uselessness for that life. But if the resurrection is to be effective in all of them, the one who works the resurrection will make for us things vain and useless for that life. Yet we must believe both that the resurrection exists and that it is not vain. We must attend to the argument, then, so that what is probable may be preserved for us in the doctrine in every respect.” Macrina: When I had gone through this, my teacher said: “You have attacked the doctrines of the resurrection not ignobly, according to what is called rhetoric, running round the truth plausibly with arguments of refutation, so that those who have not examined the mystery of the truth very carefully might be somewhat affected by the argument as probable, and think that the difficulty has not been raised against what was said without reason. But the truth is not so,” she said, “even if we cannot rhetorically argue back against the argument in like terms. The true account of these things is stored in the hidden treasures of wisdom, to come into the open when we are taught the mystery of the resurrection by the fact, when we shall no longer need words to make plain what we hope for. But as, at night, when many words are moved by those keeping watch about the brightness of the sun, what it is like, the mere appearance of the grace of the ray makes the description by words idle, so the coming of what we expect, when it happens in our experience, will show to be nothing every reasoning that conjecturally touches the future state. But since the objections raised against us must not be left wholly unexamined, we shall treat the account of them in this way. We must first understand what the aim of the doctrine of the resurrection is, and for what reason it has been spoken by the holy voice and believed. So, as one might sketch such a thing by comprising it in a definition, we shall say …”

Col 2:3 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Gregory ends his objections; Macrina praises their rhetorical skill but says the truth will be shown by the event itself, like sunrise ending talk of the sun; she begins by defining the aim of the resurrection.

The unit includes the end of Gregory’s objections. References: Col 2:3 (“hidden treasures of wisdom”).

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 145 (PG 46:145a–145d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-145). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 147

147PG 46:148a–148b

· ὅτι ἀνάστασις ἐστιν ἠ εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἀποκατάστασις. Ἀλλʼ ὲν τῇ πρώτῃ ζωῇ, ἧς αὐτὸς γέγονε δημιουργὸς 6 Θεὸς, οὔτε γῆρας ἦν. ὡς εἰκὸς, οὔτε νηπιότης, οὔτε κατά. τὰς πολυτρόπως ἀρρωστίας πάθη, οὔτε ἀλλο τῆς σωματικῆς ταλαιπωρίας οὐδὲν (οὕτε γάρ εἰκὸς ἦν. τά τοιαῦτα δημιουργεῖν τὸν Θεὸν), ἀλλά θεῖόν τιν Α (ρῆμα ἦνή ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις πρὶν ὲν ὁρμῇ γίνεσθαι τοῦ κακοῦ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα τῇ εἰσόδῳ τῆς κακίας ἡμῖν συνεισέβαλεν. Οὐκοῦν οὐδεμίαν, ἀνᾲγκην ἕξει 6 ἄνευ κακίας βίος ὲν. τοῖς διὰ mima. συμβεβηκόσιν εἶναι., Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπακολουθεῖ τῷ διά κρυμῶν ὁδοιποροῦντι τὸ ψύχεσθαι τὸ σῶμα, ἢ τῷ διά θερμῶν ἀκτίς νων πορευομένῳ τὸ μελαίνεσθαι τὴν ἐπιφάνειαι· εἰδὲ ἐκτὸς ἑκατέρου γένοιτο τούτων aui/artant» γήσεται πάντως καὶ τοῦ μελασμοῦ καὶ τῆς ψύα εεως, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις εὐλόγως ὲπιζητοίη τὸ ἐκ τις. νος αἰτίας συμβαῖνον, τῆς αἰτίας οὐκ οὔσης · οὔτ τως ἡ φύσις ὴ μῶν ἐμπαθὴς γενομένη, τοῖς ἀναγκαίως ἐπακολουθοῦσι τῇ παθητικῇ ζωῇ συνηνέχθη, Πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀπαθῆ μακαριότητα πάλιν ἀναδραμοῦσα, οὐκέτι τοῖς ὲπακολωδθοῦσι τῆς κααιν κίας συνενεχθήσεται. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὃσα ὲκ τῆς ἀλόγου, ζωῆς τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ καπμίχθη φύσει, οὐ πρότερον ἦν ὲν ἡμῖν πρὶν είς πάθος διὰ κακίας mosi»; τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἀναγκαίως καταλιπόντες τὸ πάθος, καὶ πάντα ὅσα μετʼ (αὑτοῦ καθορᾶται σιῖγκαταλείιῖκοιμν Ὥστε οὐκ ἄν τις εὐλόγως ὲν τῷ βίῳ ἐκείνῳ τὰ ὲκ τοῦ. πάθους ἡμῖν συμβεβηκότα ζητήσειεν>Ὦσπερ γὰρ. εἰ τις ῥωγαλέον περὶ αὐτὸν ἔχων χιτῶνα. γυμνωθείη τοῦ περιβλήματος, οίδκέαιιιχ ἂν τὴν toil dmpétpévrog ἀσχημοσύνην ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ βλέποι, οὕτω καὶ ἡμῶν ἀποδυσαμένων τὸν νεκρὸν ἐκεῖνον καὶ εἰν δεχθῆ χιτῶνα, τὸν ὲκ τῶν ἀλόγων δερμάτων ἡμῖν. ἐπιβληθέντα (δέρμα δὲ ἀκούων τὸ σχῆμα τῆς ἀλόγου φύσεως νοεῖν μοι δοκῶ, ᾧ πρὸς τὸ πάθος οἱκειωθέντες περιεὸλήθημεν),. πάντα ὅσα τοῦ ἀλόγου δέρματος περὶ ἡμᾶς ἦν ὲν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ χιτῶνος συναποδαλλόμοθα, Ἐστι δὲ, ἃ προσέλαδεν άπδ τοῦ ἀλόγου δέρματος, ἡ μίξις, ἠ σύλληψις, 6 τόκος, 6 ῥύπος, ή θηλὴ, ήη τροιρὴ, ἡ ὲκ·

; hoti anastasis estin ē eis to archaion tēs physeōs hēmōn apokatastasis. Allʼ en tę̄ prōtę̄ zōę̄, hēs autos gegone dēmiourgos 6 Theos, oute gēras ēn. hōs eikos, oute nēpiotēs, oute kata. tas polytropōs arrōstias pathē, oute allo tēs sōmatikēs talaipōrias ouden (houte gar eikos ēn. ta toiauta dēmiourgein ton Theon), alla theion tin A (rēma ēnē anthrōpinē physis prin en hormę̄ ginesthai tou kakou to anthrōpinon. Tauta de panta tę̄ eisodǭ tēs kakias hēmin syneisebalen. Oukoun oudemian, anąnkēn hexei 6 aneu kakias bios en. tois dia mima. symbebēkosin einai., Hōsper gar epakolouthei tǭ dia krymōn hodoiporounti to psychesthai to sōma, ē tǭ dia thermōn aktis nōn poreuomenǭ to melainesthai tēn epiphaneiai; eide ektos hekaterou genoito toutōn aui/artant» gēsetai pantōs kai tou melasmou kai tēs psya eeōs, kai ouk an tis eulogōs epizētoiē to ek tis. nos aitias symbainon, tēs aitias ouk ousēs ; out tōs hē physis ē mōn empathēs genomenē, tois anankaiōs epakolouthousi tę̄ pathētikę̄ zōę̄ synēnechthē, Pros de tēn apathē makariotēta palin anadramousa, ouketi tois epakolōdthousi tēs kaain kias synenechthēsetai. Epei oun hosa ek tēs alogou, zōēs tę̄ anthrōpinę̄ kapmichthē physei, ou proteron ēn en hēmin prin eis pathos dia kakias mosi»? to anthrōpinon, anankaiōs katalipontes to pathos, kai panta hosa metʼ (hautou kathoratai siinkataleiiikoimn Hōste ouk an tis eulogōs en tǭ biǭ ekeinǭ ta ek tou. pathous hēmin symbebēkota zētēseien>Ōsper gar. ei tis rhōgaleon peri auton echōn chitōna. gymnōtheiē tou periblēmatos, oidkeaiiich an tēn toil dmpetpevrog aschēmosynēn ephʼ heautou blepoi, houtō kai hēmōn apodysamenōn ton nekron ekeinon kai ein dechthē chitōna, ton ek tōn alogōn dermatōn hēmin. epiblēthenta (derma de akouōn to schēma tēs alogou physeōs noein moi dokō, hǭ pros to pathos hoikeiōthentes perieolēthēmen),. panta hosa tou alogou dermatos peri hēmas ēn en tę̄ apekdysei tou chitōnos synapodallomotha, Esti de, ha proseladen apd tou alogou dermatos, hē mixis, ē syllēpsis, 6 tokos, 6 rhypos, ē thēlē, ēē troirē, hē ek;

“… that the resurrection is the restoration of our nature to its ancient state. But in the first life, of which God himself was the maker, there was, as is likely, neither old age nor infancy nor the sufferings of the many kinds of disease nor any other bodily misery (for it was not fitting for God to make such things); rather, human nature was something divine before humanity came under the impulse of evil. All these things came in upon us with the entrance of vice. The life without vice, then, will have no necessity to be in what happened through vice. For as it follows for one travelling in frost that his body is chilled, or for one walking in hot rays that his skin is darkened, but if he is out of both he will certainly be free of both the darkening and the chilling, and no one would reasonably look for what happens from some cause when the cause does not exist: so our nature, having become passionate, fell in with the things that necessarily follow a life of passion; but when it runs back to the passionless blessedness it will no longer fall in with what follows vice. Since, then, whatever was mingled with human nature from irrational life was not in us before humanity fell into passion through vice, when we leave the passion we shall necessarily leave together all that is seen with it. So no one would reasonably look in that life for what happened to us from the passion. For as, if someone wearing a ragged tunic were stripped of the covering, he would no longer see on himself the unsightliness of what had been thrown off, so too, when we have put off that dead and hideous tunic, made from the skins of irrational creatures and laid upon us (when I hear ‘skin’ I think I understand the form of irrational nature, with which we were clothed when we became akin to passion), we cast off together, in the stripping off of the tunic, all that belonged to the irrational skin around us. And the things it took from the irrational skin are: intercourse, conception, birth, filth, the breast, nourishment, ex…”

Gen 3:21 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Macrina defines the resurrection as the restoration of human nature to its first state, which had no age, disease, or misery; these came with sin, symbolized by the “garments of skin,” and will be cast off with it.

“Restoration … to its ancient state” renders ἀποκατάστασις. The “tunic of skins” is Gen 3:21, which Macrina interprets as the irrational, passible condition added after the fall; translated exactly as written.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 147 (PG 46:148a–148b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-147). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 149

149PG 46:149a–149d

ποίησις, ἠ κατʼ ὀλίγον ἐπὶ τὸ τέλειον αὔξησις, i ἀκμὴν τδ γῆρας, ὴ νόσος, ὁ θάνατος. El οὖς έκεῖνο περὶ ἡμᾶς οὐκ ἔσται. πῶς ἡμῖν τὰ ἐξ ἐκείνοι ὕπολειφθήσεται; Ὥστε μάταιον ἄλλης τινὸς καταστάσεως κατά τὴν μέλλουσαν ζωὴν ἐλπιζομένης, bid-rein! μηδὲν αὐτῇ κοινωνούντων ἐνίστασθαι πρὸς τὸ δόγμα τῆς ἀναστάσεως. τί γάρ κοινὸν ἔχει η ρικνότης καὶ πολυσαρκίσ καὶ τηκεδὼν, καὶ πληθώρα, καὶ ετ τι ἄλλο τῇ ρευστῇ φύσει τῶν σωμάτων έπισυμβαίνει πρὸς την. ζωὴν εκείνην, ἢ τῆς (l) ῥοώδους τε καὶ παροδικῆς τού βίου διαγωγῆς ἠλλοτρίωταις Ἐν ζητεῖ μόνον ὁ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λόγος, rb φυῆναι διὰ γενέσεως ἀνθρωπον · μᾶλλον δὲ, καὶ καθώς φησι τὸ Εὑαγγέλιον, εί έγενήθη (ἄ) ἄνθρωπος είς τὸν κόσμον, τὸ δὲ μαο κρόβιον ἦ ὠκύμορον, ἢ τὸν τού θανάτου τρόπον τοιῶσδεἦ ἑτέρως συμβεβηκέναι, μάταιον τῷ τῆς ἀναν στάσεως λόγῳ συνεξετάξειν. Ὅπως γὰρ ἂν τοῦτο δῶμεν καθʼ ὑπόθεσιν ἔχειν, ὲν τῷ ὁμοίῳ πάντως ἐστὶν, οὔτε δυσκολίας, οὔτε ῥᾳστώνης ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης διαφορᾶς περὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν οὔσης. Τὸν γὰρ τού ζῇν ἀμξάᾼμενον, ζῆσαι χρὴ πάντως, τῆς ὲν τῷ μέσῳ διὰ τοῦ θανάτου συμβάσης αὐτῷ διαλύσεως έν τῇ ἀναστάσει διορθωθείσης. Τὸ δὲ πῶς ἢ πότε ὴ διάλυσις γίνεται, τί τοῦτο πρὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν; Πρὸς ἕτερον γὰρ σκοπὸν βλέπει ὴ περὶ τούτου σκέψις, οἷον καθʼ ἡδονήν τις ἐβίω, ἢ ἀνιώμενος, κατʼ ἀρετὴνη κακίαν, ἐπαινετὸς ἢ ὑπαίτιος, ἐλεεινῶς ἦ μακαρὶως παρῆλθε τὸν χρόνον. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα καὶ τά τοιαῦτα ὲκ τοῦ μέτρου τῆς ζωῆς καὶ ὲκ τοῦ εί·δους κατὰ τὸν Βίον εὑρίσκεται, καὶ οὓτω πρὸς τὴν κρίσιν τῶν βεβιωμένων, ἀναγκαῖον ἂν εῐη τῷ κριτῇ πάθος καὶ λώβην, καὶ νόσον, καὶ γῆρας, καὶ ἀκμὴν, καὶ νεότητα, καὶ πλοῦτον, καὶ πενίαν διερευνᾶσθαι · ὅπως τις διʼ ἑκάστου τούτων γενόμενος, ἢ εὖ ἥ κακῶς τὸν συγκληρωθέντα βίον παρέδραμε, καὶ ἢ πολλῶν ἐγένετο δεκτικὸς ἀγαθῶν, ἦ κακῶν ( l l), ὲν μακρῷ τῷ χρόνῳ, ἢ οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅλως ἐκατέρου τούτων ἐφήψατο, ὲν ἀτελεῖ τῇ διανοίᾳ τοῦ ζῇν παυσάμενος; ’Όταν δὲ πρὸς τὴν πρώτην τοῦ ἀνθρώπου κατασκευὴν διʼ ἀναστάσεως ὁ Θεὸς ὲπανάγῃ τὴν φύσιν, ἀργὸν ἂν εἴη τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν, καὶτὸ δ.ἀ τῶν τοιούτων ὲνστάσεων (IL) οἴεσθαι τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμιν πρὸς τὸν σκοπὸν ἐμποδίζεσθαι.

poiēsis, ē katʼ oligon epi to teleion auxēsis, i akmēn td gēras, ē nosos, ho thanatos. El ous ekeino peri hēmas ouk estai. pōs hēmin ta ex ekeinoi hypoleiphthēsetai? Hōste mataion allēs tinos katastaseōs kata tēn mellousan zōēn elpizomenēs, bid-rein! mēden autę̄ koinōnountōn enistasthai pros to dogma tēs anastaseōs. ti gar koinon echei ē riknotēs kai polysarkis kai tēkedōn, kai plēthōra, kai et ti allo tę̄ reustę̄ physei tōn sōmatōn episymbainei pros tēn. zōēn ekeinēn, ē tēs (l) rhoōdous te kai parodikēs tou biou diagōgēs ēllotriōtais En zētei monon ho tēs anastaseōs logos, rb phyēnai dia geneseōs anthrōpon ; mallon de, kai kathōs phēsi to Heuangelion, ei egenēthē (a) anthrōpos eis ton kosmon, to de mao krobion ē ōkymoron, ē ton tou thanatou tropon toiōsdeē heterōs symbebēkenai, mataion tǭ tēs anan staseōs logǭ synexetaxein. Hopōs gar an touto dōmen kathʼ hypothesin echein, en tǭ homoiǭ pantōs estin, oute dyskolias, oute rhąstōnēs ek tēs toiautēs diaphoras peri tēn anastasin ousēs. Ton gar tou zę̄n amxaĄmenon, zēsai chrē pantōs, tēs en tǭ mesǭ dia tou thanatou symbasēs autǭ dialyseōs en tę̄ anastasei diorthōtheisēs. To de pōs ē pote ē dialysis ginetai, ti touto pros tēn anastasin? Pros heteron gar skopon blepei ē peri toutou skepsis, hoion kathʼ hēdonēn tis ebiō, ē aniōmenos, katʼ aretēnē kakian, epainetos ē hypaitios, eleeinōs ē makariōs parēlthe ton chronon. Tauta gar panta kai ta toiauta ek tou metrou tēs zōēs kai ek tou ei;dous kata ton Bion heurisketai, kai houtō pros tēn krisin tōn bebiōmenōn, anankaion an eiē tǭ kritę̄ pathos kai lōbēn, kai noson, kai gēras, kai akmēn, kai neotēta, kai plouton, kai penian diereunasthai ; hopōs tis diʼ hekastou toutōn genomenos, ē eu hē kakōs ton synklērōthenta bion paredrame, kai ē pollōn egeneto dektikos agathōn, ē kakōn ( l l), en makrǭ tǭ chronǭ, ē oude tēn archēn holōs ekaterou toutōn ephēpsato, en atelei tę̄ dianoią tou zę̄n pausamenos? ’Otan de pros tēn prōtēn tou anthrōpou kataskeuēn diʼ anastaseōs ho Theos epanagę̄ tēn physin, argon an eiē ta toiauta legein, kaito d.a tōn toioutōn enstaseōn (IL) oiesthai tēn tou Theou dynamin pros ton skopon empodizesthai.

“… cretion, gradual growth to maturity, the prime, old age, disease, death. If, then, that is not about us, how will what comes from it be left to us? So it is vain, when another state is hoped for in the life to come, to object to the doctrine of the resurrection things that have nothing in common with it. For what do shrivelling and fatness, wasting and plethora, and anything else that befalls the flowing nature of bodies, have in common with that life, which is estranged from the flowing and passing course of this life? The account of the resurrection seeks one thing only: that a man has come into being by birth; or rather, as the Gospel says, that a man has been born into the world; whether his life was long or short, or his manner of death this or another, it is vain to examine along with the account of the resurrection. For however we suppose this to be, it is all the same; there is neither difficulty nor ease for the resurrection from such difference. For one who has begun to live must certainly live, the dissolution that came about in the middle through death being set right in the resurrection. But how or when the dissolution happens, what has that to do with the resurrection? The consideration of this looks to another aim: for example, whether someone lived in pleasure or in pain, in virtue or in vice, praiseworthy or blameworthy, whether he passed his time pitiably or blessedly. For all these and the like are found from the measure of life and the form of one’s life; and so, for the judgment of what has been lived, it would be necessary for the judge to search out passion and mutilation, disease and age, prime and youth, wealth and poverty: how each man, having been in each of these, passed the life allotted to him well or badly, and whether he received many goods or evils in a long time, or did not touch even the beginning of either, ceasing to live with an immature mind. But when God brings back our nature through the resurrection to the first construction of man, it would be idle to say such things and to think that God’s power is hindered from its aim by such objections.”

John 16:21 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The resurrection requires only that a man was born; how long he lived or how he died bears on judgment, not on resurrection; when God restores nature to its first state, the objections about age and disease fall away.

References: John 16:21 (“a man has been born into the world”).

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 149 (PG 46:149a–149d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-149). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 151

151PG 46:152a–152d

Σκοπὸς δὲ αὐτῷ εἷς, τὸ τελειωθέντος ἢ διὰ τῶν καθʼ ἕκαστον ἀνθρώπων, παντὸς τοῦ τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν πληρώματος, τῶν μὲν εὐθὺς 1ἢδη κατὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον ἀπὸ κακίας κεκαθαρμένων, τῶν δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα διὰ τοῦ πυρὸς τοῖς καθήκουσι χρόνοις ἰατρευθέντων, τῶν δέ ἐπίσης καὶ τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τοῦ κακοῦ τὴν πεῖραν παρὰ τδν τῇδε βίον ἀγνοησάντων, πᾶσι προθεῖναι τὴν μετουσίαν τῶν ἐν. αὐτῷ καλῶν, ειπερ φησὶν ἡ Γραφὴ, μήτε ὀφθαλμὸν ἰδεῖν, μήτε ἀκοὴν δέξασθαι, μήτε λογισμοῖς ἐφικτὸν γενέσθαι. Τοῦτο δὲ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐστὶ, κατά γε τὸν ἐμὸν λόγον, ἢ τὸ ἐν αὑτῷ τῷ Θεῷ γενέσθαι · τὸ γὰρ aruo. θὸν τὸ ὑπὲρ ἀκοὴν καὶ ὀφθαλμὸν καὶ καρδίαν. αὐτὸ ἂν εἰη τὸ τοῦ παντὸς ὑπερκείμενον. Ἦ δὲ τοῦ κατʼ ἀρετὴν ἢ κακίαν βίον διαφορὰ ἐν τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα κατὰ τοῦτο δειχθήσεται μάλιστα, ἐν τῷ θᾶττον ἢ σχολαιὸη τερον μετασχεῖν τῆς ἐλπιζομένης μακαριότητος, Τῷ γὰρ μέτρῳ τῆς ἐγγενομένης ἑκάστῳ κακίας ἀναλογὴσεται πάντως καὶὴ τῆς ἰατρείας παράτασις. ’ἰατρεία δὲ ἂν εῖη ψυχῆς τὸ τῆς κακίας καθάρσιον ' τοῦτο δέ ἄνευ ἀλγεινῆς διαθέσεως κατορθωθῆναι οὐχ οἷόν τε, καθὼς ἐν τοῖς προλαβοῦσιν ἐξήτασται. Μᾶλλον δέ ἂν τις ἐπιγνοίη τῶν ἐνστάσεων τὸ περιττὸν καὶ ἀνοίκειον, εἰς τὸ βάθος τῆς ἀποστολικῆς διακύψας σοφίας. Τοῖς γὰρ Κορινθίοις τὸ περὶ τούτων σαφηνίζων μυστήριον, τάχα ταῦτα προτεινόντων αὺτῷ κάκείνων, ἃ παρὰ τῶν νῦν κατ·επιχειρούντων τοῦ δόγματος ἐπὶ ἀνατροπῇ τῶν πεπιστευμένων προφέρεται, τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀξιώματι τὸ τῆς ἀμαθίας αὐτῶν ἐπικόπτων θράσος, οὕτωσ). λέγει. ι Ἐρεῖς οὖν μοι· Πῶς ἐγείρονται οἰ νεκροί; () namss σώματι ἔρχονται; Ἄφρων, ι φησι, ι σὺ δ σπείρεις οὐ ζωοποιεῖται ἐὰν μὴ ἀποθάνῃ, καὶ δ σπείρεις, οὐ τὸ. σῶμα τδ γενησόμενον σπείρεις, ἀλλὰ γυμνὸν κόκκον, εἰτύχοι σίτου, ἦ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν σπερμάτων ο ὁ δὲ Θεὸς δίδωσιν αὺτῷ σῶμα καθὼς ἠθέλησεν. ι Ἐνταῦθα γὰρ ἐπιστομίζειν μοι δοκεῖ τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας τὰ οἰκεῖα μέτρα τῆς φύσεως, κα). πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἰσχὺν τὴν θείαν ἀντεξετάζοντας δύναμιν, καὶ οἰομένους τοσοῦτον εἷναι τῷ Θεῷ δυνατὸν, ὅσον (τι) χωρεῖ καὶ ὴ ἀνθρωπίνη κατάληψις · τὸ δέ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς ὃν. καί τοῦ Θεοῦ παριέναι τὴν δύναμιν. '0 γὰρ ἐρωτήσας τὸν Ἀπόστολον τὸ πῶς ἐγείρονται oi. νεκροὶ, ὡς Α ἀμήχανον ὃν τὸ ἐσκεδασμένων τῶν τοῦ σώματος στοιχείων εἰς συνδρομὴν πάλιν ἐλθεῖν ἀποφαίνεται ο καὶ ὡς τούτου μὴ δυναμένου, ἄλλου δὲ σώματος παρὰ τὴν συνδρομὴν τῶν στοιχείων οὐχ ὑπολειπομένου, τοῦτόν φησι κατὰ τοὺς δεινοὺς τῶν διαλεγομένων συμπεράνας διά τινος ἀκολουθίας ἥπερ ὑπέθετο·

Skopos de autǭ heis, to teleiōthentos ē dia tōn kathʼ hekaston anthrōpōn, pantos tou tēs physeōs hēmōn plērōmatos, tōn men euthys 1ēdē kata ton bion touton apo kakias kekatharmenōn, tōn de meta tauta dia tou pyros tois kathēkousi chronois iatreuthentōn, tōn de episēs kai tou kalou kai tou kakou tēn peiran para tdn tę̄de bion agnoēsantōn, pasi protheinai tēn metousian tōn en. autǭ kalōn, eiper phēsin hē Graphē, mēte ophthalmon idein, mēte akoēn dexasthai, mēte logismois ephikton genesthai. Touto de ouden allo esti, kata ge ton emon logon, ē to en hautǭ tǭ Theǭ genesthai ; to gar aruo. thon to hyper akoēn kai ophthalmon kai kardian. auto an eiē to tou pantos hyperkeimenon. Ē de tou katʼ aretēn ē kakian bion diaphora en tǭ meta tauta kata touto deichthēsetai malista, en tǭ thatton ē scholaioē teron metaschein tēs elpizomenēs makariotētos, Tǭ gar metrǭ tēs engenomenēs hekastǭ kakias analogēsetai pantōs kaiē tēs iatreias paratasis. ’iatreia de an eiē psychēs to tēs kakias katharsion ' touto de aneu algeinēs diatheseōs katorthōthēnai ouch hoion te, kathōs en tois prolabousin exētastai. Mallon de an tis epignoiē tōn enstaseōn to peritton kai anoikeion, eis to bathos tēs apostolikēs diakypsas sophias. Tois gar Korinthiois to peri toutōn saphēnizōn mystērion, tacha tauta proteinontōn autǭ kakeinōn, ha para tōn nyn kat;epicheirountōn tou dogmatos epi anatropę̄ tōn pepisteumenōn propheretai, tǭ idiǭ axiōmati to tēs amathias autōn epikoptōn thrasos, houtōs). legei. i Ereis oun moi; Pōs egeirontai oi nekroi? () namss sōmati erchontai? Aphrōn, i phēsi, i sy d speireis ou zōopoieitai ean mē apothanę̄, kai d speireis, ou to. sōma td genēsomenon speireis, alla gymnon kokkon, eitychoi sitou, ē allou tinos tōn spermatōn o ho de Theos didōsin autǭ sōma kathōs ēthelēsen. i Entautha gar epistomizein moi dokei tous agnoountas ta oikeia metra tēs physeōs, ka). pros tēn heautōn ischyn tēn theian antexetazontas dynamin, kai oiomenous tosouton heinai tǭ Theǭ dynaton, hoson (ti) chōrei kai ē anthrōpinē katalēpsis ; to de hyper hēmas hon. kai tou Theou parienai tēn dynamin. '0 gar erōtēsas ton Apostolon to pōs egeirontai oi. nekroi, hōs A amēchanon hon to eskedasmenōn tōn tou sōmatos stoicheiōn eis syndromēn palin elthein apophainetai o kai hōs toutou mē dynamenou, allou de sōmatos para tēn syndromēn tōn stoicheiōn ouch hypoleipomenou, touton phēsi kata tous deinous tōn dialegomenōn symperanas dia tinos akolouthias hēper hypetheto;

“His aim is one: when the whole fullness of our nature has been completed in each human being, some already purified from vice in this life, others healed afterward through fire in the proper times, and others who in this life equally did not know the experience of either good or evil, to set before all the participation in the good things in him, which, Scripture says, eye has not seen, nor ear received, nor have they come within reach of reasonings. And this is nothing else, in my account at least, than to come to be in God himself; for the good beyond ear and eye and heart would be the very thing that is above all. And the difference between the life of virtue and of vice will be shown afterward chiefly in this: in sharing sooner or later in the blessedness we hope for. For the length of the healing will certainly correspond to the measure of the vice in each. And the healing of the soul would be the cleansing of vice; and this cannot be achieved without a painful condition, as was examined earlier. But one would recognize better how superfluous and irrelevant the objections are by looking into the depth of the apostolic wisdom. For, making the mystery of these things clear to the Corinthians, who perhaps also put to him what is now brought forward by those who attack the doctrine to overturn what is believed, cutting short the boldness of their ignorance by his own authority, he speaks thus: ‘You will say to me, How are the dead raised? With what body do they come? Fool! What you sow is not made alive unless it dies; and what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of some other seed; but God gives it a body as he willed.’ Here he seems to me to silence those who do not know the proper measures of nature, who compare the divine power with their own strength and think that as much is possible to God as human comprehension can contain, and that what is beyond us passes beyond God’s power too. For the one who asked the Apostle how the dead are raised declares it impossible for the scattered elements of the body to come together again; and since this is not possible and no other body is left besides the concurrence of the elements, he concludes, in the manner of skilled debaters, by a certain sequence from what he supposed …”

1 Cor 2:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 64:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 15:35 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:36 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:37 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:38 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God’s single aim is to bring all humanity, once complete, into the good beyond sight and hearing: some purified in this life, others healed afterward by fire, the length of healing matching each one’s vice. Paul’s answer to the Corinthians silences those who measure God by their own power.

This passage states plainly Gregory’s teaching (through Macrina) that those not purified in this life will be “healed afterward through fire in the proper times,” and that all will finally share in the good; translated exactly as written. References: 1 Cor 2:9 (Isa 64:4); 1 Cor 15:35–38.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 151 (PG 46:152a–152d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-151). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 153

153PG 46:153a–153b

ιιδ, Et σῶμά ἐστι συνδρομὴ στοιχείων, τούτων δὲ ἀμή· χανος ὲκ δευτέρου ή σύνοδος, ποίῳ χρήσονται σώματι οξ ἀνιστάμενοι; Τοῦτο τοίνυν τὸ δοκοῦν διὰ ervo; τεχνικῆς caspia; αὐτοῖς συμπεπλέχθαι, ἀφροσύνην ὠνόμασε, τῶν μὴ κατιδόντιον ὲν τῇ λοιπῇ κτίσει τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς Θείας δυνάμεως. Καταλιπὼν γὰρ τὰ ὑψηλότερα τοῦ Θεοῦ θαύματα, διʼ ὧν ἦν είς ἀπορίαν ἀγαγεῖν τὸν ἀκούοντα, οἷον, τί τὸ οὐράνιον σῶμα, καὶ πόθεν, τί δὲ τὸ ἡλιακὸν, ἢ τὸ σεληναῖον, ire 91.1035 ἄστροις φαινόμενον, ὁ αἰθὴρ, ὁ ἀὴρ, τὸ ὕδωρ, ἡ γῆ ; ἀλλʼ ὲκ τῶν συντρόφων ἡμῖν καὶ κοινοτέρων ἐλέγχει τῶν ἐνισταμένων τὸ ἀνεπίσκεπτον. Οὐδὲ ἡ γεωργία σε διδάσκει, φησὶν, ὅτι μάταιός ἐστιν ό πρὸς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ μέτρον ’τῆς θείας δυνάμεως τὸ ΰπερέχον στοχαζόμενοςς πόθεν τοῖς σπέρμασι τὰ περιφυόμενα adipata; τί δὲ καθηγεῖται τῆς βλάστης αὑτῶνς οὐχὶ θάνατος, εἴπερ θάνατός ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ συνεστηκότος διάλυσις; Τὸ γὰρ σπέρμα μὴ ἀνέλθοι εἰς ἔκφυσιν μὴ διαλυθὲν ὲν τῇ βώλῳ, καὶ γενόμενον ἀραιὸν καὶ πολύπορον, ὥστε καταμιχθῆναι πρὸς τὴν παρακειμένην ἰκμάδα τῇ οἰκείᾳ ποιότητι, καὶ οὕτως είς ῥίζαν καὶ βλάστην μεταποιηθῆναι, καὶ μηδὲ ὲν τούτῳ μεῖναι, ἀλλὰ μεταβαλεῖν καλάμην, τοῖς διὰ μέσου γόνασιν, οἷόν τισι συνδέσμοις ὑπεζωσμένην, πρὸς τδ δύνασθαι φέρειν ὲν ὀρθίῳ τῷ σχήματι τὸν στάχυν τῷ καρπῷ βαρυνόμενον. Ποῦ τοίνυν ταῦτα περὶ τὸν σῖτον ἦν πρὸ τῆς ἐν τῇ βώλῳ αὑτοῦ διαλύσεωςς Ἀλλά μὴν ἐκεῖθεν τοῦτό ἐστιν. Et γὰρ μὴ ἐκεῖνο πρότερον ἦν, οὐδʼ,ἆν ό στάχυς ἐγένετο. Ὠσπερ τοίνυν τὸ κατὰ τὸν στάχυν σῶμα ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος φαίνεται, τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἐξ αὑτοῦ ἐκείνου τοῦτο φιλοτεχνούσης, καὶ οὔτε διʼ ὅλου ταύτόν ἐστι τῷ σπέρματαοΰτε παντάπασιν ἕτερον · οὔτω, φησὶ, καὶ τδ μυστήριον τῆς ἀναστάσεως σοι διὰ τῶν ὲν τοῖς σπέρμασι θαυματοποιουμένων προερμηνεύα εται, ὡς τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ὲν τῷ περιόντι τῆς ἐξουσίας, οὐ μόνον έκεῖνο τό διαλυθέν σοι πάλιν ἀποδιδούσης, ἀλλὰ μεγάλα τε καὶ καλὰ προστιθείσης, διʼ ὧν σοι πρὸς τὺ μεγαλοπρεπέστερονή φύσις κατασκευάζεται. ι Σπείρεται, ι φησὶν, ι ὲν φθορᾷ, ἐγείρεται ὲν ἀφθαρσίᾳο σπείρεται ὲν ἀσθενείᾳ, - ἐγείρεται ὲν δυνάμειʼ σπείρεται ὲν ἀτιμίᾳ. ἐγείρεσαι ἐν δόξῃ ο σπείρεται σῶμα ψυχικὸν, ἑγείρεταισῶμα πνευματικόν. Ὠς γὰρ καταλιταῦν μετὰ τὸ διαλυ-

iid, Et sōma esti syndromē stoicheiōn, toutōn de amē; chanos ek deuterou ē synodos, poiǭ chrēsontai sōmati ox anistamenoi? Touto toinyn to dokoun dia ervo? technikēs caspia? autois sympeplechthai, aphrosynēn ōnomase, tōn mē katidontion en tę̄ loipę̄ ktisei to hyperechon tēs Theias dynameōs. Katalipōn gar ta hypsēlotera tou Theou thaumata, diʼ hōn ēn eis aporian agagein ton akouonta, hoion, ti to ouranion sōma, kai pothen, ti de to hēliakon, ē to selēnaion, ire 91.1035 astrois phainomenon, ho aithēr, ho aēr, to hydōr, hē gē ? allʼ ek tōn syntrophōn hēmin kai koinoterōn elenchei tōn enistamenōn to anepiskepton. Oude hē geōrgia se didaskei, phēsin, hoti mataios estin o pros to heautou metron ’tēs theias dynameōs to ÿperechon stochazomenoss pothen tois spermasi ta periphyomena adipata? ti de kathēgeitai tēs blastēs hautōns ouchi thanatos, eiper thanatos estin hē tou synestēkotos dialysis? To gar sperma mē anelthoi eis ekphysin mē dialythen en tę̄ bōlǭ, kai genomenon araion kai polyporon, hōste katamichthēnai pros tēn parakeimenēn ikmada tę̄ oikeią poiotēti, kai houtōs eis rhizan kai blastēn metapoiēthēnai, kai mēde en toutǭ meinai, alla metabalein kalamēn, tois dia mesou gonasin, hoion tisi syndesmois hypezōsmenēn, pros td dynasthai pherein en orthiǭ tǭ schēmati ton stachyn tǭ karpǭ barynomenon. Pou toinyn tauta peri ton siton ēn pro tēs en tę̄ bōlǭ hautou dialyseōss Alla mēn ekeithen touto estin. Et gar mē ekeino proteron ēn, oudʼ,an o stachys egeneto. Ōsper toinyn to kata ton stachyn sōma ek tou spermatos phainetai, tēs theias dynameōs ex hautou ekeinou touto philotechnousēs, kai oute diʼ holou tauton esti tǭ spermataoÿte pantapasin heteron ; outō, phēsi, kai td mystērion tēs anastaseōs soi dia tōn en tois spermasi thaumatopoioumenōn proermēneua etai, hōs tēs theias dynameōs en tǭ perionti tēs exousias, ou monon ekeino to dialythen soi palin apodidousēs, alla megala te kai kala prostitheisēs, diʼ hōn soi pros ty megaloprepesteronē physis kataskeuazetai. i Speiretai, i phēsin, i en phthorą, egeiretai en aphtharsiąo speiretai en astheneią, - egeiretai en dynameiʼ speiretai en atimią. egeiresai en doxę̄ o speiretai sōma psychikon, hegeiretaisōma pneumatikon. Ōs gar katalitaun meta to dialy-

“… thus: if a body is a concurrence of elements, and their coming together a second time is impossible, what body will those who rise use? This, then, which seemed to them woven together by some artful skill, he called folly, coming from people who did not see the surpassing divine power in the rest of creation. For, leaving aside the loftier wonders of God, by which he could have brought the hearer to perplexity, such as what the heavenly body is and where from, what the body of the sun or the moon or that seen in the stars, the ether, the air, the water, the earth, he refutes the thoughtlessness of the objectors from things that grow with us and are more common. ‘Does not even farming teach you,’ he says, ‘that he is a fool who guesses the surpassing divine power by his own measure? Where do the bodies that grow around seeds come from? What goes before their sprouting? Is it not death, if death is the dissolution of what was compounded?’ For the seed would not come up to growth unless it were dissolved in the clod and became loose and porous, so as to mix its own quality with the surrounding moisture and so be changed into root and shoot; and not to stop even at this, but to change into a stalk girded with joints between, as with bands, so as to be able to carry upright the ear weighed down with its fruit. Where, then, were these things in the wheat before its dissolution in the clod? Yet this is from there; for if that had not been first, the ear would not have come to be. As, then, the body of the ear appears from the seed, the divine power skilfully making this from that very thing, and it is neither wholly the same as the seed nor altogether different, so too, he says, the mystery of the resurrection is interpreted to you beforehand through the wonders worked in seeds: that the divine power, in the abundance of its authority, not only gives you back what was dissolved, but adds great and beautiful things, by which your nature is furnished more magnificently. ‘It is sown,’ he says, ‘in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.’ For as, having left behind after its dissolu…”

1 Cor 15:36 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:37 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:42 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:43 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:44 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Macrina explains Paul’s seed analogy: the grain dies and is dissolved, yet God brings from it an ear both the same and more glorious; so the risen body will be restored and enriched, raised in incorruption, power, glory, and spirit.

References: 1 Cor 15:36–38, 42–44. Lines of the critical apparatus leaked into the digital text at the end of this unit and are removed (logged).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (leaked apparatus (variant readings) removed): Ἄμήχανος. Α addit ἐστὶν ἡ. Τοῦ Θ. θαύμ. Τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ θαυμάτων. δογμάτων. 152) Ἀλλʼ ἐκ. Delet Α. Μὴ ἁνέλθοι. Δ Β οὐκ ἂν ἔλθοι. ει) βόλφ. Β eam. ί ςέἕὶίῖιιῖέιέσ 5‘99 κάξινάμενον ἀραιόν- Ἑν· τούτῳ. Α ὲν τούτοις, → .

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 153 (PG 46:153a–153b; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-153). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 155

155PG 46:156a–156d

νῆναι ιν τῇ βώλῳ σῖτος τὴν ἐν τῷ ποσῷ βρα. [ύτητα, καὶ τὴν ὲν τῷ ποιῷ σχήματος αὐτοῦ διότητα, ἑαυτὸν οὐκ ἀφῆκεν, ἀλλʼ ἐν αύτῷ μένων ιτάχυς γίνεται, πάμπολλα διαφέρων αὐτὸς ιαυτοῦ, μεγέθει, καὶ κάλλει, καὶ ποικιλίᾳ, καὶ σχήματι · κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὴ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις ἑναφεϊσα τῷ θανάτῳ πάντα τά περ). αὐτὴν ἰδιώματα, ὅσα διά τῆς ὲμπαθοῦς διαθέσεως ἐπεκτήσ τατο, τὴν ἀτιμίαν λέγω, τὴν φθορὰν, τήν-ἀσθένειαν, τὴν κατά τῆς ἡλικίας διαφορὰν, ἑαυτὴν οὐκ ὶφίησιν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ εις στάχυν τινά πρὸς τὴν ἀφθαρτίαν μεθίσταται, καὶ τὴν δόξαν, καὶ τὴν τιμὴν. καὶ τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ τὴν ὲν παντὶ τελειότητα, καὶ τὸ μηκέτι τὴν ζωὴν αὐτῆς οἰκονομεῖσθαι τοῖς φυσικοῖς Ιδιώμασιν, ἀλλʼ εις πνευματικήν τινα καὶ ἀπαθῆ μεταδῆναι κατάστασιν. Αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ ψυχικοῦ σώματος ἰδιοτης, ἀεὶ διά τινος ῥοῆς καὶ κινήο σεως ἀπὺ τοῦ ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀλλοιοῦσθαι, κα). μεταβάλλειν εἰς ἕτερον. Ἀ γὰρ οὖν οὐκ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώποις μόνον ὁρῶμεν, ἀλλά καὶ ἑν φυτοῖς καὶ ὲν βοσκήμασι, τούτων οὐδὲν ιν τῷ τῷδι βιῳ ὑπολειφθήσεται. Δοκεῖ δέ μοι καὶ διὰ πάντων συναγορεύειν ὁ ἀποστολικδς λόγος τῇ καθʼ ἡμᾶς ὑπολήψει τῆς ἀναν στάσεως, καὶτοῦτο δεικνύειν ὅπερ ὁ ἡμέτερος ὀρισμὸς περιέχει λέγων, Μηδὲν ἓτερον εἶναι ἀνάστασιν, ἢ τὴν εις τὸ ἀρχαῖον τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν ἀποκατάο στασιν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὲν τῇ πρώτῃ κοσμογονίᾳ τοῦτο παρά τῆς Γραφῆς μεμαθήκαμεν, ὅτι πρῶτον ἐβλάστησεν ἡ γῆ βοτάνην χόρτου, καθὼς ὁ λόγος φησὶν, εἶτα. ὲκ τῆς βλάστης σπέρμα ἐγένετο, οὗπερ επὶ τὴν γῆν καταρρυέντος, τὸ αὐτὸ πάλιν εἶδος τοῦ , ἐξ ἀρχῆς φυέντος ἀνέδραμε · φησὶ δὲ τοῦτο ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος κα). ἐπὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως γίνεσθαι. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τοῦτο παρʼ αὑτοῦ διδασκόμεθα, τὸ πρὸς τὸ μεγαλοπρεπέστατον μεθίστασθαι τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ἀλλʼ ὅτι τὸ ἐλπιζόμενον οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἑστιν, ἢ ὅπερ ὲν πρώτοις ἦν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τδ κατʼ ἀρχὰς οὐχ ὠς (Gl) στάχυς ἀπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖθεν τὸ σπέρμα· μετά ταῦτα δὲ οὗτος τῷ σπέρματι περιφύεται, ἠ τοῦ ὑποδείγματος ἀκολουθία σαφῶς ἐπιδείκνυσι, τὸ πᾶσαν τὴν διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀνα· βλαστήσουσαν ἡμῖν μακαριότητα, πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπανιέναι χάριν. Στάχυς γὰρ ὄντες καταρχὰς τρόπον τινὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἐπειδὴ τῷ καύσωνι τῆς

nēnai in tę̄ bōlǭ sitos tēn en tǭ posǭ bra. [ytēta, kai tēn en tǭ poiǭ schēmatos autou diotēta, heauton ouk aphēken, allʼ en autǭ menōn itachys ginetai, pampolla diapherōn autos iautou, megethei, kai kallei, kai poikilią, kai schēmati ; kata ton auton tropon kai ē anthrōpinē physis henapheïsa tǭ thanatǭ panta ta per). autēn idiōmata, hosa dia tēs empathous diatheseōs epektēs tato, tēn atimian legō, tēn phthoran, tēn-astheneian, tēn kata tēs hēlikias diaphoran, heautēn ouk iphiēsin, allʼ hōsper eis stachyn tina pros tēn aphthartian methistatai, kai tēn doxan, kai tēn timēn. kai tēn dynamin, kai tēn en panti teleiotēta, kai to mēketi tēn zōēn autēs oikonomeisthai tois physikois Idiōmasin, allʼ eis pneumatikēn tina kai apathē metadēnai katastasin. Hautē gar estin hē tou psychikou sōmatos idiotēs, aei dia tinos rhoēs kai kinēo seōs apy tou en hǭ estin alloiousthai, ka). metaballein eis heteron. A gar oun ouk epʼ anthrōpois monon horōmen, alla kai hen phytois kai en boskēmasi, toutōn ouden in tǭ tǭdi biǭ hypoleiphthēsetai. Dokei de moi kai dia pantōn synagoreuein ho apostolikds logos tę̄ kathʼ hēmas hypolēpsei tēs anan staseōs, kaitouto deiknyein hoper ho hēmeteros orismos periechei legōn, Mēden heteron einai anastasin, ē tēn eis to archaion tēs physeōs hēmōn apokatao stasin. Epeidē gar en tę̄ prōtę̄ kosmogonią touto para tēs Graphēs memathēkamen, hoti prōton eblastēsen hē gē botanēn chortou, kathōs ho logos phēsin, eita. ek tēs blastēs sperma egeneto, houper epi tēn gēn katarryentos, to auto palin eidos tou , ex archēs phyentos anedrame ; phēsi de touto ho theios Apostolos ka). epi tēs anastaseōs ginesthai. Ou monon de touto parʼ hautou didaskometha, to pros to megaloprepestaton methistasthai to anthrōpinon, allʼ hoti to elpizomenon ouden heteron hestin, ē hoper en prōtois ēn. Epeidē gar td katʼ archas ouch ōs (Gl) stachys apo tou spermatos, allʼ ekeithen to sperma; meta tauta de houtos tǭ spermati periphyetai, ē tou hypodeigmatos akolouthia saphōs epideiknysi, to pasan tēn dia tēs anastaseōs ana; blastēsousan hēmin makariotēta, pros tēn ex archēs epanienai charin. Stachys gar ontes katarchas tropon tina kai hēmeis, epeidē tǭ kausōni tēs

“… tion in the clod its smallness in quantity and the particular property of its shape, the wheat did not abandon itself, but, remaining itself, becomes an ear, differing very greatly from itself in size and beauty and variety and shape: in the same way human nature too, leaving to death all the properties it acquired through its passionate disposition (I mean dishonour, corruption, weakness, the difference of age), does not abandon itself, but changes as into an ear into incorruption and glory and honour and power and perfection in everything, and into its life being no longer governed by natural properties, but passing into a spiritual and passionless state. For this is the property of the natural body: always, through some flow and motion, to be altered from the state it is in and to change into another. None of these things, which we see not only in human beings but also in plants and cattle, will be left in the life then. And it seems to me that the apostolic saying agrees in every way with our understanding of the resurrection, and shows what our definition contains, which says that the resurrection is nothing else than the restoration of our nature to its ancient state. For since we have learned from Scripture in the first creation of the world that first the earth sprouted green grass, as the word says, and then seed came from the plant, which, when it fell to the earth, sprang up again in the same form as what grew at the beginning, the divine Apostle says that this happens in the resurrection too. And we are taught by him not only that humanity changes to what is most magnificent, but that what we hope for is nothing else than what was at the beginning. For since at the beginning it was not an ear from the seed, but the seed from there, and afterward the ear grows around the seed, the sequence of the illustration clearly shows that all the blessedness that will spring up for us through the resurrection returns to the original grace. For we too were in a way an ear at the beginning; but since we were withered by the heat of …”

Gen 1:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 1:12 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 Cor 15:42 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:44 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: As the grain becomes an ear, human nature will shed the marks of passion and rise incorruptible and spiritual; and since in Genesis the plant came before the seed, the resurrection is a return to the first state of grace.

References: Gen 1:11–12; 1 Cor 15:42–44. “Restoration … to its ancient state” renders ἀποκατάστασις.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 155 (PG 46:156a–156d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-155). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 157

157PG 46:157a–157d

κακίας κατεξηράνθημεν, ὑπολαβοῦσα ἡμᾶς· t) γῆ διὰ τοῦ θανάτου λυθέντας, πάλιν κατὰ τὸ ξαρ τῆς ἀναστάσεως στάχυν ἀναδείξει τὸν γυμνὸν τοῦτον κόκκον τοῦ σώματος, εὐμεγέθη τε καὶ ἀμφιλαφῆ καὶ όρθιον, καὶ είς τὺ οὐράνιον ὕψος ἀνατεινόμενον, ἀντ). καλάμης ἢ ἀνθέρικος τῇ ἀφθαρσίᾳ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς τῶν θεοπρεπῶν γνωρισμάτων ὡραϊξόμενον. ι Δεῖ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτὸν τοῦτο ἐνδύσασθαι ἀφθαρσίαν. ι Ἦ δὲ ἀφθαρσία, καὶ ἡ δόξα, καὶ ἡ - τιμὴ, καὶ ἡ δύναμις, ίδια τῆς θείας φύσεως εἶναι ὁμολογεῖται, άπερ πρότερόν τε περ). τὸν κατʼ εἰκόνα γενόμενον ἦν, ινα) εἰσαῦθις ὲλπίζεται. '0 γὰρ πρῶτος στάχυς ό πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος ἦν ’Δδάμ ί 70). Ἀλλʼ hcet“) τῇ τῆς κακίας εἰσόδῳ είς πλῆθος ἡφύσις κατεμερίσθη, καθὼς γίνεται ό καρπὸς ὲν τῷ στάχυῐο ούτως ὀἱ ἑκαστον γυμνιιιίκύιιιες τοῦ κατὰ..τὸν στάχυν ἐκεῖνον εωους, καὶ τῇ γῇ καταμιχθέντες, πάλιν ἑν τῇ ἀναστάσει κατά τὸ ἀρχέγονον κάλλος ἀναφυόμεθα, ἀντ). ἑνὸς τοῦ πρώτου στάχυος ἀνάπειο ροι μυριάδες τῶν ληῖων γενόμενοι- '0 δὲ κατʼ ἀρετὴν βίος ὲν τούτῳ πρὸς τὴν κακίαν τὸ διάφορον ἔχει, δτι οῖ μὲν ἐνταῦθα παρὰ τὸν βίον διʼ ἀρετῆς ἑαυτοὺς γεωργήσαντες, εὐθὺς ὲν τελείῳ τῷ στάχυϊ φαίνωνται ο οἷς δὲ διὰ κακίας ἐξίτηλός τε κα). ἀνεμόφθορος ό κόκκος γέγονε παρά τὸν βίον τοῦτον ἠ ἐν τῷ ψυχικῷ σπέρματι δύναμις, καθάπερ τὰ λεγόμενα κεράσὸολα οί τῶν τοιούτων ἐπιστήμονες λέγουσι γίνεσθαι· οὕτω κα). οὗτοι, κᾶν φύωσι διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως, πολλὴν ἀποτομίαν παρὰ τῷ κριτῇ ἕξουσιν, ἃτε δὴ οὐκ ἰσχύοντες ἀναδραμεῖν ἐπ). τὸ εἶδος τοῦ στάχυος, κα). γενέσθαι ἐκεῖνο ὅπερ ἦμεν πρὸ τῆς, ξπ). τὴν γῆν καταπτώσεως. Ἦ δὲ θεραπεία τοῦ ὲπι πατοῦντος τῶν γεννημάτων, ἡ τῶν ζιζανίων τε κα) τῶν ἀκανθῶν ἔστι συλλογὴ, τῶν συναναιρυέντων τῷ σπέρματι, πάσης τῆς ύποτρεφούσης τὴν ῥίζαν δυνάμεως πρὸς τὸν νόθον μεταρρυείσης, διʼ ὧν ἀτροφόν τε καὶ ἀτελεσφόρητον τὸ γνήσιον ἔμεινε σπέρμα τῇ παρὰ φύσιν βλαστῇ συμπεπλεγμένον. Ἐπειδὰν οὗν πᾶν ὅσον νόθον τε κα). ἀλλότριον ἐκτιλῇ τοῦ τροφίμου, καὶ είς ἀφανισμὸν ἔλθῃ, τοῦ πυρὸς τὸ παρά φύσιν ἐκδαπανήσαντος τῷ αἰωνίῳ πυρὶ παραδοθὲν, τότε κα). τούτοις εὑτροφήσει ἡ φύσις, καὶ εἰς καρπὸν ἀδρυνθήσεται διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης ἐπιμελείας, μακραῖς ποτε περιόδοις τὸ κοινὸν εἶδος τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἡμῖν θεόθεν ὲπιὸληθὲν dmoλαόούσα. Μακάριοι δέ εἰσιν οἷς εὐθὺς τὸ τέλειον

kakias katexēranthēmen, hypolabousa hēmas; t) gē dia tou thanatou lythentas, palin kata to xar tēs anastaseōs stachyn anadeixei ton gymnon touton kokkon tou sōmatos, eumegethē te kai amphilaphē kai orthion, kai eis ty ouranion hypsos anateinomenon, ant). kalamēs ē antherikos tę̄ aphtharsią kai tois loipois tōn theoprepōn gnōrismatōn hōraïxomenon. i Dei gar to phtharton touto endysasthai aphtharsian. i Ē de aphtharsia, kai hē doxa, kai hē - timē, kai hē dynamis, idia tēs theias physeōs einai homologeitai, aper proteron te per). ton katʼ eikona genomenon ēn, ina) eisauthis elpizetai. '0 gar prōtos stachys o prōtos anthrōpos ēn ’Ddam i 70). Allʼ hcet“) tę̄ tēs kakias eisodǭ eis plēthos hēphysis katemeristhē, kathōs ginetai o karpos en tǭ stachuio outōs hoi hekaston gymniiiikuiiies tou kata..ton stachyn ekeinon eōous, kai tę̄ gę̄ katamichthentes, palin hen tę̄ anastasei kata to archegonon kallos anaphyometha, ant). henos tou prōtou stachyos anapeio roi myriades tōn lēiōn genomenoi- '0 de katʼ aretēn bios en toutǭ pros tēn kakian to diaphoron echei, dti oi men entautha para ton bion diʼ aretēs heautous geōrgēsantes, euthys en teleiǭ tǭ stachyï phainōntai o hois de dia kakias exitēlos te ka). anemophthoros o kokkos gegone para ton bion touton ē en tǭ psychikǭ spermati dynamis, kathaper ta legomena kerasoola oi tōn toioutōn epistēmones legousi ginesthai; houtō ka). houtoi, kan phyōsi dia tēs anastaseōs, pollēn apotomian para tǭ kritę̄ hexousin, hate dē ouk ischyontes anadramein ep). to eidos tou stachyos, ka). genesthai ekeino hoper ēmen pro tēs, xp). tēn gēn kataptōseōs. Ē de therapeia tou epi patountos tōn gennēmatōn, hē tōn zizaniōn te ka) tōn akanthōn esti syllogē, tōn synanairyentōn tǭ spermati, pasēs tēs ypotrephousēs tēn rhizan dynameōs pros ton nothon metarryeisēs, diʼ hōn atrophon te kai atelesphorēton to gnēsion emeine sperma tę̄ para physin blastę̄ sympeplegmenon. Epeidan houn pan hoson nothon te ka). allotrion ektilę̄ tou trophimou, kai eis aphanismon elthę̄, tou pyros to para physin ekdapanēsantos tǭ aiōniǭ pyri paradothen, tote ka). toutois heutrophēsei hē physis, kai eis karpon adrynthēsetai dia tēs toiautēs epimeleias, makrais pote periodois to koinon eidos to ex archēs hēmin theothen epiolēthen dmolaoousa. Makarioi de eisin hois euthys to teleion

“… vice, the earth received us when we were dissolved through death, and again in the spring of the resurrection it will show this bare grain of the body as an ear, tall and full and upright, stretched up to the heavenly height, adorned instead of stalk and beard with incorruption and the other marks befitting God. ‘For this corruptible must put on incorruption.’ And incorruption and glory and honour and power are admitted to be proper to the divine nature; they belonged formerly to the one made according to the image, and are hoped for again. For the first ear was the first man, Adam. But since with the entrance of vice the nature was divided into a multitude, as happens with the fruit in the ear, so we, each stripped of the form of that ear and mingled with the earth, grow up again in the resurrection in the original beauty, becoming countless myriads of crops instead of the one first ear. And the life of virtue differs from vice in this: those who have cultivated themselves by virtue during life here appear at once in the perfect ear; while those in whom, through vice during this life, the power in the soul’s seed has become faded and blasted by the wind, as experts in such things say happens with the so-called hard-horned seeds, these too, even if they grow up through the resurrection, will find much severity with the judge, since they are not able to run up to the form of the ear and become what we were before the fall to earth. And the care given by the overseer of the crops is the gathering of the tares and the thorns that grew up with the seed, all the power that nourishes the root having flowed into the bastard growth, by which the genuine seed has remained unfed and unfruitful, entangled with the unnatural growth. When, then, all that is bastard and foreign has been plucked out from what nourishes and has come to disappearance, the fire having consumed what is against nature, handed over to the eternal fire, then nature will thrive in these too and ripen into fruit through such care, receiving back one day, in long periods, the common form laid upon us from God at the beginning. Blessed are those in whom the perfect …”

1 Cor 15:53 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 13:30 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 13:40 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Adam was the first ear; through sin humanity was scattered like grain, and at the resurrection all will rise; the virtuous at once in full form, the vicious only after the tares within them are burned away by fire, when, after long ages, they too will regain the original form.

References: 1 Cor 15:53; Gen 1:27; Matt 13:30, 40 (tares and fire); Rom 5:12. Macrina’s teaching that even the vicious, after the purifying “eternal fire” has consumed what is against nature, will in long periods regain the original form is translated exactly as written. Lines of the critical apparatus leaked into the digital text at the end of this unit and are removed (logged).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (leaked apparatus (variant readings) removed): Ὑπολαόοῦσα. Β ὑπολαβ. δέ. Ἠμᾶς. Detet Β. 67) Θανάτου λυθέντας. Β ἀναλυθέντας. 68) ξΑΥθέρικος.-Α Βάνθερίκων. (ξεῦ ᾼξξτάρι, AA Β add"!!! ἱρησίgo) ζΑδᾴιί. B delet. A ό Ἀδάμ. ᾉ-νάξτειρον. ᾼ οί ᾅποροιξ Β αἱ ἄπειροι. @222 Cyme; ει. γινόμεελοιο Ἔχει. A Β ἕξει. (ξΙρ) imitmur. Β φύονται. Ἐξ) Ἐξίτηλός-τεξΑΒ ὲξίτηλός τις. 75) Ἐξίτηλός τε. Α Β agam»} Καθάπερ. Β καθάπερ γάρ· → .

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 157 (PG 46:157a–157d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-157). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 159

159PG 46:160a–160d

κάλλος τῶν ἀσταχύων συνανατελεῖ τοῖς φυομένοις διά τῆς ἀναστάσεως. Τᾶῦτα δέ φαμεν οὐχ ὡς σωματικῆς τινος διαφορᾶς ὲν τοῖς κατʼ ἀρετὴν ἢ κακίαν βεβιωκύσιν ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει φανησομένης, ὡς τὸν μὲν ἀτεέῆ κατάκτὸησῶμα νομίζειν, τὸν δὲ τὸ τέλειον ἔχειν οῐεσθαι · ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ παρά τὸν βίον ὁ δεσμώτης. τε ’καὶ ἄνετος, ἕξουσι ἀμφότεροι παραπλησίως τῷ σώματι, πολλὴ δὲ μεταξὺ ἀμφοτέρων ἡ καθʼ ἡδονήν τε καὶ λύπην διαφορά · οὕτως οἴμαι χρῆναι τῶν ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ κακῶν ὲν τῷ μεταξὺ ταῦτα χρόνῳ λογίζεσθαι τὸ διάφορον. Ἠ γὰρ τελείωσις τῶν ὲκ τῆς φθορᾶς ἀναφυομένων σωμάτων ὲν ἀφθαρσίᾳ τε καὶ δόξῃ. καὶ τιμῇ. καὶ δυνάμει παρὰ τοῦ Ἀποστὸλου γενέσθαι λέγεται ο ἡ δὲ τῶν τοιούτων ἐλάττωσις οὐ σωματικήν τινα τοῦ φυέντος διασημαίνει κολόὅωσιν, ἀλλʼ ἑκάστου τῶν κατά τὸ ἀγαθὸν νοουμένων στέρησίν τε καὶ ἀλλοτρίωσιν. Ἐπεὶ οὗν ἓν τι χρὴ πάντως περὶ ἡμᾶς εἶναι τῶν κατʼ ἀντίθεσιν νοουμένων, ἢ ἀγαθὸν, ἢ κακὸν, δηλονότι τὸ ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ τινα λέγειν μὴ εἶναι, ἀπόδειξις γίνεται τοῦ ιν τῷ κακῷ πάντως. Ἀλλά μὴν περὶ τὴν κακίαν, ού τιμὴ, ού δόξα, οὐκ ἀφθαρσία,,οὐ δύναμις. Ἀνάγκη πᾶσα, περὶ ὃν μὴ ἦν ταῦτα, τά τούτοις ἐξ ἀντιθέτου νοούμενα παρεῖ- ,‘vvh‘ilwé'ptptadvliﬁwl, ἀσθένειαν, ἀτιμίιῖν, φθοράν, καὶ ὅσα τοιούτου γένους ἐστὶν, ἀ ὲν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν εῐρηται λόγοις, ὅσα δυσαπάλλακτα γίνεται τῇ ψυχῇ τά ἐκ κακίας πάθη, διʼ ὅλης αὐτῆς ἀνακραθέντα καὶ συμφυέντα, καὶ ἓν πρὸς ἐκείνην γενόμενα. Τῶν τοιούτων οὖν ταῖς διὰ πυρὸς ίατρείαις ὲκκαθαρθέντων τε καὶ ἀφανισθέντων, ἔκαστον τῶν πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον νοουμένων άντεπελεύσεται (δ). ήάφθαρσία. ὴ ζωὴ. ἡ τιμὴ. ὴ χάρις, ι δόξα. ή δύναμις, καὶ εἴτι ἄλλο τοιοῦτον ἐν τε τῷ Θεῷ ὲπιθεωρεῖσοαι εἰκάζομεν, καὶ τῇ εἰκόνι αὐτοῦ, ἥ τίς ἐστιν ἠ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις.

kallos tōn astachyōn synanatelei tois phyomenois dia tēs anastaseōs. Tauta de phamen ouch hōs sōmatikēs tinos diaphoras en tois katʼ aretēn ē kakian bebiōkysin en tę̄ anastasei phanēsomenēs, hōs ton men ateeē kataktoēsōma nomizein, ton de to teleion echein oiesthai ; allʼ hōsper para ton bion ho desmōtēs. te ’kai anetos, hexousi amphoteroi paraplēsiōs tǭ sōmati, pollē de metaxy amphoterōn hē kathʼ hēdonēn te kai lypēn diaphora ; houtōs oimai chrēnai tōn agathōn te kai kakōn en tǭ metaxy tauta chronǭ logizesthai to diaphoron. Ē gar teleiōsis tōn ek tēs phthoras anaphyomenōn sōmatōn en aphtharsią te kai doxę̄. kai timę̄. kai dynamei para tou Apostolou genesthai legetai o hē de tōn toioutōn elattōsis ou sōmatikēn tina tou phyentos diasēmainei kolooōsin, allʼ hekastou tōn kata to agathon nooumenōn sterēsin te kai allotriōsin. Epei houn hen ti chrē pantōs peri hēmas einai tōn katʼ antithesin nooumenōn, ē agathon, ē kakon, dēlonoti to en tǭ agathǭ tina legein mē einai, apodeixis ginetai tou in tǭ kakǭ pantōs. Alla mēn peri tēn kakian, ou timē, ou doxa, ouk aphtharsia,,ou dynamis. Anankē pasa, peri hon mē ēn tauta, ta toutois ex antithetou nooumena parei- ,‘vvh‘ilwe'ptptadvliﬁwl, astheneian, atimiiin, phthoran, kai hosa toioutou genous estin, a en tois emprosthen eirētai logois, hosa dysapallakta ginetai tę̄ psychę̄ ta ek kakias pathē, diʼ holēs autēs anakrathenta kai symphyenta, kai hen pros ekeinēn genomena. Tōn toioutōn oun tais dia pyros iatreiais ekkatharthentōn te kai aphanisthentōn, ekaston tōn pros to kreitton nooumenōn antepeleusetai (d). ēaphtharsia. ē zōē. hē timē. ē charis, i doxa. ē dynamis, kai eiti allo toiouton en te tǭ Theǭ epitheōreisoai eikazomen, kai tę̄ eikoni autou, hē tis estin ē anthrōpinē physis.

“… beauty of the ears rises together with those who grow up through the resurrection. We say this not as though a bodily difference will appear in the resurrection among those who have lived in virtue or vice, so that one would think one has an imperfect body and the other the perfect one; but as in life the prisoner and the free man have bodies much alike, while there is a great difference between them in pleasure and pain, so I think we must reckon the difference between the good and the bad in the time between. For the perfecting of bodies that grow up from corruption is said by the Apostle to be in incorruption and glory and honour and power; and the lessening of these does not signify some bodily mutilation of what has grown, but the deprivation of and estrangement from each of the things conceived as good. Since, then, one of the two opposites, good or evil, must certainly be about us, it is clear that to say someone is not in the good is a proof that he is certainly in evil. But about vice there is no honour, no glory, no incorruption, no power. It is entirely necessary that where these are not, their opposites are present: weakness, dishonour, corruption, and all such things, which were spoken of in the earlier discussion, the passions from vice that are hard for the soul to be rid of, blended with and grown into the whole of it and become one with it. When, then, these have been cleansed and made to disappear by the healings through fire, each of the things conceived as better will come in their place: incorruption, life, honour, grace, glory, power, and whatever else of this kind we conjecture to be seen both in God and in his image, which is human nature.”

1 Cor 15:42 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:43 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The difference between the good and the wicked at the resurrection is not bodily but in joy or deprivation of good; once the passions of vice have been cleansed by fire, incorruption, life, honour, and glory will take their place in human nature, God’s image.

End of the dialogue. References: 1 Cor 15:42–43. The “healings through fire” after which all good things return is part of Gregory’s teaching on universal restoration; translated exactly as written.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Gregory of Nyssa, An. et res. 159 (PG 46:160a–160d; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/gregory-nyssa-anima-resurrectione/143/#p-159). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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