altogether refer to the multiplying by the marriage connection. For God had power to multiply the race also in different ways, if they kept the precept unbroken 3 to the end. But God, Who knoweth all things before they have existence, knowing in His foreknowledge that they would fall into transgression in the future and be condemned to death, anticipated this and made "male and female," and bade them "be fruitful and multiply." Let us, then, proceed on our way and see the glories5 of virginity and this also includes chastity.

it mean that, although he be a whoremonger and a drunkard and an idolater, he is still blessed if only he hath seed in Sion and posterity in Jerusalem? No one in his senses. will say this.

For

Virginity is the rule of life among the angels, the property of all incorporeal nature. This we say without speaking ill of marriage: God forbid! (for we know that the Lord blessed marriage by His presence, and we know him who said, Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled'), but knowing that virNoah when he was commanded to enter ginity is better than marriage, however good. the ark and was entrusted with the preserva- For among the virtues, equally as among the tion of the seed of the world received this vices, there are higher and lower grades. We command, Go in, saith the Lord, thou and know that all mortals after the first parents thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives. of the race are the offspring of marriage. He separated them from their wives 7 in order the first parents were the work of virginity that with purity they might escape the flood and not of marriage. But celibacy is, as and that shipwreck of the whole world. After we said, an imitation of the angels. Wherethe cessation of the flood, however, He said, fore virginity is as much more honourable Go forth of the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy than marriage, as the angel is higher than wife, and thy sons' wives. Lo, again, marriage man. But why do I say angel? Christ Himis granted for the sake of the multiplication self is the glory of virginity, who was not onlyof the race. Next, Elias, the fire-breathing begotten of the Father without beginning or charioteer and sojourner in heaven did not emission or connection, but also became man embrace celibacy, and yet was not his virtue in our image, being made flesh for our sakes attested by his super-human ascension? Who of the Virgin without connection, and maniclosed the heavens? Who raised the dead? festing in Himself the true and perfect virWho divided Jordan 3? Was it not the virginity. Wherefore, although He did not enjoin ginal Elias? And did not Elisha, his disciple, after he had given proof of equal virtue, ask and obtain as an inheritance a double portion of the grace of the Spirit 4? What of the three youths? Did they not by practising virginity become mightier than fire, their bodies through virginity being made proof against the fire ? And was it not Daniel's body that was so hardened by virginity that the wild beasts' teeth could not fasten in it. Did not God, when He wished the Israelites to see Him, bid them purify the body?? Did not the priests purify themselves and so approach the temple's shrine and offer victims? And did not the law call chastity the great vow?

The precept of the law, therefore, is to be taken in a more spiritual sense. For there is spiritual seed which is conceived through the love and fear of God in the spiritual womb, travailing and bringing forth the spirit of salvation. And in this sense must be understood this verse: Blessed is he who hath seed

in Zion and posterity in Jerusalem. For does

that on us by law (for as He said, all men cannot receive this saying 2), yet in actual fact He taught us that and gave us strength for it. For it is surely clear to every one that virginity now is flourishing among men.

Good indeed is the procreation of children. enjoined by the law, and good is marriage 3 on account of fornications, for it does away with these 4, and by lawful intercourse does not permit the madness of desire to be enflamed into unlawful acts. Good is marriage for those who have no continence: but that virginity is better which increases the fruitfulness of the soul and offers to God the seasonable fruit of prayer. Marriage is honourable and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge 5.

CHAPTER XXV.
Concerning the Circumcision.

The Circumcision was given to Abraham before the law, after the blessings, after the promise, as a sign separating him and his offspring and his household from the Gentiles with whom he lived 7. And this is evident,

6 Gen. vi. 13; vii. 1.

8 Gen viii. 16.

12 Kings ii. 11.

4 Ibid. i. 9.

7 Ex. xix. 15: Num. vi. 2.

VOL. IX.

CHAPTER XXVI.
Concerning the Antichrist.

for when the Israelites passed forty years alone might fulfil the law and He fulfilled the by themselves in the desert, having no in- whole law and observed the Sabbath that He tercourse with any other race, all that were might fulfil and establish the law 7. Moreover born in the desert were uncircumcised: but after He was baptized and the Holy Spirit had when Joshua led them across Jordan, they appeared to men, descending on Him in the were circumcised, and a second law of circum-form of a dove, from that time the spiritual cision was instituted. For in Abraham's time service and conduct of life and the Kingdom the law of circumcision was given, and for the of Heaven was preached. forty years in the desert it fell into abeyance. And again for the second time God gave the law of circumcision to Joshua, after the crossing of Jordan, according as it is written in the book of Joshua, the son of Nun: At that time It should be known that the Antichrist is the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee knives of bound to come. Every one, therefore, who stone from the sharp rock, and assemble and confesses not that the Son of God came in circumcise the sons of Israel a second time; the flesh and is perfect God and became and a little later: For the children of Israel perfect man, after being God, is Antichrist 9. walked forty and two years in the wilderness But in a peculiar and special sense he who of Battaris, till all the people that were men comes at the consummation of the age is of war, which came out of Egypt, were uncir- called Antichrist'. First, then, it is requisite cumcised, because they obeyed not the voice of the that the Gospel should be preached among Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that He all nations, as the Lord said 2, and then he would not shew them the good land, which the will come to refute the impious Jews. For Lord sware unto their fathers that He would the Lord said to them: I am come in My give them, a land that floweth with milk and Father's name and ye receive Me not: if another honey. And their children, whom He raised shall come in his own name, him ye will receive 3. up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for And the apostle says, Because they received not they were uncircumcised, because they had not the love of the truth that they might be saved, circumcised them by the way. So that the cir- for this cause God shall send them a strong cumcision was a sign, dividing Israel from the delusion that they should believe a lie: that they Gentiles with whom they dwelt. all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness 4. The Jews accordingly did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ who was the Son of God and God, but receive the impostor who calls himself God 5. For that he will assume the name of God, the angel teaches Daniel, saying these words, Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers. And the apostle says: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition: who opposeth and exalieth himself above all that is called God or that is wor shipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God', shewing himself that he is God; in the temple of God he said; not our temple, but the old Jewish temple. For he will come not to us but to the Jews: not for Christ or the things of Christ: wherefore he is called Antichrist 9.

It was, moreover, a figure of baptism 5. For just as the circumcision does not cut off a useful member of the body but only a useless superfluity, so by the holy baptism we are circumcised from sin, and sin clearly is, so to speak, the superfluous part of desire and not useful desire. For it is quite impossible that any one should have no desire at all nor ever experience the taste of pleasure. But the useless part of pleasure, that is to say, useless desire and pleasure, it is this that is sin from which holy baptism circumcises us, giving us as a token the precious cross on the brow, not to divide us from the Gentiles (for all the nations received baptism and were sealed with the sign of the Cross), but to distinguish in each nation the faithful from the faithless. Wherefore, when the truth is revealed, circumcision is a senseless figure and shade. So circumcision is now superfluous and contrary to holy baptism. For he who is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole law. Further, the Lord was circumcised that He

First, therefore, it is necessary that the Gospel should be preached among all nations: And then shall that wicked one be

revealed, even him whose coming is after the define death as the separation of soul and working of Satan with all power and signs body, resurrection surely is the re-union of and lying wonders, with all deceivableness soul and body, and the second state of the of unrighteousness in them that perish, whom living creature that has suffered dissolution and the Lord shall consume with the word of His downfall 4. It is, then, this very body, which mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of is corruptible and liable to dissolution, that His coming 3. The devil himself, therefore, will rise again incorruptible. For He, who does not become man in the way that the made it in the beginning of the sand of the Lord was made man. God forbid! but he be-earth, does not lack the power to raise it up comes man as the offspring of fornication and again after it has been dissolved again and receiveth all the energy of Satan. For God, returned to the earth from which it was taken, foreknowing the strangeness of the choice that in accordance with the reversal of the Creator's he would make, allows the devil to take up judgment. his abode in him 5.

He is, therefore, as we said, the offspring of fornication and is nurtured in secret, and on a sudden he rises up and rebels and assumes rule. And in the beginning of his rule, or rather tyranny, he assumes the rôle of sanctity. But when he becomes master he persecutes the Church of God and displays all his wickedness. But he will come with signs and lying wonders 7, fictitious and not real, and he will deceive and lead away from the living God those whose mind rests on an unsound and unstable foundation, so that even the elect shall, if it be possible, be made to stumble 8.

But Enoch and Elias the Thesbite shall be sent and shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, that is, the synagogue to our Lord Jesus Christ and the preaching of the apostles and they will be destroyed by him. And the Lord shall come out of heaven, just as the holy apostles beheld Him going into heaven, perfect God and perfect man, with glory and power, and will destroy the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, with the breath of His mouth'. Let no one, therefore, look for the Lord to come from earth, but out of Heaven, as He himself has made sure 2.

For if there is no resurrection, let us eat and drink 5: let us pursue a life of pleasure and enjoyment. If there is no resurrection, wherein do we differ from the irrational brutes? If there is no resurrection, let us hold the wild beasts of the field happy who have a life free from sorrow. If there is no resurrection, neither is there any God nor Providence, but all things are driven and borne along of themselves. For observe how we see most righteous men suffering hunger and injustice and receiv ing no help in the present life, while sinners and unrighteous men abound in riches and every delight. And who in his senses would take this for the work of a righteous judgment or a wise providence? There must be, therefore, there must be, a resurrection. For God is just and is the rewarder of those who submit patiently to Him. Wherefore if it is the soul alone that engages in the contests of virtue, it is also the soul alone that will receive the crown. And if it were the soul alone that revels in pleasures, it would also be the soul alone that would be justly punished. But since the soul does not pursue either virtue or vice separate from the body, both together will obtain that which is their just due.

Nay, the divine Scripture bears witness that there will be a resurrection of the body. God in truth says to Moses after the flood, Even as the green herb have 1 given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, for his blood his own shall be shed, for in the image of God made I man‘. How will He require the blood of man at the hand of every beast, unless because the bodies of dead men will rise again? For not for man will the beasts die.

And again to Moses, I am the God of Abra

ham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead (that is, those who are dead and will be no more), but of the living7, whose souls indeed live in His hand, but whose bodies will again come to life through the resurrection. And David, sire of the Divine, says to God, Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust 9. See how he speaks about bodies. Then he subjoins this, Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth.

Further Isaiah says: The dead shall rise again, and they that are in the graves shall awake". And it is clear that the souls do not lie in the graves, but the bodies.

And again, the blessed Ezekiel says: And it was as I prophesied, and behold a shaking and the bones came together, bone to his bone, each to its own joint: and when I beheld, lo, the sinews came up upon them and the flesh grew and rose up on them and the skin covered them above 3. And later he teaches how the spirits came back when they were bidden.

was stinking. For He did not raise the soul without the body, but the body along with the soul and not another body but the very one that was corrupt. For how could the resurrection of the dead man have been known or believed if it had not been established by his characteristic properties? But it was in fact to make the divinity of His own nature manifest and to confirm the belief in His own and our resurrection, that He raised up Lazarus who was destined once more to die. And the Lord became Himself the first-fruits of the perfect resurrection that is no longer subject to death. Wherefore also the divine Apostle Paul said: If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, our faith is vain: we are yet in our sins 7. And, Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept, and the first-born from the dead; and again, For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him'. Even so, he said, as Christ rose again. Moreover, that And divine Daniel also says: And at that the resurrection of the Lord was the union time shall Michael stand up, the great prince of uncorrupted body and soul (for it was which standeth for the children of thy people: these that had been divided) is manifest : and there shall be a time of trouble, such trouble for He said, Destroy this temple, and in three as never was since there was a nation on the days I will raise it up2. And the holy Gospel earth even to that same time. And at that time is a trustworthy witness that He spoke of His thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall own body. Handle Me and see, the Lord said be found written in the book. And many of to His own disciples when they were thinking them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall that they saw a spirit, that it is I Myself, and awake: some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and out of the multitude of the just shall shine like stars into the ages and beyond. The words, many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, clearly shew that there will be a resurrection of bodies. For no one surely would say that the souls sleep in the dust of the earth.

Moreover, even the Lord in the holy Gospels clearly allows that there is a resurrection of the bodies. For they that are in the graves, He says, shall hear His voice and shall come forth: they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation 5. Now no one in his senses would ever say that the souls are in the graves.

But it was not only by word, but also by deed, that the Lord revealed the resurrection of the bodies. First He raised ap Lazarus, even after he had been dead four days, and

that I am not changed 3: for a spirit hath not flesh or bones, as ye see Me have 4. And when He had said this He shewed them His hands and His side, and stretched them forward for Thomas to touch 5. Is not this sufficient to establish belief in the resurrection of bodies?

Again the divine apostle says, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality 6. And again: It is sown 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 (that is to say, crass and mortal), it is raised a spiritual body 7, such as was our Lord's body after the resurrection which passed through closed doors, was unwearying, had no need of food, or sleep, or drink. For they will be, saith the Lord, as the angels of God: there will no longer be marriage nor procreation of children. The divine apostle, in truth, says, For our conversation is in heaven, from when.t

also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, leaves and ears and the most delicate beards? Who shall change our vile body that it may Is it not the Maker of the universe? Is it not be fashioned like unto His glorious body: not at the bidding of Him Who hath contrived meaning change into another form (God for bid!), but rather the change from corruption into incorruption.

all things? Believe, therefore, in this wise, even that the resurrection of the dead will come to pass at the divine will and sign. For He has power that is able to keep pace with His will.

But some one will say, How are the dead raised up? Oh, what disbelief! Oh, what folly! Will He, Who at His solitary will changed We shall therefore rise again, our souls earth into body, Who commanded the little being once more united with our bodies, drop of seed to grow in the mother's womb now made incorruptible and having put off and become in the end this varied and mani-corruption, and we shall stand beside the fold organ of the body, not the rather raise up awful judgment-seat of Christ: and the devil again at His solitary will that which was and and his demons and the man that is his, that is dissolved? And with what body do they is the Antichrist and the impious and the sincome? Thou fool, if thy hardness will not per- ful, will be given over to everlasting fire: not mit you to believe the words of God, at least be- material fire like our fire, but such fire lieve His works 3. For that which thou sowest as God would know. But those who have is not quickened except it die1. And that which done good will shine forth as the sun with the thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall angels into life eternal, with our Lord Jesus be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat or of Christ, ever seeing Him and being in His some other grain. But God giveth it a body sight and deriving unceasing joy from Him, as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his praising Him with the Father and the Holy own body 5. Behold, therefore, how the seed Spirit throughout the limitless ages of ages 7. is buried in the furrows as in tombs. Who Amen. is it that giveth them roots and stalk and

9 Philip. iii. 20, 21.

Nyss, loc. citat.; Epiph., Hæres, vi. 4.

3 Epiph., Ancor., n. 93.

5 Ibid. 36, 37, 38.

a 1 Cor. xv. 35. 41 Cor. xv. 35.

6 See Migne's Preface to John's Dial., Contr. Manichæos.

7 In R. 2924 is read: ἐν τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα, τιμὴ, καὶ προσκύνησις, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ̓Αμήν. In 2928: ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει δόξα, τιμὴ καὶ προσκύνησις, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, &ς,