Беседа 21

1. We, brethren, noticed during the apostolic reading the commendable movement of your faith and love, we noticed how you abhor people who think that there is only one real life, common to us with cattle, that everything ends with death, and there is no hope for us for another, better life, who, spreading bad rumors (pruritum malarum aurium corrumpentes), say: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die” ( 1 Corinthians 15:32). This is where we begin our conversation. Let this be, as it were, the center of our speech, around which everything else that the Lord is pleased to give us will revolve. 2. The resurrection of the dead is the object of our hope. The resurrection of the dead is the object of our faith. It is also the object of our love, which is aroused by the prediction of invisible things and the desire for them, as a result of which our hearts become capable of bliss, which is promised in the future, but for now serves as an object of faith, since it is invisible. Therefore, our love itself should not be directed towards this visible and temporary; It is impossible to think that in the resurrection we will have something similar to what we now have, even if we did not attach importance to the blessings of this life, even if we lived well and were good ourselves, we will not have carnal pleasures and consolations there. Without a doubt, with the destruction of faith in the resurrection of the dead, all Christian teaching falls. However, even with the recognition of faith in the resurrection of the dead, one can remain calm for the spirit of a Christian only if one recognizes that the future life is different from the present, transitory life. Therefore, if the dead do not rise again, then there is no hope for us of a future life. If they are resurrected, there will therefore be an afterlife. But another question arises: what will this life be like? Hence, our first discussion will be devoted to the question of whether there will be a resurrection of the dead; in the second, we will consider what the life of the saints will be like in the resurrection. 3. So, whoever says that the dead will not rise is not a Christian. Those who think that the dead, when they are resurrected, will lead a carnal life are rude carnal Christians. Thus, what is said in this argument against those who deny the resurrection of the dead applies specifically to those who do not bear the name of Christians, of which I do not think that anyone is present here. And our reasoning may seem unnecessary if we prove that the dead are raised. Because a Christian who has believed in Christ, who in no way can admit that the apostle is telling a lie, must be guided by the power of authority. It is enough, therefore, if he hears: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then... our preaching is in vain, and so is your faith.” “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised” (1 Cor. 15:13–14). If Christ was resurrected, which is the salvation of Christians, then, in any case, the resurrection of the dead is not impossible, because Who raised His Son, Who awakened His flesh, He in the Head set an example for the whole body, i.e. churches. So, it might be unnecessary to talk about the resurrection of the dead, and we should concern ourselves with those questions that Christians usually pose to themselves, namely: what will we be like when we rise again, how will we live then, what will our occupations be, and will there be any occupations at all, or will there be none? If there are none, then will we live completely idle, doing nothing, or, if we do something, then what exactly? Then, will we eat and drink, will there be fellowship between husbands and wives, or will there be one blameless common life? And if so, what will this life be like, what will be the property and image of the bodies themselves? Here are questions for Christians regarding belief in the resurrection. 4. I would now move on to this reasoning, as far as it can be understood or expressed through people and people like us and you, if some concern about our too carnal brothers, almost pagans, did not force me to stop on the question of whether the dead will be resurrected. Of course, I am sure that there are no pagans here now, but all are Christians. However, the pagans and detractors of the resurrection do not cease to say out loud to Christians every day: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” The apostle said these words, further pointing out the danger of bad communities that corrupt “good morals” (1 Cor. 15:32–33). Fearing this evil, and fearing for the unstable Christians, we will speak as much as is necessary for the listeners, not only out of paternal, but as if out of some maternal love. After all, all who gathered here were brought here by great reverence for the word of God (circa scripturas), and it was not the celebration of any holiday that brought crowds of spectators to the church of God. Because some are in the habit of meeting not for reasons of piety, but only for triumph. It is these considerations that force us to talk first about the resurrection of the dead, and then, if the Lord helps, we will talk about what the future life of the righteous will be like. 5. “I fear,” says the apostle, “lest, just as the serpent deceived Eve with his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted, straying from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). And the words that damage the minds are: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” Let everyone who with pleasure wants to follow only these words, who thinks that there is only one real life and does not hope for anything else, who does not pray to God or only prays to eat and drink, even if our benevolent speech is unpleasant to him, listen to us, who speak these words with great sorrow. They want to eat and drink, because tomorrow they will die. But, oh, if only they really thought that they would die tomorrow! Who would be so reckless and insane, who would be so hostile to himself, that, thinking of dying tomorrow, he would not think that everything for which he had labored was over? After all, “on that day,” as it is written, “all his thoughts disappear” (Ps. 146:4). And if people, in view of the day of death threatening them, try to make wills for the sake of those whom they leave here, then how much more should they think about their souls? Or does a person care about those whom he leaves, but does not think about himself, who leaves everything? Behold, your sons will own what you leave; you yourself will have nothing, and, however, all your attention is focused on what strangers will own after you, and not on what fate awaits the corruptible (non quo transeantes perveniant). Oh, if only you had thoughts of death! True, when the dead are carried out, people think about death and say: “Unfortunate! Yesterday he was walking” or: “Seven days ago I saw him, he spoke to me in such and such a way, and now the man is gone.” That's what they usually say. But they say this, perhaps, only while the dead is being mourned, while efforts are being made about his burial, while preparations for the funeral are being made, while the dead is being carried out and buried. With the burial these speeches also cease. Vain care returns, the one who was carried away by death is forgotten, and the one who has to retire thinks of replacing him - he returns to deception, to theft, to perjury, to drunkenness, to countless carnal pleasures that do not disappear even while enjoying them, and what’s worse, people take from the just buried dead a reason for burying the heart and say: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die." 6. Others, ridiculing the belief in the resurrection of the dead, say to themselves: “So-and-so lies in the grave, let his voice be heard. If this is not possible, let me hear the voice of my father, my grandfather and great-grandfather. Who rebelled from there? Who announced what was done to the dead? Let us take care of the benefits for ourselves during this earthly life. If, when we die, our parents, relatives or neighbors bring something to our coffins, then they bring it to themselves, the living, and not to us, the dead.” Even Scripture ridicules this when it speaks of food placed at the grave (Sir.30:18). It is clear that the dead do not need this and that this is a pagan custom, and it does not originate from our fathers, the patriarchs, in whom, although we find indications of a glorious funeral, we do not find indications of offerings to the dead. The same can be seen in the customs of the Jews. Nevertheless, they retained in some cases the customs of antiquity, although they did not derive any benefits from them for virtue. And if some refer to the words of Scripture: “Distribute your bread at the grave of the righteous, but do not give to sinners” (Tob. 4:17 – Frange panem tuum, et effunde vinum tuum super sepulcra justorum, et ne tradas eum injustis), then without any difficulty believers can understand what is said here. After all, believers know how to commemorate their dead; They also know that this cannot be done for the wicked, i.e. for unbelievers, because only “the righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). Let no one seek from the healing of illnesses, and let no one try to extract from the Scriptures a bond in order to lay the snares of death for his soul. It is clear how this should be understood. This Christian custom is correct and saving (aperta atque salubris est haec celebratio christianorum). 7. So, let’s dwell on what I already said above, and what people point to when they confuse the ears of the unsteady with the words: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die,” namely their words that no one rises from the dead and that they do not hear anyone’s voice: neither grandfather, nor great-grandfather, nor father. Answer such, Christians, if you are Christians and if you want to take part in the feasts [meaning, probably, funeral celebrations], answer the corrupters without embarrassment. And you know what to answer, but you are overwhelmed by a passion for pleasure, you want to drown in them and be buried alive. The passion of intemperance rises in you, and as if some excitement bursts into the soul, excited by the breath of evil desire (male suadentis). And so, undergoing great excitement, you do not want to answer the corrupter and readily go to the feast. And the excitement of passion, intensifying too much, wants to fall on your heart like a ship. But Christ sleeps on your ship. Wake Him up, and He will command the storm to be silent (Matthew 8:24–26). By their excitement on the ship when Christ was sleeping, the disciples predicted that Christians would also be overwhelmed until the Christian faith awakens in them. Do you know what the apostle says: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:16–17). By the nature of his greatness and by His Divinity, He is always with the Father. And with His body He is already in heaven at the right hand of the Father, but by faith He is present in all Christians. And you are overwhelmed, therefore, because Christ is sleeping, i.e. Therefore, you cannot overcome those passions that are aroused in you by the instillation of bad habits (male suadentium), because your faith sleeps. What does it mean that your faith is sleeping? This means that faith has been put to sleep. But what does it mean: put to sleep? It means that you have forgotten faith. What does it mean to awaken Christ in this way? This means awakening faith, remembering what you believed in. So, remember your faith, awaken Christ. This faith of yours will command the waves of which you are afraid, and the wind of evil accusers; and immediately they will leave, immediately everything will calm down. Because, although the evil slanderer does not cease to slander you, he no longer endangers your ship, does not stir up excitement, and does not sink the ship on which you are sailing. 8. But why will you wake up Christ? What did that evil interlocutor tell you? What did that corrupter say, corrupting good morals with his bad speeches? What did he say? This is what he said: no one returned from there (from behind the coffin). I did not hear the voice of my father or my grandfather. Let someone return from there and let him say what is happening there. Having awakened Christ on your ship and remembering your faith, you answer him and say: Fool! If your father had risen, you would have believed, but the Lord of all has risen, and don’t you believe? Why did He deign to die and rise again, if not so that we might believe one and not be deceived by many? And what would your father do if he were resurrected and began to talk with you, and died again? Look with what power He was resurrected, Who “dies no more: death no longer has power over Him” (Rom. 6:9)! He appeared to His disciples and believers, and His body was felt, since it was not enough for some to see what they had previously seen and not to feel what they now saw. This faith was not only imprinted in hearts, but was witnessed before the eyes of people. Further, the One who showed this ascended into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples, and the Gospel was preached everywhere. If we are telling a lie, question the very face of the earth. Much of what was promised has already been accomplished. Much that we expected came true. The Christian faith is spread throughout the entire face of the earth. Even non-believers do not dare deny the resurrection of Christ. The sky bears witness to this, the earth bears witness, the angels bear witness, those in the kingdom of the dead bear witness (ab inferis). What else would not indicate this? And you say: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” 9. You are saddened about your dead friend (charissimo), because you no longer hear his voice. He lived and died. He ate, but now he no longer eats, he felt, but now he no longer feels, he no longer rejoices in the joys and consolation of the living. But would you mourn the seed when you plowed the ground? After all, if there were someone so ignorant who, seeing how the seed was carried out into the field, thrown into the ground and buried in blocks, began to cry about it and, remembering the summer heat, would begin to say about it to himself: “Here is the bread, with such difficulty compressed, threshed and peeled, lay in the granary; we looked at it and rejoiced, but now it is not before our eyes: I see the land plowed, but the bread I don’t see it either in the granary or here.” If, we say, there were such a person who would be very sad and cry about the bread, as if it were dead and buried, looking at the clods and at the ground and not thinking about the harvest, then how would others, although unlearned, but knowledgeable in that matter, laugh at him? How could he, so inexperienced, cry in front of those knowledgeable in this matter, although ignorant in other subjects? And what would those who knew that he was grieving because he did not understand say to him? “Don’t be sad,” they would tell him. What we scattered into the ground is no longer in the granary, no longer in our hands. But then we will come to this field and it will be gratifying for you to contemplate the sight of the harvest where you are now mourning over the bare earth. He who knows what will come out of the sown grain rejoices even during the arable land. If someone, due to mistrust or unreason, or, better to say, due to a lack of experience, grieves at the beginning, then, nevertheless, later, trusting the experience of the one who knows, he will leave him comforted and begin to expect with him the future harvest. 10. But the harvest usually occurs annually. The only final harvest of the human race will occur at the end of the age. Now you can't see her with your eyes. But the proof that it will be given in the grain of wheat, about which the Lord Himself says: “Unless a grain of wheat... dies, it remains alone” (John 12:24), indicating in these words His death and the fact that the number of those who believe in Him will be great to be resurrected. The example is taken here from the grain, but such an example that everyone who wants to be among the grains is convinced. However, all creation testifies to the resurrection, unless we want to be deaf. And from these testimonies one can conclude what God will ultimately do with the human race, when we observe so many similarities every day. The resurrection of Christians can only happen once. The sleep of animals and their awakening from sleep occurs daily. Sleep is a semblance of death, awakening is a semblance of resurrection. Observing what happens before you every day, believe in what will happen one day. The moon is born every month, grows, reaches its greatest size, then decreases, completely disappears and appears again. What happens to the moon every month, at the resurrection, will happen once in all time. Further, where do they go, for example, and where do the leaves on the trees come from? What hiding places do they go to? From what hidden places do they come? Now it’s winter, and the trees seem to have dried up; in spring, they dress in greenery. Has it just happened now or was it the same thing last year? Of course, the same thing happened last year. Greenery disappears in the fall, during the winter, and appears in the spring, in the summer. So the year repeats itself in time, and do people, created in the image of God, really perish completely when they die? 11. But someone less attentive to the changes and rebirth noticeable in nature may tell me: “After all, those leaves have rotted and new ones are born.” However, anyone with sense can see that even that which rots gives strength to the earth. Because from what does the earth become fat, if not from the decay of earthly things? Those who are engaged in agriculture know this. And those who do not engage in agriculture, living in the city, should at least learn from the estates adjacent to the city how diligently the various uncleanliness of the city are guarded, at what price they are bought and where they go. Of course, they are already despicable and can be considered completely unnecessary by an insufficiently knowledgeable person. Who would really look at droppings? But what a person does not want to look at, he tries to protect. Thus, what seemed to be already destroyed and thrown away is used to thicken the earth, retains moisture in it and goes to the roots. And what passes from the ground to the root, then passes through invisible paths into the trunk, diverges along the branches, from here it goes into shoots, and from the shoots into fruits and leaves. And this is what you turn away from when the impurities rot - this, creating the lovely greenery of the tree, causes your surprise. 12. I don’t want you to point out to me what you usually point out, namely, that the body of a buried dead person does not remain whole; - if it remained intact, you say, I would believe in the resurrection of the dead. It turns out, therefore, that only the Egyptians believe in the resurrection, because they carefully preserve the corpses of the dead. Usually, they dry the bodies, making them seem indestructible and calling them mummies. So, according to people who do not know the secrets of nature, in which everything remains whole for the Creator, even though it has lost the ability of external sense, only some Egyptians can believe in the resurrection of the dead, while the faith of others, the faith of Christians, is unfounded. Often, when, due to disrepair or for some other reason, coffins are opened and exposed, it turns out that the bodies located there have already rotted, and people, accustomed to admiring bodily beauty, sigh mournfully and say to themselves: “Will this dust ever have its former appearance of beauty? Will it really return to life, return to the light? When will this be? And can I ever hope to see anything living from these ashes?” However, you, who say this, see at least ashes in the tomb. But look back at least thirty, forty, fifty or more years. Now, at least the ashes of the dead appear in the coffin, but what were you like fifty years ago? Where were you then? The bodies of all of us who are talking now, after a few years, will be dust, and several years ago there was not even ashes. So, who could create what was not, is really not able to recreate what was? 13. Let the idle talk of slanderers cease, corrupting good morals with their bad speeches. Establish your feet on the path, strengthen it so as not to stray from it and not to stop there, but to strive forward, as it is written: “So run that you may receive” (1 Cor. 9:24). Let Christ always be awake in your heart, Who at the head (that is, in Himself) was pleased to show what the other members of His body should expect. We suffer on earth; Our head in heaven no longer dies, does not experience weakness, does not suffer. However, the head also suffered for us. Because He (Christ) “was delivered for our sins and rose again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). We know this by faith. Those to whom He appeared saw with their own eyes. However, we were not left offended because He had already risen and we cannot see Him with carnal eyes. We have an instructive testimony for us from the Lord Himself, which He gave to a doubting disciple seeking touch in order to believe. After all, when, after touching His wounds, he exclaimed and said: “My Lord and my God!” “The Lord answered him: “You believed because you saw Me; Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:28–29). So, awaken to your bliss, and let no evil slanderer pluck from your hearts what has been planted by Christ. 14. Let them not tell me this anymore. This is usually said by those who did not yield to the authority of Christ of their own free will. After all, even the pagans who do not want or put off accepting the teachings of Christ do not dare to blaspheme Christ. Christians are reviled, but Christ is not dared. They humble themselves before the Head, although they still mock the body. But let the body, hearing the mockery of those who are inferior to the Head, not consider themselves separated from the Head, but at one with Her. If we were separated from Her, then we could be afraid of the mockery of our enemies. But that we are not separated from the Head is evidenced by Him Himself, who said to Paul, when he was still Saul, persecuting the Church: “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? (Acts 9:4). He has already delivered himself from the hands of the wicked Jews, has already penetrated into the underworld, has already risen from the grave, has already ascended into heaven, has already enriched the hearts of believers with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and confirms them, being at the right hand of the Father and interceding for us. No longer exposed to the danger of death, but only wanting to free us from death - what could He endure from the raging Saul? How could that hand touch Him, although he, as it is written about him, still breathed murder (Acts 9:1)? Saul could still attack Christians living on earth, but when and how could he harm Christ? He utters, however, a painful cry for His members and does not say: Why are you persecuting Mine? If he spoke like this, then we could consider ourselves only His servants. But slaves are not united with their master in the same way as Christians are united with Christ. This connection is different, the relationship of members is different, the unity of love is different. The head speaks for His members and does not say: “Why are you persecuting My members?” - but: “Why are you persecuting Me?” The persecutor did not touch the Head, but only touched what was connected to the Head. We have already pointed out one similarity more than once, and since this similarity is very suitable and explains the matter well, let us allow ourselves to repeat it. For example, someone in the crowd crowds you, crushes your leg, although it does not cause any pain to your tongue. Why does the tongue still scream: “Are you crushing me?” The leg is squeezed, no harm is done to the tongue, however, they (leg and tongue) are connected in close unity. Because “if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; If one member is glorified, all members rejoice with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). So, if your tongue speaks for your foot, will not Christ speak for Christians from heaven? Your tongue does not speak for your foot in such a way as to say, for example: “You are crushing my foot,” but: “You are crushing me,” although it itself remains inviolable. You too should recognize your Head when She speaks from heaven for you: “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting Me? But, brothers, why did we say this? So that those to whom the apostle points when he says that “bad associations corrupt good morals” (1 Cor. 15:33), who say: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32), do not somehow creep up on you, so that they do not say to you: “For Christ, however, only this was possible” (they do not dare to revile Christ, they bow before His greatness, spread throughout the entire circle of the earth, but although, as it is written: “The wicked will see this and will be vexed, he will gnash his teeth and melt away” (Ps. 111:10), they gnash their teeth and melt away, they still do not dare to slander Christ. Sometimes they say this sincerely, sometimes out of fear. But be attentive to what they dare to say and what they do not dare to say. express. 15. Behold, they will begin to say to you: “You point to Christ that He rose from the dead, and as a result of this you expect a general resurrection of the dead. But Christ could rise from the dead,” and they begin to praise Christ not in order to give honor to Him, but in order to deprive you of hope. There is dangerous deceit here when, wanting to distract people from Christ with praise, they hypocritically glorify Him Whom they do not dare to blame. They enhance His greatness as a heavenly being, so that you do not hope to receive anything that was revealed in His resurrection. It is as if they treat Christ with great reverence when they say: “He dares to compare himself with Christ and thinks that he too will rise from the dead, just as Christ rose.” Do not, however, be fooled by hypocritical praise. Insidious plans confuse you, but remember the humility of Christ, about His humanity. He (the hypocrite) shows you how great Christ is in comparison with you, but Christ Himself says how close He is to you (descendit ad te). So, boldly answer him, awaken your faith in yourself; Here in front of you is a storm, excitement, a ship in danger, and Christ sleeps in you. Awaken the faith of Christ in yourself, do not forget what you believed in. And you will answer immediately, as soon as the faith of the Gospel begins to come to life in you. You will not be helpless in answering. It is not you who will speak, but Christ who abides in you, taking your tongue as His weapon, like His sword, and using your heart and your voice as an owner, He will resist the enemy and make you safe. Just wake up the sleeping person, that is. do not forget your faith. 16. But what will I say that you could object to them? I won’t say anything new, but something that you have already believed in. Awaken your faith and answer those who say that Christ alone could rise, but we cannot. Answer and tell him: “Therefore Christ could be resurrected, because He is God. If because He is God, then, therefore, because He is omnipotent. If because He is omnipotent, then can I despair that He can also show in me what He showed in Himself for my sake?” Then I will ask again: “Where did the Lord arise from?” He answers: “From the dead.” – But how did God die? And can God die? Could that Divine Word, that power of the Almighty Artist, through Whom everything was created, that unchanging Wisdom, abiding in Itself and renewing everything, spreading from one end to the other and arranging everything “for good” (Wisdom 8:1), die? “No,” the enemy answers. – And yet Christ died. Why did he die? Of course, because, not considering it robbery to be equal with God, He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). And earlier the apostle says: “He being the image of God” (Phil. 2:6). Did He take on the image of God or was He essentially (an in ea naturaliter erat)? The apostle distinguishes this. When he speaks about the image of God, he uses the word “being”, and when he speaks about the image of a servant, he said “having received”. Christ, therefore, was one, and accepted another, so that what He accepted became one with Him. Being the image of God, He was equal to God, which is why the evangelist says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), i.e. “He, being the image of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.” What does not exist by nature, and what is not appropriated by right, is already theft. An angel assumed equality with God, but fell and became the devil. Man wanted to claim equality with God for himself, but he fell and became mortal. Christ, who was born equal, because he was not born in time, but the eternal Son from the eternal Father, through whom all things were created, is the image of God (in forma Dei est). In order to be a mediator between God and people, between the Righteous and the unjust, between the Immortal and the mortal, He accepted something from the lawless and mortals, while at the same time having something in common with the Righteous and the Immortal. Preserving righteousness together with the Righteous and Immortal, He accepts mortality from the lawless and mortals, becoming a reconciliator, destroying the wall of our sins, which is why it is said in the psalm: “with my God I ascend the wall” (Ps. 17:30). Returning to God what was alienated by sin, redeeming with His blood what was enslaved by the devil, He died for us and rose again. He bore our sins not by participating in them, but by enduring them, just as Jacob bore the skin of kids in order to appear hairy to his blessing father (Gen. 27:16). The bad Esau had his own hair, but the good Jacob wore someone else's. Mortal people, of course, have sin; he does not belong to the One who said: “I have power to lay it down [My soul], and I have power to take it up again” (John 10:18). So, death in our Lord was a consequence of the sins of others, and not a punishment for our own sins. In all people, death is the punishment for sin. It originates from original sin, from the fall of the first man, and not from a descent from anywhere. Because there is one thing - to fall, another - to descend. One fell criminally, the other fell mercifully. Because “As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall live” (1 Cor. 15:22). So, bearing the sins of others, Christ, according to the words of the psalmist, gave away that “which... he did not take away” (Ps. 68:5), i.e. having no sin, he suffered death. Behold, He says: “The prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me.” What does it mean that “he has nothing in Me”? This means: he will not find in Me anything worthy of death, because what is worthy of death is sin. Why death? “But,” He says further, “so that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded Me, so I do: Arise, let us depart from here” (John 14:30-31). And having risen, He went to suffer. Why? Because He fulfilled the will of His Father, and not because He was in any way guilty of the prince of sin, since there was no sin in Him. Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ brought Divinity with Him, but accepted mortality from us. He received her in the womb of the Virgin Mary, uniting Himself, the Divine Word, with human nature, as the groom unites with the bride in the bridal chamber, so that He comes forth “like a bridegroom from his bridal chamber” (Ps. 18:6). 17. So remember what I told you. Mortality from sin has spread to all people. In the Lord it appeared as a result of His mercy, and, however, it was true, because His flesh was just as true, truly mortal, having the likeness of “sinful flesh” (Rom. 8:3), not the likeness of flesh, but the likeness of “sinful flesh,” since it was true flesh, although not sinful flesh. And undeservedly, as I said, it was not for sin that He accepted this mortality, Who “made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a servant... becoming obedient even to death.” Therefore, what was He and what did He have? Was a Divinity, bearing mortality. But by what He died, He was resurrected. Now turning to those who say: “Only Christ alone could rise, but you cannot” - answer and say: “Christ was resurrected by what He received from us. Take away from Him the form of a servant, and there would not be that in Him by which He could rise, because there would not be that by which He could die. And why, while glorifying the Lord, do you want to destroy the faith that the Lord planted in me? Just because He took the form servant, He became dead. Hence I will never doubt the resurrection of the servant, if the Lord rose in the form of a servant.” If they only want to attribute to the power of humanity that Christ rose from the dead, since they are in the habit of saying this, namely, that He was such a righteous man that He could even rise from the dead, then I am ready to agree with them for a time and here. I will not speak about the Divinity of our Lord; - but if He is so righteous that He could even rise from the dead, then, of course, He could in no way deceive us when He promised us the resurrection. 18. Everything that we have said, brethren, has been said for the purpose that you would be prepared to respond in case someone began to say that the dead will not be resurrected. It was said, if you remember how God was pleased to make us capable of this, both about visible nature, and evidence was indicated from its daily manifestations, and about the omnipotence of God, for whom nothing is difficult, who, if he could create what was not, how much more can he recreate what was, and about our Lord and Savior Himself, who undoubtedly rose again, and about the resurrection, that it could not have happened except in the form of a servant, because He could not die, and therefore rise again, except in the form of a slave. And since we are slaves, therefore, we also need to expect what the Lord was pleased to show, being in the form of a slave. Let, therefore, the tongues of those who say: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” be silent. To these words you answer them and say: “We will fast and pray, because tomorrow we will die.” 19. It remains for us to say what life will be like in the resurrection of the righteous. But since today, as you see, a lot of time has already been spent on conversation, be content for now with what has been said. And pray about this, so that we can talk to you someday. Note also that we are talking about this now especially because of the real holidays among the pagans. Be attentive to yourself: this world is passing away. Remember the Gospel, where the Lord predicts that the last day will come just as it did in the days of Noah, when people “ate, drank, married, and gave in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:27). And in another place, the Lord, exhorting those listening, says: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness” (Luke 21:34), and again: “Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning. And you be like people waiting for their master to return from marriage” (Luke 12:35-36). Let us wait for Him. May He not find us careless. It is shameful for a married woman not to strive (non desiderare) for her husband. How much more shameful is it for the church not to strive for Christ?! The husband comes for a carnal embrace and is received with great love by his pure wife. But now the Bridegroom of the church has come to offer us eternal embrace, to make us eternal joint heirs with Himself, and we live in such a way that not only do we not want His coming, but we even fear it! There is no doubt that the day will come as in the days of Noah. And will He find so many of those who are called Christians just as suddenly? After all, the ark was built for so long so that the unbelievers would come to their senses. It took a hundred years to build, and they did not come to their senses enough to say: the man of God is building the ark for no other reason than because it threatens the destruction of the human race; they did not take care to prevent the wrath of God by doing what was pleasing to God, as the Ninevites did, who bore the fruit of repentance and turned away the wrath of God. 20. Jonah told them not of mercy, but of the wrath awaiting them; did not say, for example, like this: “Just a little while longer, and Nineveh will be destroyed. But if during this time you repent, then the Lord will have mercy on you,” he did not say this. He threatened them with destruction alone, he predicted this alone, and yet they did not despair of God’s mercy, turned to repentance, and the Lord had mercy on them (Jon.3). What can I tell you about this? Did the prophet predict a lie? If you take this literally, then, apparently, the prophet said a lie here. If you begin to understand spiritually, then what exactly the prophet said happened. Look at what Nineveh was and what it became. What did Nineveh represent? They ate and drank, bought, sold, planted, built, indulged in perjury, lies, drunkenness, all sorts of vices, corruption - this is what Nineveh represented. Look now, what happened to the Ninevites? They cry, grieve, lament, in sackcloth and ashes, in fasting and prayers. Where is the old Nineveh? It is destroyed because those former garments are no longer there. 21. And now, brethren, the ark is being built in the same way, and those hundred years mark the present time. This number of years denotes the entire present passage of time. Consequently, if those who did not pay attention to this at the time when Noah was building the ark justly perished, then what are those worthy of who, when Christ builds the Church, turn away from salvation? The difference between Noah and Christ is the same as between a slave and a master, or rather, like between God and man. After all, two people can be called slave and master. And precisely in the fact that people did not believe when man built the ark, a warning example was given for us. Here Christ, God and man for our sake, creates the Church. He placed Himself at the foundation of this ark. Every day, trees that do not rot, believing people who renounce the present age, are placed (intrant) in the bond of the ark - and until then people still say: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” But you, as I said, answer them the other way around: “We will fast and pray, because tomorrow we will die.” These words are spoken by those who do not believe in the resurrection: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” And we, on the basis of the predictions of the prophets, Christ and the apostles, who believe in the resurrection and preach it, expecting another life after this death, will not lose heart, will not burden our hearts with overeating and drunkenness, but, having girded our loins, with lit lamps, calmly awaiting the coming of our Lord, we will fast and pray, not because we will die tomorrow, but in order to die in the world. What else remains to be said to us, brothers, demand this from us in the name of the Lord another time. You might be interested in: