On the Resurrection
De Resurrectione
Lazarus, the rich man, and bodies after death§1
1One may raise a difficulty about Lazarus and the rich man. The simpler readers take the story as if both men, still with their bodies, receive what their lives deserved. More careful readers deny that the scene belongs to the resurrection: after the rising, no one is left still living in this age.
The rich man says, "I have five brothers; send Lazarus to tell them what is here, so they do not come into this place of torment." From that speech people hunt for tongue, finger, Abraham's bosom, and the reclining place.
Perhaps, then, the soul's shape at departure is of like form to the dense…
Greek · §1
de Resurrectione Περὶ τοῦ Λαζάρου καὶ τοῦ πλουσίου ἀπορεῖσθαι δύναται· τῶν μὲν ἁπλουστέρων οἰομένων ταῦτα λελέχθαι, ὡς ἀμφοτέρων μετὰ τῶν σωμάτων λαμβανόντων τὰ ἄξια τῶν τῷ βίῳ πεπραγμένων· τῶν δὲ ἀκριβεστέρων, ἐπεὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν οὐδεὶς ἐν βίῳ καταλείπεται, οὐκ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει οἰομένων ταῦτα γεγονέναι· λέγει γὰρ ὁ πλούσιος, ὅτι «πέντε ἀδελφοὺς ἔχω, καὶ ἵνα μὴ ἔλθωσιν εἰς τὸν τόπον τοῦτον τῆς βασάνου, πέμψον Λάζαρον ἀπαγγέλλοντα αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐνταῦθα·» καὶ διὰ τούτων ζητούντων τὴν γλῶσσαν, καὶ τὸν δάκτυλον, καὶ τοὺς κόλπους Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ τὴν ἀνάκλισιν. Καὶ τάχα τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἅμα τῇ ἀπαλλαγῇ σχῆμα ὁμοειδὲς ὂν τῷ παχεῖ καὶ
Soul-form like the earthly body; Samuel visible§2
2…and earthly body can be taken that way. Whenever someone among those who have fallen asleep is reported as appearing, he is seen in a form like the one he had while he still wore flesh.
Samuel too, when he appears and is plainly visible, shows that he was clothed with a body—especially if the proofs force us to say the soul's substance is incorporeal. So also the rich man under punishment, and the…
Greek · §2
γηΐνῳ σώματι δύναται οὕτως λαμβάνεσθαι. Εἴ ποτε γοῦν ἱστόρηταί τις τῶν κεκοιμημένων φαινόμενος, ὅμοιος ἑώραται τῷ ὅτε τὴν σάρκα εἶχε σχήματι. Εἶτα· Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Σαμουὴλ φαινόμενος, ὡς δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὁρατὸς ὢν, παρίστησιν ὅτι σῶμα περιέκειτο· μάλιστα ἐὰν ἀναγκασθῶμεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποδείξεων τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀσώματον εἶναι καὶ ταύτην ἀποφήνασθαι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ κολαζόμενος πλούσιος, καὶ ὁ
Before the resurrection the soul still uses a body§3
3…poor man resting in Abraham's bosom—spoken of before the Savior's coming, before the world's consummation, and so before the resurrection—the one punished in Hades, the other at rest in Abraham's bosom—teach that even now, at departure, the soul uses a body.
From Methodius. Origen, having put it this way…
Greek · §3
ἐν κόλποις Ἀβραὰμ πένης ἀναπαυόμενος, πρὸ τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Σωτῆρος καὶ πρὸ τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λεγόμενοι ὁ μὲν ἐν ᾅδου κολάζεσθαι, ὁ δὲ ἐν κόλποις Ἀβραὰμ ἀναπαύεσθαι, διδάσκουσιν ὅτι καὶ νῦν τῇ ἀπαλλαγῇ σώματι χρῆται ἡ ψυχή. Ἐκ τῶν Μεθοδίου. Φράσας (Ὠριγένης)
Those of the resurrection will be as angels—without flesh§4
4…to declare the Lord, as when the Sadducees tempt him: "those who attain the resurrection will then be as angels." He adds: "Angels stand outside flesh in the height of blessedness, and for that reason they also have glory; so we who are to be made equal to angels must likewise be bare of flesh as they are."
Greek · §4
ἀποφήνασθαι τὸν Κύριον, ὡς «οἱ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τευξόμενοι ἔσονται τότε ὡς ἄγγελοι,» ἔνθα πειράζουσιν αὐτὸν οἱ Σαδδουκαῖοι, ἐπέφερεν· «Οἱ δὲ ἄγγελοι ἐκτὸς ὄντες σαρκὸς ἐν μακαριότητος ἀκρότητι, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ δόξης εἰσί· καὶ ἡμᾶς δὲ ἄρα ἐξισάζεσθαι μέλλοντας ἀγγέλοις ἀνάγκη δὴ σαρκῶν ὡσαύτως ἐκείνοις γυμνοὺς ἔσεσθαι δεῖν.»