Letter 103

To Aphthonius the Samaritan. Your letter is cast in this form: "If the grain sown into the earth did not rot away, the human body would have a hope of resurrection. But if the grain, or rather any kind of seed cast down into the earth, rots, and the body of man has also passed into ash and dust, why do you announce to me that there will be a resurrection of human bodies?" To this I say: Read the beginning of Genesis: "And God took dust from the earth, and formed man." In what, then, does the dust from the earth differ from ash and dust? Just as, therefore, in the beginning the body was fashioned from the dust of the earth, and was breathed into by God, and man stood upright upon his own feet, so again, from dust and from ash, at the consummation of the present age, by the command and power of God, the human bodies will be raised up, receiving back their own souls; and they will stand upon their proper feet, to the glory and praise of the Craftsman of all things, who works all things wondrous.

Ἡ ἐπιστολὴ σοῦ τοιοῦτον ἔχει τύπον· Εἰ μὲν ὁ εἰς τὴν γῆν σπαρεὶς σῖτος μὴ διεσήπετο, εἶχεν ἐλπίδα ἀναστάσεως τὸ ἀνθρώπινον σῶμα. Εἰ δὲ ὁ σῖτος, ἤτοι παντοῖον γέννημα καταβληθὲν εἰς τὴν γῆν σήπεται, καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰς τέφραν καὶ κόνιν κεχώρηκεν, τί μοι καταπαγγέλλῃ ἀνάστασιν ἔσεσθαι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων σωμάτων; Ἐγὼ δέ φημι πρὸς ταῦτα· Ἀνάγνωθι τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς Γενέσεως· « Καὶ ἔλαβεν ὁ Θεὸς χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον. » Τί τοίνυν διαλλάττει ὁ ἐκ τῆς γῆς χοῦς τῆς τέφρας καὶ κόνεως; « Ὥσπερ τοίνυν ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐκ γῆς χοὸς κατεσκευάσθη τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ἐνεπνεύσθη ὑπὸ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἐστάθη ἄνθρωπος, ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ· οὕτως πάλιν ἐκ χοὸς καὶ ἐκ τέφρας ἐπὶ τῆς συντελείας τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος, τῇ προστάξει καὶ δυνάμει τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐξαναστήσεται τὰ ἀνθρώπινα σώματα τὰς ἰδίας ἀπολαβόντα ψυχὰς· καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς οἰκείους στήσονται πόδας, εἰς δόξαν καὶ ἔπαινον τὸ πάντα θαυμαστὰ ἐργαζομένου Δημιουργοῦ τῶν ὅλων.