On the Resurrection of the Dead 20
Authorship disputed: The Arethas codex ascribes it to Athenagoras, and the end of the Plea (ch. 36) promises a treatment of the resurrection. Some scholars (notably R. M. Grant, 1954) have argued that its style and arguments point to a later author of the third or fourth century; others (e.g. B. Pouderon) defend Athenagoras's authorship.
Summary: If death ends everything, there is no judgment; if only the soul survives, a judgment of the soul alone would not be just, since it was the whole person who acted.
Greek text · Otto 7:270–272
Ἤτοι γὰρ παντελής ἐστι σβέσις τῆς ζωῆς ὁ θάνατος, συνδιαλυομένης τῷ σώματι τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ συνδιαφθειρομένης, ἢ μένει μὲν καθʼ ἑαυτὴν ἄλυτος ἡ ψυχή, ἀσκέδαστος, ἀδιάφθορος, φθείρεται δὲ καὶ διαλύεται τὸ σῶμα, οὐδεμίαν ἔτι σῶζον οὔτε μνήμην τῶν εἰργασμένων οὔτʼ αἴσθησιν τῶν ἐπʼ αὐτῇ παθημάτων. Σβεννυμένης μὲν γὰρ παντελῶς τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωῆς, οὐδεμία φανήσεται τῶν ἀνθρώπων οὐ ζώντων φροντίς, οὐ τῶν κατʼ ἀρετὴν ἢ κακίαν βεβιωκότων ἡ κρίσις, ἐπεισκυκληθήσεται δὲ πάλιν τὰ τῆς ἀνόμου ζωῆς καὶ τῶν ταύτῃ συνεπομένων ἀτόπων τὸ σμῆνος, τό τε τῆς ἀνομίας ταύτης κεφάλαιον ἀθεότητος. Εἰ δὲ φθείροιτο μὲν τὸ σῶμα καὶ χωροίη πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς τῶν λελυμένων ἕκαστον, μένοι δὲ ἡ ψυχὴ καθʼ ἑαυτὴν ὡς ἄφθαρτος, οὐδʼ οὕτως ἕξει χώραν ἡ κατʼ αὐτῆς κρίσις, μὴ προσούσης δικαιοσύνης· ἐπειδὴ μηδὲ θεμιτὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ παρὰ θεοῦ γίνεσθαί τινα κρίσιν, ᾗ μὴ πρόσεστι τὸ δίκαιον. Οὐ πρόσεστι δὲ τῇ κρίσει τὸ δίκαιον, μὴ σωζομένου τοῦ διαπραξαμένου τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἢ τὴν ἀνομίαν· ὁ γὰρ διαπραξάμενος ἕκαστον τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἐφʼ οἷς ἡ κρίσις ἄνθρωπος ἦν, οὐ ψυχὴ καθʼ ἑαυτήν. Τὸ δὲ σύμπαν εἰπεῖν, ὁ λόγος οὗτος ἐπʼ οὐδενὸς φυλάξει τὸ δίκαιον.
English · Claude translation
For either death is a complete extinction of life, the soul being dissolved and destroyed together with the body; or the soul remains by itself, undissolved, unscattered, incorruptible, while the body is corrupted and dissolved, keeping no memory of what it did and no perception of what the soul suffers on its account. If the life of human beings is completely extinguished, it will be plain that there is no care for human beings who are no longer alive, and no judgment of those who have lived in virtue or vice; and the lawless life will come rolling back, with the swarm of absurdities that follow it and the chief of all this lawlessness, atheism. But if the body is corrupted and each of the dissolved parts goes to its kindred element, while the soul remains by itself as incorruptible, not even so will there be room for a judgment of the soul, since justice would be absent. For it is not right to suppose that any judgment comes from God and at God's hands in which justice is absent. And justice is not present in the judgment if the one who did the justice or the lawlessness is not preserved; for the one who did each of the deeds in life on which judgment is passed was the human being, not the soul by itself. To sum up: this view will preserve justice in no case.
About this passage
Cite this passage
Athenagoras, Res. 20 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-resurrection/20/).
Plain text
Athenagoras, Res. 20 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-resurrection/20/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text