Oration to the Greeks 6
Summary: The resurrection of the body will happen once, at the end, for judgment by God; nothing of a person is lost, however the body perishes.
Greek text · Otto 6:26–30
Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ σωμάτων ἀνάστασιν ἔσεσθαι πεπιστεύκαμεν μετὰ τὴν τῶν ὅλων συντέλειαν, οὐχ ὡς οἱ Στωϊκοὶ δογματίζουσι κατά τινας κύκλων περιόδους, γινομένων ἀεὶ καὶ ἀπογινομένων τῶν αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπί τι χρήσιμον, ἅπαξ δέ, τῶν καθʼ ἡμᾶς αἰώνων πεπερασμένων, καὶ εἰς τὸ παντελὲς διὰ μόνων τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν σύστασιν ἔσεσθαι χάριν κρίσεως. Δικάζουσι δὲ ἡμῖν οὐ Μίνως οὐδὲ Ῥαδάμανθυς, ὧν πρὸ τῆς τελευτῆς οὐδεμία τῶν ψυχῶν ὡς μυθολογοῦσιν ἐκρίνετο· δοκιμαστὴς δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ ποιητὴς θεὸς γίνεται. Κἂν γὰρ πάνυ φληνάφους καὶ σπερμολόγους ἡμᾶς νομίσητε, μέλον οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν, ἐπεὶ τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ πεπιστεύκαμεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ οὐκ ὢν πρὶν ἢ γενέσθαι τίς ἤμην οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον, μόνον δὲ ἐν ὑποστάσει τῆς σαρκικῆς ὕλης ὑπῆρχον, γεγονὼς δὲ ὁ μὴ πάλαι διὰ τῆς γενέσεως τὸ εἶναι πεπίστευκα· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὁ γενόμενος καὶ διὰ θανάτου μηκέτι ὤν, αὖθίς τε μηκέθʼ ὁρώμενος, ἔσομαι πάλιν, ὥσπερ μὴ πάλαι γεγονὼς εἶτα γεννηθείς. Κἂν πῦρ ἐξαφανίσῃ μου τὸ σαρκίον, ἐξατμισθεῖσαν τὴν ὕλην ὁ κόσμος κεχώρηκεν· κἂν ἐν ποταμοῖς, κἂν ἐν θαλάτταις ἐκδαπανηθῶ, κἂν ὑπὸ θηρίων διασπασθῶ, ταμείοις ἐναπόκειμαι πλουσίου δεσπότου. Καὶ ὁ μὲν πτωχὸς καὶ ἄθεος οὐκ οἶδε τὰ ἀποκείμενα· θεὸς δὲ ὁ βασιλεύων, ὅτε βούλεται, τὴν ὁρατὴν αὐτῷ μόνῳ ὑπόστασιν ἀποκαταστήσει πρὸς τὸ ἀρχαῖον.
English · Claude translation
And for this reason we believe that there will be a resurrection of bodies after the consummation of all things: not, as the Stoics teach, according to certain periodic cycles, with the same things always coming into being and passing away for no useful purpose, but once for all, when our ages have come to an end, and that human beings alone will be reconstituted, for good, for the sake of judgment. Our judges are not Minos or Rhadamanthys, before whose death, as the myths say, no soul was judged; the examiner is God the Creator himself. Even if you think us utter babblers and chatterers, it is no concern of ours, since we have believed this teaching. For just as I did not exist before I came to be, and did not know who I was, but existed only in the substance of fleshly matter, and then, having come into being, I who formerly was not have believed through my birth that I exist; in the same way I who came into being, and through death exist no longer and am no longer seen, shall exist again, just as formerly I was not and then was born. Even if fire destroys my flesh, the world has received the matter turned to vapor; and even if I am consumed in rivers or in seas, or torn apart by wild beasts, I am laid up in the storehouses of a rich Lord. The poor and godless man does not know what is laid up there; but God, who reigns, will, when he wills, restore to its former state the substance that is visible to him alone.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Human beings alone” follows the correction μόνων for the printed μόγων (“toils”), which makes no sense here.
- Minos and Rhadamanthys were the judges of the dead in Greek myth.
- “Babblers” (σπερμολόγοι) is the word the Athenians used of Paul (Acts 17:18).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misprint or digitization slip: μόγων (“toils”) for μόνων (“alone”), required by the sense): διὰ μόγων τῶν ἀνθρώπων → διὰ μόνων τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
Cite this passage
Tatian, Or. Graec. 6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tatian-oration/6/).
Plain text
Tatian, Or. Graec. 6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tatian-oration/6/).
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