To Autolycus 2.26
Summary: Expulsion from paradise was a merciful discipline; death breaks the human being like a flawed vessel so that he may be remade whole at the resurrection.
Greek text · Otto 8:128–130
Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ὁ θεὸς μεγάλην εὐεργεσίαν παρέσχεν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, τὸ μὴ διαμεῖναι αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἐν ἁμαρτίᾳ ὄντα. Ἀλλὰ τρόπῳ τινὶ ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἐξορισμοῦ ἐξέβαλλεν αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου, ὅπως διὰ τῆς ἐπιτιμίας τακτῷ ἀποτίσας χρόνῳ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καὶ παιδευθεὶς ἐξ ὑστέρου ἀνακληθῇ. Διὸ καὶ πλασθέντος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ μυστηριωδῶς ἐν τῇ Γενέσει γέγραπται, ὡς δὶς αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τεθέντος· ἵνα τὸ μὲν ἅπαξ ᾖ πεπληρωμένον ὅτε ἐτέθη, τὸ δὲ δεύτερον μέλλῃ πληροῦσθαι μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν καὶ κρίσιν. Οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ καθάπερ σκεῦός τι, ἐπὰν πλασθὲν αἰτίαν τινὰ σχῇ, ἀναχωνεύεται ἢ ἀναπλάσσεται εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι καινὸν καὶ ὁλόκληρον, οὕτως γίνεται καὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ διὰ θανάτου· δυνάμει γὰρ τέθραυσται ἵνα ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει ὑγιὴς εὑρεθῇ, λέγω δὲ ἄσπιλος καὶ δίκαιος καὶ ἀθάνατος. Τὸ δὲ καλέσαι καὶ εἰπεῖν τὸν θεόν· Ποῦ εἶ Ἀδάμ; οὐχ ὡς ἀγνοῶν τοῦτο ἐποίει ὁ θεός, ἀλλὰ μακρόθυμος ὢν ἀφορμὴν ἐδίδου αὐτῷ μετανοίας καὶ ἐξομολογήσεως.
English · Claude translation
In this too God showed the human being a great kindness: he did not let him remain forever in sin. In a way, as a kind of banishment, he cast him out of the garden, so that, having paid for his sin by punishment over a fixed time and having been disciplined, he might afterward be called back. That is why, after the human being was formed in this world, it is written in Genesis, in a mysterious way, as though he had been placed in the garden twice: so that the first placing might be fulfilled when he was put there, and the second is to be fulfilled after the resurrection and the judgment. Moreover, just as a vessel that has some flaw after it is shaped is melted down or remolded so as to become new and whole, so it happens to the human being through death: he is in effect broken, so that at the resurrection he may be found sound, I mean spotless, righteous, and immortal. And when God called and said, “Where are you, Adam?”, he did not do this as if he did not know; but, being patient, he gave him an opportunity for repentance and confession.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Genesis says twice that God put the man in the garden (Gen 2:8 and 2:15); Theophilus reads the second as a sign of the return to paradise after the resurrection.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misprint: ἑξαμολογήσεως for ἐξομολογήσεως (“confession”); wrong accent: εἷ for εἶ): Ποῦ εἷ Ἀδάμ → Ποῦ εἶ Ἀδάμ; μετανοίας καὶ ἑξαμολογήσεως → μετανοίας καὶ ἐξομολογήσεως.
Cite this passage
Theophilus, Autol. 2.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/26/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 2.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/26/).
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