Annotation CLXXXIV, Whether men shall rise again in the same individual [body] (Psalm 65:12)

Annotatio CLXXXIV

”We have passed through fire and water, and thou hast brought us out into a refreshment.” — Psalm 65:12

Origen’s commentaries on the Psalms have here some things which Methodius, bishop of Olympus, thinks were written against the resurrection of the flesh in the same individual [body];¹ and these the same bishop recounts in [his dialogue] the Aglaophon in these words: “Thou hast indeed surely seen the skin of an animal, or some other such thing, filled with water: in what manner, if it be gradually emptied, and gradually filled, it always shows the same appearance. For of whatever sort that which contains [the skin] shall be, it is necessary that to it also that which is within [the water] be conformed” conformed: for if the water flows away beneath, [and] if one adds as much as is poured out, not suffering the skin[-bottle] to be emptied of its water all at once, it is necessary that what is added appear such as the whole [was], because that which contains [it] is the same. And truly, if anyone should wish to liken the body to these things, he will be confounded by no shame: for in the same manner also those things which are introduced from nourishment, in place of the flesh expelled, are transmuted into the figure of the appearance [species] of the very thing containing them; and inasmuch as [the flesh] is spread out to the eyes, it is like the eyes; inasmuch as [it pertains] to the face, [like] the face; inasmuch as to the other parts, [like] those same — so that each one appears the same, not because there are [the same] fleshes as the first substrate in the same [man], but [the same] appearance, according to which the things that accrue are specified. Accordingly, if we are not the same even for a few days in [respect of] body, but [the same] of the appearance in the body — for this alone stands firm in [our] nativity — much more, therefore, neither then [at the resurrection] shall we be the same according to the same flesh, but according to the appearance, which even now is always conserved in us and remains. For what there [in the simile] is the skin, this here is the appearance; and what there is the water in the likeness, this here is that which accrues and departs. As, therefore, now — although the body be not the same — yet the character is preserved the same according to the same form: so, the body not remaining the same, the appearance, increased into greater glory, shall be shown no more in a corruptible, but in an impassible and spiritual body. See above, Annotation 148.