Всего за 280 руб. Купить полную версию
Chapter 32. The saints will receive rewards for their labors in the same flesh in which they suffered here on earth.
1. Because some are carried away in their thoughts by heretical teachings and do not know the commandments of God nor the mystery of the resurrection of the righteous and the Kingdom, which is the beginning of our incorruptibility and through which those who are worthy gradually get used to abiding in God, it must be said that the righteous must first, having been raised to see God face to face, receive in the new creation the promised inheritance prepared by God for our forefathers, and reign in it, and then the judgment will come. For it is only just that they should reap the fruit of their suffering in the same creation in which they fought the good fight of faith or were subjected to sorrows, having been tested in every way, and that they should be brought back to life in the same creation, in which they were put to death for the love of God, and that they should reign in the same creation, in which they were brought to slavery. For God is rich in all things, and everything belongs to him. It is also necessary that the creation itself, restored to its primitive state, should freely serve the righteous. And this was shown by the Apostle in the Epistle to Romans: For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:1921).
2. So also the promise of God to Abraham stands true. For He said: Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever And also: Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee (Gen 13:1415, 17). However, Abraham did not receive even a single inch of the promised land but was always a stranger and an alien in it. And after the death of his wife Sarah, when the Hittites had offered to give him a place for her burial without any payment, he refused but bought a place for her burial with four hundred silver didrachma from Ephron the Hittite. Abraham was hoping for the fulfillment of the promise of God and did not want it to look like he was receiving from man what God had promised him as a gift. For God had said to him: Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates (Gen 15:18). So, since God had promised him the land as an inheritance, and he did not receive it while on earth, it must mean that he and his seed those who fear God and believe unto Him should receive it in the resurrection of the righteous. For his seed is the Church which receives adoption by God through the Lord Jesus Christ, even as John the Baptist says: God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham (Lk 3:8). The Apostle also says in the Epistle to Galatians: Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise (Gal 4:28). And he also clearly indicates in the same letter that those who believe in Christ receive Him through the promise to Abraham: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ (Gal 3:16). And again confirming the same he said: Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham (Gal 3:69). So, believers will be blessed with faithful Abraham, and they are his sons. Since God had promised Abraham and his seed the land as an inheritance, but neither Abraham nor his seed (those justified by faith) received their inheritance by this time, they will receive it in the resurrection of the righteous. For God is faithful and just; thats why He said: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth (Mt 5:5).
Chapter 33. The testimony about the same based on the promises of Christ the Savior and the blessing of Jacob according to the interpretation of Papias and the elders.
1. Therefore, before His suffering, (Christ) gave thanks, held the cup, drank from it and gave to His disciples, saying: Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Fathers kingdom (Mt 26:2729). Thus, He Himself will renew the inheritance of the land and will restore the mystery of the glory of the sons of God, even as David says: Thou renewest the face of the earth (Ps 104:30 [Ps 103:30 rus]). He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples to foreshadow both the coming inheritance of the land in which the new wine will be drunk and the bodily resurrection of His disciples. For it is the new resurrection body that will receive the cup. And He cannot represent Himself as partaking of the fruit of the vine if He is above heaven together with His own; those who are with Him cannot be without flesh, for it is the flesh, not the spirit, that can partake of the fruit of the vine.
2. For this reason, the Lord says: Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (Lk 14:1214). And also: And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my names sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life (Mt 19:29; Lk 18:2930). For what is the hundredfold return received in this age for feeding the poor? It takes place in the times of the Kingdom, that is, on the seventh holy day in which God rested from all his work, which is the true Sabbath of the righteous when they do nothing earthly but partake of the feast prepared by God with all kinds of fat things to eat.
3. The blessing that Isaac pronounced over his younger son has the same connotation: See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed. The field is the world. Thats why he added: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mothers sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee (Gen 27:2729). If anyone does not interpret this in relation to the promised Kingdom, they will surely fall into contradiction and inconsistency, just as the Jews did when they got entangled in all kinds of inconsistencies. For not only wasnt Jacob served by any nation he served his uncle Laban in Syria for twenty years even after receiving the blessing and leaving his home. And not only didnt he become his brothers lord but bowed down to Esau, his brother, upon his return from Mesopotamia to his fathers house and offered him many gifts. Besides, how could he inherit plenty of corn and wine if he had to move to Egypt because of the famine in the land of his dwelling? And after that, he had to submit himself to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So, the above-mentioned blessing undoubtedly looks forward to the times of the Kingdom when the righteous will reign, having been risen from the dead, when the renewed and liberated creation will bear plenty of fruit and produce every kind of food from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth. So even the elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, said that they had heard from him the Lords teaching about those times: The days will come when vineards will produce ten thousand vines, each vine will have 10 thousand branches, each branch 10 thousand twigs, each twig 10 thousand clusters, and each cluster 10 thousand berries. And each squeezed berry will produce twenty-five metretes of wine. And when one of the saints reaches out for a cluster, the other one will cry out: I am the best one, take me and bless the Lord through me Similarly, a wheat grain will produce 10 thousand ears, and each ear will have 10 thousand grains, and each grain will yield 10 pounds of pure flour; and other fruit trees, seeds and herbs will be fruitful in the same manner, and all the animals eating the food of the earth will live in peace with each other and complete submission to man [These words of the elders have been preserved in the Armenian translation an excerpt was found in an Armenian manuscript of the 12th century and published by Jean Baptiste Pitra (Specil Solesm. 1852); Harvey reprinted it in his own publication.].