Christ’s Death and Resurrection
Tatian, Address to the Greeks 6
Because of this we have believed that a resurrection of bodies will take place after the completion of all things. It will not happen as the Stoics teach, through recurring cycles in which the same things endlessly come into being and pass away for no useful purpose. Rather, it will happen once, since the ages that pertain to us have been completed, and the reconstitution will occur for the sake of judgment through the deeds of men. We will not be judged by Minos or Rhadamanthus; before their death no souls were judged as the myths claim. Instead, the Creator God himself becomes the judge.
Even if you consider us foolish and babblers, it does not concern us, because we have believed in this reason. Just as I did not exist before I came into being and was unaware of myself, but only subsisted in the substance of fleshly matter, and having come into being I came to trust in existence through birth, so also the one who has come into being and through death is no longer, and will not be seen again, yet I will be again — just as if I had not existed before and then was born.
Even if fire consumes my flesh, the world has received the evaporated matter. Even if I am dissolved in rivers or in the sea, or torn apart by beasts, I am stored in the treasuries of a rich Master. The poor and godless man does not know what has been stored away. But God, the reigning King, when he wishes, will restore the visible substance — visible to him alone — to its original state.
Greek
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 καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς αἰώνων πεπερασμένων, καὶ εἰς τὸ παντελὲς διὰ μόγων 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 μηκέθ᾿ 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.