Why he did not vanish from the cross
We wish to show how it would not have been more useful for the whole dispensation that he should vanish bodily from the stake at once. The things recorded as having happened to Jesus do not hold the whole contemplation of the truth in the bare wording and the history. For each of them is shown, to those who read Scripture with more understanding, to be also a symbol of something.
His crucifixion holds the truth made plain in “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), and in what is meant by “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). His death was necessary because of the words “For the death he died, he died to sin once for all” (Romans 6:10), and because the righteous man says “being conformed to his death” (Philippians 3:10), and “For if we have died with him, we shall also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11). In the same way his burial too reaches those who are conformed to his death, who have been crucified with him and have died with him, as Paul has also said: “For we were buried with him through baptism” (Romans 6:4), and we rose with him (compare Colossians 2:12).
As for what is recorded about the burial, the tomb, and the one who buried him, we shall expound it more fittingly and at greater length elsewhere, where these are our chief subject. For now it is enough to mention the clean linen cloth in which the pure body of Jesus had to be wrapped (Matthew 27:59), and the new tomb “which” Joseph “had hewn in the rock” (Matthew 27:60), “where no one had yet lain” (Luke 23:53), or, as John says, “in which no one had yet been placed” (John 19:41). Consider whether the agreement of the three evangelists can move anyone. They took care to record that the tomb was quarried or hewn in rock (Matthew 27:60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:53), so that whoever examines the meaning of what is written may see something worth reflecting on about these things too, and about the newness of the tomb, which Matthew and John relate, and about no dead body having been there, as Luke and John say.
For he was not like the rest of the dead: even in death he showed signs of life, the water and the blood (John 19:34), and was, if I may call him so, a new kind of corpse. It was right, then, that he should be placed in a new and clean tomb, so that, just as his birth was purer than every birth, because he was born not from intercourse but from a virgin, so his burial too might have purity. This purity is shown through the symbol of his body being laid in a new tomb, one not built of gathered stones with no natural unity, but standing in a single rock, united throughout, quarried and hewn.
The interpretation of these things, and the ascent from what is recorded to have happened to the realities that the events signified, one could expound in a greater and more divine way, setting out such matters more fittingly in a work given to them. As for the literal sense, one might explain it this way too: it was fitting for one who had decided to endure being hung on a stake to keep what followed consistent with that purpose too, so that, having been taken down as a man because he had died as a man, he might also be buried as a man.
Moreover, suppose it had been written in the Gospels that he vanished from the stake at once: Celsus and the unbelievers would have found fault with what was written, and would have brought a charge in this form too, saying: “Why ever did he vanish after the cross, and not contrive this before he suffered?” If, then, having learned from the Gospels that he did not vanish from the stake at once, they think they can find fault with the account for not inventing, as they demanded, that he vanished from the stake at once, but for relating the truth, is it not reasonable that they should also believe in his resurrection? And should they not believe that when he chose, at one time, “the doors being shut,” he “stood in the midst” of the disciples (John 20:19, 26), and at another, having given bread to two of his followers, at once “vanished from their sight” (Luke 24:31), after speaking certain words to them?
Greek
Θέλομεν δὲ παραστῆσαι, πῶς οὐ χρησιμώτερον ἦν πρὸς τὴν οἰκονομίαν ὅλην τὸ εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ σκόλοπος αὐτὸν ἀφανῆ γενέσθαι σωματικῶς. τὰ συμβεβηκέναι ἀναγεγραμμένα τῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐκ ἐν φιλῇ τῇ λέξει καὶ τῇ ἱστορίᾳ τὴν πᾶσαν ἔχει θεωρίαν τῆς ἀληθείας· ἕκαστον γὰρ αὐτῶν καὶ σύμβολόν τινος εἶναι παρὰ τοῖς συνετώτερον ἐντυγχάνουσι τῇ γραφῇ ἀποδείκνυται. ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ σταυρωθῆναι αὐτὸν ἔχει τὴν δηλουμένην ἀλήθειαν ἐν τῷ „Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι“ καὶ τῷ σημαινομένῳ ἐκ τοῦ „ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ κυρίου μου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι᾿ οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ,“ καὶ ὁ θάνατος αὐτοῦ ἀναγκαῖος διὰ τὸ „ὃ γὰρ ἀπέθανε, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀπέθανεν ἐφάπαξ“ καὶ διὰ τὸ τὸν δίκαιον λέγειν· „συμμορφιζόμενος τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ“ καὶ τὸ „εἰ γὰρ (συν) απεθάνομεν, καὶ συζήσομεν“· οὕτως καὶ ἡ ταφὴ αὐτοῦ φθάνει ἐπὶ τοὺς συμμόρφους τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς συσταυρωθέντας αὐτῷ καὶ συναποθανόντας, καθὸ καὶ τῷ Παύλῳ λέλεκται τό· „συνετάφημεν γὰρ αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος“ καὶ συνανέστημεν αὐτῷ· ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς ταφῆς καὶ τοῦ μνημείου καὶ τοῦ θάψαντος ἀναγεγραμμένα εὐκαιρότερον διὰ πλειόνων ἐν ἄλλοις. ἔνθα προηγουμένως ἔστι περὶ τούτων λέγειν, διηγησόμεθα. νυνὶ δ᾿ αὐτάρκης ἡ καθαρὰ σινδὼν, ἐν ᾗ ἔδει τὸ καθαρὸν ἐντυλιχθῆναι σῶμα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ τὸ καινὸν μνημεῖον, „ὃ ἐλατόμησε τῇ πέτρᾳ“ ὁ Ἰωσὴφ. „οὗ οὐκ ἦν οὔπω οὐδεὶς κείμενος.“ ἢ. ὡς ὁ Ἰωάννης φησὶν. „ἐν ᾧ οὐδέπω οὐδεὶς ἐτέθη.“ καὶ ἐπίστησον εἰ δύναται κινῆσαί τινα ἡ συμφωνία τῶν τριῶν εὐαγγελιστῶν, φροντισάντων ἀναγράψαι τὸ λατομητὸν ἢ λαξευτὸν μνημεῖον ἐν πέτρᾳ, ἵν᾿ ὁ τοὺς λόγους τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐξετάζων καὶ περὶ τούτων θεάσηταί τι λόγου ἄξιον καὶ περὶ τῆς καινότητος τοῦ μνημείου, ἥντινα Ματθαῖος καὶ Ἰωάννης ἱστόρησε, καὶ περὶ τοῦ μηδένα ἐκεῖ νεκρὸν γεγονέναι κατὰ τὸν Λουκᾶν καὶ τὸν Ἰωάννην. ἔδει γὰρ τὸν μὴ τοῖς λοιποῖς νεκροῖς ὅμοιον ἀλλὰ ζωτικὰ σημεῖα καὶ ἐν τῇ νεκρότητι δείξαντα τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα καὶ καινὸν, ἵν᾿ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, ὄντα νεκρὸν ἐν καινῷ καὶ καθαρῷ γενέσθαι μνημείῳ· ἵν᾿, ὥσπερ ἡ γένεσις αὐτοῦ καθαρωτέρα πάσης γενέσεως ἦν τῷ μὴ ἀπὸ μίξεως ἀλλ᾿ ἀπὸ παρθένου γεννηθῆναι, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ταφὴ ἔχοι τὴν καθαρότητα. διὰ τοῦ συμβολικοῦ δηλουμένην ἐν τῷ ἀποτεθεῖσθαι αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα ἐν μνημείῳ καινῷ ὑφεστῶτι, οὐκ ἐκ λογάδων λίθων οἰκοδομηθέντι καὶ τὴν ἕνωσιν οὐ φυσικὴν ἔχοντι ἀλλ᾿ ἐν μιᾷ καὶ δι᾿ ὅλων ἡνωμένῃ πέτρᾳ λατομητῇ καὶ λαξευτῇ. τὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς διηγήσεως καὶ τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν γεγονέναι ἀναγεγραμμένων ἀναβάσεως ἐπὶ τὰ πράγματα, ὧν τὰ γενόμενα ἦν σημαντικὰ. καὶ μειζόνως ἄν τις καὶ θειοτέρως διηγήσαιτο, εὐκαιρότερον ἐκτιθέμενος τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐν προηγουμένῃ συντάξει· τὰ δὲ τῆς λέξεως καὶ οὕτως ἄν τις ἀποδῴη, ὅτι κατὰ τὸν κρίναντα ὑπομεῖναι τὸ ἐπὶ σκόλοπος κρεμασθῆναι ἦν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τῇ ὑποθέσει τηρῆσαι, ἵν᾿ ὡς ἄνθρωπος καθαιρεθεὶς τῷ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀποτεθνηκέναι ὡς ἄνθρωπος καὶ ταφῇ. ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰ καθ᾿ ὑπόθεσιν ἐγέγραπτο ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ σκόλοπος ἀφανὴς εὐθὺς ἐγένετο, ἐκάκιζεν ἂν τὸ γεγραμμένον ὁ Κέλσος καὶ οἱ ἄπιστοι, καὶ κατηγόρησαν ἂν καὶ οὕτω λέγοντες· τί δή ποτε μετὰ τὸν σταυρὸν γέγονεν ἀφανὴς, οὐ πρὸ τοῦ παθεῖν δὲ τοῦτ᾿ ἐπραγματεύσατο; εἴπερ οὖν ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγελίων μεμαθηκότες ὅτι οὐ γέγονεν εὐθὺς ἀφανὴς ἀπὸ τοῦ σκόλοπος ἐγκαλεῖν οἴονται τῷ λόγῳ. μὴ πλασαμένῳ, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι ἠξίωσαν, τὸ εὐθὺς αὐτὸν ἀφανῆ γενέσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ σκόλοπος ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἱστορήσαντι, πῶς οὐκ εὔλογον πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς καὶ τῇ ἀναστάσει αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὡς βουληθεὶς ὁτὲ μὲν „τῶν θυρῶν κεκλεισμένων“ „ἔστη ἐν μέσῳ“ τῶν μαθητῶν, ὁτὲ δὲ δοὺς ἄρτον δυσὶ τῶν γνωρίμων εὐθὺς „ἄφαντος ἐγένετο ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν“ μετά τινας, οὓς ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς, λόγους;