On the Resurrection · §2 · Origen of Alexandria

Soul-form like the earthly body; Samuel visible

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

…and earthly body can be taken that way. Whenever someone among those who have fallen asleep is reported as appearing, he is seen in a form like the one he had while he still wore flesh.

Samuel too, when he appears and is plainly visible, shows that he was clothed with a body—especially if the proofs force us to say the soul's substance is incorporeal. So also the rich man under punishment, and the…

Greek

γηΐνῳ σώματι δύναται οὕτως λαμβάνεσθαι. Εἴ ποτε γοῦν ἱστόρηταί τις τῶν κεκοιμημένων φαινόμενος, ὅμοιος ἑώραται τῷ ὅτε τὴν σάρκα εἶχε σχήματι. Εἶτα· Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Σαμουὴλ φαινόμενος, ὡς δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὁρατὸς ὢν, παρίστησιν ὅτι σῶμα περιέκειτο· μάλιστα ἐὰν ἀναγκασθῶμεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποδείξεων τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀσώματον εἶναι καὶ ταύτην ἀποφήνασθαι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ κολαζόμενος πλούσιος, καὶ ὁ

Report a mistake in this passage

About this text

Fragments from Origen on the rising of the dead: Lazarus and the rich man, the soul's bodily form after death, and the risen being like the angels.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) is the author of these fragments on the resurrection. Methodius is the writer who reports the words. This is not Chrysostom's treatise on the resurrection of the dead.

He takes up the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Simpler readers treat both men as still in the body. More careful readers say the scene is not yet the resurrection, because after the rising no one is left living in this age. The rich man speaks of his five brothers.

The fragments then speak of the form the soul has at death, of Samuel seen in a body, and of the saying that those who reach the resurrection will be as the angels, and so without flesh. The citations use the old names of the biblical books.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 11 (Greek)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

Report a mistake