From a sermon by Saint Anastasius of Antioch, bishop
Christ will change our lowly body
To this end Christ died and rose to life that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. But God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. That is why the dead, now under the dominion of one who has risen to life, are no longer dead but alive. Therefore life has dominion over them and, just as Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again, so too they will live and never fear death again. When they have been thus raised from the dead and freed from decay, they shall never again see death, for they will share in Christ’s resurrection just as he himself shared in their death.
This is why Christ descended into the underworld, with its imperishable prison bars: to shatter the doors of bronze and break the bars of iron and, from decay to raise our life to himself by giving us freedom in place of servitude.
But if this plan does not yet appear to be perfectly realized – for men still die and bodies still decay in death – this should not occasion any loss of faith. For, in receiving the first-fruits, we have already received the pledge of all the blessings we have mentioned; with them we have reached the heights of heaven, and we have taken our place beside him who has raised us up with himself, as Paul says: In Christ God has raised us up with him, and has made us sit with him in the heavenly places.
And the fulfillment will be ours on the day predetermined by the Father, when we shall put off our childish ways and come to perfect manhood. For this is the decree of the Father of the ages: the gift, once given, is to be secure and no more to be rejected by a return to childish attitudes.
There is no need to recall that the Lord rose from the dead with a spiritual body, since Paul, in speaking of our bodies bears witness that they are sown as animal bodies and raised as spiritual bodies: that is, they are transformed in accordance with the glorious transfiguration of Christ who goes before us as our leader.
The Apostle, affirming something he clearly knew, also said that this would happen to all mankind through Christ, who will change our lowly body to make it like his glorious body. If this transformation is a change into a spiritual body and one, furthermore, like the glorious boy of Christ, then Christ rose with a spiritual body, a body that was sown in dishonor, but the very body that was transformed in glory. Having brought this body to the Father as the firs-fruits of our nature, he will also bring the whole body to fulfillment. Fore he promised this when he said: I, when I am lifted up, will draw all men to myself.
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