Letter 184

To Aglaius the Antecessor [a teacher of law; antecessor was the title of a senior professor of Roman law]. The blessed Peter says in his writing: "That they might be judged in the flesh according to men, but live according to God in the spirit" [1 Peter 4:6]. Now the phrase "that they might be judged in the flesh" was spoken against those who say that there is neither rising again from the dead nor a judgment of the flesh; while the phrase "that they might live according to God in the spirit" means that they no longer lead the soul astray, so as to suppose many and various gods, but acknowledge one and only God unto the ages, all of them subsisting, and living, and knowing him. And this saying is useful to us against those who cherish the doctrines of Aristotle and insist that all the souls of human beings will one day be thinned away and pass into non-being.

Ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος γράφων φησίν· Ἵνα κριθῶσι μὲν ἅπαντες σαρκὶ, ζῶσι δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν πνεύματι. Τὸ μὲν κριθῶσι σαρκὶ, εἴρηται πρὸς τοὺς λέγοντας, μήτε ἀνίστασθαι ἐκ νεκρῶν, μηδὲ κρίνεσθαι σάρκα· τὸ δ’ ὅπως ζῶσι κατὰ Θεὸν πνεύματι, τουτέστι μηκέτι πλανώμεναι τὴν ψυχὴν, ὥστε πολλοὺς καὶ ποικίλους ὑποτοπάζειν θεοὺς, ἕνα δὲ καὶ μόνον Θεὸν εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ὑπάρχοντες, καὶ ζῶντες, γινώσκοντες ἅπαντες. Τοῦτο δὲ χρήσιμον ἡμῖν τὸ ῥητὸν πρὸς τοὺς θάλποντας τὰ τοῦ Ἀριστοτέλους, καὶ ἰσχυριζομένους ἀπολεπτυνθήσεσθαι ποτε πάσας τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν χωρῆσαι.