Saturday, December 28, 2024

Note on Epiphanius, Panarion 42

The following comes from Epiphanius’ Panarion. In chapter 42, Against Marcionites, Epiphanius wrote the following:

 

(d) And let no one seize hold of the holy apostle's words, "Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God"; he is not censuring all flesh. How can the flesh be accused which has not done these things? (e) But let me make the point with other proofs as well. For Paul says, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" How can the holy Mary not inherit the kingdom of heaven, flesh and all, when she did not commit fornication or uncleanness or adultery or do any of the intolerable deeds of the flesh, but remained undefiled? (f) Therefore Paul does not mean that flesh cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, but means carnal men who do evil with the flesh-fornication, idolatry and the like. (g) And your villainy has been exposed by every method, you misguided Marcion, since the truth has anticipated you everywhere, and safeguards the trustworthiness of the message of life. (Epiphanius, Panarion 42:12, in The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book 1 (Sections 1-46) [2d ed.; trans. Frank Williams; Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 63; Leiden: Brill, 2009], 341, emphasis added)

 

The relevant portion reads:

 


 

 

Πως ού κληρονομήσει Μαρία ή αγία μετά σαρκός τήν βασιλείαν τών οθρανών, ή μή πορνεύσασα, μή άσελγήσασα, μή μοιχευθείσα, μηδέν τι τών άνηκέστων σαρκός έργων έργασαμένη, άλλά άχραντος μείνασα. (Migne, PG 41:777B)

 

While it is possible Epiphanius, when he wrote Panarion 79 accepted a bodily assumption of Mary, here, it seems like he believed Mary would not inherit the kingdom of God (with a glorified body) until the eschaton when he wrote Panarion 42.

 

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