7b-Heaven, Hell, Purgatory
Heaven and Hell
" If any one confesses Christ Jesus the Lord, but denies theGod of the law and of the prophets, saying that the FatherofChrist is not the Maker of heaven and earth, he has not continued in the truth any more than his father the devil, and is a disciple of Simon Magus, not of the Holy Spirit." Ignatius of Antioch,To the Philadelphians,5(A.D. 110),in ANF,I:82
"He bids the inhabitants of all the earth, who have known the mystery of this salvation, i.e., the suffering of Christ, by which He saved them, sing and give praises to God the Father of all things, and recognise that He is to be praised and feared, and thatHe is the Maker of heaven and earth,who effected this salvation in behalf of the human race, who also was crucified and was dead, and who was deemed worthy by Him(God) to reign over all the earth." Justin Martyr,Dialogue with Trypho,74(c.A.D. 155),in ANF,I:235
" ’Wherefore, girding up your loins,’ ’serve the Lord in fear’ and truth, as those who have forsaken the vain, empty talk and error of the multitude, and ’believed in Him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and gave Him glory,’ and a throne at His right hand. To Him all things’ in heaven and on earth are subject. Him every spirit serves. He comes as the Judge of the living and the dead. His blood will God require of those who do not believe in Him. But He who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us also,ifwe do His will,and walk in His commandments, and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness, covetousness, love of money, evil speaking, falsewitness; "not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing,’ or blow for blow, or cursing for cursing, but being mindful of what the Lord said in His teaching: ’Judge not, that ye be not judged; forgive, and it shall be forgiven unto you; be merciful,that ye may obtain mercy; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again; and once more, ’Blessed are the poor, and those that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of God.’ " Polycarp,Epistle to the Phillipians,2:3(A.D.157),in ANF,I:33
"The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father ’to gather all things in one,’ and to raise up a new all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, ’every knee should bow, of things in heaven,, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess’ to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send ’spiritual wickednesses,’ and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise ofHis grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory."Irenaeus,Against Heresies,1,10,10(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:330
"For as, in the New Testament, that faith of men [to be placed] in God has been increased, receiving in addition [to what was already revealed] the Son of God, that man too might be a partaker of God; so is also our walk in life required to be more circumspect, when we are directed not merely to abstain from evil actions, but even from evil thoughts, and from idle words, and empty talk, and scurrilous-language: thus also the punishment of those who do not believe the Word of God, and despise His advent, and are turned away backwards, is increased; being not merely temporal, but rendered also eternal. For to whomsoever the Lord shall say, ’Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,’ these shall be damned for ever; and to whomsoever He shall say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you for eternity,’ these do receive the kingdom for ever, and make constant advance in it; since there is one and the same God the Father, and His Word, who has been always present with the human race, by means indeed of various dispensations, and has wrought out many things, and saved from the beginning those who are saved, (for these are they who love God, and follow the Word of God according to the class to which they belong,) and has judged those who are judged, that is, those who forget God, and are blasphemous, and transgressors of His word." Irenaeus,Against Heresies,4,28,2(A.D. 180),in ANF,I:501
"But do you also, if you please, give reverential attention to the prophetic Scriptures, and they will make your way plainer for escaping the eternal punishments, and obtaining the eternal prizes of God." Theophilus of Antioch,To Autolycus,1:14(A.D. 181),in ANF,II:93
"[T]hese have further set before us the proofs He has given of His majesty in judgments by floods and fires, the rules appointed by Him for securing His favour, as well as the retribution in store for the ignoring, forsaking and keeping them, as being about at the end of all to adjudge His worshippers to everlasting life, and the wicked to the doom of fire at once without ending and without break, raising up again all the dead from the beginning, reforming and renewing them with the object of awarding either recompense." Tertullian,Apology,18:3(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:32 "Therefore after this there is neither death nor repeated resurrections, but we shall be the same that we are now, and still unchanged--the servants of God, ever with God, clothed upon with the proper substance of eternity; but the profane, and all who are not true worshippers of God, in like manner shall be consigned to the punishment of everlasting fire--that fire which, from its very nature indeed, directly ministers to their incorruptibility." Tertullian,Apology,48:12(A.D. 197),in ANF,III:54 "[T]he world when thou shall know what it is to live truly in heaven, when thou shalt despise that which is here esteemed to be death, when thou shalt fear what is truly death, which is reserved for those who shall be condemned to the eternal fire, which shall afflict those even to the end that are committed to it." Letter to Diognetus 10:7(A.D. 200),in ANF,I:29 "Of which voice the justification will be seen in the awarding to each that which is just; since to those who have done well shall be assigned righteously eternal bliss, and to the lovers of iniquity shall be given eternal punishment." Hippolytus,Against the Greeks,3(ante A.D. 225),in ANF,V:222
"For as we see it not to be the case with rational natures, that some of them have lived in a condition of degradation owing to their sins, while others have been called to a state of happiness on account of their merits; but as we see those same souls who had formerly been sinful, assisted, after their conversion and reconciliation to God,to a state of happiness; so also are we to consider, with respect to the nature of the body, that the one which we now make use of in a state of meanness, and corruption, and weakness, is not a different body from that which we shall possess in incorruption, and in power, and in glory; but that the same body, when it has cast away the infirmities in which it is now entangled, shall be transmuted into a condition of glory, being rendered spiritual, so that what was a vessel of dishonour may, when cleansed, become a vessel unto honour, and an abode of blessedness. And in this condition, also, we are to believe, that by the will of the Creator, it will abide for ever without any change, as is confirmed by the declaration of the apostle, when he says, ’We have a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.’ " Origen,Fundamental Doctrines,3,6:6(A.D. 230),in ANF,IV:347
"Oh,what and how great will that day be at its coming, beloved brethren, when the Lord shall begin to count up His people, and to recognize the deservings of each one by the inspection of His divine knowledge, to send the guilty to Gehenna, and to set on fire our persecutors with the perpetual burning of a penal fire, but to pay to us the reward of our faith and devotion!" Cyprian,To Thibaris,Epistle 55(58):10(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:346
"But, however, the sacred writings inform us in what manner the wicked are to undergo punishment. For because they have committed sins in their bodies, they will again be clothed with flesh, that they may make atonement in their bodies; and yet it will not be that flesh with which God clothed man, like this our earthly body, but indestructible, and abiding for ever, that it may be able to hold out against tortures and everlasting fire...The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment ...Then they whose piety shall have been approved of will receive the reward of immortality; but they whose sins and crimes shall have been brought to light will not rise again, but will be hidden in the same darkness with the wicked, being destined to certain punishment." Lactantius,Divine Institutes,7:21(A.D),in ANF,VII:217
"But especially mark this, how very pointedly Paul says, For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. For this body shall be raised not remaining weak as now; but raised the very same body, though by putting on incorruption it shall be fashioned anew,--as iron blending with fire becomes fire, or rather as He knows how, the Lord who raises us. This body therefore shall be raised, but it shall abide not such as it now is, but an eternal body; no longer needing for its life such nourishment as now, nor stairs for its ascent, for it shall be made spiritual, a marvellous thing, such as we cannot worthily speak of. Then, it is said. shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, and the moon, and as the brightness of the firmament. And God, fore-knowing men’s unbelief, has given to little worms in the summer to dart beams of light from their body, that from what is seen, that which is looked for might be believed; for He who gives in part is able to give the whole also, and He who made the worm radiant with light, will much more illuminate a righteous man."
Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:18(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:139
"The real and true life then is the Father, who through the Son in the Holy Spirit pours forth as from a fountain His heavenly gifts to all; and through His love to man, the blessings of the life eternal are promised without fail to us men also. We must not disbelieve the possibilityof this, but having an eye not to our own weakness but to His power, we must believe; for with God all things are possible. And that this is possible, and that we may look for eternal life, Daniel declares, And of the many righteous shall they shine as the stars for ever and ever. And Paul says, And so shall we be ever with the Lord(1): for the being for ever with the lord implies the life eternal. But most plainly of all the Saviour Himself says in the Gospel, And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal" Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,18:28(A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:141
"For the whole life of man is very short, measured by the ages to come,wherefore all our time is nothing compared with eternal life. And in the world everything is sold at itsprice, and a man exchanges one equivalent for another; but the promise of eternal life is bought for a trifle."
Athanasius,Life of Antony,16(A.D. 362),in NPNF2,IV:200
"And all things whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Never again shall His gift and His statutes be set at naught, as they were in the case of Adam, who by his sin in breaking the Law lost the happiness of an assured immortality; but now, thanks to the redemption wrought by the tree of Life, that is, by the Passion of the Lord, all that happens to us is eternal and eternally conscious of happiness in virtue of our future likeness to that tree of Life. For all their doings shall prosper. being wrought no longer amid shift and change nor in human weakness, for corruption will be swallowed up in incorruption, weakness in endless life, the form of earthly flesh in the form of God. This tree, then, planted and yielding its fruit in its own season, shall that happy man resemble, himself being planted in the Garden, that what God has planted may abide, never to be rooted up, in the Garden where all things done by God shall be guided to a prosperous issue, apart from the decay that belongs to human weakness and to time, and has to be uprooted."
Hilary of Poitiers,Homilies on the Psalms,I:18(c.A.D. 365),in NPNF2,IX:240-241
"[I]nto eternal punishment; the just, however, into eternal life" Basil,Rules briefly Treated,267(A.D. 370),in JUR,II:26
"We believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church, and in One baptism of repenetance, and in the resurrection of the dead and the just judgment of souls and bodies, and in the kingdom of heaven, and in eternal life." Epiphanius,The Man Well Anchored,120(A.D. 374),in JUR,II:71
"[T]o judge the living and dead,of Whose kingdom there will be no end...look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen." Creed of Constantinople(A.D. 381),in Ecclesiastes,297-298
"When you hear the word fire, you have been taught to think of a fire other than the fire we see, owing to something being added to that fire which in this there is not; for that fire is never quenched, whereas experience has discovered many ways of quenching this; and there is a great difference between a fire which can be extinguished, and one that does not admit of extinction. That fire, therefore, is something other than this. If, again, a person hears the word ’worm,’ let not his thoughts, from the similarity of the term, be carried to the creature here that crawls upon the ground; for the addition that it ’dieth not’ suggests the thought of another reptile than that known here. Since, then, these things are set before us as to be expected in the life that follows this, being the natural outgrowth according to the righteous judgment of God, in the life of each, of his particular disposition, it must be the part of the wise not to regard the present, but that which follows after, and to lay down the foundations for that unspeakable blessedness during this short and fleeting life, and by a good choiceto wean themselves from all experience of evil, now in their lifetime here, hereafter in their eternal recompense."
Gregory of Nyssa,Great Catechism,40(A.D. 383),in NPFN2,V:509
"Innocence, then, and knowledge make a man blessed. We have also noted already that the blessedness of eternal life is the reward for good works. It remains, then, to show that when the patronage of pleasure or the fear of pain is despised (and the first of these one abhors as poor and effeminate, and the other as unmanly and weak), that then a blessed life can rise up in the midst of pain. This can easily be shown when we read: ’Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you for righteousness’ sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.’ And again: ’He that will come after Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me.’ " Ambrose,Duties of the Clergy,3:9(c.A.D. 391),in NPNF2,X:45
"So will both this present be light and that future great, if we withdraw ourselves from the things that are seen. ’For the things that are seen are temporal.’ Therefore the afflictions are so too. ’But the things that are not seen are eternal.’ Therefore the crowns are so also. And he said not the afflictions are so, but ’the things that are seen;’ all of them, whether punishment or rest, so that we should be neither puffed up by the one nor overborne by the other. And therefore when speaking of the things to come, he said not the kingdom is eternal; but, ’the things which are punishment; so as both to alarm by the one and to encourage by the other."Chyrsostom,Homilies on 2nd Corinthians,9:17,18(c.A.D.392)
"His fourth and last contention is that there are two classes, the sheep and the goats, the just and the unjust: that the just stand on the right hand, the other on the left: and that to the just the words are spoken: ’Come, ye blessed of my Father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’ But that sinners are thus addressed: ’Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.’ ...And as in one Gospel our Lord promises the Apostles a hundred fold, in another seven fold, for leaving children and wives, and in the world to come life eternal"
Jerome,Against Jovianianus,2:18,19(c.A.D. 393),in NPNF2,VI:402-403
"But because this is absurd, they who desire to be rid of eternal punishment ought to abstain from arguing against God, and rather, while yet there is opportunity, obey the divine commands. Then what a fond fancy is it to suppose that eternal punishment means long continued punishment, while eternal life means life without end, since Christ in the very same passage spoke of both in similar terms in one and the same sentence, ’These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal!’ If both destinies are "eternal," then we must either understand both as long-continued but at last terminating, or both as endless. For they are correlative,--on the one hand, punishment eternal, on the other hand, life eternal. And to say in one and the same sense, life eternal shall be endless, punishment eternal shall come to an end, is the height of absurdity. Wherefore, as the eternal life of the saints shall be endless, so too the eternal punishment of those who are doomed to it shall have no end." Augustine,City of God,21:23(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:469
"But what excuse for despondency will be left us if we take to heart God’s own promises and the hopes of Christians; the resurrection, I mean, eternal life, continuance in the kingdom, and all that ’eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him’? Does not the Apostle say emphatically, ’I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope’? " Theodoret of Cyr,To Alexandra,Epistle 14(ante A.D. 466),in NPNF2,III:254
"For there are two kinds of compunction, as you know: one that is afraid of eternal pains, the other that sighs for heavenly rewards; since the soul that is athirst for God is first moved to compunction by fear, and afterwards by love. For in the first place it is affected to tears because, while recollecting its evil doings, it fears to suffer for them eternal punishments." Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],To Theoctista,Epistle 26(ante A.D. 604),in NPNF2,XII:220
"Now may Almighty God keep you under His protection, and so grant you human favour in an earthly court as to bring you after a long life to the eternal joys of a heavenly court." Gregory the Great[regn A.D. 590-604],To Theodore,Epistle 28(ante A.D. 604),in NPNF2,XII:222 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Joseph A. Gallegos © 1999 All Rights Reserved.
Purgatory
"And after the exhibition, Tryphaena again receives her. For her daughter Falconilla had died, and said to her in a dream: Mother, thou shall have this stranger Thecla in my place, in order that she maypray concerningme, and that I may be transferred to the place of the just." Acts of Paul and Thecla(A.D. 160),in ANF,VIII:490
"Abercius by name, I am a disciple of the chaste shepherd...He taught me .. faithful writings...These words,I, Abercius, standing by, ordered to be inscribed. In truth, I was in the course of my seventy-second year.Let him who understands and believes this pray for Abercius."
Inscription of Abercius(A.D. 190),in PAT,I:172 "Without delay, on that very night, this was shown to me in a vision. I saw Dinocrates going out from a gloomy place, where also there were several others, and he was parched and very thirsty, with a filthy countenance and pallid colour, and the wound on his face which he had when he died. This Dinocrates had been my brother after the flesh, seven years of age?who diedmiserably with disease...But Itrusted that my prayerwould bring help to his suffering; andI prayed for him every day until we passed over into the prison of the camp, for we were to fight in the camp-show. Then was the birth-day of Gets Caesar, and I made my prayer for my brother day and night, groaning and weeping that he might be granted to me.Then, on the day on which we remained in fetters, this was shown to me. I saw that that place which I had formerly observed to be in gloom was now bright; and Dinocrates, with a clean body well clad, was finding refreshment. And where there had been a wound, I saw a scar; and that pool which I had before seen, I saw now with its margin lowered even to the boy’s navel. And one drew water from the pool incessantly, and upon its brink was a goblet filled with water; and Dinocrates drew near and began to drink from it, and the goblet did not fail. And when he was satisfied, he went away from the water to play joyously, after the manner of children, and I awoke. Then I understood thathe was translated from the place ofpunishment." The Passion of Perpetua and Felicitias,2:3-4(A.D. 202),in ANF,III:701-702
"Accordingly the believer, through great discipline, divesting himself of the passions, passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, viz., to the greatest torment, taking with him the characteristic of repentance from the sins he has committed after baptism. He is tortured then still more--not yet or not quite attaining what he sees others to have acquired. Besides, he is also ashamed of his transgressions.The greatest torments, indeed, are assigned to the believer. For God’s righteousness is good, and His goodness is righteous. And though the punishments cease in the course of thecompletion of the expiation and purificationof each one, yet those have very great and permanent grief who are found worthy of the other fold, on account of not being along with those that have been glorified through righteousness." Clement of Alexandria,Stromata,6:14(post A.D. 202),in ANF,II:504
"[T]hat allegory of the Lord which is extremely clear and simple in its meaning, and ought to be from the first understood in its plain and natural sense...Then, again, should you be disposed to apply the term ’adversary’ to the devil, you are advised by the (Lord’s) injunction, while you are in the way with him,’to make even with him such a compact as may be deemed compatible with the requirements of your true faith. Now the compact you have made respecting him is to renounce him, and his pomp, and his angels. Such is your agreement in this matter. Now the friendly understanding you will have to carry out must arise from your observance of the compact: you must never think of getting back any of the things which you have abjured, and have restored to him, lest he should summon you as a fraudulent man, and a transgressor of your agreement, before God the Judge (for in this light do we read of him, in another passage, as ’the accuser of the brethren,’ or saints, where reference is made to the actual practice of legal prosecution); and lest this Judge deliver you over to the angel who is to execute the sentence, andhe commit you to the prison of hell, out of which therewill be no dismissaluntil the smallest even of your delinquencies be paid off ( Matthew 5:25-26; Matthew 5:48,}in the period before the resurrection. What can be a more fitting sense than this? What a truer interpretation?"
Tertullian,A Treatise on the Soul,35(A.D. 210),in ANF,III:216
"Allsouls, therefore; are shut up within Hades: do you admit this? (It is true, whether) you say yes or no: moreover, there are already experienced there punishments and consolations; and there you have a poor man and a rich...Moreover, the soul executes not all its operations with the ministration of the flesh; for the judgment of God pursues even simple cogitations and the merest volitions. ’Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.’ Therefore, even for this cause it is most fitting that the soul, without at all waiting for the flesh, should be punished for what it has done without the partnership of the flesh. So, on the same principle, in return for the pious and kindly thoughts in which it shared not the help of the flesh, shall it without the flesh receive its consolation. In short, in as much as we understand ’the prison’ pointed out in the Gospel to be Hades, and as we also interpret ’the uttermost farthing’ to mean the very smallest offencewhich has to be recompensed there before the resurrection, no one will hesitate to believe thatthe soulundergoes in Hadessomecompensatory discipline, without prejudice to the full process of the resurrection, when the recompense will be administered through the flesh besides." Tertullian,A Treatise on the Soul,58(A.D. 210),in ANF,III:234-235 "As often as the anniversary comes round, we makeofferingsfor thedeadas birthday honours."
Tertullian,The Chaplut,3(A.D. 211),in ANF,III:94
"[A] woman is more bound when her husband is dead...Indeed,she prays for his soul,and requestsrefreshment for him meanwhie, and fellowship(with him) in the first resurrection;and sheoffers (her sacrifice) on theanniversaryof hisfalling asleep." Tertullian,On Monogamy,10(A.D. 216),in ANF,III:66-67
"For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones(1 Corinthians,3:11-15);but also wood and hay and stubble,what do you expect when the soul shall be seperated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God;or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones; Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials;for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire. But this fire consumes not the creature,but what the creature has himself built, wood, and hay and stubble.It is manifest that the fire destroys the wood of our trangressions and then returns to us the rewardof our great works."
Origen,Homilies on Jeremias,PG 13:445,448(A.D. 244),in CE,577
"And do not think, dearest brother, that either the courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that repentance is relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace is offered to the penitent. The strength of the truly believing remains unshaken; and with those who fear and love God with their whole heart, their integrity continues steady and strong. For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given. Yet virginity is not therefore deficient in the Church, nor does the glorious design of continence languish through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes; and chastity and modesty preserve the tenor of their glory. Nor is the vigour of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are facilitated to the adulterer. It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory: it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one haspaid the uttermost farthing;( Matthew 5:25-26; Matthew 5:48,} another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fine, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord."
Cyprian,To Antonianus,Epistle 51(55):20(A.D. 253),in ANF,V:332
"Let uspray for our brethrenthatare at restin Christ, that God, the lover of mankind, who has received his soul, may forgive him every sin, voluntary and involuntary, and may be merciful and gracious to him, and give him his lot in the land of the pious that are sent into the bosom of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, with all those that have pleased Him and done His will from the beginning of the world, whence all sorrow, grief, and lamentation are banished." Apostolic Constitutions,8:4,41(3rd Century),in ANF,VII:497
"The same divine fire, therefore, with one and the same force and power, will both burn the wicked and will form them again, and will replace as much as it shall consume of their bodies, and will supply itself with eternal nourishment: which the poets transferred to the vulture of Tityus. Thus, without any wasting of bodies, which regain their substance, it will only burn and affect them with a sense of pain. But when He shall have judged the righteous, He will also try them with fire. Then they whose sins shall exceed either in weight or in number, shall be scorched by the fire and burnt: but they whom full justice and maturity of virtue has imbued will not perceive that fire; for they have something of God in themselves which repels and rejects the violence of the flame." Lactantius,The Divine Institutes,7:21(A.D. 307),in ANF,VII:217
"Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs,that at their prayers and intercessionsGod would receive our petition.Then on behalf also of the Holy Fathers and Bishops who have fallen asleep before us, and in a word of all who in past years have fallen asleep among us, believing that it will be a verygreat benefittothe souls, for whomthe supplication is put up, while that holy and most awful sacrifice is set forth. And I wish to persuade you by an illustration. For I know that many say, what is a soul profited, which departs from this world either with sins, or without sins, if it be commemorated in the prayer? For if a king were to banish certain who had given him of-fence, and then those who belong to them should weave a crownand offer it to him on behalfofthose under punishment, would he not grant a remission of their penalties? In the same way we, when we offer to Him our supplications for those who have fallen asleep, though they be sinners, weave no crown, but offer up Christ sacrificed for our sins, propitiating our merciful God for them as well as for ourselves.
Cyril of Jerusalem,Catechetical Lectures,23:9,10(c.A.D. 350),in NPNF2,VII:154-155
"I think that the noble athletes of God,who have wrestled all their lives with the invisble enemies,after they have escaped all of their persecutions and have come to the end of life,are examined by the prince of this world;and if they are found to have any wounds from their wrestling,any stains or effects of sin,they are detained.If,however they are found unwounded and without stain,they are, as unconquered,brought by Christ into their rest." Basil,Homilies on the Psalms,7:2(ante A.D. 370),in JUR,II:21
"Lay me not with sweet spices: for this honour avails me not; Nor yet incense and perfumes: for the honour benefits me not. Burn sweet spices in the Holy Place: and me, even me, conduct to the grave with prayer. Give ye incense to God: and over me send up hymns. Instead of perfumes of spices: in prayer make remembrance of me." Ephraem,His Testament(ante A.D. 373),in NPNF2,in XIII:135 "Useful too is the prayer fashioned on their behalf...it is useful,because in this world we often stumble either voluntarily or involuntarily." Epiphanius,Panarion,75:8(A.D. 375),in JUR,II:76
"When he has quitted his body and the difference between virtue andvice is known he cannot approach Godtill thepurging fire shall have cleansed the stains with which his soul was infested.That same fire in others will cancel the corruption of matter, and the propensity to evil."
Gregory of Nyssa,Sermon on the Dead,PG 13:445,448(ante A.D. 394),in CE,577
"Give,Oh Lord,rest to Thy servant Theodosius,that rest Thou hast prepared for Thy saints....I love him,therefore will I follow him to the land of the living;I will not leave himtill by my prayers and lamentationshe shall beadmitted unto the holy mountof the Lord,to which his deserts call him."
Ambrose,De obitu Theodosii,PL 16:1397(A.D. 395),in CE,577
"Other husbands scatter on the graves of their wives violets, roses, lilies, and purple flowers; and assuage the grief of their hearts by fulfilling this tender duty. Our dear Pammachius also waters the holy ashes and the revered bones of Paulina, but it is with the balm of almsgiving."
Jerome,To Pammachius,Epistle 66:5(A.D. 397),in NPNF2,VI:136
"Weep for the unbelievers; weep for those who differ in nowise from them, those who depart hence without the illumination, without the seal! they indeed deserve our wailing, they deserve our groans; they are outside the Palace, with the culprits, with the condemned: for, "Verily I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven." Mourn for those who have died in wealth, and did not from their wealth think of any solace for their soul, who had power to wash away their sins and would not. Let us all weep for these in private and in public, but with propriety, with gravity, not so as to make exhibitions of ourselves; let us weep for these, not one day, or two, but all our life. Such tears spring not from senseless passion, but from true affection. The other sort are of senseless passion. For this cause they are quickly quenched, whereas if they spring from the fear of God, they always abide with us. Let us weep for these; let us assist them according to our power; let us think of some assistance for them, small though it be, yet still let us assist them. How and in what way? By praying and entreating others to make prayers for them, by continually giving to the poor on their behalf." John Chrysostom,Homilies on Phillipians,3(ante A.D404),in NPNF1,XIII:197
"If the baptized person fufils the obligations demanded of a Christian,he does well. If he does not--provided he keeps the faith,without which he would perish forever-no matter in what sin or impurity remains,he will be saved,as it were,by fire; as one who has built on the foundation,which is Christ,not Gold,silver, and precious stones,but wood, hay straw,that is, not just and chasted works but wicked and unchaste works." (1 Corinthians,3:11-15) Augustine,Faith and Works,1:1(A.D. 413),in ACW,48:7
"Now on what ground does this person pray that he may not be ’rebuked in indignation, nor chastened in hot displeasure"? (He speaks) as if he would say unto God, ’Since the things which I already suffer are many in number, I pray Thee let them suffice;’ and he begins to enumerate them, by way of satisfying God; offering what he suffers now, that he may not have to suffer worse evilshereafter."
Augustine,Exposition of the Psalms 38:1-22(37):3(A.D. 418),in NPNF1,VIII:103
"And it is not impossible that something of the same kind may take place even after this life. It is a matter that may be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful, whether some believers shall pass through a kind ofpurgatorial fire, and in proportionas they have loved with more or less devotion the goods that perish, be less or more quickly delivered from it. This cannot, however, be the case of any of those of whom it is said, that they ’shall not inherit the kingdom of God,’ unless after suitable repentance their sins be forgiven them. When I say ’suitable,’ I mean that theyare not to be unfruitful in almsgiving;for Holy Scripture lays somuch stress on this virtue, that our Lord tells us beforehand, that He will ascribe no merit to those on His right hand but that they abound in it, and no defect to those on His left hand but their want of it, when He shall say to the former, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom," and to the latter, ’Depart from me, ye cursed, intoeverlastingfire.’ " Augustine,Enchiridion,69(A.D. 421),in NPNF1,III:260
" During the time, moreover, which intervenes between a man’s death and the final resurrection, the soul dwells in a hidden retreat, where it enjoys rest or suffers affliction just in proportion to the merit it has earned by the life which it led on earth." Augustine,Enchiridion,1099(A.D. 421),in NPNF1,III:272
"For our part, we recognize that even in this life some punishments are purgatorial,--not, indeed, to those whose life is none the better, but rather the worse for them, but to those who are constrained by them to amend their life. All other punishments, whether temporal or eternal, inflicted as they are on every one by divine providence, are sent either on account of past sins, or of sins presently allowed in the life, or toexerciseandrevealaman’s graces. They may be inflicted by the instrumentality of bad men and angels as well as of the good. For even if any one suffers some hurt through another’s wickedness or mistake, the man indeed sins whose ignorance or injustice does the harm; but God, who by His just though hidden judgment permits it to be done, sins not. But temporary punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by others after death, by others both now and then; but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But of those who suffer temporary punishments after death, all arenotdoomed to those everlasting pains which are to follow that judgment; for to some, as we have already said, what is not remitted in this world is remitted in the next, that is, they are not punished with the eternal punishment.of the world to come." Augustine,City of God,21:13(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:464
"But since she has this certainty regarding no man, she prays for all her enemies who yet live in this world; and yet she is not heard in behalf of all. But she is heard in the case of those only who, though they oppose the Church, are yet predestinated to become her sonsthrough her intercession. But if any retain an impenitent heart until death, and are not converted from enemies into sons, does the Church continue to pray for them, for the spirits, i.e., of such persons deceased? And why does she cease to pray for them, unless because the man who was not translated into Christ’s kingdom while he was in the body, is now judged to be of Satan’s following? It is then, I say, the same reason which prevents the Church at any time from praying for the wicked angels, which prevents her from praying hereafter for those men who are to be punished in eternal fire; and this also is the reason why, though she prays even for the wicked so long as they live, she yet does not even in this world pray for the unbelieving and godless who are dead. For some of thedead, indeed, the prayer of the Churchor of pious individuals is heard; but it is for those who, having been regenerated in Christ, did not spend their life so wickedly that they can be judged unworthy of such compassion, nor so well that they can be considered to have no need of it. As also, after the resurrection, there will be some of the dead to whom, after they have endured the pains proper to the spirits of the dead, mercy shall be accorded, and acquittal from the punishment of the eternal fire. For were there not some whose sins, though not remitted in this life, shall be remitted in that which is to come, it could not be truly said, "They shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in that which is to come.’ But when the Judge of quick and dead has said, ’Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,’ and to those on the other side, ’Depart from me, ye cursed, into theeternalfire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels,’ and ’These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life,’ it were excessively presumptuous to say that the punishment of any of those whom God has said shall go away into eternal punishment shall not be eternal, and so bring either despair or doubt upon the corresponding promise of life eternal." Augustine,City of God,21:24(A.D. 426),in NPNF1,II:470
"If we neither give thanks to God in tribulations nor redeem our own sins by good works,we shall have to remain in that purgatorian fire as long as it takes for those above-mentioned lesser sins to be consumed like wood and straw and hay." (1 Corinthians,3:11-15) Ceasar of Arles,Sermon 179(104):2(A.D. 542),in JUR,III:283
"Each one will be presented to the Judge exactly as he was when he departed this life. Yet, there must be acleansing firebefore judgement,because of some minor faults that may remain tobe purged away. Does not Christ,the Truth,say that if anyone blasphemes against the Holy Spirit he shall not be forgiven ’either in this world or in the world to come’(Matthew 12:32)? From this statement we learn that some sins can be forgiven in this world andsome in the world to come. For, if forgiveness is refused for a particular sin, we conclude logically that it is granted for others. This must apply, as I said, to slight transgressions." Gregory the Great[regn. A.D. 590-604],Dialogues,4:39(A.D. 594),in FC,39:248 This text may downloaded and viewed for private reading only. This text may not be used by another Web site or published, electronically or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Joseph A. Gallegos © 1998 All Rights Reserved.