Souls in Hades

Scriptures:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 – For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

John 3:13 – No one has ascended into heaven except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

Revelation 20:13-14 – The sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

Luke 16:22-23 – So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Luke 23:43 – And He said to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

John 20:17 – Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father.”

2 Corinthians 12: Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a man was carried away to the third heaven. 3 And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows— 4 was carried away into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.

For that there are spiritual creatures in the heavens, all the Scriptures loudly proclaim; and Paul expressly testifies that there are spiritual things when he declares that he was caught up into the third heaven, and again, that he was carried away to paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. But what did that profit him, either his entrance into paradise or his assumption into the third heaven…. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 2, chapter 30, paragraph 7

Or who can tolerate him when he gives us a paradise in the third heaven, and transfers that which the Scripture mentions from earth to the heavenly places? – Jerome, Letter 51, chapter 5

Church Fathers:

Recognitions of Clement:

For he, for his wickedness, was condemned from the beginning to eat dust, for that he caused to be again resolved into dust him who had been taken from the dust, even till the time when your souls shall be restored, being brought through the fire; as we shall instruct you more fully at another time. – Book 5, chapter 17

Clementine Homilies:

Truly they know not that the counsels of God are not like men’s counsels; for, in the first place, He knows the thoughts of all men, and all must give an account not only of their actions, but also of their thoughts. And their sin is much less who strive to understand well and fall, than that of those who do not at all strive after good things. Because it has pleased God that he who errs in his knowledge of good, as men count errors, should be saved after being slightly punished. But they who have taken no care at all to know the better way, even though they may have done countless other good deeds, if they have not stood in the service He has Himself appointed, come under the charge of indifference, and are severely punished, and utterly destroyed. – Homily 7, chapter 7

Shepherd of Hermas:

But I, shameless as I yet was, asked her, “Is repentance possible for all those stones which have been cast away and did not fit into the building of the tower, and will they yet have a place in this tower?” “Repentance,” said she, “is yet possible, but in this tower they cannot find a suitable place. But in another and much inferior place they will be laid, and that, too, only when they have been tortured and completed the days of their sins. And on this account will they be transferred, because they have partaken of the righteous Word. And then only will they be removed from their punishments when the thought of repenting of the evil deeds which they have done has come into their hearts. But if it does not come into their hearts, they will not be saved, on account of the hardness of their heart.” – The Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 3, Chapter 7

And I said to him, “I should like to continue my questions.” “Speak on,” said he. And I said, “I heard, sir, some teachers maintain that there is no other repentance than that which takes place, when we descended into the water and received remission of our former sins.” He said to me, “That was sound doctrine which you heard; for that is really the case. – Shepherd of Hermas, Fourth Commandment, chapter 3

“Explain to me a little further, sir,” I said. “What is it that you desire?” he asked. “Why, sir,” I said, “did these stones ascend out of the pit, and be applied to the building of the tower, after having borne these spirits? “They were obliged,” he answered, “to ascend through water in order that they might be made alive; for, unless they laid aside the deadness of their life, they could not in any other way enter into the kingdom of God. Accordingly, those also who fell asleep received the seal of the Son of God. For,” he continued, “before a man bears the name of the Son of God s he is dead; but when he receives the seal he lays aside his deadness, and obtains life. The seal, then, is the water: they descend into the water dead, and they arise alive. And to them, accordingly, was this seal preached, and they made use of it that they might enter into the kingdom of God.” “Why, sir,” I asked, “did the forty stones also ascend with them out of the pit, having already received the seal?” “Because,” he said, “these apostles and teachers who preached the name of the Son of God, after falling asleep in the power and faith of the Son of God, preached it not only to those who were asleep, but themselves also gave them the seal of the preaching. Accordingly they descended with them into the water, and again ascended. [But these descended alive and rose up again alive; whereas they who had previously fallen asleep descended dead, but rose up again alive. ] By these, then, were they quickened and made to know the name of the Son of God. For this reason also did they ascend with them, and were fitted along with them into the building of the tower, and, untouched by the chisel, were built in along with them. For they slept in righteousness and in great purity, but only they had not this seal. You have accordingly the explanation of these also.” – Parable 9, Chapter 16

Papias:

As the presbyters say, then those who are deemed worthy of an abode in heaven shall go there, others shall enjoy the delights of Paradise, and others shall possess the splendor of the city; for everywhere the Savior will be seen, according as they shall be worthy who see Him. But that there is this distinction between the habitation of those who produce an hundredfold, and that of those who produce sixty-fold, and that of those who produce thirty-fold; for the first will be taken up into the heavens, the second class will dwell in Paradise, and the last will inhabit the city; and that on this account the Lord said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions:” for all things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling-place, even as His word says, that a share is given to all by the Father, according as each one is or shall be worthy. Papias (A.D. 60-130) fragment 5

Justin Martyr:

You may have fallen in with some [Gnostics] who are called Christians. However, they do not admit this [intermediate state], and they venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham… They say there is no resurrection of the dead. Rather, they say that when they die, their souls are taken to heaven. Do not imagine they are Christians. – Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 80

Old Man: But I do not say, indeed, that all souls die; for that were truly a piece of good fortune to the evil. What then? The souls of the pious remain in a better place, while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse, waiting for the time of judgment. Thus some which have appeared worthy of God never die; but others are punished so long as God wills them to exist and to be punished. – Dialogue with Trypho chapter 5

And again, by the other prophet Isaiah, that the following utterance was made as if from God the Father and Lord of all: “Wash you, make you clean; put away evils from your souls; learn to do well; judge the orphan, and plead for the widow: and come and let us reason together, saith the Lord: And if your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool; and if they be red like as crimson, I will make them white as snow. And if ye be willing and obey Me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye do not obey Me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 1:16-20 And that expression, “The sword shall devour you,” does not mean that the disobedient shall be slain by the sword, but the sword of God is fire, of which they who choose to do wickedly become the fuel. Wherefore He says, “The sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” And if He had spoken concerning a sword that cuts and at once dispatches, He would not have said, shall devour. – Justin Martyr, First Apology chapter 44

Irenaeus:

1. Since, again, some who are reckoned among the orthodox go beyond the pre-arranged plan for the exaltation of the just, and are ignorant of the methods by which they are disciplined beforehand for incorruption, they thus entertain heretical opinions. For the heretics, despising the handiwork of God, and not admitting the salvation of their flesh, while they also treat the promise of God contemptuously, and pass beyond God altogether in the sentiments they form, affirm that immediately upon their death they shall pass above the heavens and the Demiurge, and go to the Mother (Achamoth) or to that Father whom they have feigned. Those persons, therefore, who disallow a resurrection affecting the whole man (universam reprobant resurrectionem), and as far as in them lies remove it from the midst [of the Christian scheme], how can they be wondered at, if again they know nothing as to the plan of the resurrection? For they do not choose to understand, that if these things are as they say, the Lord Himself, in whom they profess to believe, did not rise again upon the third day; but immediately upon His expiring on the cross, undoubtedly departed on high, leaving His body to the earth. But the case was, that for three days He dwelt in the place where the dead were, as the prophet says concerning Him: “And the Lord remembered His dead saints who slept formerly in the land of sepulture; and He descended to them, to rescue and save them.” And the Lord Himself says, “As Jonas remained three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth.” Then also the apostle says, “But when He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?” This, too, David says when prophesying of Him, “And thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell;” and on His rising again the third day, He said to Mary, who was the first to see and to worship Him, “Touch Me not, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to the disciples, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and unto your Father.”

2. If, then, the Lord observed the law of the dead, that He might become the first-begotten from the dead, and tarried until the third day “in the lower parts of the earth;” then afterwards rising in the flesh, so that He even showed the print of the nails to His disciples, He thus ascended to the Father;—[if all these things occurred, I say], how must these men not be put to confusion, who allege that “the lower parts” refer to this world of ours, but that their inner man, leaving the body here, ascends into the super-celestial place? For as the Lord “went away in the midst of the shadow of death,” where the souls of the dead were, yet afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up [into heaven], it is manifest that the souls of His disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain until the resurrection, awaiting that event; then receiving their bodies, and rising in their entirety, that is bodily, just as the Lord arose, they shall come thus into the presence of God. “For no disciple is above the Master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his Master.” As our Master, therefore, did not at once depart, taking flight [to heaven], but awaited the time of His resurrection prescribed by the Father, which had been also shown forth through Jonas, and rising again after three days was taken up [to heaven]; so ought we also to await the time of our resurrection prescribed by God and foretold by the prophets, and so, rising, be taken up, as many as the Lord shall account worthy of this [privilege]. – Against Heresies (Book V, Chapter 31)

[In order to learn] that bodies did continue in existence for a lengthened period, as long as it was God’s good pleasure that they should flourish, let [these heretics] read the Scriptures, and they will find that our predecessors advanced beyond seven hundred, eight hundred, and nine hundred years of age; and that their bodies kept pace with the protracted length of their days, and participated in life as long as God willed that they should live. But why do I refer to these men? For Enoch, when he pleased God, was translated in the same body in which he did please Him, thus pointing out by anticipation the translation of the just. Elijah, too, was caught up [when he was yet] in the substance of the [natural] form; thus exhibiting in prophecy the assumption of those who are spiritual, and that nothing stood in the way of their body being translated and caught up. For by means of the very same hands through which they were moulded at the beginning, did they receive this translation and assumption. For in Adam the hands of God had become accustomed to set in order, to rule, and to sustain His own workmanship, and to bring it and place it where they pleased. Where, then, was the first man placed? In paradise certainly, as the Scripture declares “And God planted a garden [paradisum] eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed.” And then afterwards when [man] proved disobedient, he was cast out thence into this world.

Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also Paul the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as regards us in our present condition), and that there shall they who have been translated remain until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude to immortality. – Irenaeus Against Heresies Book 5 Chapter 5 Number 1

The souls depart to the place appointed for them by God, and there they sojourn until the resurrection, awaiting the resurrection; then, having received their bodies back and having risen completely, that is, bodily, just as the Lord also rose, so they will come into the presence of God. And these things Papias also, a hearer of John, and a companion of Polycarp, an ancient man, testifies in writing in the fourth of his books; for there are five books composed by him. – Irenaeus of Lyon,  Against Heresies, Book 5

Clement of Alexandria:

No one, then, can be a believer and at the same time be licentious; but though he quit the flesh, he must put off the passions, so as to be capable of reaching his own mansion. Now to know is more than to believe, as to be dignified with the highest honour after being saved is a greater thing than being saved. Accordingly the believer, through great discipline, divesting himself of the passions, passes to the mansion which is better than the former one, [namely] 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 the completion of the expiation and purification of 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. – Stromata, book 6, chapter 14

Wherefore the Lord preached the Gospel to those in Hades. Accordingly the Scripture says, Hades says to Destruction, We have not seen His form, but we have heard His voice. It is not plainly the place, which, the words above say, heard the voice, but those who have been put in Hades, and have abandoned themselves to destruction, as persons who have thrown themselves voluntarily from a ship into the sea. They, then, are those that hear the divine power and voice. For who in his senses can suppose the souls of the righteous and those of sinners in the same condemnation, charging Providence with injustice?

But how? Do not [the Scriptures] show that the Lord preached the Gospel to those that perished in the flood, or rather had been chained, and to those kept in ward and guard? And it has been shown also, in the second book of the Stromata, that the apostles, following the Lord, preached the Gospel to those in Hades. For it was requisite, in my opinion, that as here, so also there, the best of the disciples should be imitators of the Master; so that He should bring to repentance those belonging to the Hebrews, and they the Gentiles; that is, those who had lived in righteousness according to the Law and Philosophy, who had ended life not perfectly, but sinfully. For it was suitable to the divine administration, that those possessed of greater worth in righteousness, and whose life had been pre-eminent, on repenting of their transgressions, though found in another place, yet being confessedly of the number of the people of God Almighty, should be saved, each one according to his individual knowledge.

…it is evident that those, too, who were outside of the Law, having lived rightly, in consequence of the peculiar nature of the voice, though they are in Hades and in ward, 1 Peter 3:19 on hearing the voice of the Lord, whether that of His own person or that acting through His apostles, with all speed turned and believed… So I think it is demonstrated that the God being good, and the Lord powerful, they save with a righteousness and equality which extend to all that turn to Him, whether here or elsewhere…

Did not the same dispensation obtain in Hades, so that even there, all the souls, on hearing the proclamation, might either exhibit repentance, or confess that their punishment was just, because they believed not? And it were the exercise of no ordinary arbitrariness, for those who had departed before the advent of the Lord (not having the Gospel preached to them, and having afforded no ground from themselves, in consequence of believing or not) to obtain either salvation or punishment. For it is not right that these should be condemned without trial, and that those alone who lived after the advent should have the advantage of the divine righteousness. – Stromata, book 6, chapter 6)

In the midst of the covering and veil, where the priests were allowed to enter, was situated the altar of incense, the symbol of the earth placed in the middle of this universe; and from it came the fumes of incense. – Stromata, book 5, chapter 6

Tertullian:

By ourselves the lower regions (of Hades) are not supposed to be a bare cavity, nor some subterranean sewer of the world, but a vast deep space in the interior of the earth, and a concealed recess in its very bowels; inasmuch as we read that Christ in His death spent three days in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:40), that is, in the secret inner recess which is hidden in the earth, and enclosed by the earth, and superimposed on the abysmal depths which lie still lower down. Now although Christ is God, yet, being also man, He died according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3), and according to the same Scriptures was buried. With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself (1 Peter 3:19). [This being the case], you must suppose Hades to be a subterranean region, and keep at arm’s length those who are too proud to believe that the souls of the faithful deserve a place in the lower regions. These persons, who are servants above their Lord, and disciples above their Master, Matthew 10:24 would no doubt spurn to receive the comfort of the resurrection, if they must expect it in Abraham’s bosom. But it was for this purpose, say they, that Christ descended into hell, that we might not ourselves have to descend there. “Well, then, what difference is there between heathens and Christians, if the same prison awaits them all when dead?” How, indeed, shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father’s right hand, when as yet the archangel’s trumpet has not been heard by the command of God, — when as yet those whom the coming of the Lord is to find on the earth, have not been caught up into the air to meet Him at His coming, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in company with the dead in Christ, who shall be the first to arise (1 Thessalonians 4:16)? To no one is heaven opened; the earth is still safe for him, I would not say it is shut against him. When the world, indeed, shall pass away, then the kingdom of heaven shall be opened. Shall we then have to sleep high up in ether, with the boy-loving worthies of Plato; or in the air with Arius; or around the moon with the Endymions of the Stoics? No, but in Paradise, you tell me, whither already the patriarchs and prophets have removed from Hades in the retinue of the Lord’s resurrection. How is it, then, that the region of Paradise, which as revealed to John in the Spirit lay under the altar (Revelation 6:9), displays no other souls as in it besides the souls of the martyrs? How is it that the most heroic martyr Perpetua on the day of her passion saw only her fellow martyrs there, in the revelation which she received of Paradise, if it were not that the sword which guarded the entrance permitted none to go in thereat, except those who had died in Christ and not in Adam? A new death [of a Christian] for God, even the extraordinary one for Christ, is admitted into the reception-room of mortality, specially altered and adapted to receive the new-comer. Observe, then, the difference between a heathen and a Christian in their death: if you have to lay down your life for God, as the Comforter counsels, it is not in gentle fevers and on soft beds, but in the sharp pains of martyrdom: you must take up the cross and bear it after your Master, as He has Himself instructed you. Matthew 16:24 The sole key to unlock Paradise is your own life’s blood. You have a treatise by us (on Paradise), in which we have established the position that every soul is detained in safe keeping in Hades until the day of the Lord. – Treatise on the Soul, chapter 55

“It must therefore be evident to every man of intelligence who has ever heard of the Elysian fields, that there is some determinate place called Abraham’s bosom, and that it is designed for the reception of the souls of Abraham’s children, even from among the Gentiles (since he is “the father of many nations,” which must be classed among his family), and of the same faith as that wherewithal he himself believed God, without the yoke of the law and the sign of circumcision. This region, therefore, I call Abraham’s bosom. Although it is not in heaven, it is yet higher than hell, and is appointed to afford an interval of rest to the souls of the righteous, until the consummation of all things shall complete the resurrection of all men with the “full recompense of their reward.” – Five Books Against Marcion, Book 4, Chapter 34

All souls, therefore, are shut up within Hades… there are already experienced there punishments and consolations; and there you have a poor man and a rich…

Why, then, cannot you suppose that the soul undergoes punishment and consolation in Hades in the interval, while it awaits its alternative of judgment, in a certain anticipation either of gloom or of glory? You reply: Because in the judgment of God its matter ought to be sure and safe, nor should there be any inkling beforehand of the award of His sentence; and also because (the soul) ought to be covered first by its vestment of the restored flesh, which, as the partner of its actions, should be also a sharer in its recompense. What, then, is to take place in that interval?

Shall we sleep? But souls do not sleep even when men are alive: it is indeed the business of bodies to sleep, to which also belongs death itself, no less than its mirror and counterfeit sleep… Do you think this state is a foretaste of judgment, or its actual commencement? A premature encroachment on it, or the first course in its full ministration? Now really, would it not be the highest possible injustice, even in Hades, if all were to be still well with the guilty even there, and not well with the righteous even yet? What, would you have hope be still more confused after death? Would you have it mock us still more with uncertain expectation? Or shall it now become a review of past life, and an arranging of judgment, with the inevitable feeling of a trembling fear?…

Full well, then, does the soul even in Hades know how to joy and to sorrow even without the body… It is therefore quite in keeping with this order of things, that that part of our nature should be the first to have the recompense and reward to which they are due on account of its priority. In short, inasmuch 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 offense which has to be recompensed there before the resurrection, no one will hesitate to believe that the soul undergoes in Hades some compensatory discipline, without prejudice to the full process of the resurrection, when the recompense will be administered through the flesh besides. – A Treatise on the Soul chapter 58

… The souls of the martyrs beneath the altar cry in jealousy unto the Lord, “How long, Lord, dost Thou not avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” for, of course, their avenging is regulated by the end of the age. Nay, Lord, Thy kingdom come with all speed,—the prayer of Christians the confusion of the heathen, the exultation of angels, for the sake of which we suffer, nay, rather, for the sake of which we pray! – Tertullian, On Prayer, Chapter 5

Hence, by this densifying process, there arose a fixing of the soul’s corporeity; and by the impression its figure was formed and moulded. This is the inner man, different from the outer, but yet one in the twofold condition. It, too, has eyes and ears of its own, by means of which Paul must have heard and seen the Lord; 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 it has, moreover all the other members of the body by the help of which it effects all processes of thinking and all activity in dreams. Thus it happens that the rich man in hell has a tongue and poor (Lazarus) a finger and Abraham a bosom. Luke 16:23-24 By these features also the souls of the martyrs under the altar are distinguished and known. The soul indeed which in the beginning was associated with Adam’s body, which grew with its growth and was moulded after its form proved to be the germ both of the entire substance (of the human soul) and of that (part of) creation. – Tertullian, A Treatise on the Soul chapter 9

In the Revelation of John, again, the order of these times is spread out to view, which the souls of the martyrs are taught to wait for beneath the altar, while they earnestly pray to be avenged and judged: Revelation 6:9-10 (taught, I say, to wait), in order that the world may first drink to the dregs the plagues that await it out of the vials of the angels, Revelation xvi and that the city of fornication may receive from the ten kings its deserved doom, Revelation xviii and that the beast Antichrist with his false prophet may wage war on the Church of God; and that, after the casting of the devil into the bottomless pit for a while, Revelation 20:2 the blessed prerogative of the first resurrection may be ordained from the thrones; and then again, after the consignment of him to the fire, that the judgment of the final and universal resurrection may be determined out of the books – On the Resurrection of the Flesh chapter 25

They have but a poor knowledge of God, who suppose Him to be only capable of doing what comes within the compass of their own thoughts; and after all, they cannot but know full well what His capability has ever been, if they only make acquaintance with the writings of John. For unquestionably he, who has exhibited to our sight the martyrs’ hitherto disembodied souls resting under the altar, Revelation 6:9-11 was quite able to display them before our eyes rising without a body of flesh. – Tertullian the Resurrection of the Flesh chapter 38

By them all corruptions of wholesome discipline have been secretly instigated; by them, too, certain fables have been introduced, that, by their resemblance to the truth, they might impair its credibility, or vindicate their own higher claims to faith; so that people might think Christians unworthy of credit because the poets or philosophers are so, or might regard the poets and philosophers as worthier of confidence from their not being followers of Christ. Accordingly, we get ourselves laughed at for proclaiming that God will one day judge the world. For, like us, the poets and philosophers set up a judgment-seat in the realms below. And if we threaten Gehenna, which is a reservoir of secret fire under the earth for purposes of punishment, we have in the same way derision heaped on us. For so, too, they have their Pyriphlegethon, a river of flame in the regions of the dead. And if we speak of Paradise, the place of heavenly bliss appointed to receive the spirits of the saints, severed from the knowledge of this world by that fiery zone as by a sort of enclosure, the Elysian plains have taken possession of their faith…. – Tertullian, The Apology, Chapter 47

That allegory of the Lord [Matt. 5:25-26]… is extremely clear and simple in its meaning… [beware lest as] a transgressor of your agreement, before God the judge… and lest this judge deliver you over to the angel who is to execute the sentence, and he commit you to the prison of hell, out of which there will be no dismissal until the smallest even of your delinquencies be paid off in the period before the resurrection. What can be a more fitting sense than this? What a truer interpretation? – The Soul 35 [A.D. 210]

The faithful widow prays for the soul of her husband, and begs for him in the interim repose, and participation in the first resurrection, and offers prayers on the anniversary of his death – Monogamy 10 [A.D. 213]

Origen:

… All the saints who depart from this life will remain in some place situated on the earth which holy Scripture calls paradise, as in some place of instruction, and, so to speak, class-room or school of souls, in which they are to be instructed regarding all the things which they had seen on earth, and are to receive also some information respecting things that are to follow in the future… all of which are revealed more clearly and distinctly to the Saints in their proper time and place.” (De Principiis 2.6)

Those who, departing this world in virtue of that death which is common to all, are arranged in conformity with their actions and deserts–according as they shall be deemed worthy–some in the place which is called ‘hell,’ others in the bosom of Abraham. (De Principiis 4.23)

Celsus next addresses to us the following remark: ‘You will not, I suppose, say of him, that, after failing to gain over those who were in this world, he went to Hades to gain over those who were there.’

But whether he like it or not, we assert that not only while Jesus was in the body did He win over not a few persons merely… but also, that when He became a soul, without the covering of the body, He dwelt among those souls which were without bodily covering, converting such of them as were willing to Himself. – Contra Celsum 2.43

But the end brings distress to all, and even those who are blessed, whether they come from Israel or even from the Gentiles, in the present age the word of evangelical doctrine purifies, so that they might be like those to whom the Lord was saying, “Behold you are already clean on account of the word that I have spoken to you.” But whoever should spurn the purification of the Word of God and of evangelical doctrine reserves himself for sorrows and penal purifications, when the fire of Gehenna purifies with torments the one whom neither apostolic doctrine nor the evangelical word have purified, according to what is written, “And I will purify you with fire leading to purity.” But for how long a time and how many ages this purging, which is applied by means of penal fire, exacts torments from sinners only he is able to know to whom “the Father gave all judgment” Origen, Commentary on Romans 8.12.8

As John stood near the Jordan among those who came to be baptized, accepting those who confessed their vices and their sins and rejecting the rest… so will the Lord Jesus Christ stand in a river of fire next to a flaming sword and baptize all those who should go to paradise after they die, but who lack purgation…. But those who do not bear the mark of the first baptism will not be baptized in the bath of fire. One must first be baptized in water and Spirit so that, when the river of fire is reached, the marks of the baths of water and Spirit will remain as signs that one is worthy of receiving the baptism of fire in Jesus Christ. – Origen, Commentary on Luke, homily 24, chapter 2

What if we finish our life with sins but also with what is commendable, will we be saved through what is commendable and acquitted concerning those sins which were knowingly committed? Or will we be punished for the sins but receive no recompense for what is commendable? But neither the one way—where I say one does receive his due for what is base but does not receive his due for what is better—is in accord with God being just; nor is the other view—where I say that he receives his due for what is better but does not receive his due for what is base—in accord with God being just, who wants to purify and cut down evil. For suppose that you have built, after the foundation which Christ Jesus has taught, not only gold, silver, and precious stones—if indeed you possess gold and much silver or little—suppose that you have silver, precious stone, but I say not only these elements, but suppose that you have also wood and hay and stubble,60 what does he wish you to become after your final departure? To enter afterwards then into the holy lands with your wood and with your hay and stubble so that you may defile the Kingdom of God? But again do you want to be left behind in the fire on account of the hay, the wood, the stubble, and to receive nothing due you for the gold and the silver and precious stone? This is not reasonable. What then? It follows that you receive the fire first due to the wood, which consumes the wood and the hay and the stubble. For to those able to perceive, our God is said to be in reality a consuming fire. And the Prophet was silent about what consuming is when he said, Our God is a consuming fire,61 but has left it for us to determine. Because he said, God is a consuming fire, there is something which is consumed. What then is the thing which is consumed? For he does not consume what is according to the image and likeness, he does not consume his own creation but the accumulated hay, the accumulated wood, the accumulated stubble. – Origen, Commentary on Jeremiah, homily 16, chapter 5

(4) “They sank in the depth like a stone.” (Exodus 15:5) Why “did they sink in the depth like a stone?” Because they were not the kind of “stones from which sons of Abraham could be raised up,” but the kind which love the depth and desire the liquid element, that is, who seize the bitter and fluid desire of present things. Whence it is said of these: “They sank like lead in very deep water.” (Exodus 15:10) They are serious sinners. For iniquity also is shown “to sit upon a talent of lead,” as Zacharias the prophet says: “I saw a woman sitting upon a talent of lead, and I said, ‘Who is this’? And he answered, ‘Iniquity.'” (Zechariah 5:7-8) Hence it is, therefore, that the unjust “sank in the depth, like lead in very deep water.” The saints, however, do not sink, but walk upon the waters, because they are light and are not weighed down with the weight of sin. Indeed our Lord and Savior “walked upon the waters,” for it is he who truly did not know sin. His disciple Peter also “walked,” although he was somewhat anxious, (Matthew 14:29-30) for he was not so great and of the same quality as the one who has no lead at all mixed in himself. He had some, though very little. For this reason the Lord says to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31) He who is saved, therefore, is saved through fire so that if he has, by chance, any lead mixed in himself, the fire may melt it away and separate it, that all may be made good gold because “the gold of that land” which the saints are to have is said “to be good.”And “just as a furnace tests gold,” so temptation tests just men. All, therefore, must come to the fire; all must come to the melting furnace, “for the Lord sits and melts down and purifies the sons of Juda.” (Malachi 3:3) But when one comes to that place, if he brings many good works and very little iniquity, that little is separated by fire “like lead” and is purified and the whole is left pure gold. And if someone brings more lead to that place, more is burned away, so that he is diminished to a greater extent, so that even if there is very little gold, it may be left purified nevertheless. But if someone should come to that place totally lead, this which has been written will happen to him: He will sink “in the depth like lead in very deep water.“ – Origen, Homily 6 on Exodus

Hippolytus:

[T]he just are guided to the right hand, and are led… unto a region of light, in which the just have dwelt from the beginning of the world. Not constrained by necessity; but ever enjoying the prospect of the good things they see, and rejoicing in the expectation of those new enjoyments which will be peculiar to every one of them: and esteeming those things beyond what we have here. With whom there is no place of toil; no burning heat; no piercing cold: nor are any briers there: but the countenance of the fathers, and of the just, which they see, always smiles upon them: while they wait for that rest and eternal new life in heaven, which is to succeed this region. This place we call the bosom of Abraham.

But as to the unjust, they are dragged by force to the left hand… as prisoners driven by violence… angels… drag them into the neighbourhood of hell it self…But when they have a near view of this spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great prospect of fire, they are struck with a fearful expectation of a future judgment: and in effect punished thereby. And not only so, but where they see the place [or choir] of the fathers, and of the just, even hereby are they punished. For a chaos deep and large is fixed between them. Insomuch that a just man that hath compassion upon them cannot be admitted; nor can one that is unjust, if he were bold enough to attempt it, pass over it.

This is the discourse concerning Hades; wherein the souls of all men are confined, until a proper season; which God hath determined: when he will make a resurrection of all men from the dead. – Hippolytus, Against Plato, On the Cause of the Universe, chapter 1-2

This, therefore, was signified, brethren, that in reality the mystery of the economy by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin was this Word, constituting yet one Son to God. And it is not simply that I say this, but He Himself attests it who came down from heaven; for He speaketh thus: “No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” What then can he seek beside what is thus written? Will he say, forsooth, that flesh was in heaven? Yet there is the flesh which was presented by the Father’s Word as an offering,—the flesh that came by the Spirit and the Virgin, (and was) demonstrated to be the perfect Son of God. It is evident, therefore, that He offered Himself to the Father. And before this there was no flesh in heaven. – Against Noetus, chapter 4

Novation:

Cyprian:

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 has paid the uttermost farthing; 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. – Letter 51, chapter 20

Methodius of Olympus:

But the rich man in torment, and the poor man who was comforted in the bosom of Abraham, are said, the one to be punished in Hades, and the other to be comforted in Abraham’s bosom, before the appearing of the Saviour, and before the end of the world, and therefore before the resurrection; teaching that now already, at the change, the soul rises a body. – Methodius of Olympus, Discourse on the Resurrection 3.2.19

Victorinus:

9. And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain. He relates that he saw under the altar of God, that is, under the earth, the souls of them that were slain. For both heaven and earth are called God’s altar, as says the law, commanding in the symbolic form of the truth two altars to be made — a golden one within, and a brazen one without. But we perceive that the golden altar is thus called heaven, by the testimony that our Lord bears to it; for He says, When you bring your gift to the altar (assuredly our gifts are the prayers which we offer), and there rememberest that your brother has anything against you, leave there your gift before the altar. Assuredly prayers ascend to heaven. Therefore heaven is understood to be the golden altar which was within; for the priests also were accustomed to enter once in the year — as they who had the anointing — to the golden altar, the Holy Spirit signifying that Christ should do this once for all. As the golden altar is acknowledged to be heaven, so also by the brazen altar is understood the earth, under which is the Hades, — a region withdrawn from punishments and fires, and a place of repose for the saints, wherein indeed the righteous are seen and heard by the wicked, but they cannot be carried across to them. He who sees all things would have us to know that these saints, therefore — that is, the souls of the slain — are asking for vengeance for their blood, that is, of their body, from those that dwell upon the earth; but because in the last time, moreover, the reward of the saints will be perpetual, and the condemnation of the wicked shall come, it was told them to wait. – Commentary on Revelation

Apostolic Constitutions:

Let us pray for our brethren that are at rest in 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… do Thou now also look upon this Your servant, whom You have selected and received into another state, and forgive him if voluntarily or involuntarily he has sinned, and afford him merciful angels, and place him in the bosom of the patriarchs and prophets, and apostles, and of all those that have pleased You from the beginning of the world, where there is no grief, sorrow, nor lamentation; but the peaceable region of the godly, and the undisturbed land of the upright, and of those that therein see, the glory of Your Christ; by whom glory, honour, and worship, thanksgiving, and adoration be to You, in the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen – Apostolic Constitutions, book 8. chapter XLI.

Gregory of Nyssa:

“If a man distinguish in himself what is peculiarly human from that which is irrational, and if he be on the watch for a life of greater urbanity for himself, in this present life he will purify himself of any evil contracted, overcoming the irrational by reason. If he has inclined to the irrational pressure of the passions, using for the passions the cooperating hide of things irrational, he may afterward in a quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, after his departure out of the body, he gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire” (Sermon on the Dead [A.D. 382]).

John Chrysostom:

“Let us help and commemorate them. If Job’s sons were purified by their father’s sacrifice [Job 1:5], why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them” (Homilies on First Corinthians 41:5 [A.D. 392]).

“Weep for those who die in their wealth and who with all their wealth prepared no consolation for their own souls, who had the power to wash away their sins and did not will to do it. Let us weep for them, let us assist them to the extent of our ability, let us think of some assistance for them, small as it may be, yet let us somehow assist them. But how, and in what way? By praying for them and by entreating others to pray for them, by constantly giving alms to the poor on their behalf. Not in vain was it decreed by the apostles that in the awesome mysteries remembrance should be made of the departed. They knew that here there was much gain for them, much benefit. When the entire people stands with hands uplifted, a priestly assembly, and that awesome sacrificial Victim is laid out, how, when we are calling upon God, should we not succeed in their defense? But this is done for those who have departed in the faith, while even the catechumens are not reckoned as worthy of this consolation, but are deprived of every means of assistance except one. And what is that? We may give alms to the poor on their behalf” (Homilies on Philippians 3:9–10 [A.D. 402]).

Ambrosiaster:

“…Yet he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:15 … And he said: “but only as through fire,” so that this salvation is not without punishment, because he did not say: He will be saved through fire, as if by his merit he would be unharmed by fire and saved, having been tested by fire; but when he says: “but only as through fire,” he shows that he will indeed be saved, but will suffer the pains of fire; so that, being purged by fire, he may become saved, and not, like the faithless, be tormented forever in eternal fire: so that in some way it is of some value to have believed in Christ. — Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 1 Corinthians (380 AD)

“But Elijah and Enoch ascended to heaven!”

Article proving Elijah and Enoch didn’t go to heaven.

In His night conversation with Nicodemus, the Savior says, And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of man Which is in Heaven (Jn. 3:13). Many opponents of Christ see in this phrase a contradiction in the words of Scripture, for the Old Testament relates how Elijah ascended into Heaven and how God took Enoch to Himself. Let’s try to sort this issue out, using the Tradition of the fathers of the Church as the key to Scripture.

Enoch

First, let’s consider the story of Enoch. The apostle Jude says that Enoch was the seventh from Adam (cf. Jude 1:14). There are two phrases in the Bible about the end of his earthly life: In the Old Testament it says, And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him (Gen. 5:24); the apostle Paul also says about Enoch that by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him (Heb. 11:5). There is nothing about Heaven in either phrase. It says only that Enoch was translated, but does the relocation really have to be to Heaven? Enoch was moved to a certain place, but it was not that place to where Christ ascended. St. Gregory Palamas says, “God carried away Enoch too, but did He take him to Heaven? Certainly not! For no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven.[1] St. Theophylact of Bulgaria speaks just as apophatically about Enoch’s fate: “Thus, that he was translated alive, and that he is still alive we know, but where or how is unknown, because Scripture does not speak about it.”[2] Therefore, there is not even the slightest foundation upon which to say that the words of Christ contradict the life story of this righteous one.

There is another aspect in analyzing the Old and New Testament texts that deserve special attention. The Savior speaks of Himself as an active participant in the Ascension to Heaven, but Enoch was passive in his translation. It should be emphasized that the Savior Himself ascended into Heaven, and God translated Enoch, not to Heaven, but to a particular place.

What happened with the other Old Testament righteous one, who, like Enoch, has not yet tasted death? Where did the Prophet Elijah ascend to?

The Prophet Elijah

The question of Elijah’s ascension is more difficult and more interesting. What do we know about the prophet Elijah and his ascension into Heaven? In the Synodal translation of the Bible it says, [T]here suddenly appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and sundered them both; and Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind into Heaven (4 Kg. 2:11). It would seem that this is a clear contradiction to the words of Christ, that no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man (Jn. 3:13). Did the Savior really not know this story with Elijah? Did the apostle John, giving us these words of Christ, really not know the story? Why didn’t Nicodemus, the expert in the Law and Prophets, immediately refute the Savior’s retelling of the ascension of Elijah? Probably because in the Savior’s time, Fourth Kings did not say that the prophet Elijah ascended into Heaven.

The thing is that the text taken for the basis for the translation of the books of the Old Testament into Russian (the so-called Synodal translation)[3] was the Masoretic—a text which the Jews-Masoretes redacted all the way up until the tenth century AD, “smoothing out” the prophetic and Messianic spots.

But in the Church, maximum authority belongs to another translation of the Old Testament books—the translation of the seventy. This work was carried out in the third to second centuries B.C. by Jewish sages. This text was used by the apostles and the holy fathers living in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. This translation was used as a foundation by Sts. Cyril and Methodius. Let’s see what it says about the ascension of Elijah into Heaven:

And it came to pass as they were going, they went on talking; and, behold, a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and it separated between them both; and Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind as it were into Heaven (4 Kg. 2:11).

The only difference from the Masoretic text is in the words “as it were”, but the meaning changes dramatically. Elijah was taken not into Heaven, but as if into Heaven—that is, he was raised up into the air. How did the holy fathers understand this spot in Scripture?

Irenaeus:

[In order to learn] that bodies did continue in existence for a lengthened period, as long as it was God’s good pleasure that they should flourish, let [these heretics] read the Scriptures, and they will find that our predecessors advanced beyond seven hundred, eight hundred, and nine hundred years of age; and that their bodies kept pace with the protracted length of their days, and participated in life as long as God willed that they should live. But why do I refer to these men? For Enoch, when he pleased God, was translated in the same body in which he did please Him, thus pointing out by anticipation the translation of the just. Elijah, too, was caught up [when he was yet] in the substance of the [natural] form; thus exhibiting in prophecy the assumption of those who are spiritual, and that nothing stood in the way of their body being translated and caught up. For by means of the very same hands through which they were moulded at the beginning, did they receive this translation and assumption. For in Adam the hands of God had become accustomed to set in order, to rule, and to sustain His own workmanship, and to bring it and place it where they pleased. Where, then, was the first man placed? In paradise certainly, as the Scripture declares And God planted a garden [paradisum] eastward in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Genesis 2:8 And then afterwards when [man] proved disobedient, he was cast out thence into this world. Wherefore also the elders who were disciples of the apostles tell us that those who were translated were transferred to that place (for paradise has been prepared for righteous men, such as have the Spirit; in which place also Paul the apostle, when he was caught up, heard words which are unspeakable as regards us in our present condition 2 Corinthians 12:4), and that there shall they who have been translated remain until the consummation [of all things], as a prelude to immortality. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies, book 5, chapter 5

Origen:

“For it is written of Elijah that he was, as it were, assumed into heaven, and of Enoch, that he was translated, but it is not said that he ascended into heaven. The one who wants may take offense at our words, but I shall nevertheless assert with all confidence that, just as Christ is ‘firstborn from the dead,’ so he was the first to bring flesh to heaven.” Origen, Commentary on Psalms (on Ps 16.9)

Athanasius of Alexandria:

By faith Enoch, having pleased God, was transferred to paradise without seeing death, nor the common death of nature. – Homily on the Holy Fathers and Prophets, chapter 1

John Chrysostom:

“Elijah ascended as if into Heaven, because he was a slave, but Christ ascended into Heaven itself, because He was the Lord.” – Second Homily on the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Cyril of Jerusalem:

“This one ‘as if into Heaven’ (4 Kg. 2:11), but Christ directly into Heaven.” – Catechetical Homilies

Asterius of Amasea:

And so that he might also see a down payment of the good things to come and of the honors there, he was taken up as far as the third heaven; he saw visions that surpass our lot here; he heard words unspeakable—as he himself says—yet even so he keeps measure, always escaping self-display and parading of his gifts. To restrain only the thoughts of those who puff themselves up over petty gifts, he is forced to bare a few of his own—and even these he puts in another’s person, drawing suspicion far from himself.

Elijah the Tishbite—because he was taken up on high in the form of a fiery chariot—is sung everywhere, and has left a great marvel to his story. But no one has set forth how far he came. Perhaps, lifted a little from the earth by the carrying power, he was returned to the place he was allotted to live.

But Paul’s “translation” was found brighter and more glorious, since even the measure of how far he rose is given. With seven heavens being sung, he nearly reached the half.

So let the Hebrews throw down their pride, boasting greatly in Moses—because he alone came to the top of Sinai and entered the dark cloud. For my Paul, instead of a mountain, went up to the heavens; and instead of a cloud, he sped beyond the air above the clouds. And rightly so: the man in Christ had to surpass Moses by as much as the Gospel surpasses the Law. – Asterius of Amasea, Sermon 8, chapter 31.3-31.5

Chromatius of Aquileia:

We have said this on account of the Jews, who think that no cleanness exists except in abstaining from certain foods, though saint Elijah, who was clean in all things, is shown to have received meat that unclean ravens carried to him; and he was never defiled by that meat, so that not only did he not offend, but he was transferred to paradise [see 2 Kgs 2:11]. – Sermon 25, chapter 4

Photios:

“And Elijah, as a slave, was taken to the aerial heights, but not into Heaven, but as it were into Heaven (4 Kg. 2:11). The Lord, as the Ruler of all, ascended not as it were into Heaven, but truly into Heaven did He ascend.” – Homily on the Ascension of the Lord

Euthymius Zigabinos:

Euthymius Zigabinos, quoting Blessed Theodoret of Cyrrhus, says, “He commands them (the angels) to open the everlasting gates, as they had never before been opened for human nature. For none among men has ever passed through them. Although the great Elijah ascended, it was not into Heaven—but as if into Heaven.” – Commentary on Psalm 23

Maximos the Greek:

“And Elijah was taken not into Heaven, but as if into Heaven.” – Objection to Samuel the Judaizer

Andrew of Crete:

Andrew of Crete sings thus: “Elijah the charioteer once ascended by the chariot of the virtues as to Heaven and was carried above earthly things. Consider then, my soul, this ascent.” – The Great Canon, Ode 8

Romanos the Melodist:

“Elijah, sitting upon a fiery chariot, ascended, as if into Heaven, as is written, but not reaching Heaven.” – Kontakion for the Ascension of the Lord

Symeon the New Theologian:

“Elijah was taken in a fiery chariot, and before him Enoch, but not into Heaven, but to some other place—not of his own power, although he was translated.” – Divine Hymns

Photios:

The Prophet Elijah ascended as it were into Heaven, but not of his own power, but on a fiery chariot, with angelic assistance. – Homily on the Ascension of the Lord

Gregory the Dialogist:

“Elijah was caught up into heaven, but the aerial one, which is distinct from the incorporeal one… so he was appointed to a secret region of the Earth, where he ought to dwell in bodily and spiritual peace hitherto, until, at the end of the world, he will again appear on the Earth to pay the debt of death.” – Homily 29, Delivered in the Church of the Holy Apostle Peter on the Ascension of the Lord

THE BIG REVERSAL:

For He cried with a loud cry, and said to the Father: “I commend my spirit,” and departed from the body free, in no wise waiting for death, who was lagging as it were in fear to come to Him; nay, rather, He pursued him from behind and drove him on, trodden under His feet and fleeing, and He burst the eternal gates of his dark realms, and made a road of return back again to life for the dead there bound with the bonds of death. Thus, too, His own body was raised up, and many bodies of the sleeping saints arose, and came together with Him into the holy and real City of Heaven, as rightly is said by the holy words: “Death has prevailed and swallowed men up”; and again: “The Lord God has taken away every tear from every face.” And the Saviour of the Universe, our Lord, the Christ of God, called Victor, is represented in the prophetic predictions as reviling death, and releasing the souls that are bound there, by whom He raises the hymn of victory, and He says these words: “From the hand of Hades I will save them, and from death I will ransom their souls. O Death, where is thy victory? O Death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” – Eusebius of Caesarea, Proof of the Gospel, book 4, chapter 12