Two Men in One

In principio verborum Moysi, ubi de mundi conditione conscribitur, duos invenimus homines creatas referri. Primum ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei factim, secundum e limo terrae factum. Hoc Paulus apostolus bene sciens, et ad liquidum in his eruditis, in suis litteris apertius et evidentius binos esse et per singulos, quosque homines scripsit. Sic enim dixit: 'Nam si is qui foris est homo noster corrumpitur, sed ille qui intus est, renovatur de die in diem'. Et iterum: 'Condelector enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem,' et his similia quanta conscribit?' Unde puto neminem jam debere dubitare quod Moyses de duorum hominum factura vel figmento scripserit in principio Genesis, eum videat Paulum qui malius utique quam nos intelligebat ea quae a Moyse scripta sunt, duos homines esse per singulos quosque dicentem. Quorum unum, id est interiorem, renovari per singulos dies memorat; alterum veri, id est exteriorem, in quibusdam sanctis et talibus qualis erat Paulus, corrumpi perhibet et infirmari. Origenes, In Canticum Canticorum, Prologus, Interprete Rufino Aquileiense

In the beginning of the words of Moses, when he writes about the creation of the world, we find reference to the creation of two men. The first is made to 'an image and likeness of God' and the second 'from the mud of the earth.' 1 Paul the Apostle knowing this well, clearly educated in these things, wrote in his letters most openly about these two men in each man. He says, ' For if our outer man is corrupted, yet the inward is renewed from day to day.' 2 And again, ' I am delighted with the law of God according to the inner man,' 3 And how many things does he write like this?  Thus I think that no one should now doubt what Moses wrote in the beginning of Genesis about the making and shaping of two men, but let him look to Paul, who understood what Moses wrote better than we do, saying that there are two men in each man. Of these the one man, that is the interior, he mentions as renewed from day to day, the other, that is the exterior, in all the saints, as it was in Paul, he regards as corrupted and infirm.  Origen, Commentary On the Song of Songs, Prologue, Translated by Rufinus of Aquileia .  1 Gen 1.26, 2.7 2 2 Cor 4.16 3 Rom 7.22

Creation, Freedom and Virtue

Θεὸς τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φύσει πᾶν ὅτι περ ἔστι κατ' ἔννοιαν λαβεῖν ἀγαθὸν, ἐκεῖνό ἐστι· μᾶλλον δὲ παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ τοῦ νοουμένου τε καὶ καταλαμβανομένου ἐπέκεινα ὢν, οὐ δι' ἄλλο τι κτίζει τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωὴν, ἣ διὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸς εἶναι. Τοιοῦτος δὲ ὢν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς τὴν δημιουργίαν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ὁρμήσας, οὐκ ἂν ἡμιτελῆ τὴν τῆς ἀγαθότητος ἐνεδείξατο δύνα μιν, τὸ μέν τι δοὺς ἐκ τῶν προσόντων αὐτῷ, τοῦ δὲ φθονήσας τῆς μετουσίας· ἀλλὰ τὸ τέλειον τῆς ἀγαθότητος εἶδος ἐν τούτῳ ἐστὶν, ἐκ τοῦ καὶ παραγαγεῖν τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς γένεσιν, καὶ ἀνεν δεῆ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπεργάσασθαι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πολὺς τῶν καθ' ἕκαστον ἀγαθῶν ὁ κατάλογος, οὐ μὲν οὖν ἔστιν ἀριθμῷ ῥᾳδίως τοῦτον διαλαβεῖν. Διὰ τοῦτο περι ληπτικῇ τῇ φωνῇ ἅπαντα συλλαβὼν ὁ λόγος ἐσήμα νεν, ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν, κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον.Ἶσον γάρ ἐστι τοῦτο τῷ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι παν τὸῦ ἀγαθοῦ μέτοχον τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ἐποίησεν. Εἰ γὰρ πλήρωμα μὲν ἀγαθῶν τὸ Θεῖον, ἐκείνου δὲ τοῦτο εἰκών· ἄρ' ἐν τῷ πλῆρες εἶναι παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ, πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἡ εἰκὼν ἔχει τὴν ὁμοιότητα. Οὐκοῦν ἐστιν ἐν ἡμῖν παντὸς μὲν καλοῦ ἰδέα, πᾶσα δὲ ἀρετὴ καὶ σοφία, καὶ πᾶν ὅτιπέρ ἐστι πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον νοούμενον.Ἓν δὲ τῶν πάντων καὶ τὸ ἐλεύθερον ἀνάγκης εἶναι, καὶ μὴ ὑπεζεῦχθαί τινι φυσικῇ δυναστείᾳ·ἀλλ' αὐτεξούσιον πρὸς τὸ δοκοῦν ἔχειν τὴν γνώμην. Ἀδέσποτον γάρ τι χρῆμα ἡ ἀρετὴ καὶ ἑκούσιον, τὸ δὲ κατηναγκασμένον καὶ βεβιασμένον ἀρετὴ εἶναι οὐ δύναται. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Περὶ Κατασκευής Ἀνθρωπου

God in His own nature is all which our mind can conceive of good, or rather, He transcends all the good that we can think of or grasp with the mind, and He creates man for no other reason than that He is good. And being so, and having this as His reason for the creation of our nature, He would not show the power of His goodness in an imperfect manner, giving our nature one thing from Himself, and refusing it another, but the perfect form of goodness is here by Him both bringing forth man from nothing in the beginning and completing him with the goods required, but since the catalogue of individual goods is long, it is not feasible to list them, and therefore the voice of Scripture expresses it concisely by an all encompassing phrase, in saying that man was made in the image of God.1 For this is the same as saying that He made human nature participant in all good, for if the Deity is the plenitude of goods, and man is His image, then in being filled with all good the image has its likeness to the archetype. Thus there is in us the idea of all excellence, all virtue and wisdom, and every conceivable higher thing. But above all this is the fact that we are free from necessity, and not enslaved to any natural power, but we have autonomy in matters of judgement, for virtue is voluntary and not subject to another; that which comes about by compulsion and force is not able to be virtuous. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On The Making of Man 1.Gen 1 . 27

Sin, Death, Freedom

Ἔξω μὲν εὐθὺς ἧν τοῦ παραδείσου, ἔξω δὲ τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης διαγωγῆς, οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάθκης κακός, ἀλλ' ἐξ ἀβουλίας, γενόμενος. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἥμαρτε μὲν διὰ μοχθηρὰν, προαίρεσιν, ἀπέθανε δὲ διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· Τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁματρίας θάνατος· Ὅσον γὰρ ἀφίστατο τῆς ζωῆς, τοσοῦτον προσήγγιζε τῷ θανάτῳ. Ζωὴ γὰρ ὁ Θεός· στέρησις δὲ τῆς ζωῆς θάνατος. Ὥστε ἑαυτῷ τὸν θάνατον ὁ Ἀδὰμ διὰ τῆς ἀναχωρήσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ κατεσκεύασε, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ὅτι Ἰδοὺ οἱ μακρύνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ σοῦ, ἀπολοῦνται. Οὕτως οὐχὶ Θεὸς ἔκτισε θάνατον, ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς ἑαυτοῖς ἐκ πονηρᾶς γνώμης ἐπεσπασάμεθα. Οὐ μὴν οὐδε ἐκώλυσε τὴν διάλυσιν διά τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας, ἴνα μὴ ἀθὰνατον ἡμῖν τὴν ἀῥῥωστίαν διατηρήσῃ. Ὥωπερ ἂν εἴ τος σκεῦος πήλινον διαῥῥυὲν μὴ καταδέχοιτο παραδοῦναι πυρὶ, ἕως ἂν τὸ ἐνυπάρχον αὐτῷ πάθος διὰ τῆς ἀναπλάσεως ἐξιάσαιτο. Ἀλλὰ διὰ τί οὐκ ἐν τῇ κατασκευῇ τὸ ἀναμάρτητον ἔσχομεν, φησὶν, ὥστε μηδὲ βουλομένοις ἡμῖν ὑπάρχειν τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν; Ὅτι καὶ σὺ τοὺς οἰκέτας, οὐχ ὅταν δεσμίους ἔχῃς, εὔνους ὑπολαμβάνεις, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἐκουσίως ἴδῃς ἀποπληροῦντας σοι τὰ καθήκοντα. Καὶ Θεῳ τοίνυν οὐ τὸ ἠναγκασμένον φιλον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐξ ἀρετῆς κατορθούμενον. Ἀρετὴ δὲ ἐκ προαιρέσεως, καὶ οὐκ ἐξ ἀνάγκης γίνεται. Προαίρεσις δὲ τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἤρτηταὶ. Τὸ δὲ ἐγ' ἡμῖν ἐστι τὸ αὐτεξούσιον. Ὁ τοίνυν μεμφόμενος τὸν ποιητὴν ὡς μὴ φυσικῶς κατασκευάσαντα ἡμᾶς ἀναμαρτήτους, οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἤ τὴν ἄλογον φύσιν τῆς λογικῆς προτιμᾷ, καὶ τὴν ἀκίνητον καὶ ἀνόρμητον τῆς προαιρετικῆς καὶ ἐμπράκτου. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, Ὁμιλία Ὁτι Οὐκ Ἐστιν Αἰτιος Των Κακων Ὁ Θεος.

Out from paradise and from that blessed state he was thrown immediately, and this evil was not from necessity but on account of thoughtlessness. On account of wretchedness he sinned, by choice, dying on account of sin, 'For the reward of sin is death.' 1 He withdrew from life as much as he neared to death. For God is life and death is the privation of life. So by withdrawing from God Adam established himself in death, according to what is written, 'Behold, those who distance themselves from you they perish.' 2 So God did not create death but we by wickedness of mind draw ourselves into it. Nor does He prevent destruction on account of the cause mentioned, lest in us an eternal sickness be preserved. Just as an earthen vessel by fire is unwilling to be melted, so the calamity of his defilement done consumes him. But, someone may say: why were we not fashioned that we be sinless, that we did not have the wish to sin? Because you are a servant, not one bound in chains, which you would think benevolent, but rather you are free to fulfill the things of your office. For to God one constrained cannot be pleasing, but it can only be so by the pursuit of virtue. And virtue is from the will and not from necessity. And the will is a thing which is ours. It is our freedom. Whence he who blames the Creator, that he did not establish sinlessness in us, does nothing by this but to prefer an irrational nature to an rational one and to desire an immobile mindlessness to the life of free will. Saint Basil of Caesarea, Homily on God not Being a Cause of Evils. 1. Rom 6.23 2. Ps 72.27

Thanksgiving in Difficulties

Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν παντὶ μοι εὐχαριστεῖν διατέτακται. Εὐχαριστήσω στρεβλούμενος, αἰκιζόμενος, ἐπὶ τροχοῦ κατατεινόμενος, τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐκκοπτόμενος; Εὐχαριστήσω τυπόμενος τὴν ἄτιπμον πληγὴν παρὰ τοῦ μισοὺντος; πηγνύμενος ὑπὸ τοῠ κρύους, λιμῷ καταγχόμενος, ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου δεδεμένος, ἀτεκνωθεὶς ἀθρόως, ἤ καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτῆς ἐστερημένος; ἐκ ναυαγίων ἐξαίφνης ἐκπεσὼν εὐπορίας; πειραταῖς κατὰ θάλασσαν, ἢ λησταῖς κατ' ἢπειρον περιτυχών; τραύματα ἔχων, συκοφαντούμενος, ἀλητεύων, τὸ δεσμωτήριον οἰκῶν; Ταῦτα καὶ ἔτι πλείω τούτων, κατηγοροῦντες τοῦ νομοθέτου, συνειρουσιν, ἀπολογίαν τῶν ἁμαρτμάτων ἑαυτοῖς εὐτρεπίζειν ἡγούμενοι τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς διατεταγμένοις ἡμῖν, ὡς ἀδυνάτοις, διαβολήν. Τί οὖν φαμεν; Ὅτι πρὸς ἕτερα βλέποντος τοῦ Ἀποσλτόλου, καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν περιωμένου χαμόθεν πρὸς ὕψος μετεωριζειν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ οὐράνιον μετατιθέναι πολίτευρα, οἱ μὴ ἐφικνούμενοι τῆς μεγαλονοίας τοῦ νομοθέτου, περὶ γῆν καὶ σάρκας, ὡς περὶ τέλμα σκώληκες, ἰλυσπώμενοι εὐ τοῖς τοῦ σώματος πάθεσι, τὸ δυνατὸν τῶν ἀποστολικῶν διατάξεων ἀπαιτοῠσιν. Ὁ δὲ προκαλεῖται εἰς τὸ πάντοτε χαίρειν οὐχὶ τὸν τυχόντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν οἶος αὐτὸς ἥν, οὐκέτι ζῶν ἐν σαρκὶ, ἀλλὰ ζῶντα ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν Χριστὸν, ὡς τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἀκρότατον τῶν ἀγαθῶν συναφείας μηδαμῶς τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὀχληρῶν τῆς σαρκὸς συμπάθειαν δεχομένης. Ἀλλὰ κἂν διακόπτηται ἡ σαρξ, ἡ τῆς συνεχείας διάλυσις ἐναπομένει τῷ πεπονθότι τοῦ σώματος μέρει, τῆς διαδόσεως τοῦ λυποῦντος οὐ δυναμένης διικνεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸ νοερὸν τῆς ψυχῆς. Εἰ γαρ ἐνεκρώσαμεν τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, κατὰ τὰς ὑποθήκας τοῦ Ἀποστόλου, καὶ τὴν νέκρωσιν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ σώματι περιεφέρομεν ἀναγκαίως ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ νενεκρωμένου σώματος πληγὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀπολελυμένην τῆς συναφέίας αὐτοῦ ψυχὴν οὐ χωρήσει. Ἀτιμία δὲ καὶ ζημίαι, καὶ οἰκείων θάνατοι οὐκ ἀναβήσονται πρὸς τὸν νοῦν, οὐδὲ καταστέψουσι τὸ ὑψηλὸν τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὴν ὦδε συμπάθειαν. Ἅγιος Βασίλειος Καισαρείας, Περὶ Εύχαριστιας

But in everything I am ordered to give thanks. 1 Shall I give thanks tortured, beaten, stretched on a wheel, with eyes gouged out? Shall I give thanks struck by shameful blows by one who hates me? Shall I give thanks pierced by the cold, wracked by hunger, bound on wood, suddenly deprived of children, my wife violated, having lost all my property in a shipwreck? Shall I give thanks at sea beset by pirates, or on land attacked by bandits? Shall I give thanks wounded, suffering abuse, living a vagrant life, shut up in prison? In all these cases and more, the legislator directs us to be bound, and though our sins think to excuse us, while the precepts are given to us , if we are unable to fulfill them, they denounce us. What therefore do we say? That doubtless the Apostle saw this otherwise, and he tries to raise our souls from earth to heaven and to transport us to a certain celestial way of living. However this high sense of the legislator has not been understood, for the Apostolic commands should not be sought among earth and flesh, like worms in food, sunk in the desires of the body, but he calls to eternal joy not in worldly matters but as he was, no longer living in the flesh but having life in Christ himself, for to that conjunction with the highest good heavy and troublesome carnal affections are not admitted. Truly even if flesh is torn, in that part of the body afflicted, placing it in a state of continuous dissolution, it will not able to communicate its grief to the intelligent part of the soul. For if in accordance with the Apostolic teaching we mortify our members on the earth and in our bodies we bear around the mortification of Jesus, it will be that the blows on a mortified body, it being dissolved, do not reach the soul. For disgrace and loss and proximity to death shall not at all then rise to the mind, nor shall present troubles be admitted to the heavenly soul. Saint Basil of Caesarea, On Thanksgiving 1 1 Thes 5.18

Friendship and the Fear of Death

Vobis autem dico amicis meis, Ne terreamini ab his qui occidunt corpus, et post haec non habent amplius quid faciant. Ostendam autem vobis quem timeatis: timete eum qui postquam occiderit, habet potestam mittere in gehennam.  Vobis autem dico amicis meis, Ne terreamini: quia libertatem probat virtus, metus indicat servitutem; nam liber ad gloriam, servus natus est ad timorem; merito ergo ad Dei amicitias sublimatur, qui propter Deum humanas descipit mortes, nescit timores. Si amicos morum facit imitatio, morum similitudo conjuugit, convenienter eos amicos vocat Christus, quos imitatione sua mundi jacula, et ipsam mortis formideinem conscipit et praevidet calcaturos. Vobis autem dico. Id est, non omnibus, sed amicis Vobis autem dico. Quos mors absolvit ista, non finit Vobis dico. Quos corporis resolutio promovet ad melius, non transducit ad poenam. Vobis dico. Quibus morte vita inchoatur, non finitur. Vobis dico. Sanctus Petrus Chrysologus, Sermo CI

'I say to you my friends, Do not be terrified of those who kill the body and after that have no more to do. I shall show to you what you should fear: fear him who after he has killed has the power to place you in hell.'1 'I say to you my friends, Do not be terrified'  because virtue demonstrates liberty and fear indicates slavery; for as a free man is born to glory, so a slave is to fear; by merit therefore let us be raised up to the friendship with God where on account of God we shall look down on human death, not knowing fear. If imitation of behaviour makes friends, similitude of conduct binding them together, fittingly these Christ calls friends: those who by imitation of him recognise and foresee the shafts of the world and the sting of the fear of death. 'To you I say'. That is, not to everyone but to friends. 'To you I say'. To those whom death delivers and does not extinguish. 'To you I say.' To those whom the dissolution of the flesh moves to what is better, not passing them on to punishment. 'To you I say.' To those who with death life begins, not ends. 'To you I say.'  Saint Peter Chrysologus, from Sermon 101 1 Lk 12. 4-5

Wishing For Nothing After Death

Nec ignoro plerosque, conscientia meritorum, nihil se esse post mortem magis optare quam credere: malunt enim exstingui penitus, quam ad supplicia reparari. Quorum error augetur, et in saeculo libertate remissa, et Dei patientia maxima: cujus quanto judicium tardum, tanto magis justum est. Et tamen admonentur homines, doctissimorum libris et carminibus poetarum, illius ignei fluminis, et de Stygia palude saepius ambientis ardoris, quae cruciatibus aeternis praeparata, et daemonum indiciis et de oraculis Prophetarum cognita tradiderunt. Et ideo apud eos etiam ipse rex Jupiter per torrentes ripas et atram voraginem jurat religiose; destinatam enim sibi cum suis cultoribus poenam, praescius, perhorrescit. Nec tormentis aut modus ullus, aut terminus. Illic sapiens ignis membra urit et reficit; carpit et nutrit, sicut ignes fulminum corpora tangunt, nec, absumunt; sicut ignes Hennei montis et Lesui montis, et ardentium ubique terrarum flagrant, nec erogantur: ita poenale illud incendium non damnis ardentium pascitur, sed inexesa corporum laceratione nutritur. Eos autem merito torqueri qui Deum nesciunt, ut impios, ut injustos, nisi profanus, nemo deliberat, cum Parentem omnium et omnium Dominum non minoris sceleris sit ignorare quam laedere. Et quamquam imperitia Dei sufficiat ad poenam, ita ut notitia prosit ad veniam, tamen, si vobiscum Christiani comparemur, quamvis in nonnullis disciplina nostra minor est, multo tamen vobis meliores deprehendemur. Vos enim adulteria prohibetis, et facitis; nos uxoribus nostris solummodo viri nascimur: vos scelera admissa punitis; apud nos et cogitare, peccare est: vos conscios timetis, nos etiam conscientiam solam, sine qua esse non possumus. Denique de vestro numero carcer exaestuat: Christianus ibi nullus, nisi aut reus suae religionis, aut profugus. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Cap XXXIV - XXXV

Nor I am not ignorant that many, conscious of their merits, rather wish than believe that they shall be nothing after death, for they would prefer to be utterly extinguished rather than to be restored for punishment. And their error is increased, both by the liberty allowed them in this life, and by God's great patience, whose judgment, the more tardy it is, the more just it is. And yet men are warned in the books and poems of the most learned poets of that fiery river, and of the surrounding heat from the Stygian marsh, things which, prepared for eternal torments, they have been given knowledge by the tales of demons and from the oracles of their prophets. And therefore among them even king Jupiter himself swears religiously by the torrid banks and the black pit, for foreseeing the punishment destined to him, with his worshippers, he shudders. Nor is there any measure or termination to these torments. There the intelligent fire burns limbs and restores them, feeds on them and nourishes them, as the fires of thunderbolts strike bodies and do not consume them, as the fires of Mount Aetna and of Mount Vesuvius, and everywhere the burning earth blazes but is not exhausted, so it is that the penal inferno is not fed by the damned who burn but nourished by the inexhaustible mangling of bodies. But that they who do not know God are deservedly tormented as impious, as unrighteous, no one doubts unless he is profane, since it is not less of a crime to be ignorant of, than to offend the Parent and Lord of all. And although ignorance of God suffices for punishment, even as knowledge of Him may gain pardon, yet if we Christians be compared with you, although in some things our discipline is less, yet we shall be found better than you. For you forbid adulteries and do them, we are born men only for our own wives; you punish crimes committed, with us even to think of a crime is to sin: you fear witnesses, we our  consciences alone, without which we cannot be. Finally, on account of your numbers the prison boils over, but there is no Christian there, unless he is guilty on account of his religion, or a deserter. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Chap 34-35

Warnings of Hell

Audetis ridere nos, cum gehennas dicimus et inextinguibiles quosdam ignes, in quos animas deici ab earum hostibus inimicisque cognovimus? Quid Plato idem vester in eo volumine, quod de animae immortalitate conposuit, non Acherontem, non Stygem, non Cocytum fluvios et Pyriphlegethontem nominat, in quibus animas adseverat volvi mergi exuri? Et homo prudentiae non pravae et examinis iudiciique perpensi rem inenodabilem suscipit, ut cum animas dicat immortales perpetuas et ex corporali soliditate privatas, puniri eas dicat tamen et doloris adficiat sensu. Quis autem hominum non videt quod sit immortale, quod simplex, nullum posse dolorem admittere, quod autem sentiat dolorem, immortalitatem habere non posse? Nec tamen eius auctoritas plurimum a veritate declinat. Quamvis enim vir lenis et benivolae voluntatis inhumanum esse crediderit capitali animas sententia condemnare, non est tamen absone suspicatus iaci eas in flumina torrentia flammarum globis et caenosis voraginibus taetra. Iaciuntur enim et ad nihilum redactae interitionis perpetuae frustratione vanescunt. Sunt enim mediae qualitatis, sicut Christo auctore compertum est, et interire quae possint deum si ignoraverint, vitae et ab exitio liberari, si ad eius se minas atque indulgentias adplicarint, et quod ignotum est pateat. Haec est hominis mors vera, haec nihil residuum faciens, nam illa quae sub oculis cernitur animarum est a corporibus diiugatio, non finis abolitionis extremus - haec inquam est hominis mors vera, cum animae nescientes deum per longissimi temporis cruciatum consumentur igni fero, in quem illas iacient quidam crudeliter saevi et ante Christum incogniti et ab solo sciente detecti. Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, Liber II, Cap XIV

You dare laugh at us when we speak of hell, and unquenchable fires, into which we have learned that souls are cast by their foes and enemies? Does not your Plato also, in that book which he wrote on the immortality of the soul, name the rivers Acheron, Styx, Cocytus, and Pyriphlegethon, in which he asserts souls are immersed, rolled along, and burned up?1 But though a man of no small wisdom, and of careful judgment and discernment, he has taken up a knotty matter when he says that the soul is immortal, everlasting, and lacking bodily substance and yet says that they are punished and makes them suffer pain. But what man does not see that that which is immortal, which is simple, cannot be subject to any pain, and that, on the contrary, that cannot be immortal which does suffer pain? And yet his opinion does not stray very far from the truth. For although the gentle and benevolent man thought it inhuman to condemn souls to death, he reasonably supposed that they are thrown into fiery rivers blazing with masses of flame, running filthy from their foul abysses. For they are cast in, and being reduced to nothing, vanish vainly into everlasting destruction. For theirs is an intermediate state, as is understood from Christ's teaching, and they may on the one hand perish if they have not known God, and on the other be delivered from life's end if they have heeded His warnings and kindness, that the unknown may be revealed. This is man's true death, this is what leaves nothing behind, for that which is seen by the eyes is but the separation of soul from the body, not the final end, but this, I say, is man's true death, when souls which do not know God shall be consumed in long torment with raging fire, into which fiercely cruel savages will cast them, unknown before Christ, and revealed only by His wisdom. Arnobius, Against the Heathen, Book II, Chapter 14 1 Phadeo. 113d

Tombs and Memories

Πολλοὶ γοῦν πολλάκις τοὺς τάφους τῶν οἰκιῶν λαμπροτέρους εἰργάσαντο. Ἢ γὰρ τοῖς πολεμίοις πονοῦσι καὶ ταλαιπωροῦνται, ἢ τῷ σκώληκι καὶ τῇ κόνει, εἰς οὐδὲν δέοντα ταῦτα ἀναλίσκοντες. Τοιαύτη γὰρ τῶν οὐδεν περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἐλπιζόντων ᾑ φρόνησις. Ἀλλ' ἐνταῦθά μοι στενάξαι ἔπεισιν, ὅτι πολλοὶ καὶ τῶν τὰ μέλλοντα ἐλπιζόντων, κατὰ τοῦτο ἐκείνους μιμοῦνται, τοὺς οὐδεμίαν περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἔχοντας ἐλπίδα, τάφους οἰκοδομοῦντεσ, καὶ λαμπρὰ σήματα ποιοῦντεσς, καὶ χρυσίον κατορύττοντες, καὶ εἰς ἑτερους τὰ ὄντα παραπεμποντες, κατὰ τοῦτο ἐκείνων χείρους ὄντες. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν προσαδοκῶν μετὰ ταῦτα, εἰ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀλόγως, ἀλλ' ὅμως διὰ τὸ μηδὲν προσδοκᾷν, περὶ τὰ παρόντα φιλοπονεῖται· σὺ δὲ ὁ τὴν μέλλουσαν ζωὴν εἰδὼς, ἄνθεωπε, καὶ τὰ ἀγαθα ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἀπόῥῥητα, κατὰ τὴν ῥῆσιν ἐκείνην τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν, ὁτι 'Τότε οἱ δίκαιοι ἐκλάμψουσιν ὡς ὁ ἥλιος,' ποίαν δὲ οὐκ ἂν ὑποσταίης δικαίως κόλασιν, πάντα ἐνταῦθα καταδαπανῶν εἰς τὴν κόνεν, εἰς τὴν τέφραν, είς τὰ σήματα, είς τοὺς πολεμίους, εἰς τοὺς ἐχθρούς; 'Ἐπεκαλέσαντο τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τῶν γαιῶν αὐτῶν.' Ἰδοὺ καὶ ἑτέρας ἀνοίας εἶδος, τὸ περιτιθέναι τὰς προσηγορίας αὐτῶν οἰκοδομήμασι, καὶ ἀγροῖς, καὶ λουτροῖς, καὶ μεγίστην ἐντεῦθεν καρποῦσθαι παραμυθίαν νομίζειν, καὶ τὴν σκιὰν διώκειν ἀντὶ τῆς ἀληθείας. Εἰ γὰρ μνήμης ἐρᾷς διηνεκοῦς, μὴ ὀνόματα περιθῆς οἰκοδομήμασιν, ἀνθρωπε, ἀλλ' ἀναστησον τρόπαια κατορθωμάτων, ἂ καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι σοι βίῳ τὸ ὄνομα διατηρεῖ, καὶ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν ζωὴν ἀθάνατον κατασκευάζει σοι τὴν ἀναπαυσιν. Εἰ μνήμης ἐρᾷς καὶ ἐπιθυμεῖς, ἐγώ σε διδάσκω τὴν ἀληθῆ καὶ σαφεστάτην ὁδόν· ἀρετῆς ἐπιμελοῦ. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἀθάνατον ὄνομα ποιεῖ, ὡς ἀρετῆς φύσις. Καὶ τοῦτο δηλοῦσιν οἱ μάρτυρες, δηλοῖ τῶν ἀποστόλων τὰ λείψανα, δηλοῖ τῶν ἐν ἀρετῇ βεβιωκότων ἡ μνήμη. Πόσοι βασιλεῖς πόλεις ἀνέστησαν, λιμένας κατεσκεύασαν, καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα ἐπιθέντες ἀπῆλθον; ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἀπώναντο, ἀλλὰ σεσίγηνται, καὶ λήθῃ παραδέδονται. Ὁ δὲ αλιεὺς Πέτρος οὐδὲν τούτων ἐργὰσάμενος, ἐπειδὴ ἀρετὴν μετῆλθε, καὶ τὴν βασιλικωτάτην κατέλαβε πόλιν, ὑπὲρ τὸν ἥλιον λάμπει καὶ μετὰ τελευτήν. Ὅ δὲ σὺ ποιεῖς, καταγέλαστον καὶ αἰσχύνης γέμον. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον σε λαμπρὸν ταῦτα οὐκ ἐργάσεται τὰ μνημεῖα, ἀλλὰ καὶ καταγέλαστον, καὶ τὰ πάντων ἀνοίξει στόματα, γὰρ οἰκοδομαὶ τῷ χρόνῳ δυναμένην σου τὴν πλεονεξίαν λήθῃ παραδοθῆναι, ὥσπερ στῆλαι, καὶ τρόπαιά σου τῆς πλεονεξίας ἐστήκασι πανταχοῦ. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος , Εἰς Τον ΜΗ' Ψαλμον,

For certainly many have built magnificent tombs as dwellings. Either for enemies working and suffering wretchedly, or for worms and dust. For such is the mind of those who have no hope in the future. But here it comes to me to deplore those many of us who having hope for future things imitate them in these matters, those who have not any hope in the future, building sepulchers and raising great memorials, and covering them in gold, that their deeds may be proclaimed to others, and we are certainly worse than them in it, for he who after this life expects nothing, even if he is unreasonable because he expects nothing, loves to expend his labor on present things, but you, O man, who would have our future life, and those ineffable goods, and what is said by the evangelist, 'Then the righteous shall blaze like the sun,' 1 what forgiveness will you seek, who will defend you, that you not justly suffer torment, who here consume everything in dust, ash, in tombs, for the enemy, for the foe? 'They have called their lands by their names.' 2 Behold some type of amenity, some parks and baths are inscribed with a man's name and he thinks to receive great comfort from it, and he pursues a shadow for the truth. If indeed you want a perpetual memorial, O man, do not inscribe your name on buildings but raise up a trophy of righteous deeds, which shall preserve a name for you in this present life, and in the future immortal life rest will be given to you. If you desire remembrance, I shall teach you the way true and clear: Have care for virtue. For nothing makes a name immortal but the possession of virtue. This the Martyrs show, this the relics of the Apostles show, it proclaims their memory that they lived rightly in virtue. How many kings have established cities, fashioned harbours, and on them imposed their own names but they pass away and it does not profit them, but to oblivion they are consigned. Peter was a fisherman and he did not act like them because he sought virtue, and he came to to take the rule of the greatest city, even after death shining more brightly than the sun. But what you do is ridiculous and full of disgrace. These tombs shall not only not give you glory but make you laughable and open the mouths of all against you. For such dwellings in the course of time cast your avarice into oblivion, and they stand like columns and trophies raised against your greed. Saint John Chrysostom, Exposition of the Psalms, Psalm 48 1 Mt 13.43 2 Ps 48.12

Preparing for the End

Εἶπεν ὁ ἀββᾶς Διόσκορος, ὅτι Ἐὰν φορέσωμεν ἡμῶν τὸ οὐράνιον ἔνδυμα, οὐκ ἄν εὐρεθῶμεν γυμνοί· ἐὰν  δὲ μὴ εὐρεθῶμεν φορεῦντες τὸ ἐνδυμα ἐκεῖνο, τί ποιήσομεν, ἀδελφοί; ἔχομεν γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀκοῦσαι τὴν φωνὴν ἐκείνην τὴν λέγουσαν· Ἔκβαλλε τοῦτον εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον· ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς, καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων. Νυνὶ δὲ, ἀδελφοὶ, μεγάλη αἰσχύνη ἡμῖν, μετὰ τοσοῦτον χρόνον φοροῦντας ἡμᾶς τὸ σχῆμα, εὐρεθῆναι ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ τῆς ἀνάγκης, μὴ ἔχοντας τὸ ἔνδυμα τοῦ γάμου. Ὤ τῆς μετανοίας τῆς μελλούσης ἡμῖν προσγίνεσθαι. Ὤ τοῦ σκότους τοῦ μέλλοντος ἡμῖν ἐπιπίπτειν ἔμπροσθεν τῶν Πατέρων καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν, βλεπόντων ἡμᾶς τιμωρουμένους ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων τῆς τιμωρίας. Ἀποφθεγματα Τῶν Ἁγίων Γερόντων, Παλλαδιος

Father Dioscorus said, 'If we wear our celestial garment we shall not be found naked, but if we are found not to be wearing it, brothers, what shall we do,? For indeed we have heard the voice saying, ' Cast this one out into the outer darkness where there is weeping and a grinding of teeth.'1 Now, brothers, great is our shame if after this time bearing our habit we are found in the hours of necessity lacking the garment of the bridegroom. O how much penitence shall come upon us. O how much darkness shall fall upon us in the presence of the fathers and the brothers who see us punished by the angels of punishment. Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia  1 Mat 22.13

A Boy's Woeful End

GREGORIUS: Etsi omnes baptizatos infantes, atque in eadem infantia morientes ingredi regnum coeleste credendum est, omnes tamen parvulos qui scilicet jam loqui possunt, regna coelestia ingredi credendum non est, quia nonnullis parvulis ejusdem regni coelestis aditus a parentibus clauditur, si male nutriantur. Nam quidam vir cunctis in hac urbe notissimus, ante triennium filium habuit annorum, sicut arbitror, quinque; quem nimis carnaliter diligens remisse nutriebat. Atque idem parvulus, quod dictu grave est, mox ut ejus animo aliquid obstitisset, majestatem Dei blasphemare consueverat: qui in hac urbe ante triennium mortalitate percussus, venit ad mortem. Cumque eum suus pater in sinu teneret, sicut hi testati sunt qui praesentes fuerunt, malignos ad se venisse spiritus trementibus oculis puer aspiciens, coepit clamare: Obsta, pater, obsta, pater. Qui clamans declinabat faciem, ut se ab eis in sinu patris absconderet. Quem cum ille trementem requireret quid videret, puer adjunxit, dicens: Mauri homines venerunt, qui me tollere volunt. Qui cum hoc dixisset, majestatis nomen protinus blasphemavit, et animam reddidit. Ut enim omnipotens Deus ostenderet pro quo reatu talibus fuisset traditus exsecutoribus, unde viventem pater suus noluit corrigere, hoc morientem permisit iterare; ut qui diu per Divinitatis patientiam blasphemus vixerat, quandoque per Divinitatis judicium blasphemaret, et moreretur; quatenus reatum suum pater ejus agnosceret, qui parvuli filii animam negligens, non parvulum peccatorem gehennae ignibus nutrisset. Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, Dialogi, Liber IV,  Cap XVIII

GREGORY: Although it should be believed that all baptised infants who die in infancy go to heaven, it is not to be believed that all little ones who can speak go to that holy place, because some little ones are denied entrance into heaven by their parents should they raise them wickedly. For a certain man, well known to everyone in this city, some three years ago had a child, who I think was five years old then, whom he raised remissly with excessive carnal affection. And the little one, lamentable though it is to say, so soon as anything went contrary to his mind, was accustomed to blaspheme the majesty of God. This child, in the mortality which struck this city three years ago, came to the point of death, and with his father holding him at that time in his lap, as those who were present testify, the child saw with trembling eyes wicked spirits coming towards him, and he began to cry out: 'Keep them away, father, keep them away' And so crying out, he turned away his face and would have hid himself from them in his father's lap, who demanding of his son what he saw to make him tremble, was told: 'Moorish men have come who want to carry me away.' Which having said he immediately blasphemed God, and so gave up this soul. For that the omnipotent God might show for what crime, for which his father would not correct him while he lived, the boy was delivered to such executioners, he permitted him at his very death to repeat it, so that he who by God's patience had long lived a blasphemer, did by his just judgment blaspheming die, that the father might know his own crime, he who neglecting the soul of his little son raised one not so little in sin for the fires of hell. Saint Gregory the Great, Dialogues, Book 4, Chap 18

Collections and Ejections

Τὰ καλὰ συνάγεται εἰς ἄγγη, καὶ τὰ κακὰ ἔξω βάλλεται τῆς σαγήνης, ἐρευνωμένης, φημὶ, τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου Ἐκκλησίας, ἐπειδὴ πάντες τῷ Χριστοῦ ὀνόματι ἐσφαγίσθησαν, καὶ εἰς μίαν ἁρμονίαν ἠνώθησαν. Καὶ συνάγεται μὲν εἰς ἄγγη, τουέστιν εἰς τὰς αἰωνίους μονὰς, τὰ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ διαμείναντα φρονήματα· ἔξω δὲ βάλλεται τῆς βασιλείας, τὰ αἱρετικὰ καὶ τῆς ὀρθῆς δόξης ἀντίθετα. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΕ' Διδυμῳ

Things fair are collected together into a vessel and things wicked are thrown out of the net we find, I say, in the Church of the Lord, since everyone sealed with the name of Christ shall be brought into one company. And the collection into the vessel is into the eternal mansions, those souls who have persevered in truth, but heretics and those averse to correct doctrine are thrown outside the kingdom. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 205, to Didymus

Unexpected Ends

Caeterum legimus in libro Sapientia quosdam in die judicii habituros quidem poenitentiam, non tamen indulgentiam divinitus accepturos. Scriptum denique sic habetur: Tunc stabunt justi in magna constantia adversus eos qui se angustiaverunt, et qui abstulerunt labores eorum. Videntes turbabuntur timore horribili, et mirabuntur in subitatione insperatae salutis, dicentes inter se, poenitentiam habentes, et per angustiam spiritus gementes: Hi sunt quos habuimus aliquando in derisum, et in similitudinem improperrii; nos insensati vitam illorum aestimabamus insaniam, et finem illorum sine honore. Quomodo computati sunt inter filios Dei, et inter sanctos sors illorum est?  Nemo autem cum legit dictum quia mali mirabuntur in subitatione insperatae salutis, existimet illis qui in criminibus praesentem finiunt vitam, quandoque insperatam salutem divino munere conferendam. Justorum namque insperata salus, quae licet desperatur ab inquis danda, tamen permanet sperantibus justis. Unde beatus David unam psalmi loco spem justorum cecinit et salutem, dicens: Salus autem justorum a Domino, et protector eorum est in tempore tribulationes: et adjuvabit eos Dominus, et liberabit eos, et eripiet eos a peccatoribus, et salvos faciet eos, quoniam speraverunt in eum. Hinc est quod iniqui aeternis deputandi tormentis dicturi sunt de justis: Hi sunt quos habuimus aliquando in derisum et similitudinem improperii; nos insensati vitam illorum aestimabamus insaniam, et finem illorum sine honore. Haec est insperata salus, quoniam vitam justorum insaniam aestimabant; et cum ipsa essent insani, sanos se esse credebant, nec sperabant retributionem divinae justitiae, et propterea vitam suam corrigere negligebant. Etenim delecticantur hic luxuriose vivere diebus paucis, nec se credebant postmodum aeternis cruciandos esse suppliciis. Propterea cum justos viderint in illa gloria filiorum Dei de qua dicit beatus Paulus: In qua stamus et gloriamur in spe gloriae filiorum Dei'; tunc iniqui mirabuntur in gloria justorum, hoc est filiorum Dei; quia ipsi justi sunt filii Dei. Propterea iniqui poenitentiam steriliter quia intemporaliter habentes, et per angustiam spiritus gementes: Quomodo computati sunt inter filios Dei, et inter sanctos sors illorum est? Insperata ergo salus, id est quae sperata non est ab iniquis, profecto justis dabitur, non iniquis. Non enim dabitur illis qui eam desperando male vivunt, sed illis qui eam bene sperando, et a desideriis carnalibus abstinendo, beati Petri salubria mandata custodiunt, dicentis: Carissimi, obsecro tanquam advenas atque peregrinos abstinere vos a carnalibus desideriis, quae militant advesus animam; conversationem vestram inter gentes habentes bonam. Per ipsam bonam conversationem justi exhibent corpora sua hostiam viventem, sanctam, Deo placentem, quia per bonam conversationem ipsi sunt etiam templum Dei. Quod esse fideles testatur Apostolus dicens: Nescitis quia templum Dei estis, et spiritus Dei habitat in vobis?. Hoc templum ne malis operibus polluatur, non solum diligenter praemonet, sed etiam vehementer nostros animos terret, dicens: Si quis autem templum Dei violaverit, disperdet illum Deus. Templum enim Dei sanctum est, quod estis vos. Nemo se seducat. Quis enim, rogo, male vivens, cum audit ab Apostolo, quia si quis templum Dei violaverit, disperdet illum Deus, si conversus in hoc tempore non fuerit, aliquam sibi spem remissionis futurae promittere audeat? Quis non tremefactus concidat? Quis non ante finem vitae praesentis ad poenitentiam compunctus et humiliatus accurrat? Clamat Apostolus: Quia si quis templum Dei violaverit, disperdet illum Deus, et vanus homo seducit sese cogitatione nequissima, dicens: Etiamsi templum Dei violavero, et usque in finem male vixero, salvus ero. Nunquid non talibus dicit Apostolus, quia dicunt: Faciamus mala, ut veniant bona, quorum damnatio justa est. Nonne hi sunt quos sancta Scriptura infelices appellat, spemque illorum vacuam omnino pronuntiat, dicens: Sapientiam et disciplinam qui abjicit infelix est, et vacua est spes illorum, et labores sine fructu. Fulgentius Ruspensis, De Remissione Peccatorum, Lib II, Cap III Source: Migne PL 65.553a-554b

We read in the book of Wisdom that on the Day of Judgement there will be certain ones who though penitent will not receive Divine forgiveness. It is written: 'Then the righteous shall stand in great constancy against those who tormented them and those who made away with their labours. Seeing they shall be troubled with horrible fear and they shall be amazed suddenly at unexpected salvation, saying among themselves, in penance and in anguish of spirit groaning, 'These are those we held in derision and as a type of reproach. We insensibly judged their lives insane and their end without honour. How are they now reckoned as among the sons of God and to be with the saints is their lot?' 1 No one when he reads this which says that the evil shall be amazed suddenly at unexpected salvation, judges that those who in criminality ended their present lives shall receive the Divine gift of unexpected salvation. For unexpected salvation is of the righteous, and though it is allowed to the iniquitous one to despair, however it remains  the hope of the just. Whence blessed David in a certain Psalm sings of the hope of the just and their salvation, saying, 'The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord, and He is their protector in the time of tribulations and the Lord shall help them, and He shall free them and He shall seize them from sinners and save them, because they have hoped in Him.' 2 So it is that the wicked, having been sent into eternal torment, shall say concerning the righteous: 'These are those we once held in derision and as a type of reproach. We insensibly judged their life to be insane and their end without honour.' 1 This is unexpected salvation, because they judged the life of the just insane, but they themselves were insane believing themselves sane, nor were they expecting the retribution of Divine justice, and on account of that they were negligent in the correction of their lives. Thus they delighted to live luxuriously here for a few days, not believing that after they would suffer eternal punishment. Therefore when they see the righteous in that glory of the sons of God, of which the blessed Paul says, 'In which we stand and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God,' 3 then the iniquitous are astonished at the glory of the righteous, that is the sons of God, because the righteous themselves are the sons of God. Thus the iniquitous are sterile in their penance because the time for that has passed and with anguished spirits they groan, 'How are they reckoned among the sons of God and among the saints is their lot? 1 Unexpected salvation then is not for the iniquitous, but truly it is given to the righteous, not to the iniquitous. It shall not be given to those who hopeless of it lived wickedly but to those who hoping for it lived well, and abstaining from worldly desires, kept the life giving commandments of Saint Peter, who said, 'Dearest, I beg that as strangers and pilgrims you abstain from worldly desires, which war against the soul, your life among the people being good. 4 Through a good life the righteous exhibit their bodies as 'a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God,' 5 because through a good life they themselves are a temple of God. And to this the faithful Apostle bears witness, saying, 'Do you not know you are a temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you? 6 Lest this temple be polluted by evil works, not only does he warn us to be careful, but he would even terrify our souls, saying, 'If someone violates the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple is the holy place of God, which you are. Let no one lead themselves astray.' 7 For who, I ask, living wickedly, when he hears the Apostle, that if someone violates the temple of God that God shall destroy him, if not converted in this time, would hope for future forgiveness of sin? Who is not struck by trembling? Who before the end of this present life would not be stung by compunction and humility? The Apostle cries out, 'Because if someone violates the temple of God, God will destroy him,' and vain the man, led astray by most wicked thought, who says: 'Even if I have violated the temple of God, and lived badly until the end, I shall be saved.' The Apostle says it is not so, because he says, 'That we do evil that good might come of it, of such is the condemnation just.' 8 Is it not these that Sacred Scripture calls unhappy and pronounces their hope to be utterly empty, saying, 'They are wretched who reject wisdom and discipline, and empty is their hope and their work is without fruit.' 9 Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, On the Forgiveness of Sinners, Book 2, Chap 3 1 Wis 5.1 2 Ps 36.39-40 3 Rom 5.2 4 1 Pet 2.11 5 Rom. 12.1 6 1 Cor 3.16 7 1 Cor 3.17-18 8 Rom 3.8 9 Wis 3.11

Death And Evil

Theodorus: Nonnumquam solet Scriptura divina abusive mala pro afflictionibus ponere, non quia per naturam proprie mala sint, sed secundum hoc quod ab his sentiantur mala quibus utiliter inferuntur. Hominibus etenim disputans divina censura, necesse est ut humanis verbis et affectibus eloquatur. Etenim sectio vel ustio salutaris quae iliis qui ulcerum contagione putrefacti sunt pie infertur a medico, mala a tolerantibus creditur; nec equo calcar, nec emendatio suavis est delinquenti. Omnes etiam disciplinae his qui erudiuntur amarae sentiuntur ad praeseus, sicut Apostolus dicit: 'Omnis autem disciplina in praesenti non videtur esse gaudii sed moeroris; postea autem fructum pacatissimum his qui per se exercitati sunt reddet justitiae.' Et 'quem diligt Dominus, corripit; flagellat autem omnem filium quem recipit. Quis enim est filius quem non corripit Pater? Itaque mala nonnumquam poni pro afflictionibus solent, secundum illud: 'Et poenituit Deum super malitiam quam locutus est ut faceret eis, et non fecit'. Et iterum: 'Quia tu, Domine, misericors et poenitens in malitiis', id est, super tribulationibus et aerumnis quae nobis pro peccatorum nostrorum meritis inferre compelleris. Quas sciens utiles esse nonnullis, ita alius propheta, utique non invidens saluti eorum, sed consulens imprecatur: 'Adde illis mala, Domine, adde mala gloriosis terrae.' Et ipse Dominus,'Ecce', inquit, 'inducam super eos mala,' id est dolores ac vastitates, quibus in praesenti salubriter castigati ad me, quem in rebus prosperis contempserunt, reverti tandem ac festinare cogantur. Ideoque haec principalia esse mala non possumus definire, multis enim ad bonum proficiunt, et causas aeternorum pariunt gaudiorum. Et idcirco ut ad queastionem propositam recurramus, universa quae putantur mala nobis ab inimicis vel a quibuscumque aliis irrogari, non sunt credenda mala esse, sed media. Non enim talia invenientur qualia putat esse ille qui intulit animo furibundo, sed qualia senserit qui sustinet. Ideoque cum illata fuerit mors viro sancto, non ei malum illatum esse credendum est, sed modium quiddam. Quod cum peccatori malum sit, justo requies et absolutio fit malorum.'Mors enim viro justo requies, cujus vita abscondita est.' Et ideo nec vir justus ex hac aliquid perpetitur detrimenti qui nihil pertulit novi; sed id quod ei accessurum fuerat necessitate naturae, inimici nequitia non sine praemio vitae perennis excepit, ac debitum mortis humanae, quod inexcusabili lege reddendum est, cum fructu uberrimo passionis ac magnae remunerationis mercede persolvit.  Sanctus Ioannes Cassianus, Collationes, Col VI, Cap VI.

Theodore: Sometimes Holy Scripture is accustomed to use 'evils' for 'afflictions' not that these are in their nature evils, but because they are felt to be evils by those on whom they are usefully brought. For when Divine judgment is disputing with men it must speak in the words and affections of men. For the sake of health cuts and cauterisations are inflicted on those who suffer infected ulcers by the physician, but it is thought evil by those who bear it; nor is the spur sweet to the horse nor correction to those who go astray. Indeed all discipline is felt to be a bitter thing at that moment to those who are corrected, as the Apostle says: 'All discipline for the present indeed seems not to be joy but sorrow; but after it will yield to them that are exercised by it the most peaceable fruit of righteousness,'1 and "Whom the Lord loves He corrects, and He scourges every son whom He receives'2 for what son is there whom the father does not correct? Thus evils are sometimes accustomed to stand for afflictions, according to which: 'And God repented of the evil which He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it.' 3 And again: 'For You, Lord, are gracious and merciful, patient and very merciful and ready to repent of evil,' 4 that is, of the tribulations and distress which You are obliged to bring upon us as the reward of our sins. And knowing that these are useful to some, another Prophet, certainly not through envy of their security, but for their good, imprecates: 'Add evils to them, O Lord, add evils to the glorious ones of the earth;'5 and the Lord Himself says 'Behold, I will bring evils upon them,' that is, sorrows and losses, with which they shall for the present be chastened for their soul's health by Me, whom in their prosperity they scorned, and so they shall be at last be driven to return and hasten back to Me. And so that these things are originally evil we cannot possibly assert, for they contribute to the good of many and prepare the causes of eternal joy. And therefore, returning to the question raised, everything which is thought to be brought upon us as evils by our enemies or by any other people, should not be adjudged evils, but as things indifferent. For in the end such things will not be what he thinks who imposed them with raging spirit, but what he makes of them who endures them. And so when death has been brought upon a holy man, we should not judge that an evil has struck him but a thing indifferent. That which is an evil to a sinner, while to the righteous it is rest and gives release from evils. 'For death is rest to a righteous man whose life is hidden.'7 And so a righteous man does not suffer any loss from it, because he undergoes nothing strange, but he  receives by the crime of an enemy, and not without the reward of eternal life, that which would have happened to him in the course of nature, and  he pays the debt of man's death, which must be rendered by an unavoidable law, with the most rich fruit of  passion, and with a great reward he is remunerated. Saint John Cassian, Conferences, Conference 6, Ch 6. 1 Heb 12.11  2 Heb 12.6  3 Jer 26.13 4. Joel 2.13 5 Is 26.15 (LXX) 6 Jer 11.11 7 Job 3.

Judged for Hell

Ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ κατακρίνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἐφ' οἶς ἀμαρτάνουσι, προλαμβάνοντες ἀποκρούνται τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ψῆφον, καθάπερ καὶ Παῦλος φησιν· Εἰ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς ἐκρίνομεν, οὐκ ἄν ἐκρινόμεθα· οὕτως οἱ νοσοῦντες ἀμετανόντα, καὶ ἁμαρτάνοντες, μὴ καταγινώσκοντες δὲ ὧν ἐπληρμμέλησαν, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σφοδρότητος ἐπισπῶνται τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τιμωρίαν ἑαυτοῖς. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ οὗτοι ἢ τὰ ἀλλότρια ἀρπάζοντες, ἢ τὰ οἰκεῖα μάτην καὶ εἰκῆ δαπανῶντες, ἄπερ εἰς πένητας ἀναλίσκειν ἐχρῆν, εἰς τάφους, καὶ σκώληκας, καὶ σῆτας δαπανῶσι, καὶ οὐ μετανοοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῶν γεγενημένων, ἀλλὰ ἀνίατα μένουσι νοσοῦντες, ἄκουσον τί γίνεται λοιπόν. Τί δὴ οὖν γίνεται; Τιμωρίᾳ τῇ παρὰ τού Θεοῦ δίδονται· διὸ ἐπήγαγεν· Ὡς πρόβατα ἐν ᾅδῃ ἔθεντο· θάνατος ποιμανεῖ αὐτους· οὐ τὸ ἥμερον ἐνταῦθα διὰ ὀνόματος τῶν προβάτων δηλῶν (τί γὰρ ἐκείνων ἀγριώτερον γένοιτ' ἂν, τῶν παρορώτων μὲν γυμνὰ σώματα μενήτων, καὶ γαστέπας τηκομένας λιμῷ, καλλωπιζόντων δὲ οἴκους φθπρᾷ, καὶ σκώληκι, καὶ σητί), ἀλλὰ τὸ εὔκολον αὐτῶν τῆς ἀπωλείας, τὴν ἐξ ἐπιδρομῆς πανωλεθρίαν, τὸ εὐχείρωτον τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσιν. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀσθενέστερον ἀνθρώπου κακίᾳ συζῶντος. Ὅπερ καὶ οὖτοι πείονται· καὶ οὕτω καρακοπήσονται, οὕτως ἀπολοῦνται ἄρδην, καὶ εἰς τὸν ᾅδην ἀπελεύσονται ῥᾳδίως, εὐκόλως, συντόμως, ἀπονητὶ, ὡσανεὶ πρόβατα κατακοπτόμενα. Τοῦτο θάνατος, μᾶλλον δὲ πρᾶγμα θανάτου πολὺ χαλεπώτερον. Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν τοιαύτην τελευτὴν ἀθάνατος αὐτοὺς διαδέξεται θάνατοςμ διὰ τοῦτο οὐδαμοῦ εἰς κόλπους Ἀβραὰμ, οὐδὲ εἰς ἄλλο χωρίον φαίνονται ἀπιόντες, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν ᾅδην, τὸ τῆς τιμωρίας, τὸ τῆς κολάσεως, τὸ τῆς πανωλεθρίας ὄνομα. Καὶ ἡ ἐνταῦθα αὐτῶν τελευτὴ εὐτελὴς, καὶ εὐκαταφρόνητος, καὶ ἡμῖν ἔθος λέγειν περὶ τῶν εὐκόλως ἀπολλυμένων· Ὡς πρόβατον ὁ δεῖνα ἐσφάγη. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὡς ἄλογα ἔζων, καὶ ὡς ἄλογα ἀπόλλυνται, οὐκ ἔχοντες περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἐλπίδα χρηστήν· καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ἐπὶ κακῷ· Θάνατος ποιμανεῖ αὐτούς. Ἐνταῦθα μοι τὸν θάνατον δοκεῖ λέγειν, τὴν ἀπώλειαν τὴν ἐκεῖ, τὴν τιμωρίαν, καθάπερ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησι· Ψυχὴ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα, αὔτη ἀπολεῖται· οὐ τὴν τοῦ εἰναι ἀναίρεσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τιμωρίαν παραδηλῶν. Καὶ ἐπιμένει τῇ μεταφορᾷ τῆς λέξεως. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπε πρόβατα, ἔδειξεν αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν ποιμένα. Τίς δὲ οὖτος; Ὁ σκώληξ ὁ ἰοβόλος, τὸ σκότος τὸ ἀτελεύτητον, τὰ δεσμὰ τὰ ἄλυτα, ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων. Ὅρα τοίνυν αὐτοὺς πάντοθεν κολαζομένους. Ἐν τῇ ζωῇ, ὅτι πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἐνεποδίσθησαν, ὅτι κακίας ἔγένοντο δοῦλοι, καὶ αἰχμάλωτοι, καὶ περιττὸν ἐπόνησαν πόνον καὶ καταγέλαστον· ἐν τῇ τελευτῇ, ὅτι ἁπλῶς καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἀπώλοντο· ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῷ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν, ὅτι διαπαντὸς ὑπὸ τῆς ἀπωλείας κατέχονται. Ἅγιος Ἰωάννης ὁ Χρυσόστομος, Εἰς Τον ΜΗ' Ψαλμον

For judging themselves they sin, thinking that beforehand they can ward off the judgement of God, but as Paul says, 'If we judge ourselves we are not thereby judged.' 1Thus sick with impenitence, and sinning, not recognising with what they are filled, they demand punishment of grave weight from God. They who seize on goods which are not theirs, or expend their wealth on vain things rather than giving to the poor, they are consumed by their tombs and worms and grubs, and not repenting the things that they have done, but remaining in their sickness without cure, let it be heard what comes next. What then will it be? They shall be given punishment by God, and so it is written below: ' Like sheep in hell they are placed and death will shepherd them.' 2 But by this name of sheep is not signified meekness, (for they are of more wild nature who have despised the naked bodies and the empty stomachs of the poor but decorate their dwellings of corruption, worms and grubs) but it is because their destruction is easy and sudden their exit. How easy to take them that lurked to take from others. Nothing is as feeble as the man who has passed his life in wickedness. But even to these it shall come forth, even thus they shall fall, thus their foundations shall perish and so easily they shall reach hell, so briefly, so quickly, without delay, like sheep slain. This is death, this truly is the death most bitter. After such a death these whom immortal death had taken into hell shall therefore never in the lap of Abraham, nor in any other place, be seen to be placed. Here then is punishment, here is torment, here utter exile is the name. And this is the death of those most vile and contemptible and there they must remain. Thus even we are accustomed to say of those who easily perish: 'He was slain like a sheep.' Because like beasts they lived and as beasts they perished, not having happy hope for the future, for on account of evil: Death shall shepherd them.2 Here to me death seems to say that destruction is there, and torment, as even elsewhere it is said, 'The soul which sins dies,' 3 that is, that here is not signified natural extinction but punishment. It stands as a metaphor: when he speaks of sheep, he indicates the shepherd. What is this? Poisonous worms, darkness without end, chains never to be unbound, gnashing of teeth. See those punished on every side. In life, because virtue was an impediment to them, because they were slaves of vice and possessions, because they took up worthless and ridiculous labour, in death, because their end was vulgar and disgraceful, in the time following their passing, they shall ever be held in destruction.   Saint John Chrysostom, Exposition of the Psalms, Psalm 48 1 1 Cor 11.31 2 Ps 48.15  3 Ez 18.20

The Impious and Death

Unde illi intende, de quo dicit Propheta: Qui non accepit in vanum animam suam. In vanum accepit animam suam (ut jam de hujus vitae dicamus molestiis) qui saecularia struit, aedificat corporalia. Quotidie ad edendum et bibendum surgimus, et nullus expletur, ut non post momentum esuriat ac sitiat. Quotidie lucrum quaerimus, et nullus cupiditati modus ponitur. Non satiabitur, inquit, oculus visu, nec auris auditu. Qui diligit argentum, non satiatur argento. Nullus finis laboris, et nullus est fructus abundantiae. Cupimus quotidie scire nova; et quid est ipsa scientia, nisi quotidiani doloris adjectio? Omnia quae sunt jam fuerunt, et nihil sub sole est novum, sed omnia vanitas. Totam vitam odio habui , dixit Ecclesiastes. Qui vitam odio habuit, mortem utique praedicavit. Denique mortuos laudavit magis quam viventes; et illum judicavit beatum, qui in hanc vitam non venit, nec inanem hunc suscepit laborem. Circuivit, inquit, cor meum, ut scirem impii laetitiam, et considerarem, et quaererem sapientiam, et numerum, et ut scirem per imperium laetitiam, et molestiam, et jactationem; et inveni ego eam amariorem, quam mortem: non quia amara sit mors, sed quia impio amara; et tamen amarior vita quam mors. Gravius est enim ad peccatum vivere, quam in peccato mori; quia impius quamdiu vivit, peccatum auget: si moriatur, peccare desinit. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Bono Mortis

Whence to this attend, of which the Psalmist says, 'He who has not received his soul in vain.'1 In vain he receives his soul (so now let us speak of this troubled life) who fashions a worldly life, building up the flesh. Every day we rise to eating and drinking and no one is satisfied, since not even after a moment one may hunger and thirst. Every day we seek wealth and no one places a limit on avarice. 'The eye shall not be satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing.'2 He who loves coin shall not be satisfied with coin. No end of labour, and no abundance of fruit. We desire every day to know new things and what is this knowledge but to add to grief every day? 'Everything which is now was, and there is nothing new under the sun but all is vanity. For all life I have had hate,'3 says Ecclesiastes. He who has had hate for life has thus spoken of death. Next he praises the dead more than the living and he judges blessed he who has not come into this life, he who has not taken up vain labour here. 'It has surrounded my heart, he said, to know the joy of impiety and I pondered and I sought wisdom and numbers that I might know through rule joy and trouble and boasting, and I found in it more bitter than death,'4 not because death is bitter but because it is bitter to the impious, and yet life is more bitter than death. More burdensome it is to live in sin than to die in sin, because while the impious man lives his sin grows, if he dies his sin ceases. Saint Ambrose, On the Good of Death  1 Ps 23.4  2 Eccl 1.8 3 Eccl 2.17  4 Eccl 7.26

The Tomb of Abraham

Ἀδελφὸς ἠρώτησε τὸν ἀββᾶν Ποιμένα, λέγων· Τί ποιήσω; Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων· Ἀβραὰμ ὅτε εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, μνημεῖον ἠγόρασεν ἑαυτῷ καὶ διὰ τοῦ τάφου ἐκληρονόμησε τὴν γῆν. Λέγει ὁ ἀδελφός· Τί ἐστι τάφος; Λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων· Τόπος κλαυθμοῦ καὶ πένθους. Αποφθεγματα των ἀγιων γεροντων, Παλλαδιος

A brother questioned father Poimen, saying, 'What should I do?' The elder said, 'When Abraham came to the land of promise he bought a tomb for himself, and through the tomb he inherited the land.'1 The brother said, 'What is a tomb?' The elder said, ' A place of weeping and mourning.' Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Palladius of Galatia  1 Gen 23

The Chasm

Χάσμα μέγα ἐστήρικται μεταξὺ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τοῦ πλουσίου τιμωρουμένου, ὁ Αβραὰμ ἀπεκρίνατο, τὴν τῶν δικαίων πρὸς τοὺς πταίοντας διαφορὰν ἐνδεικνύμενος. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ, φιλόξενος ἥν καὶ φιλόπτωχος, τοὺς μακρὰν ἀπῳκισμένους δεχόμενος· ὁ δὲ πρὸ τῆς θύρας ἡλκωμένον, ἀνιλεως ἐκτρεπόμενος. Ὡωπερ οὖν ἐναντίαι αἱ προθέσεις, οὕτως ἀμιγὴς ἡ μετάστασις· τῶν μὲν, τὴν ἄνεσιν· τῶν δὲ, τὴν κόλασιν δεξαμένων. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΡΟΒ', Ἀρχοντιῳ

A great chasm is fixed between the rich man in torment and himself, Abraham replied,1 showing here the difference between the righteous and those who err. For he was a lover of guests and the poor, receiving them from afar, and the other mistreated those at his door, mercilessly turning away. And as they had opposed characters so they are removed to different places, the one to peace, the other receiving a place of punishment. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book1, Letter 172, to Archontius 1 Lk 16.26

Tribulations And The Saints

De vestra tribulatione innotuit nobis; cujus causa has consolatorias litteras charitati vestrae dirigere studui. deprecans vos, in conspectu Dei viriliter agere, et forti animo esse. Nec semper nox, nec semper dies, sed vices suas agunt; ita hujus saeculi adversitas vel prosperitas. Hodie tempestas imminet, sed cras serenitas arridet. Figatur spei anchora in Christum. Qui laetatur in prosperis, timeat adversa; et qui adversis fatigatur speret prospera cito advenire. Aurum perfecti decoris non erit, nisi fornace ardoris probetur. Arbitror ex te ipso suae partem tribulationis oriri, qui forsitan inimcos regis recipias, vel inimicorum illius possessiones tutaris. Si vero juste patiaris, quid turbaris? Si vero injuste, cur non recorderis sanctorum tribulationes? Job audistis, dicit Jacobus apostolus, et finem Domini vidistis. Qui particeps est tribulationis sanctorum, particeps erit et gloriae. Noli fugam meditari, sed coronam sperare. Alcuinus, Epistola CXV, Ad Eanbaldum Archiepiscopum Eboracensis Source: Migne PL 100.345b-c

Your troubles have become known to us; for which cause I have taken care to address these consolatory words to your charity. I pray for you in the sight of God, that you act manfully and remain strong of soul. It is not always night, it is not always day, but they alternate, and so it is with an age of prosperity and adversity. Today a storm threatens but tomorrow serenity shines forth. Fix the anchor of hope in Christ. He who rejoices in prosperity may fear adversity, and he who is wearied by adversity may hope that prosperity will quickly come. Gold has no true beauty until it is proved in the flames of the furnace. I believe that you are partially responsible for your tribulations. Perhaps you have received enemies of the king, perhaps you protect the property of one of his enemies. If you suffer justly, why are you troubled? If unjustly why do you not recall the tribulations of the saints? 'You have heard of Job,' says James the Apostle, 'and you are aware of the intention of Lord.' 1 He who has a part of the tribulations of the saints, he shall have a part of the glory. Do not meditate flight but hope for the crown. Alcuin of York, from Letter 115, To Eanbald Bishop of York 1 Jam 5.11