Mourning And Healing

Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται. Ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου μακαριστὸν ὑπο λαβεῖν ἐκεῖνο τὸ πένθος, τὸ ἐπὶ πλημμελήμασι καὶ ἁμαρτίαις γινόμενον, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου περὶ τῆς λύπης διδασκαλίαν, τοῦ φήσαντος, μὴ ἒν εἶναι λύπης εἶδος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν κοσμικὸν, τὸ δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν ἐνερ γούμενον. Καὶ τῆς μὲν κοσμικῆς λύπης, θάνατον εἶναι τὸ ἔργον· τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν, σωτηρίαν ἐκ μετανοίας τοῖς λυπουμένοις ἐργάζεσθαι. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ μακαρίζεσθαι τὸ τοιοῦτον τῆς ψυχῆς πάθος ἐστὶν, ὅταν ἐν αἰσθήσει γενομένη τοῦ χείρονος, τὸν ἐν κακίᾳ βίον ἀπολοφύρηται. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ἀῤῥωστημάτων, οἷς ἂν πάρετον ἐξ ἐπηρείας τινὸς γένηταί τι μέρος τοῦ σώματος, σημεῖον τοῦ νενεκρῶσθαι τὸ παρειμένον ἡ ἀναλγησία γίνεται· εἰ δὲ κατά τινα τέχνην ἰατρικὴν ἡ ζωτικὴ πάλιν αἴσθησις ἐπαναχθείη τῷ σώματι, χαίρουσιν ἤδη πονοῦντος τοῦ μέρους, αὐτός τε ὁ κάμνων καὶ οἱ τὴν θεραπείαν προσάγοντες, τεκμηρίῳ χρώμενοι τοῦ πρὸς ὑγίειαν τρέψαι τὸ πάθος, τὸ ἐν αἰσθήσει τῶν δριμυσσόντων ἤδη γενέσθαι τὸ μέλος· οὕτως ἐπειδὰν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἀπηλγηκότες τινὲς παραδῶσι τῷ καθ' ἁμαρτίαν βίῳ ἑαυτοὺς, νεκροί τινες ὄντως καὶ πάρετοι τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου γενόμενοι, οὐδεμίαν ἔχουσιν ὧν ποιοῦσιν τὴν αἴσθησιν. Εἰ δὲ καθάψαιτό τις αὐτῶν ὁ ἰατρεύων λόγος, οἷον διά τινων θερμῶν τε καὶ διακαιόντων φαρμάκων, λέγω δὲ τῶν σκυθρωπῶν τῆς μελλούσης κρίσεως ἀπειλῶν, καὶ διὰ βάθους τὴν καρδίαν τῷ φόβῳ τῶν προσδοκωμένων δριμύξειεν, γεέννης φόβον, καὶ πῦρ μὴ σβεννύμενον, καὶ ἀτελεύτητον σκώληκα, καὶ βρυγμὸν ὀδόντων, καὶ κλαυθμὸν ἀδιάλειπτον, καὶ σκότος ἐξώτερον, καὶ ἅπαντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, οἷόν τινα θερμὰ καὶ δριμέα φάρμακα τῷ νεναρκηκότι διὰ τῶν καθ' ἡδονὴν παθημάτων ἐντρίβων καὶ ἀναθάλπων, εἰς αἴσθησιν αὐτὸν ἀγάγοι τοῦ ἐν ᾧ ἦν βίου, μακαριστὸν αὐτὸν ἀπεργάσηται, τὴν ὀδυνηρὰν αἴσθησιν τῇ ψυχῇ ἐμποιήσας. Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Εἰς Τους Μακαρισμους, Logos Γ', Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται Source: Migne PG 44.1220d-1221b

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted 1 Firstly, then, one can take that mourning to be blessed which follows the errors of sins, according to the teaching of Paul on sorrow, which says that there is not just one kind of sorrow, but there is one of the world and one that is brought about by God, and the work of the worldly sorrow is death, but the other in those mourning works salvation through repentance. 2 For truly such suffering cannot be excluded from the sorrow that is called blessed when a soul bewails its wicked life because it feels its badness. It is as with bodily disorders, so that if because of some accident a limb of the body has become paralysed, then a lack of a sense of pain is a sign that the afflicted limb has gone dead, but if the physician's art restores to the body the sensation of life, there is gladness over the suffering of the part because it is a sign that health is being restored since the limb can now sense that which causes pain. Thus, as the Apostle says, if people give themselves to sin because they no longer feel pain in it, then they have become truly paralyzed and are dead to the virtuous life, for they have no feeling for what they are doing. But if a healing word lays hold of them like some bitter medicine, and I speak here of the fierce threats of the judgement to come, and it pierces the heart to its depths with the fear of the things that are to be expected, the terror of hell, and the unquenchable fire, and the worm that does not die, and the gnashing of teeth, and the perpetual weeping, and the outer darkness, all these things are administered like bitter medicines so that the man who has died by the passions and pleasures is revived again and senses the sort of life he had been leading, and he is made blessed by the pain he feels in his soul. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, On The Beatitudes, from the Third Oration, on 'Blessed are they who weep for they shall be comforted.' 1 Mt 5.4 2 2 Cor 7.10

Healing And Hell

Ἐλέησόν με, Κύριε, ὅτι ἀσθενής είμι. Ἁρμόττουσα τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσιν ἡ τοιαύτη φωνή. Ασθενείας γὰρ ἡγουμένης , ἡ ἁμαρτία νικά. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἀσθενήσει τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν λογικὸν, οὐ στασιάσει τὰ πάθη· ἐῤῥωμένου γὰρ τοῦ ἡνιόχου, καὶ μετ᾿ ἐπιστήμης τοὺς ἵππους καὶ στρέφοντος καὶ ἐθύνοντος, οὐκ ἔχει τὰ σκιρτήματα χώραν. Ἲασαί με, Κύριε, ὅτι έταράχθη τὰ ὀστᾶ μου· καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐταράχθη σφόδρα. Ὀστα ἐνταῦθα τοὺς λογισμοὺς ὀνομάζει· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ ὀστᾶ στεγανωτέραν ἔχει τὴν φύσιν, καὶ αὐτὰ φέρει τὸ σῶμα, τροπικῶς τοὺς λογισμούς, δι ' ὧν τὸ ζῶον ἰθύνεται, ὀστᾶ προσηγόρευσεν. Ἠ τούτων, φησί, ταραχὴ ἐκλόνησέ με, καὶ διέσεισε. Διόπερ τῆς σης φιλανθρωπίας ἀπολαῦσαι παρακαλώ, ἵνα διὰ ταύτης τὴν ἴασιν δέξωμαι. Καὶ σὺ Κύριε ἕως πότε; Επίστρεψον Κύριε, ῥῦσαι τὴν ψυχήν μου, σωσόν με ἕνεκεν τοῦ ἑλέους σου. Τὸ, ἕως πότε , οὐχ ὡς ἐγκαλῶν λέγει , ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν ὀδύναις ὢν, ἐπιταχῦναι παρακαλεῖ τὴν βοήθειαν. Αρμοδίως δὲ προσέθηκε τὸ, Ενεκεν τοῦ ἐλέους σου. ἡ Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐμαυτῷ, φησί, θαῤῥῶς οὐδὲ τῇ ἐμαυτοῦ δικαιοσύνῃ τὴν σὴν ἐπιγράφω βοήθειαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν σὸν ἔλεον ταύτης ἱκετεύω τυχεῖν. Τὸ δὲ, ἐπίστρεψον, Κύριε, ὁ ἀντὶ τοῦ, πρόσχες μοι, καὶ μὴ ἀποστρέψῃς τὸ πρόσωπόν σου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ· ἐκ μεταφορᾶς τῶν ὀργιζομένων, καὶ ἀποστρεφομένων, καὶ τοὺς ἑπταικότας οὐκ ἐθελόντων ὁρᾷν. Οτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ ὁ μνημονεύων σου· ἐν δὲ τῷ ᾅδῃ τίς ἐξομολογήσεταί σοι; Διὰ τοῦτο τῆς θεραπείας ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπολαῦσαι παρακαλῶ, ἐπειδὴ οἶδα, ὅτι τοῖς τόνος τὸν βίον ἐξιοῦσι μετὰ τραυμάτων, οὐδεμία λαπὸν θεραπεία δοθήσεται, οὐκέτι χώραν τῆς μετανοίας ἐχούσης. Καὶ κάλλιστα τῷ θείῳ Δαβιδ τοῦτο πεφιλοσόφηται· οὐ γὰρ ἐν θανάτῳ, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ζωῇ ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ μεμνημένος. Οὕτως οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ᾅδῃ τοῖς ἀπελθοῦσιν ἐξομολόγησις καὶ διόρθωσις. Συνέκλεισε γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ἐνταῦθα μὲν βίον καὶ πρᾶξιν, ἐκεῖ δὲ τὴν τῶν πεπραγμένων ἐξέτασιν· καίγε ἴδιον τοῦτο τῆς ὀγδόης, τὸ μηκέτι καιρὸν εἰς παρασκευὴν ἀγαθῶν, ἢ κακῶν διδόναι τοῖς ἐν αὐτῇ γινομένοις. Ἀλλ ' ὧν ἂν τις ἑαυτῷ καταβάληται διὰ τῶν ἔργων τὰ σπέρματα, τούτων ἀντιπαρέχειν τὰ δράγματα· οὗ χάριν εναταῦθα ἐνεργεῖν νομοθετεῖ τὴν μετάνοιαν, ὡς ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ τῆς τοιαύτης σπουδῆς ἀπρακτούσης. Φησὶ γάρ Ἐπειδὴ μακρός μοι γέγονεν ὁ τῆς μετανοίας καιρός , δέδοικα μὴ φθάσῃ τὸν παρὰ σοῦ ἔλεον ὁ θάνατος, ἐν ᾧ τὰ τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως οὐκ ἔστι· τούτου χάριν ἐπιταχῦναι τὸν ἔλεον αἰτῶ · εἶτα παιδεύει τὸν ἀκροατὴν, ὅτι μετὰ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας δεῖ καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα ἕπεσθαι. Ἄν τε γὰρ τὴν ἀσθένειαν προβαλώμεθα, ἄν τε τὴν ταραχήν, ἄν τε τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἀγαθότητα , τὰ δὲ παρ ' ἡμῶν μὴ προστεθή, οὐδὲν ὄφελος ἡμῖν Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Ἑρμηνεία εἰς Τους Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμός Ϛ’ Source: Migne PG 80.904a-905a

How mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak. 1 Such a cry befits sinners. For with weakness present, sin conquers. If the reason in us was not weak, we would not be cast down by trials. If the charioteer were strong, and the horses were wisely ruled over and controlled, they would have no space to run wild. 2 Heal me, Lord, for my bones are troubled, and my soul is excessively distressed. Here bones mean thoughts. Because bones have a nature that is more dense and they bear up the body, metaphorically he calls thoughts bones, by which an animal is directed. Therefore he says he says that their troubling strikes and shakes him. Whence I pray that I enjoy your benevolence so that I may recover. And you, Lord, how long? Turn, O Lord, seize my soul, save me on account of your mercy. How does not say 'how long' as one who complains, but as one who begs in sorrow that the deed may be done quickly. Rightly then he sets down, 'On account of your mercy,' For I am not confident in myself, nor do I attribute your aid to my righteousness, but it is because of your mercy that I pray to be made well. 'Turn, O Lord,' means attend to me and do not turn your face from me, which image he takes up from those who are incensed and turning away from those who err will not look at them. For in death there is no memory of you. In hell who shall confess you? Because of this I pray in the present cure I enjoy, since I know of those who have passed on from this life with wounds and that there is no medicine that follows, when there is no longer any place of penance. And this is the philosophy of the blessed David, for he who is mindful of God lives and is not dead. So for those who go down into hell there is no confession, nor any correction. For here God ends life and deeds, and then there is an examination of what is done, and this is the true eighth day when there is no more time given to men in their existence, but the seeds of his works which he has cast down shall be bound together in sheaves. Hence he commands here that one should make penance, since in hell all zeal will be stilled. He says, 'While it was still day I made penance, fearing lest death would come before mercy, in which death there is no confession, and I sought to make mercy hasten.' Finally he teaches the hearer that we should seek the benevolence of God, for whether we incline to weakness or are troubled, there is the kindness of God, but even so we should still not set aside the things we can do. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on the Psalms, from Psalm 6 1 Ps 6.3 2 cf Plato Phaedrus 246a-b

In And Out Of Hell

Anima siquiem hominis eo temporis articulo, quo de carcere corpori hujus egreditur, et est quasi in porta qua exitur ab hac vita, justa eorum suorum exigentiam transit ad gaudia vel dolores, juxta illud: Opera eorum sequuntur illos. Justus autem non confundetur, cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta. De illo enim dicetur: Date ei de fructu manuum suarum, et laudent eum in portis opera ejus. Nam, etsi fuerunt in laboribus, sed, Amodo dicet eis Spiritus ut requiescant a laboribus suis. Olim siquidem omnes ad inferos descendebant. Unde et beatus Job dicit: Quis mihi tribuat ut in inferno protegas me, et abscondas me, donec pertranseat furor tuus, et constiuas mihi tempus in quo recorderis mei? Erat tamen magnum chaos firmatum inter justos et impios; nam justi erant in sinu Abrahae sedentes, id est quiescentes in tenebris, exspectantes beatam spem et adventum gloriae magni Dei. Impii vero erant in doloribus et tormentis: quod ex evangelica historia in divite et Lazaro patet. Christus autem peccatorum purgatoionem faciens, abolito chirographo nostrae damnationis in sanguine suo, desendit ad inferos et contrivit portas aereas, ac vectes ferreos confregit, educens vinctos de domo carceris, sedentes in tenebris et umbra mortis. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XLI In Festo Omnium Sanctorum Source: Migne PL 207.685c-686a

The soul of a man at the time of its separation, when it goes out from the prison of the body, is as a going out through a gate from this life, and according to their going out they pass over to joy or sorrow, according to which, 'Their works follow them.' But 'The righteous man shall not be dismayed when he speaks to his enemies in the gate.' For concerning him it shall be said, 'Give to him from the fruits of his hands and his works shall praise him in the gates.' For even if they were amid tribulations, yet 'henceforth the Spirit shall say that they may rest from their labours.' 1 Certainly all went down to hell once, and therefore the blessed Job says, 'Who will give me this, that you will protect me in hell, and hide me until your wrath passes, and appoint for me a time when you will remember me?' 2 But there was a great gulf fixed between the righteous and the wicked, since the righteous were sitting in the lap of Abraham, that is, resting in the darkness and hoping with blessed hope for the coming of the great glory of God. But the wicked were in grief and torment, which the Gospel narrative about Lazarus and the rich man reveals. 3 But Christ making a purgation of sins and abolishing the sign of our damnation with his own blood, descended to hell and 'broke the bronze gates and shattered the iron bonds,' and led out the conquered from the prison house, and from 'sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.' 4 Peter of Blois, from Sermon 41, On The Feast Of All Saints 1 Apoc 14.13, Ps 126.5, Prov 31.31, Apoc 14.13 2 Job 14.13 3 Lk 16.19-31 4 Ps 106.16, 10

Fear And Longing

Γεένῃς φόβος καὶ παραδείσου πόθος παρέχουσι τὴν τῶν θλιβερῶν ὑπομενήν· καὶ τοῦτο, οὐκ ἐξ ἑαυτῶν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ γινώσκοντος τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς ἡμῶν. Ἅγιος Μάρκος ὁ Ἐρημίτης, Περὶ Τῶν Οἰομένων Ἐξ Ἔργων Δικαιοῦσθαι Source: Migne PG 65.949b

The fear of Gehenna and the longing for Paradise bestows endurance in trials, and this is not our own work, but it is from Him who knows our thoughts. 1 Saint Mark The Ascetic, On Those Who Think Themselves Justified By Works 1 Ps 138.1-5

The Falling Tree

Quid est ait, Si ceciderit lignum ad austrum, aut ad aquilonem, in quocunque loco ceciderit ibi erit? Nunquid lignum quod cadit contra aquilonem aut meridiem, ibi erit? Nonne saepe movetur in alias mundi partes? Nulli hoc dubium est, sed haec sententia spirituliter debet intelligi. Per lignum homo designatur quoniam unusquisuqe quasi lignum est in silva generis humani. Per aquilonem, qui est frigidus ventus, designatur inferni supplicium, et est sensus: Ubicunque homo sibi locum et futuram sedem praeparaverit, ibi erit cum mortuus fuerit, hoc est, si bene vivendo sibi praeparaverit ad austrum,cum ceciderit, id est cum mortuus fuerit, in requie paradasi et gloria regni coelestis permanebit in aeternum; sin male vivendo sibi locum ad boream praeparaverit, inferni poenas in saecula saeculorum habebit. Honorius Augustodunensis, Quaestiones Et Ad Easdem Responsiones In Duos Salomonis Libros, In Ecclesiasten, Caput XI Source: Migne PL 172.345b-c

Why is it said, 'If a tree falls to the south or to the north, in whatever place it falls there it shall be.'? 1 Shall a tree that falls to the north or to the south be there? Is it not often moved to some other place in the world? Let there be no doubt but that this should be understood spiritually. By the tree man is designated, because each one is like a tree in the forest of the human race. By the north wind, which is a cold wind, the punishment of hell is signified, and the meaning is that wherever a man has prepared as a future place and seat for himself, there he shall be when he is dead. Thus if he lives well he shall have prepared a place for himself to the south when he falls, that is, when he is dead, and he shall dwell forever in the rest of paradise and in the glory of the heavenly kingdom, but if he lives wickedly he shall have prepared himself a place to the north, and he shall dwell amid the punishments of hell forever. Honorius of Autun, Questions and Answers on Two Books of Solomon, On Ecclesiastes, Chapter 11 1 Eccl 11.3

Exaltation And Downfall

Kαὶ σύ, Καφαρναούμ, μὴ ἕως οὐρανοῦ ὑψωθήσῃ; ἕως ᾅδου καταβήσῃ ὅτι εἰ ἐν Σοδόμοις ἐγενήθησαν αἱ δυνάμεις αἱ γενόμεναι ἐν σοί, ἔμεινεν ἂν μέχρι τῆς σήμερον. Πλὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι γῇ Σοδόμων ἀνεκτότερον ἔσται ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως ἢ σοί. Ἡ Καπερναοὺμ ὑψώθη διὰ τὸ εἶναι πόλις τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἐδοξάζετο γὰρ ὡς δῆθεν πατρὶς αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ὠφελήθη, διὰ τὸ μὴ πιστεῦσαι. Τούναντιον γὰρ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μᾶλλον κατακέκριται ἕως ᾅδου, ὅτι τοιοῦτον ἔχουσα οἰκήτορα, οὐδὲν ὠφελήθη ἐξ αὐτοῦ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ Καπερναοὺμ ἑρμηνεύται χωρίον παρακλήσεως, βλέπε ὅτι κᾶν ἀξιωθῇ τις γενέσθαι χωρίον τοῦ Παρακλήτου, τοῦ ἁγίου δηλαδὴ Πνεύματος, εἴτα ὑψηλοφρονήσῃ, κιὰ ἐπαρθῇ ἄχρις οὐρανοῦ, καταπίπτει λοιπὰν διὰ τὴν ὑψηλοφροσύνην. Φρίξον οὖν, ὦ ἄνθρωπε. Θεοφύλακτος Αχρίδος, Ἑρμηνεία Εἰς Τὸ Κατὰ Ματθαιον, Κεφαλὴ ΙΑ' Source: Migne PG 123.256b-c

And you, Capernaum, shall you be lifted up to heaven? You shall fall even to hell. For if the miracles that were done in you were done in Sodom, it would have stood to this day. I say this to you, that it shall be less hard for Sodom on the day of judgement than for you. 1 Capernaum was exalted because it was the city of Jesus, it was glorified as His fatherland, but it received no benefit from that because it did not believe, and therefore on the contrary it was condemned, even to hell, because though such wonders were done there, it was not improved by them. But because Capernaum has been interpretated by some to mean 'field of consolation,' let it be observed that if someone merits to be a field of the Paraclete, that is, the Holy Spirit, and thus comes to know high things, and is exalted even to heaven, so he may yet be cast down on account of pride. Be fearful, then, O man. Theophylact of Ochrid, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint Matthew, Chapter 11 1 Mt 11.25

Numerous Fears

Sed libera nos a malo... Liberari enim a malo, est a saeculo nequam nunquam illici, sed expediri a desiderio hujus mundi, qui praesentia bona ostendens, invisibilia deridens, homines ad se attrahit. Haec omnia non possumus facere, nisi per spiritum timoris. Audiamus enim Deum gehennam minantem, et per hoc exterriti, mundo renuntiabimus, et Deo servire cum dilectione incipiemus. Nota quod timores quatuor sunt, duo terreni, et duo divini. Unus est, quando homines timemus, ne nobis nostra auferant, et ideo peccamus; vel quotiescunque propter aliquem timorem peccamus, ne viles simus, ne derideamur; sicut quando sectatores efficimur, quod prohibet Dominus, dicens: Nolite timere eos, qui corpus occidunt, et iste vocatur humanus timor. Est et alius timor, qui vocatur servilis, quando poenam timemus, et ideo non peccamus, et tamem voluntatem peccandi non amittimus. Sic Judaei pro sola formidine a malo abstinebant, nec aliquam dilectionem in bono faciendo habebant, nec Deum diligebant. Hi duo timores nihil faciunt ad salutem, sed nocent. Sunt alii duo. Unus est, quando Deum timemus, propter gehennam, et ideo a malo abstinemus, sed tamen cum dilectione boni est, et sine voluntate peccandi, et ita Deum diligere incipimus. Hunc timorem jubet Dominus, cum dicit: Potius timete illum qui habet potestatem corpus et animam mittere in gehennam ignis. De hoc timore dicitur, Initium sapientiae timor Domini. Tunc enim Deum timemus, quum eum per timorem diligimus. Tunc tantum poenam timemus, cum Deum non diligimus, et tamen a malo propter poenam abstinemus. Iste tertius timor est imperfectorum, et tamen salvandorum, quamvis non habeant perfectam charitatem. Perfecta enim charitas foras mittit hunc timorem tertium. Qui enim habet perfectam charitatem, etiamsi nullam poenam esse sciret, tamen Deo solum ex dilectione serviret, et eum offendere timeret. Anselmus Laudunensis, Enarrationes In Matthaeum, Caput V Source: Migne PL 162.1284d-1285b

But free us from evil... 1 To be freed from evil is never to be able to be charmed by the evil world, but to be delivered from the desire of this world, which to attract men to itself sets forth present goods and derides invisible ones. And we cannot do any of this unless through a spirit of fear. For let us hear God threatening hell, and terrified by this we renounce the world and we begin to serve God with love. Observe that there are four types of fear, two of the world, and two Divine. One is when we fear men, lest they take something that is ours from us, and therefore we sin, or as many times as we sin on account of a fear of seeming to be vile or ridiculous, as when we become sectarians, which fear the Lord prohibits, saying, 'Do not fear those who can kill the body,' 2 and this is to name a human fear. And there is another fear which is called servile, when we fear punishment, and because of this we do not sin, and yet we do not rid ourselves of the wish to sin. So the Jews abstained from evil because of fear alone, and they had no love in the doing of good, nor loved God. These two fears profit not at all for salvation, but they are harmful. There are two others. One is when we fear God on account of hell and therefore we abstain from evil, but when this is done with a good love and without the desire to sin, even in this we begin to love God. The Lord commands this fear when He says, 'Rather fear Him who has the power to cast the body and the soul into the fire of hell.' 2 Concerning this fear it is said: 'The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord,' 3 For then we fear the Lord whom through fear we love. Then we fear only punishment when we do not love God and we only abstain from wickedness because of punishment. This is the third fear and it belongs to the imperfect, and yet it is of those who will be saved, although they do not have perfect love. Perfect love casts out this third fear. 4 He who has perfect love, even if he knows there is no punishment, yet he serves God from love alone, and fears to offend Him. Anselm of Laon, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Matthew, Chapter 5 1 Mt 6.13 2 Mt 10.28 3 Sirach 1.14 4 1 Jn 4.18

The End Of Death And Death

Ecce tabernaculum Dei cum hominibus, etc. Ipse Deus erit electis aeternae beatitudinis praemium, quod ab eo possessi possidebunt in aeternum. Et absterget Deus omnem lacrymam ab oculis eorum. Tanta illius civitatis et tam celsa de Dei munere claritas apparebit, ut nulla remaneant vestigia vetustatis. Quandoquidem et corpora coelestis incorruptio sublimabit, et mentes aeterni Regis pascet intuitus. Et mors ultra non erit, etc. Praedixerat enim mortem in stagnum ignis missam. Nam etiam sic eadem potest sententia intelligi, ut, sancta civitate novissimo judicio glorificata, dolor, luctus, et mortalitas tantum in gehenna remaneant. Sanctus Beda, Explanatio Apocalyspsis, Liber III, Caput XXI Source: Migne PL 93.194d-195a

Behold the tabernacle of God with men... 1 God Himself shall be the reward of the eternal blessedness of the elect, which gaining from Him they shall possess forever. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes... So great shall appear the light of that city and the high gift of God, that there will remain no trace of what has passed. When bodies are glorified by heavenly incorruption, then even the vision of the eternal king shall feed minds. And death shall be no more... He has spoken of the death which sends into the lake of fire. 2 So it is possible to understand the same meaning, that with the holy city glorified in the last judgement, grief, sorrow and mortality shall be found in hell alone. St Bede, Commentary On The Apocalypse, Book 3, Chapter 21 1 Apoc 21.3 2 Apoc 20.9

The Worst Death

Mors peccatorum pessima... Mortem peccatorum illam dicit quae ab homine non potest intueri, quam non solum malam, sed etiam pessimam profitetur esse. Revera pessima, quoniam eam aeterna poena comitatur. Nam si ad istam mortem respicias quae nostris oculis patet, frequenter invenis divitem peccatorem pomposis apparatibus decenter efferri, quem sic familia plangit, ut pium fuisse humanis auribus mentiatur. Amici etiam eum impensis lacryimus prosequuntur; ut revera putes bonorum aliquem ereptum, qui magna cognoscitur lamentatione defletus. Quid de pretiosis referamus odoribus, quibus et port mortem eorum mansua corpora condiuntur, quod tanto studio, tanto apparatu peragitur, ut in funeribus ipsorum superstitum vita recreetur? Ubi est ergo peccatorum mors pessima? Scilicet in inferno, ubi recepti poenas patiuntur aeternas. Quanta enim pompa, ut credimus, purpuratus ille dives ad sepulcra perductus est, qui guttam aquae frigidae ab Lazaro paupere postulavit? Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus XXXIII Source: Migne PL 70.204a-b

The death of sinners is the worst.... 1 That death of sinners of which he speaks cannot be seen by men, which indeed he confesses to be not only bad but the worst. Truly it is the worst because it sends one to eternal punishment. For if you should look to the death which is obvious to our eyes, frequently you shall find that the rich sinner is brought out with honour amid the splendour of pomp, and his family weep over him as if he were a pious man, a lie to human ears. And then his friends follow with freely flowing tears, so that you would truly think that a man of many goods was taken away, this fellow who is acknowledged with such a great flood of lamentation. And what shall we say of those precious unguents which after death are applied to the body which remains, and administered with as much care as his decoration, so that it seems that in such funerals a lingering life is renewed? Where, then, is that death of the sinner which is the worst? Certainly in hell, where being received they suffer eternal punishments. How great was the pomp, let us think, with which that purple robed rich man was taken to the grave, he who after asked the beggar Lazarus for a drop of cold water? 2 Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, from Psalm 33 1 Ps 33.22 2 Lk 16.24

Fear And Death

Primam mortem scilicet corporis, debet peccator timere ob ablationem omnium delectabilium, et ob eternitatem omnium mediarum, et ob multitudinem penarum, et ob desperationem remediorum et suffragiorum post hanc vitam, Iob xxvii: Dives cum dormierit nihil secum aufert, aperiet oculos suos et nihil inveniet, ubi Gregorius sufficienter de hoc Marolaium xviii. Exemplificans de divite epulone sepulto in inferno Luce xvi. et Luce xii de stulto proponente dilatare horrea sua. Cui dictum est, hac nocte repetent animam tuam, que autem parasti cuius erunt. Sapienta v: Quid vobis profuit superbia, et ad pene exaggerationem predicta erunt, et evenient impio tempore quo non estimat, Iob xxxiiii: Subito morientur et media nocte et cetera. Et de hoc Gregoris Moralium xxv: Quod subitum est quod ante non cogitatur, et ideo dicuntur mori subito quia non procogitant, vere ergo mors peccatorum pessima et ideo timenda, Ecclesiastici xliii: O mors quam amara est memoria tua homini iniusto, unde ad maiorem pene aggravationem quibusdam impiis antequam exeant de vita ostendit Deus penas infernales, prout ait Beda De gestis angelorum de quidam insolente, qui cum infirmaretur monuit eum rex Sandereus vel Geuredus ut confiteretur, qui respondit quod tunc non faceret ne sodales ei insultarent, sed cum surgeret ab infirmitate aggravante hoc faceret. Iterato visitavit enim rex, cui ait ille: quod tunc nulla fuit utilitas eum visitare, eo quod duo iuvenes pulci intraverunt, quorum unus portabat librum in quo scripta erant bona que feci, sed pauca postea intravit exercitus malignorum spirituum quorum maior protulit librum horrende visionis, enormis magnitudinis, et ponderis importabilis in iuvenes, quid vos hic, iste noster est, quibus illi, verum est, ducite eum in tumulum damnationis, duo quoque percutiant unus in caput alius in pedes, et cum ad se pervenient ictus moritur, et portatus a demonibus in infernum protrehatur, et sic factum est. Non pro se vidit cui ista non pro fuere, sed pro aliis qui differunt penitere, ait Beda. Ibidem etiam narrat de quodam fabro vivente ignobiliter, et sustentabatur in monasterio a fratribus propter operum necessitatem, serviebat quoque ebrietati, et aliis magisque nocte residere in officina sua consuevit quam ad psallendum ire, qui infirmatus et ad extrema perductus vocavit fratres eisque narravit videre se inferos aprtos, et Sathanam in profundum dimersum cum Caypha et ceteris qui Christum occiderunt, sibi quod locum preparatum iuxta, et cum hortaretur ad penitentiam, ait desperans quod non erat ei locis mutandi vitam, ex quo vidit iudicium suum iam esse impletum, et sine viatico obiit extraque monasterium sepultus est, nec aliquis pro eo oravit hec vidit ut desparata salute miserabilius periret, sicut beatus Stephanus vidit celos apetos ut letius ascenderet. Omni ergo impio est timenda mors prima, et multo etiam magis alle mortes, quia mors carnis non est nisi umbra mortis prout ait Gregorius Moralium xi. super illud Iob xiii producat in lucem umbram mortis. Et somnus est ut ait idem Moralium xii. super Iob xiiii: Nec consurget de somno suo, mors enim peccati sive anime per peccatum magis timenda est quod mors corporis, quia mors anime est cum eam deserit Deus, mors corporis cum ipsum deserit anima, ait Augustinus xiii. De civitate dei capitulo primo: Quanto ergo melior Deus anima tanto peius deseria Deo quam ab anima. Ideo sancti sustinuerunt mortem corporis ut vitarent peccatum prout ait Susanna Danielis xiii: Melius est mihi absque opere incidere in manus vestras quam peccare in conspectu Dei. Johannes Gallensis, Communiloquium sive Summa Collationum, Pars Sexta, Distinctio secunda, Capitulum secundum, Pars Secunda Source: here, p232

The sinner should fear the first death, which is obviously of the body, because of the loss of every delight, and the eternity of being amid a multitude of punishments, and the hopelessness of any remedy and support after this life. 'The rich man when he sleeps takes nothing with him, he opens his eyes and he finds nothing,' 1 which Gregory sufficiently speaks of in the eighteenth book of the Moralia. 2 This is exemplified by the feasting rich man who was buried for hell in the sixteenth chapter of Luke, 3 and in the twelfth chapter concerning the foolish man who proposed to expand his barns, to whom it was said, 'This night your soul is demanded of you; and these things you prepare, who are they for?' 4 In the fifth chapter of Wisdom: 'How did your pride profit you?' 5 Such great gain foretold and in time there comes upon the impious man what he does not expect. 'Suddenly they perish in the middle of the night', 6 And Gregory says in the twenty fifth book of the Moralia: 'That which is sudden is not thought of before and therefore they say that to die suddenly is because it is unforeseen, truly therefore the death of the sinner is the worst,' 7 and so must be feared. Ecclesiasticus chapter forty three: 'O death, how bitter the thought of you to the unrighteous man,' 8 whence it is gravely troublesome to impious folk before they pass away from this life if God should reveal infernal punishment. Which Bede relates in his history of the English, concerning a certain insolent fellow who when he sickened was warned by the king Sandereus or Geuredus that he should confess, 9 and he answered that he would not, lest the warriors mock him, but that when he had recovered from his grave infirmity he would do so. Again the king came to him, and the man said to him that now there was no point in him visiting because two fair youths had come in, one who was carrying a book in which was written all the good things he had done, but a little after, there came in a host of wicked spirits, the greatest of whom brought before them a book hideous to see, of much larger size, and they pressed on the youths most terribly, saying 'Why are you here? This man is ours.' To which they said, 'It is true. Lead him off to the heap of the damned. And also one of two of you strike him on the head and the other on the feet. And when the blow of death comes to him, he shall be borne off by the demons and taken to hell.' And so it was. This man did not see what was to come for his own sake, but for others who defer penitence, says Bede. In the same place he tells the story of a certain smith who lived shamefully, being supported by the brothers of a monastery for his needful works, who was also a slave of drunkenness and was much more accustomed to spend his time with others in his workshop than to go and sing Psalms. Now when he sickened and was reaching his last hours, he called the brothers and told them that he had seen hell opened, and Satan sunk in the depths of it, along with Caiaphas and the others who killed Christ, and that a place had been prepared for him next to them. Then when he was exhorted to penance, he said despairingly that he had no scope to change his own life, and so he saw his own judgement fulfilled, and he died without viaticum and was buried outside the monastery, lest someone pray for him who saw that he must perish wretchedly despairing of his salvation. 10 So saint Stephen saw the heavens opened so that he would ascend joyfully. 11 Thus every wicked man must fear the first death, yet the other deaths are more fearful, because the death of the flesh is nothing but the shadow of death, as Gregory says in the eleventh book of the Moralia on the twelfth chapter of Job 'He brings into light the shadow of death.' 12 And a sleep is the same, he says in the twelfth book of the Moralia on the fourteenth chapter of Job, 'He shall not rise from his sleep,' 13 for the death of the soul by sin should be feared more than the death of the body, since the death of the soul is when it is abandoned by God, and the death of the body is when it is abandoned by the soul, as Augustine says in the thirteenth book On The City of God, in the first chapter: 'By how much better God is to the soul, so much worse is the loss of God from the soul.' 14 Therefore the saints endure the death of the body that they might avoid sin, as Susanna says in the thirteenth chapter of Daniel: 'Better for me to do nothing and fall into your hands than sin in the sight of the Lord.' 15 John of Wales, The Communiloquium, The Sixth Part, Second Distinction, Second Chapter, of The Second Part 1 Job 27.19 2 Gregory Moral 18.28-29 3 Lk 16.22 4 Lk 12.16 5 Wisdom 5.8 6 Job 34.20 7 Greg Moral, Ps 33.22 8 Sirach 41.1 9 Actually Coenred of Mercia, Bede Eccl His 5.13 10 Bede Eccl His 5.14 11 Acts 7.55 12 Greg Moral 11.26, Job 12.22 13 Greg Moral 12.10, Job 14.12 14 Aug Civ De 13.2 15 Dan 13.23

Salvation And Hell

Πέμπων ἐπὶ τὸν κόσμον εὐαγγελίσασθαι τοὺς κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀνθρώπους, γινώσκειν ὅτι εἷς θεός ἐστιν, διὰ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ πίστεως ἐμῆς δηλοῦντας τὰ μέλλοντα, ὅπως οἱ ἀκούσαντες καὶ πιστεύσαντες σωθῶσιν, οἱ δὲ μὴ πιστεύσαντες ἀκούσαντες μαρτυρήσωσιν, οὐκ ἔχοντες ἀπολογίαν εἰπεῖν· οὐκ ἠκούσαμεν. Tί οὖν; οὐχὶ καὶ ἐν Ἅιδου ἡ αὐτὴ γέγονεν οἰκονομία; ἵνα κἀκεῖ πᾶσαι αἱ ψυχαὶ ἀκούσασαι τοῦ κηρύγματος ἢ τὴν μετάνοιαν ἐνδείξωνται ἢ τὴν κόλασιν δικαίαν εἶναι, δι' ὧν οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν, ὁμολογήσωσιν. Ἦν δ' ἂν πλεονεξίας οὐ τῆς τυχούσης ἔργον τοὺς προεξεληλυθότας τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Kυρίου, μὴ εὐηγγελισμένους μηδὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν τὴν αἰτίαν παρασχομένους κατὰ τὸ πιστεῦσαι ἢ μή, ἤτοι τῆς σωτηρίας ἢ τῆς κολάσεως μετασχεῖν. Oὐ γάρ που θέμις τοὺς μὲν ἀκρίτως καταδεδικάσθαι, μόνους δὲ τοὺς μετὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τῆς θείας ἀπολελαυκέναι δικαιοσύνης. πάσαις δ' ἄνωθεν ταῖς ψυχαῖς εἴρηται ταῖς λογικαῖς· ὅσα ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ τις ὑμῶν ἐποίησεν μὴ εἰδὼς σαφῶς τὸν θεόν, ἐὰν ἐπιγνοὺς μετανοήσῃ, πάντα αὐτῷ ἀφεθήσεται τὰ ἁμαρτήματα. Ἰδοὺ γάρ· φησί, τέθεικα πρὸ προσώπου ὑμῶν τὸν θάνατον καὶ τὴν ζωήν, ἐκλέξασθαι τὴν ζωήν, πρὸς σύγκρισιν ἐκλογῆς τεθεῖσθαι λέγων ὁ θεός, οὐ πεποιηκέναι ἄμφω. καὶ ἐν ἑτέρᾳ γραφῇ λέγει· ἐὰν ἀκούσητέ μου καὶ θελήσητε, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσητέ μου μηδὲ θελήσητε, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται· τὸ γὰρ στόμα Kυρίου ἐλάλησεν ταῦτα. Πάλιν δὲ ἄντικρυς ὁ Δαβίδ, μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ Kύριος ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ ὁσίου εἷς δὲ οὗτος ἐκ καταβολῆς κόσμου, πᾶς ὁ διαφόροις χρόνοις διὰ πίστεως σωθείς τε καὶ σωθησόμενος· ηὐφράνθη μου ἡ καρδία καὶ ἠγαλλιάσατο ἡ γλῶσσά μου. ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἡ σάρξ μου κατασκηνώσει ἐπ' ἐλπίδι, φησίν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψεις τὴν ψυχήν μου εἰς Ἅιδην οὐδὲ δώσεις τὸν ὅσιόν σου ἰδεῖν διαφθοράν. ἐγνώρισάς μοι ὁδοὺς ζωῆς· πληρώσεις με εὐφροσύνης μετὰ τοῦ προσώπου σου. Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, Στρωματεων, Λογος Ϛ', Κεφ Ϛ' Source: Migne PG 9.269c-272c

He sent the Apostles into the world, preaching to the men dwelling there, that they know there is one God, showing clearly what would come by the faith of Christ, that hearing and having faith they might be saved, and that those who do not have faith, after hearing, bear witness to this, not having any excuse to say, 'We did not hear.' What then? Was there not the same arrangement in Hell, that there all the souls, hearing the preaching, either declared their repentance, or that their punishment was just because they had no faith? And this was not the work of chance, for those who departed before the advent of the Lord, not being evangelised, provided no cause from themselves, for believing or not, to partake of either salvation or punishment. For it is not at all right that they should be condemned without trial and that only those who lived after the advent should benefit by the Divine righteousness. But from above it was said to all rational souls, 'Whatever one of you has done in ignorance, without clearly knowing God, if, becoming conscious, he repent, all sin will be forgiven him.' 'For, behold,' it is said, 'I have set before your face death and life, that you may choose life.' 1 And for the judgement of choice God says that He set them forth, not that he had made both. And in another passage He says, 'If you hear Me, and are willing, you shall eat the good things of the land. But if you do not hear me and are not willing, the sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.' 2 Again, David says openly, or rather the Lord in the person of the holy one, and everyone from the foundation of the world who at different times is saved through faith and shall be saved, 'My heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced, and my flesh shall yet rest in hope. For You shall not leave my soul in hell, nor will You give Your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life, You will fill me with joy in Your presence.' 3 Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 6, Chapter 6 1 Deut 30. 15,19 2 Isaiah 1:19-20 3 Ps 6, 9,10,11, Acts 2 26,27,28

Resting In Peace

Ἐν δὲ ἀναπαύσει ᾅδου ἐκοιμήθησαν. Ἐν δὲ ἀναπαύσει οὐκ οὐρανοῦ, ἀλλ' ᾅδου ἐκοιμήθησαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ εὐχόμεθα οὐκ ἐν ἀναπαύσει ᾅδου κοιμηθῆναι, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀναπαύσει Θεοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς τοῖς ἁγίοις μετὰ Χριστοῦ βασιλεύοντος ἡμῶν. Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Τον Ιὠβ Source: Migne PG 17.80b

They rest in hell in peace. 1 But not in the peace of heaven, for they rest in hell. We pray that we not be at peace resting in hell, but in the peace of God, in the heavens with the saints and with Christ our king. Origen, On Job, Fragment 1 Job 13.13

Signs And Places

Αποστραφήτωσαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ εἰς τὸν ᾅδην πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τὰ ἐπιλανθανόμενα τοῦ θεοῦ. ̓Αποστραφήτωσαν οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί, οἱ πολεμίων δίκην ἐπιτιθέμενοι, εἰς τὸν ᾅδην. ἑρμηνεύων δὲ τίνες οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί, ἐπήγαγεν ὡς τὰ ἐπιλανθανόμενα ἔθνη τοῦ θεοῦ εἰσιν. ἁμαρτωλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἔθνη οὐκ ἀνθρώπους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσάρκους δυνάμεις ἐκλαβεῖν δεῖ. εἰ γὰρ μὴ σημαίνει οὐσίαν ἀλλὰ ποιὸν ἡ ἁμαρτωλὸς φωνή, παρωνυμία οὐσα ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, πάντα τὸν μετέχοντα ἁμαρτίας οὕτως ὀνομαστέον. Kαταλλήλως τούτοις καὶ τὰ ἔθνη ἐκλήψει. ὥσπερ δὲ οὐκ ὤν τις ἐν οὐρανῷ τοπικῶς, ἔτι ἐπὶ γῆς περιπατῶν, δύναται ἐκεῖ πολιτείᾳ καὶ νοήσει τυγχάνειν, οὕτω μὴ διατρίβων τις ἐν ᾅδῃ τοπικῶς δύναται σημεῖα φέρειν νεκρότητος καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν, ὡς οἰκεῖν αὐτὸν τὸν ᾅδην ἥδη καίτοι ὄντα ἐν τῇ μετὰ σώματος ζωῇ. Δίδυμος Αλεξανδρεύς, Εἰς Ψαλμούς, Ψαλμος Θ' Source: Migne PG 39.1197a-b

Sinners are turned to hell, all the peoples who are not mindful of God. 1 Sinners are turned, in the likeness of a horde, to hell, So saying that they are 'sinnners', he goes on then to speak of 'peoples', and not only men should be understood here but also immaterial powers. For if the word 'sinner' does not signify substance but quality, which name is derived from 'sin', in like manner you should think 'peoples' to be named. And as he who is not yet placed in the heavens because he yet walks on the earth, yet by his conduct and thought may be there, so he who is not yet established in the infernal places is able to bear signs of his death and wickedness, as if he even now dwelt in hell, even if he yet lives in the body. 2 Didymus the Blind, Commentary on The Psalms, from Psalm 9 1 Ps 9.18 2 cf Philip 3.19-20

Differing Generations

Vae genti insurgenti super genus meum: Dominus enim omnipotens vindicabit in eis. Genus suum dicit viros cultores Dei, de quo in Psalmo scriptum est Haec est generatio quaerentium Dominum requirentium faciem Dei Jacob. Et contrario est illa generatio, hoc est, prava et perversa, de qua Dominus in Evangelio ait: Ecce ego mitto ad vos prophetas et sapientes et scribas. Ex illis occidetis et crucifigetis, et ex eis flagellabitis in synagogis, et persequemini de civitate in civitatem, ut veniat super vos omnis sanguis justus, qui effusus est super terram, a sanguine Abel justi usque ad sanguinem Zachariae filii Barachiae, quem occidistis intra templum et altare. Amen dico vobis, venient haec omnia super generationem istam. Huic ergo generationi vae erit perpetuum, quia sine ullo fine aeternum illi manet tormentum, justo judice sibi recte retribuente, quae illa antea malitiose in proximos suos egerat; unde subjungitur In die judicii visitabit illos. Visitabit utqiue illos, non ut superna cum sanctis mercede coronet, sed ut cum diabolo et angelis ejus perpetuis poenis excruciet in inferno. Rabanus Maurus, Expositio in Librum Judith, Caput XVI Source: Migne PL 109.586d-587a

Woe to the people who rise up against my people, for the almighty Lord shall be revenged upon them. 1 His people are those who revere God, concerning which it is written in the Psalm: 'This is the generation of the seekers of the Lord, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.' 2 And on the contrary there is another generation, that is, one which is depraved and perverse, concerning which the Lord says in His Gospel: 'Behold, I sent the prophets to you, and wise men, and scribes, and some of these you killed and some you crucified and some you whipped in your gatherings, and you pursued them from city to city, so that upon you shall come the blood of the righteous man, which has been poured out on the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel, even to Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. Amen, I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation.' 3 Therefore to this generation will come eternal woe, because their eternal torments shall be without end, when they are rightly punished by the righteous judge, they who have worked wickedness against their neighbours, whence it then continues: On the day of judgement it shall be visited upon them. It shall be visited upon them that they are not crowned with supernal reward with the saints, but they are tormented with the devil and his angels by perpetual punishments in hell. Rabanus Maurus, Commentary On Judith, Chap 16 1 Judith 16.17 2 Ps 23.5 3 Mt 23.34-36

A Fire That Does Not Burn

Κατέδεται αὐτὸν πῦρ ἄκαυστον... Μυστήριον τι μανθάνομεν περὶ τῆς κολάσεως τῆς ἀποκείμένης, ἵνα φυλασσώμεθα αὐτὴν παθεῖν. Πῦρ εἶπεν ἄkαυστον κατέδεσθαι τὸν ἀσεβῆ· τοῦτο τὸ πῦρ· τὸ παρ' ἡμῖν ὑλκὸν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄκαυστον πῦρ· βλεπόμενον γὰρ αὐτό. Ἐκεῖϝο δὲ ἀόρατόν ἐστι τὸ πῦρ, τὸ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἐρχόμενον, ὃ ἔνδον αὐτοὺς καίει. Νοητόν ἐστι καὶ κολάζον. Ἐὰν θέλῃς εἰκόνα παραλαβεῖν ἐκείνου τοῦ πυρὸς, νόει μοι τὸν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν πυρέσσοντα, καὶ ὐπὸ πυρὸς φλεγόμενον. Οὐχ εὑρήσεις ὄψει τὸ πῦρ ἐν αὐτῷ, ὑπόκειται δὲ, καὶ ἐκκαίει αὐτοῦ τὰ σπλάψχνα. Οὕτως ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων πυρέττων τις ἐkkαίεται. Ὠριγένης, Εἰς Τον Ιὠβ Source: Migne PG 17.76a-b

A fire that does not burn shall consume him... 1 Here we learn about a mystery of punishment which awaits, so that we might guard ourselves against suffering it. He speaks of the fire that does not burn which shall devour the impious man. Here fire is a material thing to us, and it is not a fire that does not burn, for so we observe it. But that fire which is immaterial enters into the sinful, and it blazes up within them. This punishment is intellectual. If you wish to have an image of that fire, think of a man who is gravely afflicted with a fever, blazing up with a fire. You shall not find an observable fire in him, however it is within, and it sets his insides on fire. Likewise because of his sins a man is set on fire as if by a fever. Origen, On Job, Fragment 1 Job 20.26

The Well Of Death

Tu vero, Deus, deduces eos in puteum interitus... Quia dixit de justis, nunc dicit de impiis, qui in gehennae profunditatem mergendi sunt. Puteus quidem dicitur hiatus patens, in terrae sinibus excavaus, aquas continens humanis usibus attributas. Sed ne hunc puteum vitalem intelligere potuisses, addidit, interitus: de quo alio in loco legitur: Neque aperiat super me puteus os suum. Fovea mortalis, mersura terribilis, ubi nec spatium ullum conceditur, nec ipsa miseris respiramenta praestantar; sed obscuritas tenebrosa circumdans, amoeni luminis tollit aspectum. Ex putei siquidem similitudine, gehennae tormenta nos admonet formidare. O pietas inaudita judicantis! totum hominibus praedicitur, ut culpa plectibilis evitetur. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus LIV Source: Migne PL 70.392c

But you, O God, shall lead them into the well of death... 1 Because he has spoken of the righteous, he now speaks of the impious, they who have been sunk into the depths of hell. Certainly a well is spoken of as open hole dug into the lower places of the earth, which contains water for human use. But lest this well be understood to be one which gives life, he adds, 'of death.' Concerning which in another place it reads, 'Let him not open over me the well of his mouth.' 2 It is a fatal pit, a terrible drowning, where there is no relief given to anyone, nor are the wretched allowed a breath, but thick darkness surrounds, the sight of pleasant light having been stripped away. By this likeness of a well he warns us to fear the torments of hell. O unheard piety of the judge, preached to all men, so that blows for wickedness might be avoided. Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 54 1 Ps 54.24 2 Ps 68.16

Scandal And Hell

Si autem manus tua, vel pes tuus scandalizat te; abscinde eum, et proiice abs te: bonum tibi est ad vitam ingredi debilem, vel claudum, quam duas manibus, vel duos pedes habentem mitti in ignem aeternum. Et si oculus tuus scandalizat te, erue eum, et proiice abs te: bonum est tibi cum uno oculo in vitam ad intare quam duos oculos habentem mitti in gehennam ignis. Docet vitare scandalum passiuum: primo in membris operantibus, et secundo in oculo, qui ordinat et dirigit in opere. Membra autem operantia duo sunt; unum operans generaliter opera, et alterum supportans totum pondus: et illa ponit simul. Et manus quidem significat operantem et auxilliantem amicum, qui vel dando, vel auxiliando, vel operando tenet nos sicut manus: et pes supportantem infirmitatem et pondus significat: et hoc est, quod dicit Scandalizat te... Dat tibi causam offendiculi. Pedes eorum ad malum currunt, et festinant, et effundant innoxium sanguinem. Manus vestrae sanguine plenae sunt. Abscinde... Duo dicit: abiicete scandalizantem primo iubet, et postea ostendit utilitatem. Abiicitur autem dupliciter: et ideo dicit 'Abscinde eum' ab affectu, in quo haeret glutino amoris. Et poiice abs te... Exterioris societatis conversatione. Recedite a tabernaculis hominum impiorum etc. Recedite, recedite: pollutum nolite tangere. A carnibus tuis abscinde illam, ne te abutatur. Noli esse amicus homini iracundo, ne forte discas semitas eius, et sumas scandalum animae tuae. Bonum est tibi ad vitam ingredi... Tangit utilitatem: et est hoc solum bonum hominis, quod ad vitam ingrediatur, sicut patuit. Quid enim prodest homini, si mundum universum lucretur, animae vero suae deterimentum patiatur. Debilem... Manibus, quando tibi non sufficis, et auxiliatorem dimittis. Ecce non est auxilium mihi in me et necessarii quoque mei recesserunt a me. Vel claudum... Iacob claudicans accepit promissionem, quando noluit sulciri confortatione mali fatris. Miphiboseth claudus utroque pede comedebat de mensa Regis. Et si oculus tuus... Hoc est, qui dirigit te concilio, et providentia vel doctrina sicut oculus. Oculus sui caeco, et pes claudo Scandilzat te. Oculus meus depraedatus est animam meam in cunctis filiabus urbis meae. Oculum, qui subsannat patrum, et despicit partum matris suae etc Erue eum... Ab affectu. Erue me ab his, qui persequuntur me. Erue me de manu fratris mei: quia valde eum timeo. Et proiice abs te... Longe. Odivi ecclesiam malignantium: et cum impiis non sedebo. Bonum est tibi cum uno oculo in vitam ad intare quam duos oculos habentem mitti in gehennam ignis... Hoc est, cum dimidio lumine; et hoc est, quando retines lumen conscientiae, et amittis lumen seculare. Cum sedero in tenebris, Dominus lux mea est. Oculi impiorum deficient. Mitti in gehenna. Hoc do aliis etiam dictum est: quia tamen oculi ibi in tenebris plorant, et pedes et manus ligati sunt. Proiicientur in tenebras exteriores: ibi erit fletus et stridor dentium. Et de manibus et pedibus: ligaris manibus et pedibus proiicite eum in tenebras exteriores. Vermis eorum non morietur et ignis eorum non extinguetur. Sanctus Albertus Magnus, Commentarium in Mattheum, Caput XVIII Source: Here, p320

If your hand or your foot scandalises you, cut it off, and cast it from you; it is better for you to enter into life maimed or lame, than have two hands or two feet and be cast into hell. And if your eye scandalises you, pluck it out, and cast it from you; it is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to be sent into the hell of fire with two. 1 This teaches one to avoid the scandal of the passions, first in the working of members and second by the eye, which commands and directs the work. The working members are two, one working in general and the other supporting the whole weight, and they are set here together. The hand signifies the work and the assitance of a friend, one who either in giving, or aiding, or working, is held as a hand to us. And the foot is the supporter of weakness and weight. And with this which He says, 'If it scandalises you...' He gives the cause of the offence. 'Their feet run to evil, there they hasten, and they pour out innocent blood.' 2 'Your hands are full of blood.' 3 'Cut if off...' He speaks of two things: first He commands you to cast off the one who causes scandal and after He shows the usefulness of this. To cast off is twofold: and therefore He says 'cut it off' from affection, by which there is adherence by the bond of love. 'And cast it from you...' From associating with in exterior society. 'Withdraw from the dwelling places of impious men.' 4 'Withdraw, withdraw, do not touch that which is defiled.' 5 'From your flesh cut her off, lest she ruin you.' 6 'Do not be the friend of an irascible man, let perhaps you learn from his ways, and receive scandal for your soul.' 7 'It is better for you to enter into life...' He touches on the usefulness of this. It is the one good of man, that he enter into life, as He has made clear: 'What does it profit it a man if he gain the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul?' 8 'Maimed...' As regards the hands, when they are not enough for you, and you dismiss your helper. 'Behold, there is no help for me from myself and what is needful withdraws from me.' 9 'Or lame...' Jacob when lame received the promise, when he was unwilling to be supported by the strength of an evil brother. 10 Miphiboseth who was lame in both feet dined at the table of the king. 11 And if your eye... That is, one who directs with counsel, and foresight and teaching is like the eye. 'I was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame.' 12 'It scandalises you...' 'My eye has grieved my soul because of all the maidens of my city.' 13 The eye which scorns the father and despises the womb of the mother...' 14 'Pluck it out...' From affection. 'Seize me from them who persecute me.' 15 'Seize me from the hand of my brother whom I fear so much.' 16 'And cast it from you...' Far away. 'I hate the gathering of the wicked and with the impious I will not sit.' 17 'It is better for you to enter to into life with one eye, rather than to be sent into the hell of fire with two.' That is, when you have half light, when you retain the light of conscience and lose the light of the world. 'When I shall sit in darkness, the Lord is my light.' 18 'The eyes of the impious perish' 19 'Sent into the hell...' He has said He gives this to others, that there eyes weep in darkness and the feet and the hands have been bound. They are cast out into the darkness outside where there is a weeping and grinding of teeth. And concerning the hands and feet: 'Bind his hands and feet and cast him into the darkness outside.' 20 'Their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched.' 21 Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 18 1 Mt 18.8-9 2 Prov 1.16 3 Isaiah 1.15 4 Numb 16.26 5 Isaiah 52.11 6 Sirach 25.36 7 Prov 22.24-25 8 Mt 16.26 9 Job 6.13 10 Genes 32 11 2 King 9 12 Job 29.15 13 Lament 3.51 14 Prov 30.11 15 Jerem 15.15 16 Genes 32.11 17 Ps 25.5 18 Mich 7.8 19 Job 11.20 20 Mt 22.13 21 Isaiah 66.24

Contemplating Future States

Expedit igitur unicuique, priusquam praesentem finiat vitam, futuri supplicii timore converti, si vere non vult post hujus vitae finem sine fine torqueri. Quapropter inaniter in conspectu Dei malorum hominum permanens iniquitas remittenda creditur, in cujus conspectu inulta esse bonorum operum sterilitas non sinetur. Neque enim dicitur quisquam positus ad sinistram idcirco iturus in ignem aeternum, quia panem comedenti abstulit, sed quia esurienti non dedit; nec quia vestitum exspoliavit, sed quia vestimenta non tribuit; nec quia de domo propria quemquam pepulit, sed quia unum ex Christi minimis hospitio non recepit. Si ergo ibit in combustionem aeternam qui panem suum esurienti non dedit, quid recipiet qui alienum abstulit panem? Et si mittetur in stagnum ignis et sulphuris qui nudum vestimento non tegit, quis passurus est qui vestimeno crudelis expoliat? Et si rerum suarum avarus possessor requiem non habebit, quomodo alienarum rerum insatiabilis raptor, si in hac vita converti noluerit, postmodum sibi de judice justo indulgentiam frustra promittit? Consideremus divitem miserum purpura quondam byssoque vestitum, non ob aluid inexstinguibilibus flammis ardentem, nisi quia Lazaro pauperi continua esurie laboranti nunquam voluit saltem micas convivii sui mortifera praeditus iniquitate largari. Qui cum interminabili cruciamento damnatus, etiam digiti pauperis in aeterna requie laetantis refrigerio remaneret indignus, evidenti responsione Abraham patriarcha monstravit post hanc vitam, nec bonos posse ad iniquos aliquatenus transmeare, nec malos a poenis ad beatorum requiem posse quandoque transire. Sic enim dicit: Fili, recordare quia recepisti bona in vita tua, et Lazarus similiter mala. Nunc autem hic consolatur, tu vero cruciaris. Et in omnibus inter nos et vos chaos magnum firmatum est, ut hinc qui volunt transire ad vos, non possint, neque huc inde transmeare. Sanctus Fulgentius Ruspensis, De Remissione Peccatorum, Lib II Caput XIV Source: Migne 65.565a-c

It thus profits everyone before the end of this present life to contemplate with fear future punishment, if truly after the end of this life one has no wish for endless torment. Whence it is foolish in the sight of God to believe that the remaining inquity of evil men must be forgiven, in that sight in which it is not permitted that a sterility of good works shall go unpunished. For it is not said that whoever is placed on the left side will go into eternal fire because he took bread for eating, but because he did not give to the hungry, not because he stole clothes but because he did not give them, not because he expelled his own from his house, but because he did not receive as a guest one of Christ's little ones. If therefore he shall go to eternal burning who did not give his own bread to the hungry, what shall he receive who takes another man's bread? And if he who does not cover the naked with clothes shall go into the lake of fire and sulphur, shall that cruel man who strips clothing from another be spared? And if an avaricious possessor of his own goods shall have no rest, how shall the insatiable seizer of the goods of another, if in this life he will not be converted, if he is vainly promised that after he shall have forgiveness from the just judge? Consider that wretched wealthy man in his purple and fine linen garments, that nothing availed against the burning and inextinguishable flame, unless the poor man Lazarus, who had ever laboured in want, to whom he never wished to give crumbs from his table, bound in his fatal iniquity. He who when damned to endless torments was indeed unworthy of the finger of the happy poor man in his rest. And the answer of the patriarch Abraham plainly showed that after this life it is impossible for the good to pass over to the wicked, and nor shall the wicked at any time cross over to the rest of the blessed. He says: 'O son, remember that you received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise evil. Now he is comforted and you are tormented. In all this, between us and you, a great gulf has been set, that he who wishes to pass from here to you is not able, nor is it possible that anyone pass from there to here.' 1 Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe, On the Forgiveness of Sins, Book 2, Chap 14 1 Lk 16.25-26

Understanding And Life

Ὁδοὶ ζωῆς διανοήματα συνετοῦ ἵνα ἐκκλίνας ἐκ τοῦ ᾅδου σωθῇ Ὁ δὲ συνετὸς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ᾅδου τοῦ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, ὁδοὶ ζωῆς, διανοήματα θείων λόγων καὶ ἔργων· ὁ δὲ συνετὸς ἀεὶ ταῦτα ποιεῖ καὶ διδάσκει, ἵνα σὺν τοῖς μαθητιῶσιν ἐκκλίνας ἐκ τοῦ ᾅδου σωθᾗ. Ὠριγένης, Ἐκλογαὶ Εἰς Παροιμίας, Κεφ ΚΗ' Source: Migne PG 17.193c

The thoughts of a man of understanding are the ways of life, that turning from hell he might be saved. 1 The man of understanding is not in the hell of sinners. The ways of life are meditations on the Divine words and works. And the wise man always does and teaches these things, so that with his pupils, turning from hell, he might be saved. Origen, On Proverbs 1 Prov 15.24

Suffering For Heaven

Dominus autem benedixit novissimis Job... Ex magna nimirum divinae gratiae dispensatione praecessit afflictio, ut post moerorem gaudium, post naufragium portus, post laborem requies, dulcedo post amaritudinem, post persecutiones prosperitas gratius arriderent. Porro ideo super dorsum justi, qui positus est inter malleum et incudem, de permissione divina fabricant peccatores, ut post dies malos, quibus afflictus et humiliatus est, plenior laetitia subsequatur, sicut propheta dicit: Laetati sumus pro diebus quibus nos humiliasti, annis quibus vidimus mala. Juxta Sapientis verbum: Ante ruinam exaltatur cor: et e contrario gloriam praecedit humilitas. Humilitas enim via est ad exaltationem, dolor ad gaudium, persecutio ad felicitatem, ad risum gemitus, mors ad vitam. Flagellat itaque Dominus suos, ne flagellentur in posterum: et temporaliter eos punit, ne aeternaliter puniantur. Legitur in Libro Regum, quia quum Salomon aedificaret templum Domini, lapides omnes extra tunsi fuerunt, ut in aedificatione templi sine sonitu mallei ponerentur. Sancti enim per flagella tunduntur temporaliter, ut in aedificio coelestis Jerusalem, quae aedificatur ut civitas sine flagello disciplinae, sine poenitentiae gemitu caritatis glutino uniantur. In alia siquidem vita inter ardores sempiternos non est locus veniam promerendi, quia in inferno nulla est redemptio; nec homini in peccatis mortuo relinquitur hostia pro peccato. Petrus Blenensis, Compendium In Job: Ad Henericum II Illustrissimum Anglorum Regem, Caput XLII Source:  Migne PL 207.823b-d

The Lord blessed the final days of Job... 1 By the great dispensation of Divine grace affliction comes first, that after grieving there is joy, after shipwreck the haven, after labour rest, after bitterness sweetness, and that after persecution prosperity might shine more pleasantly. Thus it is that with Divine permission sinners labour over the back of the righteous man, who is placed as between the hammer and the anvil, that after evil days, by which he is afflicted and humbled, greater joy shall follow. As the prophet says: 'We rejoiced over the days you humiliated us, the years in which we saw evil.' 2 And according to the word of Wisdom it is said that the heart is exalted before ruin, and on the contrary humility comes before glory. 3 For the way of humility leads to exaltation, grief to joy, persecution to happiness, groans to laughter, death to life. In this way the Lord whips his own, lest they be whipped later. For a time He punishes them, lest they be punished eternally. It is written in the book of Kings that when Solomon built the temple of the Lord every stone was worked on outside, that in the building of the temple, they might be placed together without the sound of the hammer. 4 So the holy are worked on for a time by blows so that in the building of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is built up like a city, 5 there is unity in the bond of charity without the whip of discipline and without the groans of penitence. Indeed in the other life among eternal flames there is no place for the earning of forgiveness, because in hell there is no salvation, nor for a man dead in his sins is there left any space for a sacrifice for sin. Peter of Blois, Compendium On Job, To Henry II Most Illustrious King Of The English, Chapter 42 1 Job 42.12 2 Ps 89.15 3 Prov 16.18 4 3 Kings 6.7 5 Ps 121.3