Hades and the Judgment

Now we must speak about Hades, where the souls of the righteous and the unrighteous are held. Hades is a place in the world that was not fully finished: a region under the earth where the light of this world does not shine. And since the light does not shine in this region, there cannot but be perpetual darkness in it. This region is set apart as a place of custody for souls. Angels are appointed over them as guards, and they deal out to each soul temporary punishments suited to its conduct and character. [a] In this region there is a place set apart, a lake of unquenchable fire. Into it, we believe, no one has yet been thrown; it is prepared for a day appointed beforehand by God, when one righteous sentence will deservedly be passed on all people. Then the unjust, and those who have disobeyed God and have given to idols, the empty works of human hands, the honor due to God himself, will be sentenced to this everlasting punishment as the ones responsible for defilement; while the just will receive an incorruptible and unfading kingdom. The just are indeed held in Hades now, but not in the same place as the unjust.

For there is one way down into this region, and at its gate, we believe, stands an archangel with a host. When those who are led down by the angels appointed over souls pass through this gate, they do not all go the same way. The just are guided to the right and led, with hymns sung by the angels appointed over that place, to a region of light, where the just have lived from the beginning of the world. They are not held there by force, but always enjoy the sight of the good things before them, and rejoice in the expectation of the new joys that each of them will have, and they count these far beyond anything we have here. Among them there is no place of toil, no scorching heat, no piercing cold, and no briers. The faces of the just, which they see, always smile on them, while they wait for the rest and the eternal new life in heaven that is to follow this region. This place we call the Bosom of Abraham. [c] But the unjust are dragged by force to the left by the angels assigned to punishment. They no longer go willingly, but are driven violently like prisoners. The angels appointed over them are sent to reproach them and threaten them with terrible looks, and to thrust them still further down. These angels drag them into the neighborhood of hell itself. When they are close to it, they hear its noise continually and are not free even of its hot vapor. And when they look closely at this sight, a terrible and immense spectacle of fire, they are struck with a fearful expectation of the judgment to come, and in effect are already punished by it. And not only that: where they can see the place of the fathers and of the just, even by this they are punished. For a chasm, deep and wide, is fixed between them, so that a just man who has compassion on them cannot cross to them, nor can an unjust man, even if he were bold enough to attempt it, pass over it. [e]

This is the account of Hades, where the souls of all are held until the proper time that God has fixed, when he will raise all people from the dead — not by moving souls from one body into another, but by raising up those very bodies which you Greeks, seeing them dissolved, do not believe will rise. But learn not to disbelieve it. You believe, following the teaching of Plato, that the soul was created and yet was made immortal by God, and that within time. Then do not be incredulous; believe that God is able, when he has raised to life the body that was made as a compound of the same elements, to make it immortal. For it must never be said of God that he can do some things and not others. We have believed, then, that the body will be raised again. For though it is dissolved, it has not perished. The earth receives its remains and keeps them, and they are like seed mixed into the richer soil; there they flourish. What is sown is sown as bare grain, but at the mighty sound of God the Creator it will sprout up and be raised clothed and glorious — though not before it has been dissolved and mixed in. So it is not rashly that we have believed in the resurrection of the body. For though it is dissolved for a time because of the first transgression, it still exists, and it is cast into the earth as into a potter’s furnace to be formed again — not to rise again as it was before, but pure, and never to be destroyed again. And to every body its own soul will be restored. When the soul has clothed itself with that body, it will not be subject to misery; being pure itself, it will remain with its pure body and rejoice with it. It walked righteously with that body in this world and never had it as a snare, and it will receive it back with great gladness. But the unjust will receive their bodies unchanged — not freed from diseases and ailments, not made glorious, but with the same diseases in which they died. As they were in their unbelief, so they will be when they are judged in faithfulness. [f]

For all people, the just and the unjust alike, will be brought before God the Word; for the Father has committed all judgment to him. And he, to fulfill his Father’s will, will come as Judge — he whom we call Christ. For it is not Minos and Rhadamanthus who are the judges, as you Greeks suppose, but he whom God the Father has glorified. Concerning him we have given a fuller account elsewhere, for the sake of those who seek the truth. He, carrying out the Father’s righteous judgment toward all, has prepared a just sentence for each according to his works. When all people, angels and demons stand before his judgment seat, they will send up one voice and say, “Just is your judgment!” The answer to this will bring a just sentence on both sides, justly giving everlasting enjoyment to those who have done well, and assigning eternal punishment to the lovers of wicked deeds. To these belongs the unquenchable fire, and that without end, and a certain fiery worm that never dies and does not destroy the body, but keeps bursting out of the body with unceasing grief. Sleep will give these men no rest, nor will night bring them comfort; death will not free them from their punishment, nor will the prayers of their relatives on their behalf help them. For the just are no longer seen by them, nor are they thought worthy to be remembered. But the just will remember only their righteous deeds, by which they have reached the heavenly kingdom. In it there is no sleep, no sorrow, no decay, no care, no night, no day measured by time; no sun driven by necessity along the circle of heaven, marking out the limits and turnings of the seasons to give better light to human life; no moon waning and waxing, or bringing in a change of seasons, nor will she then moisten the earth; no scorching sun, no Bear wheeling round, no Orion rising, no wandering of countless stars. The earth will no longer be hard to cross, nor will the court of paradise be hard to find. There will be no fearful roaring of the sea to forbid travelers to walk on it; even the sea will be made easy for the just to cross, though it will not be emptied of its water. Heaven will no longer be a place where men cannot live, nor will the way up to it be impossible to find. The earth will not lie untilled or demand too much labor from men, but will bring forth its fruits of its own accord and be well adorned with them. There will be no more births of wild beasts, nor will the substance of the other animals bring forth any more. For it will not produce men; but the number of the righteous will remain and never fail, together with righteous angels and spirits and with his Word, as a choir of righteous men and women who never grow old and remain incorruptible, singing hymns to God, who has raised them to that happiness through an ordered way of life. With them the whole creation also will lift up an unceasing hymn, from decay to incorruption, glorified by a splendid and pure spirit. It will no longer be held by a bond of necessity, but with a lively freedom it will offer up a willing hymn, and praise the one who made them, together with the angels and spirits and with men now freed from all bondage. [g]

And now, you Gentiles, if you are persuaded by these things and give up your empty fancies about your pedigrees, your getting of riches and your philosophy, and no longer spend your time on subtleties of words that lead your minds astray; if you will open your ears to the inspired prophets, who interpret both God and his Word, and will believe in God — then you will share in these things and obtain the good things to come. You will see plainly the ascent to the boundless heaven, and the kingdom that is there: what God has now hidden in silence, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love him. [h]

“In whatever state I find you, in that I will judge you entirely,” so cries the End of all things. And whoever at first lived a virtuous life but toward the end falls into vice will find all the labors he endured before altogether vain and useless, like a play brought to a bad ending. Whoever has lived wickedly and in luxury may repent. Yet much time will be needed to overcome an evil habit, and even after repentance his whole life must be guarded with great care and diligence, like a body that has long suffered from an illness and needs a stricter diet and way of living. For though it may perhaps be possible to break the chain of our disordered passions at once, our amendment cannot be secured without the grace of God, the prayers of good men, the help of the brothers, and our own sincere repentance and constant care. It is good not to sin at all; it is also good, having sinned, to repent — just as it is best to be healthy always, but good to recover from an illness. To God be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. [i]