Annotation CCLXIV

”If in this life only we are hoping in Christ, we are more miserable than all men.” — 1 Corinthians 15:19

Whether souls are blessed before the day of judgment.

Chrysostom, [in] the 39th homily on the first [epistle] to the Corinthians, seems to slip into the error of the Armenians and the Anabaptists — who say that no soul, before the day of judgment, will be blessed with that felicity of beatitude which is placed in the intuition [vision] of the divine essence. For there, weighing the inference,

—the ratiocination proposed by the Apostle, he says that it takes its force from this: that it is necessary that the soul, as long as it has been separated from the body, remain outside the felicity of heavenly glory. His opinion, expressed word for word, is this: “WHAT sayest thou, [O] Paul? Would trust [confidence] alone survive, if the body be not raised up? Or would the mind not survive? It would: and [would be] immortal indeed. But although it be six-hundred-times [thoroughly] immortal, as indeed it is: yet without the flesh itself it will not enjoy those admirable goods, even as neither will it be punished with punishments. For all things shall be made manifest before the tribunal of Christ, Paul says, that each one may bear [receive that] which he has done through the body, whether good or evil. For if the body rise not, our soul will lie uncrowned, and will be outside the heavenly beatitude. Which indeed, if we concede [it], we shall then enjoy nothing at all there.”

THIS opinion the same author delineates, with a longer compass of words and examples adduced, [in] homily 28 on the epistle to the Hebrews. Where, when he unfolded that clause from the eleventh chapter —¹ “These received not the reward [promise], lest without us they should be consummated [perfected],” etc. — he brought forth these [things]: “‘NOT YET,’ says the Apostle, ‘have they received the reward, but they still remain; and, thus dead, and in so great tribulation, they have not yet received the reward. So much time have they, since they conquered; and yet they have not received [it]. But you, set in the contest, are affected with grief. Understand, you also, of what kind and how great [a thing] it is [for] Abraham to sit, and to await the Apostle Paul — until thou too art consummated, that they may then be able to receive the reward. For unless we too have come thither, the Savior foretold to them that he would not give the reward. As a good father, a lover of [his] children, says to [his] upright and genuine children, who are finishing [their] work, that he will not give [them] to eat, unless the other brethren too have come. But art thou anxious, because thou dost not yet receive the reward? What, then, shall Abel do, who conquered before us, and yet sits without a crown? What Noah? what the rest of those times, who await thee and the others who are to be after thee? Seest thou that in this we surpass them? For concerning us, Paul says, God provided better, lest they should seem to have anything more than us, if they were crowned first, before us. He defined one time of all the crowns: and he who conquered so many years before, shall receive the crown together with thee. Dost thou contemplate the divine care and love? He did not say, “Lest without us they should be crowned,” but, “Lest without us they should be consummated.” They forestalled these [later ones] in the contests; but they shall not forestall [them] in the crowns. Nor did God on that account do them injury, but honored us: for the brethren themselves also gladly await us. For if we are all one body, the more is the joy of the body made from this — when it is crowned together and in common, and not by parts [piecemeal]. For indeed the just are, even in this, admirable: that, as over [their] own goods, so they rejoice also over the goods of [their] brethren. Wherefore also in them this proceeds according to [their] wish: that they be crowned with [their] brethren. For to be glorified together is a great joy,’” etc.

THESE [things] Chrysostom [says] concerning the state of the holy souls without the body. But concerning the place in which those souls, not yet crowned, are detained, the same [Chrysostom], in the commentaries on Paul, seems to indicate that this is the

—[of Abraham’s] bosom. Since indeed [in] the seventh homily upon that [text] from the fifth chapter to the Hebrews, “Let us therefore draw near with confidence,” etc., he thus declares: “LET no one now despair of himself. Then will be the time of despair, when the bridal-chamber has been closed, when the King has entered to see those reclining [at table], when they have come to the bosom of Abraham who have been made worthy of it. But now the contest still remains, still the palm hangs [in the balance].” And [in] the thirty-third homily to the people of Antioch, he says: “ALMSGIVING does not permit us to fall down thither, where that rich man [is], nor to hear those dreadful words; but leads us down into the bosom of Abraham.” And [in] homily 53 on Matthew: “MERCY,” he says, “does not suffer us to be thrust down thither, where that rich man is tormented; but leads [us], by a sure road, into the bosom of Abraham.” And [in] the fortieth homily on Genesis: “HEAR,” he says, “that all the just, from that time of Abraham until now, and until the consummation of Abraham himself, do the work of prayer, that they may meet [Abraham] in the bosom of the patriarch.” Nay, in others of his sermons he is wont sometimes to call the same place τῶν ἱερῶν προθύρων [tôn hierôn prothýrōn] — that is, “the holy vestibule,” or “the vestibules of the saints” — this appellation being taken, as the Greeks believe, from the occasion of this: that souls tarry there after the likeness of those who, before the doors of princes, in the vestibules of the palaces, wait to be admitted into the inner [parts] of the palaces, to the sight of the prince. Whence also [in] homily 24 on the first [epistle] to the Corinthians he thus pronounces: “IF we migrate hence fortified by the sacrifice of the Eucharist, we shall ascend the holy vestibule with the greatest confidence, as [if] covered on every side with golden garments.”

BY these testimonies of Chrysostom, Cornelius Agrippa, a follower of the Anabaptists, [in] the third book On the Occult Philosophy, endeavors to build up [the notion] that the pious souls of the dead lack the vision of the Godhead until the day of judgment. Which [notion], how far it stands off from the mind of Chrysostom, the subjoined passages of the same holy man testify — which most openly proclaim that the souls of the saints, immediately when they have migrated from this life, obtain the glory of the divine sight [conspectus].

[In] the homily upon that [text of] the fifth [chapter] of Wisdom, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God,” etc.: “THE JUST,” he says, “translated into another life, are blessed — because they have gone to Christ, and nearer to the King, not by [an act of] approach and by faith, but face to face.” And [in] the 69th homily to the people of Antioch: “THE JUST,” he says, “when they have migrated hence, are altogether happy: for they have passed over to Christ. There they are with the King; and there [they are] more, and more nearly [present], not through an entering-in, not through faith, but face to face.” [In] homily 16 on the epistle to the Romans: “DEATH,” he says, “does not separate us from Christ, but rather joins [us] to that choir which is with Christ, and makes [us] obtain that glory.” And [in] homily 32 on the epistle to the Romans: “LET US hear the voice of Paul: that, after we have departed hence, we may merit to see this athlete. For there we shall altogether see him — though not standing near [him]: yet we shall see [him] near to the resplendent royal throne, where the Cherubim glorify God, where the Seraphim fly: there we shall see Paul, existing in the choir of the saints; and we shall enjoy there a genuine love.”² [In] the fourth homily to the Philippians upon that [text], “What I should choose I know not,” etc., he writes thus: “WHAT sayest thou, [O] Paul? When, departing hence, [thou art] about to migrate into

—heaven itself, and to be with Christ, art thou ignorant what thou oughtest to choose?” And [in] the homily on the cross and the thief he speaks in this manner: “PARADISE, closed to us for five thousand years and more, Christ this day laid open, and led the Thief into paradise, and showed the pleasant places of it; and at one time we have seen two benefits granted — one, that paradise was laid open; the other, that the Thief merited to be led into it. This present day has restored to us [our] ancient fatherland, has shown [us our] paternal city, has given back [our] former home.” And, lest thou think Chrysostom to be speaking of the earthly paradise, he added these [things] after some [others]: “IT was no injury to Christ, entering [his] sacred fatherland, to make the Thief a partaker of his entrance: for he led him along with himself — not defiling paradise by the treading feet of the thief, but conferring honor on paradise. For when he led in publicans and fornicators to the kingdom of the heavens, he did not defame the kingdom of the heavens; but rather amplified [it] with [greater] honors — showing that such a one is the Lord of the kingdom of the heavens, who has made even unworthy persons to be so far bettered, that they merited even the glory of that dignity.” And a little below he adds: “THOU hast seen the thief, and the thief: both of a thievish life; but a like outcome does not rule over [befall] them: the one merited, by hereditary right, the beatitude of heaven; the other was being sent to gehenna, and to punishment.”

THE interpretation of the passages of Chrysostom which disagree [dissent] from these last passages, seek below, [in] Annotation 345 — where thou hast a catalog of the authors who, on this article, have brought forth ambiguous [conflicting] opinions.