Annotation CCCXLV

”I saw under the altar of God the souls of the slain.” — Apocalypse 6:9

Whether the souls of the saints see God before the day of judgment.

Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, narrating this passage, seems to be rolled down [devolve] into the error of the Armenians and Anabaptists, who teach that the souls of the saints, before the resurrection of the body, cannot enjoy the glory of the divine vision. For in the fourth sermon of the festival of All Saints he asserts, that the souls of the saints rest under the altar of God until the day of judgment — that is, in the sole vision of the humanity of Christ, until the time come, in which the Son of God, after the universal resurrection, shows himself to them in the form of God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Which opinion he expresses with these words: “INTO this place, then (that is, the bosom of Abraham), the Savior, descending, broke the brazen gates, and, the bound being led out from the house of the prison, placed them then indeed under the altar of God, hiding them in the hidden [place] of his tabernacle, until the time come in which they may go forth — the number of the brethren being now completed — and receive the kingdom prepared from the origin of the world.” And a little after he adds: “BUT of the altar of God, of which our discourse is, I judge, according to my [capacity], [it to be] nothing else than the very body of the Lord Savior; of which it was said in the gospel, ‘Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles be gathered together.’ Meanwhile, therefore, under the humanity of Christ the saints happily rest — into which surely even the holy angels desire to look — until the time come, when they shall now not be placed under the altar, but exalted above the altar. But what have I said? Can anyone attain — not to say surpass — the glory of the humanity of Christ, [the glory] not of men [only], but even of the angels? In what manner, therefore, did I say that those who now rest under the altar are to be exalted above the altar? By vision surely, and by contemplation, not by prelation [precedence]. For then the Son shows himself to us, as he promised, not in the form of a servant, but in the form of God. He shows to us also the Father, and the Holy Spirit — without which vision surely nothing would suffice us: since this is life eternal, that they know thee, the true God, and [him] whom thou didst send, Jesus Christ,¹ and in them (which is not doubtful) also the Spirit of both.” Again, in the third sermon of the same feast, explaining by the way [obiter] that Davidic [text],² “How beloved [are] thy tabernacles, O Lord: my soul concupisceth in the courts of the Lord, etc.,” he says [there are] three states of souls: the first in the tabernacles, the second in the courts, the third in the house of God — that is, in beatitude, into which it is not entered without bodies. His sermon runs thus: “YOU have perceived, unless I err, from those [things] which were said in the preceding sermon, that there are three states of holy souls: the first, namely, in the corruptible body; the second, without the body; the third, in consummated beatitude: the first, in fine, in the

—[in the] tabernacles, the second in the courts, the third in the House of God.” And after a few [words] he subjoins: “Into that most blessed House of God the souls shall enter neither without us, nor without their [own] bodies: that is, neither the saints without the people, nor the spirit[s] without the flesh.”

Alfonso de Castro, [in] the third book Against Heresies, admonishes that this opinion of Bernard is condemned — which I too do not deny; but the author, nevertheless, I judge is to be excused with a grateful and benign affection, on account of the vast number of illustrious fathers of the church who, before him, seemed to lend authority to this dogma by their testimony. Whose opinions — collected according to the series of the times in which they flourished — it pleases [me] to set down here; that, in the running-over of a single page, the reader may, without long delay, briefly recognize which authors are, in this part, prudently to be read by him, and benevolently (when it can be done) to be interpreted.

James the Apostle, in the Liturgy of the divine sacrifice, prays thus for the souls of the saints resting in Christ, so as to indicate that they have not yet arrived at the place of the awaited beatitude. And the form of the prayer is of this kind: “O Lord our God, be mindful of all the orthodox, and [those] rightly thinking concerning the faith, from Abel the just even unto the present day: make them to rest in the region of the living, in thy kingdom, in the delights of Paradise, in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our holy fathers: whence grief, sadness, and groaning are exiled: where the light of thy countenance presides, and perpetually shines forth.”

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, at the end of the fifth book Against Heresies, thus says: “FOR since the Lord went away into the midst of the shadow of death, where the souls of the dead were, and afterward rose again corporeally, and after the resurrection was taken up: it is manifest that the souls of his disciples also — for whose sake the Lord wrought these [things] — shall go away into an invisible place defined for them by God, and there shall abide until the resurrection; awaiting the resurrection, then receiving [their] bodies, and rising again perfectly — that is, corporeally, as Christ rose again — and so shall come to the sight of God.”

Justin, philosopher and martyr, in the book of Questions set [posed] by the gentiles, question 76: “IF before the resurrection there are no rewards of works, what fruit was there to the thief, when his soul was introduced into his [Christ’s] Paradise — especially since Paradise falls under sense, but the essence of the soul is not perceived by the senses? Answer: This the thief obtained, when he entered into Paradise, that he knew in the very thing the emolument and fruit of faith; because he was held worthy of the assembly of the blessed, in which he is guarded unto the day of resurrection and remuneration. And he has a sense of Paradise by the sense of the intelligence — which is [that] by which souls both see themselves, and the [things] which are beneath them, and moreover the angels and demons.” And again, question 60: “TO NO ONE (he says), before the resurrection, is a reward rendered from those [things] which he did in life.”

Tertullian, [in] the fourth book Against Marcion, says: “WHENCE it appears to every wise [man] who has ever heard of the Elysian fields, that there is some local determination which is called the bosom of Abraham; and that the souls of his sons are to be received, even from the nations — [Abraham] namely [being] the father of many nations, to be reckoned to the census of Abraham, and out of the same faith by which Abraham also believed God, under no yoke of the law, nor in the sign of circumcision. That region, therefore — the bosom, I say, of Abraham — even if not heavenly, [is] nevertheless higher than the lower regions [inferi], meanwhile about to afford refreshment to the souls of the just, until the consummation of things achieves the resurrection of all by the plenitude of reward — this [region] about to appear by the heavenly promise, to which Christ builds an ascent into heaven, where is the eternal place.” Likewise, in the book On the Soul, in the antepenultimate chapter: “TO NO ONE (he says), before the resurrection, is a reward rendered from those [things] which he did in life.” The same again, in the book On the Soul, in the antepenultimate chapter: “IF Christ, having discharged the form of human death among the lower regions, did not ascend into the higher [parts] of the heavens before he descended into the lower [parts] of the earth, that he might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of himself: thou hast [ground] also to believe [there is] a subterranean region of the lower world, and to push away by the elbow [thrust aside] those who, arrogantly enough, think not the souls of the faithful worthy of the lower regions — [as] servants [scorning to be] above [their] lord, and disciples [scorning to be] above [their] master, if perchance in Abraham’s bosom they should snatch the solace of the consolation of the resurrection to be awaited.” And a little below: “TO NO ONE is heaven open, the earth being yet safe [intact] — not to say closed. For [only] with the transaction [passing away] of the world shall the kingdoms of the heavens be unlocked.” And after some [words] he adds: “THOU hast also, concerning Paradise, a little book from us, in which we have established that every soul is sequestered among the lower regions unto the day of the Lord.” Finally, in the last chapter of the same work, he inferred these [things]: “ALL souls, therefore, are held among the lower regions, wilt thou or wilt thou not; and [there are] punishments there already, and refreshments: thou hast [the example of] the poor man and the rich. For why shouldst thou not think that the soul is both punished among the lower regions meanwhile, under the expectation of the twofold judgment? What then shall be done in that time? Shall we sleep? But souls do not sleep even in the living: for sleep is of bodies. The soul knows, even among the lower regions, both to rejoice and to grieve without the flesh: since even in the flesh, [when it is] unharmed, it grieves if it will, and [when] harmed, it rejoices if it will. If this be from its own choice in life, how much more from the judgment of God after death.”

Clement of Rome, [in] the second book of the Hypotyposes [ὑποτυπώσεων], out of the opinion of Peter says these [things]: “AS our master Christ did not at once fly away and depart, but, awaiting the time of his resurrection defined by the Father — which was made manifest also through Jonah — after three days, rising, was taken up: so we too ought to await the time of our resurrection and glory, foretold by the prophets; and so, rising again, to be taken up into heaven. But meanwhile the souls must patiently await the future glory, outside heaven, until the day of judgment.” Know well, good reader, that I have not taken this testimony from the very work of Clement (whether it be now found anywhere, I know not), but from the third book of the Occult Philosophy of Cornelius Agrippa — a heretical man, and, in this article especially, thinking perversely. Who, unless my suspicion deceive me, transcribed these [things] from the fifth book of Irenaeus: at the end of which this opinion is had word for word, except that last clause, “But meanwhile the souls must, until the day of judgment, [remain]

—[the souls must] patiently await the future glory “out[side] heaven” — which indeed it is probable that Cornelius [Agrippa] added of his own, as [being] favorable to his [own] dogma.

Origen, [in] the seventh homily on Leviticus: “NOT YET (he says) have the saints received their joy, nor even the Apostles: but they too await, that I may become a partaker of their joy. For neither do the saints, departing hence, at once obtain the whole rewards of their merits, but they await us also — though we linger, though we be slothful. For their joy is not perfect, until they grieve for our errors, and mourn our sins — as Paul says: ‘They have not yet obtained the promises, God providing something better for us, lest without us they should attain perfection.’ Thou seest, then, that Abraham still awaits, that he may attain the [things] which are perfect; Isaac and Jacob also await; and all the prophets await us, that with us they may perceive the perfect beatitude.” The same, [in] the second book of the Peri Archon, not far from the end, speaking of the place to which the souls of the saints tend after death: “I THINK (he says) that all the saints, departing from this life, remain in some place set on the earth, which the divine scripture calls Paradise — as in a certain place of erudition, and (so to say) of assistance, or [a] school of souls: in which they may be taught concerning all those [things] which they had seen on the earth; and receive also certain judgments concerning the [things] to come and future — as, being placed in this life also, they had conceived certain [notions] of the judgment of future [things], though through a glass in a riddle, yet in some part — which are more manifestly and lucidly revealed to the saints in their [own] places and times. If indeed anyone be pure of heart, and purer in mind, he shall ascend thence to the place of the air, and shall arrive at the kingdoms of the heavens.” Again, [in] book 4 of the Peri Archon, making mention of the place of holy souls, but somewhat more diversely, he says: “THOSE who depart from this world according to that common death are dispensed [assigned] according to their acts and merits, as they shall have been judged worthy — some indeed to the place which is called hell [infernus], others to the bosom of Abraham, through diverse mansions.”

Lactantius, [in] book 7 of the Divine Institutions, chapter 21: “NOR let anyone think that souls are judged immediately after death. For all are detained in one common custody, until the time come, in which the greatest Judge shall make examination of merits. Then, those whose justice shall have been approved, these shall receive the reward of immortality; but those whose sins and crimes shall have been detected shall not rise again, but shall be hidden away with the impious into the same darkness, destined to certain punishments.”

Victorinus the Martyr, bishop of Pettau [Petabio], in the commentaries on the Apocalypse, explaining that [text], “I saw under the altar of God, etc.”: he says that he saw the souls of the slain “under the altar [ara],” that is, under the earth. For an “altar” is called both heaven and earth; as the Law says, which had made two altars — one golden within, and one of bronze without. As, therefore, by the golden altar (which was the inner one, to which the priests entered once a year) heaven is understood: so also by the bronze altar the earth is understood, under which is hell, a region remote from penalties and fires, and the rest of the saints — in which indeed the just are seen and heard by the impious, and yet [the impious] cannot pass over thither. “That these souls of the slain, then, seek the avenging of their blood — that is, of their body — upon those dwelling on the earth, He willed us to know, who sees all things. But because in the last time the perpetual remuneration of the saints, and the coming damnation of the impious, is [to be]: it was said to them, ‘Wait’; and for the solace of their body they received (he says) white robes — that is, the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Prudentius, in his poems, seems now to place the souls of the pious, departing from the body, in the bosom of Abraham, now in the terrestrial paradise, now under the altar of God — as he does in the hymn for the obsequies of the departed, where he sings in this manner:

In what region wilt thou bid the pure soul to rest? Hidden in the bosom of the holy old man it shall recline, as is Eleazar [Lazarus]. Whom, hedged about on all sides with flowers, the rich man from afar beholds, burning. We follow thy words, O Redeemer, by which, triumphing over black death, thou biddest the companion of the cross, the thief, to go in thy footsteps. Behold, the bright way of the ample paradise now lies open to the faithful: and it is permitted to man to enter that grove, which the serpent had taken away.

And in the hymn of the eighteen martyrs of Caesaraugusta [Zaragoza], indicating in what place that throng of Martyrs rests, he says:

This throng, placed beneath the eternal altar, prays pardon for our lapses [sins] — the throng which the creatrix of the purple nobles [i.e. she who brings forth the crimson-robed martyrs] preserves.

Ambrose, bishop of Milan, [in] book 2 On Cain and Abel, chapter 2: “THE soul (he says) is loosed from the body, and after the end of this life; yet still it is held suspended by the ambiguities of the future judgment.” And in the book On the Good of Death, chapter 10: The scripture of Esdras names the dwellings of souls “storehouses [promptuaria]”; and, meeting the human complaint — [namely] that the just who have gone before seem, even to the day of judgment (for the most part, that is, of time), to be defrauded of the remuneration owed to them — he wonderfully says that the day of judgment is like a crown. For the day of the crown [contest] is awaited by all, that within the same day both the conquered may blush, and the victors may obtain the palm of victory. Therefore, while the plenitude of time is awaited, the souls await the remuneration owed: for some [there] remains penalty, for others glory. And a little below, in the same chapter, the place which all souls, stripped of [their] bodies, seek, he calls “hell [infernus], which is not seen.”

John Chrysostom, [in] homily 39 on the former [epistle] to the Corinthians, examining the force of that Pauline argumentation — namely, “If in this life only we are hoping, then we are more miserable than all living things” — he says: “WHAT sayest thou, Paul? Would confidence alone survive [remain over], if the body be not raised? Or would the soul not survive? It would — and immortal indeed: yet although it be six hundred times over immortal (as surely it is), nevertheless without the flesh it will not itself enjoy those admirable goods, just as neither will it be punished with penalties. For all their [things] shall be made manifest at the tribunal of Christ (says Paul), that each one may bear the [things which he did] through [his] body—

—[the things which he did] through the body, whether it did good or evil. For if the body rise not, our soul will remain uncrowned, and will be outside the heavenly beatitude.” And there are also many other opinions in Chrysostom akin to this, which will occur to thee, above, Annotation 264.

The Author of the Unfinished Work [Opus imperfectum] on Matthew, homily 34, upon that [text], “The first shall be last, and the last first, etc.,” showing that all shall receive the denarius of eternal beatitude at the same time, thus says: “OR he therefore says that the first shall be last, and the last first, not that the last be worthier than the first, but that they be made equal. For the prophet Esdras — wishing to show that the vocation of all the saints is one, and that there is no difference among them by reason of time — says that the number of all the saints is, as it were, a crown [circle]. For as in a crown, since it is round, thou findest nothing which may seem to be a beginning or an end: so among the saints, as regards the time in that age, no one is called last, no one first. Therefore, to those to whom it was given to be born first, [reward] is rendered last; because the saints, as [it were] a crown, are all equal: the last-born are rewarded first, that those, having that glory, [and] these being made equal to them through it.”

Augustine, in the exposition of Psalm 36, says: “AFTER this life thou shalt not yet be [there], where the saints shall be, to whom it will be said, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom, which was prepared for you from the origin of the world.’ That thou shalt not yet be there, who knows not? But thou canst already be there, where that proud rich man, in the midst of torments, saw that once ulcerous poor man resting far off. In that rest, surely, thou shalt securely await the day of judgment.” And [in] book 12 On Genesis according to the Letter, chapter 9, he says: “THAT part of the city of God, which is to be joined to the immortal angels [and] is gathered out of mortal men, now either travels [as a pilgrim] mortally on the earth; or, in those who have died, rests in the secret receptacles and seats of souls.” Other passages of Augustine, akin to these, thou shalt review above, Annotation 169 of the fifth book, and elsewhere.

Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, in the commentaries on the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews: “OF the saints, then (he says), there were so many and so great contests: but these, nevertheless, have not yet received [their] crowns. For the God of all awaits the contests of the others; that, the stadium [race] being finished, he may at once pronounce victors all who shall have obtained the victory, and reward [them].”

Arethas, bishop of Caesarea, in the commentaries on the Apocalypse (collected out of the monuments of Andreas, bishop of Caesarea), when he was expounding that [text], “How long, O Lord, dost thou not avenge our blood, etc.,” says: “BY these [words] the saints appear to seek the consummation of the world: therefore they are bidden to await with longanimity [patience], until the consummation of the brethren — lest they be consummated [perfected] without them, according to the divine Apostle. But the white robes designate the splendor of virtues, flourishing in them, wherewith they are clad — although they have not yet carried off the promises. By the hope, therefore, of these [things], which they contemplate through the understanding as [it were] in a mirror — being freed from all grossness — they justly rejoice, resting in the bosoms of Abraham. For this has been said by many of the saints: that each cultivator of virtue is allotted a worthy place, whence he even attains a certain sure conjecture concerning his future glory.”

Oecumenius, on the eleventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews: “ALL the saints (he says), having merited the testimony that through faith they pleased God, have not yet obtained the goods promised to the just — God providing something better concerning us, lest they should have anything more than we in this, that they were crowned first. He defined one time, that we too may be crowned together with them. And this is for our sake: they never sit unrewarded, awaiting our administration [the completion of our course].” “(Lest they be consummated without us)”: he did not say, “Lest they be crowned,” but — which has a greater emphasis — “Lest they be consummated” — that is, receive the term of goods, for which all the effort and fatigue of him who is endowed with virtue labors.

Theophylact, bishop of Bulgaria, on the Hebrews, [chapter] 11: “THE saints (he says) have not yet obtained anything of the heavenly promises. Although it is agreed that some were affected [endowed] with these goods of the earth, as David the king: yet we do not here inquire after these present [things], but after those promises which are in heaven, more sure and more true.” This same [thing] he has in the commentaries on the 23rd chapter of Luke, expounding that [text], “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” See above, Annotation 163 of this book.

Euthymius Zigabenus, in the commentaries on the 23rd chapter of Luke, expounding the promise of Christ to the Thief, “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise,” wrote these [things]: “CHRIST, knowing the Thief’s intention, promised that which seemed most desirable to him. For the thief knew Paradise from the Mosaic doctrine. And then indeed he gave him a converse [dwelling] in Paradise, as [it were] the pledge [earnest] of his kingdom — which is the fruition of the ineffable and eternal goods, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they ascended into the heart of man. For not yet has any of the just received the promise, as the great Paul taught; but afterward he will deliver this also, [namely] the kingdom, at the time of the universal resurrection.”

John, Roman pontiff, the twenty-second of that name, is said to have subscribed to the opinion of these, and to have sanctioned by decree that it was so to be believed. Witnesses of this decree are William of Ockham, in the work of the Ninety Days, and Pope Adrian the Sixth — whose words, in the 4th book of the Sentences, at the end of the question On the Sacrament of Confirmation, are these: “LASTLY, it is reported concerning John XXII, that he publicly taught, declared, and commanded to be held by all, that the purged souls, before the final judgment, do not have the robe, which is the clear and facial vision of God: and he is said to have induced the University of Paris to this — [namely] that no one could obtain a degree in theology in it, unless he first swore that he would defend this error, and perpetually adhere to it.”

These testimonies of the fathers, if they be inspected according to the simple utterance of the words, seem to bear before them the error of the Armenians — condemned in the decretal epistles of Innocent the Third, and of Benedict the Eleventh, Roman pontiffs, and by the decree of the ecumenical Council of Florence, whose words are these: “WE DEFINE, that the souls of those who, after baptism received, have incurred no stain of sin at all,

—[have] incurred [no stain of sin at all]; those also which, after the stain of sin contracted, have been purged — whether in their [own] bodies, or, stripped of those bodies, as was said above — [we define] to be soon received into heaven, and to behold clearly the very Lord, three and one, as he is; yet, according to the diversity of merits, one more perfectly than another. But the souls of those who depart in actual mortal sin, or in original [sin] alone, [we define] to descend soon to hell, [there] to be punished, however, with unequal penalties.”

THUS FAR the decree of the council: to whose definition thou canst easily reduce some of the aforesaid opinions of the fathers, if thou observe that, of the blessed who enjoy the divine vision, there are two states of beatitude. The one, of the soul without the body, until the universal judgment; which the ancients, describing by various names, called the Bosom of Abraham, the Paradise taken away from the first parents, the Outer Altar, “Under the altar of God,” the Vestibule of the saints, the Courts of God, the Storehouses of souls, the Hidden receptacles, the Custody of souls, the Rest of security, the Pledge [earnest] of the kingdom, the White Robe, the Obtained promises, and other [names] of this kind. But the other is the state of the soul, the body being resumed, after the judgment; which likewise they named by diverse appellations — the House of God, the Inner Altar, “Above the altar,” the Higher [parts] of the heavens, the Consummation of glory, the Glory of the resurrection, Perfect joy, the Reward of immortality, the Term of all goods, the whole [entire] rewards of merits, the Reward yet awaited, the Promises not yet received, the Future glory, the Time of the crowns, the Kingdom of fruition, and the rest like to these. Accordingly, when among the ancient doctors of the church thou readest that the souls of the just live either in the bosom of Abraham, or in the grove of Paradise, or under the altar of God, or in the hidden receptacles, and there await the rewards of the future glory: do not at once suspect that the souls of the saints lack the glory of the divine sight; but understand that they do not yet possess that perfect and consummated felicity, which they await after the resurrection of the body. For thus we too have interpreted the opinions of Ambrose, Augustine, and Chrysostom, which thou hast above, Annotations 64 and 169 of book 5, and 264 of this book, and elsewhere.

But if there be any sayings of the holy authors which cannot bear an interpretation of this kind: remember, at least, that this error nothing hinders [detracts from] the erudition and piety of such illustrious fathers — since the church, in their times, had not yet established anything certain to be believed in this article.

FINALLY, lest any scruple reside in thy mind on account of the decree of Pope John XXII (whom we mentioned above to have assented to this error), know that it is not, among approved writers, in every way certain, [that] which Ockham — hostile to that same pontiff, and, in this [matter], condemned by the Council of Trent — wrote concerning him. Nay, there are not lacking authors of the greatest authority and faith who relate otherwise. Among these, Benedict XI, pontiff of the same name, in his decretal epistle, put on record that he [John XXII] could decree nothing concerning this matter, being prevented by death; thus speaking: “SOME TIME ago, in the time of John XXII, our predecessor of happy memory, among certain masters also of the theolog- ical faculty, there arose a matter of question concerning the vision of the souls of just men after their death — whether they see the divine essence before the general judgment — and concerning certain other [matters]. And when the same our predecessor was preparing himself for the decision of contentions of this kind, in his public consistory — enjoining more strictly both upon his brethren, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church (of whose number we then were), and upon the prelates and masters in theology, of whom many were present, that upon the aforesaid matter of the vision each one, deliberately, should say what he thought — nevertheless, prevented by death, as it pleased the Lord, he was unable to accomplish it.”