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About the destined end of the devil's city, that is, the eternal punishment of the condemned, and about human arguments against this subject on the part of unbelievers Chapter I. About the order of research, according to which we should first talk about the eternal punishment of those condemned with the devil, and then about the eternal bliss of the saints In this book, with all possible care (with God's help), we examine the question of what will be the punishment of the devil and all his followers when both cities, one of God and the other of the devil, reach their destined end through our Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of the living and the dead. I decided to adhere to this order, in which the blessedness of the saints will be discussed later, because both (punishment and bliss) will happen to the bodies, and the thought of the eternal torment awaiting the body seems more incredible than the thought of the eternal bliss awaiting them. Therefore, when I prove that the idea of ​​such punishment should not seem incredible, it will be very useful to me in the sense that then they will be more likely to believe that the immortality of the bodies of saints will be alien to any illness. Moreover, such an order is not excluded by the Divine Scriptures, in which the blessedness of the virtuous is sometimes placed first, as in the words: “And those who have done good will go forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation” (John. V, 29); but sometimes even after, in the following place: “The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom all temptations and those who practice iniquity, and will throw them into the fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. XIII, 41–43), or: “And these will go away into eternal torment, and the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. XXV, 46). Whoever desires will find both order in the prophets; but it would take a long time to cite all these places. I already said why I preferred the last order. Chapter II. Can bodies burn forever in fire What should I point out so that non-believers can be convinced that animate and living human bodies not only can not be destroyed by death, but can also withstand the torment of eternal fire? They don’t want us to refer to the power of the Almighty in this case, but demand that we convince them with some example. If we answer them that there are animals that, like mortals, are subject to destruction, and yet live in ordinary fire, and one kind of worms are even found in a thermal spring, the temperature of the water is such that no one can touch it with impunity, and yet the worms not only live in it without any harm to themselves, but cannot live outside it, then they will either not want to believe us if we cannot show them these objects, or, if they could do this or prove their existence by providing reliable witnesses, under the influence of the same distrust, they will begin to assert that this fact is not a convincing enough example for the subject we are talking about, because such animals do not live forever, and, moreover, they live in the indicated temperature without suffering, since in this element corresponding to their nature they experience a life-giving effect, and not suffering. But is it less incredible to experience a life-giving effect under such conditions than to experience suffering? To suffer in fire and still live is, of course, amazing; but it is even more amazing to live in fire and not suffer. If they believe the latter, why don’t they want to believe the first? Chapter III. Is it consistent that bodily suffering is followed by destruction of the flesh? But, they say, there is no body that can suffer and not die. I wonder how they know this? Who can say anything reliable about the bodies of demons? Do not the demons suffer in them when they confess that they are oppressed by great torments? If to this we are answered that there is no earthly, gross and visible body, or, to express it more clearly, such flesh that could suffer and not die; then this means that they refer to what people know based on bodily sense and experience. Apart from mortal flesh, they do not know any other, and their whole argument boils down to the fact that what they have not experienced, in their opinion, cannot exist. For on what basis should we consider suffering a proof of death, if in itself it serves rather as a sign of life? In fact, although we are talking about whether something that suffers can live forever, it is certain that everything lives that suffers, and that all suffering can only exist in a living being. Thus, it is not necessary that suffering act in a destructive way, because not all suffering destroys even mortal bodies, which inevitably must die; and if any suffering can act destructively, the reason for this is that the soul is connected with this body in such a way that it yields to too strong suffering and leaves the body, for the very connection of the organs and vital parts is so weak that it cannot withstand the force that causes great or extremely severe suffering. Meanwhile, then the soul will be united with such a body and in such a way that no length of time will dissolve this connection, no suffering will destroy it. Therefore, although at the present time there is no flesh that could experience a feeling of suffering and not die, yet then the flesh will not be the same as it is now; Likewise, death then will not be the same as it is now. This will not be an insignificant death, but an eternal death, when the soul will not be able, not having God, to live, but by dying, to be freed from bodily suffering. The first death expels the soul from the body against its will; the second death will keep the soul in the body against its will; What both deaths have in common is that the soul suffers from its body what it does not want. Our opponents point out that there is no flesh that can suffer and not die, but they do not want to notice that there is something that is higher than the body. After all, the spirit itself, by whose presence the body lives and is controlled, can experience suffering and not die. So it turns out that there is a creature that, although it experiences a feeling of suffering, is nevertheless immortal. And in the bodies of the condemned there will then be the same thing that, as we see, now happens in the soul of every person. But if you look more closely, suffering, called physical, rather has to do with the soul. In fact, it is the soul that suffers, not the body, even when the cause of the soul’s suffering lies in the body, when suffering is felt where the body is damaged. Hence, just as we call bodies feeling and living, although they receive life and feeling from the soul, we also call bodies suffering, although suffering in the body can only be felt thanks to the soul. Thus, the soul suffers along with the body in that part of it where something happens that causes suffering. She suffers alone, although she is in the body, when for some, often invisible, reason she is sad in a completely healthy state of the body. She suffers when she is no longer in the body; This rich man suffered in hell when he said: “I am tormented in this flame” (Luke XVI, 24). Just as an inanimate body does not suffer, so an animate body does not suffer without a soul. Consequently, if suffering served as the basis for a direct conclusion about death, so that death would appear due to the fact that suffering had previously taken place, then the property of dying would have to be attributed to the soul, to which, in fact, the property of suffering belongs. But since a soul that can suffer cannot die, what reason is there to believe that those bodies will die because they will be subject to suffering? True, the Platonists said that the soul receives the ability to fear, desire, suffer and rejoice from earthly bodies and mortal organs. On this basis Virgil says: “From here (i.e. from the mortal organs of the earthly body) and their fears, and desires, suffering and joy" 196. But in the fourteenth book of this work, we proved to them that souls, even cleansed of all bodily filth, themselves have a passionate desire, due to which they begin to want to return to their bodies again. And where there can be desire, there can, of course, be suffering. For desire, deceived by the failure to achieve what it strived for, or the loss of what it has achieved, turns into suffering. Therefore, if the soul that suffers is either alone, or, to the greatest extent, has in itself a certain immortality, then those bodies will not die from suffering. Finally, if bodies are the cause of suffering for souls, then why can they cause suffering to them, but cannot cause death, unless it is because the conclusion is inconsistent that the cause of death lies in what causes suffering? So, why is it incredible to think that fire can cause suffering to those bodies, and not death, just as bodies can cause suffering to souls, which, however, cannot thereby cause death? Therefore, suffering is not conclusive evidence of future death. Chapter IV. About natural examples, the consideration of which shows that bodies can remain alive even in the midst of torment Therefore, if a salamander lives in fire, as inquisitive researchers of the nature of animals write; if some well-known mountains of Sicily for such a long time, from ancient times to the present day, continuously emit flames and remain intact, thereby indisputably testifying that not everything that burns perishes; finally, if our soul shows that not everything dies, that everything can suffer, then what other examples are required from us that would show that there is nothing incredible if the bodies of people condemned to eternal torment will retain their soul in the fire, will burn without being consumed, and will suffer without dying? The substance of the flesh will then receive this property from the One who endowed all the things we see with the most amazing and varied properties, which only do not excite surprise in us because there are many of them. For who, if not God, the Creator of everything, imparted to the meat of a dead peacock the property of not spoiling? Although my story may seem incredible, such a case actually happened to us. In Carthage we were offered boiled peacock; we ordered a piece of flesh, large enough in our opinion, to be cut out of his chest and hidden; this piece, after some time, more than sufficient for all other meat to spoil, when it was offered to us, did not have any unpleasant odor. Having hidden it again, we found it the same after more than thirty days, and the same after a year, with the only difference that the meat had become somewhat drier and tougher. And who gave straw such a cooling power that it preserves the snow covered with it, or such a warming power that it helps unripe apples ripen? Who will explain the amazing properties of fire itself, which makes everything burned black, being itself light, - being itself the brightest color, it discolors almost everything that it embraces and absorbs and turns the brilliant hot coal into coal of the blackest color? And this property of fire does not constitute, so to speak, a rule, because, on the contrary, stones that have been in its flame become white themselves; and although fire is rather red in color, and they are white, yet white corresponds to light, as black corresponds to darkness. So, when fire burns in wood, heating stones, it has opposite effects, but not opposite objects. For although wood and stones are different from each other, they are not opposite in the same way as white and black, of which one produces fire in stones, and the other in wood, making stones light and wood dark, they are not opposite because fire disappears in stones as soon as it goes out in wood. But what is surprising about coals is, on the one hand, such fragility that they break from the lightest blow and crumble from the slightest pressure, on the other hand, such strength that they are not destroyed and are not overcome by any time; so surveyors usually sprinkle them under the boundary stones in order to convince the disputant, who would, after some time, decide to prove that the placed stone does not constitute a boundary. Who, if not fire, this destroyer of things, is the reason that they, buried in moist soil, can remain unharmed for so long? Let us also pay attention to the amazing property of limestone, which, regardless of what we talked about above, i.e., that it turns white from fire, while everything else turns black, receives fire from the fire in the most imperceptible way, and the block, already cold on the outside, contains this fire so secretly that it is absolutely imperceptible to any of our senses, and only an experienced person knows that it is contained in lime even when it is not visible. On this basis, we call such lime alive (quicklime), as if this hidden fire were the invisible soul of the visible body. Is it not surprising that lime ignites when it is quenched? For in order for it to lose its hidden fire, lime is poured and dissolved with water; and now, having previously been cold, it begins to boil from that which cools everything that boils. Thus, at the time when the lime mass, so to speak, gives up its breath, the fire, which was hidden, emanating from it, reveals itself; and then the mass becomes, as if due to death, so cold that it no longer ignites with the addition of water; and we begin to call the same lime that we called alive, slaked. What else can be added to this amazing property? Perhaps we can add the following. If you pour not water into lime, but oil, which is the same tinder for fire, the lime poured and dissolved in it will not boil. If we read about such an amazing property or heard from someone without observing it ourselves, we would consider it all fiction or, at least, would be extremely amazed. We have examples of such phenomena before our eyes every day, and they lose their meaning for us not because they are ordinary, but because they are often repeated, just as we have ceased to be surprised by some of those wonders that were brought to us from India, this country that is remote from us. Many of us, especially jewelers and carvers of precious stones, have a diamond, about which there is a rumor that it is not amenable to iron, fire, or anything else, with the exception of goat’s blood. But for those who know and have it, is it as much a wonder as for those to whom this property is shown for the first time? Those who have not been shown it will probably not believe it, and if they do believe it, they will be surprised as an unexperienced phenomenon; If they have the opportunity to become acquainted with it through experience, then although it will arouse surprise in them, as a phenomenon emerging from the usual series, repeating the experience will little by little cool down this surprise in them. It is known that a magnet stone has the amazing property of attracting iron; When I first saw this, I was simply horrified. I saw how an iron ring was attracted and hooked by this stone, then - as if the stone transferred and imparted its power to the iron that was attracted by it - this ring was moved towards another and attracted it to itself, and just as the first ring clung to the stone, so the second clung to the first ring; In the same way, the third ring was attached, and then the fourth, and from these interconnected fuses, a chain of rings was strung together, not externally, but internally connected to the fugue. Who would not be amazed at this power of the stone, which not only lay within itself, but also passed through so many rings and attached them to one another with an invisible connection? But what is much more surprising is that I heard this stone from my brother and co-bishop of Severus Milevitsky. He said that he himself saw how a certain Batanarius, a committee of Africa, during the bishop’s stay with him, brought such a stone and held silver over it, and put iron on the silver; then he began to move the hand below, with which he was holding the stone, and with it the iron moved from above; while the silver in the middle remained in a completely calm position, with the fastest back and forth movements of the stone below in the hands of the man, the iron above was also drawn towards the stone. I conveyed what I saw myself and what I heard from such a person, whom I believe as if I had seen it myself. Now I will say that I read about the magnet. If a diamond is placed near a magnet, it no longer attracts iron, and if iron has already been attracted to it, it immediately falls away as soon as the diamond approaches. These stones are delivered to us from India; But if we have ceased to be surprised by them, as they are already well known to us, then how much less are those from whom we receive them surprised by them, if they are the most ordinary things, perhaps the same as our lime, miraculously boiling from water, which usually extinguishes the fire, and not boiling from oil, from which the fire usually ignites, but which we are not surprised because for us this is an ordinary phenomenon? Chapter V. How many such phenomena are there, the causes of which we cannot know, and yet it is certain that they are true? Despite this, when we talk about past or future miracles of God, non-believers, to whom we cannot prove them experimentally, demand that we explain them, and since we are unable to do this (for it exceeds the capabilities of the human mind), they consider our words to be lies. Let them themselves give an explanation for those very many amazing phenomena that we either can see or even see. If they understand that man is not able to explain such phenomena, then they will have to admit that if something cannot be explained, this does not yet serve as proof that it did not exist or will not exist; for even now there are phenomena that we also cannot explain. I will not dwell too much on what is reported in the books not about what happened before and has already passed, but about what still exists now in some countries, where anyone who wants and can go there is able to check whether it really is so. I'll dwell on a little. In Sicily there is Agrigentine salt; if, they say, you bring it closer to fire, it becomes liquid, as in water, and if you bring it closer to water, it crackles, as in fire 197. In Garamanty there is one spring, which during the day is so cold that you cannot drink from it, and at night so hot that you cannot touch it 198 . In Epirus there is a different kind of source, in which burning torches go out, like in all others, but the extinguished ones are rekindled, not like in others 199. Arcadian stone asbestos 200 is so called because once lit it cannot go out 201. The tree of some Egyptian palm tree does not float in water, like any other tree, but sinks, and what is even more surprising is that after being in the depths for some time, it floats to the surface, whereas when wet it should become heavier than water 202 . In the land of the sodomites, apples grow and ripen, which, if chewed or crushed, turn into smoke and ashes as soon as their skin bursts 203. The Persian stone pyrite 204, if you squeeze it too hard, burns your hand, which is why it got its name 205. In the same Persia, selenite (moon stone) grows, the internal brilliance of which increases and decreases along with the phases of the moon 206. In Cappadocia, a mare sometimes conceives from the wind, and such offspring live no more than three years 207. The Indian island of Tilon differs from other countries in that every tree growing there never loses its foliage 208 . Let them explain to us, if they can, these and other countless amazing phenomena that history tells of, not previously former and no longer existing, but existing and now countries (for me, having other goals in mind, there is no need to talk about all this in detail), those unbelievers who do not want to believe the divine Scriptures, not considering them divine precisely because they speak of incredible objects similar to those about which we are now talking. “Reason does not allow the flesh to burn and not to be destroyed, to suffer and not to die,” they say, these great wise men who can give an explanation for all known wonderful objects. Let them explain to us those few phenomena we mentioned, which, if they did not know about their existence, and we said that such phenomena would happen, they would believe even less than they believe now, when we talk about what will once happen. In fact, which of them would believe us if we, just as we say about the future living bodies of people that they will burn and suffer forever and, however, will never die, said that in the next century there will be such a salt that will liquefy from fire, as from water, and crack from water, as from fire; or such a source, the water of which during the coolness of the night will become so hot that it will not be possible to touch it, and during the heat of the day, on the contrary, so cold that it will not be possible to drink it; either a stone that will burn the hand of the one who tries to squeeze it, or one that, once lit, cannot go out; and everything else that I said above, while omitting countless other similar phenomena? So, if in response to our speech about what will happen in the next century, unbelievers objected to us: “If you want us to believe this, explain to us each point separately”; then we would admit that we cannot give such an explanation, for these and similar wondrous works of God exceed the weak understanding of mortals. But at the same time, we are firmly convinced that the Almighty, not without reason, arranged it in such a way that the weak human mind cannot give such an explanation. And although in many cases it is not clear to us what He wants, it is obvious that whatever He wants is possible for Him! And when He speaks, we believe Him, since we cannot admit either powerlessness or deception in Him. What will these persecutors of faith and seekers of explanations answer us regarding those phenomena that man cannot explain, but which, however, exist and, apparently, contradict the very law of nature? If we had said that such phenomena would happen, the unbelievers would have demanded an explanation from us in this case, in exactly the same way as they now demand from us an explanation of what will one day happen according to our teaching. And since neither the mind nor the word of man is sufficient to explain these works of God, then just as these (phenomena) happen, so will they, regardless of the fact that man is not able to explain them. Chapter VI. That not all miracles are natural, but very many are invented by human imagination, and very many are produced by the art of demons To this they may tell us: “There is none of this, and we don’t believe any of it; everything that is said and written about this is a lie”; and they will add to this the following considerations: “If this is to be believed, then you also believe what is reported in the books, as if there was or exists a certain church of Venus, and in it there is a candlestick, and on the candlestick there is a lamp burning in the open air so that neither storm nor rain can extinguish it; which is why, like that stone, it is called λύχνος ἄσβεστος, that is, an unquenchable lamp.” They may tell us this in order to confuse us: if we say that this should not be believed, then with such an answer we will weaken the evidence of the miraculous phenomena we cited above; and if we agree that we should believe, then we thereby recognize the truth of the pagan gods. But we, as I said already in the eighteenth book of this work, do not consider it necessary to believe everything that is contained in the history of peoples, since the historians themselves, according to Varro, in many ways seem to deliberately and deliberately contradict each other; and we believe, if we want, only what does not contradict the books that we are convinced we should believe. In the realm of miracles, to convince non-believers of what will happen, the above is quite sufficient for us, which each of us can verify experimentally and for which it is not difficult to find reliable witnesses. However, as for the church of Venus and the unquenchable lamp, in this case not only is there not the slightest difficulty for us, but, on the contrary, a wide field opens up. To this unquenchable lamp we will add many other miracles performed by people with the help of human and magical, that is, demonic, art, and by the demons themselves; if we wanted to deny them, we would be in conflict with the testimony of the sacred books, which we believe. So, either some kind of device made of asbestos stone was built in that lamp by human art; or what was marveled at in that church was produced with the help of magical art; or, finally, some demon was there under the name of Venus, so that this miracle would appear and remain before people. And to such a settled life among the creatures that it was not they who created, but God, the demons are lured, depending on their differences, by various types of food that are attractive to them, not like animals, but by signs, like spirits - signs that correspond to the taste of each of them, namely, various kinds of stones, herbs, trees, animals, spells, rituals. People also serve as bait for them, but in this case, the demons themselves first seduce people with some insidious cunning, or poisoning their hearts with a secret poison, or hiding behind false friendship, and make a few of them their students, who are already teachers of very many. For no one could know what each of the demons desires, what they fear, by what name they are called, by what they are forced, before they themselves taught it; it was from here that the magical arts and masters in them arose. But primarily demons take possession of the hearts of people when they are transformed into angels of light (2 Cor. XI, 14), and they boast of this possession most of all. Thus, there are a lot of demonic acts, and the more we recognize them as amazing, the more caution we should avoid them. But in relation to what we are talking about, they also have a useful side for us, namely: if unclean demons can do such things, then how many times more powerful are the holy angels than them, and of all angels - God, who gave the angels themselves the power to perform such miracles? Thus, if human art, using the creation of God, performs so many and such amazing things (which the Greeks call μηχανηματα) that people who do not know call them divine - among which is the fact that in one church magnets were installed in the floor and roof at a proportionate distance, and in the middle between one and the other stone in the air - an iron idol, which for those who did not know that is located above and below it, seemed to hang in space as if by the wave of a deity - equally, what, as I have already said, could have been created by an artist in the lamp of Venus using an asbestos stone; if the actions of the magicians, whom our writings call sorcerers and sorcerers, could exalt the demons to such an extent that the famous poet obviously followed the ideas of people when he spoke of a certain woman who was strong in such an art: She says that her magic pleases the soul, To whom she wants, she sends sadness to others, Ponds water in streams and turns the stars back. The cry will call to the night deities - you will see for yourself how it will tremble The ground under your feet and the ash trees will fall from the hills 209, then how much more quickly can God do what is incredible for unbelievers, but easy for His power, when He created the power of stones and other things, and the abilities of people, which they use in an amazing way, as well as the angelic natures that surpass all earthly beings in power - created with a wondrous and surpassing all miracles power and performing, commanding and allowing wisdom, disposing of everything as miraculously as miraculously and created? Chapter VII. That the final basis for belief in miraculous phenomena is the omnipotence of the Creator So, what can prevent God from making both the bodies of the dead resurrect and the bodies of the damned eternally tormented in fire - God, who created a world filled with countless miracles both in heaven and on earth, both in the air and in the waters, although this world itself is a miracle, undoubtedly greater and surpassing everything with which it is filled? But those with whom or against whom we are speaking - who believe in God, who created the world, and in the gods whom He created and through whom He rules the world, and, finally, in magicians, both voluntary and forced by some cult and ritual, and not only do not deny the natural power of magicians, but even extol them - when we tell them about the amazing power of other objects that are not irrational beings, but spirits endowed with reason, such as those objects we mentioned above, usually answer: “Such is the power of their nature; This is how their nature works; such are the actions of their nature.” It turns out that the whole reason why Agrigentine salt becomes liquid from fire, and cracks from water, is that this is its nature. But such a phenomenon seems rather contrary to nature, which gave the ability to dissolve salt not to fire, but to water, and the ability to dry it not to water, but to fire. But, they say, such is the natural strength of this salt that it undergoes the opposite effect in fire and water. The same answer is given about that Garamante source, in which the same stream is cold during the day and hot at night, being, due to both its properties, equally unpleasant for those who touch it. The same explanation is given regarding another source, which, being cold to the touch and extinguishing, like the others, a lit torch, miraculously lights up an extinguished torch. The same is said about asbestos stone, which, having no fire of its own, when lit by a foreign fire, burns so that it can no longer go out. Likewise, with regard to other objects, which are boring to go through again, although, apparently, they are inherent in an extraordinary and contrary to nature power, no other explanation is given, but that such, they say, is their nature. The explanation, I admit, is very concise, and the answer is sufficient. But if God is the Creator of all nature, then why don’t they want us to give them the strongest reason, when in response to their reluctance to believe anything as impossible and to the demand to give an explanation for this, we respond that such is the will of the omnipotent God, who is called omnipotent because he can do whatever he wants; Who could have created many things that we would have considered absolutely impossible if we had not seen it ourselves or if reliable witnesses had not told us about it, and not only what I told us is completely unknown among us, but also something that is completely known. For what we do not have direct evidence of, except for those three whose books we have read and what is described by people who are not enlightened from above and how people can make mistakes, everyone at their own discretion can not believe, without being subjected to fair reproach for this. Yes, I don’t demand that they believe all of the above, because I myself don’t believe it to such an extent that there is no longer any doubt in my thoughts, except for what I myself have learned and what is easy for everyone to learn from experience, for example, that lime boils in water, but remains cold in oil; a magnet that won't move even a straw attracts iron; peacock meat does not spoil, and yet even Plato’s body has decayed; the straw is so cold that it prevents the snow from melting, and so warm that it helps the apples ripen; Fire, heating stones, makes them white in accordance with its light, and when it burns, it turns them black in spite of its light. This also includes the fact that transparent oil leaves black spots and white silver draws black lines, as well as the fact that in a burning fire, firewood undergoes such transformations that from the brightest in color, hard and subject to rotting, it turns into dark, brittle and non-rotting coals. I learned all this and very much more, which will take a long time to talk about in this book, together with many, and some together with everyone. Regarding what I cited, which I myself have not seen and which I learned about from books, namely: a source in which lit torches go out and extinguished ones are rekindled, as well as the apples of Sodom’s soil, which look ripe on the outside but are filled with smoke inside, I could not even find reliable witnesses from whom I could find out for certain whether it really is so. However, if I did not meet people who would say that they saw such a source in Epirus, then I met those who knew a similar source in Gaul, not far from Grenoble. As for the fruits of the Sodom trees, they are not only mentioned in trustworthy writings, but many are said to have seen them themselves, so in this case I cannot doubt. As for the rest, I do not consider it necessary to either affirm or deny; and I brought all this because I read about it from historians from the camp of those against whom we are speaking - I brought it in order to show how many of them, without any reason, believe much of what is written about in the works of their scientists; Meanwhile, when we say that Almighty God will create something that exceeds their experience and feeling, they don’t want to believe our words, although we give a reason. For what can be given better and stronger than the reason we give when we say that the Almighty can fulfill what we read predicted in the same place where He predicted many other things that we see already fulfilled? All this, which is considered impossible, will be fulfilled because the One who promised that the unbelieving nations would believe the incredible predicted the fulfillment, and fulfilled it. Chapter VIII. There are no contradictions of nature if in some object, the nature of which is known, there turns out to be something that deviates from what was known They will tell us that they do not believe our words about the eternal suffering of human bodies and at the same time about their immortality because the organization of human bodies is completely different; that in this case the reason given above in application to miraculous natures cannot be applied; that it is impossible to say that such is their natural strength, such is their nature, because this is not how we know the nature of human flesh. To this we could answer on the basis of the sacred Scriptures, that the same human flesh was constructed differently before sin, that is, in such a way that it could not undergo death; and otherwise it is created after sin, as we know it in the unfortunate state of real mortality, when it cannot continue life without end. In the same way, in the resurrection of the dead it will be organized differently than as we now know. But since they do not believe these our writings, which depict how man was in paradise and how far he was from the necessity of death (after all, if they believed them, we would have no reason to talk at length with them about the future punishment of the condemned); then we must bring something from the works of their wisest writers from which it would be clear that any object may turn out to be different from what it was previously known among other objects according to the essential features of its nature. In the books of Marcus Varro, entitled “On the Origin of the Roman People,” the following is written (I quote in the same terms in which it is read in Varro): “In the sky,” he says, “an amazing miracle took place: in the star Venus, which Plautus calls the Evening Star 210, and Homer calls Hesperus, with the addition of the epithet “most beautiful,” something like this happened, as Castor writes. It’s amazing that this star changed color, size, shape and course, which did not happen either before or after Adrastus of Cysia and Dion of Naples, the most famous mathematicians, said that this happened during the reign of King Ogyges.” A writer like Varro would not, of course, call this a miracle if it did not seem to him contrary to nature, because we call all miracles phenomena contrary to nature. But in reality they are not contrary to nature. For how can something that happens according to the will of God be contrary to nature, when the will of the Creator is the nature of every created thing? A miracle is not contrary to nature, but to the way nature is known to us. Who will list all the many miracles that the history of nations tells about? In the present case, we will pay attention to only one of the above, which is relevant to the subject of which we are talking. What, it seems, is to such an extent subordinated by the Creator of heavenly and earthly nature to order, if not the most strictly calculated movement of the luminaries? What is approved by such precise and immutable laws? And yet, when the One who rules all creation with his highest power wanted, the star, which in comparison with others is very famous for its size and light, changed color, size, shape and, most surprisingly, the order and law of its movement. And this disruption of order occurred when, without a doubt, there were already some tables of astrologers, which were considered to be compiled by error-free calculations of the past and future movements of the stars and on the basis of which they boldly said that the incident with the star Venus had not occurred either before or since! And in the divine Scriptures we read that even the sun itself stood still once, when the holy man, Joshua, asked the Lord God to do so, until the battle he had begun would end in victory (Joshua X, 13), and on the other, it moved back, when this miracle, combined with the promise of God, was supposed to serve as a sign that fifteen years of life would be added to King Hezekiah (Is. XXXVIII, 8). But even these miracles, performed according to the merits of the saints, are attributed to magical arts, recognizing their reality! This explains the words of Virgil I quoted above: Ponds water in streams and turns the stars back For in the sacred books we read that the river stopped in its upper part, and in its lower part it flowed away when the people of God crossed through it under the leadership of the mentioned Joshua (Joshua IV, 18); the same thing happened when the prophet Elijah and then his disciple Elisha crossed the river (2 Kings II, 8:14); and the great luminary retreated back into the reign of Hezekiah, as I have already mentioned. As for the case described by Varro with the star Venus, he does not say that this took place at the request of any person. So, let the unbelievers not delude themselves with knowledge of natures, as if by divine power nothing could be accomplished in this or that thing in comparison with how people know its nature experimentally; although the very fact that everyone knows in the nature of things would be no less surprising and amazing for any attentive observer if people did not have the habit of being surprised only by rare phenomena. Who, for example, having looked closely at the endless diversity and similarity of people in nature, did not notice the very amazing phenomenon that each of them has its own special appearance, so that if they were not all similar to each other, then their appearance would not differ from other animals, and if, on the other hand, they were not different from each other, then each would not differ from other people? Thus, the same ones whom we recognize as similar, at the same time we find different. But what excites more surprise is the observation of differences, because the commonality of nature, apparently, rather requires similarity. And yet, since surprise is aroused only by rare phenomena, we are much more surprised when we meet two people so similar to each other that we constantly or often confuse them. But perhaps they do not believe what I brought from Varro, although he is considered the most learned historian among them, as a real fact, or this example seems to them unconvincing due to the fact that the star changed its movement for a short time and then again took its usual course. In this case, there is something else that can be observed by them even now and from which, in my opinion, they should be convinced that even though they had some acquaintance with this or that structure of nature, this still does not give them the right to make instructions to God, as if He cannot transform or change this nature into something completely different from what they know. The country of the sodomites was, of course, not what it is now, but was in the same position as others and was distinguished by the same and even greater fertility, since in the Divine Scripture it is compared with the garden of the Lord (Gen. XIII, 10). But after being subjected to heavenly punishment - as evidenced by their history 211 and what those who visit those places still notice about it - it strikes with a terrible stench, and its apples, under the deceptive appearance of ripeness, contain ashes inside. Look: she wasn’t like that, but now she is like that! The Creator of natures, through a miraculous change, brought its nature into this most terrible state, and it continues to remain so for such a long time. Thus, just as it was not impossible for God to create the natures that He wanted, so it is not impossible for Him to make whatever changes He pleased in those created. This is where many miracles come from, which they call monstra, ostenta, portenta, prodigia - so many that if I wanted to list and recall them, there would be no end to this essay. Monstra (signs) are called so from monstrando (mean), since they make clear something with a sign; ostenta (pre-instructions) – ostendendo (indicate); portenta (omens) – from portendendo (to portend); finally, prodigia (prophecies) are called so because they speak in advance, predict the future. But let their fortunetellers themselves decide how, through these phenomena, they either made mistakes, or through the suggestion of spirits who try to catch the souls of people deserving such punishment in the nets of harmful curiosity, predicted actual events, or, finally, in the midst of chatter, they accidentally came across a piece of truth. As for us, all phenomena that occur at first glance contrary to nature or are called such (the apostle follows this human way of expression, saying that a wild olive, grafted against nature onto a good olive tree, becomes a sharer of the root and juice of the olive (Rom. XI, 17:24)) - all these signs, foretellings, omens, foreshadowings should serve as signs, foretellings for us, omens of what God will do - that He will fulfill His predictions regarding human bodies, without encountering any difficulty, no prohibition from the law of nature. And what kind of predictions these were, I believe I have sufficiently shown in the previous book, drawing them from the sacred Scriptures, new and old; if not everything related to the subject, then as much as seemed sufficient to me within the scope of this essay. Chapter IX. About Gehenna and the nature of eternal torment So, what God said through His prophet about the eternal punishment of the condemned, so it will be, will certainly be: “Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched” (Is. 66:24). For the strongest imprint of these words, the Lord God, meaning by the members that seduce a person, those people whom someone loves as his own members, and commanding them to be cut off, says: “It is better for you to enter into life maimed than to go with two hands into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” He also says about the leg: “It is better for you to enter into life lame than with two legs to be cast into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” He says no differently about the eye: “It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, than with two eyes to be cast into fiery hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark IX, 43-48). He repeated the same thing three times in a row; Who will not be frightened by this repetition, this so strong threat of eternal torment, uttered by divine lips? Meanwhile, according to some, both, that is, fire and the worm, refer to the torment of the spirit, and not the body. Those, they say, who will be separated from the kingdom of God will be burned by the sorrow of a late and fruitlessly repentant spirit; therefore, there was nothing inappropriate to call this burning sorrow fire; hence the apostle says: “Who is tempted, for whom would I not be enflamed?” (2 Cor. XI, 29). The same, they believe, should be understood regarding the worm. For, they say, it is written: “As moth moths clothing and worms wood, so sorrow wears away a man’s heart” (Prov. 25:20). Those who have no doubt that in future torments both the spirit and the body will be subject to punishment, argue that the body will be burned by fire, and the spirit will be undermined by a kind of worm of sorrow. Although the latter opinion is more likely, since it is absurd to think that then either the spirit or the body would be free from suffering; however, in my opinion, it is more correct to say that both relate to the body, than one to the body and the other to the spirit. In the above words of divine Scripture, the suffering of the spirit is silent; because it goes without saying, although it is not stated, that when the body suffers in this way, the spirit will be tormented by fruitless repentance. For in the Old Testament Scripture we read: “The punishment of the flesh of the wicked is fire and the worm” (Sir. VII, 19). It could be said more briefly: “Punishment of the wicked.” Why is it said “the flesh of the wicked,” if not because both, that is, fire and the worm, will be the punishment of the flesh? And if the punishment of the flesh is said because in a person what lived according to the flesh will be subject to punishment (for for this reason a person will enter into the second death, as the Apostle points out in the words: “If you live according to the flesh, you will die” (Rom. VIII, 13)), then let everyone choose what he wants: either he attributes fire to the body, and a worm to the spirit, the first in the literal sense, and the last in the figurative sense; or both – to the body in the literal sense. Above, I have already sufficiently shown that animals can live in fire, burn without being destroyed and suffer without dying, by the miraculous action of the almighty Creator; whoever denies the possibility of this for Him does not know from Whom comes everything that is amazing in all natures. For He is God, who created in the world all those great and small miracles that we mentioned, and even incomparably greater ones that we did not mention, and concluded them in this world, which is the greatest miracle of all. So, let everyone choose one of the two, whatever he pleases - let him think that the worm refers either to the body in the literal sense, or to the spirit in the figurative sense. And which of these two is true, the matter itself will show more clearly when such knowledge of the saints comes that they will not need experience to study the torment of that time, and for knowledge of this subject only wisdom will be sufficient, which will then be complete and perfect. For now we know only in part (1 Cor. xiii. 9). Until then, let us believe that future bodies will be tortured through fire. Chapter X. Can the fire of Gehenna, if it is a material fire, burn evil spirits, i.e., immaterial demons with its touch? Now the question arises: if the fire is not figurative, like the suffering of the spirit, but material, harmful to direct touch, so that bodies will suffer in it, then how will it serve as punishment for evil spirits? For the same fire will be determined for the punishment of both people and demons, according to the word of Christ: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew XXV, 41). Unless we assume that demons, as scientists believe, have a kind of body made of this condensed and fluid air, the sensation of which is obtained when the wind blows. If this type of element could not experience any effect from fire, then it would not burn when heated in the baths. In order to burn, he first kindles himself, that is, he does what he himself is exposed to. If anyone begins to assert that demons do not have bodies at all, then regarding this subject there is no point in entering into either careful study or debate. Can’t we say that material fire, surprising for us, but nevertheless in a real way, can serve as punishment for incorporeal spirits, when the souls of people, being also incorporeal, as they are currently enclosed in bodily members, will then also be inextricably bound by the bonds of their body? And not having any bodies, the spirits of demons (or better, demon spirits), although incorporeal, will be attracted to torment through material fires; not, of course, so that these fires, to which the demons will be attracted, themselves become animated through contact with them and become animals, consisting of body and spirit, but, as I said, in an amazing and inexplicable way, receiving punishment from the fires and not giving them food. For, after all, the way in which souls unite with bodies and become animals is, in the full sense of the word, amazing and decidedly incomprehensible to man; and yet, this is the man himself. I would say that spirits who do not have a body will burn in the same way as the famous rich man burned in hell when he said: “I am tormented in this flame” (Luke XVI, 24), if I had not foreseen the corresponding objection that that flame was the same as the eyes that the rich man raised and with which he saw Lazarus, what was the tongue, which he wanted to cool, what, finally, was the finger of Lazarus, with which he asked to do this; there were souls without bodies. Hence, both the flame in which the rich man burned and the drop with which he asked were the same as the visions of those who are sleeping or in a state of ecstasy seeing incorporeal things, although they have the likeness of bodies. And man himself, although he participates in these visions with his spirit and not his body, sees himself, however, to such an extent similar to his body that he absolutely cannot distinguish between them. But that Gehenna, also called the lake of fire and brimstone (Apoc. XX, 10), will be a material fire and will torment the bodies of the condemned, whether people and demons together, rough for the former and airy for the latter, or only the bodies of people together with the spirit, and the demons will be tormented by the spirit without bodies, drawn only to the material fire for punishment, but without imparting life to it. For for both there will be one fire, as the Truth itself has spoken (Matthew XXV, 41). Chapter XI. Is it fair for the time of torment to be longer than the time of sins? Likewise, some of those against whom we defend the city of God find it unjust that for sins, no matter how great, but committed in a short time, anyone should be condemned to eternal torment; as if the justice of any law ever sought to ensure that everyone was punished for the exact period of time during which he committed what he was punished for. Tullius writes that the laws indicate eight types of punishment, namely: fine, prison, corporal punishment, retribution, deprivation of honor, exile, death, slavery Which of these punishments, according to the speed of the crime, is determined for such a short time that it is served during the same period in which the crime was committed? The only exception may be retribution. Hence the saying of the law: “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Ex. XXI, 24). It is, of course, possible that everyone, according to the harsh law of revenge, loses an eye in the same short time in which he himself inflicted it on another. But if you are subjected to corporal punishment for kissing another man’s wife, then the one who kissed for one moment does not feel pain from the blows for several hours, and is not the pleasure of fleeting pleasure punished by prolonged suffering? But in prison, is everyone condemned to serve as much time as he spent doing something for which he deserved imprisonment, when it is considered, for example, a completely fair thing if a slave who insults his master by word or action is subjected to many years of imprisonment in shackles? But fine, dishonor, exile, slavery, not mitigated by any mercy, do not, within the limits of this life, seem similar to eternal punishments? For they cannot be eternal because life itself, which is punished by them, does not extend into eternity; yet crimes subject to long punishments are committed in the shortest possible time; and there is no person who would think that the punishment of criminals should end as quickly as murder, or adultery, or sacrilege, or some other atrocity is committed, but everyone believes that each of them should be measured not by the length of time, but by the amount of lewdness and wickedness. And when someone is punished by death for some great crime, do the laws consider the punishment to be the time of death, which is very short, and not that the person punished is forever excluded from the society of the living? Meanwhile, the removal of people from the present mortal city through punishment through the first death is equivalent to the removal of people from the immortal city through punishment through the second death. For just as the laws of the present city do not call the slain person to life again, just as the laws of that city do not call the person condemned to the second death to eternal life. How, they say, are the words of your Christ true: “With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke VI, 38), if a temporary offense is punished with eternal punishment? In this case, they do not pay attention to the fact that the same measure is spoken of not in the sense of an equal extension of time, but in the sense of the reciprocity of evil, i.e. in the sense that the one who commits evil also suffers it. However, the words of the Lord can be understood as applied to the subject about which He spoke when He uttered these words, namely: about judgments and condemnations. Thus, whoever judges and condemns incorrectly, when he himself is judged and condemned correctly, receives, although not what he gave to others, but in the same measure. He gave through judgment, and from judgment he endures, although he committed injustice through condemnation, but he himself suffers with justice. Chapter XII. About the greatness of the ancestral crime, for which all who find themselves outside the grace of the Savior are guilty of eternal torment But eternal torment, in human opinion, seems cruel and unfair because, with the real relaxation of the meaning of mortals, we do not have that feeling of the highest and purest wisdom that would allow us to realize what an immeasurable crime our ancestors committed. For the more the ancestor enjoyed from God, with the greater wickedness he abandoned God and became worthy of eternal evil, having himself destroyed that good that could have been eternal. For this, the entire mass of the human race is condemned, because the one who did this is first punished with all the offspring that were rooted in him, so that from this just and deserved punishment no one is freed except by merciful and undeserved grace, and the human race is distributed in such a way that all the power is revealed to some grace, but on the rest - all the power of just vengeance. And both are not revealed to everyone, because if everyone remained in a state of punishment with eternal condemnation, the merciful grace of the Redeemer would not manifest itself to anyone; on the other hand, if everyone were raised from darkness to light, the severity of vengeance would not be carried out on anyone. But in the latter state there is a much larger number than in the first, so that it can be seen what everyone should be guilty of. If this condition were the lot of everyone, then in this case no one would have the right to reproach the justice of God the Avenger; and if so many are freed from it, then let them give great gratitude for this undeserved gift of God the Liberator. Chapter XIII. Against the opinion of those who believe that sinners undergo torment after death for the purpose of purification Meanwhile, the Platonists, although they believe that no offenses should go unpunished, but think that all torments, determined by both human and divine laws, have as their goal correction either in this life, or after death, if in this life someone is either not punished at all, or is punished in such a way that he is not corrected. Hence the famous maxim of Maro, who, having spoken about earthly affairs and mortal members, adds about souls: Hence their fears, desires, suffering and joy; And the sound does not reach them, imprisoned in their dark prison; So that life beyond the sunset remains with them; that is, so that life does not leave them even on the last day. But evil will not pass away even then, and not everything will be completed Bodily ulcers pass over the unfortunate: deeply Much is growing into us that we have lived with for so long; They suffer torment for their past sins They bear punishment: others, stretched out in the air, Hanging in it; the atrocities of others in the deep abyss The black ones are washed off; someone is purified in fire 212. Those who adhere to this opinion do not recognize any torments after death, except for purifying ones; and since the highest elements on earth are water, air and fire, it is believed that everything contaminated by earthly defilement is cleansed by one of these elements. Thus, Virgil refers to air in the words: “Those stretched out in the air hang,” to water in the words: “In the deep abysses,” to fire in the words: “Someone is purified in fire.” We also admit that in real mortal life there are some purifying torments, not such as those that people are subjected to, whose lives are not made better because of this, but on the contrary, even worse, but truly purifying torments, from which those subjected to them are corrected. All other torments, both temporary and eternal, are sent down by divine providence - as everyone should look at them - either for sins, both past and those in which the punished person still lives, or for the exercise and discovery of virtues - sent down through the mediation of people and angels, both good and evil. For if someone suffers something evil due to the lasciviousness or mistake of another, the sinner in this case is the person who, out of ignorance or injustice, does something evil to someone, and not God, who, by a just, albeit hidden definition, allows it. But some suffer temporary torment only in this life, others after death, and some now and then, but in any case before that most severe and final judgment. And those who undergo temporary torment after death do not all go into eternal torment, which is to happen after this judgment. For, as I said above, some will be forgiven in the future century what is not forgiven in the present (Matthew XII: 32), that is, they will not be subjected to the endless torment of the future century. Chapter XIV. Of the temporary torments of the present life to which the human race is subject in its present state Meanwhile, people are extremely rare who would not suffer punishment in real life, but only after it. However, we ourselves knew, and heard from others, that there were those who, until very old age, did not suffer from even the mildest fever and spent their entire lives calmly; although usually the life of mortals is in itself a continuous punishment, because it is a continuous temptation, as the sacred books call it, in which it is written: “Is not life a temptation for man on earth?” (Job. VII, 1). And indeed, no small punishment is just unreason or ignorance, which is considered to be so deserving of contempt that children are forced to learn any craft or literacy through painful punishments, and this very learning, to which children are encouraged by punishments, is so painful for them that they sometimes prefer to endure the punishments by which they are encouraged to learn than to study. And who would not be horrified and would not prefer to die if given the choice of either suffering death or experiencing childhood again? Beginning its birth not with laughter, but with crying, the child thereby unconsciously lets him know in advance what calamities he has fallen into. Only Zoroaster, they say, laughed at his birth; but this monstrous laughter did not predict anything good for him either. He is said to have been the inventor of the magical arts; however, these arts were not able to help him against his enemies for the imaginary happiness of real life; being king of the Bactrians, he was defeated by the Assyrian king Ninus. Truly, what is written: “A heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the days of their departure from the wombs of their mothers, until the days of their burial in the mother of all” (Sir. 40:1) is fulfilled with such necessity that even children who have been freed by the bath of rebirth from the bonds of original sin, of which they were guilty alone, experiencing much evil, sometimes suffer from the attacks of evil spirits. This suffering, however, does not harm children if they end their lives at this age, even under the weight of this very suffering, which causes the separation of the soul from the body. Chapter XV. That the whole work of God’s grace, which draws us out of the depths of ancient misfortune, is related to the new order of the future century However, in the heavy yoke that lies on the sons of Adam from the day of their departure from the womb of their mother until the day of burial in the common mother, this amazing evil also lies, so that we may be prudent and understand that real life has become painful for us as a result of that highly indecent sin that was created in paradise, and that everything that is accomplished in us by the New Testament has to do with nothing other than the new inheritance of the new age, so that, Having now received the pledge, we inherited in due time that for which it serves as a pledge, but in the meantime we walked in hope and, improving from day to day, put to death the deeds of the flesh in the spirit (Rom. VIII, 13). For “the Lord knows those who are his” (2 Tim. II, 19); and “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Rom. VIII, 14). But (sons of God) by grace, and not by nature. By nature there is only one Son of God, who for our sake through mercy became the Son of Man, so that we, being by nature sons of men, would by grace become sons of God. For, remaining unchanged, He accepted our nature from us in order to perceive us in it, and immutably preserving His divinity, became partaker of our weakness, so that we, having changed for the better, would put off our mortal and sinful state through commonality with Him, immortal and righteous, complementing this goodness in the goodness of His nature with the highest good. For how through one sinner (Rom. V, 12) we came to such great evil; Thus, through one and the same justifier, man and together - God, we achieve such a great good. No one should consider himself to have passed from the first to the last until he is in a place where there is no longer any temptation, until he reaches peace, acquired through the many and varied struggles of this battle, in which the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the flesh (Gal. V, 17). Such a battle would never have happened if human nature, through the power of free will, had maintained the rightness in which it was created. But not wanting to remain in peace with God when she was blessed, now, having lost bliss, she is at enmity with herself. And yet, although this deplorable enmity exists at the present time, it is still better than the previous history of mankind. It is much better, of course, when one fights vices than when one remains subservient to them without any struggle. Better, I say, war with the hope of eternal peace than captivity without any thought of liberation. And we want to get rid of this war, we burn with the fire of divine love to acquire that world filled with the strictest order, where the lower is immutably subordinated to the higher. But if (God forbid!) there is no longer any hope for such good, then we should better remain in the painful state of this struggle than allow vices to prevail over us without a struggle. Chapter XVI. Under what laws of grace are the regenerate of all ages found? However, God’s mercy towards the vessels of mercy, prepared for glory, is so great that even the first age of man, that is, infancy, which submits to the flesh without any resistance, and the second, called childhood, in which the mind has not yet begun to struggle with the flesh and is under the influence of almost all vicious pleasures, since the child, due to the weakness of the mind, is not yet capable of instruction, although he already has the gift of speech and has emerged from infancy - even these the first two ages, if they accepted the sacraments of the Intercessor, that is, transferred from the power of darkness to the kingdom of Christ, even if they died in these years, not only are not destined for eternal torment, but do not even undergo any purifying punishments after death. For them, one spiritual rebirth is enough so that after death the fact that carnal birth is associated with death does not harm them. But as soon as a child reaches the age at which learning and the possibility of obeying the law begin, he must begin the fight against vices and wage it persistently, so as not to be inclined towards sins that already deserve condemnation. And if these vices have not yet been strengthened by the habit of victories, they are easily defeated and conceded, but if they are accustomed to winning and dominating, then victory over them becomes very difficult. Truly, this victory is achieved only under the condition of enjoying true righteousness, which exists only in Christ's faith. For if the commanding law exists, but there is no disposition in the spirit corresponding to it, then the prohibition is prompted by sinful desire, and when it wins, there is guilt in violating the law. On the other hand, there are cases when the most obvious vices are overcome by other hidden vices, considered virtues by people in whom pride and the fatal arrogance of self-indulgence reign. Hence, vices must be considered conquered when they are conquered by the love of God, communicated only by God himself and only through the Mediator of God, the man Jesus Christ, who became partaker of our mortality so that we would be partakers of His divinity. Very few are so happy that from their very youth they do not commit any reprehensible sins, consisting of shameful acts or crimes, or any obscene and impious error, and everything that carnal pleasure could incline them to is suppressed by the abundantly imparted powers of the spirit. The majority of people, having accepted the obligations of the law, are first overcome by prevailing vices and become lawbreakers, and only then do they resort to the help of grace and, through its mediation, through more sincere repentance and more persistent struggle, become winners, first subordinating their minds to God, and then their flesh to their minds. So, anyone who wants to avoid eternal torment must not only be baptized, but also be justified in Christ, and thus pass from the devil to Christ. Regarding cleansing punishments, one must think that even if they exist, then in any case they will be before that last and terrible judgment. However, it should not be denied that that eternal fire itself, depending on the merits, will be easier for some sinners, and harder for others, either due to the fact that its strength and heat will be different, depending on the punishment deserved by each, or it will burn equally, but will not be felt with the same torment. Chapter XVII. About those in whose opinion no torment of people will last forever Now I consider it necessary to turn with my speech and peaceful consideration to our merciful people, according to whom either all the people whom the most just Judge finds deserving of Gehenna punishment, or some of them will not suffer forever, but after a certain period of time, more or less long, depending on the properties of each sin, will be freed from this torment. In this case, Origen was more merciful than others, who believed that even the devil himself and his angels, after longer and more severe punishments in accordance with what they deserved, would be freed from these torments and joined with the holy angels. But partly for this, partly for something else, especially for his opinion about the incessantly alternating blessings and misfortunes and endlessly repeated transitions and returns from bliss to misfortunes and vice versa at certain intervals of centuries, Origen was rejected by the church, and quite deservedly, since in fact he did not turn out to be merciful, because he assimilated truly ill-fated states to the saints when they endure torment, and falsely blessed when they do not have true and serene, that is, alien to any fear, enjoyment of eternal good. In a completely different way, under the influence of human compassion, the mercy of those who consider the misfortunes of people condemned at the last judgment to be temporary, and even for all of them, sooner or later having to receive pardon, allow eternal bliss. If this second opinion is good and true because it is merciful, then it should be considered the better and truer the more merciful it is. Let the source of this mercy spread and spill over to the condemned angels, who, although after a long series of centuries, must still be pardoned. Why should it, spreading to all human nature, partly dry up when it reaches angelic nature? But they do not dare to extend their mercy beyond what has been said and do not extend it to the point of pardoning the devil himself. True, someone was more courageous and surpassed them; because, as it turned out, he fell into a more gross and perverse error against the direct word of God, the more he considered himself merciful. Chapter XVIII. About those in whose opinion none of the people will be condemned at the Last Judgment for the sake of the intercession of the saints There are also those (I myself have dealt with similar people in my conversations) who, apparently, having respect for the sacred Scriptures, are not worthy of approval in their behavior, and, in defending themselves, attribute to God much greater mercy towards the human race than those mentioned above. They say that although the Scripture says about wicked and unbelieving people that they are worthy of torment, when it comes to judgment, mercy will win. The merciful God, they say, will have mercy on them through the prayers and intercession of His saints. For, if the saints prayed for them when they saw them as enemies, then will they not pray for them all the more when they see them humiliated and submissive? After all, it is impossible to allow the saints to be alien to the feeling of mercy when they are filled with the most perfect holiness, so that they, who prayed for their enemies, when they themselves were not alien to sin, would not begin to pray for their petitioners when they no longer have any sin. Will not God then listen to the prayers of so many of His sons, when in this holiness they will not encounter anything that would hinder their prayers? And just as those who admit that unbelievers and unworthy people endure torment for a long time, and after that are freed from all evils, so especially often in their defense they refer to the testimony of the psalm, which says: “Has God forgotten to have mercy? Did He shut up His mercies in anger?” (Ps. 76:10) His wrath, they say, is expressed by the fact that all those unworthy of eternal bliss will be condemned by the Judge himself to eternal punishment. But if God allows this punishment to last for a long time or for any period of time, He will, in any case, have to shut up His bounties in His wrath; which the psalm says He will not do. They consider the threat of God's judgment, although no one will be condemned, to be a false threat, just as we cannot call the threat uttered by God that he will destroy the city of Nineveh false (Jon. III, 4); although what He predicted without any condition was not fulfilled. He did not say: “Nineveh will be destroyed unless (its inhabitants) repent and reform,” but he foreshadowed the destruction of this city without making such an addition. They consider this threat to be true because God predicted what (the Ninevites) really deserved, although He did not allow His threat to be fulfilled. For, they say, although He spared those who had already repented, He undoubtedly knew that they would repent, and nevertheless unconditionally and decisively predicted that this destruction was predicted on the basis of severity, because they deserved it; but it did not follow because of mercy, which God did not shut in His anger, sparing those who obeyed from the punishment that He threatened the obstinate. If, they say, God showed mercy when He saddened His holy prophet with this mercy, then will He not show even more generous mercy when all the saints pray to Him for mercy? But about this, the assumption about which they build in their minds, the Holy Scripture, in their opinion, was silent because many, under pain of temporary or even eternal punishment, would correct themselves and, thus, there would be someone to pray for those who have not corrected themselves. However, they do not think that the divine Scriptures are completely silent about this. For how, they say, are we to understand the words: “How many blessings have You, which You store up for those who fear You” (Ps. XXX, 20), if it were not so that these many blessings of divine mercy were hidden for the sake of fear? Therefore, they add, the apostle said: “God has concluded everyone in disobedience in order to have mercy on everyone” (Rom. XI, 32), making it clear that no one will be condemned by Him. However, those who hold this opinion do not extend it to pardon or release from all punishment of the devil and his angels. They extend their human mercy only to certain people, and mainly mean themselves, promising, under the guise of universal mercy for the human race, deceptive impunity for their disastrous morals; therefore, in preaching about the mercy of God, they will surpass those who promise this impunity even to the prince of demons and his retinue. Chapter XIX. About those who promise complete impunity for sins even to heretics, for the sake of communion with the Body of Christ There is another kind of promise of liberation from eternal punishment, but not for all people, but only for those washed by the baptism of Christ, who become partakers of His body, no matter how they live, no matter what heresy and wickedness they are in, for the sake of what Jesus said: “The bread that comes down from heaven is such that whoever eats it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven: whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John VI, 50-51). Thus, they say, they are necessarily delivered from eternal death and are certainly brought to eternal life. Chapter XX. About those who promise pardon not to everyone, but only to those reborn in the Catholic Church, even though after that they have fallen into many crimes and errors There are also those who promise this not to everyone who has the baptism of Christ and the sacrament of His body, but only to Catholics, even if they lived badly, because not only in the sacrament, but in the deed itself they tasted the body of Christ, being partakers of that body of which the apostle says: “There is one bread, and we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of one bread” (1 Cor. X. 17); so that even if they subsequently fell into some kind of heresy or even into pagan idolatry, but since they received the baptism of Christ and ate His body in the body of Christ, that is, in the Catholic Church, they will not die forever and will certainly inherit eternal life; and no matter how great their wickedness, it will not count in relation to the eternity of torment, but in relation to its duration and strength. Chapter XXI. About those who claim that those who remain in the Catholic faith, even if they live very viciously and deserve to be tortured for this, will be saved for the sake of the foundation of faith And there are those who, in view of what is written, “Whoever endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew XXIV, 13), promise this salvation only to those who remain in the Catholic Church, although they live in it viciously, namely, salvation through fire according to the merit of the salvific foundation, of which the Apostle speaks: “For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Whether anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, everyone’s work will be revealed; for the day will show it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire tries everyone’s work, what kind it is. Whoever's work that he built stands, he will receive a reward; and whose work is burned, he will suffer loss; however, he himself will be saved, but as if from fire” (1 Cor. III, 11-15). Thus, they say, a Catholic Christian has Christ as his foundation, which is the foundation of no heresy that is separated from the unity of His body. For the sake of this reason, even if a Catholic Christian lived viciously, as if building on wood, hay, straw, he, they believe, will be saved through fire, i.e. He will be pardoned after suffering in the fire to which the wicked will be condemned at the last judgment. I have also met those who believe that only those people who do not care to do works of mercy to atone for their sins, according to the word of the Apostle James, will suffer in eternal fire: “Judgement without mercy to him who has shown no mercy” (James II, 13). Consequently, they say, whoever shows mercy to him, even if he does not become better in his behavior, but in deeds of mercy lives indecently and impiously, the judgment will be merciful, so that he will either not be condemned at all, or will be freed from this condemnation after a long or short time. That is why they believe that the Judge of the living and the dead himself mentioned that both to those standing on the right, to whom He will grant eternal life, and to those standing on the left, whom He will condemn to eternal punishment, He will speak only of works of mercy, perfect or undone (Matthew XXV, 34). This, they say, also includes the daily request of the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. VI, 12). For he, of course, shows mercy who forgives the sin of those who have sinned against him. The Lord Himself explained this, saying: “If you forgive people their sins, then your Heavenly Father will also forgive you; and if you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins” (Matthew VI, 14-15). Thus, the words of the Apostle James that judgment will be without mercy for those who do not show mercy also apply to this type of mercy. Meanwhile, they say, the Lord said: “If you forgive people, your Father will also forgive you your sins,” without indicating whether these were major or minor sins. Hence, they believe, even for those who live perilously until the very last day of their lives, all their sins, whatever they may be, are forgiven daily by virtue of this prayer, just as this prayer itself is said daily, if only they make it a rule to forgive from the heart whenever those who have harmed them by some sin ask for mercy. When, with God’s help, I answer all (these objections), then the end of this book will be completed. Chapter XXIII. Against the opinion of those who say that punishments neither for the devil nor for evil people will last forever First of all, it is necessary to decide why the Church rejected the rhetoric of people who promised cleansing or mercy to the devil, even after great and most prolonged torment. So many saints and men knowledgeable in the old and new sacred books did not at all envy the fact that these or those, no matter how many there were, angels after such or such, no matter how great or small, punishments, would receive purification and bliss in the heavenly kingdom. But they saw that the divine sentence cannot be empty and powerless, which the Lord, as He himself predicted, would pronounce at the trial: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew XXV, 41) - a sentence showing that the devil and his angels will burn in eternal fire. They also saw that what is written in the Apocalypse cannot be powerless: “And the devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Apoc. XX, 10). It says “eternal”, here it says “forever and ever”; These expressions in the language of Holy Scripture usually mean only time, which has no end. Therefore, in explaining why the truest piety considers it firm and immutable that the devil and his angels will not be participants in the righteousness and life of the saints, no other more correct and obvious reason can be indicated than the words of Scripture, which deceives no one, that God did not spare (2 Pet. II, 4) and condemned them to be kept for the time being bound in the prisons of underground darkness and to be punished at the last judgment, when the eternal one will receive them. fire in which they will be tormented forever and ever. And if so, then how can one think that from the eternity of this torment, after one time or another, people will be freed, either all of them or some, without thereby weakening the belief that the punishment of demons will be eternal? If those to whom it will be said: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels,” whether all of them, or only some, will not be in this fire forever, then why should we think that the devil and his angels will be in it forever? Will God's sentence, which will be pronounced equally for evil angels and people, be true in relation to angels, and false in relation to people? This, of course, would be the case if it were not what God said that had power, but what people invent. But since this cannot be, then while there is time, those who want to avoid eternal punishment should not argue against God, but obey the divine teaching. Then, what is the basis for understanding eternal torment as fire for a long time, and eternal life as life without end, when Christ in the same place, in the same sentence about both said: “And these will go away into eternal torment, and the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew XXV, 46)? If both are eternal, then it is obvious that both must be understood either as continuous but finite, or as constant and infinite. Both relate to each other as equals, therefore both torment and life are eternal. But to say, “Eternal life will have no end, and eternal punishment will have an end,” is complete absurdity. Hence, since the eternal life of the saints will be without end, then for those for whom eternal punishment will be appointed, this punishment, without any doubt, will also have no end. Chapter XXIV. Against the opinion of those who believe that at the trial God will spare all the guilty for the sake of the prayers of the saints This argument is also valid against those who, in defending themselves, dare to go against the words of God, as if moved by great mercy, that is, they present the matter in such a way that if God says that people will suffer, then these words are true in the sense that people deserve suffering, and not in the sense that they will suffer (in fact). For, they say, God will have mercy on them through the prayers of His saints, who will then pray all the more for their enemies, the more saints they become, and their prayer, when they no longer have any sin, will be the more valid and worthy of God’s attention. Why, given this most perfect holiness and being able to pray for everything with their purest and most merciful prayers, will the saints not pray for the angels for whom eternal fire is prepared, so that God would soften His sentence for them too, make them better and free them from this fire? Or, perhaps, someone will be found who will consider this possible, arguing that the holy angels, together with holy people, who will then be equal to the angels of God, will pray for the angels and people who deserve punishment, so that they too will be freed by mercy from what they really deserve? But none of the true believers have said or will say so. Otherwise, there is no reason why the Church, which the Teacher God commanded to pray for its enemies, does not pray for the devil and his angels. For the same reason that the Church now does not pray for the evil angels, whom she knows as her enemies, at the Last Judgment, although she will then be perfect in holiness, she will not pray for people condemned to torment in eternal fire. Currently, she prays for those in the human race whom she considers her enemies, precisely because the present time is a time of fruitful repentance. For what, primarily, does she pray for them, if not that God would give them, as the apostle says, “repentance to the knowledge of the truth, so that they may be freed from the snare of the devil, who has ensnared them in his will” (2 Tim. II, 25-26)? After all, if she knew about some with certainty that although they are still in this life, they are already predestined to go into eternal fire with the devil, then she would begin to pray for them in the same way as for the devil himself. But since she is not confident in anyone on this side, she prays for all the people in the body who are hostile to her; but her prayers are not heard for everyone. Her prayers are accepted only for those who, although they oppose the Church, are nevertheless predestined to ensure that the prayers of the Church for them are heard and that they become sons of the Church. If some, until their very death, retain an unrepentant heart and do not become sons from their enemies, does the Church pray for them, that is, for the souls of such dead? Why is this, if not because he is already considered to be on the side of the devil, who, while he was in the body, did not go over to the side of Christ? So, the reason why the Church will not then pray for people who deserve the punishment of eternal fire is the same why it does not now and then will not pray for evil angels; for the same reason, while praying for people, even now she no longer prays for the dead infidels and wicked. The prayer of the Church itself or of pious people for some of the dead is heard; but only for those reborn in Christ, whose life in the body was not spent so badly as to consider them undeserving of such mercy, and not so well that this mercy was no longer necessary for them. In the same way, when the resurrection of the dead comes, there will be many who, after the torment experienced by the souls of the dead, will be shown mercy, so that they will not be sent to eternal fire. For it would not have been said about some that they would not be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come (Matthew XII: 32), if there were not those to whom, although it was not forgiven in the present age, they will be forgiven in the future. But since the Judge of the living and the dead will say to some: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,” and to others, on the contrary: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” and “these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life” (Matthew XXV, 34:41: 46 ), then it would be extremely impudent to deny eternal punishment for any of those about whom God said that they would go into eternal torment, in order, through such a conviction, to lead to despair or doubt in eternal life itself. Thus, based on the words of the psalm: “Has God forgotten to have mercy? Did He shut up His mercies in anger?” (Ps. 76:10) no one should think that God’s verdict about virtuous people is a true verdict, but about evil people – a false one, or about virtuous people and evil angels – true, but about evil people – false. For these words of the psalm refer to the vessels of mercy and to the sons of promise, one of whom was the prophet himself, who, saying: “Has God forgotten to have mercy? Did He shut up His mercies in anger?” , then continues: “And I said: “This is my grief - the change of the right hand of the Most High” (Ps. 77:11). These words serve to explain what he said: “Did He shut up His mercies in anger?” The wrath of God is mortal life itself, where man has become like vanity and his days pass like a shadow (Ps. 143:4). However, in this anger, God does not forget to be merciful, commanding His sun to shine on the good and the evil and sending rain on the righteous and the unjust (Matthew V, 45), and, thus, in His anger does not close His bounties. In particular (the mercy of God is visible) in what the psalm expresses in the words: “Behold... the change of the right hand of the Most High”; since God already in this very ill-fated life, which is His wrath, changes the fate of the vessels of mercy for the better, although His anger remains in their present damaged state, because He does not close His bounties in His anger. Hence, since the truth of this divine song has a complete application to present life, there is no need to understand it as applied to the time when those who do not belong to the city of God will be subjected to eternal punishment. But those who would like to relate this saying to the future torment of the wicked, let them understand it in such a way, at least, that God in His wrath, which will be revealed in eternal punishment, will not deprive (the wicked) of His bounties, but will make their torment not as severe as it deserves - let them understand not that these torments will either not come at all, or will someday cease, but that they will be softer or easier compared to deserved. In this case, God will remain in His anger, and in this anger He will not close His bounties. This opinion, however, although I do not reject it, I do not at all insist on it. However, those who believe the words: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matt. XXV, 41), and also: “And these will go away into eternal torment” (Matt. XXV, 46), and also: “And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Apoc. XX, 10), and further: “Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched” (Isa. 66:24), and others of this kind are spoken more in the sense of a threat than an actual sentence - they stand in complete and decisive contradiction not so much with me as with the divine Scripture itself. In fact, the Ninevites brought repentance in this life (Jon. III, 7) and therefore - fruitful repentance, like those sowers in the field who, according to the will of God, sow with tears what they later reap with joy (Ps. 126:6); nevertheless, who will deny the fulfillment of what the Lord predicted on them, except perhaps a person who little understands how God destroys sinners not only in His wrath, but also in mercy? Sinners are destroyed in two ways - either like the Sodomites, when people themselves are punished for their sins, or like the Ninevites, when only people’s sins are destroyed through repentance. Consequently, God’s prediction was fulfilled: Nineveh, which was evil, was destroyed, and good Nineveh, which did not exist, appeared. For, although the walls and houses remained intact, the city was destroyed in its vicious morals. Thus, although the prophet was saddened that the prophecy that frightened the Ninevites was not fulfilled (Jon. IV, 1-3), however, what was predicted by the foreseeing God was fulfilled, since He who predicted it knew how best it should have been fulfilled. And so that false merciful people know what is written: “How many good things You have, which You store up for those who fear You,” let them read what follows: “Which You have prepared for those who trust in You” (Ps. XXX, 20). What does it mean that you have kept for those who fear and have prepared for those who hope, if not that the righteousness of God is not dear to those who, out of fear of torment, desire to create righteousness from the law (Rom. X, 3), since they do not know it? They did not taste it (John IV, 18). They rely on themselves, and not on God, and the multitude of God’s goodness is closed to them because, although they fear God, it is with that slavish fear that is not found in love, for “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John IV, 18). God prepares His blessings for those who trust in Him through instilling in them love for Himself, so that when they boast out of a feeling of pure fear - not that fear that is cast out by love, but which endures forever and ever (Ps. XVIII: 10) - they boast in the Lord. The righteousness of God is Christ, who, as the apostle says, “has become for us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that it may be, as it is written: “He who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor. I, 30-31). Those who want to create their own righteousness do not know this righteousness, bestowed by grace without any merit, and therefore do not obey the righteousness of God, that is, Christ (Rom. X, 3). It is in it, in this righteousness, that much of the goodness of God lies, for the sake of which the psalm says: “Taste and see how good the Lord is!” (Ps. XXXIII, 9). And having tasted it in our present wandering, but not being completely satisfied, we hunger and thirst for it all the more, in order to be satisfied when we see Him as He is (1 John III, 2), and when what is written is fulfilled: “In righteousness I will look on Your face; Having awakened, I will be satisfied with Your image” (Ps. XVI, 15). It is in this sense that Christ brings great abundance of His goodness to those who trust in Him. If God hides (keeps) His goodness from those who fear Him in the sense that they understand, i.e. in the sense of goodness, by which He will not judge the wicked, so that those who do not know this goodness and only fear condemnation will live correctly, and so that, thus, there will be someone to pray for those who live unrighteously, then in what sense does He show His goodness to those who trust in Him, when, in their opinion, by this goodness He will not judge those who do not trust in Him? So, let them seek the goodness that God prepares for those who trust in Him, and not that which He supposedly prepares for those who despise and blaspheme Him. Outside of real life, a person searches in vain for what he did not want to prepare while in his body. In the same way, the words of the apostle: “God has imprisoned all in disobedience in order to have mercy on all,” are said not in the sense that He would not condemn anyone, but in the sense that follows from the previous speech of the apostle. For, having spoken about the Jews who subsequently believed, the apostle turns his words to the pagans who had already believed, to whom he wrote his epistles: “Just as you were once disobedient to God, but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they also are now disobedient, so that you may have mercy, so that they themselves may also receive mercy” (Rom. XI, 30-31). Following this, he adds words that they falsely interpret in their favor, and says: “God has imprisoned all in disobedience in order to have mercy on all” (Rom. XI, 32). Who is this, if not those about whom the apostle spoke earlier, as if now saying: “Both you and them”? Thus, both pagans and Jews, “whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. VIII, 29), He concluded everyone in disobedience, so that they, feeling through repentance the bitterness of their disobedience and turning through faith to the holiness of God’s mercy, exclaimed in the words of the psalm: “How many good things You have.” You keep for those who fear You and which You have prepared for those who trust in You!” So, God is merciful to all vessels of mercy. But to whom exactly “to everyone”? Yes, to those whom He, both from the pagans and from the Jews, predestined, called, justified and glorified; only of all these He will not condemn anyone, and not of all people in general. Chapter XXV. Can, thanks to the sacraments, hope for liberation from eternal punishment for those who were baptized by heretics and then become worse as a result of an evil life, or who were reborn among Catholics, but deviate into heresies and schisms, or who, although they did not deviate from Catholics, among whom they were reborn, continue to live viciously? Let us also answer those who do not promise liberation from eternal fire not only to the devil and his angels, but even to all people, but promise only to those who are washed by the baptism of Christ and become partakers of His body and blood, no matter how they live, no matter what heresy or wickedness they are in. But against such the apostle speaks in the words: “The works of the flesh are known; they are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, quarrels, envy, anger, strife, disagreements, (temptations), heresies, hatred, murder, disorderly conduct and the like; I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do this will not inherit the Kingdom of God” (Gal. V, 19-21). These words are obviously false if such sinners, after a certain time, inherit the kingdom of God. But since the words of the apostle are not false, it is clear that such people will not inherit the kingdom of God. And if they never inherit the kingdom of God, then they will be in eternal torment, because there is no middle place where someone who is not included in the kingdom of God would be free from eternal punishment. Therefore, it is natural to ask how we should understand what the Lord Jesus said: “The bread that comes down from heaven is such that whoever eats it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven: whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John VI, 50-51). But the interpretation of these, to whom we answer now, is eliminated by those to whom we must answer later; the latter promise future pardon not to everyone who receives the sacrament of baptism and the body of Christ, but only to Catholics, although they live poorly, because, they say, Catholics ate the body of Christ not only in the sacrament, but also in deed itself, becoming part of that body of Christ, about which the apostle says: “There is one bread, and we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of one bread” (1 Cor. x. 17). Thus, whoever belongs to the unity of His body, that is, to the society of Christian members - the body whose sacrament believers usually receive from the altar in communion - should rightly be called eating the body of Christ and drinking His blood. Hence, heretics and schismatics who have separated from the unity of this body can also accept this sacrament, but not to their advantage, but to their detriment, and not only will not receive pardon for this in the future, but, on the contrary, will be judged even more severely; since they do not belong to that union of peace, the expression of which is this sacrament. But those, in turn, who correctly understand that he should not be called eating the body of Christ, who does not belong to the body of Christ, incorrectly promise liberation from punishment in eternal fire to those who retreat from the unity of this body either into heresy, or even into pagan superstition. First, they must bear in mind how inaccessible and decidedly contrary to common sense it is that many, nay, almost all, who, having fallen away from the Catholic Church, created impious heresies and became heresiarchs, should have a better fate than those who were never Catholics, being caught in the snare of heretics - better, if such heresiarchs are exempted from eternal punishment by the fact that they were baptized in the Catholic Church and at first received in the true body of Christ the sacrament of the body of Christ; since an apostate from the faith and from an apostate who became a persecutor of it is, of course, much worse than one who never apostatized from it, because he never belonged to it. Secondly, the apostle also has them in mind when he pronounces the above words and, after listing similar carnal deeds, predicts with equal certainty: “Those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. V, 21). Then, those who apparently remain in communion with the Catholic Church to the end should not be careless in their destructive and condemnable morals, bearing in mind the words: “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew X, 22); but as a result of an ungodly life, they lose righteousness itself, that is, Christ, either by committing adultery, or by committing other shameful acts in their body, which the apostle did not even want to talk about, or by drowning in shameful luxury, or by doing any of the things that the apostle says: “Those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Everyone who does such things will certainly be subjected to eternal punishment, because they cannot be in the kingdom of God. For, remaining in such matters until the end of this life, they, of course, should not be called completely abiding in Christ, because to abide in Christ means to abide in His faith. This faith, as the same apostle defines it, works by love (Gal. V, 6). And love, as he says elsewhere, “does no harm to one’s neighbor” (Rom. XIII, 10). Such people cannot be called those who partake of the body of Christ, because they should not be counted among the members of Christ. I’m not talking about something else, but they cannot be members of Christ and members of a harlot at the same time (1 Cor. VI, 15). Finally, Himself, who said: “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John VI, 56), shows that eating the body of Christ and drinking His blood is not only a sacrament, but also the work itself; this means to abide in Christ, so that Christ may also abide in him. Christ said something like this: “Whoever does not abide in Me and in whom I do not abide, let him not say or think about himself that he eats My body and drinks My blood.” Thus, those who are not members of Christ do not remain in Christ, and those who are not members of Christ who have become members of a harlot, unless they strip themselves of this evil by repentance and through reconciliation return to good. Chapter XXVI. What does it mean to have Christ at the foundation and who is promised salvation through fire? But, they say, Catholic Christians have Christ at their foundation, from unity with Whom they do not deviate, and at least on this foundation they built the worst life, like wood, hay and straw (1 Cor. III, 11-12), the right faith, according to which Christ is the foundation for them, although with damage - since what is built on this foundation will be burned - but can sooner or later save them from the eternity of this fire. Let the Apostle James answer briefly to these: “What good is it, my brethren, if someone says that he has faith, but does not have works? can this faith save him? (James II, 14). But, they will object, who is the one about whom the Apostle Paul says: “He himself will be saved, but as if from fire” (I Cor. III, 15)? Let us ask together who this is; although, without any doubt, this is not the one (whom they mean), so that the sayings of the two apostles do not turn out to be contradictory to each other, when one of them seems to say: “Even if someone has bad deeds behind him, faith will save him through fire,” and the other: “If someone does not have good deeds, can faith save him?” We will determine who can be saved by fire if we first determine what it means to have Christ as a foundation. This time it is best to turn to the comparison itself; in a building nothing is laid before the foundation, therefore Christ serves as the foundation only for the one who carries Him in his heart so that for him there is nothing earthly and temporary, even permitted, above Christ. If he places such objects above Christ, then although, apparently, he has Christ’s faith, it is not Christ that serves as the basis for it; and if at the same time, breaking the saving commandments, he commits what is prohibited, then isn’t it all the more obvious that he places Christ, who commands or allows, not in front, but behind, preferring to shamefully follow his own lust contrary to His commands or permissions? Thus, if any Christian loves a harlot and, clinging to her, becomes one body with her (I Cor. VI, 16), such a person does not have Christ at his foundation. If anyone loves his wife, if he loves her according to Christ (Eph. V, 25), then who will doubt that Christ serves as the basis for it? But even if he loves her according to this age, carnally, in the passion of lust, like the pagans who do not know God (1 Thess. IV, 5), then the apostle, or better yet, Christ himself through the apostle, allows this with condescension. Hence, even such a person can have Christ as his foundation. For if he does not place any of these affections or desires above Christ, then although he builds with wood, hay and straw, Christ still remains for him the foundation; why he will be saved through fire. Pleasures of this kind and earthly affections, excusable for the sake of conjugal union, will be burned by the fire of disaster, which includes widowhood and all those misfortunes that destroy them. For the one who built, this construction will be unprofitable - he will not have what he built; and severe suffering will be caused to him by the loss of what he enjoyed using. But through this fire he will be saved for the sake of the foundation, because if the persecutor asked him the question: is this, or does he prefer to have Christ, he would prefer Christ. Here, according to the apostle, is a man building on a foundation of gold, silver, and precious stones: “He who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord” (I Cor. VII, 32). And here is another, building from wood, hay, straw: “But a married man cares about worldly things, how to please his wife” (I Cor. VII, 33). “Everyone’s business will be revealed; for the day will show it, because it will be revealed by fire” (I Cor. III, 13). The apostle calls this very disaster fire, as it is read in another place: “The furnace tempts the vessels of the poor, and the test of righteous men is disaster” (Sir. XXVII, 5). “Fire tests everyone’s work, what it is. Whoever's work that he built endures (for what everyone is concerned about about the Lord, how to please the Lord, remains), he will receive a reward (that is, he will receive what he cared about); and whoever’s business is burned, he will suffer loss (since he will no longer have what he loved); however, he himself will be saved (for no disaster could move him from his foundation), but as if from fire” (I Cor. III, 11-15). For what he possessed, not without seductive love, he parted with not without burning sorrow. This, in my opinion, explains the fire, which will not condemn any of them, but will enrich one, cause harm to the other, and test both. And if in the indicated place we wanted to understand that fire, about which the Lord will say to those standing on the left side: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41), so that among them would also belong those who built on a foundation of wood, hay and straw, but who, after a time determined in accordance with their sins, will be freed from this fire by virtue of a good foundation, then whom we should mean by those standing on the right, to whom it will be said: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom” (Matthew 25:34), if not those who built on a foundation of gold, silver and precious stones? But into this fire, about which it is said: “Everyone’s work will be revealed; for the day will show, because it is revealed in fire, and the fire tests everyone’s work, what it is,” if it is understood here, both of them must be sent, that is, those standing both to the right and to the left. For in the said fire both must be tested. And if he tests both of them, so whose work endures, i.e. what he built will not be burned by fire, he will receive a reward; but whose work is burned up, he will suffer condemnation; then, obviously, this fire is not eternal fire. Only those standing on the left side will be sent into the eternal fire for final and eternal condemnation, while this fire also serves as a test for those standing on the right. But it serves as a test for some so that their building, which turns out to be based on the foundation of Christ, will not be burned and destroyed, while for others what they have built will be burned, and therefore they will suffer damage; however, they themselves will be saved, because, due to their primary love for Christ, they unshakably held Him as their foundation. And if they are saved, they will obviously stand on the right side and, together with the others, hear: “Come, you blessed of My Father,” and not on the left, where those who will not be saved will stand and therefore hear: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into eternal fire.” For none of them will be saved from that fire, since they will all go into eternal torment (Matthew XXV, 46), where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Isa. 66:24), in which they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Apoc. XX, 10). But if they say that the souls of the dead undergo this kind of fire during the period of time after the death of this body until the day comes which, after the resurrection of the bodies, will be the last day of judgment and retribution; that it is not experienced by those who do not have morals and affections of this kind, so that it is necessary to burn their wood, hay and straw, but is experienced by those who bring with them such buildings; that, finally, they experience it either only there, or here and there, or here, because there is no fire of transitory disasters that burns everything temporary and deserving of apology; I will not deny such an opinion, because it may be true. Indeed, the very death of the body, which began with the commission of the first sin, can relate to such a disaster; so that the time following it everyone feels in accordance with his own construction. And in the same way, the persecutions that crown the martyrs and the persecutions experienced by some Christians, like fire, test buildings of this and that kind, and some of these buildings are burned along with the builders themselves, if the foundation in them is not Christ, others - without the builders, if Christ is the foundation for them, because the builders themselves will be saved, although with damage; finally, the third are not touched at all, because they are found to be such that they remain forever. Then, at the end of the age, at the time of the Antichrist, such a disaster will come that has never happened before. By that time, on the best foundation, which is served by Christ Jesus, very many buildings will be erected both from gold and from hay, so that fire will test both of them and because of some it will be the cause of joy, because of others - the cause of condemnation; although he will not touch those who own these buildings for the sake of an unshakable foundation. But whoever, according to human custom, out of carnal love, prefers Christ, I do not say a wife, with whom they enjoy carnal intercourse for carnal pleasure, but also other family ties alien to this kind of pleasure, such a person does not have Christ at his foundation, and therefore will not be saved by fire, but will be condemned, because he cannot be with the Savior, Who says very clearly: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew X, 37). But whoever is carnally attached to this kind of bonds in such a way that he does not place them above the Lord Christ, but is rather ready to lose them than Christ, if any test forces him to do this, will be saved through fire, because as much as the grief that necessarily stems from the loss of these objects consumes him, love preserves him. And indeed, whoever loves father, mother, sons, daughters in Christ, caring that they inherit the kingdom of Christ and be united with Him; otherwise, if he loves the fact that they are members of Christ; in this case, it is impossible for his love to be destroyed along with firewood, hay and straw; on the contrary, it should be considered a golden, silver and precious building. And how can he love more than Christ those whom he loves precisely for Christ’s sake? Chapter XXVII. Against the opinion of those who believe that they will not be harmed by the sins in which they remained while giving alms It remains to answer those, according to whose words only those who do not care in their sins to do worthy alms will burn in eternal fire, according to the words of the Apostle James: “Judgement without mercy to him who showed no mercy” (James II, 13). And whoever, they say, did alms, even if he did not improve in his morality, but lived wickedly and indecently among the works of his mercy, for him the judgment will be merciful, so that he will either not be condemned at all, or will be freed from the final condemnation after some time. Hence, they believe, Christ will make a division between those on the right and the left, of whom He will send some to the kingdom and others to eternal torment, meaning only their love or neglect of alms. And that daily sins, which we do not completely stop committing, no matter what kind and no matter how many there are, can be forgiven thanks to alms; as confirmation of this view, they refer to prayer, which the Lord himself taught. For, they say, just as there is not a day when Christians do not say this prayer, so there cannot be such a sin, even if it is committed daily, that it cannot be forgiven when we say: “And forgive us our debts,” if only we try to act in accordance with the further words: “Just as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew VI, 12). After all, the Lord, they continue, does not say: “If you forgive the sins of others, your Father will forgive you your daily small sins,” but says: “Your Heavenly Father will forgive you” (Matt. VI, 14). So, no matter how many and what kind of sins there are, even if they are committed daily, even if they do not shy away from them, changing their lives for the better - all these sins, in their opinion, can be forgiven by virtue of the promised forgiveness for alms. It is also good that they convince people to do worthy deeds of mercy for sins; if they said that any alms, whatever it may be, even for daily and great sins and with all kinds of criminal lifestyles, can gain divine mercy, so that it is followed by daily forgiveness, they themselves would see that they are talking stupidity and absurdity. Then they would be forced to admit that it is possible that a very rich person, at the cost of ten small coins given daily as alms, can cover murder, adultery, and all sorts of other indecencies. If it is extremely absurd and senseless to assert this, then when it comes to what should be understood by worthy deeds of mercy for sins, about which the forerunner of Christ spoke: “Produce fruit worthy of repentance” (Matthew III, 8), without any doubt it will not turn out that such deeds are done by those whose lives are full of daily crimes. And this is because, first of all, by plundering other people’s property, they take too much for themselves and, giving a grain of this much to the poor, represent Christ as their patron in this regard; so, believing that they have bought, or rather are daily buying from Him, the right to commit atrocities, they calmly commit all the most reprehensible things. Meanwhile, if for one crime they had distributed all their property to the needy members of Christ, but did not stop doing this kind of thing, not having that love that does not act wrongly (1 Cor. 13:4), then there would be no benefit for them. Thus, whoever does deeds of mercy worthy of his sins, begins to do them first of all with himself. For whoever does for his neighbor what he does not do for himself acts contrary to the words of the Lord: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew XXII, 39), as well as the words: “Love your soul (Sir. XXX, 24), pleasing God.” And whoever does not do this alms for his soul, that is, to please God, how can he be called doing alms worthy for his sins? Almsgiving undoubtedly helps prayer. Therefore, we must do alms in order to be heard when we pray for our previous sins, and not so that, by persisting in them, through alms we gain permission to commit villainy. For this reason, the Lord predicted that he would impute alms to those standing both to the right and to the left; the first - those created, and the last - not created, in order to show the importance of alms for the atonement of previous sins, and not for their constant commission with impunity. Those who do not want to change their criminal way of life for a better one should not be called giving (this kind of alms). For with the words: “Because you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (Matt. XXV, 45) He shows that they do not do alms even when they think that they are doing. And in fact, if they gave bread to a hungry Christian precisely as a Christian, then, of course, they would not deny themselves the bread of righteousness, which is Christ himself, for God pays attention not to whom it is served, but to the disposition with which it is served. Therefore, whoever loves Christ in a Christian gives alms with the disposition with which he approaches Christ, and not with which he wishes to depart from Christ with impunity. For each of us loves Christ the more, the more we love what Christ approves. What would be the benefit if each of us were only baptized and not justified? The One who said: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (John III, 5), did he not also say: “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, then you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. V, 20). Why do many, fearing the first saying, rush to be baptized, but many do not try to acquire justification, not fearing the last? Hence, just as the one who says “mad” to his brother is the one who, by saying this, expresses dislike not for the brotherhood itself, but for its sin; because otherwise he will be guilty of fiery hell (Matt. V, 22), and vice versa, whoever gives alms to a Christian does not give it to a Christian if he does not love Christ in him; and he does not love Christ who does not want to be justified in Christ. In the same way, if someone is possessed by such a vice that he will say to his brother “mad,” that is, he will revile him unfairly, without the desire to eliminate him from sin, it is not enough for him to do works of mercy to atone for this, but he must also add to them that means of reconciliation, which is discussed below. For further it says the following: “If you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go, first be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matt. V. 23-24). Thus, it is not enough to give any kind of alms for this or that crime and at the same time remain in the same vicious way of life. As for the prayer that the Lord himself taught and which is why it is called the Lord’s prayer, although this prayer makes amends for daily sins, when we say every day: “And forgive us our debts,” and not only pronounce its further words, “As we forgive our debtors,” but also fulfill it in practice, it is pronounced because there are sins, but not for them to exist. Through this prayer, the Savior wanted to show us that no matter how righteously we live, in the darkness and sinfulness of real life we ​​are not strangers to sins, for the remission of which we must pray, but forgive those who sin against us, in order to receive forgiveness ourselves. The words: “If you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matt. VI, 14) were said by the Savior not so that, relying on this prayer, we would commit daily atrocities, either thanks to the power by which we would not be afraid of human laws, or the cunning with which we would deceive the people themselves; but in order for them to learn not to consider themselves sinless, even if they were pure from crimes, God also demanded from the Old Testament priests regarding sacrifices, commanding them to offer the latter first for their sins, then for the sins of the people (Lev. XVI, 6; Heb. VII, 27). You need to carefully delve into the very words of the Teacher and Lord. The Lord does not say: “If you forgive people, your Father will forgive you your sins, whatever they may be,” but says simply: “He will forgive you too.” He taught daily prayer and spoke to his disciples who were justified in every possible way. What do these “sins” mean, if not such sins that (as the Lord would say) even you, justified and sacred, will not be alien to? Thus, in the words in which, according to those who, thanks to this prayer, are looking for an opportunity to commit daily atrocities, the Lord also meant great sins, for He did not say: “He will forgive you small sins,” we, paying attention to what kind of people this prayer was pronounced and hearing “sins,” should understand nothing more than small sins, since the sins of such people were clearly not great. However, even great sins, from which we must be completely freed by correction for the better, are forgiven us only if we fulfill the following words: “Just as we forgive our debtors.” For even if small sins, from which the lives of even the righteous are not free, are not otherwise forgiven, then those burdened with many and great crimes, even if they have already stopped committing them, are all the more unable to receive leniency if they remain inexorable to forgive others for what they have done against them, despite the words of the Lord: “If you do not forgive people their sins, then your Father will not forgive you your sins” (Matthew VI, 15). In this regard, the saying of the Apostle James is also valid: judgment will be given to those without mercy who have not shown mercy. At the same time, we must remember that slave to whom his master forgave a debt of ten thousand talents, but then ordered him to return this debt because he turned out to be merciless to his comrade, who owed him one hundred denarii (Matthew XVIII, 23). Hence, in relation to those who are the sons of promise and vessels of mercy, it is significant that the same apostle says immediately after the above words: “Mercy exalts itself over judgment” (James II, 13). For those righteous who have led their lives so holy that they receive others into the eternal abodes, having become their friends from the mammon of unrighteousness (Luke XVI, 9), and they, in order to be righteous, themselves receive freedom through the mercy of Him who justifies the wicked, rewarding by grace and not by debt. Among these is, of course, the apostle, who says: “I received from the Lord grace to be faithful to Him” (1 Cor. VII, 25). It goes without saying that those whom the righteous accept into eternal abodes are not so virtuous that their very lives could deserve pardon without the intercession of the saints, and therefore, for them, it is all the more obvious that mercy is exalted over judgment. However, on this basis one should not think that the most criminal person, who has never changed his way of life to a better or more tolerant one, will be accepted into the eternal abodes, thanks to the fact that he has gained the favor of the saints through the mammon of unrighteousness, that is, with money or wealth acquired badly, and even if it is good, then in any case it is not true wealth, but the kind that sinfulness considers wealth, not knowing what the true wealth that those who receive possess is others to eternal abodes. There is a certain way of life, on the one hand, that is not so bad that for those who live this way, in obtaining the kingdom of heaven there is no benefit from giving alms, which serves as support for the righteous in their poverty and wins them friends who are accepted into the eternal abodes, but on the other hand, it is not so good that for them to receive bliss, alms alone are enough, unless this alms is promoted by the merits of those whom she makes friends. (I am often surprised that in Virgil there is a thought expressed by the words of the Lord: “Make for yourself friends with the wealth of the unrighteous, so that when you become poor, they will receive you into eternal abodes” (Luke XVI, 9) - a thought that is very reminiscent of the following saying: “Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive the reward of a prophet; and whoever receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of a righteous person” (Matthew X, 41). Thus, the poet, describing the Champs Elysees, in which the souls of the blessed were then thought to live, places in them not only those who could reach those abodes through their own merits, but also those Who, by serving others, forced himself to remember 213; that is, those who did services to others and with these services left them with a memory of themselves. And then it was as if they were saying the same thing, which is often heard from the lips of a Christian, when he humbly entrusts himself to each saint and says: “Remember me,” and so that this could be so, he tries to provide services.) But what exactly is this way of life and what are these sins that serve as an obstacle to the achievement of the kingdom of God, but according to the merits of holy friends are met with condescension, it is very difficult and extremely dangerous to indicate. At least, no matter how hard I tried, I have not been able to identify them until now. It is possible that this subject is hidden for this reason, so that we will not be left with the concern of beingware of all kinds of sins. For if it were known for what kind of sins those who remain in them and do not succeed in a better life should seek and expect the intercession of the righteous, then human laziness would blithely remain in them and, immersed in such a multitude of worries, would not at all think about succeeding in virtue, but would only try to obtain pardon for the sake of the merits of others, whom it would make friends for itself thanks to unrighteous wealth through distribution alms. Meanwhile, at the present time, not knowing the type of venial sinfulness, she takes greater care to succeed in goodness through unremitting prayer, and does not neglect trying to make the saints friends for herself from the mammon of unrighteousness. Nevertheless, however, the pardon, which is achieved either through everyone’s own prayers or through the intercession of the saints, consists in the fact that not everyone will be sent to the eternal fire, and not in the fact that the one sent to this fire will be freed from it after a certain time. After all, those who believe that the words of Scripture that good soil bears abundant fruit - one thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred times (Matt. XIII: 8) should be understood in the sense that the saints, depending on the difference in their merits, some have mercy on thirty, others sixty, and others a hundred people - usually assume that this will happen on the day of judgment, and not after. They say that someone, having met people who promised themselves impunity on the basis that in this sense, everyone can apparently be subject to pardon, answered them in the following excellent way, that it is necessary, on the contrary, to live virtuously, so that everyone is among those who will intercede for others, otherwise there may be so few of them that after each of them reaches his number of thirty, sixty or a hundred, there will remain many who can no longer be released from torment at their intercession, and among them will be people who, out of vain foolishness, count on the fruits of others. I will limit this answer to those who do not reject the authority of the Holy Scriptures, common to all of us, but, misunderstanding these Scriptures, believe that what will happen is not what the Scriptures say, but what they themselves desire. Having given this answer, we will finish, as promised, this book. Plinius, lib. 31, cap. 7. Greek ἄσβεστος inextinguishable Josephus, lib. 4 de Bello jud., c. 8; Solinus, c. 35; Tacitus, I. 5, Hist, cap. 5. Plin., lib. 36, p. 19, et lib. 37, p. 11. Solinus, cap. 15; Plin., lib. 8, p. 42. Aeneid., book. 4, Art. 487–491 Amphitr., act. I, scene. 1, vers. 119. Aeneid., book. 6. art. 733–742. You might be interested in: