State of the Dead

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching

... does not need any help. For it belongs to the same power both to create the world and to raise the dead. And then He made man, who was not a man before, out of different parts, giving him a soul made out of nothing. But now He will restore the bodies that have been dissolved to the souls that still exist. For rising again belongs to things that have been laid down, not to things that have no being. Therefore, He who made the first bodies out of nothing and formed their different shapes will also bring back to life and raise up again those who are dead. For He who formed man in the womb out of a little seed, and created in him a soul that did not exist before—as He Himself says somewhere to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you," Jeremiah 1:5, and elsewhere, "I am the Lord who established the heaven, and laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the spirit of man in him," Zechariah 12:1—will also raise up all men, since they are His workmanship. The divine Scripture also testifies that God said to Christ, His only begotten, "Let us make man after our image, and after our likeness." "And God made man: after the image of God made He him; male and female made He

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Direct teaching

Nor, however, let any one imagine that souls are immediately judged after death.

Arnobius, Against the Heathen Direct teaching

For theirs is an intermediate state, as has been learned from Christ's teaching;

Origen, Commentary on Matthew Supporting witness

and, in order that these might be set up, it was necessary that He should go unto the Jerusalem below, and there suffer many things from the elders in it, and the chief priests and scribes of the people, in order that He might be glorified by the heavenly elders who could receive his bounties, and by diviner high-priests who are ordained under the one High-Priest, and that He might be glorified by the scribes of the people who are occupied with letters not written with ink 2 Corinthians 3:3 but made clear by the Spirit of the living God, and might be killed in the Jerusalem below, and having risen from the dead might reign in Mount Zion, and the city of the living God — the heavenly Jerusalem.

Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Supporting witness

Moreover, about the resurrection and the kingdom of the saints, Daniel says, "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Isaiah says, "The dead shall rise, and those who are in their tombs shall awake; for the dew from you is healing to them." The Lord says, "Many on that day shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live." And the prophet says, "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light." And John says, "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection; over such the second death has no power." For the second death is the lake of burning fire. And again the Lord says, "Then the righteous shall shine like the sun in his glory." And to the saints He will say, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." But what does He say to the wicked? "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, which my Father has prepared." And John says, "Outside are dogs, and sorcerers, and the sexually immoral, and murderers, and idolaters,

Peter of Alexandria, The Genuine Acts of Peter Background

... our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved," and by this he shows that we ourselves are the souls, that the body is a tabernacle, and that the house of the tabernacle figuratively means the enjoyment of the flesh in this present life. If, then, this present bodily life is dissolved like a house, we shall have that which is not made with hands in the heavens. He says "not made with hands" to show the difference, because this life may be called made with hands, since all the tasks and pursuits of life are carried on by the hands of men. For the body, being the workmanship of God, is not said to be made with hands, since it is not formed by the arts of men. But if they say that it is made with hands because it was the workmanship of God, then our souls also, and the angels, and the spiritual clothing in the heavens, are made with hands, for all these things also are the workmanship of God. What, then, is the house that is made with hands? It is, as I have said, the short-lived life that is supported by human hands. For God said, "In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread," Genesis 3:19. And when that life is dissolved, we have the life that is not made with hands. As th

Methodius, Connection to Romans 14:9 Supporting witness

The words, "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living,"

Romans 14:9 Direct teaching

For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

Daniel 12:2 Direct teaching

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Revelation 20:12 Direct teaching

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Revelation 20:13 Direct teaching

The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

Revelation 20:5 Direct teaching

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.

Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata (Miscellanies) Direct teaching

...ht. This shows the soul's withdrawal from the body, which takes place at night. So then, let us not sleep as others do, but let us stay awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But let us who belong to the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 And again, what they say about sleep is to be understood in the same way about death. For each shows the departure of the soul, one more and the other less. We may also learn this from Heraclitus: "A man touches night in himself when he is dead and his light is quenched; and when alive, in sleep he touches the dead; and when awake, when he shuts his eyes, he touches the sleeper." For blessed are those who have seen the Lord, according to the apostle. For it is now high time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. By "day" and "light" he means the Son in a figurative sense, and by "the armor of light" he means the promises in a met

Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead Supporting witness

and for this reason, I suppose, some call sleep the brother of death, not as deriving their origin from the same ancestors and fathers, but because those who are dead and those who sleep are subject to similar states, as regards at least the stillness and the absence of all sense of the present or the past, or rather of existence itself and their own life.

Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead Supporting witness

...ty of life. For although the relaxation of the senses and bodily powers, which naturally happens in sleep, seems to interrupt conscious life when people sleep at regular times and then, as it were, come back to life again, yet we do not refuse to call it life. And for this reason, I think, some call sleep the brother of death, not because they come from the same ancestors and fathers, but because those who are dead and those who sleep are in similar conditions, at least in regard to stillness and the absence of all awareness of the present or the past, or rather of existence itself and of their own life. If, therefore, we do not refuse to call the life of human beings life, even though it is full of such inequality from birth to dissolution and is interrupted by all the things we have mentioned before, then neither should we despair of the life that comes after dissolution, the kind that includes the resurrection, although for a time it is interrupted by the separation of the soul from the body.

Tertullian, De Anima (On the Soul) Supporting witness

...Accordingly, when the body shakes off its slumber, it sets before your eyes the resurrection of the dead by taking up again its natural functions. Such, then, must be both the natural reason and the reasonable nature of sleep. If you only regard it as the image of death, you awaken faith, you nourish hope, you learn both how to die and how to live, and you learn watchfulness even while you sleep.

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Supporting witness

...that unhallowed intercourse if his daughters had not made him drunk and he had not been overcome by sleep. If, therefore, we cut off the causes that strongly lead to sleep, we will sleep more soberly. For those who have the sleepless Word dwelling in them ought not to sleep the whole livelong night. But they ought to rise in the night, especially when the days are coming to an end. One should devote himself to literature. Another should begin his art. The women should handle the distaff. And all of us should, so to speak, fight against sleep, training ourselves in this gently and gradually, so that through wakefulness we may partake of life for a longer time.

Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Background

...y them. Do not look for Jewish separations, or constant washings, or purifications after touching a dead body. Instead, without such observances, gather in the dormitories, read the holy books, and sing for the martyrs who have fallen asleep, and for all the saints from the beginning of the world, and for your brothers who are asleep in the Lord. Offer the acceptable Eucharist, the representation of the royal body of Christ, both in your churches and in the dormitories. At the funerals of the departed, go with them while singing, if they were faithful in Christ. For "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." And again, "O my soul, return to your rest, for the Lord has done you good." And elsewhere, "The memory of the just is with praises." Proverbs 10:7 And, "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God." Wisdom 3:1 For those who have believed in God, although they are asleep, are not dead. For our Savior says to the Sadducees, "But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what is written, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God, therefore, is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live

1 Thessalonians 4:14 Supporting witness

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 Supporting witness

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

1 Thessalonians 5:10 Supporting witness

who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

Matthew 9:24 Supporting witness

he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book V Direct teaching

For as the Lord “went away in the midst of the shadow of death,” where the souls of the dead were, yet afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up [into heaven], it is manifest that the souls of His disciples also, upon whose account the Lord underwent these things, shall go away into the invisible place allotted to them by God, and there remain until the resurrection, awaiting that event;

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho Direct teaching

What then? The souls of the pious remain in a better place, while those of the unjust and wicked are in a worse, waiting for the time of judgment.

Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) Supporting witness

... imitate it, that he who is joined in the Lord is one spirit. This substance of a soul, then, being intermediate between God and the flesh, since it was impossible for the nature of God to intermingle with a body without an intermediate instrument, the God-man is born, as we have said, that substance being the intermediary to whose nature it was not contrary to assume a body. But neither, on the other hand, was it contrary to the nature of that soul, as a rational existence, to receive God, into whom, as stated above, as into the Word, and the Wisdom, and the Truth, it had already wholly entered. And therefore it is also deservedly called, along with the flesh which it had assumed, the Son of God, and the Power of God, the Christ, and the Wisdom of God, either because it was wholly in the Son of God, or because it received the Son of God wholly into itself. And again, the Son of God, through whom all things were created, is named Jesus Christ and the Son of man. For the Son of God also is said to have died, in reference, namely, to that nature which could admit of death. And He is called the Son of man who is announced as about to come in the glory of God the Father, with the ho

Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Supporting witness

...t death is an advantage reason this way because they know nothing of the truth: If there is nothing after death, then death is not an evil, because it takes away the feeling of evil. But if the soul lives on, then death is even an advantage, because immortality follows. Cicero also states this view in his book On the Laws: “We may congratulate ourselves, since death is about to bring either a better condition than the one in this life, or at least not a worse one. For if the soul is strong without the body, that is a divine life; and if it has no feeling, then there is certainly no evil.” He argued cleverly, at least in his own eyes, as if there could be no other condition. But both conclusions are false. For the sacred writings teach that the soul is not destroyed, but is either rewarded according to its righteousness or punished forever according to its crimes. For it is not right that a man who has lived wickedly in prosperity should escape the punishment he deserves, nor that a man who has been miserable because of his righteousness should be deprived of his reward. And this is so true that Tully also, in his Consolation, declared that the righteous and the wicked do not liv

Tertullian, De Anima (On the Soul) Supporting witness

Shall we sleep? But souls do not sleep even when men are alive: it is indeed the business of bodies to sleep, to which also belongs death itself, no less than its mirror and counterfeit sleep.

Tertullian, De Anima (On the Soul) Supporting witness

They also say that those souls which are taken away by a premature death wander about here and there until they have completed the residue of the years which they would have lived through, had it not been for their untimely fate.

Arnobius, Against the Heathen Supporting witness

that one believes that they do not survive, but perish with the bodies themselves: the opinion of another, however, is that they suffer nothing immediately, but that, after the form of man has been laid aside, they are allowed to live a little longer, and then come under the power of death.

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness

And they maintain that the soul, when separated in the present life, (departs) into one place, which is well ventilated and lightsome, where, they say, it rests until judgment.

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Background

Those, however, who assert the immortality of the soul are especially strengthened in their opinion by those passages (in Plato's writings), where he says, that both there are judgments after death, and tribunals of justice in Hades, and that the virtuous (souls) receive a good reward, while the wicked (ones) suitable punishment.

Novatian, Treatise Concerning the Trinity Direct teaching

For there is a place whither the souls of the just and the unjust are taken, conscious of the anticipated dooms of fixture judgment;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book I Supporting witness

that is, the intermediate habitation. In this intermediate place, also, shall the souls of the righteous repose;

Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book II Supporting witness

For they themselves, in as far as they are souls, remain in the intermediate place;