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For a Complete copy of the Church Fathers, see
the Church Fathers website.
The Early Church Fathers believed in a POST-TRIBULATIONAL
rapture of the church.
Excerpts from their writings indicate that not only did they NOT believe
in an IMMINENT return of the Lord, but they expected the church to face
the persecution of the antichrist.
Let me be quick to add, that just because one or more of
the church fathers believe a particular way concerning ANY doctrinal issue,
is not proof that the stated belief is Biblically accurate. I have found
many strange ideas in their writings and do not, indeed, cannot hold them
up as inspired by God. The record is valuable to indicate at least a general
consensus of opinion among these men who lived in post-apostolic times.
As stated, that "general" consensus of opinion is that the church
would be raptured AFTER the great persecution from the antichrist.
Let the reader evaluate for himself what the evidence reveals.
1. Clement of Rome: To the Corinthians. c. 95 AD
Chapter XXIII.-Be Humble, and Believe that Christ Will
Come Again.
The all-merciful and beneficent Father has bowels [of
compassion] towards those that fear Him, and kindly and lovingly bestows
His favours upon those who come to Him with a simple mind. Wherefore let
us not be double-minded; neither let our soul be lifted up on account of
His exceedingly great and glorious gifts. Far from us be that which is
written, "Wretched are they who are of a double mind, and of a doubting
heart; who say, "These things we have heard even in the times of our
fathers; but, behold, we have grown old, and none of them has happened
unto us." Ye foolish ones! compare yourselves to a tree: take [for
instance] the vine. First of all, it sheds its leaves, then it buds, next
it puts forth leaves, and then it flowers; after that comes the sour grape,
and then follows the ripened fruit. Ye perceive how in a little time the
fruit of a tree comes to maturity. Of a truth, soon
and suddenly shall His will be accomplished, as the Scripture also bears
witness, saying, "Speedily will He come, and will not tarry;"
and, "The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Holy One,
for whom ye look."
Comment:
It is obvious that Clement considered the return of the Lord for the church to
be in view at Malachi 3:1 which refers to His arrival AFTER the tribulation.
2. Epistle of BARNABAS (Between 70 and 130 AD)
Chapter IV.-Antichrist is at Hand: Let Us Therefore Avoid
Jewish Errors.
It therefore behoves us, who inquire much concerning events
at hand, to search diligently into those things which are able to save
us. Let us then utterly flee from all the works of iniquity, lest these
should take hold of us; and let us hate the error of the present time,
that we may set our love on the world to come: let us not give loose reins
to our soul, that it should have power to run with sinners and the wicked,
lest we become like them. The final stumbling-block
(or source of danger) approaches, concerning which it is written, as Enoch
says, "For for this end the Lord has cut short the times and the days,
that His Beloved may hasten; and He will come to the inheritance."
And the prophet also speaks thus:
"Ten kingdoms shall reign upon the earth, and a little king shall
rise up after them, who shall subdue under one three of the kings. In like
manner Daniel says concerning the same, "And I beheld the fourth beast,
wicked and powerful, and more savage than all the beasts of the earth,
and how from it sprang up ten horns, and out of them a little budding horn,
and how it subdued under one three of the great horns." Ye ought therefore to understand. And this also I further beg
of you, as being one of you, and loving you both individually and collectively
more than my own soul, to take heed now to yourselves,
and not to be like some, adding largely to your sins, and saying, "The
covenant is both theirs and ours." But they thus finally lost it,
after Moses had already received it. For the Scripture saith, "And
Moses was fasting in the mount forty days and forty nights, and received
the covenant from the Lord, tables of stone written with the finger of
the hand of the Lord; " but turning away to idols, they lost it. For
the Lord speaks thus to Moses: "Moses go down quickly; for the people
whom thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt have transgressed."
And Moses understood [the meaning of God], and cast the two tables out
of his hands; and their covenant was broken, in order that the covenant
of the beloved Jesus might be sealed upon our heart, in the hope which
flows from believing in Him. Now, being desirous to write many things to
you, not as your teacher, but as becometh one who loves you, I have taken
care not to fail to write to you from what I myself possess, with a view
to your purification. We take earnest heed in these
last days; for the whole [past] time of your faith will profit you nothing,
unless now in this wicked time we also withstand coming sources of danger,
as becometh the sons of God. That the Black One may find no means of entrance,
let us flee from every vanity, let us utterly hate the works of the way
of wickedness. Do not, by retiring apart, live a solitary
life, as if you were already [fully] justified; but coming together in
one place, make common inquiry concerning what tends to your general welfare.
For the Scripture saith, "Woe to them who are wise to themselves,
and prudent in their own sight!" Let us be spiritually-minded: let
us be a perfect temple to God. As much as in us lies, let us meditate upon
the fear of God, and let us keep His commandments, that we may rejoice
in His ordinances. The Lord will judge the world without respect of persons.
Each will receive as he has done: if he is righteous, his righteousness
will precede him; if he is wicked, the reward of wickedness is before him.
Take heed, lest resting at our ease, as those who are the called [of God],
we should fall asleep in our sins, and the wicked prince, acquiring power
over us, should thrust us away from the kingdom of the Lord. And all the
more attend to this, my brethren, when ye reflect and behold, that after
so great signs and wonders were wrought in Israel, they were thus [at length]
abandoned. Let us beware lest we be found [fulfilling that saying], as
it is written, "Many are called, but few are chosen."
Comment:
The warning to the Christians is given in view of a possible arrival of the
antichrist who is referenced by the quotes from Daniel.
3. Justin Martyr: Dialogue of Justin (2nd century AD)
Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho, a Jew
Chapter LXXX.-The Opinion of Justin with Regard to the
Reign of a Thousand Years. Several Catholics Reject It.
And Trypho to this replied, "I remarked to you sir,
that you are very anxious to be safe in all respects, since you cling to
the Scriptures. But tell me, do you really admit that this place, Jerusalem,
shall be rebuilt; and do you expect your people to
be gathered together, and made joyful with Christ and the patriarchs, and
the prophets, both the men of our nation, and other proselytes who joined
them before your Christ came? or have you given way,
and admitted this in order to have the appearance of worsting us in the
controversies? "
Then I answered, "I am not so miserable a fellow,
Trypho, as to say one thing and think another. I admitted
to you formerly, that I and many others are of this opinion, and [believe]
that such will take place, as you assuredly are aware;
but, on the other hand, I signified to you that many who belong to the
pure and pious faith, and are true Christians, think otherwise. Moreover,
I pointed out to you that some who are called Christians, but are godless,
impious heretics, teach doctrines that are in every way blasphemous,
atheistical,
and foolish. But that you may know that I do not say this before you alone,
I shall draw up a statement, so far as I can, of all the arguments which
have passed between us; in which I shall record myself as admitting the
very same things which I admit to you. For I choose to follow not men or
men's doctrines, but God and the doctrines [delivered] by Him. For if you
have fallen in with some who are called Christians, but who do not admit
this [truth], and venture to blaspheme the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; who say there is no resurrection of the
dead, and that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven; do not
imagine that they are Christians, even as one, if he would rightly consider
it, would not admit that the Sadducees, or similar sects of Genistae, Meristae,
Galilaeans, Hellenists, Pharisees, Baptists, are Jews (do not hear me impatiently
when I tell you what I think), but are [only] called Jews and children
of Abraham, worshipping God with the lips, as God Himself declared, but
the heart was far from Him.
But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all
points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and
a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged,
[as] the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare.
Comment: It
appears that he sees the Christian hope of resurrection as taking place just
prior to the thousand years -- as he explains in the next chapter and other
excerpts.
Chapter LXXXI.-He Endeavours to Prove This Opinion from
Isaiah and the Apocalypse.
"For Isaiah
spake thus concerning this space of a thousand years: `For there shall
be the new heaven and the new earth, and the former shall not be remembered,
or come into their heart; but they shall find joy and gladness in it, which
things I create. For, Behold, I make Jerusalem a rejoicing, and My people
a joy; and I shall rejoice over Jerusalem, and be glad over My people.
And the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, or the voice of
crying. And there shall be no more there a person of immature years, or
an old man who shall not fulfil his days. For the
young man shall be an hundred years old; but the sinner who dies an hundred
years old, he shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and shall
themselves inhabit them; and they shall plant vines, and shall themselves
eat the produce of them, and drink the wine. They shall not build, and
others inhabit; they shall not plant, and others eat. For according to
the days of the tree of life shall be the days of my people; the works
of their toil shall abound. Mine elect shall not toil fruitlessly, or beget
children to be cursed; for they shall be a seed righteous and blessed by
the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that
before they call I will hear; while they are still speaking, I shall say,
What is it? Then shall the wolves and the lambs feed together, and the
lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent [shall eat] earth as
bread. They shall not hurt or maltreat each other on the holy mountain,
saith the Lord.'
Now we have understood that the expression used among
these words, `According to the days of the tree [of life] shall be the
days of my people; the works of their toil shall abound' obscurely predicts
a thousand years. For as Adam was told that in the day he ate of the tree
he would die, we know that he did not complete a thousand years. We have
perceived, moreover, that the expression, `The day of the Lord is as a
thousand years, ' is connected with this subject. And further, there was
a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ,
who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed
in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter
the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all
men would likewise take place. Just as our Lord also said, `They shall
neither marry nor be given in marriage, but shall be equal to the angels,
the children of the God of the resurrection.'
Chapter LII.-Jacob Predicted Two Advents of Christ.
"And it was prophesied by Jacob the patriarch that
there would be two advents of Christ, and that in the first He would suffer,
and that after He came there would be neither prophet nor king in your
nation (I proceeded), and that the nations who believed
in the suffering Christ would look for His future appearance. And for this reason the Holy Spirit had uttered these truths
in a parable, and obscurely: for," I added, "it is said, `Judah,
thy brethren have praised thee: thy hands [shall be] on the neck of thine
enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee. Judah is a lion's whelp;
from the germ, my son, thou art sprung up. Reclining, he lay down like
a lion, and like [a lion's] whelp: who shall raise him up? A ruler shall
not depart from Judah, or a leader from his thighs, until that which is
laid up in store for him shall come; and he shall be the desire of nations,
binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the tendril of
the vine. He shall wash his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood
of the grape. His eyes shall be bright with wine, and his teeth white like
milk.'
Moreover, that in your nation there never failed either
prophet or ruler, from the time when they began until the time when this
Jesus Christ appeared and suffered, you will not venture shamelessly to
assert, nor can you prove it. For though you affirm that Herod, after whose
[reign] He suffered, was an Ashkelonite, nevertheless you admit that there
was a high priest in your nation; so that you then had one who presented
offerings according to the law of Moses, and observed the other legal ceremonies;
also [you had] prophets in succession until John, (even then, too, when
your nation was carried captive to Babylon, when your land was ravaged
by war, and the sacred vessels carried off); there never failed to be a
prophet among you, who was lord, and leader, and ruler of your nation.
For the Spirit which was in the prophets anointed your kings, and established
them. But after the manifestation and death of our Jesus Christ in your
nation, there was and is nowhere any prophet: nay, further, you ceased
to exist under your own king, your land was laid waste, and forsaken like
a lodge in a vineyard; and the statement of Scripture,
in the mouth of Jacob, `And He shall be the desire of nations, 'meant symbolically
His two advents, and that the nations would believe in Him; which facts
you may now at length discern. For those out of all the nations who are
pious and righteous through the faith of Christ, look for His future appearance.
Chapter CIX.-The Conversion of the Gentiles Has Been Predicted
by Micah.
"But that the Gentiles would repent of the evil in
which they led erring lives, when they heard the doctrine preached by His
apostles from Jerusalem, and which they learned through them, suffer me
to show you by quoting a short statement from the prophecy of Micah, one
of the twelve [minor prophets]. This is as follows: `And in the last days
the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, established on the top of the
mountains; it shall be exalted above the hills, arid people shall flow
unto it. And many nations shall go, and say, Come, let us go up to the
mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they shall
enlighten us in His way, and we shall walk in His paths: for out of Zion
shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He
shall judge among many peoples, and shall rebuke strong nations afar off;
and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into
sickles: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more. And each man shall sit under his vine and under
his fig tree; and there shall be none to terrify: for the mouth of the
Lord of hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk in the name of their
gods; but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever. And it
shall come to pass in that day, that I will assemble her that is afflicted,
and gather her that is driven out, and whom I had plagued; and I shall
make her that is afflicted a remnant, and her that is oppressed a strong
nation. And the Lord shall reign over them in Mount
Zion from henceforth, and even for ever.'"
Chapter CX.-A Portion of the Prophecy Already Fulfilled
in the Christians: the Rest Shall Be Fulfilled at the Second Advent.
And when I had finished these words, I continued: "Now
I am aware that your teachers, sirs, admit the whole of the words of this
passage to refer to Christ; and I am likewise aware that they maintain
He has not yet come; or if they say that He has come, they assert that
it is not known who He is; but when He shall become manifest and glorious,
then it shall be known who He is. And then, they say, the events mentioned
in this passage shall happen, just as if there was no fruit as yet from
the words of the prophecy. O unreasoning men! understanding
not what has been proved by all these passages, that two advents of Christ
have been announced: the one, in which He is set forth as suffering, inglorious,
dishonoured, and crucified;
but the
other, in which He shall come from heaven with glory, when the man of
apostasy, who speaks strange things against the Most High, shall venture to
do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians,
who, having learned the true worship of God from the law, and the word which
went forth from Jerusalem by means of the apostles of Jesus, have fled for
safety to the God of Jacob and God of Israel; and we who were filled with
war, and mutual slaughter, and every wickedness, have each through the whole
earth changed our warlike weapons,-our swords into ploughshares, and our
spears into implements of tillage, and we cultivate piety, righteousness,
philanthropy, faith, and hope, which we have from the Father Himself through
Him who was crucified; and sitting each under his vine, i.e., each man
possessing his own married wife.
For you are aware that the prophetic word says, `And his
wife shall be like a fruitful vine.' Now it is evident that no one can
terrify or subdue us who have believed in Jesus over all the world. For
it is plain that, though beheaded, and crucified, and thrown to wild beasts,
and chains, and fire, and all other kinds of torture, we do not give up
our confession; but the more such things happen, the more do others and
in larger numbers become faithful, and worshippers of God through the name
of Jesus. For Just as if one should cut away the fruit-bearing parts of
a vine, it grows up again, and yields other branches flourishing and fruitful;
even so the same thing happens with us. For the vine planted by God and
Christ the Saviour is His people. But the rest of the prophecy shall be
fulfilled at His second coming. For the expression, `He that is afflicted
[and driven out], 'i.e., from the world, [implies] that, so far as you
and all other men have it in your power, each Christian has been driven
out not only from his own property, but even from the whole world; for
you permit no Christian to live. But you say that the same fate has befallen
your own nation. Now, if you have been cast out after defeat in battle,
you have suffered such treatment justly indeed, as all the Scriptures bear
witness; but we, though we have done no such [evil acts] after we knew
the truth of God, are testified to by God, that, together with the most
righteous, and only spotless and sinless Christ, we are taken away out
of the earth. For Isaiah cries, `Behold how the righteous perishes, and
no man lays it to heart; and righteous men are taken away, and no man considers
it.'
4. Shepherd of Hermas (2nd century AD)
COMMENT: I do not think that Hermas is a
reliable source as I question the validity of his "vision." However, his view
does reflect the proper understanding of the Bible and his contemporaries
concerning the church's relation to the tribulation.
Vision Fourth
Concerning the Trial and Tribulation that are to Come Upon Men.
Chapter I.
Twenty days after the former vision I saw another vision,
brethren - a representation of the tribulation that
is to come. I was going to a country house along the
Campanian road. Now the house lay about ten furlongs from the public road.
The district is one rarely traversed. And as I walked alone, I prayed the
Lord to complete the revelations which He had made to me through His holy
Church, that He might strengthen me, and give repentance to all His servants
who were going astray, that His great and glorious name might be glorified
because He vouchsafed to show me His marvels. And while I was glorifying
Him and giving Him thanks, a voice, as it were, answered me, "Doubt
not, Hermas; "and I began to think with myself, and to say, "What
reason have I to doubt-I who have been established by the Lord, and who
have seen such glorious sights? "I advanced a little, brethren, and,
lo! I see dust rising even to the heavens. I began to say to myself, "Are
cattle approaching and raising the dust? "It was about a furlong's
distance from me. And, lo! I see the dust rising more and more, so that
I imagined that it was something sent from God. But the sun now shone out
a little, and, lo! I see a mighty beast like a whale, and out of its mouth
fiery locusts proceeded. But the size of that beast was about a hundred
feet, and it had a head like an urn. I began to weep, and to call on the
Lord to rescue me from it. Then I remembered the word which I had heard,
"Doubt not, O Hermas." Clothed, therefore,
my brethren, with faith in the Lord and remembering the great things which
He had taught me, I boldly faced the beast. Now that
beast came on with such noise and force, that it could itself have destroyed
a city. I came near it, and the monstrous beast stretched itself out on
the ground, and showed nothing but its tongue, and did not stir at all
until I had passed by it. Now the beast had four colours on its head-black,
then fiery and bloody, then golden, and lastly white.
Chapter II.
Now after I had passed by the wild beast, and had moved
forward about thirty feet, lo! a virgin meets me, adorned as if she were
proceeding from the bridal chamber, clothed entirely in white, and with
white sandals, and veiled up to her forehead, and her head was covered
by a hood. And she had white hair. I knew from my former visions that this
was the Church, and I became more joyful. She saluted me, and said, "Hail,
O man!" And I returned her salutation, and said, "Lady, hail!"
And she answered. and said to me, "Has nothing crossed your path?
"I say, "I was met by a beast of such a size that it could destroy
peoples, but through the power of the Lord and His great mercy I escaped
from it." "Well did you escape from it," says she, "because
you cast your care on God, and opened your heart to the Lord, believing
that you can be saved by no other than by His great and glorious name.
On this account the Lord has sent His angel, who has rule over the beasts,
and whose name is Thegri, and has shut up its mouth, so that it cannot
tear you. You have escaped from great tribulation on account of your faith,
and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast. Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds,
and say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that
is coming. If then ye prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart,
and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it, if your
heart be pure and spotless, and ye spend the rest of the days of your life
in serving the Lord blamelessly. Cast your cares upon the Lord, and He
will direct them. Trust the Lord, ye who doubt, for He is all-powerful,
and can turn His anger away from you, and send scourges on the doubters. Woe to those who hear these words, and despise them: better were
it for them not to have been born."
Comment:
It seems that Hermas sees deliverance from "the great tribulation
that is coming" as a deliverance while going through it rather than
a removal from the earth prior to its inception. In fact, there is no hint
at all of a removal or rapture PRIOR to this great tribulation.
Chapter III.
I asked her about the four colours which the beast had
on his head. And she answered, and said to me, "Again you are inquisitive
in regard to such matters." "Yea, Lady," said I, "make
known to me what they are." "Listen," said she:
"the
black is the world in which we dwell: but the fiery and bloody points out
that the world must perish through blood and fire: but the golden part
are you who have escaped from this world. For as gold is tested by fire,
and thus becomes useful, so are you tested who dwell in it. Those, therefore, who continue stedfast, and are put through the
fire, will be purified by means of it. For as gold casts away its dross,
so also will ye cast away all sadness and straitness, and will be made
pure so as to fit into the building of the tower. But the white part is
the age that is to come, in which the elect of God will dwell, since those
elected by God to eternal life will be spotless and pure. Wherefore cease
not speaking these things into the ears of the saints. This then is the type of the great tribulation that
is to come. If ye wish it, it will be nothing. Remember
those things which were written down before." And saying this, she
departed. But I saw not into what place she retired. There was a noise,
however, and I turned round in alarm, thinking that that beast was coming.
Vision Second
Again, of His Neglect in Chastising His Talkative Wife
and His Lustful Sons, and of His Character.
Chapter I.
As I was going to the country1 about the same time as
on the previous year, in my walk I recalled to memory the vision of that
year. And again the Spirit carried me away, and took me to the same place
where I had been the year before. On coming to that place, I bowed my knees
and began to pray to the Lord, and to glorify His name, because He had
deemed me worthy, and had made known to me my former sins. On rising from
prayer, I see opposite me that old woman, whom I had seen the year before,
walking and reading some book. And she says to me, "Can you carry
a report of these things to the elect of God? "I say to her, "Lady,
so much I cannot retain in my memory, but give me the book and I shall
transcribe it." "Take it," says she, "and you will
give it back to me." Thereupon I took it, and going away into a certain
part of the country, I transcribed the whole of it letter by letter; but
the syllables of it I did not catch. No sooner, however, had I finished
the writing of the book, than all of a sudden it was snatched from my hands;
but who the person was that snatched it, I saw not.
Chapter II.
Fifteen days after, when I had fasted and prayed much
to the Lord, the knowledge of the writing was revealed to me. Now the writing
was to this effect: "Your seed, O Hermas, has sinned against God,
and they have blasphemed against the Lord, and in their great wickedness
they have betrayed their parents. And they passed as traitors of their
parents, and by their treachery did they not reap profit. And even now
they have added to their sins lusts and iniquitous pollutions, and thus
their iniquities have, been filled up. But make known these words to all
your children, and to your wife, who is to be your sister. For she does
not restrain her tongue, with which she commits iniquity; but, on hearing
these words, she will control herself, and will obtain mercy. For after
you have made known to them these words which my Lord has commanded me
to reveal to you, then shall they be forgiven all the sins which in former
times they committed, and forgiveness will be granted to all the saints
who have sinned even to the present day, if they repent with all their
heart, and drive all doubts from their minds. For the Lord has sworn by
His glory, in regard to His elect, that if any one of them sin after a
certain day which has been fixed, he shall not be saved. For the repentance
of the righteous has limits. Filled up are the days of repentance to all
the saints; but to the heathen, repentance will be possible even to the
last day. You will tell, therefore, those who preside over the Church,
to direct their ways in righteousness, that they may receive in full the
promises with great glory. Stand stedfast, therefore,
ye who work righteousness, and doubt not, that your passage may be with
the holy angels. Happy ye who endure the great tribulation that is coming
on, and happy they who shall not deny their own life.
For the Lord hath sworn by His Son, that those who denied their Lord have
abandoned their life in despair, for even now these are to deny Him in
the days that are coming. To those who denied in earlier times, God became
gracious, on account of His exceeding tender mercy."
5. The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (early 2nd century
AD)
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Further editing by St. Columba Press. Martinez, CA 94553
Book One
Section 16
1 "Watch" over your life:
"let your lamps" be not quenched "and your loins" be
not ungirded, but be "ready," for ye know not "the hour
in which our Lord cometh."
2 But be frequently gathered together seeking the things
which are profitable for your souls, for the whole time of your faith shall
not profit you except ye be found perfect at the last time;
3 for in the last days the false prophets and the corrupters
shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love
shall change to hate;
4 for as lawlessness increaseth they
shall hate one another and persecute and betray, and then shall appear
the deceiver of the world as a Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders
and the earth shall be given over into his hands and he shall commit iniquities
which have never been since the world began.
5 Then shall the creation of mankind come to the fiery
trial and "many shall be offended" and be lost, but "they
who endure" in their faith "shall be saved" by the curse
itself.
6 And "then shall appear the
signs" of the truth. First the sign spread out in Heaven, then the
sign of the sound of the trumpet, and thirdly the resurrection of the dead:
7 but not of all the dead, but as
it was said, "The Lord shall come and all his saints with him."
8 Then shall the world "see the Lord coming on the clouds of Heaven."
BOOK 1 (from: Apostolic Fathers, Kirsopp Lake, 1912
(Loeb
Classical Library))
Comment:
The warning (section 1, "watch") is to Christians in view of the future arrival
of the "deceiver," after which will be the signs in the heaven and then the
resurrection.
6. Irenaeus (2nd century)
Chapter XXVI.-John and Daniel Have
Predicted the Dissolution and Desolation of the Roman Empire, Which Shall
Precede the End of the World and the Eternal Kingdom of Christ. The Gnostics
are Refuted, Those Tools of Satan, Who Invent Another Father Different from
the Creator.
1. In a still clearer light has John, in the Apocalypse,
indicated to the Lord's disciples what shall happen in the last times,
and concerning the ten kings who shall then arise, among whom the empire
which now rules [the earth] shall be partitioned. He teaches us what the
ten horns shall be which were seen by Daniel, telling us that thus it had
been said to him: "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,
who have received no kingdom as yet, but shall receive power as if kings
one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and give their strength and
power to the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
overcome them, because He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings." It is manifest, therefore, that of these [potentates],
he who is to come shall slay three, and subject the remainder to his power,
and that he shall be himself the eighth among them. And they shall lay
Babylon waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to
the beast, AND PUT THE
CHURCH TO FLIGHT. After that they shall be destroyed by the coming of our Lord. For that the kingdom must be divided, and thus come to ruin,
the Lord [declares when He] says: "Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself
shall not stand." It must be, therefore, that the kingdom, the city,
and the house be divided into ten; and for this reason He has already foreshadowed
the partition and division [which shall take place]. Daniel also says particularly,
that the end of the fourth kingdom consists in the toes of the image seen
by Nebuchadnezzar, upon which came the stone cut out without hands; and
as he does himself say: "The feet were indeed the one part iron, the
other part clay, until the stone was cut out without hands, and struck
the image upon the iron and clay feet, and dashed them into pieces, even
to the end." Then afterwards, when interpreting this, he says: "And
as thou sawest the feet and the toes, partly indeed of clay, and partly
of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, and there shall be in it a root
of iron, as thou sawest iron mixed with baked clay. And the toes were indeed
the one part iron, but the other part clay." The ten toes, therefore,
are these ten kings, among whom the kingdom shall be partitioned, of whom
some indeed shall be strong and active, or energetic; others, again, shall
be sluggish and useless, and shall not agree; as also Daniel says: "Some
part of the kingdom shall be strong, and part shall be broken from it.
As thou sawest the iron mixed with the baked clay, there shall be minglings
among the human race, but no cohesion one with the other, just as iron
cannot be welded on to pottery ware." And since an end shall take
place, he says: "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven
raise up a kingdom which shall never decay, and His kingdom shall not be
left to another people. It shall break in pieces and shatter all kingdoms,
and shall itself be exalted for ever. As thou sawest that the stone was
cut without hands from the mountain, and brake in pieces the baked clay,
the iron, the brass, the silver, and the gold, God has pointed out to the
king what shall come to pass after these things; and the dream is true,
and the interpretation trustworthy."
Chapter XXX.-Although Certain as to the Number of the Name
of Antichrist, Yet We Should Come to No Rash Conclusions as to the Name
Itself, Because This Number is Capable of Being Fitted to Many Names.
Reasons for This Point Being Reserved by the Holy Spirit. Antichrist's
Reign and Death.
4. But he indicates the number of
the name now, THAT WHEN
HE COMES WE MAY AVOID HIM, being aware who
he is: the name, however, is suppressed, because it
is not worthy of being proclaimed by the Holy Spirit. For if it had been
declared by Him, he (Antichrist) might perhaps continue for a long period.
But now as "he was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the abyss,
and goes into perdition," as one who has no existence; so neither
has his name been declared, for the name of that which does not exist is
not proclaimed. But when this Antichrist shall have
devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and
six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will
come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire;
but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the
rest, the hallowed seventh day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance,
in which kingdom the Lord declared, that "many coming from the east
and from the west should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
Chapter XXXIV.-He Fortifies His Opinions with Regard to
the Temporal and Earthly Kingdom of the Saints After Their Resurrection,
by the Various Testimonies of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Daniel; Also
by the Parable of the Servants Watching, to Whom the Lord Promised that
He Would Minister.
3. Now, that the promises were not announced to the prophets
and the fathers alone, BUT
TO THE CHURCHES UNITED TO THESE FROM THE NATIONS,
whom also the Spirit terms "the islands" (both because they are
established in the midst of turbulence, suffer the storm of blasphemies,
exist as a harbour of safety to those in peril, and are the refuge of those
who love the height [of heaven], and strive to avoid Bythus, that is, the
depth of error), Jeremiah thus declares: "Hear the word of the Lord,
ye nations, and declare it to the isles afar off; say ye, that the Lord
will scatter Israel, He will gather him, and keep him, as one feeding his
flock of sheep. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and rescued him from
the hand of one stronger than he. And they shall come and rejoice m Mount
Zion, and shall come to what is good, and into a land of wheat, and wine,
and fruits, of animals and of sheep; and their soul shall be as a tree
bearing fruit, and they shall hunger no more. At that time also shall the
virgins rejoice in the company of the young men: the old men, too, shall
be glad, and I will turn their sorrow into joy; and I will make them exult,
and will magnify them, and satiate the souls of the priests the sons of
Levi; and my people shall be satiated with my goodness." Now, in the
preceding book I have shown that all the disciples of the Lord are Levites
and priests, they who used in the temple to profane the Sabbath, but are
blameless. Promises of such a nature, therefore, do indicate in the clearest
manner the feasting of that creation in the kingdom of the righteous, which
God promises that He will Himself serve.
Chapter XXXV.-He Contends that These Testimonies Already
Alleged Cannot Be Understood Allegorically of Celestial Blessings, But that
They Shall Have Their Fulfilment After the Coming of Antichrist, and the
Resurrection, in the Terrestrial Jerusalem. To the Former Prophecies He
Subjoins Others Drawn from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apocalypse of John.
1. If, however, any shall endeavour to
allegorize [prophecies] of this kind, they shall not be found consistent
with themselves in all points, and shall be confuted by the teaching of the
very expressions [in question]. For example: "When the cities" of the
Gentiles "shall be desolate, so that they be not inhabited, and the houses
so that there shall be no men in them and the land shall be left desolate."
"For, behold," says Isaiah, "the day of the Lord cometh past remedy, full of
fury and wrath, to lay waste the city of the earth, and to root sinners out
of it." And again he says, "Let him be taken away, that he behold not the
glory of God." And when these things are done, he says, "God will remove men
far away, and those that are left shall multiply in the earth." "And they
shall build houses, and shall inhabit them themselves: and plant vineyards,
and eat of them themselves."
FOR ALL THESE AND OTHER WORDS
WERE UNQUESTIONABLY SPOKEN IN REFERENCE TO THE RESURRECTION OF THE JUST,
WHICH TAKES PLACE AFTER THE COMING OF ANTICHRIST, and the destruction of all nations under
his rule; in [the times of] which [resurrection] the
righteous shall reign in the earth, waxing stronger by the sight of the
Lord: and through Him they shall become accustomed to partake in the glory
of God the Father, and shall enjoy in the kingdom intercourse and communion
with the holy angels, and union with spiritual beings; and [with respect
to] those whom the Lord shall find in the flesh, awaiting Him from heaven,
and who have suffered tribulation, as well as escaped the hands of the
Wicked one. For it is in reference to them that the prophet says: "And
those that are left shall multiply upon the earth," And Jeremiah the
prophet has pointed out, that as many believers as God has prepared for
this purpose, to multiply those left upon earth, should both be under the
rule of the saints to minister to this Jerusalem, and that [His] kingdom
shall be in it, saying, "Look around Jerusalem towards the east, and
behold the joy which comes to thee from God Himself. Behold, thy sons shall
come whom thou hast sent forth: they shall come in a band from the east
even unto the west, by the word of that Holy One, rejoicing in that splendour
which is from thy God. O Jerusalem, put off thy robe of mourning and of
affliction, and put on that beauty of eternal splendour from thy God. Gird
thyself with the double garment of that righteousness proceeding from thy
God; place the mitre of eternal glory upon thine head. For God will show
thy glory to the whole earth under heaven. For thy name shall for ever
be called by God Himself, the peace of righteousness and glory to him that
worships God. Arise, Jerusalem, stand on high, and look towards the east,
and behold thy sons from the rising of the sun, even to the west, by the
Word of that Holy One, rejoicing in the very remembrance of God. For the
footmen have gone forth from thee, while they were drawn away by the enemy.
God shall bring them in to thee, being borne with glory as the throne of
a kingdom. For God has decreed that every high mountain shall be brought
low, and the eternal hills, and that the valleys be filled, so that the
surface of the earth be rendered smooth, that Israel, the glory of God,
may walk in safety. The woods, too, shall make shady places, and every
sweet-smelling tree shall be for Israel itself by the command of God. For
God shall go before with joy in the light of His splendour, with the pity
and righteousness which proceeds from Him."
Comment: Iranaeus makes no reference to a resurrection or rapture prior
to the arrival of antichrist and since he has already clarified that he
believes that the church will see the persecution of the antichrist, as
seen in the quoted chapters, it is suggested that in this chapter as well,
he views the church as part of the "resurrection of the just, which
takes place after the coming of Antichrist."
7. Tertullian (late 2nd century AD)
On the Resurrection of the Flesh
Chapter XXIV.-Other Passages Quoted from St. Paul, Which
Categorically Assert the Resurrection of the Flesh at the Final Judgment.
The character of these times learn, along with the Thessalonians.
For we read: "How ye turned from idols to serve the living and true
God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead,
even Jesus." And again: "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown
of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord God, Jesus Christ,
at His coming? " Likewise: "Before God, even our Father, at the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the whole company of His saints."
He teaches them that they must "not sorrow concerning them that are
asleep," and at the same time explains to them the times of the resurrection,
saying, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so
them also which sleep in Jesus shall God bring with Him. For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto
the coming of our Lord, shall not prevent them that are asleep. For the
Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of
the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall
rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we be
ever with the Lord." What archangel's voice, (I wonder), what trump
of God is now heard, except it be, forsooth, in the entertainments of the
heretics? For, allowing that the word of the gospel may be called "the
trump of God," since it was still calling men, yet they must at that
time either be dead as to the body, that they may be able to rise again;
and then how are they alive? Or else caught up into the clouds; and how
then are they here? "Most miserable," no doubt, as the apostle
declared them, are they "who in this life only" shall be found
to have hope: they will have to be excluded while they are with premature
haste seizing that which is promised after this life; erring concerning
the truth, no less than Phygellus and Hermogenes. Hence it is that the
Holy Ghost, in His greatness, foreseeing clearly all such interpretations
as these, suggests (to the apostle), in this very epistle of his to the
Thessalonians, as follows: "But of the times and the seasons, brethren,
there is no necessity for my writing unto you. For ye yourselves know perfectly,
that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. For when they
shall say, `Peace, 'and `All things are safe, 'then sudden destruction
shall come upon them." Again, in the second epistle he addresses them
with even greater earnestness: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him,
that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor be troubled, either by spirit,
or by word," that is, the word of false prophets, "or by letter,"
that is, the letter of false apostles, "as if from us, as that the
day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means. For that
day shall not come, unless indeed there first come a falling away,"
he means indeed of this present empire, "and that man of sin be revealed,"
that is to say, Antichrist, "the son of perdition, who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God or religion; so that he sitteth
in the temple of God, affirming that he is God. Remember ye not, that when
I was with you, I used to tell you these things? And now ye know what
detaineth,
that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work; only he who now hinders must hinder, until he be taken out
of the way." What obstacle is there but the Roman state, the falling
away of which, by being scattered into ten kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist
upon (its own ruins)? "And then shall be revealed the wicked one,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy
with the brightness of His coming: even him whose coming is after the working
of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish."
Chapter XXV.-St. John, in the Apocalypse, Equally Explicit
in Asserting the Same Great Doctrine.
In the Revelation of John, again, the order of these times
is spread out to view, which "the souls of the martyrs" are taught
to wait for beneath the altar, whilst they earnestly pray to be avenged
and judged: (taught, I say, to wait), in order that
the world may first drink to the dregs the plagues that await it out of
the vials of the angels, and that the city of fornication may receive from
the ten kings its deserved doom,
and that the beast Antichrist with his
false prophet may wage war on the Church of God; and
that, after the casting of the devil into the bottomless pit for a while,
the blessed prerogative of the first resurrection may be ordained from
the thrones; and then again, after the consignment of him to the fire,
that the judgment of the final and universal resurrection may be determined
out of the books. Since, then, the Scriptures both
indicate the stages of the last times, and concentrate the harvest of the
Christian hope in the very end of the world, it is evident, either that
all which God promises to us receives its accomplishment then, and thus
what the heretics pretend about a resurrection here falls to the ground;
or else, even allowing that a confession of the mystery (of divine truth)
is a resurrection, that there is, without any detriment to this view, room
for believing in that which is announced for the end. It
moreover follows, that the very maintenance of this spiritual resurrection
amounts to a presumption in favour of the other bodily resurrection; for
if none were announced for that time, there would be fair ground for asserting
only this purely spiritual resurrection. Inasmuch, however, as (a resurrection)
is proclaimed for the last time, it is proved to be a bodily one, because
there is no spiritual one also then announced. For why make a second announcement
of a resurrection of only one character, that is, the spiritual one, since
this ought to be undergoing accomplishment either now, without any regard
to different times, or else then, at the very conclusion of all the periods? It is therefore more competent for us even to maintain
a spiritual resurrection at the commencement of a life of faith, who acknowledge
the full completion thereof at the end of the world.
Chapter XLI.-The Dissolution of Our Tabernacle Consistent
with the Resurrection of Our Bodies.
It is still the same sentiment which he follows up in
the passage in which he puts the recompense above the sufferings: "for
we know; "he says, "that if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens;
" in other words, owing to the fact that our flesh is undergoing dissolution
through its sufferings, we shall be provided with a home in heaven. He
remembered the award (which the Lord assigns) in the Gospel: "Blessed
are they who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven." Yet, when he thus contrasted the recompense of
the reward, he did not deny the flesh's restoration; since the recompense
is due to the same substance to which the dissolution is attributed,-that
is, of course, the flesh. Because, however, he had called the flesh a house,
he wished elegantly to use the same term in his comparison of the ultimate
reward; promising to the very house, which undergoes dissolution through
suffering, a better house through the resurrection. Just as the Lord also
promises us many mansions as of a house in His Father's home; although
this may possibly be understood of the domicile of this world, on the dissolution
of whose fabric an eternal abode is promised in heaven, inasmuch as the
following context, having a manifest reference to the flesh, seems to show
that these preceding words have no such reference. For
the apostle makes a distinction, when he goes on to say, "For in this
we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven, if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked; "
which means, before we put off the garment of the flesh, we wish to be
clothed with the celestial glory of immortality. Now the privilege of this
favour awaits those who shall at the coming of the Lord be found in the
flesh, and who shall,
OWING TO THE OPPRESSIONS OF THE ANTICHRIST,
deserve by an instantaneous death, which is accomplished by a sudden change,
to become qualified to join the rising saints; as he writes to the Thessalonians:
"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which
are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall rise first: then we too shall ourselves be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever
be with the Lord."
8. Cyprian (2nd century AD)
Treatise VII. On the Mortality.
1. Although in very many of you, dearly beloved brethren,
there is a stedfast mind and a firm faith, and a devoted spirit that is
not disturbed at the frequency of this present mortality, but, like a strong
and stable rock, rather shatters the turbulent onsets of the world and
the raging waves of time, while it is not itself shattered, and is not
overcome but tried by these temptations; yet because I observe that among
the people some, either through weakness of mind, or through decay of faith,
or through the sweetness of this worldly life, or through the softness
of their sex, or what is of still greater account, through error from the
truth, are standing less steadily, and are not exerting the divine and
unvanquished vigour of their heart, the matter may not be disguised nor
kept in silence, but as far as my feeble powers suffice with my full strength,
and with a discourse gathered from the Lord's lessons, the slothfulness
of a luxurious disposition must be restrained, and he who has begun to
be already a man of God and of Christ, must be found worthy of God and
of Christ.
2. For he who wars for God, dearest brethren, ought to
acknowledge himself as one who, placed in the heavenly camp, already hopes
for divine things, so that we may have no trembling at the storms and whirlwinds
of the world, and no disturbance, since the Lord had foretold that these
would come. With the exhortation of His fore-seeing
word, instructing, and teaching, and preparing, and strengthening the people
of His Church for all endurance of things to come, He predicted and said
that wars, and famines, and earthquakes, and pestilences would arise in
each place; and lest an unexpected and new dread of mischiefs should shake
us, He previously warned us that adversity would increase more and more
in the last times. Behold, the very things occur which were spoken; and
since those occur which were foretold before, whatever things were promised
will also follow; as the Lord Himself promises, saying, "But when
ye see all these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is
at hand." The kingdom of God, beloved brethren,
is beginning to be at hand; the reward of life, and the rejoicing of eternal
salvation, and the perpetual gladness and possession lately lost of paradise,
are now coming, with the passing away of the world; already heavenly things
are taking the place of earthly, and great things of small, and eternal
things of things that fade away. What room is there here for anxiety and
solicitude? Who, in the midst of these things, is trembling and sad, except
he who is without hope and faith? For it is for him to fear death who is
not willing to go to Christ. It is for him to be unwilling to go to Christ
who does not believe that he is about to reign with Christ.
Comment:
He applies the teaching of Matthew
24 ("But when ye see all these things come to pass. . .") to the church.
Treatise IX. On the advantage of patience.
Comment: A very lengthy passage that extolls the virtues of patience and ultimately makes application to the
church's expectation of the return of Jesus, equating it with what has been
taught throughout the bible as ONE second coming.
10. Finally, we find that both patriarchs and prophets,
and all the righteous men who in their preceding likeness wore the figure
of Christ, in the praise of their virtues were watchful over nothing more
than that they should preserve patience with a strong and stedfast equanimity.
Thus Abel, who first initiated and consecrated the origin of martyrdom,
and the passion of the righteous man, makes no resistance nor struggles
against his fratricidal brother, but with lowliness and meekness he is
patiently slain. Thus Abraham, believing God, and first of all instituting
the root and foundation of faith, when tried in respect of his son, does
not hesitate nor delay, but obeys the commands of God with all the patience
of devotion. And Isaac, prefigured as the likeness of the Lord's victim,
when he is presented by his father for immolation, is found patient. And
Jacob, driven forth by his brother from his country, departs with patience;
and afterwards with greater patience, he suppliantly brings him back to
concord with peaceful gifts, when he is even more impious and persecuting.
Joseph, sold by his brethren and sent away, not only with patience pardons
them, but even bountifully and mercifully bestows gratuitous supplies of
corn on them when they come to him. Moses is frequently contemned by an
ungrateful and faithless people, and almost stoned; and yet with gentleness
and patience he entreats the Lord for those people. But in David, from
whom, according to the flesh, the nativity of Christ springs, how great
and marvellous and Christian is the patience, that he often had it in his
power to be able to kill king Saul, who was persecuting him and desiring
to slay him; and yet, chose rather to save him when placed in his hand,
and delivered up to him, not repaying his enemy in turn, but rather, on
the contrary, even avenging him when slain! In fine, so many prophets were
slain, so many martyrs were honoured with glorious deaths, who all have
attained to the heavenly crowns by the praise of patience. For the crown
of sorrows and sufferings cannot be received unless patience in sorrow
and suffering precede it.
11. But that it may be more manifestly and fully known
how useful and necessary patience is, beloved brethren; let the judgment
of God be pondered, which even in the beginning of the world and of the
human race, Adam, forgetful of the commandment, and a transgressor of the
given law, received. Then we shall know how patient in this life we ought
to be who are born in such a state, that we labour here with afflictions
and contests. "Because," says He, "thou hast hearkened to
the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which alone I had
charged thee that thou shouldest not eat, cursed shall be, the ground in
all thy works: in sorrow and in groaning shalt thou eat of it all the days
of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it give forth to thee, and thou
shalt eat the food of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
thy bread, till thou return into the ground from which thou wast taken:
for dust thou art, and to dust shall thou go." We are all tied and
bound with the chain of this sentence, until, death being expunged, we
depart from this life. In sorrow and groaning we must of necessity be all
the days of our life: it is necessary that we eat our bread with sweat
and labour.
12. Whence every one of us, when he is born and received
in the inn of this world, takes his beginning from tears; and, although
still unconscious and ignorant of all things, he knows nothing else in
that very earliest birth except to weep. By a natural foresight, the untrained
soul laments the anxieties and labours of the mortal life, and even in
the beginning bears witness by its wails and groans to the storms of the
world which it is entering. For the sweat of the brow and labour is the
condition of life so long as it lasts. Nor can there be supplied any consolations
to those that sweat and toil other than patience; which consolations, while
in this world they are fit and necessary for all men, are especially so
for us who are more shaken by the siege of the devil, who, daily standing
in the battle-field, are wearied with the wrestlings of an inveterate and
skilful enemy; for us who, besides the various and continual battles of
temptations, must also in the contest of persecutions forsake our patrimonies,
undergo imprisonment, bear chains, spend our lives, endure the sword, the
wild beasts, fires, crucifixions-in fine, all kinds of torments and penalties,
to be endured in the faith and courage of patience; as the Lord Himself
instructs us, and says, "These things have I spoken unto you, that
in me ye might have peace. But in the world ye shall have tribulation;
yet be confident, for I have overcome the world." And if we who have
renounced the devil and the world, suffer the tribulations and mischiefs
of the devil and the world with more frequency and violence, how much more
ought we to keep patience, wherewith as our helper and ally, we may bear
all mischievous things!
13. It is the wholesome precept of our Lord and Master:
"He that endureth," saith He, "unto the end, the same shall
be saved; " and again, "If ye continue," saith He, "in
my word, ye shall be truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free." We must endure and persevere, beloved
brethren, in order that, being admitted to the hope of truth and liberty,
we may attain to the truth and liberty itself; for that very fact that
we are Christians is the substance of faith and hope. But that hope and
faith may attain to their result, there is need of patience. For we are
not following after present glory, but future, according to what Paul the
apostle also warns us, and says, "We are saved by hope; but hope that
is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he hope for? But if
we hope for that which we see not, then do we by patience wait for it."
Therefore, waiting and patience are needful, that we may fulfil that which
we have begun to be, and may receive that which we believe and hope for,
according to God's own showing. Moreover, in another place, the same apostle
instructs the righteous and the doers of good works, and them who lay up
for themselves treasures in heaven with the increase of the divine usury,
that they also should be patient; and teaches them, saying, "Therefore,
while we have time, let us labour in that which is good unto all men, but
especially to them who are of the household of faith. But let us not faint
in well-doing, for in its season we shall reap." He admonishes that
no man should impatiently faint in his labour, that none should be either
called off or overcome by temptations and desist in the midst of the praise
and in the way of glory; and the things that are past perish, while those
which have begun cease to be perfect; as it is written, "The righteousness
of the righteous shall not deliver him in whatever clay he shall transgress;
" and again, "Hold that which thou hast, that another take not
thy crown." Which word exhorts us to persevere with patience and courage,
so that he who strives towards the crown with the praise now near at hand,
may be crowned by the continuance of patience.
14. But patience, beloved brethren, not only, keeps watch
over what is good, but it also repels what is evil. In harmony with the
Holy Spirit, and associated with what is heavenly and divine, it struggles
with the defence of its strength against the deeds of the flesh and the
body, wherewith the soul is assaulted and taken. Let us look briefly into
a few things out of many, that from a few the rest also may be understood.
Adultery, fraud, manslaughter, are mortal crimes. Let patience be strong
and stedfast in the heart; and neither is the sanctified body and temple
of God polluted by adultery, nor is the innocence dedicated to righteousness
stained with the contagion of fraud; nor, after the Eucharist carried in
it, is the hand spotted with the sword and blood.
15. Charity is the bond of brotherhood, the foundation
of peace, the holdfast and security of unity, which is greater than both
hope and faith, which excels both good works and martyrdoms, which will
abide with us always, eternal with God in the kingdom of heaven. Take from
it patience; and deprived of it, it does not endure. Take from it the substance
of bearing and of enduring, and it continues with no roots nor strength.
The apostle, finally, when he would speak of charity, joined to it endurance
and patience. "Charity," he says, "is large-souled; charity
is kind; charity envieth not, is not puffed up, is not provoked, thinketh
not evil; loveth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, beareth
all things." Thence he shows that it can tenaciously persevere, because
it knows how to endure all things. And in another place: "Forbearing
one another," he says, "in love, using every effort to keep the
unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." He proved that neither
unity nor peace could be kept unless brethren should cherish one another
with mutual toleration, and should keep the bond of concord by the intervention
of patience.
16. What beyond;-that you should not swear nor curse;
that you should not seek again your goods when taken from you; that, when
you receive a buffet, you should give your other cheek to the smiter; that
you should forgive a brother who sins against you, not only seven times,
but seventy times seven times, but, moreover, all his sins altogether;
that you should love your enemies; that you should offer prayer for your
adversaries and persecutors? Can you accomplish these things unless you
maintain the stedfastness of patience and endurance? And this we see done
in the case of Stephen, who, when he was slain by the Jews with violence
and stoning, did not ask for vengeance for himself, but for pardon for
his murderers, saying, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."
It behoved the first martyr of Christ thus to be, who, fore-running the
martyrs that should follow him in a glorious death, was not only the preacher
of the Lord's passion, but also the imitator of His most patient gentleness.
What shall I say of anger, of discord, of strife, which things ought not
to be found in a Christian? Let there be patience in the breast, and these
things cannot have place there; or should they try to enter, they are quickly
excluded and depart, that a peaceful abode may continue in the heart, where
it delights the God of peace to dwell. Finally, the apostle warns us, and
teaches, saying: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye are
sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and anger, and wrath,
and clamour, and blasphemy, be put away from you." For if the Christian
have departed from rage and carnal contention as if from the hurricanes
of the sea, and have already begun to be tranquil and meek in the harbour
of Christ, he ought to admit neither anger nor discord within his breast,
since he must neither return evil for evil, nor bear hatred.
17. And moreover, also, for the varied ills of the flesh,
and the frequent and severe torments of the body, wherewith the human race
is daily wearied and harassed, patience is necessary. For since in that
first transgression of the commandment strength of body departed with immortality,
and weakness came on with death-and strength cannot be received unless
when immortality also has been received-it behoves us, in this bodily frailty
and weakness, always to struggle and to fight. And this struggle and encounter
cannot be sustained but by the strength of patience. But as we are to be
examined and searched out, diverse sufferings are introduced; and a manifold
kind of temptations is inflicted by the losses of property, by the heats
of fevers, by the torments of wounds, by the loss of those dear to us.
Nor does anything distinguish between the unrighteous and the righteous
more, than that in affliction the unrighteous man impatiently complains
and blasphemes, while the righteous is proved by his patience, as it is
written: "In pain endure, and in thy low estate have patience; for
gold and silver are tried in the fire."
18. Thus Job was searched out and proved, and was raised
up to the very highest pinnacle of praise by the virtue of patience. What
darts of the devil were sent forth against him! what tortures were put
in use! The loss of his estate is inflicted, the privation of a numerous
offspring is ordained for him. The master, rich in estate, and the father,
richer in children, is on a sudden neither master nor father! The wasting
of wounds is added; and, moreover, an eating pest of worms consumes his
festering and wasting limbs. And that nothing at all should remain that
Job did not experience in his trials, the devil arms his wife also, making
use of that old device of his wickedness, as if he could deceive and mislead
all by women, even as he did in the beginning of the world. And yet Job
is not broken down by his severe and repeated conflicts, nor the blessing
of God withheld from being declared in the midst of those difficulties
and trials of his, by the victory of patience. Tobias also, who, after
the sublime works of his justice and mercy, was tried with the loss of
his eyes, in proportion as he patiently endured his blindness, in that
proportion deserved greatly of God by the praise of patience.
19. And, beloved brethren, that the benefit of patience
may still more shine forth, let us consider, on the contrary, what mischief
impatience may cause. For as patience is the benefit of Christ, so, on
the other hand, impatience is the mischief of the devil; and as one in
whom Christ dwells and abides is found patient, so he appears always impatient
whose mind the wickedness of the devil possesses. Briefly let us look at
the very beginnings. The devil suffered with impatience that man was made
in the image of God. Hence he was the first to perish and to ruin others.
Adam, contrary to the heavenly command with respect to the deadly food,
by impatience fell into death; nor did he keep the grace received from
God under the guardianship of patience. And in order that Cain should put
his brother to death, he was impatient of his sacrifice and gift; and in
that Esau descended from the rights of the first-born to those of the younger,
he lost his priority by impatience for the pottage. Why was the Jewish
people faithless and ungrateful in respect of the divine benefits? Was
it not the crime of impatience, that they first departed from God? Not
being able to bear the delays of Moses conferring with God, they dared
to ask for profane gods, that they might call the head of an ox and an
earthen image leaders of their march; nor did they ever desist from their
impatience, until, impatient always of docility and of divine admonition,
they put to death their prophets and all the righteous men, and plunged
even into the crime of the crucifixion and bloodshedding of the Lord. Moreover,
impatience makes heretics in the Church, and, after the likeness of the
Jews, drives them in opposition to the peace and charity of Christ as rebels,
to hostile and raging hatred. And, not at length to enumerate single cases,
absolutely everything which patience, by its works, builds up to glory,
impatience casts down into ruin.
20. Wherefore, beloved brethren, having diligently pondered
both the benefits of patience and the evils of impatience, let us hold
fast with full watchfulness the patience whereby we abide in Christ, that
with Christ we may attain to God; which patience, copious and manifold,
is not restrained by narrow limits, nor confined by strait boundaries.
The virtue of patience is widely manifest, and its fertility and liberality
proceed indeed from a source of one name, but are diffused by overflowing
streams through many ways of glory; nor can anything in our actions avail
for the perfection of praise, unless from this it receives the substance
of its perfection. It is patience which both commends and keeps us to God.
It is patience, too, which assuages anger, which bridles the tongue, governs
the mind, guards peace, rules discipline, breaks the force of lust, represses
the violence of pride, extinguishes the fire of enmity, checks the power
of the rich, soothes the want of the poor, protects a blessed integrity
in virgins, a careful purity in widows, in those who are united and married
a single affection. It makes men humble in prosperity, brave in adversity,
gentle towards wrongs and contempts. It teaches us quickly to pardon those
who wrong us; and if you yourself do wrong, to entreat long and earnestly.
It resists temptations, suffers persecutions, perfects passions and martyrdoms.
It is patience which firmly fortifies the foundations of our faith. It
is this which lifts up on high the increase of our hope. It is this which
directs our doing, that we may hold fast the way of Christ while we walk
by His patience. It is this that makes us to persevere as sons of God,
while we imitate our Father's patience.
21. But since I know, beloved brethren,
that very many are eager, either on account of the burden or the pain of
smarting wrongs, to be quickly avenged of those who act harshly and rage
against them, we must not withhold the fact in the furthest particular,
that placed as we are in the midst of these storms of a jarring world,
and, moreover, the persecutions both of Jews or Gentiles, and heretics,
we may patiently wait for the day of (God's) vengeance, and not hurry to
revenge our suffering with a querulous haste, since it is written, "Wait
ye upon me, saith the Lord, in the day of my rising up for a testimony;
for my judgment is to the congregations of the nations, that I may take
hold on the kings, and pour out upon them my fury." The Lord commands
us to wait, and to bear with brave patience the day of future vengeance;
and He also speaks in the Apocalypse, saying, "Seal not the sayings
of the prophecy of this book: for now the time is at hand for them that
persevere in injuring to injure, and for him that is filthy to be filthy
still; but for him that is righteous to do things still more righteous,
and likewise for him that is holy to do things still more holy. Behold,
I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to every man according
to his deeds." Whence also the martyrs, crying out and hastening with
grief breaking forth to their revenge, are bidden still to wait, and to
give patience for the times to be fulfilled and the martyrs to be completed.
"And when He had opened," says he, "the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar of God the souls of them that were slain for the word of
God, and for their testimony; and they cried with a loud voice, saying,
How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood
on them that dwell on the earth? And there were given to them each white
robes; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little
season, until the number of their fellow-servants and brethren is fulfilled,
who afterwards shall be slain after their example."
22. But when shall come the divine
vengeance for the righteous blood, the Holy Spirit declares by Malachi
the prophet, saying, "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, burning
as an oven; and all the aliens and all the wicked shall be stubble; and
the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord." And this
we read also in the Psalms, where the approach of God the Judge is announced
as worthy to be reverenced for the majesty of His judgment: "God shall
come manifest, our God, and shall not keep I silence; a fire shall burn
before Him, and round about Him a great tempest. He shall call the heaven
above, and the earth beneath, that He may separate His people. Gather His
saints together unto Him, who establish His covenant in sacrifices; and
the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God is the Judge."
And Isaiah foretells the same things, saying: "For, behold, the Lord
shall come like a fire, and His chariot as a storm, to render vengeance
in anger; for in the fire of the Lord they shall be judged, and with His
sword shall they be wounded." And again: "The Lord God of hosts
shall go forth, and shall crumble the war to pieces; He shall stir up the
battle, and shall cry out against His enemies with strength, I have held
my peace; shall I always hold my peace?"
23. But who is this that says that he has held his peace
before, and will not hold his peace for ever? Surely it is He who was led
as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is without
voice, so He opened not His mouth. Surely it is He who did not cry, nor
was His voice heard in the streets. Surely He who was not rebellious, neither
contradicted, when He offered His back to stripes, and His cheeks to the
palms of the hands; neither turned away His face from the foulness of spitting.
Surely it is He who, when He was accused by the priests and elders, answered
nothing, and, to the wonder of Pilate, kept a most patient silence. This
is He who, although He was silent in His passion, yet by and by will not
be silent in His vengeance. This is our God, that is, not the God of all,
but of the faithful and believing; and He, when He shall come manifest
in His second advent, will not be silent. For although He came first shrouded
in humility, yet He shall come manifest in power.
24.
Let us wait for Him, beloved
brethren, our Judge and Avenger, who shall equally avenge with Himself
the congregation of His Church, and the number of all the righteous from
the beginning of the world. Let him who hurries, and
is too impatient for his revenge, consider that even He Himself is not
yet avenged who is the Avenger. God the Father ordained His Son to be adored;
and the Apostle Paul, mindful of the divine command, lays it down, and
says: "God hath exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every
name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things heavenly,
and things earthly, and things beneath." And in the Apocalypse the
angel withstands John, who wishes to worship him, and says: "See thou
do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren. Worship Jesus
the Lord." How great is the Lord Jesus, and how great is His patience,
that He who is adored in heaven is not yet avenged on earth! Let us, beloved brethren, consider His patience in our persecutions
and sufferings; let us give an obedience full of expectation to His advent;
and let us not hasten, servants as we are, to be defended before our Lord
with irreligious and immodest eagerness. Let us rather press onward and labour, and, watching with our whole heart, and stedfast to all endurance,
let us keep the Lord's precepts; so that when that day of anger and vengeance
shall come, we may not be punished with the impious and sinners, but may
be honoured with the righteous and those that fear God.
9. Hyppolytus (2nd-3rd century AD)
Treatise on Christ and antichrist
60.
Now, concerning the tribulation
of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from the adversary,
John also speaks thus: "And I saw a great and wondrous sign in heaven; a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a
crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child, cries, travailing in
birth, and pained to be delivered. And the dragon stood before the woman
which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was
born. And she brought forth a man-child, who is to rule all the nations: and
the child was caught up unto God and to His throne. And the woman fled into
the wilderness, where she hath the place prepared of God, that they should
feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And then when the
dragon saw it, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child.
And to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly
into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half
a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast (out of his mouth
water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away
of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and
swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast) out of his mouth. And the
dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the saints of her
seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of
Jesus."(4)
61. By the woman then clothed with the sun," he meant
most manifestly the Church, endued wth the Father's word,(5) whose brightness
is above the sun. And by the "moon under her feet" he referred
to her being adorned, like the moon, with heavenly glory. And the words,
"upon her head a crown of twelve stars," refer to the twelve
apostles by whom the Church was founded. And those, "she, being with
child, cries, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered," mean
that the Church will not cease to bear from her heart(6) the Word that
is persecuted by the unbelieving in the world. "And she brought forth,"
he says, "a man-child, who is to rule all the nations;" by which
is meant that the Church, always bringing forth Christ, the perfect man-child
of God, who is declared to be God and man, becomes the instructor of all
the nations. And the words, "her child was caught up unto God and
to His throne," signify that he who is always born of her is a heavenly
king, and not an earthly; even as David also declared of old when he said,
"The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make
Thine enemies Thy footstool."(7) "And the dragon," he says,
"saw and persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And
to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly
into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and
half a time, from the face of the serpent."(8)
That refers to the
one thousand two hundred and threescore days (the half of the week) during
which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church,(9) which flees from
city to city, and seeks conceal-meat in the wilderness among the mountains,
possessed of no other defence than the two wings of the great eagle, that
is to say, the faith of Jesus Christ, who, in stretching forth His holy
hands on the holy tree, unfolded two wings, the right and the left, and
called to Him all who believed upon Him, and covered them as a hen her
chickens. For by the mouth of Malachi also He speaks thus: "And unto
you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing
in His wings."
10. The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles
(4th century AD)
Book VII
XXXI. Do you first ordain bishops worthy of the Lord,
and presbyters and deacons, pious men, righteous, meek, free from the love
of money, lovers of truth, approved, holy, not accepters of persons, who
are able to teach the word of piety, and rightly dividing the doctrines
of the Lord. And do ye honour such as your fathers, as your lords, as your
benefactors, as the causes of your well-being. Reprove ye one another,
not in anger, but in mildness, with kindness and peace. Observe all things
that are commanded you by the Lord. Be watchful for your life. "Let
your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye like unto men
who wait for their Lord, when He will come, at even, or in the morning,
or at cock-crowing, or at midnight. For at what hour they think not, the
Lord will come; and if they open to Him, blessed are those servants, because
they were found watching. For He will gird Himself, and will make them
to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." Watch therefore,
and pray, that ye do not sleep unto death. For your former good deeds will
not profit you, if at the last part of your life you go astray from the
true faith.
A Prediction Concerning Futurities.
XXXII. For in the last days false prophets shall be multiplied,
and such as corrupt the word; and the sheep shall be changed into wolves,
and love into hatred: for through the abounding of iniquity the love of
many shall wax cold. For men shall hate, and persecute, and betray one
another. And then shall appear the deceiver of the
world, the enemy of the truth, the prince of lies, whom the Lord Jesus
"shall destroy with the spirit of His mouth, who takes away the wicked
with His lips; and many shall be offended at Him. But they that endure
to the end, the same shall be saved. And then shall appear the sign of
the Son of man in heaven;" and afterwards shall be the voice of a
trumpet by the archangel; and in that interval shall be the revival of
those that were asleep. And then shall the Lord come, and all His saints
with Him, with a great concussion above the clouds, with the angels of
His power, in the throne of His kingdom, to condemn the devil, the deceiver
of the world, and to render to every one according to his deeds. "Then shall the wicked go away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous shall go into life eternal," to inherit those things
"which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the
heart of man, such things as God hath prepared for them that love Him;
" and they shall rejoice in the kingdom of God, which is in Christ
Jesus. Since we are vouchsafed such great blessings from Him, let us become
His suppliants, and call upon Him by continual prayer, and say:
11. Victorinus: Commentary on the Apocalypse ( 4th century
AD)
From the Seventh Chapter.
2. "And I saw another angel ascending from the east,
having the seal of the living God."
He speaks of Elias the prophet, who is the precursor
of the times of Antichrist, for the restoration and establishment of the
churches from the great and intolerable persecution.
We read that these things are predicted in the opening of the Old and New
Testament; for He says by Malachi: "Lo, I will send to you Elias the
Tishbite, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, according
to the time of calling, to recall the Jews to the faith of the people that
succeed them." And to that end He shows, as we have said, that the
number of those that shall believe, of the Jews and of the nations, is
a great multitude which no man was able to number. Moreover, we read in
the Gospel that the prayers of the Church are sent from heaven by an angel,
and that they are received against wrath, and that the kingdom of Antichrist
is cast out and extinguished by holy angels; for He says: "Pray that
ye enter not into temptation: for there shall be a great affliction, such
as has not been from the beginning of the world; and except the Lord had
shortened those days, no flesh should be saved." Therefore He shall
send these seven great archangels to smite the kingdom of Antichrist; for
He Himself also thus said: "Then the Son of man shall send His messengers;
and they shall gather together His elect from the four corners of the wind,
from the one end of heaven even to the other end thereof." For, moreover,
He previously says by the prophet: "Then shall there be peace for
our land, when there shall arise in it seven shepherds and eight attacks
of men; and they shall encircle Assur," that is, Antichrist, "in
the trench of Nimrod," that is, in the nation of the devil, by the
spirit of the Church. Similarly when the keepers of the house shall be
moved. Moreover, the Lord Himself, in the parable to the apostles, when
the labourers had come to Him and said, "Lord, did not we sow good
seed in Thy field? whence, then, hath it tares? answered them, An enemy
hath done this. And they said to Him, Lord, wilt Thou, then, that we go
and root them up? And He said, Nay, but let both grow together until the
harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, that
they gather the tares and make bundles of them, and burn them with fire
everlasting, but that they gather the wheat into my barns." The Apocalypse
here shows, therefore, that these reapers, and shepherds, and labourers,
are the angels. And the trumpet is the word of power. And although the
same thing recurs in the phials, still it is not said as if it occurred
twice, but because what is decreed by the Lord to happen shall be once
for all; for this cause it is said twice. What, therefore, He said too
little in the trumpets, is here found in the phials. We must not regard
the order of what is said, because frequently the Holy Spirit, when He
has traversed even to the end of the last times, returns again to the same
times, and fills up what He had before failed to say. Nor must we look
for order in the Apocalypse; but we must follow the meaning of those things
which are prophesied. Therefore in the trumpets and phials is signified
either the desolation of the plagues that are sent upon the earth, or the
madness of Antichrist himself, or the cutting off of the peoples, or the
diversity of the plagues, or the hope in the kingdom of the saints, or
the ruin of states, or the great overthrow of Babylon, that is, the Roman
state.
9. "After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude,
which no man was able to number, of every nation, tribe, and people, and
tongue, clothed with white robes."] What the
great multitude out of every tribe implies, is to show the number of the
elect out of all believers, who, being cleansed by baptism in the blood
of the Lamb, have made their robes white, keeping the grace which they
have received.
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