ACC ~ Luke 16 v23 - 26
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE DESCRIBES HEAVEN AND HELL
GREGORY OF NYSSA: I said, “What are the fire, the gulf, or the other things which are mentioned, if they are not what they are said to be?”
“It seems to me,” she [Macrina] said, “that the Gospel wishes, through each of these details, to indicate some opinions concerning what we are seeking in connection with the soul. The patriarch says to the rich man, ‘You had your share of goods during your life in the flesh.’ He also says concerning the beggar, ‘This man fulfilled his duty by his experience of hardship during his life.’ By the gulf separating the one from the other, Scripture seems to me to set forth an important belief. … This, in my opinion, is the gulf, which is not an earthly abyss, that the judgment between the two opposite choices of life creates. Once one has chosen the pleasure of this life and has not remedied this bad choice by a change of heart, he produces for himself a place empty of good hereafter. He digs this unavoidable necessity for himself like some deep and trackless pit.
“It seems to me that Scripture uses the ‘bosom of Abraham,’ in which the patient sufferer finds rest, as a symbol of the good state of the soul. This patriarch was the first person recorded to have chosen the hope of things to come in preference to the enjoyment of the moment. Deprived of everything he had in the beginning of his life, living among strangers, he searched for a future prosperity through present affliction. We use the word bosom when referring figuratively to a part of the outline of the sea. It seems to me that Scripture uses the word bosom as a symbol of the immeasurable goals toward which those who sail virtuously through life will come to when having departed from life. They anchor their souls in this good bosom as in a quiet harbor.” ON THE SOUL AND THE RESURRECTION. [1]
[1] FC 58:232-34**.
FEAR NOT RICHES AS SUCH BUT GREED
AUGUSTINE: I think that we have proved that Christ did not object to the riches of the rich man but to his impiety, infidelity, pride and cruelty. …
The rich must not start saying that I have agreed to be their advocate. They felt afraid, after all, when reminded of the gospel. When they heard about the rich man hurled into the pains of hell, they felt afraid. I have reassured them. They do not need to fear riches but vices. They should not fear wealth but greed. They should not be afraid of goods but of greed. Let them possess wealth like Abraham, and let them possess it with faith. Let them have it, possess it and not be possessed by it. SERMON 299E.5. [1]
THE SOUL RESTS IN THE PATRIARCH’S BOSOM
PRUDENTIUS:
But until the perishable body
You will raise up, O God, and refashion,
What mansion of rest is made ready
For the soul that is pure and unsullied?
It shall rest in the patriarch’s bosom
As did Lazarus, hedged round with flowers,
Whom Dives beheld from a distance
While he burned in the fires everlasting.
HYMN FOR EVERY DAY 10.149-56. [2]
FOUNTAINS ON ONE SIDE, FIRE ON THE OTHER
EPHREM THE SYRIAN:
This place, despised and spurned
By the denizens of paradise,
Those who burn in Gehenna
hungrily desire;
Their torment doubles
At the sight of its fountains,
They quiver violently
As they stand on the opposite side;
The rich man, too, begs for succor
But there is no one to wet his tongue,
For fire is within them,
While the water is opposite them.
HYMNS ON PARADISE 1.17. [3]
[1] WSA 3 8:268**.
[2] FC 43:76*.
[3] HOP 84.
THE SOULS OF THE WICKED SUFFER THE PAIN OF FIRE
GREGORY THE GREAT: From the words of Scripture, we gather that the soul suffers from the burning heat not only through its sense of sight but also by actually experiencing the pain. We know from Christ’s words that the rich man was burned in hell. His prayer to Abraham declares that his soul was held in fire. He says, “Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue. I am tormented in this flame.” Since Christ describes the condemned sinner Dives surrounded by the flames of hell, no one with understanding would deny that fire holds fast the souls of the wicked. DIALOGUE 4.30. [1]
[1] FC 39:226*.
THE FRUITS OF PARDON MUST BE SEEN IN THOSE PARDONED
EPHREM THE SYRIAN: The Lord compared the priests of the people with him who was clothed in purple. Nothing is more honored than purple clothing. He compared the disciples of the cross with Lazarus. There were none more lowly than Lazarus was. He revealed the name of his beloved ones through Lazarus, his beloved one. He also wished to reveal the name of his enemies through the words, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets.” It is not the case that all those living are alive, or that all those buried are dead.
See, the more the rich man lived sumptuously, the more Lazarus was humbled! The more Lazarus was made low, the greater was his crown. Why should he have seen Abraham above all the just, and Lazarus in his bosom? He saw him because Abraham loved the poor and so that we might learn that we cannot hope for pardon at the end, unless the fruits of pardon can be seen in us. If Abraham, who was friendly to strangers and had mercy on Sodom, was not able to have mercy on the one who did not show pity to Lazarus, how can we hope that there will be pardon for us? That man called him “my father,” and Abraham called him “my son,” but he was not able to help him. “Remember, my son, that you received good things during your life and Lazarus evil things.” COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 15.12-13. [1]
[1] ECTD 235-36**.
THE RICH MAN CONTINUES TO TREAT LAZARUS WITH CONTEMPT
PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: “Send Lazarus.” As I see the matter, the rich man’s actions spring not from new pain but from ancient envy. This hell does not kindle his jealousy as much as Lazarus’s possession of heaven. People find it a serious evil and unbearable fire to see in happiness those whom they once held in contempt. The rich man’s ill will does not leave him, although he already endures its punishment. He does not ask to be led to Lazarus but wants Lazarus to be led to him. O rich man, loving Abraham cannot send to the bed of your tortures Lazarus whom you did not condescend to admit to your table. Your respective fortunes have now been reversed. You look at the glory of him whose misery you once spurned. He who wondered at you in your glory sees your tortures. SERMON 122. [1]
[1] FC 17:210-11**.
THE MEASURE YOU GIVE SHALL BE GIVEN TO YOU
AUGUSTINE: “Remember, son, that you received good things in your life, and Lazarus likewise bad things.” He assigns pain in return for riches, refreshment in return for poverty, flames in return for purple and joy in return for nakedness. The equal balance of the scales will be maintained. The standard of measurement will not be proved false that says, “The measure you give will be the measure you get.” [1] The reason he refuses to show mercy to the rich man in his pain is that while he lived the rich man neglected to show mercy. The reason why he ignored the rich man’s pleas in his torment is that he ignored the poor man’s pleas on earth. SERMON 367.2. [2]
[1] Mt 7:2.
[2] WSA 3 10:297**.
THE RICH MAN DID NOT MAKE FRIENDS WITH HIS UNRIGHTEOUS MAMMON
AUGUSTINE: Why then, rich man, do you desire too late in hell what you never hoped for while you were enjoying your luxuries? Are you not the one who ignored the person lying at your gate? Are you not the one who in your disdain for the poor man made fun of Moses and the prophets? You refused to hold faith with a neighbor in his poverty; now you do not enjoy his good times. [1] …
We should not hold faith with a poor neighbor in such a way that we hope riches are coming to him in due course, and so we keep faith with him in order to hold them with him. That is not the way at all. What is the way is in line with our Lord’s instruction, “Make friends for yourselves with the mammon of iniquity, so that they too may receive you in the eternal dwellings.” [2] There are poor people here who have no dwellings where they themselves can receive you. Make friends of them with the mammon of iniquity, the profits that iniquity calls profits. Since there are profits that justice calls profits, they are in God’s treasury. …
“Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Whoever gives one of my little ones a cup of cold water simply in the name of a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will not lose his reward.” [3] He holds faith with a neighbor in his poverty, and therefore he will enjoy his good things. SERMON 41.5-6. [4]
[1] Sir 22:23.
[2] Lk16:9.
[3] Mt 10:41-42.
[4] WSA 3 2:230-31*.
Lk