PROLOGUE
Here I wish to add a very important note of Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite concerning Memorial Services:
“Since the present discussion concerns memorials, we note that the third-day memorials performed for the departed brethren signify, according to the sacred Symeon of Thessaloniki, that the departed brother was from the beginning composed by the Holy Trinity.
The ninth-day memorials signify that, having been dissolved into the elements from which he was composed, he is to be numbered among the nine immaterial orders of the Angels, being himself immaterial.
The fortieth-day memorials signify that, in the future resurrection, having again been re-constituted in a higher manner, he too is to be taken up as the Lord was, and, caught up in the clouds, to meet the Judge.
These three states of man are also signified by the three-month, six-month, and nine-month memorials; in general they are performed for the purification of the departed — especially the fortieth day, as is indicated by the example of our Lord, who in His three births kept three complete forties, thus imprinting our own life in Himself. For the day of birth and the death of each person are called a ‘birthday,’ according to the temple in Laodicea.
The Apostolic Constitutions (Book VIII, ch. 42) say that the third day is observed because Christ rose on the third day; the ninth day in remembrance of the living and the dead; and the fortieth day according to the ancient type — for thus also the people mourned Moses.
Some say the third day is for the purification of the threefold aspect of the soul; the ninth for the purification of the five bodily senses together with the generative, natural, and transitional faculty; and the fortieth for the purification of the four elements in the body — each of which served in the transgression of the ten commandments; and four times ten make forty.” (Pedalion, Athens 1886, p. 221)
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Concerning Those Who Have Fallen Asleep in Faith
(That Liturgies and Good Works Benefit Them)
By St. John of Damascus
(That Liturgies and Good Works Benefit Them)
By St. John of Damascus
1. Tasty and expensive foods, when they are offered frequently, not only provoke the hungry to eat but even those who are full. Likewise sweet-tasting drinks attract not only the thirsty but also those who have already drunk. The same happens with lovers of wealth: once they acquire riches, their love for them increases and they struggle daily to enlarge them.
Therefore you also, honorable members of the Church — priests and fathers, brothers and mothers and beloved children — were not compelled to run to the word now offered to you because of deprivation of the divine teachings, nor because of thirst for sacred lessons and divinely-inspired knowledge, but by a grace-given desire that leads you higher toward spiritual strength and grace. For what was lacking among the perfect was found by a beginner; what the wise did not notice was revealed to the unlettered; what escaped the teachers came and enlightened the disciples.
As for us, I do not even dare to say this; rather, gathering the grapes left on the vine after the vintage, the ears of grain left in the field because of abundance, and in general every fruit abandoned on the trees after harvest — with these provisions, I repeat, we shall treat those who desire it, always with the help of Christ, the true helping God, who confirms the word with deeds and proofs.
2. The hollow and empty — of every good and God-pleasing thing and of every God-loving thought — serpent, the enemy trampled underfoot, struck by brotherly love, cut to pieces by faith, put to death by hope, disturbed by compassion — this lawless serpent attacked certain people in an unlawful and impious way and planted in them the idea that supposedly all God-pleasing works do not benefit the dead at all.
It even reminds them of the passages:
“God has shut them out from these” (Job 3:23),
“Each will receive according to what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Cor. 5:10),
“In Hades who will give You glory?” (Ps. 6:6),
“You will repay each according to his works” (Ps. 61:13),
and “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7).
But we shall say to them: You who think yourselves wise — search and learn that great indeed is the fear inspired by God the Master of all, yet far greater is His goodness. The threats are fearful, but His love for mankind is immeasurably greater. The condemnations are terrifying, but words cannot express His kindness.
3. Hear what the divine Scripture says: how Judas Maccabaeus in Zion, the city of the great King, when he saw his people slain by enemies and, after investigation, found idols among them, immediately offered with all reverence and love a propitiatory sacrifice for each of them to the Lord ready for mercy. For this act Scripture marvels at him and praises him.
And the divine Apostles — eyewitnesses of the Word who captivated the world — ordained that remembrance of the faithful departed be made during the Divine Liturgy. This tradition, without any opposition, the Church of Christ and God spread to the ends of the world firmly preserves from then until today and until the end of the world. Certainly they did not establish it irrationally, nor unjustly and by chance. For the infallible religion of the Christians received nothing useless; rather everything it keeps steadfastly through the ages is beneficial, pleasing to God, and helps salvation.
DIONYSIOS THE AREOPAGITE
4. Furthermore Dionysios, the one who knew the heavenly things, in his mystical theoria concerning the departed said the following:
“The prayers of the saints, both in this life and even more after death, benefit those who are worthy of prayers — that is, the faithful.”
And shortly after:
“The divine hierarch, the teacher of divine justification, never asked for things not pleasing to God — things God had promised to grant in a divine manner. For this reason he does not pray for the impious, that is, the unbaptized…
Therefore the divine hierarch asks for what pleases God and will certainly be granted…
The prayer of the goodness of God asks that all the failings of the departed committed through human weakness be forgiven, and that they be placed in the land of the living, in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from where pain, tears, and sighing have fled; and that the divine authority overlook the sins committed by the deceased through human weakness, since, as Scripture says, ‘no one is clean from sin.’”
Do you see, you who object, how he affirms that prayers benefit those who departed with hope in God?
GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN
5. After Dionysios, behold Gregory — namesake of theology — what he writes about his mother in his funeral oration for his brother Caesarius:
“A noteworthy proclamation was heard, and the mother’s grief is lightened by the good and divine-law-conforming promise that she would give everything for the child as a funeral gift… What depended on us we have done. But we shall also give other things and offer the yearly honors and memorials, if indeed we remain alive.”
You see that he confirms and characterizes — almost as divine — the offerings we make for those who have departed to the Lord, and he accepts the annual memorial services.
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
6. After this, the truly “Golden-Mouthed” John — synonymous with gold — the teacher of love for the poor and of repentance, writes in his divinely illumined interpretation of the Epistles to the Philippians and to the Galatians:
“If the pagans burn together with the dead even their possessions, how much more should you, the believer, send forth together with the faithful departed those things that belonged to him — not, of course, that they may become ashes as among the heathen, but that you may honor him the more. And if the departed was a sinner, that he may be delivered from his sins; but if he was righteous, that his reward and recompense may be increased.”
And elsewhere he writes:
“Let us devise some help to offer to those who have departed. Let us assist them as much as possible. I speak of almsgiving and offerings, for these truly secure for them great improvement, gain, and benefit. For these were neither legislated nor handed down in the Church of God by His wise disciples aimlessly or by chance. They would not have delivered to us that the priest should pray for the departed, if they had not known that these things benefit them and bring them gain.”
GREGORY OF NYSSA
7. Then, together with them, the all-wise Gregory of Nyssa writes:
“Nothing was handed down thoughtlessly or without profit by the heralds and disciples of Christ and preserved throughout the whole Church. To commemorate during the radiant Mystagogy those who have fallen asleep in the true faith is both beneficial to the departed and pleasing to God.”
8. For the words, “You will repay each according to his works,” and “Each one will reap what he has sown,” and the other similar sayings, were certainly spoken concerning the Second Coming of the Lord and the judgment He will carry out then, and concerning the end of this world.
At that time, indeed, there is no longer any opportunity for assistance; every appeal and supplication goes unanswered. When the festival is dissolved, there are no more goods for trade. Where then will the poor be? Where the priests to celebrate the sacred services? Where the psalmody? Where benefactions and works of charity?
Therefore, before that hour arrives, let us help one another and offer to the brother-loving, man-loving, and soul-loving God our love for the brethren. For He gladly accepts what we offer even on behalf of those who did not have time — and so to speak, those who departed unprepared — and He reckons these as though they were works and offerings performed by them.
The compassionate Lord wills to be asked and to grant what is requested when it pertains to salvation. Indeed, He wholly inclines Himself in the case where someone does not strive only for his own soul but also cares to offer something on behalf of his neighbor. In such a case a person becomes an imitator of God; he asks for the gifts of others as though they were his own blessings. Thus he secures the condition of perfect love, gains the blessedness promised to the merciful, and greatly benefits his own soul.
THE PROTOMARTYR THEKLA
9. Why, then, is the matter considered so difficult? Did not the Protomartyr save Falconilla after her death?
But perhaps you will argue that she, by virtue of her dignity as Protomartyr, saved her, and that her prayer deserved to be heard.
And I reply to you: Granted — there was the Protomartyr. But consider for whom the supplication was made! It was made for a pagan woman who served a clearly impious and alien lord. Here, however, a believer entreats the very same Lord on behalf of another believer.
Place these things side by side and compare them, and every doubt will depart from you.
PALLADIUS
10. Let us pass from these things to others similar and equivalent. I refer to the book of Palladius sent to Lausus, in which are accurately recorded the miracles of the great wonderworker Makarios [the Egyptian]: namely, that by questioning a skull he learned everything concerning those who had died. Among other things he asked:
“Do you therefore find no consolation?”
(He asked this because the Saint was accustomed to pray for the departed and wished to be assured that these prayers truly benefit them.)
The Lord who loves souls, in order to satisfy His faithful servant and inform him, permitted the dry skull to speak and tell the truth:
“When you offer supplications for the dead, then we feel a small relief.”
ANONYMOUS
11. Another of the God-bearing Fathers had a disciple of disorderly life. When he ended his life recklessly, the compassionate Lord revealed to the elder — who earnestly besought Him — that He would burn him in fire up to the neck, like the rich man in the parable of Lazarus.
Then the Saint began fervently and with tears to entreat God. God was moved and revealed that He would keep him in the fire up to the waist. Again the elder prayed with much toil and anguish, and God showed him in a vision that He had completely delivered him from the fire of hell.
12. But who could recount in order all the testimonies scattered in the lives of the saints, from which it is evident that the prayers, liturgies, and almsgivings performed for the dead greatly help and benefit them? For nothing is ever wholly lost of what is lent to God, but it is repaid by Him greatly increased.
13. As for the saying of the prophet, “In Hades who shall give You glory?”, we said above that although the threats of God the Sovereign are fearful, nevertheless His ineffable love for mankind ultimately overcomes them.
Moreover, even after that prophetic saying repentance occurred in Hades — I mean the repentance of those who believed there when the Master descended to them. Yet even there the life-giving Lord did not save all, but only, as was said, those who believed.
Some say He saved only those who believed before they died — such as the fathers and prophets, the judges and kings with the rulers, and certain others among the Hebrews, few and known to all.
But what do we answer those who maintain this? That it would be neither a gift nor a marvel for Christ to save those who believed. He is a just judge, and whoever believes in Him does not perish. Thus all these had to be saved and released from their bonds when God and Master descended into Hades — and this the Lord Himself accomplished.
I think, however, that those saved solely by His love for mankind were those who lived a pure life and practiced every good work. While living with simplicity, self-control, and chastity, they did not succeed in attaining pure divine faith, nor were they trained in it, and they remained completely untaught. These the Master who cares for all drew to Himself, catching them with His divine nets.
He made them believe and illumined them with His divine rays, showing them the true light. His heart — He who is goodness itself — could not bear that their labors should be lost, for their life had truly been laborious and exceedingly restrained. They conquered passions, renounced pleasures, and in practice showed poverty of spirit and self-control along with vigilance and every good deed. Not with full piety, yet certainly they lived supposing they were correctly keeping the ancient covenant, though they were mistaken.
There were also some who in a certain way approached the greatness of the all-powerful Trinity. Some prophesied the incarnation of the Word, the revered sufferings, and the resurrection. Others spoke of the virginal birth and even revealed her name: Mary is the name of the maiden. Some mentioned the Lord’s miracles — the dead, the blind, mute, lepers, deaf, paralytics, demoniacs, and so forth — His walking upon the sea, the multiplication of loaves and fishes, the changing of water into wine. They foretold the healing of the woman with the hemorrhage and the bent woman and many others.
These the power of the Word would not allow to perish, nor would their labors remain unpaid; for even the time spent in these things does not go to waste but is returned many times over to those who lived righteously.
By contrast, those who lived shamefully and performed no good deed — being without seed, in error in life, speech, and faith, and not watered by the heavenly rain — could not bear fruit. Having no seed, when the Sun of righteousness rose they neither blossomed nor bore fruit; these Christ did not benefit at all. He did not raise them, as I think, because they were incapable of salvation. Nor did they believe in Him, for they corrupted their mind and the first dragon (the devil), whom they worshiped from the beginning, darkened the eyes of their understanding — so that, naturally, “seeing they did not perceive, and hearing they did not understand at all” (Luke 8:10). But all the others who had seed, when the sun appeared they sprouted, and when the rain fell they bore fruit.
Thus our discourse has led us, with God’s help, to resolve certain obscure matters — not dogmatically, for I am unworthy, but by inference out of love for the brethren. These, as I think, Christ saved in Hades.
14. With the cooperation of Christ it has been shown that repentance occurred in Hades. This does not mean we abolish the prophecy — never — but we wish to show that the all-good Lord is overcome by His love for mankind.
The same happened with the saying “Nineveh shall be destroyed” (Jonah 3:4), yet it was not destroyed, because goodness overcame God’s righteous judgment. Likewise to Hezekiah: “Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live” (4 Kings 20:1), yet he did not die. And to Ahab He declared, “I will bring evils,” yet He did not bring them, and said, “Have you seen how Ahab was humbled?” (3 Kings 20:21).
Again goodness overcame the sentence, as happens in many other cases and will continue until the end of the world — until the festival ends and there is no time for help, but a person stands alone with his burden.
Now, however, is the time: time for work, time for transaction, time for effort, toil, and labor. Blessed is he who did not grow weary or tire of hoping — but more blessed is he who struggled both for himself and for his neighbor.
15. For this — running to the aid of one’s neighbor — greatly pleases and gladdens the compassionate God. The Lover of mankind desires this because we are given the possibility to benefit one another both here and after death.
For if He did not will this and it were not right in His sight, He would not have given us the authority to commemorate the dead in the Divine Liturgy, to perform memorial services and the other rites on the third day, the ninth, the fortieth, and the yearly anniversary.
This practice is accepted in its entirety by the catholic and apostolic Church and is carried out by the faithful people of God without any reservation or doubt. Otherwise, if these were a deception without benefit, illumination would have come to one of the God-bearing holy fathers and patriarchs to stop the error. Yet no one ever even attempted to abolish them; rather they confirmed them by daily practice, increased them, and added new elements.
GREGORY THE DIALOGIST
16. But it is time to recall other accounts. Gregory the Dialogist, Bishop of old Rome, renowned and known to all as a holy and wise man — and they say that when he celebrated the liturgy an angel always concelebrated with him — while walking on the road stopped to pray to the Lord to forgive the sins of Emperor Trajan.
Then a heavenly voice came to him saying:
“I have heard your prayer and grant forgiveness to Trajan. But you must cease offering prayers for the impious.”
That this is true is affirmed by the whole East and West.
Do you see that this surpasses the case of Falconilla? For she at least harmed no one, whereas he caused the bitter death of many martyrs.
17. Lord and Master, You are wondrous and worthy of wonder are Your works, and we glorify Your great compassion; for You incline toward love for mankind, granting Your servants opportunities both for philanthropy and for steadfast faith and hope in You. And through Your servants You taught us also to do good to one another, to offer various sacrifices and make offerings, to send up hymns, psalmody, and prayers — not randomly nor in vain. For You are unchanging and a rich giver of manifold recompense to all who offer anything for Your glory, and in general nothing done in Your name is without benefit.
18. Let it not enter anyone’s mind, brothers and fathers, that what is offered with faith to God does not return with abundant reward both to the one who offers and to the one for whom it is offered.
Consider the example of someone who anoints a sick person with myrrh or sanctified oil: he himself first receives the anointing and then anoints the sick person. Thus the one who hastens for his neighbor’s salvation first benefits himself and then his neighbor.
God is not unjust so as to forget the work that is done.
ATHANASIOS THE GREAT
19. Athanasios the Great writes in his most beautiful discourse on the departed:
“Do not refuse to offer oil and to light candles at his grave, invoking Christ God, even if the departed ended his life piously and has been placed in heaven. For these are acceptable to God and bring great recompense, because the oil and the candle are a sacrifice and the Divine Liturgy is propitiation. And good works ultimately brings increase to every good reward.
The purpose of the one offering for the soul of the departed is the same as that of someone who has a small child sick and weak, for whom he offers in the holy temple candles, incense, and oil with faith and dedicates them all for his child. He holds and offers them with his own hands as though the child itself were holding and offering them — exactly as at baptism the sponsor renounces Satan on behalf of the infant. Likewise, one who died faithful to the Lord must be regarded as holding and offering the candles and the oil and everything offered for his redemption.
Thus, by the grace of God, the effort made with faith will not be in vain. Be certain that the divine Apostles and the God-taught teachers and the divinely-inspired Fathers, having first been united with the divine and illumined, established in a God-pleasing manner the services, the prayers, and the psalmody performed every year in memory of those who have died. And all these, even until today, always by the grace of the philanthropic God, increase and are fulfilled in every corner of the world so that the Lord of lords and King of kings may be glorified and praised.”
20. But the opponent comes and says:
“If things are so, then all will be saved and none will perish.”
Would that this might happen. This is what the all-good Lord desires, seeks, wills, and what pleases Him — that no one be deprived of His gifts. Did He prepare the prizes and crowns for the angels? Was it for them that He came down from heaven and took flesh from the Virgin, became man, and suffered? Will He say to angels, “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matt. 25:34)?
There can be no other opinion. He who suffered for man prepared the rewards for man. Besides, who invites friends and does not rejoice when all come and celebrate with him? For whom, then, did He make the preparations? If we desire this, imagine how much more the generous and by nature all-good and loving-toward-man God desires it — He who rejoices more in giving and granting gifts than the one who receives them.
21. Those who doubt the above should take heed. Every person who cultivated and produced even a small leaven of virtues but did not manage to turn it into bread — surely he wished to, he desired it, but whether through negligence, laziness, timidity, or postponement (“today, tomorrow”), unexpected death overtook and cut him down — this one the just Judge and Master will not forget.
In this case, after his death He will stir up his friends and relatives and move their souls so as to help him. Then they, prompted by God who will kindle their souls to love, will hasten to fill the deficiency of the one who died.
But for the one who lived in sin, in a life full of thorns and filth, who never listened to the voice of his conscience, who wallowed without fear or shame in the stench of pleasures with the sole concern of satisfying the cravings of his flesh, having no care at all for the soul, with a purely carnal and worldly mind — when the hour of death comes, no one will give him a helping hand. Everything will unfold so that neither his wife nor his children nor his friends and relatives — no one — will help him, since God does not count him among His own.
22. I pray, if it is possible, that my friends may help me so that I leave nothing lacking. But if I reach the end not being prepared and, as a human being, leave some deficiency, I beseech the Lord to move the souls of my friends and relatives, to warm their hearts so that they may help me after my death with works pleasing to God. O Lord, God of wonders and helper of the needy, I implore You that at that hour neither I nor those who believe in You may be found with any deficiency, lacking in anything.
But let us hear what the sacred Chrysostom — whom I mentioned earlier — says and teaches:
“If you did not manage to settle all the matters of your soul while you were alive, then take care, at least at the end, to leave instructions to your own people to send what belongs to you along with you and to help you. I mean, of course, almsgivings and offerings. Thus you will soften the Redeemer toward you, since by these He is pleased and accepts them.”
And elsewhere he writes:
“In your will appoint as your heir, together with your children, also the Master Christ. Write the name of the Judge on the document and do not neglect the poor — and I guarantee it for them. This does not mean you have the right to excuse yourselves from giving alms while you are alive, nor is it an excuse to leave almsgiving for after death. Such a thought is entirely unacceptable, shameful, and foreign to the will of God.
On the contrary, it is very good and very pleasing to God, and welcomed by Him, for every pious and God-fearing Christian to adorn himself with every good work; to withdraw from every spiritual impurity; to follow the radiant commandments of God so that, when he stands before Him, he may boldly say: ‘My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready’ (Ps. 107:2). And thus prepared he may be able to receive the angels who descend to take him.”
But few do and accomplish this, according to the saying: “few are those who are saved” (Luke 13:23). Surely the Wisdom of God did not say this at random, but, one might say, with a kind of sorrow — that “few are saved.” Indeed, we know how difficult it is for people to be found in this category. Therefore we necessarily turn to the second category, according to the teaching of the Apostles and the Fathers: so that the departed, with the help of God, may benefit; philanthropy may increase; the hope of the resurrection be confirmed; prayer to God grow stronger; the congregation in the holy temples become more frequent and fervent; and good works toward the poor expand ever more.
23–24. See in how many ways the matter becomes profitable and beneficial, and by how many things the help toward the departed is confirmed. For it also becomes an occasion of salvation for those who make the commemorations. Because if you extinguish the cause, you lose the results as well. What necessity would persuade the faint-hearted to be willing and perform it, if they were not certain they would free their own people from transgressions? Then shares for the poor would no longer be written into wills; the Liturgies for the dead, the psalmody and the other rites, and the memorials on the third day, the ninth, the fortieth, and the yearly commemoration — all these, which the teachers established not by chance — would cease.
May such a thing never happen, nor may we neglect any of these.
25. But the question arises: What happens with strangers, the poor, and in general those who have no relatives to help and hasten on their behalf, nor can they leave an inheritance or arrange Liturgies or almsgiving? Because they have no one to pity them, will they lose the opportunity of salvation? Is God unjust, giving to those who have and can, while depriving those who do not have?
Put this out of your mind, for our God and Master is just — or rather, to speak precisely, He is Justice itself, Wisdom, Goodness, and the only Power. His justice will rightly reckon for the poor what the rich possess. His wisdom will arrange matters so that the deficiencies are filled up. His power will weaken the strong and strengthen the weak. His goodness will save His creature — provided, of course, that it does not belong to those who hate the true faith and whose left scale is greatly weighed down.
For the men enlightened by God say that the condition at the last moment and the deeds are weighed on a balance. If the scale inclines to the right, it is clear that the right-hand angels will take that soul. If the scale balances evenly, the philanthropy (loving mercy) of God prevails. But according to the theologians, even if the scale inclines slightly to the left, the small deficiency is supplied by the compassion of God. Thus we have three divine judgments of the Master: the first just, the second philanthropic, the third exceedingly good. Yet there is also a fourth: when wicked deeds are far heavier — then, alas, my brothers. Even here, however, the judgment of God is just, since He renders to each what belongs to him in righteousness.
26. Some invoke the words of the blessed and heaven-revealing Basil:
“Do not be deceived — God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7).
“The dead cannot offer sacrifice or make offerings. Can you set a table for the king’s glorious envoys with leftovers? For if he who offers from his surplus is not accepted, will you offer to the Benefactor what remains after a lifetime?”
To them we reply: Saint Basil speaks well — but we must see to whom he says this. He says it to the greedy, to harsh plunderers, to the merciless and unfeeling. See how he describes them:
“We speak to a heart of stone. When you lived in pleasures, luxury, and comfort, you would not condescend even to cast a glance at the poor. When you die, what reward is owed to you?”
And elsewhere he again says:
“The neighbor’s house does not allow me a view”…
“The plunderer respects neither time nor limits, but like fire seizes and exploits everything, and like a rushing river sweeps all before it.”
He writes many such things in his sacred book, and it is clear that he addresses those who not only gave nothing to the poor but even tried to seize what belonged to them.
27. And let no one say: How is it possible for people with wealth not to pity the poor? Indeed they exist — as has been said in many ages — and also in the days of the unforgettable and most holy John the Merciful: Peter the tax-collector, who from merciless became merciful and a saint. It is said in his story that he fell into ecstasy and saw his deeds being weighed. He then noticed that on the right side of the scale there was clean new wheat which he had angrily thrown into the face of a poor man — remarkable because he threw wheat only since he had no stone at hand. From this vision the blessed Peter was converted to great piety.
28. I think it has become clear to whom the Great Basil addresses himself. In his time there was a great famine, and the rich became harsher in their stinginess while the poor were dying of hunger. Then this excellent shepherd, by his words — even if they were harsh — opened the storehouses of those to whom they were surplus and unnecessary. Had he not spoken so sternly, the poor could not have been fed, nor would the rich have become compassionate. That is how he acted.
29. We must turn all our attention toward that day of the dreadful coming — that is, the Lord’s second coming — and let it guide our actions, fearing lest we be accused by our relatives that we did not act properly, especially those of us who received instructions from them and were entrusted with property for safekeeping and management. And let no one think that in that universal gathering we will not recognize one another — that we may avoid unwanted encounters and remain unknown to each other. The truth is that we shall all recognize one another, not by outward appearance but with our inner sight, the perceptive eye of the soul.
Perhaps you ask how we know this. Hear the Lord Himself speaking in the parable of the poor Lazarus and teaching:
“The rich man lifted up his eyes and recognized the poor Lazarus resting in the bosom of the patriarch Abraham” (Luke 16:2) — that is, he recognized the poor Lazarus and the patriarch Abraham. And let no one say the story is merely symbolic and the matter unproven, for the divine parables of the Savior refer to realities that exist, are possible, and are confirmed.
30. On the same subject Saint John Chrysostom tells us:
“We shall recognize not only those known to us from this world, but also those whom we never met and never knew. You have not seen Abraham, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, nor the forefathers, nor the prophets, the apostles, and the martyrs. Yet when you see them in that assembly you will recognize them all and say: ‘Behold Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the other patriarchs. Behold Peter and Paul and all the other apostles. Behold the forefather David and the many prophets. Behold the Forerunner, the Protomartyr Stephen, and the multitude of the saints.’”
And Basil, eminent in spiritual matters, when addressing the greedy says:
“Will you not picture before your eyes the great tribunal of Christ, where all whom you wronged will stand around you crying out against you? For wherever you turn your eyes you will see the images of your evils — here the poor you beat, there orphans and widows, the servants you struck, and the neighbors you provoked,” and other such things he says there.
31. Ephraim, most knowledgeable concerning the Lord’s Second Coming, teaches us thus:
“Then even children will condemn their parents if they have not done good works. At that hour even the wicked see those known to them; and if they happen to be numbered among those on the right, then at the moment of separation they lament the assembly.”
Again the one surnamed the Theologian (Gregory the Theologian) says:
“Then I shall see Caesarius (that is, his brother) radiant, glorified, rejoicing — as you appeared to me in a dream, my most beloved brother.”
And the one illustrious in life and teaching, the foundation of the Church of God, Athanasios, writes concerning the departed who were devoted to the Lord:
“This also the Lord granted to those who will be saved: that they will all be together until the common resurrection, rejoicing and thus together awaiting the divine gifts that will be given to them. The sinners, however, do not recognize one another.
In that universal gathering, with all the deeds of all men laid bare, all persons will be recognizable until the final separation, when each goes to the place he prepared for himself — the righteous with God and with one another, but the sinners to distant places; and though they may even be near one another, they will not know each other, for part of the punishment is the deprivation of this consolation of recognition.”
32. What shame, then, will come upon them if they are not unknown to all? For then the shame is great and terrible when one both knows and is known, and is ashamed before acquaintances. Among strangers one feels no shame. Therefore it is beyond all doubt and contradiction that we shall all clearly know one another — and the exposure of all who lived in impiety and lawlessness will occur before the eyes.
33. Alas and woe to all those who are like me, and woe to those who, according to the divine Ephraim, will be placed on the Lord’s left. Blessed and happy are those whom the Lord will set on His right and who will hear the blessed voice (Matt. 25:34), which may we all be deemed worthy to hear if we preserve the Orthodox faith and enjoy all the good things whose beauty no human eye has seen, nor ear ever heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. 2:9). Amen.
May this come to pass, O Master who grants life, through the prayers and supplications of Your all-holy Mother and of all Your immaterial and venerable spirits, the angels, and of all Your saints together who throughout the ages have pleased You and been acceptable to You. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.