Discourse on the End of the World and Antichrist · Part 3

Then shall the son of perdition be brought forward, to wit, the accuser, with his demons and with his servants, by angels stern and inexorable. And they shall be given over to the fire that is never quenched, and to the worm that never sleepeth, and to the outer darkness. For the people of the Hebrews shall see Him in human form, as He appeared to them when He came by the holy Virgin in the flesh, and as they crucified Him. And He will show them the prints of the nails in His hands and feet, and His side pierced with the spear, and His head crowned with thorns, and His honourable cross. And once for all shall the people of the Hebrews see all these things, and they shall mourn and weep, as the prophet exclaims, "They shall look on Him whom they have pierced;" and there shall be none to help them or to pity them, because they repented not, neither turned aside from the wicked way. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment with the demons and the accuser.

XLI.

Then He shall gather together all nations, as the holy Gospel so strikingly declares. For what says Matthew the evangelist, or rather the Lord Himself, in the Gospel? "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Come, ye prophets, who were cast out for my name's sake. Come, ye patriarchs, who before my advent were obedient to me, and longed for my kingdom. Come, ye apostles, who were my fellows in my sufferings in my incarnation, and suffered with me in the Gospel. Come, ye martyrs, who confessed me before despots, and endured many torments and pains. Come, ye hierarchs, who did me sacred service blamelessly day and night, and made the oblation of my honourable body and blood daily.

XLII.

Come, ye saints, who disciplined yourselves in mountains and caves and dens of the earth, who honoured my name by continence and prayer and virginity. Come, ye maidens, who desired my bride-chamber, and loved no other bridegroom than me, who by your testimony and habit of life were wedded to me, the immortal and incorruptible Bridegroom. Come, ye friends of the poor and the stranger. Come, ye who kept my love, as I am love. Come, ye who possess peace, for I own that peace. Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, ye who esteemed not riches, ye who had compassion on the poor, who aided the orphans, who helped the widows, who gave drink to the thirsty, who fed the hungry, who received strangers, who clothed the naked, who visited the sick, who comforted those in prison, who helped the blind, who kept the seal of the faith inviolate, who assembled yourselves together in the churches, who listened to my Scriptures, who longed for my words, who observed my law day and night, who endured hardness with me like good soldiers, seeking to please me, your heavenly King. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Behold, my kingdom is made ready; behold, paradise is opened; behold, my immortality is shown in its beauty. Come all, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

XLIII.

Then shall the righteous answer, astonished at the mighty and wondrous fact that He, whom the hosts of angels cannot look upon openly, addresses them as friends, and shall cry out to Him, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, and fed Thee? Master, when saw we Thee thirsty, and gave Thee drink? Thou Terrible One, when saw we Thee naked, and clothed Thee? Immortal, when saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? Thou Friend of man, when saw we Thee sick or in prison, and came unto Thee? Thou art the ever-living One. Thou art without beginning, like the Father, and co-eternal with the Spirit. Thou art He who made all things out of nothing. Thou art the prince of the angels. Thou art He at whom the depths tremble. Thou art He who is covered with light as with a garment. Thou art He who made us, and fashioned us of earth. Thou art He who formed things invisible. From Thy presence the whole earth fleeth away, and how have we received hospitably Thy kingly power and lordship?

XLIV.

Then shall the King of kings make answer again, and say to them, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Inasmuch as ye have received those of whom I have already spoken to you, and clothed them, and fed them, and gave them to drink, I mean the poor who are my members, ye have done it unto me. But come ye into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; enjoy for ever and ever that which is given you by my Father in heaven, and the holy and quickening Spirit. And what mouth then will be able to tell out those blessings which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him?

XLV.

Ye have heard of the ceaseless joy, ye have heard of the immoveable kingdom, ye have heard of the feast of blessings without end. Learn now, then, also the address of anguish with which the just Judge and the benignant God shall speak to those on the left hand in unmeasured anger and wrath, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Ye have prepared these things for yourselves; take to yourselves also the enjoyment of them. Depart from me, ye cursed, into the outer darkness, and into the unquenchable fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. I made you, and ye gave yourselves to another. I am He who brought you forth from your mother's womb, and ye rejected me. I am He who fashioned you of earth by my word of command, and ye gave yourselves to another. I am He who nurtured you, and ye served another. I ordained the earth and the sea for your maintenance and the bound of your life, and ye listened not to my commandments. I made the light for you, that ye might enjoy the day, and the night also, that ye might have rest; and ye vexed me, and set me at nought with your wicked words, and opened the door to the passions. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I know you not, I recognise you not: ye made yourselves the workmen of another lord--namely, the devil. With him inherit ye the darkness, and the fire that is not quenched, and the worm that sleepeth not, and the gnashing of teeth.

XLVI.

For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and ye visited me not: I was in prison, and ye came not unto me. I made your ears that ye might hear the Scriptures; and ye prepared them for the songs of demons, and lyres, and jesting. I made your eyes that you might see the light of my commandments, and keep them; and ye called in fornication and wantonness, and opened them to all other manner of uncleanness. I prepared your mouth for the utterance of adoration, and praise, and psalms, and spiritual odes, and for the exercise of continuous reading; and ye fitted it to railing, and swearing, and blasphemies, while ye sat and spoke evil of your neighbours. I made your hands that ye might stretch them forth in prayers and supplications, and ye put them forth to robberies, and murders, and the killing of each other. I ordained your feet to walk in the preparation of the Gospel of peace, both in the churches and the houses of my saints; and ye taught them to run to adulteries, and fornications, and theatres, and dancings, and elevations.

XLVII.

At last the assembly is dissolved, the spectacle of this life ceaseth: its deceit and its semblance are passed away. Cleave to me, to whom every knee boweth, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth. For all who have been negligent, and have not shown pity in well-doing there, have nothing else due them than the unquenchable fire. For I am the friend of man, but yet also a righteous Judge to all. For I shall award the recompense according to desert; I shall give the reward to all, according to each man's labour; I shall make return to all, according to each man's conflict. I wish to have pity, but I see no oil in your vessels. I desire to have mercy, but ye have passed through life entirely without mercy. I long to have compassion, but your lamps are dark by reason of your hardness of heart. Depart from me. For judgment is without mercy to him that hath showed no mercy.

XLVIII.

Then shall they also make answer to the dread Judge, who accepteth no man's person: Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and ministered not unto Thee? Lord, dost Thou know us not? Thou didst form us, Thou didst fashion us, Thou didst make us of four elements, Thou didst give us spirit and soul. On Thee we believed; Thy seal we received, Thy baptism we obtained; we acknowledged Thee to be God, we knew Thee to be Creator; in Thee we wrought sights, through Thee we cast out demons, for Thee we mortified the flesh, for Thee we preserved virginity, for Thee we practised chastity, for Thee we became strangers on the earth; and Thou sayest, I know you not, depart from me! Then shall He make answer to them, and say, Ye acknowledged me as Lord, but ye kept not my words. Ye were marked with the seal of my cross, but ye deleted it by your hardness of heart. Ye obtained my baptism, but ye observed not my commandments. Ye subdued your body to virginity, but ye kept not mercy, but ye did not cast the hatred of your brother out of your souls. For not every one that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall be saved, but he that doeth my will. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.

XLIX.

"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life."

Ye have heard, beloved, the answer of the Lord; ye have learned the sentence of the Judge; ye have been given to understand what kind of awful scrutiny awaits us, and what day and what hour are before us. Let us therefore ponder this every day; let us meditate on this both day and night, both in the house, and by the way, and in the churches, that we may not stand forth at that dread and impartial judgment condemned, abased, and sad, but with purity of action, life, conversation, and confession; so that to us also the merciful and benignant God may say, "Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace;" and again, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Which joy may it be ours to reach, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom pertain glory, honour, and adoration, with His Father, who is without beginning, and His holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of the ages. Amen.

Hippolytus on the Twelve Apostles:

Where each of them preached, and where he met his end

1. Peter preached the Gospel in Pontus, and Galatia, and Cappadocia, and Betania, and Italy, and Asia, and was afterwards crucified by Nero in Rome with his head downward, as he had himself desired to suffer in that manner.

2. Andrew preached to the Scythians and Thracians, and was crucified, suspended on an olive tree, at Patræ, a town of Achaia; and there too he was buried.

3. John, again, in Asia, was banished by Domitian the king to the isle of Patmos, in which also he wrote his Gospel and saw the apocalyptic vision; and in Trajan's time he fell asleep at Ephesus, where his remains were sought for, but could not be found.

4. James, his brother, when preaching in Judea, was cut off with the sword by Herod the tetrarch, and was buried there.

5. Philip preached in Phrygia, and was crucified in Hierapolis with his head downward in the time of Domitian, and was buried there.

6. Bartholomew, again, preached to the Indians, to whom he also gave the Gospel according to Matthew, and was crucified with his head downward, and was buried in Allanum, a town of the great Armenia.

7. And Matthew wrote the Gospel in the Hebrew tongue, and published it at Jerusalem, and fell asleep at Hierees, a town of Parthia.

8. And Thomas preached to the Parthians, Medes, Persians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Margians, and was thrust through in the four members of his body with a pine spear at Calamene, the city of India, and was buried there.

9. And James the son of Alphæus, when preaching in Jerusalem, was stoned to death by the Jews, and was buried there beside the temple.

10. Jude, who is also called Lebbæus, preached to the people of Edessa, and to all Mesopotamia, and fell asleep at Berytus, and was buried there.

11. Simon the Zealot, the son of Clopas, who is also called Jude, became bishop of Jerusalem after James the Just, and fell asleep and was buried there at the age of 120 years.

12. And Matthias, who was one of the seventy, was numbered along with the eleven apostles, and preached in Jerusalem, and fell asleep and was buried there.

13. And Paul entered into the apostleship a year after the assumption of Christ; and beginning at Jerusalem, he advanced as far as Illyricum, and Italy, and Spain, preaching the Gospel for five-and-thirty years. And in the time of Nero he was beheaded at Rome, and was buried there.

The same Hippolytus on the Seventy Apostles.

1. James the Lord's brother, bishop of Jerusalem.

2. Cleopas, bishop of Jerusalem.

3. Matthias, who supplied the vacant place in the number of the twelve apostles.

4. Thaddeus, who conveyed the epistle to Augarus.