Augustine of Hippo : Nor is there any real contradiction between John's "all who are in the tombs" and Daniel's "many" in place of "all." As an illustration of this, notice how, in one place, God said to Abraham, "I have made you the father of many nations" and in another, "In your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." — City of God 20.23 Basil of Caesarea : To all who reason rightly, the heaviest of punishments is shame. We also have learned this in the case of the judgment, when "some" shall rise "to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and contempt." — LETTER 260:4, TO OPTIMUS THE BISHOP Hippolytus of Rome : And so of the things which will be in this way he adds saying, "And many of they who sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to eternal life and some to reproach and eternal shame and they who understand shall shine as the splendor of the firmament and the many righteous as the stars in the age to come." [Daniel 12:2-3] And so who are they who sleep in the dust of the earth, but the bodies of men who receive their own souls to be raised, who are of the resurrection of life, who are pure and radiant and shine as splendor of the firmament, who receive these things. But they who have the resurrection of judgment, sufficient in themselves for eternal punishment, receive these things, just as Paul says, "But he himself shall be saved as through fire." [1 Corinthians 3:15] And Isaiah says, "Rise sleeper, and wake from the dead and Christ shall shine on you." [Isaiah 26:19, Ephesians 5:14] And the Lord again, "Truly I say to you, an hour comes and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and those who practice good shall rise to the resurrection of life, but those who practice evil to the resurrection of judgment." [John 5:25,29] These, he says, shall be resurrected to life, they who really have believed in life and who are written in the Book of Life. And they to eternal reproach and shame, who partnered with the Antichrist, and with him are cast into eternal punishment. Concerning whom Isaiah prophesies saying, "In which manner a garment which has been defiled in blood will not be pure, thus you will not be pure, because you have desolated my earth and have killed my people. The evil seed shall never remain forever. Prepare your children for the slaughter for the sins of your fathers, that they may not raise up and inherit my land." [Isaiah 14:19-21] — Commentary on Daniel 4.55.1-7 Ishodad of Merv : "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake," that is, many of those who lie among afflictions and are prostrated by their misfortunes, that is, the Maccabees—"some to everlasting life," that is, their patience and justice will make them rejoice in the life in the two worlds, and, in addition, it will make them illustrious through a precious memory in all the centuries after those, in which they lived—"and some to destruction and the opprobrium of their fellow citizens," that is, the impious and scandalous priests will be given to punishment because of their crimes, and they will leave an evil and accursed name to their fellow citizens forever. — COMMENTARY ON Daniel 12:2 John Damascene : "Many shall awake" means the resurrection of their bodies, for I do not suppose that anyone would speak of souls sleeping in the dust of the earth.… The Lord, too, has clearly shown in the holy Gospels that there is a resurrection of the body, for "they that are in the graves," he says, "shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things shall come forth to the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment." Now, no person in his right mind would ever say that it was the souls that were in the graves. — ORTHODOX FAITH 4:27 John Damascene : The dead shall rise again, and they that are in the graves shall awake. They that have kept the commandments of Christ and have departed this life in the true faith shall inherit eternal life; and they that have died in their sins and have turned aside from the right faith shall go away into eternal punishment. Do not believe that there is any true being or kingdom of evil or suppose that it is without beginning, or self-originated or born of God—forget such an absurdity! But believe rather that it is the work of us and the devil, come on us through our inattentiveness, because we were endowed with free will, and we made our choice, of deliberate purpose, whether it be good or evil. — BARLAAM AND JOSEPH 19:164-65 Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius : This sentiment set forth by Cicero … "if the soul will be in a state of vigor without the body, it is a divine life; and if it is without perception, assuredly that is not bad," is clever … but false. For the sacred writings teach that the soul is not annihilated but that it is either rewarded according to its righteousness or eternally punished according to its crimes. — DIVINE INSTITUTES 3:19 Methodius of Olympus : It is the flesh that dies; the soul is immortal. So then, if the soul is immortal and the body is a corpse, those who say that there is a resurrection, but not of the flesh, deny any resurrection; because it is not that which remains standing but that which has fallen and been laid down that is to be set up, according to what was written: "Does not he who falls rise again, and he who turns aside return?" Since flesh was made to border on incorruption and corruption, being itself neither the one nor the other, and was overcome by corruption … and delivered over to death through disobedience, God did not leave it to corruption, to be triumphed over … but, after conquering death by the resurrection, he delivered it again to incorruption … "For this corruptible must put on incorruption." — ON THE RESURRECTION 1:12-13 Methodius of Olympus : Man [humanity], though he was not made mortal and corruptible, dies, and his soul is separated from his body, in order that his transgression might be destroyed by death, being unable to live after he was dead. Thus, with sin dead and destroyed, he can rise again in immortality and sing a hymn of praise to God who saves his children from death by means of death. — SYMPOSIUM, OR BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS 9:2 Theodoret of Cyrus : Let those who try to apply these things to Antiochus tell us who was resurrected in his day—with some obtaining eternal life and others reaping the fruit of reproach and eternal shame. And if someone should say that the Maccabees are referred to by these words, inasmuch as they went out from the caves, he would incur rather much laughter, for the same people will have to be found to be both lovers of godliness and workers of iniquity, for the prophecy says, "Many of those sleeping in the tombs of the earth will rise, some to everlasting life and others to reproach and everlasting shame." Therefore, if someone should apply these words to the Maccabees, they will say that the Maccabees themselves were both evil and good or that some of them were good and others evil. But this is impossible to find, for their whole company was godly. Moreover, "eternal life" does not fit them as far as the present life is concerned, since they all were killed and departed from this life. Then let us leave behind those old wives' tales and learn about the common resurrection of the dead and the judgment that will take place after the resurrection. Some will receive eternal life, and others will be scorned and reproached forever. — COMMENTARY ON Daniel 12:2