{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-848","native_reference":{"book_number":670,"chapter_from":3,"chapter_to":3,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":19,"verse_to":19},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ammonius of Alexandria</b>: The academician Caesarius asked me whether the chains of all the souls in hell were cut off when Christ went down there or not. I said that they were. How can that be, he said. Was Judas also set free? Yes, I said. For when the king of all is present, it is not possible for the tyrant and his servant, I mean death, to retain their captives any longer. So what did the Lord do? He died. He preached the way which leads to eternal salvation on earth, and to all who were in hell, so that they might believe in the Father and in him, who became man and died for us and who went down into hell by the power of the Holy Spirit. And those who believed he brought back with him, but those who did not believe, he cast back again into their previous state.… Did he also preach to Judas and give him a chance to repent? I said that I did not think so, for it is superfluous to preach to someone who already knows the truth. Not only had Judas been instructed in the mystery and accepted it, but he had even preached it to others and been considered worthy to receive divine grace, so that he could drive out demons and heal the sick. Later on he fell away by his own choice. Do not tell me that he did evil unwillingly, for no Christian does that. Even Judas never blamed others for his betrayal but recognized that it was his own fault.<br/><i>— CATENA</i></p><p><b>Bede</b>: In which he also preached to those who were confined in the flesh, etc. He who, coming in the flesh in our times, proclaimed the way of life to the world, also came in spirit before the flood to those who were then unbelieving and living carnally, and preached to them. For he was in Noah and the other saints of that time through the Holy Spirit, and through their good conduct preached to the wicked people of that age, so that they might turn to better ways. For he calls those confined in the flesh, those heavily burdened by carnal desires. Hence, Scripture says of them: \"For all flesh had corrupted its way\" (Gen. VI). And what he says, \"in which,\" refers to what he had stated previously, that he might present us to God. For even then if anyone had wished to believe in the preaching of the Lord, which he manifested through the life of the faithful, he rejoiced to present even them to God the Father. However, those who disparaged the good as if they were evildoers were confounded by the coming flood. His saying, \"in which,\" can be understood in both ways: in those confined in the flesh, he coming in spirit preached, so that through the same preaching, it might result in a crown of praise for the believers and confusion for those who persisted in unbelief. Some manuscripts read: \"In which also he who was in prison, preached coming in spirit.\" This refers to the same intent of wicked and unbelieving people, who, since they had their minds darkened by darkness, are rightfully said to be confined in prison even in this life. In this prison, indeed, they are burdened by inner darkness, that is, blindness of mind and unjust works, until, being released from the flesh, they are cast into the outer darkness and the prison of eternal damnation. Of which the Lord says in the Gospel: \"And the judge will hand you over to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison\" (Matt. V). Although even the saints, in this life, when they long for the joy of the heavenly homeland, rightly proclaim themselves to be in prison, as the Psalmist says: \"Bring my soul out of prison, to give thanks to your name\" (Psalm CXLII). There is a great difference between the two prisons, for the reprobates are in the prison of sins and ignorance, but the righteous, although placed in the prison of tribulations, with hearts always expanded in the light of righteousness towards God, rejoice. This was exemplified by the apostles Paul and Silas, who, at midnight, in the terror of the deepest prison, bound and beaten, sang a hymn of praise to God with a most joyful voice. Some have interpreted this passage to mean that the consolation of which the Lord speaks to the apostles: \"Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it\" (Matt. XIII); and of which the Psalmist says: \"My eyes fail, longing for your word, saying, 'When will you comfort me?'\" (Psalm CXIX), that the saints resting in the underworld desired this, and that when the Lord descended to the underworld, this consolation or exhortation was preached even to those who had been in prison and unbelieving in the days of Noah. And that is what he said, but the Catholic faith holds that the Lord, descending to the underworld, only led out his faithful ones, bringing them to the heavenly kingdoms with him, not liberating those souls imprisoned due to their crimes, but daily demonstrating the life of life either through himself or through the examples or words of his faithful in this life. About whom it is well said:<br/><i>— Commentary on the Catholic Epistles</i></p><p><b>Book of Enoch</b>: And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven and saw much blood being shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth. And they said one to another: 'The earth made without inhabitant cries the voice of their cryingst up to the gates of heaven. And now to you, the holy ones of heaven, the souls of men make their suit, saying, \"Bring our cause before the Most High.\"' And they said to the Lord of the ages: 'Lord of lords, God of gods, King of kings, and God of the ages, the throne of Thy glory (standeth) unto all the generations of the ages, and Thy name holy and glorious and blessed unto all the ages! Thou hast made all things, and power over all things hast Thou: and all things are naked and open in Thy sight, and Thou seest all things, and nothing can hide itself from Thee. Thou seest what Azazel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were (preserved) in heaven, which men were striving to learn: And Semjaza, to whom Thou hast given authority to bear rule over his associates. And they have gone to the daughters of men upon the earth, and have slept with the women, and have defiled themselves, and revealed to them all kinds of sins. And the women have borne giants, and the whole earth has thereby been filled with blood and unrighteousness. And now, behold, the souls of those who have died are crying and making their suit to the gates of heaven, and their lamentations have ascended: and cannot cease because of the lawless deeds which are wrought on the earth. And Thou knowest all things before they come to pass, and Thou seest these things and Thou dost suffer them, and Thou dost not say to us what we are to do to them in regard to these.'</p><p>Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: 'Go to Noah and tell him in my name \"Hide thyself!\" and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.' And again the Lord said to Raphael: 'Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may, not see light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. And heal the earth which the angels have corrupted, and proclaim the healing of the earth, that they may heal the plague, and that all the children of men may not perish through all the secret things that the Watchers have disclosed and have taught their sons. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.' And to Gabriel said the Lord: 'Proceed against the bastards and the reprobates, and against the children of fornication: and destroy [the children of fornication and] the children of the Watchers from amongst men [and cause them to go forth]: send them one against the other that they may destroy each other in battle: for length of days shall they not have. And no request that they (i.e. their fathers) make of thee shall be granted unto their fathers on their behalf; for they hope to live an eternal life, and that each one of them will live five hundred years.' And the Lord said unto Michael: 'Go, bind Semjaza and his associates who have united themselves with women so as to have defiled themselves with them in all their uncleanness. And when their sons have slain one another, and they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them fast for seventy generations in the valleys of the earth, till the day of their judgement and of their consummation, till the judgement that is for ever and ever is consummated. In those days they shall be led off to the abyss of fire: and to the torment and the prison in which they shall be confined for ever. And whosoever shall be condemned and destroyed will from thenceforth be bound together with them to the end of all generations. And destroy all the spirits of the reprobate and the children of the Watchers, because they have wronged mankind. Destroy all wrong from the face of the earth and let every evil work come to an end: and let the plant of righteousness and truth appear: and it shall prove a blessing; the works of righteousness and truth' shall be planted in truth and joy for evermore.</p><p>And then shall all the righteous escape,<br/>And shall live till they beget thousands of children<br/>And all the days of their youth and their old age<br/>Shall they complete in peace.</p><p>And then shall the whole earth be tilled in righteousness, and shall all be planted with trees and be full of blessing. And all desirable trees shall be planted on it, and they shall plant vines on it: and the vine which they plant thereon shall yield wine in abundance, and as for all the seed which is sown thereon each measure (of it) shall bear a thousand, and each measure of olives shall yield ten presses of oil. And cleanse thou the earth from all oppression, and from all unrighteousness, and from all sin, and from all godlessness: and all the uncleanness that is wrought upon the earth destroy from off the earth. And all the children of men shall become righteous, and all nations shall offer adoration and shall praise Me, and all shall worship Me. And the earth shall be cleansed from all defilement, and from all sin, and from all punishment, and from all torment, and I will never again send (them) upon it from generation to generation and for ever.</p><p>And in those days I will open the store chambers of blessing which are in the heaven, so as to send them down upon the earth over the work and labour of the children of men. And truth and peace shall be associated together throughout all the days of the world and throughout all the generations of men.'<br/><i>— 1 Enoch, Chapters 9-11</i></p><p><b>Cyril of Alexandria</b>: Here Peter answers the question which some objectors have raised, namely, if the incarnation was so beneficial, why was Christ not incarnated for such a long time, given that he went to the spirits which were in prison and preached to them also? In order to deliver all those who would believe, Christ taught those who were alive on earth at the time of his incarnation, and these others acknowledged him when he appeared to them in the lower regions, and thus they too benefited from his coming. Going in his soul, he preached to those who were in hell, appearing to them as one soul to other souls. When the gatekeepers of hell saw him, they fled; the bronze gates were broken open, and the iron chains were undone. And the only-begotten Son shouted with authority to the suffering souls, according to the word of the new covenant, saying to those in chains: \"Come out!\" and to those in darkness: \"Be enlightened.\" In other words, he preached to those who were in hell also, so that he might save all those who would believe in him. For both those who were alive on earth during the time of his incarnation and those who were in hell had a chance to acknowledge him. The greater part of the new covenant is beyond nature and tradition, so that while Christ was able to preach to all those who were alive at the time of his appearing and those who believed in him were blessed, so too he was able to liberate those in hell who believed and acknowledged him, by his descent there. However, the souls of those who practiced idolatry and outrageous ungodliness, as well as those who were blinded by fleshly lusts, did not have the power to see him, and they were not delivered.<br/><i>— CATENA</i></p><p><b>Hippolytus of Rome</b>: He showed all power given by the Father to the Son [Matthew 28:18], who is ordained Lord of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and Judge of all [Philippians 2:10]: of things in heaven, because He was born, the Word of God, before all (ages); and of things on earth, because He became man in the midst of men, to re-create our Adam through Himself; and of things under the earth, because He was also reckoned among the dead, preaching the Gospel to the souls of the saints [1 Peter 3:19], (and) by death overcoming death.<br/><i>— On Christ and Antichrist, Section 26</i></p><p><b>Hippolytus of Rome</b>: He [John the Baptist] also first preached to those in Hades, becoming a forerunner there when he was put to death by Herod, that there too he might intimate that the Saviour would descend to ransom the souls of the saints from the hand of death.<br/><i>— On Christ and Antichrist, Section 45</i></p><p><b>Irenaeus</b>: It was for this reason, too, that the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent there also, and [declaring] the remission of sins received by those who believe in Him. Now all those believed in Him who had hope towards Him, that is, those who proclaimed His advent, and submitted to His dispensations, the righteous men, the prophets, and the patriarchs, to whom He remitted sins in the same way as He did to us, which sins we should not lay to their charge, if we would not despise the grace of God. For as these men did not impute unto us (the Gentiles) our transgressions, which we wrought before Christ was manifested among us, so also it is not right that we should lay blame upon those who sinned before Christ's coming. For \"all men come short of the glory of God,\" and are not justified of themselves, but by the advent of the Lord,-they who earnestly direct their eyes towards His light.<br/><i>— Against Heresies Book IV</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: \"In which also.\" Here, ἐν ᾧ is taken causally for \"therefore.\" For when Peter had said that he died for us, the unjust, and from this had shown that he endured death for the salvation of all men, he now says that for this reason also he preached to those who were held in Hades.<br/><i>— Commentary on 1 Peter</i></p><p><b>Origen of Alexandria</b>: If the passage about John the Baptist not being worthy to untie Jesus' shoes possesses a hidden meaning, we ought not to pass over it. I think that the incarnation, when the Son of God takes on flesh and bones, is one of the shoes, and the descent into hell is the other. It is said in Psalm 16: \"You will not leave my soul in hell.\" And Peter, in his general epistle, mentions Jesus' descent into hell. Therefore the one who can show the meaning of both sojourns in a worthy manner is able to unloose Jesus' shoes.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON John 6.174-76</i></p><p><b>Prudentius</b>: That the dead might know salvation,<br/>who in limbo long had dwelt,<br/>Into hell with love he entered;<br/>to him yield the broken gates<br/>As the bolts and massive hinges<br/>fall asunder at his word.<br/>Now the door of ready entrance,<br/>but forbidding all return<br/>Outward swings as bars are loosened<br/>and sends forth the prisoned souls<br/>By reversal of the mandate,<br/>treading its threshold once more.<br/><i>— HYMNS 9.70-75</i></p><p><b>Severus of Antioch</b>: Forgiveness was not granted to everyone in hell, but only to those who believed and acknowledged Christ. Those who cleansed themselves from evil by doing good works while they were alive recognized him, for until he appeared in the lower regions everyone, including those who had been educated in righteousness, was bound by the chains of death and was awaiting his arrival there, for the way to paradise was closed to them because of Adam's sin. Nevertheless, not everyone who was in the lower regions responded to Christ when he went there, but only those who believed in him.<br/><i>— CATENA</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: By ourselves the lower regions (of Hades) are not supposed to be a bare cavity, nor some subterranean sewer of the world, but a vast deep space in the interior of the earth, and a concealed recess in its very bowels; inasmuch as we read that Christ in His death spent three days in the heart of the earth, [Matthew 12:40] that is, in the secret inner recess which is hidden in the earth, and enclosed by the earth, and superimposed on the abysmal depths which lie still lower down. Now although Christ is God, yet, being also man, \"He died according to the Scriptures,\" [1 Corinthians 15:3] and \"according to the same Scriptures was buried.\" With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself. [1 Peter 3:19]<br/><i>— A Treatise on the Soul, Chapter 55</i></p><p><b>Tertullian</b>: With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself. (This being the case), you must suppose Hades to be a subterranean region, and keep at arm's length those who are too proud to believe that the souls of the faithful deserve a place in the lower regions.<br/><i>— A Treatise on the Soul</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"b42ba478d9ef3bee4ea65245257d985b5fca6bc6943d16d4aff9e6f628de6549","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":848,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"abf5de1043e6f98ad094625d5ca4bf652b55c5525bf0ce78e2293172bb1d9b2c","translator":null,"work":null}