6. After the thousand-year Kingdom, during which the resurrection of the saints will be completed as they rise from the dead at different times according to the merits of each, and after the destruction of the world and the judgment of fire [Et mundi destructione et iudicii conflagratione commissa, demutati in atomo in angelicam substantiam <> transferemur in caeleste regnum. Compare: Et istas ego receperim causas, <> et illam quae in conflagratione nostris placet hoc quoque transferendam puto (Sen. Nat. Quaest, III, 29,2)], we shall change in the twinkling of an eye [compare 1 Cor 15:52: ev atomo] to an angelic state, being clothed with incorruptibility <as described by the Apostle> [compare 1 Cor 15:5253]. And we shall be taken up to the Kingdom of Heaven which is now being re-evaluated <in such a way> as if it had not been foretold by the Creator and as if it would, consequently, prove that Christ had belonged to another god, who, allegedly, was the first and only one to have revealed it.
7. Know now that this <Kingdom> was foretold by the Creator and must be considered as <staying> with the Creator. What do you think: when the seed of Abraham, after receiving the first promise that they would become as countless as the sand on the seashore, received also their calling of becoming like unto the stars [compare Gen 22:17], isnt this a sign of both earthly and heavenly blessings? When Isaac, blessing his son Jacob, says: Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth [compare Gen 27:28] are these not examples of both of these mercies?
8. One should finally consider the structure of the blessing itself. Indeed, with respect to Jacob who is a symbol of a later and a better people, that is, of our people, the first promise is the promise of the heavenly dew and the second one of the earthly abundance. For we are first invited to enjoy the heavenly blessings after we have rejected the world, and thus we subsequently prove that we have been predestined to inherit also the earth. And your Gospel [i.e. the Gospel of Luke distorted by the Marcionites] also testifies: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and this will be added to you as well [see Lk 12:31].
9. However, he first gives to Esau [Croymanns conjecture. In the manuscript: he first promises] the blessing of the earth and then adds to it the heavenly things by saying: Thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above [see Gen 27:39]. In Esau, the Jews, who are firstborn by nature yet inferior to others in love, having been satiated through the Law with earthly blessings, are redirected towards heavenly blessings through the Gospel by faith. But when Jacob sees in a dream a staircase spanning the earth and heaven, and angels ascending and descending, and the Lord standing on it [compare Gen 28:1213], will it be reckless to interpret it as pointing to the right way to heaven [Tertullian refutes Marcion who claimed that, according to Jewish beliefs, the dead remain in hell] through which some ascend, others descend, [Croymann assumes a lacuna here: and since the Lord is standing above, both are done by the Lords decree] as determined by the Lords decree?
10. Why did he, after waking up [compare Gen 28:16] and getting terrified at this place, immediately start interpreting his dream? Having said: How dreadful is this place! he adds: This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven [compare Gen 28:17]. For he beheld Christ the Lord who is the Temple of God [see Jn 2:1921] and the gate [see Jn 10:7], <the Lord> through whom we go to heaven. And, of course, he would not have mentioned the gates of heaven if the Creator had made it impossible to go to heaven. But the gates are open, and there is a <road> [Croymanns insert] leading <there>, already paved by Christ, of whom Amos <says>: He who prepares His ascension into heaven [see Am 9:6]. Naturally, He prepared it not just for Himself but also for His own who will remain with Him.
11. For he says: You shall be clothed in them like in a brides adornment [see Is 49:18]. Thus the Spirit marvels at those who strive to enter the Kingdom of Heaven because of that ascension, saying: They fly like unto kites [Neither the Septuagint nor the Vulgate mention kites. The Septuagint: Who are these that fly (petantai) like unto clouds and like unto pigeons with their young (sun neossois)? Compare Job 5:7: "<>, but the kite chicks (neossoi) fly (petontai) to high places. The original: as the sparks fly upward], like clouds and like young doves fly to Me [see Is 60:8], that is, simply like doves. After all, according to the Apostle, we will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord [see 1 Thess 4:17], that is, the Son of Man [compare Dan 7:13] who treads on the clouds and about whom Daniel testifies. So we will always be with the Lord [compare 2 Col 5:8] as long as <He is present> on earth and in heaven, summoning as witnesses even the elements for the sake of the ungrateful in both Covenants [Lit.: promises]: Listen, o heaven, and give ear, o earth [see Is 1:2].
12. And even if Scripture did not reach out to me this hand of heavenly hope time and time again, I would still have waited for this promise <from heaven> for I already have the earthly grace. I would have expected something from heaven, from God who is the Lord of both heaven and earth. So, I would have believed that Christ who had promised to give us the heavenly things belonged to Him who had also promised us earthly blessings who had made the lesser the proof of the greater, and who had left the proclamation of this unprecedented Kingdom, if you will, to Christ alone, so that the earthly glory would be proclaimed through servants, and the heavenly glory through the Lord Himself [Croymanns conjecture. In the manuscript: from God].
13. But you argue that Christ is different based on the fact that He is proclaiming a new Kingdom. First, give me an example of the grace of <your god> so that I would have no reason to doubt the reliability of such a great promise in which I have put my trust. For I have been taught to be cautious. First of all, of course, you should prove that the one who, allegedly, promises to us heavenly things actually possesses some sort of heaven. For now you are inviting us to dinner but do not show us the house; you are speaking of a Kingdom but you do not show the royal palace. How does [Croymanns conjecture. In the manuscript: Does your Christ promise a heavenly kingdom without possessing any heaven because (literally: how) he represented mankind without putting on flesh?] your Christ promise a heavenly Kingdom without possessing any heaven? How did He represent mankind without putting on our flesh? Oh, there is a ghost in everything! Oh, what a [Croymanns conjecture. In the manuscript: the great (promise)] deceit with regard to the promise!
St. Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170 235)
Fragment from Heads against Gaius
(The text is quoted by Dionysius Barsalibi Commentary on the Apocalypse [Ms. Rich. 7185, f. 9v-10r]):
And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up and sealed the bottomless pit upon him, in order that he should not deceive the nations till the thousand years should be fulfilled: after that, he must be loosed a little season (Rev 20:23).
On this Gaius the heretic objected: that Satan is bound here, according to that which is written, that Christ went up into the strong mans house and bound him, and spoiled his goods for us (Mt 12:29).
Hippolytus answered this and said: If the Devil has been bound, how does he deceive the faithful and persecute and plunder men? And if you say that he has been bound as regards the faithful, how did he draw near against Christ, Him who aid no sin? according to the text, The Prince cometh and findeth no sin in me (Jn 14:30). And if then he has been bound, how did the Lord teach us to pray, that we should be delivered front the evil one (Mt 6:13)? And why did he desire to tempt Simon and the Apostles (Lk 22:31)? And how was one who had been bound able to sift and trouble the disciples?
And truly for us the conflict is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph 6:12). If he had been bound, he would not maintain the conflict, or catch away the word which was sown (Mt 13:19), as is said in the Parable of the Seed. That He has bound the strong man; the meaning of it is this: that He has rebuked and cast scorn on those who did not come unto Him when He went against the Devil in order to purify them from his bondage and make them sons unto the Father.
And this is proved by what He said just after, that he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad (Mt 12:30). Accordingly, in the end of times, the Devil is to be bound and to be flung into the bottomless pit (Rev 20:13), when the Lord comes; even as Esaias hath said, that the wicked shall be taken away in order that he see not the glory of the Lord (Is 26:10 [LXX, Syr. Hex.]).
And the number of the years is not the number of days, but it represents the space of one day (2 Pet 3:8), glorious and perfect; in which, when the King comes in glory with His slain, the creation is to shine: according to the text, The sun shall shine sevenfold (Is 30:26); while the righteous eat with Him and drink of His vine. This is the day which the Lord hath made (Ps 118:24 [Ps 117:24 rus]), which David spoke of.
Accordingly, when with the eye of the spirit John saw the glory of that day, he likened it to the space of a thousand years; according to the saying, One day in the world of the righteous is as a thousand years (2 Pet 3:8). And by the number he shows that day to be perfect, for those that are faithful.
But as for what he has said, that after the thousand years he [Satan] shall be loosed, and shall deceive the nations (Rev 20:78), it is this: that justly he is to be loosed, and to be cast into the burning, and to be judged (Rev 20:10); with those who from old time were gathered together with him, when he gathered the strangers of the kingdom, and Gog and Magog (Rev 20:8).
(Translated from the syriac: John Gwynn, Hippolytus and his Heads against Caius [Gaius]).
Excerpt from On Christ and the Antichrist:
(65) Daniel also speaks about the resurrection and the Kingdom of the saints: And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Dan 12:2). Isaiah says: Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise for thy dew is as the dew of herbs (Is 26:19 LXX). The Lord says: The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live (Jn 5:25). The prophet says: Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light (Eph 5:14). John says: Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power. This is the second death the lake of fire (Rev 20:6,14). Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun shines in its glory (Mt 13:43). He will say, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Mt 25:34). And what will He say to the wicked? Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt 25:41) by My Father. John also says: For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie (Rev 22:15). Their part in the lake which burneth with fire (Rev 21:8). Similarly, Isaiah says: And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh (Is 66:24).
(66) Paul writes to the Thessalonians about the resurrection of the righteous: But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess 4:1317).
Excerpt from the Commentary on the book of Daniel:
Book 4.
(16) But someone will ask: when will it be? (Mt 24:3) When and at what time will this man of sin be revealed, and what is the day of the Lords coming? So the disciples wanted to learn the exact time from the Lord but He hid it from them in order to encourage them and all of us to look ahead into the future and expect the Bridegroom of heaven every day so that they would not slack off, become careless, and, having fallen asleep, lose their eternal life on account of the Lords delay (Mt 25:5). Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come (Mt 24:42; compare Mt 25:13; Mk 13:35). Thats why He says: Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 24:4651). Therefore be ye also ready (Mt 24:44; Mk 13:37). This is what the Lord Himself states in the Gospels while admonishing his disciples. In the same way, after the resurrection, the disciples asked Jesus again: Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? He answered: It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Act 1:68).
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(22) Why do you wish to know the time and day of the Lords coming if the Savior Himself has hidden it from us? Tell me, do you know the day of your death? Why then are you curious about the end of the whole world? If the Lord in His abundant mercy had not been patient, everything would have perished long ago. See what John also says in the Apocalypse: I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for (the name of Jesus) [preaching the word of God], and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, (O Lord, our God), holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled (Rev 6:911). So, even if martyrs who shed their blood for the sake of Christ are commanded to be patient, then why dont you persevere so that [in this way] others might be saved and so that the number of the saints who are called might increase?