On Care to Be Had for the Dead.

 1. Long time, my venerable fellow-bishop Paulinus, have I been thy Holiness’s debtor for an answer even since thou wrotest to me by them of the house

 2. But this being the case, how to this opinion that should not be contrary which the Apostle says, “For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat o

 3. Possibly thy inquiry is satisfied by this my brief reply. But what other considerations move me, to which I think meet to answer, do thou for a sho

 4. “But” (say I) “in such a slaughter-heap of dead bodies, could they not even be buried? not this, either, doth pious faith too greatly dread, holdin

 5. Yet it follows not that the bodies of the departed are to be despised and flung aside, and above all of just and faithful men, which bodies as orga

 6. If this be true, doubtless also the providing for the interment of bodies a place at the Memorials of Saints, is a mark of a good human affection t

 7. When therefore the faithful mother of a faithful son departed desired to have his body deposited in the basilica of a Martyr, forasmuch as she beli

 8. We read in the Ecclesiastical History which Eusebius wrote in Greek, and Ruffinus turned into the Latin tongue, of Martyr’s bodies in Gaul exposed

 9. And yet, by reason of that affection of the human heart, whereby “no man ever hateth his own flesh,” if men have reason to know that after their de

 10. This affection the Martyrs of Christ contending for the truth did overcome: and it is no marvel that they despised that whereof they should, when

 11. In regard to that woful compassion which I have mentioned, are those praised, and by king David blessed, who to the dry bones of Saul and Jonathan

 12. Stories are told of certain appearances or visions, which may seem to bring into this discussion a question which should not be slighted. It is sa

 13. Such, however, is human infirmity, that when in a dream a person shall see a dead man, he thinks it is the soul that he sees: but when he shall in

 14. Like dreams, moreover, are also some visions of persons awake, who have had their senses troubled, such as phrenetic persons, or those who are mad

 15. Similar to this is also that condition when persons, with their senses more profoundedly in abeyance than is the case in sleep, are occupied with

 16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things an

 17. Some man may say: “If there be not in the dead any care for the living, how is it that the rich man, who was tormented in hell, asked father Abrah

 18. So then we must confess that the dead indeed do not know what is doing here, but while it is in doing here: afterwards, however, they hear it from

 19. Hence too is solved that question, how is it that the Martyrs, by the very benefits which are given to them that pray, indicate that they take an

 20. Howbeit it is a question which surpasses the strength of my understanding, after what manner the Martyrs aid them who by them, it is certain, are

 21. Such, we may believe, was that John the Monk, whom the elder Theodosius, the Emperor, consulted concerning the issue of the civil war: seeing he h

 22. Which things being so, let us not think that to the dead for whom we have a care, any thing reaches save what by sacrifices either of the altar, o

 23. Here, to the things thou hast thought meet to inquire of me, thou hast such reply as I have been able to render: which if it be more than enough p

2. But this being the case, how to this opinion that should not be contrary which the Apostle says, “For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each may receive according to the things he hath done by the body,3    Per corpus whether good or bad;”4    2 Cor. v. 10 this, thou signifiest, thou dost not well see. For this apostolic sentence doth before death admonish to be done, that which may profit after death; not then, first, when there is to be now a receiving of that which a person shall have done before death. True, but this question is thus solved, namely, that there is a certain kind of life by which is acquired, while one lives in this body, that it should be possible for these things to be of some help to the departed; and, consequently, it is “according to the things done by the body,” that they are aided by the things which shall, after they have left the body, be religiously done on their behalf. For there are whom these things aid nothing at all, namely, when they are done either for persons whose merits are so evil, that neither by such things are they worthy to be aided; or for persons whose merits are so good, that of such things they have no need as aids. Of the kind of life, therefore, which each hath led by the body, doth it come, that these things profit or profit not, whatever are piously done on his behalf when he has left the body. For touching merit whereby these things profit, if none have been gotten in this life, it is in vain sought after this life. So it comes to pass as well that not unmeaningly5    Inaniter doth the Church, or care of friends, bestow upon the departed whatever of religion it shall be able; as also that, nevertheless, each receiveth “according to the things which he hath done by the body, whether it be good or bad,” the Lord rendering unto each according to his works. For, that this which is bestowed should be capable of profiting him after the body, this was acquired in that life which he hath led in the body.

0593 2. Sed cum haec ita sint, quomodo huic opinioni contrarium non sit, quod dicit Apostolus, Omnes enim astabimus ante tribunal Christi, ut feratunusquisque secundum ea quae per corpus gessit, sive bonum, sive malum (II Cor. V, 10), non te satis videre significas. Haec quippe apostolica sententia ante mortem admonet fieri quod possit prodesse post mortem; non tunc, quando jam recipiendum est quod quisque gesserit ante mortem. Verum haec ita solvitur quaestio, quoniam quodam vitae genere acquiritur, dum in hoc corpore vivitur, ut aliquid adjuvent ista defunctos; ac per hoc secundum ea quae per corpus gesserunt, eis quae post corpus religiose pro illis facta fuerint, adjuvantur. Sunt enim quos nihil omnino adjuvant ista; sive pro eis fiant, quorum tam mala sunt merita, ut neque talibus digni sint adjuvari; sive pro eis, quorum tam bona, ut talibus non indigeant adjumentis. Genere igitur vitae, quod gessit quisque per corpus, efficitur ut prosint vel non prosint, quaecumque pro illo pie fiunt, cum reliquerit corpus. Nam meritum per quod ista prosint, si nullum comparatum est in hac vita, frustra quaeritur post hanc vitam. Ita fit ut neque inaniter Ecclesia vel suorum cura pro defunctis, quod potuerit religionis impendat; et tamen ferat unusquisque secundum ea quae per corpus gessit, sive bonum sive malum, reddente Domino unicuique secundum opera ejus. Ut enim hoc quod impenditur, possit ei prodesse post corpus, in ea vita acquisitum est, quam gessit in corpore.