Stokes, Revue Celtique 25 (1904) — Irish text, unedited

² Let everyone take heed that the Judgement will come. It is then that there will be a resurrection of all men at the proclamation of the Son of God. On that day — the day of Judgement — heaven and earth and all the elements that are in them shall be changed. They shall be loosed and shall melt for the heat of the fire of Judgement, yet they shall all be set in a form far fairer and more seemly than the form in which they were, after they have been crushed and cleansed by the fire of Judgement.

³ Then the fire of the day of Judgement shall come in power and might like to the fire by which the three youths were tested at Nabuchodonosor’s furnace. That fire burned not the holy youths; but it burned the impious ministers who were around the fiery furnace. Even so shall the fervent fire of Judgement burn all the sinners and all the impious. Yet it shall not hurt the bodies of the righteous, for that fire shall be like a pleasant dew to the saints; but it shall burn the sinners.

⁴ On that day the Son of God shall come from heaven — Jesus Christ — and he shall appear in the air in great brightness and splendour like the sun, and that brightness shall fill the whole world from the rising of the sun to its setting.

⁵ Then all the dead that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. Whether it be a bodily voice that Jesus speaks here to be heard by the dead — the voice of the archangel Michael coming to proclaim the resurrection in general to the human race, saying to them thrice: “Arise all from death” — or whether it be a spiritual voice that Jesus speaks here to be heard by the dead — a spiritual command and a power

⁶ of the Lord which no element can resist. Through that command all men shall arise from death — everyone whom the earth has swallowed, whom beasts have eaten, whom water has drowned, whom fire has burned, and those who have been dissolved into the elements from which they were made. All these shall arise from death in the space of one hour, and each of them shall take his own soul into the unity of his own body, and they shall remain thereafter in life for ever.

⁷ Then the Lord shall send his high messengers — the holy angels — throughout the whole world, and they shall gather all the righteous from the four quarters of the earth and bear them with them to meet Christ in the air. And the demons shall gather with them all the sinners and all the impious. All these shall then be on high in the presence of the Lord at the judgement — angels and demons and men, both sinners and righteous.

⁸ Now it is asked from what appointed place each man’s resurrection shall be. From their graves indeed, after the example of the Lord’s body, which arose from its own sepulchre. Now as for those who have been devoured by beasts and scattered into various places, it is the Lord’s will that they arise — he shall gather them and renew them from whatever place he wills. Yet it is more likely that they arise in the place where they were devoured and scattered, for that is reckoned as their grave.

⁹ It is asked also whether there shall be a resurrection for aborted and still-born children. The answer is that there shall indeed be a resurrection to life for all who have died after having life. Now if the aborted ones have died after life — even in their mothers’ wombs — it is certain that there shall be a resurrection for them and that they shall enter life after that death. And if there is no doubt about the resurrection of the aborted, much less is there doubt about the resurrection of infants and of the still-born.

¹⁰ Now it is asked, when all men arise from death, in what age or in what form their resurrection shall be. And the apostle treats this question, saying: All men shall arise from death, says the apostle, after the likeness of the age and form of Christ. Now Christ was thirty-three years of age, and it is in the likeness of that age that he arose from death. In the age of Christ, says the apostle, all men shall rise — and not in the same measure, that is, not in the same size of his body, for it is not fitting that all the bodies of the resurrection should be equal in size. For Christ shall remain for ever without increase or decrease in the form and size in which he appeared to his apostles after the resurrection; and therefore though all men arise in one age — that is, at thirty years — they shall have various and unequal sizes in their bodies according to the nature and the lands and times in which they were born.

¹¹ Now whatever is lacking to the completeness of their bodies in the aborted and in little infants and in other imperfect persons who have not reached their proper size, and whatever limbs they lack in their bodies — the Lord shall make all these whole at the resurrection, so that they lack nothing of their own proper form and nature. For they shall not remain in themselves according to natural and hidden growth until they have reached material or bodily size.

¹² Now the excess that is in the nature of very fat bodies, and likewise in all persons who reach inordinate size, shall be taken away from them at the resurrection, and they shall remain thereafter in fitting and moderate size of their own substance and nature. And those who are born with two bodies in one joining,

¹³ they shall be separated at the resurrection, and each of them shall have his own proper body — as Job testifies in the conclusion of his book, when he says that all men shall arise in their own bodies.

¹⁴ Now the church holds the opinion that the bodies of the holy martyrs shall come at the resurrection with the marks of the wounds they suffered on Christ’s account, without loss or disfigurement of their form or beauty — to make manifest their victory and their triumph, and to make manifest the great reward they have earned from the Lord for their martyrdom. After the example of the Lord’s body, which came at the resurrection with the marks of the wounds he suffered from the Jews, to make manifest his humble obedience to the heavenly Father, and also to increase the punishment and torment of the Jews who had inflicted those wounds upon him.

¹⁵ Now it is asked concerning the excess of hairs and nails — what order shall be upon them at the resurrection. Augustine the holy man raises this question, and his opinion is that the excess of hairs and nails shall not be gathered into themselves at the resurrection, but into the general substance of the body. For it is not on account of the hairs — that is, their excess — but only their number that Jesus counts in the Gospel, when he says to his apostles: “The hairs of your head,” says Jesus to his apostles, “are all numbered” and known for certain with the Lord, and they shall all remain with you at the resurrection.

¹⁶ Or again, if it is into themselves only that the excess of hairs and nails is gathered — as it is reasonable for some to think, since it is natural for the excess of every limb to gather and return into itself, so that in that same limb is found whatever pain or reward it has earned through that limb’s common feeling and common activity — it is to be believed that the Lord shall condense and compact them at the resurrection through the skill of the divine wisdom, even as bodies of corruptible men

¹⁷ are refined and made spiritual by the same art of human wisdom — being separated and divided from every dross — after the example and likeness of the gold that is made pure and compact through skill, in fineness and lightness of its own body, after the casting out of all dross and every impurity from it.

¹⁸ Or again, it is held that the Lord shall form the bodies of the resurrection from the matter that pleases him, whatever the quantity or littleness of that matter that remains of the human body in a man after death — as he now forms great bodies from tiny seeds, and as he formed at the first beginning of the elements huge bodies from the immaterial and incorporeal principle into which the elements had hidden themselves when those bodies were dissolved. For it is easy for God to form without matter, or from little matter, every substance or nature that he wills; and therefore the author says that Jesus did not mention the excess of the hairs and nails or of the other limbs, and it is easy for God to renew in completeness their own form and nature without gathering that excess again into the body. Yet it is hard that no limb of the body or no part of it should escape the pain and suffering it has earned through common feeling of misdeeds, or the reward it has earned through common feeling of good deeds.

¹⁹ So that this is what is believed: that the completeness of the whole human body shall be renewed at the resurrection, so that the soul finds itself in unity in whatever state it has earned, whether pain or reward for its good or evil deeds.

²⁰ Yet for the opinion and the avoidance of rash assertion — that is, of asserting as certain what is not to be asserted, but which should rather be held in doubt — it is right that this aforementioned opinion should stand in uncertainty. For though some of the mysteries of the resurrection are certain and manifest — for the resurrection itself is to be expected according to the teaching of the apostle and of the other scriptures — yet there are mysteries among them that are uncertain and obscure. And so it is more prudent and wiser to hold them in expectation and opinion than to assert them rashly.

²¹ Now all men shall arise there in various form and aspect — the men in manly aspect and the women in womanly aspect. For where the apostle says that all men shall arise into a perfect man, he gives there the name “man” to humanity in general, both men and women. For their defects and weaknesses shall be taken away from the bodies of the people, yet their own form and aspect shall be preserved in them.

²² And the bodies of the resurrection shall not have lust or desire or any other passion, and therefore there is no shame for them though they be naked — that is, without covering either of clothing.

²³ Now in dense and compact bodies shall the resurrection of men be, and not in thin and very subtle bodies like air or wind — as was the opinion of the heretic Eutace, who thought that the bodies of the resurrection would be thinner and lighter than air or wind. But Saint Gregory overcame that opinion and refuted it.

²⁴ Now since it is in dense and compact bodies that men arise, why does the apostle call them spiritual? It may be that he says it for their fitness and likeness to one another in themselves after the mutual correspondence of each limb to another, and for their beauty and comeliness, for brightness and splendour. For the saints shall shine there like the sun in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁵ Or it is for this that the apostle calls them spiritual — for their fitness and unity there with the spirit of the soul, even as the

²⁶ spirit of the soul is now one with them. For there shall be great unity then between the body and the soul, and they shall have the same counsel. For there shall be no contradiction or contention there from either of them toward the other — from the body to the soul or from the soul to the body.

²⁷ Or again, they are called spiritual because they shall remain there for ever in the spiritual habitations among the angels of God in heaven.

²⁸ Or again, the apostle calls them spiritual in this manner: because they shall be removed there from the misery and corruption and wretchedness into glory and splendour, into brightness and beauty, into the incorruptible and undying life in which they shall remain for ever. And yet the same beauty shall not belong to the bodies of all the saints there, for the rewards are not equal either. But as the brightness of the sun and moon is various, and the brightness of one star differs from another, so shall the reward of the righteous be various after the resurrection, and therefore they shall enter various habitations in heaven for their various deserts.

²⁹ Yet there shall be no envy of any of them toward another, for each of them shall be content with his own portion and rank, after the example of the one body that has various limbs, and some limbs that are higher than others; and yet there is no envy of any of these toward another. And again another reason — for none of them shall be less content with his own reward, for it is God alone who is the common share of every good there for all the saints and righteous.

³⁰ Now though the rewards of the righteous are various, yet they all come to one common reward — the joy and the perfect delight they have in God; and again, he who is in the lower reward would prefer to be in that same reward himself rather than to see another in the higher reward.

³¹ Moreover, everyone shall know one another there after the resurrection, yet there shall be no one who remembers another there

³² after the dissolution of kinship or acquaintance, but all shall be united to the true judgement that the Lord shall render to each as he deserves.

³³ And everyone shall there bring to another all that is in his mind, without making it known by words or by other signs; and they shall know by spiritual insight the things that are far from them and distant from them — after the example of the holy prophet Elisha, who knew through the spirit of prophecy what his disciple Gehazi did in his absence, and he far from him, when he received a gift from Naaman the Syrian for his healing from the leprosy. For what thing is hidden from the assembly that shall bring the Lord — and what is there that is not hidden?

³⁴ Now the righteous shall do no other work there save what the prophet David promised when he said: “It shall come to pass to the assembly that dwell in your house, O Lord, that they shall praise you and glorify you for ever through everlasting ages.” Not by words indeed or by outward bodily voices shall the saints give that praise to God, but by spiritual insight and inward contemplation of their duty and their understanding.

³⁵ Now all the impious shall rise in ugliness and imperfection of body, with disfigurement and defect in every limb upon them. Yet those bodies shall be such — heavy and dull, ill-formed and exceedingly wretched in their companionship. And there shall not shine in the souls of the impious the light of understanding or the brightness of knowledge or learning, but they shall be in sorrow and grief with the dark mist of their ignorance and folly within them — all black outwardly in body.

³⁶ Woe then, says the wise man, to the assembly that is at that resurrection, for that is no less a name for that resurrection — the casting of their

³⁷ death into death — than the resurrection of the righteous is called the casting of their death into life, to remain in life.

³⁸ Now the death of the soul is its cutting off and separation through sins and vices from the ordained life — that is, from God. For as the soul is the life of the body, so God is the life of the soul; and as the death of the body is its parting from the soul, so the death of the soul is its parting from God on account of its sins and vices. Now there is a resurrection for the soul when it is brought through virtues and good deeds to the Lord; and this is not possible in any other way save through the voice of the Son of God — that is, through the fulfilling of the Lord’s teaching.

³⁹ Now it is to be known that there are two resurrections — a first resurrection and a second resurrection. The first resurrection is the rising of the soul from sins to virtues through the doing of penance; and that resurrection belongs only to the righteous. Now the second resurrection is the resurrection that shall be on the day of judgement for all men from death; and though that death is one and the same according to common nature, yet various forms and appearances come upon it through the many separations and events through which each finds it.

⁴⁰ Now the general resurrection that shall be on the day of judgement is not the same as the resurrection to which the ancients give the name “praestigia” — that is, a feigned resurrection, like that of the pythoness. Nor is it the same as the resurrection called “revolutio” — the return of the soul into various bodies after the manner of the transmigrations. Nor the resurrection called “metaformatio” — transformation, after the manner of werewolves. Nor the resurrection called “subductio” — concealment, as the folk of the early period were. Nor the resurrection called “suscitatio” — the awakening of the dead through a miracle, after the example of Lazarus.

⁴¹ And this is what shall be: all men shall arise there

⁴² in the general resurrection, in the age of thirty, in their own form and aspect, with the completeness of their bodies and of all their senses, with the completeness also of their hairs and nails and every other limb; and each shall take, through the power and might of the Lord, his own soul into the unity of his own body, and they shall remain for ever in everlasting life without age, without decay. For that indeed is the true resurrection which is called in the scripture the second resurrection, corresponding to the first resurrection — the resurrection that is through penance.

⁴³ Now whoever believes not fully and completely in the resurrection of the human race in this manner shall stray there from the everlasting salvation that is promised to the saints and the righteous for their faith.

⁴⁴ 36[gt] But O man, says the wise man, if it is hard for you to believe this miracle of the resurrection, look at other works of the Lord, and wondrous though they seem, they are no less miraculous. See the breadth of heaven and its vastness, the greatness of the earth, the abyss of the sea that surrounds this earth on every side, and all the elements that are in them. See also the angels of heaven. See those elements and the other elements, that they were made from nothing through the power and might of the Lord. For it is a much lesser miracle that a body should be made now from matter through the word of God than that all the elements were made then at first from nothing through that same word. For it is the same voice of God that is spoken here now, through which there shall be a resurrection of all the dead, and the word through which all the elements were made then at first from nothing.

⁴⁵ “O man then,” says the wise man, “make certain for yourself this miracle of the resurrection: the great trees, the bodies of men and of the other creatures that are born and brought forth from tiny seeds; the setting of the stars after their setting; the renewal also of the grass and the herbs and everything else that grows and quickens.”

⁴⁶ Now the hour shall come in which there shall be a resurrection of all the dead at the proclamation of the Son of God, and then the company shall arise that have done good into the resurrection of life. Now the company that have done evil, into the resurrection of vengeance and judgement. Then the divine judge shall appear in the form in which he was judged by human judges. Then he shall judge righteously upon men in the form in which he was judged unrighteously by men. Then shall appear the righteous judge of the human race — the Lord Jesus Christ — in the form in which it is easy for everyone to look upon him, both righteous and sinners — in the form of his humanity.

⁴⁷ Then he shall distribute rewards to the righteous and pains to the impious. For the company that have not shared now in the first resurrection — the resurrection of the soul — shall all arise there in the general resurrection, and yet they shall not find peace or unity or delight or gladness with the Lord, but shall be sent from him into the horrible prison of hell, and shall suffer there various pains and torments for their various evil deeds. And however great and terrible the care anyone bestows upon that pain, it is nothing in comparison and sight of the pain itself as it is.

⁴⁸ Now the company that arise now through Christ into the first resurrection — the resurrection that is through penance — they shall arise there through Christ into the resurrection of everlasting life, and he shall take them with him into the everlasting kingdom in the presence of the heavenly Father for ever and ever. Then the righteous shall receive a great reward for their virtues and their good deeds — the Lord himself, from whom they received those virtues and good deeds. For it is the Lord who is the completeness of every desire and every delight there for the church. He it is whom the church shall see for ever without end, without limit; he shall be loved without weariness, praised without fatigue. For this in truth is the everlasting life promised to the saints and the righteous after the resurrection — the presence of the most holy and high Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit.