Descent into Hell- Church father?

[Epsilon_Omega]

I am writing a research paper of Jesus’ descent into hell. Not being a very well knowledgeble catholic, I was just wanting to know which of the Church Fathers wrote about the descent into hell with respect to the decision of it being put into the Apostles Creed. Any relevant information would help me a lot.

Thanks a bunch,
Gabe

 

[Nita]

I am writing a research paper of Jesus’ descent into hell. Not being a very well knowledgeble catholic, I was just wanting to know which of the Church Fathers wrote about the descent into hell with respect to the decision of it being put into the Apostles Creed. Any relevant information would help me a lot.

Thanks a bunch,
Gabe

I would suggest going to www.newadvent.org
Click on “Encyclopedia” and do a search on “Apostle’s Creed” (history of the creed) and another on “Descent into hell”.

Nita

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Hi Gabe, I think you may be thinking of a piece of literature called Dantes’ Inferno

google.com/search?hl=en&q=dante+inferno

Basically, based on the apostles creed, tradition and scripture. Jesus did not descend into Hell, as we think of eternal punishment. What he did do was go into the part of the grave, known as Abraham’s Bosom Luke 16, or into paradise side of the grave. You want to look up sheol, hades, etc., in CE or in CC.

631 Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens."475 The Apostles’ Creed confesses in the same article Christ’s descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:

Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.476

Paragraph 1. Christ Descended into Hell

632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection.477 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.478

633 **Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, “hell” - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God.479 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into “Abraham’s bosom”:480 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."481 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.482 **

634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead."483 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ’s redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."484 Jesus, “the Author of life”, by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage."485 Henceforth the risen Christ holds “the keys of Death and Hades”, so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."486
…

636 By the expression “He descended into hell”, the Apostles’ Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil “who has the power of death” (Heb 2:14).

637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.

---

475 Eph 4:9-10.
476 Roman Missal, Easter Vigil 18, Exsultet.
477 Acts 3:15; Rom 8:11; I Cor 15:20; cf. Heb 13:20.
478 Cf. I Pt 3:18-19.
479 Cf. Phil 2:10; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Eph 4:9; Pss 6:6; 88:11-13.
480 Cf. Ps 89:49; I Sam 28:19; Ezek 32:17-32; Lk 16:22-26.
481 Roman Catechism 1, 6, 3.
482 Cf. Council of Rome (745): DS 587; Benedict XII, Cum dudum (1341): DS 1011; Clement VI, Super quibusdam (1351): DS 1077; Council of Toledo IV (625): DS 485; Mt 27:52-53.
483 I Pt 4:6.
484 Jn 5:25; cf. Mt 12:40; Rom 10:7; Eph 4:9.
485 Heb 2:14-15; cf. Acts 3:15.
486 Rev 1:18; Phil 2:10.
487 Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday: PG 43, 440A, 452C; LH, Holy Saturday, OR.

vatican.va/archive/catechism/p122a5p1.htm

 

[mschrank]

Why does the Latin say “descendit ad inferne” (or something like that) which I always thought meant “Hell” like “infernal torment”?

 

[zagjames]

Why does the Latin say “descendit ad inferne” (or something like that) which I always thought meant “Hell” like “infernal torment”?

In the old covenant all souls died and went to Sheol to await the messiah who would raise up those who were faithful to God, and those who would remain would be left in the Lake of Fire which became Hell as we understand it. (at least that is the way I understand it) Sheol was somewhat like the greek concept of Hades in that it was not a place of good or evil, rather a place for listless souls awaiting judgement.

I could be wrong, but that’s the way I understand it.

 

[Epsilon_Omega]

Thanks you all for the information. I know the basics, but I have to write a research paper from a Theologian stand point instead of a catechetical stand point. (Basically, discussing it not as in I am teaching someone something new, but more like in I am finding a new aspect of this part of the creed that I didn’t understand.) It’s going to be a fun paper. Daniel Marsh, thanks for the idea to use the vatican site. I was planning to use Dante as a source but more of an extra thing that takes up space () I tried reading Dante’s Divine Comedy and got most of the way into the Inferno, but stopped because I was reading it to read it and not for fun. Thanks, Nita, for posting the newadvent site. I am going to start researching Augustine now, and that basically lead to the answer of my church father’s question Thanks!

Now all I have to do is start my other research paper (due in 9 days- 1st draft). Yea its in psychology (my topic: how you can’t prove Extrasensory Perception exists due to flaws in the experiments done to prove it existing). Yea, a walk in the park. Pray for me

Thanks,
Gabriel

 

[anthony022071]

theworkofgod.org/Library/Apologtc/R_Haddad/Ibelieve/Contents.htm

Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chap. 27, Para. 2:

The Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, announcing there the good news of His coming and of the remission of sins conferred upon those who believe in Him.

St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5, 31, 2 (C. 180 AD):

“For since the Lord went away into the midst of the shadow of death where the souls of the dead were, and afterwards arose in the body, and after the resurrection was taken up, it is clear that the souls also of His disciples, on account of which the Lord underwent these things, will go away into the place allotted them by God.”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 4, 11 (C. 350 AD):

“(Christ) descended into the subterranean regions so that He might ransom from there the just…David was there, and Samuel, and all the Prophets; and John, the same who, through his messengers, said: ‘Are You the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ Would you not want Him to go down to free such men as these?”

St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism 1 (Post 383 AD):

“God (the Son) did not impede death from separating His soul from His body according to the necessary order of nature, but has reunited them to one another in the resurrection, so that He Himself might be, in His person, the meeting point for death and life, by arresting in Himself the decomposition of nature produced by death and so becoming the source of reunion for the separated parts.”

 

[anthony022071]

Gregory the Great,Book VII, Letter 15
To George, Presbyter.

Gregory to George, Presbyter, and to Theodore, deacon, of the Church of Constantinople.

Mindful of your goodness and charity, I greatly blame myself, that I gave you leave to return so soon: but, since I saw you pressing me importunately once and again for leave to go, I considered that it might be a serious matter for your Love to tarry with us longer. But, after I had learned that you had lingered so long on your journey owing to the winter season, I confess that I was sorry that you had been sent away so soon. For, if your Love was unable to accomplish your intended journey, it had been better that you had lingered with me than away from me.

Moreover, after your departure I learned from information given me by my most beloved sons the deacons that your Love had said that our Almighty Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when He descended into hell, saved all who there acknowledged Him as God, and delivered them from the pains due to them. With regard to this subject I desire that your Charity should think very differently. For, when He descended into hell, He delivered through His grace those only who both believed that He should come and observed His precepts in their lives. For it is evident that after the incarnation of the Lord no one can be saved, even of those who hold His faith, who have not the life of faith; since it is written, They acknowledge that they know God, but in deeds they deny Him . And John says, He that says that he knows Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar . James also, the brother of the Lord, writes saying, Faith without works is dead . If, then, believers now are not saved without good works, while the unbelieving and reprobate without good action were saved by our Lord descending into hell, then the lot of those who never saw the incarnation of the Lord was better than that of these who have been born after the mystery of His incarnation. But what fatuity it argues to say or think this the Lord Himself testifies to His disciples, when He says, Many kings and prophets have desired to see the things which you see, and have not seen them . But, that I may not detain your Love with argument of my own, learn what Philaster, in the book which he wrote about heresies, says about this heresy. His words are these; “They are heretics who say that the Lord descended into hell, and announced himself after death to all who were already there, so that in acknowledging Him there they might be saved; seeing that this is contrary to the prophet David where he says, But in hell who shall acknowledge you ? And to the Apostle; As many as have sinned without law shall perish without law .” And with his words the blessed Augustine also agrees in the book which he wrote about heresies.

Considering, therefore, all these things, hold nothing but what the true faith teaches through the Catholic Church: namely, that the Lord in descending into hell rescued from infernal durance those only whom while living in the flesh He preserved through His grace in faith and good conduct. For in that which He says in the Gospel, When I shall be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself , He means all that are elect. For one could not be drawn to God after death who had separated himself from God by evil living. May Almighty God keep you under His protection, that, wherever you are, you may feel in soul and body the aid of His grace.

 

[anthony022071]

crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/380/He_Descended_Into_Hell__Holy_Saturday.html

This Holy Saturday reading on the descent of the Lord Jesus into Hell is used in the Roman Church’s Office of Readings for Holy Saturday, with the accompanying biblical reading of Hebrews 4:1-13. The “harrowing of hell” and the rescue of Adam and Eve was a popular theme in early and medieval Christian poetry and song. Note the parallels here between Adam and Eve’s sin, which lost paradise for us, and the passion of Christ, which won for us not simply an earthly paradise, but eternal life. While it appears that this comes from a homily written in Greek dating back to the fourth century (PG 43, 439, 462f), the author of this text is unknown.

< Something strange is happening - there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all”. Christ answered him: “And with your spirit”. He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light”.

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity. >

 

[anthony022071]

ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/TP/TP052.html

 

[RobNY]

Thanks you all for the information. I know the basics, but I have to write a research paper from a Theologian stand point instead of a catechetical stand point. (Basically, discussing it not as in I am teaching someone something new, but more like in I am finding a new aspect of this part of the creed that I didn’t understand.) It’s going to be a fun paper. Daniel Marsh, thanks for the idea to use the vatican site. I was planning to use Dante as a source but more of an extra thing that takes up space () I tried reading Dante’s Divine Comedy and got most of the way into the Inferno, but stopped because I was reading it to read it and not for fun. Thanks, Nita, for posting the newadvent site. I am going to start researching Augustine now, and that basically lead to the answer of my church father’s question Thanks!

Now all I have to do is start my other research paper (due in 9 days- 1st draft). Yea its in psychology (my topic: how you can’t prove Extrasensory Perception exists due to flaws in the experiments done to prove it existing). Yea, a walk in the park. Pray for me

Thanks,
Gabriel

The references to the Fathers are the chief thing to investigate here. However, if you’re also looking for a contemporary theologian on the issue, then I highly recommend picking up Joseph Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity and reading the part of his book which examines this part of the creed. It’s a very interesting treatment of the issue. It manages to be a fresh theological look without being quite so problematic as other modern looks at it (e.g, Hans Urs von Balthasar’s view).

-Rob

 

[Epsilon_Omega]

The references to the Fathers are the chief thing to investigate here. However, if you’re also looking for a contemporary theologian on the issue, then I highly recommend picking up Joseph Ratzinger’s Introduction to Christianity and reading the part of his book which examines this part of the creed. It’s a very interesting treatment of the issue. It manages to be a fresh theological look without being quite so problematic as other modern looks at it (e.g, Hans Urs von Balthasar’s view).

-Rob

Actually, that is the main book we are reading that in the course, but since it is our “textbook” we can’t use it to count as one of the required sources. (meaning we can use it as an extra-source, just not one of our main ones.) It is a great book, but its hard to read (Due to me being used to easier things to read and not theologians.)

Thanks,
Gabe

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Shades of Sheol: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament (Paperback) by Philip S. Johnston

 

[RobNY]

Actually, that is the main book we are reading that in the course, but since it is our “textbook” we can’t use it to count as one of the required sources. (meaning we can use it as an extra-source, just not one of our main ones.) It is a great book, but its hard to read (Due to me being used to easier things to read and not theologians.)

Thanks,
Gabe

Yeah, and well, even though it’s an, “introduction” I’ll be it’s more an introduction for a graduate level than an undergrad level. Oh yeah. He’s also German. Don’t get me wrong, I love my German Shepherd, but Germans can be really thick when it comes to theology.

But definitely apply yourself to reading it. Working hard at difficult texts forms good mental habits and makes subsequent study easier.

-Rob

 

[Epsilon_Omega]

Yeah, and well, even though it’s an, “introduction” I’ll be it’s more an introduction for a graduate level than an undergrad level. Oh yeah. He’s also German. Don’t get me wrong, I love my German Shepherd, but Germans can be really thick when it comes to theology.

But definitely apply yourself to reading it. Working hard at difficult texts forms good mental habits and makes subsequent study easier.

-Rob

We are using it in a 100 level Foundations of Catholicism class. Its just really hard having a very theological professor who can take 7 pages of notes for one lecture. We are lucky though, since this is a theology course, my professor tends to leave out most of the philosophical things in it.

 

[Catholic_Dude]

Be careful because the early Protestants interpreted that part of the Apostles’ Creed to mean Jesus was punished by the father and suffered what I see as an “equivalent” to hellfire.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=2063202#post2063202