Dies this, below, written by a priest, mean that they weren’t translated but their SOULS were? And if so, doesn’t say that Enoch didn’t die?
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But many ask whither Enoch was translated, and why he was translated, and why he did not die, neither he nor Elijah, and, if they are still alive, how they live, and in what form. But to ask these things is superfluous. For that the one was translated, and that the other was taken up, the Scriptures have said; but where they are, and how they are, they have not added: For they say nothing more than is necessary. For this indeed took place, I mean his translation, immediately at the beginning, the human soul [thereby] receiving a hope of the destruction of death, and of the overthrow of the devil’s tyranny, and that death will be done away; for he was translated, not dead, but “that he should not see death.”
From what is written in the OT is appears that most souls went to Sheol, the abode of the dead, about which little is told us except that one in Sheol is cut off from the living and may be in some sort of surreal or dreamlike state. But I would not want to teach anything definitively in this regard, given the dearth of OT evidence. It may be that Elijah, Enoch and certain others of the OT, such as martyrs, were given some anticipated share in the vision of God even prior to the crucifixion, given by grace in anticipation of the saving event. So they would still be saved by Christ but in anticipation, as was grace applied to the Blessed Mother in anticipation to preserve her from original sin. In one sense, the gates of heaven were closed apart from the saving act of our Lord and it appears the bulk of those saved awaited Him in Sheol; but I do not think we can rule out some OT exceptions given an early preview which may have been partial, and only full with the actual saving event on the cross. And as to their bodies, again, most OT figures no doubt corrupted in body after death. But with regards to Elijah and Enoch, I am not inclined to think they enjoyed the full privilege our Blessed Mother enjoys even now (the Catechism describes this as a singular privilege granted Mary) but God knows what grace did in their cases. And we should remember that the grace of Christ was operative long before the crucifixion itself, as is evident in the some of the righteous figures and deeds of the saints of the OT period.
Finally, we should note the text of Jn 3:13 which reads: “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.” This would tend to confirm the fact tha Elijah and Enoch, while having some special experience, did not ascend into the fullness of heaven.
So I could be wrong.
