Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Excerpts from Jerome, Epistles 19 and 120

  

2. You ask what is the meaning of what was said and how should one read [the words] in the first epistle of the apostle Paul to the Corinthians: “We shall all indeed sleep, but we shall not all be changed.” Or, according to some copies: “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.” For both readings are found in the Greek codices. In his brief commentary on the Apostle, Theodore of Heraclea, a city that was formerly called Perinthus, said the following on this passage: “’We shall not all indeed sleep, but we shall all be changed.’ For having surmounted the necessity of death, Enoch and Elijah were transferred, as just as they were, in their bodies, from an earthly abode to the heavenly kingdom. Whence also the saints, who on the day of consummation and judgment are to be found in their bodies, will be taken into the clouds to meet Christ in the air with the other saints who are to rise again from the dead. They will not taste death, and they will always be with the Lord, having trampled upon the very burdensome necessity of death. This is why the Apostle says: ‘We shall not all indeed sleep, but we shall all be changed.’ For those who rise from the dead and are taken while still living into the clouds will pass into incorruption, and they will exchange mortality with immortality; not in time, nor even in a brief space of time, but instantly (atomo) and in point (puncto) of time at which the twinkling of an eye can occur, at the last trumpet. For the resurrection of the dead will happen with such great speed that the living, whom the time of consummation will find in their own bodies, will not be able to precede the dead who are rising from the underworld. Paul explains this very clearly when he says: ‘For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we will be changed. For it is necessary that this corruptible put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality.’ Thus, they are able to remain forever in one of the two sides, either in punishment or in the kingdom of heaven.” (Jerome, Epistle 19, in St. Jerome: Exegetical Epistles, 2 vols. [trans. Thomas P. Scheck; The Fathers of the Church 148; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2024], 2:99-101)

 

 

Now in the Gospel he himself tells us what this glory is: “Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” The glory of the Savior is the cross (patibulum) of the triumphant one. He is crucified as a man; he is glorified as God. After all, the sun takes flight; the moon is changed to blood; the earth trembles with unusual motion; the lower world is opened; the dead walk; rocks are shattered. This is the glory of which he spoke in the Psalm: “Arise, my glory; arise, lute and harp!” And glory itself answers on its own behalf, and the dispensation of the flesh he assumed says: “I will arise with the dawn.” (Jerome, Epistle 120, in St. Jerome: Exegetical Epistles, 2 vols. [trans. Thomas P. Scheck; The Fathers of the Church 148; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2024], 2:151-52)

 

Blog Archive