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| From Evodius
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Letter CLVIII.
(a.d. 414.)
To My Lord Augustin, My Brother
Partner in the Sacerdotal Office, Most Sincerely Loved, with
Profound Respect, and to the Brethren Who are with Him,
Evodius2654
| 2654 Evodius, Bishop of Uzala, was one of Augustin’s
early friends. He was a native of the same town (Tagaste), and
joined Augustin and Alypius in seeking religious retirement after
their baptism, in 387 A.D. He was also with
them at Ostia when Monica died. (Confessions, Book ix. ch. 8 and
12). | and the
Brethren Who are with Him Send Greeting in the Lord.
1. I urgently beg you to send the reply due to
my last letter. Indeed, I would have preferred first to learn what
I then asked, and afterwards to put the questions which I now
submit to you. Give me your attention while I relate an event in
which you will kindly take an interest, and which has made me
impatient to lose no time in acquiring, if possible in this life,
the knowledge which I desired. I had a certain youth as a clerk, a
son of presbyter Armenus of Melonita, whom, by my humble
instrumentality, God rescued when he was becoming already immersed
in secular affairs, for he was employed as a shorthand writer by
the proconsul’s solicitor.2655
| 2655 Nam scholastico proconsulis excipiebat. | He was then, indeed, as boys
usually are, prompt and somewhat restless, but as he grew older
(for his death occurred in his twenty-second year) a gravity of
deportment and circumspect probity of life so adorned him that it
is a pleasure to dwell upon his memory. He was, moreover, a clever
stenographer,2656
and
indefatigable in writing: he had begun also to be earnest in
reading, so that he even urged me to do more than my indolence
would have chosen, in order to spend hours of the night in reading,
for he read aloud to me for a time every night after all was still;
and in reading, he would not pass over any sentence unless he
understood it, and would go over it a third or even a fourth time,
and not leave it until what he wished to know was made clear. I had
begun to regard him not as a mere boy and clerk, but as a
comparatively intimate and pleasant friend, for his conversation
gave me much delight.
2. He desired also to “depart and to be with
Christ,”2657
a desire
which has been fulfilled. For he was ill for sixteen days in his
father’s house, and by strength of memory he continually repeated
portions of Scripture throughout almost the whole time of his
illness. But when he was very near to the end of his life, he
sang2658
so as to
be heard by all, “My soul longeth for and hastens unto the courts
of the Lord,”2659
after
which he sang again, “Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and
beautiful is Thy cup, overpowering my senses with delight!”2660
| 2660 Ps. xxiii. 5, 6, LXX. | In these
things he was wholly occupied; in the consolation yielded by them
he found satisfaction. At the last, when dissolution was just
coming upon him, he began to make the sign of the cross on his
forehead, and in finishing this his hand was moving down to his
mouth, which also he wished to mark with the same sign, but the
inward man (which had been truly renewed day by day)2661
had, ere
this was done, forsaken the tabernacle of clay. To myself there has
been given so great an ecstasy of joy, that I think that after
leaving his own body he has entered into my spirit, and is there
imparting to me a certain fulness of light from his presence, for I
am conscious of a joy beyond all measure through his deliverance
and safety—indeed it is ineffable. For I felt no small anxiety on
his account, being afraid of the dangers
peculiar to his years. For I was at pains to inquire of himself
whether perchance he had been defiled by intercourse with woman; he
solemnly assured us that he was free from this stain, by which
declaration our joy was still more increased. So he died. We
honored his memory by suitable obsequies, such as were due to one
so excellent, for we continued during three days to praise the Lord
with hymns at his grave, and on the third day we offered the
sacraments of redemption.2662
| 2662 Redemptionis sacramenta obtulimus. |
3. Behold, however, two days thereafter, a certain
respectable widow from Figentes, an handmaid from God, who said
that she had been twelve years in widowhood, saw the following
vision in a dream. She saw a certain deacon, who had died four
years ago, preparing a palace, with the assistance of servants and
handmaids of God (virgins and widows). It was being so much adorned
that the place was refulgent with splendor, and appeared to be
wholly made of silver. On her inquiring eagerly for whom this
palace was being prepared, the deacon aforesaid answered, “For
the young man, the son of the presbyter, who was cut off
yesterday.” There appeared in the same palace an old man robed in
white, who gave orders to two others, also dressed in white, to go,
and having raised the body from the grave, to carry it up with them
to heaven. And she added, that so soon as the body had been taken
up from the grave and carried to heaven, there sprang from the same
sepulchre branches of the rose, called from its folded blossoms the
virgin rose.
4. I have narrated the event: listen now, if
you please, to my question, and teach me what I ask, for the
departure of that young man’s soul forces such questions from me.
While we are in the body, we have an inward faculty of perception
which is alert in proportion to the activity of our attention, and
is more wakeful and eager the more earnestly attentive we become:
and it seems to us probable that even in its highest activity it is
retarded by the encumbrance of the body, for who can fully describe
all that the mind suffers through the body! In the midst of the
perturbation and annoyance which come from the suggestions,
temptations, necessities, and varied afflictions of which the body
is the cause, the mind does not surrender its strength, it resists
and conquers. Sometimes it is defeated; nevertheless, mindful of
what is its own nature, it becomes, under the stimulating influence
of such labours, more active and more wary, and breaks through the
meshes of wickedness, and so makes its way to better things. Your
Holiness will kindly understand what I mean to say. Therefore,
while we are in this life, we are hindered by such deficiencies,
and are nevertheless, as it is written, “more than conquerors
through Him that loved us.”2663
When we go forth from this body,
and escape from every burden, and from sin, with its incessant
activity, what are we?
5. In the first place, I ask whether there may not
be some kind of body (formed, perchance, of one of the four
elements, either air or ether) which does not depart from the
incorporeal principle, that is, the substance properly called the
soul, when it forsakes this earthly body. For as the soul is in its
nature incorporeal, if it be absolutely disembodied by death there
is now one soul of all that have left this world. And in that case
where would the rich man, who was clothed in purple, and Lazarus,
who was full of sores, now be? How, moreover, could they be
distinguished according to their respective deserts, so that the
one should have suffering and the other have joy, if there were
only a single soul made by the combination of all disembodied
souls, unless, of course, these things are to be understood in a
figurative sense? Be that as it may, there is no question that
souls which are held in definite places (as that rich man was in
the flame, and that poor man was in Abraham’s bosom) are held in
bodies. If there are distinct places, there are bodies, and in
these bodies the souls reside; and even although the punishments
and rewards are experienced in the conscience, the soul which
experiences them is nevertheless in a body. Whatever is the nature
of that one soul made up of many souls, it must be possible for it
in its unbroken unity to be both grieved and made glad at the same
moment, if it is to approve itself to be really a substance
consisting of many souls gathered into one. If, however, this soul
is called one only in the same way as the incorporeal mind is
called one, although it has in it memory, and will, and intellect,
and if it be alleged that all these are separate incorporeal causes
or powers and have their several distinctive offices and work
without one impeding another in any way, I think this might be in
some measure answered by saying that it must be also possible for
some of the souls to be under punishment and some of the sours to
enjoy rewards simultaneously in this one substance consisting of
many souls gathered into One.
6. Or if this be not so [that is, if there be no
such body remaining still in union with the incorporeal principle
after it quits this earthly body], what is there to hinder each
soul from having, when separated from the solid body which it here
inhabits, another body, so that the soul always animates a body of
some kind? or in what body does it pass to any region, if such there
be, to which necessity compels it to go? For the angels themselves,
if they were not numbered by bodies of some kind which they have,
could not be called many, as they are by the Truth Himself when He
said in the gospel, “I could pray the Father, and He will
presently give me twelve legions of angels.”2664
Again it is certain that Samuel
was seen in the body when he was raised at the request of Saul;2665
and as to
Moses, whose body was buried, it is plain from the gospel narrative
that he came in the body to the Lord on the mountain to which He
and His disciples had retired.2666
In the Apocrypha, and in the
Mysteries of Moses, a writing which is wholly devoid of
authority, it is indeed said that, at the time when he ascended the
mount to die, through the power which his body possessed, there was
one body which was committed to the earth, and another which was
joined to the angel who accompanied him; but I do not feel myself
called upon to give to a sentence in apocryphal writings a
preference over the definite statements quoted above. We must
therefore give attention to this, and search out, by the help
either of the authority of revelation or of the light of reason,
the matter about which we are inquiring. But it is alleged that the
future resurrection of the body is a proof that the soul was after
death absolutely without a body. This is not, however, an
unanswerable objection, for the angels, who are like our souls
invisible, have at times desired to appear in bodily forms and be
seen, and (whatever might be the form of body worthy to be assumed
by these spirits) they have appeared, for example, to Abraham2667
and to
Tobias.2668
Therefore
it is quite possible that the resurrection of the body may, as we
assuredly believe, take place, and yet that the soul may be
reunited to it without its being found to have been at any moment
wholly devoid of some kind of body. Now the body which the soul
here occupies consists of the four elements, of which one, namely
heat, seems to depart from this body at the same moment as the
soul. For there remains after death that which is made of earth,
moisture also is not wanting to the body, nor is the element of
cold matter gone; heat alone has fled, which perhaps the soul takes
along with it if it migrates from place to place. This is all that
I say meanwhile concerning the body.
7. It seems to me also, that if the soul while
occupying the living body is capable, as I have said, of strenuous
mental application, how much more unencumbered, active, vigorous,
earnest, resolute, and persevering will it be, how much enlarged in
capacity and improved in character, if it has while in this body
learned to relish virtue! For after laying aside this body, or
rather, after having this cloud swept away, the soul will have come
to be free from all disturbing influences, enjoying tranquillity
and exempt from temptation, seeing whatever it has longed for, and
embracing what it has loved. Then, also, it will be capable of
remembering and recognising friends, both those who went before it
from this world, and those whom it left here below. Perhaps this
may be true. I know not, but I desire to learn. But it would
greatly distress me to think that the soul after death passes into
a state of torpor, being as it were buried, just as it is during
sleep while it is in the body, living only in hope, but having
nothing and knowing nothing, especially if in its sleep it be not
even stirred by any dreams. This notion causes me very great
horror, and seems to indicate that the life of the soul is
extinguished at death.
8. This also I would ask: Supposing that the soul be
discovered to have such a body as we speak of, does that body lack
any of the senses? Of course, if there cannot be imposed upon it
any necessity for smelling, tasting, or touching, as I suppose will
be the case, these senses will be wanting; but I hesitate as to the
senses of sight and hearing. For are not devils said to hear (not,
indeed, in all the persons whom they harass, for in regard to these
there is a question), even when they appear in bodies of their own?
And as to the faculty of sight, how can they pass from one place to
another if they have a body but are void of the power of seeing, so
as to guide its motions? Do you think that this is not the case
with human souls when they go forth from the body,—that they have
still a body of some kind, and are not deprived of some at least of
the senses proper to this body? Else how can we explain the fact
that very many dead persons have been observed by day, or by
persons awake and walking abroad during the night, to pass into
houses just as they were wont to do in their lifetime? This I have
heard not once, but often; and I have also heard it said that in
places in which dead bodies are interred, and especially in
churches, there are commotions and prayers which are heard for the
most part at a certain time of the night. This I remember hearing
from more than one: for a certain holy presbyter was an eye-witness
of such an apparition, having observed a multitude of such phantoms
issuing from the baptistery in bodies full of light, after which he
heard their prayers in the midst of the church itself. All such
things are either true, and therefore helpful to the inquiry which
we are now making, or are mere fables, in which case the fact of
their invention is
wonderful; nevertheless I would desire to get some information from
the fact that they come and visit men, and are seen otherwise than
in dreams.
9. These dreams suggest another question. I do
not at this moment concern myself about the mere creations of
fancy, which are formed by the emotions of the uneducated. I speak
of visitations in sleep, such as the apparition to Joseph2669
in a
dream, in the manner experienced in most cases of the kind. In the
same manner, therefore, our own friends also who have departed this
life before us sometimes come and appear to us in dreams, and speak
to us. For I myself remember that Profuturus, and Privatus, and
Servilius, holy men who within my recollection were removed by
death from our monastery, spoke to me, and that the events of which
they spoke came to pass according to their words. Or if it be some
other higher spirit that assumes their form and visits our minds, I
leave this to the all-seeing eye of Him before whom everything from
the highest to the lowest is uncovered. If, therefore, the Lord be
pleased to speak through reason to your Holiness on all these
questions, I beg you to be so kind as make me partaker of the
knowledge which you have received. There is another thing which I
have resolved not to omit mentioning, for perhaps it bears upon the
matter now under investigation:
10. This same youth, in connection with whom
these questions are brought forward, departed this life after
having received what may be called a summons2670
| 2670 Exhibitus quodammodo pergit. | at the time when he was dying. For
one who had been a companion of his as a student, and reader, and
shorthand writer to my dictation, who had died eight months before,
was seen by a person in a dream coming towards him. When he was
asked by the person who then distinctly saw him why he had come, he
said, “I have come to take this friend away;” and so it proved.
For in the house itself, also, there appeared to a certain old man,
who was almost awake, a man bearing in his hand a laurel branch on
which something was written. Nay, more, when this one was seen, it
is further reported that after the death of the young man, his
father the presbyter had begun to reside along with the aged
Theasius in the monastery, in order to find consolation there, but
lo! on the third day after his death, the young man is seen
entering the monastery, and is asked by one of the brethren in a
dream of some kind whether he knew himself to be dead. He replied
that he knew he was. The other asked whether he had been welcomed
by God. This also he answered with great expressions of joy. And
when questioned as to the reason why he had come, he answered, “I
have been sent to summon my father.” The person to whom these
things were shown awakes, and relates what had passed. It comes to
the ear of Bishop Theasius. He, being alarmed, sharply admonished
the person who told him, lest the matter should come, as it might
easily do, to the ear of the presbyter himself, and he should be
disturbed by such tidings. But why prolong the narration? Within
about four days from this visitation he was saying (for he had
suffered from a moderate feverishness) that he was now out of
danger, and that the physician had given up attending him, having
assured him that there was no cause whatever for anxiety; but that
very day this presbyter expired after he had lain down on his
couch. Nor should I forbear mentioning, that on the same day on
which the youth died, he asked his father three times to forgive
him anything in which he might have offended, and every time that
he kissed his father he said to him, “Let us give thanks to God,
father,” and insisted upon his father saying the words along with
him, as if he were exhorting one who was to be his companion in
going forth from this world. And in fact only seven days elapsed
between the two deaths. What shall we say of things so wonderful?
Who shall be a thoroughly reliable teacher as to these mysterious
dispensations? To you in the hour of perplexity my agitated heart
unburdens itself. The divine appointment of the death of the young
man and of his father is beyond all doubt, for two sparrows shall
not fall to the ground without the will of our heavenly Father.2671
11. That the soul cannot exist in absolute
separation from a body of some kind is proved in my opinion by the
fact that to exist without body belongs to God alone. But I think
that the laying aside of so great a burden as the body, in the act
of passing from this world, proves that the soul will then be very
much more wakeful than it is meanwhile; for then the soul appears,
as I think, far more noble when no longer encumbered by so great a
hindrance, both in action and in knowledge, and that entire
spiritual rest proves it to be free from all causes of disturbance
and error, but does not make it languid, and as it were slow,
torpid, and embarrassed, inasmuch as it is enough for the soul to
enjoy in its fulness the liberty to which it has attained in being
freed from the world and the body; for, as you have wisely said,
the intellect is satisfied with food, and applies the lips of the
spirit to the fountain of life in that condition in which it is
happy and blest in the undisputed lordship of its own faculties.
For before I quitted the monastery I saw brother Servilius in a dream after his decease,
and he said that we were labouring to attain by the exercise of
reason to an understanding of truth, whereas he and those who were
in the same state as he were always resting in the pure joy of
contemplation.
12. I also beg you to explain to me in how many ways
the word wisdom is used; as God is wisdom, and a wise mind is
wisdom (in which way it is said to be as light); as we read also of
the wisdom of Bezaleel, who made the tabernacle or the ointment,
and the wisdom of Solomon, or any other wisdom, if there be such,
and wherein they differ from each other; and whether the one
eternal Wisdom which is with the Father is to be understood as
spoken of in these different degrees, as they are called diverse
gifts of the Holy Spirit, who divideth to every one severally
according as He will. Or, with the exception of that Wisdom alone
which was not created, were these created, and have they a distinct
existence of their own? or are they effects, and have they received
their name from the definition of their work? I am asking a great
many questions. May the Lord grant you grace to discover the truth
sought, and wisdom sufficient to commit it to writing, and to
communicate it without delay to me. I have written in much
ignorance, and in a homely style; but since you think it worth
while to know that about which I am inquiring, I beseech you in the
name of Christ the Lord to correct me where I am mistaken, and
teach me what you know that I am desirous to learn.
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