Apocalypse. Millennium. Chiliasm and Chillegorism - Valeriy Sterkh

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Mother or Father of their own invention. They reject the resurrection of the whole person and thus completely deny it in any way they can. But it isn’t surprising since they do not know the order of the resurrection. But He was in the place of the dead for three days, even as the prophet says about him: «The Lord remembered His dead saints who had rested in the land of their burial, and came down to them to raise them and save them» [See 3, 20, 4]. Just as the Lord Himself said: «For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth» (Mt 12:40). And the Apostle: «Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?» (Eph 4:9). David also says in his prophecy about Him: «And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell» (Ps 86:13 [Ps 85:13 rus]). After His resurrection on the third day, the Lord said to Mary, who first saw Him and fell prostrate before Him: «Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God» (Jn 20:17).

      2. So, if the Lord has fulfilled the law of the dead, that is, to be the firstborn among the dead, and remained in the lower parts of the earth until the third day, and then, having risen in the flesh in such a way that He even showed the wounds from the nails to the disciples, ascended to the Father, how can they say without shame that «the lower parts of the earth» just mean the world around us and that the inner man, after leaving the body behind, will go up to a heavenly place? For when the Lord «walked in the valley of the shadow of death» (Ps 23:4 [Ps 22:4 rus]), where were the souls of the dead? He then rose from the dead in His flesh and ascended to heaven: it is clear that the souls of His disciples, for whom He gave up His life, will go to the invisible place appointed to them by God and will remain there until the day of the resurrection awaiting His coming, and then, having received their new bodies and having attained to the full resurrection, that is, the bodily resurrection, even as the Lord has risen, they will come into the presence of God. «The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master» (Lk 6:40). Therefore, just as our Teacher did not immediately depart or ascend (to heaven), but, having lingered until the time of His resurrection appointed by the Father – as was also prefigured in Jonah – rose from the dead and ascended after three days, so must we wait for the God-appointed time of our resurrection as predicted by the prophets. And, having been raised, we shall ascend to heaven if the Lord finds us worthy of it» [The following five chapters are omitted in some copies of the codes of Irenaeus. Feuardent was the first one to publish these chapters from the code of Vossius. He explained that this omission might be attributed to the medieval copyists’ rejection of the doctrine on the Millenial Kingdom of Christ which the codes contained. Harvey published citations from these chapters, which were preserved in Syrian and Armenian manuscripts. Fragments of these chapters can be found in Eusebius and «Sacra Paralella» by John of Damascus.].

      Chapter 32. The saints will receive rewards for their labors in the same flesh in which they suffered here on earth.

      1. Because some are carried away in their thoughts by heretical teachings and do not know the commandments of God nor the mystery of the resurrection of the righteous and the Kingdom, which is the beginning of our incorruptibility and through which those who are worthy gradually get used to abiding in God, it must be said that the righteous must first, having been raised to see God face to face, receive in the new creation the promised inheritance prepared by God for our forefathers, and reign in it, and then the judgment will come. For it is only just that they should reap the fruit of their suffering in the same creation in which they fought the good fight of faith or were subjected to sorrows, having been tested in every way, and that they should be brought back to life in the same creation, in which they were put to death for the love of God, and that they should reign in the same creation, in which they were brought to slavery. For God is rich in all things, and everything belongs to him. It is also necessary that the creation itself, restored to its primitive state, should freely serve the righteous. And this was shown by the Apostle in the Epistle to Romans: «For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God» (Rom 8:19—21).

      2. So also the promise of God to Abraham stands true. For He said: «Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever» And also: «Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee» (Gen 13:14—15, 17). However, Abraham did not receive even a single inch of the promised land but was always a stranger and an alien in it. And after the death of his wife Sarah, when the Hittites had offered to give him a place for her burial without any payment, he refused but bought a place for her burial with four hundred silver didrachma from Ephron the Hittite. Abraham was hoping for the fulfillment of the promise of God and did not want it to look like he was receiving from man what God had promised him as a gift. For God had said to him: «Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates» (Gen 15:18). So, since God had promised him the land as an inheritance, and he did not receive it while on earth, it must mean that he and his seed – those who fear God and believe unto Him – should receive it in the resurrection of the righteous. For his seed is the Church which receives adoption by God through the Lord Jesus Christ, even as John the Baptist says: «God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham» (Lk 3:8). The Apostle also says in the Epistle to Galatians: «Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise» (Gal 4:28). And he also clearly indicates in the same letter that those who believe in Christ receive Him through the promise to Abraham: «Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ» (Gal 3:16). And again confirming the same he said: «Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham» (Gal 3:6—9). So, believers will be blessed with faithful Abraham, and they are his sons. Since God had promised Abraham and his seed the land as an inheritance, but neither Abraham nor his seed (those justified by faith) received their inheritance by this time, they will receive it in the resurrection of the righteous. For God is faithful and just; that’s why He said: «Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth» (Mt 5:5).

      Chapter 33. The testimony about the same based on the promises of Christ the Savior and the blessing of Jacob according to the interpretation of Papias and the elders.

      1. Therefore, before His suffering, (Christ) gave thanks, held the cup, drank from it and gave to His disciples, saying: «Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom» (Mt 26:27—29). Thus, He Himself will renew the inheritance of the land and will restore the mystery of the glory of the sons of God, even as David says: «Thou renewest the face of the earth» (Ps 104:30 [Ps 103:30 rus]). He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples to foreshadow both the coming inheritance of the land in which the new wine will be drunk and the bodily resurrection of His disciples. For it is the new resurrection body that will receive the cup. And He cannot represent Himself as partaking of the fruit of the vine if He is above heaven together with His own; those who are with Him cannot be without flesh, for it is the flesh, not the spirit, that can partake of the fruit of the vine.

      2. For this reason, the Lord says: «Then said he also to him that bade him, When

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