Annotatio CLXIX

”Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be.” — Psalm 36:10

Augustine, in the exposition of the proposed little verse, seems somewhat to decline toward the error of the Armenians, the Greeks, and the Anabaptists, who assert that the souls of the saints are confined, until the day of judgment, in hidden receptacles, far from the gaze of the divine vision;¹ writing in this manner: “After this life thou shalt not yet be there where the saints shall be, to whom it shall be said, ‘Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which is prepared for you from the origin of the world.’² Thou shalt not yet be there — who knows [it] not? But now thou canst be there where that once-ulcerous poor man [reposed], whom the proud rich man, in the midst of torments, saw far off reposing:³ in that repose, certainly, secure, thou shalt await the day of judgment — when thou shalt receive [thy] body, when thou shalt be sent in, that thou mayest be equalled to the Angels.” To this opinion the same [Augustine] seems to allude in the Enchiridion to Laurentius, chapter 108, where he says: “The time which is interposed between the death of man and the final resurrection holds souls in hidden receptacles, according as each is worthy of repose or of affliction, for that which it obtained in the flesh while it lived.” And in book 12 On the City of God, chapter 9: “That part of the city of God which is to be joined to the immortal Angels is gathered out of mortal men; [and] now [it] either sojourns mortally on earth, or, in those who have died by death, rests in the secret receptacles and seats of souls.” And again, in book 12 [of the commentary] On Genesis to the letter, chapter 35, he seems to indicate that the souls of the saints, before the resumption of the body, cannot enjoy the divine vision, in these words: “If anyone show what need there is for spirits to receive their bodies in the resurrection, if that highest beatitude can be furnished to them even without bodies — it is by no means to be doubted that the mind of man, snatched from the senses of the flesh, and (after death, the flesh being laid aside) cannot so see the incommutable good as the holy Angels see [it].” And in book 1 of the Retractations, chapter 14, when he had treated this question professedly, he left it undiscussed and in doubt, writing thus: “That [saying] makes us most blessed which the Apostle says, ‘But then face to face; and then I shall know, as also I am known.’⁴ Those who have found this are to be said to consist in the possession of beatitude. But who those most blessed are, who are now in that possession, is a great question. And that the holy Angels are there, is no question; but concerning holy men already dead, whether they too may be said to consist already in that possession, is deservedly asked. For now they are stripped of the body, by which the soul is weighed down; but they still themselves await also the redemption of their body, and their flesh rests in hope, [and] does not yet shine in future incorruption. But whether they have anything the less on this account for contemplating the truth with the eyes of the heart, face to face — it is not [the place] here, by disputing, to inquire.” These passages, and others similar to these — often repeated in the diverse writings of Augustine — must be interpreted charitably, especially since among Augustine himself certain testi- testimonies which establish that the souls of the saints, even before the day of judgment, behold God face to face — of which number one is had in the fourth sermon on the solemnity of the saints, where, expounding those words from the sixth chapter of the Apocalypse, “I saw under the altar of God the souls of the slain, and there were given to them each a white robe,”⁵ etc., he speaks thus: “By the white robes we ought to understand the reward of baptism, the prize of martyrdom, the reward of the eternal [goods], and the joy of the heavenly fatherland. For the saints have, before the resurrection, single robes, because they enjoy as yet, in the soul alone, the eternal beatitudes; but afterward they are to receive double [robes], when — [their] bodies being received — they shall be immutable in soul and incorruptible in body.” And a little after: “Whence John says, ‘They stood before the throne, in the sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands’;⁶ [they] stand, then, even now before the throne of God, crowned — [each] stands in the sight of the Lamb, in no way to be there separated from contemplating his glory.”

There are, therefore, the passages cited a little before — [which are] in appearance conflicting with the present passage and those similar to it — to be interpreted in this sense: that we say Augustine did not doubt concerning the glory of souls before the judgment,⁷ but concerning the place of glory, and concerning the grades (or the quantity, or the consummation) of glory before the judgment. For since souls, wheresoever they behold the glory of God, are there blessed, Augustine was sometimes uncertain in what places, and seats, or receptacles, the souls might see God. Similarly, concerning the quantity of glory, Augustine often asked whether the Souls of the Saints, before the judgment, were equal to the Angels in the vision of God, or saw something less. Which the words of the aforesaid passages plainly indicate — especially from the testimony of the first [book] of the Retractations, where it is said, “Souls stripped of their bodies do not so see God as the Angels see [him],” that is, [not] with a consummated and perfect vision; and from book 12 on Genesis, where it is read: “Whether Souls have anything the less on this account for contemplating, with the eyes of the heart, the truth — it is not [the place] here, by disputing, to inquire.” Read Annotation 345 of the sixth book.