Ancient afterlife beliefs

  Latin text and English translation of Joseph Assemani’s Latin translation and commentary of the last chapter of the book of the Bee [1] In what follows, I report the Latin text and an English translation via Google of Joseph’s Assemani partial Latin translation and commentary of the last chapter of Solomon of Basra’s ‘Book of the Bee’. I believe that it is interesting mainly from a historical perspective because it gives ( warning: the Latin text wasn't always easily readable, so my transliteration might contain errors. Also, I used Google to translate the Latin, so the translations might be defective ). Interestingly, in his commentary attributes an universalist belief to Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Solomon of Basra. He denies that other figures held that belief (and he even cites, with approval, the view that Gregory of Nyssa's writings were interpolated by 'Origenists'). Here is Joseph’s translation of the title of the last chapter of the ‘book o...

  Anti-universalist interpretations of Luke 12:47-48, Matthew 5:26/Luke 12:59 I already reported how the above verses were interpreted in an ‘universalist’ way by Theodore of Mopsuestia and Gregory of Nyssa in another post: https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/02/on-justice-and-infinite-torment.html In this post, I’ll provide evidence, however, that they were, in ancient times, interpreted in a different way, a way that suggested an infinite duration of eschatological punishment. Barsanuphius of Gaza (fl. 6 th century), Babai the Great (fl. 7 th century) and Dionysius bar Salibi (fl. 12 th century) on Mt 5:26/Lk 12:59 there is a paper by A. Pirtea in Academia ("Origenism and the Memory of Evagrius Ponticus during the Syriac Renaissance: Dionysius bar Ṣalībī’s Commentary on the Chapters on Knowledge", link:  https://www.academia.edu/129664834/Origenism_and_the_Memory_of_Evagrius_Ponticus_during_the_Syriac_Renaissance_Dionysius_bar_%E1%B9%A2al%C4%ABb%C4%...

  On justice and infinite torment Some proponents of the doctrine of eternal torment often claim that a punishment that involves an infinite torment can be a fitting punishment to human sins. It is claimed, for instance, that the severity of a sin is to be measured according to the dignity of the offended party: God has an infinite dignity, so at least some sins against God can be of an infinite severity. Some critics of this line of thinking argue that humans are finite rational beings and it is questionable that, when one considers the limitations inherent in human nature, it is possible for human beings to commit infinitely gravely sins. Still, the argument rests on a plausible assumption: we consider, say, hurting a human being worse than hurting an insect, despite both being living beings, because we assume that human beings have more dignity than insects. A common biblical [1] image used for sins is the one of debts. Clearly, debts are quantifiable and the more one is in...

  Karma, sin and punishments: apparent similarities from different traditions In this post , I’ll quote some texts of two different traditions, Buddhism and Christianity about three different topics about the concept of ‘wrongdoing’ and its consequences. Put side by side, I believe that the similarities are astonishing. I thought that, perhaps, it was better if I had not revealed the sources of these texts in this piece but I decided to put them in the footnotes. I suggest, however, to read them before and after having doing that, read the footnotes. The nature of wrongdoing “"'I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and have my actions as my arbitrator. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir'... … "Intention, I tell you, is kamma. Intending, one does kamma by way of body, speech, & intellect. "And what is the cause by which kamma comes into play? Contact is t...

  Aion-terminology and literal endlessness “But if punishment is to be weighed out according to sin, not even so would punishment be endless. For as regards that which is said in the Gospel, 'These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal ;' [Mt 25:46] this word 'eternal' is not definite: for if it be not so, how did Peter say to our Lord, 'Thou shalt never wash my feet ,' [Jn 13:8] and yet He washed him? And of Babylon He said, 'No man shall dwell therein for ever and ever ,' [Is 13:20] and behold many generations dwell therein.” (Solomon of Basra probably quoting Diodore of Tarsus, book of the Bee, chapter 60, https://sacred-texts.com/chr/bb/bb60.htm ) Much interesting things have been written by defenders of the doctrine of ‘universal salvation’ about how the Greek word ‘ aionios’ (and cognate expressions like ‘ eis ton aiona ’) have been mistranslated as ‘eternal’ or ‘everlasting’. Supposedly, this is the ...

  Quotes of early Christian thinkers about the end of sin and evil It is generally accepted, I believe, by Christians that evil and sin are not substantial realities but corruptions of what is good since God is good and what God creates is good. So, fundamentally, all that is God’s creation is fundamentally good. This doesn’t imply that evil is an illusion but it has a weaker reality than the good. To me if the above is true, it seems quite clear that the final state of creation will also be completely good. If the initial state of creation is good, the presence of evil in the final state would mean, in my opinion, that the final state is ‘worse’ than the initial state. After all, the Christian God is said to be omnipotent and omniscient, so it would be quite weird for me if evil and sin will persist in the final state of creation. To me this means that either that sin and evil will be removed from all sinners and evildoers (and therefore all will be ‘restored’ to the good) o...