Letters

² When by such faith and knowledge the saints have embraced this true life, they receive, doubtless, the joy which is in heaven; for which the wicked not caring, are deservedly deprived of the blessedness arising from it. For, 'let the wicked be taken away, so that he shall not see the glory of the Lord. ' For although, when they shall hear the universal proclamation of the promise, 'Awake, you that sleepest, and arise from the dead,' they shall rise and shall come even to heaven, knocking and saying, 'Open to us;' nevertheless the Lord will reprove them, as those who put the knowledge of Himself far from them, saying, 'I know you not.'

But the holy Spirit cries against them, 'The wicked shall be turned into hell, even all the nations that forget God.. ' Now we say that the wicked are dead, but not in an ascetic life opposed to sin; nor do they, like the saints, bear about dying in their bodies. But it is the soul which they bury in sins and follies, drawing near to the dead, and satisfying it with dead nourishment; like young eagles which, from high places, fly upon the carcasses of the dead, and which the law prohibited, commanding figuratively, 'You shall not eat the eagle, nor any other bird that feeds on a dead carcass;' and it pronounced unclean whatsoever eats the dead.

But these kill the soul with lusts, and say nothing but, 'let us eat and drink, for to morrow we die.' And the kind of fruit those have who thus love pleasures, he immediately describes, adding, 'And these things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of Hosts, that this sin shall not be forgiven you until you die. ' Yea, even while they live they shall be ashamed, because they consider their belly their lord; and when dead, they shall be tormented, because they have made a boast of such a death.

To this effect also Paul bears witness, saying, 'Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them.' And the divine word declared before concerning them; 'The death of sinners is evil, and those who hate the righteous commit sin. ' For bitter is the worm, and grievous the darkness, which wicked men inherit.