Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Luke 16:23
There are 25 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 69, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Of the Observance of Days Connected with Idolatry. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 258 (In-Text, Margin)
... the grieving,” is said about brethren by the apostle when exhorting to unanimity. But, for these purposes, “There is nought of communion between light and darkness,” between life and death or else we rescind what is written, “The world shall rejoice, but ye shall grieve.” If we rejoice with the world, there is reason to fear that with the world we shall grieve too. But when the world rejoices, let us grieve; and when the world afterward grieves, we shall rejoice. Thus, too, Eleazar[Luke 16:19-31] in Hades, (attaining refreshment in Abraham’s bosom) and the rich man, (on the other hand, set in the torment of fire) compensate, by an answerable retribution, their alternate vicissitudes of evil and good. There are certain gift-days, which with ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 187, footnote 1 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Soul. (HTML)
The Soul's Corporeality Demonstrated Out of the Gospels. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1534 (In-Text, Margin)
So far as the philosophers are concerned, we have said enough. As for our own teachers, indeed, our reference to them is ex abundanti —a surplusage of authority: in the Gospel itself they will be found to have the clearest evidence for the corporeal nature of the soul. In hell the soul of a certain man is in torment, punished in flames, suffering excruciating thirst, and imploring from the finger of a happier soul, for his tongue, the solace of a drop of water.[Luke 16:23-24] Do you suppose that this end of the blessed poor man and the miserable rich man is only imaginary? Then why the name of Lazarus in this narrative, if the circumstance is not in (the category of) a real occurrence? But even if it is to be regarded as imaginary, it ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 189, footnote 4 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Soul. (HTML)
Particulars of the Alleged Communication to a Montanist Sister. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1551 (In-Text, Margin)
... soul’s corporeity; and by the impression its figure was formed and moulded. This is the inner man, different from the outer, but yet one in the twofold condition. It, too, has eyes and ears of its own, by means of which Paul must have heard and seen the Lord; it has, moreover all the other members of the body by the help of which it effects all processes of thinking and all activity in dreams. Thus it happens that the rich man in hell has a tongue and poor (Lazarus) a finger and Abraham a bosom.[Luke 16:23-24] By these features also the souls of the martyrs under the altar are distinguished and known. The soul indeed which in the beginning was associated with Adam’s body, which grew with its growth and was moulded after its form proved to be the germ both ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 406, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book IV. In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke's Gospel; That Being the Only Historical Portion of the New Testament Partially Accepted by Marcion. This Book May Also Be Regarded as a Commentary on St. Luke. It Gives Remarkable Proof of Tertullian's Grasp of Scripture, and Proves that “The Old Testament is Not Contrary to the New.“ It Also Abounds in Striking Expositions of Scriptural Passages, Embracing Profound Views of Revelation, in Connection with the Nature of Man. (HTML)
Moses, Allowing Divorce, and Christ Prohibiting It, Explained. John Baptist and Herod. Marcion's Attempt to Discover an Antithesis in the Parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man in Hades Confuted. The Creator's Appointment Manifested in Both States. (HTML)
... by death than by divorce; who had been impelled thereto by his lust, not by the prescription of the (Levirate) law—for, as his brother had left a daughter, the marriage with the widow could not be lawful on that very account; and who, when the prophet asserted against him the law, had therefore put him to death. The remarks I have advanced on this case will be also of use to me in illustrating the subsequent parable of the rich man tormented in hell, and the poor man resting in Abraham’s bosom.[Luke 16:19-31] For this passage, so far as its letter goes, comes before us abruptly; but if we regard its sense and purport, it naturally fits in with the mention of John wickedly slain, and of Herod, who had been condemned by him for his impious marriage. It ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 406, footnote 10 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book IV. In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke's Gospel; That Being the Only Historical Portion of the New Testament Partially Accepted by Marcion. This Book May Also Be Regarded as a Commentary on St. Luke. It Gives Remarkable Proof of Tertullian's Grasp of Scripture, and Proves that “The Old Testament is Not Contrary to the New.“ It Also Abounds in Striking Expositions of Scriptural Passages, Embracing Profound Views of Revelation, in Connection with the Nature of Man. (HTML)
Moses, Allowing Divorce, and Christ Prohibiting It, Explained. John Baptist and Herod. Marcion's Attempt to Discover an Antithesis in the Parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man in Hades Confuted. The Creator's Appointment Manifested in Both States. (HTML)
... prophets; whilst he defines the heavenly bosom and harbour to belong to Christ and his own god. Our answer to this is, that the Scripture itself which dazzles his sight expressly distinguishes between Abraham’s bosom, where the poor man dwells, and the infernal place of torment. “Hell” (I take it) means one thing, and “Abraham’s bosom” another. “A great gulf” is said to separate those regions, and to hinder a passage from one to the other. Besides, the rich man could not have “lifted up his eyes,”[Luke 16:23] and from a distance too, except to a superior height, and from the said distance all up through the vast immensity of height and depth. It must therefore be evident to every man of intelligence who has ever heard of the Elysian fields, that there is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 113, footnote 6 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Fasting. (HTML)
Instances from Scripture of Divine Judgments Upon the Self-Indulgent; And Appeals to the Practices of Heathens. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1115 (In-Text, Margin)
These will be warnings both to people and to bishops, even spiritual ones, in case they may ever have been guilty of incontinence of appetite. Nay, even in Hades the admonition has not ceased to speak; where we find in the person of the rich feaster, convivialities tortured; in that of the pauper, fasts refreshed; having—(as convivialities and fasts alike had)—as preceptors “Moses and the prophets.”[Luke 16:19-31] For Joel withal exclaimed: “Sanctify a fast, and a religious service;” foreseeing even then that other apostles and prophets would sanction fasts, and would preach observances of special service to God. Whence it is that even they who court their idols by dressing them, and by adorning them ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 158, footnote 12 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
Appendix (HTML)
Five Books in Reply to Marcion. (HTML)
Of Marcion's Antitheses. (HTML)
By Lazarus[Luke 16:19-31]), are such as have remained
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 88, footnote 16 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
The Diatessaron of Tatian. (HTML)
The Diatessaron. (HTML)
Section XXIX. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2017 (In-Text, Margin)
... and wore silk and purple, and enjoyed [15] himself every day in splendour: and there was a poor man named Lazarus, and [16] he was cast down at the door of the rich man, afflicted with sores, and he longed to fill [Arabic, p. 112] his belly with the crumbs that fell from the table of that rich man; yea, [17] even the dogs used to come and lick his sores. And it happened that that poor man died, and the angels conveyed him into the bosom of Abraham: and the [18] rich man also died, and was buried.[Luke 16:23] And while he was being tormented in Hades, [19] he lifted up his eyes from afar, and saw Abraham with Lazarus in his bosom. And he called with a loud voice, and said, My father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to wet the tip of his ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 131, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He speaks of his design of forsaking the profession of rhetoric; of the death of his friends, Nebridius and Verecundus; of having received baptism in the thirty-third year of his age; and of the virtues and death of his mother, Monica. (HTML)
He Retires to the Villa of His Friend Verecundus, Who Was Not Yet a Christian, and Refers to His Conversion and Death, as Well as that of Nebridius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 709 (In-Text, Margin)
... initiated in any of the sacraments of Thy Church, but a most earnest inquirer after truth. Whom, not long after our conversion and regeneration by Thy baptism, he being also a faithful member of the Catholic Church, and serving Thee in perfect chastity and continency amongst his own people in Africa, when his whole household had been brought to Christianity through him, didst Thou release from the flesh; and now he lives in Abraham’s bosom. Whatever that may be which is signified by that bosom,[Luke 16:23] there lives my Nebridius, my sweet friend, Thy son, O Lord, adopted of a freedman; there he liveth. For what other place could there be for such a soul? There liveth he, concerning which he used to ask me much,—me, an inexperienced, feeble one. Now ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 343, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Faustus does not think it would be a great honor to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose moral characters as set forth in the Old Testament he detests. He justifies his subjective criticism of Scripture. Augustin sums up the argument, claims the victory, and exhorts the Manichæans to abandon their opposition to the Old Testament notwithstanding the difficulties that it presents, and to recognize the authority of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1081 (In-Text, Margin)
... the patriarchs. That they were punished at their death, or that they were justified after the Lord’s passion, is not what we learn from His commendation of them, when He admonished the Jews that, if they were Abraham’s children, they should do the works of Abraham, and said that Abraham desired to see His day, and was glad when he saw it; and that it was into his bosom, that is, some deep recess of blissful repose, that the angels carried the poor sufferer who was despised by the proud rich man.[Luke 16:23] And what are we to make of the Apostle Paul? Is there any idea of justification after death in his praise of Abraham, when he says that before he was circumcised he believed God, and that it was counted to him for righteousness? And so much ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 144, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Nature and Grace. (HTML)
'This Body of Death,' So Called from Its Defect, Not from Its Substance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1284 (In-Text, Margin)
... liberate me?” For even he finds no fault with the substance of the flesh when he expresses his desire to be liberated from the body of this death, since the nature of the body, as well as of the soul, must be attributed to the good God as the author thereof. But what he speaks of undoubtedly concerns the offences of the body. Now from the body the death of the body separates us; whereas the offences contracted from the body remain, and their just punishment awaits them, as the rich man found in hell.[Luke 16:23] From these it was that he was unable to liberate himself, who said: “Who shall liberate me from the body of this death?” But whensoever it was that he lost this liberty, at least there remains that “inseparable capacity” of nature,—he has the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 334, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
The Thirst of the Rich Man in Hell Does Not Prove the Soul to Be Corporeal. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2405 (In-Text, Margin)
... they must submit when their bodies are restored to them, and are either tormented or glorified in the very same flesh wherein they once lived here on earth; is it, let me ask you, the case that you were really ignorant of this? Who ever had his mind so obstinately set against the gospel as not to hear these truths, and after hearing to believe them, in the parable of the poor man who was carried away after death to Abraham’s bosom, and of the rich man who is set forth as suffering torment in hell?[Luke 16:22-23] But has this man taught you how it was that the soul apart from the body could crave from the beggar’s finger a drop of water; when he himself confessed, that the soul did not require bodily aliment except for the purpose of protecting the perishing ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 363, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Recognition and Form Belong to Souls as Well as Bodies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2485 (In-Text, Margin)
But you say: “If the soul is incorporeal, what was it that the rich man saw in hell? He certainly recognised Lazarus; he did [not[Luke 16:19-31]] know Abraham. Whence arose to him the knowledge of Abraham, who had died so long before?” By using these words, I suppose that you do not think a man can be recognised and known without his bodily form. To know yourself, therefore, I imagine that you often stand before your looking-glass, lest by forgetting your features you should be unable to recognise yourself. But let me ask you, what man does anybody know more than himself; ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 367, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Is Corporeity Necessary for Recognition? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2501 (In-Text, Margin)
... and recognise either souls that are evil like themselves, or even good ones, either in states which are actually not corporeal, but the semblances of bodies; or else in good or evil affections of the mind, in which there occur no lineaments whatever of bodily members? Whence arises the fact that the rich man in the parable, though in torments, recognised “Father Abraham,” whose face and figure he had never seen, but the semblance of whose body his soul, though incorporeal, was able to comprehend?[Luke 16:23] But who could rightly say that he had known any man, except in so far as he has had means of knowing his life and disposition, which have, of course, neither material substance nor colours? It is in this way that we know ourselves more certainly ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 426, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Luke x. 16, ‘He that rejecteth you rejecteth me.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3302 (In-Text, Margin)
... hearts? Tell me, what have ye asked Him within, and what hath He answered. For he goes on to say, “It came to pass that that poor man died, and was carried by the Angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried in hell. And being in torments he lifted up his eyes, and saw Lazarus resting in Abraham’s bosom. Then he cried, saying, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip his finger in water, and drop it on my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.”[Luke 16:22-24] Proud in the world, in hell a beggar! For that poor man did attain to his crumbs; but the other attained not to the drop of water. Of these two then, tell me, which died well, and which died ill? Do not ask the eyes, return to the heart. For if ye ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 273, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter XI. 1–54. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 976 (In-Text, Margin)
... prison: and in the prison itself all are not thrust together into its lowest dungeons, but dealt with in proportion to the merits and superior gravity of the charges. As, then, there are different kinds of custody among those engaged in official life, so there are different kinds of custody for the dead, and differing merits in those who rise again. The beggar was taken into custody, so was the rich man: but the one into Abraham’s bosom; the other, where he thirsted, and found not a drop of water.[Luke 16:22-24]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 94, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVII (HTML)
Part 1 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 871 (In-Text, Margin)
... departed from this life, shalt thou be restored to the other. At the close of that short life, you will not yet be, where the Saints shall be, to whom it shall be said, “Come, ye blessed of My Father: inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world.” You will not yet be there? Who does not know that? But you may already be there, where that beggar, once “covered with sores,” was seen at a distance, at rest, by that proud and unfruitful “rich man” in the midst of his torments.[Luke 16:23] Surely hid in that rest thou waitest in security for the Day of Judgment, when thou art to receive again a body, to be changed so as to be made equal to an Angel. How long then is that for which we are impatient, and are saying, “When will it come? ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 95, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVII (HTML)
Part 2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 876 (In-Text, Margin)
4. …“For the arms of the wicked shall be broken” (ver. 17). Now by “their arms” is meant their power. What will he do in hell? Will it be what the rich man had to do, he who was wont “to fare sumptuously” in the upper world, and in hell “was tormented”?[Luke 16:23] Therefore their arms shall be broken; “but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.” How does He “uphold” them? What saith He unto them? Even what is said in another Psalm, “Wait on the Lord, be of good courage; and let thine heart be strengthened. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” What is meant by this, “Wait on the Lord”? Thou sufferest but for a time; thou shalt rest for ever: thy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 314, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3064 (In-Text, Margin)
... follow the commandments of God: still, however, I am needy and poor. Why still needy and poor? Because “I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind.” Why needy and poor? Because, “blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Still I hunger, still I thirst: my fulness hath been put off, not taken away. “O God, aid Thou me.” Most suitably also Lazarus is said to be interpreted, “one aided:” that needy and poor man, that was transported into the bosom of Abraham;[Luke 16:23] and beareth the type of the Church, which ought alway to confess that she hath need of aid. This is true, this is godly. “I have said to the Lord, My God Thou art.” Why? “For my goods Thou needest not.” He needeth not us, we need Him: therefore He ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 410, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3944 (In-Text, Margin)
... enough that they do them no harm: for good they can do them none. What certainly profiteth is a work of mercy, done by a rich or by a poor man: by a rich man, with will and deed; by a poor man, with will alone. When therefore he is such an one as despiseth in himself everything which is wont to swell men with pride, he is one of God’s poor: He inclines unto him His ear, for He knows that his heart is contrite.…Was it really for the merit of his poverty that the poor man was carried away by Angels,[Luke 16:19-24] or was it for the sin of his riches that the rich man was sent away to be tormented? In that poor man is signified the honour which is paid to humility, in that rich man the condemnation which awaits pride. I will prove shortly that it was not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 538, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4931 (In-Text, Margin)
... this great crime should be without pardon, both here, and in a future life. “Let the memorial of them perish from off the earth:” that is, of his father and of his mother. By memorial of them, he meaneth, that which is preserved by successive generations: this he prophesied should perish from the earth, because both Judas himself, and his sons, who were the memorial of his father and mother, without any succeeding offspring, as it is said above, were consumed in the short space of one generation.[Luke 16:23] …
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 42, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Marcella. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 690 (In-Text, Margin)
3. Now, therefore, in return for her short toil, Lea enjoys everlasting felicity; she is welcomed into the choirs of the angels; she is comforted in Abraham’s bosom. And, as once the beggar Lazarus saw the rich man, for all his purple, lying in torment, so does Lea see the consul, not now in his triumphal robe but clothed in mourning, and asking for a drop of water from her little finger.[Luke 16:19-24] How great a change have we here! A few days ago the highest dignitaries of the city walked before him as he ascended the ramparts of the capitol like a general celebrating a triumph; the Roman people leapt up to welcome and applaud him, and at the news of his death the whole city was moved. Now he is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 51, footnote 18 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Paula. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 832 (In-Text, Margin)
... reasoning is simple. Jacob, it is true, mourned for Joseph, whom he fancied slain, and thought to meet only in the grave (his words were: “I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning”), but he only did so because Christ had not yet broken open the door of paradise, nor quenched with his blood the flaming sword and the whirling of the guardian cherubim. (Hence in the story of Dives and Lazarus, Abraham and the beggar, though really in a place of refreshment, are described as being in hell.[Luke 16:23]) And David, who, after interceding in vain for the life of his infant child, refused to weep for it, knowing that it had not sinned, did well to weep for a son who had been a parricide—in will, if not in deed. And when we read that, for Moses and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 79, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pammachius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1200 (In-Text, Margin)
... when once they have received the priesthood, are vowed to perpetual chastity. Why do we delude ourselves and feel vexed if while we are continually straining after sexual indulgence, we find the palm of chastity denied to us? We wish to fare sumptuously, and to enjoy the embraces of our wives, yet at the same time we desire to reign with Christ among virgins and widows. Shall there be but one reward, then, for hunger and for excess, for filth and for finery, for sackcloth and for silk? Lazarus,[Luke 16:19-25] in his lifetime, received evil things, and the rich man, clothed in purple, fat and sleek, while he lived enjoyed the good things of the flesh but, now that they are dead, they occupy different positions. Misery has given place to satisfaction, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 160, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Oceanus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2357 (In-Text, Margin)
... to such sights, perform this work of mercy by the agency of others, giving money instead of personal aid. I do not blame them and am far from construing their weakness of resolution into a want of faith. While however I pardon such squeamishness, I extol to the skies the enthusiastic zeal of a mind that is above it. A great faith makes little of such trifles. But I know how terrible was the retribution which fell upon the proud mind of the rich man clothed in purple for not having helped Lazarus.[Luke 16:19-24] The poor wretch whom we despise, whom we cannot so much as look at, and the very sight of whom turns our stomachs, is human like ourselves, is made of the same clay as we are, is formed out of the same elements. All that he suffers we too may ...