HistoricalChristian.Faith
HistoricalChristian.Faith
Dates: c. 735 · Wikipedia
Summary: The Venerable Bede (c. 673–735), the great Northumbrian scholar-monk,
transmits the patristic intermediate state in his Commentary on Luke — Abraham's bosom as the
"rest of the blessed" entered after this life, with a fixed and uncrossable gulf to the place of
torment — and dramatizes it in the famous Vision of Drythelm (Ecclesiastical History,
Book V, ch. 12). There a Northumbrian man dies, tours the otherworld, and returns; his guide shows him
four regions: a valley of alternating fire and freezing cold where souls who repented only
at death are tried but will be saved at the judgment; a bright flowery plain where souls in good works,
not yet perfect, await admission to the kingdom; and beyond these, the mouth of hell and the joys of
heaven proper. Bede is thus a major witness for intermediate, probationary and resting places distinct
from final heaven and hell.
And it came to pass that the poor man died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died, and was buried in hell. Abraham's bosom is the rest of the blessed poor, of whom is the kingdom of heaven, to which they are received after this life. The burial of hell is the depth of the torments that devour the proud and merciless after this life.
— On the Gospel of Luke, historicalchristian.faith. Bede reads Lazarus's reception "into Abraham's bosom" as the rest of the blessed, distinct from and prior to final glory, and the rich man's "burial in hell" as torment — both states beginning "after this life."
And in all these things, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who would pass from here to you cannot, nor from there can they cross over to us. … the souls of the just, although they have mercy by the goodness of their nature, already bound by the justice of their Creator with such righteousness that they are moved by no compassion towards the reprobates.
— On the Gospel of Luke, historicalchristian.faith. The gulf of Luke 16:26 fixes the two intermediate parties: the just in rest cannot cross to relieve the damned, and the damned cannot ascend. The separation is settled before the resurrection.
Walking on, we came to a vale of great breadth and depth, but of infinite length; on the left it appeared full of dreadful flames, the other side was no less horrid for violent hail and cold snow flying in all directions; both places were full of men's souls, which seemed by turns to be tossed from one side to the other, as it were by a violent storm
— Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book V, ch. 12 (the Vision of Drythelm), Fordham Internet Medieval Sourcebook. The guide explains this is "the place in which the souls of those are tried and punished, who, delaying to confess and amend their crimes, at length have recourse to repentance at the point of death … but nevertheless … they shall all be received into the kingdom of heaven at the day of judgment" — an explicitly probationary, intermediate purgation, not hell.
This flowery place, in which you see these most beautiful young people, so bright and merry, is that into which the souls of those are received who depart the body in good works, but who are not so perfect as to deserve to be immediately admitted into the kingdom of heaven; yet they shall all, at the day of judgment, see Christ, and partake of the joys of his kingdom
— Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Book V, ch. 12, Fordham Internet Medieval Sourcebook. This is a fourth region distinct from heaven proper: a resting place of the saved-but-imperfect, who are not yet in the kingdom but assured of it at the judgment.