Descent into Hades in the early church

Christ's going down to the dead between his death and resurrection. Part of Christology.

Ascension of Isaiah 4.21Anonymous · late 1st–2nd century
Odes of Solomon 42Anonymous · ca. 100–200
Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.16.5 (93.5)Hermas · ca. 100–150 · The apostles, after death, preached to those who had died before and gave them the seal.
Gospel of Peter (Akhmim fragment) 40Anonymous · ca. 100–200 · The giant figures emerge, a heavenly voice asks whether he has preached to the sleeping, the cross answers 'Yes', and the guards resolve to tell Pilate.
Epistle of the Apostles 27Anonymous · ca. 140-170 · Christ tells how he went down to the patriarchs and prophets and gave them the baptism of life, and warns that faith without keeping his commandment is of no use.
Sibylline Oracles 8.311ff.Anonymous · 2nd-3rd cent. · The Sibyl foretells Christ's descent to Hades with hope for the saints, his rising on the third day as the first-fruits of resurrection, and his appearing in the flesh with the marks of the nails.
Dialogue with Trypho 72.4Justin Martyr · ca. 155–160 · Justin cites a saying on Christ's descent to the dead, attributed to Jeremiah.
Fragment 26Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 170–200
Adumbrations on 1 Peter, paragraph 3Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On 1 Pet 3:10–20: ‘life’ is the Lord and ‘good days’ the saints; Christ was made alive in our spirits and preached to those once disobedient, who heard his voice though they did not see him.
Adumbrations on 1 Peter, paragraph 5Clement of Alexandria · original ca. 200; Latin translation 6th century · On 1 Pet 4:5–6: the ‘dead’ to whom the gospel was preached are those who were once unbelievers.
Against Heresies 3.12.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Peter's Pentecost sermon proclaims one God and one Christ who suffered, rose, and was exalted, calling hearers to repentance and baptism.
Against Heresies 3.20.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The prophets foretold that the Lord himself, neither a mere man nor a fleshless angel, would come in the flesh from Bethlehem to save.
Against Heresies 4.22.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ washed the disciples’ feet and roused them from sleep, signs that he came to cleanse and raise the dead, descending to the righteous who had died before him.
Against Heresies 4.27.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ descended to the dead and forgave the righteous of old; we must not judge them but fear for ourselves, since Christ will not die again for those who sin now.
Against Heresies 4.33.12Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Other prophets foretold Christ’s humble entry, passion, and death, his descent to the dead, the darkness at the crucifixion, and the fall of Jerusalem.
Against Heresies 5.31.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Against those who say the soul rises to heaven at death, Christ himself remained three days among the dead before rising and ascending.
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 78Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Excerpts from Theodotus 18.2Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · After rising, Christ preached to the righteous at rest and transferred them; his coming on earth was a shadow of his glory, a shadow that illuminates.
Miscellanies 2.9.44Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Hermas says the apostles, after death, preached to the righteous dead and gave them the seal of baptism, so that they too were built into the tower; Gentiles who keep the law by nature are a law to themselves.
Miscellanies 6.6.44Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The law was given to the Hebrews and philosophy to the Greeks as preparation for the gospel; the righteous of both lacked faith, and so the Lord preached also to those in Hades.
Miscellanies 6.6.45Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The dead in Hades heard the Lord's voice; the Lord and then the apostles preached there to Hebrews and Gentiles who had lived righteously but imperfectly, so that they too might be saved.
Miscellanies 6.6.46Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Christ went to Hades to preach; if to all, believing Gentiles are saved, since God's punishments are meant to correct; if only to the Jews, the apostles preached to the Gentiles there, as the Shepherd says.
Miscellanies 6.6.47Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The righteous under the law and the righteous among the Greeks do not differ as righteous; those who lived rightly outside the law heard the Lord in Hades and believed, for God's saving power works everywhere.
Miscellanies 6.6.48Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · As the apostles were sent to all the living, so the preaching reached the dead in Hades, since it would be unjust to condemn those who never heard; God sets life and death before all to choose.
Miscellanies 6.6.49Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · God offers a choice through Isaiah, and the psalm spoken for every believer of every age promises that the soul will not be left in Hades.
Acts of Thomas 10Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · The flute girl proclaims Thomas a man of God; the king brings him to the bridal chamber, where he prays for the couple to Christ, who descended to Hades and freed its prisoners.
Acts of Thomas 156Anonymous · ca. 200–250 · Thomas prays to Christ, crucified, descended to Hades, and risen, to gather Vazan, Tertia, and Mnesara into his flock and make them temples of the Holy Spirit.
On Christ and Antichrist 45Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · John the Baptist leaped in the womb, preached repentance, pointed out the Lamb of God, and went before Christ even into Hades.
On Proverbs, fragment 48Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · A running interpretation of Prov 30:17–31 (LXX 24:52–66): the ways of the man in youth, the adulteress, the four things the earth cannot bear, the lizard, the locust, and the four stately things all point to Christ, the church, and the nations.
On the Holy Pascha, fragment 2 (Nicetas catena on Luke)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–235 · Fragments on the Pascha: Christ was presented in the temple under the law to redeem those under it; with his own soul he went down to Hades; he ate the supper before the Passover and suffered rather than ate it; and he showed his manhood in Gethsemane.
On the Great Ode (Deut 32), fragment 1 (Deut 32:26?)Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 202-235 · Christ, the firstborn Word, descended to Hades and into the virgin's womb to raise Adam, and by his obedience on the tree made the conquered man victorious over the serpent.
On the Soul 7Tertullian · ca. 210 · The Gospel story of the rich man and Lazarus, whose souls suffer and are comforted in the underworld, proves that the soul has a kind of body.
On the Soul 55Tertullian · ca. 210 · All souls go to the underworld to await the resurrection, as Christ himself descended there; only martyrs enter paradise at once.
On First Principles 2.5.3Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Since justice and goodness are both virtues, the just God is good; his punishments are remedies for amendment, as Peter's words on those who perished in the flood show.
Fragments on Luke, column 323Origen · ca. 220-254 · Zacharias's tongue, freed from unbelief, prophesies, and the patriarchs and prophets too shared in Christ's coming through his descent into Hades.
PG 12:1127 (Ps 3 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Sleep also means the soul’s inattention; applied to Christ, “I lay down” is his death and “I slept” the separation of his soul from the body, during which his soul was active for the salvation of souls, as 1 Peter 3:19 shows.
PG 12:1189 (Ps 9 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · On Ps 9:10–17 (LXX 9:11–18): God dwells in the soul that is a Zion; the deeds to be declared are Christ’s miracles and the saving cross; the gates of death are mortal sins; the nations stuck fast in the body; Hades, the place where the souls awaited the soul of Jesus descending.
PG 12:1255 (Ps 21 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on Ps 21 LXX (22):10–14: Christ’s sinless infancy, his struggle in Hades without the angels’ help, and the calves, bulls and lion as hostile powers.
PG 12:1543 (Ps 86–87 LXX)Origen · ca. 220-254 · Notes on the end of Psalm 87 (LXX 86) and on Psalm 88 (LXX 87): the man born in Zion, the life that drew near to Hades, and Christ halting God's wrath.
Fragment 77 on John 11:4Origen · ca. 226-254 · On John 11:11–17: Lazarus's death is a figure of the soul unenlightened by God; Jesus rejoiced to strengthen the disciples' faith; Thomas understood that Christ would descend to the souls; the four days signify the material body and its sins, which Jesus, buried only three days, did not reach.
Commentary on John 1.220Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ also went among the dead, and alone was free there, so he is truly the last as well as the first.
Commentary on John 6.174Origen · ca. 230–248 · Mystically, one sandal is the incarnation and the other is Christ's descent into Hades and his journey to the spirits in prison.
Commentary on John 6.175Origen · ca. 230–248 · Psalm 16 speaks of the descent into Hades, and 1 Peter of Christ preaching to the spirits in prison.
Commentary on John 6.176Origen · ca. 230–248 · Whoever can explain both of Christ's descents, to earth and to Hades, is fit to untie his sandals.
Commentary on John 6.177Origen · ca. 230–248 · Christ put on both living and dead, those on earth and in Hades, to be Lord of both.
Commentary on John 6.185Origen · ca. 230–248 · John understood Christ's coming on earth but not yet his descent to the dead, which is why he later asked from prison, “Are you the one who is to come?”
Commentary on John 32.392Origen · ca. 230–248 · Since both Jesus and his hearers would die and go to Hades, the saying cannot simply mean death.
On the Witch of Endor 6Origen · ca. 240 · Christ, greater than all prophets, himself went down to Hades to conquer death, as the Psalms and Acts say; so it is not absurd that the prophets, including Samuel, went there before him as physicians to proclaim his coming.
On the Witch of Endor 7Origen · ca. 240 · The medium saw “gods” coming up, perhaps other holy souls or angels with Samuel; the saints go wherever souls need salvation, and John the Baptist went to Hades before Christ to announce him, his question from prison meaning “Will you come even to Hades?”
On the Witch of Endor 8Origen · ca. 240 · As Christ remained Christ when he descended to Hades, so the prophets and Samuel, going down there to help the souls, remained holy, below in place but above in purpose; a demon could not have prophesied David's kingship.
Homilies on Exodus 5.2Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The stages of the exodus, Ramesses, Succoth, and Etham, mark the soul's leaving worldly treasure, living as a pilgrim in tents, and receiving in baptism the mystery of the third day.
Homilies on Exodus 6.6Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The earth still swallows the earthly-minded, as it swallowed those who cried “Crucify him,” yet one who is swallowed can be cast up again like Jonah, and Christ descended to lead us out of the depths.
Homilies on Leviticus 9.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · Christ is the 'ready man' who leads the hostile powers into the wilderness and, as true high priest, enters the heavenly Holy of Holies to intercede for those who wait for him.
Homilies on Jeremiah 18.2Origen · ca. 240 · Moses was told to go up the mountain, Jeremiah to go down to the potter's house: some teachings concern higher things, others lower things, and the mind that follows Christ, who both ascended and descended, can be led by the Word to all of them.
Lines 309–332Commodian · 3rd century (disputed) · Christ descended into death to raise Adam and overcame the devil by the cross, the true tree of life, from which believers receive life.
Commentary on the Song of Songs 3.222Origen · ca. 240–245 (Rufinus's translation ca. 410) · The devil's nets ensnared all; Christ alone, sinless and free among the dead, broke them, rose, and led captivity captive.
Against Celsus 2.43Origen · ca. 248 · Origen affirms that Jesus persuaded many during his life and that after death, as a soul without a body, he preached to the souls of the dead.
Against Celsus 2.56Origen · ca. 248 · Origen argues that Jesus' public crucifixion rules out comparison with heroes who merely disappeared and reappeared, and that the disciples' willingness to die shows they did not invent the resurrection.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 132Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · Those who blaspheme Jesus are those who “pass by”, like heretics who have left the Church's way; they falsely made him the destroyer of the temple, whereas he rebuilds what others destroy; he did not come down from the cross to satisfy mockers, but showed himself Son of God to believers after descending to the dead and rising.
Commentary on Romans 5.10Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Origen explains dying and living with Christ, the threefold death in believers, why death no longer rules Christ, rejects the idea that Christ must suffer again in future ages, and teaches that love will keep free choice from falling.
To Quirinus 2.24Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · The Psalms and Jesus' own words show that death could not hold him.
Fragment on Job, no. 11Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ, the Wisdom of God, went down to the abyss unconquered and enables those who trust him to walk on the waves of life.
Fragment on Job, no. 21Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd cent. (disputed) · Christ alone went down to the abyss as a free man and called its prisoners out.
Church History 1.13.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · The Syriac account (quoted): Thaddaeus promised to preach Christ's coming, works, humiliation, death, descent to Hades, and ascension.
Testament of Our Lord 1.28Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Prophetic Extracts 3.8Eusebius of Caesarea · before 325 (probably ca. 310–320) · Eusebius applies God's questions to Job about walking the deep and the gates of death to Christ's descent into Hades and resurrection, arguing they cannot fit the Father.
Divine Institutes 4.12.15Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Daniel's 'son of man' points to the incarnation, death, descent, resurrection and ascension.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.10.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ went even to the realm of the dead to be Lord of the dead; with the Father he is called Word, Wisdom, Power, King, God, and Lord.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ’s love led him into death to recall the souls of the dead.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ gave up his spirit freely, pursued death, broke the gates of the underworld, and led the dead back to life.
Demonstration of the Gospel 4.12.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The prophets present the victorious Christ taunting death and freeing its captives.
Demonstration of the Gospel 5.20.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The speech in Job belongs to the creator Word, and its lines about the gates of death foretell Christ’s descent to Hades.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.7.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The psalm hints at Christ’s descent to the dead, breaking the gates of death to save those there.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.60Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ's hands were on his enemies' backs in his miracles, on the cross, and in his descent to the dead, where the powers fled.
Demonstration of the Gospel 8.1.68Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Symmachus's “from the prey of beasts you went up” presents Christ's escape from Hades.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.63Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The affliction near at hand is not the cross but death, the descent into Hades, and the hostile powers there.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.64Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christ descended to free the souls in Hades, breaking its gates; many saints rose and entered the holy city with him.
Demonstration of the Gospel 10.8.69Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Only Christ could enter death without fear; its gatekeepers cowered and the devil entreated him, as Job shows.
On the Witch of Endor 17Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Eustathius insists that the question is not whether Samuel was in Hades but whether a demon can summon righteous souls, and attacks Origen's claim that Christ in Hades was “above in purpose”, saying it treats Christ as a mere man, whereas the Word is everywhere by his Godhead and Christ's soul freed the souls in Hades.
On the Witch of Endor 18Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Eustathius argues that Christ's soul descended to Hades and on the same day brought the penitent thief into paradise, and that sayings in John about the Son of Man in heaven and the Son in the Father's bosom show him present everywhere as God while on earth in the body.
On the Witch of Endor 20Eustathius of Antioch · ca. 324–337 · Eustathius ridicules Origen's suggestion that the souls of other prophets and angels came up with Samuel, arguing that this puts the saints under a demon's power and that angels stand before God, while only Christ descended to Hades and freed its captives.
Demonstration 14.31Aphrahat · 337-345 · Christ, who owed nothing to death, died to reconcile rebels, conquered Sheol, and was exalted as Lord; peacemakers share his reward, while strife makes prayer and alms worthless.
Demonstration 21.19Aphrahat · 337-345
Demonstration 22.4Aphrahat · 337-345
Oration III Against the Arians 56Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339–346 · Weeping, trouble, and the prayer about the cup belong to Christ's humanity, taken from mortal Mary; even his cry of abandonment was answered by signs showing that the Father was in him.
Catechetical Lecture 4.11Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Christ was truly buried and went down to the dead to free the righteous of old, the prophets and John among them.
Catechetical Lecture 14.3Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · After recalling the prophecies of the burial, Cyril shows from Psalms 12, 16 and 30 that Christ's soul was not left in Hades and that he rose in the morning.
Catechetical Lecture 14.17Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Jonah, three days in the sea monster, is the sign of Christ's three days in the earth; if God preserved Jonah alive, he could raise his own Son.
Catechetical Lecture 14.19Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · When Christ descended into Hades, death fled, and the prophets and righteous ran to him and were redeemed.
Catechetical Lecture 14.20Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · Jonah's prayer from the belly of the sea monster foretold Christ's descent into Hades, his burial in the rock, and the lie about the stolen body.
Long recension, Trallians 9Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius tells the Trallians to stop their ears to any teaching apart from Jesus Christ, truly born.
On the Trinity 10.34Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Christ's commending of his spirit was not fear of the underworld, since he promised the thief paradise that very day (Luke 23:42–43, 46).
On the Trinity 10.65Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 356–360 · Paul's confession in Rom 8:33–34 and Eph 4:9–10 shows one Christ who died, rose, descended, ascended, and intercedes, undivided God and man.
Homilies on the Psalms 29.3Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 30:2–4 Basil teaches that God answers at once, that the soul is raised from Hades and the pit of sin by Christ, and that only the holy truly sing psalms.
Homilies on the Psalms 48.9Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-378 · On Ps 49:14–15 Basil reads death as the shepherd given the captives by the devil, from Adam to Moses, until the Good Shepherd laid down his life, led them out of Hades into the morning of the resurrection, and handed them to the angels; the psalmist's hope that God will redeem his soul from Hades foretells Christ's descent into Hades.
Tractates on the Psalms 53.14Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ gives thanks for deliverance; having died and descended to the underworld, he rose and looks down on his enemies, the temple of his body rebuilt.
Tractates on the Psalms 56.6Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's exaltation above the heavens presupposes his descent to the depths, as Ephesians 4 says; his glory over the earth is the outpouring of the Spirit.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.4Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ’s suffering comes from his assumed flesh: emptying himself, the second Adam sank into the mire of our nature and down into death and the underworld.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.5Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The depth of the sea is the realm of death, as Jonah and Job show; Christ came there and was overwhelmed by death’s storm.
Tractates on the Psalms 68.15Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ prays not to stick in the mud or be shut in the pit, confident that, though he died in the body, death could not hold him.
Tractates on the Psalms 118.11.3Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The psalmist's eyes are those of the mind, longing for the encouragement Christ brought when he descended to the dead, as Peter testifies.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.22Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Ascending into heaven belongs to Christ's divinity, descending to the underworld to his true humanity; God is present in both.
Tractates on the Psalms 138.26Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Christ's death was not darkness to him but delight and light: he broke the gates of the underworld and redeemed humanity, the Father being always with him.
Tractates on the Psalms 141.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · The 'prison' is the underworld, to which Christ preached; his release from it, the resurrection, proclaims the Father's power.
Commentary on Ephesians 4.9Marius Victorinus · ca. 360–363 · Only one who came down from heaven can ascend there, as spirit returns to its source, so Christ who ascended first descended, even into the underworld, to free souls.
Oration 45.22Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory asks to whom the ransom of Christ's blood was paid: not to the devil, nor as a price demanded by the Father, but accepted by the Father for the economy of salvation. He urges hearers to keep the Pascha spiritually by sacrificing themselves and sharing in every stage of Christ's passion and resurrection.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 2:6–7Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, dying unjustly, descended to the underworld, condemned death and freed its captives, and his resurrection is the testimony Paul was sent to preach to the gentiles.
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 5:21Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · God made the sinless Christ “sin” by incarnation and as a sin offering, so that sinners might be justified; his death, plotted by Satan, emptied the underworld.
Commentary on Colossians 1:11–13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers should grow in knowledge and patience, giving thanks to God, who rescued them from the darkness of the underworld into his Son's kingdom; since Christ's victory, the faithful who die are led to heaven.
Commentary on Ephesians 3:10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Through the church even the spiritual powers learn the mystery of the one God in Christ, the King of glory of Psalm 24, who conquered death.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:8Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, triumphing over death on the cross, freed the willing captives of the underworld and gave gifts; the risen saints of Matthew 27 testify to it.
Commentary on Ephesians 4:9Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ descended to the underworld, not to remain like others held by sentence, but to preach to the dead and rise with those who longed for him.
Commentary on Galatians 3:13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Christ, offered for the cursed, became 'a curse' as a sin offering is called 'sin'; innocent, he was not cursed but became the curse of those who killed him, and by his death and descent he freed humanity.
Commentary on Romans 5:15Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Adam is a type of Christ only in that one sinned and one amended; grace abounds to more than died through Adam’s offence, including those freed at Christ’s descent to the underworld.
Question 64, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ’s passion begins with night, the image of death, so that the Lord of light might enter death’s domain and destroy it; the reversal of day and night marks the Jews’ crime as a deed of darkness.
Question 78, section 2Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Father offered Christ by letting his enemies kill him, which let him descend to strip the underworld and made the devil guilty; so he was made a curse for us, and his sign frees us from the second death.
Question 83, section 4Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · Christ came hidden in human form so that the devil, killing him as a man, found him God in the underworld and lost all his captives.
Question 89, section 1Ambrosiaster · ca. 370–384 · The Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment by proving, through Christ’s ascension and the release of souls from the underworld, that he came from God.
Letter to Epictetus 6Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 370 · Athanasius argues from Christ's burial and wounds that the body was the Word's own but not the Word himself, so that the impassible Word made the sufferings of his body his own for our salvation.
Letter 39.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome answers the biblical examples of mourning, arguing that under the gospel, which has opened paradise, Christians should not grieve like those without hope.
Letter 60.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome gives thanks to Christ for conquering death and opening paradise, which before him was closed even to the patriarchs.
Letter 98.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus argues from Christ's descent to hell and his words that he laid down and took up a complete human soul.
Letter 119.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Continuing Origen, Jerome gives an allegorical reading of 1 Thess 4:15-17: the sleeping and dead are those who sinned and repented, the trumpets and archangel prepare Christ's way, and the clouds are the prophets and apostles.
Letter 121.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Answering Algasia's first question, Jerome explains why John the Baptist, who had pointed out Christ, sent disciples to ask whether he was the one to come.
Ancoratus 34.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Psalm 16 and Acts 2 show Christ had a soul that went to Hades.
Ancoratus 34.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Christ was free among the dead; Hades could not hold him.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 24.9.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's death conquered death and emptied Hades.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.4.3Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion teaches that Christ in Hades saved Cain, Korah, Esau and the nations.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 42.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Marcion teaches that the righteous of Israel were left in Hades because they served the creator.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.3.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Christ's descent to the dead shows his will to save them.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 46.4.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Adam is saved; Christ came to grant amnesty to the living by repentance and to the dead in Hades by mercy.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 64.65.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Neither soul nor body of Christ was left to death.
On the Christian Faith 3.4Ambrose · ca. 378–380 · Ambrose reads Ps 88 as Christ speaking as man, “free among the dead and without help,” and contrasts the prophets and apostles, who raised the dead by prayer or in Christ’s name, with Christ, who commands by his own power.
Theological Oration 3 (Or. 29), On the Son 20Gregory of Nazianzus · 380 · In a long series of contrasts Gregory shows Christ acting in the same events as man and as God, from his baptism to his return in judgment.
Book of Heresies 125.1Philastrius of Brescia · ca. 380s · Some say the dead could be saved by confessing in the underworld.
On the Complaints of Job and David 1.26Ambrose · ca. 383-390 · Job, foreseeing Christ’s descent to the dead, asks to be hidden until God’s wrath passes and to be called back to life.
Exposition of Psalm 118 1.19.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · The Father seemed to forsake the Son by handing him over to death, but did not leave him in hell.
Letter 163.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Evodius asks Augustine about the origin of Christ's human soul and about the spirits in prison to whom Christ preached according to 1 Peter 3.
Letter 164.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine asks why, if Christ preached in the underworld, Peter mentions only those who disbelieved in Noah's time and not the countless others who died in ignorance of God.
Letter 164.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ certainly descended into the underworld, as Psalm 16 and Acts show, and loosed its pains either so they could not hold him or to free others.
Letter 164.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · There is no clear authority that Christ emptied hell; the loosing of its pains may refer to Christ himself or to some, not all, of those held there.
Letter 164.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Abraham's bosom, where Lazarus rested, was not in torment nor part of the underworld, since a great gulf separated them, so it is unclear what Christ's descent did for the righteous there.
Letter 164.8Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Christ was in the underworld in his human soul and freed some from its pains, while by his divinity he was always in paradise with the righteous.
Letter 164.10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Peter's letter goes on to speak of baptism, Christ's exaltation, and the gospel being preached "to the dead," which deepens the difficulty.
Letter 164.11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine cannot see how the dead in the underworld could be "judged in the flesh," nor why Peter singles out Noah's generation.
Letter 164.13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If people could believe in the underworld after death, preaching the gospel in this life would be pointless or even harmful, which is absurd.
Letter 164.14Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine holds to the creed that Christ died, was buried, descended, freed whom he willed, and rose, while leaving the passage in 1 Peter open.
Letter 164.15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine proposes that Peter's words refer not to the underworld but to Noah's time as a type of the present, with the ark as the church and the flood as baptism.
Letter 164.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · "The dead" to whom the gospel was preached can be understood as the spiritually dead in this life, who on believing are judged in the flesh by trials but live in the spirit.
Letter 187.5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · If spoken of Christ's humanity, the promise cannot mean heaven, since that day Christ's soul was in hell and his body in the tomb.
Letter 187.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine is unsure whether Abraham's bosom belongs to hell, but suggests 'paradise' may be any place of blessed life, including that region visited by Christ's soul.
Homilies on Matthew 36.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · John sent his jealous disciples to learn from Christ’s works who he was; Chrysostom rejects the view that John did not know of the passion or of a preaching in Hades, insists that there is no repentance after death, and warns his hearers who partake of the mysteries unworthily.
On Joseph 16Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The dry cistern into which Joseph was thrown signifies the waterless cisterns of those who forsook God, and Christ's descent among the dead.
On Joseph 31Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Joseph prefigures Christ, who came into the prison of the body, was not overcome by temptation, put off the flesh, and freed others from the place of the dead.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 43.86.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Jonah’s prayer from “the belly of hell” points to Christ’s descent to free the dead.
Explanation of Twelve Psalms 48.22.1Ambrose · ca. 387-397 · Christ, whose soul was not left in hell, went down to free its captives.
Sermon 28.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · A spoken word reaches every hearer whole without being divided, as bread would be; so the Word of God is whole everywhere, with the Father, in the Virgin, in the underworld, and in paradise.
Sermon 285.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The cause, not the punishment, makes a martyr, as the three crosses show: the penitent thief changed his cause and was promised paradise, while Christ’s cross became a tribunal.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 33.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus concedes that the patriarchs may be in heaven through Christ’s mercy after release from the underworld, but holds that their lives were wicked and asks why the same is not said of gentile ancestors.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 33.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Faustus claims the Gospels were compiled long after the apostles by disagreeing “Semi-Jews” who added words to Christ’s sayings, but says the passage does not harm the Manichaeans whether true or false.
Tractates 6Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · Gaudentius summarizes the Easter-week sermons and expounds the striking of Egypt's firstborn: at Christ's death and descent to the underworld he struck the demons and their idols, while the destroyer, the devil, is kept from those marked with the sign of Christ's blood.
Tractates 10Gaudentius of Brescia · ca. 397-410 · On the 'first day' and 'seventh day' of the Passover law: God's rest does not end his working; Christ rested in the tomb on the Sabbath while his soul freed the saints below, made the first day holy by his resurrection, and points to the seventh millennium as the saints' final rest.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 12.33Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · The underworld is real and receives souls after death; Christ descended to free some from its pains; but Augustine finds no place where Scripture calls the rest of the righteous, Abraham's bosom, the underworld.
Literal Commentary on Genesis 12.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 401–415 · Paradise may mean any place where souls fare well—a good conscience, the church, Abraham's bosom; the underworld is pictured as “below” because it is the place of sorrow; the third heaven, the vision of God by the mind, may be the paradise of paradises.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 17Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ went down into death not as its captive but as a king entering a prison to set the prisoners free.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 18Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The Creed names Pontius Pilate to fix the time; 'he descended to hell', missing in the Roman and Eastern creeds, means the same as 'buried'; Scripture testimonies follow.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 28Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ's descent into hell is shown from the Psalms, from John the Baptist's question, and from 1 Peter's preaching to the spirits in prison.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 29Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · Christ's resurrection reveals the glory hidden in his weakness; he rose victorious, led out the dead, and set our flesh at God's right hand.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 31Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The ascension is to be understood worthily of God: the Word made flesh entered heaven as victor, bringing back the captives and giving the Spirit.
Tractates on the Gospel of John 111.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 406–420 · To be with Christ means to be in heaven with the risen Christ and, beyond all bodily images, to see him as God, which the blessed alone enjoy.
City of God 17.11Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The psalmist's prayer points to Christ as the 'substance' of Israel, who alone died and rescued his own soul from hell.
City of God 20.15Augustine of Hippo · 413–426 · The sea that gives up its dead is this world, giving up those still alive at Christ's coming; death and hell give back the departed; the book of life is God's infallible foreknowledge of the predestined.
The Institutes 3.3John Cassian · ca. 419–426 · The day offices at the third, sixth, and ninth hours commemorate Pentecost, the crucifixion, Peter's vision, the descent to hell, and Cornelius; morning and evening prayer also have scriptural grounds.
Carmen de Christo 1–30Flavius Merobaudes · ca. 430-450 · A short hymn to Christ: the eternal Son, born of the Virgin, recognized by the Magi, who raised the dead, descended to the realm of death, rose and ascended, and is one with the Father in a threefold light.
Letters 2Capreolus of Carthage · 431-433 · Capreolus answers Vitalis and Constantius against the Nestorian heresy: the Son of God and son of man are one inseparable person, as many Scriptures show, so that God was born, suffered and descended to the dead in the man he took.