Revelation 20:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But who are these dead whom the sea gave up? It cannot be supposed that those who die at sea were not in Hades, or that their bodies were preserved in the sea.

Still more absurd would be the supposition that the sea contained the good dead and Hades the evil dead. To whom would such a thought occur?

Some quite reasonably think that in this case the word sea is used in the sense of the present age.

Thus, to make us understand that together with those who rise, those whom Christ finds still here in their bodies will also be subject to judgment, he called them dead also.

He means both the good, of whom it is said, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col 3:3), and the evil, of whom it is said, "Let the dead bury their own dead" (Mt 8:22).

Each body will be formed again and returned from the very elements of which it was composed, whether it was given over to the earth or to the sea. Death and Hades are not living creatures, as some suppose. Death is the separation of the soul from the body, and Hades is an invisible and unknown place to us, to which our souls go when they depart from here. The souls of those who performed dead works are dead. But the souls of the righteous, according to the Wise One, are in the hand of God, and torment will not touch them (Wis 3:1).

Lest anyone say that those who perished in the sea, drowned in water, were eaten by beasts, or were burned in fire cannot rise, John says that the sea gave up its dead. And since no one escapes the judgment of God, he adds: and each one was judged according to his works. Lest anyone think that bodily death will follow after the resurrection, which is impious not only to think but even to say, he added: And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.

Those who do not believe in the resurrection of bodies treat us and our dogma with contempt, since it says that these very same bodies will rise again. They think this is not only difficult to achieve, but altogether impossible.

They say that every earthly body is composed of four elements: fire, water, earth, and air. Of course, bodies subjected to dissolution through death return to the things from which they were originally composed.

Thus what is fiery in us departs into the natural and universal fire. What is watery departs into water, and the other two elements into what is proper to them.

This means that bodies are gathered together from the earth and souls from their places. By the word death the author indicates those good souls that underwent only separation from the body, but not punishment.

By the word Hades he indicates base souls. This text can also be taken literally, that all bodies swallowed by waters or torn by wild beasts will rise.

Tyconius speaks of this text thus: "The nations whom He finds here alive are the dead of the sea. Those of whom it is said, 'And death and Hades gave up the dead,' are the nations that have died and been buried."

In this prophetic vision of John, interpreters of Revelation see the dread Judgment of God. Then the dead will live again (see Jn 5:25), and their souls will be united with their bodies, changed only into a better form and made incorruptible (see 1 Cor 15:35-44). They will appear to give account for their earthly deeds and to receive their due recompense (see 2 Cor 5:10).

“Every body will be composed and restored from that into which it was dissolved, whether it was committed to the earth or to the sea,” says St. Andrew.

While the body has fallen asleep in the sleep of death, what happens to the soul? The word of God reveals to us that after separation from their bodies, our souls are joined, according to the good or evil qualities they acquired in earthly life, either to the angels of light or to the fallen angels.

By their nature they form one rank of beings with the angels, but are divided according to quality, like them, by the good or evil which free choice has joined to a nature that was originally pure and holy.

We find indisputable proofs of this in Holy Scripture and in the writings of the Holy Fathers.

In Hades, in terrible torments, sinners await the resurrection. When the trumpet of resurrection sounds, then Paradise will present the citizens of heaven for glorious union with their bodies.

Their bodies will live at the voice of the Son of God (Jn 5:25), as four-day Lazarus, already stinking, heard this voice and lived.

Hades will present its dead for the dread Judgment and the final sentence.

By these features the universality of the resurrection is depicted. The thought is given that wherever the dead body has been buried, whether in the earth or in the depths of the waters, the Maker and Creator of the universe can find it. He can restore it again to the soul from which it parted at the hour of death.