Book of the Bee

Historical scan page 160

1 32 THE BOOK OF THE BEE. resurrection ; but the soul knows everything that it has done whether of good or evil. As to where the souls abide from the time they leave their bodies until the resurrection, some say that they are taken up to heaven, that is, to the region of spirit, where the celestial hosts dwell. Others say that they go to Paradise, that is, to the place which is abundantly supplied with the good things of the mystery of the revelations of God ; and that the souls of sinners lie in darkness in the abyss of Eden outside Paradise. Others say that they are buried with their bodies ; that is to say, as the two were buried in God at baptism, so also will they now dwell in Him until the day of the resurrection. Others say that they stand at the mouth of the graves and await their Redeemer ; that is to say, they possess the knowledge of the resurrection of" their bodies. Others say that they are as it were in a slumber, [r^.Ua] because of the shortness of the time ; for they point out in regard to them that what seems to us a very long time is to them as a momentary nod (or wink) in its shortness 1. And just as he that is sunk in slumber departs from the life of this world, and yet does not arrive at absolute mortality, so also are they in an intermediate knowledge which is higher than that of this world, and yet attain not to that which is after the resurrection. Those who say that they are like an infant which has no knowledge, shew that they call even the knowledge of the truth ignorance in com¬ parison with that knowledge of the truth which shall be bestowed upon them after the resurrection. That the souls of the righteous pray, and that their prayers assist those who take refuge with them, may be learned from many, especially from Mar Theodore in his account of the blessed Thecla. Therefore it is right for those who have a holy man for a friend, to rejoice when he goes to our Lord in Paradise, because their friend has the power to help them by his prayers. Like the blind disciple of one of the saints men¬ tioned in the Book of the Paradise, who, when his master was dying, wept bitterly and said, ‘To whose care dost thou leave the poor blind man?' And his master encouraged him, and said to him, ‘I believe in God that, if I find mercy in His sight, at the end of a week thou wilt see;’ and 1 See Assemani, Bibl. Orient ., t. iii, pt. i, pp. 322-323.