Horned devils, burning sinners with living fire, thousands of inhuman torments, the stench of sulfur ... It would seem that there is nothing more medieval than hell. What if we tell you that there were theologians, saints, and even one pope who claimed that hell does not exist? And it is in the "dark ages".
We came over a vast valley, extremely long. Its left bank blazed with a terrible flame, while on the other, equally terrible, hail and snow scattered everywhere. Both shores were teeming with human souls tossed here and there by the raging hurricane. When the unfortunate little souls, unable to endure the heat any longer, threw themselves into the abyss of frost, did not receive any relief, and then jumped back into the undying fire.
This is one of the medieval descriptions of hell. Let us not be surprised by the dramatic nature of the scenes presented. The visions of the torments of hell must have reached the imagination of a medieval man . A man whose life was full of such events and phenomena as wars, murders, rape, oppression, hunger, disease and natural disasters. To really scare him, not just any story was enough.
We associate this kind of hell with images from before a millennium. But not necessarily right. Medieval illustration from "Hortus deliciarum", a manuscript of Herrada of Landsberg from around 1180 (source:public domain).
Hell played an extremely important role in the teaching of the Church at that time:it disciplined, inclined to obedience, discouraged sin, and held it in obedience. Nothing influences the proper behavior of the faithful more than the prospect of inhuman pain inflicted by terrifying demons. And for all eternity…
Hell doesn't last forever!
But medieval preachers could go overboard frightening the lambs with infernal propaganda. And any propaganda, pushed too intensely into the head, provokes a defensive reaction.
The reaction to this "pastoral care of fear" were the views emerging from time to time in the Church and, more broadly, in Christianity that ... hell does not exist! And even Christian scholars looked for loopholes to ease the vision of eternal suffering in the abyss of fire.
The article was inspired by the series of novels by Maurice Druon entitled "The Cursed Kings" (Otwarte Publishing House 2016).
In the third century AD, a group of Alexandrian theologians argued, for example, that hell is not eternal because it would be contrary to the goodness and justice of God. After all, the merciful God could not spend the beings he created on endless torment!
In turn, the Gnostics proclaimed that hell is a place not in the distant afterlife, but here on earth . People experience it in mortality, subject to natural limitations and existential fears. Earthly hell is each of us, our lives, we are . It will end with the final, definitive triumph of good.
Hell is in us
Another way of "taming" hell was adopted by Clement of Alexandria, an early Christian theologian, Father of the Church and saint. He considered that the hellfire appearing in the descriptions of is rather remorse tormenting the damned and sorrow for the sins committed, as well as the suffering that comes from observing the happiness of others.
Lucifer torturing souls… and himself. Or is it just remorse that torments the sinner? Illustration from "Duke de Berry's Very Rich Hours" (source:public domain).
He also claimed that these torments will not be eternal, because God punishes not for revenge, but to give sinners the opportunity to improve. This interpretation is more like the description of purgatory, the idea of which was fully developed only in the 11th century.
This thought was continued by the disciple of Saint Clement, Origen, a philosopher and theologian, also counted among the Fathers of the Church. Origen reiterated that hellfire was a metaphor for remorse, and that sinners suffered as a result of inner tears after death. The soul hurts because it has voluntarily found itself outside the order and harmony created by God.
Another thing was that Origen was pointing out that such an interpretation of hell should be reserved only to the educated . The traditional image of posthumous torments will be more appropriate for simpletons:physical and mental torment, scorching flames, endless torture.
Hell only for devils
Around 1250, an anonymous work appeared claiming that the Italian Cathars denied the existence of hell. Since the world was created by Lucifer, why would he also create a place of torment for himself and his followers?
A certain Arnold Gelis from the French Cathar village of Montaillou preached that hell does exist, but it is only the home of devils . Human souls wander the earth for some time after death, and then they go to the "place of rest". After the final judgment they will be saved, and the damned will not be at all . Some Cathars probably believed that hell is not a specific place, but the result of the contamination of the soul by the body, and therefore the state of life on earth.
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St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), theologian and Doctor of the Church. In one of his works, he presented the view that hell exists in mortality and is a state, not a place . It can save from the hell to come, because in temporal suffering cleansing from sins is performed.
Pope reformer and revisionist
This is nothing - in the 14th century the Pope himself doubted the existence of a hell filled with suffering sinners! John XXII - because we are talking about him - was educated, polished, ambitious and, despite his old age, energetic. He introduced reforms and customs that have survived to this day. And thanks to his organizational talents, he significantly improved the material situation of the Church and made it independent of the secular authorities.
John XXII - the pope who did not believe in hell - on a medieval Avignon fresco (source:public domain).
What were his views on Hell? Well, John XXII questioned the teaching of the Doctors of the Church, who claimed that the souls of the righteous immediately after death go before God and can commune with him as a reward for godly life. And sinners end up in Hell, where they will suffer well deserved torment. The Pope believed that it was a wishful thinking rather than a truth of faith.
There is no hell!
After all, the Scriptures clearly said that at the end of the world, souls would merge with bodies and only in this form would people face the final judgment. This was a contradiction for John XXII. The pope was a lawyer by profession, therefore he reasoned as follows: the omniscient God could not consider the matters of every deceased twice before his tribunal.
The article was inspired by the series of novels by Maurice Druon entitled "The Cursed Kings" (Otwarte Publishing House 2016).
Nor could he revoke his own previous sentences. God is infallible, and a reconsideration implies the possibility of error. And that sounds like blasphemy.
This reasoning showed that the Doctors of the Church were wrong:after death, the souls of the righteous do not go to God's presence, and the souls of sinners do not go to hell. There is neither heaven nor hell before the final judgment! Communion with God will take place at the end of history.
Well, yes, but where do souls go until the last day? The Holy Father used the record from the Apocalypse of St. John and claimed that they were waiting for the end of history before God's altar ( sub altare Dei ).
There is neither heaven nor hell before the final judgment, and souls await judgment at God's altar. Such reasoning of the Pope, although internally consistent, met with deep disapproval of the ecclesiastical circles. Hans Memling's triptych "The Last Judgment" from around 1470 (source:public domain).
The Pope renounces his views
This papal teaching, however, aroused controversy and became the reason for accusing him of unrighteousness. Just before John's death, he was forced to renounce these views in the presence of the cardinals. These are the words he put into the mouth of Cardinal Elijah Talleyrand de Périgord Maurice Druon, the creator of the novel series "Cursed Kings":
My benefactor John XXII, my first Pope, did not believe in hell, but rather declared it empty. He did, however, a little too far. If people were not afraid of hellfire, how would we force them to pay alms and do penance for their sins? Without Hell, the Church could close its doors. It was a fantasy of an eminent old man. He had to withdraw his thesis on his deathbed, it was necessary.
In 1336 John XXII's successor, Benedict XII, issued the constitution Benedictus Deus in which he clearly stated that the souls of sinners go to Hell immediately after their death.