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St. Hippolytus of Rome 170 - 235 AD
41. Then He shall gather together all nations, as the holy Gospel so strikingly declares. For what says Matthew the evangelist, or rather the Lord Himself, in the Gospel? When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Come, you prophets, who were cast out for my name's sake. Come, you patriarchs, who before my advent were obedient to me, and longed for my kingdom. Come, you apostles, who were my fellows in my sufferings in my incarnation, and suffered with me in the Gospel. Come, you martyrs, who confessed me before despots, and endured many torments and pains. Come, you hierarchs, who did me sacred service blamelessly day and night, and made the oblation of my honourable body and blood daily.
42. Come, you saints, who disciplined yourselves in mountains and caves and dens of the earth, who honoured my name by continence and prayer and virginity. Come, you maidens, who desired my bride-chamber, and loved no other bridegroom than me, who by your testimony and habit of life were wedded to me, the immortal and incorruptible Bridegroom. Come, you friends of the poor and the stranger. Come, you who kept my love, as I am love. Come, you who possess peace, for I own that peace. Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, you who esteemed not riches, you who had compassion on the poor, who aided the orphans, who helped the widows, who gave drink to the thirsty, who fed the hungry, who received strangers, who clothed the naked, who visited the sick, who comforted those in prison, who helped the blind, who kept the seal of the faith inviolate, who assembled yourselves together in the churches, who listened to my Scriptures, who longed for my words, who observed my law day and night, who endured hardness with me like good soldiers, seeking to please me, your heavenly King. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Behold, my kingdom is made ready; behold, paradise is opened; behold, my immortality is shown in its beauty. Come all, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
43. Then shall the righteous answer, astonished at the mighty and wondrous fact that He, whom the hosts of angels cannot look upon openly, addresses them as friends, and shall cry out to Him, Lord, when saw we You an hungered, and fed You? Master, when saw we You thirsty, and gave You drink? You Terrible One, when saw we You naked, and clothed You? Immortal, when saw we You a stranger, and took You in? You Friend of man, when saw we You sick or in prison, and came unto You? You are the ever-living One. You are without beginning, like the Father, and co-eternal with the Spirit. You are He who made all things out of nothing. You are the prince of the angels. You are He at whom the depths tremble. You are He who is covered with light as with a garment. You are He who made us, and fashioned us of earth. You are He who formed things invisible. From Your presence the whole earth flees away, and how have we received hospitably Your kingly power and lordship?
44. Then shall the King of kings make answer again, and say to them, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me. Inasmuch as you have received those of whom I have already spoken to you, and clothed them, and fed them, and gave them to drink, I mean the poor who are my members, you have done it unto me. But come into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; enjoy for ever and ever that which is given you by my Father in heaven, and the holy and quickening Spirit. And what mouth then will be able to tell out those blessings which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him?
45. You have heard of the ceaseless joy, you have heard of the immoveable kingdom, you have heard of the feast of blessings without end. Learn now, then, also the address of anguish with which the just Judge and the benignant God shall speak to those on the left hand in unmeasured anger and wrath, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. You have prepared these things for yourselves; take to yourselves also the enjoyment of them. Depart from me, you cursed, into the outer darkness, and into the unquenchable fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. I made you, and you gave yourselves to another. I am He who brought you forth from your mother's womb, and you rejected me. I am He who fashioned you of earth by my word of command, and you gave yourselves to another. I am He who nurtured you, and you served another. I ordained the earth and the sea for your maintenance and the bound of your life, and you listened not to my commandments. I made the light for you, that you might enjoy the day, and the night also, that you might have rest; and you v vexed me, and set me at nought with your wicked words, and opened the door to the passions. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I know you not, I recognise you not: you made yourselves the workmen of another lord — namely, the devil. With him inherit the darkness, and the fire that is not quenched, and the worm that sleeps not, and the gnashing of teeth.
46. For I was an hungered, and you gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you clothed me not; sick, and you visited me not: I was in prison, and you came not unto me. I made your ears that you might hear the Scriptures; and you prepared them for the songs of demons, and lyres, and jesting. I made your eyes that you might see the light of my commandments, and keep them; and you called in fornication and wantonness, and opened them to all other manner of uncleanness. I prepared your mouth for the utterance of adoration, and praise, and psalms, and spiritual odes, and for the exercise of continuous reading; and you fitted it to railing, and swearing, and blasphemies, while you sat and spoke evil of your neighbours. I made your hands that you might stretch them forth in prayers and supplications, and you put them forth to robberies, and murders, and the killing of each other. I ordained your feet to walk in the preparation of the Gospel of peace, both in the churches and the houses of my saints; and you taught them to run to adulteries, and fornications, and theatres, and dancings, and elevations.
47. At last the assembly is dissolved, the spectacle of this life ceases: its deceit and its semblance are passed away. Cleave to me, to whom every knee bows, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth. For all who have been negligent, and have not shown pity in well-doing there, have nothing else due them than the unquenchable fire. For I am the friend of man, but yet also a righteous Judge to all. For I shall award the recompense according to desert; I shall give the reward to all, according to each man's labour; I shall make return to all, according to each man's conflict. I wish to have pity, but I see no oil in your vessels. I desire to have mercy, but you have passed through life entirely without mercy. I long to have compassion, but your lamps are dark by reason of your hardness of heart. Depart from me. For judgment is without mercy to him that has showed no mercy.
48. Then shall they also make answer to the dread Judge, who accepts no man's person: Lord, when saw we You an hungered, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and ministered not unto You? Lord, do You know us not? You formed us, You fashioned us, You made us of four elements, You gave us spirit and soul. On You we believed; Your seal we received, Your baptism we obtained; we acknowledged You to be God, we knew You to be Creator; in You we wrought sights, through You we cast out demons, for You we mortified the flesh, for You we preserved virginity, for You we practised chastity, for You we became strangers on the earth; and You say, I know you not, depart from me! Then shall He make answer to them, and say, You acknowledged me as Lord, but you kept not my words. You were marked with the seal of my cross, but you deleted it by your hardness of heart. You obtained my baptism, but you observed not my commandments. You subdued your body to virginity, but you kept not mercy, but you did not cast the hatred of your brother out of your souls. For not every, one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall be saved, but he that does my will. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.
49. "Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life."
You have heard, beloved, the answer of the Lord; you have learned the sentence of the Judge; you have been given to understand what kind of awful scrutiny awaits us, and what day and what hour are before us. Let us therefore ponder this every day; let us meditate on this both day and night, both in the house, and by the way, and in the churches, that we may not stand forth at that dread and impartial judgment condemned, abased, and sad, but with purity of action, life, conversation, and confession; so that to us also the merciful and benignant God may say, Your faith has saved you, go in peace; and again, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many, things: enter into the joy of your Lord. Which joy may it be ours to reach, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom pertain glory, honour, and adoration, with His Father, who is without beginning, and His holy, and good, and quickening Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of the ages. Amen.