Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXIX: De qualitate uisionis, qua in futuro saeculo sancti deum uidebunt.

Nunc iam quid acturi sint in corporibus inmortalibus atque spiritalibus sancti, non adhuc eorum carne carnaliter, sed spiritaliter iam uiuente, quantum dominus dignatur adiuuare uideamus. et illa quidem actio uel potius quies atque otium quale futurum sit, si uerum uelim dicere, nescio. non enim hoc umquam per sensus corporis uidi. si autem mente, id est intellegentia, uidisse me dicam, quantum est aut quid est nostra intellegentia ad illam excellentiam? ibi est enim pax dei, quae, sicut ait apostolus, superat omnem intellectum; quem nisi nostrum, aut fortasse etiam sanctorum angelorum? non enim et dei. si ergo sancti in dei pace uicturi sunt, profecto in ea pace uicturi sunt, quae superat omnem intellectum. quoniam nostrum quidem superat, non est dubium; si autem superat et angelorum, ut nec ipsos excepisse uideantur, qui ait omnem intellectum, secundum hoc dictum esse debemus accipere, quia pacem dei, qua deus ipse pacatus est, sicut deus nouit, non eam nos sic possumus nosse nec ulli angeli. superat itaque omnem intellectum, non dubium quod praeter suum. sed quia et nos pro modo nostro pacis eius participes facti summam in nobis atque inter nos et cum ipso pacem, quantum nostrum summum est, obtinebimus, isto modo pro suo modo sciunt eam sancti angeli; homines autem nunc longe infra, quantumlibet prouectu mentis excellant. considerandum est enim quantus uir dicebat: ex parte scimus et ex parte prophetamus, donec ueniat quod perfectum est; et: uidemus nunc per speculum in aenigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem. sic iam uident sancti angeli, qui etiam nostri angeli dicti sunt, quia eruti de potestate tenebrarum et accepto spiritus pignore translati ad regnum Christi ad eos angelos iam coepimus pertinere, cum quibus nobis erit sancta atque dulcissima, de qua iam tot libros scripsimus, dei ciuitas ipsa communis. sic sunt ergo angeli nostri, qui sunt angeli dei, quemadmodum Christus dei Christus est noster. dei sunt, quia deum non reliquerunt; nostri sunt quia suos ciues nos habere coeperunt. dixit autem dominus Iesus: uidete ne contemnatis unum de pusillis istis. dico enim uobis, quia angeli eorum in caelis semper uident faciem patris mei, qui in caelis est. sicut ergo illi uident, ita et nos uisuri sumus; sed nondum ita uidemus. propter quod ait apostolus, quod paulo ante dixi: uidemus nunc per speculum in aenigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem. praemium itaque fidei nobis uisio ista seruatur, de qua et Iohannes apostolus loquens: cum apparuerit, inquit, similes ei erimus, quoniam uidebimus eum sicuti est. facies autem dei manifestatio eius intellegenda est, non aliquod tale membrum, quale nos habemus in corpore atque isto nomine nuncupamus. quapropter cum ex me quaeritur, quid acturi sint sancti in illo corpore spiritali, non dico quod iam uideo, sed dico quod credo, secundum illud quod in psalmo lego: credidi, propter quod locutus sum. dico itaque: uisuri sunt deum in ipso corpore; sed utrum per ipsum, sicut per corpus nunc uidemus solem, lunam, stellas, mare ac terram et quae sunt in ea, non parua quaestio est. durum est enim dicere, quod sancti talia corpora tunc habebunt, ut non possint oculos claudere atque aperire cum uolent; durius autem, quod ibi deum, quisquis oculos clauserit, non uidebit. si enim propheta Helisaeus puerum suum Giezi absens corpore uidit accipientem munera, quae dedit ei Naeman Syrus, quem propheta memoratus a leprae deformitate mundauerat, quod seruus nequam domino suo non uidente latenter se fecisse putauerat, quanto magis in illo corpore spiritali uidebunt sancti omnia, non solum si oculos claudant, uerum etiam unde sunt corpore absentes. tunc enim erit perfectum illud, de quo loquens apostolus: ex parte, inquit, scimus et ex parte prophetamus; cum autem uenerit quod perfectum est, quod ex parte est euacuabitur. deinde ut quomodo posset aliqua similitudine ostenderet, quantum ab illa quae futura est distet haec uita, non qualiumcumque hominum, uerum etiam qui praecipua hic sanctitate sunt praediti: cum essem, inquit, paruulus, quasi paruulus sapiebam, quasi paruulus loquebar, quasi paruulus cogitabam; cum autem factus sum uir, euacuaui ea quae paruuli erant. uidemus nunc per speculum in aenigmate, tunc autem facie ad faciem. nunc scio ex parte, tunc autem cognoscam sicut et cognitus sum. si ergo in hac uita, ubi hominum mirabilium prophetia ita conparanda est illi uitae, quasi paruuli ad iuuenem, uidit tamen Helisaeus accipientem munera seruum suum, ubi ipse non erat: ita ne cum uenerit quod perfectum est, nec iam corpus corruptibile adgrauabit animam, sed incorruptibile nihil inpediet, illi sancti ad ea, quae uidenda sunt, oculis corporeis, quibus Helisaeus absens ad seruum suum uidendum non indiguit, indigebunt? nam secundum interpretes septuaginta ista sunt ad Giezi uerba prophetae: nonne cor meum iit te cum, quando conuersus est uir de curru suo in obuiam tibi et accepisti pecuniam? et cetera; sicut autem ex Hebraeo interpretatus est presbyter Hieronymus: nonne cor meum, inquit, in praesenti erat, quando reuersus est homo de curru suo in occursum tui? corde suo ergo se dixit hoc uidisse propheta, adiuto quidem mirabiliter nullo dubitante diuinitus. sed quanto amplius tunc omnes munere isto abundabunt, cum deus erit omnia in omnibus. habebunt tamen etiam illi oculi corporei officium suum et in loco suo erunt, uteturque illis spiritus per spiritale corpus. neque enim et ille propheta, quia non eis indiguit ut uideret absentem, non eis usus est ad uidenda praesentia; quae tamen spiritu uidere posset, etiamsi illos clauderet, sicut uidit absentia, ubi cum eis ipse non erat. absit ergo, ut dicamus illos sanctos in illa uita deum clausis oculis non uisuros, quem spiritu semper uidebunt. sed utrum uidebunt et per oculos corporis cum eos apertos habebunt, inde quaestio est. si enim tantum poterunt in corpore spiritali eo modo utique etiam ipsi oculi spiritales, quantum possunt isti quales nunc habemus, procul dubio per eos deus uideri non poterit. longe itaque alterius erunt potentiae, si per eos uidebitur incorporea illa natura, quae non continetur loco, sed ubique tota est. non enim quia dicimus deum et in caelo esse et in terra - ipse quippe ait per prophetam: caelum et terram ego inpleo - , aliam partem dicturi sumus eum in caelo habere et in terra aliam; sed totus in caelo est, totus in terra, non alternis temporibus, sed utrumque simul, quod nulla natura corporalis potest. uis itaque praepollentior oculorum erit illorum, non ut acrius uideant, quam quidam perhibentur uidere serpentes uel aquilae - quantalibet enim acrimonia cernendi eadem quoque animalia nihil aliud possunt uidere quam corpora - , sed ut uideant et incorporalia. et fortasse ista uirtus magna cernendi data fuerit ad horam etiam in isto mortali corpore oculis sancti uiri Iob, quando ait ad deum: in obauditu auris audiebam te prius, nunc autem oculus meus uidet te; propterea despexi me met ipsum et distabui et existimaui me terram et cinerem; quamuis nihil hic prohibeat oculum cordis intellegi, de quibus oculis ait apostolus: inluminatos oculos habere cordis uestri. ipsis autem uideri deum, cum uidebitur, Christianus ambigit nemo, qui fideliter accipit, quod ait deus ille magister: beati mundi corde, quoniam ipsi deum uidebunt. sed utrum etiam corporalibus ibi oculis uideatur, hoc in ista quaestione uersamus. illud enim quod scriptum est: et uidebit omnis caro salutare dei, sine ullius nodo difficultatis sic intellegi potest, ac si dictum fuerit: et uidebit omnis homo Christum dei, qui utique in corpore uisus est et in corpore uidebitur, quando uiuos et mortuos iudicabit. quod autem ipse sit salutare dei, multa sunt et alia testimonia scripturarum; sed euidentius uenerandi illius senis Symeonis uerba declarant, qui, cum infantem Christum accepisset in manus suas: nunc, inquit, dimittis, domine, seruum tuum secundum uerbum tuum in pace, quoniam uiderunt oculi mei salutare tuum. illud etiam, quod ait supra memoratus Iob, sicut in exemplaribus, quae ex Hebraeo sunt, inuenitur: et in carne mea uidebo deum, resurrectionem quidem carnis sine dubio prophetauit, non tamen dixit: per carnem meam. quod quidem si dixisset, posset deus Christus intellegi, qui per carnem in carne uidebitur; nunc uero potest et sic accipi: in carne mea uidebo deum, ac si dixisset: in carne mea ero, cum uidebo deum. et illud, quod ait apostolus: facie ad faciem, non cogit ut deum per hanc faciem corporalem, ubi sunt oculi corporales, nos uisuros esse credamus, quem spiritu sine intermissione uidebimus. nisi enim esset etiam interioris hominis facies, non diceret idem apostolus: nos autem reuelata facie gloriam domini speculantes in eandem imaginem transformamur, de gloria in gloriam, tamquam a domini spiritu; nec aliter intellegimus et quod in psalmo canitur: accedite ad eum et inluminamini, et facies uestrae non erubescent. fide quippe acceditur ad deum, quam cordis constat esse, non corporis. sed quia spiritale corpus nescimus quantos habebit accessus - de re quippe inexperta loquimur - , ubi aliqua, quae aliter intellegi nequeat, diuinarum scripturarum non occurrit et succurrit auctoritas, necesse est ut contingat in nobis quod legitur in libro Sapientiae: cogitationes mortalium timidae et incertae prouidentiae nostrae. ratiocinatio quippe illa philosophorum, qua disputant ita mentis adspectu intellegibilia uideri et sensu corporis sensibilia, id est corporalia, ut nec intellegibilia per corpus nec corporalia per se ipsam mens ualeat intueri, si posset nobis esse certissima, profecto certum esset per oculos corporis etiam spiritalis nullo modo posse uideri deum. sed istam ratiocinationem et uera ratio et prophetica inridet auctoritas. quis enim ita sit auersus a uero, ut dicere audeat deum corporalia ista nescire? numquid ergo corpus habet, per cuius oculos ea possit addiscere? deinde quod de propheta Helisaeo paulo ante diximus, nonne satis indicat etiam spiritu, non per corpus, corporalia posse cerni? quando enim seruus ille munera accepit, utique corporaliter gestum est; quod tamen propheta non per corpus, sed per spiritum uidit. sicut ergo constat corpora uideri spiritu, quid si tanta erit potentia spiritalis corporis, ut corpore uideatur et spiritus? spiritus enim est deus. deinde uitam quidem suam, qua nunc uiuit in corpore et haec terrena membra uegetat facitque uiuentia, interiore sensu quisque, non per corporeos oculos nouit; aliorum uero uitas, cum sint inuisibiles, per corpus uidet. nam unde uiuentia discernimus a non uiuentibus corpora, nisi corpora simul uitasque uideamus, quas nisi per corpus uidere non possumus? uitas autem sine corporibus corporeis oculis non uidemus. quamobrem fieri potest ualdeque credibile est sic nos esse uisuros mundana corpora tunc caeli noui et terrae nouae, ut deum ubique praesentem et uniuersa etiam corporalia gubernantem per corpora quae gestabimus et quae conspiciemus, quaquauersum oculos duxerimus, clarissima perspicuitate uideamus, non sicut nunc inuisibilia dei per ea, quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur per speculum in aenigmate et ex parte, ubi plus in nobis ualet fides, qua credimus, quam rerum corporalium species, quam per oculos cernimus corporales. sed sicut homines, inter quos uiuentes motusque uitales exserentes uiuimus, mox ut adspicimus, non credimus uiuere, sed uidemus, cum eorum uitam sine corporibus uidere nequeamus, quam tamen in eis per corpora remota omni ambiguitate conspicimus, ita quacumque spiritalia illa lumina corporum nostrorum circumferemus, incorporeum deum omnia regentem etiam per corpora contuebimur. aut ergo sic per illos oculos uidebitur deus, ut aliquid habeant in tanta excellentia menti simile, quo et incorporea natura cernatur, quod ullis exemplis siue scripturarum testimoniis diuinarum uel difficile est uel inpossibile ostendere; aut, quod est ad intellegendum facilius, ita deus nobis erit notus atque conspicuus, ut uideatur spiritu a singulis nobis in singulis nobis, uideatur ab altero in altero, uideatur in se ipso, uideatur in caelo nouo et terra noua atque in omni, quae tunc fuerit, creatura, uideatur et per corpora in omni corpore, quocumque fuerint spiritalis corporis oculi acie perueniente directi. patebunt etiam cogitationes nostrae inuicem nobis. tunc enim inplebitur, quod apostolus, cum dixisset: nolite ante tempus iudicare quidquam, mox addidit: donec ueniat dominus, et inluminabit abscondita tenebrarum et manifestabit cogitationes cordis, et tunc laus erit unicuique a deo.

Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 29.--Of the Beatific Vision.

And now let us consider, with such ability as God may vouchsafe, how the saints shall be employed when they are clothed in immortal and spiritual bodies, and when the flesh shall live no longer in a fleshly but a spiritual fashion. And indeed, to tell the truth, I am at a loss to understand the nature of that employment, or, shall I rather say, repose and ease, for it has never come within the range of my bodily senses. And if I should speak of my mind or understanding, what is our understanding in comparison of its excellence? For then shall be that "peace of God which," as the apostle says, "passeth all understanding," ¹ --that is to say, all human, and perhaps all angelic understanding, but certainly not the divine. That it passeth ours there is no doubt; but if it passeth that of the angels,--and he who says "all understanding" seems to make no exception in their favor,--then we must understand him to mean that neither we nor the angels can understand, as God understands, the peace which God Himself enjoys. Doubtless this passeth all understanding but His own. But as we shall one day be made to participate, according to our slender capacity, in His peace, both in ourselves, and with our neighbor, and with God our chief good, in this respect the angels understand the peace of God in their own measure, and men too, though now far behind them, whatever spiritual advance they have made. For we must remember how great a man he was who said, "We know in part, and we prophesy in part, until that which is perfect is come;" ² and "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." ³ Such also is now the vision of the holy angels, who are also called our angels, because we, being rescued out of the power of darkness, and receiving the earnest of the Spirit, are translated into the kingdom of Christ, and already begin to belong to those angels with whom we shall enjoy that holy and most delightful city of God of which we have now written so much. Thus, then, the angels of God are our angels, as Christ is God's and also ours. They are God's, because they have not abandoned Him; they are ours, because we are their fellow-citizens. The Lord Jesus also said, "See that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always see the face of my Father which is in heaven." ⁴ As, then, they see, so shall we also see; but not yet do we thus see. Wherefore the apostle uses the words cited a little ago, "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." This vision is reserved as the reward of our faith; and of it the Apostle John also says, "When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." ⁵ By "the face" of God we are to understand His manifestation, and not a part of the body similar to that which in our bodies we call by that name.

And so, when I am asked how the saints shall be employed in that spiritual body, I do not say what I see, but I say what I believe, according to that which I read in the psalm, "I believed, therefore have I spoken." ⁶ I say, then, they shall in the body see God; but whether they shall see Him by means of the body, as now we see the sun, moon, stars, sea, earth, and all that is in it, that is a difficult question. For it is hard to say that the saints shall then have such bodies that they shall not be able to shut and open their eyes as they please; while it is harder still to say that every one who shuts his eyes shall lose the vision of God. For if the prophet Elisha, though at a distance, saw his servant Gehazi, who thought that his wickedness would escape his master's observation and accepted gifts from Naaman the Syrian, whom the prophet had cleansed from his foul leprosy, how much more shall the saints in the spiritual body see all things, not only though their eyes be shut, but though they themselves be at a great distance? For then shall be "that which is perfect," of which the apostle says, "We know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." Then, that he may illustrate as well as possible, by a simile, how superior the future life is to the life now lived, not only by ordinary men, but even by the foremost of the saints, he says, "When I was a child, I understood as a child, I spake as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." ⁷ If, then, even in this life, in which the prophetic power of remarkable men is no more worthy to be compared to the vision of the future life than childhood is to manhood, Elisha, though distant from his servant, saw him accepting gifts, shall we say that when that which is perfect is come, and the corruptible body no longer oppresses the soul, but is incorruptible and offers no impediment to it, the saints shall need bodily eyes to see, though Elisha had no need of them to see his servant? For, following the Septuagint version, these are the prophet's words: "Did not my heart go with thee, when the man came out of his chariot to meet thee, and thou tookedst his gifts?" ⁸ Or, as the presbyter Jerome rendered it from the Hebrew, "Was not my heart present when the man turned from his chariot to meet thee?" The prophet said that he saw this with his heart, miraculously aided by God, as no one can doubt. But how much more abundantly shall the saints enjoy this gift when God shall be all in all? Nevertheless the bodily eyes also shall have their office and their place, and shall be used by the spirit through the spiritual body. For the prophet did not forego the use of his eyes for seeing what was before them, though he did not need them to see his absent servant, and though he could have seen these present objects in spirit, and with his eyes shut, as he saw things far distant in a place where he himself was not. Far be it, then, from us to say that in the life to come the saints shall not see God when their eyes are shut, since they shall always see Him with the spirit.

But the question arises, whether, when their eyes are open, they shall see Him with the bodily eye? If the eyes of the spiritual body have no more power than the eyes which we now possess, manifestly God cannot be seen with them. They must be of a very different power if they can look upon that incorporeal nature which is not contained in any place, but is all in every place. For though we say that God is in heaven and on earth, as He, Himself says by the prophet, "I fill heaven and earth," ⁹ we do not mean that there is one part of God in heaven and another part on earth; but He is all in heaven and all on earth, not at alternate intervals of time, but both at once, as no bodily nature can be. The eye, then, shall have a vastly superior power,--the power not of keen sight, such as is ascribed to serpents or eagles, for however keenly these animals see, they can discern nothing but bodily substances,--but the power of seeing things incorporeal. Possibly it was this great power of vision which was temporarily communicated to the eyes of the holy Job while yet in this mortal body, when he says to God, "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and melt away, and count myself dust and ashes;" ¹⁰ although there is no reason why we should not understand this of the eye of the heart, of which the apostle says, "Having the eyes of your heart illuminated." ¹¹ But that God shall be seen with these eyes no Christian doubts who believingly accepts what our God and Master says, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." ¹² But whether in the future life God shall also be seen with the bodily eye, this is now our question.

The expression of Scripture, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God," ¹³ may without difficulty be understood as if it were said, "And every man shall see the Christ of God." And He certainly was seen in the body, and shall be seen in the body when He judges quick and dead. And that Christ is the salvation of God, many other passages of Scripture witness, but especially the words of the venerable Simeon, who, when he had received into his hands the infant Christ, said, "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." ¹⁴ As for the words of the above-mentioned Job, as they are found in the Hebrew manuscripts, "And in my flesh I shall see God," ¹⁵ no doubt they were a prophecy of the resurrection of the flesh; yet he does not say "by the flesh." And indeed, if he had said this, it would still be possible that Christ was meant by "God;" for Christ shall be seen by the flesh in the flesh. But even understanding it of God, it is only equivalent to saying, I shall be in the flesh when I see God. Then the apostle's expression, "face to face," ¹⁶ does not oblige us to believe that we shall see God by the bodily face in which are the eyes of the body, for we shall see Him without intermission in spirit. And if the apostle had not referred to the face of the inner man, he would not have said, "But we, with unveiled face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord." ¹⁷ In the same sense we understand what the Psalmist sings, "Draw near unto Him, and be enlightened; and your faces shall not be ashamed." ¹⁸ For it is by faith we draw near to God, and faith is an act of the spirit, not of the body. But as we do not know what degree of perfection the spiritual body shall attain,--for here we speak of a matter of which we have no experience, and upon which the authority of Scripture does not definitely pronounce,--it is necessary that the words of the Book of Wisdom be illustrated in us: "The thoughts of mortal men are timid, and our fore-castings uncertain." ¹⁹

For if that reasoning of the philosophers, by which they attempt to make out that intelligible or mental objects are so seen by the mind, and sensible or bodily objects so seen by the body, that the former cannot be discerned by the mind through the body, nor the latter by the mind itself without the body,--if this reasoning were trustworthy, then it would certainly follow that God could not be seen by the eye even of a spiritual body. But this reasoning is exploded both by true reason and by prophetic authority. For who is so little acquainted with the truth as to say that God has no cognisance of sensible objects? Has He therefore a body, the eyes of which give Him this knowledge? Moreover, what we have just been relating of the prophet Elisha, does this not sufficiently show that bodily things can be discerned by the spirit without the help of the body? For when that servant received the gifts, certainly this was a bodily or material transaction, yet the prophet saw it not by the body, but by the spirit. As, therefore, it is agreed that bodies are seen by the spirit, what if the power of the spiritual body shall be so great that spirit also is seen by the body? For God is a spirit. Besides, each man recognizes his own life--that life by which he now lives in the body, and which vivifies these earthly members and causes them to grow--by an interior sense, and not by his bodily eye; but the life of other men, though it is invisible, he sees with the bodily eye. For how do we distinguish between living and dead bodies, except by seeing at once both the body and the life which we cannot see save by the eye? But a life without a body we cannot see thus.

Wherefore it may very well be, and it is thoroughly credible, that we shall in the future world see the material forms of the new heavens and the new earth in such a way that we shall most distinctly recognize God everywhere present and governing all things, material as well as spiritual, and shall see Him, not as now we understand the invisible things of God, by the things which are made, ²⁰ and see Him darkly, as in a mirror, and in part, and rather by faith than by bodily vision of material appearances, but by means of the bodies we shall wear and which we shall see wherever we turn our eyes. As we do not believe, but see that the living men around us who are exercising vital functions are alive, though we cannot see their life without their bodies, but see it most distinctly by means of their bodies, so, wherever we shall look with those spiritual eyes of our future bodies, we shall then, too, by means of bodily substances behold God, though a spirit, ruling all things. Either, therefore, the eyes shall possess some quality similar to that of the mind, by which they may be able to discern spiritual things, and among these God,--a supposition for which it is difficult or even impossible to find any support in Scripture,--or, which is more easy to comprehend, God will be so known by us, and shall be so much before us, that we shall see Him by the spirit in ourselves, in one another, in Himself, in the new heavens and the new earth, in every created thing which shall then exist; and also by the body we shall see Him in every body which the keen vision of the eye of the spiritual body shall reach. Our thoughts also shall be visible to all, for then shall be fulfilled the words of the apostle, "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the thoughts of the heart, and then shall every one have praise of God." ²¹