Church Fathers 2011 -What Happened To the People that Rose From the Dead After Christ's Resurrection?

It seems the days of the early Church was a very graceful time that had some real effects on the physical world. In Scripture we see the first sacramentals such as Paul's "handkerchiefs" healing the sick (Acts 19:12), as did even Peter's shadow (Acts 5:15).

Also there are at times indications that many of the earliest Christians seemed to have some nice long lifespans for that day and age.

Yesterday I touched on St Clement Church Fathers 2011- Scandal Has Always Been With Us- St Clement of Rome . In that post I discussed the debate over the dating of St Clement's letter. Of interest to that debate are two people mentioned within the letter itself and who in fact delivered the letter from Rome to Corinth. That is Claudius Ephebus and Valeria Messalina. Now no doubt because of their names they were former Slaves of the Imperial Household. Roman Law forbid a slave from being given their freedom before the age of 30. If one goes with the later dating of Clement's letter these people would be delivering letters and running around the countryside is the their late 70's or even 80's!!

In the very beautiful and early Martyrom Of Polycarp Or Letter Of The Smyrnaeans wrote within a year after his death(which took place we believe in 155 ad) Polycarp is quoted as saying :
Then Polycarp with solemn countenance looked upon the whole multitude of lawless heathen that were in the stadium, and waved his hand to them; 9:10 and groaning and looking up to heaven he said, 'Away with the atheists.' 9:11 But when the magistrate pressed him hard and said, 'Swear the oath, and I will release thee; 9:12 revile the Christ,' Polycarp said, 'Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. 9:13 How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me'

So Polycarp is 86 years old!! Not a bad age for that period of time. Besides the above being an interesting inference of infant Baptism we know that he was baptized by the Apostle John himself. (Note I am aware of the Harris Fragments which say that Polycarp was actually 104 years old. I will get into that more as we tackle the practice of infant Baptism at a later date)

John as tradition tells us lived to a very long age himself.

One of the things that is striking in the stories in scripture surrounding the Crucifixion and Resurrection. THE CRUCIFIXION OF OUR LORD THROUGH THE EYES OF A SURGEON gives a dramatic overview.

As Jesus hung, dying on the cross, the physical forces of nature seemed to respond in a crescendo, acknowledging Our Lord and Savior. From the sixth to the ninth hour (that is from noon until 3 P.M.) the earth turned black from an eclipse of the sun. This was foretold in the Book of Amos in the Old Testament, “On that day, says the Lord, I will make the sun set at midday and cover the earth with darkness in broad daylight.” As He died, the earth was shaken with a mighty earthquake. Lightening flashes illuminated the skies. A cyclonic whirlwind swept across the land. Many sepulchers were unearthed. After Christ’s Resurrection, there were reports that the bodies of many holy people rose from the dead and were seen in Jerusalem, bearing solemn testimony to the divinity of Jesus. The inhabitants of the holy city were overcome with confusion and terror.

Of course those Holy people that rose from the dead is talked about in scripture at this verse.

This verse as well as the verses dealing with the raising of Lazarus by Christ always troubled me. It always seemed not to be a good follow up. That is their testimony about the "other side" Scripture for whatever reason does not tell us what these Holy People had to say about where they were at while they were dead. However one has a feeling that if more of the Apostolic Church Father's writings would have survived we might be hearing more.

There is interesting reference in the Church Fathers to this in some of the works of Quadratus . In his Apology to the Emperor Hadrian we have one surviving fragment. (Estimated date -120 to 130 AD) we have this via Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. IV.3. :

1 After Trajan had reigned for nineteen and a half years Aelius Adrian became his successor in the empire. To him Quadratus addressed a discourse containing an apology for our religion, because certain wicked men had attempted to trouble the Christians. The work is still in the hands of a great many of the brethren, as also in our own, and furnishes clear proofs of the man's understanding and of his apostolic orthodox. 2 He himself reveals the early date at which he lived in the following words: "But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine:-those that were healed, and those that were raised from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were also always present; and not merely while the Saviour was on earth, but also after his death, they were alive for quite a while, so that some of them lived even to our day." Such then was Quadratus.

3 Aristides also, a believer earnestly devoted to our religion, left, like Quadratus, an apology for the faith, addressed to Adrian. His work, too, has been preserved even to the present day by a great many persons.

An interesting phrase there "some of them lived even to our day". It seems to imply very strongly that if they had passed on it was fairly recently in their modern times. It would have been a curious thing to have known if the early Church Fathers had talked about these Holy people and what some of them did with their lives before "dying" again.