{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/009/0090354.htm","path":"chr/ecf/009/0090354.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/009/0090354.htm","text":"3. The Shining of the Righteous. Its Interpretation.\nBut as we said above in reference to the words, \u201cThen shall the righteous shine as the sun,\u201d that the righteous will shine not differently as formerly, but as one sun, we will, of necessity, set forth what appears to us on the point. Daniel, knowing that the intelligent are the light of the world, and that the multitudes of the righteous differ in glory, seems to have said this, \u201cAnd the intelligent shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and from among the multitudes of the righteous as the stars for ever and ever.\u201d 5173 And in the passage, \u201cThere is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead,\u201d 5174 the Apostle says the same thing as Daniel, taking this thought from his prophecy. Some one may inquire how some speak about the difference of light among the righteous, while the Saviour on the contrary says, \u201cThey shall shine as one sun.\u201d I think, then, that at the beginning of the blessedness enjoyed by those who are being saved (because those who are not such are not yet purified), the difference connected with the light of the saved takes place: but when, as we have indicated, he gathers from the whole kingdom of Christ all things that make men stumble, and the reasonings that work iniquity are cast into the furnace of fire, and the worse elements utterly consumed, and, when this takes place, those who received the words which are the children of the evil one come to self-consciousness, then shall the righteous having become one light of the sun shine in the kingdom of their Father. For whom will they shine? For those below them who will enjoy their light, after the analogy of the sun which now shines for those upon the earth? For, of course, they will not shine for themselves. But perhaps the saying, \u201cLet your light shine before men,\u201d 5175 can be written \u201cupon the table of the heart,\u201d 5176 according to what is said by Solomon, in a threefold way; so that even now the light of the disciples of Jesus shines before the rest of men, and after death before the resurrection, and after the resurrection \u201cuntil all shall attain unto a full-grown man,\u201d 5177 and all become one sun. Then shall they shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.\nProv. vii. 3. Or, on the breadth of the heart.\n415:5177","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol IX: Origen's Commentary on the G...","type":"page"}