О одиннадцатом члене Символа веры

The Resurrection of the Dead

This section explains the eleventh article of faith, detailing the certainty of the resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked, the restoration of the same bodies, their transformation into imperishable and immortal forms, and the eternal consequences of their deeds.

Question 120. What is the eleventh article of the faith?¹ Answer. “I await the resurrection of the dead.”^✦² Question 121. What does this article of faith teach? Answer. This article teaches that the bodies of both good and evil people will certainly be resurrected after death, according to the Lord's word, who said that “all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God and will come out — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment” (John³ 5:28–29). The bodies will be the very same ones in which people lived in this world, as Job says: “For I know that he who is to redeem me lives forever, and that he will raise up on the earth this skin of mine that endures all this; for the Lord has accomplished these things for me — things I know within myself, things my own eyes have seen and no one else's: all of it has been brought to completion within me” (Job⁴ 19:25–27). That said, this body — the one we say will be the very same — will become imperishable and immortal after the resurrection, as Paul declares: “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise imperishable, and we will be changed; for this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Cor.⁵ 15:51–53). You also need to know this: every soul will return to its own body, and then, together with that body, it will receive its full and eternal reward according to its deeds. In the same way, the bodies of the wicked will also remain immortal, since they are going to be tormented forever.

The Four Last Things

This section introduces the concept of the 'four last things'—death, judgment, hell, and heaven—and explains how contemplating them fosters godliness, watchfulness, fear of God, and love for heaven, prompting preparation for death and the final judgment.

Question 122. Second, what does this article of faith teach?⁶ Answer. It teaches every Christian to always keep four things in mind: death, the last judgment, the torments of hell, and the eternal Kingdom in heaven.⁷ Question 123. What good does it do a person to keep these four things in mind? Answer. Out of this are born in him godliness, watchfulness against sin, the fear of God, dread of the depths of hell, and love for the Kingdom of Heaven.⁸ Reflecting on these, he should undoubtedly prepare himself for death; thinking of the Last Day, he should consider how he will account for his thoughts, words, and deeds; thinking of hell, he should guard against falling into it; and thinking of the Kingdom of Heaven, he should strive to reach it.⁹¹⁰

Read the original Russian

Вопрос 120. Какой одиннадцатый член веры?

Ответ. «Чаю воскресения мертвых».

Вопрос 121. Чему учит сей член веры?

Ответ. Сей член учит, что несомненно будет воскресение тел как добрых, так и злых человеков, после смерти, по слову Господа, Который сказал, что «вси сущии во гробех услышат глас Сына Божия, и изыдут сотворшии благая в воскрешение живота, а сотворшии злая в воскрешение суда»(Ин. 5, 28–29). Тела будут те же самые, в которых люди жили в сем мире, как говорит Иов: «Вем бо, яко присносущен есть, иже имать искупити мя, (и) на земли воскресити кожу мою терпящую сия, от Господа бо ми сия совершишася, яже аз в себе вем, яже очи мои видеста, а не ин: вся же ми совершишася в недре» (Иов. 19, 25–27). Впрочем, сие тело, о котором говорим, что оно будет то же самое, по воскресении сделается нетленным и безсмертным, по сказанию Павла: «Вси не умрем, вси же изменимся вскоре, во мгновении ока, в последней трубе: вострубит бо, и мертвии востанут нетлении, и мы изменимся: подобает бо тленному сему облещися в нетление и мертвенному семи облешися в безсмертие» (1Кор. 15, 51–53). Еще и то надлежит знать, что всякая душа возвратится в свое тело, и тогда вместе с ним получит совершенную и вечную награду, по делам своим.

Так же и тела нечестивых пребудут безсмертны, поскольку вечно будут мучиться.

Вопрос 122. Во-вторых, чему учит сей член веры?

Ответ. Учит каждого Христианина, чтобы он всегда содержал в мысли своей четыре предмета: смерть, последний суд, мучение во аде и Царство вечное на небесах.

Вопрос 123. Какую пользу получает человек от памятования сих четырех предметов?

Ответ. От сего рождается в нем благочестие, остережение от греха, страх к Богу, боязнь ада преисподнего, любовь к Небесному Царствию. Размышляя о них, без сомнения должен приготовиться к смерти; помышляя о последнем дни, должен заботиться, как дать отчет в мыслях, в словах, в делах своих; помышляя об аде, должен остерегаться, чтобы не впасть в оный; а помышляя о Царствии Небесном, должен стремиться к достижению оного.

Scripture echoes

↩1Cor.15.12-1Cor.15.22;Acts.24.15 — Now if Christ is proclaimed that he has been raised from the dead, how can some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 1Cor.15.13 — But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 1Cor.15.14 — And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is empty, and your faith is empty as well. 1Cor.15.15 — We are even found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified concerning God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise—if indeed the dead are not raised. 1Cor.15.16 — For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 1Cor.15.17 — And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 1Cor.15.18 — Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 1Cor.15.19 — If in this life we have hoped in Christ only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1Cor.15.20 — But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1Cor.15.21 — For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being. 1Cor.15.22 — For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Acts.24.15 — I have hope in God—which they themselves also await—that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

Notes

1 ↩«Член веры» literally means "member of the faith"; in creedal catechesis it denotes an article of the Creed. The chapter heading ("О одиннадцатом члене Символа веры") confirms the reference is to the eleventh article of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed.
2 ↩Russian чаю (from чаять) is the Slavonic creedal verb of expectant hope. “I await” keeps the forward-leaning confidence without the archaism of “I look for”; “I expect” would flatten the note of hope.
3 ↩The sentence is split by the source's citation formatting: the reference “John 5:28–29” continues in the next segment (s3). Rendered as-is to preserve the one-to-one sentence mapping.
4 ↩“в недре” (literally “in the bosom”) renders the Slavonic idiom for the inmost self; translated as “within me” to keep the sense without archaism.
5 ↩“Впрочем” is concessive here — it qualifies the preceding claim of bodily identity rather than reversing it; rendered “That said” to keep that force without overstating contrast.
6 ↩"Сей член веры" is the catechism's fixed phrase for a clause of the Creed; rendered "this article of faith" to keep the technical sense without the archaic "sey"/"said" coloring.
7 ↩The Russian «четыре предмета» is literally "four subjects/objects" — here the four traditional objects of meditation (the Last Things), rendered as "four things" for natural modern English without loss of sense.
8 ↩благочестие covers both inward piety and its outward practice; "godliness" keeps the devotional force without narrowing it to religious observance. "остережение от греха" is literally a guarding of oneself against sin — rendered "watchfulness against sin".
9 ↩"о последнем дни" is an older locative form for "о последнем дне" — the Last Day, i.e. the general judgment; translated accordingly.
10 ↩The Russian holds four parallel participial clauses (Размышляя… помышляя… помышляя… а помышляя…). The parallelism is kept in English, with the final "а" rendered as "and" — here a mild contrastive turn from hell to heaven rather than a strong adversative.

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