Fragments on 1 Thessalonians · §3 · Severianus of Gabala

The Lord's coming at night overtakes the living

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Severianus is explaining 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 5:4-8, showing from the Gospels that the Lord's coming will be at night and will overtake some who are still alive.

And this is what the Savior says: “For as in the days of Noah they were marrying and being given in marriage, and suddenly the flood came and took them all, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:38-39). So, he says, some are overtaken while still living. “With a shout of command and with the voice of an archangel, and the dead in Christ will rise” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). The Lord himself says this in the Gospel: “At midnight,” he says, “there was a cry: The bridegroom is coming” (Matthew 25:6). And that some are overtaken while living—those who are taken up together with those who have fallen asleep—the Lord makes clear in the Gospel when he says: “Two will be in one bed; one will be taken and one will be left. Two will be grinding; one will be taken and one will be left” (Luke 17:34-35). Both the Lord and Paul hint that the coming will be at night.

He calls his coming the day of the Lord. He has likened it to a thief because it comes unnoticed and unexpectedly. And he says it is at night because the day, when it arrives, exposes the evil deeds done at night.

But the bride—the soul adorned with the adornment of virtues—sleeping the sleep of the day, the sleep that has no share in night, the sleep yoked to wakefulness, said with good reason: “I sleep, but my heart is awake” (Song of Songs 5:2).

Greek

καὶ

τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ὅ φησιν ὁ σωτήρ· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ Νῶε ἦσαν γαμοῦντες καὶ γαμισκόμενοι, καὶ ἐξάπινα ἦλθεν ὁ κατακλυσμὸς καὶ ἔλαβε πάντας, οὕτως ἔσται ἡ παρουσία τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. οὐκοῦν, φησίν, ζῶντες καταλαμβάνονταί τινες. Ἐν κελεύσματι καὶ ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται. τοῦτο αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος λέγει ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ· μέσης δὲ οὔσης νυκτός, φησί, φωνὴ ἐγένετο· ὁ νυμφίος ἔρχεται. ὅτι δὲ ζῶντες καταλαμβάνονται, οἳ καὶ ἀναλαμβάνονται μετὰ τῶν κοιμηθέντων, ὁ κύριος δηλοῖ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ λέγων· δύο ἔσονται ἐν κλίνῃ· ὁ εἷς παραληφθήσεται, καὶ ὁ εἷς ἀφεθήσεται. καὶ δύο ἔσονται ἀλήθουσαι· ἡ μία παραληφθήσεται, καὶ ἡ μία ἀφεθήσεται. καὶ ὁ κύριός τε καὶ ὁ Παῦλος αἰνίττονται ὅτι νυκτὸς ἔσται ἡ παρουσία. 1 Thess 5,4®5 Ἡμέραν κυρίου τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ λέγει. κλέπτῃ δὲ παρείκασεν αὐτήν, ὅτι λανθάνουσα καὶ παρὰ προσδοκίαν ἔρχεται. ἐν νυκτὶ δέ, ὅτι ἡ ἡμέρα ἐπιστᾶσα τὰ ἐν νυκτὶ φαῦλα ἀπελέγχει. 331 1 Thess 5,6®8 Ἀλλ' ἡ νύμφη καὶ τῷ τῶν ἀρετῶν κόσμῳ κοσμουμένη ψυχὴ τὸν τῆς ἡμέρας ὕπνον καθεύδουσα τὸν ἄμοιρον νυκτὸς τὸν τῇ ἐγρηγόρσει συνεζευγμένον, καὶ μάλα εἰκότως ἔλεγεν· ἐγὼ καθεύδω, καὶ ἡ καρδία μου γρηγορεῖ.

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About this text

A comforting commentary on faith, love, and hope for early Christians facing persecution and loss.

Severianus of Gabala (fl. c. 400) was bishop of Gabala in Syria and a well-known preacher in Constantinople. These fragments come from his explanations of Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians. They survive only in later quotation collections, not as an independent manuscript.

The work addresses Thessalonian Christians who were suffering persecution from their Greek neighbors and grieving the loss of relatives. Severianus explains that Paul wrote to comfort them. He quotes Paul's words that the gospel came not only in word but also in power and wonders, and that Paul's boldness in preaching was not diminished by his sufferings at Philippi.

A reader will meet Paul, whose words from 1 Thessalonians are quoted and explained, and Christ, whose sayings from the Gospels are cited. Severianus argues that some righteous people will still be alive at Christ's coming, but the dead in Christ will rise first and the righteous will meet the Lord. He interprets the day of the Lord as Christ's sudden, unexpected coming, like a thief in the night, and explains that the night setting shows how the day exposes evil deeds done at night. He also urges believers to remain watchful and to test prophetic utterances rather than despise or uncritically accept them. , and the threefold blessing of spirit, soul, and body comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

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Translated from PG 65 (Greek)

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