Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Apocrypha of the New Testament/Descent of Christ into Hell: Greek Form/Chapter 4

Chapter 4 (20).

And when all were in such joy, came Satan the heir of darkness, and said to Hades:&#160; O all-devouring and insatiable, hear my words.&#160; There is of the race of the Jews one named Jesus, calling himself the Son of God; and being a man, by our working with them the Jews have crucified him:&#160; and now when he is dead, be ready that we may secure him here.&#160; For I know that he is a man, and I heard him also saying, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. &#160; He has also done me many evils when living with mortals in the upper world.&#160; For wherever he found my servants, he persecuted them; and whatever men I made crooked, blind, lame, lepers, or any such thing, by a single word he healed them; and many whom I had got ready to be buried, even these through a single word he brought to life again.

Hades says:&#160; And is this man so powerful as to do such things by a single word? or if he be so, canst thou withstand him?&#160; It seems to me that, if he be so, no one will be able to withstand him.&#160; And if thou sayest that thou didst hear him dreading death, he said this mocking thee, and laughing, wishing to seize thee with the strong hand; and woe, woe to thee, to all eternity!

Satan says:&#160; O all-devouring and insatiable Hades, art thou so afraid at hearing of our common enemy?&#160; I was not afraid of him, but worked in the Jews, and they crucified him, and gave him also to drink gall with vinegar. &#160; Make ready, then, in order that you may lay fast hold of him when he comes.

Hades answered:&#160; Heir of darkness, son of destruction, devil, thou hast just now told me that many whom thou hadst made ready to be buried, be brought to life again by a single word.&#160; And if he has delivered others from the tomb, how and with what power shall he be laid hold of by us?&#160; For I not long ago swallowed down one dead, Lazarus by name; and not long after, one of the living by a single word dragged him up by force out of my bowels:&#160; and I think that it was he of whom thou speakest.&#160; If, therefore, we receive him here, I am afraid lest perchance we be in danger even about the rest.&#160; For, lo, all those that I have swallowed from eternity I perceive to be in commotion, and I am pained in my belly.&#160; And the snatching away of Lazarus beforehand seems to me to be no good sign:&#160; for not like a dead body, but like an eagle, he flew out of me; for so suddenly did the earth throw him out.&#160; Wherefore also I adjure even thee, for thy benefit and for mine, not to bring him here; for I think that he is coming here to raise all the dead.&#160; And this I tell thee:&#160; by the darkness in which we live, if thou bring him here, not one of the dead will be left behind in it to me.