Confutatis maledictis, flammis accribus addictis

Follows a lengthy excerpt from Chapters 4 - 6 of the apocryphal Apocalypse of St. Peter. I advise you to read this if you want to instill good ol' 1950s Lenten severity dor the remaining days of this season. And lest we forget: this is actually the 'sanitized' part. The depictions of the torments the damned shall suffer, as described in this apocalypse, make the nine levels of Dante's hell look like a sun-kissed flower garden.

I will post about the aforemention tortures in the coming days. In the meantime, the verses that follow are not without their own merit.

"And this shall come at the day of judgement upon them that have fallen away from faith in God and that have committed sin: Floods of fire shall be let loose; and darkness and obscurity shall come up and clothe and veil the whole world and the waters shall be changed and turned into coals of fire and all that is in them shall burn, and the sea shall become fire. Under the heaven shall be a sharp fire that cannot be quenched and floweth to fulfil the judgement of wrath. And the stars shall fly in pieces by flames of fire, as if they had not been created and the firmaments of the heaven shall pass away for lack of water and shall be as though they had not been. And the lightnings of heaven shall be no more, and by their enchantment they shall affright the world.

And so soon as the whole creation dissolveth, the men that are in the east shall flee unto the west, unto the east; they that are in the south shall flee to the north, and they that are in the south. And in all places shall the wrath of a fearful fire overtake them and an unquenchable flame driving them shall bring them unto the judgement of wrath, unto the stream of unquenchable fire that floweth, flaming with fire, and when the waves thereof part themselves one from another, burning, there shall be a great gnashing of teeth among the children of men.

Then shall they all behold me coming upon an eternal cloud of brightness: and the angels of God that are with me shall sit upon the throne of my glory at the right hand of my Heavenly Father; and he shall set a crown upon mine head. And when the nations behold it, they shall weep, every nation apart.

Then shall he command them to enter into the river of fire while the works of every one of them shall stand before them to every man according to his deeds. As for the elect that have done good, they shall come unto me and not see death by the devouring fire. But the unrighteous the sinners, and the hypocrites shall stand in the depths of darkness that shall not pass away, and their chastisement is the fire, and angels bring forward their sins and prepare for them a place wherein they shall be punished for ever.

Uriel the angel of God shall bring forth the souls of those sinners who perished in the flood, and of all that dwelt in all idols, in every molten image, in every love, and in pictures, and of those that dwelt on all hills and in stones and by the wayside, whom men called gods: they shall burn them with them in everlasting fire; and after that all of them with their dwelling places are destroyed, they shall be punished eternally."