{"id":1082,"date":"2019-12-10T16:43:29","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T22:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/?p=1082"},"modified":"2019-12-10T17:27:39","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T23:27:39","slug":"the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31<\/span>) is often treated quite differently than Christ’s other parables.\u00a0 None of the others have the history of being taken quite so literally.\u00a0 This parable is often mined for details and cited authoritatively in regard to concepts of the afterlife or at least of the intermediate state of souls between the time of a person’s death and the general resurrection at the time of Christ’s glorious appearing.\u00a0 In some cases, this goes so far as an argument that this story may not even be a parable as it is not identified as one in the text.\u00a0 Arguing against this last assertion is the fact that the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) is likewise not identified as a parable and in Greek begins almost identically.\u00a0 The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, however, is very clearly a parable as it represents one of a whole genre of similar stories in the ancient world that utilizes the same motifs and themes.<\/p>\n

The search for preceding parallels to elements of the text of the Scriptures, a part of what is called source criticism, is often misused.\u00a0 It is misused based on a false presupposition that unless every element of the Biblical text is utterly unique in its cultural milieu then it cannot have any divine element.\u00a0 If the Scriptures are themselves firmly grounded in the times, places, and cultures of their composition then they cannot function in an authoritative way.\u00a0 This presupposition, however, is obviously false.\u00a0 At a base level, the Scriptures were composed in languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, which already existed using words that had previously been coined.\u00a0 From the fact that the Scriptures did not have to invent their own language flows naturally the fact that they do not need to invent their own completely new set of themes, motifs, images, and narratives.\u00a0 The Scriptures do not create a new world.\u00a0 Rather, the Scriptures correct the human understanding of the created world in which all humans live.\u00a0 They are therefore communicating about the same objects as non-Scriptural texts and doing so in a way that was perfectly intelligible to their original hearers.<\/p>\n

There are two primary motifs found in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.\u00a0 The first is the story of a reversal of fortune for a rich man and a poor man after their deaths.\u00a0 The second is the idea of a person potentially returning from the grave to issue a warning or revelation to the living.\u00a0 Reading and understanding the parallel ancient stories which utilize these two motifs is important to understand the major themes of the parable.\u00a0 Rather than rendering St. Luke’s text irrelevant because similar stories exist, Christ’s parable utilizes the themes of the parallel stories but also transforms them.\u00a0 This transformation is found in the places in which the parable diverges and differs from the usual paradigm of these motifs.<\/p>\n

There are a number of stories from the ancient world which involve the deaths of a wealthy man and a poor man, followed by a revelation of their opposing fates in the afterlife.\u00a0 The prime example, which was current in the first century AD, is a portion of the story of Setme and Si-Osiris<\/em> of Egyptian origin.\u00a0 The relevant episode is only a small portion of the overall story, but in it, Setme and his son Si-Osiris observe two burials.\u00a0 The first is that of a wealthy man who is given an opulent funeral complete with paid mourners.\u00a0 The second is that of a poor beggar who is rather unceremoniously thrown into a grave.\u00a0 Setme indicates that he hopes his funeral will be like that of the rich man.\u00a0 Si-Osiris tells him he should not be too hasty and takes him on a journey to the sacred realm of Osiris, Amente.\u00a0 Touring the halls of Amente, Setme sees the wicked, including the wealthy man, being tortured for their wickedness.\u00a0 The beggar, on the other hand, because he was righteous, is seated and feasting with Osiris.\u00a0 This includes both the element of the reversal of fortunes of a wealthy and a poor man and the idea of a visit to the underworld which reveals their fate to the living as a warning.\u00a0 In the 2nd century, Lucian in two dialogues told a similar tale in the second century AD of a journey to Hades with a rich man, a philosopher, and a poor man.<\/p>\n

Stories which include the second motif, of a visitor to the underworld returning to issue a warning, are commonplace in the ancient world. \u00a0 The vast majority of apocalyptic journeys in Second Temple literature include such a visit to the underworld and to Paradise.\u00a0 Visits to Hades in visions and dreams are a commonplace in Greek and Roman literature, including Plato’s story of Er the Pamphylian in the Republic and tales related by Plutarch, Pliny, and others.\u00a0 St. Augustine relates Christianized versions of these Roman stories in his City of God<\/em>.\u00a0 Unlike these other stories, in Christ’s parable the rich man’s request, rational considering the parallels, is declined.\u00a0 The explicit basis for this within the parable is that everything necessary to avoid the fate of the rich man is already revealed within the Torah and Prophets (Luke 16:29-31).\u00a0 There is also, however, clearly an allusion made to the theme of Christ being the one who has descended from heaven and will rise from the dead bringing revelation (see John 3:13; Eph 4:8-12).<\/p>\n

Aside from the rejection of a messenger being sent from Hades, the parable deviates from other similar stories in a significant way.\u00a0 The focus of the stories regarding the fates of the rich man and the poor man is on the punishment of the sins of the former.\u00a0 This is often, as in the story of Setme and Si-Osiris<\/em>, described in gruesome detail.\u00a0 Particular elements of wickedness receive related punishments in pagan sources out of a sense of irony.\u00a0 The parable is clear that the rich man is in torment (Luke 16:23), but does not describe particular punishments which are somehow suited to his particular wickedness.\u00a0 In fact, the wickedness of the rich man is never actually described or even posited.\u00a0 All that we are told about him is that he is wealthy and well-fed.\u00a0 Likewise, there is no expression given in the parable to any particular virtue, piety, or good deeds of Lazarus for which he is being rewarded.\u00a0 Rather, the parable explicitly explains their fate by pointing out that in their earthly lives, the rich man received his good things and Lazarus bad (v. 25).\u00a0 The parable itself offers no reason for the condemnation of the rich man to torment other than his wealth and no other reason for Lazarus’ comfort other than his poverty.<\/p>\n

This is in keeping with a general tendency on the part of St. Luke as evidenced by a comparison of his beatitudes and woes with the beatitudes of St. Matthew’s Gospel (cf. Luke 6:20,24; Matt 5:3).\u00a0 St. Luke’s wording is key.\u00a0 In his woes, he says that the rich have already received “their comfort.”\u00a0 Abraham says to the rich man that in his life he had received “his good things.”\u00a0 Likewise, the parallel structure indicates that Abraham is not only indicating that Lazarus had received bad things in life but “his bad things.”\u00a0 These possessives, while easily glossed over, are critical to understanding the thrust of the parable and how it relates wealth to sin.<\/p>\n

There is a later variation on the story of Setme and Si-Osiris<\/em> found in two tractates of the Talmud (Sanh. 23c; Hag. 77d).\u00a0 This story reflects details of the Egyptian story which reveal it as the source.\u00a0 In its changes, however, from that source, it reveals, as does much of Rabbinic literature, clear Christian influences.\u00a0 In this variation, the rich man is a wealthy tax-collector named Bar-Mayan while the poor man is a poverty-stricken Torah scholar who lives in Ashkelon.\u00a0 Not only does this seemingly incorporate a reversal of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, but it also reverses the unknown name of the rich man and the named poor man from the Rich Man and Lazarus.\u00a0 It is likely also not a coincidence that there is a woman named Mary being tortured in the underworld in this version.\u00a0 The key element for purposes of understanding the latter parable, however, is the justification given for the sufferings of the rich man and the blessings of the poor man.\u00a0 The opulent burial of the rich man was the reward for the one good deed he did in his life, while his sufferings were the punishment for his many wicked deeds.\u00a0 Likewise, the poor man had committed one sin in his life and as punishment for it he had died ignominiously.\u00a0 The reward for his many good deeds awaited him in the afterlife.<\/p>\n

Blessings, then, including material blessings are seen as rewards.\u00a0 Sufferings, likewise, are seen as punishments.\u00a0 Reward and punishment language simply indicate the consequences of actions that are mediated through a third party, in this case, Christ who judges.\u00a0 The rich man, as evidenced by his sumptuous feasting, lived a life that sought to maximize both his material blessings and pleasures of this world.\u00a0 Lazarus, by contrast, received poverty and hunger and endured them as punishment for his sins.\u00a0 This receiving of life’s sufferings as chastening for sins is at the core of the Christian concept of repentance.\u00a0 The rich man, by contrast, evaded and avoided suffering by all necessary means, therefore leaving his sins unrepented.\u00a0 He had already received more than his due of comfort, Lazarus had not and so he received it in Paradise.\u00a0 Lazarus had already received his due of bad things, the rich man had left them for Hades.<\/p>\n

This connection between reward and punishment in this life over against the next is found throughout the Synoptic Gospels and the rest of the New Testament.\u00a0 Those who have enjoyed the pleasures and wealth of this world have “received their reward already” (Matt 6:1-24).\u00a0 Rather than accumulating treasures on earth, we are commanded to store up treasures in heaven (v. 19-20).\u00a0 Those who refuse to repent in this life are “storing up wrath” for themselves for the Day of Judgment (Rom 2:5).\u00a0 Moses chose to suffer with the Israelites because he “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt because he was seeking the reward” (Heb 11:26).\u00a0 Christ teaches that those who suffer for his sake should rejoice for their reward is great in heaven (Matt 5:12; Luke 6:23).\u00a0 He promises a reward for acts as simple as the giving of a cup of cold water (Matt 10:42; Mark 9:41).\u00a0 He promises a great reward in the kingdom to those who love their enemies, do good, and lend without hope of repayment (Luke 6:35).\u00a0 The penitent thief expresses his repentance by telling his fellow that they are receiving the due reward of their evil deeds in their crucifixion (Luke 23:41).\u00a0 Eternal life in the world to come is repeatedly described as a reward (1 Cor 3:14; Col 3:24; Heb 10:35; 11:6; 2 John 1:8).<\/p>\n

This means that for the Christian who has been richly blessed in this life, a dilemma is created.\u00a0 Material wealth is the most obvious form of these blessings and often the means by which other blessings, pleasures, and good things of this world are acquired.\u00a0 Asceticism is, therefore, the marrow of the Christian way of life and the core of repentance.\u00a0 Asceticism takes a variety of forms, but for the early fathers, central to these was the giving of alms.\u00a0 This is immediately apparent when surveying the early interpretation of 1 Peter 4:8.\u00a0 St. Peter states that due to the nearness of the final judgment, his hearers must have constant love because “love covers a multitude of sins.”\u00a0 The “covering of a multitude of sins” in this text was directly connected to the concept of atonement, literally the ‘covering of sins’ in Aramaic.\u00a0 The “love” here directed was understood to explicitly refer to the giving of mercy to the poor.\u00a0 This interpretation is found in 2 Clement, the Didascalia Apostolorum<\/em>, St. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Origen as well as a number of later fathers.\u00a0 St. Clement finds it in 1 Clement as well.\u00a0 The voluntary divestiture of blessings in this world is seen to atone for sin both by postponing those blessings for the world to come and by accepting the resulting hardship.<\/p>\n

That hardship forms a basic building block of repentance when it is received as repentance for sin.\u00a0 St. Ignatius of Antioch criticizes the docetic teachers of Smyrna because “they have no concern for love, none for the widow, none for the orphan, none for the oppressed, none for the one who is in chains or the one released, none for the one who is hungry or the one who thirsts” (6.2).\u00a0 He argues that it would be better for them if they were to love in this way, as then they would partake of the resurrection (7.1).\u00a0 2 Clement tells us that, “He says, ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord” will be saved but the one who does righteousness’…we should be self-controlled, practitioners of mercy, benevolent.\u00a0 And we should suffer together with one another and not love money” (4:2-3).\u00a0 St. Polycarp, in his Epistle to the Philippians, cites Tobit 4:10 and 12:9 as an instruction to the Church, “alms-giving delivers a man from death” (7.2).\u00a0 The Didache<\/em> instructs, “If you have something through the work of your hands, then give a redemption for your sins” (4.6).\u00a0 These themes find their denouement in St. Cyprian of Carthage’s treatise on the subject, On Works of Mercy<\/em> (De Opere et Eleemosynis<\/em>).<\/p>\n

A story from the Acts of Thomas<\/em> provides a suitable closing illustration.\u00a0 The Acts<\/em> describe Thomas’ journey to India to proclaim the gospel.\u00a0 Due to its non-canonical status, it has been much neglected, though the third-century text has been preserved by the Church in both the original Syriac and Greek.\u00a0 It was, until very recently, considered to be of no historical value even with reference to the history of the Church in India.\u00a0 Recently, however, the unearthing of a cache of coins bearing the name of the Indian king central to the story, Guandaphur, has yielded reconsideration as to the veracity of at least some of the traditions contained therein.\u00a0 The Acts<\/em> present St. Thomas as a craftsman and builder by trade who comes to India as a slave and is given service by King Guandaphur to build for him a new palace.\u00a0 It is eventually revealed that in actuality, St. Thomas has built nothing but has been distributing all of the money given to him by the king to the poor and proclaiming the gospel.\u00a0 When he discovers this, the king has the apostle thrown into prison to await execution.\u00a0 St. Thomas offers as his only defense that he has, indeed, built the palace for the king who does not need the money he was given in this world because he will receive a king’s reward.\u00a0 That night, the king’s brother dies.\u00a0 He is taken to the heavens and there sees a magnificent palace.\u00a0 When he inquires about it, he is told that that is the palace built for his brother the king by St. Thomas through his acts of mercy.\u00a0 The king’s brother asks to return to this world to bring the news to his brother and the request is granted.\u00a0 When Guandaphur heard his brother’s report after being raised from the dead, he immediately freed St. Thomas and embraced Christianity, becoming the sponsor of St. Thomas’ mission in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is often treated quite differently than Christ’s other parables.\u00a0 None of the others have the history of being taken quite so literally.\u00a0 This parable is often mined for details and cited authoritatively in regard to concepts of the afterlife or at least of the intermediate state of souls between the time of a person’s death and the general resurrection at the time of Christ’s glorious appearing.\u00a0 In some cases, this goes so far as an argument that this story may not even be a parable as it is not identified as one in the text.\u00a0 Arguing against this last assertion is the fact that the Parable of the Good Samaritan\u2026 <\/i> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism - The Whole Counsel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism - The Whole Counsel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is often treated quite differently than Christ’s other parables.\u00a0 None of the others have the history of being taken quite so literally.\u00a0 This parable is often mined for details and cited authoritatively in regard to concepts of the afterlife or at least of the intermediate state of souls between the time of a person’s death and the general resurrection at the time of Christ’s glorious appearing.\u00a0 In some cases, this goes so far as an argument that this story may not even be a parable as it is not identified as one in the text.\u00a0 Arguing against this last assertion is the fact that the Parable of the Good Samaritan\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Whole Counsel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-10T22:43:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-10T23:27:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/12\/250615.p.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Stephen De Young\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Stephen De Young\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/\",\"name\":\"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism - The Whole Counsel Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/12\/250615.p.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-10T22:43:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-10T23:27:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#\/schema\/person\/247da0ea47cc50719afc0ec2a8ee5e90\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/12\/250615.p.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/12\/250615.p.jpg\",\"width\":422,\"height\":317},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/\",\"name\":\"The Whole Counsel Blog\",\"description\":\"The Scriptures in the Orthodox Church\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#\/schema\/person\/247da0ea47cc50719afc0ec2a8ee5e90\",\"name\":\"Fr. Stephen De Young\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54dc899af5499978d3770526996cf817d0a8e3c9e776a06507dd686f6923d420?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54dc899af5499978d3770526996cf817d0a8e3c9e776a06507dd686f6923d420?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Stephen De Young\"},\"description\":\"The V. Rev. Dr. Stephen De Young is Pastor of Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. He holds Master's degrees in theology, philosophy, humanities, and social sciences, and a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Amridge University. Fr. Stephen is also the host of the Whole Counsel of God podcast from Ancient Faith and author of four books, the Religion of the Apostles, God is a Man of War, the Whole Counsel of God, Apocrypha, and Saint Paul the Pharisee. He co-hosts the live call-in show and podcast Lord of Spirits with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/stgabriellafayette.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/author\/frstevedeyoung\/\"}]}<\/script>","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism - The Whole Counsel Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism - The Whole Counsel Blog","og_description":"The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is often treated quite differently than Christ’s other parables.\u00a0 None of the others have the history of being taken quite so literally.\u00a0 This parable is often mined for details and cited authoritatively in regard to concepts of the afterlife or at least of the intermediate state of souls between the time of a person’s death and the general resurrection at the time of Christ’s glorious appearing.\u00a0 In some cases, this goes so far as an argument that this story may not even be a parable as it is not identified as one in the text.\u00a0 Arguing against this last assertion is the fact that the Parable of the Good Samaritan\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/","og_site_name":"The Whole Counsel Blog","article_published_time":"2019-12-10T22:43:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-12-10T23:27:39+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/12\/250615.p.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Fr. Stephen De Young","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Stephen De Young","Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/","name":"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism - The Whole Counsel Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/12\/250615.p.jpg","datePublished":"2019-12-10T22:43:29+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-10T23:27:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#\/schema\/person\/247da0ea47cc50719afc0ec2a8ee5e90"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/12\/250615.p.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/12\/250615.p.jpg","width":422,"height":317},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2019\/12\/10\/the-rich-man-lazarus-the-afterlife-and-asceticism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Rich Man, Lazarus, the Afterlife, and Asceticism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/","name":"The Whole Counsel Blog","description":"The Scriptures in the Orthodox Church","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#\/schema\/person\/247da0ea47cc50719afc0ec2a8ee5e90","name":"Fr. Stephen De Young","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54dc899af5499978d3770526996cf817d0a8e3c9e776a06507dd686f6923d420?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/54dc899af5499978d3770526996cf817d0a8e3c9e776a06507dd686f6923d420?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Fr. Stephen De Young"},"description":"The V. Rev. Dr. Stephen De Young is Pastor of Archangel Gabriel Orthodox Church in Lafayette, Louisiana. He holds Master's degrees in theology, philosophy, humanities, and social sciences, and a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Amridge University. Fr. Stephen is also the host of the Whole Counsel of God podcast from Ancient Faith and author of four books, the Religion of the Apostles, God is a Man of War, the Whole Counsel of God, Apocrypha, and Saint Paul the Pharisee. He co-hosts the live call-in show and podcast Lord of Spirits with Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick.","sameAs":["http:\/\/stgabriellafayette.org"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/author\/frstevedeyoung\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1082"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1108,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082\/revisions\/1108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}