What is Paradise and Who is in It? The Discussion about the Abode of the Souls of the Righteous in Sixth- to Eleventh-Century Byzantium
What is Paradise and Who is in It? The Discussion about the Abode of the Souls of the Righteous in Sixth- to Eleventh-Century Byzantium

Summary/Abstract: This article casts light on two issues that were discussed in the Early and Middle Byzantine periods: whether Paradise was inhabited by the Good Thief alone or by the souls of all the saints, and whether Paradise was a separate place or a metaphor for the Kingdom of Heaven. The focus is on a sermon by Severus of Antioch, on texts related to the stylite Symeon the Younger, on Patriarch Methodius’ Life of Theophanes Confessor, on Nicetas the Paphlagonian’s Encomium of Thecla, and on an exchange of letters between Nicetas Stethatos and the ‘sophist’ Gregory.

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