What did the Early Church (ante-Nicene period) believe about Gehenna and the Second Death?

**Gehenna according to [Strong's Concordance](https://biblehub.com/greek/1067.htm)** > geenna: **Gehenna**, a valley W. and South of Jer., **also a symbolic name for the final place of punishment of the ungodly** Original Word: γέεννα, ης, ἡ Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: geenna Phonetic Spelling: (gheh'-en-nah) Definition: **Gehenna, a valley west and South of Jerusalem, also a symbolic name for the final place of punishment of the ungodly** Usage: **Gehenna, and originally the name of a valley or cavity near Jerusalem, a place underneath the earth, a place of punishment for evil.** _____ **Gehenna in the Gospels** The Gospels record multiple instances of Jesus warning very emphatically about the severe punishment that awaits those who would not repent from their sins and depart from their wicked ways. Their final destination will be Gehenna: the final place of punishment of the ungodly. - 22 but I -- I say to you, that every one who is angry at his brother without cause, shall be in danger of the judgment, and whoever may say to his brother, Empty fellow! shall be in danger of the sanhedrim, and whoever may say, Rebel! shall be in danger of **the gehenna of the fire**. [Matthew 5:22 YLT] - 29 \`But, if thy right eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not **thy whole body be cast to gehenna**. [Matthew 5:29 YLT] - 30 \`And, if thy right hand doth cause thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast from thee, for it is good to thee that one of thy members may perish, and not **thy whole body be cast to gehenna**. [Matthew 5:30 YLT] - 28 `And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, **but fear rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna**. [Matthew 10:28 YLT] - 9 `And if thine eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee; it is good for thee one-eyed to enter into the life, rather than having two eyes to **be cast to the gehenna of the fire**. [Matthew 18:9 YLT] - 15 `Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye go round the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever it may happen -- **ye make him a son of gehenna twofold more than yourselves**. [Matthew 23:15 YLT] - 33 \`Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from **the judgment of the gehenna**? [Matthew 23:33 YLT] - 43 \`And if thy hand may cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better for thee maimed to enter into the life, than having the two hands, to **go away to the gehenna, to the fire -- the unquenchable --** 44 **where there worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched**. 45 `And if thy foot may cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into the life lame, than having the two feet to **be cast to the gehenna, to the fire -- the unquenchable --** 46 **where there worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched**. 47 And if thine eye may cause thee to stumble, cast it out; it is better for thee one-eyed to enter into the reign of God, than having two eyes, **to be cast to the gehenna of the fire** -- 48 **where their worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched**; 49 for every one **with fire** shall be salted, and every sacrifice with salt shall be salted. [Mark 9:43-49 YLT] - 5 but I will show to you, whom ye may fear; Fear him who, after the killing, is having authority **to cast to the gehenna**; yes, I say to you, Fear ye Him. [Luke 12:5 YLT] James refers to Gehenna too: - 6 and the tongue [is] a fire, the world of the unrighteousness, so the tongue is set in our members, which is spotting our whole body, and is setting on fire the course of nature, and is **set on fire by the gehenna**. [James 3:6 YLT] ____ **The Lake of Fire in Revelation** The Book of Revelation offers similar descriptions of a Lake of Fire, where the Devil, his angels, and everyone who rebelled against God or died in unrepentant sin will be thrown into. The similarities are such that we can reasonably conclude that *the Lake of Fire* of Revelation and the *Gehenna* of Jesus are the same place. - 20 and the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who did the signs before him, in which he led astray those who did receive the mark of the beast, and those who did bow before his image; **living they were cast -- the two -- to the lake of the fire, that is burning with brimstone**; [Revelation 19:20 YLT] - 10 and the Devil, who is leading them astray, was **cast into the lake of fire and brimstone**, where [are] the beast and the false prophet, **and they shall be tormented day and night -- to the ages of the ages**. [Revelation 20:10 YLT] - 14 and the death and the hades **were cast to the lake of the fire -- this [is] the second death**; 15 and if any one was not found written in the scroll of the life, **he was cast to the lake of the fire**. [Revelation 20:14-15 YLT] - 8 and to fearful, and unstedfast, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the liars, **their part [is] in the lake that is burning with fire and brimstone, which is a second death**.' [Revelation 21:8 YLT] _________ **Tying this to the Early Church** As we can see, Gehenna is mentioned in most of the Gospels, which are among the earliest and most reliable Christian manuscripts in terms of authorship attribution (see [this answer](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/a/89662/50422)) . Moreover, the concept of an end-times fiery place of punishment symbolized by Gehenna was reinforced even more with the release of the Book of Revelation by the Apostle John. What does this mean? It means that the Early Church was surely aware from the very onset of *Gehenna* and the Apostolic teaching on the *Second Death*. They had to know. The subject was so important to Jesus that he brought it up in his preaching on numerous occasions, and early documents such as the Gospels & Revelation definitely contributed to the propagation of this teaching. _______ **Question** What did the Early Church (in the ante-Nicene period) believe about *Gehenna* and the *Second Death*? To help guide the discussion, here are some specific questions that would be interesting to answer: - What did the Apostolic Fathers believe about *Gehenna* and the *Second Death*? - What did the Ante-Nicene Fathers believe about *Gehenna* and the *Second Death*? - What about other extra-biblical documents from this period on this topic? - Did the Early Church believe in eternal conscious torment? - Did the Early Church believe in eternal conscious separation? - Did the Early Church believe in Annihilationism? ____________________ **Related questions** - https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/89518/50422 - https://christianity.stackexchange.com/q/89140/50422