He who overcomes shall not be harmed
From a treatise on Forgiveness by Fulgentius of Ruspe, bishop (468-533)
He who overcomes shall not be harmed by the second death
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye as the final trumpet sounds, for the trumpet shall indeed sound, the dead shall rise incorruptible and we shall be changed. In saying “we” Paul is indicating that the gift of that future change will also be given to those who during their time on earth are united to him and his companions by upright lives within the communion of the Church. He hints at the nature of the change when he says: This corruptible body must put on incorruptibility, this mortal body immortality. In order, then, that men may obtain the transformation which is the reward of the just, they must first undergo here on earth a change which is God’s free gift. Those who in this life have been changed from evil to good are promised that future change as a reward.
Through justification and the spiritual resurrection, grace now effects in them an initial change that is God’s gift. Later on, through the bodily resurrection, the transformation of the just will be brought to completion, and they will experience a perfect, abiding, unchangeable glorification. The purpose of this change wrought in them by the gifts of both justification and glorification is that they may abide in an eternal, changeless state of joy.
Here on earth they are changed by the first resurrection, in which they are enlightened and converted, thus passing from death to life, sinfulness to holiness, unbelief to faith, and evil actions to holy life. For this reason the second death has no power over them. It is of such men that the Book of Revelation says: Happy the man who shares in the first resurrection; over such as he the second death has no power. Elsewhere the same book says: He who overcomes shall not be harmed by the second death. As the first resurrection consists of the conversion of the heart, the second death consists of unending torment.
Let everyone, therefore, who does not wish to be condemned to the endless punishment of the second death now hasten to share in the first resurrection. For if any during this life are changed out of fear of God and pass from an evil life to a good one, they pass from death to life and later they shall be transformed from a shameful state to a glorious one.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Saint Fulgentius (468-533) was born in 468 of a noble Roman senatorial family of Carthage, in Africa. He helped manage the family estate when his father died and was well known for his ability. He was appointed procurator and tax receiver of Byzacena but then, at twenty-two, he was led to the religious life by the writings of St. Augustine, whose influence remained with him the rest of his life. He entered a monastery governed by an orthodox bishop, Faustus, who had been driven from his see by Arian King Huneric. Fulgentius’ mother caused such an uproar over Faustus accepting her son into the monastery that both Faustus and Fulgentius left to enter another monastery nearby. In 499 they were forced to flee the invading Numidians and went to Sicca Veneria, on the road from Carthage to Hippo, in Africa. There they were arrested by an Arian priest who had them scourged and tortured. But they refused to apostatize from their orthodoxy and they were eventually released. Fulgentius went to Rome to visit the tombs of the apostles and on his return to Byzacena built another monastery there and became its abbot. He lived as a hermit but in 508 was appointed bishop of Ruspe.
He became a defender of the Catholic position upholding veneration of images of the saints when the Byzantine Emperors had issued edicts prohibiting this practice. Fulgentius produced a collection of outstanding written works, among them Fount of Wisdom, on philosophy, heresies, and the orthodox faith, and De Fide Orthodoxa, a comprehensive presentation of the teachings of the Greek Fathers on the main Christian doctrines. This work is one of the most notable theological presentations of antiquity. He died at Sabas in 533 and was the last of the Greek Fathers of the Church. He was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1890.