The Blessing of the Seven Rivers

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But Zeus had allowed this. He sat in a temple Hearing nothing at all, Receiving the sacrifices of Supplicating men. Persephone herself is considered a fitting other half to Hades because of the meaning of her name which bears the Greek root for "killing" and the - phone in her name means "putting to death".

Hecate was variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, dogs, light, the Moon , magic , witchcraft , knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, necromancy, and sorcery. The Erinyes also known as the Furies were the three goddesses associated with the souls of the dead and the avenged crimes against the natural order of the world.

They consist of Alecto , Megaera , and Tisiphone. They were particularly concerned with crimes done by children against their parents such as matricide, patricide, and unfilial conduct. They would inflict madness upon the living murderer, or if a nation was harboring such a criminal, the Erinyes would cause starvation and disease to the nation.

While Hermes did not primarily reside in the underworld and is not usually associated with the underworld, he was the one who led the souls of the dead to the underworld. In this sense, he was known as Hermes Psychopompos and with his fair golden wand he was able to lead the dead to their new home. He was also called upon by the dying to assist in their passing — some called upon him to have painless deaths or be able to die when and where they believed they were meant to die.

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Minos , Rhadamanthus , and Aeacus are the judges of the dead. They judged the deeds of the deceased and created the laws that governed the underworld. However, none of the laws provided a true justice to the souls of the dead, and the dead did not receive rewards for following them or punishment for wicked actions. Aeacus was the guardian of the Keys of the underworld and the judge of the men of Europe. Rhadamanthys was Lord of Elysium and judge of the men of Asia. Minos was the judge of the final vote. At funerals, the deceased traditionally had an obol placed over their eye or under their tongue, so they could pay Charon to take them across.

To the Etruscans, Charon was considered a fearsome being — he wielded a hammer and was hook-nosed, bearded, and had animalistic ears with teeth. Nevertheless, Charon was considered a terrifying being since his duty was to bring these souls to the underworld and no one would persuade him to do otherwise. Cerberus Kerberos , or the "Hell-Hound", is Hades' massive multi-headed usually three-headed [39] [40] [41] dog with some descriptions stating that it also has a snake-headed tail and snake heads on its back and as its mane. Born from Echidna and Typhon , Cerberus guards the gate that serves as the entrance of the underworld.

Heracles once borrowed Cerberus as the final part of the Labours of Heracles. Orpheus once soothed it to sleep with his music. Thanatos is the personification of death. He guards the Doors of Death. Melinoe is a chthonic nymph , daughter of Persephone, invoked in one of the Orphic Hymns and propitiated as a bringer of nightmares and madness.

A deep abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans , [47] Tartarus was also considered to be a primordial deity. Achlys is the personification of misery and sadness, sometimes represented as a daughter of Nyx, sometimes as an ancient being even older than Chaos himself.

Styx is the goddess of the river with the same name. Not much is known about her, but she is an ally of Zeus and lives in the underworld. Eurynomos is one of the daemons of the underworld, who eats off all the flesh of the corpses, leaving only their bones. In the Greek underworld, the souls of the dead still existed but they are insubstantial and they flitted around the underworld with no sense of purpose.

They also lack phrenes , or wit, and are heedless of what goes on around them and on the earth above them. The idea of progress did not exist in the Greek underworld — at the moment of death, the psyche was frozen, in experience and appearance. The souls in the underworld did not age or really change in any sense. They did not lead any sort of active life in the underworld — they were exactly the same as they were in life. Overall the Greek dead were considered to be irritable and unpleasant, but not dangerous or malevolent. They grew angry if they felt a hostile presence near their graves and drink offerings were given in order to appease them so as not to anger the dead.

While in the underworld, the dead passed the time through simple pastimes such as playing games, as shown from objects found in tombs such as dice and game-boards. Homer depicted the dead as unable to eat or drink unless they had been summoned; however, some reliefs portray the underworld as having many elaborate feasts.

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The Greeks also showed belief in the possibility of marriage in the underworld, which in a sense describes the Greek underworld having no difference than from their current life. Lucian described the people of the underworld as simple skeletons. They are indistinguishable from each other, and it is impossible to tell who was wealthy or important in the living world.

Hades itself was free from the concept of time. The dead are aware of both the past and the future, and in poems describing Greek heroes, the dead helped move the plot of the story by prophesying and telling truths unknown to the hero. The Greeks had a definite belief that there was a journey to the afterlife or another world. They believed that death was not a complete end to life or human existence. Rather, the continuation of the existence of the soul in the underworld was considered a remembrance of the fact that the dead person had existed, yet while the soul still existed, it was inactive.

Homer believed that the best possible existence for humans was to never be born at all, or die soon after birth, because the greatness of life could never balance the price of death. However, it was considered very important to the Greeks to honor the dead and was seen as a type of piety. Those who did not respect the dead opened themselves to the punishment of the gods — for example, Odysseus ensured Ajax's burial, or the gods would be angered.

Orpheus , a poet and musician that had almost supernatural abilities to move anyone to his music, descended to the underworld as a living mortal to retrieve his dead wife Eurydice after she was bitten by a poisonous snake on their wedding day. With his lyre-playing skills, he was able to put a spell on the guardians of the underworld and move them with his music.

The rulers of the underworld agreed, but under one condition — Eurydice would have to follow behind Orpheus and he could not turn around to look at her. Once Orpheus reached the entrance, he turned around, longing to look at his beautiful wife, only to watch as his wife faded back into the underworld.

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He was forbidden to return to the underworld a second time and he spent his life playing his music to the birds and the mountains. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Underworld disambiguation. The Greek Way of Death. The American Journal of Philology. The House of Hades: Death in the Greek World: From Homer to the Classical Age. University of Oklahoma Press. The Oxford Companion to World Mythology. Retrieved 2 December The Complete World of Greek Mythology.

Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.

Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from En-gedi even unto En-eglaim: But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.

And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: Conceding this, it is quite legitimate for us to apply it also to the present working of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of His people, and in the midst of His Church, which is the temple of the living God.

Our Lord Jesus has Himself identified the living water in His beautiful words in the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of His inmost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: This is an exact paraphrase of the meaning of the vision of Ezekiel. It represents the Holy Spirit as a river of water flowing from the inmost being of a consecrated heart, and becoming rivers of blessing to others.

There is something about the entire imagery of this picture so oriental, so sublime, so rich, that, like a beautiful flower, we cannot analyze it too much without destroying some of its symmetry and sweetness. It speaks of something as glorious as the rich symbolism of the picture. It speaks of the crystal stream and the deepening, broadening rivers flowing through desert lands, and transforming them into gardens of luxuriant beauty and verdure. It speaks of perennial fruits and leaves of healing and even the Dead Sea itself reclaimed by its healing waters, until it becomes a place of fishermen who stand upon its shores from end to end gathering their shoals of fishes.

There is something about such figures that cannot be analyzed. There is a freedom, a glow, a vague but real splendor, a something which is unutterable and full of glory, which truly describes a certain elevated phrase of our spiritual experience. There are things in our Christian life which, if you translate into coarse speech, become like the petals of a dissected flower, withered and dead; but let them alone, and they are full of life and joy.

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You cannot translate them, you cannot always understand them. It is the voice of the Spirit within you crying with unutterable groanings or unutterable joy. It is as full as the magnificent river, as pure as the crystal water, as fresh as the morning dew, as healing as the leaves of the tree of life, and as full of power and blessing as that river that made everything live where it came.

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Where the air is pure, ethereal, Laden with breath of flowers. But let us, notwithstanding, interpret as much as we may the rich and suggestive imagery of the picture. The first thing that strikes a thoughtful reader is the direction of this river. We know it represents the Holy Spirit, the blessed Person whose ministry is to cleanse, satisfy, comfort, help, and heal the disciples of Christ. But why is it flowing out and not in? Are we not always trying to get this river to run into us?

Are we not always seeking a blessing and a baptism? But here the sanctuary seems to have only one business, to give out the water; and this river only one thing to do, to go forth on its ministry of unselfish mercy. That is the true life of the Holy Ghost. The true purpose of the Spirit in coming to us is to make us workers together with God, whose one business is ever loving, ever blessing, ever giving.

It was not after this river became deep and full that it began to flow out; but from the first little trickling drop it was at the same business. The real secret of the Dead Sea was that it had no outlet; it was just a great reservoir through the ages. But as it begins to overflow, it lives.

Beloved, this is the secret of spiritual weakness and disappointment. You want a blessing for yourself. Begin to live for God and others, and He will give it back tenfold to you again. The second thing we learn about this river is that it flows from a sanctuary. What is a sanctuary? It is a sacred, separated, holy, and divine place.

First, it must be separated from sinful and common uses. Secondly, it must be dedicated to God and belong exclusively to Him. Thirdly, it must be occupied by God and be filled with Him as its Possessor, its Guest, and the Object of its worship. This is the sanctuary. This is the true Christian life, and from such a soul as this the river will always flow. But you cannot be a blessing to others beyond your personal experience.

You cannot give what you have not got. You cannot bring pure water out of an unclean fountain. Why are we not greater blessings? Because our hearts are not sanctuaries. We try to do a little for God and then find the whole hindered by a thousand forbidden uses; and God will have no partnership with evil, and will accept no service which is mixed or compromised.

Beloved, let us consecrate ourselves. Let Him sanctify us, fill us, and then flow from us in all the fullness of the Holy Ghost. The third thing about this river is that it flowed from under the threshold of the sanctuary. It did not come from the roof, or from some hill behind it, or from the fountain in the holy court; but it came from the lowest place, from under the stairs, where people trod as they passed by.

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