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Hades: Dead
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The New Testament equivalent of Sheol is Hades. Prior to Christ’s resurrection, Luke 16:19-31 shows Hades to be divided into two realms: a place of comfort where Lazarus was, and a place of torment where the rich man was. The word hell in verse 23 is not “Gehenna” (place of eternal torment) but “Hades” (place of the dead). Lazarus’s place of comfort is elsewhere called Paradise (Luke 23:43). Between these two districts of Hades is “a great gulf fixed” (Luke 16:26).
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The term hades has sometimes been used in Christianity to mean the abode of the dead, where the dead would await Judgment Day either at peace or in torment. See Hades in Christianity.
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In the Eastern Orthodox Church, prayer for the dead is said to help those in hades, even possibly saving those who otherwise would be damned. Saint Perpetua's prayer for her dead, unbaptized brother seems to reflect this belief.
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Hades’ symbol is the two pronged staff, which he used to drive the unwilling shades of spirits into his dark regions. The land of Hades is well mapped in mythology, being split into two parts: Erebus to which the dead come immediately after dying, and Tartarus, the deeper part.
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While those condemned to hell are generally considered past redemption, those in hades are sometimes said to be redeemable. Clement of Alexandria wrote that God was too just to consign those who died before Christ to perdition without a chance to accept the truth, and that those in hades still had the opportunity to repent and be saved.[5] Similarly, in the Acts of Paul and Thecla (160),[6] and in the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity (202) [7] Christians successfully pray for the dead who are almost certainly unbaptized, comforting one or translating another to a place of happiness.
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