Il monaco Elia tra cielo e inferno: nota a Psello, epist. 98 Kurtz-Drexl

In epistle 98 K.-D. Psellus wonders about the afterlife destiny of the soul of his friend Elias. A wandering monk, he was unable to decide between God and Mammona, i.e. to fully embrace ascetic life and resist secular temptations. Psellus envisages three possible scenarios: 1) Elias will be excluded from both Hell and Heaven; 2) he will experience both infernal chastisement and celestial blessing with different parts of his soul/body; 3) he will experience the torments of Hell and the beatitudes of the Kingdom of Heaven on alternate days. When conceiving these ironic suppositions, Psellus might have had in mind such hagiographical narrations as the beneficial tale De eleemosynario fornicatore (BHG 1322w, 1322y) and the Life of Basil the Younger (BHG 264), and, possibly, some other tour-of hell narratives as well. However, the third option might also be reminiscent of the myth of Castor and Polydeukes.