The modern western church typically sees a great divide between those who are still alive on earth and those who are dead and have passed on to the after life. What is fascinating is to learn how the earliest Christians not only prayed to the dead and asked for assistance in their prayers but they even prayed for the salvation of those who died without Christ.
There is a list of early evidences from archaeology, grave sites, epitaphs, and early church writings to at least take another look at what these early Christians believed and practiced. Some of the early Christian writings that point in this direction are Luke 16:19-31 nd 2 Clement 8, The Shepherd of Hermes, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the odes of Solomon written during the second century.
Particular interest is Thelca's prayer for Falconilla and Perpetua's prayer for Dinocrates. There is the harrowing of Hell by the ancient Eastern Orthodox of Jesus descent into hell and emptying it and several early church fathers views of universal salvation from Origen and Gregory of Nyssa to later Christians in the early church. Two teachings that have been lost in the modern church today is (1) Christians still spiritually grow and evolve in the after life; and (2) people can still choose God even after they have died.
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