There will be a new heaven and a new earth.
Commentator: Gregory the Great Moralia on Job 17.9
He was a Pope, elected in 590 until his death in 604 C.E.
this translation by Mark DelCogliano for Fathers of the
Church, vol. 144 (2022, CUA Press) pages 78 - 79
Writings on the Apocalypse.
"Let us distinguish how earth and heaven either
pass away or remain. Both of them pass away
in terms of the form which they now possess,
but yet continue to exist without end in terms
of their essence. So it is said by (Apostle) Paul:
For the form of this world is passing away.
[First Epistle to Corinthians 7:31] And for this
reason Truth himself said: Heaven and earth
will pass away, but my words will not pass
away [Matt.24:35 ; Mark 13:31 ; Luke 21:33].
For this reason too, it is said to John (in Apoc.
21:1) by the voice of the angel: There will be
a new heaven and a new earth.
It is not that a different heaven and earth
will be created, but the same heaven and earth
are renewed. So then, heaven and earth indeed
both pass away and will continue to be, because
they are cleansed by fire of the form they now
possess, and yet they are preserved in their
eternal nature. So, it is said by the Psalmist:
You will change them, and they will be changed
(PSALMS 101:27). This final transformation of
theirs they now announce to us by those very
alternations which they ceaselessly perform for
our benefit. For earth loses its form by the dryness
of winter, yet is made green by the moisture of
spring. Each day heaven is covered over by the
darkness of night and renewed by the brightness
of day. Hence, then let every believer realize that
both perishing and re-establishment through
renewal happen to those things which, it is clear,
are constantly restored to life as if from death!
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