Acts 1:18

“Judas did not die by hanging, but lived on, having been cut down before he was suffocated. And the acts of the apostles show this, that falling head long he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. This fact is related more clearly by Papias, the disciple of John, and the fourth book of the Expositions of the Oracles of the Lord as follows: Judas walked about in this world a terrible example of impiety; his flesh swollen to such an extent that, where hay wagon can pass with ease, he was not able to pass, no, not even the mass of his head merely. They say that his eyelids swelled to such an extent that he could not see the light at all, while as for his eyes they were not visible even by a physician looking through an instrument, so far have they sunk from the surface. His genitals appeared entirely disfigured, nauseous and large. When he carried himself about discharge and worms flowed from his entire body through his private areas only, on account of his outrages. After many agonies and punishments, he died in his own place. And on account of this the place is desolate and uninhabited even now. And to this day no one is able to go by that place, except if they block their noses with their hands. Such judgment was spread through his body and upon the earth.”

“"Now this man acquired a field out of the reward of iniquity." He gives his discourse a moral turn, and covertly mentions the cause of the wickedness, because it carried reproof with it. And he does not say, The Jews, but, "this man, acquired" it. For since the minds of weak persons do not attend to things future, as they do to things present, he discourses of the immediate punishment inflicted. "And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst." He does well to dilate not upon the sin, but upon the punishment. "And," he says, "all his bowels gushed out." This brought them consolation. He also dwells upon the circumstances respecting Judas, showing that the reward of the treachery was made itself the herald of the punishment. For he "acquired," he says, "a field out of the reward of the iniquity." Observe the divine economy in the event. "Of the iniquity," he says. For there are many iniquities, but never was anything more iniquitous than this: so that the affair was one of iniquity.”

“And he indeed obtained a field from the reward of iniquity. He who sold the Lord of life, having lost the land of the living, possesses a field of blood and eternal death, the memory of his crime and his name. Otherwise, Judas himself did not deserve to possess the potter's field bought with the price of blood, who, having returned the thirty pieces of silver, immediately punished the crime of treachery with a more criminal death. But, according to the manner of sacred speech, it is said he possessed what he caused to be possessed. As the blessed Job says: "And my clothes will abhor me," that is, my corruptible members will render me abominable.”

“And he burst asunder in the middle. The mad traitor found a punishment worthy of himself, that is, the noose's knot strangled the throat from which the voice of betrayal had emerged. He also sought a fitting place of destruction, so that he who had delivered the Lord of men and angels to death, hated by heaven and earth, as if only to be associated with the spirits of the air, might perish in the midst of the air, according to the example of Ahithophel and Absalom who persecuted King David. To whom, indeed, the death itself succeeded with a sufficiently fitting outcome, so that the bowels which had conceived the deceit of betrayal were burst open and cast out into the empty air. A similar punishment by which death is reported to have condemned Arius, the heresiarch, so that since the one sought to extinguish the humanity of Christ, the other the divinity, both, as they lived devoid of sense, thus also perished with empty bellies.”

“He speaks of the punishment which Judas suffered in the present life, and not of the future punishment, because the souls of weak people do not pay as much attention to the future as to the present. Observe: he elaborated not on the transgression, but on the punishment for it, because Judas did not die in the noose, but lived on even after, since he was taken down before he strangled to death. Papias, a disciple of John, relates this more clearly in the fourth book of the Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord. He says thus: "Judas presented a great example of impiety in this world, whose body swelled to such a degree that he could not pass where a wagon could drive through, and not only could he himself not pass, but not even his head alone. The lids of his eyes, they say, swelled so much that he could not see the light at all, and his eyes themselves could not be seen even by means of a medical dioptra, so deep were they from the outer surface… After great sufferings and torments he died, they say, on his own estate; and that estate remains deserted and uninhabited even to this day; even to this day no one can pass by that place without holding their nostrils with their hands. Such is the stench that spread from his body even to the ground." This served as a certain consolation for the apostles. But just as the bowels of Judas burst open, so too did the bowels of the heretic Arius.”

“"You shall not steal:" [Exodus 20:15] for Achan, when he had stolen in Israel at Jericho, was stoned to death; [Joshua 7:1] and Gehazi, who stole, and told a lie, inherited the leprosy of Naaman; [2 Kings 5:27] and Judas, who stole the poor's money, betrayed the Lord of glory to the Jews, [John 12:6] and repented, and hanged himself, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out; [Matthew 27:5; Acts 1:18] and Ananias, and Sapphira his wife, who stole their own goods, and "tempted the Spirit of the Lord," were immediately, at the sentence of Peter our fellow-apostle, struck dead. [Acts 5:1-11]”

“Judas did not die by hanging, but survived, having been crushed before being strangled. This is indicated by the Acts of the Apostles, which say that, having fallen forward, he burst open in the middle. This is narrated more clearly by Papias, a disciple of the apostle John, who says: "An example of great sin walked in this world in Judas. For having been pressed upon his flesh to such an extent that he could not pass through, as a wagon passed over him he was pressed by the wagon, so that his guts were emptied." [APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA]”

“"For his flesh had swollen to such an extent that not even where a wagon easily passes could one pass him, nor was it only the swelling of the head. For they say the eyelids of his eyes had so become blinded that he did not at all see the light. Nor could his eyes be seen even by a medical lens, they were so deep from the outer surface; and his genitals appeared more loathsome and larger than anything shameful. And they say that from it there issued, from all parts of the body, corruptions and worms in abundance, by them alone of necessity. And after many tortures and punishments, they say he died in his own place, and because of the smell the village became deserted and uninhabited until the present. But not even today could anyone cross that place unless he stopped up his nostrils with his hands." [APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA]”