Hell is eternal or not. Throne of Satan. If hell, according to the statement of the saint, is abolished thanks to the victory of Christ, then does this not mean that hell, as a place of posthumous sojourn for sinners, no longer exists?
St. John Chrysostom:
“There are many people who place good hopes, not on the fact that they abstain from sins, but on the fact that they believe that hell is not so terrible as they say about it, but weaker than what they threaten us, and moreover, temporary, but not eternal, and they think a lot about this.Meanwhile, I can present many proofs and even deduce from the very words (Scripture) about Gehenna that it is not only not weaker than it is presented in threats, but even much more terrible. "Now I will not start talking about it. Even the fear that the words alone arouse in us (about Gehenna) is enough, even if we do not reveal their meaning. And that it is not temporary, listen to what Paul says here about people, not leading God and not believing in the gospel, namely, that they will be subjected to punishment, eternal destruction. So, how can the eternal become temporary?.. "
"Many of the people among us, being captivated by the flesh and enslaved by the circumstances of this life, believe that then nothing will happen and, referring to God's love for mankind, they say that there is neither punishment nor torment. So, if God is philanthropic, what is He and indeed, then without fail He is righteous; but if righteous, then how would it not be fair that one should be punished who, having first enjoyed a thousand blessings, then performed worthy of punishment and did not become better either from threats or from benefits After all, if you delve into the truth, then (you will find that) according to the power of truth, we should rather be punished from the very beginning and immediately, and it would even be philanthropic if we suffered even what did not happen. who is innocent of anything, then according to the law of truth he bears responsibility; and if someone not only offends, but daily with his actions upsets the benefactor, who has rendered thousands of good deeds solely on his own impulse, and not in retribution for the good received, what indulgence will he be worthy of? How, tell me, are you not afraid, uttering such impudence and asserting that "God is philanthropic and does not punish"? And if he punishes, then, in your opinion, will he turn out to be inhumane? Why then, tell me, would you not want to be punished when you sinned? Didn't He warn you about everything? Didn't he threaten? Didn't he help? Has he not done much for your salvation? If the evil ones are not punished, then another, perhaps, will say that the good ones are not crowned; and in this case, where will be the love of mankind and the righteousness of God? So, people, do not deceive yourselves, being deceived by the devil, because all this is his (the devil's) thoughts. If even judges, masters and teachers reward the good, and punish the bad, how would it be appropriate if God did the opposite, if the good and the bad were rewarded with the same thing? When would the evil ones lag behind evil? Indeed, if in anticipation of punishment they do not lag behind evil, then, being free from this fear, not only do they not fall into hell, but also reach the kingdom where the evil ones would stop? I have heard some sinners say that God threatened people with hell as a warning, as if it were impossible for Him, being merciful, to punish anyone, especially one who does not know Him. Tell me, then, you who make God a deceiver, who in the days of Noah poured out waves on the whole universe, caused that terrible shipwreck and caused the death of our entire race? Who sent down those lightnings and thunders on the land of Sodom? Who sank all of Egypt? Who destroyed six hundred thousand in the wilderness? Who burned down the assembly of Avironovo? Who commanded the earth to open its mouth and swallow up the associates Korah and Dathan? Who in the time of David struck down seventy thousand in an instant? Who, during the prophecy of Isaiah, killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night? And don’t you see the daily misfortunes that we endure when we sin? What would be the point if some were punished and others were not punished? Truly, if God is not unrighteous—and He is precisely not unrighteous—then you will certainly bear the punishment for your sins; but if God does not punish, because He is philanthropic, then even those should not have been punished. Even for these very words that we transmitted, God punishes many in real life, so that if you do not believe the words of the threat, then at least believe the deeds of punishment.
St. John Chrysostom. Interpretation of words:
"If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will be revealed; for the day will show, because it is revealed in the fire, and the fire will test the work of each, what it is. Whoever's business, which he built, will stand, he will receive a reward. And whoever's business is burned, he will suffer damage; however, he himself will be saved, but so, as if from fire "(1 Cor. 3:12-15).
1. Here we are presented with a question not unimportant, but concerning the subject of the most necessary and investigated by all people: will the fire of Gehenna have an end? Christ revealed to us that: "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:46). I see that you shudder when you hear this; but what to do? God commands us to proclaim this without ceasing: "indicate," he says, "to my people" (Isaiah 58:1). We have been placed in the service of the word, and therefore it is necessary to speak unpleasant things to the hearers; although contrary to desire, but necessary. However, if you like, it will not be unpleasant for you. If you do good, says (the apostle), do not be afraid (Rom.13, 3). Therefore, you can listen to us not only without fear, but also with pleasure. So Christ revealed that Gehenna fire has no end; and Paul asserts that the torment will be never-ending when he says that sinners "will suffer punishment, eternal destruction" (2 Thess. 1:9); and again: do not be deceived: "neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor Malachi shall inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6, 9-10). And to the Jews, he says: "try to have peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb.12, 14). Also, Christ, in response to the words: "We have worked many miracles in Your name," will say: "Depart from Me, you who work iniquity: I do not know you" (Matt. 7:22-23). And the virgins, for whom the doors were closed, could no longer enter; and of those who did not feed Him, He says: "They will go into eternal punishment" (Matt. 25:46).
Don't tell me: where is justice if the torment has no end? When God does anything, obey His decrees and do not subject them to the minds of men. Moreover, is it unfair if a person who first received thousands of blessings, and then committed a worthy punishment and did not become better either from threats or good deeds, is punished? If you demand justice, then according to the law of truth, we should have perished immediately at the beginning; but it would be better, and then it would not be according to the law of truth alone, but would be an action of philanthropy, if we endured this too. Whoever insults a person who has not done him any harm, he, according to the law of truth, is subject to punishment; if someone is his benefactor, who does not owe him anything, but who has shown him countless blessings, the only culprit of his being and, moreover, God, who breathed into him a soul, bestowed thousands of blessings and wanted to raise him to heaven, if such (benefactor), after such blessings, not only offends, but every day grieves with his deeds, then what forgiveness will he be worthy of? Do you not see how (God) punished Adam for one sin? He, you say, gave him paradise and honored him with his great favor? But it is not the same thing - to sin, enjoying prosperity, or - spending a life in great sorrow. It is grievous that you sin when you are not in paradise, but in the midst of the innumerable calamities of the present life, and you are not enlightened by misfortunes; it is as if one were to do evil while bound. (God) promised you more blessings than paradise; I have not yet given them, so that you do not become lazy during the ascetic labors, but also did not keep silent about them, so that you would not weaken in your labors. Adam, having committed one sin, brought upon himself death; and we commit thousands of sins every day. If, having committed one sin, he brought upon himself so much evil and brought death into the world, then what will we not undergo, who constantly live in sins, although we expect heaven instead of paradise? This word is heavy and regrettable for the listener. I know this from the feeling that I myself experience: my heart is troubled and trembles, and the more I am convinced of the certainty of Gehenna, the more I tremble and am filled with fear. But we need to talk about it so that we do not fall into hell. You did not receive paradise, not trees and plants, but heaven and heavenly blessings. But if the one who received the lesser is condemned and nothing could justify him, then all the more we, who are called to the higher and sin more than him, will be subjected to unbearable torments. Imagine how long our race for one sin remains under the dominion of death. Five thousand or more years have already passed, and death has not yet ceased for one sin. Moreover, we cannot say that Adam listened to the prophets, that he saw the punishments that befell others for sins, that he could therefore come into fear and be enlightened by these examples; he was then the first and only, but he was punished. You cannot imagine anything like that, who becomes worse after such examples, who has been rewarded with such gifts of the Spirit, and who admits not one, not two, or three, but countless sins. Do not look at the fact that a sin is committed in a short time and do not think that therefore the punishment will be short-term. Do you not see how people who commit theft or adultery once and in one minute often spend their whole lives in dungeons and mines, subjected to incessant hunger and innumerable kinds of death? And yet no one justified them and did not say that since the sin was committed by them in a short time, then the punishment should continue for the time corresponding to the sin.
2. But, you say, this is how people act, but God is philanthropic? Firstly, people do this not out of cruelty, but out of philanthropy; and God so punishes because He is philanthropic; in the greatness of his mercy, great is his punishment. Therefore, when you say that God is philanthropic, you prove the justice of punishment all the more if we sin against such a (Being). That is why Paul said: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). Pay close attention, I admonish you, to the power of these words; maybe you'll get some comfort from that. Which of the people can punish as God punished, who caused the flood and the destruction of the human race, and a little later rained fire from heaven and destroyed everyone (the inhabitants of Sodom) to the ground? What human punishment can compare with such a punishment? Don't you see here an almost endless punishment? Four thousand years have passed, and the punishment of the Sodomites is still in force. As great is the love of God, so is His punishment. Moreover, if God commanded something difficult and impossible, then another could refer to the difficulty of His commandments; but if He commands something very easy, what can we say without worrying about this? Can't you fast and keep your virginity? You can, if you like, what those who did this accuse us of; but God did not use all severity against us, did not command or command this, but left it to the will of the listeners; you can be chaste in marriage, you can abstain from drunkenness. Can't you give away all your possessions? You can, as those who did it show; but God did not command this either, but commanded not to steal someone else's property and give it to those in need from one's own property. If anyone says that he cannot be satisfied with one wife, he deceives and deceives himself, in which those who remain chaste even without a wife accuse him. Can't you not slander, can't you not swear? On the contrary, it is more difficult to do it than not to do it. What excuse do we have when we do not fulfill such an easy and convenient thing? We can't imagine any. From all that has been said, it is clear that the torment will be eternal.
But it seems to some that Paul's saying contradicts this; so let's look at his explanation. Saying: "whoever's work that he built stands, he will receive a reward. And whoever's work is burned, he will suffer loss," he added: "however, he himself will be saved, but as if from fire." What to say about it? Consider, first, what is foundation, what is gold, what are precious stones, what are hay and stubble. He himself clearly called Christ the foundation: "another foundation," he says, "no one can lay, except what is laid, which is Jesus Christ"; and the building ... means deeds ... From here it is clear that here we are talking about deeds ....
3. If this were said about faith, it would be said without foundation. In faith, everyone should be equal, because faith is one; and in the affairs of life, not everyone is the same. Faith is neither worse nor better, but it is the same for all true believers; but in life, some are more zealous, others are more careless, some are more regular, others are more careless, some do more, others less, some sin harder, others easier. That's why the apostle said: "Gold, silver, precious stones, firewood, hay, stubble. Each work will be revealed." Here he talks about business. "Whoever's business that he built will stand, he will receive a reward. And whoever's business burns down, he will suffer loss."
If this were said about pupils and teachers, then it would not be proper for teachers to suffer punishment if the pupils did not listen to them. That is why he says: "everyone will receive his reward according to his work," not at the end of the work, but according to the work. What does he need if the hearers did not heed? And this also shows that it is talking about works.
And the meaning of the words is as follows: whoever leads a bad life with the right faith, faith will not protect him from punishment when the matter burns. It will burn, which means that it will not endure the forces of fire. If someone with a golden weapon crossed the fiery river, he would cross it with glory; but if, on the contrary, someone crosses it with hay, he will not only not succeed, but will also destroy himself: this is also the case with deeds. In saying this, the apostle does not mean the actual burning of people, but wants to inspire the strongest fear and show that he who lives wickedly is in danger. That is why he says: "He will suffer loss": this is the first punishment. "He himself will be saved, but as if from fire": that's another thing. These words mean the following: he himself will not perish like the deeds, will not turn into nothing, but will remain in the fire. This is what the apostle calls salvation; therefore he did not simply say, "She will be saved," but added, "as if from fire." So we usually say: they are preserved in fire - about such things that do not burn and do not suddenly turn into ashes. Therefore, when you hear about fire, do not think that those who are burned will turn into nothing. Do not be surprised that the apostle calls such torment salvation; he often uses good expressions about unpleasant objects, and bad ones about pleasant objects. For example, the word captivity denotes a bad object; but Paul uses it in a good way, saying: "We bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor. 10:5). Also, speaking of evil, he uses a good expression in the following words: "sin reigned" (Rom. 5, 21); meanwhile, the word reign rather sounds good. So here too, when he says: he will be saved, he expresses nothing but the continuation of punishment, and, as it were, he says: he himself will be tormented unceasingly.
Rev. Isaac Sirin:
I say that those who are tormented in Gehenna are stricken with the scourge of love! And how bitter and cruel is the torment of love! For those who feel that they have sinned against love endure a torment greater than any torment that brings fear; the sadness that strikes the heart for sin against love is more terrible than any possible punishment. It is inappropriate for anyone to think that sinners in Gehenna are deprived of the love of God. Love is the offspring of the knowledge of truth, which (in which everyone agrees) is given to everyone in general. But love, by its power, acts in two ways: it torments sinners, as it happens here for each other to endure from a friend, and it rejoices with itself those who have done their duty. And so, according to my reasoning, hellish torment is repentance. Love intoxicates the souls of the sons of the mountains with its pleasures.
Do not humiliate the crippled, because we will all go to hell with equal honor.
But if this is just (and really just), what is more senseless or more unreasonable than such a speech: “It is enough for me to escape Gehenna, but I do not care about the same to enter the Kingdom”? For avoiding Gehenna means this very thing - to enter the Kingdom; just as to lose the Kingdom is to enter hell. Scripture has not shown us three countries, but what does it say? “When the Son of Man comes in His glory...and He sets the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on the outside” (Matt. 25:31,33). He did not name three hosts, but two - one on the right, the other on the left. And he divided the boundaries of their various abodes, saying: “And these go,” that is, sinners, “into eternal torment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:46); “shine like the sun” (Matthew 13:43). And again: “... from the east and the west they will come and lie down” on the bosom of Abraham “in the Kingdom of Heaven: the sons of the kingdom will be expelled into outer darkness”, where weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt. 8:11,12), which is more terrible any fire. Have you not understood from this that the state opposite to the higher degree is the most painful hell?
Rev. Isaac the Syrian writes that hell begins in the soul of the sinner already here during his lifetime:
If the apple of your spiritual eye is unclean, then do not dare to fix your eyes on the ball of the sun, so as not to lose you even this small ray, that is, simple faith, and humility, and heartfelt confession, and small deeds that are within your power, and not be cast out into one the region of spiritual beings, which is pitch darkness, that which is outside of God is a kind of hell, just as he was cast out who was not ashamed to come to marriage in unclean clothes.
When it pleases God to subject a person to great sorrows, He allows him to fall into the hands of cowardice. And it generates in a person the force of despondency that overcomes him, in which he feels the suppression of the soul, and this is a taste of hell ...
[In this sense, the Reverend says ]: The sinner is not able to imagine the grace of His resurrection. Where is hell that could grieve us? Where is the torment that frightens us in many ways and overcomes the joy of His love? And what is Gehenna in comparison with the grace of His resurrection, when He raises us from hell, makes this corruptible put on incorruption, and raises the one who fell into hell in glory?
Saint Basil the Great interprets the words The voice of the Lord strikes a flame of fire"(Ps. 28.7):
The fire, prepared for the torment of the devil and his angels, is split by the voice of the Lord, so that there are two forces in it: one is scorching, and the other is enlightening. The tormenting and punishing power of that fire is reserved for those who are worthy of torment, while the enlightening and illuminating power is intended to illumine those who rejoice. So, for this - the voice of the Lord, cutting and dividing the flame of fire, so that the dark part would be the fire of torment, and the non-scorching part would be the light of pleasure.
Saint Mark of Ephesus quotes these words of St. Basil and explains that salvation from death as destruction (or as separation of the soul from the body), revealed by the Savior, will be “worse than death” for sinners who have not repented during life, because. the destructive power of fire will destroy their evil, but they themselves will keep forever ("save") for eternal stay in fire.
Saint Gregory the Theologian:
"The immortal soul ... will forever be either punished for depravity or glorified for virtue."
Saint Maxim the Confessor:
"Feats in virtue ... are the culprits for us of the Kingdom of Heaven, like passions and ignorance - the culprits of eternal torment."
“And He will take revenge on His opponents, separating, through holy angels, the unrighteous from the righteous, the damned from the saints ... And, as the truth of divine words says, He will reward for endless and unending ages a righteous retribution to each according to the dignity of the life he lived.”
Saint John of the Ladder:
“Whoever has truly acquired the memory of eternal torment and a terrible judgment ... he will no longer love anything temporary ... and without care and laziness will follow Christ, constantly looking to heaven and expecting help from there.”
“The memory of the eternal fire falls asleep with you every evening and rises with you.”
Rev. Macarius the Great:
The soul belongs to the one with whom it is in communion and unity with its desires. Therefore, either, having God's light in herself and living in it and being adorned with all sorts of virtues, she participates in the light of repose; or, having sinful darkness in himself, is subject to condemnation.
St. Simeon of Thessalonica:
"That life will be boundless and endless; and as life will be uninterrupted, so the lot for each one - glory or torment - will be boundless and endless. However, many wicked talk empty talk about this to their own detriment, daring to reject the eternity of the future torment. Such audacity instilled in them by the deceitfulness and deceit of the evil one, so that, in anticipation of the end of torment, they would not leave a single deed of wickedness unfinished: because if there is an end to torment, then every sin will be forgiven someday, and those who reject God, the ungodly and lawless, will once glorified with the pious and saints. What word (can be) more impious than this? If there is an end to torment, then there will be an end to the Kingdom, and, therefore, there is no righteousness with God: meanwhile, the Lord is righteous and love righteousness (Ps. 107). Therefore, He also rightly speaks, speaking of the second part, that these go into eternal torment (Matt. 25:46), and not temporary; about the right hand: the righteous are into eternal life; and again about sinners: their worm does not die and fire does not fade away ( Mk. 9, 44). And rightly so: since here we have time to make amends for wrongdoings, while we have freedom of choice; and then there will be one time - separation and retribution according to the merits of what each has chosen for himself. Let none of those who are possessed by sins, or by any kind of error, in order to justify or delight themselves, let them deceive themselves with similar (seductions); torment for the unrepentant is eternal. For this, and (open) repentance to the last breath: in fact, if it were useful there, then it would not be given here at all. And what wonder would the economy of the Savior have done if there had been repentance or the end of torment? Do you see the madness of the wicked?"
St. Gregory the Dialogist:
“... after your departure, I learned from the stories of my most beloved sons, the deacons, that your love said that the Almighty Lord our Savior Jesus Christ, having descended into hell, saved all who there confessed Him to be God, saved and freed from deserved punishments.
I wish your brotherhood to think about it quite differently, namely, that He who descended into hell freed by His grace only those who believed that He would come and lived according to His commandments. For it is known that even after the incarnation of the Lord, no one can be saved, even of those who believe in Him, unless they live by faith, as it is written: God is confessed, but His deeds are rejected (Titus 1:16); for John says: Speak, for thou shalt know him, and keep not his commandments, there is a lie (1 John 2:4); also James, the brother of the Lord, writes in his epistle: Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). And so if now the believers are not saved without good works, but the unbelievers and the damned are saved without good works by the Lord who descended into hell; then the fate of those who did not see the incarnated Lord is much better than those who were born after the mystery of the incarnation. How stupid it is to speak and think like this, the Lord himself testifies to this when he says to the disciples: Many the king and the prophets desire to see, as you see, and did not see (Luke 10, 24). But in order not to occupy your love for a long time with my reasoning, I advise you to read what Philastrius wrote about this heresy in his book on heresies. Here are his words: “There are heretics who say that the Lord, having descended into hell, preached there about himself to everyone, already after their death, so that those who confess Him there would be saved, while this is contrary to the words of the Prophet David: in hell who will confess to you (Psalm 6:6)? and to the words of the Apostle: If they sin lawlessly, they will also perish lawlessly (Rom. 2, 12). Blessed Augustine agrees with his words in his book on heresies. the true faith of the Catholic Church teaches, namely, that the Lord, having descended into hell, freed from the bonds of hell only those whom, during their life in the flesh, he kept with his grace in faith and virtue.
Rev. Barsanuphius and John:
The words: “They will not come out of there until the last codrant repays” (Matthew 5:26), the Lord said, meaning that their torment will be eternal: for how can a person repay there? If a poor debtor is imprisoned and the ruler orders not to release him until he has paid the entire debt, then can you think that he will certainly be freed? Not at all! Don't be fooled like crazy. Nobody succeeds there; but what one has, he has from here: whether it be good, or rotten, or sweet.
Brother, here is doing, - there is retribution, here is a feat, - there are crowns. Brother, if you want to be saved... follow the Holy Fathers. Acquire for yourself: humility and obedience, lamentation, asceticism, non-acquisitiveness, imputing yourself to nothing and like this, which you find in the words and in the life of the Fathers. Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8).
St. Gregory Palamas:
Although in the future resurrection, when the bodies of the righteous are resurrected, the bodies of the lawless and sinners will be resurrected along with them, they will be resurrected only in order to undergo a second death: eternal torment, an unsleeping worm, gnashing of teeth, pitch and impenetrable darkness, gloomy and unquenchable fiery hell. Says the Prophet: Iniquity and sinners will be crushed together, and those who forsake the Lord will die. This is the second death, as John teaches us in his Revelation. Hear also the great Paul: if you live according to the flesh, he says, then die, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live. He is speaking here of life and death, which belong to the age to come. This life is a delight in the everlasting realm; death is the betrayal of eternal torment. The transgression of the commandment of God is the cause of all death, spiritual and bodily, and that which we will undergo in the future age, eternal torment. Death proper consists in the separation of the soul from Divine grace and in union with sin.
Venerable Theodore the Studite:
And again, whoever does not stand in such feats, he loses not something small, insignificant and human, but the most Divine and Heavenly things. For those who achieve what they seek with much patience, constant long-suffering and keeping the commandments, inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and immortality, eternal life and indescribable and inscrutable peace of eternal blessings; and those who sin by negligence, laziness, addiction and love for this world and for deadly and corrupting pleasures, inherit eternal torment, endless shame and standing on the left, having heard the terrible voice of the Judge of all and the Lord God: move away from me curse into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his aggel(Matthew 25:41).
But oh, lest we ever hear this, my children and brethren, and not be excommunicated from the Saints and the Righteous by a pitiful and inexpressible excommunication. When they are received into indescribable and incomprehensible joy and insatiable pleasure, as Divine Scripture says about this, that they lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob(Matthew 8:11). But we will have to go with demons to where the fire is inextinguishable, the worm is indestructible, the gnashing of teeth, the great abyss, the tartar is unbearable, the bonds are insoluble, the darkest hell, and not for a few times or for a year, and not for a hundred or a thousand years: for the torment will have no end, as Origen thinks, but forever and ever, as the Lord said (Matt. 25, 46). Where then, brethren, according to the words of the Saints, is the father or mother for deliverance? - Brother, it is said will not deliver: will a man deliver? will not give God treason for himself, and the price of the deliverance of his soul(Ps. 48, 8, 9).
St. Cyril of Jerusalem:
“Therefore, we will rise, and we will all have eternal bodies, but not all similar ones. If someone is righteous, he will receive a heavenly body in which he could properly deal with the Angels; but if someone is sinful, he will receive an eternal body that must endure torment for sins, in order to burn forever in fire and not be destroyed. And God will justly reward both of them. We do nothing without a body. We blaspheme with our lips and pray with our lips, we commit fornication with our bodies and keep purity with our bodies; we steal with our hands and give alms with our hands, equally and all the rest. So, inasmuch as the body assisted the soul in everything, then in the future age it will receive retribution according to its deeds.
Bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria:
"... such people (sinners) will go into eternal torment, never endless, and the righteous into eternal life. For as the saints have unceasing joy, so the unrighteous have unceasing torment, although Origen fables madly, deceiving the inexperienced, that there is supposedly an end to punishment that sinners will not be tormented forever, that someday, cleansed by torment, it is as if they will pass to the place where the righteous are. But the words of the Lord clearly expose such an insane idea. The Lord speaks of eternal punishment, that is, unceasing, and compares the righteous with sheep, and just as a goat will never be a sheep, so the sinner (in the next age) will never be cleansed and will not be righteous.- The pitch darkness, being removed from the Divine light, is the most severe torment, that it is removed from God One can imagine the following reason for this: The sinner, having departed from the light of righteousness because of his sins, is already in darkness in the present life, but since there is still hope for conversion, then this darkness is not total. And after death, if he does not repent, torture will come and he will be surrounded by pitch darkness. For then there is no longer any hope of conversion, and there comes a complete deprivation of Divine grace.
St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov):
“Holy Scripture everywhere calls the torments of hell eternal: this doctrine has been constantly preached and is being preached to the Holy Church. Our Lord Jesus Christ confirmed the formidable truth several times in the holy Gospel. : "depart from Me, damnation, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel" (Matt. 25:41). to the hard-hearted richer and poorer Lazarus, the Lord testified that between the abodes of eternal bliss and hellish dungeons a great abyss is established, and there is no transition from bliss to torment, nor from torment to bliss (Luke 16, 29). dies away (Mark 9:48).
The hellish dungeons represent a strange and terrible destruction of life while preserving life. There is a complete cessation of all activity; there is one suffering; there reigns the fiercest of heart ailments - despair; there are weeping and groaning, which do not attract any consolation to the soul torn by them; there bonds and fetters are inextricable; there is impenetrable darkness, despite the abundance of flames; there is the realm of eternal death. So terrible are the torments of hell that the most cruel of earthly torments is insignificant before them - violent death. The Savior of the world, foretelling to His disciples the field of martyrdom, commanded: I say to you, His friend: do not be afraid of those who kill the body and then are unable to do anything. I will tell you whom you will be afraid of: be afraid of him who has power, after he has killed him, cast him into the wilds of fire: yes, I say to you, be afraid of Him (Luke 12:4-5). Looking with the eye of faith at the ineffable bliss prepared for the faithful servants of God and the same inexpressible torment awaiting the unfaithful servants, the holy martyrs trampled down the most cruel executions that the frenzied malice of the tormentors invented against them, and countless sorrows and deaths [Trebnik. Following the tonsure into the small schema] crushed their eternal death under their feet. The holy monks, the mysterious martyrs, gazed at the torments of hell with unceasing memory of them, and with this remembrance they overthrew the thoughts and dreams of the tempter, who picturesquely and captivatingly painted before their imagination, sophisticated by the desert, disastrous voluptuousness. The instrument commanded by the Lord, the remembrance of death and eternal torment, was used by the Monk Anthony the Great, especially at the beginning of his feat. At night, the devil took the form of beautiful women and, appearing to Anthony in this form, tried to arouse sinful lust in him; but Antony contrasted the devilish dreams with a lively representation of the flame of Gehenna, the unsleeping worm and other horrors of hell - with this weapon he extinguished the fire of voluptuousness and destroyed seductive pictures [Cheti Menaion January 17]. We are overcome by our passions only because we forget about the executions that follow them; We consider earthly sorrows grave only because we have not studied the torments of hell. Some monk, of an ascetic life, said to the holy elder: "My soul longs for death." The elder answered: "You say this because you want to avoid sorrows, and you do not know that the future sorrow is incomparably crueler than the present one." Another brother asked the Elder: "Why am I, living in my cell, neglecting?" The elder answered: “Because he would not know either the expected peace or the future torment. If you knew them properly, you would endure and not weaken even when your cell was full of worms and you stood up to your neck in them"
The Lord, in His great mercy, partly revealed eternal torment to some of His chosen ones for their salvation and prosperity. Through their behavior and our concepts of hellish torments became clearer and more detailed. “There were two friends,” says a sacred story, “one of them, touched by the Word of God, entered a monastery and spent his life in tears of repentance; In the midst of such a life, the layman died. Upon learning of his death, the monk, out of a feeling of friendship, began to pray to God that the fate of the deceased be revealed to him. how are you? Is it good?" the monk asked the newcomer. "Do you want to know this? - the deceased answered with a groan: woe to me, the unfortunate one! The unsleeping worm sharpens me, does not and will not give me peace through all eternity." - "What kind of torment is this?" the monk continued to ask. "This torment is unbearable! - exclaimed the deceased, - but there is no way to escape the wrath of God. For the sake of your prayers, freedom is now given to me, and if you wish, I will show you my torment. You cannot bear it if I open it as it is, completely; but at least partly recognize him. "At these words, the deceased lifted his clothes to the knee. Oh, horror! The entire leg was covered with a terrible worm that ate it, and such a fetid stench came out of the wounds that the shocked monk woke up at the same time. But the hellish stench filled the whole cell and so much that the monk jumped out of it in fright, forgetting to shut the doors behind him. The stench penetrated further and spread throughout the monastery; all the cells were overflowing with it. As time itself did not destroy it, the monks had to completely leave the monastery and move to another place, and the monk, who saw the prisoner of hell and his terrible torment, throughout his whole life could not get rid of the stench clinging to him, neither wash him from his hands, nor drown him with any aromas [Letter 6 of the Holy Mountaineer]. According to this story, other ascetics also testify piety, to whom hellish torments were shown: without horror they could not remember their visions, and in unceasing tears of repentance and humility they sought to find comfort - a notice of salvation. with Hesychius of Khorivsky. During a serious illness, his soul left his body for an hour. Having come to his senses, he begged everyone who was with him to leave him, blocking the doors of the cell, he spent twelve years in a non-starting gate, not uttering a word to anyone, not eating anything but bread and water; in solitude he thoughtfully delved into what he had seen during his frenzy and incessantly shed silent tears. When it was time for him to die, he said to the brothers who came to him, after many of their requests, only the following: "Forgive me! He who has acquired the remembrance of death cannot sin" [Ladder degree 6]. Like the recluse of Horeb, the recluse of our native Kyiv caves, Athanasius, who led a holy, God-pleasing life, died and rose again. He died after a long illness. The brethren removed his body, according to monastic custom, but the deceased remained unburied for two days due to some obstacle he encountered. On the third night there was a divine appearance to the abbot, and he heard a voice: "The man of God, Athanasius, lies unburied for two days, and you do not take care of him." Early in the morning, the hegumen and the brethren came to the deceased with the intention of committing his body to the earth, but they found him sitting and crying. They were horrified when they saw him revived; then they began to ask: how did he come to life? What did you see and hear while you were separated from the body? He answered all questions only with the word: "Save yourself!" When the brethren persistently begged to tell them something useful, he bequeathed to them obedience and unceasing repentance. Following this, Athanasius shut himself up in a cave, remained in it hopelessly for twelve years, spending day and night in incessant tears, every other day eating a little bread and water and not talking to anyone during all this time. When the hour of his death came, he repeated to the assembled brothers the instruction on obedience and repentance and died in peace in the Lord [Paterik of the Caves. Saint Athanasius is commemorated on December 2]. “A certain expectation of judgment is terrible,” says the holy Apostle Paul, “and jealousy of fire, explaining to those who want to resist. Whoever rejected the law of Moses, dies without mercy with two or three witnesses. When you think of a pot, it will be worthy of torment, even the Son of God right, and having thought of the blood of the covenant filth, be sanctified by it, and reproach the Spirit of grace? Vemy bo rekshago: Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again: as the Lord judges his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God" (Heb. 10:27-31)."
St. Theophan the Recluse:
“I’m perplexed,” he says, “how can one reconcile eternal torment with the goodness of God, with God’s boundless mercy. After all, what kind of torment are indicated! such tortures?! The Lord has commanded us to forgive. Will he not forgive Himself? He prayed on the Cross for those who have sinned against Him with the most terrible sin - one that no longer exists and cannot be greater. Is it really impossible to forgive Him in the future life?"
What shall we say to such bewilderment?! You stand for the goodness and mercy of God. But your speech would make sense if eternity of torment was determined by people - ruthless and inexorable rigorists. Then it would be reasonable to object to them: your position cannot be accepted, because it is contrary to the goodness of God. But when such a definition was decreed by the Lord Himself - all-good and all-merciful, then is it appropriate, as it were, to say to Him in person: it cannot be, this is contrary to Your goodness? - as if he was saying something unknown? Did He cease to be good when He said this? - Of course not. And if he did not cease to be good, then there is no doubt that such a definition is in perfect harmony with His goodness. For God never does or says anything that would be contrary to His attributes. For a child's faith, this explanation is quite sufficient. And I rest on it more than on any other explanations, which I also advise you.
... You all rest on the goodness of God, but you forget about the truth of God - while the Lord is "good and righteous." ... Others think that, of course, sinners cannot be left without punishment and torment, but these torments will not last forever: outcasts will suffer, suffer, and then go to paradise. Passion how we want to seem more merciful than the Lord Himself! But even this fiction is untenable: for hell is not a place of purification, but a place of execution, tormenting without cleansing. No matter how much hell burns anyone, the burnt one will still be just as unclean, worthy of the same burning, and not paradise. Therefore, there will be no end to the burning."
You also wrote: “How will the righteous enjoy imperturbable happiness, knowing that somewhere living beings are suffering and will certainly suffer? If they can be happy, then they will cease to be righteous, and such indifference to their neighbors in heaven into the same Gehenna that they got rid of by practicing compassion and love for those who suffer on earth." This is purely a lawyer's trick - to throw dust in the eyes with sophisms. If the righteous go to hell for lack of compassion for the outcast condemned, then where is God the judge?! - You all forget that hell is not a human invention, but established by God, and according to God's judgment it will be filled. Thus He revealed to us in His Word. If so, then, therefore, such an action is not contrary to God and does not violate, let's say, the inner harmony of divine properties, but, on the contrary, is required by it. If this is so in God, how can it upset the blessed disposition of the righteous when they are one spirit with the Lord? What the Lord considers right and proper, then they too. If the Lord deems it necessary to send the unrepentant to hell, then they too will be aware of this. And there is no place for complacency. For those who are rejected by God will be rejected by them; the feeling of affinity with them will be cut off."
“The righteous will go into eternal life, and the rabid sinners into eternal torment, into community with demons. Will these torments end? If Satan’s malice and rabidness end, then the torment will end. But will Satan’s malice and rabidness end? Let’s look and see then. .. Until then, let us believe that just as eternal life has no end, so eternal torment that threatens sinners will have no end. No divination proves the possibility of ending satanism. What Satan did not see after his fall! How many powers of God have been revealed! How he himself is struck by the power of the Cross of the Lord! How hitherto all his cunning and malice are struck by this power! And everything itchs for him, everything goes against him: and the farther he goes, the more he persists. No, there is no hope for him to improve! And if he has no hope , then there is no hope for people who have become rabid because of his action. Therefore, it is impossible not to be hell with eternal torment.
According to the Bible, eternal is not hell and torment (hellish torment), but fire, smoke
Indeed, it is difficult to understand the reasons for the gospel of Jesus in hell to those whom He was going to leave there, and to those whom He wanted to take with Him to heaven. To be even more convinced of the failure of this theological theory, let's look at the biblical texts that tell us about paradise and supposedly eternal torment in hell.
There are only a few texts in Holy Scripture on which the whole concept of eternal death torment is built. Let's look at them and think about what kind of eternity they can talk about:
"And these will go into eternal torment but the righteous into eternal life"(Matthew 25:46).
"AND the smoke of their torment will ascend forever and ever and they shall have no rest, day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and who receive the mark of his name.”(Rev. 14:11).
If, on the basis of these texts, it is concluded that sinners will be tormented in the fire forever, then it will be necessary to admit the inconsistency of the Bible. Chapter "Gehenna fiery" many passages from the Holy Scriptures were cited, in which the Great Judgment is described, which is burning fire, that is destruction, sin and sinners. Here are some more verses on the subject:
"The present heavens and earth ... are saved fire for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. The day of the Lord will come, like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a noise, and the elements, having flared up, will be destroyed, the earth and all the works on it will burn. However, according to His promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.(2 Pet. 3:7,10,13).
“Righteous before God - offending ... repay sorrow ... into a phenomenon Lord Jesus from heaven... in a blazing fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of the Lord, ... who will be punished, eternal perdition» (2 Thess. 1:6-9).
"And fell the fire from heaven from God and devoured them» (Rev. 20:9).
"The wicked perish and the enemies of the Lord are like the fat of lambs, disappear, disappear in smoke» (Ps. 36:20).
“The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, condemning to destruction, turned to ashes, showing example for future wicked» (2 Pet. 2:6).
“I will draw a fire out of your midst, which will consume you; and I I will turn you to ashes on the ground before the eyes of all who see you. All who knew you among the nations will be amazed at you; you will become a horror, and you won't be forever» (Ezek. 28:18,19, see also Is. 33:12,14, Mal. 4:1,3, Ps. 49:3,4, Is. 66:22,24, Is. 1:28, Isaiah 30:33 , Isaiah 34:8-10 , Isaiah 38:16-23 , Obdas 1:18 , Nahum 1:9,10 , Psalm 10:6 , Psalm 36:20 , Ps. 103:35, 1 Corinthians 3:13, 1 Peter 3:12).
As can be clearly seen from these texts, sinful people perish in fire, turn to ashes, disappear on the eyelids. We know that the Bible cannot contradict itself. What then do the verses about the eternal torment of Mt. 25:46 and Rev. 14:11 ?
There are at least two explanations for their content.
Firstly, can be eternal not torment sinners and the fire itself. After all, there are no other texts in the Bible that say that namely suffering sinful people, not worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, will be eternal. A number of theologians believe that God will leave on the new earth the fire of hell for a reminder of the great tragedy that befell the entire universe. Such a conclusion can be drawn from the analysis of other texts of Holy Scripture describing the same events as in Matt. 25:46, including those in close proximity to this verse:
“The sinners in Zion were afraid; trembling seized the wicked: “Which of us can live in a devouring fire? which of us can live with eternal flame?» (Isaiah 33:14).
“For the day of vengeance is with the Lord, the year of vengeance for Zion. And his rivers shall turn into pitch, and his dust into brimstone, and his land shall be burning pitch: will not go out day or night; her smoke will rise forever; from generation to generation will remain desolate; forever and ever no one will walk on it"(Isaiah 34:8-10).
And the anxiety day and night in Rev. 14:11 predicts to us the torment of the followers of the teachings of Babylon from the seven plagues and bowls, which are told in parallel (see Rev. 16:9, Rev. 18:2,4). Dear reader, it must be borne in mind that the Holy Scripture in the original had no division into chapters and punctuation marks. You also need to know that the biblical narrative is often cyclical, that is, one topic is interrupted by another and then continues again. This is clearly seen in the example of Matthew 24, where Jesus spoke "mixed" about His Second Coming and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. e. Also, in biblical prophecy, the description of the same periods of time or events with different symbols is often used. So, for example, the change of world powers in the book of Daniel was depicted first in the form of an image, and then in the form of animals (Dan. 2 and chapters).
Secondly, the words forever and forever long away not always In the Bible they mean infinity:
BUT) “Let him who is born in your house and bought with your money be circumcised, and my covenant be on your body. eternal covenant. The uncircumcised male, who does not circumcise his foreskin, that soul will be destroyed of his people, for he has broken my covenant."(Gen. 17:13,14).
Here circumcision covenant named eternal. However, we know that the New Testament abolished the need for circumcision (see 1 Cor. 7:18,19, Rom. 3:30, Gal. 5:6, Philipp. 3:2,3).
B) “And the Lord said unto Aaron, Behold, out of everything consecrated by the sons of Israel, I have given you and your sons, for the sake of your priesthood, an eternal charter; Behold, this is yours from the great holy things, from the one who is burned: every meal offering they have, and every sacrifice they have for sin... This is charter eternal in your generations"(Num. 18:8,9,23).
With the death of Christ, the true substitutionary sacrifice, the need to make sacrifices in the temple disappeared, which means that in the New Testament the ministry of the Jews from the Aaron line became unnecessary, despite the fact that it was previously called eternal.
AT) “You have made your people Israel yours forever by your own people, and you, O Lord, have become his God.”(1 Chr. 17:22).
Jesus opened the way to God for the Gentiles, now every Christian has become the people of God (see chapter "Hebrews 4:9").
G) And he will remain his slave forever» (Ex. 21:6).
Here we are talking about the lifetime of a slave.
D) “As Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, like them, who committed fornication and went after other flesh, were subjected to execution eternal fire, delivered as an example» (Jude 7).
Fire The Bible also calls Sodom and Gomorrah eternal , however, it has long been extinguished. Holy Scripture compares the destruction of these cities with the subsequent punishment of the wicked (see above 2 Pet. 2:6).
Analyzing the Bible, we can conclude: forever something lasts until it ends or its purpose is fulfilled. The concept of “eternal” in the sense of “infinitely” in relation to the Earth can only belong to God (see 1 Chr. 16:15, Ps. 110:7,8, 1 Pet. 1:25, Rev. 14:6, 1 Tim 6:16). The Bible itself explains the meaning of the word forever: "Visible temporarily, a invisible forever» (2 Corinthians 4:18).
We cannot know how long the flame of the Great Judgment will burn. The main thing is that we can be absolutely sure that sinners not will be tormented forever in this fire - the Bible repeatedly and unambiguously speaks of their destruction.
Likewise hell itself, which, as we now know, signifies the grave, disappear- will be destroyed in the lake of fire:
"And death and hell defeated into the lake of fire» (Rev. 20:14).
By the way, in this text we see one more proof of the difference between hell and fiery hell. Can hell be thrown into itself - into hell? Of course not. Here it is said that on the new earth there will be no cessation of life (of death), no graves (hell).
“These ... like dumb animals ... corrupt themselves. Woe to them, because they follow the path of Cain, indulge in the seduction of bribes, like Balaam, and perish in perseverance, like Korah ... These are waterless clouds carried by the wind; autumn trees, barren, twice dead, uprooted; ferocious sea waves, foaming with their shame; wandering stars, which are observed darkness of darkness forever» (Jude 10-13).
The theological theory of eternal torment in hell also contradicts the concept of eternal life in Christ. According to the gospel message, life eternal possible only in Christ Jesus: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"(Rom. 6:23, see also 1 John 3:15). That is, people who rejected Christ will not live forever nowhere: neither in the underworld, nor in the lake of fire, because eternal torment is also life eternal , only bad.
It is worth noting that the church has always had teachings that were not supported by the majority, which proclaimed the absence of "eternal hell" and the restoration of all creatures on earth to their original state. Such theological concepts are called by a number of theologians "Apokatastasis" (another Greek άποκατάστασις - restoration), and their adherents are called "optimists". The eternity of hellish torments or universal salvation was expressed by such well-known personalities in the church as the Christian preacher Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215), the Christian learned theologian Origen (185 - 254), elevated to the rank of "saints" Bishop Gregory of Nyssa (335 - 394), the blind theologian Didymos of Alexandria (d. 395), the Christian writer Isaac the Syrian (VII century) and others.
Of course, the “Apokatastasis” itself is erroneous, because, as we saw above, the Bible does not teach about universal salvation. But there is also a sound grain in it, since the doctrine of the eternal torment of immortal souls is definitely contrary to the character of a Loving God and His Word.
Seven years ago, the Pravoslavie.Ru website published my article, The Holy Fathers and “Optimistic Theology.” The responses of readers received after that, as well as a more serious acquaintance with the patristic heritage and with the problem raised in the article, allowed me to significantly revise and expand it: a new chapter appeared, others were supplemented by patristic testimonies; some arguments of the opponents of the church teaching about the eternity of the afterlife retribution are considered, some inaccuracies are corrected. In addition, it is taken into account that some of the authors mentioned in the original version of the article have significantly adjusted their views on this issue in recent years.
Moral Reasoning: "The God of Love Cannot Punish"
What is the main error in this thesis? The fact that "optimistic" theologians understand the torments of hell as an action on the part of God, while the holy fathers taught that this is a consequence caused by the person himself. It is not God who is preparing the eternity of hell. Hell, according to St. Macarius of Egypt, lies "in the depths of the human heart." “Likewise,” explains St. Simeon the New Theologian, “just as the blind, who do not see the radiant sun, although they are wholly illuminated by it, are outside the light, being removed from it by feeling and sight, so the Divine light of the Trinity will be in everything, but sinners imprisoned in darkness, and among him they will not see him ... but, scorched and condemned by their own conscience, they will have inexpressible torment and inexpressible sorrow forever.
Simply, concisely, and theologically impeccable, St. Irenaeus of Lyon explained this truth back in the 2nd century: “To all who observe love for Him, He gives His fellowship. But communion with God is life and light and the enjoyment of all the blessings that He has. And those who voluntarily depart from Him, He subjects to separation from Himself, which they themselves have chosen. Separation from God is death, and separation from light is darkness, and alienation from God is deprivation of all the blessings that He has. But the blessings of God are eternal and without end, and therefore their deprivation is eternal and without end, just as those who have blinded themselves with respect to immeasurable light or blinded by others are forever deprived of its sweetness, not because the light causes them the torment of blindness, but blindness itself gives them misfortune. .
Yes, “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and this love “will be… all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28), but for those who have become the embodiment of hatred, it will become hellfire. This is precisely what the famous words of St. Isaac the Syrian say: “Those who are tormented in Gehenna are struck by the scourge of love.”
Some "eschatological optimists" say that Gehenna's fire is of a purifying nature and supposedly feeds on the sins of this or that person or demon cast into it. Over time, this food will be destroyed and the fire, finding no place for itself in the purified nature, will disappear - this is how restoration will take place. For someone, a year will be enough, for someone a century, someone will be tormented for millennia ... However, this is not so, and torment cannot be long or short temporary, because "there will be no more time"(Rev. 10:6). "Eternity in Christ Jesus is a state of being beyond and above time."
In attempting to solve in such a direct and primitive way the question of how to reconcile Divine love with the eternal torment of those to whom it is addressed, "optimistic" theologians create a no less difficult dilemma. After all, proclaiming the inevitable "restoration of all" in God, they, without noticing it, fall into the madness of "compulsory paradise": "In the next century, it is generally impossible not to know and not love God. This love is here the law of being. With this approach, Heavenly Jerusalem turns into a concentration camp.
The “optimist” theologians may not really believe that someone sincerely can not love God, their Creator and Heavenly Father. They, like Muslims, think that sin is based on ignorance of the goodness of God. One has only to know, and there will be no sin, Muslims say. As soon as he finds out, even after death and the general Resurrection, he will repent and fall down with tears at the feet of the Lord, and the Lord, of course, will have mercy on him and accept him, say the “optimist” theologians, “and the cries of late repentance of sinners will join to a common symphony of the triumph of good" I wish it were so! Moreover, we would like sinners (and first of all, we ourselves) to bring true repentance even in this life. Even more I would like that no one sinned and did not depart from God.
But this, unfortunately, is not the case. Because the basis of sin is not ignorance, but the personal will of a rational being. After all, both the devil and Adam knew—much better than we do—the goodness of God, but they fell away. Their choice leaned towards a life without God.
And among the angels and people who followed the devil, there are those for whom evil is not a misunderstanding or an unfortunate oversight, but a conscious choice. Evil for them is the path of personal suicidal self-realization. It is foolish to argue about whether the devil can or cannot repent when he doesn't want repent. As K.S. Lewis, “there are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “Thy will be done.” All who are in hell have chosen him.”
So what should God do with those who do not want to be with Him and in Him? Down the collar and into heaven? Destroy? Don't create? The Lord does not follow any of these paths, and precisely because He loves His creation, even after it has rejected Him. Just one phrase of St. Gregory Palamas turns the false perspective of “eschatological optimism” hidden in these questions into the perspective of the true generosity of the Creator: for the sake of the good he created, and those who will become bad.”
Legal argument: “It is unfair to punish forever for temporary sin”
“Can the God of love, proclaimed by Christ, endlessly punish for the sins of temporal life? Is the power of evil so great that it will exist even when the Lord reigns “in all”? .
St. John Chrysostom answered this argument: “Don’t tell me: where is justice, if torment has no end? When God does anything, obey His decrees and do not subject them to the minds of men. What to do, in Orthodox Christianity, the relationship of a person with God is not customary to think in the category of justice. This does not mean that Divine justice as such is denied, we only say that for those who completely entrust themselves to God's mercy, "mercy exalts itself above judgment" (James 2:13). Just as “just as a grain of sand cannot stand balance with the great weight of gold, so the demands of God’s justice cannot stand balance in comparison with God’s mercy,” says St. Isaac the Syrian. But “if you demand justice, then, according to the law of truth, we should have perished right at the beginning,” continues St. John Chrysostom.
In addition, as St. Justinian the Great rightly noted, there is not much justice in the fact that “those who lead a life full of perfection to the end are united with lawless and pederasts and recognize that both of them and others will enjoy the same benefits. » .
Finally, it is necessary to pay attention to how St. Gregory the Dialogist answered this question. “This bewilderment would be fair,” says the saint, “if the irritable Judge considered not hearts people, but one affairs. The wicked had the end of sins because they had the end of life. They would wish, if they could, to live without end, so that they could sin without end.
This idea is also repeated by the great theologian of the 15th century, Joseph Bryennius, pointing out that, strictly speaking, it is incorrect to raise the question of eternal punishment for temporary deeds, because God judges a person’s internal disposition, which is only expressed in deeds. Truly believing and virtuous people have an immortal disposition towards good, and therefore they follow into infinite bliss, and those who have a final disposition towards sin follow into eternal punishment.
St. Gregory of Sinai offers another image: “Just as the germs of hellish torments are hidden invisibly in the souls of sinners already on earth, so the first fruits of heavenly blessings are communicated in the hearts of the righteous through the Holy Spirit.” That is, by our death we give birth to ourselves that eternal fate that we have nurtured in ourselves all this life. This is the deepest meaning of the present temporal life, which is ignored by “optimistic theology”: “here the victorious crowns are given as pledges; as well as for the vanquished, here is the beginning of their shame and torment.
The “optimistic” position reflects a perverted understanding of eternity, according to which it turns out that eternity is a continuation of our present existence, only in the absence of death. But Orthodoxy thinks quite differently: eternity is otherness. As St. John of Damascus writes, “eternal life and eternal torment signify the infinity of the future age. For time after the resurrection will no longer be counted by days and nights, or, better, then there will be one non-evening day, since the Sun of righteousness will clearly shine for the righteous, and for sinners a deep, endless night will come. Therefore, how will the thousand-year time of the Origen restoration be calculated?” (Exact presentation of the Orthodox faith. 2. 1).
Argumentation from the Misunderstood Doctrine of Christ's Descent into Hell
More recently, another variation of "optimistic theology" has emerged. Its supporters, in contrast to the “optimists” ecumenists, recognize that it is impossible to be saved outside the Orthodox Church and that salvation is only in Christ and is inextricably linked with the recognition of Him as God and man. However, they manage to weave this truth with the Origenist lie in the following way.
Firstly, they teach that the Lord Jesus Christ, having descended into hell after his death on the cross, brought out of it the souls of absolutely all the people who had died before. Secondly, they say, the descent into hell was not a one-time act, but is an ongoing action, so that Christ, as it were, constantly resides in hell, so that the souls of all dying people meet there and preach to them, and these souls, having already been convinced after death directly by Christ, accept Orthodoxy and are led out of hell.
Stated “in its purest form”, this false teaching looks so absurd that it seems superfluous to refute it, however, since one has to hear it from people who have some fame and even authority in the Orthodox environment, and, in addition, there are people who have been misled by it, it is not It would be superfluous to say a few words in refutation.
First of all, it should be noted that the idea that Christ, having descended into hell, freed the souls of absolutely all those who are there, is not characteristic of the Church. If we turn to the works of the Holy Fathers, we will see a completely different teaching.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem spoke of leading only the Old Testament saints out of hell: “He descended into the underworld in order to free the righteous from there too” (Announcements 4:2); “The holy prophets and Moses the legislator, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, David and Samuel and Isaiah, and the baptist John ran away ... All the righteous who were swallowed up by death were redeemed. For it befitted the preached King to become the redeemer of good preachers. Then each of the righteous said: “Death, where is your victory? Hell, where is your sting? For the Conqueror has redeemed us”” (Announcements 14, 19). Also, St. Ephraim the Syrian wrote that the Lord Jesus Christ “drew the souls of the saints from hell” (Commentary on the book of Deuteronomy. 1. 34). Blessed Jerome says that the Savior descended into hell "in order to victoriously lead with Himself to heaven the souls of the saints who were imprisoned there." The Monk John Cassian writes: “Having penetrated into hell, Christ … crushed the iron bands, and raised the holy captives, who were kept in the impenetrable darkness of hell, from captivity with Himself to heaven.”
In St. Epiphanius of Cyprus we read: “What then? Does God save everyone by appearing in hell? No, but even there - only believers.
And St. John Chrysostom, speaking of the descent of Christ into hell, explained: “This only shows that He destroyed the power of death, and did not destroy the sins of those who died before His coming. Otherwise, if He freed all those who had previously died from Gehenna, then why did He say: “It will be more pleasant for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah”? By this it is given to understand that even though it is easier, they will still be punished. And although they have already suffered extreme punishment here, this will not save them.
Blessed Augustine wrote: “He deigned to descend into hell, where the sufferings of hell could not hold Him ... what was written about the “permission of the sufferings of hell” can not be applied to everyone, but only to those whom He could accept, since He considered them worthy of liberation.
In "Katena" on the 1st Epistle of Peter there is a fragment from the non-preserved creation of St. Cyril of Alexandria, which states that just as Christ's preaching on earth was addressed to everyone, but benefited only those who believed, "so when He descended into hell He freed from the bonds death only to those who believe and recognize Him.
St. John of Damascus also wrote that the Lord preached to everyone in hell, but for some this sermon was for salvation, and for others it was a denunciation: in the same way also for those who were under the earth, who were in darkness and the shadow of death, light dawned; so that, just as the Lord preached peace to those on earth, liberation to the captives and the blind, and for those who believed it became the cause of eternal salvation, and for those who did not believe it became a denunciation of unbelief, in the same way he preached to those who were in hell ”(Exact presentation of the Orthodox faith. 3, 29 ).
Pope Gregory the Dialogist spoke with particular clarity on this subject in a letter to two clerics of Constantinople: , saved and freed from well-deserved punishments. I wish your brotherhood to think about it quite differently, namely, that He who descended into hell freed by His grace only those who believed that He would come and lived according to His commandments. For it is known that even after the incarnation of the Lord no one can be saved, even of those who believe in Him, unless they live by faith, as it is written: “ Whoever says, “I have known Him,” but does not keep His commandments, is a liar.”(1 John 2:4); “ faith without works is dead”(James 2:26). So, if today believers are not saved without good deeds, and unbelievers and the condemned are saved without good deeds by the Lord who descended into hell, then the fate of those who did not see the Lord incarnate is much better than those who were born after the mystery of the incarnation. How stupid it is to speak and think like that, the Lord himself testifies to this when he says to the disciples: Many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see and did not see”(Luke 10:24). But in order not to occupy your love for a long time with my reasoning, I advise you to read what Philastrius wrote about this heresy in his book on heresies. Here are his words: “There are heretics who say that the Lord, having descended into hell, preached there about Himself to everyone after their death, so that those who confess Him there would be saved, while this is contrary to the words of the prophet David: in hell who will confess to you(Ps. 6:6), and the words of the apostle: those who have sinned without the law are outside the law and will perish(Rom. 2:12)”. Blessed Augustine agrees with his words in his book on heresies. Therefore, considering all this, hold nothing but what the true faith of the Catholic Church teaches."
This teaching was confirmed at the Council of Toledo in 625, which decreed: "He descended into hell to cast out the saints who were kept there." In the middle of the 8th century, Pope Boniface accused the Irish monk Clement of heresy, who claimed that Christ, having descended into hell, freed everyone from there - both believers and pagans. The Council of Rome in 745, convened by Pope Boniface, condemned Clement and recognized that the Lord descended into hell not in order to free the damned from it or destroy the hell of condemnation, but to free the righteous who preceded Him.
We see the same teaching in the later saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church, for example, Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria explained: “Those who had a good time in their lives, and then received salvation through the descent of the Lord into hell, as St. Gregory [the Theologian] thinks. He says: "Christ, appearing to those in hell, does not save everyone without exception, but only believers." For it depended on the will of each not to remain insensible to the rich gift of the Creator, but to present oneself worthy of the goodness of the Giver.
St. Gregory Palamas wrote that the Lord descended into hell “in order to enlighten those who sit in darkness and revive those who believed in Him in spirit.”
Saint Demetrius of Rostov: “When our Lord, clothed in human nature, ascended into heaven, he immediately showed the way to heaven for the whole human race, the souls of the holy forefathers and prophets, led out of hell, followed Christ along it.”
The catechisms now used by the Church contain the same truth, for example, St. Philaret of Moscow writes: “The Lord Jesus Christ descended into hell in order to preach victory over death there and free the souls who with faith awaited His Coming” (Large Orthodox Catechism of the Orthodox Eastern Church, 213). And St. Nicholas of Serbia also says: "To the invisible Church belong ... all Christians who have died in the true faith in Christ over the past 20 centuries, as well as the Old Testament righteous whom the Lord saved during His descent into hell" (Catechism of the Eastern Orthodox Church).
Finally, the same is written in the liturgical books of the Orthodox Church. So, at Paschal Matins in Synaxar, according to the 6th ode, it is said: “The Lord has now stolen human nature from hellish treasures, raised us to heaven and brought incorruptibility to the ancient heritage. Both having descended into hell, do not resurrect everyone, but deign to believe in Him. Souls from the age of saints, held by need, free from hell.
Only a few saints spoke about the salvation of the souls of all those who died during the Lord's descent into hell - St. Amphilochius of Iconium, who wrote: "When he appeared to hell ... everyone was released ... everyone ran after Him ... one could see every prisoner beholding freedom and every captive rejoicing in the resurrection" (Word 6, against heretics); the Monk Roman the Melodist, who put the following words into the mouth of hell: “He seized me by the throat, and I regurgitated everyone whom I swallowed, crying: “The Lord is Risen!”” (kontakion 42), and the Monk Joseph Volotsky, who wrote that the Lord “ brought everyone out of hell ”(Illuminator. 4).
It is possible that some of these fathers meant all the saints by the word "all" and not all people in general, but be that as it may, from the above quotations it is clear that this opinion does not constitute the consent of the fathers and does not express the teaching of the Church, which was expressed the listed saints: Cyril of Jerusalem, Ephraim the Syrian, John Chrysostom, Epiphanius of Cyprus, John Cassian, Jerome of Stridon, Augustine of Hippo, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory the Dialogist, John of Damascus, Theophylact of Bulgaria, Gregory Palamas, Dimitry of Rostov, Filaret of Moscow, Nicholas of Serbia - as well as the Church Councils that took place on this occasion and the divine service of the Orthodox Church.
But if the statement that the Lord brought everyone out of hell, although it is not the teaching of the Church, is still found in some ancient church authors (Clement of Alexandria, Origen, etc.), then the statement that the Lord allegedly continues to be in hell, preaching everything there new souls of the dying and convincing them to believe in Him, is a completely new doctrine, never before known to the Church and alien to her faith. Which in itself brings him under the words of the apostle: "Whoever preaches to you not what you received, let him be anathema" (Gal. 1: 9).
The Church teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ descended into hell with a deified soul when it was separated by death from His body. Then his soul was united with the body and the Resurrection took place, and after that the miraculous Ascension to heaven, and now Christ, according to humanity, is at the right hand of the Father. Actually, every Christian speaks of this, confessing the Lord Jesus Christ in the symbol of faith, “who arose on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father.”
You can also cite the words of St. Innocent of Kherson: “Our Savior descended into hell Himself, by His will and His power, descended in order to soon leave hell, descended alone in order to bring out from there all those who with faith awaited His coming.”
The above new teaching contradicts the words of the apostles, who said that the Lord, “having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, by which He came down and preached to the spirits in prison” (1 Pet. 3:18-19); “It is said: having ascended on high, he captured captivity and gave gifts to people. And “ascended,” what does it mean, if not that He also descended before into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended, He also ascended above all the heavens to fill everything” (Eph. 4:8-10).
It is clearly stated: "he preached" and not "preaches" and "descended into the lower places", after which he "ascended" and not "constantly descends" or "descended and abides in the lower regions." As to where Christ dwells, the apostle Peter speaks quite clearly: “Having ascended into heaven, he dwells at the right hand of God” (1 Pet. 3:22).
In addition, false teaching deprives human life itself of meaning on earth. According to Orthodox teaching, this life is given to a person as a time to choose - whether he is with God or against God, and the choice made, expressed in the words and deeds of a person, determines his posthumous fate.
The Monk Barsanuphius the Great says about this: “Regarding the knowledge of the future, do not be deceived: what you sow here, you will reap there. After leaving here, no one can succeed anymore ... Brother, here is doing - there is reward, here is achievement - there are crowns.
And St. John Chrysostom writes: “Only real life has time for exploits, and after death there is judgment and punishment. “In hell,” it is said, “who will confess you?” (see: Ps. 6: 6) ".
And in the liturgical texts of the Orthodox Church the same thought is expressed: “There is no repentance in hell, there is nothing else weak: there is an unsleeping worm, there the earth is dark, and all is darkened” (The rite of burial of priests).
Finally, the aforementioned false teaching deprives the existence of the earthly Church as well, because with such an approach it becomes completely unnecessary: if we accept that after death Christ still personally meets everyone in hell and makes it possible to enter heaven, then what difference does it make - to be in the Church or outside of it, to lead an ascetic life or wallow in sins, if everyone has the same end?
Some features of "optimistic" theology
One can agree with Clément Olivier when he writes that “in a spiritual sense it is impossible to talk about hell for others. The theme of hell can only be discussed in terms of I and You. Gospel warnings addressed to to me reveal the seriousness and tragedy my spiritual destiny". The story of the ancient Paterik is well known about a monk to whom an angel appeared, holding in his hands the soul of a brother condemned by him, and asked: “Which part of hell will you order me to throw him?” After which the monk, repentant, exclaimed: “Lord, forgive me and him !" God does not want the death of the sinner. Of course, an Orthodox Christian cannot wish for anyone's death.
But the very posing of the question of universality salvation is incorrect. First of all, this is a deeply personal question. No collectivism is inappropriate here. It cannot be said: if only five percent are saved, then this contradicts Divine love, but if two-thirds, then this is still all right. Of course, if we approach the questions of eschatology on the basis of statistical criteria, then, indeed, only one hundred percent salvation should be recognized as ideal. “But this opinion is very erroneous,” says St. Ambrose of Optina, “because nowhere in Holy Scripture is a special spiritual right attributed to multitude and number. The Lord clearly showed that the sign of the true Catholic Church does not lie in the multitude and number when he says in the Gospel: “Do not be afraid, little flock! for your Father has pleased to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32). There is also an example in Holy Scripture not in favor of the multitude. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was divided under his son, and the Holy Scriptures represent ten tribes that have fallen away, and two tribes that have remained faithful to their duty have not fallen away ”(An answer favorable to the Latin Church). We can also recall the words of St. Gregory Palamas that even if there were only one righteous man among people who became such by his own will, this would justify in the eyes of God both the creation of the world and the falling away of all other rational beings.
Saint Ambrose of Milan owns a beautiful phrase: "One and the same person is both saved and condemned." Every person has the potential to be saved. And not only a person. Saint Basil the Great wrote that before the fall of Adam, even the devil had the opportunity to repent. Moreover, long after the fall into sin, the Monk Anthony the Great was given from God the rite of repentance for demons. However, over the past 16 centuries, not a single case of the use of this rank is known.
Repentance is impossible for evil spirits, not because they are forbidden to repent, and not because God is unable to forgive them, but solely because they themselves are so deeply rooted in their freely chosen state of apostasy that they do not want and never want to return. to God. This is, as St. Gregory the Dialogist writes, “the reason why they do not pray for the devil and his angels, condemned to eternal punishment.”
Of course, fortunately, there are not so many people who consciously gave themselves over to the devil and fundamentally reject the love of God. However, there is another, much larger category, which we make up, “simple” sinful people, although they want to be in paradise and consider that they pleased God with their lives, but after the Judgment they will be among the outcasts. All the parables of the New Testament are eschatological, and they all speak of this. Not only those who chose Satan as their father, but also those who have said all their lives: “Lord, Lord!” - can go to eternal torment. Not only those who refused to come to the Feast of the Kingdom, but also those who came to it in inappropriate clothes, may find themselves in pitch darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
What should we do when we realize that we are so afflicted by sin that we ourselves fall under this sentence of the gospel truth? We can only pray to the Lord for forgiveness of us and our neighbors, leaving our common fate to the will of God's mercy, but not to demand general pardon, bringing a logical basis for this. We are all defendants, each of us deserves to be condemned, and any condemnation and punishment will certainly be more merciful than what we deserve.
What do we do? Pray? Yes. Hope? Yes. Of course, we cannot know for certain either our fate or the fate of our neighbor. But we can and must repeat the testimony that the Lord left us in His Gospel, adhering to the understanding of it that we find in the holy fathers.
Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus: “Origen was charmed by sin and uttered deadly words… This heresy is terrible and worse than all the ancient heresies with which it philosophizes similarly. [Among other things] he falsely taught that the devil would be reinstated in his superiors. Happy is John the Baptist and the rest of the saints that they will be partakers of the devil in the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Panarion. 64. 3, 72).
Blessed Jerome of Stridon: “Origen is a heretic… He fell into error in the doctrine of the resurrection of bodies; he was mistaken in the doctrine of the state of souls and the repentance of the devil ... I would be an accomplice to his error if I did not say that he was mistaken and did not constantly anathematize all this ”(Letter to Vigilants).
St. John Chrysostom: “No one is let out of hell, and the prisoners there forever burn in fire and endure such torment that it is impossible to describe. If no word can express even those fierce sufferings that the people who are burned here endure, then the sufferings of those who are tormented there are all the more indescribable. Here, at least, all suffering ends in a few minutes, and there the scorched sinner burns forever, but does not burn out ”(Conversations on Matthew the Evangelist. 43. 4).
Saint John of the Ladder: “Everyone, and especially the fallen ones, must take care not to allow the disease of the godless Origen to enter their hearts; for his foul teaching, inspiring about God's love for mankind, is very pleasing to voluptuary people ”(Ladder. 5, 41).
To the question of one Origenist about the teachings of Origen, Didymus and Evagrius that “future torment must have an end, and people, and angels, and demons will return again to their first state,” St. Barsanuphius the Great answers: “These are pagan dogmas. This is the idle talk of people who think of themselves that they mean something. These are the words of idle people. These are the offspring of delusion ... These (opinions) do not lead those who believe in them to the light, but to darkness. They do not incite to the fear of God, but rather to the success of the devil. They do not extract from the mud, but plunge into it. These are the essence of the weeds that the enemy sowed in the field of the Master of the House... Brother, if you want to be saved, do not go into this (teaching), for I testify to you before God that you have fallen into the pit of the devil and into extreme destruction. So, depart from this and follow the holy fathers.
St. John Moskh describes a vision, through the prayers of St. Cyriacus, when Origen was seen among other heretics in the fire of hell (Spiritual Lug. 26).
St. John of Damascus: “The Origenists… empty talk that Christ and the devil will be under the same authority” (On a Hundred Heresies in Brief, 64).
St. Nikita Stifat: “I believe in the resurrection of the dead and confess the infinite kingdom of the righteous forever and ever, and that the punishment of sinners and the demons themselves will last forever and will never stop, and that sinners and demons will not return again to their original state, as Origen is mistaken in the darkening » (Confession of faith. 13).
Saint Simeon of Thessaloniki: “Against Origen, who senselessly allowed a change (of states) in the future age and accepted the end of punishment, the creed says: “And the life of the future age. Amen". In the Gospel: “These go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous women into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).
Saint Theophan the Recluse: “Well, it’s good: let the torment, in your opinion, not be eternal; how long will they last? Yes, even a thousand thousand years, but still they must end, you say. But what do we, sinners, benefit from this? After all, the torment there will be unbearable ... So, this is a bad idea. Think better that there will be no torment at all, and not only on paper, not only for your own reasons, but bring us a certificate of this from hell that has the keys; then it will be to our advantage, sinners: sin yourself as much as you want and how you want! And so, as you argue ... thank you for your kindness about us! Besides, everything is somehow vague. You forget that there will be eternity, not time; therefore, everything will be there forever, and not temporarily. You consider the torment to be hundreds, thousands and millions of years, and then the first minute will begin, and there will be no end to it, for there will be an eternal minute. The score won’t go any further, but it will stop in the first minute, and it will stay that way.”
Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov): “In vain the voluptuous Epicureans cry out: “It cannot be that hellish torment, if only it exists, was so cruel, was eternal! This is inconsistent neither with the mercy of God, nor with common sense. Man exists on earth for enjoyment; he is surrounded by objects of pleasure: why should he not use them? What is bad and sinful here? Leaving this cry to the will of those who pronounce it and oppose it to Divine Revelation and Teaching, the son of the Holy Church, who is on earth for repentance, is guided in his concepts of eternity and ferocity of hellish torments by the Word of God. What did the many-passionate human heart not reject in order to more freely indulge in debauchery!.. Is it any wonder that it rejected the reins and thunderstorm that stop the sinner in his ways, rejected hell and eternal torment? But they exist. The sin of every finite creature before its Creator, who is infinitely perfect, is an infinite sin; and such a sin requires infinite punishment.”
The Sacrament of Death Vasiliadis Nikolaos
Why is hell eternal?
Why is hell eternal?
There have been conflicting opinions about the length of punishment. Some said that the punishment of sinners could not be eternal. It has been argued that this idea is deliberately created by the "good" for the "bad" (p. 525) and that it is a purely human idea; that this is an "idea of the mob", which has no confirmation in religious ethics and theology. Others argued that "eternal hell means the defeat of God, this is the victory of dark forces" (S. Bulgakov).
We have already established who "prompts" those who deny the existence of hell and its eternity. For "both the spirit and the letter of Holy Scripture are clearly and distinctly opposed to any denial of this kind." In the New Testament, hellfire is characterized by the Lord as "unquenchable." The Lord Himself repeated the last verse of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, according to which in Gehenna their worm does not die and the fire does not go out(Mark 9:43-48, Isaiah 66:24). The Lord spoke about this even more clearly, revealing to us the events that will take place during the future Judgment, after which sinners will go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life(Matthew 25:46).
These gospel words leave no doubt about the eternity of hell. The word "eternal" is repeated twice in the above verse. And if it is true that in relation to the righteous the word “eternal” signifies a lasting and endless blessedness, then on what basis should it be interpreted differently in relation to sinners?
Saint Gregory Palamas on the words of the Forerunner, who said that the Lord He will cleanse His threshing floor and gather(p. 526) his wheat into a barn, but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire(Matt. 3, 12), writes: “And He will completely cleanse His threshing floor, that is, the whole world, and gather wheat (those who have succeeded in virtue) into His granary (that is, in Heavenly Abodes), and “straw” ( fruitless in the exploits of virtue) will burn with unquenchable fire. If “that fire” is inextinguishable, then “it also has an inexhaustible source of burning; this is the manifestation of the eternal forces of hell. Finally, the divine Paul affirms that those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord will be subjected to eternal destruction (2 Thess. 1:8-9). And the Apostle of Love writes that devil […] cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet will be tormented day and night forever and ever. In the same place will be thrown those who was not written in the book of life. This rejection is defined as second death(Rev. 20, 10, 15, 14), that is, as final and irrevocable death.
The Holy Fathers, who comprehended and interpreted the inspired words of the Holy Scriptures, also accepted and taught the doctrine of the eternity and infinity of hell. The apostolic husband Polycarp of Smyrna, answering the proconsul who threatened to put him on fire, said: “You threaten me with temporary fire, because you neglect the fire of the future Judgment and eternal hell, which is being prepared by the wicked.” In the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, another apostle's husband, Clement of Rome, repeatedly mentions the ungodly, unbelieving and denying what Isaiah said: their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched. St. Justin, philosopher and martyr, speaks of Satan, whom "Christ foretold", that he will fall "into the fire with his army" and that the people who follow him will (p. 527) be tormented "for endless ages". He also speaks of the "unrighteous", whose "worm […] does not sleep, and the fire is not quenched" and who "then will repent when it is no longer of any use." What has been said means that condemnation is not only eternal, but also inevitable. In another essay, the same father writes about those who will be condemned and sent "to be tormented by the punishment of unceasing fire." Saint Justin highlights the eternity of hellish punishments in many signs and in various ways.
Saint Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, also teaches about "eternal punishments". St. Cyril of Jerusalem instructs us that sinners during the general Resurrection of the dead will receive "an eternal body doomed to punishment for sins", so that, "burning in eternal fire, they will never be freed."
St. Basil the Great also teaches the same thing, reproaching "many of the people" that they were deceived by the tricks of the devil and forgot such clear words of the Lord. Some even dare to insist that the hellish torment will end, so that they can sin even more boldly. Based on the decision of the Judge, which we cited above (Matt. 25:46), the saint emphasizes that if eternal torment ever ends, then eternal life must also end. If we reject this idea of eternal (p. 528) life, then by what logic do we attribute the end to eternal torment? After all, the predestination of "eternal" applies equally to the righteous and to sinners.
Saint John Chrysostom speaks directly about eternal torment. “Here,” he remarks, “both joys and sorrows someday end, and even very soon. But in the afterlife, both rewards and punishments continue for endless ages. And if anyone says: how is it possible for a soul to endure such a great multitude of punishments and be punished for endless ages? - then let him take into account the following: when the soul acquires a body “incorruptible and indestructible”, then there will no longer be any obstacles to the spread of hell to “infinity”. The body will remain "together with the soul in eternal torment and there will be no other end." Elsewhere he exclaims: "Let's run away!" - let's avoid sin, because the bitterness of sin and remorse that we experience here will be followed by "immortal death", because there is no end to torment. Interpreting the verse of the psalm like sheep, they will shut them up in hell; death will feed them(Ps. 48, 15), - he notes: "This is death, or rather, something much more terrible than death." For after this death "immortal death shall receive them." The fact that their shepherd there (in hell) will be death shows "that they will forever fall into the power of perdition."
On another occasion, while meditating on the body of a dead man, he spoke thus. It would be nice if the damage extended only to the coffin, worms and decay of the body. But you, Christian, do not stop there, think about the “unsleeping worm”, “unquenchable fire and those bitter and unbearable torments that will be in endless ages.” Comparing the temporality of the pleasure that sin brings to its slaves with the eternity of suffering, he said: "These sinful (p. 529) joys of life" are no different from dreams or shadows. For even before a sin is committed, the pleasure of it disappears, while the punishments for sins have no end. "For the joy of sin is short, but the punishment for it is eternal." St. Cyril of Alexandria, in his stunning word “On the Exodus of the Soul and the Second Coming,” admits: “I am afraid of Gehenna, for it is endless […]. I am afraid of hell because it has no end […]. I am afraid of bonds that cannot be broken […]. Because of transient sinful pleasure, I will suffer endlessly.” There, in hell, “eternal pain, endless sorrow, unceasing weeping, unceasing gnashing of teeth, unsleeping wailing, there is grief forever, there it is heard: alas! Alas! Alas! They are crying out for help, but there is no one to help.”
About the eternal fire of Gehenna and in general about the eternity of hell, St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer teaches us: “Eternal means “that which is forever”, that which never ends, never […]. Poor sinners are doomed to eternal torment in the fire […]. And above all else, remember, my brother sinner, the fury and fury that the fire of hell will bring down on you. Wanting to portray him, the Apostle Paul said: "A certain terrible expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire ready to devour opponents"(Heb. 10:27). Interpreting these words, St. Theophylact of Bulgaria says: “For just as a certain animal, irritated by something, becomes angry and rages, so that fire, receiving anger and rage in some way, must forever devour the enemies of God, that is, sinners.” Therefore, my brother, try to cleanse yourself of the sins that you have committed by deed, word, thought. How? Repentance, confession, tears, the fulfillment of the commandments, the acquisition of virtues. If in this way you are cleansed from sins here, then that fire will not find a reason to burn you. Then, having got rid of him, you will be able to stand at the right hand of the Judge (p. 530) together with all the righteous and hear that blessed voice saying: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world"(Matthew 25:34).
But those who deny the eternity of hell refer, as we say, to the philanthropy and justice of God. And they add: “Why is eternal punishment imposed for small sins or a few hours of temporary sinful life?”
The answer to this argument is this. In the soul of one who never repents, does not seek mercy and forgiveness from God, sin gives rise to slavery, leading to insensitivity and bitterness. But the goodness of God cannot correct this state otherwise than by destroying the freedom of man. However, God never violates our freedom. Thus, the justice of God appears to punish the state that the sinner freely chooses and in which he freely abides, or rather, in which he continues to trample on the holy will of God in a daring and satanic way! So hell is a continuation of man's impenitence, hell is realized within man, by man himself! Saint Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, accurately remarked: “He who has not pardoned himself, how can he be pardoned by God?” When one of those who came to visit Saint Anthony the Great said to the equal-angel ascetic: “Have mercy on me, Father, and pray for me,” the great teacher of the desert answered him: “Neither I will have mercy on you, nor God, if you do not have mercy on yourself! » (Unless you repent and fight against sin by your own will.) Therefore, the unrepentant sinner is like Dennitsa and his crafty angels, who remain indifferent and insensitive before the infinite love and immeasurable condescension of the great God. The Spirit of the Comforter in various ways pushes them to repentance and provides them with countless opportunities and means to salvation, but they constantly neglect this and (p. 531) remain unrepentant. So they are subject, as the Lord said, eternal damnation(Mark 3:29) or "eternal sin." And “eternal sin dooms those guilty of it to eternal punishment. Such is the philosophy of the never-ending punishment of sinners.
In addition, every attentive student of the New Testament will notice that in the 9th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, as well as in other places of inspired Scripture, the Spirit of God wants to turn us away from this very argument, put forward by those who do not believe in the eternity of hell. . Thus the divine Paul, speaking of "vessels of wrath," adds: ready to die(Rom. 9:22). He did not say that God prepared them for destruction; he emphasizes "that these people (the 'vessels of wrath') prepared themselves for destruction." But when he speaks of "vessels of mercy", he adds that they, these people, faithful to God's will, "became worthy of his mercy," therefore they He prepared for glory(Rom. 9:23). So those who find themselves in a dark place of torment will not be able to blame anyone but themselves for this.
Moreover, the eternal punishment of sinners is required not only by Divine justice, but also by Divine truth and Divine dignity. Since the infinite and almighty God has established His philanthropic and eternal law as the only rule of human life, then "He must render to each according to his deeds, so that the law, which embodies His divine will, is not revered as nothing." However, above all, the infinite punishment of sinners requires the infinite holiness of God. She, by her nature, rejects "contact with the filthy and unclean." How is it possible for a blameless God to coexist with the filthiness of sin? How is it possible for an all-good God (p. 532) to co-exist with evil, which is called with satanic persistence and tenacity to oppose the plan of salvation for other people? And finally, in the Apocalypse, the "New Jerusalem" (Kingdom of Heaven) descends from God from heaven, like a bride adorned for her husband, Jesus Christ. This tabernacle of God, in which God will dwell with people (Rev. 21, 2-3), is blameless, does not have any sinful filth. She "has the glory of God" and radiance. In the "New Jerusalem" arranged in a quadrangle, with twelve gates of pearls, there is no place for anything unclean, not for a single person who has done something vile or contrary to the truth. There is no place for any sinner (Rev. 21, 16, 21, 27).
Now let's move on to the answer to the question, why is temporary sin punished by eternal torment?
1. Sin is transient, but God, whose laws and commandments we transgress, is infinite and eternal. And the justice of the eternal God requires eternal punishment for the earthly worm who dares to ignore and transgress the laws of the eternal and omnipotent Legislator.
2. Retribution does not correspond to sin, for “every sin is never punished by God in due measure, but always with mercy, so that the sinner, although he suffers forever, still suffers less than he should. He too can say in the words of Job: "I sinned and turned the truth, and I was not rewarded"(Job 33:27). In addition, even here on earth, the effects of many deeds do not have to "be equal in time to their cause", often a second earthquake destroys entire cities. It takes one moment to commit a crime, while the offender is sentenced to life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
As the divine Chrysostom remarks, many say: “I committed murder overnight, for a short moment I committed fornication, but I endure punishment forever?” The saint answers this: “Sins are judged not by time, but by the very essence of crimes.” In another case, he said: do not think that if sins are committed "in an instant", then the hell of an unrepentant sinner will last only a short time. Don't you see people who, often for theft or fornication committed "in a brief moment", spent the rest of their lives in prisons or forced labor, struggling with constant hunger and many deaths? And at the same time, no one rescued them and did not tell them that since the sin was committed “in a single moment”, then the punishment should be equal to the sin in time.
3. If “sinning and not repenting” is a characteristic feature of demons, then the one who writes is absolutely right who writes that “unrepentant sinners at the hour of Judgment will not differ from demons, since they (p. 534) used the time of their lives, each day like unclean demons. A person who persists in sin in this life and does not repent until his last breath would continue to sin in eternity if death had not interrupted his life. Therefore, when he dies, he avoids being permanently in sin. Therefore, "he also receives eternal punishment, according to the just decision of God."
4. Moreover, he who arrogantly continues to sin despises humanity and the infinite love of God. After all, despite the fact that God created everything and gave everything to us, we offend Him, causing His wrath. St. John Chrysostom cites as an example the punishment of Adam, whom God punished "for a single sin", in which "our human race" still continues to abide. From that moment on, death entered the world “and has not yet been abolished because of one sin”! And we, who have been awarded not only a material paradise, but also much higher blessings, we, to whom God promises heavenly blessings, we who sin daily, although since ancient times we have heard and seen so many examples, negative and positive, what a responsibility we do we carry? Adam did not see what we saw; “He was then the first and only, but he was punished,” and how cruelly! How many punishments are we worthy, bearing not one, not two, not three, but “myriads of sins”? And the divine Chrysostom adds: as soon as the mercy of the philanthropist God is so great, then the greater will be His demand from us. After all, if you admit that God is philanthropic, then agree that the more serious the reason for punishment, for we sin against such a God, Whose philanthropy is so great.
God is philanthropic, writes St. Simeon the New Theologian, “but He is philanthropic to those (p. 535) who feel His philanthropy, who honor Him and give thanks as it befits.” God wants the salvation of all people, the God-Man Lord was crucified for everyone. The mercy of God has no limits, the love of God is boundless. St. Gregory Palamas, deeply imbued with these truths, proclaims: “Alas! How can I endure unbearable torment if I do not deserve repentance while there is still time, the philanthropy of the Judge? Saint John of Damascus also had this in mind when compiling a mournful eulogy for the departed, and he sang about this, weeping: “The torment of the prodigally living is immeasurable […], tears are invalid and judgment without mercy.”
So, my reader, “God’s judgment is just,” as St. Cyril of Alexandria writes, reflecting on this topic: “Judgment is just, for God called me, but I did not listen; God taught me, but I did not heed; I was persuaded, and I laughed; having already studied the Divine word and believing it, I spent the years of my life in negligence, negligence, carelessness, frivolity, dizziness from sins and vicious joys; my months and days were filled with labors, aspirations and efforts for the sake of the temporary, perishable, earthly things.
And St. Simeon the New Theologian writes: “The Lord Jesus Christ Himself calls everyone, saying: “For a little while the light is with you; walk while there is light, lest darkness overtake you."(John 12:35). Hasten on the path (p. 536) of repentance, hasten on the path of Christ's commandments. And if we do not want to obey our Lord Jesus Christ and do not try, while we are still living here, to gain from Him the Kingdom of Heaven within us, then when we go there, we will hear the just words that He will say to us: why are you looking now for something that is not wanted to take when I gave to you? How many times have I asked you to work so that I could give you the Kingdom of Heaven, but you did not want to and rejected it, preferring the earthly and secret; what do you want now? By what deeds and what words do you hope to gain the Kingdom of Heaven from now on? After all, now is no longer the time of labor, but the time of retribution.
God's judgment is just, here's another reason. As the Lord teaches us, there will be various degrees of punishment for sinners. So that the servant who knew the will of his master, and was not ready and did not do according to his will, there will be many beats; but who did not know and did worthy of punishment, the bit will be less(Luke 12:47-48). According to St. Basil the Great, who saw the Heavenly World, “there will be many beats” and “there will be fewer beats” means not the end, but difference in punishment. As the righteous Judge will reward every man on his business(Matt. 16, 27, Rom. 2, 6), then one will be worthy of an unquenchable fire with a more or less strong flame, the other will be worthy of an unsleeping worm, causing more or less severe pain, depending on the merits of each […]. And the third can be condemned to pitch darkness, where one cries, and the other gnashes his teeth because of continuous suffering.
The Lord spoke about the different degrees of punishments that will be in eternal hell, telling about the cities that (p. 537) will not accept the preaching of the holy Apostles. He said: “Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that city.”(Matthew 10:15). He mourns also for the two cities of Galilee, Chorazin and Bethsaida, and asserts that the inhabitants of Tire and Sidon, cities known for their depravity, will receive a lesser punishment on the Day of Judgment, for even they were not so far from repentance. The same will happen to the famous Capernaum, which will be punished on the Day of Judgment more severely than the inhabitants of Sodom (Matthew 11, 21-24). Saint Chrysostom, commenting on the words of the divine Paul: sorrow and oppression to every soul of a person who does evil, first, a Jew, then a Greek!(Rom. 2, 9), - notes: the Jew is punished more severely, because the one who received the greater teaching is worthy of greater punishment when he transgresses the law. “Thus, the more we are reasonable and powerful, the more we are punished for sins.”
The same father remarks that since there will be various measures of reward for the righteous - since and the star differs from the star in glory(1 Cor. 15:41), the same will happen with regard to the punishment of sinners. He gives many examples showing this "distinction and unswerving justice" of God's judgment. Both Adam and Eve sinned, he says, but since "they did not sin equally, therefore they were not equally punished." Both Cain and Lamech committed murder. The latter "reproached and condemned himself, he received forgiveness, and Cain, who acted completely differently, was punished." And again: “otherwise He punished those who lived before the flood, and otherwise the Sodomites,” and so on.
The end of our earthly life is truly terrible; terrible and crushing is the Judgment on the world, which will be performed by the righteous Judge, the infinitely good Lord Christ. Therefore, instead of arguing a lot about this and doubting the philanthropy and justice of the Court of our many-merciful God, let's try to strive in virtue and piety in order to avoid a just punishment. And if we are seized by an impure “fire of desire,” then we immediately raise the mind “to that other fire,” and then the fire of sinful desire will go out. And if we want to say something inappropriate and sinful, then let us remember the “gnashing of teeth”, and this fear will become a saving bridle for us. And if we want to steal the goods of another, then we will listen to what the Judge said: “Bind his hands and feet, take him and cast him into outer darkness.”(Mt. 22:13) - and so let us drive away the desire. And if we like to play sinfully, then let us remember what the rich man said to Abraham from his (p. 539) place of torment: "Send Lazarus to wet the tip of his finger and cool my tongue"(Luke 16:24). So, let us constantly think about this and talk to each other in order to avoid punishment. For the memory of hell will keep us from falling into hell.
The one who believes in the Lord, as the divine Maxim writes, “is afraid of Gehenna. And he who fears Gehenna is restrained from the passions. And the Monk Thalassios of Libya advises: “Death vice, so that you do not rise dead” during the future Judgment “and from small death to great (that is, eternal death) do not pass.” So, from now on, let us lay the foundation for repentance and correction, for there repentance is inappropriate and useless.
“If here, in this life, the Lord Jesus Christ does not reign in the soul, then it (the soul) cannot find another salvation. Here, on earth, a person is first born again from Divine grace, and only (p. 540) then can he see the Kingdom of God,” writes St. Simeon the New Theologian. And in another place he adds: “So that each of us, no matter what sin we may have fallen into, let us not blame Adam, it would be better if we blame ourselves and bring true and worthy repentance. But if anyone does not repent, let him know this word of the Lord “to those who delay time and do not fulfill My commandments, do not repent immediately, but delay: they do not believe and do not follow My words after so many and such miracles, after My incarnate teaching and the great multitude of instructions that I have spread throughout the world. The earth will fall apart, being unable to carry these arrogant, ungrateful and disobedient to Me.” And they will see the precipice under their feet and be afraid. The earth will tremble and the sky will rumble and roll up like a scroll. From these terrible signs, their cruel and inflexible hearts will be terrified, like a hare before the slaughter. The light will be eclipsed; and the stars will fall; sun and moon will fade. Fire will rise from the bowels of the earth and spread all the way to the expanses of the sea. And just as during the flood the abysses of heaven opened up, and the water came down and gradually covered the entire multitude of people, so the bowels of the earth will open up and fire will come out, but not little by little, but all at once, and will cover the whole earth and become a fiery river. And then what will those who say: “Oh, if only they left me in this life, and I would not want the Kingdom of Heaven” do? What will then happen to those who laugh now and say this? And what are we going to do? Cry every day? Is this what you insist on? And those who contradict, complain and do even worse, how will they justify themselves then? Can they say they didn't hear? Or that they weren't taught anything? Or that they did not know the name, authority, power, and might of the Lord? No, we can't say anything of the sort. Because then the Lord Jesus Christ will say to us: “O wretched ones, (p. 541) how much have I instructed you through My prophets, apostles and almost all of My servants? And how much have I myself enlightened and taught you?”
Saint Chrysostom considered it very important to preach the doctrine of hell. This is what we must remind ourselves and others of today, in an era of moral decline, when everything around us is trying to turn us away from the gospel law, from Heaven and the afterlife. “He who speaks of Gehenna,” the divine father taught with psychological insight, “will be out of danger and will make his soul more chaste.” He asks: Are you not talking about this because you are afraid of the “burden of words”? But if you remain silent, will you "extinguish the fire of Gehenna"? And if you talk, will you light it? Whether you speak or remain silent, the fire burns. “Think of this fire constantly so that you never fall into it.” The saint emphasizes that thinking about hell makes the soul chaste and subtle. For the soul is like wax: if you address cold words to it, then you harden it and make it insensitive, while addressing fiery speech to it, you soften it, as if you “impress” on it the “Royal image”.
Since some expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that St. Chrysostom so often spoke about hell and painted it with living colors, he considered it necessary to answer them with the following words: “Do you see how the devil succeeded in making us enemies of ourselves? But let's gather our thoughts and take a closer look. Let's be vigilant to acquire and hold fast to Eternal Life. Let's shake off the sleep of sin that envelops us. There is a Court; hell exists. The Lord is coming in the clouds. The fiery river stretches before (p. 542) him, the undying worm, the unquenchable fire, pitch darkness, gnashing of teeth. And even if you express your dissatisfaction an infinite number of times, I still will not stop talking about it. There is an eternal hell, but there is nothing to be consoled with; and there is no one to help us."
Come on, my reader, let us also fall down to the All-Good Trinity God with repentance, sorrow, pain and groaning of the heart, let's stop spending our lives in disregard for His saving commandments. Let's not forget that it was sin that turned the devil from a bright heavenly star into a slave of a dark and gloomy hell!..
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We continued on our way and arrived at a disgusting place. The Lord said, "Look, servant, I'll show you Satan's throne." I said, "No Lord, I don't want to see this throne!" He replied, "Don't be afraid, for I am with you!" after we arrived at a terrible and terrifying place, I saw a huge chair on which Satan was sitting. He had long nails. And he laughed so hard he couldn't stop. I also saw demons everywhere. Demons were of different sizes, I saw demons with the power of princes, demons with power over strongholds and many others. I witnessed how Satan gave instructions to his demons to go to Earth and provoke people to evil deeds.
I saw how these demons went and provoked accidents, murders, fights, sabotage and other evil. Then they went downstairs and reported to Satan everything they had done. And Satan laughed. Satan gave rewards to the demons, and they began to celebrate, praising him and singing to him.
Satan has so many plans to destroy Christians, big plans to destroy the servants of God. I've seen big churches filled with all sorts of innovations. The Lord said, "Look, servant, these churches are owned by Satan, and they won't rapture with Me."
The Lord showed me how demons provoke people to kill, and then all these souls end up in this terrible place, condemned to eternal torment. I saw a furnace, and the Lord said, "Look, servant, this is a lake of fire, and this is hell."
Every time the demons provoked a murder, all those souls would end up in an eternal hell. The fire consumed them and they melted. The souls screamed in pain and fear, and the demons returned to the throne of Satan and told him what work they had done. Satan only laughed and handed out rewards to the demons. And the demons sang, praised and jumped around him. Satan laughed with joy and pride as he celebrated the arrival of new souls in hell. Souls were falling into eternal hell every second, and Satan was so proud of it that he couldn't help laughing.
I also felt the demonic influence, so I said, "Lord, please take me out of here, I can't be here anymore." Demons pushed and tormented souls. The souls shouted: “Leave us! Leave us alone! We don't want more torment, we want peace!" But the demons only laughed.
** eternal hell- Many do not imagine what it is - eternity? However, almost everyone has heard that we will go to hell or heaven after death, where we will then be forever. The human mind is not fully aware of this concept, it is difficult to imagine eternal life in hell or paradise, it is especially difficult to imagine eternal hell after death, because death and hell are two different things. Physical death is not spiritual death. Therefore, believing what is written in the Bible, we also believe that sinners will have to endure eternal torment, and the righteous are destined for eternal life with God in paradise. Just as God is eternal, so is there no doubt that hell is eternal. A person will end up in eternal hell or paradise - it depends on how much a person listens to the voice of God, believes His word, and fulfills it. The chance to go to heaven is given to every person, through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.