My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
THE UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT
(Apocalypse [Revelation], Chapters 21
and 22)
There are numerous testimonies in Sacred Scripture of the actuality and indisputability of the UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT: John 5:22, 27-29; Matthew 16:27; 7:21-23; 11:22, 24; 12:36, 41-42; 13:37-43; 19:28-30; 25:31-46; Acts 17:31; Jude, vv. 14-15; II Corintians 5:10; Romans 2:5-710; 14:10; I Corinthians 4:5; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:24-25; II Thessalonians 1:6-10; II Timothy 4:1; Revelation 20:11-15. Of these testimonies the most complete picture of this Last Judgment by the Savior is given in Matthew 25:31-46 ("When the Son of Man shall come in His glory…"). In accordance with this picture we may draw conclusions regarding the characteristics of the Judgment. It will be:
UNIVERSAL, that is, extending to all men living and dead, good and evil, and according to other indications given in the word of God, even to the fallen angels themselves (2 Peter 2:4; Jude, v. 6);
SOLEMN AND OPEN, for the Judge will appear in all His glory with all His Holy Angels before the face of the whole world;
STRICT AND TERRIBLE, performed in all the justice of God–IT WILL BE "A DAY OF WRATH AND REVELATION OF THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT" of God (Romans 2:5)
FINAL AND DEFINITIVE, determining for all eternity the fate of each one who is judged. The result of the Judgment WILL BE ETERNAL REWARD–BLESSEDNESS FOR THE RIGHTEOUS AND TORMENT FOR THE EVIL WHO ARE CONDEMNED.
Depicting in the brightest and most joyful features the Eternal Life of the Righteous after the Universal Judgment the word of God speaks with the same positiveness and certainty concerning the Eternal Torment of evil men. "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire," the Son of Man will say on the day of judgment; "and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal" (Matthew 25:31, 46). This condition of torment is presented in Sacred Scripture as a place of torment, and it is called gehenna/ (The image of the fiery gehenna is taken from the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem, where at once time executions were performed, and likewise every kind of unclean thing was dumped, as a result of which a fire was constantly burning there to guard against infections.) The Lord said: "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell (gehenna), into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43-44, likewise 45-48). There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," the Savior repeated many times concerning gehenna (Matthew 8:12) and other places). In the Apocalypse (Revelation) of Saint John the Theologian this place or condition is called "A LAKE OF FIRE" (Revelation 19:20). And in the Apostle Paul we read: "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 1:8). The images of the "worm that dieth not" and the "fire that is not quenched" are evidently symbolical and indicate the severity of the tomrents. Saint John Damascene remarks: "Sinners will be given over to everlasting fire, which will not be a material fire such as we are accustomed to but a fire such as God might know".
"I know," writes Saint John Chrysostom, "that many are terrified only of gehenna; but I think that the DEPRIVATION OF THAT GLORY (OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD) IS A TORMENT MORE CRUEL THAN GEHENNA" (Homily 23 on Matthew). "This deprivation of good things," he reflects in a different place, "will cause such torment, such sorrow and oppression, that even if no punishment awaited those who sin here, it in itself (this deprivation) could torment and disturb our souls more powerfully than the torments of gehenna… Many foolish people desire only to be delivered from gehenna; but I consider much more tormenting than gehenna the punishment OF NOT BEING IN THAT GLORY. And I think that he who is deprived of it should weep not so much over the torments of gehenna as over being deprived of the good things of heaven, for this alone is the cruelest of all punishments" (Homily 1, to Theodore).
Saint Gregory the Theologian teaches: "Acknowledge the resurrection, the judgment, and the awarding of the righteous by the Judgement of God. And this awarding for those who have been purified in heat will be light, that is, God visible and known according to the degree of one’s purity, which we also call the Kingdom of Heaven. But for those who are blinded in mind, that is, for those who have become estranged from God, according to the degree of their present nearsightedness, there will be darkness" (Homily 40, On Holy Baptism).
The Church, basing itself on the word of God, acknowledges the torments of gehenna to be eternal and unending, and therefore it condemned at the Fifth Ecumenical Council the false teaching of the Origenists that the demons and impious people would suffer in hell only for a certain definite time, and the would be restored to their original condition of innocence (apokatastasis in Greek). The condemnation at the Universal Judgment is called in the Apocalypse (Revelation) of Saint John the Theologian the "SECOND DEATH" (Revelation 20:14). [Resources: the Orthodox Dogmatic Theology)
(To be continued)
__________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 