THE UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT (Part II)

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 (Part II)

We know that the "Lord will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4); but man is capable, through his own will, of rejecting the mercy of God and the means of salvation. Saint John Chrysostom, in interpreting the depiction of the Last Judgment, remarks: "When He (the Lord) spoke about the Kingdom, after saying, "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom," He added: which is "prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34); but when speaking about the fire, He did not speak thus, but He added: which is "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). For I have prepared for you a Kingdom, but the fire I have prepared not for you but for the devil and his angels. But since you have cast your own selves into the fire, therefore accuse yourself for this" (Homily 70 on Matthew).

We have no right to understand the words of the Lord only conditionally, as a threat or as a certain pedagogical means applied by the Savior. If we understand it this way we err, since the Savior does not instill in us any such understanding, and we subject ourselves to God’s wrath according to the word of the Psalmist: "Why hath the ungodly one provoked God? For he hath said in his heart: He will not make enquiry" (Psalm 9:34).

Moreover, the very concept of "anger" in relation to God is conditional and anthropomorphic, as we learn from the teaching of Saint Anthony the Great who says: "God IS GOOD, DISPASSIONATE AND IMMUTABLE. NOW SOMEONE WHO THINKS IT REASONABLE AND TRUE TO AFFIRM THAT GOD DOES NOT CHANGE, MAY WELL AS HOW, IN THAT CASE, IT IS POSSIBLE TO SPEAK OF GOD AS REJOICING OVER THOSE WHO ARE GOOD AND SHOWING MERCY TO THOSE WHO HONOR HIM, WHILE TURNING AWAY FROM THE WICKED AND BEING ANGRY WITH SINNERS. To this it must be answered that GOD NEITHER REJOICES NOR GROWS ANGRY, FOR TO REJOICE AND TO BE OFFENDED ARE PASSIONS; NOR IS HE WON OVER BY THE GIFTS OF THOSE WHO HONOR HIM, FOR THAT WOULD MEAN HE IS SWAYED BY PLEASURE… HE IS GOOD, AND HE ONLY BESTOWS BLESSINGS AND NEVER DOES HARM, REMAINING ALWAYS THE SAME. We are united to Him; but if we become evil through not resembling God, WE ARE SEPARATED FROM Him. By LIVING IN HOLINESS, we cleave to God; BUT BECOMING WICKED WE MAKE HIM OUR ENEMY. IT IS NOT THAT HE GROWS ANGRY WITH US IN AN ARBITRARY WAY, BUT IT IS OUR OWN SINS THAT PREVENT GOD FORM SHINING WITHIN US, AND EXPOSE US TO THE DEMONS WHO PUNISH US. And if through prayer and acts of compassion we gain release from our sins, this does not mean that we have won God over and made Him change, but that through our actions and our turning to God WE HAVE CURRED OUR WICKEDNESS AND SO ONCE MORE HAVE ENJOYMENT OF GOD’S GOODNESS. Thus to say that God turns away from the wicked is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind" (Philokalia, vol. 1, p. 352).

Worthy of attention likewise is the simple comment in this regard of Bishop and Saint Theophan the Recluse: "The righteous will go INTO ETERNAL LIFE, but the satanized sinners into eternal torments, in communion with demons. Will these torments end? If satanism and becoming like Satan should end, then the torments also can end. But is there an end to satanism and becoming like Satan? We will behold and see this then. But until then WE SHALL BELIEVE THAT JUST AS ETERNAL LIFE WILL HAVE NO END, SO ALSO THE ETERNAL TORMENT THAT THREATENS SINNERS WILL HAVE NO END. No conjecture can show the possibility of the end of satanism. What did Satan not see after his fall! How much of the powers of God was revealed! How he himself was struck by the power of the Lord’s Cross! How up to now all his cunningness and malice are defeated by this power! But still he is incorrigible, he constantly opposes; and the farther he goes, the more stubborn he becomes. NO, there is NO HOPE AT ALL FOR HIM TO BE CORRECTED! AND IF THERE IS NO HOPE FOR HIM, THEN THERE IS NO HOPE EITHER FOR MEN WHO BECOME SATANIZED BY HIS INFLUENCE. THIS MEANS THAT THERE MUST BE HELL WITH ETERNAL TORMENTS.

The writings of the holy Christian ascetics indicate that the higher one’s moral awareness is raised, the more acute become the feeling OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY, THE FEAR OF OFFENDING GOD, AND THE AWARENESS OF THE UNAVOIDABILITY OF PUNISHMENT FOR DEVIATING FROM THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD. But to just the same degree does hope in God’s mercy grow. To hope in it and ask for it from the Lord IS FOR EACH OF US A DUTY AND A CONSOLATION. [Resources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology]

(To be continued)

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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George