It is known that in the Final Judgment our Lord Jesus Christ will receive the worthy in the eternity of heaven, while he will send the unrepentant to eternal hell. That unrepentant sinners are worthy of hell no one doubts.
But the question arises whether they will
be in hell FOREVER, with their hell never-ending. Isn't it more reasonable and
more merciful that they once "pay off" and then God puts them in some
paradise? Not in the paradise of the righteous, since they will not be worthy
of such a paradise, but at least in some form of paradise, so that they are not
in hell forever.
The holding position of the Saints of the
Orthodox Church is that hell is eternal. There are also some exceptions, such
as Saint Gregory of Nyssa, who have a different opinion and say that hell will
not be eternal. This shows that the topic is open. Which view is correct?
Obviously, both views cannot be right. And yet, the solution to the problem is
that BOTH VIEWS ARE RIGHT.
Neither view is complete by itself. With
the data of the last two thousand years, that is, since the time when the Son
of God became human and brought salvation to people, the following is true:
Those who have a good intention, repent and are saved. Let us consider how the
well-meaning are saved. Does God save them directly by His divine power, by a
dynamic divine intervention? No, because then there would be no need for the
incarnation of the Son of God and His Crucifixion and Resurrection. The
salvation of the well-intentioned stems from the salvific work of Christ. This
is the basis of our salvation. With the salvific work of Christ, our very human
nature is regenerated and it is enough for us to want - practically, with the
works of the soul and body - to receive the grace of the sociological work of
Christ. There is, in other words, a soteriological "mechanism", so to
speak.
This soteriological "mechanism"
only works for the well-intentioned. To the ill-willed, Christ offers the
possibility of salvation, but they do not accept it. We would say that the
soteriological "mechanism" remains inactive and therefore the wicked
end up, of their own free will, in eternal hell which has no end, since the
soteriological "mechanism" will never work for them since in hell
there is no repentance ( repentance is the condition for the activation of the
soteriological "mechanism" of Christ).
God could, of course, save them, that is,
take them out of hell, with direct divine intervention. But that didn't do it
for the well-meaning either. Therefore, based on the data of the last two
thousand years, the prevailing view that hell will be eternal is correct. The
only thing that could change the eternity of hell would be a NEW SALVATION
"MECHANISM" specifically for the unrepentant in hell. But what could
this be?
Because Christ's salvific work is
complete, it is unable to save the unrepentant. THIS IS WHERE THE ROLE OF
THE PROPHETIZED "KING JOHN" APPEARS. This mysterious person provides
the soteriological "mechanism" for the hellish. We will describe the
mechanism next, but let us first say that the soteriological
"mechanism" of the prophesied introduces an intersection: BEFORE this
"mechanism", the existing facts about the hell of the impenitent lead
inevitably to the eternity of hell. AFTER this "mechanism", hell
ceases to be eternal. We see that both views about the eternity or not of hell
are true. It is enough to place them in the time frame that suits them. It
should also be noted that when the Bible says "eternal" it does not
necessarily mean something that never ends. For example, in Ex, 12, 17 God
says (regarding a certain holiday): "and make this day in your generations
lawful FOREVER". Obviously, the holiday will not always be celebrated,
since the world we live in will one day end.
We clarify that what we will say is an
extension of the Orthodox (doctrinal) teaching, an extension that does NOT
(yet) belong to what the Orthodox Church teaches. In contrast to the decisions
of the Ecumenical Synods which simply CLARIFIED the correct (doctrinal)
teaching, without introducing anything new, but only giving clearer and more
precise wording to the known doctrines of the faith, here we have SOMETHING
NEW. Is something new warranted? Yes, because our Holy Bible does not close
with a teaching letter or a historical book related to the fulfillment of Old
Testament prophecies in the person of Christ, but it closes with a PROPHETIC
BOOK (the Revelation), indicating that something important is yet to come.
happen. The important thing is NOT what we know (catastrophes, destruction,
antichrist, etc.), because we more or less expect these anyway and they are not
that important (how many antichrist rulers have we not had until now? - since
the time of the pagan Romans emperors).
There are others that we do not know that
is far more important. Let us begin with the person of Christ. Christ is the
second person of the Holy Trinity, therefore he is God. In addition, 2,000
years ago, he received both a human body and soul. He did not enter to dwell in
any man, but the Son of God himself (that is, the second person of the Holy
Trinity) received body and soul. Therefore from the very beginning (from
conception) the body and soul of Christ were united with the deity of Christ.
Therefore from the very beginning, Christ's body and soul were completely
sinless. Simply put, Christ was always sinless. Now let's go to the prophet.
He, of course, is not God. He is a human being. A Saint. And what is a Saint? A
sinner (it doesn't matter if his sins are small or big) who struggled with
humility and received God's grace, received holiness. No Saint was born a
Saint. Everyone struggled and until they achieved what they wanted (holiness),
made mistakes and sins.
That is why they called themselves
"sinners". When the Saints receive the grace of holiness they cease
to be sinners, even if they think and confess that they are sinners. They say
and believe this because they were sinners BEFORE they received the grace of
holiness. See the Apostle Paul how humbly he describes himself, "I am not
worthy to be called an apostle" (1 Cor, 15, 9), because "I persecuted
the church of God": he refers to a past that had ended for him. When the
Saints receive the grace of holiness then they act like Christ. With two
differences. Firstly, they do not have a completely clean past like Christ
(some Saints even have a very dirty past, they were blasphemers, robbers,
etc.), and secondly, they do not have the same level of holiness as Christ. In
this last one the prophet is an exception because he is "THE GREATEST
SAINT... OF ORTHODOX"..., that is why he is called SAINT JOHN (See THE
PROPHET IS UNKNOWN). This is the main point that needs analysis.
In orthodox theology (see especially
Saint Gregory Palamas) we distinguish, when we speak of God, between divine
energy and divine essence. Divine energy is what we perceive as God's grace.
The divine essence is completely inaccessible to humans. No Saint has access to
the divine essence. Even the body and soul of Jesus Christ cannot interact with
the divine essence, without this negating the fact that Christ is also God,
therefore the bearer of the divine essence. Only divine grace dwells in the
body and soul of Jesus. And in the Saints divine grace dwells, although to a
lesser degree. Why to a lesser extent? Do they have a different nature body and
soul from Christ? Of course not. THEORETICALLY, THE SAINTS COULD BRING THE EXACT
SAME GRACE THAT CHRIST HAS SINCE THEY HAVE THE SAME NATURE OF BODY AND SOUL AS
HIM.
The reason they bring less grace is
that they are not worthy to bring more grace. And among the Saints there are
differences. One is a greater Saint, another a lesser one, according to the
grace that each one has deserved to receive, according to his merit. Among the
Saints, one stands out, we are talking about the prophesied one because he
achieved - according to his merit - what theoretically every Saint (and every
man) could achieve: to receive ALL the grace that Christ could ever give. How
much? Just as much as He (Christ) carries in His body and soul. We are not
talking about the divine essence. This belongs exclusively to Christ and is not
transmitted to any human being, certainly not to the prophet. In orthodox
theology, it is POSSIBLE for a person to reach the same level of holiness as
Christ (speaking of holiness we are talking about the grace of God). In
non-orthodox theologies, this is doctrinally impossible. THIS IS THE REASON
ORTHODOX WILL SHINE BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY FAITH THAT CAN INCORPORATE THE
PROPHECY. According to Saint Porphyry, we need not fear the pope: a theological
dialogue will be abolished. THIS IS WHY THE THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE WILL BE
ABOLISHED.
Because the theology of the West will be
proven false because of what was prophesied. And we come again to the subject
of the eternity of hell. We said before that no Saint has a completely clean
past, which also applies to the prophet. But on the other hand, the prophesied
person has the same level of holiness as Christ. How does the same height of
sanctity reconcile with the not entirely clean past? Isn't that contradictory?
What will prevail? LOCK IT IN: IT WILL NOT OVERCOME THE PAST, BUT HOLINESS. And
for holiness to prevail, the past must be retroactively cleansed of all sin.
And since it will be purified for the prophet, it will be purified for every
person. Because just as the work of Christ has an effect on every person, so
the work of the prophet has an effect on every person. This is due to the
fullness of grace that Christ brings and, similarly, the prophesied. It should
be noted that the retroactive abolition of sin is the only work that Christ
could NOT undertake. Because, as we said above, Christ was ALWAYS sinless.
The only one who has committed sins in the
past can undertake this task. EXCEPT FOR THE PROPHET, THE RETROACTIVE ABOLITION
OF SIN FOR ALL OTHERS (ESPECIALLY THE IMPENITENT, BECAUSE THE ELECT ARE SAVED BY
FAITH AND REPENTANCE) NEEDS NO FAITH, NO REPENTANCE. ACTS AUTOMATICALLY ON
EVERYONE. It is a natural result of the prophet's arrival at the level of
Christ's grace. HOWEVER, THE RETROACTIVE AVOIDANCE OF SIN WILL NOT PRODUCE AN
IMMEDIATE RESULT.
First, the impenitent will pay all their debt in "eternal" hell ("to the last straw" Matthew, 5, 26). Then, and without the need for repentance on their part, "eternal" hell will be abolished, as a result of the retroactive abolition of sin by the prophet. This is the essential work of the prophesied and the reason why this person is prophesied.
