Olympiada
13-12-2005, 06:00 AM
I discovered this theology in May. It is written by Archpriest Georges Florovsky. I have a question about it. I am really glad this community is here because I no longer can correspond with the person who posted it on his website. Here is the paragraph that contains the sentence that perplexes me. I placed it in bold type
It is more than an intellectual paradox; it is rather a scandal, a terrible temptation for faith, because, above all, this destruction of existence by evil is in a large measure irreparable. The lofty "universalist" hope is prohibited us by the direct witness of Holy Scripture and by the explicit teaching of the Church. There will be exterior darkness for "the sons of perdition" in the world to come! In the case of perseverance in evil, all the devastations and perversions produced by it will preserve themselves forever in the paradoxical eternity of hell. Hell is a sinister testimony to the staggering power of evil. In the final reckoning 83 of this historical struggle between Divine Goodness and evil, all the ravages produced among unrepentant beings will only be acknowledged by the simple, final decree of condemnation. The perverse split, introduced into the world of God by an act of usurped power, seems to be eternal. The unity of the world is compromised forever. Evil seems to have eternal conquests. The obstinacy of evil, its resolved impenitence, is never covered by the omnipotence of God's compassion. We are now already in the realm of the full mystery.
From Archpriest Georges Florovsky (1893-1979) The Darkness of Night * Chapter IV of Collected Works of Georges Florovsky, Vol. III: Creation and Redemption (Nordland Publishing Company: Belmont, Mass., 1976), pp. 81-91.
What is this lofty "universalist" hope?
In Christ
Olympiada
It is more than an intellectual paradox; it is rather a scandal, a terrible temptation for faith, because, above all, this destruction of existence by evil is in a large measure irreparable. The lofty "universalist" hope is prohibited us by the direct witness of Holy Scripture and by the explicit teaching of the Church. There will be exterior darkness for "the sons of perdition" in the world to come! In the case of perseverance in evil, all the devastations and perversions produced by it will preserve themselves forever in the paradoxical eternity of hell. Hell is a sinister testimony to the staggering power of evil. In the final reckoning 83 of this historical struggle between Divine Goodness and evil, all the ravages produced among unrepentant beings will only be acknowledged by the simple, final decree of condemnation. The perverse split, introduced into the world of God by an act of usurped power, seems to be eternal. The unity of the world is compromised forever. Evil seems to have eternal conquests. The obstinacy of evil, its resolved impenitence, is never covered by the omnipotence of God's compassion. We are now already in the realm of the full mystery.
From Archpriest Georges Florovsky (1893-1979) The Darkness of Night * Chapter IV of Collected Works of Georges Florovsky, Vol. III: Creation and Redemption (Nordland Publishing Company: Belmont, Mass., 1976), pp. 81-91.
What is this lofty "universalist" hope?
In Christ
Olympiada