Quote by Hieromonk Damascene

Before the Word came into the world
The sage sought Him out in every place.
They saw Him not, but sensed His presence everywhere.
They found Him in living beings, in mountain crags and flowing streams, in seas and winds.
He was not these things,
But He spoke in these things, guiding them.
All things followed His Course.
Therefore the sage called Him also by His other name:
The Way (Tao).
The course that all things are to follow." (Hieromonk Damascene, Christ the Eternal Tao, Valaam Books, Platina, CA, 2002, p. 73)

Source online:

http://www.brogilbert.org/gods/7gods_tao.htm

Saint John of Damascus on Hell

Saint John of Damascus on Hell

Below are some very characteristic and very important passages from Saint John of Damascus on the subject of Hell:

1. Hell is not God's punishment, but it is a state of receptivity. It appears that Hell and Paradise as "places" do not exist. There is only God, who is present in all places (omnipresent).

"Και τούτο δε ειδέναι δει, ότι ο Θεός ού κολάζει τινά εν τω μέλλοντι, αλλ' έκαστος εαυτόν δεκτικόν ποιεί της μετοχής του Θεού. Έστι μεν η μεν μετοχή του Θεού τρυφή, η δε αμεθεξία αυτού κόλασις." ("Κατά Μανιχαίων", PG 94:1545D-1548A)

"And so we know, that God does not punish anyone in the future, but everyone makes themselves receptive to share in God. And so to share in God is a delight, while not sharing in Him is hell." ("Against the Manicheans", PG 94:1545D-1548A)

2. Hell exists not because the damned are overdue, but because the damned remain unchangeable in their desire for sin. And again we see that only the omnipresent God will exist in the future age because, as he says, the object desired by sinners will not exist. What will exist is only what will be desired by the righteous, that is, God.

"... μετά το θάνατο, δεν υπάρχει τροπή μήτε μετάνοια, όχι επειδή ο Θεός δεν δέχεται μετάνοια - ο Ίδιος δεν μπορεί να αρνηθεί τον εαυτό Του ούτε χάνει τη σπλαχνικότητα -, αλλά η ψυχή δεν αλλάζει πια [...] οι άνθρωποι μετά το θάνατο έχουν το άτρεπτο, ώστε από το ένα μέρος οι δίκαιοι ποθώντας το Θεό και έχοντας αυτόν πάντοτε να ευφραίνονται, ενώ οι αμαρτωλοί ποθώντας την αμαρτία και μην έχοντας το υλικό της αμαρτίας ... να κολάζονται χωρίς να έχουν καμιά παρηγοριά. Γιατί τι είναι κόλαση παρά η στέρηση εκείνου που σφοδρά επιθυμεί κανείς; Κατά την αναλογία λοιπόν του πόθου, όσοι ποθούν το Θεό ευφραίνονται και όσοι ποθούν την αμαρτία κολάζονται" ("Κατά Μανιχαίων", PG 94:1573ΑΒ. Μετάφραση: Ν. Ματσούκα, Πουρναράς, Θεσσαλονίκη 1988, σελ. 145.147).

"... after death, there is no means for repentance, not because God does not accept repentance - He cannot deny Himself nor lose His compassion - but the soul does not change anymore ... people after death are unchangeable, so that on the one hand the righteous desire God and always have Him to rejoice in, while sinners desire sin though they do not have the material means to sin ... they are punished without any consolation. For what is hell but the deprivation of that which is exceedingly desired by someone? Therefore, according to the analogy of desire, whoever desires God rejoices and whoever desires sin is punished." ("Against the Manicheans", PG 94:1573ΑΒ)

Here we observe the following: since God accepts repentance, this means that there are those who are damned, because the sinner does not express repentance. Hence, their soul freely and definitively chooses sin.

Illustrative of the above is the following:

"Ο Θεός και τω διαβόλω αεί παρέχει τα αγαθά, αλλ' εκείνος ου θέλει λαβείν." ("Κατά Μανιχαίων", PG 94:1569Β)

"God forever supplies good things even to the devil, but he does not want to receive it." ("Against the Manicheans", PG 94:1569Β)

The above passage continues:

"Ο Θεός και στο Διάβολο διαρκώς χορηγεί τα αγαθά, αλλά εκείνος δεν θέλει να τα πάρει. Και στην αιωνιότητα ό Θεός παρέχει σ' όλους τα αγαθά γιατί είναι πηγή των αγαθών αναβλύζοντας σ' όλους την αγαθότητα, ενώ ο καθένας καταπώς έκανε δεκτικό τον εαυτό του, μετέχει στο αγαθό [...] εκείνοι που δεν έχουν τις συνηθισμένες ηδονές υποφέρουν αθεράπευτα, χωρίς ο Θεός να έχει κάνει κόλαση, αλλά εμείς επειδή στρώσαμε την κόλαση για τους εαυτούς μας, και άλλωστε μήτε το θάνατο τον έκανε ο Θεός, αλλά εμείς οι ίδιοι τον προξενήσαμε για μας" (Μετάφραση: Ν. Ματσούκα, Πουρναράς, Θεσσαλονίκη 1988, σελ. 139.141).

"God forever supplies good things even to the devil, but he does not want to receive it. And in eternity God supplies good things to all because He is the source of good things gushing forth goodness to all, while everyone makes themselves receptive, and they share in the good ... those who do not have habitual pleasures suffer without being healed, without God making hell, but because we lay out hell for ourselves, and indeed nor did God make death, but we ourselves caused this for us."

So we can say the exact Orthodox doctrine teaches that:

In the Eternal Kingdom there are not separate places, but states of sharing in and being receptive to God. Thus Hell and Paradise are names of states experienced and not "places".

In the Eternal Kingdom only God exists, whose light some will experience as Paradise and others as Hell.

Hell and Paradise will be experienced not because God condemns or rewards people, but because they freely chose the state they will be in. Indeed, proof of Hell being a free choice is that God accepts repentance, but there is no expression of repentance for God to accept them because the person "does not want it".

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.

 

thanks to source: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/12/saint-john-of-damascus-on-hell.html