I am interested in the following question: after the Last Judgment, will there remain such a concept as “time”?
Hieromonk Job (Gumerov) answers:
Holy Scripture begins and ends with time-related instructions: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth(Gen. 1:1) – there won't be time anymore(Rev. 10:6). Biblical at first indicates that time is a creation of God. It is a fundamental property of the created world. God locked His creation within time. Time is a measure of earthly duration. It has a beginning and an end. The Creator set certain rhythms to which the entire world created by Him obeys: the movement of the heavenly bodies and the associated alternation of day and night, the cycle of seasons, the change of generations of people. For everything there is a time, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die.(Eccl. 3:1–2). In relation to the temporary existence of the world, God remains transcendent. Man lives in time, and God lives in eternity: My days are like the shadow of a shadow... But you, Lord, remain forever(Ps. 101:12–13). Time inevitably flows to its end.
There is cosmic time and historical time. The first is cyclical, the second is progressive. There is no progress, no social evolution, but only an eschatological perspective determined by Divine Providence. History does not obey the law of circulation, as the ancient Greeks believed. She is heading towards the final events. This goal determines the meaning of the story. The time of history of the sinful world will end with the last Judgment: When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him(Matt. 25:31–32). When the Judgment is completed, then time will cease. Then people will enter into the eternity of God.
§270 b) Degrees of hellish torment
However, although all sinners will be subjected to hellish torment, not all to the same extent: some will be punished more, others less, each in proportion to their sins. This truth -
1. St. clearly proclaims. Scripture. Christ the Savior said thatthat servant who knew the will of his master, and was not ready, and did not do according to his will, will be beaten a lot; but whoever did not know and did something worthy of punishment will receive less punishment. And from everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required, and to whom much has been entrusted, from him more will be required. (Luke 12, 47. 48); that the Phariseeswho eat up the houses of widows and they pray hypocritically for a long time; they will receive even more condemnation (Luke 20:47); What It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that city in which the Apostles will not be received (Matt. 10:15), and Tire and Sedona are more tolerable than Chorazin and Bethsaida (11:21.22). The Holy Apostle taught that the righteous Judge at the universal judgmentwill reward everyone according to his deeds (Rom. 2:6).
2. St. preached just as clearly. Fathers and teachers of the Church.
For example:
St. Basil the Great : “you need to know that the expressions:there will be a lot of beats And bits will be few,do not mean the end, but the difference of torment. For if God is a righteous Judge, not only of the good, but also of the vicious, rewarding everyone according to his deeds, then one may be worthy of an unquenchable fire, or weaker, or more burning, another worm - undying, but again either more bearable or more unbearable, causing pain , according to the dignity of each, and another Gehenna, in which, without a doubt, there are different kinds of torment, and another - the pitch darkness, where one is brought only to crying, and the other, from intensified torment, and to the gnashing of teeth. The pitch darkness itself, without a doubt, shows that there is something internal in it. And what is said in parables:in the bottom of hell(9, 18), makes it clear that some, although in hell, are notin the bottom of hell, suffer the slightest torment. This can still be distinguished in bodily suffering. For one is sick with fever with fits and other ailments; another feels only a fever, and then not to the same degree as the other, while another does not have a fever, but suffers from pain in some member, and then again more or less of the other” (2069).
St. Ephraim the Syrian: “There are different kinds of torment, as we heard in the Gospel. Eat darkness is pitch black(Matthew 8:12): and from this it is clear that there is another deepest darkness; fiery hell(Matt. 5:22) - another place of torment; gnashing of teeth(Matt. 13:42) - also a special place; the never-ending worm (Matt. 9:48) - in another place; lake of fire(Apoc. 19, 20) - again a different place; Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4) is also its place; unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43) - special country; underworld(Phil. 2:10) and destruction(Matt. 7:13) - in their places; further countries of the earth(Eph. 4:9) - another place; hell is where sinners reside, and the bottom of hell is the most painful place. For this torment the unfortunate ones will be distributed, each according to the extent of his sins, either more severe or more tolerable, according to what is written:b the wicked is caught by his own iniquities, and he is kept in the bonds of his sin(Proverbs 5:22) there will be a lot of bits And there won't be enough bits(Luke 12:47.48). Just as there are differences in punishments here, so in the next century” (2070). “Otherwise the adulterer suffers, differently the fornicator, differently the murderer, differently the thief and drunkard” (2071).
St. John Chrysostom: “Whoever received more instruction must suffer a greater penalty for the crime. The more knowledgeable and powerful we are, the more severely we will be punished for our sins. If you are rich, more donations are required from you than from a poor person; if smart, more obedience; if you are invested with power, show your most brilliant merits. So in everything you will give an account to the best of your ability” (2072). “He who goes there with a multitude of both good and evil deeds will receive some relief from the punishment and torment there: on the contrary, whoever, without good deeds, brings only evil ones, it is impossible to say how much he will suffer, being sent away to eternal torment” (2073).
They also taught - St. Cyprian (2074), blessed. Jerome (2075), blessed. Augustine (2076) and others
§ 271 c) Eternity of hellish torment.
But differing among themselves in degree, the torment of sinners in hell will not differ at all in relation to duration: because for everyone they will be equally eternal and endless:
I . Holy Scripture, indeed, depicts these torments of sinners -
1). Eternal. The Savior Himself testified that after the general judgment He would say to sinners:Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire... - And these shall go away into everlasting torment, but the righteous into everlasting life (Matt. 25, 41, 46). In the letter of the Apostle Jude we read:How Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, like them, committed fornication and followed me in the flesh, being subjected to the punishment of eternal fire, were set as an example (- 7). The Apostle Paul expresses that sinnersThey will suffer everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints and to appear on that day among all who believe (2 Sol. 1, 9. 10). The Apocalypse says thatsmoke of torment sinners ascends forever and ever , and they will have no rest day or night (14:11) and that the devil and his minions, with whom sinners will go to hell,torment will be day and night forever and ever (20, 10).
2) Never-ending. This endless torment of sinners:
a) the prophet Isaiah predicted:Their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched. (Isa. 66, 24); b) then – St. John the Baptist, testifying about Christ the Savior:His shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, He will gather His wheat into the barn, and He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matt. 3:12); c) finally, the Savior himself in the following strong speech:And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off: it is better for you to enter into life maimed, than to go with two hands into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off: it is better for you to enter into life lame than, having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye offends you, pluck it out: it is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, than with two eyes to be cast into fiery hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. (Mark 9, 43-48; demoted Matt. 18, 8).
II . Orthodox Church I always believed that the torment was hellish I will be eternal. She expressed her faith - a) solemnly at the fifth ecumenical Council, when she condemned the false teaching of Origen that demons and wicked people will suffer in hell only until a certain time, and then will again be restored to their primitive, innocent state (2077); b) also in the Athanasiev symbol, where we read: “those who have done good will go into eternal life; the evil one into eternal fire.” In particular, this belief of the Church was clearly professed and preached by its teachers even before the Fifth Ecumenical Council. These are:
St. Clement of Rome: “immortal are all the souls of the wicked, for whom it would be better if they were not incorruptible: because suffering endless torment in unquenchable fire and not dying, they will have no end to their misery” (2078).
St. Polycarp: “You threaten me with a fire that burns temporarily and soon goes out; because you do not know about the fire of future judgment and eternal torment, which is prepared for the wicked” (2079).
St. Justin Martyr: “that he (the devil) with his army and the people who follow him will be sent into the fire and will be tormented there for endless ages - this was foretold by Christ” (2080).
St. Irenaeus: “to whom the Lord will say:Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire , they will be condemned forever” (2081). “The blessings bestowed from God will be eternal and endless; therefore, their deprivation will be eternal and without end, just as in the boundless light those who have blinded themselves or those blinded by others are forever deprived of the pleasantness of the light” (2082).
St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “if anyone is a sinner, he will receive an eternal body, which must endure torment for sins, so as to burn forever in fire and not be destroyed” (2083).
St. Basil the Great: “The Lord then decisively says thatthese shall go into everlasting torment (Matt. 25:46), then sends others awayinto eternal fire, prepared for the devil and angels (- 41), and in another place callshell fire , and adds:Where their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched (Mark 9, 47. 48), and even more anciently he predicted about some through the Prophet thattheir worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched (Isa. 66:24): therefore, if, with such a number of similar testimonies found in many places of inspired Scripture, many still, as if forgetting about all such sayings and definitions of the Lord, promise themselves an end to torment in order to more freely dare to sin: then this , of course, there is one of the wiles of the devil. For if there is ever an end to eternal torment, then immortal life, without a doubt, must have an end. And if we do not dare to think this about life, then what reason is there to put an end to eternal torment? And torment and life are equally given one word: eternal. Said:These shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.” (2084).
St. John Chrysostom : “Let it be that you live for many years and do not experience any change; What is this in comparison with endless centuries and with the heavy and unbearable torments of these? Here, both happiness and misfortune have an end, and, moreover, the quickest: but there both continue into immortal centuries, and in their quality they are so different from those here that it is impossible to say... If someone says: how can the soul endure such a multitude of torments when Moreover, she will endure the punishment for endless centuries? Let such a person think about what happens here, how many often suffered a long and serious illness. If they died, it is not because the soul was completely exhausted, but because the body refused to serve, so that if it had not yielded, the soul would not have stopped tormenting. And so, when the soul receives an incorruptible body, then nothing will prevent the torment from continuing indefinitely... Therefore, let us not position ourselves now as if the excessiveness of torment could exhaust your soul: for at that time the body will not experience this (exhaustion), but will be together with my soul will be tormented forever, and there will be no other end” (2085).
We find the same thoughts: in Tertullian (2086), Theophilus of Antioch (2087), Cyprian (2088), Minucius Felix, Hippolytus, Athanasius (2089), Gregory the Theologian (2090), Hilary, Jerome and others (2091).
III . It is unfair to call the doctrine of the eternity of hellish torment contrary to common reason.
1) Every sane person will agree that until a sinner remains a sinner and is not cleansed of his sins, he - a) will necessarily remain in the face of the holiest and most just Beingchild of wrath (Eph. 2:3); b) will necessarily remain incapable of enjoying heavenly bliss, just as a blind man is incapable of enjoying the beauties of nature, a spiritual person is unable to accept whatthat of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14), and c) cannot in any way free himself from the natural, inevitable consequences of sin - reproaches of conscience and other torments. Who is able to prove that fallen spirits and people who are condemned by the righteous judgment of God into eternal fire will ever be cleansed of their sins? On the contrary, it is known about fallen spirits that although entire millennia have passed since they fell, although they are already experiencing deserved punishment and are fully aware of the fate awaiting them, however, not only have they not corrected themselves, but they are even more successful in evil and opposition to the will of God, so that turning to good became morally impossible for them (§§ 68.154). Likewise, we know from experience that sometimes people, despite the short duration of earthly life, become so accustomed to certain vices that, despite all the motivations, even all efforts to improve, they die in their sins. Let us imagine that these people, just as during their lifetime they did not take advantage of the benefits of God’s grace, so after death they will be unable and unworthy to take advantage of the saving effects of church prayers, and until the very second coming of the Lord and the general judgment, perhaps they will become more and more old in evil : Isn’t it natural to think that for these unfortunates it will become morally impossible forever for correction and cleansing from sins? And if both fallen spirits and sinners can remain sinners forever, or forever, then we cannot deny the eternity of their torment.
2) " God, they say, is good: how can the eternal torment of sinners be reconciled with His infinite goodness? God really endlessly -good; but goodness is not His only property - He is both infinitely true, infinitely holy, infinitely just, and all these, like all of His other perfections, infinite in themselves, measure one another in His actions in relation to creatures . The goodness of God has already managed to manifest itself in relation to sinners in all its power: by virtue of one goodness the Lord gave us existence; out of one goodness he provides for us in a fatherly manner; out of one goodness He had mercy on us when we fell in Adam; out of one infinite goodness he spared to give up his only begotten Son to death for us; by one goodness he gives us all the means of salvation in Jesus, pours out on usall Divine powers, for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), forgives us our sins a thousandfold when we repent; out of one goodness, he arranged it so that even after death, until the very general judgment, we could use the saving effects of church prayers. What is unnatural if such a manifestation of the infinite goodness of the Almighty towards sinners is finally followed by a manifestation of His infinite truth? He will not cease to be good even when sinners suffer in hell; but only in relation to them will he act not according to his goodness, which, so to speak, has already been poured out on them all before and has not found anything worthy in them, but according to the most perfect truth, he will not cease to be good: because even after the general judgment in For centuries, he will not cease to show his endless love to all those people who previously knew how to take advantage of His goodness, and in general to all his worthy creatures.
3) " God is supremely just: is it consistent with His justice to punish temporary crimes with eternal torment? But the importance of sin cannot be commensurate with the duration of its perfection alone: the greatest iniquities (parricide, etc.) can be committed instantly, and minor ones - very slowly.
The importance of a sin is determined by the greatness of the person against whom it was committed; according to the state of the person who sinned; by the clarity of the law that is violated; according to the strength and means to fulfill the law that the sinner had; by the quality and quantity of the motives that could keep him from sin; according to the repentance or unrepentance of the sinner, etc. Let us now imagine that the sinners, who will be condemned by the heavenly Judge at the terrible judgment seat, sinned during their, albeit short, sin against the very Highest Being, and, perhaps,trampled on himself The Son of God and did not consider as holy the Blood of the covenant, which was sanctified and the Spirit of grace was insulted (Heb. 10, 29); Let us imagine that these people sinned for the most part not out of weakness or passion, but with a clear consciousness of their offense, intentionally, out of evil will; that they violated the clearest laws of God, given by revelation, natural and supernatural; had all the grace-filled powers and all possible incentives to fulfill the law; They caused, perhaps, the greatest harm to their neighbors with their sins, and finally they died not only without reforming, but also without bringing repentance. Shouldn’t such sinners, in all fairness, be subjected to eternal punishment? And will the truth of God be violated in any way when they execute sin itself, which, as unrepentant by any repentance, will remain in them and with them forever?
4) " God is infinitely wise: how will His wisdom be justified if sinners will suffer forever, when He created moral beings for bliss?” God, indeed, created moral beings, among other things, for blessedness (§ 59); but under the immutable condition that they themselves, as free ones, strive towards this goal along the path indicated to them, so that they themselves make themselves both capable of bliss and worthy of it. And the only path to bliss, the only means for moral beings to become capable of it and worthy of it, is a pious life. Track. If sinners are not worthy of the bliss intended for moral beings, on the contrary, they will deserve eternal punishment—the reason for this is themselves, and the wisdom of God, which called them to achieve bliss only under a condition, will remain in all its power. We must remember, moreover, that many, many moral beings, tens of good Angels and countless hosts of righteous people will achieve eternal bliss, and that, consequently, this goal of the universe, chosen by the wisdom of God, will be achieved.
(2067) Words. to Feod. fallen 1, in Chr. Thurs. 1844, 1, 361. 366 - 367.
(2068) You. led Letters. to fallen to the virgin XLVI, in TV. St. Father X, 131.
(2069) Rights, summary, rep. to the question 207, in TV. St. Ot. IX, 346 – 347.
(2070) Words. for the second coming. Gentlemen, TV. St. Father XII, 390.
(2071) Words. to be honest. cross. and on the second. come Lord, ibid. XIV, 50; demolished
(2072) To Rome. conversations V, p. 84, in Russian. lane
(2073) Words. to Feod. fallen 1, in Chr. Thurs. 1844, 1, 413.
(2074) Tunc saeviendi plurima genera... Hos, quibus recusata nox Domini et imperia fuere comtempta, disparibus coeurcet exitiis, proque merito salutis exactae vires suas suggerit, dum par sceleri discrimen imponit... et caet. (lib. de laud. Martyr.).
(2075) Si tolerabilius erit terrae Sodomorum et Gomorrhaeorum, quam illi civitati, quae non receperit Evangelium: ergo et inter peccatores diversa supplicia sunt (Comment. in Matt. X).
(2076) Nec dubitandum est, poenas ipsas, quibus cruciabuntur (damnati), pro diversitate criminum, diversas esse (De baptism. IV, 19).
(2077) Apud Harduin. Consil. T. IV, col. 66; Nikif. Call. Hist. eccles. XVII,
(2078) Drive. at St. John's Damascus.Eclog. Litt. (unknown character) tit.1
(2079) Evsev. Church ist. IV, ch. 15, page 213
(2081) Adv. haer. IV, c. 28.
(2082) Ibid. V, p. 27.
(2083) Ogl. instructive XVIII, no. 19, pp. 422-423.
(2084) Rights, summary, rep. to the question 207, in TV. St. Father IX, 345. Demolished. note 2069.
(2085) Words. to Theodore. fallen 1, in Chr. Thurs. 1844, 1, 365-366. 367-368.
(2086) Apoloq. With. 18.45: aeternam ab Eo poenam providemus..., pro magnitudine cruciatus, non diuturni, verum sempiterni, Eum timentes.
(2087) Ad Autolic. 1, p. 14.
(2088) ... nec erit, unde habere tormenta vel requiem possint aliquando vel finem (lib. ad Demetrian.; cfr. epist. XV. LV).
(2089) Minuts. Fel.Octav. With. 35; Ippol.adv. Graec. Et Plat. c. 3; Afanas. In Ps. XLIX, 22.
(2090) “The lot of the second (sinners), among other things, will be torment, or rather, above all else, rejection from God and shame in conscience, which will have no end. (words, spoken in the presence of the father, Tv. of the Holy Father II, 56).
(2091) Ilar.Comment. In Math. V, n. 12; Jerome in Math. XXIV, 4; Kiril. alex.In Jes. LXY, 11, lib. V, T. VI; Theodorite. In Pa. XCIII, 13; Augustin.de civit. Dei XXI, 17. 21. 26, n. 6
p.654— 662
Orthodox Dogmatic Theology.
Volume II, ed. 4th, St. Petersburg, 1883
Metropolitan Macarius (Bulgakov)
THE FINAL JUDGMENT OF GOD.
One day the day will come, the last day for this human race (John 6:39); as is the last day for each person separately, the day of the end of the age and the world (Matthew 13: 39), as is the day of death of a person, the day established by God will come, “on which he will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17: 31) , i.e., universal and decisive judgment. This is why this day is called the day of judgment in Scripture (Matthew 11: 22 and 24); the day of judgment (2 Peter 3:7); the day of wrath and revelation of God's righteous judgment (Rom. 2:5); the day of the Son of Man (Luke 17:22); the Lord's day (2 Pet. 3:10); the day of Christ (2 Thess. 2:2); the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:14) because the Lord Jesus Christ will appear on earth in His glory to judge the living and the dead; a great day (Acts 2:21; Jude 6), according to the great events that will then take place.
The second coming to earth of the Lord Jesus Christ is a dogma of Orthodoxy and is contained in the seventh member of the Creed. The same clause also sets forth the dogma of the future Last Judgment of God over humanity for its earthly life, for his deeds.
It is clear that the opening of the court is preceded by the coming of the judge and then the appearance of the judged: people and demons. Consequently, all the evidence of Holy Scripture about the second glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth, about the resurrection of the dead, remains evidence of the reality of the universal judgment. Here is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself about the final judgment, the testimony of St. apostles, St. fathers and teachers of the Church.
Jesus Christ teaches: “For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son... given Him authority to execute judgment” (John 5: 22 and 27); and in another place he says: “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then he will reward everyone according to his deeds” (Matthew 16:27). And the apostles preached about judgment: “For He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed, having given proof to all by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31); “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousand of His holy angels to execute judgment on all and to convict all the wicked among them in all their deeds” (Jude 14:15); the Apostle Paul repeatedly testifies to the general, final judgment, and, finally, John the Theologian writes about the same thing (Rev. 20: 11-15)
The Holy Church has always professed this dogma of universal judgment. In the Athanasian symbol we read: “(Christ) will come to judge the living and the dead, by His coming all people will be resurrected with their bodies, and will give an account of their deeds.” This dogma is testified by all the holy fathers and teachers of the Church in their writings.
This is the soul-shaking picture of the final judgment of mankind, the picture that the word of God presents to us (Matthew 25: 31-46) and which is confirmed by a sound mind. The parts of this picture are: 1) The judge is God, 2) the accomplices in the court are Angels and Apostles, 3) the defendants, 4) the subject of the judgment, 5) the separation of the righteous from the sinners and 6) the final verdict on both.
In the first place of the picture of the Last Judgment, according to the testimony of Jesus Christ Himself, the Son of God will appear as God the King and Judge, sitting on the Throne of His glory, surrounded by all the saints. Angels and St. apostles. Sitting on the Throne is a figurative expression taken from ordinary kings! They sit on the throne in particularly important circumstances.
Next, the executors of God's will are introduced, or, as it were, accomplices in judgment - the Angels and the Apostles: “And He will send His Angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from the end of heaven to the end thereof” (Matthew 24:31), and They will gather away from His kingdom all temptations and the workers of iniquity, and will separate the wicked from among the righteous.” This is the participation, the activity of Angels at the Last Judgment. The Jews usually called into assemblies by means of trumpets, which served Jesus Christ as a symbol for the figurative speech of the assembly of all mankind for judgment by means of Angels with a loud trumpet voice. This is figurative speech, and you should not think that Angels will be sent with trumpets. No, one last trumpet will sound (1 Cor. 15:52), the trumpet of God (1 Thess. 4:16), at the sound of which the Son of God will be sent to St. Angels; at the same time, according to the sound of the same trumpet, the resurrection of the dead will follow. [ however, the doctrine of many trumpets (seven in Revelation) was probably widespread in Judea, because in the 3rd book of Ezra, which describes events clearly related to the last years, it is said about some - “at the third trumpet” happened (3 Ezra 5:4) - ed. . golden-ship] The countries of the world (east, west, north and south) were usually called winds by the Jews. The sent Angels will gather all people from all countries of the world for judgment, they will gather both the righteous and the evil, and they will separate the first from the last.
Then the participation that will be taken at the trial of St. apostles, this is what the Lord said: “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the future, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). Here the apostolic thrones do not mean their thrones, but first of all glory and honor, with which they will be honored above all when they begin to reign with the Lord and participate in glory. The Messiah will judge everyone, to whom alone God gave all judgment (John 5:22); but the Lord says that the apostles will also judge - in the sense in which all believers, participants in the glory and dominion of the Messiah, will also be partners in the judgment of the world, about which the Apostle Paul later wrote: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? (1 Cor. 6:2)
And here the apostolic court, represented by the Lord, had in its image, symbol, the court of advisers, courtiers surrounding earthly kings and helping them in the matter of judgment. The twelve tribes of Israel are the name of the people of God, the people once chosen and beloved by God; in the present saying of the Lord, “twelve tribes” takes on the meaning of all the people beloved by the Lord and redeemed by Him, namely, all Christians who are subject to judgment. So the Apostle James calls all Christians twelve tribes.
Paradise will present its celestials - righteous souls - to the place of judgment, and hell will present its dead - the souls of sinners, and the union of souls with their bodies will follow. Then the fatal verdict will be pronounced on the righteous and sinners, and everyone will receive their full reward for the deeds of earthly life.
Unbelievers, as those who have not accepted redemption, at the Last General Judgment of Christ will be condemned to deprivation of eternal blissful life in Christ; and with them those of the believers and baptized who spent their earthly lives contrary to the law of Christ. By the time of the Last Judgment, everyone without exception who has ever lived will be resurrected and will undergo the final judgment, as evidenced by the words: “They will look at Him whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10). All those who have risen will behold (plural), including those who crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. This means the non-believers, in short – all of humanity. Not only people will appear for judgment, but also fallen spirits, whom, according to the testimony of the apostle, “God did not spare, but bound him with the chains of hellish darkness, he handed over to the court for punishment” (1 Pet. 2:4). And the Apostle Jude also writes: “And the angels who did not retain their dignity, but left their habitation, he keeps in eternal chains, under darkness, for the judgment of the great day.”
If a person consists of spirit, soul and body, then visible, outer life and human activity is nothing more than an expression, a manifestation of the life and activity of the soul. Thoughts, desires, feelings are objects of the insubstantial world. They constitute the invisible activity of the invisible soul, and, being expressed in words and deeds, they constitute the visible activity of the body, as an organ of the soul, i.e. human activity. So, at the trial both the internal (spiritual) and external (physical) activities of a person will be judged. According to the dual nature of man and his dual activities, which will be condemned at the universal judgment, both reward and punishment will follow in two ways: spiritual, internal (for the soul) and external, feelings corresponding to the new human body.
Each person at the final judgment will give a strict and complete account of all thoughts, desires, feelings, words and deeds for his entire earthly life. Of course, sinful thoughts, desires, feelings, words and deeds will not be remembered at judgment if they are washed away in a timely manner on earth by true repentance.
The activity of the soul is manifested in the visible activity of a person, in his words and deeds, so that words and deeds always correctly characterize the moral state of the soul, good or evil. Everything that is meant by the word “idle” used by the Savior - unusual, inappropriate, indecent for Christian activity - will be condemned in court; “I tell you that for every idle word that people speak, they will give an answer on the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36).
Words are the essence of the expression of a person’s thoughts and feelings and, in general, his internal, moral state; a person is known by them, just as a tree is known by its fruits. If a person’s words are truthful, honest, pious, edifying, then they show a good person, and such a person will be justified in court; if the words are false, wicked, then they indicate the evil heart of a person, and such a person cannot be justified, but will be condemned. Justification and condemnation at trial depend on faith and deeds, but words mean only the internal, moral state of the soul. An idle word is one that contains lies, slander, and arouses indecent laughter, i.e. the word is shameful, shameless, empty, having nothing to do with the matter.
The Apostle Paul writes about judgment over the invisible, secret activities of the soul: “Therefore do not judge in any way before the time, until the Lord comes, who will illuminate the hidden things in darkness and reveal the intentions of the heart, and then everyone will receive a call from God” (1 Cor. 4:5 ). So, at the trial, each person will give a strict and complete account for all his activities, both for internal, spiritual (Matthew 12:36), and for visible, external, i.e. The Lord will reward everyone for all words and deeds (Rom. 2:6; 2 Cor. 5:10).
At the final judgment, before the eyes of the moral and spiritual kingdom of spirits and souls, the whole life, the earthly activity of each soul, both good and evil activity, will be visible. Not a single innermost thought, not a single sigh, not a look, not the slightest bodily action will be hidden. Everything right and wrong, unless it is cleansed in advance by proper repentance, everything will be visible to everyone: Angels, saints, and people. “It is not without a reason,” says John Chrysostom, “that there has been no judgment for so long, it is not without a purpose that the general, final judgment of humanity has been postponed for such a long time; time has been given to intercede before God for one another.” With the advent of the decisive hour of the fate of mankind, this petition collapses; then neither prayers, nor petitions, nor friendship, nor kinship, nor tears, nor good intentions and desires, nor virtues will help us. At that fateful hour, neither the prayer of sinners to the saints, nor the prayers of the saints to God for mercy on sinners will become ineffective. The prayers of the saints will not help the condemned, neither the intercession of the father will ease the fate of the condemned son, nor the tears of the children will free their unfortunate parents from eternal torment; neither a husband will help his frivolous wife, nor a wife - her husband. And love for the truth itself will no longer allow intercession for those who have completely rejected it; it would be unnatural to ask for the Kingdom of Heaven for someone who absolutely did not want it, and therefore is not fit for life, full of peace and love, is not suitable for the life of saints. Then love, kinship, friendship, acquaintance will lose their beneficial meaning, and any relationship between souls who love righteousness and truth and those who are at enmity with them will completely disappear and the memory of sinners will cease to disturb the souls of saints who have pleased their Lord.
At the Last Judgment, when everything secret is revealed, the righteous and sinners will see and recognize each other. Sinners in hell, having seen the saints in heaven until this time, but not seeing each other, will now see and recognize, as Athanasius the Great writes in the “Tale of the Dead.” But their date will not be joyful! Why? Because the cause of eternal condemnation was ourselves and our loved ones on earth, with whom we will now have to meet. Will we really hear gratitude from our loved ones when we, remaining on earth after them, spent our lives like the brothers of the unfortunate rich man in the Gospel?
St. John of Damascus, warning us against such a terrible meeting with our loved ones on the day of judgment, writes: “We will try with all our might so that on that terrible and terrible day our relatives do not reproach us for neglecting them; especially those of us to whom they entrusted the care of their property and left it. For let no one think that at that terrible event we will not recognize each other.” The fundamental eye of the soul is the organ of vision and knowledge, as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself testifies in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
True, the rich man, while on earth, knew and, perhaps, saw Lazarus more than once, and therefore it is not surprising that he recognized him; But how did he recognize, according to the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, Abraham, whom he did not know before and had never seen anywhere? This means that we conclude and testify as truth that at the trial everyone will recognize each other, both acquaintances and strangers. St. John Chrysostom writes about this truth as follows: “We will recognize not only those who were familiar to us here, but we will also see those whom we have never seen.”
St. Ephraim the Syrian writes: “Then the children will denounce their parents for not doing good deeds; on that day many of their acquaintances will see unhappy, and some of them, noticing that they have been placed at their right hand, will go away from them, bidding them farewell with tears.”
“Then,” says St. Gregory the Theologian, i.e. on the day of general judgment, “I will see you, my beloved brother Caesarea, bright, glorious, cheerful, just as you often appeared to me in a dream.”
St. Demetrius of Rostov, addressing a weeping parent, says as if in consolation about the death of his son: “You will see him (that is, the deceased son) in the grace of God among the righteous, in a bright and cool place.”
This is what all the pastors and teachers of the Church teach, that we will all see each other in due time. Consequently, all humanity from the first to the last person: “All nations will be gathered before Him” (Matthew 25:32); “Who will judge the living and the dead” (2 Tim. 4:1), since “He is the judge appointed by God of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42).
What could be more terrible and stinking than that state of souls when all our secret and open deeds, words, thoughts and desires are revealed before everyone’s eyes, when everyone clearly sees all the activities of the other? Then our love and hypocrisy, truth and untruth, will obviously be revealed to everyone. John of Damascus says: “It will be a great heavenly shame when everyone recognizes another and is himself recognized.” And then the Lord “will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left” (Matthew 25:33), i.e. The Lord will separate the righteous from the sinners; then unbelief will separate the father from the son, the daughter from the mother, and the spouses will have to separate forever. Faith will save some, and unbelief will destroy others.
“And he will separate them (the judged) from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left.” Since there will be Christians and non-Christians at the trial, one part of the trial is the trial of Christians, which is from the questions of Jesus Christ and the answer of those judged, which relate directly to Christians. This is also confirmed by the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit, the teacher of languages, saying: It is fitting for all of us (i.e. Christians, both righteous and sinners) to appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that each of us will receive for our internal and external activities on earth (i.e. ... for your thoughts, desires, feelings, words and deeds) full reward: either reward or punishment (2 Cor. 5: 10).
The other part of the judgment (over non-Christians) is briefly depicted in the words of Holy Scripture. The judgment of Christians will be carried out by Jesus Christ Himself; Believers will be judged according to their deeds, and therefore our deeds will condemn or justify us. The works of love and mercy offered by the Lord at the trial to Christians, as those who know His all-holy will, alone will deliver the Kingdom of Heaven, already prepared for them from eternity; and others standing on the left side, as also knowing the will, the commandments of God, but neglecting them, will be punished; they will go into eternal torment.
All Christian activity, all our mutual relations with each other must be based on eternal divine love. According to the degree of love of Christians, some will be placed on the right side, and others on the left. The right side is generally more honorable than the left; it is usually intended for high-ranking persons, kings and elders in general, for loved ones, for relatives, and friends. The right side, according to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, is a place for the blessed, a place for the children of God, heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the left is a place for the damned, the rejected, because they themselves voluntarily rejected the blessings prepared for man in his afterlife.
Therefore, Jesus Christ will turn to those standing on the right side and pronounce the sentence of eternal fate, explaining the reasons for it: Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for your good deeds on earth. They (deeds) directly relate to Me because you made them Mine little brothers. You fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, received the strange, gave clothing to those in need, visited the sick and forgot those in prison. The omniscient God from eternity foresaw the actions of people, and therefore, according to their actions, from eternity he determined rewards and punishments. For good deeds - life, the Kingdom of Heaven. And for the wicked - death, eternal torment.
Jesus Christ calls true Christians, His followers, His brothers, as those close to Him in spirit, in disposition and in suffering: “Whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven is My brother, and sister, and mother” (Matthew 12:50) The Apostle Paul also testifies to this recognition by Jesus Christ of His faithful servants as brothers: “For both he who sanctifies and those who are illuminated are all of One; therefore He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will proclaim Your name to My brothers” (Heb. 2:11, 12). The unity of the Lord with his true followers is the closest unity: the unity of faith, love, spirit and action. Therefore, everything we do for our neighbors, the Lord takes to Himself and rewards as if for what was done to Himself: “Do it for Me,” or: “He who receives you, receives Me”...
Therefore, he will turn to Christian sinners who stand by left side, and will say: “Depart from Me, cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41) - because you did not have living faith and active love. The Savior, in his speech addressed to the righteous and the condemned, no longer says anything about faith, because faith here is shown by deeds. Consequently, works of faith justify some and condemn others. Deeds of love and mercy justify those standing on the right side of the court, and the absence of these deeds condemns those standing on the left side to eternal fire.
Another part of the final judgment is the judgment of non-Christians, of those who do not believe in Christ. The Savior leaves this judgment to the apostles to carry out: “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the coming of life, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28) . How to understand the significance of this judgment? The apostles, being with you, with all the other Jews, of the same kind, having received the same education as you, being brought up in the same laws and according to the same customs, leading the same way of life as you, believed in Me, and you - No. What prevented you from believing Me? Therefore, they will be your judges! The twelve tribes of Israel are the name of the people of God, the people once chosen and beloved by God. This saying is taken in the sense of all humanity, which God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him would be saved. If Israel is beloved, so is the whole world: humanity, redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. But since only those who believed took advantage of the atonement, those of the twelve tribes who did not believe correspond to the entire mass of the people who do not know their Redeemer.
The saved believers will be a clear reproof for unbelievers, they will be evidence, judgment and condemnation for their unbelief. “They (i.e., the disciples of Christ) will be your (unbelieving Jews) judges.” “In re-existence” - this expression means the future transformation of the world, the restoration of the original perfection of the world that existed before the fall of Adam; restoration, transformation that will follow at the end of the world. Disciples of the Lord St. the apostles in the new afterlife will reign with Him and share in the glory, and will judge - in the sense in which all believers, participants in the glory and dominion of the Messiah will also become partners in the judgment of the world. This figurative expression, taken from the king-judge, surrounded by advisers, jurors, helping him in the matter of court. Chrysostom understands the court of the apostles in the same sense in which Jesus Christ spoke about the court of the queen of the south, about the court of the Ninevites.
The Apostle Paul teaches about that judgment of the saints not only over the unfaithful, but even over evil spirits: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is to be judged by you, are you really unworthy to judge unimportant matters?” (1 Cor. 6:3) All the holy fathers and teachers of the Church recognized this image of the general judgment as undoubtedly true.
(from the book of monk Mitrofan (Alekseeva V.N.)
“How our dead live and how we will live
and we after death." St. Petersburg, 1897)
END OF THE CENTURY - THE WORLD
After the general, solemn, open, strict, terrible, decisive and final judgment of spiritual and moral beings, immediately on the same day and moment will follow the end of the world, the end on earth of the grace-filled kingdom of Christ and the beginning of the kingdom of glory, the beginning of a new, blessed life of the righteous and eternal life - the suffering of sinners.
After the judgment will follow the end of the world, the end of the century.
Jesus Christ Himself testified to this truth in His parable about the seed: “The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Therefore, just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so it will be at the end of this age” (Mark 13: 39-40). This word should not be understood as the end - the destruction of the world; the existence of the world will not end, the world will not be destroyed, but will only change - just as a person will not be destroyed, changing and transforming from a corruptible state into an incorruptible one, from a mortal into an immortal state.
With the change of man will follow a new dispensation of the world, in accordance with the coming new order in the kingdom of Christ. The change of the world will be brought about by fire, according to the testimony of the word of God. Thus, the Apostle Peter says: “The present heavens and earth, which are contained by the same Word, are reserved by fire for the day of judgment and destruction of wicked men... But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and then the heavens will pass away with a noise, and the elements, having burned, will collapse. the earth and all the works in it will melt away” (2 Pet. 3: 7, 10, 12). That sooner or later the end of the century, the end of the world, will indeed follow, Divine Revelation and science assure us of this. Revelation attributes the change of the world to fire, and science, in addition to fire, admits other methods as a means of changing this, which can put an end to the present state of the earth, and, consequently, to humanity living on it.
Here is the evidence of God's word regarding the reality of the end of the world. IN Old Testament The prophet and king David wrote about the end of the world like this: “In the beginning, O Lord, You founded the earth and the heavens - the work of Your hands; they will perish, but You will remain; and they will all wear out like a robe, and You will change them like a garment” (Ps. 101: 26-27). Just as nature favorably corresponded to the state of the souls of the first people before their fall, so it began to unfavorably correspond to man after the fall “the creation was subjected to futility, not voluntarily, but by the will of him who subjected it... For we know that every creation groans and suffers together until now” (Rom. 8: 20, 22). Those. As a result of the fall of man, all creation involuntarily submitted to the work of decay, is torn and sympathizes with us, which was not the case with nature before the fall of the ancestors. Then, i.e. Before the fall of the first parents, according to the words of the Apostle Paul and the book of Genesis, it is clear that creation was “very good” (very good), that peace reigned in all spiritual and sensory creation, i.e. agreement, union, harmony, joy, bliss. Consequently, everything created by God was in unity, union, mutual relationship and communication with its Creator God and with each other. Everything was in peace and harmony until man himself, the king of nature, violated them. With the fall of man the union of all creation was broken. From the peaceful accord came a hostile rebellion, sown in God's creation by the enemy of peace and love. So exactly must nature correspond to the new spiritual man. The entire visible material world, lying in evil, must be cleansed from the disastrous consequences of human sin and renewed in order to come into conformity with the renewed man: “and the creation itself will be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
The renewal of the world will take place on the last day through fire, so that in the new heaven and on the new earth nothing sinful will remain, but only righteousness will live. The change in man will immediately be followed by a change in nature, and then there will be a new earth and a new heaven, according to the testimony of the Creator of heaven and earth Himself, who created them and is able to change them according to their purpose: “heaven and earth will pass away,” and in another place: “until the world stands,” or “the sooner heaven and earth pass away, the sooner the world will come to an end” (Matthew 5:18); “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And all the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself show that the present heaven and earth will only pass away, but will not be destroyed, but according to David, like old clothes, they will change into new ones (Ps. 101: 26,27), which is confirmed by the Apostle Peter, saying : “According to the promise of the Lord, we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness alone will reign” (2 Pet. 3:13). And John the Theologian really saw in Revelation a new heaven and a new earth; “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1).
All the teachers of the Church taught about the end of the world in exactly the same way. St. Irenaeus: “It is not the essence or substance of creation that is abolished (for He who created it is true and powerful), but the image of this world passes over, i.e. that in which the disorder occurred... When this image passes and man is renewed and rises to incorruption, then a new heaven and a new earth will appear.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “Our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, He will come with glory at the end of this world on the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be renewed. Since debauchery, theft, and adultery have become extremely widespread, and bloodshed follows bloodshed (Hos. 4:2), so that this wonderful abode of all living things does not remain forever filled with lawlessness, this world will fall in order to again appear better... The Lord will remove the heavens not for in order to destroy them, but to reveal them again in at its best. Listen to the words of the Prophet David: in the beginning You, O Lord, founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain... But will anyone say why he says clearly: they will perish? This can be seen from what follows: both how the clothes will wear out, and how the clothes will be changed. After all, it is said about a person that he perishes, although we understand that if he is righteous, then a resurrection awaits him: just as we expect a similar resurrection to heaven.”
St. Basil the Great: “A foreshadowing of the dogmas about the end and change of the world is what is now briefly conveyed to us in the very beginnings of the inspired teaching: “in the beginning God created”... What began with time, by all necessity, will end in time. If the beginning is temporary, then do not doubt about the end... but they (the learned pagans) did not find one of all the ways to understand God, the Creator of the universe and the righteous Judge, who rewards everyone worthily according to their deeds, and how to comprehend in their minds the consequences arising from the concept of judgment, the thought of death, because the world needs to change if the state of souls passes into another kind of life. For just as present life has qualities akin to this world, so the future existence of our souls will receive a lot characteristic of its state.”
Bl. Jerome: “It is clearly shown (Ps. 102:27) that the death and destruction of the world does not mean its turning into nothingness, but a change into the better. Likewise, what is written elsewhere: “the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun” (Is. 30:26) does not mean the destruction of the former, but a change for the better. Let us think about what has been said: it is the image that passes away, not the being. St. expresses the same thing. Peter - “he did not say: we will see other heavens and another earth, but former and ancient ones, changed and better.”
They also taught: Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, Tatian, Theophilus of Antioch, Minucius Felix, Hippolytus, Methodius and others. The Fifth Ecumenical Council, refuting various errors of the Origenists, solemnly condemned their false teaching that the material world “will not only be transformed, but will be completely destroyed "
The history of the world represents three great periods. From the hands of the Creator - the source of love - everything came, according to His own testimony, “good”, i.e. completely and beautifully as much as it was needed for the first time. If everything created were not perfect and not beautiful, then what would be the disorder of the world after the fall of the first parents? In God's creation we see the wondrous order of all things and the harmonious structure of each thing. Every thing is assigned to a higher or lower service in the kingdom of nature. In the kingdom of nature, just like in the house of a wise and prudent ruler, everything is arranged well and in order, i.e. the lower directly serves the higher, as subordinate to it. Inorganic beings primarily serve organic beings, and these are sentient beings, and sentient beings are sentient beings; these latter are appointed for the solemn, direct and visible service of God, Whom everything serves directly or indirectly. Life is given to the whole world by the Holy Spirit, without Whom everything is dead. Therefore, the main thing in God's creation component creation is a spiritual and moral world, on the state of which the state of the physical world depends. So it was at the beginning, immediately after creation. Unity and harmony in the whole creation - everything was very good. Everything was subordinated to man, a spiritual and moral being; everything worked for him, and physical nature was consistent with spiritual and moral nature. Then the earth and sky, i.e. the atmosphere and all its phenomena were in favorable relations with man.
Damage occurred in the spiritual and moral nature and the consequences of this resonated immediately throughout creation, in all visible physical nature. Unanimity collapsed, harmony disintegrated, everything came to a state alien to love, everything rebelled primarily against the culprit of the misfortune - a person from whom, so to speak, poison spread throughout the whole world, changing his blissful state to a state under the wrath of God. Now the whole world lies in evil (1 John 5:19), as the word of God testifies to what happened after the fall of the first parents; therefore, before the fall in the moral world, the world did not lie in evil, but truth lived in it.
The Word of God reveals to us three periods of the world's existence: 1) before the fall, 2) after the fall, and 3) after the restoration. The first state of the world, or the first period of its existence, is of the nature expressed by God Himself, that everything is very good. In the fulfillment of the law, as the natural purpose of every creature, lay its bliss. Violation of the law put the creature in a state that was not natural to it, therefore, the opposite of bliss. According to the will of the Creator God, everything served each other, everything depended on each other, and in the mutual relationship there was bliss of both the whole and the parts. There was nothing except love and execution of laws. Everything strived to fulfill its purpose, and in this striving lay life and bliss. There could be no disagreement, because it contradicts the words of God that “every good thing is evil.”
God the Creator among his creation. The spiritual, moral and physical world must fulfill their purpose, mutually acting on each other, as components of one complex whole. The law of action is defined - fulfilling the will of the Creator, achieving the goal of one’s purpose, striving for perfection.
Representatives of the affairs of God or His entire creation, spiritual and moral beings - spirits and souls, Angels and people, the family of one Father, the kingdom of one King - were created and live for one purpose, having the same law and one nature. Unity of thought united the Angels and ancestors, and should have united all of humanity if the fall had not followed. Man, mysteriously united from soul and body, was decisively one whole; both soul and body mutually acted on each other in a joyful direction. This truth is revealed in itself from the present state of man, in which the spirit rises up against the body and the body against the spirit, according to the word of Jesus Christ: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 24:41). This is natural to the current state of the world and man; therefore, this was not natural to the first state of the world and man, when everything was good. If even now the union, harmony, or, as it were, sympathy between nature, visible and invisible, moral and physical, is strikingly noticeable, the mutual relationship and mutual influence one nature to another - how can we prevent the joyful mutual action of these natures among themselves until evil appears on earth?
If even now, when everything sighs and hurts, we see favorable attitude bright sunny weather on the spiritual state of a person, and at the same time on his visible nature - the body. In sunny weather, they say, the soul is somehow more cheerful, more joyful, and at the same time, with liveliness of spirit, the body comes into a special active state; something joyful is reflected in both the soul and the body. And vice versa: cloudy, foggy, rainy weather produces something sad, dreary, and dispositions the body to inaction. In short, good weather has a favorable, joyful effect on the entire human body, but bad weather produces the opposite effect in the human body: sadness in the soul and exhaustion in the body. Both sick and healthy, against their will and desire, feel the state of the weather and atmosphere. A satiated body hinders the activity of the spirit, and a cheerful disposition of spirit produces in the body a desire and zeal for work, so that even external activities filled with some inexplicable joy. Thus, from the present state of the world and man, we unmistakably conclude, also relying on the testimony of God’s Revelation, that in the first period of the world’s existence, “all good is green”; We conclude about the marvelous harmony of the parts of God’s entire creation, in which only bliss was possible.
So, the purpose of everything created by God, which has man as its crown, is bliss, the desire for perfection, eternal life. In the kingdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, life in all His creation, life in the primeval earthly paradise, where everything breathes harmony, bliss, where everything serves each other with love and joy, where heaven and earth are in union and harmony with the spiritual and moral the world (with the ancestors), or physical nature in union with spiritual nature, just as in man there is body and soul. This is the first period of the existence of the world in its innocent, sinless, blissful state, with its character and distinctive property attested by the Lord Himself: “all good is green.” In the concept of “good” there is no concept of “evil”. But how long did the first period of the world’s existence last, i.e. his blissful state, and what was the measure and degree of bliss? The Word of God did not reveal this. For violating the law of God, the moral law, there followed not the destruction of the guilty and the world, but the most righteous punishment. Punishment followed, not destruction of what should exist forever. Punishment is not destruction, the cessation of existence.
From the character of the second period, all that is revealed is that the bliss of the first period is lost, and evil, which was completely absent in the first period, now dominates the world in such a way that good itself does not remain without an admixture of evil: “the whole world lies in evil!” » This is the character or distinctive property of the second period of the world’s existence. With the fall of the ancestors, all visible nature immediately changed in properties: 1) the body rebelled against the spirit, 2) the earth changed its fertility, and by changing the properties of the earth, which had fallen under unblessing and curse, the atmosphere also changed, the sky and earth changed, the animals took up arms against the former their king, etc. The second state of the world, or the second period of its existence, has its own distinctive character, opposite to the first and also expressed in Holy Scripture: “the whole world lies in evil.” One day given to the world life is not taken away, but a life with bliss or a blissful life has changed into a life of crying and sorrow. What constituted bliss was taken away for breaking the law. Just as often we, willfully destroying our health, fall into illness. The spiritual, moral and physical nature of man is closely united with one another, forming spiritualized flesh or incarnate spirit. Nowadays it is not the same as before; Now, according to the Apostle Paul, parts of man have rebelled against each other: the spirit fights against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit, and man often does not what he wants, but what he hates, fulfilling the will of the body and enslaving the spirit to it.
When two natures in a person mutually act on one another, then the physical world is in union, harmony and in mutual relationship with the spiritual and moral world, i.e. his beings, as being quickened by the same Holy Spirit, who gives life to the whole world. Changes in the moral world did not remain without relation to the invisible world - the physical. During the suffering of the God-man, the earth shook, the church curtain was torn in two, the stones disintegrated, the sun darkened, and many dead were resurrected.
The disorder of the moral world reached its limit and was reflected in visible physical nature, in the global flood, according to the testimony of the word of God. The fall of the ancestors began the second period of the world's existence, a disorder in the moral world (disobedience to God the Creator). And then changes began to follow more and more in physical nature, which finally culminated in a worldwide event - the flood, which finally changed both the earth and the sky, i.e. atmosphere. After the flood, the former heaven and earth were no more; water changed the earth, and the earth is always in relation to the atmosphere; Consequently, a change in the sky - the atmosphere - followed. And then, according to the word of the apostle, “the present heavens and earth” appeared - the state of a world lying in evil, alien to truth, about which it can no longer be said that the present heaven and earth are “good,” for the earth is devoid of blessing, cursed, and with the earth and that's all air elements are at enmity. Significantly – and very significantly! – human life has decreased compared to the first period, and the very conditions of life have worsened. This is the second period of the world’s existence, in which the changed heaven (atmosphere) and earth are called present by the Apostle Paul. This name already confirms that the heavens and earth of the present time are not the same as they were before the flood. The word “present” corresponds to the present tense, therefore, for the future tense or to express the transformed world that is about to come, we find the word “new”: both heaven and earth, according to the testimony of the apostles John and Peter.
And, finally, the third state of the world will come, or the third period of its existence, where everything is new: man, heaven, and earth, and where only truth lives, according to the testimony of the Apostle Peter. So, in the third period of the world’s existence there will again be a new heaven and a new earth, different from the present ones. The present heaven and earth will not be destroyed, but will be changed into new ones through fire, just as the first period of the existence of the world and man gave way to the second through water. Water and fire have an important, mysterious meaning in religion in general. Just as gold is purified from foreign impurities by fire, so the world (heaven and earth, i.e., the earth with its atmosphere) must be purified from evil by fire, according to the apostolic witness. Then again for the new renewed man there will be a new heaven and a new earth, in which only truth lives, and the word “good is good” can again be applied to the restored world and man. Otherwise it can not be.
To reconcile faith with science - this seems to be the direct purpose of modern knowledge. If every science is a systematic presentation of truths relating to any subject, then it goes without saying that these truths obtained by science must be in agreement with revealed truths, as about this God Himself testified: “I am the Truth and without Me you cannot do anything.”
Only now have revealed truths begun to be confirmed by modern knowledge and come into agreement with science. The Apostles Peter and John the Theologian testify to us about the third period of the world’s existence, about the changed new earth and heaven. AND scientific study The structure of the universe allows that dead worlds (and therefore our planet, Earth) can begin to live again, and therefore become the habitat of creatures. The Word of God does not speak about death, the destruction of the earth, but only testifies to its change, which will happen to the people living on it at the moment of the end of the world, i.e. everyone will die and will immediately be resurrected in a new and better form along with everyone who died before. At the same time, there will be a change in the earth. Science sees a reason that can again bring dead world bodies back to life.
All beliefs and common sense testify to a person about the beginning and end of the world, and this thought belongs to a person at all stages of his development. So, for example, the Chinese belief about the end of the world is as follows: a certain Feso, who originally discovered salt in China, was eventually recognized by them as a god. Feso will come again to earth only to announce the end of the world. In ancient times Greek mythology, in one of the myths, there is a prophecy, or, as it were, an indication of the dogma about the end of Mary and its transformation through fire: “With the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, the end of this world will follow, and for future life this world is transformed into a better one through fire, i.e. old world will burn." That sooner or later the end of the world must come (not in the sense of cessation, destruction, but only transformation into better world and precisely through fire) Heraclitus taught 500 years before the birth of Christ. He directly said that the world, making eternal and endless circulations, will finally converge with the beginning, which according to his teaching is the primeval fire, and will burn. But it will not be destroyed, but will change, for from the ashes it will come new world. Democritus, the creator of the first mechanistic worldview, taught: “if worlds can arise, they can also disappear.” But to disappear does not mean to cease being, as Democritus himself taught that “nothing that exists is indestructible,” which means that only the image, appearance, and existence of the old changes to the new.
Science says that our planet Earth has many ways of destruction and recognizes the fire that fills the inside as the surest of all. globe. The teaching that the world will be destroyed by fire came to us from the ancient Jews and is now the teaching of the Christian Church and all its teachers and writers. Science recognizes the possibility of the end of the world through fire as a situation worthy of probability.
Indeed, we can almost certainly assume that the surface of the sphere on which we build our cities and dwellings has a small thickness, and that behind this thin layer all the minerals are in a molten state. On the other hand, it has been proven that this thin surface of the globe is constantly oscillating, and that thirty hours cannot pass without a more or less violent earthquake occurring somewhere. We, therefore, live on a thin raft, which can sink from minute to minute, i.e. into the abyss of fire!..
(from the book of monk Mitrofan (Alekseeva V.N.) “How our dead live and how we will live after death” St. Petersburg. 1897)
REVELATIONS FROM THE LIVES OF THE SAINTS
The saints of God loved to think about the bliss of the righteous, and some of them were awarded special revelations about heavenly life.
Related information.
1. Holy Scripture about the Last Judgment
Among the numerous evidence of the reality and indisputability of the future General Judgment (John 5, 22, 27-29; Matt. 16, 27; 7, 21-13, 11, 22 and 24, 35 and 41-42; 13, 37-43 ; 19, 28-30; 24, 30, 25, 31-46; Acts 17, 31; Jude 14-15; 2 Cor. 5, 10; Rom. 2, 5-7; 14, 10; 1 Cor. 4, 5; Eph. 6, 8; Col. 3, 24-25; 2 Sol. 1, 6-10; 2 Tim. 4, 1; Rev. 20, 11-15) most fully presents the image of this last judgment The Savior in the Gospel of Matthew 25, 31-46, where the Last Judgment is described by Jesus Christ as follows:
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit as a King on the throne of His glory. And all nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate some people from others (the faithful and good from the ungodly and evil), just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will place the sheep (the righteous) on His right hand, and the goats (sinners) on His left.
Then the King will say to those standing on His right hand: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry (I was hungry) and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.”
Then the righteous will ask Him with humility: “Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You as a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You? When we saw You sick, or in prison have you come to you?"
The king will answer them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers of Mine (that is, for the needy people), you did it to Me.”
Then the King will say to those on the left side: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Because I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you did not give Me something to drink; I was a stranger. , and they did not receive Me; I was naked, and they did not clothe Me; I was sick and in prison, and they did not visit Me.”
Then they too will answer Him: “Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve You?”
But the King will say to them: “Truly I say to you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.”
And they will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.».
This day will be great and terrible for each of us. That is why this judgment is called the Last Judgment, since our deeds, words, and most secret thoughts and desires will be open to everyone. Then we will no longer have anyone to rely on, for the Judgment of God is righteous, and everyone will receive according to their deeds.
“The soul, understanding that there is a world and wanting to be saved, has an urgent law to think within itself every hour that now there is a feat (mortal) and torture (of deeds), in which you cannot endure (the gaze of) the Judge,” said Rev. Anthony the Great.
St. John Chrysostom:
Don’t we often decide to die rather than reveal our secret crime to our respectable friends? How will we feel when will our sins be revealed to all Angels, all people and appear before our eyes?
Rev. Ephraim the Syrian:
Even the Angels tremble when the Judge speaks, and the armies of fiery spirits stand in trepidation. What answer will I give when they ask me? about secret affairs that will be revealed to everyone there?
Then (at the Judgment) we will see countless angelic forces standing around (the throne of Christ). Then the deeds of each in order will be read and announced before the Angels and people. Then the prophecy of Daniel will be fulfilled: “Thousands of thousands served Him, and ten thousand thousand stood before Him; The judges sat down, and the books were opened” (Dan. 7:10). Great will be the fear, brethren, in the hour when these terrible books are opened, where our deeds and our words are written, and what we have done in this life, and what we thought to hide from God, who tests our hearts and wombs! Every deed and every thought of man is written there, everything good and bad... Then everyone, bowing their heads, will see those standing before the judgment seat and being interrogated, especially those who lived in negligence. And seeing this, they will lower their heads even lower and begin to reflect on their deeds; and everyone will see before themselves their own deeds - both good and bad, which others have done before.
St. Gregory of Nyssa:
In the human body itself there is a secret that comes out in due time: in infancy - teeth, in maturity - a beard and in old age - gray hair. So it is on the last day of Judgment: everything will be revealed before the eyes of everyone, not only deeds and words, but all thoughts that are now hidden from others. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, according to the word of Jesus Christ. Since it is known that all secrets will be revealed at the Coming of Christ, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, creating holiness in the fear of God, so that our deeds revealed to everyone will bring us honor and glory, and not shame.
St. Basil the Great writes that God is not only good, but also just:
“However, another will say: “It is written: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Joel 2:32), therefore, just calling on the name of the Lord is enough to save the one who calls.” But let this one also listen to what the apostle says: “How can we call on Him in whom we have not believed?” (Rom. 10:14). And if you don’t believe, listen to the Lord, Who says: “Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord!” Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Even for those who do the will of the Lord, but not as God wants it and not out of a feeling of love for God, zeal in the work is useless, according to the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who says: because they do it “to appear before people. Truly I tell you that they are already receiving their reward” (Matthew 6:5). By this, the Apostle Paul was taught to say: “And if I give away all my possessions and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:3).
In general, I see the following three different dispositions in which the need for obedience is inevitable: either, fearing punishment, we shy away from evil and are in a state of slavery, or, chasing the benefits of reward, we fulfill what is commanded for our own benefit and thereby become like mercenaries, or we do it for its own sake. goodness and out of love for Him who gave us the law, rejoicing that we were worthy to serve such a glorious and good God - and in this case we are in the state of sons.
He who fulfills the commandments out of fear and is constantly afraid of punishment for laziness will not do one of the prescribed things and neglect the other, but will be confirmed in the thought that the punishment for disobedience is equally terrible for him. And therefore, “blessed is the man who is always in reverence” (Proverbs 28:14), but the one who can say: “I have always seen the Lord before me, for He is at my right hand; I will not be shaken” (Ps. 15:8), because he does not want to miss anything that should be taken into account. And: “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord...” Why? Because he “strongly” loves “His commandments” (Ps. 111:1). Therefore, it is not common for those who are afraid to leave any order unfulfilled or to carry it out carelessly.
But the mercenary will not want to violate any command. For how will he receive payment for the work in the vineyard without fulfilling everything according to the condition? For if even one of the necessary things is missing, then the vineyard becomes useless to the owner. Who, therefore, will pay for damage to the one who caused the damage?
The third case is service out of love. What kind of son, having the goal of pleasing his father and cheering him in the most important things, would want to offend for the sake of little things, especially if he remembers what the Apostle says: “And do not offend the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you are sealed” (Eph. 4:30).
Therefore, those who transgress most commandments where do they want to be numbered when they do not serve God as a Father, do not submit to Him as the One who gave great promises, do not work as a Master? For He says: “If I am a father, then where is the respect for Me? And if I am the Lord, where is the reverence for Me” (Mal. 1:6)? Just as “blessed is the man who fears the Lord... and deeply loves His commandments” (Ps. 111:1), so “by transgressing the law,” it is said, “you dishonor God” (Rom. 2:23).
How, then, having preferred a voluptuous life to a life according to the commandment, can we promise ourselves a blessed life, living with the saints and having fun with the angels in the presence of Christ? Such dreams are characteristic of a truly childish mind. How will I be with Job, when I did not accept even the most ordinary sorrow with thanksgiving? How will I deal with David when I did not deal generously with my enemy? How will I be with Daniel when I did not seek God with unceasing abstinence and unceasing prayer? How will I be with each of the saints when I did not follow in their footsteps? What heroic hero is so unreasonable that he would award equal crowns to both the winner and the one who did not undertake the feat? What military leader ever called for an equal division of the spoils between those who won and those who did not show up for battle?
God is good, but also just. And it is characteristic of the just to reward according to his dignity, as it is written: “Lord, do good to the good and upright in their hearts; But may the Lord leave those who turn to their crooked ways to walk with the workers of iniquity” (Ps. 124:4-5). God is merciful, but also a Judge, for it is said: “He loves righteousness and judgment” (Ps. 32:5). Therefore he says: “I will sing mercy and judgment; To you, O Lord, I will sing” (Ps. 100:1). We have been taught to whom is “mercy,” for it is said: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Do you see how judiciously he uses mercy? He does not show mercy without judgment and does not judge without mercy. For “The Lord is merciful and righteous” (Ps. 114:5). Therefore, let us not know God halfway and turn His love for mankind into a reason for laziness. This is why there are thunders, this is why there is lightning, so that goodness will not be despised. He who commands the sun to shine also punishes with blindness, He who gives rain also rains with fire. One shows kindness, the other shows severity; either we will love for the first, or we will fear for the last, so that we are not told: “Or do you despise the riches of God’s goodness, meekness and long-suffering, not realizing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of wrath” (Rom. 2:4-5).
So... it is impossible to be saved without doing deeds in accordance with the commandment of God, and it is not safe to neglect anything of what is commanded (for it is a terrible presumption to set oneself up as judges of the Lawgiver, and to choose some of His laws and reject others)..."
(St. Basil the Great. Creations. Rules set out at length in questions and answers. (Great Asceticon))
St. Basil the Great explains the righteous action of the Judgment of God - the reward of the righteous and the final abandonment by the Holy Spirit of those who left God for the choice of their lives:
“And during the expected appearance of the Lord from heaven, the Holy Spirit will not be inactive, as others think, but will appear together on the day of the revelation of the Lord, on which the Blessed and only Mighty One will judge the universe in righteousness.
Who knows so little about the blessings that God has prepared for the worthy, so as not to know that there is also a crown of the righteous? the grace of the Spirit, which will be communicated more abundantly and completely When will spiritual glory be shared with everyone according to his valiant deeds? For in the lordships of the saints the Father has many mansions (John 14:2), that is, many differences in merit. As “star differs from star in glory, so does the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15:41-42). Therefore, sealed by the Holy Spirit on the day of deliverance and having preserved the firstfruits of the Spirit that they received pure and whole, they will only hear: “Good, good and faithful servant, for you were faithful in a little one, I will set you over many” (Matthew 25:21).
And similarly, those who upset the Holy Spirit with the craftiness of their undertakings or who have not acquired anything for this will be deprived of what they received, and grace will be given to others. Or, as one of the Evangelists says, they will be “completely torn apart” (Luke 12:46), by which they mean the final alienation from the Spirit. For the body is not divided into parts, so that one part is punished and the other freed, because it seems like a fable and is not worthy of a righteous Judge to suppose that one half is punished by one half, who has sinned entirely. Likewise, it is not the soul that is cut in half, because it has completely and completely accepted sinful wisdom and collaborated with the body in evil. On the contrary, this cutting, as I said, is the alienation of the soul forever from the Spirit. For now the Spirit, although it has no fellowship with the unworthy, nevertheless, apparently, coexists in some way with those who were once sealed, awaiting their salvation upon conversion.
And then he will be completely cut off from the soul that has desecrated His grace.. Therefore, “he who confesses is in hell and remembers God in death” (cf. Ps. 6:6), because the help of the Spirit no longer resides there.
How can one imagine that judgment would take place without the Holy Spirit, while the Word shows that He is also the reward of the righteous, when instead of a pledge the perfect will be given, and that the first condemnation of sinners will be that everything that they honor will be taken away from them? having themselves?" (On the Holy Spirit. To Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium)
Condemnation at the General Judgment is named in the Revelation of St. John the Theologian "by the second death" (20, 14).
The desire to understand the torment of Gehenna in a relative sense - eternity, as a certain “age, period”, perhaps long-term, but finite, or even a general denial of the reality of these torments, is found today, as in ancient times. Considerations of a logical nature are given, the inconsistency of torment with the goodness of God is pointed out, the disproportion between temporary crimes and the eternity of punishments, their inconsistency with the ultimate goal of human creation, which is bliss in God. But it is not for us to determine the boundaries between the ineffable mercy of God and the truth - His justice. We know that the Lord wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. But a person is capable of pushing away God’s mercy and the means of salvation with his own evil will.
St. John Chrysostom, speaking about the Last Judgment, notes:
“When the Lord spoke about the kingdom, he said: Come, you blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world, but speaking about fire, he did not say that, but added: prepared for the devil and his angels. For I have prepared the kingdom for you, but fire not to you, but to the devil and his angels. But since you cast yourself into fire, you blame yourself for this."
We do not have the right to understand the words of the Lord only conditionally, as a threat, as some kind of pedagogical measure used by the Savior. If we understand this, we will sin, since the Savior did not instill in us such an understanding, and we will subject ourselves to the wrath of God, according to the word of the psalmist: Why does the wicked despise God, saying in his heart: “You will not require it” (Ps. 9:34).
(Prot. Mikhail Pomazansky).
A simple discussion on this matter is also worthy of attention. St. Feofan the Recluse:
“The righteous will go into eternal life, and the demonized sinners will go into eternal torment, into community with demons. Will these torments end? If Satan’s malice and satanism end, then the torment will end. Will Satan’s malice and satanism end? Let’s see and see then. .. Until then, let us believe that just as eternal life has no end, so the eternal torment that threatens sinners will have no end. No fortune telling proves the possibility of ending Satanism. What Satan did not see after his fall! How many powers of God have been revealed! How he himself is amazed by the power of the Cross of the Lord! How all his cunning and malice are still amazed by this power! And everything numbs him, everything goes against him: and the further he goes, the more he persists. No, there is no hope for him to improve! What if there is no hope for him? , then there is no hope for people who are maddened by its action. This means that hell cannot help but have eternal torment.".
“You forget that there will be eternity there, not time; so that's all will be there forever, not temporarily. You count the torment as hundreds, thousands and millions of years, but then the first minute will begin, and there will be no end to it, for there will be an eternal minute. The score won’t go any further, but will be in the first minute, and it will stay that way.”
4. There is no repentance after death
IN Holy Scripture repentance in this temporary life is due a necessary condition for salvation. The Lord says:
If you do not repent, you will also perish (Luke 13:3).
Strive to enter through the strait gate, for I tell you, many will try to enter and will not be able to. When the owner of the house gets up and closes the doors, then you, standing outside, will begin to knock on the doors and say: Lord! God! open to us; but He will answer you: I don’t know you, where you come from.
(Luke 13:24-25)
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap:
He who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
(Gal. 6, 7, 8)
We, as companions, beg you so that the grace of God will not be received by you in vain.
For it is said: in an acceptable time I heard you and on the day of salvation I helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.
(2 Cor. 6, 1-2)
And we know that truly there is God’s judgment on those who do such things.
Do you really think, man, that you will escape God’s judgment by condemning those who do such things and (yourself) doing the same?
Or do you neglect the riches of God’s goodness, meekness and long-suffering, not realizing that God’s goodness leads you to repentance?
But, due to your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment from God,
Who will reward everyone according to his deeds:
to those who, by constancy in good deeds, seek glory, honor and immortality - eternal life;
and to those who persist and do not submit to the truth, but indulge in unrighteousness - rage and anger.
(Rom. 2, 2-8)
That repentance in this life is necessary for justification at the Last Judgment, for salvation in the future life, the holy fathers teach unanimously:
“The law of life is this,” says Saint Theophan the Recluse, - that as soon as someone puts here is the seed of repentance, even if it’s with his last breath, he won’t die. This seed will grow and bear fruit - eternal salvation. And if someone does not plant the seed of repentance here and moves there with the spirit of unrepentant persistence in sins, then there he will forever remain with the same spirit, and the fruit will come from it will forever reap according to his kind, God's eternal rejection."
“Don’t you really have such aspirations,” St. Theophan writes in another letter, “that God, by sovereign power, would forgive sinners and bring them into heaven. I ask you to judge whether this is good and whether such persons are suitable for heaven? - Sin is not there is something external, but internal and passing inward. When someone sins, sin distorts his entire composition, defiles and darkens. If you forgive a sinner with an external sentence, but inside him leave everything as it was, without cleaning it up, then even after forgiving such will remain all filthy and gloomy. Such will be the one whom God would forgive by His sovereign power, without his inner purification. Imagine that such an unclean and gloomy person enters paradise. What will it be? An Ethiopian among the whitewashed. Is it appropriate?"
Rev. John of Damascus writes that beyond death there is no repentance for people:
“You need to know that the fall is for angels what death is for people. For after the fall there is no repentance for them, just like for people it is impossible after death».
Saint John (Maksimovich) This is how he depicts what will happen at the Last Judgment:
"The Prophet Daniel, speaking about the Last Judgment, narrates that the Elder Judge is on the throne, and in front of him is a river of fire. Fire is a cleansing element. Fire burns sin, burns it, and woe, if sin is natural to the person himself, then it burns himself person.
That fire will ignite inside a person: seeing the Cross, some will rejoice, while others will fall into despair, confusion, and horror. So people will immediately be divided: in the Gospel narrative, before the Judge, some stand to the right, others to the left - they were divided by their inner consciousness.
The very state of a person’s soul throws him in one direction or another, to the right or to the left. The more consciously and persistently a person strived for God in his life, the greater his joy will be when he hears the word “come to Me, ye blessed,” and vice versa, the same words will cause a fire of horror and torment in those who did not want Him, avoided or fought and blasphemed during his lifetime.
The Last Judgment does not know witnesses or protocol records. Everything is written in human souls, and these records, these “books” are revealed. Everything becomes clear to everyone and to oneself, and the state of a person’s soul determines him to the right or to the left. Some go in joy, others in horror.
When the “books” are opened, it will become clear to everyone that the roots of all vices are in the human soul. Here is a drunkard, a fornicator - when the body has died, someone will think that sin has also died. No, there was an inclination in the soul, and sin was sweet to the soul.
And if she did not repent of that sin, did not free herself from it, she will come to the Last Judgment with the same desire for the sweetness of sin and will never satisfy her desire. It will contain the suffering of hatred and malice. This is a hellish state."
Venerable Barsanuphius and John:
Regarding knowledge of the future, do not be mistaken: What goes around comes around here
(Gal. 6, 7). After leaving here, no one can succeed.
Brother, here is the work, there is the reward, here is the feat, there are the crowns. Brother, if you want to be saved, do not delve into this (teaching), for I testify to you before God that you have fallen into the den of the devil and into extreme destruction. So, step away from this and follow the Holy Fathers. Acquire for yourself: humility and obedience, crying, asceticism.
(Answer to question 606).
The words are: will not come from there, until the last coin will be paid
(Matt. 5:26), said the Lord, signifying that their torment will be forever: for how can man repay there?... Don't be fooled like crazy. Nobody succeeds there; but what anyone has, he has from here: whether it be good, or rotten, or delightful. Finally, give up idle talk and do not follow the demons and their teachings. For they suddenly catch it and suddenly overthrow it. So, humble yourself before God, crying over your sins and weeping over your passions. And take heed to yourself (1 Tim. 4:16) and look ahead to where your heart is led by such investigations. May God forgive you.
(Answer to question 613)
Venerable Theodore the Studite:
"And again, who cannot resist such feats, he is deprived not of something small, insignificant and human, but of the most Divine and Heavenly things. For achieving the desired they will inherit many patience, constant long-suffering and keeping the commandments Heavenly Kingdom and immortality, eternal life and ineffable and inscrutable peace with eternal blessings; and those who sin through negligence, laziness, addiction and love for this world and for deadly and pernicious pleasures will inherit eternal torment, endless shame and standing on their feet, having heard the terrible voice of the Judge of all and the Lord of God: depart from Me, cursed into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel. (Matt. 25:41).
But let us never hear this, my children and brothers, and never be separated from the Saints and the Righteous by a pitiful and inexpressible excommunication. When they are received into unspeakable and incomprehensible joy, and insatiable pleasure, as the Divine Scripture says about this, they will lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matthew 8:11). We will have to go with the demons to where the fire is unquenchable, the worm is unquenchable, the gnashing of teeth, the great abyss, the unbearable tartarus, the bonds insoluble, the darkest hell, and not for a few times or for a year, and not for a hundred or a thousand years: for the torment will have no end, as Origen thinks, but forever and ever, as the Lord said (Matthew 25:46). Where then, brothers, according to the Saints, is the father or mother for deliverance? - Brother, it is said, will not deliver: will a man deliver? He will not give God treason for himself, and the price of the deliverance of his soul (Psalm 48, 8, 9).”
St. John Chrysostom:
“A terrible, truly terrible account lies ahead of us, and we must show much love for mankind, lest we hear the terrible words: “Depart from Me,” I don’t know you, “Workers of iniquity” (Matthew 7:23), lest we hear again the terrible words: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41), so as not to hear: “A great chasm has been established between us and you” (Luke 16:26) , – so as not to hear with trembling: “Take him and throw him into outer darkness” (Matt. 22:13), – so as not to hear with great fear: “the wicked and slothful servant” (Matt. 25:26). This judgment seat is terrible, very terrible and terrible, although God is good, although He is merciful. He is called the God of bounty and the God of comfort (2 Cor. 1:3); He is good like no other, lenient, generous and abundantly merciful; He does not want the sinner to die, but for him to turn and live (Ezek. 33:11). Why, why will this day be filled with such horror? A river of fire will flow before his face, the books of our deeds will be opened, the day itself will be like a burning furnace, angels will rush around, and many fires will be lit. How, you say, is God philanthropic, how merciful, how good? So, with all this, He is philanthropic, and here the greatness of his philanthropy is especially revealed. This is why He inspires such fear in us, so that in this way we awaken and begin to strive for the kingdom of heaven.”
Rev. Abba Dorotheos:
Believe me, brothers, that if anyone has even one passion turned into a skill, then he is subject to torment, and it happens that someone does ten good deeds and has one evil habit, and this one, coming from an evil habit, overcomes ten good (deeds). An eagle, if it is completely outside the net, but gets entangled in it with one claw, then through this smallness all its strength is overthrown; for is he not already in the net, although he is entirely outside it, when he is held in it by one claw? Couldn't the hunter grab him if he wanted to? So it is with the soul: even if it turns only one passion into a habit, then the enemy, whenever he wants, overthrows it, for it is in his hands, because of that passion.
Blazh. Augustine:
There should be no doubt at all that the prayers of St. Churches, saving sacrifices and alms benefit the dead, but only those who lived before death in such a way that after death all this could be useful to them. For those who have departed without faith, fostered by love, and without communion in the sacraments, in vain are the works of that piety performed by their neighbors, the guarantee of which they did not have in themselves when they were here, not accepting, or accepting in vain the grace of God, and treasureing for themselves not mercy, but anger. So, it is not new merits that are acquired for the dead when their acquaintances do something good for them, but only consequences are drawn from the principles they previously laid down.
Etc. Ephraim the Syrian:
If you want to inherit the future Kingdom, then find the favor of the King here. And to the extent that you honor Him, to that extent He will raise you; As much as you serve Him here, He will honor you there, according to what is written: “I will glorify those who glorify Me, but those who dishonor Me will be put to shame” (1 Sam. 2:30). Honor Him with all your soul, so that He, too, may honor you with the honor of saints. To the question: “How to gain His favor?” - I will answer: Bring Him gold and silver through helping those in need. If you have nothing to give, then bring Him the gift of faith, love, abstinence, patience, generosity, humility... Refrain from condemnation, guard your sight so as not to look at vanity, keep your hands from unrighteous deeds, keep your feet from bad way; comfort the faint-hearted, be compassionate to the weak, give a cup of water to the thirsty, feed the hungry. In a word, everything that you have and with which God has endowed you, bring it to Him, for Christ did not despise even two mites of a widow.
St. Simeon the New Theologian says that at the trial it will not be what a person does that will count, but who he is: whether he is like Jesus Christ, our Lord, or completely different from Him. He says: “In the future life, a Christian will not be tested as to whether he renounced the whole world for the love of Christ, or whether he gave away his property to the poor, whether he abstained and fasted on the eve of the holidays, or whether he prayed, whether he lamented. and whether he mourned his sins, or whether he did anything else good in his life, he will be carefully tested whether he bears the same resemblance to Christ as a son does to his father.”
Blessed Theophylact(Archbishop of Bulgaria) in interpretation of the words of Holy Scripture:
“The king came in to see those reclining, and saw a man there, not dressed in wedding clothes, and said to him: friend! How did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? He was silent. Then the king said to the servants: having tied his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; For many are called, but few are chosen” writes:
Entry into the wedding feast occurs without distinction: we are all called, good and evil, only by grace. But then life is subject to a test, which the king carries out carefully, and the lives of many turn out to be desecrated. Let us tremble, brothers, when we think that for anyone whose life is not pure, faith is useless. Such a one is not only cast out from the bridal chamber, but also sent into the fire. Who is this one who wears defiled clothing? This is the one who has not put on the clothing of mercy, kindness and brotherly love. There are many who, deluding themselves with vain hopes, think of receiving the Kingdom of Heaven and, thinking highly of themselves, count themselves among the elect. By interrogating an unworthy person, the Lord shows, firstly, that he is humane and fair, and secondly, that we should not condemn anyone, even if someone has obviously sinned, unless he is openly exposed in court. Further, the Lord says to the servants, the punishing angels: “bind his hands and feet,” that is, the soul’s ability to act. In the present century we can act and act one way or another, but in the future our spiritual powers will be bound, and we will not be able to do any good to atone for sins; “Then there will be gnashing of teeth” - this is fruitless repentance. “Many are called,” that is, God calls many, or rather, all, but “a few are chosen,” those who are saved, those worthy of election from God. Election depends on God, but whether we become chosen or not is our business. With these words, the Lord lets the Jews know that a parable was told about them: they were called, but not chosen, as disobedient.
Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria also says:
“The sinner, having withdrawn through his sins from the light of truth, is already in darkness in this life, but since there is still hope for conversion, this darkness is not pitch darkness. And after death there will be a review of his deeds, and if he has not repented here, then pitch darkness will surround him there. For then there is no longer any hope of conversion, and a complete deprivation of Divine grace ensues. While the sinner is here, although he receives a little Divine blessings - I’m talking about sensory blessings - he is still a servant of God, because he lives in the house of God, that is, among God’s creations, and God feeds and preserves him. And then he will be completely separated from God, no longer having any participation in any good things: this is darkness, called pitch darkness, in contrast to the present, not pitch darkness, when the sinner still has hope of repentance.”
St. Gregory Palamas:
Although in the future rebirth, when the bodies of the righteous are resurrected, the bodies of the wicked and sinners will be resurrected along with them, but they will be resurrected only to be subjected to the second death: eternal torment, a never-ending worm, gnashing of teeth, pitch and impenetrable darkness, gloomy and unquenchable fiery hell. The Prophet says: iniquity and sinners will be crushed together, and those who have forsaken the Lord will die (Is. 1:28). This is the second death, as John teaches us in his Revelation. Hear also the great Paul: if you live according to the flesh, he says, you are about to die, if you put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit, you will live (Rom. 8:13). He speaks here of life and death belonging to the age to come. This life is delight in the everlasting Kingdom; death is consignment to eternal torment. Transgression of God's commandment is the cause of all death, mental and physical, and that which we will be subjected to in the next century, eternal torment. Death actually consists in the separation of the soul from Divine grace and in copulation with sin.
Saint Irenaeus of Lyons:
“To all who keep love for Him, He gives His fellowship. Communication with God is life and light and enjoyment of all the good things that He has. And those who of their own free will depart from Him, He subjects them to excommunication from Himself, which they themselves chose. Separation from God is death, and separation from the light is darkness, and Alienation from God is deprivation of all the blessings that He has. Therefore, those who, through their apostasy, have lost the above, as deprived of all goods, are in all kinds of torment, not because God Himself subjected them to punishment in advance, but punishment befalls them as a result of their deprivation of all goods. But the blessings of God are eternal and without end, therefore their deprivation is eternal and without end, just as those who blind themselves or are blinded by others with regard to the immeasurable light are always deprived of the sweetness of light, not because the light causes them the torment of blindness, but blindness itself causes them misfortune "
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk:
Reason this, sinful soul, and listen to what the Forerunner said: the ax is already lying at the root of the tree: every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew 3:10). You see where sinners who do not produce the fruits of repentance are determined: they are cut down like barren trees with the ax of God’s judgment and thrown into eternal fire like firewood.”
St. Macarius, Met. Moscow:
Grant to us, Lord, to all of us always, a living and unceasing memory of Your future glorious coming. Your last, terrible judgment on us, Your most righteous and eternal reward for the righteous and sinners - yes, in the light of it and Your gracious help, have lived soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age (Titus 2:12); and in this way we will finally achieve an eternally blessed life in heaven, so that with all our being we can glorify You, with Your beginningless Father and Your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, forever and ever.
St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov):
Christians, only Orthodox Christians, and moreover, those who have spent their earthly life piously or who have cleansed themselves of sins through sincere repentance, confession to their spiritual father and self-correction, inherit eternal bliss along with the bright Angels. On the contrary, the wicked, i.e. non-believers in Christ, wicked, i.e. heretics, and those Orthodox Christians who spent their lives in sins or fell into some mortal sin and did not heal themselves through repentance, will inherit eternal torment along with the fallen angels.
St. Theophan the Recluse:
“Even if the judgment is not imminent, but if any relief can be derived from this, it is only for those who can be sure that the hour of their death coincides with the hour of distant judgment: what does it matter to us? Death will come today or tomorrow, and will end all ours and seal our fate forever, for there is no repentance after death. Whatever death finds us in, that is what we will appear in for judgment.”
“The Last Judgment! The Judge is coming on the clouds, surrounded by a myriad of incorporeal heavenly forces. Trumpets sound to all ends of the earth and raise the dead. The rebel regiments flow in regiments to a certain place, to the throne of the Judge, already foreseeing in advance what sentence will sound in their ears. For the deeds of each will be written on the forehead of their nature, and their very appearance will correspond to their deeds and morals. The separation of the right and the left will be accomplished by itself. Finally, everything has already been decided. There is a deep silence. Another moment - and the decisive sentence of the Judge is heard - one: “Come.” , to others: “go away.” - Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us! May Thy mercy, Lord, be upon us! - but then it will be too late to cry out like that. Now we must take care to wash away from our nature the signs written on it that are unfavorable for us. Then we would be ready to shed rivers of tears in order to wash ourselves, but this would serve no purpose. Let us cry now, if not with rivers of tears, then at least with streams; if not with streams, then at least with raindrops; If we don’t find this either, we will be contrite in our hearts and, having confessed our sins to the Lord, we will beg Him to forgive us them, vowing not to offend Him again by violating His commandments, and then being jealous to faithfully fulfill such a vow.”
St. rights John of Kronstadt:
Many live outside of grace, not realizing its importance and necessity for themselves and not seeking it, according to the word of the Lord: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Many live in all abundance and contentment, enjoy flourishing health, enjoy eating, drinking, walking, having fun, writing, working in various fields human activity, but they do not have the grace of God in their hearts, this priceless Christian treasure, without which a Christian cannot be a true Christian and an heir to the kingdom of heaven.
Modern theologians also write in agreement with the holy fathers that a person who has not repented during his lifetime will not be able to enter the Kingdom of God:
Arch. Rafail (Karelin):
"1. Eternal life in paradise is impossible for those who do not have inner paradise in their hearts (the grace of the Holy Spirit), because paradise is unity with God.
2. A sinner, unredeemed by the Blood of Christ, has unhealed sin (parental and personal) in his heart, which prevents unity with God.
Result: A sinner cannot be in heaven, since he is deprived of the ability to communicate with God, which is carried out through the grace of the Holy Spirit.
Orthodox teaching is different: unrepentant sin is a spark of hell in a person’s soul, and after death not only will the sinner be in hell, but hell will be in him. Hell is not the wages of sin, but the tragic consequence of sin."
Alexander Kalomiros:
"No, brothers, we must wake up so as not to be lost to the Kingdom of Heaven. Our eternal salvation or our eternal death does not depend on the will and desire of God, but on our own determination, on the choice of our free will, which God infinitely values. Being Convinced of the power of divine love, let us not, however, allow ourselves to be fooled. The danger does not come from God, it comes from ourselves.
As St. says Basil the Great, “hell’s torment does not have its cause in God, but in ourselves”
The Holy Scriptures and the Fathers always speak of God as a great Judge, who on the day of the Last Judgment will reward those who were obedient to His will and punish those who disobeyed it (see 2 Tim. 4:8).
What kind of judgment is this if we understand it not in a human, but in a divine sense? What is God's judgment? God is Truth and Light. God's judgment is nothing other than our union with Truth and Light. The “books” will be opened (cf. Rev. 20:12). What are these “books”? These are our hearts. Our hearts will be penetrated by the all-pervading Light emanating from God, and then everything that is hidden in them will be revealed. Those hearts in which love for God is hidden, seeing the divine Light, will rejoice. Those same hearts that, on the contrary, harbored hatred for God, will, accepting this piercing Light of Truth, suffer and torment, since they hated it all their lives.
So no God's decision will determine the eternal fate of people, not God's reward or punishment, but what was hidden in each heart; what has been in our hearts all our lives will be laid bare on the day of judgment. This naked state - call it reward or punishment - does not depend on God, it depends on the love or hatred that reigns in our hearts. Love contains bliss, hatred contains despair, bitterness, torment, sadness, anger, anxiety, confusion, darkness and all other internal states that constitute hell."
So, the holy fathers warn that to justify us at the Last Judgment we need to repent already in this life that after death repentance is impossible for someone who did not know it during life, but there is only retribution for what has been done. Entering the realm of eternity, resurrecting in another, spiritual body, a person reaps the fruits of earthly life. You can read the articles about why it is impossible to achieve repentance at the Last Judgment.
At the Last Judgment, all living people will be resurrected, starting from Adam until the very end of the world. The Holy Scripture speaks about this: all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God(John 5:28); then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him(Matthew 25:31–32).
If all the dead are raised, then how should we understand the words of the psalmist: Therefore the wicked will not stand in judgment(in Slavic translation: For this reason they will not be resurrected...)(Ps. 1.5)? Will You perform a miracle on the dead? Will the dead rise and praise You?(Ps. 87.11). The psalmist David obviously meant by these words a twofold resurrection: one to life, and the other to eternal death. This means that he wanted to say that the wicked will not be raised for judgment by resurrection to life, but to death. This is confirmed by the prophet David himself, as he adds: Therefore the wicked will not stand in judgment, and sinners will not stand in the assembly of the righteous.(Ps. 1.5). The Lord Jesus Christ speaks about this: the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God... and those who have done good will come forth into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of condemnation(John 5:25, 29).
Should everyone die before the Last Judgment?
Saints John Chrysostom, Theodoret and Theophylact teach that not everyone will die, but the Last Judgment will find some alive.
In his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul says: (IKop. 15.51). Saint John Chrysostom interprets these words this way: So, we will not all die, but we will still change. Those who are not dead will also change, for they too are mortal.
From the words of the Holy Scripture we can conclude that the body, which suffered or enjoyed in earthly life, will be involved in both eternal glory and endless torment.
It is fitting for these bodies that do not die to change and become incorruptible.
What the living will face before the Last Judgment is: A) The Creed also confirms this, the seventh member of which reads as follows: And again the future will be judged with glory by the living and the dead... 6) The Apostle Paul testifies with the words: the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are left alive will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord(1 Thess. 4. 16–17).
Why does the apostle say: Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will come to life.? (IKop. 15. 22). All who are left alive until the day of the coming of the Lord, will die and come to life, having changed, but not fallen and risen: We will not all die, but we will all change(IKop. 15.51). (IKop. 15.53). Saint John Chrysostom, interpreting these words, says: a corruptible body is also a dead body. Deadness and corruption perish when incorruption and immortality come upon them.
Some church teachers argued that everyone must die before the Last Judgment. Since the entire human race sinned in the person of Adam, therefore all people are condemned to death. Finally, resurrection cannot take place unless it is preceded by death. Of these two opinions, we believe the one preached by the Lamp of the Eastern Church - St. John Chrysostom.
Will the resurrected bodies be the same or different?
The answer to this question can be found: A) from the psalmist David: He keeps all the bones of him [the righteous]; none of them will be crushed(Ps. 33.21): 6) at the apostle's P Avla: (2 Cor. 5:10); This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.(IKop. 15.53).
From these words of Holy Scripture we can conclude that the body, which suffered or enjoyed in earthly life, will be involved in both eternal glory and endless torment.
As the grain grows, it changes, so won’t those who are resurrected also acquire new flesh? And isn’t this what the apostle is talking about: when you sow, you do not sow the future body, but the naked grain that happens, wheat or something else; but God gives him a body as he wants, and to each seed his own body(IKop. 15.36–38).
The apostle speaks about the appearance of the grain, and not about its essence, because the essence of hard grain and sprouted grain remains unchanged: if we sow a grain of wheat, it will sprout into an ear of wheat, not barley. Likewise, human bodies during the resurrection will not lose their special properties and will only change externally: is sown into corruption, will be raised in incorruption. Direct confirmation of this is the resurrected body of Christ the Savior, Who will transform our lowly body so that it will be conformed to His glorious body(Phil. 3:21).
There are countless cases where the ashes of a human body have been completely destroyed and scattered by the wind, scattered during excavations, burned by fire and turned into smoke; people are also devoured by beasts, birds and fish. How will the bodies of such people be restored and return to their original form?
As before, let's say that this is a matter of faith, not curiosity, This is impossible for people, but everything is possible for God(Matthew 19:26). I meditate on all Your works, I consider the works of Your hands(Ps. 143:5), the psalmist David said about himself. Reflecting on the omnipotence of God, he unshakably believed that the sky, air, sea and everything in them were created out of nothing with one verb “let it be”: for He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it appeared(Ps. 32.9). If God raised the whole world from nothingness and created man from the dust of the earth, then, of course, He can renew human body, even if it was scattered throughout the heavens. Saint John of Damascus was extremely surprised by those who asked: how will the dead rise? Madman!- he exclaimed. – If blindness does not allow you to believe the words of God, then believe the works!
Male and female gender of the resurrected
God created the sexes male and female, and after the resurrection men will remain men, women – women. The Lord refers to both sexes when He says that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain like the Angels of God in heaven(Matthew 22:30). We will not all be resurrected in male bodies, but we will come perfect for my husband, that is, let us take on masculine strength and firmness, so that, as the apostle says, We were no longer children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.(Eph. 4.14); Let us be like the Angels not in the destruction of sex, but in the absence of marriage and carnal lust.
Will the bodies of the resurrected ones require food and drink?
The resurrected bodies will not need the physical food and drink that are necessary to support the weakening corruptible body. Why then did the Lord Jesus Christ eat after His Resurrection? (Luke 24:43). He ate and drank so that the disciples, who at first mistook Him for a spirit, would believe in His Resurrection, and also to testify to the changed body.
What properties will the bodies of resurrected saints have?
The bodies of the resurrected saints will be:
A) passionless, incorruptible and immortal: sown in corruption, raised in incorruption(IKop. 15.42); those who have been deemed worthy to reach that age and the resurrection from the dead...can no longer die(Luke 20:35, 36);
B) spiritual. They will become like disembodied spirits in strength, speed, incorruptibility and subtlety: they will appear thin and light, like the resurrected body of Christ, which knew no limits and barriers: the natural body is sown, the spiritual body is raised(IKop. 15.44).
B) bright, as the Savior said: then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father(Matthew 13:43). According to the testimony of the Apostle, the Lord He will transform our lowly body so that it will be like His glorious body(Phil. 3.21); sown in humiliation, raised in glory(IKop. 15.43).
What properties will the bodies of condemned sinners have?
1) The bodies of condemned sinners will also be incorruptible and immortal. The Lord Jesus Christ testifies to this, saying: And these will go into eternal torment(Matthew 25:46). In those days, says the Seer, people will seek death, but will not find it; they will wish to die, but death will flee from them(Rev. 9. b). For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.(IKop. 15.53), explains the Apostle Paul.
2) The bodies will suffer, experiencing terrible torment in the flames, which will remain forever.
Chapter 14. The Last Judgment
Let us say the following about the Last Judgment:
1. At the Judgment the sign of the Son of Man will appear - the Holy Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. He will appear both to console those who worship the Crucified Lord and those crucified with Him, and to shame the wicked who crucified the Lord on the Cross.
2. The deeds and hidden thoughts of everyone will be revealed. Saint Andrew says: The books of all deeds and conscience will be opened and they will come into manifestation to everyone.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself will be the sovereign Judge, for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son(John 5:22). Although all three Persons of the Divine and Indivisible Trinity will be at the Judgment, only the Son will judge, since He endured free suffering for us. He who is judged unjustly will judge everyone with an impartial court.
The Holy Scripture says that besides the Lord Jesus Christ there will be other judges: When the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, says the Lord to the disciples, judge the twelve tribes of Israel(Matt. 19:28). Don't you know that the saints will judge the world?.. Don't you know that we will judge the angels?..(IKop. b. 2, 3; cf. Matt. 12. 4, 42). The apostles and some saints will judge not by autocratic and independent judgment, but by communicative and voluntary judgment. Having praised the righteous judgment of Christ, the righteous will judge not only people, but also demons.
The judgment of Christ will differ from the human trial, since not everything will be convicted in words, but much - in thought.
4. The judgment of Christ will differ from the human trial, since not everything will be convicted in words, but much - in thought. The Judge will say publicly to those on His right hand: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world... Then He will also say to those on His left: Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels... And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life(Matt. 25. 34, 41, 46).
This is the teaching of the Holy Scriptures about the Last Judgment, and we must comprehend it by faith, and not by fussy research. For where is faith? says Saint John Chrysostom, there is no place for testing; where there is nothing to experience, there is no need for research. It is necessary to check the human word, but the word of God must be heard and believed; If we don’t believe the words, we won’t believe that there is a God. The first basis of faith in God is trust in His teaching.
Conclusion
We want to conclude our discussion about the Antichrist and the end of the world with the words of the Supreme Apostle Peter: We announced to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, not following cunningly woven fables, but being eyewitnesses of His greatness... we have the surest prophetic word; and you do well to turn to him as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day begins to dawn and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing first of all that no prophecy in Scripture can be solved by oneself.(2 Peter 1:16, 19–20). Having rejected all false teachings, we tried to talk about the signs of the coming of the Antichrist, relying on the messages of the apostles and prophets, on the opinion of the fathers and teachers of the Church.
Perhaps someone will ask: do they indicate that Lately has already arrived and the days of the world's existence are numbered, universal human disasters? Isn’t this what the apostle says in the following words: Children! Lately(1 John 2.18): when the fullness of time came, God sent His (Only Begotten) Son(Gal. 4.4); All this... is described for the instruction of us who have reached the last centuries.(IKop. 10. 11). We will answer this question like this: 1) Currently, the world is suffering from many disasters: devastating wars and disasters interrupt thousands of human lives, fires, earthquakes and floods destroy cities and villages. But looking at these sorrow, Let us remember how much innocent blood was shed by Nero, Maximian, Diocletian and other tormentors and persecutors of Christians, what oppression and persecution the Orthodox Church endured during the time of the iconoclastic heresy and in subsequent centuries. If those events did not serve as a sign of the end of the world, then even more so the disasters of the present time are not a sign imminent appearance Antichrist: world upheavals, characteristic of all periods of human history, cannot indicate what belongs to one specific time. You will also hear about wars and rumors of wars, - says the Savior. – See, do not be horrified, for all this must happen, but this is not the end yet(Matthew 24.b).
2) If we understand the above apostolic words literally, then the end of the world should have come immediately after the appearance of the Savior, when God sent His (Only Begotten) Son, who was born of a woman(Gal. 4:4). Even in those great times, the Apostle John wrote: Children! Lately(1 John 2:18). The apostolic times are also named last in the words: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.(Acts 2:17). This is where the end times begin. Therefore, having encountered such evidence in the Holy Scriptures, we should not think that we are given a specific time for the end of the world. Such words and sayings speak of a time whose end is hidden. Everyone, for example, knows that an elderly person does not have long to live, but no one can determine exactly how many days or years, even approximately. The same should be understood here. The last hour has come since the Nativity of Christ, but about the end no one knows, not the angels of heaven, but only the Father(Matthew 24:36). The Apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians awaiting the end of the world: We pray to you, brethren, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to Him, not to rush to waver in mind and be confused either by spirit, or by word, or by the message, as if sent by us, as if the day of Christ is already coming. Let no one deceive you in any way(2 Thess. 2. 1–3). The whole world, from Adam to the present time, is similar to human life; just as a person - the small world - has three main age periods, so the great world has three periods or three laws. The first - from Adam to Moses - the youth of the world, from Moses to Christ - the second period - maturity; finally, the third - the Gospel, or period of grace - is old age and the last year, about which the Apostle John speaks: Children! Lately.
It can also be said that human life has seven degrees: infancy, childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity, old age and old age. They correspond to different periods of the world’s existence: A) from the creation of the world to the Flood - infancy: 6) from the flood to the Babylonian pandemonium - childhood; V) from the division of languages and the birth of Abraham to the birth of the prophet Moses - adolescence; G) all the time the Judges from the prophet Moses to the kings are youth; d) the reign of the kings of Israel and Judah before the Babylonian captivity - maturity; e) the period of the princes and priests of the Jews before Christ - old age; And and) the time from Christ to the Last Judgment is old age or the last time, which is spoken of in the Holy Scriptures.
If we understand the apostolic words literally, then the end of the world should have come immediately after the appearance of the Savior, when God He sent His (Only Begotten) Son, who was born of a woman.
Who can know the limit of the limitless? To whom did she open up? a secret hidden for centuries?
Nobody knows about that day and hour,- says the Lord, - neither the angels of heaven, but only My Father alone; But as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also at the coming of the Son of Man: for as in the days before the flood they did eat and drink, they married and were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they thought not until the flood came. and did not destroy them all, so will the coming of the Son of Man be... Therefore, watch, because you do not know at what hour your Lord will come. But you know that if the owner of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, be ready, for at an hour you do not think, the Son of Man will come.(Matt. 24. 36–39, 42–44).
So, the Lord Jesus Christ, commanding us to be ready for the day of His coming, forbids us to reveal the secret kept from everyone. The Apostle Paul says about those who boldly try to penetrate into the hidden: they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish hearts were darkened; calling themselves wise, they became fools(Rom. 1:22).
Saint John Chrysostom compares the mind to a galloping horse: just as a stubborn, hot horse does not obey its rider and crushes passers-by if it is not bridled, so the mind, which rejects the dogmas of the Church and the teaching of the holy fathers, gives rise to numerous heresies and schisms.
Immortal souls
I hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century
(Symbol of faith)
Whatever you say to the heart, it is natural for it to grieve over the loss of people close to us. No matter how hard you hold back your tears, they involuntarily flow over the grave in which lies our kindred, precious ashes. True, tears cannot bring back someone who is taken by the grave, but that is why tears flow in a stream.
A person resorts to everything he can to ease heartbreak! But, alas! All in vain! Only in tears does he find some consolation for himself, and only they somewhat lighten the heaviness of his heart, because with them, drop by drop, all the burning of spiritual grief, all the poison of heart disease flows out.
He hears from everywhere: “Don’t cry, don’t be cowardly!” But who will say that Abraham was cowardly, but he also wept for his wife, Sarah, who lived 127 years. Was Joseph faint-hearted? But he also cried for his father Jacob: Joseph fell on his father's face, and wept over him, and kissed him(Gen. 50, 1). Who will say that King David was cowardly? And listen to how bitterly he weeps at the news of the death of his son: my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! Oh, who would let me die in your place, Absalom, my son, my son!(2 Kings 18:33).
Every grave of a worthy person is watered with bitter tears of loss. And what can we say about people when the Savior Himself, who endured unbearable suffering on the Cross to the end, over the ashes of His friend Lazarus became indignant in spirit and shed tears: Jesus... Himself was grieved in spirit and indignant(John 11:33). He wept, the Lord of the belly and death, wept at the time when he came to the tomb of Lazarus, His friend, for the purpose of raising him from the dead! And how can we, weak people, hold back our tears when separated from those dear to our hearts, how can we stop the sighs in our chests compressed with grief? No, this is impossible, it is contrary to our nature... You must have a heart of stone not to grieve over a bereavement.
Only in tears does a person find some consolation for himself, and only they somewhat lighten the heaviness of his heart, because with them, drop by drop, all the burning of spiritual grief, all the poison of heart disease flows out.
It's all true. And I cannot, I do not dare condemn your tears, I am even ready to mix my tears with yours, because I understand well that where your treasure is, there your heart will be also(Matthew b, 21). I know from my own experience how inexpressibly difficult it is to raise your hand to throw a goodbye handful of earth into the grave of a loved one. I cry and sob when I think about death and see him lying in a tomb, created in the image of God, and now inglorious, disfigured by death. But although it is natural for us to cry for those who have died close to us, this grief of ours must have its own measure. The pagans are a different matter: they cry, and often inconsolably, because they have no hope. But a Christian is not a pagan; it is both a shame and a sin for him to cry for the dead without any joy or consolation.
I do not want you, brothers, to leave you ignorant about the dead, so that you do not grieve like others who have no hope.(1 Thess. 4:13), says the apostle to all Christians. What can alleviate this grief of a Christian? Where is this source of joy and consolation for him? Let's consider the reasons that make us shed tears over the ashes of loved ones, and God will help us find this source for ourselves. So, what do we cry about when we are separated from those near and dear to our hearts? Most of all, they stopped living with us in this world. Yes, they are no longer with us on earth. But look impartially at our earthly life and judge what it represents...
A wise man said long ago: vanity of vanities... all is vanity! What profit does a man get from all the labors he toils under the sun?(Eccl. 1, 2, 3). Who is it that spoke so discordantly about our life? Is it some kind of prisoner who, sitting in a stuffy dungeon, sees almost nothing except the heavy chains that shackle his body? Is it not he who resounds the vaults of the prison with such a joyless cry: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity of vanities!”? No, he's not. So, maybe this is a rich man who, due to unforeseen circumstances, fell into poverty, or a poor man who, despite all his work and efforts, perhaps dies of cold and hunger? No, not that kind of person either. Or maybe he is a deceived ambitious man who has devoted his entire life to rising several levels higher in society? Oh no, and he’s not that kind of person. Who is this unfortunate person who has such a gloomy outlook on life? This is King Solomon, and what a king! What did he lack for happy life? Wisdom? But who was wiser than the one who knew the composition of the earth, and the actions of the elements, and the passage of time, and the location of the stars, and the properties of animals? I knew everything, both hidden and obvious, for Wisdom, the artist of everything, taught me(Wis. 7, 21). Maybe he lacked wealth? But who could be richer than the one to whom the whole world brought all the best treasures, who had gold, and silver, and the estates of kings and countries? And I became great and rich more than all those who were in Jerusalem before me.(Eccl. 2:9). Or maybe he lacked fame or greatness? But what name was louder than the name of the Israeli king, who had millions of subjects? Then, perhaps, he lacked the enjoyment of the blessings of life? But here's what he says about himself: Whatever my eyes desired, I did not refuse them, I did not forbid my heart any joy, because my heart rejoiced in all my labors.(Eccl. 2:10). Whoever, it would seem, could get tired of such a happy, free life, but nevertheless, a person who possessed all the blessings of earthly things, who experienced various earthly pleasures, finally made the following conclusion about life: “All is vanity of vanities!”
Let us remember another king - the prophet David. His throne shone with gold, and in the midst of this splendor and splendor he cried out: my heart is smitten and withered like grass, so that I forget to eat my bread … I eat ashes like bread, and I dissolve my drink with tears(Ps. 101, 5, 10). His royal robe shone with precious stones, and from his chest, covered with the brilliance of glory and greatness, came a cry: I was poured out like water; all my bones crumbled; my heart became like wax, melted in the midst of my insides(Ps. 21:15). His beautiful palace was made of cedar and cypress, but sadly the doors opened there too. From the depths of the rich palaces sighs are heard: every night I wash my bed with my tears(Ps. b, 7).
So the happiest of people sighed about the burden of life, what can we say about those who had to bear the heavy cross of trials? The prophet Jeremiah was patient amid the persecutions and insults that he experienced for exposing lies and wickedness, but there were moments when this patient sufferer cried out: Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me as a man who argues and quarrels with the whole earth! I have not lent money to anyone, and no one has lent money to me, but everyone curses me(Jer. 15, 10). And the long-suffering Job, this marvelous example of firmness and generosity in the most terrible trials! You are involuntarily amazed when you hear how he blesses the Lord on the very day when he loses all his wealth and loses his children. What misfortune and what generosity! But for Job, as if this were not enough, he falls ill with leprosy, and his body is covered with wounds from head to toe. At this moment, his wife, his lifelong friend, comes to him and teaches him about despair, then his friends appear, as if only to irritate him even more... My God, my God, how many arrows at one target, how many troubles for one person ! But Job still continues to bless the Lord! What extraordinary fortitude, what amazing patience! But man is not a stone; there were moments when Job, covered with sores, bitterly cried out: perish the day on which I was born and the night in which it was said: man was conceived … Why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb, and why didn’t I die when I came out of the womb?(Job 3, 3, 11). So we, if we look impartially at our days, won’t we sometimes say with the same Job: “Is not the life of man a temptation on earth?” When a person is born, he immediately begins to cry, as if prophesying about his future suffering on earth, so he is approaching death, and what again? With a heavy groan of exhaustion, he says goodbye to the earth, as if reproaching it for past disasters... Who lived and did not grieve, who lived and did not shed tears?
One loses those close to his heart, the second has many enemies and envious people, the third groans from illness, another sighs from the frustration of home circumstances, this one mourns his poverty... Go around the whole earth, but where will you find a person who would be completely happy in all respects?! Even if there were such a person, he would still doubt that over time his life would change for the worse, and these thoughts poison his joyful, carefree life. And the fear of death, which sooner or later will certainly stop his earthly happiness? What about conscience, and the internal struggle with passions?
This is our life on earth! There is no joy without sorrow, no happiness without troubles. And this is because the earth is not hell, where only cries of despair are heard, but also not paradise, where only the joy and bliss of the righteous reigns. What is our life on earth? This is now a place of exile, where with us the whole creation collectively groans and bugs to this day(Rom. 8:22). Say to your soul: “Eat, drink, be merry!” - but the time will come, and the words of God will be fulfilled in practice: cursed is the earth for your sake; with sorrow you will eat from it all the days of your life(Genesis 3:17). Now you are sowing roses of happiness around you, but the time will come when thorny thorns will appear near you. Do you enjoy the freshness of your strength, admire your blooming health and dream that you will live a long, calm life? But the hour will strike, and you, deceived by sweet dreams, will sadly hear a voice: this night your soul will be taken from you... you will return to the ground from which you were taken, for dust you are and to dust you will return(Luke 12:20; Gen. 3:19).
What is our life on earth?
This is our life on earth! There is no joy without sorrow, no happiness without troubles. And this is because the earth is not hell, where only cries of despair are heard, but also not paradise, where only the joy and bliss of the righteous reigns.
This is the school where we are educated for Heaven. Sometimes it’s fun to remember school life after leaving school, but was it always fun when we were brought up there? Worries, labors, sorrows - who doesn’t remember you? And who, while living in school, did not think and dream: “Oh, will my classes end soon, will I soon be released?”
What is our life on earth? This is a field for constant war with enemies, and with what enemies! Each one is fiercer and more cunning than the other! Either the world persecutes us with the cunning of a treacherous friend or the malice of a fierce enemy, then the flesh rebels against the spirit, for the flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit desires what is contrary to the flesh(Gal. 5:17), then the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour(1 Peter 5:8). And while there is a war, then there can be no peace. What is life on earth? This is the path to our Motherland, and what a path! There are both broad and smooth paths, but God forbid you enter and walk these paths! They are dangerous, they lead to destruction. No, this is not the path laid out for a Christian from earth to Heaven, it is a narrow, thorny path, for narrow is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life(Pmf. 7, 14). Here more than once the good traveler will sigh from the heart, more than once shed sweat and tears... What is our life on earth? This is the sea, and what a sea! Not the quiet and bright one, which is so pleasant to look at and admire, no, this sea is menacing and noisy. This is the sea on which the small boat - our soul - is constantly threatened by danger, sometimes from whirlwinds of passions, sometimes from rapid waves of slander and attacks. And what would happen to her if she did not have with her the rudder of faith and the anchor of hope?!
This is what our life on earth means! Now consider impartially, why do we cry so inconsolably when separated from a person close to our heart? About the fact that he stopped living in this world... And this means that the person moved away from earthly vanity, left all the troubles and sorrows that still remain for us. This wanderer has already passed the earthly field, this student has already completed his years of study, this traveler has already reached the shore, he has already sailed through the stormy sea and entered a quiet harbor... He has rested from vanity, labor, and grief. This is the thought that many pagans stopped at when separated from loved ones - people who had no hope, people who believed and believe that We were born by chance and afterward we will be like those who never were: the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and the word is a spark in the movement of our heart. When it fades away, the body will turn to dust, and the spirit will dissipate like liquid air.(Prem. 2, 2, 3). This is what the pagans believe and, according to their faith, celebrate joyfully on the burial mounds of their relatives and friends. Thank the Lord, we are not pagans and therefore, looking at death as the end of all the disasters and sorrows of life, we can repeat with reverence and joy what the Apostle John said: henceforth blessed are the dead who die in the Lord; to her, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labors, and their works will follow them(Rev. 14, 13). But death is not only the end of our hectic life, it is also the beginning of a new, incomparably better life. Death is the beginning of immortality, and here is a new source of consolation for us during separation from loved ones and relatives, a source from which the Savior Himself drew consolation for Martha, who mourned the death of her brother, Lazarus, when he said: your brother will rise again(John 11:23). We will not here prove in detail the truth of the immortality of our soul and the resurrection of the body, because every Christian professes the sacred dogma: the hope of the resurrection of the dead! For a person who has lost someone close to his heart, great consolation can be the conviction that the person he is mourning has not died, but is alive in soul, that there will be a time when he will be resurrected not only with his soul, but also with his body. And everyone can easily see this such a gratifying truth in visible nature, and in one’s own soul, and in the Word of God, and in history.
Look at the sun: in the morning it appears in the sky like a baby, at noon it shines with full strength, and in the evening, like a dying old man, it sets beyond the horizon. But does it fade at a time when our earth, having said goodbye to it, is covered in the darkness of night? No, of course, it still shines, only on the other side of the earth. Isn’t this a clear image of the fact that our soul (the lamp of our body) does not go out when the body, having been separated from it, hides in the darkness of the grave, but burns, as before, only on the other side - in the sky?
So the earth preaches the same joyful truth. In the spring it appears in all its beauty, in the summer it bears fruit, in the fall it loses strength, and in the winter, like the shroud of the deceased, it is covered with snow. But is the inner life of the earth destroyed when its surface becomes dead from the cold? No, of course, spring will come for her again, and then she will appear again in all her beauty, with new, fresh strength. This is an image of what the soul, this life force a person does not perish when her mortal shell dies, that for the deceased there will come a wonderful spring of resurrection, when he will rise not only with his soul, but also with his body for a new life.
The soul, this vital force of a person, does not perish when its mortal shell dies, and for the deceased there will come a wonderful spring of resurrection, when he will rise not only with his soul, but also with his body for a new life.
But what can we say about the sun, the earth, when even the most beautiful flowers, carelessly trampled by us, only lose their existence for a while, only to then appear again in such beauty that even King Solomon himself did not dress like each of them? In a word, in nature everything dies, but nothing perishes. Is it possible that only one human soul, for which everything earthly was created, should cease to exist forever with the death of the body?! Of course not!
The merciful God alone, out of His goodness, created man, adorning him in His image and likeness, crowned him with glory and honor(Ps. 8, b). But how would His goodness be reflected if a person lived on earth for fifty or a hundred years, often struggling with hardships, sorrows, trials, and then with death lost his existence forever?! Is it only for this reason that He adorned us with god-like perfections and from Divine power He has given us everything we need for life and godliness.(2 Peter 1, 3) to suddenly destroy this beautiful creation after several decades?! God is just, but what is happening on His earth? How often the path of the wicked is successful, but virtue groans with grief, and vice rejoices with joy. But the time will undoubtedly come, the time of righteous judgment and retribution, when We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that everyone can receive according to what he did while living in the body, good or bad.(2 Cor. 5:10).
God lives, my soul lives! This joyful truth is revealed with full force by the Word of God and confirmed by history. Prophet Daniel says: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken, some to eternal life, others to everlasting reproach and disgrace.(Dan. 12:2). Here Isaiah cries: Your dead will live, they will rise dead bodies! (Isa. 26:19). And Job reflects: When a person dies, will he live again? On all the days of my appointed time I would wait for my replacement to come(Job 14, 14). And here is the wondrous testimony of the prophet Ezekiel, who was destined to even see the image of this resurrection. He saw a field strewn with dry human bones. Suddenly, according to the Word of God, these bones began to move and began to approach one another, each to its own composition, then veins appeared on them and flesh grew, they became covered with skin, then the spirit of life entered them, and they came to life. Listen also to the words of the valiant mother of the Maccabees, exhausted because of the terrible suffering of her martyred sons, to the words she said to her last, youngest son: “I beg you, my child, be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that I, The mercy of God has acquired you and your brothers again!” This wondrous mother, who after the martyrdom of her seven sons herself suffered the same death, was consoled only by the fact that after her death she would again be inseparable with her martyred sons. This comforting truth, so clearly revealed in the Old Testament, already appears in full light in the New Testament. For what could be clearer than the words of the apostle: just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will come to life, each in his own order: Christ the firstborn, then those of Christ at His coming.(1 Cor. 15, 22, 23). Or what could be clearer than the words of the Savior: the time is coming, and has already come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and, having heard, will live(John 5:25). There are so many similar passages in Holy Scripture and they are all so clear that we will not list them here. And who is saying this? This is the Son of God, whose words and promises are so sure that Until heaven and earth pass away, not one... line will pass from the law until all is fulfilled.(Matt. 5:18). This is the Almighty Lord, Who during His earthly life not only healed the sick, tamed storms and winds, cast out demons, but also raised the dead. This is the greatest Prophet, Who predicted everything, everything was fulfilled in due time with all accuracy and completeness!
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