Hell As Purgative?

[ArmyMatt]

There’s a growing case, both theologically and philosophically, that “hell” as an eternal state of torment doesn’t make sense within the logic of Eastern Orthodox theology itself. If God truly is love, and if His purpose is the restoration (ἀποκατάστασις) of all creation, then a permanent, unredeemed realm of suffering would contradict His nature and His victory over sin and death.


Thinkers like St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Isaac the Syrian, Sergius Bulgakov, and more recently David Bentley Hart, have all pointed out that God’s will is unchanging, and His will is to save all. If God’s will is perfect and omnipotent, then it follows that ultimately all will be reconciled to Him—perhaps after a painful purification, but not eternal damnation.


“Hell,” then, might best be understood not as a place of everlasting punishment, but as the experience of divine love by those still clinging to their sin—an experience that eventually purifies rather than annihilates. This view doesn’t deny justice; it fulfills it through healing rather than perpetual separation.


So yes, there’s good reason to believe that universal reconciliation (in some form) is not only compatible with Orthodoxy, but actually truer to its deepest understanding of God’s mercy and the cosmic scope of Christ’s resurrection.

this is St Basil’s, where the non-Orthodox ask questions of the Orthodox. please follow our rules.

 

[ArmyMatt]

and I will add that if there’s a “growing case” to change anything, that’s solid evidence it’s false

 

[Basil the Great]

I am not Orthodox, but have done much research about Orthodoxy. Based upon what I have read, some Orthodox believe that the dead receive a conditional sentence when they die, but that no sentence is final until the second coming of Jesus. Based upon this assumption then, some Orthodox believe that it is possible for at least some of those who are destined now to go to Hell, may eventually have their sentences changed and that they at least have a chance to still end up in Heaven. How common said belief is in Orthodoxy I was unable to discern. I did run across though an interesting discussion once between an EO and an OO. The Oriental Orthodox person explained that they do not hold to such a belief. Army Matt, can you tell us how common the belief is within Eastern Orthodoxy that it might be possible for souls now destined for Hell, to have their sentences changed, up to the point of the second coming, as at that point sentences are considered final? Is this view a minority or majority position within Eastern Orthodoxy? Is it true that the Oriental Orthodox do not consider such a position to be valid?

 

[ArmyMatt]

I am not Orthodox, but have done much research about Orthodoxy. Based upon what I have read, some Orthodox believe that the dead receive a conditional sentence when they die, but that no sentence is final until the second coming of Jesus. Based upon this assumption then, some Orthodox believe that it is possible for at least some of those who are destined now to go to Hell, may eventually have their sentences changed and that they at least have a chance to still end up in Heaven. How common said belief is in Orthodoxy I was unable to discern. I did run across though an interesting discussion once between an EO and an OO. The Oriental Orthodox person explained that they do not hold to such a belief. Army Matt, can you tell us how common the belief is within Eastern Orthodoxy that it might be possible for souls now destined for Hell, to have their sentences changed, up to the point of the second coming, as at that point sentences are considered final? Is this view a minority or majority position within Eastern Orthodoxy? Is it true that the Oriental Orthodox do not consider such a position to be valid?

I don’t know how common a belief it is, and I am not non-Chalcedonian so I don’t know their position. what I can say is that it is taught by St Mark of Ephesus, St Joseph the hesychast, St Xenia of St Petersburg, Fr Seraphim Rose, Fr Stephen De Young, etc.