Orthodoxy and the innocent unbaptized

[InnerPhyre]

God loves them and they have not sinned. Because of our fallen nature, they are subject to death and corruption like the rest of us, but what sin have they committed that they would they be damned for? Infants are trusted to God's mercy, which is boundless. Gregory of Nyssa wrote on this.

 

[buzuxi02]

God loves them and they have not sinned. Because of our fallen nature, they are subject to death and corruption like the rest of us, but what sin have they committed that they would they be damned for? Infants are trusted to God's mercy, which is boundless. Gregory of Nyssa wrote on this.

This is correct, St. Gregory who believed in universal restoration made clear that there is no purgation that infants must go through. No sins they must be cleansed of, no purifying fire to refine them.
Truth be told, his struggle on this question concerned both baptised and unbaptised infants, namely what is their reward?

 

[isshinwhat]

God loves them and they have not sinned. Because of our fallen nature, they are subject to death and corruption like the rest of us, but what sin have they committed that they would they be damned for? Infants are trusted to God's mercy, which is boundless. Gregory of Nyssa wrote on this.

Good questions... Let me run this by you for your thoughts. It may take a few posts.

... those who find themselves in hell will be chastised by the scourge of love. How cruel and bitter this torment of love will be! For those who understand that they have sinned against love, undergo no greater suffering than those produced by the most fearful tortures. The sorrow which takes hold of the heart, which has sinned against love, is more piercing than any other pain. It is not right to say that the sinners in hell are deprived of the love of God… But love acts in two ways, as suffering of the reproved, and as joy in the blessed! (St. Isaac of Syria, Mystic Treatises)

What is the purpose of Baptism, and what is Theosis - when do we begin to "become by grace what God is by nature?"

 

[Dorothea]

God loves them and they have not sinned. Because of our fallen nature, they are subject to death and corruption like the rest of us, but what sin have they committed that they would they be damned for? Infants are trusted to God's mercy, which is boundless. Gregory of Nyssa wrote on this.

Exactly.