The Anathemas of the Emperor Justinian Against Origen
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• 9
"If Anyone says or thinks that the punishment of demons and of impious men is only temporary, and will one day have an end, and that a restoration will take place of demons and of impious men, Let Him Be Anathema.
Anathema to Origen and to that Adamantius, who set forth these opinions together with his Nefarious and Execrable and Wicked Doctrine and and to whomsoever there is who thinks thus, Or Defends These Opinions, or in any way hereafter at any time shall presume to protect them.
• Second Council of Constantinople (553 A.D.)
CHURCH FATHERS: Second Council of Constantinople (A.D. 553)
Second Council of Constantinople - Wikipedia
It's done, finished, Over etc. The issue has already been resolved. There's nothing left to debate.
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It was refuted by Iranaeus in 170AD.
1. what great things the Lord had done at His coming to save those who received Him, taking compassion upon them; while they keep silence with regard to His judgment; and all those things which shall come upon such as have heard His words, but done them not, and that it were better for them if they had not been born,
Matthew 26:24 and that it shall be more tolerable for
Sodom and
Gomorrha in the judgment than for that city which did not receive the word of His
disciples.
Matthew 10:15
2. For as, in the
New Testament, that
faith of men [to be placed] in God has been increased, receiving in addition [to what was already revealed] the
Son of God, that man too might be a partaker of
God; so is also our walk in life required to be more circumspect, when we are directed not merely to abstain from
evil actions, but even from
evil thoughts, and from idle words, and empty talk, and scurrilous language:
thus also the punishment of those who do not believe the Word of God, and despise His advent, and are turned away backwards, is increased; being not merely temporal, but rendered also eternal. For to whomsoever the Lord shall say, Depart from me, you cursed, into
everlasting fire,
Matthew 25:41 these shall be damned for ever; and to whomsoever He shall say, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you for
eternity,
Matthew 25:34 these do receive the kingdom for ever, and make constant advance in it; since there is one and the same
God the
Father, and His Word, who has been always present with the
human race, by means indeed of various dispensations, and has wrought out many things, and saved from the beginning those who are saved, (for these are they who
love God, and follow the
Word of God according to the class to which they belong,) and has judged those who are judged, that is, those who forget
God, and are
blasphemous, and transgressors of His word.
St Iranaeus 170AD Adversus Haereses Book 4 Chapter 28
Man has received the
knowledge of good and
evil. It is
good to
obey God, and to
believe in Him, and to keep His commandment, and this is the life of man; as not to
obey God is
evil, and this is his death. Since
God, therefore, gave [to man] such mental power (magnanimitatem) man
knew both the good of
obedience and the
evil of disobedience, that the eye of the
mind, receiving experience of both, may with judgment make choice of the better things; and that he may never become indolent or neglectful of God's command; and learning by experience that it is an
evil thing which deprives him of life, that is, disobedience to
God, may never attempt it at all, but that,
knowing that what preserves his life, namely,
obedience to
God, is
good, he may diligently keep it with all earnestness. Wherefore he has also had a twofold experience, possessing
knowledge of both kinds, that with discipline he may make choice of the better things. But how, if he had no
knowledge of the contrary, could he have had instruction in that which is
good? For there is thus a surer and an undoubted comprehension of matters submitted to us than the mere surmise arising from an opinion regarding them. For just as the tongue receives experience of sweet and bitter by means of tasting, and the eye discriminates between black and white by means of vision, and the ear recognises the distinctions of sounds by hearing; so also does the
mind, receiving through the experience of both the
knowledgeof what is
good, become more tenacious of its preservation, by acting in
obedience to God: in the first place, casting away, by means of repentance, disobedience, as being something disagreeable and nauseous; and afterwards coming to understand what it really is, that it is contrary to goodness and sweetness, so that the mind may never even attempt to taste disobedience to
God. But if any one do shun the
knowledge of both these kinds of things, and the twofold perception of
knowledge, he unawares divests himself of the character of a
human being.
2. How, then, shall he be a
God, who has not as yet been made a man? Or how can he be perfect who was but lately created? How, again, can he be
immortal, who in his mortal nature did not
obey his Maker? For it must be that you, at the outset, should hold the rank of a
man, and then afterwards partake of the
glory of
God. For you did not make
God, but God you. If, then, you are God's workmanship, await the hand of your Maker which creates everything in due time; in due time as far as you are concerned, whose creation is being carried out. Offer to Him your heart in a soft and tractable state, and preserve the form in which the Creator has fashioned you, having moisture in yourself, lest, by becoming hardened, you lose the impressions of His fingers. But by preserving the framework you shall ascend to that which is perfect, for the moist clay which is in you is hidden [there] by the workmanship of
God. His hand fashioned your substance; He will cover you over [too] within and without with pure gold and silver, and He will adorn you to such a degree, that even the King Himself shall have pleasure in your beauty. But if you, being obstinately hardened, reject the operation of His skill, and show yourself ungrateful towards Him, because you were created a [mere] man, by becoming thus ungrateful to
God, you have at once lost both His workmanship and life. For creation is an attribute of the goodness of God but to be created is that of
human nature. If then, you shall deliver up to Him what is yours, that is,
faith towards Him and subjection, you shall receive His handiwork, and shall be a perfect work of
God.
3. If, however, you will not
believe in Him, and will flee from His hands, the
cause of imperfection shall be in you who did not
obey, but not in Him who called [you]. For He commissioned [messengers] to call people to the marriage, but they who did not
obey Him deprived themselves of the royal supper.
Matthew 22:3, etc. The skill of
God, therefore, is not defective, for He has power of the stones to raise up children to
Abraham;
Matthew 3:9but the man who does not obtain it is the
causeto himself of his own imperfection. Nor, [in like manner], does the light fail because of those who have blinded themselves; but while it remains the same as ever, those who are [thus] blinded are involved in darkness through their own fault. The light does never enslave any one by necessity; nor, again, does God exercise compulsion upon any one unwilling to accept the exercise of His skill. Those
persons, therefore, who have
apostatized from the light given by the
Father, and transgressed the law of liberty, have done so through their own fault, since they have been created free agents, and possessed of power over themselves.
4. But
God, foreknowing all things, prepared fit habitations for both, kindly conferring that light which they desire on those who seek after the light of incorruption, and resort to it; but for the despisers and mockers who avoid and turn themselves away from this light, and who do, as it were, blind themselves, He has prepared darkness suitable to
persons who oppose the light, and He has inflicted an appropriate punishment upon those who try to avoid being subject to Him. Submission to
God is
eternalrest, so that they who shun the light have a place worthy of their flight; and those who fly from
eternal rest, have a habitation in accordance with their fleeing. Now, since all
good things are with
God, they who by their own determination fly from
God, do defraud themselves of all
good things; and having been [thus] defrauded of all
good things with respect to
God, they shall consequently fall under the just judgment of
God. For those
persons who shun rest shall
justly incur punishment, and those who avoid the light shall
justly dwell in darkness. For as in the case of this temporal light, those who shun it do deliver themselves over to darkness, so that they do themselves become the
cause to themselves that they are destitute of light, and do inhabit darkness; and, as I have already observed, the light is not the
cause of such an [unhappy] condition of
existence to them; so those who fly from the
eternal light of
God, which contains in itself all
good things, are themselves the
cause to themselves of their inhabiting
eternal darkness, destitute of all
good things, having become to themselves the
cause of [their consignment to] an abode of that nature.
St Iranaeus 170AD Adversus Haereses Book 4 Chapter 39