The holy fathers teach: think upon death, and thou shalt never sin. We must picture to ourselves what fate awaits the man who does not think about death, who does not prepare for it, who does not confess his sins or struggle against them.
Once I had a conversation with a young Old Believer who said to me: “Well, Vladyka, perhaps there is no hell after all. It was just invented, because surely the Lord cannot consign His beloved creation to eternal torment. Therefore I doubt and consider that there is no hell.” Of course, he is not the only one who thinks this way; many do, especially unbelievers. Having heard this, I wrote down a reflection on this subject, which I now wish to share with you.
The end of the world is described in the Gospel as follows: “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25); and all shall come to the Dread Judgment. Christ “shall sit upon the throne of His glory” (Matthew 25:31) to judge and to expose sinners in all their works of iniquity, and He “shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32). The righteous (the sheep) the Lord will set on His right hand, and will say: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). But to the wicked (the goats), whom He will set on the left, He will say: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).
The time of the Second Coming is called the Day of the wrath of God, for Christ will turn His face away from the wicked. Saint John Chrysostom writes that both hell and its torments are unbearable, yet the darkness of hell is nothing compared to the horror of seeing the meek Face turned away and the merciful Eye unwilling even to behold us.
The Lord warns us of the dreadful, unending torments in hell that await stubborn, unrepentant sinners — a thing fearful even to hear — so that we might escape such a fate if we often meditate upon it with repentance. Therefore Chrysostom says: “The remembrance of hell prevents one from falling into hell,” and Abba Isaiah adds: “Meditate upon hell, that the deeds leading to it might become hateful unto thee.” The word “hell” is symbolic of the final place of destruction for sinners — that place where, according to the prophetic imagery of the saints Jeremiah and Isaiah, the torments do not cease: “And they shall see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24).
Fearful are the torments of hell — that land of impenetrable darkness, seething with fire, filled with worms, the gnashing of teeth, and furious lamentations. Saint Ephrem the Syrian writes thus: “There are various kinds of torments, as we have heard in the Gospel. There is the outer darkness (Matthew 8:12) — and from this it is clear that there is another darkness, even deeper; there is the fiery hell (Matthew 5:22) — a different place of torment; the gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42) — yet another place; the undying worm (Mark 9:48) — in another place; the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20) — again another place; Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4) — its own place; the unquenchable fire (Mark 9:48) — a distinct land; the netherworld (Philippians 2:10)… and the bottom of hell — the most tormenting place of all. To these torments the wretched shall be assigned, each according to the measure of his sins.”
Some Christians ask what kind of torments there shall be after death: whether they shall be bodily, or only torments of conscience. From the teaching of the holy fathers it is quite clear that there shall be torments not only of conscience, but of various kinds, according to the measure of each one’s sins.
There are those who soothe themselves with the thought that hell does not exist, because God is love, and He could not torment His own creation — man. The Catholics invented a special place for the soul’s dwelling after death, called purgatory — a sort of neutral zone between heaven and hell — which, they claim, receives those who are not quite ready for heaven, in order to cleanse them of their sins. But this fantasy has no foundation: for in Holy Scripture it is plainly affirmed that there is a great gulf fixed between paradise and hell which none may cross (as told in the Gospel parable of the rich man and Lazarus).
Indeed, God is merciful and desires the salvation of all men. But man cannot be saved without striving toward God; therefore the Lord grants us the time of this life to labor for the salvation of our souls, and afterwards — eternal life. Yet whether we follow Christ or not, we ourselves choose our fate after death: to dwell either in paradise or in hell. Yes, the Savior is merciful, but we, living in sin and remaining unrepentant, offend His meekness and His mercy. Concerning this, Saint John Chrysostom writes: “When thou hast sinned, weep and lament — not because thou shalt be punished, but because thou hast offended thy Master, who is so meek, who so loves thee, who so cares for thy salvation, that He gave His own Son for thee.”
As for the question whether it is possible to pray for the lessening of the torments of sinners in hell, an answer is given in the Life of Saint Macarius of Egypt.
This is how it is recounted:
Once, while in the desert, Saint Macarius saw a human skull lying upon the ground. He turned it over with his staff, and as he did so, it seemed to him that the skull uttered a sound. Then Macarius asked: “Who art thou?”
“I was the chief of the pagan priests who dwelt in this place,” the skull answered. “When thou, Abba Macarius, filled with the Spirit of God, dost take pity on those who are in torments and pray for us, then we experience some small relief.”
“And what relief dost thou receive?” Macarius asked. “And what are your torments? Tell me.”
The skull answered with a groan: “As far as the heavens are distant from the earth, so great is the fire in which we dwell, burned from head to foot on every side. Moreover, we cannot even see one another’s faces. But when thou prayest for us, we are permitted for a little while to see each other, and this gives us comfort.”
Hearing this, Saint Macarius wept and said: “Cursed be the day when man transgressed the commandments of God.”
Thus does the Life of Saint Macarius reveal to us the dread mysteries of the torments of hell. And further, it provides an answer to the question about those who are found at the very bottom of hell.
Saint Macarius asked the skull: “Are there any torments worse than yours?”
“Far below us there are many others,” answered the skull.
“And who are they that endure those fiercest torments?” asked Macarius.
“We, who did not know God,” answered the skull with a groan, “still sense somewhat of the mercy of God. But those who knew the name of God, yet rejected Him and kept not His commandments, suffer beneath us far more grievous and terrible torments.”
After this, Saint Macarius took the skull, buried it in the earth, and withdrew from that place. Such is the fearful warning given to us Christians, that we might keep the commandments of God.
When Saint Macarius was asked why he remained ever so gaunt, he gave this reply: “Even as a fire iron, used to stir burning logs, is ever scorched by the flame, so too is a man, who directs his mind ever toward the Lord and continually keeps in his remembrance the dreadful torments of the fire of Gehenna—this fear not only consumes the body, it withers even the bones.” The fire of hell possesses the power to burn sinners eternally while preserving them whole.
“Why,” thou mayest ask, “should one suffer eternal punishment for sins committed during a brief span of life?” Saint John Chrysostom reflects on this and answers: “Because even in this world, a man who has committed murder in a single moment is sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor.”
Christ, warning us against the stumbling blocks that lead to the fiery Gehenna, said: “If thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched; where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43–44). The Hieromartyr Clement of Rome explains that this means we must cut off and cast away from ourselves all causes and thoughts that lead to sin.
In this earthly life, man burns with the fire of passions. Concerning the “cooling” and salvation from the fire of sin, the Hieromartyr Avvakum writes in his Life: “While I was still a priest, a maiden came to me to confess, laden with many sins, guilty of fornication and all kinds of impurity. She began, weeping, to tell me in detail of her sins, standing before the Gospel. And I, a thrice-wretched physician, myself fell grievously sick, burned inwardly with the fire of lust. Bitter was that hour for me. I lit three candles, fastened them to the analogion, and laid my right hand upon the flame, and held it there until the evil burning within me was extinguished.” Thus did Saint Avvakum quench the fire of lust with the flame of a candle and save his soul from the fire eternal.
God created man as a rational being with free will and the capacity to live with God—or to turn away from Him. The fall of Adam and Eve led to their separation from God; then the earth and the very nature of man were changed, for outside of God there is neither life, nor truth, nor goodness. Man became a slave to sin and vice, and of himself could not overcome the dark forces of the demons.
Christ, coming into the world to save the perishing man, granted freedom to those who would follow Him. He says in the Gospel: “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:46–48). After Christ’s coming into the world, we are no longer doomed to dwell in hell after death. In this earthly life, the boundary between hell and paradise passes through a man’s own soul and heart. It is by our free choice that our soul—and all that surrounds us—becomes either paradise or hell.
Our sins drive us toward the kingdom of darkness, and in order to break free from this captivity, the Christian must constantly struggle against sinful temptations within himself. If a man does not struggle and transgresses the commandments of God, he becomes a servant of Satan even during this life. All the passions and vices from which a man has not been freed through repentance make him subject to the demons while still alive, and after death—which is the separation of the soul from the body—he shall suffer greatly. For in the soul there remains the carnal attachment which can no longer be satisfied without the body, and this shall produce incredibly grievous, unceasing torments of hell.
In the parable of the Dread Judgment (Matthew 25:45), the Lord teaches that it is not only those who have committed grave and obvious sins who may go to hell, but also those who have sinned through inaction: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not… Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:45–46).
“But in hell who shall confess Thee?” (Psalm 6:5). Therefore, while we yet live, we must embark on the path of liberation from carnal attachments—to alcohol, to nicotine, to other drugs, to fornication, to gluttony. Some souls suffer even during this life, and this is not always an evil thing. The torments of conscience—that voice of God within us—accuse us for our evil deeds. Such suffering of the soul is profitable, for through it the soul may be led to repentance and to the realization of the need to change one’s life.
The tears of repentance for our sins are the most powerful means to extinguish the fire that awaits us because of our transgressions. Therefore, let us weep over our sins here, that we may not weep amid the torments of hell, as the holy fathers teach. For deliverance from the torments of hell, let us pray to the saints, to our guardian angel, and especially to the Most Holy God-bearer—the Mother of all Christians—who, like a true Mother, hearkens unto her children and helps them, interceding before her Divine Son for our salvation, wherein may the Lord Himself help us!