Hope vs Justice 6: the case of Silouan the Athonite

 

Hope vs Justice 6: the case of Silouan the Athonite

In this post, I’ll present the case of an anecdote about Silouan the Athonite (1866-1938) reported by his student Sophrony of Essex (1896-1993) quoted in the paper ‘Dare we Hope for the Salvation of All?’ written by Kallistos Ware (1934-2022) which can be found here: https://afkimel.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/dare-we-hope-for-the-salvation-of-all.pdf

It was particularly characteristic of Staretz Silouan to pray for the dead suffering in the hell of separation from God... He could not bear to think that anyone would languish in “outer darkness.” I remember a conversation between him and a certain hermit, who declared with evident satisfaction, “God will punish all atheists. They will burn in everlasting fire.” Obviously upset, the Staretz said, “Tell me, supposing you went to paradise, and there looked down and saw somebody burning in hell-fire—would you feel happy?” “It can’t be helped. It would be their own fault,” said the hermit. The Staretz answered him with a sorrowful countenance. “Love could not bear that,” he said. “We must pray for all.” (Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov), Saint Silouan the Athonite, 48)

This brief story, in my opinion, shows very well the deep tension between the doctrine of eternal damnation and the hope and desire motivated by love. If justice truly requires eternal damnation in some cases and justice needs to be fulfilled, the hope and desire motivated by love may not, in the end, be fulfilled.

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