Compendium of seemingly Christian universalist quotes

 Compendium of seemingly Christian universalist quotes

Clement of Alexandria (d. 215)

“And, as I think, the Saviour also exerts His might because it is His work to save; which accordingly He also did by drawing to salvation those who became willing, by the preaching [of the Gospel], to believe in Him, wherever they were. If, then, the Lord descended to Hades for no other end but to preach the Gospel, as He did descend; it was either to preach the Gospel to all or to the Hebrews only. If, accordingly, to all, then all who believe shall be saved, although they may be of the Gentiles, on making their profession there; since God's punishments are saving and disciplinary, leading to conversion, and choosing rather the repentance them the death of a sinner; and especially since souls, although darkened by passions, when released from their bodies, are able to perceive more clearly, because of their being no longer obstructed by the paltry flesh.” (Stromata, book 6, chapter 6, source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02106.htm )

“So I think it is demonstrated that the God being good, and the Lord powerful, they save with a righteousness and equality which extend to all that turn to Him, whether here or elsewhere. For it is not here alone that the active power of God is beforehand, but it is everywhere and is always at work.” (Stromata, book 6, chapter 6, source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02106.htm )

“Wherefore also all men are His; some through knowledge, and others not yet so; and some as friends, some as faithful servants, some as servants merely. This is the Teacher, who trains the Gnostic by mysteries, and the believer by good hopes, and the hard of heart by corrective discipline through sensible operation. Thence His providence is in private, in public, and everywhere.” (Stromata, book 7, chapter 2, source:  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02107.htm )

“And how is He Saviour and Lord, if not the Saviour and Lord of all? But He is the Saviour of those who have believed, because of their wishing to know; and the Lord of those who have not believed, till, being enabled to confess him, they obtain the peculiar and appropriate boon which comes by Him.” (Stromata, book 7, chapter 2, source:  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02107.htm )

“And, on the other hand, He is in no respect whatever the cause of evil. For all things are arranged with a view to the salvation of the universe by the Lord of the universe, both generally and particularly. It is then the function of the righteousness of salvation to improve everything as far as practicable. For even minor matters are arranged with a view to the salvation of that which is better, and for an abode suitable for people's character. Now everything that is virtuous changes for the better; having as the proper cause of change the free choice of knowledge, which the soul has in its own power. But necessary corrections, through the goodness of the great overseeing Judge, both by the attendant angels, and by various acts of anticipative judgment, and by the perfect judgment, compel egregious sinners to repent.” (Stromata, book 7, chapter 2, source:  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02107.htm)

“Would, then, that these heretics would learn and be set right by these notes, and turn to the sovereign God! But if, like the deaf serpents, they listen not to the song called new, though very old, may they be chastised by God, and undergo paternal admonitions previous to the Judgment, till they become ashamed and repent, but not rush through headlong unbelief, and precipitate themselves into judgment.

For there are partial corrections, which are called chastisements, which many of us who have been in transgression incur, by falling away from the Lord's people. But as children are chastised by their teacher, or their father, so are we by Providence. But God does not punish, for punishment is retaliation for evil. He chastises, however, for good to those who are chastised, collectively and individually.”  (Stromata, book 7, chapter 16, source:  https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02107.htm)

Origen of Alexandria (d. 254)

“3. It is to be borne in mind, however, that certain beings who fell away from that one beginning of which we have spoken, have sunk to such a depth of unworthiness and wickedness as to be deemed altogether undeserving of that training and instruction by which the human race, while in the flesh, are trained and instructed with the assistance of the heavenly powers; and continue, on the contrary, in a state of enmity and opposition to those who are receiving this instruction and teaching. And hence it is that the whole of this mortal life is full of struggles and trials, caused by the opposition and enmity of those who fell from a better condition without at all looking back, and who are called the devil and his angels, and the other orders of evil, which the apostle classed among the opposing powers. But whether any of these orders who act under the government of the devil, and obey his wicked commands, will in a future world be converted to righteousness because of their possessing the faculty of freedom of will, or whether persistent and inveterate wickedness may be changed by the power of habit into nature, is a result which you yourself, reader, may approve of, if neither in these present worlds which are seen and temporal, nor in those which are unseen and are eternal, that portion is to differ wholly from the final unity and fitness of things. But in the meantime, both in those temporal worlds which are seen, as well as in those eternal worlds which are invisible, all those beings are arranged, according to a regular plan, in the order and degree of their merits; so that some of them in the first, others in the second, some even in the last times, after having undergone heavier and severer punishments, endured for a lengthened period, and for many ages, so to speak, improved by this stern method of training, and restored at first by the instruction of the angels, and subsequently by the powers of a higher grade, and thus advancing through each stage to a better condition, reach even to that which is invisible and eternal, having travelled through, by a kind of training, every single office of the heavenly powers. From which, I think, this will appear to follow as an inference, that every rational nature may, in passing from one order to another, go through each to all, and advance from all to each, while made the subject of various degrees of proficiency and failure according to its own actions and endeavours, put forth in the enjoyment of its power of freedom of will.

4. But since Paul says that certain things are visible and temporal, and others besides these invisible and eternal, we proceed to inquire how those things which are seen are temporal — whether because there will be nothing at all after them in all those periods of the coming world, in which that dispersion and separation from the one beginning is undergoing a process of restoration to one and the same end and likeness; or because, while the form of those things which are seen passes away, their essential nature is subject to no corruption. And Paul seems to confirm the latter view, when he says, “For the fashion of this world passes away”. David also appears to assert the same in the words, “The heavens shall perish, but You shall endure; and they all shall wax old as a garment, and You shall change them like a vesture, and like a vestment they shall be changed”. For if the heavens are to be changed, assuredly that which is changed does not perish, and if the fashion of the world passes away, it is by no means an annihilation or destruction of their material substance that is shown to take place, but a kind of change of quality and transformation of appearance. Isaiah also, in declaring prophetically that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, undoubtedly suggests a similar view. For this renewal of heaven and earth, and this transmutation of the form of the present world, and this changing of the heavens will undoubtedly be prepared for those who are walking along that way which we have pointed out above, and are tending to that goal of happiness to which, it is said, even enemies themselves are to be subjected, and in which God is said to be “all and in all”. And if any one imagine that at the end material, i.e., bodily, nature will be entirely destroyed, he cannot in any respect meet my view, how beings so numerous and powerful are able to live and to exist without bodies, since it is an attribute of the divine nature alone — i.e., of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— to exist without any material substance, and without partaking in any degree of a bodily adjunct. Another, perhaps, may say that in the end every bodily substance will be so pure and refined as to be like the æther, and of a celestial purity and clearness. How things will be, however, is known with certainty to God alone, and to those who are His friends through Christ and the Holy Spirit.”  (Origen of Alexandria, De Principiis, 1.10.3-4; source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04121.htm )

“6. There are many other matters, too, which are hidden from us, and are known only to him who is the physician of our souls. For if in regard to bodily health we occasionally find it necessary to take some very unpleasant and bitter medicine as a cure for the ills we have brought on through eating and drinking, and sometimes, if the character of the ill demands it, we need the severe treatment of the knife and a painful operation, yes, and should the disease have extended beyond the reach even of these remedies, in the last resort the ill is burnt out by fire, how much more should we realize that God our physician, in his desire to wash away the ills of our souls, which they have brought on themselves through a variety of sins and crimes, makes use of penal remedies of a similar sort, even to the infliction of a punishment of fire on those who have lost their soul’s health.

Allusions to this are found also in the holy scriptures. For instance, in Deuteronomy the divine word threatens that sinners are to be punished with “fevers and cold and pallor,” and tortured with “feebleness of eyes and insanity and paralysis and blindness and weakness of the reins” (cf. Dt 28:22, 28, 29). And so if anyone will gather at his leisure from the whole of scripture all the references to sufferings which in threats against sinners are called by the names of bodily sicknesses, he will find that through them allusion is being made to either the ills or the punishments of souls. And to help us understand that as physicians supply aids to sufferers with the object of restoring them to health through careful treatment, so with the same motive God acts towards those who have lapsed and fallen into sin, there is proof in that passage in which, through the prophet Jeremiah, God’s “cup of fury” is commanded “to be set before all nations” that “they may drink it and become mad and spew it out” (cf. Jer 25:15, 16, 27). In this passage there is a threat which says, “If anyone refuse to drink, he shall not be cleansed” (cf. Jer 25:28, 29); from which certainly we understand that the fury of God’s vengeance ministers to the purification of souls. Isaiah teaches that even the punishments which are said to be inflicted by fire are meant to be applied as a help, when he speaks thus about Israel: “The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Sion, and will purge away the blood from the midst of them by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning” (Is 4:4). And of the Chaldaeans he speaks thus: “Thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them; they shall be to thee for a help” (Is 47:14, 15 [LXX]),10 and in other places he says: “The Lord shall sanctify them in burning fire” (cf. Is 66:16, 17), and in the prophet Malachi it speaks as follows: “The Lord shall sift and refine his people as gold and silver; he shall refine and purify and pour forth purified the sons of Judah” (Mal 3:3).

7. Moreover, the saying in the gospel about unjust stewards, who must be “cut asunder” and “their portion placed with the unbelievers” (cf. Lk 12:42–46), as if the portion which was not theirs were to be sent somewhere else, undoubtedly alludes to some sort of punishment, as it seems to me, which falls on those whose spirit has to be separated from their soul. Now if we are to understand this spirit as belonging to the divine nature, that is, as being the Holy Spirit, we shall perceive that the passage relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit. It tells us that when, whether through baptism or the grace of the Spirit, the “word of wisdom” or the “word of knowledge” (cf. 1 Cor 12:8) or of any other endowment has been given to a man as a gift and not rightly used, that is to say, either “hidden in the earth” or “bound up in a napkin” (cf. Mt 25:25; Lk 19:20), the gift of the Spirit will surely be withdrawn from his soul, and the portion which remains, namely the essence of the soul, will be placed with the unbelievers, cut asunder and separated from that Spirit with whom, by joining itself to the Lord, it ought to have been “one spirit” (cf. 1 Cor 6:17). Moreover, the saying in the gospel about unjust stewards, who must be “cut asunder” and “their portion placed with the unbelievers” (cf. Lk 12:42–46), as if the portion which was not theirs were to be sent somewhere else, undoubtedly alludes to some sort of punishment, as it seems to me, which falls on those whose spirit has to be separated from their soul. Now if we are to understand this spirit as belonging to the divine nature, that is, as being the Holy Spirit, we shall perceive that the passage relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit. It tells us that when, whether through baptism or the grace of the Spirit, the “word of wisdom” or the “word of knowledge” (cf. 1 Cor 12:8) or of any other endowment has been given to a man as a gift and not rightly used, that is to say, either “hidden in the earth” or “bound up in a napkin” (cf. Mt 25:25; Lk 19:20), the gift of the Spirit will surely be withdrawn from his soul, and the portion which remains, namely the essence of the soul, will be placed with the unbelievers, cut asunder and separated from that Spirit with whom, by joining itself to the Lord, it ought to have been “one spirit” (cf. 1 Cor 6:17).” (Origen of Alexandria, De Princiipiis, 2.10.6-7; source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04122.htm )

“3. I am of opinion that the expression, by which God is said to be all in all, means that He is all in each individual person. Now He will be all in each individual in this way: when all which any rational understanding, cleansed from the dregs of every sort of vice, and with every cloud of wickedness completely swept away, can either feel, or understand, or think, will be wholly God; and when it will no longer behold or retain anything else than God, but when God will be the measure and standard of all its movements; and thus God will be all, for there will no longer be any distinction of good and evil, seeing evil nowhere exists; for God is all things, and to Him no evil is near: nor will there be any longer a desire to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the part of him who is always in the possession of good, and to whom God is all. So then, when the end has been restored to the beginning, and the termination of things compared with their commencement, that condition of things will be re-established in which rational nature was placed, when it had no need to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; so that when all feeling of wickedness has been removed, and the individual has been purified and cleansed, He who alone is the one good God becomes to him all, and that not in the case of a few individuals, or of a considerable number, but He Himself is all in all. And when death shall no longer anywhere exist, nor the sting of death, nor any evil at all, then verily God will be all in all. But some are of opinion that that perfection and blessedness of rational creatures, or natures, can only remain in that same condition of which we have spoken above, i.e., that all things should possess God, and God should be to them all things, if they are in no degree prevented by their union with a bodily nature. Otherwise they think that the glory of the highest blessedness is impeded by the intermixture of any material substance. But this subject we have discussed at greater length, as may be seen in the preceding pages.” (Origen of Alexandria, De Principiis, 3.6.3, source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04123.htm )

Macrina the Younger (d. 379) and Gregory of Nyssa (d. 394)

“For the Gospel in its teaching distinguishes between a debtor of ten thousand talents and a debtor of five hundred pence, and of fifty pence and of a farthing , which is the uttermost of coins; it proclaims that God's just judgment reaches to all, and enhances the payment necessary as the weight of the debt increases, and on the other hand does not overlook the very smallest debts. But the Gospel tells us that this payment of debts was not effected by the refunding of money, but that the indebted man was delivered to the tormentors until he should pay the whole debt; and that means nothing else than paying in the coin of torment the inevitable recompense, the recompense, I mean, that consists in taking the share of pain incurred during his lifetime, when he inconsiderately chose mere pleasure, undiluted with its opposite; so that having put off from him all that foreign growth which sin is, and discarded the shame of any debts, he might stand in liberty and fearlessness. Now liberty is the coming up to a state which owns no master and is self-regulating ; it is that with which we were gifted by God at the beginning, but which has been obscured by the feeling of shame arising from indebtedness. Liberty too is in all cases one and the same essentially; it has a natural attraction to itself. It follows, then, that as everything that is free will be united with its like, and as virtue is a thing that has no master, that is, is free, everything that is free will be united with virtue. But, further, the Divine Being is the fountain of all virtue. Therefore, those who have parted with evil will be united with Him; and so, as the Apostle says, God will be all in all ; for this utterance seems to me plainly to confirm the opinion we have already arrived at, for it means that God will be instead of all other things, and in all. For while our present life is active among a variety of multiform conditions, and the things we have relations with are numerous, for instance, time, air, locality, food and drink, clothing, sunlight, lamplight, and other necessities of life, none of which, many though they be, are God — that blessed state which we hope for is in need of none of these things, but the Divine Being will become all, and instead of all, to us, distributing Himself proportionately to every need of that existence. It is plain, too, from the Holy Scripture that God becomes, to those who deserve it, locality, and home, and clothing, and food, and drink, and light, and riches, and dominion, and everything thinkable and nameable that goes to make our life happy. But He that becomes all things will be in all things too; and herein it appears to me that Scripture teaches the complete annihilation of evil. If, that is, God will be in all existing things, evil; plainly, will not then be among them; for if any one was to assume that it did exist then, how will the belief that God will be in all be kept intact? The excepting of that one thing, evil, mars the comprehensiveness of the term all. But He that will be in all will never be in that which does not exist.” (On the Soul and Resurrection, words attributed to Macrina by Gregory of Nyssa, source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2915.htm )

“What therefore does Paul teach us? It consists in saying that evil will come to nought and will be completely destroyed. The divine, pure goodness will contain in itself every nature endowed with reason; nothing made by God is excluded from his kingdom once everything mixed with some elements of base material has been consumed by refinement in fire. Such things had their origin in God; what was made in the beginning did not receive evil. Paul says this is so. He said that the pure and undefiled divinity of the Only-Begotten [Son] assumed man’s mortal and perishable nature. However, from the entirety of human nature to which the divinity is mixed, the man constituted according to Christ is a kind of first fruits of the common dough (oion aparche tis tou koinou phuramatos). It is through this [divinized] man that all mankind is joined to the divinity.” (Gregory of Nyssa, In Illud, tranls. Casimir McCambley source: https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/in-illud-tunc-et-ipse-filius/ )

“Such is the understanding of these teachings which we have accepted from the great Saint Paul. It is time now to quote the apostle himself on these matters. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be des­troyed is death. ‘For God has put all things in subjection under his feet’ [a reference to Ps 8.6]. But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection under him,’ it is plain that he is accepted who put all things under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who puts all things under him, that God may be everything to everyone” [1 Cor 15.22-28].

In the last of his words [above], Paul plainly speaks of the nonexistence (anuparktos) of evil by stating that God is in all things and present to each one of them. It is clear that God will truly be in all things when no evil will be found. It is not proper for God to be present in evil; thus, he will not be in everything as long as some evil remains. If it compels us to truly believe that God is in everything, then evil cannot be seen as existing along with faith; for God cannot be present in evil. However, for God to be present in all things, Paul shows that he, the hope of our life, is simple and uniform. No longer can our new existence be now compared o the many and varied examples of this present life. Paul shows, by the words quoted above, that God becomes all things for us. He appears as the necessities of our present life, or as examples for partaking in the divinity. Thus, for God to be our food, it is proper to understand him as being eaten; the same applies to drink, clothing, shelter, air, location, wealth, enjoyment, beauty, health, strength, prudence, glory, blessedness and anything else judged good which our human nature needs. Words such as these signify what is proper to God.” (Gregory of Nyssa, In Illud, tranls. Casimir McCambley source: https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/in-illud-tunc-et-ipse-filius/ )

“Let us look at the words following those quoted above from the Gospel: “That they may be one as we are one. You in me and I in them, because I and you are one, in order that they may be perfectly one” [Jn 17 .21-23]. 1 think that there is no need for exegesis of these words which agree with what we have already explained above, for the text itself clearly sets forth the teaching on unity. “In order that they may be one as we are one.” For it cannot be otherwise — “that all may be one as we are one”– unless the disciples, being separated from everything dividing them from each other, are united together “as we are one,” that “they might be one, as we are one.” How can it be that “I am in them?” For “I alone cannot be in them unless you also are in them, since both I and you are one. Thus, they might be perfectly one, having been perfected in us, for we are one.”

Such grace is more clearly shown by the following words: “I have loved them as you have loved me” [Jn 17.23]. If the Father loves the Son, all of us have become Christ’s body through faith in him. Thus, the Father who loves his own Son loves the Son’s body just as the Son himself. We are the Son’s body. Therefore, the sense of Paul’s words becomes clear — the Son’s subjection to his Father signifies that he knows our entire human nature and has become its salvation. The text Paul is referring to might become clearer to us from his other insights. I especially recall one of his many reverent testimonies without quoting it at length. Paul says of himself that “with Christ I am crucified. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” [Gal 2.20]. If Paul no longer lives, but Christ lives in him, every­thing which Paul does and says is referred to Christ living in him. Paul’s words are spoken by Christ when he says, “Do you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me?” [2 Cor 13.3]. Paul claims that the good works of the Gospel are not his; rather, he attributes them to the grace of Christ dwelling within him. If Christ living in Paul works and speaks those things as a result of this indwelling, Paul has relinquished everything which formerly dominated him when he was a blasphemer, persecutor and behaved arrogantly. Paul looked to the true good alone, and by it made himself submissive and obedient.” (Gregory of Nyssa, In Illud, tranls. Casimir McCambley source: https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2019/10/04/in-illud-tunc-et-ipse-filius/ )

Didymus the Blind (d. 398)

“This is said about rational creatures. Since, among all of them, there are also some who have become wicked, know how these will have a restoration [katastasis] once they have arrived in the hands of the Son, obviously after rejecting the evilness that they had, and assuming virtue. For one should not pay attention to those who propound sophisms, claiming that only those rational beings who have sanctity are called.” (Didymus the Blind, Commentary on John 3:35-36, Ilaria Ramelli translation; quoted in ‘A Larger Hope’, p. 95)

“The Father has given to Christ the power and dominion over all beings, that no being that has been handed to him should perish: for this glory, too, passes through us, because it was necessary that the totality of those who will have submitted to him and have arrived in the hands of the omnipotent Logos of God be saved and remain among the goods that have no end, so that it need no longer suffer the tyranny of death, nor be liable to corruption and sins, nor have to undergo punishment for ancient evils.” (Didymus the Blind, Commentary on John 17:1, Ilaria Ramelli translation; quoted in ‘A Larger Hope’, p. 95-96)

“Then it will be the end [telos], ordered and established as corresponding to the beginning. . . . Therefore, it is necessary that Christ reign over the beings, as they progressively add themselves, up to the totality, until all [pantes] those who are enemies because of sin have submitted to him, and Christ has destroyed every tyrannical power, after which the first evil itself, death, is destroyed, in that every [pasa] soul, now subject to death, which is joined with evil, will be joined to Christ.” (Didymus the Blind, Commentary on 1 Cor 7-8, Ilaria Ramelli translation; quoted and translated in ‘A Larger Hope’, p. 97)

Evagrius Ponticus (d. 399)

“27.  Do not be amazed that I have said that the rational beings will, through their uniting with God the Father, become one nature with the three hypostases without any expansion or change.  If, then, this sensible sea that is one in its nature and its color and its taste  - if into it many rivers with various tastes are mixed not only is it itself untransformed by their multiplicity; rather, these (rivers) are completely and effortlessly transformed into its nature and color and taste - how much more will the intelligible, limitless, and unchangeable sea that is God the Father transform into His own nature and color and taste all the intellects that turn back to him, like tributary streams reaching the sea!  And from then on they will be one in His unity  without end and without distinction on account of their union and blending with Him.

28. But in the same way that the blending of tributaries in the sea entails no addition to its nature or change in its color, even so there comes to pass through the blending of the intellects with the Father no doubling of natures or quadrupling of hypostases.  Rather, just as the sea is one in its nature and color and taste both before and after the blending into it of the tributaries, just so is the divine nature one in the three hypostases of Father, Son, and Spirit both after the intellects are blended with it and before they are blended.

29.  Thus we see indeed that the tributaries, before the water of the sea came together in one place and the dry land became visible, were one in it.  But since they have separated from it they have become many and various, since each has been changed according to the taste of the land in which it found itself.  It was precisely thus with the intellects before sin accomplished a separation between them and God; like the land between the sea and the tributaries: [they were] one in Him without change.  But as their sin became notorious they separated themselves from Him and became alienated from Him and His taste and His color; for each one took on the flavor of the particular body with which it had been united.  But if the land were to be withdrawn from the middle, then sea and tributaries would [again] be unchangeably one.  In the same way if the sin [lying] between the intellects and God were to be erased, they would again be one and not many.

30.  Do not think that because I said that the rational beings had been in God beforehand like streams in the sea, that therefore they are also in their nature without beginning in Him!  Much more, rather, even if they are without beginning with Him in his wisdom and creative power - even then their creation certainly has a beginning.  But they do not have an end because of their union with Him Who has neither beginning nor end.” (Evagrius Ponticus, Great Letter/Great Letter to Melania, 27-30, translation Dysinger, source: http://www.ldysinger.com/Evagrius/11_Letters/64_great_letter_to_melania.htm )

“And there will be a time when the body, the soul, and the intellect will cease to be separate, with their names and plurality, because the body and the soul will be elevated to the rank of intellect. This conclusion can be drawn from the words, “that they may be one in us, as You and I are One.” And thus there will come a time when the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and their rational creation, which makes up their body, will cease to be separate, with their names and plurality. This conclusion can be drawn from the words, “God will be all in all” [1 Cor 15:28].” (Evagrius Ponticus, Epistle to Melania, Ilaria Ramelli translation; quoted in ‘A Larger Hope’, p.137)

Diodore of Tarsus (d. 390)

“As an expert surgeon, God applies to us, or allows others to apply to us, heavy and difficult conditions, as though they were a cauterization or a surgical incision. . . . God does everything for the sake of our good.” (Diodore of Tarsus, Commentary on Psalm 4, Ilaria Ramelli translation; quoted in ‘A Larger Hope’, p. 140)

"A reward for labours is reserved for the good, one that is worthy of the righteousness of the Maker, but stripes for the wicked are not for eternity. Thus, not even in their case is the future condition of immortality of no profit: if they are tormented as they deserve just for a short time commensurate with their evil and their wickedness, receiving reward in accordance with the measure of their actions experiencing suffering during a short while, nevertheless (for them) delight in immortality is forever” (Diodore of Tarsus, On Providence, 5 quoted in Second Part, 39.11, of Isaac of Nineveh; https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/05/ancient-and-medieval-witnesses-of.html )

Theodore of Mopsuestia (d. 428)

“In the world to come those who have chosen here what is good will receive the felicity of good things along with praise; whereas the wicked who all their life have turned aside to evil deeds once they have been set in order in their minds by punishment and the fear of them, choose the good, having come to learn how much they have sinned and that they have persevered in doing evil things and not good; by means of all this they receive a knowledge of religion's excellent teaching and are educated so as to hold on to it with a good will (and so eventually) they are held worthy of the felicity of divine munificence. For (Christ) would never have said ‘Until you pay the last farthing,’ unless it has been possible for us to be freed from our sins once we had recompensed for them through punishments. Nor would he have said ‘He will be beaten with many stripes’ and ‘he will be beaten with few stripes’ if it were not (the case) that the punishments measured out in correspondence to the sins were finally going to have an end.” (Theodore of Mopsuestia, Against those who say that sin is present by nature, quoted in Second Part, 39.8, of Isaac of Nineveh; https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/05/ancient-and-medieval-witnesses-of.html )

“Omnia… recapilulavit in Christo quasi quamdam compendiosam renovationem et adintegrationem totius faciens creaturæ per eum. Hoc autem in futuro sæculo erit quando homines cuncti necnon et rationabiles virtutes ad illum inspiciant, ut fas exigit, et concordiam inter se pacemque firmam obtineant” (Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Ephesians 1.10;   https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/05/ancient-and-medieval-witnesses-of.html  )

Translation via ChatGPT: "He brought all things together in Christ, effecting through Him, as it were, the comprehensive renewal and restoration of the whole creation. This, however, will come to pass in the age to come, when all human beings, together with the rational powers, shall look toward Him, as divine order requires, and shall enjoy mutual concord and enduring peace.”

Ilaria Ramelli translation: "God has recapitulated all beings in Christ . . . as though he made a renewal that epitomizes all, a restoration of the whole creation, through him. . . . This will come to pass in a future aeon, when all humanity and all powers endowed with reason will adhere to him, as is right, and will obtain mutual concord and stable peace."  (Theodore of Mopsuestia, Comm. in Ps. 3:11, Ilaria Ramelli translation; quoted in ‘A Larger Hope’, p. 142).

“the submission of a soul that is not sad, but joyous, is a submission [subiectio] that produces, not suffering, but salvation [salvatio]” (Theodore of Mopsuestia, Comm. in Ps. 3:11, Ilaria Ramelli translation; quoted in ‘A Larger Hope’, p. 142).

“In his own body Christ has realized the salvific economy for us. With the suffering of his own body he has provided the universal remission of sin and elimination of evils” (Theodore of Mopsuestia, Comm. in Ps. 40, Ilaria Ramelli translation; quoted in ‘A Larger Hope’, p. 142).

Theodoret of Cyrrhus (d. 457)

“That God may be all in all." Now God is everywhere from the ontological point of view, since God's substance is impossible to circumscribe, and "in Him we live, move, and exist," according to the divine apostle. But from the point of view of good will and delight, now God is not in all. For God delights in those who fear him, and in those who hope for his mercy. And even in these, God is not all now. For nobody is pure from contamination [...] thus, God rejoices in their good deeds, but not in their evil deeds. But in the future life, when corruption will cease, and immortality will be provided, passions will have no room. And when these have been utterly chased away, no kind of sin will be committed any longer. In this way God will finally be "all in all," for all will have been liberated from sin, and will have turned toward God, and will no more admit of any fall into evil.” (from Theodoret’s commentary on First Corinthians 15) (source:  https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/05/ancient-and-medieval-witnesses-of.html)

Part of the Greek text:

“...ἐν δὲ τῷ μέλλοντι βίῳ, τῆς φθορᾶς παυομένης, καὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας χορηγουμένης, χώραν οὐκ ἔχει τὰ πάθη· τούτων δὲ παντελῶς ἐξεληλαμένων, οὐδὲν εἶδος ἁμαρτίας ἐνεργεῖται λοιπόν. Οὕτως ἔσται λοιπὸν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσι, πάντων τοῦ πταίειν ἀπηλλαγμένων, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν τετραμμένων, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω οὐ δεχομένων ῥοπήν.”

“This will happen more precisely in the future life. For Paul taught as follows also in his letter to the Corinthians. Indeed, after saying, "the last enemy will be destroyed: death," and "he has subjected everything to his feet," he has finally stated: "That God may be all in all" I have already interpreted this passage more extensively, yet I shall say something briefly here too. In the present life, to be sure, God is in all, insofar as his substance is impossible to circumscribe, but God is not "all in all," because some are impious, and some are transgressors, whereas God dwells in those who fear him, and in those who hope for his mercy. But in the future life, when mortality will pass away, and immortality will be provided, and sin will have no more room, God will be "all in all."” (from Theodoret’s commentary on the Ephesians)  (source:  https://ancientafterlifebelifs.blogspot.com/2026/05/ancient-and-medieval-witnesses-of.html)

“Τοῦτο δὲ ἀκριβέστερον κατὰ τὸν μέλλοντα βίον γενήσεται. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ Κορινθίοις ἐπιστέλλων ἐδίδαξεν. Εἰπὼν γάρ· »Ἔσχατος ἐχθρὸς καταργεῖται ὁ θάνατος·» καὶ, ὅτι «Πάντα ὑπέταξεν ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ·» τελευταῖον τέθεικεν· «Ἵνα ᾖ ὁ Θεὸς τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσι.» Καὶ ἐκεῖνα μὲν διὰ πλειόνων ἡρμηνεύσαμεν, ἐροῦμεν δὲ καὶ ἐνταῦθα συντόμως, ὅτι κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον ἐν πᾶσι μὲν ἔστιν ὁ Θεός· ἀπερίγραπτον γὰρ ἔχει τὴν φύσιν· οὐ πάντα δὲ ἐν πᾶσι, ἐπειδὴ οἱ μὲν δυσσεβοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ παρανομοῦσι· οἰκεῖ δὲ ἐν τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτὸν, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐλπίζουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ. Ἐν δέ γε τῷ μέλλοντι βίῳ, τῆς θνητότητος παυομένης, καὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας χορηγουμένης, καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας οὐκ ἔτι χώραν ἐχούσης, πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν ἔσται.”