“I also maintain that those who are
punished in Gehenna are scourged by the scourge of love. Nay, what is so
bitter and vehement as the torment of love? I mean that those who have
become conscious that they have sinned against love suffer greater
torment from this than from any fear of punishment. For the sorrow
caused in the heart by sin against love is more poignant than any
torment. It would be improper for a man to think that sinners in Gehenna
are deprived of the love of God. Love is the offspring of knowledge of
the truth which, as is commonly confessed, is given to all. The power
of Love works in two ways: it torments sinners, even as happens here
when a friend suffers from a friend; but it becomes a source of joy for
those who have observed its duties. Thus I say that this is the torment
of Gehenna: bitter regret. But love inebriates the souls of the sons of
Heaven by its delectability.”
- St. Isaac the Syrian, The Ascetical Homilies, xlvii – xlviii
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