2

of humility in the Rule of St Benedict, where ‘a person not only admits with his tongue, but is also convinced in his hearth, that he is inferior to all’). Isaac’ s teaching on the immensity and limitless nature of divine love inevitably involves him in having to come to some understanding of what he calls ‘the difficult matter of Gehenna (Hell)’. How is the concept of an eternal Gehenna compatible with t hat of a God who ‘is love’ ( I John 4:16). In the First Part of his Discourses Isaac only gives some passi ng hin ts of his t entat ive t hought s on t he mat ter; thus in Di scour se 26 he say s, beginn ing w ith a quotat ion f rom E vagri us: ‘Sin, hell and death do not at all exist with God, for they are events, not persons’. There will be a time when sin w ill not exist. Gehenna is the fr uit of sin; it had a beginn ing i n tim e, but its end is not kn own. It was only with the publication (in 1995) of much of the Second Part that Isaac’s more detailed thoughts on the matter became known, for in the final chapters he returns to the subject. Here it will be best for t he most part to allow St Isaac to speak in his own words. First of all, in chapter 38 he provides his starting point, thus preparing the reader for what is to follow: 1. What profundity of richness, what mind and exalted wisdom is God's! What compassionate kindness and abundant goodness belongs to the Creator! With what purpose and with what love did He create this world and bring it into existence! What a mys tery does t he coming into being of t his creation look towards! T o what a state is (our) common nature invited! What love served to i nitiate the creation of t he world! This same love which initiated the act of creation prepared beforehand by another dispensation the things appropriate to adorn (the world's) majesty which sprung forth as a result of the might of His love. 2. In love did He bring the world i nto exist ence; in love does He guide it during this its t emporal existence; in love is He going to bring it to that wondrous transformed state, and in love will the world be swallowed up in the great mystery of Him who has per formed all these things; in love will the whole course of the governance of creation be finally comprised. And since in the New W orld the Creator's love rules over all rational nature, the wonder at His mysteries t hat will be revealed then will captivate to itself the intellect of rational beings whom He has created so that they might have delight in Him, whether they be evil or whether they be just. With this design did He bring them into existence, even though they, among themselves have made, after their coming into being, this distinction between the jus t and the wicked. Even though this is so, nevertheless in the Creator's design there is none, from among all who were