REWARD AND PUNISHMENT

"The divine apostle has declared to us that one and the same is the judgment that is decreed for murderers, for slanderers, for the wanton, and for adulterers. None of these, he says shall possess the kingdom of heaven (1 Cor VI:10). And equally shall all these in the time of judgment be deprived of their eternal inheritance."

St. Ephraim

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God will allow persecution from the Antichrist not because He cannot stop it, but because He desires, as usual, His strugglers to be crowned and, for this reason, the reverent ones among the living will be taken up into the clouds, receiving as a reward of honor that which is higher than any man.

St. Cyril

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(08-02-10)