By Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Mani
Denial, apostasy from God, and the violation of the divine commandments demonstrably bring about painful ends to the lives of unrepentant sinful people.
Let us mention some cases:
In the first book of Genesis, we have the case of Cain, who killed his brother Abel. The text writes concerning his punishment: “And now you are cursed from the earth… groaning and trembling you shall be” (Gen. 4:11–12). God says: You will be cursed and as a stranger from this land after your criminal behavior toward your brother, and you will be continually in a state of groaning and fear, and as one pursued you will wander upon the earth.
Another case we find in the time of Noah, where people were “inclined toward evil all the days” (Gen. 6:5). They had literally acquired a carnal mindset. The text writes: “And the Lord God said: My Spirit shall not remain in these men forever, because they are flesh” (Gen. 6:3). The phrase “because they are flesh” is terrible and expresses precisely the wholly carnal mindset of those people. And the punishment came with the flood (Gen. 7:10–24).
Later, the great sins of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, their complete licentiousness, brought about their destruction despite its forewarning. “And the Lord said: the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has been multiplied before Me, and their sins are exceedingly great… and the Lord rained brimstone and fire from heaven and destroyed these cities and all the surrounding region and all who dwelt in the cities and what sprang from the earth” (Gen. 18:20 and 19:24–25). And furthermore, although the angel had told Lot and the three women not to turn their heads back to look at the destruction but to depart immediately, the wife of Lot disobeyed the divine command out of curiosity and turned her head back, and immediately, of course, “she became a pillar of salt” (Gen. 19:26), that is, she was punished in this original and rare manner.
The two sons of the priest Eli, “sons of pestilence who did not know the Lord,” that is, they were wretched and evil and most impious within the temple and became a source of spiritual corruption (1 Kings [1 Samuel] 2:12). Nevertheless, despite the admonitions of their father, they were punished, and in the battle that took place “the ark of God was taken and both the sons of Eli died, Hophni and Phinehas” (1 Kings [1 Samuel] 4:11).
Then, that terrible king of Judea, Herod, slew by massacre all the children who were in Bethlehem and its surrounding regions from two years of age and under, lest among them might be the Divine Infant Jesus, and then there occurred “lamentation and weeping and great mourning” (Matt. 2:16–18). But Herod afterward had a miserable end. As Saint Athanasios the Great reports, he died after suffering nine incurable afflictions, which the Holy Father records in great detail, concluding his description with the phrase: “all his members were torn apart, because he himself had torn apart all the children that were in Bethlehem. By the measure with which one measures, with that he is justly measured in return from heaven” (Athanasios of Alexandria, from his commentary on Matthew, "On the nine incurable sufferings of the death of Herod," PG 26, 1252).
Later, Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus Christ, also had a bad end, since “having gone away, he hanged himself.” After the betrayal of the divine Teacher, he departed in despair and, having thrown away the thirty pieces of silver he had received, went and hanged himself. What an end!
Let us also mention that great heresiarch, Arius — the blasphemer of the Son and Word of God — who likewise had, as is known, a horrible death in Constantinople.
All these things we must not forget, especially in our critical times, since the biblical word always holds true: “Those who distance themselves from You shall perish” (Ps. 72:27), and “the ends of an unjust generation are grievous” (Wisdom of Solomon 3:19), which means that the spiritual laws always operate in all times.
For this reason, how exceedingly striking are the words: “Call no one blessed before the end,” of the Athenian lawgiver Solon, and the biblical saying “the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord,” of Solomon.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
