Paradise

“…the first man to enter Paradise was the repentant thief (cf. Luke 23:42–43).” (Rev. Dr. Oliver Subotic)

“I wanted to share this story told by St. Paisius, to show how even scandalous sin does not cost someone salvation, if they are repentant and longing to be free from sin, and longing to be near God. Gosh I wish I could find the original for this story, but this is how I remember it going. He said that there was a monk at his monastery who got drunk every day. He drank vodka, many glasses, and was visibly inebriated. Naturally, this distressed pilgrims to the monastery. But Paisios learned, in talking with the monk, that when he was a baby there were raids by Turks to kidnap Christian boys and raise them as slaves. When his parents went out in the fields to work, they would take him along, and put vodka in his bottle to keep him quiet. Thus this child grew up drinking every day. Paisios asked him how many glasses he drank each day, and he said about 20. So Paisios said, could you cut it back a little? One glass less, and then another, as time went by? And so that is what the monk did. When he died, he was still getting drunk every day. But he had cut back on the number of glasses bit by bit, gaining a partial victory, an offering to God, the best he could give. Can you see that God would not be wrathful at that monk? It’s not about sins as specific, discrete bad deeds. It’s about our attitude toward God. The road to Paradise is repentance; every sin can be forgiven, if you truly repent.” (Frederica Mathewes-Green)

“God, for whom there are no unforgivable sins, is Good and Merciful. But He expects from us self-denial, the absolute and uncompromising abandonment of ungodly thoughts and deeds. Self-justification and false shame devalue repentance, making us like Adam, who blamed God for his fall. God-pleasing repentance does not fear temporary shame. On the contrary, it prefers it to the eternal shame from which there will be no salvation—forever. Sincere and honest repentance can work miracles, heal the old wounds of the soul, make a person like the wise thief, and lead him into paradise along with the righteous who have pleased God through repentance.” (Hieromonk Roman Kropotov)

“I believe in redemption. I believe that even the most broken soul should have the opportunity to draw near to the Lord and have their life saved. I think of our Lord on the cross and telling the repentant thief that they would be together in paradise. I truly believe that there will be a paradise in eternity with the Lord. And that as is often said, the heavens rejoice more for one repentant sinner than for all the good that those who are saved do. This speaks to the infinite love and mercy extended to us and how we should all work to bring others to the kingdom of God. Even until their last breath.” (Jackie Morfesis)

“The Lord did not create humans to be slaves serving the needs of Paradise. Rather Paradise was created to house and provide for humans. God did not choose to save Paradise after expelling the humans from it. God came into the world to save people. People are more awesome to God than Paradise. They should be more awesome to us as well. That is what it means to be pro-life. We may want to reach heaven, but we are commanded to love humans.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh) 

“Paradise is the place where God dwells. After the creation of humanity, they were brought into Paradise to dwell with God and with the already created spiritual beings. Humanity was meant to grow to maturity and then depart from Paradise, bringing Paradise, the presence of God Himself, with them in order to transform the whole creation into Eden. Instead, by partaking of the knowledge of good and evil, humanity became subject to corruption and ultimately death…The first humans were expelled from Paradise not because of their sin and uncleanness alone but because for them to live eternally in that state would have made them like the demons, unable to repent (Gen. 3:22–24).” (Fr. Stephen De Young)

“…hell and Paradise begin and grow already here on earth, in the human hearts. God and the devil are in a battle for authority over these hearts. At the same time, each one of us consciously and voluntarily takes sides, “planting” and “cultivating” either hell or Paradise, or both alternately. Ultimately, every person brings himself to a state of either Paradise or hell here on earth, voluntarily joining the ranks of either the disciples or the enemies of Christ. In effect, by their seeds, shoots, stalks, and first fruits, Paradise and hell are here in earthly life, while in the afterlife are only the final, sublime fruits.” (Priest Tarasiy Borozenets)

“Many of us enjoy the wonders of God’s creation….One can only imagine how glorious Paradise must have been. And yet…God loves the saints, His human creatures, more than He loves the glory of Paradise. That is something for those of us who long for Paradise to think about – if we want to be godlike,  we too should be looking for the saints in this world, rather than for the glories of Paradise. We have to teach ourselves to look hard for the image of God in each person and to realize they each are more valuable to God than nature which we often love more than other people. Sometimes we even go out into nature to get away from other people. God, for His part, is always looking for His saints in the world. God does not look for Paradise in this world. Adam and Eve were the only humans to see Paradise.  We are to be looking for people rather than Paradise.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh) 

“Every bit of nature there was subservient to the personal communion of Christ with Adam and Eve… In Paradise before the Fall it was that way…Only after the Fall and our expulsion from Paradise does our world become an impersonal one, where we often wrestle with nature, battle over resources, or even consider creation to be more important than God.” (Timothy G. Patitsas)

“There is always something new and unexplored in God. With God, there is neither boredom nor dullness. It is like a meeting of the two in love, always filled with unforgettable things that nourish the heart so that the day is gone as if in a heartbeat, as if time doesn’t exist in the presence of the loved one. In the same way, life in Paradise, which is the communion of a loved one with the Loving One—that is, of man and God—will never make anyone weary…God is an incomprehensible energy. Man also has incomprehensible energy. When these two energies are in harmony, we have paradise on earth, joy, and all-encompassing love.” (Priest Valery Dukhanin, Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica)

“God places man in a garden of paradise “to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15), honoring him with the gift of free will…“He desired that man might belong to Him as the result of his choice.” Our freedom is a gift, for where there is no choice there can be no love. Love and free choice partake of an interpersonal truth….God gave man a commandment so that he would have “material for his free will to act upon. This law was a commandment as to what plants he might partake of, and which one he might not touch…Not however, because it was evil…It would have been good if partaken of at the proper time, for the tree was…contemplation, upon which it is only safe for those who have reached maturity of habit to enter, but which is not good for those who are still somewhat simple and greedy in their habit.” (Saint Gregory the Theologian, Dynamis 3/18/2021)

“Paradise is the place where God dwells. After the creation of humanity, they were brought into Paradise to dwell with God and with the already created spiritual beings. Humanity was meant to grow to maturity and then depart from Paradise bringing Paradise, the presence of God himself, with Him in order to transform the whole creation into Eden. Instead, by partaking of the knowledge of good and evil, humanity became subject to corruption and ultimately death. The first humans were expelled from Paradise, not because of their sin and uncleanness alone, but because for them to live eternally in that state would have made them like the demons, unable to repent (Gen 3:22-24). Rather than bringing Paradise with them, they brought their corruption with them and lived in difficulty within this present world.” (Father Stephen De Young)

“Our home country is the paradise from which we have fallen. We are forbidden to return to it. When we come to know Jesus, we can return along the way by which he returned. We left our paradise by our pride and disobedience, by overvaluing visible things, by succumbing to the tasting of forbidden fruit. We now can return only by weeping and obedience, rejecting visible things, and by curbing our bodily appetites.” (St. Gregory the Great)

“Christ’s experience of human suffering, of taking all our sins onto Himself, breaks through the “Catch 22” of trying to find our way back to a Paradise we have never known. Neither the season of Lent nor any part of the Christian life is about groping around for a Paradise that we cannot see, cannot touch, cannot know and wouldn’t know how to recognize if we came upon it. No, it is about connecting with Jesus Christ.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)

“The name of God is real. His name is sweet. It dwells within me and burns with Divine fire. It is a treasure given to me in my Baptism. It causes demons to flee and calms the wind and waves. It heals the sick and brings hope to all. It opens the gates of paradise. But this is true of the Name-in-communion and not as an object-in-separation. Veneration is the primary means that brings us into true communion. It is love-extended-towards-the-other. It finds a huge variety of forms in the life of devotion – love is very creative in its expression. That God has given us His name is itself a revelation of the Incarnation. “Jesus” is a very human name, nothing other than the name “Joshua.” It was probably a common name. It still is. But it is also The Name when spoken by the heart of love. Above all names it bears the Savior and He deigns even to dwell on our lips.” (Father Stephen Freeman)

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