Could it be that some of the
Fathers accepted the concept of restoration [αποκαταστασιν] from this point onward, saying that sinners are
punished only up to this time, but thereafter no longer, as if they have been
purified by the punishment? But what should be done regarding the many others
among the Fathers, and the approved Scriptures, which speak of the punishments
of those who were then being punished as eternal? What then might one say, or
how should one regulate the parts? One must blend the opinions of both sides. I
say this as in a kind of exercise, and not as a definitive statement; for I add
to the doctrine of the Church that which wishes the punishments in the future
to be eternal, since even this was said by the Lord in the Gospel according to
Matthew, saying, “And these will go away into eternal punishment” (Matt. 25:46);
and Isaiah said, “Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched.”
(Isa. 66:24) As in an exercise, therefore, this must be said: a middle portion
of each part of the path is to be marked out, because until a certain time—five
months, as the present Revelation, having employed a certain secret number,
has said—the sinners will be severely tormented as if stung by a scorpion;
but after his, gradually, although we will not be entirely free from punishment,
it will be to such an extent that we will seek death and not find it. For
who would have a need to seek death for those who are not punished at all? Death,
he says, will flee from them, for they share in punishment eternally. (Commentary
on Revelation by Oecumenius [trans. John Litteral; 2026], 112-13)
