Death And Evil

Theodorus: Nonnumquam solet Scriptura divina abusive mala pro afflictionibus ponere, non quia per naturam proprie mala sint, sed secundum hoc quod ab his sentiantur mala quibus utiliter inferuntur. Hominibus etenim disputans divina censura, necesse est ut humanis verbis et affectibus eloquatur. Etenim sectio vel ustio salutaris quae iliis qui ulcerum contagione putrefacti sunt pie infertur a medico, mala a tolerantibus creditur; nec equo calcar, nec emendatio suavis est delinquenti. Omnes etiam disciplinae his qui erudiuntur amarae sentiuntur ad praeseus, sicut Apostolus dicit: 'Omnis autem disciplina in praesenti non videtur esse gaudii sed moeroris; postea autem fructum pacatissimum his qui per se exercitati sunt reddet justitiae.' Et 'quem diligt Dominus, corripit; flagellat autem omnem filium quem recipit. Quis enim est filius quem non corripit Pater? Itaque mala nonnumquam poni pro afflictionibus solent, secundum illud: 'Et poenituit Deum super malitiam quam locutus est ut faceret eis, et non fecit'. Et iterum: 'Quia tu, Domine, misericors et poenitens in malitiis', id est, super tribulationibus et aerumnis quae nobis pro peccatorum nostrorum meritis inferre compelleris. Quas sciens utiles esse nonnullis, ita alius propheta, utique non invidens saluti eorum, sed consulens imprecatur: 'Adde illis mala, Domine, adde mala gloriosis terrae.' Et ipse Dominus,'Ecce', inquit, 'inducam super eos mala,' id est dolores ac vastitates, quibus in praesenti salubriter castigati ad me, quem in rebus prosperis contempserunt, reverti tandem ac festinare cogantur. Ideoque haec principalia esse mala non possumus definire, multis enim ad bonum proficiunt, et causas aeternorum pariunt gaudiorum. Et idcirco ut ad queastionem propositam recurramus, universa quae putantur mala nobis ab inimicis vel a quibuscumque aliis irrogari, non sunt credenda mala esse, sed media. Non enim talia invenientur qualia putat esse ille qui intulit animo furibundo, sed qualia senserit qui sustinet. Ideoque cum illata fuerit mors viro sancto, non ei malum illatum esse credendum est, sed modium quiddam. Quod cum peccatori malum sit, justo requies et absolutio fit malorum.'Mors enim viro justo requies, cujus vita abscondita est.' Et ideo nec vir justus ex hac aliquid perpetitur detrimenti qui nihil pertulit novi; sed id quod ei accessurum fuerat necessitate naturae, inimici nequitia non sine praemio vitae perennis excepit, ac debitum mortis humanae, quod inexcusabili lege reddendum est, cum fructu uberrimo passionis ac magnae remunerationis mercede persolvit.  Sanctus Ioannes Cassianus, Collationes, Col VI, Cap VI.

Theodore: Sometimes Holy Scripture is accustomed to use 'evils' for 'afflictions' not that these are in their nature evils, but because they are felt to be evils by those on whom they are usefully brought. For when Divine judgment is disputing with men it must speak in the words and affections of men. For the sake of health cuts and cauterisations are inflicted on those who suffer infected ulcers by the physician, but it is thought evil by those who bear it; nor is the spur sweet to the horse nor correction to those who go astray. Indeed all discipline is felt to be a bitter thing at that moment to those who are corrected, as the Apostle says: 'All discipline for the present indeed seems not to be joy but sorrow; but after it will yield to them that are exercised by it the most peaceable fruit of righteousness,'1 and "Whom the Lord loves He corrects, and He scourges every son whom He receives'2 for what son is there whom the father does not correct? Thus evils are sometimes accustomed to stand for afflictions, according to which: 'And God repented of the evil which He had said that He would do to them and He did not do it.' 3 And again: 'For You, Lord, are gracious and merciful, patient and very merciful and ready to repent of evil,' 4 that is, of the tribulations and distress which You are obliged to bring upon us as the reward of our sins. And knowing that these are useful to some, another Prophet, certainly not through envy of their security, but for their good, imprecates: 'Add evils to them, O Lord, add evils to the glorious ones of the earth;'5 and the Lord Himself says 'Behold, I will bring evils upon them,' that is, sorrows and losses, with which they shall for the present be chastened for their soul's health by Me, whom in their prosperity they scorned, and so they shall be at last be driven to return and hasten back to Me. And so that these things are originally evil we cannot possibly assert, for they contribute to the good of many and prepare the causes of eternal joy. And therefore, returning to the question raised, everything which is thought to be brought upon us as evils by our enemies or by any other people, should not be adjudged evils, but as things indifferent. For in the end such things will not be what he thinks who imposed them with raging spirit, but what he makes of them who endures them. And so when death has been brought upon a holy man, we should not judge that an evil has struck him but a thing indifferent. That which is an evil to a sinner, while to the righteous it is rest and gives release from evils. 'For death is rest to a righteous man whose life is hidden.'7 And so a righteous man does not suffer any loss from it, because he undergoes nothing strange, but he  receives by the crime of an enemy, and not without the reward of eternal life, that which would have happened to him in the course of nature, and  he pays the debt of man's death, which must be rendered by an unavoidable law, with the most rich fruit of  passion, and with a great reward he is remunerated. Saint John Cassian, Conferences, Conference 6, Ch 6. 1 Heb 12.11  2 Heb 12.6  3 Jer 26.13 4. Joel 2.13 5 Is 26.15 (LXX) 6 Jer 11.11 7 Job 3.