Sympathy for the devil?

We’ve been considering the transfiguration of fallen things.  A sort of transfiguration of the fallen world, which is to say the perfection of the world, would be Heaven.  A similar transfiguration of a person reveals the Saint they were created to be. 

What about satan?

That old devil is a complicated figure in our post-modern times.  The Rolling Stones had “sympathy for the devil.”  While reading Paradise Lost in prison, Maxlom X likewise found a soft spot for the pointy-tailed fiend.  And there’s a scandalous (existentialist?) poem in which Satan and God are depicted not as enemies but as ancient co-workers who, at the end of time, exit stage left, arm in arm (we can’t actually find the poem off hand – much obliged if a reader can point us to it).   

Here's the thing – these depictions endeavor to come off as “enlightened” (a fine deacon of ours referred to this aspect of the enlightenment as “endarkenment”).  In reality, these portrayals are propaganda (fake news, false flags, disinformation. media manipulation) in the service of the enemy.

Satan is hopelessly condemned.  The Church, based on scripture, teaches that satan’s choice to renounce God is irrevocable.

There is no way to “transfigure” satan – because the transfiguration reveals concealed light.   There is no light in satan – only darkness – only the complete absence of God.

And here’s where this stops being a philosophical discussion of “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin and not fall off and be eternally condemned to the hot-and-muggy place” (or something like that).  Many people wish that satan wasn’t real, or that he’s no longer in hell, or that he’ll eventually get a “get out of jail free pass,” or that there never really was a hell, because they don’t want anyone else to be there.  They can’t abide a loving God who would cast people into eternal suffering.

It's understandable.  What sort of God casts people into never-ending fire; fire that burns but never consumes?

Here we affirm the understanding that God condemns no one to hell.  People condemn themselves by their free will.  If we live a life of self, and denial of God, when the time comes that we are face to face with Him – we may not recognize Him.  We might prefer ourself to Him.

C.S. Lewis (amongst others) observes that when “the rich man” is condemned to hell, his request is for Lazarus to cool his tongue with water (Luke 16:19-31).  Note that he does not plead “get me out of here!”  He doesn’t want to leave.  He just wants to be more comfortable where he is.  Or, as St. John Damascene bluntly puts it, “There is no repentance for the angels after the fall, just as there is no repentance for man after death.”

Bottom line, there is no transfigured version of satan.  He is pure evil and not to be trifled with (that is why we pray in the Our Father, “deliver us from evil” – which we can rightly hear as “protect us from the evil one.”)  At every instance we must battle him and the fallen world that is his dominion.

Stepping back into the light – no one knows, other than God, who ultimately chooses hell over heaven.  And so we pray with great hope for salvation of all souls, “especially those most in need of thy mercy (like me).”

Blessings on your journey with Christ –

Steve and Karen Smith

Interior Life