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This text is based on the doctoral thesis of Mrs. Raluca Mocean Pleșa. We have aimed to show that the most profound spiritual assumption of the antinomy of hell is the one to be found in the words of the cobbler of Alexandria: “May they all be saved. I alone deserve damnation”. This unlimitedly opens up the perspective of hope in the salvation of everybody, hope which lies at the foundation of that perfect work of the saints: prayer for universal salvation. At the same time, it has us face the direst possibility of our own perdition. The way out of the infernal experience was revealed by God to St. Silouan: “Keep your mind in hell and despair not.” In such a state, the soul which loses any reliance on itself plunges into God’s love inferno. Only this antinomy of inferno, or universal restoration (which we have tried to underline throughout this paper), makes possible complete love and covers all of its extremes. Only it unites in unbreakable fashion the mystery of man and the mystery of God, the mystery of human freedom and the mystery of divine love, affirmed in one another and never defeated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

God's judgment with eternal effects contains a great mystery. The mystery of the autonomous man, who desires to rule himself, according to his own laws, is that he can stand eternally before the many signs of God's love and before the most terrible sufferings, and yet challenge God to the end, not to try the solution of overcoming them by accepting communion with Him. And the great mystery is that God does not destroy man for the refusal of communion, although he despises his eternal repentance and refusal, but respects man forever for both existence and freedom. Based on biblical, historical, and logical arguments, we have found that the universal salvation postulated by some contemporary theologians is not a sound theory. Even if universalism were doctrinally supported by Holy Scripture, which is not the case anyway, and even if solid theological and philosophical arguments supported it, universalism could still not be the official public teaching of the Church, for it would conflict with the moral, spiritual and missionary foundations of the institution. Regardless of the approach, most arguments converge towards a single solution: universal salvation is not possible for all people, given the magnitude of human freedom and responsibility, which has consequences in eternity. At the same time, however, we can hope with sufficient reason that the number of those who will reject God forever will be very small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]