The Wise Man: Well, concerning their life and their wealth, you have told me the truth; but concerning their souls, how do you reckon them to be, and how do they fare in that world without end? Above all, I want you to answer me on this without lying.
The World: I will answer you now according to your own reckoning — that is, as you yourselves think — that the good are the heirs of paradise, and the wicked, of hell. Know then that, if this is so, more are found in hell than in paradise.
Here the World changes her tone. Until now she spoke like a trickster caught red-handed, forced to admit the emptiness of her own gifts. Now she speaks like a witness called to testify about something beyond her — and this is exactly why she asks for latitude: „according to your own reckoning,” that is, according to the faith of Christians, not according to any knowledge of her own about eternal things. This is a mark of Cantemir’s spiritual skill: the World can speak of paradise and hell only by borrowing the Church’s own language, for beyond death her voice holds no power at all.
Her harsh word — „more are found in hell than in paradise” — is nothing new to a reader of Scripture. The Lord Himself said: „Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). A disciple asked Christ directly, „Lord, are there few who are saved?” and His answer was not a statistic but a command: „Strive to enter through the narrow gate” (Luke 13:23-24). The Lord’s word moves the question out of curiosity and into personal responsibility — not „how many are saved,” but „am I striving?”
St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this passage, says the same thing without softening it: many are called but few are chosen, not because God is sparing with mercy, but because man’s will is so easily seduced by what is broad and effortless. Yet he does not let the word fall into despair; he turns it toward watchfulness instead — the one who hears that many perish must not judge another, but examine himself, lest he too be found among the many.
St. Isaac the Syrian, for his part, sets beside this harsh word a hope no less true: God’s mercy overwhelms the sins of the whole world as a drop of water thrown into the sea, and He does not desire the death of the sinner, but that he turn and live (Ezekiel 33:11). The two words do not contradict one another: the narrowness of the gate shows man’s free responsibility, while the overwhelming of mercy shows the boundlessness of God, who waits at the gate until the very last hour. St. Silouan the Athonite carried this tension his whole life as a prayer: „Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not” — that is, take the World’s word with full seriousness, but do not let it extinguish your hope in Christ.
So today’s word from the World is not meant to terrify but to awaken. We are not asked to count those in hell, but to strive with ourselves, through repentance and watchfulness, not to be found among them.
