Notions of hell and purgatory

I think it's fixed in the sense that it is the outcome of one's fixed personality, which is itself the result of earlier (free) choices. The time when one could still choose was earlier, as it were. On the other hand, the Orthodox Church holds (much more sensibly in my opinion) that humans retain their liberty even in eternity, and that it is possible for those in Hell to come to accept Christ's love, and be saved. On this ground, the Orthodox defend their liturgy, which, at one point in the liturgical calendar includes a prayer for those in Hell. Orthodoxy rejects the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, but the notion that the Damned can ultimately escape Hell makes Hell rather equivalent to Purgatory. In Orthodoxy, Heaven and Hell are not separate destinations, but two different reactions to the full revelation of Christ's love - which is experienced as joy by the blessed, but as torment by those who reject Christ's love. Orthodox Christians must tread a fine line. The official position is that all might be saved, rather than that all (definitely) will be saved. However, eternity is a long time, and it is difficult to see how any human being could maintain a fixed personality literally forever. In practice, therefore, the doctrine seems to me to be scarcely distinguishable from universal salvation; and I have heard Orthodox theologians, including David Bentley Hart, happily embrace this conclusion. (See link below, though it's a long lecture.) I suppose for Hindus and Buddhists we are all in Purgatory right now. A certain proportion of the infinite souls (or life processes) will be saved, a certain proportion will never be saved. The latter correspond to the damned. (https site) David Bentley Hart - 'is Everyone Saved?' Youtube [@nonymouse] [Guardster] [Proxify] [Anonimisierungsdienst]