:::We can escape now. While we can, let us lift ourselves from the fall: let us never despair of ourselves, if only we depart from evil. -St. Basil-To a Fallen Virgin
Sounds to me like St. Basil believed in hell.:::
Sounds to me that St. Basil believe that men can escape hell, too - by reaching out for God’s Grace. St. Basil is saying that it is men’s choice to depart from evil. I don’t think that this reads very well as Calvinist support.
Sure. As I have often stated, the eastern fathers were synergists. I would expect St. Basil to believe that men can escape from hell. I used St. Basil to show that the eastern fathers believed in a hell that was separate-not in the free will of man. You won't get any argument from me on that point.
It is my contention the western fathers were not synergists for the most part. Instead, the majority of them were monergists. Their doctrine became corrupted.