Fr. Constantin Galeriu (d. Aug. 10, 2003): On the suffering of those unable to love
The profound need of our being and our existence is the need for dialogue, for communion, especially with Him Who is the absolute point of support for us.
And what is hell? Dostoevsky understands it as "the suffering of those who are unable to love" (Brothers Karamazov). I think this also refers to respecting their freedom. St. Isaac the Syrian says: "Don't think that sinners in hell are deprived of the love of God, but this love works in different ways."
Between us, I think that the people who talk the most about love are exactly those who don't understand it. Very few understand what love means in its divine nature! St. Isaac the Syrian continues: "There is love in hell too; in those who love, it works in the spirit of communion; but in those who don't, it burns like a flame."
Speaking of such flames of love - a Romanian proverb confirms the Saint's words: "The biggest revenge is when your enemy is forced to admit that you are good and he is evil." This can burn such people so much that they won't be able to bear even their friends' love; this happens because of the mystery of vainglory.
Think of the eldest son in the parable of the prodigal son or the Pharisee in the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee, and you will notice that these were righteous people, and they were considering themselves righteous, as Job's three friends were doing too. And we see how these types of people fall, each according to their kind. The eldest son doesn't want to enter the Father's house, the Pharisee doesn't return from the temple justified before God, while Job has to pray for his friends.
This reveals to us the secret depths of evil - the evil that is closed up in itself, centered in its "aseity" (Translator's Note: Aseity, from Latin a "from" and se "self", plus -ity, is the property by which a being exists of and from itself. It refers to the Christian belief that God does not depend on any cause other than himself for his existence, realization, or end, and has within himself his own reason of existence. This represents God as absolutely independent and self-existent by nature.)
This inner self-sufficiency throws such people into separation and isolation from God and other people.
From: Father Constantin Galeriu, “Evening dialogues”, Harisma Press, Bucharest, 1991