Hi jforrester!
I unfortunatly can't give you a full account on the writings of the fathers and such, because even after 13 years of being Orthodox, I am still learning. I am going to ask my spiritual father this question and see how he responds.
On another note, I was reading a \"parable\" once I believe from Elder Cleopa, about how a saint when walking through the woods saw an angel go into someone's house and when he came out he threw out a beautiful silver platter into a lake. Then the angel went into the next house and strangled a young boy to death. Before the angel could leave, the very appalled saint asked, \"Why did you do these cruel things?!\"
The angel replied, \"In the first house I took the platter which the owner loved more the God, so to save him from greed I threw it into the lake, to save his soul.\"
\"And the other?\" The saint asked.
\"The other I strangled because he would have become a murderer of his own parents had he lived another year, so I took him while he was still pure to save his soul, before it would have become corrupted.\"
I tell you this to assure you that God sometimes allows things, so that our eternal souls may be saved, even though we might find them to be cruel in some way. But we have to be humble and understand that we are not God.
Forgive me a sinner for not having more historical and theological information, but know I am trying to get some from a more enlightened person!
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