MSJ 9:2 (Fall 98) p. 132 As regards the fate of the wicked …, the general view was that their punishment would be eternal, without any possibility of remission.10 Everlasting punishment of the wicked always was … the orthodox theory.11 The punishment inflicted upon the lost was regarded by the Fathers of the Ancient Church, with very few exceptions, as endless.12 The major exception to this doctrinal unanimity in the early church, was Origen (ca. 185–254) in De Principiis. Gregory of Nazianzus (ca.