Now consider that God, Who made us and breathed life into us, has given to each soul a particular way of life and appointed for each a different quietus. Because for some He has arranged that they remain in the body for a greater length of time, while others, according to the undisclosed workings of His wisdom and justice, He releases swiftly from the bonds of the body. Just as with those who are thrown into prison. Some remain locked up in gaol and tormented for a long period of time, while others are quickly set free from hardship. It is the same with souls. Some are kept alive for a long time, others for less, depending on the worth of each. For God Who made us in wisdom and in our depths, deeper than the human mind can reach, foresees everything which concerns each one of us.    – St. Basil the Great

It is for God alone to justify and to condemn, He Who knows the circumstances and the potential, the reversals and the gifts, the temperament and the skills and Who judges each as He alone knows. For God judges differently the sins of the Bishop and those of the eminent citizen; those of the abbot and the school-child differently; those of the old man and the youth differently; those of the sick and those of the healthy differently. And who can know all the judgements of God, save He alone, Who made all things and knows all things! — Abba Dorotheus