International Journal of Orthodox Theology 9:4 (2018) urn:nbn:de:0276-2018-4025 9 Prof. Dr. Paul Gavrilyuk, Aquinas Chair in Theology and Philosophy Theology Department, University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA Paul L. Gavrilyuk The problem of Evil: Ancient Answers and Modern Discontents Abstract This essay contrasts the beliefs and existential attitudes that shaped the approach to the problem of evil in antiquity with those of our own time. In early Christian theology, the patris- tic authors affirmed that evil is caused by the misuse of creaturely free will, and that God does not cause evil but permits and draws good out of suffe- ring, seen especially in the narrative context of salvation history. A number of significant changes of beliefs and attitudes have taken place in modernity, such as a shift of focus to the dilemma of undeserved suffe- ring rather than metaphysical accounts of the origin of evil, and a