Apocatastasis
Encyclopedia
Apocatastasis is reconstitution, restitution, or restoration to the original or primordial condition.
The word is reasonably common in papyri
, particularly by Chrysippus
whose thinking was influenced by the theory of recurrence and cosmic cycles in Babylonian astronomical thought. The return (apokatastasis) of the planets and stars to their proper celestial signs, namely their original positions, would spark a conflagration of the universe (ekpyrosis
). The original position was believed to consist of an an alignment of celestial bodies with Cancer
. Thereafter, from fire, rebirth would commence, and this cycle of alternate destruction and recreation was correlated with a divine Logos
. Antapocatastasis is a a counter-recurrence when the stars and planets align with Capricorn, which would mark destruction by a universal flood. Origen of Alexandria correlated the Stoic's concept of the rebirth and reconstruction of the cosmos with the active guidance and sustenance of the Logos, which is taken to be an emanation of Zeus, when Zeus turns his thoughts outwards once more. In Origen's understanding, in Stoic
philosophy, the cosmos
is a physical expression of Zeus
' perfect thoughts and apocatastasis is the contraction when Zeus returns to self-contemplation. Leibniz explored both Stoic and his understanding of Origen's philosophy in two essays written shortly before his death, Apokatastasis and Apokatastasis panton (1715).
is the common Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuwb/shuv), as used in Malachi 4:2, the only use of the verb form of apocatastasis in the Septuagint. This is used in the "restoring" of the fortunes of Job, and is also used in the sense of rescue or return of captives, and in the restoration of Jerusalem.
This is similar to the concept of tikkun olam
in hassidic
Judaism
.
The word, apokatastasis, only appears once in the Bible in Acts 3:21. Peter heals a handicapped beggar and then addresses the astonished onlookers. His sermon sets Jesus in the Jewish context, the fulfiller of the Abrahamic Covenant
, and says:
Both these translations use "time" (singular) to translate "χρόνων" ("of times"). A strictly literal translation of the whole verse is:
Grammatically, the relative pronoun
"ὧν" ("of which", genitive plural
), could refer to "χρόνων" ("of times"), in which case the central phrase would mean "till a restitution of all times of which God spake", or to "πάντων" ("of all" or "of all things"), meaning "till times of a restitution of all things of which God spake". The examples given show that the phrase is usually understood, seeing "all (things) of which God spoke" as the nearest referent, to speak of a restitution of all things of which God spoke, not of all times of which God spoke.
The usual view taken of Peter's use of the "apokatastasis of all the things about which God spoke" is that it refers to the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel
and/or the Garden of Eden
and not "all things that ever existed".
The verbal form of apokatastasis is found in the Septuagint Malachi
3:23LXX (i.e. ), a prophecy of Elijah turning back the hearts of the children to their fathers; in ("he will restore all things"), echoing Malachi, and in ("that I may be restored to you the sooner").
Shortly before the phrase in Acts 3:21 comes, in or , the similar phrase, "times of refreshing", Nineteenth-century "Eckermann interprets the 'apocatastasis of all things' to mean the universal emendation of religion by the doctrine of Christ, and the 'times of refreshing' to be the day of renewal, the times of the Messiah."
, often listed as the most notable advocate of universal salvation did in fact teach or believe in such a doctrine.
Frederick W. Norris, in his article "Apokatastasis" in The Westminster Handbook to Origen (2004), states that the positions that Origen takes on the issue of universal salvation have often seemed to be contradictory. "In scattered places Origen says quite clearly that he thinks all created intelligence will be restored to God at the end of time. In other places he says, equally clearly, that only souls who make the choice for God and practice the virtues God demands will come to rest in heaven. Those who do not live for God shall suffer eternally in hell or perhaps be annihilated there. If in coming years Origen's treatise on the resurrection is rediscovered, this apparent contradiction may be settled." He concludes: "One could not know in advance which audience would be most likely to accept the gospel, because of the hope engendered by God's overpowering love or because of the fear stimulated by God's threat of hell coupled with God's demand for ethical living. Most audiences of hearers or readers include both groups; knowing this, Origen the pastoral preacher probably kept his view of salvation economically 'open' for a greater effectiveness."
Konstantinovsky (2009) states that the uses of apocatastasis in Christian writings prior to the Synod of Constantinople (543)
and the anathema
(553) pronounced against "Origenists" and Evagrius Ponticus
were neutral and referred primarily to concepts similar to the general "restoration of all things spoken" (restitutio omnium quae locutus est Deus) of Peter in Acts 3:21 and not for example the universal reconciliation
of all souls which had ever been. The term apocatastasis is not mentioned in the 553 anathema.
A form of apocatastasis was also attributed to Gregory of Nyssa
and possibly the Ambrosiaster
, attributed to Ambrose of Milan. Gregory of Nazianzus
discussed it without reaching a decision.
A local Synod of Constantinople (543)
condemned a form of apocatastasis as being Anathema
, and the Anathema was formally submitted to the Fifth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople
(553). Since apocatastasis had been used earlier in writers commenting on Peter's use in the New Testament, the form of apocatastasis condemned in 543 and 553 was a later development.
Origen of Alexandria's other teachings about the possibility of glorified man falling again also played a role in that condemnation. In fact, most historians today would recognize a distinction between Origen's own teachings (or at least those that have survived) and the theological positions of later "Origenists". Even beliefs long attributed to Origen himself, such as a Platonic version of souls existing before bodies, the possibility of a second fall, are found to be much more nuanced and difficult to pin down in Origen's own writings. The Anathema against apocatastasis, or more accurately, against the belief that hell is not eternal, was not ratified despite support from the Emperor, and it is absent from the Anathemas spoken against Origen at Constantinople II.
The Alexandrian school
adapted Platonic terminology and ideas to Christianity while explaining and differentiating the new faith from all the others. Proponents cited Biblical
passage in 1 Corinthians 15:28 ("When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.") in support.
180-350c contains the term itself but does not teach universal reconciliation:
(c.150 - c. 215) generally uses the term apokatastasis to refer to the "restoration" of the "gnostic" Christians, rather than that of the universe or of all Christians, but with universal implications.
As indicated above, the position of Origen
(186-284) is disputed, with works as recent as the New Westminster Dictionary of Church History presenting him as speculating that the apocatastasis would involve universal salvation.
In early Christian theological usage apocatastasis meant the ultimate restoration of all things to their original state, which early exponents believed would still entail a purgatorial state, Both Origen
and Gregory of Nyssa
hoped that all creatures would be saved. The word was still very flexible at that time, but in the mid-6th century it became virtually a technical term referring, as usually today, to a specifically Origenistic doctrine of universal salvation. Maximus the Confessor
outlined God's plan for "universal" salvation alongside warnings of everlasting punishment for the wicked.
Luther explicitly disowned belief that the devils would ultimately reach blessedness.
(1829), Thomas Whittemore
(1830), John Wesley Hanson
(1899) and George T. Knight
(1911), argued that belief in universal reconciliation was found in early Christianity
and in the Reformation
, and ascribed Universalist beliefs to Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and others.
, without necessarily attributing this understanding to Origen and other Fathers of the Church.
Stravinskas identifies apocatastasis with universalism or universal reconciliation, and some of the older sources do so also. But most writers do not simply identify apocatastasis with universal reconciliation
. González points out that a distinction exists, in that "it is possible to hold universalist views without believing that all of creation will return to its original state". And both Ludlow and McGarry state that the word apokatastasis is today usually understood as referring to one specific doctrine of universal salvation, not to all versions of universalism.
Etymology and definition
The Liddell and Scott Lexicon entry(with expansion of definitions and references), gives the following examples of usage:- ἀποκατάστᾰσις , εως, ἡ, restoration, re-establishment;
- “τοῦ ἐνδεοῦς” AristotleAristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
MMMagna MoraliaThe Magna Moralia is a treatise on ethics traditionally attributed to Aristotle, though the consensus now is that it represents an epitome of his ethical thought by a later, if sympathetic, writer. Several scholars have disagreed with this, taking the Magna Moralia to be an authentic work by...
, 1205a4; into its nature εἰς φύσιν id. 1204b 36, 1205b 11; - return to a position, EpicurusEpicurusEpicurus was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism.Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus's 300 written works...
, Epistolae, 1, p.8 U.; - especially of military formations, reversal of a movement, Asclepiodotus, Tacticus, 10.1, 10:6, etc.; :generally
- of all things “πάντων” ActsActs of the ApostlesThe Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
, 3.21; - of souls, Proclus, Institutio Theologica, 199.
- of the body back into its old form “τῆς φύσιος ἐς τὸ ἀρχαῖον” Aretaeus Medicus CD 1.5; recovery from sickness, SA 1.10;
- “τῶν ὁμήρων εἰς τὰς πατρίδας” PolybiusPolybiusPolybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
3.99.6; εἰς ἀ. ἐλθεῖν, into the restoration of the affairs of a city, 4.23.1;
- “τοῦ ἐνδεοῦς” Aristotle
- Astrological uses:
- ἀ. ἄστρων return of the stars to the same place in the heavens as in the former year, PlutarchPlutarchPlutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
2.937f, Diodorus SiculusDiodorus SiculusDiodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca...
12.36, etc.; - periodic return of the cosmic cycle, Stoicorum Veterum FragmentaStoicorum Veterum FragmentaStoicorum Veterum Fragmenta is a collection of fragments and testimonia of the earlier Stoics composed in 1903-1905 by Hans von Arnim. It includes the fragments and testimonia of Zeno of Citium, Chrysippus and their immediate followers...
2.184,190; - of a planet, return to a place in the heavens occupied at a former epoch, Antiochus Atheniensis Astrologus ap. Cat.Cod.Astr. 7.120,121; but, zodiacal revolution, Paulus Alexandrinus Astrologus Paul.Al.T.1; opposite: antapocatastasis ἀνταπ. (q. v.), Dorotheus Astrologus Doroth. ap. Cat.Cod.Astr.2.196.9;
- restoration of sun and moon after eclipse, PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
Axiochus370b.
- ἀ. ἄστρων return of the stars to the same place in the heavens as in the former year, Plutarch
The word is reasonably common in papyri
Stoicism
According to Edward Moore of St. Elias School of Orthodox Theology, Nebraska, Apokatastasis was first properly conceptualized in early Stoic thoughtStoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...
, particularly by Chrysippus
Chrysippus
Chrysippus of Soli was a Greek Stoic philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of Cleanthes in the Stoic school. When Cleanthes died, around 230 BC, Chrysippus became the third head of the school...
whose thinking was influenced by the theory of recurrence and cosmic cycles in Babylonian astronomical thought. The return (apokatastasis) of the planets and stars to their proper celestial signs, namely their original positions, would spark a conflagration of the universe (ekpyrosis
Ekpyrôsis
Ekpyrosis is a Stoic belief in the periodic destruction of the cosmos by a great conflagration every Great Year. The cosmos is then recreated only to be destroyed again at the end of the new cycle....
). The original position was believed to consist of an an alignment of celestial bodies with Cancer
Cancer (astrology)
Cancer is the fourth astrological sign in the Zodiac. It is considered a water sign and one of four cardinal signs. Cancer is ruled by the Moon. Individuals born when the Sun is in this sign are considered Cancerian individuals...
. Thereafter, from fire, rebirth would commence, and this cycle of alternate destruction and recreation was correlated with a divine Logos
Logos
' is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word," "speech," "account," "reason," it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus ' is an important term in...
. Antapocatastasis is a a counter-recurrence when the stars and planets align with Capricorn, which would mark destruction by a universal flood. Origen of Alexandria correlated the Stoic's concept of the rebirth and reconstruction of the cosmos with the active guidance and sustenance of the Logos, which is taken to be an emanation of Zeus, when Zeus turns his thoughts outwards once more. In Origen's understanding, in Stoic
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded in Athens by Zeno of Citium in the early . The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and that a sage, or person of "moral and intellectual perfection," would not suffer such emotions.Stoics were concerned...
philosophy, the cosmos
Cosmos
In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...
is a physical expression of Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
' perfect thoughts and apocatastasis is the contraction when Zeus returns to self-contemplation. Leibniz explored both Stoic and his understanding of Origen's philosophy in two essays written shortly before his death, Apokatastasis and Apokatastasis panton (1715).
Judaism
The concept of "restore" or "return" in the Hebrew BibleHebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
is the common Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuwb/shuv), as used in Malachi 4:2, the only use of the verb form of apocatastasis in the Septuagint. This is used in the "restoring" of the fortunes of Job, and is also used in the sense of rescue or return of captives, and in the restoration of Jerusalem.
This is similar to the concept of tikkun olam
Tikkun olam
Tikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period...
in hassidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
.
New Testament
Covenant (biblical)
A biblical covenant is an agreement found in the Bible between God and His people in which God makes specific promises and demands. It is the customary word used to translate the Hebrew word berith. It it is used in the Tanakh 286 times . All Abrahamic religions consider the Biblical covenant...
, and says:
- "[Jesus] whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring (apocatastasis) all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago"; or in a less literal translation:
- "He [Jesus] must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore (apocatastasis) everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets."
Both these translations use "time" (singular) to translate "χρόνων" ("of times"). A strictly literal translation of the whole verse is:
- "whom it behoveth heaven, indeed, to receive till times of a restitution of all things, of which God spake through the mouth of all His holy prophets from the age."
Grammatically, the relative pronoun
Relative pronoun
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger sentence. It is called a relative pronoun because it relates the relative clause to the noun that it modifies. In English, the relative pronouns are: who, whom, whose, whosever, whosesoever, which, and, in some...
"ὧν" ("of which", genitive plural
Ancient Greek grammar
Ancient Greek grammar is morphologically complex and preserves several features of Proto-Indo-European morphology. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, numerals and especially verbs are all highly inflected. This article is an introduction to this morphological complexity.-Diacritics:The...
), could refer to "χρόνων" ("of times"), in which case the central phrase would mean "till a restitution of all times of which God spake", or to "πάντων" ("of all" or "of all things"), meaning "till times of a restitution of all things of which God spake". The examples given show that the phrase is usually understood, seeing "all (things) of which God spoke" as the nearest referent, to speak of a restitution of all things of which God spoke, not of all times of which God spoke.
The usual view taken of Peter's use of the "apokatastasis of all the things about which God spoke" is that it refers to the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel
Kingdom of Israel
The Kingdom of Israel was, according to the Bible, one of the successor states to the older United Monarchy . It was thought to exist roughly from the 930s BCE until about the 720s BCE, when the kingdom was conquered by the Assyrian Empire...
and/or the Garden of Eden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
and not "all things that ever existed".
The verbal form of apokatastasis is found in the Septuagint Malachi
Malachi
Malachi, Malachias or Mal'achi was a Jewish prophet in the Hebrew Bible. He had two brothers, Nathaniel and Josiah. Malachi was the writer of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Neviim section in the Jewish Tanakh...
3:23LXX (i.e. ), a prophecy of Elijah turning back the hearts of the children to their fathers; in ("he will restore all things"), echoing Malachi, and in ("that I may be restored to you the sooner").
Shortly before the phrase in Acts 3:21 comes, in or , the similar phrase, "times of refreshing", Nineteenth-century "Eckermann interprets the 'apocatastasis of all things' to mean the universal emendation of religion by the doctrine of Christ, and the 'times of refreshing' to be the day of renewal, the times of the Messiah."
Patristic Christianity
The significance of apocatastasis in early Christianity is today being re-evaluated. In particular it is now questioned whether OrigenOrigen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
, often listed as the most notable advocate of universal salvation did in fact teach or believe in such a doctrine.
Frederick W. Norris, in his article "Apokatastasis" in The Westminster Handbook to Origen (2004), states that the positions that Origen takes on the issue of universal salvation have often seemed to be contradictory. "In scattered places Origen says quite clearly that he thinks all created intelligence will be restored to God at the end of time. In other places he says, equally clearly, that only souls who make the choice for God and practice the virtues God demands will come to rest in heaven. Those who do not live for God shall suffer eternally in hell or perhaps be annihilated there. If in coming years Origen's treatise on the resurrection is rediscovered, this apparent contradiction may be settled." He concludes: "One could not know in advance which audience would be most likely to accept the gospel, because of the hope engendered by God's overpowering love or because of the fear stimulated by God's threat of hell coupled with God's demand for ethical living. Most audiences of hearers or readers include both groups; knowing this, Origen the pastoral preacher probably kept his view of salvation economically 'open' for a greater effectiveness."
Konstantinovsky (2009) states that the uses of apocatastasis in Christian writings prior to the Synod of Constantinople (543)
Synod of Constantinople (543)
The Synod of Constantinople was a local synod convened to condemn Origen and his views, which was accompanied by an edict of Justinian I and then ratified by the Fifth General Council ....
and the anathema
Anathema
Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...
(553) pronounced against "Origenists" and Evagrius Ponticus
Evagrius Ponticus
Evagrius Ponticus , also called Evagrius the Solitary was a Christian monk and ascetic. One of the rising stars in the late fourth century church, he was well-known as a keen thinker, a polished speaker, and a gifted writer...
were neutral and referred primarily to concepts similar to the general "restoration of all things spoken" (restitutio omnium quae locutus est Deus) of Peter in Acts 3:21 and not for example the universal reconciliation
Universal reconciliation
In Christian theology, universal reconciliation is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ultimately be reconciled to God.Universal salvation may be related to the perception of a problem of Hell, standing opposed to ideas...
of all souls which had ever been. The term apocatastasis is not mentioned in the 553 anathema.
A form of apocatastasis was also attributed to Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa
St. Gregory of Nyssa was a Christian bishop and saint. He was a younger brother of Basil the Great and a good friend of Gregory of Nazianzus. His significance has long been recognized in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christianity...
and possibly the Ambrosiaster
Ambrosiaster
Ambrosiaster is the name given to the writer of a commentary on St Paul's epistles, "brief in words but weighty in matter," and valuable for the criticism of the Latin text of the New Testament...
, attributed to Ambrose of Milan. Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age...
discussed it without reaching a decision.
A local Synod of Constantinople (543)
Synod of Constantinople (543)
The Synod of Constantinople was a local synod convened to condemn Origen and his views, which was accompanied by an edict of Justinian I and then ratified by the Fifth General Council ....
condemned a form of apocatastasis as being Anathema
Anathema
Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...
, and the Anathema was formally submitted to the Fifth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople
Second Council of Constantinople
The Second Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Fifth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was held from May 5 to June 2, 553, having been called by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian...
(553). Since apocatastasis had been used earlier in writers commenting on Peter's use in the New Testament, the form of apocatastasis condemned in 543 and 553 was a later development.
Origen of Alexandria's other teachings about the possibility of glorified man falling again also played a role in that condemnation. In fact, most historians today would recognize a distinction between Origen's own teachings (or at least those that have survived) and the theological positions of later "Origenists". Even beliefs long attributed to Origen himself, such as a Platonic version of souls existing before bodies, the possibility of a second fall, are found to be much more nuanced and difficult to pin down in Origen's own writings. The Anathema against apocatastasis, or more accurately, against the belief that hell is not eternal, was not ratified despite support from the Emperor, and it is absent from the Anathemas spoken against Origen at Constantinople II.
The Alexandrian school
Alexandrian school
The Alexandrian school is a collective designation for certain tendencies in literature, philosophy, medicine, and the sciences that developed in the Hellenistic cultural center of Alexandria, Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods....
adapted Platonic terminology and ideas to Christianity while explaining and differentiating the new faith from all the others. Proponents cited Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
passage in 1 Corinthians 15:28 ("When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.") in support.
Gnosticism
The gnostic Gospel of PhilipGospel of Philip
The Gospel of Philip is one of the Gnostic Gospels, a text of New Testament apocrypha, dating back to around the third century but lost to modern researchers until an Egyptian peasant rediscovered it by accident, buried in a cave near Nag Hammadi, in 1945...
180-350c contains the term itself but does not teach universal reconciliation:
-
- "There is a rebirth and an image of rebirth. It is certainly necessary to be born again through the image. Which one? Resurrection. The image must rise again through the image. The bridal chamber and the image must enter through the image into the truth: this is the restoration (apokatastasis). Not only must those who produce the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, do so, but have produced them for you. If one does not acquire them, the name ("Christian") will also be taken from him."
Early Christianity
Clement of AlexandriaClement of Alexandria
Titus Flavius Clemens , known as Clement of Alexandria , was a Christian theologian and the head of the noted Catechetical School of Alexandria. Clement is best remembered as the teacher of Origen...
(c.150 - c. 215) generally uses the term apokatastasis to refer to the "restoration" of the "gnostic" Christians, rather than that of the universe or of all Christians, but with universal implications.
As indicated above, the position of Origen
Origen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
(186-284) is disputed, with works as recent as the New Westminster Dictionary of Church History presenting him as speculating that the apocatastasis would involve universal salvation.
In early Christian theological usage apocatastasis meant the ultimate restoration of all things to their original state, which early exponents believed would still entail a purgatorial state, Both Origen
Origen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
and Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa
St. Gregory of Nyssa was a Christian bishop and saint. He was a younger brother of Basil the Great and a good friend of Gregory of Nazianzus. His significance has long been recognized in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christianity...
hoped that all creatures would be saved. The word was still very flexible at that time, but in the mid-6th century it became virtually a technical term referring, as usually today, to a specifically Origenistic doctrine of universal salvation. Maximus the Confessor
Maximus the Confessor
Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius...
outlined God's plan for "universal" salvation alongside warnings of everlasting punishment for the wicked.
Luther
The Vulgate translation of apokatastasis, "in tempora restitutionis omnium quae locutus est Deus" (the restitution of all things of which God has spoken) was taken up by Luther to mean the day of the restitution of the creation, but in Luther's theology the day of restitution was also the day of resurrection and judgment, not the restitution of the wicked. In Luther's Bible he rendered Greek apokatastasis with German herwiedergebracht werde, "will be brought back." This sense continued to be used in Lutheran sermons.Luther explicitly disowned belief that the devils would ultimately reach blessedness.
19th-century Universalism
During the 19th and early 20th centuries several histories published by Universalists, including Hosea BallouHosea Ballou
Hosea Ballou was an American Universalist clergyman and theological writer.-Biography:Hosea Ballou was born in Richmond, New Hampshire, to a family of Huguenot origin...
(1829), Thomas Whittemore
Thomas Whittemore (Universalist)
Thomas Whittemore was an influential member of the Universalist Church of America and founder and editor of The Trumpet and Universalist magazine , which succeed the Universalist magazine of Hosea Ballou.Like Ballou and Ballou's grand-nephew, Hosea Ballou 2nd, first president of Tufts College,...
(1830), John Wesley Hanson
John Wesley Hanson
John Wesley Hanson was an American Universalist minister and a notable Universalist historian advancing the claim that Universalism was the belief of early Christianity...
(1899) and George T. Knight
George T. Knight (Universalist)
The Rev. George T. Knight, D.D, was an American Universalist teacher at the Crane Theological School, a Universalist seminary at Tufts University.-References:...
(1911), argued that belief in universal reconciliation was found in early Christianity
Early Christianity
Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....
and in the Reformation
Reformation
- Movements :* Protestant Reformation, an attempt by Martin Luther to reform the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in a schism, and grew into a wider movement...
, and ascribed Universalist beliefs to Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and others.
Recent works
In recent writing, apocatastasis is generally understood as involving some form of universal reconciliationUniversal reconciliation
In Christian theology, universal reconciliation is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ultimately be reconciled to God.Universal salvation may be related to the perception of a problem of Hell, standing opposed to ideas...
, without necessarily attributing this understanding to Origen and other Fathers of the Church.
- Augustin Gretillat, in his Exposé de théologie systématique (1892), described apocatastasis as universal reconciliation.
- Heinrich Adolf Köstlin, in the "Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie" (Leipzig, 1896), I, 617, article "Apokatastasis", translated in the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious KnowledgeSchaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious KnowledgeThe Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge is a religious encyclopedia. It is based on an earlier German encyclopedia, the Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche. Like the Realencyklopädie, it focuses on Christianity from a primarily Protestant point of...
, described apocatastasis as universal reconciliation. - Pierre BatiffolPierre BatiffolPierre Batiffol was a prominent French catholic priest and Church historian, known particularly as a historian of dogma....
, as translated in the article "Apocatastasis" in the old Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
(1911), defined apocatastasis as "a name given in the history of theology to the doctrine which teaches that a time will come when all free creatures shall share in the grace of salvation; in a special way, the devils and lost souls." - Maurice Arthur Canney (1921) stated that "Apocatastasis became a theological term denoting the doctrine ... that all men would be converted and admitted to everlasting happiness"
- Albrecht Oepke (1933) wrote in his article Apokatastasis in KittelKittelright|180pxA kittel, also spelled kitl, coat’) is a white robe which serves as a burial shroud for male Jews. It is also worn on special occasions by Ashkenazi Jews. In western Europe this garment is called a Sargenes. The word Sargenes is related to the Old French Serge as well as Latin Serica...
's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (the first three volumes of which were published between 1933 and 1938) that "Apokatastasis cannot denote the conversion of persons but only the reconstitution or establishment of things." - Professor Constantinos A. Patrides surveyed the history of apocatastasis in his Salvation of Satan.
- G. C. Berkouwer, in The Return of Christ (1972) devoted a whole chapter, under the heading "Apocatastasis?", to the topic of universal reconciliation, "sometimes technically known as apocatastasis".
- John Meyendorff, in Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes (1987) explained the doctrine of apocatastasis as "the idea that the whole of creation and all of humanity will ultimately be 'restored' to their original state of bliss."
- Michael McGarry, in A Dictionary of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue (1995), explains apocatastasis as "one particular Christian expression of a general theology of universalism ... the belief that at the end of time all creatures – believers and sinners alike – would be restored in Christ."
- Peter Stravinskas, in the short article on apocatastasis in Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia (1998) and the still shorter entry in his Catholic Dictionary (1993), defines it as the belief "that all rational creatures are saved, including the fallen angels and unrepentant sinners".
- A Concise Dictionary of Theology (2000) describes apocatastasis as "a theory ... that all angels and human beings, even the demons and the damned, will ultimately be saved".
- Morwenna Ludlow (2001), in Universal Salvation: Eschatology in the Thought of Gregory of Nyssa and Karl Rahner, writes that, though the meaning was very flexible until the mid-6th century, "the word apokatastasis is now usually used to refer to a specifically Origenistic doctrine of universal salvation".
- Peter L. Berger, in his book Questions of Faith (2003), calls apocatastasis "the conviction that, in the end, all will be saved and the entire creation will be reconciled with God".
- The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (third edition 2005) explains the term as meaning the doctrine of the ultimate salvation of all.
- Justo L. González, in Essential Theological Terms (2005), says that "theories of the apocatastasis usually involve the expectation that in the end all, including the devil, will be saved".
- Daniel L. AkinDaniel L. AkinDaniel L. Akin is the current president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as of January 2004. Dr. Akin has authored numerous books and journal articles. He is devoted to expository preaching.- Education :...
, in A Theology for the Church (2007), explains apocatastasis as "the idea that all things will be ultimately reconciled to God through Christ – including the damned in hell and even Satan and his demons".
Stravinskas identifies apocatastasis with universalism or universal reconciliation, and some of the older sources do so also. But most writers do not simply identify apocatastasis with universal reconciliation
Universal reconciliation
In Christian theology, universal reconciliation is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ultimately be reconciled to God.Universal salvation may be related to the perception of a problem of Hell, standing opposed to ideas...
. González points out that a distinction exists, in that "it is possible to hold universalist views without believing that all of creation will return to its original state". And both Ludlow and McGarry state that the word apokatastasis is today usually understood as referring to one specific doctrine of universal salvation, not to all versions of universalism.
See also
- Christian UniversalismChristian UniversalismChristian Universalism is a school of Christian theology which includes the belief in the doctrine of universal reconciliation, the view that all human beings or all fallen creatures will ultimately be restored to right relationship with God....
- Monad (Greek philosophy)Monad (Greek philosophy)Monad , according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for Divinity or the first being, or the totality of all beings, Monad being the source or the One meaning without division....
- Problem of evilProblem of evilIn the philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is the question of how to explain evil if there exists a deity that is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient . Some philosophers have claimed that the existences of such a god and of evil are logically incompatible or unlikely...
- Repairing the World (Judaism)Tikkun olamTikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that means "repairing the world." In Judaism, the concept of tikkun olam originated in the early rabbinic period...
- Trinitarian UniversalismTrinitarian UniversalismTrinitarian Universalism is a variant of belief in universal salvation, the belief that every person will be saved, that also held the Christian belief in Trinitarianism as opposed to liberal Unitarianism which is more usually associated with Unitarian Universalism...
- Universal reconciliationUniversal reconciliationIn Christian theology, universal reconciliation is the doctrine that all sinful and alienated human souls—because of divine love and mercy—will ultimately be reconciled to God.Universal salvation may be related to the perception of a problem of Hell, standing opposed to ideas...
- World to ComeWorld to ComeThe World to Come is an eschatological phrase reflecting the belief that the "current world" is flawed or cursed and will be replaced in the future by a better world or a paradise. The concept is similar to the concepts of Heaven and the afterlife, but Heaven is another place generally seen as...