In theology, apokatastasis (, also spelled apocatastasis) is the restoration of creation to a condition of perfection. In Christianity, the term refers to a form of

Christian universalism Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. "Christian universalism" ...

, often associated with

Origen Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...

, that includes the ultimate salvation of everyone, including the damned and the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

. The

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

( Acts 3:21), speaks of the "apokatastasis of all things". The dogmatic status of apokatastasis is disputed, and some orthodox fathers such as

Gregory of Nyssa Gregory of Nyssa, also known as Gregory Nyssen ( or Γρηγόριος Νυσσηνός; c. 335 – c. 394), was an early Roman Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Nyssa from 372 to 376 and from 378 until his death in 394. He is ve ...

taught apokatastasis and were never condemned. Apokatastasis was definitely condemned as a

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

by the Synod of Constantinople of 543.

Etymology and definition

While apokatastasis is derived from the Greek verb ''apokathistemi'', which means "to restore", it first emerged as a doctrine in

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

where it is the third time of creation. This period was referred to as ''wizarishn'' or the end of history—the time of separation and resolution when evil is destroyed and the world is restored to its original state. The idea of apokatastasis may have been derived from the ancient concept of cosmic cycle, which involves the notion of celestial bodies returning to their original positions after a period of time. The entry in ''

A Greek–English Lexicon ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', often referred to as ''Liddell & Scott'' () or ''Liddell–Scott–Jones'' (''LSJ''), is a standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language originally edited by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, H ...

'' (i.e. ''Liddell–Scott–Jones'', with expansion of definitions and references), gives the following examples of usage: The word is reasonably common in

papyri Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'' or ''papyruses'') can ...

Concepts

Stoicism

According to Edward Moore, ''apokatastasis'' was first properly conceptualized in early Stoic thought, particularly by

Chrysippus Chrysippus of Soli (; , ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek Stoicism, Stoic Philosophy, philosopher. He was a native of Soli, Cilicia, but moved to Athens as a young man, where he became a pupil of the Stoic philosopher Cleanthes. When Cleanthes ...

. 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 alignment of celestial bodies with

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. Thereafter, from fire, rebirth would commence, and this cycle of alternate destruction and recreation was correlated with a divine

Logos ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

. ''Antapokatastasis'' is a counter-recurrence when the stars and planets align with Capricorn, which would mark destruction by a universal flood. The Stoics identified Zeus with an alternately expanding and contracting fire constituting the universe. Its expansion was described as Zeus turning his thoughts outwards, resulting in the creation of the material

cosmos The cosmos (, ; ) is an alternative name for the universe or its nature or order. Usage of the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos is studied in cosmologya broad discipline covering ...

, and its contraction, the ''apokatastasis'', as Zeus returning to self-contemplation.

Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to many ...

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 Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' tikkun olam in

Hasidic Judaism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...

New Testament

The word, ''apokatastasis'', appears only once in the New Testament, in Acts 3:21. Peter healed a beggar with a disability and then addressed the astonished onlookers. His sermon set Jesus in the Jewish context, the fulfiller of the Abrahamic Covenant, and says: Grammatically, the

relative pronoun A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause. An example is the word ''which'' in the sentence "This is the house which Jack built." Here the relative pronoun ''which'' introduces the relative clause. The relative clause modifies th ...

"ὧν" ("of which", genitive plural), could refer either to "χρόνων" ("of times") or to "πάντων" ("of all" or "of all things"), which means that it is either the times of which God spoke or the all things 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 In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Ge ...

and not "all things that ever existed". The verbal form of ''apokatastasis'' is found in the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

Malachi Malachi or Malachias (; ) is the name used by the author of the Book of Malachi, the last book of the Nevi'im (Prophets) section of the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh. It is possible that ''Malachi'' is not a proper name, because it means "messenger"; ...

3:23 (i.e. ); a prophecy of

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

''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"). Nineteenth-century German theologian Jakob Eckermann interpreted "the 'apokatastasis 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 ''apokatastasis'' in early Christianity is currently something of a disputed question. In particular, some question whether

, often listed as the most notable advocate of universal salvation, did in fact teach or believe in such a doctrine. Frederick W. Norris argues that the positions that Origen took on the issue of universal salvation have often seemed contradictory. He then writes that Origen never decided to stress exclusive salvation or universal salvation, to the strict exclusion of either case, therefore concludes that Origen probably kept his view of salvation economically 'open' for a greater effectiveness. On the other hand, Brian E. Daley in his handbook of patristic eschatology argued that Origen strongly believed in the final salvation of all humans and sometimes referred to it as ''apokatastasis''. More recently, leading Patristic scholar Ilaria Ramelli has concluded that not only did Origen embrace the doctrine of apokatastasis, but that it was central to all his theological and philosophical thought. She remarks, "In Origen's thought, the doctrine of apokatastasis is interwoven with his anthropology, eschatology, theology, philosophy of history, theodicy, and exegesis; for anyone who takes Origen's thought seriously and with a deep grasp of it, it is impossible to separate the apokatastasis theory from all the rest, so as to reject it but accept the rest." The Alexandrian school, the first Christian educational center, seems to have generally affirmed apokatastasis and adapted some Platonic terminology and ideas to Christianity while explaining and differentiating the new faith from all the others..

is also understood to have espoused a universally salvific ''apokatastasis'', though Maspero argues that Gregory spoke solely of

universal resurrection General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead ( Koine: , ''anastasis onnekron''; literally: "standing up again of the dead") by which most or all people who have died ...

and not of universal salvation. Universal salvation in the form of apokatastasis is also seen in the Ambrosiaster, attributed to Ambrose of Milan.

Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory of Nazianzus (; ''Liturgy of the Hours'' Volume I, Proper of Saints, 2 January. – 25 January 390), also known as Gregory the Theologian or Gregory Nazianzen, was an early Roman Christian theologian and prelate who served as Archbi ...

discussed it without reaching a decision. Eventually, Origen started to be condemned throughout the early church in local councils, though not apokatastasis specifically. This changed definitively in the sixth century. A local Synod of Constantinople (543) condemned a form of apokatastasis as being Anathema, and the Anathema was formally submitted to the Fifth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (553). The term ''apokatastasis'' is mentioned in the 14th of the 15 anathemas against Origen of 553: "If anyone shall say ... that in this pretended apokatastasis, spirits only will continue to exist, as it was in the feigned pre-existence: let him be anathema." Konstantinovsky (2009) states that the uses of ''apokatastasis'' in Christian writings prior to the Synod of Constantinople (543) and the anathemas (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 Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. "Christian universalism" ...

of all souls which had ever been.

Gnosticism

The

gnostic Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...

Gospel of Philip ''180–350c'' contains the term itself but does not teach universal reconciliation:

In Christian theology

Early Christianity

Clement of Alexandria Titus Flavius Clemens, also known as Clement of Alexandria (; – ), was a Christian theology, Christian theologian and philosopher who taught at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Among his pupils were Origen and Alexander of Jerusalem. A ...

(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. Origen's stance is disputed, with some works saying he taught apokatastasis would involve universal salvation, even the absolute equality of all souls and spirits.

's notion of ''apokatastasis'' is also claimed to have involved universal salvation though in other respects it differed from Origen's. In early Christian theological usage, ''apokatastasis'' was couched as God's eschatological victory over evil and believed to entail a purgatorial state. The word was still very flexible at that time, but in the mid-6th century, it became virtually a technical term, as it usually means today, to refer to a specifically Origenistic doctrine of universal salvation..

Maximus the Confessor Maximus the Confessor (), also spelled Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christianity, Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, Maximus was a civil se ...

outlined God's plan for "universal" salvation alongside warnings of final punishment for the wicked. He divided apokatastasis into three restorations: of the virtuous individual, of nature, and of the sinful powers of the soul. While the last of these meant that even sinners will be restored to a clear knowledge of God, Maximus seems to have believed that they will not attain to the same communion with God as the righteous and thus will in a sense be eternally punished.

Luther

The Vulgate translation of ''apokatastasis'', ("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 the Greek ''apokatastasis'' with the German ; "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 Ballou (1829), Thomas Whittemore (1830), John Wesley Hanson (1899) and George T. Knight (1911), argued that belief in universal reconciliation was found in

early Christianity Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...

and in the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, and ascribed Universalist beliefs to Origen, Clement of Alexandria, and others.

Recent works

In recent writing, apokatastasis is generally understood as involving some form of

, without necessarily attributing this understanding to Origen and other Fathers of the Church. * Augustin Gretillat, in (1892), described ''apokatastasis'' as universal reconciliation. * Heinrich Köstlin's (1896), translated in the '' Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge'', described ''apokatastasis'' as universal reconciliation. * The 1911 ''

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

'' defined apokatastasis 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 Canney, ''An Encyclopaedia of Religions'' (1921): "Apocatastasis became a theological term denoting the doctrine ... that all men would be converted and admitted to everlasting happiness". * Albrecht Oepke, ''Theological Dictionary of the New Testament'' (1933): "Apokatastasis cannot denote the conversion of persons but only the reconstitution or establishment of things." * Professor Constantinos A. Patrides surveyed the history of apokatastasis in his ''Salvation of Satan''., reprinted in * G. C. Berkouwer, ''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, ''Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes'' (1987) defined apokatastasis 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) defined apokatastasis 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 apokatastasis 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". * Stravinskas identifies apokatastasis with universalism or universal reconciliation, and some of the older sources do so also. In addition, two recent works that do not discuss apokatastasis give the corresponding Greek word as the source from which "universalism" is derived. But most writers do not simply identify apokatastasis with

. 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". * Both Ludlow and McGarry state that the word is today usually understood as referring to one specific doctrine of universal salvation, not to all versions of universalism. * ''A Concise Dictionary of Theology'' (2000) describes apokatastasis 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 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 apokatastasis "the conviction that, in the end, all will be saved and the entire creation will be reconciled with God".

References

Bibliography

* . * . {{Universalism footer Acts of the Apostles New Testament Greek words and phrases Christian eschatology Christian soteriology Ancient Christianity Christian universalism Christian terminology Religious philosophical concepts