Apocatastasis

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Ancient of Days by William Blake
Ancient of Days by William Blake

Apocatastasis (apəʊkəˡtastəsɪs) is a Greek word meaning either reconstitution or restitution[1] or restoration to the original or primordial condition.[2]

Contents

[edit] Apocatastasis

[edit] Stoicism

In Stoic philosophy, the cosmos is a physical expression of Zeus' perfect thoughts and apocatastasis is the contraction when Zeus returns to self-contemplation.[3] This will occur when the stars and planets return to their original positions, believed to be an alignment with Cancer, and the universe will be consumed by fire (ekpyrosis). Antapocatastasis is a counter-example or a counter-occurrence when the stars and planets align with Capricorn and the universe will be destroyed by flood. When Zeus turns his thoughts outwards once more, the cosmos will be reborn or reconstituted under the guidance and sustenance of Logos, an emanation of Zeus.[4]

[edit] Gnosticism

In Gnostic writings, apocatastasis occurs when a soul, which is Divine Light trapped in evil matter, frees itself by attaining special knowledge or gnosis to rejoin the True God above all gods.[5] Messengers of Light, of which Jesus Christ is an example, reveal the salvation that comes from finding the Kingdom of God within.[6][7] The gnostic Gospel of Philip 180-350c contains the term itself and in other sayings expresses the idea that all comes from a common, eternal source: "Of what a nature is the resurrection! And the image must rise again through the image. The bridegroom and the image must enter through the image into the truth, which is the apocatastasis."

[edit] Christianity

In Christianity, apocatastasis is the doctrine of the ultimate reconciliation of good and evil. Apocatastasis maintains that all moral creatures -- angels, humans and devils -- will eventually come to a harmony in God's kingdom. It is based on the 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.") and was extensively preached in the Eastern church by St. Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus, and in the Western church by Ambrose of Milan in the 4th century. Jerome (347-420) initially believed but then recanted, and Basil the Great (330-379), who opposed the doctrine, wrote that the majority of Christians believed it.

The belief was first articulated and defended by Clement of Alexandria (?-215) and Origen of Alexandria (185-232), two theologians who were schooled and steeped in Hellenistic philosophy and familiar with Gnostic and Mystery Cult writings. They freely adapted neo-Platonic terminology and ideas to Christianity while explaining and differentiating the new faith from all the others.[8] [9]. Some scholars credit Origen's On First Principles as the first Christian systematic theological work.[10] It contained key concepts of the Trinity and Free Will as well as Apocatastasis.

A little more than a century later, another systematic theologian, Augustine of Hippo (354-386), focused on a different part of the bible and formulated what later developed into the doctrine of double predestination, which is the belief that some people are predestined for salvation and some people are predestined for damnation.[11] In 543, the Synod of Constantinople condemned Apocatastasis as being Anathema, and the Anathema was formally submitted to the Fifth Ecumenical Synod of Constantinople (553). However, Origen's other theology about transmigration of souls and the possibility of glorified man falling again to restart the cycle played a role.[9] 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.

Apocatastasis almost disappeared from Christian thought despite some respected theologians such as Maximus the Confessor, Scotus Erigena, Amalric of Bena and Hans Denck who continued to believe in the doctrine then generally considered heterodox by the Western Church. The belief became more public during the Protestant Reformation when all Catholic doctrines and practices were called into question, causing Adolf von Harnack, church historian, to state that nearly all Reformers were "apocatastatists at heart".[12]

However, it should be noted that certain small groups who claimed to have preceded the Protestant Reformation, such as the early Anabaptists and Sabbatarian Church of God groups, did teach a form of apocatastasis and were condemned by the Latin and later Reformation churches. Groups, such as the Living Church of God, Philadelphia Church of God, and other Post Armstrong Churches, which claim the Sabbatarian Anabaptists as ancestors, still teach that God will raise the dead and later call everyone who was not called in this age and that nearly everyone will ultimately accept that calling.

A related belief is Universal reconciliation, which is the doctrine that all human beings will be saved from eternal damnation or annihilation in hell.

[edit] Apocatastatic themes in the Bible

Origen's extensive writings showed great familiarity with the body of literature that eventually became canonized at a council in Carthage in 387.[13] The Bible, which contains multiple stories of apocatastatic fall from grace followed by redemption and restoration, formed the bedrock of his theology.

Latin Bible c. 1407
Latin Bible c. 1407

These stories contain three key elements.

  1. The person or nation going through the cycle is fundamentally marked and changed by their experiences.
  2. There is a subtle current of inclusiveness that weave through these stories. In the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas' Parable of the Lost Sheep, the lost sheep is one of the largest and the shepherd abandons his ninety-nine to search for it. When he finds it, he tells it, "I love you more than the ninety-nine" (Gospel of Thomas, v. 107). In the Christian Gospels, the shepherd searches for the sheep only because it is lost.
  3. The person or nation sometimes return to something glorious and mysterious. It is a homecoming but it's not a place that they have been before. These are seen in the Eschatological prophecies for Egypt and Assyria in Isaiah (Isaiah 19:23-25), for Sodom in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:53-55) and for the entire world in Revelation (Revelation 21-22).

The word, apocatastasis, 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, "He [Jesus] must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything (apocatastasis), as he promised long ago through his holy prophets." [1]

[edit] Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve fall into temptation and are then cursed and ejected from the Garden of Eden and from access to the Tree of Life.[2] All of mankind live in exile, striving against God and against each other until the last book of the bible, Revelation, where a new heaven and a new earth and a New Jerusalem are revealed. The city is the new Eden with a river of life flowing through it. A tree of life stands on each side of the river and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. God will dwell with men there and He will call them His people. "He will wipe every tear from their eyes." [3] The gates are always open. [4]

[edit] Life of Jesus Christ

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." [5] The Second Person of the Trinity, the Logos or the Word, humbled himself and stepped into creation and was born a babe in Bethlehem. He grew up and revealed who God the Father is while teaching as an itinerant rabbi in Palestine. [6] [7] He was accused of sedition and blasphemy and was crucified; his death atoned for the sins of the world. He descended into hell where he proclaimed his triumph over sin and death. He rose again and ascended into heaven, dragging all humanity with him to be seated with God in the heavenly realms so that he may show every person who believes in him the incomparable grace and kindness of his Father in the ages to come. [8] [9]

[edit] Nation of Israel

The story of Israel contains multiple stories of apocatastasis, evidence that none can sin past redemption.
Leningrad Codex Carpet: Star of David inscribed with biblical verses extolling God
Leningrad Codex Carpet: Star of David inscribed with biblical verses extolling God
  • Abraham is chosen out of all the people of Ur and promised a Land and a Nation. His grandson, Jacob (aka Israel) has 12 sons and they end up in Egypt, courtesy of one of the sons, Joseph. Centuries later, they are a numerous people but enslaved by the Egpytians. They are delivered by God with many signs and wonders. At Mount Sinai, they receive the Law and at Mount Sinai, they make a golden calf and worship it. God declares He will destroy them and restart with Moses but Moses, in the footsteps of Abraham who prayed for Sodom, intercedes for them. At the point of entry into the Promised Land, they refuse to trust God and enter. They wander in a circle in the desert and return to the same point 40 years later. The new generation under Joshua enters the Promised Land.
  • The people fall into multiple cycles of apostasy and idolatry, experience oppression from their enemies, and then repent for turning away from God. Each time they cry out to God, He raises up a Judge or Deliverer for the nation. The Judges are as varied as the situations: man, woman, hero, coward, saint, sinner, citizen, alien.
  • The nation becomes a monarchy but the 4th king causes a civil war that splits the nation in two. Eventually, they are expelled from the Promised Land and taken as captives to Assyria or Babylon. But God promises to be with them and to bring them back. He also promises to put a new heart in them so that they will not backslide again. A remnant returns about seventy years later to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.
Interwoven into these stories are horrific wrath and judgment. Quite frequently, anger is followed by mercy because of God's love for His people. "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!" Isaiah 49:15 The Septuagint ends with an expectation of a Son of David, who is both priest and king, who will re-establish the kingdom and inaugurate a golden age.

[edit] City of Sodom

Sodom was depicted as a very wicked place. When the holy presence of the Lord appeared in the center of the city in the form of three angels, the people decide to dominate and know Him in unholy ways and to make what is incomprehesibly pure fallen like them. The city is judged and destroyed by burning sulphur from the Lord. [10] Jesus later said that if the signs being performed in Capernaum were done in Sodom, they would have repented, showing that God knew what would have brought the city to repentance. [11] Ezekiel, in an Eschatological prophecy, said that God will restore Sodom and Samaria just as He will restore Jerusalem because He has made atonement for them. He calls these three cities sisters: Sodom, a wicked and completely destroyed place; Samaria, a center of apostasy and syncretism; and Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish nation and His dwelling place. [12]

[edit] Egypt and Assyria

Egypt, a nation south of Israel and Assyria, a nation north of Israel, are two of Israel's greatest enemies. She was enslaved by one and conquered by the other. The Bible contains various judgments and maledictions against both. But in an Eschatological vision, Isaiah sees "a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together" and it is Israel's God that they will worship. "In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork and Israel my inheritance." [13] This too is a mystery.

[edit] Paul's letter to the Romans

Paul of Tarsus by Bernardo Daddi c. 1333
Paul of Tarsus by Bernardo Daddi c. 1333
Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles but he had a great burden for his fellow Jew and would often preach at the local synagogue until he was thrown out. Then he would go preach to the Gentiles. His fellow Jews' rejection of Jesus caused him severe anguish which he expressed in this letter by saying that he wished he could be cursed and cut off if it would save his brothers. Then he recollects God declaring to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." Paul recognizes that the very distinctives of the nation: the Law, the Covenants, the long history with God, the Messianic prophecies, have made it more difficult for her to accept Jesus Christ as God and that salvation is by grace alone through faith in him. And that salvation is available to the entire world apart from the Law. He likened them to branches that were broken off an olive tree so that branches from a wild olive can be grafted on. Paul then rather suddenly and inexplicably states with absolute certainty that all Jews will be saved and he draws his letter to a close with a triumphal song praising the "depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!". [14]

[edit] Parable of the prodigal son

Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son
Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son
The prodigal son liquidated his share of the family business and spent it on wild living in a distant country until he was reduced to keeping pigs for someone else. While he was desolate and starving, he realized he could go home and beg for a position as a hired hand in his father's house. As he was approaching his home, his father saw him and ran to kiss and embrace him. He said to his father that he was no longer worthy to be called his son but his father demonstrated he was still his father's son by placing the best robe on his shoulders, a signet ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and calling his people to celebrate the safe return of his lost son. [15]

[edit] Revelation

The kings of the earth are depicted as in league with the Whore of Babylon drunk on the maddening wine of her adulteries. [16] They weep and mourn when she is finally thrown into the Lake of Fire. [17] Then they gather on the plains of Megiddo with the Beast to fight the "King of kings and Lord of lords" and the armies of heaven in the final battle, Armageddon. They are defeated and the Beast and his False Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire. Those who followed them are slain with "the sword that came out of the mouth" of the Word of God which is probably symbolic of the Gospel or Truth. [18] But in the last scene in New Jerusalem, where the gates are ever open, where the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations, the kings of the earth are expected to enter, bringing their splendour with them. It is glory and it is mystery. [19]


[edit] Apocatastasis in popular culture

  • Sympathy for the Devil c.1996 - Holly Lisle's contemporary science fantasy works through these issues in an imaginative way.
  • Lilith (1895) by George MacDonald explores the redemption of Adam's first demon wife Lilith.
  • The Young Wizards series c.1983 - Diane Duane's young adult fantasy series features an apocatastatic mythology as an important element, particularly in the series's third book, High Wizardry.
  • Inferno c.1976 - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's science fantasy parody of Dante's Divine Comedy allows for a way beyond hellfire and eternal damnation.
  • The Great Divorce c.1945 - C. S. Lewis, while having a character warn of the dangers of Universalism, nonetheless suggests that it is at least possible for the damned to pass through a cleansing "fire" and join the ranks of the blest in Heaven, and that some - but not all - take the opportunity to do so.
  • The War Hound and the World's Pain c.1985 - Michael Moorcock's fantasy has a sympathetic, repentant Lucifer organizing a quest for the Holy Grail in an effort to reconcile himself with God.
  • Dogma c.1999 - Two fallen angels attempt to get back into heaven via a loophole in Catholic doctrine.
  • Constantine c. 2005 - Constantine, who is doomed to hell because of a suicide (self-murder) attempt, attains heaven when he sacrifices himself to save mankind (but the devil drags him back to earth and cures him of his cancer in the hopes that, given time, he'll damn himself again)
  • The Matrix Series is about the apocatastasis of the Matrix (fictional universe). The chosen one and hero Neo (representing good) must merge with the primary villain Agent Smith (representing evil), essentially to "reboot" the computer program that is the Matrix universe back to a stable and balanced state.
  • "Signal to Noise" by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean - features a film auteur dying of cancer; he decides to write his last screenplay anyway, even though he will never get to film it, about the "end of the world" that was predicted when the European calendar changed to the year 1000 A.D. It's about the apocalypse that never happened, and is a very human story about facing personal death.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Strong's Greek Lexicon retrieved September 22, 2006
  2. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, Apocatastasis retrieved September 22, 2006
  3. ^ Moore, Edward. "Origen of Alexandria and Apocatastasis: some notes on the development of a noble notion." Quodlibet: online journal of Christian Theology and Philosophy. Vol 5. Num. 1. January, 2003.
  4. ^ Origen of Alexandria (185-254). The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved September 20, 2006.
  5. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, Gnosticism retrieved September 22, 2006
  6. ^ The Gnostic Worldview: A Brief Summary of Gnosticism retrieved September 22, 2006
  7. ^ Gnosticism and the Gnostic Jesus by Douglas Groothius, retrieved September 23, 2006
  8. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, Clement of Alexandria retrieved September 22, 2006
  9. ^ a b Catholic Encyclopedia, Origin of Alexandria retrieved September 22, 2006
  10. ^ Origen of Alexandria (185-254) The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, retrieved September 20,2006
  11. ^ History of the Doctrine of God by Herman Barvinck, retrieved September 23, 2006
  12. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, Apokatastasis retrieved September 23, 2006
  13. ^ The Bible: God's Inspired, Inerrant Word retrieved September 23, 2006

[edit] See also

[edit] External links