Apocatastasis
Apocatastasis () comes from the Greek word ἀποκατάστασις (apokatástasis) which means "reconstitution" or "restitution". The passage of the Bible speaks of "apocatastasis of all things", and although this passage is usually not understood to teach universal salvation, the word "apocatastasis" is typically used to refer to the belief that everyone – including the damned in hell and the devil – will ultimately be saved. Etymology and definition. While apocatastasis is derived from the Greek verb "apokathistemi", which means "to restore," it first emerged as a doctrine in Zoroastrianism 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 apocatastasis 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" (i.e. "Liddell–Scott–Jones", with expansion of definitions and references), gives the following examples of usage: The word is reasonably common in papyri. Concepts. Stoicism. According to Edward Moore, "apokatastasis" was first properly conceptualized in early  Stoic thought, particularly by Chrysippus. 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. Thereafter, from fire, rebirth would commence, and this cycle of alternate destruction and recreation was correlated with a divine Logos. "Antapocatastasis" 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, and its contraction, the "apocatastasis", as Zeus returning 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 Bible is the common Hebrew verb , as used in Malachi 4:6, 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 Hasidic Judaism. 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 "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 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"). Nineteenth-century German theologian Jakob Eckermann interpreted "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 Origen, 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 , states that the positions that Origen  takes on the issue of universal salvation have often seemed to be 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 "apocatastasis". The Alexandrian school adapted Platonic terminology and ideas to Christianity while explaining and differentiating the new faith from  all the others. 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. Eventually, Origen started to be condemned throughout the early church in local councils, though not apocatastasis specifically. This changed definitively in the sixth century. 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). The term "apocatastasis" is mentioned in the 14th of the 15 anathemas against Origen of 553 : "If anyone shall say ... that in this pretended apocatastasis, spirits only will continue to exist, as it was in the feigned pre-existence: let him be anathema." The fifth ecumenical council in its sentence during the eighth session condemned "Origen" and his "impious writings"—likely a reference to the teachings ascribed to him by the 543 and 553 anathemas, because during the fifth session Origen's condemnation is described as "recent." Konstantinovsky (2009) states that the uses of "apocatastasis" 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 of all souls which had ever been. The "official" nature of the anathemas was reiterated subsequently. The Second Council of Nicea explicitly affirmed in its sentence that the Second Council of Constantinople condemned Origen, as well as taught the existence of eternal damnation and explicitly rejected "the restoration of all things," which in Latin is a reference to apocatastasis. More recently leading Patristic scholar Ilaria Ramelli has concluded  that not only did Origen embrace the doctrine of Apocatastasis, 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." Gnosticism. The gnostic Gospel of Philip "180–350c" contains the term itself but does not teach universal reconciliation: In Christian  theology. Early Christianity. Clement of Alexandria (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 teaching 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 confidently taught 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, as it usually means today, to refer 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. He divided apocatastasis 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", ""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 the  Greek "apokatastasis" with the 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 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 and in the Reformation, 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 reconciliation, without necessarily attributing this understanding to Origen and other Fathers of the Church.