From news@freenet.carleton.ca Thu Sep 8 06:00:19 1994 Received: from rodan.UU.NET by aramis.rutgers.edu (5.59/SMI4.0/RU1.5/3.08) id AA13016; Thu, 8 Sep 94 06:00:19 EDT Received: from relay1.UU.NET by rodan.UU.NET with SMTP id QQxglk28912; Thu, 8 Sep 1994 06:00:18 -0400 Received: from freenet-news.carleton.ca by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP id QQxglj10074; Thu, 8 Sep 1994 05:55:06 -0400 Received: by freenet-news.carleton.ca (4.1/SMI-4.0) id AA24147; Thu, 8 Sep 94 05:54:42 EDT Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Path: FreeNet.Carleton.CA!an359 From: an359@freenet.carleton.ca (Michael M. Morbey) Subject: texts on "apokatastasis" (universal restoration) Message-Id: Sender: news@freenet.carleton.ca (Usenet News Admin) Reply-To: an359@freenet.carleton.ca (Michael M. Morbey) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 09:54:38 GMT Lines: 393 Apparently-To: soc-religion-christian@uunet.uu.net From an Orthodox SIG discussion: Michael said: > > ...On the other hand, we should not overlook the presence >of some degree of tribalism in the teaching of some of the Fathers >who should have known better. Yet, the best of the Church Fathers >even held to the ultimate salvation of the whole human race, not to >a mere tribalistic, limited salvation, other than that Jesus Christ >was recognized as the Only Way... [Article #264] > > Geoffrey replied: > >...When asked to speculate in light of Tradition, many Orthodox Christians >will appeal to our Lord's infinite love and mercy, piously believing that, >ultimately speaking, all human beings and the whole of creation will be >saved. If the Lord desires that "all men should believe", then in the final >analysis, all will. Again, this is pious speculation, not doctrine. To >teach this as doctrine is heretical (as Origen found out)... [Article #268] > > Michael's reply: Origen taught a very definite doctrine of "apokatastasis" or universal restoration and reconciliation in Christ, apparently couched within or strongly influenced by Stoic cosmological speculations on a universal return to a primordial spiritual realm in which souls had preexisted. The commonly-held opinion has been that Origen was condemned for his heretical views, including apokatastasis, by the Fifth Ecumenical Council in A.D.533. When and where this happened, and what was included in the condemnation, however, remains a project for further scholarly investigation. The censure, when it belatedly came, may even have been more a matter of jealousies, politics and power struggles amongst rival Church leaders and factions and the court, than of genuine theological concern about the deficiencies of Origen's theology. It is even possible to quote Origen to the effect that he rejects any hope for a universal restoration in no uncertain terms (although this might be explained by way of "the doctrine of reserve"). As Andrew Jukes has pointed out, "Both Neander and Gieseler shew, that this condemnation of Origen was passed, not at the 5th General Council of Constantinople, in 533, as some have supposed, but at the "home synod" under Mennas, in 541...And even this "home synod", though under court influence it condemned some of Origen's views, would not consent to condemn the doctrine of Restitution, spite of the Emperor's express requirement that this doctrine should be anathematized." According to Neander, Justinian, in 541, "issued a document..., which was perfectly in character with his despotic temper, and in which he endeavoured to show what a detestable heretic Origen was,..." and "invited the patriarch to assemble a "home synod"..., and cause Origen and his doctrines to be condemned." Gieseler states, "But at last the opposite party prevailed, by the aid of *Mennas*, patriarch of Constantinople, and obtained from Justinian a condemnation of the Origenist errors about 544)." Gieseler's evidence for this interpretation of the condemnation of Origen is in the epist. ad Mennam Archiepisc. Const. adv. impium Originem ap. Mansi ix. 487: "Here, p.524, Mennas is ordered,...,and from this ["home synod"] proceeded, without doubt, the 15 canons against Origen ..., though their title favours the fifth oecumenical council..." Nevertheless, "Though as early as Cyrillus Scythopolit. in vita Sabae c. 90. and Evagrius iv. 37. the formal condemnation of Origen is attributed to the 5th council by confounding it with the synod under Mennas..., as was afterwards generally believed. See on the other side Walch's Ketzerh. viii. 280." Certainly, so it seems to me, the evidence is suggestive that Origen never did receive a strong, theologically-sound, Orthodox condemnation of his hope for universal restoration, at any of the Ecumenical Councils. Actually, the belief in apokatastasis and universal reconciliation was so prevalent and so unquestioned in the hearts and minds of so many of the major Church Fathers up until the fifth century, that it is hardly likely that Origen would have been singled out for attack specifically for his "tenderheartedness" (as St. Augustine might call it) in this area. Hints in this direction had already been set forth by Origen's teacher, Clement of Alexandria, who had complained about the introduction of "punishments after death" and "penal retribution by fire...pilfered from the Barbarian [Hebrew] philosophy both by all the poetic Muses and by the Hellenic philosophy", as expressed in Plato's *The Republic*. While his "Hebrew" connection may be questionable, Clement does seem to anticipate the astute observation of Hannah Arendt, that the (classical) Christian framework for Heaven and Hell is much more POLITICAL than Biblical, it being CULTURAL CHRISTIANITY, the accommodation of a fundamentally secular structure of coercion (the Platonic political myths of rewards and punishments), formally introduced by Church authorities as a means of social control not before the fifth century, but at the time the papacy emerged as a temporal power, and, I would add, long before the Church had split into "East" and "West". The way this political concept of Heaven and Hell has entered into "Westernized" Christian thinking, empowering the violence of the Latin- forensic mindset, has been admirably detailed by Robert Short in his book with the attention-grabbing title and cover, Something to Believe In Is Kurt Vonnegut the Exorcist of Jesus Christ Superstar (Harper & Row, 1978). Another Biblical critique of this tradition of violence is the inter- disciplinary seminar paper by David Collins: "Hell and Tradition" (Toronto: Institute for Christian Studies, 1990 [229 College St., Toronto, Ont. M5T 1R4]. What I find remarkable is the number of Orthodox commentators who continue to hold to some variation of this "Westernized" frame of reference for Heaven and Hell, seemingly so oblivious to the depths of illumination of the subject experientially available in their own mystical tradition, which has retained at least something of the original hope. Perhaps the problem could be that a residue of the "the doctrine of reserve" still lingers on, i.e., the belief of some of the Fathers of the Church that "universal restoration" is a truth for the perfect only, while the untutored masses may still need a good scare to rein them in and set them on the way to Salvation. I reckon it is because this doctrine of universal reconciliation has been almost totally suppressed in the Western Church for near 1,500 years, during which time it has been neither particularly emphasized nor encouraged for whatever reasons in the Eastern Church, that texts on this subject are not generally easy to discover, even though a good selection of references can gradually be acquired. Lest there be any doubt that the "apokatastasis" is a viable and respectable option for Eastern Orthodox Christians, C.A. Patrides, The Salvation of Satan, Journal of the History of Ideas 28:467-478(Oct.-Dec.,1967), provides an excellent review with many details. Even when the information is good, I have found it sometimes most easily accessible via theologically dubious or "unusual" sources. The book by Andrew Jukes (renegade Anglican mystic?), for example, offers a wealth of scholarly and Biblical knowledge, reprinted by a group of supra-lapsarian, Arian universalists. Dr. Constantine N. Tsirpanlis's worthy contributions are those of an Orthodox scholar who has been affiliated with a Unification teaching institution, as part of his calling, mission, and need for an income I would assume. Rather than go into great detail here, I will do little more than offer a list of the names of some of the Fathers and leaders of the Early Church whose teachings can be cited with varying degrees of weight in support of the Biblical doctrine of Universal Reconciliation. Of course, many in our day would insist that these respected Church Fathers and leaders were wrong. I hope these people will not attempt to cover over the evidence by recourse to instances of "the doctrine of reserve". Here are some names: Clement of Alexandria; Origen; Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch; Athenagoras; Eusebius, Bishop of Caesaria; Gregory of Nazianzus; Gregory of Nyssa; Ambrose, Bishop of Milan; Jerome (in his youth); Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus; Theodore of Mopsuestia; John of Antioch ; St. John Chrysostom, who also specifically acknowledged "the doctrine of reserve". How can any Orthodox have minimal or negative regard for the "blessed hope" of such an illustrious company? Yet even just recently, the Greek Orthodox priest and scholar, Father Ambrosios Giakalis, has chided certain modern Russian Orthodox theologians (with roots in the Slavophile movement), notable Christians and surely not Origenists, such as Vladimir Lossky and Father Georges Florovsky, for finding universal restoration implied in the Theology of the Icon, thereby allegedly reviving the condemned teaching of Origen. Suppose, for the sake of this discussion, that the Orthodox Church is truly One, and the One True Church. Then the universalism of the Orthodox Church would take the form of a Romantic Universalism. Where Vernard Eller states that the world is saved by becoming Church, the Orthodox Christian would narrow the focus by asserting that the whole world can only ultimately be saved to the uttermost (and it will be) by becoming Orthodox Church. The particular, the One True Church in her Universality, must inevitably embrace the whole of creation, completely restored in Christ. Even in and through the other-than-Orthodox churches and sects, the Sacraments of the Church must be at work, "so that when, e.g., a Roman Catholic is baptized, he becomes a member of the Body of Christ, not a servitor of the Pope; and when he is ordained, it is for the upbuilding of that Body, not for promotion of the *filioque*" (John Erickson, Reception of Non-Orthodox Clergy Into the Orthodox Church, St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 29(2):115-132(1985) (p.132)). The Day will come when Hell is Harrowed, all the world will be Orthodox, and God will then be all in all. Could be that this is the God beyond the God of our fallible minds, and the Orthodoxy beyond Orthodoxy. Selected References and Reading 1. Andrew Jukes, The Second Death and the Restitution of All Things, circa 1867. Republished in 1976 in cooperation with Concordant Publishing Concern, 15570 W. Knochaven, Canyon Country, CA 91351. See pages 96-97, and Appendix Note B: *Extracts from the Fathers*. 2. Dr. Augustus Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1849, Vol. IV [trans. from the German by Joseph Torrey]. See pages 264-267. 3. Dr. John C.L. Gieseler, A Compendium of Ecclesiastical History, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1848, 4th ed. revised and amended, Vol. II. See pages 100-103 including footnotes 10 and 23. 4. Jeffrey Burton Russell, Satan The Early Christian Tradition, Ithaca and New York: Cornell University Press, 1981. See page 147 on Origen's rejection as well as affirmation of the doctrine of apokatastasis. 5. Giovanni Papini, The Devil *Notes for a future diabology*, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1955 [trans. Adrienne Foulke], Chapter XIV: *The Devil's Destiny*. On the Devil, Origen, St. Gregory of Nyssa, the youthful St. Jerome, and Ambrosiaster. 6. Julia Annas, Plato's Myths of Judgment, Phronesis 27(2):119-143 (1982). 7. D.P. Walker, The Decline of Hell Seventeenth-Century Discussions of Eternal Torment, The University of Chicago Press, 1964. 8. Rev. Charles H. Pridgeon, M.A., Is Hell Eternal *or* Will God's Plan Fail?, Pittsburgh: The Evangelization Society of The Pittsburgh Bible Institute, *Third Edition*, 1931, Chapter XXVII: The Witness of the Early Church Fathers. [The Pittsburgh Bible Institute, R.D. 1, Box 391, Gibsonia, PA 15044 (Trinitarian Evangelical Universalist)] 9. Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Science, Religion and Christianity, Westminster, Maryland: The Newman Press / Great Britain; Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd., 1958 [trans. from the original German by Hilda Graff], pp.119-142: C. Being Lost. (Descent into Hell in Romanticism and in Eastern Orthodox Christianity) 10. Books by and about George MacDonald, a "mentor" of C.S. Lewis. 11. David M. Kelly, The treatment of Universalism in Anglican Thought from George MacDonald (1824-1905) to C.L. Lewis (1898-1963), Ph.D. thesis, The University of Ottawa, 1989. 12. Articles by Dr. Thomas B. Talbott, Dept. of Philosophy, Willamette University, 900 State St., Salem, Oregon 97301. 13. Edward William Fudge, The Fire That Consumes A Biblical and Historical Study of Final Punishment, Houston, Texas: The Providential Press, 1982, Third printing, 1985. Information on many of the Church Fathers. See pages 341-342 for Clement of Alexandria's complaint about "Barbarian philosophy" and "Hellenic philosophy". The author of this book is oriented to the viewpoint that the final lot of the unsaved is to be exterminated, completely annihilated by fire. 14. Hannah Arendt, Between Past and Future Eight Exercises in Political Thought, Enlarged Edition, Penguin Books 1977 [1954; Additional text, 1968]. Note discussion of the Platonic / "Corpus-Christianum" origin of the traditional doctrine of Hell, in the chapter, What Is Authority? 15. Ambrosios Giakalis, Images of the Divine The Theology of Icons at the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Leiden / New York / Koln: E.J. Brill, 1994. The critique of the Russian theologians is in footnote 41 on page 124. Note the intriguing suggestion in this informative study that a "hidden Origenism" may underlie iconoclasm. On page 21 the Emperor Louis II is quoted as calling "CACODOXY" that which is not "ORTHODOXY"! 16. John Erickson, Reception of Non-Orthodox Clergy Into the Orthodox Church, St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 29(2):115-132(1985). On page 132 (Note 35), John Erickson refers to "G. Florovsky's very favorable assessment of Augustine's understanding of the sacraments, in "The Limits of the Church," *Church Quarterly Review* 11 (Oct. 1933) 117-31 at 128: "...the love of God overlaps and surmounts the failure of love in man. In the sects themselves and even among the heretics the church continues to perform her saving and sanctifying work. It may not follow, perhaps, that we should say, the schismatics are *still in the church;* at all events this would not be very precise and sounds equivocal. It would be truer to say, the church continues to work in the schisms in expectation of the mysterious hour when the stubborn heart will be melted in the warmth of `preparatory grace,' when will burst into flame and burn the will and thirst for unity and communality. The `validity' of the sacraments among schismatics is the mysterious guarantee of their return to Catholic plenitude and unity."" 17. Constantine N. Tsirpanlis, review of John N. Karmanis, E pangozmiotes tes en Christo soterius (The universal nature of salvation in Christ), Athens, 1981. A reprint from THEOLOGIA 51:645-691(1980); 52:14-45(1981). In The Patristic and Byzantine Review 1(1):73-75(1982). Dr. Tsirpanlis observes that "the essential question of universal salvation, as Eschatological *Symphonia*, and ultimate restoration of the entire cosmos (*apocatastasis ton panton* -- 1 Cor. 15,12-58), so deeply connected with Professor Karmiris' topic, is not touched upon and not even mentioned in his entire study!" Dr. Tsirpanlis writes, "There is no doubt that Professor Karmiris' position, which clarifies and corroborates the Biblical truth that God grants His grace and salvation, through special non-ecclesial channels, even to the non-christians, non-members of the Church, the unbaptized, but sincere believers and practitioners of God's commandments (p.59), will cause controversy, discomfort and uneasiness among the ecclesiastics and fanatic clerics.. Professor Karmiris' position is not unique, however, since the majority of prominent, contemporary theologians, like Kung, Florovsky, Danielou, Nyss, Congar, Chitescu, declare their conviction that belonging to or membership in the visible Church is *not an absolutely necessary condition for salvation*, which may be acquired by even the non- christians if their souls are filled with faith in God, "good will" and holiness of virtuous life...Such "non-christians" or "anonymous christians" prove to be many times more sincere and consistent believers than the professed christians or the "members of the church"...In any case, Professor Karmiris seems to agree with Florovsky and Congar (p.75) that these "anonymous christians" or "crypto-christians" are the real members not only of the invisible, but of the visible Church of Christ as well, being baptized by their faith and conformity of their will with God's will, which actually represents the genuine membership in the Church, as the Mystical Body of Christ and His eternal Kingdom (Matth. 25,31f; 5,1f; 7,2f; Luk. 6,46f. Cf. Luk. 10,33f. Matth. 8,11)." 18. Constantine N. Tsirpanlis, Aspects of Maximian Theology of Politics, History, and the Kingdom of God, The Patristic and Byzantine Review 1(1):1-21(1982). 19. Constantine N. Tsirpanlis, The Concept of Universal Salvation in Saint Gregory of Nyssa, pp.41-56 of Constantine N. Tsirpanlis, Greek Patristic Theology Basic Doctrines in Eastern Church Fathers, New York, 1979. Distributed by Dr. Constantine N. Tsirpanlis, R.D.1, Box 107, Ulster Park, New York 12487. 20. Jan Bonda, Het ene doel van God een antwoord op de leer van de eeuwige straf, Baarn: Ten Have, 1993. 21. Isaac C. Rottenberg, All Israel Will Be Saved (and so will the world), Perspectives 8(9):13-15(November 1993). Review of Jan Bonda, Het ene doel van God. 22. Walter Vogels, God's Universal Covenant A Biblical Study, Ottawa, Ont.: St. Paul University / University of Ottawa Press, 1979. 23. Georges Barrois, The Alleged Origenism of St Gregory of Nyssa, St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 30(1):7-16(1986). As the editorial states (p.4), "...Origen was not so thoroughly an "origenist" as he has been made out to be. And his influence upon Gregory of Nyssa was not nearly as decisive -- or as nefarious -- as some critics have held." 24. Michael Maeder, O.S.B., Church as People -- A Study of Election, Collegeville, Minnesota: St. John's University Press, circa 1968. The Roman Catholic Church breaks out of her traditional narrowness of vision regarding other Christians and other people, an openness stemming from the return to universalist teaching of Vatican II (Lumen Gentium). 25. J.W. Hanson, D.D., Universalism The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During its First Five Hundred Years With Authorities and Extracts, Boston and Chicago: Universalist Publishing House, 1899. 26. Charles Chauncy, Salvation for All Men with Samuel Mather, D.D., All Men Will Not be Saved Forever, Hicksville, N.Y.: The Regina Press, 1975 (Reprint Edition with a New Introduction). 27. Hosea Ballou 2D, The Ancient History of Universalism, from the Time of the Apostles to its Condemnation in the Fifth General Council, A.D. 553. With an Appendix Tracing the Doctrine Down to the Era of the the Reformation. Second Edition, Revised, Providence: Z. Baker, Gospel Messenger Office, 1842. 28. Esteban Deak, Apokatastasis: The Problem of Universal Salvation in Twentieth Century Theology, Thesis, St. Michael's College, Toronto, 1979. 29. Vernard Eller, The Most Revealing Book of the Bible Making Sense out of Revelation, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,1974, 1975. 30. David Collins, Hell and Tradition, Toronto: Institute for Christian Studies, 1990. [ ICS, 229 College St. Toronto, Ont., M5T 1R4 ] 31. Robert L. Short, Something to Believe In Is Kurt Vonnegut the Exorcist of Jesus Christ Superstar?, Harper & Row, 1978. 32. D. Bruce Lockerbie, The Cosmic Center, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1977, Chapter 5: An Unshackled Universe. 33. C.A. Patrides, The Salvation of Satan, Journal of the History of Ideas 28:467-478(Oct.-Dec.,1967). 34. Thomas Wittemore, The Plain Guide to Universalism Designed to Lead Inquirers to the Belief in that Doctrine, and Believers to the Practice of It, Boston: Published by the Author, No.37 Cornhill, 1840. Please add to the list mmm -- qqq