Eschatology of Saint Gregory of Nyssa

Regarding the book by F.M. Oksiyuk “Eschatology of Gregory of Nyssa” prof. S.L. Epifanovich Eschatology of sects of Protestant origin (Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses) (PhD thesis) Priest Evgeniy Veselov Those basic eschatological positions expressed by Clement of Alexandria († c. 215) found their detailed disclosure in the works of his student, Origen († c. 254). The central point of Origen's eschatology is his clearly expressed doctrine of universal apocatastasis. This doctrine in his works is so thoroughly furnished with arguments that the latter doctrines of universal apokatastasis among later advocates amount to mostly just repetition. The extent to which Origen retreated in his eschatological views from church tradition is clearly revealed from the systematic presentation of his teaching. I. The doctrine of the final fate of each person individually. 1. Eschatological doctrine of bodily death and immortality of the soul. Touching upon the question of the death of the human soul, Origen believed its essence to be the separation of the soul from God (separatio animae a Deo mors appellatur 5). Recognizing this so-called spiritual death of the human soul, Origen at the same time strongly insisted on its immortality in the sense of continuing to exist after the physical death of a person. According to his conviction, in addition to Christians and Jews, pagans also have faith in the existence of human souls after their separation from their bodies 6 The Jews, he says, from their earliest youth taught their children the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and future reward 7. Likewise, according to Origen, many of the pagan philosophers and heretics also adhered to the doctrine of these two subjects. When deciding on the immortality of the soul, Origen attaches particular importance to the fact that the latter has spirituality and godlikeness. The dual fate of souls immediately after the physical death of people determines the dual nature of the places of their otherworldly stay. While righteous souls, according to the teachings of Origen, are rewarded with a stay in blissful dwellings in the next world, the souls of dead sinners inherit sad places of sojourn there. In his works, Origen very often dwells on the depiction of the other world, although he considers this a very difficult matter 23. In his opinion, the earth on which we currently live is a world surrounded on all sides by the ocean. In addition to this world, in his opinion, there are many other similar worlds, separated from each other by the sea and, therefore, completely inaccessible and unknown to us. These worlds serve as the place where the souls of dead people reside. From this follows Origen’s idea that “the entire universe consists of the heavenly, the supercelestial, the earthly and the underworld (coelestium, supercoelestium, terrenorum, infernorum)” 24. In his works, Origen very often speaks of many heavens. He does not precisely determine their number, because Holy Scripture, in his understanding, does not teach about a certain number of heavens. It, in his opinion, does not claim that there are only seven heavens 25, although the book of Baruch mentions so many worlds or heavens 26. Christ, says Origen, rose above all heavens (ύπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν), in order thus to pave the way for His true followers to that which is above all heavens (τά ύπεράνω πάντων τών οὐρανῶν), i.e. to the fact that ἔξω σωμάτων 27. The Holy Apostle Paul, writes Origen in another place, was caught up into the third heaven (εις τρίτον οὐρανόν) and at that time explored the heavens and what is in them (οὐρανούς καί τά περί αὐτῶν) 28 . St. Apostle Peter, according to Origen, received from the Lord the keys of not one heaven, but many (ούχ ἐνός οϊρανοῦ, ἀλλά πλειόνων) heavens 29 or, in other words, the whole kingdom of heavens (τής βασιλείας τῶν ουρανῶν) 30 . The fact that at the time of the general judgment the elect will be gathered together a summis coelorum usque ad terminos eorum (Matt. The opposite side of the “heavenly (coelestium)” in the universe, according to the teachings of Origen, is occupied by the “underworld (infernorum).” The catechet of Alexandria defines it as χώριον ἄδου 46. This is κολαστήριον τῶν ἀμαρτωλῶν 47. The inhabitants of this hellish country are called καταχθόνιοι and consist, on the one hand, of demons, and on the other, of the souls of dead sinners 48 . In hell, according to Origen, there are different places that are distributed among sinners, according to the degree of their sinfulness ἀμαρτημάτων) 49 . In addition to hell, Origen also mentions Gehenna in his works as a place of punishment (κολαστήριον) for sinners. According to the testimony of St. According to the Gospels, Origen says, Gehenna is a place of punishment where the souls of dead sinners are cleansed of their sins 50 . Origen calls the place in question the punishment and purification of sinners, according to New Testament usage, - γέενναν τοῦ πυρός 51. For adultery, as one of the greatest sins, according to Matt. 5:22, promised in the afterlife μεΐζόν τι κολαστήριον τῆς γεέννης τοῦ πυρός 52 Being in the next world in communication with angels and, as it were, becoming like them, the souls of the dead righteous, then, according to the teachings of Origen, enjoy the contemplation of spiritual things. We, says Origen, with the constant influence on us of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, renewed at all stages of perfection, will one day have the opportunity to contemplate a holy and blessed life (intueri possumus sanctam ac beatam vitam) 63, because the purpose of the existence of rational beings is - ή τῶν νοητῶν καί ἀοράτων θεωρία 64 or simply – τό θεωρητικόν 65 and ἠ θεωρία (καί ἠ ἐν αὐτή τῶν δικαίων καὶ μακαρίων πανήγυρις) 66 . We, writes Origen, after struggle and suffering during this life, hope to reach heavenly heights, in order to receive there the sources of water, which, according to the teachings of Christ, flows into eternal life, and the streams of contemplation (τῶν θεωρημάτων), which are above the heavens (ὐπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν). If we glorify the Lord there, He will not remove us from heaven. On the contrary, we will always be there in contemplation of the invisible things of God . What is especially important in this case is that then we will no longer know divine things through the works of creation, but directly, so to speak, face to face (1 Cor. 13:12) 68. Contemplating spiritual objects in the next world, righteous souls, according to Origen, will naturally remain there in communion with God and contemplate Him. Great and highly desirable, says Origen, is bliss (μακαριότης) 69 because it is with God (ἠ παρά θεῶ μακαριότης) 70 and unites with Him 71 . Its essence consists in communion with God (ή θεοῦ κοινωνία) and a blessed life with Him (ἠ μακαρία μετά θεοῦ) 72 . Defining the essence of heavenly bliss, Origen in one place of his works, as Rufinus reports, declares that the righteous in the next world will contemplate face to face the rational spiritual substance (intuebitur rationabiles intellegibilesque substantiae facie ad faciem) or the cause of things (rerum causas) 73. They will feed on food, which, in its essence, is nothing other than the contemplation and knowledge of God (theoria et intellectus Dei) 74. Imagining the essence of heavenly bliss in this way, Origen believed that the souls of the dead righteous immediately after their entry into the afterlife 80 could not achieve its fullness. On the contrary, they master it gradually. Origen reveals this last thought when he explains why St. The Apostle Paul had a desire to be resolved and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23). He, according to Origen, was confident that, having returned to Christ, he would clearly learn the meaning of everything that happens on earth, namely, about man, his soul, mind and spirit, as well as the meaning and significance of the rituals and institutions of the Old Testament, the different kingdoms of living beings and their genera and species, the meaning and chain of all things, the judgment of divine providence about each individual creature, etc. Regarding all this, the dead righteous, according to Origen, will receive knowledge in paradise, where, as we already know, they go immediately after their death. From here, having a more or less mature mind, they move to the airy place (aëris locum) and, so to speak, through the mansions of various places (per locorum singulorum mansiones) they reach the heavenly kingdom (caelorum regna). So, according to the teachings of Origen, the souls of the dead righteous, obviously, in accordance with what was said above, after heaven reach the heavenly earth and the teaching that is taught on the latter, in order to thus prepare for the reception of better institutions. First, on heavenly earth they are taught by holy powers, and then Christ Himself instructs those who can perceive Him as Wisdom. He will reign over them until He subdues them to the Father, who has subjected all things to Him, i.e. until the time when they become able to accept God, who will be all in all to them (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28) 83. Origen considered his teaching about the gradual assimilation of heavenly bliss by the souls of the righteous as undoubted, since, in his opinion, it is based on the evidence of Holy Scripture. Regarding the question of the exit of the Jews from Egypt, the catechist of Alexandria argued that the biblical narrative about it indicates the transition of the soul from the human body to another world. The soul, Origen continues, having left its body, passes either to the bosom of Abraham, or to paradise (sinus Abrahae vel radisus), as well as to other places and abodes known to God (si qua novit Deus esse alia loca, vel alias mansiones), so that, moving from one place to another, it finally joins the current that delights the city of God (ad flumen illud, quod laetificat civitatem Dei), has achieved the fate that was promised to the fathers as an inheritance (intra ipsum sortem promissae patribus haereditatis) 84. By the various places in which the Jews were during their stay in the desert, Origen means the various countries through which, after the resurrection from the dead, souls will pass, more and more enlightened in them by the light of wisdom, until they finally pass on to the Father of lights (in unaquaque mansione illustrata sapientiae lumine usque ad ipsum perveniat luminum Patrem) 85 . Origen mainly believed that the essence of hellish torment was eternal fire. In his opinion, the soul of a person who led a criminal lifestyle on earth will be consigned to eternal fire and punishment in the next world (igni aeterno ac suppliciis mancipanda) 94. Having in mind the future punishments of sinners, Origen interprets relatively - ignis aeterni comminatio 95. By the way, he derives his teaching that people have free will from the fact that in the next world a reward is promised to the righteous, and eternal fire to sinners (τὸ πῦρ τό αἰώνιον) 96 . Origen agrees with the opinion of Celsus that Christ threatens those people who do not honor Him with eternal fire (πῦρ αἰώνιον) 97 and that Christians, along with many of the pagans, believe in eternal punishment (κολάσεις αἰώνιοι) 98 or in completely eternal torment (πάμπαν αἰώνια κακά) 99 . Moreover, he notes that the doctrine of eternal punishment (κολάσεις αἰώνιοι) has a strong influence on the moral life of Christians 100. Hellish torment, according to Origen, receives this meaning because with them, as with eternal punishments (κολάσεις αἰώνιοι), all possible disasters of real life cannot be compared. Just as an excess of difficult-to-digest food in the stomach produces a feverish heat throughout the entire body, which is always directly proportional to the amount of harmful, inflammatory substances present in the body, so when the soul is filled with sins, the whole sum of evil in it is inflamed for punishment and kindled for torment (effervescit ad supplicium atque inflammatur ad poenas). Not a single one of our sins passes without a trace on the soul, but is reflected on it. When, thus compiled, a whole chain of sins and atrocities in all its ugliness and nakedness is suddenly revealed to the inner eyes of our conscience, then the latter itself will persecute and beat itself with its own goads, and it itself will testify against itself and accuse itself (tunc et ipsa conscientia propriis stimuli agitatur atque conpungitur et sui ipsa efficitur accusatrix et testis). The last thought, according to Origen, is confirmed by St. the apostle Paul, when he says: “Between one another with the mind of condemning or reproving, in the day when God judgeth in secret by man according to my gospel, Jesus Christ” (Rom. 2:15–16). The hellish fire into which those who renounce Christ go, according to Origen, differs from our ordinary fire. On the one hand, according to the testimony of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 66:24), he is eternal (aeternus), and on the other, invisible (invisibilis), while having the property of burning the invisible (invisibilia comburat) 112. Its immateriality is also revealed by the fact that demons burn within it, seeing people corrected 113. Very often the catechist of Alexandria, referring to Deut. 4:24, calls God Himself that fire that destroys sinners (ό θεός πῦρ καταναλίσκον έστί ... τοῖς ἀμαρχωλοῖς) 114, which destroys in them, like wood, grass and stubble, the flesh fighting against the spirit 115. This is the fire that Christ brought to earth in order to destroy the world, the world, the world, the world μοχθηράς ἔξεις 116. Believing the essence of hellish torment in spiritual fire, Origen looked at them not only as punishment for sinners, but at the same time considered them a means of healing the morally corrupt nature of the latter. Having said that hellfire will have a purely spiritual character, the catechist of Alexandria suggests that, in addition to fiery torment, there are other, unknown to us, methods of punishment and other sources of torment for sinners, which are known to the One who is the Physician of our souls (qui est medicus animarum nostrarum). “If,” says Origen, in the transmission of Rufinus, for the recovery of the body from those diseases that we acquired through food and drink, we sometimes consider it necessary to treat with the help of a more or less severe and cruel means, and sometimes, if the quality of the disease requires it, we need the painful use of iron (rigore ferri) and the painful cutting off of members, and if the measure of the disease exceeds even these means, then the disease that has developed to the extreme is burned out even with fire; then all the more should we think that God, this our Physician, wanting to destroy the diseases of our souls, received by them as a result of various sins and crimes (medicum nostrum Deum volentem diluere vitia auimarum nostrarum, quae ex peccatorum et scelerum diversitate collegerant), uses similar punitive means and, moreover, even resorts to punishing by fire those who have lost the health of the soul (insuper etiam ignis inferre supplicium his, qui sanitatem animae perdiderunt” 117 “God,” Rufinus conveys Origen’s speech a little lower, “deals with (people) who have fallen and given over to sins, just like doctors who give medicine to the sick in order to restore their health through treatment. Proof of this is the command of the prophet Jeremiah to offer all nations the cup of God’s wrath, so that they would drink it, go mad and spit it out (Jer. 25:15–16). There is also a threat here that if someone does not want to drink, he will not be cleansed (quia si qui noluerit bibere, non mundabitur). From this, of course, we can conclude that the fury of God’s punishment serves as a means for the purgation of souls (ad purgationem proficiat animarum). Punishment by fire must also be understood in the sense of a medical remedy (pro adiutorio). Isaiah teaches about this, who says this about Israel: “The Lord will wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion and the blood of Jerusalem will cleanse them from among them with the spirit of judgment and the spirit of fire” (cf. Is. 4:4). About the Chaldeans, he notes this: “Imash the coals of fire: sit on them, they will help you” (Is. 47:14–15). And in another place he says: “The Lord will sanctify in blazing fire.” And the prophet Malachi writes: “The Lord (the Lord) will sit, boiling and cleansing, and the sons of Judah (Levi) will cleanse” (Mal. 3:3)” 118. very sinful, then it happens to him, according to what is written: “He, like lead, will plunge into the depths, into very great water” (cf. Ex. 15:10) 130. According to Origen, during this life we ​​cannot achieve complete cleansing from our sins. And in the future life, in his opinion, not all people immediately achieve perfect purity. Only those of them who already show great zeal here on earth in this regard will achieve proper purification by the beginning of the next century, receiving their body completely free from sins during the general resurrection. If any of the sinners does not strenuously strive for cleansing from their sins, then he will not achieve it in the next century. On the contrary, he, in all his impurity, will move from one world time to another and only by the beginning of the third future century will he be completely cleansed of all his sins 131. In general, it must be said that Origen considers the future purification of sinners to be long. Just as our body, which received wounds in a very short time, requires a very long time for its recovery, so, the catechist of Alexandria believes, our soul, wounded by sins in a very short time, must endure torment for a very long time in order to achieve its complete cleansing 132. Quite accurately, according to Origen, only Christ knows how long God will want to torment sinners in the fire, in which they will find their cleansing from sins 133. However, no matter how long the fiery torment may be, nevertheless, according to Origen, it will end when sinners, freed from them, move to Jesus Christ 134. Considering hellish torment a means of purifying the morally corrupt nature of dead sinners and believing that their duration is directly dependent on the degree of sinfulness of a particular sinner, Origen naturally had to admit the idea that punishments after death are temporary. And indeed, he denied the eternity of hellish torment, because, in his opinion, it is incompatible neither with the concept of God as the most perfect Doctor of human souls 135, nor with the concept of a sinful person healed through hellish punishment as a free being, therefore, always possessing the ability to correct. According to Origen, since all rational beings have free will, even for those of them who have completely plunged into evil, having made the latter as if their second nature, the possibility of correction and return to a state of primitive perfection is not lost, if not in the present or next century, then at least in future centuries 136. However, considering hellish torment to be temporary, Origen in many places of his writings, following the language of Holy Scripture, threatens sinners in the next world with eternal (aeternus or αἰώνιος) punishments in fire or in total darkness 137. By this, Origen gave reason to think that he expressed contradictory judgments when solving the same issue. But in order to eliminate this apparent contradiction of Origen, it is enough to pay attention to the fact that the teaching of Holy Scripture about the eternity of hellish torment, in his opinion, was admitted for educational purposes. According to Origen, the doctrine of torment after death, on the one hand, is useful (τό χρήσιμον), and on the other, true (τό ἀληθές). It, in his opinion, at the same time, for the sake of the greater benefit of man, is proclaimed in secret (μετ’ έπικρόψεως συμφερόντως λέγεται) 138 . Holy Scripture, says the catechist of Alexandria in another place, was written in relation to the views of the majority of readers. It treats terrible things in dark terms in order to keep in fear those who through other means cannot get out of the sinful mire 139. Just as children need to talk about those things, the understanding of which corresponds to their tender age, so, Origen believes, and to those people whom Holy Scripture calls “the fools of the world,” first of all, it is much more convenient to offer a literal understanding and meaning of those expressions that speak of punishments, when no other means can so conveniently induce them to abandon a sinful life and to practice virtue, except fear and the presentation of punishments (φόβου καί φαντασίας τῶν κολάσεων) 140 . 1. The doctrine of the second coming of Christ and the refutation of chiliasm. The second coming of Christ, apparently, was of little interest to Origen. However, he did not leave him without his attention. No matter how little it was required by the basic principles of his eschatological system, he nevertheless considered it necessary to recognize it as an undoubted future world phenomenon. If at the present time, he reasoned, the Lord is in heaven, then, nevertheless, despite this, He will come again (iterum veniet) to earth (ad terras) 143. Explaining the meaning of the title of one of the books of Moses “Deuteronomy,” the catechist of Alexandria writes that “just as in Deuteronomy the legislation is set out more obviously and clearly than in the books written earlier, so by the coming of the Savior, which He accomplished in humiliation, taking the form of a servant, His more glorious and majestic second coming in the glory of the Father is indicated 144. Origen tries to find evidence of the second coming of Christ in Holy Scripture. In his opinion, biblical prophecies speak of two comings of Christ. For the first time, according to them, He came in a humiliated form in order to teach people through His behavior the path that leads to God. As for the second coming of Christ to earth, then, according to the testimony of the prophecies, as Origen understands them, it will be glorious and exclusively divine, since in it human weakness will no longer be combined with the Divinity (τήν δ’ έτέραν ένδοξον καί μόνον θειοτέραν, ούδέν ἐπιπεπλεγμάvov τῆ θειότητι ἔχουσαν ἀνθρωποπαθές) 145 . According to the view of the catechist of Alexandria, already in Gen. 49:10 refers to the appearance of Christ at the end of the ages (Christus in finem saeculorum advenisse) 146, when all nations await Him with fear and trembling as a Judge (omnes gentes et populi Christum judicem in pavore cordis et tremore conscientiae exspectabunt) 147. Especially clearly, according to Origen, the second glorious coming of Christ is predicted in Ps. XLIV 148. Finally, according to his idea, the two comings (έπιδημίας) of the Son of God into the world are indicated by the double appearance of Christ in Cana in Galilee during His first sojourn on earth 149. Concerning the nature of the second coming of Christ to earth, Origen usually speaks in the sense that it, in contrast to His first coming, will be glorious. In his work “On the Beginnings,” as Rufinus reports, he clearly says that the second coming of the Son of God to earth will be more glorious and majestic (clarior et gloriosior) than the first 150. For the second time, the Savior will appear in the world “in the glory of His Father with the holy angels (venturus in Dei Patria cum sanctis angelis)” 151. The Lord Himself, writes the catechist of Alexandria, compared the power of His glorious coming (gloriosi adventus sui potentiam) with lightning (fulguri), saying: “As lightning comes from the east and appears to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27) 152. In the second (secundum), namely the glorious (gloriosum), coming of Christ, according to Origen, the whole church believes (omnis ecclesia credit). At this coming, the body of the Son of God will be the same as it was when He was transfigured on the mountain before His three disciples. However, then not three people will be around Him, but all nations will gather. He will sit on the throne of His glory (super sedem gloriae suae) and separate good people from evil 153. In one place of his works, Origen suggests that just as the first coming of Christ was preceded by a voice crying in the desert, so His second coming will be revealed by the voice of the archangel and will take place with the sound of a trumpet 154. Explaining the evidence of Holy Scripture about the second coming of Christ to earth, Origen believed that the latter would differ from the first in that it would not happen in a sensually visible way, but in a spiritual way. In his opinion, one can only be lenient towards children and minors if they understand the procession of the Lord on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30) in the literal sense. The fact is that individual moments of this great act of world history, such as, for example, the fall of the stars from heaven to earth, the procession of the Lord on the clouds, the gathering of all people, the visible appearance of the Redeemer, according to the Catechist of Alexandria, when understood literally, are in internal contradiction with each other. From here, it naturally follows, he believes, that they must be understood only in a spiritual sense (in solo spiritali) 155. The Son of God, writes Origen in another place, when he comes in his glory, will not appear in any one place, but will be in all places at the same time. At the same time, He will contemplate all people, and the latter will also see Him, but not with their physical eyes, but with their spiritual ones 156. So, the second coming of Christ to earth, according to Origen, will not be sensually contemplated, but purely spiritual, not external, but internal. In his works, Origen does not give an exact definition of the time of the second coming of Christ to earth. In this regard, he limits himself to only depicting the signs that will precede this world act. According to his conviction, before the second coming of the Son of God to earth, all religions will cease to exist except Christian χριστιανών κρατῆσει) 157 . Then all nations, including the Jews, 158 will turn to the true faith, although Jerusalem and their kingdom will not be restored 159. Despite, however, such a wide spread of Christianity, according to the catechist of Alexandria, before the second coming of Christ into the world there will be many sinners (πλήθος ἀμαρτολών) 160 . Then the anti-Christian principle will manifest itself in different forms and with special force. Origen knows that in the world there is not only the word, truth, wisdom and virtue of Christ, but also the Antichrist 161. It goes without saying that chiliasm had to find its refutation in Origen’s eschatological system. He could not reconcile himself with the adherence of the catechet of Alexandria to allegorism, as well as with his teaching about the afterlife healing of the souls of dead sinners through hellish torment. Indeed, Origen decisively refuted the chiliastic doctrine. “Some,” Rufinus conveys Origen’s reasoning, “rejecting all labor of understanding (of Scripture), following (only) as it were the surface of the letter of the law, catering more to their own pleasure and lust, and being disciples of the letter alone, think that the promises are to be expected to consist of bodily pleasure and luxury; That is why, mainly, not following the teaching of the Apostle Paul about the resurrection of the spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44), after the resurrection, they desire such bodies that would never be deprived of the ability to eat, drink and do everything that is characteristic of flesh and blood. To this they quite consistently add that after the resurrection there will be marriage and even the birth of children. Further, they think that according to the pattern of this life, according to the arrangement of dignities or ranks, or the predominance of power in this world, they will then be kings and princes, like real earthly ones (kings and princes) - they think on the basis that the Gospel says: “thou shalt be over five cities” (Luke 19:19)... This is what those who, although they believe in Christ, understand the Divine Scriptures in the Jewish way think. and in these (promises) they find nothing worthy of divine promises. But those who understand the speculation of the Scriptures according to the mind of the apostles, they, of course, hope that the saints will eat, but - the bread of life, feeding the soul with the food of truth and wisdom - (bread of life), which will enlighten the mind and drink from the cup of divine wisdom, as the Divine Scripture says: “Wisdom having prepared her meal, sacrificed her sacrificial and dissolved her wine in the cup,” and with a loud voice he calls: “Turn to Me, eat the bread that I have prepared for you, and drink the wine that is available to you” (Prov. 9:1-5). Fed with this food of wisdom, the mind will achieve the purity and perfection with which man was created at first, and will restore in itself the image and likeness of God” 168. “Christians,” writes Origen in another of his works, “possess the truth, which could elevate and elevate the soul and mind of man, possess the consciousness that they are members of the kingdom, - not an earthly kingdom (πολίτουμα), which was among the Jews, but a heavenly one (ἐν οὐρανοῖς)” 169 ...We affirm with complete determination that their (Jewish) kingdom will no longer be restored” 170. If God promised the doers of the law a good and vast land flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 3:8), then in this case, according to Origen, Judea was not meant, because it was part of the land cursed for the fall of our first parents. Judea and Jerusalem, on the contrary, are only shadows and symbols of that good and extensive land that is in the clear sky, where the heavenly Jerusalem exists 171. Thus, Christ, according to the teachings of Origen, will come a second time not for the purpose of establishing an earthly kingdom, but to resurrect people from the dead and judge them. 2. The doctrine of the general resurrection of the dead. According to Origen, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead has its basis in church tradition (in ecclesia praedicatur... quia erit tempus resurrectionis mortuorum) 172. Every person belonging to the Church must believe in the resurrection of the dead, about which St. the apostle Paul said that whoever denies it must also deny the resurrection of Christ 173. According to Origen, whoever does not have faith in the resurrection of the dead, even if he recognizes everything else that relates to church tradition, places a stain on divine teaching 174. However, despite the importance of belief in the resurrection of the dead, Origen knew people who did not share it. In his time, some pagans and Gnostics denied the resurrection of the dead. Having in mind those who deny the resurrection of the dead, Origen tried in every possible way to prove both its possibility and reality. In his opinion, the possibility of the resurrection of the dead cannot be subject to any doubt, because it will be accomplished by the power of God. Just as a potter can again prepare any other vessel from the shards of a broken vessel, so, Origen argues, God, who, like the potter, created our bodies, can, if they are destroyed, restore them again, and in a much better form 176. That God will indeed one day raise the dead, according to the catechist of Alexandria, is quite clear (Matt. 22:23ff.) 177 or secretly (1 Peter 2:5; Eph. 2:20; Isa. 54:11ff.) 178 teaches the Holy Scripture. By the way, Origen sees a particularly important indication of the general resurrection of the dead in the rod of Aaron, which gave sprouts, buds, flowers and fruits. He believes that the human body, like the rod, will one day come to life again and will have the four properties indicated in 1 Cor. 15:42–44 179 . Origen imagined the future resurrection of the dead to be universal 183. He considered it a great mistake to think that in some places of Holy Scripture, such as in Ps. 1:5 is the idea that wicked people will not be resurrected 184. On the contrary, in his opinion, the future resurrection will extend its effect to all people 185, not excluding sinners 186. As for the essence of the future resurrection, Origen believed that the human body, which does not perish forever after its death, will be called to life again during this world act. On the last day, when, at the command of the Lord, the trumpet sounds, then the dead will rise again (mortui resurgant) 187. Then the sea will return those dead it has swallowed up, and death and hell will return their dead (Rev. 20:13) 188. In the idea that the resurrection will occur in their former bodies, according to the view of the catechist of Alexandria, we are confirmed in many ways by Holy Scripture 189. – Defending the truth of the future resurrection of the dead from attacks on it by heretics who allowed the resurrection of the dead only in the spiritual and moral sense, Origen believed “that they should be answered in the following way. If they, - this is how Rufinus conveys Origen’s reasoning on this question, - themselves confess that the resurrection of the dead exists, then let them answer us, what exactly died? Isn't it the body? This means that there will be a resurrection for the body (Nonne corpus? Corporis ergo resurrectio fiet). “We, who believe in the resurrection of the body, understand that death will only produce a change in the body, but its substance, of course, continues to exist, and by the will of the Creator it will in due time be restored to life again” 191. “Those raised from the dead are not given any new bodies, but they receive the same bodies that they had during life” 192. So we can imagine the essence of the future resurrection of the dead, according to the teachings of Origen, set forth in his writings, which have come down to us in the edition of Rufinus. This, of course, was not the actual teaching of Origen about the essence of the future resurrection of the dead. As far as can be judged even on the basis of his writings, which were edited by Rufinus, he was far from thinking about the complete identity of resurrected bodies with real ones. Moreover, he pointed out with all decisiveness a certain difference between resurrected and real bodies. Neither we, he said, nor the Divine Scripture claim that people who have been dying for a long time will again come out of their graves and live in their previous bodies without experiencing any change for the better 193. Having said that at the moment of the general resurrection we will receive our former bodies, Origen, as Rufinus reports, added that they will be transformed from worse to better (ex deterioribus in melius transformata recipiant) 194. According to Origen, only those who adhere to the literal understanding of St. The Scriptures can affirm that at the time of the general resurrection we will receive bodies completely similar to the real ones, not only in their appearance, but also in their functions, so that they will be able to eat, drink and produce children 195 . Against this idea of ​​the bodies of resurrected people, Origen puts forward his opinion, according to which the so-called, preserved in human bodies destroyed by death. the vital embryo (ratio) will produce a new body during the general resurrection. This body will be different from the real body, for St. the apostle Paul says: “What you sow, you do not sow the future body, but naked grain” (1 Cor. 15:37) 196. Recognition of the difference between the resurrected and real bodies of people in their properties, according to the catechist of Alexandria, is even necessary, since it will be required by the place in which they will reside after their resurrection. It is necessary, he writes, that the soul located in bodily places should have a corresponding body. Just as, for example, if we turned into a water animal and had the need to live in the sea, we would necessarily have to have a body characteristic of fish, so those who intend to inherit the heavenly kingdom and live in places different from the present must necessarily use spiritual bodies (ἀναγκαῖον χρῆσδαι σώμασι πνευματικοῖς) 197 . We know, Origen declares in another place, that the soul, which by its nature is incorporeal and invisible, cannot reside in a corporeal place without having a body that would correspond to the property of this place. Therefore, she frees herself from the body, which was previously necessary for her, and then became superfluous, and takes on, like clothing, a better body, compared to the previous one, in order to be able to achieve a pure, ethereal, heavenly home. When the soul enters the world through birth, it throws off the clothing it needed in its mother’s womb. But before doing this, she takes on another body, which she needs to have during her earthly life. After the resurrection of the dead, she receives a heavenly body, according to the testimony of 2 Cor. 5:1 and 1 Cor. 15:53 ​​198 . While admitting, on the one hand, the difference between the resurrected and real bodies of people, Origen, on the other hand, tried to establish a certain connection between them. Denying the possibility of the resurrection of our real bodies, he admitted the possibility of the resurrection of the subtlest bodies. Four elements, he writes, as is known to philosophers and doctors, namely earth, water, air and fire, are included in the composition of all things, not excluding human bodies, to which earth gives flesh, water - various moistures, air - breath, fire - heat. And therefore, when the soul, by the will of God, lays aside its exhausted and cold body, it decomposes into its constituent elements, which gradually return to their basic substance (ad matrices suas substantias) and mix with it. Then the flesh and bones, having decomposed, mix with the earth, the air that served as the source of breathing - with atmospheric air, various moistures - with water, and the heat rises upward into the region of the ether. And just as the particles of milk and wine poured into the sea, although they do not disappear here, but disperse through the water and mix with it, so that they never return to their previous state, milk and wine, so the substance of our body and blood does not disappear and is not destroyed, although it will never become what it was before, it will never resume the previous composition of its elements, since there will never again be a soft body, hard bones, liquid blood, or mutual intertwined nerves and veins 199. In addition to the four listed elements, the human body, according to Origen, also has its own appearance (είδος). The Catechete of Alexandria notes the fact that our bodies are constantly changing their material substrate (τὸ ὐλικόν ὐποχείμενον). In his opinion, it is not without reason that many compare the human body to a stream, because a continuous metabolism takes place in it, so that it does not remain the same even for two days. Therefore, Origen continues, if Peter or Paul always seems to us not only in soul, but also in body as Peter and Paul, this is only because their bodies, experiencing a constant change of elements, never lose the appearance that characterizes them (τό είδος τό χαρακτήριζον τό σώμα). This very appearance, which emerges with more or less clear features and shades on the face of each of us from childhood, will again be communicated to the soul during the resurrection, albeit in a changed form for the better ( πάλιν τῆ ψοχῆ, ἐπί τὸ κρείττον μεταβάλλον) 200 . The appearance of everyone in the future life is preserved in the same way as the appearance of the Lord, Moses and Elijah during the transfiguration, because at that moment, although they had a different appearance, it was not different from what they had before the transfiguration (οὐχ ἔτερον ἐν τῆ μεταμορφώσει παρ’ ὀ ήν) 201 . That human bodies have the ability of resurrection, precisely in this form, this, according to Origen, becomes understandable if we take into account that in each of them God has endowed the potency (ratio) of its own substance. And just as the rudiments of a root, stem, leaves, chaff, and awns found in a grain of grain thrown into the ground, rotting, are not destroyed, but, having decomposed and mixed with the necessary substances, are transformed into a real grain plant, having roots, stems, leaves, awns, chaff, so that here, in this way, some die, some come to life (aliudque moritur, aliud resurgit), and in ratione humanorum corporum laid by the Creator of the beginning of their rebirth (surgendi principia), which, like some kind of seeds (quasi ἐντεριώνη, id est seminarium mortuorum) during human death are buried in the ground, where they decompose and rot, and during the judgment, when from the Archangel's voice and the last pipes, the earth will shake, they will grow, but in a completely different form than in which they were sown 202 . This idea, according to Origen, is also affirmed by St. The Apostle Paul, when he writes: “How will the dead be raised? What body will they come in? Fool, what you sow is not the future body, but bare grain. God gives him the body he wants” (1 Cor. 15:35–38) 203. Thus, this is how the catechist of Alexandria ends the disclosure of his given thought - we need to think, and our bodies, like grain, fall to the ground. But they contain that potency (ratio) which contains bodily substance. This very power, according to the word of God, will raise from the earth, renew and restore dead and destroyed bodies, just as the power (virtue) inherent in a grain of wheat renews and restores it in the body of the stem and ear, when it, being thrown into the ground, decomposes and rots in it 204. So, Origen establishes a connection between the resurrected bodies of people and the real ones, similar to the one that, for example, exists between a grown ear and the grain from which this ear grew. The resurrected body, according to the teachings of Origen, will be transformed; it will have special properties. Our bodies after the general resurrection of the dead will be spiritual. Having said that the substance of our body will one day be restored to life again, the catechist of Alexandria adds that then our body will achieve the glory of the spiritual body (in gloriam corporis proficiat spiritualalis) 205. It will be freed from corruption and death (corruptionis et mortalitatis), changing its state of dishonor to a state of glory (ab indignitate transmutat ad gloriam) 206, and it will also be clean from all defects of a moral character (purgatnm vitiis carnem ex resurrectione recipiet) 207. This spiritualization of our body through the act of general resurrection will consist in the fact that it will acquire such qualities that it will be fitting for all holy and perfect souls to dwell in it. St. Apostle Paul calls our future body an eternal church not made with hands (2 Cor. 5:1). By this, according to Origen, he shows that in its subtlety, purity and glory it will surpass current bodies, which, although celestial and brilliant, are nevertheless man-made and visible. And this is for the reason that our future body, as invisible, will be eternal, and such bodies are incomparably superior to all those that we see both on earth and in heaven. From here, the catechist of Alexandria believes, it is easy to imagine what beauty (decor), what splendor (splendor) and what brilliance (fulgor) our future spiritual body will have 208. It will be like the resurrected body of Jesus Christ, which had an ethereal, divine property (αἰθέριον καὶ θείαν ποιότητα) 209 . It is, according to Matt. 22:30, will be like the bodies of heavenly angels, because then it will acquire an ethereal, bright light (αἰθέρια καί εὐγοειδες φῶς) 210. All the qualities of our resurrected body, according to Origen, will be exhausted only by the fact that it will shine in inexpressible glory (inenarrabili gloria fulgebit) 211. This, Origen believes, means that we will be given a body completely different from the real one, namely a spiritual body, ethereal, not subject to either sight or touch, not having any heaviness or weight, and capable of changing according to the place in which it will reside (alind nobis spirituale et aethereum promittitur, quod nec tactui subjacet, nec oculis cernitur, nec pondere praegravatur, et pro locorum in quibus futurum est, varietate mutabitur) 212 . The Catechete of Alexandria considers spirituality to be the main property of resurrected human bodies. He speaks about this property of theirs very often in his works, trying to prove it mainly on the basis of the letters of St. Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15 and 2 Cor. 5) 213. Now,” writes Origen in one of his works, “we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, act with our hands, walk with our feet, but in the future we will be entirely spiritual (spirituali toti), because then in the present body there will be all the eye, all the ear, all the activity, all the movement. Lord, says St. The apostle will transform the body of our humility, so that it may be conformed to the body of His glory (Phil. 3:21) 214. Finally, Origen, based on Matt. 22:30 and Mark. 12:23, believed that after the general resurrection human bodies would lose the organs of nutrition and plant life in general, the difference in age and sex, and at the same time the degree of kinship 215. In close temporal connection with the second coming of Christ and the events grouped around it is the end of the present world. “The end of the world (de consummatione mundi), according to Origen, is first announced by Jacob when he says to his sons: “Gather to me, sons of Jacob, that I will tell you what will happen in the last days” (Gen. 49:1), or after the last days (quid erit in novissimis diebus, vel post novissimos dies). This means that if there are last days, or (time) after the last days, then the days that have begun must necessarily cease (cessare dies necesse est qui coeperunt). David also says as follows: “The heavens will perish, but You remain, and all, like a robe, will wear out and like a veil, You will change them, and they will change, You are the same ecu, and Your years will not fail” (Ps. 102:27-28). Our Lord and Savior Himself also testifies that the world was created when he says: “...heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). He points out that the world is perishable and must end. Also, the Apostle clearly points to the end of the world when he writes: “For the creation is subject to vanity, not by will, but because of him who obeyed in hope, for the creation itself will be freed from the work of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:20-21), and also when he also says: “The image of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31)” 221. Having in mind the pagans, who, while interpreting the transmigration of souls, at the same time rejected the end of the world, Origen decisively declares that Holy Scripture testifies to the destruction of the latter 222. While affirming the demise of the real world through fire, Origen, however, did not allow the substantial destruction of the latter. He only believed that this world would change, taking on its new form. This idea of ​​the future death of the present world, according to the conviction of the catechist of Alexandria, is confirmed by St. the apostle Paul, when he says: “the form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31), as well as the prophet David, when he writes: “the heavens will perish, but you abiding, and all will wear out like a robe, and like a garment they will fall away and be changed” (Ps. 101:27). “Indeed,” Origen notes, in the transmission of Rufinus, regarding these expressions of Holy Scripture, “if the heavens change, then that means they will not perish, for what changes, then, of course, does not yet perish. And, if the image of the world passes away, then this does not mean the complete destruction and destruction of its material substance, but only indicates a certain change in quality and transformation of its form” 226. “The same thought, according to the catechist of Alexandria, is undoubtedly expressed by Isaiah when he says in the form of a prophecy that there will be a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 66:22)... If someone allows the complete destruction of the material, i.e. corporeal, nature in that final state of being, then I am not at all able to understand how so many such substances can live and exist without a body, when only the nature of God, i.e. Does the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit belong to existence without material substance and without any admixture of corporeality?” 227. But we would not have correctly presented Origen’s teachings about the final fate of the world if we had lost sight of the fact that he allowed not just one end of the world, but a whole series of endings similar to the one described. The fact is that the catechist of Alexandria believed that God manifests His power in the creation of a continuous series of worlds, and the present world, in his opinion, is not the last world, but only the predecessor of new future worlds. It serves only as a connection between the past and future worlds. “We believe,” Rufinus conveys Origen’s reasoning, “that just as after the destruction of the present world there will be another world, so before the existence of this world there were other worlds (post corruptionem huius erit alius mundus, ita et antequam hic esset, fuisse alios)... That there will be another world after this world, Isaiah teaches about this, saying: “There will be a new heaven and another earth, which I will make to dwell before My face,” says Lord" (Isa. 66:22). And that before this world there were already other worlds, this is shown by Ecclesiastes, saying: “What was, is also what will be: and what was created, also will be created. And nothing is new under the sun. “And that after this age (post hoc saeculam), which, they say,” Rufinus conveys the reasoning of Origen, “was created at the end of other centuries, there will be other subsequent centuries (erunt alia saecula supervenientia),” the same Paul clearly teaches about this, saying: “Let him show in the ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace, with kindness to us” (Eph. 2:7). He did not say: “in the age to come,” or: “in the two centuries to come”; therefore, I think that the evidence of this saying is indicated by many centuries” 230. While admitting the existence and succession of many other worlds after the present world, Origen nevertheless believed that material substance is not destroyed with the cessation of each world. Such its destruction would be possible only if we could assume that all rational beings have the ability to exist without bodies 231. But such an assumption, according to the catechist of Alexandria, is not acceptable. “If corporeal nature is destroyed, then,” writes Origen, as reported by Rufinus, “it seems that it will have to be restored again and created a second time. After all, it is possible that rational beings, from whom the ability of free will is never taken away, will again be subject to some kind of disturbances ... which, “without a doubt, will again be followed by that difference and diversity of bodies with which the world is always decorated, because the world cannot consist otherwise than of difference and diversity; but this diversity can in no way be realized without corporeal matter” 232. It is possible, Origen believes, that a vessel which, on the basis of previous reasons, was appointed by God in the present age for honorable use, in the future world, if he lives more or less carelessly, will become a vessel of dishonor. On the contrary, whoever, due to previous reasons, is destined to be a vessel of dishonor in the present world, if he corrects himself and cleanses himself of all sinful defilements, in the future world he will turn out to be an honorable vessel. Just as those destined by God to be Israel in the present world, if in fact they not only do not do deeds worthy of the true Israel, but in addition dishonor the Israeli race with their lives, in the future world from the chosen vessels of glory will turn into worthless vessels of dishonor, so, on the contrary, those who in this world are destined to be born and live as Egyptians or Edomites, if they do deeds worthy of Israel and enter the Church of Christ, – those in the future world will become honorary vessels 233. It is possible, writes the catechist of Alexandria, in another place, that many of the rational beings who are currently on the highest steps of the ladder of the spiritual world will retain their moral state not only in the second, but also in the third and fourth worlds. Others of them will lose only a small part of their present excellence and position. Finally, still others will fall into the bottomless depths of evil. When establishing new worlds, God will act with each of the rational beings as his merits require. Hence, whoever among rational beings surpasses all others in wickedness and is completely leveled to the ground, in another world he will be the devil, the beginning of opposition to the Lord, so that the angels will mock him, having lost their original virtue 234. 4. The doctrine of universal judgment. “Church sermons, according to Origen, contain the doctrine of the righteous judgment of God” 235. This teaching has a very important ethical significance, since, according to the statement of the catechist of Alexandria, even heretics, in view of the future judgment, correct their lives 236. Origen decides the question of the time of the world court in the sense that the latter will occur after the death of the present world δικαία περί πάντων κρίσις) 237 . Origen considered the future world court to be universal in the sense that all creation would appear at it. On the day of the future judgment, in his opinion, all tribes and peoples (omnes gentes et populi) with heartfelt fear and trembling await Christ as the Judge 238. All people,” he says in another place, “who will die from the beginning of the world to its very end, are preserved for the last day of judgment (ad hunc ultimum diem judicandi reserventur) 239 . And not only will all people, according to the catechist of Alexandria, be judged on the last day, but, according to Rom. 2:16, and all creation (in die judicii non solum homo sed etiam universa conditio judicetur 240. Meaning Rome. 2:16 and John 5:22, Origen believed that God would bring about the future world judgment through Christ 241. In addition, in his opinion, along with the King of kings, the one who drinks the cup that Christ drank to the end will also participate in reign and judgment. Finally, according to the catechist of Alexandria, all the angels will be present at the world court and will bring to this court the people guided by them in a virtuous life, so that it will become clear whether they sinned through their own ignorance or through the carelessness of their patrons 243. Depicting the future world court, Origen expressed confidence that during it not only human deeds and words will be judged, but also thoughts, because God knows everything that we do, say and think 244. He who, says the catechist of Alexandria in another place, alone knows the hearts of people and their secret thoughts, is the only one who can carry out judgment on them 245. When to Rome 2:15 says that during the judgment the thoughts of people will mutually accuse or justify each other, then here, according to Origen’s view, this does not mean the thoughts that people will then have, but which they have at the present time. “All our thoughts, both good and bad,” continues the catechist of Alexandria, “leave on our souls, as on wax, certain signs that now constitute the secret of our hearts, and during the world trial they will be revealed by the One who alone knows human secrets 246 . – The general judgment will be fair, since at it God will distribute rewards and punishments among people, according to their dignity. In carrying out the world court, God, according to Origen, cannot be unjust, because His name Iudex indicates that He does nothing without court. And where there is court, there is justice, since the concepts iudex and iudicium come from the concept - iustitia 247. The life, word and disposition of each, in the words of the catechist of Alexandria, will ensure that each is judged according to his deserts προκριθῆναι ἐκάστου κατ’ ἀξίαν) 248 . “It is certain,” Rufinus conveys Origen’s reasoning on this issue, “that on the day of judgment the good will be separated from the evil and the righteous from the unjust, and by the judgment of God everyone will be distributed, according to merit, to the places for which they are worthy (singuli quique pro merito per ea loca, quibus digni sunt, distribuantur judieio Dei)” 249. – Depicting the future universal judgment, Origen finally believed that it, like the second coming of Christ to earth, would not occur in a sensually visible way, but exclusively spiritually. According to him, neither the places where the future Judge will appear, nor His sitting during the trial can be understood in a literal sense. The future judgment will be carried out internally, precisely through the revelation of Christ in the soul of a person, as a result of which his conscience will awaken and everything hidden in him will appear in the light 250. According to the catechist of Alexandria, Holy Scripture, if it depicts the future judgment in the form of an ordinary human court, is only because it wants to present it visually 251. The immediate consequence of the universal judgment of God, according to Origen, will be the different fate of the righteous and sinners. During this judgment, the Lord will be the first to say: “Come, you blessed of My Father,” and gave. (Matthew 25:34), and the second: “Go cursed into everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41) 252. However, the catechist of Alexandria did not consider such a separation of the righteous from sinners to be eternal, since, in his opinion, even after the resurrection of the dead, corrective and cleansing means would have their power 253. 5. The doctrine of universal apokatastasis. The final chord of Origen's eschatological views is his doctrine of universal apocatastasis. This teaching of the catechist of Alexandria is in close connection with his ideas about hellish torment, not only as a punishment, but as a means through which the latter are cleansed of their sins. And in fact, if sinners in the next world, through hellish torment, are little by little freed from their sins, then it is natural to expect that all of them will one day become morally completely pure, the consequence of which will be their achievement of heavenly bliss. In addition to the fact that the doctrine of universal apocatastasis follows quite naturally from Origen’s views on hellish torment, we also find special discussions about it in his works. The restoration of all rationally free beings to their original state and, consequently, the destruction of evil, according to the view of the catechist of Alexandria, first of all follows from metaphysical foundations. The fact is that, in his opinion, only good exists in its own sense. As for evil, it is only the absence of good. “To depart from good, according to Origen, means nothing more than to do evil (effici in malo), because it is known that evil is a lack of good (certum namque est malim esse bono carere)” 254. Arising only in the event of a rationally free being deviating from good, evil, thus, in its very essence bears the beginning of self-decomposition and self-destruction 255. From here it naturally follows that good will one day achieve complete triumph over powerless evil and embrace everything that exists, so that there will be no place left for evil anywhere and in anything. The idea of ​​the future restoration of all rationally free beings to their primitive state, according to Origen, further follows from psychological considerations. Evil, argues the catechist of Alexandria, once did not exist at all, and the time will come when it will not exist again, because the seeds of virtue cannot be destroyed. In the latter, according to Origen, we are convinced by the evangelical rich man, who did not completely sink into evil at the moment when he was condemned to hellish torment for his sins, since at that very time he still felt compassion for his brothers, which is a wonderful seed of good 256. If the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in the present world eon, according to Matt. 12:32, is not forgiven, then from here, according to Origen’s conviction, it does not follow that he will not be forgiven in future world eons 257. On the contrary, in his opinion, in these latter God will turn the riches of His grace into mercy, so that people who have sinned and are in the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit during the present world eon and those preceding it will then in a mysterious way take part in salvation 258. However, Origen primarily bases his doctrine of universal apokatastasis on the evidence of Holy Scripture. Interpreting, for example, de fine et consummatione mundi, the catechist of Alexandria expresses his conviction that the goodness of God, according to Isa. 109:1 and 1 Cor. 15:8, leads through Jesus Christ all creation to one goal - the conquest and subjugation of all enemies. Understanding what this conquest and subjugation of enemies would consist of, he believed that this would be the same victory that the apostles and all the saints who followed Christ achieved. This will be the same salvation (salus) that Christ gives to those who submit to Him (cf. Isa. 61:2) 259. Those beings, says Origen in another place, who have fallen from their original blessed state are at the disposal of the holy and blessed orders. Using their help and corrected under the influence of their saving instructions, they “can return and be restored to the state of their bliss (redire ac restitui ad statum suae beatitudinis possint).” Of these very creatures, according to the catechist of Alexandria, the human race consists, which in the next century or in subsequent centuries, when, according to the prophet Isaiah, a new heaven and a new earth will appear (Is. 66:22), will be restored to that unity, as the Lord promises (restituetur in illam unitatem, quam promittit Dominus), speaking to God the Father about His disciples: “I pray not for these only, but also for those who believe in their words for their sake in Me, that they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in us” (John 17:20–21), or: “That they may be one, as We are one. I am in them, and You are in Me, that they may be made perfect as one” (John 17:22–23). This, according to Origen’s view, is confirmed by the Apostle Paul when he says: “We will reach the end of the union of faith, in a perfect man, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13) 260. Christ, according to the catechist of Alexandria, in consummatione saeculi will unite in Himself all those who are subjugated by Him to the Father and who reach salvation through Him. Together with them and in them, He Himself will submit to the Father, since everything exists in Him, and He is the head of everything, and in Him is salvation and the fullness of those who inherit salvation, according to the testimony of St. Apostle Paul: “When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will submit all things to Him who put all things under Him” (1 Cor. 15:82) 261. Defining more precisely the meaning of this apostolic expression, Origen says that the discussion of the Son, as submissive to the Father, points to the “perfect restoration of all creation.” Likewise, he believes, when the enemies of God are called “those who submitted to the Son,” then “by this submission is meant the salvation of those who submitted and the restoration of the lost” 262 . If Celsus considered it impossible that one day all people would follow the same law in their lives, then Origen refutes this with all his might. In his opinion, it is not impossible that the time will come when all rational beings will turn to one law. Undoubtedly, one day the Word will subjugate all rational nature to Himself and transform all souls, imparting to them His perfection. And this is because the Word is more powerful than all the sufferings and vices of the soul, and His distributive power is offered to all people by the will of God. At the beginning of the world there was only good; therefore, at the end of the existence of things there should be absolutely no evil. Hence, the end of all things will be nothing less than the complete disappearance of all evil. That evil, indeed, will one day cease to exist, so that it will no longer exist anywhere, the Old Testament prophets secretly taught about this (Zeph. 3:7–13) 263. Having drawn an analogy between sin and leprosy, Origen expresses confidence that this leprosy will not exist forever. On the contrary, people possessed by it will return to their previous state at the end of the world. This will happen precisely when both the pagans and the Israelites achieve their salvation and, thus, there will be “one flock and one shepherd” 264. If the Jews, based on Ezek. 16:55, they think that Sodom will one day return to its previous position, then the catechete of Alexandria believes that the Egyptian land will not forever remain in its disastrous position. This means that a soul that has been punished for the sin of Sodom will, after a long period of punishment, return again to its previous state 265. Pitch darkness, according to Origen, can continue to exist only until the sinners in it become worthy of the state from which they once emerged. 266 15:5), “My blood is truly beer, and My flesh is truly meat” (John 6:55). He does not drink and does not rejoice, and this will continue until He completes His work. And this work of His will reach its completion when the last and heaviest of all sinners becomes completely clean of his sins. The fact is that until the last sinner submits to the Son of God, and He submits to His Father in him, in whom His work has not yet reached perfection. According to the testimony of St. Apostle, we all together make up the body of Christ, and each of us individually is one or another member of this body (1 Cor. 12:27). Therefore, if among us there are even a few who have not submitted to Christ with complete submission, then He will not submit to His Father. When the Son of God has completed His work, in other words, when He has raised all creation to the highest perfection (cum universam creaturam ad summam perfections adduxerit), then He Himself will submit to the Father in the person of those whom He has subjected to Himself and the Father and in whom He has completed the work entrusted to Him by the Father, so that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28). So, at the present time the Lord does not drink the wine of joy, because He comes before the altar as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. But He will drink it again when everyone submits to Him and is saved and when, thus, the very kingdom of death or sin is destroyed (cum subjects et fuerint omnia, et salvatis omnibus, ac destructa morte peccati), so that there will no longer be a need for a sacrifice for sin. Then the time will come for joy and gladness, for sickness, and sorrow, and sighing will flee away (Isa. 85:10). - However, not only the Son of God cannot experience complete joy, but also all those who inherited His kingdom while sinners still exist. Moreover, they, together with Christ, grieve for sinners, awaiting their entry into the kingdom of God. And these ecu, says St. The Apostle Paul about the Old Testament righteous, - having obeyed by faith, they did not accept the promises, God foresaw the best for us, so that not without us they would receive perfection (Heb. 11:39-40). These words of St. But at the same time, he expresses the conviction that the saving power of Christ’s merits is so infinitely great that it is quite sufficient for the salvation of not only the present and future, but also all past and future centuries. It is salutary not only for our human race alone, but also for the entire rationally free world, for everyone, in the words of St. apostle, whether earthly or heavenly (Col. 1:20) 268. So, according to Origen, on the basis of the doctrine of the fruits of the redemptive work of Christ, it is necessary to assume that someday the end of the present imperfect order of things will come and only good will exist, as it was in the original world. If Origen believed that evil would one day completely cease to exist, then by this he had to recognize the restoration to its original state not only of the entire human race, but also of the devil. And indeed, based on some of his expressions, one can think that evil spirits, in his opinion, will again return to a good state in one of the future world eons. Thus, according to his assumption, the punishment of evil spirits will one day cease. He is confident that the Gospel at the end of times will be preached to all nations, as well as to the angels flying in the air, because the good Father does not abandon those who have fallen away from Him 269 . Elsewhere, Origen says that John and Christ preached salvation to men, angels and other powers (hominibus et angelis et virtutibus caeteris), that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth: and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10–11) 270. When St. The apostle says that one day the last enemy will be destroyed - death (1 Cor. 15:26), then by death in this case Origen means the devil 271. The destruction of the last enemy, of course, must be understood not in the sense that his substance, created by God, will perish, but in the fact that the disposition and hostile will, which originated not from God, but from himself, will perish. This means that he will be destroyed not in the sense that he will cease to exist, but in the sense that he will not be an enemy and death, because nothing is impossible for the Almighty and nothing is incurable for the Creator” 272. However, Origen, leaning towards recognizing the future restoration of the devil to his original state, at the same time provided the final solution to this issue to the readers of his works. “The question is, he writes, whether some of these ranks, acting under the command of the devil and obeying his malice, can someday in future centuries turn to good in view of the fact that they still have the ability of free will, or whether constant and inveterate malice, as a result of habit, should turn in them, as it were, into a certain nature. You, the reader, must investigate (tu, qui legis, probato), whether this part (of beings) will really not be at all in internal discord with the ultimate unity and harmony” 273. This is how Origen taught about universal apokatastasis. This is how he imagined the last page of world history. Origen's eschatological views soon found both their adherents and opponents in the history of Christian writing. 274 are usually considered the closest followers of Origen in the area of ​​his eschatological views of St. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria († 265), St. Gregory the Wonderworker, Bishop of Caesarea († 271), Pamphilus, Presbyter of Caesarea († 309), St. Lucian, presbyter of Antioch († 312), Pierius, Theognostus and others. However, it should be noted that none of the named saints. fathers did not leave behind an entire coherent eschatological system. Therefore, if they were aligned with Origen, the famous catechist of Alexandria, in this area of ​​theological views, then how can this be judged on the basis of their surviving works or excerpts from the latter, only in certain points. So, for example, St. Dionysius of Alexandria, judging by the excerpts from his writings preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea, was a follower of Origen only in the fight against chiliasm, to which he, one might say, dealt the final blow 275. 1, S. 12); r. trans., pp. 19–20). Exhort, ad mart. II, 275 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 4); r. trans., p. 5; Comm, in ep. ad Rom., lib. VII, 4 (Mg. XIV, 546) col. 1109A. Expos, in prov., cap. III, 32 (Mg. XVII) col. 169D. Contra Cels., lib IV, cap. XXIX, 522 (Koetschau, op, cit., Bd. I, S. 298); r. lane Part I, p. 372. Excel. in psalm. LXXII, 31 (Mg. XVII) col. 147C. In Lev., hom. IX, 11 (Mg. XII, 244) col. 523D–524A. De princ., lib. I, cap. III, 8, 64 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, 62); r. lane issue I, page 52. Contra Cels., lib. III, cap. LVI, 484 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 250); r. lane Part 1, page 298. Comm., in Io. I, 1, lib. I, cap. XVI, 91 (Preuschen, op. cit., Bd. IV, S. Contra Cels., lib. VI, cap. LXI, 679 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. II, S. 131). Ibid., lib. VI, cap. XX, 645 (Koetschau, op. cit„ Bd. II, S. 91). Ibid., lib. VI, cap. XX, 645 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. II, S. 91) cp. Schol. in cant. cant., cap. II, 3 (Mg. XVII) col. 261B. Contra Cels., lib. III, cap. LIX, 487 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 254); r. lane Part I, p. 303. Ibid., lib. III, cap. XLVII, 478 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 243); r. lane Part I, p. 288. Exhort, ad mart. III, 275 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 4); r. trans., p. 6. Contra Cels., lib. III, cap. LVI, 484 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 251); r. lane Part I, p. 298. De princ., lib. II, cap. XI; 7, 107 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 191); r. lane issue I, page 180. Ibid., lib. II, cap. XI, 7, 107 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 192); r. lane issue I, page 181. Comm., in Io. VIII, 23, lib. XIX, cap. XXII, 146 (Preuschen, op. cit., Bd. IV, S. 323–324). Comm. ep. ad Rom., lib. VI, 3 (Mg. XIV, 573) col. 1062A. Exhort, ad mart. XLVII, 307 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 43); r. trans., p. 65. De princ., lib. II, cap. XI, 3, 105 (Koetschau, op. cit, Bd. V, S, 186); r. lane issue I, pp. 173–174. Ipsa similitudo, si dici potest, proficere et ex simili urmm iam fieri, pro eo sine dubio quod in consummatione vel fine omnia et in omnibus Deus est. Ibid., lib. III, cap. VI, 1, 152 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 280–281); r. lane issue I, pp. 290–292. The participation of the souls of the dead righteous in heavenly bliss immediately after their death is completely consistent with the teaching of Origen about the descent of Christ into hell by His soul (Contra Cels., lib. II, cap. XLIII, 419 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 166); r. trans. part I, p. 178; In Matth, comm. ser. 132 (Mg. XIII, 922) col. 1780D; Comm, in Io. ХШ, 33, lib. XXXII, cap. XXX, 377 (Preuschen, op. cit., Bd. IV, S. 477); Comm, in ep. ad Rom., lib. I, 5 (Mg. XIV, 466) col. 850A cp. Comm. in. Io I, 26 et al., cap. XXXIV-XXXV, 170-174 (Preuschen, op. cit., Bd. IV, S. 143-144) n. ibid. II, cap. Luc., hom. IV (Mg. XIII, 937) col. In I Reg. XXVIII, hom. the souls of dead people to heaven (Comm, in Io. I, 1, lib. I. cap. XXXI, 217–220 (Preuschen, op. cit., Bd. IV, S. 38–39); In Exod., hom. VI, 6 (Mg. XII, 149) col. 335CD–336AB), but not all, but only those who received His preaching (Contra Cels., lib. II, cap. XLIII, 419 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, p. 166); Ita crescens per singula rationabilis natura, non sicut in carne vel corpore et anima in hac vita crescebat, sed mente ac sensu aucta ad perfectam scientiam mens iam perfecta perdusitur, nequaquam iam ultra istis carnalibus sensibus impedita, sed intellectualibus incrementis aucta, semper ad purum et, ut ita dixerim, facie ad faciem rerum causas inspiciens. Ibid, lib. II, cap. XI, 5–7, 105–107 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 188–191); r. lane issue I, pp. 176–180. Ibid., lib. III, cap. VI, 8, 155 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 290); r. lane issue I, p. 301. Rufinus conveys the data of Origen's reasoning in the following expressions: Itaque.. paulatim proficientes et ascendentes modo et ordine perveniant primo ad terram iliam, et eruditionem, quae in ea est, in qua ad meliora et illa, quibus iam addi nihil potest, instituta praeparentur. Post actores enim et procuratores Christus Dominus, qui est rex omnium, regnum ipse suscipiet, id est post eruditionem sanctarum virtutum eos, qui eum capere possunt secundum quod sapientia est, ipse instruet, regnans in eis tandiu usquequo eos etiam Patri subiciat Qui sibi subdidit omnia, id est ut, cum capaces Dei fuerint effecti, sit eis Deus omnia in omnibus. Ibid., lib. III, cap. VI, 9, 155 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 290–291); p. trans., vol. I, p. 301. In Numer., hom. XXVI, 4 (Mg. XII, 372) col. 776BC. Ibid., hom. XXVII, 6 (Mg. XII, 377) col. 787AB. Ibid., hom. XVIII, 3 (Mg. XII, 385) col. 803D. Comm. ep. ad Rom., lib. V, 9 (Mg. XIV, 563) col. 1043AB. and gave Comm., in Math., t. ХIII, 17 (Mg. XIII, 594) col. 1140C–1141A. Fragm. ex lib. II de resurr. (Mg. XI, 34) col. 93AB. Ibid. (Mg. XI, 34) col. 94BC. Ibid. (Mg. XI, 34) col. 93D–94A. De princ., lib. II, cap. X, 1, 100–101 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd V, S. 173–174); r. lane issue I. pp. 161–162. Ibid., lib. III, cap. VI, 5, 154 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 287); r. lane issue I, p. 297. Non nova aliqua corpora resurgentibus a mortuis dentur, sed haec ipsa, quae viventes habuerant. Ibid., lib. III, cap. VI, 6, 154 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 288); r. lane issue I, p. 299. Ούτε ἠμεῖς οὔτε τά θεῖα γράμματα αύταῖς φησι σαρξὶ, μηδεμίαν μεταβολήν άνειληφυίαις τήν έπι το βέλτιον, ζήσεσθαι τούς πάλαι αποθίνοντας, άπό τής γῆς άναδύντας. Contra Cels., lib. V, cap. ХVIII, 590 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. II, S. 19). De princ., lib. III, cap. 6, 154 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 288); r. lane issue I, p. 299. Ibid., lib. II, cap. XI, 2, 104 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. Y, S. 184); r. lane issue I, page 172. Fragm. ex lib. II de resurr. (Mg. XI, 34) col. 93BC cp. P. Strakhov, Pessimistic denial of the resurrection by late paganism (Theological News. 1913, November), p. 605. Selec. in psalm. I, 5 (Mg. XII, 534) col. 1093 CDs. Contra Cels., lib. VII, cap. XXXII, 716–717 (Koetschan. op. cit., Bd. II, S. 182–183). Sic substantiam carnis et sanguinis non perire quidem in originalibus materiis, non tamen in antiquam redire compaginem, nec posse ex toto eadem esse quae fuerint. Cum autem ista dicantur, soliditas carnium, sanguinis liquor, crassitudo nervorum, venarumque perpiexio et ossium durities denegatur. Sentent. ex lib. de resurr. (Mg. XI, 36) col. 97BC. Selec. in psalm. I, 5 (Mg. XII, 534) col. 1093BC. Ibid (Mg. XII, 534) col. 1096A. Sentent. ex lib. de resurr. (Mg. XI, 36) col. 97D–98A. Ibid. (Mg. XI, 36) col. 98A; De princ., lib. II, cap. X, 3, 101 (Koetschan, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 176); r. lane issue I, page 164. De princ., lib. II, cap. X, 3, 101 (Koetsbau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 176); r. lane issue I, page 104. Ibid., lib. III, cap. VI, 5. 154. (Koetschau, op. cit., V. V, S. 287); r. lane issue I, p. 297; ibid., lib. II, cap. X, 1, 101 (Koetschau. op. cit., Bd. V, S. 174); r. lane issue I, p. 162; ibid., lib. II, cap. X, 3, 101 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 175); r. lane issue I, pp. 163–164. Ibid., lib. II, cap. X, 1, 101 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 174); r. lane issue I, page 162. In Lev., hom. XIII, 4 (Mg. XII, 230) col. 497A cp. nos eosdem futuros esse homines dicimus, licet non eodem statu, neque in iisdem paseionibus (Fragm. ex lib. II de resurr. (Mg. XI, 34) col. 93A); Quod polluti et sordidi resurgamus, etiam cogitare piaculum est. In Luc., hom. XIV (Mg. XIII, 948) col. 1835A. De princ., lib. III, cap. VI. 4. 153–154 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V; S. 285); r. lane issue I, pp. 295–296. Contra Cels., lib. III, cap. XLI, 474 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 237); r. lane Part I, p. 279. Comm. in Math., t. XVII, 30 (Mg. XIII, 814) col. 1569A. De princ., III. cap. VI, 8, 155 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 289) p. lane issue I, p. 300. Sent, ex lib. de resurr. (Mg. XI, 37) col. 98D. Νῦν μέν ἐκολλήίθι τῶ ἐὄφει ή ψυχή καί γέγονε σαρξ·έν δέ τῆ ἀναστάσεί κολληθήσεται ῆ σάρξ τῆ ψυχῆ, καί ἔσται ψυχή ἤτις κολληθεῖσα τῶ Κύριῶ έν τῆ καθολική άναστάσει γίνεται ἔν πνεῦμα, καὶ γίνεται τὸ σώμα πνευματικόν. Selec.in psalm. СХVIII, 25 (Mg. XU, 799) col. 1592D cp. Contra Cels., lib. IV, cap. LVII, 548 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 330); r. lane Part I, pp. 420–421; ibid., lib. V, cap. XIX, 591 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. II. S. 20); ibid., lib. V, cap. XXII, 594 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. II, S. 23). Sent, ex lib. de resurr. (Mg. XI, 37) col. 98C. Sent, ex lib. de resurr. (Mg. XI, 37) col. 98D; Exhort, ad mart. XVI, 284 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S. 15); r. trans., p. 24; Comm., in Math., t. XVII, 30 (Mg. XIII, 813–814) col. 1568BC–1569A; ibid., t. XVII, 33 (Mg. XIII, 821–824) col. 1584B-D–1589A. De princ., lib. II, cap. X, 3, 101–102 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 176); r. lane issue I, pp. 164–165. Ibid., lib. III, cap. VI, 6, 154 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 288); r. lane issue I, p. 298. Comm, in ep. ad Rom., lib. VI, 6 (Mg. XIV, 575) col. 1067C. In Isaiam, lib. XXVIII. (Mg. XIII, 105) col. 217C–218B. De princ., lib. III, cap. V, 1, 148 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 271–272); r. lane issue I, p. 281. Comm., in Math., t. XIII, 1 (Mg. XIII, 563) col. 1088AB; ibid., t. XIII, 1 (Mg. XIII, 569) col. 1089BC. In Genes., hom. V, 4 (Mg. XII, 74) col. 191. Contra Cels., lib. IV, cap. XI. 508 (Koetschan, op. cit, Bd. I, S. 280–282; r. trans. part I, p. 344. Contra Cels, lib. IV, cap. XII, 508 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. I, S 282); r. lane Part I, p. 346. Si enini mutibuntur caeli,utique non perit quod mutatur; et, si habitus huius mundi transit, non omnimodis exterminatio vel perditio substantiae matdrialis ostenditur, sed immutatio quaodamfit qualitatis atquae habitus transformatio De princ, lib I, cap VI, 4, 70 (Koetschau, op. cit, Bd. V, S. 85); r. lane issue I, page 72. Ibid.. lib. III, cap. V, 3, 149 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 272–273) p. por. vyv. 1, p. 283. De princ, lib. I, cap. VI, I, 69 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 79; r. trans. issue 1, pp. 65–66. Ibid., lib. I, cap. VI, 2, 70 (Koetschau, op. cit, Bd. V, S. 82); r. lane issue I, pp. 68–69. Ibid., lib. III. cap. V, 6, III (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 277); r. lane issue I, p. 288. Cum dicitur Filius Patri subiectus, perfecta universae creaturae restitutio declarator, ita cum Filio Dei inimici dicuntur esse subiecti subiectorum salus in eo intellegatur et reparatio perditorum. Ibid., lib. III, cap. V, 7, 151 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 278). r. lane issue I, p. 289. Contra Cels., lib. VIII, cap. LXXII, 795–796 (Koetschau, op. cit, Bd. II, S. 288–290). In Numer., hom. VI, 4 (Mg. XII, 288) col. 611BC. In Ezech., hom. X, 3 (Mg. XIII, 393–394) col. 743AB. In Math, comm. ser. 69 (Mg. XIII, 884) col. 1706D–1707A In Lev., hom. VII, 2 (Mg. XII, 221–222) col. 479A-D–481A-D. Comm, in ep ad Rom., lib. V, 10 (Mg. XIV, 568) col. 1053AB. Comm., in Io., lib. I, cap. XIII–XIV, 82–84 (Preuschen, op. cit., Bd. IV, 18–19). In Luc, hom. XXIII (Mg. ХШ, 961) col. 1804A. Comm, in ep. ad Rom., lib. V, 7 (Mg. XIV, 560) col. 1036C–1037A. De princ., lib. III, cap. VI, 5, 154 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 286–287); r. lane issue I, p. 297. Ibid., lib. I, cap. VI, 3, 70 (Koetschau, op. cit., Bd. V, S. 83–84); r. lane issue I, page 69. For example, Prof. L. Atzberger, op. cit., S. 457–465. Hist, eccles., lib. III, cap. XXVIII, (Migne, ser. gr. (1857), t. XX, 100) col. 276A; r. lane (Works of Eusebius Pamphilus, St. Petersburg 1858), vol. I, p. 147; ibid., lib. VII, cap. XXIV (Mg. XX, 270–272) col. 692C–696A-C; r. lane vol. I, pp. 396–399. As for other points of the eschatological teaching of St. Dionysius, then in his disclosure of them he stands in the soil of church tradition. So, he speaks about the Antichrist (Euseb., Hist, eccles., lib. VII cap. XXV (Mg. XX, 275) col. 701C; r. trans., p. 405 cp. Priest A. Druzhinin, op. cit., p. 27) and claims that those people who deny that Christ died and rose again and will come again to judge the living and the dead are subject to anathema, and he ranks those who reject the future general resurrection among the dead (Pitra, Analecta sacra, t. IV (Parisiis MDCCCLXXXIII), p. 414; r. trans., p. 60). According to the remark of St. Dionysius of Alexandria, Christ, according to Ps. 81:8, will judge the whole world (Ibid., p. 416; r. transl. p. 118). Based on the writings of St. preserved in fragments. Alexander of Alexandria, we cannot indicate the latter’s anti-originistic thoughts. One can only note some of the general church eschatological views of the saint of Alexandria. Thus, according to his teaching, the resurrection of the dead during the death of the Lord was a foreshadowing of the general resurrection of the dead at the end of the present world. The general resurrection of the dead, as this saint noted. father, is part of the creed of the Apostolic Church (Ep. XII, Migne, ser. gr. (1857), t. XVIII) col. 568C).