Apokatastasis is the doctrine, associated above all with the third century Christian theologian Origen of Alexandria, that all rational beings will eventually be restored to union with God. Scholars disagree on how far Origen himself pressed the idea: some read him as teaching a full universal salvation, others find his own writing more guarded, and at least one strand of his speculation goes further still, entertaining an open sequence of worlds, each ending in restoration and each restoration perhaps followed by a fresh fall into a new world, rather than a single line from creation to a final end.
Facts
Origins
Defining MomentA set of anathemas traditionally called the Fifteen Anathemas Against Origen, associated with the Second Council of Constantinople of 553 CE, condemns the position directly: "If anyone says or thinks that the punishment of demons and of impious men is only temporary, and will one day have an end, and that a restoration (apokatastasis) will take place of demons and of impious men, let him be anathema." A further anathema in the same set names Origen himself. 1 Historical OriginSourced to the subject's own accountExplored in Origen's On First Principles (Peri Archon), written in Alexandria in the earlier third century CE, as one of several open questions about the ultimate fate of rational souls that Origen raised and reasoned through rather than settled as fixed dogma. 2 Status
Current StatusSourced to the subject's own accountUniversal restoration continues to be defended by a minority of modern Christian theologians as a legitimate hope rather than a settled heresy, drawing on Origen and on Gregory of Nyssa; across most churches it remains a minority and contested position. 2 The Claim
The ClaimSourced to the subject's own accountThat the end of all things restores every rational creature, on the most expansive reading even the devil and the fallen angels, to its original union with God, and that on Origen's own more speculative reasoning this restoration might not be final, with a new world and a new fall possible beyond it. 2 Controversy
Point in DisputeSourced to the subject's own accountHistorians disagree on whether the Fifteen Anathemas were formal canons of the 553 council itself or a related document connected to it, and on how precisely Origen's own, more cautious position relates to the fuller doctrine later condemned in his name; both points remain open in the scholarship. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Alexandria directly: "century Christian theologian Origen of Alexandria, that all rational beings will eventually be restored to union with God."
Related To
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