Apocatastasis (English version)

Apocatastasis

This term means in Greek "to restore" and applies to the Christian theory that at the end of time everything will be exactly like the beginning. This theory was summoned by Origen of Alexandria who was one of the Church fathers (patristic) inspired by the doctrine of origin made by the Stoics.

Explanation

The body and the whole world were born from the original sin as the bible says. God began to give bodies to those souls who were further away from him; however, the body is not a bad thing (as the Platonists or the Gnostics thought), but it is the instrument of the soul. Thus, Origen believed in a preexistence of the soul.

The vision of the world for Origes is successive and not contemporary or parallel, that is, after this world there is another. This means that for all souls, sinners or not, there will be the opportunity to expiate their sins and thus they will be forgiven.

However, depending on how the atonement was the man who passes to the other world could be demon, angel, man again or any animal. Men have free will and therefore they can always choose between good and evil.

The case of Christ is exceptional, because he came once to this world and his incarnation will always remain.

In the case of God, well, if he is the beginning, then he has to be the end. Evil can not remain as the domain of the world, and that is why evil would only be an option, because man can decide to change. Everything depends on the right use of freedom and so all will return to God once their souls are recomposed.

Consequences

This means that there would be no eternal hell because even Satan himself could change. It could also be thought that man does not have the disposition to seek good, because in any case he will change in the succession of the world.

The Church does not approve the apocatastasis in any way, especially in the Council of Constantinople II, where all the theory of Origenism was rejected. The Church points out that Origen had a misunderstanding about what the concept of free will represents.

Saint Augustine of Hippo's answers

The Saint of Hippo raised many objections to this theory. One of them comes from the bible, because it says that fire and hell are eternal.

 ''And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh''

(Isaiah 66:24)

''And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched''

(Mark 9: 42-47)

Many are the men who claim that the pains of hell and even that hell itself is not eternal. In other words, these men believe that eventually all will be forgiven and will find God either they are enemies or not

The maximum exponent of this idea was one of the first fathers of the Church called Origins. This undermines every attempt of kindness on the part of men, for what good will it be to be good if all will finally be good with God at the end of this world?

Another group of Christians claims that God will pardon all sinners no matter how serious the fault they committed. It will also serve as an excuse for all the torments they have suffered, that is, the torments of their lives justify how bad they were.

A third opinion says that men will be freed from all the tortures they may be subjected to in the future, but as long as they submit to all the sacraments. Then if they commit any sin this will be forgiven.

A fourth opinion exclaims that it does not matter if you committed great sins, as long as you have been baptized and sacramentalized you will always receive the blessing of God in the end.

A fifth opinion says that who has a despicable, but at the same time is Catholic can overcome all the pains of hell. He will suffer them, but eventually he will be with God anyway.

One last opinion says that a detestable man who, although he was evil but gave many alms in his life, will be forgiven of eternal fire.

For all these opinions there is a different answer, but being very concrete and precise, we could say that the words of Saint Paul portray much better the answer to all this type of opinions.

'' The actions that come from the low instincts are known: lust, immorality, debauchery, idolatry, magic, enmity, discord, rivalry, outbursts of anger, selfishness, partisanship, sectarianism, envy, drunkenness, orgies and things like that. And I warn you as I warned you, that those who give themselves to it will not inherit the kingdom of God. ''

(Galatians 5: 19-21)

This already means that no one who commits these sins will be able to inherit the kingdom of God, no matter how many contributions he has made. Now, in the case of alms we have to see the true intention of the one who gives them, does he give them away from hell or does he really want to help others? All these things will be considered in the final judgment.

Conclusion

As we can see, the concept of merit is something important in Christian doctrine. Everyone should do good because hell is eternal, so no one will be saved if he does not follow the commandments. However, it has some logic that the world is again as it was after a successive destruction. Moreover, the doctrine of Origen seems to be much more attractive, although it would also suggest that man can do whatever he wants while he repents. Without a doubt a difficult subject.