[9] The idea of apokatastasis may have been derived from the ancient concept of cosmic cycle, which involves the notion of celestial bodies returning to their original positions after a period of time.
[11] The entry in A Greek–English Lexicon (i.e. Liddell–Scott–Jones, with expansion of definitions and references), gives the following examples of usage: ἀποκατάστᾰσις, εως, ἡ, restoration, re-establishment; Astrological uses: The word is reasonably common in papyri.
The return (apokatastasis) of the planets and stars to their proper celestial signs, namely their original positions, would spark a conflagration of the universe (ekpyrosis).
Nineteenth-century German theologian Jakob Eckermann interpreted "the 'apokatastasis of all things' to mean the universal emendation of religion by the doctrine of Christ, and the 'times of refreshing' to be the day of renewal, the times of the Messiah.
[29][30][31] On the other hand, Brian E. Daley in his handbook of patristic eschatology argued that Origen strongly believed in the final salvation of all humans and sometimes referred to it as apokatastasis.
[32] More recently, leading Patristic scholar Ilaria Ramelli has concluded that not only did Origen embrace the doctrine of apokatastasis, but that it was central to all his theological and philosophical thought.
"[43] Konstantinovsky (2009)[44] states that the uses of apokatastasis in Christian writings prior to the Synod of Constantinople (543) and the anathemas (553) pronounced against "Origenists" and Evagrius Ponticus were neutral and referred primarily to concepts similar to the general "restoration of all things spoken" (restitutio omnium quae locutus est Deus) of Peter in Acts 3:21 and not for example the universal reconciliation of all souls which had ever been.
[46] Origen's stance is disputed, with some works saying he taught apokatastasis would involve universal salvation,[47] even the absolute equality of all souls and spirits.
[49] In early Christian theological usage, apokatastasis was couched as God's eschatological victory over evil and believed to entail a purgatorial state.
[50] The word was still very flexible at that time, but in the mid-6th century, it became virtually a technical term, as it usually means today, to refer to a specifically Origenistic doctrine of universal salvation.
In recent writing, apokatastasis is generally understood as involving some form of universal reconciliation, without necessarily attributing this understanding to Origen and other Fathers of the Church.
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