Cristian Soteriology and Christian Platonism - Origen, Gregory of Nyssa and The Biblical and Philosophical Basis of The Doctrine of Apokatastasis

Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 DOI: 10.
1163/157007207X186051
Vigiliae Christianae 61 (2007) 313 -356 www.brill.nl/vc
Vigiliae
Christianae
Christian Soteriology and Christian Platonism:
Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Biblical and
Philosophical Basis of the Doctrine of Apokatastasis
1
Ilaria L.E. Ramelli
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Milan, Italy
ilaria.ramelli@virgilio.it
Abstract
Pauls statement that God will be all in all and other NT and OT passages are taken by
Origen and by Gregory of Nyssa as the scriptural basis of their eschatological doctrine
of apokatastasis and eventual universal salvation. At the same time, their doctrine rests
(1) on philosophical arguments mainly deriving from Platonism (Gregorys De anima
et resurrectione is deeply inuenced by Platonism both in form and in content, and so is
Origen, although both are Christians rst and Platonists second), and (2) on the alle-
gorical exegesis of Scripture, another heritage of Hellenistic culture: Origen was very
well acquainted with the Stoic and Platonic allegorical interpretations of Greek myths.
Keywords
allegory, relationship between philosophy and Christianity, doctrine of evil, purication
of the soul, resurrection, eschatology
Te structure of the argument that I shall endeavour to develop is the fol-
lowing: (1) Pauls statement that God will be all in all and other NT and
OT passages are taken by Origen and Gregory of Nyssa as the scriptural
basis of their eschatological doctrine of apokatastasis and eventual univer-
sal salvation. (2) Tis biblical foundation often passes through the alle-
1)
Tis paper was originally delivered at the SBL Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, 19-22
November 2005, Unit: Corpus Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti. I am very grateful to the
participants who, with their questions, contributed to its improvement, especially Margaret
Mitchell, and to all those who read it, often oering valuable comments, Loveday Alexan-
der, Francesca Calabi, David Konstan, Judith Kovacs, Judith Perkins, Roberto Radice,
David Runia.
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314 I.L.E. Ramelli / Vigiliae Christianae 61 (2007) 313 -356
gorical exegesis of Scripture, a signicant heritage of Hellenistic culture:
Origen was very well acquainted with the Stoic and Platonic allegorical
interpretations of Greek myths, already applied to the Bible by Philo and
Clement of Alexandria. (3) At the same time, their doctrine rests on philo-
sophical arguments mainly deriving from Platonism, an even weightier
heritage of Hellenistic culture: e.g. Gregorys De anima et resurrectione is
deeply inuenced by Platonism both in form and in content, and so is
Origen, especially in his De principiis, although both are Christians rst
and Platonists second.
1. Te Scriptural Foundation of Apokatastasis in Origen and Gregory
Origens exposition of the doctrine of apokatastasis, especially in De prin-
cipiis, but also elsewhere, is always supported by scriptural quotations, and
his arguments are grounded in the Bible and structured around it, in an
intimate logical relationship. Many of his arguments and quotations
conrming them will be taken up by Gregory of Nyssa.
2
Among all scriptural evidence, 1Cor 15:21-28 seems to be absolutely
essential in Origens viewas it will later be in Gregorysand, whenever
he discusses apokatastasis, it is often quoted, both entirely and partially, in
particular in the nal statement, that God will be all in all .
3
Tis is
2)
See my essay on the apokatastasis in Origen and Gregory in my Gregorio di Nissa.
Sullanima e la resurrezione, Milan 2007; history of the apokatastasis in my Apocatastasi,
forthcoming in Milan. Te bibliography on this subject, especially for Origen, would be
impressively wide: I refer to my book for complete documentation; here I only mention e.g.
W. van Laak, Allvershnung, Sinzig 1990 for Origen, and M. Ludlow, Universal Salvation,
Oxford 2000, for Gregory; also C. Lenz, Apokatastasis, in Reallexikon fr Antike und
Christentum, I, Stuttgart 1950, 510-516; R. ParryC. Partridge, eds., Universal Salvation?,
Carlisle 2003 with my review in Stylos 14 (2005) 206-208, and some recent entries by L.-F.
Mateo-Seco in Diccionario de san Gregorio de Nisa, eds. Id.G. Maspero, Burgos 2006 (of
which an enriched English edition is also expected to appear): Escatologa, 357-378;
Puricacin ultraterrena, 765-769; Soteriologa, 803-812; P. Tzamalikos, Origen: Phi-
losophy of History and Eschatology, Leiden 2007.
3)
On early Christian interpretation of 1Cor, including this very important passage, now
see J.L. Kovacs, 1 Corinthians Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators, Grand Rapids
2005, 233-260 (my review in Archaeus 10,3 [2006] 166-167); see also E. Schendel,
Herrschaft und Unterwerfung Christi. 1.Korinther 15,24-28 in Exegese und Teologie der
Vter bis zum Ausgang des 4. Jahrhunderts, Tbingen 1971, praes. 81-110 on Origen; on
Origens interpretation of 1Cor 15 see J. Rius-Camps, La hiptesis origeniana sobre el n
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I.L.E. Ramelli / Vigiliae Christianae 61 (2007) 313 -356 315
extremely important for Origens contention, because it is connected with
the nal elimination of evil, an assumption that turns out to be completely
consistent with his metaphysical doctrine of the non-substantiality of evil
from the ontological point of view.
4
In 3,6,2-3 Origen reects on 1Cor 15,
28 and draws some consequences from it: When God becomes all in
all, we cannot admit evil, lest God may be found in evil. Tat God is said
to be all in all means that he is all also in each individual . . . in the sense
that everything the rational intelligence, freed from any dirtiness of sin and
puried from any taint of evil, will be able to perceive, to grasp and to
think, all this will be God . . ., and so God will be all for this intelligence . . .,
because evil will not exist any more: for such intelligence, God, not touched
by evil, is all . . . After removing every sense of evil, only he who is the sole
good God will become all for the creature returned to a state of soundness
and purity . . . and not only in few or in many, but in all God will be all, when
at last there will be no more death, nor deaths sting, nor evil, most
denitely: then God will truly be all in all . Here, as he often does else-
where, Origen even oers a quotation inside another: deaths sting, which is
sin, is a reminiscence of 1Cor 15:55-56.
5
In the same passage of 1Cor 15:15-28, Christs victory over his enemies
is repeatedly mentioned, especially in vv. 24-27: this is another point taken
by Origen as important evidence of the doctrine of universal apokatastasis.
In v. 25,
, there is a quotation of Ps 109:1 LXX [110:1 Hebr.]
(quoted in turn in Heb 10:13),
6
Sede ad dexteram meam . . ., where the
dignity of the throne is connected to victory over enemies, which is
achieved by the Lord for my Lord (dixit Dominus Domino meo . . .); in v.
27 the concept is repeated and strengthened:
ltimo, in Arch e Telos. Lantropologia di Origene e di Gregorio di Nissa, eds. U. BianchiH.
Crouzel, Milano 1981, 58-117; H. Crouzel, Quand le Fils transmet le Royaume Dieu
son Pre, Studia Missionalia 33 (1984) 359-384; R. Roukema, La rsurrection des morts
dans linterprtation orignienne de 1 Corinthiens 15, in La rsurrection chez les Pres, Stras-
bourg-Turnhout 2003, 161-177, praes. 166-169 on 1Cor 15:24-28.
4)
For this central doctrine in Origen and Gregory see, with ample documentation, the
philosophical essay in my Gregorio di Nissa; a synthesis is to be found in A.A. Mosshammer,
Mal, in Diccionario de san Gregorio, 583-591.
5)
, , ; .
6)
Cf. my Hebrews 10:13, the Eventual Elimination of Evil and the Apokatastasis: Ori-
gens Interpretation, in Te Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Teology. International
Conference, July 18-22 St. Marys College, St. Andrews, forthcoming.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 315 7/19/07 11:20:16 AM
. Origen quotes Ps 109:1 both in Princ. 1,6,1 and in his Com-
mentary on the Gospel of John, 6,295-296: in the latter passage he sees in the
biblical sentence evidence for his doctrine of nal restoration of all. He
interprets the words of the Psalm as addressed by the Father to the Lord
of each of us and the submission of all his enemies as achieved when the
last enemy, Death , will be defeated and all evil annihilated, according to
the fundamental metaphysical theory of non-substantiality of evil. Univer-
sal submission to Christ, including the destruction of death, is also the
theme of 1Cor 15:26 ( ) and its
context, an important passage often quoted by Origen in defence of his
theory of apokatastasis and universal salvation, and joined to Ps 109:1 in
our passage of the Commentary on John, which is a patchwork of biblical
quotations, especially from Paul: Te Father is good and the Son is the
image of his goodness [Wis 7:26; Mk 10:18]. God, however, although
he benets the world by reconciling it to himself in Christ [2Cor 5:19],
while it had become his enemy as a consequence of sin, distributes his
benets according to a plan, not putting his enemies as a stool under his
feet all at once. In fact, the Father says to him who is the Lord of each of
us: Take your seat to my right, until I put your enemies as a stool for your
feet [Ps 109:1; Hebr 10:13], which will occur when the last enemy, Death,
will be annihilated by him [1Cor 15:26]. So, if we grasp what it means to
be subjected to Christ, especially in the light of this passage: And when all
will be submitted to him, he himself, the Son, will submit to him who has
subjected everything to him [1Cor 15:28], then we shall understand
Gods lamb, who takes up the sin of the world, in a way worthy of the
goodness of the God of the universe .
Te basis of such exegesis consists in the identication of the submis-
sion of all to Christ, maintained by Paul in 1Cor 15:5-28, with the salva-
tion of all, as Origen states in Princ. 1,6,1: Quae ergo est subiectio, qua
Christo omnia debent esse subiecta? Ego arbitror quia haec ipsa qua nos quoque
optamus ei esse subiecti, qua subiecti ei sunt et apostoli et omnes sancti qui
secuti sunt Christum. Subiectionis enim nomen, qua Christo subicimur,
salutem quae a Christo est indicat subiectorum, a theme that will be devel-
oped by Gregory in his In illud: Tunc et ipse Filius, in perfect continuity
with Origen, by means of the same quotations and exactly the same inter-
pretation, as we shall see. Te persistent presence of the same interpretation
and doctrine in the Commentary on the Gospel of John, written many
years after De principiis, conrms that Origen continued to believe stead-
fastly in the absolute universality of apokatastasis and eventual salvation,
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seen by him as wholly compatible with the doctrine of free will,
7
and that
he thought it was denitely grounded in Scripture, both in the Old and
the New Testament, which he considered as strictly joined and forming
one and the same body.
8
Te same Pauline passages as a basis, and the same interpretation of
universal submission as salvation, are to be found in Princ. 3,5,6: the
only-begotten son of God, Logos and Wisdom of the Father, must reign
until he has put his enemies under his feet and destroyed the last enemy,
Death, embracing in himself, at the end of the world, all those whom he
subjects to the Father and who come to salvation thanks to him . . . Tis is the
meaning of what the Apostle says about him: When all is submitted to
him, then the Son himself will submit to him who has subjected every-
thing to him, so that God may be all in all . Among the several quota-
tions, 1Cor 15:28 is the most emphasized, and in fact it is one of the most
important passages, and most often quoted by Origen,
9
in defence of his
theory of universal salvation,
10
which is implied in universal submission:
Origen goes on (ibid. 7): as the Sons submission to the Father means
perfect reintegration of all creation [sc. universal apokatastasis], so the sub-
mission of his enemies to the Son means salvation of his subjects and
reintegration of the lost . Origen carries on his interpretation of Pauls
passage in 8, explaining that this submission will take place in certain
ways and times and according to precise rules: the entire world will submit
to the Father, not as a result of violence, nor by necessity that compels sub-
jection, but thanks to words, reason, teaching, emulation of the best, good
norms, and also threats, when deserved and apt . . . Providence operates in
7)
See my La coerenza della soteriologia origeniana: dalla polemica contro il determin-
ismo gnostico alluniversale restaurazione escatologica, in Pagani e cristiani alla ricerca della
salvezza. Atti del XXXIV Incontro di Studiosi dellAntichit Cristiana, Roma, Augustinianum,
5-7.V.2005, Roma 2006, 661-688.
8)
Documentation in my Origen and the Stoic Allegorical Tradition, delivered at the
Annual Meeting of the SBL, San Antonio, TX, November 20-23 2004, Invigilata Lucernis
28 (2006).
9)
Te occurrences of 1Cor 15:28 in Origen are listed in Biblia Patristica, III, Paris 1980,
404 (for 15:27-28) and 405 (for 15:28). Te writing in which this passage most frequently
occurs is De principiis: 1,6,1 and 2,3,7 for 1Cor 15:27-28 and 1,7,5; 2,3,5; 3,5,6; 3,5,7;
3,5,7+; 3,6,1; 3,6,2; 3,6,3; 3,6,6; 3,6,8; 3,6,9 and other six occurrences for 1Cor 15:28.
Eight occurrences are in Comm. in Rom., six in Comm. in Io. and other ten are spread over
further dierent works.
10)
Cf. the section on Origen in my Apocatastasi.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 317 7/19/07 11:20:16 AM
favour of each one, safeguarding the rational creatures free will .
11
Origen
is very attentive to the problem of free will, and, as Gregory too will do,
explains that the universal submission to which Paul refers will not be
slavery, but salvation thanks to everyones free adhesion to the Good, which
will occur sooner or later. Te interpretation of the nal submission to
Christ as salvation was repeated by Origen elsewhere too, in the very same
terms.
12
Tis subjection that means salvation is universal, as conrmed by
many other passages in Origen, always based on Pauls statements, espe-
cially Princ. 2,3,3 recalling 1Cor 15:15-28: our condition will be incor-
poreal one day, and if we admit this, since all will be subjected to Christ,
necessarily this condition will extend to all, to whom the subjection to
Christ is referred. And all those who are subjected to Christ in the end will
be also submitted to the Father, to whom Christ will hand his reign . If
the salvation of rational beings has to be universal, it must also include all
fallen angels: to account for and to strengthen this claim, Origen has
recourse to Phil 2:10-11, a passage that will be used by Gregory for the
same argument, and that arms the nal adhesion of all creatures to
Christ, including those who are in the underworld, and, since this submis-
sion means salvation, it follows that all creatures, angels, humans, and
demons, will be saved. Origen, in fact, argues in Princ. 4,6,2: I refer to all
those who, bending their knee in Jesus name, have given a sign of their
submission, the heavenly, earthly, and infernal creatures. Tese three des-
ignations indicate the sum of all created beings, i.e. all those who had one
and the same origin, but, dierently driven each one by his impulses, have
11)
Cf. Princ. 3,5,8: How Gods Providence operates for each one, safeguarding all rational
creatures free will . . . why and in which occasion all this happens, only God knows, and
his only-begotten Son, thanks to whom all has been created and reintegrated [Jn 1:3], and
the Spirit, through whom all is sanctied, who proceeds from the Father, to whom is glory,
etc. . See also, e.g., Princ. 3,3,5 on Providence and free will, teaching and persuasion and
dierentiation of times and ways of salvation for each one, including the demons, in apo-
katastasis; ibid. 2,1,2; Hom. in Lev. 9,8, where Origen arms that Providence takes care of
each being, including the smallest; it is minutissima et subtilissima. Cf. De Prov. 2,9,8;
3,1,15.17, where Providence is said to be .
12)
E.g. Comm. in Matth. S. 8: How the Saviours enemies are put by the Father as a stool
for his feet, we ought to understand in a worthy way, according to Gods goodness. For we
should not believe that God puts Christs enemies as a stool for his feet in the same way as
enemies are put under the feet of the earthly kings, who exterminate them. Instead, God
puts Christs enemies as a stool for his feet not for their destruction, but for their salvation . . .
for all these, submission means salvation of the subjects . Cf. Comm. in Io. 6,57(37); Hom. in
Ps. 36, 2,1; in Lev. 7,2; Princ. 3,5,6-8.
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been distributed in dierent orders according to their merits, since in all of
them the Good was not present in ontological form, as it is in God . For,
according to Origen, each ones condition is determined by his own respon-
sibility. Originally, all were created absolutely identical; then, they
were dierentiated into angels, humans, and demons because of their free
choices, according to the movements of their minds and wills .
13
In Princ. 1,6 Origen, insisting on a concept of reditus that seems to
pregure the Neoplatonic idea of to unity, after and
toward multiplicity,
14
but also quoting Is 65:17 and Paul, depicts
the long future ages in which the dispersion and division of the one and
sole Principle
15
will be reintegrated into one and the same likeness . . . Tere
will be a new heaven and a new earth . . . for those who tend to that end
of blessedness, about which it is said that also the enemies will be sub-
jected, and God will be all in all , with the further reminiscence of 1Cor
15:25-28. In Princ. 2,3,7, too, this assertion of Paul seals the nal perfec-
tion of apokatastasis. Te quotation of 1Cor 15:28, together with other
references to the Psalms and the Gospels, concludes yet another passage in
Princ. 2,3,5, where Origen states that apokatastasis will come at the end of
all , when everything will be brought back to absolute unity and
God will be all in all.
16
And the same quotation marks the passage from
13)
Detailed discussion in my La coerenza della soteriologia origeniana and my La colpa
antecedente come ermeneutica del male in sede storico-religiosa e nei testi biblici, opening
paper delivered at the Congress of the Associazione Biblica Italiana, Settimana Biblica,
Ciampino, Il Carmelo, 5-7.IX.2005, forthcoming in Ricerche Storico-Bibliche.
14)
Documentation in my Uno-molti, in Enciclopedia losoca, new edition, dir. V. Mel-
chiorre, XII, Milan 2006, 11911-11912.
15)
Tis idea of oneness obviously is a Platonic, and especially Neoplatonic, ideal, which Ori-
gen transmitted to Gregory of Nyssa, too: see G. Maturi, Reductio ad unum: lescatologia di
Gregorio di Nissa sullo sfondo della metasica plotiniana, Adamantius 10 (2004) 167-193.
16)
But if there is anything superior to (so that can be found in the crea-
tures, it is true, but also in other things that are superior to visible creatures, which will be
the case in the , when all comes to a perfect end), one should probably
understand that the situation in which there will be the of all things will
be something more than the . I am induced to think so by the authority of Scripture,
which says: in the and further [Mich 4:5: ]. Te fact
that it says further lets us understand that it means more than one . And, please,
consider whether the Saviours words, I want them to be with me where I am, and, As
you and I are one and the same thing, so they too may be one in us [John 17:24.21], may
indicate something superior to the and the , and perhaps even superior to the
, that is, when no longer all will be in the , but God will be all in all .
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 319 7/19/07 11:20:17 AM
image to likeness and then from likeness to unity in the progression
(at the beginning and in this life) => (thanks to moral improve-
ment in this or the future life) => (total unity in nal apokatastasis when
God will be all in all)
17
in Princ. 3,6,1, where the quotation from Paul is
joined to several from John, on likeness and unity with God.
18
Te idea of
likeness and unity in apokatastasis, after all , is joined to the quota-
tion of 1Cor 15:25 and 28 also in Princ. 1,6 in ne.
19
And the whole pas-
sage of 1Cor 15:24-28 is referred to in Princ. 3,6,9 in support of the view
of universal instruction, on the part of the angels and then of Christ, and
consequent salvation.
20
1Cor 15:28 also seals the universal perfection of
eventual apokatastasis in Princ. 2,3,7: We shall be able to live without a
body when everything will be subject to Christ and, through Christ, to
God the Father, and God will be all in all .
On apokatastasis as superior to and also see Princ. 2,3,1. Here clearly
means ages, not eternity: for a complete survey of and in Origen, Gregory
of Nyssa, and classical and Patristic literature, and the philosophical development of the
two concepts in Greek and Christian authors, see I. RamelliD. Konstan, Terms for Eter-
nity, Piscataway, NJ 2007. For the ethical conception of the in Origen, conceived
as the intervals through which the rational creatures choose for good or evil and receive
reward or instruction, until all of them will freely choose for the Good and the will
come to an end in the of the apokatastasis, see P. Tzamalikos, Origen: Cosmology
and Ontology of Time, Leiden-Boston 2006, 272-373, with my review forthcoming in
Rivista di Filosoa Neoscolastica 99 (2007).
17)
For these stages see my philosophical essay in Gregorio di Nissa.
18)
Tis concept has been expressed in the clearest and most plain way by the apostle John,
in these terms: Children, we do not yet know what we shall be, but when this is revealed
us, and he is certainly referring to the Saviour, we shall be similar to him [1John 3:2],
where he assuredly indicates the end of all things . . . and expresses the hope of being similar
to God, which will be granted thanks to excellence of merits . Origen nally quotes Jesus
words in John 17:24 and 21: Father, I want them to be with me where I am , and: as
you and I are one and the same thing . Here, as Origen notes, it seems that likeness too, so
to say, perfects itself, and that there is a passage from likeness to unity, undoubtedly because
in the end God is all in all [1Cor 15:28] . . . all creation will be set free from the slavery of
corruption when it has received the glory of the Son of God, and God is all in all .
19)
. . . long future in which the dispersion and division of the one and only Prin-
ciple will be reintegrated into one and the same end and likeness . . . for those who tend to that
end of blessedness whereit is saidthe enemies also will be submitted and God will
be all in all [1Cor 15:25.28] .
20)
After the instruction given by the blessed powers, He himself will teach them as they
can understand him as Wisdom, and he will reign over them until he will submit them to
the Father . . .; when they are made able to receive God, God for them will be all in all .
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Another connection in which the references to Pauls passage of 1Cor 15:22-
28 buttress logical arguments is that of the order of universal reintegration,
depending on each ones merits, as is clear from Princ. 1,7,5, quoting 1Cor
15:24.28,
21
and in Princ. 3,6,6, quoting 1Cor 15:26.28 and displaying,
once again, the theme of nal unity: Every being will be reintegrated
in order to be one and the same thing <with the other beings and God>
[John 17:21], and God will be all in all [1Cor 15:28]; now, this will not
occur in one instant, but slowly and gradually, through innite ,
because correction and purication will take place little by little and sin-
gly . . . Tus, through innumerable orders constituted by those who make
progress, and, after being enemies, become reconciled with God, we reach
the last enemy, Death, so that this too may be destroyed and there may be
no enemy left [1Cor 15:26] . Te idea that some creatures will make rapid
progress whereas others will proceed very slowly, which produces a large
variety of situations, is expressed by Origen also in Princ. 3,1,17 and 3,5,8,
where he stresses that submission, that is, salvation, must be wanted freely
by each rational creature, not imposed on all automatically: so, the times
and ways will vary according to each ones merits and spiritual situation.
Te question of the order of nal reintegration is also faced in Comm.
in Io. 32,26-39, on the basis of 1Cor 15:22 and other scriptural quota-
tions. Origen starts from John 13:3, according to which the Father has
delivered everything into Jesus hands , interpreted by Origen in the
strongest sense, in parallel with other biblical passages, such as Ps 109:1,
from which Origen deduces that the Father has handed even the enemies
to Christ. Te second scriptural passage quoted by Origen in support of
his faith, in chaps. 26-27, is 1Cor 15:22: As all die in Adam, so all will be
vivied in Christ : Origen reads this passage with anti-Gnostic aims: he
conrms the recompense of merits for each one, quoting the immediately
following section: each one in his own order .
22
A little later, he repeats
21)
At the end of the world . . . some souls, due to their inertness, will move on more slowly,
others, instead, will y swiftly owing to their zeal. Since all have free will and can freely
acquire virtues and vices, some will be found in much worse conditions than now, while
others will attain a better condition, because dierent movements and inclinations in both
directions will bring dierent conditions . . . When, subsequently, Christ has handed his
reign to the Father [1Cor 15:24], then these living beings too, who had already become part
of Christs reign, will be handed to the Father together with the rest . . . Tus, when God will
be all in all [1Cor 15:28], as those too are part of the all, God will be in them as in all .
22)
Origen, as Gregory later, goes on with the exegesis of the extensive Pauline passage, stat-
ing that Christ will hand the Kingdom to his Father after annihilating every hostile angelic
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 321 7/19/07 11:20:17 AM
that the restoration will be realized in dierent times, depending on each
ones merits, and in this sense he interprets John 13:36, where Jesus tells
Peter that he cannot follow him in that moment, but that he will do it
later. Anyway, in the end every creature will be restored and every enemy
destroyed, even Death (chaps. 37-39).
Another important scriptural quotation connected to philosophical
argument by Origen, and then by Gregory, is 1Cor 15:42-44, concerning
the character of the risen body,
23
called by Paul . Origen
recalls it in Princ. 3,6,6: Te Apostle clearly says that the risen dead will
not be given other bodies, but they will receive the same bodies they had
when alive, and even better. For he declares: an animal body is sown, a
spiritual body will rise; it is sown in corruptibility, it will rise in incorrupt-
ibility; it is sown in weakness, it will rise in power; it is sown in ignominy,
it will rise in glory .
24
Tese are only some few examplesnotably, those later taken up by
Gregory of Nyssa more closelyfrom the many we could give, indeed, but
I think they are enough to provide an overview of the method followed by
Origen in his arguments in support of apokatastasis, and of the impor-
tance of Scripture in them, above all Pauls witness.
25
power, as far as the last enemy, Death (chaps. 30-31), basing his claims on 1Cor 15:24-26:
He will hand the Kingdom to God the Father, after annihilating every power . . . for it is
necessary that he reigns until he has put all his enemies under his feet. Te last enemy to be
annihilated will be Death , the passage ending with . In chaps.
32-34 Origen insists on the submission to the Logos even on the part of death.
23)
For the question of a material or spiritual body for the risen dead in Origen see my Apocatas-
tasi and my philosophical essay in my Gregorio di Nissa; Ead., Treats, Punishment, and Hope:
Jeremiah Interpreted by Origen to Support the Doctrine of Apokatastasis, delivered at the
Annual Meeting of the SBL, Washington, 18-21 November 2006, forthcoming, with references.
24)
Also in the preface, 5, Origen quotes 1Cor 15:42.
25)
Paul was himself, to some extent, hellenized, although Christianitys heart, Jesus salvic
cross and resurrection, is equally a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles ,
as Paul himself states in 1Cor 1:23, according to the NRSV; Gr.:
, , . Vulg.: nos autem
praedicamus Christum crucixum, Iudaeis quidem scandalum, gentibus autem stultitiam. See
ample documentation in my Philosophen und Prediger, pagane und christliche weise
Mnner. Der Apostel Paulus, in E. Amato, B. Borg, R. Burri, S. Fornaro, I. Ramelli, J.
Schamp, Dio von Prusa: Der Philosoph und sein Bild, Gttingen 2007, chap. 4. Te NT
itself, although it certainly has deep Jewish roots, arose in a profoundly Hellenized world
too and was soon known and read in Hellenistic cultural environments: e.g. cf. A.J. Mal-
herbe, Graeco-Roman Religion and Philosophy and the NT, in Te NT and Its Modern
Interpreters, eds. E.J. EppG. McRae, Atlanta 1989, 3-26; C. Tiede, Ein Fisch fr den
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 322 7/19/07 11:20:18 AM
Gregory in his De anima et resurrectione,
26
a philosophical writing of the
most philosophical-minded of the Cappadocians
27
and one of the main
rmischen Kaiser, Mnchen 1998; Id.U. VictorU. Stingelin, Antike Kultur und Neues Tes-
tament, Basel 2003; T.H. Olbricht, Preface, in Early Christianity and Classical Culture.
Comparative Studies in Honor of A.J. Malherbe, eds. J.T. FitzgeraldId.L.M. White, Leiden
Boston 2003, 1-12, and the whole volume, with my review article: La ricerca attuale sui
rapporti tra il primo Cristianesimo e la cultura classica, Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, ser. II, 17
(2006) 223-238. For knowledge of the NT among pagan cultivated persons see e.g. G.
Rinaldi, La Bibbia dei pagani, I-II, Bologna 1998; my I romanzi antichi e il Cristianesimo:
contesto e contatti, Madrid 2001; Ead., Te Ancient Novels and the NT: Possibile Contacts,
Ancient Narrative 5 (2005), 41-68; Ead.,Indizi della conoscenza del Nuovo Testamento nei
romanzieri antichi e in altri autori pagani del I sec. d.C., in Il Contributo delle scienze storiche
alla interpretazione del Nuovo Testamento, eds. E. Dal CovoloR. Fusco, Citt del Vaticano
2005, 146-169; Ead., Un quindicennio di studi sulla prima diusione dellAnnuncio cris-
tiano e la sua prima ricezione in ambito pagano, in E. InnocentiI. Ramelli, Ges a Roma.
Commento al testo lucano degli Atti degli Apostoli, Roma 2006
3
, 277-518.
26)
PG 46,12-160. New edition, translation, commentary, with critical essays and bibliog-
raphy on Gregorys De anima in my Gregorio di Nissa. Sullanima e la resurrezione. All the
translations of De anima (as those of In illud: Tunc et Ipse Filius) here quoted are mine and
based on my edition, with textual critical notes (for some criteria on which it is based see
my Il contributo della versione copta alledizione del De anima et resurrectione di Gregorio
di Nissa, Exemplaria Classica n.s. 10 [2006] 191-243).
27)
An overview of the debate on the relationship between philosophy and Christianity in
Gregory is provided e.g. by A. Le Boulluec, Corporeit ou individualit? La condition
nale des ressuscits selon Grgoire de Nysse, Augustinianum 35 (1995) 307-326; E. Per-
oli, Gregory of Nyssa and the Neoplatonic Doctrine of the Soul, Vigiliae Christianae 51
(1997) 117-139: a complete survey and discussion is provided in the philosophical essay in
my Gregorio di Nissa. Sullanima e la resurrezione. E.g. J. Danilou, Platonisme et thologie
mystique, Paris 1953
2
and M. Pellegrino, Il Platonismo di san Gregorio Nisseno nel dial-
ogo intorno allanima e alla resurrezione, Rivista di Filosoa Neoscolastica 30 (1938) 437-
474, consider Gregory a fundamentally and consistently Christian thinker who harmonized
Platonism and Christianity; J. Rist, Christianisme et antiplatonisme: un bilan, in Hel-
lnisme et Christianisme, eds. M. Narcy. Rebillard, Villeneuve dAscq 2004, 153-170
states that he and the other Platonic fathers consciously assumed the philosophical princi-
ples and used them to provide Christian faith with a philosophical foundation, to demon-
strate their own coherence and criticize the adversaries; P. Chuvin, Christianisation et
rsistance dans les cultes traditionnels, ibid. 15-34 too supports a deep and fruitful con-
ciliation between Christianity and classical philosophy. Other scholars, instead, emphasize
contradictions in Gregory as a Platonist, as H. Cherniss, Te Platonism of Gregory of Nyssa,
New York 1971
2
, who deems Gregory a philosopher more than a religious man, as Macrina
forced him to become; Ch. Apostolopoulos, Phaedo Christianus, Frankfurt a.M. 1986,
regards him as a Neoplatonist in whose thought Christian elements are superimposed as
merely accidental and even accepted for political opportunity, with a conscious disguise ,
bewute Tarnung , ibid. 109: but see rev. by J.C.M. van Winden, Vigiliae Christianae 41
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 323 7/19/07 11:20:18 AM
works of his in which he discusses the question of apokatastasis,
28
together
with In illud: Tunc et ipse Filius and some additional sections of other
works, quotes several passages from the Bible, and principally from Paul,
to support his view. Apart from the Lazarus episode in Lukes Gospel, with
which we shall deal later, we can recall many instances in the discourses of
Macrina, Gregorys sister and the chief character in this dialogue, the other
being Gregory himself, who often contradicts her purely to reinforce the
dialectic structure.
A key quotation, in 72B and again in 136A, is Phil 2:9-10,
29
on the
eventual bending of all knees in heaven, on earth and under the earth before
Christ, a quotation that appears in all periods of Gregorys production. In
72B Gregory sees there an allusion to the ultimate salvation of all rational
creatures, angels, humans, andas already Origen maintainedeven dae-
mons, who, after long cycles of ages, when evil will have vanished and
there will remain nothing else than the Good , will return to God and
submit to Christ.
30
For Gregory, as already for Origen, the underlying idea
(1987) 191-197; J. DanilouM. AltenburgerU. Schramm, Hrsg., Gregor von Nyssa und die
Philosophie, Leiden 1976, and many other studies that I mention in my Gregorio di Nissa.
28)
For complete documentation on apokatastasis in Gregory see J. Danilou, Lapocatastase
chez Saint Grgoire de Nysse, Rech. Science Religieuse 30, 3 (Juillet 1940); Id., Ltre et le temps
chez Grgoire de Nysse, Leiden 1970, 221-226; C.N. Tsirpanlis, Te concept of universal salva-
tion in Saint Gregory of Nyssa, in Studia Patristica, XVII, 3 (1982) 1131-1144; H.M. Meiss-
ner, Rhetorik und Teologie: der Dialog Gregors von Nyssa De anima et resurrectione, Frankfurt
a.M. 1991, 82; 356-361; M. Ludlow, Universal Salvation, in particular chaps. 1-3; C. Mores-
chini, Storia della losoa patristica, Brescia 2004, 580; 608-609; 734; G. Ferro Garel, Gre-
gorio di Nissa. Lesperienza mistica, il simbolismo, il progresso spirituale, Torino 2004, 6; my
Gregorio di Nissa. Sullanima e la resurrezione; Ead., Note sulla continuit della dottrina
dellapocatastasi in Gregorio di Nissa, Archaeus 10 (2006) 105-145; R. Simini, La spe-
ranza cristiana nel dialogo De anima et resurrectione, Nicolaus 33 (2006) 61-73.
29)
For the exegesis of this passage in Gregory see Danilou, Ltre et le temps, 69-73.
30)
72B: Since three are the conditions of rational natureone, which since the beginning
has been allotted the incorporeal life and which we call angelic; the other, tied to esh,
which we call human, and the third, freed from esh thanks to death, I think that the
divine Apostle . . . intended to indicate that general harmony of all rational nature that one
day there will be in the Good, calling heavenly what is angelical and incorporeal and
earthly what is joined to a body, and referring the underworld to what is separate from
the body, or else, if among rational beings we can see, besides those mentioned, some other
nature too, which if one wished to call of demons or spirits, or anything else of the sort,
we would have nothing to object . . . a nature that voluntarily fell away from the best lot, and,
renouncing Beauty and the Good, instead of these put in herself the thoughts coming from
their contrary: it is this nature that, some say, the Apostle included among the creatures of
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 324 7/19/07 11:20:18 AM
is that all rational creatures submission to God coincides with their salva-
tion, which is also the core concept of Gregorys In illud: Tunc et ipse Filius,
as we shall see.
Another group of quotations from the New Testament in reference to
apokatastasis in De anima is related to the problem of purication through
pains, both in this and in the next world. In 97B-100C Macrina demon-
strates that the rst and foremost cause of purication is not punishment,
but Gods saving will, who attracts the soul to himself with the purpose of
reciprocal union: if the soul is pure, it is pulled up without impediments;
otherwise, it rst has to be puried from the waste of evil, in which case
suering is involved, but as a mere side eect.
31
In 100-105A, Macrina
indicates the measure and aim of this cathartic process: the complete
extinction of evil and vice ( ), and she
makes use of the Gospels parable of the inept servant in Mt 18:23-25 and
Lk 7:41 to argue that purication is necessary and must be proportional to
the measure of impurity and evil accumulated by each individual, in order
that each soul can attain virtue, which coincides with the goal of purication
and is assimilation to God. Such is a well known
Platonic ideal (Teaet. 176A) passed into Christian thought thanks to
Clement of Alexandria and Origen, and then resumed by Gregory
32
and
the underworld, meaning that, when one day, after long cycles of ages, evil has vanished, there
will remain nothing else but Good, and even those creatures will admit, in concord and unanim-
ity, Christs lordship ; 136A: Te Apostle, expressing the harmony of the whole universe
with Good, means, rather transparently, what follows: Every knee will bend in front of
him, of heavenly and earthly creatures and of those of the underworld, and every tongue
will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, for God the Fathers glory, through the horns
signifying the angelic and heavenly breed, and through the rest the intellectual creatures
coming after the angels, i.e. us, who will be all involved in one and the same big feast charac-
terized by harmony .
31)
100 C: SoI said, as it seems, it is not that Gods judgment brings, as its principal
aim, punishment to those who sinned, but, for his part, as your argument has proved, God
exclusively produces good, distinguishing it from evil, and pulling up the persons to him-
self, for their participation in blessedness, whereas the violent separation of that which was
united and attached turns out to be painful to him who is pulled .
32)
See also Gregorys De vita Mosis, 2,251-252.318, and his rst homily on the Song of
Songs: each one must make himself similar to God , become similar to him who is truly
beautiful and good , etc. Tis principle was widespread in the imperial age: Plotinus, in
particular, took it up in 6,9,9, where the philosopher in his ascent to God becomes God
himself (the Platonic and Neoplatonic ). For Origen, see e.g. Princ. 3,6,1; the con-
cept was carried on by his disciple Gregory the Wonderworker precisely in his panegyric for
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 325 7/19/07 11:20:19 AM
joined to the biblical in combination with in Gen 1:26, a
crucial conception in Patristic thought and above all in our Cappadocian
Father.
33
Macrinas inquiry and argument is conrmed by the interpretation of
several scriptural passages, and chiey of a fundamental statement by Paul,
already used by Origen many times in support of apokatastasis: 1Cor
15:28, about Gods eschatological presence as all in all , .
Tis is precisely what leads Macrina to conclude that the ultimate
of purication is the complete and denitive annihilation of evil, once and
for all, in the end, since it has no ontological positive existence, a Platonic
doctrine very important already in Origen. Lets quote the most important
passages:
Evil must necessarily be eliminated, absolutely and in every respect, once and for all,
from all that is, and, since in fact it is not . . ., neither will it have to exist, at all. For,
as evil does not exist in its nature outside will, once each will has come to be in
God, evil will be reduced to complete disappearance, because no receptacle will be
left for it . . .. Gods right judgment is applied to all, and extends the time of
extinction of the debt according to its amount, without neglecting even the tiniest
debts [cf. Mt 18:23-25; Lk 7:41] . . . through necessary suering, he extinguishes
the debt accumulated by participating in miserable and painful things . . . and so
[the sinner], after getting rid of all that is alien to himself, and taking o the
shame deriving from debts, can achieve a condition of freedom and condence.
34

Now, freedom is assimilation to what has no master and has absolute power, and
at the beginning it was given us by God, but then it was covered and hidden by
the shame of debts. Tus, as a consequence, each one who is free will adapt him-
self to what is similar to him; but virtue has no masters: therefore, each one who
is free will turn out to be in virtue. Now, Gods nature is the source of all virtue;
so, in it there will be those who have attained freedom from evil, so that, as the Apostle
says, God will be all in all [1Cor 15:28]. Tis statement actually seems to me to
provide conrmation to the idea stated previously, because it arms that God will
be both all and in all. Gods nature will become all to us and will take the place of
his master, 12,148: I think that everyones end and goal and realization of its true being is
nothing else but to make oneself similar to God through purication, to get close to him
and to remain in him (on this writing see, with interesting interpretation, M. Rizzi, Gre-
gorio il Taumaturgo (?), Encomio di Origene, Milano 2002, and J.W. Trigg, Gods Marvel-
ous Oikonomia, Journal of Early Christian Studies 9 [2001] 27-52).
33)
For and in Gregory see my philosophical essay in my
Gregorio di Nissa. Sullanima e la resurrezione.
34)
Although it is not an exact Scriptural quotation, these are both Pauline concepts: for
see especially Rom 8:21; Gal 5:1.13; also 1Cor 10:29; 2Cor 3:17; for
see above all Eph 3:12; 6:19; Col 2:15; also 2Cor 3:12; 7:4; Phil 1:20; 1Tim 3:13.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 326 7/19/07 11:20:19 AM
all, distributing itself in a way that will be suitable to the needs of that life. And
from divine revelation it is clear that God, for those who deserve it, is place,
house, garment, food, drink, light, richness, reign, and whatever it is possible to
think and express among those things that contribute to a good life for us. Well,
he who is all also is in all. And in this it seems to me that Scripture teaches the complete
disappearance of evil []. For, if in all beings there will be God, clearly in them
there will not be evil. (An. et res. 101-104)
In the sixth and last part of the dialogue (129A-160C),
35
which crowns the
whole work and is focused on resurrection and universal restoration, Mac-
rina resolves several questions dealing with the future life, with the support
of Scripture, both the Old and the New Testament, especially the Gospels
and Paul: Ps 103:20-30 (129C-132A);
36
Ps 117:27, with the interpretation
of the feast of Sukkoth (Gr. , tents; 132A-136A); Ez 37:1-14,
with the famous vision of the dry bones wrapped again in esh and vivied
by God, in 136AB; Pauls 1Cor 15:52 and 1Tess 4:16 in 136C;
37
nally,
the Gospels (136C-137A), whose is presented as the culminat-
ing point of a klimax. In fact, Jesus, who is the Logos, attested to resurrec-
tion not only in words (), but also in fact, directly realizing it
().
38
Some sections oer an allegorical exegesis and we shall treat
them subsequently. Other key quotations from Paul used by Macrina in
support of her arguments are to be found in 1Cor 15:35-52, with the
description of the raised body as a glorious and spiritual body, in a set of
comparisons with the earthly body: she uses this passage to prove that each
one will be given back his own body, but with characteristics dierent
from those of the eshly body, with a more magnicent complexion
(153C). Macrina expands on Pauls description of the spiritual body and
grounds her own exposition in it,
39
exactly as Origen did in Princ. 3,6,6,
35)
I follow the division proposed by Meissner, Rhetorik und Teologie, 343-370.
36)
Cf. J. Danilou, Ltre et le temps, 211.
37)
1Tess 4:16 could be interpreted as a restriction of the promise of resurrection only to
those who died in Christ, but see D. Konstans and my Te Syntax of in
1Tess 4:16, forthcoming in the Journal of Biblical Literature: it is probable that we should
read not those who died in Christ will rise , but those who died will rise in Christ .
38)
Te usage of the verb in Gregory is inuenced by that of Origen, on which see
A. Bastit-Kalinowska, Agir dans: autour de lemploi denergein dans loeuvre et lexgse
dOrigne, Adamantius 10 (2004) 123-137.
39)
See F. Altermath, Du corps psychique au corps spirituel. Interprtation de 1Cor 15, 35-49
par les auteurs chrtiens des quatre premiers sicles, Tbingen 1977, esp. 181-190 for the
exegesis of this passage in Gregory.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 327 7/19/07 11:20:19 AM
relying on the same Pauline passage for the very same argument. Te glori-
ous body of 1Cor 15:52, wrapped in incorruptibility, as Macrina says
explicitly quoting Paul in 155D and 157A, will cause no more sins and
will no longer prevent the soul from remaining in the Good. Its new char-
acteristics, incorruptibility, glory, honour, power, drawn from Pauls text,
are typical of Gods nature: originally they also belonged to the human
being as of God, and then they are hoped for again for the future
(157AB); the same concept, based on Pauls account of the spiritual body,
concludes the whole dialogue in 160D: Once those passions have been
puried and have vanished, thanks to the necessary treatment imparted
with care, by means of the therapy of re, the place of those deciencies
will be taken by each of the respective realities that are conceived in a
positive sense: incorruptibility, life, strength, grace, glory, and any other
prerogative of this kind that we conjecture it is possible to contemplate
both in God himself and in his , that is human nature . In fact,
Gods image will shine forth again in every human being in the eventual
restoration of all.
In his In illud: Tunc et ipse Filius, written several years after De anima,
40

but in perfect continuity with it, Gregory endeavours to explain precisely
a Scriptural passage, 1Cor 15:28, about the nal submission of all crea-
tures to Christ and that of Christ to the Father, so that God will be all in
all ,
41
a passage constantly quoted by Origen, and also by Gregory in De
40)
It was probably composed between 385 and 393, and more likely in the latest years of
this interval. J. Danilou, La chronologie des oeuvres de Grgoire de Nysse, Studia Patris-
tica 7 (1966) 187 dated it to the third period of Gregorys production (385 to 390); J.K.
Downing, GNO III, 2, pp. 3-28 (the edition to which I refer here), and Id., Te Treatise of
Gregory of Nyssa In Illud: Tunc et ipse Filius, Diss. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
1947, summarized in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 58-59 (1948) 223, proposed
383; G. Maspero, La Trinit e luomo. LAd Ablabium di Gregorio di Nissa, Roma 2004, 49
observes that the arguments adduced by Downing are not sucient to date In illud to 383
rather than 385 or later, and ibid. 39 and 256, points out that in this treatise there is the
theme of , which is more present and highlighted in the works of the last period.
Te authenticity of the brief treatise is beyond question. See also C. MacCambley, When
(the Father) Will Subject All Tings to (the Son), Ten (the Son) Himself Will Be Sub-
jected to Him (the Father), Who Subjects All Tings to Him, Greek Orthodox Teological
Review 28 (1983), 1-15, and A. Penati Bernardini, Gregorio di Nissa. Commento al Nuovo
Testamento, translation and notes, Roma 1992, 20 ss.
41)
,
, Ten the Son himself will also submit to him who will have subdued him
all beings, so that God will be all in all .
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 328 7/19/07 11:20:19 AM
anima, as we have seen, as evidence for universal salvation. In this writing,
Gregory oers an eschatological picture of universal restoration that is
wholly coincident with that of De anima and inspired by Origens concep-
tions, often with very close correspondences, even ad verbum. But the
whole writing, which is exegetical in its nature, although at the same time
displaying philosophical arguments too, is interwoven with Scriptural
quotations, particularly from the New Testament, and more especially
from Paul. A signicant parallel with Origen, who comments on the same
Pauline passage that constitutes the title of Gregorys treatise, is to be found
in the prologue (p. 3 Downing) and confronts the theological problem of
the sense of the Sons submission: it is necessary to interpret Pauls passage
without leaving room for theories that make the Son inferior to the Father.
42

For the of our submission to God is , as Gregory puts it
in a thesis that is central to the whole of In Illud and derives from Origen.
Te Alexandrian exegete, whom Gregory knew very well, in Princ. 3,5,6-7
and Comm. Io. 6,50-60 interprets Pauls verse in the very same way, as we
have seen.
Next, Gregory reects on the whole context of 1Cor 15:28, as he also
does in De an. et res. 152B-156B and De hom. opif. 224D: in 1Cor 15:35
the Corinthians ask how the dead can rise and with what body: Gregory,
just like Paul, reminds them that God was able to create bodies ex nihilo,
without a substratum of pre-existent matter: Gods will [ ]
became matter and the substance of creatures (p. 11,4-9 Downing):
43
a
fortiori he will be able to reshape bodies that had already been created. And
on 11,10. Downing, Gregory recalls 1Cor 15:47-49, according to which,
as Adams fall produced, as a consequence, death for all, in the same way
Christs redemption has provided life for all, with the transmission of good
from one to all.
44
Gregory stresses the universality of future vivication,
42)
Teodoret, commenting on 1Cor, in PG 82,357, attests that both Arians and Eunomi-
ans used Pauls passage to support their own subordinationalist doctrines; cf. MacCambley,
When (the Father), 1-15 and J.T. Lienhard, Te Exegesis of 1Cor 15:28 from Marcellus
of Ancyra to Teodoret of Cyrus, Vigiliae Christianae 37 (1983) 340-359.
43)
. Cf., more extensively, Gregorys Apol. in Hex.,
PG 44,69AC.
44)
Adam was dissolved because of sin . . . consequently, his descendants also became all
earthly and mortal, but . . . the human being is reconstituted anew [] in its
elements, from a mortal condition to immortality. In the same way, good arose in human
nature, owing from one to all, precisely as evil had owed from one to the whole stock . . .
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 329 7/19/07 11:20:20 AM
presented by him as the terminal point of our hopes,
.
45
On p. 13,17. Downing he describes this state as charac-
terized by the nal vanishing of evil, one of the pillars of Origens eschatol-
ogy, supported by Gregory elsewhere too.
46
And, once again, he joins his
argument to the exegesis of Pauls passage: what the Apostle means when
he speaks of the nal submission of all to Christ and of Christ to the Father
is this: One day, the nature of evil will pass to non-being [ ],
after disappearing completely from being, and divine and pure Goodness
will enfold in itself every rational nature [ ], and none
of those who have come to being thanks to God will fall outside Gods
kingdom [
], when, once all evil that is mixed up with the beings has
been consumed, as a kind of waste of nature consumed through the fusion
of purifying re, every being [] that originated from God will return
precisely as it was from the beginning [ ], when it had not yet
received evil .
Te subsequent argument, on p. 15 Downing, is entirely grounded in
Pauls writings and assembles six quotations from them in ve lines: the
phrases rst fruit of the dead and rst born from the dead re-echo
1Cor 15:20; Col 1:18 and Acts 2:24; the idea that Christ has annihilated
the power of death in himself seems to be a reminiscence of 2Tim 1:10
and Hebr 2:14; the whole phrase also recalls 1Cor 15:24. Te subject,
already discussed by Origen, is the order in which each one will receive
goodness in himself and follow Christ, who has opened the way: this will
be in the order of each ones merits and faculties: in this way, the value of
human free will, too, is safe. In fact, Gregory says, even though the end
will be the same for all in the general apokatastasis, when each one has
destroyed in himself the power of death, imitating Christ in alienation
from evil, the order in which human perfection will be attainedon the
model of Christ, will depend on each ones
merits. Tus, Gregory dwells upon the description of this process: rst
there will come those who are already perfect, then the others, more and
as we had carried the image of the earthly man, so we shall also carry that of the heavenly
man . In his De anima Gregory treats very specically the possibility and modalities of that
.
45)
Cf. its discussion already in De an. et res. 96A-97A.
46)
In De an. et res. 72B and in Orat. cat., PG 45,69B.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 330 7/19/07 11:20:20 AM
more imperfect, according to the conception of the descending gradation
of the Good.
47
We have seen that already Origen maintained the same
concept of order in the access to blessedness according to each ones mer-
its, and, both in De principiis and in his Commentary on John, he based
his argument on many scriptural quotations, and above all Pauls phrase
each one in his place (1Cor 15:22).
Also in the following section (p. 16,1-8 Downing) Gregory makes ample
use of Paul, when he arms that the advance of the Good,
, will even reach the and will make it totally dis-
appear ( is a strong verb): nothing opposed to Good will remain,
and divine life, extending through all beings ( ), will make death
absolutely vanish from them.
48
Tis complete vanishing of evil from all
creatures is precisely the of our hopes, as Gregory notes with a remi-
niscence of Col 1:5. Tis will be possible because before the destruction of
evil there will be that of sin, thanks to which death obtained its lordship
over humankind, according to Rom 5:12. Immediately afterward, Gregory
introduces the concept of body, always drawing inspiration from Paul
(p. 16,12-13 Downing): resuming the fundamental question of the treatise
what the eventual of all to God really is, and answering that it
is the complete alienation from evil, ,
he explains that, once we all () have become far removed from evil,
then the whole mass of human nature ( ),
49

joined to its and become one and the same body, according to
Rom 11:16, will receive in itself only the hegemony of Good. Tus, when
the entire body of our nature ( ) has
merged with Gods immortal nature, the Sons submission will take place
through us ( ), in that such submission will be accomplished by the
Sons body, that is, the entire human nature.
Te New Testament basis for Gregorys discourse is evident in the fol-
lowing section, too (p. 16,23-17,12 Downing), which presents itself as an
exegesis of Pauls words: it begins with the statement, Te meaning of the
teachings oered by Paul, the great, is, to my mind, as follows , and goes
47)
, an idea also found in the Neoplatonists, well known to Greg-
ory of Nyssa, esp. Plotinus, 1,8,7,19.
48)
Te iteration of produces an impressive cumulative eect, further empha-
sized by the addition of , denitely, wholly .
49)
For this concept in Gregory, with further documentation, see J. Zachhuber, Phyrama
(Masa), in Diccionario de san Gregorio, 733-737.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 331 7/19/07 11:20:20 AM
on with a section (p. 17 Downing) in which the elements taken from Ori-
gen are numerous and essential, both in the quotations from Paul and in
the way in which they are interpreted; the parallels are indeed uninter-
rupted. Gregory quotes 1Cor 15:22-28, as already Origen had done, in
order to conrm the doctrine of apokatastasis through the Apostles author-
ity: As all die in Adam, so all will also be vivied in Christeach one,
however, in his order: the rst fruit is Christ, then those who belong to
Christ in his Parousia, and then the will come, when he will hand
the kingdom to God the Father, once he has annihilated every principality,
force and power; it will be necessary, in fact, that he continues reigning
until he has put all his enemies under his feet; the last enemy to be annihi-
lated will be death . . . And once he has submitted everything to himself,
then he also will submit to him who has submitted everything to him, in
order that God may be all in all . Pauls passage, and especially its last
phrase, that God may be all in all , is often quoted by Origen as evidence
for apokatastasis. Gregory explains (p. 17,13-21 Downing) that God will be
all in all when in all beings there will be no evil left, so Pauls phrase
expresses the non-substantiality of evil, . For
God will be all in all when nothing evil will be visible in beings, since it is
impossible that God may be . Tus, either God will not be in all,
in case anything evil might remain among creatures, or, if we have to
believe that he will really be in all, then, together with this belief we get the
demonstration that nothing evil ( ) will remain. Te same
remarks, in the connection with the interpretation of the same Pauline
passage, can be found already in Origen, Princ. 3,6,2-3, quoted above,
which Gregory follows ad verbum. Gregory comments on the last verse of
Pauls passage on p. 18,1-18 Downing, expressing many ideas already set
forth in De an. et res. 104, where he interprets the same verse, 1Cor 15:28,
on Gods presence as all in all : Gregory maintains that this indicates
the simplicity and uniformity of the life that we hope for , for the variety
and multiplicity characterizing the present life will dissolve, because we
shall have God alone instead of all the various objects of our needs: Gre-
gory here interprets Pauls statement in the light of the Neoplatonic motive
of return to unity.
50
God, in fact, will be for us food and drink, garment,
50)
See my Uno-molti and Ead., Emanatismo, in Enciclopedia losoca, new edition,
dir. V. Melchiorre, IV, Milan 2006, 3319-3322; for the presence of Neoplatonic elements
in Gregorys thought see my philosophical essay in my Gregorio di Nissa. Sullanima e la
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 332 7/19/07 11:20:21 AM
house, air, and again richness, joy, beauty, health, vigour, wisdom, glory,
blessedness, and all good: those who are in God have everything, in that
they have God himself. Now, to have God means nothing else than to
become one and the same thing with God, , which, in
turn, is to become one body with God, to be with Goda clear
echo of Eph 3:6, and this will occur when all will constitute the one and
same body of Christ ( ) through participation, ,
as Gregory says recalling 1Cor 10:17: . . .
.
Now, Gregory argues (p. 19,19-20,7 Downing), it is this body that will
submit to the Fatherand this will be Christs nal submission to him,
this body which is the Church, according to Col 1:24-25, ,
. Tis section, actually, is rich both in argument and in
references to Scripture: in fact it is a mosaic of quotations from Paul. As for
the argument brought forth, it is evident that the equation between the
whole human nature and Christs body, and then between the latter and
the Church, leads Gregory to arm the absolute universality of the
Church, which will comprise, in this way, the entire human nature, whose
nal salvation is armed, although with dierences of times and modali-
ties in the course of purication and conversion. Gregory also evokes 1Cor
12:27, where Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are Christs body and
his limbs, and then Eph 4:5-16, saying that Christs body is built up
, since, as Gregory explains, Christ constitutes himself through those
who progressively join themselves to faith,
. With further Pauline reminiscences (Eph 2:20; 4:13, already quoted
by Origen in Princ. 1,6 for apokatastasis), Gregory asserts that all will con-
tribute to this construction, and will be built up and edied (
) and all ( ) will reach unity of faith and knowl-
edge, so to make up Christ as perfect man in his wholeness. Ten, Gregory
develops Eph 4:16 and 1Cor 12:20-21, specifying that each one will con-
stitute a dierent member of Christs body, according to his faculties; any-
way, he conrms that all will be part of Christs bodyall, , a
phrase that is signicantly repeated three times in this paragraph, given
that Christ makes all ( ) limbs of its own body.
In the following section (p. 20,8-24 Downing), Gregory combines both
traces of Hellenistic philosophical doctrines and allusions to Paul, who, as
resurrezione, and also, shortly, A. Meredith, Neoplatonismo, in Diccionario de san Grego-
rio, 655-657; I. Pochoshajew, Plotino, ibid. 749-753; Id., Porrio, ibid. 753-757.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 333 7/19/07 11:20:21 AM
it seems, was already partly acquainted with such doctrines.
51
Gregory
envisages the eschatological harmony of the whole creation, which will be
possible because Christ, after becoming one and the same thing with us
through all ( ), makes all that is ours his own and conciliates it
to himself, as Gregory says using the terminology of Stoic ,
52

already widely employed by Origen:
53
. Tis
way, the whole of creation ( ) will be in harmony with itself,
, and, according to Phil 2:10-11, already quoted by
Gregory before, every knee of all beings will bend, in heaven, on earth, or
in the underworld, and every tongue will proclaim that Christ is the Lord.
All will be saved because all, sooner or later, will believe; not only the
whole human nature, but the entire creation will become one and the same
body: . Gregory depends on Origen,
Princ. 4,6, who, as we have seen, also quotes Phil 2:10-11 and interprets
the universal submission of all to Christ as universal salvation of all, angels,
humans and demons, in heaven, on earth, and in the underworld. Ten,
51)
See above, note 25.
52)
See S.G. Pembroke, Oikeiosis, in Problems in Stoicism, ed. A.A. Long, London 1971,
114-149; G. Striker, Te Role of oikeiosis in Stoic Ethics, Oxford Studies in Ancient Phi-
losophy 1 (1983) 145-167; T. Engberg-Pedersen, Discovering the Good: Oikeiosis and
Kathekonta in Stoic Ethics, in Te Norms of Nature, eds. M. SchoeldG. Striker, Cam-
bridgeParis 1986, 145-183; Id., Te Stoic Teory of Oikeiosis, Aarhus 1990; M. Isnardi
Parente, Ierocle stoico. Oikeiosis e doveri sociali, in Aufstieg und Niedergang der Rmischen
Welt, II,36,3, BerlinNew York 1989, 2201-2226; G. Schnrich, Oikeiosis. Zur Aktual-
itt eines stoischen Grundbegris, Philosophisches Jahrbuch 96 (1989) 34-51; M. Whitlock
Blundell, Parental Nature and Stoic Oikeiosis, Ancient Philosophy 10 (1990) 221-242; R.
Radice, Oikeiosis. Ricerche sul fondamento del pensiero stoico e sulla sua genesi, Milano 2000.
On the presence of Stoicism in Gregory see briey I. Pochoshajew, Estoicismo, in Dic-
cionario de san Gregorio de Nisa, 382-383. Its presence in Origen is broadly discussed by
Tzamalikos, Origen, passim.
53)
Apart from related forms, such as , we nd numerous occurrences of
in Origen, with exactly the same meaning as in Gregory: to make ones own, familiar; to
conciliate, also in reference to Christas then will be seen in Gregoryin relation to
mortal realities: C. Cels. 3,54; 4,26; 8,4: Christ conciliates humanity with God; in the pas-
sive diathesis, the verb is used in Comm. in Io. 6,11,7, in reference to God conciliated and
made own to humans: . . . .
Clement, Origens master, had already used this verb in the sense of to reconcile, in Strom.
7,7, about humans toward God. Gregory of Nazianzus, who also knew Origens writings
very well and probably had a penchant toward apokatastasis (see my Apocatastasi, section
devoted to him), uses for Christ who takes on the faults of human beings (or.
30,5): .
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 334 7/19/07 11:20:21 AM
on p. 20,25-21,21 Downing, Gregory draws very important consequences
from what he has demonstrated so far: if every being () that comes to
be in Christ is saved, and if submission means salvation, as Ps 71:2 sug-
gests, and if all will be in Christ, who will subsume all in his body, then we
must think that no being will remain outside of those saved:
. ForGregory arguesgiven the total elimination ()
of death and the submission to the Son, at a certain moment death will no
longer exist and all will turn out to be in life, , because
all will be in Christ, and Christ is life, according to his own statement in
John 11:25: . For this reason, Christ is
called between God and humans in 1Tim 2:5, because he who is
in the Father and has come among humans accomplishes the mediation
(), in that he unies all ( ) in himself and, through
himself, to the Father. Here, Gregory relies again on John 17:21: in order
that all may be one and the same thing [ ] . . . one and the same
thing [] in us , and explains that Christ, who is in the Father, having
joined us to himself in unity [], accomplishes our union with the
Father (p. 21,22. Downing). Gregory, after quoting the immediate con-
tinuation of the above mentioned passage of John (17:22: Te glory you
gave me, I have given them ), introduces a further element in his argu-
ment: the Holy Spirit, equivalent to the glory that Christ had before crea-
tion according to John 17:5, substantiates the above mentioned unity, for,
as humans and God were separate because of sin, only the Spirit in its
unity could join them again: the Spirits role was fundamental in human
reditus already in Origen.
54
With no interruption, Gregory goes on in the
exegesis of the passage (John 17:21.23), in which, moreover, he inserts
reminiscences of John 10:30 and other similar loci of the same author: so
that they may be one and the same thing just as we are one [], for you
and I are one [], in order that they may be made perfect as far as to con-
stitute a unity [] . Gregory, quoting John 17:22, explains that all become
one and the same thing, , in unity with Christ and God
who are one, thanks to Christ who is in them all. Drawing inspiration from
John, 17:23, Gregory demonstrates that, if the Father loves humankind,
54)
Cf. M. Bayer Moser, Teacher of Holiness: Te Holy Spirit in Origens Commentary on the
Epistle to the Romans, Piscataway, NJ 2005, with my review in Augustinianum 46 (2006)
265-269. Pauls Letter to the Romans, about the relationship between Christ and the Spirit
(Rm 8:9), is quoted by Gregory, too, in the passage we are examining.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 335 7/19/07 11:20:22 AM
and if the Father loves the Son and in the Son are present all of us humans
(), it follows that the Father loves us in that we are the Sons body,
and the Sons submission to the Father indicates the knowledge of Being
and, at the same time, the salvation of the entire human nature [
] . We should notice, once again, the armation
of the universal character of nal salvation, which will involve the whole of
human nature: all, though at dierent times, will attain the true knowl-
edge of God, who is the true Being and is Good itself, opposed to evil,
which is , according to Gregorys theory of non-substantiality of evil:
these also are reections evidently derived from Origen.
55
Te major concepts expressed so far are further conrmed by Gregory
in several quotations from Paul on p. 23,19. Downing, especially Gal
2:19-20, I have been crucied together with Christ and it is no longer I
who live, but Christ who lives in me , and 2Cor 13:3, where Paul main-
tains that it is Christ who speaks in him, 1Cor 15:9 and Gal 1:13, where
he recounts his conversion from persecutor of the Christians to Christs
apostle. Pauls transformation, as far as to become one with Christ, took
place thanks to his to God, a submission which is for us the
origin of all goods . Now, Gregorys point (p. 24,18. Downing) is that
what is said about Paul will logically t the whole of created human nature,
, when, as Jesus asserts in Mk 13:10 and
16:15 and in Mt 28:19, the Gospel has reached every part of the world. All
() will reject the old manaccording to Col 3:9 and Eph 4:22
and will receive in themselves the Lord, who activates the good things (
) in them. Now, of all goods, the most important is salva-
tion, which can be attained thanks to alienation from evil, derived from
submission and union to God.
Te last stage of Gregorys argumentation (p. 26,10. Downing) is
devoted to the eschatological fate of Gods enemies: Gregory makes a
strong case that not even their submission is to be seen as forced and invol-
untary, but must be interpreted as as well. He draws a distinction,
on the basis of Pauls own terminology, between what will submit
() and what will be annihilated (): the
latter will be the case of the enemy of all nature, i.e. death, and, together
with this, the principle of all sin, which produced death, and its power. It
is interesting to compare this distinction with that drawn by Origen in
55)
Cf. my Gregorio di Nissa, introductory essay.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 336 7/19/07 11:20:22 AM
Princ. 3,6,5 between the complete annihilation of enemy will , i.e. sin,
and of what derives from it, i.e. death, and the restoration of the created
substance of all those who have sinned, including the devil, who is not to
be saved as devil, because what was enemy and death and evil will perish,
whereas he himself, as created by God and endowed with a substance by
him, will return to his original condition before his sin, reintegrated into
the Good. For he will not be annihilated in his substance, which was made
by God and can by no means be destroyed.
56
And all the more interesting
is it that Origen sets forth this view precisely in his exegesis of 1Cor 15:26,
57

the same passage commented on by Gregory. In Princ. 3,6,5, in fact, Ori-
gen explains: even the last enemy, who is called death, will be destroyed,
so that there may be nothing painful left when death will no more exist,
nothing opposed, when there will be no enemy left. But we must under-
stand the last enemys destruction not as annihilation of his substance,
which has been made by God, but as annihilation of the enemys inclina-
tion and will, originated not by God, but by the enemy himself. Hence,
he will be destroyed not so as to cease existing, but to be no longer enemy
and death .
58
56)
For the salvation of the devil according to Origen see at least H. Crouzel, A Letter from
Origen To Friends in Alexandria, in Te Heritage of the Early Church. Mlanges G.V.
Florowsky, ed. D. NeimanM. Schatkin, Roma 1973, 135-150; Y.M. Duval, Jrme et
Origne avant la querelle origniste. La cure et la gurison ultime du monde et du diable
dans lIn Nahum, Augustinianum 24 (1984) 471-494; D. Satran, Te salvation of the
Devil, Studia Patristica 23 (1989) 171-177; A. Monaci, La demonologia di Origene, in
Origeniana quinta, Leuven 1992, 320-325; H. Crouzel, Diable et dmons dans les hom-
lies dOrigne, Bulletin de Littrature Ecclsiastique 95 (1994) 303-331; G. Bunge, Cr
pour tre, ibid. 98 (1997) 21-29; my La coerenza della soteriologia origeniana.
57)
Te same Pauline passage is quoted by Origen also in Comm. in Matth. 12,33; Hom. in
Jos. 8,4; in Lev. 9,11; in Jer. 18,3.
58)
Tis is, in Origen, the most important armation of the nal salvation of the devil, also
recognized by H. Crouzel, Apocatastase chez Origne, in Origeniana Quarta, ed. L. Lies,
Innsbruck 1985, 282-290 (cf. Id., Le n dernier selon Origne, Aldershot 1990); Satran,
Te Salvation of the Devil, 171-177; Bunge, Cr pour tre, 21-29, according to whom
Origens doctrine of apokatastasis depends on that of the roots, nature, and nal destiny of
evil: on the basis of Wis 1:14, quoted by him, Origen can maintain that what was made in
order to exist cannot stop existing and thus the devils ontological annihilation must be
excluded. Hence, there remains only the possibility of his re-conversion to Good. Gregory
also saves all the substances that took part in sin, postulating the destruction of sin and
death alone, i.e. of evil and its consequence, which, according to both Gregory and Origen,
have no ontological consistency. Te thesis of the devils recovery, developed in De princi-
piis, was criticised and Origen had to defend his position (ibid. 2,3,3.5). Tis idea, however,
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 337 7/19/07 11:20:22 AM
Gregory, who is evidently following Origen, argues that death and sin,
i.e. evil, will be completely extinguished, to such a point that they will no
longer exist ( ), and the empire of evil will be entirely
destroyed ( ), whereas the beings that will be
subjected will be those who are called enemies of God in another sense,
that is, those who have deserted from his reign to sin. Te latter, according
to Gregory, is precisely the category meant by Paul when he arms that,
while we were still enemies, we have been reconciled to God, and, having
been reconciled, we shall be saved in his life. For those who are called
Gods enemies on account of disobedience will become his friends owing
to submission. Te last idea developed by Gregory on p. 27,19. Downing
depends, once again, on a Pauline statement located in the same passage
that inspired the whole treatise, 1Cor 15:25: It is necessary that he goes
on reigning until he has put all his enemies under his feet . Te submis-
sion of all his enemies will be accomplished by Christ progressively, during
his reign; in the end, once he has subjected all and has unied all beings
( ), he will hand over everything to the Father, which
meansas Gregory explainsto lead all ( ) to
God, in one and the same spirit with God. Tose who were Gods enemies
will become a stool for Gods feet, according to the phrase of Ps 109:1:
they will receive Gods footprint on themselves, his , which is also his
mark and signan idea certainly associated with the so-called theology of
image, so very central in Gregory, and already in Origens thought too,
59

with the presence of Gods in every human being. Given that there
will be nobody who dies, death will vanish and we all ( ), Gre-
gory arms, shall enjoy a submission to God that is not slavery, but, on
the contrary, sovereignty, incorruptibility, blessedness: , ,
. Te perspective and terminology are the same as that we nd
in the nal section of De anima et resurrectione, with the depiction of uni-
versal apokatastasis and the salvation of all, which Gregory believed to be
fully grounded in Scripture.
was profoundly consistent with the whole of Origens eschatological and metaphysical
theory: the devil will be reintegrated and saved not as devil, but as a creature of God, once
it has been set free from evil.
59)
For this conception in Origen see the chapter devoted to him in my essay in my Grego-
rio di Nissa. Sullanima e la resurrezione, and for its presence in Gregory see my philosophi-
cal essay in the same book.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 338 7/19/07 11:20:22 AM
2. Te Allegorical Interpretation of Scripture and the Continuity
with Greek Philosophical Allegory
Origen was, rst and foremost, an exegete, the greatest exegete the Church
has ever had according to Simonetti,
60
and this is relevant: Young has
recently called attention to the importance of exegesis in the formation of
early Christian culture,
61
and on the other hand scholars have shown the
philosophical roots of Origens exegesis: he was very well acquainted with
the Stoic and Platonic allegorical interpretations of Greek myths, already
applied to the Bible by Philo and Clement of Alexandria.
62
Porphyry, in a
fragment of the third book of his ,
63
attests that Origen,
the outstanding Christian exponent of the allegorical method ,
64
knew
very well the allegorical works of Cornutus and Chaeremon, Stoic allego-
rists of the Neronian age and heirs of the secular Stoic allegorical tradi-
tion,
65
and of the Neo-Pythagorean and Middle-Platonist Numenius, who
read the Old Testament (and perhaps some of the New) allegorically, and
that he transferred the ancient allegorical tradition to the interpretation of
Scripture. Edwards
66
claims that this dependence on the Stoics in the eld
of allegoresis was attributed to Origen by Porphyry, who applied allegory
to Greek myths but did not admit allegorical interpretations of Scripture,
67

60)
M. Simonetti, Origene esegeta e la sua tradizione, Brescia 2004.
61)
F. Young, Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture, Cambridge 1997.
62)
M-J. Edwards, Precursors of Origens Hermeneutic Teory, in Studia Patristica 29
(1993) 231-237; Id., Origen against Plato, Aldershot 2002; broad documentation in my
Origen and the Stoic Allegorical Tradition.
63)
Ap. Eus. Hist. Eccl. 6,19,8 = F39 Harn.; cf. Jerome, Ep. 70. G. Rinaldi, La Bibbia dei
pagani, I, Bologna 1998, 142-143; II, nr. 14; P.F. Beatrice, Porphyrys Judgement on Ori-
gen, in Origeniana V, ed. R.J. Daly, Leuven 1992, 351-367;
64)
So E. Auerbach: see J.D. Dawson, Christian Figural Reading and the Fashioning of Iden-
tity, BerkeleyLos Angeles 2002, chap. 5 for a critique of Auerbachs attack against Origens
allegorical interpretation.
65)
On them full documentation in my Anneo Cornuto. Compendio di teologia greca, Milano
2003; Ead., Allegoria, I, Let classica, in coll. with G. Lucchetta, Milano 2004, chaps. 6-7.
66)
Edwards, Origen against Plato, 145. But see P.F. Beatrice, Porphyrys Judgement on
Origen, in Origeniana V, 351-367. Also M. Zambon, : la critica di
Porrio ad Origene (Eus., HE VI 19,1-9), in Origeniana VIII, ed. L. Perrone, Leuven
2003, 553-564.
67)
Ap. Eus. Hist. Eccl. 6,19,4-8. Wide documentation in my Origen and the Stoic Allegorical
Tradition; A. GraftonM. Williams, Christianity and the Transformation of the Book, Cam-
bridgeLondon 2006, 64-70.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 339 7/19/07 11:20:23 AM
for a polemical purpose, in order to cast an ambiguous light on Origens
allegoresis. At any rate, Porphyry probably knew Origen in his youth
68
and
then criticized him for his exegetical method, and for his being a Christian;
what is now relevant is that, among many other things, he testies: He
was familiar with Plato, always held in his hands the writings of Numen-
ius, Cronius, Apollophanes, Longinus, Moderatus, Nicomachus, and the
most distinguished of the Pythagoreans; he availed himself of the books of
the Stoic Chaeremon and Cornutus, from which he learned the allegorical
method of the Greek mysteries, which he applied, then, to the Jewish Scrip-
tures .
69
And, according to Jerome, Origen, drawing inspiration from Clem-
ents work, wrote in which he matched the Christian
conceptions with those of the philosophers, and conrmed all the truths of
our faith by means of Platos, Aristotles, Numenius, and Cornutus texts .
70

In both passages the allegorists Cornutus and Chaeremon or Numenius
are mentioned near Plato and other outstanding philosophersmostly
Middle-Platonists and Neo-Pythagorean thinkersas the main sources of
Origens philosophical formation.
Te importance of Origens contribution lies not only in his exegesis
applied to Scripture, in a number of works, but also in the theoretical
exposition of the levels of interpretation of Scripture in Princ. 4. He
68)
It is discussed whether Porphyry was a Christian when young: see W. Kinzig, War der
neuplatoniker Porphyrios ursprnglich Christ?, in Mousopolos Stephanos. Festschrift H.
Grgemanns, Heidelberg 1998, 320-332. He knew the Scriptures well: see R.M. Berchman,
In the Shadow of Origen: Porphyry and the Patristic Origins of the NT Criticism, in
Origeniana VI, Leuven 1995, 657-673; Rinaldi, La Bibbia, I, 124-175.
69)
Cf. J. Ppin, propos de lhistoire de lexgse allgorique: labsurdit, signe de
lallgorie, in Studia Patristica 1 (1957) 395-413; Id., Mythe et allgorie, Paris 1958; 1981
3
,
462-466; W. Den Boer, Some Striking Similarities in Pagan and Christian Allegorical
Interpretation, in Studi lologici e storici in onore di V. De Falco, Napoli 1971, 465-473; Id.,
Allegory and History, in Studia J.H. Waszink, ed. Id. et al., Amsterdam 1973, 15-27;
Rinaldi, La Bibbia, I, 124., esp. 142-143; II, 53-56, nr. 14, with bibl.; F. Ruggiero, La
follia dei Cristiani, Roma 2002, chap. 10; M.J. Edwards, Origen on Christ, Tropology, and
Exegesis, in Metaphor, Allegory, and the Classical Tradition, ed. G.R. Boys-Stones, Oxford
2003, 235-256: 252; Porphyry vs. Origen in Eus. HE 6,19; Eusebius vs. Porphyry in Praep.
Ev. 3,9, passim.
70)
Ep. 70. See C. Moreschini, Note ai perduti Stromata di Origene, in Origeniana IV,
Hrsg. L. Lothar, Innsbruck-Wien 1987, 38-42.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 340 7/19/07 11:20:23 AM
theorizes
71
a threefold interpretation
72
of the Bible, literal, moral, and
spiritual (i.e. typological and allegorical),
73
in which each level corre-
sponds to a component of the human being, , , , and
to a degree of Christian perfection: incipientes, progredientes, perfecti.
Here I shall not linger on his theorization, but I shall oer a few exam-
ples of allegorical reading of Scripture applied by Origen in his arguments
in support of apokatastasis.
In Origens perspective of cathartic suerings and nal reintegration,
adhesion to the Goodi.e. Godought not to derive from fear of pun-
ishment, but from knowledge and free will and conscious conviction. So,
in his homilies on Genesis (7:4) he draws a distinction between those who
adhere to God in awareness and out of love and those who do so for fear
and because of threats, comparing the two categories to the children of the
free woman, Sarah, and those of the slave, Hagar. Tis, of course, recalls
not only the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis, but also the gural
reading of it oered by Paul, in Gal 4:22-31, where he says that Hagars and
Sarahs vicissitudes were .
74
It is an allegorical interpretation
71)
Tis theorization (Princ. 4,2,4-6; 3,5) is analyzed e.g. by C. Blnnigen, Die griechische
Ursprung der jdisch-hellenistischen Allegorese, Frankfurt a.M. et al. 1992, 205-265, esp. 207-
220, and Edwards, Origen against Plato, 123-152, who intends to demonstrate that Origens
exegesis cannot be dened Platonic or Middle-Platonic, although he admits Philos inuence
on Origen; see esp. 135. on the three exegetical levels, and 139-140: Origens exegetical
tripartition also corresponds to that of Greek philosophy in , , .
72)
See K.J. Torjesen, Body, Soul, and Spirit in Origens Teory of Exegesis, Anglican
Teological Review 67 (1985) 17-30; Dawson, Christian Figural Reading, 75, 78 and passim;
Simonetti, Origene esegeta, 20. Cf. also Hom. Lev. 5,1; Hom. Num. 9,7; Hom. Gen. 2,6;
Hom. Lev. 1,4; K. Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure and Teological Method in Origens
Exegesis, Berlin 1986, 40., and my Origen and the Stoic Allegorical Tradition, with
broad documentation on the three senses of Scripture.
73)
On the relativity of this distinction see my Origen and the Stoic Allegorical Tradition.
74)
Dawson, Christian Figural Reading, 24-27; Simonetti, Origene esegeta, 15. For Pauls
inuence on Origen see F. Cocchini, Il Paolo di Origene, Roma 1992, and M. Simonetti,
Presenza di Paolo nella cristologia patristica, Vetera Christianorum 40 (2003) 191-205,
194; Id., Ortodossia ed eresia fra I e II secolo, Soveria Mannelli 1994, 63. Paul himself seems
to have theorized the allegorical reading in 2Cor 3:12-18, where the veil on Moses face at
Sinai is considered as follows: for those who are xated on the text as an end in itself, the
text remains veiled, but those who turn to the Lord are enabled to see through the text to
its true aim and meaning (): for them, the veil is removed: see Dawson, Christian
Figural Reading, 34-35; 188. See also R. Roukema, Te Veil over Moses Face in Patristic
Interpretation, in Te Interpretation of Exodus. Studies in Honour of Cornelis Houtman, ed.
Id., Leuven 2006, 237-252, in part. 242-244 for Origens interpretation.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 341 7/19/07 11:20:23 AM
that highlights these two dierent levels in the intellectual and moral
development of the . Likewise, in Princ. 3,5,8, Origen emphasizes that
the submission of all creatures to God, i.e. their salvation, will take place
not as a result of violence, nor by necessity that forces to subjection, but
thanks to words, reason, teaching, emulation of the best, good norms, and
also threats, when deserved and apt . . . For we humans too, when we edu-
cate our servants or children, while they are not yet in the age of reason,
compel them by means of threats and fear, but when they begin to under-
stand what is good, useful, and honest, then the fear of beating stops, and
they, persuaded by words and reason, nd satisfaction in all that is good .
Tus, in Origens view, the threat of an everlasting re after death may be
helpful for those who still cannot adhere to the Good freely;
75
for Origen
is persuaded that purifying re is not really eternal,
76
and in any case, even
if it should last after the nal apokatastasis, it will remain empty. Te spir-
itual interpretation of suerings in the future world is provided by Origen
in the preface to Book 1 of his De principiis, 5: For the sinners there are
prepared the , the outer darkness, the prison and the furnace,
but lets see how we should understand all this, too . Tese torments are
interpreted in an allegorical way, and an eternal duration is excluded for
them, for Origen thinks that sin and the souls disharmony constitute a
punishment in themselves and that re is nothing else but the re of pas-
sions, as is clear from Princ. 2,10,4: Now, let us see what the threat of
[Mt 25:41] means: in Isaiah, the prophet, we nd that the re that
punishes each one is dened as peculiar to each one. For he says: Go into
the ash of your re and the ame that you yourselves lit [Is 50:11].
77
It
seems to me that these words indicate that each sinner lights the ame of
his own re. Tinder and nourishment for this re are our sins, dened by
the Apostle as wood, hay, and straw [1Cor 3:12].
78
And I assume that,
75)
For the pedagogical function of Gods threats and the spiritual interpretation of the
resurrection held by Origen (who never denied the resurrection of the body, however) see
my Treats, punishment, and hope.
76)
For a study of the meaning of in Origen see my Apocatastasi, in the chapter
concerning Origen; Ead., Origene ed il lessico delleternit, Adamantius 13 (2007); for a
study of the meaning of and in Greek pagan and Christian literature see
RamelliKonstan, Terms for Eternity.
77)
Te same quotation from Isaiah is used to conrm the same idea also in Hom. in Lev.
9,8 and in Comm. in Rom. 2,6.
78)
Tis Pauline passage is interpreted by Origen in the same way also in Princ. 1,1; C. Cels.
5,15; Hom. in Ex. 6,3; Hom. in Lev. 14,3.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 342 7/19/07 11:20:24 AM
just as in our body abundant consumption and quantity and quality of
harmful food produce fevers, and fevers of dierent kind and duration in
proportion to the consumption and the stimulation brought by the
inrmity . . ., so, when the soul has gathered in itself a large amount of evil
deeds and abundance of sins, in due time all this collection of evils boils to
produce torments and blazes forth to cause punishment. And when the
mind or conscience . . . will see, disclosed before its eyes, as it were, the
story of its crimes, then it will be agitated and stung by its own pricks, and
will become prosecutor and witness against itself . . . As to the souls sub-
stance, some torments are provoked precisely by the sinners evil feelings .
Origen does not at all seem to be disturbed by the characterization of the
re as , but seems to relate its duration and intensity to the meas-
ure of passions and sins. In fact, does not mean eternal re,
properly, which would be more precisely indicated by , but the
re of the world to come.
79
We shall soon see that the same spiritual inter-
pretation of the torments in the future world, held by Origen also in other
passages,
80
will be taken up by Gregory of Nyssa, too.
In Princ. 2,10,5 Origen, oering his spiritual exegesis of the re of
Hades as that of the passions, which is its own punishment, interprets the
torment of re as the ardour of the passions that trouble the soul: Con-
sider the damaging passions that customarily aect the soul when it is, e.g.,
burnt by the ames of love or devoured by the re of envy and spite or
tossed by the madness of anger or consumed by endless sadness, to the
extent that some people, unable to bear the excess of these troubles, deemed
death more tolerable than suering such tortures. Well, as for those who
let themselves be imprisoned by such evil vices, and did not succeed in
correcting them at all during the present life, and left this world in such
conditions, consider whether for them may it be enough, as punishment,
to be tormented by such evil passions persisting in them, i.e. anger, rage,
folly, sadness, whose mortal poison was not mitigated during their life
by the therapy of any correction . Similarly, in the same 5, Origen sup-
poses that, as the passions are punishment to themselves, so is, too, the
79)
See Ramelli-Konstan, Terms for Eternity, and the chapter on Origen in my Apocatastasi.
80)
Another similar parallel between physical troubles and future punishment is to be found
also in Selecta in Ps. PG 12,1177, and the trouble given by the mere awareness of ones own
sins is also theorized in Hom. in Ps. 38. Ibid. 2, 2 Origen arms that each sin will appear
to our conscience on the judgement day; see also Hom. in Ier. 16,10; De or. 28,5.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 343 7/19/07 11:20:24 AM
disharmony of the sinners soul:
81
re, then, is simply a therapy for this
state of fragmentation, for the ideal returnin Platonic termsto har-
mony and unity: in case the souls laceration and dissolution is tested by
means of re, the soul will undoubtedly be consolidated in renewal and in
a rmer connection and structure : that the soul ought to be in a condi-
tion of perfect harmony, because harmony implies unity, and unity perfec-
tion, is an idea found in Plato and in Greek philosophy, and then in Jewish
and Christian thought inuenced by Platonism and Middle-Platonism,
82

above all Philo and Clement of Alexandria, who, in the relevant passage,
signicantly quotes Plato and connects the souls harmony to that of the
body.
83

Gregory of Nyssa interprets the Bible according to the allegorical method
theorized and used by Origen.
84
Let us select from the dialogue De anima
et resurrectione some signicant examples in which scriptural passages
quoted in support of the doctrine of apokatastasis are interpreted allegori-
cally. In 80A-88C, Macrina oers a spiritual exegesis of the parable of
Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31),
85
in order to demonstrate the of her
argumentthat, after death, the soul maintains the human beings indi-
viduality, while the body is dispersed in various elementswith the Bible,
81)
As the limbs of the body, detached from their reciprocal connection, make us feel the
torment of strongest pain, so when the soul is out of the order, connection and harmony
with which God had created it so that it might behave rightly and have good feelings, and
can no longer be in agreement with itself in the connection of its rational movements, then
we can think that it will suer the torment of its very laceration and the torture of its dis-
order and dissolubility .
82)
Plat. Resp. 3,410CD; 4,443D; 9,591D; Doxographi Graeci, 387 e 651; SVF III 121;
Phil. Leg. all. 1,23,72; Clem. Strom. 4,4,18; Alc. Didasc. 29,3,182 Hermann.
83)
Strom. 4,4,18: Plato, precisely he whom they [sc. the Gnostics] proclaim in the loudest
voice as a witness in their favour for the refusal of generation, in the third Book of his
Republic says that it is necessary to take care of the body for the sake of the souls harmony .
In Strom. 4,26,163-164, Clement, speaking of the harmony and reciprocal correspondence
of virtues and philosophical disciplines, also exalts the souls harmony, Platonically seen as
justice, and that which obtains between soul and body.
84)
See H.R. Drobner, Alegora, in Diccionario de san Gregorio, 64-72; M. Simonetti,
Exgesis, ibid. 426-438; also A. Meredith, Orgenes, ibid. 700-702.
85)
See M. Alexandre, Linterprtation de Luc 16, 19-31 chez Grgoire de Nysse, in Epe-
ktasis. Mlanges J. Danilou, eds. J. FontaineCh. Kannengiesser, Paris 1972, 425-441, in
part. 430-439.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 344 7/19/07 11:20:24 AM
if interpreted correctly, as suggested by its author himself (80B-81A).
86
So,
in 81A-84D she proposes the spiritual meaning of the parable, concerning
the original condition of the human being untouched by evil, the gift of
free will and the choice of evil, the division of human life into two parts
thanks to divine Providence and the free choice of life that humans can
make, according to two kinds of good and evil, sensible or spiritual, and
the necessity to reserve true good for the future life, lest one need
purication through re after death: the suering of the rich is seen as
purication, not as eternal damnation. Spiritual interpretations are oered
for the between Lazarus and the rich after death, for the
in which the blessed are said to be, for the of
hell, for the of water from Paradise, and for the parts of the body men-
tioned in the parable, whereas neither the rich nor Lazarus has a body after
death.
87
In 85B-88C, nally, Macrina explains Lk 16:27-31 as a warning
86)
Scripture presents such exposition in a form referring to the body, but spreads in it,
here and there, many hints by which he who is able to understand accurately is driven to a
subtler interpretation. For he who separates good and evil by a huge chasm, and made the
suerer in need of a drop of water brought on a nger, who gave the patriarchs lap to him
who in this life had experienced so many harms, who also narrated their death . . . makes the
reader . . . detach himself from the literal meaning . . . For, what eyes can the rich raise in
Hades, if he left in the grave those of his body? And how can the incorporeal perceive a
ame? What tongue can he wish to get refreshed by a drop of water, given that he does not
own the corporeal one? . . . For, since the bodies are in the graves, while the soul is neither
in a body nor constituted by parts, it would be impossible to adapt the structure of the
narration, in its immediate meaning, to truth, unless we refer, with a metaphor or transpo-
sition, each detail to the intelligible interpretation .
87)
See Alexandre, Linterprtation, 425-441. Tis chasm is not an abyss in the earth,
but is that produced by the choice of life, dividing itself into opposite options. For he who
chose what is sweet in this life and does not correct this fool decision with conversion and
repentance, makes inaccessible to himself the place of good in the future life, because he
himself, to his own detriment, has dug this insurmountable necessity, as a sort of widest and
impracticable chasm. Tus, it seems to me that Scripture calls Abrahams bosom the good
condition of the soul in which he lets the athlete of endurance rest . . . all those who sail with
virtue through present life, once freed from this, moor their souls in this good lap, or inlet,
as in a tranquil port . . . For the others, instead, to be deprived of the goods that they
deemed such assumes the appearance of a ame burning the soul, which would need a little
drop from the ocean of Good that the blessed enjoy in abundance, but does not obtain it.
If you interpret in an incorporeal sense the tongue, the eye, the nger . . ., you will admit
that their spiritual meanings t the theory of soul that we have established . . . When Scrip-
ture mentions the nger, eye, tongue . . . after the dissolution of the composite body, it
refers to the soul . . . it will be reasonable to think that hell (Hades) is not a place called with
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 345 7/19/07 11:20:24 AM
that the soul needs to be puried from the eshly glue , either on earth
or after death, in order to be free in her race toward the Good , a race that
every soul will accomplish, sooner or later.
88
Gregory is likely to have
drawn inspiration from Origen, Princ. 2,10,4-5, quoted above, with its
spiritual exegesis of the re of hell.
Later on, we have another instance of allegorical exegesis of Scripture in
support of apokatastasis: after quoting Ps 103(104):29-30 in 132A
89
and
referring it to resurrection, in 132C-136A Macrina explains the spiritual
meaning of Ps. 117(118):27, detailing how the Feast of the Tabernacles
90

this name, but a condition of invisible and incorporeal existence, where the soul lives, as we
clearly learn from Scripture .
88)
Since Lazarus soul is intent on the present things and does not turn to none of those
that it has left behind, while the rich, even after death, remains attached to eshly life . . .
we believe that the Lord wants to teach that those who are living in esh must absolutely
separate from it thanks to life according to virtue, lest, after that, we happen to need another
death again, which, purifying us, will eliminate the rests of the eshly glue, but, once the
ties that bind the soul have been broken, its run toward Good may take place immediately,
easily and swiftly .
89)
You will subtract their spirit, and they will pass away and get transformed into their
dust; you will send your spirit, and they will be created, and you will renew the face of the
earth ; Revised Standard Version: when thou takest away their breath, they die and return
to their dust. When thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the
face of the ground .
90)
On the interpretation of Ps 117(118):27 as a symbol of apokatastasis see J. Danilou,
La Fte des Tabernacles dans lexgse patristique, Studia Patristica 1 (1957) 262-279,
according to whom this exegesis probably derives from Origen, which is likely indeed. Te
same feast, with the very same interpretation of Ps 117(118):27 is given by Gregory in his
Sermon on the Nativity (ed. F. Mann, GNO 10/2, Leiden 1996, pp. 235.3-238.17; 264.4-
266.15; 268.14-269.13): law, giving a preliminary sketch of the truth by means of shad-
owy gures, ordained the blowing of trumpets at the feast of Tabernacles. And the occasion
for todays feast is the mystery of the true feast of Tabernacles. For in this feast the human
tent [i.e body] is pitched for him who put on human nature for our sake (John 1:14).
And in this feast our tents that were wasted by death have been reconstructed by the one
who fashioned our dwelling to begin with . . . our Lord, has given us light, so that we may
institute the feast and deck out the festal procession up to the horns of the altar . . . By the
power of the Spirit and all in tune they trumpet forth the teaching of the truth, in order
that the ears of those made deaf by sin might be opened and there might be one harmonious
feast, celebrated in the decking out of the Tabernacles. Tis decking out takes places when
creatures here below chime in with the preeminent spiritual powers who are in front of the
heavenly altar (Rev 4). For the horns of the heavenly altar mean the preeminent spiri-
tual powers who lead the procession, the rulers, and authorities, and thrones, and domin-
ions. In the fellowship of this feast human nature is brought together with these heavenly
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 346 7/19/07 11:20:25 AM
mentioned in it symbolizes both resurrection and universal apokatastasis:
the God of universe, the Lord of beings, manifested himself to us for the
preparation of the feast among the braces that tie, surround and cover,
meaning, by this expression of covering and support, the Feast of the Tab-
ernacles, instituted in ancient times by Moses. Now, I think that this law-
giver was prophetically announcing the future, and even though this feast
was always celebrated, it had not yet found complete realization. For truth
was indicated in advance in a typological sense [], through sym-
bolical allusions given by the events: this true construction of the tabernac-
les or tents did not yet exist, but, according to the prophetical word,
God . . . manifested himself to us with this aim: so that for human nature
there could take place the construction of our destroyed home, consoli-
dated [] again in bodily form, through the gathering of ele-
ments. In fact, the term , consolidation, covering, support,
means, according to its proper sense, the act of tying and surrounding, and
the order deriving from it.
91
Now, what the Psalm says is as follows: God,
the Lord, has appeared to us too, to institute a feast among those who sup-
port and consolidate as far as [sic] the horns of the altar, on which sacrices
are oered. Now, it seems to me that this, through an allusion, prean-
nounces that for all rational creatures one and the same feast is instituted, in
which the superiors dance together with the inferiors, in the company of good
beings : this will put an end to all divisions and all sorrows.
92
For the whole
human race and the whole will be united in Gods glory after
their liberation from all evil and the vanishing of evil,
powers through the tabernacle of the resurrection. In other words, these powers are
decked out, or adorned, by the renewal of our bodies (tr. J. Kovacs).
91)
In Ps 117:27 the LXX, read by Gregory, has
. Tis is not really identical with the Hebrew text, as
it is clear also from the Latin versions iuxta Hebraeos ( frequentate sollemnitatem in frondosis
usque ad cornua altaris) and iuxta Septuaginta (constituite diem sollemnem in condensis usque
ad cornua altaris). Te Hebrew text (118:27) reads: is
e
r- hag babtm ad-qar
e
gt
hammiz
e
b
a
h , where bt means interwoven foliage rather than consolidation, covering,
support and sr to bind, to tie rather than to build . Gregory, of course, selects the
sense of construction and constitution, since he intends to apply these words to the recon-
stitution of the bodies in their resurrection. Here, the use of the LXX really makes a remark-
able dierence. Gregory used only the LXX, while Origen constantly compared it with the
Hebrew Text.
92)
For the passage from tears to joy in Gregory and Origen see my Tears of Pathos, Repen-
tance, and Bliss: Crying and Salvation in Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, in Tears and Cry-
ing in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, ed. T. Fgen, forthcoming in Leiden.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 347 7/19/07 11:20:25 AM
a fundamental doctrine both in Origen and in Gregory, as
Macrina says, also with the spiritual interpretation of the various parts of
the temple:
So wide is, thus, the dierentiation in the access to this temple, which was both
image and likeness
93
of the intellectual state. And the physical observance teaches
that not every rational creature can get close to Gods temple, that is, the confes-
sion of God, the great, but those who are deceived by false suppositions remain
outside the divine enclosure. Among those who have been able to go in, more
honour is attained by those who have rst puried themselves with ablutions and
behaviours aimed at purity than is attained by the others . . . the meaning of the
symbolical allusion is that, among the rational faculties, some, like the sacred
altar, are situated in the most internal recess of divinity; and among these, in turn,
some are prominent and jut out like horns, while others, around these, on the
basis of a certain order, occupy a superior or inferior position. Now, the human
race, because of vice implanted in it, was banished from Gods enclosure, but,
once puried by the lustral bath, can enter it again. And since these enclosures
that interpose, through which vice separated us from the internal part situated
beyond the veil, are destined to be demolished once and for all, when, thanks to
resurrection, our nature will be reconstituted as a tent that is planted, and all cor-
ruption ingenerated because of vice will disappear from beings, then Gods feast will
be prepared by all who will have been consolidated again and restructured by means
of resurrection, so that all will take part in one and the same joy, and there will be no
more dierence to divide the rational nature in its participation in goods that are the
same for all, but those who now are excluded due to vice will be nally able to enter the
recesses of divine beatitude. (133D)
93)
Gr. (cod. A); PG 46,12-160, ad loc. prints .
Cf. Gen 1:26: (LXX;
Vulg. Faciamus hominem ad imaginem et similitudinem nostram). Te Fathers, also thanks
to an allegorical interpretation, endeavoured to distinguish and characterize the deep mean-
ing of image and likeness. E.g. in Origen the original image is dierent from the
likeness of God, which must be attained through each ones will and deeds, and is reserved
for the eschatological dimension (Princ. 3,6,1). Already in Philos exegesis, the image to
which the original human beingdierent from the subsequent is
conformed is the image of Logos, , , and
(cf. Leg. All. 1,12,31; De opif. 46,134). For Origen too the original
human beingjust as the eschatological humans, was neither male nor female (Hom. in
Gen. 1,14), dierently from the man formed from the dust of the ground of Gen 2,7, i.e.
the body derived from sin where the soul was imprisoned (Comm. in Ioh. 20,182). Gregory
took up these concepts: see my philosophical essay in Gregorio di Nissa. Sullanima e la re-
surrezione, cit.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 348 7/19/07 11:20:25 AM
Tese interpretations are further reinforced by Pauls authority, who, in
Phil 2:10,
94
expresses the same concept more directly, without allegory
(136A): so, Old and New Testament agree in conrming resurrection and
universal apokatastasis. For Gods aim is one: when the complete fullness
of our nature will be realized in each human being, after that some will
have already been puried from evil during the present life, others, instead,
will have been cured by means of re for the due periods, and others in this
life will have ignored the experience both of good and of evil equally well,
Gods aim is to oer to all participation in the goods that are in Him . . . Now,
thisat least in my viewis nothing else but being in God himself
(152AB).
Another allegorical reading of Scripture used in the explanation of res-
urrection and apokatastasis is that of the skin tunics of Gen 3:21
95
taken
by Adam and Eve after the sin, interpreted by Gregory, and by Origen
before him, as the earthly, heavy body and the connected to it.
96

94)
.
95)

.
96)
Cfr. Danilou, Ltre et le temps, 154-164; L.-F. Mateo-Seco, Tnicas de pieles, in Dic-
cionario de san Gregorio, 898-903. Tis biblical passage was interpreted allegorically already
by Origen in a very similar way. In the Alexandrian tradition, the interpretation of the
Genesis account of the creation of the human being was inspired by the so-called theory of
double creation of the intelligible and the sensible human being, in a dualistic perspec-
tive. Some works illustrate the continuityalthough not absolutebetween Origen and
Gregory in this respect: U. Bianchi, ed., La doppia creazione delluomo negli Alessandrini,
nei Cappadoci e nella gnosi, Roma 1978; Id.H. Crouzel, eds., Arch e telos. Lantropologia
di Origene e Gregorio di Nissa, Milano 1981; Id., Pch originel et pch antcedent,
Revue de lHistoire des Religions 170 (1966) 117-126; Id., Il dualismo come categoria stor-
ico-religiosa, Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 9 (1973) 3-16; Id., Prometeo, Orfeo,
Adamo. Tematiche religiose sul destino, il male, la salvezza, Roma 1978; Id., Te Category
of Dualism in the Historical Phenomenology of Religion, Temenos 16 (1980) 10-25; M.V.
Cerutti, Per una tipologia storica del dualismo, Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni
49 (1983) 263-277; Ead., Dualismo apocalittico e dualismo gnostico, in Ead., ed., Apoca-
littica e Gnosticismo, Roma 1995, 143-156; Ead., Ugo Bianchi e il dualismo, in G. Casa-
dio (cur.), Ugo Bianchi: una vita per la storia delle religioni, Roma 2002, 291-326. Both
Origen and Gregorythe former more than the latteractually manifest a tendency
towards dualism (as a category of the history of religions: see also U. Bianchi, Presupposti
platonici e dualistici in Origene, De principiis, in Origeniana Secunda, Roma 1980, 33-56;
Cerutti, Per una tipologia, 268-270; 276-277), the conception of two principles at the
origin of the human being: God, the creator, and an event as the fall of noes or rational
souls, which caused the existence of the material world and of the heavy human body,
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 349 7/19/07 11:20:25 AM
After resurrection, all this will vanish: the bodily organs will not have any
longer the functions imposed on them by animal life (144B-148C), such
as conjugal intercourse, conception, generation, suckling, nutrition, excre-
tion, production of dirt etc., given that the risen will move in the heav-
enly regions with incorporeal nature . All that is transient in human nature
and was added to it in the form of the skins of , is accidental to it,
not essential, and will disappear at the resurrection.
Towards the end of the dialogue, Gregory illustrates resurrection and
apokatastasis through the image of the wheat grain, associating and
dierentiated into two genders: cf. Cerutti, Per una tipologia, 267; I. Ramelli, La colpa
antecedente. In Sel. in Gen. 3,21 and C. Cels. 4,40, Origen hesitates between the interpre-
tation of the skin tunics either as material bodies or as mortality. As results from a passage
preserved in the catenae and in Teodoretus (Quaest. in Gen. 39, PG 80,140), Origen pro-
posed his exegesis of the skin tunics problematically rather than categorically. Simonetti,
Origene esegeta, 117-121 refers to Origen a reading reported by Procopius of Gaza, Comm.
in Gen. 3,21 (PG 87,221): the human being who is is the soul; that who is
moulded out of dust is the subtle or luminous body that will live in Paradise, while the
skin tunics are the heavy, earthily body. Cf. G. Brke, Origenes Lehre vom Urstand des
Menschen, Zeitschrift fr katholische Teologie 1950, 1.; H. Crouzel, Tologie de limage
de Dieu chez Origne, Paris 1956, 148., and Id., Origne est-il un systmatique?, Bulle-
tin de Littrature Ecclsiastique 1959, 81 = in Id., Origne et la philosophie, Paris 1962,
179.; J. Danilou, Origne, Paris 1948, 41.; Simonetti, Origene esegeta, 111-122,
esp. 112-113; 29-31. For the exegetical history of this image see P.F. Beatrice, Le tuniche
di pelle. Antiche letture di Gn 3,21, in La tradizione dell , ed. U. Bianchi, Roma
1985, 433-82; J. Ppin, La tradition de lallgorie de Philon d Alexandrie Dante, Paris
1987, 156.; P. Pisi, Peccato di Adamo e caduta dei nellesegesi origeniana, in Ori-
geniana IV, 322-35; C. Noce, Vestis varia. Limmagine della veste nellopera di Origene, Roma
2002. On Origens and Gregorys anthropology see M. Di Pasquale Barbanti, Origene di
Alessandria tra Platonismo e Sacra Scrittura: Teologia e antropologia del De Principiis, Catania
2003; Simonetti, Origene esegeta, 29.; 111-122; G.A. Ladner, Te Philosophical Anthro-
pology of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, in Eiusd. Images and Ideas in the Middle Ages, II, Roma
1983, 856-862. Following Origen, Gregory too interprets the skin tunics, both in De hom-
inis opicio (of which I am preparing an essay and a commentary) and in the II homily on
the Song of Songs, where the soul says: because I have abandoned purity, I have put on this
dark aspect . . . the skin tunic ; and in the XI homily, again with reference to the soul, rep-
resented by the girl of the Song: taking o the skin tunic that she had been wearing after
her sin, and washing away the earthly element, according to the explanation of the Apostle,
who exhorts him who has taken o the torn wrapping of the old man to put on the new
tunic of the man created as image of God, in holiness and justice, and says that this garment
is Jesus . Tis theme of the new garment of the human being, in connection with the
apokatastasis, will be kept alive with particular intensity in some Syriac mystics: see my
Note per unindagine della mistica siro-orientale dellVIII secolo: Giovanni di Dalyatha e
la tradizione origeniana, Ilu 12 (2007).
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 350 7/19/07 11:20:26 AM
interpreting two important passages from Paul, 1Cor 15:42b-44a on the
glorious risen body (plus 45a; 53a), and 1Cor 15:35-38 on the grain
(plus 40; 41); thus, in the last and culminating section of the dialogue,
he creates a continuous commentary of 1Cor 15:35-45 (derived from the
same chapter analyzed in his In illud: Tunc et ipse Filius). In the back-
ground, there certainly is a reminiscence of Jesus parable of the grain
that must die to bring fruit in John 12:24,
97
as is clear from 153A.
98
Te
image of the ear is, moreover, applied to Adam in 157A.
99
[153C] As the body of the ear is formed from the seed, thanks to Gods power
that, with his art, makes the ear out of the grain itselfand the ear is neither
completely identical with the seed nor completely dierent, so the mystery of
resurrection, too, has been indicated in advance through the wondrous
modications taking place in the seeds, in that Gods power not only will return
you the body which will be dissolved, but will also add other splendid and beauti-
ful characteristics thanks to which your nature will be constituted in a greater
magnicence. He says: It is sown in corruption, it rises in incorruptibility; it is
sown in weakness, it rises in power; it is sown in dishonour, it rises in glory; it is
sown as a psychic body, it rises as a spiritual body . For, as the grain in the sod . . .
becomes an ear while maintaining its individuality, although it comes out com-
pletely dierent from what it was before . . ., in the same way human nature too,
after abandoning in death all its characteristics, which it had acquired through the
tendency to subjection to passions, I mean ignominy, corruption, weakness,
dierentiation according to the age, does not lose itself, but it changes into incor-
ruptibility as into an ear, and into glory, honour, power, perfection in all respects,
and in such condition that its life is no longer governed by natural properties, but
passes into a spiritual state which is free from passions.
97)
,
, .
98)
What is that initiates their germination? Isnt it death, given that death is dissolution of
what is composed? For the grain would not reach germination if it did not dissolve into the
sod .
99)
Te rst ear was the rst human being, Adam. But because, with the appearance of vice,
our nature was divided into a great number of parts, as happens with the fruit of the ear, so
we, individually deprived of the form of that ear and mixed up with the earth, shall rise again
in resurrection, in our original beauty, and instead of that rst ear we shall become the
innite myriads of the crops . For these agricultural images and others taken from human
techniques in this dialogue see my La cultura scientica in Gregorio di Nissa, De anima et
resurrectione: scienza e logos, in Cultura naturalistica e scientica nei Padri della Chiesa (I-V
secolo). Atti del XXXIV Incontro di Studiosi dellAntichit Cristiana, Roma, Augustinianum,
4-6 maggio 2006, Roma 2007, Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum, forthcoming.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 351 7/19/07 11:20:26 AM
Te agricultural image is kept up in 157CD with God as a farmer who
cures his plants while they are growing and eliminates and burns the bad,
representing passions and evil, and brings all his plants to maturation and
perfection, again described, at the very end of the writing, in Pauls words:
Once those passions have been puried . . . the place of those deciencies
will be taken by each of the respective realities that are conceived posi-
tively: incorruptibility, life, power, grace, glory, and any other prerogative
of this kind that we conjecture it is possible to contemplate both in God
himself and in his image, which is human nature . Both quotations from
Paul, the agricultural metaphor and the description of the risen body, con-
verge here, along with Gregorys theology of image, in Macrinas last words,
which point to universal restoration and salvation.
3. Patristic Philosophy: Philosophical Arguments Joined
to Scriptural Authority
Both Origens and Gregorys doctrine of apokatastasis relies on philosoph-
ical, and especially Platonic, arguments, an even more substantial heritage
of Hellenistic culture than allegorical exegesis itself was. Simply to recall a
few of these arguments used in support of apokatastasis,
100
for Origen we
might cite, e.g., the idea that the end must be similar to the beginning;
that we human beings were all created as , which in us can be
obscured by sin, but never deleted, and all must acquire the
through our deeds and deliberate choiceshere, of course, the biblical
reminiscence of humans as Gods is coupled with the
Platonic and Stoic principle of ; that evil is not ontologi-
cally subsistent but is mere lack of Good due to the choice of separating
from it, and will completely vanish in the end; the assertion of freewill in
all rational creatures, against Gnostic determinism, and its agreement with
Gods providence, which always operates for everyones salvation:
101
for
this reason the end will be, in a sense, not only similar to the beginning,
but even better, because the adhesion to the Good will be not purely natu-
ral, but voluntary. Gregory, for his part, uses exactly the same philosophi-
cal argumentssince he draws much of his thinking from Origen,
100)
For extensive documentation on all of them, see the chapter devoted to Origen in the
essay on the apokatastasis, and the philosophical essay, both in my Gregorio di Nissa.
101)
Broad discussion of this agreement in my La coerenza.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 352 7/19/07 11:20:26 AM
especially the non-substantiality of evil and its nal abolition, but with
greater emphasis on the doctrine of (the so-called theology of image)
and an explicit refusal of the doctrine of metempsychosis.
102
Now, it is not possible to expand here on the philosophical bases of
Origens and Gregorys doctrine of apokatastasis and to show its deep
coherence in both of them, i.e. its internal rational unity and also its con-
sistency with their doctrine of free will and with many aspects of their
philosophical thought (mainly metaphysical, theological and anthropo-
logical). What is important to highlight in this connection is that Origen,
and Gregory as well, always and carefully ground all their arguments in
Scripture, both Old and New Testament, considered to be in deepest
mutual harmony by them: Origen maintains that the two Testaments form
one and the same body, which is also Christs body, so that studying Scrip-
ture and trying to interpret it even means eating this body in a eucharistic
act.
103
Te unity of both Old and New Testament, repeatedly asserted by
Origen in his polemic against Gnostics and Marcionites,
104
is assured by
typological and allegorical interpretation, which often tend to overlap:
105

especially in the former exegetical technique, characters and events in the
Old Testament are seen as anticipations of others belonging to the new
economy and of spiritual realities. Gregory too in his exegesis uses evi-
dence from both Testaments, accumulating many attestations to demon-
strate the same thing, thus showing the absolute unity of within
Scripture and the in it, the perfect cohesion and
coherence of the spiritual senses.
In both authors, however, the New Testament is prevalent when they
treat the doctrine of apokatastasis, since, as Origen explains, if the spiritual
interpretation of the old economy is the new, according to the traditional
typological exegesis of the Old Testament, the spiritual interpretation of the
New Testament is the Gospel of the , that of the world to come (the
of Rev 14, 6,
106
the gure of which is Deuteronomy,
102)
For all these doctrines see my essay on the philosophical elements in Gregorys thought
in my Gregorio di Nissa.
103)
Complete references in my Origen and the Stoic Allegorical Tradition.
104)
Documentation in my La coerenza.
105)
See my Origen and the Stoic Allegorical Tradition.
106)
,

.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 353 7/19/07 11:20:27 AM
Second Law, in Princ. 3,6,8;
107
4,3,13)
108
and the . In Princ. 4,2,4
109

and 4,3,13,
110
but also in Comm. in Rom. 1,4; Comm. in Io. 10,108-109;
Hom. in Ps. 38, 2,2; Hom. in Lev. 5,1, Origen arms that the New Testa-
ment represents the shadow of the complete and perfect revelation at the
end of the world.
111
Tis is precisely the case of the use of the NT in sup-
port of the eschatological doctrine of apokatastasis: NT quotations are
prevalent because they refer, either in an allegorical or more direct way, to
the ultimate things.
To focus attention only on Origens and Gregorys writings concerning
apokatastasis, Origens De principiis and Gregorys De anima et resurrec-
tione are perfect examples of works of Patristic philosophy.
112
Te former is
the most philosophical and comprehensive work of Origen, in comparison
to other works which are mainly exegetical; nevertheless, the entire Book 4
in it, which is the last and very extensive, is devoted to a systematic theory
of biblical exegesis, and, what is more, all philosophical arguments, even
107)
Here Origen mentions the Gospel, the ever new Testament that will never
grow old , pregured by Moses law and, more perfectly, by Jesus law: in the ,
Christ will give an even more perfect law and instruction to the saints, the true and eternal
law , i.e. the Gospel of the world () to come. For the meaning of see
RamelliKonstan, Terms for Eternity.
108)
As in the book of Deuteronomy the law is expressed in a clearer way than in the preced-
ing books, so the Saviours second coming will be more glorious than the rst in the esh:
then, in the Kingdom of Heavens, all saints will live according to the laws of the Gospel
of the world to come [. ] .
109)
In the connection of the famous distinction of the esh of Scripture as its literal sense
for simple readers, its soul as its moral or psychological sense for more advanced readers,
and its spirit as its spiritual sense for perfect readers (on which see my Origen and the Stoic
Allegorical Tradition), Origen denes the spiritual law of Scripture as that containing
the shadow of the future goods (Rom 7:14; Hebr 10:1). It is the of the spiritual
law given by Christ in the future world.
110)
Tis is the continuation of the passage (Princ. 4,3,13) cited above: as Christ, in his
present coming, realized the law that is shadow of the future goods (Hebr 10:1), likewise,
in his second coming, he will realize the shadow given by his rst coming; he realized the
shade of the Law through the shade of the Gospel, since every law is image of heavenly
liturgy, but even the heavenly law and liturgy need the truth of the Gospel that in Johns
Revelation is called , certainly in comparison with the present Gospel, which is
linked to the present world and preached in a world and time destined to come to an end.
111)
See Simonetti, Origene esegeta, 20-21; 231-232.
112)
For the legitimacy and importance of the concept of Patristic philosophy see Mores-
chini, Storia della losoa patristica, introduction; my review article Riparte la losoa
patristica, Rivista di Filosoa Neoscolastica 97 (2005) 673-690.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 354 7/19/07 11:20:27 AM
those of Book 3, which support the theory of freewill and are the most
inuenced by philosophy, are based on numerous Scriptural quotations
that ground and conrm his statements.
Te latter, by Gregory, clearly is a philosophical dialogue inspired by
Platos Phaedo, and also his Symposium, especially for Macrinas character,
which is modelled not only on Platos Socrates, but also on his Diotima;
113

she is Gregorys . Her arguments, well constructed and clearly
developed, demonstrate the souls immortality and the possibility and
modalities of bodily resurrection, for the eventual restoration of all human
beings into their original perfection, after having been corrupted by sin:
this restoration or is the of resurrection and will
involve the whole of humanity after each ones purication and return to
the Good, which is God.
114
Now, every important passage in the argumen-
tation is corroborated by quotations from Scripture, above all from the
New Testament. In fact, Scripture is explicitly dened by Macrina as
and , a norm and law for Christian thinking that all philosophical
arguments must refer to (42B-52B).
115
So, in 49C-52A, Macrina leaves
aside Platos famous image of the two winged horses and the chariot
(Phaedr. 246AD) representing the souls two inferior faculties, with the
rational part as charioteer, and also the theories proposed by other philoso-
phers about the soul, and takes up the theory of soul found in Scripture,
which is considered a safer base, a criterion, a canon.
I would like to note a remarkable methodological convergence with
Origen, Princ. 3,4,1, which Gregory certainly knew and kept in mind:
Origen too rejects Platos threefold division of the human soul on the
ground that this scheme is not much conrmed by the authority of sacred
Scripture : thus, he will leave this doctrine aside and turn to others which
nd support in the Bible. Origen too, in fact, presented the Bible as
the basis for truth and the canon for human rational investigation,
116
and
113)
See my introductory essay in Gregorio di Nissa, cit.
114)
For a complete analysis of the philosophical motives in Gregorys De anima see my
philosophical essay in my Gregorio di Nissa. Sullanima e la resurrezione.
115)
See my Allegoria ed escatologia, in Approches de la Troisime Sophistique. Hommages
J. Schamp, ed. E. Amato, Bruxelles 2006, 193-220.
116)
See Princ. 1,3,1; Comm. in Matth. S. 18; Hom. in Num. 26,6; in Jer. 1,7; in Ez. 2,5: our
reason, without the guide of divine inspiration, is unable to reach the truth; thus he, as a
Christian philosopher, feels uncertain when he must rely on reason alone. Cf. C. Cels. 3,37;
4,26; Princ. 1,7,1.4; 2,2,2; 4,1,1.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 355 7/19/07 11:20:27 AM
Gregory closely followed him. Scripture remains the last criterion for truth,
for both Origen and Gregory, although this does not prevent them from
assimilating Greek philosophical theories, especially Platonic and Stoic,
and the allegorical method, which was felt as pagan by Origen himself,
who tried to avoid the term precisely for this reason.
117
Tey
both tried to absorb and integrate all the good that Hellenism had to
oeri.e. all that was compatible with Christianity.
118

117)
See my Origen and the Stoic allegorical tradition; Ead., Giovanni Crisostomo e
lesegesi scritturale. Le scuole di Alessandria e di Antiochia e le polemiche con gli allegoristi
pagani, in Giovanni Crisostomo: Oriente e Occidente fra IV e V secolo. Atti del XXXIII Incon-
tro di Studiosi dell Antichit Cristiana. Roma, Augustinianum, 6-8.V.2004, Roma 2005,
121-162; San Giustino martire: il multiforme uso di mysterion e il lessico dellesegesi tipo-
logica delle Scritture, in Il volto del Mistero, ed. A.M. Mazzanti, Castel Bolognese 2006,
35-66; Mysterion negli Stromateis di Clemente Alessandrino: aspetti di continuit con la
tradizione allegorica greca, ibid. 83-120: likewise, Clement did not apply the term
to Christian theology because he deemed it compromised by its pagan usage,
mostly in the allegorical interpretation of myths dealing with gods.
118)
Origen himself excluded atheistic philosophical schools from his disciples cursus stu-
diorum. See, most recently, L. Lugaresi, Studenti cristiani e scuola pagana, Cristianesimo
nella Storia 25 (2004) 779-832; my philosophical essay in my Gregorio di Nissa. Sullanima
e la resurrezione. On Origens attitude toward the Hellenistic culture see D. Runia, Origen
and Hellenism, in Origeniana VIII, 43-48.
VC 61,3_885_f5_313-356.indd 356 7/19/07 11:20:27 AM

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