IV. Revolutionary Concepts of Life, Death, and Destiny

1. STRANGE CONTENTIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY

In the area of anthropology Origen held that in the original Creation all created intelligences were alike. But, through the exercise of freedom some developed into a higher order, whereas others fell into sin and became either demons or souls imprisoned in bodies. Death, he held, does not finally decide the fate of the soul, which may turn into an angel or a demon— this ascent or descent going on indefinitely until the final apocatastasis, ^{1111) Greek term for the doctrine that all free moral creatures-angels, men, and demons—’will ultimately be saved.} when all creatures will be saved. ^{1212) ODCC, art., “Origen,” pp. 991-993.} This was perhaps his most controversial theory.CFF1 1006.3

2. ADAM’S FALL MADE ALLEGORICAL

The material world, Origen believed, was created out of nothing, and became the abode of the fallen spirits. But Adam’s fall was regarded as only allegorical, representing the fate of the whole class of fallen, embodied spirits. It was a type, taking place everywhere, at all times. Man, Origen held, is threefold. He has a material body, a soul, or vital principle, and a spirit.CFF1 1007.1

Through apostasy man’s reason was darkened and he was deprived of spiritual life, yet his will remained free to choose evil. All subsequent changes result from its exercise, and may effect the repeated rise and fall of all finite beings. But no salvation is absolutely final, according to Origen. Evil remains as an eternal vicissitude or threat.CFF1 1007.2

3. REVOLUTIONARY CONCEPTS OF ESCHATOLOGY

As to his eschatology, a strong current of mysticism flows all through his treatise De Principiis (“On the Principles”). Origen thus rejected the doctrine of the resurrection of a material body, which instead would be but spiritual. And he believed in the final restoration and complete harmony of the spiritual world. The end is to be as was the beginning. The damned, the demons, and even the devil himself will, he supposed, after disciplining punishment be brought again into ultimate subjection to Christ. This, however, was vigorously challenged.CFF1 1007.3

4. MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION INVOKED TO EVADE LITERALISM

When confronted with inspired passages that expressly declare the destruction of the wicked, Origen simply invoked the aid of mystic interpretation. His argument was simply this: The sinner will not be destroyed, for the simple reason that he is indestructible. He possesses an immortality of which he cannot be deprived. It is consequently only the sinner’s sin that will be consumed in the baptism of fire. Hell will only retard, for a longer or shorter period, the entrance of all its inhabitants into Heaven. Indeed, under Origen Hell became no longer Hell, only a vast Purgatory, transformed into a sort of vestibule to the abode of the blessed. ^{1313) Origen, De Principiis, book 1, chap 6, in ANF, vol. 4, pp. 260-262, cf. Origen, Against Celsus, book 6, chap. 26, in ANF, vol. 4, p. 585.}CFF1 1007.4

This mystical interpretation has been called the “pest of exegesis,” ^{1414) Petavel, The Problem of Immortality, p. 281.} from which the church has never been completely delivered. While there are types, symbols, allegories, parables, and prophecies in Holy Writ which must, perforce, be taken figuratively, nevertheless the principle is widely recognized that the metaphorical meaning is allowed only where the literal meaning is inadmissible and absurd. That principle Origen flaunted. To his mind there was nothing absurd, for instance, in the supposition that a being which had had a beginning ^{1515) Yet Origen had said that rational beings were “created” in the “beginning.” They “did not previously exist,” or “did not always exist.” And what is bestowed can be “taken away, and disappear” (De Principiis, book 2, chap. 9, sec. 2, in ANF, vol. 4, p. 290).} could never come to an end—despite the seeming contradictions of Holy Writ.CFF1 1008.1