Quora Answer: Is Universal Salvation, Posited by Bishop Gregory Nyssen and Origen Adamantius, Correct?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Is Universal Salvation, posited by Bishop Gregory Nyssen and Origen Adamantius, correct?” 

There are a few assumptions here that must be corrected.  Origen Adamantius of Alexandria is one of the early Church Fathers.  Gregory Nyssen is a saint in both Eastern and Western Christianity.  Both of them are giants in their field.  They are far more orthodox than any of the theologians of the Reformation, and their works underpin the foundation of early Christianity. 

Firstly, what is Universal Salvation, or universal reconciliation?  At its simplest, it is a doctrine, not dogma, that all souls, saint and sinner, will ultimately be reconciled with God because of His Attribute of Mercy.  This doctrine was an attempt to reconcile the dogma of Original Sin with conundrums such as the fate of babies born before the Sacrament of Baptism.  If we consider what other Church Fathers, such as Bishop Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis said, that God is so Good that He cannot abide imperfection, and the soul tainted with Original Sin cannot find Salvation, it creates a theological conundrum. Is God so “Good” that He is unjust?  Or, is an Absolute God incapable of Mercy?  Does this imply some Divine Attributes overcome others, and what is their relationship?  These are theological issues that still bedevil Christian scholarship. 

Like any such discussion of an expansive subject over an extended period of time, contrary positions also develop.  One of these is Universal Salvation.  Much of modern Christianity rejects this because it denies the elect status of Christians.  It negates Original Sin, and diminishes the Vicarious Sacrifice.  Much of Christianity adheres to Special Salvation, where only some enter Heaven.  One of the problems with Special Salvation is the status of the “unsaved”, and the problem of Hell.  If Hell is torment, is it for a finite period?  Would a Merciful God punish anyone for an eternity on the basis of a temporal wrong, no matter how egregious?  What about good people who did not qualify for Special Salvation due to the conspiracies of fate, or the lottery of birth, or had no access to the message?  Would they be tormented as well?  Some, such as Martin Luther, went the opposite of Universal Salvation and espoused annihilation, where the souls died, and ceased to exist.  Again, this is theologically untenable since it implies a God who is unjust. 

In light of this, the concept of limbo and purgatory was borrowed from pagan Roman faiths.  This is not generally accepted outside of Catholicism and Orthodoxy, and generally rejected by Protestantism.  That also pertains to the concept of intercession. 

Proponents of universal reconciliation, not just Salvation, claim that the Vicarious Sacrifice, the suffering and death of Jesus (a.s.), on the Cross, is the mechanism of this universal reconciliation. Christ’s death was the redemption and atonement of all humanity.  Opponents find this untenable since it implies that good works have no place in this.  It is the extension of the “saved by grace” idea, but denies the elect status of those who have “accepted Christ”.  The middle ground is a multitude of heavens. 

As can be seen, it is not as straightforward as claiming everybody will be Saved regardless, since this is not what this means.  This pertains to our interpretation of the Divine Attributes and its effects upon us.  There is a Universal Salvation movement within Christianity, but since it is non-credal, it has no actual denomination or church.  It is widely held as a personal belief, generally among many theologians and clergy, expressed privately.  Personally, I believe it to be the correct position. 

Bishop Gregory of Nyssa, is thought to have been one of the more explicit proponents of a form of Universal Salvation.  There is a lot of literature on this, which I will not repeat here.  I will summarise that whilst he argued convincingly for it, using the mechanism of the Crucifixion and Vicarious Sacrifice, he qualified it by his belief that God Alone Exists, and Creation is a reflection of Him.  This is a metaphysical concept that has been lost in the literalist interpretations of his work, even by translators.  He was a mystic, and spoke in wider strokes than the minutiae of doctrine.  He is explicit in his “Great Catechism”, that while every human will be resurrected, Salvation is only for the baptised.  His interpretation of baptism is not merely the Sacrament, but the baptism of fire through trial and tribulation, for those on that journey of truth.  He talks about those “purified by fire”, which has been interpreted by others to mean Hell purifies, which may or may not be so. 

In contrast, Origen of Alexandria, also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian.  He was accused of the “heresy” of Universal Salvation by Demetrius I, 12^th Bishop of Alexandria, and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark.  Demetrius did not want to ordain Origen to the priesthood despite his scholarship and esteem.  Origen was ordained in Caesarea, which outraged Demetrius.  So, there is a personal element to this allegation of heresy.  To put it succinctly, Demetrius did not behave in a manner expected of a follower of Christ (a.s.). 

Demetrius alleged that Origen taught an extreme form of apokatastasis, which is interpreted as the belief that all beings, human and otherwise, including Satan, would eventually attain Salvation.  Within the original Greek meaning of this term, apokatastasis is the reconstitution, restitution, or restoration of the soul to the original or primordial condition.  Origen had a debate with Candidus, the Gnostic theologian.  Candidus had argued that Satan was beyond Salvation due to predestination, which would imply that some souls are Damned regardless, and some Saved regardless, nullifying good works.  Origen countered that Satan is eternally damned due to his actions, which are the result of his own free will, not predestination.  Demetrius passed away within a year of his accusations against Origen, and the heresy charge died with him.  However, more than a thousand years later, people still accuse him of this heresy without actually reading the accounts of the debate with Candidus.