A Larger Hope 1

by Ilaria L E Ramelli

  The Apocalypse of Peter is preserved in an Ethiopian translation and in Greek fragments, transmitted mainly by Clement himself, who—as previously mentioned—deemed it divinely inspired and commented on it in his Hypotyposeis, along with biblical books.63 In Ecl. Proph. 41 Clement speaks of the Apocalypse of Peter as “Scripture” (a view shared by Canon Muratori64). More than this, he also drew theological ideas from the text, ideas that would find their way in to the Origenian tradition. Clement reports that in this inspired text exposed babies were said to be handed to the care of an angel who will educate and raise them up to full maturity and wisdom.65 This idea, that intellectual and spiritual growth will continue in the other world if it was not completed in the present life,66 will later be shared by Origen and Gregory of Nyssa. Origen will motivate this by observing that “the soul is always endowed with free will, both when it is in this (mortal) body and when it is out of it” (Princ. 3:2:5). Gregory of Nyssa will take over the idea of the otherworldly growth of dead babies in his De infantibus praemature abreptis (On Babies who Died Prematurely). In exactly the same work, not by chance, Clement expounds perhaps in the clearest way his theory of apokatastasis, even using the noun apokatastasis (“restoration”) once and the relevant verb (“to restore”) twice:

  According to the Apostle, then, there are firstborns in the supreme restoration [apokatastasei]. The firstborns are the Thrones, being powers, because God rested upon them, as upon believers too. For each one, according to one’s inclination, has its own degree of knowledge of God, and God rests on this knowledge, when those who have known him have become eternal thanks to knowledge. . . . “[B]eyond every governor, dominion, and power” are those who, among humans, angels, and archangels, have obtained perfection, returning to the nature of angels at the first moment of the creation. Indeed, those who, from humans, will have transformed into angels, will be instructed by angels for a thousand years and thus will be restored [apokathistamenoi] to perfection. Their instructors, in turn, will pass on to the power of archangels, and those instructed will pass from the human to the angelic state, and thus, in given periods, will be restored [apokathistantai]. (Ecl. Proph. 57)

  The Ethiopian translation67 and, more explicitly, the Greek Rainer Fragment (third century)68 of the Apocalypse of Peter include a prediction of the eschatological intercession of the just in favor of the damned and the consequent liberation of the latter from hell. So speaks Christ in the Rainer Fragment:

  I will grant to my called and elect all those they will ask me to draw out of the punishment. And I will give them a noble baptism in salvation in the Acherusian Lake,69 which is said to be in the Elysian Field, a share in justice and justification with my saints. And my elect and I shall go joyously with the patriarchs in my kingdom in the other world, and for their sake I will keep my promises, those made to them by me and my Father who is in heaven.

  Interestingly enough, the corresponding passage in the Ethiopic translation shows signs of modifications. The reviser clearly tried to eliminate from this passage the patent reference to the salvation of the damned from hell.70 At any rate, the Ethiopic translation, being complete, helps contextualize the Rainer Fragment. In Chapter 13, the just are said to watch the punishment of the damned. The Ethiopic characterizes it as “eternal,” but the underlying Greek is αἰώνιος/aiōnios, which indicates a punishment in the world to come.71 Already at the beginning of Christ’s revelation to Peter (Chs. 3–4), when Peter manifests worry for the destiny of sinners, Jesus replies that God, their Creator, has yet much more mercy upon them than Peter himself has. Soon after, he adds: “There is no being that perishes for God; there is nothing that is impossible for God” (4:5). This is a reminiscence of Matthew 19:26, Mark 10:27, and Luke 18:27, where Jesus responds to his disciples who worry about salvation: “This is impossible for humans, but everything is possible for God” (Origen will echo this precisely in support of his doctrine of universal salvation: “Nothing is impossible for the Omnipotent; no being is incurable for the One who created it”).

  A close parallel to the Apocalypse of Peter is provided by some statements in Rabbinic literature with respect to the idea that the just will intercede for the damned and obtain their liberation from Gehenna-hell: in Yalkut Chadash, f. 57.1, we read: “The just (will) bring imperfect souls out of Gehenna,” an idea that appears again in Yalkut Qohelet: “God created paradise and Gehenna, that those in the former should deliver those in the latter.”

  The Ethiopic translation of the Apocalypse of Peter is part of the Ethiopic version of the “Ps. Clementines.” Here, a dialogue between Peter and Jesus (139rb–144rb) concerns the salvation of sinners. This will come, not thanks to the intercession of the blessed, but thanks to that of Christ before the Father. The Father will have mercy (140rb–140vb); Jesus at his coming will destroy the devil and punish sinners (140vb–141vb). Peter expresses terror regarding these punishments (141vb), but Jesus replies that the Lord will have mercy upon those punished and will give them all “life, glory, and the eternal kingdom,” because he, Jesus, will intercede for them. This truth, however, must remain a secret, to avoid encouraging sin (141vb–142bv). (As we shall see, Origen will come to share this idea that it is better to mistakenly believe in eternal damnation and abstain from evil and be saved, than know the truth and sin).

  In the continuation (146v–157v), entitled “On the Judgment of Sinners,” Peter relates to Clement the revelation received from Jesus:

  The Lord did not create Adam for chastisement and correction, but for happiness and joy. After his transgression of the commandment, death follows Adam’s life. . . . After resuscitating him, will God destroy Adam anew with death in hell? After a retribution commensurate with his sin, will God destroy him again? Reflect and understand that God will not have Adam die for a second time. But let this discourse be a mystery for every human being, just as the preceding one.

  Other “Apocrypha”

  This conception appears also in Chapter 40 of the second-century Epistula Apostolorum, preserved in Coptic and Ethiopic. Here, the disciples are worried about the otherworldly destiny of sinners, and Jesus replies: “You do well to be worried, because the just will be worried about sinners; they pray for them and implore God,” asking God to save them. The disciples ask whether that prayer will be fulfilled, and Jesus replies: “Yes, I will listen to the prayer of the just, which they elevate for sinners.” Likewise, in the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah (third century) the blessed are said to successfully intercede for the sinners: “The just will contemplate sinners in their punishments, and those who had persecuted, betrayed, or handed them. Then sinners, in turn, will contemplate the place where the just will dwell, and will participate in Grace. On that day the just will be granted that for which they will have often prayed” (23:11—24:12), i.e. the salvation of sinners.

  The same notion appears again toward the end of Book 2 of the Sibylline Oracles, which indeed derives from the Apocalypse of Peter. It is not accidental that Clement, who deemed the latter inspired, much appreciated the Oracles, to the point of stating that St. Paul recommended them, exactly for their eschatological predictions (Strom. 6:5). In 2:330–38 the following is declared:

  And to these pious people the immortal and omnipotent God will grant another gift: when they ask him, the immortal God will grant them to save humans from the violent fire and the eternal gnashing of teeth. And God will do so after drawing them out of the unquenchable flame and removing them from there, destining them, for the love of his own, to another life in the world to come, for immortals, in the Elysian Fields, where there are the long waves of the inextinguishable and deep Acherusian Lake.

  In the manuscript tradition, at this point, some verses contest the doctrine of universal salvation here expressed (just as it happens in some scholia to Gregory of Nyssa’s De Anima, where the doctrine of universal salvation is likewise detected and refuted, as I showed in Gregorio di Nissa).

  The Pe
trine tradition is rich in statements concerning universal salvation. In the Greek Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Peter 9, stemming roughly from the time of Origen, the language of apokatastasis is prominent. Peter says that the nail that holds together the two poles of the cross is “the turning and repentance [epistrophē kai metanoia] of humanity.” Even more explicitly, in Pseudo-Linus’ Martyrdom of Blessed Peter the Apostle 10, likely produced in Rome in the fourth century, Peter declares that Jesus and he himself have cured the bodily infirmities of many people “that the souls of all might be saved” (ut omnium animae salvarentur). Likewise, dead bodies were resuscitated “that all dead souls might be vivified again” (animae mortuae reviviscerent). In Christ, through the cross, “the mystery of salvation has been accomplished” (in Christo per crucem factum est salutis mysterium, 11). “The Lord of the universe,” as Origen also called God, suffered “for the salvation of the whole world” (pro salute totius mundi, 12). The mystery of the cross (mysterium crucis) is described as a bond of love (vinculum caritatis), because through the cross “God draws all beings to himself” (per crucem ad se trahit omnia Deus: 12). This is again the same language as Origen’s (tantam est caritatis vim ut ad se omnia trahat, “so great is the power of love as to draw all beings to itself”). The very terminology of restoration comes again to the fore in section 14: “Hanging on a cross, he restored [restituit] . . . what had been altered by the regrettable error of humans.” Thus, in section 15, the Lord is called by Peter “the author and perfecter of salvation” (auctor et perfector salutis). Even more explicitly, in section 20, Peter announces that, thanks to the crucifixion of Jesus, “the whole world was freed from the chains of eternal death” (mundus totus aeternae mortis est uinculis absolutus). Likewise, in the Syriac History of Shimeon Kepha the Chief of the Apostles 31, Jesus says to Peter: “I endured death by crucifixion for the salvation of all.”

  The Life of Adam and Eve, originally written in Greek, as it seems, was profoundly influential upon Christian authors. In 37:3–6, Adam, after death, repents from his sins, is brought by Michael the archangel to the lake of Hades, and is baptized, even after death. He is forgiven by the Lord and admitted to paradise with Eve. In a Latin manuscript very close to the original Greek,72 God says to Michael: “Put Adam in paradise, in the third heaven, until the day of the salvific economy, when I shall have mercy upon all through my most loved Son.”

  The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (second-third century AD) also offer some interesting soteriologically universalistic hints, for example in the Testament of Simeon 7.2: “The Lord will rise someone from Levi as a high priest, and from Judah as a king, God and human. This will save all nations and the house of Israel.” The same in the Testament of Joseph 19.11: “Honor Judah and Levi, because among their offspring there will appear for you the Lamb of God, who, by grace, will save all the nations and Israel.”73 The Testament of Abraham (late first or early second century AD), which may have influenced the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Testament of Isaac, which depends on the Testament of Abraham, reflect a broadly universalist perspective: God concerned for all humankind, not only for his chosen people.74 The Apocalypse of Peter, in turn, reflects a universalistic trend that goes so far as to suggest universal salvation, as I have shown above. And in a composite work whose final layers stem from the first or second century AD, 1 Enoch 10:20—11:2, a section that is not entirely consistent with the immediately preceding section, the archangel Michael is ordered to cleanse the earth from all injustice, oppression, and sin. All the earth will be cleansed from all sin, punishment, and suffering, and all human beings will become righteous and will live in peace and truth.75

  Influence of Irenaeus’ “Recapitulation” on the Doctrine of Restoration?

  Reinhard Hübner has proposed that we can trace Gregory of Nyssa’s Christ-centered doctrine of universal salvation back not only to Origen, but also to Irenaeus of Lyons in the second century.76 Irenaeus is thought to have been born into a Christian family in Smyrna, Asia Minor, but is known to us for his ministry as a priest and then bishop in Lyons in Gaul. His celebrated writings were largely directed against the threat that he believed Gnosticism posed to the church.

  Irenaeus does not formulate a doctrine of universal salvation, nor a theology of universal apokatastasis. However, he does introduce elements that point toward the doctrine of apokatastasis and very probably inspired those who formulated it after him. The contribution of Irenaeus, whose philosophical competence has been recently re-evaluated by Anthony Briggman,77 mainly lies in his doctrine of the “recapitulation” (cf. Eph 1:10) of all beings in Christ. Christ “in his work of recapitulation has united all beings together, waging war against our enemy, and entirely defeating the devil, who at the beginning had imprisoned us” (AH 5:21). All humanity will be recapitulated in Christ and reconciled to God in full unity.78 Christ “recapitulates in himself all the things that are in heaven and on earth; heavenly realities are spiritual, earthly ones concern the economy providentially arranged for humans. Consequently, Christ has recapitulated all this in himself, joining humanity to the Spirit, and having the Spirit dwell in humanity. Christ himself has become the Head of the Spirit, and gives the Spirit that it may be the Head of humanity” (AH 5:20:2). Christ “would not have truly possessed the flesh and blood through which he redeemed us if he had not recapitulated in himself Adam’s ancient molded nature” (Greek fr. 3 from AH 5). Irenaeus even uses the terminology of restoration in connection with that of recapitulation:

  If God had not freely granted salvation, we would never have received it with certainty, and if the human being had not been united to God, it would never have been able to participate in incorruptibility. . . . The Son passes through all the stages of life, restoring for all the communion with God. . . . He really eliminated the kingdom of death; . . . he had to destroy sin and redeem the human being from the power of death . . . that sin might be destroyed by a human being and the human being might be freed from death. For, just as because of the disobedience of one human being, molded from virgin earth, all were made sinners and had to renounce life, so also was it necessary that, thanks to the obedience of one human being, born from a virgin, all be justified and receive grace. . . . God recapitulated in himself the original whole of humanity, so to kill sin, deprive death of its power, and vivify humanity. (AH 3:18:1.7)

  Again, the vivification of humanity consists not simply in the resurrection of the body, but in the liberation from sin. Christ recapitulates all, albeit not all at the same time (AH 3:16:6.9). Thanks to Christ, no human being is an enemy of God any longer (frs. 33–34).79 In 5:23:2, another Adam–Christ parallel confirms that the recapitulation operated by Christ is universal: “The Lord suffered death, in obedience to his Father, on the day on which Adam died due to his disobedience to God. . . . Thus, the Lord, recapitulating in himself that day, suffered the passion in the day before the Sabbath, that is, the day on which the human being was created, thus offering him a second creation through his Passion, the new creation free from death.” This recreation has an effect on the whole of humanity. Now, if all humans are recreated and recapitulated in Christ, the question arises of how people who are eternally damned can be said to be recreated and recapitulated in Christ.

  Irenaeus’ concept of recapitulation is similar to that of apokatastasis as conceived by Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, all the more in that Irenaeus states more than once that in this recapitulation Christ assumes the whole original human katastasis (formatio) in order to restore it: exactly an apo-katastasis. In fr. 19 from Book 4, Irenaeus uses the verb “to restore,” corresponding to the noun apokatastasis, to indicate the eschatological salvific action of Christ: “The Lord, manifesting himself in the extreme times, has reconstituted/restored [ἀπεκατέστησεν/apekatestēsen] himself for all.” Christ subsumed all humanity and brought it back to its state of original purity. In fr. 5 from Book 5, the verb occurs twice80 in reference to God, who will restore humanity in
the end thanks to the resurrection: “dissolved in the earth, it will be restored anew. . . . God in his will shall restore those who once existed, for the life donated by him.” Gregory of Nyssa will echo this when he will define the resurrection as the restoration of humanity to its original state before sin (a holistic notion entailing not only the resurrection of the body, but also the restoration of the soul). Indeed, the whole treatment of resurrection in fr. 5 seems to be remembered and echoed by Gregory. Likewise in fr. 10: “life will seize humanity, chase away death, and restore humanity alive for God.” Also at the end of fr. 15 from Book 5, Irenaeus uses the same verb, “to restore,” to indicate the work of Christ who restores humanity to friendship with God.

  Humanity is not simply restored to the state preceding the fall, but to a better one (this too will be the conviction of Origen and Gregory of Nyssa). Indeed, according to Irenaeus “salvation does not mean a mere return to paradise, but the growth from Adam’s babyish immaturity to the full maturity of being children of God.” This growth is not forced, but comes about through education (this will also be a conviction of Origen). In frs. 23–25 from Book 4, Irenaeus asks why God did not grant humans perfection from the very beginning, and answers, not that only some deserve it, but that humanity, just created, was not yet mature enough to receive it. But it will receive it in the end, thanks to Christ. This is why in Greek fr. 9 from Book 3 Irenaeus calls Christ “the Logos of God and Savior of all,” and in fr. 16 he declares that God “resuscitated (Jesus) and in him gave salvation to humans.” In AH 5:20:1, the action of Christ is extended to the church and described in universalistic terms: “She is entrusted with God’s Light and God’s Wisdom, through which she saves all human beings.” Irenaeus even anticipates Origen’s and Athanasius’ idea that Christ’s inhumanation enabled the deification of humanity: “God’s Logos, Jesus Christ our Savior, in his unlimited love, became what we are to make us what He is” (fr. 1 from AH 5).