Apocatastasis

In theology, apocatastasis (æpoʊkəˈtæstəsᵻs; occasionally spelled apokatastasis) is the restoration of creation to a condition of perfection. In Christianity, it is a form of Christian universalism that includes the ultimate salvation of everyone—including the damned in hell and the devil. The New Testament () refers to the "apocatastasis of all things", although this passage is not usually understood to teach universal salvation. While apocatastasis is derived from the Greek verb apokathistemi, which means "to restore," it first emerged as a doctrine in Zoroastrianism where it is the third time of creation. This period was referred to as wizarishn or the end of history—the time of separation and resolution when evil is destroyed and the world is restored to its original state. The idea of apocatastasis may have been derived from the ancient concept of cosmic cycle, which involves the notion of celestial bodies returning to their original positions after a period of time. The entry in A Greek–English Lexicon (i.e. Liddell–Scott–Jones, with expansion of definitions and references), gives the following examples of usage: ἀποκατάστᾰσις, εως, ἡ, restoration, re-establishment; "τοῦ ἐνδεοῦς" Aristotle MM, 1205a4; into its nature εἰς φύσιν id. 1204b 36, 1205b 11; return to a position, Epicurus, Epistolae, 1, p.8 U.; especially of military formations, reversal of a movement, Asclepiodotus, Tacticus, 10.1, 10:6, etc.; generally of all things "πάντων" Acts of the Apostles, 3.21; of souls, Proclus, Institutio Theologica, 199. of the body back into its old form "τῆς φύσιος ἐς τὸ ἀρχαῖον" Aretaeus of Cappadocia CD 1.5; recovery from sickness, SA 1.10; "τῶν ὁμήρων εἰς τὰς πατρίδας" Polybius 3.99.6; εἰς ἀ. ἐλθεῖν, into the restoration of the affairs of a city, 4.23.1; Astrological uses: ἀ. ἄστρων return of the stars to the same place in the heavens as in the former year, Plutarch 2.937f, Diodorus Siculus 12.36, etc., particularly the restoration of the wandering Egyptian New Year to the heliacal rising of Sirius at the completion of the Sothic cycle; periodic return of the cosmic cycle, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta 2.