Pagan Origin of Partialist Doctrines

by John Claudius Pitrat

"The pope St. Martin I., anathematized him in the first council of Latran, in 649. St. Augustine, St. John of Damas, and St. Jerome, wrote against the Origenists, namely, the sect of Christians who believed the doctrines of Origen. In the same century, when a dispute arose about the orthodoxy of Origen, John of Jerusalem, and Rufin made his apology, and St. John Chrysostomus did the same. St. Pamphyle also took his part. Theotime of Tomi refused to condemn him, and Didyme tried to give an orthodox meaning to his doctrine on Trinity; others in condemning the errors contained in his books pretended that they had been added by the heretics. Theophile of Alexandria accused the monks of Nitria of Origenism, and condemned them in a council held at Alexandria; the pope Anastasius ratified the sentence. In the seventh century, the emperor Justinian declared himself hostile to the memory of Origen; wrote a letter to Memnas against his doctrine; issued an edict against him, in 640; and obtained his condemnation in a council held the same year at Constantinople, whose acts were added to those of the fifth general council."

We read in the acts of the fifth general council of Constantinople, held in 553, that Origen was condemned by the council for having taught the following doctrines: 1st, That in the dogma of Trinity the Father is greater than the Son, and the Son greater than the Holy Spirit. 2d, That human souls have been created before the bodies, to which they have been chained as a punishment for sins, which they had committed in an anterior state of existence. 3d, That the soul of Jesus Christ had been united to the Word before his incarnation. 4th, That the planets and stars are animated, and contain a soul intelligent and endowed with reason. 5th, That, after the resurrection, all bodies will have a spheroidal shape. 6th, That the punishment of the wicked in a future life will not be endless; and that Jesus Christ, who has been crucified to save the world, will be crucified once more to save the devils.

According to this testimony of the Romish Church—which carries fanaticism farther than any other sect, in regard to the dogma of endless hell, for it holds as an article of faith even that the reprobates are tortured in hell, in their bodies and in their souls, though their bodies are in the grave, and though a material fire cannot burn an immortal soul—according to the above testimony of the Romish Church, we say, it is an established, an undeniable fact, that Origen taught the doctrine of Metempsychosis, or transmigration of the souls; and also the doctrine that the punishment of the wicked in a future life would not be endless.

From this testimony we draw the following argument, which we invite the reader to attentively examine, and to carefully weigh, for this argument, alone, would unanswerably prove that the Christians of the first, of the second, of the third, and even of the fourth, and of the fifth centuries, did not generally believe the dogma of endless hell.

Argument: In the beginning of the third century, Origen (he was born in 185) taught the doctrine of Metempsychosis, or transmigration of the souls, and the doctrine that the punishment of the wicked in a future life would not be endless; these two doctrines were condemned only in the sixth century by the fifth general council held at Constantinople, in 553, and composed of 151 bishops. But if the Christians of the first, of the second, of the third, and even of the fourth, and of the fifth centuries, had generally believed the dogma of endless hell, the above two doctrines would have certainly been condemned before the sixth century. This minor proposition we prove:

By the orders of the bishop of Rome, Sylvester, and of the emperor Constantine I., an œcumenical council, composed of 381 bishops, was held at Nice, in 325, to frame a symbol of faith, and to condemn Arius.

In 381, a second general council, composed of 150 bishops, was held at Constantinople, to condemn Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit; and to alter the symbol of Nice, (striking inconsistency of the Romish Church which holds as an article of faith that a general council is infallible in its decisions.)

In 431, the bishop of Rome, Celestine I., assembled a general council at Ephesus, to obtain the condemnation of Nestorius, who denied that Mary was, strictly speaking, the mother of God.

In 451, a general council was held at Chalcedony, Asia Minor, for the condemnation of Eutyches, and of Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, who held the doctrine that there was in Jesus Christ but one nature.