Millennium and Millenarianism

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The fundamentalidea of millenarianism, as understood byChristian writers, may be set forth as follows: At the end of time Christ will return in all His splendour to gather together the just, to annihilate hostile powers, and to found a glorious kingdom on earth for the enjoyment of the highest spiritual and materialblessings; He Himself will reign as its king, and all the just, including thesaints recalled to life, will participate in it. At the close of this kingdom thesaints will enterheaven with Christ, while the wicked, who have also been resuscitated, will be condemned toeternal damnation. The duration of this glorious reign of Christ and Hissaints on earth, is frequently given as one thousand years. Hence it is commonly known as the "millennium", while thebelief in the future realization of the kingdom is called "millenarianism" (or "chiliasm", from the Greekchilia, scil.ete).

This term of one thousand years, however, is by no means an essential element of the millennium as conceived by its adherents. The extent, details of the realization, conditions, the place, of the millennium were variously described. Essential are the following points:

The roots of thebelief in a glorious kingdom, partly natural, partlysupernatural, are found in the hopes of theJews for a temporalMessiah and in the Jewish apocalyptic. Under the galling pressure of their political circumstances the expectation of aMessiah who would free the people ofGod had in the Jewish mind, assumed a character that was to a great extent earthly; theJews longed above all for a saviour who would free them from their oppressors and restore the former splendour ofIsrael. These expectations generally included thebelief thatJehovah would conquer all powers hostile to Himself and to His chosen people, and that He would set up a final, glorious kingdom ofIsrael. The apocalyptic books, principally the book of Henoch and the fourth book of Esdras, indicate various details of the arrival of theMessiah, the defeat of the nations hostile toIsrael, and the union of all theIsraelites in theMessianic kingdom followed by the renovation of the world and theuniversal resurrection.

The natural and thesupernatural are mingled in this conception of aMessianic kingdom as the closing act of the world's history. The Jewish hopes of aMessiah, and the descriptions of apocalyptic writers were blended; it was between the close of the present world-order and the commencement of the new that this sublime kingdom of the chosen people was to find its place. That many details of these conceptions should remain indistinct and confused was but natural, but theMessianic kingdom is always pictured as somethingmiraculous, though the colours are at times earthly and sensuous. The evangelical accounts clearly prove how fervently theJews at the time of Christ expected an earthlyMessianic kingdom, but the Saviour came to proclaim thespiritual kingdom of God for the deliverance of man from hissins and for his sanctification, a kingdom which actually began with His birth. There is no trace of chiliasm to be found in the Gospels or in theEpistles ofSt. Paul; everything moves in the spiritual and religious sphere; even the descriptions of the end of the world and of the last judgment bear this stamp. The victory over the symbolical beast (the enemy ofGod and of thesaints) and overAntichrist, as well as the triumph of Christ and Hissaints, are described in the Apocalypse of St. John (Revelation 20-21), in pictures that resemble those of the Jewish apocalyptic writers, especially of Daniel and Henoch.Satan is chained in the abyss for a thousand years, themartyrs and the just rise from the dead and share in thepriesthood and kingship of Christ. Though it is difficult to focus sharply the pictures used in the Apocalypse and the things expressed by them, yet there can be nodoubt that the whole description refers to the spiritual combat betweenChrist and theChurch on the one hand and the malignant powers ofhell and the world on the other. Nevertheless, a large number ofChristians of the post-Apostolic era, particularly inAsia Minor, yielded so far to Jewish apocalyptic as to put a literal meaning into these descriptions of St. John's Apocalypse; the result was that millenarianism spread and gained staunch advocates not only among theheretics but among theCatholicChristians as well.

One of theheretics, theGnosticCerinthus, who flourished towards the end of the first century, proclaimed a splendidkingdom of Christ on earth which He would establish with the risensaints upon His second advent, and pictured the pleasures of this one thousand years in gross, sensual colours (Caius in Eusebius,Church History III.28; Dionysius Alex. in Eusebius, ibid., VII, 25). Later amongCatholics, Bishop Papias of Hierapolis, a disciple of St. John, appeared as an advocate of millenarianism. He claimed to have received hisdoctrine from contemporaries of the Apostles, andIrenaeus narrates that other "Presbyteri", who had seen and heard the disciple John, learned from him thebelief in millenarianism as part of the Lord'sdoctrine. According toEusebius (Church History III.39) Papias in his book asserted that theresurrection of the dead would be followed by one thousand years of a visible glorious earthlykingdom of Christ, and according toIrenaeus (Adv. Haereses, V, 33), he taught that thesaints too would enjoy a superabundance of earthly pleasures. There will be days in which vines will grow, each with 10,000 branches, and on each branch 10,000 twigs, and on each twig 10,000 shoots, and in each shoot 10,000 clusters, and on each cluster 10,000 grapes, and each grape will produce 216 gallons of wine etc.

Millenarianideas are found by most commentators in the Epistle of St. Barnabas, in the passage treating of the Jewishsabbath; for the resting ofGod on the seventh day after the creation is explained in the following manner. After theSon of God has come and put an end to the era of the wicked and judged them, and after the sun, the moon, and the stars have been changed, then He will rest in glory on the seventh day. The author had premised, if it is said thatGod created all things in six days, this means thatGod will complete all things in six millenniums, for one day represents one thousand years. It iscertain that the writer advocates the tenet of a re-formation of the world through the second advent ofChrist, but it is not clear from the indications whether the author of the letter was a millenarian in the strict sense of the word.St. Irenæus of Lyons, a native ofAsia Minor, influenced by the companions ofSt. Polycarp, adopted millenarianideas, discussing and defending them in his works against theGnostics (Adv. Haereses, V, 32). He developed thisdoctrine mainly in opposition to theGnostics, who rejected all hopes of theChristians in ahappy future life, and discerned in the gloriouskingdom of Christ on earth principally the prelude to the final, spiritualkingdom of God, the realm ofeternal bliss.St. Justin of Rome, themartyr, opposes to theJews in his Dialogue with Tryphon (ch. 80-1) the tenet of a millennium and asserts that he and theChristians whosebelief is correct in every pointknow that there will be aresurrection of the body and that the newly built and enlargedJerusalem will last for the space of a thousand years, but he adds that there are many who, though adhering to the pure andpious teachings ofChrist, do notbelieve in it. A witness for the continuedbelief in millenarianism in the province ofAsia isSt. Melito,Bishop ofSardes in the second century. He develops the same train of thought as did St. Irenæus.

TheMontanistic movement had its origin inAsia Minor. The expectation of an early advent of the celestialJerusalem upon earth, which, it was thought, would appear in Phrygia, was intimately joined in the minds of theMontanists with theidea of the millennium.Tertullian, the protagonist ofMontanism, expounds thedoctrine (in his work now lost, "De Spe Fidelium" and in "Adv. Marcionem", IV) that at the end of time the great Kingdom of promise, the newJerusalem, would be established and last for the space of one thousand years. All these millenarian authors appeal to various passages in the prophetic books of theOld Testament, to a few passages in the Letters ofSt. Paul and to the Apocalypse of St. John. Though millenarianism had found numerous adherents among theChristians and had been upheld by severalecclesiasticaltheologians, neither in the post-Apostolic period nor in the course of the second century, does it appear as a universaldoctrine of theChurch or as a part of theApostolic tradition. The primitive Apostolic symbol mentions indeed theresurrection of the body and the return of Christ to judge the living and the dead, but it says not a word of the millennium. It was the second century that produced not only defenders of the millennium but pronounced adversaries of the chiliasticideas.Gnosticism rejected millenarianism. InAsia Minor, the principal seat of millenarian teachings, the so-calledAlogi rose up against millenarianism as well as againstMontanism, but they went too far in their opposition, rejecting not only the Apocalypse of St. John, allegingCerinthus as its author, but his Gospel also. The opposition to millenarianism became more general towards the end of the second century, going hand in hand with the struggle againstMontanism. The Romanpresbyter Caius (end of the second and beginning of the third century) attacked the millenarians. On the other hand,Hippolytus of Rome defended them and attempted aproof, basing his arguments on the allegorical explanation of the six days of creation as six thousand years, as he had been taught by tradition.

The most powerful adversary of millenarianism wasOrigen of Alexandria. In view of theNeo-Platonism on which his doctrines were founded and of his spiritual-allegorical method of explaining theHoly Scripture, he could not side with the millenarians. He combatted them expressly, and, owing to the great influence which his writings exerted onecclesiasticaltheology especially in Oriental countries, millenarianism gradually disappeared from theidea ofOriental Christians. Only a few later advocates are known to us, principallytheological adversaries ofOrigen. About the middle of the third century, Nepos,bishop inEgypt, who entered the lists against the allegorism ofOrigen, also propounded millenarianideas and gained some adherents in the vicinity of Arsino . Aschism threatened; but the prudent and moderate policy of Dionysius,Bishop of Alexandria, preserved unity; the chiliasts abandoned their views (Eusebius,Church History VII.24).Egypt seems to have harboured adherents of millenarianism in still later times. Methodius,Bishop ofOlympus, one of the principal opponents ofOrigen at the beginning of the fourth century, upheld chiliasm in his Symposion (IX, 1, 5). In the second half of the fourth century, these doctrines found their last defender in Apollinaris,Bishop ofLaodicea and founder of Apollinarism (q.v.). His writings on this subject, have been lost; butSt. Basil of Caesarea (Epist. CCLXIII, 4), Epiphanius (Haeres. LXX, 36) andJerome (In Isai. XVIII) testify to his having been a chiliast. Jerome also adds that manyChristians of that time shared the samebeliefs; but after that millenarianism found no outspoken champion among thetheologians of theGreek Church.

In the West, the millenarian expectations of a gloriouskingdom of Christ and His just, found adherents for a long time. The poet Commodian (Instructiones, 41, 42, 44) as well as Lactantius (Institutiones, VII) proclaim the millennial realm and describe its splendour, partly drawing on the earlier chiliasts and the Sybilline prophecies, partly borrowing their colours from the "golden age" of thepagan poets; but theidea of the six thousand years for the duration of the world is ever conspicuous.Victorinus of Pettau also was a millenarian though in the extant copy of his commentary on the Apocalypse no allusions to it can be detected.St. Jerome, himself a decided opponent of the millennialideas, brands Sulpicius Severus as adhering to them, but in the writings of this author in their present form nothing can be found to support this charge.St. Ambrose indeed teaches a twofoldresurrection, but millenarian doctrines do not stand out clearly. On the other hand;St. Augustine was for a time, as he himself testifies (City of God XX.7), a pronounced champion of millenarianism; but he places the millennium after theuniversal resurrection and regards it in a more spiritual light (Sermo, CCLIX). When, however, he accepted thedoctrine of only oneuniversal resurrection and a final judgment immediately following, he could no longer cling to the principal tenet of early chiliasm.St. Augustine finally held to the conviction that there will be no millennium. The struggle between Christ and Hissaints on the one hand and the wicked world andSatan on the other, is waged in theChurch on earth; so the great Doctor describes it in his workDe Civitate Dei. In the same book he gives us an allegorical explanation of Chapter 20 of the Apocalypse. The first resurrection, of which this chapter treats, he tells us, refers to the spiritual rebirth inbaptism; thesabbath of one thousand years after the six thousand years of history is the whole of eternal life — or in other words, the number one thousand is intended to express perfection, and the last space of one thousand years must be understood as referring to the end of the world; at all events, thekingdom of Christ, of which the Apocalypse speaks, can only be applied to theChurch (City of God XX.5-7). This explanation of the illustrious Doctor was adopted by succeeding Westerntheologians, and millenarianism in its earlier shape no longer received support.Cerinthus and theEbionites are mentioned in later writings against theheretics as defenders of the millennium, it istrue, but as cut-off from theChurch. Moreover, the attitude of theChurch towards thesecular power had undergone a change with closer connection between her and the Roman empire. There is nodoubt that this turn of events did much towards weaning theChristians from the old millenarianism, which during the time ofpersecution had been the expression of their hopes that Christ would soon reappear and overthrow the foes of His elect. Chiliastic views disappeared all the more rapidly, because, as was remarked above, in spite of their wide diffusion even among sincereChristians, and in spite of their defence by prominent Fathers of the early Church, millenarianism was never held in the universal Church as anarticle of faith based on Apostolic traditions.

TheMiddle Ages were never tainted with millenarianism; it was foreign both to thetheology of that period and to the religiousideas of the people. The fantastic views of the apocalyptic writers (Joachim of Floris, the Franciscan-Spirituals, the Apostolici), referred only to a particular form of spiritual renovation of theChurch, but did not include a second advent of Christ. The "emperor myths," which prophesied the establishment of ahappy, universal kingdom by the great emperor of the future, contain indeed descriptions that remind one of the ancient Sybilline and millenarian writings, but an essential trait is again missing, the return of Christ and the connection of the blissful reign with the resurrection of the just. Hence the millennium proper is unknown to them. TheProtestantism of the sixteenth century ushered in a new epoch of millenarian doctrines.Protestant fanatics of the earlier years, particularly theAnabaptists, believed in a new, golden age under the sceptre ofChrist, after the overthrow of thepapacy and secular empires. In 1534 theAnabaptists set up in Münster (Westphalia) the new Kingdom of Zion, which advocated sharingproperty andwomen in common, as a prelude to the newkingdom of Christ. Their excesses were opposed and their millenarianism disowned by both the Augsberg (art. 17) and the Helvetian Confession (ch. 11), so that it found no admission into theLutheran and Reformed theologies. Nevertheless, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries produced new apocalyptic fanatics and mystics who expected the millennium in one form or another: inGermany, theBohemian and Moravian Brethren (Comenius); inFrance, Pierre Jurien (L'Accomplissement des Propheties, 1686); inEngland at the time of Cromwell, the Independents and Jane Leade. A new phase in the development of millenarian views among theProtestants commenced withPietism. One of the chief champions of the millennium inGermany was I.A. Bengel and his disciple Crusius, who were afterwards joined byRothe, Volch, Thiersch, Lange and others.Protestants from Wurtembergemigrated to Palestine (Temple Communities) in order to be closer to Christ at His second advent. Certain fantasticalsects ofEngland and North America, such as theIrvingites,Mormons,Adventists, adopted both apocalyptic and millenarian views, expecting the return of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom at an earlydate. SomeCatholictheologians of the nineteenth century championed a moderate, modified millenarianism, especially in connection with their explanations of the Apocalypse; as Pagani (The End of the World, 1856), Schneider (Die chiliastische Doktrin, 1859), Rohling (Erklärung der Apokalypse des hl. Iohannes, 1895; Auf nach Sion, 1901), Rougeyron Chabauty (Avenir de l'Église catholique selon le Plan Divin, 1890).

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