Recently reading some comments on Revelation of John among the Church Fathers I noticed that a lot of early fathers believed in the literal 1000 year reign of Chris on earth with the saints. Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Hippolytus are some the those who had this view.
Later on Origen speaks against the literal interpretation of Revelation and promotes the allegorical interpretation. Eusebius and Christians of his time attribute literal reign of Christ to a heretic. And finally it is Augustin who settles the issue and argues that the 1000 year reign of Christ on earth with the saints is allegorical not literal.
Amillennialism is the current view of the Catholic Church, it is said that the Council of Constantinople 381AD made the view of literal 1000 year reign on earth anathema though the records of that council did not survive to our time.
Can someone please comment and explain the different views among Church Fathers on the millennium reign of Christ on Earth???
It’s allegorical. Here’s a little on the subject that I have from my notes:
****Apoc 20:5-6 says, “ The rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. In these the second death hath no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ: and shall reign with him a thousand years.” When it says “The rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection”, St. Thomas answers (Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 4, Ch 83, sec 22) that the “First resurrection” means the “freeing from our sins” as it says in Eph 5:14, “Wherefore he saith: Rise, thou that sleepest, and ‘arise from the dead: and Christ shall enlighten thee’.” St. Thomas says that “Thousand” means “Perfection”- the cube of 1,000 is 10 and 10 means perfection. This is the reign of Christ through His church. St. Thomas follows the opinion of St. Augustine who said (City of God, Book 20, Ch 6-8) the same thing. Clement of Alexandria says, “****For ‘the Lord who created the earth by His power,’ as Jeremiah says, “has raised up the world by His wisdom; ”(Jer 10:12) for wisdom, which is His word, raises us up to the truth, who have fallen prostrate before idols, and is itself the first resurrection from our fall.” ****(Clement of Alexandria, Exhortation to the heathen, Ch 8) Tertullian says, “****In that case, she must necessarily persevere in that (peace) with him whom she will no longer have the power to divorce; not that she would, even if she had been able to divorce him, have been marriageable. Indeed, she prays for his soul, and requests refreshment for him meanwhile, and fellowship (with him) in the ‘first resurrection’; and she offers (her sacrifice) on the anniversaries of his falling asleep.” (Tertullian, On Monogamy, Ch 10) Tertullian is talking about a woman whose husband has died. She is praying for her husband who is in purgatory that he will come to participate in the “First Resurrection”. So, when Apoc 20:5 says “****The rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection”, this means the rest of the dead did not live again until they participate in that first resurrection and become one of the saints as shown in Apoc 20:4. Some souls will remain in Purgatory until the end of time but what is spoken of in Apoc 20:5 are those in purgatory who are awaiting to be made partakers of the first resurrection or liberation from sin. ****
