Editor's Note: In the aftermath of deconstruction/reconstruction re: eternal destiny, especially among Western Evangelicals and Progressives, there remains the need to reimagine the parousia (2nd coming) and final judgement. If the last days will NOT look like B-movie footage of the 'Left Behind' apocalyptic fantasy series, and if SOMETHING does remain ahead (contra the full preterists), what is that 'something' and how shall we imagine it?
Historically, believers did not primarily imagine the end by literalizing the Book of Revelation. Mainly, they knew this was playing with heretical fire, and had sad examples, just as we do. Rather, they looked to the Transfiguration of Christ on Mt. Tabor as a sort of preview or first fruits of the glorification of the cosmos. And they settled on a very focused eschatology: "He shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead ... We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come" (Nicene Creed).
We could stop there, though some church fathers and mothers, such as St Macrina and St Gregory of Nyssa (On the Soul and the Resurrection) did try, by analogy, to explore these mysteries in ways that would inspire practical hope and holiness in their contemporaries. In a post-dispensational world that finds the so-called 'rapture,' the 'great tribulation,' and the 'millennium' to be fruitless, some have found NT Wright (Surprised by Hope) very helpful. But for those who still ask, "What of the Second Coming? What of the Divine Judgment?" Fr. Aiden Kimel's engagement with Fr. Sergei Bulgakov's Bride of the Lamb is a welcome contribution, reminiscent of Gregory and Macrina, and revisited through CS Lewis (The Great Divorce) and more recently through Jerry Walls. Here, then, are four of the relevant offerings. These ideas are dense, but those unwilling to 'do dense' should kindly avoid altogether any eschatology beyond the Creed. - Brad Jersak
1. Sergius Bulgakov: Eschatology and Orthodoxy
Fr Sergius Bulgakov’s presentation of the Last Things is a masterpiece of dogmatic and mystical theology. Here is no mere reiteration of opinions from the past. Bulgakov is convinced that the Church has only begun to reflect deeply on the eschatological mysteries. With the exception of the resurrection of Christ and his return in glory, both mentioned in the Nicene Creed, “the Church has not established a single universally obligatory dogmatic definition in the domain of eschatology” (The Bride of the Lamb, p. 379). Most of the Church’s eschatological beliefs have yet to be subjected to the free and substantive biblical and theological reflection that must always precede dogmatic definition. CLICK HERE to continue.
2. The Irresistible Truth of Final Judgment
The Great Assize: I am brought into the courtroom of the Divine Judge. The prosecutor presents a movie of my life, with infallible commentary. The entirety of my life is presented in exquisite and shameful detail. Nothing is hidden. All of my actions and inactions, with underlying motivations, are revealed. And to make things worse, the movie shows the consequences of my decisions upon the lives of others, rippling down through the centuries. Finally, the prosecution rests its case. No defense is offered, can be offered. With dread I await the verdict.
What’s wrong with this scenario?
In the view of Sergius Bulgakov, it fails to grasp the inner connections between creation, incarnation, parousia, glorification, and universal resurrection. When the Incarnate Son returns in glory, the dead will be raised and all will be glorified. Every resurrected person will partake of immortality, irrespective of merit. Resurrection is wholly a gift of God, bestowed in the paschal victory of Jesus Christ. Bulgakov quotes the Apostle Paul: “Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Phil 3:21). He then comments: “This applies, we repeat, to all humanity without any exception, for the Lord became the New Adam, assumed humanity in its entirety: ‘As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly’ (1 Cor. 15:49). The image of the heavenly will shine upon all resurrected bodies, clothed in glory” (The Bride of the Lamb, p. 450). CLICK HERE to continue.
3. The Judgement that Blesses and Curses
When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left...
Last Judgment—given Sergius Bulgakov’s apocatastatic conviction that it will be a glorifying and converting event, reconciling every human to God through Jesus Christ, how does he interpret the Matthean warning of our Lord that the righteous and wicked will be eternally separated at the end of the ages? Surely this parable refutes the universalist hope. Bulgakov rejoins: we must interpret the parable theologically within the entirety of divine revelation and attend to the symbolic nature of apocalyptic language. But most importantly, we must remember that the One who told the parable is the Savior of humanity, for whose sins he “tasted the agony of Gethsemane and the death on Golgotha” (Bride of the Lamb, p. 485). Our exegesis of Scripture, in other words, must be guided by the gospel of divine love and mercy, revealed in the death and resurrection of the incarnate Son of God and the intercessory ministry of the exalted Theotokos. “God-Love judges with love the sins against love,” the Russian priest declares (p. 459). CLICK HERE to continue.
4. Hell as Universal Purgatory
“A human being cannot fail to love the Christ who is revealed in him, and he cannot fail to love himself revealed in Christ” (The Bride of the Lamb, p. 459). This striking statement represents, perhaps, the most provocative claim in the eschatology of Sergius Bulgakov. Upon it rests his confident hope in apokatastasis. In one form or another, we find this claim sprinkled throughout the concluding chapters of Bride of the Lamb. To be glorified by Christ is to see him, and to see him is to love him, for in him we discover our authentic selfhood and the fulfillment of our deepest yearnings.
Yet this profound insight does not lead Bulgakov to conclude that at the parousia all will be instantaneously and magically converted to God. He knows both the Bible and the human heart too well. For some, perhaps many, the return of Christ Jesus in glory will ignite a gehennic conflagration in the depth of their souls. Imprisoned in their egoism and malice, they will hate the Son and with all their might will attempt to extinguish the love born in their hearts. And so they will burn. They will know the torment of hell, a torment of love, guilt, and self-condemnation. Guiding Bulgakov’s reflections here are the homilies of St Isaac the Syrian, which he knew in Russian translation. CLICK HERE to continue
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