Michael Mantzanas: Plato's metempsychosis and Origen's apokatastasis

It is a well established assumption that Origen's philosophical theories of cosmology, ontology and eschatology bear the influence of Plato's thought. According to Plato's theory of metempsychosis, reincarnation and transmigration of the soul, when death comes, the soul enters the body of another human being, animal, angel or star, so as to be purified from the sins of the previous life and this very transition reoccurs until total catharsis is achieved. Origen's teachings of eschatology also involve spiritualism rather than materialism. Especially with regard to the problem of the restoration of all things, Origen's ideas appear to be a philosophical refinement of Platonic epistemology and the Platonic theory of metempsychosis according to which the doctrine of the reminiscence of the soul is used in order to explain the concept of gnosis.
Origen suggests that individuals know God through the communion with Him. Origen's idea of apokatastasis of all things is related to the notion of spiritual rebirth of beings, the communion with God and His creation, as well as the concept of universal salvation. Origen uses a mystical dialectic in his interpretation of the idea of restoration of all things. According to Origen, apokatastasis involves acknowledging the transcendence and infiniteness of God, as well as the communion of beings with God through regaining the authenticity of human existence and experiencing the hypostasis and otherness of God. Our paper is part of an attempt to examine any possible correlations and differences between the Plato's theory of metempsychosis and Origen's teachings on apokatastasis.