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What was Athanasius's view on the Millennium?

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I have heard some theologians coming from both amillennial and premillianial perspectives claiming Athanasius as one of their own. As is often the case with modern readers of the Church Fathers, there seems a great temptation to read modern-day views into the ancient texts... Of Athanasius's works, I have read *On the Incarnation* and most of the festal epistles, and I don't recall reading anything relevant to the issue of the millennium. However, I read them before I had much interest in the topic and might have missed something. Did Athanasius write anything (directly or tangentially) about the issue of the millennium? --- As a refresher on the issue of the *millennium*, it is a question of how to interpret Revelation 20:1-10, and the corresponding picture of eschatology. Premillennialists view this as a future, this-worldly reign of Christ that begins when he returns and concludes with the final judgment. Amillennialists and postmillennialists view it as symbolic of the period leading up to the 2nd coming, and that there is no substantial gap between the return of Jesus and the final judgment. Both points of view are ancient (among authors I have read, Pseudo-Barnabas and Justin Martyr are premil, while Augustine and Eusebius are post/a-mil), though the modern debates tend to look pretty different than the discussions I find in the Church Fathers.
Asked by Dark Malthorp (4704 rep)
Feb 26, 2024, 03:29 PM
Last activity: Mar 1, 2024, 08:21 PM