The Second Coming and the Resurrection

The dogmatic center of Orthodox eschatology: the bodily, visible Second Coming of Christ (the Parousia); the general resurrection of the dead in a real, transformed body; and the Antichrist tradition, handled soberly from the patristic sources and against the perennial temptation of apocalyptic sensationalism.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

This section treats what the Creed itself confesses — “He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, whose Kingdom shall have no end,” and “I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come.” These are dogma, presented as the Church’s (METHODOLOGY §4.1). The section pairs the confession of the Parousia and the resurrection with the Church’s canonical caution about the manner and timing of the end: a personal Antichrist is expected, but the date is unknown and unknowable, date-setting is discouraged, and the patristic sources are read with the sobriety that guards eschatology from becoming spectacle.

Files

• the-parousia-and-the-general-resurrection.md — the Second Coming as bodily, visible, and unexpected; the resurrection of the same body transformed; the patristic witnesses.
• the-antichrist-and-sober-eschatology.md — the Antichrist tradition from the Fathers; the signs; and the Church’s caution against date-setting and apocalyptic sensationalism.

See Also

• The Last Judgment — the judgment that follows the resurrection
• The Shape of Orthodox Eschatology — the Parousia already commemorated in the Anaphora as accomplished
• Eschatology (hub essay) — the Second Coming and resurrection in summary