3rd–6th centuries

Origen: Eternal Creation, the Pre-existence of Minds and a Pre-mundane Fall – from Gregory of Nyssa to the Condemnation of 553

The same argument that proved the eternal generation of the Son compelled Origen to affirm the eternity of creation: the almighty Creator is always Creator. What was created first was not the visible world but a world of free incorporeal minds contemplating the Image of God – the Word; some of them turned away from God and, according to the depth of their fall, became angels, humans or demons. The material world was created as a dwelling for the fallen spirits and a field of trial, and punishment is a pedagogical measure; all spirits can return to purity in the "apokatastasis". Gregory of Nyssa corrected Origen: creation cannot be eternal, and souls pre-exist only in the mind of God. The pre-existence of souls was condemned by Epiphanius and Jerome, and the council under Justinian (553) condemned Origenism.