When did the Catholic Church first make an official statement on the Millenarianism?

Question

It is a well-known fact that after Augustine, and partially due to his influence, amillennialism became the dominant framework for eschatology within Christendom until after the Reformation.

The modern Catholic Church expressly rejects premillennialism (CCC 676). I have often heard premillennialist blame the Catholic Church for suppressing premillennialism from the time of Augustine until the Reformation. I am wondering at what time the Catholics first rejected premillennialism officially, and whether they have ever declared it heretical.

Answer 1

Decree of the Holy Office under Pope Pius XII (Denzinger 2296):

Millenarianism (Chiliasm) *

[Decree of the Holy Office, July 21, 1944]

2296. In recent times on several occasions this Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office has been asked what must be thought of the system of mitigated Millenarianism, which teaches, for example, that Christ the Lord before the final judgment, whether or not preceded by the resurrection of the many just, will come visibly to rule over this world. The answer is: The system of mitigated Millenarianism cannot be taught safely.

^{An erroneous statement in theology is to deny "A truth revealed by God [truth of divine faith] but not certainly proposed as such by the Church." "Effects of denial: Mortal sin directly against faith, but no loss of Church membership. May incur a canonical penalty." See Catechini's table of the Church's Theological Notes or Qualifications.}

The two forms of Chiliasm or Millenarianism

Exaggerated, heretical form

Pohle-Preuss, Eschatology or the Catholic Doctrine of the Last Things: A Dogmatic Treatise (1920), p. 155:

The heretical form of Chiliasm may be traced partly to the Jewish expectation of a temporal Messias¹ and partly to the apocryphal writings of the Old Testament, which abound in fables.² The Chiliasts of this school conceived the millennium as a period of unbridled sensual indulgence.

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<sup>1. Cfr. Is. 9:6; 66:18; Joel 3:17; Matth. 20:20 sq.; Acts 1:6.
2. Cfr. Funk, Patres Apostolici, II, 276 sqq.</sup>

Moderate, erroneous form

ibid., pp. 155-6:

Moderate Chiliasm had a number of adherents among Patristic writers, notably Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Nepos, Commodian, Victorinus of Pettau, and Lactantius. Its favorite text was Apoc. 20:1 sqq. Papias believed that the Resurrection of the flesh would be followed by a glorious reign of Christ, in which the Saints would enjoy a superabundance of earthly pleasures for a thousand years. These pleasures, however, were to be spiritual, or at least morally licit.

Terminology

De Castro, O.F.M., Against All Heresies, § Beatitude:

Papias* and those who followed him thought that Christ would reign on earth for a thousand years with the just. And so thinking, they are called by the Greek word, Chiliasts.¹⁰¹⁶ From the Latin equivalent, we can call them Millenarians.¹⁰¹⁷

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<sup>1016. Borrowing from Latin chiliasta, from Ancient Greek χῑ́λιοι (khī́lioi, “thousand”), this word is synchronically analyzable as chilia- + -ast.
1017. I.e. millenarii.</sup>

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*"Some accuse Papias, Bishop of Jerusalem, of this same error, who was a disciple of Blessed John the Evangelist."

Answer 2

When did the Catholic Church first make an official statement on the Millenarianism?

The only “official” statement that I can find comes from a Decree of the Holy Office, July 21, 1944.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism (577), especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism. (578) — n. 676

I deliberately left in the footnote references above because they are crucial in helping us understand what is meant by “millenarianism”, and secondly, “secular messianism” in the Catechism.

…the system of mitigated Millenarianism, which teaches, for example, that Christ the Lord before the final judgment, whether or not preceded by the resurrection of the many just, will come visibly to rule over this world. The answer is: The system of mitigated Millenarianism cannot be taught safely. — DS 2296/3839, Decree of the Holy Office, July 21, 1944

Millenarianism — What it is, and is not

It is a well known fact that after St. Augustine championed against millennialism as is understood by modernists. In fact, St. Augustine held to the conviction that there will be no millennium.

Millennialism in the Early Church was understood differently than in modern times.

St. Augustine was for a time, as he himself testifies (City of God XX.7), a pronounced champion of millenarianism; but he places the millennium after the universal resurrection and regards it in a more spiritual light (Sermo, CCLIX). When, however, he accepted the doctrine of only one universal resurrection and a final judgment immediately following, he could no longer cling to the principal tenet of early chiliasm. St. Augustine finally held to the conviction that there will be no millennium. - Millennium and Millenarianism

From the time of St. Augustine Millennialism died as a theological belief until the Reformation. The Middle Ages, was never tainted with millenarianism or Premillennialism.

The Middle Ages were never tainted with millenarianism; it was foreign both to the theology of that period and to the religious ideas of the people...Hence the millennium proper is unknown to them. The Protestantism of the sixteenth century ushered in a new epoch of millenarian doctrines. Protestant fanatics of the earlier years, particularly the Anabaptists, believed in a new, golden age under the sceptre of Christ, after the overthrow of the papacy and secular empires. In 1534 the Anabaptists set up in Münster (Westphalia) the new Kingdom of Zion, which advocated sharing property and women in common, as a prelude to the new kingdom of Christ. Their excesses were opposed and their millenarianism disowned by both the Augsberg (art. 17) and the Helvetian Confession (ch. 11), so that it found no admission into the Lutheran and Reformed theologies. Nevertheless, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries produced new apocalyptic fanatics and mystics who expected the millennium in one form or another: in Germany, the Bohemian and Moravian Brethren (Comenius); in France, Pierre Jurien (L'Accomplissement des Propheties, 1686); in England at the time of Cromwell, the Independents and Jane Leade. A new phase in the development of millenarian views among the Protestants commenced with Pietism. One of the chief champions of the millennium in Germany was I.A. Bengel and his disciple Crusius, who were afterwards joined by Rothe, Volch, Thiersch, Lange and others. Protestants from Wurtemberg emigrated to Palestine (Temple Communities) in order to be closer to Christ at His second advent. Certain fantastical sects of England and North America, such as the Irvingites, Mormons, Adventists, adopted both apocalyptic and millenarian views, expecting the return of Christ and the establishment of His kingdom at an early date. Some Catholic theologians of the nineteenth century championed a moderate, modified millenarianism, especially in connection with their explanations of the Apocalypse; as Pagani (The End of the World, 1856), Schneider (Die chiliastische Doktrin, 1859), Rohling (Erklärung der Apokalypse des hl. Iohannes, 1895; Auf nach Sion, 1901), Rougeyron Chabauty (Avenir de l'Église catholique selon le Plan Divin, 1890). - Millennium and Millenarianism

Thus we can see that it was not until recent times that the Church has had to address this subject matter and remains of little interest in Catholic circles even today.

The following articles may be of interest to some:

• Five Myths About the Rapture

• Rethinking the End Times