Where does the word Chiliasm come from and what does it mean?
The term Chiliasm derives from the Greek word Chileoi, meaning '1,000 again,' just as 'milli' means 1,000. It was the early church's word for pre-millennialism, the same thousand-year concept. For the first 250 years of church history, the church stood solidly on this teaching.
Les explains that the early church used the word Chileasm for what is now called pre-millennialism. It comes from the Greek Chileoi, meaning '1,000 again,' just as milli means 1,000, so the word still meant the same thing. He notes that for the first 250 years of church history—from about 40 or 50 A.D. to the end of 299 or into the 300s—the Church stood solidly on this teaching, even though a critic claimed the rapture, tribulation, and earthly kingdom began with a teenage girl in Spain.