Including Arguments of Iconoclasts in the 8th Century
CENTURY 2
ON ANTICHRIST
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There is a great diversity of opinions and views about the Antichrist among all the learned men of this age. Irenaeus [Greek Bishop; d. circa 202], gathering various opinions and conjectures, holds that the Roman kingdom will be the beast of the harlot, because the number of the name of the Antichrist, mentioned in the Apocalypse, is expressed by the Greek word λατεῖνος [Latin man]. Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, in Church History, book 4, chapter 36, from Jewish doctrine, says: “The advent of the Antichrist was awaited.” This opinion, if one considers the Montanist heresy and the attempts of the Roman victor, was not entirely without foundation. For what else did Montanus [2nd century self-proclaimed prophet] do with his new traditions of the Paraclete, laws of fasting, dissolution of marriages, then to lay the very foundations of all Antichristianism?
ON IMAGES
Clement of Alexandria, [Greek Christian theologian; d. circa 215], in the Protrepticus [Exhortation to the Greeks] says thus about images: “It is openly forbidden to us to practice deceitful art. For the Prophet says, there shall be no image of anything, of those which are in heaven, and whatever are on the earth beneath.” Likewise: “We do not have a sensible image from sensible matter, but that which is perceived by intelligence. God is not sensible.” And in the 6th Stromata [Miscellanies]: “There is no simulacrum [representation of God] for us in the world because in created things nothing can bear the image of God.”
CENTURY 3
ON ANTICHRIST
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Tertullian [‘Father of Latin Christianity;’ d. circa 220] in the book On the Resurrection of the Flesh: “The man of sin, that is, the Antichrist, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or religion, so that he sits in the temple of God, claiming to be God. Do you not remember that when I was with you I told you these things? And now you know what restrains him, so that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of iniquity is already at work: only he who now restrains must continue to do so until he is taken out of the way. Who is it? Unless it is the Roman state, whose departure will be divided among ten kings who will bring in the Antichrist, and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill by the breath of His mouth and will destroy by the manifestation of His coming. Whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish.”
The same in the third book, Against Marcion: “In our John, Babylon is a figure of the Roman City: therefore great, proud in kingdom, and the destroyer of the saints of God.” Origen [scholar and theologian; d. circa 253] in his third Homily on Psalm 36 called the Antichrist the arrow of the devil. And he has a certain eighth Homily on Ezekiel about the same, where he seems to make him worse than the devil. Cyprian [Bishop of Carthage; d. 258], or whoever is the author of the Exposition of the Creed, says: “The Antichrist will appear before the coming of the Lord in the name of Christ.” The same said that the coming of the Antichrist is approaching in its time, in a little book to Fortunatus: “The time of the Antichrist has already begun to approach.” Likewise in the fourth book, sixth Epistle: “You ought to know, and firmly believe and hold, that the day has begun to press upon the head, and the end of the age and the time of the Antichrist has approached.” In the same place: “The Antichrist comes.”
CENTURY 4
ON ANTICHRIST
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In Hilary’s [Bishop of Poitier; d. circa 367] book, Against the Arians, “The property of the name Antichrist is to be contrary to Christ. And we also learned there are many Antichrists, even as the Apostle John preached.” And in Matthew, in the twenty-fifth canon, “The Antichrist is called the abomination from Daniel because he will come against God, claiming for himself the honor of God. But he is the abomination of desolation, because by wars and slaughter he will desolate the land with punishment, and being received by the Jews, he will stand in the place of sanctification: and where God was invoked by the prayers of the saints, there he will be received by the unbelievers and be venerable with the honor of God.”
Jerome [author of Vulgate translation; d. 420] to Aglasius, question eleven: “The Apostle explains what must be awaited before the coming of the Antichrist, so that when they see those things fulfilled, then they may know that the Antichrist (that is, the man of sin, and the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God) is to come. Unless, he says, the departure comes first, so that all the nations subject to the Roman empire withdraw from it; and he has been revealed, that is, shown, who all the words of the prophets foretell, the man of sin, in whom is the source of all sins, and the son of perdition, that is, [the son] of the devil (for he who opposes Christ is the ruin of all, and therefore, is called Antichrist, and is exalted above all that is called God, so that he tramples underfoot all the gods of the Gentiles, or the proven and true religion; and [he does this] in the temple of God, either in Jerusalem as some think, or in the Church as we more rightly judge; he will sit, showing himself as if he were Christ himself and the Son of God). For unless the Roman empire has been desolated beforehand, and Antichrist has preceded, he says Christ will not come to destroy the Antichrist. You remember, he says, that these very things which I now write in this letter I was telling you when I was with you: and I was telling you that Christ will not come unless Antichrist has gone before him. And now you know what restrains him, so that he may be revealed in his own time: this is the reason why you well know that Antichrist does not come at present. Nor does he want to say openly that the Roman empire must be destroyed, which those who rule think to be eternal. Hence, according to the Apocalypse of John, on the forehead of the purple harlot, as it is written, is the name of blasphemy, that is, Eternal Rome. For if he had said openly and boldly, The Antichrist would not come unless first the Roman empire be destroyed, then there would seem to be a just cause for persecution to arise in the East against the Church. And what follows: For already the mystery of iniquity works so much that he who now restrains must continue to do so until he be taken out of the way; and then the lawless one will be revealed. This is its meaning.”
[Jerome continues:] “With many evils and sins, by which the most impure Nero of the Caesars oppresses the world, the advent of the Antichrist is brought forth: and what he will work afterward is in this part fulfilled: only that the Roman empire, which now holds all nations, shall withdraw and be taken out of the way: and then the Antichrist will come, the fountain of iniquity, whom the Lord Jesus will kill by the spirit of His mouth: namely by divine power, and by the command of His majesty: whose command is to be done, not by the multitude of armies, nor by the strength of soldiers, nor by the aid of angels: but immediately as he comes, the Antichrist will be killed. And just as darkness is driven away by the coming of the sun: so, by the illumination of His coming, the Lord will destroy and wipe him out; whose works are the works of Satan. And just as in Christ was the fullness of divinity bodily: so, also, in the Antichrist will be all powers, signs, and wonders, but all lies. For just as by the signs of God, which were worked through Moses, the magicians resisted with their lies, and the rod of Moses devoured their rods: so, the truth of Christ will devour the lies of the Antichrist. But those prepared for perdition will be seduced by his lie. And if a silent question might arise, such as, Why did God allow him to have all power, signs, and wonders, through which even the elect of God could be seduced, if possible? He anticipates the question with an answer: for what could be in opposition he resolves before it is opposed. He will do (he says) all these things, not by his own power, but by the permission of God, on account of the Jews: so that those who did not want to receive the love of truth, that is, the Spirit of God through Christ because the love of God has been poured into the hearts of believers. And He Himself says: I am the truth. Of whom it is written in the Psalms: Truth has risen out of the earth. Therefore, those who did not receive charity and truth, so that they might be saved by receiving the Savior, God will send them, not by an agent but by the operation itself, that is, the fountain of error, so that they may believe a lie because he is a liar himself, and his father. And if indeed the Antichrist had been born of a virgin, and had first come into the world, the Jews could have an excuse, and say that they thought it to be truth, and therefore, received the falsehood as truth. Now, however, they are to be judged, indeed without doubt condemned, because having spurned the truth of Christ they will afterwards receive falsehood, that is, the Antichrist.”
[N. B. Jerome could not imagine professing, yet false Christians to be the ones sent the strong delusion, so he conceived of none but the Jews who openly denied Jesus was the Christ.]
The same in the commentaries on Daniel: “At the end of the world, when the Roman kingdom is to be destroyed, there will be ten kings who will divide the Roman world among themselves: and an eleventh little king will arise, who will surpass three of the ten kings, that is, the king of the Egyptians, and of Africa, and Ethiopia. After killing them, he will also subject seven other kings to his victorious yoke.” “And behold,” says Daniel chapter 7, “eyes like a man’s,” etc. “Let us not think him, according to some opinions, to be either the devil or a demon: but one of men, in whom all Satan will dwell bodily. And a mouth speaking great things. For he is the man of sin, the son of perdition, so that he dares to sit in the temple of God, making himself as if God.” And in the same [chapter]: “The Antichrist will fight against the saints and will overcome them, and his pride will be raised so much that he will attempt to change the laws of God and ceremonies, and he will be exalted above all that is called God, and he can subject all religion to his power.” And in chapter 11 of Daniel: “He will feign chastity to deceive many; those whom terror does not shake he will subdue by greed. Many cities or provinces will be given into his hands. For three and a half years, that is, one thousand two hundred ninety days, he persecutes the saints, and afterward he will be destroyed on the glorious and holy mountain.”
Ephrem the Syrian [theologian and deacon; d. 373] in his discourse on the Antichrist: “I will speak of the most foul Antichrist, a dragon, who is about to disturb every region under heaven, casting fear and contempt, and dreadful treachery into the hearts of men, performing signs and wonders and portents, so that if it were possible, he might even lead the elect into error, and deceive all by deceitful signs and miraculous prodigies that will be done by him, according to the permission of the Holy God. For he will receive power to deceive the world by illusions.” Likewise: “This dragon will be wicked, cruel, impure, deceitful, and the most foul plague of the human race. He will especially menace and threaten the saints, the greatest men, who will be able to overcome his arts, to expose his illusions, to uncover his fabrications.” Likewise: “In this guise comes the unclean thief. So that he may deceive all, false and lying, he will appear humble and gentle, rejecting injustice, fleeing idols, preferring piety, kind, poor, studious, exceedingly beautiful beyond all admiration, calm, cheerful to all; and he will especially honor the Jewish nation beyond measure, for, truly, they await his coming. Among all these signs he will do portents and terrors with great power. He will strive to please all, cunningly so that he may quickly be sought after by the people and loved.” Also: “After the three and a half years of Antichrist’s working in his wicked empire have been fulfilled, when all the scandals of the whole earth have been completed as foretold by the divine mouth of God and our Savior, then He will come like lightning from heaven, etc., our terrible and glorious God,” etc.
ON ANTICHRIST (Inclination of doctrines embracing peculiar and harmful opinions, the stalks of errors of the Doctors of this age.)
SOURCE
Lactantius, [Christian apologist and author; d. circa 325], from the seventh book, chapter ten of The Divine Institutes: “Then suddenly, against them, the most powerful enemy will arise from the farthest borders of the northern region, who will be taken into partnership with three from that number, who then will hold Asia, and will be established as the prince of all. He will torment the world with unbearable domination, mixing divine and human, will contrive unspeakable and detestable things, will devise new plans in his heart to establish an empire for himself: he will change laws, enact his own, contaminate, plunder, despoil, and kill.” And in the seventh book, chapter seventeen, he marvelously speaks of the coming of Elijah to the earth, who will turn many to the worship of God: who will finally be attacked by the antichrist, defeated, and killed.
It also seems that in the same book Lactantius introduces two Antichrists, who will come before the end of the world. And in the same book, chapter nineteen, he plays with various ideas about the dominion of Christ with the Antichrist, and that he is to be overcome by Christ in the fourth battle.
Athanasius [Patriarch of Alexandria; d. 373], in the twenty-ninth question: “We are taught that whoever hawks himself under the name of Christ, if he does not come unexpectedly out of the blue, nor is visible throughout the whole world, but is found only in one region or city, such a one is undoubtedly the Antichrist.” And in the thirtieth question: “What the Apostle says about the Antichrist, that he will present himself with all signs and lying wonders, it is clear that he will also show one raised from the dead; but this is not true, but only in imagination.”
Ambrose, [Bishop of Milan, d. 397], in the tenth book of commentaries on Luke, chapter twenty-two: “He will sit in the temple, in the inner temple of the Jews, and will deny Christ. In a temple not inviolable, but subject to corruption because either the ruin of treachery will envelop it, or the right of wrath will overthrow it, or the fire of desires will burn it, etc. There is also another Antichrist, the author of this, namely the Devil. There is also a third Antichrist, Arius or Sabellius. Indeed, all are Antichrists who subvert us with a perverse interpretation.” The same is said about the blessings of the patriarchs, chapter 7: “The future Antichrist is from the tribe of Dan, a cruel judge and a monstrous tyrant.”
Jerome, in the eleventh chapter of Daniel: “The Antichrist will arise from a small group, that is, from the people of the Jews: and he will be so humble and despised that royal honor will not be granted to him, and through treachery and deceit he will obtain rulership, and the arms of the fighting Roman people will be conquered and broken by him. And he will do this because he will pretend to be the leader of the covenant: that is, of the law and testament of God. And he will enter wealthy cities and do things that neither the fathers of that city nor the ancestors did. For no Jew ever reigned in the whole world without the Antichrist. And against the firmest convictions of the saints, he will take counsel and will do everything up to a time until God’s will [no longer] permits him to do these things.”
Here we find a particular opinion that the Antichrist will come from the Jews. Thus, in the same place he says: “The Antichrist is to be born of the Jewish people and will come from Babylon; and first he will overcome the king of Egypt, who is one of the three horns.” And Gregory Nazianzen [Archbishop of Constantinople; d. 390], in Ezekiel, says the Jews will believe the Antichrist as Christ, and that the Antichrist will be king of the whole world, and will come to the desolation of the world.
CENTURY 5
ON ANTICHRIST
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What Augustine [Bishop of Hippo and prolific theological author; d. 430] explains generally about what the Antichrist signifies is found in his third tract on the Epistle of John: “Certainly, all who go out from the Church and are cut off from the unity of the Church, are Antichrists. Let no one doubt, for he himself indicated: They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. Therefore, whoever does not remain with us but goes out from us, it is clear that they are Antichrists. And how were the Antichrists presented? By falsehood. And who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Also: If he is the Antichrist who denies that Jesus is Christ, neither can they [our adversaries] call us Antichrists, nor can we call them so; because both we confess [Jesus is the Christ], and they do too.”
Augustine touches on the etymology of Antichrist in the third tract on the Epistle of John: “In Latin, Antichrist means contrary to Christ, not as some understand that the Antichrist is so called because he will come before Christ; rather, that Christ will come after him. Though it is not said or written thus, Antichrist means contrary to Christ. You will now notice who is contrary to Christ by the explanation itself, for none can go outside [of the true Church] except Antichrists.” Also, in the tract On the Antichrist: “For those who want to know about the Antichrist, first you will note why he is so called. Namely, because he will be contrary to Christ in all things and will do things contrary to Christ. Christ came humble; he comes proud. Christ came to raise the humble, to justify sinners; he, on the contrary, will cast down the humble, magnify sinners, exalt the wicked, and always teach vices which are contrary to virtues. He will scatter the evangelical law, renew or recall the cult of demons in the world. Seeking vain glory, he will call himself Almighty God. Therefore, the Antichrist has many ministers of his malignity, of whom many have gone before in the world: such were Antiochus, Nero, Domitian. We also know many Antichrists exist in our time. The Antichrist will have magicians, sorcerers, diviners, enchanters who nourish him, inspired by the devil, teaching him all nefarious arts of iniquity and falsehood. Evil spirits will always be his leaders, allies and inseparable companions.”
On the Antichrist, Chrysostom [Archbishop of Constantinople; d. 407] writes: “But have you not often heard, when you were children, certain people speak much about the name of the Antichrist, and about genuflection? For this inserts the Devil into our still tender minds, so that this false doctrine may grow and be strengthened with us, by which he may deceive us. Nor would the Apostle have passed over those things speaking about the Antichrist if they had been useful? Therefore, let us not seek those things. He will not come thus genuflecting; but exalted above all who are called God or deity, so that he sits in the temple of God as God, showing himself to be God,” (in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, homily 1). Also, homily 4: “And many things have been foretold about the Antichrist, namely that he is unrighteous, that he is the son of perdition, that his coming will be according to the working of Satan. He will be contrary to Christ, the Savior who brings countless good things.”
Augustine on Psalm 9, “Set a lawgiver over them, O Lord”: it seems to me to signify the Antichrist, about whom the Apostle says, “When the man of sin is revealed.” So that the nations may know, because they are nations, that they do not want to be freed from the Son of God, and belong to the Son of Man, and be sons of men, that is, new men. They serve man, that is, the old sinful man, because they are men. And because he is believed to come to such a height of empty glory, he will be permitted to do much, both to all men and to the saints of God, so that then some weak ones might think that God neglects human affairs. This Antichrist will seem so blessed to men that he will even be thought to be God. Also, that he will overcome all kings and alone obtain the kingdom, when even according to the Apostle who preaches about him, he will sit in the temple of God, exalting himself above all that is worshipped and that is called God. And because given over to the lusts of his heart and ultimately destined for damnation, through nefarious arts he will come to that vain and empty height and domination; he will have power in rule, and in deceitful miracles.” Also, in book 20 of the City of God, chapter 19: “And, therefore, God will send them a working of error so they may believe a lie and be judged, who did not believe the truth, but consented to iniquity. There is no doubt that he said these things about the Antichrist on the day of judgment. For he calls the day of the Lord not to come, unless he who is first, comes; whom he calls ‘the fleeing one,’ certainly fleeing from the Lord God.”
Junillus Africanus [legal advisor to Emperor Justinian I; flourished 541–549] says: “We now see the evening of the sixth day approaching, and as charity among many grows cold due to abundant wickedness in all things: a time will come, much darker than the others, with the appearing of the man of sin, the son of iniquity, who is exalted and lifted up above all that is called God or worshipped; there will be such tribulation that even the elect (if it is possible) will be led into error. And immediately following will be the hour of universal judgment, about which it is written: But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? The sabbath of the holy souls will persevere until the end of the age. And then the last age of the world, of which we have spoken, after its evening, shall come to an end, having been brought to a close by our Lord Jesus through the Antichrist.” Junillus on Genesis.
Prosper of Aquitaine (theologian; d. circa 455) quotes a saying from the Apocalypse, “Those who received the mark of the beast on their forehead and on their hand.” And he adds: “The inscription on the forehead and on the hand is not only made to imitate the devil, but also to glory in his evil works, so that under the figure of Christ, they may perform the deeds of the Antichrist.” And again, 1 John 2: “Many antichrists have come,” then he adds: “He shows all heretics, especially the Arians, whom we now see seducing many, concerning the promises and predictions of God.”
The place where the Antichrist will sit is explained by Augustine in book 20 of The City of God, chapter 19. It is uncertain in which temple of God he will sit, whether in the ruin of the temple built by King Solomon or, indeed, in the Church. For the Apostle would not call the temple of any idol or demon the temple of God. Hence some wish to understand the Antichrist here not as the prince himself, but as his entire body in some sense, that is, the multitude of people belonging to him, together with their prince. More correctly, they also think it is said in Latin as it is in Greek, not that he sits in the temple of God, but that he sits “in templum Dei,” as if he himself is the temple of God, which is the Church; just as we say he sits a friend, meaning either as a friend or something else commonly said in this manner.” The same: “Some think this was said about the Roman empire, and therefore, the Apostle Paul did not wish to write it openly, so that it might not seem he wished evil upon the Roman empire, which was hoped to be eternal.” The same: “Let the one who now holds hold on until he is taken out of the way. It is not absurdly believed this refers to the Roman empire itself, as if it were said: ‘Let he who now rules, rule until he is taken out of the way;’ that is, removed from the midst. And then the wicked one will be revealed, whom no one doubts is signified as the Antichrist.”
Prosper, On the Promises and Predictions of God, chapter 7, speaking about the woman and the beast who carries her, says: “Nor should you think of her as a single place, but a city that is spread throughout the world.”
Concerning the persecution that the Antichrist will exercise, Augustine writes in book 18 of The City of God, chapter 4: “Indeed, that final persecution which is to come from the Antichrist, Jesus Himself will put an end to it by His presence.”
Eucherius of Lyon [Archbishop of Lyon; d. circa 449] recalls concerning the Antichrist that “under him such an affliction of the city of God is expected to come as has never been before,” book 2, chapter 20. Likewise: “The office of the Antichrist is to come opposed to the life of the faithful, armed with the sting of pestilential preaching, even with the horn of power.” And in succeeding sections, he adds that “some say the Antichrist will come from Dan,” book 3, chapter 24.
Augustine touches on the signs of the Antichrist in book 20 of The City of God, chapter 19: For then Satan will be released, and through that Antichrist, with all his power, will wonderfully, but deceitfully, work. It is often debated whether they are called fraudulent signs and wonders because he will deceive mortal senses through illusions, so that what he does not actually do appears to be done; or because even if they are true wonders, they will lead believers into falsehood, not knowing that these could only happen by divine power, unaware of the power of the devil; especially since he will receive such great power as he never had before. For when fire fell from heaven and consumed Job’s household servants along with many flocks at one blow, and a rushing storm struck down his house and killed his children, were these illusions? Yet these were works of Satan, to whom God had given this power. Therefore, why these are called pseudo wonders and signs will become clearer at that future time. But for whatever reason it is said, they will be deceived by signs and wonders because they deserved to be deceived, since they did not receive the love of the truth (he says) to be saved. Nor did the Apostle hesitate to add and say: Therefore, God will send them a working of error, that they might believe a lie. For God sends because God permits the Devil to do these things by His just judgment, although the Devil does them with evil and wicked counsel.”
Prosper, On the Promises and Predictions of God, chapter 8, applies the sayings of the Apocalypse, and among other things says: “The Antichrist will have the luxury and filthiness of Nero, and the severity of his character.”
Maximus the Confessor [ascetic theologian; d. 662) says: “Before the Lord Christ comes, the Antichrist will reign, who will pour darkness upon the human race with his depravity, so that almost no one will look to the light of truth; and covering the minds of men with his own darkness he will present a certain blindness to the spiritual eyes.” In Homily 1, On Winter.
[N. B. Not only is Maximus of a later century, but according to an internet source, 4th-century Cappadocian Gregory of Nyssa “wrote a notable homily titled ‘On Winter’ (Concio Hyemalis).”]
Primasius [Bishop of Hadrumetum, commentator on Revelation; d. circa 560] says: “The bitterness of the Antichrist is contrary to the sweetness of the word of God,” in chapter 3, To the Romans. Likewise: “One of its heads is called the Antichrist. However, they are not seven heads in [literal] number, but rather to signify the universality of his earthly kingdom, the lamb’s opposite,” in his Revelation commentary, book 4.
The exaltation of the Antichrist is described by Augustine in his treatise on the Gospel of John, chapter 29, section 7: “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. This will be the one called the Antichrist, exalting himself, as the Apostle says, above all that is called God or is worshipped. For the Lord Himself, announcing him, said he would seek his own glory, not the glory of the Father, saying to the Jews: I have come in my Father’s name, and you did not receive me; another will come in his own name, and you will receive him. He indicated that they would receive the Antichrist, who will seek the glory of his own name, proud, not solid; and therefore, not stable, but rather ruinous.”
Augustine briefly outlines the time of the coming of the Antichrist in his treatise, On the Antichrist: “Therefore, the Apostle Paul says the Antichrist will not come into the world before there is first a departure; that is, before all the kingdoms that were previously subject to the Roman empire have departed. But this time has not yet come because although we see the Roman empire largely destroyed, as long as the kings of the Franks endure, who ought to hold the Roman empire, the Roman dignity will not perish entirely, because it will stand in its own kings.”
Primasius says: “The Roman kingdom will be taken away from the midst before the Antichrist is revealed,” in chapter 2 to the Thessalonians.
They also call those who do the works of the Antichrist, Antichrists. As Chrysostom says in Homily 11, On Matthew, on that passage, Beware of false prophets, he says: “Why do you vainly put on the name Christian when you persecute Christ in His servants? You are said to pretend because you lie by a simulation of works. Your name sounds Christian, but your deeds show you to be an Antichrist. Under the name, you attack that very name; under the law, you destroy the law: you persecute the faith which you pretend to profess; now hide yourself in some secret place so that you may lie hidden, you who have been revealed as having been hidden.”
Prosper also retains the opinion that the Antichrist will arise from the tribe of Dan, in chapter 9, Of the Promises and Predictions of God. Thus, also, Theodoret [theologian and biblical commentator; d. 457] says: “Indeed, it is necessary to add to what has been said that before the coming of the Lord, one will come, assuming human nature, harmful to men, an adversary of God, a demon, a plunderer of the divine name. And since he will take upon himself this name, namely God, he imposes it upon himself, and also to the administrators and helpers of impiety and wickedness, and he will persuade men through statues made by hands to pay him divine honor; thus, usurping the title of Christ the Lord, he will deceive everyone (so to speak) and will impose himself on many among those who have received the holy and venerable name, claiming to be the Christ, whom the divinely inspired prophets foretold would appear,” (The Epitome of Divine Decrees). Also: “I judge that the divine spirit was prophesied through the patriarch concerning our Savior; and the same prophecy spoke about the Antichrist. For those things written agree very well. For Dan, a tribe in Israel, he says, will judge his people. Just as, he says, our Savior and Lord arose from the tribe of Judah to save the world, so the pernicious serpent will come forth from the tribe of Dan. Indeed, he says: Let Dan be a serpent on the way, resting in the path, biting the horse’s heel; and the rider will fall backward, expecting the salvation of the Lord.” Theodoret, question 109 on Genesis.
Maximus the Confessor teaches who shall destroy the Antichrist: “Therefore, to dispel this dark darkness, Christ will come like a flash of lightning. And just as night is overturned by the shining day, so the Antichrist will be driven away by the shining Savior, and he will no longer be able to spread the darkness of his iniquity when the light of truth has shone forth.” In the first Winter homily.
BENDING OF DOCTRINE, EMBRACING PECULIAR and inconvenient opinions, the chaff of the errors of the Doctors of this age.
ON THE REVELATION
Junillus says on the Apocalypse: “Regarding the Apocalypse of John, among the Easterners it is quite doubted that it is a prophetic book,” (Junillus, book one, chapter 4). Prosper ascribes that book to John the Apostle, in the chapter, On Promises and Predictions, chapter 7. The same is done by Primasius in the preface to the Apocalypse.
CENTURY 6
ON ANTICHRIST
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Concerning the name of the Antichrist, and who they will be, Olympiodorus of Alexandria [Greek monk; d. circa 570] says: “Some understand the second adolescent as the son of perdition, the Antichrist. I have seen the sinners themselves with the second adolescent, that is, the Antichrist, who will rise against our Lord Jesus Christ. The last ones, who in the times of the Antichrist will believe in him, will not rejoice in him; for impiety cannot preserve those adhering to it. Those who at the end of the age believe in the Antichrist have become the last. He is also called the second adolescent Antichrist, who is fervent in evil with youthful recklessness, and strong as an innovator of wickedness,” (Olympiodorus, in the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes).
Who he is, Gregory I [Pope aka ‘Gregory the Great;’ d. 604] warns: “Whoever calls himself the universal priest, or desires to be called so, in his arrogance precedes the Antichrist, because by being proud he places himself above others,” (book 7, fifteenth indiction, letter 30).
Where he comes from, Gregory warns: “The head of their heart is the Devil. For he himself in the last times will enter that vessel of perdition, who will be called the Antichrist, who will attempt to spread his name far and wide,” (the eighteenth chapter of Job, book fourteen, chapter eleven). Also: “Some say the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan because in this place Dan is said to be a serpent, and biting,” (in the nineteenth chapter of Job, book thirty-one, chapter ten).
Where he will be in the future, Gregory teaches: “The Antichrist strives to establish his memory on earth, as he seeks earthly glory, if it were possible to remain forever,” (the 18th chapter of Job, book 14, chapter 11).
When, Gregory warns: “The Jews will trust in a man, fleeing belief in the Redeemer, awaiting the Antichrist at the end of the world,” (the second chapter of First Kings).
What kind he will be, Gregory warns: “When the Antichrist then reigns over the impious, it is not due to the injustice of the judge, but because of the fault of the one who endures, although many have not seen his dominion, and yet by the condition of their sins they serve his rule because even him whom they least perceive as ruling over them, they undoubtedly worship perversely by living wickedly,” (the 34th chapter of Job, book 25, chapter 14). And: “In the hand of the Antichrist deceit is directed, because what he proposes against the good is temporarily fulfilled without any opposition.” He says this in the 35th chapter of Job, book 26, chapter 14. Also: “The Lord holds and shakes the ends of the earth because He permits that the last times of His Church be disturbed by the most immense persecution through the coming of the Antichrist, yet without permitting abandonment,” (the 38th chapter of Job, book 29, chapter 3). Also: “The fourth (Antichrist) proceeds happily and not well, because he walks in his deceit; but according to the short time of present life, that deceit prospers for him, as it was said about him in the figure of Antiochus by Daniel: Strength was given to him against continual sacrifice because of sins; and truth will be brought low on the earth, and he will do and prosper,” (the 38th chapter of Job, book 30, chapter 3). And: “The coming Antichrist will also obtain the highest powers of this age, who raging with a double error tries to incline the hearts of men to himself and by sending preachers and stirring up powers, ” (the 41st chapter of Job, book 33, chapter 22). And: “In the final agitation of judgment, the Antichrist will be so great in signs and miracles that many will consider him Christ,” (ibidem, book 33, chapter 25). Also: “Neither spear nor breastplate will be able to withstand him because coming as Antichrist he will appear of such power that it is as if heavenly help fails and dulls the sharpness of prophecy and destroys the patience of the long-suffering,” (the 41st chapter of Job, book 34, chapter 8). Also: “The tabernacle of the Antichrist is the love of treachery, by which he contradicts the faith of the redeemer,” (the second chapter of First Kings).
That he is near, Gregory warns: “But in his pride, what else is indicated than that the times of the Antichrist are already near?” (book four, thirteenth indiction, letter thirty-four). Also: “And because the enemy of Almighty God, the Antichrist, is near, I eagerly desire that nothing proper be found not only in the customs but also not in the title of priests,” (book six, fifteenth indiction, letter 27).
Concerning the preachers of the Antichrist, Gregory says: Some perverse men have sown the spirit of error, so that they forbid working on the Sabbath day. What else should I call them but preachers of the Antichrist? For he, coming, will make both the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day be kept from all work. And because he pretends to die and rise again, he wants the Lord’s Day to be held in veneration. And because he compels the people to Judaize, that is, to revoke the external rite of the law and submit to him the perfidy of the Jews, he wants the Sabbath to be observed,” (book 11, sixth indiction, letter 3).
CENTURY 7
ON ANTICHRIST
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Isidore of Seville [Archbishop of Seville; d. 636], in generalities, explains the name Antichrist: “Everyone who either does not live according to the norm of the Christian profession or teaches otherwise, is the Antichrist,” (from his first book, On the Highest Good, chapter 26).
The Eleventh Council of Toledo presents this opinion: “Hence, those who see how the pot of Babylonian confusion was kindled now avert the times of the Councils and now entangle the priests of the Lord with loosened morals. For they followed the incentives of the purple-clad harlot,” (Volume 2 of the Councils, page 263).
INCLINATION OF DOCTRINE embracing peculiar and inconvenient opinions, follies, and errors of the Doctors.
ON ANTICHRIST
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Isidore expresses his opinion about the Antichrist in the eighth book of the Etymologies, chapter eleven: “For he will deny that Christ has come, and will fight against him, and oppose the Sacraments of Christ, so that he may dissolve the Gospel of his truth; for he will also attempt to repair the temple of Jerusalem and to restore all the ceremonies of the old law.”
CENTURY 8
ON ANTICHRIST
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Bede [aka ‘Bede the Venerable,’ monk and scholar; d. 735] says this about the appellations: “The abomination of desolation can be understood either simply as the Antichrist; or as the image of Caesar, which Pilate placed in the temple; or as the equestrian statue of Hadrian, which stood for a long time in the very holy of holies. The abomination is also called an idol according to the ancient scripture,” (the fourth book of Mark, chapter 13).
John Damascene [monk, priest and apologist for icon worship; d. 749], indeed, teaches the Antichrist will come, but he has many opinions that cannot be proven from Scripture, as is explained in its proper place.
Bede says: “Reviewing ecclesiastical history, you will find countless deeds of martyrs, because of which it is not doubted that in the more dreadful times of the Antichrist the breaking of the yoke of this ark, that is, the disturbance of the Church, will come. Nor does anything prevent the two cows, which, when presenting the Ark of the Lord to the Israelites, were offered as a burnt offering, from being interpreted as Enoch and Elijah, who are then believed to be [the two witnesses of Rev. 11] about to open the grace of faith to the Jews and, not long after to receive death at the hands of the Antichrist,” (on 1 Samuel 11) [sic: 6].
Also: “The persecution that will happen in the time of the Antichrist will be graver than that which was done by tyrants, because it will be both deceitful and violent. Violent because of the kingdom, for he will be king; deceitful because of miracles, and therefore it will be very dangerous,” (on the ninth Psalm). And: “For as that wicked Antichrist will more proudly persecute, so much more will the true poor man be inflamed in doing good by suffering. But the Antichrist himself and his members will be apprehended; that is, they will be condemned in the councils which they devise,” (ibidem). Also: “About the Antichrist the Apostle says that he is exalted above all that is called or worshipped as God,” (on the eighty-second Psalm).
And: “About the Antichrist under the guise of Antiochus, it is said by Daniel: Power was given to him against the continual sacrifice because of sins, and he will prosper. Solomon said, He shall walk happily: this Daniel says, He will prosper,” (on the thirtieth chapter of Proverbs). Also: “Many Antichrists have come in the name of Christ, the first of whom was Simon Magus, to whom (as we read in the Acts of the Apostles) all in Samaria listened, from the least to the greatest, saying: This is the power of God which is called great because for a long time he had bewitched them with his magical arts,” (on the fourth book of Mark, chapter thirteen). And: “Heretics coming against the Church lie saying that they are Christs: of whom Simon Magus was the first, but the last and greatest among them all is the Antichrist,” (ibidem). And: “Matthew, describing the times of the Antichrist, says: For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be,” (sixth book on Luke). Also: “Who is this coming in his own name, if not he who seeks his own glory and not that of him who sent him? Who is it whom the Jews will accept, if not the Antichrist, who is to come seeking his own glory?” (On the fifth chapter of John).
Where from, Bede says: “The son of the devil, the Antichrist, is not called so by being born from him, but as other sinners are called Antichrist by imitating him,” (in the sixth book of Luke, chapter twenty-three).
When he is to come, Bede says: “The tribulation of the Antichrist, as it will be heavier in burden than the other persecutions that preceded it, will be moderated by the brevity of time. For it is believed, according to the prophecy of Daniel and the Apocalypse of Saint John, that he will assault the Church throughout the world for three and a half years,” (the fourth book of Mark, chapter 13).
About his cruelty, Albinus [aka Alcuin of York, theologian and abbot of St. Martin ofTours; d. 732] says: “In the Antichrist there is injustice, and he is not truthful: for he will seek his own glory, not that of Him who sent him. For he is not sent but permitted to come. Therefore, all who belong to the body of Christ, lest we be led into the snare of the Antichrist, let us not seek our own glory,” (in the book, On John, chapter seven).
INCLINATION OF DOCTRINE, EMBRACING peculiar and inconvenient opinions, stubble, and errors of the theologians.
ON IMAGES
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Iconolatry at this age is publicly decreed and approved. Theodore [Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem, defender of icon worship; d. 782] says: “We venerate and also worship the image of the God-bearer and Our Lady, the irreprehensible, immaculate, and undefiled mother of chastity, who bore Him. Indeed, we also honor the images of the holy Apostles, Prophets, and victorious martyrs, and the Saints and blessed, as friends of God, not constituting honor in the matter or colors: but through this our office, which we owe to those whose likeness the images bear,” (in his confession of faith).
Also: “We worship the image of Christ, exactly as His face was seen, not however separated from the divinity.” Therein: “We receive the painted images according to the ancient tradition of our fathers, and with our desire we worship them as made in the name of Christ our God, and Our Immaculate Lady the Virgin God-bearer, the holy angels, and all the saints. But with open words we testify that we refer and place only true worship to one true God,” (Tarasius of Constantinople, in the second session of the Second Council of Nicaea).
On the veneration of the cross, John Damascene says: “I do not worship the matter itself as God: but I reverently bow to the matter of the maker, who was made matter for me, and in that matter sustained to dwell, and through that matter my salvation was worked. Therefore, I will not cease from the veneration of that matter, through which my salvation was accomplished,” (book 1, Apology for the Veneration of Images).
ON RELICS
There also grew a superstitious veneration of relics. For Theodosius says: “In the same way I venerate the relics of the saints, and pursue them with honor and salvation, as athletes and competitors for Christ, who have obtained grace from God, and provide remedies, cure diseases, cast out demons, just as the Christian Church has received them, as it were, from the holy Apostles and Fathers up to the present age. Likewise, I approve of the images received from the beginning, of JESUS CHRIST our Lord, and the holy Virgin Mother of God, whether expressed in gold or silver, or with colors, or any material, so that it may be made manifest to all, the economy of His flesh. And in a similar way, the deeds and conduct of the Saints and Apostles praised in all ages are approved by me: so that in the eyes of all they may bear witness to the struggles and contests which they underwent for Christ; and this is a kind of concise scripture, narration, and instruction for the people, especially the simplest,” (Theodosius, Bishop of Amori, Session 1 of the Second Council of Nicaea).
ON ANTICHRIST
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The opinion of John Damascene is that the Antichrist will not come into our temple [i.e., the Christian Church], but in the old Jewish temple. Also, that he will be a man born of fornication. And that Enoch and Elias will return, whom the Antichrist will kill, and Christ, having resurrected them, will oppress the Antichrist. (Book 4, On the Orthodox Faith, chapter 27).
Bede also has similar opinions, such as: “Dan shall judge his people.” Some say that by these words the Antichrist is predicted to come from this tribe; others say from Judah, by whom the Lord was betrayed. And shortly after: others transfer this prophecy to the Antichrist because in this place Dan is asserted to be a biting serpent and because Dan was the first among the tribes of Israel to be encamped to the north. Thus, it signifies him who is said to sit in the sides of the north [Isaiah 14:13] and about whom the prophet figuratively says: From Dan there was heard the commotion of his horses [Jeremiah 8:16], who is not only called a serpent but also Cerastes. For Cerata in Greek means ‘horns.’ That horned serpent is said to be rightly asserted as representing the Antichrist, who will be armed with the bite of pestiferous preaching, which is against the life of the faithful, and also with horns of power. This from the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis. Also: When the Antichrist comes, Christ will follow swiftly after his footsteps to kill him with the Spirit of His mouth. Thus, [allegedly] Gad can also be interpreted as ‘thief’ or ‘robber.’ And since he is the latter one — that is, delayed or late-arriving — his manifestation is like that of a thief who suddenly springs forth unexpectedly: just as it says, ‘like a thief in the night, so comes Christ.’ Therefore, Christ comes upon this one [the thief-figure / Gad] before the Antichrist, and after the Antichrist He comes in majesty / glory, (Ibid).
Albinus likewise believes that he will come from the tribe of Dan, and concerning his matters he says: “Certain signs have not only been accomplished but are most certainly believed to be future; that is, the faith of the Israelite people, about which the Apostle says: When the fullness of the Gentiles has entered, then all Israel shall be saved. And as for the kingdom of the Antichrist, and his cruelty towards the saints, this will be the final persecution with the final judgment imminent, which the holy Church throughout the entire world will suffer, but the city of Christ will be separated from the entire city of the Devil, no matter how great each may be on earth. It is not doubtful that the author of this persecution is the same Antichrist, whom the Apostle calls the son of perdition, and a rebel, certainly against the Lord God, who is exalted above all that is called God or worshipped. For the holy Church is not called God, but worshipped; therefore, rightly only the holy Trinity is God whose honor that most impious rebel presumes to claim for himself, enticing others by flattery, others by terrors, others by signs, so that they may worship him as God: whose persecution is foretold in the Apocalypse to blaze upon the earth for three and a half years. But so that so immense and cruel a persecution does not come suddenly, involving all who are less prepared, the Church has faith that Elijah and Enoch, the greatest prophets, will come, through whose teaching the Israelite people will be converted to faith. Who, when they themselves will have first preached for three and a half years, will be gloriously crowned with martyrdom in that same preaching together with other faithful. But after that son of perdition, and most impious master of all iniquity, is struck down by the Lord Himself (as the Apostle says: Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy by the appearance of His coming), judgment day is believed not immediately to follow, so that it may be fulfilled as the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels nor the Son, but only the Father alone, (Book three on the Holy Trinity, chapter nineteen). Also: “Who is he who comes in his own name? Except he who seeks his own glory, and not that of him who sent him. Who is it whom the Jews will accept, except the Antichrist? Who will come seeking his own glory? And this will be their punishment for sin because they did not want to believe the truth, so that they might believe in falsehood,” (book three on John, chapter five).
ON HERESIES
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Charlemagne says in the first book, chapter twenty-six, On the Worship of Images: “Heretics or schismatics, while they are imbued with the cunning of worldly wisdom and more ready for vain investigations and superfluous contentions than for believing, speak vainly: because while they think badly of Christ or the Church, they do not allow their neighbors, that is, other heretics, to be invited to the same error; so that by a greater infestation, the Church, which is the vineyard of Christ, may be destroyed.” Also: “Heretics always try to infest the holy Church with perverse doctrines,” (the second book, chapter one, On the Worship of Images). And: “Heretics’ craftiness very often has the habit of adorning certain shameful and misleading teachings with little flourishes or annotations, and of heading them with the names of some credible and respected saints. In this way, they can more easily present the poisoned cup coated with the flavor of honey to the unsuspecting, so that it may be drunk,” (book four, chapter five, On the Worship of Images).
ON ICON WORSHIPERS
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Many bishops of the highest authority throughout this century have been icon worshipers, establishing and defending the wicked dogma concerning the adoration and veneration of images, even in public disputes and Synods. Therefore, you would more rightly call these heretics the pestilences of the Church of Christ than others who have resisted them in their wicked undertakings for being contrary to the word of God.
Charlemagne, together with some who right thinking men, truly opposed these corruptions with accurate refutations, published treatises, and held Synods; yet superstition prevailed, and afterward (as is accustomed to happen) increased and accumulated. At first, those icon worshipers pretended to have some distinctions and subtleties; but in reality, the teachings and the subject matter of errors afterward brought forth many incongruities. However, since these matters are deferred to be discussed under Schisms and Councils, it is superfluous to recite the same here. The opinion of Charlemagne is notable, in his third book, chapter eighteen: “Since these almost entirely place all hope of their aid in images, they dissent not moderately from the holy and universal Church, which places its hope of aid not in the paint of a picture but in the Creator of all.”
Excerpts from the Council of Frankfurt (794 AD) Refutation of Image Worship Decreed by the Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD)
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IDOLATORS: Images of Christ, Mary, and other saints are sacred and holy. Therefore, they must be adored.
ICONOCLASTS: The preceding is false. For images are neither holy because of their material, nor because of their colors, nor by the laying on of hands, nor by any canonical consecration. Therefore, they are not holy, much less to be adored. (Charlemagne, first book, second chapter, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: God created man in His image and likeness. Therefore, images must be adored.
ICONOCLASTS: The consequence does not hold because it is a misunderstanding of the argument. That statement does nothing towards the adoration of images. Then, from Ambrose and Augustine, they demonstrate that man is called the image of God not because of external form, which statues can represent; but because of the internal man, mind, will, and memory, and because of virtues congruent with the norm of divine law. Thirdly, they indicate that the opinion that God is corporeal is absurd if it is said that man was made in the image of God as an image or statue is made to the likeness of a man by a painter and craftsman. (First book, seventh chapter of Charlemagne, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: Jacob, receiving from his sons the long robe of Joseph, kissed it, and with tears laid it upon his eyes. Therefore….
ICONOCLASTS: It does not hold because neither in the Hebrew nor in the Latin manuscripts is it found that Joseph’s tunic was kissed by the father or laid upon his eyes. And even if it were narrated that this happened, in no way would the adoration of images be implied in this act, since to adore is one thing, to kiss another. (First book, twelfth chapter of Charlemagne, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: Jacob adored the top of Joseph’s rod: Therefore…..
ICONOCLASTS: It does not hold, for neither in the Hebrew nor in the Latin text are these words read; and Augustine testifies that he adored not the rod, but God. (Charlemagne, first book, thirteenth chapter, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: Jacob blessed Pharaoh, but not God.
Therefore, we also adore the image, but not as God.
ICONOCLASTS: Jacob blessed Pharaoh not as God, nor as a painting, but as a man to whom honor is to be shown because of the sublimity of the dignity conferred by God. Therefore, such a blessing does not correspond to the adoration of images, which can at no time bring reward to those who adore or to those who refuse to adore because of the [lack of] quality of merits. (Charlemagne, first book, fourteenth chapter, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: By the command of God Moses made the Mercy Seat, the two Cherubim above it and the Ark of the Covenant. Therefore, it is permitted to make and worship images.
ICONOCLASTS: The consequence is not valid. Because more is added in the conclusion than was in the premises. For he is not believed to have commanded worship, nor for the sake of the memory of certain past things, but because of the most sacred prefiguration of future mysteries. Who is so foolish as to try to establish the worship of images from this example? For these sometimes signify nothing else than [commemorate] the order of historical events, but sometimes they lie, not about historical events, but about things imagined and made up. (Charlemagne, in the first book, chapter fifteenth, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: God said: Behold, I have called by name Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, to perfect the work of gold and silver, and I have given him Oholiab, son of Ahisamach. Therefore, it is permitted to worship images.
ICONOCLASTS: Your argument is not valid because of its ignorance of the refutation, thereby drawing an irrelevant conclusion. For those which are full of allegorical meanings and tropes, and who, by the law giver’s decree, are displayed as images, it is not only exceedingly dismissive [of the facts] but also utterly insane to attempt to argue this as license for all craftsmen, according to the genius of their own minds, to produce images at will. (The same, in the first book, chapter sixteenth, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: Just as the Israelite people were saved by looking at the bronze serpent, so, too, will we be saved by looking at the images of the saints.
ICONOCLASTS: The hope of those who place their savior in images is condemned by the Apostle, who does not place hope in things that are seen. For he says, Hope that is seen is not hope. For what one sees, how does one hope? The bronze serpent was not made by Moses to be worshiped, but to temporarily resist the poisonous bites of serpents. That serpent was made by command of the Lord to Moses: but in these images you make, there is no text of Scripture decreeing them. (The same, book 1, chapter 18, against the same.)
IDOLATORS: If, according to the tradition of Moses, it is commanded that purple hyacinth be placed on the borders of the garments for the people, as a memory and observance of the precepts: much more is it for us to see through the depicted images of holy men the outcome of their conduct, and to imitate their faith, according to Apostolic tradition.
ICONOCLASTS: The consequence does not hold from a dissimilar example. For nowhere in the Scripture of the Old or New Testament is the worship of fringes or images commanded. Therefore, they deny the virtue of the conduct of the saints is seen in images and paintings because faith, hope, and charity, and other virtues are invisible and living things; but images and statues are visible and dead things. Thirdly, they demonstrate how we ought to imitate the saints. What we ought to imitate, the Apostle most clearly shows when he says, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.” And in another place, he says, “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.” Whence it plainly appears that the Apostolic tradition teaches that the outcome of the conduct of the saints can be seen, not in paintings, but in virtues, and that their faith is to be imitated, not by the colors of images, but in good works. (The same, book 1, chapter 18, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: The Psalmist says, “I have loved the beauty of your house.” But images pertain to the beauty of temples. Therefore, images are to be worshipped.
ICONOCLASTS: The consequence is not valid because it is a fallacy of manner of expression. For the house of God is not to be understood as a material house, but as the Church of God. Nor does beauty shine in material images, but rather in spiritual virtues. Likewise: Paul, Anthony the Great [Father of Monasticism], Hilarion the Great [founder of monasticism in Palestine], and other pious men did not have images, and yet they loved the beauty of the house of the Lord. Therefore, the beauty of the house of God is not found in images. (The same, book one, chapter twenty-nine, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: The Psalmist says, “As we have heard, so we have seen.” Therefore, images are to be worshipped.
ICONOCLASTS: Your argument is not valid because of its ignorance of the refutation, thereby drawing an irrelevant conclusion. We understand this saying spiritually, not about manufactured images, but about the more notable and eminent mysteries of the Prophets: namely, that just as we heard in the law about the coming of Christ, so we saw in the Gospel. (The same, book one, chapter thirty, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: In the Psalm, the enemies who malign the saints of God are condemned. Therefore, those who despise the worship of images are condemned.
ICONOCLASTS: The Psalm speaks of those who burned and devastated the temple of Jerusalem. But it is far different to remove from the temple the bronze sea, the cherubim, and the vessels, than to not worship manufactured images. Therefore, that statement does nothing to the matter. (The same, in the second book, chapter one, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: The Psalmist says, “Lord, in your city, you will reduce their image to nothing.” Therefore, images are to be worshipped.
ICONOCLASTS: This is a fallacy of the use of a phrase. The City of God in the sacred Scriptures is sometimes understood as the soul of man which is inhabited by God; or sometimes as the Church of the present time, but most often as heavenly Jerusalem. In this city, namely the heavenly Jerusalem, the images of the wicked will be reduced to nothing because their appearance will not be able to stand before the divine gaze: but just as they defiled in themselves the image of the Lord in the course of this present life, so in the heavenly Jerusalem will not appear the image of those who will indeed be subject to eternal fire. (The same, book 2, chapter 3, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb and shall bear a son.” But seeing this prophecy in an image, namely, the virgin carrying the one she bore in her arms, how shall we endure not to worship and kiss it?
ICONOCLASTS: The prophecy which declares a virgin will conceive and bear a son is no longer to be sought in uncertain and ambiguous things, but to be retained in the heart: nor are scriptures hidden mysteries [revealed] in paintings, but must be investigated in the divine scriptures themselves and their interpreters, namely, the Apostles and their successors, and to be contemplated by faith rather than by the eyes. How can we presume to worship something senseless? Who would dare commit such a crime? (The same, book four, chapter twenty-one, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: Kissing and worshiping are the same. But the Son is to be kissed. Therefore, His image is also to be worshiped.
ICONOCLASTS: These two names differ from each other as much as the things for which these names stand differ from each other. For sometimes what is worshiped is not kissed; and what is kissed is not worshiped. God is worshiped but not kissed. Spouses, children, etc., are kissed, yet they are not worshiped. It is manifest, therefore, that kisses and worship are the names of two different things. (The same is in the fourth book, chapter twenty-third, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: He who fears God, worships images of the Son of God. Therefore, those who do not worship God [through images] do not fear Him.
ICONOCLASTS: Are all the patriarchs and prophets who despised the worship of images to be believed not to have feared God? [Of course not.] So, then they affirm that the fear of the Lord is not in the worship of images, but in the will and insistence of God’s commandments. For if the beginning of the fear of the Lord is to worship images, as they say, they then establish that all the saints who are believed to have feared God, and yet did not worship images were opposed to the Creator’s commandments, for He forbade the worship of creatures. However, it is not true that they opposed the Creator’s commandments in worshiping creatures. Therefore, the beginning of the fear of the Lord is not to worship images. (The same in book 3, chapter 28, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: Solomon made oxen and lions in the temple. Therefore, images are to be worshiped.
ICONOCLASTS: This is irrelevant. Solomon made oxen and lions, not so that they should be worshiped, but so that they might signify certain mysteries; not to promote error, but to show the secrets of the mysteries. And shortly after: Therefore, we do not in some way reject images because of the memory of past events and the beauty of built basilicas, since through Moses and Solomon, although in typical figures, we know that they were made. But we restrain their most insolent, or rather most superstitious worship, which neither through the patriarchs, nor the prophets, nor the apostles, nor apostolic men have we found instituted anywhere. (The same in book 2, chapter 9, against the same synod.)
IDOLATORS: Just as to the Jews were given the Tablets and the two Cherubim; so to us Christians is given the cross and the images of the saints, to be written upon and worshiped.
ICONOCLASTS: Neither the Tablets, nor the two Cherubim, nor other things of this kind, are to be believed to have been made for worship in the Old Testament. [Your rhetorical reply]: What else is their purpose, except to exalt images and extol the matters of Christians? [We reply]: Clearly the Tablets and the two Cherubim were examples of things to come, which the Jews had carnally, and with typical veiled figures, prefigurations of things to come, yet we have them in truth spiritually. (The same in book one, chapter nineteen, against the same.)
IDOLATORS: Abraham honored the sons of Heth, Moses honored Jethro the priest of Midian. Therefore….
ICONOCLASTS: The honor given to these differs from the worship of a painted image as much as the painting of a man differs from the real man. For just as a real man differs from a painted one, rational from irrational, so undoubtedly does this honor differ from that worship. Also: It is one thing to greet a person with the duty of salutation and the observances of courtesy by bowing; it is another to worship a picture. Also, we are taught by the Scriptures, through examples, to apply brotherhood and love towards neighbors; but we are forbidden to worship or hail images. And it proves that holy men never worshiped images anywhere. (The same in book 1, chapter 9, against the same.)
IDOLATORS: Images have produced miracles. Therefore, they are to be worshiped; and they are equated with the fringe of the Lord’s garment, which the woman touching it was healed.
ICONOCLASTS: The preceding statement is false. For not one single page of the Old nor the New Testament demonstrates this; nor are all things to be worshiped through which or in which miracles appear. (Book three, chapter twenty-five.)
CENTURY 9
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
Antichrist is called a shepherd [Latin: pastor]. Haymo [Bishop of Halberstadt, Revelation commentator; d. 853]: “The foolish and unskilled shepherd/pastor is the Antichrist, who is said to come at the end of the age,” (on chapter 11 of Zechariah).
Concerning the coming of the Antichrist, Haymo teaches: “The great and last furnace is the tribulation to come in the time of the Antichrist, from which shall emerge the adverse doctrine which turns the minds of the perishing into darkness. This is compared to a pit because, although we experience error now in our day, even more errors will be sown by the wicked at that time. Hence, the Lord says, There will be great tribulation. But it must be understood that that persecution and false doctrine of the Antichrist and others will be partly similar [to our times] and partly dissimilar. It will be similar in the persecution of the saints, and in the spreading of errors containing lies. But dissimilar in this, that then they will perform miracles while being false teachers, which these [today] cannot do, and therefore, it will be more monstrous because it will deceive through both,” (book 2 on the Apocalypse, chapter 9).
Haymo defines the Antichrist: “Antichrist is that vessel of malice of the Devil and, as it were, the administrator of deception,” (on chapter 3 of Habakkuk).
Haymo indicates whence he is: Just as in Christ dwells the fullness of divinity, so in him dwells the fullness of wickedness. And just as Christ does all His works by the power of the word, so also the lost one will do his works through the power of the devil, who will dwell in him. Therefore, the dragon, that is, the devil, gave him his power and strength to do miracles and unheard-of signs: and gave him great power, through which he is exalted above peoples and kingdoms,” (book 4 on chapter 13 of the Apocalypse).
Haymo indicates of what source he is: Just as in Christ dwells the fullness of divinity, so in him dwells the fullness of wickedness. And just as Christ does all His works by the power of the word, so also the lost one will do his works through the power of the Devil, who will dwell in him. Therefore, the Dragon, that is, the Devil, gave him his power and strength to do miracles and unheard-of signs: and gave him great power, through which he is exalted above peoples and kingdoms,” (book 4, on chapter 13 of the Apocalypse).
When he will come, Haymo indicates: “Old age is the decrepit age which will be in the Church at the time of the Antichrist, when the strength of the Church will be almost entirely extinguished,” (on Psalm 70). Also: “Divine preaching will precede the coming of the Antichrist,” (on chapter 2 of Joel). Also: “When the day of the Lord comes, and the end of the world approaches, Satan will pour out all his power in the times of the Antichrist and will fight more fiercely to tempt and overthrow souls,” (on chapter 3 of Joel).
Where he will be in the future, Haymo explains: “The persecution of the Antichrist against the Church will not be in one place, but in all parts of the world,” (on chapter 6 of the Apocalypse, book 2).
How he will come: Haymo declares: “Gog, the king of locusts, which according to 70 interpreters is interpreted as a roof signifying a certain proud and arrogant strength of the Antichrist, who at the end of the world coming with an innumerable multitude of unbelievers, will consume all the grass of the earth in the evening, that is, all the weak and tender of the human race,” (on chapter 7 of Amos). Also: “The Antichrist will capture men in two ways. First, by separating them from the faith of Christ mentally, then [physically] from the eternal society of the faithful. For those who obey the Antichrist will be condemned to perpetual exile in captivity.” Also, “he is the first head of the Apocalypse.” Also: “When the Antichrist comes, after the fullness of the Gentiles, Elijah and Enoch will enter, preaching; and all Israel will be saved. And at that time iniquity will abound, and the love of many will grow cold. For many out of fear of the Antichrist’s affliction will deny Christ, and then the little reed, that is, the Gospel, which was in the Church, will be broken; and will partly cease and pass over to the Jews,” (book on Isaiah).
Remigius [Bishop of Reims, d. 533] says: Because he will rule over all his enemies, etc. “This is said spiritually of the Antichrist, the head of all the impious. Whose enemies will be all the friends of Christ, over whom he will rule, as to the body: for without contradiction, he will be allowed to rage against them, for their salvation and his destruction,” (on Psalm 9). Also: “Just as a lion lies in wait in a cave, so that the beasts outside do not fear it, and thus they approach it, for nowhere does its terror appear, until it comes out and openly devours them. So, too, the cruelty of the Antichrist, through flattering preaching and miracles, will seduce many. And those whom he can seduce in this way, he will attack with various torments, like a lion violently invading. He describes all these things so diligently about the Antichrist and his members so as to make his own cautious. For the darts which are foreseen at first appear harmless.” Hence elsewhere: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. There were two persecutions in the Church, open and violent. The first time violent, fraudulent in the midst, as through heretics and false brothers. Very strong, and joined from these two, at the end, in the time of Christ: he who cannot attract by miracles will compel by threats, because as a lion in a cave he lies in wait:” he aptly adds, “He lies in wait, that is, with flattering words, so that finally if he cannot prevail by flattery, with violence he will snatch the poor. He lies in wait to snatch the poor while he draws him in. And so that he may better draw him in, he has humbled him in his snare, that is, he vilifies those who are amazed at his miracles. But not without punishment, because he will bend down, that is, fall inwardly, given to a reprobate sense, by that very thing by which he will inflict punishments outwardly,” (Ibidem).
His cruelty is described by Haymo: “Such savagery then (in the times of the Antichrist) will be with immense persecution that the wicked will not be satisfied after they have killed them, but to further increase their own wickedness they will not allow them to be placed in a tomb after death,” (book 3 on chapter 11 of the Apocalypse).
On the purpose of the machinations of the Antichrist, Haymo says, “The Antichrist will come to acquire his glory,” (on Psalm 117). Also: “The Devil will almost entirely consume the Church in the time of the Antichrist,” (on Psalm 70).
Rabanus [Archbishop of Mainz, d. 856] says: “The Antichrist is the head of all iniquities,” (book 9 on Ecclesiasticus, chapter 2).
On the effects of the Antichrist, Haymo says: “The faith of Christ and the Church will fail in the hearts of some under the Antichrist,” (on chapter 2 of Joel).
How the pious will fight against him, Haymo teaches: “Just as the Antichrist will be crueler than all previous persecutors, so, too, those (who are members of Christ) will be stronger than all martyrs before them,” (book 1, chap. 1, on the Apocalypse).
CENTURY 10
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
What is the Antichrist? Theophylact [Archbishop of Ohrid; d. circa 1107] says: “Some think that the Antichrist is the abomination of desolation, because he will lay waste to the world, overthrow the Churches, and sit in the temple,” (on Matthew, chapter 24).
Where the Antichrist comes from, Radulphus [Ralph Glaber, monk and historian; d. 1047] teaches: “That wicked one is to be born from ecclesiastical parents, and among the sons of the mother Church, if he is first to receive the sacred sacraments. Hence, he is said to be born among the sons of Israel: it could not be otherwise, as the Apostle testifies, since in order to attain ecclesiastical honors and to receive the chair of dignity in the temple of God, namely in the society of the faithful, unless he first deceives those by whom he is to be ordained with the form of faith. With this summit of honor conferred upon himself, afterwards he will by his pride abuse, while opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, showing himself as if he were God. Therefore, he will have for a mother the sons of Israel, and for a father the Egyptians. For that which he will receive from the Church, namely the form of the sacraments and the image of sacredness, will be weak within himself, and in a feminine way, so that he can do nothing to sanctify his morals. But from the Egyptians he will have not a mother, but a father because wickedness, the enemy of the ancient one, namely the ruler of these darknesses, will prevail in his morals; from whom he will also be entirely possessed, so that by this impulse he will surpass all sinners by the enormity of his crimes, and will be uniquely called the Man of Sin by the Apostle,” (book 18 on Leviticus, chapter 1).
When he will come, Gilbertus [Porretanus, Bishop of Poitiers; d. 1154] warns: “Terror overtook Abraham in the evening, so that at the end of the world the dreadful persecution of the Antichrist will afflict the Church,” (in book, Altercat, chapter 7). Radulphus says: “I consider that there are no clearer signs of the coming of the Antichrist, according to that of the Apostle because when men shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction will come upon them: and the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, (book 18, chapter 11 on Leviticus).
Theophylact: “When the Antichrist is to come, there will be many false Christs and false prophets, and in the appearance of demons, who blind the eyes of the seers, so as to deceive some: and so much so, unless they are very sober, even the just will be deceived,” (on Matthew, chapter 24). And: “When the Roman empire is removed from the midst, then the Antichrist will come. For as long as the strength of this empire endures, no one will easily be subjected to him; but when it is dissolved, anarchy will induce him, that is, freedom, or rather a turbulent state of affairs which lacks a head and prince, and he will attempt to seize both the empire of men and of God. For just as before the Roman empire, empires were dissolved, such as the Medes by the Babylonians, the Babylonians by the Persians, the Persians by the Macedonians, the Macedonians by the Romans: in this way the Roman will be [replaced] by the Antichrist, and he again by Christ. And Daniel proposes these many things to us with clarity in chapter 2. Some understood ‘what withholds’ as idolatry. For when, he says, the withholding error has ceased and the worship of idols has been extinguished, then the Antichrist will come. As the Lord also said: The Gospel will be preached as a testimony to them, and then the end will come. Others, however, call ‘that which withholds’ the limit of God. For when the limit of God is fulfilled, which now detains the coming of the Antichrist, and the appointed time has come, then he will be revealed. It is further said or asserted by some that the Holy Spirit is a hindrance. For when He is taken away from the midst on account of the crimes of men and fails, then a place will be left for the wicked one to be revealed. And he began, Paul says, to claim the mystery of iniquity.” Theophylact, on Paul’s epistle to Thessalonians 2, chapter 2. “And at the coming of the Antichrist, indeed at that point of consummation, there will be most severe tribulation.” The same in Luke chapter 17.
What the future will be like under the Antichrist, Theophylact writes: “When the Antichrist comes, illicit pleasures will increase among men, and they will be dissolute, engaging in pleasure. For he will be the very cesspool of all sin and malice. Whence will he bring a different polity and life to the miserable generation of men at that time, than one entirely suitable to him? For what will be purified from the wicked?” The same is said in Luke chapter 17. “And he will not lead men to idolatry, but he will demolish all gods and their worships, whether idols or the like, and will preach only God Himself.” Also: “He does not sit properly in the temple, which is in Jerusalem; but simply in churches and every divine sanctuary.” Also: “He will perform works and miracles all to deceive.” In Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, it is said: “And he will be dreadful from every side; doing all things out of power and cruelty, so that he may impose and inflict injury on mortals, destroying their salvation. So that no one doubting might ask why God allowed him to come, it is said that it will be for the benefit of miserable mortals. Paul adds, Do not fear. For the strong and robust are perishing; even if he had not come, the unbelievers would still have remained.” The same is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. “And Paul calls it the operation of error, the works of the Antichrist, which cause deception. He even named him working through Satan to seduce many.” The same place.
How [is this going to happen?], Giselbertus [monk of St. Amand; d. 1095] explains: “Furthermore, in the time of the Antichrist there will come seven years of wealth, when the word of God will be dear as grain; for lack will precede the acts of the Antichrist,” In the book, Disputations between Photinus the Manichean and Paul the Christian, chap. 7. Also: “David is [a type of] Christ, who slew the lion and the bear threatening the sheep of Christ: the bear is the Devil; the lion, the Antichrist; one now secretly treacherous, the other openly raging at the end of the world,” (in the same book, chap. 15). Also: “His concubine is the synagogue from which the Antichrist, like Abimelech who usurped the kingdom for himself after killing his noble sons, will arise; but one escapes, that is, the believing people. They went,” says he who escaped, “to the olive, to the fig, to the vine, that they might rule over them. What then are those woods? Those woods are vain men, who, by a perverse intention in spiritual matters, desire preeminence and do not deserve it. For just as the good themselves say, ‘I washed my feet, how shall I defile them?’ Therefore, they choose a branch, and by this the chosen and the choosers perish. The perfidious followers of these Jews choose the Antichrist at the end of the age, and do not receive the vine of Christ, according to that saying: I came in my Father’s name, and you did not receive me; another will come in his own name, him you will receive. Finally, a fire went out from the branch: that is, iniquity from the Antichrist, and it consumed those confident in vanity; thus, Christ is the olive, the fig is the sweetness of evangelical grace, the Spirit is the vine. Moreover, between Abimelech and the supporters of Shechemites comes the worst spirit: thus, a perverse choice is always like an evil beginning, and so it has its end,” (Disputations, chap 14).
Ansbert [Autpert Ambrose? Frankish Benedictine monk; commentator on the Revelation; d. circa 784]: “And his feet are like polished bronze. In this passage, although all holy preachers rightly understand the feet as those of an angel, it is more fittingly applied to those last members of the Church, who under the excessive persecution of the Antichrist are to be refined by fire; but like the hardest metal, they will endure without loss of faith,” (book 1, chapter 1 on Revelation). Also: “I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming. Because this hour of trial is not said to have already come or to be present, but is predicted to come, it is better understood as being comprehended especially during this time of the Antichrist. For then will come that trial which will test the world not in parts but all at once. Then, what has never appeared in past times, the persecutors of the same Church will shine with miracles; and from this will come torment, and their miracles must be,” (Ansbert, book 2, chapter 3 on Revelation). And he says that the Antichrist and the Devil are one person, (book 5, chapter 11 on Revelation). Also: “The Antichrist, who feigns that he died and rose again in the likeness of Christ. The same beast is marked as the author of evil and inhabitant of the Antichrist, the Devil: as is hinted where it is said about the first beast, All who dwell on earth will worship him,” (Ansbert, book 5, chapter 11 on Revelation). And: “The stronger will be the steadfastness of the saint as the more savage the cruelty of the persecutors rages,” (Ansbert, book 6, chapter 12 on Revelation). Also: “And indeed the body of this head (as we have already said above) appeared, and is now seen, and is believed to be to come. Indeed, the head of the members who has not yet appeared himself has already appeared in his own. About whom it is written: A mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him. Oh, how many did not see the times of his temptation, and yet they are tossed in the storm of his temptation? Cain did not see the time of the Antichrist, and yet he was a member of the Antichrist by merit” (Ansbert, book 6, chapter 13, on the Apocalypse). And: “Through the lion, rightly is the love of transgression, that is, the Antichrist, designated: who both proclaims unheard-of things, and threatening unheard-of things, terrifies and deceives by fraud, and oppresses by the force of secular power,” The same, book 6, chapter 13 on the Apocalypse). Likewise: “And the dragon gave him his power and great authority. What power will he give to the beast, when through the Antichrist, exalted everywhere over peoples and kingdoms, he rages against the good?” And a little later: “And because he will not only oppress with temporal power, but also deceive many by signs and wonders, therefore, this is called great power. To this meaning the Apostle Paul agrees, saying: Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord JESUS will kill with the breath of his mouth” (Ansbert, book 6, chapter 13 on the Apocalypse). And: Ansbert often describes the marks or signs of the Antichrist as “wealth, power, signs, and wonders,” (book 6, chapter 13 on the Apocalypse). Also: “In the Antichrist there is not the slightest room [to be accused of] blasphemy because he [doesn’t] deny Christ with his words, but presents himself to be worshipped in his place; and persisting in this stubbornness of mind, according to his hardness and impenitent heart, he perseveres until the end. For if, repenting of this stubbornness, he were to confess Christ to be truly God, which he himself denies, there would somehow be room for pardon for him; but because he is hopeless he does not turn to repentance, and thereby blasphemes even the Holy Spirit, through whom the forgiveness of sins is given, so he does not deserve to receive the pardon of sins,” (ibidem). Also: “In the reception of the Antichrist, many unbelieving nations will have Jewish followers; and not only many, but also countless crowds. For just as the sacred Scripture calls the Gentiles children of Abraham for good, not by natural birth, but by confessing that Christ rose victorious from the dead from the tribe of Judah; so it must be believed that the Jews will have followers from the Gentiles for evil, who, receiving and following the Antichrist, who is said to be born from the tribe of Dan, will be marked as accomplices in the mark of crime, whose partakers they are in the punishment of eternal damnation,” (Ansbert, book 7, chapter 16, on the Apocalypse). Also: “Just as vessels of bronze, subdued by severe fire, bursting forth from intense heat, bubble outside and exceeding their capacity limits. Thus, also a part of the beast, existing in victory, when they see the Church of Christ fighting with tireless perseverance, inflamed with intolerable flames of envy, they breathe forth the fire conceived in their heart through impure blasphemies from their mouth,” (the same, book 7, chapter 16, on the Apocalypse).
Radulphus says: “The Antichrist coming in his own name, and exalting himself above all that is called God, will strive to nullify the divine faith,” (book 15, chapter 2, in Leviticus). And: “The time of the Antichrist remains, under which the moon will again be turned to blood, and the number of the blessed will be completed by many legions of holy martyrs,” (the same, book 18, chapter 2, in Leviticus).
Theophylact: “When the Antichrist comes, illicit pleasures will increase among men, and they will be dissolute, indulging in delights. This is what the Apostle also said: that in the last times there will be men lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. And rightly, in the kingdom of the deceiver, evils will flourish. For he will be the cesspool of all sin and malice, from which the miserable generation of men will adopt no other conduct or way of life than that which is proper to him. For what will be purified? At that time men will be ingulfed in all pleasures, just as in the times of Noah, fearing nothing serious; but neither will they believe if told about certain adverse events to come, just like the times of Noah and Lot,” in Luke chapter seventeen.
Where? Ansbert: “Because in those regions where Christ is said to have been crucified, where also the head of evils will appear, the Antichrist will sit and reign, a more cruel persecution will harass the Church; therefore, above all, that city which killed the prophets and stoned those sent, understood to be the earthly Jerusalem, is described as having the dead bodies of saints lying in the streets; as if, namely, where the principal struggle will be, there the bodies of the dead lie in abundance. In these words, it is also plainly understood that, above all, then the Jewish people will adhere to the Antichrist, until Enoch and Elijah return, preaching Christ to all who are to be saved from there,” (book 5, chap. 11 in Apocalypse; and in book 6 in Apocalypse, chap. 13). Babylon is called “second Rome,“ (book 8, chap. 17). Also: “What does he mean by the fourth kingdom if not the Roman empire in which the ten kings are mentioned, after whom the Antichrist is said to arise,” (Ansbert, book eight, chapter 17 in Apocalypse).
Radulphus: Furthermore, the seventh head of this beast will be the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will arise as a little horn among the ten horns of the fourth beast. Indeed, among the divisions of the Roman empire, which was once divided into many parts, the Antichrist will rise; and first with three kings allied to him and torn away from the faith of Christ which they previously held. It is uncertain who these future ones will be; then he will occupy the whole world and appear more powerful than the other kings. Therefore, it was justly said by the angel to John, who wrote under the Roman empire about these seven kingdoms, Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. (book 18, chap. 1 in Leviticus.)
Ansbert has much on the number of the beast in the Apocalypse, book 6, chapter 13.
Who that future one is, Theophylact says: “For Paul teaches us who that one is, namely, a man who is possessed by Satan who works in him.” Also: “He will appear to have omnipotence but will have no truth. For all things will tend toward imposture. Through outrageous lies—meaning deceptive words that mislead listeners into believing falsehoods—those who pay attention are led astray. But Paul says this is so that those who [have been chosen to] live will not be deceived. This In Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2.
On the power of the Antichrist, Radulphus says: “Therefore, who would not be troubled or shaken by so great and sudden a change of things? Unless he refers what he sees to the Scriptures, and consults the law of God concerning the state of that time, so that, judging by Moses, what is to be understood from it may be discerned; and with both new and old sacred writings reconsidered, that novelty may be examined under the light of prophecy,” (book 18, chap. 1 in Leviticus). Also: “He will triumph over kings, laugh at every fortification, and carry away the rampart, capturing it. For he will subject many to himself, who are now considered steadfast in religion,” (ibid.).
On the end of the Antichrist, Ansbert says: “If anyone worships the devil and his image, namely the Antichrist, and imitates him either in faith or works, he does not receive punishments here in the present, as if drunk with pure wine, but in the future he will be punished with eternal vengeance, as if debased with dregs,” (book 6, chap. 14 in Apocalypse). Radulphus says: “The land to which woes are to occur is reported to be beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. And because that damned man is so immensely wicked, surpassing the sins of all sinners, when he suddenly arrives, entering unexpectedly, he will disrupt the festivals among the children of Israel, disturb the peace of the Church, and will soon overturn the state of long-lasting tranquility. Hence, also, the Prophet Ezekiel, prophesying against Gog, seems to express this most savage enemy of the holy Church quite clearly,” (book 18, chap. 1 in Leviticus). And: “This will happen under the Antichrist, when according to the Apostle there will come a falling away; for then there will be a great earthquake, that is, a great commotion among earthly men who, both through terror and the flatteries of the enemy, will depart from the firmness of faith; and it will become black like sackcloth because the shining life of preachers will be shown harsh and despised before the eyes of the reprobate. The moon will also be turned to blood, when the holy Church is drenched with the blood of its martyrs; stars will fall to the earth, that is, many who seemed like celestial lights will fall due to the cruelty of persecution,” (ibid.).
Theophylact says: “The coming of the Lord will not occur unless there comes a defection, that is, the Antichrist. For he called it a defection, because indeed he will cause many to defect, even the elect, if it were possible. However, he calls him the man of sin, as one who will complete every kind of sin and will lead others to sin. He is also called the son of perdition, since he himself is lost. But who is he? Is he Satan? Not at all: but some man, showing all the working of Satan,” (in Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 2).
Christ will destroy the Antichrist. Theophylact: “Just as fire, even before its coming, when it is still far off, causes small beasts to become numb and stunned, and consumes them: in this way Christ, either by his sole power or by the full breath of the Holy Spirit, will destroy and obscure him, and by his very coming will abolish him, that is, will make him entirely powerless. For wherever he has only been seen, deception will cease,” (in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2).
The opinion is that he will come from Dan. Giselbertus: “Note that the camp of Dan is placed to the north, from which the Antichrist was to come,” (Disputations, chapter 13). Also: “some think Nero will be the Antichrist,” (book 8, chapter 17 of the Apocalypse).
Thus Radulphus says: “For the tribe of Dan, which encamps to the north, seems to foreshadow him who is to be born from the same tribe; among those who are removed from the fervor of charity, and placed as if under an icy region, he will receive principality; and from the sides of the north, as we have brought forth from Ezekiel, he will lead an army. But, indeed, as this tribe was departing last, it was shown to be the end of the Church in the future times of the Antichrist. Let no one be moved that the tribe of Dan was counted among the camps of Israel, since the Antichrist is to be an enemy of the Church. He will, indeed, be an enemy to the faithful, but, nevertheless, he will gather the greatest part of his multitude from the professors of faith,” (book 18, chapter 1 in Leviticus).
CENTURY 11
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
Whence he is: Anselm [Archbishop of Canterbury; d. 1109] “Just as God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself; so, the Devil will be in the Antichrist, seducing the world. And just as Christ said, The Father who dwells in me does the works, so the evil, dwelling in the Antichrist, will do all the things which he will seem to do,” (in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2).
What kind of Antichrist will be, Bruno [founder of the Carthusian Order; d. 1101] declares, saying: “The sinner will exacerbate the Lord, that is, he will stir up His wrath by his pride: which is first to be understood about the Antichrist, who provokes the true Lord when by his deceit he will proclaim himself not only an earthly king but also the God of all things. But this will be his ruin. Therefore, as a false god, he will be punished with fitting flames. The Antichrist does not ask that his cruel sins be forgiven because in his sight he has no God,” (Psalm 9). And: “The Antichrist provokes the true Lord, when by his deceit he will proclaim himself, not only an earthly king, but also the God of all things. But this will be his ruin, therefore, as a false god, he will be punished with fitting flames. The Antichrist does not ask God to forgive his cruel sins because in his sight he has no God. Therefore, David says: O how deep is the blindness, to have no God before one’s eyes,” etc., and he adds concerning the Antichrist that “all his paths are polluted: that is, his thoughts and deeds are filthy. For it is necessary that they be contaminated, which are defiled under the pestilential leadership of the Devil. And it increases his destruction that it is said he holds the principality of his enemies: by which boast he will be more prone to crimes, since he will recognize no one opposing him. The Antichrist says, ‘I will not be moved’: that is, I will leave no nation untouched, and ‘I will proceed from nation to nation avenging.’ Indeed, he shows his actions in one word when he says he will do nothing without evil. Wickedness is first described by a double perversity. For in his mouth he will have blasphemy and curse, as when he sends himself as the Son of God; bitterness, when he inflicts death upon those who oppose him and causes them to come to punishment; labor, when he afflicts the innocent with various calamities; pain, when he makes martyrs; he sits in ambush. David compared these acts of the Antichrist to the custom of robbers, who hide themselves in order to kill the innocent. The wealthy of the world will enrich themselves, so that their glory may deceive others. He will bow to tyrants when he has relaxed his spirit in some way, ceasing from such great persecution, satisfied with the excessive acquisition of the damned. After the punishments and afflictions of the righteous, the most wicked will fall with his followers from his own presumption, when sudden destruction overtakes him. For he does not know the unhappy end of the world, since the Lord has placed it in His power,” (in Psalm 9). Likewise, “the Antichrist will have such an intention that the Christian name will be utterly erased from the face of the earth, not knowing how to have mercy. And while he desires to kill the saints of Christ, he will [unwittingly] fulfill the number of saints [appointed to die] by his constant persecution,” (Psalm 82).
He will be a persecutor. Anselm: “Whom even the perfect [i.e., the true saints] will fear when under the Antichrist immense persecution will rage everywhere. But [though all are] fearing, he will begin to sink a little because, due to the horror of the atrocities of the punishments which will be inflicted on the saints, and because of the admiration of the false signs by the followers of the Antichrist, he will be somewhat wavering in his heart, feeling something from the lower part of his soul: so that, unless Christ lifts him up with His right hand, he could easily sink completely,” (in the explanation of the Gospel).
Secession, Anshelm thus interprets (unless the departure comes first), “that all the people subject to the Roman Empire will depart from it. Or the multitude of Churches will withdraw from the Roman prince, or all the multitude will depart from the faith,” (in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2).
Also: “Then the Roman Pontiff, who now holds the churches, shall hold them until the mediator—that is, until the very Roman Church, now the mediator and heart of the churches—shall be filled with iniquity, on account of which many shall depart from her,” Ibid.
Where he will be killed. Anshelm: “The Antichrist will be killed, as we understand from the book of Daniel, on the Mount of Olives, in his little pavilion on his throne: namely, in that place where the Lord ascended into heaven, (in the second chapter of the latter epistle to the Thessalonians).
CENTURY 12
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
DRAGON. Rupert [of Deutz, Benedictine monk, Revelation commentator; d. 1129] : “That Dragon, that Devil is now called by another name, but a close one, not without reason due to the greatness of the new thing: for he who was formerly the Devil and called the Dragon will be in a man, and will be armed with a man, who will be the man of sin, the son of perdition. For this reason, it has been properly changed so that he is called a beast. For that man will be hostile to God and all creation, according to the operation of the same Satan, according to the nature or etymology of the name because a beast is called ‘festia’ [i.e., hostile] as an antonym because it is hostile,” (book 8, chapter 13 in his commentary on the Apocalypse).
BEAST. Rupert: “The very same individual is both the man of sin and the Antichrist, and shortly before that, the beast with seven heads; and here he is described as one of the heads of the beast — that is, the beast with so many heads representing its body, which is the whole generation of the wicked. However, one single head stands for his own person and for the primacy of that particular time when he is to be revealed: the king of all the sons of pride,” (book 8, chapter 13 of the Apocalypse). And: “Two beasts rising simultaneously, [one] from the sea [the other from the earth] because of twin power, namely warlike or royal power, and magical power, by which he deceived men.” Ibidem. And: “The beast whose deadly wound was healed. The seventh head of the beast will be the Antichrist, concerning whose wound when it received it, and how it was healed or wishes to be seen as healed, has already been said above concerning power. Therefore, he made, that is, he will cause the earth and all who dwell in it, that is, earthly men storing up treasures not in heaven but on earth with sacrilegious desire, to worship the first beast, namely the principal power of the Antichrist, and to receive its bestial exaltation by which he is exalted above all that is called God or worshiped,” (book 8, chapter 13 in the Apocalypse).
ANTICHRIST. Rupert: “He will do all these things according to his name, indeed, according to the name imposed on him, which is Antichrist; that is, contrary to Christ because all things said about him are contrary to those which we read about Christ,” (book 8, chapter 13 in the Apocalypse). Also: “The Antichrist sheds the blood of others; Christ shed his own blood,” (ibidem). Also: “The Antichrist, that is to say, the one contrary to Christ, the proper adversary of Christ, is a false shepherd because leaving the flock and truly an idol and son of the Devil, he is rightly called the lie,” (book 4, on Zechariah, chapter 11). [N. B. The Antichrist is a false Christian pastor.]
Regarding the Antichrist, Honorius [of Autun, theologian; d. circa 1140] says: “The Antichrist is emphatically called the lie itself, because in all his deeds and words he is a liar,” (Psalm 4). Also: “For three days before Easter, three years of the time of the Antichrist are understood to be prefigured, during which all the cruelties of his world will be disturbed. [N. B. The year-day Principle.] Therefore, penitents are introduced into the Church on these days, because at that time the Jews will convert to the Church in full repentance,” (Mirror of the Church). Also: Before the coming of Christ to the final judgment, Elijah and Enoch will announce his [Antichrist’s] coming, etc. At that time the Antichrist will reign, disturbing the whole world in various ways. For he will attract all princes to himself by means of money, and [deal] with the rich in secret ways; and like a lion lying in wait, he will give himself over to trapping [them]. He will deceive the clergy through worldly wisdom when he speaks words against the Most High. He will seduce the religious with signs and wonders, even causing fire to descend from heaven. He will shake the common people with terror when he rages with the greatest persecution against the Christians. For he will kill Enoch and Elijah and will destroy all who resist his cruel examination. Whom the Lord JESUS, by the command of the spirit of His mouth or by the ministry of the archangel Michael, will kill, and He Himself will then come to judge [the world],” (ibidem).
Rupert: “The Antichrist has long been working the ministry of iniquity through his members,” (book 2, on Genesis, chapter 28).
Bernard says: “But when I asked him what he [Henry of Lausanne] believed concerning the Antichrist, he declared with absolute certainty that the Antichrist was still to be revealed in this very generation that now endures. Yet when I pressed him to explain the source of this certainty, and he began to set it out for me as I questioned him, after hearing his reply I did not judge that I should accept it as certain. Nevertheless, in conclusion he maintained this one thing: that he himself would not see death before witnessing a general persecution in the Church,” (Epistle 56).
Richard [of Saint-Victor, Scottish theologian, Revelation comentaror; d. 1173] says: “The reprobates will deserve such bitter divine vengeance in the days of the Antichrist that they will burst forth into blaspheming the divine name; and what is worse, not only will they burst forth into blasphemy, but they will also not do penance,” (book 5 on the Apocalypse).
Wherefore Rupert says: “He calls the Antichrist who is to come the seed of the Devil, as well as the lie born from his heart, all gathered and founded in him,” (book 8, chapter 13, on the Apocalypse). And: “Before the Devil enters into the proper vessel of the Antichrist, the son of perdition, although he was struck down from heaven, he still seeks temples, altars, priests, and sacrifices as if he is a living God; and after he has entered that man he will obtain the kingdoms of the world and will sit in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God,” (ibidem). And: “Upon the release of the dragon or ancient serpent, the devil, will be the coming of the Antichrist,” (book 10, chapter 17, the Apocalypse).
HIS SUBSTANCE. Rupert: “He is truly a man by nature, but the devil will be entirely in him with all his power, with full plenitude, and the coming of that same man will be according to the operation of Satan,” (book 8, chapter 13, the Apocalypse).
WHERE. Rupert: “The devil knows a suitable place for that lost man who is called the Antichrist, in which the root of all evils ought to arise, namely, the city of Babylon, a populous place of the malignant,” (book 8, chapter 13, the Apocalypse).
Richard states: “The unbelieving nations are ever a seat [throne] for the Antichrist,” (book 5 on the Apocalypse). Likewise: “The seats of the beast are the rulers of the Gentiles, in whom the Antichrist will chiefly sit and reign,” (Ibidem.)
Honorius refers Babylon and the beast to the pontifical state, saying: “Look at the princes and judges, behold, the seat of the beast is placed in them. They are always intent on evil, always inexorably occupied with the affairs of iniquity, they not only commit crimes but also instruct others to commit them. They sell sacred things; they buy wickedness. With all their might they labor so that they alone do not come to Tartarus. Turn to the clergy, and you will see in them the tent of the beast; they neglect the service of God, they serve earthly gains, they defile the priesthood through impurity, they seduce the people through hypocrisy, they deny God through evil works, they reject all scriptures pertaining to salvation, in every way they spread snares and ruin among the people whom, blind themselves, they lead the blind to destruction. Contemplate also the gatherings of monks, and you will see in them the tabernacles of the beast: by false profession mocking God they provoke His wrath; they trample the rule of monastic life by morals and conduct; by their dress they deceive the world; deceived themselves they deceive many others; they are involved in worldly affairs, while idle in the service of God; most are given over to gluttony and allurements; some rot in filthy uncleanness. Also, look at the habits of nuns, and you will see in them the prepared chamber of the beast. These from tender age learn impurity, they take many accomplices to themselves for the accumulation of their damnation; they hasten to cover themselves with a veil, by which they can more easily loosen the reins of luxury; worse than all prostitutes they lie prostrate, and like an insatiable Charybdis they are never filled with filth of uncleanness. These ensnare the souls of youths and rejoice if they ensnare more and desire the palm of victory when prevailing over others in wickedness. Turn your attention to the rest of the people, and you will find in them the image of the beast. The priests despise, they scorn to hear anything about God, they spend their whole life in vanity and arrogance and reject every good work. The common people also, being untaught, have the idol of the beast. They do not know the true God, they serve the god of the belly with their whole attention, they dissolve through various desires of the flesh and live a beastly life in all things. Come here to the slopes of this valley and see the monstrous assemblies of women. In these the beast places all its pomp and monsters and has arranged them to bear its weapons. You see how she corrupts young men through that luxury, she kills many with poison; this one betrays a man’s life for gold, this one kills her offspring, this one provokes quarrels, another instigates wars, this one alienates men’s minds through witchcraft; indeed no money or luxury satisfies her, this one deceives many by laughing, that one seduces many by weeping. These are the bulwarks of this city, and these are the javelins of the beast. O God, what monstrous prodigies do I behold? You have seen the walls of the adulterous city; you also desire to behold its destruction. Now the citizens of Babylon, although more numerous in number, continually wage war against the citizens of Jerusalem because they are placed among them in exile. But afterward the heavenly king, coming with an army of angels, will utterly overthrow this lost city, and liberating His elect from there, will lead them into the heavenly palace with Him, to whom He will then present such a spectacle. This Babylon which you see is the glory of this world, with its prince the devil, and all the citizens of this city, namely the lovers of this world; suddenly He will cast them into the lake of fire and sulfur, and then will change everything into a better state for the elect,” (Dialogue on free will and predestination).
WHEN. Rupert: “The Antichrist, a foolish and ignorant shepherd, is said to be coming at the consummation of the world, and what he will be like is also indicated,” (book 4, Commentary on Zechariah, chapter 12).
Ignorance does not excuse. Rupert: “Those who, through such signs, who worship the enthroned beast and believe in the Antichrist, cannot be excused through ignorance: as if they were ignorant and had not read that such an image of the beast, namely, the serpent, had spoken to the first humans,” (book 8, on the Apocalypse, chapter thirteen).
Potho of Prüfening [12th century Benedictine monk] says concerning the reason for the entrance of Antichrist: “Therefore it is clearly declared to us that he goes about in darkness. Indeed, he is followed by many, and now the last and most dangerous temptation approaches, when the Church of Christ will be shaken by the attack of the midday demon, like a most severe storm: when that man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, will appear as the midday light in all false signs and wonders, deceiving those who dwell on the earth,” (book 3, on the State of the House of God).
About the works of the Antichrist, Berengard of Trier [?] says: “Let there be a serpent in the way (says Jacob), a horned viper on the path, signifying the Antichrist, who against the elect of God must sometimes rage with twofold madness, since he is called a serpent from cunning, and a horned viper from power,” (In the book, On the Mystery of the Wood [Cross] of the Lord).
Rupert says: “The beast, namely the Antichrist, who long since has worked and still works the ministry of iniquity, will make war against those in a manner like that which is usually between truth and falsehood” (book 6, chapter 11, on the Apocalypse). He also says: “The seventh and greatest head will be the Antichrist, for he now sends messengers and his preachers throughout the whole world. Moreover, his preaching and power will extend from sea to sea, from East to West, from the north even to the south. He will first turn kings and princes to himself and then will raise up a dangerous persecution under every sky against all peoples who confess Christ” (ibid., book 8, chapter 13). And: “Concerning the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will be the seventh head, Scripture says this: ‘To him was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies,’ and ‘he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle.’ Thus, upon the heads of the beast are the names of blasphemy by which individual kingdoms ascribe to their kings the name that is God, or the kings themselves have arrogated it beforehand — which obviously is blasphemy,” (ibid.). He adds: “He is king over all the sons of pride, who will not only acquiesce to the immoderate flattery of those saying ‘Who is like the beast?’ but will also have a great mouth, a mouth speaking great things, arrogating magnificence to himself and demanding from all the words not of man but of God, that all should say, ‘Who is like you?’ He will exact this not only by speech but also by military power,” (ibid.). He also says: “He will make war with the saints and will conquer them: namely, he who cannot prevail by a blaspheming mouth will vindicate himself by fighting and by killing,” (ibid.). And: “Then indeed in that son of perdition the devil will be truly loosed, whose persecution of the servants of Christ will be so great and so dreadful that they will not dare to confess even the word of justice, but even the Christian name itself will be forbidden to them,” (book 11, Commentary on the Apocalypse). And: “He will be permitted to use and will stir up a public persecution of Christians everywhere on earth, and will seduce all the Gentiles, except the elect; for it cannot be that the elect should be led into error,” (ibid.). And: “The Antichrist will give life to the dead living for the god of this world, while he will put to death the living, that is the righteous who live for God,” (ibid.).
The Antichrist is attributed to monks. Peter of Blois [French theologian and cleric; d. 1203] says: “It was more tolerable not to have undertaken the vow of penance than to regress afterward. It is a matter of great crisis to carry the disgrace of the world under the guise of religion, to conceal impiety under the shade of piety, and to hide the Antichrist mysteriously under the garments of Christ,” (Epistle 61).
About the punishment, Rupertus says: “The Antichrist, the head of the wicked kings, will be devoured by the judgment of damnation, and all flatterers, not those harming or offending him, will be devoured,” (book 6, chapter 2 on the Apocalypse).
CENTURY 13
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
They have opinions about the Antichrist. Thomas [Aquinas; d. 1274] gives his reason why Elijah and Enoch are sent to preach during the time of the Antichrist: namely, because one is from the time before the law, namely Enoch, the other from the time under the law, and therefore their testimony will be solid, (On Apocalypse, chapter 11). Also: It should be noted that after the death of the Antichrist, the holy preachers will preach, and the faithful will magnify God, whose power in the destruction of the Antichrist will already have been manifested and will appear more openly in the impending judgment, (ibid). Also: The Devil will reveal to the Antichrist treasures of gold and silver hidden, (On Apocalypse, chap. 13). Also: Note, it says, that since the Antichrist will have reigned in great power for some time, namely for three and a half years, he will be killed by a vile death on the Mount of Olives, in the pavilion and on his throne, in that place against which Christ ascended to heaven, (chapter 13). Also: After the death of the Antichrist, peace will be given to the Church, which however will last but a little while, (chapter 8). Also: Note, as the Gloss says, after the death of the Antichrist, forty-two days will be given for those who wavered during the persecution of the Antichrist to repent, just as the Jews had forty-two years, (ibid). Also, he says the Antichrist will have his own precursors who will announce his coming, (chapter 10). And from the Gloss it asserts that during the time of the Antichrist Elijah and Enoch will come forth publicly to testify to the catholic truth: whom, when they have finished their testimony, the Antichrist will kill, (chapter 11).
As to WHAT: Thomas says, “The Antichrist will be the chief head of the multitude of the wicked.” Also: The Antichrist is the head of all times because his apparent power will result in the exaltation of other wicked ones, namely, the power of rising again (chapter 13, On Apocalypse).
Hence, the opinion of Thomas: The Antichrist will descend from the tribe of Dan, (On Apocalypse, chapter 7).
Status. Thomas: At the time of the Antichrist, the magnificence of Christ will not appear in the world through doctrine, (On Apocalypse, chapter 6).
Doctrine. Thomas: The doctrine of the Antichrist has a darkening effect, as if it darkens us, turning itself here and there because of its spreading, (chapter 10, On Apocalypse).
Works of the Antichrist. Thomas: The Antichrist and his followers will act according to the imitation of the deeds of Christ, in order to pervert the faith of Christians and make them Antichristians. For the Antichrist will simulate death and resurrection and ascension, and will feign the sending of the Holy Spirit, (On Apocalypse, chapter 13). And: The Antichrist and his helpers will rule over other evil men, who will lead them to evil, and will detain them in it. Also, they reign over present evils, although the Antichrist has not yet appeared. For the Antichrist, though not yet manifestly come, is already the head of evils now, (chapter 17). Also: Much blood of the faithful will be shed in various places by ministers of the Antichrist, procured by the devil, (chapter 6). And: The Antichrist will punish by secular princes those unwilling to adhere to him and to receive the doctrine of his preachers. Also: In the beginning when the Antichrist is born, before he has extended his power, preaching will take place; but afterwards, when he is in his great dominion, then preaching will be selective, not general as now, nor solemn as now, (On Apocalypse, chapter 9). Also: The Antichrist will be called lord of the earth, although only God is the true lord of all things, (chapter 11).
Albert the Great [Bishop of Regensburg, scientist, theologian; d. circa 1280]: “Antichrist will usurp with lying signs.” Also, “the Jews will be the first to convert to Antichrist.” Also, “it is believed that Antichrist will be born from Dan,” (in his commentary, On John, chap. 5). Also: “Antichrist is a worker of error and lies,” (ibid., chapter 8). Also: “Antichrist will pretend to be holy,” (ibid.). Also: “Antichrist will usurp the holiness of virtue and will be damned,” (chap. 1).
Doctors against the Antichrist. Thomas: “Seven Angels or preachers in the time of the Antichrist. The first will preach against the Jews who will receive the Antichrist. The second against the Gentiles who will afflict the Christians. The third against the false apostles of the Antichrist who will pervert the Scriptures. The fourth against the Antichrist himself who will exalt himself above God. The fifth against the infidels whom the Antichrist will subject to himself. The sixth against the rich who similarly obey the Antichrist. The seventh against demons who suggest that the aforementioned evils will happen,” (On Apocalypse, chapter 15).
Thomas recites nonsense about the Antichrist:
“The Antichrist will be born in Babylon from the tribe of Dan, according to what Jacob said: Let Dan be a serpent, etc. And when he comes to Jerusalem, he will circumcise himself, saying to the Jews: ‘I am the Christ promised to you.’ Then all the Jews will flock to him, and they will rebuild the temple destroyed by the Romans. And there he will sit, showing himself as if he were God,” (De humanitate Christi, cap.29).
END
Antichrist Through Centuries 2 – 13 translated from The Magdeburg Centuries
Including Arguments of Iconoclasts in the 8th Century
CENTURY 2
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
There is a great diversity of opinions and views about the Antichrist among all the learned men of this age. Irenaeus [Greek Bishop; d. circa 202], gathering various opinions and conjectures, holds that the Roman kingdom will be the beast of the harlot, because the number of the name of the Antichrist, mentioned in the Apocalypse, is expressed by the Greek word λατεῖνος [Latin man]. Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos, in Church History, book 4, chapter 36, from Jewish doctrine, says: “The advent of the Antichrist was awaited.” This opinion, if one considers the Montanist heresy and the attempts of the Roman victor, was not entirely without foundation. For what else did Montanus [2nd century self-proclaimed prophet] do with his new traditions of the Paraclete, laws of fasting, dissolution of marriages, then to lay the very foundations of all Antichristianism?
ON IMAGES
Clement of Alexandria, [Greek Christian theologian; d. circa 215], in the Protrepticus [Exhortation to the Greeks] says thus about images: “It is openly forbidden to us to practice deceitful art. For the Prophet says, there shall be no image of anything, of those which are in heaven, and whatever are on the earth beneath.” Likewise: “We do not have a sensible image from sensible matter, but that which is perceived by intelligence. God is not sensible.” And in the 6th Stromata [Miscellanies]: “There is no simulacrum [representation of God] for us in the world because in created things nothing can bear the image of God.”
CENTURY 3
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
Tertullian [‘Father of Latin Christianity;’ d. circa 220] in the book On the Resurrection of the Flesh: “The man of sin, that is, the Antichrist, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or religion, so that he sits in the temple of God, claiming to be God. Do you not remember that when I was with you I told you these things? And now you know what restrains him, so that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of iniquity is already at work: only he who now restrains must continue to do so until he is taken out of the way. Who is it? Unless it is the Roman state, whose departure will be divided among ten kings who will bring in the Antichrist, and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill by the breath of His mouth and will destroy by the manifestation of His coming. Whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish.”
The same in the third book, Against Marcion: “In our John, Babylon is a figure of the Roman City: therefore great, proud in kingdom, and the destroyer of the saints of God.” Origen [scholar and theologian; d. circa 253] in his third Homily on Psalm 36 called the Antichrist the arrow of the devil. And he has a certain eighth Homily on Ezekiel about the same, where he seems to make him worse than the devil. Cyprian [Bishop of Carthage; d. 258], or whoever is the author of the Exposition of the Creed, says: “The Antichrist will appear before the coming of the Lord in the name of Christ.” The same said that the coming of the Antichrist is approaching in its time, in a little book to Fortunatus: “The time of the Antichrist has already begun to approach.” Likewise in the fourth book, sixth Epistle: “You ought to know, and firmly believe and hold, that the day has begun to press upon the head, and the end of the age and the time of the Antichrist has approached.” In the same place: “The Antichrist comes.”
CENTURY 4
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
In Hilary’s [Bishop of Poitier; d. circa 367] book, Against the Arians, “The property of the name Antichrist is to be contrary to Christ. And we also learned there are many Antichrists, even as the Apostle John preached.” And in Matthew, in the twenty-fifth canon, “The Antichrist is called the abomination from Daniel because he will come against God, claiming for himself the honor of God. But he is the abomination of desolation, because by wars and slaughter he will desolate the land with punishment, and being received by the Jews, he will stand in the place of sanctification: and where God was invoked by the prayers of the saints, there he will be received by the unbelievers and be venerable with the honor of God.”
Jerome [author of Vulgate translation; d. 420] to Aglasius, question eleven: “The Apostle explains what must be awaited before the coming of the Antichrist, so that when they see those things fulfilled, then they may know that the Antichrist (that is, the man of sin, and the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God) is to come. Unless, he says, the departure comes first, so that all the nations subject to the Roman empire withdraw from it; and he has been revealed, that is, shown, who all the words of the prophets foretell, the man of sin, in whom is the source of all sins, and the son of perdition, that is, [the son] of the devil (for he who opposes Christ is the ruin of all, and therefore, is called Antichrist, and is exalted above all that is called God, so that he tramples underfoot all the gods of the Gentiles, or the proven and true religion; and [he does this] in the temple of God, either in Jerusalem as some think, or in the Church as we more rightly judge; he will sit, showing himself as if he were Christ himself and the Son of God). For unless the Roman empire has been desolated beforehand, and Antichrist has preceded, he says Christ will not come to destroy the Antichrist. You remember, he says, that these very things which I now write in this letter I was telling you when I was with you: and I was telling you that Christ will not come unless Antichrist has gone before him. And now you know what restrains him, so that he may be revealed in his own time: this is the reason why you well know that Antichrist does not come at present. Nor does he want to say openly that the Roman empire must be destroyed, which those who rule think to be eternal. Hence, according to the Apocalypse of John, on the forehead of the purple harlot, as it is written, is the name of blasphemy, that is, Eternal Rome. For if he had said openly and boldly, The Antichrist would not come unless first the Roman empire be destroyed, then there would seem to be a just cause for persecution to arise in the East against the Church. And what follows: For already the mystery of iniquity works so much that he who now restrains must continue to do so until he be taken out of the way; and then the lawless one will be revealed. This is its meaning.”
[Jerome continues:] “With many evils and sins, by which the most impure Nero of the Caesars oppresses the world, the advent of the Antichrist is brought forth: and what he will work afterward is in this part fulfilled: only that the Roman empire, which now holds all nations, shall withdraw and be taken out of the way: and then the Antichrist will come, the fountain of iniquity, whom the Lord Jesus will kill by the spirit of His mouth: namely by divine power, and by the command of His majesty: whose command is to be done, not by the multitude of armies, nor by the strength of soldiers, nor by the aid of angels: but immediately as he comes, the Antichrist will be killed. And just as darkness is driven away by the coming of the sun: so, by the illumination of His coming, the Lord will destroy and wipe him out; whose works are the works of Satan. And just as in Christ was the fullness of divinity bodily: so, also, in the Antichrist will be all powers, signs, and wonders, but all lies. For just as by the signs of God, which were worked through Moses, the magicians resisted with their lies, and the rod of Moses devoured their rods: so, the truth of Christ will devour the lies of the Antichrist. But those prepared for perdition will be seduced by his lie. And if a silent question might arise, such as, Why did God allow him to have all power, signs, and wonders, through which even the elect of God could be seduced, if possible? He anticipates the question with an answer: for what could be in opposition he resolves before it is opposed. He will do (he says) all these things, not by his own power, but by the permission of God, on account of the Jews: so that those who did not want to receive the love of truth, that is, the Spirit of God through Christ because the love of God has been poured into the hearts of believers. And He Himself says: I am the truth. Of whom it is written in the Psalms: Truth has risen out of the earth. Therefore, those who did not receive charity and truth, so that they might be saved by receiving the Savior, God will send them, not by an agent but by the operation itself, that is, the fountain of error, so that they may believe a lie because he is a liar himself, and his father. And if indeed the Antichrist had been born of a virgin, and had first come into the world, the Jews could have an excuse, and say that they thought it to be truth, and therefore, received the falsehood as truth. Now, however, they are to be judged, indeed without doubt condemned, because having spurned the truth of Christ they will afterwards receive falsehood, that is, the Antichrist.”
[N. B. Jerome could not imagine professing, yet false Christians to be the ones sent the strong delusion, so he conceived of none but the Jews who openly denied Jesus was the Christ.]
The same in the commentaries on Daniel: “At the end of the world, when the Roman kingdom is to be destroyed, there will be ten kings who will divide the Roman world among themselves: and an eleventh little king will arise, who will surpass three of the ten kings, that is, the king of the Egyptians, and of Africa, and Ethiopia. After killing them, he will also subject seven other kings to his victorious yoke.” “And behold,” says Daniel chapter 7, “eyes like a man’s,” etc. “Let us not think him, according to some opinions, to be either the devil or a demon: but one of men, in whom all Satan will dwell bodily. And a mouth speaking great things. For he is the man of sin, the son of perdition, so that he dares to sit in the temple of God, making himself as if God.” And in the same [chapter]: “The Antichrist will fight against the saints and will overcome them, and his pride will be raised so much that he will attempt to change the laws of God and ceremonies, and he will be exalted above all that is called God, and he can subject all religion to his power.” And in chapter 11 of Daniel: “He will feign chastity to deceive many; those whom terror does not shake he will subdue by greed. Many cities or provinces will be given into his hands. For three and a half years, that is, one thousand two hundred ninety days, he persecutes the saints, and afterward he will be destroyed on the glorious and holy mountain.”
Ephrem the Syrian [theologian and deacon; d. 373] in his discourse on the Antichrist: “I will speak of the most foul Antichrist, a dragon, who is about to disturb every region under heaven, casting fear and contempt, and dreadful treachery into the hearts of men, performing signs and wonders and portents, so that if it were possible, he might even lead the elect into error, and deceive all by deceitful signs and miraculous prodigies that will be done by him, according to the permission of the Holy God. For he will receive power to deceive the world by illusions.” Likewise: “This dragon will be wicked, cruel, impure, deceitful, and the most foul plague of the human race. He will especially menace and threaten the saints, the greatest men, who will be able to overcome his arts, to expose his illusions, to uncover his fabrications.” Likewise: “In this guise comes the unclean thief. So that he may deceive all, false and lying, he will appear humble and gentle, rejecting injustice, fleeing idols, preferring piety, kind, poor, studious, exceedingly beautiful beyond all admiration, calm, cheerful to all; and he will especially honor the Jewish nation beyond measure, for, truly, they await his coming. Among all these signs he will do portents and terrors with great power. He will strive to please all, cunningly so that he may quickly be sought after by the people and loved.” Also: “After the three and a half years of Antichrist’s working in his wicked empire have been fulfilled, when all the scandals of the whole earth have been completed as foretold by the divine mouth of God and our Savior, then He will come like lightning from heaven, etc., our terrible and glorious God,” etc.
ON ANTICHRIST (Inclination of doctrines embracing peculiar and harmful opinions, the stalks of errors of the Doctors of this age.)
SOURCE
Lactantius, [Christian apologist and author; d. circa 325], from the seventh book, chapter ten of The Divine Institutes: “Then suddenly, against them, the most powerful enemy will arise from the farthest borders of the northern region, who will be taken into partnership with three from that number, who then will hold Asia, and will be established as the prince of all. He will torment the world with unbearable domination, mixing divine and human, will contrive unspeakable and detestable things, will devise new plans in his heart to establish an empire for himself: he will change laws, enact his own, contaminate, plunder, despoil, and kill.” And in the seventh book, chapter seventeen, he marvelously speaks of the coming of Elijah to the earth, who will turn many to the worship of God: who will finally be attacked by the antichrist, defeated, and killed.
It also seems that in the same book Lactantius introduces two Antichrists, who will come before the end of the world. And in the same book, chapter nineteen, he plays with various ideas about the dominion of Christ with the Antichrist, and that he is to be overcome by Christ in the fourth battle.
Athanasius [Patriarch of Alexandria; d. 373], in the twenty-ninth question: “We are taught that whoever hawks himself under the name of Christ, if he does not come unexpectedly out of the blue, nor is visible throughout the whole world, but is found only in one region or city, such a one is undoubtedly the Antichrist.” And in the thirtieth question: “What the Apostle says about the Antichrist, that he will present himself with all signs and lying wonders, it is clear that he will also show one raised from the dead; but this is not true, but only in imagination.”
Ambrose, [Bishop of Milan, d. 397], in the tenth book of commentaries on Luke, chapter twenty-two: “He will sit in the temple, in the inner temple of the Jews, and will deny Christ. In a temple not inviolable, but subject to corruption because either the ruin of treachery will envelop it, or the right of wrath will overthrow it, or the fire of desires will burn it, etc. There is also another Antichrist, the author of this, namely the Devil. There is also a third Antichrist, Arius or Sabellius. Indeed, all are Antichrists who subvert us with a perverse interpretation.” The same is said about the blessings of the patriarchs, chapter 7: “The future Antichrist is from the tribe of Dan, a cruel judge and a monstrous tyrant.”
Jerome, in the eleventh chapter of Daniel: “The Antichrist will arise from a small group, that is, from the people of the Jews: and he will be so humble and despised that royal honor will not be granted to him, and through treachery and deceit he will obtain rulership, and the arms of the fighting Roman people will be conquered and broken by him. And he will do this because he will pretend to be the leader of the covenant: that is, of the law and testament of God. And he will enter wealthy cities and do things that neither the fathers of that city nor the ancestors did. For no Jew ever reigned in the whole world without the Antichrist. And against the firmest convictions of the saints, he will take counsel and will do everything up to a time until God’s will [no longer] permits him to do these things.”
Here we find a particular opinion that the Antichrist will come from the Jews. Thus, in the same place he says: “The Antichrist is to be born of the Jewish people and will come from Babylon; and first he will overcome the king of Egypt, who is one of the three horns.” And Gregory Nazianzen [Archbishop of Constantinople; d. 390], in Ezekiel, says the Jews will believe the Antichrist as Christ, and that the Antichrist will be king of the whole world, and will come to the desolation of the world.
CENTURY 5
ON ANTICHRIST
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What Augustine [Bishop of Hippo and prolific theological author; d. 430] explains generally about what the Antichrist signifies is found in his third tract on the Epistle of John: “Certainly, all who go out from the Church and are cut off from the unity of the Church, are Antichrists. Let no one doubt, for he himself indicated: They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. Therefore, whoever does not remain with us but goes out from us, it is clear that they are Antichrists. And how were the Antichrists presented? By falsehood. And who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Also: If he is the Antichrist who denies that Jesus is Christ, neither can they [our adversaries] call us Antichrists, nor can we call them so; because both we confess [Jesus is the Christ], and they do too.”
Augustine touches on the etymology of Antichrist in the third tract on the Epistle of John: “In Latin, Antichrist means contrary to Christ, not as some understand that the Antichrist is so called because he will come before Christ; rather, that Christ will come after him. Though it is not said or written thus, Antichrist means contrary to Christ. You will now notice who is contrary to Christ by the explanation itself, for none can go outside [of the true Church] except Antichrists.” Also, in the tract On the Antichrist: “For those who want to know about the Antichrist, first you will note why he is so called. Namely, because he will be contrary to Christ in all things and will do things contrary to Christ. Christ came humble; he comes proud. Christ came to raise the humble, to justify sinners; he, on the contrary, will cast down the humble, magnify sinners, exalt the wicked, and always teach vices which are contrary to virtues. He will scatter the evangelical law, renew or recall the cult of demons in the world. Seeking vain glory, he will call himself Almighty God. Therefore, the Antichrist has many ministers of his malignity, of whom many have gone before in the world: such were Antiochus, Nero, Domitian. We also know many Antichrists exist in our time. The Antichrist will have magicians, sorcerers, diviners, enchanters who nourish him, inspired by the devil, teaching him all nefarious arts of iniquity and falsehood. Evil spirits will always be his leaders, allies and inseparable companions.”
On the Antichrist, Chrysostom [Archbishop of Constantinople; d. 407] writes: “But have you not often heard, when you were children, certain people speak much about the name of the Antichrist, and about genuflection? For this inserts the Devil into our still tender minds, so that this false doctrine may grow and be strengthened with us, by which he may deceive us. Nor would the Apostle have passed over those things speaking about the Antichrist if they had been useful? Therefore, let us not seek those things. He will not come thus genuflecting; but exalted above all who are called God or deity, so that he sits in the temple of God as God, showing himself to be God,” (in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, homily 1). Also, homily 4: “And many things have been foretold about the Antichrist, namely that he is unrighteous, that he is the son of perdition, that his coming will be according to the working of Satan. He will be contrary to Christ, the Savior who brings countless good things.”
Augustine on Psalm 9, “Set a lawgiver over them, O Lord”: it seems to me to signify the Antichrist, about whom the Apostle says, “When the man of sin is revealed.” So that the nations may know, because they are nations, that they do not want to be freed from the Son of God, and belong to the Son of Man, and be sons of men, that is, new men. They serve man, that is, the old sinful man, because they are men. And because he is believed to come to such a height of empty glory, he will be permitted to do much, both to all men and to the saints of God, so that then some weak ones might think that God neglects human affairs. This Antichrist will seem so blessed to men that he will even be thought to be God. Also, that he will overcome all kings and alone obtain the kingdom, when even according to the Apostle who preaches about him, he will sit in the temple of God, exalting himself above all that is worshipped and that is called God. And because given over to the lusts of his heart and ultimately destined for damnation, through nefarious arts he will come to that vain and empty height and domination; he will have power in rule, and in deceitful miracles.” Also, in book 20 of the City of God, chapter 19: “And, therefore, God will send them a working of error so they may believe a lie and be judged, who did not believe the truth, but consented to iniquity. There is no doubt that he said these things about the Antichrist on the day of judgment. For he calls the day of the Lord not to come, unless he who is first, comes; whom he calls ‘the fleeing one,’ certainly fleeing from the Lord God.”
Junillus Africanus [legal advisor to Emperor Justinian I; flourished 541–549] says: “We now see the evening of the sixth day approaching, and as charity among many grows cold due to abundant wickedness in all things: a time will come, much darker than the others, with the appearing of the man of sin, the son of iniquity, who is exalted and lifted up above all that is called God or worshipped; there will be such tribulation that even the elect (if it is possible) will be led into error. And immediately following will be the hour of universal judgment, about which it is written: But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? The sabbath of the holy souls will persevere until the end of the age. And then the last age of the world, of which we have spoken, after its evening, shall come to an end, having been brought to a close by our Lord Jesus through the Antichrist.” Junillus on Genesis.
Prosper of Aquitaine (theologian; d. circa 455) quotes a saying from the Apocalypse, “Those who received the mark of the beast on their forehead and on their hand.” And he adds: “The inscription on the forehead and on the hand is not only made to imitate the devil, but also to glory in his evil works, so that under the figure of Christ, they may perform the deeds of the Antichrist.” And again, 1 John 2: “Many antichrists have come,” then he adds: “He shows all heretics, especially the Arians, whom we now see seducing many, concerning the promises and predictions of God.”
The place where the Antichrist will sit is explained by Augustine in book 20 of The City of God, chapter 19. It is uncertain in which temple of God he will sit, whether in the ruin of the temple built by King Solomon or, indeed, in the Church. For the Apostle would not call the temple of any idol or demon the temple of God. Hence some wish to understand the Antichrist here not as the prince himself, but as his entire body in some sense, that is, the multitude of people belonging to him, together with their prince. More correctly, they also think it is said in Latin as it is in Greek, not that he sits in the temple of God, but that he sits “in templum Dei,” as if he himself is the temple of God, which is the Church; just as we say he sits a friend, meaning either as a friend or something else commonly said in this manner.” The same: “Some think this was said about the Roman empire, and therefore, the Apostle Paul did not wish to write it openly, so that it might not seem he wished evil upon the Roman empire, which was hoped to be eternal.” The same: “Let the one who now holds hold on until he is taken out of the way. It is not absurdly believed this refers to the Roman empire itself, as if it were said: ‘Let he who now rules, rule until he is taken out of the way;’ that is, removed from the midst. And then the wicked one will be revealed, whom no one doubts is signified as the Antichrist.”
Prosper, On the Promises and Predictions of God, chapter 7, speaking about the woman and the beast who carries her, says: “Nor should you think of her as a single place, but a city that is spread throughout the world.”
Concerning the persecution that the Antichrist will exercise, Augustine writes in book 18 of The City of God, chapter 4: “Indeed, that final persecution which is to come from the Antichrist, Jesus Himself will put an end to it by His presence.”
Eucherius of Lyon [Archbishop of Lyon; d. circa 449] recalls concerning the Antichrist that “under him such an affliction of the city of God is expected to come as has never been before,” book 2, chapter 20. Likewise: “The office of the Antichrist is to come opposed to the life of the faithful, armed with the sting of pestilential preaching, even with the horn of power.” And in succeeding sections, he adds that “some say the Antichrist will come from Dan,” book 3, chapter 24.
Augustine touches on the signs of the Antichrist in book 20 of The City of God, chapter 19: For then Satan will be released, and through that Antichrist, with all his power, will wonderfully, but deceitfully, work. It is often debated whether they are called fraudulent signs and wonders because he will deceive mortal senses through illusions, so that what he does not actually do appears to be done; or because even if they are true wonders, they will lead believers into falsehood, not knowing that these could only happen by divine power, unaware of the power of the devil; especially since he will receive such great power as he never had before. For when fire fell from heaven and consumed Job’s household servants along with many flocks at one blow, and a rushing storm struck down his house and killed his children, were these illusions? Yet these were works of Satan, to whom God had given this power. Therefore, why these are called pseudo wonders and signs will become clearer at that future time. But for whatever reason it is said, they will be deceived by signs and wonders because they deserved to be deceived, since they did not receive the love of the truth (he says) to be saved. Nor did the Apostle hesitate to add and say: Therefore, God will send them a working of error, that they might believe a lie. For God sends because God permits the Devil to do these things by His just judgment, although the Devil does them with evil and wicked counsel.”
Prosper, On the Promises and Predictions of God, chapter 8, applies the sayings of the Apocalypse, and among other things says: “The Antichrist will have the luxury and filthiness of Nero, and the severity of his character.”
Maximus the Confessor [ascetic theologian; d. 662) says: “Before the Lord Christ comes, the Antichrist will reign, who will pour darkness upon the human race with his depravity, so that almost no one will look to the light of truth; and covering the minds of men with his own darkness he will present a certain blindness to the spiritual eyes.” In Homily 1, On Winter.
[N. B. Not only is Maximus of a later century, but according to an internet source, 4th-century Cappadocian Gregory of Nyssa “wrote a notable homily titled ‘On Winter’ (Concio Hyemalis).”]
Primasius [Bishop of Hadrumetum, commentator on Revelation; d. circa 560] says: “The bitterness of the Antichrist is contrary to the sweetness of the word of God,” in chapter 3, To the Romans. Likewise: “One of its heads is called the Antichrist. However, they are not seven heads in [literal] number, but rather to signify the universality of his earthly kingdom, the lamb’s opposite,” in his Revelation commentary, book 4.
The exaltation of the Antichrist is described by Augustine in his treatise on the Gospel of John, chapter 29, section 7: “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. This will be the one called the Antichrist, exalting himself, as the Apostle says, above all that is called God or is worshipped. For the Lord Himself, announcing him, said he would seek his own glory, not the glory of the Father, saying to the Jews: I have come in my Father’s name, and you did not receive me; another will come in his own name, and you will receive him. He indicated that they would receive the Antichrist, who will seek the glory of his own name, proud, not solid; and therefore, not stable, but rather ruinous.”
Augustine briefly outlines the time of the coming of the Antichrist in his treatise, On the Antichrist: “Therefore, the Apostle Paul says the Antichrist will not come into the world before there is first a departure; that is, before all the kingdoms that were previously subject to the Roman empire have departed. But this time has not yet come because although we see the Roman empire largely destroyed, as long as the kings of the Franks endure, who ought to hold the Roman empire, the Roman dignity will not perish entirely, because it will stand in its own kings.”
Primasius says: “The Roman kingdom will be taken away from the midst before the Antichrist is revealed,” in chapter 2 to the Thessalonians.
They also call those who do the works of the Antichrist, Antichrists. As Chrysostom says in Homily 11, On Matthew, on that passage, Beware of false prophets, he says: “Why do you vainly put on the name Christian when you persecute Christ in His servants? You are said to pretend because you lie by a simulation of works. Your name sounds Christian, but your deeds show you to be an Antichrist. Under the name, you attack that very name; under the law, you destroy the law: you persecute the faith which you pretend to profess; now hide yourself in some secret place so that you may lie hidden, you who have been revealed as having been hidden.”
Prosper also retains the opinion that the Antichrist will arise from the tribe of Dan, in chapter 9, Of the Promises and Predictions of God. Thus, also, Theodoret [theologian and biblical commentator; d. 457] says: “Indeed, it is necessary to add to what has been said that before the coming of the Lord, one will come, assuming human nature, harmful to men, an adversary of God, a demon, a plunderer of the divine name. And since he will take upon himself this name, namely God, he imposes it upon himself, and also to the administrators and helpers of impiety and wickedness, and he will persuade men through statues made by hands to pay him divine honor; thus, usurping the title of Christ the Lord, he will deceive everyone (so to speak) and will impose himself on many among those who have received the holy and venerable name, claiming to be the Christ, whom the divinely inspired prophets foretold would appear,” (The Epitome of Divine Decrees). Also: “I judge that the divine spirit was prophesied through the patriarch concerning our Savior; and the same prophecy spoke about the Antichrist. For those things written agree very well. For Dan, a tribe in Israel, he says, will judge his people. Just as, he says, our Savior and Lord arose from the tribe of Judah to save the world, so the pernicious serpent will come forth from the tribe of Dan. Indeed, he says: Let Dan be a serpent on the way, resting in the path, biting the horse’s heel; and the rider will fall backward, expecting the salvation of the Lord.” Theodoret, question 109 on Genesis.
Maximus the Confessor teaches who shall destroy the Antichrist: “Therefore, to dispel this dark darkness, Christ will come like a flash of lightning. And just as night is overturned by the shining day, so the Antichrist will be driven away by the shining Savior, and he will no longer be able to spread the darkness of his iniquity when the light of truth has shone forth.” In the first Winter homily.
BENDING OF DOCTRINE, EMBRACING PECULIAR and inconvenient opinions, the chaff of the errors of the Doctors of this age.
ON THE REVELATION
Junillus says on the Apocalypse: “Regarding the Apocalypse of John, among the Easterners it is quite doubted that it is a prophetic book,” (Junillus, book one, chapter 4). Prosper ascribes that book to John the Apostle, in the chapter, On Promises and Predictions, chapter 7. The same is done by Primasius in the preface to the Apocalypse.
CENTURY 6
ON ANTICHRIST
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Concerning the name of the Antichrist, and who they will be, Olympiodorus of Alexandria [Greek monk; d. circa 570] says: “Some understand the second adolescent as the son of perdition, the Antichrist. I have seen the sinners themselves with the second adolescent, that is, the Antichrist, who will rise against our Lord Jesus Christ. The last ones, who in the times of the Antichrist will believe in him, will not rejoice in him; for impiety cannot preserve those adhering to it. Those who at the end of the age believe in the Antichrist have become the last. He is also called the second adolescent Antichrist, who is fervent in evil with youthful recklessness, and strong as an innovator of wickedness,” (Olympiodorus, in the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes).
Who he is, Gregory I [Pope aka ‘Gregory the Great;’ d. 604] warns: “Whoever calls himself the universal priest, or desires to be called so, in his arrogance precedes the Antichrist, because by being proud he places himself above others,” (book 7, fifteenth indiction, letter 30).
Where he comes from, Gregory warns: “The head of their heart is the Devil. For he himself in the last times will enter that vessel of perdition, who will be called the Antichrist, who will attempt to spread his name far and wide,” (the eighteenth chapter of Job, book fourteen, chapter eleven). Also: “Some say the Antichrist will come from the tribe of Dan because in this place Dan is said to be a serpent, and biting,” (in the nineteenth chapter of Job, book thirty-one, chapter ten).
Where he will be in the future, Gregory teaches: “The Antichrist strives to establish his memory on earth, as he seeks earthly glory, if it were possible to remain forever,” (the 18th chapter of Job, book 14, chapter 11).
When, Gregory warns: “The Jews will trust in a man, fleeing belief in the Redeemer, awaiting the Antichrist at the end of the world,” (the second chapter of First Kings).
What kind he will be, Gregory warns: “When the Antichrist then reigns over the impious, it is not due to the injustice of the judge, but because of the fault of the one who endures, although many have not seen his dominion, and yet by the condition of their sins they serve his rule because even him whom they least perceive as ruling over them, they undoubtedly worship perversely by living wickedly,” (the 34th chapter of Job, book 25, chapter 14). And: “In the hand of the Antichrist deceit is directed, because what he proposes against the good is temporarily fulfilled without any opposition.” He says this in the 35th chapter of Job, book 26, chapter 14. Also: “The Lord holds and shakes the ends of the earth because He permits that the last times of His Church be disturbed by the most immense persecution through the coming of the Antichrist, yet without permitting abandonment,” (the 38th chapter of Job, book 29, chapter 3). Also: “The fourth (Antichrist) proceeds happily and not well, because he walks in his deceit; but according to the short time of present life, that deceit prospers for him, as it was said about him in the figure of Antiochus by Daniel: Strength was given to him against continual sacrifice because of sins; and truth will be brought low on the earth, and he will do and prosper,” (the 38th chapter of Job, book 30, chapter 3). And: “The coming Antichrist will also obtain the highest powers of this age, who raging with a double error tries to incline the hearts of men to himself and by sending preachers and stirring up powers, ” (the 41st chapter of Job, book 33, chapter 22). And: “In the final agitation of judgment, the Antichrist will be so great in signs and miracles that many will consider him Christ,” (ibidem, book 33, chapter 25). Also: “Neither spear nor breastplate will be able to withstand him because coming as Antichrist he will appear of such power that it is as if heavenly help fails and dulls the sharpness of prophecy and destroys the patience of the long-suffering,” (the 41st chapter of Job, book 34, chapter 8). Also: “The tabernacle of the Antichrist is the love of treachery, by which he contradicts the faith of the redeemer,” (the second chapter of First Kings).
That he is near, Gregory warns: “But in his pride, what else is indicated than that the times of the Antichrist are already near?” (book four, thirteenth indiction, letter thirty-four). Also: “And because the enemy of Almighty God, the Antichrist, is near, I eagerly desire that nothing proper be found not only in the customs but also not in the title of priests,” (book six, fifteenth indiction, letter 27).
Concerning the preachers of the Antichrist, Gregory says: Some perverse men have sown the spirit of error, so that they forbid working on the Sabbath day. What else should I call them but preachers of the Antichrist? For he, coming, will make both the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day be kept from all work. And because he pretends to die and rise again, he wants the Lord’s Day to be held in veneration. And because he compels the people to Judaize, that is, to revoke the external rite of the law and submit to him the perfidy of the Jews, he wants the Sabbath to be observed,” (book 11, sixth indiction, letter 3).
CENTURY 7
ON ANTICHRIST
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Isidore of Seville [Archbishop of Seville; d. 636], in generalities, explains the name Antichrist: “Everyone who either does not live according to the norm of the Christian profession or teaches otherwise, is the Antichrist,” (from his first book, On the Highest Good, chapter 26).
The Eleventh Council of Toledo presents this opinion: “Hence, those who see how the pot of Babylonian confusion was kindled now avert the times of the Councils and now entangle the priests of the Lord with loosened morals. For they followed the incentives of the purple-clad harlot,” (Volume 2 of the Councils, page 263).
INCLINATION OF DOCTRINE embracing peculiar and inconvenient opinions, follies, and errors of the Doctors.
ON ANTICHRIST
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Isidore expresses his opinion about the Antichrist in the eighth book of the Etymologies, chapter eleven: “For he will deny that Christ has come, and will fight against him, and oppose the Sacraments of Christ, so that he may dissolve the Gospel of his truth; for he will also attempt to repair the temple of Jerusalem and to restore all the ceremonies of the old law.”
CENTURY 8
ON ANTICHRIST
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Bede [aka ‘Bede the Venerable,’ monk and scholar; d. 735] says this about the appellations: “The abomination of desolation can be understood either simply as the Antichrist; or as the image of Caesar, which Pilate placed in the temple; or as the equestrian statue of Hadrian, which stood for a long time in the very holy of holies. The abomination is also called an idol according to the ancient scripture,” (the fourth book of Mark, chapter 13).
John Damascene [monk, priest and apologist for icon worship; d. 749], indeed, teaches the Antichrist will come, but he has many opinions that cannot be proven from Scripture, as is explained in its proper place.
Bede says: “Reviewing ecclesiastical history, you will find countless deeds of martyrs, because of which it is not doubted that in the more dreadful times of the Antichrist the breaking of the yoke of this ark, that is, the disturbance of the Church, will come. Nor does anything prevent the two cows, which, when presenting the Ark of the Lord to the Israelites, were offered as a burnt offering, from being interpreted as Enoch and Elijah, who are then believed to be [the two witnesses of Rev. 11] about to open the grace of faith to the Jews and, not long after to receive death at the hands of the Antichrist,” (on 1 Samuel 11) [sic: 6].
Also: “The persecution that will happen in the time of the Antichrist will be graver than that which was done by tyrants, because it will be both deceitful and violent. Violent because of the kingdom, for he will be king; deceitful because of miracles, and therefore it will be very dangerous,” (on the ninth Psalm). And: “For as that wicked Antichrist will more proudly persecute, so much more will the true poor man be inflamed in doing good by suffering. But the Antichrist himself and his members will be apprehended; that is, they will be condemned in the councils which they devise,” (ibidem). Also: “About the Antichrist the Apostle says that he is exalted above all that is called or worshipped as God,” (on the eighty-second Psalm).
And: “About the Antichrist under the guise of Antiochus, it is said by Daniel: Power was given to him against the continual sacrifice because of sins, and he will prosper. Solomon said, He shall walk happily: this Daniel says, He will prosper,” (on the thirtieth chapter of Proverbs). Also: “Many Antichrists have come in the name of Christ, the first of whom was Simon Magus, to whom (as we read in the Acts of the Apostles) all in Samaria listened, from the least to the greatest, saying: This is the power of God which is called great because for a long time he had bewitched them with his magical arts,” (on the fourth book of Mark, chapter thirteen). And: “Heretics coming against the Church lie saying that they are Christs: of whom Simon Magus was the first, but the last and greatest among them all is the Antichrist,” (ibidem). And: “Matthew, describing the times of the Antichrist, says: For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be,” (sixth book on Luke). Also: “Who is this coming in his own name, if not he who seeks his own glory and not that of him who sent him? Who is it whom the Jews will accept, if not the Antichrist, who is to come seeking his own glory?” (On the fifth chapter of John).
Where from, Bede says: “The son of the devil, the Antichrist, is not called so by being born from him, but as other sinners are called Antichrist by imitating him,” (in the sixth book of Luke, chapter twenty-three).
When he is to come, Bede says: “The tribulation of the Antichrist, as it will be heavier in burden than the other persecutions that preceded it, will be moderated by the brevity of time. For it is believed, according to the prophecy of Daniel and the Apocalypse of Saint John, that he will assault the Church throughout the world for three and a half years,” (the fourth book of Mark, chapter 13).
About his cruelty, Albinus [aka Alcuin of York, theologian and abbot of St. Martin ofTours; d. 732] says: “In the Antichrist there is injustice, and he is not truthful: for he will seek his own glory, not that of Him who sent him. For he is not sent but permitted to come. Therefore, all who belong to the body of Christ, lest we be led into the snare of the Antichrist, let us not seek our own glory,” (in the book, On John, chapter seven).
INCLINATION OF DOCTRINE, EMBRACING peculiar and inconvenient opinions, stubble, and errors of the theologians.
ON IMAGES
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Iconolatry at this age is publicly decreed and approved. Theodore [Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem, defender of icon worship; d. 782] says: “We venerate and also worship the image of the God-bearer and Our Lady, the irreprehensible, immaculate, and undefiled mother of chastity, who bore Him. Indeed, we also honor the images of the holy Apostles, Prophets, and victorious martyrs, and the Saints and blessed, as friends of God, not constituting honor in the matter or colors: but through this our office, which we owe to those whose likeness the images bear,” (in his confession of faith).
Also: “We worship the image of Christ, exactly as His face was seen, not however separated from the divinity.” Therein: “We receive the painted images according to the ancient tradition of our fathers, and with our desire we worship them as made in the name of Christ our God, and Our Immaculate Lady the Virgin God-bearer, the holy angels, and all the saints. But with open words we testify that we refer and place only true worship to one true God,” (Tarasius of Constantinople, in the second session of the Second Council of Nicaea).
On the veneration of the cross, John Damascene says: “I do not worship the matter itself as God: but I reverently bow to the matter of the maker, who was made matter for me, and in that matter sustained to dwell, and through that matter my salvation was worked. Therefore, I will not cease from the veneration of that matter, through which my salvation was accomplished,” (book 1, Apology for the Veneration of Images).
ON RELICS
There also grew a superstitious veneration of relics. For Theodosius says: “In the same way I venerate the relics of the saints, and pursue them with honor and salvation, as athletes and competitors for Christ, who have obtained grace from God, and provide remedies, cure diseases, cast out demons, just as the Christian Church has received them, as it were, from the holy Apostles and Fathers up to the present age. Likewise, I approve of the images received from the beginning, of JESUS CHRIST our Lord, and the holy Virgin Mother of God, whether expressed in gold or silver, or with colors, or any material, so that it may be made manifest to all, the economy of His flesh. And in a similar way, the deeds and conduct of the Saints and Apostles praised in all ages are approved by me: so that in the eyes of all they may bear witness to the struggles and contests which they underwent for Christ; and this is a kind of concise scripture, narration, and instruction for the people, especially the simplest,” (Theodosius, Bishop of Amori, Session 1 of the Second Council of Nicaea).
ON ANTICHRIST
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The opinion of John Damascene is that the Antichrist will not come into our temple [i.e., the Christian Church], but in the old Jewish temple. Also, that he will be a man born of fornication. And that Enoch and Elias will return, whom the Antichrist will kill, and Christ, having resurrected them, will oppress the Antichrist. (Book 4, On the Orthodox Faith, chapter 27).
Bede also has similar opinions, such as: “Dan shall judge his people.” Some say that by these words the Antichrist is predicted to come from this tribe; others say from Judah, by whom the Lord was betrayed. And shortly after: others transfer this prophecy to the Antichrist because in this place Dan is asserted to be a biting serpent and because Dan was the first among the tribes of Israel to be encamped to the north. Thus, it signifies him who is said to sit in the sides of the north [Isaiah 14:13] and about whom the prophet figuratively says: From Dan there was heard the commotion of his horses [Jeremiah 8:16], who is not only called a serpent but also Cerastes. For Cerata in Greek means ‘horns.’ That horned serpent is said to be rightly asserted as representing the Antichrist, who will be armed with the bite of pestiferous preaching, which is against the life of the faithful, and also with horns of power. This from the forty-eighth chapter of Genesis. Also: When the Antichrist comes, Christ will follow swiftly after his footsteps to kill him with the Spirit of His mouth. Thus, [allegedly] Gad can also be interpreted as ‘thief’ or ‘robber.’ And since he is the latter one — that is, delayed or late-arriving — his manifestation is like that of a thief who suddenly springs forth unexpectedly: just as it says, ‘like a thief in the night, so comes Christ.’ Therefore, Christ comes upon this one [the thief-figure / Gad] before the Antichrist, and after the Antichrist He comes in majesty / glory, (Ibid).
Albinus likewise believes that he will come from the tribe of Dan, and concerning his matters he says: “Certain signs have not only been accomplished but are most certainly believed to be future; that is, the faith of the Israelite people, about which the Apostle says: When the fullness of the Gentiles has entered, then all Israel shall be saved. And as for the kingdom of the Antichrist, and his cruelty towards the saints, this will be the final persecution with the final judgment imminent, which the holy Church throughout the entire world will suffer, but the city of Christ will be separated from the entire city of the Devil, no matter how great each may be on earth. It is not doubtful that the author of this persecution is the same Antichrist, whom the Apostle calls the son of perdition, and a rebel, certainly against the Lord God, who is exalted above all that is called God or worshipped. For the holy Church is not called God, but worshipped; therefore, rightly only the holy Trinity is God whose honor that most impious rebel presumes to claim for himself, enticing others by flattery, others by terrors, others by signs, so that they may worship him as God: whose persecution is foretold in the Apocalypse to blaze upon the earth for three and a half years. But so that so immense and cruel a persecution does not come suddenly, involving all who are less prepared, the Church has faith that Elijah and Enoch, the greatest prophets, will come, through whose teaching the Israelite people will be converted to faith. Who, when they themselves will have first preached for three and a half years, will be gloriously crowned with martyrdom in that same preaching together with other faithful. But after that son of perdition, and most impious master of all iniquity, is struck down by the Lord Himself (as the Apostle says: Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy by the appearance of His coming), judgment day is believed not immediately to follow, so that it may be fulfilled as the Lord Himself says in the Gospel: But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels nor the Son, but only the Father alone, (Book three on the Holy Trinity, chapter nineteen). Also: “Who is he who comes in his own name? Except he who seeks his own glory, and not that of him who sent him. Who is it whom the Jews will accept, except the Antichrist? Who will come seeking his own glory? And this will be their punishment for sin because they did not want to believe the truth, so that they might believe in falsehood,” (book three on John, chapter five).
ON HERESIES
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Charlemagne says in the first book, chapter twenty-six, On the Worship of Images: “Heretics or schismatics, while they are imbued with the cunning of worldly wisdom and more ready for vain investigations and superfluous contentions than for believing, speak vainly: because while they think badly of Christ or the Church, they do not allow their neighbors, that is, other heretics, to be invited to the same error; so that by a greater infestation, the Church, which is the vineyard of Christ, may be destroyed.” Also: “Heretics always try to infest the holy Church with perverse doctrines,” (the second book, chapter one, On the Worship of Images). And: “Heretics’ craftiness very often has the habit of adorning certain shameful and misleading teachings with little flourishes or annotations, and of heading them with the names of some credible and respected saints. In this way, they can more easily present the poisoned cup coated with the flavor of honey to the unsuspecting, so that it may be drunk,” (book four, chapter five, On the Worship of Images).
ON ICON WORSHIPERS
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Many bishops of the highest authority throughout this century have been icon worshipers, establishing and defending the wicked dogma concerning the adoration and veneration of images, even in public disputes and Synods. Therefore, you would more rightly call these heretics the pestilences of the Church of Christ than others who have resisted them in their wicked undertakings for being contrary to the word of God.
Charlemagne, together with some who right thinking men, truly opposed these corruptions with accurate refutations, published treatises, and held Synods; yet superstition prevailed, and afterward (as is accustomed to happen) increased and accumulated. At first, those icon worshipers pretended to have some distinctions and subtleties; but in reality, the teachings and the subject matter of errors afterward brought forth many incongruities. However, since these matters are deferred to be discussed under Schisms and Councils, it is superfluous to recite the same here. The opinion of Charlemagne is notable, in his third book, chapter eighteen: “Since these almost entirely place all hope of their aid in images, they dissent not moderately from the holy and universal Church, which places its hope of aid not in the paint of a picture but in the Creator of all.”
Excerpts from the Council of Frankfurt (794 AD) Refutation of Image Worship Decreed by the Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD)
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IDOLATORS: Images of Christ, Mary, and other saints are sacred and holy. Therefore, they must be adored.
ICONOCLASTS: The preceding is false. For images are neither holy because of their material, nor because of their colors, nor by the laying on of hands, nor by any canonical consecration. Therefore, they are not holy, much less to be adored. (Charlemagne, first book, second chapter, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: God created man in His image and likeness. Therefore, images must be adored.
ICONOCLASTS: The consequence does not hold because it is a misunderstanding of the argument. That statement does nothing towards the adoration of images. Then, from Ambrose and Augustine, they demonstrate that man is called the image of God not because of external form, which statues can represent; but because of the internal man, mind, will, and memory, and because of virtues congruent with the norm of divine law. Thirdly, they indicate that the opinion that God is corporeal is absurd if it is said that man was made in the image of God as an image or statue is made to the likeness of a man by a painter and craftsman. (First book, seventh chapter of Charlemagne, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: Jacob, receiving from his sons the long robe of Joseph, kissed it, and with tears laid it upon his eyes. Therefore….
ICONOCLASTS: It does not hold because neither in the Hebrew nor in the Latin manuscripts is it found that Joseph’s tunic was kissed by the father or laid upon his eyes. And even if it were narrated that this happened, in no way would the adoration of images be implied in this act, since to adore is one thing, to kiss another. (First book, twelfth chapter of Charlemagne, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: Jacob adored the top of Joseph’s rod: Therefore…..
ICONOCLASTS: It does not hold, for neither in the Hebrew nor in the Latin text are these words read; and Augustine testifies that he adored not the rod, but God. (Charlemagne, first book, thirteenth chapter, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: Jacob blessed Pharaoh, but not God.
Therefore, we also adore the image, but not as God.
ICONOCLASTS: Jacob blessed Pharaoh not as God, nor as a painting, but as a man to whom honor is to be shown because of the sublimity of the dignity conferred by God. Therefore, such a blessing does not correspond to the adoration of images, which can at no time bring reward to those who adore or to those who refuse to adore because of the [lack of] quality of merits. (Charlemagne, first book, fourteenth chapter, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: By the command of God Moses made the Mercy Seat, the two Cherubim above it and the Ark of the Covenant. Therefore, it is permitted to make and worship images.
ICONOCLASTS: The consequence is not valid. Because more is added in the conclusion than was in the premises. For he is not believed to have commanded worship, nor for the sake of the memory of certain past things, but because of the most sacred prefiguration of future mysteries. Who is so foolish as to try to establish the worship of images from this example? For these sometimes signify nothing else than [commemorate] the order of historical events, but sometimes they lie, not about historical events, but about things imagined and made up. (Charlemagne, in the first book, chapter fifteenth, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: God said: Behold, I have called by name Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and filled him with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, to perfect the work of gold and silver, and I have given him Oholiab, son of Ahisamach. Therefore, it is permitted to worship images.
ICONOCLASTS: Your argument is not valid because of its ignorance of the refutation, thereby drawing an irrelevant conclusion. For those which are full of allegorical meanings and tropes, and who, by the law giver’s decree, are displayed as images, it is not only exceedingly dismissive [of the facts] but also utterly insane to attempt to argue this as license for all craftsmen, according to the genius of their own minds, to produce images at will. (The same, in the first book, chapter sixteenth, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: Just as the Israelite people were saved by looking at the bronze serpent, so, too, will we be saved by looking at the images of the saints.
ICONOCLASTS: The hope of those who place their savior in images is condemned by the Apostle, who does not place hope in things that are seen. For he says, Hope that is seen is not hope. For what one sees, how does one hope? The bronze serpent was not made by Moses to be worshiped, but to temporarily resist the poisonous bites of serpents. That serpent was made by command of the Lord to Moses: but in these images you make, there is no text of Scripture decreeing them. (The same, book 1, chapter 18, against the same.)
IDOLATORS: If, according to the tradition of Moses, it is commanded that purple hyacinth be placed on the borders of the garments for the people, as a memory and observance of the precepts: much more is it for us to see through the depicted images of holy men the outcome of their conduct, and to imitate their faith, according to Apostolic tradition.
ICONOCLASTS: The consequence does not hold from a dissimilar example. For nowhere in the Scripture of the Old or New Testament is the worship of fringes or images commanded. Therefore, they deny the virtue of the conduct of the saints is seen in images and paintings because faith, hope, and charity, and other virtues are invisible and living things; but images and statues are visible and dead things. Thirdly, they demonstrate how we ought to imitate the saints. What we ought to imitate, the Apostle most clearly shows when he says, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.” And in another place, he says, “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.” Whence it plainly appears that the Apostolic tradition teaches that the outcome of the conduct of the saints can be seen, not in paintings, but in virtues, and that their faith is to be imitated, not by the colors of images, but in good works. (The same, book 1, chapter 18, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: The Psalmist says, “I have loved the beauty of your house.” But images pertain to the beauty of temples. Therefore, images are to be worshipped.
ICONOCLASTS: The consequence is not valid because it is a fallacy of manner of expression. For the house of God is not to be understood as a material house, but as the Church of God. Nor does beauty shine in material images, but rather in spiritual virtues. Likewise: Paul, Anthony the Great [Father of Monasticism], Hilarion the Great [founder of monasticism in Palestine], and other pious men did not have images, and yet they loved the beauty of the house of the Lord. Therefore, the beauty of the house of God is not found in images. (The same, book one, chapter twenty-nine, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: The Psalmist says, “As we have heard, so we have seen.” Therefore, images are to be worshipped.
ICONOCLASTS: Your argument is not valid because of its ignorance of the refutation, thereby drawing an irrelevant conclusion. We understand this saying spiritually, not about manufactured images, but about the more notable and eminent mysteries of the Prophets: namely, that just as we heard in the law about the coming of Christ, so we saw in the Gospel. (The same, book one, chapter thirty, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: In the Psalm, the enemies who malign the saints of God are condemned. Therefore, those who despise the worship of images are condemned.
ICONOCLASTS: The Psalm speaks of those who burned and devastated the temple of Jerusalem. But it is far different to remove from the temple the bronze sea, the cherubim, and the vessels, than to not worship manufactured images. Therefore, that statement does nothing to the matter. (The same, in the second book, chapter one, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: The Psalmist says, “Lord, in your city, you will reduce their image to nothing.” Therefore, images are to be worshipped.
ICONOCLASTS: This is a fallacy of the use of a phrase. The City of God in the sacred Scriptures is sometimes understood as the soul of man which is inhabited by God; or sometimes as the Church of the present time, but most often as heavenly Jerusalem. In this city, namely the heavenly Jerusalem, the images of the wicked will be reduced to nothing because their appearance will not be able to stand before the divine gaze: but just as they defiled in themselves the image of the Lord in the course of this present life, so in the heavenly Jerusalem will not appear the image of those who will indeed be subject to eternal fire. (The same, book 2, chapter 3, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb and shall bear a son.” But seeing this prophecy in an image, namely, the virgin carrying the one she bore in her arms, how shall we endure not to worship and kiss it?
ICONOCLASTS: The prophecy which declares a virgin will conceive and bear a son is no longer to be sought in uncertain and ambiguous things, but to be retained in the heart: nor are scriptures hidden mysteries [revealed] in paintings, but must be investigated in the divine scriptures themselves and their interpreters, namely, the Apostles and their successors, and to be contemplated by faith rather than by the eyes. How can we presume to worship something senseless? Who would dare commit such a crime? (The same, book four, chapter twenty-one, against the Synod concerning images.)
IDOLATORS: Kissing and worshiping are the same. But the Son is to be kissed. Therefore, His image is also to be worshiped.
ICONOCLASTS: These two names differ from each other as much as the things for which these names stand differ from each other. For sometimes what is worshiped is not kissed; and what is kissed is not worshiped. God is worshiped but not kissed. Spouses, children, etc., are kissed, yet they are not worshiped. It is manifest, therefore, that kisses and worship are the names of two different things. (The same is in the fourth book, chapter twenty-third, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: He who fears God, worships images of the Son of God. Therefore, those who do not worship God [through images] do not fear Him.
ICONOCLASTS: Are all the patriarchs and prophets who despised the worship of images to be believed not to have feared God? [Of course not.] So, then they affirm that the fear of the Lord is not in the worship of images, but in the will and insistence of God’s commandments. For if the beginning of the fear of the Lord is to worship images, as they say, they then establish that all the saints who are believed to have feared God, and yet did not worship images were opposed to the Creator’s commandments, for He forbade the worship of creatures. However, it is not true that they opposed the Creator’s commandments in worshiping creatures. Therefore, the beginning of the fear of the Lord is not to worship images. (The same in book 3, chapter 28, against the Synod on images.)
IDOLATORS: Solomon made oxen and lions in the temple. Therefore, images are to be worshiped.
ICONOCLASTS: This is irrelevant. Solomon made oxen and lions, not so that they should be worshiped, but so that they might signify certain mysteries; not to promote error, but to show the secrets of the mysteries. And shortly after: Therefore, we do not in some way reject images because of the memory of past events and the beauty of built basilicas, since through Moses and Solomon, although in typical figures, we know that they were made. But we restrain their most insolent, or rather most superstitious worship, which neither through the patriarchs, nor the prophets, nor the apostles, nor apostolic men have we found instituted anywhere. (The same in book 2, chapter 9, against the same synod.)
IDOLATORS: Just as to the Jews were given the Tablets and the two Cherubim; so to us Christians is given the cross and the images of the saints, to be written upon and worshiped.
ICONOCLASTS: Neither the Tablets, nor the two Cherubim, nor other things of this kind, are to be believed to have been made for worship in the Old Testament. [Your rhetorical reply]: What else is their purpose, except to exalt images and extol the matters of Christians? [We reply]: Clearly the Tablets and the two Cherubim were examples of things to come, which the Jews had carnally, and with typical veiled figures, prefigurations of things to come, yet we have them in truth spiritually. (The same in book one, chapter nineteen, against the same.)
IDOLATORS: Abraham honored the sons of Heth, Moses honored Jethro the priest of Midian. Therefore….
ICONOCLASTS: The honor given to these differs from the worship of a painted image as much as the painting of a man differs from the real man. For just as a real man differs from a painted one, rational from irrational, so undoubtedly does this honor differ from that worship. Also: It is one thing to greet a person with the duty of salutation and the observances of courtesy by bowing; it is another to worship a picture. Also, we are taught by the Scriptures, through examples, to apply brotherhood and love towards neighbors; but we are forbidden to worship or hail images. And it proves that holy men never worshiped images anywhere. (The same in book 1, chapter 9, against the same.)
IDOLATORS: Images have produced miracles. Therefore, they are to be worshiped; and they are equated with the fringe of the Lord’s garment, which the woman touching it was healed.
ICONOCLASTS: The preceding statement is false. For not one single page of the Old nor the New Testament demonstrates this; nor are all things to be worshiped through which or in which miracles appear. (Book three, chapter twenty-five.)
CENTURY 9
ON ANTICHRIST
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Antichrist is called a shepherd [Latin: pastor]. Haymo [Bishop of Halberstadt, Revelation commentator; d. 853]: “The foolish and unskilled shepherd/pastor is the Antichrist, who is said to come at the end of the age,” (on chapter 11 of Zechariah).
Concerning the coming of the Antichrist, Haymo teaches: “The great and last furnace is the tribulation to come in the time of the Antichrist, from which shall emerge the adverse doctrine which turns the minds of the perishing into darkness. This is compared to a pit because, although we experience error now in our day, even more errors will be sown by the wicked at that time. Hence, the Lord says, There will be great tribulation. But it must be understood that that persecution and false doctrine of the Antichrist and others will be partly similar [to our times] and partly dissimilar. It will be similar in the persecution of the saints, and in the spreading of errors containing lies. But dissimilar in this, that then they will perform miracles while being false teachers, which these [today] cannot do, and therefore, it will be more monstrous because it will deceive through both,” (book 2 on the Apocalypse, chapter 9).
Haymo defines the Antichrist: “Antichrist is that vessel of malice of the Devil and, as it were, the administrator of deception,” (on chapter 3 of Habakkuk).
Haymo indicates whence he is: Just as in Christ dwells the fullness of divinity, so in him dwells the fullness of wickedness. And just as Christ does all His works by the power of the word, so also the lost one will do his works through the power of the devil, who will dwell in him. Therefore, the dragon, that is, the devil, gave him his power and strength to do miracles and unheard-of signs: and gave him great power, through which he is exalted above peoples and kingdoms,” (book 4 on chapter 13 of the Apocalypse).
Haymo indicates of what source he is: Just as in Christ dwells the fullness of divinity, so in him dwells the fullness of wickedness. And just as Christ does all His works by the power of the word, so also the lost one will do his works through the power of the Devil, who will dwell in him. Therefore, the Dragon, that is, the Devil, gave him his power and strength to do miracles and unheard-of signs: and gave him great power, through which he is exalted above peoples and kingdoms,” (book 4, on chapter 13 of the Apocalypse).
When he will come, Haymo indicates: “Old age is the decrepit age which will be in the Church at the time of the Antichrist, when the strength of the Church will be almost entirely extinguished,” (on Psalm 70). Also: “Divine preaching will precede the coming of the Antichrist,” (on chapter 2 of Joel). Also: “When the day of the Lord comes, and the end of the world approaches, Satan will pour out all his power in the times of the Antichrist and will fight more fiercely to tempt and overthrow souls,” (on chapter 3 of Joel).
Where he will be in the future, Haymo explains: “The persecution of the Antichrist against the Church will not be in one place, but in all parts of the world,” (on chapter 6 of the Apocalypse, book 2).
How he will come: Haymo declares: “Gog, the king of locusts, which according to 70 interpreters is interpreted as a roof signifying a certain proud and arrogant strength of the Antichrist, who at the end of the world coming with an innumerable multitude of unbelievers, will consume all the grass of the earth in the evening, that is, all the weak and tender of the human race,” (on chapter 7 of Amos). Also: “The Antichrist will capture men in two ways. First, by separating them from the faith of Christ mentally, then [physically] from the eternal society of the faithful. For those who obey the Antichrist will be condemned to perpetual exile in captivity.” Also, “he is the first head of the Apocalypse.” Also: “When the Antichrist comes, after the fullness of the Gentiles, Elijah and Enoch will enter, preaching; and all Israel will be saved. And at that time iniquity will abound, and the love of many will grow cold. For many out of fear of the Antichrist’s affliction will deny Christ, and then the little reed, that is, the Gospel, which was in the Church, will be broken; and will partly cease and pass over to the Jews,” (book on Isaiah).
Remigius [Bishop of Reims, d. 533] says: Because he will rule over all his enemies, etc. “This is said spiritually of the Antichrist, the head of all the impious. Whose enemies will be all the friends of Christ, over whom he will rule, as to the body: for without contradiction, he will be allowed to rage against them, for their salvation and his destruction,” (on Psalm 9). Also: “Just as a lion lies in wait in a cave, so that the beasts outside do not fear it, and thus they approach it, for nowhere does its terror appear, until it comes out and openly devours them. So, too, the cruelty of the Antichrist, through flattering preaching and miracles, will seduce many. And those whom he can seduce in this way, he will attack with various torments, like a lion violently invading. He describes all these things so diligently about the Antichrist and his members so as to make his own cautious. For the darts which are foreseen at first appear harmless.” Hence elsewhere: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. There were two persecutions in the Church, open and violent. The first time violent, fraudulent in the midst, as through heretics and false brothers. Very strong, and joined from these two, at the end, in the time of Christ: he who cannot attract by miracles will compel by threats, because as a lion in a cave he lies in wait:” he aptly adds, “He lies in wait, that is, with flattering words, so that finally if he cannot prevail by flattery, with violence he will snatch the poor. He lies in wait to snatch the poor while he draws him in. And so that he may better draw him in, he has humbled him in his snare, that is, he vilifies those who are amazed at his miracles. But not without punishment, because he will bend down, that is, fall inwardly, given to a reprobate sense, by that very thing by which he will inflict punishments outwardly,” (Ibidem).
His cruelty is described by Haymo: “Such savagery then (in the times of the Antichrist) will be with immense persecution that the wicked will not be satisfied after they have killed them, but to further increase their own wickedness they will not allow them to be placed in a tomb after death,” (book 3 on chapter 11 of the Apocalypse).
On the purpose of the machinations of the Antichrist, Haymo says, “The Antichrist will come to acquire his glory,” (on Psalm 117). Also: “The Devil will almost entirely consume the Church in the time of the Antichrist,” (on Psalm 70).
Rabanus [Archbishop of Mainz, d. 856] says: “The Antichrist is the head of all iniquities,” (book 9 on Ecclesiasticus, chapter 2).
On the effects of the Antichrist, Haymo says: “The faith of Christ and the Church will fail in the hearts of some under the Antichrist,” (on chapter 2 of Joel).
How the pious will fight against him, Haymo teaches: “Just as the Antichrist will be crueler than all previous persecutors, so, too, those (who are members of Christ) will be stronger than all martyrs before them,” (book 1, chap. 1, on the Apocalypse).
CENTURY 10
ON ANTICHRIST
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What is the Antichrist? Theophylact [Archbishop of Ohrid; d. circa 1107] says: “Some think that the Antichrist is the abomination of desolation, because he will lay waste to the world, overthrow the Churches, and sit in the temple,” (on Matthew, chapter 24).
Where the Antichrist comes from, Radulphus [Ralph Glaber, monk and historian; d. 1047] teaches: “That wicked one is to be born from ecclesiastical parents, and among the sons of the mother Church, if he is first to receive the sacred sacraments. Hence, he is said to be born among the sons of Israel: it could not be otherwise, as the Apostle testifies, since in order to attain ecclesiastical honors and to receive the chair of dignity in the temple of God, namely in the society of the faithful, unless he first deceives those by whom he is to be ordained with the form of faith. With this summit of honor conferred upon himself, afterwards he will by his pride abuse, while opposing and exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, showing himself as if he were God. Therefore, he will have for a mother the sons of Israel, and for a father the Egyptians. For that which he will receive from the Church, namely the form of the sacraments and the image of sacredness, will be weak within himself, and in a feminine way, so that he can do nothing to sanctify his morals. But from the Egyptians he will have not a mother, but a father because wickedness, the enemy of the ancient one, namely the ruler of these darknesses, will prevail in his morals; from whom he will also be entirely possessed, so that by this impulse he will surpass all sinners by the enormity of his crimes, and will be uniquely called the Man of Sin by the Apostle,” (book 18 on Leviticus, chapter 1).
When he will come, Gilbertus [Porretanus, Bishop of Poitiers; d. 1154] warns: “Terror overtook Abraham in the evening, so that at the end of the world the dreadful persecution of the Antichrist will afflict the Church,” (in book, Altercat, chapter 7). Radulphus says: “I consider that there are no clearer signs of the coming of the Antichrist, according to that of the Apostle because when men shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction will come upon them: and the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, (book 18, chapter 11 on Leviticus).
Theophylact: “When the Antichrist is to come, there will be many false Christs and false prophets, and in the appearance of demons, who blind the eyes of the seers, so as to deceive some: and so much so, unless they are very sober, even the just will be deceived,” (on Matthew, chapter 24). And: “When the Roman empire is removed from the midst, then the Antichrist will come. For as long as the strength of this empire endures, no one will easily be subjected to him; but when it is dissolved, anarchy will induce him, that is, freedom, or rather a turbulent state of affairs which lacks a head and prince, and he will attempt to seize both the empire of men and of God. For just as before the Roman empire, empires were dissolved, such as the Medes by the Babylonians, the Babylonians by the Persians, the Persians by the Macedonians, the Macedonians by the Romans: in this way the Roman will be [replaced] by the Antichrist, and he again by Christ. And Daniel proposes these many things to us with clarity in chapter 2. Some understood ‘what withholds’ as idolatry. For when, he says, the withholding error has ceased and the worship of idols has been extinguished, then the Antichrist will come. As the Lord also said: The Gospel will be preached as a testimony to them, and then the end will come. Others, however, call ‘that which withholds’ the limit of God. For when the limit of God is fulfilled, which now detains the coming of the Antichrist, and the appointed time has come, then he will be revealed. It is further said or asserted by some that the Holy Spirit is a hindrance. For when He is taken away from the midst on account of the crimes of men and fails, then a place will be left for the wicked one to be revealed. And he began, Paul says, to claim the mystery of iniquity.” Theophylact, on Paul’s epistle to Thessalonians 2, chapter 2. “And at the coming of the Antichrist, indeed at that point of consummation, there will be most severe tribulation.” The same in Luke chapter 17.
What the future will be like under the Antichrist, Theophylact writes: “When the Antichrist comes, illicit pleasures will increase among men, and they will be dissolute, engaging in pleasure. For he will be the very cesspool of all sin and malice. Whence will he bring a different polity and life to the miserable generation of men at that time, than one entirely suitable to him? For what will be purified from the wicked?” The same is said in Luke chapter 17. “And he will not lead men to idolatry, but he will demolish all gods and their worships, whether idols or the like, and will preach only God Himself.” Also: “He does not sit properly in the temple, which is in Jerusalem; but simply in churches and every divine sanctuary.” Also: “He will perform works and miracles all to deceive.” In Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 2, it is said: “And he will be dreadful from every side; doing all things out of power and cruelty, so that he may impose and inflict injury on mortals, destroying their salvation. So that no one doubting might ask why God allowed him to come, it is said that it will be for the benefit of miserable mortals. Paul adds, Do not fear. For the strong and robust are perishing; even if he had not come, the unbelievers would still have remained.” The same is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. “And Paul calls it the operation of error, the works of the Antichrist, which cause deception. He even named him working through Satan to seduce many.” The same place.
How [is this going to happen?], Giselbertus [monk of St. Amand; d. 1095] explains: “Furthermore, in the time of the Antichrist there will come seven years of wealth, when the word of God will be dear as grain; for lack will precede the acts of the Antichrist,” In the book, Disputations between Photinus the Manichean and Paul the Christian, chap. 7. Also: “David is [a type of] Christ, who slew the lion and the bear threatening the sheep of Christ: the bear is the Devil; the lion, the Antichrist; one now secretly treacherous, the other openly raging at the end of the world,” (in the same book, chap. 15). Also: “His concubine is the synagogue from which the Antichrist, like Abimelech who usurped the kingdom for himself after killing his noble sons, will arise; but one escapes, that is, the believing people. They went,” says he who escaped, “to the olive, to the fig, to the vine, that they might rule over them. What then are those woods? Those woods are vain men, who, by a perverse intention in spiritual matters, desire preeminence and do not deserve it. For just as the good themselves say, ‘I washed my feet, how shall I defile them?’ Therefore, they choose a branch, and by this the chosen and the choosers perish. The perfidious followers of these Jews choose the Antichrist at the end of the age, and do not receive the vine of Christ, according to that saying: I came in my Father’s name, and you did not receive me; another will come in his own name, him you will receive. Finally, a fire went out from the branch: that is, iniquity from the Antichrist, and it consumed those confident in vanity; thus, Christ is the olive, the fig is the sweetness of evangelical grace, the Spirit is the vine. Moreover, between Abimelech and the supporters of Shechemites comes the worst spirit: thus, a perverse choice is always like an evil beginning, and so it has its end,” (Disputations, chap 14).
Ansbert [Autpert Ambrose? Frankish Benedictine monk; commentator on the Revelation; d. circa 784]: “And his feet are like polished bronze. In this passage, although all holy preachers rightly understand the feet as those of an angel, it is more fittingly applied to those last members of the Church, who under the excessive persecution of the Antichrist are to be refined by fire; but like the hardest metal, they will endure without loss of faith,” (book 1, chapter 1 on Revelation). Also: “I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming. Because this hour of trial is not said to have already come or to be present, but is predicted to come, it is better understood as being comprehended especially during this time of the Antichrist. For then will come that trial which will test the world not in parts but all at once. Then, what has never appeared in past times, the persecutors of the same Church will shine with miracles; and from this will come torment, and their miracles must be,” (Ansbert, book 2, chapter 3 on Revelation). And he says that the Antichrist and the Devil are one person, (book 5, chapter 11 on Revelation). Also: “The Antichrist, who feigns that he died and rose again in the likeness of Christ. The same beast is marked as the author of evil and inhabitant of the Antichrist, the Devil: as is hinted where it is said about the first beast, All who dwell on earth will worship him,” (Ansbert, book 5, chapter 11 on Revelation). And: “The stronger will be the steadfastness of the saint as the more savage the cruelty of the persecutors rages,” (Ansbert, book 6, chapter 12 on Revelation). Also: “And indeed the body of this head (as we have already said above) appeared, and is now seen, and is believed to be to come. Indeed, the head of the members who has not yet appeared himself has already appeared in his own. About whom it is written: A mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given to him. Oh, how many did not see the times of his temptation, and yet they are tossed in the storm of his temptation? Cain did not see the time of the Antichrist, and yet he was a member of the Antichrist by merit” (Ansbert, book 6, chapter 13, on the Apocalypse). And: “Through the lion, rightly is the love of transgression, that is, the Antichrist, designated: who both proclaims unheard-of things, and threatening unheard-of things, terrifies and deceives by fraud, and oppresses by the force of secular power,” The same, book 6, chapter 13 on the Apocalypse). Likewise: “And the dragon gave him his power and great authority. What power will he give to the beast, when through the Antichrist, exalted everywhere over peoples and kingdoms, he rages against the good?” And a little later: “And because he will not only oppress with temporal power, but also deceive many by signs and wonders, therefore, this is called great power. To this meaning the Apostle Paul agrees, saying: Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord JESUS will kill with the breath of his mouth” (Ansbert, book 6, chapter 13 on the Apocalypse). And: Ansbert often describes the marks or signs of the Antichrist as “wealth, power, signs, and wonders,” (book 6, chapter 13 on the Apocalypse). Also: “In the Antichrist there is not the slightest room [to be accused of] blasphemy because he [doesn’t] deny Christ with his words, but presents himself to be worshipped in his place; and persisting in this stubbornness of mind, according to his hardness and impenitent heart, he perseveres until the end. For if, repenting of this stubbornness, he were to confess Christ to be truly God, which he himself denies, there would somehow be room for pardon for him; but because he is hopeless he does not turn to repentance, and thereby blasphemes even the Holy Spirit, through whom the forgiveness of sins is given, so he does not deserve to receive the pardon of sins,” (ibidem). Also: “In the reception of the Antichrist, many unbelieving nations will have Jewish followers; and not only many, but also countless crowds. For just as the sacred Scripture calls the Gentiles children of Abraham for good, not by natural birth, but by confessing that Christ rose victorious from the dead from the tribe of Judah; so it must be believed that the Jews will have followers from the Gentiles for evil, who, receiving and following the Antichrist, who is said to be born from the tribe of Dan, will be marked as accomplices in the mark of crime, whose partakers they are in the punishment of eternal damnation,” (Ansbert, book 7, chapter 16, on the Apocalypse). Also: “Just as vessels of bronze, subdued by severe fire, bursting forth from intense heat, bubble outside and exceeding their capacity limits. Thus, also a part of the beast, existing in victory, when they see the Church of Christ fighting with tireless perseverance, inflamed with intolerable flames of envy, they breathe forth the fire conceived in their heart through impure blasphemies from their mouth,” (the same, book 7, chapter 16, on the Apocalypse).
Radulphus says: “The Antichrist coming in his own name, and exalting himself above all that is called God, will strive to nullify the divine faith,” (book 15, chapter 2, in Leviticus). And: “The time of the Antichrist remains, under which the moon will again be turned to blood, and the number of the blessed will be completed by many legions of holy martyrs,” (the same, book 18, chapter 2, in Leviticus).
Theophylact: “When the Antichrist comes, illicit pleasures will increase among men, and they will be dissolute, indulging in delights. This is what the Apostle also said: that in the last times there will be men lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. And rightly, in the kingdom of the deceiver, evils will flourish. For he will be the cesspool of all sin and malice, from which the miserable generation of men will adopt no other conduct or way of life than that which is proper to him. For what will be purified? At that time men will be ingulfed in all pleasures, just as in the times of Noah, fearing nothing serious; but neither will they believe if told about certain adverse events to come, just like the times of Noah and Lot,” in Luke chapter seventeen.
Where? Ansbert: “Because in those regions where Christ is said to have been crucified, where also the head of evils will appear, the Antichrist will sit and reign, a more cruel persecution will harass the Church; therefore, above all, that city which killed the prophets and stoned those sent, understood to be the earthly Jerusalem, is described as having the dead bodies of saints lying in the streets; as if, namely, where the principal struggle will be, there the bodies of the dead lie in abundance. In these words, it is also plainly understood that, above all, then the Jewish people will adhere to the Antichrist, until Enoch and Elijah return, preaching Christ to all who are to be saved from there,” (book 5, chap. 11 in Apocalypse; and in book 6 in Apocalypse, chap. 13). Babylon is called “second Rome,“ (book 8, chap. 17). Also: “What does he mean by the fourth kingdom if not the Roman empire in which the ten kings are mentioned, after whom the Antichrist is said to arise,” (Ansbert, book eight, chapter 17 in Apocalypse).
Radulphus: Furthermore, the seventh head of this beast will be the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will arise as a little horn among the ten horns of the fourth beast. Indeed, among the divisions of the Roman empire, which was once divided into many parts, the Antichrist will rise; and first with three kings allied to him and torn away from the faith of Christ which they previously held. It is uncertain who these future ones will be; then he will occupy the whole world and appear more powerful than the other kings. Therefore, it was justly said by the angel to John, who wrote under the Roman empire about these seven kingdoms, Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. (book 18, chap. 1 in Leviticus.)
Ansbert has much on the number of the beast in the Apocalypse, book 6, chapter 13.
Who that future one is, Theophylact says: “For Paul teaches us who that one is, namely, a man who is possessed by Satan who works in him.” Also: “He will appear to have omnipotence but will have no truth. For all things will tend toward imposture. Through outrageous lies—meaning deceptive words that mislead listeners into believing falsehoods—those who pay attention are led astray. But Paul says this is so that those who [have been chosen to] live will not be deceived. This In Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, chapter 2.
On the power of the Antichrist, Radulphus says: “Therefore, who would not be troubled or shaken by so great and sudden a change of things? Unless he refers what he sees to the Scriptures, and consults the law of God concerning the state of that time, so that, judging by Moses, what is to be understood from it may be discerned; and with both new and old sacred writings reconsidered, that novelty may be examined under the light of prophecy,” (book 18, chap. 1 in Leviticus). Also: “He will triumph over kings, laugh at every fortification, and carry away the rampart, capturing it. For he will subject many to himself, who are now considered steadfast in religion,” (ibid.).
On the end of the Antichrist, Ansbert says: “If anyone worships the devil and his image, namely the Antichrist, and imitates him either in faith or works, he does not receive punishments here in the present, as if drunk with pure wine, but in the future he will be punished with eternal vengeance, as if debased with dregs,” (book 6, chap. 14 in Apocalypse). Radulphus says: “The land to which woes are to occur is reported to be beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. And because that damned man is so immensely wicked, surpassing the sins of all sinners, when he suddenly arrives, entering unexpectedly, he will disrupt the festivals among the children of Israel, disturb the peace of the Church, and will soon overturn the state of long-lasting tranquility. Hence, also, the Prophet Ezekiel, prophesying against Gog, seems to express this most savage enemy of the holy Church quite clearly,” (book 18, chap. 1 in Leviticus). And: “This will happen under the Antichrist, when according to the Apostle there will come a falling away; for then there will be a great earthquake, that is, a great commotion among earthly men who, both through terror and the flatteries of the enemy, will depart from the firmness of faith; and it will become black like sackcloth because the shining life of preachers will be shown harsh and despised before the eyes of the reprobate. The moon will also be turned to blood, when the holy Church is drenched with the blood of its martyrs; stars will fall to the earth, that is, many who seemed like celestial lights will fall due to the cruelty of persecution,” (ibid.).
Theophylact says: “The coming of the Lord will not occur unless there comes a defection, that is, the Antichrist. For he called it a defection, because indeed he will cause many to defect, even the elect, if it were possible. However, he calls him the man of sin, as one who will complete every kind of sin and will lead others to sin. He is also called the son of perdition, since he himself is lost. But who is he? Is he Satan? Not at all: but some man, showing all the working of Satan,” (in Paul’s epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 2).
Christ will destroy the Antichrist. Theophylact: “Just as fire, even before its coming, when it is still far off, causes small beasts to become numb and stunned, and consumes them: in this way Christ, either by his sole power or by the full breath of the Holy Spirit, will destroy and obscure him, and by his very coming will abolish him, that is, will make him entirely powerless. For wherever he has only been seen, deception will cease,” (in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2).
The opinion is that he will come from Dan. Giselbertus: “Note that the camp of Dan is placed to the north, from which the Antichrist was to come,” (Disputations, chapter 13). Also: “some think Nero will be the Antichrist,” (book 8, chapter 17 of the Apocalypse).
Thus Radulphus says: “For the tribe of Dan, which encamps to the north, seems to foreshadow him who is to be born from the same tribe; among those who are removed from the fervor of charity, and placed as if under an icy region, he will receive principality; and from the sides of the north, as we have brought forth from Ezekiel, he will lead an army. But, indeed, as this tribe was departing last, it was shown to be the end of the Church in the future times of the Antichrist. Let no one be moved that the tribe of Dan was counted among the camps of Israel, since the Antichrist is to be an enemy of the Church. He will, indeed, be an enemy to the faithful, but, nevertheless, he will gather the greatest part of his multitude from the professors of faith,” (book 18, chapter 1 in Leviticus).
CENTURY 11
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
Whence he is: Anselm [Archbishop of Canterbury; d. 1109] “Just as God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself; so, the Devil will be in the Antichrist, seducing the world. And just as Christ said, The Father who dwells in me does the works, so the evil, dwelling in the Antichrist, will do all the things which he will seem to do,” (in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2).
What kind of Antichrist will be, Bruno [founder of the Carthusian Order; d. 1101] declares, saying: “The sinner will exacerbate the Lord, that is, he will stir up His wrath by his pride: which is first to be understood about the Antichrist, who provokes the true Lord when by his deceit he will proclaim himself not only an earthly king but also the God of all things. But this will be his ruin. Therefore, as a false god, he will be punished with fitting flames. The Antichrist does not ask that his cruel sins be forgiven because in his sight he has no God,” (Psalm 9). And: “The Antichrist provokes the true Lord, when by his deceit he will proclaim himself, not only an earthly king, but also the God of all things. But this will be his ruin, therefore, as a false god, he will be punished with fitting flames. The Antichrist does not ask God to forgive his cruel sins because in his sight he has no God. Therefore, David says: O how deep is the blindness, to have no God before one’s eyes,” etc., and he adds concerning the Antichrist that “all his paths are polluted: that is, his thoughts and deeds are filthy. For it is necessary that they be contaminated, which are defiled under the pestilential leadership of the Devil. And it increases his destruction that it is said he holds the principality of his enemies: by which boast he will be more prone to crimes, since he will recognize no one opposing him. The Antichrist says, ‘I will not be moved’: that is, I will leave no nation untouched, and ‘I will proceed from nation to nation avenging.’ Indeed, he shows his actions in one word when he says he will do nothing without evil. Wickedness is first described by a double perversity. For in his mouth he will have blasphemy and curse, as when he sends himself as the Son of God; bitterness, when he inflicts death upon those who oppose him and causes them to come to punishment; labor, when he afflicts the innocent with various calamities; pain, when he makes martyrs; he sits in ambush. David compared these acts of the Antichrist to the custom of robbers, who hide themselves in order to kill the innocent. The wealthy of the world will enrich themselves, so that their glory may deceive others. He will bow to tyrants when he has relaxed his spirit in some way, ceasing from such great persecution, satisfied with the excessive acquisition of the damned. After the punishments and afflictions of the righteous, the most wicked will fall with his followers from his own presumption, when sudden destruction overtakes him. For he does not know the unhappy end of the world, since the Lord has placed it in His power,” (in Psalm 9). Likewise, “the Antichrist will have such an intention that the Christian name will be utterly erased from the face of the earth, not knowing how to have mercy. And while he desires to kill the saints of Christ, he will [unwittingly] fulfill the number of saints [appointed to die] by his constant persecution,” (Psalm 82).
He will be a persecutor. Anselm: “Whom even the perfect [i.e., the true saints] will fear when under the Antichrist immense persecution will rage everywhere. But [though all are] fearing, he will begin to sink a little because, due to the horror of the atrocities of the punishments which will be inflicted on the saints, and because of the admiration of the false signs by the followers of the Antichrist, he will be somewhat wavering in his heart, feeling something from the lower part of his soul: so that, unless Christ lifts him up with His right hand, he could easily sink completely,” (in the explanation of the Gospel).
Secession, Anshelm thus interprets (unless the departure comes first), “that all the people subject to the Roman Empire will depart from it. Or the multitude of Churches will withdraw from the Roman prince, or all the multitude will depart from the faith,” (in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2).
Also: “Then the Roman Pontiff, who now holds the churches, shall hold them until the mediator—that is, until the very Roman Church, now the mediator and heart of the churches—shall be filled with iniquity, on account of which many shall depart from her,” Ibid.
Where he will be killed. Anshelm: “The Antichrist will be killed, as we understand from the book of Daniel, on the Mount of Olives, in his little pavilion on his throne: namely, in that place where the Lord ascended into heaven, (in the second chapter of the latter epistle to the Thessalonians).
CENTURY 12
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
DRAGON. Rupert [of Deutz, Benedictine monk, Revelation commentator; d. 1129] : “That Dragon, that Devil is now called by another name, but a close one, not without reason due to the greatness of the new thing: for he who was formerly the Devil and called the Dragon will be in a man, and will be armed with a man, who will be the man of sin, the son of perdition. For this reason, it has been properly changed so that he is called a beast. For that man will be hostile to God and all creation, according to the operation of the same Satan, according to the nature or etymology of the name because a beast is called ‘festia’ [i.e., hostile] as an antonym because it is hostile,” (book 8, chapter 13 in his commentary on the Apocalypse).
BEAST. Rupert: “The very same individual is both the man of sin and the Antichrist, and shortly before that, the beast with seven heads; and here he is described as one of the heads of the beast — that is, the beast with so many heads representing its body, which is the whole generation of the wicked. However, one single head stands for his own person and for the primacy of that particular time when he is to be revealed: the king of all the sons of pride,” (book 8, chapter 13 of the Apocalypse). And: “Two beasts rising simultaneously, [one] from the sea [the other from the earth] because of twin power, namely warlike or royal power, and magical power, by which he deceived men.” Ibidem. And: “The beast whose deadly wound was healed. The seventh head of the beast will be the Antichrist, concerning whose wound when it received it, and how it was healed or wishes to be seen as healed, has already been said above concerning power. Therefore, he made, that is, he will cause the earth and all who dwell in it, that is, earthly men storing up treasures not in heaven but on earth with sacrilegious desire, to worship the first beast, namely the principal power of the Antichrist, and to receive its bestial exaltation by which he is exalted above all that is called God or worshiped,” (book 8, chapter 13 in the Apocalypse).
ANTICHRIST. Rupert: “He will do all these things according to his name, indeed, according to the name imposed on him, which is Antichrist; that is, contrary to Christ because all things said about him are contrary to those which we read about Christ,” (book 8, chapter 13 in the Apocalypse). Also: “The Antichrist sheds the blood of others; Christ shed his own blood,” (ibidem). Also: “The Antichrist, that is to say, the one contrary to Christ, the proper adversary of Christ, is a false shepherd because leaving the flock and truly an idol and son of the Devil, he is rightly called the lie,” (book 4, on Zechariah, chapter 11). [N. B. The Antichrist is a false Christian pastor.]
Regarding the Antichrist, Honorius [of Autun, theologian; d. circa 1140] says: “The Antichrist is emphatically called the lie itself, because in all his deeds and words he is a liar,” (Psalm 4). Also: “For three days before Easter, three years of the time of the Antichrist are understood to be prefigured, during which all the cruelties of his world will be disturbed. [N. B. The year-day Principle.] Therefore, penitents are introduced into the Church on these days, because at that time the Jews will convert to the Church in full repentance,” (Mirror of the Church). Also: Before the coming of Christ to the final judgment, Elijah and Enoch will announce his [Antichrist’s] coming, etc. At that time the Antichrist will reign, disturbing the whole world in various ways. For he will attract all princes to himself by means of money, and [deal] with the rich in secret ways; and like a lion lying in wait, he will give himself over to trapping [them]. He will deceive the clergy through worldly wisdom when he speaks words against the Most High. He will seduce the religious with signs and wonders, even causing fire to descend from heaven. He will shake the common people with terror when he rages with the greatest persecution against the Christians. For he will kill Enoch and Elijah and will destroy all who resist his cruel examination. Whom the Lord JESUS, by the command of the spirit of His mouth or by the ministry of the archangel Michael, will kill, and He Himself will then come to judge [the world],” (ibidem).
Rupert: “The Antichrist has long been working the ministry of iniquity through his members,” (book 2, on Genesis, chapter 28).
Bernard says: “But when I asked him what he [Henry of Lausanne] believed concerning the Antichrist, he declared with absolute certainty that the Antichrist was still to be revealed in this very generation that now endures. Yet when I pressed him to explain the source of this certainty, and he began to set it out for me as I questioned him, after hearing his reply I did not judge that I should accept it as certain. Nevertheless, in conclusion he maintained this one thing: that he himself would not see death before witnessing a general persecution in the Church,” (Epistle 56).
Richard [of Saint-Victor, Scottish theologian, Revelation comentaror; d. 1173] says: “The reprobates will deserve such bitter divine vengeance in the days of the Antichrist that they will burst forth into blaspheming the divine name; and what is worse, not only will they burst forth into blasphemy, but they will also not do penance,” (book 5 on the Apocalypse).
Wherefore Rupert says: “He calls the Antichrist who is to come the seed of the Devil, as well as the lie born from his heart, all gathered and founded in him,” (book 8, chapter 13, on the Apocalypse). And: “Before the Devil enters into the proper vessel of the Antichrist, the son of perdition, although he was struck down from heaven, he still seeks temples, altars, priests, and sacrifices as if he is a living God; and after he has entered that man he will obtain the kingdoms of the world and will sit in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God,” (ibidem). And: “Upon the release of the dragon or ancient serpent, the devil, will be the coming of the Antichrist,” (book 10, chapter 17, the Apocalypse).
HIS SUBSTANCE. Rupert: “He is truly a man by nature, but the devil will be entirely in him with all his power, with full plenitude, and the coming of that same man will be according to the operation of Satan,” (book 8, chapter 13, the Apocalypse).
WHERE. Rupert: “The devil knows a suitable place for that lost man who is called the Antichrist, in which the root of all evils ought to arise, namely, the city of Babylon, a populous place of the malignant,” (book 8, chapter 13, the Apocalypse).
Richard states: “The unbelieving nations are ever a seat [throne] for the Antichrist,” (book 5 on the Apocalypse). Likewise: “The seats of the beast are the rulers of the Gentiles, in whom the Antichrist will chiefly sit and reign,” (Ibidem.)
Honorius refers Babylon and the beast to the pontifical state, saying: “Look at the princes and judges, behold, the seat of the beast is placed in them. They are always intent on evil, always inexorably occupied with the affairs of iniquity, they not only commit crimes but also instruct others to commit them. They sell sacred things; they buy wickedness. With all their might they labor so that they alone do not come to Tartarus. Turn to the clergy, and you will see in them the tent of the beast; they neglect the service of God, they serve earthly gains, they defile the priesthood through impurity, they seduce the people through hypocrisy, they deny God through evil works, they reject all scriptures pertaining to salvation, in every way they spread snares and ruin among the people whom, blind themselves, they lead the blind to destruction. Contemplate also the gatherings of monks, and you will see in them the tabernacles of the beast: by false profession mocking God they provoke His wrath; they trample the rule of monastic life by morals and conduct; by their dress they deceive the world; deceived themselves they deceive many others; they are involved in worldly affairs, while idle in the service of God; most are given over to gluttony and allurements; some rot in filthy uncleanness. Also, look at the habits of nuns, and you will see in them the prepared chamber of the beast. These from tender age learn impurity, they take many accomplices to themselves for the accumulation of their damnation; they hasten to cover themselves with a veil, by which they can more easily loosen the reins of luxury; worse than all prostitutes they lie prostrate, and like an insatiable Charybdis they are never filled with filth of uncleanness. These ensnare the souls of youths and rejoice if they ensnare more and desire the palm of victory when prevailing over others in wickedness. Turn your attention to the rest of the people, and you will find in them the image of the beast. The priests despise, they scorn to hear anything about God, they spend their whole life in vanity and arrogance and reject every good work. The common people also, being untaught, have the idol of the beast. They do not know the true God, they serve the god of the belly with their whole attention, they dissolve through various desires of the flesh and live a beastly life in all things. Come here to the slopes of this valley and see the monstrous assemblies of women. In these the beast places all its pomp and monsters and has arranged them to bear its weapons. You see how she corrupts young men through that luxury, she kills many with poison; this one betrays a man’s life for gold, this one kills her offspring, this one provokes quarrels, another instigates wars, this one alienates men’s minds through witchcraft; indeed no money or luxury satisfies her, this one deceives many by laughing, that one seduces many by weeping. These are the bulwarks of this city, and these are the javelins of the beast. O God, what monstrous prodigies do I behold? You have seen the walls of the adulterous city; you also desire to behold its destruction. Now the citizens of Babylon, although more numerous in number, continually wage war against the citizens of Jerusalem because they are placed among them in exile. But afterward the heavenly king, coming with an army of angels, will utterly overthrow this lost city, and liberating His elect from there, will lead them into the heavenly palace with Him, to whom He will then present such a spectacle. This Babylon which you see is the glory of this world, with its prince the devil, and all the citizens of this city, namely the lovers of this world; suddenly He will cast them into the lake of fire and sulfur, and then will change everything into a better state for the elect,” (Dialogue on free will and predestination).
WHEN. Rupert: “The Antichrist, a foolish and ignorant shepherd, is said to be coming at the consummation of the world, and what he will be like is also indicated,” (book 4, Commentary on Zechariah, chapter 12).
Ignorance does not excuse. Rupert: “Those who, through such signs, who worship the enthroned beast and believe in the Antichrist, cannot be excused through ignorance: as if they were ignorant and had not read that such an image of the beast, namely, the serpent, had spoken to the first humans,” (book 8, on the Apocalypse, chapter thirteen).
Potho of Prüfening [12th century Benedictine monk] says concerning the reason for the entrance of Antichrist: “Therefore it is clearly declared to us that he goes about in darkness. Indeed, he is followed by many, and now the last and most dangerous temptation approaches, when the Church of Christ will be shaken by the attack of the midday demon, like a most severe storm: when that man of sin, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, will appear as the midday light in all false signs and wonders, deceiving those who dwell on the earth,” (book 3, on the State of the House of God).
About the works of the Antichrist, Berengard of Trier [?] says: “Let there be a serpent in the way (says Jacob), a horned viper on the path, signifying the Antichrist, who against the elect of God must sometimes rage with twofold madness, since he is called a serpent from cunning, and a horned viper from power,” (In the book, On the Mystery of the Wood [Cross] of the Lord).
Rupert says: “The beast, namely the Antichrist, who long since has worked and still works the ministry of iniquity, will make war against those in a manner like that which is usually between truth and falsehood” (book 6, chapter 11, on the Apocalypse). He also says: “The seventh and greatest head will be the Antichrist, for he now sends messengers and his preachers throughout the whole world. Moreover, his preaching and power will extend from sea to sea, from East to West, from the north even to the south. He will first turn kings and princes to himself and then will raise up a dangerous persecution under every sky against all peoples who confess Christ” (ibid., book 8, chapter 13). And: “Concerning the kingdom of the Antichrist, which will be the seventh head, Scripture says this: ‘To him was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies,’ and ‘he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle.’ Thus, upon the heads of the beast are the names of blasphemy by which individual kingdoms ascribe to their kings the name that is God, or the kings themselves have arrogated it beforehand — which obviously is blasphemy,” (ibid.). He adds: “He is king over all the sons of pride, who will not only acquiesce to the immoderate flattery of those saying ‘Who is like the beast?’ but will also have a great mouth, a mouth speaking great things, arrogating magnificence to himself and demanding from all the words not of man but of God, that all should say, ‘Who is like you?’ He will exact this not only by speech but also by military power,” (ibid.). He also says: “He will make war with the saints and will conquer them: namely, he who cannot prevail by a blaspheming mouth will vindicate himself by fighting and by killing,” (ibid.). And: “Then indeed in that son of perdition the devil will be truly loosed, whose persecution of the servants of Christ will be so great and so dreadful that they will not dare to confess even the word of justice, but even the Christian name itself will be forbidden to them,” (book 11, Commentary on the Apocalypse). And: “He will be permitted to use and will stir up a public persecution of Christians everywhere on earth, and will seduce all the Gentiles, except the elect; for it cannot be that the elect should be led into error,” (ibid.). And: “The Antichrist will give life to the dead living for the god of this world, while he will put to death the living, that is the righteous who live for God,” (ibid.).
The Antichrist is attributed to monks. Peter of Blois [French theologian and cleric; d. 1203] says: “It was more tolerable not to have undertaken the vow of penance than to regress afterward. It is a matter of great crisis to carry the disgrace of the world under the guise of religion, to conceal impiety under the shade of piety, and to hide the Antichrist mysteriously under the garments of Christ,” (Epistle 61).
About the punishment, Rupertus says: “The Antichrist, the head of the wicked kings, will be devoured by the judgment of damnation, and all flatterers, not those harming or offending him, will be devoured,” (book 6, chapter 2 on the Apocalypse).
CENTURY 13
ON ANTICHRIST
SOURCE
They have opinions about the Antichrist. Thomas [Aquinas; d. 1274] gives his reason why Elijah and Enoch are sent to preach during the time of the Antichrist: namely, because one is from the time before the law, namely Enoch, the other from the time under the law, and therefore their testimony will be solid, (On Apocalypse, chapter 11). Also: It should be noted that after the death of the Antichrist, the holy preachers will preach, and the faithful will magnify God, whose power in the destruction of the Antichrist will already have been manifested and will appear more openly in the impending judgment, (ibid). Also: The Devil will reveal to the Antichrist treasures of gold and silver hidden, (On Apocalypse, chap. 13). Also: Note, it says, that since the Antichrist will have reigned in great power for some time, namely for three and a half years, he will be killed by a vile death on the Mount of Olives, in the pavilion and on his throne, in that place against which Christ ascended to heaven, (chapter 13). Also: After the death of the Antichrist, peace will be given to the Church, which however will last but a little while, (chapter 8). Also: Note, as the Gloss says, after the death of the Antichrist, forty-two days will be given for those who wavered during the persecution of the Antichrist to repent, just as the Jews had forty-two years, (ibid). Also, he says the Antichrist will have his own precursors who will announce his coming, (chapter 10). And from the Gloss it asserts that during the time of the Antichrist Elijah and Enoch will come forth publicly to testify to the catholic truth: whom, when they have finished their testimony, the Antichrist will kill, (chapter 11).
As to WHAT: Thomas says, “The Antichrist will be the chief head of the multitude of the wicked.” Also: The Antichrist is the head of all times because his apparent power will result in the exaltation of other wicked ones, namely, the power of rising again (chapter 13, On Apocalypse).
Hence, the opinion of Thomas: The Antichrist will descend from the tribe of Dan, (On Apocalypse, chapter 7).
Status. Thomas: At the time of the Antichrist, the magnificence of Christ will not appear in the world through doctrine, (On Apocalypse, chapter 6).
Doctrine. Thomas: The doctrine of the Antichrist has a darkening effect, as if it darkens us, turning itself here and there because of its spreading, (chapter 10, On Apocalypse).
Works of the Antichrist. Thomas: The Antichrist and his followers will act according to the imitation of the deeds of Christ, in order to pervert the faith of Christians and make them Antichristians. For the Antichrist will simulate death and resurrection and ascension, and will feign the sending of the Holy Spirit, (On Apocalypse, chapter 13). And: The Antichrist and his helpers will rule over other evil men, who will lead them to evil, and will detain them in it. Also, they reign over present evils, although the Antichrist has not yet appeared. For the Antichrist, though not yet manifestly come, is already the head of evils now, (chapter 17). Also: Much blood of the faithful will be shed in various places by ministers of the Antichrist, procured by the devil, (chapter 6). And: The Antichrist will punish by secular princes those unwilling to adhere to him and to receive the doctrine of his preachers. Also: In the beginning when the Antichrist is born, before he has extended his power, preaching will take place; but afterwards, when he is in his great dominion, then preaching will be selective, not general as now, nor solemn as now, (On Apocalypse, chapter 9). Also: The Antichrist will be called lord of the earth, although only God is the true lord of all things, (chapter 11).
Albert the Great [Bishop of Regensburg, scientist, theologian; d. circa 1280]: “Antichrist will usurp with lying signs.” Also, “the Jews will be the first to convert to Antichrist.” Also, “it is believed that Antichrist will be born from Dan,” (in his commentary, On John, chap. 5). Also: “Antichrist is a worker of error and lies,” (ibid., chapter 8). Also: “Antichrist will pretend to be holy,” (ibid.). Also: “Antichrist will usurp the holiness of virtue and will be damned,” (chap. 1).
Doctors against the Antichrist. Thomas: “Seven Angels or preachers in the time of the Antichrist. The first will preach against the Jews who will receive the Antichrist. The second against the Gentiles who will afflict the Christians. The third against the false apostles of the Antichrist who will pervert the Scriptures. The fourth against the Antichrist himself who will exalt himself above God. The fifth against the infidels whom the Antichrist will subject to himself. The sixth against the rich who similarly obey the Antichrist. The seventh against demons who suggest that the aforementioned evils will happen,” (On Apocalypse, chapter 15).
Thomas recites nonsense about the Antichrist:
“The Antichrist will be born in Babylon from the tribe of Dan, according to what Jacob said: Let Dan be a serpent, etc. And when he comes to Jerusalem, he will circumcise himself, saying to the Jews: ‘I am the Christ promised to you.’ Then all the Jews will flock to him, and they will rebuild the temple destroyed by the Romans. And there he will sit, showing himself as if he were God,” (De humanitate Christi, cap.29).
END
CategoriesAntichrist PROPHECY Revelation Commentary
TagsMatthius Flaccius Illyrcus Medieval Prophecy Revelation