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ANTICHRIST (avrixpu ros)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 123 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANTICHRIST (avrixpu See also:ros) . The earliest mention of the name Antichrist, which was probably first coined in See also:Christian eschatological literature, is in the Epistles of St See also:John (I. ii. 18, 22, 1V. 3; II. 7), and it has since come into universal use. The conception, paraphrased in this word, of a mighty ruler who will appear at the end of See also:time, and whose essence will be enmity to See also:God (See also:Dan. xi. 36; cf.' 2 Thess. ii. 4; a h.vruc tµEYOS), is older, and traceable to Jewish See also:eschatology. Its origin is to be sought in the first See also:place. in the prophecy of See also:Daniel, written at the beginning of the Maccabean See also:period. The See also:historical figure who served as a See also:model for the " Antichrist " was See also:Antiochus IV. Epiphanes, the persecutor of the See also:Jews, and he has impressed indelible traits upon the conception. Since then ever-recurring characteristics of this figure (cf. especially Dan xi.

40, &c.) are, that he would appear as a mighty ruler at the See also:

head of gigantic armies, that he would destroy three rulers (the three horns, Dan. vii. 8, 24), persecute the See also:saints (vii. 25), See also:rule for three and a See also:half years (vii. 25, &c.), and subject the See also:temple of God to a horrible devastation (/3? Xvypa riffs Ept7pco€ws). When the end of the See also:world foretold by Daniel did not take place, but the See also:book of Daniel retained its validity as a sacred scripture which foretold future things, the See also:personality of the See also:tyrant who was God's enemy disengaged itself from that of Antiochus IV., and became merely a figure of prophecy, which was applied now to one and now to another historical phenomenon. Thus for the author of the See also:Psalms of See also:Solomon (c. 6o B.C.), See also:Pompey, who destroyed the See also:independent rule of the See also:Maccabees and stormed See also:Jerusalem, was the Adversary of God (cf. ii. 26, &c.); so too the tyrant whom the See also:Ascension of See also:Moses (c. A.D. 30) expects at the end of all things, possesses, besides the traits of Antiochus IV., those of See also:Herod the See also:Great. A further See also:influence on the development of the eschatological See also:imagination of the Jews was exercised by such a figure as that of the See also:emperor Caligula (A.D.

37-41), who is known to have given the See also:

order, never carried out, to erect his statue in the temple of Jerusalem. In the little Jewish See also:Apocalypse, the existence of which is assumed by many scholars, which in See also:Mark xiii. and Matt. See also:xxiv. is combined with the words of See also:Christ to See also:form the great eschatological discourse, the prophecy of the " See also:abomination of desolation " (Mark xiii. 14 et seq.) may have the son of perdition " here described with the dominating figure originated in this See also:episode of Jewish See also:history. Later Jewish and of Jewish eschatology (cf. ii. 3 &c., 6 avOpwiros rrts'avopcas, Christian writers of Apocalypses saw in See also:Nero the tyrant of the i.e. Beliar (?), o avrLKEipevos—the allusion that follows to end of time. The author of the See also:Syriac Apocalypse of See also:Baruch (or j Dan xi. 36). But Antichrist here appears as a tempter, who his source), cap. 36-40, speaks in quite See also:general terms of the last See also:works by signs and wonders (ii. 9) and seeks to obtain divine ruler of the end of time. In 4 See also:Ezra v.

6 also is found the allusion: I honours; it is further signified that this " See also:

man of See also:sin " will obtain See also:credence, more especially among the Jews, because they have not accepted the truth. The conception, moreover, has become almost more superhuman than ever (cf. ii. 4, " showing himself that he is God "). The destruction of the Adversary is See also:drawn from See also:Isaiah xi. 4, where it is said of the See also:Messiah: " with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." 5 The See also:idea that Antichrist was to establish himself in the temple of Jerusalem (ii. 4) is very enigmatical, and has not yet been explained. The " abomination of desolation " has naturally had its influence upon it; possibly also the experience of the time of Caligula (see above). Remarkable also is the allusion to a See also:power which still retards the See also:revelation of Antichrist (2 Thess. ii. 6 &c., rb Karixov; b Karixcov), an allusion which, in the tradition of the Fathers of the See also:church, came to be universally, and probably correctly, referred to the See also:Roman See also:empire. In this then consists the significant turn given by St See also:Paul in the Second See also:Epistle to the See also:Thessalonians to the whole conception, namely, in the substitution for the tyrant of the latter time who should persecute the Jewish See also:people, of a pseudo-Messianic figure, who, establishing himself in the temple of God, should find credence and a following precisely among the Jews. And while the originally Jewish idea led straight to the conception, set forth in Revelation, of the Roman empire or its ruler as Antichrist, here, on the contrary, it is probably the Roman empire that is the power which still retards the reign of Antichrist. With this, the expectation of such an event at last separates itself from any connexion with historical fact, and becomes purely ideal.

In this See also:

process of transformation of the idea, which has become of importance for the history of the world, is revealed probably the See also:genius of Paul, or at any See also:rate, that of the See also:young See also:Christianity which was breaking its ties with Judaism and establishing itself in the world of the Roman empire. This version of the figure of Antichrist, who may now really for the first time be described by this name, appears to have been at once widely accepted in Christendom. The idea that the Jews would believe in Antichrist, as See also:punishment for not having believed in the true Christ,- seems to be expressed by the author of the See also:fourth See also:gospel (v. 43). The conception of Antichrist as a perverter of men, leads naturally to his connexion with false See also:doctrine (r John ii. 18, 22; iv. 3; 2 John 7). The Teaching of the Apostles (xvi. 4) describes his form in the same way as 2 Thessalonians (Kai See also:oboe ¢atviiaerat b Koouo2rhavor WS V 65 Oeou Kai See also:rota vrlµeia Kai mmpara). In the See also:late Christian Sibylline fragment (iii. 63 &c.) also, " See also:Behar " appears above all as a worker of wonders, this figure having possibly been influenced by that of See also:Simon Magus. Finally the author of the Apocalypse of St John also has made use of the new conception of Antichrist as a wonder-worker and seducer, and has set his figure beside that of the " first " Beast which was for him the actual embodiment of Antichrist (xiii. rr &c.).

Since this second Beast could not appear along with the first as a power demanding See also:

worship and directly playing the See also:part of Antichrist, he made out of him the false See also:prophet (xvi. 13, xix. 20, xx. 10) who seduces the inhabitants of the See also:earth to worship the first Beast, and probably interpreted this figure as applying to the Roman provincial priesthood.' But this version of the idea of Antichrist, hostile to the Jews and better expressing the relation of Christianity to the Roman empire, was prevented from obtaining an See also:absolute ascendancy in Christian tradition by the rise of the belief in the ultimate return of Nero, and by the absorption of this outcome of See also:pagan superstition into the Jewish-Christian apocalyptic conceptions. It is known that soon after the See also:death of Nero rumours were current that he was not dead. This See also:report soon took the.more See also:concrete form that he had fled to the Parthians and would return thence to take vengeance on See also:Rome. This expectation led to the See also:appearance of several pretenders who posed as Nero: and as late as A.D. 100 many still held the belief that Nero yet lived.2 This idea of Nero's return was in the first instance taken up by the Jewish apocalyptic writers. While the Jewish author of the fourth Sibylline book (c. A.D. 80) still only refers simply to the See also:heathen belief, the author of the (Jewish?) See also:original of the 17th See also:chapter of the Apocalypse of St John expects the return of Nero with the Parthians to take vengeance on Rome, because she had See also:shed the See also:blood of the Saints (destruction of Jerusalem!). In the fifth Sibylline book, which, with the exception of verses 1-51, was mainly composed by a Jewish writer at the See also:close of the first See also:century, the return of Nero plays a great part.

Three times the author recurs to this theme, 137-154; 214-227; 361-385. He See also:

sees in the coming again of Nero, whose figure he endows with ' See Bousset, Kommentar zur O(jenbarung Johannis, on these .passages. 2 Ibid. ch. xrii.: and See also:Charles, Ascension of Isaiah, sq.supernatural and daemonic characteristics, a See also:judgment of God, in whose See also:hand the revivified Nero becomes a See also:rod of chastisement. Later, the figure of Nero redivivus became, more especially in Christian thought, entirely confused with that of Antichrist. The less it became possible, as time went on to believe that Nero yet lived and would return as a living ruler, the greater was the tendency for his figure to develop into one wholly infernal and daemonic. The relation to the Parthians is also gradually lost sight of; and from being the adversary of Rome, Nero becomes the adversary of God and of Christ. This is the version of the expectation of Nero's second coming preserved in the form given to the prophecy, under See also:Domitian, by the collaborator in the Apocalypse of John (xiii., xvii.). Nero is here the beast that returns from the bottomless See also:pit, "that was, and is. not, and yet is "; the head "as it were wounded to death" that lives again; the gruesome similitude of the See also:Lamb that was slain, and his adversary in the final struggle. The number of the Beast, 666, points certainly to Nero (See also:Iris -lop =666, or vs: 1ep =616h In the little apocalypse of the Ascensio Jesaiae (iii. 13b—iv; 18), which See also:dates perhaps from the second, perhaps only from the first, See also:decade of the third century, it is said that.Beliar, the See also:king of this world, would descend from the See also:firmament: in the human form of Nero. In the same way, in Sibyll..v. 28-34, Nero and Antichrist are absolutely identical (mostly obscure reminiscences, Sib. viii.

68 &c., 140 &c., 151 &c.). Then the Nero-See also:

legend gradually fades away. But Victorious of . Pettau, who wrote during the persecution under See also:Diocletian, still knows the relation of the Apocalypse to the, legend of Nero; and Cornmodian, whose Carmen Apologeticum was perhaps not written until the beginning of the 4th century, knows two Antichrist-figures, of which he -still identifies the first with Nero redivivus. In proportion as the figure of Nero again ceased to dominate the imagination of the faithful, the wholly unhistorical, unpolitical and See also:anti-Jewish conception of Antichrist, which based itself more especially on 2 Thess. ii., gained the upper hand, having usually become associated with the description of. the universal conflagration of the world which had also originated in the Iranian eschatology. On the strength of exegetical combinations, and with the assistance of various traditions, it was See also:developed even in its details, which it thenceforth maintained practically unchanged. In this form it is in great part See also:present in the eschatological portions of the Adv. Haereses of See also:Irenaeus, and in the de Antichristo and commentary on Daniel of See also:Hippolytus. In times of See also:political excitement, during the following centuries, men appealed again and again to the prophecy of Antichrist. Then the foreground scenery of the prophecies was shifted; See also:special prophecies, having reference to contemporary events, are pushed to the front, but in the background remains See also:standing, with scarcely a See also:change, the prophecy of Antichrist that is See also:bound up with no particular time. Thus at the beginning of the Testament um Domini, edited by Rahmani, there is an apocalypse, possibly of the time of See also:Decius, though it has been worked over (See also:Harnack, Chronol. der altchrist. Litt. ii.

514 &c.): In the third century, the period of See also:

Aurelianus and See also:Gallienus, with its See also:wild warfare of See also:Romans and Persians, and of Roman pretenders one with another, seems especially to have aroused the spirit of prophecy. To this period belongs the Jewish apocalypse of See also:Elijah (ed. Buttenwieser), of which the Antichrist is possibly See also:Odaenathus of See also:Palmyra, while Sibyl'. xiii., a Christian See also:writing of this period, glorifies this very See also:prince. It is possible that at this time also the Sibylline fragment (iii. -63 &c.) and the Christian recension of the two first Sibylline books were written.4 To this time possibly belongs also a recension of the Coptic apocalypse of Elijah, edited by Steindorff (Texte and Untersuchungen, N. F. ii. 3). To the 4th century belongs, according to Kamper (See also:Die deutsche Kaiseridee, 1886, p. 18) and Sackur (Texte .und Forschungen, 1898, p. 114 &c.), the first See also:nucleus of the " Tiburtine" Sibyl, very celebrated in the See also:middle ages, with its prophecy of the return of Harnack, Chronologie der altchristlichen Literatur, i. 573. 4 See Rousse't, in See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklop. See also:fur Theologie und Kirche (ed.

3), Xviii. 273 &c. See also:

Constans, and its See also:dream, which later on exercised so much influence, that after ruling over the whole world he would go to Jerusalem and See also:lay down his See also:crown upon Golgotha. To the 4th century also perhaps belongs a See also:series of apocalyptic pieces and homilies which have been handed down under the name of Ephraem. At the beginning of the See also:Mahommedan period, then, we meet with the most influential and the most curious of these prophetic books, the Pseudo-See also:Methodius,' which prophesied of the emperor who would awake from his See also:sleep and conquer See also:Islam. From the Pseudo-Methodists are derived innumerable See also:Byzantine prophecies (cf. especially Vassiliev, See also:Anecdote Graeco- Byzantina) which follow the fortunes of the Byzantine emperors and their governments. A prophecy in See also:verse, adorned with pictures, which is ascribed to See also:Leo VI. the Philosopher (See also:Migne, Pair. Crocco, cvii. p. 1121 &c.), tells of the downfall of the See also:house of the Comneni and sings of the emperor of the future who would one See also:day awake from death and go forth from the See also:cave iu which he had lain. Thus the prophecy of the sleeping emperor of the future is very closely connected with the Antichrist tradition. There is extant a Daniel prophecy which, in the time of the Latin empire, foretells the restoration of the See also:Greek rule' In the See also:East, too, Antichrist prophecies were extraordinarily flourishing during the period of the rise of Islam and of the See also:Crusades. To these belong the apocalypses in Arabic, Ethiopian and perhaps also in Syrian, preserved in the so-called See also:Liber Clementis discipuli S.

Petri (Petri apostoli apocalypsis per Clementem), the late Syrian apocalypse of Ezra (Bousset, Antichrist, 45 &c.), the Coptic (14th) See also:

vision of Daniel (in the appendix to Woide's edition of the Codex Alexandriuus; See also:Oxford, 1799), the Ethiopian See also:Wisdom of the Sibyl, which is closely related to the Tiburtine Sibyl (see See also:Basset, Apocryphes ethiopiennes, x.); in the last mentioned of these See also:sources See also:long series of Islamic rulers are foretold before the final time of Antichrist. Jewish apocalypse also awakes to fresh developments in the Mahommedan period, and shows a close relationship with the Christian Antichrist literature. Oi e of the most interesting apocalypses is the Jewish History of Daniel, handed down in See also:Persian? This whole type of prophecy reached the See also:West above all through the Pseudo-Methodius, which was soon translated into Latin. Especially influential, too, in this respect was the See also:letter which the See also:monk Adso in 954 wrote to See also:Queen Gerberga, De ortu el tempore Antichristi. The old Tiburtine Sibylla. went through edition after editiop, in each See also:case being altered so as to apply to the See also:government of the monarch who happened to be ruling at the time. Then in the West the period arrived in which eschatology, and above all the expectation of the coming of Antichrist, exercised a great influence on the world's history. This period, as is well known, was inaugurated, at the end of the 12th century, by the apocalyptic writings of the See also:abbot See also:Joachim of See also:Floris. Soon the word Antichrist re-echoed from all sides in the embittered controversies of the West. The See also:pope bestowed this See also:title upon the emperor, the emperor upon the pope, the Guelphs on the Ghibellines and the Ghibellines on the Guelphs. In the contests between the See also:rival See also:powers and courts of the period, the prophecy of Antichrist played a political part. It gave motives to See also:art, to lyrical, epic and dramatic See also:poetry.' Among the visionary See also:Franciscans, enthusiastic adherents of Joachim's prophecies, arose above all the conviction that the pope was Antichrist, or at least his precursor.

From the Franciscans, influenced by Abbot Joachim, the lines of connexion are clearly traceable with Mille of See also:

Kremsier (Libellus de Antichristo) and See also:Matthias of Janow. For Wycliffe and his adherent John Purvey (probably the author of the Commentarius in Apocalypsin ante centum annos editus, edited in 1528 by See also:Luther), as on the other hand for Hus, the conviction that the papacy is essentially Antichrist is absolute. Finally, if Luther advanced in his contest with the papacy with greater and greater See also:energy, he did so because he was See also:borne on by Latin See also:text by Sackur, cf. op. cit. 1 &c.; Greek text by V. See also:Istria. s See Bousset, Zeitschrift See also:fit?. Kirchengeschichte, xx. p. 289 &c. Published in Merx, Archiv zur Erforschung See also:des See also:Allen Testament. See especially the Ludus de Antichristo, ed. W. See also:Meyer. ages themselves.

End of Article: ANTICHRIST (avrixpu ros)

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