The Antichrist and the Second Advent

Preface

The following pages constitute a compilation of the teachings of the Holy Fathers about Antichrist and the Second Advent of our Lord. Although the bulk of the teachings concur on the major basic issues, some variances are noted:

1. Concerning the person of Antichrist: Some writers, namely Hippolytus and Cyril of Jerusalem, seem to think of Antichrist as an incarnation of Satan himself. The wide majority of the teachings however, is exemplified in that saying of St. Jerome: "Let us not follow the opinion of some commentators and suppose him to be either the Devil or some demon, but rather, one of the human race." St. Paul in 2 Thess. ii:8,9: "...And then shall that Wicked be revealed...whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders." rather indicates that Satan has used one of the human race as an instrument.

2. Although it is universally accepted that the Second Coming will be heralded by the two Old Testament prophets; Enoch and Elias the Thisbite, some writers include Saint John the Theologian (the Beloved). Among these, rather uncommon writings, are those of Ephram of Antioch and Hippolytus. The former states that this belief is supported by an ancient ecclesiastical tradition interpreting Christ saying in Johurxxi:22 as refering to St. John's role as a forerunner. This view, however, opposes Rev. xi:3,4 where the number of prophets of the Second Advent was confined to two prophets.

3. As regarding the name of Antichrist, it is well to be versed in the different possible names put forward by the Fathers. This however, is not without its danger, and the teachings of the Fathers are replete with warnings to this effect. Regarding these, the reader is referred to the text. Suffice it to mention here the following admonition of St. Irenaeus: "We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary that this name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the Vision."

The fourth kingdom in the prophesy of Daniel vii:7,23 was generally understood by the early Christian writers to be the Roman Empire, and its dissolution was to be speedly followed by the end of the world. The dissolution of the Roman Empire, however, was not understood in the current secular sense, corresponding to the 5th. century AD., nor to the division of the Empire into East and West after Theodosius I (379‑395); but rather after the division of the Empire into ten kingdoms and the subjugation of the tatters to one tyrant: "... Let them await, in the first place, the division of the kingdom into ten; then, in the next place, when these kings are reigning and beginning to set their affair in order and advance their kingdom..." St. Irenaus.

Similarly, St. Hippolytus comments: "These things then are in the future, and the ten toes of the immage are equivalent to so many democracies and "the ten horns of the fourth beast are distributed over ten kingdoms...".

Observe here the amazing reference to "so many democracies" arising out of the Roman Empire.

The careful Orthodox observer will notice in this sober patristic outlook, a marked distinction from the current infatuated interpretations of events and dates. Such interpretations, beside being detrimental, have been marked by frustrated date-fixing and politico economic predictions.

In amassing materials for the present work, the following patristic sources were consulted:

St. Jerome Commentary on Daniel.

St. John Chrysostom Commentaries on the Gospel of Mathew and the Pauline Epistles to the Thessalonians.

St. Hippolytus; "Treatise on Christ and Antichrist", "Fragments from Commentaries" in NPN series, and the so called "Appendix to the Work of Hippolytus."

St. Irenaeus; "Against Heresies".

St. Cyril of Jerusalem's "Lectures."

Frequent allusion to the above sources makes it cumbersome to name them in each instance. However, other sources when invoked, are explicitly named in the body of the text.

The compiler uses square brackets [ ], to indicate his own words when inserted in a given quotation. Following the patristic usage, some OT passages are quoted from the Septuagint; in these passages and verse references.