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Antichrist
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Robert E. Lerner
Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Humanities, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. Author of The Heresy of the Free Spirit and The Powers of Prophecy: the Cedar of Lebanon Vision from the...
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Antichrist, the polar opposite and ultimate enemy of Christ. According to Christian tradition, he will reign terribly in the period prior to the Last Judgment. The Antichrist first appeared in the epistles of St. John (I John 2:18, 22; I John 4:3; II John 1:7), and the fully developed story of Antichrist’s life and reign is found in medieval texts. As applied to various individuals and institutions for nearly two millennia, Antichrist and precursor of Antichrist have been, and remain, terms of the most intense opprobrium.
The Deeds of Antichrist
Detail of The Deeds of Antichrist by Luca Signorelli, c. 1505, showing the Antichrist directed by Satan; in the Duomo, Orvieto, Italy.Sandro Vannini—De Agostini Editore/age fotostock
The Christian conception of Antichrist was derived from Jewish traditions, particularly The Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. Written about 167 bce, it foretold the coming of a final persecutor who would “speak great words against the most High and wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws” (7:25). Scholars agree that the author of Daniel was alluding to the contemporary Hellenistic ruler of Palestine, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who attempted to extirpate Judaism. But because Antiochus was not named, later readers could apply the prediction in Daniel to any persecutor. Early Christians applied it to the Roman emperors who persecuted the church, in particular Nero (reigned 54–68 ce).
The four books of the New Testament that fueled Christian belief in Antichrist were the first two epistles of John, the Revelation to John, and the second epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. The first three of these were written near the end of the 1st century ce; the last was written either by the apostle Paul shortly after 50 ce or by one of Paul’s immediate disciples some 20 or 30 years later. Neither II Thessalonians nor Revelation use the term Antichrist, but both works refer to a coming persecutor who is evidently the same person. The first epistle of John introduces an important distinction between “the” Antichrist who will come and the many antichrists who are already active in the world. This distinction not only enabled believers to denigrate contemporaries as “antichrists” without having to label a single individual as “the” Antichrist but also allowed them to identify the “body of Antichrist” as a collectivity existing in the present but destined to have its day of triumph in the future.
Nevertheless, early Christians tended to emphasize the coming of the one great Antichrist. The Revelation to John refers to this figure as “the Beast from the Abyss” (11:7) and “the Beast from the Sea” (13:1). In the most sustained account of his appearance, II Thessalonians 2:1-12, he is called “the man of sin” and “son of perdition.” He will come at a time of a general apostasy, deceive people with signs and wonders, sit in the temple of God, and claim to be God himself. Finally, he will be defeated by Jesus, who will destroy him by “the spirit of his mouth” and “the brightness of his coming” (2:8).
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Because even II Thessalonians is sketchy about the details of Antichrist’s person and the nature of his reign, a succession of biblical commentators and pseudonymous apocalyptic writers from the era of the Church Fathers and the early Middle Ages began to provide the missing features. Their work was integrated into a brief treatise in the 10th century (c. 954) by a monk from Lorraine, Adso of Montier-en-Der, in a letter to Queen Gerberga of France. Adso’s letter became the standard medieval reference work on Antichrist. In the 13th century it was partially supplanted by several chapters on Antichrist in Hugh Ripelin’s extremely popular handbook, Compendium theologicae veritatis (c. 1265; “Compendium of Theological Truth”). Although it was more orderly, Ripelin’s account differed from Adso’s only in minor details.
The medieval view of Antichrist communicated by Adso, Ripelin, and a host of other writers rested on the principle that Antichrist is the parodic opposite of Christ in all things. (Antichrist literally means “opposed to Christ.”) Thus, as Christ was born of a virgin by means of conception by the Holy Spirit, so Antichrist will be born of a whore by means of conception by a diabolical spirit. Although opinions differed as to whether Antichrist’s father will be a man or a demon, in either case Antichrist will be, as commonly noted in the Middle Ages, “full of the devil” from the time of his conception. Both Christ and Antichrist are born of the Jews, but Antichrist will be born of the tribe of Dan—“the viper in the road” (Genesis 49:17)—rather than the tribe of Judah, and in Babylon, not Bethlehem. Like Christ, Antichrist will grow up in obscurity and begin his open “ministry” at age 30, gaining followers by giving signs and performing miracles. The signs and miracles once more are polar opposites of Christ’s, because Antichrist’s supposed miracles will be only tricks.
Antichrist’s triumphant reign (never clearly distinguished from the start of his ministry) will last for three and a half years. Like Christ, Antichrist will come to Jerusalem, but, as the opposite of Christ, he will be enthusiastically hailed and revered by the Jews. During his reign he will rebuild the Temple and sit on the throne of Solomon in a sacrilegious and hideous inversion of just priesthood and just kingship. He will convert the rulers of the earth to his cause and persecute Christians dreadfully. All those who resist his wiles will be tortured, and—as Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24:21—there will be “great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now.” The two great prophets Enoch and Elijah, who never died but were spirited away to the earthly paradise, will arrive to preach against the tyrant and comfort the elect, but Antichrist will slay them. At the end of the allotted three and a half years, however, Antichrist will be destroyed by the power of Christ, whereupon, after a very brief interval, there will come the Last Judgment and the end of the world.
One important medieval thinker who departed substantially from the received teachings about Antichrist was the 12th-century Calabrian monk Joachim of Fiore. Joachim formulated a view of successive past and future persecutions of the Christian church that inspired him to propose the appearance of a succession of “antichrists” (e.g., Nero, Muhammad, and Saladin) before the arrival of the great Antichrist. As for the great Antichrist, according to Joachim, he will not be a Jew from “Babylon” but rather the embodiment of the worst evils arising out of Joachim’s own society, preeminently the crimes of heresy and oppression of the church. Lastly, since Joachim expected the coming of a wondrous millennial era on earth between the death of Antichrist and the Last Judgment, he found himself obliged to foretell the coming of another enemy of God, a “final Antichrist.” Although Joachim was vague about the nature of this last antagonist of God, he referred to him as “Gog,” implying that the final Antichrist will be allied with, or identical to, the enemy forces of Gog and Magog, which will appear to do final battle with the saints after the millennium and before the Last Judgment (Revelation 20: 7-9).
The expectation of the imminent reign of Antichrist in the later Middle Ages encouraged the belief among many that his forerunners were already in the ascendant or, indeed, that Antichrist himself had arrived in the person of a given ruler or pope. Such beliefs were attached in particular to the “antipapal” emperor Frederick II (reigned 1212–50) and to a persecutor of ecclesiastical dissidents, Pope John XXII (reigned 1316–34). The tendency to identify a hated contemporary ruler as Antichrist in some cases outlasted the Middle Ages. The Russian tsar Peter the Great (reigned 1689–1725), for example, was named Antichrist by his opponents, the Old Believers. Even in the 20th century some commentators identified Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator, as Antichrist because of his attempt to revive the Roman Empire.
Nevertheless, beginning in the 16th century, the fixation on Antichrist as a coming or present terrible individual gave way to the view of Antichrist as a collective body of evil. This position had been accepted in the abstract by some medieval theologians, but it was made concrete and popular by Martin Luther, who insisted that the institution of the papacy, rather than any given pope, was Antichrist. Modern Protestants have characteristically preferred to conceive of Antichrist as whatever resists or denies the lordship of Christ, and Roman Catholics have become less inclined to identify Antichrist as a specific coming individual.
Vestiges of the medieval Antichrist tradition can be found in contemporary popular culture, as in Hollywood films such as Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Omen (1976) and its sequels. The view of Antichrist as a diabolical institution is also reflected to some extent in the superstition that credit cards and electronic bar codes mysteriously mark innocent people with Antichrist’s sign, the number 666 (Revelation, 13:18). Robert E. Lerner
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Nero (37–68)—seemingly portrayed as the Antichrist, the beast whose symbolic number is 666 (Revelation 13)—and continued under the emperor Domitian (81–96). After addressing letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor, the author of Revelation presents his vision of a series of judgments: seven seals opened, seven trumpets blown, seven…
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Alternative Titles: Apocalypse of John, Book of Revelation
Revelation to John, also called Book of Revelation or Apocalypse of John, abbreviation Revelation, last book of the New Testament. It is the only book of the New Testament classified as apocalyptic literature rather than didactic or historical, indicating thereby its extensive use of visions, symbols, and allegory, especially in connection with future events. Revelation to John appears to be a collection of separate units composed by unknown authors who lived during the last quarter of the 1st century, though it purports to have been written by an individual named John—who calls himself “the servant” of Jesus—at Patmos, in the Aegean Sea. The text includes no indication that John of Patmos and St. John the Apostle are the same person.
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biblical literature: The Revelation to John
The Revelation (i.e., Apocalypse) to John is an answer in apocalyptic terms to the needs of the church in time of persecution, as it awaits...
The book comprises two main parts, the first of which (chapters 2–3) contains moral admonitions (but no visions or symbolism) in individual letters addressed to the seven Christian churches of Asia Minor. In the second part (chapters 4–22:5), visions, allegories, and symbols (to a great extent unexplained) so pervade the text that exegetes necessarily differ in their interpretations. Many scholars, however, agree that Revelation is not simply an abstract spiritual allegory divorced from historical events, nor merely a prophecy concerning the final upheaval at the end of the world, couched in obscure language. Rather, it deals with a contemporary crisis of faith, probably brought on by Roman persecutions. Christians are consequently exhorted to remain steadfast in their faith and to hold firmly to the hope that God will ultimately be victorious over his (and their) enemies. Because such a view presents current problems in an eschatological context, the message of Revelation also becomes relevant to future generations of Christians who, Christ forewarned, would likewise suffer persecution. The victory of God over Satan and his Antichrist (in this case, the perseverance of Christians in the face of Roman persecution) typifies similar victories over evil in ages still to come and God’s final victory at the end of time.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, artwork by Peter von Cornelius, 1845.The Print Collector/Heritage-Images
Although Christ is clearly the central figure of Revelation, an understanding of the text presupposes familiarity with Old Testament language and concepts, especially those taken from the books of Daniel and Ezekiel. The author uses the number seven, for example, in a symbolic sense to signify “totality” or “perfection.” References to “a thousand years” (chapter 20) have led some to expect that the final victory over evil will come after the completion of some millennium (see Millennialism). The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello, Assistant Editor.
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…Paul’s letters and in the Revelation to John, the notion emerged that faithful Christians will first reign together with their returning Lord for some time in this world. Those Christians who are still alive at his return will take part in the reign without dying (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Christians who…
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In the Revelation to John, the 144,000 “…who have not defiled themselves with women” (Revelation 14:4) constituted those chosen for entry into the Kingdom of God. For Augustine and his theological successors up to Calvin, the community of the elect is numerically restricted; their number corresponds to…
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