Chapter XXVI.—Concerning the Antichrist1299    See the note in Migne..

It should be known that the Antichrist is bound to come. Every one, therefore, who confesses not that the Son of God came in the flesh and is perfect God and became perfect man, after being God, is Antichrist1300    1 St. John ii. 22.. But in a peculiar and special sense he who comes at the consummation of the age is called Antichrist1301    Iren., bk. v. ch. 25; Greg. Naz., Orat. 47.. First, then, it is requisite that the Gospel should be preached among all nations, as the Lord said1302    St. Matt. xxiv. 14., and then he will come to refute the impious Jews. For the Lord said to them: I am come in My Father’s name and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive1303    St. John v. 43.. And the apostle says, Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved, for this cause God shall send them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness1304    2 Thess. ii. 10, 11, 12.. The Jews accordingly did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ who was the Son of God and God, but receive the impostor who calls himself God1305    Chrys., Hom. 4 in Epist. 2 Thess.. For that he will assume the name of God, the angel teaches Daniel, saying these words, Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers1306    Dan. xi. 37.. And the apostle says: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition: who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God1307    2 Thess. ii. 3, 4., shewing himself that he is God; in the temple of God he said; not our temple, but the old Jewish temple1308    Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. 15.. For he will come not to us but to the Jews: not for Christ or the things of Christ: wherefore he is called Antichrist1309    Iren., Cyril Hieros., Catech. 15; Greg. Naz. loc. cit..

First, therefore, it is necessary that the Gospel should be preached among all nations1310    St. Matt. xxv. 14.: And then shall that wicked one be revealed, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders1311    Text has πέρασι ψεύδους, instead of the received text, τέρασι ψεύδους, cf. infr., with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, whom the Lord shall consume with the word of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming1312    2 Thess. ii. 8, 9, 10.. The devil himself1313    Jerome on Daniel, ch. vii., therefore does not become man in the way that the Lord was made man. God forbid! but he becomes man as the offspring of fornication and receiveth all the energy of Satan. For God, foreknowing the strangeness of the choice that he would make, allows the devil to take up his abode in him1314    Chrys., Hom. 3 in 2 Thess..

He is, therefore, as we said, the offspring of fornication and is nurtured in secret, and on a sudden he rises up and rebels and assumes rule. And in the beginning of his rule, or rather tyranny, he assumes the role of sanctity1315    Text, ἁγιοσύνην . Variants, ἀγαθωσύνην, δικαιοσύνην . Old trans. “justitiam,” but Faber has “bonitatem.”. But when he becomes master he persecutes the Church of God and displays all his wickedness. But he will come with signs and lying wonders1316    2 Thess. ii. 9., fictitious and not real, and he will deceive and lead away from the living God those whose mind rests on an unsound and unstable foundation, so that even the elect shall, if it be possible, be made to stumble1317    St. Matt. xxiv. 24..

But Enoch and Elias the Thesbite shall be sent and shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children1318    Mal. iv. 6; Apoc. xi. 3., that is, the synagogue to our Lord Jesus Christ and the preaching of the apostles: and they will be destroyed by him. And the Lord shall come out of heaven, just as the holy apostles beheld Him going into heaven, perfect God and perfect man, with glory and power, and will destroy the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction, with the breath of His mouth1319    Acts i. 11.. Let no one, therefore, look for the Lord to come from earth, but out of Heaven, as He himself has made sure1320    2 Thess. ii. 8..

Περὶ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου

Χρὴ γινώσκειν, ὅτι δεῖ τὸν ἀντίχριστον ἐλθεῖν. Πᾶς μὲν οὖν ὁ μὴ ὁμολογῶν τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θεὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθέναι καὶ εἶναι θεὸν τέλειον καὶ γενέσθαι ἄνθρωπον τέλειον μετὰ τοῦ μεῖναι θεὸν ἀντίχριστός ἐστιν.

Ὅμως ἰδιοτρόπως καὶ ἐξαιρέτως ἀντίχριστος λέγεται ὁ ἐπὶ τῇ συντελείᾳ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐρχόμενος. Χρὴ τοιγαροῦν πρῶτον κηρυχθῆναι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι, καθὼς ἔφη ὁ κύριος, καὶ τότε ἐλεύσεται εἰς ἔλεγχον τῶν ἀντιθέων Ἰουδαίων. Ἔφη γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὁ κύριος: «Ἐγὼ ἦλθον ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ πατρός μου, καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετέ με: ἔρχεται ἄλλος ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τῷ ἰδίῳ, κἀκεῖνον λήψεσθε». Καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος: «Ἀνθ' ὧν τὴν ἀγάπην τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἐδέξαντο εἰς τὸ σωθῆναι αὐτούς, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πέμψει αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς ἐνέργειαν πλάνης εἰς τὸ πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς τῷ ψεύδει, ἵνα κριθῶσι πάντες οἱ μὴ πιστεύσαντες τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ἀλλ' εὐδοκήσαντες ἐν τῇ ἀδικίᾳ». Οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι υἱὸν θεοῦ ὄντα τὸν κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν καὶ θεὸν οὐκ ἐδέξαντο, τὸν δὲ πλάνον θεὸν ἑαυτὸν λέγοντα δέξονται. Ὅτι γὰρ θεὸν ἑαυτὸν ἀποκαλέσει, ὁ ἄγγελος τῷ Δανιὴλ διδάσκων οὕτω φησίν: «Ἐπὶ θεοὺς τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ οὐ συνήσει», καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος: «Μή τις ὑμᾶς ἐξαπατήσῃ κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον, ὅτι, ἐὰν μὴ ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀποστασία πρῶτον καὶ ἀποκαλυφθῇ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας ὁ ἀντικείμενος καὶ ὑπεραιρόμενος ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενον θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ὡς θεὸν καθίσαι ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτόν, ὅτι ἔστι θεός». Εἰς τὸν ναὸν δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐ τὸν ἡμέτερον, ἀλλὰ τὸν παλαιόν, τὸν Ἰουδαϊκόν. Οὐ γὰρ ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις εἰσελεύσεται: οὐχ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ἀλλὰ κατὰ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, διὸ καὶ ἀντίχριστος λέγεται.

Δεῖ τοίνυν πρῶτον κηρυχθῆναι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσι. «Καὶ τότε ἀποκαλυφθήσεται ὁ ἄνομος, οὗ ἐστιν ἡ παρουσία κατ' ἐνέργειαν τοῦ σατανᾶ ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει καὶ σημείοις καὶ τέρασι ψεύδους καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ἀπάτῃ τῆς ἀδικίας ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, ὃν ὁ κύριος ἀνελεῖ τῷ ῥήματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ καὶ καταργήσει τῇ παρουσίᾳ τῆς ἐπιφανείας αὐτοῦ». Οὐκ αὐτὸς τοίνυν ὁ διάβολος γίνεται ἄνθρωπος κατὰ τὴν τοῦ κυρίου ἐνανθρώπησιν_μὴ γένοιτο_, ἀλλ' ἄνθρωπος ἐκ πορνείας τίκτεται καὶ ὑποδέχεται πᾶσαν τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ σατανᾶ. Προειδὼς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τὸ ἄτοπον τῆς μελλούσης αὐτοῦ προαιρέσεως παραχωρεῖ ἐνοικῆσαι ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν διάβολον.

Τίκτεται τοίνυν ἐκ πορνείας, ὡς ἔφημεν, καὶ ἀνατρέφεται λεληθότως καὶ αἰφνίδιον ἐπανίσταται καὶ ἀνταίρει καὶ βασιλεύει. Καὶ ἐν τοῖς προοιμίοις μὲν τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ, μᾶλλον δὲ τυραννίδος, ὑποκρίνεται δικαιοσύνην: ἡνίκα δὲ ἐπικρατὴς γένηται, διώκει τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐκφαίνει πᾶσαν τὴν πονηρίαν αὐτοῦ. Ἐλεύσεται δὲ «ἐν σημείοις καὶ τέρασι ψεύδους» πεπλασμένοις καὶ οὐκ ἀληθέσι καὶ τοὺς σαθρὰν καὶ ἀστήρικτον τὴν βάσιν τῆς διανοίας ἔχοντας ἀπατήσει καὶ ἀποστήσει ἀπὸ θεοῦ, ὥστε σκανδαλισθῆναι, «εἰ δυνατόν, καὶ τοὺς ἐκλεκτούς».

Ἀποσταλήσεται δὲ Ἑνὼχ καὶ Ἡλίας ὁ Θεσβίτης καὶ ἐπιστρέψουσι καρδίας πατέρων ἐπὶ τέκνα, τουτέστι τὴν συναγωγὴν ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων κήρυγμα, καὶ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἀναιρεθήσονται. Καὶ ἐλεύσεται ὁ κύριος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ὃν τρόπον οἱ ἅγιοι ἀπόστολοι ἐθεάσαντο αὐτὸν πορευόμενον εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, θεὸς τέλειος καὶ ἄνθρωπος τέλειος, μετὰ δόξης καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ ἀνελεῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον τῆς ἀνομίας, τὸν υἱὸν τῆς ἀπωλείας, τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν ἀπὸ γῆς ἐκδεχέσθω τὸν κύριον, ἀλλ' ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ὡς αὐτὸς ἡμᾶς ἠσφαλίσατο.