Antichrist

===Post-Nicene Christianity===
{{See also|First seven Ecumenical Councils}}
[[File:Antechrist in the Catalan Atlas (1375).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Antichrist in the [[Catalan Atlas]] (1375). The label reads: "Antichrist. He will be raised in Goraym of Galilea, and at the age of thirty he will start to preach in Jerusalem; contrary to the truth, he will proclaim that he is Christ, the living son of God. It is said that he will rebuild the Temple."<ref>{{cite web |title=Catalan Atlas. The Cresques Project – Panel VI |url=https://www.cresquesproject.net/catalan-atlas-legends/panel-vi |website=www.cresquesproject.net}}</ref>]]
[[Cyril of Jerusalem]], in the mid-4th century, delivered his [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf207.ii.xix.html 15th] [[Cyril of Jerusalem#Catechetical lectures|catechetical lecture]] about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, in which he also lectures about the Antichrist, who will reign as the ruler of the world for three and a half years, before he is killed by Jesus Christ at the end of his three-and-a-half-year reign, shortly after which the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will happen.

[[Athanasius of Alexandria]] (c. 298–373) wrote that [[Arius]] of Alexandria is to be associated with the Antichrist, saying, "And ever since [the Council of Nicaea] has Arius's error been reckoned for a heresy more than ordinary, being known as Christ's foe, and harbinger of [the] Antichrist."<ref>{{Cite web |title=CHURCH FATHERS: Discourse I Against the Arians (Athanasius) |url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/28161.htm |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>

As part of his prediction that the world would end before 400 CE, [[Martin of Tours]] (c. 336 - 397) wrote that "There is no doubt that the Antichrist has already been born. Firmly established already in his early years, he will, after reaching maturity, achieve supreme power."

[[John Chrysostom]] (c. 347–407) warned against speculating about the Antichrist, saying, "Let us not therefore enquire into these things". He preached that by knowing Paul's description of the Antichrist in 2 Thessalonians, Christians would avoid deception.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schaff |first=Philip |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Nicene_and_Post-Nicene_Fathers:_Series_I/Volume_XIII/On_Philippians,_Colossians,_and_Thessalonians/On_2_Thessalonians/Argument |title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series I/Volume XIII/On Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians/On 2 Thessalonians |others=Original author: John Chrysostom |display-authors=et al}}</ref>

[[Jerome]] (c. 347–420) warned that those substituting false interpretations for the actual meaning of scripture belonged to the "synagogue of the Antichrist".<ref>{{harvnb|Jerome|1893b|p=334}}</ref> "He that is not of Christ is of Antichrist", he wrote to [[Pope Damasus I]].<ref>{{harvnb|Jerome|1893|p=19}}</ref> He believed that "the mystery of lawlessness" written about by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 was already in action when "every one chatters about his views."<ref>{{harvnb|Jerome|1893c|p=449}}</ref> To Jerome, the power restraining this mystery of lawlessness was the Roman Empire, but as it fell this restraining force was removed. He warned a noble woman of [[Gaul]]:

{{blockquote|He that letteth is taken out of the way, and yet we do not realize that Antichrist is near. Yes, Antichrist is near whom the Lord Jesus Christ "shall consume with the spirit of his mouth." "Woe unto them," he cries, "that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days." ... Savage tribes in countless numbers have overrun all parts of Gaul. The whole country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the Ocean, has been laid waste by hordes of [[Quadi]], [[Vandals]], [[Sarmatians]], [[Alans]], [[Gepids]], [[Heruli|Herules]], [[Saxons]], [[Burgundians]], [[Alemanni]], and—alas for the commonweal!—even [[Pannonians]].<ref>{{harvnb|Jerome|1893d|pp=236–237}}</ref>}}

In his ''Commentary on Daniel'', Jerome noted, "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, in whom Satan will wholly take up his residence in bodily form." Instead of rebuilding the Jewish Temple to reign from, Jerome thought the Antichrist sat in God's Temple inasmuch as he made "himself out to be like God." He refuted [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]]'s idea that the "little horn" mentioned in Daniel chapter 7 was [[Antiochus IV Epiphanes]] by noting that the "little horn" is defeated by an eternal, universal ruler, right before the final judgment.<ref name="Commentary on Daniel">{{harvnb|Jerome|1958|pp=}}</ref> Instead, he advocated that the "little horn" was the Antichrist:

{{blockquote|We should therefore concur with the traditional interpretation of all the commentators of the Christian Church, that at the end of the world, when the Roman Empire is to be destroyed, there shall be ten kings who will partition the Roman world amongst themselves. Then an insignificant eleventh king will arise, who will overcome three of the ten kings... after they have been slain, the seven other kings also will bow their necks to the victor.<ref name="Commentary on Daniel" />}}

Circa 380, an apocalyptic pseudo-prophecy [[pseudepigraphy|falsely attributed]] to the [[Tiburtine Sibyl]] describes Constantine as victorious over [[Gog and Magog]]. Later on, it predicts:
{{blockquote|When the Roman empire shall have ceased, then the Antichrist will be openly revealed and will sit in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem. While he is reigning, two very famous men, Elijah and Enoch, will go forth to announce the coming of the Lord. Antichrist will kill them and after three days they will be raised up by the Lord. Then there will be a great persecution, such as has not been before nor shall be thereafter. The Lord will shorten those days for the sake of the elect, and the Antichrist will be slain by the power of God through Michael the Archangel on the Mount of Olives.<ref name="Sibyl">{{cite web |url=http://http-server.carleton.ca/~jopp/3850/1–1.htm |title=Latin Tiburtine Sibyl |publisher=Http-server.carleton.ca |access-date=June 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100702171945/http://http-server.carleton.ca/~jopp/3850/1–1.htm |archive-date=July 2, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>}}

[[Augustine of Hippo]] (354–430) wrote "it is uncertain in what temple [the Antichrist] shall sit, whether in that ruin of the temple which was built by Solomon, or in the Church."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120120.htm|title=Church Fathers: City of God, Book XX (St. Augustine)}}</ref>

[[Gregory of Tours]] claimed that the antichrist would place his image to be worshipped in the temple in Jerusalem, he would assert himself to be Christ and would call for Christians to undergo circumcision.<ref>A history of the Franks, Gregory of Tours, Pantianos Classics, 1916</ref>

[[Pope Gregory I]] wrote to the [[Maurice (emperor)|Byzantine Emperor Maurice]] in A.D. 597, concerning the titles of bishops, "I say with confidence that whoever calls or desires to call himself 'universal priest' in self-exaltation of himself is a precursor of the Antichrist."<ref>quote from McGinn, Bernard, ''Visions of the End. Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages'', New York: Columbia
University, 1979. p. 64, found in Brug's [http://www.wlsessays.net/node/376 A Scriptural and Historical Survey of the Doctrine of the Antichrist] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130093419/http://www.wlsessays.net/node/376 |date=November 30, 2010 }}</ref>

By the end of the tenth century, [[Adso of Montier-en-Der]], a Benedictine monk, compiled a biography of Antichrist based on a variety of exegetical and Sibylline sources; his account became one of the best-known descriptions of Antichrist in the Middle Ages.<ref>{{cite book |last=Emmerson |first=Richard Kenneth |title=Antichrist in the Middle Ages |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=1981 |location=Seattle, Washington |pages=74–107 |chapter=The Life and Deeds of Antichrist}}</ref><ref name=emmerson>{{cite journal|title=Antichrist as Anti-Saint: The Significance of Abbot Adso's ''Libellus de Antichristo''|first=Richard Kenneth|last=Emerson|journal=[[American Benedictine Review]]|pages=175–190|year=1979|volume=30|issue=2}}</ref>

''De Antichristo libri undecim'', published by [[Tomaso Malvenda|Tomàs Maluenda]] in 1604, is considered the most complete treatise on the subject.<ref>{{cite book|first=Bernard|last=McGinn|author-link=Bernard McGinn (theologian) | chapter=Portraying Antichrist in the Middle Ages|editor1=Werner Verbeke|editor2=D. Verhelst|editor3=Andries Welkenhuysen|title=The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in the Middle Ages|publisher=Leuven University Press|location=Leuven|date=1988|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=89frds8lRqkC|isbn=978-9061862598|page=1|quote=[...] Thomas Malvenda, the indefatigable Dominican whose massive ''De Antichristo'' published in 1604 is still the most complete treatment of the subject.}}</ref>