The Antichrist Legend

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 63):

An interesting confirmation of this legend is afforded by a remark made by Zezschwitz (p. 21). In the chronicle where Godfrey of Viterbo sings the glories of Alexander, the Conqueror is introduced as saying:

Reddo tibi restituamque thronum
Te solo dominate volo tibi regna relinqui.

That is to say: "To thee I deliver up and restore the throne; to thee sole ruler, will I that the kingdom be resigned." Thus in some particulars are merged together the Alexander and the Antichrist sagas.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 63-64):

Here may, in conclusion, be examined another special feature from the cycle of traditions under consideration. It occurs in the Ludus de Antichristo, a play which was composed about the year 1160, and the author of which has hitherto been quoted as a special authority because he draws his material mainly from Adso. Here we read how the Antichrist overcomes the Greek king by war, the French by gifts, and the German by miracles. The source of these fancies has now been discovered by Meyer in the following passage of Adso: "Against the faithful will he rise up in three ways―that is, by terror, by gifts, and by wonders; to the believers in him will he give gold and silver in abundance; but those whom he shall fail to corrupt by presents he will overcome by fear, and those whom he shall fail to vanquish by fear he will seek to seduce by signs and wonders (1294 A). These fancies, however, are still more widespread, as seen in Elucidarium (treated below), where are enumerated four kinds of temptations used by the Antichrist: 1. divitae (riches); 2. terror; 3. sapientia (wisdom); 4 sigma et prodigia (signs and wonders). In Eterianus also (see below) occurs the passage: "by threats, blandishments, and all [other] ways will he seduce." But in their essence all these passages may be traced back to S. Jerome.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 64-65):

In his commentary on Daniel xi. 39, Jerome is already able to tell us that "Antichrist also will lavish many gifts on the beguiled, and will divide the world among his army, and those whom he shall fail by terror he will overcome by greed." Scarcely has Jerome extracted this information from the obscure passage in Daniel, which he is even unable to translate, as will be shown further on, when he falls completely back on apocalyptic tradition, as will be shown farther on. Here we again clearly see how deep-rooted are even such apparently remote and isolated elements of our apocalyptic tradition. It is noteworthy that we here come for the second time on a parallelism between Jerome and the group of Antichrist documents under consideration. Hence Jerome's apocalyptic tradition, which occurs chiefly in his Commentary on Daniel as well as in his epistle to Algasia (Quaestio XI.), belongs also perhaps to the cycle of traditions in question.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

Continued from prior post↑

From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 65):

To be continued...

[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 66):

A third group of sources is from later apocalyptic works now to be considered. In the Stichometry of Nicephorus and in the Synopsis of Athanasius there is a Book of Daniel, while a seventh Vision of Daniel is mentioned in a list of apocrypha by Mekhithar of Airivank in 1290. The text of a Greek Apocalypse of Daniel was first published by Tischendorf (Apocalypses Apocryphae, xxx.-xxxiii.), and again in a legible form by Klostermann (Analecta zur Septuaginta, Leipzig, 1895, pp. 113 et seq.). An Armenian seventh Vision of Daniel has also been published by Gr. Kalemkiar in the Vienna Zeitschr. fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes (Vol. VI. 109 et seq.).

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 66):

A comparison of the two documents made by Zahn before the appearance of Klostermann's text showed that both, although quite different, point back to a common source. Here we shall endeavour to bring out this source more distinctly.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 67):

In the opening, couched in the Sibylline style, the two writings have much in common. Yet these predictions, as they are generally considered, defy all interpretation. But both apocalypses agree in one important detail, a prophecy launched against Rome, the city of the seven hills, which clearly points to the end of the Western empire (compare the Armenian, 237, 9, with the Greek, 116, 28). After referring by name to the reign of Olybrius (472) = Orlogios, that is, if Zahn's conjecture is right, the texts run:

Greek.

37. But the sons of perdition standing up will turn their faces to the setting sun.

38. Woe to thee, O Seven-hilled, from such wrath when thou wert girdled round by a great host, and [when] a youth shall rule over thee wretched.

Armenian.

Z. 30. And the king will turn his face towards the west.

Then woe to thee, thou Seven-hilled, when they king is a youth.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 67-68):

Then follows in both a reference to the beginning of the Gothic rule, the dynasty "of another religion, that of Ariannus," as it reads in Ar.; or "of the fair race," [τό ξανθὸν γένος] as it runs in Greek. But whether we are to understand Ar., 238, 29-32 to refer to the Establishment of the exarchate of Ravenna is not quite clear. This particular clause is not found in Greek, hence must be a later insertion.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 68):

Then, immediately after the mention of these events, Ar. gives an account of the rule of the Antichrist and of the end, while the Greek Apocalypse also concludes with the details about the Antichrist.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 68):

The source of both apocalypses now comes out clearly and distinctly. The essential element is the old apocalypse about the Antichrist, who according to remote tradition was to come when the Roman empire lay in ruins. Nothing was more natural than the revival of this old Antichrist legend (introduced with an allusion to current events) at the time when the Western empire was falling to pieces. In any case, the title of this revelation was doubtless the Apocalypse of Daniel. But it is another question whether the common source itself also bore this name.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 68-69):

Thus the two later legends (Ar. and Gr.) had their origin in the earlier Apocalypse. In Ar., 230, 24 et seq. the destinies of the Eastern empire are predicted by anticipation. Marcian is mentioned by name (231, 19); the history of Leo I., of Zeno and of the usurper Basilicus is still clearly related; while Kalemkiar finds events predicted down to the emperor Heraclius―a conjecture, however, which is already questioned by Zahn. If, however, 234 refers to the seven-hilled Babylon, to the reign of a widow, and to a dragon who is to persecute the foreigners, then we have here some elements again borrowed from the common source of Ar. and Gr. In Gr. also there is a prediction entirely independent of Ar. It has reference to the history of the Eastern empire, which, as would seem (117, 42), begins with the fall of the Western empire, and lasts till the reign of Constantine V. Thus it becomes quite clear how the interpolation came about. Like the Armenian, the Greek writer has also forgotten the meaning of the "seven-hilled" (119, 88). He accordingly dissociates the sway of the Antichrist from the fall of the Western empire, his relation passing from the Western to the Eastern empire, whereas in Ar. the order is reversed.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 69):

In the common source a Sibylline style is evident, and is very pronounced, especially in the opening section of the apocalypses. The very word ἑπτάλοφος ("seven-hilled") has also become current in Sibylline literature as the distinctive by-name of Rome.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 69-70):

In this connection I may call attention to the article by Kozak on the apocryphal biblical literature amongst the Slavs in the , 1892, 128 et seq. From N. xviii. of Kozak's papers it appears that a Vision of Daniel has also been preserved and already printed in the South Slavonic (Serb) and Russian languages, and according to this authority the documents correspond with the Greek Apocalypse of Daniel. In N. xxxviii. mention is made of a Narration about the Antichrist, which, as briefly summarized, contains a record of the Byzantine emperor, a prediction of a famine, and the rule of a virgin who receives the Antichrist as a bird, the appearance of John the Theologian and his contention with the Antichrist, the appearance of Elias and his death, the sway of the Antichrist and the end of the world.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (page 70):

The mention of the rule of a virgin is interesting. With it is to be compared the frequent reference to the rule of a widow in Ar. and Gr.: "And there being no man available, a polluted woman shall reign in the [city of the] seven hills, and defile the holy altars of God, and standing in the midst of the seven hills shall cry out with a loud voice, saying: Who is God but I, and who shall resist my sway? And forthwith the seven hills shall be shaken and all life cast into the deep." Then follows (119, 100) the domination of the Antichrist.

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[John Reece]

The Antichrist Legend

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From The Antichrist Legend: A Chapter in Christian and Jewish Folklore (1895), by Wilhelm Bousset (pages 70-71):

Perhaps some light is thrown by this passage on an obscure part of the Sibylline literature. In Sibyl III. 75 we read: "And then verily the whole world under the hand of a woman―there shall be a ruler and a prevailer in all things―then when a widow shall rule the whole earth―and cast gold and silver into the vast deep―the bronze and eke the iron of mortal men―shall caste into the sea, then truly all the elements―shall be bereft of order when God dwelling on high―shall roll up the heaven." It is here that the appearance of the Antichrist (Belial) comes first.

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