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 (pages 79-80):

The eschatological part of Commodian begins with verse 791, for fixing the date of which we have the trustworthy guidance of Ebert. In the interpretation of the work it must be steadily borne in mind that the prophetic fancies of the writer begin with the appearance of Nero redivivus (Cyrus) in verse 823.

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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 80-81):

The statement in verse 871 that Nero adopts (sibi addit) two Caesars is not to be explained in the light of contemporary events, but is rather to be interpreted by the passage in 911. In accordance with the early Antichrist legend, this person (the second ruler in Commodian, who nevertheless is the Antichrist proper) on his first appearance overcomes and slays three kings. But these kings had to be found somewhere, and so Commodian has the "happy thought" go make Nero redivivus adopt the two Caesars, for which the Roman empire itself afforded him a precedent. But it would be more than absurd to ask, Who then are these Caesars? Hence there remain but two alternatives to help in determining the date of the poem. Following up the clue afforded by the appearance of the Goths, as described in verse 810, Ebert refers the Apocalypse to the time of Philip the Arab or of Decius, holding, however, that it could scarcely have been written during the severe persecution of Decius. Yet Commodian states (verse 808) that the beginning of the end was the then raging seventh persecution; and it is remarkable that in later accounts of these persecutions of the Christians that of Decius is always recorded as the seventh. Hence it is after all probable enough that Commodian's Carmen Apologeticum was really composed during the Decian persecution.

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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 81):

The eschatology matter bearing on the present subject, which we owe to Lactantius, occurs in his Institutiones Divinae, VII., chap. x. et seq. He frequently quotes as his authority a Sibyl, VII. 18 alia Sibylla. As in Commodian, here also the Antichrist has a "double." and here also the second Antichrist kills the first, that is, the last ruler of the Roman empire: "There also shall arise another king from Syria, who shall destroy the remnants of that first evil one together with the evil one himself." It is further noteworthy that, whereas elsewhere according to the universal tradition two witnesses appear against the Antichrist, Elias and Enoch, Lactantius knows of nothing except of an appearance of Elias. In Commodian we have a double tradition; in verses 839 and 850 Elias alone is spoken of, but in 853, 856, 858, prophets are mentioned in the plural―evidently an extremely careless fusion of two different traditions.

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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 81-82):

But after what has been said, we can scarcely be wrong in conjecturing that the same, or at least very similar, Sibylline sources were accessible to Commodian and Lactantius, between whom in other respects also there is much agreement. Nearest to these assumed common sources comes the passage in the Sibyl II., pp. 154 et seq. Here also we have the appearance of the Antichrist (Beliar) at p. 167, and of Elias alone at p. 187. As in Commodian, the ten (twelve?) tribes appear in the last days, and the destruction of the world is similarly described (pp. 186 et. seq.). The description of the new life resembles that occurring in Lactantius. This Sibyl, however, has been retouched, and is far from covering the whole ground embraced by Lactantius and Commodian.

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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 82):

Now this Sibylline source utilized by Commodian must stand in some relation to the treatise of Hippolytus on the Antichrist. Higher up (p. 28) I have drawn attention to the unknown quotation twice made by Hippolytus from an unnamed prophet. A parallelism occurs in the Carmen Apologeticum, verse 891 et seq.: "Again shall arise in the slaughter of this Nero―a king from the East with four nations therefrom―and summon to himself very many nations unto the City―who shall bring aid although he be a thousand―and whoso shall also oppose him shall be slain by the sword―and first he takes the captured Tyre and Sidon."

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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 82-83):

Although the prophecy is based on Daniel xi. 40, still the parallelism between Hippolytus and Commodian is not explained by the passage from Daniel; hence there was some common source other than our Book of Daniel. A parallel to this passage occurs also in Hippolytus a little before the place where he for the second time quoted the unnamed prophet in chap. lii.: "But his assault will first be against Tyre and Berytus." Doubtless a common Sibyl was in any case drawn upon by Commodian and Lactantius, and Hippolytus quotes his authority as prophets. Still both writings cannot have been identical, although they have stood in the closest relation to each other. It may be assumed that the Sibyl was based on the prophet quoted by Hippolytus; but the reverse can scarcely be the case. Moreover, the Antichrist legend, as will be shown farther on, is found in a decidedly more original form in Hippolytus than in Lactantius and Commodian. Can Hippolytus after all have at the end already known and commented upon the Little Daniel, and is this very document that quoted as "another prophet"?

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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 83):

In his dialogue, II. 14, Sulpicius Severus has left us the oral tradition of S. Martin of Tours on the Antichrist and the end. Here also we find the double of the Antichrist. The Antichrist proper here again makes his appearance in Jerusalem, and it is again distinctly stated that "Nero himself is at last to be destroyed by 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 83-84):

Lastly, here should be mentioned the short treatise comprised in Lagarde's Reliquiae Juris, etc., 80 et seq., "The First Book of Clement called the Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here we read, 81, 15: "But there shall arise in the dissolution a king of another nation, lord of many devises, a godless slayer of men, a beguiler ... hating the faithful, a persecutor." Then (82, 49): "Then shall come the son of perdition, the adversary and boaster and vaunter," etc.

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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 84):

As will be shown later, we have in these apocalypses, where the Antichrist appears in double form, a mingling of two cycles of legends―on the one hand the old and simple Antichrist saga, on the other its political adaptation to Nero redivivus. As above already remarked (p. 29), we have in the Commentary of Victorinus another interesting blending of the currents of thought. Victorinus knows of but one appearance of Antichrist, and for him the demonic figure of Nero is still the Antichrist. Of all commentators on Revelation down to the period of the Reformation he is the only one who was aware that the Neronic saga had any bearing on the Johannine Apocalypse. But for him Nero, the Nero redivivus, has now become the Jewish Antichrist, as will be more fully explained below. The work of Victorinus has accordingly to be included in the group of documents now under consideration.

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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 84):

One branch of the twofold Antichrist tradition, which at last brought about those wonderful combinations, finds its chief witnesses in the still extant Sibylline literature. Here have specially to be considered Books (II.), III., IV., V., VIII. (XII., XIII.), where we have everywhere the fusion of the Neronic with the Antichrist legend. All the chief points will be dealt with lower down.

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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 84-85):

Lastly, there remains to be mentioned a fragment of the Visio Jesaiae. In chap. iii. (beginning at about iii. 23) and in chap. iv. we have an interpolated Antichrist Apocalypse, which is especially interesting, because in it the figure of the Nero redivivus has been foisted into an earlier apocalyptic tradition, which can be clearly recognized. This point also will be established farther on.

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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 85):

In connection with the foregoing may here be appended a reference to the Antichrist Apocalypse interpolated in the already mentioned Book of Clement. In the Text and Studies (II. iii., pp. 151 et seq.) has recently been published an apocalyptic fragment in Latin, which seems to represent the early source utilized in the Book of Clement. The obviously later detailed description of the destruction of the Church before the coming of Antichrist (Clement, p. 81, 1.―p. 82, 1. 38) now appears in the light of the Latin parallel as an addendum, so that here we have again a relatively ancient source.

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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 85):

At the end of the Latin fragment the name of the Antichrist is stated to be Dexius, which James (p. 188) conjectures to be meant for Decius. There is much to support this suggestion, though the weighty objection still remains, that in this (compare Clement), as in all the other apocalypses, no Roman emperor appears to be originally identified with Antichrist. Still the clause might after all be a later gloss, which would then show that our Apocalypse must have already existed in the time of Decius.

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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 85-86):

In any case it was composed while the persecutions of the Christians were still raging, at least if we may, as seems probable, refer to it the passage in Clement, p. 81, 1. 15 et seq. : "But there shall arise in the dissolution a king of another nation ... hating the faithful, a persecutor; and he shall rule over barbarous nations and shed much blood, ... and there shall be in all cities and in all places a rapacity and incursions of robbers and bloodshed."

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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 87):

Quite a special inquiry, such as would be impossible till we had reached this point, is called for by the recently discovered Apocalypse of Zephaniah. A series of fragments from this source are found in the Upper and Lower Sahidic dialects of Coptic, representing two recensions of a single work, as appears from a comparison of the fragments where they run parallel. These have all been collated and translated by Stern, though we are concerned only with the fifth and sixth.

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