(Last Updated December 3, 2024)
This Quote Archive is on the eschatological (end times) topic of Antichrist, Jerusalem, the Jews, and the Temple. Each Archive is a treasury of original source quotes on various topics relevant to the Catholic Faith, and addressed in Becoming Catholic articles. They are intended to help people explore the “gold, silver, and precious gems” that have been mined and sifted from the sources of the Great Tradition by Eternal Christendom as a labor of love for our readers, and all seekers of Truth. They are periodically updated as more research is completed.
Some Quote Archives cover topics that include multiple sub-topics, in which individual quotes only address particular sub-topics. Therefore, in order to help readers more easily identify the sub-topics addressed in each quote, they will be listed in alphabetical order after each citation.
The sub-topics in this Quote Archive are:
- Demonic Deception (the false worship and miracles of Antichrist, as well as the “strong delusion” or “operation of error” mentioned in 2 Thess. 2:11)
- Great Apostasy (the “rebellion” of 2 Thess. 2:3 prior to the coming of Antichrist)
- Katechōn (the “restrainer” that holds back the coming of Antichrist in 2 Thess. 2:6-7)
- Jerusalem (Antichrist’s possible presence in Jerusalem)
- False Messiah (the Jews’ acceptance of Antichrist)
- Conversion (the Jews’ final conversion to Christ)
- Temple (i.e. whether the “Temple” of 2 Thess. 2:4 is a rebuilt Jewish Temple, the Temple of the Catholic Church, etc.)
St. Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130-c. 202) (EAST/WEST)
St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies (c. 180)
(Book 5, Ch. 25, §§1-2, 4) | JERUSALEM | TEMPLE
(§1) …This he [Antichrist] does, in order that they who do [now] worship the devil by means of many abominations, may serve himself by this one idol, of whom the apostle thus speaks in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians: “Unless there shall come a failing away first, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God” (2 Thess. 2:3-4). The apostle therefore clearly points out his apostasy, and that he is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is worshipped—that is, above every idol—for these are indeed so called by men, but are not [really] gods; and that he will endeavor in a tyrannical manner to set himself forth as God.
(§2) Moreover, he (the apostle) has also pointed out this which I have shown in many ways, that the temple in Jerusalem was made by the direction of the true God. For the apostle himself, speaking in his own person, distinctly called it the temple of God. Now I have shown in the third book, that no one is termed God by the apostles when speaking for themselves, except Him who truly is God, the Father of our Lord, by whose directions the temple which is at Jerusalem was constructed for those purposes which I have already mentioned; in which [temple] the enemy shall sit, endeavoring to show himself as Christ, as the Lord also declares: “But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, which has been spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that reads understand), then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains; and he who is upon the house-top, let him not come down to take anything out of his house: for there shall then be great hardship, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:15, 21)…
(§4) The Lord also spoke as follows to those who did not believe in Him: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you have not received Me: when another shall come in his own name, him you will receive” (John 5:43), calling Antichrist “the other,” because he is alienated from the Lord. This is also the unjust judge, whom the Lord mentioned as one “who feared not God, neither regarded man” (Luke 18:2), to whom the widow fled in her forgetfulness of God—that is, the earthly Jerusalem—to be avenged of her adversary. Which also he shall do in the time of his kingdom: he shall remove his kingdom into that [city], and shall sit in the temple of God, leading astray those who worship him, as if he were Christ. To this purpose Daniel says again: “And he shall desolate the holy place; and sin has been given for a sacrifice, and righteousness been cast away in the earth, and he has been active (fecit), and gone on prosperously” (Dan. 8:12). And the angel Gabriel, when explaining his vision, states with regard to this person: “And towards the end of their kingdom a king of a most fierce countenance shall arise, one understanding [dark] questions, and exceedingly powerful, full of wonders; and he shall corrupt, direct, influence (faciet), and put strong men down, the holy people likewise; and his yoke shall be directed as a wreath [round their neck]; deceit shall be in his hand, and he shall be lifted up in his heart: he shall also ruin many by deceit, and lead many to perdition, bruising them in his hand like eggs” (Dan. 8:23). And then he points out the time that his tyranny shall last, during which the saints shall be put to flight, they who offer a pure sacrifice unto God: “And in the midst of the week,” he says, “the sacrifice and the libation shall be taken away, and the abomination of desolation [shall be brought] into the temple: even unto the consummation of the time shall the desolation be complete” (Dan. 9:27). Now three years and six months constitute the half-week.
Tertullian (c. 155-c. 220) | WEST
Tertullian, Apology
(Ch. 32) | KATECHŌN
There is also another and a greater necessity for our offering prayer in behalf of the emperors, nay, for the complete stability of the empire, and for Roman interests in general. For we know that a mighty shock impending over the whole earth—in fact, the very end of all things threatening dreadful woes—is only retarded by the continued existence of the Roman empire. We have no desire, then, to be overtaken by these dire events; and in praying that their coming may be delayed, we are lending our aid to Rome’s duration. More than this, though we decline to swear by the genii of the Caesars, we swear by their safety, which is worth far more than all your genii. Are you ignorant that these genii are called Dæmones, and thence the diminutive name Dæmonia is applied to them? We respect in the emperors the ordinance of God, who has set them over the nations. We know that there is that in them which God has willed; and to what God has willed we desire all safety, and we count an oath by it a great oath. But as for demons, that is, your genii, we have been in the habit of exorcising them, not of swearing by them, and thereby conferring on them divine honor.
Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh
(Ch. 24) | GREAT APOSTASY | KATECHŌN | TEMPLE
Again, in the second epistle he addresses them with even greater earnestness: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that you be not soon shaken in mind, nor be troubled, either by spirit, or by word,” that is, the word of false prophets, “or by letter,” that is, the letter of false apostles, “as if from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means. For that day shall not come, unless indeed there first come a falling away,” he means indeed of this present empire, “and that man of sin be revealed,” that is to say, Antichrist, “the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or religion; so that he sits in the temple of God, affirming that he is God. Remember you not, that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things? And now you know what detains, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity does already work; only he who now hinders must hinder, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thess. 2:1-7). What obstacle is there but the Roman state, the falling away of which, by being scattered into ten kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist upon (its own ruins)? “And then shall be revealed the wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish” (2 Thess. 2:8-10).
St. Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170-c. 235) (WEST)
St. Hippolytus of Rome, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist
(§§6, 63) | JERUSALEM | TEMPLE
(§6) Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of under the figure of a lion [Apoc. 5:5; cf. Gen. 49:8], on account of His royalty and glory, in the same way have the Scriptures also aforetime spoken of Antichrist as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is also a lion; Christ is a king [John 18:37], so Antichrist is also a king. The Savior was manifested as a lamb [John 1:29]; so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf. The Savior came into the world in the circumcision, and he will come in the same manner. The Lord sent apostles among all the nations, and he in like manner will send false apostles. The Savior gathered together the sheep that were scattered abroad [John 11:52], and he in like manner will bring together a people that is scattered abroad. The Lord gave a seal to those who believed on Him, and he will give one in like manner. The Savior appeared in the form of man, and he too will come in the form of a man. The Savior raised up and showed His holy flesh like a temple [John 2:19], and he will raise a temple of stone in Jerusalem. And his seductive arts we shall exhibit in what follows. But for the present let us turn to the question in hand…
(§63) And the blessed Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says: “Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together at it, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letters as from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for (that day shall not come) except there come the falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped: so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember you not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what withholds, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity does already work; only he who now lets (will let), until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: (even him) whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:1-11). And Isaiah says, “Let the wicked be cut off, that he behold not the glory of the Lord” (Isa. 26:10).
Origen (c. 184-c. 253) (EAST)
Origen, Commentary on Matthew
(Ch. 29) (pg. 187) | TEMPLE
After Christ predicted everything that was about to happen to Jerusalem, he who had preserved the temple left it, lest it collapse while he was still in it. The temple stood safe and secure as long as the Word and the kingdom of God were with the Jews, as did all things Jewish. Subsequently, however, the kingdom of God was taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles, as it is written, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to the nations who produce its fruit” (Matt. 21:43). Both Jesus and the kingdom of God were then established among the Gentiles. Therefore neither Jesus nor the kingdom of God is to be found among the Jews, because they were abandoned “like a booth in a vineyard and like a hut in a cucumber field and like a city besieged” (Isa. 1:8), on account of the crime they committed against Christ.
Lactantius (c. 250-c. 325) (WEST)
Lactantius, Divine Institutes
(Book 7, Ch. 15, 17, 25) | KATECHŌN | TEMPLE
(Ch. 15) …And—my mind dreads to relate it, but I will relate it, because it is about to happen—the cause of this desolation and confusion [at the end of the world] will be this: because the Roman name, by which the world is now ruled, will be taken away from the earth, and the government return to Asia; and the East will again bear rule, and the West be reduced to servitude…
(Ch. 17) …He will command fire to come down from heaven, and the sun to stand and leave his course, and an image to speak; and these things shall be done at his word—by which miracles [2 Thess. 2; Apoc. 13] many even of the wise shall be enticed by him. Then he will attempt to destroy the temple of God, and persecute the righteous people; and there will be distress and tribulation, such as there never has been from the beginning of the world.
(Ch. 25) These are the things which are spoken of by the prophets as about to happen hereafter: but I have not considered it necessary to bring forward their testimonies and words, since it would be an endless task; nor would the limits of my book receive so great a multitude of subjects, since so many with one breath speak similar things; and at the same time, lest weariness should be occasioned to the readers if I should heap together things collected and transferred from all; moreover, that I might confirm those very things which I said, not by my own writings, but in an especial manner by the writings of others, and might show that not only among us, but even with those very persons who revile us, the truth is preserved, which they refuse to acknowledge.
But he who wishes to know these things more accurately may draw from the fountain itself, and he will know more things worthy of admiration than we have comprised in these books. Perhaps some one may now ask when these things of which we have spoken are about to come to pass? I have already shown above, that when six thousand years shall be completed this change must take place, and that the last day of the extreme conclusion is now drawing near. It is permitted us to know respecting the signs, which are spoken by the prophets, for they foretold signs by which the consummation of the times is to be expected by us from day to day, and to be feared. When, however, this amount will be completed, those teach, who have written respecting the times, collecting them from the sacred writings and from various histories, how great is the number of years from the beginning of the world. And although they vary, and the amount of the number as reckoned by them differs considerably, yet all expectation does not exceed the limit of two hundred years. The subject itself declares that the fall and ruin of the world will shortly take place; except that while the city of Rome remains it appears that nothing of this kind is to be feared. But when that capital of the world shall have fallen, and shall have begun to be a street, which the Sibyls say shall come to pass, who can doubt that the end has now arrived to the affairs of men and the whole world? It is that city, that only, which still sustains all things; and the God of heaven is to be entreated by us and implored—if, indeed, His arrangements and decrees can be delayed—lest, sooner than we think for, that detestable tyrant should come who will undertake so great a deed, and dig out that eye, by the destruction of which the world itself is about to fall. Now let us return, to set forth the other things which are then about to follow.
St. Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306-373) | EAST
St. Ephrem the Syrian, On the Antichrist
(pgs. 123, 127-28) | DEMONIC DECEPTION | FALSE MESSIAH
The most despicable one will come as a robber, in a manner such as to deceive all; he will come as one humble, meek, a hater (as he will say himself) of unrighteousness, despising idols, giving preference to piety, good, lover of the poor, beautiful to an extreme degree, constant, gracious to all. He will especially esteem the Jewish race, since the Jews will await his coming.
But together with all this he will work signs and miracles and dreadful spectacles with great authority; and he will use sly means to please all, so that the people will quickly fall in love with him. He will not accept bribes, speak with anger, show a gloomy countenance, but with a decorous exterior he will take to deceiving the world, until he has become king… 123 | 127
Many of the saints, those who can be found at the time, at the coming of the execrable one [Antichrist], will shed rivers of tears before the holy God, that they may be delivered by Him from the serpent…And this will be granted them from the holy God; His grace will lead them to the place determined for this, and they will save themselves, hiding in precipices and caves, not seeing the signs and terrifying spectacles of Antichrist because the coming of Antichrist will be made known without difficulty to those who have knowledge. But to him who has his mind on the affairs of this life and loves the earthly, this will not be comprehensible; for he who is always tied to the matters of this life, although he even hear, he will not believe, and will despise him 127 | 128 who says these things. But the saints will be strengthened, because they scorned every care for this life…
The earth and the sea will weep because the sound of the psalms and prayers will suddenly cease from the lips of men. And the Church of Christ will weep with great weeping because the celebration of the divine service and the offering [of the Eucharist] will not be [Dan. 9:27, 11:31, 12:11].
After the fulfillment of three and one-half years of the authority and activities of the impure one, and when all the temptations fill the whole earth, then at last the Lord shall come, according to His word, like lightning flashing from heaven…
St. Ephrem the Syrian, On the Antichrist and the Consummation
(pgs. 134-35, 138-39, 140) | DEMONIC DECEPTION | JERUSALEM | FALSE MESSIAH | CONVERSION | TEMPLE
And after the nations have waited in patience, thinking that peace had come, they still pay tribute. The fear of the conquerors fills every mind. Iniquity mounts up upon the earth and covers it like a cloud. The whole world is held fast in the bonds of wickedness. The smoke of abominations rises 134 | 135 to heaven. Then since iniquity is multiplied upon the earth, He stirs up men, who destroy themselves… 135 | 138
Then the Lord from His glorious Heaven shall set up His peace. And the kingdom of the Romans shall rise in place of this latter people [the Jews], and establish its dominion upon the earth, even to its ends, and there shall be no one who will resist it. After iniquity shall have multiplied, and all creatures have become defiled, then Divine Justice shall appear, and shall wholly destroy the people and, coming forth from perdition, the man of iniquity shall be revealed upon the earth, the Seducer of men, and the Disturber of the whole earth.
In that day in which the son of perdition shall come upon the earth, there shall be great confusion throughout the whole world, and bewilderment shall come upon the earth…Rulers shall cease from judgment, and priests tremble in the sanctuary. The power of the strong shall collapse. There shall be stupor upon the earth; the hands of all shall be undone. The man of evil will prepare, and coming he will enter Jerusalem; he will build up and establish Sion, and will make himself God, and entering he will 138 | 139 sit in the temple, as the Apostle has written: “as if he were God” (2 Thess. 2:4).
The Jews will glory in him, and will assemble to join him. He will blaspheme, declaring: “I am the Father and the Son, the first and the last, and there is no other God but me.” In that moment ten thousand Jews shall deny him and they shall answer him: “Thou are the deceiver of the world” (2 John 1:7). For He Whom our fathers fastened to a cross on Golgotha, He saved creatures, and has ascended to Him Who sent Him” [Zech. 12:10]. And raging in fury, the Evil One will command that those who deny him shall be instantly slain by the sword. And because of this all shall fear to deny him…
The lightnings will be his servants, and will give a sign of his coming. Demons will be his forces; the princes of the demons his disciples. He will send the leaders of his forces into far distant regions, and will give them power and healing, and they will seduce the whole world… 139 | 140
Sons will deny their fathers, and follow the Evil One. Priests will leave their altars, and going forth become his heralds.
St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310-c. 367) (WEST)
St. Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew
(Ch. 25, §§1-4) (pgs. 248, 249-50) | FALSE MESSIAH | TEMPLE
(§1) He [Christ] said that it [the Temple] will be entirely destroyed and demolished since the stones of the entire structure would be knocked down [Matt. 24:2]. But an eternal temple is one that is consecrated to be a habitation of the Holy Spirit, that is, the temple is a person who is worthy to become a dwelling for God by knowledge of the Son [1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16], by confession of the Father, and by obedience to his commandments… 248 | 249
(§2) …All this happened in Jerusalem, just as it had been foretold; the city was consumed—ruined by her stonings, by her expulsions, by her murder of the apostles, by her hunger, by war, and by her captivity. For having rejected the preachers of Christ, she was shown to be unworthy of God’s message and not worthy to exist. 249 | 250
(§3) Then there follows a sign of his [Christ’s] future advent. When they see the “abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place [Matt. 24:15], we should understand his glorious return. Concerning this matter, I think that our comment is superfluous given the teaching of the most blessed Daniel [Dan. 9:27] and Paul [2 Thess. 2:4]. That which is spoken by each writer concerns the times of the Antichrist. He is an “abomination” because he rises up against God by claiming for himself the honor due to God. As the “abomination of desolation,” he is going to render the earth desolate by war and bloodshed in keeping with its sacrilege. Because the Antichrist was received by the Jews, he will stand in the holy place [Matt. 24:15; Dan. 11:31-32] where God used to be invoked by the prayers of his saints and where the Antichrist is received by unbelievers with the same honor with which they venerated God.
(§4) The error of the Jews will be that, having rejected the truth, they adopted a lie. The Lord warns them to abandon Judaea and flee to the mountains [Matt. 24:16], lest the violence and contagion of those who will believe in the Antichrist be brought among them. But for all who remain faithful, they will be safer in the deserted places of the mountains than in the busy avenues of Judaea.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313-386) (EAST)
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 15 (c. 350)
(§§9, 15) | TEMPLE
(§9) And what comes to pass after this? He says next, “When therefore you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the Holy Place, let him that reads understand” (Matt. 24:15). And again, “Then if any man shall say unto you, ‘Here, here is the Christ,’ or, ‘Here, there,’ believe it not” (Matt. 24:23). Hatred of the brethren makes room next for Antichrist; for the devil prepares beforehand the divisions among the people, that he who is to come may be acceptable to them. But God forbid that any of Christ’s servants here, or elsewhere, should run over to the enemy!
Writing concerning this matter, the Apostle Paul gave a manifest sign, saying, “For that day shall not come, except there came first the falling away, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember you not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know that which restrains, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of iniquity does already work, only there is one that restrains now, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall the lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that are perishing” (2 Thess. 2:3-10).
Thus wrote Paul, and now is the falling away. For men have fallen away from the right faith; and some preach the identity of the Son with the Father, and others dare to say that Christ was brought into being out of nothing. And formerly the heretics were manifest; but now the Church is filled with heretics in disguise. For men have fallen away from the truth, and “have itching ears” (2 Tim. 4:3). Is it a plausible discourse? All listen to it gladly. Is it a word of correction? All turn away from it. Most have departed from right words, and rather choose the evil, than desire the good. This therefore is “the falling away,” and the enemy is soon to be looked for: and meanwhile he has in part begun to send forth his own forerunners, that he may then come prepared upon the prey. Look therefore to thyself, O man, and make safe thy soul. The Church now charges thee before the Living God; she declares to thee the things concerning Antichrist before they arrive. Whether they will happen in your time we know not, or whether they will happen after you we know not. But it is well that, knowing these things, thou shouldest make thyself secure beforehand…
(§15) And again he says, “Who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped; (against every God; Antichrist forsooth will abhor the idols) so that he seats himself in the temple of God” (2 Thess. 2:4). What temple then? He means, the Temple of the Jews which has been destroyed. For God forbid that it should be the one in which we are! Why say we this? That we may not be supposed to favor ourselves. For if he comes to the Jews as Christ, and desires to be worshipped by the Jews, he will make great account of the Temple, that he may more completely beguile them; making it supposed that he is the man of the race of David, who shall build up the Temple which was erected by Solomon. And Antichrist will come at the time when there shall not be left one stone upon another in the Temple of the Jews, according to the doom pronounced by our Savior (Matt. 24:2); for when, either decay of time, or demolition ensuing on pretense of new buildings, or from any other causes, shall have overthrown all the stones, I mean not merely of the outer circuit, but of the inner shrine also, where the Cherubim were, then shall he come “with all signs and lying wonders,” exalting himself against all idols; at first indeed making a pretense of benevolence, but afterwards displaying his relentless temper, and that chiefly against the Saints of God. For he says, “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints” (Dan. 7:21); and again elsewhere, “there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation upon earth, even to that same time” (Dan. 12:1). Dreadful is that beast, a mighty dragon, unconquerable by man, ready to devour; concerning whom though we have more things to speak out of the divine Scriptures, yet we will content ourselves at present with thus much, in order to keep within compass.
St. Jerome (c. 342/347-420) (EAST/WEST)
St. Jerome, Letter 121: To Algasia
(§11) | GREAT APOSTASY | KATECHŌN | FALSE MESSIAH | TEMPLE
What does what the same Apostle writes to the Thessalonians mean: “Unless a revolt comes first and the man of sin is revealed” and the rest? In the first letter to the Thessalonians, he had written: “About the time and the moment, brothers, you do not need me to write to you; for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. For when they have said: ‘Peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them just like pain upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
For he had written to them a little earlier in the letter: “We say this to you in the word of the Lord, that we, who are alive, who remain for the arrival of the Lord, we will not stop those who have fallen asleep, since the Lord himself will come down from heaven with an order and with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead, who are in Christ, will be the first to rise. Then we, who are alive, who remain, at once we will be snatched up with them in the cloud, face to face with God in the air and we will always be thus with the Lord. And so we console one another in these words.”
Hearing this, the Macedonians did not understand whom the apostle calls living with him and who are said to remain, and who would be seized with him into the clouds, face to face with Lord. But they thought that, so long as Paul was still in his body and before he could taste death, Christ would return in his majesty.
Hearing this, the apostle begs them and swears by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ that they should not be agitated so quickly—and neither by the spirit nor by a speech nor by a letter written supposedly by him, as though the day of the Lord was at hand. Moreover, all the volumes of the prophets and the faith in the gospels teach that there are two arrivals of the Lord Savior: in the first, he will come in humility, and in the second, he will come in glory. The Lord himself attests to what must happen before the end of the world and how the antichrist will come, when he says to the apostles: “When you see the abomination of desolation,” which was spoken of by the prophet Daniel, “standing in the holy place—let he who reads understand—then, those who are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains, and the one on the rooftop not descend to take anything from his house.” And likewise: “Then, if anyone says to you, ‘Behold: Christ is here or there,’ do not believe it. For false Christs will rise and false prophets will give both great signs and prodigies, so that even the elect might be led into error, if it is possible. Behold: I have warned you. If therefore anyone says to you: ‘Behold: he is in the desert,’ do not go out there, ‘Behold: he is inside,’ do not believe him. For just as lightning proceeds from the east and appears even in the west, so too will be the arrival of the son of man.” And next: “Then the sign of the son of man will appear in heaven and they will see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with great strength and splendor. And he will send his angels with a trumpet blast and with a great voice and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from the farthest part of the heavens to their ends.” And again he speaks to the Jews about the antichrist: “I have come in the name of my father and you have not believed me. If another comes in his name, you will receive him.”
Therefore, either the occasion of a misunderstood letter or a counterfeit revelation, which had deceived them in a dream as they were sleeping, or the suppositions of others interpreting the words of Isaiah and Daniel and the Gospels heralding the antichrist at that time had shaken up and disturbed the minds of the Thessalonians, so that they hoped that Christ in his splendor would come.
The apostle remedies this error [thinking the Antichrist was about to appear] and explains the things which are to be expected before the arrival of the antichrist, so that, when they see that these things have happened, then they will know that the antichrist is about to come, that is, the man of sin and the son of perdition, “who is opposed and is raised above everything that is called God or that is worshipped” and who “sits in the temple of God.” “Unless,” he says, “revolt comes first,” which in Greek is called apostasia, so that all nations, which are subject to the Roman Empire, may withdraw from them—“and he will be revealed”—that is, he will be shown, whom the words of all the prophets announce in advance—“the man of sin”—in whom lies the spring of all sins—“and the son of perdition”—that is, the devil; for he himself is the destruction of everything—“who is opposed” to Christ and for that reason is called the antichrist “and he is raised above all that is called God,” so that he might trample with his foot the gods of all nations or every approved and true religion and “in the temple of God”—or in the temple of Jerusalem, as some think, or in a church, as I think more correctly—“he might sit and show himself,” as if he were Christ and the son of God.
If, he says, the Roman Empire is not devastated and if the antichrist does not come first, Christ will not come, who is going to come to destroy the antichrist. You remember, he says, that these things which now I write in a letter, I said in person when I was with you, and I said to you that Christ will not come unless the antichrist had preceded him. “And now you know what detains him, so that he might be revealed in his time,” that is, you fully know what the reason is that the antichrist does not come in the present time. He does not mean to speak openly of the Roman Empire’s destruction, which its rulers think is eternal. Thus according to the Apocalypse of John, on the forehead of the whore dressed in purple the name of blasphemy is written, that is “To Eternal Rome.” For if openly and brazenly he had said: “The antichrist will not come until the Roman Empire is destroyed,” a reasonable cause for persecution against the church, which was rising at that time, seemed to spring up. What follows: “For already the mystery of iniquity is at work, that only he who now holds may do so, until he is taken out of the way, and then the wicked man will be revealed” has this sense: With the many evils and sins with which Nero, the most defiled of the Caesars, oppresses the world, the arrival of the antichrist is born and what the antichrist will use later is partially completed by Nero, to such an extent that the Roman Empire, which now holds all nations, will withdraw and be taken out of the way. And then the antichrist will come, the spring of iniquity, “whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth”; that is to say, with divine power and the authority of his splendor, whose role it is to have issued orders, not in the multitude of the host, not in the strength of soldiers, not in the help of angels, but, as soon as Christ comes, the antichrist will be killed. And in the way that shadows are put to flight by the arrival of the sun, so “by the brightness of his arrival” the Lord will destroy and blot out the antichrist, whose works are the works of Satan, and, just as the fullness of divinity was bodily in Christ, thus in the antichrist will be all strength and signs and prodigies, but these will all be deceptions. For just as the magicians, with their own trickeries, opposed the signs of God, which were accomplished through Moses, and Moses’ staff devoured their staffs, so the truth of Christ will devour the deceit of the antichrist; moreover, they who have been prepared for destruction will be seduced by his trickery.
And a silent question was able to be raised: “Why did God grant him to have all strength, signs, and prodigies through which even God’s elect could be seduced, if it were possible?” Paul presents this question with a solution, and he dismisses what could be argued before it is argued. The antichrist will do, he says, all these things not by his own strength, but by God’s permission because of the Jews, since it was they who were not willing to receive the love of truth, that is Christ, because the love of God was spread out in the hearts of believers and he himself says: “I am the truth,” about whom it has been written in the psalms: “Truth has arisen from the land.”
Therefore, they who did not receive love and truth so that they, upon receiving the savior, might be saved, God sends to them not a worker, but the work itself, that is, the source of error, so that they may trust in a deception, “because he and his father are deceitful.” And if, accordingly, the antichrist was born from a virgin and had come first into the world, the Jews could have an excuse and say that they thought it was truth and for that reason they took up a deception for truth; but now for this reason they must be judged—rather, without doubt they must be condemned, because having despised truth, that is, Christ, they will later take up a deception, that is, the antichrist.
St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel
(Commentary on 11:44-45) (pg. 142) | JERUSALEM
Those of our party, on the other hand, explain the final chapter of this vision [of Daniel] as relating to the Antichrist, and stating that during his war against the Egyptians, Libyans, and Ethiopians, in which he shall smash three of the ten horns, he is going to hear that war has been stirred up against him in the regions of the North and East. Then he shall come with a great host to crush and slay many people, and shall pitch his ten in Apedno near Nicopolis., which was formerly called Emmaus, at the beginning of the mountainous region in the province of Judaea. Finally he shall make his way thence to go up to the Mount of Olives and ascend to the area of Jerusalem; and this is what the Scripture means here: “And when he has pitched his tent…” at the foothills of the mountainous province between two seas. These are, of course, that which is now called the Dead Sea on the east, and the Great Sea on the shore of which lie Caesarea, Joppa, Ashkelon, and Gaza. Then he shall come up to the summit therefor, that is of the mountainous province, or the apex of the Mount of Olives which of course is called famous because our Lord and Savior ascended from it to the Father. And no one shall be able to assist the Antichrist as the Lord vents his fury upon him. Our school of thought insists that Antichrist is going to perish in that spot from which the Lord ascended to heaven.
St. Jerome, Commentary on Matthew
(Book 4, Matt. 24:15-18) (pgs. 271-72) | TEMPLE
24:15. “Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand.”
Whenever we are summoned to understanding, what has been said is shown to be mystical. Now, we read it in Daniel in this way: “And for half a week my sacrifice and libations will be removed, and in the Temple there will be an abomination of desolations until the consummation of the time, and the consummation will be given over the devastation” (Dan. 9:27). The apostle also speaks of this, that the man of iniquity and the adversary 271 | 272 is to be lifted up against everything that is called God or that is worshipped. He will dare to stand in the Temple of God and show that he himself is God [2 Thess. 2:3-4] that his coming in accordance with the working of Satan destroys them [2 Thess. 2:8-9], and that it reduces those who received him to a devastation, void of God [Lev. 26:31; Jer. 25:18]. Now this can be interpreted either literally of the Antichrist, or of the image of Caesar that Pilate placed in the Temple, or of the equestrian statue of Hadrian, which stands to the present day in the very location of the holy of holies. According to the old Scripture, an “abomination” is also called an “idol,” and this is why “of desolation” is added, because an idol will be placed in the desolated and destroyed Temple.
24:16-18. “Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take anything from his house, and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his tunic.”
The “abomination of desolation” can also be understood of all perverted doctrine. When we see it standing in the holy place, that is, in the Church, and showing itself as God, we should flee from Judea to the mountains; that is, when the letter that kills and Judaic depravity have been abandoned, let us draw near to the eternal mountains from which God illumines marvelously. Let us be on the housetop and in the home where the flaming arrows of the devil cannot reach. Let us not go down and take anything from the house of our former way of life, nor seek the things that are below. Rather, let us sow in the field of the spiritual Scriptures, that we might receive fruit from it.
St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) (EAST)
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 76 on Matthew
(Commentary on 24:16-18) (§§1-2) | TEMPLE
(§1) Having spoken of the ills that were to overtake the city, and of the trials of the apostles, and that they should remain unsubdued, and should overrun the whole world, He mentions again the Jews’ calamities, showing that when the one should be glorious, having taught the whole world, the others should be in calamity.
And see how He relates the war, by the things that seem to be small setting forth how intolerable it was to be. For, “Then,” saith He, “let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.” Then, When? When these things should be, “when the abomination of desolation should stand in the holy place.” Whence he seems to me to be speaking of the armies. Flee therefore then, says He, for thenceforth there is no hope of safety for you.
For since it had fallen out, that they often had recovered themselves in grievous wars, as under Sennacherib, under Antiochus again (for when at that time also, armies had come in upon them, and the temple had been seized beforehand, the Maccabees rallying gave their affairs an opposite turn); in order then that they might not now also suspect this, that there would be any such change, He forbids them all thought of the kind. For it were well, says He, to escape henceforth with one’s naked body. Therefore them also that are on the housetop, He suffers not to enter into the house to take their clothes, indicating the evils to be inevitable, and the calamity without end, and that it must needs be that he that was involved therein should surely perish…
(§2) …But He not only encouraged them, but also led them off secretly and unsuspectedly from the customs of the Jews. For if there is not to be a change afterwards, and the temple is not to stand, it is quite evident that the law also shall be made to cease.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 3 on 2 Thessalonians
(Commentary on 1:9-2:5) | TEMPLE
Verses 3-4: “Let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God.”
Here he discourses concerning the Antichrist, and reveals great mysteries. What is “the falling away [apostasy]?” He calls him Apostasy, as being about to destroy many, and make them fall away. “So that if it were possible,” He says, “the very Elect should be offended” (Matt. 24:24). And he calls him “the man of sin.” For he shall do numberless mischiefs, and shall cause others to do them. But he calls him “the son of perdition,” because he is also to be destroyed. But who is he? Is it then Satan? By no means; but some man, that admits his fully working in him. For he is a man. “And exalts himself against all that is called God or is worshiped.” For he will not introduce idolatry, but will be a kind of opponent to God; he will abolish all the gods, and will order men to worship him instead of God, and he will be seated in the temple of God, not that in Jerusalem only, but also in every Church. “Setting himself forth,” he says; he does not say, saying it, but endeavoring to show it. For he will perform great works, and will show wonderful signs.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 4 on 2 Thessalonians
One may naturally enquire, what is that which withholds, and after that would know, why Paul expresses it so obscurely. What then is it that withholds, that is, hinders him from being revealed? Some indeed say, the grace of the Spirit, but others the Roman empire, to whom I most of all accede. Wherefore? Because if he meant to say the Spirit, he would not have spoken obscurely, but plainly, that even now the grace of the Spirit, that is the gifts, withhold him. And otherwise he ought now to have come, if he was about to come when the gifts ceased; for they have long since ceased. But because he said this of the Roman empire, he naturally glanced at it, and speaks covertly and darkly. For he did not wish to bring upon himself superfluous enmities, and useless dangers. For if he had said that after a little while the Roman empire would be dissolved, they would immediately have even overwhelmed him, as a pestilent person, and all the faithful, as living and warring to this end. And he did not say that it will be quickly, although he is always saying it—but what? that he may be revealed in his own season, he says,
For the mystery of lawlessness does already work. He speaks here of Nero, as if he were the type of Antichrist. For he too wished to be thought a god. And he has well said, the mystery; that is, it works not openly, as the other, nor without shame. For if there was found a man before that time, he means, who was not much behind Antichrist in wickedness, what wonder, if there shall now be one? But he did not also wish to point him out plainly: and this not from cowardice, but instructing us not to bring upon ourselves unnecessary enmities, when there is nothing to call for it. So indeed he also says here. Only there is one that restrains now, until he be taken out of the way, that is, when the Roman empire is taken out of the way, then he shall come. And naturally. For as long as the fear of this empire lasts, no one will willingly exalt himself, but when that is dissolved, he will attack the anarchy, and endeavor to seize upon the government both of man and of God. For as the kingdoms before this were destroyed, for example, that of the Medes by the Babylonians, that of the Babylonians by the Persians, that of the Persians by the Macedonians, that of the Macedonians by the Romans: so will this also be by the Antichrist, and he by Christ, and it will no longer withhold. And these things Daniel delivered to us with great clearness.
St. John Chrysostom, Discourse 4 Against the Jews
(Ch. 4, §9) (pg. 84) | FALSE MESSIAH | TEMPLE
This is certain not only from what I have said but also from the prophets. What excuse would the Jews of today have when it is clear that the Jews of old never offered sacrifice, nor sang hymns in an alien land [cf. Ps. 136/137:4], nor did they observe any such fasts as they do today? To be sure, the Jews of old were expecting to recover the way of life in which they could observe these rituals. Therefore, they remained obedient to the Law and did what it commanded, for the Law told them to expect this. But the Jews of today have no hope of recovering their forefathers’ way of life. In what prophet can they find proof that they will? They have no hope, but they cannot bear to give up these practices. And yet, even if they were expecting to recover the old way of life, even so they ought to be imitating those holy men of old by neither fasting nor observing any other such ritual.
St. John Chrysostom, Discourse 5 Against the Jews
(Ch. 1, §3) (pg. 98) | TEMPLE
For even if the Jews were going to recover their own city, if they were about to return to their old commonwealth and way of life and see their temple rebuilt—an event which will never come to pass—even so, they have no defense for their present practices.
(Ch. 3, §§13, 15) (pg. 109) | TEMPLE
(§13) Tell me this. What human being ever had the power to do this? Yet this man [Jesus] made all these predictions about that woman, about the Church, and about the wars which would be waged against it. He also predicted that the temple would be destroyed, that Jerusalem would be captured, and that the city would no longer be the city of the Jews as it had been in the past…
(§15) Suppose a mere ten, twenty, thirty, or fifty years were to have passed since the capture of Jerusalem. Even then you would have absolutely no right to show your impudence by rejecting this prediction, but if you wished to be obstinate, you might have had some pretext for protest left to you. But not only fifty years but many more than one, two, or three centuries have passed since Jerusalem was captured. And never has there been seen a single trace or shadow of the change for which you are waiting. Why, then, are you so rash and foolish as to keep up your shameless objections?
(Ch. 4, §§1-3) (pgs. 110-11) | TEMPLE
(§1) We have said enough to prove that the temple will never be rebuilt. But since the abundance of proofs which support this truth is so great, I shall turn from the gospels to the prophets, because the Jews put their belief in them before all others. And from the words of the prophets I shall make it clear that the Jews will recover neither their city nor their temple in days to come. And yet the need was not mine to prove that the temple will not be restored. This was not my obligation; the Jews have the obligation to prove the opposite, namely, that the temple will be rebuilt. For the years that have elapsed by my side in the combat and bear witness to the truth of my words.
(§2) Even though the outcome of events defeats them, even though they cannot prove in deeds what they maintain in words, even though they are simply making a rash boast, they have a right to present their testimony. The proof for my position is that the events of which I speak did actually occur: Jerusalem did fall and has not been restored after so many years. Their position rests on their unsupported words.
(§3) Yet the burden of proof was on them [the Jews] to show that the city would rise again…They must produce a prophet who says that by all means Jerusalem will be rebuilt. For if there was going to be an end to the present captivity for you Jews, there was every need for the prophets to foretell this, as is clear to anyone who has even so much as glanced at the prophetic books. For it was the custom of old among the Jews that, under inspiration from above, their prophets would foretell the good or evil things which were going to befall the people.
(Ch. 10, §§5, 7) (pgs. 134-36) | TEMPLE
(§5) And again, in speaking of this slavery, he said: “The incense and the oblation will be abolished and, furthermore, on the holy place will be the abomination of desolation: and accomplishment shall be given to the desolated until the end of time” (Dan. 9:27). When you hear him say “Until the end of time,” what else is left for you the Jews to look forward to?…
(§7) What is there for me to say to you now that has not already been said? When the prophets predicted the other captivities, they spoke not only of the captivity but also of the length of time it was appointed for each bondage to last; for this present captivity, however, they set no time but, to the contrary, said that the desolation would endure until the end. And to prove that what they said is true, come now and let me offer as witnesses the events themselves. If the Jews had never attempted to rebuilt the temple, they could say: “If we had wished to set our hands to the task and to begin to rebuild it, we could by all means have completed the task.” But now I shall show that not once, not twice, but three times they did attempt it and three times, like wrestlers in the Olympics games, they were thrown to the ground. Therefore there can be no dispute or question but that the Church has won the victory crown.
(Ch. 11, §§1, 6) (pgs. 136, 138) | TEMPLE
(§1) Yet what kind of men were they who set their hands to the task [of rebuilding the temple]? They were men who constantly resisted the Holy Spirit, revolutionists bent on stirring up sedition. After the destruction which occurred under Vespasian and Titus, these Jews rebelled during the reign of Hadrian and tried to go back to the old commonwealth and way of life. What they failed to realize was that they were fighting against the decree of God, who had ordered that Jerusalem remain forever in ruins…
(§6) These abominable and shameless men had the impudence to ask these things from an impious pagan [Emperor Julian the Apostate] and to invite him to rebuild their sanctuary with his polluted hands. They failed to see that they were attempting the impossible. They did not realize that if human hands had put an end to those things, then human hands could get them back for them. But it was God who destroyed their city, and no human power could ever change what God had decreed. “For what God, the Holy One, has planned who shall dissipate? His hand is stretched out; who will turn it back?” (Isa. 14:27). What God has reared up and wishes to remain, no man can tear down. In the same way, what he has destroyed and wishes to stay destroyed, no man can rebuild. (For all the details from this account, see: Study Bank | Pagan Attempt to Rebuild the Temple Thwarted)
Theodore of Mopsuestia (c. 350-428) (EAST)
Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on 2 Thessalonians
(Commentary on 2:4) (pg. 507) | TEMPLE
And he calls him “the adversary” [“who opposes”], inasmuch as he does things adverse to the divine will and strives to draw all people over to himself. And he is the one “highly exalting himself above everything that is said to be god or that is worshipped,” because by persuading all people to depart from their own sect, he will make them worship him, saying that he is himself Christ, to whom he will claim the honor of God should be bestowed by all, as is right. For in this way even “in God’s temples,” that is, even in the houses of prayer, he will enter and take his seat as though he were Christ and for this reason should be worshipped in the rank of God by all.
St. Augustine (354-430) (WEST)
St. Augustine, City of God
(Book 20, Ch. 19) | DEMONIC DECEPTION | KATECHŌN | TEMPLE
I see that I must omit many of the statements of the gospels and epistles about this last judgment, that this volume may not become unduly long. But I can on no account omit what the Apostle Paul says, in writing to the Thessalonians, “We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:1-11), etc.
No one can doubt that he wrote this of Antichrist and of the day of judgment, which he here calls the day of the Lord, nor that he declared that this day should not come unless he first came who is called the apostate—apostate, to wit, from the Lord God. And if this may justly be said of all the ungodly, how much more of him?
But it is uncertain in what temple he shall sit, whether in that ruin of the temple which was built by Solomon, or in the Church; for the apostle would not call the temple of any idol or demon the temple of God. And on this account some think that in this passage Antichrist means not the prince himself alone, but his whole body, that is, the mass of men who adhere to him, along with him their prince; and they also think that we should render the Greek more exactly were we to read, not “in the temple of God,” but “for” or “as the temple of God,” as if he himself were the temple of God, the Church.
Then as for the words, “And now you know what withholds,” i.e., you know what hindrance or cause of delay there is, “that he might be revealed in his own time;” they show that he was unwilling to make an explicit statement, because he said that they knew. And thus we who have not their knowledge wish and are not able even with pains to understand what the apostle referred to, especially as his meaning is made still more obscure by what he adds. For what does he mean by “For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now holds, let him hold until he be taken out of the way: and then shall the wicked be revealed”? I frankly confess I do not know what he means. I will nevertheless mention such conjectures as I have heard or read.
Some think that the Apostle Paul referred to the Roman empire, and that he was unwilling to use language more explicit, lest he should incur the calumnious charge of wishing ill to the empire which it was hoped would be eternal; so that in saying, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work,” he alluded to Nero, whose deeds already seemed to be as the deeds of Antichrist. And hence some suppose that he shall rise again and be Antichrist.
Others, again, suppose that he is not even dead, but that he was concealed that he might be supposed to have been killed, and that he now lives in concealment in the vigor of that same age which he had reached when he was believed to have perished, and will live until he is revealed in his own time and restored to his kingdom [Suetonius, Nero, Ch. 57]. But I wonder that men can be so audacious in their conjectures.
However, it is not absurd to believe that these words of the apostle, “Only he who now holds, let him hold until he be taken out of the way,” refer to the Roman empire, as if it were said, “Only he who now reigns, let him reign until he be taken out of the way.” “And then shall the wicked be revealed”: no one doubts that this means Antichrist. But others think that the words, “You know what withholds,” and “The mystery of iniquity works,” refer only to the wicked and the hypocrites who are in the Church, until they reach a number so great as to furnish Antichrist with a great people, and that this is the mystery of iniquity, because it seems hidden; also that the apostle is exhorting the faithful tenaciously to hold the faith they hold when he says, “Only he who now holds, let him hold until he be taken out of the way,” that is, until the mystery of iniquity which now is hidden departs from the Church. For they suppose that it is to this same mystery John alludes when in his epistle he says, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us” (1 John 2:18-19). As therefore there went out from the Church many heretics, whom John calls “many antichrists,” at that time prior to the end, and which John calls “the last time,” so in the end they shall go out who do not belong to Christ, but to that last Antichrist, and then he shall be revealed.
Thus various, then, are the conjectural explanations of the obscure words of the apostle. That which there is no doubt he said is this, that Christ will not come to judge quick and dead unless Antichrist, His adversary, first come to seduce those who are dead in soul; although their seduction is a result of God’s secret judgment already passed. For, as it is said “his presence shall be after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all seduction of unrighteousness in them that perish.” For then shall Satan be loosed, and by means of that Antichrist shall work with all power in a lying though a wonderful manner. It is commonly questioned whether these works are called “signs and lying wonders” because he is to deceive men’s senses by false appearances, or because the things he does, though they be true prodigies, shall be a lie to those who shall believe that such things could be done only by God, being ignorant of the devil’s power, and especially of such unexampled power as he shall then for the first time put forth. For when he fell from heaven as fire, and at a stroke swept away from the holy Job his numerous household and his vast flocks, and then as a whirlwind rushed upon and smote the house and killed his children, these were not deceitful appearances, and yet they were the works of Satan to whom God had given this power. Why they are called signs and lying wonders, we shall then be more likely to know when the time itself arrives.
But whatever be the reason of the name, they shall be such signs and wonders as shall seduce those who shall deserve to be seduced, “because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.” Neither did the apostle scruple to go on to say, “For this cause God shall send upon them the working of error that they should believe a lie.” For God shall send, because God shall permit the devil to do these things, the permission being by His own just judgment, though the doing of them is in pursuance of the devil’s unrighteous and malignant purpose, “that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Therefore, being judged, they shall be seduced, and, being seduced, they shall be judged. But, being judged, they shall be seduced by those secretly just and justly secret judgments of God, with which He has never ceased to judge since the first sin of the rational creatures; and, being seduced, they shall be judged in that last and manifest judgment administered by Jesus Christ, who was Himself most unjustly judged and shall most justly judge.
Ambrosiaster/Pseudo-Ambrose (wrote c. 366-384) | WEST
Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 1 Corinthians (c. 366-384)
(Commentary on 15:53) (pg. 201) | GREAT APOSTASY
In the time of the Antichrist, the rest of the Gentiles [non-Christians] will be either apostate, or guilty, or in hiding, or enduring punishment already, and the Lord Jesus “will slay them,” along with their ruler, the Antichrist, “with the breath of his mouth” (2 Thess. 2:8). That is to say, at his command they will be burnt up by the angels of his power.
Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 (c. 366-384)
(Commentary on 2:1-4) (pgs. 114-15) | DEMONIC DECEPTION | GREAT APOSTASY | KATECHŌN | FALSE MESSIAH | TEMPLE
Paul enjoins the Thessalonians not to be lightly or easily persuaded that the return of the Lord is imminent and gives the command that even if someone like a prophet were to speak to them in the spirit they should not believe him, nor should they agree to any book or letter even if it is written in the name of the 114 | 115 apostles. Deceivers have a way of counterfeiting letters under the name of some well-known person in order to mislead, so that the authority of the name may recommend something which would never be accepted on its own. He says this so that they will not be upset by their own lack of caution and be led astray into the worship of the devil, who will act in such a way as to appear in the name of the Savior and try to trick the saints into worshipping him, in order to ensnare those who believe in Christ. But so that that most shameless Satan should not have the space or opportunity which he thinks he has to deceive others, Paul pointed out the time and the signs of Christ’s return. The Lord would not come back until the Roman Empire fell and the Antichrist appeared, who would kill the saints and give the Romans back their freedom, but under his name. Knowing that the Lord would come to suppress him, Satan would usurp his name, both in order to make it appear that his rule is genuine and in order to take with him those who would perish along with him. He would even sit in Christ’s seat in the house of God and declare that he, and not the Son of God, is God himself.
This is why the Lord says to the Jews in the Gospel: “I have come in the name of my Father and you have not received me; if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him” (John 5:43). Thus it appears that this person whom they are expecting to come will be either of the circumcision or at least circumcised himself, so that the Jews will have the confidence to believe in him. Therefore when writing to the Thessalonians, Paul teaches them to be cautious about this matter.
(Commentary on 2:5-6) (pg. 115) | GREAT APOSTASY | KATECHŌN
Paul says that it only remains for the one who is to come before the [return of the] Lord to be revealed, because he is already expected and the Lord is coming. He already said this in a guarded way when he wrote: “Unless the rebellion comes first” (2 Thess. 2:3), which I mentioned must be understood as the destruction of the Roman Empire. When it collapses and the Antichrist comes, then we will believe that the return of the Lord is near.
(Commentary on 2:7) (pg. 115) | DEMONIC DECEPTION | KATECHŌN
The mystery of iniquity began with Nero, who in his zeal for idolatry killed the apostles at the instigation of his father the devil, and went on to Diocletian, and most recently Julian. They started persecution with some cleverness and trickery but could not bring it to fruition because they were not permitted to do so. Satan uses these servants so that meanwhile in a crowd of gods he can feign a revelation of the one God and lead people astray as long as the Roman Empire survives. This is what Paul said: “until it is out of the way” (2 Thess. 2:7).
(Commentary on 2:8-9) (pg. 116) | DEMONIC DECEPTION | KATECHŌN
Paul says that Antichrist will appear after the collapse of the Roman Empire, as has been stated. Most recently, the devil, knowing that his end is nigh (for the Roman Empire is crumbling and he will be cast down out of heaven and thrown to earth, as it says in the Revelation of the Apostle John [Apoc. 12:9]) will commandeer to himself certain signs of power as and when he can, doing this with the permission of the righteous God, and will offer himself for worship as if he were God. He will copy the Son of God who after He was born and made a man, demonstrated His divinity in signs and wonders. Satan will also appear as a man and present himself as God by the powers of the lie, as was said above.
This is the revelation of the mystery of iniquity. When Antichrist appears, he will be recognized as the god of those to whom the common people once worshipped as gods with his permission. He himself is the first or chief of them all, because by the powers of his signs he will do something which is believable. Paul called these the portents of the life, because Satan wants himself to be believed in by these signs, which is not the same thing as deceiving those whom he has led astray. All this is revealed to the saints in advance so they will know what to beware of.
(Commentary on 2:10) (pg. 116) | DEMONIC DECEPTION
Paul says that the deception of the iniquity of his [Antichrist’s] miracles is of advantage to those who will perish. Because they have rejected the love of the truth by which they could have been saved through the preaching of the apostles, they have been handed over to the devil. They did not want to be saved and so they have been abandoned by God.
(Commentary on 2:11-12) (pg. 116) | DEMONIC DECEPTION
The working of error is to put faith in what is false. Those who did not want to admit that the bright of the light is day think that darkness ought to be called daylight instead. That way they become guilty of even greater sin and are damned without contradiction as enemies of the truth and accomplices of iniquity.
Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393-c. 458/466) (EAST)
Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on 2 Thessalonians
(Commentary on 2:3-4) (pg. 128) | TEMPLE
“Because unless the defection comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship so that he takes his seat as God in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (vv. 3-4).
By “defection” he referred to the Antichrist in person, making a title out of the event. He called him “the man of sin” since he is a man by nature, receiving all the devil’s activity in himself, and “son of perdition” as being ruined himself and proving the source of ruin to others. In fact, human beings’ avenging spirit mimics the Incarnation of our God and Savior; as the latter by assuming human nature procured our salvation, so the former by selecting a human being capable of receiving all his activity will endeavor through him to deceive all human beings, calling himself Christ and God, and betraying the falsity of the so-called gods, which he himself practices in times past. By “temple of God” he referred to the churches, in which he will arrogate to himself pride of place, striving to declare himself God. The divine Daniel also prophesied this in the words, “He will not recognize him over gods of his ancestors, and will glorify Maozim as god in his own place” (Dan. 11:37), that is, he will name himself powerful god.
Oecumenius (600s?) (EAST)
Oecumenius, Commentary on the Apocalypse
(Ch. 6, Apoc. 11:7-8) (pgs. 103-104) | JERUSALEM | FALSE MESSIAH
He says, “the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit” (v. 7): he calls the Antichrist a “beast” because he is cruel, inhuman, and greedy for blood. He calls the life of human beings a bottomless pit, bitter wit its sins, distasteful, and never at rest with the proliferation of wicked spirits. For the wretch will not arise from any other source other than our own human nature. For he will be a man “whose coming is due to the activity of Satan” (2 Thess. 2:9), as has just been 103 | 104 said. Therefore he says “the beast will kill” the two witnesses, and he will cast their bodies unburied into the streets of Jerusalem. For he will reign there as king of the Jews, whom he will keep deceived as they comply with him and obey him in every way, as the Lord says according to John, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive” (John 5:43).
St. John of Damascus (c. 675/76-749) (EAST)
St. John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
(Book 4, Ch. 26) | FALSE MESSIAH | TEMPLE
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 opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:3-4); “in the temple of God” he said; not our temple, but the old Jewish temple. For he will come not to us but to the Jews: not for Christ or the things of Christ, wherefore he is called Antichrist.
St. Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274)
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 2 Thessalonians
(Ch. 2, Lecture 1) (pg. 219) | JERUSALEM | FALSE MESSIAH | CONVERSION | TEMPLE
When he says “so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God,” he gives the sign of this wrongdoing. For the Antichrist’s pride is greater than the pride of all who came before him. So as it is written of Gaius Caesar that he wanted to be worshipped while he was still alive, and put statues of himself in every temple, and as Ezekiel says of the king of Tyre, “I have said that I am God” (Ezek. 28:2), so it is quite believable that the Antichrist will act as they did, saying that he is both God and man. And as a sign of this he will sit in the temple.
But in what temple? Was it not destroyed by the Romans? This is why some say that the Antichrist is from the tribe of Dan, whose tribe is not named among the other twelve in Revelation (Apoc. 7:5). Because of this, the Jews will accept him at first, and will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and thus Daniel will be fulfilled: “an abomination and an idol will be in the temple” (Dan. 11:27). “But when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, let him who reads understand” (Matt. 24:15).
But some say that neither Jerusalem nor the temple will ever be rebuilt, but that their desolation will last until the final consummation. And even some Jews believe this. So this text is explained to mean “in the temple of God,” i.e., in the Church, since many from the church will accept him. Or according to Augustine, “he sits in the temple of God,” i.e., he rules and governs as though he himself with his messengers were the temple of God, as Christ is the temple with his adherents.
Other Documents
The Roman Catechism (1566)
(Part 1, Art. 7: Circumstances of the Judgment) (pg. 84) | GREAT APOSTASY
The Sacred Scriptures inform us that the general judgment will be preceded by these three principal signs: the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world, a falling away from the faith, and the coming of Antichrist. This gospel of the kingdom, says our Lord, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come [Matt. 24:14]. The Apostle also admonishes us that we be not seduced by anyone, as if the day of the Lord were at hand; for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed [2 Thess. 2:3], the judgment will not come.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
(Pars. 675-677) | DEMONIC DECEPTION | GREAT APOSTASY
(Par. 675) Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers [Luke 18:8; Matt. 24:12]. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth [Luke 21:12; John 15:19-20] will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. the supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh [2 Thess. 2:4-12; 1 Thess. 5:2-3; 2 John 7; 1 John 2:1, 8, 22].
(Par. 676) The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. the Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism [DS 3839], especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism [Pius XI, Divini Redemptoris, condemning the “false mysticism” of this “counterfeit of the redemption of the lowly”; cf. GS 20-21].
(Par. 677) The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection [Apoc. 19:1-9]. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven [Apoc. 13:8; 20:7-10; 21:2-4]. God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world [Apoc. 20:12; 2 Pet. 3:12-13].
