ACC ~ Mark 13 v2

THE TEMPLE IN RUINS

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: Antichrist [1] will come at such a time as there shall not be left of the temple of the Jews “one stone upon another,” to quote the sentence pronounced by the Savior. [2] For it is not until all the stones are overthrown, whether by the decay of age, or through being pulled down for building material or in consequence of this or that other happening, and I do not mean merely the stones of the outer walls, but the floor of the inner temple where the cherubim were, [3] that Antichrist will come “with all signs and lying wonders” [4] treating all the idols with disdain. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 15.15. [5]

[1] Cf. 1 Jn 2:18-22; 4:3; 2 Jn 7.

[2] Mk 13:2.

[3] Cf. 1 Kings 6:27; 8:6.

[4] 2 Thess 2:9; cf. Mt 24:24; Mk 13:22.

[5] TLG 2110.003, 15.15.12-9; LCC 4:159. This passage is made more interesting and historically weighty in the light of the fact that it was written in Jerusalem and taught in catechetical lectures at the site of the present Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the mid-fourth century, three centuries before the Muslim conquest and seven centuries before the Crusaders. It may indicate that the outer walls were already pulled down but the floor of the inner temple was still intact. One can assume that Cyril was familiar with the site as it appeared in his day. Since in his view the antichrist had not yet come, he understood himself in between the times of the basic destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 and the final destruction of the temple.

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Mk