ACC ~ Revelation 13 v11

A KINGDOM OF DECEIT. HIPPOLYTUS: By the beast coming up out of the earth, he means the kingdom of antichrist; and by the two horns he means him and the false prophet after him. And in speaking of “the horns being like a lamb,” he means that he will make himself like the Son of God and set himself forward as king. The term “he spoke like a dragon” means that he is a deceiver and not truthful. ON THE ANTICHRIST 49.

THE FORM OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BUT FULL OF MALICE. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: “Another great beast rose out of the earth.” This is the false prophet who will do signs and portents and false prodigies before him in the presence of people. It says that he has “horns like a lamb” because he has the form of a righteous man and that he “speaks like a dragon” because he is full of the malice of the devil. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.4.

THE ANTICHRIST WILL BEGUILE. TYCONIUS: It has two horns that are like those of a lamb. These are the two Testaments that belong to the true Lamb but that the beast tried to usurp for himself by feigning to be a lamb. Nevertheless, it is said to speak like a dragon, because by the hypocrisy of a false truth it beguiles those whom it can lead astray. For it would not be like a lamb were it to speak openly as a dragon. It now pretends to be the Lamb so that it might assail the Lamb, that is, the body of Christ.It speaks against God, since it drives away from the way of truth those whom he has deluded and who now seek after him. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.11.

THE ANTICHRIST ARISES FROM THE EARTH. OECUMENIUS: “Then I saw,” it says, “another beast which rose out of the earth.” The earth is the source of origin for all humankind, for the antichrist is a man “whose coming will be by the activity of the devil,” as the all-wise Paul says. “And it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.” Rightly does it say that it had two horns “like a lamb,” not the horns of a lamb, and that it spoke “like a dragon,” not that it was a dragon. For since the wicked one makes himself out to be the Christ but is not, he has given to him horns “like a lamb.” And since through every kind of unholy work he spreads what is similar to the devil but in fact is not the devil, it does not say that he is a dragon but that he speaks like a dragon. And since such is the case, the discourse has preserved for him an image also in the vision, and it gives to him a form, not that of a lamb but like a lamb, and not that of a dragon but like a dragon. For Christ is said to be a lamb, and the devil is said to be a dragon, but this one is neither one nor the other. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.11-13.

THE SKIN OF A LAMB BUT A WOLF WITHIN. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: Some say that this beast is the antichrist, while to others its two horns signify the antichrist and the false prophet. But since also the false prophet is thought to come in his own person, it is proper to think that the dragon is to be interpreted as Satan, the beast that arises from the sea as the antichrist, and this beast that comes up from the earth as the false prophet, which is the opinion of the blessed Irenaeus. That he comes up from the earth symbolizes that he arises from an earthly and groveling manner of life. That he has two horns like a lamb indicates that in the skin of a lamb he cloaks the murderousness of the wolf hiding withinand that at the beginning he will have the form of piety. Concerning him Irenaeus says, “Concerning his armorbearer, whom he also calls the false prophet, he says, ‘he spoke like a dragon.’” The authority of signs and wonders was given to him, so that going before the antichrist, he might prepare the way of destruction for him. We say that the healing of the wound of the beast is either the apparent, short-lived unity of the divided empire, or the temporary restoration by the antichrist of the tyranny of Satan that had been destroyed, or the fraudulent resurrection of one of his associates who had died. It says that he speaks like a dragon, because he will do and say the things of the devil, who is the author of evil. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.11.

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