ACC ~ Revelation 13 v14 - 17

THE ANTICHRIST WILL PERSECUTE THOSE WHO DO NOT OBEY. HIPPOLYTUS: Being full of guile and exalting himself against the servants of God, with the wish to afflict them and persecute them out of the world because they do not give glory to him, he will order incense pans to be set up by all everywhere, that no one among the saints may be able to buy or sell without first sacrificing. This is what is meant by the mark received upon the right hand. And the words “on their forehead” indicate that all are crowned and put on a crown of fire, and not of life but of death. For in this way, too, did Antiochus Epiphanes the king of Syria, the descendant of Alexander of Macedon, devise measures against the Jews. He, too, in the exaltation of his heart, issued a decree in those times that “all should set up shrines before their doors and sacrifice, and that they should march in procession to the honor of Dionysus, waving chaplets of ivy,” and that those who refused obedience should be put to death by strangulation and torture. But he also met his due recompense at the hand of the Lord, the righteous Judge and all-searching God; for he died devoured by worms. ON THE ANTICHRIST 49.

AN IMAGE OF ANTICHRIST WILL BE ERECTED. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: [The beast] will even see to it that a golden image of the antichrist is placed in the temple at Jerusalem, and the apostate angels will enter there and from there issue prophesies and oracles. And he himself will cause “both slave and free to receive a mark on their foreheads or on their right hands”—namely, the number of his name—“so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark.” Daniel had already spoken of this destruction of people and this contempt of God and this abomination, saying, “And he will place [an image] in his temple between the mountain of the sea and the two seas,” that is, at Jerusalem, and then he will place here his golden image, just as King Nebuchadnezzar had done. And the Lord recalls this to all the churches when he speaks of the last times: “When you see the contempt of turning away spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, where it ought not, let the reader understand.” It is said to be “contempt” when God is provoked because idols are being worshiped. On the other hand, it is said to be a “turning away” when unstable people, seduced by false signs and wonders, are turned away from their salvation. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.4.

LED BY THE SAME DEMON. OECUMENIUS: “And by signs he deceives those who dwell on earth.” He does signs, beguiling the eyes of those who look on, even as the magicians did in front of Pharaoh, for both they and this one are led by one and the same deceitful demon. And it rightly says that he does signs in the presence of the beast. For since he will set up an image for him, which he will compel all to worship, he will actually perform signs before it, and as though regarding the image as divine, claim that from it he has the power to do these things. “And it was allowed to give breath to the image.” They say that many statues both perspire and seem to speak by the activity of the devil. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.14-18.

THE DECEIT OF ANTICHRIST. PRIMASIUS: It is as though he had said that the deception had succeeded to such an extent that the earthly, led astray by the wonders of the beast, gave their full miserable assent to the beast and by a mutual devotion encouraged each other to make an image of the beast in the fraudulence of their hearts. And so they believe that there is no room for doubt but are convinced by the evidence of the fire that [the beast] is indeed the Christ, although the devil is in the antichrist and the same malignant spirit has taken the form of the Spirit and, with divine permission, lays down such seductive snares. Therefore, he is said “to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast should even speak.” This may be interpreted in two ways. Either the whole body of evil persons are persuaded by the demonstrations of power, since the devil is working and the leaders are urging the people, so that there is for everyone the same confession and that all are to proclaim it by a uniform formula, so that should anyone not speak this through the image of the beast, that is, through a mutual imitation, he should be killed. … Or, just as through conversation with a woman the first man was led astray by the mouth of a serpent, so then he deludes many by a similar fraud, when he causes his followers to receive messages by consulting an image, that is, the antichrist, to whom they believe honor is due, as to a god, although he is “the man of sin and the son of perdition.” … “And he causes all … to be marked on the right hand or the forehead.” He here distinguishes the individual members, although more often he includes them as a whole in the body or the person of the beast. The “hand” indicates works, and it is the right hand to simulate the truth. The “forehead” symbolizes the confession of faith. Since they are defrauded in regard to both of these good things, they are said to be marked on both. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.14-16.

THIS BEAST IS THE CITY OF THE IMPIOUS. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: “That he give them a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.” He speaks of the mystery of deception. For the saints who are in the church receive Christ in the hand and on the forehead. The hypocrites, however, receive the beast under the name of Christ. “Those who do not worship the beast … will be slain.” It is not inconsistent with the faith that the beast be understood as the city of the impious itself, that is, as the congregation or conspiracy of all those who are impious or filled with hubris. This city is called “Babylon,” which is interpreted as “Confusion,” and to it belong all who desire to work that which is worthy of confusion. He himself is the citizenry of unfaithful persons who are the opposite of the faithful people, that is, the city of God. His image is an imitation, that is, among those people who confess the catholic faith but live the life of infidelity. For they feign to be what they are not, and they are called Christians, not by way of the true image but by way of a false image. Of such persons the apostle wrote, “holding the form of religion but denying the power of it.”Not a small number of these persons are within the catholic church. However, the righteous do not worship the beast, that is, they do not assent to him, nor do they submit to him, nor do they receive his mark, the mark of sin, on their forehead, on account of the confession, and on their hand, on account of works. EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.15-16, HOMILY 11.

THIS ARMORBEARER OF ANTICHRIST WORKS THROUGH DEMONS. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: [The beast] deceives those who continually dwell upon the earth in their hearts. For those who possess their citizenship in heaven are not deceived by fake appearances, since they have been sufficiently fortified by the prediction of his coming. … It is reported that demons often speak by sorcery through images and statues and trees and streams, also through Apollonius and others, and I think, even through dead bodies. For example, in the presence of Peter, Simon the Magician showed the Romans a dead body that he was moving. However, the apostle unmasked his deception by showing through those whom he himself raised how the dead were raised [by Simon]. And so there is nothing strange in the fact that working through demons, this standardbearer of the antichrist should make an image for the beast and contrive to show it speaking and see to it that those who did not worship it were killed. And he will eagerly strive to place the mark of the ruinous name of the apostate upon everyone. He will make the mark upon their right hands to bring to an end the doing of good works, and upon their foreheads in order to teach those deceived to be bold in their deception and darkness. But those who have had their faces sealed with the divine light will not receive the mark. He will undertake to spread the mark of the beast everywhere through buying and selling, so that a violent death might come to all who do have the mark from the lack of necessities. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 13.14-17.

THE ANTICHRIST WILL DECEIVE THE SENSES THROUGH PHANTASMS. BEDE: “By the signs which it is allowed to work, it deceives those who dwell on earth.” “For his coming,” it is said, will be “by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.”It may be that these are called “false signs and wonders” because he will deceive the senses of people through phantasms, so that he seems to do what in fact he does not do. Or it may be that these signs, even though they will be astonishing wonders, will lead those to falsehood who, unaware of the power of the devil, will think that such things could not be accomplished apart from divine power. For it was not by a fake fire or storm that the devil destroyed the whole family of the saintly Job together with all of his flocks, but by a real fire and a real whirlwind. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE, 13.14.