One anti-Christ or many anti-Christs?

Saint Augustine's Challenging Interpretation

Apocalipsis cu[m] figuris, Nuremburg: 1498, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) (source)

From the numerous difficult and enigmatic passages contained within the sacred texts of the Bible, the most read are the prophecies concerning the end of the world. No other subject has been more discussed and disputed in the entire history of the Christian Tradition. Especially in dark and turbulent times of crisis like ours, apocalyptic prophecies are scrutinized from all angles. And within this context, the verses presenting the ‘signs’ of the consummation of the world are the most disturbing. The apostles themselves questioned the Savior Christ about these signs.

Among these, the most terrifying refers to that mysterious biblical figure called the ‘anti-Christ’ (Greek ἀντίχριστος). Alongside the book of the prophet Daniel and the Revelation of Saint John, there are enough texts that discuss, directly or indirectly, explicitly or only allusively, encrypted, symbolically, the characteristics of the greatest human adversary of Savior Christ in the entire history of the world. The biblical writings where all the key teachings about the anti-Christ are set forth are the texts of the Holy Apostle John.

The mere fact that such mysteries of sacred history are exposed in the writings of the mystical apostle, nicknamed due to the contemplative graces he received as “the eagle from Patmos,” speaks for itself. He tells us that their interpretation requires a truly inspired art guided by the same Holy Spirit that inspired and guided the apostle. Throughout the history of the Church, God has deigned to give us a few exceptional interpreters of these texts. One of them is the Holy Bishop Augustine of Hippo (354–430). He provided us with the most likely correct interpretation at one of the crucial places in the epistles of St. John. Let’s see what it is about.

Both the signs of the end and the signs of recognizing the antichrist have been left to us in the inspired texts with the purpose of warning us about the imminence of crucial historical events. Their purpose, however, is never to satisfy our human curiosity, but to urge us to repentance, to penance, to prayer—to a life of more intense and deep sanctity. But these signs demands their deciphering. Obscure and difficult to interpret, they become eloquent and clear when the foretold events come to pass. As for the antichrist, the major difficulty arises when we read a text of St. John from which we learn the following:

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that Antichrist cometh, even now there are become many Antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us; but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us (1 John 2:18-19).

The place is confusing due to the change in number: after first being told that “antichrist cometh,” it is immediately added that “there are become many antichrists.” How does this happen? Is there one antichrist or many? Saint Augustine, I believe, answered correctly.

The first question that the African Doctor asks refers to the fact that the antichrists “went out from us.” Why does the Holy Apostle John tell us this? Because it indicates the presence of antichrists within the Church. Furthermore, Saint Augustine emphasizes something truly terrible: that “each one while he is within” can be an antichrist. Indeed, this is what Saint Augustine says: any member of the Church can be an antichrist. That’s why he immediately adds that “each person ought to question his own conscience, whether he be an antichrist.” Such a statement is very grave. Saint Augustine develops it further:

Many who are not of us, receive with us the Sacraments, receive with us baptism, receive with us what the faithful know they receive, Benediction, the Eucharist, and whatever there is in Holy Sacraments: the communion of the very altar they receive with us, and are not of us.¹

Then, emphasizing the freedom we have in this world to choose good or evil, he asserts that “of his own will is each either an antichrist or in Christ.” Therefore, he asks us to seriously examine our consciences, to examine our entire lives to see what we truly are. Broadly speaking, then, anyone can be one of those numerous antichrists mentioned by the Holy Apostle John. And the specific trait of antichrists is heresy.

However, as we will see shortly, just as with Saints Bernard of Clairvaux and Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, for Saint Augustine, heresies can be of two kinds: doctrinal heresies, expressed in the form of teachings that directly and explicitly contradict dogmas of the Church, and practical heresies, which, although they do not explicitly deny dogmatic or moral teachings of faith, deny them in practice. As we will see, for Saint Augustine, the denial in practice of Christian morality is precisely the distinct mark of antichrists.

The metaphor Saint Augustine has in mind when he says that any baptized Christian can be an antichrist is that of the human body. He shows that in the human body, which symbolizes, of course, the mystical body of Savior Christ, the Church, there are both healthy members and “bad humors.” The latter, sooner or later, will be removed. These bad humors symbolize the antichrists, i.e. the heretics.

Saint Augustine’s interpretation is not original. There are several classical Christian authors who underline the most disturbing thing possible: the antichrists spoken of by the Holy Apostle John are exclusively of Christian origin. They are, in other words, false Christians. For example, one of the brilliant teachers of the school of Alexandria, Didymus the Blind, asserts the following:

These things are not said of all who teach false doctrine but only of those who join a false sect after they have heard the truth. It is because they were once Christians that they are now called antichrists.²

The same teaching is also presented by Saint Cyprian of Carthage (c.210–258), who shows that the Antichrists are former Christians who have rejected authentic teaching. Saint Bede the Venerable, Oecumenius, Andrew of Caesarea, and others follow the same interpretation: the Antichrists are false/former Christians. Why is it important to notice this? Among other reasons, because, as already shown in the article dedicated to the extraordinary visions of Saint Hildegard of Bingen,³ the Antichrist himself will be a Christian and, probably, a hierarch of the Church.

But if the Antichrists are false Christians, the problem of discernment becomes acute, as it happened in the time of Saint Augustine, when the Donatist heretics affirmed exactly the same things about Orthodox Catholic Christians as those did about Donatists. So the Donatists said about the true Christians that they were heretics and schismatics (i.e., Antichrists), while Catholics and Saint Augustine accused them of being Antichrists. Who was right? The biblical text on which Saint Augustine bases his brilliant answer is also from Saint John:

Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God: And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus, is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he cometh, and he is now already in the world (1 John 4: 2-3).

If we were dealing with heretics like the Arians, things would be relatively simple, for they explicitly deny doctrines defined by the Church. The same goes, for example, with Unitarians—who deny the dogma of the Holy Trinity and the fact that the Savior Christ is fully and truly God, equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit. So, in the case of such heretics, things are clear. But what do you do when you are dealing with heretical Catholics who affirm all the teachings of the faith? How can you discern? Although simple, the criterion proposed by Saint Augustine is absolutely revealing:

Let the tongue keep still for a little while, ask the life. If we shall find this, if the Scripture itself shall tell us that denial is a thing done not only with the tongue, but also with the deeds, then assuredly we find many antichrists, who with the mouth profess Christ, and in their manners dissent from Christ. Where find we this in Scripture? Hear Paul the Apostle; speaking of such, he says, ‘For they confess that they know God, but in their deeds deny Him’ (Titus 1:16). We find these also to be antichrists: whosoever in his deeds denies Christ, is an antichrist.

It would be very good if we were to learn this short sentence of Saint Augustine by heart, imprinting it as deeply as possible in our memory, in our minds:

Whosoever in his deeds denies Christ, is an antichrist.

This true axiom gives us an infallible criterion to reveal the Antichrists. So, it’s not so much the faith (i.e., the Credo) that needs to be examined but, first and foremost, deeds.

Of course, as Saint Augustine recommends, it is a terribly demanding criterion that we must always apply first to ourselves by asking: do we live and embody, through our deeds, everything that God teaches and demands of us? This is a crucial question that we must strive to answer as best as we can. Certainly, this is the fundamental question, but it must be particularized through concrete applications: for example, married Catholics must ask themselves if they embrace family life by accepting without hesitation all the children that God graciously gives to their family. Etc.

But if we are on the right path, and our deeds show that we are truly Christians, then we can apply the same criterion to those who, although with their lips they seem to confess the orthodox (i.e., right/correct) faith, deny it through their actions. It is undoubtedly about all adherents of practical heresies. According to the teaching of Saint Augustine, these are the Antichrists. When confronted by the saints, who draw attention to their betraying deeds, “they go even against Christ, they begin to find fault with Christ: How, say they, and why did He make us such as we are? Do not persons say this every day, when they are convicted of their deeds? Perverted by a depraved will, they accuse their Maker.”

The mark of true Christians is always humility. The mark of Antichrists is pride. Although created by God, they want to behave and live as if God were not their Creator and King. Specifically, they can go as far as to change God’s law by adapting it to their unlawful desires, passions, and vices. And the final Antichrist will be their leader who will confirm, encourage, and support them through an anti-gospel devoid of repentance, penance, and the Cross. Unlike them, true Christians can be identified by their acceptance, in both doctrine and deeds, of the divine Law. And their distinctive characteristic is humility.

Accompanied by a profound remorse for the sins by which they have offended the Creator, humility is what urges us to stand like the tax collector before God, praying for His forgiveness:

And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: O God, be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13).

However, a true Christian does not settle for this alone. He, of course, first and foremost, prays. But at the same time, he will also take concrete actions to correct his behavior, to no longer repeat the sins committed in the past and confessed in the Sacrament of Confession. In one word, He will produce “fruit worthy of penance” (Matthew 3:8). Only this allows him to be called a Christian and not an antichrist. For, let us not forget what Saint Augustine teaches us: “of his own will is each either an antichrist or in Christ.”

1. All quotations are taken from Saint Augustine’s commentary on 1 John available here: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170203.htm [Accessed: 02 March 2024].

2. Cf. James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, Edited by Gerald Bray, IVP Academic, 2000, pp. 186-187.

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