Antichrist (redirected from Antechrist)

Antichrist (ăn`tĭkrīst), in Christian belief, a person who will represent on earth the powers of evil by opposing the Christ, glorifying himself, and causing many to leave the faith. He will be destroyed by Jesus at the time of the Second Coming. 1 John 2.18–22; 4.3; 2 John 7; and Rev. 13. Similar ideas are expressed in Judaism (e.g., Ezek. 38.1–39.29) and in Zoroastrianism. Christians have often identified enemies of their faith with the Antichrist; e.g., with early Christians it was Nero, with some Protestants the pope.

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Antichrist

Chief enemy of Christ who would reign at the end of time, first mentioned in the epistles of St. John. The idea of a mighty ruler who will appear at the end of time to fight against the forces of good was adapted from Judaism; the Jewish concept in turn had been influenced by Iranian and Babylonian myths of the battle of God and the devil at the end of time. In the Book of Daniel the evil one is a military leader modeled on Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who persecuted the Jews. In several books of the New Testament, the Antichrist is a tempter who works by signs and wonders and seeks divine honors. It was a potent concept in medieval Christianity that received the attention of many commentators including Adso of Montier-en-Der, whose work became the basic medieval treatise on the Antichrist. During the Middle Ages, popes and emperors struggling for power often denounced each other as the Antichrist, and during the Reformation, Martin Luther and other Protestant leaders identified the papacy itself as the Antichrist.

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Antichrist

1. New Testament the antagonist of Christ, expected by early Christians to appear and reign over the world until overthrown at Christ's Second Coming

2. an enemy of Christ or Christianity

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Antichrist

principal antagonist of Christ. [Christianity: NCE, 117]

See : Enemy

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Antichrist

Christ’s antagonist in Christian mythology. Supposedly, the Antichrist will appear shortly before the “end of the world” and lead the struggle against Christ, but ultimately he will be defeated. Early Christianity borrowed the image of the Antichrist from Judaic mythology, in which the Messiah was to have been victorious in the struggle with the Antimessiah. As proved by historical research, in John’s Book of Revelation the Antichrist image contains allusions to the Roman emperor Nero (54–68). During the Middle Ages the idea of the Antichrist frequently revived at times of natural disasters and extreme social unrest, when believers expected the end of the world. The Church used the myth of the Antichrist in combating its opponents. Thus, in the 13th century the Roman pope Gregory IX declared Frederick II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, to be the Antichrist. During the Reformation, Protestants declared the Roman popes to be Antichrists. During the Great October Revolution and Civil War the counterrevolutionary clergy declared the leaders of the Revolution to be Antichrists.