[1843] Matt. xxiv. 12.
[1844] Matt. xxiv. 14.
[1845] Ib. v. 15.
[1846] Ib. v. 23.
[1847] 2 Thess. ii. 3-10.
[1848] The prediction was supposed by earlier Fathers to refer to a personal Antichrist whom they expected to come speedily. See Justin M. (Tryph. § 110: ho tes apostasias anthropos; ib. § 32: "He who is to speak blasphemous and daring things against the Most High is already at the doors." Iren. Hær. V. 25. Cyril in this passage regards the heresies of his time as the apostasy in general, but looks also for a personal Antichrist: (§§ 11, 12).
[1849] huiopatoria . On this contemptuous name for Sabellianism, see Cat. iv. 8; xi. 16. The Third (Eusebian) Confession, or Third of Antioch, a.d. 341, anathematizes any who hold the doctrines of Marcellus of Ancyra or Sabellius, or Paul of Samosata (Athan. de Synodis, § 24 note 10, p. 462, in this Series, and Mr. Robertson's Prolegomena, p. xliv.). In the Ecthesis, or Statement of Faith, § 2, Athanasius writes: "Neither do we hold a Son-Father, as do the Sabellians, calling Him of one but (a sole and?) not the same essence, and thus destroying the existence of the Son." As to Marcellus, see Athanasius, Hist. Arian. § 6 (p. 271), and the letter of Julius in the Apologia c. Arian. § 32 (p. 116): also notes 3, 4 on § 27 below.
[1850] See Athanasius, De Synod. § 15: "Arius and those with him thought and professed thus: God made the Son out of nothing, and called Him His Son:'" and Expos. Fidei, § 2: "We do not regard as a creature, or thing made, or as made out of nothing, God the Creator of all, the Son of God, the true Being from the true Being, the Alone from the Alone, inasmuch as the like glory and power was eternally and conjointly begotten of the Father." The 4th (Eusebian) Confession, or 4th of Antioch, a.d. 342, ends thus: "Those who say that the Son was from nothing,....the Catholic Church regards as aliens."
[1851] Athan. Adversus Arianos, Or. i. 1: "One heresy and that the last which has now risen as forerunner of Antichrist, the Arian as it is called, considering that other heresies, her elder sisters, have been openly proscribed, in her craft and cunning affects to array herself in Scripture language, like her father the devil, and is forcing her way back into the Church's paradise, &c." The supposed date of this Oration is 8 or 10 years later than that of Cyril's Lectures.
[1852] 2 Tim. iv. 3.
[1853] A reading supported by the best mss. and approved by the Benedictine Editor gives a different sense, "and rather choose to seem than resolve to be," inverting the proverb "esse quam videri."
[1854] In the passage quoted above in note 5 the Arian heresy is called a "forerunner" (prodromos) of Antichrist.
[1855] phantasiokopon, a rare word, rendered "frantic" in Ecclus. iv. 30: its more precise meaning seems to be "making a false show," which is here applied to a false Christ, and again in § 14 to the father of lies who makes a vain show of false miracles.
[1856] Matt. xxiv. 23.
[1857] Ps. lxxii. 6. Cf. § 1, note 1.
[1858] Matt. xxiv. 27.
[1859] Matt. xxiv. v. 30.
[1860] en eidololatreia may mean either "in idol-worship," or "among idolaters," the abstract being used for the concrete, as in Rom. iii. 30: dikaiosei peritomen.
[1861] ephodion, "provision for a journey," is here equivalent in meaning to aphorme, "a starting point," or "favourable occasion."
[1862] Antichrist is described by Hippolytus (De Christo et Antichristo, § 57, as "a son of the devil, and a vessel of Satan," who will rule and govern "after the manner of the law of Augustus, by whom the Roman empire was established, sanctioning everything thereby." Cf. Iren. Hær. V. 30, § 3; Dictionary of Christian Biography, Antichrist: "The sharp precision with which St. Paul had pointed to the man of sin,' the lawless one,' the adversary,' the son of perdition,' led men to dwell on that thought rather than on the many pseudochristoi of whom Christ Himself had spoken."
[1863] ton 'Eleimuenon, Aquila's rendering of chysm, adopted by the Jews in preference to ton Christon, from hatred of the name Christ or Christian. Hippolytus, ubi supra, § 6: "The Saviour came into the world in the Circumcision, and he (Antichrist) will come in the same manner:" ib. § 14: "As Christ springs from the tribe of Judah, so Antichrist is to spring from the tribe of Dan." This expectation was grounded by Hippolytus on Gen. xlix. 17.
[1864] The fourth kingdom in the prophecy of Daniel (vii. 7, 23) was generally understood by early Christian writers to be the Roman Empire; and its dissolution was to be speedily followed by the end of the world. See § 13 below; Irenæus, V. 26; and Hippolytus, ubi supra, §§ 19, 28.
[1865] Dan. vii. 24: and he shall put down three kings (R.V.).
[1866] The Jerusalem Editor quotes as from Hippolytus a similar description of Antichrist (§ 23): "In his first steps he will be gentle, loveable, quiet, pious, pacific, hating injustice, detesting gifts, not allowing idolatry, &c." But the treatise is a forgery of unknown date, apparently much later than Cyril.
[1867] Iren. V. 28, § 2: "Since the demons and apostate spirits are at his service, he through their means performs wonders, by which he leads the inhabitants of the earth astray."
[1868] Iren. V. 25, § 4: "He shall remove his kingdom into that city (Jerusalem), and shall sit in the Temple of God, leading astray those who worship him as if he were Christ." According to the genuine treatise of Hippolytus Antichrist was to restore the kingdom of the Jews (De Antichristo, § 25), to collect the Jews out of every country of the Dispersion, making them his own, as though they were his own children, and promising to restore their country, and establish again their kingdom and nation, in order that he may be worshipped by them as God (§ 54), and he will lead them on to persecute the saints, i.e. the Christians (§ 56). Compare the elaborate description of Antichrist and his cruelty in Lactantius, Div. Inst. vii. 17; Epit. § 71.
[1869] 2 Thess ii. 8. Cf. Iren. V. 25, § 3: Hippol. § 64.
[1870] ekklesiazomenon. Cf. Cat. iv. 35, 36, where Cyril distinguishes the Scriptures has kai en 'Ekklesia meta parresias anaginoskomen from hosa en 'Ekklesiais me anaginosketai.
[1871] Dan. vii. 23: (R.V.) shall be diverse from all the kingdoms.
[1872] Irenæus (V. 26) identifies the fourth kingdom with "the empire which now rules." Hippolytus, de Antichristo, § 25: "A fourth beast dreadful and terrible: it had iron teeth and claws of brass. And who are these but the Romans?"
[1873] Dan. vii. 24.
[1874] Dan. v. 25. Dean Church compares Rev. xvii. 11: And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. See also Iren. V. 26, § 1.
[1875] 2 Thess. ii. 9. Lactantius (a.d. 300 circ.), Div. Inst. vii. 17: "that king....will also be a prophet of lies; and he will constitute and call himself God, and will order himself to be worshipped as the Son of God; and power will be given him to do signs and wonders, by the sight of which he may entice men to adore him." Cf. Epitome, lxxi.
[1876] "Vid. Iren. Hær V. 26, 2" (R.W.C.). The passage is quoted by Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. iv. 18), from a lost work of Justin M. Against Marcion: "Justin well said that before the coming of the Lord Satan never dared to blaspheme God, as not yet knowing his own condemnation, because it was started by the prophets in parables and allegories. But after our Lord's advent having learnt plainly from His words and those of the Apostles that everlasting fire is prepared for him,....he by means of such men as these blasphemes the Lord who brings the judgment upon him, as being already condemned." S. Cyril seems to expect that Antichrist will be an incarnation of Satan, as did Hippolytus (de Antichr. § 6): "The Saviour appeared in the form of man, and he too will come in the form of a man."
[1877] phantasiokopei. See above, § 10, note 9, and the equivalent phrase in § 17: semeion kai teraton phantasias edeiknuon.
[1878] 2 Thess. ii. 4.
[1879] See § 12, notes 3, 4, and Hippolytus, ubi supra: "The Saviour raised up and shewed His holy flesh like a temple; and he will raise a temple of stone in Jerusalem." "Cyril wrote this before Julian's attempt to rebuild the Jewish Temple" (R.W.C.).
[1880] Matt. xxiv. 2. Cyril refers the whole prophecy to the time of Christ's second coming at the end of the world, not regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple by Titus as fulfilling any part of the prediction.
[1881] Dan. vii. 21. Here again Cyril follows Hippolytus, § 25: "And under this (horn) was signified none other than Antichrist.
[1882] Ib. xii. 1.
[1883] Matt. xxiv. 16.
[1884] Rom. viii. 35.
[1885] Matt. xxiv. 21.
[1886] Ib. v. 22.
[1887] Dan. vii. 25. By "apocryphal" books Cyril probably means all such as were not allowed to be read in the public service of the Church: see Cat. iv. 33, note 3; and Bp. Westcott's note on the various meanings of the word apokruphos, Hist. of the Canon, P. III. c. 1. That the Apocalypse of St. John is included under this term by Cyril, appears probable from the following reasons suggested by the Benedictine Editor. (1) It is not mentioned in the list of the Canonical Scriptures in iv. 36. (2) The earlier writers whom Cyril follows in this Lecture, Irenæus, Hær. V., 26, § 1, and Hippolytus, De Antichristo, § 34, combine the testimony of the Apocalypse with that of Daniel. The omission in Cyril therefore cannot have been accidental.
[1888] Dan. xii. 7.
[1889] Ib. v. 11.
[1890] Ib. v. 12.
[1891] Matt. x. 23.
[1892] autoprosopos . See above, § 14, note 2. Some mss. read antiprosopos, "face to face," as in xii. 32, antiprosopos.
[1893] See above, § 14, note 3.
[1894] Matt. xxiv. 24.
[1895] 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12: (R.V.) That they all might be judged. Cyril has katakrithosi
[1896] Dan. xii. 1, 2: (R.V.) they that turn many to righteousness. Cyril follows the rendering of the Septuagint, apo ton dikaion ton pollon, which gives no proper construction.
[1897] Compare 1 Cor. iv. 15: I begat you through the gospel. Clem. Alex. Strom. iii. c. 15: to dia tes alethous katecheseos gennesanti keitai tis misthos.
[1898] 2 Thess. ii. 7.
[1899] See above, §§ 6, 7.
[1900] 1 Thes. iv. 16.
[1901] Ib. vv. 16, 17.
[1902] Eccles. xi. 9. The Preacher's description of old age and death is interpreted by Cyril of the end of the world, as it had been a century before by Gregory Thaumaturgus, in his paraphrase of the book.
[1903] Ib. v. 10: (R.V.) sorrow. Marg. Or, vexation, Or, provocation.
[1904] Ib. xii. 1.
[1905] Ib. v. 2.
[1906] Ib. v. 3.
[1907] Ib. v. 6. According to the usual interpretation death is here represented by the breaking of a chain and the lamp which hangs from it. Cf. Delitzsch, and Speaker's Commentary, in loc. for other interpretations. to anthemion tou chrusiou (Sept.), by which Cyril understood camomile (anthemis), more probably meant a pattern of flowers embossed on the vessel of gold: vid. Xenoph. Anab. V. 4, § 32: estigmenous anthemia, "damasked with flowers."
[1908] Eccles. xii. 5. Cyril means rightly that the aged shrink from a giddy height, and from imaginary dangers of the road. For the voice of the sparrow, see below, § 21, note 4.
[1909] Matt. xxiv. 30; Zech. xii. 12.
[1910] Eccles. xii. 5.
[1911] "Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, p. 319) says of the almond tree, "It is the type of old age, whose hair is white" (Speaker's Commentary).
[1912] The step, once as active as a grasshopper, or locust, shall grow heavy and slow. For other interpretations see Delitzsch.
[1913] The caper-berry (kapparis) shall fail, i.e. no longer stimulate appetite. But diaschedasthesetai (Sept. Cyril) means that the old man shall be like a caper-berry which when fully ripe bursts it husks and scatters its seeds: so R.V. (Margin); The caper-berry shall burst. Greg. Thaumat. Metaphr. Eccles. "The transgressors are cast out of the way, like a black and despicable caper-plant."
[1914] 1 Thes. ii. 16.
[1915] Compare the spurious Apocalypse of John: "And at the voice of the bird every plant shall arise; that is, At the voice of the Archangel all the human race shall arise" (English Trs. Ante-Nic. Libr. p. 496). According to the Talmud the meaning is, "Even a bird awakes him" (Delitzsch).
[1916] Ps. l. 3.
[1917] Dan. vii. 13, 10.
[1918] 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. On anupostaton, see Index. On dokimastikon, compare The Teaching of the Apostles, § 16: "Then all created mankind shall come to the fire of testing (dokimasias), and many shall be offended and perish."