VISIO DECIMA, cap. XXXII
The Antichrist's Deception and False Writing
The Antichrist, empowered by Lucifer, will perform terrifying signs, counterfeit death and resurrection, and use a diabolical writing to mark and ensnare his followers, denying God and exalting himself above Christ.
And so their unbelief, appearing on the aforementioned golden head of the leopard on the foretold necklace, reaches down to the one it designates as the Antichrist, who, calling himself God like a golden head, through devilish arts and through the stirring up of the elements will bring about terrifying portents and the greatest storms, which God will allow to happen so that the whole human race may recognize its fall through him. For this one will also pretend, as if for the redemption of his people, that he is dying by death and rising again by resurrection, and he will have a certain writing inscribed on the foreheads of those who follow him, through which he will pour out every evil upon them, so that the ancient serpent, deceiving the human race, will afterward hold that person captive in his snare and inflame him with desire, and through that same writing, against baptism and against the Christian name, by magical art he will so work upon them that they will not want to turn away from him, and that according to him, just as Christians are named after Christ, all will be named after him. Lucifer held this writing within himself for a long time, and revealed it to no human being, except to this one alone, whom he will wholly possess in his mother's womb. Therefore he also trusts that through him he can bring about his every desire. But that same lost person will have a soul, and the life he has will not be from the devil but from God, since that most unhappy searcher of the ancient deceit, who hates all good things, will have received his very life from God. For God alone is life, and every breath, and everything that lives is moved through him, since he alone is the beginning without beginning. And just as Lucifer fought against God in heaven, so too through this lost person he will attempt to struggle on earth against the humanity of the Son of God. And he will do this through this writing, by which he will deny God and the Creator of all things, trusting that he will bestow a greater shining of gifts upon his own than Christ the Son of God has bestowed on those who believe in him.
The False Writing Exalted and the Fear of the Just
The Antichrist will exalt his unknown writing as greater than creation itself, but God will destroy it while Scripture endures, and the holy will tremble as he gathers the nations through false signs.
This writing, however, has never been seen or discovered in any language before, because Lucifer first found it within himself and will bring it forth with that same deceit by which he leads people astray, so that they may not know their Creator; and through it he will mock the faithless in this way, so that they will strive to worship nothing other than what they will see pleases him. For this same son of perdition will say that just as a piece of cut wood is set down until a painter arranges and adorns it so that it may be venerated by all, so too this man should lack honor until that writing is exalted, since there is greater salvation and power in it than there has been in the creation of man. But God will destroy all the efforts of this writing together with its author; the writing, however, which the Holy Spirit gave will not pass away. And when he has begun to gather to himself people of every race by these false signs, the holy and the just will be shaken with great fear.
Enoch and Elijah Restored Against the Antichrist
God will restore Enoch and Elijah, who will preach and work miracles against the Antichrist, be martyred by him, and join countless martyrs in the fullness of blessed perfection.
God's promise concerning the restoration of Enoch and Elijah, and how meanwhile things are dealt with among them, and how, once they have been restored, they will conduct themselves amid adversity among men, and how greatly they will shine forth by the power of preaching and miracles against the Antichrist—by whom, however, they will be martyred, and with countless others they will depart from the world, and the number of the blessed martyrs will be brought to the fullness of its due perfection.✦1
Read the original Latin
Et sic infidelitas eorum ad praefatum aureum caput leopardi in praedicta catena monilis apparens descendit, quod Antichristum designat, qui se Deum velut aureum caput nominans, per diabolicas artes et per suscitationem elementorum horrenda portenta maximasque tempestates faciet, quod Deus ita fieri permittet, quatenus omne genus humanum casum illius cognoscat. Nam et ideo quasi pro redemptione populi sui per occisionem se mori et per resuscitationem se resurgere simulabit, quamdamque scripturam in frontibus sequentium se scribi faciet, per quam omne malum eis immittet, ut etiam antiquus serpens hominem decipiens, eum quoque in captione sua postmodum habens, libidine incendit, atque per eamdem scripturam contra baptismum, et contra Christianum nomen magica arte eos ita infundet, ut ab illo discedere non cupiant, et ut secundum ipsum quemadmodum Christiani secundum Christum omnes vocentur. Hanc scripturam Lucifer in se diu habuit, nec eam ulli hominum revelavit, excepto huic soli, quem in utero matris suae totum possidebit. Quapropter etiam omnem voluntatem suam se confidit per illum posse perficere. Sed idem perditus homo animam, et quod vivit non a diabolo sed a Deo habebit, cum et ipse infelicissimus inquisitor antiquae seductionis, qui omnia bona odit, vivere suum a Deo acceperit. Nam Deus solus vita est, omnisque anhelitus, et omne quod vivit per illum movetur, quoniam ipse solus initium sine initio est. Et sicut Lucifer in coelo contra Deum pugnavit, ita etiam per hunc perditum hominem in terra adversus humanitatem Filii Dei certare tentabit. Et hoc per scripturam hanc faciet, qua Deum et Creatorem omnium negabit, se majorem illustrationem donorum suis conferre confidens, quam Christus Filius Dei in se credentibus contulerit.
Scriptura autem haec in nulla lingua prius visa aut inventa est, quia Lucifer eam in semetipso primum invenit, illamque eo dolo proferet, quo homines seducit ne Creatorem suum cognoscant; atque per ipsam infideles hoc modo deludet, ut nequaquam aliud colere, quam quod illi videbunt placere, studeant. Dicet enim idem filius perditionis quod sicut lignum abscissum deponitur, quousque pictor illud componat et ornet, ut ab omnibus veneretur, ita quoque homo natus honore careat, quousque scriptura ista extollatur, quoniam major salus et virtus in ipsa sit quam in creatione hominis fuerit. Sed Deus omnes conatus ejusdem scripturae cum auctore suo destruet; scriptura autem quam Spiritus sanctus dedit non pertransibit. Cumque his falsis signis ex omni genere hominum ad se colligere incoeperit, sancti et justi in timore magno concutientur.
Promissio Dei de restitutione Enoch et Eliae, et quomodo interim cum eis agatur, et qualiter cum restituti fuerint se in adversis inter homines habebunt, et quanta adversus Antichristum praedicationis et miraculorum potestate enitescent, a quo tamen martyrizati cum innumeris aliis e mundo migrabunt, et beatorum numerus martyrum ad plenitudinem debitae perfectionis perducetur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Rev.11.3-Rev.11.12 — And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. Rev.11.4 — These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. Rev.11.5 — And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours out from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. Rev.11.6 — These have the authority to shut the sky, so that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying. They also have authority over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. Rev.11.7 — And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the abyss will make war on them and conquer them and kill them. Rev.11.8 — And their corpse will lie upon the broad street of the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Rev.11.9 — And peoples and tribes and tongues and nations look upon their corpse three days and a half, and they do not permit their corpses to be placed in a tomb. Rev.11.10 — And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Rev.11.11 — But after three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who were watching them. Rev.11.12 — And they heard a great voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' And they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them.
Notes
- 1 ↩martyrizati: rare medieval Latin passive participle from martyrizo; rendered as 'they will be martyred' to preserve the passive force.
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