Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Evidência Patrística
no Cálculo do Número
da Besta
________________
Francis X. Gumerlock
________________
Revista Cristã_________
Última Chamada
Título original em inglês:
NERO ANTICHRIST: Patristic Evidence of the Use of Nero’s
Name in Calculating the Number of the Beast (Rev 13:18)
By Francis X. Gumerlock
____________
Este artigo está disponível gratuitamente para download, em inglês,
no site de Francis X. Gumerlock.
Site: www.francisgumerlock.com/
Acessado Terça-feira, 18 de Abril de 2017
________
Editor
César Francisco Raymundo
E-mail: ultimachamada@bol.com.br
Site: www.revistacrista.org
Londrina, Paraná,
Abril de 2017.
Índice
Sobre o autor............................................................ 6
Apresentação............................................................ 7
A Teoria Nero e o Problema
da Evidência Patrística................................................ 08
Liber Genealogus sobre o Imperador Nero................. 09
Parágrafo sobre Nero.................................................. 10
Nero como o Anticristo................................................ 14
Nero e o Número da Besta......................................... 16
Fonte desconhecida do Liber..................................... 17
A Conexão com Ireneu.............................................. 18
Conclusão:
Implicações para os estudos bíblicos........................ 20
Bibliografia................................................................ 22
Obras importantes para pesquisa........................... 30
Sobre o autor
Boa leitura!
_________
Nota:
* No original está “inglês”.
[Texto em Latim]
614. A passione autem domini usque ad passionem Petri et Pauli
anni sunt XXXVIII14: passi Nerone consule. persecutio haec prima
fuit Neronis quae iterum futura est sub Enoch et Helia.
615. hic Nero ipse est, cuius nomen Iohannes in apocalpsin vocavit
DCXVI. Hic sapientia vertitur, ut conputetur per eras nomen eius,
qui dicitur, “antichristus sic”.
A N T I C H R I S T V S
I XIII XVIII VIIII III VIIII XVII VIIII XVIII XVIIII XX XVIII
[Tradução]
22Besides Victorinus among the fathers of the second and third centuries, Irenaeus
(Haer.5.30, 3; ANF 1:559) thought “Teitan” was the most probable explanation, and
Hippolytus (Antichr. 50; ANF 5:215) mentioned it as a possibility.
23 In paragraphs 616-618, the Liber is quoting from and paraphrasing a recension of
Victorinus of Pettua, Commentary on the Apocalypse. On Rev 13:18. CSEL 49:124-127. ANF
7:356. Victorinus wrote his commentary about the year 260. Jerome’s recension dates to
about 398. The recension that the author of the Liber genealogus used, which mentions the
Vandal king Gaeseric, is later than Jerome’s.
24 Having Nero in seclusion in the West is unique, for all of the ancient literature of which I
am aware related to the Nero redivivus legend has him in hiding in the East. It could be that
this was part of the evolution of the Antichrist figure into an anti-Messiah, the direct antithesis
of Jesus. Since many early Christians believed, based on Matt 24:27, that Christ would return
from the East, perhaps in antithesis they portrayed the Antichrist as returning from the West.
For the concept of Christ returning from the East, the Syriac Teaching of the Apostles 1 (ANF
8:668) indicates: “The apostles therefore appointed: Pray ye towards the east: because ‘as the
lightning which lighteneth from the east and is seen even to the west, so shall the coming of
the Son of man be:’ that by this we might know and understand that He will appear from the
east suddenly.” Or, it could be that the writer of the 438 version of the Liber thought that the
Vandal king Gaiseric was the Antichrist who had come “in the spirit of Nero,” and then
fashioned his Antichristology accordingly. For, during the time of his edition of the Liber,
Gaeseric had come across North Africa from the West, systematically taking Roman cities
along the African coast. He overthrew Carthage in 439. Against this idea is the editor’s
seeming rejection of the Gensericus (a Latin spelling of Gaeseric) identification in paragraph
618, since the letters of his name added up to 666 and not 616. Or, the mention of Nero
Antichrist hiding in the West may simply be indicative of variety within patristic
Antichristology. For, Lactantius (Inst. 7.17. ANF 7:214) has Antichrist coming from Syria,
and eastern apocalyptic literature (Syriac Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius, Andreas Salos
Apocalypse, Arabic Apocalypse of Peter, Apocalypse of Samuel, 14 th Vision of Daniel)
contain narratives about end-time kings coming from various directions. The basis for some
of these seem to be Daniel 11.
25 Many of the church fathers believed that since Enoch and Elijah were translated bodily into
paradise without having experienced physical death, they would return at the end of the world
in order to “pay the debt” of death. Cf. History of Joseph the Carpenter 31, ANF 8:394;
Jerome, Ep. 59.3, CSEL 54:543. On the future roles of Enoch and Elijah, as believed by early
Christians, Thomas W. Mackay, “Early Christian Millenarianist Interpretation of the Two
Witnesses in John’s Apocalypse 11:3-13” in By Study and Also By Faith. (2 vols.; ed. John
M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks: Salt Lake City: Deseret, 1990) 1:222-331.
Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce in John’s Apocalypse (Sheffield, England:
26 J. Nelson
Sheffield Academic Press, 1996), 161-4; Martin Bodinger, “Le mythe de Néron de
l’Apocalypse de Saint Jean au Talmud de Babylone,” RHR 206 (1989):21-40; Larry Kreitzer,
“Hadrian and the Nero Redivivus Myth,” ZNW 79 (1988):92-115.
27 John J. Collins, “Sibylline Oracles,” OTP 1: 317-472 esp. 395-8, 419, 421, 447. Cf.
Peerbolte, Antecedents of Antichrist, 146, 331-5; C. Marvin Pate and Calvin B. Haines Jr.,
Doomsday Delusions: What’s Wrong with Predictions About the End of the World (Downers
Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 40-3; Gregory C. Jenks, The Origins and Early
Development of the Antichrist Myth (New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1991), 259-67; Collins,
The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism (Missoula: University of Montana, 1972; Macon,
Georgia: Society of Biblical Literature and Scholars’ Press, 1974), 80-6; Saul J. Bastomsky,
“The Emperor Nero in Talmudic Legend,” JQR 59 (1968-1969):321-5. Victorinus
(Commentary on the Apocalypse. CSEL 49:118-20; ANF 7:358) says that John in Rev 13:3
was speaking of Nero in his description of the beast having the mortal wound that was cured.
Cf. Dulaey, Victorin de Poetovio premier exégète latin, 1:200-02. Commodianus,
Instructions, 41. ANF 4:211. Cf. McGinn, Antichrist, 65; Jenks, Origins and Early
Development of the Antichrist Myth, 34, 77, 103-6; Curt Daniel, “The Concept of Antichrist
in Pre-Gregorian Literature,” (Springfield, Illinois: Reformed Bible Church, 1975), 24-5.
28 Suplicius Severus, Historia Sacra, 2.29. PL 20:146 .
29 Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, 224-5.
30 On 2 Thess 2:7, Chrysostom (Hom 2 Thess, 4; NPNF 13:389) wrote: “For the mystery of
lawlessness doth already work. He speaks here of Nero, as if he were the type of Antichrist.”
Theodoret on the same passage wrote: “Some commentators claimed that to Nero is given the
name mystery of iniquity, and that he became a worker of godlessness.” Theodoret of Cyrus,
Commentary on the Letters of St. Paul (2 vols.; Translated by Robert Charles Hill: Brookline,
Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2001), 2:129.
31Augustine, Civ. 20.19. (Translated by Marcus Dods: New York: Random House, 1950),
739.
32Quodvultdeus, On the Promises and Predictions of God, Dimidium Temporis, 8. CCSL
60:201. On Quodvultdeus’ eschatology, Daniel Van Slyke, Quodvultdeus of Carthage. The
Apocalyptic Theology of a Roman African in Exile. Early Christian Studies 5. (Strathfield,
Australia: St Pauls [sic] Publications, 2003).
33 Quodvultdeus, On the Promises and Predictions of God, Dimidium Temporis,10. CCSL
60:203. PL 51:845. Victor of Vita, History of the Vandal Persecution, 3.47. In Victor of Vita:
History of the Vandal Persecution. Translated Texts for Historians 10 (Translated by John
Moorhead: Liverpool, England: Liverpool University Press, 1992), 83, 93. The Vandals were
“homoean” Arians, probably converted by Arian missionaries when the tribe lived in Eastern
Europe before invading North Africa via Spain. They rejected the doctrine of “homoousia”,
that the Son is the same substance as the Father, set forth at the Council of Nicea in 325. They
held to the Councils of Rimini and Seleucia (359). Unlike the semi-Arian “homoiousions”
who said that the Son was similar in substance with the Father, “homoeans” discarded the
term “ousia” (substance) altogether.
34 Roger Gryson, ed., Commentaria minora in Apocalypsin Johannis. CCSL 107:143-4, 149,
151, 276; Peerbolte, Antecedents of Antichrist, 151; Nestle-Aland, Novum Testament Graece
et Latine (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaff, 1993), 659 in apparatus on Rev 13:18;
Kenneth B. Steinhauser, The Apocalypse Commentary of Tyconius: A History of Its Reception
and Influence (New York: Peter Lang, 1987), 300; Lawrence, “Nero Redivivus,” 55; Germain
Morin, ed., Sancti Caesarii Arelatensis opera varia (2 vols.; Maretioli [Bruges, Belgium]:
Desclée, 1942), 2:247; Charles, Studies in the Apocalypse, 47-8.
35 ‘Diclvx’ was a Latin form of ‘Teitan.’
36 In the earliest centuries of Christianity two potentially conflicting theories of the origin of
Antichrist arose, one that he would be Nero redivivus, the other that he would be a Jew from
the tribe of Dan. Drawing from both traditions, Commodian (Instructions, 1.41; ANF 4:211)
fashioned a double Antichrist, a Neronian persecutor and a Jewish end-time tyrant, perhaps
with scriptural support from the two beasts mentioned in Rev 13. Others, however, such as
Victorinus and Cyril of Jerusalem, combined the two traditions into one person. The unknown
source used by the writer of the Liber seems to also have done this, portraying Antichrist as
one person from the tribe of Dan but coming “in the spirit” of Nero, similar to John the Baptist
coming “in the spirit” of Elijah (Lk 1:17), Antichrist coming from the tribe of Dan is an
opinion based upon Genesis 49:17, Jeremiah 8:16, and the absence of the tribe of Dan from
Revelation 7. Cf. Wilhelm Bousset, The Antichrist Legend. A Chapter in Christian and Jewish
Folklore (1896; reprinted Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1999); Charles E. Hill, “Antichrist from
the Tribe of Dan,” JTS 46 (1995):99-117; McGinn, Antichrist, 59, 296, no. 12; Weinrich,
“Antichrist in the Early Church”; Vincent P. Miceli, The Antichrist (West Hanover, Mass.:
Christopher Publishing House, 1981); P. Huchedé, History of Antichrist (New York, 1884;
Repr. Rockford, Illinois: Tan, 1976). Concerning the identity or meaning of Saar, Jerome
(Questione Hebraicae. PL 23:1381) wrote, “Saar is written about in [the book of] Kings, and
is interpreted ‘singer;’” and Suetonius (Lives of the Caesars. Catharine Edwards, trans. [New
York: Oxford University Press, 2000], 204-7) tells us that Nero was a singer. F. Tempestinus,
Glossarum Gothicae Linguae (cited in PL 18:1431) indicates that the word “Saar” comes
from the Gothic “Sair” meaning “dolor, afflictio” (sorrow, affliction) and lists as a reference
the Greek word for “travail” in I Thessalonians 5:3. “Saarim” (1 Chr 4:31) was a city in which
the descendants of Simeon lived. The identity of Saar still remains a mystery to me.
37 Among the known extra-biblical sources of the Liber are the Latin translation of
Hippolytus’ Chron. (Rudolf Helm, ed., Hippolytus Werke. Die Chronik [Berlin: Akademie-
Verlag, 1955]) and Julius Quintus Hilarianus’ Chronology (PL 13:1097-1106). The eighth-
century Spanish monk, Beatus of Liebana, was familiar with the Latin title “Nero
Antichristus.” See his Commentary on the Apocalypse on Rev 13:3. Eugenio Romero-Pose,
ed., Sancti Beati a Liebana commentaries in Apocalypsin (2 vols.; Rome: Typis Officinae
Polygraphicae, 1985), Vol. Alterum:165: “…non habebit nomen Nero Antichristus sed aliud
nomen afferturus est…” “He will not have the name ‘Nero Antichrist’ but will bear another
name.” Also in the Armenian language the word for Antichrist is “Neren.” See the anonymous
article “Apocryphal Apocalypses and the Apocalypse of John,” CQR 89 (1897):151-62 esp.
160.
38 Beale, Book of Revelation, 20.
39 Gentry, Beast of Revelation, 44.
40 Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, 203.
41 Leon Morris, The Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), 38, 174. Cited
in Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, 203-4.
42 Barclay Newman, “The Fallacy of the Domitian Hypothesis,” NTS 10 (1963):133-9 esp.
136.
43 Irenaeus, Haer.5.30, 1. ANF 1:558.
44 Jenks, Origins and Early Development of the Antichrist Myth, 89: “Irenaeus, however,
considered this alternative reading [616] to be an error of too great a magnitude to be allowed
to pass unrebuked, since it not only involved an alteration to the text of the Bible but would
also mislead the faithful into seeking Antichrist under a name whose letters totaled 616
instead of 666.”
45 Newman, “The Fallacy of the Domitian Hypothesis,” 136-7: “Where Irenaeus makes
reference to the speculation concerning the number 666, he does so to quell and to refute any
mistaken notion that this number should be interpreted with regard to the Roman
Emperors….Neither does Irenaeus afford any compassion for those who seek to uncover
some contemporary-historical allusion in the reading 616 which occurs in some manuscripts
in place of 666.”
46Another vestige of this may be in the seventh or eighth century Commemoratorium de
Apocalypsi Johannis Apostoli. Commenting on Revelation 13:18, it says, “The number of his
name is understood according to the Hebrew language.” CCSL 107:221.
47 Caution should be exercised, however, if citing the Liber genealogus as an early example
of preterist eschatology. For, we know from other patristic writers that just because one sees
a reference to Nero in Revelation 13, it does not follow that the writer held a preterist view
of Revelation, with an early date of Revelation and belief that its prophecies were fulfilled in
the Roman-Judean war. Victorinus (c. 260) and Suplicius Severus (c. 405) both saw a
reference to Nero in Revelation 13:3, but both advocated a Domitianic date for Revelation.
Cf. Victorinus, Commentary on the Apocalypse, on Rev 17:10. CSEL 49:118; ANF 7:358;
Suplicius Severus, Sacred History, 2.31 cited in Hitchcock, “The Stake in the Heart— The
A.D. 95 Date of Revelation,” 135. Also, the fifth-century author of the Liber genealogus was
expecting an end-time Antichrist, a tenet incongruous with some contemporary preterism.
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