VIII. Adso-Depicts Career of Coming Antichrist

Adso Of MONTIER-EN-DER, France (d. 992), became the leading teacher of the Antichrist tradition during the Middle Ages. He was made abbot of the Cluniac monastery of Montier-en-Der in 960, after he had received a good education in the Abbey of Luxeuil, and had been an instructor of the clergy for some time. He was born of the nobility and was a friend of Pope Sylvester II and of other influential personalities of his age. He was a prodigious writer. But only his Libellus de Antichristo (Little Work on Antichrist) is of concern in this study. ^{53In Migne, PL, vol. 101, cols. 1289-1298.}PFF1 585.1

It was written upon request of Queen Gerberga of France, ^{54Wife of Louis IV (d’Outremer) and sister of Otto the Great of Germany} who sought information about this strange doctrine of Antichrist and about the correctness of the expectations concerning the year 1000. Adso, her court chaplain at the time, collected all the material he could, and presented it to her in the aforementioned form. It is assumed that Adso’s Libellus was written about 954. So widely was it circulated that, from being copied into the spare parchment pages of other works, it has been variously but erroneously ascribed to Augustine, Alcuin, and Rabanus Maurus. ^{55Charles Maitland, op. cit., p. 301. In Migne we find it recorded after the work of Alcuin, as Adsonis... Libellus de Antichristo (The Pamphlet Concerning Antichrist by Adso), but a better recension can be found in Sackur, op. cit., pp. 104-113.}PFF1 585.2

1. SUMS UP PREVALENT ANTICHRIST BELIEFS

In his short treatise Adso sums up all the many traits of Antichrist, and the divers teachings about that mysterious figure which were prevalent in his day. In many respects his little work shows similarities to Pseudo-Methodius, and incorporates all those points which, as has been previously noted, are of Judaistic origin.PFF1 585.3

Just note them: Antichrist becomes the exact antithesis of Christ. Christ was humble; Antichrist will be boastful. Christ came to lift up the meek and lowly, and to justify sinners; Antichrist will come to exalt the unrighteous. Christ came to teach virtue; Antichrist will come to teach vice. In many the spirit of Antichrist has already been revealed-for example, in Antiochus, Nero, and Domitian-but Antichrist himself will be born in Babylon from the tribe of Dan. In sin will he be conceived, and in sin be born. He will be educated and do his works in Chorazin and Bethsaida. Then he will make his appearance in Jerusalem, place himself above all gods, and persecute the Christians and all the elect for three and a half years. So dreadful will be this persecution that if those days should not be shortened even the elect would perish.PFF1 585.4

But Antichrist will not appear before the Roman Empire is laid in ruins. The last great king of the Franks is still to come, who will lay down the scepter and crown upon the holy sepulcher. Israel will be converted, and Gog and Magog will be loosened from behind the mountains of the Caucasus. That means the twenty-two (other manuscripts read twelve) peoples that were shut out by Alexander. Enoch and Elijah will come to be effective Witnesses, until they will be killed by Antichrist during the time of his terrorization for three and a half years. Antichrist will sit either in the Jewish temple or in the Christian church, and will finally be killed by Christ or by the archangel Michael at the command of Christ ^{56Adso, Libellus de Antichristo, in Migne, PL, vol. 101, cols. 1294, 1295.}PFF1 586.1

2. ANTICHRIST PATTERN SET

A complete pattern of Antichrist was thus set, which became a standard view for centuries to come.PFF1 586.2