Other Articles on the Antichrist
Man of Sin

Can We Identify

The Antichrist?

Appendix

Historic Documentation

of Antichrist's Rise to Power

In the first century the Christians were not of sufficient importance to be generally persecuted by the government…. They had no great men in their ranks, either…[of] wealth, or social position…. Yet in this century converts were multiplied in every city, and traditions point to the martyrdoms of those who were prominent, including nearly all of the apostles. [John Lord, old roman world (New York: Chas. Scribner & Co., 1867), 542-47.]

The Second Century—
Foundation for Future Power Laid

In the second century, there were controversies in the Church…but no outward conflicts, no secular history…. But they had attracted the notice of the government and were of sufficient consequence to be persecuted…bishops had become influential, not in society, but among the Christians; dioceses and parishes were established; …ecclesiastical centralization commenced… the weapons of excommunication were forged…Gnosticism was embraced by many leading minds…the formulas of baptism and the sacraments became of great importance; and monarchism became popular. The Church was thus laying the foundation of its future polity and power. [Ibid.]

The problem of organization lay in determining the center of that power. After the weakening of the mother church at Jerusalem…The church of Rome…claimed to have been founded by Peter…. [Will Durant, caesar and christ (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944), 616, 617.]

The Third Century—
Bishops Contend for Power

The third century saw the Church more powerful as an institution… Christianity had spread so extensively that it must needs be either persecuted or legalized…. Almost in every city, the ancient churches were found insufficient to contain the increasing number of proselytes; and in their place more stately and capacious edifices were erected…. Prosperity had relaxed the nerves of discipline. Fraud, envy and malice prevailed in every congregation. The proselytes aspired to the Episcopal office, which every day became an object more worthy of their ambition. The bishops, who contended with each other for ecclesiastical pre-eminence, claimed a secular and tyrannical power in the church. [Lord, old roman world, 542-547.]

The story of Paul of Samosata, who filled the metropolitan see [bishopric] of Antioch…may serve to illustrate the condition and character of the times [A.D. 270]. Paul considered the service of the church a very lucrative profession. His ecclesiastical jurisdiction was venal and rapacious: he extorted frequent contributions from the most opulent of the faithful, and converted to his own use a considerable part of the public revenues. …His council chamber, and his throne, the splendor with which he appeared in public, the suppliant crowd who solicited his attention, the multitude of letters and petitions to which he dictated his answers, and the perpetual hurry of business in which he was involved, were circumstances much better suited to the state of a civil magistrate than to the humility of a primitive bishop. [Edward Gibbon, the history of the decline and fall of the roman empire (Chicago: Donahue Bros., 1900), Vol. 1, 633, 646,647.]

It was the opinion of the Christians that the emperor [Decius] would more patiently endure a competitor for the purple than a bishop in the capital [Rome]. [Cyprian, Epistol. 55 cited in Gibbon, The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, 623.]

The Fourth Century—
Removal of the Restraint to Papacy’s Power

The Pagan Roman Empire, however, was at first a restraining factor (2 Thessalonians 2:7). But by the fourth century the Pagan Roman Empire was rapidly failing. Its strength and unity were divided among six claimants to the imperial honor when Constantine became emperor. In order to unite his empire, Constantine converted to Christianity in A.D. 313. Then declared Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire. At this point, Pagan Rome ceased to be the restraining power and was “taken out of the way.” Pagan Rome died and Papal Rome was born.

On this questionably blessed event, history records:

Whether Constantine embraced it [Christianity] from conviction of its truth, or from policy, is a matter of dispute…. Worldly ambition pointed to the course which the emperor pursued in declaring himself a Christian…. Constantine made it the religion of the empire, and thenceforth we find its influence sullied with earthly things…. No particular bishop was regarded as head of the whole Church, but the emperor was such in point of fact…. [Emma Willard, universal history in perspective (New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1854, 163.]

War and commerce had spread the knowledge of the gospel beyond the confines of the Roman provinces; and the Barbarians…soon learned to esteem a religion…embraced by the greatest monarch, and the most civilized nation of the globe…. The gratitude of the Church has exalted the virtues and excused the failings of a generous patron who seated Christianity on the throne of the Roman world. [Gibbon, The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Vol. 2, 182, 183.]

With Pagan Rome out of the way and Constantine the inheritor of the Pontifex Maximus title in the Christian Church, the Man of Sin was free to grow and thrive. Soon civil rulers became the persecuting arm of the Catholic Church as pointed up in the “Edict of the Emperors Gratian, Valentinian II and Theodosius I,” February 27, 380 A.D.—“We order those who follow this doctrine to receive the title of Catholic Church, but others . . . are to be punished not only by Divine Retribution but also by our own measure.” [Sidney Z. Ehler and John B. Morrall, church and state through the centuries: a collection of historic documents with commentaries (London, 1954), 7.]