Martin on the End of the World

“But when we asked him about the end of the world, he told us that Nero and the Antichrist must come first. Nero will rule in the western part of the world after he has subdued ten kings, and he will carry on a persecution in order to force people to worship the idols of the Gentiles. He also said that the Antichrist, for his part, would first seize the empire of the East, with his seat and the capital of his kingdom at Jerusalem, and that he would rebuild both the city and the temple. He added that the aim of his persecution would be to force people to deny that Christ is God, while he would claim instead that he himself was the Christ, and would order everyone to be circumcised according to the law. He said further that Nero would be destroyed by the Antichrist, and that the whole world and all nations would be brought under the Antichrist’s power, until that impious one should be overthrown by the coming of Christ. He told us, too, that there was no doubt that the Antichrist, conceived by an evil spirit, was already born and had by this time reached boyhood, and that he would take power as soon as he reached the proper age. Now this is the eighth year since we heard these words from his lips. You may judge, then, how near at hand are the things that are feared for the future.” [a]

Our friend the Gaul was speaking earnestly in this way, and had not yet finished what he meant to tell, when a household servant boy came in to announce that the presbyter Refrigerius was standing at the door. We began to wonder whether it would be better to hear the Gaul further, or to go and welcome that man, whom we loved so much and who had come to pay his respects to us. Then our friend the Gaul remarked: “Even if this most holy priest had not arrived, this talk of ours would have had to be cut short, for the coming of night was itself urging us to bring to an end the discussion we have kept up so long. But since by no means everything about Martin’s virtues has been told yet, let what you have heard be enough for today. Tomorrow we will go on to the rest.” This promise of our Gallic friend pleased us all equally, and we got up. [b]