Nero Revived

In the first of his Dialogues , the fifth-century Christian writer Sulpicius Severus said that “there is no doubt that Antichrist, conceived by an evil spirit, has already been born.” He spelled out his expectations for the future: Nero and the Antichrist would come, Nero ruling in the west and the Antichrist establishing power in the East and rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. He will persecute Christians and demand circumcision from everyone. Eventually, the Antichrist will turn against Nero, and then Christ will destroy Antichrist himself.

This is a remarkably good reading of the New Testament: He recognizes that the Antichrist is a religious figure associated with the temple, that circumcision is a crucial issue in the prophecies concerning the end of the age, and identifies the crucial time with the Emperor Nero.

The only problem with his interpretation is time: He’s five centuries late.