Is Nero really the anti-christ whose name is 666?

[souldiver]

What do Catholics and other Christian believes or know?

 

[livingwordunity]

I don’t think that the Church has an official stand on who the beast is. I think that most biblical scholars say that Nero is the beast. But Revelation talks about there being a second beast as well. In my opinion, I believe that Nero was the first beast, and I believe that the second beast is the one that is at the end of the world.

 

[paulrxp]

There is mention of the antichrist in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. What I’m pretty sure Catholics understand is the anitchrist arriving in the future is a necessary event. It will be the most terrible thing the Church and the faithfull will experience, but like the crucifiction of our Lord it’s not something we can or should prevent, because only if the antichrist arrives will Jesus return.

Paragraph 675-677 CCC:

675 Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.574 The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth575 will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.576

676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism,577 especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.578

677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.579 The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God’s victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven.580 God’s triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.581

Unlike other Christians, we of course don’t believe in their version of Rapture where the faithful will be spared suffering from the hands of the antichrist. As the Catechism implies, the Church, the Lords living body will be put through tribulation by the antichrist who will be a man. He is not the devil incarnate, but will serve the devil to destroy the Church. Other stuff about him, I probalby should not write about because it may offend some groups. Catholic Tradition and private revelation know a lot about the antichrist and end times, far more than our protestant friends who only draw their beliefs about the antichrist from one book in the Bible.

 

[E_7]

Wait a minute. I will quote from Fr. Fortea " Is the devil the beast in the book of Revelation? The answer is no. The book of Revelation clearly distinguishes between the three key figures who will arise in opposition to Christ and the Church at the end of time: the Antichrist, the beast and the dragon (or serpent). Whereas the Antichrist is a man, the beast is a political power that brings war to the earth. It is the dragon who is identified with the devil. There is no ambiguity or confusion in Revelation between these three distinct realities (see Rev 12, 13)"

 

[steve53]

Are people taking this question seriously?

Revelations was a deuce away from NOT being included in the NT Canon.

 

[zz912]

Are people taking this question seriously?

Revelations was a deuce away from NOT being included in the NT Canon.

You seem like a bowl of sunshine! God bless you and hopefully we can have productive conversation in the future.

 

[zz912]

Wait a minute. I will quote from Fr. Fortea " Is the devil the beast in the book of Revelation? The answer is no. The book of Revelation clearly distinguishes between the three key figures who will arise in opposition to Christ and the Church at the end of time: the Antichrist, the beast and the dragon (or serpent). Whereas the Antichrist is a man, the beast is a political power that brings war to the earth. It is the dragon who is identified with the devil. There is no ambiguity or confusion in Revelation between these three distinct realities (see Rev 12, 13)"

Correction, there are TWO beasts.

*Rev 13:1 Then I saw a beast come out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads; on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads blasphemous name.

Rev 13:11 Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb’s but spoke like a dragon. *

 

[E_7]

Correction, there are TWO beasts.

*Rev 13:1 Then I saw a beast come out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads; on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads blasphemous name.

Rev 13:11 Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb’s but spoke like a dragon. *

You don’t understand. There is no word “antichrist” in these chapters of the book of Revelation. One of the “beasts” is the Antichrist.

spiritualdirection.com/blog/2013/09/26/is-the-devil-the-beast-in-the-book-of-revelation

bible.oremus.org/?ql=242974080

I also want to add the explanation from USCCB

• [13:3] This may be a reference to the popular** legend** that Nero would come back to life and rule again after his death (which occurred in A.D. 68 from a self-inflicted stab wound in the throat); cf. Rev 13:14; Rev 17:8. Domitian (A.D. 81–96) embodied all the cruelty and impiety of Nero.

[13:1–10] This wild beast, combining features of the four beasts in Dn 7:2–28, symbolizes the Roman empire; the seven heads represent the emperors; see notes on Rev 17:10 and Rev 17:12–14. The blasphemous names are the divine titles assumed by the emperors.

• [13:11–18] The second beast is described in terms of the false prophets (cf. Rev 16:13; 19:20; 20:10) who accompany the false messiahs (the first beast); cf. Mt 24:24; Mk 13:22; 2 Thes 2:9

 

[E_7]

I also found St. Victorinus explains

1. And I saw a beast rising up from the sea, like a leopard. This signifies the kingdom of that time of Antichrist, and the people mingled with the variety of nations.

11.* And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth.* He is speaking of the great and false prophet who is to do signs, and portents, and falsehoods before him in the presence of men.

newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm

 

[mikekle]

Anyone care to guess what the ‘great deception’ may be that we will have to go thru?

Ive always believed it will have to do with extraterrestrial life/ UFOs, many people today suggest these things are actually the ones who created us, and if they are some super advanced race, that was created LONG before man was, on some distant planet, it could be possible they did ‘seed’ our planet, as some kind of experiment…I think if a good enough ‘show’ was put on, as in having top experts of today on mainstream media telling us, YES, it could be possible an advanced race did indeed create us instead of God, alot of people would believe this and they would be deceived.

Plus, the scripture says people in this time period will be in fear for WHAT IS COMING ONTO THE EARTH.

I think this fits perfectly as the great deception, just like Satan, there are some people who simply do not believe beings from another planet exist, Satans biggest accomplishment was to fool people into thinking he does not really exist, so not much of a stretch to also tell these people beings from another planet also, do not exist. LOL

Unfortunately, I think this deception will mean ALOT of people loosing their faith in God.

 

[YADA]

I think that most Theologians and Biblical Scholars took the passage in the Book of Revelation to reference to Nero … this is true of early Christians as well … where these groups disagree is in the interpretation of what the passage means …

Some early extant biblical passages in Latin make the number of the beast 616 … which would be the Latin numerical equivalent to the Greek numerical Nero of 666 …

Some scholars make the reference to Nero in reality being code for the Roman Emperor Domitian - like Babylon being code for Rome … Domitian persecuted Christians after Nero’s persecutions

Irenaeus was aware of both the 616 [Latin] and 666 [Greek] numbers and his commentary makes evident he considered 616 a scribal error … St Jerome left it in the *Vetus Latina *when he was correcting translational errors later - this one can argue a very early biblical expert …

There are in every age Antichrists who persecute the faithful - it didn’t start nor stop with Nero, Domitian, Hitler, or Stalin for that matter - and while those infamous characters are easy to identify in history - many of the most evil are less “in your face” and do far more harm

I highly recommend the book The Antichrist by Father Vincent P Miceli SJ … its rather scholarly - not for the faint of heart - but an excellent read

 

[ready]

I have read that Nero is of the spirit of antichrist. The antichrist will come at the end of the world in the form of an evil man who will do signs and wonders and will seduce people into believing in him. God bless you.

 

[TimothyH]

The beast and the anti-Christ are two different things.

The Anti-Christ is only mentioned in John’s first letter. The Anti-Christ is not in the Book of Revelation.

-Tim-

 

[COPLAND_3]

Revelation is very unique in that the prophecies can have multiple fulfillments. That the previous fulfillments are not particularly what the author had in mind, but people and events throughout history are types of what is ultimately to come. The name Nero definitely fits the number, yet Nero is a type of one to come and so are some throughout history, but the last one will be the very one the Spirit speaks about specifically. Revelation is a book that has spoken to every generation in history, and it has been applied to them and us in many ways, so some in generations past have applied it to themselves and it was true in typology, but the final generation will be the ultimate fulfillment.

 

[ready]

Revelation is very unique in that the prophecies can have multiple fulfillments. That the previous fulfillments are not particularly what the author had in mind, but people and events throughout history are types of what is ultimately to come. The name Nero definitely fits the number, yet Nero is a type of one to come and so are some throughout history, but the last one will be the very one the Spirit speaks about specifically. Revelation is a book that has spoken to every generation in history, and it has been applied to them and us in many ways, so some in generations past have applied it to themselves and it was true in typology, but the final generation will be the ultimate fulfillment.

 

[ProVobis]

Irenaeus was aware of both the 616 [Latin] and 666 [Greek] numbers and his commentary makes evident he considered 616 a scribal error … St Jerome left it in the *Vetus Latina *when he was correcting translational errors later - this one can argue a very early biblical expert …

Maybe St. Jerome left it up to mathematicians to come up with a numerical system later where the numbers would be the same. (Hint: base between 10 and 11.)