One of my favorite parts of Church history is that even in the west, even modern western saints (canonized saints), tended to agree that the spirit of antichrist would deceive many, even the pope, some suggesting an antichrist pope.
The “papal antichrist” trope goes back at least to the Joachimites in the 13th century, influenced the Franciscans, and persists to this day.
To clarify, only fringe groups suggested *the* antichrist would be a pope, as patristic consensus understood that the final “lawless one” would be in Jerusalem, in some kind of mockery of a rebuilt temple (and not in Rome), at the end of days.
But the spirit of antichrist is one we would see throughout the ages, repeated like a fractal at every level of analysis. And this seems true, from the first century till now (always a Judas never repenting, always a Peter denying and later repenting).
The point, and this is necessary to understand EO and RC, is that the Church will be attacked and even infiltrated by the spirit of antichrist, but that the gates of hell will not prevail. This is why your trad catholic and orthodox brothers do not reject the apostolic Church even in the midst of blatant heresy from bishops and popes. In fact, this is why we pray for them.
rschristopher / R.S. Christopher
npub1w4…xj8ar
2026-03-21 16:43:16 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…53hj
Author Public Key
npub1w4w9apn7yjd3atqzu3f4umctxpx2u3tcq3uadj2zgxndwavpd49smxj8arPublished at
2026-03-21 16:43:16 UTCEvent JSON
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