Hi Phoneman,
Please provide these "remarkable" quotes from those Early Church Fathers that back up your statement. I love history and the ECF's but I am not familiar with precisely what you are alluding to. I was hoping you had those quotes ready to cut and paste so I can easily find them instead of doing extensive and time consuming research. Thank you in advance.
Historical Mary
Here's a list of ECFs and what they taught about the Antichrist's rise soon after the fall of the Roman Empire, which would then allow for its rise:
Tertulliun, 2nd - 3rd century:
"...he who now hinders must hinder until he be taken out of the way" What obstacle is there but the
Roman State, the falling away of which, by being scattered into ten kingdoms, shall introduce Antichrist..."
(The early church prays for the preservation of the Roman Empire) : "There is also another and a greater necessity for our
offering prayer in behalf of the emperors, nay, for the complete stability of the empire, and for Roman interests in general. For we know that a mighty shock (rise of Antichrist) impending over the whole earth--in fact, the very end of all things threatening dreadful woes---
is only retarded by the continued existence of the Roman empire. We have no desire, then, to be overtaken by these dire events; and in praying that their coming may be delayed, we are lending our aid to Rome's duration.
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Chrysostom, 4th century:
"...'he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way', that is
when the Roman Empire is taken ouf of the way, then he [Antichrist] shall come; and naturally, for as long as the fear of this empire lasts, no one will readily exalt himself; but when that is dissolved, he will attack the anarch, and endeavor to seize upon the government both of men and of God."
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Augustine, 4th - 5th century:
"...it is not absurd to beleive that these words of the apostle, 'Only he who now holdeth, let him hold until he bge taken out of the way,' refer to the
Roman empire..."
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Irenaeus, 2nd century:
"John and Daniel have predicted the dissolution and desolation of the
Roman Empire, which shall precede the end of the world and the eternal Kingdom of Christ...In a still clearer light has John, in the Apocalypse, indicated to the Lord's disciples what shall happen in the last times, and
concerning the ten kings who shall then arise, among whom the empire (Roman Empire) which now rules [the earth] shall be partitioned. He teaches us what the ten horns shall be which were seen by Daniel, ...
But, knowing the sure number declared by Scripture, that is, six hundred sixty and six, let them await (those who wish to identify Antichrist in Irenaeus' day), in the first place,
the division of the kingdom (Pagan Rome) into ten (barbarian tribes); then, IN THE NEXT PLACE, when these kings are reigning, and beginning to set their affairs in order, and advance their kingdom,
[let them learn] to acknowledge that he (Antichrist) who shall come claiming the kingdom for himself, and shall terrify those men of whom we have been speaking, having a name containing the aforesaid number, is truly the abomination of desolation. ..."
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Lactantius Firminianous, 4th century:
"These are the things which are spoken of by the prophets as about to happen hereafter: ... The subject itself declares that the fall and ruin of the world will shortly take place; except that
while the city of Rome remains it appears that nothing of this kind is to be feared. But when that capital of the world shall have fallen, and shall have begun to be a street, which the Sibyls say shall come to pass, who can doubt that the end has now arrived to the affairs of men and the whole world? It is that city, that only, which still sustains all things; and the God of heaven is to be entreated by us and implored -- if, indeed, His arrangements and decrees can be delayed -- lest, sooner than we think for,
that detestable tyrant (Antichrist) should come who will trader-take so great a deed, and dig out that eye, by the destruction of which the world itself is about to fall.
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St. Jerome, 4th - 5th century:
"... We should therefore concur with the
traditional interpretation of all the commentators of the Christian Church, that at the end of the world, when the
Roman Empire is to be destroyed, there shall be ten kings who will partition the Roman world amongst themselves. Then an
insignificant eleventh king (Antichrist) will arise, who will overcome three of the ten kings, ..."
There are more examples here of testimony of the ECFs that the prevailing teaching about the Restrainer was NOT SOME AGENT OF HOLINESS, but that it was the Pagan Roman Empire.
Early Church Fathers on the Timing of the Rise of Antichrist
Early Church Fathers Were Historicist – H. Grattan Guinness