The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

V. Sundry Voices Round Out the Period

This recital of the leading testimony of the period is not exhaustive. There were other scattered expressions, but not of moment, because they were largely echoes of these major utterances heard over the Roman world. Some were clear, some were hazy, and others were warped. Here are eight supplemental names: Apollinaris (d. 390), whose work on the millennium was known to Jerome; Gregory Nazianzen (c. 329-c. 389), styling Antichrist the beast; Rufinus (d. 410); Gaudentius (d. probably soon after 410); Prudentius (b. 348); Evagrius of Gaul (c. 420); and Gelasius of Cyzicus (wrote c. 475). PFF1 454.1

Evagrius of Gaul was a disciple of Saint Martin of Tours, ⁵⁸ and is believed to be the author of a dialogue supposed to have taken place between Zacchaeus, a Christian, and Apollonius, a philosopher. Among the signs of the last times, to which he devotes a number of pages, he mentions the overthrow of the Roman Caesars, quakings of the earth, and signs in the heavens; then Elijah will come, then the three and a half years, and Antichrist, and then the coming of Christ. ⁵⁹ PFF1 454.2

The continued use of Jerome’s interpretation of the iron-and-clay stage as the weakening of Rome is illustrated in a series of questions and answers on the book of Daniel attributed to PETRUS ARCHIDIACONUS. PFF1 454.3

The first answer, on the four kingdoms of Daniel 2, follows verbatim Jerome’s clear recognition of the new development—the new epoch entered and therefore of the next phase of fulfillment-“which is most clearly acknowledged at this time.” ⁶⁰ The popularity of this interpretation of Jerome is evidence of a rather general recognition of appropriate prophetic emphasis among those interested in and soundly expounding prophecy. PFF1 454.4