The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

III. The Tichonius-Augustine Influence

1. THE MILLENNIUM SHIFTED TO FIRST ADVENT

In the time of Tichonius and Augustine the resurrection was spiritualized, the prophecies allegorized, the kingdom materialized into the established church. And now the devil’s binding for a thousand years was declared to have been a historical accomplishment some four centuries previous—an entirely new and revolutionary concept, the third and last of the great steps in departure from the earlier concept of the church. Augustine’s enunciation of the Tichonian view became the standard Roman Catholic thesis—that the millennium began at the first advent, instead of being yet to commence at the second advent; that the first resurrection is spiritual (of souls dead in sin raised to spiritual life); and that the kingdom of God is already established as the present Roman Catholic Church. The thousand years Augustine saw as either the sixth thousand years of the world, or the indefinite period of the Christian Era. PFF1 893.3

Picture 1: EARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD: LEADING POSITION OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS OF Daniel (FOR REVELATION, SEE NEXT OPENING)
The accompanying tabular charts, like those for the first four centuries appearing on pages 456 to 459, present a composite, panoramic view of fundamental prophetic exposition in these more complex and difficult centuries of the early Middle Ages. Careful comparison with prior and subsequent interpretation is thus made possible, and developing trends, indicative of things to come, can clearly be seen. Sound general appraisals can consequently be made.
Read horizontally, the chart affords a comprehensive sweep of each expositor’s positions at a glance. Read vertically, it gives the sum total of the evidence presented from major expositors in this period, on a given point. Progressive or retrogressive trends can be traced.
The same obvious abbreviations are employed: “B-P-G-R” for Babylon, Persia, Grecia, and Rome; “P-G” for Persia and Grecia; “Kgdm.” for kingdom; “Per.” for period; “Ch.” for church; “Chr.” for Christian; “Pag.” for pagan; “Fr.” for from; “AC” or “Antichr.” for Antichrist; also, “Sar.” for Saracens; “Ishm.” for Ishmael; “Iniq.” for iniquitous; “Apos.” for apostasy; “Rep. Rome1’ for Republican Rome.
The centuries covered by the accompanying tabulations form the connecting link between the early church exposition of the past and the pre-Reformation and Reformation positions to come, which are the full and logical outgrowth of the Joachim breakaway from the dominant positions of these obscure Middle Ages. The fundamental pattern of prophetic interpretation was but slowly changed during the course of these connecting centuries. But the trend was inexorable.
For hundreds of years prior to Joachim, the prophetic interpretation of Daniel was largely static; and with the Tichonian-Augustinian innovation ascendant there were few new advances in the exposition of Revelation. Shortly before Joachim new ideas began to appear, and the breakaway gradually followed.
For Daniel, the same basic series of the four world powers holds for chapters 2 and 7, with the reign of the Roman church as the ever present kingdom of God. Diversity of view obtained over the identity of the Little Horn, but even so, it generally stood for Antichrist, whoever that was or would be. Paul’s Man of Sin was likewise this Antichrist.
The understanding of the seventy weeks as years continued unchanged. The extension of the year-day principle to the longer prophetic periods, a gradual though natural and logically sound development, was first projected by six Jewish expositors before Joachim (inserted here in chronological order from Volume II). From the basic contention of the 1260 days as years, pioneered by Joachim in Christian exposition, the application of the year-day principle to the 1290, 1335, and 2300 days by his followers was only a matter of time.
The shift of View concerning Antichrist—from an individual, a Jew of the tribe of Dan, to the pope and to the papal system—was gradual but inevitable.
In the Apocalypse the scarlet woman of Revelation 17 was generally Rome in some form, and Babylon, finally ecclesiastical Rome. But the New Jerusalem was still the ever present church.
So these charts disclose a definite transition, which was in one sense a gradual turning back to the earlier church views, and in another a progression toward revolutionary positions. However, the breakaway from the overshadowing grip of the Augustinian millennium was but gradual, and was not completed in fact until long after the period covered by this volume.
Page 894

2. ECLIPSE OF HISTORICAL VIEW OF PROPHECY

While the early church positions on Daniel were preserved in Jerome’s commentary, which was regarded as the ultimate during the early medieval period, they were virtually nullified by the Tichonian-Augustinian theory, and the previous allegorization of Origen, which together put the emphasis on the non-historical approach to the Scriptures. The Apocalypse was regarded as being fulfilled in principles rather than events. The kingdom of God was already set up, according to the official teaching of the church, and nothing remained before the final judgment but the brief reign of Antichrist. These emasculating, spiritualizing views tended to bring about not only a complete submission to the rule of the church as the rule of Christ but also a loss of further historical interpretation of prophecy in the events and sequences of the centuries. PFF1 894.1

Picture 2: EARLY MEDIVAL PERIOD: LEADING POSITIONS OF PRINCIPAL EXPOSITORS ON REVELATION (FOR Daniel, SEE PRECEEDING OPENING)
INTERPRETATION:
Page 896

These historical views begin to be revived only as ` we come to the forerunners of Joachim, and they were elaborated in Joachim’s 1260 year-days and his seven historical periods based can the seven seals, et cetera, of Revelation. The, thirteenth-century Joachimite school which followed him went beyond, him in applying apocalyptic symbols to the church, and the contemporary bishop Eberhard saw the Papacy in the Antichrist. The historical interpretation of prophecy continued to thrive, particularly in schismatical and heretical circles, and passed into pre-Reformation and Protestant thinking. PFF1 896.1

Succinctly stated, the Christian Era up to the fourteenth century embraces three phases: (1) the early church teachings, (2) the subsequent deflection in the Tichonius-Augustine tradition, and (3) the medieval restoration of much that was lost. And to this were added new advances in prophetic interpretation, laying the foundation for the great advance to match the soon-coming Protestant Reformation days, when the floodlights of understanding began to be focused on the Scriptures, including the prophecies. PFF1 896.2

Discussion of the interpretation of Revelation 13 has been deferred in order to combine the Beast with the Little Horn of Daniel 7 and the Man of Sin of Second Thessalonians, for these three prophecies, together with the Antichrist of John’s epistle, were generally considered together as portrayals of the same persecuting power. PFF1 896.3