THE PRE-CONFLAGRATION RAPTURE: An Early Medieval Eschatological Position and Its Relation to the History of Pretribulationism in the program booklet as Thomas Aquinas on the Rapture by FRANCIS GUMERLOCK of SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY 54 TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY REGAL CONSTELLATION HOTEL TORONTO, ONTARIO NOVEMBER 20-22, 2002 1
INTRODUCTION Pretribulationism is a view held by many evangelicals which says that when God pours out His wrath upon the world at the end of time, His people will be unharmed. The means by which God will deliver His people is the rapture, when the dead in Christ shall rise, and living saints are caught up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This position generally holds that the judgments unleashed upon the earth, which are described in Revelation 6-18, are going to last seven years. This period, called the Tribulation, is often equated with the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan 9:24-27). By being raptured from the earth at the beginning of this seven-year period, the saints will be protected when God pours out His judgment upon the earth. The raptured saints will reside with Christ in heaven, after which they will return to earth with Him, participate in the destruction of the Antichrist, and usher in the millennial kingdom. Does medieval eschatology have anything substantial to offer twenty-first century evangelicals in understanding the historical development of this view of the end times? This paper holds that it does. It presents a view of the rapture that was popular in the Latin speaking West between the fourth and the eleventh centuries. Bringing it into dialogue with pretribulationism it will show that both views share a commonality. That is, that the purpose of the rapture is to keep the saints from being harmed by the judgment of God poured forth upon the world. 2
THE HISTORY OF PRETRIBULATIONISM Although almost twenty centuries of history have passed since Christianity s beginnings, some treatments of the history of pretribulationism cover less than two centuries. They usually start in the early nineteenth century and work their way to the present. Either John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) or Margaret Macdonald, both from the British Isles, are portrayed as the founders of the belief that the rapture will take place before the Tribulation. 1 After discussing pretribulationism s beginnings, its spread to North America is traced through Darby s visits to the States, various prophecy conferences, 2 the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible, 3 and the success of Hal Lindsey s Late Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind series. The narratives are informative, but suffer from a serious inadequacy. Historically they are too narrowly focused. Do the concepts that make up pretribulationism have a history of less than two hundred years? Or does the eschatology of the first eighteen centuries of Christianity contain ideas and interpretations of Scripture that can substantially contribute to understanding pretribulationism, and not simply by way of contrast? Answering these questions often involves competing theological agenda. It is no secret that both opponents and advocates of pretribulationism have used its history as a theological battering ram. Discovering pretribulationism s origin in Darby or Margaret Macdonald allows opponents to label it as a theological novelty and thus scare people away from it, since most Christians regard novelty as synonymous with heresy. For 3
advocates, on the other hand, finding pretribulationism in church history before the nineteenth century them of the charge of embracing a novel doctrine, and fortifies them in the belief that pretribulationism is truly the faith of the fathers. 4 The theological controversy has shown that many people remain unconvinced by claims that pretribulationism is entirely novel and was simply pulled out of thin air in the 1820 s. As a result, persons from various theological traditions have engaged themselves in examining Christian literature prior to the nineteenth century. The intention is to bring information from the Christianity s past that will inform people in the present about the historical development of concepts related to pretribulationism. Their research has elucidated fascinating parallels with elements of pretribulationism in the writings of several famous seventeenth and eighteenth century theologians. These include Joseph Mede, 5 Increase Mather, 6 Cotton Mather, 7 John Gill, 8 and Morgan Edwards. 9 Finds like these over the past two decades have added much needed breadth to the history of pretribulationism. CAN ANYTHING GOOD COME FROM MEDIEVAL CHRISTIANITY? These finds of parallels with pretribulationism in earlier Protestantism are fine and well, but what can Catholicism of the dark ages possibly contribute to the history of pretribulationism? Several factors may lead one to think, Not very much. First, by the fifth century, most exegetes of the Book of Revelation had discarded a futuristic view of the Apocalypse for a more ecclesiastical view. 10 They did not see the visions of chapters 4
six through eighteen strictly in terms of judgments that will take place in the Tribulation. They believed that the images also referred to past events (like the Roman persecutions and Arianism) and current struggles taking place in their Church. Secondly, early medieval commentators on Revelation often applied Tyconius sixth rule of Biblical interpretation, that of recapitulation, set forth in his Book of Rules. Tyconius was a fourth century African Donatist, whose seven rules of biblical interpretation were widely upheld. 11 The sixth rule said that a biblical writer sometimes returns to something about which he had previously omitted. 12 The Apocalypse, therefore, is not necessarily a chronological presentation. One and the same historical event-- the resurrection for instance--might be symbolized in chapter eight, in chapter eleven, and in chapter twenty. Thirdly, most early medieval commentators did not follow Hippolytus (d. 235) in his belief that Daniel s seventieth week (Dan 9:24-27) awaited future fulfillment. 13 Rather, they held that all of Daniel s seventy weeks were completed by the first coming of Christ or by the end of the first century. 14 This being the case, one would not expect to find in their writings a placement of the rapture before the seventieth week of Daniel. 15 Fourthly, most were amillennial. Consequently, when the end-time scenarios of modern pretribulationists, who are almost all premillennial, are place aside those of early medieval theologians, the latter s are shorter by a thousand years. Such compacting of the details of the eschaton, therefore, diminishes the likelihood of a large gap of time 5
between the rapture and the revelation. 16 Fifth and finally, based on Revelation 12, many believed that Michael the Archangel, not Jesus, would come down from heaven and kill the Antichrist. 17 This left no need for the saints to return to earth once they are raptured. There is no need for them to return to populate the earth in the millennium, because there is no millennium. There is no need to come back with Christ to kill the Antichrist, since Michael will do this. The saints do not even need to come back to earth with Christ for the Last Judgment, because in their minds the Last Judgment will take place in the air above the earth. 18 With these major presuppositional differences between early medieval eschatology and modern pretribulationism, it is no wonder that medieval Christianity has largely been passed over in the histories. RAPTURE THEOLOGY EAST AND WEST One aspect of early medieval eschatology, however, that directly relates to the history of pretribulationism is the purpose for which the rapture exists. That the Christians alive at the End of the world would be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, everyone acknowledged, for the prophets, Christ, and the Apostles had taught it. 19 But why will people at the End of the world be caught up to meet Christ in the air? Eastern and Western Christians of the early middle ages answered this question differently. 6
Eastern Christians, when discussing the purpose of the rapture, tended to emphasise honor. John Chrysostom (d. 409), for example, likened the rapture to two examples of honorific events in ancient daily life. The rapture, he preached to his congregation at Constantinople, is similar to when an ancient king was traveling to a city. 20 Those who held positions of honor in the munipality would go out to welcome the king before his arrival into the city proper. Or the rapture, he said, was similar to when an affectionate father was coming back from a long journey. His children, or those worthy to be his children, would have the honor of getting in a chariot and going out to meet him and kiss him. 21 According to Eastern understanding, God s purpose for the rapture was to honor His people by allowing them to ride the clouds as a chariot, as Christ would descend from heaven. While Western theologians certainly did not deny that believers will be honored in the rapture, they tended to emphasize another purpose for the rapture. For them one of its main purposes was to escape God s judgment when it is poured out upon unbelievers at the end of the world. This judgment, however, was not depicted in terms of the vials, bowls, and trumpets of the Book of Revelation as it is in modern pretribulationism. This judgment would come in the form of the greatest and highest fire ever the grand conflagration. 22 This, they said, the Apostle Peter taught in 2 Peter 3:10 writing, But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Based on passages in the Psalms, they believed that this fire would directly 7
precede Christ s Second Coming, as it is written, Fire devours before Him (Ps. 50:3-5) and Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about (Ps 97:3). 23 RISING ABOVE THE FIRE For Western Christians, therefore, one of the main purposes of the rapture was to remove the elect so that they would not be burned in the conflagration. Hilary of Poitiers (d. 368) illustrated this, speaking of the rapture as a separation between believers and unbelievers, which when God s wrath is kindled, the saints shall be gathered into His garner, and the unbelievers shall be left as fuel for the fire from heaven. Paschasius Radbertus (d. 865), carrying Hilary s thought into the Carolingian era, taught similarly. At the rapture, he wrote, the one who seeks the things that are of God will be taken, but the one who seeks the things that are of the world will be left in the fire. Concerning the protection from the conflagration that God will provide, Augustine (d. 430) wrote that He would keep His people unharmed by changing their locality. The Lord will preserve them, he said, in the upper regions into which the flame of that conflagration shall not ascend, as neither did the water of the flood. 24 Julian of Toledo (d. 690) repeated these words of Augustine verbatim. 25 The Revelation commentary of pseudo-alcuin, written in the eighth or ninth century, said that the clouds themselves in which Christ would return and into which believers will be raptured would act as a protective barrier, defending the saints from being harmed by the conflagration. 26 The tenth or eleventh-century Lismore version of 8
the Life of St. Brendan also recorded the concept of divine protection from the conflagration through the rapture. It said that as the ark of Noah was lifted over the waves, so God will raise up his monks and his household on high over the Fire of Doom, so that neither smoke nor mist nor spark will hurt them. 27 The Venerable Bede (d. 735) also vividly illustrated how early medieval Western Christians associated the rapture with salvation from the conflagration. Contrasting those who will be left behind and surrounded by fire with those who will be caught up above the earth to meet Christ, he writes, For it stands that when the Lord descends for the judgment in the twinkling of an eye (I Cor 15:52), and the celebrated judgment of all of the dead will take place, the saints are immediately caught up to meet Him in the air. For this is understood, as the apostle indicates when he says, Then the Lord Himself with a command and with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God will descend from heaven, and the dead who are in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess 4:15-16). However, it is asked whether the reprobate will then be sublimely lifted up to meet the coming Judge, or whether they will be weighed down with the merits of sins, so that although having immortal bodies, they will be unable to be elevated to higher places... But then if that greatest and highest fire will cover the whole surface of the earth, and the unjust, raised from the dead, will be unable to be caught up into heaven, it stands that those positioned on earth will await the sentence of the Judge surrounded by fire. 28 Bede then distinguished the fire of the conflagration from the fire of eternal hell into which those left behind eventually would be cast. It was not uncommon for theologians of the period to make a point of distinguishing the various fires related to the eschaton. 29 Bruno the Carthusian (d. 1101) did so in his commentary on Psalm 50:3, in which he also spoke of preservation of the saints from the conflagration by means of the rapture. He wrote, 9
Appearing in majesty, He [Christ] will take vengeance upon those who shall neglect His first coming in humility. But how He will take vengeance is explained in this way: truly He will not be silent; for fire will burn the elements in His sight, that is, in His presence. However, it should be asked whether this fire will be that eternal fire in which afterward the impious will be tortured without end? Peter affirmed that in the resurrection of the dead, this fire will reach the heights of the air as far as the Flood ascended (2 Peter 3:10-12). By this fire all the pollution of the air will be expiated. And through this fire the bodies of the faithful, joined with their souls just as they are now, with the greatest swiftness and without harm will hasten to meet the Lord in the air for judgment. Accordingly, Paul wrote, We shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess 4:17). But the impious, with the bulk of the weight of their sins bringing much harm on themselves, will go forth to judgment and be sent into the torment of everlasting fire. 30 THE QUESTION OF TIMING Since modern pretribulationism portrays those left behind on earth at the rapture as suffering the judgment of God on earth for seven years, the question of timing must be raised. For early medieval writers, how long would unbelievers be left behind on earth before the Last Judgment, at which time they will be relegated to hell for eternity? That some time is involved is clear from at least one writer of the period. Haymo taught, Only the just will go out to meet the Lord, carried in the air by angels, just as in another place the same apostle says, We shall be caught up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess 4:17). But the impious will remain on earth until the time when they hear that terrible sentence of the Judge: Go ye, cursed, into eternal fire (Matt 25:41) 31 By saying until the time (quousque in Latin), Haymo acknowledged that the impious will be on earth for a length of time, but he did not specify its duration. Indication of its length can only be gathered from early medieval descriptions of the activities in which those left behind on earth will be engaged. Venantius Fortunatus (d. 610) wrote that those not caught up in the clouds to meet Christ will call upon the rocks to cover them (cf. Rev 6:15-16), 32 and Haymo says that those left behind will see their enemies (the 10
believers) glorified (cf. Rev. 11:12). 33 Interestingly, these activities are based upon passages in the middle of the Book of Revelation, which modern pretribulationists associate with the Tribulation. However, because of the hermeneutical principles already mentioned, it cannot be assumed that these authors held that unbelievers would be left behind on earth for seven years. Since, the activities described calling on rocks and seeing the glorification of the raptured-- do not require any significant length of time, it is probably most accurate to assume that early medieval exegetes did not envision of gap of years, or even months, between the rapture and the Last Judgment. With respect to timing, therefore, the preconflagration rapture view of early medieval Christianity does not seem to mirror modern pretribulationism. CONCLUSION This paper has shown that Western theologians of the early middle ages held what may be called a pre-conflagration rapture position. It differs from Eastern exegesis, which emphasized the rapture s purpose as honorific. It differs from modern pretribulationism, which connects the rapture with the Tribulation described in the Book of Revelation and associated with Daniel s seventieth week. For preconflagrationists, the judgment of God out of which believers will be caught up is the fire preceding Christ s Second Coming and mentioned in 2 Peter. The early medieval view also differs from modern pretribulationism with respect to timing. Early Western exegetes gave little indication of a belief that those left behind on earth would remain here for years 11
experiencing God s wrath, before their final sentence of judgment. However, this early medieval view does offer a significant parallel with pretribulationism with respect to the purpose of the rapture. Like modern pretribulationists, key theologians of early medieval Christianity held that the rapture will be God s means of preserving His people from the wrath coming upon the world in the form a great fire. To escape this conflagration, the elect will be caught up from the earth and meet Christ in the air, while the reprobate will be left behind. The gravity and weight of their sins will not allow them to rise, and they will suffer horrific consequences. Believers, on the other hand, having risen over the fire, will be preserved, completely unharmed by the flames of the Fire of Doomsday. Breaking out of the narrow paradigm of nineteenth-century British eschatology, several studies have shown that medieval eschatology can significantly inform the history of pretribulationism. One has brought to the attention of evangelicals the seventh-century sermon of pseudo-ephraem, which speaks of believers being gathered to the Lord before the Tribulation. 34 Another has shown that a fourteenth-century Italian sect held that God would protect His people from the Antichrist through a translation to Paradise. 35 This paper has demonstrated that another element of pretribulationism was taught for centuries in the early middle ages. That is, that the rapture is the means by which God will deliver His people from end-time wrath. 12
1 Darby was one of the founders of the Plymouth Brethren movement, and often viewed as the father of dispensationalism. Macdonald was a young girl in an Irvingite congregation in Scotland who in the 1820 s supposedly prophesied something similar to a pretribulation rapture. Yonder M. Gillihan, Rapture. In Richard A. Landes, ed., Encyclopedia of Millennialism and Millennial Movements (New York: Routledge, 2000), 347-55; John Noe, Shattering the Left Behind Delusion (Bradford, PA: International Preterist Association, 2000), 11-13; Dave McPherson, The Three R s Rapture, Revisionism, Robery: Pretribulation Rapturism from 1830 to Hal Lindsey (Simpsonville, SC: P.O.S.T., 1998); McPherson, The Rapture Plot (Simpsonville, SC: Millennium III, 1995); Gary North, Rapture Fever: Why Dispensationalism is Paralyzed (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1993), 105; Marvin Rosenthal, The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church (Nashville, TN: Nelson, 1990), 266. By some Darby is portrayed not as pretribulationism s founder, but as a restorer of a biblical doctrine that had been lost in church history for almost eighteen centuries. For example, Roy A. Huebner, Appendix 1: In 1827 J.N. Darby Understood the Pretribulation Rapture and the Distinction between the Heavenly and the Earthly. In his Elements of Dispensational Truth, Vol. 1, 2 nd ed. (Morganville, NJ: Present Truth Publishers, 1998), 327-31; Huebner, Precious Truths Revived and Defended Through J.N. Darby, Vol. 1: Revival of Truth 1826-1845 (Morganville, NJ: Present Truth Publishers, 1991). 2 Randall Balmer, Niagara Bible Conference. In his Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 410; Larry D. Pettegrew, The Rapture Debate at the Niagra Bible Conference Bibliotheca Sacra 157 (2000):331-47; W.V. Trollinger, Niagara Conferences. In Daniel G. Reid, ed., Dictionary of Christianity in America (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990), 824-5; Richard R. Reiter, A History of the Development of the Rapture Positions. In Richard R. Reiter, Paul D. Feinberg, Gleason L. Archer, and Douglas J. Moo, eds., The Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulational? (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), 9-44; T. P. Weber, Niagara Conferences. In Walter A. Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1984), 773-4; Ernest R. Sandeen, The Prophecy and Bible Conference Movement. Chapter 6 in his The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenarianism 1800-1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970), 132-61. 3 Balmer, Scofield Reference Bible. In his Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism, 511; Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992), 98; David H. Watt, The Private Hopes of American Fundamentalists and Evangelicals, 1925-1975 Religion and American Culture 1 (1991):155-75 at 161; C.W. Whiteman, Scofield Reference Bible. In Reid, Dictionary of Christianity in America, 1058; W.N. Kerr, Scofield, Cyrus Ingerson. In Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 988-9; Arnold D. Ehlert, Brethren Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1969), 37. 4 Connections between pretribulationism and the eschatology of the early church, medieval Catholicism, and Reformed Christianity have been made by advocates of pretribulationism recently by Tim LaHaye, Rapture Under Attack (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1998); Thomas Ice, Rapture, History of the. In Mal Couch, ed., Dictionary of Premillennial Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1996), 344-7; Larry V. Crutchfield, The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation in the Apostolic Fathers. In Thomas Ice and Timothy Demy, eds., When the Trumpet Sounds (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1995), 85-103; Grant Jeffrey, The Early Church Fathers on the Rapture, audiotape (Arlington, TX: PreTrib Research Center, 1992); and Charles C. Ryrie, What You Should Know About the Rapture (Chicago: Moody, 1981). 5 Arthur W. Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse: Interpreting the Book of Revelation. 1993. Reprint. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2001), 83. Mede had mentioned the possibility of a rapture before the tribulation but had not committed himself to the doctrine. Wainwright cites as evidence The Works of the Pious and Profoundly Learned Joseph Mede, B.D. 2 vols. (London: James Flesher, 1664), 2:949-51; Huebner, Precious Truths Revived and Defended Through J.N. Darby, 184 cites a passage from Mede which reads, I will add this more, namely, what may be conceived to be the cause of this Rapture of the Saints on high to meet the Lord in the Clouds, rather than to wait his coming on the Earth. What if it be, that they may be preserved during the Conflagration of the earth and the works thereof, 2 Peter 3,10. That as Noah and his family were preserved from the Deluge by being lifted up above the water in the Ark, so should the Saints at the Conflagration be lift [sic] up in the Clouds unto their Ark, Christ, to be preserved there from the deluge of fire, wherein the wicked shall be consumed. Ehlert, Brethren Writers, 39: Froom says that William Cunnighame in 1832 opposed Irving s futurism, but did accept the rapture (however, not its secret aspect) before the tribulation. This he claims to have gotten from Joseph Mede (Cunninghame, A Dissertation on the Seals and Trumpets, London, 1813, p. 461n, 480-82, 496n). I spent half an afternoon on Mede s passage (Works, bk. 4, Epistle 22) but am not sure one would be justified in holding that Mede believed in a pretribulation rapture, at least not in the presently held sense. His statements are nonetheless intriguing. He says he got the idea from the Jews and cites the Gemara, Abodah Zarah, c. 1, which may also be the source for a similar idea in the first nine verses of the third chapter of the Wisdom of Solomon. 6 Ice, Rapture, History of the, 346; James West Davidson, The Logic of Millennial Thought: Eighteenth-Century New England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1977), 60-1. 7 Gillihan, Rapture, 354; John S. Erwin, The Millennialism of Cotton Mather: A Historical and Theological Analysis (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1990), 22-3. The writings of Mather on this were edited in Reiner Smolinski, ed., The Threefold Paradise of Cottom Mather: An Edition of Triparadisus (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1995), 225: But our Glorious Lord making His Descent in Flaming Fire, and the Conflagration going to begin, among the Christians that cry unto Him to be delivered from the Wrath to come, under the General and Horrible Consternation the World shall then be filled withal, our Lord will distinguish the Righteous, and those Humble Walkers with GOD, which will be found with his Marks upon them; and by the Assistance of His Angels, they shall be caught up to meet the Lord, & the Raised, whom shall be Consigned over to the Flames, and Perish as Bundles of Tares, in the tremendous Conflagration, which will then bring about the Perdition of Ungodly Men. 8 Grant R. Jeffrey, Final Warning (Toronto: Frontier Research Publications, 1995), 312-4; Jeffrey, A Pretrib Rapture Statement in the Early Medieval Church. In Ice and Demy, When the Trumpet Sounds, 105-25 at 119-22; Huebner, Precious Truths Revived and Defended Through J.N. Darby, 184, note 43; John L. Bray, The Second Coming of Christ and Related Events (Lakeland, FL: John L. Bray Ministry, 1985), 48-50. Gill s commentary on 1 Thessalonians in Expositions of the New Testament by John Gill, Vol. 3. 1809. Reprint (Paris, AK: Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 238-9: To meet the Lord in the air; whither he ll descend, and will then clear the regions of the air of Satan and his posse of devils, which now rove about there;... as yet he will not descend on earth, because not fit to receive him; but when that and its works are burnt up, and it is purged and purified by fire, and become a new earth, he ll desend [sic] upon it, and dwell with his saints in it: and this suggests another reason why he ll stay in the air, and his saints shall meet him there, and whom he ll take up with him into the third heaven, till the general conflagration and burning up the world is over, and to preserve them from it; and then shall all of the elect descend from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband, and he with them, and the tabernacle of God shall be with men. 9 Frank Marotta, Morgan Edwards: An Eighteenth Century Pretribulationist (Morganville, NJ: Present Truth Publishers, 1995). Reprinted as Appendix 3 in Huebner, Elements of Dispensational Truth, 1:335-42; Bray, Morgan Edwards and the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Teaching (1788) (Lakeland, FL: John L. Bray Ministries, 1995); Thomas R. McKibbens, Jr., The Life and Works of Morgan Edwards (New York: Arno Press, 1980). 10 Douglas W. Lumsden, And Then the End Will Come: Early Latin Christian Interpretations of the Opening of the Seven Seals (New York: Garland, 2001), 29; Paula Fredriksen, Tyconius and Augustine on the Apocalypse. In Richard K. Emmerson and Bernard McGinn, eds., The Apocalyspe in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992), 20-37. 11 Bede specifically acknowledged this Tyconian principle in his Letter to Eusebius, which was a preface to his Apocalypse commentary. Edward Marshall, trans., The Explanation of the Apocalypse by Venerable Beda (London: James Parker, 1878), 6-7. Cf. Thomas MacKay, Bede s Biblical Criticism: The Venerable Bede s Summary of Tyconius Liber Regularum. In Margot H. King and Wesley M. Stevens, eds., Saints, Scholars, and Heroes: Studies in Medieval Culture in Honour of Charles W. Jones, Vol. 1 (Collegeville, MN: Hill Monastic MS Library, St. John s Abbey and University, 1979), 209-31; Bernard McGinn, Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages (New York: Columbia University Press,
1979), 303, note 5. When writing their commentaries on Revelation, Primasius of Hadrumetum (sixth century) and Beatus of Liebana (eighth century) relied heavily on Tyconius. Kenneth B. Steinhauser, The Apocalypse Commentary of Tyconius: A History of Its Reception and Influence (New York: Peter Lang, 1987). 12 Although Tyconius was a Donatist, his Book of Rules has survived. William S. Babcock, trans., Tyconius: The Book of Rules (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1989). These rules of interpretation became widely available to early medieval Christian writers as a result of Augustine s (d. 430) summary and praise of them in Book III of his De Doctrina Christiana. R.P.H. Green, ed. and trans., Augustine: De Doctrina Christiana (Oxford: Clarendon, 1995). 13 Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds., The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5. 1885-1896. Reprint (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1990), 213. A few Western authors allowed for a futurist interpretation of the seventieth week such as Primasius, Commentarius in Apocalypsin III, 11. On Revelation 11:12. A.W. Adams, Primasius episcopus Hadrumetinus, Commentarius in Apocalypsin. Corpus Christianorum Series Latina [=CCSL] 92. (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepol, 1985), 172; pseudo-prosper of Aquitaine, De Enoc et Helia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctorum Antiquissimorum 9 (Berlin: Weidmannos, 1892), 63. Hesychius, a correspondent of Augustine (cf. Augustine, Letter 199, 21) seemed to hold, that the seventy weeks, or 490 years, began in the Christian era. 14 Ambrosiaster (fourth century), Questiones veteris et novi testamenti CXXVII, 14. Alexander Souter, ed., Pseudo-Augustini Questiones veteris et novi testamenti CXXVII. Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum [=CSEL] 50 (Vindobonae: Tempsky, 1908), 79-80; Augustine, Letter 199, 21. Wilfrid Parsons, trans., Saint Augustine Letters, Volume IV (165-203). Fathers of the Church 30 (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1955), 372-3; Isidore of Seville (d. 636), De Fide Catholica 5. Vernon Ziolkowski, The De Fide Catholica of Saint Isidore, Bishop. Ph.D. dissertation (Saint Louis University, 1982), 41-44; Peter the Archdeacon (eighth century), Questiones in Danielem 65. J.P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus comepletus, series Latina [=PL], Vol. 96 (Paris: Petit-Montrouge, 1844-1864), 1360-1361; Paschasius Radbertus (d. 865), In Matheum. On Matthew 24:16-19. Beda Paulus, ed., Pascasii Radberti Exposition in Matheo Libri XII (IX-XII). Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis [=CCCM] 56B (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1984), 1166. 15 This statement is not meant to imply that Hippolytus placed the rapture before the seventieth week of Daniel. 16 Although they generally held that the reign of Antichrist would span three and a half years, some compacted the rest of the eschatological signs into fifteen days. Pseudo-Bede, Exerptiones patrum, collectanea, flores ex diversis, quaestiones et parabolae. PL 94:555. Cited and translated in William W. Heist, The Fifteen Signs Before Doomsday (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State College Press, 1952), 24-5. Cf. Michael E. Stone, Signs of the Judgment, Onomastica Sacra and the Generations from Adam (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1981); Linus U. Lucken, Antichrist and the Prophets of Antichrist in the Chester Cycle. Ph.D. dissertation (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1940), 125-30. 17 Haymo of Auxerre, Commentary on Second Thessalonians. Kevin L. Hughes, ed. and trans., Second Thessalonians: Two Early Medieval Apocalyptic Commentaries (Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, Medieval Institute Publications, 2001), 28; Adso (tenth century), Essay on Antichrist. John Wright, trans., The Play of Antichrist (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1967), 109. The critical edition of Adso s De Antichristo cites Bede as a cross-reference, who wrote Percusso autem illo perditionis filio, sive ab ipso Domino sive a Michaele archangelo But when that son of perdition has been beaten, either by the Lord Himself, or by Michael the archangel D. Verhelst, Adso Dervensis De ortu et tempore antichristi. CCCM 45 (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1976), 28. Ambrosiaster, however, held that all of the raptured would come back with the Lord to earth to battle the Antichrist, and this was repeated verbatim by Atto of Vercelli (tenth century). Ambrosiaster, Commentaria in Epistula ad Thessalonicenses primam. On 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. Henricus J. Vogels, ed., Ambrosiastri qui dicitur commentarius in epistulas Paulinas. CSEL 81, Pars III (Vindobonae: Hoelder, Pichler, Tempsky, 1969), 227. Atto of Vercelli, In Epistula ad Thessalonicenses primam. On 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. PL 134:652. Gregory the Great (d. 603) also stated, obviously in dialogue with differing interpretations, that Antichrist would be killed not by a war of the angels, or a contest of the saints, but through the advent of the Judge alone. PL 79:1134. 18 In some descriptions, the descent of Christ does not involve his stepping on the actual ground of the earth. Rather, He will return to the air above the earth and execute the Last Judgment. Bede, cited in Zachary Chrysopolitani (c. 1150), De concordia evangelistarum. PL 186:467; Haymo, Commentary on First Thessalonians. On 1 Thessalonians 4:17. PL 117:772. Very popular in the later middle ages, based on Joel 3:2, was that the Last Judgment will take place in the air over the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Cf. Honorius of Autun, PL 172:1165-6; Herveus Burgidolensis, PL 181:1376; Hugo Rothomagnesis, PL 192:1111-2; John Duns Scotus, Libri IV Sententiarum, Book IV, Dist. 48, preface. In Joannis Duns Scoti opera omnia, Vol. 20 (Paris: Ludovicum Vivés, Bibliopolam Editorem, 1894), 510. 19 Some of the biblical passages which they cite as teaching the rapture include Psalm 50:3-5; 104:3; 139:8; Isa. 40:31; 60:8; Matt 24:31, 40-41; Mark 13:27; Luke 17:34-37; 1 Thess. 4:15-17; Rev 11:12; 12:5. 20 Based on the words I shall have to answer for this office in which I preside over you in Homily 8 on Thessalonians, Johannes Quasten concluded that the homilies on Thessalonians were preached during Chrysostom s episcopal office in Constantinople. Patrology, Vol. 3 (Westminster, MD: Christian Classics, 1986), 449. But Pauline Allen and Wendy Mayer argue that for Chrysostom the word office is not attached to the episcopacy per se, but to ranks of both presbyter and bishop; and therefore Constantinopolitan provenance cannot be reliably claimed for his homilies on Thessalonians. Chrysostom and the Preaching of Homilies in Series Orientalia Christiana Periodica 60 (1994):21-39 at 26-7. Cf. Pauline Allen, John Chrysostom s Homilies on I and II Thessalonians: The Preacher and His Audience Studia Patristica 31 (1997):3-21. 21 John Chrysostom, Homily 8 on Thessalonians. Philip Schaff, ed., A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church [=NPNF], Vol. 13, 1890. (Reprint. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1988), 356. This view was disseminated in the East in pseudo-oecumenius (eighth century), Expositio in epistola I ad Thess. J.P. Migne, ed. Patrologiae, cursus completus, series graeca [=PG], Vol. 119 (Paris: Petit-Montrouge, 1857-1866), 93-4; Isho dad of Merv (ninth century), Commentaries. On Matthew 24:30. Margaret Dunlop Gibson, ed. and trans., The Commentaries of Isho dad of Merv, Vol. 1. Horae Semiticae 5 (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1911), 93, and On 1 Thessalonians 4:16 in Gibson, The Commentaries of Isho dad of Merv, Vol. 5, Part 1. Horae Semiticae 11 (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1916), 87; and Theophylact of Bulgaria (eleventh century), Expositio in epistola I ad Thess. PG 124:1314. For the concept of the rapture as deliverance from Antichrist in Eastern Christianity, see the third-century Apocalypse of Elijah 5:2-6 translated in David Frankfurter, Elijah in Upper Egypt: The Apocalypse of Elijah and Early Egyptian Christianity (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 1993), 299-328 at 321-2. 22 ignis ille maximus et altissimus in Bede, De Temporum Ratione 70. T. Mommsen and C.W. Jones, eds., Bedae Venerabilis Opera, Pars VI Opera Didascalica 2. CCSL 123B (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1977), 541. 23 When discussing the conflagration, they often cited these passages from the Psalms. For example, Haymo, De futuro saeculo III, 11. PL118:939; and Anonymous (tenth century), De secundo adventu sermo. In Catechesis Celtica, folio 50-51. A. Wilmart, ed., Reg. Lat. 49: Catechéses celtiques Studi e Testi 59 (1933):29-112 at 108-11. 24 Augustine, The City of God 20.18. Marcus Dods, trans. (New York: Random House, 1950), 738. 25 Julian of Toledo, Prognosticorum futuri saeculi libri tres III, 49. J.N. Hillgarth, ed., Sancti Iuliani Toletanae sedis episcopi opera, pars I. CCSL 115 (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1976), 117. 26 pseudo-alcuin, Commentarius in Apocalypsin I. On Revelation 1:7. PL 100:1094.
27 John D. Seymour, The Eschatology of the Early Irish Church Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 14 (1923):179-211. 28 Bede, De Temporum Ratione 70. CCSL 123B:541. 29 For example, Haymo, de futuro saecula III, 3. PL 118:934-5. Bede, Haymo, and others also distinguished the fire of the conflagration from the fire of purgatory, a concept that was developing in the early medieval West. The Breviarum in Psalmos of pseudo-jerome, however, speaks of the fire as a unit, commenting on Psalm 93 (92):3, Fire goes before Him: The one who is holy and the one who is a sinner should fear this fire. For this fire both purges saints and consumes sinners. PL 26:1117. 30 Bruno the Carthusian, Commentarium in Psalmos. On Psalm 49 (50):3. PL 152:854. 31 Haymo, Expositio in Divi Pauli Epistolas. On Phil. 3:10-11. PL 117:746-7. 32 Venantius Fortunatus, Miscellanea, Book 10, Ch. 1: Expositio Orationis Domini.. PL 88: 317. After the period of the present study, Hugh of St. Cher (c. 1230) speaks of the evildoers who remain on the earth at the rapture calling upon the mountains and rocks to fall on them. Hugh of St. Cher [=pseudo- Albertus Magnus], Expositio primae epistolae d. Pauli ad Thessalonicenses. MS: Vaticana Latini 11841, folio 363. 33 Haymo, Expositio in Apocalypsin. On Rev 11:12. PL 117:1076. After the period of the present study, Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) also taught that those who will remain on earth will see the bodies of the saints glorified. F.R. Larcher and Michael Duffy, trans., Commentary on Saint Paul s First Letter to the Thessalonians and the Letter to the Philippians by Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas Scripture Series, Vol. 3 (Albany, NY: Magi, 1969), 40. 34 Grant R. Jeffrey, Triumphant Return (Toronto: Frontier Research, 2001), 174-8; Jeffrey, Final Warning, 306-12; Jeffrey, A Pretrib Rapture Statement in the Early Medieval Church. In Ice and Demy, When the Trumpet Sounds, 105-25; Demy and Ice, The Rapture and an Early Medieval Citation, Bibliotheca Sacra 152 (1995):306-17. 35 Francis Gumerlock, A Rapture Citation in the Fourteenth Century Bibliotheca Sacra 159 (2002):349-62; Marjorie Reeves, The Influence of Prophecy in the Later Middle Ages: A Study in Joachimism (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993), 246.