Edition Masquer
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XIII: An tempus persecutionis Antichristi mille annis adnumerandum sit.

Haec persecutio nouissima, quae futura est ab Antichristo - sicut iam diximus, quia et in hoc libro superius et apud Danielem prophetam positum est - , tribus annis et sex mensibus erit. quod tempus, quamuis exiguum, utrum ad mille annos pertineat, quibus et diabolum ligatum dicit et sanctos regnare cum Christo, an eisdem annis hoc paruum spatium superaddatur atque extra sit, merito ambigitur; quia, si dixerimus ad eosdem annos hoc pertinere, non tanto tempore, sed prolixiore cum Christo regnum sanctorum reperietur extendi quam diabolus adligari. profecto enim sancti cum suo rege etiam in ipsa praecipue persecutione regnabunt mala tanta uincentes, quando iam diabolus non erit adligatus, ut eos persequi omnibus uiribus possit. quomodo ergo ista scriptura eisdem mille annis utrumque determinat, diaboli scilicet adligationem regnumque sanctorum, cum trium annorum et sex mensum interuallo prius desinat adligatio diaboli quam regnum sanctorum in his annis mille cum Christo? si autem dixerimus paruum persecutionis huius hoc spatium non conputandum in mille annis, sed eis inpletis potius adiciendum, ut proprie possit intellegi, quod, cum dixisset: sacerdotes dei et Christi regnabunt cum eo mille annis, adiecit: et cum finiti fuerint mille anni, soluetur satanas de custodia sua; isto enim modo et regnum sanctorum et uinculum diaboli simul cessatura esse significat, ut deinde persecutionis illius tempus nec ad sanctorum regnum nec ad custodiam satanae, quorum utrumque in mille annis est, pertinere, sed superadditum et extra conputandum esse credatur, cogemur fateri sanctos in illa persecutione regnaturos non esse cum Christo. sed quis audeat tunc cum illo non regnatura sua membra, quando ei maxime atque fortissime cohaerebunt, et quo tempore, quanto erit acrior inpetus belli, tanto maior gloria non cedendi, tanto densior corona martyrii? aut si propter tribulationes, quas passuri sunt, non dicendi sunt regnaturi, consequens erit, ut etiam superioribus diebus in eisdem mille annis, quicumque tribulabantur sanctorum, eo ipso tempore tribulationis suae cum Christo non regnasse dicantur; ac per hoc et illi, quorum animas auctor libri huius uidisse se scribit occisorum propter testimonium Iesu et propter uerbum dei, non regnabant cum Christo, quando patiebantur persecutionem, et ipsi regnum Christi non erant, quos Christus excellentius possidebat. absurdissimum id quidem et omni modo auersandum. sed certe animae uictrices gloriosissimorum martyrum omnibus doloribus ac laboribus superatis atque finitis, posteaquam mortalia membra posuerunt, cum Christo utique regnauerunt et regnant, donec finiantur mille anni, ut postea receptis etiam corporibus iam inmortalibus regnent. proinde tribus illis annis atque dimidio animae occisorum pro eius martyrio, et quae antea de corporibus exierunt, et quae ipsa nouissima persecutione sunt exiturae, regnabunt cum illo, donec finiatur mortale saeculum et ad illud regnum, ubi mors non erit, transeatur. quocirca cum Christo regnantium sanctorum plures anni erunt quam uinculi diaboli atque custodiae, quia illi cum suo rege dei filio iam diabolo non ligato etiam per tres illos annos ac semissem regnabunt. remanet igitur, ut, cum audimus: sacerdotes dei et Christi regnabunt cum eo mille annis, et cum finiti fuerint mille anni, soluetur satanas de custodia sua, aut non regni huius sanctorum intellegamus annos mille finiri, sed uinculi diaboli atque custodiae, ut annos mille, id est annos omnes suos, quaeque pars habeat diuersis ac propriis prolixitatibus finiendos, ampliore sanctorum regno, breuiore diaboli uinculo; aut certe, quoniam trium annorum et sex mensum breuissimum spatium est, conputari noluisse credatur, siue quod minus satanae uinculum, siue quod amplius uidetur regnum habere sanctorum, sicut de quadringentis annis in sexto decimo huius operis uolumine disputaui; quoniam plus aliquid erant, et tamen quadringenti sunt nuncupati; et talia saepe reperiuntur in litteris sacris, si quis aduertat.

Traduction Masquer
The City of God

Chapter 13.--Whether the Time of the Persecution or Antichrist Should Be Reckoned in the Thousand Years.

This last persecution by Antichrist shall last for three years and six months, as we have already said, and as is affirmed both in the book of Revelation and by Daniel the prophet. Though this time is brief, yet not without reason is it questioned whether it is comprehended in the thousand years in which the devil is bound and the saints reign with Christ, or whether this little season should be added over and above to these years. For if we say that they are included in the thousand years, then the saints reign with Christ during a more protracted period than the devil is bound. For they shall reign with their King and Conqueror mightily even in that crowning persecution when the devil shall now be unbound and shall rage against them with all his might. How then does Scripture define both the binding of the devil and the reign of the saints by the same thousand years, if the binding of the devil ceases three years and six months before this reign of the saints with Christ? On the other hand, if we say that the brief space of this persecution is not to be reckoned as a part of the thousand years, but rather as an additional period, we shall indeed be able to interpret the words, "The priests of God and of Christ shall reign with Him a thousand years; and when the thousand years shall be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison;" for thus they signify that the reign of the saints and the bondage of the devil shall cease simultaneously, so that the time of the persecution we speak of should be contemporaneous neither with the reign of the saints nor with the imprisonment of Satan, but should be reckoned over and above as a superadded portion of time. But then in this case we are forced to admit that the saints shall not reign with Christ during that persecution. But who can dare to say that His members shall not reign with Him at that very juncture when they shall most of all, and with the greatest fortitude, cleave to Him, and when the glory of resistance and the crown of martyrdom shall be more conspicuous in proportion to the hotness of the battle? Or if it is suggested that they may be said not to reign, because of the tribulations which they shall suffer, it will follow that all the saints who have formerly, during the thousand years, suffered tribulation, shall not be said to have reigned with Christ during the period of their tribulation, and consequently even those whose souls the author of this book says that he saw, and who were slain for the testimony of Jesus and the word of God, did not reign with Christ when they were suffering persecution, and they were not themselves the kingdom of Christ, though Christ was then pre-eminently possessing them. This is indeed perfectly absurd, and to be scouted. But assuredly the victorious souls of the glorious martyrs having overcome and finished all griefs and toils, and having laid down their mortal members, have reigned and do reign with Christ till the thousand years are finished, that they may afterwards reign with Him when they have received their immortal bodies. And therefore during these three years and a half the souls of those who were slain for His testimony, both those which formerly passed from the body and those which shall pass in that last persecution, shall reign with Him till the mortal world come to an end, and pass into that kingdom in which there shall be no death. And thus the reign of the saints with Christ shall last longer than the bonds and imprisonment of the devil, because they shall reign with their King the Son of God for these three years and a half during which the devil is no longer bound. It remains, therefore, that when we read that "the priests of God and of Christ shall reign with Him a thousand years; and when the thousand years are finished, the devil shall be loosed from his imprisonment," that we understand either that the thousand years of the reign of the saints does not terminate, though the imprisonment of the devil does,--so that both parties have their thousand years, that is, their complete time, yet each with a different actual duration approriate to itself, the kingdom of the saints being longer, the imprisonment of the devil shorter, --or at least that, as three years and six months is a very short time, it is not reckoned as either deducted from the whole time of Satan's imprisonment, or as added to the whole duration of the reign of the saints, as we have shown above in the sixteenth book ¹ regarding the round number of four hundred years, which were specified as four hundred, though actually somewhat more; and similar expressions are often found in the sacred writings, if one will mark them.