Christophoros Angelos -“Treatise on the Apostasy from the Church, the Antichrist, and the Numbers of Daniel and Revelation”(1624)

Christophoros Angelos (also known as Christopher Angelos, or Christopher Angel) was a priest/monk was born around the year 1575 in Gastrouni, a small in the Peloponnese Region of Western Greece. In 1606 he was ordained in Athens. At the end of one of his English manuscripts he said he was a “Hellenic Peloponnesian monk the order of Saint Vasi.” He has a long red beard which gave the appearance he was not a true Greek clergy. It made the Ottomans very suspicious, so then he was accused of spying by the Turks on behalf of Spain and was tortured. The Ottoman judges asked him to convert to Islam,and Angelos refused and preferred to suffer imprisonment and torture. However, he succeeded in escaping and took refuge in England around 1608 AD, where he remained until his death. Angelos would fall into the category of Greek intellectual clergy whose works and activities took place far from their enslaved homeland of Greece and the persecuted church under Ottoman Rule. However, Angelos never forgot his Hellenic roots and homeland, and Greek Orthodoxy, and he would never stop recalling the tortures he endured in the Turkish prisons of Athens. Christophoros Angelos died on February 1, 1638 at the age of 67, leaving behind a reputation as “a pure Greek and an honest man”

Treatise on the Apostacy of the Church

The Treatise On Apostasy from the Church is the last known and published work of Christophoros Angelos, and it is a testament to the interest and concern that the author had for the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Treatise bears the following title:

Πόνος Χριστοφόρου τοῦ ᾿Αγγέλου Έλληνος περὶ τῆς ἀποστασίας τῆς ᾿Εκκλησίας, καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τῆς ἁμαρτίας δηλαδὴ τοῦ ᾿Αντιχρίστου καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀριθμῶν τοῦ Δανιήλ, καὶ τῆς ᾿Απο- κα λύψεως, οὓς οὐδοὶς ὀρθῶς μεθερμήνευσεν ἐξ οὗ προεφητεύθησαν, ἐκδόθη ἐνλοντίνω αχκδ’. 1624

The title translated into English:

The Work of Christophoros Anghelos, the Greek, on the Apostasy of the Church, on the Man of Sin, that is to say the Antichrist, and on the numbers of Daniel and the Apocalypse that no one up to now has interpreted with accuracy. Published in London in 1624.

The Treatise was published the same year it was written. The text seems to repeatedly confirm this date. See the image of the book’s title below:

The work consists of 24 pages with 35 lines each, divided into three parts and twelve chapters. The first part is devoted to the apostasy of the Church, the second to the man of sin, and the third to the numbers of Daniel and Revelation. Christophoros Angelos’ study of the Apostasy of the Church is his last known book, and at the same time one of the first Greek-language interpretative publication with eschatological and apocalyptic content in the Post-Byzantine era (perhaps the second one, after Zacharias Gerganos 1621 commentary published in Germany). As far as its content is concerned, it is of particular interest, because it is a document for the study of the progression of Greek eschatological thought at the time of its publication. The material and elements used by Angelos in this treatise may at first glance seem to come mainly from the Protestant apocalyptic tradition, without of course neglecting the relevant Greek-language literature and tradition. For example, there was a similar eschatological movement of the Church of England against the papal church and their attitudes against the Ottomans. However there was evidence of other Greek Orthodox commentaries with similar historicist ideas as early as the 13th century. So his ideas seem to expand upon those of Saint Neophytos the Recluse, and we cannot say they were fully imported from Protestantism. An argument can be made that these ideas were imported to the West from the Byzantines after the fall of Constantinople, with the numerous literary works which came to the West. His position on the identification of the antichrist differs from the entire previous eschatological and apocalyptic literature of those earlier Greek and Latin commentaries from the Byzantine era. It rejects the established eschatological Protestant tradition of identifying the antichrist with the Pope within an Anglican country. It uses the distinction between true apostasy, i.e. heresy (identified with the ultimate Latin) and true antichrist, the man of lawlessness (who is the last Muhammad). As a result of this historicist perspective by a Greek Orthodox in the West, Christoforos Angelos was accused by Nikolaos Komninos Papadopoulos of Calvinist influences.

The first part (chapters 1-5) is devoted to the Apostacy of the Church. The second part (chapters 6-8) to the Man of Sin and the third part (chapters 9-12) to the figures of Daniel and the Apocalypse.

Main Eschatological Points of the Treatise

In chapter 7, Christophorus Angelos fully utilizes the historicist application of Revelation and interprets first in Revelation chapter 9 that the grasshoppers and scorpions are their armies. He applies the use of the day/ year principle for “5 months” to mean 150 years (5 x 30 = 150), and power would be given to them torment the Hungarians for 150 years, measured from the Turkish war against the Hungarians in Belgrade starting in 1482, or 143 years prior (1624 – 1482 = 142 years). He predicted the Turks would leave Hungary and be pushed back to Arabia in another 7 years. This application, first of all, shows how the author was very focused on the political events of his time. However, like many of hte other Greek Orthodox commentaries produced during the Post-Byzantine/Neo Greek Exegetical era, Christophoros had a strong desire to see the Greek Orthodox Christians liberated from Ottoman Oppression, and believed these events were divinely ordained and contained with the Apocalypse.

Apostacy of the Church and the Man of Sin

The division of the Treatise into three parts is based on the words of Saint Paul in II Thes. II, 3 where it is a question of the Apostasy of the Church, of the Man of Sin and of the end of the world. First would appear within the Church the Apostasy; it would be followed by the appearance of the Man of Sin, that is to say the Antichrist; the end of the world would come after the appearance of these two Beasts. These two Beasts are very concrete historical realities according to Christophoros Angelos. He then writes about the date of their appearance: “The Apostasy was introduced into the bosom of the Church during the reign of Phocas who granted Pope Boniface III absolute primacy over all the Churches and over all the Christian kings. This tyrant was thus the cause of the schism in the Church and the precursor of the last Latin, of that which will be the true Apostasy.”… “Eleven years later appeared Muhammad, the Man of Sin and the precursor of the last Muhammad, the Antichrist”. He further writes on this subject: “He is called an apostate who, living first in godliness, is subsequently removed from the true law of God. Within the Church we must speak of apostasy but not of infidelity. There are presently heresies and revolts in the Church. When the last Latin comes, it will provoke other much more serious ones if God does not shorten those days…. “Apostasy is the Latin heresy. The Man of Sin, that is to say the Antichrist, is Muhammad”

After the definition of the Apostasy, the author comments on Revelation 19:20 of the Apocalypse which enables him to make some other reflections on the Pope identified with the Beast. He writes:

“The Apocalypse says (XIX, 20) that the Beast was captured, together with the false prophets, and that they both threw them alive into the lake of fire and burning brimstone. However the Beast will be punished for his heresy, his injustice and his pride. Its followers indeed live in heresy and the resulting atheism. But neither the Beast nor his followers denied the name of Christ publicly. The prophet Esdras in 11:4 XI writes: “You have preferred lies and done harm to the righteous. God will therefore punish them for their false doctrine… The Pope did not come in his own name. He is the vicar of the apostle Peter, just as all the other bishops are the representatives of the apostles who established them in their ministry. The Pope recognizes the divinity of the Son as he recognizes that of the Father… He is certainly a bad leader… and the last Latin will be the worst of all the kings (of Rome)”. He goes on to further say: “According to Saint John Chrysostom, the phrase of Saint Paul: “From now on, yes, the mystery of impiety is at work (2 Thess. 2:7) would designate the Emperor Nero who was proclaimed God. The Pope is therefore only an Apostate; he is not the Antichrist. He and his followers will be punished for their heresy”

About Muhammad, the Antichrist, Christophoros Angelos says: “Whoever denies Christ is called antichrist. Saint John says: “Who is a liar, if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? Behold the Antichrist! Whoever denies the Son does not possess the Fathers either (2 John2, 22-23). The Liar and the Spirit of error (2 John 4:6) is Mahomet, for he denies both the Father and the Son. He says that God, not having a wife, cannot have a Son either. The Antichrist is therefore Muhammad.” “Christ said, ‘I came in my father’s name and you did not receive me. Another will come in his own name and you will receive him (John 5:43). It is to Mohammad that Saint Paul also refers when he speaks of the Man of Sin, that is to say of the Antichrist. He writes in this same epistle: “Christ will take vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (3 Thess. 1:8). The Arabs and the Hebrews had not wanted to believe in Christ. So God sent them Mohammed, the liar and the spirit of error. On the other hand, the Christians of Rome and of the East had believed in Christ. When Mohammed appeared, all of Europe and almost all of Asia were inhabited by Christians.” “Saint Paul writes again: ‘He who now retains power’, which means that the outlaw, the Antichrist, will come after the Roman power has been transferred elsewhere. But he was transferred from Rome to Constantinople. Some three hundred years later appeared Muhammad who is the Man of Sin, that is to say the Antichrist, “the one whom the Apocalypse calls the second Beast (Rev 13:11) and the False Prophet (Rev 19:20). This Beast and his followers will be chastened for their infidelity and injustice, for they fought the name of Christ. The prophet Esdras writes: “I saw, and behold an innumerable multitude of men gathered together from the four corners of the earth. They came to fight the man who had risen from the sea (Rev 13:13), that is to say to fight the servants of Christ”

Christophoros Angelos clarifies his position even better when he interprets the words of Saint Paul: “He will be seated in the temple of God.” He writes: “The term temple of God can be taken in several senses. It designates the temple of Solomon, the tomb of Christ, the buildings that Christians have consecrated to the worship of God. However, all the Greek churches are currently in the hands of the Turks who have transformed them into places of Muslim worship. For the Turks snatched from the Greeks their most beautiful churches and changed them into mosques. The Muslims did not occupy the churches of the Latins. Saint Paul therefore speaks here of Muhammad and his followers. Indeed, whoever sits in the temple of God will be the Antichrist”. ” Likewise, all churches are called temples of God, whether they are consecrated by the bishops established by Peter or whether they are consecrated by the bishops established by Paul. Now the temple of God in which the Turks are seated are the churches of the orthodox Christians. For it is indeed the Turks that Saint John calls the spirit of error. The Pope who recognizes both the Father and the Son cannot be the Antichrist. Muhammad who denies them both, he is the Antichrist.”

The words of Saint Paul constitute the foundation on which rests the whole exposition. However, other eschatological texts of the Bible are quoted, commented on and applied, some to the Papacy and others to Islam. Thus, for example, the great distress of which Christ speaks in Matt. 24:21-22 would be aroused by the last Latin, “if those days had not been shortened”. However, in this eschatological text it is a question of the abomination of desolation… installed in the holy place!

The Figures of Daniel and Revelation and Calculations of Times Statements

Christophoros Angelos next focuses on the calculations in order to determine and confirm the most important eschatological events. Making prediction of dates is always risky and most have failed, especially when applying times statements to the second coming. But the dates of Daniel and Revelation are specific and measurable. Christophoros tries to convince the reader of the validity of his calculations while knowing the danger of such an action.

He writes: “Christ had sent Moses and the other prophets to prepare for his coming. During the first centuries of Christianity, the Devil inflicted on the Church all kinds of evils. Under the reign of the tyrant Phocas, Satan introduced into the bosom of the Church the two greatest calamities, namely the Latin heresy and the Muslim infidelity. By means of these two plagues, he seeks to disturb the Church and to prepare his own coming. Because Satan knows that he will come himself, personally, and that he will be born of a prostitute with the appearance of a virgin woman. The precursors of the Devil will remain on earth for 1256 years and six months, while the stay of the Devil himself will be three and a half years. In other words, the action on earth of the last Latin will last three and a half years and that of the last Mahomet three and a half years as well. After which both will be punished and exterminated. The last Latin will be captured and punished eleven years before the last Mahomet”

“They will say to me: Christ affirms: “As for the date of this day and the hour, no one knows them, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, no one except the Father alone”. (Math. 24:36). How then can you say such things? Answer: Christ says, of course, “no one knows them”, but he adds: unless it has been revealed to him by the Father”. the abomination of desolation of which the prophet Daniel spoke installed in the holy place (let the reader understand!)… (Math. 24:15). Christ said: of which the prophet Daniels spoke, for Daniel had received this revelation from God. And if Christ recommends his disciples to believe Daniel’s prophecies, we too must believe them… Daniel’s prophecies are the word of God. “The angel testified in the name of the living Eternal: for a time, times and half a time, and all these things will come to an end” (Dan 7:7).

“I will also be told: in a more ancient period, the men of the Church were mistaken in their calculations concerning the figures given by Daniel and by the Apocalypse. How then can you yourself now claim that yours are right? Answer: This is what the angel said to Ezra about the fourth beast: “What God has not revealed to Daniel will be revealed to you now (4 Esdras 12:1). God does not grant all the charisms and all the prophecies to a single man or to a single era; he grants a part to some and a part to others. The interpretation that I have just given concerning the date of the last Mohammed, this interpretation was revealed to me by God, in vision.”

The Treatise seeks to fix the date of the three most important eschatological events: the date of the appearance and the end of the Apostasy (Latin heresy); the date of the appearance and the end of the Man of Sin (Islam). To Christophoros Anghelos, Saint Paul foresaw that the Apostasy would come before the advent of the Antichrist. He believed this prophecy was fulfilled at the time of Phocas, who was the cause of the Apostasy and the precursor of the later Latin. It was he who granted Pope Boniface III the primacy over all the Churches and placed him above all the Christian kings. This eschatological event took place in the year 604 of the Christian era. Mohammed came eleven years after the appearance of the Apostasy. Muhammad therefore began his persecution against the Church in the year 616 AD, eight years before his proclamation (623) as king of the Arabs (p. 15). Once the date of the appearance of the two Beasts has been fixed, Christophoros Anghelos gives us the duration of their reign: “The two Beasts will remain on the earth and will persecute the Church for 1260 years.”

“This duration is indicated in several places in the Bible. Daniel said, “The saints will be delivered into the hands of the little horn for a time and times. and half a time” (Dan. 7:25), which makes 1260 years”. “We read in the Apocalypse that the first Beast received power to act for forty-two months” (Rev. 13:5), which also makes 1260 years (p. 10). Now the little horn as well as the first Beast designate the Apostasy, that is to say the Latin heresy. The Papacy will therefore last 1260 years, counting from the reign of Phocas. Its power will be destroyed when this time expires. “The Apocalypse says that the Woman received the two wings of the great eagle to fly in the desert to the refuge where she must be nourished, far from the serpent, a time and times and half a time” (Rev. 12:14), which is 1260 years. The snake designates Mohammed. Mohammed’s reign will therefore last 1260 years as well”.

“One thousand and twenty years have passed (1624 – 604 = 1020) since the tyrant Phocas introduced the schism into the bosom of the Church. There remain therefore 240 years until the disappearance of the Apostasy; which means that in 236 years (1624 + 236 = 1860) the last Latin will appear, the true Apostasy, the one who, for three and a half years, will inflict on the Church the most painful tribulations and heresies”. After which he will be captured and thrown into the lake of fire (1624 + 240 = 1864 or 604 + 1260 = 1864).

“The reign of Muhammad began in 616 and will end in 1876 (616 + 1260 = 1876). There remains therefore to the reign of the second Beast another 252 years (1876 – 1624 = 252) and 248 will pass before the appearance of the last Muhammad, (1624 + 248 = 1872), the Antichrist, the one who, for three and a half years, will inflict the most excruciating suffering on the Church.

As for the duration of 1260 years, the author has it begin in 604, the year in which the Pope was granted the primacy (appearance of the Apostasy), and in 616, the year in which the preaching of Muhammad began (appearance of the Man of Sin)

*** COMMENT FROM JONATHAN PHOTIUS Christophoros Angelos was way ahead of his time here with some of the calculations of 1260 years applied to both Islam and the Papacy. While the practical application to those two beasts is amazing, he chose the wrong starting points. He measured the start of the 1260 years from the time of Phocas and Pope Boniface III in 604 AD. However, we need to account for the fact that Revelation 13 requires 2 horns of power for the lamb beast (religious and temporal powers) so the start of the 1260 years cannot start until the Donation of Pepin in 756 or the Donation of Constantine. Also, the start of Mohammed’s ‘prophetship’ and the hijri or start of Muslim calendar occurred in 622 AD, and the fall of Jerusalem to Omar in 637 AD, and the construction of the Dome of the Rock completed on the temple mount in 688 AD. Recall that Patriarch Sophronius called the arrival of Islam to Jerusalem the fulfillment of the Abomination of Desolation. These would server as better starting points which reveal significant and historic results with respect to Jerusalem and the decline of the temporal powers of the papacy. See the charts below. But it is clear that Christophoros was way ahead of his time and other theologians and commentators in the application and start of the 1260 days. Other Greek Orthodox commentators would take the overall application and predict more accurate results which eventually came to pass!

CONCLUSION

The Treatise by Christophoros Angelos on the application and calculations of the two beasts as the Papacy and Islam is very significant in the progression of “historicist” commentaries on Revelation. The distinction drawn between the Papacy, on the one hand, who is the Apostate and the heretic, and Mohammed, on the other hand, who is the infidel and the Antichrist, places the author in a a very realistic and middle road of thought during that period of “realized eschatology” after 1453 AD and the Protestant Reformation, and it provides a Greek Orthodox point of view from the post-Byzantine theology perspective. The identification seems to mirror Saint Neophytos the Recluse commentary of the two beasts written in the early 1200s, and seems to match some of the ideas from Zacharias Germanos commentary written a few years earlier in Germany, but it would be clear to see they had no knowledge of one another. Christophoros would be the first Post-Byzantine commentator to apply the 1260-year calculation to Mohammed and the Rise of Islam, in order to predict the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Angelos applied the 1260-year calculations to predict the decline of both apostasies in the same period within history. Others who would lead similar interpretations of the Latin and Islamic heresies would follow suit, such as Saint Anastasios Gordios Treatise – “On Mohammed and Against the Latins.” These would inspire other Greek Orthodox commentaries utilizing the 1260-year calculations such as Metropolitan John Lindos of Myra. Christophoros Angelos’ interpretation certainly was ahead of Western Protestant (historicist) commentators who also tried to show 1260 years tied to Islam and Jerusalem by almost 200 years. Although it is true Protestants were already calculating 1260 years with respect to the Papacy since the start of the Reformation, and some like Luther suggested Mohammed was the Little Horn of Daniel, no Protestant dared to apply one of the beasts of Revelation 13 to Mohammed and the Islamic Caliphates, seven of them, which ruled in Jerusalem and the Holy Land for 1290 years!

Christophoros claims to have received a vision or dream of his interpretation of the 1260-year numbers of Daniel and the Apocalypse which he applies to the end of the reign of the Papal and Islamic beasts. Interestingly, we later post-Byzantine commentators like Metropolitan Jean de Myra and Theodoret of Ioannina will claim to receive similar visions on the calculation of the 1260 years. But remarkably these later commentators were even closer to predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1917 AD, 1260 “solar” years after Jerusalem the Holy City fell to Islam, 100 to 200 years before it came to pass. Looking back, we can see that Angelos’ Treatise was groundbreaking and undoubtedly influenced future Post-Byzantine Neo-Greek Orthodox commentaries. Angelos’ treatise was certainly ahead of its time with respect to the fulfillment of Daniel 12:7. – “In a time of times and a half of a time, when the dispersion hath been consummated, all these things will become known“.

Thus we now find ourselves at about the end of the one-thousand two-hundred and sixty days, when Christian peoples and nations will soon be called to shake off the moral slavery of Babylon and make ready to welcome the approaching Kingdom of God.

-Jonathan Photius

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

1. Asterios Argyriou, Les exégèses grecques de l’Apocalypse à l’époque turque (1453-1821). Esquisse d’une histoire des courants idéologiques au seindu peuple grec asservi. Thessaloniki, 1982
2. Χριστόφορος Άγγελος, https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Χριστόφορος_Άγγελος
3. Ponos Christophoru thou Angelou ellenos peri tes apostasias tes ekklesias, kai adei to anthropo te delado, Angelus, Christophorus, d. 1638.  EEBO Cambridge University Library records – unstructured. London: [W. Stansby], 1624. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2240908426
4. Photius, J., The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Book of Revelation. Eastern Light Publishing, Sheriden WY, ISBN 978-1-949940-02-2, (2018)
5. A. Argyriou, Αναστάσιος ο Γόρδιος και το σύγγραμμά του: Περί του Μωάμεθ και εναντίον των Λατίνων, Athens 1969
6. A. Argyriou. Anastasios Gordios, Sur Mahomet et contre les Latins. Athens, 1983
7. Allen, G. V. (2020) An anti-Islamic marginal comment in the Apocalypse of “Codex Reuchlin” (GA 2814) and its tradition. In: Karrer, M. (ed.) Der Codex Reuchlins zur Apokalypse: Byzanz – Basler Konzil – Erasmus. Series: Manuscripta Biblica (5). De Gruyter: Berlin; Boston, pp. 193-198. ISBN 9783110674118
8. Sotiropoulos, Neilos. The Coming Sharp And Two-Edged Sword, Holy Monastery of Simon’s Petra, Holy Mount Athos, Greece, (1973)
9. Apostolos Makrakis, Interpretation of the Revelation of St. John the Divine. Hellenic Christian Education Society, Chicago, IL, 1948
10. Evangelia Amoiriaou, History of the Interpretation of “the number of the beast” (666) (Rev. 13:18). From Exegetical Memoirs on Revelation from the 2nd to the early 19th century in the Eastern Church. Doctoral Theses submitted to the Department of Theology of the Theological School of A.P. Thessaloniki (1998)