Selma Lagerlof

The Miracles of Antichrist Selma Lagerlof

Year after year the Franciscans defended the Capitol by penitences, and works of charity, and the promulgation of God's word. They protected it century after century, but as time went on, men became more and more feeble and lacking in force. The monks said among themselves: "Soon the kingdoms of the earth can stand no longer. A redeemer of the world is needed as in the time of Augustus." They tore their hair and scourged themselves, for they knew that he who was to be born again must be the Antichrist, and that it would be a regeneration of force and violence. As a sick man is tormented by his pain, so were they hunted by the thought of Antichrist. And they saw him before them. He was as rich as Christ had been poor, as wicked as Christ had been good, as honored as Christ had been humiliated. He bore powerful weapons and marched at the head of bloody evil-doers. He overturned the churches, murdered the priests, and armed people for strife, so that brother fought against brother, and each feared his neighbor, and there was no peace. And for every person of power and might who made his way over the sea of time, they cried out from the watchtower on the Capitol: "Antichrist, Antichrist!"