Monday, May 14, 2007
CAN ANYONE PUT THIS IN CONTEXT ?
There is a passage in MAN OF GOD: SAINT JOHN OF SHANGHAI & SAN FRANCISCO that I have been thinking about for weeks. I don't know what to make of it. It's contained in "A Talk on the Dread Judgment", one of the many sermons contained in the book that were delivered by St. John. Here it is:
But what is known about this man, Antichrist? His precise ancestry is unknown. His father is completely unknown, while his mother is a defiled, pretended virgin. He will be a Jew from the tribe of Dan. There is an indication of this, in that Jacob, when dying, said that [Dan], in his posterity, would be a serpent by the way...biting the heel of the horse (and the rider shall fall backward). [Gen. 49:17] This is a figurative indication that he will act with craftiness and evil.
In Revelation, John the Theologian speaks of the salvation of the sons of Israel, that before the end of the world a multitude of Jews will be converted to Christ; but the tribe of Dan is not included in the enumeration of the tribes that are saved. (p. 175-176)
I've posted enough in this blog to make it clear that some of Judaism deviates from Biblical Judaism substantially. I've posted material showing that there are Jewish heresies which could produce an antichrist. But I am still uneasy with this statement made by St. John, particularly in light of that recent prayer at Mass concerning "parallel paths". Is there a tradition that the antichrist will come from the Tribe of Dan contained in Orthodoxy? I have never heard of one in Roman Catholicism, but that doesn't mean it's not there, of course.
