Mark 13:21-23 New International Version (NIV)
21 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 23 So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.
The great Jo Walton explores this notion of the antichrist in her book Lent. She began her book about Savonarola after reading a letter written in 1498 by the humanist Marsilio Ficino after Savonarola's burning, in which he basically argues that .Savonarola was a demon but didn't realize it.
The TV show the Messiah also plays around with this theme of people struggling to try and understand whether a mysterious person is the Messiah or the antichrist--or just a regular charleton.
This from the Medievalists website:
Ficino even admits he too was once a follower of the preacher, but then “I rapidly came back to my senses.” Throughout his letter he finds many ways to insult the recently deceased Savonarola – here are some of our favourites:
“diabolical fraud”
“venomous monster”
“stuffed with a dreadful legion of demons.”
“devilish spirit”
“it was not a mortal man but a most cunning demon – not only one demon but a whole swarm of demons.”
“the prince of hypocrites”
“He is a fruit quite worthy of his diabolical seed.”
“tyrannical malevolence of Savonarola”
“Savonrola, or I might say more fittingly Savage-arola”
If that is not enough, Ficino offers this assessment of the character of Savonarola:
The Antichrist had an utterly incomparable cleverness, imitating virtues most obstinately, a crude spirit, a savage audacity, an empty ostentation, a satanic pride, the most impudent mendacity everywhere, and all supported by curses and oaths. When he spoke, his face, voice, and speech were often fulminous, overwhelming his listeners with violence rather than voluntary persuasion. For often in the middle of a disputation, he would suddenly shout, rage, thunder and lose control, more or less like insane people possessed by demons, as the poets have described it.
You can read the full letter, edited and translated by Volkhard Wels, in Antichrist Girolamo of Ferrara, Greatest of All Hypocrites, which was published by Bridwell Library of Southern Methodist University in 2006.
To learn more about Savonarola, please
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