Saint Hippolytus of Rome (A.D. c. 170 – c. 236) makes an interesting observation picked up by other great saints (e.g. Saint Robert Bellarmine) regarding the identity of the Antichrist at the end of time. Saint Hippolytus says that the Antichrist at the end of time will derive from one of the twelve tribes of Israel, namely from the tribe of Dan. We should be careful not to say that the Antichrist will be “Jewish” because technically the term “Jewish” to a “Judean,” that is to one deriving from the tribe of Judah.

Here are the words of Saint Hippolytus:

“Now as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of under the figure of a lion, on account of his royalty and glory, in the same way have the scriptures also beforehand spoken of Antichrist as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is also a lion. Christ is a king, so Antichrist is also a king. The Savior was manifested as a lamb, so he too in like manner will appear as a lamb without; within he is a wolf. The Savior came into the world in the circumcision [i.e., the Israelites], and he will come in the same manner. . . . The Savior raised up and showed his holy flesh like a temple, and he will raise a temple of stone in Jerusalem” (The Antichrist 6).

“We find it written regarding Antichrist . . . ‘Dan is a lion’s whelp, and he shall leap from Bashan’ [Deut. 33:22]. But that no one may err by supposing that this is said of the Savior, let him attend carefully to the matter. Dan, he says, is a lion’s whelp. And in naming the tribe of Dan, he declared clearly the tribe from which Antichrist is destined to spring. For as Christ springs from the tribe of Judah, so Antichrist is to spring from the tribe of Dan. And that the case stands thus, we see also from the words of Jacob: ‘Let Dan be a serpent, lying upon the ground, biting the horse’s heel’ [Gen. 49:17]. What then is meant by the serpent but Antichrist, that deceiver who is mentioned in Genesis, who deceived Eve and supplanted Adam? . . . [I]t is in reality out of the tribe of Dan, then, that tyrant and king, that dread judge, that son of the devil, is destined to spring and arise” (The Antichrist, 14).

I believe I read Saint Irenaeus (or was it Saint Justin?) says something similar about the tribe of Dan. If anyone knows, please share. If I come across it again, I’ll post it.