Antichrist

In Christian theology, the opponent of Christ. The appearance of the Antichrist was believed to signal the Second Coming, at which Christ would conquer his opponent. The concept may stem from the idea of conflict between Light and Darkness, present in Persian, Babylonian, and Jewish literature, which influenced early Christian thought.

The Antichrist may be a false messiah, or be connected with false teaching, or be identified with an individual; for example, Nero at the time of the persecution of Christians, and the pope and Napoleon in later Christian history.