Pseudo-Methodius. Apokalypsis

Written in Syriac in the late seventh century, the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius shaped and influenced Christian eschatological thinking in the Middle Ages. Falsely attributed to Methodius of Olympus, a fourth century Church Father, the work attempts to make sense of the Islamic conquest of the Near East. The Apocalypse is noted for incorporating numerous pre-existing aspects of Christian eschatology, such as the invasion of Gog and Magog, the rise of the Antichrist, and the tribulations that precede the end of the world. The book, however, adds a new element to Christian eschatology: the rise of a messianic Roman emperor. This element would remain in Christian apocalyptic literature until the end of the medieval period. The book was early translated into Greek, Latin, Coptic, Armenian, and later into Slavonic.