Ambrosiaster : Knowing that the Lord is coming to repress them, he will usurp His name for himself; and in order to appear that his kingdom is true, he will attract with him those who shall perish together with him; so that in the house of the Lord, in the seat of Christ, he may sit and assert himself as God, not as the Son of God. Wherefore in the Gospel to the Jews the Lord says: I came in my Father's name, and ye received me not; if another comes in his own name, him ye will receive (John 5:43). Therefore, from circumcision, it is to be hoped that he will come, circumcised, so that there may be trust for the Jews to believe in him. — Commentary on 2 Thessalonians Augustine of Hippo : "He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: `This will be he who is called Antichrist,' exalting himself," as the apostle says, "above all that is called God, and that is worshipped." The Lord, declaring that this same it is that will seek his own glory, not the glory of the Father, says to the Jews: "I am come in my Father's name, and ye have not received me; another will come in his own name, him ye will receive." He intimated that they would receive Antichrist, who will seek the glory of his own name, puffed up, not solid; and therefore not stable, but assuredly ruinous. But our Lord Jesus Christ has shown us a great example of humility. — TRACTATES ON John 29.8 Cyril of Jerusalem : Who opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped; (against every God; Antichrist forsooth will abhor the idols,) so that he seateth himself in the temple of God. What temple then? He means, the Temple of the Jews which has been destroyed. For God forbid that it should be the one in which we are! Why say we this? That we may not be supposed to favour ourselves. For if he comes to the Jews as Christ, and desires to be worshipped by the Jews, he will make great account of the Temple, that he may more completely beguile them; making it supposed that he is the man of the race of David, who shall build up the Temple which was erected by Solomon. And Antichrist will come at the time when there shall not be left one stone upon another in the Temple of the Jews, according to the doom pronounced by our Saviour; for when, either decay of time, or demolition ensuing on pretence of new buildings, or from any other causes, shall have overthrown all the stones, I mean not merely of the outer circuit, but of the inner shrine also, where the Cherubim were, then shall he come with all signs and lying wonders, exalting himself against all idols; at first indeed making a pretence of benevolence, but afterwards displaying his relentless temper, and that chiefly against the Saints of God. — Catechetical Lectures, Lecture 15 Irenaeus : And the Apostle Paul also, saying, "For though ye have served them which are no gods; ye now know God, or rather, are known of God," has made a separation between those that were not [gods] and Him who is God. And again, speaking of Antichrist, he says, "who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped." He points out here those who are called gods, by such as know not God, that is, idols. For the Father of all is called God, and is so; and Antichrist shall be lifted up, not above Him, but above those which are indeed called gods, but are not. And Paul himself says that this is true: "We know that an idol is nothing, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth; yet to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we through Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him." For he has made a distinction, and separated those which are indeed called gods, but which are none, from the one God the Father, from whom are all things, and, he has confessed in the most decided manner in his own person, one Lord Jesus Christ. — Against Heresies Book III John Chrysostom : Paul therefore, in speaking of Antichrist, would not have passed over these things if they had been profitable. Let us not therefore enquire into these things. For he will not come so bending his knees, but "exalting himself against all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God." For as the devil fell by pride, so he who is wrought upon by him is anointed unto pride. — Homily on 2 Thessalonians 1 John Chrysostom : "And exalteth himself against all that is called God or is worshiped." For he will not introduce idolatry, but will be a kind of opponent to God; he will abolish all the gods, and will order men to worship him instead of God, and he will be seated in the temple of God, not that in Jerusalem only, but also in every Church. "Setting himself forth," he says; he does not say, saying it, but endeavoring to show it. For he will perform great works, and will show wonderful signs. — Homily on 2 Thessalonians 3 John Damascene : And the apostle says: Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition: who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God; in the temple of God he said; not our temple, but the old Jewish temple. For he will come not to us but to the Jews: not for Christ or the things of Christ: wherefore he is called Antichrist. — An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV Origen of Alexandria : That the Scripture is a temple was expounded by someone before us. And since the Antichrist — "he who opposes and exalts himself above everything that is called God", who sits in the temple of God — is the false word that is held in the Scriptures — which counterfeits the truth by bringing forward, out of the Scriptures, testimonies of impious teachings, when men are unwilling to be won over from any other source; and this very thing is "that which opposes", and it sits both upon the seat of the Scriptures and upon their building, "displaying itself as though it were God". And one may always see the words of the heresies, as Antichrists, sitting in the temple of the Scriptures and wishing, out of those very Scriptures, to win over those who hear them, as though each one of these were itself God the Word in the Scriptures. — COMMENTARY ON Matthew 31 Origen of Alexandria : And where are they "who say they are Jews and are not"? who say: The Jerusalem which is below shall be built, before the consummation of the age comes to pass? "The consummation", he says, "shall be given upon its desolation". But if the temple shall also be built, it shall be built for him "who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits in a temple" of this kind, "showing himself as though he were God": "whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the illumination of his coming". Whether therefore it pleases some that this Jerusalem be built upon the earth, nevertheless it will not be false which is said, that the consummation is to be given "upon its own desolation". — COMMENTARY ON Matthew 40 Tertullian : We know that "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" -much more into a man of light-and that at last he will "show himself to be even God," and will exhibit "great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, he shall deceive the very elect. — A Treatise on the Soul