Christ & Antichrist as Pictured by Hildegard of Bingen

Twelfth century abbess, musician, scientist, healer, saint and doctor of the church, Hildegard of Bingen has some strong words—and an even stronger image she painted in a picture of the antichrist. 

First, let us consider her painting of the Christ, since the antichrist is its opposite.  She teaches that the “man in sapphire blue,” the “healing Christ,” is in all of us and invites us to choose to follow that path in life.  The Blue Christ of compassion is geared up and ready to go to work for compassion, his hands are extended out to help others and are linked to a caring heart. 

In her painting on Christ, one knee is slightly bent which signifies he is getting ready to “run into peace” as Meister Eckhart puts it, to run into works of compassion, to assist others in need, to affirm the dignity of others especially those in need, to serve with alacrity.  “Let’s get going,” she is saying.

Behind the Blue Man in her painting are golden ropes.  She identifies this with the Creator (she sees this painting as a painting of the Trinity) and emphasizes the interconnectivity of all things.

The antichrist is necessarily the opposite of interconectivity and compassion. Her painting of the antichrist borrows heavily from the Book of the Apocalypse and her sense of the End Times.  In it, she pictures evil and the coming of chaos as the unraveling of the ropes of justice that keep order to society.  In her painting, she features several beasts who are unraveling order by pulling on a rope.  Chaos reigns with the antichrist.

Among the beasts are, in her words, “a fiery dog that was not burning; a lion that was reddish-brown; a pale horse; a black pig; and a grisly wolf.”  Each was pulling hard on a piece of rope in his mouth and pulling apart a rope that an interdependent and compassionate universe found in the Blue Man painting.  Each was doing its part to bring on chaos, the unraveling of cosmic order.  What does each beast stand for?

The fiery dog stands for humans who “bite at their own condition” and do not burn with justice. 

The reddish lion stands for “warlike men” who wage wars without considering God’s judgment. 

The pale horse stands for those who put luxury living and their own selfish pleasure before the performance of worthwhile acts. 

The black pig stands for rulers who create sadness and uncleanness in themselves and their subjects. 

The wolf stands for those who rob others.  

The black rope, she tells us, represents “the darkness that stretches out many injustices.”  

She pictures Christ as a young man, “who is the beginning of justice” and “a very strong warrior” who will “break the head of injustice.”  Justice and beauty will triumph.  

To be continued.

Adapted from Matthew Fox, Trump & MAGA as Antichrist: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, pp. 81f.

See Fox, Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen, pp. 32-37, 122-126.

Banner Image: Detail of Hildegard’s image of the Antichrist: the returning Christ. From Matthew Fox’s Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen.

Queries for Contemplation

What do you see and feel in Hildegard’s picture of “The Man in Sapphire Blue”?  What do you see and feel in her painting of the antichrist?  Notice how frequently chaos and justice and injustice are spoken of in her commentary on that painting. 

Recommended Reading

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen

An introduction to the life and work of Hildegard of Bingen, Illuminations reveals the life and teachings of one of the greatest female artists and intellectuals of the Western Mystical Tradition.  At the age of 42, she began to have visions; these were captured as 36 illuminations–24 of which are recorded in this book along with her commentaries on them.
“If one person deserves credit for the great Hildegard renaissance in our time, it is Matthew Fox.”  – Dr Mary Ford-Grabowsky, author of Sacred Voices.