Saint Bonaventure and the Number of the Beast

Dr Kmita examines St Bonaventure's refutations of errors arising from an over-reliance on reason instead of tempering reason with Faith.

From One Peter Five

By Robert Lazu Kmita, PhD

The Dangers of Rational-Speculative Theology

The post-doctoral dissertation of the young Joseph Ratzinger, The Theology of History in Saint Bonaventure,[1] introduces us to the heart of the great medieval debates on the profound meanings of history. Through this work, I first encountered the eschatological interpretation developed by the seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor within the context of the scholastic disputes of that era. The fact that the rational theology of certain professors had embraced heretical theses appeared so serious to the Seraphic Doctor that he directly referenced the Apocalypse of Saint John the Theologian.

In his 1268 treatise, Collationes de septem donis Spiritus Sancti (Collations on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit), Bonaventure exposed three fundamental errors arising from an exercise of reason that, without appealing to the supernatural light of faith, presumed to provide complete explanations of existence:

The error against the cause of being is that of the eternity of the world which affirms that the world is eternal. The error against the ground of understanding is that of fatal necessity which posits that all things happen by reason of necessity. And the third is that of the unity of the human intellect which posits that there is one intellect in all people.[2]

Once these doctrinal errors were rigorously established, the Franciscan father launched his final critique against them, asserting that their “closed” and “self-sufficient” nature—deriving from the cyclical character of the number 6—leads to a single possible conclusion:

These errors are symbolized in Revelation by the number of the beast’s name. It is said there that the beast had a name whose number was six hundred sixty six. This is a cyclic number. The first is based on the circle of movement and time; the second is based on the movement of the stars; and the third is based on the one Intelligence, saying that it enters and leaves a body. This is entirely false.[3]

Thus, what we face is not merely a denunciation of the heresies entertained by some professors at the University of Paris, but an identification of the infamous number of the beast—666—imprinted on the minds of its adherents (symbolized in the biblical text by the “forehead”). Furthermore, in his comments on the Hexaemeron, St. Bonaventure develops this interpretation, showing that the rationalistic theology influenced by the rise of Aristotelianism can be identified with the “smoke rising from the abyss” (Apocalypse 9:21).

Setting aside the contextual details of the Seraphic Doctor’s interpretation, what struck me from the first reading was its spiritual-allegorical nature. Contrary to literal interpretations that see the mark of the beast as a physical form of “tattooing” its slaves, Bonaventure identifies a profound perversion of the intellect of those marked as the true nature of the “seal.” This is not a visible, physical mark but an invisible, spiritual “stamp.” As I demonstrated in a recent article on this issue,[4] the root of this seems to be that “earthly love,” corrupt and corrupting, which enslaves the souls of those consumed by it. If the wise pagan Magi—who adored the divine infant—revealed the divinity of the one born of the Virgin Mary, other pagan sages—Apollonius of Aphrodisias, Plato, and Proclus—appear to help us understand the nature of that love which, instead of lifting people toward heaven, binds them to the earth (i.e., “this world”) through sins of the flesh. Against this degraded and degrading love, Saint John the Apostle warns:

Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him (Nolite diligere mundum, neque ea quae in mundo sunt. Si quis diligit mundum, non est caritas Patris in eo—I John 2:15).

Conceiving of the human soul as a vessel, we can understand that the love of this world, once it fills the vessel, excludes the love of God. The reciprocal, of course, is true. This is why St. Augustine states in his second homily on the First Epistle of John:

When you have emptied your heart of earthly love, you shall drink in love Divine: and thenceforth begins charity to inhabit you, from which can nothing of evil proceed.[5]

From Augustine’s interpretation, we can easily deduce the devil’s main concern: to “steal” the love that humans owe exclusively to their Creator. This is only possible by exploiting the corrupt attachments people have to fleeting, earthly, evanescent things—especially immoral sexual pleasures.

As St. Hildegard of Bingen also shows in her Liber Vitae Meritorum (The Book of Divine Works), the Antichrist will preach an anti-Gospel—complete sexual libertinism, without limits. Chastity will be denied, and sins against nature—which Plato condemned in the dialogue Phaedrus—will be promoted and widely spread. Thus, we see once again the relationship between love and the beast who “shall make all, both little and great, rich and poor, freemen and bondmen, to have a character in their right hand, or on their foreheads” (Apocalypse 13:16).

Having established, with the help of the pagan authors mentioned above, the link between the number of the beast and the corrupted (and corrupting) love condemned by the Apostle John, I received the final clue that opened the doors to the most probable answer regarding the meaning of the three sixes in the number of the beast’s name. To clarify this assertion, I will first present the verses from John’s text, where we will see the context in which the love for the world is mentioned.

The Wisdom of Saint John and the Interpretation of Saint Augustine

Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof: but he that doth the will of God, abideth forever. Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that Antichrist cometh, even now there are become many Antichrists: whereby we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us; but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us. But you have the unction from the Holy One, and know all things (I John 2, 15-20).

The first verse—15—has already been quoted above. It contains an axiom that has been translated within the context of Christian Tradition into the famous call for the “flight from the world” (fuga mundi). In the verses that follow, the Apostle John reveals what the “world” contains: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. St. Bede the Venerable explains in his commentary on the Epistle of St. John that these represent three vices that “describe every kind of wickedness which exists.”[6]

Before delving into these three ultimate moral evils, however, let us first consider the meaning of the notion of “world.” Such clarification is absolutely necessary since St. John’s statement—“Do not love the world”—might raise questions: is God not the Creator of the world? If so, why should we not love the world and the things in it? The disciple of Saint Ambrose of Milan offers us the most plausible explanation:

The world is the appellation given not only to this fabric which God made heaven and earth, the sea, things visible and invisible: but the inhabitants of the world are called the world, just as we call a house both the walls and them that inhabit therein. And sometimes we praise a house, and find fault with the inhabitants. For we say, A good house; because it is marbled and beautifully ceiled: and in another sense we say, A good house: no man there suffers wrong, no acts of plunder, no acts of oppression, are done there. Now we praise not the building, but those who dwell within the building: yet we call it house, both this and that. For all lovers of the world, because by love they inhabit the world, just as those inhabit heaven, whose heart is on high while in the flesh they walk on earth: I say then, all lovers of the world are called the world.[7]

After clarifying the meaning of the term “world” used in 1 John 2:15, St. Augustine explains the significance of the three things that are “in” or “of” the “world.” Thus, “the concupiscence (i.e., lust) of the flesh, and the concupiscence (i.e., lust) of the eyes, and the pride (i.e., vainglory) of life” encompass the sum of desires related to food, drink, and intimate life (the lust of the flesh); insatiable curiosity for all worldly things (including magic, divination, fortune-telling, etc. = the lust of the eyes); and the desire for honors and power (the pride of life). In short, “these three there are, and you can find nothing whereby human cupidity can be tempted, but either by the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life.”

The clarification St. Augustine adds to all of this, though brief, is highly significant: it is the excessive pursuit of pleasure for its own sake, even in the case of things—such as food, drink, and the intimate life of spouses—that are licit. However, when such means are transformed into ends in themselves, this perversion occurs, for which the commentator offers the best metaphor: it is like a young woman who receives a ring from her fiancé but, instead of loving the one who gave her the ring, falls in love with the ring itself. Would this not be a true darkening of the mind? Evidently, such an act would involve the exclusion from the fiancée’s heart the love owed to her betrothed. This, then, is the consequence of the love of the “world” and of “worldly” things. The conclusion can only be one:

About this the blessed apostle John says, ‘If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him’ (John 2:15). And the apostle James says, ‘Adulterers, do you not know that the friendship of the world is at enmity with God’ (James 4:4). So it is asserted, definitively and shortly, that you cannot have the love of God if you have the love of the world; and that if you want to be a friend of the world, you are an enemy of God’s.[8]

The Surprising Interpretation of Saint Bede the Venerable

There are two places in the Old Testament where the number of the beast–666–is mentioned. The first is in IKings 10:14:

And the weight of the gold that was brought to Solomon every year, was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold.

The same information is repeated in IIChronicles 9:13. Considering the highly specific nature of the number, such an occurrence cannot be coincidental. At least, this is the opinion of Saint Bede the Venerable who, in the context of his substantial commentary on the Apocalypse, proposes an interpretation that can help us reach a conclusion perfectly harmonious with everything we have presented so far.:

Who is unaware that the number six, the number of days in which the world was created, is symbolic of a completed work? Or, that this number whether in simple form or multiplied by ten or by a hundred signifies the fruit of the same perfection to be thirtyfold, sixtyfold or a hundredfold? ‘Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents.’ Therefore, this seductor tyrant will attempt to exact for himself that tax that is rightfully due and paid to the true king.[9]

The tyrant is the Antichrist, who will attempt—through his accomplices—to “steal” the tribute owed to the one true King: God. The tribute is valued at 666 talents. But what does this tribute represent? The answer has already been provided by St. Augustine: it is the love we owe to God. When we love the “world” and the things in it, the vessel of the heart becomes so full that there is no longer room for the love of God. Worldly things and pleasures leave no space for heavenly thoughts that could awaken in us love for the Creator. What the devil attempts—and, unfortunately, often succeeds in doing—is to make us love the “ring” given to us by the mystical bridegroom of our souls, God, instead of loving Him Himself.

The three sixes do not indicate the barcode on commercial products or the hidden information in biometric passports (as various sects and modern pseudo-prophets would have us believe). In fact, this triple number signifies the three attachments of the soul to the world—“the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life”—attachments that encompass and subordinate all possible vices. But have not all these existed in all times? Yes, they have. However, their proportions in the times of the Antichrist’s era will be monstrous. In essence, evils such as abortion, contraception, adultery, fornication, and all similar sins will become widespread. With this said, I will stop here. Because it seems to me that I am doing nothing more than describing the contemporary world.

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[1] I use the English translation of Ratzinger’s dissertation: The Theology of History in St. Bonaventure, Translated by Zachary Hayes, O.F.M., Chicago, Franciscan Herald Press, 1971 (Second edition: 1989).

[2] Saint Bonaventure, Collations on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Volume XIV from Works of Saint Bonaventure), Introduction and Translation by Zachary Hayes, O.F.M., Notes by Robert J. Karris, O.F.M., New York, Franciscan Institute Publications, 2008, pp. 178-179.

[3] Ibidem.

[4] The article was published in The Remnant: “The Number of the Beast and Ancient Wisdom: Can Pagan Sages Help Us Decipher the Mystery?”—https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/7568-the-number-of-the-beast-and-ancient-wisdom-can-pagan-sages-help-us-decipher-the-mystery [Accessed: 18 January 2025].

[5] The full text of this homily can be read online here: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170202.htm [Accessed: 20 January 2025].

[6] James, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, (Volume 11: Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture), Edited by Gerald Bray, IVP Academic, 2000, p. 184.

[7] The full text of this homily can be read online at the following address: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/170202.htm [Accessed: 20 January 2025].

[8] The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century. Sermons, III/5 (148-183) on the New Testament, Translation and notes Edmund Hill, O.P., New York, New City Press, p. 148.

[9] Latin Commentaries on Revelation: Victorinus of Petovium, Apringius of Beja, Caesarius of Arles and Bede the Venerable (Ancient Christian Texts), Translated and Edited by William C. Weinrich, IVP Academic, 2011, p. 157.