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"Again, [Dolcino believed and preached and taught] that within those
three years Dolcino himself and his followers will preach the coming of the
Antichrist. And that the Antichrist was coming into this world within the bounds
of the said three and a half years; and after he had come, then he [Dolcino] and his
followers would be transferred into Paradise, in which are Enoch and Elijah.
And in this way they will be preserved unharmed from the persecution of
Antichrist. And that then Enoch and Elijah themselves would descend on the
earth for the purpose of preaching [against] Antichrist. Then they would be killed
by him or by his servants, and thus Antichrist would reign for a long time. But
when the Antichrist is dead, Dolcino himself, who then would be the holy pope,
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and his perserved followers, will descend on the earth, and will preach the right
faith of Christ to all, and will convert those who will be living then to the true
faith of Jesus Christ."
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BROTHER DOLCINO & THE APOSTOLIC BRETHREN
Before looking at the specifics of this paragraph, a little information about
Dolcino and the Apostolic Brethren seems fitting. In 1260, Gerard Sagarello founded the
Apostolic Brethren after his application for membership with the Franciscans was
rejected.
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Like the Franciscans, the Apostolic Brethren were committed to radical
poverty and itinerant preaching of the Gospel.
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However, at that time the founding of
new religious orders was strictly forbidden by the pope and several church councils.
Consequently, the Apostolic Brethren were objects of persecution, and in 1300 their
leader, Gerard, was burned at the stake. Brother Dolcino, who had been a member of the
Apostolic Brethren for a number of years, took over leadership of the order in that year.
At one point under his leadership, the Apostolic Brethren had grown to about 4,000
members.
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The persecuted order under Dolcino's leadership withdrew to the mountainous
areas of northern Italy, near Novara and Vercelli (I circled Novara on the map in your
handout.). But the size of the order and their need for daily sustenance, resulted in
clashes with local authorities. In 1306, a bull was drawn up by Pope Clement V, and a
crusade was launched against them. In 1307, over 400 members of the Apostolic
Brethren were slaughtered by papal forces. Dolcino was captured, mutilated, and burned
at the stake.
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THE TEXT'S SIMILARITY WITH MODERN PRETRIBULATIONISM
Moving on to the text which you have before you, eschatology seems to have held
an important place in the theology of the Apostolic Brethren, as it did in other medieval
religious orders in the fourteenth century, orders such as the Franciscans, the Spirituals,
and the Beguines. To all of these groups, including the Apostolic Brethren, the political
and ecclesiastical affairs in Italy seemed to have the "signs of the end" written all over
them.
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Let us examine some of the specifics of their eschatology in dialogue with
modern pretribulationism.