The Legend of the Antichrist

Vladimir Solovyov (1853–1900), a prominent figure in interreligious dialogue and author of many philosophical and theological works with a far-reaching influence on his contemporaries and subsequent generations, wrote the famous Three Conversations, which includes the A Short Tale of the Antichrist. The text shows how Evil masks itself with the appearance of good: it is characterised by a feigned smile, "successfulness" and declared stability, questions answered with one hundred percent certainty, the psychologisation of spiritual topics, not exaggerating as a way to define oneself against a "chaotic God", and the "golden mean" as a manipulation of values. In reality, through all this, it effectively suppresses human freedom. The text intensely touches upon what we are living through in our present day.