Old Document Review 'The prophecy of Raynard Lolhardus'

I am reviewing the contents of this prophecy as part of my studies on the Mirabilis liber prophecy collection, this is the eighth part of the collection published in 1522, and this is very different to the other prophecies in the collection that I have already reviewed.

This prophecy is very specific, even stating that the events will happen between 1496 and 1598, and yes I did say that this was published in 1522 yet I would assume that the original pre-dates 1496, yet very little is known about Raynard apart that he is mentioned as being a hermit, and there have been other prophets in time that were also hermits such as Hermas.

The theme of the prophecy concerns the wars between Europe and the Turks when the Turks shall 'slaughter the priests at the altar', yet seeing as though the Ottoman Wars started from about 1299 it cannot be said that this prophecy foretold the slaughter of the priests, as the slaughter may have already started by the time that the prophecy was written.

However the next section of the prophecy leaves no doubt, it states that 'an invincible leader shall emerge from Spain' to fight.  In 1571, John of Austria, the half-brother of the King of Spain led a fleet containing an army of the Holy League which consisted of over 200 ships and defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Lepanto.

Yet there are sections of the prophecy that never came to be, it stated for example that the 'Church of Saint Sophia shall revive', this church was in Constantinople and had been conquered by the invaders and turned into a mosque and stayed as such until the modern era when it was converted into a museum.  Another prophecy that failed to come true was the rise of another Emperor called Doglosius.

To read more about the other prophecies in the Mirabilis liber CLICK HERE

Hermas (est 80-140A.D.)

Hermas or otherwise known as Hermes of Philippopolis is believed to have lived somewhere around 80-140A.D. He is believed to have once been a slave that was brought to Greece, however at some point in his life he started to walk the life of a prophet. The main source for information about Hermas is a book called The Good Shepherd which has three sections; the first contains five visions, the second contains twelve mandates and the last contains ten parables. He is also mentioned in other places, for example he is mentioned by Paul in Romans16:14, and it is also suggested that he is the brother of Pius the bishop of Rome.

In the visions he is visited at various points by a woman, twice while making the journey to Cumae where he says:

“I had walked a little, I fell asleep; and the spirit caught me away”

At first he mistakes the woman for a sibyl who has been sent to give him messages from God, yet in his second vision he is told that it is not a sibyl but that the woman symbolises the Church of God. As the story of the visions develop, it is made clear that Hermes is a man of simplicity and innocence who keeps himself away from lusts. When he sees visions he describes it as being carried away or his hair would stand on end. He also mentions that he would spend a lot of time in prayer and fasting and meditating.

In the section of mandates, this time Hermas is visited by the Good Shepherd who gives him twelve mandates or commandments, each one is long and very detailed, yet they can be simplified for example believers should fear God but not the devil and the spirits and prophets are to be tried by their works and so on.

My favorite of the parables from the last section of the book is the one that says these times are like the winter and you cannot tell by the empty trees which are dry and which are not, if it was summer you would see some have fruit and some are barren, and so it is with the righteous and the sinner as their worlds have become so intwined that you cannot tell them apart.