"Těchto časův má Antichrist předchůdce své" : apokalyptika a konfesionalita v literatuře a výtvarném umění českých zemí kolem roku 1600

The article deals with special forms of Catholic confessional polemics and propaganda in Moravia in the period before the Battle of White Mountain (ca. 1550-1620). It concentrates on the apocalyptic symbolism, which was used by Catholic theologians and polemists in various treatises and which also appeared in a number of works of art. These depict non-Catholics and their leaders and theologians as servants of the Devil; they are described as "the Antichrist" or "dragons". The article maps out the history of this religious polemic and demonstrates that a similar kind of argumentation has been very common since early Christianity. It is rooted in a distinct interpretation of the Book of Revelation where religious opponents are depicted as representations of the Antichrist. That Catholics in early modern Moravia engaged so frequently in apocalyptic polemics indicates that the confessional atmosphere in the territory had changed. The Catholic elite (esp. the bishops of Olomouc, the Jesuits, the Catholic aristocracy) began to attack Protestants, the major religious group in Moravia. The Catholics used a special form of confessionalization, religious polemic and propaganda in which works of art, prints and other visual and textual means played an important role. The motif of the apocalypse (all of the confessions believed that the end of time was imminent) was used very successfully in confessional polemics; this motif can be traced both in Catholic literature and in special monuments commissioned by the Catholic elite in Moravia. This vilification of Protestants by Catholics reveals a changed and very dramatic confessional atmosphere in Moravia. It also indicates that literary and artistic patronage was of great importance to the Catholic politics of confessionalization and that distribution and representation of treatises and works of art functioned as special instruments of Catholic propaganda and polemic.