The Fathers on the Anti-Christ

[尼古拉前执事]

Thank you for the kind words folks! I only hope and pray we can stay the way you described us!

[Seraphim Reeves]

physicsgirl

That's not to say that the Antichrist will be an instrument of the devil because he was born of an unclean woman, right? Wouldn't that be going against free will?

I know this was asked awhile ago, but I thought I'd take a stab at answering this seeming contradiction.

When we read something in prophesy (whether Biblical, or uttered by one of the New Testament Prophets who have risen since the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost), we are hearing something from God, who knows all, and for Who there are no secrets. When we are told about something that will happen (in this case, about some evil created by the lawlessness of men and devils) this does not mean God is causing this to happen, that His telling us about this means He is commanding it to happen. Rather, it means simply that it's going to happen within the realm of personal freedom, God knows this, and for our benefit He has decided to tell us.

Thus, the anti-Christ is not going to be morally despicable, doomed to this fate, because of a bad birth. Goodness knows how many people have been born illegitimatly, or from women of extremely low moral character (to the point the father isn't even known). Some of those children suffer, some overcome this bad start, others become immoral men, etc. To say that the anti-Christ will be born of an impure woman, simply states something that will happen - telling us this is not what is going to make it happen. The fury and rebelliousness of the devil is what is going to instigate this - and ultimatly, the choices this unfortunate is going to make throughout his life is going to make him what he is.

Seraphim

[Lucian]

Thank you for the kind words folks! I only hope and pray we can stay the way you described us!

Yes, thank you for providing a place that is fully in the Orthodox camp.

That is not intended as a slap at other sites, but simply as praise for this one.

[Ekaterina]

THE TWELVE SIGNS OF THE END OF THE WORLD

'It is later than you think'. Fr Seraphim Rose (+1982)

No man knows when the world will end. Indeed the time of the end of the world was not even communicated by the Father to the human nature of the Son (Matt.24,36). However, in the Gospels the Son of God does tell us of the signs which must come to pass before the end of the world. What are these signs and what conclusions, however hesitant, can we draw from them about the times in which we live?

The twelve signs that must come to pass before the end are given as follows:

1) Many will come in the name of Christ and deceive many (Matt.24,5; Mark 13,6; Luke 21,8)

2) There will be wars and rumours of wars between nations and kingdoms (Matt.24, 6-7; Mark 13,7-8; Luke,21,9-10).

3) The first sorrows will be in the form of calamities: 'famines, pestilences and earthquakes in divers places', fearful sights and great signs from heaven (Matt.24,7-8; Mark, 13,8; Luke 21,11).

4) Orthodox Christians will be delivered up, killed and hated by all nations (Matt. 24,9; Mark 13, 9-11; Luke 21,12-15).

5) Everywhere men will hate and betray each other (Matt.24,10; Mark 13,12-13; Luke 21,16-17).

6) Many false prophets will appear and deceive many (Matt.24,11).

7) On account of abundant iniquity (evil deeds and unrepented sin), the love of many will grow cold. Only those who endure to the end will be saved (Matt.24,12-13; Mark 13,13; Luke 21,19).

The Gospel will be preached throughout the world 'for a witness unto all nations' (Matt.24,14; Mark 13,10).

9) After this Jews will become Orthodox Christians (Romans 11,25-28).

10) Preparations will be made for the coming of Antichrist, called the son of perdition and the beast. Preceded by false prophets and false signs and wonders, Antichrist will be a master of illusion, of 'shock and awe', taking away people's freedom, but making them think that they have been freed. He will persecute the true servants of Christ with rage and fury. The Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt for him to be enthroned there in the place of Christ - hence his name 'Antichrist', he who comes in the place of Christ (Matt, 24,15-24; Mark 13,14-22; 2 Thess.3-11; 1 John 2,18; Rev.13,1-8).

11) Signs will appear in the heavens, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, the sea and the waves will roar and the powers of heaven will be shaken (Matt.24,29; Mark,13,24-25; Luke 21,25-26).

12) The sign of the Son of man (the Cross) will appear in the heavens and then will take place the Second Coming of Christ with power and great glory. Angels will be sent and shall gather the elect together 'from the four winds' (Matt.24,30-31; Mark 13,26-27, Luke 21,27).

As we look at the above, we may be tempted to think that the first half of these signs, the first six, have already come to pass. Concerning the first sign, over the centuries many have indeed come, saying that they are Christ and they have deceived many. As regards the second sign, the twentieth century especially but also already the beginning of the twenty-first century, have been marked by 'wars and rumours of wars'. The third sign, 'natural' (i.e. unnnatural) disasters, has been taking place, as 'famines, pestilences and earthquakes' are occurring all over the world. Fourthly, Orthodox Christians have everywhere been 'delivered up, killed and hated'. The fifth sign has also appeared, for the modern world seems to be full of 'hatred and betrayal'. Sixth, false prophets already abound and 'deceive many'.

However, there are those who would go beyond this interpretation. They would say that we are now already three-quarters of the way to the end, with the revelation of the three next signs. For them, the seventh sign, iniquity, now abounds and the love of many is indeed growing cold. And the eighth sign too is now under way, for the Gospel is being preached throughout the world as, with the freeing of Russia and global population movements, Orthodox Christianity is now spreading throughout the world. A time is coming when there will be no man who has not heard of the Orthodox Church. As regards the ninth point, the fact is also that many Jews, in Russia at least, have in recent years been baptised into the Orthodox Church.

If this is the case, then we are now awaiting the preparation of the tenth sign. What can we say of this, the final preparation for the coming of Antichrist?

Certainly, there is now an abundance of false prophets claiming to speak in the name of Christ.

Through modern technology, signs and wonders, unthinkable even a few years ago, now take place.

As the father of lies (John 8,44), Antichrist's master plan of illusion is everywhere in evidence. It is present through the propaganda ('spin') of modern media, advertising and marketing, the conformist drug of television, computer trickery and other electronic technology, the levelling down of modern education -'ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth' (2 Timothy 3,7). Through these instruments of control, the masses are manipulated and enslaved to delusion by those in whose interest it is to manipulate them. Wisdom leaves the city.

Imagining that they are still free, the masses are enslaved in debt to usurers. This debt is cleverly concealed under the illusion of its opposite -'credit', the 'freedom' to buy whatever they want whenever they want.

The illusions of global unity and peace are promised through physical comforts. These are granted at the price of freedom, which must be surrendered to self-proclaimed 'democrats', in fact, dictators.

Through apostasy from faith in the Risen Christ, apostates lose their freedom from the fear of death, the Resurrection faith which is now everywhere being denied. These apostates, fearing bodily death, will be psychologically enslaved to the Master of illusion and willing to do anything in order to hold onto their earthly lives. Antichrist will come to occupy the now vacant throne in men's souls.

Fierce persecution of the last remaining servants of Christ, still faithful to the Resurrection and resisting Antichrist, will begin once more.

Since the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the establishment of the Jewish State, plans have been drawn up for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the coming worship of Antichrist there.

What are we to think?

Many cynics will dismiss this article as mere panic-mongering. They will say that many have already announced the end and become laughing-stocks. This is true - but they became laughing-stocks because they did not know the Scriptures and, ignoring Christ's own words that no man knows of that day and hour (Matt.24,36), they imagined the precise dates of the end of the world. From this we learn that is always foolish to despise the words of the Saviour and ignore the Scriptures.

Other cynics will say that others have predicted the end, without giving a precise date, and still been found wrong. However, many of these did not predict the end of the world, but the end of a world. This happened, as prophesied, in A.D. 70 with the sack of Jerusalem by the Romans and the end of the world of the Jews. This happened in 1066, when English people saw signs and understood that their world was coming to an end with the sack of England by the Normans. This happened again in 1917, when Russian people saw the iniquity around them and understood that their world was coming to an end with the sack of Russia by the Bolsheviks. Those who in such cases predicted the end of a world were indeed found right and vindicated.

Yet other cynics will say that others have predicted the imminent end of the world, without giving a precise date, and still been found wrong. However, if such people care to consider these warnings, they will always find that the warnings were given conditionally. In other words, they always said that the world will end, if there is no repentance. The inevitable events prophesied by Christ in the Gospels can be put forward or put back. We have the freedom either to hasten the coming of Antichrist or to delay it.

It is to this last group that we join ourselves. Not of course because we are prophets, or have any other virtue, but because we, like millions of others, simply hold fast to the two-thousand year-old Orthodox Christian Faith, the Faith of the Church of Christ, the Faith in the Resurrection. Certainly, no man knows the times and seasons (1 Thess.5,1), but if there is not repentance now, it is clear that one day there will be no more times and seasons.

Fr Andrew

16/29 January
St Peter ad Vincula
The Chains of the Holy Apostle Peter

[尼古拉前执事]

"THE BEGINNING OF THE END IS COMING"
The thoughts of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitski),
Extractions from his correspondence, 1905-1915.

Inok Vsevolod (Filipiev)

Metropolitan Anthony

The letters of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitski) to Metropolitan Flavian (Gorodetski), which to this day are not published, are interesting not only from the point of view of Church History, but primarilly in that they convey the spirit of the fractured epoch in the fates of Russia; in the like, they show the manner in which the hierarch thought, who achieved a meaningful roll in the life of Ecumenical Orthodoxy.
The recipient of these letters, Vladyka Flavian, was known as a hierarch distinguished as being full of love, mercy and clairvoyance. In 1903, he was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Kiev and Galitia. In different years, Vladyka Flavian served as an honorary member of the Kazan, Saint Petersburg and Kiev Spiritual Academies. In a spiritual vision, the Lord revealed something to His faithful servant Metropolitan Flavian about the future of the Russian Church. Vladyka passed away in 1915, leaving his flock the best memories about himself. For this reason, it is not a surprise that Vladyka Anthony entrusted his innermost thoughts to this graceful archpastor. His letters to the hierarch of Kiev can even be referred to as a confession of thoughts.
Questions brought forth by Vladyka Anthony, who at that time was heading the Volynski Cathedra, are of all sorts, but the main theme can be summed up as one - sorrows about the difficult state of the Church and the withering away of Holy Russia before ones eyes. The letters within the period of 1905-1908, the time of the first Russian distemper, as if dividing two epochs, are filled with tragedy and sorrow, understandable to the Russian Orthodox soul. The situation after the events of 1905 turned for the worst, a certain doom starting to appear; in one of the letters Vladyka writes: "All around they speak about reaction, and understanding, but I do not believe in its soundness. Things are going badly, especially church matters: churches are becoming empty and people are becoming more unscrupulous. If we were dissatisfied with the divided attitude of Russian life before the revolution, that time now seems as if it is lost forever…. The beginning of the end is coming" (Letter 15, January 9, 1908).
From the letters of Vladyka Anthony it is obvious that revolutionist, anti-Christian attitudes flooded society by the tolerance of the clergy, many of whom were already poisoned with the spirit of the time. The hierarch constantly laments about the church-goers who disperse from amongst the flock of Christ. He writes: "A sad, depressed attitude in this regard is completely becoming cold to Church life…" (Letter 8, Jun 25, 1907). An unambiguous deduction: "…uniqueness of the Church will go further and further away" (Letter 17, February 15, 1908).
As it is known, Vladyka Anthony always devoted much attention to the spiritual school, to the preparation of future servers of the Church. For this reason, his constant pain was the dispirited state of the spiritual academies and seminaries. Only a few right-thinking professors and a small number of monastic students were consolatory to Vladyka. A routine majority called for a constant righteous anger of the zealot hierarch. Similar to the ancient prophets surrounded by transgressors, he appeals: "Alas, we perish completely…. Knowing the purpose of the professors…it is concluded, by desiring autonomy, to kill educated monasticism" (Letter 41, June 19, 1905). "If the Holy Synod lowers itself to the violence and anti-canonical desires of the priest-less autonomy, that strike will seize all the seminaries, and will then be transferred to parish clergy." "…Now it is necessary to close all the seminaries and gather all the professors who are not sympathetic to the autonomy into one or two of the academies, and the other students and professors should be driven out…and the students excluded forever. Those left in the academy would be surrounded by strict rules, and the professors would be obliged to take a new oath of confession of faith…. It is known that the professors of Moscow ask for "freedom of teaching", i.e. the right to deny the Divinity of Jesus Christ and in general the Symbol of Faith in their courses. If we will be fruitful with heretics in the church school, what will await us at the Dread Judgment?" (Letter 43, October 8, 1905).
"Stand forth for the spiritual school," calls forth Vladyka Anthony, "know that it is half dead and yet again padded with foolish reforms…." From it is corroded "the last remnants of the religious beginning" and supports "only the crudely noble spirit and nihilism." "…My conscience would torture me, if I would not speak that which I say in defense of the dying church school" (Letter 5, March 12, 1907).
"…The academies have fallen so low in these three years; they have gone so far away from their task, that even if Archangel Gabriel was sent as the rector - it would be of no use," "…Fifty students along with priests who teach left for the caves (Kiev-Pechersk Lavra - i.V.), and no one went to venerate even one set of relics; at gatherings they voted to change the fasts in the academy…. I am thinking of presenting a report to the Synod about the need of creating a set of rules of conduct for clergy of the academy" (Letter 13, November 22, 1907).
"The teachers that are priests in the academy (Kiev - i.V.) do not go to church for whole months, and out of state students, only 7-10 people in all the academies go to Sunday liturgies. Priests eat before serving…in the morning - in a demonstrative manner. At gatherings there are only a few priests that are on the edge of the left, the other majority are on the left; this is in all four of the academies." "…When right-thinking students object to priests at gatherings, saying: 'This is not in agreement with the fundamental dogmas of the Christian faith,' they are answered: 'I do not recognize the dogmas.' And look, the crowd of these animal-like examples fill our schools in the appearance of teachers; o tempora, o mores! I once again am in the seminaries every week and visit all the rest of the educational institutions, spiritual and worldly. All is quiet, but it is all mortified in relations to the Church…. In the Academy of Moscow an instructor read about Chrysostom as a satirist; one student read about him as a republican, and another as a social anarchist." "…Only four professors have remained on the right, the others are all on the left. Of course, the best thing to do would be to close two academies, and concentrate the conservative powers into two, banishing all the nihilists…" (Letter 14, April 26, 1907). "…Nevertheless, there is not mockery of faith in the Academy of Kiev as there is in the others" (Letter 22, April 26, 1908).
"In general, the father-priests never have genuinely showed sympathy to the religious-professional task of the spiritual school, but only to its noble appointment: to bring out the people of their children. Seminary…it has become quiet, but it still remains as an institution that is more detrimental than of help, and henceforth there is nothing to have hope about…" (Letter 18, March 7, 1908).
Knowing and seeing all of this, it is not necessary to be clairvoyant in order to make a deduction of the state of the Russian Church; this means that society as a whole was only worsening itself. And truly, the years passed, and the storm-clouds over Russia became blacker. Newer and yet newer types of iniquities (in this instance something that had occurred in one of the neighboring diocese) forced Vladyka Anthony to cry out to the heavens: "My God, my God! To what have we lived? In which atmosphere lives…the Church? In the atmosphere of debauchery, lies, deceit, flattery and decadence…do not lies already triumph, debauchery lifting the head and Satan becoming the conqueror?" (Letter 83, October 25, 1910).
Then, who conquered in that lingering battle, as its eye-witnessing lead Vladyka Anthony. Even today it appears difficult to answer this question. On one side, the downfall of the Russian Empire with its thousand years of Orthodox basis without question was the victory over evil. But it is worth it to think about what would happen now with the Russian society if the cup of God's anger was not poured out then. Answers could be different, but the parts of Metropolitan Anthony's letters that are presented here neatly show the illness of his contemporary society - unbelief. But that illness cannot heal itself on its own, it needs to be healed by something or someone.
And look here, we approach an interesting theme that needs to be comprehended - a job of future Church historians. Knowing that we will look at the further course of events, and doing that without any effort, we see that the divisions of Russian society shortly following thereafter, and in the like, Church divisions on the 20th Century, also had a positive side. It was like a resolute and final division of the sons of Light and the sons of the devil. Every person in Russia was given a choice: With whom are you? And for some, the divisions became a cleansing.
Seen in this way is the fate of Metropolitan Anthony himself. The Russian Church Abroad, of which he became the first leader, was formed with the sum of the cumulative experience - in a positive and a negative way. The Lord heard the prayer of the righteous and, in a way, rendered unto him the ability to embody his innermost expectations. Even more so, all the revolutionarily and liberally spirited immigrants did not enter the Church Abroad, but with time fell from it. Vladyka Anthony and the archpastors that were of like mind with him did not even consider wasting energy, so that all the time would be spent on keeping the sinking church ship afloat, as it was during pre-Revolutionary time. In this respect, all developments necessary for existence which originated early on ended up growing in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
And that brings up another fact: in the examined letters of Vladyka Anthony which are related to the pre-Revolutionary period, there can be found thoughts, thrown in as if in passing, which in one way or another were fulfilled in the future. For example, Vladyka once noticed that "in general it would be good to bring the (Russian - i.V.) priests to control, but already the choice seems painfully pitiful!" (Letter 13, November 22, 1907). And look, by God's Providence he became the First-Hierarch of the Church Abroad, although by other historical conditions.
Extremely interesting prophetical characteristics given by Metropolitan Anthony to some other figures in his letters have subsequently an important meaning for Church life. They have mention of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodski), at that time on the Cathedra of Finland and Vyborg, having a definite meaning for the pupils and followers of Vladyka Anthony. In 1905 when the revolutionary professorate demanded reforms for the spiritual school, "His Grace Sergius…swayed in faith" (Letter 41, June 19, 1905), according to Vladyka Anthony. Two years later, Metropolitan Anthony gives Vladyka Sergius a more harsh and impartial characterization, exposing his needless mildness (Letter 4, February 10, 1907). Another time, Vladyka Anthony rebukes: "His Grace Sergius…on the field of battle is not a warrior" (Letter 13, November 22, 1907). At the same time, Vladyka Anthony writes about New-Hieromartyr Theodore Volokolamski, the future ideological opponent of Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodski): "Archimandrite Theodore (at that time Rector of the Moscow Seminary - i.V.) - he is a rising star," and if he is made rector of the academy, "he will [then] be able to turn around the life of the academy" (Letter 14, November 28, 1907). In 1909, Archimandrite Theodore was actually made Rector of the Moscow Academy. Hieromartyr Theodore became the rising star on the horizon of the New-Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, as it is now clear to us.
It is necessary to point out and look at Metropolitan Anthony in regards to the ecumenical question (as we would say today) or, to be more precise, in regards to dogma about the Church. In one of the letters, Vladyka points out that he is preparing an evidential answer to the American (non-Orthodox - i.V.) bishops in regard to the notorious question of "the union of churches," and explain to them, of course with love, that the Church never can be divided and of the necessity to accept heretics always in the same manner - with the second or third rites" (Letter 109, February 16, 1915). This outspoken appreciation is important for us because "Orthodox ecumenists" now try to justify actions that cause temptation by declaring that before the Revolution, Church awareness was completely ecumenical. Fallacy similar to these declarations condemn the aforementioned words of Metropolitan Anthony.
Leading to the sum of the excerpts deduced here from the letters of His Eminence Anthony (Khrapovitski), allow us to give ourselves the following question: What else can we gather from this soul-saving source? Thinking we must instruct ourselves as Vladyka in the great Christian virtue - sobriety. Know that if during the time of Czarist Russia the spiritual atmosphere of the world was so poisoned that, according to Metropolitan Anthony, it was not worth the wait for improvement; then for what are we waiting for now, when the secret iniquities are ready to be committed…. This must not cast us into despondency, but it should brace us, shaking off the dead narcotic dreaminess from our soul which is contained in the entirety of "ecumenical Christianity", and prepare us for the very strong temptations of the last times. And so, we will be vigilant and sober. The spiritual night declared by the world is not terrifying for true Christians, because for them "it is a night to be much observed unto the Lord…" (Ex. 12:42).

1996

Source
1."Letters of Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitski), Archbishop of Volynsk, to Metropolitan Flavian (1905-1915)", photocopies of the original manuscripts, The Archive of the Publisher of Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, USA.

[Ekaterina]

Church in the End Times

By Alexander Kalomiros

The world and the devil are leading the Church to such frightening trials that the day might come when all the bishops of the land will enter into communion with the heretics. What will the faithful do then? What will the few do who have the heroism not to follow the masses, not to follow their kin, their neighbors, and their fellow citizens?

All the faithful will have to understand that the Church is not there where it appears to be. Liturgies will continue to be performed, and the churches will be filled with people, but the Church will have no relation with those churches or those clergy and those faithful. The Church is where the truth is. The faithful are those who continue the unbroken tradition of Orthodoxy, that work of the Holy Spirit. Those real priests are those who think, live, and teach as the Fathers and the Saints of the Church did, or at least do not reject them in their teaching. Where that continuity of thought and life does not exist, it is a deception to speak of the Church, even if all the outward marks speak of it.

There will always be found a canonical priest, ordained by a canonical bishop, who will follow the Tradition. Around such priests will gather the small groups of the faithful who will remain until the last days. Each one of these small groups will be a local catholic Church of God. The faithful will find in them the entire fullness of the grace of God. They will have no need of administrative or other ties, for the communion that will exist among them will be the most perfect there can be. It will be communion in the Body and Blood of Christ, communion in the Holy Spirit. The golden links of the unalterable Orthodox Tradition will connect those Churches among themselves as well as with the Churches of the past, with the Church triumphant of heaven. In these small groups the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church will be preserved intact.

Of course, it is wonderful that order and coordination should exist in the outward functionings of the various churches, and that the less important churches should receive their direction and guidance from the more important churches, the way it is now between dioceses, metropolises, archdioceses, and patriarchates, but in the last days, such outward relations and contacts will be impossible most of the time. When the age of the Antichrist aproaches, even the Ark of the Church will be difficult to discern. There will be such confusion in the world that one Church will not be able to be certain of the orthodoxy of another because of the multitude of false prophets who will fill the world and who will be saying, "here is Christ", and "there is Christ". Whatever will be accepted officially as the Church, having little by little already betrayed the treasures of the Faith, will have been assimilated by the indescribable, unifying marmalade which will retain most of the outward signs of the Church with satanic cleverness. Here and there small groups of faithful with some priest will still preserve the true Tradition alive. However, there might even be misunderstandings among the really Orthodox churches because of the confusion of tongues which exists in the contemporary Babel. But none of that will ever sever the essential unity of the Church.

But who will be able to recognize the Church of Christ in those small, scorned groups of faithful that lack all worldly splendor? Yet at the end of time, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church will be just those forgotten and outwardly disunited little parishes which may even be ignorant of the others' existence, but will be united among themselves by the mystical bonds of the Body and Blood of the Lord, in the Holy Spirit, with the common Faith and Tradition which will remain undef iled.
"Against False Union", Alexander Kalomiros

[Jean-Serge]

Who is the author? What is the date of this text?