ALL of the Orthodox Bishops will be killed or fall away?

[尼古拉前执事]

Before the Antichrist comes to power the Divine Liturgy will already have been taken away. The book of Daniel states clearly that continual Sacrafice will vanish from this earth. All the Bishops will be killed or fall away. That time is coming down upon extremely quickly. Those who are to strongly attached to the outward ordering of the Church will be swept up into the kingdom of the Antichrist.

Dear Theophan,

I admit that in my Patristic learning I have never heard this idea, Rather, what I have read says that the Anti-Christ, when he comes and is named the head of the one world Church and government will ban the Mysteries because He, claiming to be Christ, is back on the Earth and that there is no need. Therefore the few remnants of the True Church will be forced underground, to the mountains, and will celebrate the Mysteries, but in secret. If you can show me some quotes from the Patristic consensus showing that all the bishops will be killed or fall away, I would be very interested in reading them all.

[GOCTheophan]

[I admit that in my Patristic learning I have never heard this idea, Rather, what I have read says that the Anti-Christ, when he comes and is named the head of the one world Church and government will ban the Mysteries because He, claiming to be Christ, is back on the Earth and that there is no need. Therefore the few remnants of the True Church will be forced underground, to the mountains, and will celebrate the Mysteries, but in secret. If you can show me some quotes from the Patristic consensus showing that all the bishops will be killed or fall away, I would be very interested in reading them all.

Dear Father,

"Of course, we know that the Church will prevail even against the gates of hell, as the Saviour promised (Matt. 16.18), while no such promise is given to any earthly kingdom. However, as we have seen, the fall of the last Christian empire will lead to the final decline of the Church on earth, which will be halted only by the Second Coming of Christ, the King of kings. Moreover, the Church is not just the hierarchy; and it is quite possible that during the times of the Antichrist the whole of the hierarchy will fall away while only some individual laymen remain to represent the Church. Thus according to some interpretations of Daniel 12.11, "the removal of the continual burnt offering" signifies the removal of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist, which implies either the falling away of the priesthood or its inability to carry out its sacramental functions. For perhaps, as New Hieromartyr Joseph, Metropolitan of Petrograd, wrote, "the last 'rebels' against the betrayers of the Church and the accomplices of her ruin will be not only bishops and not archpriests, but the simplest mortals, just as at the Cross of Christ His last gasp of suffering was heard by a few simple souls who were close to Him..."

http://web.archive.org/web/200408212020 ... /AUTOC.htm

Theophan.

[尼古拉前执事]

Dear Theophan,

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   Thank you for that excerpt. I have not read the complete article you have linked to yet, but from the paragraph you have posted, this only seems to be the opinion of one theologian, Doctor Vladimir Moss. Do you happen to have any patristic fathers that predict that [b][i]every single bishop[/i][/b] will be killed or will fall away. Again, I only ask as I have never come upon this idea in my readings of the various writings of the Church Fathers.