Venerable Nile of Athos the Myrrh-Streaming: “The world will imagine that this Antichrist is meek and humble in heart, but in reality he will be a fox after heart (Luke 13:32), at heart - a wolf (John 10, 12), confusion of people will be his food (see Matthew 26:10; John 12:4-5). When people transform (i.e. die), then the Antichrist will feed on life.

The confusion of people will be this: condemnation, envy, rancor, hatred, enmity, covetousness, courage, forgetfulness of faith, adultery, boasting of fornication. This evil will be the food of the Antichrist.<...>

And the Antichrist will become the head over the cities, over the villages and over the districts of the villages, after there is no head (that is, abolished) in the villages, cities and rural districts.

During a time of worldwide anarchy and lawlessness, evil between people will reach extreme levels and people will cry out, which the Antichrist will take advantage of and reveal himself as the savior of the world.

Then he will seize power over the world, become the manager of the world, and will also begin to rule over human feelings. People will believe what he says, because he will act as a ruler and autocrat to destroy salvation. Those. people, who have already become vessels of the devil, will have extreme confidence in the Antichrist, will make him the universal ruler and autocrat, since he will be an instrument of the devil in his last attempt to destroy Christianity from the face of the earth.”

(Based on the words of the Lord in John 5:43: “in his name” and the words of the Apostle in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, it can be assumed that the Antichrist, being the embodiment of lawlessness, will then rise up against “his father” the devil, in immeasurable pride will reject every principle above him and will proclaim himself to be God, “and will sit in the temple as God, showing himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:4).

Being in perdition, people will think that he is Christ the Savior and that he will bring about their salvation.

Then the Church Gospel will be neglected.

Therefore, when destruction brings great disaster into the world, then, during these disasters, terrible signs will occur.

A terrible famine will come, and great greed (that is, insatiability) will come upon the world: compared to how much a person eats at the present time, then he will eat seven times more and not be satisfied. The great disaster will come everywhere.

Then the covetous will open their covetous granaries.<...>

Then gold will become worthless, like dung on the road...

He (the Antichrist) will be born from a virgin of evil and in a virgin of fornication, that is, from an evil harlot, although outwardly he is a virgin.

By this, evil will be incarnate (i.e. the Antichrist will be born) without any male seed. She will be born with seed, but not with human sowing, but with shed seed she will be incarnate.

(TRANSLATORS' NOTE: The Greek word "aulos" is used here, which<...>has two meanings, namely: poured out and immaterial<...>)”
In Italy, close to the Pope, experiments are already being made on the artificial cultivation of a human embryo.

Righteousness is compassion towards man.<...>Love always endures and never causes temptation, while rancor is always impatient<...>

Rancor is the seal of the Antichrist, for rancor imprints a person’s heart, as it were, with the seal of the Antichrist. Malice is the seal of the Antichrist.<...>This seal of rancor always makes the human heart sink<...>So, when the Antichrist puts his seal on people, their hearts will become as if dead... (TRANSLATORS' NOTE: only those who have this seal will be sold bread, according to Apocalypse 13.17). "

Many will die on the roads<...>will devour the bodies of the dead<...>being unable to bear hunger<...>

The following will be written on the seal:

“I am yours” - “Yes, you are mine”
“I go by will, not by force.”
“And I accept you by your will, and not by force.”

These four sayings or inscriptions will be depicted in the middle of that damned seal.”

(The word “depicted” indicates that, perhaps, the seal itself will have a symbolic appearance, like a coat of arms, an emblem, and the spiritual meaning of the signs of this seal will correspond to these four sayings).

“People will start moving from place to place.<...>

And when the Antichrist sits on his damned throne, then the sea will boil like water boils in a cauldron.<...>Everything will dry up from the heat of the sea<...>”

(OK. 21, 25: “The sea will roar and be indignant.”Rome. 8, 22:“The whole creature groans and suffers collectively”).

“The day will turn like an hour, the week like a day, the month like a week, and the year like a month...

People who have become so wicked in soul and in body will be diminished; they will be 1 3/4 arshins in height, we say, five spans the length of the human body.”

(These are people, in fact, of the most recent times; but at the same time, one must assume, there will also be people of earlier births).

“By the acts of their wickedness these people will surpass the demons and will be one spirit with the demons.<...>

And now the Antichrist, rejoicing at the sight of human evil, will suddenly be attacked from above by a “double-edged sword” ( 2 Thess. 2, 8), with which he will be struck, and his unclean spirit will be cast out from his defiled body. With the death of the Antichrist, the killing of people will come to an end. Cain marked the beginning of the murder, but the antitype (Antichrist) will bring about the end, that is, it will end with him.”

From a recently published new translation:“...The Antichrist will desire to dominate everything and become the ruler of the entire universe and will perform miracles and fantastic signs. He will also give wicked wisdom to the unfortunate man, so that he will make such discoveries that one person to another can carry on a conversation from one end of the earth to the other. Also then they will fly through the air like birds and cut through the bottom of the sea like fish. And having achieved all this, unfortunate people will spend their lives in comfort, not knowing, poor things, that this is a deception of the Antichrist.

And, the wicked one, he will improve science with vanity in such a way that it will lead astray and lead people to disbelief in the existence of the Trinitarian God.

Then the All-Good God, seeing the destruction of the human race, will shorten the days for the sake of those few who are being saved, because he wanted to lead into temptation, if possible, even the elect... Then the punishing sword will suddenly appear and kill the seducer and his servants.”

Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Didache): “Be vigilant about your life. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor let your loins be loosened, but be ready. For you do not know the hour when our Lord will come. Meet together often, seeking that which is right for your souls, for your faith will not profit you all the time unless you become perfect in the last time. For in the last days false prophets and destroyers will multiply, and sheep will turn into wolves, and love will turn to hate. For as iniquity increases, they will hate each other and will persecute and betray, and then the world’s deceiver will appear as the son of God and will perform signs and wonders, and the earth will be given into his hands, and [he] will create iniquities such as have never been done since the beginning of time. Then the human creation will come into the fire of testing, and many will be tempted and perish, but those who remain in their faith will be saved from this curse. And then the sign of truth will appear: first the sign spread out in heaven, then the sign of the trumpet, and thirdly the resurrection of the dead; not all, however, but as it is said: The Lord will come and all the saints with Him. Then the world will see the Lord coming on the clouds of heaven...”

Apostle Barnabas († 76): “Let us therefore be careful in the last days. For all the time of our life and faith will not bring us any benefit if we do not hate untruth and future temptations, as the Son of God says: “let us resist all unrighteousness and hate it.” So, look carefully at the works of the evil one's way. You must not separate yourself from others as if you were justified; but when gathering in one place, examine what is proper and useful to all lovers in general. For Scripture says: “Woe to those who are wise in themselves and understanding in themselves” (Isa. 5:21)

St. Hippolytus, Pope († 30.1.268): “...many who will heed the Divine Scriptures, hold them in their hands and meditate on them, will avoid the deception (of the Antichrist). After all, they will clearly understand his intrigues and the lies of his seduction: they will escape his hands and hide on the mountains and crevices of the earth and with tears and a contrite heart they will look for that Lover of Mankind, who will snatch them from his nets and save them from his painful temptations and in an invisible way, with the right He will cover them with His hand because they have rightfully and worthily fallen to Him.

Do you see what kind of fasting and prayer the saints will observe then? Pay attention also to what difficult times and days will befall all those who will be in cities and villages. They will then move from east to west and back from west to east; they will cry greatly and lament bitterly; and when the day has just dawned, they will wait for the night to calm down from their activities. When night falls, due to continuous earthquakes and air hurricanes, they will try to see the light of day as soon as possible and how to finally achieve at least a difficult death. Then the whole earth will mourn the sorrowful life, the sea and the air will mourn, the sun will mourn, wild animals and birds will mourn, mountains and hills and field trees will mourn - and all this thanks to the human race for the fact that everyone has deviated from the Holy God and believed into a seducer, having accepted the image of this wicked man and enemy of God, instead of the life-giving cross of the Savior.

The churches will also mourn the great sorrow. After all, (then) there will be no offering, no incense, no service pleasing to God; but church buildings will be like huts designed to store fruit; The venerable body and blood of Christ will not be exalted in those days. Public worship will cease, the singing of psalms will cease, the reading of the Scriptures will not be heard: and there will be darkness for the people, and mourning for mourning, and groaning for groaning. Then they will throw silver and gold along the roads, and no one will collect them, and everything will become disgusting. In fact, everyone will try to run away and hide, and yet will not have the opportunity to hide anywhere from the rage of the enemy, as those bearing his sign will be easily detected and recognized. There will be fear outside and trembling inside (there will be) both night and day. Both on the street and in the houses (there will be) corpses, both on the street and at home - thirst and hunger; there is turmoil on the street, and sobs at home. The beauty on the face will disappear; in fact, his features in people will be like those of the dead; Beauty will be destroyed in women and lust will disappear in all people.”

“Blessed are those who will then overcome the tyrant, and they should be considered more glorious and greater than the first martyrs.

In fact, the former martyrs defeated his (Antichrist’s) bodyguards; These same ones will defeat the devil himself, the son of destruction. And having become victors (over him), what great awards and crowns will they receive from our King Jesus Christ.”

Saint Cyril (†18/31.3.386 or 387), Archbishop of Jerusalem:“...The martyrs of that time, in my opinion, are higher than all the martyrs. The former martyrs fought with only people, but the martyrs under the Antichrist will wage war with Satan himself.”

St. Andrew, Archbishop, Caesarea: “And go and fight against those who remain.- And when the best and chosen church teachers and those who despise the earth retire into the desert due to disasters, then the Antichrist, although deceived in them, will raise a battle against those who fight Christ in the world in order to triumph over them, finding them easily caught, as if sprinkled with earthly dust and passionate about everyday affairs. But many of these will overcome him, because they have sincerely loved Christ.”

Venerable Seraphim of Sarov:“And in the days of that great tribulation, about which it is said that no flesh would have been saved, if those days had not been shortened for the sake of the elect,<...>in those days... the remnant of the faithful will experience something similar to what was once experienced by the Lord Himself, when He, hanging on the cross, being perfect God and perfect man, felt Himself so abandoned by His Divinity that He cried out to Him: God my! My God! Why did you leave me? The last Christians must experience a similar abandonment of humanity by the Grace of God, but only for a very short time, after which the Lord will not hesitate to appear in all His glory and all the Holy Angels with Him. And then everything that has been predetermined from eternity in the eternal Council will be accomplished in its entirety.”

“But there is a third reason, and one might say causeless the reason why the grace of the All-Holy Spirit sometimes deigns leave even a person God-bearing. And this is already permitted by the Lord God Himself - to experience this only extremely strengthened in the grace of God people as an extraordinary feat for extraordinary and rewards for that: just as it was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who was allowed by God His Father, when His Divinity remained on the Cross completely dispassionate, that is, not feeling the suffering of His flesh, the Divine Sufferer involuntarily deigned to cry out: “Or! Or! Lama Savahvani?”, which means in translation: My God! why did you leave me? (Matt. 27, 46; Mark 15, 34). So, the same temptation will be allowed on the entire universe during the time of the Antichrist, when all the holy people of God and the holy Church of God of Christ, consisting only of them alone, as if abandoned from God’s protection and help. The wicked will triumph and exalt themselves over them until the Lord God Himself the Holy Spirit, who sees them from afar invisibly heavy suffering, from ancient times he predicted: “Oh, where is the faith and patience of the saints!” (cm. Apocalypse 13, 10; 14, 12). Similar to this immeasurable temptations are allowed and will be allowed until this time against the holy great saints of God and pleasing women of God to tempt them immeasurably great faith in Christ and to crown them with incomprehensibly great and incredible rewards for the human mind during the Rebirth and life of the Future Age (see. Apocalypse 20, 4-6,the reader understands!)”.

To the brother’s question: “As the saints have now multiplied throughout the world, will it be the same at the end of this age?” Rev. Niphon († 11.8.1460), Patriarch of Constantinople answered: “My son, until the very end of this age the prophets of the Lord God will not fail, nor will the servants of Satan. However, in the last time, those who will truly work for God will safely hide themselves from people and will not perform signs and wonders among them, as at the present time, but will follow the path of work, dissolved in humility, and in the Kingdom of Heaven they will turn out to be greater than the Fathers who became glorified. signs; because then no one will do miracles before human eyes that would inflame people and encourage them to strive with zeal for exploits. Those who occupy the thrones of the priesthood throughout the world will be completely unskillful and will not know the art of virtue. The same will be the leaders of the monastics, for everyone will be overthrown by gluttony and vanity, and will serve as a temptation for people more than a model, therefore virtue will be neglected even more; the love of money will then reign, and woe to the monks who are rich in gold, for such will be a reproach to the Lord God and will not see the face of the living God. A monk or layman who gives his gold at interest, if he does not deviate from such extortion, will be plunged into deep tartarus, because he did not want to sacrifice (his gold) to God through doing good to the poor. Therefore, my son, as I said before, many, being possessed by ignorance, will fall into the abyss, being mistaken in the breadth of the wide and spacious path.”

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) By about these words of Rev. Nifont of Tsaregrad wrote: “What profound instruction, what consolation for us in these prophetic words of the standard-bearing and spirit-bearing Father! Due to the multiplication of temptations, due to their universality and dominance, due to the forgetting of the Gospel commandments and their neglect by all humanity, it is necessary for those who wish to be saved to withdraw from human society into external and internal solitude. Due to the drying up of grace-filled leaders, due to the multiplication of false teachers, deceived by demonic delusion and drawing the whole world into this deception, it is necessary residence dissolved in humility, the most precise living according to the Gospel commandments is necessary, it is necessary to combine prayer with lamentation for oneself and for all humanity, caution is necessary against any enthusiasm for passion, thinking of doing the work of God with human powers alone, without God acting and doing his work. Let him save his soul, said to the remnant of Christians, said by the Spirit of God. Save yourself! Blessed if you find one faithful collaborator in the work of salvation: this is a great and rare gift of God in our time. Beware, if you want to save your neighbor, that he does not drag you into a pernicious abyss. The latter happens hourly. The retreat was allowed by God: do not try to stop it with your weak hand. Stay away, protect yourself from him: and that’s enough for you. Get acquainted with the spirit of the time, study it, so as to avoid its influence if possible. “Nowadays there is almost no true piety,” says Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk a hundred years ago. “Now it’s just hypocrisy.” Fear hypocrisy, first, in yourself, then in others: fear precisely because it is in the nature of the time and is capable of infecting anyone at the slightest deviation into frivolous behavior. Do not strive for show to people, but in secret for your salvation, in the eyes of God, and your behavior will be cleansed of hypocrisy. Do not judge your neighbors, leaving judgment over them to God, and your heart will be cleansed of hypocrisy. Pursue hypocrisy in yourself, drive it out of yourself; turn away from the masses infected by it, acting both intentionally and unconsciously in its direction, covering the service of the world with the service of God, the search for temporary goods with the search for eternal goods, covering with the guise of holiness a corrupt life and a soul completely devoted to passions.”

“Before the second coming of Christ<...>Christianity, spirituality and reasoning will become impoverished to the extreme among humanity<...>”

“Opponents of the Antichrist will be considered troublemakers, enemies of the public good and order, will be subject to both covert and open persecution, torture and execution.”

“The performers of the signs of the Antichrist will be the Antichrist and his apostles; signs in the sun, moon and stars, signs - the messengers of the coming of Christ - will appear by themselves, without any mediation. The heavenly bodies fulfill their purpose, with which, at the command of the Creator, they shone in the sky. They already fulfilled this purpose at the Nativity of Christ with a wonderful star; They performed it at the crucifixion of the God-man, when the sun was covered with a dark veil of darkness at midday. The Holy Evangelist Matthew says that after the passing of the sorrow caused by the dominion of the Antichrist, the coming of Christ will immediately begin, and it will begin with the fact that the sun will darken, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven. These luminaries will remain in their places, notes Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria; but they will fade and appear to human eyes as having disappeared from the firmament of heaven due to the abundance of heavenly light with which the world will be illuminated, being prepared to receive the Lord in His glory.”

“In times of sorrows and dangers, visible and invisible, prayer is especially needed: it, being an expression of the rejection of arrogance, an expression of hope in God, attracts God’s help to us.”

“When the great tribulations come during the time of the Antichrist, all true believers in God will cry out in intense prayer to God. They will cry out for help, for intercession, for the sending of Divine grace to strengthen and guide them. The own strengths of people, although faithful to God, are not enough to resist the united forces of rejected angels and people who will act with frenzy and despair, anticipating their imminent destruction. Divine grace, having overshadowed God’s chosen ones, will make for them the seductions of the seducer invalid, his threats unthreatening, his miracles despicable; she grants them to courageously confess the Savior who accomplished the salvation of people, and to expose the false Messiah who came to destroy people; she will place them on scaffolds, as on royal thrones, as on a wedding feast.”

The Lord “even in the very times of the Antichrist will guide His servants and prepare for them places and means of salvation, as is testified in the Apocalypse.”

Venerable Lawrence (Proskura, 1868 † February 20, 1950), schema-archimandrite of the Chernigov Trinity Monastery:

“Immediately after the reign of the Antichrist, persecution will begin on the land of Jerusalem, and then throughout all places on the globe the last blood will be shed for the Name of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Of you, my children, many will live to see this terrible time.<...>Christians will be killed or exiled to desert places, but the Lord will help and nourish His followers.<...>In those days there will still be strong fighters, pillars of Orthodoxy, who will be under the strong influence of the heartfelt Jesus Prayer. And the Lord will cover them with His Almighty grace and they will not see those false signs that will be prepared for all people. I repeat once again that it will be impossible to go to those churches, there will be no grace in them.

One my sister, listening to this conversation, asked: “What should I do? I wouldn’t want to live to see this time.” “You’re young, you can wait,” said the elder. "How scary!" “And you choose one of two: either earthly or heavenly.”<...>The sister asked: “So they all died?” “No, if believers wash themselves with blood in the third “World War,” they will be counted among the martyrs, and if they are not believers, they will go to hell,” Father answered. And until the number of fallen Angels is filled, the Lord will not come to judge. But in recent times, the Lord will also number the living, written in the Book of Life, among the Angels of the missing number of those who have fallen away. To one Deacon, who is still alive, but already old, Father directly said: “You will live to see the time when the Antichrist will appear, do not be afraid, but tell everyone that it is “he” and there is no need to be afraid.”

Father talked with one hierodeacon (George) about the last times, bitterly shed tears, saying: “Many clergy will perish under the Antichrist.” And George says: “How can I not die? After all, I’m a deacon?” And Father said, “I don’t know.” Father Deacon began to cry, falling at his feet, asking him to pray for him so that he could escape hell, and he prayed and answered: “Okay. This is how it happens: he got sick in the head, and then he himself got sick, died and entered the Kingdom of Heaven.”

And this prediction came true. We knew this deacon of the Kyiv Lavra, he was a very virtuous and singing monk, suddenly fell ill with a headache and soon died.

Father often lamented and prayed tearfully, or told something with tears. The sisters reassured him, to which he said: “How can you not cry when the abyss of human souls is full.”

The priest had a strong love for everyone, for which the Lord gifted him with heartfelt prayers and insight.

“There will be an abyss on the earth,” said Father, “and the “sirki” (demons) will all come out and will be in people who will neither be baptized nor pray, but only kill people, and murder is the original sin. It is interesting to seduce people more with this sin. Amen".

“Truly godly Christians, - wroteunknown Russian priest of the 20th century., - will suffer persecution from their false brothers, hypocritical Christians. Although the number of Christians will increase for the sake of the merciful grace of Christ during the last worldwide preaching, not all of them will be true followers of Christ, many of them will be limited to appearance alone, to external rituals alone.”

Archimandrite Nektarios (Moulatsiotis) from Greece: “In the time of Antichrist, the most cruel and brutal tortures will be applied to Christians in order to force them to renounce their faith. On this occasion, St. Basil the Great prayed: “My God, do not let me live in the time of Antichrist, because I am not sure that I will endure all the tortures and not renounce You...” If the great saint said this, what should we say and how will we meet this time?

Therefore, before the appearance of the Antichrist on earth, the prophets Elijah and Enoch will appear again. They will be shepherds of the flock of Christ, from them Christians will receive strength and will refrain from following the Antichrist.

Then the Antichrist will announce the most terrible persecution that has ever been against Christians and the Church of Christ. This is the persecution of the Holy Evangelist John the Theologian in Apocalypse (12, 1-4) describes in the strongest words. This persecution will not only be a persecution against the Orthodox faith, but the attempt of the Antichrist and his followers to change the meaning of Orthodox life will be a bloody persecution.

Many Christians will be tortured. This will be the greatest and last persecution of Christians. The Fathers of the Church say that not only the laity who have accepted the seal of the Antichrist will allow this persecution, but also the priesthood who have accepted his seal. The priesthood will help the Antichrist, like Fr. Harlampios Vasilopoulos notes in his book about the Antichrist, with their human and spiritual deeds that they will offer to the Antichrist. They will become allies of the Antichrist in the persecution of faithful bishops, priests and laity. With the help of church authorities, sermons and so on will be used to lead members of the Church to accept the Antichrist. And whoever does not obey the orders of the Antichrist will be subjected to endless torment. The Holy Fathers of our Church say that the martyrs of the Antichrist's time will be glorified in the Kingdom of God as the Greatest martyrs and saints of all ages. “I tell you that the martyrs of these times will be above all martyrs.” (St. Cyril of Jerusalem)”

Mother Macaria (1987-1988): “Whoever is God will not see the Antichrist. It will be open to many where to go, where to go. The Lord knows how to hide His own; no one will find them.”

E.N. Trubetskoy (1913): “Already many years before writing “Three Conversations,” Solovyov predicted the coming revival of mysticism and mysticism in the kingdom of the Antichrist before the end of the world. In conversations with friends already in the early nineties, he repeatedly expressed the idea, later expressed in “Three Conversations” (Collected Works, vol. 8, p. 565), that the organization of the kingdom of the Antichrist would be a matter of Freemasons, which already in our time sets itself the main goal of fighting against Christ and Christianity. In response to the objection of his friends that modern Freemasons are not suitable as forerunners of the Antichrist due to their extreme and superficial rationalism, Soloviev cited the famous text of the Apocalypse, about a beast emerging from the sea. - “And I saw that one of his heads seemed to be mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed. And all the earth marveled, watching the beast; and they worshiped the dragon, who gave power to the beast.” (13, 3) . According to his interpretation, “wound” means a flaw in the mental outlook of modern deniers of Christ, their organic inability to understand anything mysterious, mystical. In our days, the “mystery of iniquity” cannot be accomplished, precisely because of this misunderstanding of the secret: the work of the Antichrist is paralyzed precisely because the worldview of his followers is one continuous wound, hole in the head. But at the end of the ages this wound will be healed; the Antichrist, endowed with mystical power, will magically act on humanity, and only then will everyone bow to him Earth, captivated and bewitched by his supernatural spells. In the image of that “empty hole” that in “Three Conversations” personifies Tolstoy’s worldview, the same apocalyptic “wound” is felt. And the need for her future healing becomes quite clear.

<...>The transition from the modern statelessness of Tolstoy’s teaching to the subsequent imperialism kingdom of the Antichrist.

At different times the state has different significance for the cause of Christ: therefore it cannot have the same value for the Antichrist. At present, as we have seen, the existence of a mixed state environment in the eyes of Solovyov is justified by the immaturity of humanity, unpreparedness him to the Kingdom of God: it must exist until the day of the Lord's harvest, when the time comes for the final separation of the wheat from the tares. By restraining the external manifestations of evil, preventing hell from taking over the universe, the state thereby transition the moment one way or another serves the cause of Christ: under these conditions, it is natural that the modern phenomenon of the kingdom of Antichrist should be characterized by an anti-state, anarchic direction. Nowadays, the most effective weapon in the hands of the enemies of Christ is the preaching of “non-resistance”, which rebels against the coercive order of the state, against war and all external measures of violent curbing in general “solely so as not to lay a finger on evil” (Collected. op. vol. 8, p. 484).

“The Tale of the Antichrist” depicts a different era, when humanity is already fully ripe for final choice between good and evil. In this final struggle, both good and evil must appear in their final and perfect form. But under these conditions, all violent methods of curbing, all those restraints that limit from the outside evil, preventing its full detection. At the end of centuries, Good must oppose evil not with an external border, but with that gracious, supernatural force that overcomes it from the inside, at the very root. Such a complete victory over evil means not only the complete triumph of truth, but also the final abolition of death. It is clear that a state that itself fights against evil with deadly weapons is unsuitable for this purpose. Therefore, in the final stage of the world process it becomes unnecessary for good. Here the fight against evil is carried out directly by the spiritual force that resurrects the dead.

But thereby the state withdraws to evil and turns entirely into its instrument: for in the area of ​​moral relations there can be nothing just unnecessary or unnecessary. “There is an inexorable law here: “whoever is not for us is against us.” In the era of the final separation of good and evil, good must clearly emerge as a Kingdom not of this world: it will have to conquer not by worldly forces, but contrary to them: but that is precisely why evil, as the perfect antithesis of good, must take possession of all means of worldly coercion. The path to resurrection lies through the cross of Christ; therefore, in the final struggle against evil, the power that transforms the world must triumph through the cross, through martyrdom. It is clear that in the fight against this grace-filled power, the prince of this age must appear fully armed with worldly greatness. All the forces of the world empire must be strained in order to enter into a fight with that force of unconditional Good, which is not of this world.

Thus, there is no contradiction in the final transformation of the “kingdom of Antichrist”, which is depicted in “Three Conversations”. The transition from Tolstoyism to imperialism in Solovyov’s scheme is a natural result of the revaluation of values ​​that is about to occur before the end of the world. “Antichrist” denies the state until and to the extent that it is valuable for good, and idolizes it from the moment when it loses this value.”

: “Before the end of the world, the world state will be restored once again and its ruler will be the Antichrist, who will simultaneously appear as a universal patriarch and god. Then the cruel Roman laws with iron discipline and inhuman orders will be resurrected, the entire atheistic system of Nimrod and other apostates will be resurrected. All this will be united in the Antichrist, with whom New Babylon will be crowned, and then the mystery of lawlessness will be completed.”

Venerable Lavrentiy (Proskura, 1868-1950), Chernigov: “Father said that the time will come when they will fight and fight, and then there will be a worldwide war. And those who remain will say: “Come on, let’s choose one.” And they will elect. And I thought that I was old and would not live, and Father said: “Yes, I’m old too, let’s take it and live...” “We must listen, we must be careful when they choose one. He will be elected as king.” During the conversation, the priest said: “There will be a war, because they will be counted among the martyrs... But not only unbelievers, but also believers will go to hell.” And the sister says that it’s possible to die, and Father said: “The Lord will take away the weak, and others will be cleansed by illness... There will be those who, in war, will wash away their sins with their blood and will be numbered among the martyrs, and the Lord will leave the strongest to meet with Nim.” Father often loved to talk with his children about the last times: how you need to be vigilant and careful, since the Antichrist is close. He said that now we are voting, then throw it with your left hand - it’s nothing, and it’s not for one in the whole world, and if they vote for one, it’s already him and you can’t vote. He also said that there would be such a war that no one would be left anywhere, except in the gorge. And they will fight and two or three states will remain and will say: let us choose one king for the whole universe. And in the last days, true Christians will be exiled, and let the old and infirm even grab their wheels and run after them. He often repeated conversations about the Antichrist: “There will be a time when they will go and sign for one king on earth, and they will strictly register people. They will enter the house, and there will be a husband, wife and children. And so the wife begins to persuade her husband: “Come on, husband, let’s sign, because we have children, then you won’t be able to buy anything for them.” And the husband will say: “As you wish, I am ready to die, but I will not sign for the Antichrist,” such a touching picture.

<...>The Antichrist will be crowned as a king in the magnificent Jerusalem temple with the participation of the clergy and the Patriarch. There will be free entry and exit into Jerusalem for every person, but then try not to travel, because everything will be done to deceive. The Antichrist will come from a prodigal Jewish virgin woman, the twelfth generation of fornication.

<...>At his coronation, when the “Creed” will be read, he will not allow it to be read correctly, where there will be words for Jesus Christ as the Son of God, he will renounce this, and recognize only himself. And at the same time the Patriarch will exclaim: “This is the Antichrist.” And for this the Patriarch will be killed. At the coronation, the Antichrist will be wearing gloves, and when he takes them off to cross himself, the Patriarch will notice that he has claws, not nails, on his fingers, and this will lead to greater belief that this is the Antichrist. The prophets Enoch and Elijah will descend from heaven, who will also explain to all people and exclaim: “This is the Antichrist, do not believe him.” And he will kill them, but they will be resurrected and fly to heaven.
The Antichrist will be greatly trained in all satanic tricks, and he will perform false signs. The whole world will listen and see him. He will “stamp” “his” people with seals and will hate Christians. The last persecution will begin against the Christian soul, which will refuse the seal of Satan.

The seals will be given in such a way that they will immediately recognize whether a person has accepted it or not. It will be impossible to buy or sell anything to a Christian, but do not be discouraged: the Lord will not abandon his children.. There is no need to be afraid!..<...>

And because of this lawlessness, the earth will stop giving birth, from lack of rain everything will crack, it will give such cracks that a person can fall. Christians will be killed or exiled to desert places, but the Lord will help and nourish His followers. The Jews will also be driven to one place, and some Jews who truly lived according to the Law of Moses will not accept the seal of the Antichrist, they will wait, look closely at his activities, they know that their ancestors did not recognize Christ as the Messiah, but here too God willing that their eyes will be opened and they will not accept the seal of Satan, but will recognize Christ and will reign with Christ, and all the weak people will follow Satan, and when the land does not produce a harvest, people will come to him asking for bread, and he will answer: “ The earth will not produce bread. I can not do anything".

There will be no water either, all rivers and lakes will dry up. This disaster will last three and a half years, but for the sake of His chosen ones the Lord will shorten those days.

<...>“There will be a war,” he continued, and where it takes place, there will be no people there, and before that the Lord will send small illnesses to weak people and they will die, but under the Antichrist there will be no death.”

“And the Third World War will no longer be for repentance, but for extermination.<...>

The Lord is merciful. He will save those Jews who refuse to accept the seals of the Antichrist, and exclaim that this is a deception, and not a “messiah.”

“There will be no demons in hell lately. Everyone will be on earth and in people. There will be a terrible disaster on earth and there will not even be water. Then there will be a world war. There will be such powerful bombs that iron will burn and stones will melt. Fire and smoke with dust will reach the sky. And the earth will burn. There will be very few people left and they will start shouting: “Down with the war” and “Install one king.” They will choose a king who will be born of a prodigal virgin of the twelfth generation, a royal family, and will be beautiful to the wicked, but the pious will see him as terribly terrible. When he rides in a chariot in a royal robe and reaches the garden, he gets off it and goes for a walk in the garden, thinking about how he should build his kingdom. Suddenly an abyss opens, water appears and from the water, as if someone is splashing out and it seems to him that someone is behind him. He will look back and see a terrible monster and scream in fear, opening his mouth. At that moment, a demon will possess him and from then on he will become the Antichrist.” Even earlier, the priest once said: “The Antichrist will sit on the throne in Jerusalem. Now the star is bound in hell and the Lord will untie him and he will inhabit the king-antichrist.” Priests Nicephorus, Gregory and others. Vasily Ganzin to Father Fr. They objected to Lavrenty that he spoke about this differently and in a different way. He answered them: “Fathers and brothers, one thing you don’t know and don’t understand is that I speak not only for Russia, but for the whole world. My words are true and the Holy Spirit revealed them to me by grace.”

Blessed Matrona Dimitrievna Nikonova (1881-1952): “Then the old ones will come, and it will be worse than it was! I feel so sorry for you all. You will live until the end times. Life will get worse and worse. Heavy. The time will come when they will put a cross and bread in front of you and say: “Choose!” We will choose the cross.” - “Mother, how can you live then?” She: “And we will pray, take land, roll balls, pray to God, eat and be full.”

“There will be no war, without war you will all die, there will be many victims, you will all lie dead on the ground. And I will also tell you: in the evening you will all be on the earth, and in the morning you will rise - you will all go into the earth. Without war, war goes on.”

[Antichrist and Russia]. Text found in the papers of Fr. Pavel Florensky, presumably received by him from S.A. Nilus, who, in turn, found it in the papers of the “servant of the Mother of God and Seraphim” N.L. Motovilov:“Before the birth of the Antichrist, there will be a great long war and a terrible revolution in Russia, according to the exact expression of Fr. Seraphim, beyond any human imagination, for the bloodshed will be the most terrible: the riots of Razinsky, Pugachevsky, the French Revolution are nothing in comparison with what will happen to Russia. There will be the death of many people faithful to the fatherland, the plunder of church property and monasteries; desecration of the Lord's churches; destruction and plunder of the wealth of good people, rivers of Russian blood will be shed. But the Lord will have mercy on Russia and lead it through suffering to great glory...

The constant count of the global and Russian war will be 10 years... Since I myself was told back in 1834, here in Voronezh, that I would not die before I personally recognized myself as the person who would live to see the birth of the Antichrist, so that, like Simeon the Receiver of God, who made it known about the birth of the True Christ, he would let us know about the birth of the true Antichrist. This sermon will be officially announced to all people, not only Russians, but also universally, as a universal announcement. Then it will be easy to foreknow his accession to the universe in old Jerusalem, on the entire surface of the globe, except for the present territory of Russia and inner Asia; where the 10 tribes of the kingdom of Israel live. Russia will merge into one great sea with the other lands and Slavic tribes, it will form one sea or that huge universal ocean of the people, about which the Lord God spoke from ancient times through the mouth of all the saints: “The formidable and invincible kingdom of all-Russian, all-Slavic - Gog Magog, before which we stand in awe all nations will be.” And all this, all is true, as two and two are four, and certainly, as God is holy, who from ancient times foretold about him and his formidable dominion over the earth. With the combined forces of Russia and others, Constantinople and Jerusalem will be captured. When Turkey is divided, almost all of it will remain with Russia, and Russia, united with many other states, will take Vienna, and about 7 million native Viennese will remain with the House of Habsburg, and the territory of the Austrian Empire will be established there. France, for her love for the Mother of God - St. Madonna - will be given up to seventeen million Frenchmen with the capital city of Reims, and Paris will be completely destroyed. The House of Napoleon will be given Sardinia, Corsica and Savoy. When the Russian Empire receives one hundred and eighty million into its possession, the appearance of the Antichrist should be expected.

The Antichrist will be born in Russia between St. Petersburg and Moscow, in that great city which, after the union of all Slavic tribes with Russia, will be the second capital of the Russian kingdom and will be called “Moscow-Petrograd”, or “The City of the End”, as the Lord the Holy Spirit calls it from afar providing for everything.

Before the appearance of the Antichrist, the Eighth Ecumenical Council of all Churches must take place under the One Head of Christ the Life-Giver and under the one Protection of the Mother of God, One in God Almighty, with the first patriarch reserving his royal power as the prototype of the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ, also for the unification and reunion of all saints of the Churches of Christ against the maturing anti-Christian trend under the One Head of Christ the Life-Giver and under the one protection of His Most Pure Mother and for the final damnation of all Freemasonry and all similar parties (under whatever names they appear), the main leaders of which have one common goal: under the pretext of complete equal prosperity on earth with the help of people fanatized by them to cause anarchy in all states and destroy Christianity throughout the world and, finally, with the power of gold concentrated in their hands, to subjugate the whole world to anti-Christianity, in the person of the autocratic king, the God-fighting king, alone over the whole world .

Satan was the first revolutionary, and through this he fell from heaven. There is nothing in common between the teachings of his followers and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ; there is a huge gap here. The Lord, through doing the commandments given by Him, calls humanity to heaven, where truth dwells. The spirit of darkness promises the establishment of heaven on earth.

Thus, all revolutionary societies, secret or open, under whatever names they appear and no matter what plausible appearance they hide behind, have one common goal - the struggle and general destruction of Christianity, preparing the ground for anti-Christianity in the person of the Antichrist coming into the world.

Jews and Slavs are two peoples of God's destinies, His vessels and witnesses, indestructible arks; the rest of the nations are like spit, which the Lord spews out of His mouth. Because the Jews did not accept and recognize the Lord Jesus Christ, they were scattered across the face of the whole earth. But at the time of the Antichrist, many Jews will turn to Christ, since they will understand that the Messiah they mistakenly expected is none other than the One about whom our Lord Jesus Christ said: “I came in the name of My Father, and they did not receive Me, another He will come in his name, and they will receive him.” So, despite their great crime before God, the Jews were and are a people beloved before God. The Slavs are loved by God because they maintain true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to the end. At the time of the Antichrist, they will completely reject and not recognize him as the Messiah, and for this they will be rewarded with the great blessing of God: there will be an omnipotent language on earth, and there will be no other more omnipotent Russian-Slavic kingdom on earth.

In Israel, Jesus Christ, the true God-man, the Son of God the Father was born through the influx of the Holy Spirit, and among the Slavs and Russians the true Antichrist-demon-man will be born, the son of the wife of the harlot of Dan’s generation and the son of the devil through the artificial transfer of male seed to her, with whom he will dwell into her womb is the spirit of darkness. But one of the Russians, having lived to see the birth of the Antichrist, “like Simeon the God-Receiver, who blessed the Child Jesus and announced His birth to the world, will curse the born Antichrist and announce to the world that he is the true Antichrist.”

S.A. Nilus (1910): “There are few who “understand.” Details of the vision of Fr. Nectaria. Yesterday marked one year since the death of Schema-Hegumen Mark. When, just before his death, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with him about the events and signs of the times, the great elder said to me:

How few people understand their true meaning! Over the past year, it seems, the ranks of those who understand have thinned out even more, not only in the world, but even in holy monasteries. Father Nektary is still in the hospital. Today I went to see him again. I asked about his dream.

“I had it almost all night,” said the priest and told me in general terms its contents.

“It would take too long to go into all the details,” he added. Here’s the main thing: I see a huge field, and on this field a terrible battle is taking place between a countless horde of apostates and a small army of Christians. All apostates are excellently armed and fight according to all the rules of military science, while Christians are unarmed. At least I don’t see any weapons on them. And, to my horror, the outcome of this unequal struggle is already foreseen: the moment of the final triumph of the apostate hordes is coming, since there are almost no Christians left. The festively dressed crowds of apostates with their wives and children are rejoicing and already celebrating their victory... Suddenly, an insignificant crowd of Christians, among whom I see women and children, makes a sudden attack on their own and God’s opponents, and in an instant everything the huge battlefield is covered with the corpses of the Antichrist army, and its entire innumerable crowd is killed and, moreover, to my extreme surprise, without the help of any weapons. And I asked a Christian warrior standing next to me: “How could you defeat this countless horde?” - “God helped!” - that was the answer. - “But what? - I ask. “After all, you didn’t even have a weapon.” - “Whatever!” - the warrior answered me. This is where my dream ended.”

I heard this strange and wonderful story today from the lips of the undeceitful and blessed priest of God, Fr. Nektarios, hieromonk of Saint Optina Pustyn. Fr. had this dream. Nektarios on the night of March 16th to 17th of this year 1910. How to understand this dream? Does it mark the victory of Orthodox Russia over the apostate world and the extension of God's favor to the sinful earth? or is he a herald of the final triumph of the little flock of Christ over the last great apostasy, when the lawless Antichrist will appear “the Lord Jesus will kill him with the spirit of His mouth, and abolish him with the appearance of His Coming”?.. We’ll wait and see, if... we live. But this dream is not without reason and is comforting in both senses.”

Unknown Russian priest,author of the work “Antichrist”: “According to the legend of the Glinsky elders, it is also believed that after the overthrow of the Antichrist and the false prophet into fiery Gehenna alive, this world will not end immediately after that. Another 45 days will pass, and then the Last Judgment will come. When the heavens open and the King of Glory, our Lord Jesus Christ, sits on a white horse, when He kills the Antichrist and the false prophet with the Spirit of His mouth, and those who will be with him in Armageddon, then the end of the world will not come immediately after this, but in the sky will remain shining with indescribable heavenly light that cross of the Lord, which will precede the King of Glory, and on which He was crucified in the days of His First Coming to earth.

This Honorable Cross of the Lord will shine in the sky for 45 days before the Second Coming of the Lord to the Last Judgment, calling with its appearance the surviving people to repentance, although the Antichrist and the false prophet will no longer be on earth, but the ancient serpent-devil will still act on it along with Gog and Magog, plotting to wipe out the city of Jerusalem in Palestine from the face of the earth, where Orthodox Christians hiding in the desert would begin to gather, feeling some relief from the fact that the Antichrist was no longer there, that all his power had burst in an instant - as soon as Christ appeared in heaven -To the Savior. The entire universe, confused by the Antichrist and having drunk the punishment of God, will once again, by God’s mercy, be called to repentance by the unspoken radiance in the sky of the Honest Cross, and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!

Although the people seduced by the Antichrist worshiped him and accepted his seal, and although by this they lost the ability to be baptized, that is, to perform the sign of the cross on themselves, and although, by the very fall of the grave renunciation of Christ the Savior of our true God, although they lost the Divine grace of Christ , but who at that time, at the sight of the shining cross in the sky, will have a feeling of repentance and regret that he recognized the nasty, insignificant and vain Antichrist as God, bowing to him, but now, at the sight of the cross of the Lord, will bitterly groan and cry about it, then the Lord, merciful and loving of mankind, who does not want death for the sinner, but so that he repents, will return his grace to such a Christian as will be preserved from among those at that time.

Our Lord is very merciful and All-Merciful, and His inexpressible mercy has no limit, if only our repentance were so short: shortly before the reign of the Antichrist, even before the successful campaigns of the skillful commander-false prophet, the squire of the Antichrist, who should act primarily among the Mohammedan peoples - shortly before this, according to the wonderful vision of God, the Finnish-Turkish-Mongolian-Turkic and Turkish peoples - the peoples of Gog and Magog - should begin to move. But they will invade Palestine when the false prophet enters into glory, when he enters into an alliance with the Antichrist, when 144 thousand Jews are converted by the Prophet Elijah, when New Babylon is already destroyed by an earthquake and burned by heavenly fire with the preliminary removal of those Jews from there , who will be partially converted here to Christ by the inspiration and revelation of God, they will be brought out by the Angel before the destruction and burning of New Babylon.

For the peoples of Gog and Magog who have come into movement, the water in the Euphrates River will dry up - and they, in large numbers - 200,000,000, will invade the borders of Asia Minor from the East and North, plotting, at the inspiration of the devil, to destroy the city, that is, the Holy Church and Jerusalem .

Throughout the entire universe, the devil will then carry out his fight against God simultaneously through the false prophet with the Antichrist and through Gog and Magog.
The devil, in his blind hatred and insane malice, does not stop fighting God through people. He gathers peoples from all 4 ends of the earth, Gog and Magog, all kinds of peoples, among whom there are a lot of Mohammedan peoples. There will be especially many Scythian, Finnish, and Turco-Mongolian tribes. Their great assembly, led by Gog, depicted in the prophet Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39.

This gathering of peoples, after crossing the Euphrates River, under the Antichrist, when 144 thousand Jews had already been baptized, after the defeat of the Antichrist at Armageddon, surrounded the camp of the Saints and the beloved city - Jerusalem (Rev. 20:8), everyone involuntarily has a question: are two events happening at the same time? One, stated in chapter 19 (Rev. verse 20)“the beast was captured and with him the false prophet” and both were “thrown alive into the lake of fire” and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet will be tormented day and night forever and ever! It must be assumed that these two events are not simultaneous, that is, between one and the other event there is a certain distance of time, as this is shaded by Revelation itself.

“Blessed is he who endures and has reached 1335 days,” that is, to remain for another 45 days after the death of the Antichrist.

Interpreters of Divine Scripture say that after the death of the Antichrist, another 45 days will pass until the Last Judgment (read the 20th verse of Chapter 29 and 35-39 of Ezekiel et al.).

Now let's continue what was interrupted: the Assembly of the peoples of Gog and Magog surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Here, after the overthrow of the Antichrist and the false prophet by the Lord Jesus Christ, some of the sons of Israel who had been hiding in the impenetrable wilds gathered from all over, and with them other Orthodox Christians, numbering 144 thousand, gathered in Jerusalem to cleanse the Holy of Holies and to meet the Lord of Glory, coming on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory and having to judge the living and the dead near the Mount of Olives, in the valley of Jehoshaphat. In confirmation that after the destruction of the Antichrist and the false prophet from the earth there will still be people left, we hear the prophet Daniel (12, 11-12) Those who wish to reconcile this prophecy with the prophecy of Ezekiel about the destruction of the hordes of Gog must assume that some more time will pass after the Antichrist. Although the prophet Ezekiel says that the weapons of the hordes of Gog and Magog will then flood Palestine and all the mountains of Israel, it really takes 7 years to burn these weapons. In fact, in reality, there will still be 1/2 month left until the Last Judgment, after the overthrow of the Antichrist, the false prophet, into fiery Gehenna by the Lord Himself.
The Lord God does not want people to know exactly the day and hour of His Second Coming to the Last Judgment. But it is known that the First Coming of the Lord God took place in Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, at the midnight hour, when the people of this century did not even suspect that the Messiah-Savior, already promised to the world, had appeared.

So it will be at the Second Coming, also near Jerusalem in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, not far from the Mount of Olives. So, we see that the hordes of Gog and Magog, led by Satan, are suddenly consumed by heavenly fire. It is true that the mystery of lawlessness has been accomplished, but only for a moment, as soon as the devil, the culprit and the source of all evil, is destroyed from the face of the earth, the end of the world will come.

The “mystery of iniquity,” always ready to be accomplished, is held back by the piety of the zealots of the Glory of God and the inscrutable destinies of God until the number of those saved, predetermined from the foundation of the world, enters the Kingdom of Heaven. Then the end will come, when everything that could be extracted from this world for the granary of God has been extracted - that pure wheat and in that quantity that is known only to God - Glory to our God!

Everything is done! Everything predicted by the prophets. The economy was completed for the salvation of the human race. From the creation of the world, the number of saved people provided for by God entered the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God’s Glory.

There will be no end to the coming eternal kingdom!

EVERYTHING WAS PERFORMED that the Most Holy Trinity wanted at its Eternal Council, even before the creation of the invisible world - the Angelic, and the visible world - with people. Everyone received what they did according to their free will, being a rational being. Whoever wanted to stay with God remained, supported and strengthened by God in his desire.

Of the people - who wanted to be with the true God, having repented of their sins - reigns forever with God, Who redeemed them with His Holy blood and saved them through the passion, the cross and the Resurrection.”

Saint Cyril, Bishop of Turov (1130-28.4.1183):

“Unquenchable fire will flow from east to west, consuming mountains and stones and trees, and drying up the sea; the firmament will curl up like birch bark, and all visible existing things, including man, will all melt away from the fury of fire like wax, and the whole earth will burn. And it is fitting for the entire human race to pass through that fire.<...>In them are the essence of netia, having little sin and non-correction, like men, since there is one God without sin; may they be tempted by this fire, their bodies will be cleansed and enlightened like the sun according to their virtue; He will give light to the righteous, and scorching and darkness to the sinners. Those who crossed this river of fire and river, according to God’s command, served and departed to the west, and entered the lake of fire for the torment of sinners. Afterwards the earth will be new and smooth, as it was from time immemorial, and whiter than snow, and then God will command it to change and become like gold, grass will come out of it and flowers of many varieties will come forth and will never fade away... and trees will grow not like the visible and the existing, but in height, majesty, majesty it is impossible for human lips to utter.”

Remembering St. right John of Kronstadt,Bishop Arseny (Zhadanovsky) wrote:“Father often in his sermons pointed to the imminent Coming of the Savior, expected Him and felt how nature itself was preparing for this great moment. He mainly paid attention to the fire with which the world would be destroyed, just as the ancient one was destroyed by water. “Every time,” he said, “I look at fire and especially at its raging element during fires and other cases, I think: the element is always ready and only awaits the command of the Creator of the universe to carry out its task - to destroy everything on earth , together with people, their iniquities and deeds.” And here is another similar entry: “When the waters of the globe lose their balance with the underground fire and the fire overpowers the water element, which is constantly decreasing, then the fiery flood predicted in the Holy Scriptures and especially in the letter of the Apostle Peter will occur, and the Second Glorious Coming of the Lord and judgment will occur to the whole world. By that time, morals will be extremely corrupted. Believe that the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with glory is at the door.”

Schema-Archimandrite Barsanuphius (Plikhankov) Optina: “During the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ before His disciples, His clothes became shining, very white, like snow, as a bleacher on earth cannot bleach. Consequently, at the same time, the substance, inorganic matter, and even that - was transformed. Isn’t this an image of the transformation of the entire visible, material world, which will take place at the Second Coming of Christ, when this visible world will burn and there will be a new heaven and a new earth?

“I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

Amen and glory to God!

Some comments on the teaching about the Antichrist by professor of theology Viktor Mikhailovich Chernyshev.

Before we begin to consider this topic, which today causes fierce debate and gives rise to all sorts of speculation, we should point out the signs of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, since His coming to earth will precede, according to Scripture, the reign of the Antichrist by three and a half years.

What are these signs?

The first sign is the universal spread of the Gospel: “The gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).
The second sign is the appearance of false Christs: “Many will come in My name and say, I am the Christ” (Matthew 24:5). “And many false prophets will arise and deceive many” (Matthew 24:11).
The third sign is a deep decline in morality: “Because lawlessness increases, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
The fourth sign is destructive wars: “You will also hear about wars and rumors of war, for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:6,7).
The fifth sign is natural disasters: “There will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in places” (Matthew 24:7). “The sea will roar and be troubled” (Luke 21:25).
But, as was said above, before the Coming of the Lord, the Antichrist, whom the devil puts forward as his special instrument of evil, will first have to come to judge the nations.

Who is this?

In Greek, the word "anti" can have two meanings: "against" and "instead of." In relation to the Antichrist, both meanings are valid, since the Antichrist will be both an opponent of Christ, destroying Christianity in every possible way, and one who will try to take his place.
In a broad sense, the character of Antichrist should be understood as anyone who denies the divine-manhood and sonship of Jesus Christ (1 John 2:22).

The Apostle Paul calls the Antichrist “the man of sin and the son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3). Moreover, his coming, according to the work of Satan, will be with all “power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9).
The name of the Antichrist is unknown, but his number is known - 666, or rather the numerical equivalent of his name. We do not know what these three sixes mean, although there has been enough speculation on this topic not only among sectarians regarding the “decoding” of these sixes (for example, among Adventists), but also in the near-Orthodox environment, where booklets and leaflets with enviable regularity appear with the next “revelations” about them. People are persistently trying to decipher this number. Unfortunately, this is accompanied by inadequate actions, excitement in society, calls for “leaving the world” (by analogy with the Penza Zakopane residents), refusal of identification numbers, cell phones, computers, and a decisive fight against the Freemasons (if only I knew where to look for them! ) and so on.

The New Testament says the following about the Antichrist:

1. He will come in his own name: “...he who exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped” (2 Thess. 2:4), “...he will come in his own name” (John 5:43), that is, he will fight against all religions, for its characteristic feature will be blasphemy (Rev. 13:5,6).

2. He will pretend to be God: “He will sit in the temple of God as God, showing himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:4).

3. He will have false prophets who will “show great signs and wonders” (Matt. 24:24).

4. Satan will have religious power combined with political power - a kind of satanocracy: it will be “...over every tribe and people and tongue and nation” (Rev. 13:7).

5. His reign will last 3.5 years (Rev. 13:5) - or 42 months, or more precisely 1260 days (Rev. 12:6). This period is equal to the duration of Christ's public ministry on earth.

6. All who do not accept his authority will be exterminated: “...we kill everyone who does not worship the image of the beast” (Rev. 13:15).

7. The Church will be forced to “hide in the wilderness” (Rev. 12:1-6). But “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), and the Eucharist will not end until the Second Coming (1 Cor. 11:26).

8. Individual saints will be allowed to overcome this satanic power: “And it is given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Rev. 13:7).

Jesus Christ Himself will crush the forces of evil completely and irrevocably; He will defeat the Antichrist “...with the breath of His mouth and destroy him with the appearance of His Coming” (2 Thess. 2:8). After all these events, the Judgment of Christ will begin.

Let us quote some famous holy fathers, both ancient and 19th century, about the Antichrist in order to give a patristic interpretation of this phenomenon.

Saints about Antichrist

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian(IV century) wrote: “The evil and formidable thief will come first, in due time, with the intention of kidnapping, slaughtering and destroying the chosen flock of the True Shepherd; they will immediately recognize the deceiver, because the voice of the evil one is not at all similar to the voice of the True Shepherd, but is sarcastic: Taty’s voice is feigned and soon it becomes known what he is like...”

Saint John Chrysostom(V century) wrote: “The Antichrist will come to human destruction to inflict offense on people. In fact, what won’t he do at that time! Everything will be in confusion and confusion, both through commands and through fear. He will be terrible in all respects: with his power, and harshness, and lawless commands... The Apostle calls the Antichrist a man of lawlessness, because he will commit thousands of iniquities and encourage others to commit them. And he calls him the son of destruction because he himself will perish. Who will he be? Is it really Satan? No, but there is a certain person who will receive all his (Satan’s) power. He will not lead to idolatry, but will be an opponent of God, reject all gods and order to worship himself instead of God and will sit in the temple of God, not only in Jerusalem, but in churches everywhere... He did not say that he would call himself god, but that will try to show himself as a god. He will do great things and show wonderful signs.”

Venerable Anthony the Great(IV century) announced this time as follows: “The time will come, my beloved children, when the monks will leave the deserts and flow instead to rich cities, where instead of these deserted caves and cramped cells, proud buildings will be erected that can compete with the chambers of kings, instead poverty, the love of collecting wealth will increase, humility will be replaced by pride, many will be proud of knowledge, but naked, alien to good deeds corresponding to knowledge; love will grow cold; instead of abstinence, gluttony will increase, and many will care about luxurious dishes, no less than the laity themselves, from whom the monks will not differ in anything other than their attire and headdress; and, despite the fact that they will live among the world, they will call themselves solitaries.”

Venerable John of Damascus(VIII century) says: “In the Church of God (he will sit) - not in ours, but in the ancient, Jewish one; for he will not come to us, but to the Jews; not for Christ, but against Christ and Christians: which is why he is called Antichrist. Therefore, the Gospel must first be preached to all nations (Matthew 24:14). “Then the wicked one will appear, which is the coming of Satan, in all power and signs and lying wonders, and in all the deceit of unrighteousness, those who perish; and him the Lord will kill with the word of His mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming” (2 Thess. 2:8) . So, it is not the devil himself who becomes a man, like the incarnation of the Lord - let it not be! But a person is born from fornication and takes upon himself all the action of Satan. For God, knowing in advance the depravity of his future will, allows the devil to move into him... At the beginning of his reign, or rather, tyranny, he hides behind the guise of holiness; when he becomes victorious, he will begin to persecute the Church of God and show all his malice. He will come with false signs and wonders, imaginary and not true, and he will deceive and turn away those who have a weak and unsteady mind and turn away from God.”

Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov(XIX century) instructs: “The Antichrist will show himself meek, merciful, full of love, full of every virtue: those who recognize the fallen human truth as righteousness will recognize him as such, and will submit to him because of his most sublime virtue, and have not renounced it for the sake of righteousness.” Gospels.

The signs of the Antichrist will primarily appear in the airy layer: Satan dominates in this layer. ...The apostasy of the new Israel from the Savior towards the end of time will take on extensive development, and then, as a consequence and fruit of the apostasy, a man of lawlessness will be revealed, the son of perdition, who will dare to call himself the promised Messiah...

Abundant earthly prosperity and enormous earthly enterprises, as obvious to everyone, are presented by the word of God as a sign of the last times and the mature sinfulness of mankind, mostly hidden and incomprehensible with a superficial and inexperienced look at humanity. Temporal and eternal disasters befell the old Israel for rejecting the Redeemer: these disasters are a weak image of the terrible disasters that should be the punishment of the new Israel for its crime...

The Church will be brought down from the sword - from the murderous violence of temptations - and will be completely empty. The multiplying apostates, calling themselves and presenting themselves as Christians in appearance, will be all the more convenient to persecute true Christians; the multiplied apostates will surround true Christians with countless intrigues... They will act against the servants of God with the violence of power, and slander, and cunning intrigues, and various deceptions, and fierce persecutions.”

About the Antichrist the saint writes: “He will try to imitate Christ with his outward show of life. The majority of Christians, guided by... carnal wisdom, will not see the deception and recognize the Antichrist as Christ, who has come to earth for the second time... Terrible trials will come for the saints of God: the wickedness, hypocrisy, miracles of the persecutor will intensify, the desire to deceive and seduce them, subtle and thoughtful, covered with insidious ingenuity persecution and oppression, the unlimited power of the tormentor will put them in the most difficult position... Opponents of the Antichrist will be considered troublemakers, enemies of the public good and order, and will be subjected to covert and open persecution...”

U Vladimir Solovyov There are characteristics in “The Tale of the Antichrist” that coincide with the patristic thought about him almost in detail. A certain emperor became the prototype of the Antichrist.

“The Emperor, standing near the throne and extending his hand with majestic benevolence, said in a sonorous and pleasant voice: “Christians of all kinds! My beloved subjects and brothers! From the beginning of my reign, which the Most High blessed with such wonderful and glorious deeds, I have never had a reason to be dissatisfied with you; you have always performed your duty according to faith and conscience. But that's not enough for me. My sincere love for you, beloved brothers, yearns for reciprocity. I want you, not out of a sense of duty, but out of a feeling of heartfelt love, to recognize me as your true leader in every matter undertaken for the good of humanity. And so, in addition to what I do for everyone, I would like to show you special favors. Christians, how could I make you happy? What can I give you, not as my subjects, but as fellow believers, my brothers? Christians! Tell me what is most dear to you in Christianity, so that I can direct my efforts in this direction?”

And then this emperor-antichrist begins active charitable activities in relation to all Christian branches, where, in particular, he offers the Orthodox: “Dear brothers! I know that among you there are those for whom the most precious thing in Christianity is its sacred tradition, old symbols, old songs and prayers, icons and the order of worship. And really, what could be more valuable than this for a religious soul? Know, beloved, that today I signed a charter and assigned rich funds to the world museum of Christian archeology, in our glorious imperial city of Constantinople, for the purpose of collecting, studying and storing all kinds of monuments of church antiquity, mainly Eastern, and I ask you tomorrow to choose from among my commission to discuss with me the measures that should be taken in order to possibly bring modern life, morals and customs closer to the tradition and institutions of the Holy Orthodox Church! Orthodox brothers! Whoever likes this will of mine, whoever, based on his heartfelt feeling, can call me his true leader and ruler, let him come here.” And most of the hierarchs of the East and North, half of the former Old Believers and more than half of the Orthodox priests, monks and laity, with joyful shouts, ascended to the stage, looking sideways at the Catholics proudly sitting there.

The vast majority of the cathedral, including almost the entire hierarchy of East and West, was on the platform. Below there were only three close heaps of people huddled around Elder John, Pope Peter and Professor Pauli.

The emperor turned to them in a sad tone: “What else can I do for you? Strange people! What do you want from me? I don't know. Tell me yourself, you Christians, abandoned by the majority of your brothers and leaders, condemned by popular feeling: what is most dear to you in Christianity?” Here, like a white candle, Elder John rose and meekly answered: “Great sovereign! What is dearest to us in Christianity is Christ Himself, He Himself, and from Him everything, for we know that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily. But from you, sir, we are ready to accept every good thing, if only in your generous hand we recognize the holy hand of Christ. And to your question: what can you do for us, here is our direct answer: confess here now before us Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came in the flesh, rose again and is yet to come - confess Him, and we will lovingly accept you as His true forerunner second glorious coming." He fell silent and stared into the emperor's face. Something bad was happening to it. The same hellish storm as the one he experienced on that fateful night arose inside him. He completely lost his inner balance, and all his thoughts were focused on not losing his outer self-control and not giving himself away prematurely. He made superhuman efforts not to rush at the speaker with a wild cry and start gnawing him with his teeth. Suddenly he heard a familiar, alien voice: “Be silent and don’t be afraid of anything.” He was silent. Only the emperor’s deadened and darkened face became distorted, and sparks flew out of his eyes. ... Through the open windows of the temple it was clear that a huge black cloud had arrived, and soon everything went dark. Elder John did not take his astonished and frightened eyes off the face of the silent emperor, and suddenly he recoiled in horror and, turning back, shouted in a choked voice: “Children, the Antichrist!” At this time, along with a deafening thunderclap, a huge round lightning flashed in the temple and covered the elder. Everything froze for a moment, and when the stunned Christians came to their senses, Elder John lay dead.”

The days are evil

Today we see active preparations for the coming of the Antichrist to the world, which is preceded not only by various multidimensional parapsychological phenomena through which “if possible, even the elect will be deceived” (UFOs, poltergeists, teleportation, telekinesis, etc.), where all this nonsense varies with one goal is to steal our precious time, which belongs to God. These phenomena, intriguing and fascinating to the researcher, are chronophages, for it is said that “the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16). Information oversaturation has already reached a critical level, beyond which the management of the well-being, mood, and worldview of a person in particular and society in general becomes a reality, especially taking into account the technical means that allow information influence to be carried out at a level unconscious to the person himself.

Recently, many scientists have noted an increase in the number of people with psychic abilities. In this regard, there is a danger of the manifestation of the so-called “open personality phenomenon”, the essence of which is as follows. It turns out that a significant part of humanity is not psychologically protected from the influence of individuals and groups with developed extrasensory abilities or corresponding man-made capabilities. This poses a threat to the formation of a society consisting of a submissive, weak-willed crowd controlled by “supermen”.

During his reign, A. Hitler, who was a great supporter of the occult, created a special unit of people of the “Himalayan race” in order to manipulate the enemy’s subconscious, trying to use their extrasensory abilities during military operations.

Nowadays, almost everyone is not protected from the influence of someone else's will. Moreover, psychics and sorcerers do everything to increase the hypnotizability (suggestibility) of people and deprive them of their will, consciousness, character and worldview - in a word, their “I”. And this is already producing results. People quickly believed in magic, aliens, the transmigration of souls, fortune-telling and predictions, they trusted charlatans and swindlers, were treated for non-existent diseases and invested their last money in dubious banks, stocks, enterprises, although common sense could have prevented this orgy of trusting those who doesn't deserve it.

The path for the “superman” is well-trodden.

Only a person protected by God’s grace, living the Christian faith, taking part in the Church Sacraments and completely trusting in His mercy can resist all this.

Biblical prophecies about the last days, which, it would seem, should take place before our eyes, raise a number of questions. Does the Antichrist already live on earth? Who is he? What is he doing?

A reader asked famous evangelist Billy Graham a similar question: “Is the Antichrist already living on earth today? I'm not sure I know what the Antichrist is, but the world is such a desolation that I sometimes think we are already living in the last days.".

Here's what Graham responded:

The Bible speaks of the Antichrist as an evil person with enormous spiritual power. He will appear at the end of this age (before Christ returns to establish His kingdom as He promised). The Bible says that just before Christ comes again, “Until the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God as God, showing himself to be God.”(2 Thess. 2:3,4).

The very name “Antichrist” implies that he will resist Christ and His people with all his might. He will even try to force people to worship him by declaring himself God. Therefore, through both his words and actions, he will do everything possible to destroy what God is doing in this world. As before, trying to tempt Christ so that He would stop following God’s will, Satan and his demonic power will again try to defeat Christ by the end of this age.

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Does Antichrist live on earth today? On the one hand, the Bible tells us not to overuse or worry too much about such statements. However, on the other hand, she warns us to be vigilant - after all, Satan and his servants are always active. The Bible says that “and now many antichrists have appeared”(1 John 2:18).

FROM THE EDITOR:

Dear fathers, brothers and sisters!

This news from the end of October last year is more relevant today than ever, because... what Elder Ephraim warned about is happening today before our eyes. His revelation from God is true!

You and I are witnessing how the world is sinking deeper into despair and approaching a global catastrophe and global war. Today the question is no longer raised: whether there will be a Third World War or not. The dates for its start and the options and consequences of its completion are currently being discussed.

During this war, when the whole world will plunge into mortal horror and chaos and the “savior-peacemaker” will appear to the world - the Antichrist, whom humanity, through its apostasy from God, called into the world. Help us Lord!

P.S. Let us note an important point that church year begins not January 1, but September 14 according to the “new style”, and therefore it ends on August 31st. The elder and Orthodox ascetics in general do not live according to the worldly calendar, but according to the church calendar. So what Elder Ephraim said in October 2016 applies not only to 2016, but right up to August 31, 2017.

"Very difficult days are coming. Listen to your soul. Pull yourself together and give yourself a feat..."

Elder Ephraim came out of seclusion. And the Lord appeared to him. The elder asked Him to extend the time, but the Lord said that he would not extend it and said that the Antichrist is already on earth and this year everything will begin.

“Our time is numbered. Difficult years await us, dangerous even for our earthly stay. The devil has gone mad and opened his mouth like hell, wanting to swallow us whole. Blessed is the man who escapes his teeth and flies up to Heaven for salvation (implies prayer) .

Every year the situation gets worse and worse. Sinners and debauchees abound, multiplying sin. And with this state of affairs the Lord cannot help but intervene; His judgment will occur. Therefore, we need to hurry, just as we rush to help our loved ones, feeling sympathy and love for them.

We must rush to help not only our close relatives, but also our brothers in Christ; we also have a duty to experience their pain and suffering. If we are often in danger, although we live in the quiet haven of the Most Pure Mother of God, then in what danger are those who are under the yoke of constant sins and temptations, which are increasingly increasing in this world.

If we, being far from the fire of worldly temptations, get burned, then what about those who are surrounded by the flames of a blazing fire?

Elder Ephraim of Philothea (Arizona)

Elder Ephraim (Moraitis)

June 24 is the birthday of Elder Ephraim of Philotheus (Arizona; Moraitis), the spiritual child of the great Elder Joseph the Hesychast, who wrote an amazing book about his spiritual father, “My Life with Elder Joseph.”

Elder Ephraim began to be called Philotheus in 1973, when he was elected abbot of the Philotheus monastery on Mount Athos and in a short time revived the ascetic monastic life in this monastery.

After this, the Kinot of the Holy Mountain blessed Elder Ephraim to expand and fill three more Athonite monasteries with those seeking monastic life: Xiropotamus, Kostamonit and Karakal. These monasteries still remain under the spiritual leadership of Archimandrite Ephraim, as do a number of monasteries for men and women in Greece and North America.

How many blatant and significant events happened in just one year. Let's name only the main ones:

1) February treacherous Council of Bishops on February 3, 2016, where the heresy of ecumenism was legalized with the tacit consent of more than three hundred bishops. Only one Bishop Longinus tried to raise his voice against the ongoing lawlessness, but was immediately cut off and deprived of the right to speak out.

In fact, the SYMBOL OF FAITH has been CHANGED at the Council level, the 9th member of which - the Dogma of the Church - has been changed to include in the fence of the Church ALL UNRETENTED HERETS, called for the FIRST TIME COLLECTIVELY and officially - “Christian Churches”!

At the same wolf council of bishops, another terrible Calvinist HERESY was adopted, that ALL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD ARE ALREADY SAVED BY THE FACT OF BIRTH after the Resurrection of the Lord, just as everyone before was under the sin of Adam. THIS IS A MONSTERAL HERESY!

2) A meeting between Patriarch Kirill and the Jesuit heretic Francis was prepared in secret from the believing people, with fraternal kisses in violation of the Canons and a declaration with 30 points signed on it (by analogy with the 30 pieces of silver of Judas), which essentially betrayed the Orthodox Faith.

3) Cretan Council (Wolf) which approved HERESIES for all Local Churches present there, previously approved for the Russian Orthodox Church MP by the Wolf Council of Bishops on February 3, 2016.

4) A brochure by Metropolitan Alfeev, published in a wide circulation, with the meaning of the Creed distorted for the Russian language. Where he translated the word Conciliar Church as Universal Church (this was probably done as a touchstone, in order to look at the reaction of believers, how they would perceive it. As we see, with a few exceptions, almost the entire flock silently and resignedly swallowed it all).

5) The outrageous, increasingly frequent practice of staging concerts, children's plays, dancing with singing and other performances - in churches in front of the Altar(essentially actions aimed at the desacralization of our churches. A place where one should enter with fear and trembling, where one can speak only in extreme need and then in a whisper and when necessary, and walking around the temple during the Divine service was considered almost a sin, is now being turned into a booth with silent tolerance of the flock).

6) The practice has emerged of building newfangled Orthodox churches without iconostases(naked) and conduct open services in them, as well as conduct services with the removal of the Altar to the porch. A clear modernist experiment. The congregation swallowed this too.

7) Creeping Reformation of the norms of the Typikon (statutory on Divine services). Now the rectors of individual parishes are allowed to shorten services at their discretion. And this is another blow to the Orthodox Faith.

8) The appearance of the scandalous film "Matilda" which is about to be released on screens, discrediting the honor of the holy Tsar Martyr Nicholas. There is no need to say what such blatant blasphemy will turn out to be for our Fatherland.

9) The death of Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov, an all-Russian elder who had been in serious condition for about ten years. Who, as many believe, kept peace in Russia with his prayer (his departure is associated with fears about the beginning of upheavals in Russia, but we hope that he will beg there too)

10) Opening of the Holy Sepulcher, with restoration work completely without obvious need(and in fact the desecration of the main Orthodox shrine by non-Orthodox persons)

11) Then a solemn, joint ecumenical prayer with heretics at the Holy Sepulcher by the false metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev-Dashkevich.

12) And the main tragedy is ALMOST UNIVERSAL INDIFFERENCE towards everything that happens and TO LIFE ACCORDING TO THE HOLY CANONS INDICATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.

Thus, we see that adverse events are accelerating. We see how, in a short period of time, through the hands of daring modernists, ecumenists, and secret heretics who have taken power over our Orthodox Church, our Orthodoxy is being destroyed from within. Step by step, the heretics who have taken power over Orthodoxy are striving to unite us with the Catholic heretics into one, universal, anti-Christ church. They are in a hurry to prepare everything for his arrival.

Many do not notice all this, they take it for granted, they simply do not know the foundations of their Faith, they risk waking up in a different faith, when everything in the churches will be changed, Catholic, and it will no longer be possible to go to such churches. The grace of God will leave them, and the abomination of desolation will come. Let us finally wake up and understand that something monstrous is happening and realize what this ultimately threatens us all with.

Lord have mercy and save us!