Why is the Antichrist coming? Orthodox faith - antichrist-alf

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W. M. Zoburn
The Coming of the Antichrist: Orthodox Teaching

About the end of the world

Foreword

“In all your affairs, remember your end, and you will never sin”

(Sirach 7:39).

According to the Holy Scriptures, the day will come when for the whole world there will be no more time(Rev. 10:5-6). And now, death, as if echoing this prophecy, tells thousands of our brothers every day that they have no time left, and to all of us about the approaching death (1 Pet. 4: 7).

Every hour of our life is a new step towards its end. Every day shortens life, as if to say that our time is up. Every year, relaxing the body, lower and lower our head to the grave. We know that we will die, but we don’t know when, therefore we need to look so that our hearts are not weighed down by worldly worries. and lest that day come upon us suddenly, for like a snare it will find on all who live according to the face of the earth(Luke 21:34).

Without preparing for the day of death, we will not be able to properly meet the last day of the world - the day of the Last Judgment, because after death there is no repentance. Quite often, repentance is postponed for an indefinite time, and very often what happened to proconsul Felix happens to careless people. When the Apostle Paul spoke to him about the truth, about abstinence and about the future Judgment, Felix, frightened, answered: now go, and when I find time, I will call you(Acts 24:25). But that time never came for him: he died.

Let us not miss the time for repentance. The better we prepare for the Last Judgment, the more honorably we will appear at it, and the more often we think about it, the calmer we will meet death.

In this book, we offer the reader information for reflection - the Orthodox teaching about the end of the world.

Chapter 1
About the signs of the end of the world. The Divinely Revealed and Patristic Doctrine of the Antichrist

The Holy Orthodox Church believes in the Lord Jesus Christ packs of the future with glory to judge the living and the dead(Symbol of faith). But the time of Christ's coming will remain a mystery not only for us (Matthew 25:13), but also for the Angels. Of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, but only My Father alone(Matt. 24:36) - this is what the Savior said to His disciples and ended with the words: Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come.(Matthew 24:42). That is, do not spend your life in carelessness, but be always ready to meet the Lord. And when the disciples asked him: what is the sign of your coming and the end of the age?(Matthew 24:3) - The Lord indicated the following signs.

The first sign is the preaching of the gospel all creatures(Mark 16:15), when there will not be a single place left on the whole earth that has not been announced by the preaching of the Gospel, not a single people that has not heard about eternal life. And this will be done so that later, at the Last Judgment, no one will excuse himself by saying that he did not hear the sermon about Christ. Then the light of Christ will shine on all who sit in darkness; many unbelievers will turn to Christ, and Christians immersed in sins will hasten to cleanse their consciences from iniquities.

But the fire of faith kindled by the preaching of the gospel will quickly die out. In the last days, says the apostle Paul, people will be proud, lovers of money, proud ... slanderers, intemperate, cruel, not loving good, traitors, insolent, pompous, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of piety, but denying its power(2 Tim. 3:1-5). With the fall of morality love will grow cold in many(Matthew 24:12), the basic law of Christian life will be shaken, and at the same time, faith will also decrease: When the son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?(Luke 18:8).

Then great wars will begin on earth; nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues and earthquakes in places ...(Matthew 24:7), for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, and will not be(Matthew 24:21). Then the heavens will not give rain, the earth will not bear fruit, the springs will dry up, the rivers will dry up. Grass will not grow, will not appear green on the ground; the trees will freeze at the roots and will not give offspring; fish and whales will die in the sea. And such a sea will emit an infectious stench, and such a terrible noise that people will fall unconscious and die of fear. 1
"The second word on the coming of the Lord." Rev. Efrem Sirin.

Finally, the final sign of the imminent coming of Christ will be the coming of the Antichrist.

Since the Lord Jesus Christ often referred to the objects of the visible world to explain the spiritual meaning of the word of God, He took the fall of Jerusalem (Lk. 21:20-20), which happened 36 years after His prophecy, as an example of the future end of the world. And therefore, it is not surprising that soon after the fall of Jerusalem, Christians began to expect the end of the world, since the signs indicated by the Savior coincided with the circumstances of that time. Moreover, in the face of Nero, the cruel persecutor of Christians, they saw the Antichrist.

In subsequent times, the end of the world was timed to the year 1000 A.D., on the basis of the Apocalypse: When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth.(Rev. 20:7).

The end of the world was also expected in 1584. According to the famous astrologer Leovitius: The fright this year was so great that the churches could not contain all those who sought refuge in them, that many made their spiritual testaments without reasoning that it was completely useless if the world was to perish. 2
K. Flammarion.

They expected the end of the world in 1812, 1881, 1885, and even in 1899. In some parts of Russia there were riots, because in November of this year, according to Falba's prediction, the end of the world was to take place. (Now they are talking about 2012. - Comp.)

These predictions were not fulfilled, but it cannot be concluded from this that the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ will not be fulfilled, for the words of the Savior will not pass away(Matthew 24:35).

All the mistakes of various soothsayers depended mainly on the fact that they tried to comprehend a secret unknown to the Angels, and forgot that all their calculations were naive. According to the Savior, the Lord will warn everyone in time about His coming by the appearance of the Antichrist, who is so definitely represented in the Holy Scriptures and in the works of the Holy Fathers that it will be impossible not to recognize him. The word "antichrist" is Greek and translated into Russian means "opponent of Christ." Antichrist, according to the teaching of Holy Scripture, is any opponent of Christ who rejects His Divinity and teaching (1 John 2:18). But in the literal sense, the antichrist is the one who appears before the end of the world to oppose the Holy Church of Christ (John 5:43; 2 Thess. 2:3-5).

Antichrist, according to the teaching of Holy Scripture, is any opponent of Christ who rejects His divinity and teaching. But in the literal sense, the one who appears before the end of the world to oppose the holy Church of Christ is called Antichrist.

The Old Believers asserted that the kingdom of the Antichrist had already come, that in 1666 the Antichrist reigned in the Greek-Russian Church and reigned in it "spiritually."

In 1666-1967, the Great Moscow Council was held, at which the correction of liturgical books by Patriarch Nikon was recognized as correct, and “anathema” was pronounced on those who were baptized with two fingers. The ignorant people in the book correction saw a violation of the Orthodox faith, and they began to say about Patriarch Nikon that he "changed his faith", therefore, he is the Antichrist. But since Antichrist, according to Holy Scripture, should be a king, the schismatics began to call Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Antichrist, because, they said, Nikon made a change in faith, but did this with the consent of the king.

After the death of Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the schismatics tended to understand by antichrist the totality of heresies that allegedly exist in the Orthodox Church. True, with the accession of Peter I, the schismatics began to consider this tsar the Antichrist, and they saw the seal of the Antichrist in the barbershop and German clothes. But since under him the end of the world did not follow, the schismatics began to teach that the Antichrist is not a man, but a collection of "heresies" contained in the Greek-Russian Church. Under the woman from whom the Antichrist is born, in their opinion, one must understand the society of ungodly people, and under the very birth - their apostasy from the Gospel. This retreat, according to the schismatics, began under Patriarch Nikon, when "new rites and books" were introduced. The teachings of the Antichrist, according to the schismatics, are minor deviations in rituals; The seal of the Antichrist is not in one thing, but in different signs: the inscription of the name of the Savior "Jesus" instead of "Jesus", five prosphoria, three-finger addition, and so on.

Among the schismatics, there was also a small sect of wanderers, or runners, who claimed that in the Greek-Russian Church the "sensual Antichrist" reigns, that is, a succession of ruling persons.

As for the teaching of the Holy Scriptures regarding the accusers of the Antichrist - the prophets Elijah and Enoch, the schismatics are trying to prove that here they mean not certain persons, but all in general accusers of apostasy from the Gospel ... That is, it turns out that the schismatics themselves.

In addition to the schismatic Old Believers, the Studists, Pashkovites, and in general all the sectarians who appeared in Russia under the influence of the Protestant West, held the wrong opinion about the Antichrist. All of them saw in the Antichrist not a specific person, but in general an anti-Christian direction.

In refutation of all these false teachers, we will present the Orthodox teaching about the Antichrist, contained in the Holy Scriptures, revealed and explained in the works of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church.

The doctrine of the Antichrist as a specific person was uttered by Jesus Christ. I came, he says, in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me; but if another comes in his name, you will receive him(John 5.43). Of whom does Christ say: “He will come in his name”! - St. John Chrysostom asks - and answers: here He alludes to the Antichrist, and at the same time presents irrefutable proof of the indiscretion of the Jews. If you are persecuting Me, He says, then it would be much more necessary to do this with the Antichrist, for he (Antichrist) will not say anything of the kind, that is, that he was sent from the Father, that he came according to His will, but on the contrary, he will steal everything that does not belong to him and call himself a god 3
From the 41st conversation of St. John Chrysostom, Part II, p. 83 (ed. 1855).

The fact that in the words of the Savior a certain person is meant by the Antichrist, as St. John Chrysostom believes, is beyond doubt, because:

1. The Lord contrasts with His personal actions, the actions of the Personality, the actions of the Antichrist - also, therefore, a specific person.

2. The Antichrist will come in the future; therefore, the Lord could not in any way mean by antichrist the false teachers of his day.

3. Various false teachers tried to elevate their teaching by being supposedly messengers of God, but the Antichrist will not be like that, he will come in his name, with his own teaching.

In complete agreement with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle John the Theologian also taught about the Antichrist. Children! recent times. And as you have heard that the Antichrist will come, and now there are many Antichrists, then we know from the fact that the last time(1 John 2:18). Here the word "antichrist" is used in a double sense: 1) as one specific person who is yet to come, 2) as many "antichrists" who have already appeared. What these many Antichrists are, St. John explains elsewhere: Who is a liar if not one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist who rejects the Father and the Son(1 John 2.22).

What properties will the Antichrist have, explains the Apostle Paul. Wishing to calm the Thessalonica Christians, who were embarrassed by the false teachers about the imminent coming of Christ, the apostle Paul writes that this day will not come, until the apostasy first comes and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, resisting and exalting himself above everything that is called God or holiness, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself to be God.(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). So, the Apostle Paul indicates two circumstances that will precede the appearance of Christ on earth - to judge the living and the dead: 1) the apostasy will come first, 2) a man of sin will appear who will pretend to be God.

The question now is what is meant by retreat? It is impossible here to understand a private, so to speak, apostasy from the faith, because its representatives - heretics - were in the time of the Apostle Paul. Obviously, we are talking about a general retreat, it will come before the end of the world such that When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?(Luke 18:8). An indispensable consequence of this apostasy will be the appearance of a man of sin - Antichrist, who will not be Satan incarnate, as some thought, but a man who, as it were, embodied all wickedness in himself - a man of lawlessness. He will call himself a god and demand divine worship. In order to gain the trust and respect of people as a higher being, Antichrist will work miracles. his coming, according to the work of Satan, it shall be with all power and lying signs and wonders(2 Thess. 2:9). In addition to miracles, the Antichrist will attract people to himself with a false teaching, he will appear, according to the apostle, with every unrighteous deception of those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth for their salvation. And for this God will send them a force of error, so that they will believe a lie(2 Thess. 2:10-11).

The Apostle Paul points out two circumstances that will precede the appearance of Christ on earth - to judge the living and the dead: 1) the apostasy will come first, 2) a man of sin will appear who will pretend to be God.

Antichrist will appear just before the second coming of Christ, but the mystery of iniquity is already in

action(2 Thess. 2:7), says the Apostle Paul. That is, the evil spreading in the world is preparing the coming of the Antichrist. Already in the time of the apostles there were "many antichrists" - heretics and schismatics. So, Simon conjured (conjured), posing as the great power of God in Samaria (Acts 8: 9-10), and then Arius appeared, rejecting the divinity of the Son of God. And in public life there were also many opponents of Christ, such were the Roman emperors - the persecutors of Christians.

The mystery of iniquity is being done even now. 20 centuries have passed since the time when the Only-begotten Son of God brought to earth the doctrine of love for neighbor, unparalleled in pre-Christian times. But while the Son of God was sowing in the hearts of men the pure wheat of the heavenly doctrine, the enemy sowed weeds that sprouted abundantly before the eyes of all. Indeed, how else can one explain the failure of the 1899 Hague Conference? Why did the peoples respond to the call of the holy Tsar Nicholas II for the peace of the whole world only in word, and not in deed? But because the earth was corrupt before the face of God and the earth was filled with wickedness(Gen. b. 11).

In our time, the number of suicides and mental illness is increasing, bloody atrocities, wars, famines, earthquakes, and revolutions are becoming more frequent. Yet this is the beginning of disease(Matthew 24:7-8). People hate one another because of the multiplication of iniquity. Family love cools, false prophets (foretellers, psychics) appear, sow despondency, grumbling and despair, and deceive many 4
“The Beginning and the End of Our Earthly World”, St. Petersburg, 1900, p. 160.

Everything seems to be ready for the coming of the Antichrist, but something is holding back him, as the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians. The Thessalonians knew about this “restraint” from the oral instructions of the Apostle Paul, but this is not revealed to us either in other places of Holy Scripture or in Tradition. Therefore, the interpretation of this place varies greatly, and Blessed Augustine says directly: What the Apostle means by restraining, I do not know. Here is the opinion of St. John Chrysostom. The saint says that by “restraining” one cannot understand: 1) the grace of the Holy Spirit, for, according to the Savior, the Church is invincible and, therefore, grace will never fail. This means that the Antichrist could never have appeared; 2) it cannot be considered deterrent that preaching has not yet been spread among all nations (Matt. 24:14). In our opinion, the one holding back is the Roman state and the Roman emperor. Because, according to the words of St. John Chrysostom, the apostle says to the Thessalonians: “You know the one holding back,” but does not name him, so as not to incur attacks on the Christians from the Roman state, which was to fall before the coming of the Antichrist.

The opinion of the saint is shared by Blessed Theodoret and others, and we can accept it with some limitation. Despite the fact that the Roman state ended its existence long ago, it must be recognized that what holds it back is the existence of the state (state power), not only Roman, but in general any. And indeed, no matter who governs the state: be it a republic or a monarchy, but as long as religion, morality, public good and tranquility are considered its fundamental foundations, until then the Antichrist cannot appear. But as soon as state power is undermined, the Church and the state are in the greatest danger, as evidenced by historical examples. When, by God's permission, widespread anarchy reigns on earth, this will be the most suitable time for the coming of the Antichrist.

The essence of the reign of the Antichrist, in addition to the excerpts we have already cited from the epistle to the Thessalonians, although somewhat covertly, is presented in the book of the prophet Daniel and in the Apocalypse.

The holy prophet Daniel, in his vision of the four beasts, describes the last of them thus: the fourth beast, terrible and terrible and very strong; he has big iron teeth; he devours and crushes, and tramples the remnants under his feet; he was different from all the former beasts, and he had ten horns. I looked at these horns, and, behold, another small horn came out between them, and three of the former horns were uprooted before it, and behold, in this horn were eyes like human eyes, and a mouth speaking arrogantly. (Dan. 7:7-8). Then the time of judgment came, and the Ancient of Days(God) pronounced the verdict, according to which the last beast was killed and burned (Dan. 7. 9-12). In other places, the prophet Daniel more specifically characterizes the Antichrist: he will be a conqueror (Dan. 8.24), and, moreover, the most wicked (Dan. 11.36-37); through him the abomination of desolation will arise in the temple, which will continue for 2290 days (Dan. 12:11). But the antichrist will come to its end and no one will help it(Dan. 11:45) - the power to destroy and destroy will be taken away from him (Dan. 7:26), since the Lord will kill the Antichrist with the spirit of His mouth (2 Thess. 2:8).

In a similar way - in the form of a beast - the Antichrist is depicted in the Apocalypse. The Antichrist will be the conqueror to whom Satan will give dominion over every kindred and people and tongue and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life.(Rev. 13:7-8). They bow down to the beast, saying: who is like this beast? and who can fight him?(Rev. 13:4).

The means by which the Antichrist will attract many will be false signs and wonders; for example, he will be mortally wounded, but will be healed, so that the whole earth will marvel (Rev. 13:3). It can be assumed that the performance of these miracles will be based on the knowledge of the laws of nature, just as the Egyptian magi performed miracles before the pharaoh. Without a doubt, this knowledge will be strengthened by the action of Satan in the Antichrist, who will raise up a false prophet to help the beast. This false prophet will perform such amazing signs and wonders that he will even bring down fire from heaven (Rev. 13:13-14). Whoever does not worship the beast will be killed (Rev. 13:15), and those who recognize him will be sealed, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name, on the right hand or on the forehead (Rev. 13: 16-17). However, Antichrist will be able to take possession only of the wicked (Rev. 13:8), and as for the saints, he will be given victory in the war and kill (Rev. 13:7,15) their bodies, but not their souls. And the first victims of his wickedness will be two great prophets sent by God to warn people about the coming of the Antichrist (Rev. 11:3). One of these prophets will be Elijah, once taken alive to heaven. And the second, based on the message of the Apostle Jude (Jude 14-15), the holy fathers call Enoch, like Elijah in the mortal body ascended to heaven.

The power of Antichrist will continue for forty-two months (Rev. 13:5), that is, three and a half years, after which the beast will go to death(Rev. 17:11). The beast will be seized, says St. John the Theologian, and with him a false prophet, who worked miracles before him ... both were thrown alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone(Rev. 19:20), where the devil will be thrown to them, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever(Rev. 20:10).

The means by which the Antichrist will attract many will be false signs and wonders; for example, he will be mortally wounded, but will be healed, so that the whole earth will marvel.

Here is the data about the Antichrist, which is contained in the Holy Scriptures. On the basis of their God-revealed teaching about the Antichrist, we can briefly present it in the following form.

The Antichrist, who will appear before the glorious coming of Christ, will be a specific person - a man chosen by Satan as an instrument to counteract the Church of Christ. The merciful Lord will send the prophets Elijah and Enoch to warn the saints about the coming Antichrist. He, coming with false signs and wonders, will kill these two prophets, and with the help of the false prophet, he will deceive the whole world. Having come in his name, the Antichrist will demand divine worship for himself, and many will follow his call, and those who remain faithful to God will be killed. After three and a half years of the destructive reign of the Antichrist, Christ will appear on earth and kill him with the spirit of his mouth.

His own, that is, he will deprive him of power and plunge him into the lake of fire for eternal torment.

Based on Revelation, the doctrine of the Antichrist found confirmation in the works of the holy fathers and teachers of the Church.

The Apostle Paul calls the Antichrist “apostasy”, since he will destroy many and lead to apostasy, to deceive, if possible, even the elect(Matthew 24:24). He also calls him a man of iniquity, because he will commit thousands of iniquities and prepare others to commit them. And they call him the son of perdition, because he himself will perish. Who will he be? Satan? No - but a certain person who took all his power.

He will not lead people to idolatry, but will put himself in the place of God and sit in God's temple. He will not call himself God, but will try to look like him, doing extraordinary deeds and showing amazing signs.

But, says the apostle, the Lord Jesus Christ will kill the Antichrist with the spirit of His mouth and will nullify all his deeds by His coming.

What is the use of this coming of the Antichrist, if it will serve to our destruction? Do not be afraid, beloved, but listen to what the Apostle says: the Antichrist will prevail only over those who are perishing, who, even though he had not come, would not have believed. What will be the use of this, you say? The one that will stop the mouths of those condemned to perdition. How? They would not believe in Christ, even though this Antichrist did not come, but he will come with the aim of convicting them ... For when he comes, and despite the fact that he does not command anything righteous, but only one lawlessness, they they will believe in him, solely for the sake of his false miracles, when their mouths stop. For if you do not believe Christ, how much more must you not believe the Antichrist. 5
From the conversation on the 2nd epistle to Thessal., 3 and 4. “Collection of articles on interpretations. reading the "Apocalypse" by M. Barson. Simbirsk, 1894

A similar opinion about Antichrist, as a specific person, a person whom Satan will choose to oppose the Church of Christ, is also held by St. Ephraim the Syrian, who describes the character of Antichrist as a false miracle worker, his reign and, finally, death.

Our Lord, like a terrible lightning, will come to earth: but the enemy will not come like that, because he is an apostate. He, born of a defiled virgin, will come in such a way as to deceive everyone - humble, meek, supposedly a hater of injustice, pious, kind and generous, handsome and affectionate to everyone. He will perform many signs and wonders, and with the help of cunning, he will try to please everyone in order to win the love of the people.

So the Antichrist will deceive the world until he reigns, because many nations will proclaim him king with great joy, saying to each other: “Will there be another man so good and truthful?”

And soon his kingdom will be established, and he will defeat the three great kings. And then, having risen, he will oppress everyone and begin to defile souls, acting already as a stern, cruel, irritable and vile person, who will try to plunge the entire human race into the abyss of wickedness.

Many signs created by the Antichrist will be false. In front of a crowded crowd, he will command the mountain to cross the sea, and the mountain will cross, but only in the eyes of the audience, in fact, not moving at all from its foundation. Because over what the Almighty God placed at the beginning of creation, this all-bad one will not have power, he will deceive the world with circus illusions.

The Antichrist will deceive the world until he reigns, because many nations will proclaim him king with great joy, saying to each other: “Will there be another man so good and true?”

Many will believe him and glorify the Antichrist as God. But those who sincerely believe in the true God, those who have bright eyes of heart, will know without a doubt that the mountain did not move from its place.

And then there will be a great tribulation, a famine, and only those who have the seal of the Antichrist on their hand or on their forehead will be allowed to buy a little food. Then the babies will die in the bosom of their mothers, the mother will die over her offspring, the father will also die with his wife and children in the marketplace, and there will be no one to bury and put them in a coffin. From the many corpses thrown down in the streets, a stench is everywhere, strongly affecting the living ... A lot of gold and silver and silk clothes will not benefit anyone during this sorrow, but all people will call blessed the dead, buried before this great sorrow came to earth …

Many of the saints that are found then, at the advent of the defiled, will shed tears in rivers to the Holy God in order to get rid of the serpent, with great haste they will run into the desert and with fear will hide in the mountains and caves ... And it will be given to them from the Holy God His grace will lead them to the places determined for this place, and they will be saved, hiding in the abysses and caves, not seeing the signs and fears of the Antichrist, because the coming of the Antichrist will be made known without difficulty to those who have knowledge ...

Then all the earth and the sea will mourn, the air will mourn, and together the wild beasts and the birds of the air will mourn; the mountains and hills and the trees in the plains will weep; the heavenly luminaries will also weep for the human race, because all have deviated from the Holy God and believed the flattery, taking upon themselves, instead of the life-giving Savior's cross, the mark of the wicked and God-fighting. The earth and the sea will mourn, because the voice of psalms and prayers will suddenly cease in the mouths of men; all the Churches of Christ will weep with great weeping, because there will be no priestly service.

After the fulfillment of three and a half years of the power and actions of the unclean, and when all the temptations of the whole earth are fulfilled, the Lord will finally come, according to what has been said, the Lord, like lightning flashing from heaven, our holy, most pure, terrible and glorious God will come, with incomparable glory ... Torturer with all the demons, bound by angels, also all who have received his seal, all the ungodly and sinners bound, will be brought before the judgment seat. And the King will give them a sentence of eternal condemnation into unquenchable fire. All those who did not accept the seal of the Antichrist, and all who hid in the caves, will rejoice with the Bridegroom, forever nom and heavenly chamber, with all the saints in the boundless ages of ages 6
"Word for the Coming of the Lord" in Russian. transl. (Moscow. Spiritual Acad.), 39, part III, “Creation. St. Ephraim the Syrian.

Prophet Moses says: About Dan he said: Dan is a young lion that runs out of Bashan.(Deut. 33:22). Just as Christ is born from the tribe of David, so the Antichrist will be born from the tribe of Dan. James says the same: Dan will be a serpent on the road, an asp on the way, piercing the leg of the horse, so that his rider will fall back.(Gen. 49:17). Who is this serpent, if not the Antichrist, the deceiver mentioned in the book of Genesis (3:1), who seduced Eve and Adam?

That a tyrant and a king, a terrible judge, the son of the devil, will be born from the tribe of Dan, the prophet says about this: Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel(Gen. 49:16). Someone will object that this is said about Samson, who, born of the tribe of Dan, judged the people for twenty years. But after all, this prophecy was only partly fulfilled on Samson, but it will be completely fulfilled on the Antichrist. For Jeremiah says: From Dan, the snoring of his horses is heard, from the loud neighing of his stallions, the whole earth trembles; and they will come and destroy the earth and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell in it(Jer. 8, 16). Another prophet says: He will gather all his strength from the rising of the sun to the west; those whom he called and whom he did not call will follow him. He will turn the sea white with the many sails on the ships, and the field will turn black with the large shields of heavily armed infantry, and whoever meets him will fall by the sword.

But let's see what the prophet Daniel says.

In the form of a lioness emerging from the sea, the prophet designated the Babylonian kingdom, also by the fact that the body had a golden head. The fact that the wings of a lioness are eagles means that the king of Babylon has exalted himself and ascended against God. And the fact that her wings were “torn out” means that his glory was taken away from him: he was expelled from his kingdom. In the words and the heart of a man was given to him, and on a man's foot his repentance is shown, he understood that he was a man, and gave glory to God.

After the lioness, I saw a second beast, like a bear: these were the Persians, who ruled after the Babylonians. Three ribs in his mouth - three peoples: Persians, Medes and Babylonians: also in the seen body, after gold, silver is mentioned. Then the third beast - a lynx: these were Hellenes. Since after the Persians, Alexander the Great, who defeated Darius, took power: he is signified in the body by copper. The remark that he has four bird wings (and four heads) obviously indicates the division of Alexander's kingdom: four heads - four kings who rebelled against him, since Alexander, dying, divided his kingdom into four parts.

Then the prophet says: the fourth beast is terrible and terrible: his teeth are iron, and his nails are brass.

Who is this if not the Romans? Iron is the kingdom of Rome: his legs are iron. It remains to explain why clay and iron parts are mixed in his feet. In the toes of the beast, the prophet mysteriously showed the kings who had risen from him, as the prophet Daniel says: look at that beast, and behold, there are ten horns behind it, in them another small horn rises like a branch, and three roses ahead of it will uproot it.

This shows the Antichrist, who will restore the kingdom of Judah. Three horns will be uprooted by him: these are the three kings - Egyptian, Libyan and Ethiopian, whom he will kill in battle. Having taken possession of everything by force, he, being a cruel tyrant, will raise a persecution against the people over whom he has ascended. Prophet Daniel says: I saw then that for the utterance of arrogant words, which the horn spoke, the beast was killed in my eyes, and his body was crushed and delivered to the burning fire(Dan. 7:21).

According to Orthodox doctrine, the Antichrist is a person who, before the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, will rule the world. The prefix "anti" in Greek can have two meanings: "against" and "instead of" 28 . The Antichrist will try to put himself in the place of Christ, he will be the enemy of Christ: “Let no one deceive you in any way: [for that day] [comes], until the apostasy comes first and the man of sin, the son of perdition, is revealed, resisting and exalting himself above everything that is called God or holiness, so that he sits in the temple of God like God, posing as God"(2 Thess. 2:3-4). The Antichrist will openly call himself God 29 . What will be the temple in which he "sits"? There is no clear idea about this, nowhere in the Holy Scriptures does it say that he will "sit down" in the Jerusalem temple, it is only known for sure that it will be the "temple of God" 30 . According to Tradition, the Antichrist will come from the Jewish people 31 and will be a descendant of one of the 12 sons of Jacob, Dan: "Dan will be a serpent on the road, an asp on the way, piercing the leg of the horse, so that his rider will fall back"(Gen. 49:17). About the coming of the Antichrist, the Holy Scriptures say: "Children! the last time. And as you heard that the Antichrist will come, and now many antichrists have appeared, then we will know from the fact that the last time"(1 John 2:18). In a general sense, any person who rejects the gospel and Jesus Christ can be called antichrist, but "in a special way and preeminently, the one who comes at the end of the age is called Antichrist" 32 .

Consider the signs of the Antichrist that the Holy Scripture tells us: "Who is a liar if not one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son"(1 John 2:22). This verse refutes the heresy that denies the Messiahship of Jesus and His divine filial dignity. The modern modification of this heresy is very popular among occultists, in particular in Theosophy and Agni Yoga. "For many deceivers have entered the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ, who has come in the flesh: such [a man] is a deceiver and antichrist"(2 John 1:7). It speaks of those who reject the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh 33 . For example, Jehovah's Witnesses meet this criterion. "... Any spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ, who has come in the flesh, is not from God, but it is the spirit of the Antichrist, about which you heard that he would come and now is already in the world"(1 John 4:3). Modern sects are the forerunners of the Antichrist, preparing the ground for him. "I have come in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me; but if another comes in his name, you will receive him"(John 5:43). This verse speaks of those who will seek not the glory of God, but the glory of man: if Jesus Christ came in the name of the Father, then the Antichrist will come in the name of himself 34 . It is known from the Holy Scriptures that the coming of the Antichrist "with all power and signs and lying wonders"(2 Thess. 2:9). The miracles of the Antichrist will be deceptive 35: even now we can observe the temptation of false miracles among modern occultists, magicians, psychics. One of the most obvious signs of the Antichrist is pointed out by St. Zosima of Solovetsky: "When you hear that Christ has come to earth or has appeared on earth, then know this is the Antichrist" 36, since, according to Christ Himself: "... as lightning comes from the east and is visible even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man"(Matthew 24:27).

The Antichrist, unlike our Lord Jesus Christ, will call not to the Heavenly Kingdom, but to the earthly one: "Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight for me, so that I would not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here"(John 18:36).

The idea of ​​the priority of material well-being and prosperity will be affirmed. Satan also tried to tempt Jesus Christ with material goods, but those who worship the Antichrist will forget the Lord's answer: And he answered and said to him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.(Matthew 4:4).

What is certain is that Antichrist will first teach about the "equality" of religions 37 . This trend can be clearly seen in the writings of many of his contemporary forerunners. At the same time, the words and deeds of the Antichrist will contradict each other. The equality of religions affirmed in words will not exist in practice: all religions will be replaced by the cult of Antichrist. All religions will be distorted and suppressed, especially Christianity. The testimony of the Holy Scriptures about Christ will be forgotten: "... there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved"(Acts 4:12).

All earthly states will fall under the political power of the Antichrist: "...and power was given to him over every kindred and people and tongue and nation"(Rev. 13:7). Therefore, any activity aimed at creating a single world political government leads to the power of the Antichrist. "For the mystery of iniquity is already at work, only [it will not be completed] until the one who restrains now is taken from the midst"(2 Thess. 2:7). By "holding" many Orthodox fathers understood the Roman state 38 , in a broader sense, this concept can also be interpreted as the sovereignty of state power throughout the world, the destruction of which will lead to the creation of supranational power structures.

In fact, the Antichrist will completely cancel the Gospel, probably replacing it with some of his "newest revelation": "But even if we or an angel from heaven began to preach to you not what we preached to you, let him be anathema"(Gal. 1:8). He will preach "another Christ" (Matt. 24:23-28), and eventually lead his followers to the service of "other gods" (Jer. 25:6), and to be more precise, to worship himself .

The Antichrist, as we have already said, will appear before the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. What are the signs of the Second Coming? First, the preaching of the gospel will reach all corners of the earth: "And this 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). No nation can say that they knew nothing about Jesus Christ. Secondly, there will be an increase in evil, which will manifest itself through the coming of false prophets (see Matt. 24:11), the decline of morality (see Matt. 24:12), natural disasters (see Luke 21:25), public disasters and wars (see Matt. 24:6-7). Thirdly, many Jews of that time would convert to Christianity39: "For I do not want to leave you, brethren, in ignorance of this mystery - so that you do not dream about yourself - that hardening occurred in Israel in part, [until the time] until the full [number] of the Gentiles enters; and thus all Israel will be saved, as it is written, The Redeemer will come from Zion, and he will turn wickedness away from Jacob."(Rom. 11:25-26).

There is a false opinion that the incarnate Satan will be the Antichrist, but "it is not the devil himself who becomes a man, ... but a man is born from fornication and takes upon himself all the action of Satan. For God, knowing in advance the lewdness of his future will, allows the devil to dwell in him" 40. The same is said in Holy Scripture: "The beast that I saw was like a leopard; his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his strength (highlighted by us. - V.P.) and his throne and great power"(Rev. 13:2).

We do not know about the time of the coming of the Antichrist: "He said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed in His own power."(Acts 1:7).

How long will the power of the Antichrist last? Scripture answers this question in the following way: "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to go on for forty-two months"(Rev. 13:5). The Antichrist will reign for three and a half years 41 .

The Lord will put an end to the reign of the Antichrist: "And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet, who worked miracles before him, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image: both were thrown alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone"(Rev. 19:20).

Summing up the signs of the coming of the Antichrist, we can say that, according to Orthodox teaching, the Antichrist will: 1) distort the Gospel; 2) will come in his name; 3) will call everyone to material well-being; 4) will openly call himself God; 5) will perform false miracles; 6) reject Christ; 7) will concentrate in his hands all political power over the world. There is reason to believe that at first the Antichrist will teach about Christ as one of the many "spiritual teachers" of mankind, perhaps in words he will assert the equality of religions, in practice - to plant a cult of reverence for himself. Apparently, his teaching will be in tune with modern occult teachings.

What is truth?

The question of what is considered truth is very important, because the whole logic of the doctrine being built depends on the answer to it. Daniil Andreev writes: “We call true that theory or that doctrine that, in our opinion, expresses an undistorted idea of ​​any object of knowledge. In the exact sense of the word, truth is an undistorted reflection of any object of knowledge in our mind. in the world of objects of knowledge, just as many truths can exist" 42 . The author confuses the concepts of "truth" and "representation of truth". True knowledge of reality is that which corresponds to the real state of things. But the very real state of things, the truth itself does not depend in any way on our idea of ​​it. An opinion about a fact and the fact itself are not the same thing. Therefore, we can say that there are many representations of truth, but the truth itself is one. And these concepts should not be confused. The author continues: "... the objects of knowledge are knowable from us, and not from ourselves. Therefore, the truth about any object of knowledge known from us must be recognized as relative truth. The absolute truth is a reflection of such an object of knowledge, which is known by some subject" in itself." Such cognition is fundamentally possible only when the opposition between the object and the subject is removed; when the subject of cognition is identified with the object" 43 . Daniil Andreev in his book talks about God, the structure of the world, but, in fact, why does he believe that his idea of ​​them is true? He is not the omniscient God and not the world. So his knowledge is relative. And there is no reason to trust his book more than any other, which affirms the latest new "truths". Daniil Andreev continues: “Naturally, the Absolute Truth of the Big Universe can arise only in the consciousness of a commensurate subject of cognition, an omniscient subject, capable of identifying with an object, capable of cognizing things not only “from itself”, but also “in itself.” Such a subject of cognition called the Absolute, God, the Sun of the World" 44 . The first question that arises upon acquaintance with such a statement is: what is the difference between the knower and the known? If to know means to become knowable, to "identify with an object," then the conclusion is simple: to know means to cease to exist as a person, as consciousness. After all, having merged with the known, the knower disappears. This is the logic of suicide. But if the knower has disappeared, then what follows that he has known something? After all, it becomes impossible to confirm the very fact of knowledge, it remains only to blindly believe in it. Perhaps a person has learned something, but with the same degree of certainty one can assert the opposite. The author forgets that any knowledge inherently implies the presence of both the knower and the known. Knowing does not always mean being known. Daniil Andreev's chain of reasoning is unacceptable, he claims "that the Absolute Truth of the Great Universe can arise only in the consciousness of a subject of cognition commensurate with it", but, following the logic of the author of "The Rose of the World", no subject can exist in principle.

The nature of God, except for God, no one knows - this is true, but to be the bearer of nature and to have an idea about it is not the same thing. Man is not a bearer of the Divine nature, but he can have a true idea of ​​it through the Revelation of God about Himself. Of course, one can accept the statement that "... all our "truths" are, strictly speaking, only approximations to truths" 45 . But it is impossible to agree that we know nothing at all about the true state of things, including when we talk about God. Therefore, our knowledge of Truth is limited, but in itself it may well be true.

Daniil Andreev writes: "... the assertion is absurd that all teachings or any one teaching is false" 46 . If we interpret the concept of "truth" in the way Andreev does, then perhaps, but if we take into account everything that we have said above, then it is quite possible to come to the following conclusion. If the truth is known only in merging with the nature of the known, through dissolving in it, then to know means to become, and whoever did not become did not know. Daniil Andreev did not become a god, so he did not know him. So his claims about God are false. From his logic follows: since all statements are "relative", but at the same time all are true, it means that it is necessary to recognize that two mutually exclusive statements can be true at the same time. This, in turn, leads to the simplest conclusion: there is no difference at all between truth and falsehood. This means that the very meaning of creating any teachings, including the "Rose of the World", disappears completely. If the meaning of the concept of "truth" is seen in what Daniil Andreev sees it in, then there is no point in creating the book "Rose of the World".

Literature
28 Priest Oleg Davydenkov. dogmatic theology. Lecture course. M., Orthodox St. Tikhon Theological Institute. 1997. Part III. P.277.
29 Creations of St. John of Damascus. Exact presentation of the Orthodox faith. Book 4. ch. 26 / Source of knowledge. M., Indrik. 2002. P.333.
30 Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. Interpretation of the acts and conciliar epistles of the holy apostles. Book 3. M., Lepta, 2002. S.278.
31 See: Priest Oleg Davydenkov. dogmatic theology. Lecture course. M., Orthodox St. Tikhon Theological Institute. 1997. Part III. S. 278.
32 Creations of St. John of Damascus. Source of knowledge. M., Indrik. 2002. P.332.
33 Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. Interpretation of the acts and conciliar epistles of the holy apostles. Book 1. M., Lepta, 2002. P. 449. See also 2 Jn. 1:7 translated ed. ep. Cassian Bezobrazov: "because many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh."
34 Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. Commentary on the Gospel of John. Book 4. M., Lepta, 2002. P.149.
35 Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. Interpretation of the acts and conciliar epistles of the holy apostles. Book 3. M., Lepta, 2002. S.282.
36 Op. Quoted from: A.I. Osipov. The path of the mind in search of truth. M., Sretensky monastery. 2002. P.389.
37 See: A.I. Osipov. The path of the mind in search of truth. M., Sretensky monastery. 2002. P.388.
38 Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. Interpretation of the acts and conciliar epistles of the holy apostles. Book 3. M., Lepta, 2002. S.280.
39 Priest Oleg Davydenkov. dogmatic theology. Lecture course. M., Orthodox St. Tikhon Theological Institute. 1997. Part III. P.276.
40 Creations of St. John of Damascus. Exact presentation of the Orthodox faith. Book 4. ch.26 / Source of knowledge. M., Indrik. 2002. P.333.
41 Priest Oleg Davydenkov. dogmatic theology. Lecture course. M., Orthodox St. Tikhon Theological Institute. 1997. Part III. P.281.
42 Daniil Andreev. Rose of the World. M., Another world. 1992. P.37.
43 Ibid. P.37.
44 Ibid. P.37.
45 Ibid. P.37.
46 Ibid. P.38.

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Antichrist(from the Greek ό αντί-χριςτος) - an opponent or enemy of Christ, pretending to be Christ by deceit.

1. Holy Scripture about Antichrist

The prefix anti- in Greek means not so much "against" as "instead of", "instead of". Therefore, here is meant someone who appropriates the place of Christ, and therefore is an opponent of Christ.

In a broader sense, this name means anyone who does not confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God and rejects His teaching. Such are all the false teachers, of whom there were already many in the time of the apostles (Matt. 24:24; Mk. 13:22; 1 John 2:18; 4:1-3; 2 John 7).

But in a proper and closer sense, the name Antichrist means a special person, especially an impious person who, before the second coming of the Lord on earth, will oppose Christ and try to destroy Christianity, but instead he himself will perish in a terrible way. The Lord Jesus "will kill him with the breath of his mouth, and destroy him with the appearance of his coming" (2 Thess. 2:8).

His personal qualities and actions are clearly depicted in St. Paul in the 2nd Messenger to the Thessalonica (2 Thess. 2), and in the Revelation of John (Rev. 13, 2-10):

Before the coming of the Lord, which will reveal Christ in His power and glory, "the man of sin, the son of perdition" (2 Thess. 2, 3), "resisting and exalting himself above everything that is called God or holy things, so that he will sit in the temple of God like God, pretending to be God" (2 Thess. 2:4). His coming to power will be accompanied by false signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:9-12; Rev. 13:13 et seq.). Here we are talking about a political leader who will become the object of religious worship and receive dictatorial powers. He will not seem like a monster, but a brilliant personality, he will promise a solution to all problems and conquer the whole world. He will appear as a counterfeit of God and will even perform false miracles imitating those that God performed in Holy History. He will persecute the Church of Christ (Rev. 13:7,17). Antichrist will be overcome by the appearance of Jesus Christ (Rev. 17:14; 2 Thess. 2:8). This will be followed by the final Last Judgment on the forces opposing God and the building of the coming Kingdom of God.

2. Holy Fathers about Antichrist

St. Irenaeus of Lyons writes that the prophet Jeremiah revealed to us not only the sudden coming of the Antichrist, but also the tribe of Israel from which he will come:

"From Dan we will hear the neighing of his swift horses, and from the sound of the neighing of his galloping horses the whole earth will shake, and he will come and devour the earth with what fills it, and the city with its inhabitants" (Jer. 8, 16). And therefore this tribe is not considered in Revelation among those saved (Rev. 7, 5-7)."

The origin of the Antichrist from the tribe of Dan is also taught by St. Hippolyte of Rome:

"Scripture proclaimed Christ "a lion and a lion's robe"; the same is said about the Antichrist. Indeed, Moses says so: did not sin, recognizing these words as spoken in the appendix to Christ, let him pay attention to the following: "Dan," says (Scripture), "the lions' lions": naming the tribe that comes from Dan, it actually made an indication of (knee), from of whom the Antichrist is to be born. Thus, just as Christ was born from the tribe of Judah, so the Antichrist is to come from the tribe of Dan. And that this is indeed so, this is partly indicated by James: "(Gen. 49, 17). So, what kind of serpent is this, if not a deceiver from time immemorial who is spoken of in the Book of Genesis and who deceived Eve and stumbled Adam?"

Saint Nil the Myrrh-streaming:

“The Antichrist will be born from the impure prodigal. In this virgin lewdness will be copulated, she will be the treasury of adultery. Every evil of the world, every impurity, every lawlessness will be embodied in it. ... A fruit will be conceived from secret unnatural fornication, which will be the container of all evil ...

The world will imagine that this Antichrist is meek and humble in heart, but in reality he will be a fox in his heart, a wolf in his soul. Confusion of people will be his food. …

And the Antichrist will become the head over the cities, over the villages and over the districts of the villages ... People will believe what he will say ... People, who have already become vessels of the devil, will have extreme confidence in the Antichrist, will make him the universal ruler and autocrat ... Being in perdition, people will think that he is Christ the Savior and that he will work out their salvation. Then the gospel of the Church will be neglected.”

St. Cyril of Jerusalem, explaining the words "in the temple of God he will sit as God, posing as God" (2 Thess. 2, 4), says that the apostle "understands the devastated Jewish temple. Let it not happen," writes St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "Let us understand this temple in which we are! But why are we saying this? Let them not think that we are talking out of flattery to ourselves. If Antichrist comes to the Jews, like Christ, and desires worship from the Jews; then, in order to further deceive them, he will show great zeal for the temple, instilling the idea that he is from the lineage of David and that he should create a temple built by Solomon.He will come when there is no stone left on stone in the Jewish temple, according to the definition of the Savior (Matt. 24, 2) ".

St. Hippolyte writes that the Antichrist at the first time of his coming into the world will seem like a most pious person, adorned with all the virtues and will perform various miracles:

"will cleanse leprosy, restore the paralyzed, cast out demons, announce the distant future, as if the present, raise the dead ... will rearrange mountains before the eyes of spectators, cross the sea without getting wet feet, bring down fire from heaven, turn day into darkness and night per day, to move the sun wherever he wishes; in general, by the power of his obsession, he will show before the eyes of the audience that all the elements of the earth and sea are obedient to him.

Rev. Ephraim Sirin writes that after the murder of Enoch and Elijah, the Antichrist will throw off the mask of piety and show everyone his true nature:

"This serpent will vomit his bitterness, confuse the universe, move its ends, oppress everyone and begin to defile souls, not already showing reverence in himself, but in any case acting like a stern, cruel, angry, irritable, impetuous, disorderly, terrible, disgusting person. , hateful, vile, fierce, destructive, shameless, who tries to plunge the whole human race into the abyss of wickedness.

St. Hippolyte writes about the persecution of the Church of Christ by the Antichrist:

“This is the essence, those very thousand two hundred and sixty days - half a week, during which the tyrant will have power and persecute the church, fleeing from city to city, having nothing else with it but the two wings of a huge eagle, that is, faith in Jesus Christ, who, spreading his holy hands on a tree, unfolded two wings - right and left, thus calling all those who believe in Him and covering them like a hen - her chicks.

3. Seal of the Antichrist

Currently, there are many misconceptions about the seal of the Antichrist, what it will be like, when exactly it will be applied and under what conditions - voluntarily or secretly. However, the Holy Church has long answered all these questions quite unequivocally. The seal of the Antichrist will not be the number 666, it will be applied at the end of the reign of the Antichrist exclusively to those who voluntarily accept him as their god and worship him.

In the article “The Seal of the Antichrist in the Orthodox Tradition”, he writes about the source and false essence of other opinions:

“... it was from 1981 that an opinion began to spread that was completely inconsistent with Orthodox Tradition. Its adherents claim that... This seal is allegedly not erased and remains with a person forever.

Where did these ideas come from and why did they take over the minds so quickly? It is known that they are not drawn at all from patristic literature; these opinions arose in a non-Orthodox environment, in the USA - a country that is a hotbed of all kinds of heresies, madness and demonism. One of their first distributors was a certain Mary Stuart Relph, who wrote two best-selling books on the subject: When your money fails and The New Financial System. .

Ms. Relph claims that the global economic system, through the global computer network Internet and bar codes, prepares us to receive the Antichrist, and those who use them receive the seal of the Antichrist .... Thus, she reports that a certain John X. Shepherd informed her “by inspiration from Christ ”, that the number 666 as such is the seal of the Antichrist. And the “Holy Spirit” has already revealed to her that the bar code has the number 666 and whoever purchases goods with this code receives the seal of the Antichrist in addition. After recounting these and other "revelations", Ms. Relph comes to the conclusion that she herself is a prophetess sent to save the world from the invasion of satanic computer technology, which is so rapidly taking over all areas of human life.
...
It is not at all funny that the fables of an American Protestant, who claims to be a prophetess and cannot distinguish black from white, have become a teaching aid in an Orthodox environment! It is strange and painful to see how theologians, monastics, clergy, inspired by the ideas of Ms. Relph, zealously protest against the use of a bar code. They argue about the Antichrist and his seal, although it is obvious that these arguments can in no way be called theological, since all the arguments are borrowed from an environment alien to the Church.

Today, much has already been written “for” and “against” the fact that the barcode is the Antichrist seal. Be that as it may, 666 remains the most common number and nothing more, it denotes a certain amount and is used by us, like all other numbers. In addition to the fact that certain associations are associated with it, it is no different from other numbers and in itself is by no means the seal of the Antichrist. As for the prophecies labeled “made in USA”, they cannot be considered true in any way, since it is obvious that they were inspired by the evil one.

Let's reason: if it was not the Holy Spirit who spoke to Mrs. Relph, then it must be some other spirit, and which one can be recognized by the fruits of her teaching.
...
It is interesting to trace how the freshly concocted bestseller of the American “prophetress” came to Greece. The first to translate and publish the books of Ms. Relph ... monk Parthenius, a resident of the Holy Mount Athos. His translation, which included both of her "works", was called "The Alarming Signs of the Times." From the words of the translator it is clear that he was afraid that the author of the prophecies set forth in these books might be in spiritual delusion...

However, despite such a statement, the monk Parthenius did not bother to distinguish between spirits. He was unable to distinguish Mrs. Relph's demon-infused "revelations" from one of the greatest gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gift of prophecy. Can the Holy Spirit speak heresy or dwell in a heretic? What was the monk Parthenius guided by when he translated from English a book that sins with an obviously non-Orthodox approach to the problem under consideration and does not correspond to the tradition of patristic theology? And how could he confuse the teachings of the Church with the hoaxes of an American sectarian?

In addition, it is interesting why the monk Parthenius, who declared that he leaves the last and decisive word to the Church, did not try to find out her judgment and did not submit his translation to the committee of spiritual censorship of the Holy Synod? On the contrary, he issued it, after which the fire of passions, which is still raging to this day, immediately flared up...

It is known that none of the holy fathers taught that this number as such is the seal of the Antichrist himself.

Firstly, the number 666 could not be considered as the number of the beast, since we know that in the era of the development of Christian writing, alphabetic numbers were used, and not modern Arabic numbers, which did not exist then. From all the attempts to "count the number of the beast" it is clear that the ancient authors used a letter count. In the book of Revelation it is written that if you count the number of the name of the Antichrist, then in total it will give 666.

But none of the holy fathers has ever considered the number 666 as such the seal of the Antichrist.

Seal is his name. “Here is wisdom. Whoever has understanding, count the number of the beast” (Rev. 13:18). …
“To count the number of the beast” means to name the name of the Antichrist in accordance with the numerical values ​​​​of the letters of the Greek alphabet that make it up, the sum of which should be 666. ...

So, the seal of the Antichrist, his name and the number of this name are closely interconnected and one does not exist without the other, it must be especially clearly understood that they will appear simultaneously. ... These three elements are not identical to each other ... 666 is neither the name of the Antichrist nor his seal and is no different from any other number, and it is only due to a misunderstanding that it is considered the number of the Antichrist. …

And Saint Hippolytus clearly points out that the number of a name is not the name itself, and certainly not the seal itself. Only an image or name can be the seal or mark of Antichrist. This is clear from his words: “It is already considered that a certain name is contained in this number.” …

Interpreting the Apocalypse (13:18), St. Hippolyte teaches: “We know nothing more about his [Antichrist’s] name than what was said by blessed John, who only hinted at it, hiding it under the guise of a number. But when the Antichrist himself appears, time will reveal his name. The more we guess about him, the more we will doubt and make mistakes, since many names correspond to this number” (“On Christ and the Antichrist”).

Saint Andrew of Caesarea supplements and explains the words of Hieromartyr Hippolytus: “The one about whom this is written and whose name contains the number 666, time and experience will reveal to those who seek. For if anyone could recognize this name, then, having understood, he would reveal it to us. But God did not deign to reveal his name to us in Scripture” (“Explanation on the Apocalypse”).

St. Irenaeus of Lyon says that then two dangers will appear, one no less than the other: some will imagine that they know the name of the Antichrist and the time of his coming (“Refusal and overthrow of false knowledge”). But those who think to avoid the wiles of the Antichrist by calculating his name and the date of his coming, will only be more likely to be deceived by him. Suppose someone is sure that he knows the name of the Antichrist. But he comes with a different name, and one is easily deceived into expecting another. Thus, some of the “elect” who are now diligently engaged in unraveling the number of the beast will be deceived.

Saint Irenaeus continues: “It is safest and safest to wait for the fulfillment of the prophecy than to try to guess the name of the Antichrist. Some are trying to find a possible name for the Antichrist among the many names corresponding to this number. In other words, the Father of the Church urges us not to engage in fruitless searches for the name of the Antichrist, not to try to unravel it.

We, like the once holy martyr Hippolytus, cannot imagine the image of the Antichrist and recognize his name. Therefore, before the appearance of the “man of sin, the son of perdition”, no one has the right to say that his seal already exists and is placed on people who do not even suspect about it. …

« And give them a mark". ... seal ... will be evidence of a person's commitment to the antichrist, and therefore, this person's faith in him as in God. …

Without a doubt, this refers to the purely spiritual meaning that will be invested in them. And this meaning, as we saw above in Saint Hippolytus, is renunciation of Christ.

Behind the letters that make up the name of the Antichrist, its true meaning will be hidden: I renounce. This name will be the main symbol of the cult of the Antichrist, it will become object of faith and deification, those who seek the help and support of the Antichrist will rely on him.

The purpose of putting the seal of the antichrist will be to change the faith of a person, to force him to recognize the true God and Savior of the antichrist and to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Hippolytus strongly advises not to look for the meaning of the name of the Antichrist in the letters that make it up, but to interpret it spiritually, allegorically, for the prophecies contained in Holy Scripture cannot be interpreted literally.

Archbishop Aretha of Caesarea expresses similar judgments: “To bow to the Antichrist and accept his seal means to recognize him as God, that is, to confess him in deed, word and thought. Putting a seal on the forehead and on the hand marks a change in thoughts and deeds ”(“ Interpretation of the Apocalypse ”). The forehead is a symbol of thought, the hand is of deed. Aretha, following the fathers of the Church of more ancient times, insists that the seal has a spiritual, and not a material meaning: those who accept the seal of the Antichrist and his name will write it on their hearts as the most precious.

… St. Andrew of Caesarea testifies: “When the time of his coming comes, the Antichrist will subdue everything to himself and begin to stamp his slaves with the seal of his name on the right hand and forehead” (“Interpretation of the Apocalypse”). From here it is clear that he will put a seal only on his servants, those who themselves wanted to submit to him. …

The person who accepts it will thereby testify: I belong to you, I am yours, I voluntarily follow you and accept this seal of my own free will. Thus, it is not so much an outward sign as an expression of the way of thinking, the state of mind generated by the renunciation of Christ and the acceptance of the Antichrist. …

The seal of the Antichrist will not be the number 666, but his name, so far unknown to anyone. And therefore, how can the seal of the Antichrist exist today, when his name does not exist, because the number 666 is the number of the name of the Antichrist. According to the teaching of the holy fathers, the seal will appear only at the end of the second period of the Antichrist's world dominion.

Thus, before the Antichrist declares himself a god, there will be no seal. It will appear only after his rule turns into a “theocracy”. Therefore, today, when the Antichrist has not yet appeared and declared himself a god, one cannot speak of the imposition of his seal. Those who raise a fuss about the number 666 are deluded and mislead others.

... one should not attach great importance to ranting about the end of the world and other upcoming events, since they are predetermined by God Himself and no one is able to change anything here. There will also be a great apostate who “comes in his name” (John 5:43), demands divine honors, will force all people to confess him as the true God. But this has not yet happened, and therefore it is impossible to speak of the coming of the Antichrist, and even more so of his seal, which cannot exist before his reign over the world. Consequently, those who make a fuss about the topic of the Antichrist and the end of the world confuse, mislead people, and thereby seriously sin.

… Let us once again recall the sequence of events preceding the accession of the Antichrist. First - the fall of Christian monarchies, and then the complete destruction of Christian statehood as such, based on faith in Christ. After this, the Antichrist will come, who will not immediately reveal his true identity as an apostate and enemy of Christ. He will begin to put a seal with the image of his name on his adherents only at the end of his reign. It will not be imposed on anyone by force, because the devil needs a voluntary renunciation of God. Further, the sign of the Holy Cross of the Lord will be revealed in the sky, and after that Christ will come.

Attempts to distort or alter the course of events, known to us from the sacred books and writings of holy men, testify that the person who undertakes them is mistaken, acts under the influence of the devil, being an instrument for the fulfillment of his plans and sowing confusion, fear and despondency in people!

The question arises whether the seal of the Antichrist can harm those who believe in Christ. The answer is unequivocal: no, since Christ is Almighty God, and Satan is just a fallen angel, cursed by God. But if the Antichrist and his master the devil cannot harm Christians in any way, then what do the words of the holy fathers mean, who say that the mark placed by the Antichrist on the right hand and forehead will give those who accept it some power?

Modern heralds of the imminent arrival of the Antichrist believe that Christ is weaker than Satan, because the Antichrist surpasses Him in power, and his seal has some incredible power against which Christians are defenseless, and they have no one and nothing to rely on.

And if Satan had no power over pigs, as it is told in the Gospel, then how can he have it over us, sealed by Christ Himself. The Orthodox should be ashamed to be afraid of the weak insolence of the evil one, forgetting that there is an Almighty God, to whom alone the power over him and all his army belongs, and who has prepared eternal fire for them.

Thus, the seal of Christ received by us in baptism is indestructible, indelible and inalienable. The question is, is not the seal of the Antichrist just as strong and indestructible? Some answer this question in the affirmative, believing that the person who receives it immediately becomes the son of perdition, the slave of Antichrist, who has no hope of salvation. …

… The seal of the Antichrist is a voluntary, conscious renunciation of Christ. But even it may not be final, since a person always has the opportunity to repent, and then the Lord will erase this seal and free his soul from the bonds of the devil. God does not want “the death of a sinner, but how to turn and live to be him” (prayer one from the Follow-up on Confession).

... The forcible sealing of Antichrist cannot harm a Christian if he does not internally accept it, resists the devil and remains a disciple of Christ. The nets of the devil are like cobwebs; they are torn apart by church sacraments, fasting and prayer, as well as determination to fight the devil and readiness to serve God. The possessed Gadarin (Luke 8:26-39) was completely in the power of the devil, his will was suppressed by Satan, but the Lord Jesus Christ freed him from this slavery by His Divine power. So we must also trust in the power of God, which protects us at all times and in all places. …

The seal of the Antichrist is an external symbol of the renunciation of Christ, giving nothing to a person, except for the possibility of obtaining material benefits. By itself - without renunciation - it is neither good nor bad, that is, it does not mean anything and does not carry anything in itself.

The fears whipped up around the theme of the Antichrist and his seal, voluntarily or involuntarily, only contribute to the recognition of his greatness, power and at the same time give rise to disbelief in the omnipotence of Christ, lack of hope in God and, ultimately, the thought of the inferiority and untrueness of Christianity. We must always remember that the Antichrist is nothing compared to Christ! The Lord will kill him with one breath of His mouth and destroy his power and strength in the twinkling of an eye.”

Venerable Porfiry Kavsokalivit:

“The elder asked me: “Well, tell me, my child, what does Geronda Aemilianus say about the number 666 and about the Antichrist?” I answered: “Geronda, he told us at one of the last general conversations that we should not worry. For us to take care to have a living relationship with Christ. As for the question of the Antichrist, one should not pay too much attention to him, because otherwise he, and not Christ, will take center stage in our lives. As soon as I said this, the Elder clapped his hands on the bed on which he was sitting and exclaimed: “What are you saying, what are you saying, my child! Glory to Thee, God, that I have found at least one confessor who agrees with me. Do you know, my child, what these confessors have done here in the world? They excited people with this number 666, created a whole tangle of problems - in families, in people's minds. People have lost sleep. … Well, what is it? Christ, my child, does not want things to be like this. …For us Christians, for us, if we live by Christ, there is no Antichrist. …. When we have Christ in us, can the Antichrist come? Can any opposite entity enter our soul? Now, my child, we do not have Christ in us, and therefore we are worried about the Antichrist. When we contain Christ within ourselves, then everything becomes Paradise. Christ is everything, so always tell people, my child, and we are not afraid of His enemy.

And look, I'll tell you more. If now the Antichrist himself came with a laser device and forcibly stamped 666 on me, I would not be upset. You will tell me: “Geronda, but isn’t this a sign of the Antichrist?” Yes, if he wrote on me with laser beams and a thousand times 666, wrote indelibly, I would not be upset. Why? Because, my child, the first martyrs were thrown to wild beasts, but they made the sign of the cross, and they became lambs; they were thrown into the depths of the sea - they made the sign of the cross, and the sea became a firmament, and they walked on it, as if on dry land; they were thrown into the fire - they made the sign of the cross, and the fire became cool. Blessed my child, what are we now? Do we believe in Christ? Where is our sign of the cross? Why did Christ come? Is it not to strengthen our weakness? ... And you yourself tell people not to be afraid of the Antichrist. We are children of Christ, we are children of the Church. …

Do not be tormented by questions about the end times, the Antichrist and his signs. Know that if we have Christ in us, the Antichrist cannot do us any harm! Not the slightest!”

Archimandrite John (Krestyankin):

"... and confusion and turmoil continue to escalate within the walls of the Church and among the people of God, but in reality all this is done by the enemy of God, the enemy of the Church, the enemy of our salvation.

The state problem of individual taxpayer numbers through the efforts of the enemy of God, false rumors about the introduction of three sixes into the TIN, gained great power of confusion in the spiritual world and became for us the test that showed in believers the lack of faith in God and trust in the Mother Church ...

Here is how Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov), a great ascetic of piety, a resident of our holy Pskov-Pechersk monastery, describes such events: “The reason for such phenomena lies in the human soul, it is always tempted by everything mysterious, unusual, supernatural, miraculous; and especially scary. And at the same time, a false “jealousy” about God appears ......"

Fear, "where there is no fear," now paralyzed faith and took away hope, and the shadow of the enemy is trying to obscure the Sun of truth - Christ.

Let it not!

Dear ones, how did we give in to panic - to lose our Christian name, replacing it with a number? But how can this happen in the eyes of God. Will someone forget himself and his heavenly patron, given at the time of baptism, at the Chalice of Life?

And don’t we remember all those clergymen, lay Christians, who for a long period of their lives had to forget their names, surnames, they were replaced by a number, and many left forever with a number.

And God accepted them into His Fatherly arms as holy martyrs and martyrs, and the white victorious robes hid under them the prison jackets. There was no name, but God was there and His guidance led the believing prisoner through the shadow of death every day.

The Lord has no concept of a person as a number, only modern computing technology needs a number, but for the Lord there is nothing more precious than a living human soul, for the sake of which He sent His Only Begotten Son Christ the Savior. And the Savior entered the world with a census.

Fear sin!

We will be gone from life long before the fear that has seized everyone now will appear. But, having fallen away from the Church, we inherit exactly what we are so afraid of now.

Let us imprint on the tablets of the heart and mind the spiritual basis of our unity with God:

"Son, give me your heart."

The soul and heart, faithful to God, the Lord will not give up to be trampled by the enemy!

And what can be said about control and total surveillance, which are so frightened by simple-hearted people?

When and in what state was there no secret office? Everything was... and everything is... and will be... But nothing prevents a believing person from being saved.
...
Now we are more and more afraid of the seal of the Antichrist, which will be at the time of it, at a time to which we do not know if we will live. But few even think about the seal of our personal sin. But it is she, this seal, that gives a person into the power of the antichrist elements and deeds, and is a real prototype of that seal, which in fact should be feared! And nothing divine will pass through this terrible sinful seal with which we print our minds and hearts every day.

Yes, there will be a glorious and terrible coming of the Savior, Who will kill the enemy with the spirit of His mouth.

Everything will be, but - when? The Lord God the Father laid the times and dates in His power, no most powerful hand can stop the Providence of God or change it. And we will not be able to bring this time closer or prevent it. And we must live now, now, we must live in God.

And already now people are being called to the forests, to the desert, to secret rooms. Do not take a number, do not enter the new state accounting system, withdraw from the world, withdraw from the church.

But how can you be saved?

How to live, how to raise children in God, everyone is silent about this.

And even now a flood of bitter, tearful, and bewildered letters has overwhelmed the confessors.

“Our church already has its own tax number and it is no longer possible to go to it.”

And the old woman, who throughout her life and in the most difficult time remained faithful to God and the Church, now being at the end of her life, falls away from the saving church ark. And who will answer before God for the temptation of these little ones, who innocently stumbled over something that has nothing to do with spiritual life - a tax number. So look what a test of our faith, its rationality, its spirituality is going on now.

Saint Nil the Myrrh-streaming:

“After, when destruction brings great calamity into the world, then, during these calamities, terrible signs will occur. A terrible famine will come, and a great hunger (gluttony) will attack 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 tribulation will come everywhere. Then the covetous will open their covetous granaries (wealth will be abolished, property will be equalized on the basis of the equality of all). Then the gold will depreciate like manure on the road.

And then, during that predicted disaster, the Antichrist will begin to seal people with his seal, supposedly in order to save them from disaster with this sign (for only those who have the seal, according to Apocalypse 13, 17, will bread be sold). …

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 accursed seal.

Priest Peter Andrievsky writes about barcodes:

"Here is wisdom. Whoever has a mind, count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six" (Rev. 13:18). But the apostle here does not mean at all three elongated lines, read by a computer as sixes, but the name of the Antichrist, which every reasonable person is able to count. It is known that each letter of the Hebrew alphabet corresponds to a certain numerical value. The sum of the numerical values ​​of the letters of the name of the Antichrist will be the number 666. In other words, the apostle says: when the Antichrist appears, then, along with his other signs, there will be the name of the Antichrist, the sum of the letters of which will be the number 666. But what is surprising: the seal of the Antichrist is already spreading through bar codes, and no one has heard or seen the Antichrist himself, no one knows his name, while, according to the 13th chapter of the Apocalypse, the Antichrist must first appear in the world, who only then will put his seal, his name , the sum of the letters of which will be the number 666. And this, according to the apostolic words, is one of the signs of the Antichrist. I emphasize: one of the signs. Along with this sign, the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church give us others. The Antichrist will be a Jew from the tribe of Dan; he will choose for himself false apostles, whom he will send to all the ends of the earth; he will come to the Jews, for whom he will build a temple in Jerusalem; will have an exceptionally pious appearance, although inside it will remain a wolf; will perform many false miracles and signs. The fact that the Antichrist has already come will be announced to the peoples of the earth by miraculously returned from heaven to earth the prophets Enoch and Elijah. …

... it can be said with certainty that the name of the Antichrist will be a human name, the sum of the letters of which will give "the number of a man ...: his number is six hundred and sixty-six" (Rev. 13, 18). This is what we know. When the Antichrist himself appears, we will also know his name, the sum of the letters of whose name will be the number 666. ...

All who have received the seal of the Antichrist, according to the word of the Apostle, will first believe in the Antichrist as God, for the sake of his false signs and wonders. This is precisely what will take away from them every pretext for justification and will make them unanswerable at the Last Judgment. …

And the purpose of the Seer was not at all to instill in us a mystical horror before the number 666 as simply before the number. When the Antichrist appears, then, without a doubt, the sum of the letters of his name will be calculated by this number. This is one of the signs of the Antichrist. In order for us to have no doubt that the builder of the Jerusalem temple, who was most pious in appearance and a great miracle worker, is the last enemy of Christ, Christ, through St. John the Theologian, revealed to us this sign of Satan's tool. …

As for the ever-increasing process of computerization of many aspects of the life of a modern person, which, according to some, violates our rights and restricts the freedom of the individual, which is observed at the present time, it should be noted that our individual freedom is limited and rights have been violated for a long time, since the fall our forefather. Since that time, evil spirits have access to our souls, waging a continuous mental battle with us. And the information about us, which is owned by the prince of darkness, the one who will inhabit the Antichrist, is very complete. Very often we forget our evil deeds, but Satan does not forget them. No matter how successfully the computer industry develops, it will never achieve the collection of information about us that evil spirits already have today. However, neither the mental scolding of evil spirits, nor their complete awareness of the saints of God who lived on earth, did not prevent these saints, with God's help, from fulfilling their life worthily and moving into heavenly abodes. All this will not interfere with us if we believe in Christ and are guided in this life by the patristic writings, and not by illiterate and very dubious publications. …

The Prince of Darkness, who by the permission of God will inhabit the Antichrist, knows better than any conceivable computer information about the smallest details of the life of all mankind, both antediluvian and post-Flood, which is why he will not need any computerization of mankind. …

The opinion that barcodes are the forerunner of the seal of Antichrist, that the seal of Antichrist will have the form of a barcode designation, is also a very dangerous opinion. It is no coincidence that the Fathers of the Church, who were people of much higher spiritual talents than some modern pious fathers and brethren, nevertheless attributed the question of the form and nature of the seal of the Antichrist to the time of the action of the Antichrist himself on earth. Rigidly tying the type of seal of the Antichrist to the barcode designation can be fatal for many Orthodox Christians if the seal of the Antichrist is not similar to the barcode designation.”

1. Since you zealously desired to know (below) the chapters offered to you from me, my beloved brother Theophilus, I considered it expedient, drawing abundantly, as from a sacred source, from the Holy Scripture itself, to present to your eyes what you ask, so that You, having not only received this with the ear of the ear, rejoiced, but according to this, having examined the very things, for everything you could glorify God. May this from us be a comfortable parting word for you in this life, so that for many you will take from the ready-made word something incomprehensible and incomprehensible, sow on the space of your heart, as it were, on fat and pure earth. By this you will put to shame both those who oppose and those who oppose the word of salvation. But look, do not pass these words on to the unbelievers and slanderers (there will be no small danger), but communicate them to pious and faithful people who want to live holy and righteous, with fear. It is not in vain that the blessed apostle, instructing Timothy, says: “O Timothy, preserve the tradition, avoiding the nasty vainglory and contradictions of a falsely named mind, about which none who boast about faith have sinned”(). And further: “You, my child, are able in grace, even about Christ Jesus, and even you have heard many witnesses from me, this betray a faithful person, who will be content to teach others”(). So, if the blessed apostle was careful to convey what not everyone could know, foreseeing with the spirit that "not everyone has faith"(), how much more danger are we exposed to, if imprudently and how it happens, we transmit the words of God to ungodly and unworthy people.

2. The blessed prophets were eyes for us, since they despised by faith the mysteries of the Word, which served even after the former generations, spoke not only about the past, but also about the present, and announced the future, so that the prophet was not only a prophet for his time, but, predicting the future for all generations, was truly recognized as a prophet. For these fathers, prepared by the spirit of prophecy and worthy of reverence from the Word Himself, enclosed like musical organs, always had the Word in themselves as a striking instrument, and the prophets moved by it proclaimed what was pleasing to God. They did not speak by their own strength (do not be deceived), and not what they themselves wanted, they proclaimed to others (), but first, they were directly wise by the Word, then in visions they were well taught about the future, and thus they spoke with firm confidence what was revealed to them alone was from God. Otherwise, how could a prophet be called a prophet if he did not foresee the future by the spirit? If a prophet spoke of something past, he would not be a prophet, speaking of what is before everyone's eyes; but the one who announces the future is rightly called a prophet, therefore it is prudent that the prophets from ancient times are called seers (). Therefore, having studied their predictions well, we do not speak from our own invention and do not allow ourselves to replace with other new words what was said of old by the prophets, whose writings, offering (in the church), we read to those who are able to believe: insofar as there is a common benefit for both of them : for the speaker, the one that, keeping in mind what is offered, correctly explains it, and for the listener, the one that he applies his mind to what is being said. And so, when even now there is a common work for both of us - to convey to the speaker without error, and to the listener, having correctly heard, to accept what is offered, then I ask you, together with me, to lift up a prayer to God about this.

3. You wish to know: how did the Word of God reveal Himself to the blessed prophets of old, who is the Son of God, who of old was called the Word? Precisely so, that the Word, through all the saints, shows its mercy and impartiality, enlightening them and directing them, like an experienced physician, towards what is saving for us, because He knows human weakness. It tries to teach the unbelievers, turns those who are mistaken on His true path, those who seek Him with faith are easily found, and if they strongly desire to knock on the door with a bright look and a pure heart, it immediately opens it (). He does not open any of His servants as unworthy of the Divine Mysteries, He does not prefer the rich to the poor, neither humiliating the poor for his poverty, nor blaming the barbarian, nor excommunicating the eunuch as not a man, nor hating his wife, for her former disobedience at first, but he accepts all and wants to save everyone, wants to make everyone sons of God, and calls all the saints into one perfect man. For there is one Word and the Son of God, through which we, having received rebirth by the Holy Spirit, all desire to come into one perfect and heavenly man ().

4. Since the Word of God was incorporeal, but It was clothed in holy flesh from the Holy Virgin, like a bridegroom, seeking for Himself clothing in the suffering of the Cross, so that, dissolving our mortal body with His power and mixing the corruptible with the incorruptible, the weak with the strong, save a perishing person.

Thus, the cross on which the suffering of the Lord took place is a weaving mill, the basis on it is the power of the Holy Spirit, the ducks are the holy flesh woven by the Spirit, the nichenki are the grace that fastens and unites one and the other together with the love of Christ, the shuttles are the Word, and the workers weavers - patriarchs and prophets, who made for Christ a beautiful podir and a perfect tunic: passing through (a row of) them, the Word, like a shuttle, weaves what the Father wants.

5. But since it is time for us to proceed to our very subject, so it is enough that what has been said in the preface hitherto to the glory of God, then it is fitting for us now, having taken the Holy Scripture, to show from it: what is and what will be the coming of the Antichrist? At what time and in what years will this wicked man appear? where will he be from and from what tribe and what is his name, the number (letters) indicated in the scripture? how will he work deceit in the people, having gathered them from the ends of the earth? how will he raise up tribulation and persecution against the saints and magnify himself as God? what will be its end? how does the appearance of the Lord come from heaven, and how will the whole world be burned? what will be the glorious and heavenly kingdom of the saints who reign with Christ, and what will be the torment in the fire of the unclean?

8. I could convey this to you in other words, but I decided to offer the text itself; but since his words require explanation, I will not leave this. Truly these are divine and glorious words, capable of benefiting the soul. Skimn Lvov was called by the prophet Christ, who descended in the flesh from Judas and David, not from the seed, however, of David, who was born, but conceived from the Holy Spirit, while he came from a holy branch - from the earth. For Isaiah says: “A rod will come out of the root of Jesse, and a flower will spring up from its root”(). This color, called by Isaiah, Jacob called branch. For first He arose as a branch, then he flourished in the world. And when it says: “lay down, fell asleep like a lion and like a skimen”, then the three-day Assumption of Christ is shown, as Isaiah says: “What is the faithful city of a harlot, Zion full of judgment? the truth is more restful in it, but now there are murderers in it ”(). Likewise David: “I fell asleep and spah; Arise, for the Lord will intercede for me"(), showing in this saying both His Assumption and the subsequent uprising. And Jacob says: "who will excite him"? That is, he says the same thing as David, like Paul: and God the Father "who raised him from the dead" ().

9. When he says: “The prince from Judah, and the leader from his loins, will not fail, until the one set aside for him comes: and that is the expectation of the tongues”, it shows the prophecy fulfilled in Christ. For He is our expectation: we wait for Him, and by our faith we see him coming from heaven in power.

10. "Bind your lot to the vine", that is, people who exist from circumcision to their calling, for he himself was a vine (). And "to the winery of your donkey's stallion", - people from the Gentiles, calling for circumcision in one faith.

11. "Smear your garments with wine"- means the grace of the Holy Spirit, descended from the Father on the Jordan. "And with the blood of the bunch your garment", - the blood of what bunch, if not your own flesh, like a bunch of grapes squeezed on a tree? From her rib came two springs - water and blood: by washing with them, the nations are cleansed, which He considers His clothing.

12. “His eyes are more joyful than wine”. What eyes does Christ have but the blessed prophets? They, foreseeing by the Spirit and proclaiming the sufferings that were to come to Him, seeing Him with this power with spiritual eyes, rejoiced (), being accomplished by the Word itself and His grace.

13. In words: "and his teeth are whiter than milk" means the commandments proceeding from the holy mouth of Christ, pure as milk.

14. So, when Christ was proclaimed by the scripture as a lion and a leopard of Lvov, the same is said about Antichrist. Moses says this: “Dan, the skimen of lions, and will spring from Bashan”(). But lest anyone should sin, thinking that this word was said about the Savior, let him pay attention to it. "Dan", says, "skimen of lions"; naming the tribe of Dan, declares that the Antichrist is to be born from it. For just as Christ is born from the tribe of Judah, so the Antichrist will be born from the tribe of Dan. And what is this - James says: "let the serpent be given", on the ground "sit down, biting the horse's heel"(). What kind of serpent is this, if not the Antichrist, the deceiver mentioned in the book of Genesis (3:1), who seduced Eve and stumbled Adam? But as this must be proved by many more testimonies, we do not refuse this.

15. That a tyrant and a king, a terrible judge, the son of the devil, is really about to be born and rise from the tribe of Dan, the prophet says about this: “Dan judge to have your own people, as if there is one tribe in Israel”(). But someone will object that this is said about Sampson, who, born of the tribe of Dan, judges the people for twenty years. This came true on Sampson only in part, and it will fully come true on the Antichrist. For Jeremiah says, "From Dan" let us hear a voice “the neighing of his horses: from the voice of the neighing of the eating of horses, the whole earth shook”(). Another prophet also says: He will gather all his strength from the rising of the sun to the west, those whom he called and whom he did not call will go with him. He will turn the sea white with the many sails on the ships, and the field will turn black with the large shields of heavily armed infantry, and whoever meets him in battle will fall by the sword. That this is said not about anyone else, but about this shameless and ungodly tyrant, we will show below.

16. And Isaiah says this: “And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has finished all His work in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, that He will bring to mind a great mind, to the prince of Assyria, and to the height of glory in his eyes. Speech bo: I will create a fortress and take away the wisdom of the mind, I will captivate the limits of tongues and their strength. And I will shake the inhabited cities, and I will embrace the whole world with my hand, like a nest and like an abandoned egg I will take; and there is no one who runs away from me or speaks against me: and not like that. But the Lord of Hosts will send dishonor on your honor, and the fire of grief will be lifted up on your glory. And the light of Israel shall be unto the fire, and shall sanctify it with burning fire, and the hay matter shall be girder.” ().

17. Also elsewhere: “How simple are you torturing, and how difficult are you to force? Crush the princes of sinners with a yoke, striking the tongue with rage and an incurable ulcer, striking with an incurable ulcer, do not spare others, rest in hope. The whole earth cries out with joy, and the trees of Lebanon rejoice over you, and the cedar of Lebanon: from now on, thou hast fallen asleep, do not cross us. Hell is grieved, shit you, rise up with you, you are a giant, possessing the land rulers from their thrones, all pagan kings, you together answer and say: and you are captivated, as we are, and you are imputed to us. Descend your glory into the ground, your great joy: rottenness will be settled under you, and your cover will be a worm. How does the daylight fall from heaven, rising in the morning? broken on the ground sending to all tongues. But you said in your mind: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, I will sit on high mountains even to the north, I will ascend above the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Now descend into hell, and into the foundations of the earth. Those who see you will be surprised at you and say: this man irritates the earth, shakes the kings, laying the whole universe empty and scattering hail, do not let the captives. All the kings of tongues rest in honor every one in his house. You will be defeated in the mountains, like a vile dead man with many dead men, cut with a sword, going to hell. Just as a garment soaked in blood will not be clean, so you will not be clean either: you destroyed my land and beat my people. Thou shalt not abide in eternity, evil seed: prepare thy children to be killed by the sins of thy father, lest they rise up and inherit my land. ().

18. Similarly, Ezekiel speaks of him thus: “This says the Lord God; your heart was lifted up, and said: I am seven, in the village of God you settled in the heart of the dead: you are a man, and not God, and you have laid your heart, like the heart of God. Wise food are you Daniel? wisdom did not punish you with his cunning. Food, by your cunning or your sense, did you create strength for yourself, and silver and gold in your treasures? Or have you multiplied your strength in the multitude of your cunning and in your purchase? lift up thy heart in thy strength. Therefore, for this reason, the Lord God says: because you gave your heart, as the heart of God, instead of this, I will bring alien destroyers on you from the tongue, and they will draw their swords on you and on the goodness of your cunning, and will spread your kindness to destruction, and will bring thee, and die the death of those who are ulcerated in the heart, we die. Whenever thou shalt say before them that kill thee: Am I God? You are a man, and not God in the hands of those who kill you. The death of the uncircumcised, die in the hands of strangers: like Az rivers, says the Lord "(Ezek. 28:2-10).

19. After the exposition of these words, let us see more specifically what Daniel says in visions. He, speaking separately about the kingdoms that will be later, showed in the last times both the coming of the Antichrist and the end of this world. He says, explaining Nebuchadnezzar's vision: “You, the king, have seen thou: and this body is great, standing before your face, its head is pure of gold, its muscles and frame are silver, the belly and stegna are copper, the legs are iron, the legs are some kind of iron and some part is skimpy. You saw, until the stone was torn away without hands, and hitting the body in the nose is iron and meager, and wear them to the end. Then, shattering together the scant, iron, copper, silver and gold, and it was like dust from the threshing floor of the summer: and I took a lot of wind, and I did not find a place for it, but the stone that hit the body, be a great mountain and fill the whole earth " ().

20. Adding to this also Daniel's own visions, we will make one explanation for both, showing how they agree with each other and are true. He says this: “I saw Daniel, and behold, the four winds of heaven are light on the great sea, and the four great beasts that come out of the sea are different from each other. The first is like a lioness, and his wings are like eagles: in vain, until his wings were uprooted, and rising up from the earth and onto a hundred human feet, and a human heart was given to him. And behold, the second beast is like a bear, and in the land of one hundred, and three ribs in his mouth. Videh, and this beast, like a lynx, the same wings of four birds over it, and four heads to the beast. Behind this I saw, and this fourth beast is terrible and terrible and strong in excess; his teeth are iron and his nails are copper, poisonous and thin, the remains of the legs of their trample, the same differing more than all the former animals: and ten horns to him. I examined him in his roses, and another gray horn was small in their midst, and three roses before him were plucked from his face: and behold, the eyes of a man are in that rose, and a great mouth speaks. ().

21. “In vain until the thrones are set up, and the Old Denmi is gray, and his clothes are white like snow, and the hair of his head is like waves clean, his throne is a fiery flame, his wheels are scorching fire. A river of fire flows before him: a thousand thousand serve him, and we stand before him: judge the gray, and the books are opened. Then I saw from the voice of great words, even as that horn was spoken, until the beast was killed and perished, and his body was given into a fiery burning, and the power of other animals ceased. ().

“I saw in a dream at night, and ate in the clouds of heaven, as if the Son of Man had gone bye, and even in the Old Day I came, and I was brought before him: and power and honor and a kingdom were given to him, and all people, tribes and nations will work for him: his power power is eternal, but it will not pass away, and his kingdom will not crumble” ().

22. Inasmuch as this sacrament of what has been said seems incomprehensible to some, then we will not hide anything that is necessary for understanding for those who have a sound mind. Speaking of a lioness emerging from the sea, the prophet meant the Babylonian kingdom in the world, as well as the fact that the head of her body was golden. The fact that the “krile” of the lioness “like orli” means that the king of Babylon has exalted himself and ascended against God. And that her wings were uprooted, it means that his glory was taken away: for he was expelled from his kingdom. And with the words: "and the heart of a man was given to him, and on a hundred man's feet", it is shown that he repented, knowing himself that he was a man, and gave glory to God.

23. After the lioness, I saw a second beast like a bear: they were the Persians, for after the Babylonians the Persians ruled. In words: "three ribs in his mouth"- shows three peoples: Persians, Medes and Babylonians; the same thing shows in the (seen) body after gold the mentioned silver. Then the third beast - a lynx: these were Hellenes. For after the Persians, Alexander the Great, who defeated Darius, took power: he is signified in the body by copper. Noticing that he "four wings of a bird"(and four chapters), obviously indicates how the kingdom of Alexander will be divided: for in "four chapters" means four kings who rose from it, since Alexander, dying, divided his kingdom into four parts.

24. Then he says: "the fourth beast is terrible and terrible: his teeth are iron and his nails are copper".

25. Who are they if not the Romans? This is "iron" - the kingdom (Roman) now standing: for its legs are iron. After this, it remains (to explain) to us the feet in the body, in which part is a certain iron and part of clay, mixed with each other. Through his toes, the prophet mysteriously showed the kings that have to rise from him, as Daniel says: “When you look at that beast, and behold, there are ten horns behind it, in them is another small horn, like a branch, and three roses ahead of it will uproot it”. Sim is shown none other than the Antichrist, who will also restore the Kingdom of Judah. Three horns, he says, will be uprooted by him: these are the three kings: Egyptian, Libyan and Ethiopian, whom he will kill in the war in battle (col.). And having greatly taken possession of everything, he, being a cruel tyrant, will raise sorrow and persecution on the people over whom he will rise. For Daniel says: “In vain in that rose, and your gray horn made war with the saints, and strengthened on them until the beast was killed and perished, and his body was given to burning fire” ().

26. After a little while, a Stone will come from heaven, striking the body and crushing it, presenting all the kingdoms and giving the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. He became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth, Daniel says of him: “I saw in a dream at night, and on the clouds of heaven, like the Son of a man who was, and even reached the Old Days and was brought before him: and power and honor and a kingdom were given to him, and thou shalt people, tribes and nations work for him: his power is eternal power, I will not pass away, and his kingdom will not crumble"(). Shows the power given by the Father to the Son (), who is appointed king "heavenly, earthly and underworld"() and judge of all. Heavenly because the Word of the Father existed before all others, earthly ones - because It was born as a man in men, renewing Adam by Himself, the underworld - because It was reckoned in the dead, preaching the gospel to the souls of saints () and defeating death with His death.

27. When it comes to pass that even the ten toes (at the feet) of the image are formed into national powers, and the ten horns of the fourth beast are divided into ten kingdoms: then we would see all of the above more clearly and see it visually.

28. The golden head of the body and (according to another vision) the lioness were Babylonians; shoulders and muscles of silver and a bear - Persians and Medes; a womb and a stegna copper and a lynx - Hellenes who took power from the time of Alexander; iron legs and a terrible and terrible beast - the Romans, now possessing; feet of clay and iron and ten horns signified having to be (kingdoms); one small horn that arises in them is the Antichrist; the stone that strikes (the body and fills) the earth and brings judgment to the world is Christ.

29. This to you, beloved, we commit with fear, but favorably, according to the abounding love of Christ. For if the blessed prophets who were before us, seeing this, did not want to preach openly, so as not to stir up the souls of men, but set forth mysteriously in parables and divination, saying: “Here is the mind, who has wisdom”(): then how much more are we in danger, daring to speak openly, what they said in secret? Let us now see what, finally, has to happen to this unclean (Roman) harlot, what kind and how much, according to the wrath of God, will she suffer before the (universal) judgment?

30. Come, blessed Isaiah, arise, say clearly what you prophesied about the great Babylon. For you also spoke about Jerusalem, and it came true. You said it clearly: “Your land is empty, your cities are burned with fire, your country is devoured by strangers before you, and is devastated by strangers. The daughter of Zion will be left, like a vineyard, and like a vegetable warehouse in a garden, like a city at war.(). What? hasn't it already happened? Has not what you said come true? Was not their land of Judah devastated? Has the sanctuary been burned? Are not their walls toppled down? Are the cities destroyed? Do not aliens devour the country? Do not the Romans own the land? And so the wicked, hating you, cut you to pieces, and crucified Christ likewise. You died in the world, but now you live in Christ.

31. Which one of you will I love more than you? but Jeremiah is also stoned. If more than Jeremiah, then Daniel testifies as a martyr. Daniel, I will praise you most of all; but John does not lie. With what mouth and tongue do I glorify you, more than the Word that spoke in you? You died with Christ, but you will also live with Christ. Listen and rejoice: behold, what you said in time has come true. You saw it at first and then proclaimed it to all generations, with the words of God you ministered to all generations. You are called prophets so that you can save everyone. For then a true prophet (is a prophet) when, having foretold the future, at last shows it to be fulfilled. You were the disciples of a good Master. I proclaim this worthily to you, as to the living: for you already have the crown of incorruption life, kept for you in heaven ().

32. Tell me, blessed Daniel, assure me, please. You prophesy about a lioness in Babylon, for you were a captive there; you discover the future about the she-bear: you were still living in the world then and saw it fulfilled. Then you tell me about the lynx: and how do you know that? for then you were already asleep. Who taught you to say this, how not "He who created you in your mother's womb"(cf. Jeremiah 1:5)? you say. You said and did not lie: the lynx rose up (), the goat came, struck down the ram, crushed its horns, trampled it underfoot, ascended in its fall, the four horns under it () rose up. Rejoice, blessed Daniel: you have not sinned - all this has come true.

33. After this, tell me more about the fourth beast, terrible and terrible: "his teeth are iron" and his nails are copper, "poisonous and thin, the remains are kicked by their tramples". Truly, this iron now rules, here it humbles and refines everything, here it involuntarily subdues everyone. This we see now, and now, taught by you, we glorify God.

34. But since it was our intention to speak about the harlot (cf. chap. 29), then come, blessed Isaiah, we will hear what you are talking about Babylon. “Come down, sit down on the land of the virgin, daughter of Babylon, sit on the land of the daughter of Chaldea, as if you didn’t add to this being called soft and young. Take the millstones, grind the flour, open your veil, open your gray hairs, roll up your legs, cross the rivers: your shame will be revealed, your reproaches will appear: I will take righteousness from you, to that I will not give by man, (speech) delivering you the Lord of Hosts, his name is the Holy One of Israel : sit down tenderly, enter into the darkness, daughters of Chaldea, for this you will not be called the fortress of the kingdom ” ().

35. “I was angry with my people, you defiled my heritage: I let you in your hand, you didn’t give them mercy, you burdened the elder with a yoke. And thou didst say: I will be mistress forever: thou didst not think of these in thy heart, thou didst remember the last below. Now sleep siv young, sitting, trusting, saying in her heart: I am, and there is no other, I will not sit down as a widow, and I will not know orphanhood. Now, these two will come to you in one day, childlessness and widowhood will suddenly come to you, in your magic, and in the fortress of your magicians, in the hope of your fornication. Thou didst say: I am. And destruction will come upon you, and do not weigh down the abyss, and fall into the nude: and sorrow will come upon you, and you will not be able to be pure: and destruction will suddenly come upon you, and do not weigh you down. Now stand with your magicians and with many of your spells, you also learned them from your youth, if they can help you. Thou hast labored in thy counsels: may the astrologers of heaven, who gaze upon the stars, stand and save thee, may they announce to thee what to come upon thee. All of them, like fire, will burn with fire, and they won’t take their souls out of the flames, if you have coals of fire, sit on them. These will be your help: you have labored in change from youth, a man will be deceived in himself, but there will be no salvation for you. ().

This is what Isaiah tells you; Let's see if John said the same thing.

36. For he, while on the island of Patmos, saw the revelation of terrible mysteries, which he abundantly expounds, and teaches others. Tell me, blessed John, apostle and disciple of the Lord, what have you seen or heard about Babylon? Get excited and say: for he sent you into exile. “And one angel came from the seven, having seven phials, and with verbs, saying: Come, let me show you the judgment of the great whore, sitting on many waters, with her the king of the earth, who lives on the earth, and who dwells on the earth has been pissed from the wine of her fornication. And lead me into an empty place in spirit: and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, and having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stones and beads, having a cup of gold in her hand full of abomination and filth of fornication of the earth. And on her forehead was written the name: Mystery: Babylon the Great, mother to the whores and the abominations of the earth. ().

37. “And I saw the woman Pian with the blood of the saints, cutting off the witnesses of Jesus: and I marveled, seeing her, a great marvel. And the angel said to me: Why are you wondering? I tell the river the mystery of this woman, and the bearer of the beast, seven heads of possessions and ten horns. The beast, you saw him, be and carry, and have to rise from the abyss, and go to destruction; and the inhabitants of the earth will be amazed, but their names are not written in the book of the animal from the foundation of the world, seeing that it was like a beast and would not be, and will appear. ” ().

38. “Here is the mind, who has wisdom: the seven heads of the mountain are seven, where the woman sits on them. And there are seven kings: five of them have fallen, and one is, and the other has not yet come, and when he comes, it is not enough for him to stay. And the beast, which is not even there, and that one is, and from the seven is, and goes into destruction. And ten horns, which thou hast seen, are ten kings, even though they have not yet received the kingdom, but the region, as if the kings for one hour will receive with the beast. These have one will, and they will give strength and territory to the beast. These battles will be made with the Lamb, and the angel will conquer me, as the Lord is the Lord and the King is the king: and whoever is with him called and chosen and return ” ().

39. “And they said to me: water, even if you saw, where a harlot sits, people and peoples are, and tribes and tongues: and ten horns, which you saw on beasts, these will hate the harlot, and they will create a desolation woman, and a naked woman, and her flesh they will eat it, they will burn it with fire. for he gave to eat in their heart, do his will and do one will, and give his kingdom to the beast, until the words of God end. And the woman, who saw thou, the city is great, who has a kingdom over the kings of the earth " ().

40. “According to these, another angel was seen descending from heaven, having a great region: and the earth was enlightened from his glory. And I cried out to the fortress, with a great voice saying: fall, fall, great Babylon, and be the dwelling place of a demon, and the guardian of every unclean spirit, and the repository of all unclean and hated birds: as if from the wine of the rage of your fornication, drink all tongues: and the king of the earth is loving with her deyasha, and the merchants of the zemstia became rich from the power of her sweets. And I heard a voice from heaven saying: come out of her, my people, do not partake of her sin, and do not be harmed from her ulcers. As if clinging to her sin, even to heaven, and remember the God of her iniquity " ().

41. “Repay her, as she also repaid, and make it worse for her purely according to her deeds: with a cup, draw it for you, draw purely for her. If you glorify yourself and enjoy yourself, give her so much torment and sobs: as if in your heart he says: I am sitting as a queen, and I am not a widow, and I cannot see sobs. For this reason, in one day, plagues will come to her, and weeping and famine: and she will be burned with fire, for the Lord God is mighty, judge her. And the kings of the land will mourn and weep for her, lovingly acting with her and enjoying, when they see the smoke of burning her, from afar, standing behind the fear of her torment, saying: woe, woe, the great city of Babylon, the strong city, as if in one hour your judgment will come. And the merchants of the zemstia will weep and mourn for him, as if no one buys their burden (goods), the burden of gold and silver, and precious stones and beads, and whistle and porphyry, and silk and worms, and every fiinn (fragrant) tree, and every a vessel of ivory, and every vessel of honest wood, and copper, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and incense, and myrrh, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and sevendal, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep, and goats, and horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. And the vegetables of the lusts of thy soul have departed from thee, and no one should be able to obtain them. Merchants enriched by these, from afar will stand for fear of her torment, weeping and weeping, and saying: Woe, year, great city, clothed with viss and purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and (decorated) with precious stone and beads, as if in one hour a lot of death wealth. And every helmsman, and all the people in the ships, and shipwomen and fir trees in the sea, make a stash from afar, and cry, seeing the smoke of his birth, saying: which is like a great city? and laying dust on their heads, and crying out weeping and weeping, saying: Woe, woe, great city, in it you are enriched by those who have rich grief, the ships in the sea from its wealth, as if in a single hour, will be empty ” ().

42. “Rejoice in this, heaven and saints, and the apostles and prophets, as God judge your judgment from him. And one strong angel was taken, a stone as great as a millstone, and thrown into the sea, saying: such a desire will cast down Babylon, the great city, and not to be found by anyone: and the voice of the buzzer of music, and squeakers and trumpets (pipes and trumpeters) not to be heard by anyone in you; and every cunning person of all cunning will not turn out to anyone in you: and the light of the lamp should not shine in you to anyone, and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride should not be heard in you by anyone: as your merchants were the nobles of the land, as if your sorcery was seduced by all the tongues, and in it the blood of the prophets and of the saints was found, and of all the slain on the earth" ().

43. In these words it is very clearly spoken of the frequent condemnation to torment, in the last times, coming to Babylon, from the tormentors who then will be. But it is now up to us, after careful testing, to state the time at which those torments will take place, and how a small horn will arise between the tormentors. This will be when the iron legs, hitherto holding power, will reach the steps of the feet and the fingers, according to the appearance of the image and the appearance of the terrible beast, as explained above, when the iron and clay will be displaced into one. And (more precisely) Daniel will show us this. He says: "And he shall establish the covenant of many weeks one: and in the half of the week my sacrifice and libation shall be taken away"(). He meant one week of years, the last, which will be in the last times, at the end of the whole world: half of this week will be taken by the prophets Enoch and Elijah. They, clothed in sackcloth, will preach for days one thousand two hundred and sixty(), proclaiming repentance to people and all nations.

44. For as the holy scripture shows two comings of the Lord and our Savior: one of them, the first, which was according to the flesh, is dishonorable because of His humiliation, as Isaiah proclaimed, saying: “And I saw him, and not the name of his appearance, nor kindness, but his appearance is dishonorable, less than all people: a man with ulcers and knowing to endure illness, as if his face was turned away, dishonorably, and not imputed”(). His second coming is shown as glorious when He comes from heaven with the power of angels and the glory of the Father (), as the prophet said: "behold the king with glory"(), (and other) “I saw in the clouds of heaven, as if the Son of Man had gone byashe, and even reached the Old Day, and was brought before him, and to him was given: power and honor, and glory, and the kingdom, all people, tribes and nations will work for him: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, hedgehog will not crumble"(). So two forerunners are shown. The first - John, the son of Zechariah, was in everything the forerunner and herald of our Savior: proclaiming the heavenly light that appeared in the world, he preceded Him from the very womb, being conceived by Elizabeth before Him, in order to show the new ones coming to them from the womb of the mother. birth (of Christ) from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin.

45. He heard the greeting of (Mary) Elizabeth, "jump in the womb" mother (), rejoiced, seeing in the womb of the Virgin the conceived God-Word. Then he appeared in the wilderness with a sermon, proclaiming to people the baptism of repentance, presenting salvation to the pagans living in the wilderness of the world. After this, on the Jordan, he points personally to the Savior Himself and says: "Behold the Lamb of God, take up the world"(). He was the first, who was killed by Herod, and announced the gospel to those in hell, becoming a forerunner there too, revealing the descent of the Savior to be there, in order to deliver the souls of the saints from the hand of death.

46. ​​But since the Savior was the beginning of the resurrection of all people, it was necessary that the Lord alone rose from the dead: since from Him there is judgment for the whole world, so that those who worthily fought worthily and were crowned from Him, a good ascetic, the first who passed the field, ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of God and the Father, and again at the end of the world having to appear as a judge. At the same time, it was necessary to first appear to His forerunners, as the Lord said through Malachi the angel: “I will send you Elijah the Thesbite before the coming of the great and enlightened day of the Lord: who will arrange the hearts of the fathers to the children, and those who are contrary in the wisdom of the righteous, but not having come I will strike the earth to the end”(. ). When they come, they will preach the appearance of Christ that is to be from heaven, they will perform both miracles and signs, in order to at least touch and turn people to repentance because of their increased iniquity and wickedness.

47. For John says: “And I will give both my witnesses, they will prophesy for a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth”(), that is, half of the week that Daniel () said: “These are two olives and two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the earth. And whoever does iniquity to them, fire will come out of their mouths and encircle their enemies, and whoever desires to offend them, this befits a murderer. These have an area shut up the sky, so that the rain does not fall on the earth in the days of their prophecy: and they have an area on the waters, turn me into blood and smite the earth with every plague, if they ever rise. And when they have finished their course and their testimony, what does the prophet say? The beast that comes out of the abyss will make war with them, and will overcome them and I will kill.”(), because they did not want to give glory to the Antichrist. This is the little horn that has arisen. He, then haughty in heart, will begin to exalt and glorify himself as a god, persecuting the saints and blaspheming Christ, as Daniel says: “They will look in the rose, and behold, the eyes are like the eyes of a man in the rose, and the mouth is speaking great”(), and open his mouth to blasphemy against God. And this horn will make war with the saints and will strengthen on them, until the beast is killed and perishes, and its body is given to be burned by fire ().

48. But we need to say more about him, in particular, how the Holy Spirit mysteriously indicated his very name by number; Therefore, we will state more clearly what concerns this point. John says this: “And I saw another beast rising up from the earth, and having two horns, like a lamb: and he said like a serpent. And the power of the first beast did all before him: and he created the earth and all those living on it bow down to the first beast, and the mortal ulcer was healed by him. And perform great miracles, and fire will create descend from heaven to earth before men. And he flatters those who live on the earth, for the sake of signs, even if it was given to him to work before the beast, saying to those who live on the earth, make an image for the beast, who has a weapon wound, and live fast. And it was given to him to give the spirit to the image of the beast, and pronounce the image of the beast, and create, and even if he does not bow to the image of the beast, he will be killed. And he will make all small and great, rich and wretched, free and working, let him give them a mark on their gum hand or on their forehead, but no one will be able to buy or sell, except who has the mark of the name of the beast, or the number of his name. There is wisdom here: whoever has a mind, let him honor the number of beasts: there is a human number, and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. ().

49. By the beast rising from the earth, he calls the kingdom of Antichrist that is to be, and the two horns signify both himself and the false prophet with him. "Horns him," says "like a lamb" because he has to become like the son of God and show himself to be a king; "he will talk like a snake": because he is a flatterer and not true. And what is said: “and the power of the first beast, and creating the earth and living on it, bow down to the first beast, and the mortal ulcer was healed by him”, then this means that according to the spirit of the laws of Augustus, from whom the Roman Empire was formed, he will also command and issue laws, hoping to confirm everything and win great glory for himself. For this is the fourth beast, whose head is smitten and again healed, because the (Roman) empire is about to collapse, or even though it will come to humiliation and be divided into ten kingdoms - and then this Antichrist, being cunning in everything, will, as it were, heal it and renew it. . For this means what the prophet said, "he will give spirit to the image, and pronounce the image of the beasts": he will again give vigor and strength to this image by means of laws issued by him, and will make sure that whoever does not worship the image of the beast will be killed. Here the faith and patience of the saints will appear. For it says: “And he will make all things small and great, rich and poor, free and working, let him give them a mark on their gums, on their hands or on their foreheads, so that no one will be able to buy or sell, except whoever has the mark of the name of the beast, or the number of his name ». He, deceitful and arrogant in relation to the servants of God, wishing to destroy and expel them from the world, because they do not give him glory, orders everyone to put incense burners everywhere, so that none of the saints could neither buy nor sell, if will not make a sacrifice first. This is the seal of the Antichrist, which is given on the right hand. And the seal on the forehead means that everyone will be crowned, wearing a fiery crown, but the crown is not of life, but of death. This is what Antiochus Epiphanes, the former king of Syria, a descendant of Alexander the Great, intended to do with the Jews. And he, in those days, exalted in heart, issued a command that all, having placed altars in front of the doors (of houses), made sacrifices and, crowned with ivy, performed a triumph in honor of Dionysus, and those who did not want to obey this, after torment and torture, he ordered to put to death (see 1 Macc. 5:2; 2 Macc. 6:7). But he also received a worthy retribution from the Lord, the righteous Judge and All-Seer - God, for he died being eaten by worms. Whoever wants to know this in detail, will find the story of this in the books of Maccabees.

50. And we will talk about our subject (Antichrist), who also tries to embitter the saints. The prophet and apostle speaks of him: “Here is wisdom: whoever has a mind, let him honor the number of beasts: there is a human number, and his number is six hundred and sixty-six”(). As for his name, we cannot say exactly how Blessed John thought and knew about him; about which we can surmise. When the Antichrist appears, then time will show us what we are looking for now. Let us say, however, that we now think this or that. For we find many names equal to this number, such as: "Titan" - an ancient and glorious name, or "Epanthas": for he gives the same number; many other names can be imagined. We have already indicated this before, saying that the wound of the first beast is healed, and he, the Antichrist, gives the image the opportunity to speak, that is, it will give it power; but everyone knows that those who hold power even hitherto are Latins. If we translate the name into one person, then a Latin will come out; so it is impossible to assert in advance that this was the actual name of the Antichrist, and on the other hand, it is impossible not to see that he can be called in no other way. But having the sacrament of God in our hearts, we must guard with fear what was foretold by the blessed prophets, so that when it comes to pass, knowing beforehand, we do not hesitate. For times to come will also reveal to us the one about whom this is said.

51. But desiring not only by what has been said to convince those who love to exercise in the words of God, we will reveal our subject from many still other sides. Daniel, for example, says: "These shall be saved out of His hand, Edom and Moab, and the beginning of the sons of Ammon"(). Ammon and Moab, the sons of Lot, born of daughters (), whose offspring continues to this day. And Isaiah says: “and they will fly in foreign ships: they will captivate the sea, and those who are from the rising of the sun, and lay the first hand on Moab, but the sons of Ammon will first submit” ().

52. So, having appeared at that time, the Antichrist will go to war, and having mastered three horns out of ten on the battlefield and uprooted them, that is, Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia (col.), taking captivity and booty, when the other horns also submit to him, having suffered harm from him, he will begin to be puffed up in his heart and, possessing the whole universe, will be exalted against God. His first attack will be on Tire and Beretus and the surrounding country. And having taken these cities first, he will strike fear in the rest, as Isaiah says: “Be afraid, Sidon, the sea speaks: the fortress of the sea speaks: no pain, no breeds, no young men to feed, lower maidens exalted. Whenever it is heard in Egypt, I will take sickness about Tyre.” ().

53. When this happens, beloved, and three horns are cut off by him, he will manifest himself as God, as Ezekiel foretold: “before lifting up your heart and saying: I am God”(). Likewise Isaiah: “But you said in your mind: I will ascend to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, I will be like the Most High. Now you will descend into hell and into the foundations of the earth.”(). So Ezekiel says: “When you say a word before those who kill you: God am I? You are a man, not a God"(Ezek. 28, 9).

54. So, when from the above places the tribe from which the Antichrist will come, and his appearance and destruction, and the name mysteriously signified, was revealed, then let's see what he will do. He will call to himself all the Jewish people from all the countries in which he is scattered, adopting them as his own children, promising them to return their land and restore their kingdom and people, so that they worship him as a god, as the prophet says: he will gather all his kingdom from the east of the sun to the west; those whom he called and whom he did not call will go with him. And Jeremiah also, using a parable, speaks of him like this: do not give birth to them, create your wealth not by judgment, in the middle of your days will leave her, and at the end of your days will be mad " ().

55. It will not hurt our cause if we show both the cunning of this bird, and that it was not in vain that the prophet expressed his thought in this way, using a comparison with an animal. For a partridge, being a vain animal, when she sees near the nest of another partridge that has chicks, as soon as their father flies off to get food, imitating someone else's voice, calls the chicks to him. And these, thinking that this is their true father, run to her. And she is proud of other people's children as her own. When the real father returns and screams with his own voice, having recognized it, the chicks, leaving the deceiver, go to the true father. In exactly the same way, applying this to Antichrist, the prophet says of him that he will call the human race to himself, trying to make strangers his own and promising liberation to everyone, while he cannot save himself.

56. This one, having gathered unbelieving people from everywhere, will begin, according to their conviction, to persecute the saints, enemies and rivals of those unbelievers, as the apostle and evangelist says: “The judge is in the city. God is not afraid and man is not put to shame. But a certain widow was in that city, and she came to him saying: Mark me from my adversary. And if you don’t want to spend a lot of time, follow the words in yourself: if I don’t fear God, and I’m not put to shame: but this widow works for me in the zone, I will avenge her ” ().

57. The unjust judge, who is not afraid of God and is not ashamed of people, the Savior, no doubt, calls the Antichrist - the son and instrument of Satan. For he will begin, having reigned, to exalt himself to God, truly not fearing God and not being ashamed of the Son of God, the Judge of all. Naming the widow who is in the city, means Jerusalem itself, which truly became a widow, left by the perfect and heavenly bridegroom - God. She calls him her rival, and not the Savior, not heeding what the prophet Jeremiah said: because they did not believe the truth, they will then say “to this people and to Jerusalem a spirit of error”(Jeremiah 4:11). Like Isaiah: “Because these people do not want to drink the waters of Siloamli, the flowing yew, but they want to have Rasson and the son of Romeli king over you: for this reason, the Lord raises up the water of a mighty and many river, the king of Assyria”(). By the image of the king the prophet means the Antichrist, as another prophet says: "And there will be peace when Asshur comes to your land and ascends to your mountains" ().

58. Similarly, Moses, foreseeing that the people want to drive away and reject the true Savior of the world and indulge in error, choosing an earthly king and rejecting a heavenly one, says: “Is this not all gathered with me, and imprinted in my treasures? On the day of vengeance I will repay, at the time when their foot is offended.”(). Thus, in everything they (the Jews) stumbled, finding themselves disagreeing with the truth in nothing: neither in relation to the law, since they became its criminals, nor in relation to the prophets, because they killed the prophets themselves, nor in relation to the voice of the gospel because they crucified the Savior Himself; they did not believe the apostles either, because they were persecuted, everywhere they became malefactors and traitors to the truth, they turned out to be God-haters, and not God-lovers. At that time, they will take advantage of the opportunity to ask for vengeance from a mortal man, rising up against the servants of God. And he, arrogant against these, will begin to send decrees to the saints, in order to kill everywhere all those who do not want to honor him and worship him as God, as Isaiah says: “Woe to the ship's wings of the earth, even about the land of the Ethiopian rivers. Messengers were sent by sea as a pledge, and book messages were sent to the top of the water: messengers of light will go to the tongue high and to people strange and obstinate on them, the language is hopeless and trampled. ().

59. It is we, who trust in the Son of God, who endure persecution from the unbelievers, being trampled on by them. The wings of the ships (the essence with sails) are the essence of the church, the sea is the world in which, like a ship, it is overwhelmed in the abyss, but does not die, for it has with it an experienced helmsman - Christ; in the middle she carries the invincible banner over death, bearing the cross of the Lord. Her nose is east, her stern is west, the middle or volume is noon, the rudders are two testaments, the ropes are stretched around - the love of Christ, which binds, the sail that is on it, - "bath of resurrection, renewing" believers (), henceforth they have these light white clothes. Instead of the wind, the Spirit from heaven is inherent in it, with which believers are sealed to God, iron anchors follow with it - the holy commandments of Christ Himself, as strong as iron. She also has sailors, sitting on the right and left sides, as if holy angels, who are continuously kept and guarded. The staircase on it, which leads to the height of the rain, is an image of the sign of the passion of Christ (i.e., the crucifixion), attracting believers to ascend to heaven. The bowl over the rain, made at the very top of the mast, is the order of the prophets, martyrs and apostles, who rest in the kingdom of Christ.

60. And about the sorrow of persecution, which has to be on from the enemy, John also says: “And I saw a great and marvelous sign, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown from a double star, and in the womb of her possessions she cries out in pain, and the afflicted give birth: and the serpent stands before the woman who wants to give birth, but always give birth, sweep away her child. And give birth to a son of a man, who had to fall down all tongues, and her child was caught up to God and His throne. And the woman fled into the desert, where a place was prepared for her by God, and there she eats for a thousand two hundred and sixty days. And when you see a snake, chasing a wife, even give birth to a man. And two wings of a great eagle were given to the wife, and soared into the desert, where it was saturated with that time and times and pop of time, from the face of the serpent. And let the serpent out of my mouth after the woman, I lead it like a river, but drown it in the river. And help the earth to the woman, and open her mouth, and devour the river, and bring the serpents out of her mouth. And the serpent was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the saints from her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus” ().

61. Under the image of a woman clothed with the sun, John very clearly shows the Church clothed in the Word of the Father, shining more than the sun. Saying that "the moon is under her feet", lets you know that she is adorned with heavenly glory, like the moon; because "on her head is a crown of twelve stars", indicates the twelve apostles through whom the Church was founded. And in the womb of possessions, crying out in pain, and giving birth in suffering, this means that the church will not stop giving birth from the heart of the Word, persecuted in the world from the unbelievers. "And give birth", says "the son of a man who has to fall all languages", that is, the Church, always giving birth to the masculine and perfect child of God - Christ, preaching God and man, teaches this to all peoples. In words: “And her child was caught up to God and His throne”, it is shown that this is the heavenly King, and not the earthly one, who is always born by her, as David declares, saying: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”(). "And the sight, - says (the secret seer), - serpent and chasing a wife, who give birth to a man. And two winged wings of a great eagle were given to the wife, and soared into the desert, where time and time and half time were saturated by that time and time from the face of the serpent. This is the essence of one thousand two hundred and sixty days. half of the week in which the tyrant will rule, persecuting the Church, fleeing from city to city, and hiding in the mountains in the wilderness, having with her nothing but the two wings of a great eagle, that is, the faith of Jesus Christ, who, Spread out Your holy hands on the holy tree, unfolded two wings, right and left, calling all believers to Himself, and covering them, "Like Kokosh chicks"(). What Malachi says: “And the sun of righteousness will shine on you who fear my name, and healing is in its wings” ().

62. But the Lord also says: “When you see the abomination of desolation, standing in a holy place: whoever honors and understands: then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; and those who are on the roof, let him not come down to take his robe, and those who are in the village, let him not return to take it in his house. Woe to those who are not idle and who milk in thy days. For then there will be great sorrow, but Jacob has not been from the beginning of the world. And the days had not yet ceased, for all flesh would not have been saved.” (). “And Daniel says, And they will give the abomination of desolation for the days of a thousand two hundred and ninety. Blessed are those who endure and reach ninety-five. ().

63. And the blessed Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says: “But we pray, brethren, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for our gathering about him (coming), not to be soon assailed by your mind, nor be terrified, lower in spirit, lower in word, or a message like sent from us, as if the day has come Christ. Yes, no one will deceive you in a single image: as if the apostasy does not come first, and the man of lawlessness, the son of perdition, the adversary, is revealed, and be exalted more than any spoken God or honor, as if he would sit in the church of God, showing himself that God exists. Don't you remember that I am still alive with you, this is what I said to you? And now, holding back the message, in a hedgehog appear to him in his own time. The mystery of more lawlessness is already happening, keep it now, until it will be from Wednesday. And then the lawless one will appear, and the Lord Jesus will kill him with the spirit of His mouth and annihilate him by the appearance of His coming: he is the coming according to the work of Satan in all power and signs and lying wonders, and in all deceit of unrighteousness in those who perish: for the love of the truth is not welcome. And for this reason, God will send them an act of deceit, in a hedgehog to believe them a lie: that the judgment may be received by those who did not believe the truth, but favored in unrighteousness.(). And Isaiah says: "Let the wicked take it, let it not see the glory of the Lord" ().

64. When this will be, beloved, and when one week is divided into two halves and the abomination of desolation appears, and when the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord complete their course, and the whole world will come to an end: what will remain but the appearance from heaven of the Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ, the God in whom we trust? He will create the burning of the world (cf. ch. 5) and a righteous judgment for all those who did not believe in Him. For the Lord says: “To those who are new to this, rise up and lift up your heads: for your deliverance is not at hand. And the hair of your head will not perish" (). “For as the lightning comes from the east and comes to the west, so will the coming of the Son of man. Wherever there is a corpse, the orlys gather there"(). This corpse was in paradise: for there Adam fell. And it says again: Then the Son of Man will come “His angels and will gather His elect from the four winds of heaven”(). And David, foretelling the judgment and coming of the Lord, says: “From the end of heaven, his departure, and meeting him to the end of heaven: and there is none, even his warmth is hidden”(). Heat is called combustion. And Isaiah says: “Come, my people, enter into your temple, shut your doors, hide yourself a little, until the wrath of the Lord passes by”(). Likewise, Paul: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who contain the truth in unrighteousness” ().

65. And about the resurrection and the kingdom of the saints, Daniel says: “And many will rise from those who sleep into earthly dust, these into eternal life, and they into reproach and eternal shame”(). Isaiah says: “the dead will rise, and the hedgehog will rise in the tombs: the dew is from you, there is healing for them” (). And again the Lord says: “then the righteous will be enlightened, as the sun shines in its glory”(). And say to the saints: “Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”(). What will he say to the wicked? "Depart from Me, cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels"(), which my Father has prepared. And John says: “outside are dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters and everyone who does and loves lies”(): for your "part" is in fiery hell (). Likewise, Isaiah says: “And they will go out and see the corpses of men who transgressed Me: for their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be in disgrace to all flesh” ().

66. And Paul the Apostle, writing to the Thessalonians, says about the resurrection of the righteous: “I do not want you not to lead about the dead, but do not grieve, like others who do not have hope. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so God will bring those who died in Jesus with him. Cue, we speak to you by the word of the Lord, as we who are alive, who are left at the coming of the Lord, are not imams to anticipate the dead: as the Lord Himself in command, in the voice and in the trumpet of God will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first: then we who are alive are left in a cup we will be raptured with them in the clouds at the meeting of the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord ” (

The remarkable Orthodox writer S.A. Nilus writes: “Before the end of the world, as the Church teaches, before the Second Coming of Christ, God’s permission, the Antichrist will appear, the last extreme opponent of Christ and His Holy Church” (S. Nilus. “There is near, at the door ”, M., 2012, p. 31). In his days, the Lord will send to earth two of his prophets, Enoch and Elijah, who will preach against the Antichrist for three and a half years. The Church of Christ is in a state of constant warfare with her enemies. But with God's help, Christianity triumphed over pagan Rome and idolatry in general. Then the enemy used another weapon - a bunch of heretics and false teachers. From Arianism to iconoclasm, heresy leaders appeared one after another within the Church itself. And only with the end of the Ecumenical Councils did the Church overcome these adversaries as well. But in 1054 the Roman Catholic Church broke away from Orthodoxy, and then Luther and a bunch of other heretics spun off from the latter. At the same time, militant Islam began to fight Christianity. Not for a single century have Christians been given peace.

A modern researcher, hieromonk Evfimy (Samorukov) (“Two Ways”, M., “Russian Idea”, 2012) notes: “In the last days, according to the prophecies, people will become so accustomed to evil and become addicted to it that they themselves will begin to crave one evil and iniquity, and will delight only in evil." Rooted in evil, people seem to call to God - give us the antichrist - and God will give them the antichrist. Today in the USA, this true empire of evil, the church of Satan is legalized, which the White House is proud of, sodomy and other perversions are being imposed, crosses are being torn down, Christians are being pushed into the fifth corner. The Monk Nil the Myrrh-streaming Athos points out: “All these fruits of covetousness will bring the world to extreme depravity, the crown of which will be the coming of the Antichrist.”

But the main reason why God will allow the Antichrist to come, emphasizes Hieromonk Evfimy (Samorukov), is that the Orthodox Church, in which and only in which Christ has invested all the necessary funds for the cultivation of souls, will become ineffective due to the RELAXATION of her ARCHIPASTERS, and SHEPHERDS and FLORD. For it is foretold that wolves in sheep's clothing will enter the Church and undermine the faith of the children of the Church. (December 9, 2010, the Serbian Patriarch Irinej in the synagogue lit the minor, which is lit for the coming of the false messiah - the Antichrist)”. By the way, the President of Ukraine Yanukovych, with all the abundance of mistakes he made, still refused to light the minor in the Jewish synagogue, saying that he was a Christian. We see the weakening of the archpastors of the Local Orthodox Churches especially clearly when they prepare, under the leadership of the Renovator and New Calendarist, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and the heretic pontiff for the 8th Ecumenical Council, where the bishops intend to establish ecumenism as an obligatory doctrine of the Orthodox Church. And although the Gospel will be spread throughout the world, but, as St. Nilus the Myrrh-streaming remarks: "The Church Gospel will be neglected."

The Apostle Paul teaches (in his epistle to the Thessalonians) that before the Second Coming of Christ the Savior, the Antichrist will appear, that the Antichrist will be a certain person, a lawless man, under the special guidance of Satan, will impersonate God in order to seduce people, will preach a false doctrine, which will captivate many weak, will perform false signs and wonders, will be a powerful king, according to the image of the prophet Daniel and the Seer, WILL START PERSECUTION ON CHRISTIANS, from whom he will demand divine worship, and those who do not want to follow him will put to death (Dan.x1, 37; Apoc. Х111, 7 and 15), will be born from an unclean virgin, a Jewish woman from the tribe of Dan (Gen. XL1X, 17, Hippolytus Issue 2 pp. 16-17 from the book “On Faith”, 270), will reign only 31/2 years ...” The Antichrist will build the city of Jerusalem and rebuild the destroyed temple, he will return the whole country and its borders to the Jews. Then he will proclaim them king.

At the Second Coming of Christ, evil will again reign. Evil will take shape in the same world empire as the Roman one, but with the power of Antichrist to eradicate Christianity. That is, the Second Coming will take place when the existence of the earth and humanity on it loses its meaning: Christ will only have to save the last worthy ones, and this will fulfill the fullness of the righteous in the Kingdom of Heaven - the fullness of the Church as the Body of Christ ”(M.V. Nazarov“ To the Leader of the Third Rome ”, p. 934). The prophet Enoch, sent by the Lord to earth, will be killed by the Antichrist. The second prophet Elijah is to convert the Jews to Christianity. St. Andrew of Caesarea shares the opinion of some that at the end of the world, John the Theologian will also come to preach and denounce the Antichrist (S. Nilus “There is near, at the door”, M., Algorithm, p. 380.) Blessed Hippolytus writes: “And so, due to lack of food resources, everyone will come and worship him (antichrist). And for the sake of his bad seal, the flatterer will give them some food. And behold, all those who believe in him, he will seal with his seal, and those who do not wish to submit to him, he will subject to incomparable punishments, the most severe torments .. ”(Nilus, p. 39). John Chrysostom teaches: "The Jews will receive the Antichrist, most of all the deceiver will have strength among the Jews" (Nilus, p. 41). St. Cyril of Jerusalem: “The Antichrist will first appear as a learned and intelligent person, he will show modesty, chastity and philanthropy, then ... as a blasphemous and lawless person.”

Priest Oleg Stenyaev in his work "Conversations on the Apocalypse" vividly describes the coming of the Antichrist. The fifth angel blew his trumpet and, by God's permission, condemned evil demons were released from the abyss. Issued for 3 1/2 years. Now evil is illegitimate, but in the days of the Antichrist, when all the evil spirits come out of the abyss, “the evil one can enter houses through his demonic apostles, invade people’s souls, and force our spirit. Something that is completely impossible for him now... The stench of sin will envelop the earth like smoke... Barsanuphius and John write that in the last times Christians will not perform such feats as the Christians of the first times, but their very faith in God will be a great miracle , because it will manifest itself in the midst of extreme wickedness ... It is about the last times that it is said: “And it will be: everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21; O. Stenyaev, p. 296). According to father Oleg Stenyaev, “That is why God will send two people from Heaven - Elijah and Enoch, because all people living on earth will be poisoned by this demonic smoke ... Orthodox will gather in secret places for prayer. There will be very few priests, they will be exterminated. Those priests who remain will be subjected to the most severe persecution... But... the Liturgy will be celebrated until the very last moment...” (p. 207). Locust as a symbol of human passion and at the same time the image of the apostles of the Antichrist. “They may call themselves peacekeepers, perhaps they will act on behalf of the United Nations - by that time humanity will all be united, there will be a ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT, which America is striving for” (p. 297). The world government that Gavriil Popov and the fifth column in Russia are already dreaming about today. Father Oleg Stenyaev believes: “There is a very serious reason to doubt that our time is the last. Christ said: "... When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8). And the Lord says that when He comes to earth, there will be practically no faith.

Characteristic is the statement of St. Hippolytus, Bishop of Rome (3rd century), that the Antichrist will reign when the form of precisely DEMOCRATIC government is established. Our consciousness is often dominated by the thesis that democracy is a plus, and the regime of personal power is a minus. But it is precisely in a democracy that the courts brazenly take away children from their parents on far-fetched pretexts, the salaries of employees and workers are many times LESS than the salaries of directors, corruption is total, personal data is forcibly taken from citizens for the CIA and bandits, etc., etc.

According to the interpretation of Archbishop Averky, we live with the seventh thunder, when the restoration of the Roman Empire takes place. The Roman Empire is the lands of today's Italy, Germany, France... Spain... The Roman Empire is now uniting - in the form of the so-called European Union. And the Holy Fathers said that this unification would take place before the arrival of the Antichrist... The fact that the “nationality” column disappeared from Russian passports, Father Oleg Stenyaev believes, is evidence of the victory of cosmopolitanism, that is, God divides people into nations, and the devil does not like this he wants to erase the concept of nation. And a nation is a school of love and a boundary of responsibility outlined by the hand of God.

The next stage is the destruction of the concept of SEX. In our time, the West refuses the concept of the family, legalizes and in every possible way imposes homosexuality on people.

Hieromonk Evfimy (Samorukov) says that the Antichrist will be a brilliant politician, because all his "support" will secretly serve him - all the demons and the entire apparatus of the invisible superstate, which the Apostle Paul called "the mystery of lawlessness." “And this “support” of the Antichrist will unleash a third world war and will keep its course under its control. And then she will honor the Antichrist to stop the war, and he will restore peace. Then, for the dispensation of that world, everyone, without exception, will democratically elect Antichrist as the world ruler” (Hieromonk Evfimy, p. 563). Then of all religions, according to Hieromonk Evfimy, there will be one "religion - the union of the Antichrist with people through the press." “The seal that will read: I renounce the Creator of heaven and earth, renounce baptism, renounce my service (God) and join you and believe in you” (St. Hippolytus of Rome). Under his reign, unprecedented persecution of Christians will begin and it will be almost impossible for them to live. All those who believed the Antichrist and thereby worked for Satan and against the Savior after the Last Judgment will be sent to eternal hell... The spirit of ecumenism will give birth to the Antichrist. St. Hippolytus of Rome writes: “He (the Antichrist) will call to himself the whole people (Jewish) from all the countries in which he is scattered, he will appropriate them for himself as his own children, will announce to them that he will restore the country and restore their kingdom and temple..."

The Monk Nil the Myrrh-streaming Athos believes: “And when the Antichrist sits on his accursed throne, then the sea will boil as water boils in a cauldron. As the steam evaporates... Plants, oak trees and all cedars will dry up on the earth, everything will dry up from the heat of the sea... animals, birds and reptiles will all die (Hieromonk Euthymius, p. 570) Prophecy of St. Scripture says that under Antichrist, 144,000 Jews will turn to Christ and His Church. When the Antichrist sees that those who raised him up will refuse him, he will become furious and will mercilessly torture and kill, starting with the Jews who believed in Christ, and after them all Christians. Enoch and Elijah are to preach for 1260 days (3 1/2 years). But at the end of these days, God will allow Antichrist to kill the prophets so that after three days he will resurrect them and take them up to heaven (Hieromonk Euthymius, p. 578)

The Orthodox writer M.V. Nazarov believes: “The ongoing suffering of Russia in the 20th century testifies that God continues to keep a chance for its revival - otherwise history would have ended in 1917 (M.V. Nazarov “To the Leader of the Third Rome”, M. , "Russian Idea", 2004, pp. 930-931). And further: “Since the 1990s, we have been going through not just another troubled time. Now, judging by the development of the “mystery of lawlessness” in the world, the time allotted to us of our LAST CHANCE is running out.” “The end of history is described in the Apocalypse as the final battle on earth between the forces of good and evil, from which it is clear that the forces of good persist and will resist evil until the end of history” (p. 932). According to Nazarov, this battle is identified with the confrontation between the Third Rome (which, according to the prophet Daniel, must be preserved until the end of history) and the kingdom of Antichrist, i.e. anti-Rome (the structures of global statehood captured by the Antichrist, outwardly imitating the Roman one). “Who can claim these roles is also clear: only Russia, restoring its Orthodox succession from holding Rome (no one else) and the Judeo-Masonic USA, which chose the succession from pagan Rome, together with its “main state” - anti-Christian Israel (more too no one) (p. 932)

At the Second Coming of Christ, evil will reign again, but already as the earthly conqueror of the weakened Christian humanity. Evil will take shape in the same world empire as the Roman one, but with the power of Antichrist to eradicate Christianity. We are witnessing the unification of Europe, which is united by the Schengen zone, the European Union, the NATO military bloc and which obediently submits to its hegemon - the United States.

The Jews also knew the birthday of Moshiach, i.e. antichrist. It is the 9th of Av, the day of the destruction of the Temple. Av 15 is considered the day when the Third Temple will be built (July-August). The temple will be rebuilt specifically for the Antichrist. He will subdue all nations, and will especially persecute Christians. He will kill the prophets Enoch and Elijah. And he will subject people to branding, imposing a “mark” on the forehead and right hand. The number of his name is 666.

M.V. Nazarov believes: “If the defeated Russia succeeds in restoring its historical Orthodox statehood - the Third Rome, proclaiming clear criteria for separating good and evil - this will become the greatest miracle for the whole world” (Nazarov, p. 950). It will make all people on earth turn their eyes to Russia - which may be the preaching of the Gospel predicted in the Holy Scriptures "as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Mt. 24:14; Mk. 13:10). ... This may be the meaning of the restoration of the Third Rome in God's providence as the most suitable instrument of God for this last purpose” (p. 950). Of course, the current state of the Russian people is very sad, but after all, there is no other people in the world at all for God's purpose. Nazarov further writes: “An amazing phenomenon took place - a clash between the people of God and the people of Satan (the army of the coming Antichrist) on the territory of the holding Third Rome - which God allowed as the last, most obvious means of admonishing us to restore the holding consciousness and holding statehood” (Nazarov, p. 959).

Christ Himself said that even "from the satanic assembly" some will turn to the true God and worship the Church (as today Hodos - V.O.), but did not say that all "satanic assembly" (p. 961).

Thus, despite its fall, it was Russia in the 20th century that offered the greatest spiritual resistance to the establishment of the kingdom of Antichrist. Since it is a special country in God's plan, the revolution in it gave results unplanned by anti-Christian forces, pushing back, it seemed, the inevitable end of history (p. 963) The revolution in its development revealed a host of New Martyrs of Russia, who, led by the Royal Family, pray for Russia (p.963-964).

Many signs of the approach of the Antichrist are evident. In the 60s of the 20th century. the so-called sexual revolution took place and, in parallel, a revolution in the field of morality: black became white and vice versa. In the sixties, the American police were still trying to suppress the revolt of homosexuals and lesbians in New York, and in our time, i.e. some 40 years later, the president of America himself loudly welcomes sodomites and considers the protection of the rights of perverts to be the main task of US foreign policy. The Church of Satan has been legalized there, and an almost undisguised struggle against Christianity is being waged. In the West, it has become risky to wear a pectoral cross. The family and even the concept of sex are purposefully destroyed, children are officially imposed a vice at school and kindergartens. The West is dying. Pseudo-Christian denominations (Catholicism, Protestantism, etc.) are degrading. Our time itself is already called post-Christian time. The notorious information-cellular society, proclaimed by the gatherings of the "eights" (and in our country - by the serf Yeltsin who swore allegiance to them) is in fact the preparation of the kingdom of Antichrist. This applies even more to the digital identification of citizens, the total numbering of humanity and the creation of a World Government.

However, there are prophecies that even before the end of the world, Orthodox statehood will be revived with God's Anointed One at the head. The writer Nazarov is right that the spread of the Gospel throughout the world, predicted in the Holy Scriptures, will happen not just like that, not by itself, so to speak, spontaneously, namely, as a result of the conscious course of the leaders of the Third Rome, i.e. Russia. Today there are signs that bring closer the revival of the Orthodox Autocracy, but they are still not enough. And at the same time, God has no one else to rely on as the Russian people. We must work tirelessly for the Sacred Purpose. We are Russians! God with us!