The Lord
Jesus Christ said, "...I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it." (St. Matthew 16:18). What do the gates of hell signify?
The Jews
had the custom of gathering under the leadership of their elders, by the city
gates, for the discussion of political, legal and social questions. These meetings were the last appeal of all
litigation, and here all divine commandments were announced. They were vested with a definite authority
among the people. This Jewish custom of
meeting at the city gates is mentioned in the Book of Ruth (IV:1,11). A description of an active wife in the Book
of Proverbs (31: 23) says that, "Her husband is known in the gates, when
he sitteth among the elders of the land."
He is invested with the trust of society and takes an active part in
important meetings. (Prof. V.V. Bolotoff).
The
"gates" of hell" signifies not only the forces of hell, but in
general staff of Hell's power. Their
most important meeting is dedicated to developing a plan for a general battle
with the Church. The Church and Hell are
represented as two warring powers. And
in this war with Hell, according to Christ's words, the Church will remain
invincible.
Hell's
war plan with the Church is called the "Mystery of Iniquity" in the
Holy Scriptures (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
The iniquity has been working for centuries and will have its
culmination in the appearance of the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:8). The Antichrist can come only as a result of
universal Apostasy, that is, the abjuration of the people from God and His
paths, when God's grace will withdraw from the people.
"And
in the latter times of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full,
a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand
up." (Daniel 8:23)
"Even
him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders..." (2 Thessalonians
2:9)
All of
the evil in its fullest strength which human nature can accept and endure will
be concentrated in the person of the Antichrist. Thousands of years were required to develop
and perfect the kind of human seed that was required to receive the purest most
perfect Fruit of the human tree in the person of the Most Blessed Virgin. Comparably, for the appearance of the most
depraved fruit, capable of containing within itself all Satanic malice, an
entire line of human generations will be demanded in the direction of greatest
corruption and defilement of human nature, based upon mad hatred towards Christ
and war against His Church. "It can
be admitted," says Pro. Belyaeff, "that innate and acquired evil,
gradually accumulating in a long line of ancestors of the Antichrist,
transmitted with each new generation, will reach such a degree of force in the
Antichrist himself, which human nature is capable of containing, revealing and
enduring. The evil which lives in mankind,
will reach the highest limit of its development in him." (Godlessness And
The Antichrist, Vol. 1. p. 193).
Of
course, to the degree that evil strengthens in man's will, diabolic activity
within man will increase also, as the devil thus receives greater access to
man's soul. Inasmuch as the Antichrist's
personal evil will and its corruption will reach the limit of its greatest
growth, the relationship of the devil to him will reach the limit of maximum
nearness, which will be expressed in the devil himself continuously acting in
the person of the Antichrist, "God", says St. John of Damascus,
"Foreseeing future depravity of his will (the Antichrist's) will allow the
devil to inhabit him." ("The Exact Exposition Of The Orthodox
Faith", Book IV, Chapter 26) St. Cyril of Jerusalem teaches the same.
(Teaching, V. 14). St. Andrew of Kessary
says that the Antichrist "will come out of the gloomiest and remotest
lands of the earth to which the devil is banished." (Interpretation of the
11th chapter of the Apocalypse, 30th chapter.)
Blessed Theodore writes, "Man's enemy, clothed in human nature,
God's adversary, the demon, usurping God's Name, will appear in the world
before Christ's coming." ("An Exact Exposition Of Divine Dogma",
chapter 23, printed in "Christian Readings", 1844, Chapter IV, page
355.) Laktancy, Gezihy of Jerusalem and Blessed Heronim, call the Antichrist
the son of Satan.
In
agreement with such teachings of the Holy Fathers, the life of the Antichrist
cannot admit one moment free from satanic action. It must already appear in the very birth and
even in his conception, peculiar and exceptional in its depravity. "From a defiled virgin will actually be
born his (the devil's) weapon." says St. Ephrem the Syrian. This is also confirmed by St. John of
Damascus. "A man (the Antichrist) will
be born from fornication."
The Holy
Fathers Iriney ("Against Heresy", Book V, chapter 30), Ippolit
(Legends about Christ and the Antichrist), and also Ilariy, Ambrose, Ieronim
and Augustus, remark that the Antichrist will be of Jewish ancestry, from the
tribe of Dan.
In the
Synaksare, stated in the Week of Lent without meat, we read that, "The
Antichrist will come and be born, as St. Ippolit of Rome declares, from a
depraved wife and self-styled virgin, which is from the Jews, from the tribe of
Dan." (Lenten Triod) Such
indications in God's Word have several foundations:
In the
prophecies of Patriarch Jacob about each of his sons becoming the progenitors
of the tribes of Israel, the fate of Dan's ancestors is depicted in such a way
that can only be ascribed to the Antichrist. "Dan shall be a serpent on
the way, an adder in the path..." (Genesis 49, 17)
In the
prophecies of Ierenim: "From Dan himself... (Ierenim VIII,16)
In the
prophecies of the Apocalypse, enumerating the remainder of all the tribes of
Israel, marked by the Angel for salvation, the tribe of Dan is absolutely
excluded. (Revelations VII, 4-8).
According
to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, the devil, exalting the Antichrist, will
try to vest his coming with all the signs of the coming of the Son of God to
earth. (See St. Cyril of Jerusalem, the
150th catechistic word; St. Ephrem the Syrian, the 39th word, in the Russian
translation Blessed Theodore, "A Short Exposition of Divine Dogma", Chapter
23, St. Ippolit, "The Legends of Christ and the Antichrist")
Of
course, some resemblance of the Antichrist to Christ will only be external and
in essence deceitful, for the whole life and all the deeds of the Antichrist
will be an incensed and blasphemous revolt against Christ and His Church. This false external resemblance to Christ
will appear in the very birth of the Antichrist. Keeping in mind that Christ was born a
Virgin, the devil will produce his weapon from a virgin, not from a pure
virgin, however, but from one filled with every vice and satanic filth. Then, as the Lord until he was thirty years
old remained in obscurity, so the Antichrist, we assume, will, until the age of
30, remain in clandestine solitude and obscurity. As Christ began His saving service with
sermons of His Divine teaching and miracles, so will the Antichrist begin his
completely destructive service with the delusion of the people with his false
teaching and incredibly shameful, deceitful miracles. As it was pleasing for the Lord to reveal
Himself to all the people as the Messiah by solemnly entering Jerusalem and
into its Temple, so the Antichrist will reveal himself as the false Jewish
Messiah, the international monarch, in him solemn ceremonial entrance into
Jerusalem and his enthronement in the temple of Jerusalem, which will by that
time be restored.
The
Lord's entry into Jerusalem, says Archbishop Innokenty of Herson, was "for
all Jews a national declaration that Jesus Christ was veritably the
Messiah. Indisputable proof of this are
His own words, proclaimed before the gates of Jerusalem, saying: "If thou
hadst known, even now, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto
thy peace: But now they are hid from thine eyes." (Luke XIX, 42.) "With this day, with the rejection of
the Messiah, the fate of the Israelite nation was decided for
eternity." (The Last Days on Earth
of Jesus Christ")
On the
day when the Antichrist shall enter into Jerusalem as the false Messiah,
forever and irrevocably the fate of his contemporaries will be decided. Blessed are those who, on the last day given
by God for the conclusive self-determination of the people, will see the
Antichrist as Satan's servant and the inescapable peril of all mankind which
recognized him. Finally, as the Lord
revealed Himself to the world and fulfilled His service as a Prophet, as King
and as High Priest, so will the Antichrist concentrate all this triple power in
his hands and complete his destructive service as the teacher of all mankind,
as the monarch of an international monarchy and as the highest primate of all
religions, demanding reverence for himself as God.
The
entire life and activity of the Antichrist may be examined in three periods:
The FIRST PERIOD of the Antichrist from the
day of birth to the moment of his social appearance will pass in clandestine
obscurity. St. John of Damascus says
that, "Antichrist will be raised secretly." (The Exact Exposition of the Orthodox
Faith", Book IV, Chapter 26.)
The SECOND PERIOD of the Antichrist's life
will be opened by his thunderous entry (on the world stage - my addition) in
the role of a universal teacher or "prophet". It is very possible that he will begin his
activity during a world war, when people, enduring all its horrors, will not
see any way out of the calamitous dead end.
All the concealed levers for the solution will be in the hands of a
secret society assisting the Antichrist.
The
Antichrist will offer the most successful project for solving the world crisis
from the perspective of political and social wisdom, which would establish a
uniform political and social order in the whole world. Exhausted from the shock of war, spiritually
blinded humanity will not only by unaware that this project is a cowardly trap,
enticing it into the most degrading and merciless slavery, but on the contrary,
will recognize it as a manifestation of scholarship and genius.
Universal
advertisement about the Antichrist as a brilliant thinker, new leader, and
savior of mankind, will thunder over all nations in the shortest possible
period of time. "Evil spirits
dispersed in the universe, will awaken a general, inflated opinion about the
Antichrist in man, a general enthusiasm and an irresistible attraction for
him." (St. Ephraim the Syrian, 16th
word.)
In this
period of his activity, the Antichrist will not use any force and will try to
win men's trust and affection with his deceitful and hypocritical public mask
of virtue. He, according to the
expression of Vladimir Soloviev, "will throw a gleaming veil of kindness
and truth over the mystery of iniquity."
"He will come," said St. Ephrem the Syrian, "in an image
which will seduce everyone. He will come
as a humble, kind, hater of falsehood (as he will say about himself), rejecting
idols, preferring piety and kindness, loving the poor, bearing extremely
handsome features, constant, sweet to everyone, respecting especially the
Jewish nation because they will be awaiting his coming...He will take sly
measures to please everyone, will not accept gifts nor speak in anger, will not
show an overcast countenance, but will entice the world with a decorous
exterior until he is enthroned."
(See previous citation.)
From the
great wealth of ascetical experience from our great men of podvig, it is known
that when the black devil cannot overcome an ascetic, encountering unswerving
opposition from him, a stronger devil comes as an "angel of light"
(II Corinthians, XI, 14), attempting to awaken sympathy and trust towards
himself in the ascetic, and easily charming him away to destruction. Thus, we can imagine how easily and quickly
the bright image of the Antichrist will attract general sympathy towards itself
after the filthy devil of Bolshevism.
As a
result of such deceit, "the need to invite the Antichrist will arise"
within the very temperament of man's spirit.
"A beckoning voice will resound in man's society, expressing urgent
need for a genius of geniuses, who would raise material development and
prosperity to the highest degree and establish affluence on earth". (Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninoff. Vol IV, page 313.)
The
hypocrisy of the Antichrist in this period will reach the point that he, even
in his relationship to Christians, will not oppose them, but will appear ready
to be their benefactor. He will try to
imitate Christ in the external, showy side of his life. The majority of Christians, not guided by the
spiritual wisdom of the Church, but by worldly wisdom, will not see this
deceit, recognizing the Antichrist as Christ who has come to earth a second
time. The monks of the Solovetsky
monastery pass on the answer given by Righteous Zosima to his disciples when he
was asked how the Antichrist could be recognized. Righteous Zosima said, "When you will
hear that Christ has appeared on earth, know then that this is the
Antichrist." This answer is most
precise. "The world or mankind will
not recognize the Antichrist, it will recognize him as Christ, it will proclaim
him Christ... "
("Antichrist",
by Very Reverend Boris Moltchanoff published in 1976, by Archpriest George
Grabbe, Department of Foregin Relations Synod of Bishops, New York., pp. 1-4.)
Through
Prayers Of Our Holy Fathers,
Lord
Jesus Christ Son Of God,
Have
Mercy On Us And Save Us!
Glory Be To God For All Things!
By Archpriest Father Boris Molchanoff
Excerpt
from: http://www.serfes.org/orthodox/theantichrist.htm
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