Vaccines and the Antichrist

By Metropolitan Nektarios of Kerkyra

We are not entitled to take responsibility for what does not belong to us. It is inconceivable to read how there are spiritual fathers who threaten with a penance to abstain from Holy Communion those who are vaccinated! Our spiritual authority is to "bind and loose" sins and not to deal with medical issues and to make our personal positions and views positions and views of God and the Church.

It is a delusion to shift the events of the times to an eschatological level and take risks by scaring people that the end of the world is near.

It is a delusion to think that those who have been vaccinated have become followers of the Antichrist.

It is a delusion to believe that the freedom of our will is abolished with the vaccine. This freedom is an element of the image of God given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Saint Paisios the Athonite and the Prepper

 

 By Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

(Excerpt from a recorded lecture.)

We will all hear what Christ our God said to the rich man:

"Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have prepared?"

This reminds me of some of our brethren, who live with visions of wars and disasters, and they ask about them and they want to learn - and now they even go on the internet to see - if there will be a war!

Why do they need to know if there will be a war?

Orthodox Christians and Chresmology

 By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Ever since I became a Clergyman, fifty years ago (in 1971), and came into contact with various Christians, one of the issues I was dealing with was chresmology, which means the formulation of an oracle, a prophesy, a future event, which is given by various chresmologists.

Chresmology was systematically practiced by the Millennialists (Jehovah's Witnesses), who set various dates according to which the world would be destroyed, humanity would be unified by a single Government, and so on. And of course they were constantly shown to be deceived.

The Boundaries Between Faith and Religious Charlatanism

By Markianos Protonotarios

In recent years, a religious uproar has exploded over ambiguous prophecies, causing widespread concern, while using the religiosity of the masses for some to gain by it. A religiosity that rekindled through miraculous and unexplained events like weeping icons and myrrhgushing relics and many, many eschatological prophecies.

Before I continue, however, I will clarify my position. Do not assume that I refuse to believe in the grace of God which is expressed in diverse ways in people's lives. When our Christ asserts that "if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes" (Mk. 9:23), how can I doubt that as long as a grain of faith can move mountains, surely God can do anything. However, not a few times have people led others astray shamelessly, using Grace as they want. It is not by coincidence, I think, that the above passage from Holy Scripture as conveyed by Mark the Evangelist, Matthew the Evangelist describes in the same miracle Christ using the key-phrase "perverse" beside "unbelieving generation" (Matt. 17:17). The perversion Christ identifies with some people has to do with how some people use the Grace of God for themselves, however and whenever they want.

When Shall the Day of the Lord Come? (St. Symeon the New Theologian)

By St. Symeon the New Theologian

Woe to those who say, "When shall the day of the Lord come?" and they don't care to know and understand that day. For the Lord's Presence in the faithful has already come, and is continuously coming, and to all those who wish for it, has arrived and is firm. Because, if He is indeed the light of the world (John 8.12) and to His Apostles has said, that with us until the end of time He will be (Matt. 28.20, cf. Matt. 1.23), how, being with us, will He come? Not at all. For we are not sons of darkness and sons of night, in order for the light to overtake us, but sons of light and sons of the Lord's day, hence and living in the Lord we are, and dying in Him and with Him will live, as Paul says (Acts 17.28).

On the Vanity of Dabbling In End Time Mysteries (St. Symeon the New Theologian)

By St. Symeon the New Theologian

Let us therefore put aside every vain and unprofitable disputation, and let us not seek ahead of time to learn what is proper to that hour, i.e., the Second Coming, but instead let us be persuaded by the Master Who says: "Search the Scriptures" (Jn. 5:39). Search, that is, and not meddle! Search the Scriptures and do not busy yourselves with disputes which lie outside the sacred writings. Search the Scriptures so that you may learn about faith, and hope, and love. About faith, so that you may not be tossed about by every wind which comes from the trickery of unstable men, but are rather rooted in the true dogma of the apostolic and catholic Church and "rightly divide" the word of her truth (2 Tim. 2:15). And not only this, but you should be taught as well to seek out the fruits of faith and the profit which derives from them through the practice of the commandments. When you have been enabled to find them, then indeed you shall be in possession of hope unashamed, and in the latter you shall possess the entirety of love for God. For it is impossible for anyone to possess perfect love for God otherwise than by grace of an unalloyed faith and a hope which is secure and unshakable. Why then do we abandon the examination of ourselves concerning these matters? And, if in fact we have that faith in God which He Himself - Who will judge us - says He will demand of us, why should we busy ourselves with matters which are beyond us, in particular when in truth we fail to see things which lie at our very feet.

From the First Ethical Discourse, translated by Fr. Alexander Golitzin.

The Seal of the Cross and the End of the World

By Fr. Vasilios I. Kalliakmanis

A) In recent years the issue of the end of the world has received much publicity. Online and print media, both secular and religious, have devoted thousands of pages to "informing the public". Alongside these things films have also aired with breathtaking visuals and analogous content, having as a subject the year "2012". There was so much interest regarding this issue and so many questions were posed to scientists that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in America was forced to open a relevant website and give answers refuting the rumors about the destruction of the universe.

Is an Eclipse a Sign of the End Times?

Numerous biblical passages link end-times events with astronomical phenomena. The sun, the moon, the stars, meteors, and possibly even eclipses are mentioned in connection with end-times Bible prophecies. For example, when asked about the timing of the end times, Jesus says, “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars” (Luke 21:25). It’s natural that, whenever strange or rare astronomical phenomena occur, many wonder if the end times are approaching.

The "Last Things" in Holy Scripture

By Bishop Gerasimos of Abydos

All matters of religion appear difficult to most people because they are of a spiritual nature; but even more difficult is the topic of the "last things," for they have to do with future realities "that are not seen" (Heb. 11:1; Jn. 3:10-12), that only faith can "see," examine, and make real.

The Jewish people were the beloved people of God and yet they were not satisfied with their present life in this world. All the great personalities of the Old Testament lived with hope for the future, for the fulfillment of the promises made by God to Abraham. Their main hope was the hope of the coming of the Messiah­ Savior, who would bring days of divine blessings for the Jewish people and for the whole world (cf. Lk. 2:25; 24:21). And they expected this to happen at some future date, in the last days of history ­ "in the last days," "in that day," "in the day of the Lord" ­ as this time was often referred to.

Problems in Contemporary Antichristology

By Protopresbyter Fr. Thomas Bambinis

The Schengen Treaty, electronic identities and sermons on the Antichrist, whose number is said to be in the barcode system, constitute a powerful temptation for the members of the Church. The Orthodox people are choked with terror about future suffering and the risk of losing the gift of Chrismation. Two possibilities are put before them: either receive the mark of the Antichrist which results in eternal damnation, or not accept it which results in suffering, because then you can neither buy nor sell. Naturally this dilemma is stressful and creates anxiety and concern for the future. In some cases this anxiety takes the form of panic or even leads to financial planning for the future in order to overcome the difficult years of the Antichrist. Under these conditions, people's reactions take political overtones. Thus, the struggle is oriented towards pressing the government to not create favorable conditions for the rule of the Antichrist.

The Control and Subversion of Eschatological Alarmism

By Monk Moses the Athonite

It is a fact that we live in difficult, turbulent, uncertain and tough times. Some with zeal, fanaticism, extremism and exaggeration intensify this climate. They are fond of demonologies, antichristologies, eschatologies, myths, scientism and morbidities. They even use the Church for their fraudulent purposes. Unfortunately the ignorant are swayed by radio and television broadcasts, books and articles. One of the publishers of such books is Mr. Liakopoulos.

The Unfortunate Effects Apocalyptic Beliefs Can Have On Morality

Jonathan D. Fitzgerald
December 5, 2010
The Huffington Post

When I was a kid I knew The World was going to Hell in a hand basket. I didn't know what that phrase meant, still don't really, but I knew that it was one of the only times I could get away with saying hell, because it wasn't swearing. The World was actually going there.

Perhaps a couple definitions are necessary here at the outset. In my conservative, evangelical-before-we-knew-what-evangelical-was upbringing, Hell meant that very literal -- perhaps underground -- place where real flames burn real, bad people forever. And The World meant non-Christians, as in "be in the world, but not of it." Evangelicals often refer to any not-usses, any thems, as The World.

The Freedom of the Fathers and the Enslavement of Fanaticism

The following is from an interview with Bishop Atanasije (Jevtic), a disciple of St. Justin Popovich, translated from the Russian to Serbian and published in a Serbian monastery periodical in 2002 (here, in Serbian).

Below is a part of his answer to the question, 

“Our Church warns us about that which is called the personal tax number, which you refer to as the social number, etc. We know the Greeks had similar issues (Identification Card).”

If we look at it realistically, can the Church avoid the required laws and norms of mass registration? I believe that it’s not our issue. In Greece there are a few who said that this was the number of the Antichrist – 666 - and that everyone will be sealed with it. Which means that this is the seal of the Antichrist which will be on us. However, I think this is nonsense. Would the demons offend us in such a way – through computers, numbers? This is too primitive. However, a worse thing can occur – the more deeper and mightier we begin losing the feeling, we are opening the door wider for the demons. He can act more deeper within us....