The words of prophet Daniel regarding
"abomination of desolation in the holy place" (Dan. 9, 27) have acquired a special meaning in our days. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself speaks of this prophecy (Mt. 24,15; Mark 13,14; Lk. 21, 20).
The Savior foretold the signs of the end times when "the stars shall fall from heaven" (Mt. 24, 29; Mark 13, 25; Lk. 21, 25).
«As the Lord Himself explained "the stars" are the Angels of the Churches, i. e. bishops. The fall of bishops is of a religious and moral nature and is... one of the most characteristic signs of the end-times. Particularly terrible is the fall of bishops when they fall away from the dogmas of faith, or, as the holy Apostle says, when they "pervert the gospel of Christ"» (Gal. 1,7). The Apostle instructs that such should be "anathematized" (Gal. 1,9); and he further advises not to delay the rejection of such (Titus 3,10-11). Or else one may be judged by God for indifference to falling away from the truth (Rev. 3 16)" [585]
"Abomination of desolation in the holy place" also refers to the profanation of sacred Orthodox objects, and to episcopal sees occupied by unworthy hierarchs.
Another prophecy regarding the Antichrist who
"shall... think to change times and laws" (Dan. 7,25) is literally taking place before our very eyes. When this book was already finished we have received an extremely important communication: namely, that in actual fact the World Council of Churches has already predetermined the common day for celebrating the holy Pascha (Easter). The documents of the ecumenical Consultation [586] of 5-10 March 1997 which took place in Aleppo (Syria) testify to this. These documents were signed by the Adventists, Pentacostalists, Anglicans, Lutherans, Monophysites, Old-Catholics, the Vatican, the Patriarchates of Moscow, Antioch and Constantinople, and the other participants.
By citing words of the Savior frequently and in vain, by quoting passages from the Holy Scriptures, and by giving an outrageously false interpretation of the decision of the First Ecumenical Council [587], the ecumenical falsifiers try to prove their case and to mislead people about the most serious crime against Orthodoxy which is once again committed in secret from the faithful.
Speaking of the ecclesiastic "old calendar", which is so hateful to all reformers but which is sanctioned by Holy Fathers and is adhered to by the Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe and the Near East, the participants of the Aleppo Consultation have falsely and in a secular fashion declared this calendar to be only "a symbol of the desire of the Churches that use it to maintain their integrity and their freedom". The recommendations accepted by this ecumenical Consultation regarding the changes in Orthodox Paschalia sound like a harsh bellow of men of power who are demanding obedience, rather than true recommendations.
That the recommendations of the WCC are actually
decisions is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that the heretics-Monophysites have been
de facto ranked along with the Orthodox. Undoubtedly in order to emphasize the Union with the anti-Chalcedonians concluded within the World Council of Churches, "The Consultation of the Representatives
of the Orthodox Churches -- members of the WCC" of 13-15 December 1996 in Antelias (Lebanon) took place under the Chairmanship of "His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cifcia" [588], i.e. a representative of the anathematized Monophysitism!
That same Consultation (essentially a "pan-Orthodox" one) "opposed a possible future unilateral decision by any one Local Church to leave the WCC without reaching an agreement with the other Churches". The concluding document of this Consultation points out that
"such a step would violate the Inter-Orthodox solidarity, cause bewilderment and divisions within the world Orthodoxy."
(emphasis - L.P.) [589] In other words, in accordance with the blasphemous ecumenical ecclesiology, the unity and wholeness of the Church which is the body of Christ depends on the membership in the WCC, rather than on our Lord Jesus Christ! This is indeed an "ecclesiological monstrosity", a harbinger of the apocalyptic beast!
As far back as 55 years ago, in 1942, the Archbishop of Canterbury, C.V. Temple, one of the founders of the World Council of Churches, commented that
"ecumenism was the most important event of our century" [590]. One cannot but agree with this utterance. The general secularization of life and apostasy which today have enveloped almost the whole of mankind, are directly bound with the contemporary lawlessness caused by ecumenists and modernists within the Church itself and outside its walls. And it is necessary for the one who will come in his own name -- the Antichrist -- that people should make a free choice in his favor: "by my own will I come to you". This is the purpose of the planet-wide and truly satanic attempt to deprive human souls of their divine image, to make them receptacles of all vices and abominations, and subsequently to cause their death. And in this ecumenism plays a very important role.
Ecumenism is, probably, the greatest counterfeit, the most comprehensive religious falsification of all that have ever existed on earth. Allowing its Orthodox members [591] to
externally preserve the appearance of Christian stateliness, the WCC does everything possible to deprive them of their inner, spiritual essence without which they are but a "sounding brass".
All the facts referred to in this book testify that we are dealing with a werewolf, a pseudo-church, the Babylonian harlot of the chapters 17 and 18 of the Revelation: she sits
"upon many waters" (17,1), which
"are peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues" (17,15). The universal ecumenism is the main sign of this pseudo-church of Antichrist: She sits
"upon a scarlet colored beast" (17,3), i.e. she acts in accord with the supreme power of the world government and crowns this power. She commits fornication with
"the kings of the earth" (17,2; 18,9) (worldwide Sergianism?). She is
"arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication" (17,4) -- i .e. she has the appearance of holiness, but is filled with abominations. She has
"corrupted the earth with her fornication" (19,2) -- i.e. has distorted the faith and corrupted nations. Her name is
"mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" (17,5) -- i.e. heresies, demonic false teachings and the occultism. She is "drunken with the blood of the saints" -- i.e. she persecutes the true Church. Her focus is -- Patriarchates of Constantinople and Moscow, and the other "Orthodox" ecumenical pseudo-churches.
Metropolitan Vitaly, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad speaks of this as follows: «Before our eyes, suddenly, quite unexpectedly, we are seeing the mystical revelation of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, the Apocalypse. For a long time we thought of it as a prophecy from afar off time which would assuredly be fulfilled one day in the future. But now, suddenly, not only has it appeared at the doors of our contemporary life, but the sharp, icy blast of the Antichrist has begun to howl across the whole of our planet earth.
What exactly is the APOCALYPSE? According to the Holy Fathers who have interpreted this sacred book, the Apocalypse is the book of the last years of the earthly history of the Church of Christ. It shows the inseparably close links between the fate of the Church and the fate of the whole world, the whole human race, and the entire cosmos. This means that the only reason why the world and all that is in it still exist is the fact that the True Church of Christ continues to dwell on it.
What is the Church's lot in our days? It is being crowded out. The Church displeases most people; It is barely tolerated, people laugh at It and revile It. So now all the forces of darkness are trying to squeeze themselves into It and eat It away from inside like termites, leaving behind only an empty wrapping. But they have not managed to destroy It, and will not be able to do so.
Evil is laughing in our faces! And we thoughtlessly chase after the shadow of earthly good things and our imaginary good repute, as long as no one inconveniences us or disturbs the tempo of our life and comfort. But a great temptation will come upon us, and come without fail. We will be placed on the knifes edge of life. Nobody will be able to hide anywhere, even in a fissure in the rock. Everyone will be found and faced with the fatally tragic
question: either you are with "us" or with CHRIST? Perhaps the question will not be posed quite like that, from fear of scaring the luckless Christian, but he will simply be asked, "are you with us" ? What shall our answer be and what we are to do? Firstly we must understand in what a terribly dangerous time we are living. Then we must force ourselves to follow a disciplined life of prayer: to pray morning and evening and to pray with the Jesus prayer wherever and whenever we can. To receive Holy Communion more often in the True Church, and not in the church of
the hollow egg shell, eaten away from within. Nobody will then be saved by theological degrees, or knowledge, or the order of church services, or the orders of bishop or priest, or any other rank. Only a personal love from the heart for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ will save a human soul, together with faithfulness to Him, even unto death.» [592]
Disasters and crises which are inevitably threatening the contemporary mankind are of a spiritual and moral nature rather than economic, political and ecological, as the princes of this world would have us believe. It is extremely important for the true Orthodox Christians to raise their voice of truth, to become aware of the acute necessity to call "evil by its proper name, to expose lies and to decisively condemn any anti-Christian and anti-Orthodox undertaking wherever it should originate." [593]
One should remember that the fullness of the Church is comprised of all Orthodox people, bishops, clergy, monks and lay people who are safeguarding the holy Dogmas and Canons, which we are all called to protect. The short time which is still left to us is hardly favorable for the attempts of rapprochement with heretics and an attainment of union with the apostates. As the Athonite monks wrote: "We know of only one means of achieving communion between the heretics and the Orthodox Church, and that is an official canonical written renouncement and condemnation of their errors and an act on their part of joining the Orthodox Church exclusively through Baptism." [594]
In the not too distant future the Orthodox Christians must expect that the world which has rejected Christ and has been mocking them and their spiritual vigilance, integrity and loyalty to Christ, which are often abused and dismissed as "fanaticism", that this world will turn to cruel persecution of the last Christians. But even knowing this, can we agree to exchange the Church of Christ -- the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the only Church which offers salvation -- for any other "church", such as, for example, the infernal
"cybernetic church" which is now thriving in the electronic space, with all its pernicious inventions, like "technosophy", "ecospirituality" (i.e. Neo-paganism), and "hypertheology" with its "virtual and postdenominational spirituality", "televangelisation" and "thousands interpretations of the word of God" !? [595]
The global heyday of the New Age with its spiritual supermarket, spreading of pantheism, occultism, and magic; children in test-tubes, manipulation of genetic engineering; crisis of moral values throughout the world, propaganda of homosexualism and depravity -- all these disgraceful practices bring us closer to the end of the world history.
People who are wallowing in apostasy, sins and heresies, whose
"names are not written in the book of life" (Rev. 13, 8) are already now prepared to worship Antichrist and acknowledge him to be the only spiritual head of all religions." ...By the time of the Second Coming, the Church of Christ will be reduced in size to the utmost degree. There will remain one or two churches in which the True Body of Christ and the True Blood of Christ will be imparted to the faithful. In the remaining churches there will remain only an empty shell, with great outward adornment, but empty.
"See then that ye walk circumspectly... because the days are evil." (Ephes. 5,15-16) [596]
Those "who have eyes" everyday and everywhere see the warning signs of formidable imminent dangers closing in on us, especially on our immortal souls. Everyone of us will have to give an answer to the Impartial Judge about what we have done for our salvation. Our destiny
in eternity depends on His supreme Judgment. Let rulers of this world spread the new world order without Christ, with its one government, its common economics and market, its common pseudo-culture and its "postdenominational" superchurch. We can withstand them with our freedom, the freedom which imparts "God's image" to us, and which no one can ever take away from us. We can and must courageously oppose spiritual totalitarianism and collectivization of life with freedom in Christ, which Orthodoxy bestows upon us.
There are many indications that the "ship of the world is already surrounded by the ocean with raging apocalyptic storms and events, and
Orthodoxy, the only sound force in the spiritual arsenal of mankind, must act with the responsibility that it has. The people of God struggle and pray, pray and struggle. Be firm in your stronghold, be steadfast and faithful! God is strong, not the world." [597]
This modest work has been addressed to all who love Christ and His Orthodox Church, and who wish to work for the glory of God by opposing and fighting, in every way possible, the bane of ecumenism, ecclesiastical modernism, and the apostasy surrounding us. We wish to conclude with the words of Metropolitan Vitaly, the Head of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad: "We are now approaching the beginning of the end, the great end; undoubtedly, we are now entering this period. Hence, we are being attacked by all kinds of adversities; underwater rocks, troubles and storms lie in wait for us... But our vessel will pass them by unharmed, because the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Helmsman of this vessel." [598] "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Rev. 22, 20). |
[585] Archbishop Theophan of Poltava. Quoted from the collection Orthodoxy or Death, Moscow, 1997, p. 10.
[586] See the ENI documents, "Towards a Common Date for Easter". World Council of Churches / Middle East Council of Churches Consultation. Aleppo, Syria, March 5-10, 1997.
[587] This Council at Nicea (325) accepted a resolution (oros) regarding the celebration of Pascha (see our Supplement on the Julian Church Calendar).
[588] See the materials in
http://www.russian-orthodox-church.org.ru/ecr-ru.htm, 04/17/97.
[589] Ibid.
[590] See his book "Christianity and the Social Order", Quoted from Hieromonk Ignaty, "The World Council of Churches", p. 2.
[591] At the present time the WCC unites 330 denominations. It is comprised of all Local Orthodox Churches, except the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, a series of the Old-calendarist groups in Greece as well as the Rumanian and Bulgarian Old-calendarist Churches. Beside the WCC, the "World Council of Christian Churches", established in 1948, consists of 602 denominations. Many members of both organizations not only reject the Dogma of Redemption and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, but they do not believe even in the Divinity of the Savior.
[592] Metropolitan Vitaly (Oustinov), the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, "Paskhalnoe Poslanie" (Paschal Epistle), Orthodox Russia, No. 1580, 1997, pp. 1-2, 15.
[593] Patriarch Diodorus, "Declaration, Read to the Synod in Istanbul (13 - 15 March 1992)" , in the Collection Protestations Orthodoxes..., p. 74-75.
[594] The Letter of the Monks of Karyes to the Holy Kinot. "Breaking off the Communion with the Patriarch". Ibid., p. 36.
[595] See the apocalyptically frightening articles: Joshua Cooper Ramo Chama, "Finding God on the Web"; Robert Wright, "Can Thor Make a Comeback?" (Obscure religions -- half-forgotten or half invented are flourishing on the Web.), Time Australian Edition, Dec. 16, 1996, pp. 72-78; 82-83.
[596] Metropolitan Vitaly, "Paschal Epistle", p. 15.
[597] Nicholas Psarudakis, "Open Letter to the New Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos", Orthodoxos Typos, No. 950, 1 November 1991.
[598] Metropolitan Vitaly, "Sermon After the Burial Service for Archbishop Anthony of Los-Angeles and Southern California", Orthodox Russia, No. 1566, 1/14 September 1996, p. 4. |
