b Iers Rose Signs of the

8/13/2019 b Iers Rose Signs of the

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Signs of the TimesBy Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim Rose

In the following talk,1Fr. Seraphim speaks to us from almost

twenty years ago, and yet his words are quite relevant to our times

as we approach the end of the second millennium. Although some of

the individual eamples he gives are now dated, there are now even

more etreme eamples of the same phenomena of which he speaks. As

always, he hum!les his understanding !efore the holy Scriptures and

their interpretation !y the "rthodo #oly Fathers, and thus his teaching

a!out the times remains timeless, free of the intellectual fashions and

pre$udices of this world. As time goes on, the "rthodo world%view

from which he received his wisdom will !ecome ever morenecessary for the spiritual survival of true &hristians.
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1. WHY STUDY THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES?

THE SUBJECT of this talk is watching for the signs of the times. First of all we ha!e to

know what it is meant "y the phrase #signs of the times.# This e$pression comes straight

from the %ospel from the words of o&r Sa!io&r in 'atthew ()*+. Christ tells the ,harisees

and Sadd&cees who came to Him #-e can discern the face of the sky# that is tell what the

weather will "e #"&t can ye not discern the signs of the times/# 0n other words He1s telling

them that this has nothing to do with science or with knowing o&r place in the world or

anything of the sort. 0t1s a religio&s 2&estion. 3e st&dy the signs of the times in order to "e

a"le to recogni4e Christ.

5&ring the time of Christ the ,harisees and Sadd&cees did not st&dy the signs of the times in

order to see that Christ had come that the Son of %od was already on earth. There were

already signs that they sho&ld ha!e recogni4ed. For e$ample in the "ook of 5aniel in the 6ld

Testament there is a prophecy concerning the se!enty weeks of years which means that the

'essiah was to come a"o&t 789 years from the time of 5aniel. Those Jews who read their

"ooks!ery caref&lly knew e$actly what this was all a"o&t and at a"o&t the time that Christ

came they knew that it was time for the messiah.

B&t this is an o&tward sign. 'ore importantly the ,harisees and Sadd&cees sho&ld ha!e "een

watching for the inward signs. 0f their hearts had "een right with %od and if they had not

"een merely trying to f&lfill the o&tward commandment of the law their hearts wo&ld ha!e

responded and recogni4ed %od in the flesh when He came. :nd many of the Jews did;the

apostles the disciples and many others.

This same passage in the ()th chapter of St. 'atthew speaks f&rther a"o&t signs. 6&r


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2. THE SIGNS GIVEN US BY CHRIST

3e 6rthodo$ Christians ha!e already recogni4ed and accepted the signs of Christ1s First

Coming. The !ery fact that we1re 6rthodo$ Christians means that we1!e done this. 3e know

what these signs mean* for e$ample the sign of Jonah the 789 years of 5aniel and manyother things which o&r


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lo!e for each other. 3hen this lo!e grows cold this means that e!en the Christians are

"eginning to lose Christianity.

Then another sign in the ne$t !erse of the ?7th chapter* #This gospel of the kingdom shall "e

preached in the whole world for a testimony &nto all the nation and then shall the end come.#

This sign of the %ospel "eing preached &nto all the nations we see a"o&t &s now. The %ospelitself is prod&ced in h&ndreds of lang&ages now to almost all the tri"es of the earth and

6rthodo$ Christianity is "eing preached in almost e!ery co&ntry of the world. 0n :frica there

are great missions* in Uganda Aenya Tan4ania the Congo and spreading o&t from there.

The a more diffic&lt place* o&r


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of the times/ 0F yo& look a"o&t yo& and go to any religio&s "ookstore yo& will see shel!es

containing many"ooksof commentaries on the Book of Re!elation The :pocalypse"ooks

with interpretations a"o&t the coming end of the world. 0n fact many Christians who are not

6rthodo$ ha!e a !ery definite feeling that these are the last times "&t they all gi!e

interpretations "ased &pon their own opinions.

3. THE BASIS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNS

The first thing we m&st ha!e if we are going to ha!e the tr&e interpretation of the signs of the

times is something we can call !asic "rthodo knowledge. That is knowledge of the Holy

Script&re "oth the 6ld and =ew Testaments and not D&st according to the way it seems "&t

according to the way the Ch&rch has interpreted it knowledge of the writings of Holy

Fathers knowledge of Ch&rch history and awareness of the different kind of heresies and

errors which ha!e attacked the Ch&rch1s tr&e &nderstanding of dogma and especially of the

last times. 0f we do not ha!e a gro&nding in so&rces s&ch as these we will find o&rsel!es

conf&sed and &nprepared. That is precisely what o&r


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as "eing a special tho&sand>year reign at the end of the world is act&ally the reign of

:ntichrist. 0n fact there ha!e already "een people who ha!e arisen and proclaimed their

tho&sand>year kingdom which is going to last &ntil the end of the world. The last one was

:dolf Hitler. This is "ased &pon the same kind of chiliastic idea* that is interpreting the

millenni&m in a worldly sense. The act&al tho&sand years of the :pocalypse is the life in the

Ch&rch which is now,that is the life of %race and anyone who li!es it sees that compared tothe people o&tside it is indeed hea!en on earth. B&t this is not the end. This is o&r

preparation for the tr&e kingdom of %od which has no end.

There are many"ooksof "asic 6rthodo$ knowledge now a!aila"le. Those who are serio&sly

concerned a"o&t st&dying the signs of the times sho&ld first "e !ery well !ersed in some of

these"ooksand they sho&ld "e reading them serio&sly st&dying them and ha!ing them as

daily food. The "est"ooksto read are notsomeone1s interpretation of Re!elation the Book

of :pocalypse "eca&se right now there1s not really any 6rthodo$ interpretation of this in

English.?

The "est"ooksare the "asic spirit&al te$t"ooks. First of all there are "asic te$ts of 6rthodo$dogmas the !ario&s catechisms. 6ne of the "est is the eighth>cent&ry work of St. John

5amascene "n the "rthodo Faith,which goes thro&gh the whole of the catechism. :n e!en

earlier one is St. Cyril of Jer&salem1s &atechetical 'ectures, that is lect&res prepared for

people a"o&t to "e "apti4ed which goes thro&gh the whole Creed and tells what the Ch&rch

"elie!es. There are many similar "ooksof catechism "oth in ancient times and in more

modern times. 'ore recently we ha!e the catechisms in R&ssian of 'etropolitan ,laton and

'etropolitan ,hilaret which are a little shorter and simpler.

Then there is a different kind of "ook* commentaries on Holy Script&res. There are not too

many of these in English+"&t we do ha!e some of the commentaries of St. John Chrysostom.

This area is a little "it weak in English "eca&se there are many good "ooksin R&ssian which

are not in English yet incl&ding more recent"ooksof commentaries on the Script&res e!en

on the :pocalypse. :rch"ishop :!erky1s"ooksare !ery good "&t they1re D&st "eing p&t into

English now. %od willing "efore too long they will "e o&t.7

Then "esides these two kinds of "ooks;"asic catechism and commentaries on Script&re;

there are all the"ookson 6rthodo$ spirit&al life. These incl&de the'ausiac #istorywhich

tells a"o&t how the monks li!ed in Egypt and how they fo&ght spirit&ally the+ialoguesof

St. %regory of Rome the


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Sometimes in reading the Holy Fathers one has 2&estions on s&ch s&"Dects and doesn1t 2&ite

know how to &nderstand what the ancient Fathers say and these more recent Father e$plain

these te$ts.

There are the histories of the Ch&rch which tell of %od1s re!elation to men and how %od acts

with regard to men. 0t is !ery instr&cti!e to read the stories of the 6ld Testament "eca&see$actly the same things repeat themsel!es in the =ew Testament. Then one sho&ld read

along with he =ew Testament the histories of the =ew Testament Ch&rch. For e$ample

there1s a pocket"ook of E&se"i&s1 #istory of the &hurch,which traces the history of the

Ch&rch down thro&gh the first three cent&ries written from an 6rthodo$ Christian point of

!iew. 0t1s !ery important to see what early Ch&rch writers saw was important in the history

of the Ch&rch* the martyrs the apostles and so forth.

So all these different kinds of writings help to prepare &s with "asic Christian knowledge that

is catechisms commentaries on Script&re"ookson spirit&al life more recent patristic"ooks

in this same spirit and histories of the Ch&rch. Before we do too m&ch reading a"o&t what

specifically the signs of the times mean we sho&ld ha!e a "asic "ackgro&nd in all of thesecategories of"ooks. :ll of them prepare one to &nderstand something a"o&t the signs of the

times. 6nce one has "eg&n to prepare oneself like this it is not merely a matter of adding

knowledge &p in one1s head and "eing a"le to repeat "y heart certain phrases to ha!e e$actly

the right interpretation of a Bi"le !erse or anything of the sort.

4. SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT

The most important thing that one ac2&ires thro&gh reading s&ch "asic 6rthodo$ literat&re asthis is a !irt&e which is called discernment. 3hen we come to two phenomena which seem to

"e e$actly alike or !ery similar to each other the !irt&e of discernment allows &s to see which

of them is tr&e and which is false* that is which has the spirit of Christ and which might ha!e

the spirit of :ntichrist.

The !ery nat&re of :ntichrist who is to "e the last great world r&ler and the last great

opponent of Christ is to "e anti>Christ;and #anti# means not merely #against# "&t also #in

imitation of in place of.# The :ntichrist as all the Holy Fathers say in their writings a"o&t

him is to "e someone who imitates Christ that is tires to fool people "y looking as tho&gh he

is Christ come "ack to earth. Therefore if one has a !ery !ag&e notion of Christianity or

reads the Script&res p&rely from one1s own opinions and one1s opinions come from the airand the air is not Christian now "&t anti>Christian then one will come to !ery anti>Christian

concl&sions. Seeing the fig&re of :ntichrist one will "e fooled into thinking that it is Christ.

3e can gi!e a few e$amples of how the !irt&e of discernment can help &s to &nderstand some

fairly complicated phenomena. 6ne s&ch phenomenon is the charismatic mo!ement. There is

a %reek priest Fr. E&se"i&s Stephano& in 0ndiana who is spreading this mo!ement in the

6rthodo$ Ch&rch. He has a rather large n&m"er of followers and sympathi4ers. He1s e!en

"een to %reece and is going again soon and there too people are sometimes 2&ite

o!erwhelmed "y him.

6ne can see that part of the reason for his s&ccess is that he comes from an 6rthodo$ ch&rchatmosphere in which people "eing "orn 6rthodo$ go to 6rthodo$ ch&rch recei!e
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sacraments and take the whole thing for granted. Since it "ecomes with them a matter of

ha"it they do not &nderstand that the whole meaning of the Ch&rch is to ha!e Christ in the

heart "&t that one can go thro&gh the whole of 6rthodo$ Ch&rch life witho&t ha!ing one1s

heart awakened. 0n that case one is D&st like the pagans. 0n fact one is more responsi"le than

the pagans. The pagans ha!e ne!er heard of Christ while the person who is 6rthodo$ and

does not know what spirit&al life is simply has not yet awakened to Christ.

This is the kind of atmosphere from which Fr. E&se"i&s comes. Seeing that this is a spirit&al

deadness;and it1s 2&ite tr&e that m&ch of what is in the 6rthodo$ Ch&rch is spirit&ally dead

;he wants to make it come to life. B&t the tro&"le is that he himself "elongs to the same

spirit. 0n fact yo& !ery seldom see that he reads the "asic 6rthodo$"ooks. He picks one or

two that seem to agree with his point of !iew "&t he does not ha!e a thoro&gh gro&nding in

the 6rthodo$ so&rces. He doe snot think that they are the most important things to "e reading.

0f yo& look deeply at what he and other people in the charismatic mo!ement are saying;and

o&r "ook The /eligion of the Futuregoes into detail on this s&"Dect;yo& see that what they

call a spirit&al re!i!al and a spirit&al life is act&ally what more recent Fathers like Bishop0gnati&s Brianchanino! caref&lly descri"ed as deception,that is a kind of fe!er of the "lood

which makes it look as tho&gh one is "eing spirit&al when act&ally one is not e!en grasping

spirit&al reality at all. 0n fact it1s as different from tr&e Christian life which is reflected in

these !ery "asic 6rthodo$"ooks as hea!en is from earth.

G&ite apart from the details of how they pray and what kind of phenomena manifest

themsel!es at their ser!ices yo& can see that the !ery "asic idea which Fr. E&se"i&s and these

charismatics ha!e is a false idea. -esterday we recei!ed an iss&e of Fr. E&se"i&s1 maga4ine

'ogos. There he talks a"o&t the great o&tpo&ring of the Holy Spirit in the last times preparing

for the coming of Christ. :ll Christians are s&pposed to "e renewed to recei!e the Holy

Spirit to "e speaking in tong&es. This prepares for the coming of Christ and there will "e a

great spirit&al o&tpo&ring "efore Christ comes.

0f yo& read the Script&res caref&lly witho&t p&tting yo&r preD&dices into them e!en witho&t

the patristic commentaries yo& will see that nowhere is anything said a"o&t a great spirit&al

o&tpo&ring at the end of the world. Christ Himself says the contrary. First he gi!es His

teaching concerning how we sho&ld pray and ha!e faith and not "e faint. He presents the

e$ample of the woman who goes to the D&dge and keeps "egging him to intercede in her case

and He tells &s that this is how we sho&ld contin&e to pray and pray and pray &ntil %od hears

&s and gi!es to &s. This is a !ery solid e$ample a"o&t praying. Then He says #=e!ertheless#

that is despite the fact that 01!e gi!en yo& this teaching and this is the way to pray#ne!ertheless when the Son of 'an comes will He find faith on the earth/# 0n other words

despite the fact yo&1!e "een gi!en all this there will "e practically no one left who is a

Christian at the end of the world. #3ill He find faith on the earth/# means He will find

almost no one left. There will not"e flocks of people who are praying and inspired with the

Holy Spirit at the end of time. :ll Holy Fathers who speak a"o&t this s&"Dect speak a"o&t the

great terri"le times at the end and say that those who are tr&e Christians will "e hidden away

and will not e!en "e !isi"le to the world. Those who are !isi"le to the world will not "e the

tr&e Christians.

Today there are tremendo&s charismatic re!i!als at =otre 5ame Uni!ersity and in Jer&salem

there is e!ery year now a charismatic conference on the Holy Spirit. Si$ty se!enty tho&sandpeople come together and pray and raise &p their hands and they all speak in tong&es. 0t
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looks as tho&gh the time of the :postles has come "ack "&t if yo& look at what goes on there

yo& see it1s not the right spirit it1s a different spirit.

Therefore when Fr. E&se"i&s speaks a"o&t St. Symeon the =ew Theologian and a"o&t how

yo& m&st know 3ho the Holy Spirit is and recei!e Him conscio&sly this is fine this is good

teaching;"&t if yo& ha!e the wrong spirit that teaching does not apply. :nd this is not theright spirit. There are many signs e!ident that it is a different spirit and not the Spirit of %od.

Here is one case where if yo& ha!e discernment from "asic Christian knowledge yo& can

look at a phenomenon which claims to "e apostolic and D&st like the times of the early Ch&rch

preparing for Christ1s Second Coming and if yo& look closely yo& can see it is not the same

thing. 0n fact if anything it1s D&st like those who want to "&ild the Temple for Christ.

They1re "&ilding for :ntichrist it1s totally the opposite.

:gain yo& can see how discernment ena"les &s to e!al&ate other phenomena which may not

"e identical with 6rthodo$ phenomenon "&t are new things. 3hen yo& first look at them

yo& wonder what they are all a"o&t. This is characteristic of intellect&al fashions* somethinggets into the air e!ery"ody gra"s it "eca&se the times are ripe for it and then e!ery"ody

"egins to talk a"o&t it and it "ecomes the fashion of the times. =o"ody 2&ite knows how it1s

D&st that e!ery"ody was ready for it and all of a s&dden some"ody mentioned it and it "egan

to circ&late e!erywhere.

5. THE DISTORTION OF CHRISTIAN EQUALITY

3e ha!e one partic&lar idea right now that1s taking possession of people* the so>called idea ofwomen1s li"eration. This takes the form of women priestesses in the :nglican Ch&rch and

also in the Catholic Ch&rch which is preparing for it now.

6f co&rse if yo& look at this serio&sly sit down and think a"o&t it and yo& read what St. ,a&l

says a"o&t women and so forth yo& ha!e no pro"lems. 0t1s all !ery clear that this is some

kind of cra4y new idea. B&t it is also !ery interesting to look at this more deeply and see

where it comes from;why is there s&ch an idea what is it what1s "ehind it/;"eca&se if yo&

&nderstand the strategy of the de!il yo&1re a little "etter e2&ipped to fight against it.

This partic&lar idea of women1s li"eration can "e traced "ack at least two h&ndred years. 6f

co&rse yo& can go "ack e!en "efore that "&t its present from goes "ack at least two h&ndredyears to the forer&nners of Aarl 'ar$ the early Socialists. These Socialists were talking

a"o&t a great new &topian age which is going to come when all the distinctions of class and

race and religion and so forth are a"olished. There will "e a great new society they said

when e!ery"ody is e2&al. This idea of co&rse was "ased originally &pon Christianity "&t it

distorted Christianity and amo&nted to its opposite.

There was a partic&lar philosopher in China in the late nineteenth cent&ry who "ro&ght this

philosophy to its logical concl&sion as far as it co&ld go. His name is A1ang -&>3ei (>

(8?. He1s not partic&larly interesting e$cept as he incarnates this philosophy of the age this

spirit of the times. He was act&ally one of the forer&nners of 'ao Tse>T&ng and the takeo!er

of China "y the comm&nists. He "ased his ideas not only on distorted Christianity which hetook from the li"erals and ,rotestants in the 3est "&t also on B&ddhist ideas. He came &p


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with the idea of a &topia which was to come into "eing 0 think in the ?(st cent&ry according

to his prophecies. 0n this &topia all ranks of society all religio&s differences and all other

kinds of differences which affect social interco&rse will "e a"olished. E!eryone will sleep in

dormitories and eat in common halls. :nd then with his B&ddhist ideas he "egan to go

"eyond this. He said that all distinctions "etween the se$es wo&ld "e a"olished. 6nce

mankind is &nited there1s not reason to halt there;this mo!ement m&st go on f&rther. Therem&st "e an a"olition "etween man and animals. :nimals also will come into this kingdom

and once yo& ha!e animalsI The B&ddhists are also !ery respectf&l to !egeta"les and plants

therefore the whole !egeta"le kingdom has to come into this paradise and in the end the

inanimate world also. So at the !ery end of t he world where will "e an a"sol&te &topia of

all kinds of "eings who ha!e somehow "ecome intermingled with each other and e!ery"ody1s

a"sol&tely e2&al.

6f co&rse yo& read a"o&t this and yo& say the man m&st "e cra4y. B&t if yo& look deeply

yo& see that this is coming from a deep desire to ha!e some kind of happiness on earth. =o

pagan philosophy howe!er gi!es happiness no man>made philosophy gi!es happiness.

6nly Christianity gi!es hope for a kingdom which is not of this world. The idea to ha!e aperfect kingdom comes from Christianity "&t since the early Socialists did not "elie!e in the

other world or in %od they dreamed of making this kingdom in this world. That is what

comm&nism is all a"o&t.

3e see what happens of co&rse when this idea is p&t into practice. -o& ha!e the e$periment

of the French Re!ol&tion which had apparently good ideas;li"erty e2&ality fraternity;or

the Bolshe!ik Re!ol&tion or in more recent times the !ario&s other comm&nist re!ol&tions.

fo&rth of its pop&lation was e$terminated "eca&se it

didn1t fit. E!eryone who had more than a high>school ed&cation had to "e eliminated

e!eryone who tho&ght for himself and so forth. =ow the regime has "een o!erthrown "y

people who are a little less r&thless "&t there1s nothing m&ch to cheer a"o&t.

This shows that once yo& try to p&t these ideas into operation yo& get not paradise on earth

"&t more like hell on earth. 0n fact the whole e$periment in R&ssia for the last si$ty years has

"een a proof of this that there is no paradise on earth e$cept in the Ch&rch of Christ with

sufferings. 6&r "elie!ing. He has a radio program the Twentieth>Cent&ry

Reformation and a newspaper. He is a"sol&tely &pright;yo& ha!e to separate from all

people who are in apostasy;and his ideas are !ery nice. He1s anti>comm&nist. He calls Billy

%raham an apostate together with e!eryone who de!iates from the strict line of what hethinks is right. From this point of !iew he1s !ery strict and yet yo& see the strangest things i


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his philosophy. For e$ample he1s "&ilding himself the Temple of Jer&salem in Florida. He

has a model of the Temple and he wants to "&ild it so as to make it compete with

5isneyworld. ,eople will come and pay to see the great Temple which is soon going to "e

"&ilt for Christ to come to earth. This is s&pposed to pro!ide a good opport&nity to witness

Christianity.

He goes in for the flying sa&cers also. 0n e!ery iss&e of his newspaper there1s a little col&mn

called #UF6 Col&mn# and there they talk to one1s great astonishment a"o&t all the

wonderf&l positi!e things which these flying sa&cers are doing. The gi!e conferences and

make mo!ies a"o&t them.

J&st recently there ha!e "een se!eral ,rotestant"ooksa"o&t UF6s showing 2&ite clearly that

they1re demons. The person who writes the col&mn in this newspaper got &pset a"o&t this

and said that some people say that these "eings are demons "&t we can pro!e they aren1t. He

says that may"e a co&ple of them are demons "&t most of them aren1t. He cites a recent case

in which some family in the 'idwest saw a flying sa&cer. The flying sa&cer came down

landed and the family saw inside little men;they1re &s&ally fo&r and half feet tall or so;andthey sang #Hallel&Dah.# They stopped and looked and then they flew away 0 g&ess they didn1t

talk to them any more. :nd that set the family to thinking they "egan to think #Hallel&Dah#

they "egan to think a"o&t Christianity they looked in their Bi"les and they finally ended &p

going to a F&ndamentalist ch&rch and "eing con!erted to Christianity. Therefore he says

these "eings m&st "e some kind of people who are helping %od1s plan to make the world

Christian "eca&se they said #Hallel&Dah.#

6f co&rse if yo& read Bishop 0gnati&s Brianchanino! yo& will know a"o&t all the deceptions

which the demons perpetrate* the demons #pray# for yo& the demons make miracles they

prod&ce the most wonderf&l phenomena they "ring people to ch&rch they do anything yo&

want as long as they keep yo& in this deception. :nd when the time comes they will

s&ddenly p&ll their tricks on yo&. So these people who ha!e "een con!erted to some kind of

Christianity "y these so>called o&ter>space "eings are waiting for the ne$t time they will

come and the ne$t time their message may ha!e to do with Christ coming to earth again soon

or something of the sort. 0t1s o"!io&s that this is all the work of demons. That is where it1s

real. Sometimes it1s D&st imagination "&t when it1s real this kind of thing o"!io&sly comes

form demons.

This is !ery elementary. 0f yo& read any te$t of the early Fathers any of the early


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and at the !ery end of the world there will finally come one who is called :ntichrist. The

:ntichrist will &nite all those who are decei!ed into thinking he is Christ and this will incl&de

all those whose interpretation of Christianity has gone off. 6ften yo& can look at some people

who confess Christianity and it seems that many of their ideas are correct;they go according

to the Bi"le. Then yo& look here and there and yo& see that here1s a mistake there1s a

mistake.

J&st recently Fr. 5imitry 5&dko in the little newspaper he p&ts o&t said there came t him

someone who claimed to "e Christian. :s he "egan to talk to him he "egan to feel that this

person wasn1t 6rthodo$ and he said #3hat confession are yo&/# #6h that1s not important.

3e1re all Christians. The only important thing is that we "e Christians.# He said #3ell no

no we ha!e to "e more precise than than that. For e$ample if yo&1re a Baptist and 01m an

6rthodo$ 0 "elie!e that we ha!e the


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ha!e "een horrified at the idea of some actor playing the part of Christ. =ow this has "ecome

common and not only in religio&s conte$ts "&t in conte$ts which are far from religio&s.

(odspell, 0esus &hrist Superstar,and so forth* all these are act&ally "lasphemo&s parodies

which present Christ in sec&lar form for people to see.8 This is !ery symptomatic of o&r times

"eca&se it presents e!en to &n"elie!ing people an image of Christ so that when :ntichristcomes they will say #:ha 0 saw on the stage something like that. -es that m&st "e it.#

&. THE GROWING COLD OF LOVE

:nother !ery symptomatic sign of o&r times is the ne$t one mentioned in this chapter of

'atthew* that the lo!e of many grows cold. This seems to "e a definite characteristic of o&r

times to a 2&ite greater degree than at any time in past history. 6ne can see this in what can

"e called nihilism. ,eople commit crimes for no partic&lar reason not for gain "&t D&st for a

thrill "eca&se they do not ha!e %od inside them. 0n all kinds of places now one can see the

lack of normal h&man relationships in families which prod&ces cold people. 0t is this kind of

people who in a totalitarian society are &sed as sla!e dri!es working in the concentration

camps and so forth.

Recently we had the tragedy in Jonestown which was composed of :merican citi4ens. The

people there were idealists who de!oted themsel!es &tterly to a ca&se. :ltho&gh it1s come o&t

now that it was act&ally a comm&nist comm&ne still the people were s&pposed to "e

Christians. The leader was a minister of the so>called Ch&rch of Christ one of the mainline

denominations. :nd yet these people s&pposedly ha!ing some awareness of %od and

Christianity coldly killed each other. Those who drank and administered the poison to theirchildren did so with calm faces. There1s no pro"lem* that1s D&st yo&r d&ty that1s what yo&1re

told to do. This kind of coldness is what Christ is talking a"o&t. :ny kind of normal h&man

warmth has "een a"olished "eca&se Christ has gone o&t of the heart %od is gone. This is a

frightf&l sign of o&r times. 0n fact they !ery thing that happened in Jonestown is a warning

"eca&se it looks as tho&gh m&ch worse things are going to come. This is satan1s work 2&ite

o"!io&sly.

J&st a year or two "efore that occ&rred we heard of what happened in Cam"odia. : small

party of men;some ten or twenty altogether;took a whole co&ntry in their hands and killed

off at least two million people 2&ite r&thlessly "ased on some a"stract ideas. 3e1re going to

get "ack to the co&ntry they said therefore e!ery"ody is to lea!e the cities. 0f yo& can1tlea!e the city yo& die. ,eople in the hospitals had to go from their operating ta"les and if

they co&ldn1t go they died;they were shot and left in a ditch. Corpses were piled &p in the

cities;it was frightf&l.

This was the same kind of thing as what occ&rred in Jonestown* coldness "ased &pon the idea

;which looks idealistic;of "rining comm&nism to earth. 0t t&rns o&t that 5ostoye!sky was

right. 0n his "ook The )ossessed,written in the (9s there was a R&ssian character named

Shigalo! a theoretician who had an a"sol&te theory of how comm&nism co&ld come to

earth. He "elie!ed that the ideal state &pon earth will "e tr&e comm&nism. Unfort&nately he

said in order to make si$ty million people happy yo& ha!e to kill a h&ndred million people.

B&t those si$ty million people will "e happier than anyone else has e!er "een happy and theh&ndred million people will "e like fertili4er for the f&t&re world paradise. 0t so happens that


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in R&ssia there ha!e "een e$actly a h&ndred million people missing since (8( of which at

least si$ty million were killed "y the So!iets themsel!es. So this sign is !ery !ery present in

o&r times* that lo!e grows cold. This occ&rs among Christians also not D&st in the world at

large.

Then another sign which in o&r times has reached greater dimensions than e!ery "efore isthat the %ospel is "eing preached in the whole world. This of co&rse is tr&e in that the !ery

te$t of the %ospel is "eing spread in almost all the lang&ages which are spoken on the earth

now;at least a tho&sand lang&ages 0 think. 'oreo!er the 6rthodo$ %ospel is "eing

preached all o!er :frica now. 3e send o&r maga4ines to Uganda and Aenya and recei!e

letters "ack;!ery to&ching letters from yo&ng :frican "oys who are con!erts to 6rthodo$y.

They ha!e the &tmost respect for their "ishop they go to seminary. 0t1s o"!io&s that a !ery

6rthodo$ feeling is "eing gi!en to these people in :frica. They are !ery simple people.

6rthodo$y does not ha!e to "e complicated if there are !ery simple people to preach the

%ospel to. 0t1s only when others come in to challenge it and to say that the Script&re means

something else trying to gi!e o!er>literal interpretation which mean doing away with priests

and "ishops etc. that the people "egin to get mi$ed &p. 0f they1re preached the 6rthodo$%ospel simple people respond now in the same way that they1!e always responded in the

past. The pro"lem is rather with complicated people.

1'. THE TEMPLE IN (ERUSALEM

Then there is the sign of the a"omination of desolation and all that relates to the Temple in

Jer&salem. For the first time in history this has now "ecome a possi"ility. The re"&ilding of

the Temple was tried only once "efore in the fo&rth cent&ry. Anowing a"o&t this is a !erygood e$ample of how reading Ch&rch history enlightens one. 3e can find se!eral so&rces

a"o&t it from the fo&rth cent&ry* St. Cyril mentions it as do se!eral of the Ch&rch historians at

that time. J&lian the :postate "eca&se he had s&ch a passion to o!erthrow Christianity

decided that since Christ had prophesied that not one stone of the Temple wo&ld "e left on

the other if he re"&ilt the Temple he wo&ld pro!e that Christ was an impostor and therefore

paganism co&ld "e restored. So he deli"erately in!ited the Jews "ack to Jer&salem and they

"egan "&ilding the Temple with the "lessing of J&lian the :postate. They wo&ld "&ild a little

in the daytime and the ne$t morning they wo&ld come and all the stones wo&ld "e on the

gro&nd. They tried again and "alls of fire "egan to come o&t of the earth. :ll the historians

agree on this. 0n fact modern rationalist historians "eca&se they see that they cannot deny

the te$ts and that something did act&ally happen "egin to say things like #They m&st ha!estr&ck oil# or #There were &ndergro&nd gas fl&es.# 0t was o"!io&sly a miracle of %od to keep

the Temple from "eing "&ilt "eca&se it was not the time;the Temple is to "e "&ilt only at the

!ery end of the world. :nyway they finally failed in their attempt and ga!e &p the operation.

6f the few stones that remained not one was left on the other. So the prophecy was f&lfilled

in the time of J&lian the :postate.

B&t now since (8) the site where the Temple was "efore is now in the hands of the Jews.

Therefore for the first time it "ecomes 2&ite possi"le that the Temple co&ld "e "&ilt. The

only thing interfering is the great mos2&e which the 'oslems ha!e there. 0f that1s destroyed

there will pro"a"ly "e a war.


15/17

6nly since (87 has there "een a separate state of Jews in the Holy


16/17

0t1s tr&e that we ha!e to "e aware of these things and not "e &nd&ly optimistic a"o&t

contemporary e!ents "eca&se the news in o&r times is seldom good. :t the same time

howe!er we ha!e to keep in mind the whole p&rpose of o&r watching the signs of the times.

3e watch the signs of the times not D&st so we can see a"o&t when :ntichrist is going to

come. That1s rather a secondary thing. 3e watch the signs of the times so we can know

when Christ is going to come. That is a !ery f&ndamental thing we ha!e to keep in mind sowe do not get o!erwhelmed "y gloom depression or stay to o&rsel!es storing &p food for the

great calamity. That1s not a !ery wise thing. 3e ha!e to "e rather all the more Christian

that is thinking a"o&t other people trying to help others. 0f we o&rsel!es are cold and

gloomy and pessimistic we are participating in this coldness which is a sign of the end. 3e

ha!e to o&rsel!es "e warm and helping each other o&t. That1s the sign of Christianity.

0f yo& look at history in fact this is another good reason for reading Ch&rch history yo& see

that thro&gho&t the whole history of mankind thro&gho&t the 6ld Testament the =ew

Testament and all the Christian kingdoms afterwards;and if yo& look at the pagan world the

same story;there1s a contin&al time of s&fferings. 3here Christians are in!ol!ed there are

trials and persec&tions and thro&gh all of these Christians ha!e attained the kingdom ofhea!en.

Therefore when the time of the persec&tions come we are s&pposed to reDoice. There was a

good little incident related in Fr. 5imitry 5&dko1s little newspaper. : woman in R&ssia was

p&t in a psychiatric clinic for making the sign of the Cross in the wrong place or for wearing a

cross or something like that. Fr. 5imitry and his spirit&al children tra!eled to 'oscow went

tot he clinic made an appointment and talked to the doctor and they finally pers&aded him

that she sho&ldn1t "e there. Fr. 5imitry says #They1re act&ally afraid of &s "eca&se when yo&

press them a"o&t it they say they ha!en1t really got any law "y which they can keep her

there.# So finally they agreed to let her go after she had "een there for a week. 3hen she

was there they ga!e her !ario&s dr&gs and #inoc&lations# trying to "reak her down and get rid

of her religion. 3hen she came o&t she was a little shaken &p. She sat down on a "ench

someplace o&tside the clinic and "egan to talk. #-o& know# she said #when 0 was there and

they were treating me so awf&l 0 felt calm "eca&se 0 felt there was Someone there protecting

me "&t as soon as 0 got o&t here all of a s&dden 01m afraid. =ow 01m all &pset and scared that

they are going to come after me again that the secret police are looking right aro&nd the

corner.# 0t1s o"!io&s why this is so. 3hen yo&1re in conditions of persec&tion Christ is with

yo& "eca&se yo&1re s&ffering for Him. :nd when yo&1re o&tside then there1s the &ncertainty

of whether yo& might not get "ack into that condition. -o& "egin to go "ack to yo&r own

h&man &nderstanding. 3hen yo&1re there yo& ha!e nothing else to rely on so yo& ha!e to

ha!e Christ. 0f yo& ha!en1t got Christ yo& ha!e nothing. 3hen yo&1re o&tside yo& "egin tocalc&late and to tr&st yo&rself and then yo& lose Christ.

(: talk gi!en at St. Herman1s 3omen1s1 conference in Redding California in the s&mmer of (89. This talkwhich has ne!er "efore appeared in print was transcri"ed from the tape archi!es of the St. Herman

Brotherhood. Fr. Seraphim ga!e another talk on the same s&"Dect in 'ay of (8( at the Uni!ersity of

California Santa Cr&4. That talk entitled #Signs of the Coming of the End of the 3orld# is a!aila"le on

cassette tape.

? Fr. Seraphim ga!e this talk "efore the p&"lication of his translation of :rch"ishop :!erky1s Commentary on the

:pocalypse first in The "rthodo -ord,and later as a separate "ook.

+

Since Fr. Seraphim1s repose 6rthodo$ commentaries on the Script&res "y St. Cyril of :le$andria and St.Theophylact the B&lgarian ha!e "een p&"lished.


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7 0n addition to translating the whole of :rch"ishop :!erky1s Commentary on the :pocalypse Fr. Seraphim

translated some portions of his Commentary on the %ospels and epistles.

:&g&st (88
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