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Whoever has contrition and tears, let him ask the Lord in his prayers to avoid the great sorrow that will come to earth, so as not to see the beast itself and not to hear what will happen in the places of insurance, earthquakes, famines and various deaths on earth. What is needed is a courageous soul, capable, so to speak, of managing one’s life amid these temptations. And if any person turns out to be even a little careless, he will be conveniently overcome and captured by the signs of the crafty and insidious serpent. Such a person will turn out to be inexcusable (guilty) at the Court, because he himself voluntarily believed the tormentor. We need a lot of prayers and tears, beloved, so that any of us can stand firm in temptations. The beast will bring many dreams, because he is a fighter against God and wants to destroy everyone. Listen, my Christ-loving brothers, what he did in the desert with Israel, who came out of Egypt, how he, accursed and wicked, managed to draw everyone into the most serious sin. He inspired the idea of ​​​​Balaam to give the most evil advice to Balak, the king of Midian, and to bring the city women into the tabernacles, and with them to ensnare the Israelites, inclining them to fornication and sacrifice, so that God would completely consume them as wicked people, when everyone would commit fornication with these women, like the dumb. And the king set openly before the people women and a table at the door with libations and sacrifices, drawing everyone into death, so that anyone who wanted to commit fornication with these evil ones would first make a libation, and then enter the booth. And the women did not take anything from the Israelites, but forced everyone who passed by to make a sacrifice. And he brought out the daughters of princes to the princes, the daughters of rich people to the rich, and many women from the common people to all the people, so that he could suddenly catch everyone to death. And the rich did not disdain the poor, the prince did not disdain any daughter of a commoner. Do you see the work of untruth, the evil intent? How the (serpent) dug a pit of destruction into death for everyone! Has any of you ever seen such a shameless act - fornication, armed with a two-edged sword? For with a very terrible death they destroyed the women who came to them, urging them both to make sacrifices and to commit fornication. The tormentor will use this same method so that everyone will bear the mark of the beast when in due time, at the fulfillment of (the fullness of) times, he comes to deceive everyone with signs - so that only in this way can they buy themselves food and everything they need. To carry out the command he will appoint people’s leaders. Pay attention, brethren, to the excessive malice of the beast, to the tricks of his wickedness: he begins from the belly, so that a person, driven to the extreme by a lack of food, is forced to accept his seal! And this bad one will not put his seal on any member of the body, but, so as not to make this difficult, he will put it on the right hand of a person. And he will also put an unholy mark on his forehead, so that a person will not be able to imprint on himself with his right hand the sign of Christ our Savior, and also will not be able to sign on his forehead the terrible and holy name of the Lord and the glorious and terrible Cross of the Savior. For this unfortunate one knows that the Cross of the Lord, if imprinted on anyone, will destroy all his power. And therefore he will put a seal on a person’s right hand, for it seals all our members with the Cross, and in the same way the forehead also bears the Savior’s sign on its top, like a candlestick carries a lamp of light. So, my brethren, all faithful and strong Christ-loving people are faced with a terrible feat, so as not to give in until the hour of death, not to become exhausted, when the serpent inscribes his seal instead of the Cross. For by all means they will contrive to ensure that the name of the Lord and Savior - His all-holy and most pure name - is not named at all during the time of the serpent. The weak one will do so, fearing and trembling at the holy power of the Savior’s name, for whoever is not sealed with his seal will not be a captive of his dreams, and the Lord will not retreat from such, but will enlighten his heart and draw him to Himself. We, brothers, must understand with all accuracy the dreams of the hated enemy. The Lord in peace is coming to all of us to repel the tricks of the beast. By sincerely maintaining the unshakable faith of Christ, let us make the enemy’s power shaky. Let us acquire an immutable and pious thought, and the powerless will retreat from us, unable to do anything to us. The host of saints, Christ-loving and faithful, and I, the pitiful one, with tears we beg and exhort you - we will not be at all perceptible by the enemy, or better yet, we will be elusive through the power of the cross. The inevitable feat is already at the door. Let us all take upon ourselves the shield of faith, and with love draw from the Divine source the hopes that will save our souls. I mean, beloved brethren, the Uncreated Consubstantial Trinity, this source that exudes life. If our soul is protected by such a weapon, then the serpent is trampled upon. With all this, we must pray so as not to “fall into misfortune,” and not to flee in winter. So, be prepared as faithful servants who love their Master and will not accept anything else. For this evil and formidable one will come first, in his own time, with the intention of kidnapping, slaughtering and destroying the chosen flock of the true Shepherd. He will disguise himself as a true shepherd in order to deceive the sheep of the flock. But those who know well the holy voice of the true Shepherd will immediately recognize the deceiver, for the voice of the evil one does not at all resemble the voice of the true Shepherd, and the voice of the thief is sarcastic, feigned, and it will soon become known what he is like. Let us try to find out, friends, in what form the shameless serpent will come to earth. The Savior, intending to save the human race, was born of the Virgin and in human form trampled upon the enemy with the holy power of His Divinity. He was meek and humble on earth, so that he could lift us up from earth to heaven. God, Who was truly and truly conceived, incarnated and born in our flesh from the Holy Virgin, saved everything through His suffering on the cross, giving the commandments. He will come again on the last day to judge the living and the dead, and will reward all the righteous and the wicked according to their deeds - as a righteous Judge. Having learned this, namely that the Lord will again come from heaven in the glory of the Divine, the enemy will plan to take upon himself the image of His coming and deceive everyone. But if our Lord comes to earth on luminous clouds, like terrible lightning, then the enemy will not come to earth like that, not on bright clouds, because he is an apostate. Indeed, his (Satan’s) instrument will be born from a bad wife; He himself will not be incarnate, but in his image the all-wicked one will come, like a thief, to deceive everyone. He will come feignedly reverent, humble, meek, hating, as he will say about himself, untruths, averse to idols, preferring piety, kind, loving the poor, highly respectable, very constant, affectionate towards everyone, respecting especially the Jewish people, because it is the Jews who will be waiting for his coming. At the same time, with great power, he will perform signs, wonders and insurance, and will take cunning measures to please everyone, so that the common people will soon fall in love with him. He will not take gifts, speak angrily, or show a gloomy appearance, but will always be affectionate. And so he will seduce the world with his decorous appearance until he reigns. When many peoples and classes see such virtues, perfections and strengths, everyone will suddenly have one thought and reign with the greatest joy, saying to each other: “Is there still a person so kind and truthful?” Most of all, the people and the Jewish murderers will honor and rejoice at his reign. Therefore, he, as if out of preference, providing for them (the Jews), will show them all a (special) place and church. During the reign of this serpent on earth, the peoples will willingly become his allies. Edom, Moab, and also the Ammonites will joyfully worship him as the rightful king, and they will be his first supporters. His kingdom will soon be established, and then in anger he will defeat the three great kings. Then, beyond measure, that serpent will ascend in heart and spew out his bitterness, spewing out deadly poison from Zion. He will crush the universe, he will move its ends, he will oppress everyone, he will defile many souls, no longer acting like a reverent, caring, affectionate person, but in any case stern, cruel, angry, irritable, impetuous, disorderly, terrible, disgusting, hateful, vile, cruel, crafty, destructive, shameless, trying with his fury the entire race of mortals plunge into the abyss of wickedness. He will produce great signs, numerous insurances, showing everything falsely and not really. In a similar way, the tormentor will move mountains - in one false ghost, and not in reality. In the presence of a crowded crowd from many nations and classes, praising him for his dreamy miracles, he will utter a strong voice, from which the place where the crowds facing him are gathered will shake, and will say with insolence: “Know, all nations, the great power of my power. Behold, before all of you, I command this great mountain standing opposite, so that, according to my word, from across the sea it will now come here to us.” And the bad one will say: “I command you, cross the sea here now.” And before the eyes of the spectators, the mountain will move without moving at all from its foundations. For what the Most High God erected and placed at the beginning of creation, that all-wicked one will not have power over, but will begin to deceive the world with enchanting dreams. Likewise, another mountain lying in the depths of the great sea, in the form of a very great island, will command to leave its place and, for the pleasure of the spectators, to stand on land, on pleasant shores. And although the island will not move out of the sea at all, it will still seem like a mountain standing on land. This serpent will also stretch out his hands and gather together many reptiles and birds. In a similar way, he will enter the abyss and walk along it as if on dry land, imagining it all dreamily. And many will believe and glorify him as a mighty god. But those who have God within themselves will have bright eyes; with sincere faith they will see and recognize him exactly. Anyone who has the fear of God in him, whose heart’s eyes are bright, will know for sure that neither the mountain moved from its place, nor the island moved from sea to land. The Antichrist will do all this in his name, for he will not tolerate the most pure name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit being named, because he will be a fighter against God and the son of perdition. When everything is done according to what has been said, and the peoples worship him and praise him as a god, the Most High in heaven from day to day will show His anger and turn His face away from him. And finally, there will be severe famines, prolonged plagues, incessant earthquakes, scarcity of food everywhere, great sorrow, crowded conditions everywhere, incessant deaths, great fear, unspeakable trembling. Then the heavens will not give rain, the earth will not bear fruit, the springs will dry up, the rivers will dry up. The grass will not grow, there will be no greenery on the ground; the trees will freeze at the roots and will not bear offspring; the fish and whales in the sea will die. And the sea will emit such an infectious stench and such a terrible noise that people will fall unconscious and die of fear. You might be interested in: