On the Last Times, the Antichrist, and the End of the World (English)

Mr. Pseudo Ephraem

On the Last Times, theAntichrist, and the End of the World

A Sermon by Pseudo-Ephraem

Section 1

Dearly beloved brothers,believe the Holy Spirit who speaks in us. We have already told you that the end of the world is near, theconsummation remains. Has not faith withered away among mankind? How many foolish things are seen amongyouths, how many crimes among prelates, how many lies among priests, how manyperjuries among deacons! There areevil deeds among the ministers, adulteries in the aged, wantonness in theyouths-in mature women false faces, in virgins dangerous traces! In the midst of all this there are thewars with the Persians, and we see struggles with diverse nations threateningand "kingdom rising against kingdom'' (Matt. 24:7). When the Roman empire begins to be consumed by the sword,the coming of the Evil One is at hand. It is necessary that the world come to an end at the completion of theRoman empire.

In those days two brotherswill come to the Roman empire who will rule with one mind; but because one willsurpass the other, there will be a schism between them. And so the Adversary will be loosed andwill stir up hatred between the Persian and Roman empires. In those days manywill rise up against Rome; the Jewish people will be her adversaries. There will be stirrings of nations andevil reports, pestilences, famines, and earth quakes in various places. All nations will receive captives; therewill be wars and rumors of wars. From the rising to the setting of the sun the sword will devourmuch. The times will be sodangerous that in fear and trembling they will not permit thought of betterthings, because many will be the oppressions and desolations of regions thatare to come.

Section 2

We ought to understandthoroughly therefore, my brothers, what is imminent or overhanging. Already there have been hunger andplagues, violent movements of nations and signs, which have been predicted bythe Lord, they have already been fulfilled (consummated), and there is notother which remains, except the advent of the wicked one in the completion ofthe Roman kingdom. Why thereforeare we occupied with worldly business, and why is our mind held fixed on thelusts of the world or on the anxieties of the ages? Why therefore do we not reject every care of worldlybusiness, and why is our mind held fixed on the lusts of the world or on theanxieties of the ages? Whytherefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepareourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from theconfusion, which overwhelms all the world? Believe you me, dearestbrother, because the coming (advent) of the Lord is nigh, believe you me,because the end of the world is at hand, believe me, because it is the verylast time. Or do you not believeunless you see with your eyes? Seeto it that this sentence be not fulfilled among you of the prophet whodeclares: "Woe to those whodesire to see the day of the Lord!" For all the saints and elect of Godare gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to theLord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of oursins. Andso, brothers most dear to me, it is the eleventh hour, and the end of the worldcomes to the harvest, and angels, armed and prepared, hold sickles in theirhands, awaiting the empire of the Lord. And we think that the earth exists with blind infidelity, arriving atits downfall early. Commotions arebrought forth, wars of diverse peoples and battles and incursions of thebarbarians threaten, and our regions shall be desolated, and we neither becomevery much afraid of the report nor of the appearance, in order that we may atleast do penance; because they hurl fear at us, and we do not wish to bechanged, although we at least stand in need of penance for our actions!

Section 3

When therefore the end of theworld comes, there arise diverse wars, commotions on all sides, horribleearthquakes, perturbations of nations, tempests throughout the lands, plagues,famine, drought throughout the thoroughfares, great danger throughout the seaand dry land, constant persecutions, slaughters and massacres everywhere, fearin the homes, panic in the cities, quaking in the thoroughfares, suspicions inthe male, anxiety in the streets. In the desert people become senseless, spirits melt in thecities. A friend will not begrieved over a friend, neither a brother for a brother, nor parents for theirchildren, nor a faithful servant for his master, but one inevitability shalloverwhelm them all; neither is anyone able to be recovered in that time, whohas not been made completely aware of the coming danger, but all people, whohave been constricted by fear, are consumed because of the overhanging evils.

Section 4

Whenever therefore the earthis agitated by the nations, people will hide themselves from the wars in themountains and rocks, by caves and caverns of the earth, by graves and memorialsof the dead, and there, as they waste away gradually by fear, they draw breath,because there is not any place at all to flee, but there will be concession andintolerable pressure. And thosewho are in the east will flee to the west, and moreover, those who are in thewest shall flee to the east, and there is not a safer place anywhere, because theworld shall be overwhelmed by worthless nations, whose aspect appears to be ofwild animals more than that of men. Because those very much horrible nations, most profane and most defiled,who do not spare lives, and shall destroy the living from the dead, shallconsume the dead, they eat dead flesh, they drink the blood of beasts, theypollute the world, contaminate all things, and the one who is able to resistthem is not there. In those dayspeople shall not be buried, neither Christian, nor heretic, neither Jew, norpagan, because of fear and dread there is not one who buries them; because allpeople, while they are fleeing, ignore them.

Section 5

Whenever the days of thetimes of those nations have been fulfilled, after they have destroyed the earth,it shall rest; and now the kingdom of the Romans is removed from everyday life,and the empire of the Christians is handed down by God and Peter; and then theconsummation comes, when the kingdom of the Romans begins to be fulfilled, andall dominions and powers have been fulfilled. Then that worthless and abominable dragon shall appear, he,whom Moses named in Deuteronomy, saying:-Dan is a young lion, reclining andleaping from Basan. Because hereclines in order that he may seize and destroy and slay. Indeed (he is) a young whelp of a lionnot as the lion of the tribe of Judah, but roaring because of his wrath, thathe may devour. "And he leaps outfrom Basan." "Basan" certainly isinterpreted "confusion." He shallrise up from the confusion of his iniquity. The one who gathers together to himself a partridge thechildren of confusion, also shall call them, whom he has not brought forth,just as Jeremiah the prophet says. Also in the last day they shall relinquish him just as confused.

Section 6

When therefore the end of theworld comes, that abominable, lying and murderous one is born from the tribe ofDan. He is conceived from the seedof a man and from an unclean or most vile virgin, mixed with an evil orworthless spirit. But that abominablecorrupter, more of spirits than of bodies, while a youth, the crafty dragonappears under the appearance of righteousness, before he takes thekingdom. Because he will becraftily gentle to all people, not receiving gifts, not placed before another person,loving to all people, quiet to everyone, not desiring gifts, appearing friendlyamong close friends, so that men may bless him, saying;-he is a just man, notknowing that a wolf lies concealed under the appearance of a lamb, and that agreedy man is inside under the skin of a sheep.

Section 7

But when the time of theabomination of his desolation begins to approach, having been made legal, hetakes the empire, and, just as it is said in the Psalm:-They have been made forthe undertaking for the sons of Loth, the Moabites and the Ammanites shall meethim first as their king. Therefore, when he receives the kingdom, he orders the temple of God tobe rebuilt for himself, which is in Jerusalem; who, after coming into it, heshall sit as God and order that he be adored by all nations, since he is carnaland filthy and mixed with worthless spirit and flesh. Then that eloquence shall be fulfilled of Daniel theprophet:-And he shall not know the God of their fathers, and he shall not knowthe desires of women. Because thevery wicked serpent shall direct every worship to himself. Because he shall put forth an edict sothat people may be circumcised according to the rite of the old law. Then the Jews shall congratulate him,because he gave them again the practice of the first covenant; then all peoplefrom everywhere shall flock together to him at the city of Jerusalem, and theholy city shall be trampled on by the nations for forty-two months, just as theholy apostle says in the Apocalypse, which become three and a half years, 1,260days.

Section 8

In these three years and ahalf the heaven shall suspend its dew; because there will be no rain upon theearth, and the clouds shall cease to pass through the air, and the stars shallbe seen with difficulty in the sky because of the excessive dryness, whichhappens in the time of the very fierce dragon. Because all great rivers and very powerful fountains thatoverflow with themselves shall be dried up, torrents shall dry up theirwater-courses because of the intolerable age, and there will be a greattribulation, as there has not been, since people began to be upon the earth,and there will be famine and an insufferable thirst. And children shall waste away in the bosom of their mothers,and wives upon the knees of their husbands, by not having victuals to eat. Because there will be in those dayslack of bread and water, and no one is able to sell or to buy of the grain ofthe fall harvest, unless he is one who has the serpentine sign on the foreheador on the hand. Then gold andsilver and precious clothing or precious stones shall lie along the streets,and also even every type of pearls along the thoroughfares and streets of thecities, but there is not one who may extend the hand and take or desire them,but they consider all things as good as nothing because of the extreme lack andfamine of bread, because the earth is not protected by the rains of heaven, andthere will be neither dew nor moisture of the air upon the earth. But those who wander through thedeserts, fleeing from the face of the serpent, bend their knees to God, just aslambs to the adders of their mothers, being sustained by the salvation of theLord, and while wandering in states of desertion, they eat herbs.

Section 9

Then, when this inevitabilityhas overwhelmed all people, just and unjust, the just, so that they may befound good by their Lord; and indeed the unjust, so that they may be damnedforever with their author the Devil, and, as God beholds the human race indanger and being tossed about by the breath of the horrible dragon, he sends tothem consolatory proclamation by his attendants, the prophets Enoch and Elijah,who, while not yet tasting death, are the servants for the heralding of thesecond coming of Christ, and in order to accuse the enemy. And when those just ones have appeared,they confuse indeed the antagonistic serpent with his cleverness and they callback the faithful witnesses to God, in order to (free them) from his seduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Section 10

And when the three and a halfyears have been completed, the time of the Antichrist, through which he willhave seduced the world, after the resurrection of the two prophets, in the hourwhich the world does not know, and on the day which the enemy of son ofperdition does not know, will come the sign of the Son of Man, and comingforward the Lord shall appear with great power and much majesty, with the signof the wood of salvation going before him, and also even with all the powers ofthe heavens with the whole chorus of the saints, with those who bear the signof the holy cross upon their shoulders, as the angelic trumpet precedes him,which shall sound and declare: Arise, O sleeping ones, arise, meet Christ, because his hour of judgmenthas come! Then Christ shall comeand the enemy shall be thrown into confusion, and the Lord shall destroy him bythe spirit of his mouth. And heshall be bound and shall be plunged into the abyss of everlasting fire alivewith his father Satan; and all people, who do his wishes, shall perish with himforever; but the righteous ones shall inherit everlasting life with the Lordforever and ever.