The Vision of Elder Anthony

“Sometime in the beginning of the 70’s, while serving Divine Liturgy, I was granted my first
vision. It was like this. At that time began the general attraction of the people towards the West, and at
the same time, those traits inherent in the Slavs were washed away—modesty, hospitality, and
unacquisitiveness. Greed, by the way, has become the head of the corner of the new view of the world.
Money and things are more important than morality and spirituality. And what is most horrible, the way
of life of people who call themselves Orthodox, very often strictly keeping the church rituals, has
become the same as the pagans around them! Such immodesty in daily life, such striving for a career,
for a high position in society. For children of believing families, joining the Pioneers, Komsomolsk, or
the Party no longer cause any spiritual torment. And there is the ready justification: ‘How can we live
without this? We don’t live in the desert, but among people. Well, it’s a sin, now you’re getting too
fastidious—everything’s a sin. We’ll go and we’ll repent.’ Such a light-minded attitude causes great
doubts in the very possibility of salvation. I was reading the Gospel, about the last times, especially the
Book of Revelation, and the topic of the desert, where people must flee, gave me no rest.

And then I see a huge number of people walking, people traveling. Some of them, it seems are
not traveling, some are feasting, others are fornicating, others are playing dirty tricks on their
neighbors, but still, like a river, they are flowing forward. They are all very different; there are laymen,
and clergymen, and soldiers, and politicians, and everyone, everyone. A large part of the people is
simply bursting forward, but some are going peacefully. In their path is a terrible abyss, the abyss into
hell. It would seem that they should all disappear into it, but no. Many of the people fly down. I see
how they are being pulled down, some by cars, some at the table, some by money, and some by
expensive clothes. And some pass peacefully through the abyss, you could say, over it. Some do not
disappear, but are lowered down into the abyss—but shining men help them to cross and support them.
Not only the rich disappear into the abyss, but also people who are obviously poor. But they all have
one idol—the lust of the world.
It was horrible. From the abyss there came the sound, not moaning, but the howling of those
who had fallen, and a stench. This was not just a smell, no. Just as there is no way to describe a sweet
fragrance, the fragrance not from flowers or grasses, but the sweet fragrance that the Lord gives to
relics, and miraculous icons and such things. The stench of hell is not just an awful smell, like the smell
of sulphur. It is the feeling of horror and irrevocability, in a word—hell.
And then you have the desert. Even there the slayer of mankind tempted the hermits, trying to
arouse the passions of greed, lust, and despair. Many fell into the trap, many. At the same time, how
many princes and powerful people of this world were saved, and not only saved, but glorified by the
Church as saints. They had everything, but their heart did not belong to the corruption of this world, but
to the heavenly world.
But our time is terrifying because temptations lie in wait for man everywhere, with every step,
and most of the time they are such that are hard to anticipate. So many people come to me, and it seems
that one question bothers them—how can they be saved, how do they act in this or that situation. But
can you get a blessing for every action, not just in day, but in a month?! That means you must present
the paths of temptation, its basic directions. And they are unchanged since the creation of the world, for
the devil is nom a creator. It
is another matter that over thousands of years he has acquired experience, and now his
suggestion to mankind to go with him to hell has become more refined. Essentially, all of the
contemporary world is entirely his suggestion. Suggestion, because he cannot force someone, it’s not in
his power, but to wrap the sin in a tempting package, by all means. The servants of darkness are always
ready with their: ‘What can I do for you?’
 Another peculiarity of today is the impending arrival of antichrist. Many spiritual people say
that he has already been born. Concerning this it is difficult to judge. The enemy is evil, evil even with
those who serve him. Of these, many considered themselves to be antichrist. They appeared to be such,
from their world view and their actions, but they were not he, about whom the Church speaks. Perhaps
he has been born, perhaps not, but that’s not the question. When they asked Bishop Ignaty
(Brianchaninov) about the coming of antichrist, he replied that there is not a precise date set. By their
evil, people will determine the coming of antichrist. Now is the time of the final preparations for his
arrival. Now there is a concentration of world power, and he will be the ruler of not just one country,
but of the world, and mankind must become ‘savage’. But this is minor. In order to bring all of
mankind to its knees, it is necessary to establish a system of life where the slightest infringement will
cause catastrophic results for people—famine, cold, and destruction. And this system is being built.
How this will happen, I saw later, in a few years.”

The Second Vision of Elder Anthony

“It was difficult to accept this in those days of seeming Soviet prosperity; I didn’t think that I
would live to see the fulfillment of what I eventually did see.
And so, as I have already said, the second vision was not a continuation of the first, no. In time,
it was significantly later, and in content, it was much different. The first was one sort—edifying,
instructive. I asked a question and received an answer. The second vision was of a different sort, or
character, you might say. I did not ask anything, but I was granted from on high to see something in
response to what people around me were asking. If I was able to retell the first vision with more or less
exactness, the second—in principle it was impossible to retell. Fr. Alexander, I will attempt for the first
time to express this to you in some kind of sequence, or in the language of worldly science,
systematically. But I was granted to see how to express it in one order or in completely different order.
For it was granted to me for the greater good; but for you and your parishioners it is better in a different
sequence. Before this, everything that I was granted to see I used only in answers to the perplexed
questions of the faithful.
A few more words, not about the vision, but about the universe, in order to better understand
what follows. The Lord has created everything living in one, very rigid system. The entire universe is
absolutely tied with every action of its tiniest part, and for rational creatures, man, with what is not
connected to the visible world—his thoughts. The actions of irrational creatures cannot inflict
casualties on the universe—they are limited by internal brakes, so to speak, they kill by their instincts,
and by the self-regulating traits of their nature. Man—is a different matter. He was created in the image
and likeness of God. And no matter how we may argue, what is the image, and what is the likeness,
what was washed away, and what wasn’t, what man possesses from birth, and what he must acquire
during his lifetime, what is important here is something else—his actions in the material world, as well
as his invisible traits, affect the surrounding world in which he lives, and the entire universe. God did
not wipe Sodom and Gomorrah from the face of the earth, but the people were wiped away by the
Providence of the Creator. I say this because all the calamities which occur with mankind and nature
are not a result of God’s wrath, for we confess that He is All-good and All-merciful, and we confess
truly and we confess the truth. But, they are the consequence of the all-destructive action of mankind
itself, not through the constraint of the enemy, there is and cannot be any constraint. This constraint is
coercion, but bought by the tricks of the devil. But now, more in particular about the vision, about what
awaits everyone, unfortunately, in the near future, some of which is already happening at the present
time. And so, here is what I saw concerning the future.
First of all, all possible technological catastrophies—the system of existence (way of life?)
created by man, in essence, is satanic, for it absolutely opposes the Laws of God, and it will begin to
fall apart. Airplanes will fall from the sky, ships will sink, nuclear plants and chemical factories will
explode. And all this will happen against a background of terrible natural disasters, which will occur
throughout the world, but especially in America: hurricanes of unprecedented strength, earthquakes,
severe droughts, and the opposite, torrential floods. The terrible monster, the contemporary Sodom—
New York will be wiped from the face of the earth. And Gomorrah—Los Angeles—will not remain
without retribution.
It seems that it will be hard to find a place on earth where a person will feel completely safe and
at ease. The tranquility of a person will be only in hoping in God; the earth will give him no protection.
The ravaging of nature threatens cities with more horrible consequences, because they are completely
cut off from it. The destruction of one Babylonian tower, a contemporary home, and there are hundreds
buried without repentance and Communion, hundreds of souls perish. These houses, placed on pillars,
are actually arrows penetrating the earth, as if directed down to hell, and they will bring people a
hellish death under the debris. And whoever remains alive will envy those who perished in an instant,
for their lot will be worse—death from hunger and asphyxiation.
Cities will present a horrible spectacle. Even those that escape complete destruction, losing
water and electricity, heat and the supply of food, will be reminiscent of huge stone graves, so many
people will die. Gangs of robbers will continually commit their crimes, and it will be dangerous to
move about the cities even in the daytime, and at night people will gather in large groups in order to
survive together until morning. Sunrise, unfortunately, will not bring the joy of a new day, but the
sorrow of the necessity of living through that day.
One shouldn’t think that peace and prosperity will reign in the village. The fields, poisoned,
disfigured, brought to dust by drought, or inundated by floods, will not give the necessary harvests.
There will be unprecedented plagues of livestock, and, not able to bury the animals, people will leave
them to rot, which will poison the air with a horrible stench. The farmers will suffer from attacks by the
people from the cities, who, in search of food, will spread out among the villages, ready to kill for a
piece of bread! Yes, that piece of bread, which now does not enter their throat without spices and
sauces will then be mixed with blood. Cannibalism will become common. Having accepted the mark of
antichrist, mankind will lose all the restraints of morality. For the villagers also, night will be especially
fearful, for that will be the time for the more brutal robberies. But they must not just survive, but also
keep their property in order to work; otherwise they will be threatened with death from hunger. Also the
people in the city will be hunted. It will seem like the return of the times before the Flood. But no. At
that time the Word of God prevailed over the world: ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’ Now the very life of
mankind and its essence are directed at the rejection of both Grace and Divine Providence. But this still
is not the end.
 At the beginning of the narration I placed the result which preceded everything, and not
accidentally. Very often, in fact, frequently, we do not see the forest for the trees. In the given narration,
in the little sin we do not see, we do not want to see, the violation of the basic commandments of the
Lord. The Lord created this world, and as the Creator, He created it in harmony with Himself.
Remember His words about the new creation: ‘It is good!’ God said this. The All-sufficient and All-
good, the All-mighty and All-perfect, the All-merciful Provider found the creation to be good, i.e., He
found the world to be in harmony with Good, with Love for God is love. Man, the one creature able to
influence the existence of the world, the crown of creation, was likewise created in the image and
likeness of Good and Love. And the laws given to him by the Creator, are nothing else than instructions
for living a peaceful and happy life in the world, in harmony with it. Everything else which opposes
these commandments is destructive for the world and for everything existing in it, depending on it.
Everything begins with the little things, with modern clothes, teaching young boys and girls together,
and not under the guide of a clergyman, but a worldly instructor. And soon that title will be lost, and
there will just be—teacher! A teacher of what and to whom? How many of these teachers are there who
are morally degraded, divorced, idle, and neurotic? And the others, perhaps the major part, even if they
at least preserve their human image, they do not know and do not want to know the laws for living with
God in the created world. What do they teach? They teach that the world is not God’s creation; they
teach the laws of life in a world that is the realm belonging to the spirits under the heavens! Here is the
little from which flows something horrible and big.
Moral degradation. How many times Satan has tried to make it general and all-encompassing,
but he always was confronted with the threatening rebuke of the Church. For the spirits of darkness,
what is most terrifying is rebuke. Just as a thief hides in the dark and fears the light, so also diabolic
delusion is more effective and seductive when the light of truth is absent. The darkness of the
prosperity of ten ‘developed’ nations has covered the world, the nations which the enemy has chosen as
a buttress in the work of stupefying the whole world. The main weapon in this work—the lozenge of
freedom! How much blood has been shed in all the revolutions and insurrections, socialist and pseudo-
religious experiments, in political and mystical quarrels, on the altar of the demon of ‘freedom’! This is
he, who raises up and casts down, a creature trying to take the place of the Creator, he is the main lover
of freedom. And his freedom is not that ability given man by God to be perfect in all kinds of virtue.
No, his ‘freedom’ is the heaviest burdens, whose purpose is to deprive man of the possibility of
choosing between good and evil leaving him only the path to hell. This is the kind of freedom that will
be achieved. It would have been all right with the Protestants, who in their time were fighting against
the dictates of the Catholics, but coming to power, these same Baptists established such terror and
bacchanalia that even Europe shuddered! But where are our people going?! Even though you can say
that we are—an Orthodox Power.
The first freedom that the demon needs, without which everything else crumbles, is freedom of
religion, so called religious tolerance. The essence of this movement is to open the wide road, first of
all for the youth, leading to Satan. Notice, Father, that this is a one-way road. Try to go against this
movement—and they will immediately silence you. The Orthodox Church—that is what won’t let them
sleep at night! The Catholics are already finished. They are ready for everything; they accept demonic
civilization, ‘progress’. In supporting Zionism, in fact they are saying, ‘Yes’ to the coming of antichrist.
And I saw what attempts worldwide evil is making to defile the Holy Church the pure Body of
Christ! First of all, they will defame Her in all the papers, on the radio, and on the television. Jews with
Slavic last names will put the clergy and the Orthodox to public ridicule in every way, they will mock
the rituals the fasts, the way of life, everything that has always been the basis for the vitality for the
people. Into the very Church, among the clergy, they will dispatch thousands and thousands of
catholicized destroyers of Orthodoxy. Because of their false piety—their spirit is different, foreign—the
people will abandon their churches. There will be restorations and construction—but they will be
empty. Here and there will burn the flame of true holiness and faithfulness to the spirit of the faith of
our fathers. He who wants it will find it. No one will be able to justify himself and say, ‘Lord, I
searched but I couldn’t find it!’ Little flames of truth will burn throughout the whole world amid the
darkness of unbelief and atheism. And the righteous clergy will be persecuted and oppressed, subjected
to every kind of abuse, and the servants of the devil will not even stop at murder, if God allows the
righteous one to receive a martyr’s crown. There will be many righteous martyrs in the last times!
And those of the foreign spirit will await their ruler, antichrist. But they will still have the
possibility of being saved, i.e., they can recognize who he is, but power and money will close the eyes
of the majority. A terrible time! And everything begins with little things—the clergy ceased to wear the
clothing proper to their calling, and they shaved their beards like the Catholics and Protestants—it’s no
wonder.
The second ‘freedom’ which they cultivate in every way possible is the freedom of moral
corruption. Unfortunately, people have already accepted it and it has become an inseparable part of
contemporary life. Fornication—is not fornication, but sexual freedom (see how the enemy hides his
action behind pretty, at first glance, words: it’s not fornication, but sex, not robbery, but
expropriation…). Debauchery begins in the earliest years in the form of teaching the culture of the
sexes and their mutual relations. They will show the children naked bodies, and this is already being
done in some places, and sexual union, thereby inflaming lust, pretending that this is all normal. Books
and television will be filled with naked people, horrible scenes of fornication. Contemporary clothing is
even very revealing—but this is only the beginning. The aim is the extremely loathsome feasts of
Astarte and Baal, where hundreds and hundreds of pagans would fornicate, stupefied by alcohol and
drugs. There, to the worship of demons, is where the champions of freedom are leading mankind.
Whoever is overcome by someone, is a slave to him. And people are being attracted to this slavery,
wrapped up in freedom.

But for the servants of darkness, natural fornication is not even enough. As a demonstration of
true love of freedom and emancipation of thought, they will yield to the sin of Sodom and bestiality.
Propaganda for this abomination will be unusually strong, almost as much as for ‘normal’ debauchery.
Instances of single sex marriages will be given as much publicity as the discovery of antibiotics was in
its day! Sodomites will appear everywhere—artists, mostly, and politicians, and economists. The sin of
Sodom will become the sign of the nearest future. Already in America their wild orgies are organized in
the form of annual carnivals, and we will have all this as well, in a no less disgusting display. And
whoever will oppose this forced demonic display will appear as one violating another’s freedom, an
ignorant buffoon, an enemy of the state, since all the governments will have as their main concern, not
the protection of morality, but the protection of demonic freedoms.
Precisely, demonic…even now you will not find an Orthodox article, except in the Church’s
own publications. And they let the bishops on the television only on great feast days. What rubbish they
write and say, and there are no opposing views, nothing with a world-view character. Freedom is good,
when you can revile holiness! Everything else –is taboo.
And this also started from something small, oh so long ago. With us this began with the transfer
of the church-parish schools to the control of the local, worldly authorities. Atheists entered their ranks
in the guise of teachers ready to prepare troops for the revolution of ’17!
The youth, falling under the authority of Satan through committing sins, stupefied by alcohol
and drugs, will not be able to withstand the last call to hell by the primordial slayer of mankind, and
they will end their life with suicide. The number of those who take their own life will grow
immeasurably. It will increase so much that it will no longer cause surprise, and will be seen as the
logical conclusion of events. And even more so since the number of those with horrible sicknesses,
connected with lusts and immoderation, and the poisoning of the world, will be so great, and their
sufferings so terrible, society will consider suicide to be like an act of mercy. People will even urge
them to do this, with all kinds of foolish reasoning—everything aimed at the destruction of lost souls.
Another frightful diabolic snare will be the inducement of people to make money, to increase
their personal income. The passion of greed is destructive, like everything without moderation. And
this immoderation leads to the destruction of nature; in whatever sphere this money is earned, it
reverberates on everything in the surrounding world. The second part of this snare is the application, or
use, of this money. Again I repeat, the created system is unusually fragile, extremely fragile. The use of
the money by the people is likewise subject to this fragility.
What does today’s money represent? It is a ’bluff’, a phantom, an illusion, like the ‘miracles’ of
the devil. All of the technology produced is useful only with a multitude of ‘ifs’: if there is fuel, if there
are spare parts, if the radiation level is not too high—you can count and count the number of
electronics that are not serviceable. It is impossible to service a contemporary automobile without
trained specialists! That means that if you take away one of the ‘ifs’, all you will have is a pile of
useless metal. We have an example before our eyes; what is valuable now for the peasant is a horse and
a cow.
What is more, the greater part of money is kept either in banks or in valuable papers. They will
fail, these banks will fail, in order to bring people to their knees. And they will fail in one hour;
precedents of this have already been successful. Business will come to a halt as a result of natural
disasters and war. And what is a man left with? With a mass of unneeded and useless things which he
wasted years of his life to obtain, but whose value is directly related to the prosperity of the world.
With the world in a state of catastrophe—it is dust, nothing.

I remember how some women were torturing me with questions, asking whether it was a sin to
have crystal and carpets in the house. They had gathered it in one house, just in case. But then what?
Now just imagine, the electricity is shut off, and the gas and the heat; for what will a person trade the
crystal and the carpets? For a saw, an axe and a wood stove! And who has these things? Perhaps one
person in two hundred.
I just spoke about things. How rationally the world was organized before the insanity of the
19-20th centuries. Clothing was made sturdy, dependable. Much effort and labor was expended on it so
that it was passed down to the grandchildren. That‘s how the people valued their time! And they had
enough time for everything, to work in the field, and to go to church, and on a feast day to sit around
the table with the relatives. But now what? Shoes last one season, clothes—two seasons, and if they’re
good, three! And there’s no time for prayer, and going to church?—I’ll pray at home. And the children
—unfortunately, they grow up neglected, because the parents are out earning money. So that they don’t
live worse than others. But is it living? Only a free person lives, but a captive, a servant--exists. God
gave His Only-begotten Son in order to free us from servitude, from the captivity of sin and the
passions, but like the Jews who left the captivity of Egypt, we complain and strain to return to captivity.
Let the children perish and the family be humiliated, but give us the food on time! But this food—is
actually cheese in a mousetrap. When the door closes but the cheese is still there, does the mouse
realize that it is caught? Its time has come, but the cheese is there and it chews on it eagerly and
happily, not knowing where the tasty meal came from! But the person who set the trap has already
heard that the trap closed and the sacrifice has been caught. He can come right away and kill the
sacrifice, or he can let it eat its meal. At first it seems crowded to the mouse, but then it gets used to it.
Hungry? At least they didn’t kill me. But the end is obvious. I think that the mouse senses it.
Yes, terrible times. Take the last war, why was it unleashed? They say: Hitler, the bellicose
German people, the partitioning of Europe and the world. The communists say: imperialism and
fighting of colonies. There are many versions, but that’s not right. In actuality, it was for the possibility
of the centralization of power, power over the world. Any tree is known by its fruit; no matter what the
person said who sold you the sapling at the market, you know and evaluate everything when you get
the fruit. You wait for it. And what were the fruits of the war—millions of Orthodox people were killed
and maimed, both in our Russia and in the Balkans. The main outpost of Orthodoxy in the south-west,
Serbia, falls into the hands of the Croats, the Catholics—Joseph Tito was a Croat and Croatia became
the most developed of the republics. The Orthodox republics of Yugoslavia were not just forgotten, but
Kosovo was settled by Moslems, like Russia and Moscow now.
Another result is Israel. The propaganda is organized so that the ones who suffered the most
losses during the war—were the Jews, but by no means the Slavs, or, let’s say, the French. I will return
to the Balkans. The Serbs fought for Tito, the Croats were with the Germans, but in the end, who won?
—the Croats. The same thing with the Jews. First, who was killed by the Germans? For the most part,
these Jews were not full-blooded,
some were baptized, some were lukewarm towards their faith, by no means the orthodox, and
especially none of the leaders of Zionism were found within Hitler’s walls—they succeeded in leaving,
for they knew what was going to happen. But persecution, with the special enlightenment of everything
that was taking place, made possible the establishment of the government of Israel. They gave them a
little piece of land—if you spit on it, you’ll cover it. But, as we say, ‘Sit down at the table.’ They
conquered the land from the Arabs, but again, the Arabs are terrorists—but not the Jews.
The third result—Europe. Nothing could make it unite like a world war. And already one can
consider that it is one nation, from Turkey to Norway. Everything will be one—the government, the
money, the laws. Everything was agreed to by America, so that there would be no friction when the
union took place.
Which of these results is more important for the Satanists? It is not for us to know. I think, and I
saw, that these are all steps of one ladder, a ladder leading to the kingdom of antichrist. He will come,
and here everything is already prepared, full centralization, all the people are numbered, everyone with
their own number and card, and on it is everything, including opinions and world-views. And with the
help of this card they will be able to check the movement of a person on top of the ground, under the
ground, and under the water. Everything will be possible.
Of course, he will want people to worship him voluntarily, as the world received Christ. But this
will be the willingness like that of an animal being led to the slaughter. He walks by himself, but along
the sides are the herdsmen with clubs. But mankind is already in the mousetrap, although there is still a
little cheese left, which is why the Saviour said that hardly one believing soul would be found. We have
accepted the conditions of this world, we’ve already accepted them. People have not just agreed to
them, but they themselves have arranged their own system of dependence on them; and if you’ve
accepted the rules of the game—then you will play the game to the end, until the Last Judgment.
I’ve told you such frightening stories, that it seems, what more could there be? What is most
frightening though, is not to hear it, but to see it—to see it is significantly more horrible and loathsome.
I can’t tell you everything, so that the pictures of the future do not cause you to despair now.
Yes, it seems that everything that exists in this world is very real, like death. But no one wants to
believe in its reality, or more precisely, to compare the reality of death with illusoriness of mankind’s
existence. Illusoriness not in the sense that this is all a bluff, no, with God there can be no deception,
God is Truth. The illusoriness of the existence is in its transientness, and the relation to it of man
himself. As they say, all of our troubles are within us. Man relates to his transience as to eternity,
discarding, for the most part, the reality of death. Speak to someone about death, or even about his own
death--and you become an enemy. But what, is he going to live forever, or will I, or someone else? We
simply try to not think about death, we try to avoid it like an ostrich—who hides his head in the sand,
and it seems that there is no danger! Look how many saints put a coffin in their cell—what for? In
order to remember death, and this, as Holy Tradition says, is the pledge of salvation. What people they
were, real men, sons of God, and they kept before their eyes the constant reminder of death—a coffin!
Both for themselves and for us sinners especially, people of the last times, for everything is pulling us
to eternal life on earth. We’ve already managed to deceive ourselves, even if only a little, that we will
procure the elixir of eternal youth.
Just as they hang a carrot in front of a donkey so that it will run after it and not stop along the
road, so also Satan deceives mankind with the carrot of an eternal, sinful life on earth. He says: why
practice spiritual activity, prayer and fasting, or even loving your neighbor. Either believe that after the
coffin there’s only the damp earth in which you will rot, and that the coffin will turn into dust, or that
there are already the means for rejuvenation, for prolonging life and putting off old age, in general,
whatever you want. And if you’re too squeamish, but you want to live—we’ll freeze you! When we
thaw you out, everything will have been revealed, and you will live forever! They are the ravings of a
mad man, but they believe it, the poor people believe it. Yes, on earth you can unite with eternity, and
with your eyes be convinced of the reality of real eternity, not the satanic mirage. Apostle Paul, St.
Seraphim of Sarov and how many other righteous ones were granted to see the beauty of Paradise!
Also, how many more saints shone with the uncreated light of Mt. Tabor. Just the very appearance of
people of God compared to people of Satan, is this not a pledge of reality?

How then is one saved in this terrible, ruinous time? There are some theoreticians who say that a
person cannot save himself. If God wants to, He will save him; if not, then it’s impossible. And this is
independent of the labors of the person himself. This is just Calvinism, to say that a person is striving
for salvation but it is impossible for him to be saved. Sin, my brother, as much as your soul wants—
whether you like it or not, this doesn’t depend on you.
But no, it is not like that at all. Yes, without God’s help no one can be saved. The Saviour
Himself said this to His disciples, so we needn’t rack our brains over this. But the help of the Lord is
joined to a person’s zeal for labors and strivings. The great Hierarch John Chrysostom said that you
bring all of what you have, and God will make up for whatever is lacking! And even if there is no zeal,
for we are saved through sorrows and illnesses. And moderation, moderation in everything.
Materialism, and consumerism, this is the terrible diabolic bridle on people. Everything is produced in
order to be acquired, and there is no limit to it.
I began my narration with my first vision, how people were disappearing into hell, and what was
dragging them there. So, is it forbidden to have cars or houses or furniture? A few years ago two
Russian families who fled from Georgia came to me asking for prayers. I was struck by their escape,
and how they accomplished it. It was already impossible to leave, trying to do everything legally. They
complied with all the formalities so that they could take all their belongings with them. They registered
their departure, as was required, and their cars and I don’t know what else were at the border, but on
their way there they were robbed and almost killed. My visitors reasoned quite wisely: ‘God gave, God
took away, at least we survived, the rest will come.’ They fled only with what they had in the cars, their
warm clothes which were in the trunk. So, the Lord provided for them and gave them a home here, and
they were able to register their cars, and everything worked out.
So, in relation to things, one person saves them, not even thinking of his own safety…what for,
he’s been collecting them his whole life. For someone else, they are just the means, not the end itself.

Therefore, a person with such a relation to things will not collect things for ‘prestige’. Just as long as he
is comfortable. That is the right approach, especially in our times. Do not get them because everyone
else has them. This is not allowed. Only what is absolutely necessary, and not the most expensive, but
simple and reliable. This especially applies to clothes, and warm, winter clothes. There is one principle
—good quality, and as natural and as warm as possible.
 You must be very careful with electronics, with electronic devices. From seeming friends, in
an instant they turn into cruel enemies: any receiver can be a transmitter at the same time. I have
conversed with knowledgeable people about this more than once. This especially concerns the
television; there are many battles being waged around this ‘miracle’ of civilization. I think the question
is not just about the television itself, but about its use.
A person in our time has, on one hand, an overabundance of association with people, but
on the other hand, as strange as it may seem, he has a great lack of it. This is why—the
associations that a person makes these days are made in a hurry. The association occurs either at work,
or on the road, when the person is not in a peaceful frame of mind—either he’s upset, or he’s tired. The
proper conditions are lacking for associations in a peaceful atmosphere.
The person today has an enormous amount of extra time; and I didn’t misspeak, calling it extra,
for it is free, and therefore extra. And so it is with everything: with food, with clothes, with living
accommodations. Having extra things everywhere is very dangerous for the soul. But there is particular
danger in extra time, for the very existence of extra time testifies to the absence of spiritual life, which
is a sure castration of one’s way of life. But look, at the expense of what is this extra time? No, work
will not be resigned to last place. Of course, I do not want to discuss the completely fallen people—
alcoholics, and drug addicts. Although it is a related topic, it is a little different.
For a person in contemporary society, work is most important. What is more, even believers are
busy working in the garden in the springtime, regardless of whether it is Sunday, or Passion Week or
Bright Week-- it’s all the same—a kind of boorishness. That means that hear there is no extra, free
time. Instead, everyone moans that there is not enough of it. But there actually is free time, and there’s
a lot of it, but where does it come from?!
It is that time that should be spent on spiritual work, whether it is prayer, or reading spiritual
literature, and also beneficial relationships, soul-profiting. This time is wasted on entertainment, and
that’s all. Satan has gotten man to arrange his entire lifestyle so that there is completely no quiet time,
time for contemplating the past day, week, or month. Everything is occupied with entertainment. And
in this system of entertainment, television is given the privileged place of honor. The lion’s share of
free time is ‘eaten up’ by it, that idol of contemporary civilization. I would call it a cruel despot and
tyrant, to whom the greater part of mankind is subject, in a servitude never before witnessed in the
world. For slaves feel their lower position because they have been brought to it by force. But here the
servitude is voluntary, even pleasant at first glance. Just the bitter fruits of worldliness, cruelty, and
depravity demonstrate that, as in any kind of slavery, only the master benefits. And the horns of the
master even poke out of the screen. Therefore, in this system of preparing people for the coming of
antichrist, the television has been given the not just the role of consuming free time, its destructive role
is far greater. A person watches the news, even the Orthodox news, and it seems to him to be something
necessary and useful, at any rate, not harmful. But the actual news occupies only a small portion of the
time. The rest is an analysis of what happened, that is, a view of what happened which must be formed
by those watching. And the view of the customers is that which is given by those who control the given
information—it’s not necessary to name them, since everything is clear. From this, from the hypnotic
effect of the television program, a person loses his ability of thinking for himself, of thoughtfully
perceiving the events that are happening, and finally, of forming his own world-view.
We began speaking about the decline in relationships between people today. The root of this
decline lies namely in the absence of individual thought and consideration of what has happened,
corresponding to a personal world-view. And this, by no means, is a justification for the search of
today’s ‘individual’, no.
I said this, because there was always someone in the kitchen with my mother. In the evening,
after supper, a large samovar was prepared, and everyone, whoever might be spending the night, settled
down to drink tea. A conversation started. It was so interesting! These stories of the simple people were
so edifying. My father laughed at our love of spending the evening in the kitchen, considering that
there was nothing for an educated person to gain from semi-illiterate people. But, having spent a couple
of evenings with us, he changed his opinion. The people who gathered were all Orthodox and they
knew the world, but not by watching television. They spoke about events from life, of which they were
witnesses, or what they had heard from witnesses. In everything they looked for something edifying,
the results of what had occurred, and how Divine Providence had taken part in it, as well as the free
will of the person. In these discussions there appeared a great variety of thoughts and distinct world-
views. People then were able to not just hear, but to listen, and in general, they much preferred to listen
than to speak. Although, I repeat, each of those present had something to say.
I digress, but it’s interesting that these simple people, at a time of seeming prosperity and
contentment in the empire, already saw the approaching catastrophe. And this was not so much as a
result of their associating with the Elders of Optina or Kiev, or from the sermons of the righteous John
of Kronstadt, as it was a result of their ability to observe what was happening and draw conclusions,
based not on an abundance of material available, but on the preservation of spirituality by society. It
was namely the lack of faith, not simply faith in the existence of God, but faith as the fulfillment of
Christ’s commandments, which led these people to think that the coming disaster was inevitable. I will
return again to this ‘kitchen’ gathering, but now, concerning our life.
Yes, contemporary gatherings on that level are simply not possible. The thing is, that even when
people have gathered together at one table, their relation to the Faith is varied. As the wise David said,
‘The foolish has said in his heart, there is no God!’ Just the rejection of the existence of God is both
insanity and a sure path to insanity. And this is not the madness of those pagans that were enlightened
by the Apostles and Holy Fathers of the first centuries of Christianity. Concerning the pagans of today,
the Apostle said: ‘For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having
itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away
from listening to the truth and wander into myths.’ What kind of normal gathering is possible under
these conditions?! People love to talk, but not listen, to teach, but not to learn. What unites all of these
people around one table? Intoxicants—spirits, and plenty of food, that is, what is on the table, not who
is at the table. Nothing soul-profiting can come out of such an environment, for as the saints taught,
you do not speak about God with a full stomach—and even more so, with a drunken head!
There is one more terrible evil from the television, but unfortunately, it’s far from the last. This
evil is the undermining of the authority of the Church. It is planned and diabolically cunning. It is in
everything—in mocking the clergy, the Orthodox rituals, in placing the occult, paganism, in opposition
to Christianity, in everything. Everything is saturated with hatred for the Truth. Not much time will
pass before they will openly mock Christianity and holy things on television. Broadcasts concerning
the Theotokos will be especially permeated with hatred; from everything will flow the poison of
diabolic evil. Only it will be under the veil of humor, comedy. ‘Laughing hell’ will take the work of
ridiculing everything Divine, and spiritual, all the way to the end. And the end will be in the one who
appears and tries to take the place of God. And he will enter immediately into every home. How can a
person enter every home at the same time?! We say that that is one of the qualities of God—being
everywhere present—even the angels move about and exist in time. But the Church teaches that
antichrist will enter immediately into every home; this seems to be a contradiction.
But no, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is the vessel of truth, of Divine truth. In
imitation of being everywhere present, antichrist will enter into every home simultaneously with the
help of the television. Everyone will receive him into his house, and he’ll receive him voluntarily! And
he’ll receive him, he’ll receive him, for he will want to be prepared for this, prepared properly, because
he didn’t heed the instructions of the Good Pastor to flee to the desert, it doesn’t appeal to him—it’s
boring and dry in the desert!”
“Fr. Anthony, and where is it now, this desert?!”—I couldn’t restrain myself.
“Most esteemed father, you are not slow-witted, but the plastering of your church is taking more
of your time than it should, otherwise you wouldn’t have asked that question. But forgive an old man!
You are impressed by the externals, but what is inside doesn’t sadden you. One temple not made by
hands in the human soul is worth ten stone temples! Unfortunately, Catholicism was imported during
the time of the accursed Peter, and especially during the Unia, so that now we judge everything by the
externals, such as crosses and miters. Take and read the writings of the Hieromartyr Archbishop
Hilarion Troitsky, he was a wise hierarch. I have saved excerpts from his speeches.
The main thing in the desert is the monotony, there’s nothing to catch your eye, everything’s the
same. The devil creates a mirage, as if there is vegetation, water, gold finally; but you must turn to
Christ, as the holy desert-dwellers wrote, pray, cross yourself—and everything disappears. And so
today you must strive for such a state of soul, so that your eye is not caught by anything. So that
everything around you is the desert…but if you see something that is tempting—pray, cross yourself,
confess. Condemn yourself that you saw a temptation in the desert, which means you wanted to see it,
more precisely, you were disposed to seeing it.
What, you’re surprised? Here, I’ll give this example. A person goes to the forest to collect
mushrooms. There are many poisonous mushrooms there but he doesn’t even notice them, no. There is
only one good type worth looking for—he sees it from afar, he notices it right away. He’s a good
mushroom collector and his basket will be full. But the bad mushroom collector—he sees only
poisonous mushrooms, even when he actually notices a huge good one! And in his basket there’s
nothing to look at. The good mushroom collector saw the poisonous ones—he saw, but he paid them no
attention, they did not catch his eye. And then he will talk about and remember the good ones, his soul
—will glow.
So it is with sin. A person sees only sin and sinners around him, his attention is directed at this.
One way or another he will allow what he sees to pass into his mind, and he becomes a participant in
the sin. But pay no attention to all this lawlessness, burn your own faults into ashes, do battle with them
and be displeased with them—and there is no defilement. There is your desert. But, the first time you
notice—you’re displeased, the second time—you already show an interest in what those people are
doing. But the third time—you already want to try it! That’s the way it is, and that’s why it says to flee
to the desert. But on the other hand, you should understand this literally also, since antichrist will not
be allowed to gain full and absolute control over us, and I saw in the West those hidden from his horned
servants—the Lord will not permit it. Of course, whoever wants salvation, and for its sake abandons
the comfort and convenience of the city and goes off to a deserted place, will be very safe. But people
will comfort themselves with the possibility of salvation everywhere until the Second Coming. Soon
they will assign everyone a number, in order to give antichrist an account, and then they will introduce
special card-passports—and here it is serious—it will be possible to determine the position of every
person. Can one avoid all of this? Yes, only you can’t trade, or buy, or obtain housing, etc. And people
will go to get these numbers and passports, even those who consider themselves to be Orthodox, and
they will stand in line for them. And what, do Holy Scripture and Tradition speak of anything else?!
There is your desert. The people trusted in God, and they received food from angels, or they were
satisfied with so little that today many people consider it to be a fairy tale—contrary to reason!

O that reason! One cuts bread with a knife, while another uses it to deprive a person of his life.
But reason, reason, it’s a cunning thing. There is no sort of baseness or filthiness that reason cannot
justify, cannot find an excuse why it was impossible to do otherwise. It will justify both personal
numbers and passports and…666! They will practically be putting numbers on lifeless bodies. And they
will not bring people to a state of insensitivity, no, absolutely not. Everyone will understand, but reason
will find a justification for it, it must find it, but a person, already inwardly prepared for betrayal, will
comfort himself with arguments of reason. ‘It is hard on me, a hundred-year-old man,’ it will say, but
there will be such preparation and such readiness that, believe me, there will be no talk about lofty
topics. How can you say, love your Lord! They will betray themselves, their wife and children their
own flesh. The Apostle of Love rebuked those who trusted in their own love for God but hated their
neighbor, saying: ’for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God, Whom he
has not seen.’ (I John 4:20) And here, by ‘neighbor’ we mean not blood relatives, as much as those
people who are near us. But the traitor of the last days is the traitor of his own relatives, ready to gobble
up and destroy everything for the sake of a moment of earthly life, not wanting to come to his senses
and understand that, first of all, he is betraying himself, and not into the hands of worldly despots, but
into eternal torment in the nether regions. He betrays—and he hands over. He is born, and baptized, and
for the time being he is in God’s hands. But he has a free will and an understanding of what is good,
and what is evil, and he consciously hands himself over, and goes from being a son of Love to a slave
to evil! How horrible it is there!
Just think, my dear holy father, the Mother of God was afraid of the passage, just the passage(!)
from earthly life to eternal life because of the possible (for Her it was possible, for us it is compulsory!)
meeting with the servants of darkness! But people are rejecting Thee, o God, handing themselves over
to Thy enemy for all eternity!!!”
The Elder settled back on the pillow and became silent. From his closed eyes flowed large
teardrops—one, two, three… His lips silently whispered words of prayer.
“Do you think,” he continued in a few minutes, ”that it was so simple for the wonderworker of
Sarov, who had been translated to the mansions of Paradise, to be ready himself to go to hell just so that
others might be saved?! No, that is the highest level of love, the uniting of perfections, or if you will,
the vision of God and the knowledge of God. God gave His own Son as a Sacrifice for our sins, for the
sins of all mankind. The Apostle Paul offered himself as a sacrifice for the Jewish people; St. Seraphim
offered himself for the Christians from among the nations. They and thousands of others who traveled
the path of acquiring perfection, the path of imitating God, were ready to sacrifice themselves for the
sake of the lost sheep. They did not just read, but they understood that ‘God so loved the world, that He
gave His Only-begotten Son.’ (John 3:16)”
“Fr. Anthony,” I asked, “will there be a war?”
The Elder smiled sorrowfully: ”O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?!
Remember something like that, batushka? And where am I leading the conversation, Fr. Alexander?
Yes, war has been going on since the creation of the world, and it will last until the Second Coming of
Christ the Redeemer! There will be—but the war will not be waged by people, if that is important, and
more precisely, it will be a result and not a cause. The cause is in spirituality, in the striving of the
spirit. Look at Constantinople, in the siege by the pagans, our forefathers the Slavs. Among the
besieged people, with all their sinfulness, there was preserved the realization, the understanding,
whatever you want to call it, that their sins were the cause of all their misfortunes. God is with us, as
long as we are with Him. The Greeks turned away from sin, they fasted, they prayed, and the Lord
performed such a miracle. When the clothing of the Mother of God was dipped in the sea, a storm arose
and the ships of the pagans were capsized. How wondrous are the works of the Lord. This is confirmed
by the fact that after this miracle the greater part of the Slavs received Baptism. There is your war.
Everyone must wage this war with his own sins. And the successes in earthly life will depend on the
success of that battle on the spiritual front.
The last times. As soon as the Evangelist begins to speak about them, immediately there
vanishes, I would say, a certain meticulousness of the narration. Look how the Scriptures are full of
little details, such exactness of expression so that it is understandable people wrote them who were
guided by the Holy Spirit. It is much different when they talk about the times before the Second
Coming of Christ. What do the Evangelists write about?—they speak about the spiritual
impoverishment of the people. This impoverishment is still difficult to name, this is kind of a
demonization of mankind. For they, the fallen spirits, are the carriers of all the passions: pride,
drunkenness, fornication, greed, love of power, and atheism—and as a result of these: earthly disasters,
earthquakes, horrible appearances in the sky, unprecedented sicknesses, wars, etc. It is namely the
elimination of spirituality that leads to the destruction of everything earthly. The Saviour Himself said
that no one but the Father knows the day and the hour of the end of time; you must be watchful, so as
not to be caught unaware, like the bad householder with the coming of the thief. There are not even any
hints in Scripture of a number, or an allotted period of time, so that one could count.
But man always tries to penetrate the ways of the Lord. There have been so many attempts—but
all fruitless! The coming of the end will be unexpected. And here arises what seems to be a
contradiction—the Gospel has been preached to all creatures, and we know that this is one of the signs
of the end of the world, but the sound of the Archangel’s trumpet—will be unexpected. But there’s
nothing here to be amazed at, and there’s no contradiction here. The Jews waited thousands of years for
the coming of the Messiah into the world, as they learned in the Testament, in the prophecies; and the
Saviour came—and there was not found a place in the inn for the God-child!
Later, they are the first to hear the Holy Gospel from the mouth of God Himself, and what—
there would be ‘Hosanna,’ but within a few days, ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’ This Gospel was not
convenient for them; it disturbed their peace, their normal way of life. The teaching of man, the
teaching of their elders was simpler and more understandable, and they followed that. According to it
they now continue to await the coming of the messiah as the king of kings, who will make the Jewish
people rulers over all of mankind. They will get him. They will get the antichrist.
Likewise, now, everyone listens to the words of the Gospel, or more precisely, they hear them.
But they don’t listen. They do not listen to the teachings of the Church, the Ark of salvation in the last
times, but they will seek after the teachings of man, they will reject the truth, but will revel in myths, as
the Apostle warned. It will be unpleasant for them; it will disturb their way of life, founded on the
gratification of the passions. But the Church, which has given them the Holy Writ, they will mindlessly
revile and abuse. And the sins of unworthy clergymen they will attribute to vices of the Church. It
disturbs them. For the Church is a vessel filled with the Holy Spirit, but It—is a Denouncing Spirit! It
denounces the world to the world. Not that world created by God, the world primordially pure in nature
and spirit, but a world carried away by sin. A world warped by lust, a dying world trying to make as
many people as possible participants in its destruction, resulting in the destruction of their souls.
Just as a whirlpool, after the destruction of a ship, grabs everything small in its terrible embrace,
so also now the destruction of the world, as the realm of the evil spirits of the air, will drag many, many
lives to destruction. The difference here is an essential difference—these lives were already given over
to sin and its father, the devil. I have not seen a person, having the desire to be saved and going on this
path, the path of salvation, who has not been granted, as much as possible, that quiet harbor. But there
is only one harbor—Christ! As the Apostle said, to him life was Christ and death—Christ. That is it—
the quiet harbor. Burdens and sufferings are for the person whose earthly life is the core of his
existence. It is surely a clear illustration of what does not exist, but if it does exist, it is only very
briefly. It seems I was talking about death. It’s not worth repeating, but still—that’s what exists! Out of
everything earthly, it is the greatest reality!
And again there is the question: how is it that the Lord God, the Existing One, Jehovah,
determines that death is the greatest reality in the created world, i.e. non existence. Death is the
rejection of the Existing One, the rejection of Divine Providence; death is not existing. The Lord did
not create death; it is not possible that Life created death, that Love gave birth to evil. Death is in the
non acceptance of life, in the actions opposing
Love, for God is Love, as the Apostle said. That is why there is death, and hell with its
everlasting torments, and evil—this is not a natural phenomenon, i.e. it is not something proper to the
world created by God. Otherwise one would have to say that the Creator—He is the Creator of good,
and evil. No, evil is the antivalue of love, the opposite of it. Hell—antiparadise, its antipode, and
correspondingly, death—antilife, that is, action against life! What is ‘Satan’? The opposer! So any
opposition to the Divine order is Satanism, and correspondingly, death and torment, for grace and life
are only in God.
The final enticer of human souls to destruction does not have his own name, for such evil it is
simply not possible. Therefore he—antichrist, anti Christ, the opposer of Christ—all of his actions, on
one hand, are aimed at imitating Christ. First of all, the people will be enticed to him voluntarily, not by
force, although the ‘anti’ will be present there. On the other hand, his actions will be in complete
opposition to the way of Christ. The way of Christ on earth is the way of the cross, but it is sweet and
rewarding in heaven, in the dwellings of the King of Glory. The stinking way of antichrist is not even
sweet on earth, and its end—is in hell! This says it all, but everyone will choose what he wants. But
many will want to be enticed by the deception of his false miracles. It is not antichrist, but the people
themselves who agreed to accept on themselves the mark of Satan, the mark of opposition to God, who
will expose those who do not accept it, and send them to torments. The first Christians accepted
torment in view of everyone, at gatherings of people. The sufferings of the confessors of the last times
will be terrible. They will have to endure their torments in secret. People will torture them who have
been taught by evil spirits.
One more evil committed by the directors of television—accustoming people to the appearance
of demons! This training is already in progress, monsters are looking at people from all directions. Now
they are calling them aliens from another planet, but they are demons. Time will pass and they will be
appearing openly to people, being in service to antichrist and his lackeys. Then it will be very difficult
to fight against them!

And during all this time there will be a famine. The famine will be twofold—both a famine of
food, and most importantly, a spiritual famine. There will be several bad harvest years, droughts, and
all of this will lead to a terrible famine. But this is not the fundamental cause—people have become
accustomed to consuming considerably more food than is required for sustaining life, much, much
more. A few lentils and the moisture from dew were enough for St. Mary of Egypt to live, and endure
the cold of the desert. St. Seraphim, the wonder-worker of Sarov, was nourished by sneet, an herb, and
everyday he was occupied with heavy, physical labor. They were nourished by Grace. And were they
the only ones?! In rejecting the corruptible, they were united with Life, and even their bodies remained
incorruptible, contrary to the law of death, introduced into nature by sin. With people of the last days,
the opposite will take place; one of their idols will be—food. They will eat not when the need is felt,
but because it is there, it is there. Does the contemporary person in general know the real feeling of
hunger? Why else would he have so many seasonings, spices, and recipes for preparing foods? Surely
their purpose is to stimulate the desire to eat what has been prepared. For someone who really needs
food for maintaining his strength, a piece of bread and a swallow of plain water is completely
sufficient.
And strong drinks which dull the feeling of satiety? All this is a repetition of pagan orgies. But
we forget that, by being subject to death, we are betrothed to it and become its hostages. Right now the
fattening up of mankind is taking place, precisely the fattening up. Just as the farmer fattens up the
livestock or the bird for death, for slaughter, so also mankind is being prepared for death, mainly,
spiritual. The only difference is that the animal does not have a free will and reasoning, but man is
destroying the natural limits by choosing to do those things which transgress them. Man has a free will
and reasoning; no one can force him, and everything happens voluntarily. Here is Life, and here—
death. Here is the Church—the Truth, for it is the Body of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and here
—the feast of death, the all-evil laws and temptations of the world. Each person will voluntarily choose
between them.
Many will remember the present days at the Last Judgment with terrible bitterness and
repentance, because they did not use them for acquiring the Holy Spirit. They did not hearken to the
calls of the Church to drink from the rivers of living water, of Divine Grace. They did not want to
acquire the habit of fasting and prayer, good deeds and spiritual activity. They sought death, and death
they received. That’s why it is said: ‘No man living shall be justified.’ But it will not be a trial
according to human understanding—with a prosecutor and a defense, with the last word given to the
accused. The works and thoughts of man himself will either condemn or justify him. Whatever a person
has chosen in this vale of sorrow and wandering, whatever he sought after and desired, that he will
receive. Whoever has chosen Life—will receive eternal life and blessedness; but to whomever death is
sweeter—hell with its eternal torments. And as the Holy Fathers teach, the chief torment will be not a
frying pan, but the absence of God! Now, whether we want it or not, we are supported by the action of
His Providence, and one way or the other, we are filled with His Grace, even if through the Word
spoken at the creation of the world to the plants and animals, to man himself and to the world itself.
Without Divine Providence the world could not exist for an instant. The last times are the last times
because the actions of mankind, captivated by the mirages of the devil, will be directed at rejecting the
Divine Providence for the world. And here it becomes understandable how important it is to acquire the
Holy Spirit now, for only in this is the pledge of salvation. Scripture precisely names the length of the
reign of antichrist—three and a half years. It appears that these three years will be enough so that
hardly one believing soul will remain, the battle will be so terrible, and people will be so poorly
prepared for it. We are not watchful, we are weak, everything is put off until later. Later—fasting, later
—prayer, later—zeal for receiving the Holy Mysteries, later—humility, later—good deeds. But on the
other hand, food, yes and a lot of it—right now, a house—this minute, a car—very much desired. But
the world is crashing down and this illusion of dust will disappear and be proven to be poor as a church
mouse.

Antichrist will come as a redeemer from socialist disasters, although it was namely for this that
they were introduced. This offspring of hell will have immeasurable power and authority. The people
preparing for his arrival already now hold in their hands the principle riches of the earth. The mirage of
today’s prosperity will go faster than spring waters. Let’s recall one of the trial runs conducted with
people in the Soviet Union—one day and everything was gone. Whoever trusted the banks became
impoverished. They saved up for years, one at the expense of his life, another at the expense of his
health; it seemed to be their whole life. But it turned out to be a mirage.
Now it will be worse, the whole world will be under attack. Everything will be carried out
through the government, and therefore one must have as little contact with it as possible. No banking or
credit accounts; all this will be controlled by one hand and one head. At closer inspection it turns out
that the hand is not a hand, but a sharp-clawed paw, and the head is not just a head, but it has horns.
Instead of a face it has the snout of a wild animal, with horrible bared teeth. That is why they are now
getting everyone accustomed to banks—for wages, go to the bank, for the pension—to the bank. Soon
they will drive everyone together into one stall. It will be a great surprise for people when it turns out
that the last penny in their purse has vanished, as it is already happening in the West.
Unfortunately, this will not be the last surprise. That whole framework of well-being,
constructed by contemporary man will turn out to be a steel trap for himself. But not just a trap… in a
trap there’s a spring, and if you press it—he’s free. Even trapped animals manage to do it sometimes.
This will not be like that. And a demon will urge people with little or no faith to take their own lives. It
is horrible how they will perform funerals for them and place them in the ground—(the priest) writes
that at the moment of suicide the person was out of his mind, so it’s alright to do it. What kind of
judgment will there be of such a one, when any sort of service for forgiveness or punishment can be
performed on earth?! This is something like Catholic indulgences—he paid for it, so he’s forgiven. And
then for another it seems less frightening—‘For the previous one they sang: “With the saints give rest,”
and he was forgiven. What’s stopping me?!’ Many, many people will go to hell accompanied by such
singing, ending their life by suicide depriving themselves of the slightest chance to struggle for eternal
life, for life in Life. I saw a row of graves. On earth the people weep and mourn, and they sing for their
repose, but around them the demons dance, satisfied—they destroyed as many souls as they could!
And the living will envy the dead. Yes, the horror of sickness and war, the death of dear ones;
one must have great faith and trust in God in order to endure all of this. How will the proud or the
greedy person endure humiliation? Only yesterday he himself cried out: ‘If you’re so smart, why aren’t
you rich?’ Only yesterday his self-satisfaction was overflowing, but today—he’s nobody. But he’ll go
for everything, the codes, the ‘666’, and he’ll sign an agreement with Satan in blood. But for him that
isn’t even necessary! He will be pulled up, and he’ll hop about, and there he’ll look, and there’s a noose
around his neck—he’s ours! Bearing humiliation with humility during the days of imagined prosperity
will be the bridge leading through the three and a half years of the reign of antichrist. Against whom
will be aimed the entire sting of the enemy’s temptations?—against believers. Not having been able to
tempt them with comfort and gold, with fine foods and cars, as we are experiencing now, under the
threat of death by hunger, he will tempt them with a piece of bread. Difficult, it will be oh so difficult to
preserve your soul when your dear ones, your children haven’t tasted of food for so long. Only one who
believes in God, and believes God, will manage to refrain from the irreversible. Will antichrist give
anything to the people? Of course not, there will be nothing for him to give! What will he have besides
the riches he gathered, but those riches were valued in that world which was organized by the devil;
now he himself has destroyed it for the sake of facilitating the reign of the false messiah! These
notorious dollars will be worthless. Gold will obtain its true value—nothing, like metal—useless. You
can’t eat it and it won’t protect you from the cold. Only things that are functional will have worth,
things that a person cannot live without—axes, saws, any instrument, and cast iron stoves.”
The Elder closed his eyes, and again tears rolled down his face. It seemed that he was sleeping,
but his lips as usual were moving in prayer. I didn’t know what to do: it would be a sin to interrupt the
prayer, but on his face was clearly the weariness of a righteous person.
“Batushka,” I began hesitantly, “perhaps it would be better for me to come tomorrow?”
“My dear Fr. Alexander, do you know what will happen the next second, much less the next
day?! Ach, youth, youth, scheduling everything, deciding everything now. Less of your own, less
vanity, but listen more to God. Ask not for the fulfillment of your own desires, but for the revealing of
His Holy will. And you won’t come tomorrow and there’s no need to try. It is better for you to come in
two days, but don’t put it off any longer. God be with you, Father!”
Only when I stepped out onto the street did I realize that the day was almost gone. And like in
one second! Only the good-bye wasn’t in the same tone as the rest of the meeting—why couldn’t we
meet tomorrow? The Elder is probably tired, I thought. What a surprise it was when I returned home
and learned that the bishop was arriving the next day. In general the matter was ordinary, but what a
coincidence!
How to be Saved.
The assignment of Vladika required me to leave the city. I was not able to leave until the second
day, and then I went to Vladika to give an account of the affair. In short, by the third day I did not feel
like sitting behind the wheel and driving somewhere, even to Fr. Anthony. I was even thinking of
excuses in justifying myself before him, but I couldn’t get the words out of my head: “Don’t put it off
any longer!” Okay, I’ll go.
The woman who met me was obviously anxious about something. To my silent question with
my eyes she answered: “Batushka has fallen ill, but he’s waiting for you.” O Lord, and how could I
have doubted—to go or not to go!
The Elder was barely able to raise himself up a little. However his face was amazingly peaceful
and pleasant
“Listen, holy father, to what I will say. Without fail you will write something about me, a sinner.
That is why I am having this conversation with you. This will happen either now or later; change the
name and not a word about the place of my burial. I have already given orders where to dig the grave.
“Batushka, isn’t it a little early to talk about that…”
“Fr. Alexander, don’t waste time to no purpose. I haven’t much time left. Listen and remember,
maybe something will be helpful for salvation.
The arrival of antichrist is at the door.—there is chaos in the life of almost all nations. They
will flourish who are in power in the main religions, who await a false messiah. Mainly, this is the
Jews and the Moslems. After them are the protestants, who, rejecting the divinity of our Lord Jesus
Christ, preach a kingdom of God on earth. The strengthening of their influence is already visible
now, later it will be trivial. The main thing for them now—is to rule the world. Everything will
secretly be bought up—the forests, the fields, and the rivers. Siberia will fall to the Chinese, and
maybe they’ll tear away more.”
 “So, then, where is the best place to be saved?” I interrupted the Elder.
“Wherever the Lord will indicate. What is important—is to be saved, but not to have
conversations about salvation. The essence of the ‘miracles’ of antichrist will be in their seductiveness.
That is, these false miracles will be attractive, bewitching. Therefore to even look at them is a sin, and
mortally dangerous. You must hide and cover your eyes. But that’s not all. The point of his coming is
absolute justice. The Saviour came not in His Own Name, but in the Name of the Father—and they did
not accept Him, but even crucified Him. And even now they revile Him and crucify Him, denying His
Divinity and distorting His teaching. This other one will come—as God, not God, but as God, and him
they will accept, and they will acknowledge as God because of his false miracles, his deceptive actions.
That is, because they will be pleasing and attractive to people. That is why it is said that no man living
will be justified—for this there will be no justification. Now it seems like the verbosity of a pseudo-
teacher. Then, when their actions and words are compared to the truth, all of their falsity will be
evident.
But they will accept antichrist in every church on earth, and they will worship him as God.
Think of it, honorable father, he will not present himself as God, but with his false miracles he will get
them to worship him as God! That is what is so horrible. That is why there is not the tiniest cause for
justification! And who will be the ones who receive him?—people for whom the Gospel now ends with
the Mystical Supper. Concerning Golgotha they are deaf. The sufferings on the Cross—they were for
Him, that was all there—in Jerusalem, 2000 years ago.
You know, when the Cheka rounded us up, we were like sheep, I don’t want to say lambs so as
not to compare us to the Saviour. We quietly went to the slaughter; it was simply difficult to imagine
that such lawlessness was possible. But if we had known who they were. How much the elders had
prophesied about those times, about the authority of the servants of darkness. But we sat and waited—
who’s next? Many people fell into those snares of flattery. How great and brilliant were Archbishop
Hilarion, my teacher, and Metropolitan Sergei, and many others, but they were mistaken in thinking
that you can converse with demons and their servants. They thought that by preserving the externals,
the contents would automatically remain. Ah, no, but this only became evident much later. It is the
same thing now, but it will increase in time.”
 “Forgive me, Fr. Anthony, but what about the words of the Apostle concerning the authorities,
and being in subjection to them?”—again I interrupted him.
“Eeekh, my dear,” the Elder wheezed, “But didn’t the Apostle Peter flee from Rome, When the
Saviour met him? And the same Apostle Paul, didn’t they save him by lowering him down the wall in a
basket? Isn’t this the acceptance of reality and opposition to Satanism? To give you examples—take the
Great-martyr Catherine, or the Great-martyr George. Subjection is possible only in matters of worldly
authority—fulfill your duties, but don’t create an armed rebellion.The Maccabeen brothers are a good
example of the use of force against those who offend God and what is God’s. Go the path of blind
humility and you will start raising questions about the glorification of Alexander Nevsky the victorious,
or Dimitry, who conquered the impious Tatars on the field of Kulikova. Questions and more questions,
but—the Lord glorified them! When I hear such questions about ‘blessedness’ [a lower rank of
sanctity], I remember the life of St. Basil the Great and St. Job, the Wonder-worker of Pochaev. What
horrible times the Lord gave them to live in, but didn’t St. Basil pray for the death of Emperor Julian?!
Yes, I see that you want to say that Julian was an apostate, but he also was the emperor, and the lawful
emperor, mind you! Do not our prayers for the satanic ‘authorities’ stem from our desire to be
comfortable?! And you see, the Lord confirmed the correctness of St.
Basil’s action—Julian was killed not by an earthly weapon, but he was pierced by a spear of a
heavenly warrior. And St. Job, did he enter into discussions with the Poles? No, he fought with them
and their lackeys in every way. The righteous man did not even avoid courts of law! And you—
authorities!
The work of God must be done with intelligence. If in the relations with the authorities, between
the head and the subordinate, there was only the absolute power of the one, and the profound humility
of the other, there would be no need of the Catholicity (Sobornost) of the Church. But if there were no
Catholicity, the Church would no longer be Orthodox—how many times the guardians of the truth
turned out to be alone, while the higher Church authorities–were heretics?! But why speak of worldly
authorities—Metropolitan Phillip and Patriarch Nikon are shining examples. And these righteous men
were glorified with the saints: St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Maximus the
Confessor, St. Joseph of Volotsk, just to name some. But here one must remember that the Holy
Fathers, while fighting for the purity of the faith, were themselves zealous in fulfilling the
commandments of God.
Humble (blind) subjection to any authority is convenient for someone who does not want to live
according to the Word. For on the path of confessing the faith, even if it is somewhere lined with roses,
after ‘Hosanna’, they will invariably cry out, ‘Crucify him, crucify him.’ This discomfort will be a
cause for self-justification and acceptance of antichrist—the knowledge is there, but the reasoning is
wiped away by sins. He will say that every authority is from God, we will submit to antichrist, what
else can we do? And he will also add—God’s will is in everything. Therefore it is said that the impious
one will sit in every church; there will no mention of who conducted the services before. Remember the
example of the great elder, the wonder-worker of Sarov, how many icons he had—one, and books—
tens of them, and he attained great glory, and not from people but from God. Now, everyone has
iconostases in their homes and shelves full of books, but they do not occupy themselves intelligently!
Everyone listens, but hardly anyone pays attention, father.”
“Yes,” I thought, “I’m also guilty; what joy my library of 1500 books gives me!”
“Again I say to you, now you need to be working for your salvation, not talking about it, then
will be too late. Time to justify oneself has passed, if it ever existed. Only salvation—everything must
be subordinate to it. The Lord has granted a peaceful time for acquiring understanding, and for hearing
the word of God, and most importantly, for the possibility of acquiring Divine Grace before those
terrible years. One person will use this for good, while another for indulging his passions. The former
will find what he seeks, while the latter will squander what he has! As it is said, to him who has will be
added, but from him who has not—it will be taken away. Be watchful!”