The Prophet Obadiah and the Day of the Lord

By Dr. Athanasios Moustakis

On November 19, the Prophet Obadiah is celebrated in the Orthodox Church. His vision has been recorded in and is the smallest book of the Old Testament. The name Obadiah probably means "servant of God" and apparently was quite common in the Old Testament, since within the pages of its books it appears a total of thirteen people carry it.

In this little book we find a characteristic prophetic expression, the expression "Day of the Lord", which also appears in the books of the prophets Joel (1:15, 2:1, 4:14), Zephaniah (1:14), Malachi (3:19), Isaiah (13:9), Jeremiah (32:33) and Ezekiel (7:10, 13:5). It does not appear in any other books of the Old Testament except in the prophetic ones we have noted, and refers to the day when the will of God will prevail in our world, restoring injustice, eradicating evil, and presenting to all the glorious name of God.

Vaccines and the Antichrist

By Metropolitan Nektarios of Kerkyra

We are not entitled to take responsibility for what does not belong to us. It is inconceivable to read how there are spiritual fathers who threaten with a penance to abstain from Holy Communion those who are vaccinated! Our spiritual authority is to "bind and loose" sins and not to deal with medical issues and to make our personal positions and views positions and views of God and the Church.

It is a delusion to shift the events of the times to an eschatological level and take risks by scaring people that the end of the world is near.

It is a delusion to think that those who have been vaccinated have become followers of the Antichrist.

It is a delusion to believe that the freedom of our will is abolished with the vaccine. This freedom is an element of the image of God given to us by the Holy Spirit.

Was a Portion of the Book of Revelation Written on the Greek island of Kythera?

On an imposing mountain above Kapsali, the port of Chora on the island of Kythera, is perched the Church of Saint John on the Cliff. At an altitude of about 100 meters above sea level, and after climbing 130 steps into a beautiful pine forest, the visitor is in front of a cave, in which is a small church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.

Above the arched entrance is the guest house, with two rooms and a kitchen, originally built 500 years ago. Approximately 5-6 monks once lived at this skete in a couple of small cells nearby.

There are also ceramic basins for collecting water which was used for holy water and from which the faithful drank to cure their diseases. On the iconostasis there is the old icon of Saint John the Baptist which is the work of the great Cretan painter Angelos Akotantos of the 15th century which was offered by the Cretan Peter Kastrophylakas. Also on the iconostasis there is the icon of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist on which there is painted the coat of arms of the Kaloutsis family and the words: "Prayer of the servant of God George Kaloutsis". At the entrance there is a built-in marble plaque on which is written the name of the monk Ioannikios Saninos, who renovated the shrine in 1725. Around the church there are renovated buildings where monks could be accommodated.  

Saint Paisios the Athonite and the Prepper

 

 By Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol

(Excerpt from a recorded lecture.)

We will all hear what Christ our God said to the rich man:

"Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have prepared?"

This reminds me of some of our brethren, who live with visions of wars and disasters, and they ask about them and they want to learn - and now they even go on the internet to see - if there will be a war!

Why do they need to know if there will be a war?

Orthodox Christians and Chresmology

 By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Ever since I became a Clergyman, fifty years ago (in 1971), and came into contact with various Christians, one of the issues I was dealing with was chresmology, which means the formulation of an oracle, a prophesy, a future event, which is given by various chresmologists.

Chresmology was systematically practiced by the Millennialists (Jehovah's Witnesses), who set various dates according to which the world would be destroyed, humanity would be unified by a single Government, and so on. And of course they were constantly shown to be deceived.

What Orthodox Christians Should Have Engraved on Their Gravestones

By Demetrios Panagopoulos (1916-1982),
Preacher

Give instruction that on your grave is written: "I await the Resurrection of the dead" (Προσδοκώ Ανάσταση νεκρών), not the other fairy-tales and verses of some sort that are often written there which contain no thought in regards to faith and no thought of the Resurrection. Everything takes place for this Resurrection. The Resurrection is what gives us comfort. There is so much sorrow in the world, so many tears and so much wickedness, that if there was no Resurrection, there would be no reason, not even for a second, for people to live here.

 

Translation by John Sanidopoulos.

 

George Orwell's "COVID -1984"

"Everything other than working was forbidden: walking in the streets, having fun, singing, dancing, getting together, everything was forbidden."

- George Orwell, "1984"

The Truth Behind the Alleged "Prophetic Vision of Saint John of Kronstadt"

By John Sanidopoulos

Multiple Orthodox Christian websites have in circulation a text often known as the "Prophetic Vision of Saint John of Kronstadt", allegedly written by Saint John of Kronstadt himself, concerning a vision he saw in January of 1901 that deals with specific apocalyptic events of the future, often with amazing details, revealed to him by Saint Seraphim of Sarov. Despite the confidence this alleged prophecy has in detailing future events, certain details have clearly proven to be false, but this does not stop anyone from continuing to circulate this false prophecy.

On the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ (St. Ephraim the Syrian)

 

 

On the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ

By St. Ephraim the Syrian

1. Attend and come, ye sons of light, and hearken to that blessed voice of our Savior, who says to us: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom of the heavens" (Mt 25:34). Look, my brethren: let none of you be deprived of this blessed inheritance. For, behold, he is at the gates. Light from Light has come down to us and has illumined us and brought us up toward the Light. He has come down to us by becoming as we are, that we might be made like him. The Immortal descended to mortals and, making them immortal, ascended again to the Father. Now he comes with the glory of the blessed Father to judge the living and the dead. He has become a Way for us, full of light and glory, that we might walk in light towards the Father.

Notes on the Apocalypse of John (Third Teaching of Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol)

 

Below are summary notes I took while listening to the lecture below of Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol. This is the third of 20 video lectures on the Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse.

First Chapter (cont.)

- In verse 9, John identifies himself as one who follows the same path as the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where his authority comes from. The Apostles were not rich and powerful men who sat back and directed and ruled the Church, but they suffered very much for the Church and with the Church in the same way Christ did. This is further illustrated by the fact that he says he was at the time of the writing of this book on the island of Patmos in exile for his testimony of Christ. Patmos was not the beautiful and touristy island it is today where people go for a vacation, but at that time it was a dry and difficult place to survive in. Despite his "tribulations", however, he was patient in the Lord and hoped in the future kingdom where Christ eternally reigns.

Saint Timothy of Kakhushta and the Delusional Apocalyptic Preacher

 

 

The following events took place in early-ninth century Syria, and are recorded in the biography of Saint Timothy of Kakhushta the Stylite, who is commemorated on January 4th.

There was once a wandering solitary whom the devil envied. Since he was untried and knew not the devil's attacks, the enemy came to him in the form of Christ, accompanied by hosts of angels and magnificent light. To him he said: "Know that you have won my favor in this world and have pleased me much. You have comforted me with your manner of living and have thus merited that I reveal to you now my secrets and that I come down from the heights of my holiness to inform you that in eighty days the whole world will pass away and be brought to an end. As for you, enter the city, the towns, and the villages. Proclaim among the people, preach, and inform them what you have been commanded."