Some comments on the teaching about the Antichrist by professor of theology Viktor Mikhailovich Chernyshev.
Before we begin to consider this topic, which today causes fierce debate and gives rise to all sorts of speculation, we should point out the signs of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, since His coming to earth will precede, according to Scripture, the reign of the Antichrist by three and a half years.
What are these signs?
The first sign is the universal spread of the Gospel: “The gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). The second sign is the appearance of false Christs: “Many will come in My name and say, I am the Christ” (Matthew 24:5). “And many false prophets will arise and deceive many” (Matthew 24:11). The third sign is a deep decline in morality: “Because lawlessness increases, the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). The fourth sign is destructive wars: “You will also hear about wars and rumors of war, for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:6,7). The fifth sign is natural disasters: “There will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes in places” (Matthew 24:7). “The sea will roar and be troubled” (Luke 21:25). But, as was said above, before the Coming of the Lord, the Antichrist, whom the devil puts forward as his special instrument of evil, will first have to come to judge the nations.
Division between God and humanity
Sin causes division between God and humanity. When sin is put aside, then we will be united with God. The spirit of Antichrist allows the sins that separate us from God to live, covering them with tolerance, love and freedom. The Word of God clearly states what is right and wrong, what is sin and what is purity. But when enough people live in sin, such as fornication, then it is no longer considered a sin in the world. God's laws are violated, and the laws of society, and eventually even the laws of the land, are changed to accommodate this changed view of what is right and wrong.
Impurity and sin are rampant and humanity is moving further and further away from God, and this is precisely Satan's goal. Most of the world is under the influence of this spirit because it makes it possible to live comfortably without feeling remorse. Previously, all this was covered by religion, under the guise of forgiveness of sins, without victory over it. But in the times we live now, humanism plays this role. Society is becoming more and more independent, and prefers to lead itself rather than submit to the leadership of a “Higher Power.”
Who is this?
In Greek, the word "anti" can have two meanings: "against" and "instead of." In relation to the Antichrist, both meanings are valid, since the Antichrist will be both an opponent of Christ, destroying Christianity in every possible way, and one who will try to take his place. In a broad sense, the character of Antichrist should be understood as anyone who denies the divine-manhood and sonship of Jesus Christ (1 John 2:22).
The Apostle Paul calls the Antichrist “the man of sin and the son of destruction” (2 Thess. 2:3). Moreover, his coming, according to the work of Satan, will be with all “power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9). The name of the Antichrist is unknown, but his number is known - 666, or rather the numerical equivalent of his name. We do not know what these three sixes mean, although there has been enough speculation on this topic not only among sectarians regarding the “decoding” of these sixes (for example, among Adventists), but also in the near-Orthodox environment, where booklets and leaflets with enviable regularity appear with the next “revelations” about them. People are persistently trying to decipher this number. Unfortunately, this is accompanied by inadequate actions, excitement in society, calls for “leaving the world” (by analogy with the Penza Zakopane residents), refusal of identification numbers, cell phones, computers, and a decisive fight against the Freemasons (if only I knew where to look for them! ) and so on.
The New Testament says the following about the Antichrist:
1. He will come in his own name: “...he who exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped” (2 Thess. 2:4), “...he will come in his own name” (John 5:43), that is, he will fight against all religions, for its characteristic feature will be blasphemy (Rev. 13:5,6).
2. He will pretend to be God: “He will sit in the temple of God as God, showing himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:4).
3. He will have false prophets who will “show great signs and wonders” (Matt. 24:24).
4. Satan will have religious power combined with political power - a kind of satanocracy: it will be “...over every tribe and people and tongue and nation” (Rev. 13:7).
5. His reign will last 3.5 years (Rev. 13:5) - or 42 months, or more precisely 1260 days (Rev. 12:6). This period is equal to the duration of Christ's public ministry on earth.
6. All who do not accept his authority will be exterminated: “...we kill everyone who does not worship the image of the beast” (Rev. 13:15).
7. The Church will be forced to “hide in the wilderness” (Rev. 12:1-6). But “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), and the Eucharist will not end until the Second Coming (1 Cor. 11:26).
8. Individual saints will be allowed to overcome this satanic power: “And it is given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Rev. 13:7).
Jesus Christ Himself will crush the forces of evil completely and irrevocably; He will defeat the Antichrist “...with the breath of His mouth and destroy him with the appearance of His Coming” (2 Thess. 2:8). After all these events, the Judgment of Christ will begin.
Let us quote some famous holy fathers, both ancient and 19th century, about the Antichrist in order to give a patristic interpretation of this phenomenon.
How can God allow the coming of universal evil?
Christians often ask a very obvious question - if the Lord is Love, then how can He allow such a huge evil to invade humanity, which will lead to the death of many?
The Antichrist will come at the end of time to compete with Christ for the eternal fate of human souls
John Chrysostom answers this question in detail: based on the words of the Apostle Paul (2 Thess. 2:10-12), the Antichrist will come to condemn all who have chosen the path of unrighteous life. These people would never have accepted Christ anyway and would have persecuted Him, dooming their souls to eternal torment.
Saint John Chrysostom encourages believers, saying that the Antichrist will lead to the destruction of only infidels and persecutors of Christ, and sincerely believing people, on the contrary, will be granted eternal salvation if they survive the final decisive battle with evil. This is why God allows the coming of the Antichrist into this world, so that every person makes his final choice in favor of good or evil.
Now, when people still have time to repent and correct their lives, they are in no hurry to do this. Many “believe in their souls,” many profess a large number of alternative beliefs, and some have no time to think about God at all. Before the end of the world, the world will be diametrically divided, all other worries and matters will disappear, and the only thing that matters is the choice of who a person is with.
And so those people who never followed Christ and persecuted him will follow the Antichrist. False teaching will be perceived by them as truth, since they never knew the real Truth and did not strive for it.
About the spiritual life of a Christian:
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- About Orthodoxy in the modern world
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Saints about Antichrist
The Monk Ephraim the Syrian (IV century) wrote: “The evil and formidable thief will come first, in due time, with the intention of kidnapping, slaughtering and destroying the chosen flock of the True Shepherd; they will immediately recognize the deceiver, because the voice of the evil one is not at all similar to the voice of the True Shepherd, but sarcastic: the lord’s voice is feigned and soon it becomes known what he is like...”
Saint John Chrysostom (5th century) wrote: “The Antichrist will come to human destruction in order to inflict offense on people. In fact, what won’t he do at that time! Everything will be in confusion and confusion, both through commands and through fear. He will be terrible in all respects: with his power, and harshness, and lawless commands... The Apostle calls the Antichrist a man of lawlessness, because he will commit thousands of iniquities and encourage others to commit them. And he calls him the son of destruction because he himself will perish. Who will he be? Is it really Satan? No, but there is a certain person who will receive all his (Satan’s) power. He will not lead to idolatry, but will be an opponent of God, reject all gods and order to worship himself instead of God and will sit in the temple of God, not only in Jerusalem, but in churches everywhere... He did not say that he would call himself god, but that will try to show himself as a god. He will do great things and show wonderful signs.”
The Monk Anthony the Great (IV century) announced this time as follows: “The time will come, my beloved children, when the monks will leave the deserts and flow instead to rich cities, where instead of these deserted caves and cramped cells, proud buildings will be erected that can rival the chambers kings, instead of poverty, the love of collecting wealth will increase, humility will be replaced by pride, many will be proud of knowledge, but naked, alien to good deeds corresponding to knowledge; love will grow cold; instead of abstinence, gluttony will increase, and many will care about luxurious dishes, no less than the laity themselves, from whom the monks will not differ in anything other than their attire and headdress; and, despite the fact that they will live among the world, they will call themselves solitaries.”
The Monk John of Damascus (8th century) says: “In the Church of God (he will sit) - not in ours, but in the ancient, Jewish one; for he will not come to us, but to the Jews; not for Christ, but against Christ and Christians: which is why he is called Antichrist. Therefore, the Gospel must first be preached to all nations (Matthew 24:14). “Then the wicked one will appear, which is the coming of Satan, in all power and signs and lying wonders, and in all the deceit of unrighteousness, those who perish; and him the Lord will kill with the word of His mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of His coming” (2 Thess. 2:8) . So, it is not the devil himself who becomes a man, like the incarnation of the Lord - let it not be! But a person is born from fornication and takes upon himself all the action of Satan. For God, knowing in advance the depravity of his future will, allows the devil to move into him... At the beginning of his reign, or rather, tyranny, he hides behind the guise of holiness; when he becomes victorious, he will begin to persecute the Church of God and show all his malice. He will come with false signs and wonders, imaginary and not true, and he will deceive and turn away those who have a weak and unsteady mind and turn away from God.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov (19th century) instructs: “The Antichrist will reveal himself meek, merciful, full of love, full of every virtue: they will recognize him as such, and submit to him because of his most sublime virtue, those who recognize the fallen human truth as righteousness, and have not renounced her for the truth of the Gospel.
The signs of the Antichrist will primarily appear in the airy layer: Satan dominates in this layer. ...The apostasy of the new Israel from the Savior towards the end of time will take on extensive development, and then, as a consequence and fruit of the apostasy, a man of lawlessness will be revealed, the son of perdition, who will dare to call himself the promised Messiah...
Abundant earthly prosperity and enormous earthly enterprises, as obvious to everyone, are presented by the word of God as a sign of the last times and the mature sinfulness of mankind, mostly hidden and incomprehensible with a superficial and inexperienced look at humanity. Temporal and eternal disasters befell the old Israel for rejecting the Redeemer: these disasters are a weak image of the terrible disasters that should be the punishment of the new Israel for its crime...
The Church will be brought down from the sword - from the murderous violence of temptations - and will be completely empty. The multiplying apostates, calling themselves and presenting themselves as Christians in appearance, will be all the more convenient to persecute true Christians; the multiplied apostates will surround true Christians with countless intrigues... They will act against the servants of God with the violence of power, and slander, and cunning intrigues, and various deceptions, and fierce persecutions.”
About the Antichrist the saint writes: “He will try to imitate Christ with his outward show of life. The majority of Christians, guided by... carnal wisdom, will not see the deception and recognize the Antichrist as Christ, who has come to earth for the second time... Terrible trials will come for the saints of God: the wickedness, hypocrisy, miracles of the persecutor will intensify, the desire to deceive and seduce them, subtle and thoughtful, covered with insidious ingenuity persecution and oppression, the unlimited power of the tormentor will put them in the most difficult position... Opponents of the Antichrist will be considered troublemakers, enemies of the public good and order, and will be subjected to covert and open persecution...”
Vladimir Solovyov has characteristics in The Tale of the Antichrist that coincide with the patristic thought about him almost in detail. A certain emperor became the prototype of the Antichrist.
“The Emperor, standing near the throne and extending his hand with majestic benevolence, said in a sonorous and pleasant voice: “Christians of all kinds! My beloved subjects and brothers! From the beginning of my reign, which the Most High blessed with such wonderful and glorious deeds, I have never had a reason to be dissatisfied with you; you have always performed your duty according to faith and conscience. But that's not enough for me. My sincere love for you, beloved brothers, yearns for reciprocity. I want you, not out of a sense of duty, but out of a feeling of heartfelt love, to recognize me as your true leader in every matter undertaken for the good of humanity. And so, in addition to what I do for everyone, I would like to show you special favors. Christians, how could I make you happy? What can I give you, not as my subjects, but as fellow believers, my brothers? Christians! Tell me what is most dear to you in Christianity, so that I can direct my efforts in this direction?”
And then this emperor-antichrist begins active charitable activities in relation to all Christian branches, where, in particular, he offers the Orthodox: “Dear brothers! I know that among you there are those for whom the most precious thing in Christianity is its sacred tradition, old symbols, old songs and prayers, icons and the order of worship. And really, what could be more valuable than this for a religious soul? Know, beloved, that today I signed a charter and assigned rich funds to the world museum of Christian archeology, in our glorious imperial city of Constantinople, for the purpose of collecting, studying and storing all kinds of monuments of church antiquity, mainly Eastern, and I ask you tomorrow to choose from among my commission to discuss with me the measures that should be taken in order to possibly bring modern life, morals and customs closer to the tradition and institutions of the Holy Orthodox Church! Orthodox brothers! Whoever likes this will of mine, whoever, based on his heartfelt feeling, can call me his true leader and ruler, let him come here.” And most of the hierarchs of the East and North, half of the former Old Believers and more than half of the Orthodox priests, monks and laity, with joyful shouts, ascended to the stage, looking sideways at the Catholics proudly sitting there.
The vast majority of the cathedral, including almost the entire hierarchy of East and West, was on the platform. Below there were only three close heaps of people huddled around Elder John, Pope Peter and Professor Pauli.
The emperor turned to them in a sad tone: “What else can I do for you? Strange people! What do you want from me? I don't know. Tell me yourself, you Christians, abandoned by the majority of your brothers and leaders, condemned by popular feeling: what is most dear to you in Christianity?” Here, like a white candle, Elder John rose and meekly answered: “Great sovereign! What is dearest to us in Christianity is Christ Himself, He Himself, and from Him everything, for we know that in Him dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily. But from you, sir, we are ready to accept every good thing, if only in your generous hand we recognize the holy hand of Christ. And to your question: what can you do for us, here is our direct answer: confess here now before us Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came in the flesh, rose again, and is yet to come - confess Him, and we will lovingly accept you as His true forerunner second glorious coming." He fell silent and stared into the emperor's face. Something bad was happening to it. The same hellish storm as the one he experienced on that fateful night arose inside him. He completely lost his inner balance, and all his thoughts were focused on not losing his outer self-control and not giving himself away prematurely. He made superhuman efforts not to rush at the speaker with a wild cry and start gnawing him with his teeth. Suddenly he heard a familiar, alien voice: “Be silent and don’t be afraid of anything.” He was silent. Only the emperor’s deadened and darkened face became distorted, and sparks flew out of his eyes. ... Through the open windows of the temple it was clear that a huge black cloud had arrived, and soon everything went dark. Elder John did not take his astonished and frightened eyes off the face of the silent emperor, and suddenly he recoiled in horror and, turning back, shouted in a choked voice: “Children, the Antichrist!” At this time, along with a deafening thunderclap, a huge round lightning flashed in the temple and covered the elder. Everything froze for a moment, and when the stunned Christians came to their senses, Elder John lay dead.”
Jesus Christ came in the flesh
The dominant spirit in the world is the “spirit of antichrist,” which has been at work since the time of the first church. (1 John 4 ch.) This spirit is like any other spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This spirit claims that Jesus had something that we do not have. That Jesus had divine flesh, that He did not have desires and lusts like an ordinary person, and therefore Jesus could not sin.
The spirit of Antichrist... is like any other spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
But if we believe what is written in the Word of God, Jesus had the same flesh and blood as we do. “And just as the children partake of flesh and blood, He also took part in them.” (Heb. 2:14)
He, too, felt the desires and lusts that tempted Him. He had to fight not to sin. The Spirit of God guided Jesus and He received help and strength from His Father in heaven. By His life, Jesus made this possible for us, and we can follow Him along the path He has revealed to us, which leads through the flesh back to the Father.
But to admit this means that we must, like Him, wage the same struggle against the sin living in our human nature that occurred as a result of the Fall of mankind. Most people don't want to do this. Then the Antichrist gains power. He shows people an easier path.
