Part 9

APOSTASY AND ANTICHRIST ACCORDING TO THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE CHURCH

THE LAST JUDGMENT

(Exerted from a booklet published by Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY in 1992, no longer in print.)

The end of Antichrist and his followers will be terrible..  We read in the book of revelation that on the great day of the Lord, Satan and Antichrist and his deputy will dispatch demons to call all the rulers of the world together for a great battle.  When this great army has been gathered at Armageddon, the seventh wrath of God will pour forth on the earth: a great storm of lightning, thunder and explosions and an earthquake of unimaginable proportions – an earthquake so great that islands will disappear and mountains will be leveled.  In an instant all man’s pride will crumble to rubble and vanish – his great manufacturing centers of culture, art and learning, all the things which man worshipped in place of God.

After this will begin the Dread Judgment.  The Saviour frequently taught about the last, universal judgment over humanity – both in parables and in discourses that were unmistakably clear in meaning.  He said: “The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works” (Mt. 16:27).  The Lord said similar things about the Last Judgment in many other places (Mat. 25:31-42, Jn. 5:22, 27, etc.)  In accordance with the teachings of their Lord, the Apostles proclaimed that the Son of God will pass judgment over the whole world.  St. Paul says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).  In another place the Apostle writes to the Corinthians, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the councils of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (1 Cor. 4:5).  In his epistle to the Romans St. Paul teaches that at the Last Judgment God will “render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seeks glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath…for there is no respect of persons with God” (Rom. 2:5-11; compare Acts 17:13, 1 Peter 4:5, 2 Peter 2:4 and 2 Thess. 1:7-10).  At this judgment will be judged all people who have lived from the beginning of the world until the end, both evil and good, Christians and unbelievers.  This judgment will be final and will decide the fate of both men and the fallen angels who God “has reserved…unto the judgment of the great day” (St. Jude, v.6).  The judgment will be righteous and impartial: the Lord will reward each according to his works.  To some He will say, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mat. 25:34).  Others will hear this terrible sentence: “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 25:41).

[Notice that the Reformation doctrine of “Sola Fide”, i.e. Faith Alone, is not to be found in the words of the Saviour or of St. Paul.  This doctrine of the Reformation is a false or “other gospel” from which we should flee.  They do teach in other places that we are saved by faith but nowhere do they teach that man will be saved by faith alone.]

Then says, St. Ephraim the Syrian, “all of humanity will find itself between the kingdom and condemnation, between life and death, between joy and necessity, and all will stand before the judgment seat, looking downwards and not daring to raise up their eyes.  All will be interrogated and strictly tried, especially we who have lived in carelessness, and seeing all this will start thinking over all their deeds.  Each person will see his own deeds, bad and good.  All those whose deeds are good will joyfully draw near to the judgment seat in the hope of obtaining a crown of life.  If anyone who has serious sins on his conscience leaves this life without repenting, he will become sick at heart when he sees his sins standing before him, accusing him and condemning him, and he will say, ‘Why did I the poor one not struggle with them, but wasted time playing games and so became myself a plaything? . . . Why did I not repent before Him who takes away the sin of the world, but spent my years in delusion? . . . While pondering over this within themselves, they will hear the awful voice of the Judge, Who will cry out and say,  ‘Show your deeds and receive your reward’.  At that hour all the orders of humanity will come forward – bishops, priests, deacons and all the orders of the Church, as the Apostle said: they will rise each in his own rank, ‘every man in his own order’ (1 Cor. 15:23), to render homage to the Lord.  Then the rulers, the wise and the rich will shake with fear, because the hour has come in which everyone’s  deeds will become known both to angels and to men, and each will reap what he has sowed.  . . . After each one has been tried, and all dominions and powers have been abolished and all God’s enemies have been placed under His feet; then at last, as the Lord said, ‘He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left’ (Mt. 25:32-33).   . . . Then parents will be separated from children, fathers from sons, mothers from daughters, friends and relatives from each other.  Then false spouses who have not kept their bed undefiled will be separated.  But I will pass by much in silence in my description; for fear restrains me from telling about this” (Sermon on the Honourable and Life-Creating Cross and on the Second Coming).

End of part 9, one part remains.