Wednesday, July 1, 2009

St. Nilius the Myrrh-Streaming 451 A.D.

The Russian translation of the book published on Mt. Athos back in 1912, “The Posthumous Predictions of St. Nilus the Myrrh-streaming,” which has long been famous, contains prophecies by this great ascetic concerning the last days, the world-wide enthronement of the Antichrist, and the tribulations which the world will experience upon the enthronement of the Antichrist. Now we have received the Russian translation of the predictions of this wonderful Athonite recluse which especially pertain to the 20th century. These predictions are truly extraordinary! Here is the text verbatim:

“In the middle of the 20th century, the people of that time will become unrecognizable. When the time for the advent of the Antichrist approaches, people’s minds will grow dim from carnal passions, and iniquity and lawlessness will grow stronger. The world will then become unrecognizable. People’s appearance will change, and it will be impossible to distinguish men from women due to their shamelessness in dress and style of hair. These people will be cruel and will be like wild animals because of the temptations of the Antichrist. There will be no respect for parents and elders, and love will disappear. Christian pastors, bishops and priests, will become vain men, completely failing to distinguish the right-hand way from the left. At that time morals and traditions of Christians and the Church will change. People will abandon modesty and chastity, while fornication and dissipation will reign. Falsehood and love of money will reach extreme proportions, and woe to those who will pile up treasures. Fornication, adultery, homosexuality, secret deeds, theft, and murder will rule in society.

At that future time, due to the power of such great criminality and licentiousness, people will be deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, which they received in Holy Baptism, and equally of remorse. The Churches of God will be deprived of God-fearing and pious pastors, and woe unto the Christians remaining in the world at that time, who will completely lose faith, because they will lack the opportunity of seeing the light of knowledge from anyone at all. Then they will separate themselves out of the world into holy refuges, seeking to assuage their spiritual sufferings, but everywhere they will encounter obstacles and constraints. And all this will result from the fact that the Antichrist will want to be master over everything and to become the ruler of the whole universe; he will produce miracles and fantastic signs. He will also give depraved wisdom to people, so that they will discover a way by which one man can carry on a conversation with another from one end of the earth to the other. At that time men will also fly through the air like birds and descend to the bottom of the sea like fish. And when they have achieved all this, these unhappy people will spend their lives in comfort without knowing, poor souls, that it is the deception of the Antichrist. And the impious one! – he will so perfect science with vanity, that it will lead people off the right path and cause them to lose faith in the existence of the One God in Three Hypostases.

Then the All-good God, seeing the downfall of the human race, will curtail the days for the sake of those few who are being saved, because the enemy wants to lead even the chosen into temptation, if possible… Then the sword of chastisement will suddenly appear and kill the perverter and his servants.” (Note: St. Nilus wrote these prophecies around 451 A.D.!)