The Promise of His coming.
His commands to prepare and be worthy.
Statement of what is happening in the world in connection with the Second Coming of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.


Nuzul i Isa, Qiyamah, the Parousia of Jesus Christ Our Lord.


Rv:22:7

Behold I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.

Blog List

Eucharist in house churches Commanded by God

Eucharist in house churches Commanded by God - HE COMMANDS TO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE VATICAN WHICH HAS ALREADY BECOME TOTALLY APOSTATE AND DIABOLIC AT THIS POINT.

GO HERE:Traditional Catholic Prayers: Eucharist in house churches Commanded by God. To rise above the concerns of the world to the service of God.

The Justice of God: New Testament Prayer, Psalms Hymns and Canticles, and first century Communion in full




Traditional Catholic Prayers: Office of the Hours for the Week

Sayyidah Parousia

Watch and Pray Always

Watch and Pray Always as Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ commanded



Morning Prayer and through the day.







In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Father Who are in heaven,
hallowed be your name,


O Lord Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour, living and reigning and ruling with God Our Father in the unity and power and bond of love of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete from heaven



your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.


with and by the prayer and company and presence of the same all your elect angels and saints for and with us unceasingly,

especially Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel truly present with us, Saint Enoch in the flesh and Saint Elijah in the flesh your holy prophets yet to return their holy angels truly present with us,

the Holy Family especially blessed St. Joseph and the most Blessed Virgin Mary your mother Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour your half brothers and sisters in the flesh Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour the only mediator between God and man in the flesh most holy angel of almighty counsel, captain of the hosts of the Lord, going before us with all of your elect doxas, especially St. Michael and St. Gabriel truly present with us, unto all salvation and victory totally protecting and delivering us in all things at all times immediately unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come;

with all thanksgiving, we love you for you first loved us, with all thanksgiving, thank you for You, for all your gifts and mercies to us, unceasingly: especially your all holy, almighty, gifts of our creation, your redemption of us, your gifts of your creation to us, Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour,

your life and teaching, your Incarnation, Conception, Birth in the flesh, your Epiphany, your Transfiguration, your most Holy Cross, Holy Blood, Holy Spirit, of you the Immortal son of the Father, Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour, your Resurrection, the only first born from the dead in the flesh, your Ascension, Assumption, in the same flesh, back to the Father’s bosom in the third heaven at his right hand in the unity and power and bond of love of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete, the gift of your Holy Spirit our Paraclete at Pentecost, and throughout all time and creation, indwelling us, bringing with him, you God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour, unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come,

your most holy Eucharist, which you alone God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit our Paraclete give to us,

Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour, infinitely pure and undefiled, truly made manifest again in the bread the wine and the water whom we receive in faith with all thanksgiving,

your Parousia, in the same flesh in which you came in your Incarnation and suffered for us and rose again in, in the future, at the end of this age, at the time known to you alone O Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God almighty, Blessed Trinity, Holy Unity, with all your elect angels, our resurrection in the flesh at the first resurrection of the just, our same spirits, souls and bodies reunited, we with all your elect angels and saints worshipping you, Jesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour, in the glory of God Our Father, in the unity and power and bond of love of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete, face to face unceasingly unto the endless ages of ages to come, for your spiritual gifts of food and drink,

for your simple gifts of food and drink, for all your gifts and mercies and this new day with all thanksgiving, we love you for you first loved us with all thanksgiving, blessed are You in all Your elect angels and saints, unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come.



Your Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us,
Give us today our Supersubstantial bread,
and forgive us our debt,
as, in You Holy Spirit, we also forgive, those in Your body Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour, our debtors,




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Against you, you alone, Jesus Christ our Only Lord and Saviour, have we sinned and done what is evil in your sight, forgive us our sins, purge us with hyssop and we shall be cleansed, wash us and we shall be made whiter than snow, make the bones you have numbered to rejoice. Come Holy Spirit cleanse us from all stain of spirit, soul, flesh, make us only one in You, as you are one in God Our Father, in You, You in us, Most Holy Lord God Pantocrator, Christ Jesus our Only Lord and Saviour, Who alone bought us in the flesh by Your most Holy Cross, Holy Blood, Holy Spirit, of You the Immortal Son of the Father, Christ Jesus Our only Lord and Saviour, infinitely pure and undefiled covering the whole world and cleansing the whole universe, Jesus Christ our Only Lord and Saviour the only first born from the dead in the flesh the only one Resurrected Ascended Assumed Bodily in the flesh and sitteth on the right hand of God Our Father in the third heaven in the unity and power and bond of love of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete Holy Holy Holy Lord God Pantocrator, with and by the prayer and company of the same all Your elect angels and saints for and with us unceasingly:



By Your most Holy Blood and Holy Spirit and this Your Most Holy Shield of You Christ Jesus Our Only Lord and Saviour invincible and inpenetrable, only-begotten Son of the Immortal Father covering the whole world cleansing the whole universe, in the Holy Spirit the Unity and Power and Bond of Love of the Father and the Son Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Saviour, covering, shielding, delivering, us unceasingly, save us, and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come: cleanse, shield, heal, guide, guard, keep, deliver and bless our households, your faithful departed blessed in Your bosom unceasingly with especially all of our faithful departed kinsmen after the flesh, and all of Your faithful throughout the earth; especially by Your Most Holy Eucharist, infinitely pure and undefiled, whom You alone Christ Jesus Our Only Lord and Saviour, God Our Father, Holy Spirit Our Paraclete give to us, Whom we alone receive in faith with all thanksgiving, indwelling us: our households, all of Your faithful upon earth and upon salvific confession in You God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete all of Your lost sheep – unto all salvation eternal and temporal, Your presence God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit our Paraclete; Holy Blood of Christ Jesus, Holy Energy Holy Spirit Holy Wisdom of God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete, indwelling us in our spirits souls bodies truly present with us and for us everywhere with and by the prayer and company and presence, especially St. Michael and St. Gabriel and St. Enoch and St. Elijah in the flesh – their holy angels, truly present with us and all of Your faithful, of all your elect angels and saints for and with us in all places, utterly perfectly forevermore in everything, everywhere in every detail, blessed here on earth in long life and good health, totally protected and delivered in all things at all times and totally cleansed, sanctified, strengthened, purified, vindicated in spirit soul body, our households totally delivered in all things at all times, all Your faithful and upon salvific confession in You God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete all of Your lost sheep, totally delivered in all things at all times, Holy Blood of Christ Jesus – Jesus Christ Our Lord and Saviour, Most Holy Lord God Pantocrator in the flesh, Most Holy Angel of Almighty Counsel, Captain of the Hosts of the Lord, the Divine Almighty Warrior – St. Michael – St. Gabriel – with all your elect angels surrounding us, shielding us, going forth before us, no one interfering with us in anyway, absolutely nothing at all, all times past present future, totally delivered from all evil immediately forever.



and do not lead us into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one and all it’s minions visible and invisible;
for yours is the power and the glory unto the endless ages of ages to come.



Leading us forth O Lord,

Drive far away our preternatural foe,

And Your abiding peace bestow;

If You be our preventing Guide,

No evil can our steps betide.





Bless our meetings, O Lord.
Utterly uproot all idolatry from the world.
Crush under our feet Satan.
Humble now, as at all times, the enemies of Your Church, You and us.

Lay bare their pride.
Speedily show them their weakness.
Bring to naught the wicked plots they contrive against us.
Arise, O Lord, and let Your enemies be scattered, and let all who hate Your holy name be put to flight.







with and by the prayer and company and presence of the same all your elect angels and saints for and with us unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come cover, cleanse, shield, heal, guide, guard, keep, deliver and bless Your sheep, faithful and in salvific confession of You Christ Jesus Our Only Lord and Saviour, Your lost sheep, unto all salvation eternal and temporal, absolutely immediately utterly forevermore unceasingly and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come, save us.



Your good Spirit shall lead me in the land of uprightness; for Your Name's sake, O Lord, shall You quicken me.



In Your righteousness shall You bring my soul out of affliction, and in Your mercy shall You utterly destroy mine enemies. And You shall cut off all them that afflict my soul, for I am Your servant. For as You have been sanctified in us in their sight, so you shall be magnified among them in our presence, make them fall back as those did before You by Your presence unceasingly and never come near us everything and everybody in every way that means us any harm at all times and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come forevermore.



Come Holy Spirit Wisdom Energy Sanctifier Our Paraclete throughout the entire earth for the salvation of all of Your lost sheep and the deliverance of all of Your innocent and faithful, especially those in the worst of distress. Most Holy Lord God Almighty Abba Our Father, through You, beloved and Only Son of God, Our Only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, send forth Your Most Holy Spirit Our Paraclete, enkindle in our hearts the fire of Your love and we shall be created and You shall renew the face of the earth. Through Our Only Lord God Saviour King most Holy Pantocrator in the flesh Jesus Christ, the Divine warrior, Glory be to God Our Father and to the Son Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour and to the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete as it was before all time and creation, Creator and ruler over all, at the beginning of all time and creation, past present future and now and always unceasingly unto the endless ages of ages to come.





Prevented preventing from before all time and creation utterly invisible passing through the midst of all evil and all of our enemies thereof unharmed and untouched all of it bound and gone from us unceasingly for you LORD are not in any of that, neither are we, forevermore from before all time and creation: God Our Father and the Son Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour and the Holy Spirit Our Paraclete

Holy Blood of Jesus Christ, Holy Holy Holy Lord God Pantocrator, forevermore unceasingly, Olam Olam, Creator and Ruler over all, with and by the prayer and company and presence of all Your elect angels and saints for and with us unceasingly, at the beginning of all time and creation past present future and now and always and unto the endless ages of ages to come.





In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.


The final Prayer before Communion

Especially for all of those in the vineyard of the Lord devastated by Ecumenism and Latin and Byzantine and Protestant Freemasonic irruptions of church and all the false gnostic nonsense permeating the Evangelical community and all other opposition to the True Gospel, all are welcome here on this site and to pray with us: Parousia of Jesus Christ Our Lord: Eternal faith and beliefs: Jesus Christ is the Truth




Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, Who is and Who was and Who is to come

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Lord our God, You are worthy to receive praise and glory and honor and blessing

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

The Lamb Who was slain is worthy to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and blessing

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit:

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Sing praise to our God, all you His servants and you who fear God, the small and the great.

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Let heaven and earth praise Him Who is glorious

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

And every creature that is in heaven and on earth and under earth and in the sea and those which are in them.

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit:

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Let us praise and glorify Him forever.

Let us pray:

All-powerful, most holy, most high, and supreme God:

all good,

supreme good,

totally good,

You Who alone are good; may we give You all praise, all glory, all thanks, all honor:

all blessing,

and all good things.

So be it.

So be it.

Amen.

O OUR most holy FATHER,

Our Creator, Redeemer, Consoler, and Savior

WHO ARE IN HEAVEN:

In the angels and in the saints,

Enlightening them to love, because You, Lord, are light

Inflaming them to love, because You, Lord, are love

Indwelling and filling them with happiness, because You, Lord, are the Supreme Good,

the Eternal Good

from Whom comes all good

without Whom there is no good.

HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME:

May our knowledge of You become ever clearer that we may know the breadth of Your blessings

the length of Your promises

the height of Your majesty

the depth of Your judgments.

YOUR KINGDOM COME:

So that You may rule in us through Your grace

and enable us to come to Your kingdom

where there is an unclouded vision of You

a perfect love of You

a blessed companionship with You

an eternal enjoyment of You.

YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN

HEAVEN:

That we may love You with our whole heart by always thinking

of You

with our whole soul by always desiring You

with our whole mind by directing all our

intentions to You and by seeking Your

glory in everything

and with our whole strength by spending all our energies and affections

of soul and body

in the service of Your love

and of nothing else

and may we love our neighbors as ourselves

by drawing them all with our whole strength to Your love

by rejoicing in the good fortunes of others as well as our

own

and by sympathizing with the misfortunes of others

and by giving offense to no one.

GIVE US THIS DAY:

in memory and understanding and reverence

of the love which You in our Lord Jesus Christ had for us

and of those things which He said and did and suffered for us.

OUR DAILY BREAD:

Your own Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES:

Through Your ineffable mercy

through the power of the Passion of Your Beloved Son together with the merits and intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all Your chosen ones.

AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST

US:

And whatever we do not forgive perfectly, do you, Lord, enable us to forgive to the full

so that we may truly love our enemies and fervently intercede for them before You

returning no one evil for evil

and striving to help everyone in You.

AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

Hidden or obvious

Sudden or persistent.

BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL

Past, present and to come.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Christmas the Birth of the Son of God Jesus Christ in the Flesh

Christmas the Birth of the Son of God Jesus Christ in the Flesh
Seek the Immortal Son of God the Messiah Jesus Christ - click on picture

Monday, June 30, 2014

The Creed of the Whole and Undivided Church as Given by the Apostles

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BOOK I CHAP. X. - UNITY OF THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH




THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD. { note that St. Irenaeus is the first to record the creed later called the apostles creed – with a lot more than we usually see }
I. The Church: all true Loving Catholic Apostolic Orthodox true brethren and benefactors each of us holding You Christ Jesus Our Only Lord and Saviour the Head directly, though dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith; in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator, Framer, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents and the birth from a virgin, and the passion and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] parousia from heaven in the same flesh in which he suffered, in the glory of the Father, “to gather all things in one,” and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send spiritual wickednesses,” and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning of their Christian course and others from their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.

2. As I have already observed, the Church,

having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully, preserves it. She also believes these points of doctrine just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world { Jerusalem, the mother of all the Churches is here referred to }. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shineth everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth. Nor will anyone of, the rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of eloquence, teach doctrines different from these (for no one is greater than the Master); nor, on the other hand, will he who is deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the tradition. For the faith being ever one and the same, neither does one who is able at great length to discourse regarding it, make any addition to it, nor does one, who can say but little, diminish it.

3 It does not follow because men are endowed

with greater and less degrees of intelligence, that they should therefore change the subject-matter of the faith itself, and should conceive of some other God, besides Him who is the Creator, Framer, Maker, and Preserver of this universe ( as if He were not sufficient for them ), or of another Christ, or another Only-begotten.
…while the Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have already said.
(Pg.) 332
(Pg.) 497
Book 4 Chapter XXVI Section 4.
( Concerning how we act towards heretics – the evolutionary Gnostics )
From all such persons, therefore, it behoves us to keep aloof,…but to adhere to…the doctrine of the Apostles.

Jesus Christ Our Only Lord and Saviour in Your true Gospel alone Holy God, the Only Author of Covenant of Salvation, of:
Adam’s covenant shown forth by the face seen by Ezechiel of a lion prefiguring the Gospel of John showing forth the royal power and authority of Christ the Immortal Son Word Wisdom and Power of God through whom God the Father by the Holy Spirit created all of creation Who became Incarnate for our redemption in the flesh as Adam had sinned in the flesh
Noah’s covenant shown forth by the face seen by Ezechiel of a calf prefiguring the Gospel of Luke showing forth the sacrifice of Christ who is our Holy Only Priest Victim Sacrifice Altar Temple Tabernacle Redeemer Salvation Immortal Immaculate Golden Ark of the covenant showing himself forth as the only begotten Redeemer in his Epiphany of fiery glory at his baptism in the Jordan
Abraham’s covenant shown forth by an Epiphany of the Lord and two angels prefiguring the Transfiguration of Christ with: Moses, a type of the faithful departed at the future resurrection, and Elijah, a type of the faithful living at the future resurrection, Christ condemning for all time the darkness of idolatry which has no communion with light - the grace of the Gospel of Christ
Moses’ covenant shown forth by the face seen by Ezechiel of a man prefiguring the Gospel of Matthew showing forth the God - man prophet, the Christ, who Moses and David and Isaiah and Habakkuk and Ezra foretold Israel would either heed or be destroyed by rejecting, he who is our only Lord and Saviour by his most Holy Cross by which he tread down Satan and cast him out of creation
David’s covenant shown forth by the gift of prophecy, especially of the resurrection of Christ
Daniel’s covenant shown forth by his vision of the ancient of days prefiguring the Gospel of Christ especially his Ascension
Christ Jesus Immortal Son most Holy Angel of Almighty Counsel, Captain of the hosts of the Lord, the giver of all covenants with God shown forth by his promise of the keys of Himself the Messiah to Peter and to all who believe in Him - Christ Jesus our only Lord and Saviour, the final covenant shown forth by the face seen by Ezechiel of an eagle and through him to the Father does all glory redound in the unity and power of the Holy Spirit, he given at Pentecost, especially proclaimed by the Gospel of Mark of the preaching of the salvation of Christ Jesus throughout the world, Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour who descended from the third heaven from the Father's right hand and became flesh by the Holy Spirit, the immaculate conception and was truly born of the blessed virgin Mary on earth, 70 generations from Adam and your creation of all of creation, thus subsuming flesh of Adam and of all men to yourself to restore your Image and Likeness to all the saints from the first Adam to the last saint, by you Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, the only Immaculate Lamb of God who alone takes away the sin of the whole world of those who are saved, by your most Holy Cross and Holy Blood, Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour and Holy Spirit of the Father and the Son Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, covering the whole earth and cleansing the whole universe, Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, the only first born from the dead in the flesh, the only one resurrected, ascended, assumed bodily in the flesh, seated at the right hand of God, Baruch Adonai Yahweh El Olam eth Abba Our Father in the third heaven in the unity and power of the Holy Spirit our Paraclete
Holy Holy Holy Lord God Pantocrator




and Who, Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, shall return from the Father’s right hand in the same flesh with all the elect angels and raise, first, the saints in the flesh, our same spirits souls and bodies reunited and then all other men in the flesh, their same souls and bodies reunited, from throughout the whole world and all of time from the beginning of your creation until that time - known to you alone Holy Immortal undivided trinity, in the future at your Parousia Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour, your saints to inherit paradise recreated then with all the elect angels worshipping you face to face in the glory of the Father and the union of the Holy Spirit unto the endless ages of ages - and the rest to be cast into the lake of fire forevermore unto the same endless ages of ages to come.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

The Apocalypse, the Book of the Revelation: The Book of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist of the Revelation Given Him by the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apocalypse, the Book of the Revelation: The Book of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist of the Revelation Given Him by the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.



The Revelation of The Lord God Jesus Christ

The Book of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist of the Revelation Given Him by the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.

THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST
{WHO IS THE LAST PROPHET OF THE BIBLE UNTIL SAINT ENOCH AND SAINT ELIJAH RETURN AT THE CONSUMMATION OF DAYS}



The Apocalypse is a revelation of things that were, are and will be. We are actually witnessing some of the events foretold in this book, but many still lie in the future. It is Christ who commands John to write to the seven churches, opens the seven seals, reveals the sufferings of the saints, opens the little book, overcomes the beast, reigns during the period of the first resurrection, judges the dead, both great and small, according to their works at His Second Coming, rules over all things from the beginning, presides over all the changing scenes of earth’s history, and is the King of kings and Lord of lords.

The book presents Christ as the Coming One; it reveals the dealings of Him who came, and who is to come. It opens with the solemn hope that the Coming One will come soon, and closes with the impressive prediction that the Coming One will come quickly.

The book is one of hope, but also one of warning; its aim is to assure the Church of the advent of her Lord in victory. The precise time of this victory lies hidden with God, but it is certain, although the crown will not be won without a struggle. Heaven will be stormed and carried away through suffering and conflict. And all who keep the words of this book will take part in the conflict and share in the victory.The conflict is presented under the form of symbols. It is not easy to give a full interpretation of all the types, but the general symbols are not difficult to understand. Jerusalem stands as the type of the good cause, and this is the Church of ChristBabylon appears as the type of the evil cause, and this is the world power. The heavenly Jerusalem has the assistance of divine power. The earthly Babylon has the help of evil powers, the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. The scenes in the great conflict arrange themselves around these types of good and of evil. The numbers, the seals, the trumpets and the bowls are phases in the development and consummation of the conflict.

John has arranged the scenes in a sevenfold structure; even in the subordinate visions he keeps to this arrangement. Commentators, however, are not agreed in marking off the limits of each structure.

The book was written in Greek by St. John the Evangelist, on the island of Patmos, about the year. 96 A.D.

Note on parallel passages and commentary. The parallel passages are based on the full concordance thereof relating to, from the Council of Trent; the commentary is late 1940’s Catholic from the full consensus of the Church Fathers on the seven within seven structure of the book.

Also note that the book at the same time “opens from the middle” so to speak. Just like a megilloth (Hebrew for scroll). The first eleven chapters (1 – 11) which culminate in the general judgement – Rev. 11:18 – 19
And the nations were angry: and thy wrath is come. And the time of the dead, that they should be judged and that thou shouldest render reward to thy servants the prophets and the saints, and to them that fear thy name, little and great: and shouldest destroy them who have corrupted the earth.
And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings and voices and an earthquake and great hail. (DRV)
And the second eleven chapters (12 – 22) which culminate in the general judgement (Rev. 20:11 – 14) and the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev. 21, 22)

Both the first and second eleven chapters begin from the time of Christ’s Incarnation but include the fact that He is Immortal and the Creator of Heaven and Earth. See: Rev. 1:4 – 6 John to the seven churches which are in Asia. Grace be unto you and peace, from him that is and that was and that is to come: and from the seven spirits which are before his throne:
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood (when He became Incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the blessed virgin Mary and went to the Cross for our salvation)
And hath made us a kingdom, and priests to God and his Father. To him be glory and empire for ever and ever. Amen.(DRV)

And see: Rev. 12:1, 2, 5
And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried travailing in birth: and was in pain to be delivered.


And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod (Christ’s Incarnation). And her son was taken up to God and to his throne (Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension). (DRV)

And see: Rev.:21:6:
6 And he said to me: It is done. I am Alpha and Omega: the Beginning and the End. To him that thirsteth, I will give of the fountain of the water of life, freely. (DRV)

These two phrases that is and that was and that is to come (Greek “‘o oon kai ‘o en kai ‘o erchoumenos”) and I am Alpha and Omega (Greek: “egoo eimi to Alpha kai to Omega”) are emphatic declarations of Christ’s Divinity and Immortality for it is the Thrice Holy Trinity – Rv:4:8 And the four living creatures had each of them six wings: and round about and within they are full of eyes. And they rested not day and night, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. (Greek “‘agious ‘agious ‘agious kurios ‘o theos ‘o pantocrator”) – alone Who possesses Aseity (self existence and Who is therefore alone uncreated) and Who is Immortal of the same Essence/Substance – Nature.

In the above: the “who [that] is”, in Greek “‘o oon”, is the declaration of Aseity. The “who [that] was” and the “who [that] is to come” with the “‘o oon”, self existence, is the declaration of Immortality (having no beginning and no end – always existing). The phrase I am Alpha and Omega has exactly the same meaning. “I am” – “egoo eimi” is the equivalent of Yahweh (God’s proper name) in Hebrew meaning “I am” in the same sense as the above “‘o oon”. Alpha and Omega has the same meaning as Immortality in the above. Pantocrator (translated as Almighty) is the declaration of the Thrice Holy Lord God’s All ruling absolute Sovereignty and includes emphatically the meaning that He is alone uncreated and Creator, ex nihilo, of all of creation. This relates directly to the beginning of the Gospel of St. John and the beginning of the first book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) which is Genesis. See: Genesis 1:1 through 2:4 and St. John’s Gospel 1:1 through vs. 18. All of this and the exact seventy human generations recounted in St. Luke’s Gospel 3:1 – 38 from Adam to Christ (see also the parallel in St. Matthew’s Gospel 1:1 – 25 from Abraham to Christ) and the testimony of the Church Fathers does not allow any pagan evolutionary gods nor even sophist pantheistic idolatrous creationism but only creation by the Creator as He said He did it, and only Redemption in God and His Christ (the Messiah, al-Maseeh) as He said that it is; the false gods or pagan idolatrous religions that willfully reject God and Jesus Christ (those who do not willfully reject Him but seek God in their hearts are judged by God alone) are without grace and they and their followers will be damned forever, who do not repent in this life from those false gods and religions and come to God and His Christ and make confession in Him and be baptized by God’s Spirit {believers in monotheistic Islam who confess the Holy Trinity and Jesus Christ as the Son of God and all men of good will who worship only this God (in the full consensus of the Church Fathers) are included as true believers in the true God and therefore saved by their confession of belief in and fulfilling the will of God, Allah (SWT)}. Allah is from biblical Hebrew 'Eloah' and means the true God, All middle Eastern Christians, including Catholics, who are Arabic speakers call on Allah as the name of the true God. Amen.

The Final Trial: Traditional Catholic Prayers: Baptism


Note on parallel passage notation – the ! after a scriptural reference means that is the emphasis or central point for explanation of the passage.




Continue here:


The Apocalypse, the Book of the Revelation








Saturday, June 28, 2014

Eternal faith and beliefs: Gregory III of Rome

Eternal faith and beliefs: Gregory III of Rome







Gregory III of Rome

Our father among saints Gregory
III
Pope of Rome (731-741),
a Syrian by birth, succeeded Pope Gregory II in March 731. He vigorously
opposed the iconoclastic controversy
in the Byzantine Empire.
He died on November
28
, 741. St. Gregory is remembered by the Church on December
10
.

Life

Gregory was
acclaimed
pope by the crowds at his predecessor's funeral.
He was the
last pope
to seek the Byzantine exarch's mandate. Gregory immediately appealed to
the Byzantine
Emperor Leo III to moderate his position on the iconoclastic
controversy. When
this elicited no response, Gregory called a synod in
November
731, denouncing iconoclasm and excommunicating destroyers of icons.
When a messenger carrying the decrees reached the emperor, the latter
decided
to bring the pope under control. This included appropriating papal
territories
and transferring ecclesiastical jurisdictions to the Patriarch
of Constantinople
.
Gregory's
support of
the empire led him to help contribute to the recapture of Ravenna
after it had fallen to the Lombards
in 733.
However, he also sought to fortify Rome and seek
alliance with opponents of the Lombard monarch Liutprand, king of the Lombards, and then from the
Franks. He sent embassies to
Charles Martel, who made no response, having his own priorities.
Gregory
promoted the
Church in northern Europe, such as the missions of Saint Boniface in
Germany
and Willibald in Bohemia. He also
bestowed palliums on
Egbert of York and Tatwine,Archbishop
of Canterbury
. He beautified Rome
and supported monasticism.

Source



Succession box:
Gregory III of Rome
Preceded by:

St Gregory II
Pope of Rome

731-741
Succeeded by:

St Zacharias

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume II: February.
The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

February
13
St.
Gregory II. Pope and Confessor

HE was born in Rome, to an affluent fortune, and being
educated in the palace of the popes, acquired great skill in the holy
scriptures and in ecclesiastical affairs, and attained to an eminent
degree of sanctity. Pope Sergius I. to whom he was very dear, ordained
him subdeacon. Under the succeeding popes, John the sixth and seventh,
Sisinnius, and Constantine, he was treasurer of the church, and
afterwards library keeper, and was charged with several important
commissions. The fifth general council had been held upon the affair of
the three chapters, in 553, in the reign of Justinian, and the sixth
against the Monothelites, in those of Constantine Pogonatus and Pope
Agatho, in 660. With a view of adding a supplement of new canons to
those of the aforesaid two councils, the bishops of the Greek church, to
the number of two hundred and eleven, held the council called
Quini-sext, in a hall of the imperial palace at Constantinople, named
Trullus, in 692, which laid a foundation of certain differences in
discipline between the Eastern and Western churches; for in the
thirteenth canon it was enacted, that a man who was before married
should be allowed to receive the holy orders of subdeacon, deacon, or
priest, without being obliged to leave his wife, though this was
forbidden to bishops. (can. 12.) It was also forbidden (can. 55.) to
fast on Saturdays, even in Lent. Pope Sergius I. refused to confirm this
council; and, in 695, the emperor Justinian II. surnamed Rhinotmetus,
who had succeeded his father, Constantine Pogonatus, in 685, was
dethroned for his cruelty, and his nose being slit, (from which
circumstances he received his surname,) banished into Chersonesus. First
Leontius, then Apsimarus Tiberius ascended the throne; but Justinian
recovered it in 705, and invited Pope Constantine into the East, hoping
to prevail upon him to confirm the council in Trullo. The pope was
received with great honour, and had with him our saint, who, in his
name, answered the questions put by the Greeks concerning the said
council. After their return to Rome, upon the death of Constantine,
Gregory was chosen pope, and ordained on the 19th of May, 715. The
emperor Justinian being detested both by the army and people, Bardanes,
who took the name of Philippicus, an Armenian, one of his generals,
revolted, took Constantinople, put him and his son Tiberius, only seven
years old, to death, and usurped the sovereignty in December, 711. In
Justinian II. was extinguished the family of Heraclius. Philippicus
abetted warmly the heresy of the Monothelites, and caused the sixth
council to be prescribed in a pretended synod at Constantinople. His
reign was very short; for Artemius, his secretary, who took the name of
Anastasius II., deposed him, and stepped into the throne on the 4th of
June, 713. By him the Monothelites were expelled; but, after a reign of
two years and seven months, seeing one Theodosius chosen emperor by the
army which had revolted in January, 716, he withdrew and took the
monastic habit at Thessalonica. The Eastern army having proclaimed Leo
III., surnamed the Isaurian, emperor on the 25th of March, 717,
Theodosius and his son embraced an ecclesiastical state, and lived in
peace among the clergy.
  1
  Pope Gregory signalized the beginning of his popedom by
deposing John VI. the Monothelite, false patriarch of Constantinople,
who had been nominated by Philippicus, and he promoted the election of
St. Germanus, who was translated to that dignity from Cyzicus, in 715.
With unwearied watchfulness and zeal he laid himself out in extirpating
heresies on all sides, and in settling a reformation of manners. Besides
an hospital for old men, he rebuilt the great monastery near the church
of St. Paul at Rome, and, after the death of his mother, in 718,
changed her house into the monastery of St. Agatha. The same year he
re-established the abbey of Mount Cassino, sending thither, from Rome,
the holy abbot St. Petronax to take upon him the government, one hundred
and forty years after it had been laid in ruins by the Lombards. This
holy abbot lived to see monastic discipline settled here in so
flourishing a manner, that in the same century Carloman, duke or prince
of the French, Rachis, king of the Lombards, St. Willebald, St.
Sturmius, first abbot of Fulda, and other eminent persons, fled to this
sanctuary. 1Our holy
pope commissioned zealous missionaries to preach the faith in Germany,
and consecrated St. Corbinian bishop of Frisingen, and St. Boniface
bishop of Mentz. Leo the Isaurian protected the catholic church during
the first ten years of his reign, and St. Gregory II. laid up among the
archives of his church several letters which he had received from him,
from the year 717 to 726, which proved afterwards authentic monuments of
his perfidy. For being infatuated by certain Jews, who had gained an
ascendant over him by certain pretended astrological predictions, in 726
he commanded holy images to be abolished, and enforced the execution of
his edicts of a cruel persecution. St. Germanus, and other orthodox
prelates in the East, endeavoured to reclaim him, refused to obey his
edicts, and addressed themselves to Pope Gregory. Our saint employed
long the arms of tears and entreaties; yet strenuously maintained the
people of Italy in their allegiance to their prince, as Anastasius
assures us. A rebellion was raised in Sicily, but soon quelled by the
death of Artemius, who had assumed the purple. The pope vigorously
opposed the mutineers, both here and in other parts of the West. When he
was informed that the army at Ravenna and Venice, making zeal a
pretence for rebellion, had created a new emperor, he effectually
opposed their attempt, and prevented the effect. Several disturbances
which were raised in Rome were pacified by his care. Nevertheless he by
letters encouraged the pastors of the church to resist the heresy which
the emperor endeavoured to establish by bloodshed and violence. The
tyrant sent orders to several of his officers, six or seven times, to
murder the pope: but he was so faithfully guarded by the Romans and
Lombards, that he escaped all their snares. St. Gregory II. held the
pontificate fifteen years, eight months, and twenty-three days, and died
in 731, on the 10th of February; but the Roman Martyrology consecrates
to his memory the 13th, which was probably the day on which his corpse
was deposited in the Vatican church.
  2

Note 1. Bulteau, Hist. Mon. d’Occid. t. 2.
l. 4. c. 2. p. 8. [back]








Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73).  Volume III: March.

The Lives of the
Saints.  1866.

March 15
St.
Zachary, Pope and Confessor

HE succeeded Gregory III. in 741, and was a man of singular
meekness and goodness; and so far from any thought of revenge, that he
heaped benefits on those who had persecuted him before his promotion to
the pontificate. He loved the clergy and people of Rome to that degree,
that he hazarded his life for them on occasion of the troubles which
Italy fell into by the rebellion of the dukes of Spoletto and Benevento
against King Luitprand. Out of respect to his sanctity and dignity, that
king restored to the church of Rome all the places which belonged to
it, Ameria, Horta, Narni, Ossimo, Ancona, and the whole territory of
Sabina, and sent back the captives without ransom. The Lombards were
moved to tears at the devotion with which they heard him perform the
divine service. By a journey to Pavia, he obtained also of Luitprand,
though with some difficulty, peace for the territory of Ravenna, and the
restitution of the places which he had taken from the exarchate. The
zeal and prudence of this holy pope appeared in many wholesome
regulations, which he had made to reform or settle the discipline and
peace of several churches. St. Boniface, the apostle of Germany, wrote
to him against a certain priest, named Virgilius; that he laboured to
sow the seeds of discord between him and Odilo, duke of Bavaria, and
taught, besides other errors, that there were other men under the earth,
another sun and moon, and another world. 1 Pope
Zachary answered, that if he taught such an error he ought to be
deposed. This cannot be understood as a condemnation of the doctrine of
Antipodes, or the spherical figure of the earth, as some writers have
imagined by mistake. The error here spoken of is that of certain
heretics, who maintained that there was another race of men, who did not
descend from Adam, and were not redeemed by Christ. Nor did Zachary
pronounce any sentence in the case: for in the same letter he ordered
that Virgilius should be sent to Rome, that his doctrine might be
examined. It seems that he cleared himself: for we find this same
Virgilius soon after made bishop of Saltzburgh. 2 Certain
Venetian merchants having bought at Rome many slaves to sell to the
Moors in Africa, St. Zachary forbade such an iniquitous traffic, and,
paying the merchants their price, gave the slaves their liberty. He
adorned Rome with sacred buildings, and with great foundations in favour
of the poor and pilgrims, and gave every year a considerable sum to
furnish oil for the lamps in St. Peter’s church. He died in 752, in the
month of March, and is honoured in the Roman Martyrology on this day.
See his letters and the Pontificals, t. 6. Conc. also Fleury, l. 42. t.
9. p. 349.
  1

Note 1. Quod alius mondus et alii homines
sub terra sint, seu alius sol et luna. (Ep. 10. t. 6. Conc. p. 15. 21.
et Bibl. Patr. inter Epist. S. Bonif.) To imagine different worlds of
men upon earth, some not descending from Adam, nor redeemed by Christ,
is contrary to the holy scriptures, and therefore justly condemned as
erroneous, as Baronius observes. (add. ann. 784. n. 12.) [back]
Note 2. Many ancient philosophers thought
the earth flat, not spherical, and believed no Antipodes. Several
fathers adopted this vulgar error in philosophy, in which faith no way
interferes, as St. Austin, (1. 16. de Civ. Dei. c. 9.) Bede, (l. 4. de
Principiis Philos.) and Cosmas the Egyptian, surnamed Indicopleustes. It
is, however, a mistake to imagine, with Montfaucon, in his preface to
this last-mentioned author, that this was the general opinion of
Christian philosophers down to the fifteenth century. For the learned
Philophonus demonstrated before the modern discoveries, (de Mundi Creat.
l. 3. c. 13.) that the greater part of the fathers teach the world to
be a sphere, as Saint Basil, the two SS. Gregories, of Nazianzum and of
Nyssa, Saint Athanasius, &c. And several amongst them mention
Antipodes, as Saint Hilary, (in Ps. 2. n. 32.) Origen, (l. 2. de
princip. c. 3.) Saint Clement, pope, &c. [back]


Friday, June 27, 2014

The Best and Most Important Online Catholic Books: Vatican II is Apostate

The Best and Most Important Online Catholic Books: Vatican II is Apostate



Apostate Vatican II versus
Apostolic Catholicity - Home




Apostate Vatican II versus Apostolic Catholicity - Home





POPE  SAINT GREGORY  THE GREAT - CHURCH FATHER


The Church Fathers, especially as referred to here, are by definition an
exact group ending with and not later than St. John Damascene in the
East in the eighth century A.D. and in the West in the seventh century
A.D. St. Isadore of Seville and Pope St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome
(who said that any bishop who declared himself in charge of the whole
Church, instead of all bishops, including the Pope of Rome, having no
more than equal authority, with Rome among other Patriarchal sees and
none of them coercing others, was in fact, the precursor of the
Antichrist. Pope Saint Gregory the Great is the last with Saint Jerome
and Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine of Hippo of the Four Great Doctors
(Doctor means teacher of the whole undefiled Catholic doctrine handed
down from the Apostles) of the Church. Pope Saint Gregory the Great
(died 604 A.D.) with Saint Isadore of Seville (died 636 A.D. - who
destroyed the last of the Arian Heresy in the West) are the last two of
the Church Fathers in the West and Saint John Damascene (died December
4, 749 AD, at Mar Saba near Jerusalem) is the last of the Church Fathers
in the East. 

NO DOCTRINE CAN BE ADMITTED TO OR PROFESSED BY THE FAITHFUL WITHOUT THE
FULL CONSENSUS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS - NOT EVEN IF A COUNCIL AND ANY
NUMBER OF POPES WERE TO PUT FORWARD SUCH A DOCTRINE.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

As in the days of Noah: The Justice of God: Eternal faith and beliefs: The Antichrist: Rev. Paschal Huchede's view of the Antichrist

As in the days of Noah: The Justice of God: Eternal faith and beliefs: The Antichrist: Rev. Paschal Huchede's view of the Antichrist
The Justice of God: Eternal faith and beliefs: The Antichrist: Rev. Paschal Huchede's view of the Antichrist

Note the Abomination of Desolation, it is key to all of this. It was the statue of Zeus Capitolinus in the time of the Maccabees and the curses against God in the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and in the future is definitely linked by the Church Fathers to the apostate blasphemous Novus Ordo false sacrifice combined with the temple movement in Jerusalem by the Apostate Jews.

The Justice of God: The Abomination of Desolation of Pantheistic Monist Satanic Apostasy

Parousia of Jesus Christ Our Lord: January 2010

Apostasy: The Abomination of Desolation in the Rebuilt Temple of Remphan in Jerusalem

Prayer Links: THE NEW LITURGIES (AS SHOWN BELOW) ARE TOTALLY APOSTATE.

Prayer Links: THE REAL STORY OF THE OFFERTORY'S REPLACEMENT

Traditional Catholic Prayers: The Rebuilt Temple of Remphan in Jerusalem and the Armour Bearer of the Antichrist, the False Prophet

HIPPOLYTUS OF ROME

TREATISE ON CHRIST AND ANTICHRIST.

1. As it was your desire, my beloved brother Theophilus, to be thoroughly informed on those topics which I put summarily before you, I have thought it right to set these matters of inquiry clearly forth to your view, drawing largely from the Holy Scriptures themselves as from a holy fountain, in order that you may not only have the pleasure of hearing them on the testimony of men, but may also be able, by surveying them in the light of (divine) authority, to glorify God in all. For this will be as a sure supply furnished you by us for your journey in this present life, so that by ready argument applying things ill understood and apprehended by most, you may sow them in the ground of your heart, as in a rich and clean soil. By these, too, you will be able to silence those who oppose and gainsay the word of salvation. Only see that you do not give these things over to unbelieving and blasphemous tongues, for that is no common danger. But impart them to pious and faithful men, who desire to live holily and righteously with fear. For it is not to no purpose that the blessed apostle exhorts Timothy, and says, "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith." And again, "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me in many exhortations, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." If, then, the blessed (apostle) delivered these things with a pious caution, which could be easily known by all, as he perceived in the spirit that "all men have not faith," how much greater will be our danger, if, rashly and without thought, we commit the revelations of God to profane and unworthy men?

2. For as the blessed prophets were made, so to speak, eyes for us, they foresaw through faith the mysteries of the word, and became ministers of these things also to succeeding generations, not only reporting the past, but also announcing the present and the future, so that the prophet might not appear to be one only for the time being, but might also predict the future for all generations, and so be reckoned a (true) prophet. For these fathers were furnished with the Spirit, and largely honoured by the Word Himself; and just as it is with instruments of music, so had they the Word always, like the plectrum, in union with them, and when moved by Him the prophets announced what God willed. For they spake not of their own power (let there be no mistake as to that), neither did they declare what pleased themselves. But First of all they were endowed with wisdom by the Word, and then again were rightly instructed in the future by means of visions. And then, when thus themselves fully convinced, they spake those things which were revealed by God to them alone, and concealed from all others. For ith what reason should the prophet be called a prophet, unless he in spirit foresaw the future? For if the prophet spake of any chance event, he would not be a prophet then in speaking of things which were under the eye of all. But one who sets forth in detail things yet to be, was rightly judged a prophet. Wherefore prophets were with good reason called from the very first "seers." And hence we, too, who are rightly instructed in what was declared aforetime by them, speak not of our own capacity. For we do not attempt to made any change one way or another among ourselves in the words that were spoken of old by them, but we make the Scriptures in which these are written public, and read them to those who can believe rightly; for that is a common benefit for both parties: for him who speaks, in holding in memory and setting forth correctly things uttered of old; and for him who hears, in giving attention to the things spoken.

Since, then, in this there is a work assigned to both parties together, viz., to him who speaks, that he speak forth faithfully without regard to risk, and to him who hears, that he hear and receive in faith that which is spoken, I beseech you to strive together with me in prayer to God.

3. Do you wish then to know in what manner the Word of God, who was again the Son of God, as He was of old the Word, communicated His revelations to the blessed prophets in former times? Well, as the Word shows His compassion and His denial of all respect of persons by all the saints, He enlightens them and adapts them to that which is advantageous for us, like a skilful physician, understanding the weakness of men. And the ignorant He loves to teach, and the erring He turns again to His own true way. And by those who live by faith He is easily found; and to those of pure eye and holy heart, who desire to knock at the door, He opens immediately. For He casts away none of His servants as unworthy of the divine mysteries. He does not esteem the rich man more highly than the poor, nor does He despise the poor man for his poverty. He does not disdain the barbarian, nor does He set the eunuch aside as no man. He does not hate the female on account of the woman's act of disobedience in the beginning, nor does He reject the male on account of the man's transgression. But He seeks all, and desires to save all, wishing to make all the children of God, and calling all the saints unto one perfect man. For there is also one Son (or Servant) of God, by whom we too, receiving the regeneration through the Holy Spirit, desire to come all unto one perfect and heavenly man.

4. For whereas the Word of God was without flesh, He took upon Himself the holy flesh by the holy Virgin, and prepared a robe which He wove for Himself, like a bridegroom, in the sufferings of the cross, in order that by uniting His own power with our moral body, and by mixing the incorruptible with the corruptible, and the strong with the weak, He might save perishing man. The web-beam, therefore, is the pass on of the Lord upon the cross, and the warp on it is the power of the Holy Spirit, and the woof is the holy flesh wrought (woven) by the Spirit, and the thread is the grace which by the love of Christ binds and unites the two in one, and the combs or (rods) are the Word; and the workers are the patriarchs and prophets who weave the fair, long, perfect tunic for Christ; and the Word passing through these, like the combs or (rods), completes through them that which His Father willeth.

5. But as time now presses for the consideration of the question immediately in hand, and as what has been already said in the introduction with regard to the glory of God, may suffice, it is proper that we take the Holy Scriptures themselves in hand, and find out from them what, and of what manner, the coming of Antichrist is; on what occasion and at what time that implores one shall be revealed; and whence and from what I tribe (he shall come); and what his name is, which is indicated by the number in the Scripture; and how he shall work error among the people, gathering them from the ends of the earth; and (how) he shall stir up tribulation and persecution against the saints; and how he shall glorify himself as God; and what his end shall be; and how the sudden appearing of the Lord shall be revealed froth heaven; and what the conflagration of the whole world shall be; and what the glorious and heavenly kingdom of the saints is to be, when they reign together with Christ; and what the punishment of the wicked by fire.

6. Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of under the figure of a lion, on account of His royalty and glory, in the same way have the Scriptures also aforetime spoken of Antichrist as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is also a lion; Christ is a king, so Antichrist is also a king. The Saviour was manifested as a lamb; so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf. The Saviour came into the World in the circumcision, and he will come in the same manner. The Lord sent apostles among all the nations, and he in like manner will send false apostles. The Saviour gathered together the sheep that were scattered abroad, and he in like manner will bring together a people that is scattered abroad. The Lord gave a seal to those who believed on Him, and he will give one like manner. The Saviour appeared in the form of man, and he too will come in the form of a man. The Saviour raised up and showed His holy flesh like a temple, and he will raise a temple of stone in Jerusalem. And his seductive arts we shall exhibit in what follows. But for the present let us turn to the question in hand.

7. Now the blessed Jacob speaks to the following effect in his benedictions, testifying prophetically of our Lord and Saviour: "Judah, let thy brethren praise thee: thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the shoot, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lion's whelp; who shall rouse him up? A ruler shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he come for whom it is reserved; and he shall be the expectation of the nations. Binding his ass to a vine, and his ass's colt to the vine tendril; he shall wash his garment in wine, and his clothes in the blood of the grapes. His eyes shall be gladsome as with wine, and his teeth shall be whiter than milk."

8. Knowing, then, as I do, how to explain these things in detail, I deem it right at present to quote the words themselves. But since the expressions themselves urge us to speak of them. I shall not omit to do so. For these are truly divine and glorious things, and things well calculated to benefit the soul. The prophet, in using the expression, a lion's whelp, means him who sprang from Judah and David according to the flesh, who was not made indeed of the seed of David, but was conceived by the (power of the) Holy Ghost, and came forth from the holy shoot of earth. For Isaiah says, "There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall grow up out of it." That which is called by Isaiah a flower, Jacob calls a shoot. For first he shot forth, and then he flourished in the world. And the expression, "he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lion's whelp," refers to the three days' sleep (death, couching) of Christ; as also Isaiah says, "How is faithful Sion become an harlot! it was full of judgment; in which righteousness lodged (couched); but now murderers." And David says to the same effect, "I laid me down (couched) and slept; I awaked: for the Lord will sustain me;" in which words he points to the fact of his sleep and rising again. And Jacob says, "Who shall rouse him up?" And that is just what David and Paul both refer to, as when Paul says, "and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead."

9. And in saying, "A ruler shall not depart from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he come for whom it is reserved; and he shall be the expectation of the nations," he referred the fulfilment (of that prophecy) to Christ. For He is our expectation. For we expect Him, (and) by faith we behold Him as He comes from heaven with power.

10. "Binding his ass to a vine:" that means that He unites His people of the circumcision with His own calling (vocation). For He was the vine. "And his ass's colt to the vine-tendril:" that denotes the people of the Gentiles, as He calls the circumcision and the uncircumcision unto one faith.

11. "He shall wash his garment in wine," that is, according to that voice of His Father which came down by the Holy Ghost at the Jordan. "And his clothes in the blood of the grape." In the blood of what grape, then, but just His own flesh, which hung upon the tree like a cluster of grapes?--from whose side also flowed two streams, of blood and water, in which the nations are washed and purified, which (nations) He may be supposed to have as a robe about Him.

12. "His eyes gladsome with wine." And what are the eyes of Christ but the blessed prophets, who foresaw in the Spirit, and announced beforehand, the sufferings that were to befall Him, and rejoiced in seeing Him in power with spiritual eyes, being furnished (for their vocation) by the word Himself and His grace?

13. And in saying, "And his teeth (shall be) whiter than milk," he referred to the commandments that proceed from the holy mouth of Christ, and which are pure (purify) as milk.

14. Thus did the Scriptures preach before-time of this lion and lion's whelp. And in like manner also we find it written regarding Antichrist. For Moses speaks thus: "Dan is a lion's whelp, and he shall leap from Bashan." But that no one may err by supposing that this is said of the Saviour, let him attend carefully to the matter. "Dan," he says, "is a lion's whelp;" and in naming the tribe of Dan, he declared clearly the tribe from which Antichrist is destined to spring. For as Christ springs from the tribe of Judah, so Antichrist is to spring from the tribe of Dan. And that the case stands thus, we see also from the words of Jacob: "Let Dan be 'a serpent, lying upon the ground, biting the horse's heel." What, then, is meant by the serpent but Antichrist, that deceiver who is mentioned in Genesis, who deceived Eve and supplanted Adam (pternisas, bruised Adam's heel)? But since it is necessary to prove this assertion by sufficient testimony, we shall not shrink from the task.

15. That it is in reality out of the tribe of Dan, then, that that tyrant and king, that dread judge, that son of the devil, is destined to spring and arise, the prophet testifies when he says, "Dan shall judge his people, as (he is) also one tribe in Israel." But some one may say that this refers to Samson, who sprang from the tribe of Dan, and judged the people twenty years. Well, the prophecy had its partial fulfilment in Samson, but its complete fulfilment is reserved for Antichrist. For Jeremiah also speaks to this effect: "From Dan we are to hear the sound of the swiftness of his horses: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing, of the driving of his horses." And another prophet says: "He shall gather together all his strength, from the east even to the west. They whom he calls, and they whom he calls not, shall go with him. He shall make the sea white with the sails of his ships, and the plain black with the shields of his armaments. And whosoever shall oppose him in war shall fall by the sword." That these things, then, are said of no one else but that tyrant, and shameless one, and adversary of God, we shall show in what follows.

16. But Isaiah also speaks thus: "And it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will punish (visit) the stout mind, the king of Assyria, and the greatness (height) of the glory of his eyes. For he said, By my strength will I do it, and by the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the bounds of the peoples, and will rob them of their strength: and I will make the inhabited cities tremble, and will gather the whole world in my hand like a nest, and I will lift it up like eggs that are left. And there is no one that shall escape or gainsay me, and open the mouth and chatter. Shall the axe boast itself without him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself without him that shaketh (draweth) it? As if one should raise a rod or a staff, and the staff should lift itself up: and not thus. But the Lord shall send dishonour unto thy honour; and into thy glory a burning fire shall burn. And the light of Israel shall be a fire, and shall sanctify him in flame, and shall consume the forest like grass."

17. And again he says in another place: "How bath the exactor ceased, and how hath the oppressor ceased! God hath broken the yoke of the rulers of sinners, He who smote the people in wrath, and with an incurable stroke: He that strikes the people with an incurable stroke, which He did not spare. He ceased (rested) confidently: the whole earth shouts with rejoicing. The trees of Lebanon rejoiced at thee, and the cedar of Lebanon, (saying), Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Hell from beneath is moved at meeting thee: all the mighty ones, the rulers of the earth, are gathered together--the lords from their thrones. All the kings of the nations, all they shall answer together, and shall say, And thou, too, art taken as we; and thou art reckoned among us. Thy pomp is brought down to earth, thy great rejoicing: they will spread decay under thee; and the worm shall be thy covering. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! He is cast down to the ground who sends off to all the nations. And thou didst say in thy mind, I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven: I will sit down upon the lofty mountains towards the north: I will ascend above the clouds: I will be like the Most High. Yet now thou shalt be brought down to hell, and to the foundations of the earth! They that see thee shall wonder at thee, and shall say, This is the man that excited the earth, that did shake kings, that made the whole world a wilderness, and destroyed the cities, that released not those in prison. All the kings of the earth did lie in honour, every one in his own house; but thou shall be cast out on the mountains like a loathsome carcase, with many who fall, pierced through with the sword, and going down to hell. As a garment stained with blood is not pure, so neither shall thou be comely (or clean); because thou hast destroyed my land, and slain my people. Thou shalt not abide, enduring for ever, a wicked seed. Prepare thy children for slaughter, for the sins of thy father, that they rise not, neither possess my land."

18. Ezekiel also speaks of him to the same effect, thus: "Thus saith the Lord God, Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the sea; yet art thou a man, and not God, (though) thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God. Art thou wiser than Daniel? Have the wise not instructed thee in their wisdom? With thy wisdom or with thine understanding hast thou gotten thee power, and gold and silver in thy treasures? By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic hast thou increased thy power? Thy heart is lifted up in thy power. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God: behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, plagues from the nations: and they shall draw their swords against thee, and against the beauty of thy wisdom; and they shall level thy beauty to destruction; and they shall bring thee down; and thou shall die by the death of the wounded in the midst of the sea. Wilt thou yet say before them that slay thee, I am God? But thou art a man, and no God, in the hand of them that wound thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord."

19. These words then being thus presented, let us observe somewhat in detail what Daniel says in his visions. For in distinguishing the kingdoms that are to rise after these things, he showed also the coming of Antichrist in the last times, and the consummation of the whole world. In expounding the vision of Nebuchadnezzar, then, he speaks thus: "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image standing before thy face: the head of which was of fine gold, its arms and shoulders of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass, and its legs of iron, (and) its feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest, then, till that a stone was cut out without hands, and smote the image upon the feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to an end. Then were the clay, the iron, the brass, the silver, (and) the gold broken, and became like the chaff from the summer threshing-floor; and the strength (fulness) of the wind carried them away, and there was no place found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."

20. Now if we set Daniel's own visions also side by side with this, we shall have one exposition to give of the two together, and shall (be able to) show how concordant with each other they are, and how true. For he speaks thus: "I Daniel saw, and behold the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first (was) like a lioness, and had wings as of an eagle. I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. And behold a second beast like to a bear, and it was made stand on one part, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it. I beheld, and lo a beast like a leopard, and it had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl, and the beast had four heads. After this I saw, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; it had iron teeth and claws of brass, which devoured and brake in pieces, and it stamped the residue with the feet of it; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered its horns, and behold there came up among them another little horn, and before it there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots; and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things."

21. "I beheld till the thrones were set, and the Ancient of days did sit: and His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool: His throne was a flame of fire, His wheels were a burning fire. A stream of fire flowed before Him. Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood around Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake, till the beast was slain and per ished, and his body given to the burning of fire. And the dominion of the other beasts was taken away."

22. "I saw in the night vision, and, behold, one like the Son of man was coming with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and was brought near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and honour, and the kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed."

23. Now since these things, spoken as they are with a mystical meaning, may seem to some hard to understand, we shall keep back nothing fitted to impart an intelligent apprehension of them to those who are possessed of a sound mind. He said, then, that a "lioness came up from the sea," and by that he meant the kingdom of the Babylonians in the world, which also was the head of gold on the image. In saying that "it had wings as of an eagle," he meant that Nebuchadnezzar the king was lifted up and was exalted against God. Then he says, "the wings thereof were plucked," that is to say, his glory was destroyed; for he was driven out of his kingdom. And the words, "a man's heart was given to it, and it was made stand upon the feet as a man," refer to the fact that he repented and recognised himself to be only a man, and gave the glory to God.

24. Then, after the lioness, he sees a "second beast like a bear," and that denoted the Persians. For after the Babylonians, the Persians held the sovereign power And in saving that there were "three ribs in the mouth of it," he pointed to three nations, viz., the Persians, and the Medes, and the Babylonians; which were also represented on the image by the silver after the gold. Then (there was) "the third beast, a leopard," which meant the Greeks. For after the Persians, Alexander of Macedon obtained the sovereign power on subverting Darius, as is also shown by the brass on the image. And in saying that it had "four wings of a fowl," he taught us most clearly how the kingdom of Alexander was partitioned. For in speaking of "four heads," he made mention of four kings, viz., those who arose out of that (kingdom). For Alexander, when dying, partitioned out his kingdom into four divisions.

25. Then he says: "A fourth beast, dreadful and terrible; it had iron teeth and claws of brass." And who are these but the Romans? which (kingdom) is meant by the iron--the kingdom which is now established; for the legs of that (image) were of iron. And after this, what remains, beloved, but the toes of the feet of the image, in which part is iron and part clay, mixed together?

And mystically by the toes of the feet he meant the kings who are to arise from among them; as Daniel also says (in the words), "I considered the beast, and lo there were ten horns behind it, among which shall rise another (horn), an offshoot, and shall pluck up by the roots the three (that were) before it."

And under this was signified none other than Antichrist, who is also himself to raise the kingdom of the Jews. He says that three horns are plucked up by the root by him, viz., the three kings of Egypt, and Libya, and Ethiopia, whom he cuts off in the array of battle. And he, after gaining terrible power over all, being nevertheless a tyrant, shall stir up tribulation and persecution against men, exalting himself against them. For Daniel says: "I considered the horn, and behold that horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, till the beast was slain and perished, and its body was given to the burning of fire."

26. After a little space the stone will come from heaven which smites the image and breaks it in pieces, and subverts all the kingdoms, and gives the kingdom to the saints of the Most High. This is the stone which becomes a great mountain, and fills the whole earth, of which Daniel says: "I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and was brought near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, tribes, and languages shall serve Him: and His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed." He showed all power given by the Father to the Son, who is ordained Lord of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and Judge of all: of things in heaven, because He was born, the Word of God, before all (ages); and of things on earth, because He became man in the midst of men, to re-create our Adam through Himself; and of things under the earth, because He was also reckoned among the dead, preaching the Gospel to the souls of the saints, (and) by death overcoming death.

27. As these things, then, are in the future, and as the ten toes of the image are equivalent to (so many) democracies, and the ten horns of the fourth beast are distributed over ten kingdoms, let us look at the subject a little more closely, and consider these matters as in the clear light of a personal survey.

28. The golden head of the image and the lioness denoted the Babylonians; the shoulders and arms of silver, and the bear, represented the Persians and Medes; the belly and thighs of brass, and the leopard, meant the Greeks, who held the sovereignty from Alexander's time; the legs of iron, and the beast dreadful and terrible, expressed the Romans, who hold the sovereignty at present; the toes of the feet which were part clay and part iron, and the ten horns, were emblems of the kingdoms that are yet to rise; the other little horn that grows up among them meant the Antichrist in their midst; the stone that smites the earth and brings judgment upon the world was Christ.

29. These things, beloved, we impart to you with fear, and yet readily, on account of the love of Christ, which surpasseth all. For if the blessed prophets who preceded us did not choose to proclaim these things, though they knew them, openly and boldly, lest they should disquiet the souls of men, but recounted them mystically in parables and dark sayings, speaking thus, "Here is the mind which hath wisdom," how much greater risk shall we run in venturing to declare openly things spoken by them in obscure terms! Let us look, therefore, at the things which are to befall this unclean harlot in the last days; and (let us consider) what and what manner of tribulation is destined to visit her in the wrath of God before the judgment as an earnest of her doom.

30. Come, then, O blessed Isaiah; arise, tell us clearly what thou didst prophesy with respect to the mighty Babylon. For thou didst speak also of Jerusalem, and thy word is accomplished. For thou didst speak boldly and openly: "Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by many strangers. The daughter of Sion shall be left as a cottage in a vineyard, and as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city."

What then? Are not these things come to pass? Are not the things announced by thee fulfilled? Is not their country, Judea, desolate? Is not the holy place burned with fire? Are not their walls cast down? Are not their cities destroyed? Their land, do not strangers devour it? Do not the Romans rule the country? And indeed these impious people hated thee, and did saw thee asunder, and they crucified Christ. Thou art dead in the world, but thou livest in Christ.

31. Which of you, then, shall I esteem more than thee? Yet Jeremiah, too, is stoned. But if I should esteem Jeremiah most, yet Daniel too has his testimony. Daniel, I commend thee above all; yet John too gives no false witness. With how many mouths and tongues would I praise you; or rather the Word who spake in you! Ye died with Christ; and ye will live with Christ. Hear ye, and rejoice; behold the things announced by you have been fulfilled in their time. For ye saw these things yourselves first, and then ye proclaimed them to all generations. Ye ministered the oracles of God to all generations. Ye prophets were called, that ye might be able to save all. For then is one a prophet indeed, when, having announced beforetime things about to be, he can afterwards show that they have actually happened. Ye were the disciples of a good Master. These words I address to you as if alive, and with propriety. For ye hold already the crown of life and immortality which is laid up for you in heaven.

32. Speak with me, O blessed Daniel. Give me full assurance, I beseech thee. Thou dost prophesy concerning the lioness in Babylon; for thou wast a captive there. Thou hast unfolded the future regarding the bear; for thou wast still in the world, and didst see the things come to pass. Then thou speakest to me of the leopard; and whence canst thou know this, for thou art already gone to thy rest? Who instructed thee to announce these things, but He who formed thee in (from) thy mother's womb? That is God, thou sayest. Thou hast spoken indeed, and that not falsely. The leopard has arisen; the he-goat is come; he hath smitten the ram; he hath broken his horns in pieces; he hath stamped upon him with his feet. He has been exalted by his fall; (the) four horns have come up from under that one. Rejoice, blessed Daniel! thou hast not been in error: all these things have come to pass.

33. After this again thou hast told me of the beast dreadful and terrible. "It had iron teeth and claws of brass: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it." Already the iron rules; already it subdues and breaks all in pieces; already it brings all the unwilling into subjection; already we see these things ourselves. Now we glorify God, being instructed by thee.

34. But as the task before us was to speak of the harlot, be thou with us, O blessed Isaiah.

Let us mark what thou sayest about Babylon. "Come down, sit upon the ground, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit, O daughter of the Chaldeans; thou shalt no longer be called tender and delicate. Take the millstone, grind meal, draw aside thy veil, shave the grey hairs, make bare the legs, pass over the rivers. Thy shame shall be uncovered, thy reproach shall be seen: I will take justice of thee, I will no more give thee over to men. As for thy Redeemer, (He is) the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel is his name. Sit thou in compunction, get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: thou shall no longer be called the strength of the kingdom.

35. "I was wroth with my people; I have polluted mine inheritance, I have given them into thine hand: and thou didst show them no mercy; but upon the ancient (the elders) thou hast very heavily laid thy yoke. And thou saidst, I shall be a princess for ever: thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember thy latter end. Therefore hear now this, thou that art delicate; that sittest, that art confident, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and there is none else; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children. But now these two things shall come upon thee in one day, widowhood and the loss of children: they shall come upon thee suddenly in thy sorcery, in the strength of thine enchantments mightily, in the hope of thy fornication. For thou hast said, I am, and there is none else. And thy fornication shall be thy shame, because thou hast said in thy heart, I am. And destruction shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know it. (And there shall be) a pit, and thou shalt full into it; and misery shall fall upon thee, and thou shalt not be able to be made clean; and destruction shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know it. Stand now with thy enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, which thou hast learned from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to be profited. Thou art wearied in thy counsels. Let the astrologers of the heavens stand and save thee; let the star-gazers announce to thee what shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall all be as sticks for the fire; so shall they be burned, and they shall not deliver their soul from the flame. Because thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them; so shall it be for thy help. Thou art wearied with change from thy youth. Man has gone astray (each one) by himself; and there shall be no salvation for thee." These things does Isaiah prophesy for thee. Let us see now whether John has spoken to the same effect.

36. For he sees, when in the isle Patmos, a revelation of awful mysteries, which he recounts freely, and makes known to others. Tell me, blessed John, apostle and disciple of the Lord, what didst thou see and hear concerning Babylon? Arise, and speak; for it sent thee also into banishment. "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of the fornication of the earth. Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.

37. "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder (whose name was not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world) when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet shall be.

38. "And here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not ye come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was and is not, (even he is the eighth,) and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

39. "And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

40. "After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues: for her sins did cleave even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her l iniquities.

41. "Reward her even as she rewarded (you), and double unto her double, according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication, and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man shall buy their merchandise any more. The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and spices, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and goats, and horses, and chariots, and slaves (bodies), and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly have perished from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas! that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! for in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried, when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city? And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas! that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her fatness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

42. "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye angels, and apostles, and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."

43. With respect, then, to the particular judgment in the torments that are to come upon it in the last times by the hand of the tyrants who shall arise then, the clearest statement has been given in these passages. But it becomes us further diligently to examine and set forth the period at which these things shall come to pass, and how the little horn shall spring up in their midst. For when the legs of iron have issued in the feet and toes, according to the similitude of the image and that of the terrible beast, as has been shown in the above, (then shall be the time) when the iron and the clay shall be mingled together. Now Daniel will set forth this subject to us. For he says, "And one week will make a covenant with many, and it shall be that in the midst (half) of the week my sacrifice and oblation shall cease." By one week, therefore, he meant the last week which is to be at the end of the whole world of which week the two prophets Enoch and Elias will take up the half. For they will preach 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth, proclaiming repentance to the people and to all the nations.

44. For as two advents of our Lord and Saviour are indicated in the Scriptures, the one being His first advent in the flesh, which took place without honour by reason of His being set at nought, as Isaiah spake of Him aforetime, saying, "We saw Him, and He had no form nor comeliness, but His form was despised (and) rejected (lit. = deficient) above all men; a man smitten and familiar with bearing infirmity, (for His face was turned away); He was despised, and esteemed not." But His second advent is announced as glorious, when He shall come from heaven with the host of angels, and the glory of His Father, as the prophet saith, "Ye shall see the King in glory;" and, "I saw one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven; and he came to the Ancient of days, and he was brought to Him. And there were given Him dominion, and honour, and glory, and the kingdom; all tribes and languages shall serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away." Thus also two forerunners were indicated. The first was John the son of Zacharias, who appeared in all things a forerunner and herald of our Saviour, preaching of the heavenly light that had appeared in the world. He first fulfilled the course of forerunner, and that from his mother's womb, being conceived by Elisabeth, in order that to those, too, who are children from their mother's womb he might declare the new birth that was to take place for their sakes by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin.

45. He, on hearing the salutation addressed to Elisabeth, leaped with joy in his mother's womb, recognising God the Word conceived in the womb of the Virgin. Thereafter he came forward preaching in the wilderness, proclaiming the baptism of repentance to the people, (and thus) announcing prophetically salvation to the nations living in the wilderness of the world. After this, at the Jordan, seeing the Saviour with his own eye, he points Him out, and says, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!" He also first preached to those in Hades, becoming a forerunner there when he was put to death by Herod, that there too he might intimate that the Saviour would descend to ransom the souls of the saints from the hand of death.

46. But since the Saviour was the beginning of the resurrection of all men, it was meet that the Lord alone should rise from the dead, by whom too the judgment is to enter for the whole world, that they who have wrestled worthily may be also crowned worthily by Him, by the illustrious Arbiter, to wit, who Himself first accomplished the course, and was received into the heavens, and was set down on the right hand of God the Father, and is to be manifested again at the end of the world as Judge. It is a matter of course that His forerunners must appear first, as He says by Malachi and the angel, "I will send to you Elias the Tishbite before the day of the Lord, the great and notable day, comes; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, lest i come and smite the earth utterly." These, then, shall come and proclaim the manifestation of Christ that is to be from heaven; and they shall also perform signs and wonders, in order that men may be put to shame and turned to repentance for their surpassing wickedness and impiety.

47. For John says, "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." That is the half of the week whereof Daniel spake. "These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire will proceed out of their mouth, and devour their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; and have power over waters, to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their course and their testimony," what saith the prophet? "the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them," because they will not give glory to Antichrist. For this is meant by the little horn that grows up. He, being now elated in heart, begins to exalt himself, and to glorify himself as God, persecuting the saints and blaspheming Christ, even as Daniel says, "I considered the horn, and, behold, in the horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things; and he opened his mouth to blaspheme God.

And that born made war against the saints, and prevailed against them until the beast was slain, and perished, and his body was given to be burned."

48. But as it is incumbent on us to discuss this matter of the beast more exactly, and in particular the question how the Holy Spirit has also mystically indicated his name by means of a number, we shall proceed to state more clearly what bears upon him. John then speaks thus: "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns, like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exercised all the power of the first beast before him; and he made the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he did great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for if is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six."

49. By the beast, then, coming up out of the earth, he means the kingdom of Antichrist; and by the two horns he means him and the false prophet after him. And in speaking of "the horns being like a lamb," he means that he will make himself like the Son of God, and set himself forward as king. And the terms, "he spake like a dragon," mean that he is a deceiver, and not truthful. And the words, "he exercised all the power of the first beast before him, and caused the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed," signify that, after the manner of the law of Augustus, by whom the empire of Rome was established, he too will rule and govern, sanctioning everything by it, and taking greater glory to himself.

For this is the fourth beast, whose head was wounded and healed again, in its being broken up or even dishonoured, and partitioned into four crowns; and he then (Antichrist) shall with knavish skill heal it, as it were, and restore it. For this is what is meant by the prophet when he says, "He will give life unto the image, and the image of the beast will speak." For he will act with vigour again, and prove strong by reason of the laws established by him; and he will cause all those who will not worship the image of the beast to be put to death. Here the faith and the patience of the saints will appear, for he says: "And he will cause all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead; that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, the name of the beast, or the number of his name." For, being full of guile, and exalting himself against the servants of God, with the wish to afflict them and persecute them out of the world, because they give not glory to him, he will order incense-pans to be set up by all everywhere, that no man among the saints may be able to buy or sell without first sacrificing; for this is what is meant by the mark received upon the right hand. And the word--"in their forehead"--indicates that all are crowned, and put on a crown of fire, and not of life, but of death. For in ibis wise, too, did Antiochus Epiphanes the king of Syria, the descendant of Alexander of Macedon, devise measures against the Jews. He, too, in the exaltation of his heart, issued a decree in those times, that "all should set up shrines before their doors, and sacrifice, and that they should march in procession to the honour of Dionysus, waving chaplets of ivy;" and that those who refused obedience should be put to death by strangulation and torture. But he also met his due recompense at the hand of the Lord, the righteous Judge and all-searching God; for he died eaten up of worms. And if one desires to inquire into that more accurately, he will find it recorded in the books of the Maccabees.

50. But now we shall speak of what is before us. For such measures will he, too, devise, seeking to afflict the saints in every way. For the prophet and apostle says: "Here is wisdom, Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six." With respect to his name, it is not in our power to explain it exactly, as the blessed John understood it and was instructed about it, but only to give a conjectural account of it; for when he appears, the blessed one will show us what we seek to know. Yet as far as our doubtful apprehension of the matter goes, we may speak. Many names indeed we find, the letters of which are the equivalent of this number: such as, for instance, the word Titan, an ancient and notable name; or Evanthas, for it too makes up the same number; and many others which might be found. But, as we have already said, the wound of the first beast was healed, and he (the second beast) was to make the image speak, that is to say, he should be powerful; and it is manifest to all that those who at present still hold the power are Latins. If, then, we take the name as the name of a single man, it becomes Latins. Wherefore we ought neither to give it out as if this were certainly his name, nor again ignore the fact that he may not be otherwise designated. But having the mystery of God in our heart, we ought in fear to keep faithfully what has been told us by the blessed prophets, in order that when those things come to pass, we may be prepared for them, and not deceived. For when the times advance, he too, of whom these thing are said, will be manifested.

51. But not to confine ourselves to these words and arguments alone, for the purpose of convincing those who love to study the oracles of God, we shall demonstrate the matter by many other proofs. For Daniel says, "And these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon." Ammon and Moab are the children born to Lot by his daughters, and their race survives even now. And Isaiah says: "And they shall fly in the boats of strangers, plundering the sea together, and (they shall spoil) them of the east: and they shall lay hands upon Moab first; and the children of Ammon shall first obey them."

52. In those times, then, he shall arise and meet them. And when he has overmastered three horns out of the ten in the array of war, and has rooted these out, viz., Egypt, and Libya, and Ethiopia, and has got their spoils and trappings, and has brought the remaining horns which suffer into subjection, he will begin to be lifted up in heart, and to exalt himself against God as master of the whole world. And his first expedition will be against Tyre and Berytus, and the circumjacent territory. For by storming these cities first he will strike terror into the others, as Isaiah says, "Be thou ashamed, O Sidon; the sea hath spoken, even the strength of the sea hath spoken, saying, I travailed not, nor brought forth children; neither did I nurse up young men, nor bring up virgins. But when the report comes to Egypt, pain shall seize them for Tyre."

53. These things, then, shall be in the future, beloved; and when the three horns are cut off, he will begin to show himself as God, as Ezekiel has said aforetime: "Because thy heart has been lifted up, and thou hast said, I am God." And to the like effect Isaiah says: "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven: I will be like the Most High. Yet now thou shall be brought down to hell (Hades), to the foundations of the earth." In like manner also Ezekiel: "Wilt thou yet say to those who slay thee, I am God? But thou (shall be) a man, and no God."

54. As his tribe, then, and his manifestation, and his destruction, have been set forth in these words, and as his name has also been indicated mystically, let us look also at his action. For he will call together all the people to himself, out of every country of the dispersion, making them his own, as though they were his own children, and promising to restore their country, and establish again their kingdom and nation, in order that he may be worshipped by them as God, as the prophet says: "He will collect his whole kingdom, from the rising of the sun even to its setting: they whom he summons and they whom he does not summon shall march with him." And Jeremiah speaks of him thus in a parable: "The partridge cried, (and) gathered what he did not hatch, making himself riches without judgment: in the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool."

55. It will not be detrimental, therefore, to the course of our present argument, if we explain the art of that creature, and show that the prophet has not spoken without a purpose in using the parable (or similitude) of the creature. For as the partridge is a vainglorious creature, when it sees near at hand the nest of another partridge with young in it, and with the parent-bird away on the wing in quest of food, it imitates the cry of the other bird, and calls the young to itself; and they, taking it to be their own parent, run to it. And it delights itself proudly in the alien pullets as in its own. But when the real parent-bird returns, and calls them with its own familiar cry, the young recognise it, and forsake the deceiver, and betake themselves to the real parent. This thing, then, the prophet has adopted as a simile, applying it in a similar manner to Antichrist. For he will allure mankind to himself, wishing to gain possession of those who are not his own, and promising deliverance to all, while he is unable to save himself.

56. He then, having gathered to himself the unbelieving everywhere throughout the world, comes at their call to persecute the saints, their enemies and antagonists, as the apostle and evangelist says: "There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city, who came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her."

57. By the unrighteous judge, who fears not God, neither regards man, he means without doubt Antichrist, as he is a son of the devil and a vessel of Satan. For when he has the power, he will begin to exalt himself against God, neither in truth fearing God, nor regarding the Son of God, who is the Judge of all. And in saying that there was a widow in the city, he refers to Jerusalem itself, which is a widow indeed, forsaken of her perfect, heavenly spouse, God. She calls Him her adversary, and not her Saviour; for she does not understand that which was said by the prophet Jeremiah: "Because they obeyed not the truth, a spirit of error shall speak then to this people and to Jerusalem." And Isaiah also to the like effect: "Forasmuch as the people refuseth to drink the water of Siloam that goeth softly, but chooseth to have Rasin and Romeliah's son as king over you: therefore, lo, the Lord bringeth up upon you the water of the river, strong and full, even the king of Assyria." By the king he means metaphorically Antichrist, as also another prophet saith: "And this man shall be the peace from me, when the Assyrian shall come up into your land, and when he shall tread in your mountains."

58. And in like manner Moses, knowing beforehand that the people would reject and disown the true Saviour of the world, and take part with error, and choose an earthly king, and set the heavenly King at nought, says: "Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? In the day of vengeance I will recompense (them), and in the time when their foot shall slide." They did slide, therefore, in all things, as they were found to be in harmony with the truth in nothing: neither as concerns the law, because they became transgressors; nor as concerns the prophets, because they cut off even the prophets themselves; nor as concerns the voice of the Gospels, because they crucified the Saviour Himself; nor in believing the apostles, because they persecuted them. At all times they showed themselves enemies and betrayers of the truth, and were found to be haters of God, and not lovers of Him; and such they shall be then when they find opportunity: for, rousing themselves against the servants of God, they will seek to obtain vengeance by the hand of a mortal man. And he, being puffed up with pride by their subserviency, will begin to despatch missives against the saints, commanding to cut them all off everywhere, on the ground of their refusal to reverence and worship him as God, according to the word of Esaias: "Woe to the wings of the vessels of the land, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: (woe to him) who sendeth sureties by the sea, and letters of papyrus (upon the water; for nimble messengers will go) to a nation anxious and expectant, and a people strange and bitter against them; a nation hopeless and trodden down."

59. But we who hope for the Son of God are persecuted and trodden down by those unbelievers. For the wings of the vessels are the churches; and the sea is the world, in which the Church is set, like a ship tossed in the deep, but not destroyed; for she has with her the skilled Pilot, Christ. And she bears in her midst also the trophy (which is erected) over death; for she carries with her the cross of the Lord. For her prow is the east, and her stern is the west, and her hold is the south, and her tillers are the two Testaments; and the ropes that stretch around her are the love of Christ, which binds the Church; and the net which she bears with her is the layer of the regeneration which renews the believing, whence too are these glories. As the wind the Spirit from heaven is present, by whom those who believe are sealed: she has also anchors of iron accompanying her, viz., the holy commandments of Christ Himself, which are strong as iron. She has also mariners on the right and on the left, assessors like the holy angels, by whom the Church is always governed and defended. The ladder in her leading up to the sailyard is an emblem of the passion of Christ, which brings the faithful to the ascent of heaven. And the top-sails aloft upon the yard are the company of prophets, martyrs, and apostles, who have entered into their rest in the kingdom of Christ.

60. Now, concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from the adversary, John also speaks thus: "And I saw a great and wondrous sign in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child, cries, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man-child, who is to rule all the nations: and the child was caught up unto God and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath the place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And then when the dragon saw it, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast (out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast) out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the saints of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus."

61. By the woman then clothed with the sun," he meant most manifestly the Church, endued wth the Father's word, whose brightness is above the sun. And by the "moon under her feet" he referred to her being adorned, like the moon, with heavenly glory. And the words, "upon her head a crown of twelve stars," refer to the twelve apostles by whom the Church was founded. And those, "she, being with child, cries, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered," mean that the Church will not cease to bear from her heart the Word that is persecuted by the unbelieving in the world. "And she brought forth," he says, "a man-child, who is to rule all the nations;" by which is meant that the Church, always bringing forth Christ, the perfect man-child of God, who is declared to be God and man, becomes the instructor of all the nations. And the words, "her child was caught up unto God and to His throne," signify that he who is always born of her is a heavenly king, and not an earthly; even as David also declared of old when he said, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." "And the dragon," he says, "saw and persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days (the half of the week) during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church, which flees from city to city, and seeks conceal-meat in the wilderness among the mountains, possessed of no other defence than the two wings of the great eagle, that is to say, the faith of Jesus Christ, who, in stretching forth His holy hands on the holy tree, unfolded two wings, the right and the left, and called to Him all who believed upon Him, and covered them as a hen her chickens. For by the mouth of Malachi also He speaks thus: "And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings."

62. The Lord also says, "When ye shall see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains, and let him which is on the housetop not come down to take his clothes; neither let him which is in the field return back to take anything out of his house. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved." And Daniel says, "And they shall place the abomination of desolation a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand two hundred and ninety-five days."

63. And the blessed Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, says: "Now we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together at it, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letters as from us, as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means; for (that day shall not come) except there come the falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped: so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth (will let), until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: (even him) whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." And Esaias says, "Let the wicked be cut off, that he behold not the glory of the Lord."

64. These things, then, being to come to pass, beloved, and the one week being divided into two parts, and the abomination of desolation being manifested then, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord having finished their course, and the whole world finally approaching the consummation, what remains but the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from heaven, for whom we have looked in hope? who shall bring the conflagration and just judgment upon all who have refused to believe on Him.

For the Lord says, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." "And there shall not a hair of your head perish." "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." Now the fall took place in paradise; for Adam fell there. And He says again, "Then shall the Son of man send His angels, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds of heaven." And David also, in announcing prophetically the judgment and coming of the Lord, says, "His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and His circuit unto the end of the heaven: and there is no one hid from the heat thereof." By the heat he means the conflagration. And Esaias speaks thus: "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chamber, (and) shut thy door: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation of the Lord be overpast." And Paul in like manner: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth of God in unrighteousness."

65. Moreover, concerning the resurrection and the kingdom of the saints, Daniel says, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life, (and some to shame and everlasting contempt)." Esaias says, "The dead men shall arise, and they that are in their tombs shall awake; for the dew from thee is healing to them." The Lord says, "Many in that day shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." And the prophet says, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." And John says, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power." For the second death is the lake of fire that burneth. And again the Lord says, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun shineth in his glory." And to the saints He will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." But what saith He to the wicked? "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, which my Father hath prepared." And John says, "Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever maketh and loveth a lie; for your part is in the hell of fire." And in like manner also Esaias: "And they shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me. And their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh."

66. Concerning the resurrection of the righteous, Paul also speaks thus in writing to the Thessalonians: "We would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive (and) remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice and trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive (and) remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

67. These things, then, I have set shortly before thee, O Theophilus, drawing them from Scripture itself, in order that, maintaining in faith what is written, and anticipating the things that are to be, thou mayest keep thyself void of offence both toward God and toward men, "looking for that blessed hope and appearing of our God and Saviour," when, having raised the saints among us, He will rejoice with them, glorifying the Father. To Him be the glory unto the endless ages of the ages. Amen.