"He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already" (John 3:18).

He who believes in Christ the Lord is not condemned, for he judges himself, and directs his footsteps toward the light that goes before him. As a man in profound darkness adjusts his footsteps according to the candle in his hand, so does the one who believes in Christ--he has embarked after Christ as after a light in the darkness of life.
He who does not believe is condemned already. That is, he who does not have a guide on the unknown path loses his way and strays as soon as he takes the first step. He who does not believe in Christ is condemned to ignorance, weakness, anger, staggering along crooked and winding roads, vice, despair and perhaps even suicide. He is condemned in two worlds: in this world to a senseless, physical and delusory existence, and in the other world to eternal damnation!

Sinners that repent are still saved; both publicans and fornicators cleansed by repentance enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The compassionate God still calls to Himself all that have turned away, and He awaits them and promises them mercy.

The loving Father still receives His prodigal sons come back from a far country and He opens the doors of His house and clothes them in the best robe, and gives them each a ring on their hand and shoes on their feet and commands all the saints to rejoice in them.

+ St. Tikhon of Zadonsk: Journey to Heaven, Part II: The Way of Salvation

Sunday of the Prodigal Son

"Of what great blessings in my wretchedness have I deprived myself! From what a kingdom in my misery have I fallen! I have wanted the riches that were given to me, I have transgressed the commandment. Alas, unhappy soul! You are henceforth condemned to the eternal fire. Therefore before the end cry out to Christ our God: Receive me as the Prodigal Son, and have mercy upon me."

Lenten Troparia

The doors of repentance do Thou open to me, O Giver of life, for my spirit waketh at dawn to pray towards Thy holy temple, bearing the temple of my body all defiled. But in Thy compassion, cleanse it by the loving kindness of Thy mercy.

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

Guide me in the paths of repentance, O Theotokos, for I have defiled my soul with shameful sins, and wasted all my life in laziness, but by thine intercessions, deliver me from all uncleanness.

Both now and ever, and unto ages of ages, Amen.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of Thy compassions, blot out my transgression. When I think of the multitude of evil things I have done, I the wretched one, I tremble at the fearful Day of Judgment. But trusting in the mercy of Thy loving kindness; like David do I cry to Thee: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy!

“O great favourite of God, Prince Vladimir, equal of the apostles! Thou didst reject the false belief and impiety of the pagans. And, having received holy baptism, with the light of divine faith and piety thou didst illumine the whole land of Kievan Rus. Thou art our first leader to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Author and Accomplisher of our everlasting salvation; thou art the fervent intercessor and mediator for the civil authorities, the Christ-loving armed forces, and for all the people. O our all-good father and enlightener: look down upon our infirmities and entreat the all-merciful King of heaven, that He be not exceeding wroth with us; that He not destroy us in our iniquities, that He deliver us from internecine conflict; that He plant in our hearts the saving fear of Him; that He illumine our minds with His grace; and that we may understand the ways of the Lord. Entreat God Who loveth mankind, that He deliver us from the invasion of enemies, from internal strife, sedition and upheavals, and from every evil; that He grant us to have love one for another and oneness of mind, and that, living thus in peace on earth, we may be counted worthy with thee of the blessings of heaven, praising and exalting God supremely forever. Amen.”

“Such a war has no excuse, neither from God nor from people.” --Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine

All dioceses and monasteries of the Ukrainian Church (Moscow Patriarchate) are offering comprehensive assistance to refugees and victims in the midst of the current conflict. All Kiev church basements are available as shelters from shelling and bombing.

Sunday of the Dread Judgement

“Woe unto thee, O darkened soul! For how long wilt thou not cease from evil? How long wilt thou lie prostrate in sloth- fulness? Why dost thou not bring to mind the dread hour of death? Why dost thou in no wise tremble at the terrible tribunal of the Saviour? What, perchance, shalt thou say in defense of thyself, or what answer shalt thou give? Thy deeds are here to reproach thee. Thy works condemn and censure thee. Wherefore, O my soul, the time is at hand, run, hasten, cry out in faith: I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned before Thee, but I know Thy compassion, O Friend of man. O Good Shepherd, separate me not from those who stand at Thy right hand, for the sake of Thy great mercy.”

—The Aposticha of the Octoechos. (Vespers)Glory. Plagal of Fourth Tone

On the day before Meatfare Sunday, on which we remember the Last Judgment, the Orthodox Church prays for those of its members who may have died unexpectedly because of wars, plagues, starvation, or any other sort of death while they were in a foreign country, or while they were traveling by sea, by land, or by air. The Church also prays for the poor, or for those who may not have received a proper burial, or who had no one to request Memorial Services to be offered for them.


“Only Creator, with wisdom profound, You mercifully order all things, and give that which is needed to all men: Give rest, O Lord, to the souls of Your servants who have fallen asleep, for they have placed their trust in You, our Maker and Fashioner, and our God.”

—Troparion for Memorial Saturday of Meatfare

The Antichrist and the Signs of the End of the World, a Homily on the Last Judgement by St. John Maximovitch

Today Is The Sunday of the Dread Judgment, and it is natural for us to speak of the Dread Judgment and of the signs of the end of the world. No one knows that day; only God the Father knows; but the signs of its approach are given in the Gospel and in the Revelation [Apocalypse]of the holy Apostle John the Theologian. Revelation speaks of the events at the end of the world and of the Dread Judgment principally in images and in a concealed manner; but the Holy Fathers have explained it, and there is an authentic Church tradition that speaks to us both about the signs of the approach of the end of the world and about the Dread Judgment.

Before the end of life on earth there will be confusion, wars, civil strife, famine, and earthquakes. Men will suffer from fear; they will expire from the expectation of calamities. There will be no life, no joy of life, but a tormenting state of falling away from life. There will be a falling away not only from life, but from faith as well: when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).

Men will become proud and ungrateful, denying the Divine Law: together with a falling away from life there will be also a dearth of moral life.

There will be an exhaustion of good, and a growth of evil. The holy Apostle John the Theologian, in his divinely-inspired work, the Revelation, also speaks of this time. He himself says that he "was in the Spirit," which means that the Holy Spirit Himself was in him when the fate of the Church and the world was revealed to him in various images, and that is why it is God's Revelation.

He represents the fate of the Church in the image of a woman who, in those times, hides in the wilderness: she does not show herself in public life, just as in Russia today.

Those forces that are preparing the appearance of Antichrist will have a leading significance in public life. Antichrist will be a man and not the devil incarnate. "Ann" is a word meaning "old," or it means "in place of" or "against." That man wants to be in place of Christ, to occupy His place and possess that which Christ ought to possess. He wants to possess the same attraction and authority over the whole world.

And he will receive that authority before his own destruction and that of the whole world. He will have a helper, a Magus, who, by the power of false miracles, will fulfill his will and kill those that do not recognize the authority of Antichrist. Before the destruction of Antichrist, two righteous men will appear who will denounce him. The Magus will kill them and their bodies will lie unburied for three days, and Antichrist and all his servants will rejoice exceedingly. Then suddenly, those righteous men will resurrect, and the whole army of Antichrist will be in confusion and horror, and the Antichrist himself will suddenly fall dead, slain by the power of the Spirit.

But what is known about this man, Antichrist? His precise ancestry is unknown. His father is completely unknown, while his mother is a defiled, pretended virgin. He will be a Jew from the tribe of Dan. There is an indication of this, in that Jacob, when dying, said that Dan, in his posterity, would be a serpent by the way… biting the heel of the horse (and the rider shall fall backward) (Gen. 49:17). This is a figurative indication that he will act with craftiness and evil.

In Revelation, John the Theologian speaks of the salvation of the sons of Israel, that before the end of the world a multitude of Jews will be converted to Christ; but the tribe of Dan is not included in the enumeration of the tribes that are saved.

Antichrist will be very intelligent and gifted with the ability to deal with people. He will be charming and affectionate.

The philosopher Vladimir Soloviev worked extensively on this subject in order to present the advent and the personality of Antichrist. He made careful use of all relevant materials, not only Patristic, but also Muslim, and produced a very striking picture.

Before the advent of Antichrist, his appearance is already being prepared in the world. "The mystery is already at work" (2 Thess. 2:7), and the forces preparing his appearance struggle above all against lawful royal authority. The holy Apostle Paul says that Antichrist cannot appear until "he that restrains" is removed. John Chrysostom explains that "he that restrains" is the lawful, godly authority.

Such an authority struggles with evil. The "mystery" working in the world does not want this; it does not want an authority that wars against evil; on the contrary, it wants an authority of iniquity, and when it succeeds in bringing this about, then nothing will stand in the way of the coming of Antichrist. He will be not only intelligent and charming: he will be compassionate, he will be charitable and do good, for the sake of consolidating his power. And when he will have strengthened it sufficiently, so that the whole world acknowledges him, then he will show his real face.

He will choose Jerusalem as his capital, because it was here that the Saviour revealed His Divine teaching and His Person, and the whole world was called to the blessedness of goodness and salvation.

But the world did not accept Christ and crucified Him in Jerusalem; while under Antichrist, Jerusalem will become the capital of the world that has recognized the authority of Antichrist.

Once having attained the summit of power, Antichrist will demand that men acknowledge his attainment as something to which no other earthly power and no other man could possibly attain, and he will demand that men bow down to him as to a superior being, a god.

Soloviev describes well the character of his activity as Supreme Ruler. He will do what pleases men, on the condition that they recognize his Supreme Authority. He will let the Church function, and allow her to hold Divine services, he will promise to build magnificent temples—provided he is recognized as the "Supreme Being" and that he is worshipped. He will have a personal hatred for Christ. He will live by this hatred and will rejoice at seeing men apostatize from Christ and the Church. There will be a mass falling away from the faith; even many bishops will betray the faith, justifying themselves by pointing to the splendid position of the Church.

A search for compromise will be the characteristic disposition of men. Straightforwardness of confession will vanish. Men will cleverly justify their fall, and an endearing evil will support such a general disposition. Men will grow accustomed to apostasy from the truth and to the sweetness of compromise and sin.

Antichrist will allow men everything, if only they "fall down and worship him." This is not something new. The Roman emperors were similarly prepared to grant the Christians freedom, if only they recognized [the emperor's] divinity and divine supreme authority; they martyred Christians only because they professed: "Worship God Alone and serve Him Alone."

The whole world will submit to him, and then he will reveal his hatred for Christ and Christianity. Saint John the Theologian says that all who worship him will have a mark on their forehead and right hand. It is not clear whether this will be an actual mark on the body, or if this is a figurative expression of the fact that men will acknowledge in their minds the necessity of worshipping Antichrist, as well as submit their wills to him. And when the whole world manifests such a complete submission—of both will and conscience—then the two righteous men already mentioned will appear and will fearlessly preach the faith and expose Antichrist.

Holy Scripture says that before the coming of the Saviour two "lamps," will appear, two "burning olive trees," "two righteous men." Antichrist will kill them by the power of the Magus. Who are these men? According to Church tradition, these are the two righteous who never tasted of death: the Prophet Elias and the Prophet Enoch. There is a prophecy that these saints, who had not tasted of death, will taste it for three days; but after three days they will resurrect.
Their death will be a great joy for Antichrist and his servants. Their rising three days later will bring them unspeakable horror, terror and confusion. And then will come the end of the world.

The Apostle Peter says that the first world was created out of water and perished by water. "Out of water" is also an image of the chaos of the physical mass, while “perished by water" is an image of the Flood. And now the world is reserved unto fire.....The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up (2 Peter 3:7-10). All the elements will melt. This present world will perish in a single instant. In an instant everything will change.

And the sign of the Son of God will appear, that is, the sign of the Cross. The whole world, having willingly submitted to Antichrist, "will break out in lamentation," Everything is finished. Antichrist is slain. The end of his kingdom, the end of the war with Christ. The end, and accountability for one's whole life, an account to the True God.

Then, from the mountains of Palestine, the Ark of the Covenant will appear. The Prophet Jeremiah hid the Ark and the Holy Fire in a deep well.

When they took water from that well, it burst into flame. But the Ark itself they did not find.

When we look at life today, those able to see, see that everything foretold about the end of the world is being fulfilled.

Who then is this man — Antichrist? Saint John the Theologian figuratively gives him the name 666; but all attempts to understand this designation have been futile.
The life of the contemporary world gives us a fairly clear understanding of the possibility of the world burning up, when all the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Atomic fission gives us that understanding.

The end of the world does not signify its annihilation, but its transformation. Everything will be changed, suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye. The dead will resurrect in new bodies — their own, but renewed — just as the Saviour arose in His Body, and on it were the traces of the wounds from the nails and the spear; but it possessed new properties, and in this respect it was a new body. It is unclear whether this will be an altogether new body or that with which man was created.

And the Lord will appear on the clouds with glory. How will we see Him? With our spiritual eyes. Even now, at death, righteous people see that which other people around them do not see.

The trumpets will sound, loud and powerful. They will trumpet in men's souls, in their conscience. Everything in the human conscience will become clear.

The Prophet Daniel, speaking of the Dread Judgment, relates how the Ancient of Days, the judge, is on His throne, and before Him is a river of fire. Fire is a purifying element. Fire scorches sin, it burns it up, and woe also burns it up; if sin has become natural to a man, then it burns up the man himself as well.

That fire will flare up inside a man: on seeing the Cross, some will rejoice, while others will fall into despair, confusion, terror. In this way, men will immediately be separated. In the Gospel narrative, some stand to the right of the Judge, some to the left — their inner consciousness separated them. The very state of a man's soul casts him to one side or the other, to the right or to the left.

The more consciously and persistently a man strives toward God in his life, the greater will be his joy when he hears the words: "Come unto Me, ye blessed"; and conversely, those same words will call forth the fire of horror and torment on those who did not want Him, who fled or fought or blasphemed Him during their life.

The Dread Judgment knows no witnesses or charge-sheets. Everything is recorded in men's souls, and these records, these "books" are open. Everything becomes clear to all and to oneself, and the state of a man's soul assigns him to the right or to the left.

Some go to joy, others to horror.

When the "books" are open, it will become clear to all that the roots of all vices are in man's soul. Here is a drunkard, a fornicator; some may think that when the body dies the sin dies as well. No; the inclination was in the soul, and to the soul the sin was sweet.

And if the soul has not repented of that sin and has not become free of it, it will come to the Dread Judgment with the same desire for the sweetness of sin and will never satisfy its desire. In it will be the suffering of hatred and malice. This is the state of hell.

The "fiery Gehenna" is the inner fire; this is the flame of vice, the flame of weakness and malice; and there will be the wailing and gnashing of teeth of impotent malice.

The soul is restored to health by silence. It is therefore necessary to train oneself to silence — and this is a labor that brings sweetness to the heart. It is through silence that a man reaches peace from unwanted thoughts.

+St Isaac the Syrian

Give something, however small, to the one in need. For it is not small to one who has nothing. Neither is it small to God, if we have given what we could.

☦️Saint Gregory the Theologian