St. Methodius of Olympus, 311
Feastday 18th September
Born not known
Died 311
Bishop of Olympus in Lycia, Asia Minor and Martyr. St Methodius was a theological writer admired by St Jerome and who had a very comprehensive philosophical education. He was an important Theologian as well as a prolific and polished author.
Introduction
“A day will come when the enemies of Christ will boast of having conquered the whole world. They will say “Christians cannot escape now!” But a great King will arise to fight the enemies of God. He will defeat them and peace will be given to the world, and the Church freed from her anxieties.” 1
"In the last period Christians will not appreciate the great grace of God who provided a monarch, a long duration of peace, a splendid fertility of the earth. They will be very ungrateful, lead a sinful life, in pride, vanity, unchastity, frivolity, hatred, avarice, gluttony, and many other vices, [so] that the sins of men will stink more than a pestilence before God. Many will doubt whether the Catholic faith is the true and only saving one and whether the Jews are correct when they still expect the Messiah. Many will be the false teachings and resultant bewilderment. The just God will in consequence give Lucifer and all his devils power to come on earth and tempt his godless creatures.” 2
“[26-27]
...the rulers of the Greeks, that is, the Romans, will fall upon the point of
the sword. Just as the Romans killed the rulers of the Hebrews and Greeks, so
they themselves will fall upon the point of the sword of the seed of Ishmael,
who was called the wild ass, because in anger and wrath they will be dispatched
on the face of the earth against men, cattle, all wild beasts, plants and every
kind of fruit.” 3
“[28-33]
The land of Persia... Cappadocia... Sicily will become desolate and her
inhabitants will meet slaughter and captivity. Hellas... Romania [Asia Minor]
will undergo destruction and her inhabitants put to flight. The islands of the
sea will become desolate and their inhabitants will perish through the sword
and captivity. Egypt, the East, and Syria will be loaded with an immeasurable
yoke of affliction. They mercilessly will be pressed into service and their
souls will be lured by an irresistable amount of gold... The hearts of the
destroyers will be uplifted and raised in contempt and they will babble
incessantly until their appointed time... All men will be under their yoke and
birds and all waters of the sea will be subject to them, and the deserts, where
their inhabitants hunt, will be theirs. They will register claim for themselves
of the mountains as well as the deserts, ... They will have no mercy on
labourers, the poor, they will dishonour the aged and will afflict and have no
mercy on the weak and infirm, but will mock and laugh at those who are
distinguished in wisdom and in political and civic affairs. Everyone will be
shamed into silence and will be afraid since they will not have the strength to
reply or say anything plainly. All of the inhabitants of the earth will be
astonished, and their wisdom and education, of evil origin, will be powerless
to retort to or alter their [the Arabs'] proclamations. Their course will be
from sea to sea, from east to west, and from the north to the desert of
Ethribus... For apostasy is education and it will educate all of the earth's
inhabitants... “ 4
The Moslem Crisis
“In
the final seventh millennium the Persian empire will be wiped out. In this
seventh millennium the seed of Ishmael will begin to go forth from the desert
of Ethribus. When they have gone forth, they will all assemble at the great
Gabaoth and there will be completed the saying of Ezekiel the prophet:
"Son of man," he said, "call the beasts of the field and the
birds of the air and exhort them saying, ‘Gather yourselves together and come
since I will give you a great sacrifice, to eat the flesh of strong men and
drink the blood of the mighty* " (Ezek. 39:17).. . . And so the Lord God
will give them (i.e., the sons of Ishmael) the power to conquer the land of the
Christians, not because he loves them, but because of the sin and iniquity
committed by the Christians. Such sins have not nor shall be committed for all
generations. Men will get themselves up as false women wearing prostitutes*
clothes. Standing in the streets and squares of the cities openly before all
they will be adorned like women; they will exchange natural sex for that which
is against nature. As the blessed and holy Apostle says, "men have acted
like women" (Rom. 1:26—7))" A father, his son, his brothers, and all
the relatives will be seen to unite with one woman.” 5
“For
this reason they will be given over by God into the hands of the barbarians
from whom they will sink into all uncleanness and stink of pollution. Their
women will be contaminated by filthy barbarians and the sons of Ishmael will
cast lots for their sons and daughters. The land of the Persians is handed over
to corruption and destruction, its inhabitants led away to captivity and death.
They also attack Armenia and those who dwell there fall into captivity by the
sword. . . . The land of Syria will be empty and reduced; those dwelling in her
will perish by the sword. . . . Egypt and the East and Syria will be under the
yoke and hemmed in by great tribulations. They will be constrained without
mercy; weight of gold and silver beyond their strength will be eagerly desired
of them. The inhabitants of Egypt and Syria will be in trouble and affliction,
seven times the greater for those in captivity. The Land of Promise will be
filled with men from the four winds under heaven.” 6
The Last World Emperor
“Then suddenly tribulation and distress will arise against them [the Sons of Ishmael]. The King of the Greeks, i.e., the Romans, will come out against them in anger, roused as from a drunken stupor like one whom men had thought dead and worthless [Psalms 77:65]. He will go forth against them from the Ethiopian sea and will send the sword and desolation into Ethribus, their homeland, capturing their women and children living in the Land of Promise [Israel]. The sons of the king will come down with the sword and cut them off from the earth. Fear and trembling will rush upon them and their wives and their children from all sides. They will mourn their offspring, weeping over them and all the villages in the lands of their fathers. By the sword they will be given over into the hands of the king of the Romans -- to captivity, death, and decay.” 7
“The King of the Romans will impose his yoke upon them seven times as much as their yoke weighed upon the earth. Great distress will seize them; tribulation will bring them hunger and thirst. They, their wives, and their children will be slaves and serve those who used to serve them, and their slavery will be a hundred times more bitter and hard. The earth which they destituted will then be at peace; each man will return to his own land and to the inheritance of his fathers... Every man who was left captive will return to the things that were his and his fathers', and men will multiply upon the once desolated land like locusts. Egypt will be desolated, Arabia burned with fire, the land of Ausania burned, and the sea provinces pacified. The whole indignation and fury of the King of the Romans will blaze forth against those who deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the earth will sit in peace and there will be great peace and tranquillity upon the earth such as has never been nor ever will be any more, since it is the final peace at the End of Time...” 8
“Then the ‘Gates of the North’ will be opened and the strength of those nations which Alexander shut up there will go forth. The whole earth will be terrified at the sight of them; men will be afraid and flee in terror to hide themselves in mountains and caves and graves. They will die of fright and very many will be wasted with fear. There will be no one to bury the bodies. The tribes which will go forth from the North will eat the flesh of men and will drink the blood of beasts like water. They will eat unclean serpents, scorpions, and every kind of filthy and abominable beast and reptile which crawls upon the earth. They will consume the dead bodies of beasts of burden and even women's abortions. They will slay the young and take them from their mothers and eat them. They will corrupt the earth and contaminate it. No one will be able to stand against them. “9
“After a week of years, when they have already captured the city of Jappa, the Lord will send one of the princes of his host and strike them down in a moment. After this the King of the Romans will go down and live in Jerusalem for seven and a half-seven times, i.e., years. When the ten and a half years are completed the Son of Perdition will appear. “10
“He will be born in Chorazaim, nourished in Bethsaida, and reign in Capharnaum. Chorazim will rejoice because he was born in her, and Capharnaum because he will have reigned in her. For this reason in the Third Gospel the Lord gave the following statement: "Woe to you, Chorazaim, woe to you Bethsaida, woe to you Capharnaum --- if you have risen up to heaven, you will descend to hell" [Luke 10:13, 15]. When the Son of Perdition has arisen, the King of the Romans will ascend Golgotha upon which the wood of the Holy Cross is fixed, in the place where the Lord underwent death for us. The king will take the crown from his head and place it upon the cross and stretching out his hands to heaven will hand over the kingdom of the Christians to God the Father. The cross and crown of the king will be taken up together to heaven. This is because the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ hung for the common salvation of all will begin to appear before him at his coming to convict the lack of faith of the unbelievers. The prophecy of David which says, "In the last days Ethiopia will stretch out her hand to God" [Psalm 67:32] will be fulfilled in that these last men who stretch out their hands to God are from the seed of Chuseth, the daughter of Phol, king of Ethiopia. When the Cross has been lifted up on high to heaven, the King of the Romans will directly give up his spirit. Then every principality and power will be destroyed that the Son of Perdition may manifest...”11
“When the Son of Perdition appears, he will be of the tribe of Dan, according to the prophecy of Jacob. This enemy of religion will use a diabolic art to produce many false miracles, such as causing the blind to see, the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear. Those possessed with demons will be exorcised. He will deceive many and, if he could, as our Lord has said, even the faithful elect. “ 11
“Even the Antichrist will enter Jerusalem, where he will enthrone himself in the temple as a god (even though he will be an ordinary man of the tribe of Dan to which Judas Iscariot also belonged).” 12
“In those days, the Antichrist will bring about many tribulation; but God will not allow those redeemed by the divine blood to be deceived. For that reason, he will send his two servants, Enoch and Elias, who will declare the prodigies of the Antichrist to be false, and will denounce him as an impostor. After the death and ruin of many, he will leave the Temple in confusion; and many of his followers will forsake him to join the company of the righteous. The seducer, upon seeing himself reproached and scorned, will become enraged and will put to death those saints of God. It is then that there will appear the sign of the Son of Man, and he will come upon the clouds of heaven.” 13
References
1.
The Revelations of St Methodius Ancient Christian Writers, Vol 27 p 10 as quoted by Desmond A. Birch Trial
Tribulation and Triumph: Before, During and After Antichrist, (Queenship
Publishing. 1996) p 244
2. Rev R. Gerald.
Culleton The Prophets and Our Times (Tan Books and Publishers 1941) p 110
3. Initial
Byzantine Reactions to the Arab Conquest. Walter Emil Kaegi, Jr. Church History
38, June 1969. pp. 139-149.
4. Ibid
5. E. Sackur,
Sibyllinische Texte, pp. 80-83.
6. Ibid
7. Ibid p. 89—94.
8. Ibid
9. Ibid
10. Ibid
11. Ibid
12. St Methodius Monumenta Patrum Orthodoxographa 1569
11. Ibid