'If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there'. (2 Chronicles 7: 14-16)
'This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.' But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'(Jeremiah 18:11-12)
My dear friends, please heed to the Word of God for God will chastise the world very soon. The world will be on fire and many people will die. It will be so frightening that you will shiver and tremble. Prepare yourself, pray, be watchful and be ready! It will come suddenly. Fixed your eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ on His throne in heaven. Take refuge in Him. He will deliver you from all dangers. He is the sure foundation.
"It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.(Luke 17: 28-29)
God bless you.
Gerry Perry
July 18 2009 Saturday
OBVERSE the “Number 1” icon is repeated five times, representing the five continents. The border inscription reads “Unity in Diversity” and includes the first issue date of 2009.
Author: Luc Luycx, Royal Mint of Belgium.
REVERSE: the Tree of Life, with five leaves symbolizing local tree species that grow in the five continents. The border inscription reads “United Future World Currency”.
Author: Laura Cretara, former artistic chief of the Italian State Mint.
IS A SECRET GROUP ORGANIZING PUSH TO WORLD GOVERNMENT?
There's little doubt that there's a spiritual movement toward rearranging the world -- that many now find themselves inclined to create a new world order. It is there in the ether: a mysterious undercurrent or momentum involving many different and seemingly disparate human entities. We have often expressed the concern that dark spiritual forces would try to coalesce human institutions into a single global government with a global religion, paving the way for a personage of evil as the leader (and persecution of Christians). We have seen it forming, in short, at a spiritual level.
But is it more direct than that? Does it have more of a human component? Might there be a relatively small cadre of men -- elitists -- who are pulling more strings than we know? Might the conspiracy be one that has been more centrally and humanly orchestrated than it has hitherto appeared? Could a small secret group really direct many of the trends we see around us -- from the culture to education to foreign affairs to the economy?
One should always be wary of conspiracy theories for a simple reason: virtually none of them, thus far, has ever been proved. There might be good reason to suspect something underhanded in a number of events during the past one hundred years, but final proof has been in short supply, even non-existent. No one has ever proven that JFK was killed by more than a single gunman (though there remain legitimate doubts). There can be a thin line between healthy concern and paranoia. Often, we connect dots when there is not a legitimate connection.
But if there is a single human locus in the conspiracy to unite the world (as opposed to strictly seeing it as a spiritual move), an excellent candidate involves an intensely secret organization called the Bilderberg Group.
While one must be careful about literature on this subject, a compelling book entitled The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, by journalist Daniel Estulin, offers the best argument for such conspiracy that we have seen in a long while, since a book written in a similar vein twenty years ago by evangelist Pat Robertson.
In fact, while we maintain a degree of skepticism (there is a question about whether this group has really affected world affairs as directly, in so many ways, as some believe), the account put forward by Estulin is very hard to put down and at a number of points makes the theory seem indisputable.
Those unfamiliar with the details of new world conspiracies will find it fascinating, and odds are those who have read in the field will also find new facts, a well-written, more cogent presentment of facts than in the vast majority of such books, and a myriad of convincing and even amazing photographs.
And so, for your discernment, we are offering it. The nutshell:
"In 1954, the most powerful men in the world met for the first time under the auspices of the Dutch royal crown and the Rockefeller family at the luxurious Hotel Bilderberg in the small Dutch town of Oosterbeek," writes Estulin. "For an entire weekend, they debated the future of the world. When it was over, they decided to meet once every year to exchange ideas and analyze international affairs."
Through the years, it has evolved such that the world's top movers and shakers have attended or held membership. Organized each year in a different country, and drawing mainly from Western Europe, the U.S., and Canada, the group has included the likes not only of the Rockefellers (in the way of banker David, of Chase), but Henry Kissinger, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Alan Greenspan, Timothy Geithner, George Pataki, Dan Quayle, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Bill Gates, Walter Mondale, Alexander Haig, and Donald Rumsfeld.
Rumors are that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton also have attended meetings.
No one is sure, because the press is strictly prohibited from attending or even getting near to the event -- with security guards shooing away photographers (although Estulin was able to secure a number of "inside" photos). Are the Bilderbergers a "super think-tank" -- simply a forum to toss around ideas -- or has it evolved into a shadow government that is close to controlling the world (and already has accomplished matters such as the fall of major politicians and spikes in the price of oil)?
Most of those who belong are from financial, industrial, union, educational, or media circles -- including publishers like Kathleen Graham, who operated The Washington Post. Meetings have also been attended by representatives from The New York Times, Time, and the major networks.
Political affiliation seems irrelevant. The annual meeting involves a core Bilderberg group, and then different invitees each year (about 180 all told). Estulin details its branches and spin-offs, including other "new world" type organizations such as the Round Table, the Club of Rome, the Council on Foreign Relations (or CFR, which has about 4,000 members), and the Trilateral Commission (which seeks to bridge all the continents, not just North America and Europe).
Step by step, the book shows how these various "tentacles" have influenced major political, economic, and cultural decisions. It was CFR members who largely designed the United Nations, Estulin documents -- in a way that is never tedious.
The goal, he says, is to move into an era whereby large global entities and especially corporations and banks have unnerving control and worldwide monopolies. Often, members of one new-world group also belong to another.
He says the Bilderbergers have long orchestrated a move toward a united European continent (which has largely come to be in the way of the European Union); an Asiatic system; and a Pan-American Union starting with North American unification (Canada, the U.S., and Mexico).
He documents how this has slowly, deliberately unfolded.
During a meeting in 1996 in King City, Toronto, claims the author, Bilderbergers discussed and then tabled a proposal to work for the integration of Canada and the United States, with the Maritimes as the 51st state, Ontario as the 52nd, the prairies as the 53rd, and British Columbia with the northern territories as the 54th. The group, he said, sought to separate Quebec.
As one man put it, "The Bilderbergers are searching for the age of post-nationalism: when we won't have countries, but rather regions of earth surrounded by Universal value. That is to say, a global economy, one world government (selected rather than elected), and a universal religion. To assure themselves of reaching these objectives, the Bilderbergers focus on a 'greater technical approach and less awareness on behalf of the general public.'"
It is for this reason that many closely watch attempts to insert surveillance systems, new identification means, and other advancements, especially tracking devices (via microchip), into our culture.
It is also why many are wary of the new government powers enacted due to terrorism.
"World events do not occur by accident," Denis Healey, former British defense minister, once said. "They are made to happen, whether it is to do with national issues or commerce; and most of them are staged and managed by those who hold the purse strings."
You will see financier Henry Kravis at these meetings. You will see all kinds of international financiers and bankers. You will see royalty. Have they manipulated the current economic "crisis" (which has brought calls for a global economic oversight)?
If nothing else, it is baffling how certain foreign and economic policies remain in place no matter which party rules America -- and it seems inexplicable why meetings involving such luminaries -- princes and former or future presidents -- go unreported by major media, when otherwise their every move is a news story. Perhaps it is because, as Estulin documents, at one time or another Bilderberg has had "representatives of all major U.S. and European newspapers and network news outlets attend meetings."
"Doing a cursory check of the web pages of the principal international news outlets," he says, "we will not find even one reference to the most important group that counts among its members the most important politicians, businessmen, and financiers."
We can say this: be it the Bilderbergers or CFR or Bohemian Grove, there are too many top-secret meetings with international attendees. The spiritual implications are obvious: global control could turn into global persecution and a personage of evil or anti-Christian leader as previously mentioned (call such, if you want, an "anti-christ"). It is for this reason that we urge Rome to rethink global oversight and oppose it at any powerful political level.
The history of how the U.N. and European Union formed is fascinating -- with new behind-the-scenes information. As for North America:
"Since March 2005, without public input and with little public awareness, the United States, Mexico, and Canada have been moving quickly toward establishing a continental resource pact, a North American security perimeter, and common agricultural and other health, safety, and environmental policies," writes Estulin in the book. "Working groups comprised of government officials and corporate leaders, through secret meetings and formal councils that form de facto shadow government, are quietly putting this 'partnership' into action, and, to date, only industry 'stakeholders' have been consulted, usually in private, closed-door meetings. U.S. congressmen and Canadian members of parliament have been kept out of the loop.
"Clearly, there are two main reasons why an incremental and secretive approach is being used to form the North American Union. First, such a union would be extremely unpopular with the majority of Americans and Canadians and would not be permitted if it were widely publicized. Second, the dissolution of the United States not only violates the U.S. Constitution, it would essentially destroy the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights."
The author claims that bankers and business leaders have close contact with an array of intelligence agencies, some of whom -- he asserts -- have threatened him. These are detailed, for your discernment. It gets a bit cloak-and-dagger. It does not, however, get boring.
Is Estulin controversial?
Of course. He has been associated with at least one conspiracist who is just that: a man who spots intricate plots under every single rock. One must balance all the information with the distinct possibility international groups are more like think-tanks than organizations that can as yet direct anything. Sometimes, we give humans -- and "secret" organizations -- too much credit. Overall, the momentum remains more spiritual than anything.
Do the Bilderbergers purvey ideas -- or dictate them?
That's what we must discern. This book argues -- again, compellingly, at many points -- that it is more the "dictating" than purveyance. Or as another commentator said, you can look for the influence of Bilderbegers when events "later appear to just happen."
[resources: The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, Onward Catholic Soldier and Catholic Warrior]
[see also: Mexican trucks set to storm U.S. and Hillary admits CFR influence]
[Michael Brown retreats, spiritual protection and hope in a tumultuous time: Minnesota and New Jersey]
These are somewhat perplexing times for those who watch the Vatican. There have been a number of matters, in recent months, that raised eyebrows. Has the Pope been misunderstood? Is he served poorly by those under him? Or is it simply that he transcends politics?
There is the issue of globalization.
Last week, when Benedict XVI released his latest encyclical ("Love in Truth"), he made a remark that many have construed to be an endorsement of world governance.
The phrase, in relation to the current economic crisis, was that there is "an urgent need of a true world political authority" whose task would be "to manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result."
That rang alarms among the many who are concerned the world is headed for a coalescence that would unite nations and allow the possibility for world hegemony by a nefarious personage -- a virulent anti-Christian, perhaps an atheist (or worse). They see world government as a cog in the coming of events that may even be related to Revelation (see chapter 17) and the end times.
Whatever the legitimacy of that particular interpretation, the trends are unmistakable: Leaders around the world and especially in Europe (where they already have formed a union) are promoting new international instruments not just to oversee finances but also problems related to the environment, trade, immigration, drug trafficking, and other matters. Just last week, as President Barack Obama traveled to Europe for the G-8 meeting, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held out a prototype for global currency -- a coin based on "unity in diversity." He wants such a currency to replace the dollar as dominant in international trade, as do China, India, and a host of other nations.
There is thus a strong, unmistakable current in the direction of what some call a new world order and others "globalization." The Vatican always has seen certain merits in global authority -- including the United Nations, if it reacts properly. It wants the rich nations to share with the poor. It wants to protect dwindling natural resources. It wants a humanitarian, international perspective. What is not clear is if the Pope buys fears of an evil global dictator, perhaps even an anti-christ. There are few indications that he does.
This has lead to a flurry of e-mails like the following: "Very confusing time. The new encyclical of the Holy Father calling for a greater expansion of World Government and greater global centralization in finance begs to wonder if he is not advised by the wrong kind of people and does not see the spiritual implication. Here find an interesting link. We are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers from on high."
Said another: "I read an article last week regarding the Pope's comment about how he feels there should be one central governing power for finances throughout the world, and I have to tell you -- it made every hair on my body stand up!"
And so it goes -- with some going so far as to question the motive of the pontiff himself.
Such apprehensions are not helped by what have been perceived (at least by elements of the Catholic media) as other Vatican missteps.
There was the decision to embrace an ultra-traditionalist bishop who denies the Holocaust. That caused an outcry. How did it happen?
There has been confusion on how to handle homosexuals seeking entry into seminaries.
There has been an uproar over Rome's handling of a bishop in South America.
There was confusion when the Vatican's unofficial "official" newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, seemed at odds with American bishops over President Obama's visit to Notre Dame.
Add more perplexity when just this week, the same newspaper applauded the new Harry Potter movie -- even though previous Vatican reviewers have warned about its darkness (real spells are used in certain of the books), and the Pope himself, when he was a cardinal (and prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), indicated very negatively on the novels, sending a congratulatory note to an author who attacked Potter for promoting the occult (there has been an explosion, for example, in teen witchcraft).
And so it is understandable if many wonder what is transpiring among underlings at the Vatican. Perhaps we are getting a bit too worldly.
Meanwhile, is the Holy Father a conservative or a liberal?
This too is raising commotion. There seemed to be elements of both in his encyclical.
Those who are "conservative" took issue with Benedict XVI's strong opposition to what he called (and rightly) "unbridled materialism." The Pope pointed out that the profit motive has become a god, distorting the reason we are all placed on this planet (to help each other). It is hard for Rome to look at someone holding tens of billions in wealth while families in Haiti starve for want of a dollar (or even less) a day. But to some (especially the libertarians who have assumed control of American conservatism), this is a "liberal" viewpoint. The Pope is also at odds with libertarians because he is a strong advocate for protecting the environment -- what God created. He says to be conservative is to conserve (contrary to conservative talk radio). The Pope says every economic decision has a moral consequence and calls for "forms of redistribution" of wealth "overseen by governments to help those most affected by crises." This has caused alarm that he is a "socialist."
Meanwhile, liberals had their own concerns. The encyclical made clear the Pope's unyielding stand against abortion, euthanasia, birth control, embryonic stem-cell research, and homosexual marriage -- tying those stands to human dignity itself. Brilliantly he summed up his stand and melded both sides of the political spectrum -- from abortion to ecology -- when he said, "The way humanity treats the environment influences the way it treats itself, and vice versa." The Pope said “it is contradictory to insist that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves.”
That is neither "liberal" nor "conservative."
It is Catholic.
His policies are basically those repeatedly espoused by his predecessor, the great John Paul II. Many have forgotten how ardently that pope opposed war and capital punishment -- which are "pro-life" issues at the Vatican (if not elsewhere).
And while many of the current Pope's ruminations may seem overly complicated and nuanced, and while endorsing the United Nations causes legitimate concern, he has never endorsed the idea of one-world government. In fact, as one newspaper commentator noted, the encyclical "praises the redistribution of wealth while emphasizing the importance of decentralized governance. It connects the despoiling of the environment to the mass destruction of human embryos."
That puts him greatly at odds with many "liberals" and "conservatives." This is a document that sees above politics. It is an encyclical that is not any one political "brand" because it transcends such labeling, from a man whose mind transcends traditional cerebration.
Wrote the Pope: "Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22)."
This is a document that continues the Pope's mission of love.
Bravo for that.
But caution: There are nefarious forces out there, Your Holiness, and they play both sides of the fence, seeking to either coalesce a one-world government or simply tear our current sovereignties apart and start with a new uncharitable plan for global control.
[resources: Memory and Identity, We Have Pope!, Brotherhood of Darkness, and Spiritual warfare books]
[see also: Encyclical: something for both liberals and conservatives, Why the Vatican opposed Iraq war, and Gore and global governance]
[Text of new encyclical]
End Time Delusions: According to bible, in the end times, expect widespread deception, counterfeit miracles, and the appearance of false prophets. Each of these evils will contribute to an atmosphere that will deceive an untold number of people throughout the world. The Antichrist, possibly a charismatic Muslim with a fake Jesus as a sidekick, will convince his followers he is the answer to the world’s problems. Paul tells us that those who become caught in the Antichrist’s web of deceit will be guilty because they freely choose to enjoy evil while denying the truth.
END TIME SIGNS
1. False Bible teachers would be money hungry. They would be smooth talkers, have many followers, and slur the Christian faith (2 Peter 2:1-3) See some at: Fakemessiah.com
2. Homosexuality would be increasingly evident at the end of the age (2 Timothy 3:3)
3. Earthquakes would be in diverse places (Matthew 24:7)
4. Stress would be part of living (2 Timothy 3:1)
5. Many wars would erupt (Matthew 24:6)
6. People would forsake the Ten Commandments as a moral code, committing adultery, stealing, lying, and killing (Matthew 24:12)
7. There would be a cold religious system, in denying God's power (2 Timothy 3:5)
8. Men would substitute fantasy in place of Christian truth (2 Timothy 4:4). This is so evident at Christmas when the birth of the Savior is lost behind the myth of Santa Claus.
9. Deadly diseases would be prevalent (Matthew 24:7). The worldwide increase in AIDS deaths is almost inestimable. Over 160,000 Americans die of cancer each year.
10. The fact that God once flooded the earth (the Noahic flood) would be denied (2 Peter 3:5-6). There is a mass of fossil evidence to prove this fact, yet it is flatly ignored by the scientific world because of its uncanny implication.
11. The institution of marriage would be forsaken by many (1 Timothy 4:3)
12. There would be an increase in famines (Matthew 24:7)
13. Increase in vegetarianism would increase (1 Timothy 4:3-4)
14. There would be a cry for peace (1 Thessalonians 5:3)
15. The possession of Jerusalem would be at the center of international turmoil (Zechariah 12:3)
16. Knowledge would increase (Daniel 12:4)
17. There would be hypocrites within the Church (Matthew 13:25-30)
18. There would be an increase of religious cults/false teachers (Matthew 24:11 & 24)
19. The future would seem fearful to many (Luke 21:26)
20. Humanity would become materialistic (2 Timothy 3:4)
21. There would be many involved in travel (Daniel 12:4)
22. The Christian Gospel would be preached as a warning to all nations (Matthew 24:14)
23. Jesus said Christians would be hated "for His name's sake" (Matthew 24:9)
24: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:25-26).
25: Youth would become rebellious. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy (2 Timothy 3:2)
26: Men would mock the warning signs of the end of the age saying, "for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2 Peter 3:4). The Bible even reveals their motivation, they love lust (verse 3). They fail to understand that a day to the Lord is as a thousand years to us. God is not subject to the time that He created. He can flick through time as we flick through the pages of a history book. The reason He seems to be silent, is because He is patiently waiting, not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.
Monsignor Pietro Parolin-destined to be Saint Malachy's prophesied "Petrus Romanus"?
Malachy's Prophecies - The Last 10 Popes
Known to Catholics as St. Malachy (1094-1148)
Born injavascript:void(0) 1094 A.D. at Armagh, Ireland, Saint Malachy is also known as: Maolmhaodhog ua Morgair; Maol Maedoc; and Malachy O'Morgair. He died as he himself predicted, on November 2, 1148 at Clairvaux, France. Malachy was canonized the first Irish Saint in the Catholic Church by Pope Clement III in 1190 A.D.
The correspondence between the prophecies of Saint Malachy and the Mayan Calendar (whose 'long count' ends in 2012) are alarming, to put it mildly. Why did the ancient Mayan or pre-Maya choose December 21st, 2012 A.D., as the end of their Long Count calendar?
Saint Malachy was a 12th century Irish monk, who, while on a visit to Rome had a vision of all the popes who would ever reign. Malachy "saw"-and committed to paper- a series of Latin phrases describing the popes to come. He catalogued each one with an epigrammatic verse, such as 'the tears of the sun'. Malachy made the prophecy in 1139. Reportedly it was entrusted to Pope Innocent II in 1140. But for some reason it was "lost" in the Vatican for 400 years, only to be "discovered" in 1595 A.D. Malachy s predictions reputedly were made in 1139 while he was on a pilgrimage to the Vatican, where he was appointed papal legate for Ireland. On his last trek to the holy see in Rome, in 1148, Malachy accurately predicted the place and time of his own death: Clairvaux, France, on All Souls Day, November 2, of that same year.
Malachy's Prophecies - The Last 10 Popes
1. The Burning Fire. PIUS X. 1903-1914. This Pope showed a burning passion for spiritual renewal in the Church.
2. Religion Laid Waste (Religio Depopulata). BENEDICT XV. 1914-1922. Unfortunately, this was true. During this Pope's reign saw Communism move into Russia where religious life was laid waste, and World War I with the death of millions of Christians who were carnage in Flanders Field and elsewhere.
3. Unshaken Faith. PIUS XI. 1922-1939. This Pope faced tremendous pressure from fascist and sinister powers in Germany and Italy, but he was an outspoken critic of Communism and Fascism which enraged Hitler.
4. An Angelic Shepherd. PIUS XII. 1939-1958. This Pope had an affinity for the spiritual world and received visions which have not been made public. Peter Bander says Pius XII "has emerged as one of the great Popes of all time," and he "was in the truest sense of the word an Angelic Pastor to the flock..."
5. Pastor and Mariner. JOHN XXIII. 1958-1963. " Pastor et Nauta" or "Pastor and sailor". John was a pastor to the world, much beloved, and the Patriarch of Venice. The connection to "mariner" is thus remarkable. According Peter Bander in The Prophecies of Malachy (TAN Books and Publisher, 1969) during the conclave which was to elect John XXIII in 1958, a certain Cardinal from the United States, (Cardinal Spellman of New York) evidently having taken Malachy's forecast that the next pope would be "pastor and mariner" literally, rented a boat, filled it with sheep and sailed up and down the Tiber.
6. Flower of Flowers. "Flos Florum" PAUL VI. 1963-1978. Paul's coat-of-arms depicts three fleurs-de-lis, corresponding to Malachy's prophecy. His coat of arms included three fleurs-de-lis (iris blossoms). At the popular and controversial site of Garabandal in Spain, a seer named Conchita Gonzalez once noted: “The Blessed Virgin said in 1962 that there will only be two more popes after Paul VI.”
7. Of the Half Moon. "De Medietate Lanae," or "from the half moon" JOHN PAUL I. 1978-1978. John Paul I was elected Pope on August 26, 1978, when there was a half moon. He reigned 33 days, that is, about one month, when he died, although many think he was murdered. He was the 109th Pope - is "De Medietate Lunae" (Of the Half Moon). The corresponding pope was John Paul I (1978-78), who was born in the diocese of Belluno (beautiful moon) and was baptized Albino Luciani which means white light, such as that given off by the half-moon in Malachy s prophecy. He became pope on August 26, 1978, when the moon appeared exactly half full. It was in its waning phase. He died the following month, soon after an eclipse of the moon.
8. The Labor of the Son. "De Medietate Lunae" JOHN PAUL II. 1978-2005
Pope John Paul II
Amazingly, Pope John Paul II was the only pope who was both born the day of an eclipse of the sun, and entombed the day the sun was eclipsed.
One of Malachy's strangest predictions concerned the pope who would follow 'De Medietate Lunae'. He is designated as 'De Labore Solis', or 'from the toil of the sun'. Applied to John Paul II, this phrase reveals nothing less than a double prophecy. John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), the first non-Italian elected in 456 years, was a native of Krakow, Poland. Krakow is the city where, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Copernicus 'toiled'; for years to prove his heretical theory that the earth revolved around the sun. Many of Malachy s interpreters also suggested that the 'sun' reference indicated a young pope. Fifty-eight years old at the time of his election, John Paul II was the youngest pope in over a century.
John Paul II was the most traveled Pope in history. He has circled the globe numerous times, preaching to huge audiences everywhere he goes. Even though he was once shot, he has not seemed to slow down. He has recently written a book which has enjoyed a large circulation.
Like the sun which never ceases to labor and provides light daily, this Pope has been incessant. John Paul compared abortion to the Holocaust and denounced gay marriages as part of 'a new ideology of evil'. He argued that same-sex marriages threaten society by undermining the traditional family.
Late Pope John Paul II
John Paul II was born on May 18, 1920. On that date in the morning there was a near total eclipse of the sun over Europe. Prophecy - The 110th Pope is 'De Labore Solis' (Of the Solar Eclipse, or, From the Toil of the Sun). The corresponding pope is John Paul II (1978-2005). Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) was born on May 18, 1920 during an eclipse of the sun. Like the sun he came out of the East (Poland). Like the sun he has visited countries all around the globe while doing his work. Karol was the first non-Italian pope in 456 years. He was ordained on November 1, 1946 and earned a doctorate in ethics at the Angelicum University in Rome. He was made auxiliary bishop in 1958 and Archbishop in 1964 of Krakow and Cardinal in 1967. He was elected the first Polish pope on October 1978. He spoke eight languages and he traveled more than any other pope in history. John Paul II died at the Vatican on Saturday, April 2, 2005, the same day as a partial eclipse, visible in the Americas.
John Paul II lying in the Vatican
John Paul II may also be connected to the revelation of Saint Faustina Kowalska of Poland (quoting Jesus), "I bear a special love for Poland and if she will be obedient to My Will, I will exalt her in might and holiness. From her will come forth the spark that will prepare the world for My final coming" (Diary "Divine Mercy in My Soul").
Disturbing about Pope John Paul II is that no other Pope in history ever has called for a "New World Order", and this pope waited until he had sat on the Throne of Peter for over 25 years! Why would Pope John Paul II wait for 25 long years before announcing his affinity for the New World Order? A "New World Order" is known in the esoteric realm as "the kingdom of the Christ" -- but thought by many in the Bible as an Antichrist (or Antichrist system). Was it because John Paul was senile or carried away with his own desire for ecumenicalism/friendship?
Other things John Paul II did while very old were: he also kissed the pagan Qur'an and said that Islam and Christians had the same God. Would the God of the Bible agree to tell the lies about Jesus that Islam does? Islam lies that Jesus never even died on a cross, and Islam also says that Jesus is not divine.
9. The Glory of the Olive. The Order of St. Benedict has said this Pope will come from their order. It is interesting that Jesus gave his apocalyptic prophecy about the end of time from the Mount of Olives. This Pope will reign during the beginning of the tribulation Jesus spoke of. The 111th prophesy is "Gloria Olivae" (The Glory of the Olive). The Order of Saint Benedict has claimed that this pope will come from their ranks. Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil. Traditionally, the olive branch has been associated with peace, but in both the Old and New Testaments it also serves as an emblem for the Jews. Putting the two together, some commentators believe that the reign of this pope will be a peaceful one during which the prophesied conversion of the Jews will take place. Several ex-Jews are said to be highly placed in the Catholic Church now. And, it is noteworthy that the previous Benedict (XV) was a pope obsessed with peace. Some others say, he will lead all faithful followers of the Lord Jesus to martyrdom and others say that he will tear down the walls of the Vatican, auctioning off all the objects within, in order to feed and enlighten those in the 3rd World who have not yet heard the Gospel of Christ.
Bible Probe Comment: The Order of Saint Benedict has claimed that this pope will come from their ranks. Saint Benedict himself prophesied that before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil.
LOOK at the above again. The next pope will have something to do with OLIVE --not necessarily or even probably a Benedictine.
Malachy DID NOT prophesize it would be a Benedictine! Someone in the Benedictine Order said they think the next pope will come from the Benedictines. GET THAT STRAIGHT!
Also, St Benedict prophesized: before the end of the world his Order, known also as the Olivetans, will triumphantly lead the Catholic Church in its fight against evil. NOTHING was mentioned as leading as a pope!
10. PETER THE ROMAN - The 112th prophesy states: "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Petrus Romanus, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End." The last pope may just cut Catholics loose from unity and the papacy, causing total disruption and confusion. See Saint Francis of Assissi's 13th century prophecy below. It is believed the next pope will
Will "The Glory of the Olive" be the last Pope?
The problem with the prophecies as listed in The Prophecies of St. Malachy, published by the Thomas A. Nelson, a Catholic Publishing House, is that Malachy's original works listed only 111 Popes, not 112, as given in the TAN version of the prophecies. Sometime between the first and subsequent printings the 112th, Petrus Romanus, was added to Malachy's prophecy. It was added after the 1820 publication of the prophecies.
On April 19th, 2005 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th Pope. The name Benedict means "blessing". Does this name automatically fulfill this prophecy?
April 21, 2005 - Mary Jo Anderson, a Catholic scholar and writer, says the Pope's choice of his name is not related to the prophecy of St. Malachy. Instead, she thinks the new pope chose his moniker as a reference to sixth-century St. Benedict and his quest to protect Rome from invading German pagans...claiming the pontiff hopes to protect the modern-day Church from destructive philosophies that originated in Germany. Source:WorldNetDaily
Of note: Benedict XV — who reigned from 1914 to 1922 — was a moderate following Pius X, who had implemented a sharp crackdown against doctrinal "modernism."
Will the papacy of this 78 year old pope be short lived? Is this the beginning of Tribulation? Will the next pope be the last pope? Will the next pope be a Roman and choose the name Peter? The Or, will Tribulation begin AFTER the Anti-Christ has shown himself as a person of peace and already made peace with Israel's enemies for seven years? Can we read anything into Putin's recent visit to Israel?
"King of the North" visits Israel
Putin reviews Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) 4/28/05
The first Kremlin leader ever to visit Israel while in office
Russian and Israeli relations have been strained over Russia's sale of SA-18 shoulder fired rocket launchers to Syria, nuclear technology to Iran, and past & proposed arms and equipment sales to the PA.
Is this the Pope of Peace (olive)?
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger holds olive (palm) branches during Palm Sunday mass in Saint Peter Square at the Vatican March 20, 2005. Many Cardinals also held olive branches that day.
Malachy's final words:
In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock among many tribulations; after which the seven-hilled city (Rome, the seat of the Vatican) will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people.
It is striking that at least one pope had a similar mystical vision:
In 1909, while granting an audience, pope Pius X leaned back and closed his eyes. Suddenly he "awoke" and cried out: "What I see is terrifying. Will it be myself? Will it be my successor? What is certain is that the pope will quit Rome, and in leaving the Vatican, he will have to walk over the dead bodies of his priests."
Pius's prophecy was fulfilled neither in his own time nor in that of the next pontiff. According to Malachy's vision of the Church's "tribulation," it applies to the successor of Gloria Olivae-the next pope but one.
Some OTHER Similar and Startling Prophecies follow:
John Bosco (from 40 Dreams of John Bosco)
St. Bosco narrated his vision on May 30, 1862
Does this speak of John Paul II?
John Bosco vividly described visions of turbulent water and persecution: enemy boats attacking the ship as the Pope sought to bring the ship between the two columns (one with a statue of the Virgin, labeled Auxilium Christianorum, or "help of Christians," the second, much taller, with a Host, labeled Salus Credentium, or "salvation of the faithful").
John Bosco said, "Suddenly the Pope falls gravely wounded. Immediately, those who are with him run to help him and they lift him up. A second time the Pope is struck, he falls again and dies. A shout of victory and joy rings out amongst the enemies; from their ships an unspeakable mockery arises.
This of course sounds much like John Paul II -- who has promoted both the Eucharist and the Blessed Mother and who just recently established new mysteries of the Rosary, which were followed by an historic encyclical on the Eucharist. Those are certainly "pillars" of the Catholic Church. We must also call to mind the shooting of John Paul II on May 13, 1981, in St. Peter's Square. Or, is this a composite image that could relate to both John Paul II and his immediate predecessor, John Paul I, both of whom were stricken. It may symbolize the way Pope John Paul I came in, served for only 33 days, and then died in 1979 (some believe suspiciously) -- succeeded by the recently deceased John Paul II, who promoted the Blessed Mother and the Eucharist as few pontiffs have.
No pope in history was more dedicated to the Virgin Mary than John Paul II and he had declared the current year as the “Year of the Eucharist.” So dedicated was the Pope that an "M" for Mary was placed on his casket, and this too circled into the St Faustina revelation. As Cardinal Ratzinger pointed out in his funeral homily Friday, 15 April 05, "the Holy Father found the purest reflection of God's mercy in the Mother of God." Also, Evidence suggests that John Paul II was the Pope spoken of at Fatima. Read "Deception of the Century" about Pope John Paul I's possible murder: here
Pope John Paul II predicted a new spring time in the church...the Catholic Church may well be on the very threshold of this!
Does the below dream of John Bosco speak of the new Benedict XVI and his rather quick election?
John Bosco says,
"But hardly is the Pontiff dead than another takes his place. The pilots, having met together, have elected the Pope so promptly that the news of the death of the Pope coincides with the news of the election of the successor. The adversaries begin to lose courage."
"The new Pope, putting the enemy to rout and overcoming every obstacle, guides the ship right up to the two columns and comes to rest between them; he makes it fast with a light chain that hangs from the bow to an anchor of the column on which stands the Host; and with another light chain which hangs from the stern, he fastens it at the opposite end to another anchor hanging from the column on which stands the Immaculate Virgin.
Saint Hildegard (12th Century)
The time is coming when princes and peoples will reject the authority of the Pope. Some countries will prefer their own Church rulers to the Pope. The German Empire will be divided.
Before the comet comes, many nations, the good excepted, will be scourged by want and famine. The great nation in the ocean that is inhabited by people of different tribes and descent will be devastated by earthquake, storm, and tidal wave. It will be divided and, in great part, submerged. That nation will also have many misfortunes at sea and lose its colonies.
[After the] great Comet, the great nation will be devastated by earthquakes, storms, and great waves of water, causing much want and plagues. The ocean will also flood many other countries, so that all coastal cities will live in fear, with many destroyed.
All sea coast cities will be fearful, and many of them will be destroyed by tidal waves, and most living creatures will be killed, and even those who escape will die from a horrible disease. For in none of those cities does a person live according to the Laws of God.
A powerful wind will rise in the North, carrying heavy fog and the densest dust, and it will fill their throats and eyes so that they will cease their butchery and be stricken with a great fear.
Bishop Christianos Ageda (12th Century)
In the 20th century there will be wars and fury that will last a long time; whole provinces shall be emptied of their inhabitants, and kingdoms shall be thrown into confusion. In many places the land shall be left untilled, and there shall be great slaughters of the upper class. The right hand of the world shall fear the left, and the north shall prevail over the south.
Abbot Werdin D'Orante (12th Century)
The great monarch and the great Pope will precede Antichrist. The nations will be at war for four years and a great part of the world will be destroyed. The Pope will go over the sea carrying the sign of Redemption on his forehead. The great Monarch will come to restore peace and the Pope will share in the victory.
John of Vitiguerro (13th Century)
The pope will change his residence and the Church will not be defended for twenty-five months or more because, during all that time there will be no Pope in Rome... After many tribulations, a Pope shall be elected out of those who survived the persecutions.
Johannes Friede (1204-1257)
When the great time will come, in which mankind will face its last, hard trial, it will be foreshadowed by striking changes in nature. The alteration between cold and heat will become more intensive, storms will have more catastrophic effects, earthquakes will destroy great regions, and the seas will overflow many lowlands. Not all of it will be the result of natural causes, but mankind will penetrate into the bowels of the earth and will reach into the clouds, gambling with its own existence. Before the powers of destruction will succeed in their design, the universe will be thrown into disorder, and the age of iron will plunge into nothingness.
When nights will be filled with more intensive cold and days with heat, a new life will begin in nature. The heat means radiation from the earth, the cold the waning light of the sun. Only a few years more and you will become aware that sunlight has grown perceptibly weaker. When even your artificial light will cease to give service, the great event in the heavens will be near.
St. Vincent Ferrer (14th Century)
In the days of peace that are to come after the desolation of revolutions and wars, before the end of the world, the Christians will become so lax in their religion that they will refuse to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, saying, "It is an unnecessary Sacrament."
John of the Cleft Rock (14th Century)
Towards the end of the world, tyrants and hostile mobs will rob the Church and the clergy of all their possessions and will afflict and martyr them. Those who heap the most abuse upon them will be held in high esteem. At that time, the Pope with his cardinals will have to flee Rome in tragic circumstances to a place where they will be unknown. The Pope will die a cruel death in his exile. The sufferings of the Church will be much greater than at any previous time in her history. But God will raise a holy Pope, and the Angels will rejoice. Enlightened by God, this man will rebuild almost the whole world through his holiness. He will lead everyone to the true Faith.
Maria Laach Monastery (16th Century)
The twentieth century will bring death and destruction, apostasy from the Church, discord in families, cities and governments; it will be the century of three great wars with intervals of a few decades. They will become ever more devastating and bloody and will lay in ruins not only Germany, but finally all countries of East and West. After a terrible defeat of Germany will follow the next great war. There will be no bread for people anymore and no fodder for animals. Poisonous clouds, manufactured by human hands, will sink down and exterminate everything. The human mind will be seized by insanity.
Venerable Bartholomew Holzhauser (17th Century)
The fifth period of the Church, which began circa 1520, will end with the arrival of the holy Pope and of the powerful Monarch who is called "Help From God" because he will restore everything. The fifth period is one of affliction, desolation, humiliation, and poverty for the Church. Jesus Christ will purify His people through cruel wars, famines, plagues, epidemics, and other horrible calamities. He will also afflict and weaken the Latin Church with many heresies. It is a period of defections, calamities and exterminations. Those Christians who survive the sword, plague and famines, will be few on earth.
During this period, many men will abuse of the freedom of conscience conceded to them. It is of such men that Jude the Apostle spoke when he said, "These men blaspheme whatever they do not understand; and they corrupt whatever they know naturally as irrational animals do." They will ridicule Christian simplicity; they will call it folly and nonsense, but they will have the highest regard for advanced knowledge, and for the skill by which the axioms of law, the precepts of morality, the Holy Canons and religious dogmas are clouded by senseless questions and elaborate arguments.
These are the evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy is everywhere, and the followers of heresy are in power almost everywhere. but God will permit a great evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down churches and destroy everything.
Venerable Mary of Agreda (17th Century)
It was revealed to me that through the intercession of the Mother of God, all heresies will disappear. This victory over heresies has been reserved by Christ for His Blessed Mother... Before the Second Coming of Christ, Mary must, more than ever, shine in mercy, might and grace in order to bring unbelievers into the Catholic Faith.
Sister Marianne de Jesus Torres (17th Century)
The most Holy Trinity confirmed the desire of my Queen, assuring that God will bless all those who, by their support and help, contribute in the making of the Holy Statue, as well as all those who help spread this devotion (to Our Lady of Good Success) throughout the centuries, making known its origin and these apparitions in the 20th century. This will be a time of great corruption of customs. The sacred sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed and despised, for in doing this, one scorns and defiles the Church of God, and even God Himself, represented by His priests. The Demon will try to persecute the Ministers of the Lord in every possible way.
The Ecstatic of Tours (19th Century)
Before the war breaks out again, food will be scarce and expensive. There will be little work for the workers, and fathers will hear their children crying for food. There will be earthquakes and signs in the sun. Toward the end, darkness will cover the Earth. When everyone believes that peace is ensured, when everyone least expects it, the great happening will begin. Revolution will break out in Italy almost at the same time as in France.
For some time the Church will be without a Pope.
Pope Pius IX (1878)
Since the whole world is against God and His Church, it is evident that He has reserved the victory over His enemies to Himself. This will be more obvious when it is considered that the root of all our present evils is to be found in the fact that those with talents and vigor crave earthly pleasures, and not only desert God but repudiate Him altogether. Thus it appears they cannot be brought back in any other way except through an act that cannot be ascribed to any secondary agency, and thus all will be forced to look to the supernatural...
There will come a great wonder, which will fill the world with astonishment. This wonder will be preceded by the triumph of revolution. The church will suffer exceedingly. Her servants and her chieftain will be mocked, scourged, and martyred.
Saint Francis of Assissi (1226 A.D.)
Prophecy of St. Francis of Assisi (d. 1226): “There will be an uncanonically elected Pope who will cause a great schism, there will be diverse thoughts preached which will cause many, even those in the different orders to doubt, yea, even agree with those heretics which will cause my Order to divide, then will there be such universal dissensions and persecutions that if those days were not shortened even the elect would be lost.” (Rev. Culleton, The Reign of Antichrist, Tan Books, 1974, p. 130.). Some believe this prophecy referred to the controversy surrounding the election of Pope John XXIII and Cardinal Siri. But it could refer to the next and last pope (Peter the Roman). The last pope may just cut Catholics loose from unity and the papacy, causing total disruption and confusion.
John Paul II said he saw the ongoing defection John Paul II also believed in the second prophecy of Fatima about the Apostasy coming in the Catholic Church. It is noteworthy that John Paul II appointed 185 of the Cardinals who elected Benedict XVI. It may be that John Paul II took steps to ensure a conservative pope followed him.
Sister Catherine Emmerick (1823)
Is this schism? Could Sister Emmerick be referring here to the Novus Ordo (One World Order/Church), whose baneful effects are now so apparent everywhere? Especially in view of what she said in April, 1823:
"I saw many pastors cherishing dangerous ideas against the Church. . . . I saw among other things. . . the Church under N___________. In all the rooms lay his children (that is, his plans), a full collection of his views. . . . He had set fire to the house, and I with others had to save the goods and convey them to the sheepfold. They built a large, singular, extravagant church which was "to embrace all creeds with equal rights; Evangelicals, Catholics and all denominations, a true communion of the unholy with one shepherd and one flock. There was to be a Pope, a salaried Pope, without possessions. All was made ready, many things finished; but, in place of an altar were only abomination and desolation. Such was the new church to be, and it was for it he had set fire to the old one; but God designed otherwise."
Anna-Maria Taigi (Blessed) (19th century, Italy)
Her maiden name was Giannetti. She was born at Siena, Italy, 29 May, 1769; died at Rome, 9 June, 1837. From the time she was 20 years old, until she died at the age of 63, she was accompanied by a mysterious light in which she saw past, present and future events...some relating to struggles among nations; some relating to individual souls.
Popes and cardinals have referred to this holy married woman as one of the greatest saints of all time. She was praised by Pope Benedict XV in her beatification on May 20, 1920 as being an exemplary wife and mother amid poor and trying circumstances. She was frequently in ecstasy, worked miracles of healing, read hearts, foretold deaths, and saw visions on the coming of future events. She foretold the first two world wars of this century. Eighteen years after her death, her body remained fresh and in a state of perfect preservation as if it had been just buried the day before. The following is her prophecy on the three days of darkness.
"God will send two punishments: one will be in the form of wars, revolutions and other evils; it shall originate on earth. The other will be sent from Heaven. There shall come over the whole earth an intense darkness lasting three days and three nights. Nothing can be seen, and the air will be laden with pestilence which will claim mainly, but not only, the enemies of religion. It will be impossible to use any man-made lighting during this darkness, except blessed candles. He, who out of curiosity, opens his window to look out, or leaves his home, will fall dead on the spot. During these three days, people should remain in their homes, pray the Rosary and beg God for mercy."
"All the enemies of the Church, whether known or unknown, will perish over the whole earth during that universal darkness, with the exception of a few whom God will soon convert. The air shall be infected by demons who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms."
"Religion shall be persecuted, and priests massacred Churches shall be closed, but only for a short time. The Holy Father shall be obliged to leave Rome." (Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, Tan Books and Publishers, 1973)
Pope Leo XIII (13th)
Pope from 1878-1903
The Vision Of Pope Leo XIII
October 13, 1884
Exactly 33 years to the day prior to the great Miracle of the Sun in Fatima, that is, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo the 13th had a remarkable vision. When the aged Pontiff had finished celebrating Mass in his private Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:
The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasted to Our Lord:
"I can destroy your Church."
The gentle voice of Our Lord:
"You can? Then go ahead and do so."
Satan:
"To do so, I need more time and more power."
Our Lord:
"How much time? How much power?
Satan:
"75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those
who will give themselves over to my service."
Our Lord:
"You have the time, you will have the power.
Do with them what you will."
-----
This happened in 1884. The devil said he needed 75 to 100 years. Well, 75 years from 1884 is 1959. On January 25, 1959, John XXIII publicly summoned the Second Vatican Council.
The land of pointed star, the number of points delivered in League of Nations, partner with a crescent colored with their king's favorite and seven stripes in red and white added although there are thirteen heads will have their masters who bears the balance weights will loss their power in the year 2011 in the last term of their school. Their people was considered more supreme than the minors while many lowly still want to hold to their brand of prince of the earth in the east now oppose the new. 6/8/09 By Gerry Perry
A SHORT STORY OF THE ANTI-CHRIST
From "Three Conversations"
(published 1900)
by Vladimir Soloviev
Vladimir Soloviev, 1853-1900
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
In the September 2000 issue of "Touchstone" Fr Addison Hart wrote these words about Soloviev's "Tale of the Anti-Christ":
In the face of the world we live in right now, it is blindness and sheer folly to be fighting with other Christians about ecclesiological matters that are daily becoming less defensible. "Catholic versus Orthodox" polemics would be wrong even in less troubled times, but in the context of the current cultural situation they are precisely what the devil ordered. An eschatological perspective ever keeps in mind how imperative it is "to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us;" for we are not"--or, at least, should not be--"ignorant of his designs" (2 Cor. 2:11).
I will conclude by bringing tip the name of a writer I have always found engaging, though he remains controversial. Nevertheless, I suggest that we might look to him for a classic presentation of the eschatological perspective. I refer to Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900), who has been accused by some of his Orthodox co-religionists of "cryptoCatholicism," and by some Catholics of "gnosticism" and being unhealthily influenced by German idealism. I will leave such concerns to others, finding Solovyov remarkably prescient and often prophetic, and never more so than when he testifies to the essential, underlying, ontological union of Orthodoxy and Catholicism, despite the historical schism between them.
This union can be asserted because the Church subsists in Christ himself, as his Body, and her being is not therefore simply reducible to the historical. I also remind readers of Touchstone that Solovyov's little masterpiece, "A Short Story of Antichrist," was republished in these pages in two installments back in 1990 and 1991. It is that story that I recommend for us to pick up and read or reread.
And here, we can also address Protestants as well as Orthodox and Catholics. "A Short Story of Antichrist" tells how the genuine believers of the Church reunite in the twenty-first century during the reign of Antichrist. Compromised by well-chosen allurements offered by the world's ruler and his false prophet, the various churches are divided between genuine disciples and mere adherents of religion. Both sides of this division reunite. The orthodox believers from each of the three major streams, led and represented by Pope Peter II (Catholicisni), the Elder John of Russia (Orthodoxy), and Professor Pauli (Evangelical Protestantism), are last seen together in the wilderness, following the cosmic sign of the "Woman clothed with the sun." This is followed by Christ's return in glory, and a united Christianity following Peter, John, and Paul (the same three figures as above, now unveiled) approaching Zion to greet him. It is a magnificent conclusion, reflecting a biblical sensibility, and a vision of the imperfections of this age giving way ultimately to Christ's kingdom.
So, in place of polemicism, let us witness to a better way: humility at all times about each of our own Traditions, charity towards one another now in all our dealings (even in our theological exchanges), and hope for a future that--like it or not--will put all things in proper perspective and that we will inevitably share.
The Devil and Anti-Christ, from The Last Judgment by Luca Signorelli (c. 1450-1502)
Pan-Mongolism! The name is wild,
Yet it pleases my ear greatly,
As if it were full of forebodings
Of the glorious providence of God.
LADY - Where does this motto come from?
MR. Z. - I think it is the work of the author himself.
LADY - Well, we are listening.
MR. Z. (reads) - The twentieth century was the epoch of the last great wars and revolutions. The greatest of these wars had its distant cause in the movement of Pan Mongolism which originated in Japan as far back as the end of the nineteenth century. The imitative Japanese, who showed such wonderful speed and success in copying the external forms of European culture, also assimilated certain European ideas of the baser sort. Having learned from newspapers and textbooks on history that there were in the West such movements as Pan-Hellenism, Pan-Germanism, Pan-Slavism, and Pan-Islamism, they proclaimed to the world the great idea of Pan-Mongolism -- the unification under their leadership of all the races of Eastern Asia, with the aim of conducting a decisive war against foreign intruders, that is, against the Europeans.
Taking advantage of the fact that at the beginning of the twentieth century Europe was engaged in a final decisive struggle against the Moslem world, they seized the opportunity to attempt the reaction of their great plan -- first, by occupying Korea, then Peking, where, assisted by the revolutionary party in China, they deposed the old Manchu dynasty and put in its place a Japanese one. In this the Chinese Conservatives soon acquiesced, as they understood that, of two evils, the lesser is the better, and that "family ties make all people brothers, whether they wish it or not."
The independence of old China as a state had already proved unable to maintain itself, and subjection to the Europeans or the Japanese became inevitable. It seemed clear that the dominance of the Japanese, though it abolished the external forms of the Chinese state organization (which anyway had become palpably worthless), would not interfere with the main foundations of national life, whereas the dominance of the European Powers, which for political reasons supported the Christian missionaries, threatened the very spiritual basis of China. The national hatred in which the Japanese were formerly held by the Chinese had developed at a time when neither one nor the other knew the Europeans, and consequently this enmity of two kindred nations acquired the character of a family feud and was as unreasonable as it was ridiculous.
The Europeans, however, were unreservedly alien, nothing but enemies, and their predominance promised nothing that could flatter national ambition, while in the hands of Japan the Chinese saw the delightful lure of Pan-Mongolism which, at the same time, was more acceptable to their minds than the painful necessity of assimilating the external forms of the European culture.
"Will you understand, you obstinate brothers," the Japanese repeatedly urged them, "that we take weapons from the Western dogs, not because we like them, but simply to beat them with their own devices? If you join us and accept our practical guidance, we shall soon be able not only to drive out all the white devils from our Asia but, also, to conquer their own lands and establish the true Middle Kingdom over the whole world. You are right in your national pride and your contempt for the Europeans but you should nourish these feelings, not only with dreams but with sensible actions as well. In these latter, we Japanese are far in advance of you and have to show you the ways of mutual benefit. If you look around, you will see yourselves what little gains you have obtained by your policy of confidence in yourselves and mistrust of us, your natural friends and protectors. You have seen how Russia and England, Germany and France nearly divided you up among themselves, and how all your tigerish schemes could show only the harmless end of the serpent's tail."
The sensible Chinese found this argument reasonable, and the Japanese dynasty became firmly established. Its first care was, of course, to create a powerful army and fleet. The greater part of the Japanese troops were brought over to China and served as a nucleus for the new colossal army. The Japanese officers who could speak Chinese proved much more successful instructors than the dismissed Europeans, while the immense population of China, with Manchuria, Mongolia, and Tibet, provided a sufficient supply of good fighting material.
It was already possible for the first Emperor of the Japanese dynasty to make a successful test of the power of the new Empire by driving out the French from Tonkin and Siam, the English from Burma, and then by adding the whole of Indochina to the Middle Kingdom.
His successor, the second Emperor, Chinese on his mother's side, combined in himself Chinese cunning and tenacity with Japanese energy, agility, and enterprise. He mobilized an army four million strong in Chinese Turkestan, and while Tsun-li-Yamin was confidentially informing the Russian Ambassador that this army was intended for the invasion of India, the Emperor with his immense forces suddenly invaded Russian Central Asia. Here, having raised against us all the population, he rapidly crossed the Ural Mountains, overrunning Eastern and Central Russia with his troops.
Meanwhile, the Russian armies, mobilized in all haste, were hurrying to meet them from Poland and Lithuania, Kiev and Volhyn, St. Petersburg, and Finland. Having no ready plan of campaign, and being faced with an immense superiority in numbers, the fighting qualities of the Russian armies were sufficient only to allow them to perish with honor.
The swiftness of the invasion left them no time for a proper concentration, and army corps after army corps were annihilated in desperate and hopeless battles. The Mongolian victories also involved huge losses, but these were easily made good with the help of the many Asiatic railways, while the Russian army, two hundred thousand strong and for some time concentrated on the Manchurian frontier, made an abortive attempt to invade well-defended China.
After leaving a portion of his forces in Russia, so that no new armies could form in that country -- and also in order to fight the numerous bodies of partisan units -- the Emperor crossed the frontiers of Germany with three armies. In this case the country had had sufficient time to prepare itself, and one of the Mongolian armies met with a crushing defeat. At this time, the party of a belated revanche was in power in France, and soon the Germans found an army of a million bayonets in their rear.
Finding itself between the hammer and the anvil, the German army was compelled to accept the honorable terms of peace offered to it by the Chinese Emperor. The exultant French, fraternizing with the yellow faces, scattered over Germany and soon lost all notion of military discipline. The Emperor ordered his army to kill any allies who were no longer useful and, with Chinese punctiliousness, the order was executed with precision.
Simultaneously, in Paris, workers sans patrie organized an uprising and the capital of Western culture joyfully opened its gates to the Lord of the East. His curiosity satisfied, the Emperor set off to Boulogne where, protected by the fleet that had come round from the Pacific, transports were speedily prepared for ferrying his army over to England.
The Emperor was in need of money, however, and so the English succeeded in buying him off with the sum of one million pounds. Within a year, all the European States submitted as vassals to the domination of the Chinese Emperor, who, having left sufficient occupation troops in Europe, returned to the East in order to organize naval expeditions against America and Australia.
The new Mongolian yoke over Europe lasted for half a century. The domain of the inner life of thought of this epoch was marked by a general blending and mutual interchange of European and Eastern ideas, providing a repetition on a grand scale of ancient Alexandrian syncretism.
In the practical domain, three phenomena above all were most characteristic: the great influx into Europe of Chinese and Japanese workers and the consequent acuteness of social and economic problems; the continued activity of the ruling classes in the way of palliative attempts in order to solve those problems; and, lastly, the increased activity of secret international societies, organizing a great European conspiracy for expelling the Mongols and reestablishing the independence of Europe.
This colossal conspiracy, which was supported by local national governments, insofar as they could evade the control of the Emperor's viceroys, was organized in masterly fashion and was crowned with most brilliant success. An appointed hour saw the beginning of a massacre of the Mongolian soldiers and of the annihilation and expulsion of the Asiatic workers. Secret cadres of European troops were suddenly revealed in various places, and a general mobihzation was carried out according to plans previously prepared.
The new Emperor, who was a grandson of the great conqueror, rushed from China to Russia, but his innumerable hordes suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the All-European Army. Their scattered remnants returned to the interior of Asia, and Europe breathed freely again. If the half-century of submission to the Asiatic barbarians was due to the disunity of the European States which had concerned themselves only with their own national interests, a great and glorious independence was achieved by an international organization of the united forces of the entire European population.
As a natural consequence of this fact, the old traditional organization of individual States was everywhere deprived of its former importance, and the last traces of ancient monarchal institutions gradually disappeared. Europe in the twenty-first century represented an alliance of more or less democratic nations -- the United States of Europe. The progress of material culture, somewhat interrupted by the Mongolian yoke and the war of liberation, now burst forth with a greater force.
The problems of inner consciousness, however, such as the questions of life and death, the ultimate destiny of the world and humanity, made more complicated and involved by the latest researches and discoveries in the fields of psychology and physiology these as before remained unsolved. Only one important, though negative, result made itself apparent. This was the final bankruptcy of the materialistic theory. The notion of the universe as a system of dancing atoms, and of life as the result of mechanical accumulation of the slightest changes in material no longer satisfied a single reasoning intellect.
Humanity had outgrown that stage of philosophical infancy. On the other hand, it became equally evident that it had also outgrown the infantile capacity for naive, unconscious faith. Such ideas as God creating the universe out of nothing were no longer taught even in elementary schools. A certain high level of ideas concerning such subjects had been evolved, and no dogmatism could risk a descent below it. And though the majority of thinking people had remained faithless, the few believers, of necessity, had become thinking, thus fulfilling the commandment of the Apostle: "Be infants in your hearts, but not in your reason."
At that time, there was among the few believing spiritualists a remarkable person -- many called him a superman -- who was equally far from both, intellect and childlike heart. He was still young, but owing to his great genius, by the age of thirty-three he had already become famous as a great thinker, writer, and public figure. Conscious of the great power of spirit in himself, he was always a confirmed spiritualist, and his clear intellect always showed him the truth of what one should believe in: the good, God, and the Messiah.
In these he believed, but he loved only himself. He believed in God, but in the depths of his soul he involuntarily and unconsciously preferred himself. He believed in Good, but the All Seeing Eye of the Eternal knew that this man would bow down before the power of Evil as soon as it would offer him a bribe -- not by deception of the senses and the lower passions, not even by the superior bait of power, but only by his own immeasurable self-love.
This self-love was neither an unconscious instinct nor an insane ambition. Apart from his exceptional genius, beauty, and nobility of character, the reserve, disinterestedness, and active sympathy with those in need which he evinced to such a great extent seemed abundantly to justify the immense self-love of this great spiritualist, ascetic, and philanthropist. Did he deserve blame because, being as he was so generously supplied with the gifts of God, he saw in them the signs of Heaven's special benevolence to him, and thought himself to be second only to God himself? In a word, he considered himself to be what Christ in reality was. But this conception of his higher value showed itself in practice not in the exercise of his moral duty to God and the world but in seizing his privilege and advantage at the expense of others, and of Christ in particular.
At first, he bore no ill feeling toward Christ. He recognized his messianic importance and value, but he was sincere in seeing in him only his own greatest precursor. The moral achievement of Christ and his uniqueness were beyond an intellect so completely clouded by self-love as his. Thus he reasoned: "Christ came before me. I come second. But what, in order of time, appears later is, in its essence, of greater importance. I come last, at the end of history, and for the very reason that I am most perfect. I am the final savior of the world, and Christ is my precursor. His mission was to precede and prepare for my coming."
Thinking thus, the superman of the twenty-first century applied to himself everything that was said in the Gospels about the second coming, explaining the latter not as a return of the same Christ, but as a replacing of the preliminary Christ by the final one -- that is, by himself.
At this stage, the coming man presented few original characteristics or features. His attitude toward Christ resembled, for instance, that of Mohammed, a truthful man, against whom no charge of harboring evil designs can be brought.
This man justified his selfish preference of himself before Christ in yet another way. 'Christ,' he said, "who preached and practiced moral good in life, was a reformer of humanity, whereas I am called to be the benefactor of that same humanity, partly reformed and partly incapable of being reformed. I will give everyone what they require. As a moralist, Christ divided humanity by the notion of good and evil. I shall unite it by benefits which are as much needed by good as by evil people. I shall be the true representative of that God who makes his sun to shine upon the good and the evil alike, and who makes the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. Christ brought the sword; I shall bring peace. Christ threatened the earth with the Day of Judgment. But I shall be the last judge, and my judgment will be not only that of justice but also that of mercy. The justice that will be meted out in my sentences will not be a retributive justice but a distributive one. I shall judge each person according to his deserts, and shall give everybody what he needs."
In this magnificent spirit he now waited for God to call him in some unmistakable way to take upon himself the work of saving humanity -- for some obvious and striking testimony that he was the elder son, the beloved first-born child of God. He waited and sustained himself by the consciousness of his superhuman virtues and gifts, for, as was said, he was a man of irreproachable morals and exceptional genius.
Thus this just, proud man awaited the sanction of the Most High in order to begin his saving of humanity; but he saw no signs of it. He had passed the age of thirty. Three more years passed. Suddenly, a thought leaped into his mind and thrilled him to the core. "What," he thought, "what if by some accident it is not I, but the other ... the Galilean. What if he is not my annunciator but the true deliverer, the first and the last? In that case, he must be alive... But where is he, then? What if he suddenly comes to me... here, now? What shall I tell Him? Shall I not be compelled to kneel down before him as the very last silly Christian, as some Russian peasant who mutters without understanding: 'Lord, Jesus Christ, forgive me, a sinful man'? Shall I not be compelled like an old Polish woman to prostrate myself? I, the serene genius, the superman! It cannot be!"
And here, instead of his former reasoning and cold reverence to God and Christ, a sudden fear was born and grew in his heart, next followed by a burning envy that consumed all his being, and by an ardent hatred that took his very breath away. "It is I, it is I, and not he! He is dead -- is and will ever be! He did not -- no, did not rise! He is rotting in the grave, rotting as the lost..." His mouth foaming, he rushed convulsively out of the house, through the garden, and ran along a rocky path into the silent black night.
His rage calmed down and gave place to a despair, dry and heavy as the rocks, somber as the night. He stopped in front of a sharp precipice, from the bottom of which he could hear the faint sounds of the stream running over the stones. An unbearable anguish pressed upon his heart. Suddenly a thought flashed across his mind. "Shall I call him? Shall I ask him what to do?" And in the midst of darkness he could see a pale and grief-stained image. "He pities me ... Oh, no, never! He did not rise! He did not! He did not!" And he leapt from the precipice.
But something firm like a column of water held him up in the air. He felt a shock as if of electricity, and some unknown force hurled him back. For a moment he became unconscious. When he came to his senses he found himself kneeling down a few paces from the brow of the precipice. A strange figure gleaming with a dim phosphorescent light loomed up before him, and its two eyes pierced his soul with their painful penetrating glitter...
He saw these two piercing eyes and heard some unfamiliar voice coming from inside or outside him -- he could not tell which -- a dull, muffled voice, yet distinct, metallic, and expressionless as a recording. And the voice said to him: "Oh, my beloved son! Let all my benevolence rest on thee! Why didst not thou seek for me? Why hast thou stooped to worship that other, the bad one, and his father? I am thy god and father. And that crucified beggar -- he is a stranger both to me and to thee. I have no other son but thee. Thou art the sole, the only begotten, the equal of myself. I love thee, and ask for nothing from thee. Thou art so beautiful, great, and mighty. Do thy work in thine own name, not mine. I harbor no envy of thee. I love thee. I require nothing of thee. He whom thou regardest as God, demanded of his son obedience, absolute obedience -- even to death on a cross -- and even there he did not help Him. I demand nothing of thee, and I will help thee. For the sake of thyself, for the sake of thine own dignity and excellency, and for the sake of my own disinterested love of thee, I will help thee! Receive thou my spirit! As before my spirit gave birth to thee in beauty, so now it gives birth to thee in power."
With these words, the superman's mouth opened involuntarily, two piercing eyes came close to his face, and he felt an icy breath which pervaded the whole of his being. He felt in himself such strength, vigor, lightness, and joy as he had never before experienced. At that moment, the luminous image and the two eyes suddenly disappeared, and something lifted the man into the air and brought him down in his own garden before the very doors of his house.
Next day, the visitors of the great man, and even his servants, were startled by his special inspired air. They would have been even more startled could they have seen with what supernatural quickness and facility he was writing, locked up in his study, his famous work entitled The Open Way to Universal Peace and Prosperity.
The superman's previous books and public activity had always met with severe criticism, though these came chiefly from people of exceptionally deep religious convictions, who for that very reason possessed no authority (I am, after all, speaking of the coming of the Anti-Christ) and thus they were hardly listened to when they tried to point out, in everything that the "coming man" wrote or said, the signs of a quite exceptional and excessive self-love and conceit, and a complete absence of true simplicity, frankness, and sincerity.
But now, with his new book, he brought over to his side even some of his former critics and adversaries. This book, composed after the incident at the precipice, evinced a greater power of genius than he had ever shown before. it was a work that embraced everything and solved every problem. It united a noble respect for ancient traditions and symbols with a broad and daring radicalism in socio-political questions. It joined a boundless freedom of thought with the most profound appreciation for everything mystical. Absolute individualism stood side by side with an ardent zeal for the common good, and the highest idealism in guiding principles combined smoothly with a perfect definiteness in practical solutions for the necessities of life. And all this was blended and cemented with such artistic genius that every thinker and every man of action, however one-sided he might have been, could easily view and accept the whole from his particular individual standpoint without sacrificing anything to the truth itself, without actually rising above his ego, without in reality renouncing his one-sidedness, without correcting the inadequacy of his views and wishes, and without making up their deficiencies.
This wonderful book was immediately translated into the languages of all the civilized nations, and many of the uncivilized ones as well. During the entire year thousands of newspapers in all parts of the world were filled with the publisher's advertisements and the critics' praises. Cheap editions with portraits of the author were sold in millions of copies, and all the civilized world -- which now stood for nearly all the globe resounded with the glory of the incomparable, the great, the only one!
Nobody raised his voice against the book. On every side it was accepted by all as the revelation of the complete truth. In it, all the past was given such full and due justice, the present was appraised with such impartiality and catholicity, and the happiest future was described in such a convincing and practical manner that everybody could not help saying: "Here at last we have what we need. Here is the ideal, which is not a Utopia. Here is a scheme which is not a dream." And the wonderful author not only impressed all, but he was agreeable to all, so that the word of Christ was fufilled: "I have come in the name of the Father, and you accept me not. Another will come in his own name -- him you will accept." For it is necessary to be agreeable to be accepted.
It is true some pious people, while praising the book wholeheartedly, had been asking why the name of Christ was never mentioned in it; but other Christians had rejoined: "So much the better. Everything sacred has already been stained enough in past ages by every sort of unacknowledged zealot, and nowadays a deeply religious author must be extremely guarded in these matters. Since the book is imbued with the true Christian spirit of active love and all-embracing goodwill, what more do you want?" And everybody agreed.
Soon after the publication of "The Open Way," which made its author the most popular man ever to live on earth, an international constitutional congress of the United States of Europe was to be held in Berlin. This Union, founded after a series of international and civil wars which had been brought about by the liberation from the Mongolian yoke and had resulted in considerable alteration in the map of Europe, was now menaced with peril, not through conflicts of nations but through the internal strife between various political and social parties.
The principal directors of European policy, who belonged to the powerful brotherhood of Freemasons, felt the lack of a common executive power. The European unity that had been obtained at so great a cost was every moment threatening to fall to pieces. There was no unanimity in the Union Council or "Comite permanent universal," for not all the seats were in the hands of true Masons.
The independent members of the Council were entering into separate agreements, and this state of affairs threatened another war. The "initiated" then decided to establish a one-man executive power endowed with some considerable authority. The principal candidate was the secret member of the Order -- "the Coming Man." He was the only man with a great worldwide fame. Being by profession a learned artilleryman, and by his source of income a rich capitalist, he was on friendly terms with many in financial and military circles. In another, less enlightened time, there might have been held against him the fact of his extremely obscure origin. His mother, a lady of doubtful reputation, was very well known in both hemispheres, but the number of people who had grounds to consider him as their son was rather too great. These circumstances, however, could not carry any weight with an age that was so advanced as to be actually the last. "The Coming Man" was almost unanimously elected president of the United States of Europe for life. And when he appeared on the platform in all the glamour of youthful superhuman beauty and power and, with inspired eloquence, expounded his universal program, the assembly was carried away by the spell of his personality and, in an outburst of enthusiasm, decided, even without voting, to give him the highest honor and to elect him Roman Emperor.
The congress closed amid general rejoicing, and the great man who had been chosen published a manifesto which began with the words: "Nations of the World! I give you my peace," and concluded, "Nations of the World! The promises have been fulfilled! An eternal universal peace has been secured. Every attempt to destroy it will meet with determined and irresistible opposition, since a middle power is now established on earth which is stronger than all the other powers, separately or conjointly. This unconquerable, all-surmountable power belongs to me, the authorized chosen one of Europe, the Emperor of all its forces. International law has at last secured the sanction which was so long missing. Henceforth, no country will dare to say 'War' when I say 'Peace!' Peoples of the world, peace to you!"
This manifesto had the desired effect. Everywhere outside Europe, particularly in America, powerful imperialist parties were formed which compelled their governments to join the United States of Europe under the supreme authority of the Roman Emperor.
There still remained a few independent tribes and little states in remote parts of Asia and Africa but, with a small but chosen army of Russian, German, Polish, Hungarian, and Turkish regiments, the Emperor set out for a military march from East Asia to Morocco and, without much bloodshed, brought into subjection all the insubordinate States. In all the countries of the two hemispheres, he installed his viceroys, choosing them from among the native nobility who had received a European education and were faithful to him. In all the heathen countries, the native populations, greatly impressed and charmed by his personality, proclaimed him as their supreme god.
In a single year, a real universal monarchy in the true and proper sense of the word was established. The germs of wars were radically destroyed. The Universal League of Peace met for the last time, and having delivered an exalted panegyric to the Great Peacemaker, dissolved itself as being no longer necessary.
On the eve of the second year of his reign, the World's Emperor published a new manifesto: 'Nations of the World! I have promised you peace, and I have given it to you. But peace is joyful only through prosperity. Who in peacetime is threatened with poverty has no pleasure in peace. I call, therefore, all the cold and hungry ones to come to me, and I will give you food and warmth!"
Here he announced the simple and comprehensive program of social reform that had already been articulated in his book and which now captured all noble and sound minds. Owing to the concentration in his hands of all the financial resources of the world and all its colossal land properties, the Emperor could carry into effect his reform in accordance with the wishes of the poor and without causing much pain to the rich. All now received according to their capabilities, and every capability according to its labors and merits.
The new lord of the world was above all else a kindhearted philanthropist and not only a philanthropist, but even a philozoist, a lover of life. He was a vegetarian himself, prohibited vivisection, and instituted strict supervision over the slaughter-houses; while societies for the protection of animals received from him every encouragement.
But what was more important than these details, the most fundamental form of equality was firmy established among humankind, the equality of universal satiety. This took place in the second year of his reign. Social and econonic problems finally had been settled. But if satisfaction is a question of primary importance for the hungry, the satisfied ones crave for something else. Even satiated animals usually want not only to sleep but also to play - the more so with humanity which has always post panem craved for circenses.
The Emperor Superman understood what his mob wanted. At that time a great magician, enwrapped in a dense cloud of strange facts and wild stories, came to him in Rome from the Far East. A rumor, spreading among the neo-Buddhists, credited him with a divine origin from the sun god Suria and some river nymph.
This magician, Apollonius by name, was doubtless a person of genius. A semi-Asiatic and a semi-European, a Catholic bishop in partibus infidelium, he combined in himself in a most striking manner knowledge of the latest conclusions and applications of Western science with the art of utilizing all that was really sound and important in traditional Eastern mysticism. The results of this combination were startling. Apollonius learned, among other things, the semi-scientific, semi-mystic art of attracting and directing at will atmospheric electricity and the people said of him that he could bring down fire from heaven. However, though he was able to startle the imagination of the crowd by various unheard-of phenomena, for some time he did not abuse his power for any special or selfish ends.
It was this man who came to the great Emperor, saluted him as the true son of God, declaring that he had discovered in the secret books of the East certain unmistakable prophecies pointing to the Emperor as the last savior and judge of the Universe, and offering him his services and all his art. The Emperor, completely charmed by the man, accepted him as a gift from above, decorated him with all kinds of gorgeous titles, and made him his constant companion. So the nations of the world, after they had received from their lord universal peace and universal abolition of hunger, were now given the possibility of never-ending enjoyment of most diverse and extraordinary miracles. Thus came to end the third year of the reign of the superman.
After this happy solution of political and social problems, the religious question came to the fore. The question was raised by the Emperor himself, in the first place, in its application to Christianity. At the time, the situation of Christianity was as follows: Its followers had greatly diminished in numbers and barely included forty-five million people in the whole world; but, morally, it had made a marked progress and had gained in quality what it had lost in numbers. People who were not bound to Christianity by any spiritual tie were no longer counted as Christians.
The various Christian persuasions had diminished fairly equally in their numbers, so that the proportional relationship among them remained almost unchanged. As to mutual feelings, hostility had not entirely given place to amity but had considerably softened down, and points of disagreement had lost much of their former acuteness. The Papacy had long before been expelled from Rome, and after long wanderings had found refuge in St. Petersburg on condition that it refrain from propaganda there and in the country.
In Russia, the Papacy soon became greatly simplified. Leaving practically unchanged the number of its colleges and offices, it was obliged to infuse into their work a more fervent spirit, and to reduce to the smallest limits its elaborate rituals and ceremonials. Many strange and seductive customs, though not formally abolished, fell of themselves into disuse. In all the other countries, particularly in North America, the Catholic priesthood still had a good many representatives possessed of strong will, inexhaustible energy, and independent character, who welded together the Catholic Church into a closer unity than it had ever seen before, and who preserved for it its international, cosmopolitan importance.
As to Protestantism, which was still led by Germany, especially since the union of the greater part of the Anglican Church with the Catholic one -- Protestantism had purged itself of its extreme negative tendencies, and the supporters of these tendencies openly descended into religious apathy and unbelief. The Evangelical Church now contained only the sincerely religious. It was headed by people who combined a vast learning with a deep religious feeling and an ever-growing desire to bring to life again in their own persons the living image of the true ancient Christianity.
Russian Orthodoxy, after political events had altered the official position of the Church, lost many millions of its sham and nominal members; but it won the joy of unification with the best part of the "old believers," and even many of the deeply religious sectarians. The revivified Church, though not increasing in numbers, began to grow in strength of spirit, which it particularly revealed in its struggle with the numerous extremist sects (some not entirely devoid of the demoniacal and satanic element) which found root among the people and in society.
During the first two years of the new reign, all Christians, frightened and weary of the number of preceding revolutions and wars, looked upon their new lord and his peaceful reforms partly with benevolent expectation and partly with unreserved sympathy and even fervent enthusiasm.
But in the third year, after the great magician had made his appearance, serious fears and antipathy began to grow in the minds of many an Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. The Gospel and Apostolic texts speaking of the Prince of this Age and of the Anti-Christ were now read more carefully and led to lively comments. The Emperor soon perceived from certain signs that a storm was brewing, and he resolved to bring the matter to a head without any further delay. In the beginning of the fourth year of his reign, he published a manifesto to all true Christians, without distinction of churches, inviting them to elect or appoint authoritative representatives for the world congress to be held under his presidency.
At that time, the imperial residence was transferred from Rome to Jerusalem. Palestine was already an autonomous province, inhabited and governed mainly by the Jews. Jerusalem was a free and now imperial city. The Christian shrines remained unmolested but, over the whole of the large platform of Haram-esh-Sheriff, extending from Birket-Israin and the barracks right to the mosque of El-Ax and "Solomon's Stables," an immense building was erected, incorporating in itself, besides the two small ancient mosques, a huge "Empire" temple for the unification of all cults, and two luxurious imperial palaces with libraries, museums, and special apartments for magical experiments and exercises.
It was in this half-temple, half-palace that the world congress was to meet on September 14. As the Evangelical Church has no hierarchy in the proper sense of the word, the Catholic and Orthodox hierarchy, in compliance with the express wish of the Emperor, and in order that a greater uniformity of representation should obtain, decided to admit to the proceedings of the congress a certain number of lay members known for their piety and devotion to Church interests. Once, however, these were admitted, it seemed impossible to exclude from the congress the clergy, of both monastic and secular orders. In this way the total number of members at the congress exceeded three thousand, while about half a million Christian pilgrims flooded Jerusalem and all Palestine.
Among the members present, three men were particularly conspicuous. The first was Pope Peter II, who legitimately led the Catholic part of the congress. His predecessor had died on the way to the congress, and a conclave had met in Damascus, and unanimously elected Cardinal Simone Barionini, who took the name of Peter. He came of plebeian stock, from the province of Naples, and had become famous as a preacher of the Carmelite Order, having earned great successes in fighting a certain Satanic sect which was spreading in St. Petersburg and its environs and seducing not only the Orthodox but the Catholic faithful as well.
Raised to the archbishopric of Mogilov and next to the Cardinal's chair, he was all along marked for the tiara. He was a man of fifty, of middle stature and strongly built, with a red face, a crooked nose, and thick eyebrows. He had an impulsive and ardent temperament, spoke with fervor and with sweeping gestures, and enthused more than convinced his audience. The new Pope had no trust in the Emperor, and looked at him with a disapproving eye, particularly since the deceased Pope, yielding to the Emperor's pressure, had made a cardinal of the Imperial Chancellor and great magician of the world, the exotic Bishop Apollonius, whom Peter regarded as a doubtful Catholic and a certain fraud.
The actual, though not official, leader of the Orthodox members was the Elder John, extremely well known among the Russian people. Officially, he was considered a bishop "in retirement," but he did not live in any monastery, being always engaged in traveling all over the world. Many legendary stories were circulated about him. Some people believed that he was Feodor Kuzmich, that is, Emperor Alexander I, who had died three centuries back and was now raised to life. Others went further and maintained that he was the true Elder John, that is, John the Apostle, who had never died and had now openly reappeared in the latter days. He himself said nothing about his origin and younger days. He was now a very old but vigorous man with white hair and a beard tinged with a yellowish, even greenish color, tall, thin in body, with full, slightly rosy cheeks, vivid sparkling eyes and a tender, kind expression in his face and speech. He was always dressed in a white cassock and mantle.
Heading the Evangelical members of the congress was the very learned German theologian, Professor Ernst Pauli. He was a short, wizened old man, with a huge forehead, sharp nose, and a cleanly shaven chin. His eyes were distinguished by their peculiarly ferocious and yet kindly gaze. He incessantly rubbed his hands, shook his head, sternly knitted his brows and pursed up his lips; while with eyes all flashing he sternly ejaculated: "So! Nun! Ja! So also!" His dress bore all the appearance of solemnity - a white tie and long pastoral frock coat decorated with signs of his order.
The opening of the congress was most imposing. Two thirds of the immense temple, devoted to the "unification of all cults," was covered with benches and other seating arrangements for members of the congress. The remaining third was taken up by a high platform on which were placed the Emperor's throne and another, lesser throne a little below it intended for the great magician -- who was at the same time cardinal and imperial chancellor -- and behind them rows of armchairs for the ministers, courtiers, and State officials, while along the side there were still longer rows of armchairs, the intended occupants of which remained undisclosed.
The gallery was taken by the orchestra, while in the adjoining square there were installed two regiments of Guards and a battery of guns for triumphal salvos. The members of the congress had already attended their respective services in their various churches: the opening of the congress was to be entirely civil. When the Emperor, accompanied by the great magician and his suite, made his entrance, the band began to play the "March of Unified Humanity," which was the international hymn of the Empire, and all the members rose to their feet, and, waving their hats, gave three enthusiastic cheers: "Vivat! Hurrah! Hoch!"
The Emperor, standing by the throne and stretching forward his hand with an air of majestic benevolence, proclaimed in a sonorous and pleasing voice: "Christians of all sects! My beloved subjects, brothers and sisters! From the beginning of my reign, which the Most High blessed with such wonderful and glorious deeds, I have had no cause to be dissatisfied with you. You have always performed your duties true to your faith and conscience. But this is not enough for me. My sincere love for you, my beloved brothers and sisters, thirsts for reciprocation. I wish you to recognize in me your true leader in every enterprise undertaken for the well-being of humanity, not merely out of your sense of duty to me but mainly out of your heartfelt love for me. So now, besides what I generally do for all, I am about to show you my special benevolence. Christians! What can I bestow upon you? What can I give you, not as my subjects, but as my co-religionists, my brothers and sisters! Christians! Tell me what is the most precious thing for you in Christianity, so that I may direct my efforts to that end?"
He stopped for a moment, waiting for an answer. The hall was filled with reverberating muffled sounds. The members of the congress were consulting each other. Pope Peter, with fervent gestures, was explaining something to his followers. Professor Pauli was shaking his head and ferociously smacking his lips. The Elder John, bending over Eastern bishops and monks quietly tried to impress something upon them.
After he had waited a few minutes, the Emperor again addressed the congress in the same kind tone, in which, however, there could be heard a scarcely perceptible note of irony: "Dear Christians," he said, "I understand how difficult it is for you to give me a direct answer. I will help you also in this. From time immemorial, you have had the misfortune to have been broken up into various confessions and sects, so that now you have scarcely one common object of desire. But where you cannot agree among yourselves, I hope I shall be able to bring agreement to you by bestowing upon all your sects the same love and the same readiness to satisfy the true desire of each.
"Dear Christians! I know that for many, and not the least among you, the most precious thing in Christianity is the spiritual authority with which it endows its legal representatives -- of course, not for their personal benefit, but for the common good, since on this authority firmly rests the true spiritual order and moral discipline so necessary for everyone. Dear brother Catholics, sister Catholics! How well I understand your view, and how much I would like to base my imperial power on the authority of your spiritual Head! In order that you should not think that this is mere flattery and windy words I, therefore, most solemnly declare that it is pleasing to our autocratic power that the Supreme Bishop of all Catholics, the Pope of Rome, be henceforth restored to his throne in Rome with all former rights and privileges belonging to this title and chair given at any time by our predecessors, from Constantine the Great onward.
"In return for this, Catholic brothers and sisters, I wish to receive from you only your inner heartfelt recognition of myself as your sole protector and patron. Let those here who recognize me in their hearts and consciences as their sole protector and patron come up to this side!"
Here he pointed to the empty seats on the platform. And instantly, nearly all the princes of the Catholic Church, cardinals and bishops, the greater part of the laypeople and over half the monks, shouting in exultation "Gratias agimus! Domine! Salvum fac magnum imperatorem!" rose to the platform and, humbly bowing their heads to the Emperor, took their seats.
Below, however, in the middle of the hall, straight and immovable, like a marble statue, still in his seat sat Pope Peter II. All those who had surrounded him were now on the platform. But the diminished crowd of monks and laypeople who remained below moved nearer and closed in a dense crowd around him. And one could hear the subdued mutter issuing from them: "Non praevalebunt, non praevalebunt portae inferni." (Latin for: "the gates of hell will not prevail").
With a startled look cast at the immovable Pope, the Emperor again raised his voice: "Dear brothers and sisters! I know that there are among you many for whom the most precious thing in Christianity is its sacred tradition -- the old symbols, the old hymns and prayers, the icons and the old rituals. What, indeed, could be more precious for a religious soul? Know, then, my beloved, that today I have signed the decree and have set aside vast sums of money for the establishment of a world museum of Christian archaeology in our glorious imperial city, Constantinople.
"This museum shall have the aim of collecting, studying, and saving all the monuments of church antiquity, more particularly Eastern church antiquity; and I ask you to select tomorrow from your midst a committee for working out with me the measures which are to be carried out, so that modern life, morals, and customs may be organized as nearly as possible in accordance with the traditions and institutions of the Holy Orthodox Church.
"My Orthodox brothers and sisters! Those of you who view with favor this will of mine, who can in their inner consciousness call me their true leader and lord, let those come up here."
Here the greater part of the hierarchy of the East and North, half of the former old believers and more than half of the Orthodox clergy, monks, and laypeople rose with joyful exclamation to the platform, casting suspicious eyes at the Catholics, who were already proudly occupying their seats.
But the Elder John remained in his place, and sighed loudly. And when the crowd round him became greatly thinned, he left his bench and went over to Pope Peter and his group. He was followed by the other Orthodox members who did not go to the platform.
Then the Emperor spoke again: "I am aware, dear Christians, that there are among you also such who place the greatest value upon personal assurance of the truth and the free examination of the Scriptures. There is no need for me to enlarge upon my views on this matter at the moment. Perhaps you are aware that, in my youth, I wrote a long treatise on biblical criticism which at that time excited much comment and laid the foundation for my popularity and reputation. In memory of this, I presume, the University of Tubingen only the other day requested me to accept the degree of a Doctor of Theology honoris causa. I have replied that I accept it with pleasure and gratitude.
"And today, simultaneously with the decree of the Museum of Christian Archaeology, I signed another decree establishing a world institute for the free examination of the sacred Scriptures from all points of view and in all possible directions, and for study of all subsidiary sciences -- to which institute an annual sum of one and one-half million marks is hereby granted. I call those of you who look with sincere favor upon this act of goodwill of mine and who are able in true feeling to recognize me as their sovereign leader to come up here to the new Doctor of Theology."
A strange but hardly perceptible smile passed lightly over the beautiful lips of the great man. More than half of the learned theologians moved to the platform, though somewhat slowly and hesitatingly. Everybody looked at Professor Pauli, who seemed to be rooted to his seat. He dropped his head, bent down and shrank.
The learned theologians who had already managed to get onto the platform seemed to feel very awkward, and one of them even suddenly dropped his hand in renunciation, and, having jumped right down past the stairs, ran hobbling to Professor Pauli and the members who remained with him. At this, the Professor raised his head, rose to his feet as if without a definite objective in view, and then walked past the empty benches, accompanied by those among his coreligionists who had also withstood the temptation. He took his seat near Elder John and Pope Peter and their followers. The greater part of the members, including nearly all the hierarchs of the East and West, were now on the platform. Below there remained only three groups of members, now coming more closely together and pressing around Elder John, Pope Peter, and Professor Pauli.
Now, in a grieved voice, the Emperor addressed them: "What else can I do for you, you strange people? What do you want from me? I cannot understand. Tell me yourselves, you Christians, deserted by the majority of your peers and leaders, condemned by popular sentiment. What is it that you value most in Christianity?"
At this, Elder John rose up like a white candle and answered quietly: "Great sovereign! What we value most in Christianity is Christ himself -- in his person. All comes from him, for we know that in him dwells all fullness of the Godhead bodily. We are ready, sire, to accept any gift from you, if only we recognize the holy hand of Christ in your generosity. Our candid answer to your question, what can you do for us, is this: Confess now and before us the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came in the flesh, rose, and who will come again -- Confess his name, and we will accept you with love as the true forerunner of his second glorious coming."
The Elder finished his speech and fixed his eyes on the face of the Emperor. A terrible change had come over it. A hellish storm was raging within him, like the one he experienced on that fateful night. He had completely lost his inner equilibrium, and was concentrating all his thoughts on preserving external control, so that he should not betray himself inopportunely. He was making a superhuman effort not to throw himself with wild howls on Elder John and begin tearing him with his teeth.
Suddenly, he heard a familiar, unearthly voice: "Be silent and fear not!" He remained silent. Only his face, livid like death, looked distorted and his eyes flashed. In the meantime, while Elder John was still making his speech, the great magician, wrapped in the ample tri-colored mantle that covered nearly all his cardinal's purple, could be seen busily manipulating something concealed beneath it. The magician's eyes were fixed and flashing, and his lips moved slightly. Through the open windows of the temple an immense black cloud could be seen covering the sky. Soon, complete darkness set in.
Elder John, startled and frightened, stared at the face of the silent Emperor. Suddenly, he sprang back and, turning to his followers, shouted in a stifled voice: "Little children, it is Anti-Christ!"
At this moment, a great thunderbolt flashed into the temple, followed by a deafening thunderclap. It struck the Elder John. Everyone was stupefied for a second, and when the deafened Christians came to their senses, the Elder was seen lying dead on the floor.
The Emperor, pale but calm, addressed the assembly: "You have witnessed the judgment of God. I had no wish to take any man's life, but thus my Heavenly Father avenges his beloved son. It is finished. Who will oppose the will of the Most High? Secretaries, write this down: The Ecumenical Council of All Christians, after a foolish opponent of the Divine Majesty had been struck by fire from heaven, recognized unanimously the sovereign Emperor of Rome and all the Universe as its supreme leader and lord."
Suddenly a word, loud and distinct, passed through the temple: "Contradicatur!" Pope Peter II rose. His face flushed, his body trembling with indignation, he raised his staff in the direction of the Emperor. "Our only Lord," he cried, "is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God! And who you are, you have heard just now. Away! You Cain, you murderer! Get you gone, you incarnation of the Devil! By the authority of Christ, I, the servant of the servants of God, cast you out forever, foul dog, from the city of God, and deliver you up to your father Satan! Anathema! Anathema! Anathema!"
While he was so speaking, the great magician was moving restlessly under his mantle. Louder than the last "Anathema!" the thunder rumbled, and the last Pope fell lifeless on the floor. "So die all my enemies by the arm of my Father!" cried the Emperor. "Pereant, pereant!" exclaimed the trembling princes of the Church.
The Emperor turned and, supported by the great magician and accompanied by all his crowd, slowly walked out the door at the back of the platform. There remained in the temple only the corpses and a little knot of Christians half-dead from fear. The only person who did not lose control over himself was Professor Pauli. The general horror seemed to have raised in him all the powers of his spirit. He even changed in appearance; his countenance became noble and inspired. With determined steps, he walked up onto the platform, took one of the seats previously occupied by some State official, and began to write on a sheet of paper.
When he had finished he rose and read in a loud voice: "To the glory of our only Savior, Jesus Christ! The Ecumenical Council of our Lord's churches, meeting in Jerusalem after our most blessed brother John, representative of Christianity in the East, had exposed the arch-deceiver and enemy of God to be the true Anti-Christ foretold in Scripture; and after our most blessed father, Peter, representative of Christianity in the West, had lawfully and justly expelled him forever from the Church of God; now, before these two witnesses of Christ, murdered for the truth, this Council resolves: To cease all communion with the excommunicated one and with his abominable assembly, and to go to the desert and wait there for the inevitable coming of our true Lord, Jesus Christ."
Enthusiasm seized the crowd, and loud exclamations could be heard on all sides. "Adveniat! Adveniat cito! Komm, Herr Jesu, komm! Come, Lord Jesus Christ!"
Professor Pauli wrote again and read: "Accepting unanimously this first and last deed of the last Ecumenical Council, we sign our names" -- and here he invited those present to do so. All hurried to the platform and signed their names. And last on the list stood in big Gothic characters the signature: "Duorum defunctorum testium locum tenes Ernst Pauli."
"Now let us go with our ark of the last covenant," he said, pointing to the two deceased. The corpses were put on stretchers. Slowly, singing Latin, German, and Church-Slavonic hymns, the Christians walked to the gate leading out from Haram-esh-Sheriff. Here the procession was stopped by one of the Emperor's officials who was accompanied by a squad of Guards. The soldiers remained at the entrance while the official read: "By order of his Divine Majesty. For the enlightenment of Christian people and for their protection from wicked people spreading unrest and temptation, we deem it necessary to resolve that the corpses of the two agitators, killed by heavenly fire, be publicly exhibited in the street of the Christians (Haret-en-Nasara), at the entrance into the principal temple of this religion, called the Temple of our Lord's Sepulcher, or the Temple of the Resurrection, so that all may be persuaded of the reality of their death. Their obstinate followers, who wrathfully reject all our benefits and insanely shut their eyes to the patent signs of God himself are, by our mercy and presentation before our Heavenly Father, spared a much-deserved death by heavenly fire, and are left free with the sole prohibition, necessary for the common good, of not living in towns and other inhabited places of residence lest they disturb and tempt innocent, simpleminded folk with their malicious inventions."
When the official had finished reading, eight soldiers, at a sign from the officer, approached the stretchers bearing the bodies. "Let what is written be fulfilled," said Professor Pauli. And the Christians who were holding the stretchers silently passed them to the soldiers, who went away with them through the northwest gate.
The Christians, having gone out through the northeast gate, hurriedly walked from the city past the Mount of Olives toward Jericho, along a road which had previously been cleared of other people by the gendarmes and two cavalry regiments. On the barren hills near Jericho, they decided to wait a few days. The following morning, friendly Christian pilgrims came from Jerusalem and told what had been going on in Zion.
After the Court dinner, all the members of the congress were invited to a vast throne hall (near the supposed site of Solomon's throne), and the Emperor, addressing the representatives of the Catholic hierarchy, told them: that the well-being of their Church clearly demanded from them the immediate election of a worthy successor to the apostate Peter; that under the circumstances the election must needs be a summary one; that his, the Emperor's, presence as the leader and representative of the whole Christian world would amply make up for the inevitable omissions in the ritual; and that he, on behalf of all Christians, suggested that the Holy College elect his beloved friend and brother Apollonius, in order that their close friendship could unite Church and State firmly and indissolubly for their mutual benefit.
The Holy College retired to a separate room for a conclave and, in an hour and a half, it returned with its new Pope, Apollonius.
In the meantime, while the election was being carried out, the Emperor was meekly, sagaciously, and eloquently persuading the Orthodox and Evangelical representatives, in view of the new great era in Christian history, to put an end to their old dissensions, giving his word that Apollonius would be able to abolish all the abuses of the Papal authority known to history. Persuaded by this speech, the Orthodox and Protestant representatives drafted a deed of the unification of all churches, and when Apollonius appeared with the cardinals in the hall and was met by shouts of joy from all those present, a Greek bishop and an Evangelical pastor presented him with their document. "Accipio et approbo et laetificatur cor meum," said Apollonius, signing it. "I am as much a true Orthodox and a Protestant as I am a true Catholic," he added, and exchanged friendly kisses with the Greek and the German.
Then he came up to the Emperor, who embraced him and long held him in his arms. At this time, tongues of flame began to dart about in the palace and the temple. They grew and became transformed into luminous shapes of strange beings and flowers never seen before came down from above, filling the air with an unknown perfume. Enchanting sounds of music, stirring the very depths of the soul, produced by unfamiliar instruments, were heard, while angelic voices of unseen singers sang the glory of the new lords of heaven and earth. Suddenly, a terrific subterranean noise was heard in the northwest comer of the palace under "Kubbet-el-Aruah," "the dome of souls," where, according to Muslim belief, the entrance to hell was hidden.
When the assembly, invited by the Emperor, went to that end, all could clearly hear innumerable voices, thin and penetrating -- either childish or devilish -- exclaiming: "The time has come, release us, dear saviors, dear saviors!" But when Apollonius, kneeling on the ground, shouted something downward in an unknown language three times, the voices died down and the subterranean noise subsided.
Meanwhile, a vast crowd of people surrounded Haram-esh-Sheriff on all sides. Darkness set in and the Emperor, with the new Pope, came out upon the eastern terrace -- the signal for "a storm of rejoicing." The Emperor bowed affably on all sides, while Apollonius took magnificent fireworks, rockets, and fountains from huge baskets brought up by the cardinal deacons. Igniting them by a mere touch of his hand, he tossed them one after another into the air where they glimmered like phosphorescent pearls and sparked with all the tints of a rainbow. Reaching the ground, all the sparkles transformed into numberless variously colored sheets containing complete and absolute indulgences of all sins -- past, present, and future.
Popular exultation overflowed all limits. True, there were some who stated that they had seen with their own eyes the indulgences turn into hideous frogs and snakes. But the vast majority of the people were pleased immensely, and the popular festivities continued a few days longer. The prodigies of the new Pope now surpassed all imagination, so that it would be a hopeless task even to attempt a description of them.
In the meantime, among the desert hills of Jericho, the Christians were devoting themselves to fasting and prayers. On the evening of the fourth day, Professor Pauli and nine companions, mounted on asses and taking with them a cart, stole into Jerusalem and, passing through side streets by Haram-esh-Sheriff to Haret-en-Nasara, came to the entrance to the Temple of the Resurrection, in front of which, on the pavement, the bodies of Pope Peter and Elder John were lying. The street was deserted at that time of night, as everyone had gone to Hasam-esh-Sheriff. The sentries were fast asleep.
The party that came for the bodies found them quite untouched by decomposition, not even stiff or heavy. They put them on stretchers and covered them with the cloaks they had brought with them. Then by the same circuitous route they returned to their followers. They had hardly lowered the stretcher to the ground when suddenly the spirit of life could be seen reentering the deceased bodies. The bodies moved slightly as if they were trying to throw off the cloaks in which they were wrapped. With shouts of joy, everyone lent them aid and soon both the revived men rose to their feet, safe and sound.
Then said Elder John: "Ah, my little children, we have not parted after all! I will tell you this: it is time that we carry out the last prayer of Christ for his disciples - that they should be all one, even as he himself is one with the Father. For this unity in Christ, let us honor our beloved brother Peter. Let him at last pasture the flocks of Christ. There it is, brother!" And he put his arms round Peter.
Then Professor Pauli came nearer. "Tu est Petrus!" ("You are Peter!") he said to the Pope, "Jetzt ist es ja grundlich erwiesen und ausser jedem Zweifel gesetzt." ("Now it has been thoroughly proven and put beyond any doubt"). And he shook Peter's hand firmly with his own right hand, while he stretched out his left hand to John saying: "So also Vaterchen nun sind wir ja Eins in Christo." ("Now, then, dear father, we are now one in Christ.").
In this manner, the unification of churches took place in the midst of a dark night on a high and deserted spot. But the nocturnal darkness was suddenly illuminated with brilliant light and a great sign appeared in the heavens; it was a woman, clothed in the sun with the moon beneath her feet and a wreath of twelve stars on her head. The apparition remained immovable for some time, and then began slowly to move in a southward direction. Pope Peter raised his staff and exclaimed: "Here is out banner! Let us follow it!" And he walked after that apparition, accompanied by both the old men and the whole crowd of Christians, to God's mountain, to Sinai ...
(Here the reader stopped.)
LADY - Well, why don't you go on?
MR. Z. - The manuscript stops here. Father Pansophius could not finish his story. He told me when he was already ill that he thought of completing it "as soon as I get better," he said. But he did not get better, and the end of his story is buried with him in the graveyard of the Danilov Monastery -
LADY - But you remember what he told you, don't you? Please tell us.
MR. Z. - I remember it only in its main outlines. After the spiritual leaders and representatives of Christianity had departed to the Arabian desert, whither crowds of faithful believers of truth were streaming from all countries, the new Pope with his miracles and prodigies was able to corrupt unimpededly all the remaining, superficial Christians who were not yet disappointed with the Anti-Christ.
He declared that by the power of his keys he could open the gates between the earthly world and the world beyond the grave. Communion of the living with the dead, and also of the living with demons, became a matter of everyday occurrence, and new unheard-of forms of mystic lust and demonolatry began to spread among the people. However, the Emperor had scarcely begun to feel himself firmly established on religious grounds, and, having yielded to the persistent suggestions of the seductive voice of the secret "father," had hardly declared himself the sole true incarnation of the supreme Deity of the Universe, when a new trouble came upon him from a side which nobody had expected: the Jews rose against him.
This nation, whose numbers at that time had reached thirty million, was not altogether ignorant of the preparations for and the consolidation of the worldwide successes of the superman. When the Emperor transferred his residence to Jerusalem, secretly spreading among the Jews the rumor that his main object was to bring about a domination by Israel over the whole of the world, the Jews proclaimed him as their Messiah, and their exultation and devotion to him knew no bounds. But now they suddenly rose, full of wrath and thirsting for vengeance. This turn of events, doubtless foretold in both Gospel and church tradition, was pictured by Father Pansophius, perhaps, with too great a simplicity and realism.
You see, the Jews, who regarded the Emperor as a true and perfect Israelite by blood, unexpectedly discovered that he was not even circumcised. The same day all Jerusalem, and next day all Palestine, were up in arms against him. The boundless and fervent devotion to the savior of Israel, the promised Messiah, gave place to as boundless and as fervent a hatred of the wily deceiver, the impudent impostor. The whole of the Jewish nation rose as one man, and its enemies were surprised to see that the soul of Israel at bottom lived not by calculations and aspirations of Mammon but by the power of an all-absorbing sentiment -- the hope and strength of its eternal faith in the Messiah.
The Emperor, taken by surprise at the sudden outburst, lost all self-control and issued a decree sentencing to death all insubordinate Jews and Christians. Many thousands and tens of thousands who could not arm themselves in time were ruthlessly massacred. But an army of Jews, one million strong, soon took Jerusalem and locked up the Anti-Christ in Haram-esh-Sheriff. His only support was a portion of the Guards who were not strong enough to overwhelm the masses of the enemy. Assisted by the magic art of his Pope, the Emperor succeeded in passing through the lines of his besiegers, and quickly appeared again in Syria with an innumerable army of pagans of different races. The Jews went forth to meet him with small hope of success. But hardly had the vanguard of both armies come together, when an earthquake of unprecedented violence occurred.
An enormous volcano, with a giant crater, rose up by the Dead Sea, around which the imperial army was encamped. Streams of fire flowed together into a flaming lake that swallowed up the Emperor himself, together with his numberless forces -- not to mention Pope Apollonius, who always accompanied him, and whose magic was of no avail. Meanwhile, the Jews hastened to Jerusalem in fear and trembling, calling for salvation to the God of Israel.
When the Holy City was already in sight, the heavens were rent by vivid lightning from the east to the west, and they saw Christ coming toward them in royal apparel, and with the wounds from the nails in his outstretched hands. At the same time, the company of Christians led by Peter, John, and Paul came from Sinai to Zion, and from various other parts hurried more triumphant multitudes, consisting of all the Jews and Christians who had been killed by the Anti-Christ. For a thousand years, they lived and reigned with Christ.
Here, Father Pansophius wished to end his narrative, which had for its object not a universal cataclysm of creation but the conclusion of our historical process which consists in the appearance, glorification, and destruction o the Anti-Christ.
POLITICIAN - And do you think that this conclusion is so near?
MR. Z. - Well, there will be still some chatter and fuss on the stage, but the whole drama is written to the end, and neither actors nor audience will be permitted to change anything in it.
LADY - But what is the absolute meaning of this drama? I still do not understand why the Anti-Christ hates God so much, while he himself is essentially good, not evil.
MR. Z. - That is the point. He is not essentially evil. All the meaning is in that. I take back my previous words that "You cannot explain the Anti-Christ by proverbs alone." He can be explained by a simple proverb, "All that glitters is not gold." You know all too well this glitter of counterfeit gold. Take it away and no real force remains -- none.
GENERAL - But you notice, too, upon what the curtain falls in this historical drama - upon war - the meeting of two armies. So our conversation ends where it began. How does that please you, Prince? Prince? Good heaven! Where's the Prince?
POLITICIAN - Didn't you notice? He left quietly during that moving passage where the Elder John presses the Anti-Christ to the wall. I did not want to interrupt the reading at that time and, afterward, I forgot.
GENERAL - I bet he ran away - ran away a second time! He mastered himself the first time and came back, but this was too much for the poor fellow. He couldn't stand it. Dear me! Dear me!
THE END
from the Baptistery of the cathedral of Florence
From the long, wonderful article by Hans Urs von Balthasar on Soloviev in the Third Volume of The Glory of the Lord:
"The Antichrist will blur the edges of the apocalyptic rift between morality and the cross, between cultural progress and the resurrection of the dead. He will permit Christianity to merge into this synthesis as one positive element. 'Christ divided men in terms of good and evil; I shall unite them through the benefits of salvation, which are necessary to good and evil alike. Christ brought the sword, but I bring peace. He threatened the earth with a terrible Last judgment; but I shall be the last judge, and my judgment is one of grace.'
Satan fills his son with his spirit; his soul is filled with a glacial abundance of enormous power, courage and effortless skill. He composes a manifesto, The Open Path to World Peace and Welfare, an all-embracing programme that unites all contradictions in itself--the highest degree of freedom of thought and a comprehension of every mystical system, unrestricted individualism and a glowing devotion to the general good.
He establishes a European union of states, then a world monarchy, satisfies the needs of all the poor without perceptibly affecting the rich and founds an inter-confessional institute for free biblical research. He seeks to be elected by the general assembly of the churches as head of the Church (from now on ecumenically united), and receives the approval of the majority.
But resistance comes from Pope Peter II, John the Elder, leader of the Orthodox and Professor Ernst Pauli, representing Protestantism: under the pressure of persecution the three churches in this eschatological situation at last unite. Peter's primacy is recognized, and the Pauline and Johannine churches come into the Roman fold. The spokesmen of Christianity are persecuted and killed, but they rise again; the last Christians journey to the wilderness, the Jews raise a revolt and the Christians join with them. They are slaughtered; but then Christ appears, robed in the imperial purple, his hands outspread with the marks of the nails upon them, to rule for a thousand years with those who are his own
What is important in this story (The Tale of Anti-Christ) is not its novelistic features, but the fact that Soloviev quite unconcernedly surrenders great parts of his philosophy of cosmic process into the hands of the Antichrist. As regards the fact, of the process, he has not abandoned a single detail; the only thing he has given up is theidea that the process comes to perfection within history.
The harvest of the world is brought home, but not by man; it is brought home by Christ, who alone lays the whole Kingdom at his Father's feet. He is himself the integration of all things. And if we believe ourselves capable of establishing within history some kind of signs of the end--perhaps in the unification of the world or in this ideal seen as the way in which 'the whole of humanity gathers itself around in
invisible but powerful focus in Christian culture' even such indications will never suffice to gain an overview of the real course of the historical process as it appears from God's own standpoint.
In this respect, Soloviev humbled himself before the all-conquering Cross."
