By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos (+1335)
The most Divine Fathers placed
this parable after the first two [those of the Publican and Pharisee and of the
Prodigal Son], lest anyone, learning about God’s love for mankind in those
parables, should live carelessly, saying: God loves mankind, and when I cease
from sinning, I shall be ready to accomplish everything. They set this fearful
day here, in order to instill fear, through death and the expectation of future
torments, in those who are heedless, and to bring them back to virtue, not
trusting in God’s loving-kindness alone, but taking into account that He is a
just Judge, Who will render unto each man according to his deeds. Moreover,
since the souls of those who have died stood in our midst yesterday, it was
fitting that the Judge should come today. In a certain way, the present Feast
is, as it were, the consummation of all the Feasts, just as it will be the
final day for all of us. We should reflect that the Fathers will assign the
beginning of the world and Adam’s fall from Paradise to the following Sunday,
and that the present Feast is the end of all our lives and of this world. The
Fathers assigned it to the Sunday of Meatfare, so as to curb greed and gluttony
through the fear aroused by this Feast, and to summon us to show compassion to
our neighbors. Furthermore, since, after reaping delight, we were exiled from Eden,
and came under judgment and the curse, the present Feast is placed here, and
also because, on the next Sunday, on which we commemorate the fall of Adam, we are
going to be figuratively cast out of Eden, until Christ comes and brings us
back to Paradise.
Christ’s coming is called the
Second Coming, because whereas He first came to us in bodily form, quietly and
without glory, He will now come from Heaven with wonders that transcend nature,
with conspicuous radiance, and corporeally, so that He may be recognized by all
as being He Who first came and delivered the human race, and Who is going to
judge it, to see whether it has preserved what was given to it. When His Coming
will take place, no one knows; for the Lord kept this hidden even from the
Apostles. But until then, at any rate, He indicated that it will be preceded by
certain signs, which some of the Saints explained in greater detail. It is said
that the Second Coming will occur after seven millennia have passed. Before
Christ comes, the Antichrist will come. He will be born, as Saint Hippolytos of
Rome says, from a harlot, who will appear to be a virgin, but will be of the
Hebrew race, of the tribe of Dan, the son of Jacob; and he will supposedly live
as Christ did, and will perform as many miracles as Christ, and will raise the
dead. But all of these things—his birth, his flesh, and everything else—will be
an illusion, as the Apostle says; and he will then be revealed as the son of
perdition, with all power, with signs and deceitful wonders. However, as Saint
John of Damascus says, the Devil himself will not be transformed into flesh,
but a man who is the offspring of fornication will receive all the energy of
Satan, and will suddenly rise up. He will appear good and gentle to all, and
then there will be a mighty famine. He will supposedly satisfy the people, will
study the Holy Scriptures, will practise fasting, and, compelled by men, will
be proclaimed king; he will show especial love to the Hebrew race, restoring
them to Jerusalem and rebuilding their temple. Before seven years have passed,
as Daniel says, Enoch and Elias will come, preaching to the people that they
should not accept him. He will arrest and torment them, and will then behead
them. Those who choose to remain pious will flee far away into the mountains;
when he finds them, through the agency of demons, he will make trial of them.
Those seven years will be cut short for the sake of the elect, and there will
be a mighty famine, and all the elements will be transformed, so that everyone
will all but disappear.
After this, the Lord will
suddenly come from Heaven like lightning, preceded by His precious Cross, and a
river of boiling fire will go before Him, cleansing the entire earth of
pollution. The Antichrist will immediately be seized, and he and his minions
will be handed over to the eternal fire. As the Angels sound their trumpets,
the entire human race will be gathered together from the ends of the earth, and
from all the elements, in Jerusalem, because this is the center of the world,
and there are set thrones for judgment, but with their souls and bodies all
transformed into incorruption and having a single form, the elements themselves
having been transformed into a superior state, and by a single word the Lord
will separate the righteous from the sinners; those who have done good will
depart, gaining eternal life, whereas the sinners will go to eternal
punishment, and never will there be an end to their torments
It should be known that Christ
will not be looking at that time for fasting, bodily hardships, or miracles,
good though these things are, but for things that are far superior, namely,
almsgiving and compassion. To the righteous and the sinners He will speak of
six virtues: “For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me food; I was thirsty, and ye
gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I
was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me; for inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it
unto Me.” Everyone can do these things according to his own ability. Then every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The torments which the Holy Gospel recounts are these: “there shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched; and cast him into the outer darkness.” Clearly accepting all these
things, the Church of God believes that the abiding of the Saints with God and
the perpetual effulgence of His light and their ascent to Him are the delight
of Paradise and the Kingdom of Heaven, and that alienation from God and the
consumption of souls by the awareness that, through carelessness and temporal
pleasure, they have been deprived of Divine illumination are the torment, the
darkness, and the like.
In Thine ineffable love for
mankind, O Christ God, count us worthy to hear Thy desired voice, number us
with those on Thy right hand, and have mercy on us. Amen.
Source: https://www.imoph.org/pdfs/2009/02/22/20090222aSynaxSunMeatfare%20Folder/20090222aSynaxSunMeatfare.pdf
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