The cunning and deceitful enemy,
having learned of the future Second Coming of the Lord, will himself contrive
to assume the likeness of His coming and to deceive mankind. For our Lord will
appear upon the earth on bright clouds, like lightning. But the enemy will not
come to the earth in this way, not upon a bright cloud; for he is darkness and
an apostate.
He will be born from an impure
woman—his vessel; Satan himself will not be born, but he will enter into the
one who is born, and will appear as a thief, desiring to deceive all men with
false piety. He will appear humble and silent, as it were hating unrighteousness
and turning away from idols, honoring piety, loving the poor, kind, fair in
appearance, very prudent and gentle toward all. He will especially honor the
Hebrew language, for they await his coming. Moreover, he will perform miracles
and signs and fearful wonders with great authority, craftily striving to please
everyone so that he may more quickly be loved by many. He will accept no gifts,
will not speak with anger, and will not appear despondent, but will always be
cheerful and gentle.
Besides this, by every manner of
teaching he will deceive the whole world unto death while he reigns as king.
And when people from different nations see him so virtuous, surpassing others
in beauty and strength, all will unite in one will and with great joy will make
him king, saying among themselves: “Is there any other man so good and
righteous?” The Jews especially will honor him and rejoice in his reign. He in
turn will honor both their place and their temple and will appear in every way
zealous for them.
When the serpent has become king
upon the earth, these people will be his joyful champions; Edom again and Moab,
and the sons of Ammon, will bow down to him joyfully as to their king and will
be the first supporters, establishing his kingdom. And when his kingdom is
quickly established, he will violently slay three great kings. Then he will
exceedingly exalt himself in heart and will spew forth his serpent-like pride,
bringing forth from his belly deadly poison to disturb the universe, stirring
up the ends of the earth, afflicting all things and defiling many souls—no
longer appearing as before pious and a lover of the poor, but always furious
toward all, insolent, wrathful, enraged, disorderly, terrifying, and evil in
character, hateful, abominable, unrestrained, deceitful, reproachful,
shameless, striving to draw the entire human race into the pit of destruction.
Exalting himself in madness, he will multiply dreadful wonders, showing them
falsely and not truly; and he will deceive the whole world by apparitions and
by magical sorcery.
He will boldly say: “I command
you, mountain, now pass to this side of the sea,” and the mountain will at once
move before the eyes of all the spectators. To another mountain, or to a very
large island standing in the depth of the great sea, he will command it to come
forth and stand upon the land, and immediately the waters will gather together.
He will stretch out his hands and gather a multitude of reptiles and birds and
will walk upon the abyss as upon dry land. And many will believe and will
glorify him as a mighty god.
But those who always have God
within themselves and whose hearts are enlightened will see with true and pure
faith and will recognize him.
For all who possess the knowledge
of God and understanding, the coming of the tyrant will then be clearly
understood.
But for those whose mind is
continually occupied with the things of this life and who love earthly things,
this will be incomprehensible, for they are bound to the affairs of life. Even
if they hear the word, they will not believe; rather, the one who speaks these
things will be hateful to them. For this reason, the saints will be able to
escape, since they have rejected all the sorrows of this life. Then the whole
earth, and the sea, and the air will weep.
Russian source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Georgij_Zadonskij/razlichnye-zapiski-i-vypiski/#0_7
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