Faithfulness to Christ Will Save Us From the Mark of the Beast

From an Extemporaneous Sermon by Bishop Photii of Triaditza

 

 

Burdened with cares, immersed in the daily course of monotonous routines, exhausted from the rapid pace of the passing years, we rarely contemplate the Judgment Day of God, which we will all, without exception, face. Even the realization of our impending deaths and appearance before God for His judgment is vague and weak, struggling to find deep expression in our hearts. Living by the rhythm of this frenetic, transient world, we seldom understand that every passing moment shapes our eternal state. At the same time, many Christians are anxiously preoccupied, even to the point of unhealthy feverishness, with these questions: “When will this take place? When will Christ’s words be realized? When will God’s awesome and fearsome Day of Judgment come about? When is the Lord’s Second Coming?” Sadly, these concerns and questions seldom come forth from hearts standing in awe before Christ. So it is that we unfortunately become schizophrenic; we are of two minds. We live our lives according to the beat of the present world, constantly under the sway of its logic, and this even when contemplating things spiritual. We remain half-Christian and half-heathen in our hearts, involved in the world, yet eagerly inquiring and desiring to know when God’s words regarding the end of the world will come to fruition.

Our Lord Jesus Christ responded to this particular question, when it was posed to Him by His Apostles: “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (St. Matthew 24:3). The Lord left the Apostles and us with but a hint and a single sign of His glorious Second Coming: the Cross. All human beings on earth will observe the Cross in the heavens—shining even brighter than the sun—at the Lord Jesus Christ’s Second Coming in all His Divine Glory, together with a countless multitude of bright Angels, so as to carry out His Judgment. Alarmed, we still ask ourselves: “When is its arrival, when will this happen?”

All of us are aware that the Saviour’s Second Coming will also be preceded by that of the Antichrist. Much is said, in this regard, about the Mark of the Beast (Antichrist), and there are countless theories concerning the secret meaning of the number “666.” But few are they who approach these issues with humility, profundity of thought and, indeed, spiritually! One who understands that the mark of the beast is, alas, inscribed on our hearts will not worry and be disquieted, waiting anxiously for its appearance, for example, in some new change in the official documents and passports that a government may issue. Instead, he will concentrate all of his attention on identifying this mark in the heart, where it is evilly inscribed.

Few Orthodox faithful, I suspect, realize that their feverish concerns and questions—“What will the mark look like? Will it not likely be the latest thing in technology, some sort of electronic microchip?”—have their provenance in Protestant texts and Protestant fundamentalistic theology. This kind of speculation cannot be found at the core of the Orthodox Church, and particularly in the theological consensus of the Holy Fathers. Indeed, the truth is that we do not know what form the Mark of the Beast will take. Will it perhaps be a technical process—or perhaps one of the rituals of the false religions of the future world? Perhaps a rite that will blasphemously imitate the Christian rite of Chrismation? We simply do not know. That of which we should be aware is one thing: no outward action and no outward safeguard can guarantee and ensure that we will remain faithful to our Lord. The effectiveness of this mark will be thwarted only by our conscience and by our will. It will be powerless to the extent that we are willing to live in a constant state of spiritual effort of conscience and indefatigable struggle against sin, continuously exercising our willpower in standing up for and maintaining our uninterrupted fidelity to Christ—even after falling over and over, or by betraying Him through our feelings, thoughts, words, and deeds.

No amount of protestation, no organizations and earthly resources directed against passports and the symbol “666”—which is purported, for example, to appear on Russian passports—will save us from the proliferation of this Mark of the Beast. Our sole aim should be the preservation of our fidelity to the Patristic spirit and to Orthodoxy’s Tradition. As I said, not one of the Holy Fathers ever provided a detailed assessment or some rash interpretation of the meaning of the symbol “666.” It is only that disturbed part of humanity, those who have distanced themselves in their hearts from Christ, that has succumbed to hysteria and made such determinations. To some, it is an avocation, while to others it is a burning issue, while to yet others it is a manifestation of their spiritual illness.

The most difficult thing for a person to achieve is the maintenance of spiritual stability. And the Evil One is fully aware of this. That is why he employs innumerable methods in his attempt to separate us from Christ, carefully attacking our inner fidelity to Christ, which fidelity we defile on a daily basis. If we are not able to serve our neighbor quietly and lovingly, if we are incapable of feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, quenching the thirst of those without drink, and comforting the imprisoned, then we are in no condition to serve Christ. If we lack love for our neighbor, we simply do not have Christ in us. It is on such concerns that we must focus our attention. Fidelity is a genuine, profound faithfulness to Orthodox Tradition, in all of its fullness, in word, spirit, life, and actions; in other words, fidelity to, and love for, Christ by fulfilling His commandments and acquiring the Holy Gospel’s appointed virtues in loving our fellow man. One should not have doubt or fear about the Antichrist, for those things that will remain firm on Christ’s Judgment Day are humility, truth, repentance and love. They will save us.

O Lord, rid us of everything that separates us from Thee! Amen.

 

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XXVII (2010), No. 1, pp. 11-13.