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Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios reveals the following in the 4th Volume of his commentary on the Book of the Revelation (page 112): "... the spirit of Babylon is alive and well, which is why we are offering this analysis. Babylon evolved into a symbol, representing worldly powers that constantly and steadily oppose the divine will and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.
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| Elder Athanasios Mitilinaios |
So, Babylon as a material entity - as a geographic and historical reality - no longer exists, but her spirit is alive and well, propagated by the nations and their civilizations. The spirit of Babylon is especially alive today in western civilization, as we discussed at length in a previous lesson. Western civilization is no longer limited to her geographical dimensions but also refers to the western mindset and lifestyle.
Returning to our text, in Revelation* we notice that by the desiccation [drying up] of the Euphrates - which protected Babylon's east side - now the kings from the eastern nations have easy access to the city. The destruction of evil and corruption is made very easy for the kings of the east who are also agents of evil and followers of the Antichrist."
[*the Elder is referring to Rev. 16:12 which reads "The sixth angel poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east." The Elder previously had mentioned (on page 109) "Now will this plague really cause the actual desiccation of the river, so certain people can pass through? It is not likely. It has to do more with a spiritual state or condition, as we will see shortly..." - editor.]
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Thus it has been revealed that the "kings of the east" will battle the "evil and corruption" of the West - despite the fact that they also are "agents of evil and followers of the Antichrist". But who are these "kings of the East"?
What follows is the Life of the Holy New Martyr Paramon - which can be found in "Russia's Catacomb Saints" by I.M. Andreyev and Fr. Seraphim Rose (pages 429-30). To honor the Martyr and for our spiritual benefit the entire Life is presented below. In this Life we receive certain information about the "Eastern kings who go West" to battle.
The Life of the Holy New Martyr Paramon:
"In the town of Bragil there lived a 65-year-old bachelor of chaste life. His parents died early and he remained living all alone in their house for many years, leading a life of fasting and prayer. His house was not a large one, on the outskirts of town, and a large orchard surrounded it.
There were two churches in this town, and when they signed their loyalty to the Soviet Church (Metropolitan Sergius), he stopped going to them and conducted the church services at home.
Once in the month of June I visited this town. I was with my other friend Athanasius. It was Sunday morning and we were going to church. As we came closer to it, we saw that on top of the church, instead of an Orthodox cross, there was attached a hammer and sickle and a red flag. So we went to the other church, and that one had the same stamp of Antichrist on it. So we decided not to go to church at all, and instead to pay a visit to Paramon, whom we knew.
He was very happy to see us. Outwardly, he looked quite stout, of less than medium height; his head was bald and he had a medium-sized beard not yet gray. He invited us into his house, all the walls of which were thickly covered with icons; there were many icon lamps, all lit, before the holy icons. He even showed us portraits of the Tsars and the new-martyr Nicholas II. They were hidden in a large closet that had many of these old and rare portraits adorning the walls.
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| The Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II |
Having examined all that he showed us, we came out into the garden. It was a luxuriant orchard, with many tall and shady trees that abounded with fruits. He somehow managed to preserve himself almost to the end from the collective farms and all the horrors and deprivations of the hellish Soviet system, under which everything was liquidated by the Communist authority.
Here in the garden he told us of a miracle he had beheld in this very garden just over a week before. On the first of June, he suddenly saw in the air some unusually large birds, girded about with sky-blue ribbons. As he was watching them ‘they began to hover over his garden. Suddenly he saw one of these birds come right down into his garden, and when it was almost down it asked him: “What do you see, Paramon?”
Petrified, he said, ‘I don’t know.”
Then it said, “We go to the East to make way for the Eastern Kings** to go West.”
[**the Eastern Kings, or "kings of the east" in this context refer to the Soviet leaders based in Moscow who journeyed west to battle the Germans and eventually to subject the Orthodox countries of Eastern Europe to their Red Antichrist - editor.]
With this it rose up to join the flock and flew to the East. In a week the war broke out, and very soon the local Soviet guerillas found out about the portraits of the Tsar in Paramon’s cell and about his ascetic life, and in that very garden they tortured him for a long while and then killed him. He died a martyr’s death in July, 1941.
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Let whosoever is able - let him understand.
This post is offered for the consideration of others. It is not declaring that the final historical fulfillment of the prophecy found in Revelation 16:12 has or has not come to pass. We are not declaring that what has occurred, and is occurring, marks the final fulfillment of this prophecy; nor are we declaring the identity of the "kings from the east" as may be manifested in future fulfillments, or in the final fulfillment, of this prophecy. We will wait and behold the future and assess as matters are then revealed. This post is an attempt to present, what we hold to be, certain historical and contemporary fulfillments of this prophecy. Some prophecies can find a multitude of fulfillments before their final fulfillment.
As our holy Elder Athanasios relates in his "Introduction of the Apocalypse": “It is therefore more certain and less hazardous, to await the fulfillment of a prophecy than to surmise and foretell…” (St. Irenaeus) and “Time and experience will reveal to the vigilant.” (St. Andrew of Caesarea).
Elder Athanasios and St. Paramon pray unto God for us!