Question ? for Euphrosynoscafe.com

/\RT3|\/|0|\| · Post by **/\RT3|\/|0|\|** » Wed 4 August 2004 5:10 am

Does anyone have a book called "A Ray Of Light" at home?

Nektarios14 · Post by **Nektarios14** » Wed 4 August 2004 5:29 am

I do! ACtually I just got it last week, have read about the first page though. With school starting monday though I have a feeling it will be awhile before I get through it...but on the bright side my last day of school is December 16th and then I will have a lot of spare time!

/\RT3|\/|0|\| · Post by **/\RT3|\/|0|\|** » Wed 4 August 2004 5:33 am

Listen can you do me a favor skim threw it and get to the part where St.John Damascus prophecies about the jews and reprint it to me in exact words in a E-MAIL if you have time tonight or tomarrow?

priestmark · Post by **priestmark** » Wed 4 August 2004 11:10 pm

Artemon wrote:
Listen can you do me a favor skim threw it and get to the part where St.John Damascus prophecies about the jews and reprint it to me in exact words in a E-MAIL if you have time tonight or tomarrow?

I found mention of St John in three chapters. The following is a scan, but not very well reviewed for errors:

Ray of Light

CHAPTER NINE

Signs by which the Nearness of the Second Com¬ing of Jesus Christ Can Be Judged

In order to prevent various arbitrary opinions harmful to the growth of spiritual life, our Saviour indicated some important signs through which we can sense the approach and beginning of the time for His second coming.
1) The first sign - an increase in catastrophes. Questioned by His disciples as to what kind of sign would precede His com¬ing and the end of the world, He answered them with the follow¬ing: And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all na¬tions for My Name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many,... For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened (Matt. 24:6-22).
2) The second sign - the preaching of the gospel in all the world. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (Matt. 24:14). The Antichrist shall come into the world only when the preaching of the Gospel shall have been spread over the whole universe, when all tribes and peoples shall be enlightened with the light of Christian teaching. St. John of Damascus warns: "Jesus Christ will come in order to accuse the antigodly Hebrews, after the Gospel shall have been preached to all nations" (Book 4; Ch. 7).
3) The third sign of the second coming of Jesus Christ - the lessening of faith and love among people. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, then will follow ...the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet; When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on earth? (Matt. 24:12;24:15; [Luke 18:8]). The primordial enemy, (Satan) sowing the weeds of falsehood and deceit before the end of the world, shall direct all his means and powers in order to take by force and subjugate to his destructive rule all of those called to the kingdom of heaven.
4) A fourth sign - the conversion of Jews to Christ. Thus in his Epistle to the Romans the Apostle Paul, describing the special grace of God toward the pagans who through faith were grafted from the wild to the good olive tree, and inversely, the special severity of God's judgment toward the Jews in that they fell away from their native olive tree, at the same time pointed out that for Jews, in spite of this, by no means is it impossible or hopeless to again be grafted to their,native olive tree (Rom. 11:22). Fixing his gaze into the distant future, he added these words: For I would not, brethren, thafye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Is¬rael, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come .in. And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written: There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob (Rom 11 :25-26).
5) Finally, serving as the last and most precise sign of the ap¬proach of the second coming of Jesus Christ for judgment of the world, shall be the appearance of Antichrist. Under the special power of Satan, he will use all possible flattering and destructive means in order to shake or completely overthrow the Kingdom of Christ, so unbearable to him since it is a kingdom of truth and good. In its stead, he will seek to erect and make firm his own murky, sinful kingdom, which will continue until it is destroyed with the coming of Christ.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Birth of Antichrist and His Aeceptance by the Jews as the True Messiah

The Antichrist will be a real man, born of a supposed virgin, though in reality a fallen woman, as opposed to Jesus Christ, Who was born of the Most Pure Virgin Mary. Antichrist the man will be the son of evil, and as Hippolytus of Rome says, will be born of an unclean virgin, a jewess, from the tribe of Dan. St. John of Damascus says: "The devil himself shall not become a man, but a man will be born of fornication, and will adopt for himself all the activity of Satan; for God, foreseeing the future depravity of his will, shall permit Satan to enter into him. Born of a fornicator, he shall be raised secretly, shall be announced to all unexpectedly, and will ascend the throne" (Book 4, ch. 27).
St. Andrew of Caesarea writes, "The tribe of Dan is not listed with the others, for out of it will come the Antichrist; and instead of it the tribe of Levi is listed, which, as a priestly tribe is not en¬tered in the list of tribes" (Explanation of Revelations, 7th Chap¬ter).
After attaining a certain age Antichrist will appear in the world. As Jesus Christ appeared first of all to the the Jews with His preaching, so the Antichrist, by descent an uncircumcised Jew, will come first to the Jews, and will then attract other peo¬ples. Those Jews who do not pelieve in Christ will accept An¬tichrist with great joy; they will believe him to be the Messiah, promised by the prophets. Concerning such a delusion of the un¬believing Jews the Lord said: I am come in My Father's name, and ye receive Me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will re¬ceive (John 5:43). The same thought is confirmed by St. Paul: Be¬cause they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should be¬lieve a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (II Thess. 2:10-12).

The holy fathers, St. John Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and St. John of Damascus, concur with these words of the Divine Scriptures. The last says: "The Jews did not receive our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God; but they will receive an impostor, who will call himself God." According to the teaching of the Word of God and the Fathers and Teachers of the Church, An¬tichrist will be a man, who will appear in the world by the action of Satan and will act on earth under the direct influence of Satan.

In a sermon of Hippolytus of Rome, Antichrist is represented as a visible, definite man. He will be "meek, quiet, courteous, im¬poverished; the people will see only his virtues and will select him as their king... saying within themselves, it is hardly possible to have found such a good and righteous man among our people. The Hebrews will think that he will want to reestablish their kingdom. After these things he will become proud in heart and will then be cruel, merciless, and barbarous."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The Construction by Antichrist of his Altar in the Temple at Jerusalem

Enoch and the Prophet Elijah shall fight against Antichrist in Jerusalem; there they shall be killed, and their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified (Rev. 11: 7,8 ). These words tell us that Antichrist, having been received by the Jews as the Messiah, an earthly king, will establish his throne in spiritual Sodom, Le., in Jerusalem, on the throne of David. According to the testimony of the Apostle, he will restore the Jerusalemio Temple and will sit in it as God.
The holy fathers Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory, Hippolytus, and John ChrysQstom designate the church of God and the holy place as the temple of Solomon. St. John of Damascus notes, "Antichrist shall erect his throne not in our temple, but in the Jewish one, for he came not to us, but to the Jews, and not for Christ, but against Him."St. Andrew says that "He will found his kingdom in Jerusalem, according to the example of David, whose son, in flesh, was Jesus, our true God; and he will do this in order to as¬sure all that he is Christ, fulfilling prophetical words: I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins (Amos 9:11)."

The Lord, too, spoke of the throne of Antichrist: Ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (Matt. 24:15; Dan. 9:27).