(These inspired words were spoken on the 8^th of May 1979,  1 year prior to his repose in the Lord).

Elder Filotheos Zervakos († 1980)

...I believe – if God wills it – that I will be departing soon. And I must leave, because the way I see things, the entire world is continuously hurtling towards wickedness, just like a sinner who hastens blindly towards sin.  People no longer have any restraint - both laypeople and clergy are like unbridled horses, galloping towards sin!  They give no consideration to God, death, judgment, repayment... nothing... nothing whatsoever - only to material things, for the body, for pleasures, for honors.  But for the soul, for God, for virtue? Nothing! Very few are they who have genuine concerns, and it is probably thanks to those few that God is still preserving the world.

... Satan is making his final onslaught, and during the years that we are presently in, unprecedented sorrow and wrath will befall the world...

During the time of the Prophet Jeremiah, God had decided to punish the Israelites many times, but Jeremiah had begged God to have mercy on His creations - His people - and not punish them for their sins.  

“I am determined” - He said to Jeremiah - “to destroy Jerusalem”.  

Jeremiah then began to plead: “My God, do not destroy it, nor punish them...”, but God said to him:

 “Do not beg me; I will not heed you. I will deliver the city to the Babylonians” (who had already approached Jerusalem).  T

Then Jeremiah said to God, “How can the enemies possibly enter the city, with walls that are so sturdy?" 

"I will open the gates”, replied the Lord, “so that they can enter. Unless I Myself deliver it to them, they will not enter, but I will deliver it... Tomorrow morning go and sit in a high place and you will see how I will deliver it...”  

And he saw an Angel who went and opened the eastern gate and took the keys, then to Western, Southern and Northern gates and placed the keys under a rock, saying: “Accept, o rock, the keys of this city of sinners, and guard them until the captives return!”. 

Then the Angel cried out: “Enter now, the Chaldean forces!” and the enemies barged in, slaughtered and desolated, and took many prisoners away with them, including Jeremiah.

This is why Saint John the Chrysostom says that, “When the sins of people are many, and among the sinners there may also be some righteous ones, then, together with the sinners, sometimes God also takes the righteous...”

So, an unprecedented wrath will likewise fall upon us.  Too many things are happening - especially two huge evils: lewdness, and the  abortions that women so thoughtlessly resort to. Never has there been such a ghastly evil in the world, in any era, where mothers murder 6-10 children without a single feeling of guilt - such that, if they had the slightest trace of repentance and awareness, they should have dug graves and dived into them and suffered... but they have no conscience. They may occasionally go to confession, but usually it is without having previously repented.  

That’s the one point; secondly, there is the nudity of women.  Nowadays they walk around practically naked, (the men also circulate relatively naked - they aren’t far behind the women), but the women are more so than the men, and this phenomenon is not possible for God to tolerate.

He had likewise tolerated the sinners during Noah's time, as He also did with the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah – except that they had not reached the point of walking about naked, displaying their defiled bodies to men in order to attract them and lure them into sin.  

For those who may not be familiar with the account of that punishment, the text in Chapter 19:1-13 of Genesis is very clear and detailed:

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"And two angelic messengers arrived at Sodom in the evening; Lot was seated next to the gate of Sodom. On seeing them, Lot rose to meet them and prostrated himself with face to the ground at their feet, and he said to them: "This way, my lords, turn here, to the house of your child, and stay there, wash your feet, and at dawn you can continue on your road."  But they said "No, we will instead stay in the town square." And he kept insisting to them, so they turned around and entered his house. And he prepared a drink for them and baked unleavened bread for them and they ate. But before they had gone to sleep, all the men of the city -the Sodomites- surrounded his house, from the youngest to the oldest of them - all the population together.  And they called out to Lot and said to him: "Where are the men who came to you in the night? Bring them out to us, so we can familiarize ourselves with them." Then Lot came outside to face them near the gate, after he closed the door behind him. He then said to them: "By no means think thus wickedly, my brothers! I have two daughters who have not been familiar with any man; I will bring them out to you, and you can treat them in any way you like; only do not do any unjust deed, for they came under the shelter of my roof!"  They said to him: "Move away from there! You came here as a foreigner; will you perhaps also impose judgment and judge us?  Therefore now we will harm you, even more than them!"  And they pushed Lot aside very forcefully and reached the door (of the house) in order to break it down.

Then they (the angels) stretched out their arms and grabbed Lot towards them and inside the house, and they barricaded the door of the house behind them. As for the men who were at the door of the house, they (the angels) struck them with sightlessness - from the youngest to the oldest - and they became paralyzed trying to find the exit.

Then the men (the angels) said to Lot: "Do you have any sons-in-law, or sons, or daughters? Or, if there is any other person of yours in the city, take them out of this place; for we shall destroy this place, as their cry had risen up against the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it."

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God is long-suffering - one hour for God is like 1,000 years for men.... He is long-suffering, but His long-suffering has limits. “If you don't return”, He says, “He will polish His sword; He has stretched His bow and prepared it, and with it, He has prepared vessels of death; He has fashioned His arrows for the ones who will burn”.

So, let us be prepared, for we don’t know the hour or the moment of our death.  Now, what kind of punishment He will administer, only He knows; but punishment will most certainly come... 

Well, many bad things have happened and are still happening and will continue to happen, in leaps and bounds. There are a few good people of course, who I am afraid will also suffer along with the others; but if they keep their faith and their love for God, God will not desert them, so that by remaining patient through a few trials, they will be bounteously benefited, whereas the others will be punished, both here and when they will eventually be sent away to the eternal torments.  Such is our present wretched state....

It is ever possible for God - Who doesn’t leave sin unpunished - to allow so much evil to flourish ini the world without  any punishment?  We must therefore always be prepared.”Those who trust in the Lord will see the holy mountain; those who do not bother to act, will see assaults by Beliar (the devil)” (Antiphon 3 chant of the Second Echos).

- When we place our faith, our hope and our love in God, He will not abandon us; so let nothing separate us from the love of Christ.

- While praying to all the Saints for the current situation and what should be done, God told me to write to the leaders of the State and of the Church, that they must repent...

- God revealed to me that the only thing necesary for our salvation is repentance; also that the High Priests should be the first to repent and become united, because it is disgraceful for them to preach about world peace and unity among all, when they have enmity among themselves... It is a time for mourning, but the truth must be confessed... God Himself had condescended to become an incarnate man in order to pacify the world, and yet, we have become opposed to peace!

- And now, we are on the eve of that terrible wrath... the end of the age is fast approaching...

All the holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church regarded Death and the Second Coming as necessary for the salvation of man, and many were saved by them.  People have also seen bad examples from the heads of the State and the Church; they too have become hardened, even more than the Jews of old... As much as one can work, he should work, but let him not expose his labours...  It is indeed a time for everything - God willing and Time permitting.  Always try asking for the mercy and the help and the Grace of God...  We must tend to our soul above all, and guard ourselves from all dangers.

- Always invoke God's help. Don't attempt any labour without calling on God to manifest - to reveal to you – whatever is holy. Even the Holy Apostles prayed first and then went on to the sermon that the Lord had revealed to them. The Lord's will must be done...

- The best thing for us is to practice patience, in the hope that we will finally go to the Heavenly Realm, so that we will always – eternally - be rejoicing, celebrating and savouring, and giving thanks and glorifying the name of the Holy Trinity for all things – through the embassies of the Most Pure Mother of our Lord, and of all the Saints.

Translation:  A.K.