By the Rev. Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and Saint Vlassios, fr. Hierotheos Vlachos
From the book: "Life after death".
All of
the events that are linked to the Second Coming of
Christ are called “eschatological”*
because they pertain to the last, the ultimate day;
in other words, they pertain to the events that will
take place after the present world has come to its
end. We usually refer to “the end of History”, but
this does not fully express the reality of matters,
given that History is not strictly confined to
historical events, but also embraces the lives of
the saints. The lives of the saints after death, as
well as the lives of the people after the Second
Coming of Christ, do not constitute a so-called
meta-historical era; they too are regarded as part
of a historical era: it is the history of the
saints.
*
(Greek eschatos = hindmost, last)
Just
as the world will not be destroyed altogether but
will be renovated, so will mankind not be
annihilated but transformed; and History likewise
will also never cease, but merely change its content
and its life.
Thus,
whenever we refer to eschatological events, we
mainly refer to all those things that will take
place during the Second Coming of Christ, when He
will be passing judgment on mankind. Therefore,
although we
may be
waiting for those eschatological events, we can
nevertheless say that – from the aspect of our way
of living – the “final times” are already present,
given that saints are already savoring the Kingdom
of God, from this lifetime. As we shall see further
along, the saintly persons are already given a
foretaste of all those things that are to be
revealed during the so-called “end of Time”.
Temporally speaking, we may be awaiting the
eschatological events, but modally, they arrive and
are experienced, by saints.
We
shall preoccupy ourselves in this chapter with three
specific topics that are linked to the
eschatological events that have to do with Christ’s
Second Coming. First of all, we shall take a
general look at Christ’s Second Coming; secondly, we
shall set out the theological truth behind the
resurrection of our bodies and thirdly, we shall
examine the events pertaining to God’s Judgment,
which are linked to both the Coming of Christ and
the bodily resurrection of Man.
_____The
glorious Coming of Christ_____
Throughout all the Biblical-Patristic tradition, it
is stated that Christ will come once again to this
world, this time to judge mankind. This is a fact
that cannot be doubted by Christians. Christ
Himself – in the excerpt referring to the coming
Judgment Day – speaks of His new and glorious
Arrival. He says: “……when
the Son of man comes, in all His glory…”
(Matthew
25:31).
The
word “when” is not a hypothetical term;
it is a temporal one, which implies that there is a
time when Christ will come to this world once again,
and in fact with immense glory. And elsewhere,
Christ
said:
“……
and then they shall behold the son of man, arriving
in clouds……”
(Mark
13:26).
In the
Acts of the Apostles, where Christ’s Ascension is
recorded, it is said that the angels had remarked to
the astonished disciples:
“……men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing towards
the heavens? This Jesus, who was swept away from you
up to the heavens, will come in the same manner that
you had seen Him heading towards the heavens…….”
(Acts
1:11).
The manner in which He rose to the heavens will
therefore be the same one, when He returns to earth.
The
Apostle Paul teaches us that those who will be alive
at the time of arrival of the Son of Man – and in
fact those who are righteous – will be seized
“within clouds, to encounter the Lord in the air….”
(1 Thess. 4:17).
And it
is also written in the Book of Revelations that:
“…behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye
shall behold Him……”
(Rev. 1:7)
These
passages, which are all very representative, declare
that the faithful unshakeably believe that Christ
will come to earth to judge mankind, when the end of
this world comes, along with the beginning of the
new life. That is the reason the Creed includes the
confession:
“…and coming once again in glory, to judge the
living and the dead, Whose Kingdom is never-ending…”
In the
Holy Bible, there are many expressions that divulge
the Coming of Christ; we shall present just a few of
them – the most indicative. First of all, the
second coming of Christ is referred to as “Day”, and
in fact “the Day of the Lord” and “Judgment Day”.
The Apostle Paul writes:
“…for the day of the Lord cometh…”
(2
Peter
3:10).
Elsewhere, the Apostle Paul calls it
the “Day of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(1 Cor. 1:8), or
“the Day of Christ”
(Phil.1:10) and elsewhere,
“the Day that will declare everything”
(1 Cor. 3:13). Furthermore, John the Evangelist
calls it the “day
of judgment”
(1
John 4:17). It is called “Day”, because compared to
this present life –which is darkness- it denotes a
new reality. The image of “day” is not irrelevant to
the image of “sun”, given that Jesus is the “Sun of
Justice”, Who will be appearing at that time hence
the use of the term “Day”.
John
the Evangelist links this “Day” to the end-Times
events, calling it the Day of end-Times. In the
Gospel of John, Christ Himself speaks of “the last
day”. At some point, He says that He will resurrect
man
“on the last day”
(John6:39) and elsewhere that His word shall judge
mankind
“on the last day”
(John 12:48). Here, the word “day” – which is linked
to the tem “last” rather indicates the last day
prior to the commencement of the Kingdom of God.
Hence it is linked more to the end of this present
life.
The
Day of the Lord is inseparably linked to the
presence of the Coming Christ. It is for the same
reason that other expressions are also used, to
denote this reality. It is characterized as “the
day of the epiphany of God’s glory”
(Titus 6:13). It is also called “the
day of the epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(1 Timothy 6:14). Elsewhere it is linked to the
notion of “presence”, because that is when Christ
will present Himself.
The
disciples had asked Christ: “and
what shall be the sign of Your presence and the end
of the world?”
(Matthew 24:3). On that day, the glory of God is to
be revealed, and all of mankind – including those
who were ignorant of it until that moment – shall
behold it. The Apostle Peter had spoken of the “revealing
of God’s glory”
(1 Peter 4:13) and the Apostle Paul respectively of
the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ “from
the heavens, along with His angelic hosts”
(2 Thess. 1:7).
These
passages that we previously brought to mind are
indicative of the faith of the Church, who is
steadfastly based on both the revelatory words of
Christ Himself, as well as the certainty of the
Apostles, that the day will definitely come, when
this world will come to an end, and Christ will come
to judge mankind, who will have been resurrected in
the meantime, as their souls will enter into bodies
once again in order to present themselves before the
awesome Tribunal to be judged.
However, while it is certain that Christ will be
coming to judge mankind, from what we can see in the
Holy Bible, it remains entirely unknown, when this
immense and glorious day will be. Christ Himself
had said to His disciples: “As
for that day or hour, nobody knows a thing; not even
the angels in heaven, nor the Son, except only the
Father.”
(Mark 13:32). After the Resurrection, when the
disciples thought that day had in fact come, Christ
rid them of their incorrect perceptions, by
clarifying that: “it
is not for you to know the years or the seasons that
the Father has placed within His own jurisdiction”
(Acts 1:7)
Of
course, when Christ says that no-one else knows that
point in time except for the Father, it does not
mean that He, as God, is also ignorant of it. The
fact is, that humans and angels are ignorant of the
exact time. It is understood that whatever the
Father knows, the Son also knows. Saint Symeon the
New Theologian, on interpreting this detail, says:
“no-one knows, except only the Holy Trinity – the
one, indivisible Godhead”. The Triadic God -
Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Who share a common
essence and nature, are definitely aware of when the
world will end and when Christ will return.
Christ’s claim, that even the Son is ignorant of
when the world will end, “implied that He was
ignorant according to His human nature, and not
according to His Divinity”. In other words, Christ
was referring to His human nature and not His
Godhead, and He clearly wanted to demonstrate that
it is the created, who cannot possibly know the hour
and the day of the end of the world and His Second
Coming. The hour and the day of Christ’s Second
Coming is not only unknown; in fact, it will even
catch us unawares. When revealing this truth,
Christ specifies that it will happen in the manner
that lightning strikes. Just as a bolt of lightning
appears suddenly from one end of the sky to the
other, “thus
like will be the Son of Man, on that day of His”
(Luke 17:24).
The
Apostle Paul uses another image, to demonstrate the
sudden arrival of Christ. This image is borrowed
from the act of robbery.
Just as a robber
enters a house without any prior warning, that day
will come upon us in the same way: “Know
ye, that the Day of the Lord shall thus come, like a
robber in the night.”
(1 Thess. 5:1-2) When the time is appropriate, “the
blessed and only master, the king of kings and ruler
of rulers”
(1 Timothy 6:15) will indicate the day of His
epiphany.
The
unexpectedness of the arrival of that day appears in
other passages of the Holy Bible also. When
teaching about the unknown element of the grand day
of His epiphany, Christ brought as an example that
two people would be in the fields and the one shall
be swept up while the other shall be left there. Two
women shall be at the mill grinding – the one will
be swept up and the other will be left behind.
(Matthew 24:40-41)
When
referring to this reality, the Apostle Paul
elucidates that those who are still living on that
day and have not yet died, will be transformed in an
instant - in no more than the blinking of an eye. “…as
none of us shall be put to sleep
(die),
for all of us will be changed, in the blinking of an
eye, during the sounding of the last trumpet..”
(1
Corinthians 15:51-52).
Despite the obscurity and the unexpectedness of that
day, there are certain signs that proclaim its
arrival. One cannot be fully aware of this event,
but, depending on one’s degree of preparedness and
spiritual alertness, one can perceive the
criticality of the times by certain external
characteristics; these were described by Christ
Himself (Matthew 24)
The
basic points as described by Christ are that the
Gospel will be preached throughout all of creation;
an immense apostasy will prevail in the
people all over the world and many false prophets
will make their appearance. The antichrist, with the
miracles and the signs that he will employ, will
strive to deceive even the chosen. Wars,
persecutions, famines, earthquakes will be
prevalent, etc.. However, we need to mention that
even with these indications, it is still difficult
to comprehend the end of the world and the Coming of
Christ. The Church cultivates the eschatological
sermon, however, She simultaneously determines that
it is no easy task interpreting the major events of
every generation. Only those who are enlightened
and who have received a revelation by God are
able to faintly discern whether the events taking
place are in fact the events that are precedent to
the Coming of Christ, for the sole purpose of
leading the people to repentance and their return to
God. It is therefore the conviction of the Church
that Christ is positively going to come again to
judge mankind, but that the hour and the day remain
unknown. Only the ones with an enlightened nous can
faintly discern whether the days are approaching by
judging the various events taking place, but even
so, they still cannot pinpoint the arrival of that
day, in accordance to Christ’s specification. This
is why – in the Orthodox Church – we avoid
appointing the years and the seasons that we think
thee eschatological events will take place. These
are the bounds that the Holy Fathers also limit
themselves to.
We
will now highlight a few points from patristic
teaching, which are quite indicative:
___First point.
The claim pertaining to the judgment of mankind,
which will follow the Second Coming of Christ, is
“difficult to interpret”, according to saint Symeon
the New Theologian, because it does not involve
present or visible events, but future and invisible
ones. This is why those who speak and those who hear
are in great need of much prayer, much study and
much cleansing of the nous. And this is imperative,
so that those who do speak, will know things well,
and those who listen, can hear prudently.
These
words by saint Symeon the New Theologian – whom we
shall refer to again, later on, when we refer to the
forthcoming Tribunal that will be set up with the
arrival of Christ – are quite interesting, because
many mistakes have arisen with regard to this
matter. There are people who speak of eschatological
events in a rather man-centered manner, and in the
long run, distort the words of the Bible and the
Fathers, thus causing delusions but also desperation
among men. There are likewise others, who perceive
the words of the Scripture and the Fathers according
to their personal ideas. That is why one requires
spiritual prudence and profound discretion to
comprehend these words and be led to repentance;
because everything that leads us to psychological
fear and human desperation is not Orthodox. On the
contrary, the true and Orthodox is what leads man,
through spiritual fear, to a hope according to God,
to repentance and prayer.
___Second point.
Saint Symeon the New Theologian says that the day of
Christ’s Coming is called the Day of the Lord, not
because it is the last of the terrestrial days, nor
because Christ is going to come on that day, and not
even because that is the day on which Judgment will
take place, but “because it is precisely then that
God and master of all will shine forth with all the
glory of His Godhood”. Thus, this day is called
“the day of the Lord” for the manifestation of the
light of Divinity, and not for an ordinary
presence. In the way that all the stars are
extinguished during the daytime by the radiance of
the tangible sun, the same thing will happen on that
day. Everything visible will recede and give way to
the Creator of heaven and earth. Then, the One Who
is invisible to all, shall be the only One Who will
be “both daytime and God”. Thus, it will be a day
of unprecedented joy for the saints. For the
sinners, who never managed to see this light in
their lifetime through catharsis, Christ will be
equally inaccessible in the future.
___Third point.
In the Holy Bible, whenever there is a reference to
Christ’s Coming, lightning, clouds, thrones and
other such images are also mentioned. Saint Gregory
Palamas says that all information on the Second
Coming of Christ involves a condescension: all the
events described are naturally beyond the potential
of the human mind, logic and senses to grasp;
Christ, on the other hand, knowing exactly what is
going to take place, “is displaying a
condescendence, which corresponds to the
perceptiveness of those being taught, by rendering
to them the information they are able to perceive”.
Human
nature has familiarized itself with human and
perceptible events, and has thus become able to
comprehend the eschatological events. This is why
Christ – out of condescension – has used familiar
images and representations. Of course there will be
a judgment day, there will be a rejoicing of the
righteous and affliction for the sinners and there
will be Paradise and Hell, nut all these will not
be tangible things, since we know full well from
Patristic Tradition that these are not created
things. Even the “fires of Hell” are not a
manufactured and tangible thing, but something that
is definitely uncreated. The reader must be patient
and read through the entire book titled “Paradise
and Hell”, so that he can understand how all these
realities are to be perceived. Thus, we must not
remain fixed to the tangible examples and lose the
essence of what is being said. Nor, of course,
should we merely observe the essence of these things
and totally overlook the examples; because, if
Christ used them, we too should adhere to them and
explain their more profound meanings, thus leading
mankind towards repentance and not to fearlessness.
___Fourth point.
The Second Coming of Christ is juxtaposed to His
first coming. When referring to His First Coming, we
are referring to the Incarnation of Christ and when
referring to His Second Coming, we are referring to
Christ coming again, to judge mankind. There is of
course an obviously clear difference between the
First and the Second Coming.
Saint
Gregory Palamas outlines the difference between
these two Comings, saying that during the First
Coming, the glory of Christ’s Divinity was hidden
within the flesh that He had assumed - from us, and
for our salvation. Even now, the glory of His
Divinity continues to be veiled before the Father,
with His divine-like flesh. But then, during His
Second Coming, “He shall disclose His full Glory”;
He will then be appearing in His full radiant
splendor, illuminating the far reaches of the
universe with the rays of His Divinity. And when
interpreting the words of Christ, that “when the Son
of Man comes in all His glory, and all His angels
with Him”, he clarifies that during His first
coming, Christ had brought His angels with Him and
was in fact surrounded by His angelic hosts - only
invisibly – and that He had purposely suppressed
their zeal against God’s opponents; However, during
His Second Coming, Christ will come will come with
all his angels, visibly, in all His glory and
majesty.
___Fifth point.
In the works of Saint Symeon the New Theologian, we
can trace one more truth regarding the Second Coming
of Christ, and especially with the judgment of
mankind. Saint Symeon extensively analyzes how the
Second Coming and the future Tribunal will be taking
place chiefly for the sinners who have been living
in vices and sins, and not for the saints, who are
already living in the Presence of Christ. All those
who are children of that Light, and all those who
become the sons of the future Day, “the day of the
Lord shall never arrive”; Christ will of course come
to judge mankind, however, they have already been
judged from this lifetime and no Tribunal will be
awaiting to try them. The presence of Christ is a
matter of joy and jubilation. When a Christian
observes with due reverence and fear the
commandments of Christ and lives in repentance, he
becomes related to that Light, and thus, in reality,
he has passed judgment from this lifetime. A
theumen is baptized by the divine fire and the Holy
Spirit “and all of him becomes fully pure, fully
untainted, a son of the light and of the day, and no
longer of a mortal human”. I will quote a
remarkable passage by Saint Symeon the New
Theologian, because I cannot overlook it and not
bring it to your attention, and also it is
impossible for it to be presented in my own words.
“Such
a person shall also not be judged in the future
Tribunal, for he has been judged beforehand; nor
shall he be checked by that Light, for he has
received the light beforehand; nor shall he upon
entering the fire be tested or burned, for he has
been tested beforehand; nor shall he then perceive
the day of the Lord, for on account of his
conversing and his union with God, he shall himself
have already become a bright and glorious day.”
The
statement of Saint Symeon is amazing. I would like
to comment on the fact that judgment essentially
takes place from this lifetime; the person who sees
the light is baptized in the Holy Spirit and he does
not need to think about the day of the Lord, because
with his union to God, he is already a bright and
glorious day. We need to note the word “union”,
which is indicative of man’s communion with God. It
is a fact, that if man becomes a bright and glorious
day himself, he will not be able to discern the
arrival of that Day. That Day is his own personal
existential event; thus, the Second Coming will be
apparent mainly to the sinners, who have lived
during the present lifetime with their vices and did
not keep God’s commandments.
For
the Saints, it will be a natural state, which they
already experience from the present time. Of course
the saints also await the Second Coming of Christ,
for the resurrection of their bodies, which are
presently waiting in an incorruptible state, so that
the whole of man will eventually taste the bounteous
gifts of the great Day and glorious epiphany of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Consequently, the Second Coming
of Christ is an indisputable fact, since it is
testified by the revelatory word of God, the
reassurance of the Apostles, and by the experiences
of the saints, who are already savoring the Kingdom
of God.
From
the book: “Life after death”
Translation by A. N.
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