St. Paisios the Athonite
1A group of pilgrims agreed among themselves to ask the Elder to speak to them about Constantinople. Soon the Elder returned, and to everyone’s surprise, before they managed to ask anything, showing that his spiritual “radar” had perceived their thoughts, he said:
Elder: “So, tell me will we take the City?”
The group stood speechless and said nothing.
Elder: “Come on, tell me will we take the City?”
The group remained silent, astonished.
Elder (joking): “Lentil‑soup warriors…”
Theodoros: “We will take it, Elder.”
Elder: “Glory to God.” (He makes the sign of the Cross, turning toward the east and looking toward the City.)
Dimitrios: “If it is from God, Elder, blessed, we will take it.”
Elder: “Yes, it is from God! We will take it! Not that we will take it, but they will give it to us as a solution, because they will think that this is in their interest.”
Dimitrios: “Elder, will this evil last long?”
Elder: “Storms, storms it will be! But we will have to pass examinations.”
Dimitrios: “Elder, will there be suitable leaders?”
Elder: “God will arrange it. In this war, all will return defeated. The Greek army will be victorious. The battlefield will be Palestine, their grave the Dead Sea. That will be the first half. But there is also a second half: After these events, mankind will reach a dead end, and then everyone will seek to learn about the Gospel and the Scriptures. Christ will pity the world and will show a sign so that they may believe. Then one will search to find an unbeliever.”
Dimitrios: “Elder, the dismissal hymn (apolytikion) of Prophet Elijah says he is the second Forerunner of Christ’s Coming. He, as is known, did not fall asleep, nor did Enoch. Will Prophet Elijah come to earth?”
Elder (smiling): “Prophet Elijah is sharpening and preparing his sword! And indeed, he will begin first with the Patriarchs, bishops, priests, and monks!”
Nikolaos: “And laypeople.”
Elder: “Your faults are ignorances, whereas ours are sins. Isn’t that what the prayer of the Divine Liturgy says? ‘For my sins and the ignorances of the people.’ Prophet Elijah is sharpening his sword, but great care is needed, because some things the Fathers say one way, and the world interprets them another way. For example, the ‘six miles’ mentioned by Saint Kosmas the Aitolian. (The Turks will leave, but will come again and reach the (Examilia) six miles. In the end they will be driven to the Red Apple Tree. 1/3 of the Turks will be killed, 1/3 will be baptized, and only the remaining 1/3 will go to the Red Apple Tree.) No one has been able to explain it; all interpret it wrongly. There are ‘six miles’ in Langadas, in Kilkis, in Thrace, in Corinth, but no one knows that what he means are the six miles of territorial waters. Do you not read the prophets, Joel, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Daniel, they say everything. For 7 years in Palestine they will not burn wood, but clubs, but how would you know about clubs and wood! You have radiators in your homes now (smiling), whereas I still burn wood in the fireplace here, and so I know about these things.”
He refers to the prophecy of Ezekiel 39:9–10: “When that day comes, the people in the towns of Israel will collect the weapons of their dead enemies. They will use these shields, bows and arrows, spears, and clubs as firewood, and there will be enough to last for seven years. They will burn these weapons instead of gathering sticks or chopping down trees. That’s how the Israelites will take revenge on those who robbed and abused them. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
Christos: “The Jews…”
Elder: “A devout Jordanian told me that the Jews have dug underneath the Mosque of Omar, at great depth, a tunnel, and they want to destroy the mosque in order to build the Temple of Solomon, because then, they say, their messiah will come, that is, the Antichrist. Then the Arabs will say to the Christians: ‘Do not you Christians say that the Messiah has already come? What are these people here, the Jews, saying now?’”
After offering a treat to the last visitors who arrived at that moment, the Elder again asked one of them:
Elder: “Will we take the City? What do you say?”
Christos: “I will go for Northern Epirus.”
Elder: “Let us take the City, Northern Epirus, seven people can take it!”
Christos: “Seven and me, eight!”
Elder: “Take it! And I will carry the relics of Saint Kosmas the Aitolian, which are heavy! What can we say, children, everything is said and written in our books (of the Church), but who reads them? The world understands nothing. They sleep with their tsarouchia on!”
Dimitrios: “Are these, Elder, signs of the times?”
Elder: “Signs, signs of the times, do you not see? One must be an ox, forgive me, not to understand with all that is happening… Many of the holy Fathers would wish to live in our era, because it is an era of confession. The times are difficult, but we do not understand it. We sleep with our tsarouchia on. Soon they will ask about Christians, just as they once asked about political beliefs.”
Nikolaos: “Will they make a file on us, Elder?”
Elder: “Ah, bravo! Files.”
Dimitrios: “Elder, will Greece suffer harm?”
Elder: “Greece has passed through many storms; it has been greatly wronged. But they will be storms! Greece will not suffer anything, because God loves her. In Asia Minor we have many holy relics. We will take Hagia Sophia, and the gate will open. No one knows this gate… Let us see what will happen, though, what will become of the minarets afterwards?”
Nikolaos: “We will demolish them!”
Theodoros: “We will make them bell‑towers, Elder!”
Elder (joking): “No, they will become pillars for stylites, and prayer‑ropes will hang down from them all the way to the ground!”
Dimitrios: “Elder, will the leader of this war be a Jew?”
Elder: “Yes, he will be a Jew. The pope will cooperate greatly, because he will consider all the children of the devil as his own and will instruct them to follow the Antichrist. That is why Saint Kosmas the Aitolian said: ‘Curse the pope, for he will be the cause.’ The Saint meant the pope of that specific era, who will help in the rise of the Antichrist. Compared to him, the other popes will seem good.”
This excerpt was translated by The Holy Wisdom. Below you will find the relevant source of the words of St. Paisios the Athonite.
A Chosen Vessel by Hieromonk Christodoulos the Athonite, page 219.