St. Paisios the Athonite
1Elder: “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.”
“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.”
This excerpt was translated by The Holy Wisdom. Below you will find the relevant source of the words of St. Paisios the Athonite.
A book by Hieromonk Christodoulos the Athonite, A Chosen Vessel, p. 219.