Elder Ephraim of Philotheou & Arizona
Elder Ephraim of Arizona shares a stunning testimony and prophecy about a mysterious sleeping General, named John, who, according to prophecy, will be revealed by Archangel Michael and rise to lead the Greek and Orthodox Christian people after The World War 3.
“There is a sleeping General named John, who the Archangel Michael will reveal to the Christian people, and he will now reign. He will indicate with his finger the place, and they will call him to lead and to rule over the Greek and the Orthodox people. And this will take place! Years ago on the Holy Mountain, there was a hierarch, named Hierotheos, who was from Asia Minor. And the Ecumenical Patriarch put him on the Holy Mountain to perform ordinations, memorials, Liturgies, etc. He was a Holy hierarch, similar in nature to Saint Nicholas. I was made worthy of the Priesthood by this holy hierarch who was from Asia Minor. A blessed man of God!
I will tell you one thing. What vigils we held! This 80-year-old man did not sit at all in his seat during the 15-hour vigils! From the throne he would go down to the stasidi (the seats), and again he would go upright. And during the three hours of Liturgy, which would follow after the many-houred service of Orthros, he would still remain upright. We put for him a chair to sit down, but he would not. He would say, “Still our Panagia does not tire me”, even as he was trembling from the exhaustion. This Holy hierarch told us, that he himself saw the sleeping General John (Ioannis), who will awaken when the Third World War will take place.
He saw him! Because the lips of the hierarch and of the priest do not lie. Well, he told us the truth! And we asked him, because at the time my blessed and Holy elder (Saint Joseph the Hesychast) was still alive, and our entire monastic community had gone into our little church. And we sat there and asked him our questions. And he was telling us, and we heard it with our own ears, he said, “This Sleeping King exists, and he will awaken (resurrect).” We asked him, “When, Elder? When, Holy Hierarch of God?” And he replied, “When the Third World War takes place.” Also he told us that his right hand is placed on the handle of his sword, which is in the sheath. And he was telling us that, “When the sword is out of the sheath, then the Third World War will take place.”
And we, on account of our curiosity, were asking him, “Elder how much of the sword is still in the sheath?” He answered, “A few centimeters are left for it to come out completely.” And in 1955, when there were issues in Constantinople and the Turks did so many attacks upon the hierarchs, and the priests, the churches, and the stores of the Greek Orthodox people... At the time I was at the hermitage of the Holy Unmercenaries, and all of a sudden I see the Holy hierarch outside near the roof of the hermitage: upset, anxious, full of perspiration. And I run outside and I said, “Your Eminence, come on inside so I can give you a glass of water. Why are you in such a state?” And he said, “My child, perhaps it is now: when the Third World War will happen. Maybe these attacks are the start of the War. And I am afraid if it happens, and the King awakens, etc.”
And it was not the time for it to happen back then, and he calmed down and he later left for Constantinople. And Saint Cosmas of Aetolia says that, “After this the Holy King will reign. This holy king will live 33 years.” The life in those years, will be a life of paradise on Earth, both in terms of abundance of material goods, and of faith. Then the Word of the Gospel will be applied; which the Lord tells us that there will come a time of faith upon the world. And the people will live blessedly, having such a Holy King who reigns over humanity. After the natural death of this Holy King, the curses of unhappiness, both spiritual and material, will occur to humans. Since there will be few people, and the goods will be so many, in that period the gold will be as common as normal metals.
And the people will make spoons and forks out of gold to eat with. And due to the abundant goods, they will rush to unrestrained pleasures. And a great apostasy of man from God will emerge on account of the sins which will proceed from the abundance of goods, and the lack of the fear of God. Then will begin the collapse of ethics, and the main result of this collapse is that immediately humanity will become just flesh (they will not pay any attention to their souls). As with Noah. What happened with Noah? The people back then were given over to abundant goods, and they were eating and drinking etc., and the cataclysm found them; and everything was lost. So, in this case, after the falling asleep (death) of the Holy King, all ethics will collapse, the people will collapse spiritually, and the fear of God will begin to be lost.
And when people will depart from the fear of God, then will come the apostasy. And the apostasy will bring the deprivation of the Grace of God and therefore will follow the deprivation of all material goods, as a response to the continuation of the apostasy, like an abandonment of God. And then during that time period, which will have a complete lack of the fear of God and of faith, the Antichrist will be born. And he will start to preach for people to have faith towards him and that he is the messiah. And that only he will be the one to save the human race from this catastrophe, and this misery. And during this time there will be few God-fearing priests, with the few faithful Christians that are left, and they will leave to the mountains and to the caves, bringing with them a bit of salt.
And there they will avoid the mark of the Beast; of the Antichrist. And whoever confesses their faith in Christ will be martyred; and they will be martyred brutally. Then will the Great Saints who have not experienced physical death arise, Enoch and Elias, and John the Theologian, and they will give witness to Christ. And they will be slaughtered by the Antichrist. And they will receive martyrdom, and so they will follow the martyrdom which was suffered by the martyric Apostles.”
On November 4, 2011, ‘NOIAZOMAI’ released a powerful video titled “Shocking Testimony of Elder Ephraim of Arizona About the Marbled King Ioannis.”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyAq5lei_0Y
The a segment of the video was republished in English on January 19, 2022, on the YouTube channel ‘Uncreated Light Press’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3COlbW1t0c
The specific clip translated and published by ‘Uncreated Light Press’, was later republished by ‘The Holy Wisdom’ YouTube Channel on July 14, 2025.