In both the holy Scriptures and in the writings of the Church Fathers, we read that in the end times there will be a universal apostasy. There will be a deception that fills the earth, a deception that is so subtle that even the elect may be deceived, because, while the world or many in it are looking for the coming of Christ, in reality we must first watch for the coming of Antichrist. For Antichrist comes and will establish a new form of Christianity, a Christianity that is empty of grace, that is a counterfeit faith, that is empty of the struggle and repentance and the flavor and the salt of true faith.

The Antichrist, we are told, will appear to be Christian. In fact, Fr. Seraphim Rose—Fr. Seraphim who was immersed in both the Scriptures and the writings of the holy Fathers, who lived a life of prayer and asceticism—he was able to discern that the Antichrist will come and will appear as though he is completely focused, he is completely centered on Christ. He will be a man apparently of peace. He will outwardly solve many of the world’s problems. He will unify religious groups who appear to be separated. He will overcome doctrinal differences. He will bring peace, and he will be a man of peace for the world. And in the end, of course, he will work signs and miracles that will deceive many, will deceive the world and even members of the Church. And he will establish himself on this earth ruling from Jerusalem, ruling from the temple which will be rebuilt.

And the coming religion of Antichrist will appear to be fully Christian. It will sound Christian. It will have the words, the hymns of Christianity—but it will be a counterfeit faith. This is the religion of Antichrist.

In the past, in Roman times, when the pagans were putting Christians to death, and the USSR when the Jewish atheists were hunting down and killing millions of Christians, it was obvious to see who they were: they could be identified. This will not be the case in the time of Antichrist. It will be the true Christians who will be ostracized and rejected as evil by the world. Good will be called evil and evil will be called good. The religion of Antichrist will outwardly appear Christian, but it will lead many away from salvation.

We are already seeing the world’s preparation and readiness for this fake, false religion of Antichrist. The world, for some time now, has been gearing up, particularly amongst those who are not part of the Church. We see signs of it in our world today, particularly, we may say, in groups like the charismatic movement, this whole business of speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues did not reach America until the 1900s. In 1900 in Kansas, Charles Parham and a small group, a cult, were exploring religious experiences, wanting to have these feelings of religious ecstasy, and they began practicing speaking in tongues, and it was them who produced this term: being baptized in the Holy Spirit. And so the charismatic movement was born and spread through the Protestant heretical groups in America and even Roman Catholics in the 1960s. Many bishops and priests accepted the charismatic movement as being true, and it’s infested many liberal parishes in the Roman Catholic groups.

And young people get drawn into this. The psychology, the group dynamic of these groups is such that many young people see these outward signs of what’s taking place are too afraid—too afraid of committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—to question: What is this spirit? What is this spirit that is entering these people? It is claimed that it is the spirit of God, and yet, amongst the many thousands—many thousands of different charismatic Protestant groups, all claiming that they are inspired by the Holy Spirit, we see an endless array of different beliefs and doctrines. How curious that the Holy Spirit should bring to these groups such different beliefs, such different doctrines! It is a spiritual anarchy, a chaos of belief. Why would the Holy Spirit bring such chaos to his people? The answer is he wouldn’t and he doesn’t.

This is not the spirit of God we see manifest in these groups. When we see people imitating drunkenness or laughing like this Toronto Blessing, or imitating the barking of dogs, or claiming to have spiritual experiences beyond their condition of purification, then we know that this is not the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God brings a conviction of sin. The Holy Spirit confronts the evil within us. His purity cannot enter the heart without confronting the evil it finds there, and calling us to repentance. This is the effect of the presence of the Holy Spirit in God’s people, not these outward signs, manifestations of something other. The Holy Spirit is not present in these charismatic groups. This is not the grace of God that we are witnessing. It is preparation for the coming Antichrist. It is a seeking after feelings and sensations, a kind of spiritual sensuality. It is transferring worldly and bodily sensuality into the realm of the spirit, into the realm of religious belief. It is of Antichrist.

We didn’t see the speaking in tongues beyond the book of Acts, and then St. Paul when he writes his letter condemning that which is producing confusion and disruption in one of the churches. And then in the book of Acts, the apostles spoke in the languages of the crowds who witnessed them. It wasn’t just a random babble. People heard them speaking in their own languages.

In the 1990s, St. Porphyrios of Mount Athos—his disciples described how people would visit him—and St. Porphyrios wasn’t a great learned man; he spoke only Greek—and yet when people went to visit him, regardless of their nationality, they would go in and confess their sins, and they would come out joyful. And people would say to them, “What language did Fr. Porphyrios speak to you?” and they would say, “Oh, he spoke my own language”—German, French, and so on. When he was asked about this, St. Porphyrios said, “Well, when I hear their confession, I just answer them in my own language. I speak Greek.” And yet they heard their own languages being spoken. So blessed was he, so filled with the Holy Spirit.

When we look at the lives of the Desert Fathers, such holy, Spirit-filled men, so Spirit-filled were they that they raised the dead, they healed, they prophesied—but they did not speak in tongues. And yet, when we look around the world at many pagan religions, we see glossolalia—speaking in tongues—present there. And those who minister to the possessed—those who minister to the possessed record how one of the symptoms sometimes they see in possessed people is speaking in tongues.

We must beware. There are no tricks and techniques to produce a spiritual status or a spiritual level within the soul. It is a struggle, it is repentance, it is purification of our soul, and turning away from sin. There is in Orthodoxy a word called “prelest,” which is spiritual deception, and it really is a description of that condition where someone who, when they seek after spiritual feelings or spiritual experiences that are beyond their level of purification, they are so filled still with the passions, and yet immediately they anticipate and expect and seek after spiritual feelings, consolations, experiences. They enter into deception, and they make themselves the plaything of the demons. We must guard ourselves against any such practices.

The devil grants visions. The devil grants warm spiritual feelings. The devil grants comfort. When we look at people who practice yoga and meditation, they often speak of a feeling of well-being. These are not the feelings we are seeking after. Christianity is not a means to well-being. We are not trying to satisfy ourselves and make ourselves feel better. This is the teaching of the world. The road to Christ is thorn-filled. It is carrying our cross. It is narrow. It is difficult. To follow Christ is a hard choice, but the world and its counterfeit faith will tell us otherwise.

Those who are Orthodox—those who are Orthodox must hold onto what God has given us: hold onto the grace and the faith that is Orthodoxy. We must reject the influences of the world, the modernism, the ecumenism. Everything that would make Christianity palatable to the world we must reject. This is not of God, this is not the faith of the apostles, and this is not the faith of Orthodoxy. Let us reject everything that would water down our faith and make it acceptable for those outside the Church. We must reject the heresies that are taught, that Christianity somehow sanctifies the world. And we hear people going off and trying to build their utopia and sanctifying the world around us. This world will not be sanctified; this world will be condemned.

A great evil is to be unleashed in this world. Deception runs amok. We see sin. We see people turning away from God. A rejecting of the truth, which is Christ himself. This is the world around us. We cannot embrace or try to make our faith palatable for this. For this cannot be mixed with the pure and holy things of God. And we put ourselves at risk and we place ourselves outside of the truth when we chase after these fantasies. But only if we retain the true flavor of Orthodoxy, the true salt of Orthodoxy, are we able to resist this deceit—this deceit that prepares the world for Antichrist. Only if we are living out our faith daily, repenting, struggling, praying, trying to be obedient to God, will we retain the truth of the Christian faith, will we remain within the Church.

And while Antichrist will come and perform signs and wonders that the world will applaud, his miracles will appear godly, CNN and the BBC will praise him—guard yourself. Guard yourself against the deception that is to come. There is one faith, one baptism, one Church, and it is holy Orthodoxy. We must be obedient to the teachings that the Holy Spirit has given to the Church. Walk this narrow way. Remain within the boundaries of the faith. Not even for an instant, in any small way, should we allow ourselves to step beyond this narrow way of salvation.

The easy, feel-good version of Christianity has nothing to do with God. We know this deception is to grow, and evil is to become more powerful in this world for a little while. But let us not be afraid; let us always keep our vision fixed on what is to come. For Christ is the Victor. We know this in our hearts: Christ is to be the Victor. When Antichrist comes and the world praises him, when we are rejected, when we are unable to buy and sell and mix with other people for whatever reason, let them do as they will, for we know Antichrist will fall, and we know Christ has the victory. A great day of God’s glory is to come. Keep our minds, our hearts, our vision fixed on this, but always remember, as Fr. Seraphim Rose said, “It is later than you think.”