From among the antichrists, the Holy Scriptures single out the three greatest sinners, the three beasts who are allowed to inflict the most damage on the Church, and many believers will suffer martyrdom at their hands.
In Christian theology, special attention is given to the last beast, typically referred to as the Antichrist. Although the world knows about the misfortunes that the Beast from the bottomless pit will bring, people will still accept him, and the Church will again be persecuted. The reason for this is the spiritual blindness of those lost in false teachings.
The blind world will not recognize the Antichrist. This is what happened with the first two beasts, and this is what will happen in the last days when the third beast is revealed.
Chapter 2:2 The woman clothed with the sun and the royal child
The birth of the Orthodox Christian monarchy was not easy:
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Rev 12:117).
The Holy Church is represented here as Queen. The Church is clothed in Christ, the Sun of the righteous. The pillar of the Church is the Most Holy Mother of God, who is like unto the Moon, and the Church is crowned with the twelve Apostles who are like stars.
For several centuries, the Church was constantly persecuted by Christ-haters. Many believers were exiled, many were killed, others were tortured, humiliated, and oppressed.
After long labor pains, the Church gives birth to a baby, the Orthodox Christian monarch, the head of the Christian Empire, who is to rule over all nations.
The Roman emperor Constantine put an end to the persecutions of the Church. Later, Constantine himself was baptized. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and the Church found protection under the wings of the double-headed imperial eagle:
I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it (Is 46:911).
After that, the great dragon, the ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan (Rev 12:9), began to plot against the Church and the Roman Empire, setting up against them the numerous pagan hordes which rushed in like a mighty river. The Roman Empire fell, but by that time the Church had spread so wide that it remained safe and well. For, as the Lord said, the gates of hell will not prevail against it(Mt 16:18).
After the fall of Byzantium (the Eastern Roman Empire) the Russian Empire became the main stronghold of Orthodox Christianity. The rage of the Red Dragon turned against Russia. At the beginning of the 20th century, the blood-thirsty beast of the revolution tore the country apart. Then, the words of the Lord came true:
And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows (Mk 13:78; compare Mt 24:68).
The Russian Emperor Nicholas II was dethroned and executed. Troubles swept over the Church again:
And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days (Rev 12:56).
And the dragon was infuriated seeing the Church unbroken and the believers keeping the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Excursus 2:2. The Third Rome
In the ancient symbolism, the Sun and the Moon represent the masculine and feminine principles, respectively. In the second dream of Joseph, the Sun and the Moon stand for his father and mother:
And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? (Gen 37:910).
Generally, the symbolism of the Sun and the Moon in the twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse is understood as representing Jesus Christ and his mother, the Virgin Mary.
In the liturgical service, Christ is referred to as the Red Sun of Righteousness. This imagery goes back to the prophecy about the new world, in which the light of the Sun will be replaced by the glory of God:
The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended (Is 60:1920).
The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended (Is 60:1920).
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it (Rev 21:2324).
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength (Rev 1:16).
Besides, there are particular interpretations of these symbols. In relation to the Eastern Roman Orthodox Church, the Sun and the Moon represent St. Constantine and his mother St. Helena. In relation to the Russian Orthodox Church, they stand for St. Vladimir the Red Sun and St. Olga.
At the end of the 10th century, the Grand Prince Vladimir decided to marry a Byzantine princess with a view to strengthening his foreign relations. The Emperor demanded that Vladimir be baptized according to the Orthodox rite. At that time Russia was a pagan state, but Christianity among Russians was not rare. Princess Olga, Vladimirs grandmother, was a Christian. In light of all this, Vladimir was seriously considering Christianity. In 988, he got baptized and then led to Baptism those who were close to him. Soon, common Russian people began to be baptized as well, and after a while, Russia became an Orthodox Christian state.
In 1453, Byzantium was captured by the army of Sultan Mehmed II, and the Ottoman hordes broke into Constantinople. The Grand Principality of Moscow (Russia) remained the only guardian of the Orthodox faith. From that point on, the concept of Moscow as the Third Rome began to take shape and was first mentioned in writing in the preface to the Paschal Canon by Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia Zosima as well as in the messages of Filofei, the elder of Pskov Spaso-Yelizarov Monastery.
Elder Filofei, to the Grand Prince of Moscow Vasily III Ivanovich (14791533):
He who is from the highest and from the almighty hand of God upholding the universe, by which the kings reign, and the great are glorified, and the mighty proclaim your righteousness, the most gracious and most Sovereign Ruler and Grand Prince, the Orthodox Christian Tsar and lord over all, holding the reins of Gods holy thrones of the Holy, Universal, Orthodox, and Apostolic Church of the Most Holy Mother of God, of the honorable and glorious Dormition, who shone forth with glory in place of the Roman and Constantinople sovereigns, for the old Roman church fell through the unbelief of Apollinarian heresy. As to the Second Rome, Constantinople, the doors of the Church were cut down there with axes by the grandchildren of Hagarians (compare Ps 74:67 [Ps 73:67 rus]), and now the Holy Orthodox Apostolic Church, which is the Third, the New Rome in your sovereign kingdom, shines forth like unto the sun in all parts of the universe under the sky as the Orthodox Christian faith. So, most powerful and godly Tsar, know that all the Orthodox kingdoms of the Christian faith have converged into your unified kingdom: you alone under heaven are the king of Christians Do not trespass, o Tsar, against the covenant of your ancestors the great Constantine, and blessed saint Vladimir, and the great God-chosen Yaroslav, and other blessed saints, who sprang out of the same root as you Hold and harken unto this, o ye pious King, that all the Christian kingdoms have converged into one, which is yours, and that the two Romes fell, and the third one stands, and the fourth one will never be. And your Christian kingdom will not be replaced by another, according to the word of the great [John] the Theologian
In due course, the Greek Church also supported the renaming of the Russian state into the Third Rome as follows particularly from a letter of Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah II Tranos (died 1595) to Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich (15611582):
Verily, oh pious king, the Holy Spirit abides in you, and with Gods help such a thought will be put into action by you, for Ancient Rome fell through the Apollinarian heresy, and the second one, Constantinople, has been captured by the grandchildren of the Hagarians, the godless Turks: but your great Russian kingdom, the Third Rome, surpassed all others in piety, and all the God-honoring kingdoms have gathered in your kingdom, and you alone under heaven are hailed as Christian king by all the universe and by all Christians.
Chapter 2:3 Armageddon: The One who holds it back
The Church has been persecuted by the Red Dragon, Satan, from its inception. However, up until a certain time, he is held back; the Lord does not allow too much evil to happen, but
the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Katechon] will let, until he be taken out of the way (2 Thess 2:7).
Katechon or The One who is holding back (2 Thess 2:7) refers to Michael the Archangel who is protecting the earth from evil spirits, demons.
With regard to the war between angels and demons unfolding in the air, there is a prophecy of Daniel, to whom the angel said:
Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days (Dan 10:1214).
Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince (Dan 10:2021).
After the establishment of the Christian monarchy, the Orthodox Christian monarch was assigned the status of the earthly incarnation of the one who holds back. About the same time, the belief in the coming of the Antichrist after the fall the Roman Empire became widespread.
St. John Chrysostom:
When the Roman state falls, he [the Antichrist] will come. And it makes perfect sense. As long as people fear the Roman state, no one will be quick to bow down before the Antichrist; but after its collapse, anarchy will ensue, and the Antichrist will seize all power both human and divine.
Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem:
The predicted coming of the Antichrist will take place when the times of the Roman kingdom are over, and the end of the world draws near.
Elder Filofei in a letter to Pskovs dyak Munekhin Misura:
All the Christian kingdoms came to an end and are now gathered together under the one indivisible kingdom of our sovereign ruler, according to the prophetic books. This is the Russian kingdom: for the first two Romes fell, the third stands, and the fourth shall never be All the Christian kingdoms are full of infidels, and only the kingdom of our sovereign ruler stands by the grace of Christ