(Image: martyrdom of St. Methodius - 16th-century fresco)
ST. METHODIUS OF OLYMPUS (c. 250 – d. 311 AD) St. Methodius was the
Bishop of Olympus in Lycia, St. Jerome provided the earliest accounts
of him, stating he died a martyr. St. Methodius wrote opposing views to
Origen's writings when it came to theological errors, yet, it appears
he agreed with him that a 'great king' would be sent by God near the end
of time just before the Antichrist.
The following are prophecies attributed to St. Methodius regarding the Great Monarch to come – several accounts say that these accounts are not from him, they are from the "Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius" – however, if these prophecies are fake, then why are future prophecies from approved mystics and saints regarding the Great Monarch similar to this account? These may indeed be from him. Therefore, we shall publish this account attributed to St. Methodius under a double "??" and leave it to the discernment of the reader:
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“A day will come when the enemies of Christ will boast of
having conquered the whole world. They will say “Christians cannot
escape now!” But a great King will arise to fight the enemies of God. He
will defeat them and peace will be given to the world, and the Church
freed from her anxieties.”
The Great Monarch is called the
“Roman” King by St. Methodius, no doubt this refers to his mission of
defending the Roman Catholic faith, and re-establishing a Christian
'Roman' Empire. The Great Monarch will eventually go to the Holy Land
where he will die after his reign, the Antichrist will appear as this
happens:
St. Methodius: “...when the Son of Perdition has arisen,
(the Antichrist), the King of the Romans will ascend Golgotha upon
which the wood of the Holy Cross is fixed, in the place where the Lord
underwent death for us. The king will take the crown from his head and
place it upon the cross and stretching out his hands to heaven will hand
over the kingdom of the Christians to God the Father. The cross and
crown of the king will be taken up together to heaven. This is because
the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ hung for the common salvation
of all will begin to appear before him at his coming to convict the lack
of faith of the unbelievers. The prophecy of David which says, "In the
last days Ethiopia will stretch out her hand to God" [Psalm 67:32] will
be fulfilled in that these last men who stretch out their hands to God
are from the seed of Chuseth, the daughter of Phol, king of Ethiopia.
When the Cross has been lifted up on high to heaven, the King of the
Romans will directly give up his spirit. Then every principality and
power will be destroyed that the Son of Perdition (the Antichrist) may
manifest (himself)...”
The Son of Perdition arrives because
Christians will grow complacent during the Great Peace ruled over by the
Great Monarch and the Angelic Pontiff, evil will grow again, it is time
for the Antichrist to come:
St. Methodius: “In the last period
Christians will not appreciate the great grace of God who provided a
monarch, a long duration of peace, a splendid fertility of the earth.
They will be very ungrateful, lead a sinful life, in pride, vanity,
unchastity, frivolity, hatred, avarice, gluttony, and many other vices,
[so] that the sins of men will stink more than a pestilence before God.
Many will doubt whether the Catholic faith is the true and only saving
one and whether the Jews are correct when they still expect the Messiah.
Many will be the false teachings and resultant bewilderment. The just
God will in consequence give Lucifer and all his devils power to come on
earth and tempt his godless creatures.”
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Another longer version of his prophecies
Back to the Great Catholic Monarch and Angelic Pontiff Prophecy Timeline, click here.
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Another longer version of his prophecies
"A time will
come when the enemies of Christ will boast: "We have subjected
the earth and all its inhabitants, and the Christians cannot escape
our hands." Then a Roman Emperor will arise in great fury
against them... Drawing his sword, he will fall upon the foes of
Christianity and crush them. Then peace will reign on earth, and
priests will be relieved of all their anxieties.
"In the last period Christians
will not appreciate the great grace of God who provided a monarch, a
long duration of peace, a splendid fertility of the earth. They will
be very ungrateful, lead a sinful life, in pride, vanity, unchastely,
frivolity, hatred, avarice, gluttony, and many other vices, [so] that
the sins of men will stink more than a pestilence before God. Many
will doubt whether the Catholic faith is the true and only saving one
and whether the Jews are correct when they still expect the Messiah.
Many will be the false teachings and resultant bewilderment. The just
God will in consequence give Lucifer and all his devils power to come
on earth and tempt his godless creatures...
In the latter days of the world,
Christians will become ungrateful for the great favors they will
receive through the coming of the great Monarch, by reason of the
long period of peace and prosperity on earth which they will enjoy
under his reign. Many man will then begin to doubt if the Christian
faith is the only really sanctifying faith and will think perhaps the
Jews are right because they are awaiting the Messiah.
"...Then suddenly tribulation and
distress will arise against them [the Moslems]. The King of the
Greeks, i.e., the Romans, will come out against them in anger, roused
as from a drunken stupor like one whom men had thought dead and
worthless [Psalms 77:65]. He will go forth against them from the
Ethiopian sea and will send the sword and desolation into Ethribus,
their homeland, capturing their women and children living in the Land
of Promise [Israel]. The sons of the king will come down with the
sword and cut them off from the earth. Fear and trembling will rush
upon them and their wives and their children from all sides. They
will mourn their offspring, weeping over them and all the villages in
the lands of their fathers. By the sword they will be given over into
the hands of the king of the Romans -- to captivity, death, and
decay.
"The King of the Romans will
impose his yoke upon them seven times as much as their yoke weighed
upon the earth. Great distress will seize them; tribulation will
bring them hunger and thirst. They, their wives, and their children
will be slaves and serve those who used to serve them, and their
slavery will be a hundred times more bitter and hard. The earth which
they destituted will then be at peace; each man will return to his
own land and to the inheritance of his fathers... Every man who was
left captive will return to the things that were his and his
fathers', and men will multiply upon the once desolated land like
locusts. Egypt will be desolated, Arabia burned with fire, the land
of Ausania burned, and the sea provinces pacified. The whole
indignation and fury of the King of the Romans will blaze forth
against those who deny the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the earth will sit
in peace and there will be great peace and tranquillity upon the
earth such as has never been nor ever will be any more, since it is
the final peace at the End of Time...
"Then the "Gates of the
North" will be opened and the strength of those nations which
Alexander shut up there will go forth. The whole earth will be
terrified at the sight of them; men will be afraid and flee in terror
to hide themselves in mountains and caves and graves. They will die
of fright and very many will be wasted with fear. There will be no
one to bury the bodies. The tribes which will go forth from the North
will eat the flesh of men and will drink the blood of beasts like
water. They will eat unclean serpents, scorpions, and every kind of
filthy and abominable beast and reptile which crawls upon the earth.
They will consume the dead bodies of beasts of burden and even
women's abortions. They will slay the young and take them from their
mothers and eat them. They will corrupt the earth and contaminate it.
No one will be able to stand against them.
"After a week of years, when they
have already captured the city of Jappa, the Lord will send one of
the princes of his host and strike them down in a moment. After this
the King of the Romans will go down and live in Jerusalem for seven
and a half-seven times, i.e., years. When the ten and a half years
are completed the Son of Perdition will appear. (i.e the Antichrist).
"He (the Antichrist) will be born
in Chorazaim, nourished in Bethsaida, and reign in Capharnaum.
Chorazim will rejoice because he was born in her, and Capharnaum
because he will have reigned in her. For this reason in the Third
Gospel the Lord gave the following statement: "Woe to you,
Chorazaim, woe to you Bethsaida, woe to you Capharnaum --- if you
have risen up to heaven, you will descend to hell" [Luke 10:13,
15]. When the Son of Perdition has arisen, the King of the Romans
will ascend Golgotha upon which the wood of the Holy Cross is fixed,
in the place where the Lord underwent death for us. The king will
take the crown from his head and place it upon the cross and
stretching out his hands to heaven will hand over the kingdom of the
Christians to God the Father. The cross and crown of the king will be
taken up together to heaven. This is because the Cross on which our
Lord Jesus Christ hung for the common salvation of all will begin to
appear before him at his coming to convict the lack of faith of the
unbelievers. The prophecy of David which says, "In the last days
Ethiopia will stretch out her hand to God" [Psalm 67:32] will be
fulfilled in that these last men who stretch out their hands to God
are from the seed of Chuseth, the daughter of Phol, king of Ethiopia.
When the Cross has been lifted up on high to heaven, the King of the
Romans will directly give up his spirit. Then every principality and
power will be destroyed that the Son of Perdition may manifest...
"When the Son of Perdition
appears, he will be of the tribe of Dan, according to the prophecy of
Jacob. This enemy of religion will use a diabolic art to produce many
false miracles, such as causing the blind to see, the lame to walk,
and the deaf to hear. Those possessed with demons will be exorcised.
He will deceive many and, if he could, as our Lord has said, even the
faithful elect.
"Even the Antichrist will enter
Jerusalem, where he will enthrone himself in the temple as a god
(even though he will be an ordinary man of the tribe of Dan to which
Judas Iscariot also belonged).
"In those days, the Antichrist
will bring about many tribulation; but God will not allow those
redeemed by the Divine Blood to be deceived. For that reason, he will
send his two servants, Enoch and Elias, who will declare the
prodigies of the Antichrist to be false, and will denounce him as an
impostor. After the death and ruin of many, he will leave the Temple
in confusion; and many of his followers will forsake him to join the
company of the righteous. The seducer, upon seeing himself reproached
and scorned, will become enraged and will put to death those saints
of God. It is then that there will appear the sign of the Son of Man,
and he will come upon the clouds of heaven."
Back to the Great Catholic Monarch and Angelic Pontiff Prophecy Timeline, click here.
