(Click on images to enlarge)
Front cover: The triumph of the Archangel Michael over the antichrist, who is shown falling into the abyss together with the cities of this world at the end of time. Fresco by Pimen Maximovich Sofronov in the Sepulchre of St. John (Maximovitch) of Shangahai and San Fransisco, below the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Cathedral in San Fransisco.
My stash of completed books has grown in front of my computer waiting for me to post on them. I somehow have managed to fall behind in keeping up with posting on each book as I complete it and now I wish I had commented sooner on this one as its contents are not fresh in my mind and I think this to be an important book for many reasons.
First, in these evil days when the byword is "love" and "tolerance" in all things regarded as "Christian", the tone is refreshingly and shockingly uncompromising which serves as a wake up call when read for no other reason that even if one disagrees with Father Seraphim, one at least is challenged as to why he disagrees and is polarized into a very definite stance. I find this refreshing in an age when every blow, if there is ever a blow delivered, is softened and made to appeal to the vague everyone in effort to not affront anyone. Fire is in these pages and from them a man speaks to us, every fibre of his being warning and admonishing. Warning and admonishing itself is not fashionable in our day but perhaps to be fair they never were fashionable in any age.
To believe with Father Seraphim that the Orthodox Catholic Church is the Church and that outside Her is not the Church is laughable in our day and age when there is in truth no the anything anymore, an age characterized by a relativism all pervasive and rendering even the plausibility of there being a transcendent Truth to be preposterous and anyway, "Just one's opinion."
No idea or principle holds gravity or gains any traction as everything "is just part of the show, folks", entertain me, damn it." "Truth is fine. Give me more of it! (uh, does it pay? is anyone watching me know truth?)"
I also find this book important because it takes serious the belief in wicked spirits and their influence in the affairs of men. As the body may contract sickness and disease why are we not wise according to the spirit also prone to disease and sickness through what it indulges in?
Father Seraphim reminds us that we are not living in Disneyland. There is a deadly seriousness to having being, just existing. He reminds us that the Lord, His Apostles, all the books of the New Testament and the Holy Fathers take very seriously spiritual deception and that as one day is added to another and history moves towards its consummation the Lord draws near.
The Lord will most definitely return. But prior to His most definite return is also foretold by Him and all who speak expressly in the Spirit that most definitely will come this Antichrist.
With Father Seraphim and all the Saints who spoke on these matters and with our Lord, may we admonish one another, saying, "Let us be wise and sober according to our age. We know not the day and time but we are told to observe the season and to notice the leaves on the trees changing color."
Father Seraphim in this book speaks on many subjects but each of the deceptions is understood to have an underlying unifying thread. He gives a thorough treatment on UFO phenomena and parallels the experiences of those who have had "close encounters" with classic demonic manifestation and possession of the previous era. I have had this chapter, actually on my sidebar for quite some time and one may read it here:Father Seraphim Rose on UFOs in "Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future".
This book has had a big influence in Russia and for many gave guidance towards Orthodoxy.
Again, an important book.
READ THE PREVIOUS POST IN THIS SERIES:
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment