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The PROPHECIES of Starets Lavrentii
(+1950)
From ‘Prepodobnyistarets’ [“The Venerable Elder”], originally published in
the May 1996 issue of the Russian Orthodox newspaper ‘Zhizn Vechnaya’
[“Eternal Life”]
The Second Coming of
Our Lord!
Starets (Elder) Lavrentii was a Schema-Archimandrite monk at the Chernigov-Trinity
Convent. With his illumining gift of clairvoyance, he served as a guide for
hundreds of monastics and laity struggling to find their way through the
manifest entanglements of early 20th century life. He reposed in 1950.
YOU WILL LIVE TO SEE
ANTICHRIST!
Accompanied by two keleinitsy [lay-sisters], the igumeny [abbess] of the
Domnitskaya Convent came to have tea with batiushka [father (dim. aff.)]
Lavrentii. During dinner, he said: “You and I, matushka - igumenya
[abbess-mother (dim. aff.)], will not live to see antichrist; but, these --
your kelelnitsy, will live to see him!” That was in 1948. Both nuns had been
born in 1923. Monakhinya [nun] N. was the one who told the story.
I NEED TO SEE
Whenever Fr. Lavrentii would sit down at table to dine, while waiting for
everyone to gather together, he would say: “I am not hungry, but I need to
see you all, and to speak with you a little concerning what lies ahead for
all of you.” Then he would weep and say: “If you but knew what fate awaits
men and what lies ahead for you. If you but knew how people suffer in hell!”
AND HOW HE WILL
RECOIL!
This was recorded from the words of Sister M. Batiushka Lavrentii would say:
“Do not be astonished when you hear that people are praying in every which
way in the churches. When those in their golden-caps [archi- and
proto-hieratical mitres] forbid the reading of the Psalter -- and, later, of
the hours -- then will the Lord endure but a little; and, O how He will then
recoil from them! The Second Coming is now no longer far-distant!”
REMEMBER THIS!
“This happened when my father was yet alive,” I. M. would recall, concerning
her conversation with batiushka Lavrentii. “We were extremely poor,
incapable of regaining our senses after the destruction of the war. I went
to see starets [elder] Lavrentii, in order to ask him to bless me, that I
might secretly wear a podriasnik [an under-cassock, (to be a secret nun)];
but he said to me: “Not all who are in the world will perish; nor will
everyone in a monastery be saved! Do you understand? It is not yet time.”
Again I began to implore him [to grant me his permission] to enter a women’s
monastery, for it is so extremely difficult for one to save oneself in the
world, but batiushka said to me: “Monks and schema-monks in the monasteries
will attain unto the seventh Heaven; but if you only knew what awaits those
virgins who live in the world! The Lord will tell those schema-bearers to
make way for these secret ones who did not live in a monastery. And these
latter will exceedingly precede the former ! Do you understand that, before
God, the secret ones will be superior to those in the monasteries? Do you
understand?” the starets asked. “I understand nothing,” was my reply. “Then
remember what I just told you, at least!” batiushka said.”
IF ONE LIVES
ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF LOVE
A certain pious widow had a dream: “I saw, as it were, batiushka Lavrentii
of Chernigov in the Trinity Convent, with its inhabitants. There were many
sisters there, and the choir was chanting: “Rejoice, O Tsaritsa”. Then,
suddenly, the starets rose up in the air, but there were only a few matushki
(mother nuns) with him seven or eight total! I ran to ask him: “Why had so
few nuns risen up?”, but upon uttering these words, I awoke, without having
received an answer.”
”When I went to see Fr. Lavrentii, he said: “It is as you dreamed it! Had
they lived in accordance with the Law of Love, then everything would have
been fine. If someone has a piece of bread, it is in order that he might
share it with another, who would then offer up a prayer for him. Thus, both
would receive their largesse, and all would have been saved! But, with us,
it is just the opposite: the one who has the piece of bread stirs up great
rows. That is why there are so few who are lifted up, because there is no
love!”
FEW ARE SAVED
The venerable Fr. Lavrentii of Chernigov would frequently repeat that souls
go to hell just like people come out of a church on a feastday; but they go
to Heaven like people go to church on a weekday. Batiushka would frequently
sit and weep: he pitied the people who were perishing. “How many people
there are, who are packed in the inferno like herring in a barrel,” starets
Lavrentii would say. His spiritual children would console him, but he would
reply, through his tears: “You do not see. If you could but see... How
pitiful it is! And in the last days, hell will be filled with young people.”
TWIRL THIS AROUND
YOUR MOUSTACHE
“And I say unto you, and with great regret do I say it, that you will be
buying houses, and killing time by adorning large and lovely monastic
buildings. But you will have no time for prayer, although you made a vow of
non-possession! It will not be difficult to be saved during the last days,
but wisely so. The one who overcomes all these temptations, the same will be
saved! Such one will be among the first. The former will be like unto lamps;
the latter will be like the sun. You have other dwellings prepared for you.
So listen, and twirl this around your moustache!” Thus did the venerable
starets, gazing into the future with his perspicacious mind, admonish his
many, many spiritual children.
A FRIGHTFUL TIME
“Not long before antichrist is enthroned, even those churches that have been
closed will be repaired and restored -- not only their exteriors, but their
interiors, as well. They will gild the cupolas of bell-towers and
cathedrals, alike; and when they have completed the main one, then will the
time have come for antichrist to be enthroned. Pray that the Lord might
lengthen that time, that we might be encouraged and sustained; it is a
frightful time that awaits us. The restoration of the cathedrals will
continue up to the very moment that antichrist is crowned. We will have
unprecedented splendour,” Starets Lavrentii would say.
“Do you see how craftily and insidiously all this is being prepared?”
Batiushka would continue, tearfully. “All the cathedrals will be exceedingly
splendid, as never before, but you must not attend these cathedrals, for the
Bloodless Sacrifice of Jesus Christ will not be offered there. Remember,
there will be churches, but Orthodox Christians must not attend them, as the
entire ‘synagogue of Satan’ (Apoc. 2.9) will be gathered there! I repeat yet
again that one must not attend those cathedrals; there will be no grace in
them!”
CONCERNING
ANTICHRIST
“Antichrist will be crowned king in a splendid rebuilt temple in Jerusalem,
with the clergy and the Patriarch of Russia participating [in his
coronation]. There will be free ingress and egress from Jerusalem for
everyone, but do not attempt to go there then, as everything will have been
done so as to ‘deceive.’ (Matt. 24.24) He [antichrist] will be exceedingly
learned in all satanic wiles and will show great signs. The entire world
will hear and see him. He will ‘stamp’ his people with satan’s seal; he will
hate Orthodox Russia,” the venerable Starets Lavrentii of Chernigov would
say.
THERE IS NO NEED TO
BE AFRAID
To a certain deacon who is yet alive, but who is now quite aged, Batiushka
Lavrentii forthrightly said:
“You will live to see the time when antichrist comes to power. Do not be
afraid, but tell everyone that this is he -- and that there is no need to be
afraid! There will be a war, and where it passes, there will be none left
alive! But, prior to that time, the Lord will send minor ailments to the
weak and they will die, for during antichrist’s time there will no longer be
any death. The Third World War will not be for repentance, but for
annihilation; but the Lord will leave the strongest alive, that they might
confront him [antichrist].
THE SUPREME
“PEACE-MAKER”
The venerable Starets Lavrentii of Chernigov spoke frequently of antichrist,
saying:
“There will come a time when they will fight and fight, and a world war will
break out. And in the very thick of it, they will say, ‘Let us choose for
ourselves a single king over all the inhabited earth.’ And they will elect
him! They will elect antichrist as the universal king and supreme
‘peace-maker’ of the world. It will be necessary to listen carefully; it
will be necessary to exercise caution! As soon as they begin to vote for one
single man in all the world, know that it is none other than himself, and
that it is forbidden [to Orthodox Christians] to vote [for him].”
ALL [MY] WORDS ARE
TRUE!
Batiushka Lavrentii was sitting in the choir-loft, speaking of the last days
and of the end of this world, relating the details of antichrist’s
enthronement over those who have fallen away from God... And priests Nikifor,
Grigorii and Vasilii Ganzin objected to Fr. Lavrentii that he had also
spoken differently concerning these things. But he replied to them: “Fathers
and brothers, there is one thing that you neither know nor understand; I
speak not only of Russia, but of the whole world! All my words concerning
future events are true, because the Holy Spirit has revealed them to me by
[His] grace.”
FOR A SHORT WHILE
Schema-Archimandrite Feofan related that Batiushka Lavrentii would joyfully
say, with a smile: “The Russian people will repent of deadly sins: that they
allowed ... [antichristian] impiety to hold sway in Russia; that they did
not defend God’s Anointed Tsar, the Orthodox churches and monasteries, and
all that is holy and sacred in Russia. They despised piety and came to love
demonic impiety. But there will be a spiritual upheaval! And Russia,
together with all the Slavic nations and lands, will constitute a mighty
Tsardom. She will be governed by an Orthodox Tsar, by God’s Anointed One.
Because of him, all schisms and heresies will vanish away in Russia. There
will be no persecution of the Orthodox Church. The Lord will have mercy on
Holy Russia because the dreadful time preceding that of antichrist has
already taken place in her. Even antichrist himself will fear the Russian
Orthodox Tsar - Samoderzhets [Tsar - Autocrat]. But all the other nations,
save only Russia and the Slavic lands, will be ruled by antichrist and will
undergo all the horrors and torments written of in Holy Scripture. In
Russia, however, there will be rejoicing and a blossoming of faith -- but
only for a short while, for the Dread Judge will come to try both the living
and the dead.”
CONCERNING
ANTICHRIST’S PERSON IN THE HOLY PLACE
“Blessed and thrice-blessed is the man who will not desire to do so and,
hence, will not see the God-abominated person of antichrist. Whosoever will
see him and hear his blasphemous words promising all earthly blessings, the
same will be seduced and will go forth to worship him. And they will perish,
along with him, as far as eternal life is concerned; they will burn in
eternal fire!” We asked the venerable one, “How shall this be?” And he
answered us with tears, [saying]:”The abomination of desolation will stand
in the holy place and will show-forth the foul seducers of the world who,
working false miracles, will deceive all such men as have fallen away from
God. And, after them, antichrist will appear! The entire world will see him
at one and the same time.” To the question “Where in the holy place -- in
church?” venerable Lavrentii said; “Not in church, but in the home!
Beforetimes, a table used to stand in the corner wherein the holy icons
were. Then, however, that space will be occupied by seductive instruments
for the deception of men. Many who have departed away from the Truth will
say, ‘we need to watch and hear the news.’ And it is in the news that
antichrist will appear; and they will accept him.”
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