Hegumen Philotheus is one of the uncanonized saints, but this does not in the least detract from his holiness and truthfulness of prophecies. Hegumen Filofey traveled a lot from a young age, visited many cities and villages in Italy, Poland, Germany, and Mount Athos became the final destination of his travels. There, on the Holy Mountain, he spent 30 long years in prayer, after which he returned back to Russia. It happened during the reign of Metropolitan Zosimus (1490-1494). In Russia, Philotheus openly opposed the "Judaizing heresiarchs", for which he paid with freedom - he was chained and kept in the Sarsky monastery.
Some time later, when the metropolitan-heresiarch was exposed, Philotheus was not only released from captivity, but also became the abbot of the same monastery where he had previously been held as a prisoner. It was under his leadership that the Sarsk Monastery became one of the main centers where the works of the founding fathers of the church were translated from Greek. In the same period, an icon-painting workshop was opened in the monastery, and icons in it were painted in accordance with ancient traditions - with prayers, and not in the "Italian manner."
Prophecies of Elder Philotheus
Hegumen Philotheus received his revelation on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. As the prophet himself said, a revelation came to him when he was resting, sitting on a bench, after the liturgy, he felt the breath of the Lord, after which the true essence of things was revealed to the elder. He shared the revelation he received with everyone who was ready to listen and listen and wrote it down for future generations. In 1994, this revelation was first published.
The elder himself did not indicate specific dates, explaining this by the fact that during the revelation for him the centuries were moments.
According to the predictions of Philotheus for the future, a boy will be born on earth, who will have a brilliant mind and many other talents, but offended in childhood, which will lead to his embittered desire to take revenge on the whole world. For his revenge, this person will make a pact with the devil to rebel against the Lord. With the help of his oratory, this person will attract many people to his side, promising to give them everything that Christ has promised in this life. In addition, this antichrist will allow his adherents to break all the commandments, the main thing is that they be violated in his name, then the crimes will be considered a feat that should be rewarded.
A hundred nations and tribes will rise under the banner of this man, who will make a coup and instead of the king who was killed during the uprising, the devil-man will ascend the throne. After this, temples and idols will be erected everywhere and will be worshiped as an earthly god. At the same time, persecutions against Christians will begin, which have never happened before, churches will be destroyed, and all its adherents will be killed for the Christian faith. Then a period of terrible hunger and desolation will come. Few Christians will be able to escape in the deserts and mountains, thanks to their prayers, the kingdom of the devil-man will be destroyed, and by itself.
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After the collapse of this kingdom, a period of peace on Earth will come for some time. However, further Elder Philotheus prophesied an even more terrible period in history, since not the Antichrist will seduce people, but the devil himself. He will teach people to fly through the air and descend into the ocean depths, will give incredible power. He will inspire all of humanity with the thought that thanks to their knowledge and skills, they will be able to obtain immortality. There will be no persecution of Christians at all during this period, they will be mocked and there will be very few true believers.
People who believe in their power due to the achievements of science and technology will become its hostages imperceptibly for themselves and will lead a senseless and stupid lifestyle. This satanic revelry will end when the hellish fire summoned from the ground will incinerate all living things. But a new heaven will come and a new world will come - the Kingdom of God, which will be available only to the elect.
These are the predictions of Philotheus for the future. Reading them, one involuntarily compares them with already known historical events. Much of Philotheus's revelation reminds for some reason the events associated with the formation of the USSR, when the Reigning Romanov Family was shot, when there were unheard-of persecutions against Christians, when monuments were erected to the leader of the nations and worshiped as an earthly god. And the USSR collapsed by itself without war and revolution. There are analogies with modernity - people really believe in their power and the development of drugs that give immortality is already underway, and Christianity is perceived with a grin, like its companions.
Biographical information about Philotheus is extremely scarce; it is known that he lived in the first half of the 16th century. and was a monk of the Pskov Eleazarov Monastery (see: Goldberg A. L., Dmitrieva R. P. Filofey // Dictionary of scribes and bookishness of Ancient Rus. L., 1989. Issue 2. Part 2. P. 471-473) … For the first time his name attracted the attention of Russian public thought after in the magazine "Orthodox Interlocutor" in 1861-1863. his works were published. The concept "Moscow - the third Rome", presented in them, turned out to be one of the central ones in Russian journalism and historiosophy of the subsequent time.