The End of the World

As we enter into Great and Holy Week the Orthodox Church considers the "Last Things". In the Western Churches, and in the Orthodox Western Rite, this is the theme of Advent--the Pre-Christmas Season. But, in the East, it has always been the theme of Holy Week.

What will the end of the world look like?

The Church spends very little time discussing the images of an apocalypse--mostly because those images are very much secondary to the real theme of the end--that of Judgment. In a sense, it can be said that we have been living in the "Last Days" since the awesome events of our Lord's crucifixion and resurrection--when the "sun hid its rays" and the moon and stars cloaked themselves in darkness (to use the images found in the Church's hymns and iconography for Great and Holy Friday). Since then the world has merely been on pause between the Lord's first coming and His final return. History, at least from a Divine perspective, has ended. Everything has been accomplished (as the Lord said from the cross).

Seen in this light, it makes no sense to try and read the spiritual equivalent of tea leaves in order to discern how close we are to the final moments. In fact, each and everyone of us is only a few years at most from the Judgment Day. We shall all face our Judge when we draw our last breath. The images of the Bridegroom services which are celebrated at the beginning of Holy Week are a constant reminder of this. We are called to be prepared so as not to be "shut out from the Kingdom".

So, in the end it really doesn't matter whether the stars fall from the sky above us or if an atomic war breaks out or armies meet on the plain of Megiddo. Whether we go in the company of billions or by ourselves, quietly or in the midst of the tumult of war, we all face the Judge of the World and will be held accountable for ourselves.

How odd it seems, from an Orthodox Christian perspective, that so many books are written trying to discern when the end will come. How silly to work oneself up over the predictions of the Mayan calendar or some other such thing! The Lord has already spoken--two thousand years ago--that "NOW is this world judged" and everyone it it, each and every moment of our lives.

If that doesn't compel us to acquire a healthy and holy fear, then all of the books and prophecies in the world are useless.

The message of the coming week is clear: Be prepared, repent, and know that the Judge is already at the door. "Blessed is the one He finds awake and ready" when He comes.