The Visions of Blessed Hieronymus Agathangelos – 1279 AD

Introduction

Ieronymos Agathangelos is one of the greatest prophets in the history of the Orthodox Church. He left us long and detailed visions, many of which were fulfilled with great accuracy.

He was born in the year 1200 A.D. He was a priest/monk and confessor, born in Rhodes. He lived in a Cenobitic monastery for 51 years His prophecies deal primarily with the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans, and it’s capital’s (Constantinople) eventual restoration back to life as a Christian capital. By his own testimony, he states that in his 79th year of age, he was at Messina of Sicily, where, at dawn on the 1st Sunday of Lent (known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy) he experienced a majestic vision by which many future events were foretold to him:

The fall of Constantinople, the predicted year when it would happen along with a time of which Greece’s liberation from the Ottoman Empire would occur
The shaping of European History after it’s fall in 1453 A.D
Western Europe’s Protestant Reformation, through Luther, against the Papacy
Napoleon’s action, his campaign and fall in Russia
The partition of Austria, and the German Kaiser’s banishment after World War 1
Russia’s Sovietization
Germany’s defeat and dismemberment after World War II
Events of the next third world war, in detail, before it and after it’s results
The final victory of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

These visions were composed in a book titled Vision of Agathangelos. It was copied by an Italian monk in Messina in the year 1555, and then translated into Latin by Theoklitos Polyidis. These were distributed around northern Europe and then translated into Modern Greek around the year 1751. Various editions were then printed in Venice. This is thought to be one of the last major collection of prophecies in the Byzantine Apocalyptic tradition. It was one of the most important oracular compositions but still generally unknown to many in the West today.

Timing of the Vision

What is amazing about these collection of prophecies is the year and time in which it was received, a little interesting fact which no previous commentator has ever highlighted yet. It was claimed to occur on the Sunday of Orthodoxy in the year 1279 AD. This is EXACTLY a “time of times and a half of a time” or “1260 days” after the birth of Christ measured using the solar calendar years. Since Christ is associated as the “Light of the World” and “Sun of Righteousness”, it is no wonder that the solar calculation of 365.25 days/year for the prophetic year or “time” is confirmed here in the year the vision was received. It is almost as if the year and timing of the vision is stamped by the signature of Christ himself, the author of the “times” prophecies of Daniel and Revelation (as the man “clothed in linen” in Daniel 12, or the Sun-like Angel of Revelation 10).

The vision in many translations and manuscripts show the year 1279 AD as the year of the vision. The calculation using the “time statements” hidden in the apocalyptic books of the Bible confirms that the vision was given to Agathanghelos exactly upon completion of the “time times and a half of a time” from the birth of Christ based on the Solar calendar:

365.25 days/year (solar calendar) x 3.5 years = 1278.375
1 AD (birth of Christ) + 1278.375 = 1279.375 AD

That is, this vision was given around the month of April 1279 AD, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, exactly 1278.37 years after the birth of Christ (starting from 1 AD since there is no 0 AD), on the first Sunday of Lent – the Sunday of Orthodoxy – commemorating the victory over Iconoclasm after the Seven Ecumenical Council and the victory of the Church over all Christological heresies.

Background of the Vision

Agathangelos combined all of his prophecies in a book composed of ten chapters. By far it contains the most detailed and extensive apocalyptic prophecies to come out of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. I would almost equate Agathangelos as the “Greek Nostradamus”, that is, in terms of the symbolic mythological style of his prophecies, the accuracy of many of his fulfilled prophecies with respect to the shaping of European History after the fall of the Byzantine empire, and especially the fact that he divided his prophecies into 10 chapters. The proof of divine inspiration is demonstrated through the fulfillment of many of his prophecies.

The prophecies in the book are organized as follows:

Chapter 1: The Fall of Constantinople in 1453, events of the Protestant Reformation in Germany Italy and Spain.
Chapter 2: More on the reformation and consequences in Germany
Chapter 3: Prophesies on Rome, the Great Schism, the end of the Papacy and destruction of Rome in World War III.
Chapter 4: Protestantism in Germany, and a future blessings on the Protestants as they turn to the East.
Chapter 5: Future events in Germany and Russia in WWIII, events in Russia under the Romanovs, the future Russian Czar. Invasion of Russia by the French under Napoleon.
Chapter 6: Historical events of the Austrian Empire and Napoleonic Wars.
Chapter 7: Events of the Austro-Hungarian Empire through it’s dismemberment after WWI. The period or era of peace under Christianity.
Chapter 8: Events of Russia and it’s military exploits in WWIII, and future happiness.
Chapter 9: Future of Poland and the Roman Catholic Slavs, events of WWIII.
Chapter 10: The Roman Catholic Church under the Antipope, the future “Last Roman Emperor” or “Great Monarch” and Christian Allies. The reunification of the Christians (under the Eastern Dogma), the (Post)-Millennial reign of Christ with the binding of Satan for a thousand years. The entry of the future Monarch into the city of Jerusalem.

The introduction to his book provides valuable insight into the content, and we are told that we must combine his prophecies to tie up some loose ends in the prophecies of Ezekiel, Isaiah and Revelation. The opening paragraph says the following:

“Oh, Agathangelos, servant of the Lord, add the following prophecy to those by other prophets, observe carefully the visions of Ezekiel, of Isaiah, and realize what parts are missing from chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel, that they may become completed, for these events will happen at the same time; following this, add this complete prophecy to the one by the son of Zebedee and compare your apocalypse with the ones by the aforementioned prophets; (…)”

We notice in the above prophetic excerpt that Agathanghelos was given information that is will be crucial in piecing together prophecies Ezekiel, Isaiah and Revelation with other Byzantine-era Orthodox prophecies. He is also told that the prophecies he was about to receive for his own Greek people were related to the Hebrew prophecies such that they fill in missing pieces of information not contained within those prophecies. Since a “time, times and a half of time,” or “1260 days” passed since the birth of Christ during this vision, perhaps then it was to be an intentional act by Christ Himself for the further unsealing of the prophecies in EXACTLY 1260 “days” from his birth for the benefit of the Eastern Orthodox Christians, and which would only be further interpreted at a future appointed time.

This most completed first-ever English translation known to date into the English language by Helen Tzima Otto, is based on of the original translation by James Palaiotos, a Hieromonk of the Order of St. Benedice in Milan in 1555, who translated from the original Greek into other languages. In the Greek version reprinted in 1908 (one out of 12 manuscripts), a copy was attached saying: “Ou masi dedotai to eidenai ta tes deltou tauftus,” that is, “it is not given to just anybody to know the content of the present text”

Her completed translations shown below are the Introduction and Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10. These can be found in “The Great Monarch and WWIII in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Scriptural Prophecies” (2002), and “When The Days Are Shortened“ (2002). The current prophecies shown here are taken from 1973 book “The Sharp and Coming Two-Edged Sword” written by Nelios Sotiropoulos, a priest-monk from Mt. Athos Simonopetra monastery,.

Opening Introduction to the Vision

“Oh, Agathanghelos, servant of the Lord, add the following prophecy to those by other prophets, observe carefully the visions of Ezekiel, of Isaiah, and realize what parts are missing from chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel, that they may become completed, for these events will happen at the same time; following this, add this complete prophecy to the one by the son of Zebedee and compare your apocalypse with the ones by the aforementioned prophets; what they saw and said and wrote about for the benefit of the Hebrews; therefore, you too, do the same for the sake of the Christian peoples, whom He purchased with His own blood, so that the new ordering of all these prophecies opens your eyes and instructs you to the effect that you entertain no more doubts concerning the future.”

Analysis of the Text:
It is in this introductory paragraph that we discover some valuable information on how the prophecy and vision is interrelated to many key biblical prophecies from the Old and the New Testament.

First notice the reference to the son of Zebedee. This is a reference to St. John the Theologian implies he is the author of the prophetic contents of the Book of Revelation. This is a contested topic by some Christians who deny he was the author of the Apocalypse, but we seem to have from the words of Christ in the vision that this is the case.

Another thing we notice is that Ezekiel 38 and 39 is related to the vision and must be combined with it. These are the prophecies of Gog and Magog, speaking of a future invasion of Israel by a Northern country. Many scholars have suggested this is not Russia but the territories reside in modern day Turkey. We know that Full Preterists suggest that Ezekiel 39 and 39 were fulfilled during the Babylonian Exile, however, some clues in the 2 chapters indicate this occurs after a long period of exile among the nations, not just to Babylon. Regardless, the introduction to Agathanghelos’s prophecy suggest that this particular Greek Apocalypse must be combined with those in Revelation, Ezekiel 38, 39, and from Isaiah.

Thus, we are told right from the start that this particular vision was going to fill in critical missing pieces to the some of the prophecies in the Apocalypse, Ezekiel and Isaiah for the benefit of the Christians, in a “new ordering” such that it would open our eyes to get a clearer picture of events to come. This opening paragraph makes it very clear that Agathanghelos visions are interrelated to key biblical apocalyptic events that would be brought on to his own Greek nation.

Predicting the Fall of Constantinople in the year 1453 AD.

“Read, oh son of Man, the Divine Resolution and judgement against the sinfulness of these people of God. And know exactly that the sin of such ungrateful a people is shouting before the throne of God, and on account of this sin God feels pressured to chastise these people.”

“A Constantine began, and a Constantine shall lose the Byzantine kingdom of the East. Son of man, start counting the number from the first Constantine until the twelfth time of the same name, and you will find out the number (year) in which it will be fulfilled. God has decided, and the fixed Divine Resolution, determined to be genuine, shall be irremovable. It will come to pass during the fourth hundred of years after the millennium (1000 AD), within the fifty-second to the fifty-third, in which year the vast kingdom shall fall into the hands of the Saracenes. And the houses will be spoiled, the holy churches profaned, and the believers persecuted until the eight century (1800s) decisively. Because God wants that the people should understand His justice and feel the weight of His omnipotent hand, and repent and return to rush back to His embrace, and then afterwards they will become spiritually able and well acceptable. And in the manner the Jewish people were subjected under Nebuchadnezzar, so also will this people be subjects to the impious Agarenes (the descendants of Agar) until the determined time, and they will remain captives under the yoke until the approximate completion of a fourth hundred of years”

Suggested Interpretation
These prophecies are from Chapter 1 of the Vision. It foretells the decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire down to the exact year of 1453.

The historian Bryennios minutely described the moral decadence and the sins of the people of Constantinople in the period of it’s capture. The Byzantines looked to the West for assistance with the Islamic threat. Instead of preaching repentance and orientation toward God for salvation from the continued attacks by the Turks, the leaders of the Eastern Church and the Byzantine Empire turned to the Papacy in the West for help. However, the Pope demanded the submission of the Eastern Orthodox Church to him and to his teachings of Infallibility (at the Council of Florence). That is – “Make an image to the beast” – Revelation 13:14

Since Agathanghelos was an Orthodox Greek monk, it appears that he was given the task to document prophecies which predicted the punishment for his own fellow Greeks.

The next part of the vision calculates the exact year of the fall of the City and the approximate duration of the Greek slavery and subjugation for 400 years. We know that Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD. The prophecy provides the calculation to determine the year, as follows:

In Greek, there are 12 letters to the word Constantine: Konstandinos. Constantine the Great was the first Emperor, and Constantine Palaeologus was the last Byzantine emperor. Agathanghelos, who wrote his prophecies in 1279 A.D., predicted that it’s fall would take place in the fourth hundred year after 1000 from the 52nd to the 53rd year, while it’s liberation would occur after nearly four hundreds of years after 1453. In 1821, the uprisings against the Ottoman Empire began in Greece, and in 1828, the first government of the Greeks was formed. The liberation and emergence of other Eastern European countries from the Ottomans soon followed all the way up to the beginning of the 1900s. This liberation period coincided with the literal ending period of 1260 years of tribulation after the appearance of Mohammed. (i.e. “authority to act for forty-two months” – Revelation 13:5)

Agathanghelos predicted many things in his 10 chapters of visions that came to pass accurately, such as this one. In addition to the fall of Constantinople, he predicted the Protestant Reformation, Napoleon’s campaign and fall in Russia, the partition of Austria, the fall of Germany in WWI, Russia’s Sovietization and Germany’s defeat and dismemberment in WWII. He does however, predict many things that still remain unfulfilled, which are specific events of WWIII and the victory of the Apostolic Faith in a period of golden renewal for Christianity. These unfulfilled prophecies seem to support the idea of Postmillennialism (vs Amillennialism) described in Revelation 20, which seems to be a recurring theme being introduced in the Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition. We will analyze and discuss more of these unfulfilled prophecies by Agathanghelos in the coming days.

The Spread of the Orthodox Faith from the East to the West

“The terrible century shall forward the golden-tenth number. Then honey and milk will flow in everything, the sea storms shall cease, and for full fifty years shall peace reign. Truth shall triumph, and the sky shall rejoice in true glory. The Orthodox Faith shall be uplifted, and shall spring from East to West in order to be blessed and praised. The barbarians shall be overcome with fright and, wholly trembling, shall headlong flee speedily, abandoning the world’s metropolis (Constantinople), then God shall be glorified, and man shall see the works of His omnipotence. Let it be so, and it shall be so, Amen”

“The monosyllabic golden number dilutes the confines (or decomposes limits); peace will become manifest upon the earth; the destruction of the offspring of Agar will ensue; following that, will come the triumph of the Apostolic Church. The end of sorrows is promised to commence in 55 years; on the seventh (day) there will be no more exiles, no more wretched people. And following that, after you returned to the nests of you forefathers, I will lead you to self-sufficiency.”

Restoration of the Byzantine Empire Foretold

From Chapter 1 of the Vision
“However, son of man, do not have any reason to fear. For it will return back anew toward My Divine mercy and grace, and you will become in the future more glorious than you have ever been in the past. Under command of this worldly power, which will be eventually destroyed by the Saracens, God will at a future appointed time conquer and submit once again countless new nations and most of the original ones which were part of the Byzantine Empire”

A prophecy on Protestantism embrace of Orthodoxy

“But you Germany, be informed that one of your sons of the same blood turns against you, casts away in abhorrence the Latin dogma and becomes the Head of Heretics. I see our friends dispossessed, introducing so many novel heresies as there are shades on the wings of the white swan. I see the religious holidays pushed aside, the faith crippled and limping, your Church without a leader, like a tiny vessel without a rudder and a captain, and your faith without (spiritual) foundations. Terrible is the corpse, oh God! But you, son of man, you do have reason to feel amazed, because it is precisely from this very heretical Germany, and through her doings that the truth and the veritable worship of the Orthodox faith will be extolled at some future time. It is precisely Germany which, more than any other nation, will support most firmly the Apostolic truth. The Eastern dogma will shine through Germany.”

Prophecy on Russia’s Restoration after Fall of Communism

“Oh, Russia, come on, wake up from your sleep! Behold, your most technically advanced military instruments are filling the air with melodies! Oh, sister of mine, go on, join your voice to mine and defend and advocate the eternal truth emanating from Him; because it was in you that the sign of such a luminous glory was kept alive”

Prophetic Fragment on Russia from Chapter 8 of the Vision

“I see you happy, oh Russia, but it is in your interest to allow the heir to assume the enormous empire; oh, holy young lady, the baby that was pushed aside will return towards your throne, in peace and glory; I can see this clearly”

Prophecy on Germany in WWII

“Germany, Germany alas Germany! Because I see you in disagreement and divided and full of enmity. Number S upon you shall destroy the Roman haughtiness”

“S” could mean the Saxons, or England and their victory over Germany in WWII.

On The False Peace

“All of you consider it a good idea to draw up peace treaties but you are laboring in vain. I introduce a brief suspension of hostilities, (a brief truce) and I do not think about a true peace. Mars is threatening with a terrible destruction, the people will think that the end of the world will arrive soon.”

Predicting a War Called the “Three Year Woe”:

“The three year woe offers calmness, and, to you, the cessation of the terminated evils”

He seems to suggest that WWIII will last 3 years.

The Mysterious Numerical Prophecies containing the digits 51, 34 and 2

Agathangelos provides a mysterious prophecy of numbers which is an interesting riddle for us to try to interpret. They are made in reference to a new future happy era for humanity and Constantinople. Here are the two passages:

“Son of Man, unite the fifty-first to the thirty-fourth, and you shall see the perfect reckoning. Far be it, that Byzantium’s greatly afflicted and utterly grieved blood should merge and co-exist”

“Son of man, join the fifty-first and second to the thirty-fourth. Then know the constant happiness for you and for yours, which the Saint among the saints has offered you”

What did Agathangelos see in the importance of these numbers, and why were they split up as such? How are they related to events in Byzantium or Constantinople? The possible mathematical equations are:

51 + 34 = 85 years
51 + 2 + 34 = 87 years

Up to the present day, this prophecy of adding “34 + 51 + 2” has been uninterpretable. I have proposed a solution to this prophecy from an older blog post titled: Linking The “Times” and Dates of Daniel and Revelation Using the Prophetic Golden Numbers: 34 and 51

The numbers 51 and 34 have hidden significant as well, and when they are combined it appears to match the year in which the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottomans. If we follow the commandment and combine the numbers 51 and 34 by first taking the second digits of each number and then combine it with the first digits of each number, we have:

“Unite” and “Join” 51 and 34 –> 1, 4, 5, 3 –> 1453 AD

Very ominous indeed, these sequence of numbers combined together and unscrambled reveal the year when the Byzantine Empire collapsed to the Ottoman Turks!

On the Fate of the Roman Catholic Church

From Agathaghelos Chapter 3 of the Vision (1279 AD)

“Oh vain city! Rome, you have definitely been stained with human blood; your emperors of old were pouring rivers of blood emanating from saintly martyrdom, and the faithful of Christ, like sacrificial animals, ran in flocks to the slaughterhouse. Where is your piety now? Where is your zeal? I can certainly see you turn into blushing, but it was your lack of moderation, your implacability which eventually has led you to apostasy. And now you have become lawless and sacrilegious, because you were blaspheming against the truth. God has abandoned you, Christ is rejecting you, and the devil will conquer you; the devil is arrogant as you are and a liar like yourself. You have become his conquest, daughter and concubine. For these reasons, O lewd woman, you will utterly make a prostitute of yourself; the East will humiliate you and you will become her prisoner and infernal monster, and subjected by her; your apostates will scrape off the crowned heads from your asp’s body, you infernal monster; your royal purple will be torn by your captors, the tiara will be thrown underfoot, and the triple dominion will be stamped under the feet of their furious horses; your domination will come to an end, and you shall see how the anointing of the priestly class into Holy Orders is going to be transformed, and the entire world will witness your change.”

“Because you have hidden and concealed the eternal Truth and you colored it with falsehoods; you have despised My Holiness which I have established in the East. You have turned yourself into a wine-press shop of perdition and a den of robbers, you introduced innovations into the faith of the people and you have made My church spiritually bankrupt; yes, yes, a stone upon a stone will not be left standing in your walls, and you will become desolate like the holy city of David; However, the East will shine up on you, and you shall be tested by fire, and hence you will become a cornerstone. She, the East, will humiliate your arrogant neck. Most deeply doing homage, you will then go and worship the true faith together along with the Conqueror of My Sanctuary which will be in Byzantium, Amen, Amen.”

“Woe to you, oh wretched East, you will remain the same as you now are until the 1800s! Woe to you, because I see you under a foreign rule and betrayed by the Latin implacability.”

“Oh, Rome, the Apostate!, only then you will see yourself humbled and brought low, when you will have to sustain the violent waves of the sea. Your sacrifices for the dead will be turned into suffering similar to the pains of a woman at childbirth; your moaning will wipe off your pleasures, your self-sufficiencies will be convened into rivers of tears and into heartbeats, your unbridled appetites will be turned into fasting and repentance. You shall wail like a hungry wolf, the bridle will tie your teeth closed, and by the muzzle and the bridle your jaws will be broken.”

“A ring of hard iron will pass through the tiny isthmus your nostrils, and your unholy lip will drip a fatal poison; oh viper, it is at the moment of your birth that your glory will come to an end, amen; you seven-headed hydra, tower of Babel, the Eternal One will utterly defeat you and put you to death. Son of man Agathaghelos, unite to your own period of history the digit equal to seven, and count the centuries, and you will see everything becoming manifest beyond any doubt and contradiction.”

“Wait a little longer then, oh, Rome, strengthen yourself and be made steadier, because the glory of the eternal God after these events will be made manifest to the world through your midst. Become faithful, become steadfast to the death and you will receive the crown of life eternal, amen.”

Suggested Interpretation
This prophecy seems to be a very stern warning against the Roman Catholic Church, clearly targeted the Vatican in Rome. The first thing we will notice is the strong parallel themes to Chapter 17 and 18 in St. John’s Apocalypse. In fact, given this prophecy was written in 1279 AD, it is one of the first that points directly to the Roman Church, 250 years before the Protestant Reformation. We know from history that the first identification with the Papacy as the “man of sin” by the Catholic Church’s own Joachim of Fiore in the early 1200s, but it was not until Luther in the Reformation who called Rome the “Harlot Church” of Revelation 17, and the Pope as the “antichrist.”

Regardless, Agathanghelos’s prophecy here is consistent with the Reformation identification of the Roman Catholic Church as “Babylon the Great”. And Agathanghelos seems to confirm these points through the prophecy as follows:

1. “you seven-headed hydra, tower of Babel”
“Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots.” – Revelation 17:5
The “harlot rides the beast” in a 7-hilled city… “The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth” – Revelation 17:9

2. “You have turned yourself into a winepress shop of perdition”
“and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” – Revelation 17:2
“For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” – Revelation 18:3

3. “you have definitely been stained with human blood”
“And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.” – Revelation 17:6

4. “You have become his conquest, daughter and concubine. For these reasons, O lewd woman, you will utterly make a prostitute of yourself”
“The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth” – Revelation 17-5

5. “your royal purple (…) the tiara”
“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls” – Revelation 17:4

6. “the East will humiliate you and you will become her prisoner and infernal monster, and subjected by her; your apostates will scrape off the crowned heads from your asp’s body, (…) and the triple dominion will be stamped under the feet of their furious horses; your domination will come to an end”
– “these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” – Revelation 17:16

7. “you infernal monster”
“These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” – Revelation 19:20

We will see some other interesting observations here:

1. A possible reference to the “Last Roman Emperor” or “Great Monarch” with the phrase “Conqueror of my Sanctuary.” This figure is prophesied to conquer Haghia Sophia in Constantinople as it is converted back into a Christian Cathedral.

2. Greece is predicted to be subjugated until the 1800s

3. The coming to pass of these events were to be 7 centuries later (which would technically bring us to 1979 AD).

4. Rome would be subjugated and humiliated. However, then he says that it would be purified by fire, and become a cornerstone of the church, and once again, the glory of God will shine through the city of Rome. Hard to imagine this coming from an Eastern Orthodox prophecy, but it seems pretty clear, that is what it says in the translated text!

The Final Vision of Agathangelos

An excerpt from Chapter 10 of the Vision

“The impious school of the Devil, which has the appearance of sanctity before the eyes of men, behold, it will be completely destroyed and disappear; then a most bright Constitution of the Divine Providence will shine in the world and illumine it, and chronologically this will take place very close to the final destruction of those cursed, unjust and rapacious wolves. And low, and behold, the Triangular stone which was rejected by the builders has become the top cornerstone. Oh, you poor and destitute human beings! Exalt the name of the Lord our God up high, sing hymns to the Great King of the Ages, glorfy Him!

Come, oh come, devout generation, rejoice with the psalter and the lyre, in drums and in shouts and in trumpets; sharpen your cymbals; blow in and increase the volume of your organs; blow into your pipes and your bagpipes; run and jump in dances that are acceptable and according to law; dance in the decorous fashion before the throne of the Great King of Israel, Whom the blasphemies of the Sabbatians have stained and soiled for many centuries.

Also you, the inventors of the distorted heresies, come and join your own hymns in the celebration to your Lord, because He is good, because His Mercy endureth forever, amen.

Son of man, look, this is the end of your vision. This vision is an Angelic epiphany which is concealed and available only to the faithful ones, those who kept the Divine Law without contaminations whatsoever, for those who honored the Tabernacle of God. Go forth, oh Agathagelos, servant of God, and write down on a tablet everything (you heard) in a faithful manner and make this evidence available to those who will be born after you in future generations, amen.

And lo and behold, a great multitude of a heavenly army carried away the Great Dragon and they tied him with formidable chains and cast him off in the Tartarus of the burning furnace of fire, while the Angels were singing upon the earth, in the ether, and upon the waters as follows:

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have Mercy on us. Only to This thrice Holy God belongs the glory and the might and the kingdom in the ages of ages. Amen.”

Suggested Interpretation:
This is the final paragraphs to the prophecy in chapter 10 of Agathangelos vision. It provides some amazing insights for our benefit, if it is in fact an authentic prophecy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

1) All heresies are to disappear. This perhaps is a reference to the coming prophesied Eighth Ecumenical Council, and the resulting elimination of all Christian heresies.

2) “a most bright Constitution of the Divine Providence will shine in the world and illumine it”
We have another reference, perhaps to a celestial event which is to coincide with the halting of a global war and the spread of Orthodoxy from the East to the West. This is a common theme with many other Byzantine prophecies, such as from St. Methodius of Pataras, and Emperor Leo the Wise. St. Kosmas the Aeitolean also references the “desired event” as well during a weekend when “two Easters coincide”. The question we will examine, is if this event is related in any shape or form to the “Sign of the Son of Man in the heavens” in the Olivet Discourse in the Gospels?

3) The “Triangular Stone” which the builders rejected has now become the head of the corner. This is an obvious reference to the Holy Trinity, and perhaps the elimination of Unitarism and other forms of monotheism – specifically Judaism and Islam. St. Andrew Salos for Christ and St. Kosmas predict massive conversions of Muslims to Christianity after the liberation of Constantinople. And perhaps the the Jews accepting Jesus as their Messiah with the fulfillment of Romans 11.

4) There seems to be some sort of event of significant importance set to occur with musical instruments, etc. All of the other Christian denominations are called to this event, even inviting them to bring their own songs of praise from their traditions to be performed at this event. Whether this is symbolic of the joyful celebration of Orthodoxy, or details from a literal event, remains to be seen.

5) Next we have the command for Agathangelos to record these series of visions in a book for the benefit of future generations.

6) Finally we finish with the Devil being bound up and cast into the lake of fire as the angels sing the hymn to the Holy Trinity. The reference to the “heavenly army” could be a reference to the Great Monarch and his armies which will sweep across the Middle East to Asia as they conquer all of these lands to become part of the greater “Christian Empire”, described in other prophecies.

The conclusion of the entire book of visions with the binding of Satan with the 1000 years, paralleling Revelation 19 and 20, is very significant here. The text from Revelation 19 first has the eradication of the two beasts symbolically represented with the lake of fire in Revelation 19:20. This is immediately followed by the binding of Satan in the beginning of Revelation 20:1-3. Why is the prophecy of Agathangelos significant on this topic? Because as I stated before, the Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition teaches a Post-Millennial theme.

However, the Orthodox Church’s official stance is that the Saints live with Christ from the Resurrection to the Second Coming. And this is typically called “Amillennialism”. But this is in direct conflict to the major theme in these Byzantine apocalyptic prophecies where we find a common theme on the destruction of the “beasts” and “resurrection” of the “saints” who “come to life” as Orthodoxy spreads around the world, is the main narrative taught here.

Looking around at our world today, is Satan bound “on earth” from the time resurrection until the Second Coming as the saints co-reign in heaven? And is this “binding” binding simply related to the ability to deceive and create heresy and division in the Church?

Hence, it might be more accurate to say, as described in Revelation 12, Satan was “cast out of Heaven” or the Church, through his defeat in the Ecumenical Councils which gave birth to the Man-Child/God-Man, and afterword the “Dragon” pursued the Church for 1260 years as it ran for protection in the monasteries? But these 1260 years of persecution are now almost complete, measured for the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787 AD. Is now the time in history (after completion of the 1260 years) when the True Ancient Church will come out of it’s sustainment in the wilderness of the holy monasteries, and be invited to the Wedding Feast of Unity, because she hath made herself ready? Are we to soon expect the “resurrection” of the “two witnesses” of Revelation 11 who proclaimed the True Faith during it’s testimony of the councils, before the “beast” came out from the abyss in an attempt to destroy the Holy Orthodox Faith?

We can form our own opinions and conclusions as Preterists, Historicists or Dispensationalists, and Premillennialists, Amillennialists, and Postmillennialists. But the fact of the matter is, the Byzantine prophecies such as those by the great Orthodox prophet Agathanghelos teach us that a time is coming for the many heresies (which came from the Dragon’s mouth in an attempt to drown the church) to be finally eradicated. And when this time period of history is realized, then Satan will be “bound” once more and will be prevented for a lengthy period of time to divide and conquer the church during its final golden age of renewal in the history of the church.

This, the common prevailing theme in the Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition… Amen!

REFERENCES

Neilos Sotiropoulos, The Coming Sharp And Two-Edged Sword, Holy Monastery of Simon’s Petra, Holy Mount Athos, Greece, (1973)
Helen Tzima Otto, Ph.D., The Great Monarch and WWIII in Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Scriptual Prophecies, The Verenikia Press, Pock Hill, South Carolina, USA, (July 2000) ISBN 1-891663-01-1
Helen Tzima Otto, Ph.D., When the Days are Shortened, The Verenikia Press, P.O. Box 35799, Houston TX, 77235-5799, (2002). ISBN 1-891663-05-4
S. Gargilis, Prophecy of the War – Found in an Old Greek Manuscript by Ieromonahos Agathangelos , Boston, MA (1940)
N. G. Politis, “Ἀγαθάγγελος” [Agathangelos], Ἑστία 27 (1889), pp. 38-40.
K. Georgiadis, “Ο Αγαθάγγελος και η περίφημη οπτασία του” [Agathangelos and his renowned vision], Μεγάλη ελληνική εγκυκλοπαίδεια, Vol. I, Athens 1936, pp. 111-113.
Apostolos Makrakis, Interpretation of the Revelation of St. John the Divine. Hellenic Christian Education Society, Chicago, IL, 1948