Saint Paisios, Protestant Eschatology, and Vital Context for Orthodox Christians Reading Saint Paisios Today

How late 20th century protestantism altered the Athonite interpretation of the apocalypse

A NOTE BEFORE THE ARTICLE:

Last year, I was the subject of a poorly written and defamatory article surrounding my research on the current topic. I ignored it. The author utilized buzzwords that easily turn internet “academics” and “traditional Orthodox defenders” against the accused – even without the due diligence of inquiring as to whether the allegations are true.¹

Until now (November 25, 2022), my research on this topic has remained unpublished. The attempt to “refute it” publicly last year only drew attention to a reading of Saint Paisios the author wanted to convince his readers is untrue. I will not claim to know his intentions.

The real issue: these men cannot see nuance. Such can be ascertained by a cursory look at their writings or a brief interaction. This only goes to prove the point I wrote about concerning Fr. Peter Heers and his followers. The trouble is that Fr. Peter is selling much more than a supposed “Orthodox Traditionalism;” he is selling an entire worldview based a psychological splitting that assesses every theological issue or claim within a narrow framework – one that suggests that [“my readings of”] the Saints are infallible.²

But is their reading the correct reading? Is Saint Paisios’ work on the end-times prophecy of our day?

If I ignored the accusation initially, why am I responding now? Due to my recent article, I have (as expected) received a great deal of online harassment, including two public charges of “libel” against Fr. Peter Heers by the same person that wrote the initial defamatory article; he then used it as an opportunity to promote his own libel in reposting a link to his article attacking my character.

I had hoped that I could post my caution and leave the entire issue there. But I suppose that was naive of me to think.

THE ARTICLE STARTS HERE:

now a vaccine has been developed to combat a new disease, which will be obligatory and those taking it will be marked

–Saint Paisios, Spiritual Awakening, p. 204. (Full citation here³)

In the middle of the 1980s, Saint Paisios displayed considerable interest in the end-times; eventually, he would write and distribute a pamphlet entitled, The Signs of the Times. Since its initial appearance on Mount Athos, portions of this document, together with select passages from his posthumously published Spiritual Counsels, would come to be interpreted as, and justification for fighting against, various societal developments. Most recently (2020–), a host of Athonite monks,⁴ together with Fr. Peter Heers, would connect Saint Paisios’ words about a “new disease” and a “vaccine” to COVID-19 and the COVID Vaccine. They would further claim that contained in it is the mark (or a type proceeding the mark) of the beast.⁵

Giving Saint Paisios’ Words Context: Protestant Influence and Global Events

The 1970s provided fertile soil for the rapid growth of sensational American apocalyptic theories. With the Vietnam War and global oil crisis (1973), “oil prices grew four times, from 3 to 12 dollars per barrel,”⁶ and American evangelicals were on high alert. As Professor of Anthropology of Religion at the University at St Petersburg, Alexander Panchenko, relates,  “the wave of eschatology was mainly related to ideologies of the so-called Christian ultraconservatives or the New Christian Right.”⁷ It was not long before,

Christian prophecy writers in the United States started repeating a rumor ‘that a giant supercomputer is being created in Brussels for the purpose of taking over the world’s banking system and creating a cashless economic system, as was prophesied in Revelation’ (Robert C. Fuller, Naming the Antichrist: The History of An American Obsession, p. 181). Its particular sources can be debated, but it seems that the ‘canonic’ version of the story was invented in 1975 by a certain person from the Southwest Radio Church, a non-denominational evangelical radio broadcast program in Oklahoma City.⁸

This rumor would go through a variety of iterations but the gist would remain the same: a supercomputer in Brussels will control the global economy by assigning a number to each individual, thereby “removing the problem of present credit cards. This number would be invisibly tattooed by laser, either on the forehead or on the back of the hand. This would establish a walking credit card system. And the number could be seen only through infrared scanners, installed in special verification counters or in business places.”⁹ Panchenko continues: 

It is obvious that the rumor, on the one hand, proceeded from the images and ideas of Revelation 13, and, on the other, hinted at the commercial use of barcoding that in the mid-1970s was getting popular in the United States and later in Europe (the first item with a barcode was a pack of Juicy Fruit chewing gum sold in Ohio on June 26, 1974). Quite soon, the story about the Beast of Brussels became popular enough in the United States without any references to particular Christian authors.¹⁰

By the late 1970s, this story would be translated into Russian and Greek and make its way abroad. In 1981, a Russian professor at the University of Southern Alabama by the name Pavel Vaulin would translate into Russian the introductory part of a book by Mary Relfe entitled When Your Money Fails – the ‘666’ System is Here (1980) which contained a version of this well-established story.¹¹ According to Panchenko’s research,

another translation of the same part was prepared independently by either Russian Baptists or Old Believers in America and reached Russia in the late 1980s. A handwritten version of this text was discovered among the manuscripts left behind by an Old Believer from the Urals in 1989…[but] it seems that the principal mediators between American evangelical millennialism and post-Soviet high-tech eschatology were Orthodox Greeks¹²

Mary Relfe’s book, “which appeared to be extremely popular at least in some Athos monasteries, was translated into Greek in the mid-1980s.”¹³ According to †Metropolitan Meletios of Nikopolos (†2012), a monk named Parthenius was the first to translate it, together with another one of her books, The New Financial System, on Mount Athos under the title The Alarming Signs of the Times (ΑΝΗΣΥΧΗΤΙΚΑ ΣΗΜΕΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΙΡΩΝ).¹⁴ According to Meletios, “Mrs. Relfe's demon-inspired ‘revelations’…[contains] an obviously non-Orthodox approach…[that] does not correspond to the tradition of patristic theology.”¹⁵

This would cause many Athonite monks, unaware of the raging American sensationalism, to be led astray.¹⁶ At this, Meletios exclaims in bewilderment: “To think that this fantasy was taken as a serious book…Anyone who has at least some idea of Orthodox patristic thought and worldview and is familiar with the works of the holy fathers, who are alien to unhealthy mysticism, understands perfectly well that the writings of Mary Relfe are the fruit of demonic obsession or flattery.”¹⁷ He goes on:

Where did these ideas come from and why did they take over the minds so quickly? It is known that they are not drawn at all from patristic literature; these opinions arose in a non-Orthodox environment, in the USA - a country that is a hotbed of all kinds of heresies, madness and demonism.¹⁸

If, as Metropolitan Meletios claims, the ideas set forth by Relfe are so alien to Orthodox phronema and tradition, then why would members of the athonite community fall prey to such delusions?

Part of the reason may be because,

the late 1980s witnessed a moral panic among Orthodox Greeks, the panic being related to the implementation of the Schengen Treaty…The principal ‘anti-globalist’ argument against the treaty from the side of Orthodox activists was the change of national passports for universal identification cards. The latter in particular were considered to be ‘marks of Antichrist’…The rumors about the ‘Beast of Brussels’ related to the panic were promoted not only by small and marginalized ‘old calendarist’ churches but also, for example, the Greek Orthodox monks from Mount Athos.¹⁹

Saint Paisios was among these Athonite monks.²⁰ His document The Signs of the Times which was written in 1987 and thereafter distributed together with the aforementioned section in Spiritual Awakening quoted by Heers and company would feature uncanny similarities to Relfe’s work and the rumor of the Beast of Brussels. In fact, Saint Paisios even mentions it in his writing.

Saint Paisios, Spiritual Counsels, vol. 2: Spiritual Awakening:

A note from the editors on this chapter mentions that anything said there was written between 1981 and 1994—placing it within the timeframe that Relfe’s book would have been popular.

Tons of fish have been marked and are being observed through satellites to study their migration patterns. And now a new vaccine has been developed to combat a new disease, which will be obligatory and those taking it will be marked. Many people there [in America] are already marked with some sort of laser beam, on the forehead, on the arm. Later on, anyone who is not marked with the number 666 will not be able to either buy or sell, to get a loan, to get a job, and so forth. My thinking tells me that this is the system through which the antichrist has chosen to take over the whole world…in other words, everyone he will take over through an economic system that controls the global economy, and only those who have accepted the seal, the mark of the number 666, will be able to participate in business dealings…In Brussels there is an entire building with the 666, where they house the computer. That computer can monitor billions of people.²¹

Saint Paisios, Signs of the Times:

The perfect system of ‘convenient cards’ and computer security also masks the global dictatorship, the reign of the Antichrist. […] And all that goes on when the signs are so evident, when the computer ‘Beast’ in Brussels has nearly…swallowed up all the countries. Cards, IDs, ‘marks’ – what do they mean? After the introduction of cards and IDs and ‘computer dossiers’ they will try to introduce marks. And they will talk on TV how people steal somebody else’s cards and get cash. And, on the other hand, they will advertise a ‘perfect system’ – invisible laser marks in hands and foreheads with 666, the name of the Antichrist.²²

Saint Paisios’ writing above bears uncanny resemblance to Mary Relfe’s account. Where Relfe references the September 20, 1973 cover of Senior Scholastic and cites the article “Public Needs and Private Rights – Who is Watching You” which claims that people in new buying and selling system “would receive a number that had been assigned them tattooed in their wrist or forehead” which would be “put on by a laser beam” but the mark “is not seen with the naked eye and is as permanent as fingerprints,”²³ Saint Paisios comments that after “convenient cards” (Credit Cards) “they will introduce marks…invisible laser marks in hands and foreheads with 666.”²⁴

Both Paisios and Relfe use peculiar wording of the tattoo/laser mark being “in” the hand—Relfe draws out the reason for this saying: “that John said ‘IN’ not ‘ON’ [see Rev. 13:16].”²⁵ Likewise, Relfe speaks of this ink being used to mark fish, as does Saint Paisios.²⁶ Elsewhere both Relfe and Paisios claim that TVs are now monitoring the viewers.²⁷

This section of Saint Paisios’ Spiritual Awakening, would reflect a similarity to yet another work as well: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.²⁸

The Spiritual Counsels of Saint Paisios, it should be noted, from which Heers pulls his quote about a new disease is a series of five books containing sayings of Saint Paisios that were compiled and organized topically by the nuns of Evangelist John the Theologian Monastery. Thus, in order to assess the meaning of certain passages which may be up for interpretation, one should look at the corpus as a whole. From such a perspective we see something curious: p. 204 of Spiritual Awakening (the second book in the series) is not the only place Saint Paisios used this language of “a new disease.” In volume one of the series, With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man, Saint Paisios refers to a new disease as well: “I have heard that a new disease has appeared in the United States. Many people who live unnatural, sinful lives are infected by it and die.”²⁹ In a footnote marking the “new disease” the editors make the following comment: “This was said in November 1984. The Elder is referring to aids.”³⁰ Just 7 months before this statement of Saint Paisios, in April of 1984, the US-Secretary of Health and Human Services, Margaret Heckler, claimed that a new vaccine to combat aids would be ready within two-years.³¹

Regardless of the seemingly protestant overtones in Paisios’ statements on the end-times, certain monks in the Athonite community would occasionally invoke them in their efforts to resist governmental innovations and ID cards for two decades. The tension continues to this day. This is the context in which these modern Greek Elders are making their claims about COVID and the vaccine—many of which are directly following Saint Paisios’ lead, which itself was following that of Mary Relfe and other fanatical protestants.

Saint Porphyrios Disagreed with Saint Paisios

Saint Porphyrios (1906–1991) was a contemporary of Saint Paisios. At the time of Saint Paisios’ interest in the end-times, a disciple of Porphyrios named Fr. Akakios, went to see Paisios who was distributing a pamphlet he wrote about the subject. Having acquired the pamphlet, he returned to Porphyrios who asked to see it. In an interview on YouTube, Fr. Akakios had this to say: “He [St. Porphyrios] began to read it. He read it with attention. He said to me: ‘Ah, I disagree. I did not see things this way.’”³² Here we should note that it is recorded in Wounded by Love, the book about Saint Porphyrios, that he experienced a vision of the Apocalypse in detail exactly as Saint John on Patmos.

What do we do with Saints disagree? This question was put to St. Porphyrios by Fr. Akakios: “Elder, in our days we know both of you in the Church. If you both disagree, on whom should we lean, whom should we believe, in what way should we walk?” And Saint Porphyrios responded: “All of us together will be obedient to the Church.”³³

In August of 2014, one of the Elders Heers points to, Metropolitan of Morphou, Neophytos, spoke of a letter that Saint Porphyrios sent to Saint Paisios about this matter, asking him to discontinue talking about the end times: “There is an epistle held at a monastery on the Holy Mountain, and it would be good for the keepers of this epistle to publish it at some point…this was from a man who honored and revered Elder Paisios very much. Fr. Porphyrios told me that Elder Paisios is a man of God.” From what the Metropolitan says, which can be listened to here, Saint Paisios honored the request of Saint Porphyrios and stopped talking about the Apocalypse.

Heers has claimed that Saint Porphyrios’ request of and letter to Saint Paisios is false, as have many of his followers—though the interview itself can be viewed on YouTube. Perhaps because Metropolitan Neophytos later made a statement that he regretted speaking about this letter as he had not seen it with his own eyes.

Other Monks on Mount Athos say Saint Paisios was Influenced by a Protestant Pamphlet

In December 2012 a follower of Saint Paisios, Elder Makarios of Maroudos, lamented the fact that “[some] come to Mount Athos running around to find prophets and futurists…[and] they exploit even the words and writings of the late Paisios…Today there are distributed hundreds of photocopies of a manuscript of his about the Antichrist and 666.” Elder Makarios goes on to explain that Saint Paisios’ theories concerning the end times, the Antichrist, and 666 were influenced by a Protestant source: 

I am anxious about these series of events. Someone translated from English for him a pamphlet of the many circulating in America by Protestants, and he took it to heart. All these things had already waned in America, and we told him this, because we read about them many years before he wrote his manuscript. But he persisted…he was even judged by Elder Porphyrios to discontinue dealing with these things. Eschatology is religious babble that brings dismay and indifference for the salvation of the soul.³⁴

In his preface to the Russian edition of his book, Metropolitan Meletios (Kalamaras) of Nikopol (†2012) comments similarly:

Nowadays, very wide church circles are interested in disputes around the number 666, and this is fraught with the danger of a departure from the tradition of historical Christian thought. The very unhealthy excitement around this topic indicates that it is a trap prepared by the devil; reasoning about the “seal of Antichrist” only leads to divisions within the Church, and people are removed from solving the pressing issues of Christian life.³⁵

What do we do when Saints “Get it Wrong”?

Is it possible for Saints to be wrong? Yes. There is a precedent for this. Saints Irenaeus and Justin Martyr both believed in what was later called the heresy of Chiliasm (that Christ would reign for a literal 1000 years upon his return). This does not denigrate our love or respect for them—or their authority on other matters. A Saint is a Saint because of the life he lead. This is agreed upon by the Church at canonization. However, a Saint’s writings or sayings are not all similarly canonized. But only those that are received and reiterated by the Church (not just by living “elders” or “holy men”).

While sanctification and a vision of God does allow Saints to minister to the people with a kind of pastoral clairvoyance (much like Saint Paisios did), it does not mean that everything they say will be true or should be repeated. Consider Saint John Chrysostom’s harangue of the Jews. To repeat such things in our day would be quite problematic. Nonetheless we call Saint John Chrysostom the “Golden Mouth.” So, yes, we follow the Saints. But where aspects of a Saint’s writings or thoughts are deemed incorrect by the universal, catholic Orthodox Church, we follow the Church. And even a perfunctory reading of the historic interpretation of Revelation reveals that Saint Paisios’ thoughts on the apocalypse are more in line with 1980s Protestantism than with the Church.

What about Heers and Company?

A letter written by a “a wise priest in the diocese” according to Archbishop Alexander Golitzen sought to warn his flock against Heers’ influence (this letter would eventually lead to Archbishop Alexander’s own warning).³⁶ He would write:

Recently a priest whose canonical status is not easily discerned has posted videos trying to provoke schism and disobedience to the bishops’ directives in the wake of the pandemic. In one of the recent videos he interviews a so-called “Elder” who repeatedly calls the pandemic a conspiracy of the Zionists, Kabbalists, and Masons, and cites highly suspect Internet stories as evidence. Misquoting the Scriptures and the Fathers, he encourages people to disobey their bishops because, he says, the bishops are acting uncanonically (and then proceeds to quote a canon completely out of context in support of his false opinion).³⁷

Likening Heers’ project to that of the Old Believers he continues: “If you read just a little bit about what happened to the Old Believers after the schism you will find a history marked by fear, condemnation, unorthodox apocalyptic speculations, and in extreme cases mass suicide.”³⁸

That Heers and company have been deeply involved in what we elsewhere call the sectarian mindset is without question; that these features are also reflected in the schism of the Old Believers is demonstrable.

With respect to Saint Paisios, and the “Holy Men” of today, it would appear that Heers is doing the same: misquoting the Scriptures and the Fathers, picking and choosing what to focus on and what to ignore, and weaving a fantastic tale touting to “follow the Saints” instead of “corrupt” bishops. But as I have shown above, it is not the Saints that he is following. Rather, it is a fictional tale of his own making.³⁹

Given time, this tale will certainly unravel. But in the meantime what can we do? Surely we must warn our faithful not to fall into the trap.

Father Jeremy McKemy has written a great piece about how we view eschatology as Orthodox Christians, which you can find here.

1. The charges? 1. I seek widespread revision of Orthodox teaching in order to achieve a blessing for LGBTQ+ lifestyles within the church, 2. I am an “ecumenist,” and 3. I claim to know better than the Saints and the “Holy Elders” of today. Anyone who knows me or has read my work will know that his assertions against my character are flagrantly false.

The fact that the one who has accused me of such things is a priest is unfortunate; that he has written other notably false articles (since shown to be such by other Orthodox clergyman) is also unfortunate; that he continues to write nonetheless is perhaps most unfortunate of all.

Anyone that has actually read my book, or knows me personally, would easily dismiss the first (that I seek acceptance of active LGBTQ+ lifestyles within the Church). Concerning the second, one must ask what we mean by “ecumenist”? If by that it is meant that I try to treat all with dignity and respect – and provide hospitality to those of any denomination, confession, or creed, then guilty as charged. If by “ecumenist” it is meant that I believe we can forget all dogma and just accept anyone at the chalice, practicing Protestant or Catholic or Anglican alike, then the accusation is glaringly false. But what about the third? Do I claim to know better than the Saints? No. Do I understand that in some cases it is possible for Saints to express opinions that turn out to be wrong, sure. That is to be expected. (Consider how Saint Irenaeus held to what we now call the heresy of Chiliasm, for instance).

2. It’s ironic because it is in fact a cassock-cloaked manifestation of protestantism – the exact mindset of Protestantism that I have been accused of for not taking the Saints they cite at [their reading of] their face value.

Consider for instance Fr. Peter Heers’ book, The Ecclesiological Renovation of Vatican II. He makes retroactively fits his false dichotomy of akribeia and economia onto an historical debate that disproves his thesis. More work to demonstrate this is forthcoming. In the meantime, check out this article.

3. Saint Paisios, Spiritual Awakening, p. 204. [Holy Monastery Evangelist John the Theologian, Souroti, Thessaloniki, Greece: 2010].

4. In January 2021 Elder Parthenios, a well-respected spiritual guide from Saint Paul’s Monastery on Mount Athos “emphasize[d] that he does not bless anyone to receive the coronavirus vaccine, because it is too much in line with what is written in Revelation 13, which describes the seal that will be required for people to buy or sell, or live an ordinary life. The Elder notes that this is not exactly the same thing, but the similarities are apparent” (Athonite Elder Speaks About Prayer Against Covid [OrthoChristian.com: January 13, 2021]).

Elder Evthymios: “These people are openly speaking of mark [of the Antichrist] and world-wide dictatorship, but do we get it? And what are we doing? Saint Païsios has spoken and written so much about this topic.” (The Coronavirus Crisis: Letter from the Holy Mountain - Elder Evthymios of Kapsala posted on OrthodoxEthos.com).

Elder Gabriel cited the Abbot of St. Paul as saying “Whoever is vaccinated will live for only 3–5 years” because “they want to depopulate the earth, this is why the create vaccines…With a click of a finger they will create Hypertension and Thrombosis. They want to depopulate the world, they’re scared to start a war because they’ll be in danger” (Elder Gabriel. This Could be the Last Mistake You Ever Make!  Please Don’t! As reported on OrthodoxTalks.com: June 27, 2021).

Others include: Abbot of Karakkolou, Elder Philotheos (Abbot of Athonite Karakallou Monastery Speaks out on Covid and Vaccines as reported by OrthoChristian.com: June 11, 2021. ); Metropolitan of Morphou, Neophytos (We Will Have Modified People [OrthodoxEthos.com: December 20, 2020]; Pascha 2021 – Open as Always for Everyone [OrthodoxEthos.com:  April 25, 2021]; What the Saints Have to Say about the V*ccίnε and Μ@sκs [OrthodoxEthos.com: July 30, 2021].)

5. Mark of the Antichrist (France24: January 30, 2022); In a 2-hour interview on YouTube, Fr. Peter Heers intimates that the COVID vaccine is a mark preceding the mark. What does this mean? (See also footnote #3 above). Heers uses Paisios’ pull-quote about a “vaccine” as a reason why he will not be “inoculated” (the YouTube video was removed by YouTube, but the podcast can be found here).

Note: I am not here. making a case for or against the vaccine. Only against the idea that it is a mark or a mark preceding the mark (whatever that means).

6.  See Alexander Panchenko. “The Beast Computer in Brussels: Religion, Conspiracy Theories, and Contemporary Legends in Post-Soviet Culture,” p. 79. Published in Folklore (Estonia), pp. 69–90: October 2017.

7. Ibid, p. 74.

8. Ibid, p. 78.

9.  Ibid, p. 79.

10.  Ibid, p. 78.

11. See Alexander Panchenko. “The Beast Computer in Brussels: Religion, Conspiracy Theories, and Contemporary Legends in Post-Soviet Culture,” p. 81.

12. Ibid, pp. 81, 82.

13. Ibid, . 82; Мелетий, митрополит Никопольский. Печать антихриста в Православном Предании [2001] (5–7).

14. The Seal of the Antichrist in the Orthodox Tradition [To charagma tou antichristou stēn orthodoxē paradosē: Ekdosē Hieras Monēs Megalou Meter̄ou, Kalampaka (Greece)]. Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/42456801?oclcNum=42456801. This book is only available in Greek or Russian [Мелетий, митрополит Никопольский. Печать антихриста в Православном Предании (trans: 2001)]. Alarming Signs of the Times is not an official title to this book but rather my own translation. Consider also Disturbing Signs of the Times. Consider this PDF entitled, ΑΝΗΣΥΧΗΤΙΚΑ ΣΗΜΕΙΑ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΙΡΩΝ.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Ibid; See also Мелетий, митрополит Никопольский. Печать антихриста в Православном Предании; See Geron Paisios of the Holy Mountain, Hieromonk Christodoulos Angeloglou (worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/40531175).

21.  Spiritual Awakening, p. 205. 

22. Read The Signs of the Times here; see also Alexander Panchenko. “The Beast Computer in Brussels: Religion, Conspiracy Theories, and Contemporary Legends in Post-Soviet Culture,” pp. 82–83.

23. Mary Relfe, When Your Money Fails, p. 41.

24.  Compare this part of his Signs of the Times document with what is recorded in Spiritual Awakening, p. 209: “they will begin promoting ‘the other more perfect system’ by marking every person with the 666, using laser beams on the forehead or the arm, which will not be visible on the outside.”

25. Mary Relfe, When Your Money Fails, p. 42.

26. See Relfe, When Your Money Fails, p. 41; Saint Paisios, Spiritual Awakening, p. 204. According to Mary, these marks would start being used on a wide scale in 1984. 

27.  See Relfe, When Your Money Fails, p. 141; Saint Paisios, Spiritual Awakening, p. 205.

28. In his Spiritual Awakening we see a reflection of another work: the antisemitic, Protocols by the Elders of Zion,  which turned out to be a fabricated text detailing how the Jewish people planned to dominate the world. This anti-semitism is reflected by Heers’ followers online, especially on twitter. One such instance was demonstrated by @Nektarios01_ who called Satan the Father of Jews and claimed the Jews worship Satan.

29.  With Pain and Love for Contemporary Man, p. 125. One can see the saints influence of the time also in his portrayal of HIV as an illness only contracted by those who “live unnatural, sinful lives” (read: same-sex partners). 

30.  Ibid, n. 6.

31. See Erin Garcia de Jesús After 40 years of AIDS, here’s why we still don’t have an HIV vaccine [ScienceNews.org: June 4, 2021].

32.  The interview: Ο π.Πορφύριος και η επιστολή του π.Παϊσίου [July 2011]; English translation available here. 

33. The interview: Ο π.Πορφύριος και η επιστολή του π.Παϊσίου [July 2011]; English translation available here. 

34.  The Antichrist and 666 Was Not the Primary Message of Elder Paisios [JohnSanidopolous.com: December 21, 2012]. 

35. The Seal of the Antichrist in the Orthodox Tradition [To charagma tou antichristou stēn orthodoxē paradosē: Ekdosē Hieras Monēs Megalou Meter̄ou, Kalampaka (Greece)]. Worldcat: https://www.worldcat.org/title/42456801?oclcNum=42456801. This book is only available in Greek or Russian (trans: 2001).

36. Read Archbishop Alexander’s warning here.

37. Read the letter here.

38. Ibid.

39. I am not here suggesting that Fr. Peter is doing this maliciously. I am here suggesting that, for whatever reason, he is unable to see the issues inherent in his position. Which should make is ask, perhaps even more seriously than ever before: should he actually be representing Orthodox clergy and Orthodox teaching online or elsewhere?