A Very Difficult and Godless Time

(St. Antony the Great)

“St. Anthony the Great once said that a very difficult and godless time would come upon us, a time in which even a very small spiritual effort would mean a great deal in God’s eyes. The famous Abba Ischyrion was asked by his disciples, ‘What have we done?’ And he quietly said, ‘We have carried out the commandments of God.’ But there came the second question, ‘What will those who come after us do?’ He said, ‘They will do half as much of what we have done.’ ‘And what about those who will come after them?’ Abba answered, ‘Those who will live close to the end of time will not have any monastic activity whatever, but they will be surrounded by great enmity and temptation, and those of them who persevere in the face of those temptations will, in the Kingdom of Heaven, be revealed as much greater than those of us and our fathers.’”

~Milos Vesin