The Latin Mass was never offered on LibTrad altars

by T. Stanfill Benns | Aug 11, 2026 | New Blog

+St. Philomena+

Sometimes it is wise to provide a recap of what happened in the past for the benefit of those just now happening upon the truth and as a refresher for those who have long known it. As stated in last week’s blog, the concerns for the Latin Mass being banned or outlawed are misplaced because it ceased to exist when John 23 was invalidly elected pope. Of course, no one believes or accepts these facts and therefore they continue to believe that the Latin Mass still exists as offered by traditionalists. Anyone that has read this site faithfully will know that’s not the case. And so, please forgive me if some things are repeated here that have been said long ago, but if a person wishes to be diligent in trying to educate, then things sometimes have to be repeated and people have to be reminded. So please bear with me.

Antichrist and the Mass

What are the signs that Antichrist has appeared among us? One of the first to look for, Pope Paul IV told us in his infallible Bull, Cum ex Apostolatus Officio, is a man elected pope who is secretly a heretic. This he defines as “the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy Place,” which we know is the Antichrist spoken of in Daniel.  Then there will be a great revolt, as St. Paul predicted. This revolt began in the very days of Pope Paul IV, during the Protestant Revolt. It was completed with what happened after Vatican 2 and the introduction of the new mass by Paul 6, falsifying Christ’s very words in the Consecration of the wine. But in reality, it began when Roncalli approved missalettes for the faithful (the dialogue mass in English), distributed in 1959 all over the world, already containing in the consecration of the wine the falsification of Christ’s words, “for all men.”

It was finalized by inserting St. Joseph into the Canon of the Mass, creating his own “missal” 1962. Nothing had been added to this Canon for nearly1,500 years! Pope Pius IX had ruled 100 years previously that St. Joseph would not be added to the Canon. Pope St. Pius V had made the Gospel of St. John obligatory at the end of the Mass, (before it was optional). He dropped the last Gospel, the St. Michael’s prayer and the prayers for the conversion of Russia, and inserted St. Joseph into the Canon. So even before the new mass became official, the Latin Mass was on its way out. The false Vatican 2 council, concluding in 1965, paved the way for every possible innovation and failed to address those things most pressing in the Church. And In 1968, the rites for episcopal consecration and ordination were altered to resemble the Anglican rites condemned as invalid by Pope Leo XIII, invalidating the Sacrament of Orders.

The Novus Oro Missae fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy that “the Sacrifice and the Victim shall fail,” (Dan. 9:27). In other words, the Holy Sacrifice is worthless in appeasing God’s wrath and satisfying for our sins because the priests falsely ordained cannot validly consecrate the Host. The Novus Ordo Missae was only a dressed up version of the heretic bishop Cranmer’s Anglican “mass.” When the Novus Ordo Missae was formally introduced, it is estimated that the Church lost half her priests and religious and about 40 percent of the faithful, or more. John 23 and Paul 6 openly endorsed Freemasonry and atheistic Communism, which despite the plea of the Russian bishops, was not condemned at the Vatican Council. The altars were turned to face the people, as also happened when the Jewish antichrist Antiochus reigned. All manner of unholy things were admitted to the churches, including guitar masses, masses using hot dog buns for bread and coke for wine, masses including altar girls and scantily clad dancers – all the evils of paganism were introduced. In one church during a youth conference in Italy, phallus worship was even tolerated. The Roman officials saw they had gone too far and reigned themselves in under JP 2, but the history of the Church in the degenerate1960s and 70s remains as testimony to its Satanic wickedness.

The Fathers and Doctors on Antichrist

Henry Cardinal Manning, who as an archbishop helped convoke and bring to completion the Vatican Council — one of the greatest champions of the papacy — undoubtedly was aware of St. Francis de Sales’ and St. Alphonsus’ teaching that the Sacrifice would cease in the latter days. Robert Bergin, who issued the first edition of his book These Apocalyptic Times in 1970 (Fatima International), tells us in Chapter Five, entitled “Persecution”: “Some interpret the reference in 2Thessalonians — Antichrist showing himself in the temple of God as though he were God — to mean Antichrist will seize St. Peter’s and usurp the papal see.” He then quotes Cardinal Manning’s The Present Crisis of the Holy See: “The Holy Fathers who have written upon the subject of Antichrist and the prophecies of Daniel — all of them unanimously — say that in the latter end of the world, during the reign of Antichrist, the Holy Sacrifice of the altar will cease.”  St. Francis writes: “The revolt and separation must come…the Sacrifice shall cease and…the Son of Man shall hardly find faith on earth…All these passages are understood of the affliction which Antichrist shall cause in the Church…But the Church… shall not fail, and shall be fed and preserved amidst the deserts and solitudes to which She shall retire, as the Scripture says, (Apoc. Ch. 12),” (The Catholic Controversy).

In his The Holy Eucharist, St. Alphonsus stated that: “It is true [the Mass] will cease on earth at the time of Antichrist: the Sacrifice of the Mass is to be suspended …according to the prophecy of Daniel, (Dan. 12:11).” St. Alphonsus goes on to explain, however, that in reality the Sacrifice and priesthood never will cease since “the Son of God, Eternal Priest, will always continue to offer Himself to God, the Father, in Heaven as an Eternal Sacrifice.”

And it is only at this altar, in the privacy of their homes, that those who strive to keep the faith without recourse to invalid pseudo-clergy choose to honor Him. But those wishing to follow their own sinful wills call Manning a heretic, the early Fathers liars and the Vatican Council’s infallible Rule of Faith (DZ 1788) concerning the unanimous agreement of the Fathers false; they also dismiss the teachings of these two great doctors of the Church. And so they reveal their evil intentions for what they are, proving they could not be true Catholics. Again, in Manning’s The Present Crisis of the Holy See Tested by Prophecy we find: “When…was the Church of God ever in a weaker condition? And from whence…is deliverance to come? Is there on earth any power to intervene? Not one; and it is foretold it should be so. Neither need we desire it; for the will of God seems to be otherwise…The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts so new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatise from the faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism.

Malvenda’s words are: ‘But Rome itself in the last times of the world will return to its ancient idolatry, power and imperial greatness. It will cast out its Pontiff, altogether apostatise from the Christian faith, terribly persecute the Church, shed the blood of martyrs more cruelly than ever and will recover its former state of abundant wealth, or even greater than it had under its first rulers,” (Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, The Present Crisis of the Holy See, 1861. London: Burns and Lambert, pgs. 89-90). “Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible, hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church,” (Ibid., p. 88).

Ven. Bartholomew. Holzhauser also taught what Manning refers to here. “God will permit a great evil against His Church: Heretics and tyrants will come suddenly and unexpectedly; they will break into the Church while bishops, prelates, and priests are asleep. They will enter Italy and lay Rome waste; they will burn down the churches and destroy everything.”(Yves Dupont, Catholic Prophecy, Tan Books and Publishers, 1973).

The Church will disappear

The following is an example of what one early Father wrote concerning what would happen to the Church in the end times:

Victorinus — (Source: Translated by Robert Ernest Wallis. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co.,1886) https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm

“Ch. 6:14. “And the heaven withdrew as a scroll that is rolled up.” For the heaven to be rolled away, that is, that the Church shall be taken away.

“Ch. 15:1 “And I saw another great and wonderful sign, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is completed the indignation of God.” For the wrath of God always strikes the obstinate people with seven plagues, that is, perfectly, as it is said in Leviticus; and these shall be in the last time, when the Church shall have gone out of the midst.

Could Pope Paul IV have wrongly defined the abomination of desolation as a false pope and/or bishop ruling as a true pope or bishop? To deny this is to deny his infallibility. To deny the Council of Trent and the Vatican Council could have erred in teaching that the Holy Mass would cease during Antichrist’s reign is likewise a denial of infallibility. Read the biographies of Roncalli and Montini and see their heresies pre-election with your own eyes; read Vacantis Apostolicae Sedis and know for yourselves that these men could never have been validly elected.

Holy Scripture tells us that Antichrist will come according to the workings of Satan, in all “power, signs and lying wonders,” (2 Thess. 2; Mark 13:22). He will perform “great signs” (Apoc. 13:13). He will crush the saints of the Most High, (Dan. Ch. 7:25; 8:24; Apoc. 13:7). Daniel tells us he will do more than can be believed. So where is the Church in these times? In the Gospel, Christ tells us: “The kingdom of God is within you.”  Christ honored His promise that Peter’s faith would never fail, for no pope ever taught heresy as pope, from Peter to Pope Pius XII. When we see false teachers standing in the Holy Place, we know that Antichrist has come and we must flee.  When the Holy Sacrifice was abrogated by this man, we recognized who he was and why he had come. He was opposed to all that Christ was and is; the mirror reverse of His image. Many of the prophecies concerning him predicted he would reign during the 20^th century. Just as Christ filled all the Scriptural prophecies by His coming, so Antichrist fulfilled all the predictions of his own advent.

Conclusion

Christ is honoring His promise to be with us all days, “even to the consummation,” because he is now the sole Head of His Mystical Body. He has always provided all the graces flowing from the Sacraments and He will not leave us orphans now. He promised us that even where two or three are gathered in His name, there He will be in the midst of them, and He is ever true to all of His promises. “Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands. And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching. Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and passing will minister unto them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants” (Luke 12: 35-38).

Will Leo 14 demand a V2 loyalty oath from the TLM sects?

by T. Stanfill Benns | Aug 1, 2026 | New Blog

+St. Peter’s Chains+

Prayer Society Intention for August, Month of the Most Pure Heart of Mary

“Most Holy Trinity, we adore Thee and through Mary we entreat Thee: make all men one in the faith and give them courage to profess it faithfully” (Raccolta)

Introduction

It never fails to amaze me how these broadcasters, podcasters, YouTubers and blogsters can manage to cover an entire scope of conspiracies and misinformation, disinformation — just outright lies, really — in the media about secular events, but yet fail to target the real issue underlying all this, and that is the total destruction of the Catholic Church. And if they do cover it, they don’t take whatever it is they’re presenting to its logical conclusions, and that’s been the main problem for decades. The most recent example of this is a video that I was made aware of on the internet regarding the loyalty oath that some of these traditional groups are afraid Leo 14 will make their clergy swear to, and this could possibly include even the laity. While this proposal must be alarming to those who still think they have what’s left of the Church in the Latin Mass and their traditional communities, it’s not surprising or alarming, of course, to those of us who have kept the faith at home all these years.

I didn’t come on the pray-at-home scene until the 1980s, but I know there were other Catholics who were stepping back from even emerging LibTrad alternatives as early as the 1960s. And Msgr. Fenton mentions in his diaries that he knew of faithful having grave issues with what was going on liturgically and were pulling back in the late 1950s. In any event, let’s look at what this video basically has to say about this loyalty oath and see if it can be connected to any of the things we’ve covered previously.

TLM status in the Novus Ordo

An online summary of the Latin mass situation HERE explains that, “In March, Pope Leo XIV called for “concrete solutions” to heal divisions over the Mass in a message to the French bishops. The Holy Father called for renewed unity in the Church’s liturgical life, urging French bishops to seek “concrete solutions” to include Catholics attached to the Traditional Latin Mass while preserving communion.” Now here we must remind readers that this is NOT the ancient Latin Mass declared perpetual by Pope St. Pius V in Quo Primum. Rather it is the revised mass in Latin taken from the John 23 Missal with changes in the Canon, among other things. So it is a wholly Novus Ordo creation, and has nothing to do with Tradition. The Youtuber commenting on the loyalty oath connects this address to the Novus Ordo French bishops with magazine articles speculating that the excommunication of Pope St. Pius X, “priests,” does not bode well for what will be coming down the line later in regards to Leo’s attitude toward traditionalists in general. He says is there is more concern about a rejection of Vatican 2 as a whole, not necessarily about the liturgy itself.

He notes that this isn’t in any way referring to the liturgies of the Orthodox communities, although it may affect them in the future. He asserts the obvious — that Vatican 2 was disastrous for the Church and the Church’s political standing in the world. The Church was not meant to be secular and political, and that’s what Vatican 2 represents: secularization and inculturation, as he says. Well, of course, he claims that bringing the traditional Latin Mass back is the answer, but the Novus Ordo says no, bringing the Mass back is not good, it’s a threat to the whole Vatican 2 project basically because of the attitudes of those it drags in behind it. In other words, loyalty to what the Church was versus what she is today is just not acceptable. This supposedly creates division and disunity and makes people question what the Vatican’s doing. The Youtuber calls it a “demon church.”

Leo said in his first address he wants “a united Church, leaven for the reconciled world” and traditionalists stand in the way of him realizing that goal. It’ will be interesting to see if all [calling themselves] Catholics are willing to sign a document, he says, professing loyalty to Vatican 2. Leo reportedly wants them to accept diocesan oversight. Of course, none of us will and I don’t know how they’re going to punish us. We’ve already separated ourselves from everything, so they may be able to affect us in some way, but exactly how, I have no idea. The concern, I guess, is that LibTrads won’t celebrate the Novus Ordo. And it seems like the clergy of the Fraternal Society of St. Peter (FSSP) may be excommunicated like the St. Pius X Society. According to some other internet personalities that are writing on the topic, trads will have to make concessions if they want “accommodations” with the church. This implies that sedevacantist sects would be required to pledge an oath of loyalty not just to Vatican 2, but also to a false pope.

The only accommodations that will be affected are the ones applying to those attending the John 23 masses said within the Novus Ordo by associations such as the FSSP. The thinking is that eventually all traditionalists will be forced to celebrate the new sacramental rites and/or swear loyalty to Leo and Vatican 2 or be “excommunicated.” Even Benedict 16 said that the Novus Ordo Missae was “holy “and they can’t ignore it. Certainly it is most unholy —sacrilege and heresy — and Patrick Henry Omlor did a great job of letting people know about that way back in the ’70s, so I don’t think we have any doubts there. But the powers that be among the Novus Ordo commentators, I guess, are saying that papal clarification and requirement for this loyalty oath is essentially inevitable. And plans appear to be in the works to synodalize the Eastern rites.

An Israel connection?

Leo 14 doesn’t present as a particularly strong character to me. He seems to be quite mild in the way he does things; very liberal too. But I do notice that one of the first things he did was endorse Nostra Aetete to pledge support and help to the Jews. That alone should tell everybody where he is headed. Now, the YouTuber doesn’t mention this, but it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Leo XIV, in the process of his loyalty oath, went on to say, “No, you can’t come out against Israel; you have to be supportive of Israel.” He may say it in somewhat mild terms, but it’s only logical since this has been Novus Ordo practice since Paul 6 usurped the See; John 23 was also doing it but was just doing it quietly. This could throw the lot of Novus Ordo members in doctrinally and politically with the Christian Zionists, many of whom are now considering leaving the U.S. to live in the devastated West Bank, to be closer to Israel. And it might add a whole new dimension to the requirement of a loyalty oath.

The creator of this video mentions the sedevacantist sects and implies, but does not state, that they would be required to swear loyalty to Leo 14 in addition to accepting Vatican 2. It is hard to see what consequences in way of punishment could be threatened if they refused, unless it be a loss of their supporting members and potential “candidates for the priesthood.” And this may be the overall plan, for all Latin Mass communities. It also is almost certainly geared to regaining any of those younger Catholics now said to be flocking to Latin Masses. Atendance at the Latin Mass could possibly be allowed but perhaps at the cost of pledging allegiance to Vatican 2 and Leo 14.

TLM suspicions confirmed

In a discussion of the future of the Latin Mass NO “Cardinal” Cordileone of San Francisco told media personality Raymond Arroyo in the above mentioned EWTN article that “with some precautions, we can allow a greater access to the Mass and maintain unity within the Church.” Whether said precautions would include a loyalty oath to Vatican 2 is not discussed, but when Arroyo contacted the Vatican for comment he was told by Cardinal Arthur Roche, in response to Cordileone‘s comments: “I donʼt know how well he knows the mind of the Holy Father. But I think one thing thatʼs clear to everyone is the Holy Father wants to bring everyone together. Heʼs all about unity.” In a separate interview with The Tablet, Roche affirmed that “Pope Leo has no intention of changing Pope Francis’ restrictions on the traditional liturgy.” In 2021 and 2023, Francis limited the number of churches where the mass could be said and required those saying it to ask for permission of the bishop. Later he required those bishops to first obtain permission form the Vatican to say it. The danger today is indietrismo, the reaction against the modern. It is a nostalgic disease,” he said. “This is why I decided that now the permission to celebrate according to the Roman Missal of 1962 [the Latin Mass] is mandatory for all newly consecrated priests.”

Well the disease is the Modernism condemned by REAL popes that destroyed the Church by reducing the Sacrifice of the Mass to exterior devotion and mere symbols — Cranmer’s mass celebrated by Protestants. LibTrads are so brainwashed that they don’t even realize they lost the Mass when “for all men” was inserted into the English rendition of the Canon of Pope St. Pius V’s Mass and distributed in missalettes in 1959 at the behest of John 23. This even preceded the issuance of the John 23 Missal. They are not losing anything ancient and always permitted; they are losing only the remnants of any true Tradition within their own non-Catholic sect. The Novus Ordo delusions continue, and where they are headed is not where anyone interested in saving their soul wants to go.

The Youtuber concludes by noting the hypocrisy of the SSPX excommunications because NO sect members are allowed to attend Protestant services, but not those of the St. Pius X Society. He points out that many of the old cardinals will be retired by Leo in December of this year and January of 2027, and a host of new cardinals selected by Leo will be appointed. He predicts that this will then result in traditionalists being forced out of the Novus Ordo, once any current holdout cardinals are retired. He then goes on to say these cardinals will be sworn to obey Vatican 2: “And that will be the end of the TLM as we know it.” He foresees some kind of hybrid mass, incorporating the Latin mass of John 23 with the NOM of Paul 6, to hopefully pander to the wishes of traditionalists. His final comment is, “The Novus Ordo is the ape of the [true] Church,” but no one in LibTrad land knows what that Church teaches or believes.

Implications of these developments

In a scholarly work delivered as a history dissertation by Adriano E. Ciani in 2011 (https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/348/), Ciani summarizes the gist of the Vatican 2 decree Nostra Aetate:

“The Second Vatican Council was also significant, moreover, for the promulgation of Nostra Aetate, a declaration on the relationship of the Roman Catholic Church with non-Christian religions. Notable was the fourth section, which dealt specifically with Judaism. It repudiated the centuries-old charge of deicide against the Jews, and stressed the religious and spiritual bonds shared by the faiths, reaffirming the eternal covenant between God and the people of Israel. It further dismissed the Catholic objective of trying to convert the Jews, a symbolic turning point if juxtaposed with Pope Pius X’s 1904 warning to Theodor Herzl that should the Jews return to Palestine, there would be “Catholic priests waiting there to baptize them all.” For the first time in history, Nostra Aetate called for Catholics and Jews to engage in friendly dialogue and theological discussion to better understand each other’s faiths.”

The Novus Ordo church knows full well that there are true antisemites with neo-Nazi sympathies among the LibTrads and they very much wish to purge this from the ranks for political reasons. Requiring a loyalty oath to Vatican 2 would solve this problem. If Leo 14 shuts down the John 23 Latin mass they can call him the Antichrist, but he is really only excluding a rite from his own church, which is not Catholic. Only Paul 6 can be said to have abrogated the Latin rite Mass of Pope St. Pius V. We know Leo 14 is not out to unify the church, but only prepare it for the one world church to come. The loyalty oath, if made mandatory, is much like the call of the Roman emperors to worship their pagan cults and abandon Christianity. Some may fall for it because they think they may be able to “save” their mass. But they never had the REAL Latin Mass in the first place.

Archbishop Andrew on the reign of Antichrist and wicked Babylon

by T. Stanfill Benns | Jul 15, 2026 | New Blog

+Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel+

We continue here with the Apocalypse commentary written by Bishops Andrew of Caesarea in the seventh century. Please forgive the long lapse between blogs and this present lengthy blog — I wanted to cover the entire commentary on Antichrist by Archbishop Andrew in one sitting and it ran longer than expected. I hope to resume my usual blog publication of 7-10 days now as some of the issues that have prevented me from writing as often have now been resolved.

I also have corrected an error in various site articles which recently came to my attention. Paul 6, on several occasions, was photographed wearing the Jewish rationale, or breastplate with a jewel for each tribe of Israel. I mistakenly described this as the ephod, a related garment but not the breastplate he is shown wearing. My sincere apologies. This blog is being published July 15, but I have moved the date forward a day to honor Our Lady and her scapular devotion.

The Apocalypse of St. John 

Chapter 13

13.2a — ‘And the beast that I saw was like a leopard’… The leopard means the kingdom of the Greeks; the bear, that of the Persians; the lion is the kingdom of the Babylonians over which the Antichrist will rule, coming as king of the Romans, and abolishing their rule when he sees the clay toes of the feet, through which is meant the weak and fragile division of the kingdom into ten.

Benns comment: The lion is a Jewish national and cultural symbol, representing the tribe of Judah. Babylonia signifies Rome and Antichrist himself or his system (St. Paul — 2 Thess. 2). If Antichrist is king of the Romans, a description also found in the Catholic Encyclopedia under Antichrist, then he is a king only of Vatican state and its Vatican 2 believers and is not a true pope. It appears that this could mean the Lion of Judah will then rule from Rome. St. Irenaeus, (125–202) best describes Antichrist: “For he being endued with all the power of the devil, shall come, not as a righteous king, not as a legitimate king obedient to God but as an impious, unjust, and lawless one; as an iniquitous and murderous apostate; as a robber, concentrating in himself a satanic apostasy, and setting aside idols to persuade men that he himself is God.”

13.2b — ‘Power and authority’…  For Satan, the spiritual dragon, will give to the Antichrist all authority by means of false signs and wonders for the destruction of those unstable <in the faith>.

Benns comment: Had Catholics remained strong in their faith they would have recognized the signs well before Antichrist’s coming and would not have been fooled. Very few Catholics escaped at least some level of deception.

13.3a,b — ‘Mortal wound healed’… And one of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed. A head as if wounded, it says, is either one of the rulers who will be put to death and who will appear to rise again by him through deceitful sorcery, as Simon Magus had done who was reproached by the leader of the apostles <Peter> or the kingdom of the Romans, which, having endured some kind of wound by the division, will seem to have been healed by the monarchy, following the model of <what occurred in the time of> Caesar Augustus.

Benns comment: The second definition seems to describe what we see today. The paganism of ancient Rome has been “healed” or re-established as well as the revised version of Roman democracy.

13.11. ‘And I saw another beast which rose out of the earth’… This beast some say is the Antichrist, but to others his two horns seemed to hint at the Antichrist and the false prophet. Since it is admitted that the false prophet also is to come in his own person, we think it is not absurd to understand that the dragon is Satan, that the beast  rising out of the sea is the Antichrist, and that the one present, according to the opinion of the blessed Irenaeus, is to be understood as the false prophet rising out of the earth, that is, out of the earthly and groveling way of life, having horns like a lamb, because he completely covers with sheep’s skin the hidden murderous character of the wolf, and because of his appearance of piety in the beginning, concerning which Irenaeus says, speaking thus verbatim: “About the adjutant which he also calls false prophet, he speaks, it says, like a dragon.” To him, it says, will be given the power so that he makes signs and wonders, going before the Antichrist, preparing for him “the way which leads to perdition.” The healing of the wound of the beast, we said, is the apparent union for a short time of the divided kingdom, or the restoration through the Antichrist of the destructive tyranny of Satan for a short time, or the false resurrection from the dead of one of his close associates. This one is to speak like a dragon, it says, for he will both act and speak the things of the devil, the source of evil.

Benns comment: We have explained at length in articles on Roncalli how he acted as the false prophet by making Montini a cardinal and collaborating with him in his efforts until he became Roncalli’s successor. He paved the way for Montini’s reign by being the “transition pope” who appeared as meek as a lamb but was instead a poisonous snake.

13.12–13 — ‘Working great signs’… It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and causes the earth and its [inhabitants to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. And it works great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men. In imitation of the Baptist, who brought believers to the Savior, the forerunner of the rebellious false Christ will perform all things, it says, through sorcery for the deception of people, <for them> to consider the Antichrist to be God, <the Antichrist> witnessed to by the worker of such marvels and receiving indisputable glory. For the lie, to deceive people, strives eagerly to imitate the truth. It is no wonder in the eyes of the deceived, fire will be seen coming down from heaven, since we have learned also in the story of Job that this one <Satan> has slandered and has consumed his <Job’s> flocks <by fire> by divine permission and satanic operation.

Benns comment: Roncalli is given “judicial permission” to deceive the elect — this is punishment for sin (Zach. 11: 7; 2 Thess. 2, 11-12). As Rev. Henry Coleridge (1883) states in one of his sermons: “…Antichrist is to be supported and recommended to mankind by all the power of the devil ‘in all power and signs and lying wonders,‘… This permission of God to Satan is judicial.”

13.14a. — ‘And through the signs which were given to him’… He deceives, it says, those who have hearts dwelling entirely on the earth. For those who have acquired “citizenship in heaven” the perception does not deceive, because they have been made perfectly secure by the prophecy of his coming.

Benns comment: Materialism being rife today, no one longs for heaven or dwells there in their heart. They are entirely hypnotized by technology and earthly pleasures.

13.18. — ‘The number of the beast, 666’… The exact sense of the numerical cipher, as well as the rest of the things written regarding this, time and experience will reveal to those who live soberly. For, as some of the teachers say, if it were necessary to know clearly such a name, the one who had beheld it would have revealed it. But divine grace was not well pleased to set down the name of the destroyer in the divine book. As in exercises in logic, many names are to be found contained in this number, according to the blessed Hippolytus and others, both proper nouns and common nouns. First, proper nouns, such as “Lampetis,” “Teitan,” through the diphthong, τενῶ forming the future of the verb, according to Hippolytus, and likewise “Lateinos,” just as “Benedict” is interpreted as “one who is blessed” or “blessed” perhaps in imitation of the truly blessed one, Christ our God. Then common nouns “wicked guide,” “real harm,” “slanderer of old,” “unjust lamb”— these he will be called by those opposing his deception, rendering the appropriate “opinion in shame.”

Benns comment: It seems then that the name Benedict or Benedicto(i)s, from the earliest times, was suggested as a possible name of Antichrist! We have mentioned before that this is also the opinion of a learned Scripture commentator. In his massive work on the Apocalypse, printed in Spanish in Quito, Ecuador in 1954, Dr. Anton Bileham, holding doctorates in both philosophy and theology, wrote: “We firmly believe from now on, that such a name Benedictos, whose number, in Greek, language of the Apocalypse equals 666. B (2) E (5) N (50) E (5) D (4) I (10) C (20) T (300) O (70) S (200) = 666… Then Antipope Antichrist was called Benedictos.” The Traditionalist Mexican priest, Fr. Joaquin Saenz-Arriaga, in his 1970s work The New Montinian Church tells us that ‘The Golden Book of Noble Italian Heritage,’ states that Paul 6 was descended from the deBenedicti(o)s family and that this family was “…of Hebrew origin.”

Chapter 14

14.8 — ‘Babylon the great has fallen’… Babylon is the name he significantly gives to the confusion of the world and to the tumult of daily life, which, as much as he foretells, is not yet to end. The wine of desire of fornication he calls not only the Bacchanalia of idolatry and the alienation of the mind, but also the drunkenness and lack of control which derives from each sin, according to which all those who are unfaithful to God, according to the saying of the Psalmist, will be utterly destroyed. Such a Babylon finally falls, and is completely overthrown in the appearance of the Jerusalem above, while the workers of transgression are sent “to the eternal fire.

Benns comment: Confusion, idolatry and “alienation of the mind” — there can be no better description of what we are experiencing today than this. It is truly amazing this was all foreseen so long ago.

14.9–10 — ‘If anyone worships the beast’… If anyone, it says, bows down to the beastly Antichrist and pursues the ungodly lifestyle modeling him, and either in word or in deed proclaims him God — for this can be clear by the mark given on the forehead and hand — he also will partake with him of the drink of the cup of vengeance, on the one hand unmixed and separated from the divine mercies because of the righteous judgment, on the other hand having been poured with various punishments on account of the multiplicity and variety of its self-chosen wickedness. Appropriately is the punishment called the wine of wrath, being a consequence of the wine of impiety, making drunk those drinking from it, so that “whoever sins through them is also punished through them.”

Benns comment: We have explained before that the mark on forehead and hand indicates induction by false baptism and ordination into the Antichrist cult. Rev. E.S. Berry commented in 1921: “Antichrist and his prophet will introduce ceremonies to imitate the sacraments of the Church. In fact, there will be a complete organization, a church of Satan set up in opposition to the Church of Christ… Their ceremonies will counterfeit the sacraments and their works of magic be heralded as miracles.”

Chapter 16

16.12 — ‘The drying up of the Euphrates’… Probably by divine permission the Euphrates is lessened to give passage to the kings of the nations for the purpose of them utterly destroying one another and the rest of humanity, which <kings> we think were set into motion out of parts of Scythia recalling Gog and Magog, according to that which is brought out later in the Apocalypse. Probably the Antichrist also will come from the eastern areas of the land of Persia, where political the tribe of Dan originates from the root of the Hebrews, together either with other kings or with rulers designated with a royal name, to cross over the Euphrates bringing bodily or spiritual death upon people, upon some <bodily death> through faith and patient endurance, and upon others <spiritual death> through cowardice and weakness.

Benns comment: The Euphrates has almost completely dried up. This battle may be physical, spiritual or both. If physical, it has not yet occurred. This is discussed in the article Spiritual Teotwawki in the Catacombs section of the website.

16.13, 14 — ‘Frogs and assembling for battle’… From these it is shown that the same person is both the devil as a dragon, and the Antichrist as the beast, and the false prophet as another <different> from these, as has been mentioned. From these, it says, are going out spirits similar to frogs through their green poison and uncleanness and sliminess and their creeping toward the wet reptilian pleasures of the evil powers which by the commands of the devil and false Christ and false prophet are manifested by mouth, which will show deceitful “signs and wonders to people,” as we will become aware by what follows. The false signs which are operated through the demons, it says, <will cause> those persuaded by them to march into war on “the great and terrible day of God,” “judge of the living and dead,” over which, having been entirely defeated, those fighting against God in vain will lament, bewailing their prior error.

Benns comment: Certainly the usurpers in Rome have handily deceived everyone and poisoned their minds with their reptilian sliminess. The troops in America and NATO countries, if they are called to such a battle, may mistakenly be led to believe they are fighting FOR God, not against Him.

15-16 — ‘I am coming like a thief’… The watchfulness and guarding the garments mean vigilance in good deeds. For these are the garments of the saints, of which he who is deprived will need to be ashamed, since he is naked and full of indecency. <The Hebrew word> Armageddon is interpreted as “deep cut” or “that which is cut in two.” For there, the nations, being gathered together, being minded to follow, and being commanded by the devil, who delights in the blood of people, are to be cut down.

Benns comment: We cannot say to ourselves that because nothing is happening the way we expect, God will not soon come to judge the nations; this is exactly what the devil wants. If the battle of Armageddon is a physical battle, the military mighty of the nations will be destroyed.

16.17-18 — ‘It is done’… That is, the divine command is accomplished. The flashes of lightning, voices, and thunders mean the amazing nature of these occurrences and the future coming of Christ, just as in ancient times <they meant> the descent of God upon Mount Sinai. The earthquake <is> an alteration of all things in existence, as the Apostle had understood: “Again once and for all I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.”

Benns comment: As speculated in Spiritual Teotwawki, this event could well be a worldwide pole shift, something referred to in Holy Scripture. Rev H. B. Kramer also shares this opinion.

16.19a — ‘Great Babylon remembered’… For now both Jews and Samaritans, for fear of the pious ones who reign, hide their private wishes, and with us they appear to be assigned to their distinct lot, not daring to rebel. Likewise the genuine Christians find themselves mixed together with those possessing only the name <of Christian>.

Benns comment:Again, I am amazed that he foretells here that all of us will simply be referred to as Christians, with no distinction of Catholic, Protestant, etc. It must be remembered that the Samaritans worshipped idols and the Jews in no way counted them as Jews proper.

16.20b — ‘EVERY island fled away’… Islands are the churches, and mountains are the leaders of them, we are taught to discern from the divine Scriptures. These flee at the time of attack, being foretold <as> we have heard for ourselves from the Lord, saying: “Then they will flee from the east to the setting sun, and those from the west to the east.” “For there will be great tribulation of a sort which has not happened from the foundation of the world, nor ever will be.” Some being tormented on account of sin, others enduring these difficulties patiently in a test of virtue, not only in those difficulties will they be tormented by the Antichrist for the sake of Christ, but also in flights and in the miseries in mountains and in caves, which, in order to preserve piety, they will prefer to the way of life in the city.

Benns comment: Could this foretell that the churches and their leaders will be generally abandoned? The way things are shaping up, with all the veils being ripped form their transgressions, it seems entirely possible. Those recognizing the times have already fled from the cities, but this could mean a more general flight, in panic mode.

16.21 — ‘And great hailstones, heavy as a hundred-weight <talent>, fell on people from heaven. And people cursed God for the plague of the hail, so very great was this plague.’

Chapter 17

Benns comment: Throughout Apocalypse, regardless of the severity or number of the chastisements, people curse God and fail to repent. This is indicative of the far-reaching consequences of the operation of error. Today it feels like all of us are caught in a web of lies wherever we turn.

17.1-3 — ‘Golden cup’… Some understood this harlot to mean ancient Rome lying upon seven mountains, the seven heads of the beast which bears her to be the seven most impious kings from Domitian until Diocletian, <kings> who persecuted the Church… For ancient Rome from long ago lost the power of its kingdom, unless we suppose the ancient rank were to return to her.

Benns comment: The “seven heads” spoken of in Apoc. 13:1 are the seven empires. But then we go to Apoc. 17: v. 9, which tells us that, “The seven heads are seven mountains and they are seven kings upon which the woman sitteth.” This could also refer to seven dioceses, not mountains, ruled by seven Novus Ordo kings — the “cardinals,” and later “bishops” appointed by the usurpers who were the “heads” of these dioceses. As explained in the blog HERE, during his reign as false pope, Roncalli reorganized the dioceses of Rome and added a seventh diocese, making all the bishop-cardinals of the diocese answerable only to him.

17.6-7 — ‘Woman drunk with the blood of the saints’… Wherefore, the ancient Babylon was also given the name “the charming harlot, leader of sorcery,” and ancient Jerusalem heard, “You have the appearance of a harlot,” and the older Rome was addressed as Babylon in the Epistle of Peter… or the Old Rome or the New, or taken generally as the kingdom in one unit, as it is said. For in each of these <cities> various sins had been born, and blood of the saints poured out, some more, some less, we have learned. And the blood of the martyrs <shed in the former Rome> until Diocletian…

Benns comment: The whore here represents the infidelity of the usurpers to the Bride of Christ. This also refers to the fact that Rome has dallied with the American government and allowed its funds to be spent in woefully sinful ways throughout the world. Modern commentators have speculated that Babylon the Great is the worldwide monetary system established by the cabal, and that when Babylon falls, it will mean not only the fall of Rome but America as well.

17.9a. — ‘Here is the mind that has wisdom’… Since the things being interpreted are spiritual, spiritual wisdom is needed to understand what is said, and not worldly <wisdom>.

Benns comment: This emphasizes the need for those reading this biblical book to look first for its spiritual meaning, not for the Protestant-inspired predictions of various government leaders as Antichrist or an embedded mark of the beast, etc.

17.10 — ‘The seven kings’… The blessed Hippolytus understood these to mean ages, of which five have passed by, the sixth still stands, during which the apostle saw these things, and the seventh, which is after the 6,000 years, has not yet come, but, coming, it must remain a little while.

Benns comment: If the sixth age still stood during Hippolytus’ time, we are living in the very last days of the seventh age, following the end of the age of the Church. This both St. Thomas Aquinas, the early Father Victorinus, and now Archbishop Andrew believed.

17.11 — ‘The beast’… And the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth, but it is from the seven, and it goes to perdition. The beast is the Antichrist; as the eighth he will be raised up after the seven kings for the purpose of deceiving and desolating the earth. From the seven, as from one of them, he will spring forth. For he will not come from another nation, along <the lines> of the things we have already said, but he will come as king of the Romans for the purpose of the dissolution and perdition of those who were persuaded by him, and after this he will go forth into the perdition of Gehenna.

Benns comment: Both these verses above addressed in our Seven Kings blog; see link in 17.1-3

Chapter 18

Chap. 1818.2-3a — ‘Babylon the Great is fallen’… How did the present Babylon water the nations with the wine of her own fornication? By becoming altogether the leader in all these transgressions and by her sending to the cities subject to her, through gifts, rulers who were the enemies of truth and righteousness.

Benns comment: This confirms the role played by world government in the fall of Babylon Rome. And we know who rules these governments.

18.3b. — ‘And the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her’… On account of the excesses from unjust riches, it says, extending to that which is far above necessity and behaving insolently toward those in need, it has become a matter of profit to the merchants of the earth.

Benns comment: The sending of billions to the Ukraine and Israel while America and other countries are struggling to survive and are denied sufficient medical care, fair wages and adequate housing is reflected here.

18.4–5 — ‘Come out [of her], my people’…  As was declared to Lot in Sodom, “Escape, saving your own life,” and in Isaiah, “Come out from her and be separate, and do not touch the unclean,” likewise he speaks here. For close association with those who provoke God is shunned.

Benns comment: There is still time for those just now realizing what has really happened to leave the company of the unGodly and escape, but that window of opportunity will soon be  closing.

18.13c–14 — ‘and human souls…’  Neither will they trade the souls of human beings, it says, by enslaving free people, nor will you have enjoyment as formerly by costly and splendid items.

Benns comment: Human trafficking in both souls and bodies will finally come to an end when Babylon is destroyed.

18,15-17a — ‘Weeping and mourning’… He leads them by this vision to the sufferings of this Babylon, by the lamentations over her describing the magnitude of the calamity which will prevail over her, the very one who formerly boasted of her royal status.

Benns comment: How often has our government announced we are the greatest nation on earth? And how brazen the deceit perpetrated by Rome in presenting itself as the one, true Church Christ established? “I sit a queen and am no widow and sorrow I shall never see” (Apoc. 18: 7). Both the Novus Ordo and LibTrads proudly voice Christ’s promise to be with the Church until the consummation to prove they are indestructible. But they fail to factor in coming of Antichrist and the destruction of Babylon.

18, 21-24 — ‘Thus with violence will Babylon the great city be thrown down, and will be found no longer’… the demolition of Babylon will be complete, so that not even a trace of her will be preserved afterwards. For this is what is meant by the disappearance of the harp players and the musicians and the rest. The cause, it says, is that all the nations were deceived by her own particular sorcery and she has become the vessel of the blood of the prophets and the rest of the saints. Possibly what was signified by all these is the impious Babylon of the Persians, since it received the blood of many saints through various times up to the present, since by both sorceries and trickeries they rejoiced from beginning to end.

Benns comment: The thought of Rome’s destruction and with it all the beautiful churches and treasures of the Vatican is heartbreaking but they have been tainted by the evil people who have dared to defile them. Henry Cardinal Manning cites numerous approved theologians who agree that at the end, Rome will be destroyed. It is my opinion that America will also be punished, being afflicted with natural disasters, perhaps the same “great earthquake” that destroys Rome.

Chapter 19

19.20b. — ‘These two will be thrown alive into the lake of fire’… Perhaps these will not die a common death, but in the twinkling of an eye those made immortal are condemned to a second death in the lake of fire, as the Apostle says concerning other people: “They will not sleep but they will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” These likely will go to judgment, but those <two> who presented themselves as impious and anti-gods, not into judgment but <directly> to condemnation. If this does not appear <to be so> to some, on account of the statement of the Apostle that the Antichrist is to be “destroyed by the breath” of the divine command, also it is to be found in a saying of a certain one of the teachers that some are to be living after the destruction of the Antichrist, those blessed by Daniel; we will say that the two living in incorruptible bodies, after their tyranny had been abolished by God, will be delivered to the fire of Gehenna, which to them will be death and destruction by the divine command of Christ.

Benns comment: I have speculated that Roncalli and Montini will be the first to be resurrected for the Final Judgment and hence physically thrown into the lake of fire for all the faithful to see. If some are to be living after the destruction of Antichrist, maybe this means after the death of Antichrist, as St. Thomas Aquinas says may well happen.

Chapter 20

20.1-3; 5-6 — ‘1000 years’… The one thousand years, therefore, is the time from <the year of> the Incarnation of the Lord until the coming of the Antichrist… they will exercise priesthood and reign with Christ, as we see it, these things signifying to us one thousand years until the loosening of Satan and the deception of the nations, not as being then deprived of the kingdom, but as more certainly and very clearly, they will possess it by the passage of temporal things and arrival of eternal things. For the time will be short after the loosening of the devil until the judgment against him and the punishment of Gehenna. Therefore, they will be priests of God and of Christ is thought to be a repetition of the foregoing. For the things seen now, through the trial and the end result of things, the rewards of the saints and wonders were then destined to be when they were seen by the Evangelist, as was said. So then, since there are two deaths, it is necessary to understand that there are also likewise two resurrections. First, then, physical death, given as the penalty for humankind’s disobedience; the second, eternal punishment. The first resurrection is being brought to life out of “dead works,” the second, the transformation from bodily corruption into incorruption.

20, 7-8 — ‘Satan loosed’… Some, I don’t know how, explain the aforementioned time of one thousand years as the three-and-a-half years from the baptism of Christ until his ascension into heaven, after which they conjectured that the devil is to be loosed. Others said that after the completion of the six thousand years, the first resurrection of the dead is granted only to the saints, so that in this earth, in which they displayed endurance, they will enjoy delight and honor for one thousand years, and after that the universal resurrection will occur, not of the just only but also of the sinners.  It is unnecessary to note that the Church has accepted none of these… it is not necessary to understand the one thousand so much by the <literal> number

Benns comment: The two verses above deny the claims of the Judaizers expecting an earthly millennium. Archbishop Andrew is right in leaving this determination to the Church. Pope Pius XII condemned the idea of Christ reigning with the saints during an earthly millennium.

20.9-10 — ‘Camp of the saints’…There, they say, the Antichrist will sit in the Temple of God, either in the Judaic one, the old divine Temple, which was destroyed on account of the recklessness against Christ and is <still> expected by the God-fighting Jews to be rebuilt by him, or in the real divine Temple, <that is> in the catholic Church, usurping that which is inappropriate for him and “representing himself as being God,” according to the divine word of the Apostle. But not for long; it says, fire comes down from heaven, either a visible fire as <happened to> the two commanders of fifty men in the presence of Elijah, or the coming of Christ in glory will destroy them “by the breath of his mouth” and the aforementioned nations, also devouring their general, the devil, and he <Christ> will deliver <the devil> to the lake of fire together with the Antichrist and the false prophet to be tortured forever and ever.

Benns comment: How long is long in God’s time? We have explained before that the 1,260 days or three years and a half are probably references to the heighth of Antichrist’s reign (Dec. 1965, closing of the false Vatican 2 council until April of 1969, introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae). So the actual length of his reign or continuation of it through his “successors” could be much longer. Here is measured not how many physical bodies perished during his reign and that of his system but the vast number of souls he and the other usurpers managed to murder.

20.11 — ‘Sky fled away’… Methodios in the treatise On the Resurrection reported thusly: “It is not acceptable to say that everything is to be utterly destroyed and that there will not be any earth and air and sky. For the whole world will be consumed in a cataclysm of fire coming down for purification and renewal. It will not come for absolute destruction and ruination.” And going forward he says, “And Paul testifies clearly saying, ‘For the earnest expectation of creation awaits the revealing of the sons of God.’ For creation is subject to futility, not willingly, but by the one who subjected it in hope, that even the creation itself will be freed from the bondage of corruption.”

Benns comment: God will somehow bring heaven down to earth and the earth will be renewed. We are not meant to know or understand how or when this will happen. We know only that God is incapable of error or lying and ever true to His Promises.

An archbishop’s 7th Century commentary on St. John’s Apocalypse

by T. Stanfill Benns | Jul 1, 2026 | New Blog

Prayer Intention for  July, Month of the Precious Blood of Jesus

“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Jesus in atonement for my sins.” (Raccolta)

+Most Precious Blood of Jesus+

Introduction

The following is taken from a little-known commentary on the Apocalypse, a 2011 translation made by the Catholic University of America Press. It is a very enlightening commentary, and I have excerpted some of its finer points for comment here, since they add to our knowledge of what the early Fathers and hierarchy believed regarding the end-times. The author of this work, Archbishop Andrew of Caesarea, lived in the seventh century, and his commentary was responsible for the acceptance of the Book of Apocalypse as a genuinely inspired book of the Bible. The link to the complete work is included in the title below. Also available at this link is another work containing fragments of the teaching of Pope St. Gregory the Great on Apocalypse, and what he says there I would like to offer as a reason for providing previews of these ancient works.

“Whoever makes progress by beholding spiritual realities must also offer them to others by recounting them. For he who beholds in order to proclaim is the one who, inasmuch as he makes progress in himself, also preaches out of concern for the progress of his neighbor. For this reason it is written somewhere else: Let him who hears say: Come! (Apoc.  22:17). For when he has already heard the voice of God speaking in his heart, he must unsilence his own voice on behalf of his neighbors through the office of preaching, and thereby call another because he himself has already been called… Let the one in whom the inner voice has lodged itself proclaim what he has heard to attract others also to the place where he himself is carried away, lest, even though he was called, he find the doors shut, if he comes without companions near the one who called him.”

Interpretation of Andrew, Archbishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia — On the Apocalypse of St. John

Prologue

Despite the fact that the books of the prophets of old have been explained by many, still the depth of the mysteries in them are kept invisible until that day in which the “partial knowledge” will be abolished and the perfect knowledge will be disclosed.

1. Benns Comment: It seems that day has come, for what has been written clearly appears to be unfolding before our eyes each day.

Ch. 1 — The letters to the seven churches

4. Due to the existence of many churches in many places, he sent <letters> to only seven, mystically meaning by this number the churches everywhere.
5. Benns Comment: Each church, however, seems to have some connection to various churches and times throughout history. Pope Pius XII compared the Church of his time to that of Laodicea, and I have always believed the Philadelphia Church somehow applied to the city of that name in this country and the saintly, dedicated, self-sacrificing Ven. John Neuman, once its bishop, a bishop so unlike those who abandoned us after the death of Pope Pius XII.
6. The glory belongs to him, it says, who freed us through love from the bondage of death, and washed the stains of sin through the outpouring of his life-giving blood and water. And he has made us “a royal priesthood” so that we may offer, instead of irrational sacrifices, “rational worship” as a living sacrifice to the Father.
7. Benns Comment: And this persecution we now endure is what we offer in these times, when the Mass has been taken away.

Ch. 2, 5-6. (Church of Ephesus)

The movement of the church <means> to deprive them of divine grace, by which he brings down upon them swells and waves of evil spirits and evil men ministering to them. Some understood the removal of the lampstand <to refer to> the throne of the archpriest of Ephesus, because it was moved to the seat of the king.

1. Benns Comment: Here bishops are seen to be removed for their wickedness, something which certainly happened during the false Vatican 2 council for all to see, although they lost office immediately on accepting John 23 as a true pope. Enough evidence existed of his intent, from 1959 on, and even before, for such an informed decision to be made and for the sake of the faithful they were bound to make it.

Ch. 6, 5-6:  Loosening of the Third seal

It is likely and sensible for a literal famine to occur then, just as it will also be announced by what follows. We think that by the black horse the mourning for those who have fallen from the faith in Christ on account of extreme torture is signified. The scale is the examiner of those who had fallen from the faith, both through an easily changing mind or vainglory, and on account of weakness of body. The quart of wheat worth as much as a denarius means figuratively those who “lawfully struggled” and perfectly guarded the divine image which was given to them, and the three quarts of barley suits those who, in a manner befitting a beast, bowed down before their persecutors on account of cowardice, but accordingly repented later, and washed clean the soiled image with tears.

The command do not harm wine and oil means not to disregard the healing through returning to Christ, which healed the one who has “fallen among robbers,” in order that those who through long-suffering were about to renew the fight would not be carried off by death. Therefore, so that we too will gain, for the disease of our souls, the Physician-God who loves humankind, let us hurry to be such for our fallen brothers, by offering to them the oil of sympathy mingled with the wine of exhortation, “in order that the maimed parts not worsen but be healed,” according to the divine Apostle, so that becoming “co-workers with God,” we will delight forever in his blessings, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom glory <is due> together with the Father, with the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.

1. Benns Comment: And how much we have always hoped that the little we have to offer here might be that spark that prompts those in error to return to the true faith and save their souls, even if what they read be a hard saying.

Irenaeus said in the fifth discourse of his Refutation of False Knowledge, thus verbatim: “Neither the subsistence nor the essence of creation disappears — for he who formed it is truthful and certain — but ‘the form of this world is passing away,’ that in which the transgression occurred, as the elders say.” And the great Irenaeus <said> these things. We think that we should use the Apostle for <an understanding of> the ancient custom. Because the Hebrews were using scrolls instead of our books, the unrolling of them did not bring about a disappearance but the complete disclosure of what is written, so that the opening of the heavenly body also shows the revelation of the blessings reserved for the saints. And this <verse> we have understood in four ways, as it has been given to us from God.

1. Benns Comment: This and the above is a very insightful spiritual appraisal of these verses, since the Apocalypse must first be interpreted spiritually, although in many cases both a spiritual and literal interpretation of the verses is meant. It also indicates that the “saints’ of the end times would know the full meaning of the visions of St. John.

Ch. 9, 13-16 — The bottomless pit and army of horsemen

Some say that the four angels are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael who had been bound by the gladness of the divine vision, to be untied on the day of judgment with innumerable angels for the condemnation of the impious, of whom one third is to be destroyed. I myself think, however, that these four angels are the most cunning demons who were bound upon the coming of Christ who, by the divine command coming out of the heavenly altar, which was an image of the ancient tabernacle, were released by the divine angel so as to rouse the nations, not only against Christians, but also against one another, so that those tested might be revealed as the faithful ones and shown to be worthy of greater rewards and of the heavenly mansions, or rather <worthy of> barns, like ripe wheat.

But those who are like chaff, the impious and the exceedingly great sinners and the unrepentant, are to be punished justly here, by these receiving a milder sentence at the judgment. And if they are bound at the Euphrates, it is nothing strange. For they have been sentenced by God until the time, some in the abyss, some among the swine then some in other places according to the position, bound to be eternally tormented after the completion of their war against human beings. And perhaps by the mention of the Euphrates it is shown that Antichrist will come out of those parts. And it is not necessary to doubt the great number of demons, for all the saints say that they fill the air.

1. Benns Comment: In articles on this site and in previous blogs, we explain that the River Euphrates has almost completely dried up and mention certain videos that report the “finding” of caves and tunnels exposed by the dried up river and chains in those caves, also the sounds of loud moaning. Certainly we know demons have been loosed are attacking people everywhere. Certainly the testing and sifting of the wheat from the chaff is well underway.

Ch. 11, 1-2 — An angel measures the Temple

…Some understood the temple of God to mean the Old Testament, and the outside yard, which is not measured, to be the New, on account of the innumerable number of those saved in it. The forty-two months they took to mean the shortness of time during which the sacraments of the New Testament are to prevail until the second coming of Christ arrives. But we think that the temple of the living God refers to the Church, in which we offer rational sacrifices to God; the outside court <is> the gathering-place of the unbelieving nations and of the Jews since the unworthiness is measured by the angel through the impiety. “For the Lord knows his own,” as it has been said. It is said that he who is All-Knowing does not know the unlawful. The trampling of the holy city <is> either the new Jerusalem or the universal Church, and the forty-two months by the nations I think means that the faithful and the ones being tested will be trampled upon and persecuted in the three-and-a-half-year appearance of the Antichrist.

While we believe the three and a half years is only a symbolic number, or could refer to the period 1965-1969 when most of the damage was done to the Church, the temple of God obviously refer to the Church, not Jerusalem.

Ch. 11, 6 — The two witnesses

Oh, the great goodness of God! For he brings healing equivalent to the wound. For since the pseudo-Christ will be manifested in the “many signs and false wonders” by all drugs and enchantments because he <the pseudo-Christ> accepts every diabolical operation, so God will equip these saints by the power of true signs and wonders, so that by the placing of truth and light they will refute falsehood and darkness; those who had been deceived will return, both because of fear of the teachings and because of the chastising blows, <namely,> drought and fire and the alteration of the elements and the like, making the Deceiver into an example, and being not at all persuaded, either by him or by another, until the completion of their own prophecy.

1. Benns Comment:Drugs, enchantments (spells) and diabolical operations — we have them all! How strange he should mention drugs, and certainly the operations must reference the operation of error on many levels. But God helps us, that we may recognize error and refute it.

Ch. 12, 1 — A woman clothed with the Sun

Some, on the one hand, had understood this woman entirely to be the Theotokos before her divine birth-giving was made known to her, <before she> experienced the things to happen. But the great Methodios took <her> to be the holy Church, considering these things concerning her <the woman> to be incongruous with the begetting of the Master for the reason that already the Lord had been born long before. It is good to remember also the very words of the blessed Methodios, who says in his so-called Symposium through the person of the virgin Procle11 thus: “The woman wrapped in the sun is the Church. That which to us is our garment, to her is light. And that which gold is for us, or glowing gemstones, for her are the stars, the superior and more brilliant stars.” And the following:

“She stood upon the moon. The moon I regard figuratively <to be> the faith of those who are cleansed of corruption by the washing <of baptism>, for the condition of liquid substance is regulated by the moon. She labored and gave birth anew to those ‘carnal-minded into spiritually minded’ and formed and fashioned them according to the likeness of Christ.” And again he says: “We must not think that Christ is he who is to be born. For formerly, before the Apocalypse, the mystery of the Incarnation of the Logos had been fulfilled. John speaks with authority about the present and future things.” And afterwards <he mentions> other things, <and then says>, “Therefore, it is necessary to confess that the Church must be the one in labor and gives birth to those redeemed, as the Spirit said in Isaiah: ‘Before she labored to give birth, she escaped and gave birth to a male.’

1. Benns Comment: How painful a labor today for the Church to give birth to new members! Most are infants, with a few adults here and there mixed in. But that Baptism is symbolized, when Baptism and marriage are the only Sacraments we still enjoy (although all remain in existence), is significant when coupled with the painful labor. It tells us that Church membership will be very difficult as well as limited in this time.

Whom did she escape? Either the dragon, certainly, in order for the spiritual Zion to give birth to virile people.” And in continuation, “so that in each one Christ is to be born in the nous. Because of this the Church is swollen and in ‘great pain’, until Christ, having been born, might be ‘formed in us,’ so that each one by partaking of Christ becomes <one with — Ed.> Christ.” Moreover, the Church has been clothed in the “Sun of Righteousness.” And the legalistic light of the moon, which shines by night, and the secular life, alterable like the moon, has been mastered under the feet, and round about upon her head <is> the crown of the apostolic precepts and virtues. Since <it is> from the moon that liquid substance depends, the same one <Methodios> also says that by the moon is meant baptism, figuratively called “sea,” which, on the one hand, <is> the salvation for those who are reborn and, on the other hand, ruination for the demons.

1. Benns Comment: Only very steadfast Catholics will survive the onslaught of the dragon. That the belief the Church has always been “spiritual Zion” was even then known is illustrated here.

12:10. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. Accusation and Slander against human beings [132] are the names the devil had been called, as had been said, which he is. The angels are delighted about his ejection “for there is nothing in common between a believer and an unbeliever.”

12:11–12. 11And they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not love their lives even unto death. Wherefore rejoice, Heaven and you that dwell therein! Woe to you, Earth and Sea, for the devil has come down to you with great anger, because he knows that he has little time <remaining>!” Those accused by him, it says, the saints and those slandered as <was> Job, in comparison to all the people persuaded by him, have been victorious over him nonetheless by suffering for Christ. The powers above, following an imitation of God, rejoice at his fall and grieve over those who had cleaved to his earthly plot. Woe to those who dwell on the earth, that is, to those who do not have <dwelling> “in heaven,” but have their citizenship on earth. For many of them on the earth are victorious over the enemy and will be victorious, even though he is now more angered by those who are struggling because of the nearness of his punishment. Wherefore, it is necessary to deplore those who have their “minds on earthly things” and who are tossed by the waves in the sea of life here.

12:15–16. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. When the Church was fleeing, it says, into inaccessible places <due to> the attack of the deceiver from his mouth, that is, by his command, behind her will come a river of water, that is, a multitude of ungodly men or evil demons or various temptations against her that he might enslave her <the Church>. The earth, it says, helped her on the one hand either by lengthening the way and by the drought and dryness in the places preventing the impulses of evils, and swallowing up the river of the temptations on account of this, or by the humble-mindedness of the saints who say inwardly, “I am earth and ashes,” rendering impotent all the snares of the devil, as the angel had spoken to the divine Anthony.

12:17. And the dragon became angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus. When the chosen teachers of the Church and those despising the earth have withdrawn to the hardships in the desert, if he has utterly missed them, the Antichrist will declare war against those drafted for Christ in the world. It says he will begin the war, so that, just as when dust thickens the smoothness of oil, finding them vulnerable in the occupations of life, he will put them to flight. But many among them will conquer him because they have genuinely loved Christ.

1. Benns Comment: How many of those who stay at home to pray have forsaken the city, where they are constantly tempted by Satan, to live in small towns and rural areas. There they can escape most of the dangers and lead a quiet life.

In our next blog, we will examine the verses dealing with Antichrist.