With more evidence surfacing every day it is becoming crystal clear that we are living through the end times right now. Things are now worse than ever and there is hardly any given day that does not reveal more of the iniquity and lawlessness spoken of in the Gospel that would be revealed to the world in the end times. Seeing most Bishops and Patriarchs of local Orthodox Churches falling into apostasy by adopting the heresy of ecumenism, many of us may wonder where is the True Church? Where is that “little flock”, that little Church of Christ which will not be defeated by the “gates of hell”?

The Holy Fathers of the (once large but now very small) Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) have the answer, and we showed why in an earlier post (please read).

Quotes:

“After my death our beloved Church abroad will break three ways …. first the Greeks will leave us as they were never a part of us … then those who live for this world and it’s glory will go to Moscow … what will remain will be those souls faithful to Christ and His Church.” (St. Philaret of NY 1985)

“On the day of his departure [being transferred from France to America] Blessed John (Maximovich) was in our Church for his last farewell….he closed the holy gates, came out from the altar and, standing in the middle of the church, kept looking all around saying, ‘No, nothing should be changed in the church.”. “Your Eminence,” I then said, “I love our church very much, but unfortunately it is so small.”. “And soon even this will seem big,” Blessed John answered. “And in general soon our Church will remain such a tiny one”, and he pointed to the very tip of his middle finger. And again he looked in all directions, saying, “No, nothing should be changed in the Church.” (excerpt from the Letter of Zinaida V. Julem, from Paris to Father Herman, Summer, 1978; Fr. Seraphim Rose and Fr. Herman P., “Blessed John the Wonderworker”, Platina, CA (1987): Brotherhood of St. Herman of Alaska, pp.135-137.)

“In the end, when critical times come, I think it will be seen how useful it was that there were some [jurisdictions] which stayed behind, and some bishops and priests who stayed in a sort of backward point of view in order to be of help when a crisis comes. Because it is true that many of the Orthodox hierarchs are going much too far in following Rome which is following the Western confessions. It will come to a disaster before very long.” (Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) at a gathering of an Orthodox student fellowship at UC Santa Cruz, 1981 http://www.roca.org/OA/132/132k.htm)

Fr Seraphim Rose wrote in his book “Orthodoxy and the religion of the future” (found in the 1983 edition on page 220; in later editions some parts of the following paragraph have “mysteriously” disappeared):

Unknown to the fevered Orthodox “revivalists,” the Lord has reserved in the world, even as in the days of Elijah the Prophet, seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal [Rom. 11:4] — an unknown number of true 0rthodox Christians who are neither spiritually dead, as the 0rthodox “charismatics” complain that their flocks have been, nor the pompously “spirit-filled,” as these same flocks become under “charismatic” suggestion. They are not carried away by the movement of apostasy nor by any false “awakening,” but continue rooted in the holy and saving Faith of Holy Orthodoxy in the tradition the Holy Fathers have handed down to them, watching the signs of the times and traveling the narrow path to salvation. Many of them follow the bishops of the few Orthodox jurisdicitions that have strong stands against the apostasy of our times: the Catacomb Church of Russia, the Russian Church 0utside of Russia, the True Orthodox Christians [Old Calendarists] of Greece. But there are some left in other jurisdictions also, grieving over the ever more evident apostasy of their hierarchs and striving somehow to keep their own Orthodoxy intact; and there are still others outside of the Orthodox Church who by God’s grace, their hearts being open to His call, will undoubtedly yet be joined to genuine Holy Orthodoxy. These “seven thousand “are the foundation of the future and only 0rthodoxy of the latter times.