And then Satan will rise from the abyss of hell and inflame the wrath of man against the two witnesses of God until it boils. And they will kill them. And there will be laughter and joy of sinners.

In that hour the earth will be shaken as never since the creation of the world. And the mountains and hills will fall, and the springs of water will dry up, and whole nations will perish, and there will be no one to bury the dead. Then many will be afraid, and repent, and give glory to the Lord, Who lives forever. These repentants will be the fruit of the podvig and martyrdom of those two witnesses, those who suffered for the truth.

But darkness, like thick pitch, will cover the whole world, and many will go mad with terror. And then, through the cry of human despair, through the roar of an unprecedented earthquake and the veil of impenetrable darkness, suddenly the choir of the celestials will be heard, which will sound louder and louder: "Behold, the Bridegroom is coming!" …

And, as if in a dark, moonless night, light will shine out, completely new, unseen, extraordinary. Instead of the moon and the sun, brighter than the sun, the Cross will shine – the sign of the Son of Man – and will illuminate the entire universe.

And then, O servant of Christ and my concelebrant, then He will appear – our salvation and our Saviour.

Letter 168

to the unknown, that Christ had done miraculous things

You address me without naming yourself, but ask for a clear answer, signed with my name. Okay, I won't shy away from it. However, the very fact that you, Mr. or Mrs., do not know how to address you, are ashamed or afraid of your question, indicates that the question is unfounded. You mockingly ask: "What is so extraordinary that Christ has done that we should believe Him? He did not invent the telegraph, the locomotive, the gramophone, or the airplane. What has He done?"

Indeed, He did not reveal any of these "pieces of iron" to the world. If He had seen the salvation of men in them, He would undoubtedly have revealed them, and not only those you have listed, but hundreds of others. But the Lord thought differently than you did, and saw the salvation of people in a different way, and revealed to them a completely new and boundless world – the Kingdom of Heaven, and showed everyone living on this tiny earth the way to this Kingdom.

And, however, your question is not new. The Alexandrian atheists asked the same question to a certain Christian, who was reviled, ridiculed and given over to torture. They asked him, "What has your Christ done so special that you glorify Him so much?" And the heir of Christ answered them: "That I am not wounded by all your reproaches and mockery."

Letter 169

to the artist S. Z., about the common people