A number of saints and righteous men — St. Niphon of Constantinople (+1508), Martyr Agathangelus (+1592), St. Nilus the Myrrhstreamer of Mt. Athos (+1651), St. Cosmas Altolas (+1779), St. Callinicus of Romania (+1860) — point to the year 1992 as a year of reckoning. The economic and political unification of Common Market countries, scheduled for 1992, together with the changing face of the Soviet Union, leads many to expect greater security and material prosperity in the near future.
However, an Athonite monk from the Romanian Skete of the Forerunner, Hieromonk Petronius, commented in a recent article on the subject (Pravoslavnaya Rus 11/28/89) that “the Christian world knows that material well-being does not go hand in hand with spiritual progress (on the contrary, as Apostle Paul writes, when materialism increases, spirituality declines), and therefore the Christian world looks at 1992 with distrust and concern, fearing that a growing attention to material good may well lead to a growth of evil, which even now rages in our present world.”
Fr. Petronius goes on to describe the vision of St. Callinicus, who delayed expansion of his monastery because “at that time predictions were circulating in Romania to the effect that very shortly, in 1848, frightful events would occur, marking the end of this world..? He was granted a vision in the heavens of the Holy Trinity, “as He is depicted in icons, and, underneath, a large, luminous parchment on which was written in bold letters: 7500 years from Adam.” St. George and St. Nicholas, who were present during the vision, urged Callinicus to begin building: “You see, the end of the world will come not in 1848, but only after 7500 years from the time of Adam are fulfilled.” According to the Church, the year 7500 from Adam corresponds to the year 1992 AD.
Orthodox America (1990). ‘It’s Later Than You Think!’, Orthodox America, 10(96). Available at: https://roca.org/oa/volume-x/issue-96/its-later-than-you-think-96/
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