St. Methodius (d. 885)

a. "A time will come when the enemies of Christ will boast: 'We have subjected the earth and all its inhabitants, and the Christians cannot escape our hands.' Then a Roman emperor will rise in great fury against them . . . Drawing his sword, he will fall upon the foes of Christianity and crush them. Then peace and quiet will reign on earth, and the priests will be relieved of all their anxieties.

b. "In the last period Christians will not appreciate the great grace cf God who provided a Great Monarch, a long duration of peace, a splendid fertility of the earth. They will be very ungrateful, lead a sinful life, in pride, vanity, unchastity, frivolity, hatred, avarice, gluttony and many other vices that the sins of men will stink more than a pestilence before God. Many men will doubt whether the Catholic faith is the true and only saving one and whether the Jews are perhaps correct when they still expect the Messias. Many will be the false teachings and resultant bewilderment. The just God will in consequence give Lucifer and all his devils power to come on earth and tempt his godless creatures."