The “End of Times” and the Antichrist’s Arrival: The Orthodox Dogmas and Prophecies in the National-Patriotic Media in Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract

A return of the Orthodox religion and a renaissance of the Russian Orthodox Church gave a way for politically active movements of Orthodox fundamentalists and monarchists. They were obsessed with the idea of the “end of time” and argued that the Antichrist was at the door. The article focuses on several national-patriotic newspapers and their interest to Orthodox prophecies about the end of time, which can be traced from the turn of the 1990s. It is examined who exactly, in what way and for what goals developed and discussed eschatological ideas. The major themes, rhetorical means and key words are scrutinized, which helped consumers to disclose the “enemies of Russia” and to reveal their “perfidious plans” and “harmful actions” aimed at the destruction of Russia and its people. A relationship between this ideology and theological teaching of the end of time is analyzed.