Very widespread at the present time is the teaching about a thousand year kingdom of Christ on earth before the Universal or Last Judgment; this teaching is known by the name of "chiliasm" (from the Greek chiliasmos, a thousand years). The essence of this teaching is as follows:

After the fall, man, we are told by Holy Writ, was cast out of Paradise (Genesis 3:24). God, however, through this expulsion, did not lead man to despair, for He simultaneously sowed within Him the hope of salvation.

Already by ancient Tradition, the Church honored the day on which the Saints reposed as their day of birth, and celebrated the great events in the lives of the Saints by celebrating the Divine Liturgy. But apart from these festivals, the Church also established the great feasts of the year which were associated with the great mystery of Divine dispensation.

The world is oppressed by new and ever-increasing miseries. How many survive of the innumerable multitude of men you may see, yet each day new scourges beset them, sudden disasters fall on them, new and unheard-of-disasters arise. Just as the body in youth is vigorous, the heart strong and steady, the shoulders upright, and the lungs vigorous, but in old age the figure is no longer upright, the shrunken neck is bowed, the chest labors with frequent sighs, strength fails us, and the speaker is impeded by a faltering breath.

Our Lord and Redeemer, desiring to find us prepared, warns us of the evils that are to accompany the end of the world, so that He may keep us from the love of it. He makes known the disasters that will herald its approaching end, so that should we be unwilling to serve God in times of tranquility, we may be made fearful by these happenings, at least be anxious concerning the judgment now at hand.