by Br. Alexis Bugnolo
Saint Paul of Tarsus, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, left to the Catholic Church in Thessalonika a warning which is being fulfilled in our days, which while it did not appear to those who came before us to be such, very correctly describes the rise and purpose of Globalism, its causes, and why the Lord God is permitting this world-wide tribulation in our own day.
For this reason, I will present here my English translation of St. Paul’s canonical Greek text, which I publish to give greater clarity to English speakers about this Apostolic teaching.
In this translation, I approach the text as an anthropologist, seeking to match the Greek terms of Saint Paul with their closest etymological equivalents in the terminology we are accustomed to use now-a-days.
I hope this helps you to see that the Apostle is speaking to us:
The Second Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians, Chapter 2:1-12
THE GREEK ORIGINAL
1 ἐρωτῶμεν δὲ ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί, ὑπὲρ τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπισυναγωγῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν, 2 εἰς τὸ μὴ ταχέως σαλευθῆναι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ νοὸς μηδὲ θροεῖσθαι μήτε διὰ πνεύματος μήτε διὰ λόγου μήτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ὡς δι᾽ ἡμῶν, ὡς ὅτι ἐνέστηκεν ἡ ἡμέρα τοῦ κυρίου. 3 μή τις ὑμᾶς ἐξαπατήσῃ κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον· ὅτι ἐὰν μὴ ἔλθῃ ἡ ἀποστασία πρῶτον καὶ ἀποκαλυφθῇ ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας, 4 ὁ ἀντικείμενος καὶ ὑπεραιρόμενος ἐπὶ πάντα λεγόμενον θεὸν ἢ σέβασμα, ὥστε αὐτὸν εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καθίσαι, ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἔστιν θεός. 5 οὐ μνημονεύετε ὅτι ἔτι ὢν πρὸς ὑμᾶς ταῦτα ἔλεγον ὑμῖν; 6 καὶ νῦν τὸ κατέχον οἴδατε, εἰς τὸ ἀποκαλυφθῆναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῶ ἑαυτοῦ καιρῶ. 7 τὸ γὰρ μυστήριον ἤδη ἐνεργεῖται τῆς ἀνομίας· μόνον ὁ κατέχων ἄρτι ἕως ἐκ μέσου γένηται. 8 καὶ τότε ἀποκαλυφθήσεται ὁ ἄνομος, ὃν ὁ κύριος [ἰησοῦς] ἀνελεῖ τῶ πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ καὶ καταργήσει τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ, 9 οὖ ἐστιν ἡ παρουσία κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν τοῦ σατανᾶ ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει καὶ σημείοις καὶ τέρασιν ψεύδους 10 καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ἀπάτῃ ἀδικίας τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις, ἀνθ᾽ ὧν τὴν ἀγάπην τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἐδέξαντο εἰς τὸ σωθῆναι αὐτούς. 11 καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πέμπει αὐτοῖς ὁ θεὸς ἐνέργειαν πλάνης εἰς τὸ πιστεῦσαι αὐτοὺς τῶ ψεύδει, 12 ἵνα κριθῶσιν πάντες οἱ μὴ πιστεύσαντες τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἀλλὰ εὐδοκήσαντες τῇ ἀδικίᾳ.
MY ENGLISH TRANSLATION
1 We beseech you, brothers, in regard to the Parousia of Our Lord,* Jesus Christ, and our being-gathered together with Him, 2 so that you might not be suddenly driven mad, neither by spirit nor by word, nor by a letter as if from us, that the Day of Christ has begun.
3 Let no one deceive you in any manner: for (it shall not) unless the Apostasy come first and the revelation of the man of misdirection, the son of the extermination, 4 who is set up against and lifted above all that is called “God” or which is held in awe, so that he be enthroned in the Temple of God as God, to prove himself to be God.
5 Do you not recall, that when I was still among you I spoke of these things to you? 6 And now you have seen what is preventing the revelation of this one in his own time.
7 For the mystery of amorality is already deep at work: the prevention, now until he appears in our midst. 8 And then the amoral one will be unmasked, whom the Lord will neutralize with the breath of His mouth and with the blazing light (epiphany) of His Parousia.
9 whose coming is according to the deep-work of Satan with all the talents and marks and catchy-slogans of misrepresentation;
10 And unto an elaborately hatched scheme of misdirection against those being exterminated, because they did not receive the love of the truth, unto their own salvation.
11 And for this reason, God will send upon them an inclination of dissipation, such that they believe the misrepresentation. 12 so that all who disbelieved the truth, but who were content in the misdirection, might be segregated apart.
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The Apostle continues, by explaining that we Catholics have been rescued from all this if we attend to the truth of the Gospel and hold fast to all which the Apostles has handed down to the Church for our salvation.
* The Parousia of the Lord Jesus Christ, is His Royal official visit to take possession of His domain, His Second Coming, Advent and judgement of this world and all of humanity. A royal official visit is when the King comes with His court and all His soldiers and sets everything aright as it should be according to His will for his estates.
