'Before that day shall come,' said Jesus, 'great destruction
shall come upon the world, for there shall be war so cruel and pitiless that the father
shall slay the son, and the son shall slay father by reason of the factions of peoples.
Wherefore the cities shall be annihilated, and the country shall become desert. Such
pestilences shall come that none shall be found to bear the dead to burial, so that they
shall be left as food for beasts. To those who remain upon the earth God shall send such
scarcity that bread shall be valued above gold, and they shall eat a11 manner of unclean
things. O miserable age, in which scarce any one shall be heard to say: "I have
sinned, have mercy on me, O God"; but with horrible voices they shall blaspheme him
who is glorious and blessed for ever. After this, as that day draweth nigh, for fifteen
days, shall come every day a horrible sign over the inhabitants of the earth. The first
day the sun shall run its course in heaven without light, but black as the dye of cloth;
and it shall give groans, as a father who groaneth for a son nigh to death. The second day
the moon shall be turned into blood, and blood shall come upon the earth like dew. The
third day the stars shall be seen to fight among themselves like an army of enemies. The
fourth day the stones and rocks shall dash against each other as cruel enemies. The fifth
day every plant and herb shall weep blood. The sixth day the sea shall rise without
leaving its place to the height of one hundred and fifty cubits, and shall stand all day
like a wall. The seventh day it shall on the contrary sink so low as scarcely to be seen.
The eighth day the birds and the animals of the earth and of the water shall gather
themselves close together, and shall give forth roars and cries. The ninth day there shall
be a hailstorm so horrible that it shall kill in such wise that scarcely the tenth part of
the living shall escape. The tenth day shall come such horrible lightning and thunder that
the third part of the mountains shall be split and scorched. The eleventh day every river
shall run backwards, and shall
run blood and not water. The twelfth day every created thing shall groan and cry. The
thirteenth day the heaven shall be rolled up like a book, and it shall rain fire, so that
every living thing shall die. The fourteenth day there shall be an earth quake so horrible
that the tops of the mountains shall fly through the air like birds, and all the earth
shall become a plain. The fifteenth day the holy angels shall die, and God alone shall
remain alive; to whom be honour and glory.'
And having said this, Jesus smote his face with both his hands, and then smote the ground
with his head. And having raised his head, he said: 'Cursed be every one who shall insert
into my sayings that I am the son of God.' At these words the disciples fell down as dead,
whereupon Jesus lifted them up, saying: 'Let us fear God now, if we would not be
affrighted in that day.'