The Scarcity of Faith at the End of Time (Luke 18:8)

Prevost, servant of the Devil, prowls like a roaring lion, Seeking Someone to Devour.

 Luke 18:8 But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

It may seem unreal to you, but let me tell you that the reprobate Martin Luther was also an Augustinian friar.

Luther was ordained a priest in 1507. What kind of monk was Martin Luther? Luther studied at the University of Erfurt, and in 1505 he decided to join a monastic order, becoming an Augustinian friar.  In his biography, he is listed as a German priest and theologian.

And who better than Saint Augustine to defeat these two heresiarchs?

The Scarcity of Faith at the End of Time (Luke 18:8) and Authentic Charity

In Saint Thomas Aquinas's Catena Aurea, Saint Augustine interprets Christ's dramatic question in Luke 18:8 ("Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on earth?") by linking it directly to Matthew 24:12: "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold."

For Augustine, the Lord’s question does not announce the total extinction of the Church, but rather the rarity of true and perfect faith on the threshold of the end times. The apostasy of the time of the Antichrist does not suddenly erupt from the outside; it develops covertly through interior lukewarmness, moral corruption, and the decay of charity within the visible community itself.

Authentic Charity vs. False Compassion

When Christ warns that charity will grow cold, it is essential to clarify what Saint Augustine means by authentic charity. In times of spiritual lukewarmness, genuine charity is frequently confused with permissiveness, passive tolerance, or complicity with sin ("alcahuetismo").

For the Bishop of Hippo, authentic charity does not consist of justifying a neighbor's vice or leaving them trapped in error under the guise of false kindness. Genuine love demands liberating the person from the slavery of sin, which destroys their soul and offends God:

"Charity is the luster of the soul; it enriches it and makes it appear good and beautiful. He who thinks of taking pity on the misery of another begins to abandon sin."

— Saint Augustine (Catena Aurea, Vol. VI)

Therefore, authentic charity toward one's neighbor begins by rescuing them from a life of sin, disobedience, and destructive habits. A counterfeit "charity" that avoids correction and ignores eternal salvation is a distorted love.

Spiritual Works of Mercy: The Alms of the Word

When faith grows cold, charity is often reduced to mere material relief, completely ignoring spiritual works of mercy—such as correcting the sinner, instructing the ignorant, and preaching the faith. Yet fraternal correction and the nourishment of divine truth constitute an immeasurably greater act of mercy than temporal aid alone.

As Saint Gregory the Great highlights in the same Patristic tradition:

"Perhaps one has no bread to give to the needy; but he who has a tongue possesses a greater good to distribute. For it is worth more to reanimate with the food of the word the soul that is to live forever than to satisfy with earthly bread the body that is to die. Therefore, brethren, do not deny your neighbor the alms of your word."

— Saint Gregory the Great (Hom. 4 on the Gospels)

Final Synthesis: The Mechanism of Apostasy

When Satan is unleashed (Rev 20:7–9) and false prophets emerge to deceive, if possible, even the elect (Mt 24:24), those possessing only a superficial faith succumb to the deception.

Falsified Charity: The supreme trick of the Antichrist and the "degraded Church" is to disguise itself in a purely earthly, tolerant compassion—labeling it "charity" to refrain from correcting sin and to conform to the world.

Authentic Charity: The faithful remnant exercises the true charity taught by Augustine and Gregory the Great: offering the alms of truth, correcting error, and seeking to save the soul that will live forever, even when it results in rejection or persecution by the world.

This decay of authentic charity and scarcity of living faith sets the stage for the final, irrevocable separation between the Earthly City and the City of God, where only a purified remnant preserves true faith until the glorious return of the Son of Man.

In Saint Augustine of Hippo’s theological and philosophical work (354–430 AD), primarily in The City of God (De Civitate Dei), there is a direct relationship between the "two cities" and the figure of the Antichrist.

1. What are the two cities?

Saint Augustine is not referring to two real geographical cities, but rather to two spiritual and moral communities that coexist throughout human history:

• The City of God (Civitas Dei): Formed by those who live according to the spirit, who love God even to the contempt of self, and who are predestined for salvation.

• The Earthly City (Civitas Terrena): Formed by those who live according to the flesh, dominated by self-love (amor sui) carried even to the contempt of God, and guided by pride and the lust for dominance.

2. Relationship to the reign of the Antichrist

In the final books of The City of God (especially Book XX), Augustine analyzes biblical prophecies concerning the end times, the final persecution, and the coming of the Antichrist:

• The supreme manifestation of the Earthly City: For Saint Augustine, the reign of the Antichrist represents the climax where the Earthly City deploys its full pride, deceitful power, and persecution against believers.

• Separation of the two cities: Throughout history, the two cities are intertwined and mixed (permixtae). However, during the reign of the Antichrist and the final persecution, the division between them becomes absolute and visible:

  • Members of the Earthly City will align with the deception and worship of the Antichrist.

  • Members of the City of God will endure the ultimate trial of faith and tribulation before the Final Judgment.

• Defeat of the Antichrist and definitive triumph: Augustine maintains that the reign of the Antichrist will be brief (three and a half years, according to Scripture) and will end with the Second Coming of Christ, marking the definitive destruction of the Earthly City and the eternal establishment of the City of God in glory.

In summary, in Saint Augustine's two cities, the "Earthly City," Civitas Terrena, finds its most radical historical manifestation in the reign of the Antichrist, while the "City of God," Civitas Dei, undergoes its purification and final victory during that period.

Connecting Saint Augustine and Vladimir Solovyov on the Great Apostasy

The biblical warning in 2 Thessalonians 2:3—that the Day of the Lord will not come until the apostasy (apostasia or recessio) takes place and the "man of sin" is revealed—serves as the foundational bridge between Saint Augustine’s Patristic ecclesiology and Vladimir Solovyov’s modern prophetic eschatology.

While writing in distinct historical contexts (Augustine in the 5th century during the fall of Rome, and Solovyov in the late 19th century anticipating modern secularism), both thinkers converge on a critical insight: the ultimate deception of the Antichrist does not attack Christianity from the outside; it corrupts it from within.

1. Scriptural Foundation: 2 Thessalonians 2:3–7 & Revelation 20:7–9

• Augustine’s Framework: In The City of God (Book XX, Ch. 19), Augustine emphasizes that the apostasy is not merely a collection of isolated individual lapses, but a massive, public falling away from the true faith.

• The "Mystery of Iniquity" (2 Tes 2:7): Augustine notes that evil operates covertly long before the end. The two cities—the Civitas Dei (City of God) and the Civitas Terrena (Earthly City)—are entangled and mixed (permixtae) within the visible institution of the Church itself.

• Solovyov’s Expansion: Solovyov takes Augustine's concept of the "covert mystery of iniquity" and illustrates its final operational model. In his quote, Solovyov demonstrates that the Antichrist does not rely on crude atheism or materialist violence. Instead, his vehicle is religious corruption: "Christ is persecuted by Christianity itself and by the degraded Church."

2. Hidden Apostasy vs. Manifest Apostasy

Dimension	Saint Augustine (The City of God)	Vladimir Solovyov (Three Conversations)
The Internal Corruption	Many belong to the visible Church in appearance only, having already apostatized in their hearts through lukewarmness and spiritual compromise.	The Antichrist emerges as a devout religious figure, moralist, and theologian, replacing Christ with a counterfeit gospel of humanitarian unity without repentance.
The Final Unveiling	When Satan is unleashed (Rev 20:7–9), God allows full deception so that those who were nominal Christians publicly defect to the Earthly City.	The degraded Church embraces the Antichrist’s deceptive peace, turning against the faithful remnant who demand the true, crucified Christ.

3. The Mechanism: Corruption from Within

• Augustine’s Analysis: The great apostasy does not erupt suddenly as an external invasion. It is the progressive result of interior lukewarmness, moral decay, and internal infiltration. The unleashing of Satan merely exposes what was already true in secret.

• Solovyov’s Fulfillment: Solovyov identifies the exact form this interior corruption takes in the modern age. The Antichrist disguises himself as the ultimate benefactor, offerer of peace, and humanitarian leader. The "degraded Church" succumbs because it values earthly harmony and institutional prestige over divine truth. Thus, persecution comes from a Christian shell stripped of Christ.

4. Purification and Final Separation

For both thinkers, this tragic rupture fulfills a necessary divine purpose before the Final Judgment:

1. A Winnowing Process: Augustine explains that the great apostasy acts as a refining sieve. It shears away the dry, lifeless branches (nominal believers) and consolidates the true, interior City of God.

2. The Faithful Remnant: Similarly, in Solovyov's Short Story on the Antichrist, the true Christians—represented by small, faithful remnants across Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions—unite in their refusal to worship the Antichrist, leading to their ultimate vindication at the Second Coming.

Synthesis Statement

In summary: Saint Augustine provides the theological structure of the apostasy—explaining how the Civitas Terrena quietly corrupts the visible Church until the final separation. Vladimir Solovyov provides the existential mechanism—demonstrating that this corruption reaches its peak when the Antichrist co-opts religious language and structures, causing Christ to be persecuted not by open enemies, but by a compromised and degraded Christianity.