Forms of Government and Antichrist - I

In the West, thoughts about the best form of government tend to focus on the abstract - liberty, rights, and so on.  With the Church it should be otherwise, and it has been.  For instance, in a homily preached in 1956, St John (Maximovitch) the Wonderworker discussed how government relates to the coming of Antichrist:

First of all, the forces preparing for his coming fight against lawful monarchical rule. The holy Apostle Paul says that the Antichrist cannot appear until "the one who restraineth" is put aside. John Chrysostom explains that the "one who restraineth" refers to a lawful, pious regime. Such a power struggles with evil. "The mystery" working in the world does not want this, does not want the struggle against evil by the power of a pious ruler — quite the opposite. It wants the rule of lawlessness, and when it achieves this, nothing more will stop the appearance of the Antichrist (‘Cheese-fare Sunday, 1956, The Sunday of the Dread Judgment’, http://www.holytrinitymission.org/books/english/sermons_john_maximovich.htm#_Toc100019506, accessed 3 March 2014).

The entire sermon is a good discourse on the Book of Revelation, but for present purposes it is important to note that kings - and not democratically elected representatives, presidents, or other magistrates - are the rulers who restrain the appearance of Antichrist.  And what has mankind foolishly been trying to pull down for the last two hundred years and more?  Kingship.  The mystery of iniquity truly doth already work (II Thessalonians 2:7).

We must repent of the sin of revolution against true, God-given authority while there is still time.