The Abomination of Desolation - St. Marys Coptic Orthodox Church

120 GREAT TRIBULATION
WHY GOD ALLOWS THIS TO HAPPEN?
The Fathers struggled with this difficult question, here is what they
tell us concerning this:
Why then, you say, did God permit this to be? and what dispensation is
this? And what is the advantage of his coming, if it takes place for the
ruin of our race? Fear not, beloved, but hear Him saying, "In them that
are perishing," he hath strength, who, even if he had not come, would
not have believed. What then is the advantage? That these very men
who are perishing will be put to silence. How? Because both if he had
come, and if he had not come, they would not have believed in Christ;
He comes therefore to convict them. 1
St. Irenaeus insists that the Tribulation is necessary for our salvation:
And then he points out the time that his tyranny shall last, during which
the saints shall be put to flight, they who offer a pure sacrifice unto
God: ‘And in the midst of the week,’ he says, ‘the sacrifice and the
libation shall be taken away.’ And for this cause tribulation is necessary
for those who are saved, that having been after a manner broken up,
and rendered fine, and sprinkled over by the patience of the Word of
God, and set on fire [for purification], they may be fitted for the royal
banquet. As a certain man of ours said 2 , when he was condemned to the
wild beasts because of his testimony with respect to God: “I am the
wheat of Christ, and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I
may be found the pure bread of God.” 3
Again St. Irenaeus comments on the necessity of the Great Tribulation:
There shall be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning,
neither shall be.” For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which,
when they overcome they are crowned with incorruption. 4
1 St. John Chrysostom: Commentary on II Thessalonians
2 St. Irenaeus is referring here to St. Ignatius, who died as a
martyr when he was thrown to the beasts
3 St. Irenaeus: Against heresies, Book V
4 St. Irenaeus: Against heresies, Book V