An Interpretation of the Apocalypse of St. John the
Theologian
Vladimir Moss
© Vladimir Moss, 2005
So,
be warned, my friend. I have given you the signs of the antichrist.
Do not merely store them in your memory. Pass them on to everyone without
stint. If you have a child after the flesh, teach them to him forthwith.
And if you have become a godparent, forewarn your godchild, lest he should
take the false christ for the True. For the mystery of lawlessness doth
already work."
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
CONTENTS
Prologue
.
.
.5
The Study of the Book The Signs of the End
The Time of the End Attitudes to the End - The Nature of Prophetic Visions
The Interpretation of the Book The Sources of the Interpretation
I. The First Vision: The Seven Churches of
Asia, or: The Church in Time
.
..
.20
Introduction:
The First and the Last
.
.
..21
1.
The Church of Ephesus
.
...
..
...42
2.
The Church of Smyrna
...
.
..
...48
3.
The Church of Pergamum
..
...
..
.54
4.
The Church of Thyateira
...
..
...
.
.58
5.
The Church of Sardis
...
.
66
6.
The Church of Philadelphia
..
...
.72
7.
The Church of Laodicea
...
...
..84
II. The Second
Vision: The Seven Seals, or: The Church at the End of
Time
.
..94
1.
The Twenty-Four Elders and the Four Living Creatures
95
2.
The Lamb of God
...
.102
3.
The First Six Seals
..
107
4.
The Sealing of the Servants of God
..
..
123
5.
The Seventh Seal: The First Six Trumpets
.
.
..129
6.
The Seventh Seal: The Mighty Angel
..
..142
7.
The Seventh Seal: The Two Witnesses
..
.
160
III. The Third Vision: The Seven Days of
Creation, or: The Church Sub Specie Aeternitatis
.
.
.175
1.
The Woman Clothed with the Sun and the Red Dragon
..
.176
2.
The First Beast
.
..188
3.
The False Prophet
.
..
202
4.
The Seven Plagues
....
..220
5.
The Whore of Babylon
....
..
..233
6.
The Beast and the Whore
...
.243
7.
The Triumph of Orthodoxy: (i) The Fall of the West
.....260
8.
The Triumph of Orthodoxy: (ii) The Liberation of the East
.
..277
9.
The Triumph of Orthodoxy: (iii) The Millenium and the Last Judgement
283
Conclusion:
The Eighth Day
.
.
307
Appendix 1: Genetics, UFOs and the Birth of the Antichrist .321
Appendix 2: The
Seal of the Antichrist in Soviet and Post-Soviet
Russia
332
PROLOGUE
Close the words, and seal the book to the time of
the end;
until many are taught and knowledge is increased.
Daniel
12.4.
The
Apocalypse has as many mysteries as words.
Blessed
Jerome, Epistle 53.
The book of Revelation the
Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian has remained a sealed book until the
beginning of our most apocalyptic of epochs. Its glorious and terrifying images
have impressed themselves on the minds of generations of Christians, and its
triumphant hope of the ultimate victory of good over evil has comforted the
hearts of many fighters for the truth. Alone, however, among the books of the
New Testament, it has no generally accepted interpretation, no exegetical
consensus of the Fathers. In fact, it is the only part of the New Testament
that is not read publicly at some time in the liturgical year of the One, Holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church.[1] It
is sealed in the sense that it is not read in church, and also in the sense
that its meaning remains shrouded in mystery.[2]
And yet the book itself beckons us,
encouraging us to penetrate the mystery. Blessed
is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep
those things which are written therein; for the time is at hand (1.3). And
again: Behold, I come quickly: blessed
is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book... Seal not the
sayings of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand (22.7, 10).
Shortly before the Russian revolution, St.
Barsonuphius of Optina wrote: In the Apocalypse it is said: Blessed is he that readeth the words of
this book. If this is written, it means that it is really so, for the words
of the Sacred Scripture are the words of the Holy Spirit. But in what does this
blessedness consist? The more so, in that people may object that we do not
understand anything of what is written. Perhaps it consists in the consolation
to be gained from reading the Divine words. One can also think as follows: that
which is not understood by us now will become understandable when the time
described comes to pass.[3]
Judge for yourselves. Who reads the Apocalypse now? Almost exclusively those
who live in monasteries and in theological academies and seminaries they have
to. But in the world hardly anyone reads it. Hence it is clear that he who will
read the Apocalypse before the end of the world will be truly blessed, for he
will understand what is taking place. And in understanding he will prepare
himself. In reading he will see in the events described in the Apocalypse one
or other of the events contemporary with him.[4]
Again, at the beginning of the revolution
the Church writer Lev Alexandrovich Tikhomirov wrote: The general opinion of
all interpreters of the Apocalypse is that the events revealed in it are
becoming clearer the closer we come to the time of their realization. At the
present time, when much of that which was announced then has already been
realized and the world is coming nearer and nearer to the end of the promises,
it is of course easier than before to catch the consequentiality of events. But
this easiness is very relative. The history of the world is revealed in the
Apocalypse in a very interwoven and complicated picture. The book presents a
series of separate visions which encompass now one and now another aspect of
the events, sometimes returning again to one and the same event, sometimes
speaking earlier about an event that is chronologically later. For some visions
there is no chronology at all, since they do not depict the earthly flow of
affairs, but the condition of things. Many visions do not touch events here,
but the struggle of heavenly and hellish forces. All this is so complicated and
difficult for the mind that has not been enlightened by the same spiritual
vision [as the seer himself] that one could completely renounce the hope of
penetrating into the mysteries of this greatest of visions. But the Saviour
Himself commanded that we should be attentive to the signs of the times so as
not to be caught unawares by them. And in the Apocalypse it is said: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of
the prophecy of this book. It is impossible to keep without understanding
what we are required to keep. Therefore, in spite of all difficulties, we must
try to understand everything that now, according to the will of God, may turn
out to be accessible to our understanding.[5]
Thus blessed is he that reads this book,
not in isolation, but in conjunction with the
signs of the times, which the Lord commanded us to discern with care: ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of
the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew
16.3). We must, with Gods help and
in all humility, at least attempt to discern the signs of the times by
comparing them with this, the most significant of books for our time. For, as
Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow writes, None of the mysteries of the most
secret wisdom of God ought to appear alien or altogether transcendent to us,
but in all humility we must apply our spirit to the contemplation of Divine
things.[6]
Moreover, as Archbishop Theophanes of Poltava writes, everybody who loves the
Truth must not only take note of the signs of the times, but also follow these
observations to their logical conclusion.[7]
And these signs are indeed apocalyptic. Wars and rumours of wars, especially of
a nuclear and biochemical Armageddon threatening the extinction of the whole of
humanity; famines and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in divers places, including the inexorably increasing
pollution of the planet; the many false
prophets; the persecution of the Faith, the falling away of many, the
increase of iniquity and especially the
cooling of love even among those who are called Christians all this must
convince the discerning Christian that he is at least at the beginning of sorrows, and that only he that shall endure to the end.. shall be saved (Matthew
24.6-13).
Other signs of the end are the
extraordinary growth of science, the return of the Jews to Israel, the
unprecedented apostasy from, and persecution of, the Christian faith, and the
appearance of false Christs and antichristian religions in bewildering
abundance. As Fr. Seraphim Rose writes in his translators introduction to
Archbishop Averkys commentary: We do seem, indeed, to be living in the last
times of this worlds existence, when the prophecies of the Apocalypse relating
to the end of the world are beginning to be fulfilled. The time is surely ripe
especially in view of the numerous false interpretations of this book which
fill the contemporary air.[8]
One of the passages from the Apocalypse
that has found an almost exact fulfilment in our time is the description of the
star called Wormwood Chernobyl
in Ukrainian which falls from heaven and poisons the waters (8.10-11). Even
the most hardened sceptics have been forced to admit that this is a quite
remarkable foreshadowing of the nuclear catastrophe that took place at
Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986, which has contaminated the water supply of
the region. Again, the advances in modern computer and laser technology have
thrown unexpected light on the possible meaning of the number 666 (Revelation
13) in terms of bar-codes and microchips implanted under the skin, and how it
might form part of a world-wide food distribution system controlled by the
Antichrist.
Thus the Christian must see that he
refuses not Him that speaks both through the Divine Scriptures of the
Apocalypse and through contemporary events. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more
shall we not escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven: Whose
voice then shook the heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the
removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that
those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we, receiving a
Kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God
acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire...
(Hebrews 12.25-29).
But one may object: does not all this
speculation about the end time contradict the words of the Saviour Himself, Who
said that of that day or hour knoweth no
man, no, not the Angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Take ye heed and pray: for you know not when the time is (Mark
13.32-33)? After all, even such a holy man as the Romanian St. Callinicus of
Cernica erred in expecting the end of the world to come in 1848. St. Nicholas
and St. George appeared to him and told him that he still had time to build the
monastery of Cernica
However, Saints Nicholas and George did
not rebuke St. Callinicus for speculating about the time of the end. And the
Lord even helped him in his speculations by unfurling a radiant scroll in the
heavens on which ws written: 7500 years from Adam. In other words, the end
would come not before the year 1992 or 2000 (depending on whether we follow the
Constantinopolitan Church in dating Christs birth to 5508 B.C., or the
Antiochian in dating it to 5500 B.C.).[9]
In
any case, we are not speculating about the exact time of the end, which,
as the Lord says, is known to no man, and not even to the Son as man,
but only to God. As Lev Tikhomirov writes: Without doubt, the precise time is
hidden from men, in accordance with the task of Providence. The Christian
period has as its mission to choose out of humanity everything that it can give
birth to for the Kingdom of God. In the task of salvation Providence helps men,
while the opponent of God, the devil, hinders. But men must also act with their
own independent efforts. Mankind decides with its own free will whether to go
towards God or reject Him. While there are among men those who wish to be with
God and this is always known to God the end of the world will not come. The
stronger the pressure of evil, the more possible, by contrast, is the proximity
of the end. In history there have been times when the pressure of evil has been
so strong that it seemed that there was no further reason for the world to
exist, and if the anti-God mood had become finally entrenched then the end of
the world would have come. The multitude of small potential antichrists, of
whom the Apostle John already spoke, would immediately have promoted from their
midst someone capable of growing into the real Antichrist. Such epochs, of
which ours is one, in their character truly constitute the last times. But are they chronologically the last? We cannot
know that, because if the free will of men, amazed by the disgusting sight of the abomination of desolation in the
holy place, strives again towards God, the Antichrist, already ready to enter
the world, will again be cast into the abyss until conditions more favourable
for him arise, while the Lord will again lengthen the term of life of the world
so that new members should be prepared for the Kingdom of God. The Lord knows
the term of the life of the world, but He does not reveal it to men in order
that our free will should not be bound by the thoughts: if its not soon or
its all the same its already late, for our work for the Kingdom of God
must not be conditioned by such applied considerations, but by the free search
for good or evil, by the free desire to work for the Lord or reject Him. In
accordance with this, man does not need the numerical calculation of terms, but
only the discernment of the spiritual-moral maturity of good or the pressure of
evil, so that he can in a purposeful and directed manner struggle against evil
and do the work of God.
However, if the exact terms of the life
of the world and its final dιnouement are hidden from men, this is nevertheless
not so in an absolute sense. Eschatalogical Revelations give us the possibility
of see the consequentiality of future events, that is, not the existence of a
series of epochs in which we gradually approach the completion of the cycle of
evolution. In giving us the possibility of noticing them, Revelation
undoubtedly was aiming to support the faith of people in the reality of the promises. When we observe the
condition of the world and see that that which was foretold by Daniel or John
the Theologian many centuries before has really taken place in it, then, of
course, we are more strongly established in faith and and with this support we
work more energetically for the creation of good, for the struggle against
evil.
Such a support of faith becomes the more
necessary the further we go from the times of the Saviour, without seeing His
Second Coming. The Apostle Peter says that in the last times there will appear
people who will say: Where is the
promise of His Coming? For since the time our fathers began to die, from the
beginning of creation, everything remains the same (II Peter 3.4).
At the present time such doubts are already extremely widespread, and one can say
that nothing more powerfully undermines Christianity than its teaching on the
end of the world, because this end has begun to appear improbable. The same
doubt in the coming of the Messiah, Who has been awaited fruitlessly for so
long, has given birth among the Jews to the thought that this idea must be
understood in the sense of the coming of the dominion of Israel itself. Among
the Moslems (in Ismailitism) the vain expectation of the Mahdi has also led
them to the idea of the metaphorical understanding of this coming, to the
thought that in reality it means only the spreading of the spirit of Mahdi
among people. All this is, of course, very natural, for there is no fiercer
temptation for faith than the non-fulfilment of the promises. But the whole essence of Christianity lies in the
Gospel of the Kingdom and the Second Coming of Christ. If we have hope on Christ only in this life, says the Apostle Paul,
then we are of all men the most
miserable
When I fought with wild beasts in Ephesus, what use was it to me if
the dead do not rise? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die! (I
Corinthians 15.19; 19.32). Prince S. Trubetskoy is absolutely right in
pointing to the fact that Christianity cannot renounce its faith in Godmanhood
and the Kingdom of God without renouncing itself
Is the world process
beginningless, endless, aimless, a purely elemental process, or does it have a
rational final end? Does such an im or absolute good (that is, God) exist, and
is this good realizable in everything
(the Kingdom of heaven God in all), or does nature present an eternal limit for its realization and is
it in itself only a subjective, chimerical ideal? For Christianity there can be
only one reply to this, a reply that
requires the fulfilment of the eschatological promises.
But for that reason it is important if,
in answer to the question: where is the
promise of His Coming?, we can indicate in the prophecies of Revelation
concerning the future destinies of the world much that has already been
fulfilled
Especially important, of course, are all the indications that the
course of world events foretold thousands of years before followed precisely
that path which was sketched in the visions of Revelation.
Thus both the ignorance of the exact time of the end of the world process and a
certain knowledge of the course of
separate phases in it have one and the same aim, that is: to support faith in
people, to strengthen their work in the building up of Gods work and in the
constant preservation of their readiness to appear at the last judgement.[10]
It should also be pointed out that the
Lord Himself has reserved to Himself the right to change the times of the
fulfilment of the prophecies in accordance with the way in which men respond to
His words. Thus He changed the time of the destruction of Nineveh, as conveyed
through the Prophet Jonah. And through the Prophet Jeremiah He says: The
instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to
pull down, and to destroy it, If that nation against whom I have spoken turns
from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build
and to plant it, If it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice,
then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. (Jeremiah
18.7-10).
Now catastrophic events, the fall of
empires and the destruction of the old order, fill the worldly man who has
pinned his hopes on this order with gloom and despondency. He has no abiding
city which cannot be moved, no treasure which cannot be broken into and stolen.
And so the Day of the Lord must come upon him as a thief in the night (I Thessalonians 5.2), as darkness and not as light (Amos
5.18).
It is not so with the Christian. His
conversation is in heaven, so his thoughts will not perish with the earth (cf. Psalm
145.3-4). He rejoices in the spoiling of his goods, for he knows that he has in heaven a better and an enduring
substance (Hebrews 10.34). He rejoices even in the death of his
body, for he knows that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven (II
Corinthians 5.1-2).
And in general we may say that that which
is a cause of sorrow for the carnal mind is a cause of rejoicing for the
Christian, and vice-versa. For, as the Lord said: When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your
heads; for your redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21.28). And again: Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye
shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful,
but your sorrow shall be turned into joy (John 17.20).
This is not to say, of course, that the
Christian in no way participates in the suffering of the world. But he
evaluates both his and the worlds suffering from a different, other-worldly
point of view, discerning its significance in the context of Divine Providence
and Judgement, as opening up or cutting off the path of salvation for men. For
he sees that if men accept their suffering as just, and as a cross sent from
God for the purification of their sins, then by faith and repentance they can
use their cross to enter, with the good thief, into the Kingdom of heaven. But
if, on the other hand, they see no sense in their suffering and add to their
other sins the sins of murmuring and blasphemy, then, with the bad thief, they
will go down to hell. In this way the Cross is, as the kontakion of the
Cross says, a balance-beam of righteousness. And the Christian, in
contemplating it, humbles himself with a godly sorrow for his own and other
mens sins, and escapes through this purifying sorrow into the joy of the age
to come.
Thanks to the crushing of earthly hopes,
wrote Prince Eugene Troubetskoy at the beginning of the Russian revolution,
the greatest shift takes place in the spiritual life: human thoughts, wishes
and hopes are transferred from one plane of existence to another. And in this
shift there appear the greatest creative forces. It is precisely in
catastrophic epochs that the human heart gives its best to the world... For
those chosen souls who become tempered in trials, not only trials, but also
offences can be useful. But woe to those through whom offences come...[11]
Some epochs have a particular significance
for the life of the Church. Thus the triumph of St. Constantine brought the
Church out of the catacombs and opened a vast new field to her missionary
endeavours. And, in the opposite direction, the Russian revolution sent the
Church back into the catacombs and threatened her complete annihilation. For just
as Constantines victory ushered in a kind of resurrection before the General
Resurrection, so Russias defeat has been a judgement before the Last Judgement
for judgement must begin at the House
of God (I Peter 4.17).
St. Theophylactus of Nicomedia writes:
The prophets receive prophecies from God, but not as they want, but as the
Spirit of God works; they would be fully conscious of, and understood, the
prophetic word sent down to them, but they did not give explanations.[12]
Consequently, prophecies in general, and the prophecies in the book of the
Apocalypse in particular are exceptionally difficult to understand.
Lev Tikhomirov explains the main reason
for this difficulty as follows: The basic aim of contemplation and revelation
consists, not in the communication to us of information about the future, but about that which is hidden in general.
This hidden content consists in everything that is supernatural, in everything
in which our link with the spiritual and divine world is discovered. Of course,
when the contemplative sees himself or humanity before his spiritual gaze in
this material and tangible link with spheres of another order, this can give
him insight also into the future, but in the same degree as into the past and
the present. Before him there opens up not this or that particular time, but
the very link between man and the
spiritual and divine world, on which his destiny depends to a much greater
degree than on the material world, and which in his usual condition he can in
no wise feel and which he therefore does not take into account in his guesses
and calculations. Such is the essence of revelation and contemplation, which
are sometimes even given to a man not for communication to other people, but
for him personally, as a consequence of his lofty spiritual life and as a help
for it and strengthening of it in the future. But we, it goes without saying,
come to know only those revelations which are given not for the contemplative
personally but for communication to others. Here, too, however, the
contemplation and revelation that is given to people is aimed, for the greater
part, at giving a representation of the mysteriously close link between our
life here and all its events with the actions and aims of the powers of a
different world a spiritual or divine world. This needs to be known only by
him who desires to maintain this link consciously, to conform himself with it,
to struggle with some of the powers revealed to him, and enter into union with
others. In this case the question of the future, whatever it may be, is hardly
relevant. This union or this struggle is not necessary for the future, but constantly, as a means towards a healthy
spiritual life. Sometimes, perhaps, it may even seem more important to the
contemplative to know about the past, about which he through ignorance or evil
will has taken an incorrect position in regard to the power of the spiritual or
divine world that needs correction.
These are the main reasons why prophetic
contemplations and revelations are not clear. They are supplemented by
secondary reasons which depend on the character of the condition in which the
contemplation is received, and on the difficulty of expressing it in usual
human language, if it does not have as its main aim the giving of a positive
message to people.
A prophecy is completely clear if it has
as its aim the communication to people of a demand of the definitive Will of
God or a warning to them to keep away from mistaken acts in this or that
particular case. Thus the Prophet Jeremiah in the name of God insistently
advised the Jewish people and King Zedekiah not to wage war with Nebuchadnezzar
and submit to him without a fight. Thus the Saviour foretold the destruction of
Jerusalem, giving the direct advice to flee and hide when the signs of the time
of the destruction appeared. Thanks to this the Christians were saved in the
year of the desolation of Judaea. But when the prophecy touches the general
destinies of the world or its general condition, the prophetic contemplation is
only in exceptional cases completely clear, as it was, for example, with Daniel
in relation to the times of the coming of the Messiah. But generally speaking
the link between humanity and the supernatural world makes it inevitable that
prophetic revelations should be obscure.
That which takes place in the
supernatural spheres cannot be expressed clearly in human language. When the
Apostle Paul was speaking about his ascension to the third heaven he directly
declared that what he had heard there could not be expressed in our language.
When we read the Apostle Johns description of what takes place in the heavens,
we see images which it is evidently impossible to understand literally: he
speaks about lampstands, about altars, about the exterior appearance of angels,
their wings, etc. But it is understood that nothing of the sort exists in the
heavens, but that which does exist there, that which the seer really did see,
is such as can be conveyed only symbolically, in a certain likeness to material
objects.
Thus symbolism
is an inevitable form of such contemplation and revelation. The seer as it were
translates into material language that which exists in reality not in material,
but in some completely different forms.
It goes without saying that this
symbolism which requires interpretation makes the seers communications
unclear, especially for people who have not personally experienced the
condition of the contemplative
Therefore if Revelation is given to
enlighten the destinies of the world, it is of necessity symbolic. Moreover,
the symbol sometimes remains incomprehensible even for the contemplative
himself: I was amazed at my vision,
says Daniel, and did not understand it
(Daniel 8. 27). And so its significance is sometimes explained to the prophet in the course of the vision
itself, but not always.
Therefore in the reading of apocalyptic
prophecies a multitude of perplexities and contradictions arise in the attempt
to understand them, although, generally speaking, the understanding of the
symbolism of contemplative images is made easier by the fact that the prophets
had very many symbolic visions, and so by putting them together we can receive
some idea of the significance of the symbols.[13]
The Interpretation of the Book
The book of the Apocalypse presents a
synoptic view of this most basic, fundamental and supreme struggle in the form
of the interaction of several symbolic figures. The main protagonists are, on
the one hand, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the woman clothed
with the sun, His Holy Church; and on the other hand, the devil and his evil
minions the first beast, the false prophet and the whore of Babylon. The
focus switches from earth to heaven, from deepest antiquity to the age to come.
However, the chief emphasis, according to
our interpretation, is on Europe, the Middle East and Russia in the twentieth
and early twenty-first centuries, when, as Elder Nectarius of Optina put it,
the world will be girded with iron and paper the iron curtain of Soviet
communism and the paper deals of Western capitalism and ecumenism. It is the
age in which the true Church flees into the wilderness of obscurity and
suffering, and in which evil of the most radical kind sprawls triumphantly on
the former capitals of Christian piety. But this is also the age, according to
the prophecies of the saints, in which the most complete reversal will take
place, not by might, nor by power, but
by My Spirit, saith the Lord (Zechariah 4.6), when the beast of
communism (severely wounded now, but still alive), the false prophet of
scientific materialism and evolutionism and the whore of Judaeo-Masonic
ecumenism will all be destroyed in the mighty conflagration of the Third World
War. Then the Church will arise, and the
Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world. And then shall the end come (Matthew
24.14): during the apostasy of the final, Laodicean period of Church history,
the personal Antichrist, the false messiah and king of the Jews, will take
power and initiate the most universal and cruellest persecution of the Church,
which will be cut short only by the Second Coming of Christ, the General
Resurrection from the dead and the Last and Most Terrible Judgement.
This last period in the history of the
world is divided, according to our interpretation, into three parts: (i) the
reign of the collective Antichrist of Soviet power, which has not yet come
to an end, (ii) the triumph of Orthodoxy and the preaching of the Gospel
throughout the world, which will come after a Third World War, and (iii) the
reign of the personal Antichrist, followed by the Second Coming of Christ, the
Last Judgement and the General Resurrection from the dead. This general
schema is most succinctly revealed in the words of the holy Russian New Martyr
Jacob Fyodorovich Arkatov (+1991), who said: All the prophecies speak not
about only one time for the reign of the Antichrist, but about three sections
of the last time: the first period is called the beginning of sorrows,
according to the prophetic words of the Saviour, or the apostasy,
according to the Apostle Paul, while in the Apocalypse of the Apostle John it
is marked as the coming out and reigning of the beast from the sea with his
head-followers. The second section of the last time is the beast was and is
not or the time of the preaching of the Gospel throughout the world. And
finally, the third period is really the time of the reign of the Antichrist.
The Saviour calls it the end, the beginning of which is the placing of the
abomination of desolation. The Apostle John calls it the coming out of the
beast from the abyss, which is the eighth in the dynasty of the beasts and
is of the number of the seven, while the Apostle Paul calls it the appearance
of the man of sin.[14]
Concerning the question of literal versus
symbolical meanings, Fr. Seraphim Rose notes that many would-be interpreters
of Scripture go astray precisely on this point, whether by a too-literal
understanding (as in the case of the Protestant Fundamentalists who come close
to believing that everything in the
Bible is literally true) or a too-free interpretation (as in the case of the
liberals who dismiss everything difficult to believe as symbolic or allegorical).
In the Orthodox interpretation of Scripture these two levels of meaning, the
literal and symbolical, are often intertwined...
The visions of the Apocalypse
sometimes
present heavenly realities in forms adapted to the understanding of the seer
(the vision of Christ in chapter 1; of heaven in chs. 4-7; of the future age in
chs. 21-22); sometimes they present allegorical pictures of the Church and her
life (the woman clothed with the sun
in ch. 12, the thousand years of the
Churchs existence in ch. 20), or of specific beings that war against the
Church (the dragon in ch. 12, the two beasts of ch. 13), or of future events,
whether general (the four horsemen of ch. 6) or specific (the seven last
plagues of ch. 15).[15]
At this point we should consider the
objection that the Apocalypse is not a truly prophetic book, but simply
non-historical allegory; that in this book, in the words of Fr. Alexander
Kolesnikov, there is no foretelling of events and processes in Church and
world history, but there is represented in symbols the inner struggle of the
soul of the individual Christian between good and evil, God and Satan.[16]
This appears to have been the view of, for example, Metropolitan Anthony
(Khrapovitsky) of Kiev, first president of the Russian Church Abroad, who said
that the Apocalypse contains in itself, not a foretelling of definite events,
as is usually thought, but instruction for the Christians, exhorting them to
martyrdom. It depicts the struggle between good and evil, which takes places in
all generations of human history and usually leads to the triumph of evil on
earth.[17]
Now this is certainly part of the meaning of the book. But that definite prophecies of
future events are also contained in it is made clear at the very beginning,
where the seer is told: Write the things
which thou has seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be
hereafter (1.19). And again: Come up
hither, and I will thee things which must be hereafter (4.1). And: The Lord God sent His angel to show unto
His servants the things which must be shortly hereafter (22.6).
This is no realized eschatology, but a
clear reference to future events. And if it be objected that the end of the
world and the last judgement did not come shortly
thereafter, the fulfilment of the prophecy did, nevertheless, begin in St. Johns time and in any
case, in the eyes of God one day is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (II Peter 3.8).
Therefore the whole period between the First and Second Comings of Christ may
indeed be called a short period in eschatological terms.
Like other prophecies of the Old and New
Testaments, the Apocalypse refers to events in both the near and the distant
future, both what was shortly to happen in the Church towards the end of the
first century A.D., and what is to come to pass at the end of the world and
even after the last and most terrible judgement.
Sometimes a single prophecy refers simultaneously to near and far events.
For example, the Lords prophecies in Matthew 24 refer, according to St.
Ephraim the Syrian, to the punishment of Jerusalem and at the same time to the
end of the world.[18]
Again, just as Daniels famous prophecy of the
abomination of desolation (Daniel 9.27) refers simultaneously to the
Romans desecration of the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D., and to the enthronement of
the Antichrist at the end of the world, and perhaps also to other acts of
apostasy in world history.
Similarly, it is the profound conviction
of the True Orthodox Christians of Russia that since 1917 we are living in the
times of the Apocalypse and that the prophecies concerning the woman fleeing
into the wilderness, the two beasts, the whore of Babylon, etc. can be
interpreted as referring to different aspects of life under the Soviet
(collective) Antichrist. At the same time these prophecies may be fulfilled
again, and still more precisely, under the Jewish (personal) Antichrist, who
will be enthroned in Jerusalem seven years before the end of the world. One purpose
of the present work is to acquaint the general reader with the remarkable
prophecies and interpretations of the holy Fathers and Martyrs of the Russian
Church during the last two centuries. For it is the Russian Church which has
both borne the chief brunt of antichristian persecution in this period and
given birth to the greatest number of prophets capable of interpreting the
signs of the times. These include Saints Seraphim of Sarov, Ambrose of Optina,
John of Kronstadt and many of the holy new martyrs and confessors.
Thus, as Tikhomirov writes, besides the
usual symbolism, we must bear in mind that various events in the world are
so-called types of other events which
follow them. In the type, which has an exceptionally great significance in Christian
exegesis, we come across one of the most mysterious of the worlds phenomena.[19]
Having said that, there is no doubt that
the dogmatic content of the
Apocalypse is hardly less important that its prophetic, eschatological content.
Thus in it we find very valuable witnesses to the dogmas of the Holy Trinity,
the Divinity of Christ and especially the dogma of the One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church. For in our present age, when all the Christian dogmas are
under ferocious attack, the witness of the Apocalypse to the nature of the
relationship between Christ and His Church is especially valuable. Thus here we
see Christ exhorting, praising, warning and comforting local Churches,
promising eternal life to some and threatening others with excommunication. And
here, too, we find many references to the liturgical life of the early Church,
to the Eucharistic Sacrifice, to candles and vestments and incense, to the
prayers of the Saints and the intimate interpenetration of the Heavenly and
Earthly Churches. In all this we find confirmation of the Faith and practice of
the Orthodox Church and refutation of the heresies of Catholicism and
Protestantism.
Moreover, we see in the Apocalypse that
the Church is One, united through the One Faith under a single Head, Christ;
and that those who fall away into various sects and heresies are not part of
the One Church but cut off from both her and her Head. This is a valuable
witness against the chief heresy of our time, ecumenism, which denies the dogma
of the One Church. Finally, we are given a vision of the Church in glory beyond
space and time, which, in our age, when the vision of the Church has become so
trivialised, is not the least of the books many treasures.
Again, the prophetic and dogmatic content
of the Apocalypse is intimately connected with its pastoral content. Since we live in the last times, in constant
peril of being at any moment cut off from Christ and His Holy Church, the Chief
Shepherd addresses us with words charged with pastoral love and concern. He
exhorts us to flee the moral laxity and indifference to the truth of the false
religions and culture of our time, symbolized by the figure of the whore of
Babylon, and to stand firm against the attempts of the false political and scientific
structures of our time, symbolized by the two beasts, to accept the seal of the
Antichrist.
He fills us with a godly fear by depicting
the torments that await the impious, but strengthens us with hope in the
eventual complete triumph of truth over falsehood and the indescribable joy of
the life of the age to come. The choice is set before us in the starkest
possible terms. But lest we grow faint-hearted at the enormity of the
challenge, He shows us that He and the whole might of the Heavenly Church are
ready to help us at any moment.
Some words on the structure of the work.
With this question are bound up many basic problems of interpretation. For it
is precisely with the understanding of the plan of the Apocalypse that the
difficulties begin. The basic question comes down to: are the events foretold
in the Apocalypse ordered in one consequential series, or are we dealing with
several repeated series of events in which the same events are enlightened from
various sides (the theory of recapitulation).[20]
I believe that the Apocalypse most
naturally divides into three major prophecies, each of which ends with the end
of the world or, in the case of the third prophecy, the life of the age to
come. The first prophecy, The Seven Churches of Asia, relates in the first
place to the spiritual life of the Seven Local Churches of Asia Minor at the
end of the first century A.D. According to an interpretation of Archbishop
Averky which I shall develop in detail, the prophecy also refers to seven
phases in the life of the Church as a whole from the first century to the
Antichrist. The second prophecy, The Seven Seals, describes, according to the
present interpretation, the history of the Church in the last times, from 1914
to the Second Coming of Christ. The third prophecy, The Seven Vials, is the
least historical, or, to put it another way, the most meta-historical; for the
main figures symbolize the True Church, the False Church, False Politics and
False Science in all ages and places. At the same time, they clearly relate to
historical events of the last times described in the two earlier prophecies,
but in a more generalized way. Thus the woman fleeing into the wilderness,
while referring to the True Church in all ages fleeing from the world, also
recalls more specifically the Philadelphian Church of chapter three and her
sufferings. Again, the beast who destroys the whore and is in turn destroyed by
Christ is clearly the same Antichrist against which the two witnesses prophesy
in chapter ten.
I agree with Tikhomirov that a
chronological succession of events seems to be noticeable in three parts of the
Apocalypse: 1) in the instruction to the seven churches of Asia, 2) in the
breaking of the seals, 3) in the seven trumpet voices and the seven vials of
the wrath of God.[21]
Accordingly, I have given an historical interpretation to each of these three
parts. The extremely complex symbols of this prophecy may be seen as describing
the struggle between the mystery of
godliness (I Timothy 3.16) and the
mystery of iniquity (II Thessalonians 2.7) from before the beginning
of the visible creation to beyond its end as we know it. For the Apocalypse
ultimately goes beyond time and into eternity, the Eighth Day. It is the Revelation of Jesus Christ (1.1), the Word Who was in the beginning (John
1.1) and of Whose knowledge there will be no end (John 21.25). That is
why, although the passing of time and the emergence of new signs of the times
has to some degree increased our knowledge, the Apocalypse remains, for all
those still clothed in flesh and blood, a sealed book.
The Apocalypse constitutes as it were a
great river formed out of rivers and streams of Old Testament prophecy united
into one and falling into the sea of eternity itself.[22]
In the following interpretation, therefore, my main source has been Old and New
Testament prophecy. In addition, on the principle that the Spirit that speaks
through the prophets is one, I have made extensive use of many prophecies of
Orthodox saints, and especially of recent saints of the Russian Catacomb
Church, which seem to me to illumine passages from the Apocalypse when set next
to them. Several of these prophecies refer to a Third World War and a period of
peace and plenty immediately after the war but before the reign of the personal
Antichrist. I admit that the conjunction of these prophecies with the
Apocalypse is speculative; only time, and the fulfilment of the prophecies
themselves, will tell whether it has been successful; and I ask the readers
forgiveness if it turns out to be mistaken in any given case.
As regards commentaries on the Scripture,
I have made extensive use of the writings of the holy Fathers and Teachers of
the Orthodox Church, including the well-known commentaries of St. Hippolytus,
Pope of Rome (about 230) and St. Andrew, Archbishop of Caesarea (fifth
century). However, the meaning of the Apocalypse is only partly explained by
the interpretations of holy Fathers who lived many centuries before our time.
If they had lived in our time, when many of the prophecies are being fulfilled
before our eyes, they would undoubtedly have wanted to modify and add to their
interpretations to accord with their understanding of contemporary events. For,
as Fr. Seraphim Rose notes, as history proceeds to its end, the meaning of
some of the images will become clearer. Archbishop Averky himself notes that
some of the image simply cannot be understood yet, while of others (for
example, the locusts and horses of ch. 9) he hazards
interpretations based on the 20th-century experience of warfare.[23]
In addition, therefore, to the writings of
the early Fathers, I have made use of many articles and observations by
contemporary or near-contemporary Church writers who have illumined, as it
seems to me, certain passages. Among these I have made extensive use of the
commentaries of Bishop Peter of Tomsk, St. John of Kronstadt (+1908),
Archbishop Theophanes of Poltava (+1940) and Archbishop Averky of Jordanville
(+1976).
East House, Beech Hill, Mayford, Woking,
Surrey. United Kingdom.
February 24 / March 9, 2005.
Finding of the Head of the Holy Prophet, Forerunner
and Baptist John.
I. THE FIRST VISION: THE SEVEN CHURCHES
Introduction. The First and the Last
1.1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass.
St.
John of Kronstadt writes: "The name
Apocalypse, i.e. the Revelation of
Jesus Christ, signifies the declaration of the mysteries of the future
judgement and recompense [and] renovation of the world, which must shortly come to pass. Shortly, however, in this sense, as St. Andrew of Caesarea says,
that something of what is predicted in the Revelation is, so to speak, at hand.
But even that which relates to the end of time is not very distant, for a
thousand years before God are as yesterday."[24]
One
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (II
Peter 3.8).
As Nicholas Vasileiades writes, "just
as the first book of Holy Scripture, Genesis, is concerned with the creation of the world, so the last, the Apocalypse,
is concerned with the consummation of all
things.[25]
The authority for this prophecy is Jesus Christ, Who received it from God
the Father; for I do nothing of Myself;
but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things (John 8.28).
All prophecy comes from the Father, in the
Son, and through the Holy Spirit. It is not given to human nature,
unenlightened by the Grace of God, to know the future. That is why the Lord in His manhood said of His Second
Coming: Of that day and that hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but
the Father (Mark 13.32), while in
His Divinity He certainly knew both the day and the hour.
For, as St. Athanasius the Great points
out, "after saying neither the Son
He relates to the disciples the things which will precede that day, and says
that this and that will happen, and then the end. Now He that speaks of what
will precede that day also has full knowledge of that day which will come after
the events foretold. And if He had not known the hour, He would not have
pointed to the events preceding it, not knowing when that hour would be...
Certainly, then, it is evident that as the Word He knows the hour and the end
of all things, although as man He is ignorant of it; for ignorance is proper to
man, and especially in these matters."[26]
1.1-2. And He sent and signified it by His angel
unto His servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony
of Jesus Christ, and of all things that He saw.
The
Revelation was transmitted through an angel to God's servant John the
Apostle and Evangelist, who then recorded it for posterity. Such is the mark of
all true knowledge. It comes to us from God, through the mediation of His holy
servants - angels, apostles and prophets.
Thus St. Ambrose of Optina writes:
"All that relates to the creation of the world, the destinies of peoples
and the salvation of men has been revealed by the Almighty Lord to chosen holy
men, prophets and apostles, who were enlightened by the light of His Divine
knowledge, and by whom all this was handed down and written in the Bible, that
is, in the books of the Old and New Testaments."[27]
However, in the Holy Scriptures there are some things hard to understand, which they
that are unlearned and unstable wrest... unto their own destruction (II
Peter 3.16). Especially is this true of prophecy, which is why no prophecy is of any private
interpretation (II Peter 1.20). Thus "everything in the Bible
which is hidden and unclear has been explained to other holy men chosen by God,
pastors and teachers of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church" (St.
Ambrose).
And yet even the saints trembled on
approaching the interpretation of the Apocalypse. For, as St. Hippolytus of
Rome writes, "if the blessed prophets who preceded us did not choose to
proclaim these things, though they knew them, openly and boldly, lest they
should disquiet the souls of men, but recounted them mystically in parables and
dark sayings, speaking thus, Here is the
mind that hath wisdom (17.9), how much greater risk shall we run in
venturing to declare openly things spoken by them in obscure terms!"[28]
But out of love for their fellow men they did approach the interpretation of
this mysterious work, lest Christians should be deprived of the enormous
spiritual riches contained within it.
Thus every individual Christian on
approaching the Scriptures, and a fortiori the Apocalypse, is in the
position of the Ethiopian eunuch, who, on being asked whether he understood
what he was reading, replied: How can I,
unless some man should guide me? (Acts 8.31). So he has recourse to
the pastors and teachers of the Church, from whom he receives the true
understanding of Scripture, the interpretation that has been handed down in the
Church from the earliest Christian generations. Every succeeding generation of
Christian teachers builds on this sacred deposit of inspired scriptural
interpretation, making clear "what is hidden and unclear in the Bible, not
according to their own understanding, but as it is explained in the books of
men inspired by God and enlightened with the light of Divine knowledge,... the
books of the holy and God-inspired Fathers of the Orthodox Church" (St.
Ambrose).
It is on the basis of this "consensus
of the Fathers" that we know that the writer of the Apocalypse was the
Apostle John. Thus Archbishop Averky writes: "The writer of the Apocalypse
calls himself John (1.1, 4.9). In
the common belief of the Church, this was the holy Apostle John, the beloved
disciple of Christ, who for the height of his teaching concerning God the Word
received the distinctive title of 'Theologian'. To his inspired pen belongs
also the fourth canonical Gospel and the three Catholic Epistles. This belief
of the Church is justified both by facts indicated in the Apocalypse itself,
and by many internal and external signs.
"1) The writer of the Apocalypse calls
himself John at the very beginning,
saying that to him was given the Revelation of Jesus Christ (1.1). Further,
greeting the seven churches of Asia Minor, he again calls himself John (1.4). Later he again calls himself
John, saying that he was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the
word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ (1.9). From the history
of the apostles it is known that it is precisely St. John the Theologian who
was subjected to exile on the island of Patmos. And finally, at the end of the
Apocalypse, the writer again calls himself John
(22.8). In the second verse of the first chapter, he calls himself an
eyewitness of Jesus Christ (cf. I John 1.3).
"The opinion that the Apocalypse was
written by a certain 'Presbyter John' is totally without foundation. The very
existence of this 'Presbyter John' as a person separate from the Apostle John
is rather dubious. The only testimony which gives reason to speak about
'Presbyter John' is a passage from a work of Papias which has been preserved by
the historian Eusebius. It is extremely indefinite and give opportunity only
for guesses and suppositions which contradict each other. Likewise the opinion
is totally without foundation that ascribes the writing of the Apocalypse to
John Mark, that is, the Evangelist Mark. Even more absurd is the opinion of the
Roman presbyter Gaius (3rd century) that the Apocalypse was written by the
heretic Cerinthus.
"2) The second proof that the
Apocalypse belongs to the Apostle John the Theologian is its similarity to the
Gospel and Epistles of John, not only in spirit but also in style, and
especially in several characteristic expressions. Thus, for example, the
apostolic preaching is called here testimony
or witness (1.2, 9; 20.4; cf. John
1.7; 3.11; 21.24; I John 5.9-10). The Lord Jesus Christ is called the Word (19.13; cf. John
1.1-14; I John 1.1) as well as the
Lamb (5.6; 17.14; cf. John 1.36). The prophetic words of Zechariah, And they shall look on Him Whom they
pierced (12.10), are cited identically both in the Gospel and in the
Apocalypse in accordance with the translation of the Seventy (1.7 and John
19.37).
"Some have found that the language of
the Apocalypse is supposedly to be distinguished from the language of the other
writings of the Apostle John. This difference is easily explained, both by the
difference of content and by the conditions in which the writings of the holy
Apostle had their origin. Although the holy apostle knew Greek well, still, finding
himself in exile far from the living conversational language, he naturally
placed in the Apocalypse the seal of the powerful influence of the Hebrew
language, being himself a Jew by birth. For the objective reader of the
Apocalypse there is no doubt that on its whole content there lies the seal of
the great spirit of the apostle of love and contemplation.
"3) All the ancient as well as the
later patristic testimonies acknowledge St. John the Theologian to be the
author of the Apocalypse. His disciple, Papias of Hierapolis, calls the writer
of the Apocalypse 'Presbyter John', a name which the holy apostle gives to
himself in his own Epistles (II John 1, III John 1).
"The testimony of St. Justin the
Martyr is also important. Before his conversion to Christianity he lived for a
long time in Ephesus, the city where the great apostle himself lived for a long
time and reposed.
"Furthermore, many holy Fathers cite
passages from the Apocalypse as from a Divinely inspired book belonging to St.
John the Theologian. Such quotations are to be found in the works of St.
Irenaeus of Lyons, the disciple of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, who himself was a
disciple of St. John the Theologian; St. Hippolytus, Pope of Rome and disciple
of Irenaeus, who even wrote an apology on the Apocalypse; Clement of
Alexandria, Tertullian and Origen likewise acknowledge the holy Apostle John as
the writer of the Apocalypse. In the same way Ephraim the Syrian, Epiphanius,
Basil the Great, Hilary, Athanasius the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Didymus,
Ambrose, Augustine and Jerome were convinced of this. The thirty-third canon of
the Council of Carthage, ascribing the Apocalypse to St. John the Theologian,
places it in the rank of the other canonical books."(Archbishop Averky)
1.3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear
the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein;
for the time is at hand.
"The book of the Apocalypse has,
consequently, not only a prophetic, but also a moral significance. The meaning
of these words is as follows: Blessed is he who, on reading this book, will
prepare himself by his life and deeds of piety for eternity; for the
translation to eternity is near for each one of us." (Archbishop Averky)
St. Barsanuphius of Optina wrote: "In
the Apocalypse it is said: Blessed is he
that readeth the words of this book. If this is written, it means that it
is really so, for the words of the Sacred Scripture are the words of the Holy
Spirit. But in what does this blessedness consist? The more so, in that people
may object that we do not understand anything of what is written. Perhaps it
consists in the consolation to be gained from reading the Divine words. One can
also think as follows: that which is not understood by us now will become
understandable when the time described comes to pass. Judge for yourselves. Who
reads the Apocalypse now? Almost exclusively those who live in monasteries and
in theological academies and seminaries - they have to. But in the world hardly
anyone reads it. Clearly, then, he who reads the Apocalypse before the end of
the world will be truly blessed, for he will understand what is taking place.
And in understanding he will prepare himself. In reading he will see in the
events described in the Apocalypse one or other of the events contemporary with
him."[29]
New Hieromartyr Bishop Mark (Novoselov)
writes: "Blessed is he that
readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy concerning the
future destinies of the Church and keep
those things that are written therein, cries the holy seer of her great and
wondrous destinies! Blessed is he who, attending to the Lord's revelation
concerning the destiny of the Church of God, does not doubt in the truth of her
triumph over her enemies or in the final, complete victory of her Founder and
supreme Master over the ancient serpent, the age-old slayer of man, who rose up
against the Kingdom of God and never ceases to arm himself against Him with all
the powers and resources of hell! Blessed is he who hopes on the almighty power
of the meek Lamb, slain for the salvation of the world, and who does not fall
away from Him amidst the terrible temptations that have befallen the Church,
but rather takes inspiration from his participation in her universal triumph, which
will be revealed at the end of the age!"[30]
1.4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia.
"The number seven is usually taken as
an expression of fulness. St. John addresses here only the seven churches with
which he, as one who lived in Ephesus, was in especially close and frequent
contact. But in these seven he addresses at the same time the Christian Church
as a whole." (Archbishop Averky)
St. Cyprian of Carthage writes: "In
the New Testament seven sons signify seven churches. For. Paul also wrote to
seven Churches (Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae and
Thessalonica), and in the Apocalypse (1.4) seven churches are mentioned
The
days of Genesis are seven, and the angels who are before the face of God
are seven, according to the words of the Angel Raphael in the book of Tobit
(12.15). And the lampstand in the tabernacle has seven lamps (Exodus
25.31), and God's eyes watching over the world are seven. And Zechariah's stone
has seven facets (Zechariah 3.9), and the spirits are seven, and the
pillars on which, according to Solomon, Wisdom has built her house, are
seven!"[31]
Samson, according to St. Ephraim the
Syrian, "carried seven cedars as an image of seven-rayed grace."[32]
And Delilah cut off seven locks of his hair, in which consisted his
extraordinary strength (Judges 16.14-19).[33]
By these seven churches, says the
Venerable Bede, he writes to every church, for universality is usually denoted
by the number seven, in that the whole time of this age is evolved from seven
days.[34]
For those numbers which the divine Scripture more eminently commends, as the
seventh, or tenth, or twelfth [signify], for the most part, either the whole
course of time, or the perfection of anything..., as seven times in a day I sing praise unto Thee (Psalm 98.164),
is nothing else than, His praise was
ever in my mouth (Psalm 32.2). And they are of the same value also
when they are multiplied either by ten, as seventy and seven hundred, in which
case, the seventy years of Jerusalem may be taken spiritually for the whole
time during which the Church is among aliens; or by themselves, as ten by ten
is a hundred, and twelve by twelve is a hundred and forty-four, by which number
the whole body of the saints is denoted in the Apocalypse.[35]
Lev
Tikhomirov writes: In the person [of the Asian churches] the Saviour addresses
the whole Universal Church in seven manfestations and moments of her
existence.[36]
If the number seven is an expression of
fullness, then the seven Churches express the fullness of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Church, which is, as it were, the Eighth, Universal Church dwelling in each of
the seven local ones.[37]
Again, St. Gregory Palamas points out
there are seven resurrections from the dead recorded in Holy Scripture before
the Lord's own (III Kings 17.22; IV Kings 4; IV Kings 13; Luke
7; Mark 5 and Luke 8; John 11 and Matthew
27.52-52). The number seven is to be honoured, he says, because it leads to the
number eight, which signifies eternity. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the
Church, rose on the eighth day and His resurrection was the eighth in Holy
Scripture.[38]
1.4. Grace unto you, from Him Who is, and Who was,
and Who is to come.
St. Andrew of Caesarea writes: "Grace
to you and peace from the Tri-Personal Divinity. The phrase Who is signifies the Father, Who said
to Moses: I AM HE WHO IS (Exodus
3.14). The expression Who was
signifies the Word, Who was in the
beginning with God (John 1.2). The phrase Who is to come indicates the Comforter, Who always descends upon
the Church's children in Holy Baptism and is to descend in all fullness in the
future age (Acts 2)."[39]
The Venerable Bede writes: Grace he
desires from us, and peace from God, the eternal Father, and from the sevenfold
Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, Who gave testimony to the Father in His
Incarnation. He names the Son in the third place, as he was to speak further of
Him. He names Him also the last in order, as He is the first and the last.
Grace descended upon the assembled Church
at Pentecost, revealing to them for the first time with full clarity the dogma
of the One God in Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is therefore
fitting that the first mention of the Holy Trinity in the Apocalypse should be
linked with the first mention of the Church. For the Church is the pillar and ground of the Truth (I
Timothy 3.15), and the many-personed reflection of the Trihypostatic
Divinity.
1.4. And from the seven spirits which are before
His throne.
"By these seven spirits it is most natural to understand the seven main
angels, who are mentioned in Tobit 12.15. St. Andrew of Caesarea,
however, understands by these the angels ruling the seven churches. But many
interpreters understand by this expression the Holy Spirit Himself, Who reveals
Himself in seven main gifts (cf. Isaiah 11.1-3)." (Archbishop
Averky)
The angels are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth
(Zechariah 4.10). They both intercede on our behalf (Matthew
18.10) and convey our prayers to God. It is not that God needs intermediaries,
nor that there is not only one Mediator between God and man, as being both God
and man, the Lord Jesus Christ (I Timothy 2.5). The mediation of angels
is simply the natural consequence of the living bond of faith and love existing
between the Church in heaven and the Church on earth (Hebrews 12.22-24).
St. Gregory Palamas writes: Saint Basil
says the energies of the Spirit are many. But on this account there are not
many Gods or many Spirits, for these realities are processions, manifestations
and natural energies of the one Spirit, and in each case the Agent is one. When
the heterodox call these creatures, they degrade the Spirit of God to a
creature sevenfold. But let their shame be sevenfold, for a prophet again says
of the energies, These are the seven
eyes that look upon all the earth [Zechariah 4.10]. And it is so
written in Revelation, and clearly demonstrates to the faithful that these are
the Holy Spirit.[40]
1.5. And from Jesus Christ, Who is the faithful
witness, and the first-begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of
the earth.
"For, having witnessed before Pontius
Pilate, He was faithful in all His words
(Psalm 144.13)." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
The Lord came into the world to witness to the truth - the truth,
namely, that He is the Christ, the Son
of God (John 18.37, 20.31). And he proved the truth of His words by
His Resurrection from the dead, becoming the
first-fruits of them that slept (I Corinthians 15.20). Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and
given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the
earth (Philippians 2.9-11; cf. I Timothy 6.16).
"In the greeting of St. John the
Theologian to the Churches the Trihypostatic Divinity, from Whom grace and
peace are bestowed, is represented symbolically. Thus when John speaks of the
Hypostasis of the Father, He mentions Him Who
is, and Who was, and Who is to come, that is, contains the beginning, the
middle and the end of all that exists. When He speaks of the Holy Spirit, he
mentions the seven spirits which are
before the throne of the Father, and this signifies the gifts of the
life-giving Spirit. But when he speaks of the second Person of the
Trihypostatic Divinity, he calls Him Jesus
Christ, Who is the faithful witness (for He witnessed before the sanhedrin
and Pilate to the fact that He was the true King and Son of God, sitting at the
right hand of the Father and being about to come on the clouds of heaven), the first-begotten from the dead (for
He is the resurrection of life) and the
prince of the kings of the earth (as King
of kings and Lord of lords)." (St. John of Kronstadt)
St. Athanasius writes: "He is said to
be the First-begotten from the dead,
not that He died before us, for we had died first; but because having undergone
death for us and abolished it, He was the first to rise as a man, for our sake
raising His own Body. Henceforth, He
having risen, we, too, from Him and because of Him rise in due course from the
dead."[41]
Prince
of the kings of the earth. A.
Zhdanov writes: This second (closely connected with the first) consequence of
the witness of the cross of Christ in relation to Him is the vesting in the
highest royal power over all the lords of the earth. In the Old Testament
through the lips of the prophets God announced the Messiah: I shall make Him My first-born, higher than
the kings of the earth (Psalm
88.28); I shall give Thee the
nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy
possession (Psalm2.8); cf. Daniel
7.14; Isaiah 9.6-7). In the New Testament the Old Testament prophecies
have been fulfilled: Jesus Christ, having brilliantly overthrown the kingdoms
of the world and their glory, offered to Him by the prince of darkness (Matthew
4.8-10), by the all-powerful right hand of God the Father is seated at His
right hand after the resurrection and ascension, far above every dominion and
authority and power and lordship (Ephesians 1.21), as the head of every
authority and power (Colossians 2.10; cf. Philippians 2.8-10),
and, according to the book of Revelation, as the Lord of lords and King of
kings he will war against the rulers that are hostile to Him and opposed to the
power of God and His Christ (Revelation 17.14; 19.16).[42]
1.5-6. Unto Him that loveth us, and washed us from
our sins in His own blood, and hath made us a kingdom and priests unto God and
His Father; to Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.
In
the Old Testament, God ordained the Hebrews to be a peculiar people above all nations,... a royal priesthood and a holy
nation (Exodus 19.5-6), some from among them being specially set
aside and anointed for a kingly or priestly service. In the same way, in the
New Testament, God has ordained the Church, the Israel of God (Galatians 6.16), composed of both Jews
and Gentiles, to be a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people (I Peter 2.9),
some from among us being in a similar manner specially set aside and ordained
for a kingly or priestly service. And this is accomplished through our life in
the Holy One of Israel, the King and Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. For as
Christ the King showed Himself Victor over death and over him that has the
power of death, the devil (Hebrews 2.14), so we through Him have the
power to conquer the death-dealing passions, and to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy
(Luke 10.19). And as Christ the Great High Priest offered Himself as a
Sacrifice on the Cross for the sins of the world, so we through Him offer both
our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God (Romans 12.1) and the sacrifice of praise to God continually (Hebrews 13.15).[43]
Because the King of kings and heavenly
Priest united us to His own body by offering Himself for us, there is not one
of the saints who has not spiritually the office of priesthood, in that he is a
member of the eternal Priest. (The Venerable Bede).
Archimandrites Seraphim and Sergius write:
"Independently of this universal priesthood of the people of God, which is
received by each Orthodox Christian in the sacrament of holy chrismation, there
exist special ministries in the Church that are linked with official gifts
received in the sacrament of the priesthood by means of ordination in
accordance with apostolic succession...
"And in the Old Testament God calls
the Israelite people a kingdom of
priests (Exodus 19.6), but only in a general, metaphorical sense,
for the special priesthood serving the temple in Jerusalem was given by God not
to the whole people, but to one of the twelve tribes of Israel - the tribe of
Levi (Numbers 3.6-12; cf. Hebrews 7.11). Consequently, the universal priesthood of the Israelite
people did not at all exclude the necessity of a special priesthood, whose ministry was inaccessible even to royal
personages, as appears from the incident with King Uzziah, who was punished by
God with leprosy for having dared to cense in the temple of the Lord (II
Chronicles 26.19).
"In conformity with this, there
exists also in the New Testament, besides the universal royal priesthood (I Peter 2.9), which consists of the
Orthodox Christians as being the holy
people (in the sense of dedicated to God), a grace-filled, ministerial
priesthood selected from its midst, which does not extend to laymen, who have
not received the special consecration in accordance with the line of apostolic
succession."[44]
Unto the
ages of ages. St. John of Damascus writes: "He
created the ages Who Himself was before the ages, Whom the divine David thus
addresses, From age to age Thou art
(Psalm 89.2). The divine apostles also says, Through Whom He created the ages (Hebrews 1.2).
"It must then be understood that the
word 'age' has various meanings, for it denotes many things. The life of each
man is called an age. Again, a period of a thousand years is called an age.
Again, the whole course of the present life is called an age. Also, the future
life, the immortal life after the resurrection, is spoken of as an age. Again,
the word 'age' is used to denote, not time nor yet a part of time as measured
by the movement and course of the sun, that is to say, composed of days and
nights, but the sort of temporal motion and interval that is co-extensive with
eternity. For age is to things eternal what time is to things temporal.
"Seven ages of this world are spoken
of, from the creation of the heaven and earth till the general consummation and
resurrection of men. For there is a partial consummation, viz., the death of
each man; but there is also a general and complete consummation, when the
general resurrection of men will come to pass. And the eighth age is the age to
come.
"Before the world was formed, when
there was as yet no sun dividing day from night, there was not an age such as
could be measured, but there was the sort of temporal motion and interval that
is co-extensive with eternity. And in this sense there is but one age, and God
is spoken of as aiwnioV
and proaiwnioV,
for the age or aeon itself is His creation. For God, Who alone is without
beginning is Himself the Creator of all things, whether age or any other
existing thing. And when I say God, it is evident that I mean the Father and
His Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and His all-holy Spirit, our one
God.
"But we speak also of ages of ages, inasmuch as the seven
ages of the present world include many ages in the sense of lives of men, and the
one age embraces all ages, and the present and the future are spoken of as ages
of ages. Further, everlasting life and everlasting punishment prove that the
age or aeon to come is unending. For time will not be counted by days and
nights even after the resurrection, but there will rather be one day with no
evening, wherein the Sun of Righteousness will shine brightly on the righteous,
but for the sinful there will be night profound and limitless... Of all the
ages, therefore, the sole creator is God, Who hath also created the universe
and Who was before the ages."[45]
1.7. Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye
shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of Him.
He
Who was concealed when at first He came to be judged, will be manifested when
He shall come to judge (The Venerable Bede).
Patriarch Anthimus of Jerusalem writes:
"The clouds signify the heavenly powers of angels and saints."[46]
"Here is depicted the second glorious
Coming of Christ, in complete agreement with the depiction of this Coming in
the Gospels (Matthew 24.30, 25.31; Mark 13.26; Luke 21.27;
John 19.37). After the greeting (in the first verses of the book), in
this verse the holy apostle immediately speaks of the Second Coming of Christ
and of the Last Judgement in order to signify the chief theme of this book. This is done in order to prepare readers
to accept the great and fearful revelations which he has received about
this." (Archbishop Averky)
1.7-8. Even so, Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to
come, the Almighty.
St.
Gregory the Theologian writes: This is clearly spoken of the Son.[47]
By
interposing an Amen, He confirms that that which, by the revelation of God, he
knows will most certainly to come to pass, will undoubtedly take place (The
Venerable Bede).
I am the
First and the Last; besides Me there is no God (Isaiah
44.6; cf. 48.12).
Thou
rulest over all things, O Lord, Thou art the Beginning of every beginning (I
Chronicles 29.12).
Blessed Jerome writes: The apostle
writing to the Ephesians [1.10] teaches that God has purposed in the fullness
of time to sum up and renew in Christ Jesus all things which are in heaven and
in earth. Whence also the Saviour Himself in the Revelation of John says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning
and the End.[48]
He is the beginning Whom no one precedes,
the end Whom no one succeeds in His Kingdom (The Venerable Bede).
"The
Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Almighty signifies that
in Jesus Christ is the beginning, the middle and the end of everything that
exists." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"To confirm the unchangeableness and
inevitability of the Second Coming and the Last Judgement of God, the holy
apostle adds, on his own part: Even so,
Amen, and then testifies to the truth of this by indicating Him Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and
the end of everything that exists: the Lord Jesus Christ is the One Who
alone is without beginning and without end, the cause of everything that
exists; He is eternal; He is the end and the aim towards which everything
strives." (Archbishop Averky)
"The Greeks have twenty-four letters,
of which the first is 'alpha' and the last is 'omega', signifying that even
before the creation of the world and after its end God is without beginning and
infinite." (Patriarch Anthimus)
"In verse 4 above the words Which is, and which was, and which is to
come refer to the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, as explained by St.
Andrew; this is clear because the same sentence continues (in verse 5), and from Jesus Christ. Here, however,
with the addition of the words the
Almighty, the same words refer to One Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus
Christ, and are used by St. Gregory the Theologian in his treatise 'On the Son'
as a proof that Jesus Christ is truly God (Third Theological Oration,
ch. 17; Eerdmans tr., p. 307). St. Athanasius the Great, in his First
Discourse against the Arians, uses the same quote from the Apocalypse to
prove the same thing (ch. 4, Eerdmans translation, p. 312). Concerning this St.
Andrew says in his commentary (ch. 1), 'The divinely splendid words are fitting
equally for each of the Persons separately and for All together.'"[49]
In these two verses the vast scope and
supreme authority of the Apocalypse is indicated. As in the beginning of St.
John's Gospel, Jesus Christ is unambiguously proclaimed to be no one less than
the Pre-eternal God. So His Revelation is no merely human speculation about the
future, but the product of the Divine omniscience which surveys the whole of
human history from the viewpoint of eternity.
1.9. I John, who also am your brother, and companion
in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the
isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus
Christ.
"As for the means by which he was
given revelations, St. John indicates first of all the place where he was
vouchsafed to receive them. This is the island of Patmos, one of the Sporades
islands in the Aegean Sea, a desert and precipitous place 40 miles in
circumference, located between the island of Icaria and the Cape of Miletus,
little inhabited because of the lack of water, the unhealthy climate and the
barrenness of the earth. In a cave in a certain mountain, even there is
indicated the place where St. John received the revelations. Here there is a
small Greek monastery, called 'the Monastery of the Apocalypse'.
"In the same verse mention is also
made of the time when St. John received
the Apocalypse. This was when St. John was in exile on the island of Patmos, in
his own expression, for the word of God
and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, that is, for his fervent apostolic
preaching of Jesus Christ. The fiercest persecution against Christians in the
first century was under the Emperor Nero. Tradition says that St. John first of
all was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, out of which he emerged unharmed
and with renewed strength. The expression in
tribulation, according to the meaning of the original Greek expression,
signifies here the 'suffering' which occurred as a result of persecution and
torment - the same thing as 'martyrdom'.
"However, ancient tradition indicates
for this [the time of writing of the Apocalypse] the end of the first century.
Thus St. Irenaeus writes, 'The Apocalypse appeared not long before this and
almost in our time, at the end of the reign of Domitian' (Against Heresies
5.30). The church historian Eusebius states that the pagan writers contemporary
to him also mention the exile of the holy Apostle John on the island of Patmos
for his testimony of the Divine Word, and they refer this event to the 15th
year of the reign of Domitian, 95 or 96 A.D. Clement of Alexandria, Origen and
Blessed Jerome affirm the same thing...
"Each of the seven Asia Minor
churches which St. John addresses already has its own history and a direction
of religious life which in one way or another has already been defined.
Christianity in them is already not in its first stage of purity and truth;
false Christianity strives to occupy a place in them side by side with true
Christianity. All this presupposes that the activity of the holy Apostle Paul,
who preached for a long time in Ephesus, was something that had occurred in the
distant past. This point of view, founded upon the testimony of St. Irenaeus
and Eusebius, refers the time of writing of the Apocalypse to the years 95-96
A.D." (Archbishop Averky)
Another fact in favour of this date is the
reference, in chapter 2 verse 13, to the Martyr Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum,
who is known to have died in 92 A.D.
1.10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and
heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.
"This condition of seeing with
incorporeal eyes and hearing without bodily ears but with one's spiritual
nature, is different from dreaming, for it takes place also when one is awake,
in the struggle of prayer. This is a condition of spiritual contemplation in
which the visible and the invisible supplement each other in one and the same
place, at one and the same time." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"In this verse St. John gives the
very day on which he was vouchsafed the revelations. This was the Lord's day (in Greek, Kuriakh hmera),
which is Sunday. This was the first day of the week, which the Jews called mia Sabbatwn,
that is, the first day after the Sabbath;
but the Christians called it 'the Lord's day' in honour of the Resurrected
Lord. The very existence of such a name already indicates that the Christians
celebrated this day in place of the Old Testament Sabbath." (Archbishop
Averky)[50]
St. Jerome writes: "The Lord's day,
the day of the Resurrection, the day of Christians, is our day. It is called
the Lord's day because on this day the Lord ascended to the Father as Victor;
but when the heathens call it the day of the sun, we are most happy to
acknowledge their title, for today has risen the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings (Malachi
4.2)."[51]
The Lord's day is also known in Church
Tradition as the eighth day. It signifies the beginning of eternity, as opposed
to the seventh day, which signifies the fullness of time. "The sixth psalm
has the superscription: A Psalm of David
at the end of the hymns, concerning the eighth, which by interpretation
means concerning the eighth day, that is, the general day of the resurrection
and of the coming terrible judgement of God..." (St. Ambrose)
"Having
mentioned the place and time, St. John indicates likewise his own condition, in
which he was vouchsafed the apocalyptic visions. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, he says. In the language of
the Prophets, to be in the Spirit is
to be in the spiritual condition of a man who sees, hears and feels not only
with his bodily organs, but with all his inward being. This is not a dream, for
such a condition occurs also when one is awake.
"In such an extraordinary condition
of his spirit," continues Archbishop Averky, "St. John heard a loud
voice as of a trumpet:
He is first admonished by a voice, that
he may direct his attention to the vision (The Venerable Bede).
1.11. Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
First and the Last; and what thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the
seven churches which are in Asia: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto
Pergamum, and unto Thyateira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto
Laodicea.
"He called Himself, not in Hebrew, but
in Greek: the Alpha and the Omega, the
First and the Last. To the Jews in the Old Testament He revealed Himself
under the name 'Jehovah', which signifies 'He that exists from the beginning'
or 'He Who Is'; but here He calls Himself by the first and last letters of the
Greek alphabet, indicating by this that He contains within Himself, like the
Father, everything that exists in all the manifestations of being from the
beginning to the end. It is characteristic that He declares Himself here as it
were under a new name, and it is a Greek name, the Alpha and the Omega, as if desiring to show that He is the
Messiah for all peoples, who at that time everywhere spoke the Greek language
and used the Greek written language.
"The revelation is given to the seven
churches comprising the metropolia of Ephesus, which St. John the Theologian
then governed, having his permanent dwelling in Ephesus. But of course, in the
person of these seven churches the revelation is also given to the whole
Church. The number seven, moreover, has a mystical meaning, signifying
completeness. Therefore it may be placed here as a symbol of the Ecumenical
Church, to which as a whole the Apocalypse is addressed." (Archbishop
Averky)
The Church of Christ was not at that time
only in these places, but all fulness is comprised in the number seven. Asia,
which is interpreted to mena elevation, denotes the proud exaltation of the
world in which the Church is sojourning, and, as is the method of the divine
mystery, the genus is contained in the species. For the Apostle Paul also
writes to seven churches, but not to the same as St. John. And although these
seven churches are a sevenfold figure of the whole Church, still the things
which he blames, or praises, came to pass in them one by one (The Venerable
Bede).
Pilgrims to the Cave of the Apocalypse on
Patmos are shown a three-pronged crevice in the ceiling of the cave which is
said to have been created when the Lord spoke to St. John.
1.12-16. And I turned to see the voice that spake
with me. And, being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst
of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment
down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and
His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame
of fire. And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. And
His voice as the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven
stars. And out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword. And His countenance
was as the sun shining in his strength.
The seven
candlesticks here, which represent the grace-bearing capacity of the New
Testament Church, should be compared with the single candlestick in Zechariah 4, which refers to that of
the Old Testament Church. As David Baron explains: "Often did God in
effect threaten Israel through the prophets to remove His candlestick; but in
His long-suffering for a long time, even after the sceptre, the emblem of governmental power, had
been removed, the candlestick - which is
the emblem of Israel's religious or ecclesiastical position as witness for God
- was not taken away till the cup of his national iniquity was filled up in the
rejection of Him Who is the Light of
light, for the diffusion of which this very candlestick was formed, and in
their final resistance of the Holy Spirit. Then the Kingdom of God was taken
away from them and given to a nation
bringing forth the fruit thereof.
"On the disappearance of the candlestick
from Israel, the seven golden
candlesticks come into view as representing the new people of God, the Church
of this dispensation planted on the earth, that during the period of Israel's
blindness and darkness it might fulfil Israel's mission of shining before the
Lord in His sanctuary, and letting its light stream out into the night of the
world's darkness: the seven as representing the Church, instead of the one as
representing Israel is not without significance.
"The seven Christian ekklhsiai
selected by the Lord out of the many Christian assemblies which already then
existed even in that one pro-consular province of Asia, to be symbolised by the
seven golden lucniai
(lampstands), are meant to represent the
one Church of Christ through all time, and in all places, during the present
dispensation."[52]
This description of Christ is closely
reminiscent of the Ancient of Days (Daniel
7.9-10, 13-14; cf. 10.5-6). The
following elements may be discerned in it according to Archbishop Averky's
interpretation: (i) the Great High Priest clothed in the ephod, a garment of
the Jewish chief priests (Exodus 28.31); (ii) the King girded about the
breast with a golden belt; (iii) the Pre-eternal God of one essence with the
Father, Whose white hair signifies His eternity (Daniel 7.13; cf. Matthew
17.2); (iv) the fearful Judge of the living and the dead, Whose eyes see all
and Whose word is all-penetrating (cf. Hebrews 4.12); (v) the Lord of
the Church, in Whose hand are all Her shepherds ("these seven stars signify
the seven representatives of the churches, or bishops, called here the angels of the churches"). Once
again, the emphasis is on the Divine nature of Christ, which is characteristic
of all of St. John's writings.
"That which was a foreshadowing in
the vision of the Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah ch. 6) was contemplated by John
in its fullness, for instead of the Seraphim the Son of Man was surrounded by
seven candlesticks, that is, by the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, and in
His right hand were seven stars, that is, the leaders of the Universal Church,
through whom He steered the helm of the great church ark. His being clothed in
a podir has the same significance as the long garment filling the temple
to the edges in the vision of the holy Prophet Isaiah, that is, the fullness of
grace given by the Church. His being girded round the breast with a golden belt
signifies the grace of the two Testaments: the Old and the New, by which the
righteous wrath of God is as it were bound by the promises of clemency for
sinners." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"The Orthodox Church service for the
Meeting of the Lord (Feb. 2) identifies the Ancient of Days with God the Son ('The Ancient of Days appears this
day as a babe'). Thus, in this interpretation, when Daniel beheld the Ancient
of Days and the Son of Man together, it was a vision of the Divine and human
natures of Christ. Some Fathers, however, understand the Ancient of Days to be
God the Father; in this case, the vision if of Two Persons of the Holy Trinity,
and as St. John Chrysostom says in his commentary on Daniel, this prophet 'was
the first and only one (in the Old Testament) to see the Father and the Son, as
if in a vision.' For the devout student of Scripture, of course, there is no
'contradiction' between these two interpretations; in such mystical visions we
do not see a 'literal picture' of the Godhead (such as to believe that God
really is an 'old man', but only a hint of Divine mysteries.) Thus, in his
commentary on the same passage of Daniel, St. John Chrysostom adds: 'Do not
seek clarity in prophecies, where there are shadows and riddles, just as in
lightning you do not seek a constant light, but are satisfied that it only
flashes momentarily.'"[53]
By paps
he here means the two Testaments, with which He feeds the body of the saints in
communion with Himself. For the golden girdle is the choir of the saints, which
cleaves to the Lord in harmonious love, and embraces the Testaments, keeping, as the Apostle says, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace (Ephesians 4.3). The antiquity and eternity of majesty are
represented by whiteness on the head
The eyes of the Lord are the preachers,
who, with spiritual fire, bring light to the faithful and to the unbelieving a
consuming flame. By the fiery feet
he means the Church of the last times, which is to be searched and proved by
severe afflictions. In the right hand
of Christ is the spiritual Church. On
Thy right hand, he says, stood the
queen in a vesture of gold (Psalm 44.10). And as it stands on His
right hand, He saith, Come, ye blessed
of My Father, receive the Kingdom (Matthew 25.34). (The Venerable
Bede)
1.17. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as
dead.
"The
spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26.41). It is
dust, and for that reason strong tension of the spirit weakens the links of the
flesh which are called nerves, and loss of consciousness may result, as in a
faint or when one is dying. The Prophet Daniel mentions this exhaustion when he
was counted worthy of may mystic visions about the coming events of world
history which had to do with the God's kingdom of glory on earth." (St.
John of Kronstadt)
"From this one may conclude that the
beloved disciple, who had once lain on the breast of Jesus, did not recognize in
the One Who had appeared a single familiar feature. And this is not surprising;
for if the disciples did not easily recognize their Lord after His Resurrection
in His glorified body on earth, all the more difficult would it be to recognize
Him in this resplendent heavenly glory." (Archbishop Averky)
Yea,
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no
more (II Corinthians 5.16).
1.17-18. And He laid His right and upon Me, saying
unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last: I am He that liveth, and was
dead; and behold, I am alive unto the ages of ages, Amen; and I have the keys
of hades and death.
"It
is as if He said: Fear not, John, for I am Life and the source of Life
according to My Divinity, but I have taken on death according to My Humanity,
so as to give eternal life to those who believe in Me, but I have risen by My
Divine power, and I am alive, as you see, and My Life will not be cut off by
death, like those who were resurrected from the dead and again died, but I am
alive to the ages of ages. And I have the power to take out of hell and deliver from death, in accordance
with the prophet: The Lord killeth and
giveth life, He bringeth down into hades and raiseth up again (I Kings
2.6)." (Patriarch Anthimus)
"By this word and touch Christ
strengthened John and made him capable, in spite of his carnal weakness, of
entering the spiritual world and receiving the Revelations, of which the first
was that Christ gives nobody the power to distribute death, but retains the
keys of death and hell for Himself. In this is revealed His special love for
man, for the Judge of the earth gives the right of granting clemency (i.e. the
keys of the Heavenly Kingdom) to His servants, the Apostles, but prudently
retains the keys to the eternal torments for Himself. He, as the uniquely kind
and perfectly merciful Lord and Lover of mankind, is ready to spare those who
turn to Him at the very last moment, when none of His authorised servants is
there to provide clemency." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"From
these words St. John was to understand that the One Who appeared was none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ, and that His appearance could not be fatal for the
apostle, but on the contrary would be lifegiving. To have the keys to something
signified among the Jews to receive authority over something. Thus the keys of hades and death signify
authority over the death of the body and the soul." (Archbishop Averky)
He is the first, because by Him
were all things made (Colossians 1.16; the last, because in Him are all things restored (Ephesians
1.10). Not only, He says, have I conquered death by resurrection, but I have
dominion also over death itself. And this He also bestowed upon the Church by
breathing upon it the Holy Spirit, saying, Whose
sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them, and the rest (John
20.23). (The Venerable Bede).
1.19. Write the things which thou hast seen, and
the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.
Thus, like all true prophecy, the
Apocalypse is a revelation of the true meaning of events, both present and
future.
1.20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou
sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are
the angels of the seven churches; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest
are the seven churches.
Stars. That is, the rulers of the
Church. For the priest, as Malachi says, is
the angel of the Lord of hosts (Malachi 2.7). (Venerable Bede)
"The seven stars are the Angels, the
guards and defenders of the churches." (Patriarch Anthimus)
Archbishop Theophanes of Poltava writes:
"With regard to ecclesiastical life, in the speeches of the Saviour we are
directed to the fact, as to one of the most striking phenomena of the last
times, that at that time stars will fall from heaven (Matthew
24.29). According to the explanation of the Saviour Himself, the stars are the Angels of the Churches,
that is, bishops."[54]
"Remember the star which led the wise
men to worship the Sun of Righteousness, and the Angel which showed the
shepherds not only the way to Him, but also the signs by which they would
easily find the truth amidst the darkness of the cave (which signifies the
darkness of this world).
"And so the seven stars can be accepted as the sum-total of the highest leaders
of the Church, who are led to the knowledge of the truth directly by the Holy
Spirit or through the mediation of Angel Guardians who are entrusted with care
for the good of the churches. Similarly, earthly kingdoms have their invisible
leaders before the throne of God, who is providentially concerned for the good
of kingdoms and peoples. They petition God for the spiritual enlightenment
especially of those in whom receptivity for the understanding concerning God
and eternal salvation has not yet been erased. We see an example of such cares
of the Angels to whom God has entrusted even whole kingdoms as it were in
guardianship, in the holy Prophet Daniel. He was counted worthy of a revelation
that the Guardian Angel of the Hebrew people was the holy Archangel Michael,
who together with the Archangel Gabriel petitioned at the throne of God for the
return of the Jews from their Persian captivity. But the Angel Guardian of the
Persian kingdom petitioned that the Jews should be left for longer in
captivity, considering, of course, that the stay of believers in the true God
in the midst of the fire-worshippers was useful for the peoples of this vast,
almost universal kingdom, which consisted of 127 regions according to the
number of distinct peoples.
"Also worthy of note is the fact that
the petitioner for the return from captivity of the Jewish people was also the
very ruler of the Persian kingdom, who had ruled the country under Darius and
Cyrus. This ruler was the holy Prophet Daniel, for his superior wisdom had won
for him a place at the very throne of the Persian kings. However, earthly glory
did not dim in Daniel his love for the glory of God, which is why it is just to
call him the Angel of his people, or, better, the Angel of the Old Testament
Church that was contemporary with him, being scattered across the whole of the
world at that time." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"The seven churches are named instead
of the One Universal Church and instead of all Christians, for the revelation
of God is meant for all of them (1.1). The bishops of each church are something
more than simple lampstands, being her representatives and the bearers of her ideals. It is precisely of them that it is
said that the stars are the angels of
the churches. The ancient interpreters (Andrew of Caesarea, Arethas,
Oecumenius) understood by these angels the bodiless spirits - the angel
guardians; the more recent interpreters want to see in them symbolic angels.
But it is best to remain with the present interpretation, according to which by
the angels are understood the bishops, as leaders of the churches (Justin the
Philosopher, Blessed Augustine). Thus, according to the image of the
Apocalypse, the Christian archpastors are always in the hand of God, and God is
for them a constant protector, guide and judge."[55]
Nevertheless, writes A. Zhdanov, it is
possible and necessary to see here at the same time a reference to the
invisible protectors of the churches who were originally, and in the strict
sense, called the angels of the seven churches by the Lord, and who are types
of the bishops. This is how this passage was understood by the great teachers
of the Church Gregory the Theologian and St. Epiphanius. The first says: I believe
that a special angel protects each church: for this is what John teaches me in
the Revelation. Why, in parting from the Constantinopolitan Church, did he
cry: Forgive, On angels, the overseer of this church and also my period her
and departure from here. The latter, basing himself on the same words of the
Apocalypse, calls the angels the guardians of the churches and the guardians of
the altars. No less clear and definite are the words of St. Ambrose, who says
that for the defence of every flock of God the Lord places not only bishop, but
also angels. St. Basil the Great, in consoling the presbyters of Nicopolis, who
were being cast by the Arians out of the church, writes to them: You are
saddened by the fact that you have been expelled from the defence of the walls,
but you dwell under the defence of the God of heaven, and with you remains the
angel that is the guardian of the church (of Nicopolis).[56]
The bishops are held in the hand of
Christ, for He is the Bishop of bishops, the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls, in St. Peter's words (I Peter
2.25). Thus on his way to martyrdom in Rome, St. Ignatius the Godbearer, Bishop
of Antioch and disciple of St. John, wrote: "Remember in your prayers the
church in Syria, which now, instead of me, has God as her Pastor. Jesus Christ,
with your love, will be her only Bishop."[57]
1. The Church of Ephesus
2.1-7. Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus
write: These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand,
Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works,
and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear those who are
evil; and thou hast tried those who say they are apostles, and are not, and
hast found them liars; and hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name's
sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against
thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence
thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee
quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of its place, unless thou repent.
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also
hate. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches:
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
midst of the paradise of God.
St. Gregory the Theologian writes: Every Church has
its guardian.[58] The
guardian, or angel of the Church of Ephesus addressed here is probably the
Apostle Timothy, who died in the year 93 A.D.
"In the second, as in the third
chapter, are set forth the revelations received by St. John concerning each of
the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, as well as corresponding instructions to
them. These revelations contain praises of their Christian life and faith, a
reproof of their insufficiencies, exhortations and consolations, threats and
promises. The content of these revelations and instructions has the closest
relationship to the condition of church life in the churches of Asia Minor at
the end of the first century. But at the same time it also refers to the whole
Church in general for the whole course of Her existence on earth. Some even see
here an indication of seven periods in the life of the whole Christian Church
from the time of the apostles to the end of the world and the Second Coming of
Christ.
"Thus there exists the opinion that
the seven Churches represent seven periods in the life of the whole Christian
Church from her foundations to the end of the world: 1) the Church of Ephesus
represents the first period in the history of the Ecumenical Church - the
Apostolic Church, which laboured and did not faint while fighting against the
first heretics, the Nicolaitans, but soon abandoned the good custom of doing
good to others - the 'communion of goods' (thy
first love); 2) the Church of Smyrna represents the second period - the
period of persecutions against the Church, of which there were ten; 3) the
Church of Pergamos represents the third period - the epoch of the Ecumenical
Councils and the struggle with the heresies with the sword of the word of God;
4) the Church of Thyateira - the fourth period, or the period of the
flourishing of Christianity amidst the new peoples of Europe; 5) the Church of
Sardis - the epoch of humanism and materialism of the 16th to 18th centuries;
6) the Church of Philadelphia - the last but one period of the life of the
Church of Christ - the epoch contemporary to our own, when the Church truly has little strength in contemporary
humanity and persecutions begin again, when patience is necessary; 7) the
Church of Laodicea - the last, most terrible epoch before the end of the world,
characterized by indifference to the faith and external prosperity."
(Archbishop Averky).
However, writes Lev Tikhomirov, if we can
consider Christian history as divided into seven epochs, not for any of these
parts can we establish precise boundaries which would separate it from the
preceding or succeeding epoch. It could not be otherwise. Each epoch expresses
a certain spirit or type that is predominant at the given time. It does not
arise immediately, does not change immediately and is not in all places at the
same time. While the spirit of an earlier epoch may continue in one country, in
others the beginnings of something else are already appearing.[59]
It follows that the prophecy concerning
the Ephesian Church may be interpreted to refer both to church life at
the end of the first century and to the first epoch in the history of
the whole Church throughout history until the Second Coming of
Christ. The one interpretation is not incompatible with the other; for Holy
Scripture often has more than one correct interpretation or aspect of its
meaning. For, as Archbishop Averky writes, "in the prophetic vision of
events, near and far are sometimes represented as if in one perspective, merged
together, especially if the one, nearer event serves as a figure of the other,
further one."[60]
One cannot help presupposing that the
named Asiatic churches had the typical particularities of those ecclesiastical
conditions which the Church would experience while the Saviour would be walking
in the midst of her manifestations, that is, until the end of the ages.
Therefore the instructions and descriptions given by Him on the one hand
corresponded to what had to be said to them, and on the other hand correspond
to what must be revealed and said to the Universal Church in the future, in her
various manifestations and conditions. But if it is so, then there were
precisely seven future manifestations that the Church was destined to
experience, in seven ages. (Tikhomirov).
And so, according to this interpretation,
"the Church of Ephesus represents the first period in the history of the
Ecumenical Church: the Apostolic Church which laboured and did not faint while
fighting against the first heretics, the Nicolaitans, but soon abandoned the
good custom of doing good to others - the 'communion of goods' (thy first love)...
"The Church of Ephesus is praised for
her first works - her labours, patience and resistance to false teachers. But
at the same time she is condemned for abandoning her first love and hears the
terrible threat that her lampstand will be removed from its place if she does
not repent. However, what is good about the Ephesians is their hatred of the works of the Nicolaitans. The Lord
promises to count the victors over temptations and passions worthy of tasting
of the fruits of the tree of life. Ephesus was a very ancient trading city on
the shore of the Aegean sea which was famed for its wealth and huge population.
The holy Apostle Paul preached there for more than two years, and finally
consecrated his beloved disciple Timothy as Bishop of Ephesus. The holy Apostle
John lived a long time there and died there. Later the Third Ecumenical Council
took place in Ephesus; it confessed that the Most Holy Virgin Mary is the
Birth-Giver of God [Theotokos]. The threat of the removal of her
lampstand from the Ephesian Church was realised. From being a great world
centre Ephesus was soon turned into nothing; from the previous majestic city
there remained only a pile of ruins and a small Muslim village. The great
lampstand of primitive Christianity went out completely. The Nicolaitans who
are mentioned here were heretics who represented a branch of the Gnostics and
were distinguished by their debauchery. They were reproached also by the holy
Apostles Peter and Jude in their epistles (II Peter 2.1 and Jude
4). The beginning of this heresy was laid by the Antiochian proselyte Nicholas,
one of the seven first deacons of Jerusalem (Acts 6.5), who fell away
from the faith. The reward of the victors from amongst the Ephesian Christians
was the partaking of the paradisal tree of life. By this we are to understand
the good things of the future blessed life of the righteous in general, whose
foreshadowing was the tree of life in the original paradise, where our
forefathers lived." (Archbishop Averky)
St. Hippolytus writes: He, as one of the
seven (that were chosen) for the diaconate, was appointed by the apostles. But
Nicholas departed from correct doctrine, and was in the habit of inculcating
indifferency of both life and food. And when the disciples (of Nicholas)
continued to offer insult to the Holy Spirit, John reproved them in the
Apocalypse as fornicators and eaters of things offered unto idols.[61]
The Venerable Bede writes: The
Nicolaitans are named from Nicolas the deacon, of whom Clement writes that,
when he was reproved for his jealousy of a most beautiful wife, he answered
that whoever wanted might take her to wife, and says that, on account of this,
unbelievers taught that the Apostles allowed to all a promiscuous and common
intercourse with women. And the Nicolaitans are reported to have put forth some
fabulous and almost heathen statements concerning the beginning of the world,
and not to have kept their food separate from things offered to idols.
The intolerance of evil which
characterises True Christianity, and which was displayed above all by the holy
apostles (Acts 5.1-11; I Corinthians 5.1-5; Galatians
1.6-9; II John 10; Jude 3-21), helped preserve the red-hot ardour
of the Christians through most of the first century. However, towards the end
of the early apostolic period a cooling of ardour was discernible, allowing the
infiltration of false teachings and heresies. Thus St. Paul said to the
Ephesian presbyters: Take heed therefore
unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit hath made you
overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own
blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them (Acts
20.28-30).
In general, the Ephesian Church overcame
this temptation, and not long after St. John's repose, the bishop of Antioch,
St. Ignatius, commended the Ephesians for their refusal to allow false teachers
to sow evil doctrine among them.[62]
However, that most characteristic sign of the early Church, the having all
things in common, did not survive the apostolic period. It was not until the
appearance of coenobitic monasticism in the fourth century that this form of
Christian love again received an institutional expression.
"The removal of the candlestick of
the Church is the deprivation of Divine Grace, to which she will be subjected
in agitation and shaking from the spirits of malice and the evil men who help
them. (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
Tikhomirov writes: This threat was
realised in the next, Smyrnaean period, when the believers had to disperse from
the persecutions... All in all, the Ephesian age, the time of the apostolic
preaching, was the age when the forces of both warring sides, that of the
Kingdom of God and that which was against it, were organised. The Church
appeared and began to give birth to children that were courageous in spirit
(that is the explanation of the expression a
man child [in 12.5]), who was to
shepherd all nations with a rod of iron [12.5]. To the help of the
preachers of the truth there appeared the power of Christ Himself. But the
devil, having suffered a defeat, does not humble himself, but enters into the
battle with the Church, stirring up persecutions and thinking up the mystery of iniquity [II
Thessalonians 2.7], which in the end had to raise against God the idea of
the man-god and transfer the worship of people to the devil himself.[63]
He
that hath an ear, let him hear: Every man has a physical ear, but only the
spiritual man acquires a spiritual ear
To such a man, who has overcome the
temptations of the demons, He promises to give to taste of the tree of life,
that is, to make him a participant in the good things of the future age."
(St. Andrew of Caesarea)
St. John of Damascus writes: God planted
the tree of life and the tree of knowledge. The tree of knowledge was for
trial, and proof, and exercise of mans obedience and disobedience. It was
named thus or else it was because to those who partook of it was given power to
know their own nature. Now this is a good thing for those who are mature, but
an evil thing for the immature and those whose appetites are too strong
The
tree of life, on the other hand, was a tree having the energy that is the cause
of life, or to be eaten only by those who deserve to live and are not subject
to death
The tree of life may be understood as that more divine thought that
has its origin in the world of sense, and the ascent through that to the
originating and constructive cause of all. And this was the name He gave to
every tree, implying fullness and indivisibility, and conveying only
participation in what is good. But by the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, we are to understand that sensible and pleasurable food which, sweet
though it seems, in reality brings him who partakes of it into communion with
evil.[64]
2. The Church of Smyrna
2.8-11. And unto the angel of the Church in Smyrna
write: These things saith the First and the Last, Who was dead and is alive: I
know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know
the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are the
synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye
shall have tribulation for ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will
give thee a crown of life. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches; he that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second
death.
The
angel of the Church of Smyrna addressed here may be St. Bucolus or, less
likely, his successor, St. Polycarp, who was martyred in 155. "The Church
of Smyrna, according to Archbishop Averky, signifies the second period, the
period of persecutions against the Church. And the tribulation for ten days refers,
according to Tikhomirov, the persecutions of: 1) Nero (in 64), 2)
Domitian (91), 3) Trajan (98), 4) Marcus Aurelius (177), 5) Septimius Severus
(202), 6) Decius (250) and Gallus (252), 7) Valerian (257), 8) Aurelianus
(275), 9) Diocletian (303) and 10) Maximian (311). [65]
"Smyrna was also one of the oldest
cities of Asia Minor, being considered enlightened and glorious in pagan antiquity.
Smyrna was no less remarkable in the history of the first age of Christianity,
as being a city that was enlightened very early by the light of Christianity
and as having preserved the deposit of
the faith amidst persecutions. The Church of Smyrna, according to
tradition, was founded by the holy Apostle John the Theologian, and the
latter's disciple, St. Polycarp, who was bishop in the city, glorified it by
his martyric exploit. According to information provided by the ecclesiastical
historian Eusebius, almost immediately after the apocalyptic prediction, there
arose a fierce persecution against the Christians in Asia Minor, during which
St. Polycarp of Smyrna suffered. According to some interpreters, ten days signifies the shortness of the
period of persecutions; according to others, it is the reverse - a certain
considerable period, for the Lord commands the Smyrnaeans to lay up faithfulness unto death, i.e. for some
considerable period. Some understand by this the persecution that took place
under Domitian and lasted for ten years. Others see in it a forecast of all ten
of the persecutions which the Christians suffered from the pagan emperors
during the course of the first three centuries." (Archbishop Averky)
"Christ is the First as God, and the Last
as having become man in the latter times and opened to us eternal life by His
death of three days." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
The
blasphemy of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of
Satan signifies Talmudic Judaism. For by contrast with the Church of
Christ, the Israel of God, the
apostate Jews constitute the synagogue
of Satan. For he is not a Jew, who
is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh.
But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in
the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God (Romans
2.28-29).
The
synagogue of Satan denotes the Jews, whose slanders against the Christians
were the first cause of the persecutions against them, as we read in The
Acts of the Apostles. Moreover, these slanders continued in succeeding
generations until the present day. St. Justin the Martyr refuted these slanders
in his Dialogue with the Jewish Rabbi Tryphon; but they are repeated to
this day in the Babylonian Talmud.
The Jewish persecutions of the Church were
hardly less fierce than the pagan persecutions which they incited. Thus when
the Jews in Palestine rose in revolt against the Roman authorities under Bar
Kochba (died 135), they also attacked the Christians who refused to join them.
Again, in 150, the secret Jewish government-in-exile in Babylon stirred up a
major revolt in Libya, Egypt and Cyprus, in which they killed 350,000 Greeks.[66]
Jewish hatred of Christians and the Roman
empire was expressed in their daily prayer life. Thus Sergius and Tamara Fomin
write: To the prayer birkam za-minim which was read everyday against
heretics and apostates there was added the curse against the proud state
(of Rome) and against all the enemies of Israel, in particular the Christians
[The Christians were also identified with] the scapegoat, on which the sins of
the Jews were laid and which was then driven into the wilderness as a gift to
the devil. According to rabbinic teaching, the goat signified Esau and his
descendants, who at the present time were the Christians.[67]
Another name that the Jews had for the
Christians was Edom, and the Roman Empire was called the kingdom of the
Edomites. Rabbi David Kimchi writes as follows in Obadiam: What the
Prophets foretold about the destruction of Edom in the last days was intended
for Rome, as Isaiah explains (34.1)
For when Rome is destroyed, Israel shall
be redeemed. And Rabbi Abraham in his book Tseror Hammor writes: Immediately
after Rome is destroyed, we shall be redeemed.[68]
The teaching of the Talmud incited the
Jews to terrible crimes against Gentiles, especially Christians. Under
Theodosius II, writes L.A. Tikhomirov, it was discovered that the Jews, on
the day of the feast of the execution of Haman [Purim], had introduced the
practice of burning the Cross. The government had to undertake repressions
against the blasphemy, but the Jews were not pacified. Under the same
Theodosius II, in the city of Imma, the Jews during one of their feasts took
hold of a Christian child, crucified him on a cross and with scourges cut him
into pieces. The disturbed Christians took to arms, and a bloody battle took
place. This incident, as they said, was not unique. The Christian historian
Socrates relates that the Jews more than once crucified Christian children. At
that time it was not a matter of ritual killings, and in such acts only the
hatred of the Jews for Christans and mockery of them was seen. In the given
case Theodosius II executed those guilty of the murder, but at the same time
the government began to take measures to weaken Jewry. Theodosius destroyed the
Jewish patriarchate in Palestine and confiscated the sums collected throughout
Jewry for the patriarchate. But all these repressions did not quickly pacify
the Jews. Under the same Theodosius II there took place in 415 the well-known
brawl in Alexandria elicited by the killing of Christians by the Jews. All this
boldness of the Jews in the face of a power that was evidently incomparably
greater than theirs seems improbable. But we must bear in mind that this was an
age of terrible Messianic fanaticism on the part of the Jews. It often drove
them to acts that were senseless, in which pure psychosis was operating. Here,
for example, is a purely internal incident having no relation to the
Christians. At about the same time, in 432, on the island of Cyprus there took
place an event which shows to what an inflamed condition the Jews of that time
could come. On the island there appeared a man who was evidently mad, called
Moses, the same who had led the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea. He
declared that he now had an order from the Lord to lead the Jews out of Cyprus
into Palestine through the Mediterranean Sea. His preached attracted crowds of
Jews who did not hesitate to follow the prophet. These hordes went to the sea
and, at a sign from Moses, began to hurl themselves from a lofty cliff into the
water. Many crashed against the rocks, others drowned, and only the forcible
intervention of the Christians saved the rest: fishermen dragged them from the
water, while other inhabitants forcibly drove the Jews from the shore. This
mass psychosis shows to what lengths the Jews could go in the name of the idea
of the re-establishment of the Kingdom of Israel
The [Western] Church had already quite
early, in the sixth century, begun to take measures to protect Christians from
the influence of the Jews. Councils in Orleans in 538 and 545 decreed the
suppression of relations between Christians and Jews and, moreover, forbade the
Jews from publicly showing themselves during the Christian Pascha, doubtless to
cut off the possibility of any blasphemous outrages. But we can understand why
these measures could not be maintained, nor were they systematic, and relations
inevitably continued, having two kinds of consequences: some they spiritually
cut off from Christianity and drew them into heresy, and others they filled
with hatred for the Jews.[69]
In about 520, 4000 Christians were
martyred by the Jewish ruler of the South Arabian land of Omir (or Himyar),
Dϋ-Nuwβs, for their refusal to renounce Christ.[70] Again, in 555, the Jews took part in the Samaritan
rebellion against Byzantium on the Samaritan side in spite of their traditional
disdain for the Samaritans.
During the
Time of Troubles that began for Byzantium with the murder of the Emperor
Maurice in 602, the Jewish anti-Roman consciousness reached a new peak of
frenzy. David Keys writes: The so-called Book
of Zerubabel, written by a rabbi of that name in Persian-ruled Babylon in
the first quarter of the seventh century AD, prophesied the coming of the
Jewish Messiah (and his mother!) and the defeat of the Christian Roman monster
an emperor/pope called Armilus the son of Satan. Furthermore, a Palestinian
Jew called Jacob who had been forcibly baptised by the Romans in Carthage
described the Empire in typically apocalyptic terms as the fourth beast which
was being torn in pieces by the nations, [so] that the ten horns may prevail
and Hermolaus Satan
the Little Horn may come.
The Jews
viewed the apparently imminent collapse of the Roman Empire in the first
quarter of the seventh century as evidence that the beast (the formerly pagan
but now Christian empire) was doomed, that the Devil in the guise of the last
Roman emperor or Christian pope would be killed by the (imminently expected)
Messiah. They saw the Persians (and a few years later, the Arabs) as the agents
who would help destroy the Roman beast. Violent and often Messianic Jewish
revolutionary attitudes had been increasing throughout the second half of the
sixth century and went into overdrive as the Empire began to totter in the
first quarter of the seventh. In Antioch in AD 608, Christian attempts [by the
mad tyrant Phocas] at forced conversion, as the Persians threatened the city,
triggered a major revolt in the Jewish quarter. At first the Jewish rebels were
successful, and their communitys arch-enemy, the citys powerful Christian
patriarch, [St.] Anastasius, was captured, killed and mutilated. But the revolt
was soon put down and the 800-year-old Antiochan Jewish community was almost
totally extinguished.[71]
The
situation was no better in the Holy Land. The Jewish sent an appeal to all the
Jews of Palestine, inviting them to come and join the Persians. Enraged crowds
destroyed the churches of Tiberias, killed the local bishop and 90,000
Christians in one day. When the Persians conquered Jerusalem, most of the
Christians were sent into captivity to Persia. However, the Jews distinguished
themselves at this point with a beastly cruelty unique in the history of the
world. They spared no money to buy many Christians from the Persians with one
purpose only to gain enjoyment in killing them. They say that in this way
they bought and destroyed 80,000 people. The Jewish historian G. Graetz glides
silently over this terrible fact, saying only: Filled with rage, the Jews of
course did not spare the Christians and did not spare the holy things of the
Christians. Graetz reduces the number of Christians killed to 19,000.[72].
The
Persians were defeated by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, who banished the
Jews of Jerusalem to a distance of three miles from the city, and decreed that
all the Jews of the empire should be baptised.
But the
pendulum swung again when the Byzantines were defeated by the new power of the
Arab Muslims. The Jews were delighted. Many of them thought that Muhammed was a
prophet who had come to prepare the way for the Messiah
The
persecution of the Christians by the Jews has continued right up to the present
day, as was most clearly demonstrated in the Russian revolution, when
nine-tenths of the leading commissars at the beginning of the revolution were
Jewish
"From the promises given to the
Churches of Ephesus and Smyrna it is clear that only those who conquer
temptations will inherit the eternal good things. There can be no doubt that
this relates both to external and internal temptations, for both the former and
the latter come, with the permission of God, from the world, the flesh and the
devil, to test faith and hope in God. As a rule, they are permitted for a short
time, as long as one can bear them. For one person is given greater strength to
combat temptation, and another less; but everyone must be a victor. The good
things of the future age are not attained easily, since from everyone is
demanded victory in temptations. But temptations will become stronger at the
end of the world until even the elect will be in great danger of losing the
ability to conquer the subtle craftiness of the evil one. In the last times
Satan skilfully began to cast out of the saving ark of the Church all those who
were not able to resist the false teaching of his hellish servants, the false
prophets of this world." (St. John of Kronstadt)
St. Hippolytus writes: The second death is the lake of fire that
burns.[73]
St. Aphrahat writes: It is right for us
to be afraid of the second death,
that which is full of weeping and gnashing of teeth, and of groanings and
miseries, that which is situated in outer darkness.[74]
"The second death is
the cutting off from God of a sinful soul which
lives in carnal desires, of which the Lord says: Let the dead bury the dead (Matthew 8.22)." (Patriarch
Anthimus)
"By the second death which is to come for unbelievers after the death
of the body is to be understood their condemnation to eternal torments (cf.
21.8; Matthew 10.28). To him that overcomes, that is, to him that
endures all persecutions, is promised a
crown of life, or the inheritance of eternal good things." (Archbishop
Averky)
3. The Church of Pergamum
2.12-16. And to the angel of the Church in Pergamum
write: These things saith He Who hath the sharp sword with two edges: I know
thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is; and thou
holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith, even in those days wherein
Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there those who hold
the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the
children of Israel, to eat things sanctified unto idols, and to commit
fornication. So hast thou also those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans,
which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will
fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
"The Church of Pergamum signifies the
third period, the epoch of the Ecumenical Councils and the battle with heresies
by the sword of the word of God...
"The Church of Pergamum is praised by
the Lord for keeping His name and not rejecting faith in Him, although it was
situated amidst the extremely corrupt pagan population of the city, which is
signified by the very vivid expression: thou
dwellest even where Satan's seat is, and was subjected to a heavy
persecution, during which the Lord's faithful witness Antipas was killed.
Although many have tried to interpret the name Antipas in a symbolical sense, it is known from the martyrologies
that have come down to us that Antipas was the Bishop of Pergamum and was
burned inside a heated-up brass bull for his zealous confession of the faith of
Christ [in 92]. However, the Lord also points to negative phenomena in the life
of the Church of Pergamum, in particular the fact that the Nicolaitans had
appeared there, making the eating of sacrifices to the idols and every kind of
lustful indecencies lawful. In their time the Israelites had been drawn to such
excesses by Barlaam. Pergamum is situated to the north of Smyrna and in
antiquity it rivalled Smyrna and Ephesus. It had a temple to the pagan divinity
Aesculapius, the protector of doctors. Its priests practised medicine and put
up a strong resistance to the preachers of Christianity." (Archbishop
Averky)
"The sharp sword is the evangelical teaching, which comes out of the
mouth of our Lord. For He cuts off the excesses of this world and pierces the
curtain hindering contemplation of the heavens." (Patriarch Anthimus)
Pergamum was the administrative centre of
Asia, which meant that it was also the centre of the worship of Caesar, to whom
an altar was dedicated. This is the explanation of the phrase Satan's seat. Lenin's mausoleum in
Moscow was constructed on the model of this altar.[75]
Tikhomirov writes: We consider the age of
Pergamum to be the beginning of Christian statehood. Does that mean that the
Church, in entering into union with the state, committed a sin? Of course not.
The state is not in itself satans
institution. Obedience to the authorities is commanded by Christ Himself and
the apostles. But the union with earthly power does create many difficulties
and temptations for the Church.[76]
The epoch of the Seven Ecumenical Councils
spanned over four and a half centuries, from the First Council at Nicaea in
325, at which Arianism was condemned, to the Seventh Council, again at Nicaea,
in 787. This epoch was characterised by, on the one hand, external peace for
the Church through that "symphony" between Church and State first
established by Constantine and later strengthened by his successors Theodosius
and Justinian, and, on the other hand, by great internal upheavals produced by
a series of Trinitarian and Christological heresies. Towards the end of the
period, the internal upheavals threatened to destroy the Church-State
"symphony" completely, the imperial Balaks siding with the heretical
Balaams to persecute the Church, which descended into a semi-underground
existence. In 842, however, with the enthronement of the Orthodox emperors
Michael and Theodora, lasting peace was restored. The Church celebrated the
Triumph of Orthodoxy, and the empire entered into one of the most prosperous
periods of its existence.
However, it was also during this period
that the scourge of Islam overtook most of the East, which had succumbed to the
heresies of Monophysitism and Monothelitism. Evidently the Eastern Christians
failed to heed the warning: Repent; or
else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword
of My mouth. Eventually Islam conquered even the Byzantine Empire after it
had entered into union with the Roman Catholics at the council of Florence in
1439.
2.17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the Churches: To him that overcometh will I give to eat of
the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name
written, which no man knoweth except he that receiveth it.
"This
manna is
the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the bread which came down from heaven and gave Himself for the life
of the world." (Patriarch Anthimus)
We all know that the body is subject to
hunger and thirst and needs food and drink, by which the unpleasant feelings of
hunger and thirst are quenched, the sense of taste is sweetened, strength is
restored and the loss of matter in the make-up of the body is made up. But is
not the spirit also subject to hunger and thirst? Does it not have need of
food? What can nourish it in a manner fitting to it? Do we know as clearly
about the spirit as we do about the body?
The only self-sufficient essence is God,
He is always full and abundant in every good in Himself, never does He
experience want from outside, and consequently He has no need of food. The
spirit of man, as being created and unceasingly dependent on God, is not
self-sufficient, because it is not God; and, not being self-sufficient, it
needs to acquire the sufficiency that is necessary for it, or take food in a
manner that is fitting to it. His will hunger for the good like food; his mind
thirsts for the truth like drink. But he does not have the root of good in
himself, nor the source of truth in himself; it is necessary that these be
given him. In God is the root of good, in God is the source of truth;
consequently, the feeding of the spirit requires, not that which rises from the
earth, but that which descends from heaven manna. Bread that is purely
heavenly not only by its origin but by its nature must not be placed on
the earth before the eyes of the body; the water of life must not be poured
into a vessel made of dead matter; which is why the true food of the spirit is hidden
for the flesh.
The Word of God often speaks of this
food, allowing us to know and feel our essential hunger and acquire saving
food. And the incarnate Wisdom declares: I am the living Bread that came
down from heaven: if anyone eats from this bread, he will live to the ages (John
6.51). And to the Samaritan woman He declares: Whoever drinks of the water
that I will give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will
become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John
4.14). And again: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4.4). The apostle describes
the true Christians as having tasted the heavenly gift, and become partakers
of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers
of the age to come (Hebrews 6.4-5).[77]
"The metaphorical expression, a white stone, has its foundation in a
custom of antiquity, according to which the victors at the public games and
contests were given white stone tablets, which they later presented in order to
receive the rewards conferred on them. Among Roman judges it was the custom to
collect votes by means of white and black stones. White signified freedom;
black signified condemnation. In the mouth of the seer of mysteries, John, the
white stone symbolically signified the purity and innocence of Christians for
which they receive a reward in the future age." (Archbishop Averky)
In the Celtic Church, as has been revealed
recently in archaeological excavations on the Isle of Man, white stones were
placed in the graves of believers, probably signifying their hope of
justification in the future life.
According to St. Hippolytus of Rome, the
white stone is the teaching which a bishop imparts to the faithful immediately
after their baptism and which must not be revealed before.[78]
St. Jerome writes: "You shall be
called by a new name (Isaiah 62.2). A new name is deserving of a new son.
So in the Apocalypse, To him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white
stone, and in the stone a new name written (2.17). The new name is that of
Christians."[79]
"To give names to new members of a
kingdom is characteristic of kings and masters. The Heavenly King also will
give to all the chosen sons of His Kingdom new names which will signify their
inward qualities, their designation and service in the Kingdom of glory. But
since no one knoweth the things of a
man, except the spirit of a man which is in him (I Corinthians
2.11), so also the new name given to a man by the All-knowing Master will be
known only to the one who receives this name (cf. Isaiah 62.2)."
(Archbishop Averky)
4. The Church of Thyateira
2.18-20. And unto the angel of the Church in
Thyateira write: These things saith the Son of God, Who hath His eyes like unto
a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass; I know thy works, and
charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience; and the last to be more than
the first. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou
sufferest that woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and
seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to
idols.
"The Church of Thyateira is the
fourth period, the period of the blossoming of Christianity among the new
peoples of Europe...
"Thyateira was a small city in Lydia,
which was not noted for anything in history, but is known in the history of
Christianity for the fact that from it came Lydia, who was enlightened with the
light of the faith of Christ by the holy Apostle Paul during his second
preaching journey in the city of Philippi." (Archbishop Averky)
The "new peoples" mentioned by
Archbishop Averky are the Slavic peoples of Northern and Eastern Europe, who
began to enter the Orthodox Church from the ninth century onwards. By the end
of the Middle Ages, the Slavs constituted by far the largest and most powerful
part of the Orthodox commonwealth, although the whole of Russia still formed
only one metropolia of the Great Church of Constantinople. Indeed, while the
Great Church herself began to decline from about the eleventh century, her
daughter Churches in Serbia, Russia and Georgia reached perhaps their greatest
peaks in this period, fully justifying the Lord's praise of their works and charity and service and faith and
patience.
Who is Jezabel? "It is known that Jezabel, the daughter of the king
of Sidon, on entering into marriage with King Ahab of Israel, drew him to the
worship of all the abominations of Tyre and Sidon, and was the cause of the
Israelites' fall into idol-worship." (Archbishop Averky) Figuratively
speaking, if the Church of Thyateira is the Orthodox Church from the ninth to
the fifteenth centuries, then it is clear that the prophetess Jezabel can be
none other than the heretical Roman
papacy. Female figures in Holy Scripture usually symbolise false churches
or religions; and the papacy became false when she was anathematised by the
Orthodox Church in 1054. She calls
herself a prophetess because she presumes to speak infallibly, as the mouth
of God; whereas in fact, through her heresies of the Filioque (the
doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son) and the universal, infallible jurisdiction of the
Church of Rome, she has alienated herself from God. For she teaches and seduces the Lord's servants
to commit fornication and to eat things
sacrificed to idols - that is, to participate in her heresy (heresy is
always called fornication and idol-worship in Holy Scripture).
It may be that the Lord is here described
as having eyes like unto a flame of
fire, and feet like unto brass in order to emphasise that He alone is
Almighty and Infallible. The Lord complains that the Church suffers Jezabel - that is, refrains
from subjecting her to the penalty of excommunication and anathema that she
deserves. For even after the Church of Constantinople broke communion with the
papacy in 1009, and anathematised it in 1054, some Eastern Churches continued
to have communion with her.
Jezabel, who was not an Israelite by
birth, dominated her husband, the king of Israel, and in the same way the
papacy, having come under the rule of non-Roman popes who were strangers to the
Romanist tradition of unity with the East Roman State, first brought an end to
that unity and then swallowed up the State in itself.[80]
As Dostoyevsky wrote: "The Western
Church herself distorted the image of Christ, changing herself from a Church
into a Roman State, and again incarnating the State in the form of the
papacy... The Church was destroyed and finally transformed into a State. The
papacy appeared - the continuation of the ancient Roman empire in a new
incarnation."[81]
Tikhomirov writes: One must, of course,
understand this rebuke in a symbolical and spiritual sense, as an adulterous
departure from God towards secular pursuits and, as is evident from history,
towards human autonomy, and also as a transition to the worship of other gods
- like the Chernobog of the Bogomils, the Baphomet of the Templars, the Lucifer
of the satanists, etc. Such actions should be called adultery because people calling themselves Christians fell into
them. All these movements were reduced, metaphorically speaking, to Jezabel, who called herself a
prophetess, and in actual fact went under the banner of supposedly prophetic
inspirations, which are linked by the Apocalypse with the depths of Satan. It is not difficult to recognise these satanic
depths in the antichristian magical teachings.. The word of God threatens them
with punishment, which, of course, overtook them frequently.[82]
2.21-23. And I gave her space to repent of
her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and
those that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent
of their deeds. And will kill her children with death; and all the Churches
shall know that I am He Who searches the reins and hearts; and I will give unto
every one of you according to your works.
"I will cast her into a bed could mean
separation from the society of believers by the judgement of the Church; and those that commit adultery with her into
great tribulation - those who secretly sympathize with and protect this
heresy I will shame before all if they do not correct themselves. And all those
who partake in and follow this abomination I
will kill with death - which means complete cutting off from the life and
good things of the Church to the ages...
"Continuing to speak in a figurative
manner, He compares the cunning and deception of the heretics to a harlot,
threatening to strike her with death and afflictions, as well as all who have
defiled themselves with her and committed fornication before God, unless they
return to Him through repentance. This is addressed to the heretics who have
been deceived and who seduce others." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
For nearly two hundred years after the
death of Pope Nicholas I, who first introduced the papist heresies in the ninth
century, the Lord gave the West time for repentance, time to root out papism
from her midst. During this period successive waves of pagan invaders -
Vikings, Magyars and Saracens - poured into Western Europe, stretching the
people as if on a rack of suffering, and putting the papacy herself in dire
peril. Finally came the schism of 1054: the children of the papacy were killed
with spiritual death.
When all the Churches saw the aggressive
and far from Christian actions of the papacy after her fall from grace in 1054,
they understood that the condemnation of the Roman Church had been just and the
expression of the will of God.
There is much evidence of this. First, the
Pope blessed the Norman invasion of England, which destroyed the traditions of
English Christianity. Secondly, in the Lenten council of 1075 the Pope declared
that he was above all human, and even ecclesiastical judgement, and that all
authorities, both secular and ecclesiastical, were subject to him. Thirdly, he
blessed the crusades against the Orthodox East, in the last of which the
crusaders seized and looted Constantinople, placing a prostitute on the altar
of Hagia Sophia and Latin "bishops" in all the major sees of the
East. Fourthly, he blessed the invasion of Russia by the Teutonic knights - it
was only through the heroic efforts of the Prince of Novgorod, St. Alexander
Nevsky, that the last outpost of Orthodoxy in the North was preserved. Fifthly,
he convened the false councils of Lyons in 1274 and of Florence in 1438-39, in
which he tried, by dint of violence and bribery, to persuade the Orthodox
emperor and patriarchs to accept his heresies and his dominion over them.
Sixthly, he proclaimed the false dogmas of the immaculate conception of the
Virgin in 1854 and of his own infallibility in 1870. And seventhly, in 1841 his
followers, the Croatian Ustasi, murdered 750,000 Orthodox Serbs in Croatia.
Archbishop Averky considers the falling
away of the papacy to have been the first stage in that mystery of iniquity and apostasy
which, according to St. Paul, will precede the coming of the Antichrist (II
Thessalonians 2.3,7). "The first important stage on the path of this apostasy was the falling away from
Orthodoxy of the Latin West, with the papal throne at its head. Was not there
an antichristian principle at the base of the papist pretensions to be the
infallible 'vicar of the Son of God' on earth? Cannot the spirit of Antichrist
be felt in this striving to 'be the vicar' as if 'substituting' itself for
Christ in all those who believe in Him? And is not the spirit of antichristian
pride, so evidently leading people into spiritual deception in the spiritual
life, is not the boundless love of power which thirsts to subject the whole
world to itself - is not all this characteristic of the Antichrist?
"Such a perversion of the spirit of
Christ in western Christianity which had fallen away from Orthodoxy brought in
its train a whole series of false teachings and a terrible moral corruption.
Only the appearance of Christianity was left, its exterior, deprived of the
true spirit of life in Christ..."[83]
"Behold,
I will cast her into a bed. This could refer to the forced inactivity of
the Jesuits in the revolutionary period. The Jesuit adapted themselves no less
skilfully to Socialism, as is evident from the fact that in their sermons they
explain that Christ was a true socialist and that for that reason the
dissatisfied masses of the people should cleave to Him in the person of His
representatives. But at the same time the Freemasons offer to these masses of
the people people's spectacles, mysteries from the life of Christ, about whose
content it is shameful even to speak. You see from what depths of Satan Russia has been delivered, when she did not allow
the leaven of the Jesuits to settle in the midst of the blinded people."
(St. John of Kronstadt)
When the Russian revolution came in 1917,
the Pope welcomed it, trying to use to impose Catholicism on the Russian
people, a design which he has renewed since the apparent demise of Communism in
1989-91. Nor is it possible to say that the heresies of the papacy have somehow
been rectified in modern times. For an official Vatican publication recently
described the Pope as "the ultimate guarantor of the Teaching and Will of
the Divine Founder".[84]
2.24-25. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in
Thyateira, as many as have not this doctrine, and who have not known the depths
of Satan, as they say: I will not put upon you any other burden. But that which
you have already, hold fast until I come.
"To the simple people He says: 'Since
you, in your simplicity, are not able to stand against the cunning and clever,
for, as you affirm, you do not fully know the depths of Satan - therefore I do
not ask you to wage hostile battle in words, but only to preserve the teaching
which you have received, until the time when I shall take you from her.'"
(St. Andrew of Caesarea)
"Such is the mercy of Christ towards
those who are blinded but who have not been torn away from the holy Church of
Christ, which takes upon herself the task of petitioning for the ignorance of
the people before God." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"The
depths of Satan is the name given here to the teaching of the Nicolaitans,
as the forerunners of the Gnostics, who called their false teaching 'the depths
of God'" (Archbishop Averky). But, according to the eschatological
interpretation, the depths of Satan
is the satanic pride of the papacy and the false teaching on papal
infallibility. The Lord calls the Orthodox Christians of the Thyateira period
of Church history to preserve their faith unharmed until His appearance, which
means "either His Second Coming at the end of the ages, or the death of
each one of us" (Patriarch Anthimus).
Tikhomirov writes: The following of the
commandment: that which you have
already, hold fast until I come was particularly evident. Confessional conservatism,
a rejection of religious innovations became a characteristic trait of
Orthodoxy.[85]
I send to you no new doctrine; but keep
that which you have received to the end. (The Venerable Bede)
2.26-27. And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works
unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall shepherd
them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to
shivers, even as I received of My Father.
"To
him who does My works will I give power, as promised in the Gospel, over
five or ten cities (Luke 19.17-19). Or else this indicates the judgement
of unbelievers, through which those who have been deceived, being judged by the
believers in Christ, will be crushed as a pot is by the rod: the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgement
with this generation, and shall condemn it (Matthew 12.41). The
words, even as I received of My Father,
are spoken in His human nature, because of His acceptance of flesh." (St.
Andrew of Caesarea)
Another possible interpretation of these
words is that that nation which overcomes the temptation of union with the
heretical papacy will be given power over other nations; for it is precisely
the true faith, Orthodoxy, which overcometh
the world (I John 5.4) - spiritually in the first place, but also,
if God wills it, politically in the form of the Christian Empire.
"This is a consoling promise for all
the Christians of the Eastern Orthodox Church, witnessing that she will remain
until the end rightly dividing the word of Divine truth and a faithful
preserver of the apostolic tradition. As a reward for this unshakeable
faithfulness she is promised power over the pagans" (St. John of
Kronstadt).
Now after the fall of Constantinople in
1453, which followed as a punishment for the betrayal of Orthodoxy at the
council of Florence, the Greeks' power
over the nations, their Empire, came to an end. In the place of the New
Rome, however, came the Third Rome - Moscow, which, having rejected the council
of Florence, began to grow into a world empire from that time, ruling the
nations with a rod of iron.
Thus in 1589 Patriarch Jeremiah of
Constantinople travelled to Moscow to enthrone the Muscovite Metropolitan Job
as his fellow-patriarch and to confirm the ecumenical authority of Tsar
Theodore, writing: "Since the First Rome fell through the Apollinarian
heresy, and the second Rome, which is Constantinople, is held by the infidel
Turks, so thy great Russian kingdom, most pious Tsar
is the Third Rome
and
thou alone under heaven art Christian emperor for all Christians in the
world."[86]
Tikhomirov writes: In the Thyateiran age
there also appeared as a Christian country - Russia, which took a very active
participation in shepherding the pagans with
a rod of iron
In the Constantinopolitan Church, subdued by the infidels,
there was not, of course, any power over the pagans. But the Russian half of
the Greco-Russian Church shepherded the pagans with a rod of iron like few
countries, and by her missionary activity penetrated to the furthest boundaries
of Northern Asia.[87]
A Greek prophecy of the ninth century
predicted this rise of Russia: "After the chosen people of the Jews gave
up their Messiah and Redeemer to torment and a shameful death, they were no
longer counted a chosen people and this honour passed to the Greeks, a second
chosen people.
"The searching and inquisitive mind
of the Ancient Greeks was enlightened by Christianity and penetrated to the
very depths of knowledge. The great Eastern Church Fathers defined the
Christian dogmas and created the harmonious system of Christian teaching. This
is the great merit of the Greek people. However, the Roman [Byzantine] State is
not creative or strong enough to build up a harmonious political and social
life on a solid Christian foundation. The sceptre of the Orthodox Empire will
fall from the weak hands of the Emperors of Constantinople who are unable to
achieve symphony and concord between Church and State.
"For this reason the Lord through His
Providence shall send a third chosen people to succeed the spiritually weakened
Greeks. This people will appear in the North within 100-200 years [these
prophecies were set down in Palestine 150-200 years before the Baptism of the
Russian people], and will become Christian wholeheartedly. They will strive to
live according to the commandments of Christ and will seek first the Kingdom of
God and His Righteousness, as Christ our Saviour showed us. The Lord God will
love this people for their zeal and will add unto them all things - huge
territories, riches, a mighty and glorious State."[88]
2.28-29. And I will give him the morning star.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Christ is the morning star, Who
promises and reveals to the saints the eternal light of life, when the night of
the world is past. (The Venerable Bede)
"These words have a dual
interpretation. The Prophet Isaiah gives the name morning star to Satan,
who fell from heaven (14.12). In this sense these words refer to the dominion
of the believing Christians over Satan (cf. Luke 10.18-19). On the other
hand, the holy Apostle Peter in his second catholic epistle calls the Lord
Jesus Christ the morning star, which
shines in the hearts of men (1.19). In this sense the true Christian is
promised the enlightenment of his soul with the light of Christ and
participation in the future heavenly glory." (Archbishop Averky)
"St. Andrew says of the morning star, that there is nothing
astonishing in the fact that it could have two opposite interpretations, a
thing which often happens in Holy Scripture. What is important to understand is
the meaning of the image. Here it
means the same thing that victorious Christians have Christ the morning star shining in their hearts,
and to say that they have dominion over satan the morning star through the grace of Christ."[89]
"And
I will give him the morning star. This probably means that the Russian
Church will be given the Light of Christ which enlightens everybody, so as to introduce
it into the countries held in the power of the dragon; not the light of
Jesuitical papism or Protestant apostasy from the holy Church, but the true
Light of Christ, the Light of Eastern Catholic Orthodoxy." (St. John of
Kronstadt)
And indeed, from the sixteenth century
onwards, the Russian Orthodox Empire began to acquire power over vast pagan
territories in East European Russia, Siberia and Central Asia; and the Russian
Church sent missions to convert the pagans of these territories to the True
Faith. This missionary activity produced great fruit in Siberia, Central Asia,
China, Japan and Alaska. It was cut short only by the revolution of 1917.
5. The Church of Sardis
3.1-4. And unto the angel of the Church in Sardis
write: These things saith He that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven
stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die; for
I have not found thy works perfect before God. If therefore thou shalt not
watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I
will come upon thee. Yet thou hast a few names even in Sardis who have not
defiled their garments, and they shall walk with Me in white; for they are
worthy.
He reproves this angel, that is, the bishop, for
not being sufficiently diligent in correcting the bad. He commends him,
however, in that he has some who walk in white, and the name Sardis agrees
with these, as being the name of a precious stone. To you yourself, indeed, you
seem to be alive. But if you art not watchful in the correction of the wicked,
you will from now on be numbered among the dead. He said not a few, but a few names. For He
calleth His own sheep by name,
Who knew Moses by name, and Who writes the names of the saints in heaven. (The
Venerable Bede)
"The Lord orders the Angel of the
Church of Sardis to write more in reproach than in consolation: this Church
contains only the name of living faith, but in actual fact she is spiritually
dead. The Lord threatens the Sardian Christians with sudden catastrophe if they
do not repent. There are, however, a very few who have not defiled their garments. Those who overcome (the passions)
the Lord promises to clothe in white garments, and their names will not be
erased from the book of life, but they will be confessed by the Lord before His
Heavenly Father..." (Archbishop Averky)
For whosoever
shall confess in Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father Who is
in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before
My Father Who is in heaven (Matthew 10.32-33; cf. Mark 8.38).
"In antiquity Sardis was a large and
rich city, the capital of the province of Lydia, but now it is the poor little
Turkish village of Sard... Under Julian the Apostate the spiritual deadness of
this city was clearly revealed: it quickly returned to idol-worship, for which
it was struck by the wrath of God - it was destroyed to its foundations.
"The Church of Sardis is the epoch of
humanism and materialism of the 16th to 18th centuries." (Archbishop
Averky)
This definition might be modified to read:
"of the 16th to early 20th centuries"; for the humanist and
materialist influences upon the Orthodox Church continued and became stronger
right up to the First World War.
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453,
which took place only five and a half months after the name of the Pope was
commemorated for the first time in Hagia Sophia, many Greek scholars and
artists fled to the West, where their knowledge of pagan classical culture
served as an important impetus to the development of humanism, and then - of
Protestantism. Later, the pagan ideals of Humanism spread to the Orthodox East,
especially Russia (the Greek and Balkan lands were to a certain degree
protected from western influence by the Turkish yoke). This influence
constantly undermined the foundations of Orthodox piety and led, in the end, to
the logical conclusion of the Western "Renaissance" and the most
terrible expression of the wrath of God - the Russian revolution of 1917.
"[Protestantism] is a deadening of
the spirit that denies the visible expression of piety in anything, whether it
be a bow or the sign of the cross, or the rest of that which has been preserved
from the apostolic institutions concerning the performance of the holy
sacraments and the sacred rites. This heresy probably developed also in Sardis,
which is why this church turns out to be dead for good works." (St. John
of Kronstadt)
The humanism, materialism and
Protestantism of the Sardis epoch in the history of the Church were a reaction
to the perverted Christianity of the medieval papacy. It therefore constituted,
according to Archbishop Averky, the second stage of the apostasy - "the
epoch of the 'Renaissance', which appeared as a reaction to the perverted
Christianity of the West, but which was in essence a denial of Christianity and
a return to the ideals of paganism. It proclaimed the cult of a strong, healthy,
beautiful human flesh, and to the spirit of Christian humility it opposed the
spirit of self-opinion, self-reliance, and the deification of human 'reason'.
"As a protest against perverted
Christianity, on the soil of the same humanistic ideal that recognised 'reason'
as the highest criterion of life, there appeared in the West a religious
movement which received the name of 'Protestantism'. Protestantism with its
countless branches of all kinds of sects not only radically distorted the whole
teaching of true Christianity, but also rejected the very dogma of the Church,
placing man himself as his own highest authority, and even going so far as to
deny faith in the Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Founder of the Church.
"Puffed-up human pride finally falls
completely away from God, and begins boldly to deny even the very existence of
God, and man proclaims himself to be as it were a god. Seized with pride,
self-opinion and reliance on his own limitless powers, possibilities and
capacities, man brought up on the ideals of the 'Renaissance' no longer sees
any obligation for himself to strive for the spiritual perfection enjoined by
the Gospel, and by a natural progression descends deeper and deeper into the
abyss of spiritual fall and moral corruption. Into the foreground there steps
the service of the flesh, as a consequence of which spiritual demands are more
and more stifled, suppressed and, finally, so as once and for all to finish
with the unpleasant voice of conscience which lives in the spirit of man, the
spirit itself is declared to be non-existent.
"In this way, there appears
'materialism' - a natural child of 'humanism', a natural and logical
development of its idea. The ideal of the full stomach, covered by the raucous
'doctrine' going by the name of 'the ideal of social justice', 'social
righteousness', became the highest ideal of humanity which had denied Christ.
And this is understandable! The so-called 'social question' could not have
taken hold if people had remained faithful to true Christianity incarnate in
life.
"On the soil of materialism, in its
turn, there naturally grew, as a strictly logical consequence, the doctrines of
'Socialism' and 'Marxism-Communism'. Humanism and materialism, having denied
the spiritual principle in man, proclaimed man himself to be a 'god' and
legitimised human pride and animal egoism as self-sacrificing, and came to the
conclusion that savage struggle should be made the law of human life, on the
soil of the constant conflict of interests of egoistical human beings. As a
result of this so-called 'struggle for existence', stronger, cleverer, craftier
people would naturally begin to constrain and oppress the less strong, less
clever and less crafty. The law of Christ, which commands us to bear one another's burdens (Galatians
6.2), and not to please ourselves (Acts
15.29), but to love one's neighbour as
oneself (Matthew 22.39), was expelled from life. And so so-called
'social evil' and 'social injustices' began to increase and multiply, together
with the 'social ulcers' of society. And since life was made more and more
intolerable, as a consequence of the ever-increasing egoism and violence of
people towards each other, there was naturally some reason to think about
establishing for all a single tolerable and acceptable order of life. Hence
'Socialism', and then its extreme expression, 'Communism', became fashionable
doctrines, which promised people deliverance from all 'social injustices' and
the establishment on earth of a peaceful and serenely paradisal life, in which
everyone would be happy and content. But these teachings determined to cure the
ulcers of human society by unsuitable means. They did not see that the evil of
contemporary life is rooted in the depths of the human soul which has fallen
away from the uniquely salvific Gospel teaching, and naively thought that it
would be enough to change the imperfect, in their opinion, structure of
political and social life for there to be immediately born on earth prosperity
for all, and life would become paradise. For this inevitable, as they affirmed,
and beneficial change, the more extreme Socialists, as, for example, the
Communists, even proposed violent measures, going so far as the shedding of
blood and the physical annihilation of people who did not agree with them. In
other words: they thought to conquer evil by evil, this evil being still more
bitter and unjust because of their cruelty and mercilessness.
"'The Great French Revolution', which
shed whole rivers of human blood, was the first of their attempts. It clearly
demonstrated that men are powerless to build their life on earth without God,
and to what terrible consequences man is drawn by his apostasy from Christ and
His saving teaching.
"But there was no looking back: the process
of apostasy (II Thessalonians
2.3) had already gone too far..."[90]
A characteristic feature of the Sardis
period in the history of the Church, which reflected the decline of Orthodox
Christianity and its increasing conformity to the world, was the subservient
position of the Orthodox Churches to the secular powers.
Thus the Patriarch of Constantinople,
having been appointed the secular as well as the religious head of all Orthodox
Christians in the Ottoman empire, was forced to bribe the Sultan with
ever-increasing sums of money in order to obtain his office - a system that led
to numerous abuses. Nor did the successful Greek War of Independence, which was
inspired more by the ideals of the French Revolution than those of the Gospel
of Christ, bring an immediate amelioration of the situation. Thus Maurer's 1833
Protestant Constitution for the Church of Greece entailed no less a
subordination of the Church to the State than had existed under the Sultans,
which soon led to a drastic reduction in the number of functioning monasteries.
In Russia, too, a Protestant, synodal type
of Church government was imposed upon the Church by Peter the Great, while he
and his successors introduced general westernization and oppressed the
monasteries.
"Sardis stood on [an] impregnable
lookout 457.5 metres - 1500 feet - above the plain. Cyrus's men climbed the
cliff face at night when the guards where asleep. They came like a thief in the
night."[91]
Therefore be watchful. In the
same way, the seemingly impregnable position of the Orthodox Church in the
Sardis period of Church history came to a sudden end with the Russian
revolution, which caught many Christians spiritually asleep.
3.4-6. He that overcometh, the same shall be
clothed in white raiment. And I will not blot out his name from out of the book
of life. And I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.
"The words defiled garments metaphorically depict pollutions of the soul. So
those who have not defiled their
garments are those whose minds remained untainted by heretical false
teachings, whose life was not stained by passions and vices. By the words white garments are to be understood the
wedding garments in which will be clothed the guests at the wedding feast of
the son of the king, under which image the Lord parabolically represented the
future blessedness of the righteous in His Heavenly Kingdom. These garments,
which will be like the garments of the Saviour during the Transfiguration, have
been made white as light (Matthew
17.2). God's decrees concerning the destinies of people are symbolically
represented under the image of a book in which the Lord as the all-knowing and
all-righteous Judge writes down all their deeds. This symbolic image is often
used in the Sacred Scriptures (Psalm 68.29; Psalm 138.16; Isaiah
4.3; Daniel 7.10; Malachi 3.16; Exodus 32.32-33; Luke
10.20; Philippians 4.3). In accordance with this representation, he who
lives worthy of the higher calling is as it were inscribed in the book of life,
while he who lives unworthily is as it were erased from this book, thereby
depriving himself of the right to eternal life. Therefore the promise to him
who conquers sin not to erase his name from the book of life is equivalent to
the promised not to deprive him of the heavenly good things prepared in the
future life for the righteous. And I
will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels - this is the
same as that which the Lord promised to His true followers during His life on
earth (Matthew 10.32), that is, I will recognise and pronounce him to be
My faithful disciple." (Archbishop Averky)
Amidst the general corruption of Church
life in the Sardis period some saints shone like stars. These included the holy
new martyrs of the Turkish yoke in Greece and the Balkans, and such saints as
Tikhon of Zadonsk and Seraphim of Sarov in Russia. This shows that even in
conditions of spiritual decline God preserves His faithful witnesses, and that the gates of hell will never prevail
over His Church (Matthew 16.18). "They not only acquired the grace
of Holy Baptism and the gifts of the Holy Spirit themselves, but also, in
preaching the word of truth, they kept the apostolic tradition, and not human
wisdom, which does not give knowledge of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and I
will reject the understanding of the prudent (Isaiah 29.14). From
this we can conclude that several people in Sardis were praised because they
did not defile their preaching with the unruliness of an unrestrained mind, as
has happened everywhere that the religion of knowledge, like a hellish flame,
has begun to break out of the bowels of the earth and singe the faith both of
the people who are going blind in their hearts and, no less, of the young who
are going blind in the theological and secular nurseries of knowledge. One must
not be surprised that in all only a few people were found who rightly divided
the word of truth, for the apostle says: though
you have thousands of instructors in Christ, you have few fathers (I
Corinthians 4.15)." (St. John of Kronstadt)
Tikhomirov writes: The Sardian epoch is
already essentially dead, and of course creates material for the Laodicean
church
But beside this, all those whom Christ in the Sardian epoch calls to
repentance and who wear white garments
by their spiritual enthusiasm give a beginning to the Philadelphian Church.[92]
6. The Church of Philadelphia
3.7. And to the angel of the Church in Philadelphia
write:
The
angel of the Church of Philadelphia addressed here was Demetrius, whom St. John
contrasted with the unrighteous Diotrephes (III John 12).
Philadelphia is interpreted brotherly
love, and to it is the door of the Kingdom opened, and the promise made of
being beloved by the Lord. (The Venerable Bede)
"Philadelphia is the second large
city in Lydia, being named thus after its founder, Attalus Philadelphus, the
king of Pergamum. This city was the only one of all the cities of Asia Minor
which did not give in for a long time to the Turks... The Turks call
Philadelphia 'Allah-Sher', that is, 'the city of God', and this name
involuntarily recalls the promise of the Lord: I shall write on him who conquers the name of My God and the name of
the city of My God (v. 12)...
"The Church of Philadelphia is the
next-to-last period in the life of the Church of Christ, the epoch contemporary
to us, when the Church will in fact have little
strength in contemporary humanity and new persecutions will begin, when
patience will be required." (Archbishop Averky)
There is a striking contrast between the
Churches of Sardis and Philadelphia. The former is prosperous externally but
poor internally. The latter is few in numbers and under great pressure from
enemies, but receives the most unqualified praise of all the Churches.
Such is the difference in the condition of
the Orthodox Church before and after the watershed years 1914-24.
In 1914 the Church stood at the highest
peak of Her power from an external point of view. Although the Middle East was
still under the Moslem yoke, the Orthodox Balkan States had been liberated
after centuries of Turkish domination; and the mighty Russian empire spread
from the Baltic to the Pacific with important Church missions in Persia,
Central Asia, China, Japan and America. Fifteen years later, the situation had
completely changed. The Russian empire was gone, her peoples crushed by war,
famine and the fanatical persecution of a small band of militant atheists; and
the missions abroad, though swelled by many emigrιs, were rent by schisms and
difficulties of various kinds. In 1924, moreover, the Ecumenical Patriarchate,
together with the State Church of Greece and the Church of Romania, had fallen
into the schism of the new calendar, which heralded a devastating new heresy -
"the heresy of heresies" - ecumenism.
However, in the midst of all this turmoil,
the faith of many hitherto lukewarm Christians was renewed; a new age of
martyrdom fully comparable to that of the first three centuries began. For
although, writes Tikhomirov, the Philadelphian Church will be numerically
small and will not have an external position like that of the Sardian or
Laodicean Churches, it will be morally so powerful that she will attract the
Jews to herself.[93]
And so a promise was given to the
faithful:
3.7. These things saith He that is holy, He that is
true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth; and
shutteth, and no man openeth:
According
to Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, the
key of David is the Cross of Christ, whereby He was given power to open
heaven and hell.[94]
According to the Venerable Bede, it is royal power.
In
some ancient manuscripts, it is written the
key of hell instead of the key of
David.[95]
"By
the key of David is understood that
power which His humanity received from the Divinity, as He said after His
resurrection: All power has been given
to Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28.18). This power He also
gave to His disciples, and it is called a key,
as He said to Peter: I give thee the
keys of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 16.19), that is, to loose and
to bind sins. To open and to shut means to justify a man from his sins and to
condemn the impenitent." (Patriarch Anthimus)
"The key of David is the key to the
prophetic book of David, which is called the Psalter, and to all the prophecies
which holy men of God uttered under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Who
opens the treasuries of knowledge. The particular quality of these treasuries
lies in the fact that they cannot be withstood by the wise men of this world,
for that which is opened by Divine truth cannot be eclipsed by human wisdom,
and that which the key of David (the
Holy Spirit) closes to the curiosity of the human mind no mind can open."
(St. John of Kronstadt)
"The Son of God calls Himself the key of David in the sense of having
the supreme authority in the house of David, for a key is the symbol of power.
The house of David, or the Kingdom of David, is the same as the Kingdom of God,
whose foreshadowing it was in the Old Testament." (Archbishop Averky)
The
phrase the key of David recalls a
prophecy from Isaiah: I will give
him the glory of David; and he shall rule, and there shall be none to shut; and
he shall shut, and there shall be none to open (22.22). These words were
spoken, in the first place, of Eliakim, the chief minister of King Hezekiah of
Judah, who was to succeed to the office of the high priest and temple treasurer
Somnas. Jewish tradition relates that Somnas wished to betray the people of God
and flee to the Assyrian King Sennacherib; and St. Cyril of Alexandria says of
him: "On receiving the dignity of the high-priesthood, he abused it, going
to the extent of imprisoning everybody who contradicted him."[96]
The picture, then, is one of betrayal at
the highest level in the Church at a time of maximum pressure from outside. The
Lord, however, as First Hierarch of the Church, promises His faithful remnant
that the power of the keys - the charisma of the priesthood, the power
to bind and to loose - will remain among them (cf. I Peter 2.25; Matthew
16.19). However much the false priests will strive to exclude the faithful from
the Church by means of bans and excommunications, their efforts will come to
nothing because the Lord will not recognise their repressive measures - the
door into the sacred enclosure of the Church will remain open to the sheep who
know His voice (John 10.9).
For
there is no infallible authority but God - this is the teaching of the One,
Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. And while the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth (I
Timothy 3.15), we cannot be certain that any individual Church or hierarch
will remain in the Truth. For the Spirit
of truth blows where it wills (John
3.8). As St. Columbanus of Luxeuil wrote to a heretical Pope: "[If you
err], then those who have always kept the Orthodox Faith, whoever they may have
been, even if they seem to be your subordinates,
shall be your judges.. And
thus, even as your honour is great in proportion to the dignity of your see, so
great care is needful for you, lest you lose your dignity through some mistake.
For power will be in your hands just so long as your principles remain sound;
for he is the appointed keybearer of the Kingdom of heaven, who opens by true
knowledge to the worthy and shuts to the unworthy; otherwise if he does the
opposite, he shall be able neither to open nor to shut..."[97]
Now betrayal at the highest level was a
tragic feature of Orthodox Church life in the 1920s. Thus Greek and Romanian
hierarchs sought to betray their flocks into union with western heretics, the
first step to which was the introduction of the papal calendar in 1924.
However, they were foiled, at least in part, by the determined opposition of a
handful of priests and several hundred thousand laymen. Again, in Russia,
certain bishops and clergy created the so-called "Living Church" with
the blessing of the Soviets in opposition to the true Church led by Patriarch
Tikhon. This heretical schism was eventually crushed, but only after wreaking
great damage on the Church with the loss of millions of souls. Then, in 1927,
came the still more destructive schism of Metropolitan Sergius of
Nizhni-Novgorod, who published a declaration placing the official Russian
Church into submission to the militantly atheist State.
St. Seraphim of Sarov had prophesied a
hundred years before: "The Lord has revealed to me, wretched Seraphim,
that there will be great woes on the Russian land, the Orthodox faith will be
trampled on, and the hierarchs of the Church of God and other clergy will
depart from the purity of Orthodoxy. And for this the Lord will severely punish
them. I, wretched Seraphim, besought the Lord for three days and three nights
that He would rather deprive me of the Kingdom of Heaven, but have mercy on
them. But the Lord replied: I will not have mercy on them; for they teach the
teachings of men, and with their tongue honour Me, but their heart is far from
Me.'"[98]
And at another time he said that the
hierarchs of that time would become so impious that they would exceed in
impiety the Greek hierarchs of the time of Theodosius the Younger (fifth
century), so that they would not believe in the chief dogma of the faith of
Christ.[99]
As Archbishop Averky writes:
"Terrible upheavals, unheard of in history since the first ages of
Christianity, have been lived through and are still being lived through by our
Russian Orthodox Church. But it is not so much these bloody persecutions,
likening her to the early Church, that are terrible in themselves, as the inner
corruption which began in her and in the whole of the Orthodox Church after the
Bolshevik coup. What we have in mind is that corrupting spirit which
began to reveal itself openly, and which at first merged into the so-called
'living church' and 'renovationist' movement, and then - into the destructive
compromise with the God-fighting communist power. This was the spirit of
Apostasy in the bowels of the Orthodox Church herself, which engendered all
kinds of divisions and schisms, both there in the Homeland enslaved by the
atheists, and here, abroad. This spirit of Apostasy
is, of course, far more dangerous and destructive for souls than open bloody
persecutions. It is the inner betrayal of Christ the Saviour with the
preservation of merely external, visible faithfulness to Him.
"Was it not about this that Bishop
Theophanes the Recluse prophesied more than eighty years ago in his
interpretation of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, when he said: 'Although
the name of Christianity will be heard everywhere, and churches and church
rites will be seen everywhere, all this will be only appearance, while within
will be true apostasy (pp. 491-492). Christ Himself in His Sermon on the
Mount clearly said that nobody can serve
two masters (Matthew 6.24); it is impossible simultaneously to serve
God and Mammon, that is, this world
lying in evil; it is impossible at one and the same time to please Christ
and Beliar, that is, the servants of the coming Antichrist, in the person of
the clear or secret God-fighting authorities (II Corinthians
6.15)."[100]
"Soon after the publication of
Metropolitan Sergius' declaration," writes E. Lopeshanskaya, "Bishop
Damascene [one of the faithful martyr-bishops of the Catacomb Church] had
thought about the fate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the image of two of
the churches of the Apocalypse: those of Philadelphia and Laodicea. The Church
of Patriarch Tikhon was the Church of Philadelphia.. And next to the Church of
Philadelphia was the Church of Laodicea - that of Metropolitan Sergius."[101]
Now this identification of the
Philadelphian Church with the Russian Tikhonite or Catacomb Church was disputed
by a fellow-martyr of Bishop Damascene's, Metropolitan Cyril of Kazan, who is
reported to have said in 1934: "Not we, but those who will come after us
are the Philadelphian Church."[102]
However, we may suppose him to have been thinking of the latter part of the
prophecy concerning the Philadelphian Church, which had not been fulfilled in
his time and has not been fulfilled even now. This is the promise of an open door being extended to her
hierarchs:
3.8. I know thy works; behold, I have set before
thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength.
The meaning of this phrase is explained by
St. Paul's words: Praying for us also,
that God may open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the Mystery of Christ,
for which I am also in bonds; that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak
(Colossians 4.3-4; cf. I Corinthians 16.9).
The Catacomb Church was in bonds for most
of the twentieth century, as Paul was in Rome in the first century.
Nevertheless, although the Church suffers
trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds,
the word of God is not bound (II
Timothy 2.9). The Lord can open the
door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14.27) now as He did then; and
here He promises the Philadelphian Church, i.e. the True Orthodox Church of
Russia and perhaps throughout the world, that since she has kept His word and
not denied His name in the midst of the most terrible persecutions, He will
release her from bondage and give her the opportunity to proclaim the word of God
freely.
"These words in all probability refer
to that spreading of the Gospel throughout the world which has penetrated from
the Eastern Church into China, Japan, India, Persia, Africa and other pagan
countries." (St. John of Kronstadt)
Looking at the world from a worldly point
of view, it is difficult to see how this prophecy could be fulfilled. In Russia
today, it is still the Laodicean Church of Sergianist Ecumenism that is
dominant rather than the Philadelphian Church of True Orthodoxy; and faith and
morals are in sharp decline throughout the world. The faithful people of the
Church are preparing for the coming of the Antichrist rather than a dramatic
expansion of the Church of Christ.
And yet, as Tertullian said, "the
blood of the Christians is the seed of the Church" - and where, if ever,
has more blood been shed for Christ than in the past century in Russia? This
alone should give us reason to hope for a rich harvest of souls entering the
Church before the end. Moreover, there are many prophecies foretelling the
resurrection of Holy Russia and a spectacular expansion of the Church
throughout the world, as, for example, the following remarkable Greek prophecy
dating probably from the ninth century and found in the monastery of St. Sabbas,
near Jerusalem:-
"At various times this great people
[the Russians] will fall into sin and for this will be chastised through
considerable trials. In about a thousand years [i.e. in the 1900s] this people,
chosen by God, will falter in its Faith and its standing for the Truth of
Christ. It will become proud of its earthly might and glory, will cease to seek
the Kingdom and will want paradise not in Heaven but on this sinful earth.
"However not all this people will
tread this broad and pernicious path, though a substantial majority will,
especially its governing class. On account of this great fall, a terrible fiery
trial will be sent from on high to this people which will despise the ways of
God. Rivers of blood shall flow across their land, brother shall slay brother,
more than once famine shall visit the land and gather its dread harvest, nearly
all the churches and other holy places shall be destroyed or suffer sacrilege,
many shall perish.
"A part of this people, rejecting
iniquity and untruth, will pass over the borders of their homeland and will be
dispersed like unto the people of the Jews all over the world. Nevertheless the
Lord will not show His wrath on them to the uttermost. The blood of thousands
of martyrs will cry to the heavens for mercy. A spirit of sobriety will grow
among this chosen people and they will return to God. At last this period of
cleansing trial, appointed by the Righteous Judge, will come to an end, and
once more Holy Orthodoxy will shine forth and those northern lands will be
resplendent with the brightness of a faith reborn.
"This wonderful light of Christ will
shine forth from there and enlighten all the peoples of the earth. This will be
helped by that part of the people providentially sent ahead into the diaspora,
who will create centres of Orthodoxy - churches of God all over the world.
"Christianity will then be revealed
in all its heavenly beauty and fullness. Most of the peoples of the world will
become Christian. And for a time a period of peace, prosperity and Christian
living will come to the whole world...
"And then? Then, when the fullness of
time has come, a great decline in faith will begin and everything foretold in
the Holy Scriptures will occur. Antichrist will appear and the world will
end."[103]
3.8.
For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My
name.
He shows the reason why the Church obtains these
gifts, namely, that she does not trust in her own powers, but in the grace of
Christ the King. (The Venerable Bede)
These
words are reminiscent of the following passage from Daniel: They shall profane the sanctuary of
strength, and they shall remove the perpetual sacrifice, and make the
abomination desolate. And the transgressors shall bring about a covenant by
deceitful ways: but a people knowing their God shall prevail, and do valiantly.
And the intelligent of the people shall understand much: yet shall they fall by
the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by spoil of many days. And they
shall be helped with a little help; but many shall attach themselves to them
with treachery. And some of them that understand shall fall, to try them as
fire, and to test them, and that they may be manifested at the time of the end,
for the matter is yet for a set time (11.31-35).
The parallel between this people and the
Christians of the True Orthodox Church is striking. The profanation of the
sanctuary of strength and the removal of the perpetual sacrifice refers to the
Bolsheviks' destruction of churches and removal into prison of the priests who
celebrate the Sacrifice of the Eucharist, replacing them by false priests and
churches which do not have the Grace of the sacraments. The deceitfully
arranged covenant refers to Metropolitan Sergius' pact with the atheists, which
introduced the abomination of desolation
- militant atheism and anti-theism - into the heart of the Church's
administration. It was of just such a covenant that the Prophet Isaiah wrote: Thus says the Lord God:... hail will sweep
away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter. Then your
covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with hell will not
stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through you will be beaten down by
it... (Isaiah 28.15, 17-19)
As for the abomination of desolation, this refers to the renovationist
"Living Church" according to St. John of Kronstadt's vision of 1908:
"We went further, and entered a big cathedral. I wanted to cross myself,
but the elder said to me: 'Here is the abomination of desolation'... The
cathedral, the priest, the people - these are the heretics, the apostates, the
godless, who departed from the Faith of Christ and the Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church and recognised the renovationist living church, which does not
have the Grace of Christ."[104]
The
people knowing their God are the believers of the True Orthodox Church, who
reject this evil covenant and abomination. They have fallen by the sword, and by flame, and by
captivity, and by spoil of many days - over seventy years of struggle
against the Soviet Antichrist. Just as the Philadelphian Church is said to have
little strength, so these Christians
are said to be helped with a little help;
and in material and political terms they are indeed weak. Many shall attach themselves to them with treachery - and many
traitors, KGB agents, have attached themselves to the True Orthodox Christians,
causing some of them to fall temporarily, being tried as with fire. And all this takes place in the last days, at the time of the end, and yet before
the final destruction of the tormentor, the
king of the north, on the mountains of Israel (Daniel 11.36-45; cf. Ezekiel
38 and 39).
3.9. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of
Satan, who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them
to come and make obeisance before they feet, and to know that I have loved
thee.
The phrase the synagogue of Satan was used before, in the message to the
Church of Smyrna (2.9), which in Archbishop Averky's interpretation represents
the second period in the history of the Church. It can be interpreted in two
ways. Either it refers to the Jews, who have been at the forefront of the
persecutions against the Christians in the twentieth, as in the first three
centuries, or to the false brethren who have betrayed the Israel of God (Galatians 6.16), the Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church, and thereby ceased to be true
Jews, i.e. real Christians. For he is
not a Jew, who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh. But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of
the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men,
but of God (Romans 2.28-29).
Of such true, Christian Jews it is
written: In those days ... ten men of
all the languages of the nations shall take hold of the hem of a Jew, saying,
We shall go with thee; for we have learned that God is with you (Zechariah
8.23).
"Here is foretold the mass conversion
of the Jews to Christ which must take place in the last, that is, the sixth
period in the construction of the Holy Church... This triumphant promise
relates, in all probability, to the last times, after the breaking of the sixth
seal from the book of the destinies of the world, when great signs in the sun,
the moon and the stars will begin to appear, and terrible upheavals in the
elements - upheavals which will be restrained from appearing until the
conversion to Christianity and return to Palestine of one hundred and forty
four thousand Jews is accomplished, as we clearly see in Revelation
(7.2-8). They will be regenerated, as some fathers of the Church, in particular
St. Ephraim the Syrian and St. Hippolytus of Rome, have surmised, by the
Prophet Elijah's preaching of the Gospel of Christ." (St. John of
Kronstadt)
In the early 1920s the Church writer and
hieromartyr Bishop Mark Novoselov identified the Jews in this passage with the
persecutors of the Church in Bolshevik Russia. "[St. John] with complete
clarity speaks about the conversion of the God-fighting people to the Church of
Christ, when she, few in numbers and powerless from an external point of view,
but powerful with an inner strength and faithfulness to her Lord (Revelation
3.8) will draw to herself the remnant
of the God-fighting tribe. Behold, says
the Lord to the Angel of the Church of Philadelphia, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews, and
are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and make obeisance before
they feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
"Gazing with the eye of faith at that
which the Lord has done before our eyes, and applying the ear of our heart and
mind to the events of our days, comparing that which is seen and heard with the
declarations of the Word of God, I cannot but feel that a great, wonderful and
joyous mystery of God's economy is coming towards us: the Judaising haters and
persecutors of the Church of God, who are striving to subdue and annihilate
her, by the wise permission of Providence will draw her to purification and
strengthening, so as to present her
[to Christ] as a glorious Church, having
no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that she should be holy and
blameless (Ephesians 6.27).
"And in His time, known only to the
One Lord of time, this, according to the son of thunder's strict expression synagogue of Satan will bow before the
pure Bride of Christ, conquered by her holiness and blamelessness and, perhaps,
frightened by the image of the Antichrist. And if the rejection of the Apostle
Paul's fellow-countrymen was, in his words, the reconciliation of the world [with God], what will be their acceptance if not life from the dead? (Romans
11.15)."[105]
Lev Tikhomirov agrees with this
interpretation: Is this conversion of the Jews that salvation of all Israel which the Apostle Paul
foretold? In the Apocalypse it is said that the saved will come of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are
Jews, and are not, but do lie. But not the whole of the synagogue will come, but only of the synagogue, that is, a part of
it. But even here where the Apostle Paul says that the whole of Israel will be saved, he means only a part: for they are not all Israel, which are of
Israel
They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed (Romans
9.6,8).
The opinion is widespread among us that
the conversion of the Jews will take place at the very appearance of the
Saviour, when they shall cry out: Blessed is He That cometh in the name of the
Lord. But this is not evident from the Apocalypse. But if the Philadelphian
conversion will bring all Israel
that is to be saved to Christ, then this will, of course, be a great event,
fully explaining the rejoicing of the Heavens. Israel is a chosen people with
whom it will not be possible to find a comparison when he begins to do the work
of God. The Jews will, of course, multiply the forces of Christianity for the
resistance against the Antichrist. If
the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, says the Apostle
Paul, what shall the receiving of them
be, but life from the dead? (Romans 11.15).[106]
3.10-11. Because thou hast kept the word of My
patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come
upon the whole world, to try those that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come
quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Because you have kept My example in
suffering adversity, I also will keep you from the impending afflictions, not,
indeed, that you may not be tempted, but that you may not be overcome by
adversity
Do not grow weary in endurance, for I will help you quickly, in case
another, through your failure, receive the reward which was decreed for you. So
it is impossible that the number of the saints which is fixed with God should
be diminished by the faithlessness of the increasing tares. For if the lost
crown is delivered to another, the place of him who has lost it is not vacant.
(The Venerable Bede)
Take
heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing,
drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly. For
it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth
(Luke 21.34-35).
Thus "at that time there will be an
increased danger of losing faith because of the multitude of temptations. On
the other hand, the reward for faithfulness will be, so to speak, right at
hand. Therefore it is necessary to be especially watchful so as not to lose the
possibility of salvation through lightmindedness, as, for example, the wife of
Lot lost it." (Archbishop Averky)
For the
righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in whatever day he shall
transgress (Ezekiel 33.12).
"In this second interpretation, the hour of temptation is virtually
synonymous with the great tribulation
which will come just before the end of the world, when the days will be shortened for the sake of the elect and immediately after the tribulation of those
days the end of everything will come (Matthew 24.21,22,29)."[107]
3.12-13. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar
in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him
the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem,
which cometh down out of heaven from My God; and I will write upon him My new
name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches.
According to the ancient author Strabo,
Philadelphia was frequently subject to earthquakes, and during the earthquakes
the citizens had to flee out of the city. Russia in the twentieth century is an
earthquake zone in the spiritual sense, and many millions have fled abroad and
into the catacombs. But the faithful Christian will escape unharmed from all
the traumas that the Russian people has had to undergo. Just as the
Philadelphian Christian of the first century was promised that he would not
have to go out any more, i.e. flee
from his house in case it fell on top of him, so the True Russian Christian of
the twentieth century is promised that he will not have to flee abroad or into
the catacombs any more, but will remain as a
pillar in the temple of My God.
St. Clement of Rome writes: "The
Church is not of the present age, but is from above. For She is spiritual, like
our Jesus, and was revealed in the last times in order to save us. And the
Church, though spiritual, was revealed in the Flesh of Christ... If we do the
will of our Father, God, we shall belong to the first Church, the spiritual
one, which was created before the sun and moon. But if we do not the will of
the Lord, we shall fall under the scripture which says: My house is become a den of thieves (Jeremiah 7.11; Matthew
21.23)."[108]
"The placing of a pillar in the Church of Christ which
has not been vanquished by the gates of hell (figuratively represented here in
the form of a house) indicates that the one who overcomes in temptations
belongs to the Church of Christ inviolably; that is, he has a most solid
position in the Kingdom of Heaven. The high reward for such a one will also be
the writing upon him of a triple name: the name of a child of God, as belonging
inseparably to God; the name of a citizen of the new or heavenly Jerusalem; and
the name of Christian, as an authentic member of the Body of Christ. The New
Jerusalem, beyond any doubt, is the heavenly triumphant Church (21.2; Galatians
4.26), which cometh down out of heaven
because the very origin of the Church from the Son of God, Who came down from heaven (John
3.13), is heavenly; it give to people heavenly gifts and raises them to
heaven." (Archbishop Averky)
"We must have written in our hearts
the new name of God, which is His incarnation, which took place in the new, or
last times, and is newer than anything else under the sun." (Patriarch
Anthimus)
7. The Church of Laodicea
3.14.
And unto the angel of the Church of Laodicea write: These things saith the
Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
Laodicea means the lovely tribe of the
Lord, or, they were in vomiting. For there were there both those to whom He
said, I will spew thee out of My mouth, and those also to whom He said
this, Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten. (The Venerable Bede)
"The last word of the Revelation of
the Lord is addressed to the Laodicean Church, and reflects in itself the
prophecy about the final condition of faith upon earth after great numbers of
confessors of the Church have been taken up to the throne of God, and when,
according to the expression of the Gospel, faith will hardly be found on the
earth (Luke 18.8)... The message to the angel of the Church of Laodicea
refers, in all probability, to the very last times." (St. John of
Kronstadt)
Lev Tikhomirov writes: "In the
Philadelphian Church, we must think, the pure Bride of Christ is preserved to
the end of the world. But the majority of those called 'Christians' will
probably fall ever lower, since the world will move into the seventh epoch, the
Laodicean."[109]
"The Church of Laodicea is the last,
most frightful epoch before the end of the world, characterised by indifference
to the Faith and outward prosperity...
"Laodicea, which is now called
'Exi-Hissar' by the Turks, that is, old fortress, is in Phrygia, by the river
Lyka and near the city of Colossae. In antiquity it was famous for it trade,
the fertility of its soil and its cattle-breeding. Its population was very
large and wealthy, as is witnessed by the excavations, which revealed many
precious pieces of sculpture, fragments of luxurious marble decorations,
cornices, pedestals, etc. We may suppose that it was its wealth that made
Laodicea so lukewarm to the Christian faith, for which the city was subjected
to the wrath of God - its complete destruction and devastation by the Turks (in
1009)." (Archbishop Averky)
Thus
saith the Amen. "The use of this epithet contains in itself a threat,
or, at least, a warning, that the Laodiceans should not err with regard to the
justice of what will be said later: all this is said by Him Who is the purest
truth, unfailing faithfulness."[110]
St. Justin the Martyr writes: I shall
give you another testimony from the Scriptures, that God begat before all
creatures a Beginning,
Who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the
Lord, now the Son, again Wisdom, again an Angel, then God, and then Lord and
Logos
For He can be called by all those names, since He ministers to the
Fathers will
The Word of Wisdom, Who is Himself this God begotten of the
Father of all things, and Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and the Glory of the
Begetter, will bear evidence to me, when He speaks by Solomon: The Lord made Me the Beginning of His ways
for His works. He established Me before the age, in the beginning before He
made the earth [Proverbs 8.22,23].[111]
St. Ambrose of Milan writes: The Son of
God has no beginning, seeing that He already was at the beginning, nor shall He
come to an end, Who is the Beginning and
the End of the Universe; for begin the Beginning, how could He take and
receive that which He already had, or how shall He come to an end, being
Himself the End of all things, so that in that End we have an abiding-place
without end? The divine Generation is not an event occurring in the course of
time, and within its limits, and therefore before it time is not, and in it
time has no place.[112]
"The Lord is called the beginning of the creation of God
not, of course, in the sense that He is the first creation of God, but in the
sense that all things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made (John 1.3), and
likewise in the sense that He is the recreation of fallen man (Galatians
6.15; Colossians 3.10,1.15,1.18)." (Archbishop Averky)
3.15-16.
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wast
cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I
will spew thee out of My mouth.
You are neither fervent in faith, nor
entirely unbelieving. But, if you were still unbelieving, you would still have
the hope of conversion, whereas now, in that you do not do the will of the Lord
which you know, you shall be cast forth from the bosom of My Church. (The
Venerable Bede)
Laodicea's water supplies contained large
calcium impurities, which can be seen to this day. If someone drank the
lukewarm water it would make him vomit.[113]
The Lord does not say a single good word
about the Laodicean Church, but reproaches her particularly for her lack of
zeal for the faith and tolerance of evil. As we have seen, Hieromartyr Bishop
Damascene of Glukhov identifies her with the apostate Soviet church, the Moscow
Patriarchate. Without basically disagreeing with this interpretation, we may
nevertheless give the Laodicean church a wider denotation, encompassing all the
so-called Orthodox churches of the last times, whose distinguishing feature is
their indifference to all questions of faith, as witnessed by their
participation in "the heresy of heresies", Ecumenism.
Ecumenism is the heresy that there is no
such thing as heresy as the apostles and fathers of the Church understand that
term - that is, a false teaching on a matter of faith that estranges those who
adhere to it from the unity of the Church. Ecumenism is the heresy that there
is no single faith, whether Orthodox, Papist or Protestant, whether Christian,
Jewish, Muslim or pagan, which expresses the fullness of the truth, and that
all existing faiths (except Ecumenism itself) are more or less in error. It
implies that the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church has foundered on the
reef of sectarian strife, and that She has to be re-founded on the sands of
doctrinal compromise and indifference to the truth. It is the tower of Babel
rebuilt, a babble of conflicting tongues united only in their insistence that
they all speak the same language.
The dominant characteristic of Ecumenism
is lukewarmness. Rejecting any sharp
distinction between truth and falsehood, Ecumenism accepts all churches and
faiths, however incompatible with each other, as being simultaneously true.
Hence the search for truth is replaced by the search for unity - only not unity
truth, but unity in indifference to truth.
However, "in relation to the faith
the middle course has no value. For we may hope that he who is cold, and has no
hot water, will one day receive it. But he who burned in spirit through Holy
Baptism, but then grew cold, removes from himself the hope of salvation."
(St. John of Kronstadt). For "the cold man, who has not known faith, can
more easily believe and become a fervent believer than a cooled-off Christian
who has become indifferent to the Faith. Even an open sinner is better than a
lukewarm Pharisee who is satisfied with his moral condition. That is why the
Lord Jesus Christ reproached the Pharisees, preferring to them the repentant
publican and harlots. Open and evident sinners can more easily come to an
awareness of their own sinfulness and to true repentance than people with a
lukewarm conscience who do not acknowledge their moral infirmities."
(Archbishop Averky)
Ecumenism is spiritually akin to
Communism. Both movements aim at the construction of a materialist paradise on
earth through the destruction of traditional forms of ecclesiastical and
political life; and both achieved institutional status at about the same time -
the years 1917-19. Together, they constitute the third stage in the process of apostasy referred to by St. Paul after
the first stage - Papism and the second stage - Protestantism.
"The ideologue of Ecumenism,"
writes Archbishop Averky, "which is the natural consequence of the
nostalgia of the Protestant world for the Church that they have lost, was the
German pastor Christoph Blumhardt, whom the Protestants call for that reason 'the
great prophet of the contemporary world'. He called all the Protestants to
unity for 'the construction of the Kingdom of God on earth', but he died before
the organisation of the Ecumenical movement, in 1919. His fundamental idea
consisted of the proposition that 'the old world has been destroyed, and a new
one is rising on its ruins'. He placed three problems before Christianity: 1)
the realisation of the best social structure, 2) the overcoming of confessional
disagreements and 3) the working together for the education of the whole world
community of nations with the complete liquidation of war.
"It was in these three points that
the aims of Ecumenism were formulated by the present general secretary of the
Council of the Ecumenical movement, Visser-t-Hooft, who saw the means for their
realisation in the Church's pursuit of social aims. For this it is first of all
necessary to overcome confessional differences and create one church. The
renewed one church will have the possibility of preparing the way for the triumph
of Socialism, which will lead to the creation of one world State as the Kingdom
of God on earth...."[114]
"Since the fall of Orthodox
Russia," continues Averky, "he
who restrains (II Thessalonians 2.7) has been no more, as was
frequently prophesied by the luminary Theophanes [the Recluse] and by our great
all-Russian righteous one, Fr. John of Kronstadt, and by many other
Spirit-bearing prophets of our time, - and everything in the world has
tottered, as if shaken to its very foundations. The spirit of apostasy has begun to proclaim itself
with unusual cynicism and shamelessness everywhere in the world in all spheres
of personal, family, social and state life, as never before. Whole millions of
people, formerly Christian by birth, are not ashamed now openly and in the
hearing of all to declare their unbelief and godlessness, and state power
officially registers them as not belonging to any confession of faith;
immorality has reached frightening proportions, in most cases dissoluteness and
pornography are not only not prosecuted, but are even cultivated by the powers
that be, right to the systematic corruption of the younger generation in
schools; the former concepts of duty, honour, nobility and conscience have
almost disappeared - and in their place have appeared coarse greed, purely
egoistical calculation, material benefits and fleshly pleasures. Particularly
bitter is this for contemporary youth, which is almost completely deprived of
spiritual zeal and that lofty enthusiasm for sacrificial service to neighbours
and attraction to high moral ideas that characterised youth in former times.
For many the aim of life has become only career ambitions and work with
material guarantees, external comfort and base carnal delights. And there is an
unbelievable increase in child crime, which the newspapers constantly talk
about, inspiring us with the most serious anxieties concerning the near future.
"In one word, the world, terrible to say, the
Christian world now presents a dismal, joyless picture of the deepest
religious-moral fall.
"And at the same time, in such sharp
contrast with all this dismal reality, more and more often and more and more
insistently there sound the repeated calls to peace and union.
"Can one believe, in these circumstances
and seeing all that is happening, in the sincerity and, most importantly, in
the good intentions of these appeals?
"These appeals go out: in the East -
from the God-fighting Soviet power, which has drowned our Homeland in blood,
and from its obedient tool, the Moscow Patriarchate, which has thoroughly
deserved its name of the 'Soviet church' (what a terrible combination of
words!); in the West - from papal Rome, which has compromised itself in history
by its evil and antichristian politics of enslavement of those who think
otherwise, and from the Protestant world, which is guilty of the religious
chaos which distinguishes the present seemingly Christian world that has
descended into complete godlessness.
"With the aim of propagandising this
'peace' and 'unity', the representatives of the God-fighting power and its
obedient servants in cassock go round the whole world sowing the seeds of lies
and trying to deceive and lead into error naive and trusting people. It was
with this aim that the papal throne created the so-called 'Eastern Rite' so as
to lead into error the Orthodox who do not know their faith well, and now it
has even called an 'Ecumenical Council', in which all the so-called 'separated
brethren' will be able to take part, although at the same time the encyclical
published by the pope leaves no doubt as to the real aim of this 'council' -
the unconditional submission of all to papal power. Nor is the Protestant world
uninvolved in this striving for 'peace' and 'unity' - that world which has
itself unceasingly created so many divisions, in the form of a great quantity
of sects, and which is now propagandising its own 'ecumenical' movement, into
the nets of which it is trying, not without success, to draw the Orthodox,
mainly those who have been infected by the corrupting spirit of
'living-churchmanship' and 'renovationism'.
"How should the Orthodox relate to
all this?
Must he strive towards every kind of
peace and unity?
Is every kind of peace and unity bound to
be valuable in his eyes, dear and near to his True Christian soul?
"Not
at all - was the decisive reply to this question - a question of Christian
conscience - of the great ecumenical teacher and hierarch, the pillar of our
Orthodox faith, St. Gregory the Theologian. 'It
is not fitting,' he said, 'to
treasure every kind of peace, for there is a good disagreement, and the most
destructive unanimity, and one must love only a good peace, which has a good
aim and unites with God' (Word 6, vol. 1, p. 192).
"Dearest of all for a Christian is the Truth, to witness to which the Lord
Jesus Christ came into the world, as He Himself said to Pilate (John
18.37). And for the true Christian only one union can be desirable - union in Christian truth - the undistorted,
unperverted, pure truth, without any admixture of demonic lies, unpoisoned by
any kind of compromise with it. From this point of view, all these appeals to
'peace' and 'unity' are unacceptable for the Christian, for they proceed from
people who have encroached on our main treasure - the pure and undefiled truth
of the teaching of Christ which has been preserved by us in holiness, and who
want to substitute for it a lie, which is of the devil. The unity which has
been thought up now by the enemies of Christ's pure truth is not a unity in
Christ. It is that unity which the Antichrist is striving to create for himself
in his desire to subdue all people to himself and found his own kingdom on
earth.
"All
that is taking place now on the summits of the religious, state and social life
of men since our Orthodox Russia was cast into the dust is nothing other than
intense work on the preparation of the future kingdom of the Antichrist by his
servants."[115]
"The religious-moral fall of
bishops," writes Archbishop Theophanes of Poltava, "is... one of the
most characteristic signs of the last times. Especially terrible is the fall of
bishops when they fall away from the dogmas of the faith, or, as the apostle
puts it, want to pervert the Gospel of
Christ (Galatians 1.7). To such the apostle orders that we say anathema: Whoever will preach to you a Gospel other than that which we preached
to you, he writes, let him be
anathema (Galatians 1.9). And one must not linger here, he says: A heretic after the first and second
admonition reject, knowing that such a one is perverted, condemning himself
(Titus 3.10-11). Otherwise, that is, for indifference to apostasy from
the truth, you may be struck by the wrath of God: because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee
out of My mouth."[116]
3.17-18.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of
nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and
blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness not appear; and anointing thine eyes with eye-salve,
that thou mayest see.
"Gold tried in the fire signifies the
word of teaching of the holy Fathers of the Church, and white raiment - the intercession of the Mother of God and the holy
God-pleasers." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"If
you wish to become rich, I counsel you, with flaming desire and a fervent
heart, to acquire from Me, the Enricher, gold cleansed by the fire of
temptation. From it you will have in your heart a treasure that cannot be stolen, and you will be clothed in a most bright
raiment of virtues, with which you will cover the nakedness of sin." (St.
Andrew of Caesarea)
St. Cyprian of Carthage writes: "You,
then, who are rich and wealthy, buy for yourself from Christ gold tried by
fire; that you may be pure gold, with your filth burnt out as if by fire, if
you are purged by almsgiving and righteous works. Buy for yourselves white
raiment, that you who had been naked according to Adam, and were before
frightful and unseemly, may be clothed with the white garment of Christ. And
you are a wealthy and rich matron in Christ's Church, anoint your eyes, not with
the devil's eye-shadow, but with Christ's eye-salve, that you may be able to
attain to see God, by deserving well of God, both by good works and
character."[117]
The
lukewarm water in the village adjacent to Laodicea is very beneficial to the
eyes. Laodicea exported this eyesalve
to many parts of the world, but the irony was that the Laodicean Christians
were spiritually blind. In the same way, the contemporary ecumenists go round
the world spreading their lukewarm Gospel, with which they propose to heal the
blindness of men, while not seeing their own utter blindness.[118]
To anoint
the eyes with eyesalve
is to gain an understanding of holy Scripture by the performance of a good
work. (The Venerable Bede)
Metropolitan
Philaret of Moscow says: "Remove the blindness of crude sensuality. Anoint
the eyes of your mind with the subtle ointment of faith in the spiritual and
the Divine. Then you will see in truth."[119]
"Eyesalve is the virtue of
non-acquisitiveness, which opens men's eyes to the vanity and emptiness of all
the wealth of the corruptible world." (Archbishop Averky)
The
main impulse towards ecumenism has come from the materially rich but
spiritually starved countries of the West. The Lord here counsels Western
Christians, and those Orthodox who have become westerners in faith and life, to
acquire the spiritual wealth of the Orthodox East - that gold which has been tried
in the fire of great suffering. For He
is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap; and He shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as
gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness
(Malachi 3.2-3).
"From these reproaches of the
Laodicean Church leaders it is clear that the indifference of pastors will be
the final phenomenon of Church life combined with an extraordinary development
of their material security. Such a phenomenon will appear: a church without the
grace of the Holy Spirit, and pastors feeding themselves, and sermons as mere
sounds." (St. John of Kronstadt)
3.19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be
zealous therefore and repent.
My son,
despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of His correction; for
whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth (Proverbs 3.11-12).
Zeal
is precisely the virtue that ecumenism works to destroy: zeal to struggle for the faith once delivered to the saints
(Jude 3), zeal to rebuke all false teachings and extinguish sin. Zeal is
that fiery quality akin to love which the Lord so longed to send upon the earth
(Luke 12.49). According to St. Gregory the Theologian, zeal is the gift
that was given to the disciples in tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost.[120]
Archbishop
Averky writes: "The most important thing in Christianity, according to the
clear teaching of the Word of God, is the
fire of Divine zeal, zeal for God and His glory, that Holy Zeal which alone is able to inspire a man to labours and
exploits pleasing to God, without which there is no authentic spiritual life -
nor can there be any true Christianity. Without this holy zeal Christians are
only Christians by name."[121]
3.20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if
any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with Me.
"Not by compulsion, He says, is My
presence; for I knock at the door of the heart and rejoice with those who open
to their salvation. This salvation I consider food and supper, and I eat what
they eat, and thus they banish the famine
of hearing the word of the Lord (Amos 8.11) and the darkness of
errors." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
I
have meat to eat that ye know not of... My meat is to do the will of Him that
sent Me, and to finish His work (John 4.32,34). The meat which the Lord ate on this
occasion was the salvation of the
Samaritan woman, to whom He said, in very unecumenical fashion: Ye worship ye know not what: we know what
we worship; for salvation is of the Jews (John 4.22). Ecumenism
destroys the very concept of missionary conversion; for if all faiths are true
and salvific, what is the point of converting from one to another? But in
reality, as St. Cyprian says, "God is one, and Christ is one; His Church
is one, and the Faith is one; and the cement of fellowship binds all the people
into the body's solid unity. That unity cannot be broken..."[122]
3.21-22. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit
with Me on My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father on
His throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
Churches.
"To
him that overcometh is given the promise that he will sit on the throne of
God, by which is to be understood the highest dignity of an heir of the Kingdom
of heaven, and who reigns together with Christ Himself, the Conqueror of the
devil (cf. Matthew 19.28; Luke 22.30)." (Archbishop Averky)
By sitting with Him He means,
being a partner in power and judgement. Who has made us sit together, he
says, in heavenly places in Christ. The Lord, as a Conqueror, sat down
with the Father on the throne, in that, after the conflict of the passion,
after the victory of His resurrection, He manifested Himself more clearly to
all, as coequal with the Father in power. (The Venerable Bede)
He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches. This
exhortation is repeated at the end of the message to each of the Churches. For,
as Archbishop Theophanes of Poltava writes, "the people of this age live
by faith in progress and soothe themselves with unrealisable dreams. Stubbornly
and with a certain ferocity they drive away from themselves the very thought of
the end of the world and the coming of the Antichrist. Their eyes are
spiritually blinded. Seeing they do not
see, and hearing they do not hear. But the meaning of contemporary events
is not hidden from the true children of God. Nay more: to him on whom the good
will of God rests will be revealed exactly both the time of the coming of the
Antichrist and the end of the world. When
the Lord will pronounce His threatening judgement on the sinful world: My Spirit will not remain among men,
seeing they are flesh, then He will say to His faithful servants: Come out from among them and separate
yourselves and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you (II
Corinthians 6.17; cf. Isaiah 52.11). And He will hide them from the
gaze of the world as they sigh in fear at the woes that are to come. Therefore
great is the merit of those who remind the people of this age of the great
times and events that are to come."[123]
II. THE SECOND VISION: THE SEVEN SEALS
OR: THE CHURCH AT THE END OF TIME
1. The Twenty-Four Elders and the Four Living
Creatures
After describing the works of the Church and its future condition, he
recapitulates from the birth of Christ, with the intention of repeating the
same things in a different manner, for in this book he repeats under various
figures the whole period of the Churchs history. (The Venerable Bede)
In a second vision, the seer's spiritual
eye is turned from earth to heaven, from the Church Militant to the Church
Triumphant:-
4.1. After this I looked, and behold, a door was
opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet
talking with me; which said: Come up hither, and I will show thee things which
must be hereafter.
"The fourth chapter contains the
beginning of a new, a second vision. The depiction of a new and magnificent
spectacle which opens before the gaze of St. John begins with a commandment to
him to ascend through an open door in heaven so as to see things which must be hereafter. The opening of the door signifies
the revelation of the hidden mysteries of the Spirit. By the words Come hither, the hearer is commanded to
put off entirely earthly thinking and be converted to heavenly thinking."
(Archbishop Averky)
4.2-3. And immediately I was in the Spirit: and
behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He that sat
was to look upon like a jaspar and a sardine stone; and there was a rainbow
about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
"The throne is the rest of God in the saints." (Patriarch Anthimus)
"And
immediately I was in the Spirit: that is, again in a state of ecstasy. This
time St. John saw God the Father Himself sitting upon a throne. His appearance
was like the precious stone jaspar (a stone of the colour green like emerald)
and a sardine stone (sard, of a fiery colour). The first of these colours, green,
according to the commentary of St. Andrew of Caesarea, signifies that the
Divine nature is ever flourishing, life-bearing, and nourishing. The second,
the fiery yellow red, indicates purity and sanctity, which ever remain in God,
and His threatening anger towards those who transgress His will. The union of
these two colours indicates that God chastises sinners, but at the same time is
always ready to forgive one who sincerely repents. The apparition of the One
sitting on the throne was surrounded by a rainbow like an emerald, a stone of
green colour which signifies, as does also the rainbow which appeared after the
flood, the eternal mercy of God towards mankind.
"The sitting on the throne itself
signifies the opening of the judgement of God which is to be revealed in the
last times. This is not yet the terrible Last Judgement, but a preparatory
judgement like those judgements of God which have occurred many times in the
history of mankind to people who have sinned. (For example, the universal flood,
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, the destruction of Jerusalem, and many
others.)
"The precious stones jaspar and
sardine, and likewise the rainbow around the throne, being a symbol of the
ceasing of the wrath of God and the renewal of the world, signify that the
judgement of god upon the world, that is, its fiery destruction, is to end with
its renewal. This is especially indicated also by the quality of jaspar to heal
wounds received by the sword." (Archbishop Averky)
That sea was an image of the mystery of
Holy Baptism. Because between the Throne of God and the man who desires to
approach Gods Throne, there interposes the water of Baptism, and no one can in
any way approach God seated on His Throne in the highest unless he first traverse
the sea of Baptism, as say the Scriptures: Except
a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God
(John 3.5). For what reason is it that the sea, which images forth the
mystery of Baptism, is of glass and crystal? We should know that the
commentators on the Divine Scriptures say that it is like glass in a purity
that cleanses the souls of those being baptized, and like crystal on account of
its strength which makes steadfast the heart; furthermore it is for this reason
that it is of glass and crystal because just as the suns rays pass through
glass and crystal, the Grace of God, as it were, penetrates the mystery of
Baptism, and thereby comes to the person and illumines the temple of his soul.
We can also say, that it is not in vain that the sea before the Throne of God,
which represents the mystery of Baptism, is of glass and crystal, for the Most
Holy Trinity seated upon His Throne, as it were upon a mirror of glass and
crystal, will be revealed and seen therein, for in Holy Baptism the image of
the Trinity is revealed
Let us say, that the sea before the Throne of God is
an image of the mystery of Holy Baptism, wherein our nature is baptized, and
like glass our soul is cleansed from all
filthiness of flesh and spirit (II Corinthians 7.1) and like crystal
it is strengthened and illumined. And it is when God in Trinity looks upon this
mystical glass and crystal during our Baptism, then in truth the trinitarian
image is reflected therein.[124]
"The opening of a door in heaven and
the appearance of the throne signify the beginning of God's judgement, which
must take place in the last ages in successive periods, some long, some short,
in accordance with their proximity to the limit, beyond which there are no more
limits, no more ages, but one uninterrupted, endless present. The end of that
which is temporal and the transfer to that which is eternal will take place on
earth during the exceptional circumstances of a rebellion of the earthborn
against their Creator. Such a rebellion, led and inspired by Satan, has been
prepared by him from long ago. The mystery of the planned iniquity is always
ready to be accomplished, but it has been held back, and up to now continues to
be held back, by the piety of the zealots of the glory of God. Such in
antiquity were the holy prophets and apostles of the Lamb of God, slain from
the foundation of the world for the salvation of many. These pious zealots for
the glory of God have struggled to arouse, through fear of God's judgement, the
people who have been enticed by Satan into starting a rebellion against the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. They were and are successful, with the
help of the grace of the Holy Spirit, in putting off the explosion of the
rebellion for whole centuries, until the preordained number of those saved from
the foundation of the world have entered the Kingdom of God. The end can only
come when everything that could have been drawn out for the heavenly granary
will have been drawn out. When only chaff remain, then will the time of
recompense come near. Long before that the judgement will begin in heaven - but
not that final judgement which will be revealed on earth at the resurrection
from the dead. That last judgement will be the end or conclusion of the present
judgement, that is, it will be the declaration of the final and irrevocable lot
of all those under judgement. And those under judgement will not be only the
evil, but also the good, for all have sinned. And the righteous, for their
striving to follow the path of the Gospel, will be justified, while the evil,
who did not follow the instructions of Gospel charity, will be condemned to
eternal deprivation of light and blessedness, which will be the fiery torment
that has no end. But here, in Revelation, reference is made to the
preliminary judgement of God on the world which began long before the last day;
for the rebellion has been prepared from long ago by various satanic intrigues
aimed at the destruction of the saving ark of the Holy Church, in which all those
seeking deliverance from the flood of sin find reliable salvation...
"There are innumerable revelations of
the judgement of God both in the public and in the private spheres, only we do
not always - or rather, we almost never - understand these judgements of God;
or we understand so later that it remains only to be eternally sorry for one's
own and people's ignorance of how one should act so as not to be subjected to
the righteous judgement of God.
"As regards the preliminary judgement
of the world, that is revealed at the end of time, and lo!, the seer is counted
worthy of a revelations concerning this and announces: a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. Who is this?
Since here, in contrast to the previous vision of the Son of God, there is no
indication of any human sign, it is undoubtedly the Father, from Whom is
everything." (St. John of Kronstadt)
4.4. And round about the throne were four and
twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed
in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
The twenty-four elders are reminiscent of
the twenty-four divisions of the sons of Aaron for the priestly services in the
Temple (I Chronicles 24.1-18).
Archbishop Averky writes: "There are
the most varied opinions and suppositions as to whom one must understand by
these elders. One thing is certain: that these are representatives of humanity
who have pleased the Lord. Many suppose, basing themselves on the promise given
to the holy apostles: Ye also shall sit
upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew
19.28), that by these twenty-four elders one must understand twelve
representatives of Old Testament humanity - the holy patriarchs and prophets -
and twelve representatives of New Testament humanity - namely, the twelve
apostles of Christ. The white garments are a symbol of purity and eternal
feasting, and the golden crowns are a sign of victory over demons."
4.5. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and
thunderings and voices.
"This indicates how frightful and
terrible God is for impenitent sinners who are unworthy of His mercy and
forgiveness. (Compare the manifestation of God on Mount Sinai (Exodus
9.16).)" (Archbishop Averky)
"But for those worthy of salvation,
the lightnings and thunderings do not cause fear, but sweetness and
enlightenment: the one enlightens their spiritual eyes, while the other gives
pleasure to the hearing." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
4.5. And there were seven lamps of fire burning
before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
"By these seven spirits one must
understand either the seven chief angels, as St. Irenaeus interprets it, or the
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which are enumerated by the holy Prophet Isaiah
(Isaiah 11.2)." (Archbishop Averky)
"Just as earlier, in 1.4, John gave a
blessing to the Churches from the Holy Spirit under the name of seven spirits
under the altar of the Father, so it is evident that the reference here is to
the Person of the Holy Spirit under the form of seven lamps of fire." (St.
John of Kronstadt)
4.6. And before the throne there was a sea of glass
like unto crystal.
"The crystal sea, being immobile and
still, as opposed to the stormy sea seen later by St. John (13.1), must
signify, in the opinion of many interpreters, 'the multitude of the holy
heavenly powers', pure and immortal as they are (St. Andrew of Caesarea). These
are the souls of men who have not been disturbed by the storms of the sea of
life, but like crystal reflect the seven colours of the rainbow, being
penetrated by the seven gifts of the Grace of the Holy Spirit."
(Archbishop Averky)
"We may suppose that these are the
souls of human beings from the other world. They are not disturbed by worldly
storms, but like crystal, which reflects the seven colours of the rainbow, they
are penetrated by the seven gifts of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus the
assembly of these blessed spirits could be represented by a glass sea, like
crystal, before the throne of the Judge, Whom they are called to attend."
(St. John of Kronstadt)
4.6-8. And in the midst of the throne, and round
about the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.
And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second living creature
like a calf, and the third living creature had a face as a man, and the fourth
living creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures each had
six wings about him; and these were full of eyes within: and they rest neither
day nor night, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was, and is,
and is to come.
"These
are the powers by which the world is sustained and whom Isaiah also saw around
the throne. Their being full of eyes
before and behind signifies their cherubic knowledge of the past and
future, and their six wings - their
seraphic readiness to carry out the Divine commands of the Holy Trinity. These
are the angelic beings that are the highest and closest to the throne of God.
"But these powers serve as a
footstool for the throne of God, and for that reason it is said: in the midst of the throne, and round about
the throne, were four living creatures. This means that their faces are
turned towards the four corners of the world: the north, the south, the east
and the west, while their backs as it were support the throne of the Almighty,
Who contains everything and everyone.
"As regards the difference in the
external appearance of the four living creatures, this corresponds to the
service of Christ God Himself in the economy of our salvation: His royal
service - as commander of the forces of nature and the demons; His
high-priestly service - as offering a sacrifice for the whole world and being
Himself offered in sacrifice; His prophetic service - as God's teacher and
evangelist; and human service - as assuming the nature of our race, for our
salvation. To the first corresponds the emblematic representation of a lion; to
the second - of a calf; to the third - of an eagle; and to the fourth - of a
man." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"Some think that these living
creatures should be understood to be the four elements and God's governance and
preservation of them, or God's dominion over the regions of heaven, earth, sea
and the underworld. However, as is clear from the further description of the
appearance of these living creatures, without doubt they are the very angelic
powers who in the mystical vision of the holy Prophet Ezekiel on the river
Chobar (1.5-25) supported the mystical chariot on which the Lord God sits as
King.
"These four living creatures are as
it were emblems of the four evangelists. The multitude of their eyes indicates
the Divine omniscience, the knowledge of everything past, present and future.
These are the highest angelic beings, the closest to God, who ceaselessly
glorify Him (cf. Isaiah 6.2-3)." (Archbishop Averky)
According to St. Andrew of Caesarea, the
four living creatures signify "the four chief virtues and the four
Gospels. The lion, as the symbol of
courage, signifies the Gospel of John, for he, says Irenaeus, in describing His
pre-eternal Kingdom, announced that in
the beginning was the Word (John 1.1); the calf, as the symbol of righteousness, signifies the Gospel of Luke,
who announced the lawful and priestly genealogy of Christ; the eagle, as the symbol of moderation,
signifies the Gospel of Mark, as being the shortest and beginning in a
prophetic spirit; the man, as the
symbol of wisdom, signifies the Gospel of Matthew, which began its account of
the birth of Christ according to nature, but not according to the law. These
symbols probably also signify the economy of Christ: the lion as King, the calf
as Chief Priest - or rather, Sacrifice, the man as incarnate for our sake, and the eagle as giver of the Life-giving Spirit Who descends on us from
above."
"St. Irenaeus of Lyons (2nd century)
was the first to identify the four living creatures with the four Evangelists.
According to early Orthodox icons (for example, the mosaics in the basilica of
San Vitale in Ravenna) the lion is identified with St. Mark, the calf with St.
Luke, the man with St. Matthew, and the eagle with St. John."[125]
St. Athanasius the Great writes: "The
Triad, praised, reverenced and adored, is one and indivisible and without
degrees. It is united without confusion, just as the Monad also is
distinguished without separation. For the fact of these venerable living
creatures offering their praises three times, saying Holy, Holy, Holy, proves that the Three Persons are perfect; just
as by saying Lord they declare the
One Essence."[126]
St. Gregory of Nyssa writes: The mystery
of the Trinity was luminously proclaimed when they uttered that marvellous cry,
Holy, being awestruck with the
beauty in each Hypostasis of the Trinity.[127]
St. Ambrose writes: They repeat thrice
and say the same word, that even in a hymn you may understand the distinction
of Persons in the Trinity, and the oneness of the Godhead, and while they say
this they proclaim God.[128]
"They
rest neither day nor night, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, as
if to say: they ceased not from singing all the time. For the greatest and only
rest of the saints is with unwearied voice to sing in heaven the praises of the
Most High Trinity, which is God. But in a deeper sense God can be understood to
have rested from His works
in that for the sake of His goodness alone He made
works capable of resting in Himself
God, Who before the creation had perfect
rest in Himself eternally, Himself also rested after the creation of the world
inasmuch as He supplies rest for the rational creatures." (The Venerable
Bede).[129]
4.9-11. And when these living creatures give glory
and honour and thanks to Him that sits on the throne, Who liveth unto the ages
of ages, the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sits on the
throne, and worship Him that lives unto the ages of ages, and cast their crowns
before the throne, saying: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour
and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they exist
and were created.
"The
four and twenty elders: These words signify that the elders are
participants in the hymns of the heavenly powers and confess that they received
from God the power to win the victory over spiritual enemies." (Archbishop
Averky)
This chapter places the emphasis on God as
Creator and Preserver of the whole of creation: the next chapter places the
emphasis on Him as Redeemer and Saviour of the world.
2. The Lamb of God
5.1-4. And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat
on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven
seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice: who is worthy to
open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no one in heaven, nor in
earth, nor under the earth was able to open the book, nor to look thereon. And
I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the book, nor to
look thereon.
"Here
the right hand signifies Him Who
sits at the right hand of the Father and Who will come again with glory to
judge the living and the dead. This book
is Wisdom incarnate. The seven seals
are the same as the seven lamps of fire.
They signify the Divine memory, the source of wisdom, sealed with the seven
gifts of the Holy Spirit. In accordance with this book the righteous judgement
of God must be accomplished in the definite sequence of the seven periods of
time. But who understands the mind of God, and to whom is opened that which is
sealed in the memory of the Pre-Eternal One?" (St. John of Kronstadt)
In Thy
book shall all men be written (Psalm 138.15).
The
Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven
(Hebrews 12.23).
"The Lord Almighty Whom St. John has
seen sitting on the throne holds in His hand a book written on the outside and
inside and sealed with seven seals. Books in antiquity consisted of pieces of
parchment rolled up in a roll or placed on a round stick, and the whole thing
was bound on the outside and sealed by a seal. Sometimes the book consisted of
a piece of parchment which was folded in the form of a fan and tied from above
with a string, being sealed with seals on each bend or fold of the book. In
that case the opening of one seal gave one the opportunity of opening and
reading only one part of the book. The writing was usually made only on the
inner side of the parchment, but in rare cases both sides were written on.
According to the explanation of St. Andrew of Caesarea and other commentators,
by the book which St. John one must understand 'the most wise memory of God',
in which are registered all things, and likewise 'the depths of the decrees of
God'. In this book, therefore, were registered all the mystical decrees of the
most wise providence of god concerning the salvation of men.
"The seven seals signify either the
complete confirmation which is known to no one, or the economy of Him Who
searches the depth of the Divine Spirit, something which can be unsealed by no
created being. The book is also to be understood as the prophecies concerning
which Christ Himself said that in part they were fulfilled in the Gospel (Luke
24.44), but that the others would be fulfilled in the last days.
"One of the mighty angels with a loud
voice cries out that someone should open this book, taking off its seven seals.
But no one was found worthy, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the
earth, who would dare to do this. This signifies that the knowledge of the
mysteries of God is accessible to no created being. This inaccessibility is
made still greater by the expression nor
to look thereon, that is, even to look at it." (Archbishop Averky)
And
all these things shall be to you as the words of this sealed book (Isaiah
29.11-12).
St. Jerome writes: "How many there
are today who fancy themselves as being learned, yet the Scriptures are a
sealed book to them, and one which they cannot open save through Him Who has the key of David, He that openeth and no
man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth (3.7)."[130]
5.5-6. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep
not: behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed
to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst
of the elders, stood a Lamb as if it had been slain, having seven horns and
seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
St.
Hippolytus writes: Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ Who is also God was prophesied
under the figure of a lion [Genesis 49.9], on account of His royalty and
glory, in the same way have the Scriptures also aforetime spoken of antichrist
as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to
liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so antichrist
is also a lion; Christ is a king, so antichrist is also a king. The Saviour was
manifested as a lamb, so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, though
within he is a wolf. The Saviour came into the world in the circumcision, and
he will come in the same manner. The Lord sent apostles among all nations, and
he in like manner will send false apostles. The Saviour gathered together the
sheep that were scattered abroad, and he in like manner will bring together a
people that is scattered abroad. The Lord gave a seal to those who believed on
Him, and he will give one in like manner. The Saviour appeared in the form of
man, and he too will come in the form of a man. The Saviour raised up and
showed His holy flesh like a temple, and he will raise a temple of stone in
Jerusalem.[131]
"The lion signifies here a powerful
being, a hero. It refers to the prophecy of the Patriarch Jacob concerning the lion of the tribe of Judah, by which is
to be understood the Messiah, Christ (Genesis 49.9-10).
"Having looked, the seer of mysteries
John beheld a Lamb as if it had been
slain, having seven horns and seven eyes. This Lamb, carrying on Himself
traces of the fact that He had been offered in sacrifice is, of course, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of
the world (John 1.29), that is, our Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is
shown to be worthy to open the book of God's decrees; for He, having offered
Himself as sacrifice for the sins of men, is Himself revealed as the fulfiller
of God's decrees for the salvation of the human race. Further, the later
opening by Him of the seven seals of the book signifies the very fulfilment of
the Divine decrees by the Only-Begotten Son of God as the Saviour of mankind.
The seven horns are symbols of His power (Psalm 74.11), and the seven
eyes signify, as is immediately explained, the
seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth, that is, the seven
gifts of the Holy Spirit which repose in Christ as the Anointed of God. The
Prophet Isaiah already spoke of this (11.2), as did also the holy Prophet
Zechariah (chapter 4). The seven eyes symbolise at the same time God's
omnipotence. The Lamb stood in the midst
of the throne, that is, there where the Son of God should be, at the right hand of God the Father." (Archbishop
Averky)
5.7-8. And He came and took the book out of the
right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. And when He had taken the book, the
four living creatures and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the
prayers of the saints.
"The
Lamb... took the book out of the hand of
Him that sat on the throne (that is, He received the power to judge the
living and the dead), for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgement
to the Son (John 5.22)." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"The
Lamb took the book out of the hand of
Him that sat on the throne and immediately the four creatures (the
seraphim) and the twenty-four elders falling down gave Him Divine worship. The
harps which they had in their hands signify the harmonious chanting of their
souls. The golden cups filled with incense as is immediately explained, are the prayers of the saints."
(Archbishop Averky)
For
we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in those that are saved and in those
that perish: to the one we are the savour of death unto death, and to the other
the savour of life unto life (II Corinthians 2.15-16).
Protopriest Michael Pomazansky writes:
"Life in Christ is a world of prayer. It penetrates the whole body of the
Church, unites every member of the Church with the Heavenly Father, the members
of the earthly Church with themselves, and the members of the earthly Church
with the Heavenly Church. Prayers are the threads of the living fabric of the
Church body, for the prayer of a
righteous man availeth much (James 5.16). The twenty-four elders in
heaven at the throne of God fell down before the Lamb, each having harps and
vials filled with incense, which are the
prayers of saints (5.8); that is, they offered up prayer on earth to the
heavenly throne."[132]
5.9-14. And they chanted a new song, saying: Thou
art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us to God in Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation; and hast made us unto out God kings and priests; and we
shall reign on earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of
them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying
with a loud voice: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And
every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such
as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying: Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and
unto the Lamb unto the ages of ages. And the four living creatures said: Amen.
And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth unto
the ages of ages.
"And they chanted a hymn to the Son
of God, the Redeemer of mankind, an authentically new song not heard from the creation of the world, concerning which
the Psalmist David already prophesied (Psalm 97.1). The new song is that which the Holy Spirit
teaches those who have been delivered from the oldness of the letter and who
are enlightened among all tribes and peoples. Of them he (John) says that they
will reign on that earth which the Lord has promised to the meek (Matthew
5.5). In this song the new Kingdom of the Son of God is glorified, that Kingdom
in which He reigns as the God-man Who bought it with the high price of His own
blood. The redemption of mankind, although it refers only to man, was
nevertheless so astonishing, so touching and sacred, that it aroused the most
lively participation of the whole choir of heaven, so that all together, angels
and men, glorify God for this work and worshipped
Him that liveth unto the ages of ages." (Archbishop Averky)
Ye are
come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the
first-born, which are written in the heavens, and to God the Judge of all, and
to the spirits of just men made perfect
(Hebrews 12.22-24).
"And lo! when in the world above the
glorification of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world was
accomplished, in the world below, on earth, began His dethronement by the vain
wise men of this age, who see supposed faults of the Divinity in His works, and
also faults of righteousness in His most holy Bride - the holy Church, founded
by Him on the tradition of the holy apostles and prophets for the establishment
and confirmation of truth and salvation on the sinful earth.
"Fear
and tremble, O heaven, and be ye shaken, ye foundations of the earth!
Earthly wisdom will shake the pillar and
foundation of the truth and will conquer those who are blind, who until now
peacefully entrusted themselves to the leadership of the most holy Bride of the
Lamb.
"The victory of apostasy hastens the
end of the world. Corresponding measures are undertaken from above, the great
judgement is prepared. The Lamb will receive from the Father the power to
judge, and in fulfilment of His promise to the holy apostles (Matthew
19.28) makes them and the holy prophets (who announced His Coming) participants
in His judgement on the world." (St. John of Kronstadt)
"The four living creatures and the
elders together signify the fact that through Christ God, Who has joined
together that which was separate and destroyed the middle wall of partition (Ephesians
2.14), a single flesh and a single Church has been formed from angels and men.
And, together with the four living creatures who surpass the other orders of
angels, the elders also, who signify the fullness of those being saved, are
worthy of the song and the worship of God. May we also be vouchsafed this in
Christ Himself, the Giver of peace and our God, to Whom with the Father and the
Holy Spirit may there be glory, dominion and honour, both now and ever and unto
the ages of ages. Amen." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
3. The First Six Seals
6.1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the
seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living
creatures saying, Come and see.
The noise of thunder signifies judgement;
and just as in chapters 4 and 5 we see God as Creator and Redeemer, so now,
from chapters 6 to 11, we see Him as Judge.
What judgements do the opening of the
seals signify? The answer to this question is contained, at least in part, in a
vision that the Procurator of the Russian Holy Synod, Count Alexander Petrovich
Tolstoy, had in 1871, and in the interpretation given it by St. Ambrose of
Optina. The count wrote to Elder Ambrose: "It was as if I were in my own
house standing in the entrance-hall. Beyond was a room in which on the ledge
between the windows there was a large icon of the God of Sabaoth that gave out
such blinding light that from the other room (the entrance-hall) it was
impossible to look at it. Still further in was a room in which there were
Protopriest Matthew Alexandrovich Konstantinovsky and the reposed Metropolitan
Philaret. And this room was full of books; along the walls from ceiling to
floor there were books; on the long tables there were piles of books; and while
I certainly had to go into this room, I was held back by fear, and in terror,
covering my face with my hand, I passed through the first room and, on entering
the next room, I saw Protopriest Matthew Alexandrovich dressed in a simple
black cassock; on his head was a skull-cap; in his hands was an unbent book,
and he motioned me with his head to find a similar book and open it. At the
same time the metropolitan, turning the pages of this books said: 'Rome, Troy,
Egypt, Russia, the Bible.' I saw that in my book 'Bible' was written in very
heavy lettering. Suddenly there was a noise and I woke up in great fear. I
thought a lot about what it could all mean. My dream seemed terrible to me - it
would have been better to have seen nothing. Could I not ask those experienced
in the spiritual life concerning the meaning of this vision in sleep? But an
inner voice explained the dream even to me myself. However, the explanation was
so terrible that I did not want to agree with it."
St. Ambrose gave the following
interpretation of this vision: "He who was shown this remarkable vision in
sleep, and who then heard the very significant words, very probably received
the explanation of what he had seen and heard through his guardian angel, since
he himself recognized that an inner voice explained the meaning of the dream to
him. However, since we have been asked, we also shall give our opinion...
"...The words 'Rome, Troy, Egypt' may
have the following signification. Rome at the time of the Nativity of Christ
was the capital of the world, and, from the beginning of the patriarchate, had
the primacy of honour; but because of love of power and deviation from the
truth she was later rejected and humiliated. Ancient Troy and Egypt were
notable for the fact that they were punished for their pride and impiety - the
first by destruction, and the second by various punishments and the drowning of
Pharaoh with his army in the Red Sea. But in Christian times, in the countries
where Troy was located there were founded the Christian patriarchates of
Antioch and Constantinople, which flourished for a long time, embellishing the
Orthodox Church with their piety and right dogmas; but later, according to the
inscrutable destinies of God, they were conquered by barbarians - the Muslims,
and up to now have borne this heavy slavery, which restricts the freedom of
Christian piety and right belief. And in Egypt, together with the ancient
impiety, there was from the first times of Christianity such a flowering of
piety that the deserts were populated by tens of thousands of monastics, not to
speak of the great numbers of pious laity from whom they came. But then, by
reason of moral licentiousness, there followed such an impoverishment of
Christian piety in that country that at a certain time in Alexandria the
patriarch remained with only one priest.
"... After the three portentous names
'Rome, Troy, Egypt', the name of 'Russia' was also mentioned - Russia, which at
the present time is counted as an independent Orthodox state, but where the
elements of foreign heterodoxy and impiety have already penetrated and taken
root among us and threaten us with the same sufferings as the above-mentioned
countries have undergone.
"Then there comes the word 'Bible'.
No other state is mentioned. This may signify that if in Russia, too, because of the disdain of God's commandments and the
weakening of the canons and decrees of the Orthodox Church and for other
reasons, piety is impoverished, then there must immediately follow the final
fulfilment of that which is written at the end of the Bible, in the Apocalypse
of St. John the Theologian.
"He
who saw this vision correctly observed that the explanation which was given him
by an inner voice was terrible. Terrible will be the Second Coming of Christ
and terrible the last judgement of the world. But not without terrors will also
be the period before that when the Antichrist will reign, as it is said in the
Apocalypse: And in those days shall men
seek death, and shall not find it; and death shall flee from them (9.6). The Antichrist will come during a period of
anarchy, as the apostle says: until
he that restraineth be taken away from the midst (II Thessalonians
2.7), that is, when the powers that be no
longer exist."[133]
St. Ambrose's identification of him that restraineth the coming of the
Antichrist with the political authorities has long roots in the patristic
interpretation of this passage. St. John Chrysostom, Blessed Theophylact and
others identified him with the Roman emperor, whose successor, as being the
emperor of "the Third Rome", Russia, was the Russian Tsar. Thus
Bishop Theophanes the Recluse wrote: "The Tsar's authority, having in its
hands the means of restraining the movements of the people and relying on
Christian principles itself, does not allow the people to fall away from them,
but will restrain it. And since the main work of the Antichrist will be to turn
everyone away from Christ, he will not appear as long as the Tsar is in power.
The latter's authority will not let him show himself, but will prevent him from
acting in his own spirit. That is what he
that restraineth is. When the Tsar's authority falls, and the peoples
everywhere acquire self-government (republics, democracies), then the
Antichrist will have room to manoeuvre. It will not be difficult for Satan to train
voices urging apostasy from Christ, as experience showed in the time of the
French revolution. Nobody will give a powerful 'veto' to this. A humble
declaration of faith will not be tolerated. And so, when these arrangements
have been made everywhere, arrangements which are favourable to the exposure of
antichristian aims, then the Antichrist will also appear. Until that time he
waits, and is restrained." (Archbishop Averky)
We may conclude, then, that the period of
God's final judgements on the human race, as symbolised by the breaking of the
seven seals of judgement, began with the fall of Russia and the removal of him that restraineth (II
Thessalonians 2.7), the Russian Tsar. The following interpretation,
therefore, is based on the tentative hypothesis that the first six seals refer
to God's judgements on mankind in the period from 1914, when the Russian Empire
began to fall, to 1949, when Communism reached its zenith; while the seventh
seal refers to the period of God's judgement on mankind during the period up to
and including the Third World War and culminating in the seven-year reign of
the Antichrist up to the Second Coming of Christ Himself.
The Lord Jesus Christ pointed to three
signs as marking the beginning of the apocalyptic period, the beginning of sorrows, as He called it (Matthew 24.8):
1.
The Appearance of False Christs. For
many will come in My name and will say: I am Christ, and will deceive many
(Matthew 24.5; 23-27).
2.
Wars. And ye shall hear of wars
and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise up against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom (Matthew 24.6-7).
3.
Natural Catastrophes. And there
shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places (Matthew
24.7).
One contemporary epoch corresponds to
these three criteria: the epoch of the First World War and the decades on
either side of it.
The appearance of false Christs began in
1893 with the arrival in America of Swami Vivekandra in order to present the
religion of Hinduism at the Parliament of Religions. In Russia, too, this was
the period in which eastern religions and their westernised offspring, such as
Madame Blavatsky's theosophical movement, made their first appearance in
society. It is a characteristic belief of these religions that every man is by
nature God and Christ, or can become so by his own efforts. Under the influence
of this belief almost all forms of Christianity began to suffer inner
disintegration, until, by the end of the twentieth century, it is common to
find "Christians" who believe in reincarnation and the natural
divinity of man. Increasingly common, too, has been the phenomenon of people
claiming in a literal sense to be Christ.
This period was followed by a period of
unprecedentedly bloody wars: the First World War, the Russian Civil War, the
War between Turkey and Greece, the War waged against the Russian people under
Lenin and Stalin.
And this was followed by a period of
equally unprecedented natural disasters and famines, especially in Russia.
Prince Eugene Troubetskoy, writing in 1918 when the worst of these disasters
was yet to come, said: "In mankind inner division is reflected first of
all in wars. But wars are not the end, but the beginning of general
divisiveness, which must penetrate into all social relations. As the Gospel
says: When ye shall hear of wars and
rumours of wars, be ye be not troubled: for such things must needs be, but the
end shall not be yet (Mark 13.7; Matthew 24.6; Luke
21.9). The Gospel points to other signs of the general collapse of humanity - famines and troubles (Mark 13.8), pestilences
(Matthew 24.7). We know that all these phenomena are closely linked with
war and constitute its natural consequence. Troubles are born from war, because war shakes the whole state
mechanism, famine - because war and
troubles harm the whole economy of the people, and, finally, pestilences - because war always serves
as the cause of the fiercest epidemics. In the Gospel mention is made of one
more phenomenon which serves as a herald of the speedy end of the universe - earthquakes in places (Matthew
24.7; Mark 13.8; Luke 21.11). The link between these
manifestations of the volcanic forces and the events in the history of humanity
in the given case are not obvious and cannot be revealed by scientific
analysis: but the mystical link between the phenomena of human collapse and the
phenomena of cosmic devastation is quite comprehensible. Since the meaning of
universal history is at the same time the meaning of the existence of the
planet earth, the end of humanity is at the same time its own end; which is why
the coincidence of the catastrophic events of history with fearful sights (Luke 21.11) is completely natural."[134]
6.2. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he
that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth
conquering, and to conquer.
The Venerable Bede writes: Surely the white horse
is the Church; the Rider who was commanding it is the Lord; He had a bow
because He was coming to make war against the powers of the air; and a crown of
victory was given to Him because by dying He overthrew the reign of death.[135]
I
turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, there came four
chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of
brass. In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black
horses; and in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot
grisled and bay horses. Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked
with me: What are these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me:
These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before
the Lord of all the earth (Zechariah 6.1-5).
The riders on the horses are angels sent
by God to deliver His judgements on an apostate world (II Chronicles
6.17). Now angels on white horses intervened in perhaps the most critical
battle in the First World War, the Battle of Mons, in August, 1914. If the
Germans had won that battle, it is likely that they would have captured Paris,
defeated the British and the French and then been in a position to turn the
full strength of their armies on the ill-equipped Russians. But according to
eye-witnesses on both sides, a heavenly band of warriors on white horses
intervened on the side of the British and routed the Germans, who were
terrified by their invulnerability to bullets. Some said that the leader of
this band was the Archangel Michael, others - St. George.[136]
In any case, the British line held, which indirectly gave the Orthodox Russian
empire another two or three years of life.
6.3-4. And when He had opened the second seal, I
heard the second living creature say: Come and see. And there went out another
horse that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace
from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto
him a great sword.
"The
red horse is the sign either of the
shedding of blood or of the heartfelt zeal of those who suffer for
Christ." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
The victories of the Orthodox leaders, who
went forth conquering, and to conquer,
were short-lived and inconclusive. In 1917 came the Bolshevik revolution, symbolized
here by the colour red. This was followed by the Russian Civil War of 1918-20
and the peasant revolts of 1921, which involved more bloodshed than any
previous war in human history.
Then
shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be
hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and
shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets
shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love
of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall
be saved (Matthew 24.9-13).
All this took place after the Russian
revolution of 1917. Many thousands died for the Faith of Christ, and first of
all Tsar Nicholas II and his family. And many were offended - that is, fell away from the Faith of Christ, and
betrayed their fellow Christians to tortures and death.
St. Seraphim of Sarov prophesied:
"More than half a century will pass. Then evildoers will raise their heads
high. This will happen without fail: the Lord, seeing the impenitent evil of
their hearts, will allow their enterprises for a short time. But their sickness
will rebound upon their own heads, and the unrighteousness of their destructive
plots will fall upon them. The Russian land will become red with rivers of
blood... Before the birth of the Antichrist there will be a great, protracted
war and a terrible revolution in Russia passing all bounds of human
imagination, for the bloodletting will be most terrible: the rebellions of
Ryazan, Pugachev and the French revolution will be nothing in comparison with
what will take place in Russia. Many people who are faithful to the fatherland
will perish, church property and the monasteries will be robbed; the Lord's
churches will be desecrated; good rich people will be robbed and killed, rivers
of Russian blood will flow..."[137]
In 1917 Elder Nectarius of Optina
recounted the following vision: "His Majesty the Tsar is not his own
master now, so many humiliations does he suffer for his mistakes. 1918 will be
a still harder year. The Lord Tsar with all his family will be killed,
tortured. A pious girl had a vision. She saw Jesus Christ on a throne, and the
twelve apostles round Him, and the sounds of terrible groans and torments were
audible from the earth. And the Apostle Peter asked Christ: 'When, O Lord, will
these torments cease?' And Jesus Christ answered him: 'I am placing a limit to
it in 1922, but if people do not repent and come to their senses, then they will
all perish in this way.' In front of the throne of the Lord stood his Majesty
the Tsar with a great-martyr's crown on his head. Yes, this Lord Tsar will be a
great-martyr. In his last days he has redeemed his life. And if the people do
not return to the Lord, not only Russia, but the whole of Europe will be
swallowed up..."[138]
The people did not repent, so the opening
of the seals continued:-
6.5-6. And when He had opened the third seal, I
heard the third living creature say: Come up and see. And I beheld, and lo! a
black horse. And he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I
heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say: A measure of wheat
for a denarius, and three measures of barley for a denarius; and see thou hurt not
the oil and the wine.
The
black colour of the horse symbolises "lamentation over those who have
fallen away from the faith in Christ by reason of the difficulty of the
torments" (St. Andrew of Caesarea).
According to St. Victorinus of Petau, however,
the black horse signifies famine[139];
for the weighing out of foodstuffs indicates their scarcity, as it is written: When I afflict you with famine of bread,
then ten women shall bake your loaves in one oven, and they shall render your
loaves by weight; and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied (Leviticus
26.26).
The Russian Civil War was followed by a
terrible famine in the Volga region and, a few years later, in the Ukraine. The
dates of these famines, 1922 and 1933, figure in St. John of Kronstadt's vision
of 1908, in which he saw "a mass of people scattered and dying of hunger.
They were eating the grass, the earth, each other. Birds picked at their
corpses."[140]
The small measure which John called the
Greek word coinix,
which contained only enough wheat to feed one man for one day, was worth a
denarius.[141]
The words See thou hurt not the oil and the wine may indicate that the
ministrations of the Church (the oil of consolation and the vinegar of reproof,
or the oil of compassion and the wine of compunction[142],
or the oil of Holy Chrismation and the wine of Divine Communion) were not to
cease during this period. And indeed they did not. However, in the early 1920s
there was a serious shortage of pure wheat bread and wine in Russia, which led
to certain uncanonical innovations in the materials used in the Eucharist.[143]
Moreover, from 1922 a series of schisms rocked the Russian Church; and these,
combined with the exile and execution of thousands of clergy meant that for
large parts of the country the word of the prophet was fulfilled: Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that
I will send forth a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but a famine of hearing the word of God (Amos 8.11).
6.7-8. And when He had opened the fourth seal, I
heard the voice of the fourth living creature say: Come and see. And I looked,
and behold a pale horse; and the name of his rider was death, and hades
followed after him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the
earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the
beasts of the earth.
Schema-Monk Epiphanius (Chernov) writes:
"All believing Russia at the time of the 1917 revolution and up to the
1940s shuddered from the feeling that the event of which we have just spoken in
the words of Revelation had undoubtedly and with great clarity been
fulfilled now before the eyes of the whole of Russia - the even foreseen in
eternity and written down about two thousand years ago...
"Yes, this pale horse has truly entered our land - the original Greek text
indicates that the horse and his rider have the name death! For he bears in himself the
fullness of death - not only physical death, but also spiritual [hades]... In may large towns there were
so many deaths that the air itself was suffused with the stench of
corpses!"[144]
By October, 1949, Communism had conquered
China and established itself over approximately a quarter of the earth's
surface. And over the whole of this area a fitting epitaph would be: We have made a covenant with hades, and
agreements with death (Isaiah 28.15). For, as Elder Aristocles of
Moscow prophesied: "Wherever this evil goes, rivers of blood will
flow."[145]
The greatest sufferers were the Russian
people. A Soviet demographer calculated that between 43 and 52 million people
died of unnatural deaths in the Soviet Union in the Stalinist period. Fittingly
is the rider said to be pale in
colour - clwroV
in Greek, the colour of human flesh...
But the greatest evil of the time was not
the physical death and suffering,
but the destruction of faith, spiritual death and its consequence - hell. Later, in the decades after
Stalin's death, the persecution became less overt and the numbers of those
killed became smaller. But the spiritual devastation, if it were possible,
increased. As a member of the Catacomb Church writes: "We are all living
through a terrible time, the time of the life of man without God, when people
have fallen under the power of Satan. The atheist and fallen Christian world,
blinded by the diabolical glitter of 'modernity' - the spirit of this age - and
by the demonic deception of science, progress, culture and freedom (from each
person's bearing of his personal saving cross), has quickly become disillusioned
in everything, seeing that 'indescribable sorrow haunts them day and night'
('Word on the Coming of the Lord', The Works of St. Ephraim the Syrian);
that is, having been deprived of the grace of the Holy Spirit, people have lost
joy in life. Besides, Satan has increased their despair by the consciousness
that they will die - and that's it, while others are enjoying life; they dream
of acquiring something unusually happy, but have actually received so little.
For that reason everyone has passionately hurled themselves at pleasures, as if
to get as much as possible. From this iniquity has multiplied (drunkenness,
debauchery, violence) and love has completely cooled off in people. Moreover,
people who would seem to be spiritual and believing, who bear the lofty calling
of Christians.. not only cannot explain what is going on or console others with
the hope of eternal salvation, but themselves go they know not whither. Why is
this? Because the grace of the Holy Spirit has fled. And that is because they
have renounced living faith, because (and this is the main thing) they have
bound themselves with unbreakable bonds, satanic powers, in the person of the
God-fighting Soviet power: they have bound themselves before them in word and
in deed, they have also bound the Church of God, having forgotten the word of
the Apostle Paul that for the Word of
God there is no bond (II Timothy 2.9). They have bound themselves in
that, while preaching about God with the voice of the Church, they have not
truly and fully preached His Holy Will, they have not preached about the
contemporary enemies of the Church of Christ. They have bound themselves before
the atheist authorities so as not to preach about such terrible things as the
coming into the world of the Antichrist, the persecution of the true Church of
Christ; they have bound themselves not to preach about such numbers of victims
of persecution as have not existed in the history of the Church (60 million
believers killed, 1200 bishops, tens of thousands of priests, the destruction
of 50,000 churches and about 800 monasteries). These new servants of the Church
do not mention that faith has been quite quenched by the all-destructive
atheist propaganda. Serving God with their lips, in their works they serve, and
bless others to serve, the beast, the God-fighting society, whose main aim and
final end is the complete extirpation of the faith. And they bless the service
of this society not through bringing the perishing the Light of Christ and the
Word of God, but by strengthening it materially. Besides, they do not present
it as against God, but.. as something the like of which there has not been in
history... But to have faith and do the works of the devil means, according to
the Apostle James (2.19) to be like the demons. Very true was the supposition
of the Holy Fathers that the son of perdition, the Antichrist will sit in the
church of God.. And so, all around there is an absence of living faith, nobody
wants to understand that we are living through an apocalyptic time, that the Second
Coming of Christ and His terrible judgement are near..."[146]
6.9-11. And when He had opened the fifth seal, I
saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, and
for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying:
How long, O Lord, holy and true, does Thou not judge and avenge our blood on
them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto them, that they
should rest for a little season, until their numbers should be completed and
their fellow-servants also and their brethren should be killed as they were.
Not all those who suffered under the
Soviet yoke suffered for Christ's sake. But there were enough of them -
millions, probably - to call for a special judgement of God. For just as on the
apostate Jews of the first century came all
the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto
the blood of Zechariah son of Baruch (Matthew 23.35), so on apostate
mankind of the twentieth century will come all the blood of the holy new
martyrs of Russia.
"The souls of the righteous who have
suffered for Christ, as is clear from this, are under the altar of the heavenly
Church, in the same way that on earth since the times of the martyrs the custom
has been to lay the relics of the holy martyrs in the foundation of Christian
churches and altars. The prayer of the righteous is explained, of course, not
by their desire for personal revenge, but by the speeding up of the triumph of
God's justice on earth and of that rewarding of each according to his works
which must be accomplished by the Terrible Judgement, making them partakers of
eternal blessedness as having given their lives for Christ and His Divine
teaching. They were given white robes - a symbol of their virtues - and were
told to be patient yet for a little
season, until their co-workers and brothers, who would be killed like them,
would fill up their number, so that all together they might receive their
worthy recompense from God." (Archbishop Averky)
Who are these other martyrs who are to be
killed later? The answer is given in St. John of Kronstadt's vision, which
closely follows the sequence of the seven seals: "I hurried and could
scarcely keep up with the elder. Then he stopped, pointed to the east and said:
'Look!' I saw a multitude of people with joyful faces, and in their hands were
crosses, gonfalons and candles, and in the middle of the crowd stood a great
altar in the open air, with a golden crown on it, on which was written in
golden letters: for a little season.
Around the altar stood patriarchs, metropolitans, bishops, priests, monks,
nuns, desert-dwellers and laypeople. All were chanting: 'Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth peace!' I crossed myself, and gave thanks to God.
Suddenly the elder made the sign of the Cross in the air three times. And I saw
a mass of bodies and rivers of blood. Angels flew over the slain and scarcely
succeeded in bearing up the Christian souls to the throne of God. They were
chanting: 'Alleluia'. It was terrible to look on all this. I wept bitterly and
prayed. The elder took me by the hand and said: 'Don't weep. The Lord God has
deemed this necessary for our weak faith and accursedness, it must be so. Our
Saviour Jesus Christ also suffered and shed His Most Pure Blood on the Cross.
And so there will be yet many martyrs for
Christ, and they will be those who refuse to receive the seal of the
Antichrist, who shed their blood and receive a martyr's crown.'"[147]
Archbishop Theophanes of Poltava wrote in
1929: "The comparison of past and present woes with the corresponding
utterances in the Gospels and the Apocalypse gives us reason to think that now
four seals have already been removed by the Lamb from the book which He Who
sits on the Throne and Who was seen by the seer of mysteries holds in His right
hand. Not hundreds, not tens of thousands, but myriads of thousands of our
brothers have laid down their lives for the Word of God and the testimony
concerning the Lamb in the Great War and the horrors of civil war and anarchy
that followed it. These innumerable numbers of those killed for the Word of God
and the testimony concerning the Lamb now cry out to the Throne of God and call
on the righteousness of God to take revenge for the crimes committed by the
sons of this age. And look what reply the Wisdom of God gives to their fervent
petition. He asks them to be calm for a short time until their co-workers and
brothers who will be killed, as they have been, fill up the number of those
crowned with a martyr's crown (Revelation 6.9-11). It follows from this
that after all the horrors of war and anarchy in the world calm will
nevertheless be given to the world, albeit for a short time. But the world
cannot be calmed without a calmed and restored Russia. But Russia cannot be restored
until the power of darkness in her is cast down and a lawful power, both
according to human law and according to the law of Divine anointing, is
confirmed in her. Consequently, Russia will undoubtedly be restored, and a
lawful power will also be restored in her. But this calm will be given both to
the Russian people and to the other sons of this age in order that they should
prepare themselves for the great struggle with antichristianity, during which
the number of martyrs predetermined from eternity, who must suffer for the Word
of God and for the testimony concerning the Lamb, will be filled up."[148]
"Many
now ask," wrote Metropolitan Anastasius of New York, "why the Russian
people and the Church of Russia are suffering, and why God does not cut short
the evil which nearly everywhere is so visibly triumphing over good. This last
question, taken on a universal scale, has been vexing mankind from time
immemorial.
"'They relate,' we read in the Apophthegmata
Patrum, 'that one day, when Anthony the Great wondered at the profundity of
the dispensation and judgements of God, he prayed and said: "O Lord, why
are there some men who attain a ripe old age and a feeble physical condition,
while others die in childhood? Why are some poor and others rich? Why do
tyrants and malefactors prosper and gain earthly blessings, while the righteous
are oppressed by poverty?" He had long pondered these questions when he
heard a voice say: "O Anthony, look to thyself and do not subject the
judgements of God to thine analysis, for such is harmful to the soul."'
"When the innocent sufferer Job
wished to defend his case before God, he received a similar answer amid the
thunderstorm and tempest: Who is this
that hideth counsel from Me, and confineth words in his heart, and thinketh to
conceal them from Me? Gird thy loins like a man; and I will ask thee, and do
thou answer Me... Do not set aside My judgement. Dost thou think that I have
dealt with thee in any other way than that thou mightest appear to be righteous?
Hast thou an arm like the Lord's, or dost thou thunder with a voice like His?
(Job 38.1-3; 40.3-4).
"The very friends of God are unable
to attain unto the judgements of providence in the course of world history.
King David the prophet said, But as for
me, my feet were all but shaken; my steps well nigh had slipped (Psalm
72.2), when he pondered this mystery. It likewise troubled the Patriarch
Abraham as he called for the loving-kindness of God when he beheld the
condemned cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Prophets Jonah and Elijah, who
demanded that God punish the ungodly; and the writer of Ecclesiastes,
who saw that the race is not to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor yet bread to the wise, nor yet wealth
to men of understanding (Ecclesiastes 9.11). Righteous men knew that
[God's] eye is too pure to behold evil
doings (Habbakuk 1.13). The Prophet Jeremiah even made so bold as to
try to contend with the Master of all creation Himself, lodging a complaint
against His personal judgements upon the earth: Righteous art Thou, O Lord, that I may make my defence to Thee. Yea, I
will speak to Thee of judgements. Why is it that the way of the ungodly men
doth prosper, that all that deal very treacherously are flourishing? Thou has
planted them, and they have taken root; they have begotten children, and become
fruitful (Jeremiah 12.1-2).
"The Lord never revealed to any man
the plans of His dispensation in their entirety, not because He did not wish
to, but because men are unable to comprehend them due to the very limited
nature of their horizons, which cannot fathom the full depth of the richness of
the wisdom and understanding of God which are revealed in His divine rule over
the world. To understand the ways of the providence of God in history one must
know both the present condition of the world in all its fullness and the past
and future judgements of the universe, for all of this is indissolubly bound up
in the single plan of divine economy, and such a breadth of knowledge, of
course, is inaccessible to man, Thus, an infant cannot penetrate the thoughts
and intentions of his father, who tries to foresee for him everything that is
better, not only in the present, but also in the future, as well as to join his
good with the good of the other members of the family.
"Only when the fullness of time is
reached, the end of the world takes place, and the kingdom of Christ is opened,
will all the incomprehensible judgements of God be justified for us; before
them mankind, redeemed by Christ, will bow down in reverence, saying Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and
thanksgiving... be unto our God forever and ever. Until that time, only
occasionally, to a small degree and with particular, deliberate aims, does God
reveal His all-wise will, which leads individual nations and the whole world
along one or another path in history. He reveals it either directly to His
chosen ones, with whom He may converse face to face, or in the very course of
world events, which are directed by His right hand. Jealous for the glory of
God when it is subjected to mockery by the children of disobedience, the
righteous often ask why the Almighty does not immediately wreak vengeance upon
the proud and impious who rise up against His eternal and omnipotent dominion.
It is for this reason that He is God and not man, that He is the Holy One, as
He Himself replies through the prophet (Hosea 11.9). God is too
powerful, reasons Saint John Chrysostom, to wreak vengeance upon anyone
immediately. At that same time, He so far transcends the world that no boastful
tongue can offend or even touch Him. Every blasphemer is truly like a dog
baying at the moon.
"Human zeal is often intolerant
because it is not balanced with love, which comprises the essence of the divine
Nature. The loving-kindness of God often, as it were, restrains for a time the
hand of His chastisement. The Lord is
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is
longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance (II Peter 3.9).
"Thou
hast mercy on all, says another sage of the Old Testament, for Thou canst do all things, and winkest
at the sins of men, because they should amend.... Thou sparest all: for they
are Thine, O Lord, Thou lover of souls (Wisdom 11.23,26). His mercy
and justice do not want to destroy the tares together with the wheat, with
which they put down roots, as it were, in the same soil. He was ready to have
mercy on condemned Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of ten righteous men, so
that such would not perish with the ungodly, and He did not wish to destroy
Nineveh for the sake of 120,000 innocent babes and even because of the
irrational beasts which would have been destroyed with the people (Jonah
4.11). The very measurement of time in man's conception differs entirely from
that in God's eyes. One day is with the
Lord as thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (II Peter
3.9; Psalm 89.5). Divine providence has ordered all things in measure and number and weight (Wisdom
11.20). With Him everything is appointed its own time and season.
"How
long, O Lord holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on those
who dwell on the earth?, the souls beneath the altar, who had been slain
for the Word of God and for the testimony they gave, cried out with a loud
voice, as John the Theologian, the seer of mysteries, bears witness. And white robes were given unto every one
of them; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little
season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, who should be
killed as they were, should be fulfilled."[149]
The Venerable Bede writes: "The souls
of the righteous cry these things, not from hatred of enemies, but from love of
justice."[150]
6.12-17. And I beheld when He had opened the sixth
seal. And lo! there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as
sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell
unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken
of a mighty wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the
kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief
captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid
themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the
mountains and rocks: Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth
on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath
is come, and who shall be able to stand?
These
terrible images, which are reminiscent of many other passages in Holy Scripture
(cf. Matthew 24.29; Mark 13.24-25; Luke 21.25; Isaiah
34.2-4; Joel 2.32), can be interpreted in a more literal or a more
symbolical sense. Thus the Venerable Bede interprets the sun to be the
teaching of Christ, which is temporarily hidden during the persecution, and the
stars to be those who sine as heavenly ones in the Church, and that in
appearance alone, when they are driven by the wind of the last persecution,
will be proved to have been of earth. And their works are fitly compared to
green figs, that is, to the untimely, and useless, and falling fruit of
the fig-tree.
It seems to us that this is the
transition from the time of persecution to the time before the Antichrist,
when, according to the prophecy, there will be such plagues in order, perhaps,
that people, in thinking about them, should not refuse to bear the punishments
sent by the Antichrist punishments which, as we know, have never taken place
before.
"The earthquake, of which we often
read in Scripture, is a change of things; wherefore also, the expression yet once more I shake the earth (Haggai
2.7) signifies as the Apostle says, the
removal of these things that are shaking (Hebrews 12.26-27).
"The blackness of the sun and the
darkness and blood appearance of the moon indicate, as the Blessed Cyril has
often expressed it, the darkness of soul of those upon whom the wrath of God
will come. And that the stars fell,
as has been written also of those deceived by Antiochus, indicate that those
who think themselves to be the lights of the world will fall, being crushed and
defeated by what will happen at that time, when as the Lord has said, If it were possible they shall deceive the
very elect by reason of the great tribulation (Matthew 24.24). This
is perhaps why there is given here the indication of the fig tree, which, at
the blowing of the wind of the devil, casts down its fruit while still unripe,
since they have not ripened in the heat of temptations and are not sweetened by
grace...
"Whether all this will turn out in a
physical form at the glorious Coming of Christ the King is known by Him Who
possesses the mystical treasury of knowledge and wisdom.
"The heaven is not to be subject to
corruption and destruction but, as it were, to a certain rolling up and change
for the better. Irenaeus, in his fifth accusatory Homily against Reason
(falsely so-called), says: 'Neither the essence nor the being of the creation
will perish or will be destroyed, for true and strong is He Who created it, but
the fashion of this world passeth away
(I Corinthians 7.31), the world in which the transgression was
performed.
"At the coming of Antichrist, those
(called here symbolically mountains) who are leaders either over the good order
of the Church or over the worldly dominions, and the churches of the faithful
which are presented here under the image of islands... will fall from their
places." (St. Andrew of Caesarea).
Again, the great earthquake could signify
the enormous impact of world war; the changes in the heavens - the terrible
sights accompanying thermo-nuclear warfare; the men fleeing into the dens and
caves of the earth - the soldiers and civilians fleeing into bomb shelters,
etc.
But it is also possible to see all these
phenomena as symbols of the moral-spiritual destruction of the times. Following
this line of interpretation, the words the
sun became black mean that the light of Christian truth was obscured by the
darkness of heresy (ecumenism); the moon
became as blood - the official "Church" became an associate of
men of blood and guilty of the blood of the martyrs (sergianism); and the heaven departed as a scroll, every
mountain and island being moved out of their places - traditional norms of
behaviour were overturned, and every church and community of true Christians
suffered great upheavals - all of which has in fact happened in our time.
"The Lord said that His Coming would
be at night (Luke 17.34) because of the blindness of the world."[151]
4. The Sealing of the Servants of God
7.1-3. And after these things I saw four angels
standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth,
that the wind should not blow on the earth. And I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud
voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
saying: Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed
the servants of our God on their foreheads.
"In the seventh chapter," writes
Fr. Alexander Kolesnikov, "the Apostle John turns to reassuring the
faithful at the approach of the last times of the world. At the beginning he
sees four angels, who stand at the four corners of the earth and to whom it is
given to harm the earth and the sea. With this symbol of the four angels the
apostle wishes to represent how the earth and mankind is condemned by the
Providence of God to the miseries of the last times: the punitive heavenly
powers surrounded the sphere of the earth from all corners, as if saying to the
people that there is nowhere they can escape from the coming miseries.
"But it appears that there is a way
of salvation for the faithful living on the earth in the last time. So as to
separate the faithful from the apostate, seals are placed on the foreheads of
the former. By the symbol of the placing of the seals the servants of God in the
last times are warned by the apostle that, although the faithful cannot
completely escape the woes sent by God upon sinners, nevertheless they can be
saved, not only spiritually, but also bodily... That the faithful in times of
woes also suffer, but many of them save their lives - of this there are many
examples in history. For example, many thousands of Christians, being directed
by Christ's foretelling of the destruction of Jerusalem and the necessity of
fleeing from it in good time (Matthew 24.16-20), actually fled and
thereby were saved, when the Roman armies entered Palestine in 68. The same
point is confirmed by the destiny of many thousands of church people in the
Soviet Union."[152]
"This is something like what was
revealed to the holy Prophet Ezekiel about the man clothed in a podir,
that is, a long linen garment, who places a seal upon those who groan (Ezekiel 9.4), so as not to destroy the
righteous together with the unrighteous (for the hidden virtues of the saints
are unknown even to the angels)." (St. Andrew of Caesarea).
Jean Danielou writes: The tau,
the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, also in its archaic form an x, was,
according to Ezekiel (9.4), the mark of Yahweh placed upon the forehead
of the elect; and as such is referred to in Revelation 7.2. That this
mark was thought of as representing the name of God is clear from Revelation
14.1 and 22.4. But once the move had been made to Greek territory, the X, the
sign of the Divine name, was
thought of as standing for
Christ, and regarded
as the first letter of CristoV.
It may be recalled that with regard to the symbolism of the letter tau,
Origen reports the opinion of a Jew who said that tau took its power
from the fact that it was the last letter of the alphabet, and so was equivalent
to the Greek W,
the sacred letter par excellence. This seems to touch the very oldest
stratum of the rite of the signatio in Jewish Christian circles, where
the Jewish X comes to represent Christ as God.[153]
St. Cyprian of Carthage writes: "As when
Egypt was smitten, the Jewish people could not escape except by the blood and
the sign of the lamb; so when the world shall begin to be desolated and
smitten, only he who is found in the blood and the sign of the Cross shall
escape."[154]
Th. Yakovlev writes: The seal of which
the prophecy speaks is inexpressibly important for the Christian soul. Its
first seal takes place when the seal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is laid
upon it at baptism. This is the renewal, justification and sanctification of
its nature, harmed by the sins of the first parents. The apostle says of this
sealing: God Who has anointed us has also sealed us, and given us the
betrothal of the Holy Spirit in our hearts (II Corinthians
1.21,22).He who preserves this most valuable seal will be counted worthy to
receive the new seal of the living God. The first is a sign that distinguishes
the Christian from the unbeliever; the second distinguishes the righteous man,
who has entered into the dwelling-place of eternal rest and blessedness, from
the iniquitous who are condemned to eternal torment.
In what does this seal consist? We do not
know, and it is useless to seek out this knowledge
[155]
"We do not know what this seal
consists of, and there is no need to seek this out. Perhaps it will be the sign
of the precious Cross of the Lord, by which it will be possible to distinguish
believers from unbelievers and apostates; or perhaps it will be the seal of
martyrdom for Christ." (Archbishop Averky)
"This will primarily be fulfilled
during the time of the coming of Antichrist, when the seal of the Life-giving
Cross will distinguish the unfaithful from the faithful, who will bear the sign
of the Cross before them unashamed and with boldness... The virtuous will need
the angelic help before the coming of disasters, and this will be by the power
of the seal of the Spirit which will be given us. But this seal will reveal its
power only to the extent that we show our activity." (St. Andrew of
Caesarea)
That God will separate the good from the
evil before the disasters strike is indicated by the vision of a white hand
which appeared above the Russian town of Tambov in the 1970s and wrote the
following in broad daylight: "1. The bad leads to the good. 2. It is now
winter for My people. 3. Days of repentance. 4. Not one righteous soul will
remain among the depraved, and not one debauched soul will remain among
righteous souls. 5. Be attentive to My salvation. 6. Bring forth fruits of
repentance. 7. Salvation awaits those who fear the Lord. 8. Let there be an
awareness of responsibility in all your actions. The time is near! 9. Truly, I
will come... I will not delay. Amen."[156]
7.4-8. And I heard the number of those who were
sealed; and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the
tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of
Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve
thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe
of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe
of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
"The number 144,000, like other
numbers in the Apocalypse, does not have a numerical, but a symbolical
significance." (Protopriest Alexander Mileant).[157]
"The precise equality of the numbers
of those saved from each tribe, it seems to me, indicates the fruitfulness of
apostolic seed, because the number twelve taken twelve times and multiplied by
a thousand gives the number indicated here, for they were the disciples of the
seed which fell on the ground and brought forth the multiple fruits of
universal salvation" (St. Andrew of Caesarea).
"This sealing will begin with the
Israelites, who before the end of the world will be converted to Christ, as St.
Paul predicts (Romans 9.27, 11.26).[158]
In each of the twelve tribes there will be twelve thousand sealed, and 144,000
in all. Of these tribes only the tribe of Dan is not mentioned, because from
it, according to tradition, will come the Antichrist. In place of the tribe of
Dan is mentioned the priestly tribe of Levi which previously had not entered
into the twelve tribes. Such a limited number is mentioned, perhaps, in order
to show how small is the number of the sons of Israel who are saved in
comparison with the uncountable multitude of those who have loved the Lord
Jesus Christ from among all the other formerly pagan people of the earth."
(Archbishop Averky)
St. Hippolytus writes: "Moses says: Dan is a lion's whelp, and shall leap out
of Basan (Deuteronomy 32.33)... In naming the tribe of Dan, he
clearly pointed out the tribe from which the Antichrist is destined to spring.
For just as Christ springs from the tribe of Judah, so the Antichrist is to
spring from the tribe of Dan... That it is indeed from the tribe of Dan that
the tyrannical king, the son of the devil, is destined to arise, the prophet
witnesses when he says: Dan shall judge
his people, as one tribe too in Israel (Genesis 49.16)... Jeremiah,
too speaks to this effect: We shall hear
the neighing of his swift horses out of Dan: the whole land quaked at the sound
of the riding of his horses (Jeremiah 8.16)."[159]
7.9-14. After this I beheld, and lo! a great
multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and
peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes, and with palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice,
saying: Salvation to our God Who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the
four living creatures, and fell before the throne on their faces, and
worshipped God, saying: Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God unto the ages of ages. Amen.
And one of the elders answered, saying unto me: Who are these who are arrayed
in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him: Sir, thou knowest.
And he said to me: These are they who came out of the great tribulation, and
have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
"These in white robes are those of
whom David speaks: If I should count
them they are more in number than the sand (Psalm 138.18) - those
who earlier suffered as martyrs for Christ and those who, from every tribe and
people, are to receive sufferings with courage in the last times. By the
pouring out of their blood for Christ some of them have white, and others will
make white, the garment of their deeds." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
"In their hands they have palm
branches - signs of victory over the devil. Their lot is one of eternal
rejoicing before the throne of God." (Archbishop Averky)
The waving of palm branches was an element
in the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23.40), the feast of ingathering,
the last feast in the Jewish calendar and the only one that has not yet
received a Christian fulfilment. Perhaps, therefore, there is a looking forward
here to the time when this feast will be fulfilled, marking the gathering in of the fullness of the
Gentiles of which St. Paul speaks (Romans 11.25). The fulfilment of this
feast may be referred to in another prophecy: Then every one that survives of all the nations that have come against
Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts,
and to keep the feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14.16).[160]
Therefore this great multitude consists of the Gentile martyrs who come through the great tribulation of the last times
- the persecution of the Antichrist. Together with the martyrs of previous
persecutions, they, together with the Jews who will be saved, constitute all Israel (Romans 11.26); for
the believing Jews and Gentiles together make up the whole Church of Christ,
which is the Israel of God (Galatians
6.16). Or, according to Oecumenius
interpretation, all Israel is
written instead of the greater part of the Jews, who turn away from their
sins and towards the Lord.
For, as the apostle says: I would not, brethren, that ye should be
ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits: that
blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be
come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come
out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this
is My covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Romans
11.25-27).
7.15. Therefore are they before the throne of God,
and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them.
"As the highest reward that they will
receive, it is indicated that they shall remain before the throne of God,
serving Him day and night -
indicating figuratively the uninterruptedness of this service; for, as St.
Andrew says, 'There will be no night there, but a single day, illuminated not
by a material sun, but by the spiritual Sun of righteousness. And perhaps by night is to be understood hidden and
profound mysteries, and by day what
is clear and easy to receive. The temple
of God is the creation which has been renewed by the Spirit, or, more
precisely, those who have preserved the pledge of the Spirit whole and
unquenched; in whom God has promised to dwell
and walk (II Corinthians)'." (Archbishop Averky)
7.16-17. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst
any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb Who
is in the midst of throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living
fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
The Lord
is my Shepherd, and I shall not want. In a place of green pasture, there hath
He made me to dwell; beside the water of rest hath He nurtured me
(Psalm 22.1-2).
"They shall have the bread of
heaven and the water of life, and they will have no pain and will endure no
misfortunes such as are depicted in the form of the sun and heat, for the time
of sufferings has passed." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
"The Lamb Himself shall feed them, that is, guide them,
and they shall be vouchsafed an abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit (living fountains of waters). The Lord
said also of the believer that out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7.38). The saints,
being then abundantly nourished by it, and having acquired perfect knowledge
after the cessation of private knowledge, and being delivered from corruption
and change, will remain in endless rejoicing and joy." (Archbishop Averky)
5. The Seventh Seal: The First Six Trumpets
8.1. And when He had opened the seventh seal, there
was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
The opening of the first six seals
occupies the space of one chapter (6). After a pause (chapter 7) comes the
seventh seal, whose first six trumpets occupy the space of two chapters (8 and
9), and whose seventh trumpet, after another pause (chapter 10), occupies the
space of a further chapter (11) - the last in this vision. Taking as a
chronological anchor chapter 8, verses 10 and 11, which clearly refer to the
disaster which took place at Chernobyl in 1986, we may tentatively hypothesize
that the opening of the seven seals symbolise the following periods: the period
of war, revolution and martyrdom from 1914 to 1949 (chapter 6); the period of
peace between the Second and Third World Wars (chapter 7); the period leading
up to (chapter 8) and including the Third World War (chapter 9); the period of
peace after the Third World War (chapter 10); and the period of the seven-year
reign of the Antichrist (chapter 11).
According to this schema, the silence in heaven about the space of half
an hour refers to a kind of "holding of breath" before the
terrible catastrophes of the Third World War. For "it is like that in the
physical world, too; the approach of a storm is often preceded by a deep
quietness. This silence in the heavens signified the concentration of the
reverent attention of the angels and men standing before the throne of God in
expectation of the terrible signs of the wrath of God before the end of this
age and the appearance of the Kingdom of Christ." (Archbishop Averky)
8.2-3. And I saw the seven angels who stood before
God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another stood at the altar,
having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he
should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was
before the throne.
"Before the first seven angels, as
chastisers of the erring human race, the saints, with an angel at their head,
stand before God in prayer for men. St. Andrew of Caesarea says that the saints
will entreat God that 'after the disasters which strike at the end of the
world, the torments of impious and lawless men might be lessened in the future
age and that by His Coming He might reward those who have laboured.'
"At the same time, the saints will
again and again entreat God, just as they entreated Him at the removing of the
fifth seal (6.9-11), that He might manifest His righteous judgement against the
lawless and the persecutors of the Faith of Christ and might cause the
fierceness of the tormentors to cease." (Archbishop Averky)
For
the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James
5.16).
8.4-5. And the smoke of the incense, which came
with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast
it into the earth; and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and
an earthquake.
"The
casting of the fire of the censer on the earth indicates the Divine judgement
manifested on earth. See Ezekiel 10.2) where the coals of fire scattered
over the city indicate the chastisement of Jerusalem."[161]
And He
said to the man clothed with the long robe: Go in between the wheels that are
under the cherubs, and fill thine hands with coals of fire from between the
cherubs, and scatter them over the city
(Ezekiel 10.2).
"The punishments described
immediately after this are without doubt the consequences of this prayer. The
Lord shows here that He does not ignore the prayers of His faithful servants.
The voices and the thunderings and the rest 'indicate,'
according to St. Andrew of Caesarea, 'the horrors which are to occur before the
end (of the world), just as on Mount Sinai they served as symbols of the Divine
Presence which frightened everyone and brought the most sensible of them to
conversion'." (Archbishop Averky)
"The man who is immersed in the
vanity of this life forgets about heaven and the fact that the saints care
about us and help us. Our Orthodox temple and our Divine services remind us of
the spiritual unity of the heavenly-earthly Church. If we look more closely
into the visions of the Apocalypse which are presented here, we shall see a
striking similarity with our temple and order of liturgy. In heaven there is an
altar and the slain Lamb, elders in golden crowns surrounding the throne, seven
lampstands, censers with incense, and the assemblies of those standing in
front. How close this description is to all that takes places with us in the
altar during the Divine Liturgy! With us, as in heaven, there is an altar, and
the Lamb in the sacred Communion Gifts, clergy-elders surrounding the altar, a
seven-branched candlestick, a censer with fragrant smoke ascending. Here the
clergy and the chanters and the worshippers unite with the angels and saints
into one choir for the glorification of God worshipped in Trinity: 'Holy, Holy,
Holy, Lord of Sabaoth, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory...' Truly, in our
temple everything reminds us of this and supports our link with the heavenly
Church." (Protopriest Alexander Mileant)
8.6. And the seven angels who had the seven
trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
"Here there follows the sounding of
the trumpets one after the other, of all seven angels, which are accompanied
each time by great disasters and punishments for the earth and its
inhabitants." (Archbishop Averky)
8.7. The first angel sounded, and there followed
hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth; and the
third part of trees was burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
"The
fire mingled with blood indicates
the destruction of cities,... their fires and blood-letting, during which, as
we shall see, not less than one third of all the creatures living on earth will
be killed; for wars exterminate not only men, but also everything produced on
earth. Our supposition and opinion regarding this is confirmed by the blessed
Joel, for he says that before the coming of the great day there will be sent on
earth blood and fire and vapour of smoke
(Joel 2.30)." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
"The chastisements of God follow
gradually, indicating the mercy and long-suffering of God calling sinners to
repentance. At first the chastisement of God strikes a third of the trees and
all the green grass. Wheat and other grasses are burned to the root - those
things which are necessary for the sustenance of men and animals. By hail and fire mingled with blood... cast
upon the earth many commentators understand a war of extermination. Does
this not refer to an aerial bombardment with its destructive incendiary
bombs?" (Archbishop Averky)
8.8-9. And the second angel sounded, and as it were
a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of
the sea became blood; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
This
verse is paralleled by the second vial of wrath poured out by the second angel
in Revelation 16.3.
"One may suppose that on the bottom of one of the oceans there will
open up a volcano whose fiery lava will fill the third part of the water basins
of the earth, bringing death to everything alive. Others think that what is
referred to here are bloody sea battles with the help of newly invented
murderous weapons." (Archbishop Averky)
Fr. Stephen Krasovitsky writes: "The mountain could well be the melting of
gigantic mountains of ice at the poles under the influence of 'the greenhouse
effect' and the widening of 'holes' in the ozone layer above the Antarctic,
which allows burning ultra-violet rays to pass through unhindered. As a result
of the melting of the ice-caps there will be a merging of the waters of the
oceans with microscopic algae of a red colour coming from the depths of the sea
to the surface. These will consume oxygen, as a result of which the water will
look like blood, and a third part of the living creatures of the sea will die.
Scientists supposed that the approach of the greenhouse effect will take place
almost instantaneously and will be accompanied by cyclones, tornadoes and
floods, as a result of which not only the inhabitants of the earth will suffer,
but especially those who will be on the sea at that time (the third part of the ships will be destroyed)."[162]
According to a prophecy of the Catacomb
Church Eldress Seraphima of Michurinsk, all the Christians will be rounded up
and incarcerated on the Arctic island of Novaia Zemlia. But a sudden change of
weather for the warmer will save them.[163]
Such a change could take place either as a result of global warming or a result
of the general heating of the earth's atmosphere during a nuclear holocaust.
There are indications that it is already taking place in Northern Russia.[164]
However, a great mountain burning with fire cast into the sea suggests
another explanation. Novikova writes: "Reading the prophecies, we have
often asked ourselves a series of questions: 'Can a "pillar of fire"
arise in the sea after an earthquake?' Will the smell of sulphur spread
everywhere, and will there be a toxic hail causing sores on the bodies of men
and a poisoning of the water that gives the water the taste of wormwood?' These
forecasts related to the future, and it just so happens that we are really
confronted with the approach of an ecological catastrophe, a part of which is
the poisoning of the waters of the Pacific Ocean by hydrogen sulphide...
"The Black Sea is located in a
seismically dangerous zone. During an earthquake sharp movements of the sea
bottom could elicit landslips and the destruction of a thickness of sedimentary
rocks. The gases released by this burst out onto the surface of the sea. The
slightest spark - and the sea ignites, and a 'pillar of fire' rises over us.
Then streams of fuel impregnated with the moisture of the atmosphere rise up.
Gradually the moisture condenses and even in fine weather clouds are formed.
Burning hydrogen sulphide spreads suffocating odours of sulphur, while the
product of the burning (sulphur dioxide), uniting with water, produces
sulphuric acid. A cloud is formed out of which an acid hail falls, poisoning
all the fresh water. There is no doubt that the picture 'drawn' by the
scientists truly signifies the end of the world..."[165]
8.10-11. And the third angel sounded, and there
fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon
third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; and the name of the
star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and
many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
Cf.
16.4: The third angel poured his bowl
into the rivers and the fountains of waters, and they became blood.
"The star indicates either that all
this comes upon men from the heavens, or it signifies the devil, of whom Isaiah
says: How has Lucifer fallen from
heaven, that rose in the morning! (14.12). For he, making men drunk through
pleasures by his stormy and bitter corruption, is allowed by God to bring a
tormenting tribulation, if not upon all, then at any rate upon the third
part." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
The word translated "wormwood"
in English, ayinqoV
in Greek, is "chernobyl" in Ukrainian; and on April 29th, 1986, a
nuclear reactor exploded at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, causing widespread and
long-lasting pollution and an ever-rising toll of deaths and misformed births.
This extraordinary "coincidence"
leads one to speculate that the whole of this passage (8.7-11, perhaps also 12)
refers to the whole of that epoch contemporaneous with our own, when
environmental disasters of the Chernobyl type have brought disaster to that
third of the world which is, or was, under communist domination.
8.12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third
part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part
of the stars; so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone
not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
"We
think that this is akin to what is said about the sun and the moon by Joel (Joel
2.10) and which has already been ordained by the decree of the Master for the
end. We repeat that the third part of the luminaries and stars indicates the
third part of the duration of the day and night. From this we understand that
God at that time will bring about disasters
not all at once; for, allowing only a third part of time to be damaged,
in the remaining and large part he secretly calls to repentance. Indeed, who
can bear the cup of Divine wrath unmingled?" (St. Andrew of Caesarea).
"It is not possible for us to
understand this at the present time. One thing is clear: that this is to be
accompanied by various disasters for men - bad harvest, famine, and so
forth." (Archbishop Averky)
Perhaps the darkening of the celestial
bodies refers to the effects of the destruction of the Kuwaiti oil wells at the
end of the Gulf War in 1991, which led to a darkening of the sun. Or perhaps
this passage refers only to spiritual catastrophes: the eclipse of the Sun of
Righteousness, Jesus Christ, in mens souls; the connivance of the moon, i.e.
the Church, in murder, as the Moscow Patriarchate has connived at the murder of
so many of the new martyrs of Russia; and the falling of stars, that is,
bishops, into heresy.
8.13. And I beheld, and heard an angel flying
through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe to the
inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the
three angels, which are yet to sound!
"For
those who have their dwelling in the heavens, the disasters and sufferings are
the cause of receiving unfading crowns and rewards" (St. Andrew of
Caesarea).
Ivan
Marchevsky writes: "Here, in some very old manuscripts from the 3rd to the
5th centuries (Oxyrhynch. 2; Sinaiticus; Alexandrinus), instead of an angel there is an eagle - the herald of woes, of wars (Luke 17.37)."[166]
"This voice of the angel indicates
the love of mankind and the compassion of the divine angels, who feel pity for
the impenitent men who are subjected to such disasters." (Archbishop
Averky)
9.1-3. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a
star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the
bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out
of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were
darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke
locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the
earth have power.
"With regard to the star, I think it
is an angel of God. By God's permission he leads out of the pit the evil demons
who have been condemned, those whom Christ bound when He was incarnate, so that
they might do their work before the end and then be subjected to endless torment."
(St. Andrew of Caesarea)
That there are evil demons confined in
hades is revealed by the holy apostle Jude: The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness (v. 6). And
that God can use such demons for His own righteous purposes is revealed by the
story of the ten plagues of Egypt, so similar to these plagues of the last
times; for they, as David says, were the
wrath of His anger, anger and wrath and affliction, a mission performed by evil
angels (Psalm 77.53).
Fr. Oleg Molenko writes: The star falling
from the sky is a rocket with a nuclear warhead, the fall and explosion of
which opens (that is why it is called a key) the abyss of nuclear war.
The smoke from the great furnace is a
visual description of an atomic explosion, which we have been able to seen up
to now only in documentary films (the so-called atomic mushroom-cloud). Never
having seen anything of the sort before, the Apostle John successfully compares
the atomic explosion he has seen to the smoke from a great furnace.
The darkening of the sun and air from
this smoke well describes the effect of the nuclear winter that follows a
nuclear explosion on land.
The description goes on to describe the
entrance into the war of contemporary aircraft notably, supersonic military
aircraft that are described as locusts.[167]
9.4-10. And it was commanded them that they should
not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but
only those men who have not the seal of God on their foreheads. And to them it
was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented
five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he
striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it;
and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the
locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as
it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they
had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth as the teeth of lions. And they
had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings
was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had
tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails; and their
power was to hurt men five months.
"That death does not come even though
men desire it indicates that this depends upon the decree of God, Who considers
it profitable through the bitterness of the disasters which are sent to make
the sin which is the very cause of such disasters hateful to men" (St.
Andrew of Caesarea).
"Contemporary
commentators, not with a certain reason, find a kinship between these locusts
and aeroplanes and their bombing attacks." (Archbishop Averky) We can go
further: the locusts bear a striking resemblance to Russian helicopter-gunships
of the "Hind" type.[168]
The resemblance can be seen in frescoes depicting this scene from the Apocalypse
on the walls of Dionysiou monastery, Mount Athos (see back cover).
Their
appearance is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they
pursue. As the sound of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap...
The locusts... even My great army, which I sent against you (Joel
2.4-5, 3.25).
The power which the earthly scorpions
have indicates the neuro-paralytic effect of chemical weapons employed by the
airplane-locusts. It does not harm plants, but only the people who do not have
the seal of God on their foreheads, which is affirmed in the fourth and fifth
verses.
The people falling under the influence of
this chemical weaponry of neuro-paralytic effect will be terribly tormented and
will want to do away with themselves in order to escape their torments, but
will not be able to do this, for they will be paralysed. Death will flee from
them only while the effect of the chemical weaponry lasts, then they will die
In appearance the locusts will be like
horses prepared for battle if we were to imagine a military aerodrome when
the military planes are drawn up in rows, they are truly like the formation of
horses prepared for war. Prepard for the planes have not yet moved from their
places and are not flying, but their pilots have already taken their places.
And on their heads they have something
like golden wreaths the cockpits of the planes are made out of transparent
plastic, under which the heads of the pilots in their helmets are visible
But their faces are the faces of men we
know that under the protective suit or uniform of the contemporary aviator and
behind the glass of the helmet there are living people. But how would this have
appeared to him who saw them 2000 years ago? John the seer saw the faces of men
inside very strange and very unusual for him uniform-objects, that is why he
wrote about the faces as of men.
Their hair is as the hair of women
The gas train let out by a supersonic aeroplane
creates the impression of womens
hair
And they had teeth like those of lions.
These are the bombs and rockets that are hung under the aircraft, and which are
like teeth for the locust. And so that it should be understood that these are
not small teeth for chewing food (as, for example, in a squirrel), but big
teeth for attacks, it is said that they are as the teeth of lions.
They had breastplates,
as it were breastplates of iron and today many, even educated people cannot give the exact composition
of the metallic alloy out of which frames of contemporary aircraft. But we know
exactly that this alloy of grey-white colour contains in itself much aluminium,
but not iron. John the Theologian describes the plating of the frames of the
aircraft he saw as as
it were breastplates, and
their metallic composition as
it were of iron, for he saw that
it was not iron, but a metal (alloy) unknown at that time.
And the
sound of their wings was as
the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. We see that the locusts had wings, which is what
we see on planes. That is why the suggestion that the locusts must be
understood to be helicopters
is in my opinion incorrect. Against the
helicopter theory is the hair from the gas train, and the noise from the
wings, and not from blades, and the strength of this noise
The sound of
helicopters cannot be compared with the roar of supersonic aircraft. Morevoer,
the locusts will be sent into battle immediately after an atomic explosion.
That is why it is impossible to imagine helicopters flying through the zone of
nuclear contamination, for this would be disastrous for the pilots. It is quite
another matter with aeroplanes flying from a height.
They had
tails
like unto scorpions
we see tails on aeroplanes. Helicopters also have tails, but they are
significantly smaller.
And there were stings in their tails this also points directly to aeroplanes,
in whose tails there is a flame
like a sting. This refutes the
helicopter theory, because they do not have stings in their tails. [169]
9.11. And they had a king over them, which is the
angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in
the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
"By the king of these locusts, who
bears the name angel of the bottomless
pit - "Abaddon" in Hebrew, "Apollyon" in Greek - the
commentators understand the devil." (Archbishop Averky)
"Apollyon" means
"destroyer".[170]
The fact that the name of this demon is given in both Hebrew and Greek may mean
that the events here described are of particular importance for both the Jews
and the Gentiles. Our supposition is that the locust invasion is a Russian
invasion of the Middle East, beginning with the conquest of Constantinople and
Turkey and continuing with the conquest of Egypt and Israel. Several of the
Greek prophets speak of the conquest of Constantinople by a blonde race
beginning with the letter "R".[171]
This occupation will last "until the fifth hour" (St. Constantine's
tomb) or "for six and five" (St. Methodius of Patara). [172]
We suppose that this means: between five and six months, for the climax of
the prophecy of Hieromartyr Constantius the Russian of Constantinople covers a
period of little over five months: "On July 8th two unheard-of wars will
coincide. On August 12th there will be an unbearable heatwave. On December 18th
half mankind will perish."[173]
This is more or less consistent with the Apocalypse's five months.
It is at this point that the following Old
Testament prophecies begin to help us: Ezekiel 38 and 39, Joel 2,
Amos 7.1-3, Daniel 11.40-45 and Zechariah 14. Ezekiel says
that in the last times an unprecedentedly mighty army will come from the
extreme north against Israel called Gog
and Magog, which most ancient commentators identified with the region north
of the Black Sea[174],
or Ros, Mosoch and Tubal.[175]
Now Ros is the ancient name for Russia; and Tubal, according to Blessed Theodoretus of Cyrus, is Georgia.[176]
That there is a link between the locusts
and Gog, i.e. Russia, is strikingly indicated by the words of Amos: Behold, a swarm of locusts coming from the
east; and behold, one caterpillar, King Gog (Amos 7.1).
The identification with Russia is made
still more likely by the fact that there is a link between the leader of the
locusts, Apollyon, or Apollo, and
the original meaning of the word "Russia". Thus Fr. Stephen
Krasovitsky writes: "The Apocalypse here calls the devil the angel of the bottomless pit: in
Hebrew - Abaddon, but in Greek - Apollyon. The cult of Apollo in the
north is the cult of the god Hors, to which in pagan antiquity human sacrifices
were brought. From the name Horse [whose symbol is the horse] arose the names
'hrosy', 'rosy', the people of the Rossy (Russy)."[177]
This host is accompanied by the Persians and Ethiopians and Libyans, Gomer (Crimea), Thorgamah (Armenia) and many
other nations. This looks like a
re-creation of the Soviet Union together with its Middle Eastern allies. They
are challenged by Sabba (North
Yemen), Daedan (Saudi Arabia) and Carthaginian merchants (Lebanon?),
as well as by Israel and Egypt; while there shall escape out of his hand Edom, Moab and the chief of
the children of Ammon (Jordan?) (Daniel 11.41). This mighty army
will conquer Israel and Egypt and take an enormous amount of plunder. On its
way back from Egypt, however, while it is on
the mountains of Israel between the Dead and the Mediterranean Seas, it
will suffer destruction in a manner reminiscent of the effects of a nuclear
explosion: And this shall be the plague
with which the Lord will smite all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem:
their flesh shall rot while they are still on their feet, they eyes shall rot
in their sockets, and their tongues shall rot in their mouths (Zechariah
14.12).
St. Andrew of Caesarea writes of Ezekiel's
Gog and Magog that "some interpreters of the prophet have referred them to
the battle of the Assyrians under Sennacherib with Hezekiah. But this event
took place many years before the prophecy of Ezekiel. Others refer them to the
defeat of the peoples who attacked the inhabitants of Jerusalem when they,
after the Babylonian captivity, wanted to repair and strengthen the walls of
the city in accordance with the command, first of the Persian Cyrus, and then
of Darius. They also refer them to the armies of Antiochus, which were defeated
by the Maccabees. It is clear, however, that their advent corresponds above all
to the last times. It is possible to assert this, first, because nowhere in the
sacred books is there mention of wars of the Jews with the Scythians, only of
wars with neighbouring peoples who envied their sudden enrichment; secondly,
because it is written concerning Gog that he will be prepared from ancient
times and will come in the last times; and thirdly, because in this revelation
foretelling the future (Revelation 20) it is said that Gog and Magog
will come at the end of this age."
However, while the invasion of Gog will
undoubtedly take place "at the end of the age", it will not itself
bring this age to an end. This is indicated by the fact that after the great
battle there will be a seven-year "mopping up" period, which is
described in the rest of Ezekiel 39. For these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by
(Luke 21.9).
9.12-19. One woe is past; and behold, there come
two more woes hereafter. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from
the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth
angel which had the trumpet: Loose the four angels which are bound in the great
river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an
hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:
and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and
those that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and
brimstone; and the heads of the horse were as the heads of lions; and out of
their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third
part of men killed, by the fire, and the smoke, and by the brimstone which
issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their
tails; for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, with them they
do hurt.
"Some
say that these four angels are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael, who, bound
by the joy of the contemplation of God, will be loosed on the day of judgement
together with an innumerable multitude of angels to judge the impious, of whom
a third will be annihilated. But I think that these four angels are the most
cunning demons who were bound at the coming of Christ and who, by the command
of God which comes from the heavenly altar (an image of which was the ancient
tabernacle), are loosed by the Divine angel to agitate the peoples not only
against Christians, but also against each other, so that through this some
might be manifested as tested, faithful and worthy of the best rewards, the
highest mansions and dwellings like ripe wheat; while others, like tares, the
impious, inconstant sinners and unrepentant and here justly punished, might
receive a yet harder condemnation at the judgement. And that they were bound at
the Euphrates is nothing strange, for, by God's permission, some were condemned
until the time in the bottomless pit, others in wine, and some in other places,
so that after the final end of the battle against men they might be subjected
to eternal torments. Perhaps the mention of the Euphrates is an indication that
Antichrist will come from those lands" (St. Andrew of Caesarea).
Although some have interpreted this army
as coming from literally just beyond the Euphrates, that is, Iraq, there seems
no other nation on earth that can put an army of two hundred million men into
the field except China - and it was
from China that the holy elders John of Kronstadt, Aristocles of Moscow and
Theodosius of Minvody saw the deliverance of Russia coming. Alternatively, the
Euphrates, flowing as it does through the Muslim countries of Turkey, Syria and
Iraq, may signify a Pan-Islamic alliance directed against Russia, perhaps in
union with the Chinese.[178]
Since the first Gulf war of 1990 and the
second of 2003, Mesopotamia or Iraq has again become the epicentre of world
events. Perhaps what is meant is that these wars will serve as the beginning of
that series of events leading to the Third World War events undoubtedly
incited by demons, but allowed and ultimately controlled by the all-powerful
Providence of God.
The description of the army is similar to
the description of the locusts; so perhaps their fire-breathing horses are in
fact "frightful mounted army tanks which spout forth fire"
(Archbishop Averky). Here, however, they may belong to a Chinese-Islamic alliance
rather than to the Russians. They are said to destroy about a third of mankind;
but since some of the previous plagues are already said to have destroyed a
third of mankind, we should perhaps conclude that a third, or perhaps two
thirds of mankind will be destroyed by all the plagues and wars of chapters
eight and nine taken together. Hieromartyr Constantius the Russian said that on
December 18 of a certain year "one half of mankind will perish"[179],
and St. Cosmas of Aitolia said that as a result of "the general war"
"three countries will become one".[180]
St. Cosmas also said: We shall see people
flying through the air like blackbirds, and casting fire onto the earth. People
will run to the grave and shout: Come out, you dead, let us lie in your
graves.[181]
9.20-21. And the rest of the men who were not
killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they
should not worship demons, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone,
and of wood, which neither see, nor hear, nor walk; neither repented they of
their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their
thefts.
The materialism of the last days is here
represented under the image of idol-worship. For materialists are in essence
idolators, whose god is their belly (Philippians 3.19), who worship, not
God, but Mammon. Therefore neither be ye
idolators, as were some of them; as it is written: The people sat down to eat
and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of
them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us
tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents.
Neither murmer ye, as some them also murmured, and were destroyed of the
destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples; and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (I
Corinthians 10.7-11).
Murders
here could include the extraordinary number of abortions that now take place in
almost every "civilized" country.
6. The Seventh Seal: Mighty Angel
10.1-2. And I saw another mighty angel come down
from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his
face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his
hand a little book open; and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left
foot on the earth.
As in 4.3, we again see the image of the
rainbow, which signifies the mercy of God after catastrophe. And after the
Third World War, according to the Greek and Russian prophets, there will be a
period of peace and regeneration, in which Orthodox Christianity will triumph.
This will be a "breathing space" before the final battle in the time
of the personal Antichrist, and may be that short rest mentioned in 6.9.
"This appearance has the form of an
introductory account before the seventh and final trumpet. It stops the
continuation of the prophetic allegories but does not interrupt them... St.
Andrew of Caesarea considers that this is
perhaps one of the seraphim adorned
with the glory of God. His standing on the sea and on the earth signifies
dominion over the elements of the earthly world: 'The pillars of fire signify
the fear and punishment brought by the angel upon the impious who have robbed
on the earth and the sea'." (Archbishop Averky)
However, this figure might also be the
holy Archangel Michael. For in Daniel, after the destruction of the king of the north, we read that Michael the great prince shall stand up,
that stands over the children of men (12.1). Moreover, St. Ephraim the
Syrian identifies the destroyer of Gog and Magog's army with the Archangel
Michael: "Then Divine Justice will call upon Michael, the leader of the
hosts, and send him to destroy their camps, as the camps of Sennacherib. At the
command, and with his mighty and terrible sword, the angel shall go forth and
destroy their armies in the twinkling of an eye, and in the same moment Divine
Justice, thundering from on high, shall destroy their camps with rocks of fire.
Their slain shall lie upon the ground, innumerable as the sands. Beasts and men
shall die, and the whole camp shall perish, and flame shall be set loose
against the sea and against the islands. The bow of Gog, the evil king, shall
fall from his left hand, and the arrows from his left (Ezekiel 39.3);
and his camp shall be wholly destroyed. Then the Lord from His glorious heaven
shall set up His peace. And the kingdom of the Romans [the Orthodox Christian
empire] shall rise in place of this latter people, and establish its dominion
upon the earth, even to its ends, and there shall be no one who will resist
it..."[182]
It is not known whether the resurrected
empire mentioned here by St. Ephraim is the New Rome, Constantinople, whose
resurrection is foretold by several Greek prophecies, or the Third Rome,
Russia, whose resurrection is prophesied by a number of recent Russian
prophecies. Perhaps it is both. But one thing is clear: that the state defeated
in the world war, and called locusts
in Joel and Revelation, and Gog
and Magog in Ezekiel, is Russia. Thus St. Nilus the Myrrh-gusher
says: "All the nations of Europe will be armed against Russia. The Tsar
[i.e. the Russian leader, whatever his contemporary title] will summon all his
European and Asiatic peoples. The belligerents will meet in an immensely wide
plain where a terrific battle will be fought and will last for eight days. The
result will be a victory of the West over the Russians."[183]
It seems reasonable to identify this
eight-day battle with the two three-day battles mentioned by the anonymous
Athonite prophet of 1053, which also ends in the defeat of Russia, the
intervention of an angel and the resurrection of Orthodoxy: "Battle of
seven states for Constantinople and slaughter for three days. Victory of the
largest state over the six. Union of the six states against the seventh,
Russia, and slaughter for three days. Cessation
of the war by an Angel of Christ God, and handing over of the city to the
Greeks. Submission of the Latins to the unerring faith of the Orthodox.
Exaltation of the Orthodox faith from the East to the West. Cessation of the
Roman papacy. Declaration of one patriarch for the whole of Europe for five or
fifty years. In the seventh is no wretched man; no one is banished. Returning
to the arms of Mother Church rejoicing. Thus shall it be. Thus shall it be.
Amen."
St. Agathangelus confirms that the Roman
papacy will bow to the Truth of Orthodoxy: "Stone will not be left upon
stone in your walls, and you will be desolate like the holy city of David. You
will humble your haughty neck and go to worship with him who conquered my
sanctuary in Byzantium." And he also confirms the fifty-year peace:
"For full fifty years peace shall reign. Truth shall triumph, and the sky
will rejoice in true glory. The Orthodox faith will be exalted and will spring
from East to West to be blessed and praised... Then God shall be glorified, and
man shall see the works of His omnipotence. May it be so. It shall be so.
Amen."[184]
It is of these years that the Lord says
through the Prophet Joel: I will restore
all those years that the locusts have taken (2.25).
After the world war, according to the
Greek prophecies, an Orthodox king will come to power in Constantinople with
the name of John, who, according to Emperor Leo the Wise, will nationalise
essential goods and services, make homosexuality a capital offence, cleanse the
Church of false priests and install true ones. This is in accordance with
another, anonymous prophecy, which says that he will "chase the bad
priests from the sanctuary and re-establish God's altar".[185]
And according to St. Nilus the Myrrh-gusher he will convene "a last and
Eighth Ecumenical Council to deal with the disputes of heretics and separate
the wheat from the chaff."[186]
As we have seen, St. Seraphim of Sarov also prophesied the convening of a last
great Council - but by a Russian emperor. According to St. Andrew the
Fool-for-Christ, he will "lay his right hand on the nations all around,
taming the blonde nations", and Hieromartyr Methodius says that he
"will go out against the Ishmaelites [i.e. the Muslims]", and
"will divide them into three parts. The first part" he will destroy
"with the sword", "but the second he will baptize", and the
third he will enslave in the East.[187]
St. Cosmas of Aitolia prophesied that "the Turks will learn the mysteries
three times faster than the Christians."[188]
Then, continues St. Methodius, "the earth's treasures will be opened up
and everyone will become rich. There will be no paupers, the earth will bring
forth a hundred-fold, and the weapons of war will be turned into ploughs and
scythes. And he [the king] will reign for thirty-five years."[189]
As St. Cosmas puts it:: "Happy will he be who lives after the general war.
He will eat with silver spoons."[190]
Let us consider some further prophecies:-
1. Hieromonk Anthony of St. Sabbas
Monastery, based on Anonymous Greek Prophecies (8th or 9th
century): The last days have not yet arrived, and it is completely wrong
to consider that we are on the threshold of the coming of the antichrist,
because one last flourishing of Orthodoxy is still to come, this time in the
whole world, headed by Russia. This will take place after a terrible war in
which either one half or two thirds of humanity will perish, and which will be
stopped by a voice from heaven: And the Gospel will be preached throughout
the world.
1) For until that time there will have
been preached, not the Gospel of Christ, but the Gospel distorted by heretics.
2) There will be a period of universal
prosperity - but not for long.
3) In Russia during this period there
will an Orthodox tsar, whom the Lord will reveal to the Russian people.
And after this the world will again be
corrupted and will no longer be capable of correction. Then the Lord will allow
the enthronement of the Antichrist.[191]
2. Another Anonymous Prophecy from St.
Sabbas Monastery (8th or 9th century): "At various times this great
people [the Russians] will fall into sin and for this will be chastised through
considerable trials. In about a thousand years [i.e. in the 1900s] this people,
chosen by God, will falter in its Faith and its standing for the Truth of
Christ. It will become proud of its earthly might and glory, will cease to seek
the Kingdom and will want paradise not in Heaven but on this sinful earth.
"However not all this people will
tread this broad and pernicious path, though a substantial majority will,
especially its governing class. On account of this great fall, a terrible fiery
trial will be sent from on high to this people which will despise the ways of
God. Rivers of blood shall flow across their land, brother shall slay brother,
more than once famine shall visit the land and gather its dread harvest, nearly
all the churches and other holy places shall be destroyed or suffer sacrilege,
many shall perish.
"A part of this people, rejecting
iniquity and untruth, will pass over the borders of their homeland and will be
dispersed like unto the people of the Jews all over the world. Nevertheless the
Lord will not show His wrath on them to the uttermost. The blood of thousands
of martyrs will cry to the heavens for mercy. A spirit of sobriety will grow
among this chosen people and they will return to God. At last this period of
cleansing trial, appointed by the Righteous Judge, will come to an end, and
once more Holy Orthodoxy will shine forth and those northern lands will be
resplendent with the brightness of a faith reborn.
"This wonderful light of Christ will
shine forth from there and enlighten all the peoples of the earth. This will be
helped by that part of the people providentially sent ahead into the diaspora,
who will create centres of Orthodoxy - churches of God all over the world.
Christianity will then be revealed in all its heavenly beauty and fullness.
Most of the peoples of the world will become Christian. And for a time a period
of peace, prosperity and Christian living will come to the whole world...
"And then? Then, when the fullness of
time has come, a great decline in faith will begin and everything foretold in
the Holy Scriptures will occur. Antichrist will appear and the world will
end."[192]
3. Monk Abel the Prophet (+1831).
In a conversation with Tsar Paul I (+1801), after prophesying the destinies of
all the Tsars from Paul I to Nicholas II: What is impossible for man is
possible for God. God delays with His help, but it is said that he will give it
soon and will raise the horn of Russian salvation. And there will arise a great
prince from your race in exile, who stands for the sons of his people. He will
be a chosen one of God, and on his head will be blessing. He will be the only
one comprehensible to all, the very heart of Russia will sense him. His
appearance will be sovereign and radiant, and nobody will say: The Tsar is
here or there, but all will say: Thats him. The will of the people will
submit to the mercy of God, and he himself will confirm his calling
His name
has occurred three times in Russian history. Two of the same name have already
been on the throne, but not on the Tsars throne. But he will sit on the Tsars
throne as the third. In him will be the salvation and happiness of the Russian
realm.
4. St. Seraphim of Sarov (+1833):
There will one day be a Tsar who will glorify me [Nicholas II glorified St.
Seraphim in 1903], after which there will be a great disturbance in Russia,
much blood will flow because they will rise up against this Tsar and autocracy,
but God will magnify the Tsar.
"More than half a century will pass.
Then evildoers will raise their heads high. This will happen without fail: the
Lord, seeing the impenitent evil of their hearts, will allow their enterprises
for a short time. But their sickness will rebound upon their own heads, and the
unrighteousness of their destructive plots will fall upon them. The Russian
land will become red with rivers of blood...
Before the birth of the Antichrist there
will be a great, protracted war and a terrible revolution in Russia passing all
bounds of human imagination, for the bloodletting will be most terrible: the
rebellions of Ryazan, Pugachev and the French revolution will be nothing in
comparison with what will take place in Russia. Many people who are faithful to
the fatherland will perish, church property and the monasteries will be robbed;
the Lord's churches will be desecrated; good people will be robbed of their
riches and killed, rivers of Russian blood will flow... But the Lord will have
mercy on Russia and will bring her along the path of great sufferings to
glory."
"The Lord has revealed to me,
wretched Seraphim, that there will be great woes on the Russian land, the
Orthodox faith will be trampled on, and the hierarchs of the Church of God and
other clergy will depart from the purity of Orthodoxy. And for this the Lord
will severely punish them. I, wretched Seraphim, besought the Lord for three
days and three nights that He would rather deprive me of the Kingdom of Heaven,
but have mercy on them. But the Lord replied: I will not have mercy on them;
for they teach the teachings of men, and with their tongue honour Me, but their
heart is far from Me.'"
"The Lord has ordained that I, poor
Seraphim, am to live much longer than 100 years [he died for the first time at
the age of 73 in 1833]. By that time the Russian hierarchs will become so
impious that they will not even believe in the most important dogma of the
Faith of Christ the resurrection of Christ and the general resurrection. That
is why it will be pleasing to the Lord God to take me from this very temporary
life for a time and then, for the establishment of the dogma of the
resurrection, to raise me, and my resurrection will be like the resurrection of
the seven youths in the cave of Okhlon
After my resurrection I will go from
Sarov to Diveyevo, when I will preach universal repentance. At this great
miracle people will assemble in Diveyevo from all the ends of the earth, and
there, preaching repentance to them, I will open four relics. Then Diveyevo
will be a universal wonder, for from it the Lord God will send the Light of
Salvation not only for Russia, but also for the whole world in the times of the
Antichrist. I will open four relics and I myself will lie down between them as
the fifth. But then will come the end of everything
I think
that the eighth thousand [of
years: 1992 A.D. = 7500 since the creation of the world] will pass. I think
that it will pass!
Everything will pass and come to an end. And the
monasteries
will be destroyed, but at poor Seraphims in Diveyevo the
bloodless Sacrifice [the true Eucharist] will be celebrated until the very day
of the coming of Christ.
Constantinople and Jerusalem will be
inhabited by the combined powers of Russia and the others. At the division of
Turkey almost all will go to Russia, and Russia with the united forces of many
other States will take Vienna, and about 7 million native Viennese will remain
under the house of the Hapsburgs, and there the territory of the Austrian
empire will be constructed. To France for her love for the Mother of God, the
holy Madonna, will be given up to 17 million Frenchmen with its capital in the
city of Rheims, while Paris will be completely destroyed
When the Russian
Empire will receive 170 million into its dominion, we must expect the
appearance of the Antichrist. 1) The Antichrist will be born in Russia between
Petersburg and Moscow, in that great town which will be formed after the union
of all the Slavic tribes with Russia. It will be the second capital of the
Russian Kingdom and will be called Moscow-Petrograd, or the City of the
End, which name will be given to it by the Lord God, the Holy Spirit, Who
foresees everything from afar. 2) Before the birth of the Antichrist an Eighth
Ecumenical Council must be convened of all the Churches under the One Head,
Christ and under the one Protecting Veil of the Mother of God [according to St.
Nilus the myrrh-gusher: a last and eighth Ecumenical Council to deal with the
disputes of heretics and separate the wheat from the chaff]. Its aim will be to
unite and reunite all the holy Churches of Christ against the growing
antichristian tendency under a single Head, Christ the Life-Giver, and under a
single Protecting Veil of His Most Pure Mother, and to deliver to a final curse
against the whole of Masonry and all the parties similar to it (under whatever
names they may appear), the leaders of whom have one common aim: under the
pretext of complete egalitarian earthly prosperity, and with the aid of people
who have been made fanatical by them, to create anarchy in all states and to
destroy Christianity throughout the world, and, finally, by the power of gold
concentrated in their hands, to subdue the whole world to antichristianity in
the person of a single autocratic, God-fighting tsar - one king over the whole
world.
Satan was the first revolutionary and
through this fell from heaven. Between the teaching of his followers and the
teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ there is nothing in common, but a huge gulf.
The Lord through the doing of the commandments given by Him calls mankind to
heaven, where righteousness dwells. The spirit of darkness promises the
building of paradise on earth.
"The Jews and the Slavs are the two
peoples of the destinies of God, the vessels and witnesses of Him, the unbroken
arks; but the other peoples will be as it were spittle which the Lord will spit
out of His mouth. The Jews were scattered over the face of the whole earth
because they did not accept and did not recognise the Lord Jesus Christ. But in
the times of the Antichrist many Jews will be converted to Christ, since they
will understand that the Messiah whom they mistakenly wait for is none other
than he about whom our Lord Jesus Christ said: I have come in the name of My
Father, and they have not received Me, another will come in his own name, and
they will receive him. And so, in spite of their great crime before God, the
Jews were and are a people beloved before God. But the Slavs are beloved of God
because they will preserve true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to the end. They
will completely reject the Antichrist and will not accept him as the Messiah,
for which they will be counted worthy of great blessings by God. They will be
the first and most powerful people on the earth, and there will be no more
powerful state than the Russian-Slavic in the world.
Jesus Christ, the true God-man, the Son
of God the Father by the descent of the Holy Spirit, was born in Israel, while
the true antichrist-man-god will be born amidst the Slavs and Russians. He will
be the son of a virgin adulteress of the tribe of Dan and the son of the devil
through the artificial transfer to her of male seed, with which the spirit of
darkness will dwell together in her womb. But one of the Russians who will live
to the birth of the Antichrist will, like Simeon the God-receiver, who blessed
the Child Jesus and announced His nativity to the world, will curse the
antichrist at his birth and will announce to the world that he is the true
antichrist. [193]
5. Elder Porphyrius of Glinsk
(+1868) said: "In due course, faith will collapse in Russia. The
brilliance of earthly glory will blind the mind. The word of truth will be
defiled, but with regard to the Faith, some from among the people, unknown to
the world, will come forward and restore what was scorned."[194]
6. Archimandrite Jonah (Miroshnichenko)
(+1902) said: You will see what will happen in fifty years time: everyone
will forsake the Law of God and will fall away from the faith, but then they
will again come to their senses and turn back and live in a Christian manner.[195]
7. Elder Barnabas of Gethsemane Skete
(+1906): "Persecutions against the faith will constantly increase. There
will be unheard-of grief and darkness, and almost all the churches will be closed.
But when it will seem that it is impossible to endure any longer, then
deliverance will come. There will be a flowering. Churches will even begin to
be built. But this will be a flowering before the end."[196]
8. St. John of Kronstadt (+1908):
I foresee the restoration of a powerful Russia, still stronger and mightier
than before. On the bones of these martyrs, remember, as on a strong
foundation, will the new Russia we built - according to the old model; strong
in her faith in Christ God and in the Holy Trinity! And there will be, in
accordance with the covenant of the holy Prince Vladimir, a single Church!
Russian people have ceased to understand what Rus is: it is the footstool of
the Lords Throne! The Russian person must understand this and thank God that
he is Russian.[197]
The Church will remain unshaken to the
end of the age, and a Monarch of Russia, if he remains faithful to the Orthodox
Church, will be established on the Throne of Russia until the end of the age.[198]
9. Elder Aristocles of Moscow
(+1918): "An evil will shortly take Russia, and wherever this evil goes,
rivers of blood will flow. It is not the Russian soul, but an imposition on the
Russian soul. It is not an ideology, nor a philosophy, but a spirit from hell.
In the last days Germany will be divided. France will be just nothing. Italy
will be judged by natural disasters. Britain will lose her empire and all her
colonies and will come to almost total ruin, but will be saved by praying
enthroned women. America will feed the world, but will finally collapse. Russia
and China will destroy each other. Finally, Russia will be free and from her
believers will go forth and turn many from the nations to God."[199]
"Now we are undergoing the times
before the Antichrist. But Russia will yet be delivered. There will be much
suffering, much torture. The whole of Russia will become a prison, and one must
greatly entreat the Lord for forgiveness. One must repent of one's sins and
fear to do even the least sin, but strive to do good, even the smallest. For
even the wing of a fly has weight, and God's scales are exact. And when even
the smallest of good in the cup tips the balance, then will God reveal His
mercy upon Russia."
"The end will come through China.
There will be an extraordinary outburst and a miracle of God will be
manifested. And there will be an entirely different life, but all this will not
be for long."
"God will remove all leaders, so that
Russian people should look only at Him. Everyone will reject Russia, other
states will renounce her, delivering her to herself this is so that Russian
people should hope on the help of the Lord. You will hear that in other
countries disorders have begun similar to those in Russia. You will hear of
war, and there will be wars. But wait until the Germans take up arms, for they
are chosen as Gods weapon to punish Russia but also as a weapon of
deliverance later. The Cross of Christ
will shine over the whole world and our Homeland will be magnified and will
become as a lighthouse in the darkness for all."[200]
10. Martyr-Eldress Duniushka of Siberia
(+1918): "Brother will rise up against brother! They will destroy
everything acquired by their ancestors
. They will sweep away religion, and --
most importantly -- there will be no master in the land!" The master in
the land, of course, is the Tsar Gods Anointed One! He cannot go anywhere.
This trouble will come upon everyone and grind them up, as though in a
meat-grinder
The war will end, and its end will turn the whole country
upside-down. Insurgents will appear leaders who will incite the people
against the Tsar.
It will be terrible!
"And later, they will seize upon
religion. They will sweep away that which has been gathered through the ages
and assiduously preserved by our ancestors. But it will be impossible for them
to root it out; the roots will remain and, after many years, theyll give
forth a most-beautiful bloom and fruit
.
The Tsar will leave the nation, which
shouldnt be, but this has been foretold to him from Above. This is His
destiny. There is no way that He can evade it. For this, He will receive a
martyrs crown on earth, for which he will then receive an eternal crown, a
Heavenly one
. He will be a prayerful Intercessor for the nation and the
people, when the chastisement fallen upon dozens of generations for the harm
done to Gods Anointed One will reach an end
. The generations to come will
bear the responsibility for this act on the part of their ancestors
The
disaster in the land will disperse the people; they will be scattered to
various countries, losing touch with one another. But, wherever Russians go,
they will bring their culture and their religion.
"At the far end of Russia,
there will be an enormous earthquake. The waters will break out of the ocean,
flooding the continent, and many nations will perish. Many diseases beyond
understanding will appear
. The face of the earth will change
. The people will
comprehend their guilt; they will come to understand how far they have departed
from God and from His teachings, and then they will begin to be reborn
spiritually, gradually being cleansed physically, as well. People will become
vegetarians. By that time, many animals will have vanished. The horse and the
dog will only be seen in pictures; and later the cow, the goat, and the sheep
will disappear forever from our planet
. People will no longer be interested in
politics, and the spiritual principle of each nation will predominate
"Russia will be supreme in the world.
Her name will be Holy Rus. All sects and religions will pour into Orthodoxy
.
But Orthodoxy, and -- essentially speaking -- religion, will draw closer to
what it was in Apostolic times. . . . In those centuries to come, there will no
longer be any tsars or kings. In Holy Rus, a Prince will reign, who will
come from the nation that gave us our religion [i.e., Byzantium]. He will be a
supremely spiritual person, who will provide the opportunity for uplifting the
moral fibre and the spiritual principles of the nation
.
"In the course of one of those
centuries, Asia will bestir herself; she will try to penetrate into Europe, but
her attempts will be futile. No one will ever overcome Holy Rus, and only
through her will salvation come to the world
. "[201]
11. Hieromartyr Andronicus, Archbishop
of Perm (+1918): For its oath-breaking God has for the time being taken
reason and will from the whole people, until they repent. It will be slow, but
they will repent, at first gradually, but then they will completely recover
their spiritual sight, they will feel strength and, like Ilya Muromets, will
cast off this horror which has wrapped round the whole of our country
Perhaps
I will not be alive, but I do not abandon my hope and confidence that Russia
will be resurrected and return to God.[202]
12. Elder Anatolius (Potapov) of Optina
(+1922) "There will be a storm. And the Russian ship will be destroyed.
Yes, it will happen, but, you know, people can be saved on splinters and
wreckage. Not all, not all will perish..." But he also prophesied that
canonical unity would be restored: "A great miracle of God will be
revealed. And all the splinters and wreckage will, by the will of God and His
might, be gathered together and united, and the ship will be recreated in its
beauty and will go along the path foreordained for it by God. That's how it
will be, a miracle manifest to all..."[203]
13. Elder Alexis (Mechev) of Moscow
(+1922): "When the time comes, God will sent the necessary people, who
will do this work [the salvation of Russia] and will annihilate the Bolsheviks
in the same way that a storm breaks the wood of a mast."[204]
14. Elder Nectarius of Optina
(+1928): "Russia will arise, and materially she will not be wealthy. But
in spirit she will be wealthy, and in Optina there will yet be seven
luminaries, seven pillars."[205]
15. Martyr-Eldress Agatha of Belorussia
(+1939): "The atheist Soviet power will vanish, and all its servants will
perish. The True Orthodox Faith will triumph, and people will be baptised as at
one time they were baptized under St. Vladimir."[206]
16. Archbishop Theophanes of Poltava
(+1940): "The coming of the Antichrist draws nigh and is very near. But
before the coming of the Antichrist Russia must yet be restored - to be sure,
for a short time. And in Russia there must be a Tsar forechosen by the Lord
Himself. He will be a man of burning faith, great mind and iron will. This much
has been revealed about him....[207]
He will not be a Romanov, but he will be of the Romanovs according to the
maternal line."[208]
"I do not speak from myself. But that
which I have heard from the God-inspired elders, that I have passed on... The
Lord will have mercy on Russia for the sake of the small remnant of true
believers. In Russia, the elders said, in accordance with the will of the
people, the Monarchy, Autocratic power, will be re-established. The Lord has
forechosen the future Tsar. He will be a man of fiery faith, having the mind of
a genius and a will of iron. First of all he will introduce order in the
Orthodox Church, removing all the untrue, heretical and lukewarm hierarchs. And
many, very many - with few exceptions, all - will be deposed, and new, true,
unshakeable hierarchs will take their place. He will be of the family of the Romanovs
according to the female line. Russia will be a powerful state, but only for 'a
short time'... And then the Antichrist will come into the world, with all the
horrors of the end as described in the Apocalypse."[209]
17.
Hieroschemamonk Seraphim (Vyritsky) of Moscow
(+1942): When the East will get stronger, everything will become shaky.
Numbers are on their side. But not only that: they have sober workers and
industrious people, while there is such drunkenness with us
There will come a
time when Russia will be torn into pieces. At first they will divide it, and
then they will begin to steal its wealth. The West will do everything to help
the destruction of Russia and for a time will give its eastern part to China.
The Far East will fall into the hands of Japan, and Siberia to the Chinese,
who will begin to move into Russia, marry Russian women and in the end by
cunning and craftiness will seize the territory of Siberia as far as the Urals.
But when China will want to go further, the West will resist and will not allow
it
The East will be baptised in Russia. The whole heavenly world, together
with those on earth, understand this, and pray for the enlightenment of the
East.
18. Elder Theodosius (Kashin) of
Minvody (+1948) said, shortly after the outbreak of war with Germany in
1941: "Do you really think that that was the war (1941-45)?! The war is
still to come. It will begin from the east. And then from all sides, like
locusts, the enemies will spread over Russia... That will be the war!"
During that memorable conversation,
wrote Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Tyapochkin), a woman from a Siberian town
was present. The elder said to her: You will receive a martyrs crown from the
hands of the Chinese in your towns stadium, where they will drive the
Christians who live there and those who do not agree with their rule. This was
the reply to her doubts with regard to the words of the elder that practically
the whole of Siberia will be captured by the Chinese. The elder told what had been
revealed to him about the future of Russia, he did not name dates, he only
emphasized that the time for the accomplishment of his words was in the hands
of God, and much depended on how the spiritual life of the Russian Church would
develop, insofar as the strength of faith in God among the Russian people would
correspond to the believers struggles in prayer
The elder said that the
collapse of Russia, in spite of her apparent strength and the cruelty of the
authorities, would take place very quickly. At first the Slavic peoples will be
split off, then the Union republics will fall away: the Baltic, Central Asia
and Caucasian republics and Moldavia. After this central power in Russia will
weaken still more, so that autonomous republics and regions will begin to
separate themselves. Then a great collapse will take place: the power of the
Centre will cease to be recognized de facto by the autonomous regions,
which will try to live independently and will no longer pay any attention to
orders from Moscow. The greatest tragedy will be the seizure of Siberia by
China. This will not take place through military means: in consequence of the
weakening of the authorities and the open frontiers, masses of Chinese will
move into Siberia, will snap up property, enterprises and flats. By means of
bribery, intimidation and agreements with the authorities, they will gradually
take control of the economic life of the towns. Everything will take place in
such a way that one morning the Russians living in Siberia will wake up
in a
Chinese state. The destiny of those who remain there will be tragic, but not
hopeless. The Chinese will deal cruelly
with every attempt at resistance. (That was why the elder prophesied a martyric
end in the stadium of the Siberian town for many Orthodox and patriots of the
Homeland.) The West will assist this creeping conquest of our land and in every
way support the military and economic might of China out of hatred for Russia.
But then they will see the danger for themselves, and when the Chinese try to
conquer the Urals, this time by military might, and go even further, they will
by all means hinder this and will even be able to help Russia in deflecting the
invasion from the East. Russia must stand her ground in this battle; after
sufferings and complete impoverishment she will find in herself the strength to
recover. And the coming regeneration will begin in the lands conquered by the
enemies, in the midst of Russians left in the former republics of the Union.
There Russian people will realise what they have lost, will recognise
themselves to be citizens of that Fatherland which is still alive, and will
want to help her rise from the ashes. Many Russians living abroad will begin to
help the re-establishment of life in Russia
Many of those who are able to flee
from persecutions will return to the immemorial Russian lands so as to fill up
the abandoned villages, till the neglected fields and use the mineral resources
that remain untapped. The Lord will send help, and, in spite of the fact that
the country will have lost its main seams of raw materials, they will find the
oil and gas without which a contemporary economy cannot work, in Russia. The
elder said that the Lord would permit the loss of huge territories given to
Russia because we ourselves were not able to use them worthily, but only
spoiled and polluted them
But the Lord will leave in Russias possession those
lands which became the cradle of the Russian people and were the base of the
Great Russian state. This is the territory of the Great Muscovite Principality
of the 16th century with outlets to the Black, Caspian and North
seas. Russia will not be rich, but still she will be able to feed herself and
force others to reckon with her. To the question: What will happen to Ukraine
and Belorussia? the elder replied that everything is in the hands of God.
Those among those people who are against union with Russia even if they
consider themselves to be believers will become servants of the devil. The
Slavic peoples have one destiny, and the monastic Fathers of the Kiev Caves
[Lavra] will yet utter their weighty word they together with the choir of the
new martyrs of Russia will by their prayers obtain a new Union of the three
brother peoples. The posed one more question to him on the possibility of the
restoration of a monarchy in Russia. The elder replied that this restoration
must be earned. It exists as a possibility, but not as something
pre-determined. If we are worthy, the Russian people will elect a Tsar, but
this will become possible before the very enthronement of the Antichrist or
even after it for a very short time.[210]
19. Blessed Pelagia of Ryazan
(+1968): The bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church will fall away from the
truth of the Orthodox Faith, they will not believe in the prophecies of the
resurrection of Russia. To reprove them St. Seraphim of Sarov will be raised
from the dead
He will reprove the clergy for their treachery and betrayal, and
will preach repentance to the whole world. Seraphim of Sarov will explain the
whole of history, will recount everything and will reprove the pastors like
children, will show them how to cross themselves, and much else
After such
wonderful miracles the clergy will have a devotion for the Lord, that is, it
will teach the people to serve the batyushka-tsar with all their heart.
The Antichrist will come to power and
will begin to persecute Orthodoxy. And then the Lord will reveal His tsar in
Russia. He will be of royal family and will be a strong defender of our faith
When the Lord will give this very intelligent person, life will be good!
The
Antichrist will declare himself from America. And the whole world will bow down
to him except Tsarist Orthodox Russia.
10.3-4. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion
roareth. And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the
seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write. And I heard a
voice from heaven saying unto me: Seal up those things which the seven thunders
uttered, and write them not.
Again, we are reminded of Daniel: And thou, Daniel, close the words, and seal
the book to the time of the end; until many are taught, and knowledge is
increased (12.4). Here the sealing of the prophecy of the seven thunders
may signify the postponement of the final judgement of the world, and a brief
period of peace and prosperity, as indicated by the prophets quoted above.
10.5-6. And the angel whom I saw stand upon the sea
and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him Who liveth
unto the ages of ages, Who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and
the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and things which are
therein, that there should be time no longer.
The doctrine of God the Creator is
emphasized here after the destruction of that generation of men who, through
the evil doctrine of Darwinism, rejected the existence of the Creator, Who is the Beginning of every beginning (I
Chronicles 29.12). And in general the apostasy of the Christian world has gone
so far that the re-conversion of the world must begin with this primary
doctrine, a reaffirmation of the teaching that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis
1.1).
As the Church proclaims on the Sunday of
Orthodoxy: "To those who deny the existence of God and affirm that this
world is self-existent, and everything in it arose by chance and not by the
Providence of God, anathema, anathema,
anathema."
"There
should be time no longer, i.e. the usual cycle of the elements of the world
is to cease; there will be no time as measured by the sun and eternity will
begin." (Archbishop Averky)
"For time," writes St. John of
Damascus, "will not be counted by days and nights even after the
resurrection, but there will rather be one day with no evening, wherein the Sun
of Righteousness will shine brightly on the righteous, but for the sinful there
will be night profound and limitless."[211]
"Here it is important that the angel
swore by Him Who liveth unto the ages of
ages, i.e., by God Himself. Consequently those sectarians are wrong who
consider that no oath whatsoever is to be allowed." (Archbishop Averky).
10.7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh
angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as
He hath declared to His servants the prophets.
"That is, there shall soon begin the
last of the seven epochs of the existence of the world and the seventh angel
shall trumpet. Then will come to an end the
mystery of God prophesied by our prophets, that is, the end of the world
and everything that is to occur in connection with it." (Archbishop
Averky)
Or; there will begin the last of the seven
parts of the last period in the world's history, that period which began with
the First World War and the Russian revolution, and will end with the reign of
the personal Antichrist.
According to Th. Yakovlev, the mystery here
referred to has now been revealed, being that which the apostles often
referred to (Ephesians 1.8, 3.6) the conversion of the Gentiles, which
took place swiftly throughout the world after the destruction of Roman lordship
and superstition.[212]
However, if we are right in referring this prophecy to a much later date, to
the time of the Third World War and its aftermath, then the mystery can
still refer to the conversion of the Gentiles, but this time truly
throughout the whole world, far beyond the limits of the Roman empire.
For the angelic voice that ends the war, as we have seen, declares: And the
Gospel will be preached throughout the world.
10.8-11. And the voice which I heard from heaven
spake unto me again, and said: Go and take the little book which is open in the
hand of the angel who standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And went unto
the angel, and said unto him: Give me the little book. And he said unto me:
Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in
thy mouth as sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's
hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. And as soon as I
had eaten it, my belly was bitter. And he said unto me: thou must prophesy
again before peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
"Here is indicated the fact that St.
John has received the prophetic gift just as the Old Testament prophets
received it. For example, the holy Prophet Ezekiel, to whom it was likewise
commanded to eat a scroll of a book before he was sent by the Lord to preach to
the house of Israel (Ezekiel 2.8-10, 3.1-4).
"The sweetness and bitterness in the
explanation of St. Andrew signify the following: 'Sweet for you.' he says, 'is
the knowledge of the future. At the same time it is bitter for the belly, i.e. the heart, the dwelling place of the
food of the Word because of compassion for those who will have to endure the
punishments sent down by God's decrees. This is also to be interpreted in
another way inasmuch as the holy evangelist had not experienced evil deeds; by
this swallowing of the book which contained the deeds of the impious is indicated
to him that at the beginning of sin there is sweetness, and after the
accomplishment, bitterness, by reason of revenge and reward.' (St. Andrew of
Caesarea) The compassionate heart of the apostle could not but feel the whole
bitterness of the grief which awaits sinful mankind. In conclusion, St. John
received the command to prophesy." (Archbishop Averky)
The fact that St. John is told that he must prophesy before many peoples, and
nations, and tongues, and kings may indicate that in the very last period
of world history which is about to be unfolded in the Apocalypse - the
universal preaching of the Gospel, followed by the reign of the personal
Antichrist, described in chapter 11 - St. John himself will play an important
role alongside the two witnesses. For there is a tradition, based, it would
seem, on the mystery surrounding his death[213]
and burial, after which no body was found[214],
that St. John will be resurrected from the dead to preach in the flesh against
the Antichrist, and then be killed by him.
"For
God gave three laws to the human race: the natural law, which God commanded
Adam in Paradise, and instilled as innate into the nature of each one of us,
and the written law, which He gave to the Jews on Sinai through Moses, and the
Gospel law, which our Lord Jesus Christ gave through the holy Apostles in
Jerusalem. In the last times witnesses of these laws must appear. Enoch will
come as the witness of the natural law, and Elijah - of the Mosaic law, and the
present Evangelist [John] - of the Gospel law. [John] will be killed together
with Enoch and Elijah in the time of the Antichrist." (Patriarch Anthimus)[215]
Another possibility is that John has
already been resurrected, not like Lazarus in a corrupt body again, but like
the Mother of God in an incorrupt body.[216]
Anna Ilyinskaya writes: A spiritual son
of the elder Fr. Alexis Mechev, Bishop Stefan (Nikitin) was convinced that
before the end of history the Church would be ruled by the Apostle John, who is
preserved in some unattainable place by the Lord for his last service. The same
prophecy was made by the Optina Elder Nectarius
His spiritual daughter, the
nun Nectaria (Kontsevich) asked: Batyushka, they say that John the Theologian
will come. He replied: That will all take place, but this is a great
mystery
[217]
7. The Seventh Seal: The Two Witnesses
11.1-2. And there was given me a reed like unto a
rod. And the angel stood, saying: Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the
altar, and those that worship therein. But the court which is without the
temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles; and
the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
"The temple of the living God is the
Church in which the rational sacrifices are offered by us. The court which is without is the society of
unbelievers and Jews who are unworthy of the angelic measuring (i.e. the
definition of the degree of their moral perfection and corresponding
blessedness) because of their impiety." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
"The treading underfoot of the Holy
City, Jerusalem, or the Ecumenical Church, for the course of forty-two months
signifies that at the time of the coming of the Antichrist the faithful will be
persecuted for the course of three and a half years.
"Some interpreters suppose that this
measurement of the temple signifies the speedy destruction of the Old Testament
temple in Jerusalem on the site of which there is to be raised a New Testament
Christian Church, just like a similar measurement of the temple by means of a
reed was given in a vision to the Prophet Ezekiel (chapters 40-45), signifying
the restoration of the destroyed temple. Others consider that the inner court
which was measured by the apostle signifies the Church of the first-born in heaven (Hebrews 12.23), the
heavenly sanctuary; and that the outer court left without measurement is the
Church of Christ on earth which must endure persecution, at first from the
pagans, and then, in the last times, from the Antichrist. The miserable
condition of the earthly Church is limited, however, to this period of
forty-two months. Some interpreters have seen the fulfilment of the prophecy of
forty-two months in the persecution of Diocletian, which was distinguished by
its great cruelty and which lasted from February 23rd, 305 to July 25th, 308,
which is about three and a half years. The persecution touches only the outward
court, that is, the external aspect of the life of Christians, whose property
will be taken away. They will be subjected to tortures, while the inner
sanctuary of their souls will remain untouched." (Archbishop Averky)
The period three and a half years has
great significance in the history of the people of God. Thus the holy Prophet
Elijah spent three and a half years in the wilderness, fleeing from Jezebel.
And in the time of the Maccabees the temple was desecrated for three and a half
years by Antiochus Epiphanes. And "Jesus Himself spent three and a half
years in Egypt, fleeing from Herod." (Patriarch Anthimus). And the
Christians fled to Pella for three and a half years during the Romans' siege of
Jerusalem in 66-70 A.D. And the persecution of Diocletian lasted for three and
a half years. And the first period of persecution of the Russian Church by the
Soviet Antichrist lasted for about three and a half years, from October, 1917
to March, 1921, when the last major rebellion against Soviet rule, by the
sailors of Kronstadt, was crushed. Finally, the persecution of the personal
Antichrist will last for three and a half years.
St, Gregory the Great writes: "And He spoke to me and said to me: Go in
and shut thyself up in the midst of thy house (Ezekiel 3.24). Why is
it that the Prophet is led from the midst of the people of Israel to the plain,
and afterward called from the plain to his house unless that the grace of
preaching was removed from the people of the Jews and scattered among the
breadth of the Gentiles? Nevertheless at the end of the world when the Jews
return to the Faith, as the Prophet is led back to his house, so preaching will
again have its habitation among his people, the preaching which now shines on
the plain among the diverse nations. For it is written: Until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel
should be saved (Romans 11.25-26). Because it is also said through
another Prophet: If the number of the
children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved (Es.
10.22, Romans 9.27). Therefore the Prophet may go out from the midst of
the people to the plain, and return from the plain to the house, so that the
preaching which happened in Judea may go out to the nations, and when the
nations are replete with the Faith the spiritual Judea may go out to receive
the gifts of doctrine which she lost. Then the Prophet is commanded to be shut
in his house, because in the time of Antichrist the converted mass of the Jews
will be restrained by harsh tribulation by the nations which have remained in
infidelity. Thus it is written: But the
court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is
given unto the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty
and two months (Revelation 11.2)."[218]
This last period in the history of the
Church, the reign of the personal Antichrist, will be prepared by a drastic
decline in Christian morality throughout the world. Thus when "iniquity
shall have multiplied, and all creatures become defiled," says St.
Ephraim, "Divine Justice shall appear, and shall wholly destroy the
people, and, coming from perdition, the man of iniquity shall be revealed upon
the earth, the seducer of men and disturber of the whole earth."[219]
St. Andrew the Fool-for-Christ writes:
"When his reign [that of the last Orthodox emperor] has ended, the beginning of sorrows will set in.
Then the son of iniquity will arise and reign in this city for three and a half
years, and cause such wickedness to be done as has not been committed since the
beginning of the world. He will decree that fathers should lie with their
daughters and mothers with their sons and brothers with their sisters, and
whoever refuses to do so will be punished with death. The stench and
abomination will rise up before the Lord, Who will be bitterly angered, and He
will command His thunder and lightning to smite the earth. Many cities will be
burned down, and men will be paralysed with fear."[220]
Monasticism will be especially persecuted,
as we can see in the following prophecy of St. Moses the Egyptian which covers
the whole period from the collective Antichrist to the personal Antichrist:
"After this the servant of God Moses saw that a cloud and storm and dark
mist of most terrible temptations fell upon the monks from the direction of the
north [Russia?], and that the monks were persecuted, together with the monastic
schema, by a ruinous combination of heresies, and many were forced to cast
aside the schema and marry. Then the few strugglers who have been proved as
gold and silver in the furnace will triumph in great sorrow and distress of
persecutions. And as many as will appear proved and victorious in such terrible
temptations will be magnified and glorified and honoured by God more than those
who bore the heat of the day and the burning and frost of the night. After this
the servant of God Moses saw that that storm of sorrows and temptations had
passed, together with the distress of terrible heresies, and it became peaceful
and calm. Again, however, after the passing of some years the angelic order of
the monks will be neglected, and temptations will arise even fiercer and more
numerous than the first. And he saw that the monks impiously had intercourse
with the nuns, and that tyranny was mixed with evil desire so that even the
unwilling were corrupted. And the priests were defiled by fornication, and
their wives committed adultery, as they themselves did with other women. Then
the wrath of God will come and consume that wicked generation, and it will go
into the eternal fire."[221]
Again, Abba Ischyrion was asked by his
monks: "What have we accomplished?" "We have fulfilled the
commandments of God," replied Ischyrion. "And what will those who
come after us accomplish?" "They will accomplish what we have
accomplished, but only half as much as we." "And those after
them?" "Those in the last days will have no monastic training, but
such assaults and temptations will come upon them that they will, through these
trials, be revealed in the Kingdom of God as greater than us and than our
fathers."[222]
St. Niphon of Constantia said: In the
last times those who will serve God in truth will successfully hide themselves
from people and will not perform wonders and signs in their midst as at the
present time, but will go on the path of activity mixed with humility, and in
the Kingdom of Heaven they will be greater than the Fathers who have been
glorified with signs. My son! There will not be lacking holy men until the
end of time! But in the last days they will conceal themselves from people and
will please God in such humility that they will be higher in the Kingdom of
Heaven that the first wonderworking fathers. And their reward will be so great
because in those days there will be nobody performing miracles before their
eyes, and people will of themselves receive zeal and the fear of God in their
hearts, for at that time the hierarchical rank will be unskilled and will not
love wisdom and reason, and will worry only about gain. The monks will be
similar to them because of their possession of great properties; from vainglory
their eyes will be darkened, and those who love God with all their heart will
be despised by them; the love of money will reign in them with all its
strength. But woe to the monks who love gold: they will not see the Face of
God! If the monks and novices who lend money on interest do not depart from this
evil quickly, they will be called usurers here and their prayer will not be
accepted, and their fasting will be useless, and the offering of sacrifices to
God and alms will all be counted as abomination and defilement. They will go by
the broad path...[223]
St. Narses of Armenia says: Then if there
be grinding two in one mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. And
there shall shoot forth the leaf of the fig tree, which is the Antichrist. The
branches shooting up are his ministers.[224]
11.3-6. And I will give power unto My two
witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days,
clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks
standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire
proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies. And if any man will
hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven,
that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters, to
turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they
will.
According
to St. Hippolytus of Rome and the constant tradition of the Church, these two witnesses, or olive trees or candlesticks
are the Prophets Enoch and Elijah. "For when Enoch and Elijah preach,
writes St. Gregory the Great, the two who are named the two olive trees by Zechariah (4.3), and the two candlesticks by John, - many of the Jews who then remain
faithless will return to recognition of the truth, as it is said of Elijah: Elijah shall come and restore all things
(Matthew 17.11).[225]
Or the two olives trees are the Old and the New Testaments (The Venerable
Bede).
I will
send you Elijah the Tishbite, who will restore the heart of the father to the
son, lest I come and utterly smite the earth
(Malachi 4.5,6)... And He also teaches with all this the reason for his
coming. And what is this reason? That when He has come, he may persuade the
Jews to believe in Christ, so they may not all utterly perish at His coming...
Hence the extreme accuracy of the expression: He did not say He will restore the heart of the son to the
father, but of the father to the son.
For the Jews being father to the apostles, His meaning is that He will restore
to the doctrines of their sons, that is, of the apostles, the hearts of the
fathers, that is, the Jewish peoples mind.[226]
"For
the whole course of this time, 1260 days, two witnesses of God will preach
repentance to men and convert them from the deception of the Antichrist. By these
two witnesses all the holy fathers and teachers of the Church almost
unanimously understand the Old Testament righteous ones Enoch and Elijah, who
were taken alive into heaven. During their preaching, while possessing
authority and power over the elements in order to chastise the impious and
bring them to their sense, they themselves will be unharmed." (Archbishop
Averky)
And
Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him
(Genesis 5.24). By faith Enoch
was translated, that he should not see death (Hebrews 11.5). And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into
heaven (IV Kings 2.11).
"O wondrous Grace of God! For He
offers a treatment equal in power to the wound. Just as the false Christ will
possess every diabolical activity, and all his false signs and miracles will be
more glorious than all sorcerers and deceivers, so also will God arm these
saints with the power of true signs and miracles, so that by offering truth and
light they may overthrow the lie and darkness and convert the deceived either
by the word of teaching or by the blows of chastisement (drought, fire, changes
in the elements, and so forth), and may expose the deceiver himself without
themselves suffering in the least either through him or others." (St.
Andrew of Caesarea)
Enoch will be the evangelist of the pagans,
while Elijah the Thesbite of the Jews. The apostolic preaching of the
Evangelist John will be required for the sake of the elec, for the restoration
of the lost meaning of the Christian teaching, perverted by the interpretations
of the rationalists among the Christians
There remains no one Gospel
commandment which, like the Talmudists in relation to the law of Moses, the
Protestants did not have to change, either by narrowing or by broadening its
meaning to an unrecognisable degree
Corresponding to the success of the
preaching of Elijah the Thesbite amidst the Jews, it must be supposed that the
preaching of Enoch among the pagans and the preaching of John the Theologian
among the Christians will have great success. (St. John of Kronstadt).
11.7-8. And when they shall have finished their
testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war
against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies
shall lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and
Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
"During their preaching activity,
endowed with power and authority over the elements for the punishment and
instruction of the impious, they will themselves be invulnerable. And only at
the end of their mission, after a period of three and a half years, the beast that ascendeth from the
bottomless pit (i.e. the Antichrist) will be allowed by God to kill the
preachers, and their corpses will be thrown into the streets of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and
Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified, that is, apparently, the city of
Jerusalem where the Antichrist will found his kingdom, giving himself out to be
the Messiah who was promised by the prophets." (Archbishop Averky)
"In this city he will establish his
kingdom and royal throne in the likeness of David... so as to prove that he is
Christ who fulfils the prophet's words: I
shall restore the fallen tabernacle of David and raise up that which was fallen
(Amos 9.11). These words the Jews will accept and refer to his
coming." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
St. Ephraim writes: "When the son of
perdition has drawn to his purpose the whole world, Enoch and Elijah shall be
sent to refute the evil one by a question filled with mildness. Coming to him,
these holy men, that they may expose the son of perdition before the multitudes
round about him, will say: 'If you are God, show us what we now ask of you. In
what place do the men of old, Enoch and Elijah, lie hidden?' Then the evil one
will at once answer the holy men: 'If I wish to seek for them in heaven, or in
the depths of the sea, every abode lies open to me. There is no other God but
me, and I can do all things in heaven and on earth.' They shall answer the son
of perdition: 'If you are God, call the dead, and they will rise up. For it is
written in the books of the prophets, and also by the apostles, that Christ,
when He shall appear, will raise the dead from their tombs. If you do not show
us this, we shall conclude that He Who was crucified is greater than you; for
He raised the dead, and was Himself raised to heaven in great glory.' In that
moment the evil one, angered against the saints, seizing his sword, will most
abominably sever the necks of the just men."[227]
11.9-10. And they of the kindreds and tongues and
nations shall see their bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer
their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall
rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts to one another; because
these two prophets tormented those that dwelt on the earth.
"These people will be deceived by the
false miracles of the Antichrist who, with the cooperation of the devil, will
be the most glorious of all sorcerers and deceivers; he will not allow the
prophets to be given over to burial, and will rejoice in their death, because these two prophets tormented those
that dwelt on the earth, arousing their consciences." (Archbishop
Averky)
St.
Narses of Armenia says: There is rejoicing among the false prophets, when they
behold the death of the true prophets. Then doth the great dragon himself, the
son of perdition, cry aloud in the hearing of all, and say: Behold ye my mighty
power. Since for many a year they had been immortal, and no others can be
rescued from my hands. And no one hath been able to overcome my might. And yet
more doth his wickedness flame up in the land, whom the Lord Jesus shall
utterly destroy with the breath of His mouth.[228]
This world-wide rejoicing over the deaths
of the prophets suggests a worldwide form of communications, perhaps
television, relaying these events live to millions.[229]
St. Nilus the Myrrh-gusher writes:
"After the murder of Enoch and Elijah, Antichrist will release his most
wicked followers (he will free the evil spirits, which he had restrained until
now). These offspring or spirits of evil are adultery, fornication,
homosexuality, murder, plundering, robbery, lies, tortures, buying and selling
of people, and the buying of boys and girls for fornication with them, like
unto the dogs in the streets. Antichrist will command these evil spirits who
obey him to drive people into doing ten times as much evil as formerly."[230]
The men of that time will be deceived, not
because they had no opportunity to come to a knowledge of the truth, but, on
the contrary, because they flew in the face of the truth as it was openly
revealed to them.
For, as the Apostle Paul says: Then shall that wicked man be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy
with the brightness of His Coming; even him, whose coming is after the working
of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received
not the love of the truth, that they should believe a lie; that they all might
be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (II
Thessalonians 2.8-12).
Blessed Theodoretus writes: "The
Antichrist will not rule over all, but only over those who are worthy of
perdition, who, even if he had not come, would still have deprived themselves
of salvation."[231]
And St. John of Damascus writes that the Antichrist will lure to himself
"those who have a weak and feeble mind; he will seduce and tear them away
from the living God."[232]
However, as St. Ephraim says, "many people will be found pleasing to God,
for whom it will be possible, in the mountains and desert places, to save
themselves by much prayer... For God, seeing their many tears and sincere
faith, will have mercy on them, as a tender Father, and will keep them."[233]
St. Seraphim of Sarov said of the
temptations facing the faithful Christians of these last times: "When this
age comes to an end, at first the Antichrist will remove the crosses from the
churches and destroy the monasteries... Then life will be short. The angels
will scarcely be able to collect the souls... In the days of that great sorrow
of which it is said that no flesh could be saved unless, for the sake of the
elect, those days will be cut short - in those days the remnant of the faithful
are to experience in themselves something like that which was experienced by
the Lord Himself when He, hanging on the Cross, being perfect God and perfect
Man, felt Himself so forsaken by His Divinity that He cried out to Him: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
The last Christians also will experience in themselves a similar abandonment of
humanity by the grace of God, but only for a very short time, after the passing
of which the Lord will not delay immediately to appear in all His glory, and
all the holy angels with Him. And then will be performed in all its fullness
everything foreordained from the ages in the pre-eternal counsel of the Holy
Trinity."[234]
11.11-12. And after three days and a half the
Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and
great fear fell upon those who saw them. And they heard a great voice from
heaven, saying unto them: Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a
cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
"The evil joy of the impious will be
not be long in duration. In three and a half days the holy prophets will be
brought to life by God and raised up to heaven." (Archbishop Averky)
11.13. And the same hour there was a great
earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were
slain of men seven thousand; and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to
the God of heaven.
"At the same time a great earthquake
will take place, a tenth part of the city will be destroyed and seven thousand
men will perish, and the remained being seized with fear will send up glory to
the God of heaven. Thus a decisive blow will be given to the work of the
Antichrist." (Archbishop Averky)
The figure "seven thousand"
recalls the seven thousand who have not
bowed their knees to Baal in the time of the Prophet Elijah's first coming
to earth (III Kings 19.18).
St. Hippolytus teaches that Enoch and
Elijah will preach for three-and-a-half years and will be killed in the middle
of the Antichrist's seven-year reign. "As also it was announced to Daniel:
And one week shall establish the
covenant with many; and in the midst of the week My sacrifice and
drink-offering shall be taken away (9.27) - that the one week [of years]
might be shown to be divided into two. The two witnesses, then, shall preach
three years and a half; and the Antichrist shall wage war against the saints
during the rest of the week, and desolate the world."[235]
And
on the holy place shall be the abomination of desolations; and at the end of
time an end shall be put to the desolation... (Daniel 9.27)
The
abomination of desolation, according to St. Hippolytus, is the Antichrist,
"who announces desolation to the world"; while the sacrifice and oblation are that "which are now offered to God in every place
by the nations" - in other words, the sacrament of the Most Holy Body and
Blood of Christ.[236]
Thus, according to the same Father, the honourable Body and Blood of Christ
will not be offered in those days. Public Divine services will be
discontinued.[237]
This may be the second woe:
11.14. The second woe is past; and, behold, the
third woe cometh quickly.
The three woes may correspond to the three
phases of God's judgement in the seventh seal: the Third World War, the reign
of the personal Antichrist, and the last and most terrible judgement when
Christ Himself will come in glory.
However, two passages from Daniel
suggest that there is a certain pause between the defeat of the Antichrist and
the final consummation. The first is: The
dominion of the rest of the wild beasts was taken away; but a prolonging of
life was given them for a time and a time (7.12). And the second is: From the time of the removal of the
perpetual sacrifice, when the abomination of desolation shall be set up, there
shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and
thirty-five days (12.11-12).
St. Hippolytus comments on the second
passage: "When the abomination of desolation comes and wages war against
the saints, whoever will survive his days, and reach the forty-five days, while
the other period of fifty days advances, to him the Kingdom of Heaven comes.
The Antichrist indeed enters even into part of the fifty days, but the saints
shall inherit the Kingdom along with Christ."[238]
But why, asks Blessed Jerome, is there a
silence of 45 days after the defeat of the Antichrist? God only knows, he
replies, but suggests that this putting off of the kingdom of the saints is a
testing of their patience.[239]
Perhaps the extra forty-five days mentioned by Daniel are related to the forty days mentioned by St. Ephraim the
Syrian as intervening between the fall of the Antichrist and the Last
Judgement: "The angels approaching shall seize the accursed, and in the
same moment the Lord shall command from His heavens, and He shall overthrow the
accursed and all his forces and on the instant the angels shall thrust them
down to gehenna. And all who believed in him shall be thrust down amid the
flames. Then the Lord shall descend from on high, amid the fearful glory of the
angels, and His chariot shall halt between heaven and earth. He shall speak to
the sea and it shall dry up, and the fish shall die in the midst of it. The
heavens and the earth shall be dissolved, and become darkness and gloom. The
Lord shall send fire upon the earth, continuing for forty days, and shall
purify it from iniquity, and from the pollution of sin."[240]
An unknown Russian priest, the author of a
work entitled The Apocalypse, writes: According to the tradition of the
Glinsk elders, it is also thought that after the casting of the Antichrist and
the false prophet alive into the gehenna of fire, this world will not
immediately come to an end after this. There will pass another 45 days, and
then will come the Terrible Judgement. When the heavens are opened and the King
of Glory, our Lord Jesus Christ, will appear sitting on a white horse, and when
He by the Spirit of His mouth will kill the Antichrist and the false prophet
and those who are with him in Armageddon, the end of the world will not come
immediately after this, but in the heavens there will remain shining with an
ineffable heavenly light that Cross of the Lord which will precede the Lord of
Glory, and on which He was crucified in the days of His first Coming to earth.
This honourable Cross of the Lord will
shine in the heavens for 45 days until the Second Coming of the Lord at the
Terrible Judgement, by its appearance calling those who have remained alive to
repentance. Although the Antichrist and the false prophet will no longer be on
earth, the ancient snake-devil will continue to act on it together with Gog and
Magog, thinking to sweep off the face of the earth the city of Jerusalem in
Palestine, where there will begin to gather the Orthodox Christians who have
been hiding in the wilderness and who now feel some relief from the fact that
the Antichrist is no more and that the whole of his power has been shattered at
one moment it was sufficient merely for Christ the Saviour to appear in the
heavens. The whole world, confused by the Antichrist and having drunk to the
dregs the punishments of God will once more, by the mercy of God, be called to
repentance by the voiceless shining in the heavens of the honourable Cross. And
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!
Although the people, deceived by the
Antichrist, bowed down to him and received his seal, and although they thereby
lost the capacity to cross themselves, thereby falling away by their terrible
renunciation of Christ the Saviour, our true God, and although they will have
lost the Divine grace of Christ, nevertheless there will awake in some at the
sight of the Cross shining in the heavens a feeling of repentance and sorrow
that they recognised the evil, miserable and vain Antichrist as God and bowed
down to him. Now, at the sight of the Cross of the Lord, they will bitterly
groan and weep about this, and the merciful and man-loving Lord, not wishing
the death of a sinner, but rather that he should repent, will return His grace
to such a Christian
St. Demetrius of Rostov says: After the
ruinous death of the Antichrist, those who remain alive will be given a time
for repentance by God, as we see in the prophecy of Daniel (12.11-12), in which
the Angel said that the Antichrist would reign for 1290 days, and then he
added: Blessed is he that waits, and
comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days, that is, there
are still 45 days after the death of the Antichrist.[241]
11.15-17. And the seventh angel sounded; and there
were great voices in heaven, saying: The kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign unto the ages of
ages. And the four and twenty elders, who sat before God on their seats, fell
upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying: We give Thee thanks, O Lord God
Almighty, Who art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou has taken to Thee
Thy great power, and hast reigned.
The sounding of the seventh trumpet of the
seventh seal heralds the Second Coming of Christ in glory.
The Lord called Satan the prince of this world (John 12.31). And Satan himself
claimed to have dominion over the world when he tempted the Lord, showing Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the
glory of them, and saying: All these
things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me (Matthew
4.8-9). Christ rejected this temptation; but the Antichrist will accept it,
which is why he will be given power over the whole world.
However, this power is temporary and
illusory. He Who said to Pilate: Thou
couldest have no power at all against Me, unless it were given thee from above
(John 19.11; cf. Wisdom 6.1-3), only grants power to the devil
and his servants so that sinners may taste the bitter fruit of their sin and
turn to the only true King and God. In the end, the illusory power of the devil
will be smashed and all power given to Him to Whom every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and
things under the earth (Philippians 2.10).
11.18. And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is
come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou
shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and
those that fear Thy name, shall and great; and shouldest destroy those that
destroy the earth.
"Finally, after having been
long-suffering, He sends against the unbelieving nations, which are angry at
this as if it were a new or strange teaching, their punishment. The time of the dead indicates the time
of the resurrection of the dead, in which to each will be given a reward
corresponding to his deeds.
"By the prophets, and the saints, and those that fear His name, one may
understand three degrees of men: those who offer fruit a hundredfold,
sixtyfold, and thirtyfold (Matthew 13.23). The apostles, however, will
receive the first place and sit on twelve thrones. Small and great, we think, refer either to the lesser saints and
those who surpass them, or else the small are sinners who have been belittled,
and the great are the righteous" (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
11.19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven,
and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament; and there were
lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
Then,
from the mountains of Palestine, the Ark of the Covenant will appear. The Prophet
Jeremiah hid the Ark and the Holy Fire in a deep well. When they took water
from that well it burst into flame. But the Ark itself they did not find.[242]
The opening of heaven and the appearance
of the ark refers to "the revelation of the good things prepared for the
saints, which things, according to the apostle, are all hidden in Christ, in
Whom dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead
bodily (Colossians 2.3-9). These things will be revealed at the same
time that the lawless and impious ones will be sent frightful voices,
lightnings, thunderings, and hail. The change of the present world in the
earthquake symbolises the torments of gehenna." (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
According to St. Athanasius the Great, the
lightnings signify the holy
apostles, and the thunderings - the
evangelical teaching.[243] Earthquakes are one of the signs of the
End, according to the Lord Himself (Matthew 24.7; cf. Revelation
16.18). Grant Jeffrey writes: Massive earthquakes are now occurring worldwide
in diverse places. Enormous forces
are accumulating far beneath the massive tectonic plates supporting the
continents. Scientists warn that the major earthquakes felt recently in
California, Japan, and other parts of the Pacific Rim are only a foretaste of
the coming Big One, the most massive earthquake in human history. Major
killer quakes (7.2 or greater on the Richter Scale) occurred only once per
decade throughout history until our century. However, since A.D. 1900, the
growth in major earthquakes has been relentless. From 1900 to 1949 it averaged
three major quakes per decade. From 1949 the increase became awesome with 9
killer quakes in the 1950s; 13 in the 1960s, 56 in the 1970s and an amazing 74
major quakes in the 1980s. Finally, in the 1990s, at the present rate, we will
experience 125 major killer quakes in the decade
The prophets warned that the
planet will be shaken in the last days as never before. The judgement of God
will finally unleash the greatest earthquake in history
[244]
According to many of the Fathers, the
Second Coming of Christ will be preceded by the sign of the Cross, the sign of the Son of man in heaven (Matthew
24.30). Thus St. Narses: Then doth appear in brilliancy the royal sign unto
the strengthening of those that took refuge in Him unto the glory of the just
ones, for that they bound themselves in His love. The parts of the
all-victorious cross flash with light, and the hosts of the holy Church.. take
their full growth along with the Lords cross; and full of light they are yet
eclipsed by its light. Let the nations mourn, for He cometh to judge them that
were not sealed therewith, them that knew it not the sign of the Lord.
Then there cometh from heaven in
unspeakable glory the King of glory. The heavens are shrivelled up and are consumed
like wax before the fire. Rivers running free and full of gloom pour down from
on high, purifying the earth from all lawlessness and foul deeds. There are
heard the voices of the army of light. There stir the hosts of heaven, and the
great trumpet sounds among the tombs. Arise, ye dead, to meet the Bridegroom!
For He is here, He is come in His Fathers glory. Arise, just ones and sinners,
and receive your reward!
Then with grief inconsolable shall mourn
the creation that is not ready. And in haste they don their bodies that are
indestructible. Then the sinners appear in sombre and shadow-like bodies, for
they are tinged with the works of their wickedness. Foremost walk in person the
elect in resplendent bodies; they are lifted up from earth in clouds of light
to meet Christ, and the heavenly ones wonder at them and say: What have they
done upon earth, for they come in a crowd unto the Lord full of joy? The Lord
will make answer and say to them: These are My good soldiers, who denied
themselves, and renounced the earth and crucified themselves along with their
passions and desires for their love of Me. Now therefore I will give them joy
unending. And when the angels shall hear this, they will say: Ye are blessed by
the Lord; rejoice ye therefore in your gladness.
Then the King of glory shall sit down on
His throne; and angels with awe minister unto Him. And first of all Satan is
bound without inquisition, and is dispatched into the abyss of Tartarus. And
with cruel torments are bound his hosts on the left hand, for they taught men
evil works. They do not deserve to be brought to judgement, since they have no
defence to make before His tribunal. And without delay they are removed out of
His sight. But the just shall stand on His right hand in hope of the good
reward. The sinners also stand there in great shame, each for retribution for
his deeds. The assize is met and the books are opened; they are bound together
in sheaves like the tares and are cast into the unquenchable fire. But unto
some also are shut the doors of the blissful wedding, so that they cannot see
and look upon the Heavenly Bridegroom; and because they have not lit the
torches of pity, He saith unto them: I know you not, get ye out of My sight.
But before this the King bestoweth the heavenly crown upon the worthy, saying
unto them: Come, ye blessed ones of My Father, and inherit the Kingdom made
ready for you from the beginning of the world.[245]
St. Ephraim writes: "A throne shall
be prepared, and the Son shall sit upon the right hand, and twelve seats shall
be placed for the twelve apostles; dwellings adorned for the martyrs, and a
palace for the saints. The angels shall sound their trumpets, and the dead
shall rise from their graves. And in a moment the angels shall gather together
all the children of Adam, and they shall bring the wheat into the barn, but the
chaff shall they cast into fire: the good shall enter into the Kingdom, and the
evil shall dwell in gehenna. The just shall fly to heaven, and the sinner shall
be burned with fire. The martyrs shall fly to the bridal chambers, and the evil
go out into darkness. But Christ shall reign forever, and He shall be King unto
generations of generations. To Him be glory; and upon us be mercy, unto the
ages of ages. Amen. Amen."[246]
III. THE THIRD VISION: THE SEVEN DAYS OF CREATION
OR: THE CHURCH SUB SPECIE AETERNITATIS
1. The Woman Clothed with the Sun and the Red Dragon
12.1-2. And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her
head a crown of twelve stars. And she being with child cried, travailing in
birth, and pained to be delivered.
"Certain commentators have seen in
this mystical woman the Most Holy Theotokos; but such outstanding commentators
as St. Hippolytus, St. Methodius and St. Andrew of Caesarea find that this is
'the Church clothed in the Word of the Father, shining more brightly than the
sun' [St. Hippolytus]. This brilliance of the sun likewise signifies that she
possesses the true knowledge of God and His laws and contains His revelations.
The moon under her feet is a sign that she is above everything mutable. St.
Methodius considers the moon allegorically to be 'the faith of those cleansed
of corruption by the bath, that is, baptism, since upon the moon depends the
nature of moisture'.
"On her head is a crown of twelve
stars which signifies that, being originally gathered together from the twelve
tribes of Israel, she was later guided by the twelve apostles, who comprise her
light-bearing glory.
"From the fact that she is in pain
during childbirth, it is evident that it is incorrect to see in this woman the
Most Holy Theotokos, for here giving birth to the Son of God was without pain.
These torments of birthgiving signify the difficulties which had to be overcome
by the Church of Christ when she was being established in the world (martyrdom,
the spread of heresies). At the same time it signifies, in the explanation of
St. Andrew, that 'the Church is pained for each one of those who is reborn by
water and the Spirit until, as the divine apostle has said, Christ shall be formed in them (Galatians
4.19)'. St. Methodius says: 'The Church has pain giving rebirth from natural to
spiritual men in the likeness of Christ'." (Archbishop Averky)
Patriarch Nicon of Moscow: Theologians
understand by this woman the Church of God.[247]
"These torments are the tortures and
labours of the Christian Church which she will experience at her giving birth -
the acquisition of every new member, when those in error are converted, when
the sinner repents (St. Hippolytus). They refer in general to every period of
the existence of the Christian Church." (Lopukhin)
However, a more specific period may also
be intended. Let us consider the image of the travailing woman in another
famous prophecy: Thou Bethlehem
Ephratha, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee
shall He come forth unto Me Him Who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will He give them up,
until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth. Then the remnant of
His brethren shall return unto the children of Israel (Micah 5.2-3).
Here Christ's Nativity in Bethlehem is
followed by the rejection of the Jews (He
will give them up) until the travailing woman gives birth, when the Jews
will return to the Church (the remnant
shall return to the children of Israel).
So if she
who travaileth in Micah is the same as the travailing woman of the
Apocalypse, she may be interpreted to refer both to the Church of all ages and, more specifically, to the
Church of the last times, when the
remnant of the Jews will return to the true children of Israel, the
Church. And the child she travails to bring forth is both the generation of all Christians, of whom the Lord said: This generation shall not pass away, till
all these things be fulfilled (Matthew 24.34), and, more
specifically, the last generation of
Christians.
Another indication that the reference may
be also to the Christians of the last times comes from a vision given to a
priest in 1866. In his sleep he saw "a large cave dimly lit by a single
oil-lamp. In the cave were many clergy. Behind the oil-lamp was an icon of the Mother
of God. In front of the icon there stood, clad in vestments, the Moscow
archpastor Philaret (who is still among the living) and the reposed protopriest
of Rzhev, Fr. Matthew Konstantinovsky, the father of the aforesaid priest,
outstanding during his life for his great piety. They all stood in silence and
fear. At the entrance to the cave was the same priest and a layman, his
spiritual son. They both trembled, not daring to go in. From among those
praying the words of supplication were clearly heard: 'We are living through a
terrible time: we have reached the seventh summer!' These words produced great
fear and agitation. The dream was repeated three times - each time exactly the
same, without the slightest change, clear and terrifying... Neither the priest
who had this vision, nor the spiritual son of Fr. Matthew understood it at all,
neither what it meant nor to whom it was sent."
St. Ambrose of Optina interpreted this
vision as follows: "The large cave dimly lit by a single oil-lamp may mean
the present situation of the Church, in which the light of faith is almost
quenched and the darkness of unbelief, of boldly blasphemous free-thinking and
the new paganism spreads and penetrates everywhere. This truth is confirmed by
the words that were heard: 'We are living through a terrible time'. The living
hierarch and the reposed protopriest praying together in front of the icon of
the Mother of God lead us to suppose that the other clergy in the vision were
of two kinds (the heavenly Church and the earthly Church), evidently worthy
pastors, both the one who is alive and the one departed to the Lord, who look
on the wretched state of our Church - and these and others pray to the heavenly
Queen that she may spread her all-powerful veil over our wretched Church and
defend and support her, and preserve the weak who neverthless have a pious
attitude towards salvation... It may be that those standing in the entrance to
the cave represent people who look with lively feeling and sorrow, even pain,
on the sad events of our time as regards faith and morality, but do not run to
the heavenly Queen and do not pray to her, as did those in the cave, for her
veil and assistance... The words 'We have
reached the seventh summer' may mean the last time, close to the time of the
Antichrist, when the faithful members of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Church will have to hide in caves, and only the all-powerful prayers of the
Mother of God can then hide them from the persecution of the servants of the
Antichrist."[248]
This mention of the Mother of God is
apposite, for even if the woman clothed with the sun is not the Mother of God,
but the Church, the relationship between the Mother of God and the Church is
very close. Just as the Church is the Mother of all Christians, so is the
Mother of God. And just as the Church protects all her children from the
Antichrist, so does the Mother of God. That is why the identification of the
woman clothed with the sun with the Mother of God, even if not strictly
correct, can hardly be called erroneous, either. Thus St. Demetrius of Rostov
writes: "As in former times St. John the Theologian saw a great vision in
the heavens of a woman clothed with the sun, so in the same way St. Andrew in
the Vlachernae church, similar to heaven, saw the Unwedded Bride dressed in a
sun-bright purple mantle. The vision as seen by St. John the Theologian
prefigured out All-merciful Protectress; in the same way this vision appeared
at the time when the impending destruction of all creatures was revealed to the
scrutiniser of hearts: and there were
lightnings and voices, and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail. And
there appeared a great wonder heaven, a woman clothed with the sun. Why did
this vision which prefigured our All-pure Virgin, not appear before lightnings,
thunderings, voices, earthquakes and hail, while all the elements were still
silent, but during the most fearful disturbance in heaven and on earth? In
order to show that our All-blessed Protectress hastens to help us in the most
difficult times, at the approach of our destruction, and protects us from the
seductive glamour which does not shine for long, from the vanity of the world,
from the voices of worldly pride and vanity, from the thunderings of the
unexpected attack of enemies, from the winds of passion, from the hail from
heaven of punishment for our sins which threatens us..."[249]
12.3. And there appeared another wonder in heaven.
And behold! a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven
crowns upon his heads.
"Although
the dragon is a sea monster (Isaiah 51.34), it has been turned into a
symbol representing earthly power, the master of the world. Therefore the devil
as the prince of this world appears in the Apocalypse under the image of a
dragon. This is confirmed in verse 9, where the great dragon is directly called
by his own name, the devil and Satan (St. Victorinus, St. Andrew of
Caesarea)." (Lopukhin)
"In this image of the dragon one
cannot but see the ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, of whom mention
will be made below (v. 9). The red colour signifies his bloodthirsty
cruelty." (Archbishop Averky)
The identification of the seven heads and
ten horns can be deferred until the fuller discussion of them in the commentary
on chapter seventeen.
12.4. And his tail drew the third part of
the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood
before the woman who was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon
as he was born.
Tichonius, as his manner is, interprets
the third part of the stars which fell, to false brethren. (The Venerable
Bede).
"By these stars which the devil draws
after himself in his fall, commentators understand the fallen angels or demons.
By them we can also understand representatives of the churches and teachers who
are corrupted by satanic power. As for the dragon standing before the woman,
St. Andrew writes: 'The devil always arms himself against the Church and
increasingly strives to make those reborn by Her his food.'" (Archbishop Averky)
12.5. And she brought forth a man child, who was to
shepherd all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up unto God,
and to His throne.
Thou
shalt herd them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt shatter them like a potter's
vessels (Psalm 2.9). He shall shepherd them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter
shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of My Father (Revelation
2.27).
Although the devil opposes, the Church
ever brings forth Christ (The Venerable Bede).
"This is an image of the Lord Jesus
Christ, as St. Andrew says: 'In the person of those who are baptized, the
Church ceaselessly gives birth to Christ; just as, according to the apostle, we
come unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ (Ephesians. 4.13). St. Hippolytus says
likewise: 'The Church will not cease to give birth from Her heart to the Word
which is persecuted in the world by unbelievers.' The Church always gives birth
to Christ through men, and from the very beginning Satan has striven to devour
Christians as he did in the Person of Christ.
"Just as the Lord Jesus Christ was caught up to heaven on the day of His glorious Ascension and sat upon the throne of His Father at His right hand; so also a