At all times there have been people of special spiritual vision who looked at the world not with physical, but with spiritual eyes. For these perspicacious elders there were no barriers or deadlines; for them the boundaries of time and space were expanded, the secrets of heaven and earth were revealed. “It must be said that we, the last representatives of the human race, must be grateful to God for allowing us to see and even participate in the most terrible war of good and evil, about which so many prophecies and predictions have been written more than anything else. And about predictions it should be noted; There are even more of them left by our saints than the prophecies of Holy Scripture. The saints who lived close to the onset of the end times made many predictions, as if they were in a hurry to warn the world about the coming tragedy. Particularly valuable warnings were given by Rev. Seraphim of Sarov and Rev. Myrrh-streaming Nile. In them we will find explanations and interpretations of the prophecies, and even valuable additions to them, which further clarifies the overall terrible picture. Particularly important for us are the predictions relating to our Russia with its special lot in God’s economic vision. The ancient Fathers of the Church, in brief statements, tried to emphasize that the future last times will be difficult, but God’s mercy towards those who have endured will also be special. Thus, in the “Fatherland,” compiled by Ignatius Brianchaninov, a conversation between the elders is given: “Once upon a time, the holy fathers of the Egyptian monastery spoke prophetically about the last generation of Christians. “What have we done? - they said. One of them, the great Abba Ischirion, answered: “We have fulfilled the commandments of God.” Then they asked: “What will those who come after us do?” “They,” said Abba, “will do half the work against us.” Then they asked him: “What will those who come after them do?” Abba Ischirion replied: “They will by no means have monastic work: but they will be allowed sorrow, and those of them who survive will be higher than us and our fathers.” St. said the same thing. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem (386): “Therefore the Lord, knowing the great power of the enemy and condescending to the pious, says: then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains (Matthew 24:16). But if anyone recognizes in himself that he is truly strong and can resist Satan, then (without losing hope in the strength of the Church) let him become such and say: who will separate us from the love of God. and so on. Who is the blessed one who, out of piety, will then be a martyr for Christ, for above all the martyrs I place the martyrs of that time.” Also Rev. Niphon, Bishop of Cyprus predicted: “My son, until the end of the age the saints will not become scarce! But in recent years they will hide from people and will please God in such humility that they will appear in the Kingdom of Heaven higher than the first miraculous fathers. And such a reward will be for them because in those days there will be no one before their eyes who would work miracles, and people themselves will accept the zeal and fear of God in their hearts, for at that time the rank of bishop will not be skillful and will not become to love wisdom and reason, but will only care about self-interest. Monks will be like them because of the possession of large estates, but because of vain glory their spiritual eyes will be darkened, and they will despise those who love God with all their hearts, while 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!” However, many ancient prophecies do not have a Russian translation or have not even been preserved, but are revealed there, in a retelling, summarized in a general narrative. Such a list from the prophecies of one Russian learned monk is given by the archbishop. Seraphim of Chicago and Detroit (1959), it briefly describes the history before the enlightenment of Rus' and then begins the actual prophecy about the future, since predictions were written before the baptism of Rus' more than a hundred years ago. “The scepter of the Orthodox Kingdom falls from the weakening Hands of the Byzantine emperors, who failed to realize the symphony of Church and state. Therefore, to replace the decrepit spiritually chosen Greek people, the Lord Provider will send his third God-chosen people. This people will appear in the North in a hundred or two years (these prophecies were written 150-200 years before the baptism of Rus'), will accept Christianity with all their hearts, will try to live according to the commandments of Christ and seek, according to the instructions of Christ the Savior, first of all the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. For this zeal this people will love. The Lord God will give him everything else - large expanses of land, wealth, state power and glory. In a thousand years, this God-chosen people will waver in faith and in standing for the Truth of Christ, will become proud of their earthly power and glory, will stop caring about seeking the future City and will want paradise not in heaven, but on sinful earth. And for this great fall, a terrible fiery test will be sent from above to this people who have despised God’s ways. Rivers of blood will spill across his land, brother will kill brother, famine will visit this land more than once and gather its terrible harvest, almost all temples and other shrines will be destroyed or desecrated, many people will die. Still, the Lord is not completely angry with His third chosen people. The blood of thousands of martyrs will cry to heaven for mercy. The people themselves will begin to sober up and return to God. The period of cleansing testing determined by the Just Judge will finally pass, and holy Orthodoxy will once again shine with the bright light of revival in those northern expanses. This wondrous light of Christ will illuminate from there and enlighten all the peoples of the world, which will be helped by the providentially sent part of this people in advance into dispersion. Christianity will then reveal itself in all its heavenly beauty and completeness. Most of the peoples of the world will become Christians. And then? Then, when the fulfillment of time comes, the complete decline of faith and everything else predicted in Holy Scripture will begin throughout the world, the Antichrist will appear and, finally, the end of the world will come.” These prophecies are set out in different manuscripts and in different versions, but, basically, they all agree (S. V. Fomin “Russia before the Second Coming”). The second similar prediction, also collected from various Greek books by the Russian monk Anthony Savait, speaks of the pre-Tichrist time. “The last times have not yet arrived, and it is completely wrong to believe that we are on the threshold of the coming of the “Antichrist,” because the one and last flowering of Orthodoxy is yet to come, this time throughout the world - led by Russia. It will happen after a terrible war, in which either 1/2 or 2/3 of humanity will die and which will be stopped by a voice from heaven: “And the Gospel will be preached throughout the world!”<...> There will be a period of global prosperity - but not for long. In Russia at this time there will be an Orthodox Tsar, whom the Lord will reveal to the Russian people. And after this the world will again become corrupted and will no longer be capable of correction, then the Lord will allow the reign of the Antichrist" (S.V. Fomin "Russia before the Second Coming")." "St. Hippolytus, Pope of Rome (268) wrote: “...many who will listen to the Divine Scriptures, have them in their hands and meditate on them, will avoid the seduction (of the Antichrist). After all, they will clearly understand his intrigues and the lies of his seduction: they will escape His hands and will hide on the mountains and crevices of the earth and with tears and a contrite heart will look for that Lover of Mankind, Who will snatch them from his nets and save them from his painful temptations and in an invisible way, with His right hand will cover them for the fact that they deservedly and rightly fell to Him. Do you see what kind of fasting and prayer the saints will observe then? Pay attention also to what difficult times and days will befall all those who will be in cities and villages. They will then move from east to west and back from west to east; they will cry greatly and lament bitterly; and when the day has just dawned, they will wait for the night to calm down from their activities. When night falls, due to continuous earthquakes and air hurricanes, they will try to see the light of day as soon as possible and how to finally achieve at least a difficult death. Then the whole earth will mourn the sorrowful life, the sea and the air will mourn, the sun will mourn, wild animals and birds will mourn, mountains and hills and field trees will mourn - and all this thanks to the human race for the fact that everyone has deviated from the Holy God and believed into a seducer, having accepted the image of this wicked man and enemy of God, instead of the life-giving cross of the Savior. The churches will also mourn the great sorrow. After all, (then) there will be no offering, no incense, no service pleasing to God; but church buildings will be like huts designed to store fruit; The venerable body and blood of Christ will not be exalted in those days. Public worship will cease, the singing of psalms will cease, the reading of the Scriptures will not be heard: and there will be darkness for the people, and mourning for mourning, and groaning for groaning. Then they will throw silver and gold along the roads, and no one will collect them, and everything will become disgusting. In fact, everyone will try to run away and hide and, however, will not have the opportunity to hide anywhere from the rage of the enemy, as those wearing his sign will be easily detected and recognized. There will be fear outside and trembling inside (there will be) both night and day. Both on the street and in the houses (there will be) corpses, both on the street and at home - thirst and hunger; there is turmoil on the street, and sobs at home. The beauty on the face will disappear; in fact, his features in people will be like those of the dead; Beauty will be destroyed in women and lust will disappear in all people.” “Blessed are those who will then overcome the tyrant, and they should be considered more glorious and greater than the first martyrs. In fact, the former martyrs defeated his (Antichrist’s) bodyguards; These same ones will defeat the devil himself, the son of destruction. And having become victors (over him), what great awards and crowns will they receive from our King Jesus Christ.” Saint Cyril (386 or 387), Archbishop of Jerusalem: “...The martyrs of that time, in my opinion, are higher than all the martyrs. The former martyrs fought with only people, but the martyrs under the Antichrist will wage war with Satan himself.” St. Andrew, Archbishop, Caesarea: “And go and make war with those who remain. - And when the best and chosen church teachers and those who despise the earth retire into the desert due to disasters, then the Antichrist, although deceived in them, will raise a battle against those who fight Christ in the world in order to triumph over them, finding them easily caught, as if sprinkled with earthly dust and passionate about everyday affairs. But many of these will overcome him, because they have sincerely loved Christ.” “But there is a third reason, and, one might say, an uncaused reason why the grace of the All-Holy Spirit sometimes deigns to abandon even a God-bearing person. And this is already allowed from the Lord God Himself - to experience this only for people who have been extremely strengthened in the grace of God as an extraordinary feat for extraordinary rewards for that: just as it was allowed to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself from God His Father when His Divinity remained completely on the Cross dispassionate, that is, not feeling the suffering of His flesh, the Divine Sufferer involuntarily deigned to cry out. “Eloi! Eloi! Lamma Savahvani? - What means. My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? So, the same temptation will be allowed throughout the entire universe during the time of the Antichrist, when all the holy people of God and the holy Church of God of Christ, consisting of them alone, will be, as it were, abandoned from the protection and help of God. The wicked will triumph and exalt themselves over them to the point that the Lord God the Holy Spirit Himself, seeing their invisibly heavy suffering from afar, predicted from ancient times: “Oh, where is the faith and patience of the saints!” Immense temptations similar to this are being allowed and will be allowed until this time on the holy great saints of God and the saints of God in order to tempt their immeasurably great faith in Christ and to crown them with incomprehensibly great and incredible rewards for the human mind during the Rebirth and life of the Future Age (see . Apocalypse 20, 4-6, let the reader understand!).” To the brother’s question: “As the saints have now multiplied throughout the world, will it be the same at the end of this age?” - Rev. Niphon (| 11.8.1460), Patriarch of Constantinople replied: “My son, until the very end of this age the prophets of the Lord God will not fail, as well as the servants of Satan. However, in the last time, those who will truly work for God will safely hide themselves from people and will not perform signs and wonders among them, as at the present time, but will follow the path of work, dissolved in humility, and in the Kingdom of Heaven they will turn out to be greater than the Fathers who became glorified. signs; because then no one will do miracles before human eyes that would inflame people and encourage them to strive with zeal for exploits. Those who occupy the thrones of the priesthood throughout the world will be completely unskillful and will not know the art of virtue. The same will be the leaders of the monastics, for everyone will be overthrown by gluttony and vanity, and will serve as a temptation for people more than a model, therefore virtue will be neglected even more; the love of money will then reign, and woe to the monks who are rich in gold, for such will be a reproach to the Lord God and will not see the face of the living God. A monk or layman who gives his gold at interest, if he does not deviate from such extortion, will be plunged into deep tartarus, because he did not want to sacrifice (his gold) to God through doing good to the poor. Therefore, my son, as I said before, many, being possessed by ignorance, will fall into the abyss, being mistaken in the breadth of the wide and spacious path.” Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) regarding these words of the Rev. Niphon of Tsaregrad wrote: “What profound instruction, what consolation for us in these prophetic words of the sign-bearing and spirit-bearing Father! Due to the multiplication of temptations, due to their universality and dominance, due to the forgetting of the Gospel commandments and their neglect by all humanity, it is necessary for those who wish to be saved to withdraw from human society into external and internal solitude. Due to the drying up of grace-filled leaders, due to the multiplication of false teachers, deceived by demonic delusion and dragging the whole world into this deception, it is necessary to live dissolved in humility, the most precise living according to the Gospel commandments is necessary, it is necessary to combine prayer with crying for oneself and for all humanity, caution is necessary against any passion for passion, thinking of doing the work of God with human forces alone, without God acting and doing his work. Let the one who saves save his soul, it is said to the remnant of Christians, it is said by the Spirit of God. Save yourself! Blessed if you find one faithful collaborator in the work of salvation: this is a great and rare gift of God in our time. Beware, if you want to save your neighbor, that he does not drag you into a pernicious abyss. The latter happens hourly. The retreat was allowed by God: do not try to stop it with your weak hand. Stay away, protect yourself from him: and that’s enough for you. Get acquainted with the spirit of the time, study it, so as to avoid its influence if possible. “Nowadays there is almost no true piety,” says Saint Tikhon (Zadonsky) a hundred years before this. “Nowadays it’s just hypocrisy.” Fear hypocrisy, first, in yourself, then in others: fear precisely because it is in the nature of the time and is capable of infecting anyone at the slightest deviation into frivolous behavior. Do not strive for show to people, but in secret for your salvation, in the eyes of God, and your behavior will be cleansed of hypocrisy. Do not condemn your neighbors, leaving judgment over them to God, and your heart will be cleansed of hypocrisy. Pursue hypocrisy in yourself, drive it out of yourself; turn away from the masses infected by it, acting both intentionally and unconsciously in its direction, covering the service of the world with the service of God, the search for temporary goods with the search for eternal goods, covering with the guise of holiness a vicious life and a soul completely devoted to passions.” "Before the Second Coming of Christ<...>Christianity, spirituality and reasoning will become impoverished to the extreme among humanity<...>“Opponents of the Antichrist will be considered troublemakers, enemies of the public good and order, will be subject to both covert and open persecution, torture and execution.” “In times of sorrows and dangers, visible and invisible, prayer is especially needed: it, being an expression of the rejection of arrogance, an expression of hope in God, attracts God’s help to us.” “When the great tribulations come during the time of the Antichrist, all true believers in God will cry out in intense prayer to God. They will cry out for help, for intercession, for the sending of Divine grace to strengthen and guide them. People's own strength, although faithful to God, is not enough to withstand the united forces of rejected angels and people who will act with frenzy and despair, anticipating their imminent death. Divine grace, having overshadowed God’s chosen ones, will make for them the seductions of the seducer invalid, his threats unthreatening, his miracles despicable; she grants them to courageously confess the Savior who accomplished the salvation of people, and to expose the false messiah who came to destroy people; she will place them on scaffolds, as on royal thrones, as on a wedding feast.” The Lord “even in the very times of the Antichrist will guide His servants and prepare for them places and means of salvation, as is testified in the Apocalypse.” Rev. Lavrenty (Proskura, 1868 February 20, 1950), schema-archimandrite of the Chernigov Trinity Monastery: “Immediately (after the reign of the Antichrist) persecution will begin on the land of Jerusalem, and then throughout all places on the globe the last blood will be shed for the Name of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Of you, my children, many will live to see this terrible time.<...>Christians will be killed or exiled to desert places, but the Lord will help and nourish His followers.<...>In those days there will still be strong fighters, pillars of Orthodoxy, who will be under the strong influence of the heartfelt Jesus Prayer. And the Lord will cover them with His Almighty grace and they will not see those false signs that will be prepared for all people. I repeat once again that it will be impossible to go to those churches, there will be no grace in them. Hieromonk Nektary of Optina (between February and October 1917): “And in the last times the world will be girded with iron and paper. The days of Noah are a type of our days. The Ark is the Church, only those who are in It will be saved. You need to pray. Through prayer, through the word of God, all filth is cleansed.” “The time for prayer is coming. While working, say the Jesus Prayer. First with the lips, then with the mind, and finally, it will move into the heart...” One sister, listening to this conversation, asked: “What should I do? I wouldn’t want to live to see this time.” “You’re young, you can wait,” said the old man. "How scary!" “And you choose one of two: either earthly or heavenly.”<...>The sister asked: “So they all died?” “No, if believers wash themselves in blood, they will be counted among the martyrs, and if they are not believers, then they will go to hell,” answered the priest. And until the number of fallen Angels is filled, the Lord will not come to judge. But in the last time the Lord will number the living, written in the Book of Life, among the Angels of the missing number of those who have fallen away.”<...>Father talked with one hierodeacon (George) about the last times, bitterly shedding tears, saying: “Many clergy will perish under the Antichrist.” And George says: “How can I not die? After all, I’m a deacon?” And the priest said, “I don’t know.” Father Deacon began to cry, falling at his feet, asking him to pray for him so that he could escape hell, and he prayed and answered: “Okay. This is how it happens: he got sick in the head, and then he himself got sick, died and entered the Kingdom of Heaven.” And this prediction came true. We knew this deacon in the Kyiv Lavra, he was a very virtuous and singing monk, suddenly fell ill with a headache and soon died. Father often lamented and prayed tearfully, or told something with tears. The sisters reassured him, to which he objected: “How can one not cry when the abyss of human souls is full.” The priest had a strong love for everything that the Lord gave him for<даром>prayers of heart and insight. “There will be an abyss on the earth,” said the priest, “and the “sirki” (demons) will all come out and will be in people who will neither be baptized nor pray, but will only kill people, and murder is the original sin. It is interesting to seduce people more with this sin. Amen". Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes: “St. Athanasius the Great says that one of the signs of the approaching coming of the Antichrist will be the transfer of church government from the hands of archpastors to the hands of secular dignitaries. The sign is very true! This cannot happen otherwise than when the clergy loses its essential spiritual meaning, its energy generated by a decisive renunciation from the world. The bureaucracy has destroyed the essential significance of the Hierarchy in the Church, the connection between the shepherds and the flock has been destroyed, and the love of peace, the insatiable desire for vain honors, for the accumulation of capital has destroyed Christians in the shepherds, leaving in them only despicable, hated policemen due to their hatred of the people, abuse and immorality.” . Hieroschemamonk Kuksha (Velichko) (1875-1964): “The last times are coming. Soon there will be an ecumenical Council called “holy”. But this will be the same “eighth Council, which will be a gathering of the godless.” On it all faiths will unite into one. Then all posts will be abolished, monasticism will be completely destroyed, bishops will be married. A new style calendar will be introduced in the Universal Church. Be carefull. Try to visit God's temples while they are still ours. Soon it will be impossible to go there, everything will change. Only a select few will see this. People will be forced to go to church, but we will not have to go there under any circumstances. I pray you, stand in the Orthodox faith until the end of your days and be saved!”
Apocalypse(or translated from Greek - Revelation) of St. John the Theologian is the only prophetic book of the New Testament. It predicts the future destinies of mankind, the end of the world and the beginning of eternal life, and therefore, naturally, is placed at the end of the Holy Scriptures.
Apocalypse- the book is mysterious and difficult to understand, but at the same time it is the mysterious nature of this book that attracts the attention of both believing Christians and simply inquisitive thinkers trying to unravel the meaning and meaning of the visions described in it. There are a huge number of books about the Apocalypse, among which there are many works with all sorts of nonsense, this especially applies to modern sectarian literature.
Despite the difficulty of understanding this book, the spiritually enlightened fathers and teachers of the Church have always treated it with great reverence as a book inspired by God. Thus, Saint Dionysius of Alexandria writes: “The darkness of this book does not prevent one from being surprised by it. And if I don’t understand everything about it, it’s only because of my inability. I cannot be a judge of the truths contained in it, and measure them by the poverty of my mind; Guided more by faith than by reason, I find them only beyond my understanding.” Blessed Jerome speaks in the same way about the Apocalypse: “It contains as many secrets as there are words. But what am I saying? Any praise for this book would be beneath its dignity.”
The Apocalypse is not read during divine services because in ancient times the reading of Holy Scripture during divine services was always accompanied by an explanation of it, and the Apocalypse is very difficult to explain.
Book author.
The author of the apocalypse calls himself John (Rev. 1:1, 4 and 9; 22:8). According to the general opinion of the holy fathers of the Church, this was the Apostle John, the beloved disciple of Christ, who received the distinctive name “Theologian” for the height of his teaching about God the Word. » His authorship is confirmed both by data in the Apocalypse itself and by many other internal and external signs. The Gospel and three Council Epistles also belong to the inspired pen of the Apostle John the Theologian. The author of the Apocalypse says that he was on the island of Patmos “for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9). From church history it is known that of the apostles, only Saint John the Theologian was imprisoned on this island.
Proof of the authorship of the Apocalypse. John the Theologian is served by the similarity of this book with his Gospel and epistles, not only in spirit, but also in style, and, especially, in some characteristic expressions. So, for example, the apostolic preaching is called here “testimony” (Rev. 1:2, 9; 20:4; see: John 1:7; 3:11; 21:24; 1 John 5:9-11) . The Lord Jesus Christ is called “the Word” (Rev. 19:13; see: John 1:1, 14 and 1 John 1:1) and “Lamb” (Rev. 5:6 and 17:14; see: John 1:36). The prophetic words of Zechariah: “and they will look on Him whom they have pierced” (12:10) both in the Gospel and in the Apocalypse are given equally according to the Greek translation of the “Seventy Interpreters” (Rev. 1:7 and John 19:37). Some differences between the language of the Apocalypse and other books of the Apostle John are explained both by the difference in content and by the circumstances of the origin of the writings of the holy Apostle. Saint John, a Jew by birth, although he spoke Greek, but, being imprisoned far from the living spoken Greek language, naturally left the stamp of influence of his native language on the Apocalypse. For an unprejudiced reader of the Apocalypse, it is obvious that its entire content bears the stamp of the great spirit of the Apostle of love and contemplation.
All ancient and later patristic testimonies recognize the author of the Apocalypse as Saint John the Theologian. His disciple Saint Papias of Hieropolis calls the writer of the Apocalypse “Elder John,” as the apostle himself calls himself in his epistles (2 John 1:1 and 3 John 1:1). The testimony of Saint Justin the Martyr, who lived in Ephesus even before his conversion to Christianity, where the Apostle John lived for a long time before him, is also important. Many holy fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries cite passages from the Apocalypse as from a divinely inspired book written by St. John the Theologian. One of them was Saint Hippolytus, Pope of Rome, who wrote an apology for the Apocalypse, a student of Irenaeus of Lyons. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Origen also recognize the holy Apostle John as the author of the Apocalypse. The later Church Fathers were equally convinced of this: St. Ephraim the Syrian, Epiphanius, Basil the Great, Hilary, Athanasius the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Didymus, Ambrose of Milan, St. Augustine and St. Jerome. The 33rd rule of the Council of Carthage, attributing the Apocalypse to St. John the Theologian, places it among the other canonical books of Holy Scripture. The testimony of Saint Irenaeus of Lyons regarding the authorship of the Apocalypse to Saint John the Theologian is especially valuable, since Saint Irenaeus was a disciple of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna, who in turn was a disciple of Saint John the Theologian, heading the Smyrna Church under his apostolic leadership.
Time, place and purpose of writing the Apocalypse.
An ancient legend dates the writing of the Apocalypse to the end of the 1st century. So, for example, Saint Irenaeus writes: “The Apocalypse appeared shortly before this and almost in our time, at the end of the reign of Domitian.” The historian Eusebius (early 4th century) reports that contemporary pagan writers mention the exile of the Apostle John to Patmos for witnessing the Divine Word, attributing this event to the 15th year of the reign of Domitian (reigned 81-96 after the Nativity Christ's).
Thus, the Apocalypse was written at the end of the first century, when each of the seven churches of Asia Minor, to which St. John addresses, already had its own history and one way or another determined direction of religious life. Their Christianity was no longer in the first stage of purity and truth, and false Christianity was already trying to compete with the true one. Obviously, the activity of the Apostle Paul, who preached for a long time in Ephesus, was already a thing of the long past.
Church writers of the first 3 centuries also agree in indicating the place where the Apocalypse was written, which they recognize as the island of Patmos, mentioned by the Apostle himself, as the place where he received revelations (Rev. 1:9). Patmos is located in the Aegean Sea, south of the city of Ephesus and was a place of exile in ancient times.
In the first lines of the Apocalypse, Saint John indicates the purpose of writing the revelation: to predict the fate of the Church of Christ and the whole world. The mission of the Church of Christ was to revive the world with Christian preaching, to plant true faith in God in the souls of people, teach them to live righteously, and show them the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. But not all people accepted Christian preaching favorably. Already in the first days after Pentecost, the Church faced hostility and conscious resistance to Christianity - first from the Jewish priests and scribes, then from unbelieving Jews and pagans.
Already in the first year of Christianity, a bloody persecution of preachers of the Gospel began. Gradually, these persecutions began to take an organized and systematic form. The first center of the fight against Christianity was Jerusalem. Starting from the middle of the first century, Rome, led by Emperor Nero (reigned 54-68 after the Nativity of Christ), joined the hostile camp. The persecution began in Rome, where many Christians shed their blood, including the chief apostles Peter and Paul. From the end of the first century, persecution of Christians became more intense. Emperor Domitian orders the systematic persecution of Christians, first in Asia Minor, and then in other parts of the Roman Empire. The Apostle John the Theologian, summoned to Rome and thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, remained unharmed. Domitian exiles the Apostle John to the island of Patmos, where the apostle receives a revelation about the fate of the Church and the whole world. With short breaks, the bloody persecution of the Church continued until 313, when Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan on freedom of religion.
In view of the beginning of persecution, the Apostle John writes the Apocalypse to Christians to console them, instruct and strengthen them. He reveals the secret intentions of the enemies of the Church, whom he personifies in the beast that came out of the sea (as a representative of a hostile secular power) and in the beast that came out of the earth - a false prophet, as a representative of a hostile pseudo-religious power. He also discovers the main leader of the struggle against the Church - the devil, this ancient dragon who groups the godless forces of humanity and directs them against the Church. But the suffering of believers is not in vain: through fidelity to Christ and patience they receive a well-deserved reward in Heaven. At the time determined by God, forces hostile to the Church will be brought to justice and punished. After the Last Judgment and punishment of the wicked, eternal blissful life will begin.
The purpose of writing the Apocalypse is to depict the upcoming struggle of the Church with the forces of evil; show the methods by which the devil, with the assistance of his servants, fights against good and truth; provide guidance to believers on how to overcome temptation; depict the death of the enemies of the Church and the final victory of Christ over evil.
Content, plan and symbolism of the Apocalypse
The Apocalypse has always attracted the attention of Christians, especially at a time when various disasters and temptations began to agitate public and church life with greater force. Meanwhile, the imagery and mystery of this book makes it very difficult to understand, and therefore for careless interpreters there is always the risk of going beyond the boundaries of truth to unrealistic hopes and beliefs. So, for example, a literal understanding of the images of this book gave rise and now still continues to give rise to the false teaching about the so-called “chiliasm” - the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. The horrors of persecution experienced by Christians in the first century and interpreted in the light of the Apocalypse gave some reason to believe that the “end times” had arrived and the second coming of Christ was near. This opinion arose already in the first century.
Over the past 20 centuries, many interpretations of the Apocalypse of the most diverse nature have appeared. All these interpreters can be divided into four categories. Some of them attribute the visions and symbols of the Apocalypse to the “end times” - the end of the world, the appearance of the Antichrist and the Second Coming of Christ. Others give the Apocalypse a purely historical meaning and limit its vision to the historical events of the first century: the persecution of Christians by pagan emperors. Still others try to find the fulfillment of apocalyptic predictions in the historical events of their time. In their opinion, for example, the Pope is the Antichrist and all apocalyptic disasters are announced, in fact, for the Roman Church, etc. The fourth, finally, see in the Apocalypse only an allegory, believing that the visions described in it have not so much a prophetic as a moral meaning. As we will see below, these points of view on the Apocalypse do not exclude, but complement each other.
The Apocalypse can only be properly understood in the context of the whole of Holy Scripture. A feature of many prophetic visions - both Old Testament and New Testament - is the principle of combining several historical events in one vision. In other words, spiritually related events, separated from one another by many centuries and even millennia, merge into one prophetic picture that combines events from different historical eras.
An example of such a synthesis of events is the prophetic conversation of the Savior about the end of the world. In it, the Lord speaks simultaneously about the destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred 35 years after His crucifixion, and about the time before His second coming. (Matt. 24th chapter; Mr. 13th chapter; Luke 21st chapter. The reason for such a combination of events is that the first illustrates and explains the second.
Often, Old Testament predictions speak simultaneously of a beneficial change in human society in New Testament times and of new life in the Kingdom of Heaven. In this case, the first serves as the beginning of the second (Isa. (Isaiah) 4:2-6; Isa. 11:1-10; Is. 26, 60 and 65 chapters; Jer. (Jeremiah) 23:5-6; Jer. 33:6-11; Habakkuk 2:14; Zephaniah 3:9-20). Old Testament prophecies about the destruction of Chaldean Babylon also speak about the destruction of the kingdom of the Antichrist (Isa. 13-14 and 21 ch.; Jer. 50-51 ch.). There are many similar examples of events merging into one prediction. This method of combining events based on their internal unity is used to help a believer understand the essence of events based on what he already knows, leaving aside secondary and non-explanatory historical details.
As we will see below, the Apocalypse consists of a number of multi-layered compositional visions. The Mystery Viewer shows the future from the perspective of the past and present. So, for example, the many-headed beast in chapters 13-19. - this is the Antichrist himself and his predecessors: Antiochus Epiphanes, so vividly described by the prophet Daniel and in the first two books of Maccabees, and the Roman emperors Nero and Domitian, who persecuted the apostles of Christ, as well as subsequent enemies of the Church.
Two witnesses of Christ in chapter 11. - these are the accusers of the Antichrist (Enoch and Elijah), and their prototypes are the apostles Peter and Paul, as well as all preachers of the Gospel who carry out their mission in a world hostile to Christianity. The false prophet in the 13th chapter is the personification of all those who propagate false religions (Gnosticism, heresies, Mohammedanism, materialism, Hinduism, etc.), among which the most prominent representative will be the false prophet of the times of the Antichrist. To understand why the Apostle John united various events and different people in one image, we must take into account that he wrote the Apocalypse not only for his contemporaries, but for Christians of all times who had to endure similar persecutions and tribulations. The Apostle John reveals common methods of deception, and also shows the sure way to avoid them in order to be faithful to Christ until death.
In a similar way, the judgment of God, which the Apocalypse repeatedly speaks of, is both the Last Judgment of God and all the private judgments of God over individual countries and people. This includes the judgment of all mankind under Noah, and the trial of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah under Abraham, and the trial of Egypt under Moses, and the double trial of Judea (six centuries before the birth of Christ and again in the seventies of our era), and the trial of ancient Nineveh, Babylon, the Roman Empire, Byzantium and, more recently, Russia. The reasons that caused God's righteous punishment were always the same: people's unbelief and lawlessness.
A certain timelessness is noticeable in the Apocalypse. It follows from the fact that the Apostle John contemplated the destinies of mankind not from an earthly, but from a heavenly perspective, where the Spirit of God led him. In an ideal world, the flow of time stops at the throne of the Most High and the present, past and future appear before the spiritual gaze at the same time. Obviously, this is why the author of the Apocalypse describes some future events as past, and past ones as present. For example, the war of angels in Heaven and the overthrow of the devil from there - events that happened even before the creation of the world, are described by the Apostle John, as if they happened at the dawn of Christianity (Rev. 12). The resurrection of the martyrs and their reign in Heaven, which covers the entire New Testament era, is placed by him after the trial of the Antichrist and the false prophet (Rev. 20). Thus, the seer does not narrate the chronological sequence of events, but reveals the essence of that great war of evil with good, which is going on simultaneously on several fronts and covers both the material and angelic worlds.
There is no doubt that some of the predictions of the Apocalypse have already been fulfilled (for example, regarding the fate of the seven churches of Asia Minor). The fulfilled predictions should help us understand the remaining ones that have yet to be fulfilled. However, when applying visions of the Apocalypse to certain specific events, one must take into account that such visions contain elements of different eras. Only with the completion of the destinies of the world and the punishment of the last enemies of God will all the details of the apocalyptic visions be realized.
The Apocalypse was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A correct understanding of it is most hindered by people’s departure from faith and true Christian life, which always leads to dulling, or even complete loss of spiritual vision. The complete devotion of modern man to sinful passions is the reason that some modern interpreters of the Apocalypse want to see in it only one allegory, and even the Second Coming of Christ itself is taught to be understood allegorically. Historical events and personalities of our time convince us that to see only an allegory in the Apocalypse means to be spiritually blind, so much of what is happening now resembles the terrible images and visions of the Apocalypse.
The method of presentation of the Apocalypse is shown in the table attached here. As can be seen from it, the apostle simultaneously reveals to the reader several spheres of existence. To the highest sphere belongs the Angelic world, the Church triumphant in Heaven, and the Church persecuted on earth. This sphere of good is headed and guided by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of people. Below is the sphere of evil: the unbelieving world, sinners, false teachers, conscious fighters against God and demons. They are led by a dragon - a fallen angel. Throughout the existence of mankind, these spheres have been at war with each other. The Apostle John in his visions gradually reveals to the reader different sides of the war between good and evil and reveals the process of spiritual self-determination in people, as a result of which some of them become on the side of good, others on the side of evil. During the development of the world conflict, God's Judgment is constantly being carried out on individuals and nations. Before the end of the world, evil will increase excessively, and the earthly Church will be extremely weakened. Then the Lord Jesus Christ will come to earth, all people will be resurrected, and the Last Judgment of God will be carried out over the world. The devil and his supporters will be condemned to eternal torment, but for the righteous, eternal, blissful life in Paradise will begin.
When read sequentially, the Apocalypse can be divided into the following parts:
- Introductory picture of the Lord Jesus Christ appearing, commanding John to write down the Revelation to the seven churches of Asia Minor (chapter 1).
- Letters to the 7 churches of Asia Minor (chapters 2 and 3), in which, along with instructions to these churches, the destinies of the Church of Christ are outlined - from the apostolic age to the end of the world.
- Vision of God seated on the throne, the Lamb and heavenly worship (chapters 4 and 5). This worship is supplemented by visions in subsequent chapters.
- From the 6th chapter the revelation of the destinies of humanity begins. The opening of the seven seals of the mysterious book by the Lamb-Christ serves as the beginning of a description of the different phases of the war between good and evil, between the Church and the devil. This war, which begins in the human soul, spreads to all aspects of human life, intensifies and becomes more and more terrible (until the 20th chapter).
- The voices of the seven angelic trumpets (chapters 7-10) herald the initial disasters that must befall people for their unbelief and sins. The damage to nature and the appearance of evil forces in the world are described. Before the onset of disasters, believers receive a seal of grace on their forehead (forehead), which preserves them from moral evil and from the fate of the wicked.
- The Vision of Seven Signs (chapters 11-14) shows humanity divided into two opposing and irreconcilable camps - good and evil. Good forces are concentrated in the Church of Christ, represented here in the image of a Woman clothed with the sun (chapter 12), and evil forces are concentrated in the kingdom of the beast-Antichrist. The beast that came out of the sea is a symbol of evil secular power, and the beast that came out of the earth is a symbol of decayed religious power. In this part of the Apocalypse, for the first time, a conscious, extra-worldly evil being is clearly revealed - the dragon-devil, who organizes and leads the war against the Church. The two witnesses of Christ symbolize here the preachers of the Gospel who fight the beast.
- The Visions of the Seven Bowls (chapters 15-17) paint a grim picture of worldwide moral decay. The war against the Church becomes extremely intense (Armageddon) (Rev. 16:16), the trials become unbearably difficult. The image of Babylon the harlot depicts humanity that has apostatized from God, concentrated in the capital of the kingdom of the beast-Antichrist. The evil force extends its influence to all areas of the life of sinful humanity, after which God’s judgment on the forces of evil begins (here God’s judgment on Babylon is described in general terms, as an introduction).
- The following chapters (18-19) describe the judgment of Babylon in detail. It also shows the death of the perpetrators of evil among people - the Antichrist and the false prophet - representatives of both civil and heretical anti-Christian authorities.
- Chapter 20 summarizes spiritual warfare and world history. She speaks of the double defeat of the devil and the reign of martyrs. Having suffered physically, they won spiritually and are already blissful in Heaven. It covers the entire period of the existence of the Church, starting from apostolic times. Gog and Magog personify the totality of all the God-fighting forces, earthly and underworld, which throughout Christian history fought against the Church (Jerusalem). They are destroyed by the second coming of Christ. Finally, the devil, this ancient serpent who laid the foundation for all lawlessness, untruths and suffering in the Universe, is also subject to eternal punishment. The end of chapter 20 tells of the general resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment and the punishment of the wicked. This brief description summarizes the Last Judgment of mankind and the fallen angels and sums up the drama of the universal war between good and evil.
- The final two chapters (21-22) describe the new Heaven, the new Earth, and the blessed life of the saved. These are the brightest and most joyful chapters in the Bible.
Each new section of the Apocalypse usually begins with the words: “And I saw...” and ends with a description of God’s judgment. This description marks the end of the previous topic and the beginning of a new one. Between the main sections of the Apocalypse, the viewer sometimes inserts intermediate pictures that serve as a connecting link between them. The table given here clearly shows the plan and sections of the Apocalypse. For compactness, we have combined the intermediate pictures together with the main ones. Walking horizontally along the table above, we see how the following areas are gradually revealed more and more fully: The heavenly world; Church persecuted on earth; sinful and godless world; underworld; the war between them and the judgment of God.
The meaning of symbols and numbers. Symbols and allegories enable the seer to speak about the essence of world events at a high level of generalization, so he uses them widely. So, for example, eyes symbolize knowledge, many eyes - perfect knowledge. Horn is a symbol of power and might. Long clothing signifies priesthood; crown - royal dignity; whiteness - purity, innocence; the city of Jerusalem, the temple and Israel symbolize the Church. Numbers also have a symbolic meaning: three symbolizes the Trinity, four symbolizes peace and world order; seven means completeness and perfection; twelve - the people of God, the fullness of the Church (numbers derived from 12, like 24 and 144,000, have the same meaning). One third means some relatively small part. Three and a half years is a time of persecution. The number 666 will be discussed specifically later in this booklet.
New Testament events are often depicted against the background of homogeneous Old Testament events. So, for example, the disasters of the Church are described against the backdrop of the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt, temptation under the prophet Balaam, persecution by Queen Jezebel and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; the salvation of believers from the devil is depicted against the background of the salvation of the Israelites from Pharaoh under the prophet Moses; the atheistic power is represented in the image of Babylon and Egypt; the punishment of the godless forces is depicted in the language of the 10 Egyptian plagues; the devil is identified with the serpent who seduced Adam and Eve; future heavenly bliss is depicted in the image of the Garden of Eden and the tree of life.
The main task of the author of the Apocalypse is to show how evil forces operate, who organizes and directs them in the fight against the Church; to instruct and strengthen believers in fidelity to Christ; show the complete defeat of the devil and his servants and the beginning of heavenly bliss.
For all the symbolism and mystery of the Apocalypse, religious truths are revealed in it very clearly. So, for example, the Apocalypse points to the devil as the culprit of all temptations and disasters of mankind. The tools with which he tries to destroy people are always the same: unbelief, disobedience to God, pride, sinful desires, lies, fear, doubts, etc. Despite all his cunning and experience, the devil is not able to destroy people who are devoted to God with all their hearts, because God protects them with His grace. The devil enslaves more and more apostates and sinners to himself and pushes them to all sorts of abominations and crimes. He directs them against the Church and with their help produces violence and organizes wars in the world. The Apocalypse clearly shows that in the end the devil and his servants will be defeated and punished, the truth of Christ will triumph, and a blessed life will begin in the renewed world, which will have no end.
Having thus made a quick overview of the content and symbolism of the Apocalypse, let us now dwell on some of its most important parts.
Letters to the Seven Churches (chap. 2-3).
The seven churches—Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea—were located in the southwestern part of Asia Minor (now Turkey). They were founded by the Apostle Paul in the 40s of the first century. After his martyrdom in Rome around the year 67, the Apostle John the Theologian took charge of these churches, who cared for them for about forty years. Having been imprisoned on the island of Patmos, the Apostle John from there wrote messages to these churches in order to prepare Christians for the upcoming persecution. The letters are addressed to the “angels” of these churches, i.e. bishops.
A careful study of the epistles to the seven churches of Asia Minor suggests that they contain the destinies of the Church of Christ, starting from the apostolic age until the end of the world. At the same time, the upcoming path of the New Testament Church, this “New Israel,” is depicted against the backdrop of the most important events in the life of Old Testament Israel, starting with the Fall in Paradise and ending with the time of the Pharisees and Sadducees under the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle John uses Old Testament events as prototypes of the destinies of the New Testament Church. Thus, three elements are intertwined in the letters to the seven churches:
b) a new, deeper interpretation of Old Testament history; And
c) the future fate of the Church.
The combination of these three elements in the letters to the seven churches is summarized in the table attached here.
Notes: The Ephesian church was the most populous, and had metropolitan status in relation to the neighboring churches of Asia Minor. In 431, the 3rd Ecumenical Council took place in Ephesus. Gradually, the lamp of Christianity in the Ephesian Church died out, as the Apostle John predicted. Pergamum was the political center of western Asia Minor. It was dominated by paganism with a magnificent cult of deified pagan emperors. On a mountain near Pergamum, a pagan monument-altar stood majestically, mentioned in the Apocalypse as the “throne of Satan” (Rev. 2:13). The Nicolaitans are ancient Gnostic heretics. Gnosticism was a dangerous temptation for the Church in the first centuries of Christianity. Favorable soil for the development of Gnostic ideas was the syncretic culture that arose in the empire of Alexander the Great, uniting East and West. The religious worldview of the East, with its belief in the eternal struggle between good and evil, spirit and matter, body and soul, light and darkness, combined with the speculative method of Greek philosophy, gave rise to various Gnostic systems, which were characterized by the idea of the emanation origin of the world from the Absolute and about the many intermediate stages of creation connecting the world with the Absolute. Naturally, with the spread of Christianity in the Hellenistic environment, the danger arose of its presentation in Gnostic terms and the transformation of Christian piety into one of the religious and philosophical Gnostic systems. Jesus Christ was perceived by the Gnostics as one of the mediators (eons) between the Absolute and the world.
One of the first distributors of Gnosticism among Christians was someone named Nicholas - hence the name “Nicolaitans” in the Apocalypse. (It is believed that this was Nicholas, who, along with the other six chosen men, was ordained by the apostles to the diaconate, see: Acts 6:5). By distorting the Christian faith, the Gnostics encouraged moral laxity. Beginning in the mid-first century, several Gnostic sects flourished in Asia Minor. The apostles Peter, Paul and Jude warned Christians not to fall into the snares of these heretical debauchees. Prominent representatives of Gnosticism were the heretics Valentinus, Marcion and Basilides, who were opposed by the apostolic men and early fathers of the Church.
The ancient Gnostic sects disappeared long ago, but Gnosticism as a fusion of heterogeneous philosophical and religious schools exists in our time in theosophy, cabala, Freemasonry, modern Hinduism, yoga and other cults.
Vision of heavenly worship (4-5 chapters).
The Apostle John received a revelation on the “Day of the Lord,” i.e. on Sunday. It should be assumed that, according to apostolic custom, on this day he performed the “breaking of bread,” i.e. Divine Liturgy and received communion, so he “was in the Spirit,” i.e. experienced a special inspired state (Rev. 1:10).
And so, the first thing he is honored to see is, as it were, a continuation of the divine service he performed - the heavenly Liturgy. The Apostle John describes this service in the 4th and 5th chapters of the Apocalypse. An Orthodox person will recognize here the familiar features of the Sunday Liturgy and the most important accessories of the altar: the throne, the seven-branched candlestick, the censer with smoking incense, the golden cup, etc. (These objects, shown to Moses on Mount Sinai, were also used in the Old Testament temple). The slain Lamb seen by the apostle in the middle of the throne reminds a believer of the Communion lying on the throne under the guise of bread; the souls of those killed for the word of God under the heavenly throne - an antimension with particles of the relics of the holy martyrs sewn into it; elders in light robes and with golden crowns on their heads - a host of clergymen performing the Divine Liturgy together. It is noteworthy here that even the exclamations and prayers themselves, heard by the Apostle in Heaven, express the essence of the prayers that the clergy and singers pronounce during the main part of the Liturgy - the Eucharistic Canon. The whitening of the robes of the righteous with the “Blood of the Lamb” is reminiscent of the sacrament of Communion, through which believers sanctify their souls.
Thus, the apostle begins the revelation of the destinies of humanity with a description of the heavenly Liturgy, which emphasizes the spiritual significance of this service and the need for the prayers of the saints for us.
Notes The words “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” refer to the Lord Jesus Christ and are reminiscent of the prophecy of Patriarch Jacob about the Messiah (Gen. 49:9-10), “Seven Spirits of God” - the fullness of the gracious gifts of the Holy Spirit (see: Is. 11:2 and Zech. 4th chapter). Many eyes symbolize omniscience. The twenty-four elders correspond to the twenty-four priestly orders established by King David for serving in the temple - two intercessors for each tribe of New Israel (1 Chron. 24:1-18). The four mysterious animals surrounding the throne are similar to the animals seen by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:5-19). They appear to be the creatures closest to God. These faces - man, lion, calf and eagle - were taken by the Church as emblems of the four Evangelists.
In the further description of the heavenly world we encounter many things that are incomprehensible to us. From the Apocalypse we learn that the angelic world is immensely large. Disembodied spirits - angels, like people, are endowed by the Creator with reason and free will, but their spiritual abilities are many times greater than ours. Angels are completely devoted to God and serve Him through prayer and the fulfillment of His will. So, for example, they lift up the prayers of the saints to the throne of God (Rev. 8:3-4), assist the righteous in achieving salvation (Rev. 7:2-3; 14:6-10; 19:9), sympathize with the suffering and persecuted (Rev. 8:13; 12:12), according to the command of God, sinners are punished (Rev. 8:7; 9:15; 15:1; 16:1). They are clothed with power and have power over nature and its elements (Rev. 10:1; 18:1). They wage war against the devil and his demons (Rev. 12:7-10; 19:17-21; 20:1-3), take part in the judgment of the enemies of God (Rev. 19:4).
The teaching of the Apocalypse about the angelic world radically overthrows the teaching of the ancient Gnostics, who recognized intermediate beings (eons) between the Absolute and the material world, which govern the world completely independently and independently of Him.
Among the saints whom the Apostle John sees in Heaven, two groups, or “faces,” stand out: martyrs and virgins. Historically, martyrdom is the first kind of holiness, and therefore the apostle begins with the martyrs (6:9-11). He sees their souls under the heavenly altar, which symbolizes the redemptive meaning of their suffering and death, with which they participate in the suffering of Christ and, as it were, complement them. The blood of the martyrs is likened to the blood of the Old Testament victims, which flowed under the altar of the Jerusalem Temple. The history of Christianity testifies that the suffering of the ancient martyrs served to morally renew the decrepit pagan world. The ancient writer Tertulian wrote that the blood of martyrs serves as the seed for new Christians. Persecution of believers will either subside or intensify during the continued existence of the Church, and therefore it was revealed to the seer that new martyrs would be added to the number of the first.
Later, the Apostle John sees in Heaven a huge number of people whom no one could count - from all tribes, tribes, peoples, and languages; They stood in white clothes with palm branches in their hands (Rev. 7:9-17). What this innumerable host of righteous people have in common is that “they came out of great tribulation.” For all people, the path to Paradise is one - through sorrow. Christ is the first Sufferer, who took upon Himself as the Lamb of God the sins of the world. Palm branches are a symbol of victory over the devil.
In a special vision, the seer describes virgins, i.e. people who have given up the pleasures of married life for the sake of wholehearted service to Christ. (Voluntary “eunuchs” for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, see about this: Matt. 19:12; Rev. 14:1-5. In the Church, this feat was often accomplished in monasticism). The viewer sees the “name of the Father” written on the foreheads of virgins, which indicates their moral beauty, reflecting the perfection of the Creator. The “new song,” which they sing and which no one can repeat, is an expression of the spiritual heights that they achieved through the feat of fasting, prayer and chastity. This purity is unattainable for people of a worldly lifestyle.
The song of Moses, which the righteous sing in the next vision (Rev. 15:2-8), is reminiscent of the hymn of thanksgiving that the Israelites sang when, having crossed the Red Sea, they were saved from Egyptian slavery (Ex. 15 ch.). In a similar way, New Testament Israel is saved from the power and influence of the devil by moving into a life of grace through the sacrament of baptism. In subsequent visions, the seer describes the saints several more times. The “fine linen” (precious linen) in which they are clothed is a symbol of their righteousness. In the 19th chapter of the Apocalypse, the wedding song of the saved speaks of the approaching “marriage” between the Lamb and the saints, i.e. about the coming of the closest communication between God and the righteous (Rev. 19:1-9; 21:3-4). The book of Revelation ends with a description of the blessed life of the saved nations (Rev. 21:24-27; 22:12-14 and 17). These are the brightest and most joyful pages in the Bible, showing the triumphant Church in the Kingdom of glory.
Thus, as the fate of the world is revealed in the Apocalypse, the Apostle John gradually directs the spiritual gaze of believers to the Kingdom of Heaven - to the ultimate goal of earthly wandering. He speaks, as if under duress and reluctantly, about the gloomy events in a sinful world.
Opening of the seven seals.
Vision of the Four Horsemen (6th chapter).
Who are the four horsemen of the Apocalypse?
The vision of the seven seals is introductory to the subsequent revelations of the Apocalypse. The opening of the first four seals reveals four horsemen, who symbolize the four factors that characterize the entire history of mankind. The first two factors are the cause, the second two are the effect. The crowned rider on the white horse "came out to conquer." He personifies those good principles, natural and grace-filled, that the Creator invested in man: the image of God, moral purity and innocence, the desire for goodness and perfection, the ability to believe and love, and the individual “talents” with which a person is born, as well as grace-filled gifts The Holy Spirit, which he receives in the Church. According to the Creator, these good principles were supposed to “win,” i.e. determine a happy future for humanity. But already in Eden, man succumbed to the temptation of the tempter. The nature damaged by sin passed on to his descendants; Therefore, people are prone to sin from an early age. Repeated sins intensify their bad inclinations even more. Thus, a person, instead of growing and improving spiritually, falls under the destructive influence of his own passions, indulges in various sinful desires, and begins to envy and be at enmity. All crimes in the world (violence, wars and all kinds of disasters) arise from internal discord in a person.
The destructive effect of passions is symbolized by the red horse and rider, who took the world away from people. Giving in to his disorderly sinful desires, a person wastes the talents given to him by God and becomes poor physically and spiritually. In public life, hostility and war lead to the weakening and disintegration of society, to the loss of its spiritual and material resources. This internal and external impoverishment of humanity is symbolized by a black horse with a rider holding a measure (or scales) in his hand. Finally, the complete loss of God's gifts leads to spiritual death, and the final consequence of hostility and wars is people and the collapse of society. This sad fate of people is symbolized by a pale horse.
The Four Apocalyptic Horsemen depicts the history of mankind in very general terms. First - the blissful life in Eden of our first parents, called to “reign” over nature (white horse), then - their fall from grace (red horse), after which the life of their descendants was filled with various disasters and mutual destruction (crow and pale horses). Apocalyptic horses also symbolize the life of individual states with their periods of prosperity and decline. Here is the life path of every person - with its childish purity, naivety, great potential, which are overshadowed by stormy youth, when a person wastes his strength, health and ultimately dies. Here is the history of the Church: the spiritual fervor of Christians in apostolic times and the efforts of the Church to renew human society; the emergence of heresies and schisms in the Church itself, and the persecution of the Church by pagan society. The Church is weakening, going into the catacombs, and some local churches are disappearing altogether.
Thus, the vision of the four horsemen summarizes the factors that characterize the life of sinful humanity. Further chapters of the Apocalypse will develop this theme more deeply. But by opening the fifth seal, the seer also shows the bright side of human misfortunes. Christians, having suffered physically, won spiritually; Now they are in Paradise! (Rev. 6:9-11) Their exploit brings them eternal reward, and they reign with Christ, as described in chapter 20. The transition to a more detailed description of the disasters of the Church and the strengthening of the atheistic forces is marked by the opening of the seventh seal.
Seven pipes.
Capturing the chosen ones.
The beginning of disasters and the defeat of nature (chap. 7-11).
Angelic trumpets foretell disasters for humanity, physical and spiritual. But before the disaster begins, the Apostle John sees an angel placing a seal on the foreheads of the sons of New Israel (Rev. 7:1-8). “Israel” here is the New Testament Church. The seal symbolizes chosenness and grace-filled protection. This vision is reminiscent of the sacrament of Confirmation, during which the “seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” is placed on the forehead of the newly baptized. It also resembles the sign of the cross, by which those protected “resist the enemy.” People who are not protected by the seal of grace suffer harm from the “locusts” that emerged from the abyss, i.e. from the power of the devil (Rev. 9:4). The prophet Ezekiel describes a similar sealing of the righteous citizens of ancient Jerusalem before its capture by the Chaldean hordes. Then, as now, the mysterious seal was placed with the purpose of preserving the righteous from the fate of the wicked (Ezek. 9:4). When listing the 12 tribes of Israel by name, the tribe of Dan was deliberately omitted. Some see this as an indication of the origin of the Antichrist from this tribe. The basis for this opinion are the mysterious words of the patriarch Jacob regarding the future of the descendants of Dan: “a serpent is in the way, an asp is in the way” (Gen. 49:17).
Thus, this vision serves as an introduction to the subsequent description of the persecution of the Church. Measuring the temple of God in chapter 11. has the same meaning as the sealing of the sons of Israel: the preservation of the children of the Church from evil. The Temple of God, like the Woman clothed with the sun, and the city of Jerusalem are different symbols of the Church of Christ. The main idea of these visions is that the Church is holy and dear to God. God allows persecution for the sake of the moral improvement of believers, but protects them from enslavement to evil and from the same fate as those who fight against God.
Before the seventh seal is opened, there is silence “for about half an hour,” (Rev. 8:1). This is the silence before the storm that will shake the world during the Antichrist. (Isn’t the current process of disarmament as a result of the collapse of communism a break that is given to people to turn to God?). Before the onset of disasters, the Apostle John sees saints earnestly praying for mercy for people (Rev. 8:3-5).
Disasters in nature. Following this, the trumpets of each of the seven angels are sounded, after which various disasters begin. First, a third of the vegetation dies, then a third of the fish and other sea creatures, followed by poisoning of rivers and water sources. The fall of hail and fire, a flaming mountain and a luminous star onto the earth seems to allegorically indicate the enormous extent of these disasters. Is this not a prediction of the global pollution and destruction of nature that is observed today? If so, then environmental catastrophe foreshadows the coming of the Antichrist. More and more desecrating the image of God within themselves, people cease to appreciate and love His beautiful world. With their waste they pollute lakes, rivers and seas; spilled oil affects vast coastal areas; destroy forests and jungles, exterminate many species of animals, fish and birds. Both the guilty and the innocent victims of their cruel greed get sick and die from the poisoning of nature. The words: “The name of the third star is wormwood... And many of the people died from the waters because they became bitter” are reminiscent of the Chernobyl disaster, because “Chernobyl” means wormwood. But what does it mean that a third of the sun and stars are defeated and eclipsed? (Rev. 8:12). Obviously, here we are talking about air pollution to such a state when sunlight and starlight, reaching the ground, seem less bright. (For example, due to air pollution, the sky in Los Angeles usually looks dirty brown in color, and at night almost no stars are visible above the city, except for the brightest ones.)
The story of the locusts (fifth trumpet, (Rev. 9:1-11)) emerging from the abyss speaks of the strengthening of demonic power among people. It is headed by “Apollyon,” which means “destroyer” - the devil. As people lose the grace of God through their unbelief and sins, the spiritual emptiness that forms in them is increasingly filled by demonic power, which torments them with doubts and various passions.
Apocalyptic wars. The trumpet of the sixth angel sets in motion a huge army beyond the Euphrates River, from which a third of the people perish (Rev. 9:13-21). In the biblical view, the Euphrates River marks the boundary beyond which peoples hostile to God are concentrated, threatening Jerusalem with war and extermination. For the Roman Empire, the Euphrates River served as a stronghold against the attacks of eastern peoples. The ninth chapter of the Apocalypse was written against the backdrop of the cruel and bloody Judeo-Roman war of 66-70 AD, still fresh in the memory of the Apostle John. This war had three phases (Rev. 8:13). The first phase of the war, in which Gasius Florus led the Roman forces, lasted five months, from May to September 66 (the five months of the locust, Rev. 9:5 and 10). The second phase of the war soon began, from October to November 66, in which the Syrian governor Cestius led four Roman legions, (four angels at the Euphrates River, Rev. 9:14). This phase of the war was especially devastating for the Jews. The third phase of the war, led by Flavian, lasted three and a half years - from April 67 to September 70, and ended with the destruction of Jerusalem, the burning of the temple and the scattering of captive Jews throughout the Roman Empire. This bloody Roman-Jewish war became a prototype of the terrible wars of recent times, which the Savior pointed out in His conversation on the Mount of Olives (Matt. 24:7).
The attributes of the hellish locusts and the Euphrates hordes can be recognized as modern weapons of mass destruction - tanks, guns, bombers and nuclear missiles. Further chapters of the Apocalypse describe the ever-increasing wars of the end times (Rev. 11:7; 16:12-16; 17:14; 19:11-19 and 20:7-8). The words “the river Euphrates was dried up so that the way for kings from the rising of the sun” (Rev. 16:12) may indicate the “yellow peril.” It should be borne in mind that the description of apocalyptic wars has the features of actual wars, but ultimately refers to spiritual war, and proper names and numbers have an allegorical meaning. So the Apostle Paul explains: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). The name Armageddon is made up of two words: “Ar” (in Hebrew - plain) and “Megiddo” (an area in the north of the Holy Land, near Mount Carmel, where in ancient times Barak defeated the army of Sisera, and the prophet Elijah destroyed more than five hundred priests of Baal), ( Rev. 16:16 and 17:14; Judg. 4:2-16; 1 Kings. In the light of these biblical events, Armageddon symbolizes the defeat of the godless forces by Christ. The names Gog and Magog in the 20th chapter. reminiscent of Ezekiel's prophecy about the invasion of Jerusalem by countless hordes led by Gog from the land of Magog (in the south of the Caspian Sea), (Ezek. 38-39; Rev. 20:7-8). Ezekiel dates this prophecy to Messianic times. In the Apocalypse, the siege of the “camp of saints and the beloved city” (i.e., the Church) by the hordes of Gog and Magog and the destruction of these hordes by heavenly fire must be understood in the sense of the complete defeat of the atheistic forces, human and demonic, by the Second Coming of Christ.
As for the physical disasters and punishments of sinners, often mentioned in the Apocalypse, the seer himself explains that God allows them for admonition, in order to lead sinners to repentance (Rev. 9:21). But the apostle notes with sorrow that people do not heed the call of God and continue to sin and serve demons. They, as if “having the bit between their teeth,” are rushing towards their own death.
Vision of two witnesses (11:2-12). Chapters 10 and 11 occupy an intermediate place between the visions of the 7 trumpets and the 7 signs. In the two witnesses of God, some holy fathers see the Old Testament righteous Enoch and Elijah (Or Moses and Elijah). It is known that Enoch and Elijah were taken alive to Heaven (Gen. 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11), and before the end of the world they will come to earth to expose the deceit of the Antichrist and call people to loyalty to God. The executions that these witnesses will bring on people are reminiscent of the miracles performed by the prophets Moses and Elijah (Exodus 7-12; 3 Kings 17:1; 2 Kings 1:10). For the Apostle John, the prototypes of the two apocalyptic witnesses could be the apostles Peter and Paul, who shortly before suffered in Rome from Nero. Apparently, the two witnesses in the Apocalypse symbolize other witnesses of Christ, spreading the Gospel in a hostile pagan world and often sealing their preaching with martyrdom. The words “Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:8) point to the city of Jerusalem, in which the Lord Jesus Christ, many prophets and the first Christians suffered. (Some suggest that at the time of the Antichrist, Jerusalem will become the capital of a world state. At the same time, they provide an economic justification for this opinion).
Seven signs (chap. 12-14).
The Church and the Kingdom of the Beast.
The further, the more clearly the viewer reveals to the readers the division of humanity into two opposing camps - the Church and the kingdom of the beast. In previous chapters, the Apostle John began to introduce readers to the Church, speaking of the sealed ones, the Jerusalem temple and the two witnesses, and in chapter 12 he shows the Church in all its heavenly glory. At the same time, he reveals her main enemy - the devil-dragon. The vision of the Woman clothed with the sun and the dragon makes it clear that the war between good and evil extends beyond the material world and extends to the world of angels. The apostle shows that in the world of disembodied spirits there is a conscious evil being who, with desperate persistence, wages war against angels and people devoted to God. This war of evil with good, permeating the entire existence of mankind, began in the angelic world before the creation of the material world. As we have already said, the seer describes this war in different parts of the Apocalypse not in its chronological sequence, but in different fragments, or phases.
The vision of the Woman reminds the reader of God's promise to Adam and Eve about the Messiah (the Seed of the Woman) who would wipe out the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). One might think that in chapter 12 the Wife refers to the Virgin Mary. However, from the further narrative, which talks about the other descendants of the Wife (Christians), it is clear that here by the Wife we must mean the Church. The Sunshine of the Woman symbolizes the moral perfection of the saints and the grace-filled illumination of the Church with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The twelve stars symbolize the twelve tribes of the New Israel - i.e. a collection of Christian peoples. The Wife's pangs during childbirth symbolize the exploits, hardships and sufferings of the servants of the Church (prophets, apostles and their successors) suffered by them in spreading the Gospel in the world and in establishing Christian virtues among their spiritual children. (“My little children, for whom I am again in the throes of birth, until Christ is formed in you,” said the Apostle Paul to the Galatian Christians (Gal. 4:19)).
The Firstborn of the Woman, “who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron,” is the Lord Jesus Christ (Ps. 2:9; Rev. 12:5 and 19:15). He is the New Adam who became the head of the Church. The “Rapture” of the Child obviously points to the ascension of Christ to Heaven, where He sat “at the right hand of the Father” and has since ruled the destinies of the world.
“The dragon with his tail drew a third of the stars from Heaven and threw them to the earth” (Rev. 12:4). By these stars, interpreters understand the angels whom the proud Dennitsa-devil rebelled against God, as a result of which a war broke out in Heaven. (This was the first revolution in the universe!). The good angels were led by Archangel Michael. The angels who rebelled against God were defeated and could not stay in Heaven. Having fallen away from God, they became demons from good angels. Their underworld, called the abyss or hell, became a place of darkness and suffering. According to the opinion of the holy fathers, the war described here by the Apostle John took place in the angelic world even before the creation of the material world. It is presented here with the purpose of explaining to the reader that the dragon that will haunt the Church in further visions of the Apocalypse is the fallen Dennitsa - the original enemy of God.
So, having been defeated in Heaven, the dragon takes up arms against the Woman-Church with all his fury. His weapon is the many different temptations that he directs at his Wife like a stormy river. But she saves herself from temptation by fleeing into the desert, that is, by voluntarily renouncing the blessings and comforts of life with which the dragon tries to captivate her. The two wings of the Woman are prayer and fasting, with which Christians are spiritualized and made inaccessible to the dragon crawling on the earth like a serpent (Gen. 3:14; Mark 9:29). (It should be remembered that many zealous Christians, already from the first centuries, moved to the desert in the literal sense, leaving noisy cities full of temptations. In remote caves, hermitages and laurels, they devoted all their time to prayer and contemplation of God and reached such spiritual heights that modern Christians have no idea. Monasticism flourished in the East in the 4th-7th centuries, when many monasteries were formed in the desert places of Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor, numbering hundreds and thousands of monks and nuns. From the Middle East, monasticism spread to Athos, and from there. - to Russia, where in pre-revolutionary times there were more than a thousand monasteries and hermitages).
Note. The expression “a time, times and half a time”—1260 days or 42 months (Rev. 12:6-15)—corresponds to three and a half years and symbolically denotes the period of persecution. The public ministry of the Savior continued for three and a half years. The persecution of believers continued for approximately the same amount of time under King Antiochus Epiphanes and the Emperors Nero and Domitian. At the same time, the numbers in the Apocalypse should be understood allegorically (see above).
The beast that came out of the sea and the beast that came out of the earth (Rev. 13-14 chapters)
Most of the holy fathers understand the Antichrist by the “beast from the sea”, and the false prophet by the “beast from the earth”. The sea symbolizes the unbelieving human mass, eternally worried and overwhelmed by passions. From the further narrative about the beast and from the parallel narrative of the prophet Daniel (Dan. 7-8 chapters). it should be concluded that the “beast” is the entire godless empire of the Antichrist. In appearance, the dragon-devil and the beast that came out of the sea, to which the dragon transferred its power, are similar to each other. Their external attributes speak of their dexterity, cruelty and moral ugliness. The heads and horns of the beast symbolize the godless states that make up the anti-Christian empire, as well as their rulers (“kings”). The report of a fatal wound to one of the beast’s heads and its healing is mysterious. In due time, events themselves will shed light on the meaning of these words. The historical basis for this allegory could be the belief of many of the contemporaries of the Apostle John that the murdered Nero came to life and that he would soon return with the Parthian troops (located across the Euphrates River (Rev. 9:14 and 16:12)) to take revenge on his enemies. There may be an indication here of the partial defeat of atheistic paganism by the Christian faith and the revival of paganism during the period of general apostasy from Christianity. Others see here an indication of the defeat of God-fighting Judaism in the 70s AD. “They are not Jews, but the synagogue of Satan,” the Lord said to John (Rev. 2:9; 3:9). (See more about this in our brochure “Christian Doctrine of the End of the World”).
Note. There are common features between the beast of the Apocalypse and the four beasts of the prophet Daniel, who personified the four ancient pagan empires (Dan. 7th chapter). The fourth beast referred to the Roman Empire, and the tenth horn of the last beast meant the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes - a prototype of the coming Antichrist, whom the Archangel Gabriel called “despicable” (Dan. 11:21). The characteristics and actions of the apocalyptic beast also have much in common with the tenth horn of the prophet Daniel (Dan. 7:8-12; 20-25; 8:10-26; 11:21-45). The first two books of Maccabees provide a vivid illustration of the times before the end of the world.
The seer then describes a beast that came out of the earth, which he later refers to as a false prophet. The earth here symbolizes the complete lack of spirituality in the teachings of the false prophet: it is all saturated with materialism and pleasing the sin-loving flesh. The false prophet deceives people with false miracles and makes them worship the first beast. “He had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon” (Rev. 13:11) - i.e. he looked meek and peace-loving, but his speeches were full of flattery and lies.
Just as in the 11th chapter the two witnesses symbolize all the servants of Christ, so, obviously, the two beasts of the 13th chapter. symbolize the totality of all haters of Christianity. The beast from the sea is a symbol of civil atheistic power, and the beast from the earth is a combination of false teachers and all perverted church authorities. (In other words, the Antichrist will come from the civil environment, under the guise of a civil leader, preached and praised by those who betrayed religious beliefs by a false prophet or false prophets).
Just as during the earthly life of the Savior both of these authorities, civil and religious, in the person of Pilate and the Jewish high priests, united in condemning Christ to be crucified, so throughout the history of mankind these two authorities often unite in the fight against faith and to persecute believers. As has already been said, the Apocalypse describes not only the distant future, but also a constantly recurring one - for different peoples in their time. And the Antichrist is also his own for everyone, appearing in times of anarchy, when “he who restrains is taken.” Examples: the prophet Balaam and the Moabite king; Queen Jezebel and her priests; false prophets and princes before the destruction of Israel and later Judah, “apostates from the holy covenant” and King Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. 8:23; 1 Macc. and 2 Macc. 9), adherents of the Mosaic law and Roman rulers in apostolic times. In New Testament times, heretical false teachers weakened the Church with their schisms and thereby contributed to the conquering successes of the Arabs and Turks, who flooded and ruined the Orthodox East; Russian freethinkers and populists prepared the ground for the revolution; modern false teachers are seducing unstable Christians into various sects and cults. All of them are false prophets who contribute to the success of the atheistic forces. Apocalypse clearly reveals the mutual support between the dragon-devil and both beasts. Here, each of them has his own selfish calculations: the devil craves self-worship, the Antichrist seeks power, and the false prophet seeks his own material gain. The Church, calling people to faith in God and to strengthening virtues, serves as a hindrance to them, and they jointly fight against it.
Mark of the Beast.
(Rev. 13:16-17; 14:9-11; 15:2; 19:20; 20:4). In the language of the Holy Scriptures, wearing a seal (or mark) means belonging to or subordinating to someone. We have already said that the seal (or the name of God) on the forehead of believers means their chosenness by God and, therefore, God’s protection over them (Rev. 3:12; 7:2-3; 9:4; 14:1; 22: 4). The activities of the false prophet, described in the 13th chapter of the Apocalypse, convince us that the kingdom of the beast will be of a religious and political nature. By creating a union of different states, it will simultaneously implant a new religion instead of the Christian faith. Therefore, submitting to the Antichrist (allegorically - taking the mark of the beast on your forehead or right hand) will be tantamount to renouncing Christ, which will entail the deprivation of the Kingdom of Heaven. (The symbolism of the seal is drawn from the custom of antiquity, when warriors burned the names of their leaders on their hands or foreheads, and slaves - voluntarily or forcibly - accepted the seal of the name of their master. Pagans devoted to some deity often wore a tattoo of this deity on themselves) .
It is possible that during the time of the Antichrist, advanced computer registration will be introduced, similar to modern bank cards. The improvement will consist in the fact that the computer code, invisible to the eye, will be printed not on a plastic card, as it is now, but directly on the human body. This code, read by an electronic or magnetic "eye," will be transmitted to a central computer in which all information about that person, personal and financial, will be stored. Thus, establishing personal codes directly in public will replace the need for money, passports, visas, tickets, checks, credit cards and other personal documents. Thanks to individual coding, all monetary transactions - receiving salaries and paying debts - can be carried out directly on the computer. If there is no money, the robber will have nothing to take from the person. The state, in principle, will be able to control crime more easily, since the movements of people will be known to it thanks to a central computer. It seems that this personal coding system will be proposed in such a positive aspect. In practice, it will also be used for religious and political control over people, when “no one will be allowed to buy or sell except the one who has this mark” (Rev. 13:17).
Of course, the idea expressed here about stamping codes on people is an assumption. The point is not in electromagnetic signs, but in fidelity or betrayal of Christ! Throughout the history of Christianity, pressure on believers from anti-Christian authorities took a variety of forms: making a formal sacrifice to an idol, accepting Mohammedanism, joining a godless or anti-Christian organization. In the language of the Apocalypse, this is the acceptance of the “mark of the beast:” the acquisition of temporary advantages at the cost of renouncing Christ.
The number of the beast is 666.
(Rev. 13:18). The meaning of this number still remains a mystery. Obviously, it can be deciphered when the circumstances themselves contribute to this. Some interpreters see the number 666 as a decrease in the number 777, which in turn means threefold perfection, completeness. With this understanding of the symbolism of this number, the Antichrist, who strives to show his superiority over Christ in everything, will in fact turn out to be imperfect in everything. In ancient times, name calculation was based on the fact that the letters of the alphabets had a numerical value. For example, in Greek (and in Church Slavonic) A equaled 1, B = 2, G = 3, etc. A similar numerical value of letters exists in Latin and Hebrew. Each name could be arithmetically calculated by adding up the numerical value of the letters. For example, the name Jesus written in Greek is 888 (possibly denoting ultimate perfection). There are a huge number of proper names, which the sum of their letters translated into numbers gives 666. For example, the name Nero Caesar, written in Hebrew letters. In this case, if the Antichrist’s own name were known, then calculating its numerical value would not require special wisdom. Maybe here we need to look for a solution to the riddle in principle, but it is not clear in which direction. The Beast of the Apocalypse is both the Antichrist and his state. Perhaps at the time of the Antichrist, initials will be introduced to denote a new worldwide movement? By the will of God, the personal name of the Antichrist is hidden from idle curiosity for the time being. When the time comes, those who should decipher it will decipher it.
The talking image of the beast.
It is difficult to understand the meaning of the words about the false prophet: “And it was given to him to put breath into the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should speak and act, so that everyone who would not worship the image of the beast would be killed” (Rev. 13:15). The reason for this allegory could have been the demand of Antiochus Epiphanes that the Jews bow to the statue of Jupiter, which he erected in the Temple of Jerusalem. Later, Emperor Domitian demanded that all inhabitants of the Roman Empire bow to his image. Domitian was the first emperor to demand divine veneration during his lifetime and to be called “our lord and god.” Sometimes, for a greater impression, priests were hidden behind the statues of the emperor, who spoke from there on his behalf. Christians who did not bow to the image of Domitian were ordered to be executed, and those who bowed to be given gifts. Maybe in the prophecy of the Apocalypse we are talking about some kind of device like a television that will transmit the image of the Antichrist and at the same time monitor how people react to it. In any case, in our time, movies and television are widely used to instill anti-Christian ideas, to accustom people to cruelty and vulgarity. Daily indiscriminate watching of TV kills the good and holy in a person. Isn't television the forerunner of the talking image of the beast?
Seven bowls.
Strengthening the atheistic power.
Judgment of sinners (chap. 15-17).
In this part of the Apocalypse, the seer describes the kingdom of the beast, which has reached its apogee of power and control over people's lives. Apostasy from the true faith covers almost all of humanity, and the Church reaches extreme exhaustion: “And it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Rev. 13:7). To encourage the believers who remained faithful to Christ, the Apostle John raises their gaze to the heavenly world and shows a great host of righteous people who, like the Israelites who escaped from Pharaoh under Moses, sing a song of victory (Exodus 14-15 ch.).
But just as the power of the pharaohs came to an end, the days of anti-Christian power are numbered. Next chapters (16-20 chapters). in bright strokes they depict God's judgment over those who fight against God. The defeat of nature in the 16th chapter. similar to the description in the 8th chapter, but here it reaches worldwide proportions and makes a terrifying impression. (As before, obviously, the destruction of nature is carried out by people themselves - wars and industrial waste). The increased heat from the sun that people are suffering from may be due to the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere and an increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. According to the Savior’s prediction, in the last year before the end of the world, living conditions would become so unbearable that “if God had not shortened those days, no flesh would have been saved” (Matt. 24:22).
The description of judgment and punishment in chapters 16-20 of the Apocalypse follows the order of increasing guilt of the enemies of God: first, people who received the mark of the beast and the capital of the anti-Christian empire, “Babylon,” are punished, then the Antichrist and the false prophet, and finally the devil.
The story of the defeat of Babylon is given twice: first in general terms at the end of the 16th chapter, and in more detail in chapters 18-19. Babylon is depicted as a harlot sitting on a beast. The name Babylon is reminiscent of Chaldean Babylon, in which the atheistic power was concentrated in Old Testament times. (Chaldean troops destroyed ancient Jerusalem in 586 BC). Describing the luxury of a “harlot,” the Apostle John had in mind rich Rome with its port city. But many features of apocalyptic Babylon do not apply to ancient Rome and, obviously, refer to the capital of the Antichrist.
Equally mysterious is the angel's explanation at the end of chapter 17 about the "mystery of Babylon" in detail relating to the Antichrist and his kingdom. These details will probably be understood in the future when the time comes. Some allegories are taken from the description of Rome, which stood on seven hills, and its godless emperors. “Five kings (the heads of the beast) fell” - these are the first five Roman emperors - from Julius Caesar to Claudius. The sixth head is Nero, the seventh is Vespasian. “And the beast that was and is not, is the eighth, and (he is) from among the seven” - this is Domitian, the revived Nero in the popular imagination. He is the Antichrist of the first century. But, probably, the symbolism of the 17th chapter will receive a new explanation during the time of the last Antichrist.
Saint John the Theologian in his “Revelation” mentioned the day when all people, both living and dead, resurrected from the graves (Fig. 23), will appear before the judgment of God.
It is believed that the “Revelation of John the Evangelist” was written in 68-69 AD. e. Researchers do not exclude the fact that around the mid-90s AD. e. it was edited by copyists. This happened after the defeat of the First Jewish revolt against the Romans. The indicated date practically coincides with the reference to Irenaeus, which is given in his “Church History” by Eusebius of Caesarea (between 260 and 265 ... 338 or 339), a Roman church writer, bishop of Caesarea (Palestine). The prophetic “Revelation of John the Theologian” represents a truly grandiose picture of the coming Apocalypse, which completes the New Testament.
John the Theologian told the first Christians, who were subjected to terrible persecution by the Roman authorities, with great and comforting news: “Blessed is he who reads and hears the words of this prophecy and keeps what is written in it; for the time is near.” It is necessary to hold out a little longer, not to deviate from the faith of Christ, and soon the suffering will end, and all those who resisted will be generously rewarded. In a series of visions, John saw something that was soon destined to happen: he learned about the impending end of the world and the terrible events associated with it.
Michelangelo. Raising the dead from their graves. Fragment of the fresco “The Last Judgment”. The Sistine Chapel. VaticanThe revelation descended on John the Theologian at a time when he was on the island of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea, where he suffered “for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” One Sunday, the sky suddenly opened above the soothsayer, and he saw seven golden lamps and among them “one like the Son of Man.” John the Theologian describes the appearance of Jesus Christ this way: “His head and hair are white, like a white wave, like snow; and His eyes are like a flame of fire; and His feet were like chalkovan (a type of amber), like those red-hot in a furnace; and His voice is like the sound of many waters. He held in His right hand seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sword sharp on both sides; and His face is like the sun shining in its power.” The seven lamps symbolized the seven churches, and the seven stars in the right hand of the Lord symbolized the angels of these churches.
Struck by such an unusual phenomenon, John fell at the feet of the Son of Man, who greeted him with the following words: “Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last, and the living; and was dead; and behold, I live forever and ever, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and death. So, write what you saw, and what is, and what will happen after this.” John the Theologian fulfilled Christ’s command and later wrote down everything that happened that day in his “Revelation.”
Jesus invited him to step into heaven to see with his own eyes what “must come to pass after this.” John followed him and saw “a throne standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne.” By the Seated One, the soothsayer meant the Creator God himself.
Around the throne of God, from which “came lightning, and thunder, and voices,” were twenty-four more thrones. Twenty-four elders sat on them, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. In front of the throne stood seven fiery lamps, personifying the “spirits of God.”
Here sat four animals, “full of eyes in front and behind,” the first of which resembled a lion, the second a calf, the third a man, and the fourth an eagle. Each of them “had six wings around, and inside they were full of eyes; and neither day nor night they know peace, crying: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, is and is to come.” While the animals sang the glory and honor of Him who sat on the throne, the elders fell prostrate before him and laid crowns at his feet.
In his right hand God held a book sealed with seven seals. The angel (Fig. 24) proclaimed with a loud voice: is there one who is worthy to open the book by removing the seals from it? But there was no one either on earth, or in heaven, or under the earth.
Then one of the elders sitting at the throne of God stood up and told John the Theologian that now “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has won and can open this book and open its seven seals.”
At the same moment, John saw a Lamb “as if it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” The image of the Lamb is, of course, Jesus Christ himself (Fig. 25), considered by Christians to be a descendant of King David. The horn of the ancient Jews was a symbol of power.
The Lamb received from the hands of God the book sealed with seven seals. The act of transferring the book from God the Father to God the Son symbolizes the enthronement of Christ, who takes power from the Father. Animals and elders surround the Lamb on all sides and begin to sing in his honor: “Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals from it; for You were slain, and with Your blood you redeemed us to God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and made us kings and priests to our God; and we will reign on earth."
Following them, this song was repeated by a huge number of elders, animals and angels, surrounding the throne on all sides. “And their number was ten thousand ten thousand and thousands upon thousands,” says Revelation. The end of the world was approaching.
Cavallini. Jesus Christ. Fragment of the Last Judgment fresco in the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome
However, according to the predictions of the soothsayer, God will definitely protect all true believers who have lived a righteous life, while severe punishment awaits all those who reject God and unrepentant sinners. Jesus Christ one by one removes the seals from the book, as a result of which four horsemen sitting on four assorted horses descend to the ground. They are the harbingers of the end of the world and the great disasters that will precede it.
The Lamb opened the first seal, and one of the four living creatures declared, “Come and see.” John the Theologian saw a white horse (Fig. 26). On it sat “a horseman having a bow, and a crown was given to him; and he came out victorious, and to conquer.”
Christ opened the second seal, and the second animal said in a thunderous voice: “Come and see.” Then a second horse appeared, a red one. The rider sitting on it was ordered to “take peace from the earth, and that they should kill each other; and a great sword was given to him.”
After the Lamb opened the third seal, John heard the voice of the third animal: “Come and see.” At that moment a black horse came down from heaven, and a rider sat on it, “having measure in his hand.”
The Lamb opened the fourth seal, and the fourth animal said, “Come and see.” A pale horse came out. The most terrible horseman sat on it, personifying death. The Revelation says: “And hell followed him, and power was given to him over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with pestilence, and with the beasts of the earth.”
It should be noted that the same horses of four colors and the riders sitting on them are mentioned in the book of the prophet Zechariah, and there they symbolize the four spirits of heaven, “who stand before the Lord of all the earth.”
Further events are stunning pictures that make quite a strong impression. If we turn to the real history of those distant times, we can draw some analogies with the events of the last years of Nero’s reign, when there were endless, bloody wars, and the imperial throne was shaken by the uprisings of a number of Roman governors who wanted to take Nero’s place, as well as uprisings in Judea and Gaul . In addition, in those years famine often raged in Rome. In 65 AD e. The Mediterranean suffered a new terrible disaster - a plague that claimed thousands of lives. Around the same time, devastating earthquakes occurred in Italy, Greece, Asia Minor and along the entire eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. So the rider on the pale horse reaped a rich harvest of human lives.
The first Christians experienced particularly terrible persecution during these years. Anyone who religiously followed the faith of Christ faced inevitable death after painful torture. Therefore, it is no coincidence that “Revelation” says that when Christ opened the fifth seal, the souls of “those killed for the word of God” appeared under the altar. They prayed to God to take revenge on those living on earth for the suffering that had befallen them. The Lord calmed them down, gave them white robes and said that the Last Judgment would soon take place and many righteous people would join their ranks.
After the Lamb opened the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake. “And the sun became dark as sackcloth, and the moon became like blood; and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree, shaken by a strong wind, drops its unripe figs; and the sky disappeared, curled up like a scroll; and every mountain and island moved from their places.” All people: kings, nobles, freemen, and slaves - sought to hide in the caves and gorges of the mountains and prayed for stones to fall on them and hide them “from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of wrath has come.” His". Then John the Theologian tells that he saw four angels standing at the four ends of the earth, who held the four winds so that they would not blow “neither on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.” But from the direction of the rising sun, another angel moved towards them, having the “seal of the living God.” And he commanded those four destroying angels, who were ordered to “harm the earth and the sea”: not to do harm until seals were placed on the foreheads of the servants of God, that is, those who, in spite of everything, remained devoted to the true Christian faith. There were one hundred and forty-four thousand of them. They all gathered around the throne of God, dressed in white robes. From now on, they were to serve God in His temple and received deliverance from suffering, for “the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and lead them to living springs of water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
And then came the most terrible moment. When Christ opened the last, seventh seal, complete silence reigned in heaven. John the Theologian saw seven angels come forward with trumpets - the arbiters of God's judgment, “and an angel with a golden censer in his hands, which he filled with fire from the altar and “threw to the ground.” On earth from this there arose “voices and thunder and lightning and an earthquake.” Seven angels prepared to sound the trumpet, announcing that “the day of the Lord” had come.
After the first angel “sounded” the trumpet, “hail and fire mixed with blood” fell on the earth. As a result, a third of the trees and all the green grass were destroyed.
After the sign given by the second angel, a huge mountain, resembling a ball of fire, fell into the sea, causing the death of a third of the living creatures living in it, and the drowning of a third of the ships sailing on the sea. The third part of the sea water turned into blood.
The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a “great star, burning like a lamp,” whose name was “wormwood,” fell from heaven to earth. Because of this, the water in a third of the rivers and springs became bitter and poisonous, “and many of the people died from the waters.”
The sound of the fourth angel's trumpet caused the defeat of a third of the Sun, Moon and stars, causing a third of the day to become night.
After this, John the Theologian saw an angel flying in the middle of heaven, who in a loud voice proclaimed: “Woe, woe, woe to those who live on earth because of the remaining trumpets of the three angels who will sound.” Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and a star fell from heaven to earth. She was given the key with which “she opened the well of the abyss.” Thick smoke came from there, darkening the Sun and the air, and from the smoke came hordes of monstrous locusts. She was like “horses prepared for war; and on her heads there were crowns like gold, and her faces were like human faces; and her hair was like the hair of women, and her teeth were like those of lions. She had armor on her, like iron armor, and the noise from her wings was like the sound of chariots when many horses run to war; she had tails like scorpions, and in her tails were stings.” John learned that its king was the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon (that is, “the destroyer”).
The terrible locusts, reminiscent of earthly scorpions, were supposed to attack not earthly vegetation, but people whom God did not mark with his seal, that is, the sinners remaining on earth (Fig. 27). But do not kill them, but torture them for five months, and this torment will be like “the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person.” In this regard, in the “Revelation of John the Theologian” there is a terrible phrase: “In those days people will seek death, but will not find it; they will wish to die, but death will flee from them.”
The trumpet of the sixth angel announced terrible pictures of the invasion of a huge cavalry army, numbering two times darkness, coming from the Euphrates River. It was intended by God to destroy the third part of people, who were destined to die “from fire, smoke and brimstone” coming out of the mouths of horses with lion heads. Their tails, like snakes, had heads and also brought harm to people.
- Michelangelo. Sinners. Fragment of the fresco “The Last Judgment”. The Sistine Chapel. Vatican*
The army killed a third of the people, but those who survived did not repent of their sins, and another punishment awaited them.
John saw a gigantic angel “descending from heaven, clothed with a cloud; over his head was a rainbow, and his face was like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire.” He stood with one foot on the land and the other on the sea and held an open book in his hands. With a voice that sounded like seven thunders, he told John about the secrets of the future. The prophet was about to write down what was said, but heard the voice of God coming from heaven, which forbade him to do this. The angel standing on the sea and on the land raised his hand to heaven and announced that when the seventh angel sounded, “time will be no more” and “the mystery of God” known to the ancient prophets will be completed. After this, a voice from heaven commanded John to take the book from the angel’s hands and eat it, because he was to “again prophesy about the nations and nations.”
And finally the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices sounded in the sky: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.” At this time, the twenty-four elders who were seated on thrones around the throne of God bowed before Him and proclaimed: “... Your wrath has come and the time to judge the dead and to give retribution to Your servants, the prophets, and the saints, and to those who fear Your name, small and great, and destroy those who destroy the earth." And the third woe came: “The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was revealed in His temple; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and earthquakes, and great hail.”
Thus, John the Theologian brought comforting news to the believers: the day of judgment is already near, we must wait and be patient a little longer. In the end, those who suffered for their faith will be rewarded for their righteous torment, and they will find peace and happiness, and severe punishment will inevitably overtake their executioners. However, John in his “Revelation” does not stop there and continues to describe his visions.
He talks about a miraculous sign that appeared in the sky - “a woman clothed with the sun; under her feet is the moon and on her head is a crown of twelve stars.” The wife gave birth to “a male child, who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” While everyone was celebrating the baby, the wife fled into the desert, where she was ordered by God to spend one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Then in heaven there was a battle between the Archangel Michael and his angels with “the great dragon, the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world,” and his evil angels. Mikhail won this fight. There was no place for the dragon and the angels in heaven, and they were cast down to earth. It was at this moment that John heard a loud voice from heaven, which announced the overthrow of the devil and that salvation had come in heaven - the kingdom and power of Christ. The devil was defeated “by the blood of the Lamb,” as well as by the steadfastness and faithfulness of Christians, those who “loved not their own lives even unto death.” Great grief descended upon all those living on earth and sea, since the devil, cast down to earth, became especially furious, because he knew that he had little time left.
Having descended to earth, the dragon began to pursue the wife who had given birth to a baby. But God gave her two wings, similar to those of an eagle. She rose into the sky and flew into the desert, where she took refuge from the dragon. The enraged serpent launched a river after her, which poured out of his mouth. But in vain: the earth itself came to the aid of the wife, she opened her mouth and swallowed the river. The dragon failed to overtake the wife, so he decided to “make war with the rest (that is, those who came) from her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimonies of Jesus Christ.”
In the next chapter, John describes two unusual animals that appeared to him in the following vision. He stood on the sand of the sea and suddenly saw a monstrous beast with seven heads and ten horns emerge from the sea. He had ten diadems on his horns, and “on his heads were blasphemous names.” In appearance he was “like a leopard; His legs are like those of a bear, and his mouth is like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his strength, and his throne, and great authority.” One of the beast’s heads “was mortally wounded,” but this wound was miraculously healed.
All who lived on earth worshiped the beast and the dragon who gave him power, except those whose names were “written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world” and who showed “the patience and faith of the saints.” The beast declared war on the saints, and “it was given to him to make war with the saints and overcome them.” But his power was established only for forty-two months.
In his next vision, John described another beast, a red dragon (Fig. 28): “And I saw another beast come up out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon.” He forced people to worship the image of the first beast, and threatened those who refused to do so with the death penalty. At the instigation of the dragon, all people were to put “the mark of the name of the beast on their right hand or forehead.” In the same chapter there are words that became a mystery for many generations and subsequently received a rather contradictory interpretation: “Here is wisdom. He who has intelligence, count the number of the beast, for it is a human number; the number is six hundred and sixty-six.”
Here it is necessary to make a digression. The meaning of all these terrible visions and global cataclysms was quite accessible to the first readers of Revelation. However, people living at the beginning of the 3rd millennium are unlikely to understand John’s allegorical stories. They are more likely to perceive them as a myth or a fairy tale, so we will focus on explaining some concepts. What did John the Theologian talk about when he described the images of a wife who gave birth to a baby and two animals, and has the mystery of the number “six hundred and sixty-six” been solved? It turns out that the prophet had in mind very real historical events.
The woman crowned with twelve stars represents the people of Israel. The dragon with seven heads and ten horns is a symbol of the Roman Empire, the red color is the purple of the imperial robes, the seven dragon heads crowned with horns are the seven emperors who ruled in Rome before the “Revelation of John the Evangelist” was published: these are Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho.
The ten horns of the dragon most likely symbolize the ten governors of the Roman provinces. The “male child” is none other than Jesus Christ, who is destined to “rule all nations with a rod of iron.” God took Him into heaven under His protection, so the dragon was unable to destroy “one like the Son of Man.”
John the Theologian represents Rome in the image of Satan, the devil. He is powerful, but he will not be able to slander God so much by blaspheming him that “those who testify to Christ” will turn away from him and betray their faith. John is confident that they will definitely win victory over the devil thanks to their righteousness and steadfastness, since they are ready to accept death for their beliefs. This is probably not just an allusion to the severe persecution to which the first Christians were subjected in the Roman Empire. These lines also sound a stern warning to Rome. The author seems to predict complete destruction threatening the Eternal City in the near future.
The mystery of the number “six hundred sixty-six” is also explained quite simply. Many ancient peoples, including the Jews, denoted numbers using various letters of the alphabet.
So, if you substitute Hebrew letters instead of numbers into the “animal number”, you get two words: “Nero Caesar.” This means that the beast, whose one head was mortally wounded, but was healed, is an allegory personifying the image of the Roman emperor Nero. The fact is that John the Theologian, as well as his like-minded people, were convinced that the power of Rome and the unlimited power of the emperors came from none other than the devil himself. Therefore, the miraculously healed dragon's head is a direct indication of the fate of Emperor Nero. This is evidenced by a real historical fact. In 68 AD e. The governors of the provinces raised an uprising, the purpose of which was to overthrow Nero. As a result, the emperor committed suicide, and soon rumors appeared that Nero survived.
So, those who kept the commandments of God won the victory over the dragon. Let us now return to the “Revelation of John the Theologian.” What else did the prophet see on that great day of God's wrath? On Mount Zion stood the Lamb with all the redeemed “from among men, as the firstborn to God and to the Lamb.”
In the middle of the sky, three angels appeared one after another - heralds of the beginning of God's judgment. The first angel, holding the eternal Gospel in his hands, spoke with a loud voice to the people remaining on earth: “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come.” Another angel, following the first, announced the fall of the great city of Babylon, which “made all nations drink of the wrathful wine of her fornication.” The third angel declared: “Whoever worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will drink the wine of the wrath of God, the whole wine prepared in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment will rise up forever and ever, and they will have no rest day or night.”
And John heard a voice come from heaven, which told him to write down these words: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” Soon the prophet saw a light cloud appear in the sky. On it sat “one like the Son of Man” with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hands. Another angel called on Jesus to lower the sickle to the earth and reap the harvest, “for the harvest of the earth is already ripe.” The Son of Man brought the sickle to the ground and carried out his judgment, like the harvest and the pruning of grapes.
In the next sign, “great and wonderful,” seven angels appeared to John with the seven last plagues, “with which the wrath of God ended.” The prophet heard the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb, which was sung by “those who defeated the beast and his image,” glorifying the power of the Lord. After the voices fell silent, the gates of the heavenly temple opened and seven angels came out, dressed in clean and light linen clothes. One of the four animals gave them seven golden bowls containing God's wrath. The temple was filled with smoke, and no one could enter there until “the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.”
A loud voice coming from the temple commanded the seven angels to pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth. After the first angel poured out his cup, “there were cruel and disgusting wounds on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.”
The second angel poured the cup into the sea, and all life in it perished. The third angel poured the cup into the rivers and springs, and the water in them turned into blood, for those who “shed the blood of saints and prophets” were worthy of it.
The fourth angel poured his cup onto the Sun, which began to mercilessly burn people. However, the sinners did not repent and continued to blaspheme God for sending them suffering. Then the fifth angel poured the cup onto the throne of the beast, the sixth - into the Euphrates River, in which the water immediately dried up, and the seventh angel - into the air. A loud voice came from the heavenly temple. He announced that God's judgment had been completed.
“And there were lightnings, thunders and voices, and there was a great earthquake, which had not happened since people were on earth... And hail, the size of a talent, fell from the sky on people; and the people blasphemed God because of the plagues from the hail, because the plague from it was very grievous.”
In the following chapters, John predicts the fall of the ancient city of Babylon, which in the text of “Revelation” is presented in the form of an allegory - a harlot sitting “on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.” Babylon fell because “it became a habitation of demons and a refuge for every unclean spirit, a refuge for every unclean and disgusting bird; for she (the harlot) made all the nations drink of the wrathful wine of her fornication.” The great city was burned to the ground and devastated. This is how God's judgment was accomplished on Babylon. What caused the wrath of God?
There is a myth about the “Babylonian pandemonium”, which tells that once all people spoke the same language and lived together between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. And they decided to build a city, which they later called Babylon, and a huge pillar - a tower that reached the height of the sky. And God came down to see the city and the tower that the people were building. He became angry at human pride and made it so that people began to speak different languages and could not understand each other.
Then disorder and confusion began. The tower remained unfinished, and people scattered across the land in all directions. From them came different peoples, each of whom spoke their own language.
After the judgment of the people was completed and God took revenge on the great city, John had another wonderful vision: the heavens opened up and a white horse appeared with a rider sitting on it, who was dressed in clothes stained with blood. His name was the Word of God.
He was followed by the armies of heaven on the same white horses and in white robes. The beast and the kings of the earth came out to engage in battle with Him who sat on the horse and His army. The beast was captured and thrown into the lake of fire.
Then an angel descended from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a large chain. He cast the devil in the form of a dragon into the abyss and “set a seal over him, so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed.” During this time, faithful followers of Christ are destined to reign and be priests of God and Jesus.
Those who apostatized from the faith and worshiped the image of the beast will not rise from the dead until the millennium is over. They, unlike the righteous, are not worthy of the first resurrection.
John further predicts that after a thousand years Satan will be released from his prison, but not for long. He will again go out to deceive the nations and gather them to fight against the saints. However, God will send fire from heaven on them, and the devil will be “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
After dealing with Satan, all the dead, small and great, will appear before Him who sits on the great white throne. And the sea, and death, and hell will deliver up the dead, who will be judged by God “according to their deeds.” Those who faithfully followed the faith of Christ will be written in the book of life. This will be the second resurrection.
The righteous will descend to earth with God. “And He will dwell with them; they will be His people, and God himself with them will be their God; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; there will be no more crying, no crying, no sickness; for the former things have passed away.”
“But the fearful, and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; This is the second death."
And John saw a new heaven, a new earth, and a new holy city, Jerusalem, which would come down from God, from heaven, and would not need “neither the sun nor the moon for its illumination; for the glory of God shone upon him, and his lamp was the Lamb. The saved nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates will not be locked during the day, and there will be no night there... And nothing unclean will enter into it, and no one devoted to abomination and lies, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
The last chapter of “The Revelation of John the Evangelist” tells about the instructions that Christ gives him and about John’s blessing for prophecy. The fortuneteller was supposed to guide people on the righteous path, that is, on the path of serving the faith of Christ. According to Revelation, this is the only way to avoid the severe punishment of the Lord, which will befall the infidels during the Last Judgment.
In conclusion of the conversation about the biblical Apocalypse, it should be mentioned that the question of the authorship of “Revelation” still remains open, and the answers to it are quite contradictory. Although most scholars working on this issue unanimously attribute the authorship to John the Theologian, many priests dispute not only this assertion, but also the authenticity of the text of Revelation itself. They suggest that this prophecy was not written and included in the Bible in the 1st century AD. e., and much later, therefore it has no connection with John the Theologian. Thus, K. Jerusalemsky, I. Chrysostom, F. Karsky, G. Theologian do not even name “Revelation” among the canonical books.
Doubts about the authenticity of the text telling about the end of the world were also expressed by Dionysius of Alexandria (III century), Eugene of Caesarea (IV century) and other fairly well-known theologians, both ancient and modern. And their suspicions can be considered quite justified. Having carefully studied the “Holy Gospel of the Life of Jesus Christ,” written by John the Theologian in 95 AD. e., scientists have expressed doubt that he was in 68...69 AD. e. really wrote a prophecy about the Apocalypse awaiting people.
After all, in the “Holy Gospel” he did not say a word about his “Revelation” and did not give a single quote from it.
However, the author of Revelation clearly enjoyed enormous authority among his contemporaries, as evidenced by the contents of the first four chapters of the prophecy. He addresses a number of Christian communities in Asia Minor, assesses their fidelity to the teachings of Christ, praises some, condemns others for their weakness, for having been seduced by the teachings of the false prophets who appeared among them. One can feel his excellent awareness of the secret life of various Christian communities. Based on this, it can be assumed that the author of “Revelation” is the same John the Theologian, who, as is known, was one of the apostles of Christ.
In addition, there are other reasons to see the Apostle John in the author of Revelations. Many early Christian theologians mention in their works that he was more strongly associated with the old faith, Judaism, than all the apostles. In contrast to Paul, the “apostle of the Gentiles,” who considered it possible, for example, not to observe the rituals of the Sabbath and circumcision and who argued that for God, Jews, Scythians and Greeks are equally equal. John considered himself more a Jew than a Christian.
In his “Revelation,” John the Theologian not only talks about the details of the end of the world that were revealed to him from above, he even indicates the date of the onset of the Apocalypse: in 1260 days, i.e. 42 months.
“The Revelation of John the Theologian” was only the first sign. Soon works by other authors appeared on this topic: Peter’s “Apocalypse,” which describes visions of heaven and hell, and “The Shepherd” by Hermas, which contains parables and ethical instructions. The second work received its name from the visions it tells about. The main character here is a man dressed as a shepherd.
The Gospel of Mark also contains a passage that talks about the Last Judgment, which is supposed to end the “age of Satan.” The prophet predicts terrible events that will occur before the second coming. It is these cataclysms that will become a test for humanity, for the sake of which the Son of Man accepted martyrdom.
In the non-canonical description of the end of the world by the Apostle Paul, Jesus Christ utters the following words: “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not warn those who are dead; Because the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first; Then we who are left alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
John's revelation describes the events that will precede Jesus' second appearance on earth, the appearance of the messiah, and life after the Second Coming. It was the description of the events before the Second Coming, and in particular various cataclysms, that led to the modern use of the word APOCALYPSE to mean the end of the world.
Authorship, time and place of writing of the Apocalypse.
In the text the author calls himself John. There are two versions of authorship. The most popular of them (traditional) attributes the authorship of Revelation to John the Theologian. The following facts support the idea that the author was John the Theologian:
- Four times in the text the author calls himself John;
- From apostolic history it is known that John the Theologian was imprisoned on the island of Patmos;
- The similarity of some characteristic expressions with the Gospel of John.
- Patristic research confirms the authorship of John the Theologian.
Many modern researchers, however, dispute the traditional version, citing the following arguments:
- The difference between the language and style of the Apocalypse and the language and style of the Gospel written by John the Theologian;
- The difference between the problems of the Apocalypse and
The difference in language can be explained by the fact that, although John spoke Greek, but, being in captivity, far from the living spoken Greek language, naturally, being a natural Jew, he wrote under the influence of the Hebrew language.
It should be said that, while refuting the traditional authorship, these researchers do not offer any reasoned alternative opinion. The difficulty is that there were several Johns in the apostolic circle, and which of them the Revelation was written does not yet seem possible. When the author himself mentions in the text the fact that he received a vision on the island of Patmos, the author of the Apocalypse is sometimes called John of Patmos. The Roman presbyter Caius believed that the Revelation was created by the heretic Cerinthos.
As for the date of writing the Revelation of John the Theologian, the fact that Papias of Hierapolis was familiar with the text indicates that the Apocalypse was written no later than the 2nd century. Most modern researchers consider the time of writing to be 81–96. Revelation 11 talks about a certain “dimension” of the temple. This fact leads researchers to an earlier dating - 60 years. However, most believe that these lines are not factual, but symbolic in nature and date the writing to the end of the reign of Domitian (81 - 96). This version is supported by the fact that Revelation came to the author on the island of Patmos, and it was there that Domitian exiled people he disliked. Moreover, the end of Domitian’s reign is characterized as a difficult time of persecution of Christians; most likely, it was in such a situation that the Apocalypse was written. Saint John himself points out the purpose of writing Revelation - “to show what must soon happen.” The author shows and predicts the triumph of the Church and Faith. It was precisely at the moment of sorrow and difficult trials that such a work was needed as support and consolation in the struggle for the truth of the Christian faith.
When and how did the Apocalypse of John the Theologian enter the canon of the New Testament?
As we said earlier, the first mention of the Revelation of John the Theologian occurs in the second century. The Apocalypse is mentioned in the works of Tertullian, Irenaeus, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria and others. However, the text of Revelation remained uncanonized for a long time. Cyril of Jerusalem and Saint Gregory the Theologian opposed the canonization of the Apocalypse of John. The Apocalypse was not included in the canon of the Bible, approved by the Council of Laodicea in 364. Only at the end of the 4th century, thanks to the authority of the opinion of Athanasius the Great, who insisted on the canonization of the Revelation of John, the Apocalypse entered the New Testament canon by the decision of the Council of Hippo in 383. This decision was confirmed and enshrined at the Council of Carthage in 419.
Ancient manuscripts of the Apocalypse.
Chester Beatty's Third Papyrus The oldest version of the manuscript of the Revelation of John dates from the mid-third century. This is the so-called third papyrus Chester Beatty or papyrus P47. Third papyrus Chester Beatty contains 10 of the 32 leaves of the Revelation of John.
The text of the Revelation of John the Theologian is also contained in the Codex Sinaiticus. In total, about 300 manuscripts of the Apocalypse are known today. Not all of them contain the full version of Revelation. The Apocalypse is the least attested book of the Old Testament in manuscripts.
How is the Revelation of John the Evangelist used in worship?
Due to the fact that the Revelation of John was included into the canon relatively late, it was practically not used in the services of the Eastern Church. This is one of the reasons for the small number of manuscripts of the Apocalypse that have reached us, mentioned earlier in the article.
According to the Jerusalem Charter (Typicon), which establishes the order Orthodox divine services, the reading of Revelation is prescribed at the “great readings” at all-night vigils. IN Catholicism The Apocalypse is read during the Easter period at Sunday masses. Songs from revelation are also included in the "Liturgy of the Hours"
However, it should be noted that in real life the Apocalypse almost never not used at worship services.
Revelation of John the Theologian - interpretation
In the text of the Apocalypse, John the Theologian describes the revelation he received in visions. The visions describe the birth of the Antichrist, the Second Coming of Christ, the end of the world and the Last Judgment. The figurative side of the text is rich and varied. Images of the Apocalypse have become very popular in world culture. In the Revelation of John the Theologian, the number of the beast is mentioned - 666. Many images were borrowed by the author from Old Testament prophecies. Thus, the author emphasizes the continuity of the Old and New Testaments. The apocalypse ends with a prophecy about the victory of God over the Devil.
The Apocalypse of John the Theologian gave rise to a huge number of points of view and attempts at interpretation and explanation. So, for example, there is an attempt to explain Revelation from the point of view of astronomy in the book by N.A. Morozov “Revelation in a Thunderstorm and a Storm.” Attempts to interpret Revelation multiply in terrible times for humanity - in times of upheaval, disasters and wars.
The sequence of visions and their interpretation.
The mysterious nature of the Revelation of John the Theologian, on the one hand, complicates its understanding and interpretation, and, on the other hand, attracts inquisitive minds trying to decipher the mysterious visions.
Vision 1 (Chapter 1). The Son of Man with seven stars in his hands, located in the middle of the seven lamps.
Interpretation. The loud trumpet voice that John heard belonged to the Son of God. He calls himself Alpha and Omega in Greek. This naming emphasizes that the Son, like the Father, contains within himself all that exists. He stood in the middle of seven lamps, which represented the seven churches. The Revelation of John the Theologian is given to the seven churches that at that time constituted the Ephesian Metropolis. The number seven in those days had a special mystical meaning, meaning completeness. Thus, we can say that Revelation was given to all Churches.
The Son of Man was dressed in a robe and girded with a golden belt. The podir symbolizes high priestly dignity, and the golden belt symbolizes royal dignity. His white hair represents wisdom and old age, thereby indicating his unity with God the Father. The fiery flame in the eyes says that nothing is hidden from His sight. His legs made of chalcolivan show the union of the human and the divine in Him. Halkolivan is an alloy in which halk (presumably copper) signifies the human principle, and livan - the divine.
The Son of Man held seven stars in his hands. The seven stars symbolized the seven bishops of the seven churches that constituted the Metropolis of Ephesus at that time. The vision means that Jesus holds the Church and the shepherds in his hands. Christ appears in the form of a King, and a Priest, and a Judge - this is how he will be at the time of His Second Coming.
The appeared Son of Man commands John to write down everything that appears in visions, as it should be.
The Appearance of the Son of Man to John Vision 2(Chapters 4 - 5). John's Ascension to the Heavenly Throne. Vision of Him sitting on a throne surrounded by 24 elders and 4 living creatures.
Interpretation. Entering the door of heaven, John sees God the Father on the throne. Its appearance is similar to precious stones - green (the personification of life), yellow-red (the personification of purity and holiness, as well as God's wrath towards sinners). The combination of colors indicates that God punishes sinners, but forgives and gives life to those who repent. The combination of these colors predicts the Last Judgment as destruction and renewal.
24 elders in white robes and golden crowns are representatives of humanity who pleased the Lord. These are probably 12 representatives of Old Testament history and 12 of Christ’s apostles. The white color of clothing represents purity and purity. Golden crowns symbolize victory over demons.
Around the throne the “seven candlesticks” burn. These are the seven angels or the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The sea in front of the throne - quiet and clean - symbolizes the souls of the righteous living by the gifts of God's grace.
The four animals represent the four elements over which the Lord rules - earth, heaven, sea and underworld. According to another version, these are angelic forces.
Vision 3(Chapters 6 - 7). The opening of the seven seals from the sealed book by the Lamb slain.
Interpretation: The Lord, sitting on the throne, held in his hand a Book sealed with seven seals. This book symbolizes God's wisdom and God's providence. The seals represent man's inability to comprehend all the plans of the Lord. According to another understanding, the Book is prophecies that were partially fulfilled in the Gospel, and the rest will be fulfilled in the last days.
One of the Angels calls for someone to open the book, removing the seals. However, there is no one worthy “neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth” who could open the seals. One of the elders said that “The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, ... can open this book and open its seven seals.” These lines are about Jesus, who appeared in the form of a lamb with seven horns and eyes. Only he, who sacrificed himself for humanity, was worthy to know the wisdom of God. The seven eyes symbolize the seven spirits of God, as well as the omniscience of God. The Lamb stood next to God, where the son of God should have stood.
When the lamb picked up the book, 24 elders in white robes and 4 animals sang a hitherto unheard song, in which they glorified the coming of the new Kingdom of the Son of God, in which He reigned as the God-man.
Let's talk now about the seven seals and their meaning.
- Removing the first seal. The first seal is a white horse with a victorious rider holding a bow in his hands. The white horse symbolizes the activity of the holy apostles, who directed their forces (bow) against demons in the form of Gospel sermons.
- Removing the second seal. The second seal is a red horse with a rider who took peace from the earth. This seal represents the revolt of the infidels against the believers.
- Removing the third seal. The third seal is a black horse with a rider. This is the personification of unsteady faith and rejection of Christ. According to another version, the black horse symbolizes hunger.
- Opening of the fourth seal. The fourth seal is a pale horse with a rider named “death.” The seal personifies the manifestation of the wrath of God, including the prediction of future disasters.
The horsemen who appeared after the opening of the seals - Opening of the fifth seal. Fifth seal - those killed for the Word of God are clothed in white robes. The souls of the injured righteous are under the altar of the Heavenly Temple. The prayer of the righteous sounds as a harbinger of retribution for everyone’s sins. The white robes worn by the righteous symbolize virtue and purity of faith.
- Opening of the sixth seal. The Sixth Seal is the day of wrath, natural disasters and horrors before the end of the world.
- Opening of the seventh seal. After the seventh seal was opened, complete silence reigned in heaven for half an hour.
Vision 4(Chapters 8 - 11). Seven Angels with Seven Trumpets.
Interpretation. After the opening of the seventh seal, a silence reigned in heaven, which was the calm before the storm. Soon seven angels appeared with seven trumpets. These angels are the punishers of the human race. The angels sounded their trumpets and brought down seven great disasters on humanity.
- The first angel - hail with fire falls on the Earth, as a result of which a third of the trees disappear, all the grass burns, including all the grain.
- The second angel, a mountain blazing with fire, was thrown into the sea; as a result of this disaster, a third of the sea turned to blood, a third of the ships and a third of the sea creatures perished.
- The third angel is a star falling from the sky. A third of rivers and water sources are poisoned and many will die from drinking this water.
- The fourth angel - the third part of the sun, moon and stars went out (eclipsed). The day was shortened by a third, leading to crop failures and famine.
- The fifth angel is the fall of a star from the sky and the appearance of locusts. For five months the locusts tormented the people without the seal of God. This locust looks like a person, has woman's hair and lion's teeth. According to many interpretations of the Revelation of John, these locusts symbolize the sinfulness of human passions.
- The sixth angel is the appearance of four angels bound at the Euphrates River. Angels destroy a third of people. After which a mounted army appears, whose horses have the heads of lions and the tails of snakes. Four Angels are evil demons.
- The seventh angel, most likely Christ himself, descends from heaven to earth. A rainbow is above his head, and in his hands is an open book, which was recently sealed with seven seals. The angel stands with one foot on the earth, the other on the sea. The angel speaks about the end of time and the reign of eternity.
And I saw seven angels who stood before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. Vision 5(Chapter 12). The red serpent pursues the wife clothed in the sun. The war between Michael and the beast in heaven.
Interpretation. By a woman clothed in the sun, some interpreters of the Apocalypse of John the Theologian understand the Most Holy Theotokos, but most see in this image the Church clothed in the radiance of the Word of God.
The moon under the wife's feet is a symbol of constancy. The crown of twelve stars on the wife’s head is a sign that she was originally gathered from the 12 tribes of Israel, and subsequently led by the 12 Apostles. The wife experiences the pangs of birth - that is, those difficulties in confirming God's will.
A great red serpent with seven heads and ten horns appears. It's the devil himself. Seven heads mean great ferocity, ten horns mean anger against the 10 commandments, and red color means bloodthirstiness. The crown on each of the heads indicates that before us is the ruler of a dark kingdom. According to some interpretations of the Apocalypse, the seven crowns symbolize the seven rulers who rebelled against the Church. The tail of the serpent swept away a third of all the stars from the sky - that is, it led sinners to spiritual fall.
The red serpent pursues the wife clothed in the sun. The serpent wants to steal the child that is about to be born to the wife. A wife gives birth to a son, just as the Church daily gives birth to Christ for believers. The child goes to heaven with God, and the wife runs into the desert. In this prophecy, many see a description of the flight of Christians from Jerusalem, besieged by the Romans, into the Trans-Jordanian desert.
What follows is a description of the battle between Michael and his angels and the serpent. Under the image of this battle, many see the confrontation between Christianity and paganism. The serpent was defeated, but not destroyed. He stayed on the ground and pursued his wife. The wife was given two wings - the Old and New Testaments, with the help of which she is transported to the desert, which probably means the desert of the spirit. The serpent releases a river from his mouth, wanting to drown his wife. But the earth opened up and swallowed the river. The river here symbolizes the temptations that believers must resist. According to another version, these are terrible persecutions of the Christian Church, characteristic of the time of writing the Apocalypse of John the Theologian.
The angry serpent brought down his fury on the woman's seeds. This is a symbol of Christianity's endless struggle against sinfulness.
Vision 6(Chapter 13). A beast with seven heads and ten horns emerges from the sea. The appearance of a beast with lamb horns. Number of the beast.
Interpretation. The beast coming out of the sea is the Antichrist coming out of the sea of life. It follows from this that the Antichrist is a product of the human race, he is a man. Therefore, one should not confuse the devil and the Antichrist; these are different concepts. The Antichrist, like the devil, has seven heads. Ten heads with crowns indicate that the Antichrist will have power on earth, which he will receive with the help of the devil. Humanity will try to rebel against the Antichrist, but then he will reign over the world. The power of the Antichrist will last 42 months.
Another beast described in the Revelation of John the Theologian is a beast with lamb horns. This is a symbolic representation of false prophetic activity. This beast emerges from the ground. The beast will show false miracles to humanity, using deception.
The beast with seven heads and ten horns and the beast with lamb horns. Anyone who worships the Antichrist will have the name of the Antichrist written on their face or right hand. The name of the Antichrist and the “number of his name” give rise to many disputes and interpretations. His number is 666. His name is unknown, but in different eras interpreters attributed his name to various historical figures, trying to connect the name and number of the beast.
Vision 7(Chapter 14). Appearance of the Lamb on Mount Zion. The appearance of angels.
Interpretation. After a vision of the Antichrist's reign on earth, John looks up to heaven and sees a lamb standing on Mount Sinai surrounded by 144,000 of God's chosen ones from all nations. The name of God is written on their face. They are joined by a host of harp players playing a “new song” about redemption and renewal.
Next, John sees three angels soaring in the sky. The first Angel proclaimed to people the “eternal Gospel”, the second - heralds the fall of Babylon (this is a symbol of the kingdom of sin), the third - threatens those who serve the Antichrist with eternal torment.
Looking up at heaven, John sees the Son of God wearing a golden crown and holding a sickle in his hand. Angels announce the beginning of the harvest. The Son of God throws the sickle onto the ground and the harvest begins - it also symbolizes the end of the world. An angel reaps bunches of grapes. By bunches of grapes we mean the most dangerous enemies of the Church. Wine flowed from the grapes and rivers of grapes reached the horse's bridles.
Harvest Vision 8 ( Chapters 15 - 19). Seven bowls of wrath.
Interpretation. After the harvest, John in his Revelation describes a vision of a sea of glass mixed with fire. The glass sea represents the pure souls of those saved after the harvest. Fire can be understood as the grace of the Life-giving Spirit. John hears the “song of Moses” and the “song of the Lamb.”
After this, the gates of the heavenly temple opened and seven angels in white robes came out and received from 4 animals seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of the Lord. The angels are instructed by God to pour out the seven vials before the final judgment of the living and the dead.
The Seven Bowls of Wrath are reminiscent of the Plagues of Egypt, which were a prototype of the reprisal against the false Christian kingdom.
- The first angel poured out the cup - and an epidemic of disgusting plagues began.
- The second Angel poured the cup into the sea - and the water became like the blood of a dead man. Every living thing died in the sea.
- The third Angel poured the cup into the rivers and springs of water - and all the water turned into blood.
- The fourth Angel poured the cup into the sun - and the sun burned the people. By this solar heat, interpreters of the Revelation of John the Theologian understand the heat of temptations and temptations.
- The fifth Angel poured the cup onto the throne of the beast - and his kingdom became dark. The followers of the Antichrist bit their tongues from suffering, but did not repent.
- The sixth Angel poured the bowl into the Euphrates - and the water in the river dried up. The Euphrates River has always been the natural defense of the Roman Empire from the attacks of the peoples of the East. The drying up of the Euphrates symbolizes the emergence of a path for the soldiers of the Lord.
- With the pouring out of the last bowl, the kingdom of the beast will be completely defeated. John describes the fall of Babylon - the great Harlot
Angels pour out the seven bowls of the Lord's wrath Vision 9. The Last Judgment (Chapter 20)
In this chapter, John describes a vision related to the history of the Church. He talks about the general resurrection and the Last Judgment.
Vision 10(Chapters 21-22). New Jerusalem.
John was shown the greatness of the new Jerusalem - the Kingdom of Christ, which will reign after the victory over the devil. There will be no sea in the new kingdom - for the sea is a symbol of impermanence. In the new world there will be no hunger, no disease, no tears.
Only those who win the confrontation with demons will enter the new Kingdom; others will be condemned to eternal torment.
The church appeared before John in the form of a beautiful city descending from the heavens of Jerusalem. There is no visible temple in the city, since the city itself is a temple. The heavenly city does not need consecration also because God lives in it.
and he showed me the great city, holy Jerusalem, which came down from heaven from God. The Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian is the logical conclusion of the New Testament cycle. From the historical books of the New Testament, believers can gain knowledge about the founding and development of the Church. From the books of the law - a guide for life in Christ. The Apocalypse prophesies about the future of the Church and the world.
