Eschatology

Revelation

• Most controversial book of the Bible
• During the apostolic age, there were more writings which were considered to be not apostolic, which did not become part of the canon of the Orthodox Catholic Church.

• If you look at the writings of the early Christian era, those which have been canonized are actually a very small number of writings. So not all writings of that time were considered to be part of the Church tradition.
• From the beginning, the Revelation of John was highly questioned for years. In certain lists of scripture it did not exist. In the council of Laodacia, in the 4th century, it is not listed as one of the books of the Bible. Many highly respeced figures in Church history were against this book.

• Anthelopious of Iconium (cousin of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa) - It is a spurious book and should not be in the canon.
• St John Chrysostom never mentions it.

• For those Christians whose faith is based on the Bible, the questionable nature of Revelation can be distressing. However, for the Orthodox, this is not the case, because the foundation of the life and teaching of the Church is in the ongoing spiritual life, tradition, worship, etc. of the Church community, and not in a book.
• After the 4th century Revelation was finally canonized. However it still holds special status because it is the only book of the New Testament which is never read in Church.

• Revelation is filled with references to the Old Testament. If one doesn't know the Bible well, one will never understand Revelation.
• Many things in Revelation are in the Church's life.

• The liturgy of the Church is inspiring Revelation and taken from Revelation. It helps to understand Orthodox liturgy to know Revelation.