Revelation

• Editor's note: Most of this was taken from Fr. Thomas Hopko's On The Apocalypse available at svspress.com

Introduction

• 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.

In order to understand Orthodox liturgy, you have to know the book of Revelation. Because what is the main element of the Apocalypse, is the celestial liturgy and the worship of the risen lamb, who is crucified, together with God, through the Holy Spirit, in this cosmic, celestial liturgy in which one has insight into the deepest mysteries of God and into the very end of the whole of history. That's what Orthodox worship is all about, and that's what the book of Revelation is about, and the two come together. - Fr. Thomas Hopko, On The Apocalypse, svspress.com

• The Book of Revelation had some notable advocates for inclusion into the canon as well.

• Justin the Martyr (2nd Century)
• Irenaeus of Lyons
• Athanasius the Great

• The author of Revelation is traditionally identified with John the Evangelist (author of the fourth Gospel)

• There was question about the authorship from the beginning. No modern critic thinks that John wrote it.
• It is interesting to note that it is those who come from John are the defenders of Revelation.

• Irenaeus, for example, was the direct disciple and ordained by Polycarp of Smyrna, who was himself a direct disciple of John.
• Justin is also in the Johanine line.

• The official title of the book is The Apocalypse of John

• The term apocalypse means literally revelation, or disclosure
• Apocalypse is a particular type of revelation, however. It is a revelation to people capable of understanding the revelation, because they live within a certain spiritual, theological, liturgical, traditional world, which has its own history and language, and therefore its own mystical experience, so that this revelation, which is a revelation of God, which is a disclosure of an insight into truth -- and very particularly a truth of what is going on... It is written in cryptic language; it is written with images and symbols that only initiates can understand. It is not written for the world. It is written for the insiders. For those who belong. For those who are within God's realm. And it is given to them so that they would understand what's happening to them... But has an application larger, wider, deeper, and mor ultimate, than just to them - Fr. Thomas Hopko
• Revelation is an archetypal vision which has a historical reality and yet is a way to interpret the totality of reality. It shows what is happening to Christians at that time is also what is happening to Christians all the time until Christ's return.
• Revelation can only be properly understood from within the Orthodox catholic tradition.

The Time of the End

• Christians consider themselves already to be living in the time of the end, because the messiah has already come, been glorified, has been enthroned, all things have been given unto him. This victory of Christ, fulfills history, with the only meaning of history now to bear witness to the kingship of Christ, and to wait for his coming, to establish what he has already accomplished, by being crucified, raised, glorified and seated at the right hand of the Father. So the book of the Revelation is about how we are to relate to Christ and what is going on around us now in these end times.
• This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ that has been given to show to his servants (us), about what will soon take place.

• The book has nothing to do with temporal chronology. It has to do with God's time; with mystical time. And the length of the end time is not revealed. Not even when specifically asked (ref. Jesus telling his disciples that it was not for them to know). We are to be faithful to God, and to live in the imminent presence of his coming.
• What the Christian shares with Jesus is the Kingdom and the tribulation. We are in the tribulation until Christ returns. Yet we are also in the Kingdom because we belong to Christ. Spiritually, mystically, liturgically, baptismally, we are in the Kingdom. The tribulation is about how we, the children of Christ, are nailed by the children of the world. The Lord's prayer, in fact, is a prayer for the end time. The book is about comforting the faithful to patiently endure the tribulation.

Chapter 1 - Mystical Images

• When John says in 1:10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day... he means that he was at the Liturgy on Sunday, when he was given these visions.
  • The sabboth is on Saturday, and the Jews refer to the day after the Sabboth as the Eigth Day or the Day of the Kingdom.
  • John is given this vision in the context of worship.
  • Seven Lampstands; seven stars; seven spirits; seven Churches. Throughout the book there is the image of the "seven". The book is crafted of seven visions of seven elements. In the Jewish/Christian tradition, seven is the image of absolute fullness and completion.
  • Many numbers are written throughout the book. These numbers are apocalyptic; mystigogical; symbolic. They really have nothing to do with arithmetic. Instead, their significance is the revelation of meaning.
    • The book begins with seven letters to seven Churches, with seven spirits, and seven stars, and seven words.
    • Then there is the vision of the celestial glory of God in Heaven.
    • Then there follow seven seals, seven trumpets, seven visions of the dragon's kingdom, seven visions of the worshipers of the lamb, seven visions of the bowls of wrath, seven visions of the fall of Babylon.
    • Seven times seven. This signifies absolute perfection. This is the ultimate revelation of God concerning the state of the world and Christians in this age.
      • Variations on the seven:
        • The number six denotes absolute poverty, absolute evil, absolute lack; which is why the image of the beast is "666".
        • Three and a half. Day and a half. Time and a half. These all denote "not ultimate"

• Then John sees one like the Son of Man, clothed in a long robe and golden girdle, followed by other images: white wool; fire; bronze; etc.
  • Fire is the biblical image of the presence of God (burning bush, pillar of fire, flames of Pentecost, etc). This vision comes from Daniel 7.
  • Then John falls down, but the Son of Man says, Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive – forever and ever – and I hold the keys of death and of Hades!.

Chapter 2 - The Seven Churches

• This is what God wants to say to every church in every generation. Although it is placed in the context of the first century, each of the seven can be applied to ourselves.
  • There is a tradition that the seven churches were particular eras of church history. Fr. Seraphim Rose, for example, follows this line of thinking.
    • Ephesus - The early Church
    • Smyrna - Apostolic Church
    • Pergamon - Patristic Church
    • Thyratyra - The Post-Patristic Church
    • Sardis - The split Church
    • Philadepphia - The modern apostasising Church
    • Laodacia - What we are in now
• Every letter ends with an expression of victory. The point of The Revelation is that Jesus has conquered. That is the message to us: to conquere in and with Christ.
  • Ephesus - To him who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is the paradise of God. Speaks of the Eucharist.
  • Smyrna - He who conquers shall not be hurt by the second death. The first death is not death, but baptism. So that, in a way, we are already asleep in Christ and sharing in his kingdom. The second death is annihilation which we are freed from.
  • Pergamon - To him who conquers, I will give the hidden manna. Hidden is mystical and manna is bread. The Gospel of John says that Christ is the new manna, the "bread of life". Again, we participate in the eucharistic banquet. Also note how at the end of The Revelation, the Kingdom is described as a banquet, that is, the marriage supper of the Lamb. Jesus says at the last supper, Blessed are those who will eat bread in the Kingdom of God. Then Jesus says, I will give him a white stone upon which is written a new name. This is the baptismal name, and the white stone is the symbol of admission.
  • Thyratyra - He who conquers keeps my works until the end. They get power to rule over the nations. They participate in the Kingdom of God.
  • Sardis - He who conquers shall be clad in a white garment. I will blot his name out of the Book of Life. I will confess his name before my Father and before His Angels. The white garment is a symbol of the resurrected body. It occurs everywhere and is a symbol of membership in the Kingdom of God, and of those who conquer with the Lamb.
  • Philadelphia - Pillars for the temple of God. And the temple in the New Testament is not a building, but the people; the Church.
  • Laodacia - He who conquers I will grant for him to sit with me on the throne.
• In each one, there is a tribulation, which is an attempt to prevent the Christian not to be faithful to Christ, and therefore not to be victorious, but to fall prey to temptation.

Chapters 4 and 5

• We see how the layout of a Church reflects what is written here.
  • 24 Elders. Represent the fullness of God's people (12 tribes. 12 apostles, etc.). 24 represents 12 tribes of Israel, and 12 nations, which is the fullness of God's people both Jew and gentile.
  • 4 Living Creatures. Four is the cosmic symbol (north, south, east, west; height, depth, length, breadth). Later in the book is mentioned the four winds; the four corners of the Earth. It stands for all of creation. They sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, etc.
  • The scroll sealed with seven seals. This is the ultimate mystery. John weeps, because no one can be found who can reveal the ultimate mystery. Then they find the one who is worthy -- the lion of the tribe of Judah; the one who has conquered.
  • The Lamb who has been slain. Seven horns means all power. Seven eyes means all insight. Seven spirits means all of God's reality. This of course is Jesus. And the Lamb goes up and all the elders prostrate in front of the Lamb (just as we do in Church). Incense is going up (we do this in Church). Then it says, You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe, language, people, and nation. You have appointed them as a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. All of which is liturgical and doxilogical -- Kingdom, priests, lamb, presence, incense, robes, elders, angels, all together. This is the vision of the heavenly liturgy, which our earthly Divine Liturgy attempts to emulate.

Chapter 20 - The Thousand Years

• For the Orthodox, the millenium is now
  • The Thousand Years is the symbol of when Christ reigns on the earth, in those who belong to him. The time of the Church is when Christ reigns on the earth.
• Christ will return at the end of the thousand years and raise the dead.
  • Those who are righteous reign with Christ.
    • The righteous move on into further deification ([Theosis]).
  • Those who have done evil are damned, and subjected to the second death (the lake of fire, etc).
    • This does not mean annihilation.
    • This (probably) means that their existence consists of an unending dying. They would like to die, but cannot.
    • The "fire" is the presence of God himself. "The light of the final parousia of the Lord, which is delight to the righteous, is torture to the damned." - Gregory the Theologian
    • There is no punishment, per se. What the "punishment" is, is having heard all about Christ and known about him, they still reject him.
    • Hell is not the exclusion from the presence of God, but having to endure the presence of God when it is a torment.

End of the Book

• The Lamb is victorious
  • The 144,000 the great crowd. Called "virgins" in the text, but this does not mean chaste, rather that they have not committed fornication with the beast. That is, they have not sold themselves to the rulers of this earth. The number 144,000 is symbolic of all of Israel, both new and old.
  • Then comes armageddon.
  • Then the harlot of babylon is drunk on the blood of the saints because for a time the beast is allowed to appear to be victorious, not realizing that it is through the tribulation and the death of the saints which the beast meets his downfall. Just as when Christ is crucified, it appears the devil wins, but in fact it leads to his destruction.

• The vision of the final victory. The New Jerusalem.

• All creation is restored.
  • We are not platonists or spiritualists. We believe all plants animals, etc. are good and saved by God. We say "Heaven and Earth rejoices", for example. We sing psalms from the Bible which say, "praise the Lord, sun and moon; beasts of the field; fish;" etc. It is not just our souls that are saved. There is some kind of salvation of the material world, and we are resurrected in the body. "We do not know how, but we are certain that God will save the material world, because he made it and it is good... indeed it's very good. And that's an affirmation. That's why someone said you cannot go to Orthodox worship without drumming, crumbing, dripping, chewing and aching, because your body is in it, you have bread, you have wine, you have oil, you have vestments, you have candles, it's a material mess in the Orthodox Church after the Liturgy. It says something about our belief about the world. There is a physical side to being spiritual. And the physical isn't just used. We don't have to apologize to anyone about using material elements. We don't 'use' material elements. They're there and we delight in them and they worship."
  • The great crowd that comes from the nations includes people who are never members of the Orthodox Church when they were on earth.
    • Will include those who, given what they know about God, have been faithful to the light, life, truth, love, and glory of God, as it was given to them to experience (see Salvation).
  • We do 'not' believe:
    • Jesus will come and have a thousand-year reign on earth where history continues.
    • Jesus will have a thousand-year reign on earth after he raises all the dead, and then will bring his ultimate kingdom.
  • We 'do' believe:
    • There is neither premillenialism or postmillenialism
    • When Christ comes again in glory he establishes the final kingdom.
      • The dead are raised
      • The goats and the sheep are separated
      • Those who continue to resist the kingdom futilely and unsuccessfully suffer the second death for eternity and that becomes their torment. And even then, their torment is the love of God.
        • Those in Hell will think that they should be in the Kindom, but when the spirit calls them they will refuse to come.
        • "It's kind of like a kid with candy. They say, "Give me the candy." And we say to the child, "No, you can have the candy after dinner." So then after dinner you put the candy on the table, and everybody is eating it, and you say, "Okay, come and eat it." And they say, "No!" And you say, "Why? Just come and take it, you can have it", and they say, "No! I don't want to now!" They are mad as the devil that everyone is eating that candy. They think they deserve the candy. They want the candy and they torture themselves by not taking the candy, but it's not because it's not being given to them. That's Hell." - Fr. Thomas Hopko

Dichotomies in The Revelation

• The "woman" (Jerusalem); and the "harlot" (Babylon)
  • The woman who is fully pure and holy; and the harlot who fornicates with the kings of the earth.
  • The clash between the son of the woman, the man; and the beast from the sea, who comes as the harlot.
  • The offspring of the woman, i.e., those who belong to the lamb; and those who belong to the beast.
• Michael the Archangel; and Satan
• The two seals: those who are sealed by the lamb; and those who bear the mark of the beast.
• Those who are the image of the lamb; and those who worship the image of the beast.
• Those who bear the name of the lamb's father; and those who bear the name of the beast.
• Seal; mark; image; name; all very present images to Orthodox Christians
  • We have our Christian name
  • We are sealed at chrismation