Revelation of John the Theologian. Images of the Apocalypse. Apocalypse-Revelations of John the Theologian (15 photos)

The Revelations of St. John is the last book of the New Testament and the Bible. The uniqueness of the revelation lies in the fact that it is the only book telling about the apocalypse that was included in the canon of the New Testament.

Revelation written by John the Evangelist, contains 22 chapters, each of which can be read on the Internet or by purchasing the New Testament. In addition, they produce videos in which they talk about the revelations of John the Theologian and interpretations of them.

Main features of the revelation of John the Theologian

The revelation lists a number of disasters, which will manifest themselves before the Second Coming, which is why the book was included in the apocalyptic section. You can read it on any Internet resource on the relevant topic.

The time of entry of the revelation of John the Theologian into the canon of the New Testament

The work of John the Theologian was first mentioned at the beginning of the 2nd century, in the works of such famous people as Tertullian, Irenaeus, Eusebius, and Clement of Alexandria. But for a long time after its appearance, the text about the apocalypse was uncanonized.

Only in 383 did the revelation of John the Evangelist enter the New Testament canon, the Ippon Council and Athanasius the Great directly contributed to this. This decision was finally made and approved in 419 by the Council of Carthage.

But such a decision also had ardent opponents in the persons of Cyril of Jerusalem and Saint Gregory the Theologian.

According to some data, today there are about 300 manuscripts of the Apocalypse, but not all of them contain the full version of the revelation. Today, everyone is allowed to read the full versions of the revelations; the holy fathers of the churches even recommend that you take a look and understand the whole essence of the interpretation.

Interpretation of the Apocalypse of John the Theologian

In his revelation, John the Theologian describes to people the visions that came to him from God, During these visions he sees the following events:

• the appearance of the Antichrist in the world;
• the second coming of Jesus to earth;
• Apocalypse;
• Last Judgment.

The revelation ends with the information that God will win unquestioning victory over.

The visions set out on paper by John the Theologian have been tried to be interpreted many times, but the most popular to this day are the interpretations of the holy fathers.

The first vision describes a human son, who holds seven stars in his hands and is located in the center of seven lamps.

According to the interpretations of the holy fathers, it can be assumed that the son of man is Jesus, because he is also the son of Mary, who was a man. Jesus, like God, contains all that exists.

The placement of the son of God in the midst of the seven lampstands indicates that the interpretation was given to the seven churches. It was this number of churches that stood at the head of the entire religion during the life of John the Theologian.

The human son was wearing a podder and a golden belt. The first item of clothing indicates high priestly dignity, and the second item of clothing indicates royal dignity.

The presence of seven stars in Jesus' hands indicates seven bishops. That is, the human son closely monitors and controls the actions of the bishops.

In the process of the vision, the human son ordered John the Theologian to write down all further visions.

Second Vision

John ascends to the throne of God and sees his face. The throne is surrounded by 24 elders and 4 representatives of the animal world.

The interpretation interprets that Looking at the face of God, John noticed a radiance emanating from him:

• green - as a sign of life;
• yellow-red as a sign of holiness and punishment for sinners.

Thanks to this combination of colors, John realized that this was a prediction of the Last Judgment, which would destroy and renew the earth.

The 24 elders who surrounded God were people who pleased him with their deeds.

The animals near the throne are the elements governed by the Lord:

• Earth;
• heaven;
• sea;
• the underworld.

Third and fourth vision

John the Evangelist observed how seven seals are opened from a book held in God's hands.

The book presented in the vision indicates the wisdom of God, and the seals present on it will mark the fact that man cannot understand all the plans of the Lord.

Only Jesus could remove the seals from the book. who knows what self-sacrifice is and gave his life for other people.

In the fourth vision, John the Theologian sees seven Angels holding trumpets in their hands.

After the seven seals are opened by Jesus, there will be complete silence in heaven, which indicates the calm before the storm. After which seven angels will appear, who, having played their trumpets, will unleash seven great troubles on the representatives of humanity.

Fifth Vision

During the vision, John sees, like a red serpent follows on the heels of his wife, clothed in the sun. The war between Michael and the red serpent.

According to the interpretation of the holy fathers, the wife is the Most Holy Theotokos, however, a number of interpreters claim that this is the church.

The moon is placed under the woman’s feet - this is a sign of constancy. On the woman’s head there is a wreath with twelve stars - this indicates that she was originally created from the 12 tribes of Israel, and after that she was led by.

The red snake is the image of the Devil, which by its appearance symbolizes anger directed towards those created by God.

The purpose of the serpent is to take away the child that is soon to be born to the woman. But as a result, the child ends up with God, and the woman runs into the desert.

After this, a battle takes place between Michael and the Devil, according to the interpretation of the holy fathers - this symbolizes the war between Christianity and paganism. As a result of the battle, the snake was defeated, but did not die.

Sixth Vision

An unknown beast appears from the depths of the sea, which has seven heads and ten horns.

The beast that emerged from the depths of the sea is the Antichrist. But, despite having the features of an animal, he is a man. Therefore, those people who believe that the Antichrist and the Devil are one and the same are making a huge mistake.

The presence of 7 heads in the Antichrist indicates that he acts under the leadership of the Devil. Such cooperation will lead to the Antichrist reigning on earth and reigning for 42 months.

Everyone who renounces the Lord and worships the Antichrist will be branded, the number “666” will appear on his forehead or right hand.

Seventh Vision

The following vision indicates the appearance of angels.

In this vision, Mount Sinai appears to the gaze of John the Theologian, on the top of which stands a lamb, surrounded by 144 thousand people, God’s chosen ones from all kinds of nations.

Looking up John sees three angels:

1. The first tells people the “everlasting gospel.”
2. The second predicts the fall of Babylon.
3. The third promises unheard-of torment for those who betrayed God in the name of the Antichrist.

Angels will mark the beginning of the harvest. Jesus throws the sickle on the ground and the harvest begins. At this stage, the harvest means the apocalypse.

One of the angels is reaping grapes; these berries mean all the people who had a negative impact on the state of the church.

Eighth and ninth visions

The eighth vision describes the seven bowls of wrath.

In this vision, John sees a sea of ​​glass mixed with particles of fire. This sea refers to those people who were saved after the end of the world.

After this, the Theologian sees how the gates of heaven open and seven angels in snow-white robes come out; they receive from four animals 7 golden bowls filled with the wrath of the Lord. According to the decree of the Lord, the angels must, before the start of the Last Judgment, pour out all the bowls on the living and the dead.

John's ninth vision describes General Sunday which ends with the Last Judgment.

Tenth Vision

John sees the new Jerusalem, which was built after the final victory over the Devil. In the new world there will be no sea, since it symbolizes impermanence. In the new world, a person will forget about what grief, illness, and tears represent.

But only those who will resist the Devil and will not bow to him will become part of the new world. If people do not restrain themselves, they will be condemned to eternal torment.

Apocalypse of Saint John, this is the book that makes people attend churches more often and really devote themselves wholeheartedly to serving the Lord, since no one knows when the day of judgment will come or the Antichrist will come to the world.

Having familiarized yourself with the revelation of John the Theologian, you can obtain basic knowledge about the development and emergence of the Church, as well as receive a number of tips on how to live correctly, the main thing is to understand what John the Theologian wanted to present.

Today, there is probably not a single person on Earth who has not heard about the prophecies of the Mayan priests - the end of the world will come in 2012. By the way, many prophets and clairvoyants spoke on this topic. However, the most famous is still the apocalyptic prophecy in the Revelation of John the Theologian. It is this text that is the starting point for the reasoning of all historians, theologians and scientists trying to discern signs of an impending catastrophe in current events.

There are no such words!

Nowadays, many people are discussing whether the end of the world will come, and if it does, then when? At the same time, almost no one can clearly say: what is this - the Apocalypse? Indeed, in the text of the New Testament, which includes the Revelation of John the Theologian, there are no such words - “the end of the world.”

It has become a tradition to use the word “apocalypse” as a synonym for universal catastrophe. But what does this concept actually mean? And if the prophecy is destined to come true, then what events can actually be expected in the future?

Classic version

The Book of Revelation, or Apocalypse, was written in the 90s of the 1st century AD by the Apostle John, the “beloved disciple” of Jesus Christ. Later he was nicknamed John the Evangelist. The book describes the events that will occur before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth. We are talking about numerous cataclysms and miracles.

Through visions, John was revealed to the upcoming birth of the Antichrist and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Apocalypse itself and the Last Judgment of God. The book contains symbolic images that later became the topic of theological interpretation.

The Book of Revelation ends with the prophecy that God's victory over sin will crown the struggle between the forces of light and darkness on Earth. And that after the Apocalypse God will dwell among people. Humanity will not disappear from the face of the earth after what we call the end of the world. John says: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” And after the Apocalypse, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; There will be no more crying, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away.”

These words convey the assurance that the apocalyptic prophecy is not about the death of the Earth and all people, but about their qualitative change. “And he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And he said to me: it is done! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end; To the thirsty I will give freely from the fountain of living water. He who overcomes will inherit everything, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.”

As you can see, after the Apocalypse there came not the death of everything, but the death of the vicious and the birth of a new bright world.

The Beast and the Lamb.

The main negative image of the Apocalypse is the Beast. And it is traditionally believed that the Beast of the Apocalypse is Satan, the Antichrist, personifying universal evil. But also its specific embodiment in the image of a false prophet, paganism, idolatry.

The strengthening of the anti-Christian state is also a sign of the impending collapse. It is believed that before the end of the world, the Roman Empire, the worldwide kingdom of the Antichrist (the kingdom of the Beast), will be restored. The beast and a sign of its manifestation is considered to be a system of predatory anti-Christian power, as well as a society of greedy and vicious people who have departed from the laws of God and love. Another sign is the spiritual callousness of people, their cruelty and selfishness. There is an explanation for this interpretation in the 13th chapter of the prophecy: “Here is wisdom. He who has intelligence, count the number of the Beast, for it is a human number; its number is six hundred and sixty-six.”

The symbol of the Lamb is not controversial. Traditionally, the Lamb is a symbol of Christ the Savior, whose second coming is expected during the events described.

The Apocalypse of John describes the second coming of Jesus. This is an event expected in most Christian churches, foretold in the New Testament, as well as in the Koran. Jesus Christ himself also repeatedly spoke about his Second Coming to Earth, the apostles also talk about it, and therefore it has been the general conviction of the Church at all times.

Traditionally, a specific person is expected to arrive. And charlatans take advantage of this circumstance, posing as the messiah.

But the coming of Jesus Christ will be visible to everyone in different parts of the world at the same time: it will be “like lightning from east to west.”

Seven seals and four horsemen

The introductory chapter to the entire apocalyptic process is Chapter VI of Revelation, which describes the sequential opening of the seven seals by the Lamb, as the revelation of the general content of history...

The beginning of the last times corresponds to the breaking of the first seal. “And I saw that the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals...” But then it is written: “Do not be afraid of anything that you will have to endure. Behold, the devil will cast you from among you into prison to tempt you, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life; he that overcometh shall not suffer harm from the second death. And it is said: Arise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it.”

Different interpretations of the image of the seven seals have been and are being offered. One of them draws attention to the seven human energy centers and not only external, but also internal processes associated with this.

This is evidenced by the words of Revelation itself: “But exclude the outer court of the temple and do not measure it, for it was given to the pagans: they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And if the Lord had not shortened those days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect whom He has chosen, those days will be shortened. And nothing will be cursed anymore..."

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are biblical characters who personify disasters and cataclysms that precede the events of the Second Coming and the Last Judgment. They are described in the sixth chapter of the Revelation of John the Theologian. These symbols have been the subject of heated debate for centuries. However, recently, an increasing number of researchers are inclined to think that these four horsemen symbolize the four natural elements that are clearly beginning to rage on our planet.

Second coming

The second coming of Jesus Christ, as John the Theologian asserts, will be glorious: He will not appear as a humiliated son of man, as the first time, but as the true Son of God, surrounded by angels serving Him. This glorious coming will be at the same time terrible and formidable - Christ will judge the world.

However: “But no one knows about that day or hour, not the angels of heaven, not the Son, only the Father.”

But they indicated some signs of this time. The most important thing is “the impoverishment of faith and love in people.”

The prophecies of the New Testament say that the Second Coming will be preceded by many cataclysms: “And suddenly, after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven; and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

The words of Jesus in Revelation sound a warning: “Beware that you are not deceived; For many will come in My name and say, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many. And that time is near. Don't follow them. You will also hear about wars and rumors of war and turmoil. Look, don't be horrified; for all these things must be first; but this is not yet the end: for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, pestilences, turmoil and earthquakes in places; yet this is the beginning of disease. But look after yourself."

Watch yourself. What does this mean?

The German Christian mystic poet Angelius Silesius (1624-1677) wrote that the Second Coming of Christ is not only an external, but also an internal event. He left the following words to his descendants: “And if Christ had been born a hundred times in a manger, but not in you, you would not have been saved.”

John the Theologian

Such a chosen one, undoubtedly, was the son of the fisherman Zebedee from the Galilean city of Bethsaida, John, known to us as an outstanding theologian, prophet and apostle of the Christian faith.

At first, John was a disciple of John the Baptist, then for about three years he wandered with Jesus Christ throughout Palestine, calling the people to repentance and preaching the coming of the Kingdom of God.

The quiet and meek young man John was the youngest of the Savior’s apostles. But his spiritual gentleness was combined with boundless devotion to the Teacher and fearlessness.

Jesus always distinguished John and made him, James and Peter witnesses to mysterious events that he had previously hidden from the other apostles: the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter, the glorious Transfiguration on Tabor and the prayer for the cup in the Garden of Gethsemane.

John repeatedly proved his love and devotion to the Savior. When the hour of His suffering came and the guards grabbed Jesus, all the disciples fled. And only John and Peter followed the Teacher to the house of the high priest. But Peter, too, began to waver in fear and betrayed Christ.

John did not leave the Teacher. He heard the Jews shouting: “Crucify him, crucify him,” accompanied Christ to Golgotha ​​and, together with the Mother of God, stood at the cross until the Lord’s death. In the last moments of his earthly life, Jesus entrusted him with the care of his Mother.

After the death of the Mother of God, John traveled a lot, preaching about Christ not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Asia Minor. During the reign of Emperor Domitian, a persecutor of Christians, he was exiled to the island of Patmos and miraculously escaped death.

And yet he did not suffer as much as the other apostles. He was not beheaded like his brother Jacob; did not die on the cross like Peter. His life was not as turbulent as that of the Apostle Paul, who first became known as a persecutor of Christians, and then as a zealous follower of Christ. John the Theologian lived smoothly, quietly, and lived to a ripe old age.

He became famous no longer as a figure, but as the author of the fourth Gospel, three Epistles and “Revelation”, in which he predicted the fate of the world. The “Revelation” of John the Theologian, or Apocalypse, has been arousing mystical interest for many centuries. Each new generation interprets it in its own way, believing that the pestilences, wars, famines and revolutions that befell it were predicted by John the Theologian. No one is embarrassed by the fact that these disasters regularly recur in every century.

John's last vision contains an interpretation of the end of the world. It is this prediction that people transfer to their time, and this time is declared the end of the world or a threshold close to it. The end of the world was expected to come many times already, but it hasn’t come yet...

Historians interpret Revelation in their own way and consider this interpretation to be the only correct one. In their opinion, this apocalyptic work is associated only with the formation of Christianity, and not with later times. It tells the story of the persecution of Christians and how this religion survived, defeated its persecutors and spread throughout the world.

John wrote his Gospel at the end of his life, in the nineties from the Nativity of Christ, when there were already narratives about the earthly life of Christ by Mark, Matthew and Luke. At such an advanced age, John was forced to take up the pen by the great activity of heretics who were shaking the foundations of the Church.

Divine inspiration itself helped John to penetrate into such mysterious and sublime depths of Christian truths. For this he was nicknamed the Theologian.

John died during the reign of Trajan and was buried in Ephesus. He lived, according to various sources, from one hundred to one hundred and twenty years. His memory is celebrated on May 8 and September 26.

The word "apocalypse" translated from Greek means "opening" or "revelation." “Revelation” by John the Theologian is the only prophetic book of the New Testament. Predictions about the future are also contained in the Gospels, but nevertheless it is in the Apocalypse that mysterious predictions about the future fate of the church and the whole world are given in their entirety. For many centuries, human thought has been intensely trying to unravel the mystery of the Apocalypse and see the correspondence between the lived periods of history and the visions of John the Theologian.

Nowadays, in the minds of most people, the word “apocalypse” is associated with something catastrophic, disastrous, terrible. Meanwhile, the Apocalypse was created with the goal of giving courage to persecuted Christians and revealing the meaning of the militant Church. And the main thing for which the Apocalypse was written is “to show what is soon to happen.”

“I was in the spirit on Sunday,” says the apostle. In the language of the prophets, “to be in the spirit” means to be in such a spiritual state when a person sees, hears and feels not with his bodily organs, but with his entire inner being. These are not dreams, but visions that appeared to John the Theologian.

And John saw “seven angels standing before God; and seven trumpets were given to them.”

The trumpet sounds of all seven Angels are heard one after another, which are accompanied each time by great disasters and executions for the earth and its inhabitants.

“The first angel sounded, and there came hail and fire, mingled with blood, and fell to the earth; and the third part of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”

By hail falling on the ground and “fire mixed with blood,” many interpreters understood a war of extermination.

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; a third of the sea became blood. And the third part of the living creatures that lived in the sea died, and the third part of the ships perished.”

Interpreters gave such a fantastic solution to this picture: a volcano will open at the bottom of one of the oceans, and its fiery lava will fill a third of the earth’s water basins, bringing death to all living things. Others believed that bloody sea battles with the help of newly invented murder weapons were depicted here in allegorical form.

“And the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a lamp, and fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of this star is Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many of the people died from the waters, because they became bitter.”

For a long time, this prediction was understood as follows: a meteor will fall to the ground and poison water sources, which will become poisonous.

However, this terrible prophecy was looked at differently in the spring of 1986. The world was shocked by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Chernobyl... This Ukrainian word means “wormwood”. Many then shuddered, remembering the lines of the Apocalypse written by the apostle nineteen centuries ago.

“The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun and the third part of the moon and the third part of the stars were struck, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the third part of the day was not light, even as the night.”

This was considered to be the easiest prediction because it speaks of celestial eclipses, which have always terrified people. In themselves they were harmless, but with their mystery they seemed to prophesy terrible troubles.

At the trumpet voice of the fifth Angel, a star fell from heaven, and “the key to the well of the abyss was given to it. She opened the deep well, and smoke came out of the well like smoke from a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the well. And out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth..."

These locusts, like scorpions, were ordered to torment people who did not have the seal of God on themselves for five months. The description of a monstrous locust, with a head resembling a human head, but with lion teeth, leads some interpreters to believe that this is nothing more than an allegorical depiction of human passions.

Others find similarities between these locusts and airplanes and bombers. The horrors that people will then be subjected to will be such that they 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 sounded - and John saw the invasion of an innumerable foreign army: “The horsemen had fiery armor on them; The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone.”

By this terrible cavalry army they meant a bloody, merciless war, such as the Second World War that people experienced not so long ago was. And in the horses spewing smoke and brimstone, tanks were easily discernible...

John also notes that before the end of the world there will be a general bitterness and petrified insensibility of people who survived all these horrors, but did not repent of the works of their hands:

“And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their theft.”

Surprisingly, in every generation, without exception, lovers of truth and seekers of God accuse their contemporaries of these sins and prove that the earth has never given birth to more insensitive and embittered people, which indicates the imminent end of the world!

Before the last, seventh sound of the trumpet, John saw “another angel, mighty, descending from heaven, clothed with a cloud, over his head was a rainbow and his face shone like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire,” standing one on the sea, the other on earth. Raising his hand, the Angel swore to those living forever and ever that “there will be no more time, that is, the usual circulation of the elemental world will cease, and there will be no time measured by the sun, but eternity will come.”

“And she was as sweet as honey in my mouth; When I ate it, my stomach became bitter.” This means that John accepted the prophetic gift, as the Old Testament prophets accepted it. And the Angel said to him:

“You must prophesy again about peoples and nations and tongues and many kings.”

In the next chapter of the Apocalypse, it was revealed to John that the holy city of Jerusalem would be given over to the pagans to be trampled underfoot for 42 months, or three and a half years, “half a week.” The numbers seven and three and a half - "half weeks" were considered mystical and were often found in the Old Testament.

The trampling of the holy city, or the Universal Church, for three and a half years means that at the coming of the Antichrist the faithful will be persecuted for forty-two months. All this time, “two witnesses of God” will preach repentance to people and turn them away from the deception of the Antichrist. The church fathers believed that these two witnesses were the Old Testament righteous Enoch and Elijah, taken to heaven alive. At the end of their preaching mission, the “beast coming out of the abyss,” that is, the Antichrist, will kill the preachers and throw their corpses on the streets of the great city, where “our Lord was crucified.”

It is in Jerusalem that the Antichrist will establish his kingdom and begin to pose as the Messiah predicted by the prophets. And the infidels, deceived by the false miracles of the Antichrist, will worship him and rejoice in the death of the prophets. But the reign of the wicked will not last long.

After three and a half days, God will revive the prophets and take them to heaven. At the same time, as punishment for the infidels, a great earthquake will occur, a tenth of the city will be destroyed and seven thousand people will die, and the rest, overcome with fear, will give glory to God. This will deal a decisive blow to the cause of the Antichrist.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and joyful exclamations were heard in heaven:

“The kingdom of peace has become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and will reign forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders, sitting on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God.”

It would seem that after suffering and troubles, believers received comforting news - “the time to judge the dead and give retribution to your servants” has approached; the exact period is indicated - three and a half years will have to wait and endure until the end of the world and the second coming of Christ, who will reward the faithful for everything and apostates.

“And a great sign appeared in heaven - a woman clothed with the sun; under her feet is the moon and on her head is a crown of twelve stars.”

The most famous interpreter of the Apocalypse, Andrew of Caesarea, saw in this mysterious woman “the Church, clothed in the word of the Father, shining more than the sun,” and not the Most Holy Theotokos, as some theologians did.

The woman was with child and gave birth to a male child, who was to shepherd all nations. But then a new sign appeared in the sky - “a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns.” The dragon wanted to devour the baby, but “the child was caught up to God and His throne.”

This is how the birth of the Church in agony and the struggle between the Church and Satan, who appears in the form of a dragon with seven heads, are described in allegorical form. “The male child” is the image of Jesus Christ, who on the day of His glorious ascension was caught up into heaven and sat down on the throne of His Father at His right hand.

“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place had been prepared for her by God, that she might be fed there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

The flight of the wife was interpreted by many as the flight of Christians from Jerusalem during the Roman-Jewish war of 66–70. This war actually lasted one thousand two hundred and sixty days, or three and a half years. But the “flight of the wife” can be explained differently - as a picture of the persecution of the first Christians, hiding from oppressors in the desert, caves and catacombs.

“And the dragon was angry with the woman, and made war against the rest of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

These words contain a prophecy about the continuous and centuries-long struggle of the devil against the true sons of the Church, which he will wage until the end of the world, until his efforts are exhausted in the face of the Antichrist.

...The Antichrist appears in the next, thirteenth chapter of Revelation. John's visions continue. He stands on the sand of the sea when a monstrous beast, also with seven heads, appears from the sea.

Under this beast, many interpreters saw the Antichrist emerging from the sea of ​​life, that is, the human race. This means that the Antichrist will be a man and not an incarnate devil, spirit or demon. However, his appearance bore little resemblance to that of a human:

“The beast 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.”

This is how John saw the last enemy of Christ’s Church. Gradually, although not immediately, he will gain power over the whole world. To do this, he will have to wage cruel wars and suffer defeat more than once, but still the Antichrist will reign over the world. He will be given a mouth that speaks proudly and blasphemously. And his power will last forty-two months or three and a half years. Otherwise, according to the word of the Savior, no flesh would be saved.

Despite the cruelty and power of the Antichrist, not all people will worship him. Only those whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life will worship him. “Whoever kills with the sword must be killed with the sword,” says the author of “Revelation.” This means that those faithful to Christ should be consoled by the fact that retribution still awaits the Antichrist.

The Antichrist will not be alone, he will have an accomplice, also a beast, but one who came not from the sea, but from the earth. This means that his feelings will be of an earthly nature. The accomplice of the Antichrist was given the power of signs and wonders, so that, preceding the Antichrist, he could prepare his destructive path.

Imitating the Lord Jesus Christ, he will use two forces to establish the Antichrist - the power of words and the power of miracles. But his blasphemous speeches will only breed godlessness and extreme wickedness. He can do miracles. But his miracles consist only in dexterity, in deceiving the senses and in using the natural but secret forces of nature with the help of the devil, within the limits of the power of the devil's forces.

All those who were deceived and worshiped the Antichrist will have “a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,” just as in ancient times slaves wore burnt marks on their foreheads, and warriors on their hands.

The reign of the Antichrist will be so despotic that “no one will be able to buy or sell except those who have the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”

“The number of the beast” and the “human number” - 666 - have been solved for many centuries in a row. The letters of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin alphabets have numerical values. Substituting letters instead of numbers, they tried to read the name of the Antichrist. John himself, whom the church fathers and theologians called a seer, did not reveal it; probably, the grace of God did not allow this destructive name to be written in the Divine book.

By substituting Greek letters instead of numbers, interpreters deduced the name of Emperor Nero. If Latin, the name of the Pope came out. Russian schismatics tried to “get” the number 666 from the name of Patriarch Nikon. With the help of some tricks, at different times they proved that the Antichrist is Napoleon, Peter the Great, then Lenin, Stalin and even Gorbachev.

But perhaps, scientists suggest, Revelation simply reflected the Jewish mysticism of numbers. Judaism believed that the numbers 3 and 7 were holy. Therefore, the number 777 was an expression of the holy of holies. If you subtract one from each seven, you get 666 - the embodiment of evil. This means that 666 is the embodiment of the Antichrist himself, who cannot be identified with any person.

Having depicted the highest stage of the triumph of the devil through his servant Antichrist on earth, John turns his gaze to heaven. In this vision he sees the Church, the pure bride of Christ during the flourishing empire of the beast. The number of God's chosen ones included in this Church is 144,000, represented figuratively as the 12 tribes of Israel.

“These are they who have not defiled themselves with their wives, for they are virgins; these are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.” “Virgins” were understood as those who were saved from idolatry and paganism, because idolatry in the Holy Scriptures was called fornication.

Following this, three soaring Angels appeared in the sky. One of the Angels said:

“Fear God and do not be afraid of the Antichrist, who cannot destroy your body and soul, and resist him boldly, for judgment and retribution are near, and he has power only for a short time.”

The Second Angel foreshadowed the fall of Babylon, which became a symbol of evil and wickedness in the world.

“Whoever worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead and on his hand, he will drink the wine of the wrath of God.”

And at the same time, the Apostle John heard a voice from heaven:

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. To her, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labors, and their works will follow them.”

These words were a balm for the souls of thousands of early Christians who suffered suffering and persecution for their faith. They went without fear even to martyrdom, hoping for a speedy resurrection and reward for their loyalty to Christ.

“And he who sat on the cloud cast his sickle into the earth, and the earth was reaped.”

By this harvest we must understand the end of the world, when rivers of the blood of God’s enemies will flow.

After this, the final part of the Apocalypse begins, covering eight chapters, from fifteen to twenty-two.

Saint John saw “a sea of ​​glass mixed with fire; and those who have overcome the beast, and his image, and his mark, and the number of his name, stand on this sea of ​​glass,” which signifies the multitude of those who are being saved. The sea is mixed with fire, because fire in the Bible has two properties: one - scorching sinners, the other - enlightening the righteous.

Seven new Angels appeared in the sky. One after another they pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth, and great disasters befall the human race.

When the first angel poured out the cup, “cruel and disgusting festering wounds appeared on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.”

When the second Angel poured out his cup into the sea, the water in the sea became like the blood of a dead man, and everything alive in the sea died.

The third angel poured out his cup into the rivers and springs of water, and the water in them turned to blood.

And the fourth Angel poured out his cup on the sun; the sun was given the power to burn people with intense heat.

The fifth angel poured out his cup upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became dark. The darkened kingdom of the beast means the gradual decline of its greatness and glory.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl into the great river Euphrates, and the water in it dried up, so that the way for the kings would be ready from the rising of the sun. A map of the ancient Roman Empire will provide an explanation for this prophecy. The Euphrates was like a border, a stronghold preventing the kings with their troops from going to the kingdom of the Antichrist, that is, to Rome, to carry out the judgment of God.

After the sixth angel poured out his cup of wrath, three unclean spirits like frogs came out of the mouth of the beast. These demonic spirits gathered all the forces of evil for war against the forces of good “to a place called in Hebrew Armageddon.” "Mount Mageddo" is a place in Palestine mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. Many battles took place there in ancient times.

These few lines from “Revelation” have been interpreted for many centuries in a row, expecting from day to day Armageddon - the battle of God with Satan, after which all humanity will perish, except for those who have endured everything and are faithful to the Creator.

After the appearance of the three unclean spirits, the seventh Angel appeared and “poured out his cup into the air: and from the temple of heaven a loud voice was heard from the throne: “It is finished!” And there were lightnings, thunders and voices, and there was a great earthquake, such as has not happened since people were on earth.”

From this earthquake, “the great city fell into three parts and the pagan cities fell,” which means the final defeat of the kingdom of the beast.

One of the seven Angels informs John that the fate of Babylon has already been decided - “the great harlot sitting on a scarlet beast” with seven heads. The early Christians identified Rome with Babylon, which became a symbol of evil and lawlessness. And modern interpreters believe that Babylon will indeed be the capital of the Antichrist, a huge city, distinguished by wealth and extreme depravity of morals. His death will happen suddenly and rapidly, “in one hour”:

“Woe, woe to you, that great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such wealth perished!”

After the death of Babylon - the “great harlot” - John depicts great rejoicing in heaven, among the host of saints and angels over the destruction of the kingdom of the Antichrist and the advent of the Kingdom of Christ. The Kingdom of Christ is depicted as the “marriage of the Lamb,” and all the righteous take part in the “marriage supper of the Lamb.”

Then the Divine Bridegroom Himself appears - the Lord Jesus Christ, sitting on a white horse. He was followed by the heavenly army, also on white horses. His appearance is majestic and formidable:

“His eyes were like a flame of fire... He was clothed in a robe dipped in blood... And out of His mouth comes a sharp sword, with which to smite the nations. He shepherds them with a rod of iron.” He appears as a king with many diadems on his head, signifying His authority in heaven and on earth.

And John saw “the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to fight against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet, who performed miracles before him, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image: both were thrown alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed by the sword of Him who sat on the horse.”

When the beast was cast down, an Angel descended from heaven with the keys to the abyss and a large chain in his hands. He grabbed “the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan,” bound him for a thousand years and cast him into the abyss and locked him. But after a thousand years, Satan will be released for a short time.

So, the earth was freed from Satan for a thousand years and the thousand-year reign of Christ began. The number 1000 generally means a long period of time until the second coming of Christ.

The Millennial Kingdom is preceded by the Last Judgment. Before those seated on the thrones, to whom it was given to judge, the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus appeared. They have risen and will reign with Christ for a thousand years. This first resurrection is only for the elect.

The first six verses of the twentieth chapter of Revelation gave rise to the doctrine of the “millennial kingdom of Christ on earth,” called “hilliasm.” The essence of this teaching is this: shortly before the end of the world, Christ the Savior will come to earth again, defeat the Antichrist, resurrect only the righteous and establish a new kingdom on earth, in which the righteous, as a reward for their exploits and sufferings, will reign with him for a thousand years, enjoying all the blessings of temporary life. Then will follow the second, general resurrection of the dead, general judgment and general retribution.

“When the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, and gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.”

These words mean that the Antichrist will appear before the end of the world. The liberated Satan will try, in the person of the Antichrist, to deceive all the nations of the earth and incite them to fight against the Christian Church of Gog and Magog.

Some considered distant peoples, such as the Scythians or Huns, to be Goga and Magoga. But translated from Hebrew, these two words mean “gathering of nations.” This means that “Gog and Magog” is just a metaphor denoting the ferocious hordes of the Antichrist, which he will lead against the Church of Christ.

“And fire came down from heaven from God and consumed them. And the devil, who deceived them, was 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.”

The final victory over the devil will be followed by the general resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment. John was given the opportunity to see “the great white throne and Him who sat on it” - carrying out judgment on the human race.

“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life... And every one was judged according to his works.”

“Open books” mean the deeds and conscience of everyone,” said Andrew of Caesarea. They also symbolize the omniscience of God, who knows all the affairs of people.

One of the opened books is the “book of life”, in which the names of saints are written. Why only one “book of life”? Because there are few of God's chosen ones.

“And whoever was not written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”

By “lake of fire” we must understand the eternal condemnation of sinners whose names are not included in the book of life. And for those who are saved, death and hell will cease to exist, so that they will no longer need to fear death and hell.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth... And I, John, saw the holy city Jerusalem, new, coming down from God out of heaven...”

“New Jerusalem” is an image of the triumphant Church of Christ after the coming

Christ and victory over the devil. And only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter it, those who remain faithful to Christ. And God Himself will dwell with them in this wonderful city, and they will be His people.

In the final verses of “Revelation,” John certifies the truth and accuracy of everything that was said and reminds us of the nearness of the second coming of Christ.

The first readers of “Revelation” - residents of the Greek cities of Asia Minor and Judea, who understood Greek, did not unravel or interpret the contents of this book, they understood it well. The mysterious and wonderful images of the Apocalypse were transparent and clear to them.

Firstly, because almost all of them were inspired by the Old Testament, which John the Theologian knew very well from his childhood. All the inhabitants of Palestine, even servants and slaves, knew this book well, because the Testament was interpreted in synagogues and read in every house every day.

But even John’s illiterate contemporary, who did not know the Testament, listened with great interest to the reading of his book, because it spoke about the present times and about what was soon to happen. For these readers and listeners of the Apocalypse, the “woman clothed with the sun and crowned with twelve stars” was, without a doubt, the people of Israel with its twelve tribes. And the dragon with seven heads personified the Roman Empire, its red color is the imperial robe, and the seven heads of the dragon are the seven emperors who ruled before the Apocalypse - Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba.

The seven-headed beast that emerged from the sea is another symbol of the Roman Empire. As you know, Rome stands on seven hills. Of course, John himself and the first Christians had no doubt that one of the dragon’s heads first received a mortal wound and was then healed. This is Nero, who committed suicide when his associates rebelled against him, and then rumors spread that he was alive.

Historians claim that it was not difficult for John’s contemporaries to solve the riddle: “Here is wisdom. He who has understanding will count the number of the beast, for it is a human number; its number is six hundred and sixty-six.” For many ancient peoples, numbers were designated by letters of the alphabet. If you substitute the letters above the number 666, you get the words “Nero Caesar.” However, later this explanation was repeatedly disputed, and modern scientists believe that the “number of the beast” has never been solved.

And by Babylon, which became a symbol of violence and dishonor, and by the “great harlot” sitting on a scarlet beast with seven heads, they also meant Rome. And many details that were not understood in later times were clear to John’s contemporaries.

Several centuries have passed. The terrible signs of the Apocalypse - wars and earthquakes, locust invasions and years of famine were repeated with enviable regularity, each time confirming the truth of John's prophecy. But many historical realities of the first millennium began to be forgotten. Readers and listeners of the Apocalypse no longer REMEMBERED, but INTERPRETED, unraveled, explained the images and prophecies of the immortal book.

The mood of the early Christians can be called joyfully eschatological and optimistic. They expected the end of the world without fear, because only the infidels were supposed to die in the catastrophe. The faithful were promised new life in the Kingdom of God.

For modern readers, Revelation is a pessimistic book. If a nuclear war breaks out, everyone will die, faithful and unfaithful, and the earth will turn into a barren desert.

The early Christians firmly believed that the end of the world would not happen by the will of people or any other reasons, but only by the will of God. Yes, of course, wars often started due to the fault of kings or politicians. Evil human will also manifested itself in revolutions. But even then the Church explained to its children that wars were sent by the Lord to atone for original sin.

Today, not only ordinary believers, but also theologians recognize that the creators of potential disasters - environmental and military - can only be people themselves.

Almost two thousand years ago, John the Theologian wrote his “Revelation” and in an allegorical, very obscure form, predicted the destruction of the forces of evil and the triumph of the Church of Christ. But many believers, who do not perceive allegories, understood and understand John’s prophecies too literally. And from day to day they are waiting for the end of the world. Moreover, the seer indicated the exact dates - forty-two months, 1260 days, 666, a thousand years. How many times have “knowledgeable” people tried to calculate the exact year of the end of the world by adding, subtracting, manipulating these numbers!

Some started from the generally accepted year of Christ’s birth, others from the year of his crucifixion and ascension. They once proclaimed that the end of the world would come in 1000, then in 1033, in 1260 and so on.

How did people expect this great event? They prayed, put their earthly affairs in order, or completely abandoned them and went to monasteries. The righteous, who considered themselves such, rejoiced that they would finally leave the earthly vale and see heavenly Jerusalem. And sinners waited with trepidation for the Last Judgment and fair retribution.

But time passed, disasters and wars followed one after another, and the end of the world never came. People are tired of waiting. Historians have noted ups and downs of apocalyptic sentiments and expectations. It `s naturally. But each time major historical upheavals exacerbated this apocalyptic sense of life. And people again began to read John the Theologian’s “Revelation” and calculate whether the time had come?

Historical shocks have never been avoided

Russia side. There were plenty of them in the seventeenth century - a schism in the Orthodox Church, severe crop failures and years of famine, pestilence epidemics, the appearance of a tailed comet in the sky. As a result of all these events, the “Revelation” of John the Theologian became a very popular book in Russia, especially among schismatics.

Archpriest Avvakum “calculated” from “Revelation” that the end of the world would come in 1666. Apparently he simply added up the “number of the beast” and the 1000 years until Satan was released from the abyss. The Old Believers were fanatical and very ardent people. They took the rebellious archpriest's prediction very seriously. Some went into the forests or fled to remote places in the North, Siberia and the Volga region. Others not only fervently prayed day and night in anticipation of the cherished day, but also “fasted,” stopped eating and died of hunger.

Self-immolations became widespread. In the last decades of the seventeenth century, official statistics alone recorded thirty-seven self-immolations, in which more than twenty thousand people died. Those same supporters of Avvakum, who did not want to die in this way, but decided to wait for the end of the world and die along with everyone else, ordered coffins for themselves and performed funeral services for each other in advance.

The world did not end in 1666. Then his arrival was postponed to 1699, explaining that an error had crept into the calculations. Habakkuk continued to preach the coming of the Antichrist and the coming of the end of the world until his martyrdom. His followers saw the Antichrist in Peter I.

Interest in "Revelation" in Russia never waned, but nevertheless the center of apocalyptic expectations of the end of the world moved at the beginning of the nineteenth century to America. Preacher William Miller, supposedly immersed very deeply in the text of the Bible, discovered that it was on March 21, 1843 that the second coming of Christ would take place and the Kingdom of God would begin. Like any prophet endowed with the gift of speech and persuasion, Miller had many followers. On March 21, under his leadership, hundreds of people gathered in a large field outside the city to meet the end of the world there. They were waiting for the sound of the trumpet and the coming of Jesus Christ...

But they didn’t wait. Miller explained to the disappointed congregation that he had made a slight mistake and moved the cherished day to October 22 of the same year. Then he suffered the coming of the end of the world two more times. Despite the fact that Miller’s prophecies never came true, he became the founder of the Adventist sect (from the Latin “adventus” - advent). Adventists have spread throughout the world and are still waiting for the second coming.

Nowadays, representatives of some other Christian communities (except Adventists) - Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostals - talk about the imminent Armageddon, the holy war of good and evil, God against Satan. This Armageddon, of course, should be a thermonuclear war, in the flames of which all humanity will perish, except for Jehovah's Witnesses and the few faithful to God.

Armageddon was appointed by the heads of these communities, supposedly receiving revelations from God himself, for 1914, then for 1925 and 1943. The prophecies did not come true. But every time the shepherds explained to their flock that “the Lord hides his plans, but they need to wait and prepare, because the end of the world could come any day.”