Prophecies and predictions about the future fate of Russia. Apocalypse of John the Evangelist. Revelation of John the Theologian Predictions of theologians

The elder's prediction in 1927 of the patriarchal ministry to Archbishop Alexy (Simansky) of Khutyn and the approaching cruel persecution; the ascetic's prophecies about the coming Great Patriotic War and the victory of our weapons in it; Father Seraphim's prediction of the death of Archpriest Alexis Kibardin fifteen years after his own, as well as the exact insight into the fate of many people, have now become indisputable facts.

Deeply prophetic are the lines of the poem written by the elder in 1939, “A thunderstorm will pass over the Russian land…” about the opening of the ruined temples of God and holy monasteries. Batiushka tirelessly reminded his numerous visitors of God's promise that the Church would be invincible through the gates of hell. Father Seraphim spoke about the revival of specific monasteries - the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, Diveev and others. It is noteworthy that, predicting the restoration of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the elder said that at first the state would return the Holy Trinity Cathedral to the Church as a parish church, and only then, after many years, the entire Lavra would be transferred to monastics. The priest also predicted that in time a monastery would also be founded in Vyritsa, and Leningrad would be renamed St. Petersburg again.

Father Seraphim said that the time will come when Orthodox radio stations will operate in Moscow, St. Petersburg and a number of other Russian cities, in the transmissions of which one can hear soulful edifications, prayers and church hymns ...

When asked by his spiritual son about the future of Russia, the elder suggested that he look out the window overlooking the Gulf of Finland. He saw many ships sailing under different flags. — How to understand it? he asked the father. The elder replied: “There will come a time when there will be a spiritual flowering in Russia. Many churches and monasteries will open, even non-Christians will come to us to be baptized on such ships. But this is not for long - for 15 years, then the Antichrist will come.

He said that when the East gains strength, everything will become stable. The number is on their side, but not only that: they have sober and hardworking people, and we have such drunkenness ...

They also told how the elder said: “The East will be baptized in Russia. The whole heavenly world is praying for the enlightenment of the East.

The time will come when Russia will be torn apart. First they will divide it, and then they will begin to rob wealth. The West will contribute in every possible way to the destruction of Russia and will give up its eastern part to China before the time comes. The Far East will be taken over by the Japanese, and Siberia by the Chinese, who will move to Russia, marry Russians, and in the end, by cunning and treachery, will take the territory of Siberia to the Urals. When China wants to go further, the West will resist and will not allow it.”

Many countries will take up arms against Russia, but she will stand, having lost most of her lands. This war, about which the Holy Scriptures narrate and the prophets speak, will be the cause of the unification of mankind. People will understand that it is impossible to live like this, otherwise all living things will perish - this will be the threshold of the accession of the Antichrist.

Then the persecution of Christians will come, when trains leave the cities for Russia, we must hurry to be among the first, since many of those who remain will die.

Relatives and close spiritual children of Father Seraphim note that not everything was seen by the elder in rainbow colors...

“The time will come when not persecution, but money and the charms of this world will turn people away from God and many more souls will perish than in times of open rebellion,” the priest said, “on the one hand, they will erect crosses and gild domes, and on the other — the kingdom of lies and evil will come. The true Church will always be persecuted, and it will be possible to be saved only by sorrows and illnesses. Persecution will take the most sophisticated, unpredictable character. It will be terrible to live up to these times. We, thank God, will not live to see it, but then a religious procession will go from the Kazan Cathedral to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

In a number of predictions of the Vyritsky elder, there are very disturbing notes. “If the Russian people do not come to repentance,” said the priest, “it may happen that brother will rise again against brother.”

Several important predictions of Father Seraphim of Vyritsky were recorded by Maria Georgievna Preobrazhenskaya, niece of St. Theophan of Poltava.

... It was right after the war. I sang in the kliros of the Peter and Paul Church in the village of Vyritsa. Often we with the singers from our church came to Father Seraphim for a blessing. Once one of the singers said: “Dear father! How good it is now - the war is over, the bells in the churches rang again ... "And the elder answered this:" No, that's not all. There will be more fear than before. You will meet it again. It will be very difficult for young people to change their uniforms. Who will only survive? Who will remain alive? (Father Seraphim repeated these words three times). But whoever remains alive - what a good life he will have ... ”After a short pause, the priest again said thoughtfully:“ If the people of the whole world, every single person (again, as if in a sing-song voice, the elder repeated these words several times), in at the same time they would kneel down and pray to God for at least five minutes to prolong life, so that the Lord would give everyone time to repent ... "

Discussing the prophecies, Saint Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) says: “God changed His definitions, which were also announced through the holy prophets, such as the prophecy of Jonah about the Ninevites (Jonah 3:10); Elijah about Ahab (1 Kings 21:29); Isaiah about Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:1-11). Whoever has given himself and everything to the will of God, he does not need to know anything in advance. In all the cases mentioned by St. Ignatius, God changed anger into mercy after individuals or an entire nation humbled themselves before Him, left their sinful life and embarked on the path of repentance.

The Lord endowed Father Seraphim Vyritsky with many blessed revelations. Describing one of his spiritual contemplations, the ascetic told the nun Seraphim (Morozova):

“I have been to all countries. Better than our country, I have not found and better than our faith, I have not seen. Our faith is above all. This is the Orthodox faith, the true one. Of all the known creeds, it alone was brought to earth by the incarnated Son of God. I ask you, mother Seraphim, to tell everyone that no one deviates from our faith!

The Vyritsky elder has repeatedly said that Russia has a priceless treasure - it is the guardian of the holy Orthodox faith. True enlightenment is the enlightenment of the soul with the light of Orthodoxy. Not the prosperous West, where the ultimate goal of all that exists is the earthly well-being of man, but Russia, blessed Russia, which in its infancy accepted the foolishness of the cross, preserved in the depths of its immense soul the image of Christ Crucified and carries it in its heart is the true light of the world. That Holy Russia, which has always lived in anticipation of the heavenly, first of all sought the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and was in living communion with heaven. The eternal strength and beauty of Orthodoxy lies in the wonderful unity of the heavenly and the earthly. In Russia, the sky was inseparable from the earth. “The Saint of Russia always knew what the eternal meaning of life was, and the main goal for him was the acquisition of heavenly blessings,” Father Seraphim reminded his pets.

The life of a Vyritsk ascetic is a whole epoch in the life of Russia. For several decades, the most significant events in the life of Russian society took place before the eyes of the elder, which found a lively response in his pure heart. Father Seraphim walked his earthly path, firmly knowing that outside of Orthodoxy there is no salvation, no resurrection and immortality. “Only God never forget! Keep the holy truths of the Orthodox faith, love our Lord Jesus Christ with all your heart! — neighbors often heard these words from the lips of the blessed elder.

Combining his breath with the sweetest name of Jesus, Father Seraphim saw in mental prayer an invaluable means for acquiring peace of mind and salvation:

“In the most difficult times, it will be convenient to be saved who, to the best of his ability, begins to strive in the Jesus Prayer, ascending from the frequent invocation of the name of the Son of God to unceasing prayer.”

According to the word of the Holy Fathers, this activity not only protects a person from all the temptations of the world, the flesh and the devil, but can also make the ascetic a living temple of God, where God is silently glorified. Even during earthly life, such an ascetic, through the incomprehensible power of God, acquires the qualities necessary for the life to come.

The Vyritsky elder advised many spiritual children to read the prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian as often as possible, “Lord and Master of my life…” “In this prayer is the whole essence of Orthodoxy, the whole Gospel. With it, we ask the Lord for help in acquiring the properties of a new person,” said the priest.

“Yes, Lord, King, grant me to see my sins and not condemn my brother…” Father Seraphim called the sin of condemnation one of the greatest spiritual ailments of our time! “We have the right to judge only ourselves. Even talking about a person, we already involuntarily condemn him, ”said the Vyritsky elder. He especially reminded of the inadmissibility of condemning the priesthood: “Personal human infirmities cannot take away the grace of ordination. During the performance of the Sacraments, the priest is only an instrument in the hands of God. All the Sacraments are performed invisibly by Christ Himself. Whatever the sinful priest, even if he is destined to burn in the fire of Gehenna, only through him can we receive permission from our own sins.

Father Seraphim was deeply convinced that a person should prepare himself for Eternity. After the soul is separated from the body, it will immediately understand that the knowledge and experience of its entire previous life has turned into nothing. Those objects, images and concepts that on earth seemed to a person the most valuable and important, will turn out to be meaningless, as well as those events that occupied his mind and heart and seemed to be the most important. Moreover, the properties and qualities that the world sang and brought up will turn out to be harmful and directly opposite to those that an inhabitant of blissful Eternity should possess. The only earthly experience that a person will need in the future life is the experience of knowing Christ as holy and Divine Truth. “Earth is a country of weeping, Heaven is a country of joy. Heavenly joy grows from seeds sown on earth. These seeds are: prayer and tears… There is no higher happiness on earth than to know God and cling to Him with all your soul. This union is from now to the century. In this union is the condition of true eternal bliss, the anticipation of which is already beginning here on earth…” Father Seraphim was in full agreement with these words of St. Ignatius. At the same time, the elder strongly advised all ascetics in no case to receive any visions, phenomena and voices from the other world. Only saints, with the help of the grace of God, are able to distinguish bright angels from demons. The latter, appearing to people, assume the form of angels of light, surround themselves with all sorts of plausibility and speak the visible truth in order to deceive and destroy the inexperienced, frivolous and curious. “Carnal, sinful people are not worthy to see angels and saints. They tend to communicate only with fallen dark spirits, which, as a rule, becomes the cause of death. Let us pray that the Lord deliver us from the temptations of the evil one,” Father Seraphim edified the neighbors.

Vyritsky ascetic with his life answered many questions that concern those who seek salvation in the modern stormy world. “Deeds done in the spirit of this world, to the detriment and condemnation of one’s soul and the souls of others, flow like clockwork. It is closest to you to see this: you see how quickly books that destroy both faith and morality are being distributed, what expenses are made for printing them, with what zeal some people try to distribute them, while others buy them. What do you think it is like in the eyes of God? And what should be expected for this at the judgment of God? Unbelievers cry that there is no God, there is no judgment of God. Because of such a cry, by which depravity intensifies to drown out the ideas of conscience, God did not cease to exist. He exists and will certainly reward every person according to his deeds. The apostasy itself is predicted with all clarity by the Holy Scriptures and serves as evidence of how true and true everything that is said in the Scriptures ... However, God granted to each person during earthly life, according to his arbitrariness, to do good, or not to do it. These lines, as if for the people of our time, were written by St. Ignatius back in 1864. With the death of an individual soul, the death of an entire nation begins. The salvation of the people depends on the contribution that each individual person makes to this cause.

Through the life of the Vyritsk elder, the Lord presents a wondrous image of salvation at such a difficult time for the Russian people. Sanctifying his every serious step with the blessing and prayer of the Mother Church, for many years Father Seraphim walked the path of an imperceptible, everyday feat. This is a feat hidden from prying eyes, performed in inner solitude, where there is no place for excitement and irritability, despondency and despair. This is a daily feat of active repentance, fasting and prayer; a feat of real and feasible deeds performed for Christ's sake and in the name of love for one's neighbors. This is a quiet, but firm stand in the faith, which requires much more courage than momentary excitement and the loudest cries of patriotism. Where passions rage, there will never be the grace-filled peace of Christ, which is a witness to the truth.

The ascetic always remembered that “our war is not against flesh and blood, but… against spirits of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). In it, material means of struggle do not bring success. Patience, humility and meekness; repentance, contrition of heart and prayer; mercy, love and gentleness are the main weapons in the invisible battle. Centuries-old patristic experience clearly speaks of this. “All evil must be covered with goodness and love, humbly accepting the temptations sent to us by the Providence of God,” said Father Seraphim Vyritsky, “responding evil with evil, we only come to its multiplication in the universe.” The main properties that the enemy of the salvation of the human race has learned are pride and hatred. They can only be defeated with the help of virtues that are opposite to them - humility and love, which attract the omnipotent grace of God. Spirits of malice flee from her in terror.

Summarizing the words of the ancient fathers addressed to the ascetics of our time, St. Ignatius writes: “Those who in truth will work for God will prudently hide themselves from people and will not perform signs and wonders in their midst… The kingdoms of heaven will turn out to be great fathers, glorified by signs. It was precisely this path, the path of doing, dissolved by humility, that Father Seraphim Vyritsky walked for several decades, all his life not thinking much about himself, but being in obedience to the Mother Church.

“They are coming, coming, more terrible than the waves of the global flood that destroyed the entire human race, waves of lies and darkness are coming, they are surrounding, they are ready to swallow the universe from all sides, they are destroying faith in Christ, they are destroying His Kingdom on earth, they are suppressing His teaching, they are damaging morals, they are dulling, destroying conscience, establish the dominion of the all-malignant peacekeeper. As a means of our salvation, let us use the flight commanded by the Lord (Matthew 24:16), exhorts St. Ignatius. “Where is that blessed ark, similar to the ark of the righteous Noah, where one could escape from the waves enveloping from everywhere, where one could find reliable salvation? The Ark is the Holy Church, rushing above the waves of the moral flood, and on a dark, stormy, formidable night, with complacency, firmness, guided in its path by the luminaries of heaven: the writings of the holy saints of God. The radiance of these luminaries is not strong enough to hide no haze, no clouds. The Ark will reach the haven of blissful Eternity, will bring there all those who have entrusted their salvation to it.

Today, probably, there is 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 who are trying to see the signs of an impending catastrophe in the events taking place now.

There are no such words!

Nowadays, many 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 as “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 really 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 called John the Evangelist. The book describes the events that will take place before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth. We are talking about numerous cataclysms and miracles.

Through visions, the forthcoming birth of the Antichrist and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Apocalypse itself and the Last Judgment of God were revealed to John. The book contains symbolic images, which later became the subject of theological interpretations.

The book of Revelation ends with a 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 mourning, no outcry, no sickness, for the former has passed away.”

These words sound an 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 make all things new. And he said to me: it's done! I am Alpha and Omega, beginning and end; to the thirsty I will give freely from the source of living water. He who overcomes inherits everything, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. The timid and the unfaithful, and the filthy, and the murderers, and the fornicators, and the sorcerers, and the idolaters, and all the liars, will have their fate in the lake burning with fire and brimstone.”

As you can see, after the Apocalypse, it was 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 his concrete incarnation in the form 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 world kingdom of Antichrist (the kingdom of the Beast) will be restored. The system of predatory anti-Christian power, as well as a society of greedy and vicious people who have deviated from the laws of God and love, is considered to be a beast and a sign of its manifestation. Another sign is the spiritual hardening of people, their cruelty, selfishness. This interpretation is explained in the 13th chapter of the prophecy: “Here is wisdom. Whoever has a mind, count the number of the Beast, for this is a human number; his 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, foreshadowed in the New Testament as well as in the Quran. Jesus Christ himself also repeatedly spoke about his Second Coming to Earth, the apostles also talk about it, and therefore it was the general conviction of the Church at all times.

Traditionally, the arrival of a specific person is expected. And this circumstance is used by charlatans, 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 the sixth chapter of Revelation, which describes the successive opening of the seven seals by the Lamb as a revelation of the general content of history...

The beginning of the end times corresponds to the opening 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 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 who overcomes will 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.

Various 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 related not only external, but also internal processes.

This is evidenced by the words of the Revelation itself: “But exclude the outer court of the temple and do not measure it, for it was given to the Gentiles: 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 personifying catastrophes 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 discussions for centuries. Recently, however, 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, according to John the Theologian, will be glorious: He will appear not as a lowly 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: “No one knows about that day or hour, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, only the Father.”

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

The prophecies of the New Testament say that many cataclysms will precede the Second Coming: “And suddenly, after the tribulation of those days, the sun will darken, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven 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 they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

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

Look after 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 to posterity these words: "And if Christ had been born a hundred times in a manger, but not in yourself, you would not have been saved."

At all times, people were interested in two questions: how long will humanity live, and how will it die. And so, first in Hinduism, then in the Bible, and then in various kinds of predictors, prophecies about the so-called Apocalypse, that is, about the end of the world, began to appear.

One prophecy was worse than the other, but all of them, upon closer examination, turned out to be practically “twin brothers”. And none of them have come true yet.

Here we will talk about the most famous prophecies today. Just let's agree right away: the end of the world is not foreseen. Moreover, all the religious "predictions" of the Apocalypse were aimed at only one thing - people should sin less, then they will have a chance to be saved. That is, salvation was the very “candy” that was promised for a sinless life. The fear of the Day of Judgment did a great job of "keeping the flock in line." True, for the time being.

Apocalypse of John the Evangelist

The prediction of John the Theologian about the end of the world is based on a number of visions that were revealed to the prophet. He saw the four Horsemen, who were later called the "Four of the Apocalypse". The rider on a white horse personified the Disease (Plague); The rider on the red horse represented War; The rider on the black horse was called Famine; The rider on the pale horse was Death.

After the four Horsemen ride across the earth, many of the living will die, and the dead, who accepted death for the Word of God, will put on white clothes. And then the Day of Wrath will come: there will be a great earthquake, the stars will fall from the sky, the sky will become like a scroll, the moon like blood, the sun like a sackcloth. And the sky will be silent for half an hour. And then 7 angels will come out and prepare to blow.

The first angel will sound, there will be hail and fire mingled with blood; and a third of the trees will be burned up, and all the green grass will be burned up.

The second angel will sound his trumpet, and a great mountain, burning with fire, will fall into the sea; and a third of the sea will become blood, and a third of the living creatures that live in the sea will die, and a third of the ships will perish.

The third angel will sound, and a big star will fall from the sky (“wormwood”); and a third of the waters will become wormwood, and many of the people will die from the waters, because they will become bitter.

The fourth angel will sound, and the third part of the sun, moon, stars will be darkened, and the third part of the day will not be bright, it will be like in the night. And there will be the voice of one angel flying in the midst of heaven and saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on earth from the rest of the trumpet voices of the three angels who will blow!

The fifth angel will sound, and the star that has fallen from heaven to earth will open the well of the abyss; and the locusts will come out; and it was given to her to torment for five months only some people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

The sixth angel will sound, and four angels will be released, bound at the great river Euphrates, prepared for an hour and a day, and a month and a year, in order to kill a third of the people. And horsemen with lion heads will appear, and fire, smoke, and brimstone will go out of their mouths. From these three plagues, from the fire, smoke and brimstone that comes out of their mouths, a third of the people will die; for the strength of horses is in their mouth and in their tails; and their tails will be like snakes, and they will have heads, and with them they will harm. The rest of the people who do not die from these plagues will not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons and golden, silver, copper, stone and wooden idols, which cannot see, hear, or walk. And they will not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their theft...

And a woman will appear, clothed with the sun, who will be pursued by a red dragon. And there will be war in heaven between Michael and the dragon...

And a beast with seven heads and ten horns will come out of the sea, to which was given power for 42 months. And another beast with lamb horns will appear. And people will receive the mark of the beast in the form of the number 666 ...

And the Lamb will appear on Mount Zion with 144,000 redeemed (12,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel).

And an angel will appear, proclaiming the eternal gospel.

And an angel will appear, announcing the fall of Babylon.

And the Third Angel will appear, announcing that those who received the mark of the serpent will be tormented in fire and brimstone.

And an angel will appear who will cut the bunches of grapes and throw them into the winepress of God's wrath...

Of course, these are only excerpts from the Revelations of John the Theologian, and we will not interpret the Apocalypse. This has already been done more than once by clergy, scientists, and soothsayers. Therefore, if you want, draw your own conclusions.

Prophecy of Nostradamus

No matter what they say about Nostradamus' predictions of the end of the world, none of his quatrains mention the exact date. And the prophecies themselves are so vague that they can easily be applied to anything from the launch of a spaceship to disease, tsunamis and earthquakes. Any wars and cataclysms can be described by the quatrains of Nostradamus, especially since not all of his prophecies indicate the place where terrible events will take place.

However, one thing is still disturbing. If we follow the logic of some interpreters of Nostradamus's quatrains, it turns out that our planet, having survived the invasions of the troops of Napoleon and Hitler, will face the third great tyrant, who will be of Arab origin. This tyrant will invade Europe with his army, a huge Arab state will be created, and the war, which will last 27 years, will be so terrible that humanity will stand face to face with its end, its death.

This can be interpreted as a nuclear threat, which will lead to the fact that humanity will be completely destroyed. However, in the same prophecies, we also receive hope for a favorable outcome. Nostradamus says that an unexpected alliance may be formed that will stop the war. And after that, everyone will live peacefully and happily for another thousand years.

And, by the way, predicting terrible events to many countries and continents, Nostradamus at the same time is very loyal to Russia (although he calls her by a different name). In some of his quatrains, one can read that Russia, unlike the United States and many European countries, will not be affected by the main troubles, and that it is our country that will become the cradle of the new world.

Vanga's prophecy

The famous soothsayer Vanga also never named specific dates. Although she spoke twice about the end of the world. Her first prophecy was: The earth will begin to turn away from the sun. Where the heat was unbearable, the ice will become cold, herds of animals will die. Most likely, Vanga "saw" the consequences of global warming due to human activity in this prophecy, since then she added: But they don't have enough soul to stop. That is, nature will teach humanity a cruel lesson, but no conclusions will be drawn, so the second end of the world will be inevitable and already irreversible. This will be both God's punishment and the answer of the Universe to the atrocities of mankind.

This is how Vanga's prophecy about the second end of the world sounds: A huge body will fly from space to Earth, and the global water will wash away all living things from the Earth, and the huge star Sun will be dead for three long years..

In general, Vanga often warned people that their deeds were destroying the Earth, and that cataclysms and man-made disasters would occur more and more often from year to year, until they destroy life on Earth.

Other prophecies

There were always enough pessimists. The first prophecy about the end of the world that has come down to us dates back to the 33rd year of our era. It is based on a free interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. And then almost every year - according to a gloomy prophecy. Let's voice the most interesting, funny and absurd.

1492 - the end of the world, based on the prediction that "this world was created for 7000 years." And in 1492 this term just “expired”.

1814 October 19 - a certain soothsayer John Southcott predicted that the end of the world would come on this day, after she gave birth to the second messiah.

1919 December 17 - the end of the world due to the parade of 6 planets, a solar flare and the burning of the Earth, according to the calculations of the American meteorologist Albert Port.

1999 - on the basis that three nines is the inverted "Number of the Beast", a huge number of different sects and single soothsayers have appointed the end of the world for this year. Someone turned to astronomy and predicted the fall of various comets, meteorites, asteroids, which would either destroy our planet on their own or cause a nuclear war. But a certain Mikhail Shevchenko distinguished himself with the most absurd prediction - according to his version, the Earth will go to another dimension, everything will die on it, then it will return almost immediately, and after 4 years a new life will arise on it.

year 2000 - another year "rich" in predictions of the end of the world. Everyone was waiting for the “millennium” so much that they could not help but “pull up” the apocalyptic expectations under it. On average, about 30 prophecies were made, which were not particularly original; after all, the choice of the cause of the apocalypse is not so wide - a world war, the fall of a celestial body, the coming of the Antichrist, a natural cataclysm of a universal human scale.

year 2001 - American "scientists" predicted the end of the world as a result of "the suction of the Earth and the solar system into a black hole."

2003 - the end of the world due to the disintegration of the Earth into parts - the prediction of the American astrologer Jane Dixon.

2006 - the end of the world due to the collision of the Earth with the asteroid Icarus.

06.06.06 - the end of the world due to the combination of three sixes (666 - the Number of the Beast).

2007 spring - the final end of the world - the prediction of the head of the "Church of the Last Testament" Vissarion: the beginning will be made by what is at the endIn the 20th century, the planet (comet?) Nibiru will arrive, then the explosion (in 2000) in the state of Nevada of an arsenal of nuclear warheads, then the planet will be mostly covered with sand, not a single unbeliever should remain, and the restructuring of the flesh will be accomplished.

And then again, for every year up to our time, there are several "prophecies" that, as you might have noticed, did not come true. And the most humane prediction - the end of the world will take place in 5 billion years. Here, let's take a look at it. So somehow calmer and more optimistic.

We deliberately did not include the prediction of the Mayan Indians in the list of well-known prophecies about the end of the world. We have already spoken about it on the pages of our website more than once, and therefore we will not repeat ourselves.

All the prophecies of the Revelation (Apocalypse) of John the Evangelist will come true (and are already coming true!) For example, a gigantic computer center called "The Beast" has already been created in Brussels. The goal of this center in the near future is to collect data on every person on earth. Allegedly, in order to make it more convenient to carry out financial transactions (buy and sell), and other necessary political and administrative measures. "The Beast" operates on the principle of computer banking centers, which are already widely using electronic cards to simplify settlements. Some banking systems that use cards have set a common code for them - "666". The same common (worldwide) code - "666" and the Brussels computer. This digit will be followed by the digital code of the country, followed by the code of the area (city), followed by the personal digital code of the person. So the entire population of the Earth, all mankind will be marked with numbers under the common number for all - "666". Electronic cards will gradually be eliminated as expensive and inconvenient. Digital codes will be applied by some isotopes, invisible to the eye, directly on the forehead, or on the right hand of each person. Laser devices in institutions, shops, banks and offices will quickly "read" such a code and immediately issue data about the person, his position and financial capabilities through the main computer. Such codes will replace bank checks (or cards) and passports, and driver's licenses, and passes, and other documents (the savings of paper alone will be huge!). Without such digital codes on the forehead or on the hand, people will not be able to buy or sell. This is the very "seal" of the Antichrist, the mark of the beast, containing his name or the number of his name, which is mentioned in the Revelation of John the Theologian, written 2000 years ago.

Digital inscriptions also have a spiritual meaning. Rev. testifies to him. Nil the Muttering, passing it on as a dialogue between a man and the devil: "I am yours." - "Yes, you are mine." - "I go by will, and not by force." - "And I accept you by your will." Stamp-codes will be placed voluntarily: if you want - accept, if you don't want - no. But in the latter case, there will be almost no means of subsistence, and certainly no opportunities to succeed in life and business. As under the Bolsheviks: if you want to be a believer, please! But then go to the janitors and sit quietly, otherwise - a prison or a psychiatric hospital ... Everything is rehearsed. The Apocalypse pointed out, for the believers to quickly determine, as a special sign of the "seal" of the Antichrist, that those who do not have it "will not be able to buy or sell", that is, they will not be able to conduct any financial and trading activities.

However, all of the above coincidences are only external signs of the mark of the beast, by which everyone could "recognize" him. Therefore, it is obvious that there must be some secret meaning of the “seal of the Antichrist”, which determines its role in the kingdom he is establishing. And this role should be much more significant than that which would be assigned to the usual (for that time) means of formalizing the dependence, the subordination of a person to the world atheistic anti-state.

The Orthodox philosopher and monarchist historian Lev Tikhomirov, well-known in pre-revolutionary Russia, focuses on the presence in the management of the Antichrist of the other side, which constitutes “the very essence of his program, for which the restoration of a harmonious state order is only a means of a disciplined connection of all human forces and wills to achieve the goal of mystical - magical. This goal is to overturn the entire world existence, overthrow the power of God, subjugate to man all the material and spiritual forces of the universe and bring angels to serve people. The Antichrist will lead his subjects to conquer such supernatural power, subjecting them to a cruel dictatorship. Christians are inevitably subjected to extermination persecution. It `s naturally. Starting a mystical struggle against the divine forces, people use the tension of their will as a means of action. All "dissenters" must be destroyed. In mystical "action at a distance" a uniform exertion of will is required to achieve influence over angels and other divine beings.

We see even now at spiritualistic and occult séances that all those participating in the "chain" must equally and harmoniously tune their will. If, under the Antichrist, the struggle against God will be waged with the help of "psychic batteries", then the presence on earth of people who think differently, who do not sympathize, who are even ready to oppose, can undermine all the efforts of the sorcerer's host.

All such persons will be qualified as the most harmful element, undermining the efforts of mankind in the greatest work of history, which will then be considered the rebellion of people against God in alliance with Satan.

A fierce war will begin against the Christians. "And it was given to him (the Antichrist) to make war with the saints and to overcome them; and power was given to him over every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation. And all who dwell on the earth, whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life, will worship him "(Rev. 13; 7.8)." (Lev Tikhomirov. The Last Times. M .: Publishing house "Library of the Serbian Cross" 2003).

Here attention is drawn to a very important point - unanimity, which is necessary in the Kingdom of Antichrist. This is a direct parallel with the Church of Christ: how those who are of one mind (by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ) and who live a life of grace are saved in it, although formally members can belong to the Church organization, in fact, they are not part of the mystical body of Christ, to which alone they are applicable the words "holy catholic and apostolic Church"; and in the Kingdom of the Antichrist that is being established, it is not enough to serve the latter “for the sake of fear” or through delusion, as was the case in Soviet times, unanimity is also necessary. But where can he come from?

As we know from Revelation and the interpretations of the holy fathers on it, the first half of the reign of the Antichrist will pass under a veil of all-penetrating craftiness, “in order to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24), the second half will open by laughing “in a disgusting grimace of the Father of Lies” (in the words of St. Martyr Bishop Damaskinos) over fallen humanity, and the Antichrist will already show his bestial grin. “After the people then receive the seal,” says St. Hippolytus of Rome, “and do not find food or water, they will go to him and will speak in a voice filled with despair ... O misfortune, o deplorable trade, o insidious contract , oh boundless fall! How could a deceiver entangle us? How do we bow before him? How are we caught in his nets? How entangled in his unclean seine? How, when we listened to the Scriptures, could we not understand them?” (St. Hippolytus of Rome. Creations. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. 1997, v.2., p.77).

Obviously, neither the faith of lies that prevailed in the first period of the reign of the Antichrist, nor the extreme despair, mixed with disgust for the newly crowned world dictator after "revealing his cards," has nothing to do with the mood of such devil-worshippers as outright Satanists and Judeo- Masons of the highest degrees of initiation.

If the latter will always be a minority, and the general deception will dissipate as soon as humanity surrenders itself entirely to the power of the "son of perdition", then who will make up the so-called. "psychic batteries"? After all, even a bonded, but dissident slave is not suitable for such a role. This is where the “seal of the Antichrist” will manifest itself, no longer formally uniting those who received it into a certain herd of numbered “goats”, but essentially – making them unanimous in their rejection of God and striving to fight with Him. This will give the Antichrist the properties of "Divine omniscience" and "providential" care - control over the souls of people who are led to perdition.

The establishment of the kingdom of Antichrist became possible only after the accomplishment of the apocalyptic event described by St. John the Evangelist in chapter 20: “And I saw an angel descending from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He took the dragon, the ancient serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and imprisoned him, and sealed him, so that he would no longer deceive the nations, until the thousand years were over; after this he shall be freed for a little time.” (Rev. 20; 1-3).

This liberation could take place only after the removal of the Retainer, by which one should understand the last Orthodox Emperor of the Third Rome. Here is how Archim wrote about it. Konstantin (Zaitsev): “The providential essence of the Orthodox Tsar was that he, in a symphony with the Church, played the role of the Restrainer; the presence of such a king meant the bondage of Satan for a long period of time ("a thousand years" according to the Apocalypse). The fall of the Restrainer, the disappearance of the power blessed by God, the power that was intended to serve the Church, to protect it, meant the advent of a new era, the final one in the history of the world, when Satan can not only tempt people (which he has always been allowed to do), but also gets the opportunity rule over them. This last happened immediately after the fall of the Restrainer in Russia itself: Satan began to directly rule in it, having as its weapon people united by conscious service to evil - satanocracy. (The feat of Orthodox Russianness in the face of apostasy // "The Miracle of Russian History", Jordanville, 1970).

Satanocracy - this is the power of Satan, received by him at the end of the predicted "thousand years" and for the first time took shape in the form of a totalitarian atheistic anti-state. “At this stage, there is a mass depersonalization of people. - Wrote Archim. Konstantin. - This is all kinds of terror. Firstly, terror hanging over every person, not giving him the slightest respite, crushing with his routine, penetrating surveillance into all corners. Secondly, it is "ration training". There are no earthly goods that a person could use otherwise than by the grace of Satanocracy - depending on how he pleased her. At the same time, a person is conserved in an atmosphere of external impressions that are pleasing to Satanocracy, with the expulsion of everything that is objectionable to it.

So a person turns into an impersonal, weak-willed, thoughtless being, set in motion by satanocracy through the excitation of certain instincts in him; and together they make up a dumb herd. Those who cannot be depersonalized are destroyed." (Ibid.).

The power of Satan becomes total, allowing no exceptions and using the very indulgences for even greater enslavement. This has never happened before in the history of mankind. And “it is clear that the very idea of ​​a totalitarian system could not have originated in national Russia. Already the most boundless Russian space ruled out its appearance. - I. Ilyin writes, switching our attention from the spiritual to the accompanying technical side of the issue. – This idea could have been born only in the era of overcoming technology: telephone, telegraph, free aeronautics, radio communication. It was born only during the present revolution as an abuse of this technique, which for the first time made it possible to create such a centralization and such an all-pervading statehood, which now awaits only technically and politically organized far-sightedness and far-sightedness in order to make a free life on earth completely impossible.

One must imagine that another 50 (and today already 100 - ed.) years ago, a state courier in Russia galloped from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg for a month and a half on horseback and the same for the return end ... And from Yakutsk? And from Vladivostok? Already after the construction of the Siberian Railway, completed in 1906, the mail went from Moscow to Vladivostok for twelve and a half days. And on the radio in Russia they spoke only before the revolution itself, during the war, and then only for military needs ... That is why the very idea of ​​​​totalitarianism (in which “people are turned into numbered units”, as the author wrote in his other work - note . ed.) could not occur to anyone. (I. Ilyin. Collected works. Vol. 7. P. 342).

As we have seen, the totalitarian state was created on the ruins of the Third Rome, and put all mankind before the fact of the onset of the post-Christian era (that is, the end of the Kingdom of God on earth), the end of history and the last times. Only in the XX century. the Jews came closer than ever to the realization of the enslavement they longed for the peoples of the earth. By God's permission, for the sins of the human race, the "ancient serpent" handed over to his human tools the keys to technical progress, used by the devil as a surrogate for Divine omnipotence. From the very beginning, this made it possible to establish a totalitarian regime on "a fourth part of the earth" (Rev. 6:8). Recently, progress has stepped so far that it has become possible to control the whole world, each person individually and all at the same time. As Hieromonk Seraphim Rose wrote: “It is known about the Antichrist that he will be the ruler of the world, but only in our time has it become practically a real possibility for one person to rule the whole world. All the world empires that existed before our time occupied only separate parts of the world, and only with the advent of modern means of communication it became possible for the whole world to be ruled by one person. (Signs of the times. Secrets of the book Apocalypse. M., 2000. S. 41).

Just as the Soviet state received secret injections from the West, fueled by American Jewish banks, so the preparation of the technotronic base of the Kingdom of the Antichrist was subsequently carried out by the joint efforts of the world scientific community united for these purposes. Already since the 20s. of the last century, active developments were carried out in the field of effective control over the personality. First of all, it was necessary to learn how to "read" a person's thoughts. Of course, we are not talking about acts of the human spirit, such as prayerful communication with God, but about spiritual activity aimed at earthly existence in the flesh.

Due to the close relationship of the soul with the body, all "mundane" mental activity through the nervous system and its centers - the brain and spinal cord - leads to changes in the bodily structure of a person. Each thought or feeling gives rise to the corresponding nerve impulses that are transmitted along the nerve fibers to any part of the body and cause the corresponding reaction of the body. And since all people are the same, then the nerve impulses and their paths are identical for everyone. With the help of more and more improved technology, it became possible to track and identify them. In the end, based on the results of the research collected together, a computer program was created that can "read minds" using sensors connected to a person.

In parallel, studies were carried out in the opposite direction - by irritating parts of the brain, they tried to get an adequate reaction of the body. This was also crowned with success, because, having learned to recognize nerve impulses, it was not difficult to learn how to send them in order to manipulate the human psyche. Such an undertaking was easy, of course, in relation to the scientific and technological potential and colossal funds available at the disposal of the World Government, for which both the superpowers of that time and half of Europe worked, paying for the fictional Holocaust in the Second World War.

But the research did not end there, all efforts were thrown at making it possible to control the human psyche at a distance. Now this can be done through various communication channels: radio, cellular, satellite. Special microprocessors implanted under the skin have been developed that act as a receiver-transmitter of nerve impulses. You also need special equipment that is sensitive and powerful enough to process these signals. And now, today our earth is controlled by 23 satellites, they are launched into orbit at a certain distance from each other, having a connection with each other, powered by solar panels and transmitting any changes on the earth's surface, as well as any information to the earth taken from the earth. The satellites are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment so powerful that they can read the autograph written on a soccer ball with a ballpoint pen or trace the path of an earthworm. This allows at any time to determine the exact location of the person-carrier of the chip, regardless of where in the world (even underground) he is. At the same time, it is possible to exchange information with the chip and control it.

From this it becomes clear what kind of base humanity has created over the past century. And, oddly enough, the Soviet Union was ahead of the rest. Remember the flight of the first man into space, the first orbital station "Mir". The pre-revolutionary spelling of the Russian language distinguished between two spellings of this word: “Mir” and “Mip” - the difference in spelling stemmed from the words of the Savior Himself: “... My peace I give you; not as the world gives, I give to you.” (John 14:27). And so, the Soviet people confirmed that all this technotronic magic, the secrets of which, by the permission of God, were revealed to fallen humanity by Dennitsa himself, is for him the desired "peace" that he is trying to get in addition to God - from His enemy.

I. Ilyin wrote half a century ago: “And in vain they admire (or only pretend to admire) the size of Soviet industrial construction: “what factories have been built, what structures have been erected, Russia has not seen anything like it” ...

We only ask: what is all this being built for? For what purpose? Answer: for the revolutionary conquest of the world at the cost of the destruction of Russia. That says it all. One cannot admire the means without sharing the ends. Whoever rejoices in the successes of Soviet industry, in fact, secretly sympathizes with these world plans and is only afraid to say it out loud. (I. Ilyin. Sob. op. vol. 7. S. 357).

Now we are seeing with our own eyes the validity of these words, we know about the existence in Zelenograd of a plant for the production of a modern modification of implantable microchips that have already passed (!) Certification in the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and put on the conveyor. The first test subjects will probably be stray cats and dogs in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and then seriously ill people, law enforcement officers and special services.

It should be noted that for several years now such chips have been implanted under the skin of pets. Implantable chips are becoming more and more complex. Devices have been developed, for example, that monitor blood chemistry or link the nervous system to injured limbs. At the next stage, chips await, interpreting sensations and connecting people physically separated from each other. “There is nothing to prevent you from shaking hands with a person through a computer network,” says American futurist Ian Pearson.

In the meantime, the matter is only behind the approval of the international standard for the use of typeface ...

Apparently, together with the implantation of a microchip, a laser bar identification code will also be applied to a person. The digital code of a person, obtained from a microchip and checking it against an indelible barcode on the forehead or arm, will indicate the reliability of the person's individualization. In addition, if for some reason the microchip fails, then until the malfunction is eliminated, a person can be identified by a barcode on his forehead or arm. The latter cannot perform other functions necessary for the Antichrist: influence the souls of people, control their physical condition, etc., but this can be ensured by the implanted microchip.

We just need to try to imagine a situation where every inhabitant of the earth will receive such a sensor - these will no longer be people, but some kind of biorobots! What if from the main command post - the Brussels supercomputer "The Beast" everyone will be given one command, for example: blaspheme God, and everyone will blaspheme God. Further, another example: all men become homosexuals - and all will become ... As a result, it will come to the point that, as it is said in Revelation: and with His army." (Rev. 19, 19). It will be a rebellion of people against God in alliance with Satan. "Psychic batteries" are more powerful and better than the world community of chipped half-humans-half-robots!

This is where there will be complete unanimity - in the struggle with God!

Apocalypse(or in Greek - Revelation) of St. John the Theologian is the only prophetic book of the New Testament. It predicts the future fate of mankind, the end of the world and the beginning of eternal life, and therefore, naturally, is placed at the end of Holy Scripture.
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 eyes of both believing Christians and simply inquisitive thinkers who are trying to unravel the meaning and significance of the visions described in it. There is an enormous 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, St. Dionysius of Alexandria writes: “The darkness of this book does not prevent one from being surprised at it. And if I do not understand everything in it, then 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 of the Apocalypse in the same way: “There are as many secrets in it as there are words. But what am I saying? Any praise for this book will be below its dignity.

During the service, the Apocalypse is not read because in ancient times the reading of the Holy Scriptures during the service 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 (Ot. 1:1, 4 and 9; 22:8). According to the common 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 the data in the Apocalypse itself and by many other internal and external signs. The inspired pen of the Apostle John the Theologian also includes the Gospel and three Epistles. 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). It is known from church history that of the apostles, only St. John the Theologian was imprisoned on this island.

Proof of the authorship of the Apocalypse ap. 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 "the Lamb" (Rev. 5:6 and 17:14; see: John 1:36). The prophetic words of Zechariah: “and they will look at him whom they pierced” (12:10) both in the Gospel and in the Apocalypse are given in the same way 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. St. John, a Jew by birth, although he knew the Greek language, but being imprisoned far from the living colloquial Greek language, naturally left the stamp of the influence of his native language on the Apocalypse. For an unprejudiced reader of the Apocalypse, it is obvious that all its content bears the seal of the great spirit of the Apostle of love and contemplation.

All ancient and later patristic testimonies recognize St. John the Theologian as the author of the Apocalypse. 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). Also important is the testimony of St. Justin the Martyr, who lived in Ephesus even before his conversion to Christianity, where the Apostle John lived for a long time before him. 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 disciple of Irenaeus of Lyons. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Origen also recognize the holy Apostle John as the author of the Apocalypse. The later Fathers of the Church are equally convinced of this: St. Ephraim the Syrian, Epiphanius, Basil the Great, Hilary, Athanasius the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Didymos, Ambrose of Milan, Blessed Augustine, and Blessed Jerome. Canon 33 of the Carthaginian Council, by attributing the Apocalypse to St. John the Theologian, places it among other canonical books of Holy Scripture. Especially valuable is the testimony of St. Irenaeus of Lyons regarding the authorship of the Apocalypse to St. John the Theologian, since St. Irenaeus was a disciple of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, who in turn was a student of St. John the Theologian, leading the Smyrna Church under his apostolic guidance.

Time, place and purpose of writing the Apocalypse.

An ancient tradition dates the writing of the Apocalypse to the end of the 1st century. Thus, 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 (the beginning of the 4th century reports that contemporary pagan writers mention the exile of the Apostle John to Patmos for witnessing the Divine Word, referring this event to the 15th year of the reign of Domitian. (reigned in 81-96 years after Christmas 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, in one way or another, the direction of religious life. Christianity with them 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 a matter of the distant past.

Church writers of the first 3 centuries also agree in indicating the place of writing the Apocalypse, which they recognize 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, St. John indicates the purpose of writing a 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 instill in the souls of people the true faith in God, to teach them to live righteously, to show them the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. But not all people accepted the 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 the preachers of the Gospel began. Gradually, these persecutions began to take an organized and systematic form. Jerusalem was the first center of struggle against Christianity. Starting from the middle of the first century, Rome, led by the emperor Nero (reigned in 54-68 years after the birth of Christ), joined the hostile camp. The persecution began in Rome, where many Christians shed their blood, including the supreme apostles Peter and Paul. From the end of the first century, the 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 continues until the year 313, when Emperor Constantine issues the Edict of Milan on freedom of religion.

In view of the beginning persecution, the Apostle John writes the Apocalypse to Christians in order 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 atheistic forces of mankind and directs them against the Church. But the sufferings of believers are not in vain: through faithfulness to Christ and patience, they receive a well-deserved reward in Heaven. At God's appointed time, forces hostile to the Church will be judged and punished. After the Last Judgment and the punishment of the wicked, eternal blessed life will begin.

The purpose of writing the Apocalypse is to portray the coming struggle of the Church with the forces of evil; to show the methods by which the devil, with the assistance of his servants, fights against good and truth; give guidance to believers on how to overcome temptations; 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 excite social 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 a risk of going beyond the boundaries of truth to unrealizable hopes and beliefs. Thus, for example, a literal understanding of the images of this book gave rise and still continues to give rise to a false teaching about the so-called "chiliasm" - the thousand-year kingdom 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 come and the second coming of Christ was near. This view has been around since 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 significance 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 realization of apocalyptic predictions in the historical events of their time. In their opinion, for example, the Pope of Rome is the Antichrist and all apocalyptic disasters are proclaimed, in fact, for the Roman Church, and so on. Fourth, finally, they 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 shall 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 entire Scriptures. 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 each other by many centuries and even millennia, merge into one prophetic picture that combines the events of various 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 took place 35 years after His crucifixion, and about the time before His second coming. (Matt. 24th ch.; Mark. 13th ch.; Luke. 21st ch. The reason for such a combination of events is that the first illustrates and explains the second.

Often, Old Testament predictions simultaneously speak of a beneficial change in human society in the New Testament time and a new life in the Kingdom of Heaven. In this case, the first serves as the beginning of the second (Is. (Isaiah) 4:2-6; Is. 11:1-10; Is. 26, 60 and 65 ch.; Jer. (Jeremiah) 23:5-6; Jer. 33:6-11; Habakkuk 2:14; Zeph. (Zephaniah) 3:9-20). The Old Testament prophecies about the destruction of the Chaldean Babylon speak at the same time about the destruction of the kingdom of Antichrist (Is. 13-14 and 21 ch.; Jer. 50-51 ch.). There are many similar examples of the merging of events in one prediction. This method of combining events on the basis of their internal unity is used to help the believer understand the essence of events on the basis of what he already knows, leaving aside secondary and explaining nothing historical details.

As we shall see below, the Apocalypse consists of a series of multi-layered composite visions. The Seer shows the future in terms of past and present. So, for example, the many-headed beast in 13-19 ch. - this is the Antichrist himself and his predecessors: Antiochus Epiphanes, so vividly described by the prophet Daniel and in the first two Maccabean books - these are 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 the 11th chapter. - these are the accusers of the Antichrist (Enoch and Elijah), and their prototypes are the apostles Peter and Paul, as well as all the preachers of the Gospel, performing their mission in a world hostile to Christianity. The false prophet in the 13th chapter is the personification of all those who plant false religions (gnosticism, heresies, Mohammedanism, materialism, Hinduism, etc.), among which the most prominent representative will be the false prophet of the time of the Antichrist. To understand why the apostle John united various events and different people in one image, one 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 sorrows. The apostle John reveals the common methods of deceit and also shows the sure way to avoid them in order to be faithful to Christ unto death.

Similarly, the judgment of God, about which the Apocalypse repeatedly speaks, is both the Last Judgment of God and all the private judgments of God over individual countries and people. This includes the judgment on all mankind under Noah, and the judgment on the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah under Abraham, and the judgment on Egypt under Moses, and the double judgment on Judea (six centuries before Christ and again in the seventies of our era), and judgment over ancient Nineveh, Babylon, over the Roman Empire, over Byzantium and, more recently, over Russia. The reasons that caused the righteous punishment of God were always the same: the unbelief of people and lawlessness.

A certain timelessness is noticeable in the Apocalypse. It follows from the fact that the apostle John contemplated the fate of mankind not from the earthly, but from the 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, therefore, the author of the Apocalypse describes some events of the future as past, and the past 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 ch.). The resurrection of the martyrs and their reign in Heaven, which covers the entire New Testament era, is placed by them after the trial of the Antichrist and the false prophet (Ot. 20 ch.). Thus, the seer does not narrate the chronological sequence of events, but reveals the essence of that great war between evil and good, which is going on simultaneously on several fronts and covers both the material and angelic worlds.

Undoubtedly, some predictions of the Apocalypse have already been fulfilled (for example, regarding the fate of the seven churches of Asia Minor). Fulfilled predictions should help us understand the remaining ones that have yet to be fulfilled. However, when applying the 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 fate 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 hindered most of all by the departure of people from the faith and the true Christian life, which always leads to dullness, and even complete loss of spiritual vision. The total devotion of modern man to sinful passions is the reason why some modern interpreters of the Apocalypse want to see in it only one allegory, and even the Second Coming of Christ is taught to be understood allegorically. Historical events and faces of our time convince us that to see only an allegory in the Apocalypse means to be spiritually blind, so much that 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 being. To the highest sphere belongs the Angelic world, the Church triumphant in Heaven, and the Church persecuted on earth. This sphere of goodness is headed and directed 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 theomachists and demons. They are led by a dragon - a fallen angel. Throughout the existence of mankind, these spheres are 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 take the side of good, others - on the side of evil. During the development of the world conflict, God's Judgment is constantly being performed on individuals and nations. Before the end of the world, evil will increase excessively, and the earthly Church will become extremely weakened. Then the Lord Jesus Christ will come to earth, all people will be resurrected, and God's Terrible Judgment will be carried out over the world. The devil and his supporters will be condemned to eternal torment, while for the righteous, eternal, blissful life in Paradise will begin.

When read sequentially, the Apocalypse can be divided into the following parts:

1. An introductory picture of the Lord Jesus Christ appearing, commanding John to write down the Revelation to the seven churches of Asia Minor (Chapter 1).
2. 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.
3. A vision of God seated on the throne, the Lamb and the heavenly worship (chapters 4 and 5). This service is supplemented by visions in later chapters.
4. From the 6th chapter, the disclosure of the fate of mankind begins. The opening by the Lamb-Christ of the seven seals of the mysterious book serves as the beginning of the description of the various 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).
5. The voices of the seven angelic trumpets (chapters 7-10) herald the initial disasters that must befall people for their unbelief and sins. Describes the damage to nature and the appearance of evil forces in the world. Before the onset of disasters, believers receive a grace-filled seal on their foreheads (foreheads), which preserves them from moral evil and from the fate of the wicked.
6. The vision of the seven signs (chapters 11-14) shows humanity divided into two opposite and irreconcilable camps - good and evil. Good forces are concentrated in the Church of Christ, represented here in the image of a Woman clothed in the sun (Chapter 12), while 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 corrupted religious power. In this part of the Apocalypse, for the first time, a conscious extramundane evil being is clearly revealed - the dragon-devil, who organizes and directs the war against the Church. The two witnesses of Christ symbolize here the preachers of the Gospel who fight the beast.
7. The visions of the seven bowls (chapters 15-17) paint a grim picture of worldwide moral decay. The war against the Church becomes extremely tense (Armageddon) (Rev. 16:16), the trials become unbearably difficult. In the image of Babylon the harlot, mankind apostatized from God, concentrated in the capital of the kingdom of the beast-antichrist, is depicted. The evil force extends its influence to all areas of the life of sinful mankind, 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).
8. In the following chapters (18-19) the judgment of Babylon is described 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.
9. Chapter 20 sums up spiritual warfare and world history. She speaks of the double defeat of the devil and the reign of the martyrs. Having suffered physically, they won spiritually and are already blissful in Heaven. It covers the entire period of the existence of the Church, beginning with 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 iniquity, falsehood and suffering in the universe, is also subjected to eternal punishment. The end of the 20th chapter tells about the general resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment and the punishment of the wicked. This short description summarizes the Last Judgment on humanity and the fallen angels and sums up the drama of the universal war between good and evil.
10. 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 the judgment of God. This description marks the end of the previous topic and the beginning of a new one. Between the main sections of the Apocalypse, the seer sometimes inserts intermediate pictures that serve as a link between them. The table given here clearly shows the plan and sections of the Apocalypse. For compactness, we have connected the intermediate pictures together with the main ones. Moving horizontally along the above table, we see how the following areas are gradually revealed with greater fullness: the Heavenly world; Church persecuted on earth; a sinful and theomachy world; underworld; war between them and the judgment of God.

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 makes extensive use of them. So, for example, eyes symbolize knowledge, many eyes - perfect knowledge. The horn is a symbol of power, might. Long clothes signify priesthood; crown - royal dignity; whiteness - purity, purity; the city of Jerusalem, the temple and Israel - symbolize the Church. Numbers also have a symbolic meaning: three - symbolizes the Trinity, four - a symbol of peace and world order; seven means completeness and perfection; twelve is the people of God, the fullness of the Church (numbers derived from 12 have the same meaning, like 24 and 144,000). One third means some comparatively small part. Three and a half years is the time of persecution. The number 666 will be dealt with specifically later in this pamphlet.

New Testament events are often depicted against the background of similar Old Testament events. Thus, for example, the disasters of the Church are described against the background of the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt, the temptation under the prophet Balaam, the persecution by Queen Jezebel, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; the salvation of believers from the devil is depicted against the backdrop of the salvation of the Israelites from Pharaoh under the prophet Moses; the godless power is represented in the form of Babylon and Egypt; the punishment of the God-fighting forces is depicted in the language of 10 Egyptian plagues; the devil is identified with the serpent that seduced Adam and Eve; the future heavenly bliss is depicted in the form of the garden of paradise 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 struggle against the Church; instruct and strengthen believers in fidelity to Christ; show the complete defeat of the devil and his servants and the beginning of heavenly bliss.

With all the symbolism and mystery of the Apocalypse, religious truths are revealed in it with the utmost clarity. Thus, for example, the Apocalypse points to the devil as the culprit of all the temptations and calamities 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 more and more enslaves 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 in the renewed world there will come a blessed life that will never end.

Having thus made a cursory survey of the content and symbolism of the Apocalypse, let us now dwell on some of its most important parts.

Letters to the Seven Churches (Ch. 2-3).

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 martyr's death in Rome around the year 67, the apostle John the Theologian took care of these churches, who provided care for them for about forty years. After being imprisoned on the island of Patmos, the apostle John wrote letters from there to these churches in order to prepare Christians for the coming 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 leads one to believe that the destinies of the Church of Christ are inscribed in them, starting from the apostolic age and until the time of the end of the world. At the same time, the upcoming path of the New Testament Church, this "New Israel," is depicted against the background of the most important events in the life of the 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 the events of the Old Testament as prototypes of the fate of the New Testament Church. Thus, three elements are intertwined in the letters to the seven churches:

b) a new, deeper interpretation of the Old Testament history; and

c) the future destiny 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 the status of a metropolia in relation to neighboring churches in Asia Minor. In the year 431, the 3rd Ecumenical Council was held in Ephesus. Gradually, the lamp of Christianity in the Ephesian church went out, just as the apostle John had predicted. Pergamum was the political center of the western part of Asia Minor. It was dominated by paganism with a magnificent cult of deified pagan emperors. On a mountain near Pergamon, a pagan monument-altar towered majestically - referred to in the Apocalypse as "Satan's throne" (Rev. 2:13). The Nicolaitans are ancient Gnostic heretics. Gnosticism was a dangerous temptation for the Church of the first centuries of Christianity. A fertile ground 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 outlook of the East, with its belief in the eternal struggle between good and evil, spirit and matter, body and soul, light and darkness, in combination 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 mediating steps of creation, connecting the world with the Absolute. Naturally, with the spread of Christianity in the Hellenistic environment, there was a danger 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 earliest spreaders of Gnosticism among Christians was someone named Nicholas—hence the name "Nicolaitans" in the Apocalypse. (It is assumed that this was Nicholas, who, among the other six chosen men, was ordained to the diaconate by the apostles, see: Acts 6:5). By distorting the Christian faith, the Gnostics encouraged moral licentiousness. Beginning in the middle of the first century, several Gnostic sects flourished in Asia Minor. The apostles Peter, Paul and Jude warned Christians not to fall into the net of these heretic debauchees. Prominent representatives of Gnosticism were the heretics Valentinus, Marcion and Basilides, who were opposed by the apostolic men and the early Church Fathers.

The ancient Gnostic sects have long disappeared, but Gnosticism as a fusion of heterogeneous philosophical and religious schools exists in our time in theosophy, bondage, Freemasonry, modern Hinduism, yoga and other cults.

Vision of Heavenly Worship (4-5 ch.).

The Apostle John received the revelation on the "Day of the Lord," i.e. on Sunday. It must be assumed that, according to the apostolic custom, on this day he performed the "breaking of bread," i.e. the Divine Liturgy and took communion, therefore 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. This divine service is described by the Apostle John in the 4th and 5th chapters of the Apocalypse. An Orthodox person recognizes here the familiar features of the Sunday Liturgy and the most important accessories of the altar: the throne, the menorah, the censer with smoking incense, the golden cup, etc. (These items, 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 the believer of Communion, under the guise of bread lying on the throne; 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 bright robes and with golden crowns on their heads - a host of clergy who conciliarly celebrate the Divine Liturgy. 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 chanters say during the main part of the Liturgy - the Eucharistic Canon. The whitening of their garments by the righteous with the "Blood of the Lamb" recalls the sacrament of Communion, through which believers sanctify their souls.

Thus, the apostle begins the disclosure of the fate of mankind with a description of the heavenly Liturgy, thereby emphasizing the spiritual significance of this Divine 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 recall the prophecy of Patriarch Jacob about the Messiah (Gen. 49:9-10), “Seven Spirits of God” - the fullness of the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit (see: Is. 11:2 and Zech. 4th ch.). Many eyes - symbolize omniscience. The twenty-four elders correspond to the twenty-four priestly orders appointed by King David to serve in the temple—two intercessors for each tribe of New Israel (1 Chron. 24:1-18). The four mysterious animals surrounding the throne are like the animals seen by the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:5-19). They appear to be the closest beings to God. These faces - a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle - are taken by the Church as emblems of the four Evangelists.

In the further description of the mountain world, there is much that is incomprehensible to us. From the Apocalypse we learn that the angelic world is immensely large. Incorporeal spirits - angels, like people, are endowed by the Creator with reason and free will, but their spiritual abilities are many times superior to ours. Angels are completely devoted to God and serve Him by 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 with the devil and his demons (Rev. 12:7-10; 19:17-21; 20:1-3), take part in the judgment of God's enemies (Rev. 19:4).

The teaching of the Apocalypse about the angelic world fundamentally overthrows the teaching of the ancient Gnostics, who recognized intermediate beings (eons) between the Absolute and the material world, who completely independently and independently of Him rule the world.

Among the saints whom the apostle John sees in Heaven, two groups stand out, or “faces”: these are 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 sufferings of Christ and, as it were, supplement them. The blood of the martyrs is likened to the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices, which flowed under the altar of the Jerusalem temple. The history of Christianity testifies that the sufferings of the ancient martyrs served for the moral renewal of the decrepit pagan world. The ancient writer Tertullian wrote that the blood of martyrs is the seed for new Christians. The persecution of believers will either subside or intensify during the further existence of the Church, and therefore it was revealed to the mystic that new martyrs will have to supplement 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, and tribes, and peoples, and languages; they stood in white robes with palm branches in their hands, (Rev. 7:9-17). What this innumerable host of the righteous has in common is that "they came out of the great tribulation." There is only one way to Paradise for all people - through sorrows. 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 total service to Christ. (Voluntary "eunuchs" for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, see about this: Mt. 19:12; Rev. 14:1-5. In the Church, this feat was often carried out in monasticism). The seer sees on the foreheads (foreheads) of the virgins the “name of the Father,” 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 height that they have reached through the feat of fasting, prayer and chastity. This purity is beyond the reach of people of a worldly way of life.

The song of Moses sung by the righteous in the next vision (Rev. 15:2-8) is reminiscent of the hymn of thanksgiving that the Israelites sang when they escaped Egyptian slavery by crossing the Red Sea (Ex. 15 ch.). Similarly, New Testament Israel is saved from the power and influence of the devil, passing 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 garment) 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 approach of the closest fellowship 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 peoples (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, as if under compulsion and reluctantly, speaks of the gloomy events in the sinful world.

Removal of the seven seals.

Vision of the four horsemen (6th ch.).

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, which symbolize the four factors that characterize the entire history of mankind. The first two factors are the cause, the second two are the effect. A crowned rider on a white horse "came out to win." He personifies those good beginnings, natural and grace-filled, which the Creator has invested in man: the image of God, moral purity and innocence, the desire for goodness and perfection, the ability to believe and love, and individual "talents" with which a person is born, as well as grace-filled gifts. the Holy Spirit that he receives in the Church. According to the Creator, these good principles were supposed to “win,” i.e. determine the happy future of mankind. But man already in Eden succumbed to the temptation of the tempter. The nature corrupted by sin passed on to his descendants; therefore people from an early age tend to sin. From repeated sins, bad inclinations are even more intensified in them. So a person, instead of spiritually growing and improving, falls under the destructive effect of his own passions, indulges in various sinful desires, begins to envy and enmity. All crimes in the world (violence, wars and all kinds of disasters) arise from internal discord in a person.

The destructive action of passions is symbolized by a red horse and a rider who took the world away from people. Giving in to his disorderly sinful desires, a person squanders the talents given to him by God, becomes poor physically and spiritually. In public life, hostility and wars lead to the weakening and disintegration of society, to the loss of its spiritual and material resources. This internal and external impoverishment of mankind 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 enmity and wars is people and the disintegration of society. This sad fate of people is symbolized by a pale horse.

In the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the history of mankind is depicted in the most general terms. First - the blissful life in Eden of our forefathers, called to "reign" over nature (white horse), then - their fall (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 potentialities, which are overshadowed by stormy youth, when a person wastes his strength, health and eventually dies. Here is also the history of the Church: the spiritual burning 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 weakens, goes into the catacombs, and some local churches disappear altogether.

Thus, the vision of the four horsemen summarizes the factors that characterize the life of sinful mankind. 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 calamities. Christians, having suffered physically, won spiritually; now they are in Paradise! (Rev. 6:9-11) Their feat brings them eternal reward, and they reign with Christ, as described in ch. The transition to a more detailed description of the disasters of the Church and the strengthening of the theomachic forces is marked by the opening of the seventh seal.

Seven Trumpets.

The seal of the chosen.

The beginning of disasters and the defeat of nature (7-11 ch.).

Angelic trumpets foretell disasters, physical and spiritual, for humanity. But before the start of the tribulations, the apostle John sees an angel sealing the foreheads of the sons of the New Israel (Rev. 7:1-8). "Israel" here is the New Testament Church. The seal symbolizes the chosen and grace-filled patronage. 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 reminds of the sign of the cross, protected by which "they resist the enemy." People who are not protected by the grace-filled seal suffer harm from the "locust" that came out of the abyss, i.e. from the power of the devil, (Rev. 9:4). The prophet Ezekiel describes a similar seal of the righteous citizens of ancient Jerusalem before its capture by the Chaldean hordes. Then, as now, the mysterious seal was placed to keep the righteous from the lot of the wicked (Ezek. 9:4). When listing the 12 tribes (tribes) of Israel by name, the tribe of Dan is deliberately omitted. Some see this as an indication of the origin of the Antichrist from this tribe. The basis for this opinion is the enigmatic words of Patriarch Jacob regarding the future descendants of Dan: “a serpent on the road, an asp on the way” (Genesis 49:17).

Thus, this vision serves as an introduction to the subsequent description of the persecution of the Church. Measurement of the temple of God in the 11th chapter. has the same meaning as the sealing of the children of Israel: the preservation of the children of the Church from evil. The Temple of God, like the Woman clothed in 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 the theomachists.

Before the opening of the seventh seal, there is silence “as if for half an hour” (Rev. 8:1). This is the silence before the storm that will shake the world in the time of the Antichrist. (The modern process of disarmament as a result of the collapse of communism is not a break that is given to people to turn to God?). Before the onset of disasters, the apostle John sees the saints earnestly praying for mercy on people (Rev. 8:3-5).

disasters in nature. Following this, the trumpet sounds of each of the seven angels are heard, after which various disasters begin. First, a third of the vegetation dies, then a third of the fish and other sea creatures, then the poisoning of rivers and water sources follows. The fall to earth of hail and fire, of a flaming mountain and a luminous star, seems to allegorically indicate the vast extent of these disasters. Is this not a prediction of the global pollution and destruction of nature that is observed today? If so, the ecological catastrophe heralds the coming of the Antichrist. More and more defiling the image of God in themselves, people stop appreciating and loving His wonderful world. With their waste they pollute lakes, rivers and seas; spilled oil affects huge coastal areas; destroy forests and jungles, exterminate many species of animals, fish and birds. From the poisoning of nature, both the guilty themselves and the innocent victims of their cruel greed get sick and die. 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 the defeat of the third part of the sun and stars and their eclipse mean? (Rev. 8:12). Obviously, this is about air pollution to the point where sunlight and starlight, reaching the earth, seems less bright. (Thus, due to air pollution, the sky in Los Angeles usually looks dirty brown in color, and at night the stars are almost invisible over the city, except for the brightest).

The story of the locust (fifth trumpet, (Ot. 9:1-11)), which came out of 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 with 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 hostile to God nations are concentrated, threatening Jerusalem with war and extermination. For the Roman Empire, the Euphrates river served as a stronghold against the attacks of the 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 armies, lasted five months, from May to September 66 (five locust months, Rev. 9:5 and 10). Soon the second phase of the war began, from October to November 66, in which the Syrian governor Cestius led four Roman legions (four angels by the river Euphrates, 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 the last times, which the Savior pointed out in His conversation on the Mount of Olives (Matt. 24:7).

In the attributes of the hellish locust and the Euphrates hordes, one can recognize modern weapons of mass destruction - tanks, cannons, bombers and nuclear missiles. Further chapters of the Apocalypse describe all the intensifying end-time wars, (Rev. 11:7; 16:12-16; 17:14; 19:11-19 and 20:7-8). The words "the river Euphrates dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the rising of the sun" (Rev. 16:12) may refer to the "yellow peril." At the same time, it should be taken into account that the description of apocalyptic wars has the features of real wars, but ultimately refers to spiritual warfare, and proper names and numbers have an allegorical meaning. Thus the Apostle Paul explains: “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spirits of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). The name Armageddon is composed of two words: "Ar" (in Hebrew - the plain) and "Megiddo" (the 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 exterminated more than five hundred priests of Baal), ( 16:16 and 17:14; Judges 4:2-16; 1 Kings 18:40). In the light of these biblical events, Armageddon symbolizes the defeat of the God-fighting forces by Christ. The names Gog and Magog in the 20th ch. reminiscent of the prophecy of Ezekiel 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 ch.; Rev. 20: 7-8). Ezekiel refers this prophecy to messianic times. In the Apocalypse, the siege by the hordes of Gog and Magog "the camp of the saints and the beloved city" (i.e. the Church) and the destruction of these hordes by heavenly fire must be understood in the sense of the complete defeat of the god-fighting 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 admonishment, in order to bring sinners to repentance (Rev. 9:21). But the apostle notes with sorrow that people do not heed the call of God, continue to sin and serve demons. They, as if "biting the bit," rush to their own death.

Vision of two witnesses (11:2-12). Chapters 10 and 11 are intermediate 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 deceitfulness of the Antichrist and call people to fidelity to God. The executions that these witnesses will inflict on people are reminiscent of the miracles performed by the prophets Moses and Elijah (Ex. 7-12; 1 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 had recently suffered in Rome from Nero. Apparently, the two witnesses in the Apocalypse also symbolize other witnesses of Christ, spreading the Gospel in a hostile pagan world and often sealing their sermon 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 in the time of the Antichrist, Jerusalem will become the capital of a world state. At the same time, they provide an economic justification for such an opinion.)

Seven signs (12-14 ch.).

The Church and the Kingdom of the Beast.

The further, the more clearly the seer reveals to the readers the division of mankind into two opposite camps - the Church and the kingdom of the beast. In previous chapters, the apostle John began to introduce the readers to the Church, speaking of the sealed ones, the temple in Jerusalem, and the two witnesses, and in chapter 12 he shows the Church in all her heavenly glory. At the same time, he reveals her main enemy - the devil-dragon. The vision of the Woman clothed in the sun and the dragon makes it clear that the war between good and evil goes beyond the material world and extends into 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 of the Messiah (of the Seed of the Woman) Who will wipe off the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). One would think that in the 12th chapter, the Wife refers to the Virgin Mary. However, from the further narration, which speaks of other descendants of the Woman (Christians), it is clear that here the Church must be understood by the Woman. The sunshine of the Wife symbolizes the moral perfection of the saints and the blessed illumination of the Church by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The twelve stars symbolize the twelve tribes of the New Israel—i.e. group of Christian peoples. The pains of the Wife during childbirth symbolize the deeds, 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 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 has become the head of the Church. The “rapture” of the Infant obviously points to the ascension of Christ to Heaven, where He sat down “at the right hand of the Father” and since then has ruled over the destinies of the world.

“The dragon with his tail carried away a third of the stars from Heaven and cast them to the earth” (Rev. 12:4). Interpreters understand these stars as angels, whom the proud Dennitsa-devil rebelled against God, as a result of which a war broke out in Heaven. (It was the first revolution in the universe!). Archangel Michael led the good angels. The angels who rebelled against God were defeated and could not stay in Heaven. Having fallen away from God, they turned from good angels into demons. Their underworld realm, called the abyss or hell, became a place of darkness and suffering. According to 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 in order to explain to the reader that the dragon, which will pursue the Church in further visions of the Apocalypse, is the fallen Dennitsa, the primordial enemy of God.

So, having been defeated in Heaven, the dragon with all its fury takes up arms against the Church-Woman. His weapons are the manifold temptations which he throws at the Woman like a stormy river. But she is saved from temptations by fleeing into the desert, that is, by voluntarily renouncing the blessings and comforts of life with which the dragon is trying to captivate her. The two wings of the Woman are prayer and fasting, by which Christians are spiritualized and made inaccessible to the dragon crawling on the ground like a serpent (Genesis 3:14; Mark 9:29). (It should be remembered that from the very first centuries many zealous Christians moved to the desert in the literal sense, leaving noisy cities full of temptations. 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 sketes).

Note. The expression "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 a period of persecution. The public ministry of the Savior continued for three and a half years. Approximately the same time, the persecution of believers continued under Tsar Antiochus Epiphanes, 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)

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 mass of people, forever agitated and overwhelmed by passions. From the further story about the beast and from the parallel story of the prophet Daniel (Dan. 7-8 ch.). it must be concluded that the “beast” is the entire atheistic empire of Antichrist. In appearance, the dragon-devil and the beast that emerged from 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 mortal wound to one of the heads of the beast and its healing is mysterious. In due course, events themselves will shed light on the meaning of these words. The historical basis for this allegory could be the conviction of many contemporaries of the apostle John that the murdered Nero came to life and that he would soon return with the Parthian troops (who were located across the Euphrates River (Rev. 9:14 and 16:12)) to take revenge on their enemies. Perhaps here is an indication of the partial defeat of the theomachy paganism by the Christian faith and the revival of paganism during the period of general apostasy from Christianity. Others see this as an indication of the defeat of anti-God Judaism in the 70s of our era. “They are not Jews, but the assembly of Satan,” the Lord said to John (Rev. 2:9; 3:9). (See more about this in our pamphlet, Christian Doctrine of the End of the World.)

Note. There are similarities between the beast of the Apocalypse and the four beasts of the prophet Daniel, personifying the four ancient pagan empires (Dan. 7th ch.). The fourth beast belonged to the Roman Empire, and the tenth horn of the last beast meant the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes, a type of the coming Antichrist, whom the archangel Gabriel called "contemptible" (Dan. 11:21). The characteristics and deeds 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 Maccabees serve as a vivid illustration of the times before the end of the world.

The seer then describes the beast that came out of the earth, which he later calls the false prophet. The earth here symbolizes the complete absence of spirituality in the teachings of the false prophet: all of it is saturated with materialism and pleasing sin-loving flesh. The false prophet deceives the 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 peaceful, but his speeches were full of flattery and lies.

As in the 11th chapter the two witnesses symbolize all the ministers of Christ, so, obviously, the two beasts of the 13th chapter. symbolize the totality of all the haters of Christianity. The beast from the sea is a symbol of civil godless 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 a civilian environment, under the guise of a civil leader, preached and praised by a false prophet or false prophets who betrayed religious beliefs).

As during the time of the Savior's earthly life, both 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 struggle against faith and for the persecution of believers. As already mentioned, the Apocalypse describes not only the distant future, but also constantly repeating - for different peoples in its time. And the Antichrist is also his own for everyone, appearing at a time of anarchy, when “the one 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 Judea, “apostates from the holy covenant” and king Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. 8:23; 1 Macc. and 2 Macc. 9 ch.), adherents of the Mosaic law and Roman rulers in apostolic times. In the time of the New Testament, the heretics-false teachers weakened the Church by 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 seduce unstable Christians into various sects and cults. All of them are false prophets, contributing to the success of the God-fighting forces. Apocalypse vividly reveals the mutual support between the dragon-devil and both beasts. Here, each of them has his own selfish calculations: the devil craves worship for himself, the Antichrist seeks power, and the false prophet seeks his material gain. The Church, calling people to faith in God and to strengthen the virtues, serves as a hindrance to them, and they fight together against it.

The mark of the beast.

(Rev. 13:16-17; 14:9-11; 15:2; 19:20; 20:4). In the language of the Holy Scriptures, to bear a seal (or mark) on oneself 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 God's chosenness and, therefore, God's protection over them, (Rev. 3:12; 7:2-3; 9:4; 14:1; 22: 4). The activity of the false prophet, described in the 13th chapter of the Apocalypse, convinces that the kingdom of the beast will have a religious and political character. By creating a union of different states, it will simultaneously plant a new religion instead of the Christian faith. Therefore, to submit to the Antichrist (allegorically - to take the seal of the beast on one's forehead or on the right hand) will be tantamount to renunciation of 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 on their 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) .

It is possible that in the time of the Antichrist, an improved 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 that will store all information about the person, personal and financial. Thus, the establishment of personal codes directly on people 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. In the absence of money, the robber will have nothing to take from a 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 the central computer. It seems that this system of personal coding 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 able to buy or sell except the one who has this mark" (Rev. 13:17).

Of course, the thought expressed here about stamping codes on humans is speculation. The essence is not in electromagnetic signs, but in fidelity or betrayal of Christ! Throughout the history of Christianity, pressure on believers by the anti-Christian authorities has taken 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 is still a mystery. Obviously, it can be deciphered when the circumstances themselves will contribute to this. Some interpreters in the number 666 see a decrease in the number 777, which in turn means threefold perfection, completeness. With such an 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, the calculation of the name was based on the fact that the letters of the alphabets had a numerical value. For example, in Greek (and in Church Slavonic) A was 1, B = 2, G = 3, and so on. A similar numerical value of letters exists in Latin and in Hebrew. Each name could be arithmetically calculated by adding the numerical value of the letters. For example, the name Jesus, written in Greek, is 888 (perhaps denoting the highest perfection). There are a huge number of proper names, which, by the sum of their letters translated into numbers, give 666. For example, the name Nero Caesar, written in Hebrew letters. In this case, if the proper name of the Antichrist were known, then calculating its numerical value would not require special wisdom. Maybe here it is necessary to look for a solution to the riddle in a fundamental plane, but it is not clear in what direction. The Beast of the Apocalypse is both the Antichrist and his state. Maybe in the time of the Antichrist, initials will be introduced denoting a new worldwide movement? By the will of God, the personal name of Antichrist is hidden for the time being from idle curiosity. When the time comes, those who follow 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 spirit into the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should speak and act in such a way that everyone who would not worship the image of the beast would be killed” (Rev. 13:15). The reason for this allegory could be the demand of Antiochus Epiphanes that the Jews bow to the statue of Jupiter, erected by him in the Jerusalem temple. Later, Emperor Domitian demanded that all the 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 hid 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, but to give presents to those who bowed. Maybe in the prophecy of the Apocalypse we are talking about some kind of apparatus like a TV 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, films 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 the television a forerunner of the speaking image of the beast?

Seven bowls.

Strengthening the godless power.

Judgment on sinners (ch. 15-17).

In this part of the Apocalypse, the seer describes the realm of the beast, which has reached its apogee of power and control over people's lives. The apostasy from the true faith covers almost all of humanity, and the Church comes to extreme exhaustion: “And it was given to him to make war with the saints and overcome them” (Rev. 13:7). In order to encourage the believers who remained faithful to Christ, the apostle John raises their gaze to the heavenly world and shows the great host of the righteous, who, like the Israelites who escaped from Pharaoh under Moses, sing a song of victory (Ex. 14-15 ch.).

But just as the power of the pharaohs came to an end, so the days of anti-Christian power were numbered. The next chapters (16-20 ch.). in bright strokes they draw God's judgment on the theomachists. The defeat of nature in the 16th chapter. like the description in chapter 8, but here it reaches universal proportions and makes a terrifying impression. (As before, obviously, the destruction of nature is carried out by people themselves - by wars and industrial waste). The increased solar heat that people are suffering from may be due to the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere and the 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 will 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 the increasing guilt of the enemies of God: first, people who have taken the mark of the beast are punished, and the capital of the anti-Christian empire is “Babylon,” 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 recalls the Chaldean Babylon, in which in the Old Testament time the theomachic power was concentrated. (Chaldean troops destroyed ancient Jerusalem in 586 BC). Describing the luxury of a "harlot," the apostle John meant rich Rome with its port city. But many features of the apocalyptic Babylon do not apply to ancient Rome and, obviously, refer to the capital of the Antichrist.

Equally enigmatic is the explanation of the angel at the end of chapter 17 on the "mystery of Babylon" in detail relating to the Antichrist and his kingdom. Probably these details will be understood in the future when the time comes. Some of the allegories are taken from the description of Rome, which stood on seven hills, and its godless emperors. "Five kings (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 that is not, is the eighth, and (it is) from among the seven” - this is Domitian, the revived Nero in the popular imagination. He is the antichrist of the first century. But perhaps the symbolism of chapter 17 will receive a new explanation in the time of the last Antichrist.