Глава 1

Rev.1:1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon happen. The apocalypse is such a revelation of hidden secrets, which occurs during insights of the mind or in visions during sleep, or in the waking state with the help of Divine illumination. If the apostle says that this Revelation was given to Christ from God, then he uses the expression in relation to human nature, for in his Gospel he, more than all other evangelists, depicts Him in sublime features and Divine expressions. Also here, through the serving Angel and the name of the students, “slaves,” he points out to us the greatness of the Divinity of Christ, for “every kind of work is for Him” (Ps. 119:91). The expression “to be soon” means that some of what was predicted in Revelation is, so to speak, at hand, and those related to the end will not be slow to be fulfilled, “for with the Lord a thousand years are like yesterday, those who have passed by” (Ps. 89:5; 2 Pet. 3:8). And He showed it by sending it through His angel to His servant John, Rev.1:2. who testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and what he saw. Christ, as the Master, showed this to me through an Angel, to me, His servant, who testified to his confession, so that through what I saw I would testify and preach for the conversion of those listening both about what, although it exists, is hidden from people, and about what is about to happen. For the seer prophetically saw both; This is also clear from the words “which are the essence” and “which should be,” indicating the present and future tense. Rev.1:3. Blessed is he who reads and those who listen to the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it; for the time is near. Glorifies those who read and listen in order to fulfill, because the time appointed for people to do and receive bliss is short. “Work while it is day: night will come when no one can work,” says the Lord (John 9:4). Otherwise: in comparison of this short-term life with the future, eternal, the time of reward “everyone according to his deeds” is near (Rev. 22:12). Rev.1:4. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and was and is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, Rev.1:5. and from Jesus Christ, Although there were many local churches, he sent only to the “seventh churches.” He did this for the sake of the septenary number, which mysteriously means all the churches, and also because of the correspondence of this number to real life, in which the septenary circle of days is accepted. For the same reason, he mentions only seven Angels and seven churches, to whom he sends his greeting: grace to you and peace from the Trinitarian Godhead. The word “He” signifies the Father who said to Moses: “I am He” (Ex. 3:14); the expression “who was like” is the Word that “in the beginning came to God” (John 1:1); in a word, he who is coming is the Comforter, always descending on the believing children of the Church in holy baptism and having to be poured out on them in all its fullness in the next century (Acts 2). By the seven spirits we can understand the seven Angels (who received control of the churches), not placed together with the God-originating and Royal Trinity, but remembered with Her as her servants, just as the divine Apostle says in the same way: “I will testify before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and [his] elect Angels” (1 Tim. 5:21). But this can also be understood in another sense: by the expression “He who is and who is to come,” we mean the Father, Who contains in Himself the beginning, the middle and the end of the existence of everything that exists; under the “seven spirits” - the gifts of the Life-giving Spirit; who then follows - Jesus Christ, God, who became Man for us. For even in the Apostle the Divine Persons are placed before and after without any distinction, which is why here he says “and from Jesus Christ,” etc. Who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins with His Blood, For He, who testified before Pontius Pilate, is “faithful in all His words” (Ps. 144:13), both life and resurrection; He is “the firstborn from the dead” (Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 15:20), and over whom He rules, they will not see death, like those who died and were resurrected before, but will live forever. He is the Lord of kings, as “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Ps. 2:6; Col. 2:10; 1 Tim. 6:15), equal in power to the Father and Consubstantial with Him (John 10:30, 14:20). Otherwise: He is the King of kings of the earth, kings over earthly passions. And if blessed Gregory the Theologian refers to Christ the expression He, and who is, and who is to come, Almighty, then it would not be at all inappropriate to attribute the following sayings to Him. To these words the Almighty is added and no other person is mentioned. This meaning of the above is confirmed by further words: a “from Jesus Christ”, because if only one God the Word and the Son’s Hypostasis were spoken of, then it would be completely unnecessary to use the words “from Jesus Christ” to separate Him from another. Divine words befit equally both each individual Hypostasis and all together, with the exception, perhaps, according to Gregory the Theologian, of the differences and properties that are special and personal, and those related to the incarnation of God the Word. This is also confirmed by the fact that we are taught in the Gospel to relate the Trisagion of the Seraphim to the Son, in the Acts, in the sermon of the Apostle Paul - to the Holy Spirit, and in the offering of the Holy Mysteries - to the Father, to whom we address this prayer, as blessed Epiphanius speaks about this in his word on the Holy Spirit. We present all this as evidence that our explanation does not contradict the opinion of the church fathers, and now, with God’s help, we will move on to the next one. Rev.1:6. and to Him who has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen. It is fitting, he says, glory to Him, who, out of His love, freed us from the bonds of mortals and washed us with the outpouring of His Life-giving Blood and water from the filth of sin and made us a royal priesthood, offering the Father a living sacrifice - verbal service instead of the victims of dumb animals. Rev.1:7. Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the families of the earth will mourn before Him. Hey, amen. Here He, slain as a lamb, will come in the glory of the Father as the Judge, on clouds, or incorporeal forces, or similar to the cloud that overshadowed Him with the apostles on Mount Tabor. “He who comes with glory” will be seen by every eye; His crucifiers and the tribes of the earth who do not believe in Him will “mourn” (Matthew 24:29, 30). “Yes, Amen” means: absolutely, so. These words mean the same thing in both Greek and Hebrew. Amen - let it be. Rev.1:8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. The words “Alpha and Omega” signify Christ as God, containing everything, beginningless and infinite: “He is,” both before and without end, co-essential with the Father, and therefore having “to render to each according to his deeds” (Rev. 22:12). Rev.1:9. I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and in the kingdom and in the patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I, as your brother and accomplice in the sorrows of Christ for the sake of Christ, have fully earned your trust, for, condemned for confessing Christ on the island of Patmos, I proclaim the mysteries that I saw on it. Vision in which I saw the Clothed One in the midst of seven golden lamps Rev.1:10. I was in the spirit on Sunday, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet, which said: I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last; Rev.1:11. write what you see in a book and send it to the churches that are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. Embraced by the Holy Spirit and receiving spiritual hearing, I heard on the most revered Sunday day the voice of the Lord, like a trumpet in its sonority, for “their message went out into all the earth” (Ps. 18:5). Pointing with the words “Alpha and Omega” to God’s beginninglessness and infinity, He commanded me to tell the “seven churches” about what I had seen, denoting the number seven, ending on Saturday, the sabbath, that is, the rest of the century of the future. Therefore, writes the great Irenaeus, God created seven heavens and seven angels who rule over others. Rev.1:12. I turned to see whose voice was speaking to me; and turning, he saw seven golden lampstands Rev.1:13. and, in the midst of the seven lampstands, like the Son of Man, clothed in a robe and girded across the chest with a golden girdle. The voice heard by the apostle was not sensual; He indicates this with the word “turned,” that is, he turned not to hear, but to “see” him, because spiritual hearing and vision mean the same thing. And having turned, he then says, he saw seven golden lamps (hereinafter they are called churches) and among them Christ, “like the Son of man” (not an ordinary man, but also God!) and clothed in the subdir, as the highest Bishop, “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 109:4). He was girded with a golden belt not along the thigh, as people are girded to tame lusts (the Divine flesh is free from them), but “at the breast” - across the chest, to show by this that the extreme measures of the Divine wrath are restrained by love for mankind and that the covenants, these breasts of the Master, with which the faithful are nourished, are girded by truth. The belt is called “golden” to denote the highest superiority, purity and innocence. Rev.1:14. His head and hair are white, like white wool, like snow; and His eyes are like a flame of fire; Although He is new to us, He is also ancient, or rather, eternal; His “white hair” testifies to this. His eyes are like a flame of fire, illuminating the saints and scorching the wicked. Rev.1:15. and His feet were like halkolivan, like those red-hot in a furnace. Gregory the Nazian means by feet the economy of God, for His feet are the flesh by which the Divine who appeared on earth brought about our salvation. But under the feet one can also understand the apostles, as the affirmation of the Church. Doctors consider Chalcolivan to be a special fragrant incense, which they call strong and masculine. Otherwise: halq (halkos - copper) means human nature, Lebanon (livanos - incense) - Divine, and combined together into one word "halkolivan" - the fragrance of faith and the unmerged unity of natures. Khalq also means the fragrance of Christ’s teaching, and Lebanon means the appeal of the pagans to Him, which is why the Bride is commanded to come (Song 4:8). The feet of Christ are the apostles, kindled in the furnace of temptation to imitate Christ. and His voice is like the sound of many waters. Rev.1:16. He held in His right hand seven stars, and from His mouth came a sword sharp on both sides, and His face was like the sun, shining in its power. It is absolutely correct to say that His voice is like the voice of many waters, for it is one and the same with Him and with the Spirit, through whom rivers of living waters flow from the belly of believers (John 7:38) and preach audibly to the whole earth. The "Seven Stars" below are called the Angels of the Churches. A two-edged sword indicates either the excommunication of the wicked, sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12), or the spiritual sword that pierces the inner man. His face shines, “like the sun,” with spiritual light, and not sensual: like the Sun of righteousness, He shines with its own strength and power, and not like the sensual sun, created and shining only at God’s command and with God-given power. Rev. 1:17. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. And He laid His right hand on me and said to me: Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last, Rev.1:18. and alive; and he was dead, and behold, he is alive forever and ever, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and death. And when the apostle “fell at His feet as if dead,” according to the weakness inherent in human nature, like Joshua (Joshua 5:14) and Daniel (Dan. 10:9, 10), Christ strengthened him with the words: Do not be afraid, because I, beginningless and endless, did not come to put you to death, but I myself was dead for your sake and have the keys of hell and death, that is, physical and mental death. Rev. 1:19. So write what you saw, and what is, and what will happen after this. Rev.1:20. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lamps, is this: the seven stars are the Angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands which you saw are seven churches. The true light is Christ (John 1:9), and those enriched by His enlightenment are like a lamp illuminating the darkness of this life. But the churches are actually called lamps here, for they have lamps containing “the word of life,” according to the apostle (Phil. 2:15, 16). The name of the lamps and candlesticks as gold indicates the honesty and integrity of their faith. Each of the churches, says the Lord, will have a Guardian Angel. According to Gregory the Theologian, in this chapter the churches are figuratively called stars, for their purity and brightness. You might be interested in: