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About the seven-headed and ten-horned beast Rev.13:1. And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast coming out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns: on its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads were names of blasphemy. By “beast,” others mean some lower power of Satan, ruling over other demons, and by the one emerging from the earth after him, the Antichrist. Methodius, Hippolytus and others consider the real beast to be the Antichrist himself, emerging from the sea of ​​life, shaken by storms and greatly agitated. Ten horns with crowns and seven heads indicate that the devil and the Antichrist are one and the same (for this is also referred to above), but at the same time it also indicates the division in the last times of the earth into ten kingdoms and the seventh kingdom corresponding to this world, measured in seven days and divided, as we will see below, into seven periods. Therefore, Satan, who works in him, is called the prince of this age. His blasphemous name is written on his heads, that is, his assistants and servants, for they incessantly blasphemed God from the beginning of the world until the great and pious Constantine, after whom Julian and Valens were blasphemers. Rev.13:2. The beast that I saw was like a leopard; His legs are like those of a bear, and his mouth is like the mouth of a lion; “Lynx” is the name given to the Greek kingdom, “bear” to the Persian kingdom, and “lion” to the Babylonian kingdom; they will be dominated by the Antichrist, who, coming as a Roman king, will destroy their dominion when he sees their clay fingers, signifying the weakness and destructibility of the kingdom divided into ten parts. and the dragon gave him his strength and his throne and great authority. Satan, this mental serpent, in order to destroy the weak, will give the Antichrist all power and strength in false signs and wonders. Rev.13:3. And I saw that one of his heads seemed to be mortally wounded, but this mortal wound was healed. The words “I saw one from his heads as if he were tempered into death” indicate either that one of his princes, killed through the enchantments of the Antichrist and the blinding of people, will be falsely shown to them resurrected, as did Simon the Magus, exposed by the Apostle Peter - or that the Roman kingdom, as if perishing from division, under the single power of the Antichrist (like Caesar Augustus) will rise again strong. And all the earth marveled as they watched the beast, and they worshiped the dragon, who had given power to the beast, Rev.13:4. and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like this beast? and who can fight him? “And the whole earth marveled.” A miracle falsely performed by the Antichrist will be attributed to the devil active in him; through him they will worship the serpent; to those who are spiritually blind, he will appear to be the resurrector of the dead and the performer of miracles. Rev.13:5. And a mouth was given to him speaking proudly and blasphemously, and authority was given to him to continue for forty-two months. Rev.13:6. And he opened his mouth to blaspheme God, to blaspheme His name, and His habitation, and those who dwell in heaven. “Forty-two months” means that he, by God’s permission, will have the power to blaspheme God and oppress the saints for three and a half years. “The Dwelling of God” means the incarnation of God the Word, His presence in the flesh, and rest in the saints, on whom, as well as on the Angels, the beast will direct its blasphemy. Rev.13:7. And it was given to him to make war with the saints and defeat them; and authority was given to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. Rev.13:8. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names were not written in the book of life of the Lamb, who was slain from the foundation of the world. “And a territory was given to him on every tribe and on the nations.” He will use his power against every tribe and people, but he will take possession only of those whose names are not written in the book of life. Rev.13:9. He who has an ear, let him hear. Rev.13:10. He who leads into captivity will himself go into captivity; whoever kills with the sword must himself be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. If anyone takes captive, he himself will be captured, and everyone will receive a reward corresponding to his deeds; Thus, those who plot evil against their neighbor will be captured by the devil and subject to spiritual death from the sword of Satan, as the Apostle Peter says: “Whoever is overcome, he will do the work” (2 Pet. 2:19). Those who have undefiled, pure faith and patience under temptation will not be blotted out from the book of life. May the merciful God deign to be partners with them and us, who consider the sufferings of this life insignificant in comparison with the glory that awaits the saints and courageously walk along the narrow path, so that at the end of it, in the next century, we will achieve glory, peace and breadth of soul and reign with Christ, to whom all thanksgiving and worship is due, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Rev.13:11. And I saw another beast coming out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. According to some, this beast is the Antichrist, and according to others, it is Satan, and its two horns are the Antichrist and the false prophet. If we believe that the false prophet will appear in his own person, then it will not be inappropriate to take the serpent for Satan, the beast emerging from the sea for the Antichrist, and this beast, according to Blessed Irenaeus, for the false prophet. He comes out of an earthly life full of filth and has two horns, like a lamb, in order to hide the murderousness of the wolf with sheep's clothing and because first he will take on the image of piety. Blessed Irenaeus speaks about this as follows: “About the armor-bearer, who is also called a false prophet, it must be said that he spoke like a serpent. He was given the power to perform signs and wonders, so that, walking before the Antichrist, he could prepare the way for his destruction. We consider the healing of the plague of the beast either as a temporary, apparent unification of the divided kingdom, or as the restoration for a short time by the Antichrist of the dominion of Satan, destroyed by the Cross of the Lord, or, finally, the imaginary resurrection of some deceased person close to him. He will speak like a serpent, for he will do and say things characteristic of the leader of evil – the devil.” Rev.13:12. He acts before him with all the power of the first beast and forces the whole earth and those living on it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed; Rev. 13:13. and performs great signs, so that fire comes down from heaven to earth before people. By magic and deception, the forerunner of the apostate-false Christ will do everything to deceive people, so that they consider the Antichrist to be God, as a glorious miracle worker and worthy of such glorification, like the Baptist, who led believers to the Savior, for to deceive people, lies try to imitate the truth. Therefore, it is not surprising if the deluded see with their eyes fire descending from heaven, since we also know from the story of Job that, by God’s permission, through the action of Satan, fire came down from heaven and burned his flocks (Job 1:16). Rev.13:14. And with the miracles that it was given to him to perform before the beast, he deceives those who live on the earth, He deceives those whose hearts are constantly fixed on earthly things, but he cannot deceive those who have acquired residence in heaven, for they are completely confirmed by the prediction of his coming. telling them that dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast, which has the wound of the sword and lives. Rev.13:15. And it was given to him to put spirit into the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would speak and act in such a way that anyone who would not worship the image of the beast would be killed. Rev.13:16. And he will cause everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, Rev.13:17. and that no one will be able to buy or sell except he who has the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. They say that demons often spoke by magic through images, statues, trees, waters and other things; perhaps even through the bodies of the dead, as Simon the Magus demonstrated this to the Romans in the presence of the Apostle Peter, who exposed his deception by showing the rise of the dead, whom he himself raised. Therefore, there is nothing strange in the fact that the forerunner and squire of the Antichrist, with the help of demons, having made an image of the beast, will falsely show it to those speaking, order to beat everyone who does not worship him, and will try to put the mark of the disastrous name of the apostate and seducer on everyone’s right hands in order to take away the power to do good deeds, as well as on the forehead, in order to make the deceived daring in deception and darkness. But those whose faces are imprinted with Divine light will not accept it. And he will distribute the seal of the beast everywhere, both for purchase and for sale, so that those who do not accept it will die a violent death from the lack of things necessary to maintain life. About the bad name of the Antichrist Rev.13:18. Here is wisdom. He who has intelligence, count the number of the beast, for it is a human number; its number is six hundred and sixty-six. A diligent study of the number of the seal and everything else written about it will reveal the time of temptation to those who are awake and sober-minded. If there had been a need to know his name, then, as some teachers say, the seer would have revealed it, but the grace of God did not deign that this destructive name should be written in the Divine Book. If you examine the words, then, according to Hippolytus and others, you can find many names, both proper and common nouns, corresponding to this number. Proper, for example: Lampetis (“lampetio”), Titan (“titan”), Latinnik (“latinos”), also Venedikt (“venediktos”), which means blessed, perhaps in imitation of the one blessed Christ; common nouns: bad leader (“what odigos”), ancient envious (“palevaskanos”), truly harmful (“aliphos vlaveros”), unrighteous lamb (“amnos adikos”). These names will be used by those who rejected the deception of the one for whom shameful things serve as glory. You might be interested in: