Глава 16

About the fact that after the pouring out of the first vial, purulent wounds appeared on the apostates Rev. 16:1. And I heard a loud voice from the church saying to the seven angels: Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth. Rev.16:2. The first angel went and poured out his cup on the ground: and cruel and disgusting purulent wounds appeared on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. “Vial,” like the cup, is used here instead of a punishing action. When it was poured out by the Angel, purulent wounds appeared, signifying the sorrow that occurs in the hearts of apostates and tormenting them, as if heart suppuration, because those punished by God with sent ulcers will not receive any relief from the Antichrist, whom they recognize as God. It is also likely that their bodies will be struck by the flattering Antichrist and the apostate arrows of the devil's deception. About the pouring out of the second vial on those at sea Rev.16:3. The second angel poured out his cup into the sea: and the blood became like that of a dead man, and every living thing died in the sea. It is not surprising that Divine power, to expose the weakness of the Antichrist and the frivolity of the deceived, through the prophets Enoch and Elijah, will transform the sea, as it were, into the blood of a slain man and destroy all living things in it, as God once did through Moses in Egypt (Ex. 7:19) to expose the stubbornness of Pharaoh and reveal His power, so that the faithful would be strengthened, and the unfaithful would be afraid when they see a creature that rose up against them for honoring the apostate. Another plausible assumption is that this indicates defeats in the wars at his coming, when Gog and Magog will fight each other throughout the entire universe and the kings who disobeyed him will be exterminated with their entire army, and there will be murders in places; then the sea from sea battles and those killed in them will be polluted with blood, and the rivers will also be stained with it. That from the third plague the rivers turn to blood Rev.16:4. The third angel poured out his cup into the rivers and springs of water, and it became blood. Rev. 16:5. And I heard the Angel of the waters, who said: You are righteous, O Lord, who art and were, and holy, because you have judged thus; Rev. 16:6. Because they shed the blood of saints and prophets, You gave them blood to drink: they are worthy of it. It is also clear from here that, as stated above, Angels are placed over the elements, of which the ruler of the waters praises God for bringing down worthy punishment on sinners and giving blood instead of drink to those who stained their hands with the blood of saints. This also indicates that many of the faithful, awarded the prophetic gift at that time, will be killed by the servants of the devil, or that the latter’s accomplices are those who reject the preaching of the divine prophets and justify their murder by the hard-hearted Jews, as the Lord said about them, that by building tombs for the prophets, they deign to kill them (Luke 11:47, 48). Rev.16:7. And I heard another from the altar saying: Yea, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. “The altar” sometimes means Christ, for in Him and through Him verbal services and living sacrifices are offered to the Father, which we were taught to offer by the Apostle (Rom. 12:1; Heb. 13:15), and sometimes angelic forces offering our prayers and spiritual services, since “they are sent to serve for those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). So, he says, from this service altar a voice was heard praising the just Judgment of God, which surpassed all mind and word. From the Gospel we know that the intelligent powers rejoice and rejoice over the salvation of those who turn through repentance, grieve when they are led astray from the true path, and thank God for punishing the violators of His commandments, so that through this they may receive at least partial forgiveness of sins. Let us also bring joy and gladness to them by our conversion, reflecting that the Angel of God accompanying us teaches and guides us in our actions with some ineffable word, as if talking with our mind with his mind, rejoices over those who listen to his advice and grieves over those who transgress them, as we know from soul-helping stories. When one day a certain man, overwhelmed by many sins, entered church, a saddened and distressed Angel followed him from afar; he promised to convert, leave his former life and correct himself before the Giver of mercy - and when leaving the church, his Angel walked ahead, and the previously joyful, but now shamed, evil demon followed far behind. Let our life be in God to shame the demons and rejoice the Angels, so that, triumphing with them “with the voice of joy and praise” (Ps. 41:5), we may give thanks for the victory over the evil spirits of Christ our God, to whom befits, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. About the fact that from the fourth plague people are scorched with heat Rev. 16:8. The fourth angel poured out his cup on the sun, and it was given to him to burn people with fire. Rev. 16:9. And the intense heat burned the people, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has power over these plagues, and did not come to their senses to give Him glory. Perhaps people will be scorched by the heat of the sensual sun when God, the Lover of Mankind, bridles those who disobey Him “with bridle and bit” (Ps. 31:9) in order to turn them to repentance, although those who have reached the depths of evil will be directed by their evil will and mind not to conversion, but to blasphemy. But perhaps the sun also denotes the course of the day, during which those who deserve punishment will be scorched by the heat of temptation, so that through sorrow they will come to hate their culprit - sin. However, the insane, not recognizing their fall from grace, will sharpen their tongue against God, just as some now, oppressed by oppression from the barbarians, accuse Divine grace of allowing our race to fall into such disasters. That the fifth plague will darken the animal kingdom Rev. 16:10. The fifth angel poured out his cup upon the throne of the beast: and his kingdom became dark, and they bit their tongues in pain, Rev. 16:11. and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their sufferings and their plagues; and did not repent of their deeds. The vial will be poured on the throne of the beast, and this indicates that the wrath of God will fall on the kingdom of the Antichrist, as it is not enlightened by the sun of righteousness. Biting the tongue indicates the power of the disease, which will strike those deceived by him, whom God will strike with ulcers, so that they, convinced of the lies of the one they take for God, will turn away from the deception. But they will turn not to repentance, but to blasphemy. And if this happens, then they, along with those who follow, will be struck by hail the size of a talent. And evil demons, using human bodies as tools and being struck by saints, do not cease to blaspheme those who punish them. We also need to consider what we should think about the wicked, tormented in fiery hell: will they be completely restrained from their evil by this punishment, so that their minds and thoughts will turn away from it, or will they only be restrained from fulfilling their evil thoughts, like evildoers who are in prisons and chains and are kept from slandering others not by the disposition of the soul, but by necessity? I, hearing about eternal torment, cannot help but believe the one who says this, but, knowing about the constant mercy and goodness of God, I think and am convinced that He would never threaten eternal torment and hand over those worthy of it to it, if He saw that the condemned would repent and hate the evil that they chose voluntarily, for they accept torment for it voluntarily, and not out of necessity. And if, through the prayer of Moses, He spared and freed Pharaoh from punishment, although He knew that he would soften only during the executions, and then become hardened again, then all the more He would have freed these if He had seen that they would be purified by fire, like gold, which is always cited as an example in this case. But uncleanness sticks to gold as to a soulless substance; it comes to rational beings at will, or, better, it originates in them themselves. Therefore, those who see in the goodness, foreknowledge and power of God an obstacle to eternity of torment, let them also remember the justice of God, which determines to each according to his merits, and let them not think about any change in God’s determination. If they don’t want this, then, so as not to contradict themselves, let them blame the kings of the earth. For they know that not everyone participating, for example, in a battle, or wrestling, or in horse racing will be winners, but only one will be crowned for each type of competition, and nevertheless everyone is allowed to enter the lists. And what the lists is for those who compete, so is entry into the world for people, because whether to be born or not depends not on our power, but feats and victory over demons in order to achieve eternal bliss depend on us. That is why defeated sinners will uselessly repent and cry: in the words of the psalm, “Who can confess in hell?” (Ps. 6:6), for the condemned are not helped, as now, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And “they will be cut in half,” says the Lord, “2 (Matthew 24:51), separated from the Life-giving Spirit that they rejected. We think that this is also indicated by the following psalm saying: “[The Lord] will not leave the rod of the wicked over the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to iniquity” (Ps. 124:3), since their life cannot be confused not only by the difference of image and character, but also by firmness and constancy, so that the admixture of the worst does not irritate their will to sin and does not diminish the joy of weakness of the body and fear of punishment, but so that they are unshakably faithful to God. And to talk about what was promised, we move on in order. That the sixth vial opens the way through the Euphrates for kings from sunrise Rev. 16:12. The sixth angel poured out his bowl into the great river Euphrates: and the water in it dried up, so that the way for the kings would be ready from the rising of the sun. By God's permission, the Euphrates River may become scarce in water in order to give passage to pagan kings to destroy each other and people who, as we think, will rise from the Scythian borders - the place of Gog and Magog, as Revelation speaks about this further. But perhaps the Antichrist, descended from the Jews, from the eastern part of the Persian land, where the tribe of Dan, with other kings and nobles who inherited the royal name, will cross the Euphrates and bring death of soul and body on people: on some - for their patience and faith, on others - for weakness and lack of courage. Rev. 16:13. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs: By mentioning the three unclean spirits that came out of the three, he shows that he is speaking separately about the devil as a serpent, the Antichrist as a beast, and the false prophet as different from them. From them, he says, come three toad-like spirits in their poisonousness, uncleanness, filthiness and inclination to unclean pleasures of evil spirits. According to the command of the devil, the Antichrist and the false prophet, designated here under the guise of “mouths,” they will show people false signs and wonders, as we will see later. Rev. 16:14. these are demonic spirits performing signs; they go out to the kings of the earth and the whole universe to gather them for battle on that great day of God Almighty. False signs performed by demons will prompt those who believe in them to fight against the day of God, the great and bright, the Judge of the living and the dead. On this day, completely defeated, they will uselessly mourn their former error. Rev. 16:15. Behold, I come like a thief: blessed is he who watches and keeps his clothes, lest he walk naked, and lest they see his shame. Rev. 16:16. And he gathered them to a place called in Hebrew Armageddon. To watch and keep clothes means to be vigilant and constantly take care of good deeds that serve as clothes for the saints; he who does not have it will be put to shame, as naked and full of shame. "Armageddon" means cutting, or killing. The nations gathered by the devil and brought to this place will be beaten, for he is consoled by human blood. From here it is clear how destructive the deprivation of the vestments of virtue is, since we know from the Gospel parable that he who did not have them was cast out of the palace (Matthew 22:13), as well as from the words of the Apostle, when, speaking about incorruption, he says: “Even if we are clothed, we will not teach” (2 Cor. 5:3) from good works. Let us therefore earnestly beg our Lord to wash here the garments of our souls, so that, according to the word of the psalm, we may “be whiter than snow” (Ps. 50:9) and not hear: “Friend, why did you come in without a wedding garment?” and not be thrown with bound feet and hands into utter darkness (Matt. 22:12, 13), but so that, having at all times white robes, according to the wise Solomon, and wearing bright lamps of compassion and virtuous life, we may ascend to the heavenly palace together with Christ, the pure and immaculate Bridegroom of our souls. To Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, belongs glory, honor and power, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. That through the seventh plague there will be hail and an earthquake on people Rev. 16:17. The seventh angel poured out his cup into the air: and from the church of heaven a loud voice was heard from the throne, saying: It is finished! Rev. 16:18. And there were lightnings, thunders, and voices, and there was a great earthquake, such as had not happened since there had been people on earth. Such an earthquake! So great! An angelic voice came from heaven, that is, the Divine command was fulfilled. “Voices, lightning and thunder,” like those heard at Sinai during the appearance of God, mean the terrifying power of what will happen on earth during the second coming of Christ. “Earthquake” indicates a change in what exists, according to the apostle: “I will yet again shake not only the earth, but also the heavens” (Heb. 12:26). Rev. 16:19. And the great city fell into three parts, and the cities of the pagans fell, We think that this city, great not in size and number of buildings, but ancient and great in piety, is Jerusalem, exalted above the pagan cities and distinguished from them by the sufferings of Christ. Dividing it into three parts” indicates the Christians, Jews and Samaritans living there, or means the division of the inhabitants into firm believers who desecrated their baptism and Jews who completely disobeyed the preaching, to the unbridled and impudent fulfillment of their lustful desires by the latter and the overthrow of them from their place. And now, out of fear of pious kings, the Jews and Samaritans pretend to belong to us, not daring to openly address their heresy and hiding their convictions, as if they were true Christians and bear the same name as us. But when intensified temptations expose them, then there will be a division of people into pious, wicked and sinners, and everyone will go to like-minded people and to a sect that agrees with them. The fall of pagan cities indicates their destruction or the cessation of paganism with the coming of the Kingdom of God, which, according to Daniel, the saints will inherit (Dan. 7:27). and Babylon the great will be remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His wrath. The great Babylon, carried away by its own worldly worries, and its inhabitants, magnified by their wealth, will appear as if from oblivion in the memory of God, and for their wicked deeds and trampling on the truth they will drink the cup of the wrath of God. Rev. 16:20. And every island fled, and the mountains were gone; By islands we must understand, according to the Holy Scriptures, churches, and by mountains - those in charge of them. When all of the above things happen, they will flee, as the Lord says: those in the east will flee to the west, and those in the west will flee to the east. “Then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, it will not be lower” (Matthew 24:21), when not only from the Antichrist in torment for Christ, but also in flight, in the mountains and caves, where they will flee from the cities in order to preserve piety, people will endure disasters and wickedness, some as punishment for their sins, and others for testing in virtue. Rev. 16:21. and hail, the size of a talent, fell from the sky on the people; and the people blasphemed God because of the plagues from the hail, because the plague from it was very serious. Hail falling from the sky signifies the wrath of God coming from above. The fact that this hail the size of a talent means the fullness of wrath for the grave sins of people; in a similar sense there was a vision to the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 5:7). From this hail, those struck will not turn to repentance, but to blasphemy, and this testifies to their hardness of heart, in which they will become like Pharaoh. This bitterness will even be more than that of Pharaoh, for he nevertheless softened somewhat from the executions and recognized his wickedness, and even during the punishments they will blaspheme God. You might be interested in: