Глава 19

About the hymn of the saints and the threefold “Alleluia” that they sing during the destruction of Babylon Rev.19:1. After this I heard in heaven a loud voice as if of a large people, saying: Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and strength be to our Lord! Rev.19:2. For His judgments are true and righteous: because He condemned that great fornicator, who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and exacted the blood of His servants from her hand. Rev.19:3. And they said a second time: Hallelujah! And its smoke rose forever and ever. Rev.19:4. Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying: Amen! Hallelujah! Hallelujah means Divine glorification; "Amen" - truly, let it be. This is sung by the angelic forces together with the holy people three times to the Trinitarian God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Who avenged the blood of His servants shed by Babylon, and by punishing its inhabitants stopped sin. The words: “And its smoke ascended forever and ever” indicate either that the punishment will not be forgotten, or that those punished will suffer for it in the future to a lesser extent. “The voice of the people and many waters and thunders” means the sonority of the songs of the angels and all the countless heavenly powers, as they were once understood by the waters, “which are above the heavens” (Ps. 149:4). With them the whole council of the righteous sings the glory of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, through His love for mankind, reigned over all whom He previously possessed as the Creator. He will reign with authority as King and Judge. “The Marriage of the Lamb” means the union of the Church with Christ, which the divine apostles organized, giving the Church a spiritual betrothal, because one day it will receive a true betrothal. On the Mystical Marriage and the Supper of the Lamb and His wife made herself ready. Rev.19:8. And it was given to her to be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright; The fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Rev.19:9. And the Angel said to me: Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me: these are the true words of God. “Fine linen” indicates the lightness of the virtues in which the Church is clothed, the subtlety in knowledge and the height of reflection and contemplation of Divine justifications. “The Supper of Christ” is the triumph of the faithful and their joy, which the blessed will inherit in the eternal palace together with the Holy Bridegroom of immaculate souls: for the one who promised is not false. The blessings of the future age, surpassing all understanding, are great; therefore, they are called by many different names: sometimes - “The Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 4:17) for its glory and honesty, sometimes - “paradise” (Gen. 2:8, 9) for an endless meal of pleasures, sometimes “the bosom of Abraham” (Luke 16:22) for the peace of those who rested in it, sometimes “the bridal chamber” (Matt. 9:15) for endless joy and for the sake of the pure, ineffable and true union of God with His servants and for the sake of a union that transcends bodily communication, as light and myrrh are distinguished from darkness and stench. Rev. 19:10. I fell at his feet to worship him; but he said to me: see that you do not do this; I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus; Worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Rev.19:14. And the armies of heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. “The armies of heaven are following Him” - these are the powers of heaven, distinguished by the luminosity of virtues and the height of understanding and awarded a strong and close unity with Christ. Rev. 19:15. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, with which to smite the nations. He shepherds them with a rod of iron; He tramples the winepress of the wrath and wrath of God Almighty. “Weapon” means the punishment that befalls wicked sinners by righteous Judgment by command from the mouth of God. They will be shepherded by Him with an indestructible rod of eternal torment to put an end to their wickedness, which the saints will not experience, for, according to the words of the Psalmist, “[The Lord] will not leave the rod of the wicked over the lot of the righteous” (Ps. 124:3). “He treads the winepress of wrath” because the Father Himself “judges no one” (John 5:22), but He as a Man was granted the Judgment that He had from the beginning essentially as the Son. Rev.19:16. On His robe and on His thigh is written the name: “King of kings and Lord of lords.” The name “King of kings” indicates the inseparability of natures after the incarnation, when He suffered carnally, being God, and, being Man, is the King of kings, that is, those reigning over the passions, the Lord of lords, that is, those who received power over sin with the assistance of Christ, the Lord of those who will receive the Kingdom in the next century. About the Antichrist and about those thrown with him into Gehenna Rev. 19:17. And I saw one Angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that flew in the middle of the sky: We consider this Angel to be one of the highest, because he commands others to rejoice in the punishment of sinners and the cessation of sin. “Birds” - Angels are called because of the height and speed of their flight for our correction and teaching, for the fulfillment of the will of God serves as food for them, in which they imitate Christ. They soar in the middle of heaven to open access to the predicted joy and saints, for their intercessions serve as a kind of step for ascending to heaven from below. Therefore, by them the saints will be “caught up to the meeting of the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). fly, gather for the great supper of God, Rev.19:18. to devour the corpses of kings, the corpses of mighty men, the corpses of captains of thousands, the corpses of horses and those sitting on them, the corpses of all freemen and slaves, both small and great. “Come and gather together to the great supper of God.” The omnipotent desire of God, called good will and his desired supper, is that “all people will be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), converted and alive (2 Pet. 3:9) and that those who deserve punishment will receive it. Christ called “brush” (spiritual food - Ed.) the will of His Father (John 4:34), and here it is called the supper of God, because people will receive what everyone wanted to receive for their deeds - reward or punishment. “Consumption of the flesh” means the destruction of all things carnal, the disappearance of the rulers of the earth. “Horses” are mentioned not because they too will be resurrected and judged, but to indicate misogynist people enslaved by wickedness. Horsemen mean those who loved evil, which is explained by the words: “free and slaves... small and great,” because free and great are those who have sinned a lot and of their own free will, and slaves and small are those who have sinned less or due to foolishness, age and need. Rev. 19:19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to fight against Him who sat on the horse and His army. For the variety of sins, he calls those who fight together with the devil armies, although they constitute a smaller part in comparison with the angelic forces and saints, and the followers of Christ, for their unanimity in striving to please God, “an army,” that is, in the singular. Rev. 19:20. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet, who performed miracles before him, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image: “And there was a beast, and with him a lying prophet.” They resisted Christ with the kings and princes submissive to them, but, having been defeated, both - the Antichrist and the false prophet, who performed miracles for a more successful acceptance of the seducer, were punished by the wrath of God. both were thrown alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone; Perhaps they will escape common death, but, killed in the blink of an eye, they will be condemned to fiery Gehenna, to the second death. Just as the survivors will go to the Judgment, about whom the Apostle says that they “suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, will change” (1 Cor. 15:52), so, on the contrary, these two opponents of God will go directly not to the Judgment, but to condemnation. Based on the words of the apostle that the Antichrist will be killed by the spirit of the mouth of God (2 Thessalonians 2:8), and the opinion of one teacher that there will be lives even after the killing of the Antichrist, some understand this differently. But we affirm that the living are those whom Daniel pleases, and these two, after God takes away their power, in bodies incorruptible, will be thrown into fiery Gehenna, which will be death and murder for them according to the Divine command of Christ. Rev.19:21. and the rest were killed by the sword of Him who sat on the horse, which proceeded from His mouth, and all the birds fed on their carcasses.