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The opening of the first seal, signifying the apostolic teaching Rev.6:1. And I saw that the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder: Come and see. And among those in heaven there is a good order, descending from the highest ranks to the lowest, for the first voice commanding the Angel, mysteriously depicting the vision, to come, he heard from one of the four-formed - the lion. The first animal, the lion, I think, indicates the royal power of the apostles over the demons, since it is said about them: “Behold, the kings of the earth have gathered together” (Ps. 47:5), and in another place: “You have set up... princes throughout the whole earth” (Ps. 44:17). Rev.6:2. I looked, and behold, a white horse, and a rider on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him; and he came out victorious, and to conquer. Some attributed the removal of this seal and all others to the dispensation of the incarnation of God the Word, namely: the first - to the Nativity, the second - to Baptism, the third - to the Divine signs that occurred after Baptism, the fourth - to the condemnation of Pilate, the fifth - to the crucifixion, the sixth - to the entombment and the seventh - to the destruction and captivity of hell. We completely agree with the opinion of Methodius that there is no need to attribute this to the born Christ, for the mystery of the incarnation of God the Word was much earlier than this revelation. John speaks only about the present and the future, and here he talks about the victory over the fiery serpent. That is why, by the opening of the first seal, in our opinion, we must understand the host of apostles who, having directed the Gospel sermon against the demons like a bow, brought to Christ those wounded by saving arrows and were crowned with the crown of incorruption for having defeated the prince of darkness with the truth and suffered violent death for confessing the Master’s name for the sake of the second victory. That is why it is said: “from the beginning they conquered, and let him conquer,” because the first victory is the conversion of the pagans, and the second is the voluntary martyr’s abandonment of the body. The opening of the second seal, meaning the war of the infidels against the believers Rev.6:3. And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see. As stated above, the first animal signified the apostolic power, and the second, the calf, signifies, I suppose, the sacred sacrifices of the holy martyrs. Rev.6:4. And another horse came out, a red one; and to him that sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and a great sword was given to him. Here, of course, in our opinion, there is a different apostolic teaching, preached by the martyrs and teachers. By this teaching, upon the spread of the sermon, nature was divided against itself, the peace of the world was disrupted, for Christ said: “He did not come to bring peace (on earth), but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). By confessing this teaching, the victims of the martyrs were raised to the highest altar. “Red horse” means either shed blood, or the heartfelt zeal of the martyrs for the name of Christ. The words “to him who sits on it it is given to quickly take away the world” indicate the wise will of God, which sends trials for the faithful in adversity. The opening of the third seal, meaning the falling away from Christ of those who do not have firm faith in Him Rev.6:5. And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come and see. I think that by the third animal we must understand man, meaning the fall of people and their punishment by the will of God for their inclination to sin. I looked, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a measure in his hand. Rev.6:6. And I heard a voice among the four living creatures, saying: A quinix of wheat for a denarius, and three quinixes of barley for a denarius; Do not damage the oil or wine. The black horse, I think, means crying for those who have fallen away from faith in Christ due to the severity of their torment. The “measure” is a comparison of those who have fallen from the faith either by inclination and fickleness of mind, or by vanity, or by weakness of the body. “A measure of wheat for a dinar” perhaps means the sensual hunger that will then occur, as stated below. And this is very reliable. In a figurative sense, the measure of wheat, valued at a denarius, means all those who labored legally and preserved the image of God given to them. “Three measures of barley” are those who, due to lack of courage, like the dumb, submitted to the persecutors out of fear, but then repented and washed the desecrated image with tears. The words “do not harm the wine and oil” indicate that out of fear one should not reject Christ’s healing, leaving without it those wounded by sin and those who have fallen into robbers, and thereby allowing death to kidnap those who have overcome their fall by the grace of the long-suffering and great God. So, in order to have in our passions a humane Doctor - God, let us try to be such doctors for our sinned brethren, bringing them the wine of consolation with the oil of compassion, so as not to finish off the lame, but it is better, according to the Apostle, to heal. And then, as co-workers of God, we will inherit eternal blessings through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory and power, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. Opening of the fourth seal showing the plagues on the wicked Rev.6:7. And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature, saying, Come and see. The eagle, with its high flight and swift attack on its prey, indicates that punishment with plagues comes from above from the wrath of God in vengeance for the pious and as punishment for sinners, unless they correct themselves and turn to the better. Rev.6:8. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider, whose name was “death”; and hell followed him; and power was given to him over the fourth part of the earth - to kill with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and with the beasts of the earth. What was said here also applies to the present. Thus, Eusebius in his Church History in the 8th chapter of the 10th word says that during the reign of Maximian of Nicaea in Rome, during a terrible and severe persecution, so many people died from hunger, murderous ulcers and diseases that it was impossible to bury them, with all the zeal of Christians to bury the corpses and bring those who remained to the knowledge of the truth. Also, during the uprising of the Armenians against the Romans, a huge number of people died from the sword: dogs ate the bodies of the dead, and the living began to beat them, because they were afraid to find a living coffin in them after their death. It is also plausible that dogs shared their food with wild animals due to its abundance; the same thing, as we know, happens at the present time. The opening of the fifth seal, showing the cry of holy souls to the Lord about death Rev.6:9. And when He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the word of God and for the testimony that they had. Rev.6:10. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord, Holy and True, do you not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? If we attribute the opening of the four seals to events in the life of Christ, then it would be completely fair to attribute its removal to the prophets and saints who had died before, appealing to the forbearance of God, according to which He endured persecution from the Jews even to the point of death on the cross. If this is considered a prediction about the future, then, in accordance with church teachers, one must think that this cry against persecutors is befitting of those martyred for the sake of Christ, in order through this to convert the worthy and put an end to the wickedness of the rebellious with universal death, “lest the righteous stretch out their hands into iniquity” (Ps. 125:3). For although the wicked have already experienced the wrath of God, those who remain among them nevertheless need punishment, either for their conversion or for eternal defeat. Rev.6:11. And white clothes were given to each of them, and they were told to rest for a little while longer, until their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed like them, would complete the number. The words “until they die and their slanderers” indicate that the saints seem to be praying for the end of the world, therefore they are commanded to endure until the end of the brethren, so that, according to the Apostle, they would not achieve perfection without them (Heb. 11:40). The “white robe” signifies the lordship of virtues that flourishes among them, in which they clothe themselves before they have yet received what was promised. As free from all filth, they rest in the bosom of Abraham and are truly blessed in the hope of receiving what they still see, as if in a spiritual mirror. Likewise, many holy fathers say that each of the doers of virtues will inherit a worthy place, of which he is convinced based on known signs and is already thinking about future glory. The opening of the sixth seal, signifying the plagues caused by death Rev.6:12. And when He opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became dark as sackcloth, and the moon became like blood. Rev.6:13. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree, shaken by a strong wind, drops its unripe figs. Some attributed these words to the ruin under Vespasian, taking them in a figurative sense. But we think that here we are talking about the transition from the period of persecution to the time of the coming of the Antichrist, in which, according to prophecies, these and similar plagues will occur so that, reflecting on them, people would not renounce the executions brought upon them by the Antichrist, which, as we know, have never happened before. The “earthquake,” which Scripture often speaks of, means a change in affairs, because the expression “I will shake one more” (Hag. 2:6) means, as the apostle says, “a change in what is shaken” (Heb. 12:26, ​​27). And in the Old Testament it is said about the procession of Israel: “the earth shook, for the heavens were ashes” (Ps. 67:9). The blackness of the sun and the dark bloody appearance of the moon mean, according to the explanation of Blessed Cyril, the spiritual darkness of those comprehended by the wrath of God. “The stars have fallen” - this, as it was written about those deceived by Antiochus, means that those who consider themselves the luminaries of the world will fall, struck and crushed by the events of that time when, according to the word of the Lord, due to the multitude of sorrows, as far as possible, even the elect will be deceived (Matthew 24:24). Therefore, perhaps, this refers to a fig tree, which, when swayed by the devil’s wind, drops fruits that are still underdeveloped, have not yet ripened in the heat of temptation and have not received the sweetness of grace. For the fig tree is understood in two senses - good and bad. Thus, this can be concluded from the two fig tree figs, good and bad, shown to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 24:1, 2), from the fig tree that withered according to the word of Christ (Matthew 21:19; Mark 11:13, 14) and from the one that wears out its color in the book of Song of Songs (Song 2:13). Whether this will come true in a visible way at the second coming of Christ, the Judge in glory, is known only to Him, who has the secret treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Rev.6:14. And the sky disappeared, curled up like a scroll; The expression “the sky rolled up like a scroll,” according to our assumption, indicates the uncertainty of the second coming of Christ, since the scroll rolls up silently and unexpectedly, or indicates the compassion and sadness of the heavenly powers, regretting those who have fallen from the faith. At the same time, this also indicates that the sky is not subject to destruction and decay, but, as it were, to some kind of twisting and change for the better. In the fifth accusatory word on the false mind, Irenaeus says: “Neither the essence nor the being of the creation perishes or is destroyed (for he who created it is strong and true), but “the image of this world passes away” (1 Cor. 7:31), in which the crime of the commandment was committed. We assume that here the apostle adhered to an ancient custom: the Jews, instead of our books, had scrolls, which were not destroyed during development, but revealed the meaning of what was written; in the same way, the discovery of a heavenly being indicates the revelation of blessings to the saints.” So, having examined this from four sides, let us turn, by God's permission, in the same order to the following. And every mountain and island moved from their places. Rev.6:15. And the kings of the earth, and the nobles, and the rich, and the captains of thousands, and the mighty, and every slave and every free man, hid themselves in caves and in the ravines of the mountains, Rev.6:16. and they say to the mountains and stones: Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; Rev.6:17. For the great day of His wrath has come, and who can stand? “And every mountain and island moved from their places.” When the apostles asked the Lord about the destruction of the Jerusalem temple and the end of the world, He, as far as they could comprehend, predicted for them about the future, which, according to the testimony of Josephus, had already come true over the Jews - the murderers of Christ during the devastation under Vespasian and Titus. But all this, as it has been said, will befall the world with special force at the coming of the Antichrist; then those in charge over the church deanery or over the worldly authorities, represented here under the images of “mountains”, and the churches of the faithful, here figuratively called “islands” and renewed, according to Isaiah, to God because of the false Christ, will flee from their places, will change them one for another, which we also experienced and endured through His love for mankind through our sins before His coming. “The kings of the earth,” that is, those who possess the earth, but have not acquired anything for themselves in heaven, together with all the rich and nobles, with the slaves of the earth and free from the work of Christ (this should not be so!) will beg that it would be better to hide them in caves, stones and mountains, than to endure the trials of the inflamed wrath of God, who, at the coming of the Antichrist, will allow them to perish from hunger and disasters, or endless the torment that awaits them after the resurrection. And then God’s wrath will rightly burn like a furnace, consuming those who built the building of faith on the foundation of wood, hay and straw (1 Cor. 3:12). May God, the lover of mankind, deliver us from this and make us partakers of the eternal blessings prepared for the saints, numbering us among the fullness of those who are saved by the grace of His Only Begotten Son, who is with the Father. and to the Holy Spirit be glory forever and ever. You might be interested in: