Глава VI

Vision of the first four seals: the appearance after the removal of the first seal of a white horse (1–2), a red one after the second (3–4), a black one after the third (5–6) and a pale one after the fourth (7–8). Vision of souls killed for the word of God, under the altar and dressed in white robes (9-11). A depiction of a picture of a world revolution that will occur after the breaking of the sixth seal of the book (12–17). 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. Visions of the heavenly throne and the Lamb appearing before it were the first revelations of the Deities. providential activity in the first of five orders of apocalyptic phenomena. They are followed by a vision of the opening of the seals of the book. This vision presupposes the former and, moreover, not only in its external connection, but also in its internal correlation. Heaven and the heavenly throne serve as the source and basis of all those events and phenomena that take place on earth: the Divine will is carried out in them, and they must be considered from this side. Remaining in the same position and the same state of spirit, the seer contemplates how the Lamb opens the first seal of the book and at the same time hears a thunderous (strong) voice that belonged to one of the four animals - and which one, John does not indicate. In the expression “go (let it go, be done) and see” you need to see an impersonal appeal, and its meaning can be conveyed as follows: let what should be done according to Divine predestination happen, but you, John, look and imprint it in your mind. 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. After the opening of the first seal, John sees a white horse standing out and a rider on it. The rider himself is described very briefly and in general terms. Throughout the vision, the seer pays the main attention to the horses and the color of their colors, but speaks about the riders only in connection with the horses. Therefore, when explaining visions, you need to pay most attention to the images of horses and their colors. The horse is the most natural symbol of movement, war. Here the horse is white, therefore, by movement we must understand movement of a spiritual, highest quality, pure (white) both in its goals and in its means. This movement is obviously one that occurred on earth as a result of Christian preaching. And the victorious appearance of the horseman finds an explanation in the successes that accompanied this Christian preaching. The rider controls the horse, so Jesus Christ controlled the apostles and their successors in spreading the Gospel. Rev.6:3. And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see. When the second seal was opened, a voice was also heard, but of a different animal and, moreover, obviously less majestic and strong. The voice spoke the same words and, of course, with the same meaning. 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. John saw another horse; he was red, or, more correctly, fiery. If a horse generally denotes movement, then a red horse, reminiscent of the destructive properties of fire and the color of human blood, speaks of the destructive meaning of the personified movement. The red horse and its rider with a large sword indicate the discovery of enmity and malice, which everywhere and always accompany the early spread of Christianity. According to the actions of the rider on the red horse, there will be no peace on earth. Peace of conscience and inner peace will be disrupted by the fact that people will not have confidence in the correctness of their religious beliefs. At the same time, there will be no external peace, which will be destroyed by hostility against those who will be responsible for the violation of internal peace. All this happened on earth with the beginning of the spread of Christianity, when a lot of enmity was discovered among people and a lot of blood was shed, especially during the persecution against Christians by Jews and pagans. But this history of enmity (red horse) towards the beginning of Christianity, towards Christian proselytes is always repeated (Matthew 10:34; John 16:2) 29. Rev.6:5. And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come and see. 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: 30 quinixes of wheat for a denarius, 31 and three quinixes of barley for a denarius; Do not damage the oil or wine. When John opened the third seal, he saw a black horse. Black color is the color of sorrow and need, and therefore the symbol of a black horse is a symbol of human need, which, first of all, is expressed in lack of nutrition and hunger. The very appearance of the rider speaks about this. The rider had scales in his hands. Libra speaks of precision, of the absence of excess, and therefore very conveniently reminds of hunger 32 . The voice that John heard among the animals was the Divine voice coming from the throne of God. The first half of the words of the Divine voice speaks of the extraordinary high cost of life due to hunger, and the second indicates the luxury that the rich strata of society, exploiting the poor, usually indulge in. In particular, during periods of the struggle between Christianity and paganism, the first Christian proselytes among one or another pagan society have always been and are in comparative need; a richer pagan society usually wallows in the luxury of pagan life, while Christians, deprived of support and sympathy, must limit their needs to the extreme (James 2:6). Rev.6:7. And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature, saying, Come and see. 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. In accordance with the understanding of the first three seals, the symbol of the fourth must also be explained. After removing it, John sees a pale horse - actually gray, colorless, the same color that human corpses take on. The horseman resembling death and called death was followed by hell. Hell here is the personification of the actual inhabitants of hell, that is, those condemned 33 by preliminary judgment to temporary torment. The rider on the pale horse is given a sword as an instrument of death; famine is at his disposal, and the disasters of pestilence (endemic and contagious diseases) 34 and even earthly beasts of prey are subordinate to him. These disasters will fall on “a quarter of the earth”; – this is not a mathematically precise measurement of a special space; here is a definite number in the sense of an indefinite number, to indicate the actions of these phenomena temporarily and locally. The number four is used to correspond to the four animals, four horses and four cardinal points. All this is confirmed to us by church history, the history of the spread of Christianity. 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. Now at St. John, after the visions of the four seals, the question arose, how long will the righteous suffer along with sinners, and do these latter receive any reward for their suffering and their patience? – The appearance of the fifth and sixth seals serves as an answer to these questions. In response to the question in what state the souls of the Christian martyrs are, John sees them under the heavenly altar. This altar is a very special place and a special subject of the apocalyptic vision. This is the altar of burnt offering (Lev.4:7), which stood in the courtyard of the people to offer sacrifices on it 35. Below (under) near this altar, as if sacrifices had already been made and burned, there were souls in the proper sense of the word 36, that is, the immortal souls of dead people. These are the souls of those who died a violent death. that is, the souls of martyrs. They were tortured, firstly, for the word of God, i.e., God's teaching, and secondly, for testimony, i.e., for confessing faith in Jesus Christ. They had this confession, that is, they held it, expressed it and brought it to the end, confirming their sincerity with their death. Now the souls of these Christian martyrs were under the altar, which indicated their special closeness to the Lord God. 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? At the same time that the souls of the slain became visible under the altar, their loud cry was heard. They turned to the Divine Throne, and, calling God Holy and True, they asked why there is still no sentence of Divine judgment on sinners and everything has not yet been given to them in accordance with their deeds. Here one hears bewilderment and a plea for righteous judgment, for the word of Divine Justice in relation to sinners closest to the pagans and Jews, the persecutors of Christians. 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 brothers, who would be killed like them, would complete the number. In response to the cry of the martyrs, they were each given white clothing, as a sign of their purity and innocence. Giving it to the martyrs signifies their justification, their closeness to the Lord God and their hope for complete bliss at the resurrection from the dead. In addition to the gift of white robes, the Lord consoles us with the immutability of His judgment according to His Divine Predestination 37 . The time of this judgment and retribution will coincide with the time when the number of martyrs reaches a certain limit determined by God. The blood of the martyrs will be avenged; but this will not happen until the number of their co-workers and brothers is completed, who must also shed their blood for the confession of the Christian faith. 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. Rev.6:14. And the sky disappeared, curled up like a scroll; and every mountain and island moved from their places. The sixth seal answers the question, how long will the godly suffer along with the sinners who deserve punishment. Until then,” she replies, “until the time of general reward comes at the second coming of the Lord.” And the words of verse 12 can be understood in the sense of indicating a worldwide revolution before the second coming of the Lord. During the reversal, the sun will become like a hair shirt, a garment made of black wool. This expression is not unique in Holy Scripture (Matthew 24:29) and is almost literally repeated by the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 50:3). It says that a change will take place in the very nature of the sun and in its relationship to the earth and other planets. Here we need to understand the cessation of sunlight. In the same way, the moon (“like blood”) will no longer illuminate the earth, but with its new appearance it will only excite us. At the same time of the coming general revolution, the stars of heaven will fall to the earth. The explanation of the Apocalypse suggests that what needs to be seen here is not an optical illusion, but the actual fall of stars, in the form of asteroids, meteors, etc. 38 The world revolution will affect both the earth and the sky itself. “The sky will hide, curled up like a scroll.” This expression: “And all the heavenly host will be destroyed; and the heavens will be rolled up like a book scroll; and all their army shall fall, as a leaf falls from the vine, and as a withered leaf from the fig tree” (Isaiah 34:4) speaks of the removal of heaven from human sight. Simultaneously with the revolution in the sky, a terrible earthquake will occur on the earth, the consequence of which will be a change in the appearance of the earth's surface. It is possible for the Lord to completely and completely change the appearance of the earth. 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? 15–17 tell us about the impression that the world revolution will make on people. All earthly inhabitants, who because of their sins have to fear the wrath of God, will flee to the mountains and caves. But no protection will be able to hide sinful people from the coming judgment and retribution. Words 17th century as if they confirm that in the sixth seal it was about the coming of the time of the second coming, about the time of the day of the Lord. Hinix, χοινιξ, small grain measure. A denarius is a coin corresponding to a daily wage for a day laborer. Ebrard, Söller, Ewald, Kliefoth, Lũtardt. Hengstenberg, Ebrard, Suller. Somel-a Lapid, Kliefoth, Calmet, John Zlat. on Matthew 24:29. You might be interested in: