Слово 18

Chapter 52. That through the seventh plague there will be hail and an earthquake on people Rev. 16:17–18. “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air: and a great voice came out from the church and heaven from the throne, saying: It was. And there was brilliance and thunder and voice, and there was a great coward, as in no place there was, apart from the existence of men on earth, so much a coward, so great.” An angelic voice from heaven says: it will come, i.e. The Divine command is fulfilled, and the voices of brilliance and thunder mean the fear of events in the future coming of Christ, as before after the coming of God on Mount Sinai, and the earthquake means the transformation of what exists, as the Apostle said: I will shake not only the earth, but also the sky. (Heb. 12:26). Rev. 16:19. “And there was a great hail in three parts, and the city of paganism fell.” We understand the city to be great not in the number and size of its buildings, but as the most ancient and greatest in piety, Jerusalem, as exalted by the sufferings of Christ, and separated from the pagan cities. By dividing it into three parts we mean the Christians and Jews and Samaritans who are in it; or people firm in the faith and desecrated their baptism with abominable deeds and Jews who did not accept the preaching at all - their uncontrollable and impudent fulfillment of their desires, and their scattering or ejection into places appropriate for each of them. For now the Jews and Samaritans, out of fear of pious kings, hide the wills of their unbelief and seem to belong to them, not daring to adhere to their sect, as if they were true Christians, since they have a common name with them. When the kindling of temptations exposes them, then there will be a division of them into three parts - pious, wicked and sinners - and each will go to those who are like-minded with them and consistent with their sect. And the cities of the pagans, which fell, mean either their destruction, or the impoverishment of their pagan life with the coming of the Divine Kingdom, which, according to Daniel, the saints will receive (Dan. 7:27). “And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the wrath of his wrath.” Babylon the Great, absorbed in its own worldly experiences, and its large number, exalted by the wealth of the unrighteous, will drink the cup of the wrath of God, because of long-suffering, as if coming to memory from oblivion in vengeance for the trampling of the righteous and for wickedness in deeds and words. Rev. 16:20. “And every island fled, and the mountains were not found.” That by islands one should understand the holy churches, and by mountains the rulers in them, we are taught this from Divine Scripture. And that they will flee during the time that was said before, we hear about this from the Lord saying: then those who are from the east will flee to the west, and those who are from the west to the east. There will be great sorrow, which has not existed since the beginning of the world until now, but will be lower (Matthew 24:21), when some, as a punishment for sins, others, for the test of virtue, will suffer misfortunes not only in torment from the Antichrist for Christ, but also in flight, and in suffering in the mountains and caves, which they will prefer to staying in cities, for the sake of preserving piety. Rev. 16:21. “And the hail was great, for great was the talent that came down from heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God from the plague of the hail, for great was its plague.” By hail, as if falling from heaven, we mean His wrath sent by God and descending from above. And that this city is the size of a talent, this means the fullness of wrath due to the severity of sin and extreme success in it, the meaning of which is talent, as Zechariah saw (Zechariah 5:7). And that those struck by it do not come to repentance, but to blasphemy, this shows the hardness of their hearts. In whatever way they will be like Pharaoh, they will be better and more fierce than him. He at least somewhat softened from the ulcers sent to him from God and admitted his wickedness, and these will blaspheme at the very time when they are subjected to blows. Chapter 53. About one of the seven Holy Angels, who shows Blessed John the destruction of the city of the harlot, and about the seven heads and ten horns Rev. 17:1–3. “And one of the seven angels came, having seven phials, and spoke with me, saying: Come, that the great fornicators who sit on many waters will show thee judgment: the kings of the earth have committed fornication with them, and they that dwell on the earth have written themselves down from the wine of her fornication. And he led me into an empty place in spirit: and I saw a woman sitting on scarlet beasts, full of names of blasphemy, which had seven heads and ten horns.” This harlot was taken by some to be ancient Rome, as lying on seven mountains, and with the seven heads of the beast carrying her, they were revered by the seven most wicked of all kings, who from Domitian to Diocletian persecuted the Church. We, guided by the consistency of what has been said, think that this is generally an earthly kingdom, as if in one body, or a city that will reign before the coming of the Antichrist. For Rome has lost much from the power of its kingdom, unless one assumes that its former dignity will return to it. But if we allow this, then the city that now rules must be destroyed, for the Apocalypse says: and the woman who saw the great city, which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth (Apoc. 17:18). But, if God helps, we’ll talk about this in more detail later. And now it must be said what should be understood by the desert into which he who saw this was led by the Spirit. In the spiritual sense, we consider a desert to be any city or large or populous society that is guilty before God of drunkenness of the soul, fornication and other similar crimes. And otherwise we can understand that the Apostle John, in spiritual contemplation, saw the devastation of the said harlot, whom he saw as a woman, due to femininity and lack of courage in relation to sin. I saw her sitting on a scarlet beast, because she, due to her evil deeds, rests on the devil, who delights in murder and blood, and thereby assists the apostate in blasphemies against God, for both the beast itself and its scarlet color serve as an indication of inhumanity and cruelty and a murderous disposition. We will learn about the seven heads and ten horns, if God pleases, later from the Divine Angel. Rev.17:4. “And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stones and beads.” She is clothed in purple and purple, as symbols of tyranny over everything, and therefore she is decorated with precious stones and beads. “He who has a cup of gold in his hand is full of abomination and the filthiness of his fornication.” The cup shows the sweetness of evil deeds before tasting them, and the gold shows their preciousness, as someone said in response to the words of Job: he who drinks ridicule as drink (Job), as an indication that he follows evil not for satiety, but out of thirst for his own destruction. That is why she multiplied her abominations, i.e. actions are abominable for God, which is what the sin-loving society drinks from, like a pleasant drink, tasting the vile intoxication of sin and fornication, which is contrary to God. Rev.17:5. “And on her forehead was written a name: mystery, Babylon the great, mother of fornicators and abominations of the earth.” The inscription on the forehead shows shamelessness, untruths and the completeness of crimes and heartfelt confusion, that she is the teacher of spiritual fornication in the leading cities, giving rise to iniquities that are abominable before God. Chapter 54. How the Angel interpreted the sacrament he saw Rev. 17:6–7. “And I saw a woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus: and when I saw her I was amazed at the great wonder. And the Angel said to me: Why were you amazed? I tell you the secret of the woman who sows, and the beast that bears seven heads and ten horns.” That names are given to cities according to their deeds, this can be known from many places in Scripture; why ancient Babylon was also named that way, and we hear that the famous harlot was called Pharmakon. And about ancient Jerusalem it is said: the face of a harlot's wife may be upon you (Jer. 3:3), and ancient Rome is called Babylon in the epistle of Peter (1 Peter 5:13). More precisely, the city that had power under the Persians, and every other city that amuses itself with murder and blood, is also called Babylon and a harlot. So the Evangelist, seeing one of them defiled by the blood of the saints, was horrified and from the Angel learned about him that the city must suffer for its iniquities, which at the end of times has the power of a universal kingdom, whether it be the sovereign city of the Persians, or the ancient city that again received its former power, and the new Rome, or, if anyone wants to understand, a kingdom in general, represented as if in one body, as said above. For we know that in each of them there were various sins and the shedding of the blood of saints, although in one more, in another less. And in fact, who can count the blood of the martyrs since the time of Diocletian, or their torment in Persia? And about what was done secretly under Julian, and about the insolence against the Orthodox during the time of the Arians in the new Rome, he teaches history to those who wish. Rev.17:8. “The beast, which you have seen, will not be, and will rise from the abyss, and will go to destruction.” This beast is Satan, who, having been killed by the Cross of Christ, at the end of the world will live again, as it is said, with signs and false wonders, working through the Antichrist to reject the Cross. Therefore, he was and had power before the Cross, and he does not exist, since he was weakened by the Saving passion and deprived of his power, which he had over the nations through idolatry. At the end he will rise, as we said, ascending from the abyss into which he was condemned, and for which the demons expelled by Christ asked, so that He would not send them into it, but into swine. Or, perhaps, it will come out in real life, which can be called an abyss based on the depth of the sin that has entered it, agitated and overwhelmed by the winds of passions. From here the Antichrist, carrying Satan within himself, will come out to destroy people, so that he himself will soon go to destruction in the next century. “And they that dwell on the earth will be astonished, whose names were not written in the book of life since the foundation of the world, seeing that there was a beast, and was not, and was present.” Those who are not written in the book of those who live forever and are not confirmed in Christ’s predictions about him will be surprised, it is said, at the appearance of the beast because of his false miracles. They will be surprised when they think about how he received his former power. Rev.17:9. “Here is the mind that has wisdom.” Since what is said is spiritual, what is needed, he says, is not worldly, but spiritual wisdom in order to understand what is said. “There are seven chapters, and the mountains are seven, where the woman sits on them. And the kings are seven.” Seven heads and seven mountains, we think, mean seven places, especially superior to others in worldly dominion, in which at different times, as we know, the kingdom of the world was established. Thus, the first kingdom of the Assyrians in Nineveh, the second dominion of the Medes, under Arbaces, took possession of the Assyrians, whose king Sardanapalus was killed by Arbaces, as is narrated. After them, Nebuchadnezzar established the power of the Chaldeans in Babylon, then after their destruction in Susa, the kingdom of the Persians was established by Cyrus, and after its destruction by Alexander, the kingdom of the Macedonians. After them, in ancient Rome, the power of the Romans, after its former kings and consuls, under Augustus Caesar reached autocracy and was preserved by the wicked kings until Constantine the Great. After their extermination, the kingdom of the Christ-loving kings was transferred to new Rome. I think the seven kings have the same idea, and changes in the gender of the names do not in the least interfere with the identity of thought, although the seven heads are feminine, (5) the seven mountains are middle, the seven kings are masculine, for names in Scripture are often indifferently used instead of the feminine in the masculine gender and vice versa, such as: Ephraim the goofy youth (Hos. 10:11), and also: Ephraim the dove without a heart (Hos. 7:11), and according to the Theologian: three testify to Christ: blood and fire and the spirit, and three are one (1 John 5:8), according to Solomon: a goat and a rooster and a king speaking to the people. So, cities are designated by seven heads in the feminine gender, seven mountains in the neuter gender - seven states, which at times surpassed the rest of the body of the earth not by local position, but by the advantage of glory. In the same way, he called kings, as we said, either the places glorified by the royal presidency, or the first kings in each of the previously designated places, denoting the entire kingdom with the name of each, such as: the name of Ninus - Assyrian, Arbak - Median, Nebochadnezzar - Babylonian, Alexander - Macedonian, Romulus - ancient Rome, Constantine - new Rome. Rev. 17:9–10. “Five of them fell, and one is, but the other has not yet come: and when he comes, he will have a short time to remain.” By the name of the five kings who fell from among the seven, Blessed Hippolytus means centuries, of which five have already passed, the sixth, in which the Apostle saw this, is still ongoing, the seventh, which is to come after six thousand years, has not yet come; Having come, it should not last long. And this is what he thinks about it. If, according to the word of Blessed Irenaeus, just as seven days were created, so were there seven heavens and seven angels ruling over the others, then our words may seem very acceptable to the listeners, that the seven kingdoms are those that existed from the beginning to the present, of which five have already fallen, the sixth, during which the revelation was given, existed in ancient Rome, the seventh has not yet come, this is in the new Rome. It is good to refer the word about universal Babylon to the people who will reign until the Antichrist, who will rule less than the previous cities, of which some ruled for more than five hundred years, others for more than a thousand. However, any temporary number is small in comparison with the future endless kingdom of saints. Rev.17:11. “And the beast that was, and is not, and the same is, and of the seven is, and goes into destruction.” The beast is the Antichrist, the eighth, as having to rise up after the seven kingdoms to seduce and devastate the earth, and from the seven, as if he came from one of these kingdoms. For he will not come from another nation from those mentioned, but as the king of the Romans to the destruction and destruction of those who believed in him, and after this he will go to the destruction of Gehenna. Rev. 17:12. “And the ten horns, even as you saw, are ten kings, whose kingdoms have not yet received, but the region like kings for one hour will receive with the beast.” Daniel also saw ten horns before the Antichrist, of which this damned one completely tore away three, and subjugated the rest to himself. One hour is either a short time or one part of a year, i.e. a three-month turn of the sun, after which they will submit to the Antichrist as their ruler. Rev. 17:13–14. “These have one will, and will give their strength and domain to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome, for the Lord is the Lord and the King of the king: and those who are with him, called and chosen, and bring back.” These have one will. And truly so, for no one can be the slave of two masters. Therefore, those who are of the same mind in bad unity of wisdom, and are subordinate to the Antichrist, oppose the true Christ. But the Lamb of God, who was slain for us, will overcome them, for His kingdom and dominion over all things were not taken away from Him through the fact that He became man, so that He might make the elect partakers of His kingdom. Rev. 17:15–18. “And the verbs were: the waters where thou hast seen, where the man-dealer sits, men and nations are, and tribes and heathens. And the ten horns that you saw on the beasts will hate the fornicator, and they will make her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. God gave it into their hearts to do His will, and to do one will, and to give His kingdom to the beast, until the words of God end. And the woman, even as you saw, there is a great city that will have a kingdom over the kings of the earth.” And with the words: the waters that thou hast seen, where the fornicator sits, men and nations are, and nations and nations. Since the Angel clearly interpreted this, a very careful study is unnecessary. It seems amazing to me how the enemy and avenger the devil will help the ten horns subordinate to him in opposing the goodness and virtue-loving Christ our God, and will devastate a populous city, which has gone astray from the Divine commandments and served its own pleasures, and like a bloodthirsty beast will be satisfied with its blood, and will consider its devastation a reason for joy, and the dissection of human bodies as its food, and always he who is comforted by differences of opinion will give consent to the apostate ten horns. The assumption that the seen wife means a great city makes an undeniable prediction about the suffering of the then ruling kingdom. May God, the Lover of Mankind, save us from the trial of these troubles, and will number us among the heavenly city, the highest Jerusalem, in which He Himself will be all in all, according to the Divine Apostle, when He has subdued all (obviously apostate) rulers, authorities and powers, and those who faithfully and wisely served Him here, will seat and serve them, i.e. will offer them the enjoyment of eternal blessings prepared from the foundation of the world. May we also be worthy of this in Christ, the Savior and Redeemer of our souls, with Him be glory and power to the Father, together with the All-Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. The Greek word for head is feminine, mountain is neuter, king is masculine; the difference in the genders of names, according to some, did not allow seven heads, seven mountains, seven kings to be attributed to the same thing.