The Triumph of Orthodoxy: (ii) the Liberation of the East
In chapter 19, the celebration over the destruction of Babylon, the pseudo-religion and corrupt culture of the apostate West, merges into the celebration of the triumph of the Church, the true faith and spiritual culture of the Orthodox East.
19.1-10. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are His judgements: for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
“Alleluia, according to the explanation of St. Andrew of Caesarea, signifies Divine glorification; Amen - truly, may it be so. This, he says, is sung to God by the angelic powers together with the men who are equal to the angels ‘three times’, because of the Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, of the one God, Who has avenged the blood of His servants at the hands of Babylon, doing good by the punishment of her inhabitants and cutting off sin. Alleluia, from the Hebrew ‘Hallemu Jah’, means literally: ‘Praise God’. And her smoke rose up unto the ages of ages. This means that the wrath of God that strikes Babylon the harlot will continue for ever. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come. The reason for rejoicing lies in the fact that the time for the celebration of the marriage of the Lamb has come. By ‘marriage’ or ‘marriage feast’ is meant in a general sense the rejoicing of the Church. By the Bridegroom of the Church is meant the Lamb - the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of His mystical Body; by the Bride and Wife of the Lamb is meant the Church (cf. Ephesians 5.25). The marriage itself signifies the close union of the Lord Jesus Christ with the Church, sealed by faithfulness on both sides to an established covenant, as by mutual agreement (cf. Hosea 2.18-20). The marriage feast signifies the enjoyment of the fullness of the grace of God, which by the power of the redeeming merits of Christ will be given in abundance to all true members of the Church of Christ, to rejoice and make glad in all their ineffable good things. And His wife made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. ‘That the Church is arrayed in linen signifies her radiance in good works, her subtlety of understanding and her loftiness in meditation and contemplation, for in these consists Divine righteousness.’ (St. Andrew of Caesarea). Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. ‘The supper of Christ,’ explains St. Andrew, ‘is the triumph of the saved, and the corresponding joy which the blessed receive when they enter into the eternal bridal chamber with the Holy Bridegroom of pure souls: Unlying is He Who promised. Just as many are the good things of the age to come, surpassing all thought, so various are the names by which they are called. They are sometimes called the Heavenly Kingdom because of its glory and honour, sometimes Paradise because of the abundance of delights at its table, sometimes the Bridal Chamber and Marriage, not only by reason of its unending joy, but also because of the pure, true and ineffable union of God with His servants - a union as far surpassing the bodily union of one with another as light is distinguished from darkness and myrrh from stench.’ The angel before whom St. John wished to bow down forbade him to do this, saying: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. The meaning of these words is this: Do not bow down before me, for I am only your fellow-servant. The same Holy Spirit Who speaks and acts through the apostles, in particular St. John, who preaches and witnesses about Jesus, also speaks through the angels, as through those who are similarly messengers of God. It is as if the angel says: ‘Your dignity is the same as mine; you, being endowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, witness concerning the words and death of Jesus Christ, while I, having received from the same Holy Spirit the revelation of future events, inform you and the Church about it. In other words, the spirit of witness for Christ is also the spirit of prophecy, that is, they have the same dignity and the same aim.’ St. Andrew of Caesarea here remarks on the humility of the angels, who do not assume the Divine Glory for themselves, as do the evil demons, but ascribe it to the Master.” (Archbishop Averky)
19.11-12. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself.
In this chapter, as the Triumph of the Church approaches, images from previous visions are recalled: the secret names from the first vision, the twenty-four elders and four living creatures from the second vision, and the rider on the white horse from the second vision.
The rider on the white horse in the second vision (the first seal) symbolised, according to the present interpretation, the triumphs of the Orthodox armies in the First World War. But these triumphs turned to defeat and then the fall of Orthodoxy itself during the Russian revolution. Now, however, as the revolution is in turn defeated, the figure on the white horse returns, signifying the revival of the Orthodox empire.
“The white horse signifies the radiance of the saints, sitting on whom He will judge the peoples, emitting from His flaming, fiery eyes, that is, from His all-seeing power, a fiery flame, which, however, does not burn the righteous but enlightens them, while, on the contrary, it burns the sinners without enlightening them.” (St. Andrew of Caesarea).
Christ is called Faithful and True because He is here coming to rescue His Church in accordance with His promise: The gates of hell shall not prevail against her (Matthew 16.18). He makes war, because He is not only the all-merciful Lover of mankind but also the all righteous Judge of Whom it is written: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10.31). For I form the light, and I create darkness: I make peace, and I create evil: I the Lord do all these things (Isaiah 45.7). Not that God is in any way the author of moral and spiritual evil: all real evil is the responsibility of men and demons only. But He creates, or permits to take place, wars, earthquakes, epidemics and other catastrophes which are deemed evil in men’s eyes, but which are in fact the instrument of an all-holy purpose, either the glorification of the righteous (Job, the martyrs, Christ Himself), or the chastisement and correction of those who are in error but who have the will to be saved (Jonah in the belly of the whale, the paralytic in John 5), or the just recompense and punishment of those who are incorrigibly impenitent (Ahab, Herod, the sinners at the Last Judgement). For all things work together for good for those who love God (Romans 8.28). But for those who do not love God, they are for evil - not through the fault of God, but because of their own iniquity.
In righteousness He doth judge and make war. For righteous art Thou, O Lord, and upright are Thy judgements (Ps. 118.137). And who shall say, What hast Thou done? Or who shall withstand His judgement? Or who shall accuse Thee for the nations that perish, whom Thou hast made? Or who shall come to stand against Thee, to be revenged for the unrighteous men? (Wisdom of Solomon 12.12).
“And He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. The fact that His name is unknown points to the unattainability of His Divine essence. Further on, in verse 13, He is called the Word of God. This name is actually unattainable for men, for it refers to the essence and origin of the Divine nature of Jesus Christ, which no mortal can attain. That is why in the Old Testament it is called wonderful (Judges 13.18; Isaiah 9.6; Proverbs 30.4).” (Archbishop Averky)
19.13. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called the Word of God.
“The vesture of God the Word was His all-pure and incorruptible Flesh, dyed in His Blood at the time of His voluntary sufferings.” (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
“This name is truly unattainable for men, for it refers to the essence and origin of the Divine nature of Jesus Christ, which no mortal can attain. For that reason in the Scriptures of the Old Testament it is called wonderful (Judges 13.18; Isaiah 9.6; Proverbs 30.4).” (Archbishop Averky)
That it is not man, but God Himself that will bring the war to an end in a miraculous manner is indicated in other prophecies. Thus the anonymous Greek prophet of 1053 says that the war will be brought to an end “by an Angel of Christ God”.
19.14. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
“These are the heavenly powers distinguished by the subtlety of their nature, the loftiness of their understanding and the radiance of their good deeds and honoured with an indissolubly close union with Christ.” (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
19.15. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
“This sword of Christ is in this case not so much that of a teacher (cf. 1.16) as that of a king, accomplishing His judgements with an iron rod - this expression is taken from Psalm 2.9, Isaiah 63.4-5, and is explained in Revelation 2.27, 12.5.” (Archbishop Averky)
19.16. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
“This name, witnessing to the Divine dignity of its bearer, was written on the thigh, that is, on the royal cloak near that part of the body from which, according to the custom of eastern peoples, hung a sword on a belt.” (Archbishop Averky)
19.17-21. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that had worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
The Prophet Isaiah says: And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. (66.24).
And the Prophet Ezekiel says: Thou [Gog] shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. (39.4).
St. Ephraim the Syrian comments on this passage from Ezekiel: “Then Divine Justice will call upon Michael, the leader of the hosts, and send him to destroy their camps; as the camps of Sennacherib. At the command, and with his mighty and terrible sword, the angel shall go forth and destroy their armies in the twinkling of an eye, and in the same moment the Divine Justice, thundering from on high, shall destroy their camps with rocks of fire. Their slain shall lie upon the ground, innumerable as the sands. Beasts and men shall die, and the whole camp shall perish, and flame shall be let loose against the sea and against the islands. The bow of Gog, the evil king, shall fall from his left hand, and the arrows from his right hand (Ezekiel 39.3); and his camp shall be wholly destroyed. Then the Lord from His glorious heaven shall set up His peace. And the kingdom of the Romans [the Orthodox Christian Empire] shall rise in place of this latter people, and establish its dominion upon the earth, even to the ends, and there shall be no one who will resist it…”[136]
Thus will perish both the beast in his seventh incarnation, Soviet Russia (of which the present “Russian democracy”, ruled as it is by ex-communists, is simply the continuation in another form), and its false prophet, atheist, materialist pseudo-science. And the demons will gather a rich harvest of souls. As St. John of Kronstadt saw at the end of his vision of the collective Antichrist: “He waved his hands and fell, his crown fell from his head and rolled in the dust, and millions of birds flew and pecked at the bodies of the Antichrist.”[137]
The sword may be understood in a physical sense, but also in a spiritual sense, as the word of God, which is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4.12). And this is much more frightening. For the physical sword can only separate the soul from the body without harming the soul in its relationship to the Spirit of God. But the word of God, delivered in righteous judgment upon sinners, cuts off the soul from communion with God and delivers the whole man to eternal punishment. As the Lord said: Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10.28).
“There are two deaths. One is the separation of the soul from the body, and the other - being thrust into gehenna. Applying this to those on the side of the Antichrist, we have good reason to believe that by the sword or the command of God the first, physical death will be administered, after which will follow the second.. they will be participants in the second death - eternal torments.” (St. Andrew of Caesarea)
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