We’ve said that there were persecutions in different eras, and we still have them today in some countries. Some countries don’t accept Christianity, and the Christians there are persecuted. People are being killed today for their faith in Christ. There are such countries. There are circumstances in which you’re not allowed to be a Christian. No one knows, perhaps everything will get worse. But we don’t have any persecutions in our country now. What should we do? What, can’t we wash and whiten the robe of our souls? We can. Through the sorrows of everyday life, by our personal labor, we can observe the word of God, remaining faithful to the word of God through the labor of faith, enduring everything that follows.
I was talking with a teacher the other day about children. We really appreciated how little children from Christian families keep the fasts, not eating meat. Among other children, in school, in public places, despite being so young, they struggle with themselves and don’t eat meat. Their classmates make fun of them and try to force them to eat it, putting them in an unpleasant situation. They’re shy, but they hold out. Carnivals in the first week of Great Lent… We adults understand that we can calmly refuse, but it’s harder for young children; they behave like confessors when they don’t participate. They struggle to preserve and observe what they believe in, in their own childlike way. Everything a person does by faith is met with opposition, with rejection by society: People turn away from us, they insult us, they ridicule us, they mock us: “Oh, this is a church guy!” Whatever happens, we must give an answer. Some kind of show will be on TV, and we have to give an answer, a justification. We become advocates for every person who comes up with something to say. We’re upset, saddened, neglected, mocked, treated unfairly as people and in relation to our opinions. All these sorrows constitute a man’s cross wherever he is. The soul united with Christ is purified by patience and the calm expectation of deliverance from sorrows; by patience in everything that we face—be it health problems, injustice, or persecution.
All the martyrs survived great tribulation and thereby washed their clothes in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them (Rev. 7:15). God now dwells in them, abides in them, becomes a friend, a relative, a brother for them. God becomes their very being.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat (Rev. 7:16). They’ll no longer experience hunger or thirst; the sun and heat will not scorch them. Do you remember what Christ said to the Samaritan Woman? Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (Jn. 4:13-14). This is a consequence of the coming of grace. It doesn’t mean we’ll never be thirsty again. We get thirsty and we have some water. This is about the fullness that Christ gives to the human heart. When a man finds God, he’s filled. He doesn’t hunger or thirst for anything. To have or not—for him it’s all the same. When he has, he knows how to use it properly, and when he doesn’t, he knows how to turn the situation to good use. Man abides in fullness. As we say in the prayer: “Everywhere present and fillest all things.”
The man of God doesn’t feel emptiness. And conversely, when a man is far from God, he always lacks something, no matter how much he has—he hungers and thirsts his whole life. He has ten houses—he wants twenty. He has twenty—he wants fifty. He has 5 million, he wants 10 million. He earns ten—he wants fifteen. He earns fifteen, and he already wants twenty-five. He never stops because he has no inner satisfaction—he has a constant feeling of hunger and thirst. Of course, a man can’t be filled with false and perishable things. A man is satisfied and finds peace, his life finds fullness only when he lives in the presence of God. When God is present, we no longer lack for anything. And when God is not, no matter what we have, we’re empty; we lack for everything, anxiety and stress begin to eat at us, we indulge in vanity, and nothing can calm us down. Why does it say here that martyrs will no longer hunger or thirst? Because God is with them.
For the Lamb Which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (Rev. 7:17). See, Christ will lead them to living springs of water; He will lead them to the water of life. Those who drink of this water will no longer thirst or hunger; they will want for nothing—absolutely nothing. He is full; he has found consolation and peace; he is free from everything. But who makes you like this? The Lamb, Christ. He leads you to living fountains of water. God will wipe every tear from their eyes. These people will no longer weep. They wept during their lifetimes; they were sick inside, they grieved, they suffered injustice. Now they will no longer have pain, sorrow, or tears, because God will wipe away their tears; He will remove all this from them. God will justify in eternity these people who have endured injustice and remained faithful to Him, who have preserved communion with Him, who have cleansed the garment of their souls with the Blood of Christ, with the holy Sacraments of our Holy Church.
The seventh seal
And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour (Rev. 8:1). Silence for half an hour. Let’s keep track, and we’ll try to be silent for half an hour, no talking. I don’t think that’s what this is talking about. What is the Apostle John speaking about? About silence. What does silence mean? When is a man silent? When he’s confused, when he’s watching something with agitation and anxiety, when he’s in shock—then he can find no words and can’t say anything. But why half an hour? Because the silence will continue for a short time. It will be a short interval, but very important—so much so that there will be silence everywhere. Everything will be silent: Neither the angels nor the elders (presbyters) will sing—no one. There will be a great silence.
Opening the Seventh Seal, Vasily Koren, from the Bible for the Poor, 1692–1696 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets (Rev. 8:2). Seven angels—seven trumpets. It’s not just one angel who will have a trumpet that he will blow. The following describes different stages, different events that will occur. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne (Rev. 8:3). Another angel comes and stands before the throne, holding a golden censer. He’s given incense to place it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne of God. I’ll repeat, to make it clearer: There are seven angels with seven trumpets, and another angel with a golden censer filled with incense. He comes to lay it on the altar with the prayers of all the saints.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand (Rev. 8:4). We see the throne of God, and before it—the prayers of the saints and incense. These are images, symbols.
And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake (Rev. 8:5). It gives the following picture: on one hand, a censer from which the prayers of the saints rise up; on the other hand, a censer filled with fire from the altar that he pours out on the earth. And on earth are heard voices, thunder, and lightning, and earthquakes begin. Dangerous and terrible things begin to take place. Enormous calamities begin to happen on earth, where we live.
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound (Rev. 8:6). As soon as the contents of the censer were poured out on earth, seven angels with seven trumpets come, ready to blow. And then the Apostle begins to talk about what each of the angels trumpeted.
