Taking Elijah and Enoch to Heaven, Merian, 17th C.
Symbolic numbers
And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves (Rev. 11:9). Again we find this number, three and a half: three and a half year years, three and a half days, forty-two months.
The corpses will remain on the square for three and a half days. Is it possible to leave corpses on the street for three days, for people to look at them? Is this symbolic? Does this tell us that this death, this destruction, this humbling of the prophets will last for a time and continue for a certain period of time? Will people think: “Look, they were killed, we lost them, but it’s only temporary?” We don’t know.
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth (Rev. 11:10). The inhabitants of the earth will rejoice that the prophets were killed. They’ll be happy, they’ll send each other gifts, saying: “Finally, they killed these prophets; now we can live in peace. After all, these prophets tormented us; it was hard with them; they caused us suffering. They did well to kill them.” The people will rejoice, they’ll exchange gifts, and the corpses will remain on the square for three and a half days.
However, what’s said then in the eleventh verse? And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them (Rev. 11:11). Again I say that we needn’t think that everything will happen exactly as it’s described. These are symbols, mysteries; they speak to us about other circumstances. Of course, it’s possible that this is exactly how everything will happen. It’s not hard for God. But it’s also possible that this is an allegory and everything will happen differently. It’s a mystery.
And they heard a great voice from Heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to Heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of Heaven (Rev. 11:12–13). On that day, a strong earthquake occurred, a tenth of the city fell and 7,000 people died. Again, the number seven. The rest were seized with fear; they were very afraid and glorified the God of Heaven.
The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly (Rev. 11:14). “Will we see it too?” you might ask. You might say: “Fortunately, we’re already old now; we probably won’t see how all of this will happen.”
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ”
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in Heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God (Rev. 11:15–16). As soon as this voice was heard saying that the kingdom of this world belongs to the Lord and His Christ, Who will reign unto the ages, twenty-four elders, who were before the throne of God and seated upon their thrones, fell upon their faces, worshiped God, and said: We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, Which art, and wast, and art to come; because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned (Rev. 11:17). Here is another mention of the Trinuness of God—Which art, and wast, and art to come—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He received great power and reigned.
And the nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth (Rev. 11:18). When the time of Jerusalem’s trampling is over, the prophets are killed. Their corpses remain on the road for three and a half days. God resurrects them. People are scared, there’s an earthquake, and many people die. The second woe passes and a third is approaching. The seventh angel sounds his trumpet and God is glorified. The presbyters say that the time has come for God to reign and to give reward to the prophets, the saints, to all those who love and fear His name.
And the Temple of God was opened in Heaven, and there was seen in His Temple the Ark of His Testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail (Rev. 11:19). These images guide us through upcoming events, but remain mysterious. It remains a mystery how we can interpret them.
Let’s move on to the next passage, which is easy to explain.
Unseen warfare
And there appeared a great wonder in Heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (Rev. 12:1). After the Temple was opened in Heaven, there appeared a woman dressed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and twelve stars on her head. The Holy Fathers interpret this in two ways: that this woman is the Most Holy Theotokos, who bore Christ by the power of God, or that it’s the Church, which is clothed in the sun—in Christ, in the grace of the New Testament. The moon is the Old Testament, illuminated from the outside, by the light of the New Testament. On its head are twelve stars—the Holy Apostles, who confirm the Church. Now this woman appears, adorned in the sun, standing on the moon, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered (Rev. 12:2). She was ready to give birth. This reminds us of mankind, which suffered, was sick, and suffered unto the coming of the Nativity of Christ.
And there appeared another wonder in Heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads (Rev. 12:3). A terrible dragon, bright red with rage and malice, bursting with spite. It has seven heads and ten horns, and upon the seven heads a diadem.
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man Child, Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her Child was caught up unto God, and to His throne (Rev. 12:4–5). Here we see a prophecy about Christ. She gave birth to Christ, Who will shepherd all nations with an iron rod. Her Child was caught up to God and brought to the throne of God. The dragon, which was waiting for Him to be born, did not devour Him.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days (Rev. 12:6). You see what kind of spiritual warfare there is! From the very beginning, the devil has wanted to destroy Christ Himself: both as a living being, and His teaching—and he is waging a war against the Church. Of course, he couldn’t do anything to Christ because Christ is God, exalted at the right hand of the Father. The woman fled into the desert. The Church flees into the desert away from worldly reality. But we can say that the desert, with its monastic life throughout the ages, testifies to the truth of the Church, especially after persecution. Of course, the Church isn’t limited by place, but many holy people, whose lives convince us of the truth of the Church, were children of the desert. I mean the monastic order of ascetics who have left the world. It’s important here to understand how prudent we need to be, to understand the warfare that is being waged against the Church.
Have hope and trust in the Theotokos
Until I was forty, when I was a monk (first I was a simple member of the Church, then a monk, hieromonk, and igumen), I knew from experience how the devil fights with man, how he wages warfare within a family, in our personal life, in a monastery.
When I became a bishop, then I saw how the devil fights with the Church. It’s truly unbelievable, you can’t even imagine! Before I had this experience, I didn’t understand what terrible war was being waged against the Church. It’s unbelievable! It’s amazing how the Church has to navigate through these traps, to march through the turbulence that comes from us when we make mistakes. I’m not saying that only those who fight against us are to blame. We ourselves participate in this war through our mistakes and weaknesses. All of this affects the Church. But despite this, the Church lives on and continues, not being conquered by the strongest waves and shocks, like a boat in the midst of a raging sea. While we’re in this boat, life goes on.
Icon of the Church, the Ark of Salvation
I’ll tell you about another instance that I learned about from another great saint of our times, so that you can imagine how they perceived these visions. One day he was in his room, in the city where he lived. He was praying, immersed in the difficulty of his situation, aware of his small human strength, struggling with his thoughts: “Do I really need to do all this? Who am I? Who appointed me to do this? What’s going to happen?” The situation was truly at the edge, and while he was praying, he was enraptured by the Holy Spirit, like St. John the Theologian.
He saw himself in the jungle, holding a small child in his arms. He had to run through the jungle, because wild animals were chasing after him to eat him. He had to run to escape. Snakes were crawling from the trees all around, trying to bite him. It was an enormous struggle to avoid being killed by animals and snakes from every direction! Then he realized that they were all hunting the baby in his arms. But he wasn’t a father; he had no children. He was a monk. He understood that they wanted to eat the baby. And so he ran and ran, with snakes, lions, and leopards all around him. He ran across rocks, stepping on stones, jumping over rivers. At one point, in a state of desperation, he saw before him a huge dragon that opened its mouth, preparing to swallow him. He knew that the end had come. Then in the midst of this tragic situation, he cried out: “Most Holy Theotokos, help me!”
As soon as he called to the Mother of God, he heard Her voice: “Michael.” Then the monk saw the Archangel Michael, who crushed the dragon with his sword, and after this the elder awoke.
He was completely exhausted. He thought about the meaning of this vision, about this chase, about the infant. He began to fervently pray to God, with tears, asking Him to explain the meaning of what he had seen. In prayer, he received a message from God: “You will have to go through everything you saw. The child is your soul. And all of these enemies aimed to destroy your soul. But have hope and trust in the Theotokos. She’ll help you overcome these trials.”
The elder especially venerated the Theotokos, the intercessor for all people, and the Archangel Michael, in whose church he served. The Archangel Michael was his protector.
This was not only experienced by the Apostle John the Theologian two thousand years ago, but by our contemporary also had a similar vision. The devil seeks to destroy our soul: He pulls us here and there, opens doors for us, overwhelms us with work. Everything we do, he throws to the wind: We go to print a page—it comes out with errors a thousand times; we build a house—hundreds of mistakes; the roof will leak, and it might even fall in on us. Whatever we set out to do, from the simplest to the most complex, we encounter him everywhere. Let us stand against him. Just as we played when we were children—running and pushing each other, that’s how he pushes us, wherever we go. He pushes us, we push him. Sometimes Christ comes and throws him into another corner, and we manage to get our work done.
Have peace. Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 Jn. 4:4). The Greater One is Christ, Who is with us, while the devil is with the world.
To be continued…
