Trumpets of the Seven Angels
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I.
Many church fathers directly named the year 1992 as the year that would usher in the end of the century. True, some theologians, without any doubt, say that the prophecies of the holy fathers of the Church about the year 1992 were not fulfilled. This is puzzling: do these people understand what they are saying? The Apostle Paul writes: “In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word will be established (2 Cor. 13:1). Five witnesses, five holy fathers of the Church, prophesied about the year 1992. The point here is not about the failure of prophecies, but about those who do not want to heed them. It is enough to point only to the destruction in December 1991 of the Third Rome in the form of the USSR, that is, the most powerful superpower in which the “House of the Virgin Mary” was located, to understand: the prophecy of the holy fathers was completely fulfilled. The destruction of the USSR opened a Pandora's box: about a million people died in bloody military conflicts on the territory of the former USSR, Russia's demographic losses during the "wild nineties" amounted, according to the most underestimated data, to about ten million people, industrial production decreased more than during the Great Patriotic War , the spiritual and moral decline in the peoples of the former USSR defies any description.
But that's not all. As a result of the destruction of the USSR, the deterrent to the hegemonic aspirations of the United States and the most aggressive part of the elite of the Western world disappeared, which led to the destruction or destruction of Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine. The world today is balancing on the brink of global chaos. And to say after everything that happened that “the holy fathers were mistaken” is at least strange. Therefore, let us once again listen to the voice of the Holy Fathers of the Church.
This is what is written about 1992 in Sergei Fomin’s book “Russia before the Second Coming”, spat upon by modern scribes: “This year appears almost for the first time in the work of the Monk Nile the Myrrh-Streaming (XIV century). Here is his prophecy for 1992: “What a theft will happen then! What masculinity, adultery, incest, and debauchery there will be then! To what decline will people then descend, to what corruption through fornication! Then there will be confusion with great strife (i.e., revolutions and the struggle of parties), they will bicker incessantly and will not find either a beginning or an end (Translators’ note: “That is, they will not achieve any sense).”
Hieromonk Petronius, Romanian monastery Prodrome, holy Mount Athos (1989): “They have written and are constantly writing about the year 1992... To this we add the fact that about the year 1992, gloomy prophecies of some holy men, hierarchs and saints are being spread in the world: the holy hierarch Niphon Constantinople, St. Nile Athonitus, St. Cosmas Aetholos, Savva from Kolymnos, Kalinnik from the Chernika monastery and others who lived in the past.”
Saint Callinicus (1797-1860), founder of the Chernika monastery near Bucharest (1832): “...One night he returned to his cell after the morning service and, according to custom, sat down on his chair, for this was the custom of the monk - to rest, sitting on a chair, and never lying on the bed - and suddenly he found himself with his body on the island of St. George, standing on his feet - and this was not in a dream, but in reality. To his right was St. Nicholas, patron of the Chernika monastery, and to his left was St. Great Martyr George. And St. George began to reprimand Callinicus why he had not yet begun the construction of the monastery, although he received money for this purpose from the bishop.
Seized with fear and trembling, Abbot Kallinikos answered:
- Forgive me, saints of God, but after reading some predictions about the future, I was sure that in 1848 there would be an end of the world.
Then the saints said to him:
- Look east!
And the monk raised his eyes to the east and no longer saw the sky, but only the great Divine light. And, frightened, he fell to the ground as if dead. But the saints immediately raised him from the ground and said to him:
– Now look to the east and you will learn the secret of Providence!
And he was strengthened by the grace of God. And St. Callinicus saw the Holy Trinity in the sky as She is depicted on holy icons, and under Her a large luminous parchment, on which was written in large letters: 7500 years from Adam.
Then the saints who supported him by the arms said to him:
– You see, the year 1848 is not the end of the world, but the end of the world will be when 7500 years from Adam are completed. So,” the saints added, “immediately begin to build a large monastery in the form of a fortress, as it has been preserved to this day.
This is the vision of St. Callinicus of Blueberry. As we can see, we are talking about the year 7500 from Adam, which corresponds to the year 1992.
The revelation of Saint Callinicus cannot be questioned due to the great holiness of this saint. And this fills us with anxiety.”i.
Much today has become clear from the mysterious symbols and images of the Apocalypse. I would like to dwell on the trumpet voices of the seven Angels, which are spoken of after the opening of the seventh seal, and the events that follow them. But not because there is nothing else to say. It seems that the sound of the trumpet voices of the seven Angels should be so obvious to a modern Christian that there cannot be any serious objections. We begin with the trumpet voice of the third angel: “The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a lamp, and fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of this star is “wormwood”; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many of the people died from the waters, because they became bitter” (Rev. 8:10,11).
Why we started with the trumpet voice of the third Angel, I think, is understandable: in the Church there was a “concord of church fullness” that the events following the trumpet voice of the third Angel are a prophecy about the Chernobyl disaster at a nuclear power plant. Yes, of course, someone will not agree with this, someone will doubt it, someone will think, “there is something apocalyptic in this, but...” - all this is true. However, the fullness of the church, whether someone likes it or not, has already been clearly defined: this is a prophecy about the Chernobyl disaster. And this gives us a clue to reveal other prophecies that follow the trumpet voices of other Angels.
Firstly, let us pay attention to the fact that the nuclear power plant is one of the fruits of the so-called scientific and technological revolution (STR): “a large star fell from the sky, burning like a lamp” - this is an accident, as a result of which the “peaceful atom” gave way to “ uncontrolled nuclear reaction”, which takes place in the depths of “old stars”, in the last stages of their evolution, along with a thermonuclear reaction, which can be called the “fall of a star”. Secondly, we note that the consequence of scientific and technological revolution was the threat of a global environmental crisis. Let us remember here that the word “crisis” is of Greek origin and is translated as “judgment.” The fact that “many died from the waters” as a result of the Chernobyl disaster, I think, does not need convincing. Well, I think almost everyone knows that the word “Chernobyl” translated into Russian from Ukrainian means “wormwood”.
Based on the analogy, we can assume that the events following the trumpet voices of other Angels are related to scientific and technological revolution, ecology and crisis.
Let's start in order, with the first voice of the trumpet: “The first angel sounded, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and they fell on the earth; and the third part of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up” (Rev. 8:7). This is a prophecy of environmental disasters associated with the rapid activity of giant industrial and chemical enterprises that appeared as a result of scientific and technological revolution: every year they emit millions of tons of harmful waste into the atmosphere, polluting the environment, which settles on the ground and falls as acid rain. Around these businesses, the land often resembles a lunar landscape.
“Let us turn to the prophecy that follows the trumpet voice of the second angel: “The second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood, and the third part of the living creatures that lived in the sea died, and the third part of the ships perished” (Rev. 8, 8,9).
What kind of “big mountain, blazing with fire” appeared as a result of scientific and technological revolution, which “falls into the sea”? As we know, rivers flow into the sea. This is the first thing. Secondly, large lakes are often called seas. So what is this “great mountain burning with fire” referred to in this prophecy? It seems that we can confidently talk about large hydroelectric power plants, which are similar to “big mountains” that produce “blazing fire”, that is, electricity. For the operation of these power plants, large bodies of water are needed, which creates certain problems with feeding the seas and lakes into which rivers blocked by hydroelectric dams flow. Modern irrigation, directly related to hydroelectric power stations, aggravates the environmental situation around a number of seas and lakes.
The symbol of the environmental disaster associated with the “great mountain blazing with fire” thrown into the sea was the Aral Sea, which in just a few decades has shrunk significantly. The release of chemicals from irrigated fields into the sea led to the death of a significant part of the “animate creatures” living in the Aral Sea. Similar environmental disasters occur in other places on the planet Earth.
Since we have already spoken about the prophecy that followed the trumpet voice of the third angel, let us turn to what follows the trumpet voice of the fourth angel: “The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun and the third part of the moon and the third part of the stars were struck, the third part of them was darkened, and the third part of the day was not light - just like the nights” (Rev. 8:12).
Since our knowledge of the sun, moon and stars has expanded significantly, we can see the “eclipse of the third part” in another consequence of scientific and technological revolution: in mass motorization, which has led to smog hanging over large cities, which significantly reduces the transparency of the atmosphere.
Next, the viewer sees an Angel flying through the middle of the sky and warning: “Woe, woe, woe to those who live on earth from the remaining trumpet voices of the three Angels who will blow!” (Rev.8:13). The Apostle John the Theologian then describes in great detail what he saw after the trumpet sound of the fifth angel, which seems to indicate that what he saw was so unusual for him that he had difficulty finding words to describe what he saw. Let us quote this passage in full: “The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven to earth, and the key to the well of the abyss was given to it. She opened the pit of the deep, and smoke came out of the pit like smoke from a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the vault. And out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given the power that the scorpions of the earth have. And she was told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any greenery, or any tree, but only to people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And she was given not to kill them, but only to torture them for five months; and her torment is like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person. In those days people will seek death, but will not find it; they will wish to die, but death will flee from them. In appearance, the locusts were like horses prepared for war; and on her heads there were crowns like gold, and her faces were like human faces; and her hair was like the hair of women, and her teeth were like those of lions. She had armor on her, like iron armor, and the noise from her wings was like the sound of chariots when many horses run to war; she had tails like scorpions, and in her tails were stings; Her power was to harm people for five months. She had the angel of the abyss as her king; His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon (Rev. 9: 1-11).
We again, as after the third trumpet voice, see “a star falling from heaven to earth.” But in this case, the star “was given... the key to the well of the abyss,” and from the abyss emerges an extraordinary “locust” or “pruzi,” if we take the Church Slavonic text. Since the star was given a key, it acts as if within a certain order, but “the king over itself” is the “angel of the abyss,” whose name, translated into Russian, is Destroyer. Considering that the prophecy speaks of “smoke from a large furnace,” which darkens the sun and the air, we can conclude, bearing in mind, as they say, the achievements of scientific and technological revolution, that we are talking here about the testing of thermonuclear weapons, which amazes the imagination even modern man.
But what kind of locusts did the Apostle John the Theologian see? This is an incredibly fantastic image: iron armor, like golden crowns, a terrible noise from the wings, stings that harm people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads... However, is this image so fantastic for us, people living in the era of scientific and technological revolution? What “acrids,” if we resort to the Greek text, or “locusts” came out of the “great oven,” that is, from the tests of thermonuclear weapons? Locusts, as you know, are capable of not only devouring everything, but also jumping and flying. Is there such a kind of “iron locust” today, capable of jumping, flying, and even connected to nuclear weapons? It seems that many have already guessed that we are talking here only about ballistic missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Indeed, ballistic missiles are capable of “jumping,” that is, flying over vast distances. If you take the modern Topol ballistic missile, you can see “like a golden crown” - the lid of the container, which is fired off before the missile is raised into firing position, and the “lion’s tooth” - the powerful “fang” of the jack, appearing at the moment of “opening the mouth” " - lifting the rocket to the launch, and "woman's hair" - the camouflage net that covers the top of the rocket, and "human face" - the face of the driver of the car on which the ballistic missile is transported. The noise “from the wings” of a rocket taking off and flying towards the target can be very much compared to the sound “from chariots when many horses run to war.” The “sting” is, without a doubt, a stream of gas escaping from the jet nozzle, which indicates that the rocket is flying somewhere.
When did the “acrids” openly declare their existence and when did the “sting” begin to torment people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads? This is known: during the Cuban missile crisis. In May 1962, the United States completed the deployment of medium-range nuclear ballistic missiles by deploying the last batch of them in Turkey. The then-insignificant nuclear potential of the USSR was under threat of destruction. USSR intelligence received information from foreign agents that the United States had developed plans for a nuclear war. In the USSR, nuclear shelters are being built in an intensive manner. The leadership of the USSR, led by Nikita Khrushchev, tormented by the threat of an impending nuclear war, decides to transfer and deploy several dozen locust units in Cuba. The CIA, through the traitor Penkovsky, reveals these plans. A huge part of the US population is gripped by waves of crippling fear: within a short time, hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country due to the real threat of nuclear war. But still, prudence prevailed and at the end of October 1962 the crisis due to the “pruses” began to decline. From May to October 1962, five months passed when the “acrids” harmed people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
But can the Cuban Missile Crisis be called “woe, woe, woe”? The “locusts” that emerged “from the smoke of the great furnace” are available in nine countries. We can only hope for God’s mercy...
About the trumpet voice of the sixth Angel in the Apocalypse it is said this way: “The sixth Angel sounded, and I heard one voice from the four horns of the golden altar standing before God, saying to the sixth Angel who had the trumpet: release the four Angels bound by the great river Euphrates. And four Angels were released, prepared for an hour and a day, and a month and a year, in order to kill the third part of people. The number of cavalry troops was two thousand; and I heard his number. So I saw in a vision horses and their riders, who had armor of fire, hyacinth and sulfur on them; The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and from their mouths came fire, smoke and brimstone. From these three plagues, from the fire, smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths, the third part of the people died; for the strength of the horses was in their mouth and in their tails; and their tails were like snakes, and had heads, and with them they did harm. Other people who did not die from these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons and gold, silver, copper, stone and wooden idols, which cannot see, hear, or walk. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their theft” (Rev. 9: 13-21).
“The Four Horsemen” are four wars that have already died down near the Euphrates. It seems absolutely obvious that the Euphrates is a symbol of the East and East Asia. Some Apocalypse researchers see World War II here. But, in our opinion, there is no reason for this, because the Euphrates turned out to be away from it. This is the first thing. Secondly, it appears that World War II is spoken of when it talks about what followed the breaking of the sixth seal. The peculiarity of the Second World War was that “the sky was hidden, rolled up like a scroll” (Rev. 6, 14), which can only happen during massive carpet bombing of cities, and also that it was a “great earthquake,” that is, an event on a global scale.
After the trumpet voice of the sixth angel, the four Angels of the Euphrates begin to act - and four great wars thundered in the East and East Asia after the Second World War: the Arab-Israeli War, consisting of a series of clashes, the Vietnam War, the Afghan War and the war between Iran and Iraq. All these wars, one way or another, were associated with the geopolitical, civilizational and ideological confrontation between the USSR and the USA. These wars were “tied in a tight knot” of colonialism and racism, and the violation of spiritual laws.
The basis of the “mounted army” of these wars was the “iron horse” - tanks, self-propelled artillery, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles. It is these “iron horses” that spew “fire, smoke and brimstone” from their “mouths” and “tails”, and the tanks also have “lion heads” - towers, but all the “horses” are “fiery, hyacinth and sulfur armor”, that is, protection through firing from cannons and machine guns.
These wars were based on certain military, political and information technologies created on the basis of scientific and technological revolution. These wars gave rise to many negative consequences, which in total can be called geopolitical crises.
As for the trumpet voice of the seventh Angel, we began this study of Revelation with it: the destruction of the USSR on December 8, 1991 by three drinking buddies in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, when three horns, that is, three republics, were torn out from the “body of the USSR” - This is the beginning of the trumpet voice of the seventh Angel, which ended with the shooting of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation from tank guns by the lawless Boris Yeltsin on October 4, 1993, which made it almost impossible to preserve the USSR.
After the trumpet call of the seventh Angel, a geopolitical catastrophe on a universal scale occurred, which set in motion, as Ruslan Khasbulatov writes in one of his books, a myriad of destructive forces hitherto controlled by the USSR. Was there a scientific and technological revolution factor during the destruction of the USSR? Of course: this is everything related to the activities of the media, primarily television. Without television, without the media, it is impossible to imagine the rapid destruction of the USSR. But this is a topic for another study.
According to the word of the strong Angel, “in those days when the seventh Angel proclaims, when he blows his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, as He preached to His servants the prophets” (Rev. 10:7). Because without the Coming of Christ, it is no longer possible to resolve the situation that arose after the seven trumpet voices of the Angels with human forces. Only by the grace of God is repentance possible...
II.
Sometimes you can hear objections of this kind: they say, under the disclosure of the symbols of the Apocalypse, anything can be summed up. To people who claim this, we can only say one thing: try to do it. Let us repeat once again: this study is based on the prophecy of the five holy fathers about the year 1992 as the year of the beginning of the end of the century. And the question of the end of the century, in turn, is tied to the question of the destruction of the Roman Empire, about which the holy fathers agreed. True, some “titans of theology” here begin to cite the opinions of individual holy fathers who said that the “restrainer” is not Rome, but the Holy Spirit or something even more incredible, concluding in the end that there is no agreement of the fathers on no to this question. But this is nothing more than the “private theological opinion” of the “titans of theology.”
Most of the Holy Fathers of the Church taught that the Antichrist would seize power over the world of the Roman Empire
, having previously destroyed it. After the fall of the Second Rome - Byzantium - many theologians hastened to write off the interpretations of the holy fathers about the destruction of the Roman kingdom as evidence of the actions of the Antichrist, as they say, as scrap. And with the advent of the New World, the launch of the mechanism of globalization, the limits of the power of the Antichrist will be completely extended to the whole world. This is all the more strange since the anti-Christian character of the West and especially the USA is visible to the naked eye. But where there is no Christ, there is absolutely nothing for the Antichrist to do, since this is the patrimony of the “prince of this world.” And since “Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light... it is not a great thing if his servants also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:14,15). Of course, we are far from saying that there are no true believers in the United States, and besides, as we know, the Angel of the Church of Pergamon lives “where the throne of Satan is” (Rev. 2:13). The point is different: the power of Satan over the West seems to be completely obvious and undeniable. How obvious and indisputable, in our opinion, is the statement that Russia is Rome, that is, the Third Rome, according to the tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church (and not only), and is the “holding one”.
Why was the USA included in the countries of Christendom? The answer suggests itself: the US elite initially gave this country the “look of an Angel of Light,” that is, the look of a “Christian country,” which has nothing to do with reality. The famous researcher of Western society, Alexander Zinoviev, explained this very clearly: “ ...The role of religion and the church in Western countries is negligible in comparison with the factors of Westernism, and people’s behavior is determined to an even lesser extent by the principles of faith.
They are no exception in this regard,
- Zinoviev continues, -
and the USA.
Tocqueville also noted that religion ruled the spiritual life of people in the United States. Here religion interferes in people's daily lives, in culture and in politics. Moreover, it does not matter what religion believers consider themselves to be. If only it were religion. This religious pluralism alone, notes Alexander Zinoviev,
suggests that American religiosity is a historically established form of manifestation of a phenomenon of a completely different kind than religion, namely, ideology. The situation here is similar to the situation of the monarchy in English democracy. This is a historical curiosity - a godless ideology in a hypocritical religious shell. In addition, the role of religion here is greatly exaggerated. If we study people's behavior using scientific methods, the result will be discouraging: no matter how much Americans pray, they behave much less according to the rules of religion than the clearly atheistic peoples of the West
(emphasis added - V.M.).
The God of the Americans, like other Westerners, is ordinary earthly goods that Western civilization can give them and which they themselves can snatch thanks to it
,” concludes Alexander Zinoviev.
The Antichrist, in connection with this Western "view of the Angel of Light", began to be represented not as the person who would destroy the Roman Empire - the Third Rome - and establish his rule over its fragments, but as the "ruler of the whole world" in the modern sense. The theology that the “fourth kingdom” will be the whole world, and the Antichrist will be the ruler of the whole world, has also penetrated into Orthodox theology. Meanwhile, on the issue of the destruction of the Roman kingdom by the Antichrist, it seems possible to speak of the consent of the fathers, despite individual objections. Let's turn to the holy fathers.
Here is what St. John Chrysostom says: “ Rightly, anyone can, first of all, ask what is
holding back (τό κаτέχον) , and then discover a desire to know why Paul speaks about this so unclearly? What is it that is holding him back from appearing , that is, preventing him? Some say that this is the grace of the Holy Spirit, while others say that it is the Roman state;
I agree more with these latter ones. Why? Because if (the apostle) wanted to talk about the Spirit, he would not have expressed it vaguely, but (he would have said) definitely that what now prevents him from appearing is the grace of the Holy Spirit, that is, (extraordinary) gifts. Moreover, it would behoove him to come already, if then he should come when the (extraordinary) gifts become scarce, because they have long ago become scarce. But since (the apostle) says this about the Roman state, it is understandable why he only hints at this and speaks in secret for the time being. He did not want to incur excessive hostility and unnecessary danger. In fact, if he had said that the Roman state would collapse in a short time, then immediately he, as a rebel, would have been wiped off the face of the earth, and (along with him) all the believers, as living and striving for this. That's why,
- continues St.
John Chrysostom - he did not use such an expression; He also did not say that this would soon follow, although (in secret) he always says this. But what? And now the holding message, in the hedgehog , says, will appear to him in due time. The secret of lawlessness is already happening . Here he points to Nero as a prototype of the Antichrist, because he also wanted to be considered a god. He said well - a secret, because (Nero) did not so openly and shamelessly (pretend to be God) like the Antichrist. So, if even before that time, he says, there was found a person who was a little inferior in malice to the Antichrist, then what is surprising if over time (the real Antichrist) appears? He spoke in this way secretly and did not want to directly point out him (Nero), not out of fear, but to teach us that we should not incur excessive hostility when nothing forces us to do so. He says exactly the same here: just keep it (ò κατέχων) now until Wednesday . That is: when the Roman state ceases to exist, then he (the Antichrist) will come. And rightly so, because as long as this state is feared, no one will soon submit (to the Antichrist); but after it is destroyed, anarchy will be established, and he will strive to steal all - both human and divine - power. Just as previously the kingdoms were destroyed, namely: the Median - by the Babylonians, the Babylonian - by the Persians, the Persian - by the Macedonians, the Macedonian - by the Romans, so this latter will be destroyed by the Antichrist, and he himself will be defeated by Christ and will no longer rule.
”iii.
And here is how the blzh testifies to this. Jerome, emphasizing the agreement of the fathers: “ We must say what all church writers have betrayed,
-
that at the end of the world, when the Roman kingdom is destroyed, there will be ten kings who will divide the Roman world among themselves, and an eleventh, small one will rise up, who will defeat three out of ten ...
"iv.
Saints Irenaeus of Lyons, Hippolytus of Rome, and Blessed Saints taught in a similar way. Augustine, as well as a number of church writers. If we follow the spirit of Western theology, then we must forget about this agreement of the fathers: the elders were mistaken... But Orthodoxy does not allow such free handling of the interpretations of the holy fathers of the Church, especially since the image of the “beast from the sea” and the “eighth beast” of the Apocalypse is found in the image of the “beast fourth" book of the prophet Daniel...
Here, it seems, it is necessary to take into account the spirit of our time: modern “religious syncretism,” which is called ecumenism, as well as historical science, which is largely an ideological application to this “civil religion,” that is, ecumenism, exert enormous pressure on the Orthodox – researchers and theologians – in terms of ignoring the “outdated” interpretations of the Holy Fathers of the Church from their point of view. You look ridiculous, many of their adherents say, the Roman Empire fell at the end of the fifth century - there was no Antichrist... The ecumenists and priests of the “civil religion” can be understood: they do not believe in the special role of Orthodoxy in preserving the doctrine of the Church, the true spirit of Christianity, and therefore do not recognize the Third Rome as a spiritual and geopolitical reality. Ecumenists, for example, will use a calculator to calculate and tell you how “more to the right” the Western part of the Church was in ancient times, but they will remain silent about how many heresies and divisions exist today in the West...
It is also necessary to pay attention to the fact that the overwhelming majority of “students of Scripture” ignore the following circumstance: the Apostle Paul did not know the Apocalypse,
since, according to church tradition, the Revelation to the Apostle John the Theologian was given “at the end of the reign of Domitian,” that is, more than twenty years after the martyrdom of the “Apostle of Languages.” It seems that it is not difficult to notice that the Antichrist of the Apostle Paul has the features not only of the “eyes of men and lips speaking arrogantly” of the “little horn” of the “fourth beast” from the book of the prophet Daniel, but also of the “beast from the sea”, “eighth beast” and "beast from the earth" of the Apocalypse. The Apostle Paul did not mention the “harlot of Babylon,” although he outlined some of her features. Moreover, as is known, at least until the fifth century there was no unanimous opinion in the Church regarding the canonicity of the book “Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian.” Adding to the complexity is the fact that the Antichrist is not directly mentioned in the Apocalypse, although his connection with the “beast from the sea”, “the eighth beast” and the “beast from the earth” is quite obvious.
Unfortunately, there is “selectivity” in matters of the Church’s teaching about the last times, about the Antichrist. For example, one of the opinions of the holy fathers regarding “in which temple the Antichrist will sit” was turned into dogma. The answer today is: “in the restored Temple of Jerusalem.” The opinions of those holy fathers who expressed a different point of view or wavered between different points of view are also rejected out of hand. The opinions of theological luminaries who showed the absence of a clear answer to this question are not taken into account.
The famous pre-revolutionary Orthodox theologian Professor A.D. Belyaev wrote: “ Whether by the temple of God we mean Jerusalem, or Christian temples, or any of the most important Christian temples, for example, the temple of the Holy Sepulcher, or a spiritual temple, that is, Christians, Christianity, the Church of Christ - it remains undoubted that the Antichrist is his with his face, words and actions he will desecrate and devastate the shrine in the most vile and daring way...
»
The Monk Ephraim the Syrian, interpreting the second letter to the Thessalonians of the Apostle Paul, writes: “ In this way he will also enter the temple of God to sit inside [it], namely inside the Church of God.”
Saint John Chrysostom, in a conversation on the same epistle, says: “...And he will sit in the Temple of God, not only in Jerusalem, but everywhere in the churches
».
Blessed Augustine expresses the following opinion: “ But it is unknown in which temple of God he will sit: whether on the ruins of the Temple that was built by King Solomon, or in the Church (in Ecclessia). For the apostle would not call the temple of any idol or demon the temple of God. Therefore, some want to understand in this place by the Antichrist not the prince himself (principe), but, as it were, his entire body, that is, together with the prince, the entire mass of people belonging to him; and they believe that it would be more correct to read this passage in Latin, as it is read in Greek: he will sit not in the temple of God (in templo Dei sed), but in the temple of God (in templum Dei sedeat), since he himself was the temple of God , by which we mean the Church, as, for example, we say: sits in a friend (sedet in amicum), that is, as a friend, etc.
».
Blessed Jerome in his “Letter to Algazia” interprets this passage as follows: “ And he will sit in the Temple of God in Jerusalem, as some think, or in the Church, as is more fair in my opinion, pretending to be Christ and the Son of God
».
It’s clear why blzh. Jerome considers the opinion that the Antichrist will sit in the Church to be more fair: judge for yourself, what kind of God’s Temple will the “house of prayer” be if it is built again by the Jews today? It will be a temple, but not the Temple of Christ our God, not the Temple of the Holy Trinity. Therefore, who will sit in this “restored temple” of theirs and how does not matter, since it will be a temple, but, from the Orthodox point of view, not God’s. But if the Antichrist sits in the Church, then it’s a different matter: how to see him? With the “restored Jerusalem Temple” everything is clear, because it will be visible, and some priest “on duty on the Internet” will immediately report about the “crowning of the Antichrist” on his LiveJournal blog: “Children, the Antichrist!” But this is possible if you imagine Satan as a narrow-minded creature, which, of course, is not true.
That’s the problem: seeing the Temple as the Church of God, which is essentially the restored Third Temple
, - this requires opening your spiritual eyes, for which you need to work hard in terms of “studying the Scriptures.” Sometimes they say that the word “temple” was used in Holy Scripture only in the sense of the Temple of Jerusalem, but this is also incorrect. Look, Christ Himself says: “Jesus answered and said to them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. To this the Jews said: This temple took forty-six years to build, and will You raise it up in three days? And He spoke about the temple of His body” (John 2:19-21). Then, it is the Apostle Paul who shows the possibility of a different interpretation: “If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will punish him: for the temple of God is holy; and this [temple] is you” (1 Cor. 3:17); “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19). In war, as in war: the enemy is misled by deceptive maneuvers, information attacks, support of delusions, etc.
Unfortunately, many modern Orthodox media completely ignore the topic of the end of the century, considering any discussion of such issues as “unhealthy apocalyptic sentiments”
. Today in the Russian Orthodox Church the Apocalypse is almost not studied: the exception of PSTGU and a number of private initiatives. And if it is studied, then, as a rule, not from the position of faith, that is, based on the Tradition of the Church, but from the position of “theological science.” Of course, most modern scribes will greet this kind of denunciation with indignation: we, they say, know church tradition (and who doubts this?) and rely on it, but let me doubt the latter, which was discussed above.
A particularly heavy blow to Orthodox eschatology is dealt by those who ignore the Tradition of the Church about the “thousand years,” as witnessed by the Apostolic Papias of Hierapolis, Saint Justin the Philosopher, Hieromartyrs Irenaeus of Lyons, Hippolytus of Rome, and Methodius of Patara. The rejection of the teaching of the Church on this issue is closed by the Apocalypse: all eschatology comes down to the Antichrist and three and a half years of his power, after which - the Last Judgment and the end of the earthly world. However, the history of the world does not end with this event; it is more complex and multifaceted than what Orthodox amillennialists imagine.
In conclusion, let us recall the words of Christ: “Behold, I come like a thief: blessed is he who watches and keeps his clothes, lest he walk naked and lest they see his shame” (Rev. 16:15). It is impossible for someone to stay awake who ignores the Tradition of the Church and the prophecies of the Holy Fathers.
Fomin S. Russia before the Second Coming. M.: “Rodnik”, 1994. pp. 281-282.
Zinoviev Alexander. West. M.: “Algorithm”, 2007. P. 342.
iiiSt. John Chrysostom. Complete Collection of Creations. T. 11. St. Petersburg: Publishing house of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, 1905. P. 597-598.
Library of the works of the holy fathers and teachers of the Western Church. Book 21. Works of Blessed Jerome of Stridon. Part 12. Kyiv, Printing house G. T. Korczak-Novitsky, 1894. P. 62.
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Interpretations [edit]
In Christian eschatology, all the first six trumpets serve as a signal for the awakening of sinners on Earth and a call to repentance. Each blast of the trumpet brings with it a plague more destructive than the last. The trumpet is used to create anticipation and tells the reader that a warning, announcement, or warning is approaching. The seventh trumpet does not bring plague. Rather, it sounds like glory is given to God and His Kingdom is proclaimed. [14]
The preterist understanding is that these explosions are like war trumpets against the apostate Israel of the time period and that they correspond to events in the Jewish War. For example, the second trumpet is the people of Rome, depicted as a mountain, symbolizing the great nations in the Old Testament, and their destruction of Galilee and the Sea of Galilee, which filled with blood and dead bodies. [15]
Regarding the second sound of the trumpet, Christian Futurist apologists suggest that the "great mountain blazing with fire" that plunges into the sea in Revelation 8:8,[16] is an impact event from a possible near-Earth object. [17] [18]
Christians who follow the doctrine of the post-tribulation rapture argue that the seventh trumpet is the last trumpet mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:52, [19] and that there is a strong correlation between the events mentioned in Isaiah 27:13, [20] Matthew 24 : 29-31, [21] and I Thessalonians 4:16. [22] These parallels are used to support the teaching of a post-tribulation rapture. Therefore, posttribulationists see the rapture at the time of the seventh trumpet. The nature of the seventh trumpet shows that “there is no more time and that the mystery of God is finished, Rev. 10: 6.7. By the seventh trumpet Jesus rules and reigns forever,” [23] He took His great power and reigned, [24] He rewards the righteous and judges the wicked. [25] Both Jesus and Paul declare that when Jesus comes, His reward will be with Him, and He rewards everyone according to their works, Revelation 22:12,2 Tim 4:1.
There are some scholars who describe the section from the finale from the second symphony by Gustav Mahler as seven trumpets, actually played by four trumpets, a bass drum, cymbals and a triangle, which are the wings. [26]
