The spiritual action of Satan in the world should also include demonism, which is manifested in pagan religions. Here again the question may arise to what epoch and to what mode of action of Satan and angels such an influence should be attributed. But we also have no direct answer to the question, except for the general consideration that the spirit of falsehood sows falsehood everywhere and in all ways, applying itself to human passions, infirmities, and errors.

Satan's descent from heaven is accompanied by the following exclamation: "Rejoice, therefore, the heavens and those who dwell in them" (12). From this we must conclude that the victory over Satan is also important for the angelic world's own life, giving it ultimate invincibility and steadfastness in good. But "woe to those who dwell on the earth, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has not much time left" (12). Whose "loud voice speaking in heaven" is this? Obviously, the voice of the elders or the animals, or both together? But to whom does "our brethren" belong? Whether only to the angels who fought, or whether the saints (the Old Testament, obviously) are also meant here, and then the text should be understood more broadly, in application to angels and men. This does not change the general meaning. This is the third "mountain," which is therefore not connected with individual events, but has in mind a general and most difficult change, a revolution in the entire spiritual atmosphere: a new special closeness to the world and the hardening of Satan and, as a consequence, the decontamination of earthly life.

"And when the dragon saw that he had been cast down to the earth, he began to persecute the woman who had borne a male child" (13), i.e., the Church. The sphere of action of the dragon through this overthrow, although limited, became more bitterly anti-Christian and anti-church. From this begins his direct struggle with the Church, which could not yet be said in application to the Church of the Old Testament. At that time the dragon did not yet know with complete clarity whom he had to conquer, and therefore, so to speak, he scattered in his tempting energy. Now he "stands before his wife" and seeks to destroy her, to destroy the Church. This refers to the very first period in the history of the Church, when she stood before him, as it were, in childlike defenselessness, of which the Apostle Paul speaks: "Not many of you are wise according to the flesh, not many strong, not many noble. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, and the ignoble, and the despised, and the insignificant things God chose to shame those who mattered" (1 Cor. I, 26-28). The "persecution" of the early Christian Church and even its destruction could then seem quick and easy to accomplish. However, the Church was protected by the guidance of God and was inaccessible to the evil and insidious intentions of Satan. This idea is expressed in the following images: "And the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place from the face of the serpent" (14). The wings of the eagle can be understood as a simple allegory of the speed of timely departure "to its place", inaccessible to Satan, but also as the power of divine inspiration, victoriously saving the victim from the persecution of enemies. This idea is expressed in the language of symbolism, which is characteristic of the entire Chapter XII and does not require a deliberate interpretation. The "wilderness" is, obviously, spiritual gathering, with that concentration of the spiritual forces of the Church, which is the "nourishment" and preservation of it in times of trial. One can also see here the prayerful and ascetic podvig by which the Church is invisibly saved in the "wilderness" during her term. The latter is defined by the apocalyptic period of "time, times and half time".

But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon sent out of its mouth" (15-16). This allegory is also not easy to interpret: here we have a contrast between water as a river that washes and carries away with its flow, and earth that absorbs water. In this case, water means paganism both in quantitative distribution and in its qualitative power in the struggle against Christianity. On the contrary, the earth is a positive force, the energy of the Church, which in the end overcomes and conquers the forces of demonism. Here we have yet another image for expressing the opposition and struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, truth and falsehood, Christianity and anti-Christianity in world history, expressed in the most general and even abstract form. In the following exposition this will be shown more concretely.

This general powerlessness of the dragon before his wife arouses in him a new rage and arouses a new energy of struggle, which does not weaken in history. "And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (17). Here we have a peculiar identity, since "the rest of her seed" are equivalent, of course, to the woman herself, inasmuch as the members of the Church also form her conciliar unity. It speaks of the struggle against the Church in general, as a whole, in its doctrinal, sacramental, mystical being, and of its individual members, who deserve special recognition for their faithfulness and firmness, "having the witness of Christ."

Thus, the general idea and content of Chapter XII relate to the main theme of world history as a spiritual tragedy that begins in heaven and continues on earth. Satan's struggle against the Church, which manifests itself in various forms of spiritual deception, as well as persecution, does not cease, but determines the content of history. In this chapter, this idea is expressed in massive and polysemantic mythological images of the wife and the dragon. In the subsequent chapters of Revelation, this idea finds another expression for itself, more concretizes it.

CHAPTER XIII

TWO BEASTS

In the previous one, Satan, the dragon, acts as a spiritual force, openly waging a spiritual struggle (although not only by spiritual means) with the Kingdom of God, with the Church. In Chapter XIII, however, this struggle takes on a different, not only spiritual, but also soul-carnal, alien to the spirit and in this sense an animal form. Satan acts in the world through the bestial and bestial nature of human life. It is this struggle of the beast with the Church that is depicted in this chapter. Of course, the beast here is still the human principle, only in a state of bestiality. This bestiality in man, expressed in his brutality as the unkind, carnal power of life, is already known to the Old Testament, which knows in it the anticipation of Satan's persecution, the Antichrist. He is mentioned in the book of Fr. Daniel (as in the apocrypha, for example, in 3 Ezra). To that extent its seventh chapter is a direct parallel to the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, which concludes and clarifies in the light of the New Testament the images of the Old Testament. The vision of the beast is contemplated by the seer "on the sand of the sea" (1) as "coming out of the sea." The latter is here a synonym for the abyss, but in this case it can also denote the sea, the people's natural humanity, taken from the point of view of its carnal and spiritual life, in this sense of its bestiality. The beast in this case, obviously, means the state, and not simply in the sense of the state organization of law and order, which helps mankind in its ways (as the Apostle says: "For there is no power except from God" (Rom. XIII, 1), but totalitarian statehood, which claims to become the only determining and exhaustive principle in human life. Such a state, which knowingly exaggerates itself in its significance, is thus not just a pagan, but a demonic principle, it is the earthly face of Satan or his multiple faces. Such a state as an earthly kingdom opposes the Kingdom of Christ, fights against it, and by the force of things is, consciously or unconsciously, an anti-Christian force, an instrument of the "prince of this world," his kingdom, and the heads of this kingdom are his masks. In this sense, the totalitarian state is opposed to the Church and fights against it; thus, a new theme is posed and revealed in Revelation – namely, about the external and internal relationship between the Church and the state, this is the true theme of the thirteenth and subsequent chapters of Revelation. Two chapters of the thirteenth chapter beg for comparison: the Epistle to the Romans and the Apocalypse.

Thus, the new actor in Revelation is the beast, to which his attributes are assimilated: "I saw a beast with seven heads and ten horns." This is a spiritual and allegorical vision, which is clothed in visual images in the language of the apocalyptic epoch, beginning with Book II. Daniel. A parallel with the images of this book in their similarities and differences therefore begs for comparison. One beast of Revelation corresponds to four large beasts, which do not resemble one another. The first of them was "like a lion," the second was "like a bear," the third was "like a leopard," and the fourth beast was terrible and terrible, which "was different from all the former beasts" (Dan. VII, 4-7). In John, these images of bestiality are concentrated in one thing: "The beast which I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like those of a bear, and its mouth was like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave it its strength" (XIII, 2). This difference does not change the essence of the matter, which consists in the fact that the beast embodies the fullness of bestiality with its various aspects and manifestations. The beast of Revelation has seven heads (in Daniel, the same number is obtained from the addition of the two heads of the first beasts with the four heads of the third and the head of the fourth: Dan. VII, 6-8). The seven heads are interpreted both concretely and historically in Revelation itself, XVII, 10-11, as the seven emperors and the seven mountains (the cities of Rome): "The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits, and the seven kings, of whom five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he will not be long." It can be said that some historical riddles are solved here by others, and one cipher is deciphered into another. [47] These political allusions, which for their time give the prophecy the sharpness of a political pamphlet, for our time, as for all later times in general, lose their political bouquet and interest, and the septenary number retains only its general meaning, the fullness of the principle which is vitally revealed here, i.e., state totalitarianism and despotism.

The ten horns are characteristic of both the fourth beast in Daniel and in Revelation. On his horns there are ten diades (absent in Daniel). These apocalyptic numbers, like those already encountered earlier, also mark the fullness and power of expression of the corresponding life principles, in this case, the demonism of power. But, in addition, this symbolism could also find for itself a concrete historical interpretation in the present, which for us has already lost its significance. "On his (the beast's) heads are blasphemous names." [48] This expresses the general idea that state totalitarianism, the absolute pretension of state power over humanity, is in itself godless and blasphemous, is a temptation along the path of which it irresistibly slides even beyond its conscious spiritual self-determination. Therefore, in relation to all authority, the apostolic word must first of all be valid: "He must obey God rather than men" (Acts 2:10). V, 29). Here this "more" or "less" is possible as a test of the commands of earthly power by the highest criterion of faith and truth of God. But in Revelation there is also more evidence, namely, the direct presence of blasphemous names on the heads of the beast, i.e. in his consciousness, self-determination, and confession. This is not only active non-Christianity in pagan and generally non-Christian states that exist to this day, but also a deliberate anti-Christianity as a direct persecution of Christianity. The latter existed at the time of the writing of the Apocalypse, as it exists today, directly in Bolshevism and indirectly in racism. In addition, it also refers to the personal man-worshiping claims of emperors and heads of state in general, which were expressed in the blasphemous application of divine titles to themselves: Divus Augustus, etc., in the giving of divine honors to them, etc. The diadems on the heads of the beast themselves signify the blasphemous claim of the beast, i.e., of the totalitarian state, since in Revelation the diadems are peculiar only to Christ as a symbol of His kingdom (XIX, 12): "On His head there are many crowns, He had a Name written, which no one knew but Himself." This parody of the 10 diades with blasphemous names on the heads of the beast is an anti-Christian claim of the state, a "caricature of Christ," which the Antichrist is in general in many respects.

In general, the absolute state on earth is an image of man-godliness and anti-Christianity, the embodiment of the spirit of the prince of this world, of whom it is said: "And the dragon gave him (the beast) his power and his throne and great authority" (2). If in the days of the writing of Revelation this obviously referred to the Roman state as an image of state absolutism, now it can be applied to varieties of this principle in general, to Bolshevism and racism (not to mention the pagan man-godliness of Japan, etc.). The next verse contains a mystical-political cipher: "And I saw that one of his heads was as if mortally wounded, but this deadly wound was healed" (3). This could be directly applied to the legend of Nero redivivus, a monster on the throne of Caesars, who, according to the superstitious attitude towards him, rebels by demonic forces even after his death. At least, this is how this verse could sound to contemporaries. However, its more general and essential meaning relates again to the parody of Christ by Satan in the form of the Antichrist, who is not without reason the mystical "monkey" of the divine principle. Just as in V, 6 it is said of Christ: "The Lamb stood as if slain" (ως εσφαγμένον), so this ως – "as if wounded to death" – is parodied when applied to one of the heads of the beast, which is a false sign of the resurrection. Finally, in an even broader sense, this text signifies in general the seeming indestructibility and invincibility of the animal nature, inspired by the dragon and supported by the forces of Satan in history. "And all the earth was amazed, watching the beast, and worshipped the dragon who gave power to the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, "Who is like this beast, and who is able to fight with him." Here is described the hypnosis of state man-worship, which is produced by the power of the beast and is expressed in the "worship" of him. [49] It is difficult to add anything to the simplicity and force of these words, which have been used throughout the history of the world. Caesarism (Führerism) of our day, both of the Russian and German types, is in its own way a new and as if unexpected parallel to Roman absolutism, as well as its triumphant self-assertion, which drives the peoples subject to it into a state of insanity. But this hypnosis of power is essentially only a cover for the satanic principle that is at work here – the struggle of the prince of this world for enthronement in this world with its spiritual devastation and godlessness.

The struggle of the beast-state is a special and deliberate theme of the Apocalypse, which is peculiar only to it and is absent in the New Testament revelation. In the Old Testament, it is expressed in the struggle against paganism and its temptations, which surrounded the chosen people of God and constantly corrupted them. This clash reaches its greatest acuteness, of course, in the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, which is reflected in the apocalypse of Fr. Daniel (this book is, of course, more apocalyptic than prophetic in its type). Other clashes of the Old Testament Church with the power of the beast are also described here (Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar). But, of course, it is only in the New Testament revelation that this antagonism and struggle reaches its final irreconcilability, and this is expressed precisely in the Revelation of John. In other New Testament writings, as in the writings of Ap. Paul and in Ap. Petra (Rom. XIII, 1-7; Titus. III, 1; 1 Tim. II, 12; Peter. II, 13-17), a certain reconciliation with the state is sought and found, recognition of it as a legal order of things, a guarantee of external peace. The state here serves humanity as a means, not an end in itself, obeying the highest standards of morality. In this sense, it could be said: "There is no authority except from God." This recognition of the divine value of law applies to all authority, i.e., not only Christian, but also pagan, in so far as it serves its legal purpose, but is also limited by it. In those cases when we are dealing with a Christian state, as far as it has ever existed and can exist, or more precisely, with a state of Christians, new boundaries and tasks arise for it, namely, the service of Christian morality. However, such service presupposes the presence of a certain spiritual balance, in which the state does not go beyond the limits of its legal goals. But this state always remains unstable, and the state turns into a beast when it goes beyond these limits. Then, first, from the human principle of life, it becomes bestial and bestial, losing its highest spiritual goals, and then, by the force of things, it turns into demonic, satanic, antichrist, and thereby is drawn into a direct struggle with Christ and His Church. It is this image of power as a beast not only with its bestiality, but also with its godlessness and paganism, and then with its active anti-Christianity, that gives Revelation. Such a teaching about power is his deliberate revelation, which, strange as it may seem, has remained and remains, as it were, unheard in the history of Christianity. True, he was heard, and it was impossible not to hear, by contemporaries of the Apocalypse, who themselves experienced the persecution of Nero, Caligula, and Domitian, and in general knew the persecution of the Christian faith by the authorities. However, when these direct persecutions ceased, and the state declared itself Christian and the so-called Constantinian era began, the new state of affairs was perceived as the achieved existence of a "Christian state", in application to which it becomes inappropriate even to recall the bestiality of state power. True, from time to time the heretical emperors who persecuted the Church were forced to remember this, but this was easily forgiven and forgotten. In general, peace was concluded with the state, although it was fragile, compromise and insincere. The union of the Church and the state became its enslavement, bureaucratization, the Church lost its freedom to such an extent that it itself ceased to feel it. For the "state church" such an alliance of "Orthodoxy and autocracy" (and in addition other definitions, such as "nationality") became a normal correlation between them, and the ears were closed to hearing the word of Revelation. However, now, in the light of contemporary events, it is no longer possible not to see all the bestiality of power (and sometimes even its brutality), and the revelation of the Apocalypse becomes accessible and modern to us, as if new and hitherto unknown. But now it must also be accepted into church dogmatics as a dogma about the Church and the state. Revelation deals not only with individual historical events, but also with the ontological principles of life in their dialectics and struggle. It gives an image of history not as an idyll of the pseudo-Constantinian epoch, but as a tragedy, inescapable and terrible, of the struggle against Christ by anti-Christian or simply pagan and spontaneous forces.