But what is the matter? What happened at the time the apostle wrote? This is what the opening of the fifth seal tells us. "And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God"...

(Rev. 6:9-II). The cry of blood is an ancient image. Already in the Book of Genesis, when Abel was killed by Cain, the Lord says: "Blood cries out to heaven." So, there is some mysterious law in the world, which the Greeks call the law of Dike, which the Indians call the law of karma, which we call the law of retribution. Evil cannot remain unavenged, it must somehow be balanced somewhere, in this or that world, as the biblical words say: "The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the earth." It demands retribution, and here is not just blood, but the souls of those killed for the word of God.

The massacre that began in 64 AD in Rome spread to other areas. For the first time we learn about this not only from hints in the New Testament, but also from the report of the Roman historian Tacitus, who in the 15th book of his Annals writes that Rome suffered a huge fire in 64, almost the entire city burned down, and only four quarters remained. And when popular discontent fell on the government, the emperor, in order to avert the anger of the people, began arresting Christians, accusing them of setting fire to the city. A great many people were seized, as Tacitus writes, "a great multitude." Some of them were sewn into animal skins and thrown into the arena to be torn apart by wild animals. Some were tied to trees in the park, they were doused with tar and set on fire: burning Christians illuminated the night park. And the emperor himself rode along the alleys of the park in a chariot, watching this spectacle. And, writes Tacitus, who hated Christians, popular sympathy turned to them, because people began to understand that all these martyrs died not for their real guilt, but at the whim of one person. It is believed that it was at this time that the Apostle Peter also died. He was crucified on the Vatican hill, where his tomb is now discovered, and directly above it is the altar of St. Peter's Basilica. During the last war, archaeologists began to dig under the altar, found an ancient cemetery and there the grave of the Apostle Peter and even the bones, which are believed to belong to the apostle himself. Those of us who would like to have a good idea of this epoch can read about it in the book "Kamo Gryadeshi" by Sienkiewicz, where the persecution of Christians is depicted quite correctly, close to history. And here we have before us these martyrs, whom St. Clement of Rome calls "Danaïdes and Dircians" because they were supposed to depict on the stage the sufferings of the heroines of ancient mythology, and all the horrors that happened to these heroines were done to them.

Of course, some people wonder why these martyrs are shown here, if it is said "not to judge and not to take revenge." It is good to talk about it at home, in a calm atmosphere. And when people were in the camps, when they saw the extermination of a mass of people, everyone felt the need for trial. One of the prisoners of conscience of our time in the camp wrote in his notes that the Last Judgment is necessary, like the Nuremberg trials, it is necessary for man, otherwise there will be no righteousness of God, no justice, otherwise it is impossible; A person demands this in the depths of his soul. Something has been trampled upon, which cannot simply be removed, but must be eliminated.

And finally, the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12-17). Some interpreters believed that the terrible catastrophes that shook the world at the time when the Apocalypse was being written, as it were, awakened John's soul to these images. Let me remind you that the eruption of Vesuvius, in which Pompey and Herculaneum died, took place just in these years, and in the archipelago where Patmos was located, there were a number of eruptions. But they believe that this kind of explanation is not enough. Everything that we are reading now is taken from the Old Testament. These images: the darkened sun, the sky twisted like a scroll, the moon and the stars falling like figs – all these are images of the coming Manifestation of God: when the Creator enters, invades the world of nature, the whole world melts – the mountains melt like wax, the hills dance, the earth trembles. Read the third chapter of the book of the prophet Habakkuk, and you will see what the approach of the Lord means. The opening of the sixth seal is a symbol of the Lord's approach.

Many people try to find some kind of analogy in modern earthquakes. To this I can only say that there is a certain mystery here: it is possible (I emphasize, only possible) that in deep moral and political crises nature reacts in such a way that some catastrophic processes are intensified. I do not insist on this, but I believe that it is possible.I think that nature is "not a cast, not a soulless face", as Tyutchev wrote about it, that it can shudder in those days when people go beyond the measure of iniquity, and then famine arises, drought arises, the sky closes, an earthquake occurs.

How this could have happened in antiquity, we now know from the excavations of Pompeii. We see these people, casts of which are now in museums, the streets taken by surprise, even a dog with a collar on which it is written that it saved its owner three times, it tried to save him the last time and died with him. They also found there a room where there was an altar and a cross, where Christians lived. An earthquake and such catastrophes are the most terrible, but perhaps the most impressive image of God's judgment. But nature, of course, acts "on a large scale" and strongly; when it begins to tremble, it does not act as the judgment of God, but destroys both the right and the guilty. It is like an enraged war elephant of old, which, if wounded, turned and began to trample on its own. The spiritual, inner meaning of the opening of the sixth seal lies in the nearness of Theophany. This does not mean at all that the earth is over, although here, it seems, the stars fell from the sky, and the sun... Further events on the ground will be described. And this is the nearness of the Epiphany.

The seventh seal heralds the beginning of a new cycle of calamities. There is an interpretation that these seals, and the seven vials of wrath, and the seven trumpets are like a parallel story about the same thing, that is, the Apostle tries to present the same theme in different ways, in different languages. Such an interpretation is accepted by many, but I do not think that such a sequence is possible that then an earthquake will come, then this and that will come... There were earthquakes then and now. The world is now in crisis, and monstrous earthquakes are shaking it, and it may be that in another thousand years it will be the same.

7

1 And after these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east of the sun, having the seal of the living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to injure the earth and the sea, saying, 3 Do no harm to the earth, or to the sea, or to the trees, until we have sealed the foreheads of the servants of our God. 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed: those who were sealed were one hundred and forty-four thousand out of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

9 And after these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb!' 11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, and fell down before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, 12 saying, 'Amen! blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength to our God forever and ever! Amen. 13 And having begun to speak, one of the elders asked me, 'Who are these clothed in white robes, and whence have they come?' 14 I said to him, 'You know, sir.' And he said to me, These are those who have come out of great tribulation; they have washed their garments, and have made their garments white with the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore they are now before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne shall dwell in them. 16 They shall hunger no more, nor thirst, nor shall the sun burn them, nor any heat: 17 for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to fountains of living waters; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Comment

Open. 7, 1–3. The Four Angels is an image borrowed from the book of the prophet Zechariah, which speaks of four angels standing at the throne; they, according to the number of cardinal points, denote the fullness of the spiritual world. Before the days of tribulation come, all the elect are sealed, in other words, the sacred remnant. The remnant is a term taken from the Old Testament that refers to the little flock among the people of God. The book of the prophet Ezekiel says the same thing – calamity comes, but the Angel puts the seal of "tav" on people's foreheads. And here is an amazing, mysterious coincidence of transformations. In the modern Hebrew square script, the letter "tav" resembles the Russian "p", but in the ancient alphabets, in the ancient Canaanite and in the Phoenician, the letter "tav" looked like a cross, either like the cross of St. Andrew (see some inscriptions from the tenth century BC), or simply like a cross, as in all Phoenician inscriptions. (By the way, in the Russian Synodal translation these words of the prophet Ezekiel are quoted in an inaccurate form. make a sign." And in the original it says so: "make a tav.") For the ancient Christians, obviously, this was the first sign of the sign of the cross and the blessing of the believer during baptism with holy water, that is, it was the sign of Christ, and few people noticed what this amazing prototype was in the prophet Ezekiel. Here is the same symbol. In the midst of the storm and turmoil of the world, a little flock is chosen, and they are sealed. In this case, it is the seal of baptism, and not just the seal of baptism, but the seal of following the Lamb.

Open. 7, 4. In the opinion of most interpreters, we are talking about the remnant of the Old Testament church, the church that is the first in time, the remnant of the church of Israel. One hundred and forty-four thousand is a symbolic number, the product of twelve thousand on the twelve tribes of Israel. And then comes the following text: "From the tribe of Judah..."