10 And the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a lampstand, and fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters. 11 The name of this star is wormwood; and a third part of the waters became wormwood, and many of the people died because they became bitter.

12 And 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 smitten, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the third part of the day was not bright, as was the night. 13 And I saw and heard one angel flying in the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe, woe to them that dwell on the earth, because of the rest of the trumpet voices of the three angels who shall sound!'

Comment

Open. 8, 1–6. The seventh seal signifies the beginning of the calamities, the beginning of the seven trumpets, which are essentially an expanded reproduction of the ancient seven plagues of Egypt. The seven angels are the same angels mentioned in the book of Tobit, signifying, as it were, the Lord's retinue in heaven, and at the same time the same seven angels who appear at the beginning of the Apocalypse.

There is silence in the sky, this silence is a sign of an approaching thunderstorm. The seer of Patmos, when he was on the rocks of this island, was probably able to observe more than once how the sea calmed down, how the air became as it were heavy and motionless, and all the inhabitants of the Mediterranean knew that this calm always happens before a storm. And besides, it reminds us of the silence in which the Lord came, as He appeared to Elijah the prophet after thunders and lightnings. God draws near, judgment goes before Him, trumpets go before Him, as heralds go before a king, trumpets that sounded at Sinai. And incense before the Lord is no longer bodily incense, but the prayer of the saints, which rises to heaven and has some effect on the world. (We always know this, it is not for nothing that they speak of the three righteous men). And so, the caddle with fire, and all this fell to the ground, and voices, and thunder, and lightning, and an earthquake — the moment comes when God's truth meets human untruth. Seven plagues, seven trumpets.

Open. 8, 6–13. As I have already said, these terrible signs, these terrible events that follow the sound of the trumpets, are depicted by John in the colors of the ancient legend of the plagues of Egypt. The plagues of Egypt are a picture of evil sown by man and again falling on man as retribution. The Egyptians deified the air, the earth, the animals, and all these elements that they worshiped themselves turn against them. Darkness is gathering over Egypt, and insects, and hail mixed with fire and blood, that is, all the elements seem to turn against man, because man has deified them. Everything that is said here about the disasters associated with the first trumpet is directly taken from the book of Exodus, which speaks of this hail, the destruction of trees, the death of animals, etc. And the meaning is the same: mankind sows evil and reaps it. This evil that people have created comes upon them as retribution. But in this, in this tragedy, demonic forces are involved. The image of a large mountain blazing with fire is interpreted by some historians as an image inspired by the geological catastrophes that shook the Mediterranean world at that time: volcanoes erupted, entire islands collapsed. In many places, and not far from Patmos, one could see volcanic debris, even fire.

But such an interpretation does not make much sense, we need to look at the system of symbols that was characteristic of the literature of that time. "The mountain blazing with fire" is the image of an angel, very often repeated in the Book of Enoch, written a century and a half before the birth of Christ and full of bright, frightening cosmic symbols. The Book of Enoch attempts, like the Book of the Apostle John, to tell about the drama of the struggle of demonic forces against the truth of God. And so, the angels and, in particular, the fallen angels are depicted there in the form of flaming mountains and gigantic fiery masses, luminaries in the sky, stars. The fallen stars descending into the bowels are a symbol of some demonic spiritual being, well, let's say that Satan is spoken of here again. The fall of Satan in the cosmic battle is depicted in the Gospel in the same colors. "I saw Satan fall like lightning to the earth," says Christ. The unleashing of satanic forces on earth leads to the fact that the calamities, these new plagues of Egypt, in this case the plagues are already world-wide, continue to intensify.

"The third part of the sea,.. a third of the living..." — where did it come from? This is in the book of Zechariah, because when the Old Testament teaching about the "remnant" was developed, such a numerical symbol was adopted that two-thirds are preserved, one-third perishes, as it is said in the book of Zechariah. Two-thirds will eventually be a "remnant", because "three" is also one of the symbols of antiquity, a symbol of those who have been saved. An ancient interpreter, a very venerable one (I will not mention his name, so as not to give rise to bad judgments), said something like this on this matter: it is said that a third part of those who dwell on the earth will perish and will be cast into hell of fire, but I think that a much greater number. It seemed to him that this was not enough. But all these images – the third part of the sun, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars – are absolutely impossible to understand in the literal sense, because they convey something that cannot even be visually depicted. This is a symbol of the fact that not only man dies in the universe, but nature also dies, but not completely. Mountains are crumbling, retribution is falling, but still some part always remains. And it must be said that most of them: two-thirds remain, one-third die.

Here at the end it is said: "And I saw and heard one angel flying in the midst of heaven..." In most ancient manuscripts it says: "I saw one eagle flying." It is not "angel" at all, but "eagle", only in a few manuscripts "angel". Accordingly, there are two interpretations. One thing is that the apostle was sitting on the shore when he was writing this manuscript, and these visions flashed before his inner eye, and perhaps some images flashing before his bodily gaze could awaken responses in him again and again. When he saw a kite flying over the abyss and shouting: "Woe, woe, woe!" (in Greek, "uay, uy, uy!", that is, similar to the cry of a bird, similar to the Russian "alas, alas!" or "oh, oh!"), then this squawk of a bird flying among the foam and spray near the seashore could lead him to an inner vision.

А есть другое понимание: речь идет об орле, о коршуне как о символе гибели. Христос говорит: «Там где труп, там соберутся орлы». Причем Он это говорит не от Себя, это старая поговорка. Там, где лежал труп, всегда собирались коршуны: на Востоке, в Египте, в Сирии и повсюду, когда спускается коршун, это значит, что здесь гибель — вот она, и появление орла на горизонте — это еще один символ грядущих катастроф. Он кричит: «уай, уай!» — «горе, горе, горе!» Вы помните слова из пророка Исайи и из других пророков о трубном звуке, о долине Иосафата. Как труба созывала некогда людей в бой, так и труба в долине Иосафата созывает людей на суд, означает начало суда.

1 Пятый Ангел вострубил, и я увидел звезду, падшую с неба на землю, и дан был ей ключ от кладязя бездны. 2 Она отворила кладязь бездны, и вышел дым из кладязя, как дым из большой печи; и помрачилось солнце и воздух от дыма из кладязя. 3 И из дыма вышла саранча на землю, и дана была ей власть, какую имеют земные скорпионы. 4 И сказано было ей, чтобы не делала вреда траве земной, и никакой зелени, и никакому дереву, а только одним людям, которые не имеют печати Божией на челах своих. 5 И дано ей не убивать их, а только мучить пять месяцев; и мучение от нее подобно мучению от скорпиона, когда ужалит человека. 6 В те дни люди будут искать смерти, но не найдут ее; пожелают умереть, но смерть убежит от них. 7 По виду своему саранча была подобна коням, приготовленным на войну; и на головах у ней как бы венцы, похожие на золотые, лица же ее — как лица человеческие; 8 и волосы у ней — как волосы у женщин, а зубы у ней были, как у львов. 9 На ней были брони, как бы брони железные, а шум от крыльев ее — как стук от колесниц, когда множество коней бежит на войну; 10 у ней были хвосты, как у скорпионов, и в хвостах ее были жала; власть же ее была — вредить людям пять месяцев. 11 Царем над собою она имела ангела бездны; имя ему по — еврейски Аваддон, а по–гречески Аполлион.

12 Одно горе прошло; вот, идут за ним еще два горя.

13 Шестой Ангел вострубил, и я услышал один голос от четырех рогов золотого жертвенника, стоящего пред Богом, 14 говоривший шестому Ангелу, имевшему трубу: освободи четырех Ангелов, связанных при великой реке Евфрате. 15 И освобождены были четыре Ангела, приготовленные на час и день, и месяц и год, для того, чтобы умертвить третью часть людей. 16 Число конного войска было две тьмы тем; и я слышал число его. 17 Так видел я в видении коней и на них всадников, которые имели на себе брони огненные, гиацинтовые и серные; головы у коней — как головы у львов, и изо рта их выходил огонь, дым и сера. 18 От этих трех язв, от огня, дыма и серы, выходящих изо рта их, умерла третья часть людей; 19 ибо сила коней заключалась во рту их и в хвостах их; а хвосты их были подобны змеям, и имели головы, и ими они вредили. 20 Прочие же люди, которые не умерли от этих язв, не раскаялись в делах рук своих, так чтобы не поклоняться бесам и золотым, серебряным, медным, каменным и деревянным идолам, которые не могут ни видеть, ни слышать, ни ходить. 21 И не раскаялись они в убийствах своих, ни в чародействах своих, ни в блудодеянии своем, ни в воровстве своем.