By setting ourselves up in this way, we will want these events to happen as late as possible. But the Apocalypse, the last and most mysterious book of the Bible, tells us that the end of the world is only a sign of the imminent, great, and long-awaited victory of good over evil, deliverance from the power of the devil and death, as it is written: "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more; there shall be no more weeping, nor outcry, nor sickness, for the former things have passed away" (Rev. 21:4).

The joy of eternal and happy life with God must overcome the fear of the birth pangs of the new universe. The author of the book, Priest Daniel Sysoev, gives a correct interpretation, in accordance with the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church, and explains the meaning of what is hidden in this book. © Yulia Sysoeva, 2011 © Priest Daniel Sysoev Missionary Center, 2011   CONTENTS Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelfth Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twentieth Chapter Twenty-First Chapter Twenty-Two Notes   The first chapter "Apocalypse" is translated from Greek as "revelation".

This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God transmitted through the Apostle John the Theologian to all the Churches. Today, this book is the most mysterious and most popular of all the books of the Bible: few people read it, but everyone quotes it. In 1996, a kind of anniversary was celebrated – the 1900th anniversary of the giving to people of the Book of Revelation of John the Theologian, the book that completed the canonical formation of the New Testament.

And today many people talk about the Apocalypse as some kind of terrible future event, but not everyone knows that it has been going on for almost two thousand years. The Apocalypse is the revelation of the last great mystery of God, the same one about which the Lord spoke in ancient times to the patriarchs and prophets. The Revelation of John the Theologian contains many parallel passages that refer us to other prophecies of the Holy Scriptures.

This is the only prophetic book from beginning to end. Predictions of the future are quite often found in many books of the Bible, but the Apocalypse differs from them in an integrated approach, it seems to stand above time. Prophecy is fundamentally different from fortune-telling. First of all, the prophecy does not just contain a list of facts, but reveals the reason for what is happening, so that it is possible to understand the hidden meaning of events and correct the situation.

Thus God writes in Revelation 6   through history, making it the material through which His will is revealed. In fortune-telling, a person is simply confronted with a fact, almost always false. The Apocalypse was written by the holy Apostle John the Theologian during his exile to Patmos, an island in the Aegean Sea, under the emperor Domitian.

On one of the Sundays, when the Apostle was in the cave, he had a vision, he heard a loud voice, as if from a trumpet, saying: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last; what you see, write in a book." The revelation was written down by the disciple of the Apostle John, Prochorus. According to the legend, preserved by the Christians of the island of Patmos, the Apostle lived in a cave, where he slept on a bare stone.

This stone, by the way, can still be seen there today. Above the cave is now the Monastery of the Apocalypse. "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. And He shewed it, sending it through His angel to His servant John, who testified to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and what he saw" (Rev. 2:10). 1, 1-2).

This is the revelation not of the Apostle John, but of Jesus Christ, the Great Lord of history. It is known from the Creed that Christ has equality of authority – as God and as man. He participates in the divine power over the world, and Revelation shows how Jesus governs the history of the world, and how the will of the Heavenly Father, His Son and the Holy Spirit is done.

Why is it said that God gave Revelation to Christ? Because the source of the Godhead is God the Father: in eternity He gives birth to the Son, and in eternity He sends forth the Holy Spirit from Himself. For this reason glory is given to Christ by the Father — Christ in His birth receives from the Father honor and glory, power and splendor. But here it is given to Him as 7   and this glory is not merely to keep it within Himself, but to show the Father to men and to proclaim what is to come to pass.

Revelation reveals the mystery of the future life, a mystery that is already being accomplished in our world. It is said, "It must be soon," because for Christ all things are soon. And we need to remember that the Judgment is at the door, that it will be soon. The Lord says in the Gospel: "But the judgment consists in this, that light has come into the world; but men loved darkness more than light, because their deeds were evil; for everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed, because they are evil, but he who does righteousness comes to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God" (John 3:19-21).

Judgment begins with the manifestation of Light – Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that is, with Theophany, with the greatest revelation of God in the person of Christ the Savior. Judgment is the revelation of people and their inner qualities.1 Therefore, it is incorrect and incorrect to say that there are people who reject Christ, but at the same time do good works. If they truly did good works, they would love Christ, accept Him with all their hearts, pursue Him, and believe that He is God!

For the light of good works proceeds from Christ, Who Himself is the true Light, enlightening every man who comes into the world (cf. John 1:9). "Who bore witness to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and what he saw" (Rev. 1:2). Christ did not just give a revelation, He gave a testimony, He gave knowledge about the future. The Book of Revelation itself is the last in the New Testament and reveals the picture of God's Judgment on the world at the end of time.