The Word of God given to the Church is a sign that is sent to convict the world of sins and unrighteousness. Therefore, it does not give people the opportunity to 8   It seems to disturb or, on the contrary, delight them. It is said that Christ sent a revelation "through His angel to His servant" (Rev. 2:10). 1:1), that is, God the Father sends revelation to the Son Christ.

Notice that it is emphasized that John is a servant of Christ and at the same time His friend. We see that a person should never be ashamed of the fact that he is a servant of God. A servant of God is a person who is subject only to God and, therefore, is free from everything else. There is no one who is not subject to God: for example, the devil is also a servant of God, but a disobedient, rebellious, and foolish slave.

John testified to the word he had received from Christ; he testified that this word was genuine, that it was from God. The apostle saw the source of the word, saw the source of revelation, and testified of Jesus Christ. And Christ Himself is a witness to the secret intra-divine order of life. In ancient times, a person could be saved by believing in the One God, but now this is not enough for salvation.

Now we need to accept the testimony of Christ, brought by Him from the Father Himself. So John the Theologian, like many other martyrs and confessors, is a witness of the Witness, a witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of God; that Christ has given us the life of God the Father, which is in Him. All the saints are witnesses to this; They continue the line of testimony from the beginning and will continue to the very end.

Therefore, the apostolic succession is very important, this line of witnesses who receive and transmit power from the day of Pentecost, when the fiery river of the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. This line of witnesses confessing that Jesus is the Christ continues to this day through the ordination of bishops. 9   "Blessed is he who reads and hears the words of this prophecy, and keeps what is written in it; for the time is at hand" (Rev. 1:3).

Beatitude is to those who read this prophecy in the Churches. And not only read, but also fulfills the commands of God given in this book, observes the requirements that God gave through the prophets, because the Judgment time is near! This is the time of the cessation of all time, when the history of the world will finally end and the Day of Judgment will come.2 The Apostle John testifies that this time is near, so we must live in a state of reverent delight and sobriety before the coming of the Day of Judgment.

It will be possible to determine the approach of the end of the world by the pangs of the birth of a new universe: the beginning of great wars, devastation, pestilence, famine, etc. As the Lord said, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not terrified, for all these things must be, but this is not the end: for nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in every place; all this is the beginning of sorrows" (Matt. 24:6-8).

"John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and was, and is to come, and from the seven spirits that are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him, Who loved us, and washed us from our sins with His blood" (Rev. 1:4-5). Seven Churches in Asia (in the Roman province of Asia Minor)

were located on the territory of modern Turkey, but according to Tradition, they were the personification of the entire Universal Church, which receives the revelation of God.3 Seven is a symbol of the fullness of the world, and John the Theologian addresses the seven Churches, that is, the fullness of the entire Church. Revelation is a manifestation of the grace of God, the bestowal of an undeserved gift from God upon men, 10   who reconciles Him with them.

There is a norm according to which only those who participate in Holy Communion, in the Sacrament of the future life, can interpret the Scriptures.4 According to the Statute of the Church, the Revelation of John the Theologian is read during Great Lent and on the feast day of John the Theologian.5 "Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and was, and who comes" (Rev. 1:4). In the Russian language, an inaccurate translation of these words is given (

Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and was, and is to come), the Greek original says, "Grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is coming." One of the names of Christ used in the Holy Scriptures is the One Who Is, which means the One Who Exists from Himself, the One Who has no need of anyone else. God does not need anything, He is omnipresent, He has a source of existence in Himself.

That is why He revealed Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush with this very name: "I am that I am. And he said, "Thus say to the children of Israel, 'The Eternal [Jehovah] has sent me to you" (Exodus 3:14). Many sectarians, for example, Jehovah's Witnesses, distort this name of God: they pronounce it as "Jehovah," and the correct pronunciation is "Yahweh" — the Eternal. It is also important to understand this way: God reigns over all the times of the world, He rules over all the kingdoms of the world, everything is in His mighty power, and nothing will escape His hand.

He is the Eternal at all times and at all times: in the past, in the present, and in the future. God's name, Yahweh, is translated in sixteen different ways. The main translation of this word is "Who Is," that is, God thereby says to people: "When you become old people, I will remain the same – the Lord of the world." Other translations of the name of God Yahweh are as follows: "Breather", "Quickener", "Lord of History", "Lord of the World", etc.

And it is said that grace and peace proceed from Him, from Him Who was, Who is, and Him 11   Children. The Father comes to us through His Son, and through the Son we have the opportunity to rise to the Father. And a blessing "from the seven spirits that are before His throne" (Rev. 1:4). The Seven Spirits are the grace given to the seven Churches.