Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

Revelation (Note: Not "Revelations") is the last book of the Bible. Its full, proper name is "The Apocalypse of John the Theologian". The word Apocalypse ("apocalypsis" in Greek) means the revealing or the uncovering. It relates to another word we hear a lot in the Church, "mysterion" which means a "hidden thing revealed". The tradition tells us that this book is the work of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian. It is the only prophetic book of the New Testament. Scholars would categorize it as an example of "apocalyptic literature". That is, it is "written down prophecy". Old Testament prophecy was always given orally, and then written down by someone else. Apocalyptic literature is written down by the one receiving the word, vision, or revelation from God.

Therefore write all these things that thou hast seen, in a book, and hide them: And teach them to the wise of the people, whose hearts thou knowest may comprehend and keep these secrets ("mysteria") (2 Esdras 12:37-38).

It foretells the impending fate of mankind, the end of the world, and the beginning of eternal life, and seems naturally placed at the end of the Holy Scripture. Another reason for its positioning, is the fact the many in the Christian East resisted its inclusion into the New Testament. Some resistance continued until the 9th century!

The Apocalypse is mysterious, and it can be a rather frightening book to those who attempt to navigate it without a map! But it is precisely this mysterious character that draws people to it. Nowadays we see a great number of books published about the Apocalypse, or based on the Apocalypse. Among these are quite a few really absurd publications, wildly speculative, spiritually dangerous, and having nothing in common with the mind of the early Church or the fathers.

Notwithstanding the difficulty in understanding this book, spiritually enlightened fathers and teachers of the Church have always treated it with great reverence as a book which had been inspired by God. Thus, St. Dionysius of Alexandria writes: "The darkness of this book does not prevent one from being filled with wonder by it. And even if I do not understand everything in it, that is only because of my incapability. I cannot be a judge of the truths which are contained in it or measure them with the poverty of my mind, being guided more by faith than by understanding. I find them only surpassing my understanding.? St. Jerome expresses himself in a similar manner regarding the Apocalypse: "In it there are as many mysteries as words. But what am I saying? Every praise of this book will be beneath its worth."

The Apocalypse is not read during the Liturgy. Some have suggested the reason is because in ancient times the reading of Holy Scripture at the Liturgy was always followed by an explanation, whereas the Apocalypse is quite complex to explain. This is not the case. St. Andrew of Caesarea, for one, gave a detailed series of homilies on this work. Actually, the Lectionary of the Orthodox Church, i.e. the official list of readings for the services, was established prior to Revelation having been firmly established in the canon of the New Testament.