In this series, through June and July, we are discussing the Book of Revelation.
Outline of Session 1:
Introduction, St John and the history of the writing of Revelation,
Revelation as New Testament “prophecy”, why called Revelation or Apocalypse,
Revelation as part of the Bible, and debates in the early Church about the book
of Revelation.
Listen online [here]!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catholic
Commentary on the Apocalypse
Studying
the most perplexing book of the Bible with the great Catholic Scholars
Session
1 – St John and the history of the writing of Revelation
Outline of Session 1:
Introduction, St John and the history of the writing of Revelation,
Revelation as New Testament “prophecy”, why called Revelation or Apocalypse,
Revelation as part of the Bible, and debates in the early Church about the book
of Revelation.
Overview of the Course, 9 sessions
1) Introduction: St John and the history of the writing of
Revelation
2) Overview and Structure of Revelation, and Interpretive
Hermeneutics
3) Commentary on Chapters 1-3: Opening Address and Letters to
the Seven Churches
4) Commentary on Chapters 4-8: First visions, the book with seven
seals, the four horsemen
5) Commentary on Chapters 8-11: The seven trumpets, the two
witnesses, judgment
6) Commentary on Chapters 12-14: The Woman, the dragon, the
beast, 666, the victory of the Lamb
7) Commentary on Chapters 15-18: The seven plagues, the whore of
Babylon, destruction of the City
8) Commentary on Chapters 19-22: The Knight, the Thousand Years,
God and Magog, New Creation
9) Key Theological Issues and Review: Millennialism, the
Rapture, Final Resurrection and Judgment
[Note: Revelation is 22 chapters and just under 10,000 words (in
Greek). Fifth longest book of the New Testament. Shorter than the Gospel of
Mark, longer than St Paul’s Letter to the Romans.]
I. Authorship and Canonicity of the Book of Revelation
A. The Apocalypse or Revelation is one of the “deuterocanonical”
books – meaning that it is part of the Bible but that there was some debate
about this in the early Church. In the
first days of Christianity, there were certain heretical sects that gave false
interpretation of this book (for example, a heretic Cerinthus interpreted
Revelation to say that heaven will be an earthly kingdom after the Day of
Judgment). Because of the great difficulty in interpreting many of the
fantastic visions, and because many heretics gave false interpretations (they
still do today), some early Christians rejected this book.
However, the great majority of the early theologians, bishops
and Fathers of the Church maintained that this book is part of Scripture, and
the Church has accepted it as part of the Bible.
B. Although it is doubted by many of the heretics of the modern
day, and even by some Catholics, there can be no doubt that this book was
written by St. John the Beloved, the Apostle who wrote also three letters
bearing his name and the fourth Gospel. From the late 100s, we have strong
testimony that St John the Apostle wrote this book, and the Church’s
traditional liturgy introduces it as “The Apocalypse of St John the
Apostle.”
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to
make known to his servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and
signified by his angel to his servant John.” Revelation 1:1
Though there are many who will claim that Revelation was written
by some other John, “John the Seer,” the best early tradition maintains it was
the Apostle. St Justin Martyr who was converted to Christianity in Ephesus in
AD 135 (only maybe 30 or 40 years after St John died in that very city!) says
that the Apostle wrote this book. Also St. Melito of Sardis, St Irenaeus,
Origen, and Tertullian. It seems that the only real reason anyone in the early
Church debated whether it was written by the Apostle was due to concerns about
how heretical sects would give false interpretations of the book.
We do admit that there are some significant differences in style
and subject matter between the Gospel and Revelation – but these differences do
not require two different authors. Indeed, it is no surprise that the books
would be very different, since the Gospel is a history of Jesus’ life while
Revelation is a recounting of awesome visions. Furthermore, it is possible that
the books were written at different times (perhaps even many years apart,
though I think only a few) and that different scribes could have helped St John
to write each of the books in Greek (since his native language was Aramaic).
II. Who was St John the Apostle?
He is the brother of James the Greater. He is also the son
Zebedee and Salome, making him the nephew of St. James the Less and Jude
Thaddeus, and the grandson of St. Cleophas (Alphaeus). This makes him to be a
distant relative of Jesus, since he is the son of the Lord’s cousin
Salome. All this is the general consensus of the Fathers and great
saints.
St. John suffered an interior martyrdom greater than all the
other Apostles:
Fr. Cornelius a’ Lapide writes of the “martyrdom” of St. John –
(cf. Mark 10:35-40, especially verses 38-39, “And Jesus said to them: You know
not what you ask. Can you drink of the chalice that I drink of: or be baptized
with the baptism wherewith I am baptized? But they said to him: We can. And
Jesus saith to them: You shall indeed drink of the chalice that I drink of: and
with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, you shall be baptized.”)
“S. John also drank of this cup when he was plunged by Domitian,
at Rome, before the Latin Gate, into a cauldron of boiling oil, and came forth
renewed in strength; so that by a new miracle he was a martyr by living rather
by dying.
“Again, not only Prochorus, S. John’s disciple, in his Life of
S. John (the truth of which is rightly suspected by Baronius), but also S.
Isidore declares that S. John really drank the cup of poison, but that he also
drank it without harm; whence also he is generally represented in pictures
holding a cup. And, lastly, we may say that the whole life of S. John was a
continual martyrdom, for he lived a very long time after all the Apostles, to
the year of our Lord 101; and this long absence from Christ, his beloved—after
Whom he was continually longing—was a lengthened martyrdom to him, as it was
also to the Blessed Virgin, to whom he had been given as a son by Christ on the
Cross.
“Again, S. John underwent a special martyrdom while he stood
with the Blessed Virgin by the Cross on Mount Calvary, and beheld Christ—his
Life, Whom he loved more than his own life—suffering the bitter pains of the
Cross for three hours.”
Again, Fr. Cornelius a Lapide writes of the virtues of St. John:
“S. John alone was counted worthy to win the laurels of all
saints. For he is in very deed a theologian, or rather the prince of
theologians. The same is an apostle, a prophet and an evangelist. The same is a
priest, a bishop, a high priest, a virgin, and a martyr. That S. John always
remained a virgin is asserted by all the ancient writers, expressly by
Tertullian (Lib. de monogam.) and S. Jerome (Lib. 1 contra. Jovin.). To him
therefore as a virgin Christ from His cross commended His Virgin Mother. For
“blessed are the clean in heart, for they shall see God,” as the Truth Itself
declares.
“The Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, made
known to this His most chaste and beloved friend, who reclined upon His breast,
the hidden things and sacraments of the Divinity, which had been kept-secret
from the foundation of the world. John hath declared the same to us, as a son
of thunder, thundering and lightening the whole world with the Deity of the
Word. As with a flaming thunderbolt “he hath given shine to the world;” and
with the fire of love he hath inflamed it. Let that speech of Christ, His
longest and His last, bear witness, which He made after supper (S. John xiii.
&c.), which breathes of nothing but the ardour of Divine love.”
III. The History of the Visions on Patmos and the Writing of
Revelation
A. After the attempted murder of St John at the Latin Gate in
Rome, which took place (according to St Jerome quoting Tertullian) in AD 92,
the Apostle was banished to Patmos for a time. It was there that he received
the visions which would be the basis for the last book of the Bible.
“I, John, your brother and your partner in tribulation and in
the kingdom and patience in Christ Jesus, was in the island which is called
Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit
on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying:
What thou seest, write in a book and send to the seven churches which are in
Asia…” Revelation
1:9-11
B. This would place the date of composition to around AD 97,
with the visions having been given only shortly before. There are some modern
scholars who contend that the visions may have been given much earlier (even in
the 60s) because there are portions of the book which refer to the Jewish
Temple as though it were still standing (which was destroyed in AD 70), however
it would be difficult to square this earlier dating with St John’s testimony
that the visions were given on Patmos after he had been exiled there.
St John is shortly thereafter permitted to return to Ephesus,
where he then writes his Gospel (the last book of the Bible written), and dies
at the age of 93 in the year AD 101.
[C. A fun note about books and scrolls]
D. To whom was this book first written? “The seven churches of
Asia.” Notice that the book of Revelation often uses numbers in a symbolic way
(four, seven, twelve, and variations of these like 144,000), hence it seems
that the book is truly written for the universal Church though perhaps
particularly for these early communities. We will consider some of the
particulars of each of the seven churches named in the first chapter, but for
know we emphasize that the Christians of this time were suffering from intense
persecutions while the faith was beginning to spread throughout the world.
IV. The Historical Time Period of Revelation
The Church at this time was enduring terrible persecutions while
the faith as spreading. The
evangelization of Asia Minor began from the first days of the Church, even from
Pentecost itself. As the Church began to grow in these early communities, also
various false interpretations of the faith and various heresies began to spring
up. St John wrote to encourage these early Christians and also to warn them
from falling into the false teachings of heretical sects.
During this time also, is the break of Christianity from the
Jewish Synagogue. What is very present in the fourth Gospel, is seen also here
– Christianity must move beyond the Old Testament worship and the Jewish
Temple. Further, the Jews of Asia Minor persecuted the Jewish Christians
greatly, leading to much suffering – and we always remember that St John was
one of these Jewish Christians.
Finally, this is an age of intense persecution from the Romans.
Not only had Nero persecuted the early Church and put Sts Peter and Paul to
death (about the year AD 67), but the emperor Domitian (AD 81-96) had greatly
increased the persecution by turning it from being focused primarily on the
bishops to also including many of the lay faithful.
While the early Christians were encouraged by the spread of the
Gospel, there was danger that they would be crushed by the confusion of heresy,
the hatred of certain Jews, and especially the persecution of the Romans. St
John writes to a suffering Church, and he seeks to console the early Christians
and to encourage them to keep the faith.
This must always be remembered when reading Revelation, especially some
of the most imaginative and violent portions – the book was not meant so much
as a threat of punishment, as a promise of redemption!
V. The Place of Revelation in Sacred Scripture
Revelation is the last book of the Bible, and understands itself
as such (even though it was written by St John before his Gospel). This book is
something of a capstone or finishing of Scripture, even as it speaks of the end
of all time and history.
“For I testify to every one that heareth the words of the
prophecy of this book: If any man shall add to these things, God shall add unto
him the plagues written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the
words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away this part out of the
book of life, and out of the holy city, and from these things that are written
in this book.” Rev 22:18-19
Notice that, although the book is called in Greek “Apocalypse,”
St John states that he is writing a book of prophecy. Indeed, this book is in
many ways as much prophetic as it is apocalyptic. A classic way of seeing the
place of Revelation in relation to the rest of the Bible is to see it as “New
Testament Prophecy.” The comparison
between Old and New Testament would be: Law-Gospels, Historical Books-Acts of
the Apostles, Wisdom Books-Paul and Catholic Epistles, Prophetic
Books-Revelation.
The prophetic books were both meant to console the Chosen people
in times of persecution and to call them to conversion. So it is with the book
of Revelation. The Old Testament book of Daniel is “apocalyptic” while being
prophetic, and in many ways prepares for Revelation. Additionally, the prophets
of the Old Testament give testimony to future events, but primarily for the
purpose of interpreting the will of God in the present and calling people to
conversion – so with Revelation.
VI. Why is the book called Revelation or Apocalypse?
The title comes from the first words of the book, “The
revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to make known to his
servants the things which must shortly come to pass: and signified, sending by
his angel to his servant John.” (Revelation 1:1)
The Greek word for “revelation” is “apocalypse” – which means
“unveiling” and refers especially to the revealing of future events but also to
the “uncovering” of the significance of present realities.
Note the common error: Many people mistakenly say “Revelations”
in the plural, rather than the proper title “Revelation.” This is significant
because, although there are many visions given in this book, all is taken
together as a single authentic Revelation of Jesus Christ. There are many
private “revelations” which have been given in the history of the Church, and
these are good – but the book of Revelation is part of the public divine
Revelation which is set forward for the whole Church.
This book opens with the phrase “The Revelation of Jesus
Christ,” which both means that is a revelation about Jesus, and that it was
given by Jesus. But also that it was given to Jesus as man.
