PROPHECIES OF REVELATION 2

PROPHECIES OF REVELATION 2

The Holy Orthodox Church is identified in the Book of Revelation as “the woman clothed with the sun” and she is shown to be pregnant and ready to give birth to her Son. The Devil called the dragon, seeks through his agents, the many heretics, to devour her son when he is born, or dogmatized by the Church, he seeks to destroy the important and divinely inspired true dogmas. The weapons used by the dragon are deception, lies and half-truths, being  the tools by which heretics attack seek to distort and thus destroy truth. 

“And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. He was cast out onto the earth and his angels with him. . .  and when the dragon saw that he was cast out to the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to a man child . . . and the serpent cast out of his mouth water that he might cause her to be carried away and swallowed up by the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”

What is the water that the serpent casts out of his mouth as a river after the woman?  It is the only thing that can come out of his mouth, falsehood, calumny and malevolence. During the heretical attacks of the iconoclasts the Devil’s agents cast insults against icons and branded their adoration as being idolatry.   

The woman clothed with the sun was given two wings of a great eagle to enable her to rise up and away from the attacks of the evil one. Satan soon found out that there was nothing he could do to the woman because of the two great wings, with which she continually evaded him. He cast out of his mouth water which falsehood and distortions in order to destroy truth.  But what was the great eagle and what was the nature of the two wings? The two wings of the great eagle are prayer and fasting and study of the word of God. The Church, during the period of great dragon’s authority, worshiped God in the wilderness in monasteries through prayer and fasting, and they looked forward to the future kingdom of God spurning the temporal and transient things enjoyed by men of authority and wealth and especially by those reigning with the Antichrist.     

Revelation depicts a battle between the evil one and the Church, during the period when it was doing battle with the Devil’s heretics by establishing firm and true dogmas which are held by Orthodoxy until this day.

“And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought but his angels did not prevail, neither was there a place for them in heaven. And the        dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world.  He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven; Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ.  For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. . . .  and the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place . . .  and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”                                   Rev. 12:7–17).  

The Devil waged war incessantly through the mouths of heretics who attempted to destroy the Church’s truths concerning our Lord Jesus Christ and the adoration of holy icons in the Church.   Then with the coming of Mohammed and Islam, Moslem and Jewish attacks against the Church increased even more as the dragon’s strength were increased. Moslems and Jews both reject the Godman Jesus Christ denying the truth that He is God and man, claiming Him to be just a man.        

“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” 

The remnant of her seed are the right believers, monastics and fathers of the Seven Ecumenical Synods who being sanctified by the blood of Christ faithfully kept all the commandments of Jesus Christ.