Revelation: A Liturgical Prophecy
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
This is no book for biblical beginners, and one suspects it is a work more often misinterpreted than correctly understood. Unless a person is extraordinarily familiar with all the rest of Holy Scripture, understanding very much of the Book of Revelation will be an extremely arduous task. Since the book’s arcane symbolism is so rich and subtle, Christian humility will especially prompt the devout reader to be more than usually careful and tentative in his study of it, bearing in mind that the book’s purpose is not to satisfy our curiosity about the final times (inasmuch as not even the angels in heaven—and therefore certainly no one on earth—truly know the day and hour, as our Lord insisted in the Gospels) but to summon our ongoing repentance.
Fr Patrick Henry Reardon argues that the Book of Revelation is “liturgical prophecy.” Like the prophets of old, it is not a work of theological abstraction, but grounded in particular historical realities: it is only timeless by being timely. Revelation conveys the call to repentance in all times with equal immediacy. Likewise, the Apocalypse is liturgical. The vision begins during the Sunday liturgy, and it conveys the profound meaning of Christian worship. When Christians gather together in the liturgy, they do not escape from the painful history of the world. On the contrary, they go to the very source of that history, the eternal throne of God. Surrounded by the seeming chaos of the world and the events of men, threatened by social and political forces dominated by the direction of hell, Christians are strengthened by John’s vision of their worship being assumed into the very worship that takes place before God’s throne.
- Emphasizes the particular historical realities of Revelation
- Proposes that Revelation is a liturgical prophecy
- Examines how Revelation conveys the profound meaning of Christian worship
Top Highlights
“This, then, is their thousand years’ reign. It is that area of Christian experience in which Christians are already seated in the high places with Christ, already on their thrones, already judges of history.” (Page 97)
“Judaism of John’s time there was the popular belief that the Messiah would reign on the earth a thousand years” (Page 96)
“preservation of prophetic utterances was arguably the most distinctive contribution of eighth century Israel” (Page 7)
“forever: the sea, death, grief, crying, pain, the curse, and the night (21:1, 4; 22:3, 5)” (Page 99)
“four times in the final chapter the book uses the word ‘prophecy’ to describe itself” (Page 6)
Fr Patrick Henry Reardon’s books are of the highest quality and quite scholarly, yet profoundly simple to understand. This work will stand the test of time. His perceptions and insights are deeply rooted in the Scripture itself and the Fathers of the Church. This commentary is a major contribution to the field.
—Mark, Archbishop of Eastern Pennsylvania (OCA)
- Title: Revelation: A Liturgical Prophecy
- Author: Patrick Henry Reardon
- Publisher: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press
- Publication Date: 2018
- Pages: 114
- Christian Group: Orthodox
- Resource Type: Commentary
- Topic: Revelation