Category Archives: Apocalypse

Angels and Deacons

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On the left, we see angels-deacons in the Apocalypse blowing trumpets and emptying thuribles of coals and incense before the heavenly altar as St. john watches (illumination from the Bamberg Apocalypse). On the right, we see smoking thuribles in the hands of deacons during the celebration of the Eucharist on earth.

Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” (Apocalypse 5:2)

We encounter many figures in the Apocalypse who are mysterious at best and confusing at worst or commonly misunderstood. Angels might seem to be one of the more easily understood figures of the Apocalypse but we should not jump to such conclusions so quickly.

When reading early Christian texts like the Apocalypse, it is a rule of thumb that the animals and monsters we meet are there to stand in for people that the original readers might recognize–for instance, Roman emperors like Nero. Human figures are to be understood as angelic beings–like the “young men in white” who announce that Christ is risen to the women who meet them at Christ’s tomb. But figures who are introduced as angels–who are they?

The angels in the Apocalypse are understood to be the deacons who serve at the eternal celebration of the Eucharist before the Throne of God, just as earthly deacons at the celebrations of the Eucharist were commonly understood to be angels, the “messengers” who announce the Gospel and the prayer intentions of the community and who make other liturgical announcements (such as “Let us bend our knees” or “Arise! Stand upright!” or “Bow your heads unto the Lord”) and who swing the censers-thuribles of smoking frankincense. The angels in the Apocalypse make similar announcements, such as calling forth the one worthy to open the scroll, and offering the incense that fills the air around the heavenly altar and the Throne of God. The angels-deacons of the Apocalypse tell the visionary author what to write and when to stand up or step forward.

The angel-deacons in the Apocalypse are also wearing vestments similar to those that earthly deacons wear during the celebration of the Eucharist: splendid tunics and sashes/stoles. (The stoles that earthly deacons wear are sometimes compared by early Christian liturgical commentaries with the wings of the angels, especially when the stoles are tied to one side to make the distribution of Holy Communion easier.)

Burning incense is one of the most important things angels-deacons do. The smell of incense is more than aroma therapy; it is profoundly theological.  The sense of smell is an affirmation that we have bodies.  Christ in his Incarnation came to save our entire being – body, soul, mind, and spirit, not just our intellects.  The classical approach to Christian worship provides an embodied approach to worship.

Angelic figures in the Apocalypse are also sometimes compared to the eunuchs who function as imperial officials that keep the imperial system running. When the Apocalypse was written, eunuchs and angels were both thought to be asexual, beardless adults who served the imperial-heavenly court in a variety of ways–messengers, announcers, stenographers, record-keepers. Typically, eunuchs could not be ordained deacons but they could become monks.

Deacons! Angels! They coordinate the actions of the Eucharist on earth and in heaven, standing before the Throne and altar. They tell us what to do and when to do it. They burn the fragrant incense that nourishes the righteous and drives the devils away. They assist with the distribution of Holy Communion that also nourishes the faithful. They are one of the ways we unite what happens on earth with what happens eternally.

“Heaven” in the Apocalypse

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A 13th century Cluniac ivory carving of Christ in Majesty surrounded by the four living creatures. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”
The four living creatures reflect a combination of the cherubim in Ezekiel 1 and seraphim in Isaiah 6:2, they function as ‘the priests of heavenly temple’. Their song is an adaption of Isaiah 6:3.

“After this I looked, and lo, in heaven an open door!” (Apocalypse 4)

The vision of the heavenly throne room opens Chapter 4 of the Apocalypse; it is an interlude between the first two series-of-sevens of the book, the seven letters to the churches and the seven seals. (The series-of-sevens are the basic building block of the Apocalypse. Each series-of-seven tells the story of the Church’s journey through history from a different perspective or from another point of view. Each series becomes more intense but the Apocalypse does not tell a linear, sequential story; rather, it is a re-examination of the same story several times.)

The seer of the Apocalypse sees an open door in heaven. Most of us think of heaven as the eternal abode of God, the place of light and glory where the saints and angels stand before the Holy Trinity. We think that only Good exists in heaven. But that does not match the description of “heaven” in the Apocalypse.

Heaven, in the Apocalypse, is not eternal. It will be destroyed: “heaven and earth shall pass away,” we famously read. Heaven will cease. The eternal residence of God, we are told, is the New Jerusalem that will come down from out of heaven (chapter 21). There will be a new heaven and a new earth. Heaven, as it is currently constituted, will be replaced after the End of Days.

The “good” are not the sole residents of heaven. Evil dwells there with God. Spiritual realities and beings populate heaven–we meet the dragon and the rebel angels and the the beast with seven heads and ten horns, not just the four living creatures and the saints.

Rather than consider “heaven” as the equivalent of the Kingdom of God, we would do better to see heaven in the Apocalypse as the equivalent to “spiritual-invisible world.” It is this invisible world that we glimpse from a variety of angles in the different series-of-sevens that make up the Apocalypse. Each series-of-seven is true but it is not literal (as we understand that word in contemporary English).

I will be giving a talk on the Apocalypse this evening, Monday March 15 at 7 p.m. (New York City time) as part of the adult education series at St. Luke’s in the Fields. Join us here. A recording of the talk will also be available afterwards; the link will be posted on the Bible Study tab of this website.

Jezebel and the Nicolaitans

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Israel’s most accursed queen carefully fixes a pink rose in her red locks in John Byam Liston Shaw’s “Jezebel” from 1896. Jezebel’s reputation as the most dangerous seductress in the Bible stems from her final appearance: her husband King Ahab is dead; her son has been murdered by Jehu. As Jehu’s chariot races toward the palace to kill Jezebel, she “painted her eyes with kohl and dressed her hair, and she looked out of the window” (2 Kings 9:30). Image: Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth, UK/Bridgeman Art Library.

“Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet.” (Apocalypse 2:20)

There is a woman in Thyatira who is a rival of St. John the Apostle. She teaches a group known as the Nicolaitans. She–and her followers–reject the authority of the St. John and disobey his teaching. He compares her to the Old Testament queen, Jezebel.

Jezebel appears in the Old Testament (2 Kings). She is the archenemy of the prophet Elijah. She teaches the people to commit adultery and practice sorcery. Tyconius–the first Biblical scholar to write a commentary on the Apocalypse–says that the figure of Jezebel in the Apocalypse “stands for the whole fallen order.” She is everything that stands in opposition to God. Always and everywhere, whatever opposes God is “Jezebel.” Tyconius also says that her followers, her “children,” can be seen as Goliath, who refused to admit the truth: that Israel’s God is the true God and that David was the one chosen by God to protect the people. Jezebel’s followers refuse to admit the truth: that the Apostle John is the authentic teacher chosen by God and serves as the protector of the Christian communities, as David was in the Old Testament.)

The woman in Thyatira that St. John was concerned was an “antinomian.” (That’s a fancy word that means “against the rules.” Antinomian groups always object to having to follow any rules.) She taught her followers that it didn’t matter what they ate or who they slept with or if they denied Christ when arrested by the Romans and were facing execution. (There was an antinomian faction among the Christians in Corinth, as well–people thought it didn’t matter what they ate or who they slept with.)

“Jezebel” in Thyatira told her followers to just blend in with mainstream society. St. John did not want the Christians to assimilate at all with the society in which they lived. “How much assimilation is acceptable?” was a difficult question that different Christian teachers answered in different ways in different places at different times.