Revelation 1:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Of the preachers of the Gospel it is written: “Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet” (Isa 58:1). And concerning John’s words, “behind me,” the prophet said: “They shall hear a word speaking behind you” (Isa 30:21). Whatever height of holiness humanity may attain, in comparison with the holy deeds and words of God, it cannot in any way stand as equal in His presence or before His face. But the flesh, weighed down by a certain infirmity, is admonished by divine sayings as if from behind. Therefore, by saying “behind me,” John indicates the humility of his humanity.

During Domitian's persecution, the Apostle John was taken in chains from Ephesus to Rome. There he was cast into boiling oil, but remained unharmed. Emperor Domitian then commanded that he be imprisoned on the Aegean island of Patmos. There he enlightened the island's inhabitants with Christianity and wrote the Revelation.

When Nerva, the successor of Domitian, who had been killed in A.D. 96, allowed the exiles to return from banishment, the Apostle John also returned to Ephesus. As before, he kept vigilant care over the churches of Asia Minor. He lived another seven years in Ephesus and peacefully reposed in A.D. 104, being ninety-seven years old. He was seven years younger than the Savior.

The island of Patmos lies west of Ephesus. It is small, rocky, barren, and at that time was sparsely inhabited. To its east lies Asia Minor, where these seven churches then were. Between east and south lies the Promised Land. To the south is Egypt. To the west is the sea, and beyond it Greece, then Italy. Between west and north lie Macedonia and present-day European Turkey, and beyond them Hungary, then Germany and all the northern lands.

All the seven churches named above were in Asia Minor, and therefore east of Patmos. Why, then, was John commanded to write exclusively to these seven churches? Did they have greater need of admonition or consolation? But other churches also were in persecution and in the snares of false teachings, as is evident from the apostolic epistles.

Moreover, the very content of this lofty revelation, which contains the destiny of all Christianity and of the whole world, shows that it refers to all churches and all Christians. Therefore it refers to us as well. Let us now say a few words about these seven churches.

In antiquity Ephesus was a populous, extensive, and wealthy city. Now it is a poor Turkish village called Ayasalykh, or Aya-Soluk. It has a mosque, an aqueduct, and a castle built from the ruins of the famous city located near Ayasalykh. Even now one may still notice there the remains of a stadium, a theater, and the temple of Artemis, which was counted one of the wonders of the world. Ephesus means desirable or longed-for.

Smyrna, in Turkish Izmir, is even now a wealthy trading city, with more than 150,000 inhabitants. It lies fifteen miles north of Ephesus. The word means myrrh or fragrant myrrh.

Pergamum lies still farther north, seventeen miles from Smyrna and thirty-two from Ephesus. In translation it means high or excellent. Formerly it was the capital of the kingdom of Pergamum. Now it is a small town in which up to five thousand Turks and thirty to forty Greek families live.

Thyatira, in Turkish Akazar, lies ten miles northeast of Smyrna. It is a very unattractive and unhealthy place. Its inhabitants are almost entirely Turks, who trade in silk and cotton cloth. The word Thyatira means devouring sacrifices.

Sardis, or Sard, lies sixteen miles east of Ephesus. Formerly it was the magnificent residence of the luxurious kings of Lydia, the richest city in Asia Minor. Now it is a poor village inhabited by Turks.

Philadelphia lies twenty-four miles from Ephesus, still farther east than Sardis. The Greeks have retained the name of this city, but the Turks call it Allahshehir, or Allah-Shehr, that is, City of God. Translated from Greek, Philadelphia means brotherly love. The city is large, but sparsely inhabited.

Laodicea lies twenty-four miles directly east of Ephesus and ten miles from Philadelphia. In Turkish it is called Latakia. Now it is a heap of stones, with an ancient triumphal arch still preserved. The word Laodicea means judgment of the people.

This was when he was in exile on Patmos, in his own words, “for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” That is, he was there for his zealous apostolic preaching about Jesus Christ. This was around the time of the fierce hater of the name of Christ, the emperor Nero. Before his exile, according to Tradition, St. John was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, from which he emerged with renewed and strengthened powers. As he begins to set forth his visions, the Apostle John even indicates the day of the week on which he was deemed worthy of these visions. It was the Lord’s Day, or Sunday. The apostolic note about this day is important for us as the oldest historical indication of the very early and rapid change in Christian society from the Sabbath feast to the celebration of Sunday. Third, St. John indicates the state of his spirit and body in which the apocalyptic visions were imparted to him. This state was extraordinary. “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day,” says the Apostle of Christ (Rev 1:10). In the language of the prophets, “to be in the Spirit” means to be caught up above the ordinary and worldly circle of thoughts and feelings. This is a state in which a man, not possessing his external senses, sees and contemplates through his inner senses alone images and representations from the realm beyond experience, from the world of spirits.

Replacing the persons, actions, and scenes of the Apocalypse with planets, stars, and constellations, N. A. Morozov makes broad use of the vague outlines of clouds. He uses them to replace missing names of stars, planets, and constellations, in order to depict a complete picture of the sky in accordance with the data of the Apocalypse. If even clouds do not help, despite the softness and pliability of this material in skillful hands, then N. A. Morozov remakes the text of the Apocalypse in the sense he needs. N. A. Morozov justifies such free handling of the text of the sacred book either by copying errors and the ignorance of the scribes of the Apocalypse, who “did not understand the astronomical meaning of the picture,” or even by the consideration that the writer of the Apocalypse himself, “because of a preconceived idea,” forced his description of the starry sky. By the same “scientific” method, N. A. Morozov determines that the writer of the Apocalypse was St. John Chrysostom, born in 347 and died in 407, Archbishop of Constantinople. N. A. Morozov pays no attention to the complete historical absurdity of his conclusions. On the basis of Church Tradition, supported by the testimony of the holy Fathers and teachers of the Church of the second, third, and fourth centuries, the Orthodox Church regards the writer of the Apocalypse as the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. The Apocalypse was written at the end of the first century. At that time, during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, John the Theologian was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he received the Revelation. The writer of the book himself indicates the place and circumstances of receiving the revelation in chapter 1: “I, John, your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit,” that is, in a state of spiritual illumination, “on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet, saying: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. What you see, write in a book and send to the churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum and to Thyatira, and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea” (verses 9-11).