Revelation 3:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

From the state of mind it produces, the Fathers called it "opinion." Saint Gregory of Sinai and Saint John of Carpathos speak of it.

The holy Apostle Paul points to this kind of delusion when he says: "Let no one defraud you by a voluntary humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind" (Col 2:18).

The one possessed by this delusion imagines things about himself. He has formed an "opinion" about himself, that he possesses many virtues and merits, even that he abounds in gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Opinion is composed of false concepts and false sensations. By this property it belongs wholly to the realm of the father and representative of falsehood, the devil.

The man who prays tries to disclose in his heart the sensations of the new man. Since he has no possibility of doing this, he replaces them with sensations of his own invention, counterfeit sensations.

The action of fallen spirits is not slow to join these counterfeit sensations. Having accepted wrong sensations, both his own and demonic, as true and grace-filled, he receives concepts corresponding to those sensations.

These sensations are constantly assimilated by the heart and strengthened in it. They nourish and multiply false concepts.

It is natural that from such a wrong labor there arise self-delusion and demonic delusion, that is, "opinion."

"Opinion does not allow what is imagined to exist," said Saint Symeon the New Theologian.

One who imagines himself dispassionate will never be cleansed of the passions. One who imagines himself full of grace will never receive grace. One who imagines himself holy will never attain holiness.

Simply said, one who ascribes to himself spiritual works, virtues, merits, and gifts of grace flatters and amuses himself with "opinion."

By this "opinion" he bars the entrance into himself both to spiritual works, Christian virtues, and divine grace. He opens wide the entrance to sinful infection and to demons.

Those infected with "opinion" no longer have any capacity for spiritual progress. They have destroyed this capacity by offering on the altar of falsehood the very foundations of human activity and salvation, namely, concepts of truth.

An extraordinary pomposity appears in those sick with this delusion. They are as if drunk with themselves and with their state of self-delusion, seeing it as a state of grace.

They are saturated and filled with high-mindedness and pride. Yet they appear humble to many who judge by outward appearance.

Such people cannot evaluate by fruits, as the Savior commanded (Mt 7:16; Mt 12:33). Still less can they evaluate by the spiritual sense of which the Apostle speaks (Heb 5:14).

The Prophet Isaiah vividly depicted the action of the delusion of "opinion" in the fallen archangel. This action deceived and destroyed that archangel.

"You," the prophet says to Satan, "said in your mind: I will ascend into heaven. I will set my throne above the stars of heaven. I will sit on a high mountain, on the high mountains toward the north. I will ascend above the clouds. I will be like the Most High. But now you shall descend into Hades, to the foundations of the earth" (Is 14:13-15).

The Lord exposes the one infected with "opinion" in this way: "You say, I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing. And you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked."

Another has been praised, and he convinces himself that he has already attained perfection.

Another has merely learned how to conceal his vices, and after that he has no need of virtues.

Another, accustomed to satisfying only the demands of the flesh, scarcely knows the needs of the spirit.

By an abundance of earthly goods he hides from himself his lack of heavenly blessings. By sensual pleasures he dulls his spiritual taste.

If his house is full, his clothing adorned, and his body satisfied or overfilled, he is quite content.

Exactly like a rich man looking upon beggars, he looks upon those who speak to him of spiritual hunger, sinful nakedness, and our wretched earthly exile from the unmade and incorruptible house of the heavenly Father.

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says" about this (Rev 3:13).

"You say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev 3:17).

Let us also hear what fate has been appointed by God for those who thus falsely and fancifully enrich themselves.

"He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent empty away" (Lk 1:53).

What else could happen? Whoever thinks he is rich does not feel need. Whoever does not feel need does not ask. Whoever does not ask does not receive.

This accords with the Apostle's word: "You do not have, because you do not ask" (Jas 4:2).

For the heavenly Giver of good things, just as He forbids us to cast pearls before swine, does not Himself do so.

On the other hand, the man who does not ask grace from God is incapable of receiving it, because his heart is closed.

Therefore it is also said: "Everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened" (Mt 7:8), the kingdom of God hidden within.

"Man's thought is diligently set on evil" (Gen 6:5). From this there necessarily follows a whole torrent of evil.

It spreads from thoughts to all deeds, engulfs all the faculties, and even in outward circumstances produces nothing but desolation.

In this stormy ocean the unhappy man often loses even the feeling of the perfections he has lost.

Having no substantial happiness, he takes for happiness the phantoms of flattering imagination.

"I am rich, and have become wealthy" (Rev 3:17), he says, although nature, law, and conscience all convict him.

"You are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev 3:17).

Still better, of course, would have been their having a fervent attachment to Christ.

What is especially displeasing to the Lord is the self-praise with which the Laodiceans speak of their spiritual state.

Instead of boasting of their imagined spiritual riches, they should turn humbly to the Lord and ask Him to help them in their spiritual poverty and infirmities.

And this is so easy. For the Lord Himself knocks at the door of the human heart. With those who receive Him gladly, He sups as a friend and, in turn, entertains them in His own house.

Since overcoming such a decline of the Christian spirit as the Lord observed in Laodicea is very difficult, the Lord promises a great reward to the one who accomplishes this. He promises a place beside Himself upon His throne.