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The seven candlesticks are the seven churches
20
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and
the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Мал 2:7.
3
And I will give
power
unto my
two witnesses,
and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred
and
threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
4
These are the
two olive trees,
and the
two candlesticks
standing before the God of the earth.
Zech 4:3,11,14.
5
And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
Isa 11:4.
Jer 5:14.
Hos 6:5.
2 Thess 2:8.
6
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
Exo 7:19.
3 Kngs 17:1.
7
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 17:8.
8
And their dead bodies
shall lie
in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
9
And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another;
because these
two prophets
tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
11
And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet;
and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
12
And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud;
and their enemies beheld them.
2
And said unto me, What seest thou?
And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all
of
gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which
are
upon the top thereof:
Exo 25:31.
3
And
two olive trees
by it, one upon the right
side
of the bowl, and the other upon the left
side
thereof.
Rev 11:4.
…
12
And I answered again, and said unto him, What
be these
two olive branches
which through the
two golden pipes
empty the golden
oil
out of themselves?
…
14
Then said he, These
are
the
two anointed ones,
that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
Rev 11:4.
Zech 6:5.
Dan 7:10.
Who, then, are “His two witnesses” who “will prophesy… clothed in sackcloth
(σάκκος)”
(Rev 11:3)?
(Incidentally, a
sakkos
is an outer liturgical vestment worn by a bishop. The term derives from the Greek word
σάκκος—meaning a sack, sackcloth, or a garment made of coarse haircloth.)
The Lord says, “These are the two anointed with oil”
(Zech 4:14).
In our actual life, these are the two Churches—the Western and the Eastern (or, more precisely, their hierarchies)—which, through the anointing with oil, ordain bishops and priests.
What, then, happens to these two olive trees?
“The beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war against them, and will overcome them, and will kill them”
(Rev 11:7).
The beast succeeds in
overcoming them.
And “a person is a slave to whatever has mastered him”
(2 Peter 2:19).
So, what becomes of the two witnesses?
“Do you not know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey?”
(Rom 6:16).
This means
they have offered themselves as slaves, in obedience to the beast
that comes up out of the sea.
18
For when they speak great swelling
words
of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh,
through much
wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
19
While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption:
for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
John 8:34.
Rom 6:16.
20
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
Matt 12:45.
Luke 11:6.
15
What then?
shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?
God forbid.
Gal 2:17.
16
Know ye not, that
to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Matt 6:24.
John 8:34.
2 Пет 2:19.
17
But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
Thus, the beast brings the hierarchies of the Western and Eastern Churches to complete spiritual death, in accordance with the Book of Revelation.
(Rev 11:7):
“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and
shall overcome them,
and kill them”.
According to the prophet Daniel, the beast reduces the entire People of God to a
state of utter exhaustion—“when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished”
(Dan 12:7;
7:25)—and to
total annihilation, as stated in the Revelation of John: “And it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to
overcome them”
(Rev 11:7);
“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed”
(Rev 13:15).
5
Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
Rev 10:5.
6
And
one
said to the man clothed in linen, which
was
upon the waters of the river, How long
shall it be to
the end of these wonders?
Dan 10:5.
7
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which
was
upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that
it shall be
for a time, times, and an half;
and
when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people,
all these
things
shall be finished.
Rev 10:5-6.
24
And the ten horns out of this kingdom
are
ten kings
that
shall arise: and another shall rise after them;
and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
Rev 12:3.
Rev 17:12.
25
And he shall speak
great
words against the most High, and
shall wear out the saints of the most High,
and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
Dan 11:36.
Rev 12:14.
Now, this act of self-mortification has nothing in common with the death by which the Apostles and martyrs glorified God
(John 21:19).
The martyrs, “with Thy strength they wiped out tyrants, and
overcame demons,
rendering them powerless” (Troparion for multiple Martyrs). In other words, the martyrs crushed the feeble audacity of the demons;
they were not defeated by them.
Thy Martyrs (N.N), O Lord, in their struggles received, crowns of incorruptibility from Thee our God: for with Thy strength they wiped out tyrants, and overcame demons, rendering them powerless. By their intercessions, O Christ our God, save our souls.
To summarize.
At this stage, the Western and Eastern Churches
are slaves to the beast
that emerges from the abyss
(2 Peter 2:19).
What we are witnessing, in essence, are the corpses of the true Churches: “And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves”
(Rev 11:9).
Consequently, in a servile manner, they preach what is advantageous to the beast: namely, they preach that the Millennial Kingdom has already arrived and that Satan is currently bound in the abyss. This is utter madness (see
an angel shall bind Satan for a thousand years). They have been preaching this since at least the beginning of the 5th century—that is, since the time when Augustine of Hippo wrote his book “The City of God” (composed between 413 and 427 AD).
Published:
October 21, 2026
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