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You are certainly right that “Mariocentrism” instead of Christocentrism is a heresy. But I am not talking about the concentration of religious consciousness, but about the ecclesiological self-consciousness of the Church People. It must be “Mario-centric” to the extent that “Jerusalem-(or Zion-)centric” is the ecclesiology of the Biblical prophets.
It is especially loudly preached in the Psalms, where, next to the glorification of the Name of God, the glory of “the habitation of the Lord” sounds.
"Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem!"
(Psa 135:21).
“Great
is
the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God,
in
the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth,
is
mount Zion,
on
the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge”
(Psa 48:1-3).
“Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined”
(Psa 50:2).
“The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah”
(Psa 87:2-3).
“If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget
her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth;
if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy”
(Psa 137:5-6).
“Jerusalem is the beginning of prophetic joy!” In New Testament piety, this truth is expressed by the exclamation of the great Mother of God saint: “The Mother of God is the joy of all joys!”
Now let us remember that at Vespers of the Mother of God feasts, the Old Testament parimiias are read, dedicated to the “House of God, the Temple of the Lord, the House of Wisdom.” All these names of the “dwelling of the Lord” are attributed by Orthodox worship to the Personality of the Mother of God, as “the abode of the entire grace of the All-Holy Spirit” (St. Ephraim the Syrian).
The Church is, first of all, those who have acquired the Spirit of God, and among them, first of all, that which has acquired the fullness of His grace.
As for the People of the Church, it is also called the House of God, but subject to the condition that St. Apostle Paul: “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end”
(Heb 3:6).
Boldness and hope, which are the highest glory, the highest praise of the New Israel, make it the House of God, if (and so long as)
they are inspired by Faith. Faith not only in the incarnation and redemptive feat of the Son of God, but also in the already complete deification of His Mother. In this deification of the Mother of Light, the Church, on the very day of her birth, eschatological completion and royal crowning were granted.
If New Israel does not comply with this condition, then it ceases to be the House of God, ceases to be a pillar and affirmation of the Truth (see
1 Tim 3:15), such that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”
(Matt 16:18).
It is the non-observance of this condition that can explain the prophecies about the defeat of the entire Church People in the battle with the seed of the ancient serpent
(Dan 7:21;
Rev 13:7)
and about the grave consequences of this defeat by the end of the hard times, predicted using the symbol of half-week (3.5)
(Dan 12:7;
Rev 13:15).
Now let me turn to you, as one of our leading apologists, with a question: How did it happen that in the doctrine of the Antichrist, professed by the vast majority of Orthodox, both these prophecies about the defeat of the Church People and its grave consequences, and the promise are completely ignored?
great revenge”, following the end of the “half-week hard times”. I mean the promise repeated in three verses of Daniel 7:
7:18
But the saints of the most High shall take
(at the end of the “half-week of times”)
the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
7:22
Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High;
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
7:27
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom
is
an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
The name
“people of the saints of the Most High”
was naturally referred by the Apostles to “Israel of God”
(Gal 6:16),
and Daniel's promise was the subject of the most cherished aspirations of the Jewish people, who interpreted it, of course, in the spirit of religious materialism.
It is unlikely that the Apostles, who on the day of the Ascension asked the Savior about the time of the fulfillment of Daniel's promise, understood it much deeper than most Jews, but their question: “wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”
(Acts 1:6),
meant: is it not now, is it not at your first coming that you will fulfill the promise of the book of the prophet Daniel?
However, the Savior's answer
(Acts 1:7)
in no way condemns the faith of the Apostles in this promise. On the contrary, in His words it is easy to hear approval and reinforcement of it: since the time of its implementation refers to the times and dates established by the authority of the Father, it means that it will certainly come sometime. With all this, the Lord made the Apostles understand the fallacy of their assumption and hope that His first coming is the very coming of the Ancient of Days, from which the time
zman
promised by Daniel will begin and which will give the people of the saints of the Most High (i.e., the Church of Christ)
unlimited time “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven”
(Dan 7:18,22,27).
Ten days after this conversation, on the day of Pentecost, the Apostles will receive all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and they themselves will become the heralds of promises parallel to Daniel. But even this charismatic fullness of the Apostolic ministry will not provide the Church and future generations of Christians with a horizontal tradition sufficient for an unmistakable recognition of the times and dates rooted in the authority of the Father. The insufficiency of horizontal tradition is the meaning of the denial contained in the words of the Savior: “It is not for you to know the times and the seasons that the Father has established by His authority” (Acts 1:7,
translated by Bishop Cassian Bezobrazov).
And everything that is “horizontally” transmitted to us about the promise of Daniel and parallel New Testament prophecies is a clear illustration of these words of the Savior: “It is not for you to know the times and dates set by the authority of the Father.” The parallel to Daniel's time
zman
in the New Testament is the Apocalyptic “millennium”
(Rev. 20:2-7).
The patristic tradition on this subject conveys to us the disagreement between early Christian eschatology (St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Papias of Hierapolis, Justin the Philosopher, Hippolytus of Rome, Methodius of Patara)
and St. Augustine. This problem in patristics remained unresolved. The textbooks of dogmatic theology of pre-revolutionary Russia (Metropolitan Makariy Bulgakov and others)
declared early Christian eschatology to be one of the varieties of chiliastic heresy allegedly condemned by the Second Ecumenical Council. But this is the concept of spiritual sons and “grandchildren” of the Apostles. And the generations brought up by these textbooks did not see any blasphemy in this assessment. Overcoming chiliasm was attributed to Blessed Augustine, for whom the Apocalyptic “millennium” is an indefinite fullness of time from the first coming of Christ to the reign of the Antichrist. St. Augustine interpreted the “thousand-year paralysis” by the seductive energy of the devil in the spirit of the theory of
praedestinatio
invented by him: the devil is not able to destroy those who are predestined for salvation, but to the last St. Augustine included all the nations that are part of the Church. But after all, the revelation says that during the “millennium” the seductive energy of the devil is generally inactive
(Rev. 20:2-7).
Is it permissible for us, following Augustine, to assert that the promised “millennium” continues from the first coming of Christ up to the parousia of the Antichrist?
Of all the attempts of the prince of this world to disincarnate the religion of the Incarnation, he most succeeded in the struggle against faith in Daniel's promise of the time
zman
and the apocalyptic “millennium”. The struggle against this faith continues to this day, and many of the authorities of the New Israel and our official theological school are participating in it.
How can we, ordinary Orthodox, teach: there will be nothing that, according to the words of the Holy Spirit, there will be?
But enmity with the Holy Spirit is spiritual death. Isn't it predicted by the prophet Daniel by the end of the “half-week of times”
(Dan 12:7)
and the seer John by the end of the “42-month hard time”
(Rev 13:15)?
Eschatology, which the patristic tradition brings to us, asserts that the end of this age will come with the end of the “half-week hard times”, interpreted as 3.5 calendar years before the Second Coming of Christ.
The most scrupulous analysis of the sacred text forces us to admit that by this milestone the “Wheat of God”, planted by the incarnate Logos and called to bear fruit by the Spirit of God, does not grow to reaping maturity, as it should be according to the Gospel
(Mark 4:28-29),
but, on the contrary, endures crushing exhaustion, according to Daniel
(Dan 12:7),
and spiritual mortification by the energy of the speaking image of the beast 666, which conquered New Israel, according to the Apocalypse of John
(Rev 13:7,15).
This energy kills in the New Israel the grace-filled life, freedom and wisdom inherent in the children of the Highest Jerusalem, the Mother of all of us
(Gal 4:26).
It turns out that
"the victory over the saints"
(Rev 13:7)
was realized in the planting of a defeatist eschatology, cut off from the Biblical root, giving rise to unbelief in those promises of the Bible, which are especially hated by the prince of this world. We have to admit that this eschatology was dictated not by the Holy Spirit, but by the conqueror of the New Israel — the beast 666.
So, everything goes according to the word of God, but not distorted by false interpretations and incorrect translations into our languages. Almost all New Testament prophecies related to Daniel's promise of zman time and the apocalyptic
"millennium"
are distorted in translations into our languages. The two-pronged prophecy
(Luke 21:23-24)
is especially distorted, in which both the centuries-old trampling of Jerusalem by non-Jews and the “42-month” trampling of the Holy City by the “Gentiles”, i.e., the demons of that hierarchy which the Seer contemplated in the form of the beast 666, are predicted.
(Rev 11:2,
13:7).
“… until the times of the Gentiles pass away”
— this translation is dictated by the interpretation of St. John Chrysostom: “until the end of the world” and the hatred of the prince of this world for the promise of the time of anapsyxis on behalf of God the Father, which will come with the conversion of Ancient Israel to the true Messiah, according to the prophecy of St. Apostle Peter
(Acts 3:19-20).
Anapsyxis
— peace, rest, one of the Greek equivalents of the Jewish “Shabbat”, the promise of which is especially hated by the devil, for this is the same apocalyptic “millennium”, in which his seductive energy will be completely paralyzed
(Rev 20:2-3).
Therefore, St. Irenaeus of Lyon and his associates interpreted it as
“sanctified Seventh Day”,
“Sabbath times”.
By the way, “the Sabbath day of the people of God” was also promised by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Hebrews
(Heb 4:8-9).
So the apocalyptic “millennium” was the object of faith of the Apostles and their closest disciples in the coming “Seventh Day”, “the Sabbath of the righteous”, in which New Israel will first come to life in the “first resurrection” from the deadly wounds inflicted by the defeat of the beast 666
(Rev 13:7)
and the killing by the energy of the speaking image of the conqueror
(Rev 13:15).
This revival was predicted by the apostle Paul as the coming into being of fullness, i.e. grace-filled abundance in the Church of Gentiles
(Rom 11:25),
after which the resurrection will take place — “life from the dead”
(Rom 11:15)
of Ancient Israel. All this will happen on the other side of the boundary predicted by the Savior in the Gospel
Luke 21:24
with a subordinate clause “until ...”.
But the hatred of the devil and the victory of his seed, the beast 666, dictated the translation of the verb πληρόω into Slavonic “will end”, Russian “will end” (times of Gentiles). But this verb can be translated (and in the New Testament it most often makes sense)
“be fulfilled” (the times intended for the peoples καιρὸς — Greek;
zmanim
— Heb.).
Our translations of
Luke 21:24
have been meaningless for 47 years now, because since June 1967 all of Jerusalem has been under the rule of Israel, and in the world of Gentiles (non-Jews)
nothing has ended at all, on the contrary, many unexpected things have begun.
Thus, on April 2, 1968 (the day which, according to the most scientifically based chronology, was the Day of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem in the year 30, and Christ Himself called it the “day of Jerusalem” —
Luke 19:42), the unprecedented, greatest appearances of the Mother of God began in Zeytun (Cairo). The apparitions continued over the Church of Her name, standing in the way of the temporary stay of the Holy Family during the flight to Egypt from Herod, until May 29, 1971. Crowds of many thousands for several hours continuously saw the Queen of Heaven with an olive branch in her hands, blessing the peoples to the north, south, east and west. All the signs of the promised descent of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Mother of all of us, are present. Then phenomena of this type are renewed from time to time in different parts of Egypt.
These guiding signs allow us to assert that the times of the fulfillment of the brightest promises, especially hated by the prince of this world, will come on the other side of the boundary predicted in the Gospel
Luk 21:23,24
by the subordinate clause “until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (zman
— Heb.;
καιρὸς — Greek).
The “Mariocentrism” of the ecclesiological self-awareness of the Church People means that as the “Wheat of God” grows to harvest maturity, we should try to see and hear with the eyes and ears of the Kind and Most Pure Heart, “the abode of the entire grace of the Holy Spirit” (St. Ephraim the Syrian). The Church is the image of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit unites the multitude of believing hearts into one heart
(Acts 4:32)
by a trinitarian unity. The unity of command of the Father, which ensures the perfect unity of the Three Hypostases, should (with the necessary reservations)
be displayed in the unity of command of the Mother among those who make up the “female” side of the Lamb Marriage, who bear the name Wife, the Bride of the Lamb, which cannot bear the plural. Their unity can be depicted as a scheme of converging concentric circles in the sacred center, which is the Kind and Most Pure Heart of the Mother of Light.
If the words “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power” refer both to the Apostles and to the subsequent generations of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, then to whom, if not a completely deified Person, from the Day of Pentecost co-reigns with Christ in the hypostasis of the Wife of the Lamb, was given the knowledge of these times and deadlines?
Inattention to Her guiding service to the People of God, which She leads to the beginning of co-reigning with the Lord, promised in the book of the prophet Daniel and in the Apocalypse of John, coincides with the fierce unbelief in these promises, dictated by the beast 666 that conquered New Israel
(Rev 13:7)
and the deadly energy of his speaking image
(Rev 13:15).
For enmity with the Holy Spirit is death.
I do not dare to hope that you will agree with my arguments. But maybe they will awaken in you the desire to think about these questions. I am ready to give detailed explanations for all objections and questions.
See also
-
Sergij Bulgakov,
The Apocalypse of John
-
Hippolytus of Rome,
TREATISE ON CHRIST AND ANTICHRIST
-
Ιωάννης Χρυσόστομος,
Λόγοι Κατά Ιουδαίων/5
-
Saint John Chrysostom,
HOMILIES ON FIRST THESSALONIANS
[pdf]
-
Saint John Chrysostom,
Adversos Judaeos
[pdf]
-
Серафим (Роуз),
Православие и религия будущего
-
Seraphim Rose,
Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future
-
Blessed Augustine,
The City of God
-
Irenaeus of Lyons,
Against Heresies
-
Metropolitan Macarius,
Orthodox Dogmatic Theology
-
Vladimir Nikolaevich Lossky,
The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church
-
"Vladimir Lossky"
on
Google Books
-
Early Church Fathers
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