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The Book of Revelation, Part 1: Introduction
Talk by Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen)
May 14, 2024

Topics include:
(1) Mystical vision: St. John the Theologian is shown the mystical visions given to Jesus. Not history, but spiritual (noetic) vision, outside of space and time. Likely some of the first writings of the New Testament, before the fall of Jerusalem. The visions can be applied to the times of the initial readers or to times later or even earlier. The book was initially forbidden to read until 30y old, requiring maturity; 
(2) Real religion is noetic, beyond concepts, images and rituals, not rationalistic. The West departed from faith to radical rationalistic reduction and persecuted its mystics ... this has led to scholasticism, then plain out secularism, the rejection of all things spiritual and the embrace of materialism. Rationalism is not bad, since God gave us minds, but it is limited. The East guarded against this with its apophatic theology, not presuming we can reason all about God, but stating the boundaries of what He is not, e.g., God is incomprehensible. The Orthodox are very comfortable with Mystery; 
(3) The five types of Scriptural interpretation used by the Fathers: literal/historical, moral, typological/symbolical, allegorical, anagogical. This last method involves letting the text elevate us beyond rationalistic understanding to spiritual vision (theoria). The Book of Revelation is largely to be interpreted in this way --- as spiritual vision; 
(4) Discussion of noetic awareness of God.