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The Book of Revelation, Part 2: Context & Background
Talk by Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen)
May 28, 2024

Topics include: 
(1) Not John's visions but visions given to Jesus by God for Him to share with His servants through John. The visions concern not just the future but the contemporary time of John's writing; 
(2) The Apocalypse could very well have been written early (50s-60s), in Aramaic then translated; 
(3) The Church context includes the conflict of the "Party of the Circumcision" vs. Peter and Paul and their mission to the Gentiles. The Council of Jerusalem (year 45) upheld the latter's view that Gentile believers did not have to become Jews (by circumcision and following the Mosaic Law), but should simply follow the basic instructions sent in the Council's letter. There are elements of The Revelation which, given this context, could indicate it was written prior to year 45; 
(4) Judaism at the time was fading, after Christ's death and resurrection made temple sacrifices defunct. Jesrusalem was in chaos. There were four parties (discussed at length): The Pharisees and the Sadducees, together "the Jews", and the Essenes and the Zealots. The Sadducees were the High Priestly class, likely bitterly cynical, highly corrupt, and up for sale. James and John were likely regarded as High Priests of "the Christian Sect", offering not animal sacrifices but the Bloodless Sacrifice, the Eucharist. James was head of the Apostolic company, Peter the first Bishop of Antioch, John became Bishop of Asia Minor. James would have composed the liturgical prayers that became the basis for his Liturgy for all the Churches; 
(5) The High Priestly office became dominant over Kingship after the Exile, and in the time of Christ was "for sale," becoming corrupted by money and power. An extensive discussion of the role of the Exile, and the return from whence with a reconstructed Judaism, a Deuteronomic religion, funded by money from Babylon to rebuild the Temple, Aramaic speaking, and horrifying the Essenes who called it the "Whore of Babylon". This reconstructed Judaism had no more priests, no royal cult, and rejected the former multi-personal God (God Almighty, His Son Yahweh, and Wisdom) in favor of a mono-personal God (monism); 
(6) The sacred furniture of the First Temple Holy of Holies and its spiritual significance: the Mercy Seat on the Ark, the Cherubic Throne, the table of the Show Bread, the Menorah, the latter being associated with Wisdom. The showbread, a type of the Eucharist, conveying and renewing Holiness. The Judaistic reformers, the Deuteronimists, got rid of everything associated with Wisdom, regarding it as pagan, though this was the religion of the Patriarchs. The Hebrew people rejected this reform of the old religion for a long time; 
(7) Understanding the Holy of Holies is central to The Apocalypse (Revelation), which is High-Priestly visions of the Holy of Holies: its restoration, the King enthroned with God, the New Jerusalem; 
(8) On the Book of Enoch and the Qumran as background; 
(9) On the Roman Catholic Church: their idealistic unity of faith and practical lack thereof, vs. the Orthodox (Apostolic) counciliar model. The Pope, as super-bishop, is utterly foreign to the Apostolic Tradition.