A — Apocalypse

Justin Martyr, writing about the year 170 of our era, is the first to have spoken of Revelation. He attributes it to the apostle John the Evangelist in his dialogue with Trypho. This Jew asks whether he believes Jerusalem will one day be restored. Justin answers that he believes so, along with all Christians who think rightly. There was among us, he says, a certain person named John, one of Jesus’s twelve apostles; he predicted that the faithful would spend a thousand years in Jerusalem.

This thousand-year reign was an opinion long received among Christians. The period enjoyed great credit among the Gentiles. Egyptian souls resumed their bodies after a thousand years; the souls in Virgil’s purgatory underwent trials for the same length of time, and for a thousand years. The new Jerusalem of a thousand years was to have twelve gates in memory of the twelve apostles. Its form was to be square; its length, width, and height were to be twelve thousand stadia—that is, five hundred leagues—so that its houses would also have to be five hundred leagues high. Living on the top floor would have been rather disagreeable; but that, after all, is what Revelation says in chapter 21.

If Justin was the first to attribute Revelation to St. John, some have rejected his testimony because, in that same dialogue with the Jew Trypho, he says that according to the apostles’ account Jesus Christ, on entering the Jordan, made the river’s waters boil and set them aflame. Yet this appears in none of the apostles’ writings.

The same St. Justin confidently cites the Sibyls’ oracles. Furthermore, he claims to have seen the remains of the little houses in which the seventy-two interpreters were confined on Pharos in Egypt in Herod’s time. The testimony of a man who had the misfortune to see those little houses seems to suggest that the author himself ought to have been confined in them.

St. Irenaeus, who comes after him and also believed in the thousand-year reign, says he learned from an old man that St. John wrote Revelation. But St. Irenaeus has been reproached for writing that there ought to be only four Gospels because there are only four parts of the world, four cardinal winds, and because Ezekiel saw only four animals. He calls this reasoning a demonstration. We must admit that Irenaeus’s manner of demonstrating is fully equal to Justin’s manner of seeing.

Clement of Alexandria, in his Electa, speaks only of an Apocalypse of St. Peter, which was highly esteemed. Tertullian, a great champion of the thousand-year reign, not only asserts that St. John predicted this resurrection and this reign of a thousand years in Jerusalem; he maintains that this Jerusalem was already beginning to take shape in the air. All the Christians in Palestine, and even the pagans, had seen it for forty consecutive days at the end of the night. Unfortunately, the city vanished as soon as daylight came.

Origen, in his preface to the Gospel of St. John and in his homilies, cites Revelation’s oracles; but he equally cites the Sibyls’ oracles. St. Dionysius of Alexandria, however, writing about the middle of the third century, says in one of his fragments preserved by Eusebius that almost all the theologians rejected Revelation as a book devoid of reason. It was not composed by St. John, but by someone named Cerinthus, who borrowed a great name to lend weight to his reveries.

The Council of Laodicea, held in 360, did not count Revelation among the canonical books. It was very strange that Laodicea, a church to which Revelation was addressed, should reject a treasure intended for itself; and that the bishop of Ephesus, who attended the council, should also reject this book by St. John, who was buried in Ephesus.

Everyone could see that St. John was constantly moving in his grave and continually making the earth rise and fall. Yet the very people who were certain St. John was not quite dead were also certain he had not written Revelation. But the champions of the thousand-year reign were unshakable in their opinion. Sulpicius Severus, in book 9 of his Sacred History, calls those who did not accept Revelation mad and impious. Finally, after many doubts and councils opposing councils, Sulpicius Severus’s opinion prevailed. The matter having been clarified, the Church decided that Revelation was indisputably St. John’s. Thus there is no appeal.

Every Christian communion has applied this book’s prophecies to itself. The English found Great Britain’s revolutions in it; the Lutherans, Germany’s troubles; the Reformed of France, Charles IX’s reign and Catherine de’ Medici’s regency. They are all equally right. Bossuet and Newton both commented on Revelation. But on balance, the eloquent declamations of the one and the sublime discoveries of the other have done them more honor than their commentaries.

Around 170 of our era, Justin Martyr became the first writer to mention the Apocalypse. His dialogue with Trypho names the apostle John the Evangelist as its author. Trypho, a Jew, asks whether he believes Jerusalem will someday be restored. Justin says yes: all Christians who think rightly believe it too. He says, “A man named John lived among us. He was one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. He foretold that believers would live in Jerusalem for a thousand years.”

For a long time, Christians believed in that thousand-year kingdom. A thousand years also mattered a great deal to the Gentiles. That’s how long Egyptian souls waited before taking their bodies back. Virgil’s souls in purgatory spent the same time undergoing trials: and for a thousand years. The new Jerusalem was meant to last that long. Twelve gates would recall the twelve apostles. Its shape would be square. It would measure twelve thousand stadia in every direction: length, width, and height. That’s five hundred leagues, which would make the houses five hundred leagues tall too. You wouldn’t much enjoy living on the highest floor. But that’s what the Apocalypse tells us in chap. 21.

Justin was the first to name St. John as the author. Some people, though, haven’t accepted his word for it. In that very dialogue with the Jew Trypho, he reports something else on the apostles’ authority. When Jesus Christ stepped down into the Jordan, he made its waters boil and catch fire. None of the apostles’ writings actually say that.

St. Justin also quotes the Sibyls’ oracles without hesitation. What’s more, he says he saw the ruins of some little houses. These were where the seventy-two translators had been locked up in Egypt’s Pharos lighthouse, in Herod’s day. A man unlucky enough to have seen those little houses gives us reason to think he belonged locked up there himself.

Next comes St. Irenaeus, another believer in the thousand-year kingdom. He says an old man told him St. John had written the Apocalypse. But Irenaeus has been criticized for another statement: there must be just four Gospels. Why? The world has four parts, there are four main winds, and Ezekiel saw just four animals. He calls that a demonstration. We have to admit that Irenaeus proves things as well as Justin sees them.

Clement of Alexandria’s Electa mentions only an Apocalypse of St. Peter. People thought very highly of that book. Tertullian strongly supported the thousand-year kingdom. He said St. John had predicted both this resurrection and this thousand-year rule in Jerusalem. But he didn’t stop there. He claimed Jerusalem was already taking shape up in the air. Every Christian in Palestine had seen it, and the pagans had too. They’d seen it toward the end of the night for forty days running. Sadly, once daylight came, the city vanished.

Origen quotes the Apocalypse’s prophecies in his preface to St. John’s Gospel and in his sermons. He quotes the Sibyls’ oracles as well, though. St. Dionysius of Alexandria wrote around the middle of the third century. Eusebius preserves a fragment of his writing. It says nearly all the religious teachers rejected the Apocalypse as a senseless book. According to him, its author wasn’t St. John but someone called Cerinthus. That man had borrowed a famous name to lend weight to his fantasies.

In 360, the Council of Laodicea didn’t count the Apocalypse among the books accepted as scripture. Laodicea was itself a church the book addressed. How strange for it to refuse a treasure intended for it! The bishop of Ephesus attended the council and rejected the book too. Yet its author, St. John, lay buried in Ephesus.

Everybody could see John moving about in his grave all the time. He kept making the ground go up and down. The very people certain he wasn’t properly dead were just as certain he hadn’t written the Apocalypse. Believers in the thousand-year kingdom, though, wouldn’t change their minds. Sulpicius Severus says anyone who doesn’t accept the Apocalypse is mad and ungodly. That’s in his Sacred History, liv. 9. After many doubts and disputes between councils, his view finally won out. With the question cleared up, the Church ruled that St. John unquestionably wrote the Apocalypse. You can’t appeal that ruling.

Each Christian denomination has read the book’s predictions as being about itself. English readers found Great Britain’s revolutions there. Lutherans found Germany’s troubles. France’s Reformed Christians found Charles IX’s reign and Catherine de’ Medici’s regency. They’re all equally right. Both Bossuet and Newton wrote explanations of the Apocalypse. On balance, though, other things did more for their reputations: Bossuet’s eloquent speeches and Newton’s magnificent discoveries.