Apocalypse. Millennium. Chiliasm and Chillegorism. Valeriy Sterkh

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      Chapter 33. The testimony about the same based on the promises of Christ the Savior and the blessing of Jacob according to the interpretation of Papias and the elders.

      1. Therefore, before His suffering, (Christ) gave thanks, held the cup, drank from it and gave to His disciples, saying: «Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom» (Mt 26:27—29). Thus, He Himself will renew the inheritance of the land and will restore the mystery of the glory of the sons of God, even as David says: «Thou renewest the face of the earth» (Ps 104:30 [Ps 103:30 rus]). He promised to drink of the fruit of the vine with His disciples to foreshadow both the coming inheritance of the land in which the new wine will be drunk and the bodily resurrection of His disciples. For it is the new resurrection body that will receive the cup. And He cannot represent Himself as partaking of the fruit of the vine if He is above heaven together with His own; those who are with Him cannot be without flesh, for it is the flesh, not the spirit, that can partake of the fruit of the vine.

      2. For this reason, the Lord says: «Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just» (Lk 14:12—14). And also: «And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life» (Mt 19:29; Lk 18:29—30). For what is the hundredfold return received in this age for feeding the poor? It takes place in the times of the Kingdom, that is, on the seventh holy day in which God rested from all his work, which is the true Sabbath of the righteous when they do nothing earthly but partake of the feast prepared by God – with all kinds of «fat things» to eat.

      3. The blessing that Isaac pronounced over his younger son has the same connotation: «See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed». The field is the world. That’s why he added: «Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee» (Gen 27:27—29). If anyone does not interpret this in relation to the promised Kingdom, they will surely fall into contradiction and inconsistency, just as the Jews did when they got entangled in all kinds of inconsistencies. For not only wasn’t Jacob served by any nation – he served his uncle Laban in Syria for twenty years even after receiving the blessing and leaving his home. And not only didn’t he become his brother’s lord but bowed down to Esau, his brother, upon his return from Mesopotamia to his father’s house – and offered him many gifts. Besides, how could he inherit plenty of corn and wine if he had to move to Egypt because of the famine in the land of his dwelling? And after that, he had to submit himself to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. So, the above-mentioned blessing undoubtedly looks forward to the times of the Kingdom when the righteous will reign, having been risen from the dead, when the renewed and liberated creation will bear plenty of fruit and produce every kind of food from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth. So even the elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, said that they had heard from him the Lord’s teaching about those times: «The days will come when vineards will produce ten thousand vines, each vine will have 10 thousand branches, each branch 10 thousand twigs, each twig 10 thousand clusters, and each cluster 10 thousand berries. And each squeezed berry will produce twenty-five metretes of wine. And when one of the saints reaches out for a cluster, the other one will cry out: „I am the best one, take me and bless the Lord through me“ Similarly, a wheat grain will produce 10 thousand ears, and each ear will have 10 thousand grains, and each grain will yield 10 pounds of pure flour; and other fruit trees, seeds and herbs will be fruitful in the same manner, and all the animals eating the food of the earth will live in peace with each other and complete submission to man» [These words of the elders have been preserved in the Armenian translation – an excerpt was found in an Armenian manuscript of the 12th century and published by Jean Baptiste Pitra (Specil Solesm. 1852); Harvey reprinted it in his own publication.].

      4. Papias [of Hierapolis], a disciple of John [the Evangelist] and a friend of Polycarp [of Smyrna], a man of old, testifies to the same in writing in his fourth book, for he has written five books [Under the title: «Compendium of the Lord’s Sayings». Eusebius, Ch. Hist. III, 39.]. He added the following: This is a trustworthy saying. When Judas the traitor did not believe this and asked how the Lord would create such an abundance of growth, the Lord said: «Those who reach those times will see it». Isaiah also speaks about these times saying: «The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain» (Is 11:6—9). And then again: «The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD» (Is 65:25). I know that some refer this to barbarians from various nations and various occupations, who, having come to faith, will unite with the righteous. But, although it is now (so) about some people who come to the one faith from various tribes, nevertheless, whatever is stated concerning the animals, will come to pass after the resurrection of the righteous, as it says: «For God is rich in all things». And it is proper that with the renewal of creation all animals should obey and submit to man, returning to their original, God-given foods, that is, to the green herbs – even as they were (initially) obedient to Adam. The prophecy about the lion eating straw points to a future time, not the present. There will be an abundance of food of high nutritional value; for if a lion can feed on straw, how much more nutrition will be found in wheat itself since lions will be getting enough by having just straw?