1
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Лк 8, 31.
Откр 1, 18.
2
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
2 Пет 2, 4.
Иуд 1, 6.
Откр 12, 9.
3
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
4
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands;
and
they lived (καὶ ἔζησαν)
and reigned with Christ (καὶ ἐβασίλευσαν μετὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ)
a thousand years.
Дан 7, 9, 22.
Дан 8, 17.
Мф 19, 28.
1 Кор 6, 2.
2 Тим 2, 12.
Откр 6, 11.
5
But the rest of the dead lived not again (οὐκ ἀνἔζησαν)
until the thousand years were finished.
This
is
the first resurrection (ἡ ἀνάστασις ἡ πρώτη).
6
Blessed and holy
is
he that hath part
in the first resurrection (ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει τῇ πρώτῃ):
on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Ис 61, 6.
Откр 1, 6.
Откр 21, 7.
“Every one which seeth the Son,”
says the incarnate Son of God,
“and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day”
(John 6:40).
The last resurrection has been found: the last because it must take place on the last day of this transitory world. From this limit one must necessarily return back along the path of time in order to seek the first resurrection. Is it far?
Without a doubt, no further than the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Himself. For, as the Apostle says,
“Christ risen from the dead,
and
become the firstfruits of them that slept”
(1 Cor 15:20).
“In Christ shall all be made alive,”
he continues,
“every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits;
afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then
cometh
the end”
(1 Cor 15:22-24).
So, the first resurrection, the resurrection of the blessed and saints, must be sought between the day of the resurrection of Christ and the last day of the world.
Where are they?
Truly, the taking of the Blessed Virgin with Her body into heaven, according to the signs remaining on earth, similar to the resurrection of Christ, is not this the first example of the first resurrection?
If the Mother of the Chief of the Resurrection follows Him in resurrection on the third day after Her Dormition: then might it not happen that
some others, mostly saints and worthy of blessedness,
such as those who gave their lives for the name of the Resurrectionist, through many, may perhaps the centuries,
however, before the last general resurrection of the dead and the change of the living,
will receive some preliminary participation, especially given to them, both in the resurrection and in the glory and bliss inherent in it?
How simply, apparently, and naturally, the words of the seer are expressed in this way —
“the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, … they lived;
… the rest of the dead lived not again;
… this
is
the first resurrection”
(Rev 20:4-5)!
