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Bulgakov. Christ the King Category: 1000 years Vatican. Chiliasm

1000 years
World beyond the grave
According to Fr. Sergei Bulgakov

Reigned with Christ a thousand years

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 and reigned with Christ a thousand years (καὶ ἔζησαν καὶ ἐβασίλευσαν μετὰ Χριστοῦ τά χίλια ἔτη). 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 until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: 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.

“It shall come to pass in the last days, God says, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: Ис 44, 3. Зах 12, 10. Ин 7, 39. Деян 11, 28. Деян 16, 9. Деян 21, 9.
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Иоил 2, 28-32. Rom 10, 13.

The special closeness of the afterlife to us during the millennium

The “first resurrection” means the practically living participation of the dead in the earthly destinies of mankind: “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years(Rev 20:4). Those “who did not bow down to the beast” came to life, awakened from a kind of swoon of life. “Lived” does not mean a resurrection in the body, “the first resurrection” does not return them to their corporeality. The fullness of this participation is active, energetic. This is the participation of the dead in the earthly reign with Christ, their earthly service and action.

So, all these souls are said to have “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” (Rev 20:4-5). They are distinguished by this from all the “other” of mankind. It is absolutely clear that “lived” — εζησαν — does not mean the resurrection in the body, which is to take place for all at the end of this age. It was the souls that came to life as incorporeal, being separated from the body, and this first resurrection” does not return their corporality to them. … What then can be the change in the souls, which is expressed in the fact that they “came to life”? The “soul” — and in the exact sense as the soul and spirit in their inseparability — is immortal, therefore it remains alive in the afterlife. Both the Old and the New Testament testify to this sufficiently. However, this life of the soul outside the body is obviously flawed, and besides, it can differ according to its afterlife destiny. It is in Revelation that in this respect there are absolutely special, deliberate evidence of an afterlife, immortality not as a state of fainting, but also life continuing in its content with participation even in the earthly destinies of mankind, as is clear from a number of relevant texts (see above). “Lived” must therefore be understood in the general context of the entire teaching of Revelation on the afterlife. It is never, in any of its states, a complete death, but at most only a swoon of life, from which souls awaken in varying degrees, according to the state of each. Therefore, the “first resurrection” means the greatest degree of life of the dead and their participation in the life of the living. This fullness is active, energetic, it is defined as participation in the earthly reign with Christ, and this obviously means their earthly service and action. What it is expressed in and how it is accomplished is not revealed to us, it is a mystery of the future, which does not lend itself to premature disclosure in general and remains inaccessible to us or does not need such disclosure.

For participants in the “first resurrection”, earthly life is combined with life after death.

Of course, one general question remains here, which in similar cases arose before us and above: will this event — the first resurrection of the saints — be known to those who are on earth? We obviously cannot give a confident answer to this question due to the lack of data of revelation and corresponding human experience. However, a number of suggestive reflections incline us to a positive answer regarding that special, exclusive image of the “communio sanctorum”, which is the “first resurrection”. If in the experience of the Church regarding the life of the saints we recognize a tangible closeness to us of the afterlife, all the more so here it manifests itself in the spiritual transparency of the world, in which — let's not forget — there is no poisonous breath of Satan, and at the same time, Christ approached with His “lived” saints. This signifies a completely new epoch in the life of the Church, insofar as a partial overcoming of death takes place here. That is why it is called “the first resurrection.” This signifies a completely new epoch in the life of the Church, insofar as a partial overcoming of death takes place here. That is why it is called “the first resurrection.” Between the mortal life of this world and the future age of resurrection, a certain intermediate state finds a place for itself, in which earthly life is united — at least for the elect — with life after death, so that on the basis of this state a new life arises, unknown to us now. Judging by the fact that it comes after the overthrow of Satan, this very possibility is connected with the beneficent consequences for the world with which it accompanies. The action of Satan in the world hitherto, obviously, prevented this connection, established the border between both worlds, the earthly and the afterlife. The intermediate state of the first resurrection, obviously, differs from the universal, hence, the second resurrection. The latter expression does not appear directly in Revelation, but is suggested by the parallel expression: “the second death.” The “first” resurrection is absent from other New Testament books. This expression constitutes the exclusive property of Revelation, together with its other features. This, of course, should not detract from the prophetic power and authenticity of this insight, since it is contained in one of the last, final chapters of the last New Testament book, as well as all its significance. It cannot be passed in silence and unnoticed, or else be lost in some kind of bewildered muttering, but must be accepted in all its force and dogmatic content with inclusion in the general system of Christian doctrine.

The coming of the Kingdom of Christ in the world is preceded by the thousand-year reign of the saints on earth: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming(1 Cor 15:22-23).

According to the text of Revelation, this first, and in this sense, anticipatory resurrection is inextricably linked with the participation of those “who came to life” in the reign with Christ for a thousand years. Just as the first resurrection precedes the general resurrection, so the coming of the Kingdom of Christ in the world is preceded by the thousand-year reign of the saints on earth. And this last, inasmuch as it is connected with the first resurrection, is thereby also assimilated a certain intermediate, afterlife-terrestrial character. Similarly, in the case of the Apostle Paul (1 Cor 15:22-25), the reign of Christ in the world takes place in a certain sequence and, so to speak, gradually, even with a hint that can be associated with the doctrine of the first resurrection: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.” The entire Revelation is devoted to depicting this reign of Christ in the world, for which, however, the last, final act will be the millennium kingdom of the saints with Christ, their blessed destiny. They are delighted in the special (sixth) Makarism of Revelation:Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: 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(Rev 20:6). Participation in the first resurrection is expressed primarily in the fact that the “second death” has no power over them.

During the “first resurrection,” the wall separating the world of the living from the world of the dead disappears, as it were, precisely for the souls who have come back to life and who reign with Christ for a thousand years. Through the souls who came to life at the “first resurrection,” Christ himself reigns with them on earth.

The enthronement of Christ on earth for His one-thousand-year reign will become perfectly evident, as evident as His enthronement was during His royal entry into Jerusalem. The curve of history, with upward and downward fluctuations, goes upward at this point and meets heaven; but then it falls sharply downward in the final revolt of Gog and Magog, beyond which one can see the end and the interruption of the curve, the transcensus. This prophecy — contrary to the prevailing doctrine, which it would be erroneous to consider as the dogmatic definition of the Church — refers to the as-yet-unactualized future, so that it is impossible to conceive it concretely. According to the content of this prophecy, one can in any case establish that, during the “first resurrection,” the wall separating the world of the living from the world of the dead disappears, as it were, precisely for the souls who have come back to life and who reign with Christ for a thousand years. It is through these souls that Christ Himself reigns on earth. This event, connected also with the enchainment of Satan for a thousand years, represents an important step on the path of Christ's enthronement; and in general it belongs to His royal ministry.

Fr. Sergei Bulgakov
The Lamb of God
Chapter V. The Work of Christ
III. The Royal Ministry of Christ

Participation of spiritually resurrected souls in the human history

What are the main features of the story of the thousand-year kingdom? This kingdom begins in the spiritual world: Coming down from heaven, an casts the devil into a bottomless pit and chains 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” (Rev.20:1-3). This describes a certain event in the spiritual world whose effect is manifested in human history. According to Revelation, human history takes place simultaneously in heaven and on earth (cf. Rev. 5:8-12; 6:9-11; 7:9-17; 14:1-5; 15:1-4).

The main feature of this event is a temporary paralysis of the evil power, which leads to a general change in the spiritual atmosphere, a palpable manifestation of the victorious power of good. But this is accompanied by what Revelation calls the «first resurrection», ἡ ἀνάστασις ή ποώτη (a terminus technicus with an article). As a special form of resurrection, it must be distinguished, first of all, from the universal resurrection in the flesh, about which the Gospels and the apostolic epistles speak. Revelation 20:4 says about «souls» not that they were resurrected (in the flesh) but simply that they «came back to life», ἔζησαν. This is resurrection neither in the sense in which the Lord resurrected the dead (the boy, the girl, and Lazarus) nor in the sense in which all wil be resurrected by the Lord on the last day (John 6:54). What is evidently meant is a spiritual resurrection, which consists in the communication to souls of a special energy enabling them to participate, from that side, in the life of the world and human history. This is expressed in the words: «they came back to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years» (Rev. 20:4; translation based on that in the Russian Bible). To this is added the contrast: «the rest of the dead did not came back to life until the thousand years were finished» (v.5; translation based on that in the Russian Bible). Further it is said: «they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years» (v.6).

… Here it is a question of their participation in history, which is, according to aforesaid, the institution of Christ's reign in the world, by virtue of His «royal ministry». Of course, their participation in continuing history is different from the fullness of life of the generations that live on earth during this time. Those who come back to life acquire a special activity not possessed by others who «repose in the Lord», to whom it is said «that they should rest yet for a little season» (6:11). … Only one thing is clear: the barrier dividing the two worlds, this world and that world, becomes so thin here that the arena of history expands, and history is made not only by the living generations but also with the participation of those who «came back to life».

We believe in the efficacy of the prayer of the saints, offered for us here and there, and — heart trembling — we entrust our life to the care of the love and prayer of those close to us.

The Apocalypse reveals in all its profundity this active participation of the deceased in our life through their prayers; and the priceless symbol of the «first resurrection» and of the thousand-year kingdom speaks to us of something even greater. Those who have «come back to life» in the first resurrection, that is, those abiding now with a soul but without a body, are called … to reign with Christ for a thousand years.

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