The Mellinium

nardin

hay guys... just my preservant homework.... does anyone have any info on the mellinium which is in the book of Revelations the literal, spiritual and symbolic meaning? and also the release of Satan... thanks alot in advacne

GOD BLESS ALL
+FROG+

Unknown

You will find many details in this great book (page 251+)
http://www.copticnet.com/Books/English Books/Fr. Tadros Malaty/Revelation.pdf
and "The Millennial Reign" article
http://www.suscopts.org/messages/lectures/eschlecture3.pdf

still there was another resource but it is currently offline

nardin

thanks heeps :) anyone else?


+FROG+

Unknown

[quote author=FULLY RELY ON GOD link=board=4;threadid=4082;start=0#msg57097 date=1151768001]
hay guys... just my preservant homework.... does anyone have any info on the mellinium which is in the book of Revelations the literal, spiritual and symbolic meaning?


In short, the millennium is the time between Christ's ascension and His second coming - i.e. now.

The following is taken from Archbishop Averky Taushev's commentary on the Apocalypse - chapter 20:6-8 (I've replaced Scripture quotations from the KJV with the Orthodox New Testament).

20:6 Happy and holy is the one having part in the resurrection, the first one. Over these the second death hath no authority, but they shall be priests of God and of the Christ, and shall reign with Him for a thousand years.

“From the Divine Scripture we know that there are two lives and two deaths: the first life is temporal and fleshly because of the transgression of the commandments, while the second is the eternal life promised to the saints for the keeping of the Divine commandments. Corresponding to these three are two kinds of death: one fleshly and temporal, and the other eternal as chastisement for sins, which is the fiery gehenna” (St. Andrew, ch. 62). Consequently, it is understood that if here on earth one has lived in Christ Jesus and has come before Him after the first death (that is, bodily death) with fervent faith in Him and filled with His grace, then one has no need to fear the second death, that is, the fiery gehenna.

These first six verses of the twentieth chapter of the Apocalypse have served as a pretext for the development of a false teaching concerning the “thousand-year reign of Christ on earth” which has received the name of Chiliasm. In essence it teaches that not long before the end of the world, Christ the Saviour will come again to earth, defeat Antichrist, resurrect the righteous, and make a new kingdom on earth. As a reward for their struggle and sufferings, the righteous will reign together with Christ for the course of a thousand years, and will enjoy all the good things of temporal life. Only then will there follow the second, universal resurrection of the dead, the universal judgment, and the general giving of eternal rewards. This teaching is known in two forms. Some say that Christ will restore Jerusalem in all its beauty and reinitiate the fulfilment of Moses’ ritual law with all its sacrifices; and that the blessedness of the righteous will consist in all manner of sensual enjoyments. In the first century this teaching was held by the heretic Cerinthus and other judaizing heretics: the Ebionites, the Montanists, and in the fourth century by the Apollinarians. Others, on the contrary, have affirmed that this blessedness will consist in purely spiritual delights. In this latter form, chiliastic ideas were expressed first by Papias of Hieropolis; later they are to be found in the holy Martyr Justinian, in St. Irenaeus, in Hippolytus, Methodius and Lactantius. In recent times it has been revived with certain peculiarities by the Anabaptists, the followers of Swedenborg, the Illuminati and the Adventists. One must be aware, however, that neither in its first nor in its second form can the teaching of Chiliasm be accepted by an Orthodox Christian for the following reason:

1. According to the chiliast teaching, the resurrection of the dead will take place twice: the first, a thousand years before the end of the world – when only the righteous will be resurrected; and the second, at the very end of the world, when sinners also will be resurrected. However, Christ the Saviour clearly taught only one universal resurrection from the dead, when both the righteous and the sinners will be resurrected and all will receive their final recompense (John 6:39-40; Matt. 13:37-43).

2. The Word of God speaks of only two comings of Christ in the world: the first in lowliness, when He came to redeem us; and the second in glory, when He will appear to judge the living and the dead. Chiliasm introduces one more – a third coming of Christ a thousand years before the end of the world. The Word of God knows no such thing.

3. The Word of God teaches only of two kingdoms of Christ: the Kingdom of Grace which will continue until the end of the world (I Cor. 15:23-26), and the Kingdom of Glory which will begin after the Last Judgment and will have no end (Luke 1:33; II Peter 1:11). Chiliasm, however, allows yet a third, as it were, a middle kingdom of Christ, which will last only a thousand years.

4. The teaching of a sensual kingdom of Christ clearly contradicts the Word of God, according to which the Kingdom of God is not “eating and drinking” (Rom. 14:17); in the resurrection of the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage (Matt. 22:30); the rites of the law of Moses had only a prefiguring significance and were forever done away with by the more perfect New Testament law (Acts 15:23-30; Rom. 6:14; Gal. 5:6; Heb. 10:1).

Certain ancient teachers of the Church – Justin, Irenaeus and Methodius – held Chiliasm only as a personal opinion. At the same time there were those who decidedly rose up against it such as Caius the Presbyter of Rome, St. Dionysius of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Epiphanius, Blessed Jerome, and Blessed Augustine. To hold Chiliasm even as a private opinion was no longer permissible after the Church, at the Second Ecumenical Council in 381, condemning the teaching of the heretic Apollinarius concerning the thousand-year reign of Christ. At the same time this was confirmed by the introduction into the Symbol of Faith of the words “of His Kingdom there will be no end.”

One must likewise know that the Apocalypse is a book which is profoundly mystical, and therefore to understand and interpret literally the prophecies contained in it – especially if such a literal understanding contradicts other passages of Sacred Scripture – is entirely opposed to the rules of hermeneutics. In such cases, it is correct to seek in perplexing passages a metaphorical or allegorical meaning.


20:7-8 And whenever the thousand years should be finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to lead astray the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war, of whom the number of them is as the sand of the sea.

By the “loosing of Satan out of his prison” is to be understood the appearance of Antichrist before the end of the world. The liberated Satan will strive in the person of Antichrist to deceive all the nations of the earth, and will raise up Gog and Magog in battle against the Christian Church. St. Andrew says: “Some people think that Gog and Magog are the northern and most remote Scythian peoples or, as we call them, Huns, the most militant and numerous peoples of the earth. They are restrained from taking possession of the whole world only by the Divine right hand, until the liberation of the devil. Others, translating from the Hebrew, say that God signifies ‘one who gathers’ or ‘a gathering’ and that Magog signifies ‘one who is exalted’ or ‘exaltation.’ And so, these names signify either a gathering of peoples or their exaltation” (St. Andrew, ch. 63). One must suppose that these names are used in a metaphorical sense to denote those fierce hordes who, at the end of the world, will arm themselves under the leadership of Antichrist against the Church of Christ.

nardin

kool thanks Orthodox11 u rok man thanks alot!

+FROG+

Kristina123

Nice one FROG we wont tell anyone where we got the answer!!

But God will know!!

Yeah Thanx Orthodox 11 thats basically our assignment done!!