The Seven Seals

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The Lamb of God and the book/scroll sealed with the seven seals, a popular motif embroidered on a variety of vestments and altar linens. Note that most depict the seven seals still unbroken although occasionally the seals are already open.

I watched as the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals and …. as I watched, there was a pale horse. Its riders name was Death and Hades followed with him. (Apocalypse 6:1-8)

The book/scroll with the seven seals is among the most well-known images from the Apocalypse. Even if people don’t know the biblical source of the image, they at least know about the last, the Seventh Seal, from the famous movie by Ingmar Bergman. The seals and the riders or other visions that are revealed as each seal is broken have appeared many times in books and movies, whether in Agatha Christie mysteries or horror-fantasies or even comedies.

The seals reveal aspects of the liturgy–such as the relics of the martyrs contained in the altars on which the Eucharist is celebrated–as well as aspects of life that are judged by liturgical participation throughout history. Famine, plague, pestilence, and misery are constants throughout human experience. Many expect these to become especially intense just before the world ends; because of this, when these experiences have become intense in the past, many people expected that the world was about to come to an end.

Everyone loves to calculate and predict when exactly the End will come. Even St. Augustine has to tell his congregation, “Give your fingers a rest!” when they spend too much time and energy doing complicated math problems, trying to figure out when exactly the apocalypse will come. (Full disclosure: I still depend on my fingers to do even simple math problems!)

But it has not yet come to an end.

But the world does come to an end each time we celebrate the Eucharist and take our places in the eternal Kingdom of God. The apocalypse happens every time we proclaim, “Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

The apocalypse happens every time we lift up our hearts.

The apocalypse happens every time we ask the Father to send down the Holy Spirit on us and on these Holy Gifts of bread and wine.

The apocalypse happens every time we say, “Our Father… thy kingdom come.”

The apocalypse happens every time because the Holy Spirit lifts us up from earth to heaven to see Christ revealed in all his glory.

When will the seals be broken? They are always being broken, throughout time (during what we call “secular” history) and eternally (in the celebration of the Eucharist).

A New Song

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The seventh angel of the Apocalypse (illumination approx. 1180)

And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Apocalypse 5:9)

The angels lead the singing of the “new song” around the Throne of God. Several times, the “new song” is mentioned in the Apocalypse, together with many other “new” things — a new name, a new heaven and a new earth, the New Jerusalem. These “new” things are not simply more recent than what they replace but are different in quality as well. The “newness” is a description of their character and purity as well as their permanence. They will not be replaced or supplanted, much like the “new covenant-testament” established by Christ at the Last Supper.

The psalms frequently mention a “new song” as well — Psalms 33, 40, 96, 98, 144, 149. Again, the “new song” is an eschatological hymn, a song to be sung at the End of Days when God’s people are vindicated and God’s final triumph is celebrated. But what is the “old song” that the new one is being contrasted with? The “old song” — maybe, the “first song” is a better way to describe it–is the Song of Miriam and Moses that God’s people sang on the shore of the Red Sea after escaping from Egypt. This song that celebrates the Exodus is also a celebration of God’s victory and the vindication of his people; it is a dress rehearsal for the victory God will win over his cosmic enemies at the End of Days.

During the Middle Ages, it was common for rabbis to identify the “old-first song” as the song sung when King Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem and the “new song” being that which was sung when the Temple was rebuilt and rededicated after the people returned from exile in Babylon. This can also be understood as a hymn sung to celebrate God’s deliverance of his people from their enemies and his re-establishment of them in the Promised Land.

Christ is risen!

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Harrowing of Hell/Resurrection icon from an iconostasis in a church on Crete. Kings David and Solomon with St. John the Baptist stand behind Adam. Old Testament prophets stand behind Eve.

Are there any who are devout lovers of God?
Let them enjoy this bright and beautiful festival!

Are there any who are grateful servants?
Let them rejoice and enter rejoicing into the joy of their Lord!

….The Lord gives rest to those who come at the eleventh hour,
as well as to those who toiled from the beginning. For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.

To one and all the Lord gives generously.
The Lord accepts the offering of every work.
He honors every deed and commends the intention.

Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!

First and last alike, receive your reward.
Rich and poor, rejoice together!

Conscientious and lazy, celebrate the day!
You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today, for the table—the altar of the Lord—is richly laden!

Feast royally, for the calf is fatted.
Let no one go away hungry. 
Partake, everyone, of the banquet of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of his goodness!

Let no one grieve because of their poverty,
for the universal Kingdom has been revealed.

Let no one lament that they have fallen again and again,
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death,
for the Savior’s death has set us free.

He destroyed Death by enduring death.
He descended into Hades and took it captive.
It was in turmoil as soon as it tasted his flesh.

Isaiah—in chapter 14—foretold this when he said, “Hell was in turmoil when it encountered him in the lower regions.”

It was in turmoil because it was abolished.
It was in turmoil because it was mocked.

It was in turmoil because it was slain.
It was in turmoil for it was eclipsed.
It was in turmoil for it was annihilated.
It was in turmoil for it was wrapped in chains.

Hell took a corpse, and met God face to face.
It seized earth and encountered heaven.
Hell took what was seen and was overcome by what was unseen.

O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?

Christ is risen and you are overthrown!
Christ is risen and the demons are fallen!
Christ is risen and the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen and life reigns!
Christ is risen and not one (of the) dead remains in the grave.

For Christ, being risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen!

(Paschal homily attributed to St. John Chrysostom)