Orthodox Reflections

And he causeth, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on the their right hand, or upon their forehead; and that no man should be able to buy or sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast or the number of his name (Revelation 13: 16-7).

Dodging the Pothole

Exactly, what is the Mark of the Beast? What does it look like? If we see it coming, will we recognize it?

Is it a chip inserted in the hand? Is it a barcode tattooed on the forehead? Is it the graphene injected into the body that communicates with AI? It might be, but it might not be as well.

Whatever it is, we would want to know it when we see it so we can dodge it like a pothole on the street, or contaminated food in the market place. Tell us what it is, so we can avoid it like the plague—for it is the most unrecoverable plague.

So far as we can tell, for those who take the Mark of the Beast, it is irrevocable damnation. If it is possible to undo its finality, it’s probably nothing anybody would ever want to chance. It’s just better avoid as soon as it appears.

In truth, if we take this approach, we will more than likely fall for it anyway. We must get more toward the core of the matter.

Universal Presupposition

If we expect to have any understanding of what that mark will be, we must first be able to see it through the right lens. Putting on a special pair of glasses, primes us for beginning to understand not just the Mark of the Beast, but nearly everything else. What is this universal hermeneutic that unlocks so many things to our understanding? It is, of course, the Eucharist.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth [Gr: Alethia]: for such doth the Father seek, to be His worshipers (John 4:22-3, ASV[1]).

Deciphering the word “truth” is the first key to unlocking what we are looking for.

In the short definition, the Greek word Alethia means: verity, reality pertaining to an appearance.[2]  In other words: what we see with our eyes is not the reality by itself; there is something behind what is seen. Everything has a spiritual dynamic behind it.

By way of example, in the liturgical Protestant mind, the “Real Presence of God” comes alongside the bread and the wine, In the Catholic mind, the bread and the wine become Christ, but cease to be bread and wine. In the Orthodox mind, the bread and the wine become Christ, but do not cease to be bread and wine at the same time; it has to be both ways to be a mystery. This is how everything appears through the lens of the Incarnation.

Understanding the Mark of the Beast, therefore, means seeing the reality behind it, not just whatever is visible with the naked eye. Science cannot do this. As long as we are looking only for the physical aspects, we will miss it altogether. Here mythology—thinking in types, symbols, and parallels; finding the reality behind the mere physical—will be necessary. Mythology[3] in this case trumps science.

It’s a Mark

A mark of this nature means two things:

1. 1. Its substance or substantiation is much deeper than just an outward mark. Like most of St John’s Apocalypse, perception comes with penetrating the images for their meanings as they communicate the true nature of things.
   2. Generically speaking, any mark such as this indicates sanctification unto good or evil, then by extension ownership. Like a cattle brand, it distinguishes what belongs to whom; it’s a defining mechanism of separation.

Marks are seen often in Scripture:

Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherubim, and the glory which was over them went into the inner court of the house. He called to the man clothed with the long robe with the belt on his waist, and said to him, “Go through the midst of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the lawless deeds taking place within her”

 

To the others, He said in my hearing, “Go after him through the city and kill. Let not your eyes spare, and have no mercy. Utterly destroy old men, and youth, and virgins, infants, and women, but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark….” (Ezekiel 9: 3-6, OSB).

In this vision, a parsing takes place, like separating goats from sheep. In this case, those who see the moral decay as something grievous are marked out from the rest and spared destruction. Here is a key: those who find the degenerate state of things—in the Church, or the nation—grievous are set apart from those who don’t even pay attention. Simply pointing the corruption out—because it creates some personal inconvenience— without grieving does not make the grade. Only those who grieved the current state of affairs were spared.

Here we can go deep, but suffice it to say, grieving is salvific and channels grace; to ourselves and to the Church. If we have an inability to grieve about things, we will never be of any salvific value to the whole. It’s all a matter of where the heart is.

It’s One Mark or the Other

The way to avoid the Mark of the Beast is to already have the Mark of God.

And I saw another angel ascend from the sunrising, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a great voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we shall have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads” (Revelation 7: 2-3).

In the Apocalypse—interestingly—before the Mark of the beast is mentioned, the Mark of God is. Before there is a marking out for destruction, there is a Mark of salvation. Avoiding the Mark of the Beast, means first becoming marked by God.  Unpacking this, the operative words are: [un]till, sealed, and servants.

The distinguishing factor is servanthood; we are bought with a price, we are not our own. We are all servants of something and someone. To become a bondservant of God is another way of describing theosis. Our walk of repentance means placing ourselves into God’s hands for whatever He deems for us and then recognizing His dealings when they come to us.

Servanthood is not just a matter of obedience, but goes even unto surrender. Many serve, but only in ways of their own choosing, but never come to a place of surrender; God will not always strive with Man. God’s wrestling with us—like Jacob—is for surrender, the step beyond obedience and the hardest of all steps in sanctification. Bottom line: it’s about control, who is in the driver’s seat, and who is just along for the ride. Without surrender there is no theosis, there is no salvation.

For the sealing of our baptism to be permanent, we must recognize God’s working discipline with us and cooperate rather than fight against it. One by one, the Father will be removing from our hearts the things we trust in. Whatever we grasp tightly, we will lose. This means living all of life with an open hand. When the opportunity comes to us, we can either fall upon the rock and become broken—e.g. let God break our dependence upon money (or whatever)—, or if we are stiff necked, He will grind us to powder.  That is the choice before us.[4]

Our pursuit of God means acquiring His seal or as St Seraphim of Sarov put it, acquiring the Holy Spirit. To become approved of God, through being His bondservant in total surrender is the basis of our quest.

In Our Lord’s Words

And if they right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy member should perish, and not they whole body be cast into hell. And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of they members should perish and not thy whole body cast into hell (Matthew 5: 26-30).

Comparing what St John said regarding the Mark of the Beast and what our Lord said, it’s clear, both are referring to the same things. Up front, the severity of each passage is that the hands and the eye—the eye of the mind—can cause eternal loss; better to leave them behind on our journey.

The Meaning of the Hand and Head

In St John’s Apocalypse, the Mark of the Beast regards both how one makes money (the work of the hands) and how one views the world (the eye of the mind at the forehead). Christ depicted the universal, and St John the particular application in a time in which idolatry and commerce are combined as one.

On the forehead means whatever is at the front of our minds, what we focus on. Whatever we view constantly, that is what we become. When St Peter took his eyes off Christ, placing them on the storm, he sank and so will we. Iconography—windows of heaven—are how we keep our eyes on Christ through the saints.

In essence, whatever is ever before us is our object of worship and veneration. Anything not God or God in His Saints, is idol worship, plain and simple. The mark on the forehead—for good or evil—only reflects what is on the mind. Is it fear? Is it faith? Who can know it?

As for the right hand, its meaning is manifold. On the one hand, the hand speaks of occupation for creating wealth. On the positive side, Scripture is clear, that God will bless the works of our hands; if we want God’s blessing in our lives, we must work for it…Actually, God’s blessing is free, but we must produce something upon which the blessing can rest. That God would give us hands is indicative of how we are to receive God’s blessing.

If a man’s work is right, it is a clear demonstration that he is right; aligned as God’s bondservant.

As for the right hand; the right hand is the position of trust. Christ sits at the “right-hand” of the Father.  Whoever is positioned on the right hand is the person most trusted. Bottom line: it’s all about trust: whatever you trust is your god. If you keep your money near you—near your heart—on the right hand for your tool of remedy, it’s a stumbling block.

If you trust this world’s system for health, for sustenance, for comfort, that will be your idol and you will eventually have the Mark of the Beast (should the time be upon us). The process of repentance is moving our trust from this world into God; one by one, God puts His finger on each stronghold of trust showing to us our shortcomings. In each case, if we yield it up as sacrifice unto God we progress forward. If we grasp it all the more tightly, the test will return again, but in a form more difficult.

Prayer for our needs—even daily bread—should be first resort, not last

It’s an Instrument of Commerce

Clearly, those without it will be unable to buy or sell any kind of goods. Either it is a currency, or a governing mechanism for the use of a currency. In other words, it is about participation in the world’s system at that point in time. It’s about money and its use. The placement of the mark—the forehead and the right hand—denotes being owned by the world system.

Some of our Lord’s most severe teachings were regarding dependence upon money. For the rich young ruler, he had everything in place—he was apostolic material. What our Lord offered him was a place as one of His disciples who were to become the Apostles in the 12 or the 70. But for him, it costs too much, he could not afford it, it was just too expensive. He counted the cost, and could not pay it even though he had it. For the rich man salvation means being very generous. The value of any monetary gift in God’s eyes is not how much we give, or even what percentage we give, but how much we keep back for ourselves.

“Remember Lot’s Wife”

Lot presents an interesting character study; a mixed bag for sure. While close to Abraham, a separation manifested in that the servants of Lot strove with the servants of Abraham. In some measure Abraham and Lot were incompatible and that incompatibility ran much deeper than just not enough grass for the herds. Symbolically, the servants represent how each worships—serves—God. One worships by surrender, the other in form only. This is the difference between Cain and Able—again it’s about the heart; what’s on the altar and what we keep for ourselves.

Abraham deferred to Lot, and he chose the pleasant places near Sodom. However, Lot didn’t just go near Sodom. He lived in Sodom. Sin always does this. You go near it, and the vortex sweeps you in.

According to tradition, Lot married an Egyptian.[5] No doubt, Egyptian women were attractive to any man’s base instincts. After all, Egypt was based on a male fertility cult. Marrying outside the Faith of Abraham was his down fall, but in some measure something of Abraham’s influence stuck. St Peter calls him “righteous Lot” because he was “distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked…”[6] At least his ability to grieve evil was in place. Being in Sodom—however— means the bar was set really low—who could not grieve in that environment? In the outcome of the whole episode came the Moabites and Amorites who would be mortal adversaries of Israel. Generationally speaking, Lot was a total bust.

While he was distressed by living there, he could not leave. No doubt, he could never overcome his wife’s objections to leaving so he needed a little help from the intercessory prayers of Uncle Abraham. Angels had to drag him out before destruction was levied. As we all remember the story, in fleeing the rain of fire and brimstone, Lot’s wife looked back and was turned to a pillar of salt.

Even though she was taken out of Egypt, Egypt was not taken out of her; Egypt went with her and took her to Sodom. For God to take us out of the world, He must take the world out of us.

What she comes to demonstrate is in stark contrast to Ruth—who left Moab—and Rahab who gave up Jericho to become Hebrew. So highly regarded were these women, they were listed in St Matthew’s genealogy of Christ. Sanctification means leaving the world behind.

Antidote for the World: the Father’s Heart

The only reliable way to avoid taking the Mark of the Beast is to pursue the Mark of God. That is the approval of God[7] as being His bondservant where nothing of this world has any sway over us; where we take success and failure on the same plain—as the world defines success and failure. Both success—prosperity—and failure—poverty—are a test to this end whether we take the Mark of the Beast or the Mark of God. Whatever measurements the world has, we must ignore them, to find the approval of God.  .

Overcoming the world, two things stand out: first, is our faith—we trust totally in God, nothing of this world. Fear of loss governs this world, but by faith—trust in God—we overcome this fear and live by faith; the righteous live by faith.[8] Additionally, perfect love—the Father’s Love—casts out all fear.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (1 John 2:15-7).

As Orthodox Christians, there are different nuances to how we relate to each the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In relating to the Father, it’s all based on the heart. This heart is demonstrated through the story of the Prodigal Son; that we see everyone in the world as a son or daughter that has yet to find their way home. When we grasp that, it grips us with compassion as we see through our Father’s eyes and enter into the Father’s grief for the people of the world. Knowing the Father, means behaving with reciprocity, if He grieves, so do we; if He rejoices with a party so do we.

Only through the love of the Father can we sort the precious from the profane,[9] what is real and what is not, who is trustworthy and who is not, and what is Christ and what is anti-Christ.

John Lee – an Orthodox Christian

[1] American Standard Version 1901

[2] Zotiates, Word Study Dictionary; #225.

[3] By mythology, we do not mean falsehood, but rather how something fits into the metanarrative.

[4] Matthew 21:44

[5] Testament of Abraham, Dead Sea Scrolls, column 20.

[6] 2 Peter 2:7

[7] Compare: 1 Thess. 2:4, Heb. 11:2, Acts :2:22, 2 Cor. 10:18

[8] Galatians 3:11

[9] See Jeremiah 15: 19