Posts in category: Η Αποκάλυσψη στην Στοά 2 – Διονυσίου

The narrative ends with these two scenes: An angel with a key has bound the devil with a red chain and leads him to the abyss, where he will be locked in:
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years (Revelation 20, 1-2).
Then the twenty-first scene, the last of this narrative, the presentation of the New Jerusalem to John. Jerusalem, personified as a beautifully dressed bride, is descending from heaven, heralding a feast of joy that erases the terrible images of destruction that preceded it:
And I, John, I saw the city, the Holy New Jerusalem, coming down from God, from heaven

On the right, the fall of Babylon, where a flying angel is shouting, 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!' (Revelation 18, 2). Babylon is depicted in flames. A second angel below him throws a great stone on the Euphrates. The association of the two angels and their actions is a clever artistic device and gives strength to the composition.
Below, a king and four merchants mourn the disaster, a clear statement about who is affected by such a blow, 'The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more' (Revelation 18, 11).
On the left, there is a confrontation between two groups of riders, the one dressed in red (the army of the kings of the earth), the other in white (the celestial army). The head of the white group is labelled 'The Word of God'. The white group defeats the red one, and throws it into a lake of fire and sulphur, where a flock of white birds led by an angel attacks to finish it. Below, the red seven-headed beast has been overturned and forced off a cliff, having first received the death blow from the white rider.

The words of one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls are quoted at the top:
'Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her, the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries” (Revelation 17, 1-2).
The image illustrates quite accurately the episode:
I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes, and of the abominations of the earth. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus (Revelation 17, 3-6).

The inscription quotes the beginning of chapter 15:
'I saw in heaven another great and marvellous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed (Revelation 15, 1).
These angels are pouring the rest of the wrath of God from their basins everywhere, according to the narrative:
Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed (Revelation 15, 7-8)
and to the entire chapter 16, where every angel pours out the wrath on a different part of the world:
... The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet (Rev. 16, 12-13). This is illustrated in the lower part.

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man[b] with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand (Revelation 14, 14).
The crowned Christ talks to the Angel of Judgement, and below, other angels reap and harvest.

The inscription quotes:
'Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 (Revelation 14, 1).
In the angel's open book is written:
Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgement has come (Revelation 14, 7).
Above the ruins, the inscription summarises the words of the other two angels:
If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God; Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great (Revelation . 14, 8-10).
It is clear that the painter addresses viewers who are already familiar with the text, since these quotes do not explain, but rather remind.

The inscription describes the image:
'And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns (Revelation 13,1); then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast (Revelation 13, 11-12)'.

'A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head' (Revelation 12,1).
To the left, the woman, who is here identified as the Virgin, clothed in the sun and supported by the moon, does not seem to be truly threatened by a dragon with seven crowned heads, which is angry and is vomiting a river against her. In accordance with the account, the earth opens and drinks it to protect the woman, while two angels with a club and a sword are preparing to crush the dragon's heads. The image interprets in some parts John's vision:
The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child [Christ], who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. (Revelation 12, 4-5).