The Apocalypse of St. John by Rev. E. Sylvester Berry [1921]

[Stone]

FALL OF ROMAN EMPIRE


CHAPTER VI

12. And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair; and the whole moon became as blood:

13. And the stars fell from heaven upon the earth, as the fig tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind.

14. And the heavens departed as a book folded up: and every mountain, and the islands were moved out of their places.

15. And the kings of earth, and the princes, and tribunes, and the rich, and the strong, and every bond man, and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of mountains.

16. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks: Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

17. For the great day of their wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?


On the opening of the sixth seal we catch a glimpse of the last persecution and the destruction of the world. This is to show that the prayers of the martyrs have already been heard in the designs of God, and shall be answered in due time.

Verses 12-17 have, as we believe, a threefold application: 1) To the fall of the pagan Empire of Rome. 2) To the time of Antichrist. 3) To the end of the world.

In the first two applications the words of the prophecy must bear a symbolic meaning. They were thus interpreted by the early Christians. In the acts of the martyrs the persecution under Diocletian and the internal troubles of the Empire which followed were compared to an earthquake, an evident allusion to this passage of the Apocalypse.1

12. Hence the earthquakes maybe interpreted as the great disturbances in society that preceded the fall of the Roman Empire. Like disorders shall foreshadow the coning of Antichrist. The darkening of the sun is a symbol of the weakening of Catholic Faith by the spread of the Arian heresy.

A similar weakening of Faith will occur before the days of Antichrist.

The blood color of the moon caused by the darkening of the sun is an omen of wars and persecutions which follow these internal troubles of the Church. This prophecy was fulfilled at the time of the Arian heresy, and during the so-called Reformation of the sixteenth century. Similar wars will attend the coming of Antichrist.

13. In various passages of Scripture stars represent the faithful.2 In the first chapter of the Apocalypse the bishops of the Church are symbolized by stars.3 The falling stars predict the defection of large numbers of bishops, priests, and faithful from the true Faith. History shows how these words were verified in the Arian heresy, the Greek schism, and the so-called Reformation.

The stars fall thick and fast like winter figs from a tree shaken by a strong wind. Discord and laxity in church discipline prepare the way for great defections in time of trial and persecution.

14, 15. The heavens are folded up as a scroll; earthly powers (mountains and islands) are in turmoil. Kings and princes flee for safety. This is a fitting description of the fall of the Roman Empire under the barbarian inroads. The prophecy was also fulfilled in the overthrow of the Byzantine Empire by the Moslems, a punishment of God for heresy and schism. The prophets of old foretold the fall of ancient empires in similar language.4

When applied to the last days of the world these verses bear a more literal interpretation. Then shall "the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved."5 The sun will probably be obscured by volcanic ashes sent up from many places as the result of terrible earthquakes and eruptions of volcanoes. The veiled light of the moon will appear red as blood. Myriads of meteors resembling stars will fall to earth, kindling the whole world into flames. The heavens shall be rolled up as the scroll of a book. In other words, the atmosphere will be so obscured that the sun and moon will become invisible as at the beginning of creation. The mountains and
continents shall be overturned and the whole world shall return to chaos.6

Comparing this description with the first chapter of Genesis we find the confusion of elements occurring in inverse order to that of their unfolding at creation. The faithful who witness these terrible convulsions of nature will prepare for the judgment of God. They shall be more terrified at the anger of God arid of His Christ than by the upheaval of the material world.

16, 17. "Then shall men wither away from fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world."7 They will cry out in their terror: "O ye mountains, fall upon us! Ye hills, cover us! for who shall be able to withstand the wrath of God?" This thought is beautifully expressed in the sequence of Masses for the dead:

"Day of wrath, O day of mourning, Lo, the world in ashes burning. Seer and Sybil gave the warning. What shall I, frail man be pleading? Who for me be interceding When the just are mercy needing?"



(1) Cf. also Jeremias 1,46.
(2) Cf. Genesis xxxvii, 9; Daniel viii, 10.
(3) Apocalypse i, 20.
(4) Cf. Isaias xiii; Ezechiel x r xxii; Joel ii.
(5) St. Matthew xxiv, 29; Isaias xxiv, 19, 20; xxxiv, 4.
(6) Cf. St. Matthew xxiv, 29 ss.; St. Luke xxi, 25 ss.
(7) St. Luke xxi, 26.
(8) Cf. Isaias ii, 9.