Expert: Griff Ruby - 7/26/2011

Question
Hi,
I have come across the book of revelation which I am trying to read and although I don't know much about it, I have some questions and I hope that you can answer them for me.
1. Why is the book of revelation not read in church?
2.How should Catholics view the book of revelation? Some people people that it is about the end of the world while other say that it should not perceived this.
3. Who are the beasts? What they represent? and who is 666?
I really hope you can shade some light on these questions since the books of revelations it is hard to understand?
Thank you for yout time.
Fran

Answer
That is probably not the best place to begin a reading of Sacred Scripture, as there is much referred to therein to quite a variety of theological concepts, symbols, Old Testament precedents, and so forth that to a first time or casual reader would be altogether unknown, thus making much of the book incomprehensible.  Far better to learn of the rest of Scripture and at least all the basics of the Church's teachings (as contained in the classical catechisms) first, so that then one would be in a position to recognize the various references made throughout the book of Revelation.  It is put at the end of the Bible for a reason, namely that one gets to it last, after (presumably) having read the rest and hopefully knowing at least most of enough to understand it.  Now to your individual questions:
1)  Actually it is read in Church (i. e. liturgically), though not too frequently as many other readings are also used, for example the four Gospels are used daily, but other books (all) much less often, individually.  For example one probably would encounter Paul's letter to Titus even less frequently than Revelation.  There is however a different Revelation that was to Peter instead of the Biblical one to John, of which the earliest attempt at cataloging the books of the Bible did mention and yet point out that the latter book (Revelation to Peter) was not read in Churches, and in the end that latter book is not even in the Bible at all.
2)  The Book of Revelation (properly called by Catholics the Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle) is about many things, including end times, but also about the fundamental war between good and evil, about the struggles and failings of the individual churches, about the glory of God, and about the recurring themes of Christian history.  There is a specific piece of advice that must be given to the effect that one should not be going through Revelation looking for some apparent corollaries to modern events as if that book predicted such details and the particular events supposedly "predicted" might be indicators that the end is near.  While one should desire that the end be near ("Amen. Come Lord Jesus!"), this is not equivalent to idle speculations that the end has come or will be here that soon.  We should always be ready, for even if the grand end does not come in our own lifetime, that lifetime itself can come to an end at any time and we must be always ready.
3)  The beasts appear to be symbols fo various powers, possibly political, possibly religous or spiritual, but I must admit at this point that I am not an expert in the symbology of the Book of Revelation, specifically.  Perhaps another expert can help you better with that one.   666 however is one detail I have come across in my researches, and it is a concealed reference to Emperor Nero of Rome.  Interestingly enough, given two possible ways to calculate some number from his name, there are two known possible numbers that have been seen in various New Testament texts, not only 666, but also 616 (in a few texts).  I think the difference amounted to whether one includes a middle name or title or some such, or not.  Emperor Nero himself probably is however taken as a symbol of some later figure to arise, presumably in the End Times, the man of sin and of great political power who uses that power to fight God and God's Church.
Hope this helps, God bless!