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- Sundays: 0 times a year. Not a single Sunday Mass throughout the year featured a reading from Revelation.
- Feast Days: It was read only 2 to 3 times a year on specific major feasts (for instance, an excerpt from Rev 7:2-12 was read on the Solemnity of All Saints on November 1st, and another on the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel on September 29th).
- Total: An ordinary churchgoer attending Mass on Sundays would only hear Revelation if one of these few feast days happened to fall on a Sunday.
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- Easter Season in Year C: The Book of Revelation is read as the mandatory second reading every Sunday during the Easter season (from the 2nd to the 7th Sunday of Easter). This means it is read 6 times at Sunday Masses during Year C.
- Weekday Masses: During weekdays in the final weeks of the liturgical year (late November), Revelation is read continuously in Year II (even-numbered years) for two full weeks (a total of 12 times at weekday Masses).
- Total: The modern lectionary includes roughly 9.4% of the entire text of Revelation. A regular churchgoer today hears excerpts from this book across dozens of Masses throughout the three-year cycle.
| Liturgical Period | Traditional Rite (up to 1962) | New Rite (Post-Vatican II) |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday Masses | 0 times (never in the regular cycle) | 6 times during the Easter season (every 3rd year) |
| Feasts and Solemnities | 2–3 times a year (All Saints, St. Michael) | A few times (e.g., the Assumption, Dedication of a Church) |
| Weekday Masses | Extremely rare (mostly repeating Sunday’s readings) | 12 times consecutively in even years (November weekday Masses) |
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- This canonical custom dates back to the 4th and 5th centuries (most notably through the 60th canon of the Council of Laodicea).
- The reason for this was that the early Church harbored many doubts regarding the authorship of the book, alongside fears of misuse by heretical sects (such as the Montanists) who interpreted it too literally.
- The Russian Church, as a part of ecumenical Orthodoxy, could not unilaterally alter the centuries-old, pan-Orthodox liturgical Typikon (the rule of worship) based on a single historical event, even a victory over Napoleon.
- A specific ritual was composed: “The Order of Thanksgiving for the Deliverance of the Russian Church and State from the Invasion of the Gauls (the French).”
- In these prayers and sermons, which were delivered on Christmas Day (December 25th according to the Old Calendar, the day the French retreat was officially marked), apocalyptic language was heavily used, and Napoleon was referred to as “the destroyer” (Apollyon). Therefore, the text did not enter the official annual lectionary of the Holy Liturgy, but was instead confined to a specific politico-religious ritual.
1stadam1stantiochian said
1. Until the Second Vatican Council (Mass up to 1962, the year, and even the week Cuban crises was at peak]
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- The Cuban Missile Crisis: President John F. Kennedy addressed the world and exposed the Soviet missile sites on October 22, 1962.
- Vatican II Opening: The Second Vatican Council officially opened just eleven days prior, on October 11, 1962.
- The Liturgy at That Exact Week: During the week of October 22, 1962, Catholic priests worldwide were still using the 1962 Missale Romanum (the Traditional Latin Mass). As established, that missal did not contain the regular readings of the Apocalypse. The readings for that specific week of October 1962 were standard time-after-Pentecost Epistles (mostly from St. Paul’s letters, such as Ephesians and Philippians), not the Book of Revelation. [** you do not have permission to see this link **]
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- The Council fathers voted on liturgical principles in 1963 (Sacrosanctum Concilium).
- A dedicated committee (the Consilium) spent years restructuring the biblical calendar.
- The New Lectionary (Novus Ordo) which officially brought the Apocalypse into regular Sunday rotation was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in April 1969 and took effect later that year. [** you do not have permission to see this link **]
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- The “Pre-emptive Continuity” Move: By making the Apocalypse a central part of Sunday worship, the Church provided a readymade framework for a post-apocalyptic world. If society collapsed, the Church could point to the newly updated liturgy and claim, “We predicted this, we prepared you for this, and we are the sole authority left to guide you through it.”
- Binding the Masses: In an era where a nuclear flash could happen at any moment, anchoring the population to a liturgy focused on final judgment kept the faithful dependent on the Church’s sacraments for their eternal survival.
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- Weaponizing Prophecy: Napoleon had spent years trying to dismantle the old monarchies and religious institutions. By attempting to codify his defeat into the church’s ritual structure, the Russian Empire wanted to weaponize prophecy to legitimize its new role as the permanent “Gendarme of Europe.”
- The Divine Right to Rule: Framing the victory over France in strictly apocalyptic terms was a direct message to the rest of the world: Russia did not just win a geopolitical war; Russia carried out a divine decree. Using that momentum to alter liturgical practices was an attempt to lock in that superpower status permanently.
- The geopolitical fallout of Tsar Alexander’s Holy Alliance.
- The Cold War survival strategies debated inside the Vatican during the 1960s.
1stadam1stantiochian said
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- The Proactive Pivot: They didn’t wait for a crisis to destroy them. Through Vatican II, they completely overhauled their entire global operation—changing the language, the architecture, and the Bible readings (including the Apocalypse).
- The Goal: They modernized and adapted the liturgy ahead of time to ensure the Church would remain relevant and retain its grip on power in the late 20th century and beyond, EVEN AFTER THE ANIHILATION – THEY DIDN’T CARE EVEN IF 1/3 OF US WERE DEPOPULISED, as Andrew of Caesarea explained.
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- The Reactionary Stumble: Because the Orthodox system is designed to be a time capsule that aggressively resists change, its own internal bureaucracy and strict canon law backfired on the Tsar.
- The Failure: They were so rigid that even after saving Europe from the “Antichrist,” the Church could not dynamically adjust its weekly Liturgy to lock in that propaganda. They had to settle for minor, temporary side-prayers (molebens), leaving their core structure exactly as it was.
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- The West (Rome) was willing to reinvent its most sacred rituals to proactively secure its future power.
- The East (Russia) was so paralyzed by its own tradition that it couldn’t even successfully weaponize its greatest historical triumph.
Robert said
1stadam1stantiochian said
If you are crafting your post around these concepts, let me know if you want to focus on:
The geopolitical fallout of Tsar Alexander’s Holy Alliance.
The Cold War survival strategies debated inside the Vatican during the 1960s.Are you looking to frame this as a critique of how institutions survive, or do you want to lean heavily into the geopolitical rivalry between East and West?
1stadam1stantiochian, it is obvious that you are simply posting quotations of discussion you’ve had with AI on this forum. Please be aware this is against our rules, specifically #6:
6. Content gleaned from Artificial Intelligence (eg, Claude or ChatGPT) may be helpful, but posting long conversations with a bot, as if the bot were a contributing member of this forum, is not allowed, except perhaps in threads specifically discussing the capabilities, limitations, and recommended strategies for the best use of artificial intelligence as it continues to evolve.
Please refrain from such extensive quoting of AI. This is a discussion forum for readers of Bart’s blog.
I understood, but this opening of the topic was for informational purpose. Let’s say western proactive VS eastern retroactive approach, don’t you agree? And it is something relatively new, from 19 and 20 century.
Robert said
Sorry, but I’m not sure what you’re asking me about whether or not I agree? Western proactive vs Eastern retroactive approach to what exactly?
1962 Vatican 2 decides to include The Book of Revelation [more] in Holy Mass – why 1962? They expected nucl. apocalypse, that is why. So I said – proactive approach.
| Liturgical Period | Traditional Rite (up to 1962) | New Rite (Post-Vatican II) |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday Masses | 0 times (never in the regular cycle) | 6 times during the Easter season (every 3rd year) |
On the other hand, Russians tried to include it after Napoleon defeat, so I said RETROACTIVE, but failed in that attempt. And we all know the book of Revelation is excluded from holy liturgy on the east from the beginning of Christianity.
So, how you comprehend these info and my dialectic approach? I think the subject is worth of much more attention…
p.s. I wish my English is good as AI’s. I have spent decades using my native language on forums, and now I am in trouble relying on AI.
They have had so many opportunities in history before the Cold War, … and the HOT one is brewing. Somebody said in another topic many of you skipped to read St Andrew of Caesarea commentary on the Apocalypse because it is not accessible, or costs money. I am nicely asking everybody, please do the research, because I don’t have the reason to lie. After research just think again: have we ever before 20th century had the opportunity to annihilate 1/3 of everything alive? I read his commentary translated in my own language from greek original. You simply have to read it. He was/is saint for the official CHURCH, east or west, and was used to push the book in the canon on the east. Hesitations lasted until Trullo council 692 AD.
St. Andrew of Caesarea explains in his Commentary on the Apocalypse that the one-third destruction of creatures is fulfilled through warfare that ravages both people and resources. He posits that this earthly destruction acts as a form of divine punishment that mitigates more severe eternal consequences. [** you do not have permission to see this link **]
OK, the link works, here you have the quote, and you tell me how this looks like to you –
S EC T ION E IG H T
C h a pter 22
Copyright © 2011. Catholic University of America Press. All rights reserved.
About the Seven Angels Whose First Blow of the Trumpet Brings Hail, Fire, and Blood on the Earth 8.7. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there were hail and fire mingled with blood. And it was thrown on the earth; and a third of the earth was burnt, and a third of the trees was burnt, and all of the green grass was burnt. ome think these things imply in an obscure way the variety of punishment of sinners in Gehenna, figura tively described through physical pains.1 We, however, think it does not mean that, especially because not one-third is to be punished in the future out of all the people, but the majority—“for the road is wide that leads to destruction” 2— but that these things mean rather the plagues prior to the final consummation of the world, and hail from heaven means those afflictions that will come according to the just judgment of God, the fire mingled with blood the destruction by fire and the daily murders taking place at the hands of barbarians. From these, as we see, not less than one-third of all the creatures living on earth will be killed in a perceptible manner, destroying by wars not only people, but also [91] all the things that the earth brings forth. And the blessed Joel strengthens our own opinion regarding the things set forth, saying that “blood and fire and vapor of smoke” are to come “before the great day.”3 1. Oik. 5.9.1–2. 3. Jl 2.
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