Old Document Review 'Brief explanations of the Apocalypse'

This ancient document was written by Cassiodorus (d.580) who was a senator, then theologian before he founded a monastery in Italy where he resided with scholar-monks till his death. Only one copy of this document remains in existence and is in Verona.

Cassiodorus sees John's vision in the Apocalypse (Revelations) as specifically "concerning the end of the world" and that furthermore the visions are "joining things in the past with things in the future".

Here the seals are seen differently to other commentators of Revelations which I have mentioned before, Cassiodorus believes that the first two seals and the first two horsemen symbolize Christ. The white horse is purity and the red horse is the blood that was shed. He also sees other symbolic things as describing parts of the church, for example the 144,000 are the "congregation of the saints" also, the 'harp of the elders' signifies the relationships between the members of the church.

Old Document Review 'Tract on the Apocalpse'

This ancient document was written by the Bishop Apringus of Beja somewhere between 531-548 A.D. > it did not have wide distribution therefore middle sections of the document did not survive through history unfortunately.

The document itself it a commentary on the Apocalpse, in other words Revelations from the Bible, where the bishop makes attempts to explain the visions of John.

The Bishop believed that the Seven Seals which so many people nowadays attribute to fortelling of the 'end times' were actually symbolizing the life of Jesus. In essence the seven stages of His life which are; incarnation, nativity, passion, death, resurrection, glory and kingdom.

The Bishop further decribes how he believes that only Jesus was worthy to open the seals, the seals represent prophecies about the Messiah which were fulfilled by Jesus' life. In essence, the seals are events destined to happen only upon a certain set of circumstances that could only happen once, at a certain point in time, events in time that are sealed. These are the Seven Seals opened by Jesus.

He further identifies the four animals in Revelations as the gospels, and the seven horns as the stength and power of Jesus and the seven eyes as the seven spirits of God, the seven spirits being the virtues that dwelt in Jesus.

This interesting and compelling read gives a very believeable version of identifiying items in the Book of Revelations that have mystified scholars around the Earth, and it would also dispute many theories about the 'end times' that are based upon the seven seals.