Letters to the Seven Churches

The Risen Christ gave John the task of writing to the seven Churches found in the province of Asia. These were the Christian communities that lived in the environment guided and animated by John in times of difficulty: clashes with the Roman authorities, with the Greek culture, with the Hebrew religious structure. John comforts and encourages Christians.

We said that the book of Revelation is a book of comfort and encouragement; a book that invites resistance because in addition to the various external problems that existed with the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, the most serious problems were within the Christian community and were caused by clashes between various mentalities that Christian groups were developing.

Risking being simple and synthetic, I will mention two different mentalities. On the one hand, there were the most conciliatory, a little lax, who were willing to be tolerant of the mind and habits of time and society. On the other side were the most rigid, with the intention of resisting the current mentality and to maintain a strong consistency with the Christian message.

The problem was due to the fact that, in the ancient Greco-Roman society, the whole structure of life was characterized by the religious element. They were not secular societies, but highly religious, according to pagan religiosity of the Greco-Roman world. For example, all commerce was closely related to a divinity. For us today it is the professional registers or the union categories, but in ancient times they were brotherhoods, religious corporations. To be able to practice a profession like being a doctor, a lawyer, and even a baker or a peasant, one had to belong to these brotherhoods, participate in cults and festivals, eat meat slain to idols, participate in acts of worship of the various deities ...

If a Christian, for consistency, refused to participate in these events, they were expelled from the social fabric. That is why some said that they should adapt. ‘If these divinities do not exist, I can participate in the cult of the goddess Artemis, offer sacrifices, eat unclean meat that I do not consider such: no problem. Why do I have to ruin my life for not doing these things?’

On the other side, there was a more serious and coherent interpretation, and John belongs to this group; they support the need for courageous resistance to these corrupt social structures; therefore, a Christian must not participate in these services, must not participate in these banquets, they should not eat those immolated meats to idols and if it costs you professionally, patience. Accept that damage.

John theorizes the way of martyrdom, that is, the testimony. ‘Martyr’ means witness. In Greek martyr is simply the witness, it is not necessary for a person to die, to surrender the life. And it is precisely through Johannine theology that the concept of witness is connected to bloodshed. Witness until you lose your life, willing to consistently follow Christ to the point of losing everything.

John strongly criticizes lax behavior and supports with all his might a brave, consistent and rigid attitude, consistent until death. In the seven messages that the risen Christ dictates to John these various shadows are seen, and you read the recommendations that the Lord entrusts to his prophet for him to transmit to the church so they can change their position. We said that the book of Revelation is presented as a kind of Christian liturgy. We could even say a Eucharistic celebration.

And as in any Eucharistic celebration, at the beginning, there is the recognition of sins and the invocation of forgiveness, so the book of Revelation begins with an examination of conscience, with a review of life. The risen Christ reads life to the different Churches. It shows what its merits are, but also its failures, its specific errors. Life review leads to recognition of their own sins, so that the churches be able to see beyond.

The liturgical formula that we have at the beginning of the Mass could be applied perfectly well in this context: "To worthily celebrate the sacred mysteries let us recognize our sins." The letters to the seven churches are an invitation to acknowledge their own sins, in order to contemplate the holy mysteries that will be described later in the book of Revelation.

Therefore, chapters two and three contain seven messages sent to seven Christian communities that live in seven different cities. The first message is to Ephesus; then going up north one reaches Smyrna, and then Pergamum; then going inland and making a circle that returns to Ephesus are the cities of Thyatira, Sardes, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

Seven churches of which archaeological signs still remain; in some cases remarkable archaeological remains and in other places, small memories in the middle of the field. They are important cities, animated with a history, with a special situation at the end of the first century after Christ, cities that John knows well.

And to each of them he sends a message, and all these messages are structured in the same way. These are not authentic letters, which were really sent by John to the communities; it is rather a literary artifice in which with seven similar letters, parallel to each other, he returns to the same theme to insist on the exhortation to the different communities, with different shades, to convert and resist. We are going to read the first and last letter, to get the specific reference.

The first is directed to the capital, the main city where John lived. “To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write this”: First element: the address. The letter is sent to the ‘angel of the church”. In some way, to the transcendent reality of the Church. Not specifically to people but to what they represent in God's project.

Second element: the typical formula of the prophet: "Write this...." And this expression is found in the seven letters. These are some features that were used to describe the risen Christ in the first chapter. For example, in this case it says: “The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands says this...." That is, He reigns over the cosmic powers and is the center of ecclesial life.

Third element: “I know your works….” The Risen Christ knows well the situation of each community and makes the diagnosis of the ecclesial situation. "Your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked; you have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and discovered that they are impostors. Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary.”

This is the positive aspect, but there is also a negative aspect: "Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first.” Let us note how in this diagnosis of the situation, attention is especially directed towards constancy, patience, the ability to distinguish the impostors, who are those who teach lax doctrines. Within the Christian community there are bad guys and impostors and they can even be the ones teaching these mistakes. John insists bringing out the necessary distinction. The negative aspect is that the community has lost love, has lost enthusiasm.

Fourth element: the exhortation. The diagnosis is followed by therapy. After having seen how things are, it is necessary to give a solution; he intervenes and heals. These are the tips for the Ephesus community: “Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. But you have this in your favor: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

The Nicolaitans were those lax Christian preachers who argued the need to compromise with the social and religious mentality of the Greco-Roman world. John is in open controversy against the Nicolaitans and teaches that the Risen Christ cannot tolerate the Nicolaitans, nor can he (John).

So what is the therapy? Conversion. "Repent"—change your mind. ‘Remember…’” - exercise your memory… "Look where you have fallen" ... you no longer have the love of the beginning. Behind this letter you can also see the symbolic references to the Old Testament. A progression summarizing the history of salvation can be seen in the seven letters.

In this first letter to Ephesus, we can recognize the initial reference to Adam, who lost the first love, he fell… “Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first.”

Fifth element: A formula that is always repeated the same on all the letters: "Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” It is the Risen Christ who speaks, but it is the Spirit who says something to the churches. John the prophet, bearer of the Spirit, says what the Risen Christ has revealed to him. Christ sent his Spirit to make the Christian prophet understand the sense of history moment by moment.

Last element: the promise to the victor. "To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God.” The reference to the origin of Adam is taken up at the end. There is a promise that refers to the end: eschatological compliance. What was removed at the beginning is promised for the end. The winner, the one who resists in the race and reaches victory will have access to the tree of life which is paradise. Precisely what the man had turned away from, the fallen man who had lost his first love.

These elements are repeated in each of the other letters, only with variations of tone and mode, referring to the precise conditions of the various communities until finally reaching the last, the seventh, the letter to Laodicea, the hardest letter that hides a contemporary reference.

If the first letter referred to the fall of Adam, and the second to the liberation of Egypt; the third to the Exodus and the desert road; then the references to the situation of the prophets against the corrupt monarchy, the drama of exile, the return from exile and reconstruction, the seventh letter speaks of contemporary Judaism, of the precise situation of that moment.

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” It is a terrible phrase in the mouth of Christ. It is the announcement of a condition of mediocrity. The community is so lukewarm that it makes Christ nauseous.

“You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."

The situation is dramatically mediocre. The therapy is to recognize their own limit and depend on Christ, the only one who can really enrich everyone. “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.” It is a declaration of love of Christ who wants to educate, to form the church. He reproaches her precisely because He loves her.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Thus ends this first part of the book of Revelation. The Risen Christ wants to have dinner with you, knock on your door; if you open it and if you listen to his voice and open it you can sit down to dinner together.

We easily recognize the reference to the Eucharistic celebration. Christ wants to sit at the table with you. Listen to his voice, open the door for him, welcome him. Having recognized the sins, the Church is purified to celebrate the holy mysteries. This is what John will present from chapter four.