Pantazes of Larissa – Exegesis of Chapters 13 and 17 of the Book of the Revelation (1767)

Our next Greek Orthodox “historicist” type commentary which will be reviewed in this article, is by a man named Pantazes of Larissa. His commentary on Revelation primarily focuses on chapters 13 and 17 with the identification of the two beasts and Babylon. We might soon realize that Pantazes borrowed some of these earlier historicist method ideas from St. Anastasios Gordios and St Neophytos the Recluse, but expanded upon and diverged from many key points. It is evident after studying his interpretation, that his ideas would serve as inspiration for later Greek Orthodox published commentaries on the Apocalypse by Theodoret of Ioannina in 1800, Kyrillos Lavriotis in 1817, Apostolos Makrakis in 1881, and Neilos Sotiropoulos in 1964 and thus served as a critical building block to the development and more refined ideas with the Orthodox historicist biblical hermeneutic approach, which can be summarized in one simple statement – that the Book of Revelation is primarily about the history of the Orthodox Church, through its staunch defense of all major heresies and endurance under persecution of the two beasts which have already been present for an extensive period of time throughout history (while many even today have failed to know and recognize the time of their beastly visitation).

Background/Brief Biography

Little his know about Pantazes life. He died in Bucharest on July 22 1795. He was originally from the town of Tyrnavos near Larissa. He was a professor who taught at the Academy of Bucharest for about 15 years between 1780 to 1795. At the end of his commentary there is a note which says: “THE Pantazis from Tyrnavos of Larissa and a teacher of the School in Bukore Stiḳ, in the year of salvation 1790, in the month of January 30. In Bucharest.” Little is known about the extent of his academic training, or where he studied and his major area of focus. However, when he died he left a library of 92 books and 39 manuscripts, including a dictionary of the neo-Greek language and some translated works. However Pantazes of Larissa is primarily known for his commentary on Revelation and Byzantine eschatology. And his commentary on the Apocalypse primarily deals with Chapters 13 and 17. We can confirm with certainly that due to the fairly large number of manuscripts, that this commentary achieved the third greatest favor and popularity from Greek copyists and readers after the commentaries of Anastasios Gordios (1717 AD) and George Koressios (1688 AD).

The Exegesis and a few of his other extra-biblical eschatological commentaries were published in Athens in 1938 by P.D. Stephanitzes, a doctor who fought in the Greek War of Independence (1821-1827). It appears this commentary was at first falsely attributed to Metropolitan John of Myra, but this was later to be proven incorrect. The author Pantazes, in just interpreting these two chapters, seeks to develop a single theme and main idea, that the Christian nations of the West (the Ten Horns) have allied with the Turkish Muslim powers (the Beast) against Orthodox Christianity (we can certainly argue this unholy alliance is still in place today). We can see based on the writings of his extra-biblical eschatology that Pantazes studied extensively the prophecies of the Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition, and attempted to provide the missing links in the Apocalypse based on this additional Orthodox eschatology. Others have followed this approach, including Neilos Sotiropoulos of Simonpetra monastery of Mt. Athos. Pantazes quotes from the prophecies of Leo the Wise and Agathanghelos, as well as Patriarch Tarassios with respect to the coming restoration of the Byzantine Empire and the war of the Western nations allied against the Orthodox nations. Pantazes’s relationship and correlation established between the Apocalypse and the Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition helps to explain the relationship existing between the Post-Byzantine Greek Exegetical Movement and the historicist eschatological ideas of that era. From this point of view also, the exegetical work of Pantazès de Larissa is certainly of particular interest to us. As I said earlier, Neilos Sotiropoulos “Coming Sharp and Two-Edged Sword” followed a similar approach of decoding Revelation through the Byzantine apocalypses and thus as there appear to be very similar conclusions in both of their eschatology. Like all of the other authors of the exegetical movement up to 1922, they place events within the history of the Orthodox Church at the center of the the Apocalypse.

A Summary of the Content of the Exegesis

Analysis of the Exegesis allows us to realize his main idea which he seeks to interpret the Apocalypse of John. In his commentary of Revelation 17, the main theme is a coming war which opposed the Orthodox empire of the Russians to the Muslim empire of the Turks, or more specifically the political situation of the time with alliances with the West. The Revelation of John provides the precise moment of this great eschatological battle when the Beast and ten horns were given power to lead the campaign against the rider mounted on the white horse in order to convince the Orthodox reader about the coalition of the Western nations and Ottomans against Russia. Even though this describes the political situation of the time, the same applies today.

The commentary of Pantazes on Revelation 13 follows the most widespread exegetical tradition of the time by all Greek Orthodox authors on Revelation, what which identified the first beast with Muhammed and the second one with the Papacy. The Greek Orthodox Church was thus caught between the jaws of these two Beasts from the Great Schism, Latin Crusades and Fall of Constantinople. With respect to interpreting Revelation Chapter 13, Pantazes of Larissa relies mostly on Anastasios Gordios work. Both authors echo the same main idea: the Dragon gave all of it’s power to the two Beasts, Mohammed and the Papacy, the two enemies of Christ and of the Holy Orthodox Faith, and who to this day continue to persecute Orthodox Christians with the aim of making them disappear completely. Pantazes follows Gordios idea that the two horns of the Lamb Beast are the two powers (temporal/religious) who proclaims himself infallible and the supreme head of the entire church. He presents himself as the Lamb and the IMAGE of the Christ, but speaks like a Dragon and relentlessly persecutes with hatred and envy the true faith of Christ, the Orthodox faith. The Papacy causes those “to be killed” by separating from the true Church and refusing her help during the days of Ottoman onslaught to conquer the Byzantine capital. However, Pantazes differs from Gordios by showing that the Papacy presents himself outwardly as an enemy of the Muslims while inwardly he pursues the same goal as them, to eradicate Orthodoxy from the face of the earth. For Pantazes, the Papacy in no way makes his alliance with the Turk hidden and delights in the hateful attitude of Western Christians towards Eastern Christians (doesn’t that sound familiar today?). To Pantazes, the Orthodox prefer the tyranny of the sultan to that of the Papacy, a Papacy that historically used his false apostles (Jesuits) to kill in any way whatsoever the Christians who refused to adhere to Papal doctrine. Thus his attitude towards the Papacy is even more harsh than Anastasios Gordios. His commentary on Revelation 13:13-15 relates to the action of the Jesuits in Orthodox lands, similar to the interpretations given to by Zacharias Gerganos and Gorge Koressios in the 1600s with respect to the locusts of Revelation 9.

Pantazes diverges even more with respect to the details regarding the first Islamic Beast. The seven heads are not seven kingdoms subject to Islam but seven Turkish sultans. He only borrows from Gordios the identification of the First Beast with Islam. Interestingly this would seem to inspire later commentators like Makrakis, who would call out the seven heads to be the Seven Caliphates of Islam, since they would represent being the successors of “blasphemy” of Mohammed on the Holy Trinity and Divinity of Christ. Gordios was a proponent of the 1260-year tribulation period, and he used a lunar year calculation calling for the fall of Islam around 1840. Gordios rejected the idea of a restored Byzantine Empire whereas a restored Byzantium with the help of the Russians was central to Pantazes eschatology. For Pantazess of Larissa, the destruction of the Ottoman Empire would occur during the reign of Sutan Selim III, 350 years after the capture of Constantinople. Pantazes looked for a restored and messianic Orthodox empire which would reign for about 100 years (interestingly, many Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition prophecies teach this).

Translated quote from his commentary on the First Beast of Revelation 13:

“This Beast designates the Muslim religion; it appeared from the eastern side, also called the sea; it first bore seven heads, the seven Turkish sultans who reigned before the capture of Constantinople, namely Othman, Murad I, Xaλennyòç (Mehmed I), Bayezid, Orkhan, Murad II and Mehmed the conqueror of Constantinople. The Beast also had ten horns symbolizing the ten kingdoms into which the empire was divided after the reign of Constantine the Great. Under the reign of this emperor, the Christian world formed a single empire. But in time Christendom was divided into ten kingdoms, the ten horns or diadems of the Beast, thus becoming easy prey for Mehmed, the impious sultan of the Turks. We will discuss this more explicitly in the commentary to Chapter XVII. As for the blasphemous titles, they designate the name of Muhammad, since all the Turkish sultans listed were Mohammadans (Muslims) and great blasphemers of God. The description of this Beast and its power applies to the sultans of the Agarenes whose behavior towards Christians is changeable, cunning, treacherous and deceitful, like the behavior of the panther, rapacious and destructive, as that of the bear, angry, proud, threatening and belligerent, similar to the behavior of the lion. With God’s permission, it is to this Beast that Satan, the intelligible Dragon, the father of the Beast, gave his power, his throne and great power. Rev 13:3 The mortally wounded and healed head designates Sultan Bayezid, nicknamed the “Lightning” for his speed in war. Having undertaken an expedition to conquer Constantinople, this sultan was attacked by the king of the Tatars, captured, locked in a cage and put to death. The Moslem power was thus weakened and almost annihilated. But other sultans came to give the Turkish empire its primary strength and the capture of Constantinople by Mehmed provoked the astonishment and admiration of the whole world. Rev 13:4 This verse is addressed to those who claim that the Turks worship the true God. But since the capture of Constantinople, the Turks have prostrated themselves before Satan, the intelligible Serpent, who had given to the Beast, to Mehmed, their sultan, great power and had helped him to win so many glorious victories against the Christians. . After that, the Turks ended up worshiping the Beast himself, Sultan Mehmed, and showering him with praise saying, “What other ruler equals ours and who can fight against him?

Pantazes adopts an allegorical historical interpretation on the second Beast with the Papacy:

Rev 13:11: The dry land designates the West, just as the sea designates the East. It is therefore from the West that the Beast with two horns arises. Many commentators have thought that this Beast symbolized the Antichrist, the one that the Jews would take for their Messiah. These commentators gave a literal interpretation and applied to the Antichrist all the rest of the text. But to this same text one could give an allegorical interpretation and apply it to the Pope who was at the origin of the schism. Such an interpretation allows a better understanding of the biblical text. Indeed, the Pope is indeed the precursor of the Antichrist and his image. Both carry two lamb horns. Both appear outwardly as gentle, harmless lambs, while inwardly they are soul-destroying wolves. Moreover, all the other heretics, all the impious, all the atheists and all the Freemasons who have appeared in the West, all behave in the same way, thus increasing the number of signs announcing the coming of the Antichrist. As Saint Paul says, they all bear the name of Christians while they deny the power of faith. The Beast rising from dry land wears two horns. Likewise, two are the powers held by the Pope. The first is that of the interior government of the Church (ecclesiastical government): the Pope carries the cross on his foot, claims to be infallible and proclaims himself the (supreme) head of the Church. The second power is that of the external (political) government symbolized by the murderous sword which the Pope wears as the emblem of his royalty. It is by exercising these two powers that he persecutes the Orthodox, who do not obey him and refuse to embrace his dogmas. The Pope presents himself as a lamb, as a prelate and as the image of Christ, our Lord; but he speaks like a Dragon and utters against the orthodox faith the same blasphemies as Satan, the intelligible Dragon. Rev 13:12. The force employed by the first Beast, the sultans of the Agarenes, against the Orthodox, their subjects, to force them to deny the Christian faith, this same force is used by the papists who want to compel the Orientals to embrace impiety and the erroneous doctrine of the Pope. Considering them schismatics, the Pope persecutes the Orthodox and intends to force them to subscribe to the decisions of the Council of Florence, that abominable and anticanonical meeting which he calls the Eighth Ecumenical Council. The second Beast, the Papists, therefore behaves towards the Orthodox in the same way as the first Beast, the Agarenes. The events that took place during the reign of Maria Theresa bear witness to this. This attitude of the Pope is known to the sultan, who rejoices in it. For the power rejoices when it sees how much the Orthodox are hated and persecuted by the Papists. He knows that in this way the Orthodox will not leave the territories of the Ottoman Empire to seek refuge in the territories of the Papacy in order to escape the very heavy taxes and the inhuman suffering that the Turks make them suffer. Indeed, the Orthodox are forced to prefer the Ottoman yoke to the persecutions and turpitudes of the Papacy. If the Pope had wanted to grant the Christians his cooperation and his alliance, the Sultan would never have been able to take Constantinople and Orthodoxy would not be delivered up to the servitude of the Turks; the mortally wounded head of the first Beast could not have healed. Rev. 13:13 The great signs performed by the second Beast designate the false miracles performed by the Pope’s auxiliaries, the Jesuits, with the manifest aim of misleading the simplest Christians. But the signs also point to the unbearable suffering which the Papists inflict on the Orthodox and which everyone knows about. As for the fire that the Beast sends down from heaven, it is the fire of which Christ speaks: “I have come to set fire on the earth (Lk. XII, 49). The Church of the East and the Church of the West were previously united and formed only one Church. By his pride and his declared war against God, the Pope succeeded in installing between the two Churches an implacable hatred and a perpetual confrontation. It is this fire of hatred and war that the Pope sent down from heaven among the innumerable people of Christians. Rev 13:14. The Pope deceives the Christians by the pernicious doctrine taught by the Jesuits, sent to all the Eastern countries. By the false miracles performed by his emissaries and by their deceptive and simplistic argumentation, the Pope, like a magician, attracts to his dogmas the simplest of Orthodox Christians 3. The signs of the second Beast are performed in the presence of the first Beast. In other words, the sultan knows well the attitude of the Pope towards the Orthodox and can only rejoice in it. For the hatred between the two Churches, their discords and their continual quarrels contribute to the consolidation and growth of Turkish power. The behavior of the Pope towards the Orthodox therefore appears to the whole world in all similarity to the behavior of the Turkish sultan. Employing himself in the persecution of the holy nation (Orthodox), the second Beast thus erects an image in honor of the first Beast. The Pope indulges in the same hatred and persecution of the Orthodox as the Sultanate. Rev. 13:15 The Papists, and especially the Jesuits, are called the image of the first Beast because their persecutions against orthodox Christians and their doctrines resemble the persecutions and doctrines of the Ottomans. Wanting to imitate Christ, the Pope breathes the Holy Spirit into this image and says to his false apostles: “Receive the Holy Spirit and go and proclaim throughout the world the word of my truth. If there are Christians who do not want to accept your preaching and who refuse to embrace my dogmas, these Christians, put them to death by any means whatsoever”. So this is how the second Beast animates the image of the first and this is the language it uses. Rev 13:16. The mark that the Pope has engraved on the forehead and on the right hand of all his people, Latins and Latinizers, young and old, poor and rich, free men and slaves, this mark is is their different way of making the sign of the cross.

With respect to the study of Revelation 17, Pantazes presents a new idea that the ten nations symbolize the ten kingdoms of the Christian West. This interpretation of chapter XVII is completely personal and one cannot read there any reference to the previous exegetical tradition, but this idea was further expanded upon in later Orthodox commentaries. While the aim by the author was obviously to describe the current political situation of the Russo-Turkish War, the idea mirrors Makrakis and Sotiropoulos, that the Islamic nations (the Beast) and Western Nations (Ten Horns) are allied against Orthodoxy. A great eschatological battle will be waged by the ten horns against the rider mounted on the white horse, and this horseman will will the final victory and destroy the two enemy powers. Then the Orthodox Empire of the East will be restored as promised in Daniel 7 and its messianic reign will be established for one-hundred years on the throne of Constantinople. This interpretation by Pantazes is a very personal and bold exegesis which demonstrate the political ideas and eschatological visions of its author. But yet for some of us Orthodox today, he appears to hit the nail on the head when one examines the great Anonymous Prophecy of St. Kosmas Aitolos!

Summary

Pantazes Interpretation of Revelation 13 and 17, as well as his eschatological texts on the Byzantine Prophecies provided to us a new direction in the Greek Orthodox Historicist Eschatology during the latter Ottoman Period. Like other Greek intellectuals of the time, the author embraced the idea of a coming decisive Russian Orthodox battle with the West. Most certainly his writings were used as Greco-Russian propaganda to organize the Balkan Orthodox Greeks at the latter time of the Ottoman Period. However, because Pantazes commentary was short, clear and simple to read, it would achieve great success in being copied and disseminated. While it was written in Bucharest, the copies would soon be spread throughout the Greek Orthodox territories still under Turkish occupation, to be read by a large number of Greeks. We can now look back today and see that Pantazes interpretation and influence on subsequent 19th and 20th century Historicist commentaries are very noticeable. Authors like Apostolos Makrakis certainly must have drawn inspiration from his writings and taken these ideas even further. Certainly such an approach of interpreting St. John’s Apocalypse – through the lens of Byzantine Apocalyptic Tradition – is a worthy study to undertake for us today as God remembers what happened to Babylon the Great, that once Great City. The identification of key events of the Apocalypse through the Byzantine Apocalypses perhaps will serve to help us shed some light on events getting closer to full realization in the coming years, as compared to the, shall we say, imported Protestant Dispensationalist ideas that have slowly crept their way into a few of today’s sensational modern Orthodox commentaries on Revelation. Many of these modern Orthodox commentaries and read nothing more like a good Christian science fiction novel, and they all completely ‘miss the mark’ at penetrating the mysteries of the apocalypse spelled out to us in the very first verse. That is, the revelation of Jesus Christ is about the revelation OF Jesus Christ, i.e. the identity of the man-child and his two natures and the true BODY of Christ standing on Mt. Zion. The Apocalypse reveals to us the full history of the Orthodox Church through her development and defense of her Christology through heresy and persecution. All which is contained in the pages of the Book of Revelation.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

1. Asterios Argyriou, Les exégèses grecques de l’Apocalypse à l’époque turque (1453-1821). Esquisse d’une histoire des courants idéologiques au seindu peuple grec asservi. Thessaloniki, 1982
2. A. Argyriou. Anastasios Gordios, Sur Mahomet et contre les Latins. Athens, 1983
3. Adrian Boldisor, Orthodoxy and Islam in the 18th Century. The Place and Role of Dimitrie Cantemir in this Period, 19 September 2017, Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Craiova
4. Sotiropoulos, Neilos. The Coming Sharp And Two-Edged Sword, Holy Monastery of Simon’s Petra, Holy Mount Athos, Greece, (1973)
5. Apostolos Makrakis, Interpretation of the Revelation of St. John the Divine. Hellenic Christian Education Society, Chicago, IL, 1948
6. Allen, G. V. (2020) An anti-Islamic marginal comment in the Apocalypse of “Codex Reuchlin” (GA 2814) and its tradition. In: Karrer, M. (ed.) Der Codex Reuchlins zur Apokalypse: Byzanz – Basler Konzil – Erasmus. Series: Manuscripta Biblica (5). De Gruyter: Berlin; Boston, pp. 193-198. ISBN 9783110674118
7. Marios Hatzopoulos, From Resurrection to Insurrection: ‘Sacred’ Myths, Motifs, and Symbols in the Greek War of Independence, Roderick Beaton – David Ricks(eds), The Making of Modern Greece: Nationalism, Romanticism, and the Uses of the Past (1797–1896), 2009.
8. Photius, J., The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Book of Revelation. Eastern Light Publishing, Sheriden WY, ISBN 978-1-949940-02-2, (2018)