By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
The sermons on the Sundays of this summer (2026) will refer to the Epistles that Christ sent through the Evangelist John to the seven Churches of Asia Minor, which are called the Churches of the Apocalypse. They are written in the last book of the New Testament and of the whole of Holy Scripture, which is called the “Revelation of John.” This is a revelation of Jesus Christ to His beloved Disciple, the Evangelist John, when he was on the island of Patmos on the Lord’s Day, because he was preaching the word of God and bearing witness to Jesus Christ (Rev. ch. 1).
First of all, the phrase “Revelation of Jesus Christ” signifies the manifestation of Christ to the Evangelist John after Pentecost. We know that the Evangelist John was Christ’s beloved disciple, who was together with Peter and James on Mount Tabor and saw the glory of Christ’s divinity, who followed Christ to the Cross on Golgotha, and to whom Christ entrusted His mother, the Most Holy Theotokos, so that he might protect her. Afterwards, he saw the risen Christ, and on the day of Pentecost he received the Holy Spirit and became a member of the Body of Christ. Then, in the New Testament are included his Gospel, which was characterized as the “spiritual Gospel,” his three theological Epistles, which are called Catholic Epistles because they were sent to all the Churches, and the Book of Revelation, that is, the manifestation of Christ to him, when he was in exile on the island of Patmos.