By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou
Sunday, August 9th 2026
Sunday, August 9th 2026
Today we will examine the Letter that Christ sent, through John the Theologian and Evangelist, to the Bishop of the Church of Thyatira. It is the fourth letter in the Book of Revelation, in the order in which they appear. It reads:
“And to the angel of the Church in Thyatira write: These things says the Son of God, whose eyes are like a flame of fire and whose feet are like fine brass. I know your works, your love, your faith, your service to the brethren, and your patience, and that your latter works are greater than the first. Nevertheless, I have something against you: you allow Jezebel, your wife, who claims to be a prophetess, to teach and lead My servants astray, so that they commit fornication and eat meat sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not wish to repent of her fornication. Therefore, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, together with those who commit adultery with her, and they will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of their deeds. And I will strike her children with death, and all the Churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts of men, and I will repay each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, the faithful who do not follow this teaching, those who have not learned the depths of Satan, as her followers call them, I will impose no further burden. Nevertheless, hold firmly to what you have until I come. And to whoever conquers and keeps My works until the end, I will give authority from My Father, and he will rule them with an iron rod and shatter them like earthen vessels. I will also give him the morning star. Whoever has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches” (Rev. 2:18–29).
The city of Thyatira was a Lydian city, that is, a city in Lydia. It was founded by Seleucus I and was situated southwest of Pergamum. It was a city of craftsmen and merchants, but it was the least prominent of the cities of Asia Minor mentioned in the Book of Revelation. In this Letter, Christ reveals Himself more fully, saying that He is “the Son of God,” whose eyes are “like a flame of fire” and whose feet are like “fine brass.”
Christ is the Son of God according to His divine nature, but He is also man according to His human nature. He is therefore Christ, the God-man. The fact that His eyes are “like a flame of fire” means that He illumines the righteous and burns the sinners. He acts according to the condition of each person: He is illuminating for the righteous and consuming for sinners. His feet, meanwhile, are like fine brass. The word halkolibanon (fine brass) appears for the first time in the Book of Revelation. It refers primarily to an alloy of metals, a mixture of copper and gold, which shines intensely when heated in a furnace. It may also refer to copper and frankincense. These signify the divinity and humanity of Christ, His divine power and purity, as well as the steadfastness and union of the divine and human natures in Christ. The term also signifies the fragrance of Christ. This is connected with what follows.
Christ sees all the works of the Bishop of Thyatira and specifies them: love, faith, service, and patience, as well as his latter works, which are greater than the first. These are great virtues of this Bishop. Love refers to God; faith is the acceptance of all that has been revealed by God; and service is the offering of assistance to the members of the Church. Here, therefore, we see that this Bishop is continually progressing in his spiritual life. It is not enough for someone to begin his spiritual life and ministry well, nor merely to maintain them properly; he must increase in them. This is the most difficult and the most fruitful course. It requires constant struggle and growth in the spiritual life. A person may begin well, but easily become discouraged and come to a standstill.
Despite the Bishop’s good works, Christ also has “a few things” against him: he allows his wife, Jezebel, who presents herself as a prophetess, to lead His servants astray, so that they commit fornication and eat food sacrificed to idols. According to the commentators, Jezebel here refers to the heresy of the Nicolaitans, which, as we mentioned in the previous Letter, was flourishing at that time. In the Old Testament, Jezebel was the wife of Ahab, who led the people of Israel into idolatry and was opposed by the Prophet Elijah. The new Jezebel is the Gnostic heresy of the Nicolaitans, which presents itself as prophetic and teaches the servants of God to commit fornication and eat food sacrificed to idols.
This false teaching, propagated by false prophets, also prevails in many circles today. It combines the pure teaching of Christ, revealed through the Prophets, the Apostles, and the Fathers, with hedonism, which is, in reality, the philosophy of Epicurus: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). What is most alarming, however, is that in our own days this teaching is being presented as a new theology, to the detriment of the theology of the saints. Nevertheless, the Bishop of Thyatira is not rebuked because he follows this teaching, but because he does not oppose it—“you allow your wife Jezebel”—for he allows this heresy to flourish. It is therefore evident here that it is not enough merely to refrain from committing sin or teaching others to sin; we must also oppose it. The teaching of Christ and the Church has both a therapeutic and a polemic character, and these two elements are interconnected.
Christ assures us that He watches over the Church. The Church belongs to Him, and He does not tolerate such situations. This is why He writes that these heretics do not wish to repent, despite the time He gave them, and that He will therefore intervene through illness and death. God instructs and disciplines, granting time for repentance, but in the end He intervenes decisively for the salvation of Christians and the purity of the Church, which is His Body. This means that some of the illnesses we experience, apart from the corruptibility of our bodies, also arise from the consequences of sin, and that God disciplines us in various ways for our salvation.
The important point here is that this falsely named knowledge of the Nicolaitan heresy is called satanic, because those who follow it “have not known the depths of Satan.” In other words, it is satanic knowledge, and, unfortunately, they lack the theological and spiritual criteria needed to recognize it. Christ also exhorts the faithful to preserve what they have until He comes. The heretics are therefore moved by the devil without knowing his depths, and here they are warned to repent. The faithful, too, must preserve the faith of Christ in this sinful age.
Nevertheless, Christ assures us that whoever remains faithful to the end will be given authority over the nations and will share in the authority and power of Christ. This is a spiritual authority. He will also be given “the morning star.” Much has been written about “the morning star,” but the principal interpretation is that, just as the morning star signifies the end of the night and heralds the coming of day, so too the person who conquers Satan will attain the illumination of the heart and participate in the dawning of the new age, the Kingdom of God.
We live in the night of the passions and of sin, and we are called to live “as children of light,” living with Christ, who is the Light of the world.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
