Destination of Revelation

Destination of Revelation

By Metropolitan of Antinoi Panteleimon Lampadaris

Presentation of the in-depth study of Metropolitan of Antinoi, Panteleimon (George Lampadarios), "Destination of the Revelation" by thefulfillmentofpromise.com (August 8, 2025, 19:32)

This historical study, by Metropolitan of Antinoi, Panteleimon, which was published on the website of the Athens foundation “Mount Sinai” with contact details www.sinaimonastery.com, highlights the historicity of the book of Revelation, which was given to the ‘servants of God’, contemporaries of John, and not to the world.

This meticulous study by Metropolitan Panteleimon of Antinoi, translated from Greek into English, illuminates how first-century Asia Minor shaped the matrix of Christian Apocalypse. The assessment of administrative structures, trade networks, political rivalries, local cults, Jewish synagogues, and governmental (satanic) persecutions against the confession of the early Church equips scholars to interpret the book of Revelation as a first-century intra-ecclesiastical code where the social and historical context as well as the theological message are inextricably linked, culminating in the imminent Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for the early church. The "purpose of Revelation" was to strengthen ‘the servants of God’ for faithful witness against imperial pretension and cultural seduction of their time and to awaken them to what they were about to face in their generation.

Modern confessors of faith in the Savior Jesus Christ, the true God and giver of immortality, are urged by historical events to remain faithful and undefiled in the face of modern anti-Christian governmental claims and religious and cultural seductions.

Flee from religions

Christ is our life

DESTINATION OF THE REVELATION

1. Opening Thesis

The sacred Apocalypse of the holy, glorious Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian purports to be a circular letter addressed to the Christian communities of seven Hellenic cities in Asia Minor.

2. Administrative Divisions of Asia Minor ca. 100 CE

Towards the close of the 1ˢᵗ century AD, Asia Minor appears to have been divided into six provinces:

1. Asia,

2. Bithynia (including Pontus),

3. Galatia,

4. Cappadocia,

5. Cilicia, and

6. Lycia (including Pamphylia).

The province of Asia was created in 129 BC out of the territory bequeathed to the Roman Senate by Attalus III, last king of Pergamon. Ultimately it encompassed Mysia, Lydia, and Caria, plus the three Phrygian jurisdictions of Kibyra, Apamea, and Synnada, in addition to a few Aegean islands off the western coast. Bounded on the north by Bithynia, on the east by Galatia, on the south by Lycia, and on the west by the Aegean Sea, the province stretched inland roughly 300 miles and attained a maximum length of about 260 miles.

3. “Asia” in the Septuagint and the New Testament

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) the word “Asia” appears only in the Books of the Maccabees, where it designates territories ruled by the Seleucid dynasty. In the New Testament, however—under the Roman Empire—the situation differs. “Asia” is mentioned by Luke the Evangelist, by Paul, by Peter, and by John. The province remained a proconsular district because it had been assigned to the Senate by Augustus in 27 AD and was therefore governed by a proconsul from the time of Diocletian onward.

In Acts the term “Phrygia” is distinguished from “Asia” and paired with Pamphylia; but “Phrygia” in those passages likely refers to the non-Asiatic portion of Phrygia (Acts 16:6; 18:23). Whatever nuances Luke and Paul may have intended, the Apostle Peter certainly refers to the province of Asia in 1 Peter 1:1. Revelation 1:4 likewise counts Western Phrygia within “Asia” because the populous Laodicean region belonged administratively under the jurisdiction of the Kibyrians[1]

4. Why Seven Cities?

If Revelation was sent to Roman Asia, it was natural that it be delivered first to the province’s foremost cities. Asia boasted many affluent urban centers. Pliny lists nine distinguished towns—Adramyttium, Alabanda, Apamea, Ephesus, Laodicea, Pergamon, Sardis, Smyrna, and Synnada—to which we must add Cyzicus, Philomelium, and Tralles. Scholars estimate anywhere from 500 to 1,000 cities in total. Aristides of Smyrna remarks that no other province in the 2ᵈ century AD possessed so many cities, nor could the great cities of other provinces compare with those of Asia.

Numismatic and epigraphic evidence reveals cordial rivalry among the great cities. “First and greatest metropolis of Asia,” boasted Ephesus; Smyrna claimed to be “metropolis and first of Asia in beauty and size, exceedingly splendid”; Pergamon, the old capital, styled itself likewise a “first metropolis.” Cyzicus, Laodicea, Sardis, Synnada, and Tralles also employed the title “metropolis.” Even Magnesia, though more modest, bills itself on its coins as the province’s seventh city.

Against this backdrop it is not easy to explain why Revelation chooses precisely seven cities, including two comparatively small ones—Thyatira and Philadelphia—while omitting Tralles, Magnesia, Hierapolis, Colossae, Alexandria Troas, Adramyttium, Miletus, Halicarnassus, Dorylaeum, and Synnada. Some of these towns certainly possessed Christian communities by the end of the 1ˢᵗ century CE: under Trajan, Ignatius of Antioch addressed letters to the churches of Tralles and Magnesia; under Nero, Paul tarried in Troas and acknowledged the church in Laodicea and Christians in Hierapolis.

True, the first three cities in John’s list—Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon—were universally acknowledged as “first of Asia,” and they stand in the order one would naturally observe when traveling from Ephesus. The three were also linked by a major Roman road. Yet why, from Pergamon, does the trajectory veer inland to Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia instead of proceeding to coastal Cyzicus or Troas? The most plausible answer is that all seven cities lie upon a single route that connected the most populous, prosperous, and strategically important districts of the province—the west-central corridor. Planted in these seven hubs, the Apocalypse would radiate to neighboring towns and, through them, to the entire province. One road led from Pergamon to Adramyttium and Troas, another directly to Cyzicus; other arteries linked Philadelphia with Dorylaeum, Laodicea with Apamea, Synnada, and Kibyra. From Ephesus a great road ran through Magnesia, Tralles, and Laodicea, intersected Galatia and Cappadocia, and reached the Euphrates. Revelation thus outlines a branching itinerary whereby the book might circulate through all the churches of the province and beyond.

Some accounts of the cities to which the book was sent are given in Ramsey's book. Here it is sufficient to place ourselves before the general conditions of life into which Christianity entered, when it was founded in the cities of Asia.

5. City Profiles

5.1 Ephesus

In Ephesus, by tradition, the Proconsul disembarked upon entering the Province, and the city was considered the seat of the provincial governor. The city preserved a degree of municipal autonomy and boasted an energetic political life. In the Roman period citizens were divided into five (5) tribes (φ υ λ έ ς), each further subdivided into “χ ι λ ι α σ τ ύ ε ς” (groups of one thousand each)[2]. Three assemblies governed local affairs: (a) the ‘council’, numbering 450 members in 104 AD, who were probably elected in equal numbers from each tribe, (b) the ‘senate’, which seems to have had the financial public worship or possibly was concerned with the management of the public economy, and the care of public monuments; and (c) the most popular assembly the ‘municipal church’. Each assembly had its own secretary. The town clerk wielded authority impressive enough to pacify a riotous mob (Acts 19:35).

Magic arts flourished in Ephesus, as did various Gnostic sects. The Apostle John is said to have lived and died there. The commercial life of Ephesus was no less important than its local politics. The city's dominance over the seas was threatened by the inundation of its harbor by silt, but Strabo reports that the city grew day by day, and that Asia within the Taurus had no market to compare with it. Foreign trade brought it into contact with Greece, Egypt, and Spain, and eastward with the Euphrates and the Orient. Among the special products were marble, purple, oil, and the handicrafts of gold, silver, and copper. Its slaves brought a good price in the Roman market. During the 1st century the city was surrounded by persons who practiced the profession of philosopher or orator, and added to its reputation the title of 'seat of learning'. According to Eusebius, Ephesus is the scene of the dialogue of Saint Justin the Philosopher and Martyr with Tryphon, and probably also the place where he was initiated into Stoic Peripatetic and Platonic philosophy. Art was not overlooked in Ephesus either. The city was a famous school of sculpture and architecture; the great theater that survived testifies to the passion of the citizens for ancient drama. (Greek culture)

"But religion was the supreme power in Ephesus, as in all the cities of Asia. The cult of the Ephesian Artemis was a legacy from pre-Hellenic times, and possessed all the attractions which unite a people in a traditional or local cult. The Artemision (temple) really dominated the whole city, as the Parthenon (temple) dominated Athens. It was situated in the field outside the Magnesia gate of Ephesus. It was, after all, the chief glory of the place, and life in Ephesus was connected at every point with the divinity of the city—the "Protothronia," as it was called according to Pausanias. The Artemision was the priestly college, where the priesthood was ordained, according to which a new citizen was admitted to the tribe and the group of thousands (χ ι λ ι α σ τ ύ α). In the Ephesian calendar, the month of spring was called “Α ρ τ ε μ ι σ ώ ν” (Artemison) in honor of Artemis, and during this month the city celebrated an annual festival in honor of the goddess, the “Artemisia”. During the great festival, a sacred chariot, “the sacred α π ή ν η” (type of a chariot pulled by two mules), carried the effigy of Artemis throughout the city. The great temple gathered an army of officials, it had the overseers (“ν ε ω π ο ί α ι” ‘neopoiai are to act as custodians and caretakers of the offerings), the “guardians”, the “theologians” and “hymnists”, the crowds of “hierodouls” (sacred prostitutes), the priests and priestesses. A petitionary inscription from the year 104 AD has been preserved, according to which a citizen pleads for the preservation of the cult of the goddess Artemis, provoking a reaction against Christianity, which from the beginning was considered a serious opponent of the Ephesian cult. It is worth noting that the cult of the Emperors “Augusti” (the Sevastoi) was not offered to the people of Ephesus in this light, and was still considered an ally to the local religion. A statue of Augustus was placed in the precincts of the Artemisium, and Ephesus proudly served as “ν ε ο κ ώ ρ ο ς” (neōkoros means “temple-warden city”) as well as of its own goddess, Artemis. Indeed, there is ample evidence that in the cities of Asia in general the cult of Caesar had become welcome and accepted along with the local deities.

5.2 Smyrna

Smyrna, the new city of the Succession, (Alexander’s Diadochoi) claimed primacy in beauty. Surrounded by a long bay that opened a remarkable harbor, and crowned with a citadel, its natural advantages surpassed in some respects those of Ephesus. The city was remarkable for its streets, public buildings, which included a library, an conservatory, a theater, a stadium, and a temple of Homer (the “Homerion”). Smyrna’s relations with Rome were excellent, and its devotion was recognized. It was an “urbs libera” (=free city) and a center of “conventus”, and from 26 AD. possessor of a temple, the "Sebastion" (imperial temple), erected in honor of the Emperor Tiberius, a privilege which Ephesus at that time vainly aspired to acquire, for a second temple was built in Smyrna during the reign of Hadrian, and a third under Septimius Severus. If Smyrna did not claim a special cult, it could boast of a number of temples, such as that of the local Zeus. The public games at Smyrna were noted for their grandeur, and it was one of the cities where periodic festivals were organized under the authority of the "Koinon of Asia" in honor of Augustus. In such circumstances the Christians would undoubtedly be in a difficult position, for a crowd immersed in business and pleasure, devoted to local worship, and proud of their devotion to Rome and the Emperor, would under no circumstances look upon them with favor.

5.3 Pergamon

Pergamon, the old capital of the Attalids, still claimed a position of hegemony, to the right of its ancient glory. The position it held was suitable for maintaining the character of a leader. Its plain was one of the richest in Mysia, and supplied the markets of the city, the local market of skins "δ ι φ θ έ ρ α ι" (diphtherai =prepared hides, pieces of leather; especially as writing material ) prepared for the use of the pergamines. But the fame of Pergamon was based on the religiosity of the city. Local deities, such as Zeus the Savior, Athena the Victorious, Dionysus the Asymmetries, Asclepius the Savior, dominated the city. Great offerings were made to Asclepius, in whose temple a school of medicine had been erected, which attracted patients from all parts. But, during the Roman period the pride of the city was its devotion to the worship of the Emperors “τ ω ν  Σ ε β α σ τ ώ ν” (Augusti). From the time of Augustus, the coins of Pergamum bore the inscription “To the Divine Senate, the Goddess Roma, the Divine Augustus.” The inscriptions proclaim the honor of the city that it was the first in all of Asia to erect a temple to Augustus and, as it was the first, it continued to be the main seat of the Emperor’s worship in Asia. In the time of Hadrian, it had already been “neokoros” (temple-warden city)  twice, and an inscription from the reign of Trajan states: “hymn-singers of the god Sebastus (Augustus) and the goddess Rome”. The local priest of Zeus was proud to be a priest of Augustus. In the eyes of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, this new cult was the crown of the sin of Pergamum; the city that introduced the cult of Augustus into Asia was the residence and throne of Satan, who reigned from the acropolis.

5.4 Thyatira

Thyatira is situated in an open plain, between hills and without a citadel. Thyatira had no history that reached beyond the times of the Seleucids, who erected a city of a Macedonian colony. The coins of Thyatira were not distinguished by any special cult and the inscriptions mention only the local hero Tyrimnos, or his deified counterpart, the Tyrimnian Apollo (he was a combination of the Sun god and the god Apollo and was the main god of the city, in whose honor festive events were held the “Τ υ ρ ί μ ν ε ι α»), and Artemis who bears the epithet 'Voreiteni'. There is no evidence that Thyatira was a 'neokoros' of Augustus. Outside the city there was a temple, the “Sambatheon” and it has been suggested, with some probability, that this person is identified with the prophetess Jezebel of Revelation ch. 2, verse 20. “The most important thing about Thyatira is the trade of its guilds, known as “works”, or as “symbioses”, “coloborations” and “systems”. In some cities of Asia these guilds supplemented the “millenias” into which the “tribes” were divided, and Thyatira was one of them. In Thyatira there were guilds of bakers, potters, bronze workers, tanners, leather workers, wool and flax workers, tailors and dyers. Wool processors and dyers were probably more numerous, for the manufacture and dyeing of woolen goods was a specialty of the Lydians, among whom Thyatira excelled. To these guilds many of the Christians would have belonged, and their connection with them will raise difficult questions. One of the inscriptions mentions an honor voted by the dyers' guild for the priest of the ancient hero-god Tyrimnos. On these occasions what place should the Christian members of the guild take? Also, on other occasions the members of the guilds took part in dinners which had a sacrificial character and often ended in debauchery and debauchery. In Thyatira, the question: whether or not Christians took part in the guild festivals, becomes increasingly intense, and the message of the Holy Revelation to Thyatira is directed towards this.

5.5 Sardis

Sardis, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, and in the Persian period the seat of a satrap, is now under the Romans a shadow of its former grandeur. It dominated the great plain of Hermos, and was situated at the crossroads of the roads to Thyatira, Smyrna, and Laodicea, and could therefore not be despised. The city was shattered in the great earthquake of A.D. 17, but with the aid of Tiberius it was rebuilt from the ruins. The gratitude of the Sardians was manifested by a special devotion to the Emperor. In A.D. 26, together with Pergamum, Smyrna, and Ephesus, a temple was erected in honor of Sebastus. The main local cult was that of Cybele-Artemis, who was called ‘maiden’ (Κ ό ρ η), but the name of the Lydian Zeus also appears on the coins; Dionysus, Athena, Aphrodite, the local heroes Tmolus (mountain god) and Hermus, were also honored in Sardis. The Christian Church probably did not face any danger in Sardis, but the atmosphere in an old pagan city, burdened with the immoral traditions of eight centuries, was not conducive to the growth of its spiritual life.

5.6 Philadelphia

Philadelphia, according to Strabo, was an earthquake-stricken city. It was founded by Attalus II Philadelphus, king of Pergamum (159-138 BC). Along with Sardis, at the time of the earthquake, Philadelphia shared in the generosity of the Emperor. Under the Emperors Caligula and Claudius it was called ‘Neocaesarea’, and under the Flavian Emperors ‘Flavia’. The city was situated on the road from Smyrna to the highlands and plateau of central Asia Minor. Thus, the Church in Philadelphia had opportunities to spread the Gospel inland, and it seems to have taken advantage of this opportunity. (Rev 3:8)

5.7 Laodicea

Laodicea specialized in wool processing. The wealth of the Laodiceans as a commercial society, and the unique spirit of independence are shown by their refusal of imperial aid after the earthquake of 60 AD. It is evident that the Christians of Laodicea shared with their compatriots, and raised it to the sphere of their relationships with God and Christ. Their commercial preoccupation saved them from persecution, but at the expense, as in Sardis, of the life of the Spirit. It was to this decline of Christian life in the Churches of the Lycus Valley (including Hierapolis and Colossae), that the apocalyptic message was addressed. The hot springs of Hierapolis are not drinkable, so Saint John teaches that Christ will reject those who are lukewarm in faith (will vomit the lukewarm from His mouth)” (Rev 3:16).

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Notes

[1] Kibyra: ancient Greek city in southwestern Turkey. It was the city of gladiators. Together with the neighboring cities of Βubona (also, Bubona was a minor Roman deity named only by Augustinos), Βalvoura and Oinoanda, they formed the so-called "Kibirian Tetrapolis". Ιn honor of Tiberius, Kibyra was renamed "Caesarea Kibyra"

[2] The basis of the polity was the division of the inhabitants of Ephesus into five tribes [Ephesians, Teians (citizens of Teos), Carinaeans, Euonymians, Βembinaeans), with subdivisions of the citizens into ‘thousandths’ “χ ι λ ι α σ τ ύ ε ς” (groups of one thousand each). Approximately 50 “χ ι λ ι α σ τ ύ ε ς” are attested, corresponding to the five original tribes and the three that were created during the Roman period (Sebastian, Hadrianian and Antonianian).

End of Translation and Notes

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