The Seven Churches of Asia: Sardis

Once upon a time there was a queen.  Her name was Sardis.  Sardis was full, proud and beautiful. And she was elegant, yet in her boldness she often wandered in the forest away from the citadel where her lover and protector dwelt. One day, in her meanderings, she was captured by her enemies. And they bound her in a dungeon. And they starved and raped her. And they suffocated her with evils. She became thin and pale. And as the years passed she became like her enemies, so that they let her roam in their halls with no fear of her escape. And she let them do whatever they pleased with her. And she no longer remembered that she was captured and tormented. Furthermore, she did not remember or respond to her own name.  And she could not recall her story.  

 The inhabitants of this city (i.e. Sardis) had a reputation of living luxuriously and licentiously.  (The Jerome Biblical Commentary, p. 474) 

Prelude:  Black Gold

Literal Sardis was an ancient city of the kingdom of Lydia. It was the seat of an advanced society, sort of like our own. In ancient Sardis there was a stream that deposited gold nuggets from a nearby mount. These nuggets were used as currency. However, there value was always suspect because the gold had substantial impurities of silver. The metallurgists soon discovered the secret of separating the silver from the gold and this sparked an economic revolution. The coinage of Sardis was respected throughout the ancient world.  Sardis became synonymous with wealth sort of like our modern societies have developed.  And yet for all its wealth, this ancient city-state was not able to overcome the brilliance of Cyrus the Great*.  Ancient Sardis would be incorporated into the Acheamenid Empire in spite of her wealth.

When I compare ancient Sardis with our contemporary prophetic Sardis, I think of black gold.  The precious crude oil sucked out of the ground like a babe on her mother's breast.  Like the gold nuggets of ancient Sardis a barrel of crude (42 gallons) is refined to about 12 gallons of diesel, 19 gallons of gas and the rest into many other petroleum products.  We live in the oil age.  We are Petroleum Man.  This is our wealth, our black gold that we worship has sparked not only an economic revolution, but a world revolution.  The wealth of black gold has culminated in new modes of money, for example the petrodollar, as well as a crippling addiction to gas and oil which fills the insatiable greed of the elite and insatiable materialism of the masses. And yet the oil age is coming to its end.  The Black Gold is not infinite and eternal.  Empires are fighting wars for who gets what so that they can become more powerful and last longer.  Meanwhile the innocents get slaughtered on the altar of greed.  Of course all this will eventually end, but perhaps not in a way the elite envision.  Perhaps there is another way, a new beginning and a New Cyrus, a Liberator, to help tie us loose from the monster we have become.

Sardis:  Church of the Fifth Age

And to the Angel of the Church of Sardis write . . .   

The early Christian community of Sardis is not who Jesus targeted in this letter. This would be a shallow and unsubstantiated interpretation. Most of the early Church Fathers and writers considered the seven Churches of Asia to refer to that other than their literal referents. And Saint John clearly states in the first sentences that the contents of this Sacred Book refer to events that not only are occurring but will occur in the future, and that his word is prophecy.  We are Sardis.  Us.

The word origin of 'Sardis' is unknown. Perhaps it has roots in the ancient Anatolian language called Lydian. Some have tried to compare the word Sardis with the 'sardine stone' or 'sardius' which John used to describe the appearance of God in Revelation 4:3. Sardine stone is said to be synonymous with carnelian. It is a brownish red mineral used as a semi-precious gemstone. This comparison seems a bit of a stretch. Looking ahead to the next Church in line, named Philadelphia, Holzhauser said that word sardis signifies the ‘beginning of beauty’. This successor Church of Philadelphia begins with the co-reign of the Great Monarch and Angelic Pope, both of whom were predicted by saints and mystics from the Churches of Thyatira and of Pergamon. According to the incredible deeds foreseen of them, it would seem that they have not yet arrived. Now they are reduced to a medieval folk legend, sort of like how the Sacred Script is often treated. But these predictions clearly were to come in a little tribulation of the future with apocalyptic implications. In any case, I do not know from where Holzhauser makes this claim about the word Sardis signifying 'beginning of beauty'. They say that the word origin is unknown.

The Lamp-Stands and Burning Oil

And in the midst of the seven golden lampstands was one resembling the Son of man,. . .the mystery of the seven stars, which you have seen in my right hand, and of the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the Angels of the seven Churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven Churches.

In our prophetic context from the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Sardis represents the successive generations of Christians from about the time of Protestant Reformation, say around AD 1500 to roughly our generation. In the first chapter of Revelation, each Church is compared to a lamp-stand, containing oil that burns, figuring the concept of a temporal scalar quantity. The lamp-stand refers to the Church, and the burning oil refers to the time of the Church.  The oil of Sardis is almost burned out and soon Jesus will light a new lamp called Philadelphia.  The transition will be a struggle because the enemies and fossils will hate to let go of Sardis.

The Angel of the Assembly of Sardis refers to each individual successor of Saint Peter who reigned as if a star illuminating the Earth. The letter is addressed to each of them, every Pope who led, including Pope Francis, for the duration of Church of Sardis. Holzhauser calls the age of Sardis—status tribulationes—state of tribulation. Sardis has been in trouble from her birth back in the time colonialism began.  I could get into all sorts of details, for example Charles V opening the trans-Atlantic slave-trade on a massive scale.  This was really the beginning of Sardis.  And in spite of some genuine progress, I can honestly say that these troubles are finally catching up with her as well as the entire world.

To some degree the Church embraces every single living person whether baptized and practicing, or not, since Jesus died to make all new. So in a very loose manner we could say that these criticisms and admonitions sent by Jesus are also meant for the entire world. And they are all criticisms and warnings. Sardis, in relation to the other six Churches of Asia has the joint distinction with Laodicea of receiving little or no praise and encouragement from Jesus. He only sends critique and advice.

The Seven Spirits and the Name

Thus says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name which is alive, but you are dead.

Seven Spirits: The seven spirits of God refer to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, prophesied in Isaiah and filled to the full in Christ Jesus. The Spirit sent by Jesus, stimulates the Church as a whole to certain actions in which she works together with the Spirit. According to Holzhauser, the gift unique to Sardis is counsel [note: this is not to imply Catholics and others of this age did not exercise the other six gifts of the Holy Spirit]. Sardis is meant to apply wisdom in her tribulations. Thus we see that in the age of Sardis we have had three ecumenical Church Councils: Trent, Vatican I & II. We also see a marked increase in Papal teaching encyclicals, especially from the 1800's onward. In spite of this, Sardis seems lost and confused at times. In more recent times she seems naïve and shallow.

Name: God, an Angel, a Man perform this primal relation we name:  naming.  All names are first and foremost concepts, relations.  They relate the one who names to an Object or a Concept. In other words we can name objects (that which have form) or concepts (relations between two or more objects worked out by the brain).  We name concepts by surreptitiously treating them as if they were objects.  The chosen name can possibly assume some unique significance to he who names and/or to the object or concept named. Think of a name as a relation or an affinity between the one who names and the target object, or concept named.  The names God conceives and conveys tend to assume profound significance, some of which are figurative or prophetic. In this letter, Jesus uses the word 'name' three times as a theme woven through the entire letter: "You have a name that is alive . . . I will not delete your name from the Book of Life. . . I will confess your name to my Father . . ."

This to me is tantalizing. I have the referent of the name 'Sardis' defined as multiple successive generations of Christians from roughly about the time of the Protestant Revolution to our generation. Clearly, in the first context there is a play of sarcasm coming from the lips of Jesus: you have a name that is alive, i.e. Sardis, but you the referent that is the generations of Christians are dead so to speak. The relation or affinity implied in the first context is one of deprivation.

I thought about this and the fact that in the past five hundred years, almost no one that I know of (Pope, Bishops, priests, theologians, laity, included) of the Catholic Church has been able to penetrate the enigma of the Seven Churches of Asia, let alone Sardis! Sardis does not even know her own name! And if one does not even know ones own name how could one possibly understand his story?  The fact that you cannot even discern your own name conceived and communicated by Jesus demonstrates that you are lacking in insight dear Sardis! You are not even in denial because you can not recall your name as well as your story. Your name lives in Sacred Scripture, so to speak, but you do not understand for you are dead to discernment. It is stunning how shallow and immature, if not outright erroneous, our interpretations of Sacred Scripture can possibly be at times. And the modern scholars make a travesty of them. Later we will see that Holzhauser predicted that those of the next Church, named Philadelphia will be enlightened and marvel at how long they misunderstood the clear meaning of the Sacred Script.

The Things that Remain

Be vigilant, and confirm the things that remain, lest they soon die out.

The things that remain refer to the Sacraments, as well as the pure and true teachings of Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Magisterium, prayers passed down, works of mercy, practices of self-denials, what God did with Mary, the liturgy, etc. Over the past five hundred years, many Popes have been vigilant and confirmed these, to keep the fire going and the faith strong lest they die out, so to speak.  In the face of endless troubles they have done an excellent job.  I think of the likes of Pope Pius V, Leo XIII, Pius X & XI, John Paul II, etc. These have worked together with the Spirit in exercising counsel.  Cardinals, Bishops, priests, and laity have been less vigilant. And the world, as one would expect, has been more or less oblivious although there has always been some bright sparks.  At times it seems that some relations are getting better while others are getting worse.

Works in the Sight of God

For I do not find your works to be full in the sight of my God.

I could take this to mean many things. Jesus is admonishing a Church which spans centuries. Obviously the Protestant schism induced a profound deprivation in the lives of many Christians. It was like the break up of the Kingdoms of Juda and Israel in the Old Testament. Many Christian denominations and non-denominations lack some of the Sacraments, prayers, teachings, etc. They do not pray to Mary and so lose out on many graces (although Mary still helps them of course).

But this verse does not merely refer to the effects of the Protestant breach. The works of Roman Catholic Christians over the past five hundred years, and especially the past 50 to 100 years have been especially deprived and this seems to be on an exponential increase as Sardis.  For a while the Church has seem strangely deprived and closed in on itself.  It is not even clear what most current day Catholics believe anymore.  Think of the severe sexual sins, abuses and general lack of vigilance or care in both the clergy and laity, in matters of the Spirit, the dogmas, morals, the Sacraments and so forth.

And in the world.  Think of all the horrific wars, the lack of love and care of humans, abortion, slavery, the greed and looting of resources, the lust for money and power, public immodesty, irresponsible sexual and familial relations, darkening of intellectual life, horrid taste in the arts and music, public lies, propaganda, exultation and idolatry of the unholy trinity (the bank-state-corporation), idolatry of concepts and ideologies, unenlightened agricultural practices, destruction of our common home the Earth, the sweat shops and fast fashion, the terror attacks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the rise of the Jihadi terrorists, people turning on one another, ridiculous politics, millions of laws, prejudice, housing industry scams, Wall Street greed, racism, monopoly on education, and so on.  It seems that evil has mixed together and flew up to inconceivable heights of severity and refinement.  It is all more disturbing than the best independent or mainstream thinkers can even conceive.  And what to do in the face of all this awakening to the "dark side", this eruption of Hell that makes no sense???

It's just like the Wisdom Book sacred writer said of old, (or of new?):

And it was not enough for them to go astray concerning the knowledge of God, but also, while living in a great war of ignorance, they call so many and such great evils ‘peace.’  For either they sacrifice their own sons, or they make dark sacrifices, or they hold vigils full of madness,so that now they neither protect life, nor preserve a clean marriage, but one kills another through envy, or grieves him by adultery.  And all things are mixed together: blood, murder, theft and fraud, corruption and infidelity, disturbances and perjury, disorder within good things, forgetfulness of God, pollution of souls, alteration of procreation, inconstancy of marriage, unnatural adultery and homosexuality. For the worship of unspeakable idols is the cause, and the beginning and the end, of all evil.For they either act with madness while happy, or they insistently speak wild lies, or they live unjustly, or they are quick to commit perjury. (14:22-28)

In spite of this, God has been abundantly merciful and has sent Mary to Earth in order to aid the faithful.  So we see that Sardis has been an age of Marian apparitions, such as that of Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima, Medjugorje, and perhaps others that are true before God.  And God will continue to be merciful and forgive.  

Vigilance
      

Therefore, keep in mind the way that you have received and heard, and then observe it and repent.  But if you will not be vigilant, I will come to you like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

First Jesus alludes to Sacred Tradition.  Second, Jesus threatens to initiate the Tribulation, specifically the ltitle Tribulation which precedes the great one jus prior to his Second Coming. Jesus alone is worthy to break the seals and when he does, he will come like a thief. A thief comes to take away that which belongs to another and via the Tribulation Jesus will certainly take away from those of Sardis and from the world. Jesus will certainly initiate what is called the little Tribulation or minor Tribulation so as to change the Church from Sardis to Philadelphia.  Obviously I think this will begin soon, and I have thought this for a fairly long time. The official beginning of the little Tribulation will help bring the new Church of Philadelphia out of the womb. In the next letter it seems that Jesus implies the tribulation which Philadelphia has just passed.

The End of Sardis and Beginning of Philadelphia

When does Sardis end and Philadelphia begin? There is no clear temporal marker. One can argue that Philadelphia begins with the birth of the Great Monarch and Angelic Shepherd, or at the initiation of the little Tribulation in which Jesus breaks the first seal, or at the beginning of the reign of Great Monarch and Angelic Shepherd which happens at the culmination of the little Tribulation. Contrary to the date mongers, I don't think there has to be a clear date for this. Generations of Christians spring up in the midst of others. Some will be of Philadelphia, and others will die of Sardis. Those who die in sanctifying grace will be given a new name.  Also, one could think that Pope John Paul II helped prepare the way for the Church of Philadelphia, etc.  So also Pope Francis seems to be of Philadelphia, and one can witness the fossils of Sardis criticizing him this day.

In any case the above threat should be taken seriously. Let me be abundantly clear. When Jesus comes like a thief in this night we are experiencing so as to break the first seal of Revelation in the last death pangs of Sardis, it will be impossible to bear the sufferings over the span that the world goes mad and God sends his corrections, WITHOUT the help of Heaven, without the special help of our spiritual Mother Mary via the Rosary, without the abundant help of the Sacraments and Sacred Scripture.  There will be a great change via the Seals of Revelation.

A Few Names

But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. And these shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy.

Defiling one's garments refers to severe sins performed by those who have been baptized. Like the 'thief in the night', Jesus used this figure of the garments, when he preached publicly. Over the past five hundred years, there have only been relatively few who have managed never to commit a mortal sin from Baptism to death. But one can also interpret this broadly so as to include those who sincerely repent after committing severe sins and receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation or make a perfect act of Contrition. Jesus has the power, and has given the Church the power to cleanse their figurative garments after having failed, and Jesus also has the power to make Christians worthy of himself and his kingdom. And the Church helps him in this work via the Sacraments especially the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Eucharist, Magisterial teachings, prayers, etc. So one can interpret 'the few', broadly in relation to the billions over the past centuries. God receives back those who are serious about repentance, penance and a desire to change for the new: WITH OPEN ARMS.

And I believe there are non-Christians, like the Muslim brothers and sisters, etc. who walk in white, so to speak, and have a Baptism of Desire, or have made a perfect act of contrition in various manners, either explicitly or implicitly through perfect acts of love. There is certainly reason for profound care and caution in these words of Jesus, however they should not be taken to despair.  Jesus has the power to make us better and he will.

Those Who Prevail

Whoever prevails, so shall he be clothed in white vestments. And I will not delete his name from the Book of Life. And I will confess his name in the presence of my Father and in the presence of his Angels. Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.

Jesus promises rewards for those who live in the age of Sardis. Like I said previously, Sardis has had trouble from her birth. It has been a perilous journey for Sardis and any true Christian understands the difficulty of living in the world today while trying to remain faithful to Jesus.  When I think of Sardis, I think that she has an incurable wound or one who is throttled by all her enemies. And for various reasons, some clearly obvious others sort of mysterious . . . I think God has also allowed Sardis to be severely tempted by the world and by Satan and the fallen angels. Pope Leo XIII had a vision that Satan and some of the fallen angels would be released upon the Church and the world to tempt men and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich also had this understanding.  Ultimately, it is our fault.  We have brought the Church low and only God will lift her up and adorn her like never before in the incarnation of Philadelphia.  We as a whole should have and could have been more careful, vigilant, stronger, creative, and understanding of the Sacred Script and of all the warnings, etc. And one can take this advice to the heart, personally. In any case Jesus will soon initiate the little Tribulation and work a change that is seemingly inconceivable and impossible.

And for this why not be grateful.  All will be well in the end.  God's loyal love is forever and runs deep to those who are bound in the New Covenant.  God is our Father.  We his family.  He will never completely abandon us, and there will be joy and happiness even in spite of sorrow.  And there is always the prize of Heaven.  Never despair.  
   

Holzhauser's Comments on the Age of Sardis
Compare the above with Holzhauser's words below:


“This is a state of trouble, desolation, humiliation and poverty for the church. We may with just reason call it a state of purification, in which the Lord Jesus Christ has sifted His wheat, and will sift it again by wars, by seditions, by famines, by epidemics, and other scourges, by the tribulation and the poverty which He will suffer to weigh on the Latin church, by means of heretics and bad Christians, who will take from her the greater part of her bishoprics and countless monasteries, especially the wealthier ones. She is oppressed even by Catholic princes, and despoiled by means of taxes, imposts, and other extortions; so that we may say, in groaning with the prophet Jeremiah, ‘The queen of nations hath been placed under a yoke.’ The church is become poor and miserable, because she hath been calumniated by heretics, because her ministers are despised by bad Christians, who render them neither honor nor respect. By all these means God will sift his wheat; He will cast the chaff away to be burnt, and will gather the wheat into his barns. The fifth state of the church is the state of tribulation, the state of apostasy, full of miseries of every kind. Few will be spared by sword, by famine and by pestilence. We shall see kingdom rise against kingdom; empires will be divided in themselves and brought to desolation; principalities and monarchies will be overturned, and almost the whole world will sink into poverty. The greatest desolation all this in part has been accomplished ( as of 1656); a part remains yet to be accomplished. These things will come to pass by the very just judgment of God, because of the accumulated mass of our iniquities, whereof our fathers and ourselves have filled up the measure, at the moment when the mercy of Almighty God awaited our doing penance.

The fifth day of creation, on which the earth brought forth birds, fishes and beasts of the field, is a type of this epoch, wherin men, like to the birds of the air and fishes of the water, give themselves up to license, sink to the levels of the brute, and wallow in lust. In this lamentable state of the church, divine and human laws are without force, and made of light account; the doctrines and precepts of the church are despised; ecclesiastical discipline is not better observed by the priests, than political order is maintained by the people. Every one, like the beasts of the field, believes what he pleases, and doth what he wills.

The correspondence of this period with the fifth age of the ancient world, from Solomon down to the Babylonian captivity, is extremely striking. Then Israel fell into idolatry, and Judah and Benjamin were alone true to the covenant. So in the times we speak of, a large portion of the Catholic population has fallen away from the true church; while a small number only of good Christians hath survived. The Jewish state was then ruined, and was harassed and oppressed by heathens; so also has the holy Roman empire of Germany been ravaged and dismembered by the neighboring nations.

To this age has been accorded the gift of counsel; for counsel did the church need in order to counteract such fearful calamities, and uphold the Catholic faith. This gift of counsel was revealed in the Council of Trent, in the institution of the Society of Jesus, by whose exertions, learning and sanctity, the Catholic faith and the church throughout Europe, were rescued from destruction.

A type of this epoch is the Church of Sardis—a word that signifieth the beginning of beauty; for the calamities of this period will be the beginning of a better time. Divine providence has wisely ordained that the church which He will cause to endure unto the end of the world, should be moistened from time to time with the waters of tribulation, as the gardener watereth his garden in the time of draught.” --Beykirch pp. 21-3

* Cyrus the Great is a foreshadowing of the Great Monarch predicted by many Catholic Saints and Mystics.