Fifth installment of the Book of Revelation Unveiled, Hosted by InHisWord2 & Apocryphile1970. Please watch, Share, Comment, Rate & Subscribe! The Book of Revelation, often known simply as Revelation or The Apocalypse, is the final book of the New Testament and occupies a central place in Christian eschatology. Written in Koine Greek, its title is derived from the first word of the text, apokalypsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon, although there are short apocalyptic passages in various places in the Gospels and the Epistles. The author names himself in the text as "John", but his precise identity remains a point of academic debate. Evidence for identifying the author as John the Apostle comes from second-century writers such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Melito the bishop of Sardis, and Clement of Alexandria and the Muratorian fragment. Other scholars oppose this view, proposing that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Jewish Christian prophet. The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the emperor Domitian (81-96 CE), and the external and internal evidence tends to confirm this. The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic.[5] It begins with John, on the island of Patmos (an island in the Aegean), addressing a letter to the "seven churches of Asia" (meaning Asia Minor). He then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Whore of Babylon and the Beast, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The obscure and extravagant imagery has led to a wide variety of interpretations: historicist interpretations see in Revelation a broad view of history; preterist interpretations treat Revelation as mostly referring to the events of the apostolic era (1st century), or, at the latest, the fall of the Roman Empire; futurists believe that Revelation describes future events; and idealist or symbolic interpretations consider that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events, but is an allegory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil. Revelation was the last of book to be accepted into the Christian biblical canon, and even at the present day some Nestorian churches reject it. It was tainted because the heretical sect of the Montanists relied on it and doubts were raised over its Jewishness and authorship, and it was not until 419 that it was included in the canon. Doubts resurfaced during the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther calling it "neither apostolic nor prophetic", while it was the only New Testament book on which John Calvin did not write a commentary. Even today, it is the only New Testament work not read in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, though it is included in Catholic and Protestant liturgies. There are approximately 230 Greek manuscripts of Revelation. The major manuscripts are the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (5th century), and Codex Ephraemi (5th century). In addition, there are numerous papyri, especially that of p47 (3rd century); the minuscules (8th to 10th century), plus fragmentary quotations in the Church fathers of the 2nd to 5th centuries) and the 6th century Greek commentary on Revelation by Andreas.

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