What is the Church's traditional teaching with regard to the Apocalypse Of Saint John, also known as the Book of Revelation? Many Protestants believe it is a literal rendering of how the world will end. I think the common refrain in the NO crowd is that it is not a prophesy of the future, but is rather an allegory for past events. For example, I've heard some in the NO crowd say that number of the beast, 666, refers to the Emperor Nero, and not the future anti-Christ. Does anyone know the tradition Church teaching on this?
Apocalypse of St. John (Book of Revelation) indicates the ability to buy and sell will be reserved to people who abide by the anti-Christ globalist system and / or anti-Christ false religion. These people will have The Mark on their forehead or right hand, which allows them to buy and sell. The Mark will be the character, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name, which is “666”. The number ”666” comes from events that occurred in St. Johns own day, which
prefigures what he is prophesying to come in the “end time” or Apocalypse (which is revealed to him by Christ, for Christ speaks to him in this Book). Scriptures warns that many little anti-Christs will emerge before the main, final anti-Christ during the “end times”. Nero was one of these little anti-Christs who
prefigures the emerging, main and final anti-Christ. Nero styled himself as “son of Isis” whose cult symbol was the Greek letters chi (600), xi, (60) and the obsolete stigma (6), totaling “666.”
Going back to the Old Testament, King Solomon was a righteous man blessed by the Lord with wisdom, but he fell from grace into lust, adultery, idolatry, narcissism, egoism, mammon and power grabbing. During King Solomon’s reign, he received “six hundred and sixty six” (666) talents of gold each year from the nations as tribute and a concession to his grandness. This also
prefigures today’s developing anti-Christ globalist economic system and apostasy (which is disproportionately run and promulgated by Jєωs). The “666” Mark of the Beast will be used as a measure of the anti-Christ Jєω world order, and as a means to subjugate all people (non-Jєωs) as they must have this Mark in order to participate in the globalist economic system. There's more to this "666", but that's the basic view taught by the early Church and saints.