The Preface to the Bible of edition 1813 contains an interesting chronology, unique in its kind and, as it seems, aiming to point to the year 2025 as the year of arrival of Kingdom of Sacred Russia and White Tsar. It says:
“Whereupon we reckon from Adam to Christ 3974 years, 6 months and 10 days. And from the birth of Christ to this year 1814 years. Then the full sum and number of years from the beginning of the world to this year is 5788 years 6 months 10 days.”
That is, according to this layout, it seems that 1814 was the 5788th year from the creation of the world. Accordingly, the current 2023 will correspond to 5998-5999. Accordingly, the next two years will be the time of completion of the sixth and final millennium, followed by the Great Change.
The seventh, Sabbatical thousand years is coming. Some associate with this change the end of the world, others the coming of the “kingdom of the people of the saints” of which Daniel writes. But we are told that we do not know the day and hour of the end of the world. But many prophecies are devoted to the coming of the kingdom of the Forerunner. It seems to me that the understanding of the question by the Bible publishers (and, accordingly, by the Holy Synod) in 1813 voluntarily or involuntarily points to this promised change.
I emphasize the uniqueness of the chronology used in the 1813 Bible. Its uniqueness is twofold. First, it does not assert itself as having its beginning from the creation of the world. It keeps its account “from Adam” without specifying from what time, from what period in Adam's life. Secondly, this chronology, as it seems, is unique and differs from the officially accepted in Russia chronology and Byzantium, and the Jewish calculus of chronology.
“The second textual prophecy represented in this same icon is the prophecy about the time of the coming of the White King. It is a simple prophecy, direct and clear, but no one has been able to understand it until now:
“The year 5786 will come on the throne Imashe the blessed one who was born on the day of the holy icon of this holy day will come Dodar of the saints as king two times his name is Dodar of the saints. Amen.”
This prophecy was given specifically concerning the White King - no one else. The Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God is celebrated at the end of September (see church or lunar calendar). But what about the year? What does this number mean? This mysterious 5786? What kind of year is it? By what calendar should it be reckoned? Thousands of people read the prophecy and wondered - what kind of year is this? But on the way to the answer lay the slumbering anti-Semitism of many interpreters - and it has not gone anywhere, it still blinds - as any hatred blinds a person.
There is only one calendar that was used in the church at the time along with the Byzantine calendar - it was the Jewish calendar - from the creation of the world. The Byzantine also kept count from the Creation of the World, but the dating of the Byzantine and Hebrew calendars differed. That the Jewish calendar was well known in Russia and was used by scribes, churchmen there are many evidences. I will cite at least some of them.
Several calendar works have been preserved, apparently of East Slavic origin: these are the Doctrine of the Lunnicu translated from the Judean books (the oldest list is Obol.66, fol. 2-3 ob.) and the “Lunnicu Jerusalem translation” (in Q.XVII.133 of the Theology of the Index Paschalia). A.I. Sobolevsky points to another list of the Doctrine of the Lunnik of Western Russian origin (Vil.272). In these and in a number of other widespread collections the Jewish chronology was given. This was a kind of sign of professionalism of the scribe, who could hide something and reveal it. This is what Abel resorts to.
Looking now at the Hebrew calendar:
“5786 (Hebrew: ה תשפ ו, short for: תשפ ו) is the Jewish year that will begin on the evening of September 23, 2025 and end on September 11, 2026. There will be 354 days in this year.”
Thus in the 18th century the secret seer Abel pointed to 2025 as the year of the appearance of the White King. And no other calendar in principle is inapplicable here, as both on the Byzantine and on the old Slavic calendar the 5786th year passed many centuries before Abel was even born!
It turns out that the Jewish calendar is 214 years longer than the chronology used in the Russian Bible in 1813. I will not argue here and assert - which chronology is more accurate. There are a number of other chronologies that are different from this one, and I do not undertake to judge between them. I'm not even going to judge whether 2025 is the end of 6000 years. It's not about the date of creation, it's about the fact that the 1813 Bible reflected a prophetic promise of radical change associated with the coming of 2025.
By the way, Adam lived 930 years, confirming the truth of the prophecy that God's one day is like a thousand years. Adam didn't make it to the end of his first day. Whatever year of Adam (presumably) the various chronologies may have counted from, they all take into account the prophetic dynamics of the Holy Scriptures, where the 6 days of creation (as well as the 6 millennia of history) give way to the Seventh Day - the day of rest and rest.
Abel the seer pointed to the year 2025 as the year of this kind of change - using Jewish chronology as a tool (and as a minimal cipher). The publishers of the Bible of 1813 - contemporaries of the mystery-visionary Abel (Vasily Vasiliev) - could not have been completely unaware of Abel - this “royal prophet”. The burning of Moscow in 1812 (in fulfillment of his famous prophecy) restored Abel's freedom and brought even some fame. Perhaps the publishers of the Bible in 1813 took into account the most important prophecy, to which Abel pointed - the prophecy about 2025. But it was obviously very difficult to tell - especially given the fickle attitude of the authorities toward Abel. But the publishers of the Bible did not doubt that with the end of the 6,000 thousand years “from Abel” comes the Great Change: although the interpretation of the Sabbath year (at the end of 6,000 years) remains different among different theologians and church fathers, the coming of a qualitatively different time is emphasized by all of them.
However, I do not exclude that the Bible publishers of 1813 and the Holy Synod of that time could have had other reasons (besides Abel's prophecies) to point to the year 2025. Perhaps you have some ideas, perhaps something else will be revealed to us soon.
