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worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist. The same reward was promised to the bishop of Ephesus under the symbol of the tree of life. [1]

The eternal joys of heaven are also symbolized by a white pebble ("counter" in the Douay version) upon which a new name is written. It were useless to speculate on this name since Christ says "no man knoweth but he that receiveth it." It is probably the "new name" mentioned below in chapter xix, 12. [2] Why the joys of heaven should be symbolized by a white pebble is not known. Gigot says there is probably a reference to some use of a "white stone" familiar to St. John's readers, but unknown to us. [3]

  1. See above, page 35.
  2. See below, on xix, 12.
  3. "The Apocalypse of St. John," Westminster version, page 6.