Revelation 3:14

[Assyrian412]

Does anybody have any quotes from any Church Father’s before the council of Nicaea on Revelation 3:14?

ie Justin Martyr?

Apparently this never came up during the Arian controversy, I was wondering if anybody knows otherwise.

Any help would be appreciated,

thanks and God bless.

 

[Todd977]

The website www.ccel.org has an 11-volume collection of the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers. You can access the collection from the home page by clicking on the “Early Church Fathers” under the “Research” heading. At the end of each of the volumes is an “Index of Scripture References” in the “Indexes” section. Revelation 3:14 is listed maybe ten times in the indexes of the collection, including one in Volume V. that concerns the following sentence from St Cyprian’s Elucidations, v.:
Now, He makes this word Amen one of His own names in the Apocalypse; throwing back a new character upon His frequent use of it, especially in St. John’s Gospel, and giving it as a sort of appropriation of 2 Cor. i. 20, when He calls Himself “The Amen, the faithful and true Witness.” (source)

Does that help?

 

[Assyrian412]

The website definitely does although I’m having a hard time finding what I’m looking for.

For revelation 3:14, I’m looking for what the early fathers said about Christ being the “beginning” of creation. I’ve heard that this never came up during the arian controversy or was interpreted by early fathers as speaking about Jesus’ begetting. I was wondering if anybody had any quotes for me to go off of.

 

[animalis]

Origen, On Prayer, 11, 3, Peri Pas 42, 15 f. (allusion to Rev 3:14)
Origen, Com on Romans, 8, 13, 10 (quotation)

(lust) which he had condemned after calling to his aid even “the LORD’s power,” for fear the sentence should seem human. Therefore he has trifled both with his own “spirit,” and with “the angel of the Church,”3 and with “the power of the LORD,” if he rescinded what by their counsel he had formally pronounced.
(allusion to Rev 3:14)
Tertullian. (1885). On Modesty. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), S. Thelwall (Trans.), Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen, Parts First and Second (Vol. 4, p. 90). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

A quotation and an allusion from Eusebius in his Church History. And a few allusions from Athanasius of Alexandria who was bishop after the Council.

 

[jlhargus]

The website definitely does although I’m having a hard time finding what I’m looking for.

For revelation 3:14, I’m looking for what the early fathers said about Christ being the “beginning” of creation. I’ve heard that this never came up during the arian controversy or was interpreted by early fathers as speaking about Jesus’ begetting. I was wondering if anybody had any quotes for me to go off of.

According to the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament footnote for 3:14 the beginning: The Greek term is capable of several meanings, ranging from “starting point” to “first cause” to “ruler.” Christ is the divine Alpha, or first cause, that brought all creation into being (22:13). Identical language is used of God the Father (21:6). End of quote.

[Rv22:13 **I am Alpha and Omega,the beginning and the end, the first and the last.]

[Rv21:6 And he said unto me, It is done .**I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.]

 

[Todd977]

The website definitely does although I’m having a hard time finding what I’m looking for.

For revelation 3:14, I’m looking for what the early fathers said about Christ being the “beginning” of creation. I’ve heard that this never came up during the arian controversy or was interpreted by early fathers as speaking about Jesus’ begetting. I was wondering if anybody had any quotes for me to go off of.

Since what is said in Rev 3:14 about Jesus being ‘the beginning of creation’ is basically what is said about Wisdom in Proverbs 8:22. You might have better luck looking for references in the Early Church Fathers to Proverbs 8:22, where Jesus is identified with Wisdom, such as:

Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 129.
Tertullian, Against Praxeas, Chapters 6-7.

However, I should mention that Irenaeus seems to have identified the Holy Spirit with Wisdom:
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 20.