The Book of Revelation-step by step

[patrick457]

10:1-7: And I saw another mighty Angel come down out of Heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire; and he had in his hand a little scroll open.

And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the Earth; and he cried with a great voice, as a lion roars; and when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from Heaven saying: “Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and do not write them down!”

And the Angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the Earth lifted up his right hand to Heaven, and swore by Him who lives to the ages of ages, who created Heaven and the things that are in it, and the Earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will be delay no longer; but in the days of the voice of the seventh Angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God shall be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.
http://www.pitts.emory.edu/woodcuts/1522Bibl1-2/00006666.jpg
And the Angel lifted up his right hand to Heaven, and swore by Him who lives to the ages of ages…

DEFINITIONS:

Another mighty Angel: cf. Rev. 5:2, where the Angel John had seen in Heaven is also described as ‘mighty’. Like that Angel in chapter 5, the Angel seen here is also introduced in connection with a scroll.

The rainbow was upon his head, and his face was like the sun: cf. Rev. 1:16, where the face of the One like a Son of Man is also described as being like the sun (compare Matt. 17:2); and 4:3, where an emerald-like rainbow was described as encircling the Throne of God. Due to this aura of divinity, some commentators identify this Angel either as Jesus or the power of God upon the sea and the earth.

And he cried with a great voice, as a lion roars: cf. Isaiah 31:4; Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8.

A little scroll (Greek: biblaridion): Most commentators hesitate to identify the two scrolls because the first was called simply “a scroll” or “book” (Greek biblion, 5:1), while this one is a little scroll (verse 1, 9, 10).

Moreover, John mentions it as if seeing it for the first time (v. 2), however, later (v. 8) he is told to take the scroll (Greek to biblion) from the Angel’s hand, indicating that the terms “scroll” and “little scroll” are used interchangeably. Perhaps the scroll is “little” only in relation to the gigantic Angel who holds it. Its most conspicuous characteristic is that it lies open in the Angel’s hand.

Thus, some conclude the (now-open) scroll John will take from the Angel’s hand in this chapter is none other than the (then-sealed) scroll taken by the Lamb in chapter 5. Just as in chapter 5 the Lamb took the scroll in the presence of a mighty Angel in order to open it, John must now take the open scroll from a mighty Angel’s hand in order for the plan of God to run its course.

And the Angel…lifted up his right hand to Heaven, and swore by Him who lives to the ages of ages…that there will be delay no longer: cf. Deuteronomy 32:40; Daniel 12:7; Ezekiel 12:28.

As He declared to His servants the prophets: cf. Amos 3:7; Rom 16:25.

COMMENTARIES (part 1):

1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

angel. The Lord, the Angel of the great counsel (Isaiah 9:6), comes down from Heaven clothed with a cloud of flesh; as also Isaiah says, “Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt (Isaiah 19:1).”

rainbow. That is, the promise of propitiation abiding around the good.

face. When the face of the Lord becomes bright, that is, when the knowledge of Him is manifested by the glory of the resurrection, His feet which are to preach glad tidings upon the mountains, and proclaim peace, are illumined with the fire of the Holy Spirit and are made firm like a pillar, for “James, Cephas, and John, seemed to be pillars (Galatians 2:9),” of the Church.

book. This is the book which was mentioned above, and which was closed by a long-continued covering, and was at last unfastened by the grace of the Lord, that, as the Prophet says, even “the deaf might hear the words of the book (Isaiah 29:18).” And with reason is His face as the sun, because He now carries an open book.

earth. The preaching of the Christian faith is extended by land and sea. But, allegorically, the stronger members are placed in the greater dangers, the others in such as are suited to them. For God “does not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able (1 Corinthians 10:13).”

thunders. When the Lord proclaims mightily, the Church also, filled with sevenfold grace, lifts up her voice to preach. For “the lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who will not prophecy? (Amos 3:8)” seeing that the seven thunders of which he is speaking are the same as the seven trumpets.

Seal. Neither do thou exhibit to all indiscriminately the mysteries of the Christian faith, lest they become of low esteem; nor close them to the good, lest they be entirely hidden. And for the same reason he heard at a later time, “Seal not the words of this prophesy (Rev. 22:10).” Both these are comprised in a single verse in Daniel, for it is said to him by the Angel, “seal the book, and shut up the words even unto the time appointed (Daniel 12:4).”

hand. The Angel swears by Him who lives forever, while Christ, who comes in the Father’s Name, confirms the words of His own unchangeable truth, saying, “*Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away *(Matthew 24:35).”

created. He who stands on the sea and on the Earth, and stretches forth his hand to Heaven, swears fitly by the Creator of the Heaven, the Earth, and the sea.

no longer. Assuredly, as the Psalmist says, “*The time of the godly will be forever *(Ps. 36 [37]:18).” But the changeable variety of secular times will cease at the last trumpet, for “*the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall arise incorrupt *(1 Cor. 15:52),” and “*their inheritance shall be forever *(Ps. 36 [37]:18).”

mystery. The mystery of the Gospel which is now preached will then be finished, when “*the ungodly shall go into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life *(Matt. 25:46).”

2.) From the Haydock Commentary:

I saw another mighty Angel. Some expound it of Christ himself: others of an Angel, representing the power of God over the sea and land. (Witham)

Seven thunders uttered their voice, to signify the following approaching evils, which St. John is ordered not to write down, though they were shown to him; and if he was not to write them, even in such a mystical and prophetical manner as he wrote other things, who can pretend to know any thing of them? (Witham)

And when the seven thunders had, etc. St. John is not permitted to write, but ordered to seal up the things which the seven thunders had spoken; which circumstance seems to insinuate, that the things spoken by the seven thunders were seven particulars of the Antichrist’s persecution, as the word thunder is generally used in the Apocalypse to denote some disaster; and these seven particulars being most dreadful and severe, the Almighty chose to have them sealed up, or kept concealed, lest the foreknowledge of them should too much terrify and damp the human mind.

The Angel…swore…that time shall be no longer. This seems to favour very much the exposition of those interpreters who think that all these things are not to be fulfilled till some short time before the end of the world. Others (of which see Alcazar, etc.) take this to be a prediction of the ruin and destruction of the Jews, particularly under the emperor Hadrian. Others (see the bishop of Meaux) understands by this, that the time was approaching when God, by his judgments, would put an end to the idolatry and heathen worship of pagan Rome, and that his providence would make the Christian faith triumph over all its adversaries, and his Church flourish, as foretold by the ancient prophets; that is, this should come to pass when the seventh Angel should sound his trumpet. (Witham)

Declared. Literally, evangelized, to signify the good tidings, agreeable to the gospel, of the final victory of Christ, and of that eternal life which should be the reward of the temporal sufferings of the servants of God. (Challoner)

 

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COMMENTARIES (part 2)

3. Commentary by St. Victorinus (the Hieronymian version):

I saw another mighty Angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire; and he had in his hand an open book; and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot upon the Earth. He signifies that that mighty angel who, he says, descended from Heaven, clothed with a cloud, is our Lord, as we have above narrated.

His face was as it were the sun. That is, with respect to the resurrection.

Upon his head was a rainbow. He points to the judgment which is executed by Him, or shall be.

An open book. A revelation of works in the future judgment, or the Apocalypse which John received.

His feet, as we have said above, are the Apostles. For that both things in sea and land are trodden under foot by Him, signifies that all things are placed under His feet. Moreover, he calls Him an Angel, that is, a messenger, to wit, of the Father; “for He is called the Messenger of great counsel (Isaiah 9:6). He says also that He cried with a loud voice.” The great voice is to tell the words of the Omnipotent God of Heaven to men, and to bear witness that after penitence is closed there will be no hope subsequently.

Seven thunders uttered their voices. The seven thunders uttering their voices signify the Holy Spirit of sevenfold power, who through the prophets announced all things to come, and by His voice John gave his testimony in the world; but because he says that he was about to write the things which the thunders had uttered, that is, whatever things had been obscure in the announcements of the Old Testament; he is forbidden to write them, but he was charged to leave them sealed, because he is an apostle, nor was it fitting that the grace of the subsequent stage should be given in the first. The time, says he, is at hand. For the apostles, by powers, by signs, by portents, and by mighty works, have overcome unbelief. After them there is now given to the same completed Churches the comfort of having the prophetic Scriptures subsequently interpreted, for I said that after the Apostles there would be interpreting prophets.

For the Apostle says: “*And he placed in the Church indeed, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers *(1 Corinthians 12:28),” and the rest. And in another place he says: “*Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge *(1 Cor. 14:29).” And he says: “*Every woman that prays or prophesies with her head uncovered, dishonours her head *(1 Cor. 11:5).” And when he says, “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge,” he is not speaking in respect of the Catholic prophecy of things unheard and unknown, but of things both announced and known. But let them judge whether or not the interpretation is consistent with the testimonies of the prophetic utterance. It is plain, therefore, that to John, armed as he was with superior virtue, this was not necessary, although the body of Christ, which is the Church, adorned with His members, ought to respond to its position.

5.) Commentary by Tyconius:

In this Angel the person of our Savior is indicated. On his body He wears the Church as though she were a cloud. For the Church was constituted in the Body of Christ and is often described in diverse manners. At times we read of her as a cloud, as a robe, as the sun, as the moon and as clothes white as snow. And even the saints are compared with clouds, as we read in the prophet Isaiah, “*These are they who will fly as the clouds *().”’ To be sure, the cloud with which he is clothed is his body, which was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The “rainbow over his head” indicates the promise and the perseverance of His Church.

“His face was like the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.” There is here a great and marvelous plan, so that at the beginning of this book he might show the fire of the last persecution and afterward might indicate the future brightness of the saints as a fire. For at first he spoke of “His feet as refined in a furnace,” and afterward he describes His face “as the shining in full strength.” That he might show how great is the brightness of the Church, he now mentions the face before the feet, which are refined, and afterward compares his feet with pillars of fire.

With reason did his face shine “as the sun in full strength,” for he opened the book that had been sealed in mystery. “He placed his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the land,” so that he might confirm the precept of his law by land and by sea. Nor was it without reason that he placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. In the right foot he signifies the stronger members who have been made firm through great dangers. In the left foot he indicates the crowd of candidates (competentes, those who were enrolled to be baptized but had not yet received it) who have not yet received the sign of the Faith.

It was said to him, “Do not write” that which you have heard, so that what is in mystery and is reserved to the Church would not be revealed to those who are unworthy and faithless…[Elsewhere] he says, “*Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near *(Rev. 22:10).” He shows that there are those to whom the mystery ought to be sealed and those to whom it ought to be opened. As the Lord Himself said, “To you (He is speaking to His disciples) *it has been given to know the secret of the kingdom of God, but for others it is in parables *(Lk. 8:10).” It says, “*Let him who continues to do evil, do evil still, and him who is filthy, be filthy still, and let him who is righteous still perform more righteous deeds, and likewise the holy more holy deeds *(Rev. 22:11).” This is to say, “*This is why I speak to them in parables, that they who do not see may see and they who see might become blind *(Mt. 13:13; Jn. 9:39).” And again, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear (Mt. 13:16).” Daniel likewise said, “Seal the book until the time of the consummation (Dan. 12:4).” And [John] explains why he was commanded to seal the book in the following words, “*Let the unrighteous transgress so that all the wicked and the sinners might not know, but let those who understand understand *(Dan. 12:10).”

The seventh trumpet signifies the end of the persecution and the advent of the Lord, our Savior. For this reason the apostle Paul said that the resurrection of the dead would occur “*at the last trumpet *(1 Cor. 15:52).” Therefore, he affirms that in the time of the future peace the time of the church would no longer be one of cleansing. For the final persecution will cleanse the Church until the seventh trumpet.

 

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COMMENTARIES (part 3)

6.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

He says, “I saw an Angel descending from Heaven.” The Angel comes with various forms of punishment against those who were still alive and even though they had heard or seen the torments of the sinners had nonetheless not repented but had remained in their wickedness. His appearance and equipment were as follows. He was wrapped in a cloud. The cloud signifies the formlessness and invisibility of the holy Angels, for the cloud is a symbol of invisibility, as the prophet clearly indicates when he speaks of the invisibility of God, saying, “A cloud and deep darkness were around him (Ps. 97 [6]:2).”

“And a rainbow was over his head.” This is as though he had said, “The primary and distinctive feature of the good Angels is brightness,” for they are Angels of light.

“And his face was as the sun,” it says. This is a demonstration of unmixed brightness. While the rainbow grants a brightness and is indicative of that brightness that comes through virtues — for that reason, the brightness of the rainbow is not uniform but is varied, signifying all the virtues of the Angels — the sun is symbolic of their natural brilliance. Therefore, he was wrapped in a rainbow — for the virtues are around us — but his face resembled the sun, for in us there is every natural excellence.

“And his feet were like pillars of fire.” Fire symbolizes that punishment that he brought against the impious.

“And he had in his hand,” it says, “a little scroll opened.” Daniel recalled such scrolls when he said, “*The tribunal sat before him, and books were opened *(Dan. 7:10).” It was the little scroll in which were written both the names and the transgressions of the severely wicked who are going to be punished. And therefore he used the diminutive “little scroll,” since there is a book or a scroll — both are mentioned in holy Scripture — in which the names of all people are written. But here he speaks of a little scroll in which the names of the exceedingly wicked are written. For those who worship idols and are marked by murders and sorceries and are enfeebled in other ways that he reports would not be sufficient to fill an entire book.

“And he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the land.” On the one hand, this is an indication of the multitude of the saints, but on the other hand this indicates that he was carrying the instruments of punishment for those who transgressed upon the land and upon the sea, in that they were drowned in it, and who had otherwise done evil.

That the holy Angel roars like a lion is symbolic of his wrath against the impious. “And when he called out,” it says, “the seven thunders sounded their voices.” He calls the seven ministering spirits “seven thunders.” They were mentioned earlier. Here he mentions them by way of the definite article, “the seven thunders,” referring to those seven spirits who bear the offering. What does it mean that the seven spirits cry out? It means that these also concur fully with the punishments against the sinners and bring forth a hymn of thanksgiving to God, that all that He has done is just. And they cried out together revealing the forms of the punishments.

This is said in the manner of an ellipsis. For it says, “When the seventh Angel was about to blow his trumpet,” all the various and different punishments against the impious will be fulfilled. He does not say that this will occur now when he blows his trumpet in this vision, since the other [woes] have not yet occurred. Rather, this will happen when he blows his trumpet at the appointed time. And when this has happened, “the mystery of God as He proclaimed it to His servants, the prophets” will receive its completion. For the prophets prophesied until the judgment and the recompense of the good and the wicked, but after that [they prophesied] no longer. Therefore, when the seventh Angel blows his trumpet at that [seventh] age, every mystery and every prophetic foretelling will receive its fulfillment.

7.) Commentary by St. Andrew of Caesarea:

The cloud, the rainbow and the light like the sun show how we are to understand this holy Angel. The cloud, the rainbow and the light like the sun show how we are to understand this holy Angel. For through these [symbols] the Angelic nature understanding is revealed.

(verse 4) This shows that what is now undisclosed is to be explained through experience and the course of the events themselves. And from the heavenly voice the Evangelist learned that the voices are to be imprinted on the mind but that the final understanding and the clear interpretation of them is reserved for the last times.

(verses 5-6) God swears by himself, since there is none greater than he. But the Angels, being creatures, swear by the Creator, for due to our untrustworthiness, they are the guarantors of what is said by them. They swear either that in the coming age there will no longer be time which is measured by the sun, since eternal life is transcendent to temporal measure, or they swear that there is not much time after the six voices of the Angel before the prophecies are fulfilled.

 

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Let me take a break here to introduce the various commentators:

1.) St. Victorinus of Poetovio (died 303 or 304): An ecclesiastical writer who flourished about 270, who served as bishop of Poetovio (modern Ptuj in Slovenia; German: Pettau) in Pannonia, and who was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian.

Born probably in Greece on the confines of the Eastern and Western Empires or in Poetovio with rather mixed population, due to its military character, Victorinus spoke Greek better than Latin, which explains why, in St. Jerome’s opinion, his works written in the latter tongue were more remarkable for their matter than for their style. He was the first theologian to use Latin for his exegesis.

Also, according to St. Jerome, who gives him an honourable place in his catalogue of ecclesiastical writers (His writings were very well-known in 4th-century Rome), Victorinus composed commentaries on various books of Holy Scripture, such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, the Gospel of Matthew, and Revelation, besides treatises against the heresies of his time. Out of these writings, only his Commentary on the Apocalypse, written perhaps during the reign of Gallienus (c. 258-260) and a short tract entitled ‘On the construction of the World’ (De fabrica mundi) have survived down to us.

St. Victorinus, like many of his contemporaries (like Papias and Nepos of Egypt), held Millenialist views, which makes itself evident in the text of his original original commentary.

Somewhere before the year 400, under the request of a friend named Anatolius who brought him a copy in order to evaluate its contents, St. Jerome extensively edited and revised the original commentary, purging it of its Millenialist interpretation. It is this revision that is used in this thread.

2.) Tyconius (active ca. 370-390): A late 4th-century African Donatist writer who in addition to two works in defense of Donatism, wrote the “Book of Rules,” (Liber de septem regulis) detailing seven rules for interpreting the Bible, and a Commentary on the Book of Revelation itself. Out of these, only the Book of Rules is extant. Little is known about Tyconius save from what the priest Gennadius of Marseilles writes about him.

Though being a Donatist, he defended a milder form of Donatism than Parmenianus, the Donatist Bishop of Carthage, who then violently attacked him as a traitor. He admitted a church outside his own sect and rejected the re-baptism of Catholics.

Gennadius wrote that Tyconius interpreted the book of Revelation in ‘a spiritual sense, nothing carnally’, and describes Tyconius’ interpretation of the book as a revelation, not of the (temporal) last days, but of the time of the Church: “He doubts that there will be a reign of the righteous on earth for a thousand years after the resurrection, or that there will be two resurrections of the dead in the flesh, one of the righteous and the other of the unrighteous, but maintains that there will be one simultaneous resurrection of all mankind.”

Tyconius’ views influenced St. Augustine (despite of course with some reservations on Augustine’s part), who adopted and popularized Tyconius’ (was one of the earliest to challenge Premillennialism) amillenial views; Tyconius’ influence is especially manifest in Augustine’s The City of God.

Eventually due to Augustine’s efforts, the Church then adopted Amillenialism as its official position, and a number of later commentators show influences of both Tyconius and Augustine.

The actual commentary has been lost to us; however, by the 9th century it was still extant in the library of St. Gallen and was used by Primasius of Hadrumetum, Ambrose Autpert and others, and the “Commentary” ascribed to St. Augustine is believed to be a modified version of this. The commentary used in this thread seems to be a reconstruction of that work based on various quotes and ‘borrowings’.

3.) St. Caesarius of Arles (468/470–542): An archbishop and church man, the first in western Europe to receive the pallium from a Pope. Caesarius was born in Chalons, Burgundy, France, in 470, of a French-Roman family. He spent a brief time as a monk in Lerins but was forced to depart from the community when he became ill. His uncle, the bishop of Arles, ordained Caesarius and sent him to reform a local monastery. He succeeded his uncle, Fonus, as bishop of ArIes in 503. Caesarius instituted many reforms, brought the Divine Office into the local parishes, and founded a convent, placing his sister St. Caesaria there as abbess, In 505, Caesarius was banished by the Gothic King Alaric II because of a lie. He was restored soon after. When Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths, besieged Arles, Caesarius was arrested, but he met with Theodoric and was pardoned. He then went to Rome where Pope St. Symmachus gave him the pallium and made him the apostolic delegate to France.When the Franks captured Arles in 536, Caesarius retired to St. John’s Convent. He was revered for his more than forty years of service and for presiding over Church synods and councils, including the Council of Orange in 529.

St. Caesarius was particularly well-read in both Augustine and the early Fathers; in his Expositiones on the Apocalypse (brief comments that are artificially divided as homilies), it was believed that he was influenced by the Victorinian and the Tyconian-Augustinian views.

4.) Primasius of Hadrumetum (d. about 560): Bishop of Hadrumetum, and primate of Byzacena, in Africa. Of his early life nothing seems to be known, but in 551, after he had become a bishop, he was called with other bishops to Constantinople and took part in the Three Chapters Controversy. He shared the fortunes of Pope Vigilius and helped to condemn Theodorus Ascidas, bishop of Caesarea, the chief promoter of the controversy, and fled with Vigilius to Chalcedon. He declined to attend the Fifth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in the absence of the Pope, and was the sole African to sign the Papal constitutum to Justinian; he was ingloriously crushed with his leader.

While at Constantinople, Primasius studied the exegesis of the Greeks, and his fame is chiefly due to his commentary on the Apocalypse (his only surviving work, written ca. 540). This work, divided into five books, is of importance both as containing the pre-Cyprian Latin text of the Apocalypse of the early African Church, and as aiding in the reconstruction of the most influential Latin commentary on the Apocalypse, the exegetical work of Tyconius (despite Primasius’ defensiveness in his use of Tyconius, saying that one can acquire jewels from a dunghill). Primasius’ work itself had influenced later writers, such as St. Bede, Ambrosius Autpertus and Beatus of Liebana.

 

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5.) Apringius of Beja (6th century): A Latin Church Father who served as bishop of Beja in modern-day Portugal. Apringius wrote his commentary (Tractatus in Apocalypsin) during the reign of the Visigothic king, Theudis (531-548). His commentary notably shows opposition to the Arian denial of the divinity of Christ, as the Iberian Visigoths were originally Arians until their conversion in 589. This commentary of his presently survives in only one copy, which contains his commentary on Revelation 1:1-5:7 and 18:6-22:21; the rest of the copy contain St. Jerome’s revision of St. Victorinus.

It was thus suggested that Apringius’ commentary were originally sermons preached between Easter and Pentecost, when the book of Revelation is used in the liturgy. In any case, his commentary seems to have been confined only to the Iberian peninsula, as the Spanish monk Beatus of Liebana is the only other author to make reference to it. It does not appear that Apringius knew about Tyconius’ commentary.

6.) Oecumenius (early 6th century): A layman of high rank, as evidenced by various manuscripts calling him “philosophos,” “rhetor,” and “scholasticus,” which would indicate broad learning. Moreover, he was the recipient of correspondence from the Monophysite theologian Severus of Antioch. This points to his having written his commentary (the first full Greek commentary on the book) in about the year 510.

His commentary is characterized by broad reading, knowledge of contemporary events and the mild allegory of the Alexandrian exegetical tradition. It also evinces considerable independence and originality, as Oecumenius shows no knowledge of any earlier commentary. At the beginning of his commentary, he mentions Sts. Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Methodius, Cyril of Alexandria and Hippolytus; however, his familiarity with early patristic literature is considerable, for he also cites Sts. Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria and others in addition.

Errata that I wish to correct: Early on, I have (mistakenly) identified this Oecumenius with (the later) Bishop Oecumenius of Trikka, who lived in the 9th century and who have also written a commentary on New Testament books.

7.) Andrew of Caesarea (6th century): A theological writer who wrote in Greek and who was bishop of the see of Caesarea in Cappadocia, assigned by Krumbacher to the first half of the 6th century, though he is yet variously placed by others from the 5th to the 9th century. His principal work is his commentary on the book of Revelation.

Since Andrew at times refers to the attacks by the Huns, the date of his commentary was assigned by Franz Diekamp to ca. 515. Although he adduces with some frequency the writings of other fathers such as Papias, St. Irenaeus, St. Hippolytus, St. Methodius, Eusebius, St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. Cyril of Alexandria, he never refers to any other commentary. However, it is clear that he knew Oecumenius’ commentary on the Apocalypse, and often summarizes Oecumenius’ views only to offer an alternative interpretation. He also is in opposition to Origen’s opinions, indicating that he was not unaware of the Origenic controversies in the 6th century.

Andrew’s commentary served as the basis for his successor on the episcopal see, Arethas’ (c. 900) own commentary. After Arethas, no other significant commentary on the book has been written. Indeed, Andrew’s commentary became the standard in later Byzantine tradition.

Errata that I wish to correct: I have, until now, identified Andrew as a saint, though it seems that he was not canonized. I have confused him with St. Andrew of Crete.

8.)St. Bede the Venerable (c. 672–735): A Benedictine monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul’s, in modern Jarrow, both in the Kingdom of Northumbria.

He is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title “The father of English history”.

However, neither Bede nor his contemporaries saw the History as his major work. Bede’s main intention was to aid people in the study and understanding of the Scriptures. His commentaries on the Old and New Testament comprise about 45 books and began to circulate in England while Bede was still alive. They began to spread across Germany and France shortly after his death. Evidence of the immense popularity of these commentaries are more than 950 surviving manuscripts.

One of the earliest of these commentaries is the Explanatio Apocalypsis on the Revelation to John, written about 710-716. In this commentary, Bede makes extensive use of St. Jerome’s revision of St. Victorinus, of Tyconius, of Primasius, with some quotes from St. Augustine and Pope St. Gregory the Great as well. Bede’s commentary did not only enjoy a certain popularity within his own time, but his reputation spread into Europe (he was used by Carolingian commentators Alcuin and Haimo of Auxerre) and his works were still widely used in the 12th and 13th centuries.

9.) Dionysus [Jacob] bar-Salibi (12th century): The best-known and most prolific writer in the Syriac Orthodox Church of the twelfth century. He was a native of Malatia on the upper Euphrates. In 1154 he was created bishop of Marash by the patriarch Athanasius VII; a year later the diocese of Mabbog was added to his charge. In 1166 Michael the Great, the successor of Athanasius, transferred him to the metropolitan see of Amid in Mesopotamia, and there he remained till his death in 1171.

Of his writings probably the most important are his exhaustive commentaries on the text of the Old and New Testaments, in which he skilfully interwove and summarized the interpretations of previous writers such as Ephrem, John Chrysostom, Cyril, Moses Bar-Kepha and John of Dar, whom he mentions together in the preface to his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. Among his other main works are a treatise against heretics, containing inter alia a polemic against the Jews and the Muslims; liturgical treatises, epistles and homilies.

In his commentary on the Apocalypse, fragments of another work of Hippolytus of Rome, Heads against Gaius, a defense of the authenticity and authority of the book, are contained.

10.) St. Nicholas of Lyra (1270-1340): A Franciscan preacher who was among the most influential practitioners of Biblical exegesis in the Middle Ages. He was a doctor at the College de Sorbonne in 1309 and ten years later was appointed the head of all Franciscans in France.

He was well-known for his work, “Postillae perpetuae in universam S. Scripturam,” which was the first printed commentary on the Bible. Printed in Rome in 1471, it was later available in Venice, Basel, and elsewhere.

approach to explicating Scripture was firmly based on the literal sense, which for him is the foundation of all mystical or allegorical or anagogical expositions. He deplored the tortured and elaborated readings being given to Scripture in his time. The textual basis was so important that he urged that errors be corrected with reference to the original Hebrew texts, excepting the prophecies concerning the divinity of Christ.

Nicholas utilized all sources available to him, fully mastered Hebrew and drew copiously from Rashi and other rabbinic commentaries, the Pugio Fidei of Raymond Martini and of course the commentaries of St. Thomas Aquinas. His lucid and concise exposition, his soundly-based observations made the Postillae the most-consulted manual of exegesis until the 16th century. Even Martin Luther depended upon it.

 

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8-10: And the voice which I heard from Heaven spoke to me again and said: “Go, take the scroll which is open in the hand of the Angel who stands upon the sea and upon the Earth.”

And I went to the Angel, saying to him that he should give me the little scroll. And he said to me: "Take and eat it up; and it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." And I took the little scroll out of the Angel’s hand and ate it up, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

DEFINITIONS and CROSS-REFERENCES

Bitter…sweet as honey: It was sweet because it predicted the final victory of the people of God; at the same time, it was sour because it also announced their sufferings.

And I took the little scroll out of the Angel’s hand and ate it up, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth: cf. Jeremiah 15:16; Ezekiel 2:8; 3:1-3.

COMMENTARIES

1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

voice. When the Lord lays open the mysteries of future time, and says, “*For the kingdom of Heaven is at hand *(Matt. 4:17),” the Church also is admonished to receive the same book of preaching. But these words may also be suitable to John himself, who is to return to preaching after his banishment.

Give. Let him come to the Lord who wishes to receive the sacraments of teaching.

Take. That is, place it in thy inward parts, and write it down in the breadth of the heart.

bitter. When you have received it, you willbe delighted by the sweetness of the divine oracle; but you will perceive a bitterness on beginning to preach, and to practice what you have learned, or, at least, it is to be so understood according to Ezekiel, who, when he said that he had eaten the book, added, “And I went away in bitterness, in the indignation of my spirit (Ezek. 3:14).”

2.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Take the book, and devour it. See Ezechiel 2 and 3.
It was sweet in my mouth; I was delighted to read and hear the victories and glory of God’s faithful servants; but it became bitter in my belly, when I considered the judgments of God upon so many sinners, who by their own wilful blindness were lost for eternity. (Witham)

This mysterious book, presented to St. John precisely between the sound of the sixth and seventh trumpet, or rather between the irruption announced at the sound of the sixth trumpet, and the persecution which is then to follow and to precede the sound of the seventh trumpet, appears to represent the book of the Gospel, which shall be given to the Jews at the end of the sixth age of the Church. This book will be then to them full of sweetness, because they will see in it the tender love of Jesus Christ; but at the same time it will cause bitterness, because they will see in it with grief their infidelity and that of their fathers. (Bible de Vence)

3.) Commentary by St. Victorinus:

I took the book from the hand of the Angel, and ate it up. To take the book and eat it up, is, when exhibition of a thing is made to one, to commit it to memory.

And it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. To be sweet in the mouth is the reward of the preaching of the speaker, and is most pleasant to the hearers; but it is most bitter both to those that announce it, and to those that persevere in the commandments through sufferings.

4.) Commentary by Primasius:

The voice from Heaven is the command of God, who breathes into the heart of the Church and orders her to receive from the open book that which the Church is to preach before the future peace. For it seems to us that to accept the open book from the hand of the Angel is to understand the truth of the Law and the Prophets, which has been made manifest in Christ. And for that reason it says that [the Church] should take the open book, which is no longer, as above, the sealed [book]. “*For Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness for everyone who believes *(Romans 10:4).”

Christ, who is the Truth, wished then to be born from the Earth, that is, from Mary, when “Righteousness looked down from Heaven (Ps. 85:11).” That is why I think that it is said, “I heard a voice from Heaven speaking with me,” just as [Christ] himself said, “*I am the Beginning who is also speaking to you *(see John 8:25).”

• The Church is moved by Divine inspiration to be thoroughly instructed about this mystery.
  “*And he said, ‘Take and eat it.’**” This means that he was to store [the book] in his secret inward parts.

“And it will be bitter to your stomach but sweet as honey in your mouth.” This means that when you receive it, you will be delighted by the sweetness of the divine speech and by the hope of the promised salvation and by the sweetness of the divine justice; however, you will then sense bitterness when you begin to preach this to the pious and to the impious.

For when the preaching of the divine judgment is heard, some are turned by the bitterness of penance and are changed for the better, while others are offended and become yet more hardened and bear a bitter hatred toward the preachers. “Reprove a wise man, and he will love you; refute a foolish man, and he will hate you (Prov. 9:8).” But the preacher takes in bitterness from either of these two persons.

For he either sheds tears with the penitents out of a feeling of compassion, or he is tormented by the bitterness that comes from their failure. For this reason the Apostle said, “*I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart; for I wished that I myself were accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers *(Rom. 9:2-3).” But I think it more apt that the bitterness mentioned here be attributed to the impious alone and the sweetness to the pious. For the spiritual person can say, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth! (Ps. 119 [118]:103)”

5.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

When I took it, it says, I ate it and "it was sweet in my mouth,

" but after the eating, it was bitter to my stomach. Then the blessed Evangelist saw and heard the torments against the wicked that he might learn by experience, and not only by report, how bitter and abominable are the transgressions of the people that are brought to God. He was taught this through this vision — for as a holy and chaste man himself, he did not know this from [his own] experience — and through the vision he came to know that the wrath of God against the wicked is just. For the book contained the names and the sins of those who were especially serious transgressors, as we noted above.

He is therefore commanded to eat it, and as though by taste and a sort of spiritual experience of the bitterness of sin that comes through his vision, he found that what had been sweet to the mouth was, when eaten, bitter to the stomach afterward. For such it is with every sin. It is sweet in the doing but bitter in its consequences.

6.) Commentary by St. Caesarius of Arles:

"It will be sweet in your mouth but bitter in your stomach.

" By the mouth we are to understand the good and spiritual Christians, while by the stomach we understand the carnal and dissolute. And so it is that when the word of God is preached, it is sweet to the spiritual, but to the carnal, whose “god is the belly” as the Apostle says (Phil. 3:19), it seems bitter and harsh.

7.) Commentary by Andrew of Caesarea:

He says that although the knowledge of future things will be sweet to you, at the same time it will be bitter to your stomach, that is, to your heart, which is the dwelling place of spiritual foods. For you will have compassion on those who receive punishments given according to God’s judgment.

 

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10:11, 11:1-2: And they said to me: “You must prophesy again over many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” And there was given me a reed like a rod, and someone said: “Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it; and leave out the court which is outside the Temple and measure it not, because it has been given to the nations; and they will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months.”

http://beatus.saint-sever.fr/folios/f150v.JPG
And there was given me a reed like a rod, and someone said: “Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those who worship in it…”

DEFINITIONS and CROSS-REFERENCES

Reed like a rod: A measuring rod.

Measure the temple of God: cf. Ezek. 40:3-42:20; Zech. 2:1; Rev. 21:15.

The temple of God: The temple mentioned here seems to refer to the Heavenly or spiritual Temple, as everywhere else in the book of Revelation, the “temple” and the “altar” are in Heaven (cf. Rev. 3:12; 7:15; 11:19; 14:15, 17; 15:5-6, 8; 16:1,17; 21:22), not on earth in the city of Jerusalem.

The court which is outside the Temple: A reference to the Court of the Gentiles, a large outer court in the exterior of the Temple where Gentiles were permitted (i.e. the only place in the Temple compound they are allowed to step foot in).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/TempleJerusalem.jpg
A reconstruction of the (Herodian) Temple of Jerusalem. One can see the Court of the Gentiles (the original was said to be paved with marble) surrounded by porches through which ran double rows of pillars.

And they will tread the holy city under foot: cf. Luke 21:24.

Forty-two months: Equivalent to 1260 days (30x42) and three-and-a-half years (one-half of seven). There is an echo here to Daniel’s eschatological predictions (Daniel 7:25; 9:27; 12:7, 11-12). Jewish writers understood this time period in various ways: as a period of trial for believers (Midr. Ps. 10, 1), the period associated with the Babylonian captivity (b. Sanhedrin 97b, combining Dan. 7:25 with Hab. 2:3 and Ps. 80:6) or as the period that must pass before the final redemption of Israel (b. Sanhedrin 97b-98a)

Other references may also be Elijah’s ministry of judgment for Israel within a period of approximately three-and-a-half years (1 Kings 17:1-2 Kings 2:12) or Israel’s wanderings in the desert for forty-two years (including the time before they were condemned) or forty-two stages (cf. Numbers 33:5-49).

One partial fulfillment of the forty-two months in Daniel is that of the persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes from 167 to 164 BC (1 Maccabees 1-3; 2 Maccabees 5; cf. 1 Macc. 1:20-64 with 4:52ff.; Josephus, War 1:19 and 5:394 summarize the period as ‘three years and six months’). In Matt. 24:15 and Mark 13:14 the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 was seen as about to be fulfilled in the First Jewish-Roman War (cf. Luke 21:20-24).

COMMENTARIES (part 1)

1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

prophesy. He shews what was signified by the book eaten up, and the sweetness mingled with bitterness, namely, that he was to be delivered from banishment, and was to preach the Gospel to the nations, which is sweet indeed through love, but is bitter through the persecutions that are to be endured.

reed. He received the office of writing the Gospel in the reed, which is not useless with a vain lustre, but is like “the rod of equity, the rod of the kingdom of God (Ps. 44:7 [45:6]),” for it describes the eternal kingdom of Christ.

Rise. “Rise,” he said: not that John was seated, but that the hearts of all are aroused by this word to measure the writings and actions of the Gospel, for then they find what progress they each one make, and how far they agree with the divine rule.

worship. For not all they who are seen therein worship, as he “who shall confess Me (cf. Matt. 10:32; Luke 12:8).” He commands, that is, in what he says, that a part should not be reckoned.

without. They who in name alone are united to the Church, and who neither draw near to the altar nor the most holy place, are cast forth by the rule of the Gospel, and are joined to the nations. For “*all the glory of her who is the daughter of kings is from within *(Ps. 44:14 [45:13]).”

tread. Not only are they driven from the Church, but they also fight against the Church itself, with the heathen as their allies, for three years and a-half. It is not that they only trample upon it then in the time of the Antichrist; but that in that time all the body of the wicked, “*in whom the ministry of iniquity already works *(2 Thess. 2:7),” is joined as it were, to its own head.

2.) Commentary by St. Victorinus:

And He says unto me, You must again prophesy to the peoples, and to the tongues, and to the nations, and to many kings. He says this, because when John said these things he was in the island of Patmos, condemned to the labour of the mines by Caesar Domitian. There, therefore, he saw the Apocalypse; and when grown old, he thought that he should at length receive his quittance by suffering, Domitian being killed, all his judgments were discharged. And John being dismissed from the mines, thus subsequently delivered the same Apocalypse which he had received from God. This, therefore, is what He says: You must again prophesy to all nations, because you see the crowds of Antichrist rise up; and against them other crowds shall stand, and they shall fall by the sword on the one side and on the other.

And there was shown unto me a reed like a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. A reed was shown like to a rod. This itself is the Apocalypse which he subsequently exhibited to the churches; for the Gospel of the complete faith he subsequently wrote for the sake of our salvation. For when Valentinus, and Cerinthus, and Ebion, and others of the school of Satan, were scattered abroad throughout the world, there assembled together to him from the neighbouring provinces all the bishops, and compelled him himself also to draw up his testimony. Moreover, we say that the measure of God’s temple is the command of God to confess the Father Almighty, and that His Son Christ was begotten by the Father before the beginning of the world, and was made man in very soul and flesh, both of them having overcome misery and death; and that, when received with His body into heaven by the Father, He shed forth the Holy Spirit, the gift and pledge of immortality, that He was announced by the prophets, He was described by the law, He was God’s hand, and the Word of the Father from God, Lord over all, and founder of the world: this is the reed and the measure of faith; and no one worships the holy altar save he who confesses this faith.

The court which is within the temple leave out. The space which is called the court is the empty altar within the walls: these being such as were not necessary, he commanded to be ejected from the Church.

It is given to be trodden down by the Gentiles. That is, to the men of this world, that it may be trodden under foot by the nations, or with the nations. Then he repeats about the destruction and slaughter of the last time, and says: They shall tread the holy city down for forty and two months; and I will give to my two witnesses, and they shall predict a thousand two hundred and threescore days clothed in sackcloth. That is, three years and six months: these make forty-two months. Therefore their preaching is three years and six months, and the kingdom of the Antichrist as much again.

 

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3.) From the Haydock Commentary:

Thou must prophesy again: we may understand what still follows in this Apocalypse, or his gospel written afterwards, or his preaching and instructing the Asiatic Churches. (Witham)

The Apostle is ordered to measure the temple. Two prophets are promised, to teach mankind. They are put to death, and in three days and a half after, they are raised to life, and ascend to heaven. A great earthquake follows. The seventh Angel sounds the trumpet. The elders give thanks to God.

Measure the temple, etc. This is to signify that the divine Providence would always protect his faithful servants, who are called the temple of God; (1 Corinthians 3:17. and 2 Corinthians 6:16.) but by the outward court not to be measured, because it is given to the Gentiles, etc. (ver. 2) is commonly understood idolaters, infidels, heretics, who are not in the temple of God, nor in his Church. It is an allusion to the Jewish temple, and the different divisions of it, the Gentiles not being permitted to enter into the temple itself, but only into that outward part called the court of the Gentiles. (Witham)

The churches consecrated to the true God, are so much diminished in number, that they are represented by St. John as one church; its ministers officiate at one altar; and all the true faithful are so few, with respect to the bulk of mankind, that the evangelist sees them assembled in one temple, to pay their adorations to the Most High. (Pastorini)

The holy city they shall tread under foot forty-two months. That is, Gentiles and Jews shall be permitted to persecute the Church and the faithful servants of God; but only for a short time, expressed by forty-two months, as elsewhere by twelve hundred and sixty days, and also by a time, and times, and half a time, which, as St. Jerome observes, is for a year, and two years, and half a year, which three different ways of speaking by years, by months, and by days, are only to signify that God never permits his faithful to be under any violent persecution for any long time. (Witham)

4.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

1.) “It is necessary that you prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.” This is as though he had said, “Although you have seen the consummation of the age and the wrath against the wicked in this vision, do not think that the day of fulfillment has in fact come. There remains much time yet for you to prophesy to many nations and to kings.” And so it is that up to the present time the blessed Evangelist prophesies through his Gospel and his catholic Epistles and this Revelation. For all things have been spoken and prophesied to him by the Spirit.

2.) The blessed John had earlier seen a vision of the multitude of saints who are with Christ and who behold the throne of God. Among these there were many more Gentiles than there were those from Israel. The present vision now reveals something else to John. It reveals how many were pleasing [to God] at the time of the Old Testament and how many at the time of the New Testament. And note how cleverly this is sketched out for him. He is given a measuring stick that he might measure “the temple of God and the altar” in the temple (clearly the one in Jerusalem) “and those worshiping in it.” And he measured. Those who pleased God during the time of the Old Testament were easily measured because there were so few of them.

“But do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations.” When he had measured the temple and the altar and those sacrificing within, he heard that it was necessary to place the court on the outside and to widen it, but definitely not to measure it, since it was to attain to greater things than measuring. The court, it says, is given over to the nations, and it is adjacent to and lies outside the temple. Likewise, the New Testament follows immediately upon the Old, for the New fulfills spiritually and in reality that which has but shadow in it.

And realities of a different kind arise next to [the Old Testament], as Jeremiah says, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them out of the land of Egypt (Jer. 31:31-32).” For this reason he calls the New Testament the “court of the temple.” And so, the vision indicates in a mystical manner that he who in the New Testament is named “Christ” and “Beginning” was the Lord of the Old Testament…and he calls the New Testament the “court” of the Old Testament. For the court is the beginning and entrance to God, but it is not the temple. Therefore, he did not measure the court by which both the [New Testament] and those in it are signified. For both the New Testament and those justified in it are beyond comprehension, these because of their unspeakable magnitude and the New Testament because of subtlety and the sublimity of its teachings.

For it says, “it was given over to the nations.” The blessings of the New Testament were given also to Israel, but since the Gentiles in it are greater in number than those who were pleasing from Israel, it indicates the whole from the greater part, saying that the court was given over to the nations.

“And they will trample upon the holy city for forty-two months.” It speaks of “the city,” not of the temple, calling the church a “city,” about which it says, “Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of the firstborn who are enrolled in Heaven (cf. Ps. 87 [86]:3ff).” And what does it mean that the measuring will be for forty-two months? It indicates that there is little time remaining upon the earth for the citizenship given in the New Testament and that afterward the end will come. For the number forty, the sum of four tens, is not complete, nor is the number two. By these numbers the verse shows that the duration of the New Testament does not last long in the present life, and so the Scripture calls the time of the New Testament the “last” hour or the “eleventh” hour, at which time the Only-Begotten became man. But he will endure forever in the coming life.

5.) Commentary by Andrew of Caesarea:

1.) This passage indicates either that after the vision of the divine Revelation, that which was seen will not immediately receive its fulfillment, but that the saint must prophesy to those who read his Gospel and his Revelation until the consummation. Or the passage indicates that [John] would not yet taste death, but that at the end he would come to hinder the acceptance of the deceit of the Antichrist*.

• cf. John 21:23. There was a tradition, dating from the 4th century that John would come at the End times to fight with the Antichrist. St. Augustine (Tractates on the Gospel of John 124:2) reports another tradition that John was buried alive in Ephesus and that the ground above his grave was moving, as if stirred by his breathing.

2.) We think that the Church is called the “temple of the living God,” for in it we offer spiritual sacrifices to God. And I think that the “court outside” is the assembly of the unbelieving Gentiles and Jews, and so by virtue of their impiety they are unworthy to be measured by the Angel. “For the Lord knows those who are His,” as it says, but He who knows all things is said not to know the transgressors. That the holy city, whether that be the new Jerusalem or the catholic Church, will be trampled by the nations for forty- two months signifies, I believe, that at the appearance of the Antichrist those who are faithful and trustworthy will be trampled and persecuted for three and a half years.

6.) Commentary by Primasius:

When all the Jews, heretics, and Gentiles incessantly attack the Church by all means available, it is as though they are trampling upon the Church. The number of the months signifies not only the time of the last persecution but also the entire time of Christianity. For there are six ages of the world and seven days by which all time moves by passing away and returning. Six times seven makes forty-two, and I believe that the passage refers to both of these [numbers].

7.) St. Jerome on the 1290 days (Commentario in Danielem, 7:25):

“…And they shall be delivered into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.” “Time” is equivalent to “year.” The word “times,” according to the idiom of the Hebrews (who also possess the dual number) represents “two years” (The Aramaic original here, according to the Massoretic vowel pointing, has the plural ending ----iyn, not the dual ending ----ayin. To be sure, the consonantal text could also be pointed as dual).

The half a year signifies “six months.” During this period the saints are to be given over to the power of the Antichrist, in order that those Jews might be condemned who did not believe the truth but supported a lie. The Savior also speaks of this period in the Gospel, saying: “Unless those days had been cut short, no flesh would be saved” (Matt. 24:22). In the final vision we shall assert the inappropriateness of this period to Antiochus.

 

[patrick457]

3-4: “And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for a thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, standing before the Lord of the Earth.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jorevel4/2-WITNESSES.jpg
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, standing before the Lord of the Earth.
DEFINITIONS AND CROSS-REFERENCES

Two witnesses (Greek: Dysin martysin): Interpreting who these two witnesses are is a matter of variance amongst many commentators, with interpretations ranging from Moses/Elisha/Jeremiah/Enoch and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, Peter and Paul, the Two Testaments, to the two sorts of martyrdom (death; imprisonment, loss of property, etc).

The two olive trees and the two lampstands: cf. Zechariah 4:3, 14.

COMMENTARIES
1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

witnesses. That the cruelty of the bad may not alarm the hearer, he mentions, that the Church also, which of two races is made one, is to become illustrious by the gift of miracles. The Church, too, ever contemplating its head, namely Christ, teaching in the flesh, will prophesy, it is said, for two years and a-half. For the months of three years and a-half, namely, thirty times forty-two, make up two hundred and sixty days. But Daniel writes, that the days of the same period in which the abomination of desolation is to be set up are one thousand two hundred and ninety (Dan. 12:11).

sackcloth. That is, who are made to stand in penance; as the prophet says, “*But I clothed myself in sackcloth of hair, while they were vexatious unto me *(Ps. 34 [35]:13).”

olive trees. The Church is irradiated by the light of the two Testaments, and ever waits upon the commands of the Lord. So also the prophet Zechariah saw one candlestick with seven branches, and these two olive-trees, that is, testaments, pouring oil into the candlestick. This is the Church with its oil, which never fails, which makes it shine for the light of the world.

2.) Commentary by St. Victorinus:

These are the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the Earth. These two lampstands and two olive trees He has to this end spoken of, and admonished you that if, when you have read of them elsewhere, you have not understood, you may understand here. For in Zechariah, one of the twelve prophets, it is thus written: “*These are the two olive trees and two candlesticks which stand in the presence of the Lord of the Earth *(Zechariah 4:14);” that is, they are in Paradise. Also, in another sense, standing in the presence of the lord of the earth, that is, in the presence of the Antichrist. Therefore they must be slain by the Antichrist.

3.) St. Hippolytus on the two witnesses (From On Christ and Antichrist 42b):

Now Daniel will set forth this subject to us. For he says, “And one week will make a covenant with many, and it shall be that in the midst (half) of the week my sacrifice and oblation shall cease (Daniel 9:27).” By one week, therefore, he meant the last week which is to be at the end of the whole world of which week the two prophets Enoch and Elijah will take up the half. For they will preach 1, 260 days clothed in sackcloth, proclaiming repentance to the people and to all the nations.

4.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

Since the vision outlined for the Evangelist the entire economy of the Lord’s incarnation — his birth, the temptation, his teachings, the beatings, also the cross and resurrection, the second coming and the reward of both the holy and the sinners — it had left unmentioned any information about the forerunners of his second coming.

Now, as though by a sharp U-turn, [the vision] teaches him about them. When Malachi said, “*Behold, I will send you Elijah the Tishbite before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, who will turn the heart of a father to the son and the heart of a man to his neighbor, lest I come to trample the land utterly *(Malachi 3:24),” the holy Scripture with great clarity foretold that Elijah the Tishbite will come. And in Matthew, the Lord spoke of the Baptist: “*And if you are willing to accept it, this is Elijah who is to come *(Matt. 11:14).”

Concerning other forerunners we have heard nothing with clarity except that Genesis said concerning Enoch that “having pleased God, he was taken (Genesis 5:24),” and the wise Apostle said concerning him, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, for God had taken him (Hebrews 11:5).” An old, traditional saying is prevalent in the Church, that with Elijah the Tishbite also Enoch will come as a forerunner of the second coming of Christ and at the coming of the Antichrist. This passage says that they come and proclaim beforehand that the signs performed by [the Antichrist] are deceptive and that it is not necessary to believe the sinful one. Using either a figurative number or a literal description of what will be, the vision now reports of these [forerunners] that they will prophesy so many days. They will prophesy “clothed in sackcloth,” for they will lament over the disobedience of those who live at that time.

That the two olive branches have been interpreted as the two peoples, that from the Jews and that from the nations, is not unknown to the saints. However, it is also possible that these two of whom the present passage speaks are two prophets.

5.) Commentary by Primasius:

While he had said that “you must prophesy again,” here it is that “I will grant to my two witnesses and they will prophesy.” As there he spoke of John, here of the two witnesses, that is, of the Church that preaches and prophesies on the basis of the two Testaments. The Truth proposes that there are two kinds of witness. On the one hand, there is the witness by way of one’s manner and character. This witness occurs in the heart and is known to God alone, also when there is but minimal approval during times of suffering.

On the other hand, there is the witness by way of deed, which is accomplished publicly in the view of all when the opportunity of persecution arises. For sometimes witness seems to fail the soul, while at other times the soul in some seems to fail the witness. Therefore, the blessed Cyprian said, “The first title to victory is for him who has fallen at the hands of the Gentiles confessing the Lord; the second step to glory is to make a cautious withdrawal and then to keep himself for God. The one is a public confession; the other private. The former conquers the judge of the world; the latter satisfied with God as his judge guards a conscience pure by integrity of heart.” But the point is also very clearly demonstrated in the two sons of Zebedee. James, who was killed by Herod, is accounted a martyr because of his public confession, while his brother, John the Evangelist, is crowned because of his [as one who was] with Jesus. Moreover, it is clear that earlier the Lord had said to both, “You will drink my cup (Matt. 20:23).” That is, one would give witness by way of deed, the other by way of his manner and practice. They are clothed in sackcloth. This means that they were both established in confession, for the humility of confession is characteristic to both kinds of witness.

He shows now that he is speaking not of future realities but of present things when he says, “These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” This refers to the Church, which is illuminated and made strong by the light of the two Testaments and is equipped by the two kinds of witness that by divine inspiration is allowed in various of its members. The two lampstands represent the [one] Church, but he has spoken of two because of the two Testaments or because [the Church] is gathered from the circumcision and uncircumcision and exists in union with the chief Cornerstone.

 

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5-6: And if any man wishes to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies; and if any man wishes to harm them, in this manner must he be killed. They have the power to shut heaven, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the Earth with every plague, as often as they wish.

DEFINITIONS and CROSS-REFERENCES

Fire comes out of their mouth…they have the power to shut the sky: There is a reference here to Elijah, who called down fire from Heaven (1 Kings 18:36-40; 2 Kings 1:10) and closed up the sky for three years (1 Kings 17:1; cf. 18:1).

They have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the Earth with every plague: Here is a reference to Moses, who turned water into blood (Exodus 7:17-20), and called down plagues in the land of Egypt (Exodus 7:1-12:30).

COMMENTARIES

1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

fire. If any one harms the Church, he is condemned by a retributive sentence of the same harm; and is consumed by fire. For “*all they who take the sword shall perish with the sword *(Matt. 26:56).” And so the Chaldean flame which was prepared for the children of God, slew the ministers of ungodliness themselves. Or: he who is to be changed for the better, is spiritually consumed in a good fire, by the prayers of the mouth of the Church. “Thou wilt heap,” he says, “*coals of fire upon his head *(Prov. 25:22; Rom. 12:20).”

power. All power in Heaven and Earth is given to the Church in Christ, for the keys of binding and loosing are committed to it. But spiritually also, the heaven is shut, that it rain no rain, in order that blessing from the Church may not come down upon the barren earth. As the Lord says of the Father to His vineyard, “*I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it *(Isaiah 5:6).”

waters. Not only do they make to cease the waters, but they also render those which had come down useless; and this is, to turn the waters into blood. The sweet savour of Christ, which comes with fragrance from the Church, is “*to some a savor of death unto death, to others a savor of life unto life *(2 Corinthians 2:15).”

2.) Commentary by St. Victorinus:

If any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devours their enemies. That fire proceeds out of the mouth of those prophets against the adversaries, bespeaks the power of the world. For all afflictions, however many there are, shall be sent by their messengers in their word.

Many think that there is Elisha, or Moses, with Elijah; but both of these died; while the death of Elijah is not heard of, with whom all our ancients have believed that it was Jeremiah. For even the very word spoken to him testifies to him, saying, “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet unto the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).” But he was not a prophet unto the nations; and thus the truthful word of God makes it necessary, which it has promised to set forth, that he should be a prophet to the nations.

3.) From the Haydock Commentary:

And if any man would hurt them, etc. These two verses seem to signify both the miracles which God many times wrought by the prayers of his martyrs, as he had done frequently in the time of Elijah and the exemplary punishments with which from time to time he chastised those by whom they were persecuted, and that he will do the like by Enoch and Elijah, when they shall come. (Witham)

In this and the following verse are expressed the miraculous powers with which the two witnesses will be invested. These powers will be necessary to enable them to prove the truth of their doctrine. Every messenger who appears with a commission from God, is always furnished with means to prove it. Thus our Savior and his apostles worked miracles in testimony of the Christian religion. And in the Old Testament, Elijah convicted the false prophets by a miracle. See 3 Kings (1 Kings) 18. Every new teacher consequently, who comes destitute of this sanction, can claim no credit, but is only to be considered as an imposter. (Pastorini)

4.) Commentary by St. Caesarius of Arles:

Should anyone harm the Church or wish to harm Her, through the prayers of Her mouth he shall be consumed by a Divine fire either in the present age for his correction or in the future age for his damnation.

5.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

Such is [the power] of these very persuasive individuals. For if one of them, Elijah the Tishbite, had such power even before he fulfills the service of Christ, how would he remain unpersuasive as the precursor of Christ?

“And they had power,” it says, “over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the Earth with every plague as often as they wish.” For since “the coming of the antichrist will be by the activity of Satan with all power and with deceitful signs and wonders,” as Paul says in his second letter to the Thessalonians (2:9), these signs will lead to agreement and faith. prophets who refer to him as a deceiver and a cheat will also make use of various signs, so that they might attract those who hear to faith.

6.) Commentary by Andrew of Caesarea:

How deep is the Divine goodness! For He brings a healing that is commensurate with the wound. For since he has received the full operation of the devil, the Antichrist will come with every false sign and wonder and will be more wondrous than any sorcery and enchantment. And so in the power of true signs and wonders, God will equip these Saints for the promotion of truth and light, and they will expose the lies and darkness [of the Antichrist], and to those who have been deceived they will give correction through the word of their teaching and through chastising scourges (drought, fire, changes in the elements and the like) and they will make an example of the deceiver, while until the completion of their prophesying they will remain uninfluenced either by him or by someone other.

7.) Commentary by Tyconius:

(verse 5) This means that should anyone wish to harm the Church, as one condemned he is consumed by a fire, which harms in the very same manner as a sort of reciprocal judgment. That is, he receives justly that very thing which he desired to inflict unjustly. Or, in a good sense this means that through the prayers of the Church’s mouth one is consumed spiritually by fire so that one might be changed for the better, since when one is turned away from error, error ceases and one is saved.

(verse 6) It says, “they have,” not “they will have.” For whoever remains in the faith of the one Church of God will in no way be wanting in that power conferred upon him by God. “They have power to turn the waters into blood and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire.” We have often said that everything that God is said to have done for the sake of His Church is attached to the powers of His Church. The Lord gives power to the Church so that what is bound on Earth is also bound in Heaven (Matt. 16:18). Heaven is spiritually closed “that no rain fall,” that is, that no rain of blessing fall upon the dry land.

The Lord spoke of this concerning the vineyard of the Jews: “I shall also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it (Isaiah 5:6).” And not only did they suspend the rain but even made useless that rain which had fallen. For the water was changed into blood, even as the very Earth was struck with every plague. Nor did these things occur by way of accident or fortuitously. Rather, “as often as they desired,” that is, as often as he desired who conceded to them such power. As the Apostle says of the Holy Spirit, “*apportioning to each one individually as he wills *(1 Cor. 12:11).” And again, “As God assigns to each one a measure of faith.”

 

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7-8: And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war against them, and overcome them, and kill them; and their corpses will lie in the street of the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

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Their corpses will lie in the street of the great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified…

DEFINITIONS

The great city (Greek: Poleōs tēs megalēs): In John’s subsequent visions (16:19; 17:18; 18:10, 16, 18, 19, 21), the title is used for “Babylon the Great” (14:8; 16:19; 17:5), used apparently as a symbolic name for Rome (17:18; cf. 1 Peter 5:13). The words where also their Lord was crucified, however, would identify the city as Jerusalem, and indeed it is interpreted by many as a Jerusalem rebuilt and ruled over by the Antichrist.

Sodom and Egypt: Sodom refers to immorality and wickedness (Genesis 19; Ezekiel 16:49-50; Jude 1:7) while Egypt symbolizes the oppression of God’s people (cf. Exodus 1:8-14, 2:23).

COMMENTARIES

1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

testimony. He shews clearly, that all these things take place before the last persecution, by saying, “when they shall have finished their testimony;” namely, that which they give, until the revelation of the beast, who is to come forth from the hearts of the ungodly. It is not that they do not then strive boldly to resist the enemy by the same testimony, but that the Church, as is supposed, will then be left destitute of the gift of miracles, while the adversary is resplendent with them in the sight of all through lying wonders. For, as the Lord says, “*Want shall go before his face *(Job 41:13 [22]).”

kill. He will overcome in those who shall succumb, he will kill in those who, with laudable patience, shall be slain. Or: if he shall overcome and kill spiritually, we may take it of a part of the witnesses, as the Lord says in the Gospel, “*They will deliver you up to affliction, and kill you *(Matt. 24:9);” which Luke the Evangelist intimates to have been spoken of a part, saying, “*Some of you they will kill *(Luke 21:17).”

bodies. “If they have persecuted Me,” He says, “they will also persecute you (John 15:20).” It is no wonder, then, if the city of the ungodly, which feared not to crucify the Lord, has His servants also in derision, even when they are slain. And such things as these ecclesiastical history relates to have often occurred.

Sodom. That is, “silent and dark,” having forsooth neither the light of faith, nor the voice of confession. For “*with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation *(Romans 10:10).” These regions, for a sign of spiritual punishment, were visibly smitten with these plagues, that is, with devouring fire, and water turned into blood.

2.) From the Haydock Commentary:

The beast, etc. God, for the greater good and glory of his servants, permits the Devil by the Antichrist, and such like instruments, to torment them, and put them to death; and yet by dying they conquer, to the eternal confusion of their persecutors, who shall behold them going up to heaven, to be there happy with God in his kingdom for ever. (Witham)

The Antichrist, impelled by Satan, shall kill them. (Pastorini)

Their bodies shall lie in the streets. It is what has often happened to the bodies of the martyrs, and may happen to Enoch and Elijah, for three days and a half, for a short time.

The great city. Some understand any city where Christians are persecuted. Others by the following words, where also their Lord was crucified, will needs have to be understood Jerusalem, which they hold shall be rebuilt in the time of the Antichrist, and where by him shall be put to death Enoch and Elijah. But others think it may be expounded of heathen Rome, which in a mystical sense might be called Sodom for its infamous crimes, and Egypt for its idolatries and superstitions, where Christ might be said to be crucified, not as to himself, but in his members, according to what he himself said, Matthew 25:40: “inasmuch as you did it to one of these, my least brethren, you did it to me.” (Witham)

City; Jerusalem, which is supposed will be the residence of the Antichrist, and filled with a great concourse of people. (Menochius)

3.) Commentary by St. Hippolytus (On Christ and Antichrist):

“And when they shall have finished their course and their testimony,” what says the prophet? “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them,” because they will not give glory to the Antichrist. For this is meant by the little horn that grows up. He, being now elated in heart, begins to exalt himself, and to glorify himself as God, persecuting the saints and blaspheming Christ, even as Daniel says: “*I considered the horn, and, behold, in the horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things; and he opened his mouth to blaspheme God. And that horn made war against the saints, and prevailed against them until the beast was slain, and perished, and his body was given to be burned *(cf. Daniel 7:8, 11, 25).”

4.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

[The prophets] will testify that the one who is present is not the Christ but a certain rogue, a deceiver and a destroyer. He will in no way come as the Son of God in whom one must believe as Savior and as God and who came for the benefit of humankind both in his appearance long ago and in his present appearing. He calls the Antichrist a “beast” because of his savagery, his inhumanity and his thirst for blood. He calls the life of people a “bottomless pit,” for it is bitter and distasteful on account of sins and unstable because it is buffeted about by evil spirits. For the sinful one will not arise out of any other substance but out of our own human nature, for he will be a man “whose coming is in the activity of Satan,” as was just now said. This beast, it says, will kill the two witnesses and will cast their dead bodies unburied in the streets of Jerusalem. For in it he will rule as king of the Jews whom he will deceive, and he will come to those who assist and trust him in every thing. As the Lord said in [the Gospel of] John: “*I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in His own name, Him you will receive *(Jn. 5:43).”

He calls Jerusalem “Sodom,” not in a literal sense but in a spiritual sense on account of the licentiousness and ill-repute it possessed at that time. And he calls it “Egypt” because it had enslaved and abused the servants of Christ, just as the actual Egypt did to Israel. And it was there “where also their Lord,” that is, [the Lord] of the two witnesses, “was crucified.”

5.) Commentary by Andrew of Caesarea:

After [the two witnesses] have witnessed and urged escape from this deceit, the beast, that is, the Antichrist, comes forth from the dark and deep recesses of the earth to which the Devil had been condemned. And, with God’s allowance, he will kill them and leave their unburied bodies in Jerusalem itself, no doubt the ancient one which is now in ruins and in which the Lord also suffered. As it seems, he will establish his kingdom in Jerusalem in imitation of David, whose son is Christ, our true God, who is come in the flesh. In this way [the antichrist] intends to prove that he is the Christ who is fulfilling the prophetic word that says, “*I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and rebuild its ruins *(Amos 9:11).” And having been deceived at his coming, the Jews will accept this.

 

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9-10: And those from the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations will see their corpses for three days and a half, and will not allow their corpses to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the Earth rejoice over them and make merry; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the Earth.

DEFINITIONS and CROSS-REFERENCES
Three days and a half: Just as the two witnesses’ (here called prophets) period of immunity were 1260 days (i.e. three years and a half), so does their period of shame last for three and a half days.

Will not allow their corpses to be laid in a tomb: Many ancient cultures (like the Jews) thought that to be denied of a proper burial is a very horrible, humiliating and disgraceful punishment; thus it is usually reserved to those who have committed grave crimes.

For example, victims of a Roman method of execution known as crucifixion were, as a last act of humiliation and dishonor, not buried properly (though there were a few exceptions) and were either left to hang on their crosses to rot and be chowed upon by predators or thrown away into a common grave.

Those who dwell on the Earth: cf. Revelation 3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8, 12, 14; 14:6-9; 17:2, 8. While in some cases in the book, the phrase merely means “earth-dwellers,” in other passages (especially those from chapters 13-17), this phrase seems to be also used to denote ungodly and sinful men. Compare these passages from the Old Testament (Hosea 4:1; Joel 1:2, 14; 2:1; Jeremiah 6:12; 10:18) where the phrase ‘those dwelling on the earth/land’ is used to mean those in Israel who will about to undergo judgment.

And they will send gifts to one another: Gift-giving was usually done in times of celebration and merriment; cf. Nehemian 8:12; Esther 9:19, 22.

COMMENTARIES

1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

see. He said not the peoples and tribes will see, but, many from among the peoples who openly deride the saints, when others believe.

tombs. He has spoken of their wish and their opposition: not that they are able to effect that the Church should not be their memorial; as it is said, “*Ye neither enter in, nor suffer others to enter in *(Matt. 23:13),” seeing that some do enter in, although they oppose. But they will evidently effect, in respect of the bodies of the living and of the slain, that neither are the living suffered to meet together for their memory by the celebration of holy offices, nor the slain to have their names recited for their memory, nor to have their bodies buried for their memory as witnesses of God.

rejoice. As often as the righteous are afflicted, the unrighteous exult and feast (Psalm 67:4 [68:3]), as, “*while the ungodly is lifted up, the poor is consumed *(Ps. 10:2).”

tormented. Because of the plagues with which the human race is vexed, because of their testimony to God, even the very sight of the righteous oppresses the unrighteous; as they themselves say, “*He is grievous unto us even to behold *(Wisdom 2:15).”

2.) Commentary by Andrew of Caesarea:

Those Jews and Gentiles, who once were overpowered by the false wonders of the Antichrist, and who had indelibly engrafted that abominable name upon their hearts, prohibited the holy bodies from being buried, and they rejoiced because they were free from the torments that [the prophets] gave for their correction. For they did not acknowledge that “*the Lord reproves him whom he loves *(Prov. 3:12),” and that “he scourges every son whom he receives” and “*by muzzle and bridle he will pull and tug at those who are not near to him *(Ps. 32 [33]:9).” And God works in this way so that they might turn from necessity into the straight way from which they turned aside when they were deceived.

We must make petition of the Lord and pray, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes (Ps. 119 [118]:71),” and “Turn us, O God of our salvation, that you do not enter into judgment with your servant (Ps. 85:4 [84:5]; cf. Ps. 143 [142]:2).” When we are judged by you, our beneficent Master, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world(1 Cor. 11:32) but may rather through a few torments escape an eternal punishment.

3.) Commentary by Primasius:

The intentions are expressed by which the impious strive to remove the Church of Christ from the world, as the Psalmist says, “*Let the name of Israel be remembered no more! *(Ps. 83:4 [82:5])” And although they are unable to fulfill their desire, yet they make their evil intention known.

4.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

And seeing the destruction of the witnesses, those from every nation who have been deceived by the Antichrist will rejoice over them, as though their own king had conquered. That they exchange gifts is another indication of their glee and delight. It says, “Because the two prophets had been a torment to those living on the Earth.” [The prophets] will not torment them with any physical torment, but spiritually by mocking and reproving them for their sins and by making utterly clear their deceit.

5.) Commentary by Tyconius:

Since they do not allow their bodies to be gathered in a suitable place, they prevent a. day for their memory to be indicated by a sacred celebration of the living…It is no wonder that the earthly minded rejoice over the deaths of the righteous. For in addition to the plagues that beset the human race on account of the testaments of God, even the very sight of the righteous oppresses the unrighteous, as it is written, “*Even the sight of him is a burden to us *(Wisdom 2:15).” Not only does it oppress, it also causes him to melt away, and so the psalm says, “*The sinner will see and be angry; he will gnash his teeth and melt away *(Ps. 112 [111]:10).”

 

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11-14: And after the three days and a half, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who saw them. And they heard a great voice from Heaven saying to them: “Come up here!”

And they went up to Heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them; and in that hour came a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and killed in the earthquake were seven thousand names of men, and the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of Heaven.

The second Woe is past; behold, the third Woe is coming quickly!

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DEFINITIONS and CROSS-REFERENCES

The breath of life from God entered into them: Here is an allusion to Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones; cf. Ezekiel 37:5, 9, 10, 14.

The cloud: This echoes Elijah’s assumption (2 Kings 2:11), Jesus’ ascension on a cloud (Acts 1:9) and Paul’s statement in 1 Thessalonians 4:17:

Then we who are alive, who are left, will together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so always will we be with the Lord.

Some identify this cloud as referring to the same cloud which clothed the ‘mighty Angel’ of 10:1, which is why John refers to it as ‘the’ cloud in the original Greek.

A great earthquake (Greek: Seismos megas): cf. Rev. 6:12; 16:18. The wording comes from Ezekiel 38:19 (LXX) where ‘a great earthquake’ is used in the final judgment of Gog when it attempts to destroy the restored Israel.

Another parallel is that this ‘great earthquake’ happens at the sixth trumpet, before the seventh is sounded, just as the earthquake of 6:12 happens at the breaking of the sixth seal, before the seventh is loosed. Indeed, in both the seventh seal and trumpet, ‘lightnings, sounds, thunders, earthquakes (and great hail)’ occur (cf. 8:5; 11:19).

And the tenth part of the city fell: The increasing ratio of destruction on the Earth, from one-fourth (6:8) to one-third (8:6-12), has now been reversed; now, only one-tenth of the ‘great city’ is destroyed by the earthquake, while nine-tenths of it are spared.

Seven thousand names of men: A symbolic sum to represent all social classes (denoted by the ‘perfect number’ seven) and large numbers (thousands).

Some think that a lex talionis is signified here; that is, the two witnesses may be implicitly identified with the seven thousand faithful associated with Elijah (1 Kings 19:18). If so, just as the faithful seven thousand (=the two witnesses) were killed, then so must their persecutors be killed with that number.

Gave glory to the God of Heaven: This implies that the end of the story is repentance (compare the usage of this phrase in 14:7 and 16:9). The death and vindication of the two witnesses had incited the purpose of the series as a whole; namely, fear, repentance and worship of God among (at least, some of) ‘those who dwell upon the Earth’, which was something that six terrible plagues could not do (9:20-21).

Another opinion exists however which treats this in a negative manner, namely: just like the Philistines in Samuel (1 Samuel 6:5ff), Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel (2:47; 3:95-96, 99 [28-29; 4:2]; 4:31) and the sailors in Jonah (1:9-10, 16), these people may have acknowledged God as powerful but even so, have remained unbelievers by considering Him as just one of thosee gods that they already worship. In other words, it is not a true case of repentance, as they do not acknowledge God to be the only one who is actually worthy of worship.

COMMENTARIES
1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

days. Thus far the angel has spoken of the future, and now he brings in, as accomplished, that which he hears is to come to pass, namely that, after the reign of Antichrist has been destroyed, the saints have risen to glory.

fear. He has spoken of all the living, because even the righteous who shall remain alive will greatly fear at the resurrection of those who sleep.

cloud. This is the same that the Apostle said, “We shall be caught up in the clouds into the air, to meet the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17).”

enemies. Here he has distinguished the unrighteous from those of whom he had said, that they feared in common with them.

2.) From the Haydock Commentary:

The spirit of life from God entered into them, etc. It is an allusion to a vision in the prophet Ezekiel, chap. 37. (Witham)

A great earthquake. By which may be signified the consternation that fell upon the persecutors of Christians, when by God’s visible chastisements, seven thousand (i.e. many of them) perished miserably; others were struck with fear, others converted. (Witham)

These visions belong to the second woe, and the third woe is at hand. (Witham)

Second woe; the persecution of the Antichrist. Third woe, or the day of judgment, is near at hand. (Pastorini)

3.) Commentary by Andrew of Caesarea:

(verse 12) Being dead for as many days as there were years of their prophecy, they will rise up and ascend into Heaven on a cloud, that dominical chariot. And fear and perplexity will seize those who see it.

(verses 13-14) It is possible that these things will happen at that time in a physical way. But we think that the “earthquake” symbolizes the transposition of those things that are shaking and tottering to something more firm and secure. That a “tenth of the city” falls refers to the corpse of impiety, which was not wise in the seizing of those prophets. The “seven thousand” who are killed signify those who remained attached to the seven days of the present life but did not wait for the eighth day of the resurrection and who must also be killed with “the second death” in Gehenna, namely, eternal punishment. Or, perhaps the seven thousand will be those Jews who were persuaded by the Antichrist.

 

[patrick457]

Commentary by St. Bede (continued):

earthquake. When the terror of the judgment comes upon them, all the city of the Devil, which is built upon the sand, with all its builders, will fall to the ground. For, both ten and seven are perfect numbers. But if it were not so, the whole would be to be understood from a part.

affrighted. Who of all men will boast that he has a pure heart, when “*the powers of Heaven shall be shaken *(Matt. 24:29).”

gave glory. They are built upon a rock, who, from their own stability, glorify the Lord when others fall at the earthquake. For “*the righteous will rejoice when he seeth the punishment of the wicked *(Ps. 52:11 [53:10]).” Some understand the two prophets to be Enoch and Elijah, and that they are to preach for three years and a-half, and confirm the hearts of the faithful against the perfidy of the Antichrist, which is presently to follow; and that, after their death, his cruelty is to rage for the same period of time, and then, when the conflict is at length renewed by the saints, who in the protection of their hiding-places were supposed to be dead, is to be overcome. And these, because of their fellowship in one body, are said to rise as prophets themselves; and when the persecution is intensified at the sight of those who were already thought to be dead, many of those who were supposed to be worthy of the number seven, or ten, will fall.

For Daniel says, “He will confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the half of the week the oblation and sacrifice will cease, and the abomination of desolation shall be in the Temple (Dan. 9:27);” and the following, “and when the abomination which makes desolate shall be set up, there will be a thousand two hundred and ninety days (Dan. 12:11),” which number is close upon the course of three years and a-half. Finally, Elijah of old destroyed his adversaries by fire, and was hidden for three years and a-half, and withheld the rain (1 Kings 17:1); and at length, when the false prophets were put to death, by means of the sacrifice which had been consumed (1 Kings 18:38-39), he turned Israel unto the Lord.

second. The second woe does not belong to the recapitulation, but to the battle of the horses, which was stirred up by the trumpet of the sixth Angel; for the eagle had foretold three woes, from the voice of the three trumpets which was to come. But he did not utter it then, lest that which belongs to the seventh Angel, and the end, should be supposed to follow immediately upon the third.

 

[patrick457]

15: And the seventh Angel sounded, and there followed great voices in Heaven, saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign to the ages of ages!”

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The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ; and He will reign to the ages of ages!

George Frederic Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus (from his oratorio Messiah)

DEFINITIONS

And the seventh Angel sounded: The seventh trumpet proclaims the coming of God’s reign after the victory over evil, the fulfillment of the ‘mystery of God’ (10:7).

Our Lord and…His Christ: This recalls previous references to “Him who sits on the Throne” together with “the Lamb” (5:13; 6:16; 7:10), but more particularly Psalm 2:1-2 (LXX):

Hebrew: Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the Earth rise up, and the rulers plot together, against the LORD, and against His Mashiach.

Septuagint: Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? The kings of the Earth stood up, and the rulers gathered themselves together against the Lord, and against His Christos.

COMMENTARIES

1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

seventh. The six former trumpets, corresponding with the periods of the present age, announced the various conflicts of the wars of the Church. But the seventh, heralds in the eternal Sabbath, and shows alone the victory and the dominion of the true King.

2.) From the Haydock Commentary:

The seventh Angel, etc. The Saints and blessed spirits and Heaven are represented praising God with loud voices, at the approaching of the kingdom of God; some understand at the end and consummation of the wicked world, after the destruction of the Antichrist, when the blessed shall reign in Heaven; but others expound this of the triumph of the Christian faith and Church, when the providence of God putting an end to the persecutions against the Christian religion, by the miserable end of Diocletian, Maximian, Maxentius, etc., made the kingdom of this world (the powerful Roman empire) become the kingdom of our Lord, by his raising Constantine the great to the Empire, and under him making the faith of Christ triumph over all its persecutors and adversaries. (Witham)

3.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

By way of digression the vision related the attacks upon the two witnesses or prophets and discussed everything about them. The vision now returns to the previous narrative from which it departed. It has spoken of the future reward of the Saints and that those from the nations were more numerous than those from Israel, and those who pleased God in the New Testament more numerous than those who pleased him in the Old Testament. And, it says, when the seventh Angel blew his trumpet “there were voices in heaven saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of God and of his Christ.’”

To be sure, God always is king and has never begun nor indeed shall ever cease to rule the Heaven and the Earth and which is visible and invisible in them, for He is without beginning and without ending Master and Lord to all things. However, since also people take the title of “king” upon Earth and after a manner God has those who reign with him, when the earthly kingdom of people is dissolved at the consummation of the present age, God alone will rule. And for this reason it says that “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of God and of his Christ,” because those people who rule on the Earth and the tyrannical demons have been destroyed and brought to an end.

 

[patrick457]

16-18: And the twenty-four Elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying: “We give You thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was; because You have taken Your great power, and reigned.
And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came; and the time for the dead to be judged; and the time to give Your servants the prophets their reward, and to the Saints, and to those who fear Your name, the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the Earth.”

CROSS-REFERENCES and DEFINITIONS

Worshipped (Greek: Prosekynēsan): cf. Rev. 4:9-10. The Greek word proskynesis literally meant “kissing towards,” and originally referred to the traditional Persian act of prostrating oneself before a person of higher social rank.

According to Herodotus, a person of equal rank received a kiss on the lips, someone of a slightly lower rank gave a kiss on the cheek, and someone of a very inferior social standing had to completely bow down to the other person before them. To the Greeks, giving a proskynesis to a mortal seemed to be a barbarian and ludicrous practice as they reserved such submissions for the gods only. This may have led some Greeks to believe that the Persians worshipped their king, who was the only Persian that received the proskynesis from everyone, and other misinterpretations caused cultural conflicts.

Who is and who was: The Textus Receptus adds here ‘and who is to come.’ God is no longer described as “who is to come” because He has already come in power, with the kingdom of the world becoming His and His Anointed’s (v. 15).

And the nations were enraged: cf. Ps. 2:1-2.

And Your wrath came: cf. Ps. 2:5; 110:5.

The time to give Your servants the prophets their reward: cf. Rev. 10:7.

The small and the great: cf. Dan. 7:10; Rev. 19:5; 20:12.

Destroy those who destroy the Earth: cf. Rev. 19:2, where the great harlot, Babylon is said to have been condemned since she has ‘corrupted the Earth.’

COMMENTARIES

1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

worshipped. Behold, he says, the third woe will come at the voice of the seventh Angel. And when he had sounded, he only spoke of the Church as praising God and giving thanks, from which we understand that the retribution of the faithful will be nothing else than the woe of the evil ones.

who art. “Thou hast reigned from the age, although the ungodly are rebellious against Thee. But now that Thou art Judge, their fury will be repressed, and will cease.” For, “The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry (Ps. 98 [99]:1).”

dead. It agrees with the order, as we read in the Gospel, that first, indeed, all nations should be gathered together before the Judge (Matt. 25:32), then that those on the right hand should be disposed in many mansions in the Kingdom of the Father (John 14:2), but that the ungodly should be driven out beyond the limits of the kingdom, to be burned in the accursed flames.

corrupted. This is the last woe. Therefore, concerning the seven Angels sounding with the trumpet, he now recapitulates from the birth of the Lord, as about to say the same things in another manner, and more comprehensively.

2.) Commentary by Tyconius:

He speaks of the beginning and the end. When he says, “You have begun to reign and the nations raged,” he indicates the first coming, for at His birth Herod and the people of Jerusalem were troubled. However, the time of the second coming is declared by wrath and judgment…“Behold, the third woe has come,” it says. By the sound of the trumpet of the seventh Angel he refers to nothing other than the Church, which is praising the Lord and is in the sound of the trumpet giving thanks to Him without end.

And from this we understand that the rewarding of those who are good is not without the punishment of the wicked. “To reward your saints and to corrupt the corrupters of the Earth,” it says. This means that [the Lord] gives to the righteous a recompense proper to their merits and to those who were corrupters he gives evil proper to their wicked deeds. For whoever has corrupted in himself the temple of the Lord, that is, the Church of the body of Christ in Baptism, he will without doubt be subjected to corruption. As the apostle said, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him (1 Cor. 3:17).”

3.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

When the voice was heard, “the elders worshiped God,” bringing their own thanksgiving and saying, “We give you thanks, O God, the Almighty, who is and who was.” The phrases who is and who was are fitting to be used of the holy Trinity, although usually who is is used of the Father and who was of the Son. For “to be” is true of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and we speak rightly when we say “was” of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore, the thanksgiving of the elders is ascribed to the holy Trinity. For it says, “You have taken Your great power” from those on the Earth, and You have taken Your rule which You gave to them, and You now alone rule.

And since the earthly kingdom is destroyed, naturally “the nations raged,” for they had been deprived of their dominion — by nations he speaks of the ranks of the demons and of unfaithful people. “But Your wrath has come,” it says, “and the lot of the nations to be judged and to give reward to Your servants the prophets and the Saints.” Although, it says, you exercised great long-suffering toward them in the past, they made no use of Your kindness, and now, that is, in the day of judgment, You have brought Your wrath against them, and that fate that has been determined for the nations has come and is present. And what is this? This, that they are judged and that recompense is given to the Saints who had suffered evil from them, and that they who had corrupted the Earth by polluting it with their sins be destroyed by the recompense of punishment.

4.) Commentary by Andrew of Caesarea:

Here again He says that the holy Angels and those who live as do the Angels send a hymn of thanksgiving to God, because for our sake He has become worthy to receive as man that kingdom that as God He possessed from the beginning. And having been patient with the unbelieving nations who were enraged at this as though it were a new and strange teaching, at the end he brings judgment upon them…“The time of the dead” is the time of the resurrection of the dead, at which time recompense will be given to each, one after the other. In the “prophets and saints and those who fear God” we are perhaps to recognize the three orders of those who produce fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold (11). However, certainly the Apostles will receive the first place and sit upon the twelve thrones. We think that the “small and great” are either the lesser Saints and those who are rather more preeminent than they, or the “small” are the sinners who are subjects of contempt and the “great” are the righteous.

 

[AFISHN]

Happy Birthday,Patrick.

Your post have inspired me,
and the art work in them is truely beautiful.

God Bless you

 

[patrick457]

Happy Birthday,Patrick.

Your post have inspired me,
and the art work in them is truely beautiful.

God Bless you

Thank you. May you be blessed in return too, ten times more.

 

[patrick457]

11:19, 12:1-2: And the Temple of God which is in Heaven was opened, and the Ark of His Covenant was seen in His Temple; and there followed lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm. And a great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head, a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/3995/forcaoj3qu6.jpg

DEFINITIONS and CROSS-REFERENCES

The temple of God which is in Heaven: cf. Rev. 4:1; 15:5.

Ark of His Covenant (Greek: Kibōtos tis Diathikis autou): The Ark of the Covenant (Hebrew: 'Aron Habrit) was a chest wherein rested the Tablets of the Law (the Ten Commandments) as well as Aaron’s rod and some manna. According to the Biblical account, the Ark was built at the command of God, in accord with Moses’ prophetic vision on Mount Sinai (cf. Exodus 25:9-10). God communicated with Moses “from between the two cherubim” on the Ark’s cover (cf. Exodus 25:22).

The Bible describes the Ark as made of shittim wood (acacia), measuring a cubit and a half broad and high, and two and a half cubits long (about 130 cm x 78 cm x 78 cm or 4.29 x 2.57 x 2.57 feet [0.78 m]), covered all over with pure gold. Its upper surface or lid, the propitiatory or mercy seat (Hebrew: Kaporet), was surrounded with a rim of gold. On each of the two sides were two gold rings, wherein were placed two wooden poles (with a decorative sheathing of gold), to allow the Ark to be carried. Over the Ark, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned toward one another. Their outspread wings over the top of the Ark formed the throne of God, while the Ark itself was His footstool.

The design of the Ark was most likely influenced by both Egyptian box-like portable thrones, and Ancient Near Eastern thrones which have depictions of winged sphinxes (such as in this ivory plaque from Megiddo) as sidearms. If the Ark did have similarities to these, these (pagan) art forms were then ‘appropriated’ (with the winged sphinxes=cherubim forming the sidearms of His Throne) by God for His use.

Another interesting specimen: An ivory box from Megiddo with reliefs of lions and winged sphinxes at the sides.

Was seen in His Temple: Notably, John sees the Ark. Whereas before the Ark is hidden by a veil (or a wall) and, when taken out is carefully covered with tachash skins (usually interpreted as leather or badger or dugong hide) that no man (save the High Priest once a year) had ever gazed on it, here this partition is now gone (cf. Matt. 27:51; Mk. 15:38; Lk. 23:45) and all believers can now enjoy God’s presence in a greater manner than ever before (cf. Matt. 1:23; Jn. 1:14; Rev. 7:15).

Here, one could now notice that the book of Revelation itself is brimming with Temple imagery, from the priestly garb of the One like a Son of Man to the Altar in front of God’s Throne to the seven trumpets (some have noted a similarity between these and the seven trumpets blown by priests as a part of the Temple liturgy) and here, the Temple itself and the Ark of the Covenant.

Lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm: The seven trumpets terminates in almost the same manner like that of the seven seals and the seven bowls (8:5, where almost the same wording is used, and 16:18). These events echo the storm in Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:16, 18-19; 20:18).

A woman: Who this woman is has been a matter of debate amongst many. However, it is likely that the woman is a four-way symbol in that she represents four women: Israel, the Church (the New Israel), Eve, and Mary (the New Eve, just as Jesus is the New Adam) as this woman has elements that are proper to each of these four. While some dare to identify this as, say, only Israel or the Church but never Mary, there is no reason to look at this passage in an either/or lens as it is acceptable for a single passage to have multiple, different layers of meaning.

Sun…moon…stars: cf. Genesis 37:9, where Joseph identifies his brothers as stars and his father and mother as the sun and the moon, respectively. Other Jewish writings identify either Abraham, Sarah and their progeny or Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants as the sun, moon, and stars. Notably, the future Israel is also identified with stars: just as stars are (from an earthly point of view) far and indestructible, so would Israel who would rule unashamed in the time to come be kept safe from harm, perfect and united.

Also cf. Song of Songs 6:10, where the bride is said to be ‘as beautiful as the full moon, as clear as the sun,’ and Wisdom 7:24-30.

Crown (Greek: Stephanos): The Greek word denotes a wreath, such as those used in Greek athletic competitions (for example, the olive wreaths awarded to winners in an Olympic event).

COMMENTARIES (part 1)
1.) Commentary by St. Bede:

The temple of God, which was placed aforetime on the earth, had the Ark of the Covenant, inclosed within the mystical veil. But now, in the Church, which is “*the temple of the living God *(1 Tim. 3:15),” whose “*conversation is in Heaven *(Phil. 3:20),” the Ark of His Incarnation is laid open to the whole world, as the veil of the old temple, and the middle wall of partition, have been rent asunder by the blood of the Lord (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:19-23). For like the heavenly manna in clean gold is the Divinity in a holy body.

lightnings. These all are the miracles of the splendor, and preaching, and wars of the Church. He had said also that these things took place in the description of the announcement of the seven angels, from the Advent of the Lord, when He stood upon the altar, but generally from the beginning to the end. Then he described particularly in what manner they took place, as he also does now, that the Temple of God is opened in Heaven, and that conflicts follow.

sign. It is the same sign which now also appears in the Church, that God is born of man.

a woman. The Church is clothed with the light of Christ, and treads upon temporal glory. “Righteousness,” he says, “*will arise in his days, and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away, or consumed *(Ps. 71 [72]:7).” That is, the abundance of peace will greatly increase, until it consume all the changeableness of mortality, and then death, the last enemy (1 Cor. 15:26), will be destroyed. Or: because the same Church has partly the fruition of Christ, the Sun, in Heaven, and is partly absent from the Lord, that which he says, “*His left hand is under my head, and his right embraceth me *(Cant. 2:6, 8:3),” may be understood here.

stars. The Head of the Church is adorned with the number of the Apostles, which is twelve, whether Christ is understood, or whether the first beginning of the Church itself is designated under the name of the head. “Thou hast set,” he says, “*upon his head a crown of precious stone *(Ps. 20:4 [21:3]).”

birth. The Church, in a spiritual sense, both brings forth those with whom it travails, and ceases not to travail with them when already born. As she herself says, “*My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you *(Gal. 4:19).”

delivered. So the Lord says in the Gospel, “*A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow because her hour is come, but when she hath brought forth a son, she remembers the anguish no more for joy *(Jn. 16:21-22).” And He Himself expounded this to His disciples, and added, “And ye now, therefore, have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.”

2.) From the Haydock Commentary:

A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. By this woman, interpreters commonly understand the Church of Christ, shining with the light of faith, under the protection of the sun of justice, Jesus Christ. The moon, the Church, has all changeable things of this world under her feet, the affections of the faithful being raised above them all.

A woman: the Church of God. It may also, by allusion, be applied to our blessed Lady [the Virgin Mary]. The Church is clothed with the sun, that is, with Christ: she has the moon, that is, the changeable things of the world, under her feet; and the twelve stars with which she is crowned, are the twelve Apostles: she is in labour and pain, whilst she brings forth her children, and Christ in them, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions. (Challoner)

Under the figure of a woman and of a dragon, are represented the various attempts of Satan to undermine the Church.
On her head…twelve stars, her doctrine being delivered by the twelve Apostles and their successors. (Witham)

With child, etc., to signify that the Church, even in the time of persecutions, brought forth children to Christ. (Witham)

It likewise signifies the difficulties which obstructed the first propagation of Christianity. (Pastorini)

 

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COMMENTARY (part 2):
3.) Commentary by St. Victorinus:

And the temple of God was opened which is in Heaven. The temple opened is a manifestation of our Lord. For the temple of God is the Son, as He Himself says: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And when the Jews said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, the Evangelist says, He spoke of the temple of His body.

And there was seen in His temple the Ark of the Lord’s testament. The preaching of the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins, and all the gifts whatever that came with Him, he says, appeared therein.

And there was seen a great sign in Heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. And being with child, she cried out travailing, and bearing torments that she might bring forth. The woman clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet, and wearing a crown of twelve stars upon her head, and travailing in her pains, is the ancient Church of fathers, and prophets, and saints, and apostles, which had the groans and torments of its longing until it saw that Christ, the fruit of its people according to the flesh long promised to it, had taken flesh out of the selfsame people.

Moreover, being clothed with the sun intimates the hope of resurrection and the glory of the promise. And the moon intimates the fall of the bodies of the saints under the obligation of death, which never can fail. For even as life is diminished, so also it is increased. Nor is the hope of those that sleep extinguished absolutely, as some think, but they have in their darkness a light such as the moon. And the crown of twelve stars signifies the choir of fathers, according to the fleshly birth, of whom Christ was to take flesh.

4.) Commentary by Oecumenius:

“And the Temple of God in Heaven was opened,” it says, “and the Ark of His Covenant was seen in His Temple.” When this had been said, those good things, which had been hidden, and in addition certain new mysteries were seen by the Saints. For this is the significance of the Ark of the Covenant being opened. And [Paul] shows that the good things of the coming age are hidden from people at the present time by saying, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, that God has prepared for those who love Him.” And that there will be certain mysteries and another knowledge that is now unknown, the Lord shows when he said, “*I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom *(Matt. 26:29).” While the saints have been thought worthy of these things, for the sinners “there were flashes of lightning, voices, and thunder, earthquakes and heavy hail.” This is the third woe. From that which is familiar to us, the passage depicts those punishments and terrors from God that come upon the wicked.

The vision intends to describe more completely to us the circumstances concerning the Antichrist…However, since the Incarnation of the Lord, which made the world his possession and subjected it, provided a pretext for Satan to raise this one up and to choose him [as his instrument] — for the Antichrist will be raised to cause the world again to fall from Christ and to persuade it to desert to Satan — and since moreover his fleshly conception and birth was the beginning of the incarnation of the Lord, the vision gives a certain order and sequence to the material that it is going to discuss and begins the discussion from the fleshly conception of the Lord by portraying for us the mother of God.

What does he say? “And a sign appeared in Heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon was under her feet.” As we said, it is speaking about the mother of our Savior. The vision apparently depicts her as in Heaven and not on the Earth, for she is pure in soul and body, equal to an Angel and a citizen of Heaven.

She possesses God who rests in Heaven — “for Heaven is my throne,” it says — yet she is flesh, although she has nothing in common with the Earth nor is there any evil in her. Rather, she is exalted, wholly worthy of Heaven, even though she possesses our own human nature and substance. For the Virgin is consubstantial with us. Let the impious teaching of Eutyches, which makes the fanciful claim that the Virgin is of another substance than we, be excluded from the belief of the holy courts together with his other opinions.

And what does it mean that she was clothed with the sun and moon was under her feet? The holy prophet, Habakkuk, prophesied concerning the Lord, saying, “*The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood still in its place for light *(Hab. 3:11),” calling Christ our Savior, or at least the proclamation of the gospel, the “sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2).” When He was exalted and increased, the moon — that is, the law of Moses — “stood still” and no longer received any addition. For after the appearance of Christ, it no longer received proselytes from the nations as before but endured diminution and cessation.

You will, therefore, observe this with me, that also the holy Virgin is covered by the spiritual sun. For this is what the prophet calls the Lord when concerning Israel he says, “*Fire fell upon them, and they did not see the sun *(Ps. 57:9 LXX).” But the moon, that is, the worship and citizenship according to the law, being subdued and become much less than itself, is under her feet, for it has been conquered by the brightness of the Gospel. And rightly does he call the things of the law by the word moon, for they have been given light by the sun, that is, Christ, just as the physical moon is given its light by the physical sun.

The point would have been better made had it said not that the woman was clothed with the sun but that the woman enclothed the sun, which was enclosed in her womb. However, that the vision might show that the Lord, who was being carried in the womb, was the shelter of His own mother and the whole creation, it says that He was enclothing the woman. Indeed, the holy angel said something similar to the holy Virgin: “*The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you *(Lk. 1:35).” For to overshadow is to protect, and to enclothe is the same according to power.

“And she was with child,” it says, “and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.” Clearly Isaiah speaks concerning her: “*Before she was in labor she gave birth; before the pain of her labor she fled and gave birth to a son *(Is. 66:7 LXX).” Also in his thirteenth homily on the Song concerning the Lord, Gregory says, “whose pregnancy remains without union, and the childbirth without defilement, and the labor free of pain.” If according to such a prophet and to such a teacher of the Church the Virgin escaped the pain of childbirth, how is it that here it says “she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery”? What is said is not contradictory. By no means! For there would be nothing contradictory said by the same Spirit who was speaking through both.

Rather, you will understand the present phrase “she cried out and was in anguish” is this way: until the holy Angel said to Joseph that that which was borne in her womb was of the Holy Spirit, she was faint of heart, as is natural for a virgin, and she blushed before her betrothed and thought that perhaps from the secrecy of the marriage he might think that she was in labor.

And so, according to the rules of figurative language, he calls this faintheartedness and sorrow a “crying out” and “anguish.” Nor is this unusual. For even to the blessed Moses, when he was spiritually conversing with God and losing heart — for he saw Israel in the desert surrounded by the sea and the enemy — God said, “Why are you crying to me? (Exodus 14:15)” So also here, the vision calls the troubled disposition of the Virgin in her mind and heart a “crying out.”

But may You, who by Your unspeakable birth did bring to an end the faintheartedness of Your undefiled servant, Your mother according to the flesh, but my mistress, the mother of God, also forgive my sins. For it is proper to give You glory forever, Amen.