Here are direct quotes from the Early Fathers.
**
None of you is ignorant of the fact that the dragon was the devil. The woman signified the Virgin Mary. Quodvultdeus De Symbolo 3, PL 40, 661]
430AD
He is speaking of the mother of our Savior. Naturally the vision describes her as being in Heaven and not on earth, as pure in soul and body, as equal to an angel, as a citizen of Heaven, as one who came to effect the incarnation of God and as one who has nothing in common with the world and the evils in it, but wholly sublime, wholly worthy of Heaven, even though she sprang from our mortal nature and being. For the Virgin is of the same substance as we are.
What is the meaning of saying that
she is clothed with the sun, and has the moon under her feet? The divine prophet Habakkuk says in prophesying about the Lord, “
The sun was lifted up and the moon stood in its position for light.(Hab. 3:10-11)” He, Malachi, calls our Savior Christ, or perhaps the preaching of the gospel, “
the sun of Justice.(Mal. 4:2) When this was exalted and increased, he says, the moon, that is, the law of Moses, stood still, and no longer grew in size. For after the appearance of Christ it no longer received proselytes from the nations as before, but experienced annulment and diminution. Perhaps you could imagine that here the holy Virgin is being protected by the spiritual sun. For this is how the prophet, too, speaks of the Lord when he says about Israel, “
Fire fell upon them, and they did not see the sun,(Ps. 57:9)” And the moon, that is, their worship according to the law and their way of life according to the law, inasmuch as it has been brought down and much reduced, is under her feet, overcome by the evangelical splendor. He well named the requirements of the law
the moon, since they were brought to the light by the sun, that is, Christ, just as the actual moon is given light by the actual sun. In line with this explanation, it would have been more consistent to say that the woman was not clothed with the sun, but that the woman clothed the sun contained in her womb. But in order to show in the vision that even when the Lord was conceived, he was the protector of his own mother and of all creation, the vision said that he clothed the woman. In the same way the divine angel said 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)” Overshadowing, protecting, and clothing all have the same meaning. He says, And on her head, a crown of 12 stars. For the Virgin is crowned with the 12 apostles who proclaim the Christ while she is proclaimed together with Him. Oecumenius Commentary on Revelation]
6th Century
She was given wings of an eagle and was taken to the wilderness, that the dragon might not seize her. Perhaps this can be applied to her (Mary), I cannot decide for certain, and I am not saying that she remained immortal. But neither am I saying that she died.” Epiphanius Panarion 78:11]**315-4403AD **
**
St. Bernard (Sermo Super Signum magnum, no. 3.), St. Epiphanius (Adv. Haeres. 78, 11.), etc.
