Commentary on the Apocalypse 1 part 11/14

The marriage of the Lamb, then, has come, and His wife the Church stands ready to obtain those inexpressible good things through her union with Christ.

'Clothed,' he says, 'in a garment of fine linen' made of virtues.

And it is fine linen because of its brightness and fineness;

bright by reason of a blameless life and conduct, and fine by reason of right doctrines and thoughts concerning God.

'And he says to me,' he says, 'Write:'

Blessed are those called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and indeed also those who go as they ought.

For we know many who were called in the Gospels, but who declined the spiritual banquet, or who indeed went, but were cast out as not having a wedding garment, as was shown a little before.

But the divine apostle also has said that many are the called, but few the chosen.

And I fell before his feet to worship him.

I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus;

for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The accursed and God-hating Greeks, hearing that it is a doctrine ordained among us that holy angels, by the good pleasure of God, preside over nations and churches and each individual — concerning nations, the most wise Daniel having written, "And I came because of your words,"

with the ruler of the Persians;

"and I was going forth, and the ruler of the Greeks was coming"; and again, "there is no one holding with me concerning this, except Michael your ruler"; and again, "and at that time Michael the great ruler shall arise, who stands over the sons of your people";

and concerning churches, the present Apocalypse having already said this in what has preceded — in agreement with which, Gregory among the saints, writing, says concerning the holy angels: "For I am persuaded that one angel presides over one church and another over another, as John teaches me through the Apocalypse";

and concerning each individual — the prophet having said, "The angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and will deliver them," and further, the apostle also writing concerning the holy angels, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who are about to inherit salvation?" — since therefore they hear these things being taught as doctrine among us, they say to us: "Why, O you who glorify the same things as we do, do you find fault with our doctrine which sets forth the rulers of the nations as gods?"

"For those whom you call angels, these we name gods, so that we differ only concerning names, but no longer concerning the realities."

"Do you not indeed also call the order called angels 'gods,' so that not even concerning the names is there a difference between us?"

To whom it must be said: O accursed ones, who worship the works of your own hands, and who set up as gods, but yesterday and the day before, those whom you have made known in every kind of disgrace — you who, having stolen most of our divine doctrines, brought them and mixed them into your own pernicious doctrines; but, using mind as your guide and not God, you were not able to preserve in every respect the nobility of our doctrines, but having followed a little way, you were shipwrecked somewhere near the very starting point.

Therefore there is nothing common between us and you, just as there is nothing common between light and darkness, or between Christ and Belial, as Scripture says.

For you, positing the rulers of nations as gods — or rather unclean demons — show yourselves to be dedicating worship to beings who wish to be worshipped as gods, and who indeed are deified by you, taking no account of the God who appointed them for the care of mankind, but administering the nations by their own will, as they themselves wish.

Therefore you have assigned to Ares the Scythians and the Germans, the most savage and bloodthirsty, who have become such as being governed by Ares the man-slaying and blood-stained; and the Greeks, as intelligent, to Athena, having received their intelligence from her; and other nations to other gods, each of the gods regulating the nations according to their own particular passions.

But what do we say? You shall know from what follows.

For although the evangelist wished to worship the divine angel — and not to worship him as God (for who knew better than John who is by nature and truly God, and who the angels are, namely that they are ministers and servants and creatures of God?) — nevertheless he appears to decline even this worship as of an angel, since it is worship at all, saying, "See that you do not."

I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus.

The word "see" is not simply that of one forbidding, but is a word of one solemnly protesting.

And he calls himself a fellow servant of all who confess themselves to be servants of Christ and who testify that he is God incarnate.

"What then must be done, O most divine angel, since you forbid being worshipped?" "Worship God," he says.

"For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," as if he were saying: "Is this why you seek to worship me, because I have foretold to you the things that are about to be? All who testify to the lordship and divinity of Christ are full of the prophetic gift, and not I alone."

"Why then," he says, "do you worship one who has received a gift equal to that of my fellow servants?" Similar indeed are the things glorified by the Greeks concerning the rulers of the nations, and the things said by Christians concerning the holy angels!

and in righteousness he judges and makes war;

and his eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, having a name written which no one knows except himself, and he was clothed with a garment sewn in blood, and his name is called The Word of God.

And the armies in heaven followed him on white horses, and were clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron;

and he treads the winepress of the wine of the wrath of Almighty God.

And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written: King of kings, and Lord of lords.

After the hour of the destruction of Babylon:

It is clear who is meant by Babylon; and this too is shown to the evangelist: the fall of the Antichrist and of the arch-evil dragon, and into what punishment they shall depart at the time of the end and of the recompense, and also the destruction of the kings who shall then rise up against the servants of Christ. And observe what he says:

I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and its rider was faithful and true and righteous.

He sees the Lord all but fighting alongside and fighting on behalf of the saints, and waging war against the adversaries.

Therefore the vision also invests him with the figure of a general, putting a horse and a sword into his hand, and giving him the leading of armies.

"And behold," he says, "a white horse," on which the Lord was mounted, the riddle signifying that Christ rests upon none other than the pure, those stained by no filth of sin.

Therefore also concerning the chosen vessel Paul it was said by the Lord: "to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the sons of Israel."

Observe then that Christ rests upon and is mounted upon those who are like Paul.

"And he who sat upon it," he says, that is, upon the horse, "was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war."

He who is true is faithful, according to the apostle who says concerning him:

"He cannot deny himself."

So he is "Faithful and True."

For it is said concerning the same one, two appellations being applied to a single reality.

And that he judges righteously and wars against sensible enemies on behalf of his own servants, the prophet is witness, saying: "O God, give your judgment to the king, and your righteousness to the king's son" — that is, to Christ.

For Christ, according to the flesh, is the son of Solomon, to whom the psalm is dedicated; then adding, "to judge your people in righteousness, and your poor with justice."

And that the same one also wars, he shows, arming him in a military manner, saying: "Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, in your comeliness and your beauty, and bend your bow, and proceed prosperously and reign"; then adding, "Your arrows are sharpened, O mighty one;"

"Peoples shall fall beneath you."

"And his eyes," he says, "were a flame of fire."

The fiery blaze of the eyes signifies his wrath against the enemies.

"And on his head," he says, "were many diadems" — so many, assuredly, as the orders over which he reigns in heaven and on earth.

"Having," he says, "a name written which no one knows except himself."

God says in the seventh of Exodus to the divinely inspired Moses:

"I, the Lord, appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, being their God;

and my proper name I did not make known to them," as being too great, plainly, to be received by human hearing.

Therefore also, when handing down to the apostles how those turning to the knowledge of God should be baptized, the Lord said, "baptizing them into the name," and having said "name," he did not hand down the proper names;

for there was no one able to endure the utterance of them; but instead of the proper names, he handed down relational and appellative terms — relational, saying "into the name of the Father and of the Son," and adding also an appellative term, "and of the Holy Spirit."

Whence also, very securely, in the Apocalypse the proper name of the Only-Begotten is left unknown to all.

"Clothed," he says, "with a garment sewn in blood";

he showed him as all but drenched with his own precious blood.

"And his name is called The Word of God."

Do you see how, having above avoided the proper name, the vision has now put in its place an appellative term instead, saying "The Word of God"? "And the armies followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean";

for he is the commander-in-chief of the heavenly hosts, and the Lord has so called himself, appearing to Joshua the son of Nun.

"I," he says, "am now come as commander-in-chief of the host of the Lord."

And the horses are white also for the holy angels;

for they too delight in the pure among men, since they themselves are pure by nature and unmixed with any stain.

And this is shown by the garment of fine linen, white and pure.

"And out of his mouth" — that is, of the commander-in-chief, evidently — "a sword goes forth."

The divine prophet, then, places the sword upon the thigh of the Lord, in the citation set forth a little before;

but the vision, describing more precisely, places it in the mouth.

By which it is signified that by the Word of God all things are constituted in being, and whoever transgresses this Word in any respect will not go unpunished — "that with it he might strike the nations."

Which nations? Those who campaign together with the Antichrist against the servants of Christ, and who are arrayed under him.

And he himself, it says, "will shepherd them with a rod of iron";

For the Lord, being goodness itself and mercy itself, wished to shepherd these nations, of whom the text speaks, with a shepherding and consoling rod, and to lead them into a place of green pasture and nourish them beside the water of rest.

But since they were not willing for this, they will be shepherded with a rod of iron, that is, a harsh and death-dealing rod.

For those whom reason does not reform, punishment altogether awaits.

And that the iron rod signifies the harsh and punitive rule — the prophet wishing to hint at the empire of the Romans, concerning which Daniel says, "Arise, devour much flesh" — he said to God, "You will shepherd them with a rod of iron";

"like a potter's vessels you shall shatter them."

But when it was an opportune time, God shepherded through it;

but in the last time, through this one.

"and he treads the winepress of the wine of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty."

The Lord said in the Gospels concerning his own Father: "The Father judges no one";

"but has given all judgment to the Son."

Most rightly, therefore, it is said in the Apocalypse that he himself treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God;

for he himself, through the judgment and requital of the wicked, fulfills the will of the Father, and becomes the executor of the Father's righteous wrath.

"And he has on his garment and on his thigh written:"

"King of kings and Lord of lords."

The garment is interpreted figuratively as the flesh of the Lord, rationally ensouled, according to those who say the speakers in Isaiah are holy angels:

"Why are your garments red, and your robes as of one who treads in the winepress? ... full of that which is trodden."

And indeed the thigh signifies the fleshly birth;

for it is written in Genesis: "And all the souls that entered Egypt with Jacob, that came out of his thighs..."

This, then, is what the riddle signifies, that it is written on the garment and on the thigh that Emmanuel is King of all;

for the Word, having been united hypostatically also to flesh, and having undergone the fleshly birth from the Virgin, is nonetheless established as King and Lord of all, of those in heaven and those on earth, not having been diminished in dignity on account of the incarnation;

for even so he was God, and is, and shall be.

"And I saw another angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven:"

"Gather together to the great supper of God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great."

"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army."

"[he] deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image;"

"the two were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone."

"and the rest were killed by the sword of him who sat on the horse, which came out of his mouth, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh."

I think that this holy angel, of whom the text now speaks, is a kind of herald of the divine army;

and he commands all the holy angels in heaven, whom the text figuratively calls birds because of their loftiness and their traversing of the air, to take part in the slaughter of the enemies;

not because a single angel was incapable of destroying the entire battle-line of the enemy — this was indeed clearly shown by the one who in a single night struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians — but so that all might become partakers of the joy over the enemies.

for I think that they too say together with the prophet: "Did I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and pine away because of your enemies? I hated them with a perfect hatred; they became enemies to me."

And since he was giving command to the angels flying in mid-heaven, he himself also stood in mid-heaven and proclaimed this;

for the sun is fixed in the middle of the seven planets, having three above it and three below it.

Either, then, this is the reason, or it is that the proclamation was made in the light, as it were in the Spirit, and he announced the outcome of the slaughters that were about to take place;

for the Spirit is intelligible light, as the prophet teaches, speaking to God:

and addressing his words to the Father, saying, "In your light we shall see light," that is, we shall see the Son in the Spirit.

"that," it says, "you may eat the flesh of kings,"

and by "eating" this and that flesh he means the joy at the death of the enemies;

for thus the Lord also names joy, speaking to his disciples and apostles:

"I have food to eat that you do not know of," thus calling the joy over those who were about to believe "food."

The Devil and the Antichrist waged the war against the Lord and the divine angels — for he calls this one the false prophet of the beast-like Devil — together with the kings who campaigned along with them;

but they were defeated more swiftly than word can tell.

For what do the divine Scriptures say about them? Isaiah, speaking of their sudden destruction, says: "let the impious be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord";

and the apostle says: "whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his mouth."

And what is quicker than to breathe upon and blow upon the enemies? And, it says, "the two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, and the rest were killed by the sword."

He did not deem worthy of the same punishment both those responsible for the war and their accomplices;

but the two — that is, the Devil and the Antichrist — were condemned to the fire, in which they will remain alive forever; for this is what is hinted at by their being thrown alive into the fire;

but the rest were slain by the sword.

and surely it is by far a swifter penalty to be given by the sword than by fire.

And having once begun to speak about what kind of punishment the Devil would suffer, the text, as though preserving the continuity of the discourse, also relates what he suffered at the incarnation of the Lord;

and taking hold of this sequence, it says more concerning the Lord's coming in the flesh, and says:

"I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand."

"And he seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished;"

"after these things he must be loosed for a little time, that he may deceive the nations again."

Is it then the case that the Apocalypse hands down to us the millennium of the godless Greeks, and the reincarnations of souls, and the water of forgetfulness, and I know not what other nonsense and folly — saying that the Devil shall be bound a thousand years and again loosed and shall deceive the nations? Away with such pernicious doctrines, fitting for Greek folly!

"A thousand years in your eyes, O Lord, are as yesterday, which has passed, and as a watch in the night."

The thousand years, therefore, is reckoned as one day in the eyes of God.

And the second epistle of the divinely-inspired Peter says the same thing, he having written:

"But let this one thing not escape you, beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

And the divinely-inspired Isaiah calls the whole incarnation of the Lord "a day," saying: "In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation I helped you."

And not only he, but the Psalmist also calls it "day" and "morning," in one place saying: "This is the day which the Lord has made;"

"let us rejoice and be glad in it" — meaning the joy of our salvation;

and in another place, singing: "In the morning you shall hear my voice;"

"in the morning I will present myself before you, and you will look upon me;"

for our petitions, having been deemed worthy of the regard of God and the Father, are well accepted;

they have come to be through the mediation and reconciliation of the Lord.

and again, concerning Jerusalem, he says:

God will help her at the break of day, early in the morning.

And 'day' and 'dawn' have become the Lord's incarnation, since the sun of righteousness has shone upon us.

For thus Malachi speaks of him, who brought us the light of knowledge; concerning this divine light Zachariah also proclaimed beforehand, saying, in the words, 'the dayspring from on high has visited us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.'

In harmony with this the prophet also said: 'The Lord is God, and he has shone upon us; arrange a festival with thick branches, up to the horns of the altar.'

Having thus related these things beforehand, we must proceed to the matter at hand.

Since it has been said that a day is reckoned by God as a thousand years, and conversely the Lord's sojourn upon earth is called a day, he calls this day 'a thousand years,' since with God there is no difference between a single day and a thousand years;

in this — the incarnation of the Lord — the devil was bound, unable to rise up against the divine signs of the Savior.

Whence the destructive wandering demons, perceiving this intelligible bond, cried out: 'What have we to do with you, Son of the living God? Have you come before the time to torment us?' But the Lord, laying bare their bondage, also said:

'Or how can someone enter the house of the strong man and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.'

Since therefore, as has been said, we have understood the Lord's incarnation and his sojourn on earth as both one day and a thousand years, this number being called indifferently in a mystical sense by the divine scripture, see what the Apocalypse says:

'I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a chain'; and having seized, it says, the devil, he bound him and cast him into the abyss.

As on a painted panel, the things intelligibly wrought by the Lord against the devil are beheld by the evangelist.

For since it was not possible for John, being a man, to see the intelligible things, the things that had happened are depicted for him in bodily form: an angel having a chain, binding the devil, and casting him into the abyss;

for thus also the book of Job, giving bodily shape to the devil's attempt and God's permission, made the one — the devil — request Job from God, and the other — God — grant it, and it recorded, alongside the events, words fitting for the request and the granting;

so also now, you will do well to understand it in this way.

'that he should deceive the nations no more,' it says, 'until the thousand years should be finished;'

for it was necessary that the Lord's sojourn on earth have some greater measure of help and care, so that during it the unclean demons should be prevented from working against men to the same degree as in the times before the incarnation.

'And after this it is necessary,' it says, 'for him to be loosed for a short time.'

What does he mean by 'short'? The time between the Lord's incarnation and the consummation of the present age;

for this is short, even if it seems to be very great, when measured and compared against both the time that has passed and the time to come.

It is called the time until the consummation, after which he will again be bound with the eternal and unending bond.

But even when he is loosed, bind again, O Lord, his schemes against us;

for you reign over us, and glory is fitting to you unto the ages.

Amen. # Book Eleven. The Apocalypse still adheres to the same idea.

'And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast nor its image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand;'

'and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.'

'Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection;'

'over these the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him the thousand years.'

'And when the thousand years are finished, Satan will be loosed from his prison, and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth,'

And it has been said in the preceding book that the vision, having once made mention of the devil, as if preserving one continuous sequence for the narrative, related not only what the devil will suffer at the consummation of the present age, but also what he suffered intelligibly at the Lord's incarnation.

Taking hold of this same sequence, it goes on to relate more concerning the Lord's incarnate sojourn, such as is also what now lies before us for consideration;

for it says: 'And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them.'

He beholds the holy apostles, according to the promise made to them, sitting on twelve thrones and judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Although this will be fulfilled more completely in the age to come, it has also, to a certain measure, already come to pass in the time of the incarnation;

for they themselves, having believed in the Lord and having become partakers of countless good things, condemned those who were unwilling to run to the faith, nor, being instructed by the grace given to the apostles, to rise up into unanimous piety, but who even wove a cross and death for him.

And 'the souls,' it says, 'of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God' —

[the verb] 'I saw' applies in common [to these also]: sitting on thrones and judging the rest of mankind.

And by 'beheaded' he means those who were killed with axes,

but he speaks figuratively concerning those who mortified their own members because of their faith in Christ, and who endured very much for it.

For indeed they were put out of the synagogue, and were assailed with countless reproaches, and their possessions were seized by plunder, as the wise apostle testifies, because they had wholly believed in Christ.

Concerning whom the Lord also said: 'Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say every evil word against you, lying, for my sake.'

But those who did not worship the beast, nor received its mark and image, you should understand — following the continuity of the discourse and taking every thought captive to the obedience of the divine scripture — to be those who did not share the mind of the rest of the Jews regarding the plots against the Lord, nor were willing to submit to the suggestions of the God-hating devil;

for this is [what it means] to worship him and his image.

For he calls 'image' the fact that his will had been imprinted in the hearts of the Jews,

and this he also calls 'mark,' encompassing both their ruling faculty and their practical faculty;

for the head is the type of the ruling faculty, of which the forehead is a part, while the hand is [the type] of the practical faculty.

'and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.'

Again he calls 'a thousand years,' according to what has been said before, the Lord's sojourn on earth, through which they lived the intelligible life, and reigned together with Christ, commanding demons, rebuking passions, and working countless powers;

not that merely being present with Christ, the King of glory, constitutes reigning together with him.

Hence also it is said about them by the prophet: 'When the Heavenly One scatters kings over it, they shall be made white as snow in Zalmon.'

'The rest of the dead did not live,' it says, 'until the thousand years were finished.'

He calls 'dead' those who remained in unbelief, concerning whom the Lord also said: 'Let the dead bury their own dead.'

The unbelievers, therefore, did not live the intelligible life until the time of the incarnation was finished, which is the thousand years;

how so? By the visitation and presence of the Holy Spirit;

for then most of the Jews believed in Christ, as many as had not believed in him when he bodily dwelt among them.

For indeed the matter was arranged most divinely, and in a way that no human mind would have hoped for;

for since in the Old [Testament] the Father had been proclaimed and known, and through the incarnation and the countless divine signs and powers, the Son [had been known];

but the Holy Spirit had not yet been clearly revealed to men.

There was only a word about him in the Old [Testament], but there was no clear and perceptible work — which especially leads men to faith — as was the case with the Son, even though he was known to those who had advanced into the depths of contemplation.

That indeed all things that have been done and wrought have been accomplished by the Holy Trinity — this the Lord clearly shows, saying in one place: 'The Father has given me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak';

'of myself I can do nothing,' referring the things that happen back to the Trinity;

and again, in John: