Commentary on the Apocalypse 1 part 8/14

For the faithful are sons and brothers of the Lord, according to what is written: 'I will declare your name to my brothers,' and again, 'Behold, I and the children whom God has given me'

Are they, then, also of the kinship of his mother? And he made war with them, persecuting and plotting against them, killing them through the tyrants and rulers of the earth, since they testified that he who was born of the virgin was God

'And I stood upon the sand of the sea'

'And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems, and upon its heads names of blasphemy'

'And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and its feet were as the feet of a bear, and its mouth as the mouth of a lion'

'And the dragon gave to it his power and his throne and great authority'

'And one of its heads was as if slain to death, and its deadly wound was healed'

'And all the earth was amazed and went after the beast, and they worshipped the dragon, because he gave authority to the beast'

In the vision before this one, the divinely-inspired evangelist saw a sign in heaven, and behold, he says, a fiery-red dragon

But now he relates to us that he saw a beast rising up out of the sea, like a leopard

Then in the vision after this one, he sees again another beast rising up out of the earth, having two horns like a lamb

Three beasts, then, in all did he see;

the first in heaven, the second out of the sea, and the third out of the earth

But the first and the third happen to be clear to all;

for the one is the dragon, the originator of evil, Satan, who apostatized and stiffened his neck against God the Almighty, and the third is the Antichrist

But this middle beast, now set before us for contemplation—what, then, is it? I think that this happens to be, after the apostate dragon, that is, Satan, the one who is preeminent among the rest of the demons;

of the great day, according to what is written

For if this were not so, but he were sensibly present in the sea and in Tartarus, how is it recorded in the vision before this one that he devised many schemes against both the Lord and his mother? Except that, according to the letter of the history, this too is not to be set aside: he has been allotted Tartarus and the deep

He who is now set before us is introduced in the book of Job, both conversing with God and demanding Job, and bringing countless trials upon him, and indeed also saying that, having walked about under heaven, he is present

And not only the book of Job, but the Lord also made mention of him, in John, addressing the Jews:

'You are of your father the devil, and you desire to do the desires of your father'

'He was a murderer from the beginning, and he does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him'

'When he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own, for he is a liar, and so is his father'—thereby calling the apostate dragon the father of the Devil, that is, of this very one now set before us for contemplation, as having become their chief and the first author of the apostasy;

just as the holy Abraham is also called 'father of nations,' as having first begun the faith for them, according to what was said to him: 'I have made you a father of many nations'

These matters having thus been clarified, according to my opinion, let us return to the matter at hand

'I saw,' he says, 'a beast rising up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon its horns ten diadems'

He sees it rising up out of the sea;

for its ascent, and as it were its elevation, comes from the troubled and unstable life of men, who elected it as tyrant over themselves;

And the ten horns bear witness beforehand to great dominion for it, just as the seven heads bear witness to certain stratagems and the origins of deceits and contrivances;

for both ten and seven are perfect numbers

And there were diadems of his about the horns, showing that he had become a ruler over mankind, we ourselves having, out of deception, willingly handed ourselves over to him

'And upon its head,' he says, 'names of blasphemy'

Rightly, 'upon its head';

for it rages against itself, and behaves insolently against its own head toward God, both plundering reverence from God and ascribing it to itself

'And the beast,' he says, 'which I saw was like a leopard'—both, I think, on account of its impetuosity and its swiftness toward plots

'And its feet,' he says, 'as of a bear'—as being strong and enduring, so as even to walk about under heaven for the plotting against men

'And its mouth,' he says, 'as the mouth of a lion';

for our adversary the Devil goes about as a lion, seeking whom he may devour, according to what is written

'And the dragon gave,' he says, 'to it his power'

And the power of the apostate dragon consists in the deceptions and the deceits of these men, and he has become for it both cause and teacher

'And I see,' he says, 'one of its heads as if slain to death';

'And its deadly wound was healed'

The meaning of this the Spirit-bearing evangelist himself would know;

but as it appears to me, it signifies something of this sort:

For the death-bringing wound which the Devil received upon one of his heads through the piety of Israel, this he was healed of again through their idolatry

'And all the earth was amazed,' he says, 'and went after the beast'

For how was the pious nation of Israel not also going to worship it? And this is what was spoken by Isaiah, from the person of God, to Israel:

'Because of you my name is continually blasphemed among the nations'; but they also worshipped, together with the beast, the dragon, the originator of evil, who is the cause of so great a deception and of the deceitful stratagems

'And they worshipped the beast';

'and who is able to make war with it? And there was given to it a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy, and there was given to it authority to act for forty-two months'

'And it opened its mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven'

'...and to it was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation'

'And all who dwell on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name is not written in the book of life of heaven, which has been sealed from the foundation of the world'

As a result of the things by which he outmaneuvered Israel, those who had been captured by him weave praise for him, saying to the beast, 'Who is like it?' and 'Who is able to make war with it?'

'All,' he says, 'having been defeated and having fallen under its feet': 'and there was given to it a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy'

Given by whom? By the men who had been deceived and had worshipped it;

For to speak loftily belongs to arrogance

For what is greater than this? To say, 'I will ascend into heaven'

'Above the stars of heaven I will set my throne'

And going a little further, 'I will be,' he says, 'like the Most High,' as Isaiah satirizes him; and these things are indeed blasphemies against God.

'And it was given to him,' it says, 'authority to act for forty-two months.'

In what has preceded, we have understood the forty-two months as referring to a short time.

For all time is short, even if it seems especially long, when compared to the endless ages.

'And it opened,' he says, 'its mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, those who tabernacle in heaven.'

It has been said what the blasphemies against God of the apostate are.

By 'the tabernacle of God' he means the holy angels, because God tabernacles in them.

For if it has been said concerning men, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them,' what could one say concerning the heavenly powers, who have God dwelling in them? 'And authority was given to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.'

'And all who dwell on the earth will worship him.'

I have already said that he received this authority from the men who willingly submitted themselves to his destructive dominion.

And he rightly said that all who dwell on the earth will worship him;

for apart from the God-fearing Israel, which did not undergo this, every remaining race and tribe of men is found to have worshipped the destroyer.

'Whose name,' he says, 'is not written in the book of life of heaven, which has been sealed from the foundation of the world' — the vision determined this very securely beforehand.

For since it has been said that all who dwell on the earth have worshipped the apostate Devil, yet there were some few who remained pure of his worship, both from the nations and from Israel — such as Job, his four friends, Melchizedek, and, from Israel, the holy prophets —

and those testified to for piety in the Old Testament — he says all have worshipped him except these, who, because of their godliness and the exactness and refinement of their conduct, are written in heaven and are guarded by God;

for this is what is signified by the book's being sealed.

Concerning this book the Lord speaks to his holy disciples, according to the divinely-inspired Luke:

'But do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you;'

'but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.'

'If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he goes;'

'if anyone kills with the sword, he must be killed with the sword.'

'Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.'

'If anyone,' he says, 'has a mind able to understand what is said, let him hear these words and know that the one ready to take others captive will himself be taken captive by the beast, and will desert to it of his own free will;'

for obtaining no help from God, he will be carried away into every evil.

If anyone is prepared for murders, he will die the noetic death in the worship of the Devil.

'Here,' he says, 'is the endurance and the faith of the saints.'

Thus he becomes innocent of the slavery of the evil one — from which slavery may we all be shown free, by the grace of the God who has called us to knowledge of himself.

The discourse has now arrived at the point that was being earnestly pursued.

And this was to narrate to us the things concerning the impious and God-hated Antichrist.

This one, then, is now set before us; and see what it says concerning him.

'And I saw another beast rising up out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke as a dragon.'

'And it exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence.'

'And it makes the earth and those dwelling in it worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.'

'And it performs great signs, so that it even makes fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men.'

'And I saw,' he says, 'another beast rising up out of the earth' — whence also is the origin of birth for all men.

For the Antichrist is a man, whose coming is according to the working of the Devil, as seems to the most wise Paul.

'And it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke as a dragon.'

Rightly he said that it does not have the horns of a lamb, but horns like a lamb, and that it is not a dragon, but speaks like a dragon.

For since the destroyer pretends to be the Christ, but is not, it gave him horns like a lamb.

And since he proceeds through every impiety equal to the Devil, yet is not the Devil himself, it did not say he was a dragon, but that he speaks as a dragon.

Since, then, these things are so, the text preserved this image for him also in the vision, and gives him a form not of a lamb, but like a lamb, nor of a dragon, but like a dragon.

For Christ is called the Lamb, and the Devil the dragon, but he was neither the one nor the other.

'And,' he says, 'it exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence.'

That is, he becomes successor to the authority of the Devil, and prepares all to worship that one whose deadly wound was healed.

This has been said in what precedes.

But now it is only necessary to note this.

For since he said that it exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and he had spoken first of all about the fiery-red dragon, whom the vision showed depicted in heaven — so that no one might suppose he is now speaking of him, as if this one received the authority of the first beast — he says: I do not mean that one, the first of all, but the one after him — first, however, with respect to the Antichrist — whom the vision showed rising up out of the sea, like a leopard.

For it was this one's deadly wound that was healed, according to what was said before.

'And it performs great signs, so that it even makes fire come down from heaven upon the earth in the sight of men.'

And the doing of signs and wonders according to the working of the Devil is testified by the apostle:

for after saying, 'whose coming is according to the working of Satan,' he adds, 'with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood.'

'And it deceives,' he says, 'those who dwell on the earth by the signs which it was given to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image for the beast, which has the wound of the sword and lived.'

'And it was given to it to give breath to the image of the beast.'

'And it causes all, both the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the slaves, that it should give them a mark,'

'the name of the beast, or the number of its name.'

'He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man;'

'and its number is six hundred sixty-six.'

'And it deceives,' he says, 'those who dwell on the earth through the signs.'

For it performs signs, but deceiving the eyes of those who see, just as the sorcerers also did before Pharaoh;

for both those sorcerers and this one were led by one deceiving demon.

And he rightly said that it performs the signs in the presence of the beast.

For since it will set up an image for it, which it will also compel all to worship, it will supposedly perform the signs beside it, as though deifying the image, on the pretense that it is from the image that it has the power to do these things.

'And it was given to it,' he says, 'to give breath to the image.'

For many statues, they say, both sweat and appear to speak, by diabolical operation.

'Here,' he says, 'is wisdom: let him feel out the name of the beast, and by the numeral let him find it.'

'For I will not speak,' he says, 'of a strange and unfamiliar numeral, nor one named with concealment and duplicity, but a numeral that is well-worn and known to men, which adds up to the number six hundred sixty-six.'

Now this number indeed signifies many other proper and common names as well, but it also signifies these:

proper names: Lampetis, Benedictus, Titan;

for 'Titan' is written with an iota, but it is also possible to write it with a diphthong.

For if 'Teitan' is derived from 'teisis' [retribution], and the verb is 'teinō', with the future 'tenō', then it ought rightly to be written with a diphthong, just as 'phtheirō' is written from 'phtherō', and 'speirō' from 'sperō';

Among his appellations is 'the Victor'; for perhaps he named himself thus, from the fact that he warred down and uprooted the three horns, that is, the kings.

See what Daniel says concerning these things in his eighth vision:

'I considered,' he says, 'his horns'—that is, of the fourth beast—'and behold, another little horn came up among them, and three of the former horns were uprooted before it;'

'and behold, there were eyes like the eyes of a man in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things.'

Then also: the Unsteady One, the Evil Guide, the Truly Harmful One, the Long-standing Malicious One, the Unjust Lamb—

for perhaps he might be called by these names, given him by those who oppose him.

But he will not only not be ashamed to be called these things, he will even take delight in such appellations, so that he is not ashamed even to call himself so.

Rebuking such wretched and god-hated dispositions, the wise apostle says:

'whose glory is in their shame.'

Since, then, many names have been found, it lies within the discretion of whoever wishes to apply the more fitting one to the accursed one.

'And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his Father's name written on their foreheads.'

'And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters, and like the sound of great thunder; and the voice I heard was like the sound of harpers harping with their harps.'

'And they sing a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders;'

'and no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth.'

'These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are they who follow the Lamb wherever he may go;'

'these were purchased from among men, a firstfruit for God and for the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found.'

The Lord is recorded in the Gospels addressing the lawless people of the Jews, saying:

'Behold, your house is left to you desolate.'

For they were no longer worthy of divine visitation after their madness at the cross.

How then is the Lord now shown, as if out of a change of mind, standing upon Mount Zion through this vision?

That their city and the temple and the whole nation have indeed been abandoned and left desolate, the Romans clearly demonstrated, having burned the temple, set the cities on fire, ravaged all their land, and enslaved the very capital itself.

But that the Lord is now shown mounted upon Mount Zion signifies beforehand Israel's final turning to faith in the last days, and that the Lord will make them his own and receive them.

For this is what they were told beforehand as good news through Isaiah, who says: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and will turn away ungodliness from Jacob,' says the Lord.

The prophet and the apostle both agree with Isaiah—the one singing in the Psalms, 'you will make them turn their back; among your remnant you will make ready their face,' the other writing, 'when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel will be saved.'

'And with him,' he says, 'a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his Father's name written on their foreheads.'

In the preceding [chapters] he said that the hundred and forty-four thousand were the twelve thousand who had believed from Israel, taken from each single tribe.

Is he, then, speaking of these same ones now as well? I do not think so;

for he has not named them with the article; he did not say 'the hundred and forty-four thousand,' but only 'a hundred and forty-four thousand;'

not to mention that he also testifies that they had attained virginity,

for virginity was not greatly esteemed among Israel, as it certainly was later among those from the Gentiles;

so that one must suppose the ones named to be a mixture from both Israel and the Gentiles, and indeed the majority from the Gentiles.

And their having the name of the Father and of his Son written on them shows that they happen to be crowned with a certain divine glory.

'And I heard,' he says, 'a voice as of harpers singing a new song before the throne, and the living creatures, and the elders.'

The fact that the sound went forth as of those playing harps indicates the God-pleasing sweetness and harmony of the song;

for if praise is not becoming in the mouth of a sinner, according to what is written, then surely it is fitting and melodious in the mouth of the righteous.

'And no one,' he says, 'could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand, who had been purchased from the earth.'

But I think that no one was able even to hear the mysteries of the new song, except those who had been deemed worthy to sing it;

for to each is given knowledge according to the measure of his purity;

'for many are the mansions,' says the Lord, that is, the recompenses of good things, 'with my Father.'

And by 'purchased' he means those who were redeemed by the blood of Christ.

For the precious blood of Christ was poured out on behalf of all men, yet for some it was without benefit—those who willingly deprived themselves of the salvation therefrom, to whom the Lord also, reproaching them through the prophet, says: 'What profit is there in my blood, in my going down into corruption?'

But on behalf of those who were saved and justified—of whom these, concerning whom the present discourse speaks, are the firstfruit and firstling—it was exceedingly beneficial, to a degree that no one could express.

'These are they,' he says, 'who were not defiled with women;'

'these are they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes;'

'these were purchased from among men, a firstfruit for God and for the Lamb.'

'And in their mouth no lie was found; they are blameless'—as things surpassing nature and beyond the human condition, the discourse of the vision testifies concerning those who are in Christ.

'And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice:'

'Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water.'

'Mid-heaven' hints at the loftiness and exaltedness of nature belonging to the divinely-inspired angel.

And he had an eternal gospel;

for from eternity the saving teaching has been: to fear the Lord, since indeed the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, while love is its end.

Yet, he says, one need not fear the harsh and soul-destroying beast, the antichrist, even though he threatens and does more grievous things,

for, he says, the hour of his judgment has come, and he himself, who terrifies those on earth, will very soon pay the penalty.

'And worship,' he says, 'him who made all creation, and not the destructive and god-hated Devil.'

'And another, a second angel, followed, saying:'

'Babylon the great has fallen, she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.'

I think that by 'Babylon' he means the confusion of the present life and the vain, random temptation;

for 'Babylon' is interpreted as 'confusion,' signifying also the derangement of those who are mad for idols;

and it is dignified with grand names, being called among them 'inspiration.'

But if you also understand it as the literal Babylon itself, you would not fall outside the intended purpose.

And by 'wine of the wrath of fornication' he means apostasy from God, according to what is written:

'You have utterly destroyed everyone who whores away from you'—which fornication brings a darkening of the established faculty of reasoning;

of the destructive wine; then she compelled all the nations, over whom she ruled, to drink it.

'And another, a third angel, followed them, saying with a loud voice:'

'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he too shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, mixed unmixed in the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulfur before the holy angels and before the Lamb.'

'And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.'

'Here is the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.'

The third angel forbids men to worship the beast and to receive his seal.

For to worship as god anyone other than him who truly and really is God is most unholy.

'And he himself,' he says, 'shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, mixed unmixed in the cup of his anger.'

The divinely-inspired David also mentions this cup and the wine, saying: 'A cup is in the hand of the Lord, full of unmixed wine of mixture, and he tilted it from this side to that.'

yet its dregs were not emptied out;

all the sinners of the earth shall drink.

He calls the wrath of God 'wine', not forming the metaphor from mirth, but from the darkening and the derangement with which those gripped by the wrath of God are seized.

'Of the unmixed wine that has been mixed', he says—

that is, mixed without dilution;

For the wrath of God is mixed with love for mankind and goodness—it is mixed undilutedly;

for there is no equal measure of wrath and goodness, but love for mankind is many times greater.

for if there were equality between righteous wrath and goodness, no living being would have survived.

Knowing this, the prophet said: 'If you should mark iniquities, Lord, Lord, who shall stand before you?' And that the goodness in the cup of God is many times greater than the just wrath, the same prophet again hinted when he said: 'The Lord is merciful and just, and our God shows mercy,' placing 'his righteousness' in the middle, as though it were being squeezed by the mercy set on either side and not permitted to work its own effects.

This is proper to righteousness: to distribute to each according to merit.

Having once mentioned wine and thereby named wrath, he persisted in the figure and called 'cup' that which is given to sinners from the hand of God.

But perhaps someone will say: 'How can you say that God's mercy is many times greater in that judgment, when the vision, a little further on, has told us that the punishments of the condemned are eternal? For what does it say? "And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night."'

To this one might reply: 'It is possible, my friend, to be tormented eternally and yet not to suffer according to one's full desert.'

For consider: if someone deserves both fire and darkness, but is condemned only to darkness, he is punished only in this respect—that he does not share in the good things of God—and is pained by this alone, without also being punished by sensible torment.

And by 'the smoke of torment rising up' he means the panting breath of sinners, which is channeled outward from below in their groanings.

'Here,' it says, 'is the endurance of the saints.'

In this time, he says, the time of the Antichrist, this is demonstrated by this trial.

for as great as the danger and the affliction of that time are, so great is the endurance required.

Then the text is framed as though by way of a question.

'And who,' he asks, 'are these whom you call holy and enduring?' 'Those,' he answers, 'who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.'

for such people, even in the presence of trials and death, will hold everything as secondary to faith and love of God.

'And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write:"'

'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'

'And the Spirit says, that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them.'

[those who refused] to worship the image of the beast, nor to receive the mark on their forehead and their hand, and were slain for this reason;

for these, having bound on themselves the crown of martyrdom, obtain the same lot as the martyrs.

And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

And another angel came out of heaven, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud:

'Send your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.'

And he who sat on the cloud cast his sickle,

since the Gospel too says this—a testimony I cited earlier—that it is a certain angelic power;

for it is written: 'And he rode upon the cherubim and flew; he flew upon the wings of the winds.'