THE FATHERS

OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION

VOLUME 112
 THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION

EDITORIAL BOARD

Thomas P. Halton
The Catholic University of America
Editorial Director
Elizabeth Clark Robert D. Sider
Duke University Dickinson College
Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J. Michael Slusser
Fordham University Duquesne University
David G. Hunter Cynthia White
Iowa State University The University of Arizona
Kathleen McVey Rebecca Lyman
Princeton Theological Seminary Church Divinity School of the Pacific
David J. McGonagle
Director
The Catholic University of America Press

FORMER EDITORIAL DIRECTORS

Ludwig Schopp, Roy J. Deferrari, Bernard M. Peebles,
Hermigild Dressler, O.F.M.

Carole C. Burnett
Staff Editor
OECUMENIUS
COMMENTARY ON THE
APOCALYPSE

Translated by
JOHN N. SUGGIT
Rhodes University
Grahamstown, South Africa

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS

Washington, D.C.
 Copyright © 2006
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standards for Information Science—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48 – 1984.

library of congress cataloging-in-publication data

Oecumenius, Bishop of Tricca.
[Oecumenii commentarius in Apocalypsin. English]
Commentary on the Apocalypse / Oecumenius ; translated by John N. Suggit.
p. cm. — (The Fathers of the Church, a new translation v. 112)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-8132-0112-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-8132-0112-8 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. Bible. N.T. Revelation—
Commentaries—Early works to 1800.  I. Suggit, John.  II. Title. 
III. Series: Fathers of the Church ; v. 112.
bs2825.53.o3513 2006
228’.077—dc22
2005024588
 CONTENTS

Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations ix
Select Bibliography xi

Introduction 1

c o m m entary on the apoc alypse

Chapter One 19
Chapter Two 35
Chapter Three 49
Chapter Four 64
Chapter Five 79
Chapter Six 95
Chapter Seven 110
Chapter Eight 123
Chapter Nine 140
Chapter Ten 155
Chapter Eleven 171
Chapter Twelve 189

indices
Index of Proper Names 207
Index of Holy Scripture 211
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Some years ago the late Dr. Alastair Kirkland, who was engaged
on writing a commentary on the book of Revelation, asked Mrs.
Barbara Churms to produce an English translation of Oecumen-
ius’s commentary. After Alastair’s tragic murder in 1997 Barbara
asked me to look over and revise her translation, which followed
the edition of Hoskier.
The present work, which represents a thorough revision of
Barbara’s version, has now become almost a new translation.
While acknowledging my indebtedness to Barbara Churms, with-
out whom I would never have learnt about Oecumenius, I must
be held responsible for any errors or infelicities of expression. I
am alone responsible for the Introduction and for the footnotes.
We both hope that the version will be of interest to those con-
cerned with the Revelation as well as to those who might care to
see a good example of exegetical principles followed in the sixth
century.
I am indebted to the editors of the Fathers of the Church se-
ries in the Catholic University of America, and especially to Joel
Kalvesmaki and Carole Burnett for their help and encourage-
ment. Marc de Groote’s edition of the original Greek has been
invaluable.

John Suggit
July 2005

vii
 ABBREVIATIONS

Byz neugr Jahrb Byzantinisch-neugriechische Jahrbücher.

GCS Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der

ersten drei Jahrhunderte.

GNB Good News Bible.

JTS Journal of Theological Studies.

LXX Septuagint (ed. A. Rahlfs).

Oec Marc de Groote, Oecumenii commentarius in

Apocalypsin (Leuven: Peeters, 1999).

RSV Revised Standard Version.

StudP Studia Patristica.

VC Vigiliae Christianae.

ix
 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Critical editions
de Groote, M. Oecumenii commentarius in Apocalypsin. Leuven: Peeters,
1999.
________. “The New Edition of Oecumenius’ Commentary on the Apoca-
lypse.” StudP 34 (2001): 298–305.
Hoskier, H. C. The Complete Commentary of Oecumenius on the Apocalypse.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1928.
Schmid, J. “Der Apokalypse-text des Oikumenios.” Biblica 40 (1959):
935–42.

The Date, Provenance, and Person of Oecumenius

Durousseau, C. “The Commentary of Oecumenius on the Apocalypse
of John: A Lost Chapter in the History of Interpretation.” Journal of
the Chicago Society of Biblical Research 29 (1984): 21–34.
Lamoreaux, J. C. “The Provenance of Ecumenius’ Commentary on the
Apocalypse.” VC 52 (1998): 88–108.
Monaci Castagno, A. “Il problema della datazione dei commenti all’
Apocalisses di Ecumenio e di Andre di Caesarea.” Atti della Accademia
delle Scienze di Torino. Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche 114
(1980): 223–46.
Schmid, J. “Okumenios der Apokalypsen-Ausleger und Okumenios der
Bischof von Trikka.” Byz neugr Jahrb 14 (1938): 322–30.

Background of Christological Controversies, Third to Sixth Centuries

Grillmeier, A. Christ in Christian Tradition, vol. 1: From the Apostolic Age to
Chalcedon (451), 2d ed. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975.
________. “Reception and Contradiction: The Development of the Dis-
cussion about Chalcedon to the Beginning of the Reign of Justin-
ian.” Part One in Christ in Christian Tradition, vol. 2: From the Council of
Chalcedon (451) to Gregory the Great (590–604), 2d ed. London: Mow-
bray, 1987.
Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Doctrines, 3d ed. London: Black, 1965.
Lampe, G. W. H. “Christian Theology in the Patristic Period.” In A His-
tory of Christian Doctrine, ed. H. Cunliffe-Jones and B. Drewery, 121–
48. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1978.
Prestige, G. L. Fathers and Heretics: Six Studies in Dogmatic Faith with Pro-

xi
xii SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

logue and Epilogue. The Bampton Lectures for 1940. London: SPCK,
1948. (See especially pages 94–178.)
Sellers, R. V. Two Ancient Christologies. London: SPCK, for CHS, 1965.

Oecumenius’s Relationship to Origen and Origenists

Bethune-Baker, J. F. An Introduction to the Early History of Christian Doc-
trine. 6th ed. London: Methuen, 1938. (See especially pages 145–
54.)
Crouzel, H. Origen. Trans. A. S. Worrall. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1989.
Diobouniotis, C., and von Harnack, A. “Der Scholien-Kommentar des
Origenes zur Apokalypse Johannis.” Texte und Untersuchungen 38.3.
Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1911.
Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Doctrines. (Full reference above.)
Malaty, T. Y. The School of Alexandria. Book Two: Origen. Jersey City: St.
Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church, 1995. (With many English texts
of Origen.)
Prestige, G. L. Fathers and Heretics: Six Studies in Dogmatic Faith with
Prologue and Epilogue. (See especially pages 43–93. Full reference
above.)
Preuschen, E., ed. Origenes Werke. 4te Band: Der Johanneskommentar. GCS
10. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1903.
Trigg, J. W. Origen. London: Routledge, 1998. (With selected English
texts of Origen.)
Turner, C. H. “Origen Scholia in Apocalypsin.” JTS (Oct. 1923): 1–16.

Miscellaneous
Jugie, M. “La mort et l’assomption de la Sainte Vierge: Étude histori-
co-doctrinale.” Studi e testi 114: 43–45. Vatican City: Vatican Library,
1944.
INTRODUCTION
 INTRODUCTION

Although there is still considerable doubt about the identi-

ty and date of Oecumenius, it is certain that his commentary is
the first Greek commentary on the book of Revelation, which
was later used by Andreas in the beginning of the seventh cen-
tury and by Arethas in the tenth century.1 It is therefore of con-
siderable interest and importance not only for helping to estab-
lish the text of Revelation, but more importantly as exemplifying
methods of interpretation which may lead readers to appreciate
Oecumenius’s valiant attempt to make sense of the most difficult
book of the New Testament. His efforts, and those of Andreas,
may well have contributed to the eventual formal acceptance in
the East of Revelation as part of the New Testament canon at the
Third Council of Constantinople in a.d. 680.2
The introductory notes simply raise some of the problems
without attempting to solve them. They also draw attention to
several interesting remarks in Oecumenius’s commentary, which
is of particular importance because of what seems to be an am-
bivalent relationship between Oecumenius and Origen.

1. Who was Oecumenius?

The commentary was discovered by Franz Diekamp in 1901,3
but it was not until H. C. Hoskier produced the first printed edi-

1. M. de Groote, Oecumenii commentarius in Apocalypsin (Leuven: Peeters,

1999), provides not only details of the use made by Andreas and Arethas of
Oecumenius, but also a synoptic list of the parallel passages.
2. C. Durousseau, “The commentary of Oecumenius on the Apocalypse of
John: A lost chapter in the history of interpretation,” in Journal of the Chicago
Society of Biblical Research 1:29 (1984): 23.
3. J. C. Lamoreaux, “The provenance of Ecumenius’ commentary on the
Apocalypse” in VC 52 (1998): 88–108; see especially p. 89.


 INTRODUCTION

tion of the text in 19284 that serious efforts were made to iden-
tify its author and date. Hoskier was specially concerned with
establishing what he called “the foundation text” of Revelation.
He felt confident that Oecumenius was the bishop of Tricca
who wrote his commentary “towards the beginning of the sev-
enth century,”5 instead of the earlier accepted date of the tenth
century. There are, however, problems with both the date and
the identity of Oecumenius. The evidence of the date is given by
Oecumenius himself in 1.3.66 when, commenting on Revelation
1.1 (“what must soon take place”), he says that “a very long time,
more than five hundred years, has elapsed since this was said.”
Oecumenius elsewhere dates the Revelation to the end of the
reign of Domitian, when John was exiled to Patmos,7 presumably
about a.d. 95 when Domitian had started persecution against
those who refused to accept him as Master and God,8 a persecu-
tion which included philosophers, Jews, and others.9
If Revelation was written about a.d. 95, “more than five hun-
dred years” later would give a date at the end of the sixth centu-
ry. There is no doubt that Oecumenius’s commentary was written
before that of Andreas, which can be dated to the early part of
the seventh century, so that the end of the sixth century gives the
terminus ante quem. The situation is, however, complicated by ref-
erences to correspondence between Severus, bishop of Antioch,
who died in a.d. 538, and Oecumenius, who was described in
a monophysite catena as “a careful man, who is very orthodox
[i.e., monophysite], as the letters which Mar Severus sent to him
show, from the sixth discourse of those which he composed on
the revelation of the Evangelist John.”10 The evidence for recog-
nizing Oecumenius as the correspondent of Severus and as the
commentator on Revelation would seem to be incontrovertible,
were it not for Oecumenius’s own statement that more than five

4. The Complete Commentary of Oecumenius on the Apocalypse, edited with notes

by H. C. Hoskier (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1928).
5. Hoskier, 4.
6. The references are to the sections given by de Groote in his edition, where
the sub-sections are given in brackets.
7. Rv 1.9; Oec 1.21; Eusebius of Caesarea, Chronicon Paschale 250c.
8. Suetonius, Domitian 13.2. 9. Dio Cassius, Epitome 67.14.
10. Lamoreaux, 92.
 INTRODUCTION 

hundred years had elapsed since the Revelation was written. Oe-
cumenius, however, does not seem to have been always exact in
some of his statements, as is shown by inconsistencies in his in-
terpretation of some passages in Revelation. Further, it looks as
though the period of “more than five hundred years” may refer
not strictly to the date of the writing of Revelation, but to the
date of the crucifixion of Jesus and the delay in the occurrence
of the parousia. Lamoreaux supports the view that Oecumenius
was a contemporary of Severus, in spite of de Groote’s opinion
that Oecumenius was not Severus’s correspondent.11
The letters of Severus show that Oecumenius was married. He
is described as a count (kovmh~), which was primarily a military ti-
tle, implying an official position in the Emperor’s household.12
He seems to have been “a layman from aristocratic circles,” liv-
ing in Isauria, in Asia Minor, who was particularly interested in
discussing the person of Christ.13 He must therefore not be con-
fused with the bishop of Tricca (in Thessaly) of the tenth cen-
tury. Oecumenius is anxious to proclaim his orthodoxy, but his
commentary does not display a detailed knowledge of the intri-
cacies of Christological or Trinitarian doctrine. Severus of An-
tioch was himself described by G. W. H. Lampe as a moderate
monophysite, being “a monophysite in phraseology rather than
in substance,” at a time when “‘Chalcedonian’ struggle was really
only a sham fight as far as theology was concerned.”14
A further point to be noted in connection with the date of
Oecumenius is his approval of Evagrius as being “all-knowledge-
able.”15 Evagrius, a loyal supporter of Origen, was formally con-
demned with Origen at the Second Council of Constantinople
in a.d. 553. In view of Oecumenius’s insistence on his own or-
thodoxy and his reluctance to mention Origen in his commen-

11. Lamoreaux, 101–8.

12. A. Souter, A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D. (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1996), s. v. comes, 60. Compare B. Daley, “Der Kommentar des Oecumenius
zur Johannesapokalypse,” in Handbuch der Dogmengeschichte IV / 7a (Freiburg:
Herder, 1986), 223.
13. Lamoreaux, 100–101.
14. G. W. H. Lampe, A History of Christian Doctrine, ed. H. Cunliffe Jones and
B. Drewery (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1978), 143.
15. Oec 6.3.12: oJ ta; gnwstika; mevga~.
 INTRODUCTION

tary, it is unlikely that he would have referred to Evagrius in such

terms after 553.

2. Oecumenius’s theology
There is no doubt that Oecumenius considered himself to be
orthodox, not only in steering a middle course between Nesto-
rius and Eutyches,16 but in upholding the teaching of the Chal-
cedonian Definition. But he does this along the lines of Cyril
of Alexandria, whose views he greatly appreciated, calling him
“our blessed father Cyril.”17 Cyril’s language can easily be regard-
ed as monophysite. Part of the problem arose from confusion in
the terminology employed, where oujsVia (“being”), fuvs i~ (“na-
ture”), and especially uJpovstasi~ (“being,” “subsistence,” often
regarded, together with provswpon, as corresponding to the Lat-
in persona), were not clearly and universally defined. In opposi-
tion to Nestorius, Cyril talked of “the one incarnate uJpovstasi~
of the Lovgo~,” which drew attention to the one person of Christ,
as opposed to the duality of persons, human and divine, which
Nestorius considered were to be found in the incarnate Christ.
Cyril’s phrase was often quoted as “one incarnate nature (fuvs i~)
of the Lovgo~” and sometimes as “one nature of the incarnate
Lovgo~.”18 The kind of monophysitism which Oecumenius envis-
aged seems to have been in line with the Chalcedonian Defini-
tion of a.d. 451 as understood by Cyril.
This Christological perspective is expressed at the beginning
of his commentary, with his assertion that the Word “has become
for us and for our salvation a human being, not by divesting
himself of his divinity, but by assuming human flesh, animated
by a mind. In this way he who is Emmanuel is understood to
have been made one from two natures, divinity and humanity,
each being complete according to the indwelling Word and ac-
cording to the different specific characteristic of each nature,
without being confused or altered by their combination into a

16. Oec 1.2.3.

17. Oec 12.13.6.
18. Cyril of Alexandria, Ep. 17.8. See R. V. Sellers, Two Ancient Christologies
(London: SPCK, 1940) especially 95–100 and 202–20.
 INTRODUCTION 

unity, and without being kept separate after the inexpressible

and authentic union.”19 By such words Oecumenius refutes the
doctrines of Apollinarius as well as of Nestorius and Eutyches. A
similar view is repeated in the final chapter of the commentary,
with its allusion to the Chalcedonian Definition,20 from which
the monophysitism of Oecumenius is little different. It should,
however, be noted that although Oecumenius uses the term
oJmoouvs io~ (“of one substance,” “of one essence,” or “of one be-
ing”) in the full theological sense denoting the relation between
the Son and the Father and the Spirit, he also uses it with a wider
meaning, as when he says that Mary is “of the same substance as
we are,” and describes Christ as “incarnate and of the same es-
sence as we are.”21
Oecumenius’s understanding of human free will at times
seems to approximate to that of Pelagius. An interesting passage
tells how after the Ascension “both the Devil himself will carry on
his own customary activity, and human beings on earth in their
usual way will follow their free will,” thus enabling human beings
to be trained like athletes to display their courage in the face of
their sufferings, which is essentially the view of Origen.22 Oecu-
menius shares with Origen his views on the need of discipline
in the Christian life, and therefore of the exercise of free will,
though always dependent on the grace of God.23 In comment-
ing on “freely” in Revelation 21.6 Oecumenius says that “no one
can ever contribute anything worthy of future prosperity, even by
completing innumerable tasks.”24 Similarly a favorite term of Rev-
elation, pantokravtwr (“sovereign lord”), found elsewhere only in
the Old Testament, makes it clear that God is all-powerful and
does not need any help to effect his purposes: when God uses an-
gels and human beings to carry out his work, he is showing them

19. Oec 1.3.3.

20. Oec 12.13.6.
21. Oec 6.19.2; 12.3.20.
22. Oec 11.3.16–20; Origen, Homilies on Numbers 14.2 and De principiis, Pref.
4; T. Y. Malaty, The School of Alexandria, Book Two: Origen (Jersey City: St. Mark’s
Coptic Orthodox Church, 1995), 69; J. W. Trigg, Origen (London: Routledge,
1998), 20.
23. Origen, Homilies on Genesis 10; Trigg, 95.
24. Oec 11.14.4.
 INTRODUCTION

a kindness, “for those who help another in need are not benefit-
ing the recipient so much as themselves.”25 Both Origen and Oe-
cumenius recognize the paradox that while God is always in con-
trol, the actions of human beings are carried out by the use of
their own free will. This paradox of human life is, we might note,
not confined to Christian authors, but is reflected both in the
Old Testament and even in the works of Homer.
Oecumenius prefers to stress the mercy and kindness of God
rather than his justice and threat of punishment. He therefore
has difficulty in interpreting some of the texts of Revelation.
“The precious blood of Christ has been shed on behalf of all
people, but unprofitably on behalf of some,” whose refusal to ac-
cept the gift offered was the act of their own free will.26 The pun-
ishment of sinners is tempered by the merciful goodness of the
Lord, and in a rather tortuous way he argues that the only real
torment that sinners will undergo will be their exclusion from
the bounty of God’s goodness.27 His views, however, of their final
destiny are ambivalent, and he tries to combine the opinions of
those fathers who accept the restoration of sinners with the view
of Scripture that their punishment will be everlasting.28
Oecumenius has a high view of Mary ever-virgin, the God-
bearer (Qeotovko~), and sees her as the woman of Revelation 12.
She is described “as equal to an angel, as a citizen of heaven,”
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.” Oecumenius thinks
that “it would have been more consistent to say that the wom-
an was not clothed with the sun, but that the woman clothed
the sun contained in her womb. But in order to show in the vi-
sion that even when the Lord was conceived, he was the protec-
tor of his own mother and of all creation, the vision said that
he clothed the woman.”29 M. Jugie considers Oecumenius’s in-

25. Oec 8.25.3–4.

26. Oec 8.7.6–7.
27. Oec 8.13.3–8. Compare 9.19.2–4.
28. Oec 5.19.1–4.
29. Oec 6.19.2–9.
 INTRODUCTION 

terpretation of the woman of Revelation 12 to be more original

and inspiring than that of the later Andreas.30
Oecumenius’s theological views will be considered further in
the following section, which deals with the complex relationship
between him and Origen. Enough has been said to show that
Oecumenius attempts to be very orthodox, while being open
to some original interpretations of Revelation. He is modest
enough to claim that he is “as far away from the working of the
Spirit” as he is “from the divine and highest wisdom,” and he re-
lies “on those who are judged to be fathers of the church,”31 so
that he believes that he writes with authority, in spite of his mod-
est doubts.

3. Oecumenius and Origen32

Lamoreaux draws attention to Oecumenius’s “commentary’s
place in the history of polemic against Origen,” and believes
that though the themes are subtle, they are so frequent that they
may be seen as an orthodox attempt to replace the eschatologi-
cal vision of Origen and his followers.33 There is, however, little
doubt that Oecumenius was much indebted to Origen (and to
the school of Alexandria in general) for his methods of biblical
interpretation. Oecumenius, like Origen, was more interested in
the spiritual or intellectual meaning of the text than in its lit-
eral meaning. Both frequently use the Greek nohtov~, often con-
trasted with words meaning “sensible, perceptible,” or the like.34
Both take the text of Scripture very seriously. Origen accepts the
Scriptures as “the work of the world’s Creator.”35 Both recognize
the importance of the Psalms and frequently quote them. Some
of Oecumenius’s interpretations seem to be directly due to Ori-

30. M. Jugie, “La mort et l’assomption de la Sainte Vierge,” Studi e Testi 114
(Vatican City: Vatican Library, 1944), 45.
31. Oec 1.1.3–4.
32. The references from Origen are culled from Trigg, Malaty, and E.
Preuschen, ed., Origenes werke: 4te Band: Der Johanneskommentar, GCS 10 (Leipzig:
Hinrichs, 1903).
33. Lamoreaux, 88.
34. See, e.g., Oec 1.17.2, and Origen, Commentary on John 1.8.44.
35. Origen, Commentary on Psalms 1–25 5; Trigg, 71.
10 INTRODUCTION

gen, as in the mention of barley, which is described by Oecu-

menius as “the teaching according to the law of Moses, as being
ripe fodder, more fitting than wheat, for nourishing the infant
Israel,” whereas wheat signifies “the proclamation of the gos-
pel as being the proper food for mature people.” Origen talks
of barley as “the food especially of beasts or of peasants.… This
word sows barley in the Law, but wheat in the Gospels.”36
A further indication of Oecumenius’s dependence on Origen
is shown in 9.11.5, where in commenting on Philippians 1.1 he
calls “the saints ‘beings’37 because they are in Christ and held in
God’s intimacy and memory.” He here follows the argument of
Origen, who omits the words “in Ephesus” in Ephesians 1.1 and
regards “the saints who are” as referring to God’s people sharing
in the life of YHWH as “He who is” in Exodus 3.14.38 Both Oecu-
menius and Origen are here indebted to Plato.
Oecumenius in his Commentary never mentions Origen, even
though he could have used him as support for his belief that the
author of Revelation was the fourth evangelist,39 while he calls
Methodius, a consistent opponent of Origen’s teaching, “very
wise.”40 Origen was an explorer, struggling to combine his deep
appreciation of the Scriptures with a Platonist search for a coher-
ent philosophy of God and human life. Several of his views were
later found to be unwise and untenable, so that while some of his
followers (like Gregory the Wonderworker) became devoted dis-
ciples, others shared completely opposite views: “some grovelled
in his shadows, others gloried in his lights.”41
It is therefore not surprising that Oecumenius does not ex-
pressly condemn Origen, but he is careful to emphasize his own
orthodox views of the person of Christ, so making it clear that he
does not subscribe to any subordinationist doctrine that was at
times attached to Origen, who was frequently accused of being
responsible for the teaching of Arius and Arianism. Epiphanius,

36. Oec 4.10.4; Origen, Homilies on Genesis 12.5; Malaty, 181–82.

37. Greek, o[nte~, “those who are.”
38. J. A. Robinson, St Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, 2d ed. (London: Macmillan,
1928), 292, quoting Cramer’s Catenae, ad loc.
39. Origen, Commentary on John 1.1.1–6; Oec 1.1.4–6.
40. Oec 1.1.5.
41. G. L. Prestige, Fathers and Heretics (London: SPCK, 1948), 85.
 INTRODUCTION 11

for example, in the late fourth century, called Origen “the spiri-
tual father of Arius, and the root and parent of all heresies.”42
It looks as though Oecumenius is attacking Origenist doctrines
in arguing against any understanding of the Logos as a creature
(ktivsma).43 There is no doubt that certain expressions used by
Origen seemed to indicate a gradation within the persons of the
Godhead, so that the Son is “second to the Father, and the Holy
Spirit again is inferior.”44 These were the views that Oecumenius
appears to be combating in his consistent defense of Cyrilline or-
thodoxy, as indicated above, and as reinforced by his remarks on
the Son as coeternal and consubstantial with the Holy Spirit.45
On the other hand, Origen was himself certainly responsible for
his important contribution to Nicene orthodoxy in his teaching
on the eternal generation of the Son,46 to which Oecumenius
appears not to refer. Many of the problems raised by Origen’s
successors were due to taking his statements in isolation from his
teaching as a whole, as was particularly seen in the case of Arius
and Arianism.
In spite of the importance of considering the Christology of
Origen, there were two other areas in which his views were spe-
cially open to attack. The former of these arose from his belief,
largely derived from Plato, of the immortality of the soul, so that
the human soul of the pre-incarnate Jesus was alone of all hu-
man souls so closely linked to the Logos (God) that he was seen
to be the unique Son of God, and was revealed as such by his in-
carnation. Such a view was implicitly and clearly denied by Oe-
cumenius with his insistence that the incarnation involved an as-
sumption (provslhyi~) of “human flesh, animated by a mind.”47
The incarnation did not merely signal a changed mode of being
of the Logos, effected by the perfect adherence of the human
soul to God, as Origen seems to have held, but entailed the as-
sumption by the Logos of human nature and a human soul. The

42. Epiphanius, Adversus haereses 64.4; Malaty, 214.

43. Oec 3.3.2–4.
44. Origen, De principiis 1.3.5. Compare Contra Celsum 5.39; 7.57.
45. Oec 11.3.8–9.
46. Origen, Commentary on John 1.29.204; Trigg, 136.
47. Oec 1.3.3.
12 INTRODUCTION

difference between this and Origen’s view is, however, not always
easy to see.48
It is in the realm of eschatology that Origen was “without a
doubt the most controversial figure in the development of early
Christian eschatology.”49 Origen envisaged the restoration (ajpo-
katavstasi~) of all things to their beginning, so that “all rational
beings will return to their original unity with God,” including
the possibility that the Devil will himself be saved.50 This con-
flicted with the usual orthodoxy which condemns the wicked to
eternal punishment. Oecumenius has a certain sympathy with
Origen’s view, in that he moderates the latter’s understanding of
the eternal punishment of the wicked, as mentioned above, but
he never envisages the restoration of the Devil to share in unity
with God.51
In a similar vein Origen expressed strong doubts about the
bodily resurrection of the dead, holding that “the soul’s attain-
ment of likeness to God also entails incorporeality.”52 According
to a letter of Justinian to the patriarch Menas, Origen affirmed
that “in the resurrection the bodies of men rise spherical,” to
which Oecumenius perhaps alludes in 8.25.5 in his description
of one of the primal elements as “circular.” Origen’s objections
to a doctrine of bodily resurrection are vehemently denied by
Oecumenius, who considers that God is capable of bringing to-
gether again after death the elements that constitute the body.53
In the sixth century there was still much controversy about the
beliefs of Origenists if not of Origen himself, which Oecumenius
was at pains at least implicitly to deny.
In his commentary as a whole Oecumenius, while recognizing
a certain dependence on Origen, is always ready to show origi-
nality in his scriptural interpretation. He is, for example, at pains
to show that the 144,000 of Revelation 14 are not the same as
48. Origen, Commentary on John 1.28.195–197.
49. Trigg, 29, quoting Brian Daley.
50. Trigg, 31; Origen, De principiis 1.6.3; 1.7; Malaty, 887.
51. Oec 9.11.4–5; 10.15.5–7.
52. Trigg, 32; Origen, De principiis 3.6.2.
53. Oec 11.10.1–6. According to Justinian, Origen described the risen
body as sfairoeidhv~; see J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines (London: Black,
1965), 472. Oecumenius describes one of the primal elements of the body as
kukloforikov~.
 INTRODUCTION 13

those of Revelation 7 and that the two groups must be distin-

guished, whereas Origen argues that the two groups refer to the
same people.54 Again in his remarks on Revelation 3.7 Oecumen-
ius takes “opening” and “shutting” to refer to acquitting and con-
demning, while Origen understands them to indicate methods
of interpreting Scripture.55 All in all, therefore, it is not unlikely
that Oecumenius is subtly challenging many of Origen’s views.

4. Oecumenius’s hermeneutical methods

Following the example of Origen, Oecumenius is particular-
ly concerned to discover the spiritual meaning of the text. In
this regard he is frequently moved as much by pastoral consid-
erations as by his desire to discover the true meaning of Revela-
tion, an aim that has often eluded modern commentators. Al-
though he is never afraid to use his imagination, his allegorical
methods always arise from his understanding of Scripture and
the teaching of the church. So, for example, he takes the clouds
of Revelation 1.7 to refer to the holy angels, as he does, too, in
14.14, where, however, he suggests that the cloud may here refer
to the Qeotovko~, Mary.56 In Revelation 7.16 the sun is taken to
refer to temptation, with a reference to Psalm 120.6—“The sun
shall not burn you by day.”57 In Revelation 8.7 the burning of the
trees and the hills must not be taken literally: fire means “the
distress and deep pain of the sinners when they see the saints
‘caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord,’ while they them-
selves have stayed on earth, dishonored and considered of no ac-
count. When the text says trees and grass were burnt up, it refers
allegorically to sinners because of their folly and the insensibility
of their soul, their woodenness all ready for burning.”58
His understanding of “the woman clothed with the sun” in
Revelation 12.1 has already been mentioned.
Oecumenius is not sure how to understand Revelation 13.3,
which he thinks would be known only to the inspired evange-
list himself, but he is still ready to attempt an interpretation. “As

54. Oec 8.7.3; Origen, Commentary on John 1.1.2–7.

55. Oec 2.13.5; Origen, Commentary on Psalms 1–25 1–3; Trigg, 70–71.
56. Oec 1.15.2 and 8.17.1–2. 57. Oec 5.3.10.
58. Oec 5.9.3.
14 INTRODUCTION

it appears to me, it indicates something of this sort: the mortal

blow that the Devil received in one of his heads through the pi-
ety of Israel was healed again through the idolatry of the same
people,”59 thus allowing free range to the Devil.
At Revelation 19.1 Oecumenius links the great crowd of an-
gels in heaven with the ninety-nine sheep of the parable. Fol-
lowing an unnamed Church Father, he takes the ninety-nine to
refer to the holy angels, while the one who strayed was humanity
as a whole.60
A remarkable interpretation attributes the binding of Satan
for a thousand years to the time of the Lord’s incarnate life. Oe-
cumenius reaches this conclusion by referring to scriptural texts
that say that a thousand years in God’s sight are a day, and that
Isaiah considers the day of salvation to refer to the whole period
of the Lord’s incarnation. During the incarnate life of Jesus Sa-
tan was prevented from exercising his power over the Lord, but
after the resurrection Satan was again set free so that he could
tempt disciples to refuse to respond to the Lord by the use of
their free will, before he was finally destroyed.61 Origen, too, de-
nied any literal interpretation of millenarianism, though he did
not anticipate Oecumenius’s original contribution.62
In Revelation 13.18 Oecumenius recognizes the regular use
of gematria to explain the number of the beast as 666, and gives
various possibilities, but does not mention that the number prob-
ably refers to Nero.63 Throughout his commentary Oecumenius
notes the importance of numbers, and recognizes seven and ten
as being specially noteworthy.

5. Oecumenius’s text of Scripture

The manuscript tradition of the book of Revelation is rather
different from that of the other books of the New Testament,
presumably because its authenticity was doubted for so long be-
fore its acceptance into the canon. Hoskier in his edition of Oe-

59. Oec 7.11.11.

60. Oec 10.7.1.
61. Oec 10.17.1–11; 11.6.4.
62. Origen, De principiis 2.11.2–3; Malaty, 298.
63. Oec 8.5.6.
 INTRODUCTION 15

cumenius’s text was particularly interested in attempts to discov-

er the foundation text of Revelation. Some of the variants would
seem to be due simply to scribal errors, as in Revelation 7.14,
where ejplavtunan was misread for e[plunan, which was presumed
in the later comment. The same is probably true of Revelation
3.8, where instead of “name” (o[noma) Oecumenius reads “law”
(novmon).
Oecumenius’s text of Revelation 6.9 reads, “the souls of those
who had been slain for the word of God, and for the church which
they had,” instead of the witness. He explains this by describing
the people of the old covenant as the synagogue or church of
those who believed in God.64 His text of Revelation 15.6 includes
an interesting variant, which reads (with some manuscripts of
Revelation) livqon (“stone”) instead of livnon (“linen”), no doubt
referring to Ezekiel 28.13. More interestingly, however, he backs
this up by referring not only to the regular texts, Isaiah 28.16
and Psalm 117.22, but also to Romans 13.14, where he appar-
ently read, “Put on our stone Jesus Christ.”65 Interestingly Ori-
gen, too, addresses Christ as “stone,” because “he is part of the
building made out of living stones in the land of the living.”66
Some manuscripts of Revelation 4.8 read “nine times” or
“eight times” or “seven times” before the trisagion. Oecumen-
ius apparently understood this as denoting “seven times,” and
he comments accordingly, though he does not mention “seven
times” in his citation of the text.67 This is an example of his oc-
casional lack of care in ensuring that the text on which he com-
ments is the same as that which he has previously cited. In com-
menting on Revelation 7.1–6 he accepts the genuineness of
Luke 23.34 in spite of the doubts of Cyril of Alexandria.

6. The manuscripts of Oecumenius’s commentary

The manuscript tradition is described in detail by de Groote.68
The only complete manuscript is that of the first half of the

64. Oec 4.12.1 and 4.13.5.

65. Oec 8.22.2; 23.4.
66. Origen, Commentary on John 1.36.265.
67. Oec 3.9.5–6.
68. M. de Groote, Oecumenii commentarius, pp. 9–55.
16 INTRODUCTION

twelfth century, designated by M (Messina), which is therefore

accepted as normative. But since M and later manuscripts agree
in recognizing uncertainties and errors in the text, the arche-
type remains problematic. De Groote provides the stemma show-
ing the relationship between the MSS, and at times conjectures
corrections that he has incorporated in his printed edition. It is
that which has been followed in the translation. All significant
changes to the text of Revelation (as in Nestle-Aland, 27th ed.)
have been mentioned in the brief notes at the end of each chap-
ter. The translation has always attempted to reproduce what Oe-
cumenius wrote, even when the text in the commentary is differ-
ent from the original citation.

7. Some notes on the translation

As far as reasonably possible, the translation has attempted
to give a literal rendering of the text without being too ponder-
ous. The Greek nohtov~ has regularly been rendered as “spiritu-
al” rather than as “intellectual,” and pantokravtwr as “sovereign
Lord” or the like.
The references to the books of the Old Testament, including
the numbering of the Psalms, are always to the Septuagint, or
(in the case of Daniel) to Theodotion’s version. Consequently at
times the translation may seem strange to readers of the usually
accepted text.
Oecumenius’s commentary is full of quotations from, and al-
lusions to, Scripture. These references have been reproduced
almost entirely from the editions of Hoskier and especially de
Groote, and are printed as footnotes on each page.
The references to patristic authors are reproduced from de
Groote’s edition, where further information is provided.
COMMENTARY ON THE
APOCALYPSE
 CHAPTER ONE

“ ll scripture is inspired by God and profitable,” a

sacred text said somewhere.1 For it was by the Spirit
that all those who proclaimed to us the saving gospel—
prophets, apostles, and evangelists—were given wisdom. But
blessed John was certainly holier than all other preachers and
more spiritual than any other spiritual person. For he was “ly-
ing on the breast”2 of the Lord, and evoking through his kiss-
es more abundant grace of the Spirit. That is why he was also
called “son of thunder.”3 For he boomed out under heaven
with his divine teachings. (2) So his present treatise, insofar as
it concerns both plain and polished mysteries, could be right-
ly considered the most mystical. For he does not only speak to
us about present events, but also about those which have hap-
pened and those which are still to come. For this is the mark
of consummate prophecy, to encompass the three periods. For
even those who are not Christians introduce their own seers
who knew “the events of the present, the future and the past,”4
though they have, I think, been held in disdain by our prophets.
For their diviners never had knowledge of everything, nor did
even the demonic powers at work in them. (3) So it is necessary
for those attempting to interpret spiritual things to be spiritual
and wise regarding divine matters, since it is for “spiritual people
to judge spiritual matters,”5 according to the divine apostle. I,
however, am as far away from the working of the Spirit as I am
from the divine and highest wisdom; therefore it is with rash-
ness rather than assurance that I have undertaken this essay, for

1. 2 Tm 3.16.
2. Jn 13.25.
3. Mk 3.17.
4. Homer, Iliad 1.70; cf. Hesiod, Theogony 38.
5. 1 Cor 2.13.

19
20 OECUMENIUS

“wisdom will not make its way into a crafty soul, nor does it dwell
in a body embroiled in sins,”6 as Solomon and the truth testify.
(4) Therefore I have deliberately chosen the practice of re-
futing all ill-considered criticism of it, though it is not unknown
that some have attempted to say that the present work is both
spurious and inconsistent with the rest of the writings of John. I,
however, testify to its genuineness because of the sayings which
are spiritually profitable and which contain nothing which is not
divine and worthy of the author. I have relied, too, on those who
are judged to be fathers of the church who have both received
and confirmed it: (5) the very great Athanasius in the Exposi-
tion of the Canonical Books of Both the Old and the New Testaments,7
blessed Basil in his concise dissertation Concerning the Son,8 Greg-
ory the theologian in his book on The Coming of the Bishops,9 very
wise Methodius in his book On the Resurrection,10 Cyril the great
in work and word in the sixth book of The Treatise in Spirit and
Truth;11 in addition to these, blessed Hippolytus, too, in his In-
terpretation of Daniel.12 (6) For it would not have found any men-
tion in these such trustworthy fathers if there had been anything
wholly spurious and worthless in it. It would have been possible
to quote other holy fathers, too, in support of the book, if I did
not know that moderation is valued by the wise. For if “the three-
fold cord will not quickly be broken,” according to Ecclesiastes,13
the sixfold cord could scarcely be broken. (7) What, therefore,
does the holy disciple of Christ, glorying in the divine love, tell
us by means of the Revelation? So we must now turn to the di-
vine oracles themselves, to his intercessions calling for help.

2. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his
slaves what must soon take place, and which he made known by sending
it through his angel to his slave John, (2) who bore witness to the word of

6. Wis 1.4 (LXX): katavcrew/ aJmartiva~; Oec: katavcrew/~ aJmartivai~.

7. Athanasius, Ep. 39.
8. Basil, Adversus Eunomium 2.14.
9. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes 42.1.
10. Methodius, De resurrectione 2.28.5.
11. Cyril of Alexandria, De adoratione et cultu in spiritu et veritate 6.
12. Hippolytus, Commentary on Daniel 3.9.10.
13. Eccl 4.12.
 CHAPTER ONE 21

God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all that he saw (Rv 1.1–2).
3. In an introduction it is as well to indicate that in all his writ-
ings blessed John delighted in words appropriate to the divinity
of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In the present work, however, he em-
ploys words appropriate to his humanity, lest he would seem to
come to know him from his divine attributes, and not from his
human attributes too. (2) For it is a sign of genuine theology to
believe that God the Word has been begotten from God and the
Father before all eternity and temporal interval, being coeternal
and consubstantial with the Father and the Spirit, and joint-ruler
of the ages and of all spiritual and perceptible creation, accord-
ing to the saying of the most wise Paul in the epistle to the Colos-
sians, that “in him all things were created, things in heaven and
things on earth, things invisible and visible, whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or authorities; all things have been
created through him and for him, and he is the head of the
body and of the church.”14 “He is the first-fruits, the first-born
from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.”15
(3) But it is also a sign of genuine theology to believe that in
the last days he has become for us and for our salvation a hu-
man being, not by divesting himself of his divinity, but by assum-
ing human flesh, animated by a mind. In this way he who is Em-
manuel is understood to have been made one from two natures,
divinity and humanity, each being complete according to the in-
dwelling Word and according to the different specific character-
istic of each nature, without being confused or altered by their
combination into a unity, and without being kept separate af-
ter the inexpressible and authentic union. For Nestorius and Eu-
tyches are both equally abominable, two diametrically opposed
evils.
(4) Therefore, in order that John might present the doctrine
of our Savior accurately and precisely, after dwelling on the divine
aspects of the Lord, as I have said, in his other writings, he here
made use of his human words and thoughts. Nevertheless, nei-
ther in the former did he present what is divine apart from what
14. Col 1.18. Oecumenius adds the word “and” (kai;) to the usual New
Testament text.
15. Col 1.16, 18.
22 OECUMENIUS

is human, nor in the latter what is human apart from what is di-
vine. He rather used a greater or lesser emphasis in his writings.
(5) This is why he says, The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave
him, as though he was saying, “Although the present revelation
has been given by the Father to the Son, it has now been given by
the Son to us,” his slaves. By calling the saints slaves of Christ, he
safeguarded his divine nature. For to whom would human beings
belong, other than to the creator and maker of humankind? And
who is the maker of humankind and of all creation? Nobody ex-
cept the only Word and Son of God. For “all things were made by
him,” says the present writer in the gospel.16
(6) But what does he mean by adding what must soon take
place, since those things which were going to happen have not
yet been fulfilled, although a very long time, more than five hun-
dred years, has elapsed since this was said? The reason is that
all the ages are reckoned as nothing in the eyes of the infinite,
eternal God. “For a thousand years,” says the prophet, “in your
sight, Lord, are as yesterday which is past, and a watch in the
night.”17 On this account, therefore, he added soon, looking not
to the actual time of the fulfillment of the future events, but to
the power and eternity of God. For in fact, all temporal exten-
sion, even though it may be as long and protracted as possible,
is short when compared to eternity. (7) He says, therefore, that
Jesus Christ made known to me what must take place, not as appear-
ing and speaking in person, but through his angel he initiated me
into his mysteries. You see the truthfulness of this divine writ-
er, in admitting that it was through an angel that the revelation
came to him, and that he did not hear it from the mouth of the
Lord. (8) The angel, says John, bore witness to the word of God and
to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all that he saw: he has used this
method in the gospel, too, so preserving the trustworthiness of
his teaching. He said there, “This is he who is bearing witness to
these things, and who has written these things; and we know that
his testimony is true,”18 and now, he says, he is the witness of the

16. Jn 1.3.
17. Ps 89.4. Throughout this translation, the references to the Psalms are
given in the Greek version (LXX).
18. Jn 21.24.
 CHAPTER ONE 23

divine word which was seen by him, which refers to the present
Revelation and the witness given by Christ, that is, “By means of
the witness I am witness and author.”

4. Blessed is the one who reads and listens to the words of this proph-
ecy, and those who keep what is written therein; for the time is near (Rv
1.3).
5. He does not call blessed those who are only readers; in that
case there would have been many so blessed (for there are very
many readers), but he means those who both listen and so obey
the exhortations in the prophecy, and those who faithfully keep
and observe its precepts as divine laws. For, he says, the time is
near. (2) For to everyone who keeps the commandments of God
the time of blessedness is near at hand. He either means this,
or that the time of the outcome of what is said is near. What is
meant by near has been explained earlier.

6. He says, John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you
and peace from God, who is and who was and who is coming (Rv 1.4).
7. This is the same as saying, “Grace to you from the God of
us all.” For the Father calls himself “being” when addressing the
most wise Moses at the bush, saying, “I am who I am,”19 (2) and
the present blessed evangelist said “he was” about the Son, say-
ing, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God,”20 and again in the first of the gen-
eral epistles, “That which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon
and which our hands touched, concerning the Word of life.”21
(3) And by the one who is coming he means the Holy Spirit. For
not only was the Spirit present on the day of Pentecost, accord-
ing to the narrative in Acts, but he is always present, too, to the
souls worthy of receiving him.

8. And from the seven spirits, he says, who are before his throne (Rv
1.4).

19. Ex 3.14. 20. Jn 1.1.

21. 1 Jn 1.1.
24 OECUMENIUS

9. The seven spirits are seven angels; but not as being equal-
ly honored or coeternal were they included with the Holy Trin-
ity—far from it—but as genuine servants and faithful slaves. For
the prophet says to God, “For all things are your slaves.”22 In all
things the angels are also comprised. And again the same proph-
et says about them, “Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers
that do his will.”23 In this fashion, too, the apostle addressed Tim-
othy when writing the first letter: “I charge you,” he says, “before
God and Jesus Christ and the elect angels.”24 (2) Further, by say-
ing who are before his throne John gave added testimony to their
rank as servants and ministers, and certainly not as having equal
dignity.

10. And from Jesus Christ, he says, the faithful witness, the first-born
of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth (Rv 1.5).
11. Earlier he had written about the pre-incarnate Word of
God, describing him as he who was; now he speaks about him as
incarnate, saying, and from Jesus Christ. He does not separate him
into two, but witnesses to both aspects of him at once, both that
he is the Word of the Father and that he was made flesh. He is
the faithful witness; (2) for according to the apostle “he bore wit-
ness before Pontius Pilate by a good confession.”25 But he says
he was because he is God and Lord of all even though he is in-
carnate. Such witness is certainly the truth. For he calls the one
who is true faithful and trustworthy. (3) The first-born of the dead:
to this Paul, too, bears witness, saying, “He is the first-fruits, the
first-born from the dead.”26 They call him the first-born from the
dead as being the one who initiated the universal resurrection,
and who “opened for us a new and living way,” the resurrection
from the dead, “through the veil, that is, his flesh” according
to Scripture.27 For all those who rose from the dead before the
coming of the Lord were again delivered to death; for that was
not the true resurrection, but a temporary remission of death.
This is why none of those was called the first-born from the dead. But
the Lord is called this, as he was both the origin and cause of the
22. Ps 118.91. 23. Ps 102.21.
24. 1 Tm 5.21. 25. 1 Tm 6.13.
26. Col 1.18. 27. Heb 10.20.
 CHAPTER ONE 25

true resurrection. And just as he is a kind of first-fruits of the res-

urrection of human beings, so when he became a human being
he led the way, as it were from a porch, from death to life. For
concerning the Lord alone blessed Paul wrote in his epistle to
the Romans, saying, “We know that since Christ was raised from
the dead he no longer dies: death will no longer have any power
over him. For by his death he died to sin once for all, and by his
life he is alive to God.”28
(4) He says, the ruler of the kings of the earth: Daniel also said
this to the king of Babylon, “until you know that the Most High
is lord over the kingdom of heaven, and he will give it to whom
he pleases.”29 So Christ is also the king of all those in heaven. But
now meanwhile he speaks about those on the earth. As he goes
on he shows him to be king of the holy legions in the heavens,
too.

12. To him who loved us and washed us from our sins by his blood
(2) and appointed a kingdom for us,30 priests to God and his prophets,
to him be glory and might for ever and ever, amen (Rv 1.5–6).
13. The syntax of these words goes from the end to the begin-
ning. He means that it was to him who loved us that glory and might
are due. For how did he not love who “gave himself as a ransom”
for the life of the world?31 (2) And to him who washed us from our
sins by his blood: for he himself removed “the bond which stood
against us with its legal demands, and he nailed it to the” wood
of his “cross,”32 paying for our sins by his own death, and with his
own blood setting us free from our transgressions. He did this by
“becoming subject unto death, even death on the cross,”33 and
so healing our disobedience.
(3) And appointed a kingdom for us: and what is the advantage
of our becoming, as he says, priests to God and his prophets? That
human beings should have been considered worthy of these
both confirms for us the kingdom to come and promises inef-
28. Rom 6.9–10.
29. Dn 5.21.
30. Oecumenius here reads hJmi`n (“for us”), with some manuscripts of
Revelation, instead of the usual hJma`~ (“us”).
31. 1 Tm 2.6. 32. Col 2.14.
33. Phil 2.8.
26 OECUMENIUS

fable glory in the present. For this is greater and more wonder-
ful than washing away our sins in his own blood, and deserves to
be called the gift of God, just as our appointment as priests and
prophets of God without having made any kind of previous of-
fering is the mark of such a gift.

14. See, he is coming on the clouds of heaven, and every eye will see
him, as well as those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will
mourn over him. Yea, Amen (Rv 1.7).
15. Of his coming on the clouds of heaven, the Lord in fact spoke
about himself, in the gospel according to Mark, saying: “And the
powers in the heavens shall be shaken, and then they will see
the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”34
For, I think, just as it is written in Acts that, when he was go-
ing up in the heavens on the day of his ascension, “a cloud took
him from their sight,” so he will again come with a cloud.35 (2)
I think that the Holy Scripture figuratively calls the holy angels
clouds because of their lightness and being high above the world
and walking on air, as though it was saying, “the Lord will come
mounted on the angels of God as his bodyguard.” For this is how
the prophet also introduces him, saying, “And he mounted on
cherubim and flew; he flew on the wings of the winds.”36
(3) And every eye, he says, will see him, as well as those who pierced
him: for his splendid second coming will not occur in a corner,
nor secretly, as at first, when he visited the world in the flesh.
The prophet clearly foreshadowed his first coming, saying, “And
he will come down like rain on a fleece and like a shower falling
in drops on the earth.”37 But his second coming will be open and
clear so as to be seen by every eye, even by the very sinful and un-
holy, among whom must be classed those who drunkenly abused
or pierced him.
(4) And all the tribes of the earth, he says, will mourn over him—
that is to say, those who continued in unbelief and did not
choose to bend their necks under his saving yoke. But the words
over him you will understand to refer to his appearance and com-

34. Mk 13.25–26. 35. Acts 1.9.

36. Ps 17.11. 37. Ps 71.6.
 CHAPTER ONE 27

ing. (5) Then to declare the certainty of that which is to happen

he added, Yea, amen, all but saying precisely and unambiguously
that these things will take place. For just as among Greeks Yea
[nai;] expresses assent to what will happen, so also does Amen
among the Hebrews.

16. I am Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was
and who is coming, the sovereign Lord, and Lord of creation (Rv 1.8).
17. Alpha means the beginning, and Omega the end. There-
fore he says, I am the first and the last (Rv 1.17), declaring by the
first that God has no beginning, and by the last that he has no
end. For since with human beings there is nothing that is with-
out beginning and end, he used what is for us the beginning and
the end, instead of saying, “without beginning and without end.”
This is also what God said through Isaiah: “I, God, am the first,
and I shall be for the ages to come.”38 (2) He calls God sovereign
Lord, and Lord of creation, of spiritual as well as of perceptible cre-
ation.

18. I am John, your brother, and fellow-participant in your hardships

and endurance in your kingdom (Rv 1.9).39
19. He was writing to the faithful who had suffered much for
the gospel and the preaching of Christ at the hands of those who
persecuted the godly. He calls himself as being “in Jesus” as shar-
ing both in their hardships and endurance, and in the kingdom of
God, because of the way they deal with their hardships for the
sake of the Word.

20. I was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God
and the testimony of Jesus (Rv 1.9).
21. He says “on account of Jesus”; for this is what being “in
Jesus” means. And on account of his word and testimony, to which I
testified when I proclaimed his gospel, I was (he says) banished

38. Is 41.4.
39. The manuscripts of Revelation have “in the kingdom and endurance
in Jesus” (ejn … basileiva/ kai; uJpomonh`/ ejn Ij hsou`), for which Oecumenius reads
“endurance in (your) kingdom” (ejn basileiva/ uJpomonhv).
28 OECUMENIUS

on Patmos. That he suffered this Eusebius narrates in his Canoni-

cal Chronicle in the time of the emperor Domitian.40 (2) Then he
goes on to say that, while he was living on the aforementioned
island,

22. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Rv 1.10).

23. The words I was in the Spirit indicate that he saw a vision
which was not perceptible by the senses nor seen with physical
ears or eyes, but with prophetic sense. Isaiah spoke about this
spiritual hearing, when he went on to tell “me to understand
early—early he went on to give me an ear to hear, and the disci-
pline of the Lord opens my ears.”41

24.(1–2) And I heard a loud voice like a trumpet saying to me,

“John, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and La-
odicea” (Rv 1.10–11).
25. There are more cities in Asia than these, but he is ordered
to write to those converted by him, and which had already re-
ceived the faith of Christ. As for the unbelieving and those who
turn away from the saving word, how could anyone even exhort
them?

26. And I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on
turning I saw seven golden lampstands, (2) and in the midst of the
seven lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe stretch-
ing to his feet, and girt round his breast with a golden girdle. (3) His
head and his hair were like white wool, just like snow, (4) and his eyes
were like a flame of fire; and his feet were like burnished bronze refined
in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters; (5) and
he had in his right hand seven stars; and from his mouth was issuing
a sharp two-edged sword; and his face was like the sun shining in full
strength (Rv 1.12–16).
27. The seven lampstands, as he himself goes on to explain,
are the seven churches to which he had been commanded to

40. Eusebius of Caesarea, Chronicon Paschale 250c.

41. Is 50.4–5.
 CHAPTER ONE 29

write. He called them lampstands as carrying in them the illumina-

tion of the glory of Christ. He did not call them lamps, but lamp-
stands. The lampstand itself cannot illuminate; it carries in itself
that which is able to illuminate. Christ illuminates his churches
spiritually. (2) Just as the holy apostle exhorts those who have re-
ceived the faith, “Be like stars in the world, holding fast the word
of life,”42—and the star does not have light of its own but is ca-
pable of receiving light brought in from elsewhere—so also here
the evangelist saw the churches as lampstands and not lamps.
(3) For concerning Christ it is said, “You shine gloriously from
the everlasting mountains”43—perhaps meaning angelic pow-
ers—and, again, addressing the Father, “Send out your light and
your truth,”44 and again, “the light of your face, Lord.”45 So those
who share in the divine light are described in one place as stars
and in another as lampstands. (4) He calls the lampstands golden
on account of the honor and transcendence of those thought
worthy of receiving the beam of divine light.
(5) And in the midst of the seven lampstands, he says, one like a son
of man: for since the Lord himself promises to dwell in the souls
of those who have received him and to walk in their midst, how
could he not have been seen in the midst of the lampstands? (6) He
calls Christ son of man as one who for us humbled himself as far
as “taking the form of a slave,”46 who became “the fruit of the
womb,” according to the divine hymn,47 the womb of Mary, un-
wed and ever-virgin. Since Mary was a human being and our sis-
ter, naturally he who is born from her without seed as a human
being is called God the Word and the son of man. He has care-
fully called him not a son of man, but one like a son of man; but
he who is Emmanuel is also God and Lord of the universe. (7)
The vision shows his varied appearance by his operations and
powers, as it depicts his form. First he clothes him with a priestly
dress, for the long robe and girdle are a priestly dress. He was
addressed by God and the Father, “You are a priest for ever ac-
cording to the order of Melchisedek,”48 but the apostle, too, calls

42. Phil 2.15–16. 43. Ps 75.3.

44. Ps 43.3. 45. Ps 44.3.
46. Phil 2.7. 47. Ps 126.3.
48. Heb 5.6; Ps 109.4.
30 OECUMENIUS

Christ “the high priest and apostle of our confession,”49 as being

in the priestly service and leading us to make our confession of
faith in him and the Father and the Spirit. (8) He puts a golden
girdle around him, whereas the priests according to the [Mo-
saic] Law had a girdle of embroidered cloth. The difference be-
tween slaves and a master had to be pointed out, that is, the dif-
ference between the shadow of the law and the truth shown by
the new girdle.
(9) His head, he says, and his hair were like white wool and like
snow: for God’s secret purpose in Christ is new in its appearance,
but it is before all ages in its intention. For the blessed apostle
has written about it as “the secret purpose which has been kept
hidden in all past ages and from generations, which has now
been revealed to those of his holy people whom he wished.”50
Therefore, the age-old intention of the purpose revealed in
God’s good pleasure is represented by the hoariness of the head
and its comparison with wool and snow.
(10) He says, and his eyes were like a flame of fire: this either
means that the flame of fire has the form of light—since Christ
both is light and calls himself light, saying “I am the light and
the truth”51—or it exposes the danger and the threat against the
seven churches to whom the facts of the Revelation are passed
on, in that they were not fully following his laws.
(11) And his feet, he says, were like burnished bronze: he refers
to the bronze mined on Mount Lebanon as being pure even
in itself and as rendered even purer when it has been refined
in a furnace and cleansed of its slight impurity. In this way the
steadfastness and constancy, as well as the brightness and glory,
of faith in Christ is signified when it has come to assurance. For
the apostle calls Christ “a rock,”52 and Isaiah calls him “a precious
stone” in the foundations “of Sion.”53 (12) Else he means that
the burnished bronze is the copper-colored frankincense which
medical men are accustomed to call male.54 This is fragrant when
burnt; for the fiery furnace represents the symbol of the burn-

49. Heb 3.1. 50. Col 1.26–27.

51. Jn 8.12; 14.6. 52. 1 Cor 10.4.
53. Is 28.16.
54. The Greek (a[rrhn) means “male” or “masculine.”
 CHAPTER ONE 31

ing of incense, which is the foundation of the preaching of the

gospel—for the feet are the foundation of the rest of the body,
which is Christ. For he is fragrant, and with spiritual fragrance he
gives charm to the things in heaven and the things on earth. (13)
Paul, too, calls Christ “a foundation” in writing the first epistle to
the Corinthians, saying, “Like a wise master-builder I have laid a
foundation, and another builds upon it. Let each one take care
how he builds on it. For no one can lay any other foundation
than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”55 (14) That Christ
is spiritually sweet-smelling, the bride in the Song of Songs who
has experienced his sweet scent bears witness. In one place she
says, “and the fragrance of your oils is above all spices,” and in an-
other, “your name is oil emptied out,”56 and the Lord himself also
describes himself as sweet-smelling in the words to the bride, say-
ing, “I am a flower of the field, a lily of the valleys.”57 What then?
Did not Paul, too, after becoming sweet-smelling from his com-
munion with Christ, say, “for we are the fragrance of Christ”;58
and again, to us “he reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of
him”?59
(15) And his voice, he says, was like the sound of many waters, and
reasonably so; for how could his voice have come to all the earth
and his gospel to the ends of the world, unless it had been clearly
heard, not as a perceived loud sound, but by the power of the
preaching?
(16) And he had, he says, in his right hand seven stars: he him-
self goes on to interpret these stars, saying they were the angels
of the seven churches, about whom blessed Gregory spoke at the
coming of the bishops: “with reference to the presiding angels,
I believe that each is a guardian of each church, as John teaches
in the Revelation.”60 I think that he calls the holy angels stars on
account of the abundant light of Christ, which is in them. (17)
They are in his right hand. They have been thought worthy of
the most honorable position by God’s side, and, as it were, they
rest in the hand of God.
55. 1 Cor 3.10–11.
56. Song 1.3 (source of both quotations).
57. Song 2.1. 58. 2 Cor 2.15.
59. 2 Cor 2.14.
60. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes 42.9.
32 OECUMENIUS

(18) And from his mouth, he says, there was issuing a sharp two-
edged sword: blessed David says to the Lord, “Gird your sword
upon your thigh, O mighty one.”61 For he had not then com-
manded us to keep the laws of the gospel, to transgress which
was destruction. Therefore the actual position of the thigh indi-
cated the postponement of punishment; for it was not the most
suitable position for killing. (19) But now the sword issues from
his mouth, the metaphor symbolizing that those who disobey the
injunctions of the gospel will be in mortal danger of being cut in
two by the sword. This is made clear by what the Lord says in the
gospels. The apostle, too, said, “For the word of God is living and
active and keener than a two-edged sword,”62 that is to say, hold-
ing out a threat against the disobedient. So this is described by
John as sharp, which is the same as what Paul calls “very keen.”
(20) His face, he says, was like the sun shining in full strength. De-
servedly like the sun, for the Lord is the sun of righteousness according
to the prophet Malachi.63 But lest you should think that the light
of the countenance of Christ, which “gives light to everyone,
coming into the world,”64 was a manifest body giving perceptible
light, he added by his power, just as if he were saying: “The light of
Christ is to be spiritually perceived, ‘operating in power,’65 not a
physical appearance, but giving light to the eyes of the soul.”

28. And when I saw him, he says, I fell at his feet as though dead.
And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, “I am the first and the last,
and the living one; (2) I was dead, and see, I am alive for ever and
ever, and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. (3) So write what you
have seen, both what is and what is going to take place after this” (Rv
1.17–19).
29. It is the habit of the holy prophets when seeing a vision to
be struck with amazement and to exhibit human weakness. Di-
vine matters far exceed human affairs, and surpass them in ways
past all comparison. We know that this is what Joshua the son of
Nun felt when he saw the commander-in-chief of the battle-line
of the Lord, as did Daniel, “the man of desires,” in the visions

61. Ps 44.4. 62. Heb 4.12.

63. Mal 4.2. 64. Jn 1.9.
65. Col 1.29.
 CHAPTER ONE 33

seen by him.66 (2) Therefore I fell at his feet as though dead, says
the evangelist, struck with amazement by the sight. But he laid his
right hand upon me, saying, Do not fear. Saint John would not have
been able to stay alive as a result of being struck by the vision, if
the saving right hand of the Son of God had not touched him,
which could effect so many marvels with a single touch.
(3) And he says to me, I am the first and the last, as if he said, “I
am the one who came to be with you in the flesh for the salvation
of all of you at the end of the age, though I am the first and ‘the
first-born of all creation.’67 So how can you suffer any evil from
my appearance? For if while living and being a fountain of life
for you I died and again came to life after trampling on death,
how can you who have life because of me and my vision, ever
become dead? (4) And if I also have the keys of Death and of Hades,
so that those whom I wish I may put to death or preserve alive,
and if I could send them down to Hades and bring them up in
accordance with what has been written about me, and mine are,
as the prophet says, “the ways of escape from death,”68 I would
not dispatch my worshipers and disciples to an untimely death.”
(5) Since, therefore, he will not die, he says, write what you have
seen, both what is and what is going to take place. In saying what is, he
means both past and present events, and in saying, what is going
to take place, he means future events. Of the things seen in the vi-
sion by the holy one, some had already taken place. Even if he
had gone back as far as he could, these events would not have
preceded the beginning. So he mentioned what is; but the argu-
ment will go on to show some events that were past and some
which were still to take place.

30. He speaks of the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my
right hand, and the seven golden lampstands. The seven stars are the
angels of the churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches
(Rv 1.20).
31. Now since he has made clear to him what the stars and
what the lampstands are, he goes on to speak of the evidence
66. Jos 1.9; Dn 10.11 and 8.17.
67. Col 1.15.
68. Ps 67.21.
34 OECUMENIUS

against each of the churches. He explains to the blessed evan-

gelist how he is to lay a charge against the church which strays
far away from the divine purpose, and how he is to commend
the carefulness of those who observe part of the evangelical law,
while in other cases he is to set right those which are stumbling.
Christ, “who wills all people to be saved”69 and wishes them to be-
come heirs and partners of his own bounty, has ordered his word
and teaching as an appropriate remedy for each of the church-
es, and has enjoined the evangelist to spread abroad the gospel
and his teaching. (2) To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

69. 1 Tm 2.4.
 CHAPTER TWO

he first task of my argument and commentary is

completed. My next aim must be to describe the ex-
hortations addressed to the churches. The first enjoins
him to write to the church in Ephesus as presiding over the rest
of Asia, saying thus:

2. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: Thus says he who holds
the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven
golden lampstands: (2) “I know your works, your toil, and your patient
endurance, and that you cannot bear evil men but have tested those who
call themselves apostles, but are not, and you found them to be liars; (3)
and you have patience, and you bore up for my name’s sake, and you did
not give up. (4) But I have this against you, that you have abandoned
the love you had at first. (5) Remember then from where you have fallen,
and repent, and do what you did at first in righteousness. Otherwise, I
shall come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you
repent. (6) But you have this good point,1 that you hate the works of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. (7) He who has an ear, let him listen to
what the Spirit says to the churches. I shall grant those who listen to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God” (Rv 2.1–7).2
3. By the angel of the church of Ephesus he means metaphorically
the church in Ephesus. For it is not his own angel presiding over
the church who has committed any sin who needs to hear Repent,
since he is the most holy one and is therefore also on the right
hand of the Lord, displaying the proof of his natural purity and
sparkling light. (2) What need could there be to say to the one
giving God’s message to the evangelist, Write to him? For the di-

1. Oecumenius has added the word “good” (ajgaqovn) to the text of

Revelation.
2. In v.7 Oecumenius has added “my” (mou), the significance of which he
goes on to discuss.

35
36 OECUMENIUS

vine angel was present and was listening to what was being said.
The holy angel was on the right hand of the one who was speak-
ing, and when the holy one himself finally interprets the vision
seen by him, he says, He who has an ear, let him listen to what the
Spirit is saying to the churches: he did not say “to the angels of the
churches,” but to the churches. So then in the same way you are to
understand that, wherever you find write these things to the angel
of this church, he is referring not to the angel but to the church.
(3) What does he command to be written to the church in
Ephesus? He says, He who holds the seven stars in his right hand,
who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, says this: this
is the same as saying, “These are the words of him who treats
with care and holds fast and embraces both the holy angels in
heaven”—for these are the seven stars—”and human beings on
earth.” For these are the seven lampstands, as was said earlier. He
walks in the midst of those who worship him, and says through
the prophet, “I shall dwell among them and I shall walk about
among them.”3
(4) He says, I know your works, your toil, and your patient endur-
ance, and “nothing of the good things which you do has escaped
me,”4 “who alone formed” your “hearts, and who understand all”
your “deeds,”5 (5) and, he says, you cannot bear evil men, since you
have acquired the habit of hating evil.
And you tested those who called themselves apostles, but are not, and
you found them to be liars: the Ephesians were fulfilling the divine
command: “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, to
see whether they are of God.”6 Therefore they used to test those
among them who were proclaiming the gospel, and after testing
them they found some false apostles who were imparting spuri-
ous beliefs. He is referring to the followers of Cerinthus, who
were contemporaries of the evangelist and were preachers of
profane doctrines.
(6) He says, You have patience, and you bore up for my name’s sake,
and you did not give up, and very fittingly; for it is said, “Bear one
another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of God.”7 (7) But, he

3. Lv 26.12. 4. Jb 34.21.
5. Ps 32.15. 6. 1 Jn 4.1.
7. Gal 6.2.
 CHAPTER TWO 37

says, I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had
at first. Remember then from where you have fallen, and repent, and do
what you did at first in righteousness: just as he said, “Your good ac-
tions have not escaped me,”8 so he says that you did not fail to
show love to those in need. Return therefore to your former well-
doing, now that I have taught you where you have fallen short.
(8) But if, he says, you will not return to where you came from,
I shall come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless
you repent. I shall come to you does not indicate a movement involv-
ing a change of place of God who fills all things, but a change of
attitude such as from long-suffering to punishment. By the re-
moval of the lampstand, that is, the church, he means his aban-
donment of it, as a result of which sinners become involved in ev-
ery kind of disturbance and tumult, so that they say, “My eye was
troubled in my soul, and my heart was troubled with-in me.”9
(9) He says, But you have this good point, that you hate the works of
the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He has placed their sin between
two achievements, so that by the praises at each end he may as-
suage the rebuke in the middle, lest anyone be consumed by ex-
cessive distress. This Nicolaus to whom he is now referring had
been a blasphemous and disgusting heresiarch. So those who
were being overcome by his evil errors were rescued by the Ephe-
sians, who were thus commended by Christ. (10) Then after the
divine admonition the evangelist adds his own words, saying, He
who has an ear, that is, who is obedient and submissive to the di-
vine laws, let him listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. He said
the Spirit either because the events of the Revelation were being
carried out in the Spirit, or he calls Christ Spirit, as in fact he is
and is understood to be God, just as of course he is also called
the son of man, as he is and is perceived as man. For the God-
head as a whole is called Spirit, as the Lord himself says to the Sa-
maritan woman when talking with her, “God is Spirit, and those
who worship him must worship him in Spirit and truth.”10 (11)
So what does the Spirit say? To him who conquers I shall grant to
eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my God: the phrase is

8. Jb 34.21.
9. Ps 30.10; 54.4.
10. Jn 4.24.
38 OECUMENIUS

figurative, for by the tree of life he means the blessed and eternal
life, which the saints will enjoy in the kingdom of God, which he
has now called Paradise. He says that those who have been victo-
rious over the temptations of the enemy and who have exacted
vengeance are worthy of this. (12) But no one should take of-
fense at the Lord’s saying of my God, for all the words denoting
humility are rightly ascribed to the mystery of the incarnation.
For he has also said in the gospel, “I am ascending to my Father
and your Father, to my God and your God.”11 This is what he
published in the church of Ephesus.

4. He says, And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are
the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life: (2) I
know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich, and I know the
slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of
Satan. (3) Have no fear because of what you are going to suffer. See, the
Devil is going to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested,
and you will be tested for ten days. Be faithful to death, and I will give
you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him listen to what the Spirit
says to the churches. (4) He who conquers shall not be harmed by the sec-
ond death (Rv 2.8–11).
5. The Lord calls himself first because of his Godhead, but
he calls himself last because of his humanity and the mystery of
his incarnation. (2) He says, he who was dead and came to life: he
who went to the trial of death, he means, and by death put death
to death. (3) I know your tribulation and your poverty: do not say,
as the disbelieving Jews said, “Why did we fast and you did not
know? Why did we humble our souls and you took no notice?”12
(4) He says, but you are rich, since you have Christ as your rich
protector, even though “he became poor” for our sake,13 “taking
the form of a servant,”14 and incurring the blasphemy of the spu-
rious Jews. (5) So Judas is interpreted as “confession,” and Israel
as “those who spiritually see God.”15 Therefore the true Jews and

11. Jn 20.17.
12. Is 58.3.
13. 2 Cor 8.9.
14. Phil 2.7.
15. With a reference to the popular (but mistaken) belief that Israel
etymologically means “man seeing God,” as in Philo, On Abraham 57–58, On
 CHAPTER TWO 39

the spiritual Israel would be those who confess Christ. “For he is

not a real Jew who is one outwardly, nor is the external circum-
cision in the flesh” acceptable to God, as Paul says, “but he is a
Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart,”16
and not of the flesh. Those Jews therefore who have remained
in unbelief are found to be a blasphemous synagogue under the
command of Satan.
(6) He says, Have no fear because of what you are going to suffer.
See, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be
tested, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days; for by the action of
the Devil people ill-treat the godly. And God consents, making
them more acceptable by their temptations. “But,” he says, “take
courage; your tribulation will soon be over and is of a short du-
ration.”
(7) He says, Be faithful to death, and I will give you the crown of
life: this is true, for it is also said, “He who endures to the end
will be saved,”17 assuredly not the one who throws away his shield
and shows cowardice in battle.
(8) He who has an ear, let him listen to what the Spirit says to the
churches. He who conquers shall not be harmed by the second death.
What is said is exceedingly accurate; for to the first death, which
is the separation of the soul from the body, all alike, both righ-
teous and sinners, are subject, so that the divine pronouncement
may achieve its end: “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”18
But the second death, of sin, which the Lord mentions when he
says, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead,”19 would not injure
those who conquer their temptations.

6. And, he says, to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These

things says the one who has the sharp two-edged sword: (2) I know where
you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; you hold fast my name, and you did
not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful
one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. (3) But I have a
few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of

the Embassy to Gaius 4, and found elsewhere as in Basil, Enarrationes in prophetam

Isaiam 9.23.
16. Rom 2.28. 17. Mt 10.22.
18. Gn 3.19. 19. Mt 8.22.
40 OECUMENIUS

Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling-block before the sons of

Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and commit fornication. (4) In the
same way you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
(5) Repent: otherwise I will come to you soon and make war against
them with the sword of my mouth. (6) He who has an ear, let him listen
to what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I shall give
a white stone, and on the stone a new name, which no one knows except
the one who receives it (Rv 2.12–17).
7. And, he says, “you shall write to the church in Pergamum: I
say to you, I who carry in my mouth a sword to exact vengeance
on those who transgress my commandments.” The sword in
his mouth symbolizes the danger of those who are not obedi-
ent to the divine commands. He says, “you dwell at the throne
of Satan.” (2) All of Asia is given to idolatry, but especially Per-
gamum. But he also says, “although you were living in such a
place, you kept my faith unsullied: you did not turn aside to fol-
low the determination of the majority to do evil, but you even
spoke against them in the days and feasts of the idols, like my
faithful witness, who,” he says, “boldly spoke in my name. As far
as the plotters are concerned, you kept close to me right up to
death in guarding the truth. (3) But since blame attaches even
to the most holy, and since ‘we all often stumble,’ as Scripture
says,20 to you in spite of your faithfulness,” he says, “I still have a
complaint to make.” For you have some there who hold the teaching
of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling-block before the sons of
Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and commit fornication. In the same
way you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans: in
the words he taught Balak he explains the sort of teacher he had.
The story of Balaam and Balak is clearly written down in Num-
bers; Numbers is a book of the very wise Moses. Josephus21 re-
counts that by the plotting of Balaam the Midianite women had
been sent to Israel to lead them to fornication and to aposta-
tize from God. [The angel] says, “you have those from Nicolaus
who do such things, and you do not banish them from you.” (4)
Then he says, Repent: otherwise I will come to you soon and make war
against them with the sword of my mouth. “O the depth of the riches

20. Jas 3.2.

21. Josephus, De antiquitatibus Iudaeorum 4.126–140.
 CHAPTER TWO 41

and wisdom” and goodness “of God!”22 For he did not say, I shall
come to you and make war “against you,” but I shall make war against
them, that is, the Nicolaitans. For he spared those in Pergamum
who were faithful and godly.
(5) He says, He who has an ear, let him listen to what the Spirit says
to the churches. To him who conquers I shall give him some of the hid-
den manna of the mystery:23 in other words he said, “I shall grant
them to be filled with the spiritual and future blessings.” (6) And
I shall give him a white stone; that is, one which has won the victory
and is bright with glory; and on the stone a new name, which no one
knows except the one who receives it: for it is said, “What eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, nor what has entered the human heart—all
that God has prepared for those who love him.”24

8. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These things

says the Son of God, with eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished
bronze: (2) I know your works, your love and faith and service and pa-
tient endurance, and your works, and that your last works were more
than the first. (3) But I have this against you, that you tolerate the wom-
an Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and misleading
my servants to commit fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. (4)
I gave her time to repent, but she does not wish to repent of her fornica-
tion. (5) See, I am throwing her into a bed and those who commit adul-
tery with her into great tribulation, (6) unless they repent of her practic-
es. And I will strike her children dead. And all the churches shall know
that I am he who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of
you according to your works. (7) But I say to the rest of you in Thyatira,
all who do not hold this teaching, those who have not learned the deep
things of Satan, as they say, (8) I am not laying upon you any other bur-
den, only hold fast that which you have until I come. (9) He who con-
quers and keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over
the nations, (10) and he shall be a shepherd to them with a rod of iron,
as when clay pots are broken in pieces, (11) as I myself have received au-

22. Rom 11.33.

23. The phrase tou` musthrivou does not occur in Rv 2.17, and the sentence
“I shall give him some of the hidden manna” (dwvsw aujtw`/ tou` mavnna tou`
kekrummevnou) is omitted in Oecumenius’s text as first given in the lemma upon
which he is commenting.
24. 1 Cor 2.9.
42 OECUMENIUS

thority from my Father; and I will give him the morning star. (12) He
who has an ear, let him listen to what the Spirit says to the churches (Rv
2.18–29).
9. He who addresses the evangelist explains more clearly his
own proper title. He says, These things says the Son of God, with eyes
like a flame of fire, symbolizing his striking and threatening atti-
tude against sinners. And feet like burnished bronze, indicating the
constancy and stability of faith in him, or the spiritual fragrance
of the evangelical teachings, as has been said above. (2) He says,
I know your works, your love and faith and service, as if he were say-
ing, “I praise all your devotion.” For he has put I know instead of
“I praise,” just as “I know you to be above all people”25 was said to
Moses, and “the Lord knows the way of the righteous.”26 He calls
service aid to those in need. (3) He says, And the last are more than
the first: he declares that as they progressed they grew in stature
in fulfilling the commandments.
(4) But I have this against you, to show that to be completely
sinless belongs to God alone. What do I have against you? That
you tolerate the woman Jezebel and you do not banish her, who calls
herself a prophetess: he describes the wickedness of this church in
terms relating to Jezebel, the consort of Ahab. She, he says, who
calls herself a prophetess is teaching and misleading many to commit
fornication and eat food sacrificed to idols: he means either actu-
al fornication or apostasy from God, according to what is said,
“and they committed fornication by their practices,”27 and again,
“they committed adultery with a tree.”28 (5) But the Lord, who
does not wish the death of a sinner, but his conversion and life,
says, “I have given her time for repentance. But if she does not
wish to repent, I shall do the same to her as to those committing
adultery with her, in order that all may know,” he says, “that I am
God, for it is God’s business to search the minds and hearts. For
Scripture says, ‘God, who examines the hearts and minds.’29 (6)
But to those who have nothing in common with the adulterous
woman, who are more simple and do not know the crafty ways of
the evil one, say this: ‘I shall not place any heavier burden upon

25. Ex 33.12. 26. Ps 1.6.

27. Ps 106.39. 28. Jer 3.9.
29. Ps 7.10.
 CHAPTER TWO 43

you. Your simplicity is sufficient for you. Only keep the teaching
given to you until my second coming.’”
(7) And to him who conquers the evil one, he says, I will give
him authority over the nations and he shall be a shepherd to them with
a rod of iron, as when clay pots are broken in pieces, as I myself have re-
ceived authority from my Father. This is what is said in the Gospels
to those who were good stewards of the pounds and talents en-
trusted to them: “Be in charge of ten cities”; and to another, “be
in charge of five cities”;30 and in Daniel, “And the kingdom shall
be given to the saints of God.”31 For he shows by this that some
kind of rule and authority will be given to the saints over the
more inferior and those in need of correction. So he says he will
shepherd them with harsh authority, but the unbelieving he will
crush like clay pots.
(8) And I will give him, he says, the morning star. The prophet
says of the Assyrian, that is, Satan, “How did the morning star
which rises early in the morning fall from heaven?”32 So he now
calls him the morning star: he says, “I will make Satan subject to
my servants.” This is similar to what was said by the apostle: “God
will soon crush Satan under your feet,”33 and “You will tread on
the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the
serpent underfoot.”34

10. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These things says
the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your
works, that you have the name of being alive, but you are dead. (2) Keep
awake, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I
have not found your works fully accomplished in the sight of my God.
(3) Remember then how you have received and heard [the gospel]; keep
it and repent. So if you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you
will not know at what hour I will come upon you. (4) Yet you have a few
names in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and who walk with
me in white, for they are worthy. (5) He who conquers shall be clad in
white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life. I will
confess his name before my Father and before his angels. (6) He who has

30. Cf. Lk 19.17, 19. 31. Dn 7.22, 27.

32. Is 14.12. 33. Rom 16.20.
34. Ps 90.13.
44 OECUMENIUS

an ear, let him listen to what the Spirit says to the churches (Rv 3.1–6).
11. Concerning the seven stars, which he now also calls the
spirits of God, an explanation has been given in what has gone
before. But now one must hear what he says about the people
in Sardis. (2) He says, I know your works, that your name is like
that of one who is living a godly, virtuous life, but you are dead
because of sins. It is customary in Holy Scripture to call dead
those who are involved in sins, as Paul in his great wisdom writes
about those who have changed their course from unbelief to the
faith of Christ: “And you who were dead in your transgressions
he made alive together with Christ.”35 And the Shepherd says
that some have gone down into the water of the font as dead,
and have come up again living.36 (3) But, he says, awake from
the sleep of sin and strengthen what remains, which is at the point
of death: you still have, he says, a few works and practices which
are not entirely dead. Therefore, guard them while they are still
alive, even though they are already veering towards death. For
strengthen means “make strong and powerful what is feeble and
ready to fall.” “Not one of your endeavors,” he says, “is full of
zeal, but some are dead and others are on the point of death.”
(4) So he says, “Remember then how you received the faith and heard
the word concerning it, and keep alive those of your works which
are still living. But repent of those which are dead.”
(5) If therefore you will not awake, he says, “and if you will not
arise from your sluggishness as one from sleep, I will come to
you,” he says, “as a chastiser when you are not expecting it.” The
holy apostle also says about some others, “When they say, ‘peace
and safety,’ then sudden destruction” will come upon them “as
travail comes upon a woman with child.”37 (6) He says, You have
a few names in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and who walk
with me in white, for they are worthy, for whose sake I am for the
present deferring my displeasure and am showing patience to-
wards you. By “unsoiled garments” he means the bodies of the
saints, as the patriarch Jacob said, “He washes his garment in

35. Col 2.13.

36. Shepherd of Hermas, Similitude 9.16.4.
37. 1 Thes 5.3.
 CHAPTER TWO 45

wine”;38 and Isaiah says the same thing: “Why are your garments
red, like those of one who has come from the wine-press, fully
trampled down?”39 Therefore the white garment symbolizes the
purity of the body. (7) He means that he who conquers his passions
will be clad in white in the life to come. “For the righteous will
shine like the sun and the moon,”40 he has himself promised in
the gospels. (8) He says that the pure will be written in the book
of those who live out that blessed and eternal life. The Lord also
mentioned this text in the gospels, saying to his disciples, “Do
not rejoice that the demons are subject to you,” but “that your
names are written in heaven.”41
(9) And he says, I will confess their name before my Father and be-
fore his angels. He will confess them as faithful attendants and as
willing servants. For in the gospels, too, it is written, If anyone
“confesses me before men, I also will confess him before my Fa-
ther who is in heaven.”42 To speak about his Father and his [Fa-
ther’s] angels does not prevent the holy angels from being his
also; at one time they are his Father’s, at another time they are
his. For he says, according to Matthew, Then “the Son” of man
“will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will
gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to
the other.”43

12. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things
says the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and
no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens, (2) I know your works: see,
I have set before you an open door—no one is able to shut it—I know
that you have but little power, but you kept my word and did not deny
my law.44 (3) See, I am making those of the synagogue of Satan who say
that they are Jews and are not, but they lie—see, I will make them come
and worship at your feet, and learn that I have loved you. (4) Because
you kept the gospel of my endurance, I, too, will keep you safe from the
hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole world, to test the in-

38. Gn 49.11. 39. Is 63.2–3.

40. Mt 13.43. 41. Lk 10.20.
42. Mt 10.32. 43. Mt 24.31.
44. The text as printed reads novmon (law), though many manuscripts read
o[noma (name), which is used later in this section.
46 OECUMENIUS

habitants of the earth. (5) I am coming soon; hold fast what you have,
so that no one may seize your crown. (6) He who conquers, I will make
him a pillar in the temple45 of my God, and he shall never depart from it.
And I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of
my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down from heaven from my
God, and the new name. (7) He who has an ear, let him listen to what
the Spirit is saying to the churches (Rv 3.7–13).
13. To those in Philadelphia he says: Write: these things says the
holy one, the true one. The holy one is the Son of God. So also he re-
ceives witness from the seraphim, who combine the three accla-
mations of “holy” in the one lordship, since the Word possesses
nothing earthly or prone to sin, even if he has become flesh. For
“he did not commit sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth,”
according to the word of Isaiah the prophet.46 (2) Because he is
and is called the true one, he truly is and is so called. He is called
God, and the address is not false. For he is truly God, Emman-
uel, even if the accursed Nestorius does not accept this. He has
become a human being, without discarding his divinity, and he
is truly a human being, even if Eutyches, the man hated by God,
chafes at this. What he is, he truly is. This has nothing to do with
analogy, as Nestorians say, nor with semblance or appearance,
as Eutychianists say and the accursed and disgusting tribe of the
Manichaeans.
(3) He says, he who has the key of David: he calls authority a
key. For he who has been entrusted with the key of the house
has been entrusted with the authority to open and shut. And he
more clearly states this in the gospels in the promises to Peter.
For when he said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
heaven,” he immediately adds, “and whatever you bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven.”47 (4) Since therefore the key symbolizes
authority, by saying he who has the key of David he intimates that
just as David was king of the perceptible Israel, so am I king over
the spiritual Israel as well as over the perceptible Israel, even if

45. Greek naov~ strictly refers to the temple itself, but Oecumenius at times
uses it to refer to the whole temple precinct.
46. Is 53.9.
47. Mt 16.19.
 CHAPTER TWO 47

the superiority of his authority differs by incomparable excess.

For what kind of equal honor can a human being have in com-
parison with God? This was also the message that the divine an-
gel Gabriel brought to the Virgin about the Lord, saying, “And
the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and
he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his king-
dom there will be no end.”48 Since, therefore, Christ introduced
an image of the kingdom of David, he rightly says, he who has the
key of David. (5) Then continuing with the figure of the key, he
adds, who opens and no one shuts, who shuts and no one opens. For
“God is the one who acquits; who is the one who condemns?”49
God is the one who condemns; who is the one who acquits? He
means that opening and shutting is acquitting and condemn-
ing.
(6) He says, I know your works, that they are God-fearing, and
I have given you the open door to well being. Earlier he had said, he
who opens and no one shuts. Therefore neither will anyone shut
the door which I have caused to be opened. (7) He says, you have lit-
tle power, but you kept my word and did not deny my name: Philadel-
phia is a little city; consequently, her power is also little. But in
guarding the faith of Christ beyond her own strength she arose
as it were undaunted, standing fast against those who harried
the faithful. (8) Then as a recompense for her loyalty to him, he
promises that many of the Jewish persuasion will run up to her
and receive the faith of Christ. For this is what worshiping her
feet symbolizes, to be chosen in the last days to be brought into
the church—simply to be part of the church. This is also what
the prophet said in welcome, “I chose to be admitted50 in the
house of my God rather than dwell in the abodes of sinners.”51
(9) Since, therefore, you kept my faith in patient endurance, I, too,
will keep you safe in the hour of evil trial. He means the persecution
of Christians that took place in the time of the emperor Domi-

48. Lk 1.32–33.
49. Rom 8.33–34.
50. This is the literal meaning of the LXX, which Oecumenius reproduces
(ejxelexavmhn pararrivptesqai). The usual English rendering of the Hebrew text
is “to be a doorkeeper” (RSV) or “stand at the gate” (GNB).
51. Ps 83.11. Oecumenius adds “my” after “God” (tou` qeou` mou).
48 OECUMENIUS

tian, who was “the second persecutor after Nero,” as Eusebius52

narrates in the Ecclesiastical History and in the Canonical Chronicle.
This, too, was when the blessed evangelist was condemned to live
on Patmos, a small and desolate island. (10) I am coming soon, he
says, to support you. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize
your crown. What are you to hold fast? Clearly, true love for the
Lord; if you strive in this until the end you will have the crown of
life. For the prize of victory is for those who endure.
(11) He says, “I shall make him who conquers temptations to
rejoice for ever in the vision of God.” For this is to be a pillar of
the divine temple. For surely the pillar would never move for any
good purpose from the place where it had been secured. (12)
And I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of
my God, of the heavenly Jerusalem, and the new name. He is describ-
ing their enjoyment of God for ever and their dwelling in good
quarters and the bliss, which, he says, they will have in the age to
come. The new name, he says, is that which until now has nowhere
been heard, which the saints who reign together with Christ will
receive, who are named friends, brothers, and servants. But the
new name exceeds even these. For these have not only been
mentioned in Holy Scripture but have also come into the hear-
ing of men. But the new name is nowhere named. (13) His say-
ing of my God does not imply that God disowns as unworthy the
condition of self-emptying or the humility of the humanity. For
if he disowned this, who was it who compelled him to be hypo-
statically united with flesh and thus to weave together our salva-
tion? (14) To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

52. Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 3.17; Chronicon Paschale 250c.

 CHAPTER THREE

have described in the second chapter all the prophe-

cies that he has decreed to be sent round to the six cit-
ies, to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum,
Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia. Now this is what must be writ-
ten to Laodicea:

2. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the
words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s
creation: (2) I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish
you were either cold or hot, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot
nor cold. (3) I am going to spew you out of my mouth. (4) For you say,
I am rich, I have grown wealthy, and I need nothing, but you do not
know that you are wretched, pitiable, blind, naked, and beggarly. (5) I
counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and
new white garments to clothe you, and that the shame of your nakedness
may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. (6)
Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent. (7)
See, I am standing at the door and am knocking. If anyone should listen
to my voice and open the door, I will come to him and have supper with
him, and he with me. (8) He who conquers, I will grant him to sit on
my throne, as I myself conquered and took my seat with my Father on his
throne. (9) He who has an ear, let him listen to what the Spirit says to
the churches (Rv 3.14–22).
3. He says, These are the words of the Amen: this is equivalent
to The true one says these things (Rv 3.7), as has been explained
earlier. For Amen is “Yea.” For in him is “Yea,” and not “No” at
all, as is said about him.1 And the faithful witness has been men-
tioned earlier. So it is unduly verbose to go through the same

1. 2 Cor 1.19.

49
50 OECUMENIUS

things twice. (2) He says, the beginning 2 of God’s creation: perhaps

the Arians’ anti-Christ workshop would light upon this saying, as
though the Son were described by these words as a creature. But
let us not take notice of their unholy words. We must examine
whether any such description occurs in another text, so that one
might be able to form a judgment by comparing similar terms.
(3) The wise apostle, writing to the Colossians, talks of the Son
“who is the first-fruit” and “the first-born of all creation,”3 cer-
tainly not “the first-created.” And the prophet says, “From the
womb before the morning-star I begot you,”4 certainly not “I cre-
ated you.” But also Solomon: “Before all the hills he begets me.”5
For “the Lord created me as the beginning of his ways,”6 refer-
ring to the Lord’s body animated by his mind. Saint Gregory7 ac-
cepted this sense in his work On the Son. “He begets” refers to his
divinity. (4) Therefore since all have decreed to use “begetting”
and not “creation” in the case of the only Word and Son, what
is the meaning of the present text, the beginning of God’s creation?
Nothing other than the ruler of God’s creation, and he who has
the rule8 over all things. For since the Father has made all things
through the Son, it follows that as the maker and craftsman
of the universe, who brings the universe into being from non-
existence, he rules over what has been brought into being by
him.
(5) He says, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot.
The one who is aglow with the Spirit is hot—for says the divine
apostle, “those who are aglow with the Spirit”9—but the one
who is deprived of the activity and visitation of the Holy Spir-
it is cold. (6) But you, he says, are lukewarm: he calls lukewarm
those who received a share in the Holy Spirit through baptism,
but who quenched the gift through sloth and concern for tem-
poral things. This, too, is the divine command: “Do not quench

2. The Greek (ajrchv) means both “beginning” and “rule,” and Oecumenius
explores this double meaning.
3. 1 Cor 15.23; Col 1.15. 4. Ps 109.3.
5. Prv 8.25. 6. Prv 8.22.
7. Cf. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes 30.2.
8. “Rule” renders Greek ajrchv, which also means “beginning.” “Ruler”
renders ar[cwn.
9. Rom 12.11.
 CHAPTER THREE 51

the Spirit.”10 I wish you were either cold or hot, because you are luke-
warm. (7) He means, “If only you were aglow, inflamed by the ac-
tion of the Spirit, or totally cold and entirely lacking the grace of
the Spirit, and unbaptized, instead of being lukewarm.” For those
who have the mind of the Spirit spread fire among men, “having
their senses trained for distinguishing between good and evil,”11
and they are spiritual; but those who have not yet received the
grace of the Spirit, but still hope one day to receive it, are not
numbered among the rejected. The lukewarm, on the other
hand, have not only been deprived of life but have also lost the
chance of ever being baptized again and being aglow. (8) He
says, I am going to spew you out of my mouth: he has properly used
the metaphor of lukewarmness; for all that is lukewarm, as medi-
cal men say, causes nausea and leads those who partake of it to
vomit. That, too, is why they give those who do not vomit easily
some lukewarm water to swallow, in this way encouraging them
to vomit. And he says, “I am going to reject you from my inti-
macy.” (9) What is the cause of such a condition? He says, “You
set your hope on the uncertainty of riches,12 and as if among
thorns13 you choked the gift of grace.” You were not listening to
him when he said, “If riches increase, do not set your heart on
them.”14 He says that riches are worldly and temporary.
(10) You do not know that you are beggarly and naked, since
you do not know the gifts of the Spirit, which endure. I counsel
you, therefore, to buy gold refined by fire, that you may be rich. What
is meant by gold refined by the spiritual fire is taught by the
prophet, saying, “The promises of the Lord are pure promises,
silver refined and tested in the ground, purified seven times,”15
referring in this way to the proclamation of the gospel. (11) This
then requires from me the power to instruct you and to bring you
near to God. For one who has acquired this ability both shines
with virtue and will be cleansed in soul and body. This is the new
white garments. (12) And, he says, salve to anoint your eyes, that you
may see: to some of those who could see only dimly the spiritual
light of the Lord, a reproachful saying of Jeremiah says, “See,

10. 1 Thes 5.19. 11. Heb 5.14.

12. 1 Tm 6.17. 13. Mt 13.22.
14. Ps 61.11. 15. Ps 11.7.
52 OECUMENIUS

neither your heart nor your eyes are sound.”16 Therefore, he

counsels them to embrace cleansing repentance to get rid of
such impairment, just as the barren fig-tree with its rather worth-
less existence was addressed17 with manure.18 (13) He says, Those
whom I love, I reprove and chasten: how surpassing is the extent of
the love of Christ! For he promises to love them in spite of their
being the sort of people the text describes; wherefore he both
reproves and chastens them so that they may be zealous for bet-
ter deeds and repent of their previous sins.
(14) He says, See, I am standing at the door and knocking. If any-
one should listen to my voice and open the door, I will come to him and
have supper with him, and he with me. The Lord is showing his own
meekness and peacefulness. For the Devil batters “with an axe
and a chisel” the doors of those who do not receive him, accord-
ing to the voice of the prophet.19 But even now the Lord says
to the bride in the Song of Songs, “Open to me, my sister, my
bride.”20 And if anyone will open to him, he will enter. Other-
wise, he will pass by. The supper with the Lord signifies participa-
tion in the holy mysteries. (15) He says, To him who conquers the
enemy I will grant to sit on my throne, that is, to reign together with
me. For it is said by the most wise Paul, “If we suffer with him, we
shall also reign with him.”21 (16) He says, As I, too, have conquered,
and reign with my Father: for the Lord also said in the gospels, “Be
of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”22

4. And after that I looked, and see, in heaven an open door! And the
first voice like that of a trumpet which I heard speaking to me said, Come
up here, and I will show you what must take place after this. (2) At once
I was in the Spirit, and see, there was a throne in heaven, and on the
throne was seated one (3) looking like an emerald (Rv 4.1–3).23

16. Jer 22.17.

17. The word rendered “addressed” (ejxagovreusi~) also means “confession
of sins.”
18. Lk 13.6–9.
19. Ps 73.6.
20. Song 5.2.
21. Rom 8.17; 1 Cor 4.8.
22. Jn 16.33.
23. The omission, by a scribal error, of some words in Rv 4.3, due to the
repetition of o{moio~ at the start of two phrases, has meant that the one sitting
 CHAPTER THREE 53

5. It is not that there is in heaven a door that is being shut

and opened from time to time, but this is how it was shown to
the evangelist so that he might see the things above the heavens.
For when any door is opened, the things inside are necessarily
observed. (2) He says, And I heard a voice, which sounded like a
trumpet and said to me: Come up here, he says, so that you may see
the things which are going to take place. (3) And I went up in the
Spirit—for the way up was neither bodily nor perceptible—and,
he says, I see a throne, and God and a Spirit on it like jasper and
carnelian. God is certainly not like these, nor like any perceptible
thing, or like a body at all; he is invisible, incorporeal, and with-
out form, whose invisible nature the seraphim indicate as they
cover their faces with their wings.24 God, too, when he spoke to
Moses said, Nobody shall see “my face and live.”25 But also the
evangelist himself denies this possibility, saying, “no one has ever
yet seen God.”26 Therefore, God was not seen to be like anything,
but it was from the acts of God that the vision was depicted in the
Revelation. (4) For jasper—which is a precious stone—looks like
emerald and is green, resembling an asp’s poison, from which
it also derives its name.27 Carnelian is another precious stone,
fiery bright and blood-red. (5) Jasper signifies for us God’s abil-
ity to give life and to provide for our needs, since every nourish-
ment of human beings and four-footed animals and birds and
reptiles has its source, and thus its cause, originating from green
plants. For the prophet says, “He causes grass to grow for the cat-
tle, and green plants for the service of men, so as to bring food
from the earth. And wine cheers a man’s heart, making glad his
face with oil.”28 And again, in creating the world, God says, “Let
the earth put forth vegetation, seed yielding seed according to
its kind.”29 (6) So jasper connotes these things. But by carnelian

on the throne is “like an emerald.” Not only is this corrected below in 3.5.9, but
Oecumenius shows his awareness of the missing words by his comments in 3.5.3
on jasper and carnelian (ijavspidi kai; sardivw)/ .
24. Is 6.2.
25. Ex 33.20.
26. Jn 1.18.
27. “An asp’s poison”: the Greek is ijov~ ajspivdo~.
28. Ps 103.14–15.
29. Gn 1.11–12.
54 OECUMENIUS

he describes the awe of God. “For our God is a devouring fire,”

says the hierophant Moses.30 And the prophet, too, says of God,
“You are awesome, and who can stand before you?”31 In agree-
ment with this, the wise apostle writes, “It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God.”32 (7) For since the goodness
of God is pure, and therefore at variance with those who love
sin and despise him, it does not lead them to repentance but
to fearlessness in committing sin.33 So God is rightly depicted as
awesome, as well as being good and beneficent. Wherefore Paul,
knowing that the disposition of those under instruction needs
goads, and not only gentleness, wrote to the Corinthians, saying,
“What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love
and in a spirit of gentleness?”34 And one of the saints also ex-
claimed, “Gehenna does not terrify you. The kingdom of heaven
does not persuade you; we are talking to a heart of stone.”35 In
this way the awesomeness of God and his readiness to punish was
found useful to those undergoing discipline. (8) But carnelian is
not the first with God; jasper is the first. For his nature is good-
ness itself, kindness, and gentleness, and he wishes to be our fa-
ther rather than our tyrant. But, if it is permissible to say so, it is
we who compel him to be awesome and ready to punish, so that
he often puts aside his natural gentleness, and is driven to un-
natural severity.36
(9) He says, And round his throne was a rainbow in appearance
like an emerald: 37 the visible rainbow, which the divine Scripture
calls a bow of God, which is caused by the reflection of the sun’s
light when it is intercepted and impeded by a thick cloud, has
a variegated color of all kinds. That spiritual rainbow, however,
circling the divine throne, was of a single color, for it was like
an emerald. (10) It indicates all the holy and ministering spirits
around God, wherefore he has called it a rainbow, even though it
has a single color, so that from the variegated colors of the rain-
bow we may obtain an idea of the numerous ranks and differ-
ences of the divine angels. Yet all things are aglow with one col-

30. Dt 4.24. 31. Ps 75.8.

32. Heb 11.31. 33. Rom 2.4.
34. 1 Cor 4.21. 35. Cf. Basil, Homilia in divitias 6.
36. Cf. Rom 11.22. 37. See n. 23 above.
 CHAPTER THREE 55

or. For all are alike beneficial and bear an imitation of their own
master, with the emerald color bearing witness to the [angels’]
providential beneficence, just as the color of jasper bears witness
to God’s providence.
(11) Perhaps a reader may be troubled by something here:
Why is it that while the holy ranks of the incorporeal beings
around God are compared to the more precious stone of the
emerald, God himself is compared to the less precious, jasper
and carnelian? The reason is that the account is now concerned
not with the value of the objects seen but with the meaning of
the colors. If anyone should meanly look for value, there is not a
single thing with which God may be compared. (12) Nor should
anyone complain that the Lord is compared to a stone, for Isaiah
says about the Lord, “See, I am laying in Zion a corner-stone.”38
And the prophet says about him, “The stone which the builders
rejected.”39 The wicked ranks of demons are described allegori-
cally as mountains: for David himself said that “mountains were
being changed, in the heart of the sea, and mountains were
stirred up by his mighty power.”40 They are of such a size that it is
not even possible to discover their height.

6. He says, Round the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on

the twenty-four thrones were twenty-four elders, clad in white garments,
with golden crowns upon their heads. (2) From the throne issue flashes
of lightning, and voices and peals of thunder, and before the throne seven
torches of fire were burning, which are the seven spirits of God, (3) and
before the throne there is a sea of glass, like crystal (Rv 4.4–6).
7. Only God, the one who knows the hidden things, and he to
whom they are revealed, would know who were the twenty-four
elders seated on the thrones. My guess is that they were Abel,
Enoch, and Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Melchisedek and
Job, Moses and Aaron, Joshua the son of Nun, and Samuel, Da-
vid, Elijah, and Elisha, the twelve minor prophets combined to-
gether as one, Isaiah and Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah,
and John, James the son of Joseph, and Stephen, the martyrs

38. Is 28.16.
39. Ps 117.22.
40. Ps 45.3–4.
56 OECUMENIUS

of the New Testament. (2) One could have spoken of Peter,

Paul, and James the brother of John, whom Herod “killed with
a sword,”41 and the rest of the band of the holy apostles, if they
had not had the promise from the Lord that they would sit, not
now, but in the new age, on twelve thrones, which are clearly
different from those mentioned here. For this is what the Lord
said to them in the gospel according to Matthew: “Truly I say
to you, that you who have followed me, in the new age when
the Son of” God “shall sit on his glorious throne, you too will sit
on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”42 (3) The
white garments are a sign of their purity in their lifetime; the
crowns are the sign of their conquest of their passions and spiri-
tual enemies; (4) the issuance of lightning and sounds of thun-
der from the throne symbolizes once again the awesomeness of
God. Delight in the divine beauty is found not in some enjoy-
ment of merriment and pleasure, but in awe and wonder. Be-
cause he knew this the prophet said, “Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice in him with trembling.”43
(5) He says, Seven torches of fire, burning before the throne, which
are the seven spirits of God: seven is the number of the archangels,
says Clement in the sixth book of his Stromateis,44 perhaps under
the influence of this text. He says that these seven spirits are like
torches of fire. For it is said about angels somewhere, “He who
makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire,”45 the
divine Scriptures meaning these whom we are now discussing.
(6) He says, And before the throne there is a sea of glass, like crystal:
the vision of the sea is the multitude; and the glass and the crys-
tal denote the purity and the freedom from every defilement of
the holy spirits around God, who are as the sea in number; “for
a thousand thousand stood before him,” says Daniel,46 “and ten
thousand times ten thousand waited upon him”; and although
there are so many, all of them are pure, resembling glass and
crystal.

41. Acts 12.2.

42. Mt 19.28.
43. Ps 2.11.
44. Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 6.16.143.1.
45. Ps 103.4.
46. Dn 7.10.
 CHAPTER THREE 57

8. And round the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes in front
and behind. (2) The first living creature is like a lion, the second living
creature like an ox, the third living creature has a face like a man, and
the fourth living creature is like an eagle in flight. (3) And each of the
four living creatures has six wings around it; and within they are full of
eyes; and day and night they have no rest, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God, the sovereign of all, who is and who was and is coming” (Rv
4.6–8).
9. This is not to say that these are those holy living creatures
whom Ezekiel the prophet was deemed worthy to see. Each of
those had both four faces and eight wings, and they sidled along
on wheels called Gelgel,47 even if those were many-eyed just like
these. Here, each had one face, even if it was different, and six
wings. And those were the cherubim, so called by Ezekiel,48 but
these, as I surmise, are the seraphim, who were shown to the
blessed Isaiah,49 even though Isaiah did not mention that they
had any faces, but only that they covered their faces with their
wings, nor did he mention a multitude of eyes, but that they
were six-winged. (2) It is important to explain the symbolism of
the visions shown to the evangelist. There was an error among
some of the Jews, who held that while God made provision for
the holy orders in heaven and loved to dwell only among them,
he stood aloof and was not concerned about those on the earth
because of the transgression of Adam. That is why they said in
Isaiah’s words, “Why have we fasted and you did not see it? Why
have we humbled ourselves, and you took no notice?”50 Their er-
ror arose from a scriptural text which said, “Lord in heaven, your
mercy and your truth reach up to the clouds,”51 as though the di-
vine providence deemed it unworthy to proceed downwards on
account of the sins on earth. (3) So the vision shows the evange-
list that the providence of God extends through all things, both
providing for those in heaven and condescending to those on
earth, and this is the symbolism of the four holy living creatures
which are around the divine throne. For since every perceptible

47. Ezek 10.13. “Gelgel” represents the Hebrew galgal, which probably is to
be rendered “whirling.”
48. Ezek 10.20. 49. Is 6.2.
50. Is 58.3. 51. Ps 35.6.
58 OECUMENIUS

and earthly body is composed of the four elements—fire, earth,

air, and water—each of the living creatures represents one of
these. The lion represents fire, on account of the heat and the
passion of the animal; the ox represents the earth, because the
ox’s work is on the earth; the man represents the air, for man is a
heavenly creature and high in the air on account of the subtlety
of his mind; the eagle represents water, for birds have their ori-
gin in water. (4) They are seen around the throne of God, since
those who are signified by the living creatures, that is, those on
earth, are deemed worthy of his concern and providence. Their
being many-eyed represents the all-surveying oversight of God
over them.
(5) And they have no rest by day or by night. He says this not be-
cause they continually spend a painful and burdensome life, so
that they are unable to have any respite from toil or from de-
manding obligation, but because they never desist from giving
praises to God, and from reveling in their songs to him. (6)
Their saying holy seven times signifies often and incessantly.52
The number seven has been handed down many times in Holy
Scripture, such as “she who was barren gave birth to seven, and
she who had many children grew weak,”53 and “the seven eyes of
the Lord which watch over all the earth,”54 and “the righteous
man” set free “seven times from his distress.”55
(7) He says, who is and who was, and is coming: the holy and
august Trinity is indicated here, as was said earlier. But it does
no harm to say it again now, for “to write the same things is not
irksome to me, but it is safe for those who read,”56 the divine
apostle declared. He who is was the name given to the Father by
Moses. For he says to him, “I am who I am.”57 He who was is said
about the Son by the evangelist himself, saying, “In the begin-
ning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.”58 By he who is coming he means the Holy Spirit, for he
always visits the souls who are worthy to receive him.

52. In Oecumenius’s version of the text of Rv 4.8 some manuscripts add

“seven times” (septies). He here appears to consider the number significant.
53. 1 Sm 2.5. 54. Zec 4.10.
55. Prv 24.16. 56. Phil 3.1.
57. Ex 3.14. 58. Jn 1.1.
 CHAPTER THREE 59

10. And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and
thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,
(2) the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne
and worship him who lives for ever and ever, and they cast their crowns
before the throne, saying, (3) “You are worthy, O Lord our God, to re-
ceive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your
will they existed and were created” (Rv 4.9–11).
11. Together with the holy living creatures, he says, the elders
give glory to God. Their casting their crowns before God indi-
cates this: the crown is a symbol of victory and kingship. So when
they cast them before the throne of God, they ascribe to God,
the ruler of all people, his real and true kingship and universal
victory, saying, “To you, Lord, glory is due in the sight of all peo-
ple, because you brought all things from non-being into being,
and by your will you gave substance to things which had no pre-
vious existence.”

12. And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne
a little scroll written on the inside and outside, sealed with seven seals;
and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, (2) “Who is
worthy to open the little scroll 59 * * * 60 nor to look into it. (3–4) And
many wept that no one was found worthy to open the little scroll or to
look into it. (5) Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; see, the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered, to open its
seven seals.” (6) And I saw, and there between the throne and the four
living creatures and amid the elders there was a lamb standing as though
it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
spirits of God sent out into all the earth; (7) and he went and took it
from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne (Rv 5.1–7).
13. Holy Scripture describes for us a certain scroll of God in
which all human beings have been written down. Perhaps it calls
the scroll figuratively God’s record of us, except that the prophet

59. In this section the text usually refers to biblivon (“a little scroll”), but
sometimes to bivblo~ (“a scroll”). The translation attempts to preserve the
original, in spite of some confusion in the argument.
60. There is a lacuna in the text here, which is, however, filled later with the
words “and to break its seals” (kai; lu`sai ta;~ sfragi`da~ aujtou`); see de Groote
edition, p. 112.
60 OECUMENIUS

names it a little scroll, saying, “Your eyes saw my unformed sub-

stance, and in your little scroll all people will be written.”61 On
the other hand, Moses the most wise, pleading for Israel, who
had sinned, wept aloud to God and cried, “But now, if you will
forgive their sin, forgive—and if not, blot me out of your scroll
which you have written.”62 (2) This is the scroll which the divine
evangelist sees written on the inside and outside. Inside would be
those people of Israel written down as God-fearing by their keep-
ing of the law. On the back, and in a worse fate, would be those of
the gentiles who were idolatrous before believing in Christ.
(3) The little scroll was in the right hand of God; it refers, I
imagine, to the ways of the saints who were triumphant in the
old covenant. The little scroll had been shut and sealed with sev-
en seals. The number seven, being a perfect number, indicates
that the little scroll had been truly and very securely shut and
sealed up. (4) What does it mean that the little scroll had been
closed? That nobody was considered to be worthy of the vision
of God, except a very few. For in view of the transgression of
Adam, how could what had been closed ever be seen? More peo-
ple through their sins had caused the little scroll to be closed—
and their number was innumerable—than those very few who
were well-pleasing to God for it to be opened, and so the gen-
eral free access to God had to be barred against those who were
written within it, since “all had turned aside and had become
corrupt,” according to the prophet.63 For even if a very few in
number had triumphed in the old covenant, since they were but
human beings, they were not considered worthy to regain for ev-
eryone the freedom which had been lost by sin. (5) So since the
prophet understood this, he addressed God, “In the morning
you will hear the voice” of my supplication, “and in the morning
I will stand beside you and you will behold me.”64 By the spiri-
tual morning he means the appearance of Christ, “the sun of
righteousness,”65 which put an end to the gloom of ignorance,
as though in this way, and not otherwise, humankind might ac-
quire freedom, so that God could both listen to those praying,

61. Ps 138.16. 62. Ex 32.32.

63. Ps 13.3. 64. Ps 5.4.
65. Mal 4.2.
 CHAPTER THREE 61

and find them worthy of his regard, once Christ had abolished
the wall of sin which separated us from God.66 Before his visita-
tion to humankind, “every mouth” had been stopped, “and the
whole world had been put under God’s judgment,”67 according
to Scripture. So the fact that the scroll was closed and sealed in-
dicates, as has been said, the lack of a free approach [to God] by
those whose names were written in the scroll.
(6) He says, I saw a strong angel proclaiming, “Who is worthy to
open the little scroll and break its seals?” “No one, most divine angel,”
one would say to him; only the incarnate God, who took away sin
and who canceled “the bond which stood against us”68 and with
his own “obedience” healed our “disobedience.”69 (7) He says,
And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open
the little scroll. For neither did an angel accomplish this for us, as
Isaiah says, “Not an envoy, nor an angel, but he himself saved
them because he loved them,”70 neither a living man, nor even
one of the dead. “A brother cannot ransom himself—a man can-
not ransom himself,” as it is written somewhere.71 (8) And why
does he say, “I tell you to open the little scroll,” when no human
being was strong enough to look into it? For how could anyone
of those filled with the mist of sin look into it in the presence of
the divine throne, on which the scroll was laid? “The unworthi-
ness of all of them caused me to lament.” But one of the elders
encouraged me, pointing to the one who had opened it. For he
says to me, See, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has
conquered, so that he can open the little scroll and its seven seals. He,
he says, who has conquered our conqueror, the Devil, is he who
opened the little scroll and its seals. (9) And who was the lion
of the tribe of Judah? Certainly the Christ, about whom the patri-
arch Jacob said, “He stooped down, he couched as a lion and
as a lion’s cub. Who will raise him up?”72 That the Lord accord-
ing to his humanity arose from Judah, the divine apostle is wit-

66. Cf. Eph 2.14.

67. Rom 3.19.
68. Col 2.14.
69. Rom 5.19. Some manuscripts begin chapter 4 at this point.
70. Is 63.9.
71. Ps 48.8.
72. Gn 49.9.
62 OECUMENIUS

ness when he said, “For it is evident that our Lord Jesus” Christ
“has arisen from Judah.”73 (10) One might be surprised that he
did not say of him, “A shoot from the root of Jesse,” or “A flower
sprung up from the root,” as Isaiah said,74 but he called him a
root of David. He says this to show that according to his human
nature he was a shoot sprung from the root of Jesse and David;
but according to his divine nature, he himself is the root, not
only of David but of all visible and invisible creation, since he is
the cause of the universe, as was also said earlier.
(11) He says, And I saw in the midst of all those around the
throne of God a lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with sev-
en horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into
all the earth, and he came and took it—that is, the little scroll—from
the right hand of him who sat on the throne. He called the Lord a
lamb on account of his guilelessness, and his ability to provide.
For just as the lamb is the provider with its yearly production
of wool, so also the Lord “opens his hand and fills every living
thing with delight.”75 This at least is what prophecy calls him, say-
ing through Isaiah, “like a lamb he was led to slaughter, and like
a sheep before its shearer he was dumb,”76 and through Jeremi-
ah, “I did not know I was like a guileless lamb led to be slaugh-
tered.”77 (12) But the lamb is described not as slaughtered, but
as though it had been slaughtered. For Christ came to life again,
trampling death underfoot, and despoiling Hades of the souls
in its possession. For the death of Christ was not an absolute
death, but as it were a death cut short by the resurrection. But
since the Lord after his resurrection continued to bear the sym-
bols of death, the print of the nails,78 having his life-giving body
stained red by his blood, as Isaiah said, speaking in the person of
the holy angels, “Why are your garments red, and your clothes
like one who comes from the full-trodden wine-press?”79—on ac-
count of this he was as one who had been slaughtered in the sight
of the vision. (13) The seven horns bear witness to his great
strength, as the number seven, being the perfect number, often

73. Heb 7.14. 74. Is 11.1.

75. Ps 144.16. 76. Is 53.7.
77. Jer 11.19. 78. Jn 20.25.
79. Is 63.2–3.
 CHAPTER THREE 63

indicates, as has also been said earlier. The horns are the symbol
of power, according to the prophet who said, “And all the horns
of the wicked I will break off, but the horn of the righteous
shall be exalted,”80 and Habakkuk has, “there are horns in his
hands.”81 (14) The seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out
into all the earth, Isaiah interprets for us, saying, “And there shall
rest upon him a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of
counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and reverence; a spirit
of the fear of God will fill him.”82 These spirits, that is, spiritual
gifts of grace, have been sent to everyone from God, but no one
ever received them in the same way as they rested upon Christ in
their work among practically all people. And he grew stronger
in word and understanding.83 For the spirits which he himself as
God sent from above, these he himself received below as a hu-
man being. For he was both a human being and God. (15) To
him belongs the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

80. Ps 74.11. 81. Hab 3.4.

82. Is 11.2–3. 83. Lk 2.40.
 CHAPTER FOUR

o then when all of those in heaven and on earth and

under the earth had been unable to find a way to open
the scroll1 or to look upon it, as the previous visions
showed, only Christ, the Son of God, who on our account has
been born like us while remaining what he was, took the scroll.

2. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the
twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and
golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they
sing a new song, saying, (2) “You are worthy to take the scroll and to
open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed us for
God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, (3) and you
have made them kings and priests to our God, and they shall reign on
earth.” (4) Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living
creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, and their number was
ten thousand times ten thousand, saying with a loud voice, (5) “Worthy
is the Lamb who has been slain, to receive power and wisdom and wealth
and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rv 5.8–12).
3. All worshiped the Lord after he had taken the scroll, since
they already knew the salvation which he was going to effect for
human beings and the punishment he was going to bring on
the polluted demons. (2) The elders’ holding harps indicates
the harmony and concord of their confession of God, accord-
ing to Scripture, “Sing praises to our God, sing praises.”2 (3) The
incense symbolizes the offering of all the nations, for Malachi,
speaking in the person of God, says to disobedient Israel, “I will
not accept an offering from your hand, for from the rising of the
sun to its setting my name has been glorified among the nations,

1. In this chapter biblivon has been consistently rendered by “scroll.”

2. Ps 46.7.

64
 CHAPTER FOUR 65

and in every place incense is offered in my name, and a pure sac-

rifice,”3 predicting by these [words] the faith of the nations and
their bringing of gifts.(4) And they sing a new song: for the song
sung to God incarnate is new, since it had never been invented
before the incarnation. (5) What was the song? You are worthy,
he says, to effect this salvation for human beings, you who were
slain for us, and with your blood you took possession of many from
among those under heaven. (6) Very correctly he said from every
tribe and tongue and people and nation: for he did not acquire pos-
session of everyone (for many died in unbelief), but only those
who were worthy of salvation. The prophet also said something
similar, “Arise, O God, judge the earth, because you” will place
“your inheritance among all the nations,”4 where he does not
simply say “all the nations.”
(7) And he made them kings and priests to our God, and they shall
reign on earth. You can indeed understand this literally, for the
kings and presidents of the churches are [God’s] faithful people
and servants of Christ. But you can also understand kings to be
those who control their passions and are not controlled by them.
And you can understand priests to be those who present their
own persons “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,”
as Scripture says.5 (8) And he says not only the elders but also
the incorporeal powers of the angels were singing a triumphant
song to Christ. Daniel also predicted their number as now men-
tioned. The song of the angels attributes seven different honors
to Christ, because by the number seven they indicate that it is fit-
ting for Christ to be crowned with ten thousand praises.

4. And every creature in heaven and on earth and in the sea are
yours, and I heard all that was in them saying, “to him who sits on the
throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for
ever and ever.” (2) And the four living creatures said “Amen,” and the
elders fell down and worshiped (Rv 5.13–14).
5. The present words show the concordant hymn of praise

3. Mal 1.10–11.
4. Ps 81.8.
5. Rom 12.1.
66 OECUMENIUS

from all creation in heaven and on earth to God, both the Fa-
ther and the Word incarnate in human form,6 with the Holy
Spirit, too, of course, sharing in their praise.

6. And when, he says, I saw that the Lamb had opened one of the
seven seals, and I heard what was like the sound of thunder from the four
living creatures saying, “Come.” (2) And I saw, and there was a white
horse, and its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he
went out conquering so that he should conquer. (3) And when he opened
the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” (4) And
out came another horse, bright red; its rider’s task was to take peace from
the earth, so that men should slay one another, and he was given a great
sword (Rv 6.1–4).
7. That the scroll was shut and sealed indicates that the peo-
ple who were written in it were unable to speak, and that their
mouths were stopped from all pleading in their defense before
God, according to what was said earlier. The successive remov-
al of the seals, then, symbolizes the resumption little by little of
the openness and intimacy towards God that the Only-begotten
by his incarnation made possible for us, making amends for our
faults by his own acts of reparation. We must understand that
the undoing of each seal denotes one of the works of the Lord
effected for our salvation, and of his acts against our spiritual en-
emies. For the Lord’s providence for us entails the destruction
of their sovereignty. (2) No one should be surprised that before
the Only-begotten became incarnate—for his works and deeds
before his visit to us are shown in the vision to the blessed evan-
gelist—yet the lamb is seen in the Revelation as slain. For the
visions of the prophets were regularly a prediction of what was
to take place in future. Thus a man was wrestling with Jacob,7
who was the type of Christ. Thus Isaiah saw the prophetess who
conceived and bore a son, whose name, too, was called “plunder
quickly, despoil sharply.”8 Thus Daniel saw as “a son of man” the

6. Literally, “the Word who became a human being and was incarnate” (tw`/
ejnanqrwphvsanti kai; sarkwqevnti Lovgw/).
7. Gn 32.24.
8. Is 8.3.
 CHAPTER FOUR 67

pre-incarnate God, the Word, coming to the “Ancient of days.”9

(3) Therefore, the first benefit of our savior Christ to our
race, which loosed the first seal of the scroll and has begun our
restoration to the place from which we were banished as a result
of Adam’s transgression, and the recovery of the intimacy with
God which we lost, and the change of our inability to speak into
frank confidence, was established by the physical birth of the
Lord. This hallowed our birth, so that we may no longer begin
life in lawlessness and be conceived in sin by our mothers, but
that we may have a hallowed birth, since Christ through his own
birth has blessed our human birth. The divine apostle is a wit-
ness to this great honor shown to human beings when he writes,
“Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are
holy.”10 (4) So when the first seal had been opened, he says, I saw
someone approaching on a white horse from those spiritual holy
creatures, with a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out
conquering so that he should conquer. The white horse is a symbol of
the gospel, as the benefit due to be conferred on human beings.
The crown symbolizes might and victory. And he came out carry-
ing the crown for Christ,11 as for one who had begun to conquer
the Devil, who had enslaved our race. He says he went out so that
the conqueror might conquer: Christ was the conqueror, so that he
might make a complete conquest, and [the rider] carried the
crown for him as a symbol of victory.
8. This, then, is the first benefit. The second benefit of Christ
towards us, which opened the second seal of the scroll and went
on both to expunge our disgrace and to restore to us the vision
of God, was for the Lord to be tempted to conquer the tempter,
so that he might know not only that he was himself the conquer-
or, but also that the wretch had been defeated; instead of “bit-
ing the horseman’s heel” and “tripping us up on our steps” to
God, he was “falling back”12 and was being sent off like a slave. It
was with a man that he wrestled, even though God was in him:
he heard the words “Begone, Satan!”13 and in disgrace he went

9. Dn 7.13. 10. 1 Cor 7.14.

11. Jn 19.5.
12. Cf. Gn 3.15; Ps 139.5; Gn 49.17.
13. Mt 4.10.
68 OECUMENIUS

away and for the first time came to know his own weakness—he
who boasts of “putting his throne above the clouds,” and who
imagines that he will be “like the Most High,” as Isaiah portrayed
him.14
(2) After this a bright red horse came out, urged on by one of
the holy living creatures, and the rider of the horse, he says, was
given authority to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay
one another; and he was given a great sword. The red horse is the
symbol of blood; that is why a sword was given to its rider, so
that he might destroy and cut to pieces the propensity for evil
found among the inhabitants of the earth. They all planned to
turn to idolatry. And, he says, so that men should slay one another,
that is, that they might destroy each other’s eagerness to com-
mit evil. For the Lord “did not come to bring peace on earth,
but a sword, and to raise up a son against his father and a bride
against her mother-in-law,”15 and their new and God-fearing be-
havior against that which is old and condemned.

9. And when he opened the third seal, he says, I heard the third liv-
ing creature say, “Come.” And I saw, and there was a black horse, and its
rider had a balance in his hand; (2) and I heard a voice in the midst of
the four living creatures say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three
quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not harm the oil and the wine.”
(3) And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living crea-
ture say, “Come.” (4) And I saw and there was a greenish horse, and its
rider’s name was Death, and Hades will follow him, and authority was
given to them over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword and with
famine and with death, and by wild beasts of the earth (Rv 6.5–8).
10. The third mercy of Christ to us broke the third seal, and
brought us from condemnation back to God the Father. This
mercy is his saving teaching and the benefits effected through
his divine miracles. For these contributed to the destruction of
the Devil. For through them we came to know who was natu-
rally and truly God, “so that we might not be children, tossed
to and fro by every wind of doctrine,”16 and might not worship
what our hands had made, exchanging the destructive demons

14. Is 14.13–14. 15. Cf. Mt 10.34–35.

16. Eph 4.14.
 CHAPTER FOUR 69

for the glory of God. For the divine teaching of the Lord drew
to itself, as leaven draws flour,17 those who were being taught by
the Lord’s voice, and were receiving the benefit of his miracles,
which healed their souls more than their bodies.
(2) After this, a black horse came out, and its rider had a balance
in his hand: the black horse represents sorrow and grief, now that
the destruction of the Devil had been achieved by the divine in-
structions. On this account the Devil was grieving for his release,
which was being deferred for so many ages. The balance is the
symbol of equity and righteousness. For “the judge of righteous-
ness had taken his seat on the throne. He rebuked the tribes” of
demons, and the impious one,18 their leader, was destroyed. (3)
The balance therefore is the symbol of the righteous judgment
of the Lord on our behalf, so that we may also say boldly to him,
“You effected judgment and justice for me,”19 so that we gentiles
may know that we are human beings, and that we may not be
like beasts dragged along “with bit and bridle”20 and led astray by
the destructive tyrants.
(4) And, he says, I heard a voice in the midst of the four living crea-
tures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of bar-
ley for a denarius, but do not harm the oil and the wine.” The gospel
and the teaching is described allegorically by Holy Scripture as
seed, for it is written in Matthew, “The sower went out to sow,”21
and again the better-disposed of the slaves said to their lord, “Sir,
did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have
weeds?”22 Some of the seed is wheat, signifying the proclama-
tion of the gospel as being the proper food for mature people,
who “have their senses trained to discriminate between good
and evil.”23 What is the barley? It is the teaching according to the
law of Moses, as being ripe fodder, more fitting than wheat, for
nourishing the infant Israel. (5) Therefore, the speaker, God, in
the midst of the four living creatures says, “A quart of wheat for a denar-
ius and three quarts of barley for a denarius.” These words symbolize
that there was a famine and scarcity among people of that time

17. Cf. Mt 13.33. 18. Ps 9.5–6.

19. Ps 9.5. 20. Ps 31.9.
21. Mt 13.3. 22. Mt 13.27.
23. Heb 5.14.
70 OECUMENIUS

of the teaching both of the gospel of the Lord and of the law,
as Scripture says, “I will give them not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord.”24
(6) Even if those who despise all teaching and attention had es-
pecially to suffer this and that, he says, “do not harm the oil and the
wine, forgive them and do not bring any punishment on them; I
shall still have mercy on them,” says God, “since they have hope
of being spiritually gladdened by the divine proclamations of my
only Son.” For these are “the wine that” spiritually “makes glad a
man’s heart.”25
(7) So he who was going to set out against the former disobe-
dience would harm the mercy which was to be shown to them
by God and the spiritual gladness which would come with faith.
And why do I say only “spiritual”? For the teachings of the Lord
also afforded discernible grace. And the prophet is witness when
he said to the Lord, “grace has been poured upon your lips.”26
Josephus the Jew also, constrained by the truth, wrote the fol-
lowing about him in his eighteenth book of The Antiquities:27
(8) “There was about this time a wise man, Jesus, if indeed one
ought to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a
teacher of people who gladly speak the truth. He won over many
Jews and many of the Greeks. He was the Christ. When Pilate, on
the indictment of men of the highest standing among us, had
condemned him to be crucified, those who had first come to
love him did not cease loving him. On the third day he appeared
to them restored to life, for the holy prophets had prophesied
these and countless other marvelous things about him. And the
tribe of the Christians, so called after him, has still not now dis-
appeared.”
11. The breaking of the fourth seal and of the rest marks the
beginning of release from sin resulting from Adam’s transgres-
sion. For release from this clearly brings affinity with God. For
if “our sins separate us from God,” as Isaiah says,28 their destruc-

24. Am 8.11.
25. Ps 103.15.
26. Ps 44.32.
27. Josephus, De antiquitatibus Iudaeorum 18.63–64.
28. Is 49.2.
 CHAPTER FOUR 71

tion clearly restores our intimacy with him. What effected this
release? (2) “The blows”29 struck on Christ, by which we have
been set free. For since by the pleasure of tasting we were con-
demned, we were healed by the opposite. Blows are the oppo-
site of pleasure, with the pain which is felt from them. Christ
paid on our behalf everything on account of which we had been
brought down to the corruption of death, and he made payment
through opposites: by “obedience” he paid for our “disobedi-
ence,”30 by painful submission he paid for the pleasure [of sin],
by his hands stretched out boldly on the cross he paid for the
hands which rashly grasped the forbidden tree.
(3) After this, he says, by the summons of the fourth of the
holy living creatures there came a greenish horse, and its rider’s name
was Death, and Hades follows him, and authority was given them over
a fourth of the earth. The greenish horse is the symbol of wrath,
for bile, as doctors call it, is greenish. (4) Death and Hades were
sent for the spiritual overthrow of the sinful demons and to ex-
act retribution from them for the destruction of humankind.
But since the saving passion of Christ, by which he paid for all
our sins, had not yet been described in the vision, the complete
destruction of the demons had not yet come about, but only the
fourth part. (5) This destruction he calls metaphorically slaugh-
ter and a famine of those who were formerly worshiping them
and death, so laying bare the end of their tyranny by death, and
their destruction by the wild beasts of the earth; he calls the demons’
passions of arrogance and vanity wild beasts of the earth. These pas-
sions consume and devour them as they are being ousted from
their dominion over human beings. Even though they are natu-
rally incorporeal, the demons are earthly in that they exult in
their earthly wrigglings.

12. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of
those who had been slain for the word of God, and for the church31 which
they had. (2) They were crying out with a loud voice saying, “How long,

29. Mk 14.65.
30. Rom 5.19.
31. All manuscripts of Revelation read marturivan (“testimony”) in Rv 6.9,
but Oecumenius certainly reads ejkklhsivan (“church”), as is shown again later.
72 OECUMENIUS

Master, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our
blood on those who dwell upon earth?” (3) And a white robe was giv-
en to each, and they were told to rest a little longer until the number of
their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who were to be
killed as they themselves had been (Rv 6.9–11).
13. So the fifth salvation of the Lord given to the human
race, the one which broke the fifth seal of the Lord and effect-
ed the removal of our sins and the restoration of our intimacy
with God, was found in the bonds and wounds with which the
Lord was held when he was brought before Pilate, and which
he suffered at the hands of Pilate himself who showed a half-
hearted reverence. Isaiah32 spoke about these wounds and said
that when the Lord was asked by the divine messengers, “What
are these wounds in the middle of your hands?” he said, “Those
with which I was struck in the house by my beloved friend.”33
For these wounds healed our wounds, with which we were struck
as we were going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when we fell
among robbers, who stripped and wounded us, leaving us half-
dead, according to Luke’s parable.34 (2) But he has also undone
our bonds, the cords of sin with which we were fast bound. For
the prophet says, “The cords of sinners have ensnared me.”35
The Devil, then, was not aware that his wicked action was direct-
ed against himself, and that in his drunken violence against the
Lord he was thrusting the sword into himself, as he fell out of his
evilly created domain.
(3) After this, God’s people in the old covenant who had ear-
lier on given their witness were as yet silent and recalled noth-
ing as being of concern to them. All these things had not yet
been done to Christ; for even though he had been spat upon
and slapped and hit, these things were done in a corner in the
illegitimate council of the high priests, where the only witness-
es were the servants and those summoned to the council. But
when they saw the Lord bound and publicly scourged by Pilate
in the presence of all the people of the Jews, they rose up togeth-

32. All manuscripts read Isaiah in place of the correct reference, Zechariah.
33. Zec 13.6.
34. Lk 10.30.
35. Ps 118.61.
 CHAPTER FOUR 73

er and recalled the intolerable treatment of their master and of

themselves. (4) For, he says, I saw under the altar the souls of those
who had been slain for the word of God, and for the church which they
had. He says, “I saw the souls of the martyrs in the highest place,
for they were under the altar which is above the heavens.” (5)
Then he says who these martyrs are—those who had been slain,
he says, on behalf of the godly word of the old covenant and of
the church, or synagogue, which they had.36 For martyrs do not
die only for their own sakes, but they bring about a benefit for
the whole community. For their courage becomes an encourage-
ment for others, and the knowledge of God is built up by the
blood of God’s people.
(6) And they were crying out, he says, with a loud voice saying,
“How long, Master, holy and true, how long before you judge and avenge
our blood on those who dwell upon earth?” They made their prayer
not against human beings, but against the demons who make
their home with mortal beings. For it was not the loving purpose
of God’s people to rise up against their own kind, but against
those who were urging human beings on to their destruction.
(7) After saying this they first receive white robes. This was the
symbol of their cleansing by their own blood, and the removal of
all pollution. (8) Next they hear, Rest a little longer until the num-
ber of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who
were to be killed as they themselves had been: for it was not right that
those who had shown the same courage as they had should be
thwarted and lose their crowns of martyrdom by the premature
destruction of the demons who were drilling them.

14. And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, there was a great earth-
quake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon was turned
into blood, and the stars of the sky fell to earth (2) like a fig tree shedding
its fruit when shaken by a gale, (3) and the sky vanished like a rolled
scroll, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (4)
Then the kings of the earth and the potentates and the generals and the
rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid themselves in the

36. See n. 31. In the Greek Old Testament, ejkklhsiva referred to the
congregation of Israel, often described (e.g., in Ex 17.1) as sunagwghv.
74 OECUMENIUS

caves and among the rocks of the mountains. (5) And they called to the
mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of
him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, (6)
because the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Rv
6.12–17)
15. The breaking of the sixth seal accomplished our complete
salvation: it destroyed death: it restored life: it robbed the con-
queror of human beings of his crown, openly triumphing over
him, as Scripture says: the Only-begotten “ascended on high”;37
“he took captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men.”38 (2) What
is the breaking of the sixth seal? The cross of the Lord and his
death, which were followed by the resurrection and ascension
in response to the prayers of all spiritual and sensible creation,
“opening for us a new and living way,” the return from death to
life through “the veil of his flesh.”39 All these benefits he effected
not only for the living, but also for those who had gone before.
For the Lord also “went” and “preached to those in Hades who
had been disobedient,” according to the divine apostle Peter,40
and there, too, he saved believers, as Cyril also thinks.41
(3) After this, he says, there was a great earthquake; and the sun
became black as sackcloth, the full moon was turned into blood, and the
stars of the sky fell to earth like a fig tree shedding its fruit when shaken
by a gale: the vision clearly describes for us the miracles which
took place at the cross—the earthquake and the turbulence of
the earth,42 the darkness of the sun, and the changing of the full
moon into blood. (4) Quite accurately, he added the word full to
the moon; for the moon was filled with light even though it was
not quite a full moon on the day of crucifixion, and in its full-
ness it beheld the passion. This is what usually happens in the
illuminated part during lunar eclipses. The prophet Joel, too,
predicted that this would come about, saying, “The sun shall be
turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming
of the great and wonderful day of the Lord.”43

37. Ps 67.19. 38. Eph 4.8.

39. Heb 10.20. 40. 1 Pt 3.19–20.
41. Cf. Cyril of Alexandria, Frag in 1 Pet 3:19–20.
42. Mt 27.51.
43. Jl 2.31.
 CHAPTER FOUR 75

(5) The falling of the stars perhaps actually took place, but
if not, the account symbolically means that the heavenly light
ceased, and that it became completely dark. (6) The sky vanished
like a rolled scroll. By the sky he means the heavenly powers of the
angels, who themselves, too, were shaken, since they were un-
able to bear the insult done to their master, in heaven as here on
earth. They rushed around like a scroll rolled up and shaken.
(7) He says, And every mountain and island was removed from its
place: he calls the regiments of the haughty demons mountains
and islands, according to what Scripture says of them: “the moun-
tains were being moved in the heart of the seas.”44 Again he says
of the islands that they are lifted high and raised up45 by the vain
folly of their attitude in the unstable and bitter distractions of
this life.
(8) And the kings of the earth, he says, and the potentates and the
generals and the rich and the strong, and everyone, slave and free, hid
themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they
called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from
the presence of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who can
stand?” Again he calls the guilty demons kings and potentates and
generals and the rich and the strong, since they have ruled over those
upon earth through deceit and guile. The slaves and the free refer
to those of the demons who are in power and those who are sub-
ject. (9) That they hid themselves in the caves and among the
rocks of the mountains and even cried, Fall on us and hide us, is
figurative. It symbolizes their attempts to escape the punishment
being brought upon them by Christ. For if some unseen punish-
ment and retribution was not being brought against them, what
is the meaning of the saying in the prophet Isaiah spoken in the
person of Christ, “I have trodden the wine-press alone, and from
the nations no man was with me; I trod them underfoot in my
anger and crushed them in my wrath, and I brought down their
blood on to the earth”?46 And what is the meaning of the words
of the abominable demons in Matthew, “What have you to do

44. Ps 45.3.
45. Cf. Is 23.2–6.
46. Is 63.2–3.
76 OECUMENIUS

with us, Son of God? Have you come to torment us?”47 (10) One
could also suppose that these things recounted in the Revela-
tion were the sufferings not only of demons but also of the law-
less Jews who erected the cross for the Lord, when they were op-
pressed by the war against the Romans and became fugitives in
the mountains and caves and holes of the earth, and on every
side were afflicted by hardship and stress.

16. After this, he says, I saw four angels standing at the four corners
of the earth to see that no wind should blow on earth or sea or against any
tree. (2) Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with
a seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels
who had been charged to harm the earth and the sea and the trees, say-
ing, [“Do not harm the earth] 48 (3) or the sea or the trees, until we have
sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.” (4) And I heard the
number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of every
tribe of the sons of Israel—(5) and he goes on to list groups of twelve
thousand who were sealed from each tribe (Rv 7.1–6).
17. Here all that happened to the Jews in the war against the
Romans is clearly shown to the evangelist. These things hap-
pened to them because of the cross and their madness against
the Lord. (2) The four angels controlling the four corners of the
land of the Jews were on guard lest any of the Jews deserving of
death should escape, perhaps by making them too afraid to run
away or by putting some difficulties in their way or causing an ex-
cessive longing for their country or their wives and those dearest
to them. These are indicated figuratively by their control of the
four corners of Judaea. (3) The control of the four winds, that
they should not blow on earth or sea or against any tree, indicates
that the Jews found no relief in the war, nor any consolation for
their disasters, whether they were fighting on foot on land, or
fighting on ships at sea—for they fought many naval battles ac-
cording to Josephus49—or indeed whether they were busy with
farming and the care of crops. Utter calamity overtook them all:
their cities were being destroyed by fire, their land was being rav-

47. Mt 8.29.
48. A lacuna occurs in the text here, as apparently later on.
49. Cf. Josephus, Bellum Iudaicum.
 CHAPTER FOUR 77

aged, and their crops were being cut down. All this Josephus re-
lated accurately in his account of the destruction of Jerusalem.
(4) And I saw an angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with a
seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels
who had been charged to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do no
harm until the servants of our God have been sealed.” The com-
ing of the divine angel from the rising of the sun, and not from the
sunset and the evening, symbolizes the gospel and the promise
of good things. The present seal was foreseen by the prophet,
too, in the Spirit when he said, “The light of your face, Lord,
has been marked upon us.”50 (5) He correctly commands that
for the time being nobody should be harmed, until those of the
Jews worthy of being saved had been sealed, lest the righteous
suffer unintentionally with the sinners.51 (6) He says that they
sealed a hundred and forty-four thousand. The number of Jews
who believed in Christ were many more than this, who there-
by benefited by their deliverance from the general universal de-
struction. So those who spoke to Paul when he was in Jerusa-
lem attested, “You see, brother, how many myriads there are of
believing Jews.”52 (7) It was reasonable that not only the believ-
ers should escape, but also those who ignorantly and through
deception cooperated in crucifying the Lord, of whom he said,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”53 Even
though Cyril54 in the thirteenth book Against Julian says that this
prayer of the Lord is not found in the gospels, at any rate we use
it. It was not only these [who should escape], but also those who
were not present at that time, or who were not living in Jerusa-
lem, and therefore had no part in the unholy council of the ac-
cursed high priests concerned with the crucifixion, or though
they were actually present had certainly not acquired any taint
of guilt. Even though [the Lord] himself blessed the whole earth
under heaven, it turned out contrary to the wishes of those who
hated God and of the council of the criminals. It is likely that all
these Jews [who escaped] were later sealed in the faith of Christ.
For the angel would not otherwise have called them the servants

50. Ps 4.7. 51. Gn 18.23.

52. Acts 21.20. 53. Lk 23.34.
54. Cf. Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum 13.
78 OECUMENIUS

of God. (8) But though these were saved, the rest were in their
wickedness utterly destroyed by flight and desertion to the Ro-
mans. “They became a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to
men,”55 though in a different sense from that which Paul said
about the blessed apostles. Josephus again records that he reck-
ons tens of thousands died by famine.56 (9) The equal number
of those from each tribe who were sealed and became believers
symbolizes the equally valid zeal and the same understanding of
the faith [among them all], even if in fact more from one tribe
and fewer from another were saved and believed in Christ, who
was dishonored by the Jews, (10) but is worshiped both by us
and by all supernatural creation now and always, for ever and
ever. Amen.

55. 1 Cor 4.9.

56. Cf. Josephus, Bellum Iudaicum 5.567–69.
 CHAPTER FIVE

he events which the account described were shown

to the blessed evangelist concerning those of the blood
of Israel who had been sealed and were therefore saved,
and who later also became believers. But in order that there
should not be anything deficient in the Revelation, the divine
oracle also shows him the countless myriads of the nations who
later hastened to join the faith. These are they who are around
the Lord and stand by the divine throne. (2) For since the Lord
has not yet been described in the introduction to the Revelation
as being present at his second coming, when God’s people “are
carried off to meet” the Savior “in the clouds,” according to the
divine apostle,1 the vision shows them as already having been
carried off and as having achieved the blessedness laid up for
them. For what is more blessed than to be counted worthy to be
with Christ and to behold the divine throne? See what he says:

2. After this I saw, and see, a great multitude whom no one could
number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes,
with palm branches in their hands. (2) And they cry out with a loud
voice, saying, (3) “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne!”
And the holy ones of the elders 2 stood around the throne and around the
elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the
throne and (4) worshiped our God for ever and ever. Amen. (5) Then
one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white
robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

1. 1 Thes 4.17.
2. Not surprisingly, some manuscripts (PB) of Oecumenius read “all the holy
angels” (pavnte~ oiJ a{gioi a[ggeloi) instead of “the holy ones of the elders” (tw`n
presbutevrwn oiJ a{gioi) at Rv 7.11. The NT text reads “all the angels” (pavnte~
oiJ a[ggeloi).

79
80 OECUMENIUS

(6) And he said to me, “These are they who are coming out of the great
tribulation; they have broadened 3 their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. (7) This is why they are before the throne of God and
serve him day and night within his temple, and he who sits on the throne
will dwell among them. (8) They shall hunger no more, neither thirst
any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. (9) For
the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will
guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear
from their eyes” (Rv 7.9–17).
3. The innumerable myriads of the nations who received the
faith of Christ and who had gained their share in blessedness
were allotted the honored place of standing before the Lord
and his Father’s throne, as was said earlier. (2) Being clothed in
white robes is a description of their purity during their life. The
palm branches, which are a symbol of victory, indicate that they
are promised the victory of Christ over their spiritual and earthly
enemies. (3) And they cry out, “Salvation belongs to our God and to
the Lamb!” confessing that salvation is with them, because they
had preserved the servants of God who had been sealed from
the total destruction of the world. (4) At the end of this act of
thanksgiving, the ranks of worshipers in heaven, together with
the elders, answered Amen, giving their approval to what was
said. (5) Then the divine angels, too, offer their own praise to
God, honoring him seven times with their worship, which, as has
been mentioned earlier, symbolizes the ceaseless nature of the
adoration of the angels; for seven is a perfect number.
(6) When one of the elders asked the evangelist who these
were from the nations who were clothed in white robes, he did
not ask out of ignorance but as a challenge to find out about
them. So he goes on to say, These are they who are coming out of the
great tribulation. For it was not a slight contest but a truly great
one which the righteous had in overcoming the Antichrist.
(7) He says, And they have washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb. Yet it should follow that robes dipped in
blood would turn out to be scarlet rather than white. So how did

3. De Groote’s text reads ejplavtunan (“they broadened”) instead of e[plunan

(“they washed”), which is presumed in the later comment.
 CHAPTER FIVE 81

they become white? Because baptism enacted into the death of

the Lord, as Paul in his great wisdom said,4 purges all filth re-
sulting from sin and renders those who are baptized in it white
and pure. But participation in the life-giving blood of Christ also
bestows this favor. For the Lord says concerning his own blood
that it is being poured out “for many” and “on behalf of many,
for the forgiveness of sins.”5 (8) Thus these serve God for ever,
and God dwells among them. Indeed, the dwelling-place of God,
said one of God’s saints,6 is where the souls of his saints continu-
ally remember him; therefore God naturally dwells with those who
serve him day and night.
(9) They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more: formerly
those from the nations went through every trial; but now they
will be sated with innumerable good things. (10) He says, Nor
shall the sun strike them: in some places of the divine Scripture the
sun metaphorically stands for temptation, as when the proph-
et says, “The sun shall not burn you by day, neither the moon
by night,”7 or as when the evangelist writes that the sun shone
and scorched the seeds which had sprung up on stony ground,8
interpreting the sun as temptation. Therefore he now says that
temptation would in future never harm them, for they had been
found worthy to be shepherded by Christ and nourished at the
waters of life. (11) And God, he says, will wipe away every tear from
their eyes. So those who have lived and struggled with unprofit-
able cares have no need of a tear, nor of “weeping and gnashing
of teeth,”9 but deserve everything good and wonderful.

4. And when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven
for half an hour. (2) And I saw the seven angels who stood before God,
and seven trumpets were given them (Rv 8.1–2).
5. Perhaps someone who has been exceedingly attentive would
consider what has been said and would say to me as follows: “You
there, what are you doing? Have you forgotten what was said in
the introduction to the present Revelation? For it was there said,
And the first voice which I had heard was like a trumpet speaking to me,

4. Rom 6.3. 5. Mt 26.28.

6. Cf. Ps 14.1? 7. Ps 120.6.
8. Mt 13.5. 9. Mt 13.42, 50; 24.51.
82 OECUMENIUS

saying, Come up hither, and I will show you what must take place after
this.10 But you have been explaining to us not future events but
things which have already taken place, in your account of the
Lord’s birth, his temptation, his teachings, his miracles, his beat-
ings and bonds and the blows he suffered before Pilate, his cross
and death, and his resurrection and ascension or return to heav-
en.” (2) To such a one I would reply: “You have certainly heard,
my friend, some of the future events, too, when we were describ-
ing the righteous from among the nations who were with Israel
around the divine throne, and present with the Lord. But now
you will hear more at the breaking of the seventh seal. For when
the divine oracle said to the evangelist, Come up hither, and I will
show you what must take place after this, this did not invalidate his
vision of past events, but with them he indicated future events,
too.”
(3) Therefore, listen. The breaking of the seventh seal accom-
plished for us the final glory; for no longer as before was it the
forgiveness of sins and our turning to God and God’s turning
to us, but the inexpressible benefits—being called sons of God,
“heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ,”11 brothers and friends
and children of Christ, reigning with him12 and being glorified
together with him,13 and benefits “which no eye has seen, nor
ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived.”14 (4) What is the
breaking of the seventh seal? The second coming of the Lord
and the consequent gift of his benefits. For even if some of those
who have sinned are handed over for punishment, the aim of
Christ and the plan of the incarnation is that all should become
heirs of his kingdom. (5) So when the seventh seal was broken,
he says, there was silence for about half an hour, in anticipation of
the coming of the king of creation, when every angelic and su-
permundane power had been filled with the exceeding glory of
his presence; this is why they fell silent.
(6) Then he says, seven trumpets were given to the seven angels
so that they might sound their trumpets as at the institution of
a king. By the same trumpets they were going to wake the dead

10. Rv 4.1. 11. Rom 8.17.

12. 2 Tm 2.12. 13. Rom 8.17.
14. 1 Cor 2.9.
 CHAPTER FIVE 83

from sleep. For the wise apostle, too, writing to the Thessalo-
nians about God’s works, says in his first epistle, that “the Lord
himself will come down, with a shout of command, an archan-
gel’s voice, and a trumpet of God,”15 and again, “For the trumpet
will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable.”16

6. He says, And an angel came and stood at the altar with a golden
censer; and he was given much incense to be used for the prayers of all
the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; (2) and the smoke of
the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel
before God. (3) Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from
the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were loud noises, peals of
thunder, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. (4) And the seven an-
gels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them (Rv 8.3–6).
7. He calls the altar a censer as being receptive of incense.17
When Christ appears, the prayers of the saints, like some first-
fruit and honored primal offering, are brought to him by our
guardian angels, prayers which are naturally sweet-smelling, but
which become sweeter-smelling with the cooperation of the holy
angels. That is why it is said, He was given much incense. It was
clearly God’s gift to the angels to protect human beings and to
make their prayers acceptable. Those who received the incense
give the sweet odor for the prayers of the saints.
(2) He says, And the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the
saints from the hand of the angel. You see that it is by the angel that
the prayers of the saints became sweeter-smelling and worthy to
be carried up before God. (3) Then he says that the divine angel
took the censer and filled it with divine fire and threw it on the earth;
and there were loud noises, peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, and an
earthquake. Perhaps one of the angels threw some of this divine
fire onto Mount Sinai, “and there were thunders and loud nois-
es and trumpets and lightnings, and the mountain was wrapped
in smoke” when God visited it.18 Just as the thunders and the

15. 1 Thes 4.16.

16. 1 Cor 15.52.
17. The word (libanwtov~) means both “censer” and “incense.” Oecumenius
appears to confuse the two meanings. In Rv 8.3 the word for incense is
(qumiavmata), but in his comment Oecumenius uses (livbano~).
18. Ex 19.16–19.
84 OECUMENIUS

terrors went forth then, so now these things preceded the glo-
rious coming of the Lord. (4) Then the angels, too, blew their
trumpets, signifying the coming of God. For at that time, too,
the trumpets sounded loudly.

8. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire,
mixed with blood, and it was cast upon the earth, and a third of the
earth was burnt up (Rv 8.7).
9. The righteous had been considered worthy of their share in
blessedness, as I said at the end of the breaking of the sixth seal,
being caught up before the coming of the Lord “in the clouds
into the air,” so that they might meet the Lord as he came,19 ac-
cording to the testimony of the apostle which was there present-
ed to me. The vision then goes on to indicate the end of the rest
of humankind, and the punishment of sinners. (2) When utter
destruction is about to take place, it follows that there will also
be different kinds of death and of requital of the impious. Most
of them will be conducted through fire, “for that day will be re-
vealed in fire,” said the divine apostle writing his first letter to
the Corinthians.20 For if there are “many resting places,” as the
Lord says,21 there are also different places of punishment. The
same trumpets which bring about death for those on earth will
also raise the dead after this. (3) Why, therefore, does he say that
when the first angel blew his trumpet, hail and fire burned up a
third of those on the earth? If one takes this quite literally, he will
not find the true meaning of the saying. But if he reckons it as
said metaphorically, he will have said nothing strange, the word
fire meaning the distress and deep pain of the sinners when they
see the saints “caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord,”22 while
they themselves have stayed on earth, dishonored and consid-
ered of no account. (4) When the text says trees and grass were
burnt up, it refers allegorically to sinners because of their folly
and the insensibility of their soul, their woodenness all ready for
burning.

19. 1 Thes 4.17. 20. 1 Cor 3.13.

21. Jn 14.2. 22. 1 Thes 4.17.
 CHAPTER FIVE 85

10. He says, The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like
a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a
third of the sea became blood, (2) a third of the living creatures in the sea
died, and a third of the ships were destroyed (Rv 8.8–9).
11. The divine apostle, writing to the Romans, says, “the cre-
ation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of
him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set
free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of
the children of God.”23 When will it “be set free”? When there
will be “new heavens and a new earth according to his promis-
es,” as Peter preaches to us in his second epistle?24 (2) When the
earth is changed so that it might be freed from destruction and
become new, it follows that the sea, too, should also change, for
the sea is on the earth. But how could it itself be cleansed, except
by means of cleansing fire? Therefore, fire falling on it changed
it into blood, and it killed a third of the [creatures] in it. (3)
This is taking a literal, physical view, but you could also under-
stand the sea allegorically and according to the rules of metaphor
as referring to the present life because of its turbulence and con-
stant motion; fish and ships are then human beings wriggling in
their salty and bitter sins, who will melt away in their grief be-
cause of their fruitless concerns in their lifetime.

12. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heav-
en, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the
fountains of water. (2) The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the
waters became wormwood, and many people died as a result of the wa-
ters, because they had become bitter (Rv 8.10–11).
13. Naomi long ago was given the name “bitter” because of
her great distress over her children and other calamities. Bit-
terness then is a sign of extraordinary plagues. We sinners may
some time suffer such bitterness, if we become embittered at the
glory of the saints, seeing that when such good things had been
prepared for human beings, we ourselves exchanged the plea-
sures of the present for those in the future. I think this is what
the falling of the star means—a display of God’s wrath which
made the waters bitter. (2) Figuratively he calls human beings
23. Rom 8.20–21. 24. 2 Pt 3.13.
86 OECUMENIUS

waters, according to the prophet’s saying, “from the sounds of

many waters, amazing are the surgings of the sea,”25 and again,
“The rivers have lifted up, Lord, the rivers have lifted up their
voices, the rivers will lift up what has been worn away.”26 (3)
These, then, are figurative expressions. But we must not reject
the possibility that these and other such things were actually tak-
ing place then.

14. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was
struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third
of the stars were darkened, and a third of the day did not shine, and like-
wise the night. (2) And I looked and I heard an eagle crying with a loud
voice, as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants of the
earth, at the blasts of the remaining trumpets which the three other angels
are about to blow” (Rv 8.12–13).
15. We have been taught by Joel the prophet that “the sun”
shall be turned “to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the
great and terrible day of the Lord comes,”27 meaning that on that
day all these things will take place. Peter, too, said in his second
epistle, “The day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the
heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will
be dissolved with fire.”28 The Lord himself, too, in the hundred-
and-ninth section of Matthew says, “Immediately after the tribu-
lation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will
not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven.”29
We are now being taught through the Revelation that these
things will come about at the consummation of the present age.
(2) What is the meaning that not everything on the earth, in the
sea, and in the rivers, as well as also the elements in the heavens,
will experience the afore-mentioned sufferings, but only a third
of them? This is also a sure proof of God’s love of humankind.
He was calling to repentance those of an earlier time by means
of a partial and not a total onslaught against the elements. Those
who do not turn to him he leads to total destruction in the fu-
ture. (3) The prophet also says something similar: “He made a

25. Ps 92.4. 26. Ps 92.3.

27. Jl 2.31. 28. 2 Pt 3.10.
29. Mt 24.29.
 CHAPTER FIVE 87

path for his anger; he did not spare their souls from death.”30
For to go partly forward as on a road and to send forth part of
God’s wrath is the mark of one who opens a door to repentance
by calling human beings to a change of purpose through fear of
what is taking place [around them]. But if those among them do
not go forward and make progress, “he did not spare their souls
from death.” (4) The eagle in midheaven, looking sadly at the
misfortunes of those on earth, you will understand is a kind of
divine angel sympathizing with the plight of human beings.

16. And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from
heaven to earth, and the key of the shaft of the bottomless pit was given
to him, (2) and from the shaft came up smoke like the smoke of a great
burning furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke.
(3) Locusts came out on the earth, and they were given power like the
power which scorpions have on earth. (4) They were told not to harm the
grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those who were
without the seal of God upon their foreheads (Rv 9.1–4).
17. Up to now the vision was describing for us the way and
the kind of plagues with which the [elements] of earth and
heaven, and with them human beings, were being consummat-
ed or changed. But now as though the consummation has al-
ready come about and the resurrection has been effected, he de-
scribes the punishments accorded to sinners. (2) He says, I saw
a star fallen from heaven to earth, meaning that the star is a messen-
ger of God because of its brilliance, which had come down on
the earth, where the judgment of sinners will occur, at a certain
place which one of the holy prophets named “the valley of Je-
hoshaphat.”31
(3) He says, The key of the shaft of the bottomless pit was given to
him. He calls Gehenna a shaft of a bottomless pit. That is why there
also came up from the shaft smoke as of abundant fire, which was
clearly lurking in the shaft. But the smoke symbolizes not only
fire, but also darkness; for the word of the prophet, “The voice
of the Lord cutting through a flame of fire,”32 is interpreted by
the saints as though it will cut through the illumination of the

30. Ps 77.50. 31. Jl 3.2.

32. Ps 28.7.
88 OECUMENIUS

fire of Gehenna so that only scorching heat and darkness re-

main in it.
(4) He says, The sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of
the shaft, not because these elements were darkened, but be-
cause those who had been thrown into the shaft were filled with
darkness because of their punishment, and so were blind to the
air and the sun. For this is what one of the holy prophets also
said: “The sun” will be darkened “at noon,”33 describing the di-
sasters of the Jews, not that the sun was darkened, but that they
suffered this in their affliction and could not see the sun; for the
extent of their disasters was like being overcome with dizziness.
(5) He says, And from the smoke locusts came out on the earth.
I think that he calls the worms locusts, about which Isaiah says,
“Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched,”34
perhaps calling the biting sting of the soul and its persistent and
creeping pain a worm. (6) He says, And they were given power like
the power which scorpions have on earth. They were told not to harm the
grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those human
beings who do not have the seal of God upon their foreheads once the
earth had been changed and renewed. For it is said somewhere
about it, “You will send forth your spirit and they will be created,
and you will renew the face of the earth.”35 (7) It was no longer a
good thing for any adornment of the earth to be struck, neither
a tree nor anything growing, except only human beings, and of
these only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
For those human beings who are completely holy and pure have
received the place mentioned earlier on, being constantly with
Christ and in sight of the divine throne. But those who are less
holy but nevertheless who have been baptized, and who bear the
sign of Christ on their foreheads and who have not been completely
rejected, and have not gravely defiled themselves and their bap-
tism by their unnatural deeds, but as it were are midway between
good and evil, remain upon earth but escape punishment. (8)
For if this were not so, why would the Lord have said to those
who had made good use of the pounds entrusted to them, “Have
authority over ten cities,” and to another, “over five cities,”36 as
33. Am 8.9. 34. Is 66.24.
35. Ps 103.30.
 CHAPTER FIVE 89

if they were going to rule over the inferior, while their subjects
went altogether unpunished? For who would choose to rule
those who were being punished and constantly gnashing their
teeth, and bewailing their unspeakable sufferings? I am not of
course referring to the saints, nor to people like them, but sim-
ply to people deserving our sympathy. Who would choose to rule
over them, unless he himself, too, were going to suffer some-
thing similar to the incurable condition of those who were being
punished? (9) The third part of human beings is handed over
to punishment, since they are sinners and impious and have not
received the faith of Christ. That is why it is said that those were
struck who had not been sealed with the seal of God.

18. He says, They were allowed not to kill them, but to torture them
for five months, and their torture was like the torture of scorpions, when
they sting someone. (2) And in those days people will seek death and not
find it; they will long to die, and death flies from them (Rv 9.5–6).
19. Is this why some of the fathers accepted the restoration of
sinners, saying that they were to be chastised so far, but no fur-
ther, as they had been cleansed by their punishment? But what is
to be done, when most of the fathers say this, while the accepted
Scriptures say that the punishment of those who were then be-
ing chastised is everlasting? What, therefore, should one say, or
how should one reconcile these views? One must combine the
opinions of both. (2) I say this as a suggestion and not as an affir-
mation; for I associate myself with the teaching of the church in
meaning that the future punishments will be everlasting, since
this is also what the Lord said in the gospel according to Mat-
thew, “And these will go away into everlasting punishment,”37
and Isaiah, “Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not
be quenched.”38 (3) So this is to be taken as a suggestion, tak-
ing a middle path between each view, because up to a certain
time, which the present Revelation said is five months, using the
number in a kind of mystical way, sinners will be most severely
punished as if stung by a scorpion; but after this we shall be pun-
ished more gently, though we shall certainly not be entirely un-

36. Lk 19.17, 19. 37. Mt 25.46.

38. Is 66.24.
90 OECUMENIUS

punished, to such an extent that we may seek death and not find
it. For why would those who were not being punished at all need
to seek death? (4) He says, Death flies from them, for they pass all
their life in punishment.

20. And the appearance of the locusts was like horses arrayed for war;
on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like
human faces, (2) their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’
teeth; (3) their breasts were like iron breastplates, and the noise of their
wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing to war. (4)
They have tails like scorpions, and stings, and in their tails is their pow-
er of hurting people for five months. (5) They have as their king the an-
gel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek
he has the name Apolluon. (6) The first woe has passed; two woes are
still to come (Rv 9.7–12).
21. After this the blessed evangelist depicts for us the nature
of the worms in a way which is both subtle and fearful. In each of
the statements about them, one might wonder at the accuracy
of the account; for he did not say that they had lions’ teeth and
scorpions’ tails and human faces, but that there was in each a
sort of image disclosing a figurative picture, not the truth. (2) By
such means, therefore, either their fearsomeness and amazing
power is indicated, or he has truly sketched their shape.
(3) He says, They have as their king the angel of the bottomless pit;
his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apolluon. The name
has either been invented to correspond with the aforementioned
events of the vision, or perhaps not only are there “ministering
spirits, sent to serve those who are to inherit salvation,” accord-
ing to the divine apostle,39 but also spirits sent to punish those
who deserve to be punished, rather like the angel who in a single
night struck the hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyr-
ians;40 and those who destroyed by fire the five cities of Sodom.41
(4) He says, The first woe has passed; two woes are still to come. Woe is
the jargon denoting great distress and indicates present and fu-
ture afflictions. So he says the one punishment has already been
mentioned; two will be mentioned later.

39. Heb 1.14. 40. 2 Kgs 19.35; Is 37.36.

41. Gn 19.2.
 CHAPTER FIVE 91

22. Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a loud voice
from the horns of the golden altar before God, (2) saying to the sixth an-
gel with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great
river Euphrates.” (3) So the four angels were released, who had been
held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third
of human beings. (4) The number of the troops of cavalry was ten thou-
sand times ten thousand; I heard their number. (5) And this was how
I saw the horses in my vision and their riders with their breastplates of
flame color, hyacinth-blue, and sulfur-yellow; and the heads of the horses
were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur issued from their
mouths. (6) By these three plagues, a third of humankind was killed, by
the fire and the smoke and the sulfur issuing from their mouths. (7) For
the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; they are like
serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound (Rv 9.13–19).
23. He says that when the angel sounded the trumpet, I heard a
voice from the horns of the altar. By the horns of the altar he means those
among the angels who are superior and distinguished above the
others. He says the altar was golden, because he depicts the altar as
wonderful since it was valuable and divine, made out of material
which we consider precious. Just as we understood the horns of the
altar to be rulers of the angels, so it is natural to understand the al-
tar itself to be all “the ministering spirits,”42 because they offer to
God “a spiritual sacrifice.”43
(2) What is the voice that was heard from the horns of the al-
tar? Release, it says, the four angels who are bound at the great river Eu-
phrates. (3) Holy Scripture told us about the rebel angel—I mean
Satan and those who rebelled with him—how on the one hand
we were told that they were “kept in eternal chains in the nether
gloom,”44 and on the other hand how they were condemned to
the depth of the sea. (4) For it says in the second epistle of Pe-
ter, “For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but
cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom
to be kept until the judgment,”45 and in the epistle of Jude it
says, “The angels that did not keep their own position but left

42. Heb 1.14.

43. Rom 12.1, rendering the Greek logikov~, which is so rich in meaning.
44. Jude 6.
45. 2 Pt 2.4.
92 OECUMENIUS

their proper dwelling he has kept in eternal chains in the nether

gloom until the judgment of the great day.”46 (5) The book of
Job says that the rebel has been thrown into the sea, expound-
ing allegorically in various ways his shape and size and the bit-
terness of his condition; he says, “He is mocked by the angels of
God.”47 And Isaiah cried out about him that “The sword of God
will be brought against the serpent, the fleeing snake, against
the serpent, the crooked snake, and he will destroy the serpent
in the sea on that day.”48 (6) And the prophet, too, after detail-
ing all created things, goes on to add this about those in the sea:
“This serpent, which you formed to sport in it.”49 In accordance
with these words the blessed prophet Ezekiel, too, when speak-
ing about Egypt, says, “You were like a lion of the nations, and as
a serpent in the sea, and you were thrusting with your horns in
your rivers.”50
(7) Yet no one ever told us that they had been bound in the
river Euphrates, or that they would ever be released, nor even
that human beings were to be punished by them. For Jude, in
saying that they had been bound “with eternal chains,” denied
that they would ever be released. And when Isaiah said that the
serpent in the sea will be destroyed on the day of judgment, he
did not say that he would destroy others, but only the serpent.
So, too, the Lord in the gospels, when sending the sinners “to
the fire prepared for the Devil and his angels,”51 denied that he
would use them as avengers and tormentors, but rather that they
were going to undergo punishment. (8) So how could anyone
understand the present saying to mean, on the one hand, that
they had been bound in the river Euphrates and that they will be
released and, on the other, that they themselves will punish the
sinners?
I suspect that the words are figurative, in line with the man-
ner of the whole vision. I think he means by the angels those
who had been spiritually bound to the joyful contemplation of
God. For the river is used allegorically by Isaiah to refer to the di-
vine: “See, I am turning to them as a river of peace, and as a tor-

46. Jude 6. 47. Jb 41.25.

48. Is 27.1. 49. Ps 103.26.
50. Ezek 32.2. 51. Mt 25.41.
 CHAPTER FIVE 93

rent enveloping the glory of the nations.”52 And the prophet says,
“The waves of the river make glad the city of God.”53 And the
Lord himself, in John, in the twenty-second section, said about
the Spirit, “He who believes in me, as Scripture says, ‘From out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’”54 (9) He says, “Re-
lease them from the contemplation of God and send them to
punish the impious.” He means that these are those who have
been appointed for the day of his presence. But who does he
say the four angels are? Perhaps they are those designated in the
Scripture: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.
(10) After this they went out with an ineffably large army of
cavalry. By this he means the invincible force of the holy angels,
comparing it with a huge force of cavalry. (11) He says, I saw their
riders with their breastplates of flame color, hyacinth-blue, and sulfur-
yellow: fire is a symbol of wrath and punishment; blue indicates
that those who were sent were heavenly, for heaven is blue like
a hyacinth; being sulfur-yellow makes them pleasing to God, in
that they are singing55 to God, for it is pleasing to sing. Who rath-
er than the holy angels would be pleasing to God? (12) Then
the vision changes course and ceases to refer to the power of
the holy angels, and now provides an image of lions and fire, of
smoke and sulfur and snakes, all of which clearly indicate their
fearfulness and irresistibility.

24. The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did
not even repent of the works of their hands so as to stop worshiping de-
mons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which
can neither see nor hear nor walk; (2) nor did they repent of their mur-
ders or their sorceries or their thefts (Rv 9.20–21).
25. The prophet, plucking his spiritual lyre, told us of those
who were being punished in Hades, saying with reference to
God that “in death there is no one who remembers you; in Ha-
des who will give you praise?”56 so depriving them both of joy

52. Is 66.12. 53. Ps 45.5.

54. Jn 7.38.
55. A play on words: qeiwvdh~ means “like sulfur,” but can also mean “godlike”
(normally qeoeidhv~); qeoadei`~ means “singing to God.”
56. Ps 6.6.
94 OECUMENIUS

with God and of repentance. For by not remembering God they

were deprived of spiritual joy, as the same prophet writes else-
where, “I remembered God and I rejoiced,”57 and through not
making confession they were deprived of repentance. For con-
fession is the declaration of offenses resulting from a change of
heart and conversion due to the pricking of conscience in one’s
soul. (2) For in fact, God has given us two kinds of life, the pres-
ent and the future. In the present we have been permitted to
conduct our life according to our opinion and ability, but in the
future life we receive the consequent rewards or punishments
for the actions of our lives. The present life is not one of judg-
ment, unless someone perhaps may be profitably reminded to
turn to repentance, nor is the future life one of behaving in such
a way that we may be changed from a debased life to one bet-
ter. (3) This being so, what is the meaning of the present saying
about those who are being punished there—And the rest of hu-
mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, and did not repent of the
works of their hands? He means by this not those who did not re-
pent in their life there, but those who are still living and who did
not repent of their various unlawful deeds after hearing and see-
ing what the future holds. By this aforesaid plague, perhaps they
will not die the spiritual death—calling punishment death—
while they eternally live out their life with the wicked, unless,
of course, they will be punished by something worse, which he
has prudently passed over in silence in his attempted explana-
tion. (4) May all of us be free of these, by the grace and loving-
kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and
the Holy Spirit be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

57. Ps 76.4.
 CHAPTER SIX

n the present chapter blessed John continues to ex-

plain to us the events after the sixth angel had blown
his trumpet, all of which I have not discussed fully in
a single chapter, as I saw the fifth chapter being lengthily pro-
longed. What other event does he write about?

2. And I saw a mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped

in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun,
and his feet like pillars of fire. (2) He had in his hand a miniature open
scroll. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land,
(3) and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called
out, the seven thunders made their own voices heard. (4) And when the
seven thunders had spoken, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from
heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not
write it down” (Rv 10.1–4).
3. So, therefore, all those who are still living and who have
heard or even beheld the punishments of sinners, and have not
repented but remained in their wickedness, as was said earlier,
he says against these, I saw an angel who had come down1 from heav-
en, bearing different forms of punishments. (2) He says that the
look of him and his appearance was like this: He was wrapped in
a cloud. The cloud symbolizes the incorporeality and invisibility
of the holy angels, for the cloud is a type of what cannot be seen.
For the prophet, indicating clearly the invisibility of God, says,
“Clouds and darkness are round about him.”2 (3) And there is
a rainbow over his head, just as if he were saying that the sum and
excellence of the angels’ good qualities is their brilliance. For

1. The comment here uses the aorist participle (katabavnta), whereas the
text cited for v.1 has the present participle (katabaivnonta), as in the manuscripts
of Revelation.
2. Ps 96.2.

95
96 OECUMENIUS

they are angels of light.3 (4) He says, And his face was like the sun.
And this is the proof of their original pure brilliance. But the
rainbow has a created brilliance, indicating the brilliance that
comes from the angelic virtues. So the brilliance of the rainbow
is not of a single form, but is variegated, indicating all the virtues
of angels. The sun symbolizes their sparkling nature. Wherefore
he was wrapped in the rainbow, for their virtues are wrapped
around us. But his face was like the sun, for among us the sun is
a wholly natural boon.
(5) And his feet were like pillars of fire. The fire indicates the ret-
ribution which he came to bring upon the impious. (6) He says,
He had in his hand a miniature 4 open scroll. Daniel mentioned such
little scrolls, saying, “The court sat in judgment before him, and
the scrolls were opened.”5 It was the miniature scroll in which
were written both the names and the iniquities of the exceed-
ingly impious who were to be punished. Wherefore he spoke
of the miniature scroll, using a diminutive, since a scroll, or little
scroll—for both descriptions occur in Holy Scripture—is that
in which the names of all human beings have been written, as I
have already said—but the miniature scroll is that in which are the
names of the exceedingly impious. For those who worshiped im-
ages and were guilty of murder and witchcraft and were sick with
the other evils that he recounted are unlikely to be numerous
enough to fill a whole little scroll.
(7) He says, And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on
the land: this indicates the huge size of the holy ones; but it also
shows that he was bringing retribution both to those who had
sinned on land and to those on the sea, such as pirates or those
who had harmed others at sea. (8) And he called out with a loud
voice, like a lion roaring: that the holy angel should roar like lions
is a symbol of his wrath against the impious. (9) He says, And
when he called out, the seven thunders made their own voices heard. By
the seven thunders he means the seven ministering spirits, which

3. 2 Cor 11.14.
4. In the text three different words are used for “scroll”: bivblo~ (scroll),
the diminutive biblivon (little scroll), and the further diminutive biblidavrion
(miniature scroll).
5. Dn 7.10.
 CHAPTER SIX 97

have been mentioned earlier. That is why the definite article is

used. He means that the seven thunders are analogous to those sev-
en spirits. (10) What does the cry of the seven spirits mean? It
means that they give their entire support to the punishment of
the sinners, offering a thanksgiving hymn to God, because he
has done everything justly. At the same time also as they cried
out, they disclosed the different forms of punishment.
(11) He says, I was about to write what was said by the seven spir-
its. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, Seal up what the seven thun-
ders have said, and do not write it down. For seal means, “Have the
recollection engraved in your mind,” but being prevented from
committing it to writing implies a purpose the reason for which
is known to God. Perhaps the punishments were lighter than
those normally considered appropriate and reflect the goodness
of the one inflicting the penalty, and so tended to make them
contemptible for people. (12) What do blessed Gregory and
all-knowledgeable Evagrius say about these things? The former
says, “The retribution” for Adam and his kind “is compassion for
humankind; for this is how I believe God punishes.” And in an-
other place he says, “Neither is mercy without judgment, nor is
judgment without mercy.”6 Evagrius says, “The deeper account
of judgment may well escape the notice of the youth and the
worldly; for they do not know” distress, “since their rational soul
has been condemned to ignorance.”7

4. And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land
lifted up his right hand to heaven, (2) and swore by him who lives for
ever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what
is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there should be no more time,
(3) but in the days of the seventh angel when he is about to sound his
trumpet (Rv 10.5–7).
5. This is said in the form of an ellipse; for he means that
when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, all the dif-
ferent and varied punishments of the wicked will be completed.
But he says that this will not take place now when the trumpet

6. Cf. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes 38.12 and 45.8.

7. Evagrius Ponticus, Gnostica 36.
98 OECUMENIUS

sounds in the vision, since the other events had not yet then oc-
curred, (2) but only when the trumpet is sounded at the appro-
priate time. After this, he says, the secret purpose of God will be ful-
filled, as he announced to his servants the prophets (Rv 10.7). For up
to the time of the judgment and the rewarding and punishment
of the good and the bad, the prophets prophesied, but after this
they said no more. Therefore, when in that age the seventh an-
gel sounds his trumpet, all God’s secret purpose will be fulfilled,
together with every prophetic prediction.

6. And I heard a voice from heaven again speaking to me and say-

ing, “Go, take the little scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who
is standing on the sea and on the land.” (2) And I went to the angel
and said to him, “Give me the little scroll.” And he said to me, “Take it
and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but in your mouth it will be as
sweet as honey.” (3) And I took the miniature scroll from the hand of the
angel and ate it; it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had
eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. (4) And he said to me, “You must
again prophesy over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings”
(Rv 10.8–11).
7. And the voice that I heard from heaven, I heard it again, he
says, speaking to me. What was it saying? “Take the little scroll
from the angel.” (2) I took it, he says, and ate it, and it was sweet
in my mouth, but after eating it was bitter in my stomach. Since
the blessed evangelist both saw and heard the punishments im-
posed on the wicked, in order that it might be instilled by deed
and not only by report that the sins of humankind were hated by
God, being bitter and abominable, the teaching of the vision is
this—for as he was a holy and chaste man he did not know this
from experience—that in this way he might know that the wrath
of God against the wicked was just. For the little scroll contained
both the names and the transgressions of those who had sinned
very grievously, as was said earlier. (3) Therefore, he was com-
manded to eat it, that as though by tasting and a kind of spiritual
experience he might share through the vision in the bitterness
of sins. And when he ate it he found that they were sweet in his
mouth, but bitter in his stomach after eating; for that is just like
every sin. It is sweet while it is being performed, but bitter when
 CHAPTER SIX 99

accomplished. It thus provides grounds for punishment, and

even in repentance it makes bitter those who have performed
it. This was also just like the tree forbidden by God in paradise
which all expound allegorically as sin, since it introduced the
knowledge of good and evil, of good in the taste, but of evil after
the experience.
(4) He says, And he said to me, “You must again prophesy over many
peoples and nations and kings,” just as if he were saying, “Since in a
vision you have seen the consummation of the present age and
God’s wrath against the wicked, do not now think that the day
of consummation is actually present; there is a long time mean-
while for you to prophesy to many nations and kings.” So up till
now blessed John has been prophesying by means of his gospel,
his general epistles, and the present Revelation. For all that he
has said and prophesied has been in the Spirit.

8. And I was given a measuring rod like a staff, with the words “Rise
and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship
there, (2) but leave out the court outside the temple, and do not measure
it, for it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample over the
holy city for forty-two months” (Rv 11.1–2).
9. In what went before, the vision showed blessed John the
multitude of the saints who were with Christ and who were look-
ing upon the divine throne. Among them those from the nations
were many times more numerous than those from Israel. But
now he shows him something else—the number of those who
had been honored in the time of the old covenant, and those
in the time of the new covenant. And see how cleverly this is
depicted for him. (2) A measuring rod is given him to measure
the temple of God and the altar in the temple, obviously the one in
Jerusalem, and those who worship in it. And he measured it; those
who had pleased God in the times of the old covenant could be
measured because of their scarcity. (3) But, he says, leave out the
court outside the temple and do not measure it, for it has been given over
to the nations. When he measured the temple and the altar and
those sacrificing in it, he heard that he must leave out the court
outside and widen it, definitely not measure it, since it was too
large to be measured. He says the court has been given to the na-
100 OECUMENIUS

tions; it is attached to the temple and also outside it, (4) just as
the new covenant is attached to the old. For [the writings of]
the new covenant spiritually and truly fulfill the shadows [of the
old], and yet they are different from it, as Jeremiah says, “Be-
hold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when 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 by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.”8 (5)
He means that the court of the temple is the new covenant. Then
the vision speaks with mystical signs, saying that the Lord was
in the old covenant, too, who in the new covenant was called
“Christ” and “Beginning.”9 This is why Paul thinks it right to say
about Israel, “For they drank from the spiritual rock which fol-
lowed them, and the rock was Christ.”10 He called the court of the
old covenant the new covenant, for the court is the entrance11
and the way into God, and is certainly not the temple. Therefore
he did not measure the court, which symbolizes both the court
and those within it; for both the new [covenant] and those who
have been set right in it exceed all comprehension, the people
because of their untold multitude and the covenant through the
subtlety and loftiness of its teachings.
(6) In saying, because it has been given over to the nations, he
means that the good things in the new covenant were given also
to Israel, but since those of the nations in it are more numer-
ous than those honored from Israel, he has indicated the whole
by the majority, by saying that the court has been given to the
nations. (7) He says, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-
two months—the city, not the temple—calling the church the city,
about which it is said, “Glorious things have been spoken about
you, the city of God,”12 “the heavenly Jerusalem,”13 “the moth-
er”14 “of the first-born, those inscribed in heaven.”15
(8) What does the period of forty-two months mean? It in-
timates that the time of the new dispensation on earth will be
short, and then will come the end. For the number forty consists

8. Jer 38.31–32 LXX = 31.31–32 RSV. 9. Jn 1.1.

10. 1 Cor 10.4. 11. Greek ajrchv, “beginning.”
12. Ps 86.3. 13. Heb 12.22.
14. Ps 86.5. 15. Heb 12.23.
 CHAPTER SIX 101

of four tens and therefore is not a perfect number, and likewise

the number two. In this way the argument shows that the estab-
lishment of the new covenant will not be of long duration in the
present life. That is why Scripture calls the time of the new cov-
enant, when the only Son became incarnate, “the last” hour and
also “the eleventh” hour.16 But in the future age it will be eternal.
(9) By saying that those of the nations will trample on the holy
city, that is, the church, he indicates that they will dwell in it.

10. And I will give my two witnesses [authority] to prophesy for two
thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. (2) These
are the two lampstands17 which stand before the God 18 of the earth. (3)
And if any one would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and con-
sumes their foes; if any one would harm them, this is how he must be
killed. (4) They have the authority to close the sky, so that no rain should
fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over
the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every
plague, as often as they please (Rv 11.3–6).
11. Everything in the vision was shaped by the evangelist in
connection with the design of the Lord in his incarnation—his
birth, his temptation, his teachings, the insults to him, and in-
deed the cross and the resurrection, and the second coming,
and in addition to these the rewards and punishments of the
saints and the sinners. But nothing had been said about the ac-
counts of the heralds of his second coming, so, as though by a
turnabout, these matters are now explained. (2) It is clear to ev-
eryone that the divine Scripture predicted that Elijah the Tish-
bite would come, because Malachi says, “See, I will send you Eli-
jah the Tishbite before the great and glorious day of the Lord
comes, who will turn the heart of the father to his son, and the
heart of a man to his neighbor, lest I come and smite the land
with might.”19 And in Matthew’s gospel the Lord says of the Bap-

16. Mt 20.6, 9.
17. Oecumenius omits “the two olive trees and” (aiJ duvo ejlai`ai kai;), found
in most manuscripts of Revelation, but includes it below.
18. Most manuscripts of Revelation read kurivou (Lord); Oecumenius reads
qeou` (God) here, but “Lord” below.
19. Mal 4.4–5.
102 OECUMENIUS

tist, “and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to

come.”20 (3) We have not heard anything at all clear about any
other herald, except that Genesis said about Enoch, “because he
was well-pleasing to God he was taken up,”21 and the wise apostle
said about him, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should
not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken
him.”22 (4) An old tradition holds sway in the church: with Elijah
the Tishbite, Enoch will also come as the precursor of the sec-
ond coming of Christ, as he prepares to take his stand against
the Antichrist; for they say that they came first and testified that
the signs which the Antichrist would perform were deception
and that one should not believe the wretch. (5) It is about these
that the vision now says that they will prophesy for so many days,
meaning either some mystical number or one which will actu-
ally be the truth. (6) They will do this, he says, clothed in sackcloth.
For they will mourn over the disobedience of humankind at that
time.
(7) He says, These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands
which stand before the Lord on the earth. The blessed prophet Zech-
ariah23 saw a lampstand supporting seven lamps, and two olive
branches, but the branches were set in two pipes of the lamps,
as he said, “What are these two olive branches, which are in the
two golden pipes?” And he heard the angel responding, “They
are the anointed ones,24 who stand by the Lord of all the earth.”
(8) Surely he is not speaking about them now? For it is with the
definite article that he says, these are the two olive trees and the two
lampstands, explaining this by reference to an accepted symbol-
ism, except that he here called the two pipes two lampstands. That
the two olive branches were interpreted as referring to the two
peoples, those of the Jews and those from the nations, was not
unknown to the saints. Nevertheless, he can also mean the two
prophets who are now under discussion. (9) He says that if any-
one would harm them, fire pours from their mouths and pro-
tects them, and they have the authority to close the sky, so that no rain

20. Mt 11.14. 21. Gn 5.22.

22. Heb 11.5. 23. Zec 4.11–14.
24. Literally, “the sons of fatness” (tou;~ uiJou;~ . . . th`~ piovthto~); i.e., those
anointed with olive oil.
 CHAPTER SIX 103

should fall during the days of their prophesying. This is very plausible,
for if one of them, Elijah the Tishbite, had such authority even
before the ministry of Christ, why should it be incredible that he
should be seen as heralding Christ?
(10) He says, And they have authority over the waters to turn them
into blood and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they wish.
For since “the coming” of the Antichrist will take place “by the
activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,”25 as
Paul says in writing the second epistle to the Thessalonians, the
signs are [Satan’s] instrument to draw [people] to agree and be-
lieve [in them]. That is why the two prophets who say that the
Antichrist is a deceiver and a cheat will use all sorts of signs to
draw their hearers to faith.

12. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that as-
cends from the bottomless pit will make war upon them and conquer them
and kill them, (2) and he will put their dead bodies in the street of the
great city which is allegorically called Sodom and Egypt, and where their
Lord was crucified. (3) Those from the peoples and tongues and tribes
and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and they will not allow them
to be placed in a tomb, (4) and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice
over them and make merry and give presents to one another, because these
two prophets had tortured the inhabitants of the earth (Rv 11.7–10).
13. He says, And when they have finished their testimony: for they
will testify that this present one is not the Christ but is some de-
ceiver and cheat and vandal, in so far as the Son of God will not
come yet, but is he who must be believed as Savior and God,
who long ago came for the benefit of humankind and is now at
hand.
(2) He says, the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit: he calls
the Antichrist a beast because he is cruel, inhuman, and greedy
for blood. He calls the life of human beings a bottomless pit,
bitter with its sins, distasteful, and never at rest with the prolif-
eration of wicked spirits. For the wretch will not arise from any
other source than our own human nature. For he will be a man
“whose coming is due to the activity of Satan,”26 as has just been

25. 2 Thes 2.9.

26. 2 Thes 2.9.
104 OECUMENIUS

said. (3) Therefore he says the beast will kill the two witnesses, and
he will cast their bodies unburied into the streets of Jerusalem.
For he will reign there as king of the Jews, whom he will keep de-
ceived as they comply with him and obey him in every way, as the
Lord says according to 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.”27 (4) He calls Jerusalem Sodom allegorical-
ly, not factually, because of its impiety and infamy at that time,
and Egypt, as enslaving and oppressing the slaves of Christ, just as
Egypt did to Israel. It was there, too, he says, that their Lord—that
is, of the two witnesses—was crucified. (5) When those from every
tribe who have been deceived by the Antichrist see the destruc-
tion of the witnesses, they will rejoice over them as though their own
king was the victor. (6) Also the giving of presents to one anoth-
er is an example of joy and delight. (7) He says, because the two
prophets had tortured the inhabitants of the earth—not a physical tor-
ture, but by jeering at their sins and by refuting them and doing
away with their deception they will torture them spiritually.

14. But after the three-and-a-half days a breath of life from God en-
tered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those
who saw them. (2) Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to
them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in the cloud, and
their enemies saw them. (3) And at that hour there was a great earth-
quake, and a tenth of the city fell down; seven thousand people were
killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the
God of heaven. (4) The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is
soon to come (Rv 11.11–14).
15. Since all these things were clearly taking place, and were
going to occur in actual fact at that time, it is futile to spend time
on what has already been established.

16. Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud
voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the king-
dom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
(2) And the twenty-four elders who sat on their thrones before God fell

27. Jn 5.43.
 CHAPTER SIX 105

on their faces and worshiped God, saying, (3) “We give thanks to you,
Lord God, sovereign of all, who are and who were, because you have
taken your great power and have entered on your reign. (4) The na-
tions raged, but your wrath has come, and the time for the nations to be
judged, and to reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and
those who fear your name, both small and great, and to destroy the de-
stroyers of the earth.” (5) Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and
the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes
of lightning, noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail
(Rv 11.15–19).
17. After the vision had set out as in an aside the account of
the two witnesses, or prophets, and had gone through every-
thing concerning them, it now comes to the matter in hand just
from where it had started. It had started by describing the future
reward of the saints, and by saying that there were more from
the nations than from Israel, and that those in the new covenant
who pleased God were more numerous than those in the old.
(2) And he says that when the seventh angel sounded the trum-
pet, there were voices in heaven saying that the kingdom of the world
now belongs to God and his Christ.28 God is always reigning; he
neither began, nor will he ever cease, to reign over heaven and
earth and all things visible and spiritual in them; he is without
beginning and also without end, being master and lord of all.
But since human beings speak on earth of kings, and God in a
way included those who were reigning with him, when the earth-
ly kingdom of human beings is done away at the end of the pres-
ent age, God alone will reign as king. That is why it is said that
the kingdom of the world now belongs to God and his Christ, since
the human kings on earth and the demonic tyrants had been de-
stroyed and made an end of. (3) When the voice had sounded,
he says, the elders worshiped God, and they themselves rendered
their own thanksgiving, saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God,
sovereign of all, who are and who were.” And he takes You who are to
refer to the Holy Trinity, as well as You who were, even though You
who are is especially said about the Father, and You who were about

28. Note that here, and a few sentences later, the author changes the
construction used in the citation.
106 OECUMENIUS

the Son; for being (You who are) refers to the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. And we rightly say “You who were” of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So the thanksgiving of the elders is
offered up to the Holy Trinity.
(4) He says, because you have taken your great power from those
on earth, and your kingly power which you had given them, and
now you alone are king. (5) When the earthly kingdom was be-
ing destroyed, naturally the nations raged, as their domination was
demolished—meaning by nations the ranks of the demons and
the unbelievers.
(6) He says, and your wrath came forth, and the lot 29 for the na-
tions to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and
the saints. He means that in the past you were very long-suffering
with them, but since they did not benefit from your kindness,
you now, that is, at the day of judgment, displayed your wrath
against them, and all that was allotted and due to the nations
came about and is present now. What then was [due to them]?
Their judgment, and the reward given to the saints who had
been ill-treated by them, and the destruction by retributory pun-
ishment of those who had ruined the earth, and, as it were, had
defiled it by their own sins.
(7) He says, Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark
of his covenant was seen within his temple. After saying all this he
now goes on to say that the hidden good things, and in addi-
tion some new mysteries, were revealed to the saints. For this is
the meaning of the opening of the ark of the covenant. For that
there are good things in the coming age which are hidden from
human beings in this age is made clear by the saying, “what eye
has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him.”30 And again,
that there are some mysteries and other knowledge at present
unknown, the Lord makes clear when he said, “I shall not drink
again of the fruit of” this “vine until that day when I shall drink
it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”31 (8) The saints were

29. The text here reads klh`ro~ (“lot”), whereas the citation from Revelation
(Rv 11.18) rightly reads kairov~ (“time”).
30. 1 Cor 2.9.
31. Mt 26.29; Mk 14.25; Lk 22.18.
 CHAPTER SIX 107

made worthy of this, but for the sinners there were flashes of light-
ning, noises, peals of thunder, earthquakes, and heavy hail, which are
the third woe. By using things well known to us he symbolizes
the punishments coming upon the impious, and the terrors of
God.

18. And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with

the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and on her head a crown of
twelve stars; (2) she was with child, and she cried out in her birth-pangs,
in anguish for delivery (Rv 12.1–2).
19. The vision wishes to give us a fuller description of the
things concerning the Antichrist, of whom it has made a brief
mention in what has gone before. The incarnation of the Lord,
by which the world was subjected and made his own, became the
occasion for the raising [of the Antichrist] and the endeavors of
Satan. For this is why the Antichrist will be raised up: so that he
may again cause the world to revolt against Christ, and persuade
it to turn around and desert to Satan. Since again the Lord’s
physical conception and birth marked the beginning of his in-
carnation, the vision has brought into some order and sequence
the events which it is going to explain, by starting its explanation
from the physical conception of Christ, and by depicting for us
the Mother of God. (2) For why does he say, And a portent ap-
peared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under
her feet? He is speaking of the mother of our Savior, as I have said.
Naturally the vision describes her as being in heaven and not on
the earth, as pure in soul and body, as equal to an angel, as a citi-
zen of heaven, as one who came to effect the incarnation of God
who dwells in heaven (“for,” he says, “heaven is my throne”),32
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 substance33 as we are. The unholy doctrine
of Eutyches, that the Virgin is of a miraculously different sub-

32. Is 66.1.
33. Greek, oJmoouvs io~, the term used to describe the unity between God the
Father and God the Word.
108 OECUMENIUS

stance from us, together with his other docetic doctrines, must
be banished from the divine courts.
(3) What is the meaning of saying that she is clothed with the
sun, and has the moon under her feet? The divine prophet Habak-
kuk says in prophesying about the Lord, “The sun was lifted up
and the moon stood still in its position for light.”34 He calls our
Savior Christ, or perhaps the preaching of the gospel, “the sun of
righteousness.”35 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 annul-
ment and diminution. (4) 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.”36 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. (5) 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 con-
ceived, he was the protector of his own mother and of all cre-
ation, 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.”37 Overshadowing, protecting, and clothing all
have the same meaning.
(6) He says, And on her head, a crown of twelve stars. For the Vir-
gin is crowned with the twelve apostles who proclaim the Christ
while she is proclaimed together with him. (7) He says, She was

34. Hab 3.10–11.

35. Mal 4.2. Oecumenius appears to confuse Habbakuk with Malachi.
36. Ps 57.9.
37. Lk 1.35.
 CHAPTER SIX 109

with child, and she cried out in her birth-pangs, in anguish for deliv-
ery. Yet Isaiah says about her, “before the woman in labor gives
birth, and before the toil of labor begins, she fled and brought
forth a male child.”38 Gregory, also, in the thirteenth chapter of
his Interpretation of the Song of Songs talks of the Lord “whose con-
ception is without intercourse, and whose birth is undefiled.”39
So the birth was free from pain. Therefore, if, according to such
a great prophet and the teacher of the church, the Virgin has
escaped the pain of childbirth, how does she here cry out in her
birth-pangs, in anguish for delivery? (8) Does not this contradict
what was said? Certainly not. For nothing could be contradictory
in the mouth of the one and the same Spirit, who spoke through
both. But in the present passage you should understand the cry-
ing out and being in anguish in this way: until the divine angel told
Joseph about her, that the conception was from the Holy Spir-
it, the Virgin was naturally despondent, blushing before her be-
trothed, and thinking that he might somehow suspect that she
was in labor from a furtive marriage. Her despondency and grief
he called, according to the principles of metaphor, crying and
anguish; and this is not surprising. For even when blessed Moses
spiritually met God and was losing heart—for he saw Israel in
the desert being encircled by the sea and by enemies—God said
to him, “Why do you cry to me?”40 So also now the vision calls
the sorrowful disposition of the Virgin’s mind and heart “crying
out.” (9) But you, who took away the despondency of the unde-
filed handmaid and your human mother, my lady mistress, the
holy Mother of God, by your ineffable birth, do away with my
sins, too, for to you is due glory for ever. Amen.

38. Is 66.7.
39. Gregory of Nyssa, Homilia in Canticum Canticorum 13.
40. Ex 14.15.
 CHAPTER SEVEN

fter partly completing the vision of our universal lady,

the holy ever-virgin Mary, Mother of God, he proceeds
to give us another vision, saying,

2. And another portent appeared in heaven; see, a great red serpent,

with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. (2)
His tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them down
to the earth. And the serpent stood in front of the woman who was about
to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth;
(3) she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with
a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, (4)
and the woman fled into the desert, where she has a place prepared by
God, so that she might find shelter there for one thousand two hundred
and sixty days (Rv 12.3–6).
3. At the start of the explanation of the vision it was said that
the vision, in its wish to set out in greater detail the facts about
the Antichrist, begins with the conception and birth of the Lord,
which was why that vandal had been chosen by the universal foe
and enemy of all to enslave again those who had been gathered
together by the Lord. So it must now be said that the vision, in
its wish to explain in detail all that concerns the Antichrist, re-
verts to the original event preceding the beginning already men-
tioned—I mean the birth of the Lord. This concerns Satan, and
the way he was thrown down from heaven, even though he says
this more clearly in the following vision, when he adds that he
had also plotted against the Lord. In this way he laid some kind
of prior foundation on which to build the future explanations of
the Antichrist’s affairs and his deeds.
(2) After this preface, we must move on to consider the text.
He says, And another portent appeared in heaven: in this way the ac-
count is hitting at Satan, the prince of evil, because, although he

110
 CHAPTER SEVEN 111

was a heavenly being, on account of his rebellion he has become

an earthbound crawler. He depicts him in heaven so that the
apostate might know from what state he has fallen and where he
now is. (3) He says, And see, a great red serpent: he calls Satan a ser-
pent because he is crooked. For that is what Isaiah, too, calls him,
saying, “against the serpent, the crooked snake.”1 He is red be-
cause he is blood-sucking and irascible. (4) With seven heads and
ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads: the prophet knew well
enough that he is many-headed. So he says of God, “You crushed
the heads of the serpent; you gave him as food for the peoples of
Ethiopia.”2 They say that he is many-headed since seven indicates
many (as has been said more than once) as one who makes many
crafty starts and designs against humankind by which he enslaves
them; for the diadem is the symbol of tyranny. (5) The ten horns
symbolize his immense power. For ten is a perfect number, and
the horn is a sign of power. For [Scripture] says, “My horn shall
be lifted up as the horn of a unicorn.”3 And anyone who reads
the book of Job can discover that he is powerful.4
(6) He says, And with his tail 5 he swept away a third of the stars
of heaven, and threw them down to the earth. For he cast down with
himself a very great number of the angels, persuading them to
rebel with him against God, and so he has made the heavenly
beings earthy, and those who were bright as stars he has turned
into darkness. With his tail means that he has done this by means
of his uttermost and hindmost trespasses; for when he first con-
sidered his mad rebellion, and then went on consciously to nur-
ture it in the arrogance of his purpose, he thus came to destroy
the rest too.
(7) He says, And the serpent stood in front of the woman who was
about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it
forth. These are some of the events concerning the Lord: when
he was to be born, the one who was planning to bring his power
to an end carefully watched his opportunity so that when the
Virgin gave birth he might destroy the child. So he did not miss
his opportunity but stirred up Herod to destroy the manly male

1. Is 27.1. 2. Ps 73.13–14.
3. Ps 91.11. 4. Jb 1.12.
5. Note the slight difference from the original quotation.
112 OECUMENIUS

child, who had nothing weak or womanish about him. For “be-
fore the child knows how to call ‘father’ or ‘mother,’” Isaiah pro-
claims to us, “he will take the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of
Samaria in the face of the king of Assyria.”6 (8) And who this one
is who was born, this male child, reveal to us, John, more clear-
ly. He who is, he says, to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. You
have plainly told us, divine seer, that he is our savior and Lord,
Jesus the Messiah. For he had been promised by his own Father,
“Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance,
and the ends of the earth for your possession; you will rule them
with a rod of iron, you will dash them in pieces like a potter’s ves-
sel.”7
(9) And, he says, her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
But the poisonous serpent was lying in wait and provoked Herod
to destroy the children in Bethlehem, because [he thought] he
would at all events find the Lord among them. But the child,
by the forethought of his Father, escaped the plot. For Joseph
heeded a divine warning to take the child along with his mother
and escape to Egypt as Herod was about to seek the child’s life.
(10) And the woman fled into the desert, where she has a place prepared
by God, so that she might find shelter there for one thousand two hundred
and sixty days. So while the child was rescued from the serpent’s
plot, was the woman given over to destruction? No, but she, too,
was rescued by the flight into Egypt, which was desert and ex-
empt from Herod’s plot. And there she lived, he says, and was
sustained for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which com-
prise almost three and a half years. The Mother of God spent all
that time in Egypt until the death of Herod, after which an an-
gel’s divine message brought them back to Judaea.

4. And war arose in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against
the serpent. And the serpent and his angels fought; (2) but they did not
prevail, (3) and there was no longer any place found for him in heaven.
And the great serpent was thrown down, that old snake, who is called the
Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was thrown down
to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him (Rv 12.7–9).

6. Is 8.4.
7. Ps 2.8–9.
 CHAPTER SEVEN 113

5. As though in a continual return to the starting-point, as al-

ready described, the vision now plans to describe an earlier be-
ginning which had indeed been partly mentioned previously, as
it prepares to tell us about the Antichrist; for the first beginning
of the acts of the Antichrist was Satan’s fall from heaven. The
Lord, too, says of this, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heav-
en.”8 (2) What, therefore, does it mean, And war arose in heaven?
The divine Scripture says that Satan raised up his neck against
God,9 that is, stretched up an arrogant and stubborn neck against
him and planned to revolt. But God, inasmuch as he is naturally
good and long-suffering, was forbearing towards him. The divine
angels, on the other hand, did not put up with the arrogance of
their master, and drove him out of their company. He now says
that Michael, one of the great rulers among the angels, made war
against Satan and those under him. (3) And Satan did not prevail
in the war against him, nor was there any place of refuge found for
him, or any dwelling in heaven, and he was thrown down to the earth.
He either actually suffered this, or because he had been stripped
of angelic and heavenly rank, he was brought down to an earthly
frame of mind. (4) Then, as though taking vengeance on God
because of his fall, as he could not injure God, he injures God’s
servants, human beings, and leads them astray and tries to get
them to revolt from God, thinking that in this way he would in-
jure the master himself.

6. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now has come sal-
vation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his
Christ, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who ac-
cuses them day and night before our God. (2) And they have conquered
him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they
did not love their lives even unto death. (3) Rejoice then, O heaven and
you that dwell therein! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the Devil has
come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short”
(Rv 12.10–12).
7. Therefore, the holy angels, intimating their own joy which
they had at the destruction of Satan, sing a song of victory to

8. Lk 10.18.
9. Cf. Jb 15.25.
114 OECUMENIUS

God. They said, he says, Now have come salvation and the kingdom,
and the power of God has shone out, and the authority of his Christ,
showing that it is all-powerful. For by its cooperation, he says, we
have conquered the enemy, and the accuser of our brethren, who ac-
cuses them day and night before our God, has departed from us. (2)
What modesty of the holy angels! How they imitate their own
master! They call human beings their brothers. And why is this
amazing, when our common master did not refuse to call them
this when he said, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the
midst of the congregation I will praise you”?10 (3) But why do
they say of Satan, “He went away”? He was deprived of his dig-
nity. There was no longer any room for him to stand before God,
and to accuse human beings. (4) And he says, they themselves
took vengeance on him in equal measure, and they conquered
him who seemed to be invincible in venturing even against God.
And they conquered by using as support and help the precious
blood of Christ and the word of those who bore testimony to
him, which they chose before their own lives. (5) After this, he
says, Rejoice, all you angels of God, now that you have been deliv-
ered from the bitter sphere of Satan.
(6) He says, Woe to the earth and the sea, for the Devil has come
down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short. And
“if he was going to harm the earth and the sea by the descent
of Satan,” someone might ask, “Why did he come down?” The
answer is that for those who are self-controlled and have their
hope in God, not only has it not been for their harm, but in fact
for their benefit. He is exercising them like a gymnastic trainer,
making them more acceptable by temptations and hardening
them like iron. But he does harm the sluggish and fainthearted,
who perhaps, even when the tempter was not around, were bad
in themselves because they had turned their passions into their
nature. (7) When they say, Woe to the earth and the sea, they do not
mean, “woe to most of those who dwell on the earth and on the
sea,” but those who are earth and “ashes,”11 according to Scrip-
ture, those who are earthbound in their mind,12 as well as the
capricious and perplexed and mentally unstable. For it is these

10. Heb 2.12; Ps 21.23. 11. Gn 18.27.

12. Cf. Rom 8.7.
 CHAPTER SEVEN 115

that our common enemy attacks and enslaves in their weakness,

as they willingly succumb to his tyranny.
(8) He says, He knows that his time is short: for the time is short,
from the fall of the Devil until his judgment and just deserts,
when compared to eternity. For the same reason, too, the patri-
arch Jacob, even though he was a hundred and thirty years old,
said when asking something of Pharaoh, “few and evil have been
the days of the years of my life.”13

8. And when the serpent saw that he had been thrown down to the
earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. (2) But the
two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she might
fly into the desert, to her own place, where she is to be sheltered for a time,
and times, and half a time from the presence of the snake. (3) The snake
poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her
away with the flood. (4) But the earth came to the help of the woman,
and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the serpent
had poured from his mouth. (5) Then the serpent was angry with the
woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those
who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus (Rv
12.13–17).
9. The present account is a repetition of what has already been
said. He does not say that after the serpent saw that he had been thrown
down to the earth, he immediately pursued the woman, but since the
serpent saw the troubles in which he was immersed, and that he
had fallen out of the angelic rank, he became exceedingly bitter
against human beings, and pursued the woman who had borne
the savior of humankind, in order to destroy her. He pursued the
woman, since he knew that the one who was born of her was too
powerful to be captured. He was moved with envy against human
beings because of their salvation by the Lord. He could not bear
such a great reversal, by which he himself had been thrown out
of heaven, and human beings by their virtue had gone up from
earth to heaven.
(2) He says, But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the
woman, that she might fly into the desert, to her own place, where she is

13. Gn 47.9.
116 OECUMENIUS

to be sheltered for a time, and times, and half a time, from the presence
of the snake. He says that the woman was not handed over to Sa-
tan, but fled into the desert. This is Egypt, as was said earlier. (3)
So it was that the prophet sought “wings like those of a dove,” to
“fly away and be at rest in the desert.”14 But more powerful wings
of the great eagle were given to the all-holy Virgin. He means by the
wings of the eagle the intervention of the divine angel, who exhort-
ed Joseph to take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.
By this intervention it was as though they reached Egypt on the
wings of an eagle. So the serpent, failing in this plot, which he
had arranged through Herod, devises another plot against the
Virgin, the destruction of her son, and so accordingly he goes on
to describe the Lord’s cross and death.
(4) He says, The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth
after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood: the divine Scrip-
ture means allegorically by the river temptation or trial, saying
somewhere through Jonah, “You cast me into the depths of the
heart of the sea, and the rivers surrounded me,”15 and again in
the words of the Lord, “the rain fell, and the rivers rose up, and
the winds came, but they did not throw down the house which
had been founded upon the rock.”16 Therefore, he calls her tri-
al over the passion of the Lord a river, so that through this, he
says, he might drown the Virgin. And truly, by what happened
to the Lord and the intensity of her sorrow, the serpent had
the power to fulfill his purpose. What does Simeon say to her?
“And a sword will pierce your own soul, too, so that the thoughts
of many hearts may be laid bare.”17 (5) But, he says, the earth
came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and
swallowed the river which the serpent had poured from his mouth onto
the woman. That the earth swallowed the river indicates that the
earth had accepted the trial, that is, the killing of the Lord. But
the earth’s help did not consist in this, but in restoring the Lord
again; for he came to life again after three days, trampling upon
death, since it was impossible for him to be held by it,18 since he
was “the author of life,” according to blessed Peter.19 To construe

14. Ps 54.7–8. 15. Jon 2.3.

16. Mt 7.25. 17. Lk 2.35.
18. Cf. Acts 2.24. 19. Acts 3.15.
 CHAPTER SEVEN 117

it in this way, one must read a full stop after the earth came to the
help of the woman. Then, as though in answer to the question, “in
what manner did it help?” it swallowed up the river, that is, it re-
ceived in itself the Lord after the plot against him, and again re-
stored him, and this is how it gave its help. (6) Since, therefore,
the serpent also failed to achieve his second plan, what more is
there for him to do? He pursued those called sons and brothers
of the Lord—that is, the faithful—for these, he says, are the off-
spring of the woman; for the faithful are the sons and brothers
of the Lord according to Scripture: “I will proclaim your name
to my brothers,”20 and again, “Here am I, and the children God
has given me.”21 So then they also belong to his mother’s family;
and the Devil made war on them, pursuing them and plotting
against them, putting them to death through the tyrants and rul-
ers of the earth, since they were testifying that the Virgin-born
was God.

10. (1–2) I was standing by the seashore. And I saw a beast rising
out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its
horns and blasphemous names upon its head. (3) And the beast which I
saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like
a lion’s mouth. And to it the serpent gave his power and his throne and
great authority. (4) One of its heads was as though it had been mortally
wounded, but its mortal wound had been healed, and the whole earth
was astounded behind the beast, and they worshiped the serpent, (5) for
he had given his authority to the beast (Rv 12.18–13.4a).
11. In the vision before this the blessed evangelist had seen a
sign in heaven, and behold, See, he says, a red serpent (Rv 12.3).
But now he tells us that he has seen a beast like a leopard rising
out of the sea. Then in the following vision he again sees anoth-
er beast rising out of the earth with two horns of a lamb (Rv 13.11).
Therefore, he saw three beasts in all: the first in heaven, the sec-
ond from the sea, and the third from the land.22 The first and
third are clear to all, for the first is the serpent, the source of all

20. Heb 2.12; Ps 21.23. 21. Heb 2.13; Is 8.18.

22. Oecumenius’s interpretation of the three beasts is not consistent.
Compare the present passage (7.11.1–3) with 7.3.2–3, and contrast these with
8.3.1–4; 9.5.2; 9.11.3–5; 11.6.3; as noted by de Groote, p. 184.
118 OECUMENIUS

evil, Satan, who revolted and lifted up his neck23 against God the
sovereign Lord, and the third is the Antichrist. But this beast in
the middle, which is now brought before us in the vision, what
is he? (2) I think that this one certainly comes after the rebel,
and is Satan the serpent, the chief of the rest of the demons; for
many were destroyed together with Satan and brought down to
earth. And it is clear from this that the divine Scripture means
that the ruler of all the demons has been condemned to the sea
and nether gloom, as has been explained earlier. Perhaps Scrip-
ture in this way figuratively describes the confusion and turmoil
in which Satan is embroiled as he recognizes from where he has
fallen and where he now is, and that “he is being kept for the
judgment of the great day,”24 as Scripture has it. For if this was
not the case, but if he was actually in the sea and in the nether
gloom, how was he described in the vision before this as having
contrived many things against the Lord and against his moth-
er? Nevertheless, according to the literal narrative—which can-
not be impugned—he has been allotted nether gloom and the
abyss.25
(3) So this second one, the one who is now brought before us,
is found in the book of Job, both conversing with God and de-
manding Job for himself by bringing countless trials on him, and
indeed saying that he was there “after roaming about the earth
under heaven.”26 And not only the book of Job, but the Lord,
too, has mentioned him in the gospel of John when addressing
the Jews: “You are of your father the Devil, and you wish to do
your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth
in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for
he is a liar and his father,”27 meaning the father of the Devil, that is,
[the father] of the one who is now presented to us in the vision,
the rebel serpent, as being their leader and the prime mover of
the rebellion. In a similar way holy Abraham is called the father of
nations, as one who established faith for them, according to what
was said to him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”28

23. Cf. Jb 15.25. 24. Jude 6.

25. Cf. 2 Pt 2.4. 26. Jb 1.7.
27. Jn 8.44. 28. Gn 17.5.
 CHAPTER SEVEN 119

Now that these things have been rightly determined, according

to my way of thinking, let us return to our subject.
(4) He says, I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and
seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns. He sees the beast rising
out of the sea. Its ascent is, as it were, its elevation from the trou-
bled and unstable life of human beings, who have appointed it
as despot over themselves. (5) The ten horns witness to its great
power, just as the seven heads witness to some of its wiles and
the origins of its schemes and deceits. For both ten and seven
are perfect numbers. (6) The diadems on its horns mark it out
as the tyrant over humankind, since we have voluntarily handed
ourselves over to it through its deception. (7) He says, upon its
head are blasphemous names. They are rightly upon its head, for it
rages against itself and against its own head, acting drunkenly
against God: it deprives God of the reverence [due to him] and
gives it to itself. (8) He says, And the beast which I saw was like a
leopard, I think because it moves at speed and is quick to devise
its plots.
(9) He says, And its feet were like a bear’s, as they were strong
and durable so as to “roam about the earth under heaven”29 to
plot against human beings. He says, And its mouth was like a lion’s
mouth. According to Scripture, “Our adversary the Devil prowls
around like a lion, to see whom he can devour.”30 (10) He says,
And the serpent gave it his power. The power of the rebellious ser-
pent is in his deceptions and wiles, and [the Devil] is the source
and teacher of these for him. (11) He says, And I see that one
of its heads was as though it had been mortally wounded, but its mor-
tal wound had been healed. The inspired evangelist would himself
know the meaning of this. As it appears to me, it indicates some-
thing of this sort: the mortal blow that the Devil received in one
of his heads through the piety of Israel was healed again through
the idolatry of the same people. (12) He says, And the whole earth
was astounded behind the beast: for how is it that even the pious
nation of Israel has not stopped worshiping it? Yet this is what
is said in Isaiah speaking in the person of God to Israel: “On
your account my name is constantly blasphemed among the na-

29. Jb 1.7.
30. 1 Pt 5.8.
120 OECUMENIUS

tions.”31 Further, they also joined in the worship of the serpent,

the fount of all the evil, and the cause of all the great deception
and crafty wiles of the beast.

12. And they worshiped the beast,32 and who is able to make war
against him? (2) And he was given a mouth uttering haughty and blas-
phemous words, and he was given authority to do this for forty-two
months. (3) He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blas-
pheme his name and his dwelling and those who dwell in heaven. (4)
And he was given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and
nation, (5) and all who dwell in the world will worship him, every one
whose name has not been written in the book of life in heaven, which has
been sealed since the foundation of the world (Rv 13.4–8).
13. After he had outwitted Israel, those who had been caught
by him contrived a fair address to him, saying, Who is like the beast
and who is able to make war against him? (2) When all had been
defeated and had fallen beneath his feet, he says, And he was giv-
en a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words. By whom was
it given? By those people who had been thoroughly deceived
and had worshiped him; for boastful talk is a mark of arrogance.
For what is more arrogant than saying, “I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of heaven I will place my throne”?33 And a little
later he says, “I shall be like the Most High,”34 as Isaiah satirizes
him. These are plainly blasphemies against God.
(3) He says, And he was given authority to do this for forty-two
months. Previously we accepted the forty-two months as a short
time. For all time is short, even if it seems to be very long, when
compared to ages of eternity. (4) He says, And he opened his mouth
in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his dwelling and
those who dwell in heaven. Some of the rebel’s blasphemies against
God have already been mentioned. By the dwelling of God he
means the holy angels, because God dwells among them. For if

31. Is 52.5.
32. Oecumenius here omits the words “saying, ‘who is like the beast?’”
(levgonte~ ti~ o{moio~ tw`/ qhrivw)/ in Rv 13.4b, though he alludes to them in his
comment.
33. Is 14.13.
34. Is 14.14.
 CHAPTER SEVEN 121

it is said of human beings, “I will live in their midst and move

among them,”35 what [less] could be said of the heavenly pow-
ers, than that they have God living among them?
(5) And he was given authority over every tribe and people and
tongue and nation, and all who dwell in the world will worship him.
I said earlier that he had received his authority from those hu-
man beings who had willingly submitted to his deadly power.
Rightly then does he say that all who dwell in the world will worship
him. Apart from the God-fearing Israel, all the rest of the human
race were idolaters, and, though even Israel shared in this, ev-
ery other race and tribe of people was found to have worshiped
the wretch. (6) Every one, he says, whose name has not been written
in the book of life in heaven, which has been sealed since the foundation
of the world. The vision has already defined this with great accu-
racy. For although it said that all who dwell in the world had wor-
shiped the rebellious Devil, there were a few who were untainted
by his worship, both from among the gentiles and from Israel,
such as Job, his four friends, Melchisedek, and the holy proph-
ets of Israel, and those who were distinguished in the Old Testa-
ment for their piety. He says that all had worshiped him, except
for those who on account of their worship of God and the ex-
actness and purity of their way of life are written in heaven and
are protected by God. (7) This is the meaning of the sealing of
the scroll. About this scroll the Lord says to his holy disciples,
according to blessed Luke, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this,
that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are
written in heaven.”36

14. (1–2) If anyone has an ear, let him hear: if anyone is to be taken
captive,37 he goes; if anyone slays with the sword, with the sword he must
be slain. Here is the endurance and faith of the saints (Rv 13.9–10).
15. He means that if anyone has the sense to understand these
sayings, let him hear what is said and know that he who is pre-
paring to make prisoners of others will be taken prisoner by the

35. 2 Cor 6.16; cf. Lv 26.11.

36. Lk 10.20.
37. Oecumenius here omits the second “to captivity” (eij~ aijcmalwsivan),
found in the manuscripts of Revelation.
122 OECUMENIUS

beast and will desert to him of his own accord. For if he finds no
support whatever from God, he will be carried away into every
kind of evil. (2) If anyone has been prepared for murder, he will
undergo spiritual death by his worship of the Devil. (3) He says,
Here is the endurance and faith of the saints: This is how one escapes
being enslaved by the wicked one. (4) May all of us be delivered
from this slavery by the grace of God who has called us to know
him. To him glory is due for ever. Amen.
 CHAPTER EIGHT

fter many digressions and after reverting from these

starting points to previous beginnings, he came to the
serious business. This was to explain to us the facts about
the impious and abominable Antichrist. So it is he who is now
brought into the forefront; see what he says about him:

2. Then I saw another beast rising up from the earth; it had two horns
like a lamb, and it spoke like a serpent. (2) It exercises all the authority
of the first beast in its presence, and compels the earth and its inhabitants
to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. (3) It
works great signs, so as to make fire come down from heaven to earth in
the sight of human beings (Rv 13.11–13).
3. He says, Then I saw another beast rising up from the earth, from
where all human beings have their origin. For the Antichrist is a
human being, “whose advent occurs by the action of the Devil,”
as Paul in his great wisdom believes.1 (2) It had two horns like a
lamb, and it spoke like a serpent. He rightly said not that it had the
horns of a lamb, but like those of a lamb,2 and he did not say that
it was a serpent, but that it spoke like a serpent. Since the wretch
pretends to be the Christ (though he is not), he has given him
horns like those of a lamb. And although he tells of all kinds of pro-
fanity like the Devil (but he is not the Devil), he did not say that
he was a serpent but that he spoke like a serpent. This being so,
the account retained the image in the vision, and attributes to
him the form not of a lamb, but like a lamb, nor of a serpent,
but like a serpent. For Christ is said to be a lamb, and the Devil is
said to be a serpent, but he was neither the one nor the other.

1. 2 Thes 2.9.
2. Note the slight difference from the original quotation. The first quotation
reads kevrata duvo o{moia ajrnivw,/ whereas Oecumenius subsequently presents the
phrase as kevrata duvo o{moia ajrnivou, replacing a dative with a genitive.

123
124 OECUMENIUS

(3) He says, It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its pres-
ence. That is, it becomes the successor of the Devil’s authority,
and it teaches everyone to worship the one whose mortal wound
had been healed. (4) This has already been mentioned earlier on,
and now we need only to notice it. For when he said that it exer-
cises all the authority of the first beast in its presence (and he has called
the red serpent the first of all, which the vision showed depicted in
heaven), lest anyone should think that he is now speaking of it
as the one which had received the authority of the first beast, he
says, I am not speaking of that which is the first of all, but of the
later one, which comes before the Antichrist. The vision showed
this one rising out of the sea like a leopard (Rv 13.1–2). For it was
this one’s mortal wound which was healed, as was said earlier.
(5) And it works great signs, so as to make fire come down from
heaven to earth in the sight of human beings. The working of signs
and wonders by the operation of the Devil is also attested by the
apostle, for after saying, “whose advent occurs by the action of
Satan,” he adds, “with all power and with pretended signs and
wonders.”3

4. He says, And it deceives the inhabitants of the earth by the signs

which it was its task to effect in the presence of the beast, telling the inhab-
itants of the earth to make an image for the beast, as4 it had been struck
by the sword and had yet come to life, and its task was to give breath to
the image of the beast, [so that the image of the beast should even speak,
and to cause those who would not worship the beast] 5 (2) to be slain.
(3) Also it makes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free
and slave, to be given as a mark (4) the name of the beast or the number
of its name. (5) This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding
reckon the number of the beast, for it is a man’s number; its number is six
hundred and sixty-six (Rv 13.14–18).
5. He says, And it deceives the inhabitants of the earth by signs: for
it performs signs, deluding the eyes of the spectators, just as the

3. 2 Thes 2.9.
4. Oecumenius reads wJ~ (“as”) in place of the text of Revelation, o{~ (“who”)
or o{ (“which”).
5. The words in square brackets are missing from Oecumenius’s text, though
supplied by some manuscripts. See de Groote ed., p. 192.
 CHAPTER EIGHT 125

magicians did before Pharaoh. For both they and this one were
under the command of one and the same deceptive demon. (2)
Rightly did he say that it was working the signs in the presence of
the beast. For since it will erect an image as a monument, which
it will compel everyone to worship, it will in truth consummate
its signs by making the image a god, because it is in virtue of the
image that it is able to do these things.
(3) He says, And its task was to give breath to the image. For they
say that many of the images sweat and appear to speak by the
work of the Devil. (4) He says, too, that the Antichrist gives the
mark and seal of his own name, without which no one can ei-
ther buy or sell. (5) He says, This calls for wisdom: let him reckon
the name of the beast, and by means of the reckoning let him find
it. I will not say, he says, that this form of reckoning is strange
or unusual, nor that it is named for concealment or double-
mindedness, but it is a well-worn method of reckoning known
to people, which calculates the number to be six hundred and
sixty-six. (6) Although this number applies to many other appro-
priate names and titles, it applies especially to these: Lampetis,
Benediktos, and Titan6 [all of which fit the number]. Though Ti-
tan is spelled with “i,” one can also spell it with a diphthong, for if
Teitan is derived from teisis [tei`s i~, stretching], and the word tei-
nō [teivnw] and the future tenō [tenw`], it must properly be written
with a diphthong, like phtheirō [fqeivrw] from phtherō [fqerw`], and
speirō [speivrw] from sperō [sperw`]. (7) “The conqueror”7 is also a
title, for perhaps he gave himself this name, because he will make
war and root out the three horns or, in other words, the kings. See
what Daniel says about them in his eighth vision. He says, “I con-
sidered” his “horns,” that is, of the fourth beast, “and see, there
came up among them another little horn, before which three of
the former horns were uprooted from its presence; and see, in
this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking
great things.”8 So he is the unstable one, the evil guide, the tru-
ly noxious one, the ancient sorcerer, the unjust lamb. Although

6. The numerical value of the letters forming each of these three names adds
up to 666, but only if Teitan (Teitavn) is spelled with a diphthong.
7. The numerical value of the letters of “the conqueror” (oJ nikhthv~) is 666.
8. Dn 7.8.
126 OECUMENIUS

he might have been given these names by his opponents, (8) he

will not only not feel disgraced at being called by these names,
but will even rejoice in such titles, since he is not ashamed to call
himself thus. In hitting at such wicked and abominable choices,
the wise apostle says, “whose glory is in their shame.”9 (9) Since,
then, many names have been proposed, anyone can apply to the
accursed demon the one that is most appropriate.

6. Then I looked, and see, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion,
and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand with his Father’s name
written on their foreheads. (2) And I heard a voice from heaven like the
sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I
heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, (3) and they
are singing a new song before the throne and before the four living crea-
tures and the elders. No one could learn the song except a hundred and
forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. (4) These are
they who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are celibate,
these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes; they have been redeemed from
among human beings as first-fruits for God and the Lamb, (5) and in
their mouth no lie was found, for they are spotless (Rv 14.1–5).
7. The Lord is described in the gospels as addressing the law-
less people of the Jews: “Behold, your house is forsaken.”10 For
they were no longer worthy of God’s presence after their mad-
ness with the cross. So how is it that the Lord is now shown by
the vision as standing on Mount Zion, as though they had repent-
ed? The Romans clearly saw to it that their city, the temple, and
their race had been completely abandoned when they burned
the temple, set fire to cities, ravaged all their land, and enslaved
their chief city itself. (2) But now by showing the Lord as hav-
ing ascended Mount Zion he indicates the return of Israel in the
last days through faith, and that the Lord will claim them as his
own and take them to himself. For this is the good news they
were promised through Isaiah when he says, “The savior will
come from Zion and will turn away impiety from Jacob, said the
Lord.”11 Both the prophet and the apostle are in agreement with

9. Phil 3.19. 10. Mt 23.38; Lk 13.35.

11. Is 59.20–21.
 CHAPTER EIGHT 127

Isaiah: the former sings, “You will make them turn back, you will
prepare their presence among your remnant,”12 and the other
writes, “When the full number of the gentiles comes in, then
shall all Israel be saved.”13
(3) And with him, he says, there were a hundred and forty-four
thousand with his Father’s name written on their foreheads. Earlier on
he called the twelve thousand believers from each of the tribes
of Israel a hundred and forty-four thousand. So is he now speak-
ing of these? I do not think so; for he did not name them with
the definite article; for he did not say the hundred and forty-four
thousand, but only a hundred and forty-four thousand; and he did
not assert that they had remained celibate. For celibacy was not
very seriously considered by Israel, as it certainly was later by
those from the gentiles. So we must consider those who have now
been named to be a mixed company, coming from both Israel
and the gentiles, with the majority from the gentiles. (4) To have
the name of the Father and of his Son written shows that they are
garlanded with a certain divine glory.
(5) He says, And I heard a sound like harpists singing a new song
before the throne and before the living creatures and the elders. That the
sound which was issuing was like that of harpists indicates the
sweet God-like harmony of the song. For although “praise is not
appropriate in the mouth of a sinner” according to Scripture,14
it is wholly suitable and in harmony in the mouth of the righ-
teous. (6) He says, No one could learn the song except a hundred and
forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth. I think that
no one was able to hear the mysteries of the new song except
those who had been made worthy of singing them, for knowl-
edge is given to each in proportion to their purity. “There are
many mansions” (or rewards for the good), says the Lord, “in
my Father’s house.”15 (7) He calls those who were bought by the
blood of Christ redeemed. For the precious blood of Christ has
been shed on behalf of all people, but unprofitably on behalf of
some, that is, those who willingly deprived themselves of the of-
fered salvation. These are they whom the Lord reproaches when

12. Ps 20.13. 13. Rom 11.25–26.

14. Sir 15.9. 15. Jn 14.2.
128 OECUMENIUS

he says through the prophet, “What profit is there in my blood,

if I go down to destruction?”16 But, for those who were saved and
justified, of whom these who are now mentioned are the first-
fruits and forerunners, it is so profitable as to be past descrip-
tion. (8) These are they, he says, who have not defiled themselves with
women, for they are celibate, these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes.
They have been redeemed from among human beings as first-fruits for
God and the Lamb, and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are
spotless. The account of the vision bears witness to those in Christ
as being excellent and surpassing human nature.

8. Then I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, with an eternal

gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe
and tongue and people; and he said with a loud voice, (2) “Fear God
and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship
him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water”
(Rv 14.6–7).
9. The mid-heaven symbolizes the high and exalted nature of
the blessed angel. (2) He had an eternal gospel; for from of old the
teaching “Fear the Lord” brought salvation, since “The fear of
God is the beginning of wisdom,”17 but “love is the end.”18 (3) He
says one must not fear the formidable and soul-destroying beast,
the Antichrist, even if he threatens and does dreadful things. For,
he says, the hour of his judgment has come, and the very one who
terrifies those on earth will be punished as never before. (4) He
says, and worship him who made all creation, and not the wretched
and abominable Devil.

10. Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Great Babylon has

fallen, she who made all nations drink the wine of the wrath caused by
her fornication” (Rv 14.8).
11. By Babylon I think he means the confusion of the present
life and its vain temptations (for Babylon means “confusion”)
and the stupidity of the crazy idolaters. What they call “religious
frenzy”19 is reverenced by them. But if you should in fact con-
sider her to be the actual Babylon, you would not be wide of

16. Ps 29.10. 17. Prv 1.7.

18. 1 Tm 1.5. 19. Greek, ejnqousiasmo;~.
 CHAPTER EIGHT 129

the mark. (2) He means by the wine of the wrath caused by her for-
nication rebellion against God; according to Scripture, “You de-
stroyed all those who commit fornication against you.”20 This for-
nication makes any rational argument murky and obscure, for
who of sound mind would choose to worship things of wood and
stone, and so evoke the wrath of God? Presumably it is about
this wine that Scripture says, “Their wine is the wrath of serpents,
and the incurable wrath of asps.”21 (3) This Babylon has first her-
self drunk of the deadly wine, and then she compelled all the na-
tions which she ruled to drink it.

12. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud
voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark
on his forehead or on his hand, (2) he also shall drink of the wine of
God’s wrath, poured unmixed22 into the cup of his anger, and he shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and
in the presence of the Lamb. (3) And the smoke of their torment goes up
for ever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of
the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (4)
This is the patient endurance of the saints, those who keep the command-
ments of God and the faith of Jesus (Rv 14.9–12).
13. The third angel forbids human beings to worship the
beast, and to receive his seal. For to worship anyone else as god,
other than the real and true God, is most impious. (2) He says,
And he shall drink of the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the
cup of his anger. Blessed David has also mentioned this cup and
the wine when he says, “For in the hand of the Lord there is a
cup, full of a mixture of unmixed wine, and he tilted it from side
to side; but its dregs were not emptied out; all the sinners of the
earth will drink them.”23 He calls the wrath of God wine, speak-
ing metaphorically not of joy, but of darkness and the changed
destiny, by which those who are subject to the wrath of God are
inspired. (3) He says, mixed unmixed: that is, purely24 mixed. For

20. Ps 72.27.
21. Dt 32.33.
22. Literally, “mixed unmixed” (kekerasmevnou ajkravtou).
23. Ps 74.9.
24. Literally, “unmixed” (ajkravtw~), as used previously.
130 OECUMENIUS

the wrath of God is mixed with loving-kindness and goodness; it

is purely mixed. For there is no equivalence between his wrath
and his goodness, but his loving-kindness is many times more
abundant. For if there were an equality of righteous wrath and
goodness, no living person would survive. Because the prophet
knew this, he said, “If you, Lord, should take note of iniquities,
Lord, who could survive?”25 (4) That there is much more good-
ness in God’s cup than righteous anger, the same writer again
signified when he said, “The Lord is merciful and just, and our
God will have mercy on us,”26 putting his justice in the middle,
as if it were constrained by mercy on each side and not being al-
lowed to exercise its own vocation. For the vocation of justice is
to award each person what he deserves. (5) After he had once
mentioned wine and thus called it wrath, he continued with this
image and named the cup as that which is given to sinners from
the hand of God. (6) But perhaps someone will say, “How do
you speak of God’s mercy as abundant in the future judgment
when the vision went on to tell us a little later that the penalty
for those being punished is eternal? For why does he say, And
the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; and they have no
rest, day or night”? (7) One could reply to this in these words: “It
means, my dear fellow, to be tormented eternally, yet not to suf-
fer according to one’s deserts. How is this? If anyone deserves
fire and darkness but has been condemned to darkness and is
punished only by not being given a share in God’s bounty, and
suffers pain only in this respect, he is certainly not being physi-
cally punished. (8) By the smoke of torment which goes up he means
the breath of sinners which has been exhaled from below in
their wailings.”
(9) He says, This is the patient endurance of the saints: he means
that in this time of the Antichrist and in the time of trial their
endurance is clearly shown. For when the danger is greatest and
the accompanying tribulation, so much greater is the need of
endurance. (10) Then the account proceeds as though in an-
swer to a question: who, he says, are these whom you call holy
and patiently enduring? Those, he says, who keep the commandments

25. Ps 129.3.
26. Ps 114.5.
 CHAPTER EIGHT 131

of God and the faith of Jesus. For such people, even in the presence
of trials and death, will put everything second to their faith and
love of God.

14. And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: Blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.” And the Spirit says, “that they
may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow after them” (Rv 14.13).
15. He blesses those who refused to worship the image of the
beast, or to receive the mark on their forehead and their hand,
and were therefore put to death; for these have been crowned
with the crown of martyrdom and so achieve the same lot as the
martyrs.

16. Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and on the head 27
there was seated one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head,
and a sharp sickle in his hand. (2) And another angel came out of
heaven, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the head, “Put in
your sickle and reap, for the hour for reaping has come, for the harvest
of the earth is fully ripe.” (3) So he who sat on the cloud threw 28 (Rv
14.14–16).
17. While he sees the Lord dignified to be the son of man, he
also sees him riding on a cloud. It is either really a cloud, since
this is what the gospel says whose witness I described earlier, or
he refers to an angelic power. Scripture says, “He rode on cheru-
bim and flew, he flew upon the wings of the winds.”29 He calls
the angels a cloud, on account of the height and loftiness of their
nature and worth, or perhaps he calls the God-bearer30 a cloud
on which he is riding, so giving honor to his human mother. For
this is how Isaiah foresees it when he says, “Behold, the Lord is
seated on a light cloud and will come to Egypt, and the idols of
Egypt will be shaken at his presence.”31 (2) Interpreting this text,
Aquila says that the cloud is a “light thickness,”32 thick, as I imag-
ine, because it is a human being and flesh, and light because it

27. Oecumenius’s text reads “on the head” (ejpi; th`~ kefalh`~) instead of “on
the cloud” (ejpi; th;n nefevlhn), both here and in the following verse (vv.14–15).
28. The text here omits the rest of the sentence, though it is presumed in the
comments that follow.
29. Ps 17.11. 30. Greek, Qeotovko~.
31. Is 19.1. 32. See Origen, Hexapla in Is 19:1.
132 OECUMENIUS

is pure, blameless, and not weighed down by a single sin, and

also because it is a high pathway to heaven for the soul. This is
then how you should consider the cloud. And it is white because
of the purity and luminosity of the beings in the vision. (3) And
the crown symbolizes the kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ; for
Christ is the king both of spiritual and material things, and the
crown is golden since it connotes the glory of his kingship in
terms of value as we understand it. (4) That he has a sickle in
his hand intimates his being seated with authority [to bring in]
the end of the age. (5) Why does the angel also say to him, Put
in your sickle and reap, for the hour for reaping has come, for the harvest
of the earth is fully ripe; and he threw his sickle, he says, and the earth
was reaped? The harvest is described in the gospels as abundant,
“but the laborers are few”;33 but there the harvest meant the as-
sembling of the faithful; but here it means the finale of human
beings, so that if there were any chaff among them or unfulfilled
work or something deserving to be burned, it would be handed
over to fire.

18. And another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he, too,
had a sharp sickle. (2) Then another angel came out from the altar, with
power over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the
sharp sickle, saying, “Harvest the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its
grapes are ripe.” (3) So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and gath-
ered the vintage of the earth and threw it into the great wine-press of the
wrath of God; (4) and the wine-press was trodden outside the city, and
blood flowed from the wine-press, as high as the horses’ bridles, for one
thousand six hundred stades (Rv 14.17–20).
19. The angel with the sickle, who had come out of the heav-
enly temple, is himself the servant and minister of the coming
consummation. And being the heavenly minister of God, he is
described as coming out of the heavenly temple. He says, (2) And
another angel came out from the altar, with power over the fire. And to
me it seems that this one has been put in charge of the punish-
ment of the ungodly. (3) Next he says, Send and gather the clusters
of the vine of the earth. So the harvest mentioned earlier represent-

33. Mt 9.37; Lk 10.2.

 CHAPTER EIGHT 133

ed the righteous and the sinners together at the consummation,

whom he will separate, as is said in the gospels—“The winnow-
ing fork of the Lord with which he will clear his threshing-floor
and gather the wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn
with unquenchable fire.”34 The vintage of the grapes symboliz-
es those who are exceedingly sinful, whom the vision depicts in
their drunkenness and madness. (4) From this it is clear that the
Lord did not consider it proper that he should gather them as
he gathered the first, but that one of the angels should do this.
They were immediately thrown outside into the wine-press of the
wrath of God, without being considered worthy of making any de-
fense, nor of being questioned, or being brought before a law-
court, just as in the gospels sinners were introduced who were
punished because of their failure to give and share with others.35
It was of these, I think, that the prophet said, “The wicked will
not stand in the judgment.”36 He has called their punishment a
wine-press, cleverly using the metaphor of the grapes and of the
vintage. (5) He says, And the wine-press was trodden outside the city,
for it was not right for those who were being punished to re-
ceive the recompense for their evil deeds in the heavenly Jeru-
salem, which had been allotted to the saints, and to impair the
joy of the saints through sympathy with those who were being
justly punished—to say nothing of the great chasm which sepa-
rates the pious from the impious, according to the words of the
patriarch Abraham, which were addressed to the rich man in the
gospels.37
(6) He says, And blood flowed from the wine-press. He rightly spoke
of blood, to show that in talking of bunches of grapes he spoke met-
aphorically, since they were human beings who were being tram-
pled together and mangled, as high, he says, as the horses’ bridles,
for one thousand six hundred stades. (7) Some of God’s horses have
been handed down to us in Holy Scripture, symbolizing angel-
ic powers with God mounted on them. For the heavenly bride-
groom says to his bride in the Song of Songs, “I compare you,

34. Mt 3.12; Lk 3.17.

35. Mt 25.46; Lk 16.19–31.
36. Ps 1.5.
37. Lk 16.26.
134 OECUMENIUS

my nearest38 love, to my mare in Pharaoh’s chariot,”39 and the

prophet Habakkuk sings to God, “You will come mounted on
your horses, and your horsemanship is deliverance.”40 (8) Revela-
tion says that the bridles of these horses are soaked in the blood
of the ungodly, who are standing not nearby but at a distance.
The whole passage is metaphorical, the symbolism showing the
extent of the blood. For those traveling on the broad highway
are many times more numerous than those on “the narrow and
hard way,”41 so that they soak even the bridles of the horses, that
is, angels, mounted on them ready to inflict punishment.

20. And I saw another portent in heaven, great and wonderful, sev-
en angels with the final seven plagues, for with them the wrath of God
is at an end. (2) And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled
with fire, and the conquerors of the beast and its image and the number
of its name, standing beside the sea of glass holding harps of God. (3)
And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the
Lamb, saying, “Great and wonderful are your deeds, Lord God, sover-
eign of all! Just and true are your ways, O king of the nations. (4) Who
shall not fear and glorify your name, Lord? For you alone are holy, for all
the nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have
been revealed” (Rv 15.1–4).
21. He says, I saw seven angels with seven plagues. By the num-
ber seven he means the many plagues prepared against the sin-
ners, by means of which God’s wrath reaches its limit. (2) He
says, And I saw a sea of glass mingled with fire, and the conquerors of
the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the
sea of glass holding harps of God. The very wise Paul in one of his
writings says, “If anyone builds on this foundation with gold, sil-
ver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, the quality of each per-
son’s work will be tested by fire, because it will be revealed in
fire.”42 So then when the sinners with their offerings of inflam-
mable loads of sin are put to the test, will the righteous also be

38. The Greek text here reads “the near one, my near one” (hJ plhsivon hJ
plhsivon mou), the first phrase being omitted in LXX. It is contrasted with the
sinners who are not standing nearby.
39. Song 1.9. 40. Hab 3.8.
41. Mt 7.14. 42. 1 Cor 3.12–13.
 CHAPTER EIGHT 135

tested in fire although they bring along gold and their precious
materials? (3) He is now speaking of those who have conquered
the beast through thick and thin: they are standing beside the sea of
glass mingled with fire —glass because of the brightness and purity
of the righteous in it, but mixed with fire because of the purg-
ing and cleansing of all uncleanness, since even the righteous
need to be cleansed. “For we all frequently stumble,”43 as Scrip-
ture says, “and who will be free from uncleanness? no one, not
even if their life on earth is but one day.”44 (4) The harps, as
has often been said, symbolize the tuneful song of the saints ad-
dressed to God.
(5) He says, And they sing the song of Moses in its entirety. This
was the one he sang when Pharaoh and all his army had been
drowned, saying, “Let us sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed
gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea; he
has become my help and protector for our deliverance.”45 The
song is a paean of victory for the punishment of the ungodly and
the victory over the Devil and his lawless son, the Antichrist. (6)
He says, And the song of the Lamb, that is, the appropriate song for
the Lord and his righteous judgment against the ungodly; that is
why they wonder at the truth and righteousness of the Lord.
(7) He says, The king of the nations: Christ is king of all, but
since it is said by Isaiah, “And there will be the root of Jesse and
one set up to rule over the nations; on him shall the nations
hope,”46 on account of this the divine oracle says both that he is
king of the nations and that all the nations will come and worship him,
neatly foretelling the calling of the nations and their faith in the
Lord.

22. After this I saw that the temple of the tent of testimony in heaven
was opened, (2) and out of the temple came seven angels with seven
plagues, clothed with a pure bright stone,47 and girt with golden girdles
round their breasts. (3) And one of the four living creatures gave the sev-
en angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives for ever

43. Jas 3.2. 44. Jb 14.4–5.

45. Ex 15.1–2. 46. Is 11.10.
47. Oecumenius here reads livqon (“stone”) instead of the usual livnon
(“linen”).
136 OECUMENIUS

and ever; (4) and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God
and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven
plagues of the seven angels were ended. (5) Then I heard a loud voice
from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth
the seven bowls of the wrath of God” (Rv 15.5–16.1).
23. The tent of testimony was the tent constructed in the wilder-
ness by Bezalel, the master-builder of the artifacts made at that
time;48 it was the custom in Holy Scripture to call it thus because
it was the tent of the testimonies and commands of God. For in
it was the ark of the covenant, the mercy-seat, the table, the al-
tars of incense and of burnt offering, the lampstand,49 and all
that God had commanded blessed Moses to construct, when
he said, “And you shall make for me all that I show you on the
mountain.”50 For this reason he has used the metaphor of the
old tent to describe the nature of the heavenly temple by calling
it the tent of testimony.
(2) From there, he says, the seven angels came out. From where
else could the heavenly ministers of God be seen coming out
except from the heavenly temple? (3) He says they had in their
hands seven plagues, which they were going to let fall on the earth.
For many signs will come about on earth at the time of the end,
which Christ also mentioned in the gospels when teaching about
the end.51 (4) The clothing of the angels with a pure bright stone
is a sign of their worth, purity, and radiance, and points to their
natural steadfastness for good, since they had indeed put on
Christ. For the Lord is named a stone in Holy Scripture, as found
in Isaiah, “Behold, I am laying in Zion for a foundation a stone,
very costly and chosen,”52 and in the prophet, “The stone which
the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.”53 Very
wise Paul also advises us to put on this stone: “Put on our” stone
“Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its
desires.”54 For whoever is clothed in this is out of reach of every
lust that harms the soul. (5) The girdles symbolize their capabil-
ity and preparedness, for it is said of them, “Mighty in power are

48. Cf. Ex 35.30. 49. Cf. Ex 31.7–8.

50. Ex 25.9. 51. Mk 13.
52. Is 28.16. 53. Ps 117.22.
54. Rom 13.14.
 CHAPTER EIGHT 137

they who keep his word.”55 (6) For these seven angels have taken
from one of the four living creatures, of whom much was said
earlier, the wrath of God in seven golden bowls. “Golden” was
well said, for even the wrath of God is precious, bringing with it
what is good and more profitable than justice, even if those suf-
fering punishment are in anguish.
(7) He says, And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of
God and from his power. The smoke is a sign of the divine wrath,
for Scripture says, “Smoke went up in his wrath.”56 Smoke is in-
dicative of fire; but there is also the smoke that blessed Isaiah
saw where he says, “And the lintel shook at the voices of the sera-
phim as they sang” the Trisagion, “and the house was filled with
smoke.”57 He was describing the wrath of God directed against
Jerusalem. (8) The words from the glory of God and from his pow-
er are a kind of periphrasis for the smoke, as if he said, “it was
filled with smoke from the wrath of God,” for God himself is the
power and the glory, and who could bear his wrath? (9) He says,
And no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven
angels were ended: for who will mount up on the wrath of God, or
who will remain alive when caught in it? “For if no one has stood
at the feet of the Lord,”58 according to Scripture, scarcely could
anyone endure God’s wrath. (10) He says, And I heard a com-
mand of one who came out that they should pour out on the earth
the seven bowls of the divine wrath.

24. The first angel went off and poured out his bowl on the earth,
and foul and evil sores came upon those who bore the mark of the beast
and worshiped its image. (2) Then the second angel poured out his bowl
over the sea, and it became blood like that of a corpse, and every living
thing died. (3) The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and
the fountains of water, and they became blood. (4) And I heard the an-
gel of the waters say, “Just are you, you who are and who were, the Holy
One, because of your judgments, (5) for they shed the blood of saints and
prophets, and you gave them blood to drink, for they are worthy.” (6)
And I heard the altar say, “Yes, Lord God, sovereign of all, true and just
are your judgments!” (Rv 16.2–7)
55. Ps 102.20. 56. Ps 17.9.
57. Is 6.4. 58. Jer 23.18.
138 OECUMENIUS

25. These words could be understood in two ways, either lit-

erally of the events that will occur at the time of the end, or al-
legorically. For when the Lord talked about the signs of the end,
he warned his disciples of many of the evils that would then oc-
cur. He said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. And na-
tion will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,
and there will be famines and plagues and earthquakes in vari-
ous places: all this is the beginning of the sufferings,”59 and after
a few verses, “Then there will be great tribulation, such as has
not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and
never will be.”60 It is with reference to these that the present say-
ings might be interpreted as having taken place, when each of
the seven bowls was being poured out. (2) The sores that result-
ed from the first bowl would then symbolize the tribulations and
sufferings which were slowly consuming the souls of human be-
ings at that time on account of rumors of wars, while the blood
in the sea would stand for those killed in naval battles, and the
blood of the rivers and of the waters probably connotes the mur-
ders in battles of those encamped beside the waters.
(3) He says, And I heard the angel of the waters speaking. God is
all-powerful both in showing care for his creation and in sup-
plying what all need for their welfare, so that he does not need
anyone to help him in this. For one whose will alone assures
the completion of the work, and by whose decree everything
has been brought into being—how could such a one stand in
need of a fellow-worker and assistant in order to do good? (4)
But since he is good, he wishes that the holy angels, too, should
be shown kindness by giving aid to those in need. For those who
help another in need are not benefiting the recipient so much as
themselves. None of the angelic powers was in need and required
aid from anybody else. So God ordered that those on earth who
were in need of any good thing would be supplied by the holy
angels. That is why we earlier recognized the angels as the pro-
tectors of the churches. So Daniel in his great wisdom wrote of
Michael, the ruler of the angels, as taking care of the tribe of the
Jews.61

59. Mt 24.6–8. 60. Mt 24.21.

61. Dn 12.1.
 CHAPTER EIGHT 139

(5) The Revelation now explains for us the angel appointed

over the waters. For the earthly creation was constructed from
the four elements of air, fire, earth, and water. (Some wanted to
hold that the heavens were made by a fifth primal body, which
they say was ethereal and circular.) Three of the elements, fire,
earth, and air, have been generously mixed together for the
needs of breathing and other common uses. But even if they say
that the ether is wholly the element of fire, yet its abundance and
self-sufficiency on earth lurk hidden in its hollows and stones.
There are even some who produce fire out of water contained
in vessels of glass when they face the rising sun. The earth is the
common mother, tomb, and sure home for all. It is only in the
case of fresh water, in springs, fountains, wells, and even rivers,
that there is not a plentiful supply for everyone, and in the case
of the water which comes from above, which is contained in the
clouds on high and by divine command gives us rain in due sea-
son and nourishes every living thing on the earth. (6) Therefore,
since there is not an abundant supply of water for everyone, one
of the holy angels is put in charge of it, in order that he may pro-
vide those in want with an unfailing sufficiency for their need.
When as often it fails or is withheld because of our evil deeds,
it results in droughts and famines and the plagues that follow
them. (7) It is of this angel appointed by God’s providence over
the waters, that he says, I heard him say, “You are just, you who are
and who were, the Holy One.” “You who are” signifies that God has
no end; “you who were” signifies that God has no beginning; “the
Holy One” is he who is altogether just in all things. (8) When he
says, because of your judgments, he means that those who poured
out the blood of the saints should drink blood. For those in war
who are encamped by the side of the waters and rivers cannot
but drink the water that has been befouled by blood from the
bodies of the dying. (9) In harmony with the angel those around
the heavenly altar render their thanksgiving to God. The words,
I heard the altar saying this, denote those ministering at the altar.
(10) May it be that we, being set free from all possible afflictions,
may render a hymn of thanksgiving to Christ, to whom be glory
for ever and ever. Amen.
 CHAPTER NINE

he three bowls poured out by the three angels ac-

complished what I have already described. We must
now consider what the fourth and fifth have done.

2. The fourth angel, he says, poured out his bowl on the sun, and his
task was to scorch human beings with fire, (2) and they were scorched by
the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these
plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory. (3) The fifth angel
poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was put
in darkness; people gnawed their tongues in anguish (4) and cursed the
God of heaven for their pain and sores, and did not repent of their deeds
(Rv 16.8–11).
3. It is not difficult to explain all this by means of the rules
of metaphor. The sun scorching human beings would be the
drought, the affliction, and the distress of the survivors of wars.
(2) When they were weighed down by their hardships, they ought
to have asked God for aid and release from their distressing or-
deals; for God was able to do this. But, he says, instead they cursed
God and did not repent. This is why the plagues occurred, so that
since they did not acknowledge their master as a result of God’s
kindnesses to them, at any rate they might acknowledge him as a
result of their torments.
(3) He says that the bowl of the fifth angel was poured out on
the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was put in darkness. The apos-
tle has written about the Antichrist, whom “the Lord will slay by
the breath of his mouth,”1 and Isaiah says, “Let the wicked per-
son be destroyed so as not to see the glory of the Lord,”2 mean-
ing by “glory” the glorious coming of the Lord. So the statement

1. 2 Thes 2.8.
2. Is 26.10.

140
 CHAPTER NINE 141

that the bowl was poured out on the throne of the beast means that
the impious tyranny of the Antichrist will come to an end once
he has, by God’s mercy, been destroyed, and darkness will take
hold of all those who are under his command as the result of the
unexpected punishment of his accursed tyranny: in distress at
what has happened, they will experience darkness in their rea-
soning.
(4) He says, They gnawed their tongues as a result of the fire.
This usually happens in any excessive agony, when people have
been accustomed to bite their tongues or a part of their body,
thinking that in this way they will alleviate much of their agony.
(5) They ought to have repented, if not on account of anything
else, at any rate because of the downfall of the Antichrist, whom
they had elected as king and god for themselves, but instead they
cursed the true God because of the destruction of the wretch.

4. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphra-
tes, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the
east. (2) And I saw, issuing from the mouth of the serpent and from the
mouth of the false prophet, three foul spirits like frogs; (3) for they are
demonic spirits, performing signs, which go abroad to the kings of the
whole world, to assemble them for war on the great day of God, the sover-
eign Lord. “See, I am coming like a thief! (4) Blessed is he who is awake,
looking after his garments that he might not go naked and his shame be
seen!” (5) And he assembled them at the place called in Hebrew Megiddo
(Rv 16.12–16).
5. The sixth angel made the river Euphrates fordable, perhaps
by drying up some of its springs, so as to facilitate the passage of
the kings through it. But by the work of the Devil and with the
consent of God a very large number of kings were brought to-
gether for war among themselves. For the Lord said, in the testi-
mony described a little earlier, that wars would take place about
the time of the end.3
(2) And I saw, he says, issuing from the mouth of the serpent and
from the mouth of the false prophet. He calls the Devil a serpent, the
Devil, who is the author of all evil. The false prophet is either

3. Cf. Mt 24.6.
142 OECUMENIUS

someone speaking at the instigation of the Devil, or the Anti-

christ. (3) If he really means the Antichrist, do not be surprised
that you meet him again after he had been earlier described as
having been destroyed by the Spirit of the Lord, and is now de-
scribed as still alive, spewing forth demons through his mouth.
For all that the evangelist sees are a vision, and he is often shown
the first things last and contrariwise the last first.
(4) And, he says, I saw three spirits like frogs, for they are demonic
spirits, performing signs, which go abroad to the kings. The demons
are compared to frogs because they rejoice in the muddy and
slimy life of human beings,4 and because the present murky
and flabby life of sinners is preferred by them to the restrained
and austere life of the righteous, since the demons are very envi-
ous and rejoice in the destruction of the living. (5) The assem-
bling of the kings to make war against each other at the time of
the end is a form of trickery on the part of the demons. He calls
the day great, which means “that moment.” For it is truly great
and fearful, as Joel also calls it in the words, “before the great
and indisputable day of the Lord comes.”5 (6) See, I am coming
like a thief, says the Lord. Like a thief refers to the suddenness and
unexpectedness of his second coming.
(7) Blessed is he who is awake, looking after his garments that he
might not go naked. He has continued with the figure of the thief,
so that he says he must guard his garments lest they are lost,
meaning by garments either the virtuous and honorable life, by
which we are made worthy of God’s protection, or our bodies,
which are to be [kept] chaste and pure. (8) For those who do
not keep guard will be ashamed before the angels and the hu-
man beings around the divine throne. They will be persecuted
in the day of judgment and will be naked, bereft of divine aid.
(9) He says, And the demons assembled 6 the kings of the earth at the
place called in Hebrew Megiddo. This is to be translated as “a cleft”
or “a cleaving.”7 So, then, as a result of the forthcoming slaugh-

4. Cf. 2 Pt 2.22.
5. Jl 3.4.
6. In the original quotation the singular was used. Here the plural occurs.
7. This connects the word Megiddo with the Hebrew root gdd, meaning “to
penetrate” or “cut.”
 CHAPTER NINE 143

ter and butchery of those assembled in it, he named the place of

war Megiddo.

6. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud
voice issued from the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” (2)
And there occurred flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, and a
great earthquake such as has never occurred since human beings came to
be on the earth, so great was that earthquake, (3) and the great city was8
[split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell down, and great
Babylon] was remembered before God to be given the cup of the wine of my
God and his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were
to be found; (4–5) and great hailstones like a hundredweight dropped
on human beings from heaven, and they cursed God for the plague of the
hail, so very great was that plague (Rv 16.17–21).
7. He poured out the bowl in the air, and the voice said, It is done.
What was done? The command, that is, of God, and his will. (2)
When It is done had been spoken, there came from the air, flash-
es of lightning and voices—flashes of lightning from on high, and
voices from those on earth in fear of the lightning. And peals of
thunder and an earthquake. (3) By the earthquake he either means
the tumult of the earth, since this also is included in the signs
of the end, or he calls the changing of the visible order an earth-
quake, as Haggai said, “Once again I will shake” not only “the
heaven” but also “the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I
will shake all the nations together.”9 This is why he says that such
[an earthquake] has never occurred before.
(4) He says, The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of
the nations fell down (Rv 16.19). By the great city he means Jerusa-
lem, and he clearly contrasts with this the cities of the nations. For
apart from Israel it is the custom in Holy Scripture to call the
rest of humankind nations. He calls it great because of its renown.
All the cities fell down, (5) for when the earth was being changed
and had become new, how could the cities on it remain standing
since they had been defiled by the residence of sinners?

8. There is a lacuna in the text, supplied by the comments that follow; see de
Groote ed., p. 216.
9. Hg 2.6–7.
144 OECUMENIUS

(6) He says, And great Babylon was remembered before God, to be

given the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.10 It was said earlier,
A second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great”
(Rv 14.8). In the present passage he is speaking to us about an-
other Babylon, and he gives us to understand that he means not
that one, but some other one. And I fancy he is talking about
Rome and all the calamities that will later overtake it, as the ac-
count will proceed to describe. Therefore he says, And great Baby-
lon was remembered before God. That is, the memory of her sins of
old, when they persecuted and murdered God’s people, came
into God’s mind. (7) The cup of the wine of the wrath of God has al-
ready been interpreted. So there is no need to spend any more
time on this.
(8) He says, And every island fled away, and no mountains were
to be found. The churches of the nations are said to be islands, as
the prophet says, “The Lord has become king; let the earth re-
joice; let the many islands be glad.”11 They have been called is-
lands as having sprung up and as having overcome the bitterness
and brackishness of idolatry. According to another meaning,
one might also understand islands to be the unclean brigades
of demons, as wallowing in this brackish and turbulent life. (9)
In referring to the mountains as demons he is supported by the
blessed poet, singing, “The mountains melted away like wax
from before the Lord because he is coming.”12 (10) Therefore,
the account tells us that the present brigades of demons will be
clean gone and will disappear. But where would the wretched
ones flee from the face of God, who holds “in his hand the ends
of the earth,”13 who “has measured heaven in a span and the
earth with the palm of his hand”?14 In vain will those who have
been struck by the plagues attempt flight and escape. (11) After
these events, and in the face of the violent hail, human beings
should have turned to prayers and entreaties. For then all these
signs against them would have ceased. But they even went on to
curse God, and that is why their troubles were in fact increased.

10. Note the difference between the comment and the original citation.
11. Ps 96.1. 12. Ps 96.5.
13. Ps 94.4. 14. Is 40.12.
 CHAPTER NINE 145

8. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and
spoke with me saying, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great
harlot who is seated upon many waters, (2) with whom the kings of the
earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornica-
tion the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” (3) And he carried me
away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a
scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven
heads and ten horns. (4) The woman was arrayed in purple and scar-
let, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand
a golden cup full of abominations, together with the impurities of the
earth’s15 fornication; (5) and on her forehead was written a name, a
mystery, “Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of the earth’s abomi-
nations” (Rv 17.1–5).
9. After completing the account of the end of the present
age and of all that will then happen, the vision turns to some-
thing else, as it wishes to show the evangelist what will happen to
Rome. (2) It says, He said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment
of the harlot who is seated upon many waters,” meaning by “judg-
ment” the way of life and society in which she has decided to live
and the way in which she spends her time. He calls her a harlot,
because of her fornication and rebellion against God. For this
is named fornication by Holy Scripture according to the words
of the prophet addressed to the God of the universe, “You have
destroyed everyone that commits fornication against you.”16 He
calls the nations over whom she rules and presides many waters,
as he himself goes on to say.
(3) He says, With whom the kings of the earth have committed forni-
cation. They are those who had been kings17 over [the nations],
for these are the kings of the earth who have shared in her for-
nication and mad idolatry. (4) He says, And the dwellers on earth
have become drunk with the wine of her fornication. For the rest, too,
of those she was ruling had joined in the revolt from God, some-
times by her compulsion and sometimes by her example. (5) He

15. Oecumenius here reads th`~ gh`~ (“the earth’s”) instead of aujth`~ (“her”)
as in Nestle-Aland, 27th ed., where the critical note shows that th`~ gh`~ appears
as a variant reading in several NT manuscripts.
16. Ps 72.27.
17. Greek basileuv~, a regular title for the emperors of Rome.
146 OECUMENIUS

says, And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. The wil-
derness symbolizes her coming desolation.
(6) He says, And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. By the
beast he means the Devil on whom she was relying and by whom
she was being controlled. The beast is scarlet because it has been
made red by the blood of the saints. (7) The beast was full of
blasphemous names. For the Devil, dedicated only to himself, fails
to render the worship due to God. (8) He says, Having seven
heads and ten horns. He goes on to interpret this, saying that the
heads and horns are the kings who have already reigned over her
and who were still going to reign. (9) And the woman was arrayed
in purple and scarlet—purple on account of her reign, scarlet be-
cause she had shed the blood of many saints. (10) Bedecked with
gold and jewels and pearls: the text rightly adorns her as a queen
with royal adornment. (11) Holding in her hand a golden cup, full
of abominations—golden on account of her honored sovereignty,
but nevertheless full of idolatry and pollutions by which she was
being nurtured and from which she poured her libations to her
demons.
(12) He says, The impurities of the earth’s fornication: for he at-
tributes to her the cause of the idolatry even of the rest of the
nations, as the prime worker of evils and of mad idolatry. (13)
There was, he says, written on her forehead, as if it were an inscrip-
tion on a monument, saying who she was, that she is Babylon, the
mother of harlots—Babylon because of the turmoil and confusion
in her, and the persecutions of the saints (for the name “Baby-
lon” signifies confusion, as has been mentioned), and she is the
mother of fornication and of rebellion against God. For how can
she not be a mother and teacher when she persecutes the gospel
and those proclaiming it and persuades the nations to remain at-
tached to their ancestral error?

10. And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Je-
sus. (2) When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me,
“Why marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast
with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. (3) The beast which you
saw was, and is not, and is going to ascend from the bottomless pit and
go to perdition; and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been
 CHAPTER NINE 147

written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel as
they behold the beast because it is not and is to come. (4) This calls for a
mind with wisdom” (Rv 17.6–9).
11. Not only did the harlot have her fill of the blood of the
saints, but she also became drunk, since her kings shed so much
blood on all sides. (2) I will tell you, he says, what the mystery is of
the woman and of the beast; that is, by means of the Revelation he
explains to you in mystical fashion these pictorial images. (3) He
says, The beast which you saw was, and is not, and is going to ascend
from the bottomless pit: the Devil was, having been brought into ex-
istence by God before the beginning of the visible universe to
perform good works, just like the rest of the blessed angels. But
he is not, since the events at the end of the age are shown to the
evangelist, when the Devil will go “into the fire prepared for him
and his angels.”18 For to be in such a condition is not to have any
being at all in the proper sense of the word. (4) Then, since the
Antichrist is going to be exhibited by his action at the end-time,
he says, And he is going to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to per-
dition. For by means of the Antichrist an ascent, and as it were an
increase, will accrue to the Devil, as the Antichrist leads human
beings astray and persuades them to worship the Devil, accord-
ing to what has already been said more than once. (5) Or you
can understand he was and is not in this way: the apostle, in writ-
ing to the Philippians, says, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who
have their being in Philippi,”19 calling the saints “beings”20 be-
cause they are in Christ and held in God’s intimacy and memory.
Therefore if the saints are beings, then the wretched Devil is
not now a being, even if he was such before he exalted himself
against God, the sovereign Lord of all, and was utterly expelled
from his own order. Similarly also the impious, even if they seem
to be beings in virtue of their substance and existence, in fact
are not beings when it comes to the decree and memory of God.
Because this is so, the book of Genesis does not give the gene-
alogy of the descendants of Cain, since through their impiety

18. Mt 25.41.
19. Phil 1.1.
20. Using the present participle of eijmiv in the sense that God is oJ {Wn (“he
who is”; see Ex 3.14), and those in Christ are oiJ o[nte~ (“they who are”).
148 OECUMENIUS

they are not beings. (6) He calls this perdition to which the Devil
will go, that is, his deserved punishment in Gehenna. For the
Lord speaks of those condemned to perish in Gehenna, saying,
according to Matthew, “Fear him who can destroy both soul and
body in Gehenna.”21
(7) He says, And the dwellers on earth will marvel, not all, but
those whose names are not22 in the book of life. Why will they
marvel? Because he was and is not and is to come, and the beast is be-
ing destroyed. Those who had believed in him were panic-struck
at his great change. For while wishing to be lord of the world and
while proclaiming himself as this, not only will he be deprived of
his rule, but he will also receive the deserved result of his wick-
edness. (8) He says, This calls for a mind with wisdom. This is the
way, he says, in which the mind is made wise: one needs to un-
derstand the riddle of how he was, and is not, and is going to ascend
from the bottomless pit. For the movement from being to non-being
seems to be opposite to ascending again from the bottomless pit,
unless one thinks of it in the way which has been explained.

12. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is seated;
there are also seven kings, (2) five of whom have fallen, one is, the other
has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain only a little while.
(3) As for the beast that was and is not, he is an eighth, but he comes
from the other seven, and is going to perdition. (4) And the ten horns
that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they
will have it 23 as kings; they are to receive it for one hour, together with the
beast. (5) These are of one mind and give over their power and author-
ity to the beast; (6) these will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will
conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with
him are called and chosen and faithful (Rv 17.9–14).
13. He says, The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman
is seated: this is a very clear indication that he is speaking about
Rome, for Rome is described as seven-crested, and no other city

21. Mt 10.28.
22. The word “not” is omitted in the manuscripts, but is a necessary
emendation by de Groote, in whose ed. see p. 222.
23. Oecumenius here reads e{xousin (“they will have”) instead of the accepted
text of Revelation, ejxousivan (“authority”).
 CHAPTER NINE 149

is so called. (2) He says, There are also seven kings, five of whom have
fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must re-
main only a little while. He reasonably regards the kings as heads;
for the kings are the head and summary of the Roman empire.
(3) Why did he say, in spite of the very many emperors of Rome,
that the beast had only seven heads? He said this since the sev-
en were specially responsible for causing the beast, that is, the
Devil, to raise up his head against the Christians, by stirring up
persecutions against the church. These were first Nero, second
Domitian, then Trajan, Severus, after him Decius, Valerian, and
Diocletian. When these were the emperors of Rome, they perse-
cuted the church without restraint, as Eusebius says in the Chron-
icles.24 (4) He says that of these seven, five have fallen by death:
Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Severus, and Decius, but that there was
still one, that is, Valerian.
(5) The other, he says, has not yet come, and when he comes, he must
remain only a little while. He means that the other is Diocletian,
after whom the seat of empire ceased to be in Rome and was
transferred to the city named after the pious Constantine, who
himself was responsible for changing the policies of the empire.
(6) The evangelist was told everything very accurately, especially
with regard to Diocletian, when he said, And when he comes, he
must remain only a little while, referring to the time spent in his
persecution against the Christians. For although he reigned for
twenty years, he began the persecution during the last two years
before he abdicated.
(7) He says, As for the beast that was and is not, he is an eighth, but
he comes from the seven, and he is going to perdition. He has placed
the Devil both first and also last as a persecutor and of one mind
with the seven. For how could the Devil, too, fail to be numbered
among them, since it was he who directed the seven to be so very
wicked?
(8) He says, And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have
not yet received royal power. Concerning these ten kings, or horns,
the prophet Daniel in his great wisdom has marked them out as
arising from the rule of the Romans when he said that they will

24. Eusebius, Chronicle 2.211–73.

150 OECUMENIUS

rise up in the last times; in the midst of these the Antichrist will
arise.25 That is why he says, They have not yet received royal power, but
they will have it as kings. He is right to say as kings, because of the
early demise and darkness of their reign. (9) Then he goes on to
say, For one hour they are to receive it with the beast. He here calls the
Antichrist a beast. Earlier on, too, he has called him this, saying,
Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth; and it had two horns
like those of a lamb (Rv 13.11). That they reigned over them for
one hour symbolizes either the short span of time of their reign,
or one hour is a figure of speech for a year.
(10) He says, These are of one mind, and give over their power and
authority to the beast. For even if the coming ten kings have con-
trary policies among themselves, in this at least they will be of
one mind, in giving their power and authority to the beast, that
is, the Antichrist. For they will be defeated by him, and he alone
will then rule over them all. But even if contrary to their expecta-
tion they are to be defeated, nevertheless, since the ten will have
the same experience of defeat and destruction, he says they have
one mind. It is as though he was saying that it is by their consent
and agreement that the ten will be defeated by the Antichrist.
(11) He says, These will make war on the Lamb. Before their total
destruction by the Antichrist, those whom we are describing will
persecute the church. (12) But Christ will be victor. Evil as they
are, he will hand them over to the more evil Antichrist to death.
Or, according to another interpretation of “Christ will be victor,”
it refers to his slaves’ striving until death on behalf of their faith
in him. For he says, they are called and chosen and faithful —that is,
the slaves of Christ.

14. And he said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the harlot is
seated, are peoples and nations and multitudes and tongues. (2) And
the ten horns which you saw and the beast, they will hate the harlot,
and they will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and
burn her up with fire. (3) For God has put it into their hearts to carry
out his purpose and to be of one mind and give over their royal power to
the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. (4) And the woman

25. Cf. Dn 8.23?

 CHAPTER NINE 151

whom you saw is the great city which has dominion over the kings of the
earth” (Rv 17.15–18).
15. He said, The waters where the harlot is seated are peoples and
nations, over which the city clearly has dominion. (2) How will
Rome be made desolate by the kings? For we considered that it
was Rome which the Revelation meant. Perhaps they will fight
against her because she is a queen, secure, populous, and the
receiver of tribute. So in the war over her she would have to be a
prize of conquest and be ill-treated by all, destroyed by fire and
made desolate.
(3) He says, For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his
purpose: he means that with God’s consent she will suffer this
at the hands of her adversaries and those who wish to take her.
(4) And, he says, to be of one mind and give over their royal power to
the beast: just as with one mind they were handed over as subject
to the Antichrist, as has been said previously. He says, until the
words of God shall be fulfilled: he means that they will be subject to
the beast until the punishment of the Antichrist takes place and
God’s decrees on him through the prophets are fulfilled. (5) In
his desire to give a clearer reference to the city whose story he is
telling, he adds that the woman is the great city which has dominion
over all.

16. After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, hav-
ing great authority; and the earth was bright with his splendor. (2) And
he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
She has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt of every foul spirit,
and a haunt of every foul and hateful bird, (3) for all the nations have
fallen down26 as a result of the wrath due to her fornication: the kings of
the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the
earth have grown rich from the extent of her wantonness” (Rv 18.1–3).
17. He says, I saw another angel having great authority: he means
that this is the source of the heavenly light that illuminates the
earth with its splendor. (2) He says, Fallen is Babylon: he proclaims
God’s sentence against her. He says that she was meant to suffer

26. The text here reads pevptwke (“have fallen down”) whereas textual
variations in other manuscripts and the later comment read pevpwke (“have
drunk”) in line with most manuscripts of Rv 18.3.
152 OECUMENIUS

this. (3) And she became a dwelling place of demons: the destroying
demons, as haters of humankind and greedy for blood, wher-
ever they might find men’s blood shed, when they were killed
in wars or in some other way, spend their time as though exult-
ing in what was happening among them. Therefore, since most
people in the city will be destroyed, as he said earlier, it will be-
come for the future a dwelling place of demons, a haunt of every foul
spirit, a place which keeps careful watch over the behavior of the
demons in their enjoyment of it. (4) And a haunt of every foul bird
and of every unclean beast: such beasts shun the life of human be-
ings and cling to desolate places and so keep themselves secure
from those who plot against them and from the pursuit of hunt-
ers. These are the sort of things which Isaiah the prophet, too,
says about Babylon. He says, “There owls will dwell, and there
demons will dance. Satyrs will dwell there, and hedgehogs will
build their nests in their houses.”27
(5) For all the nations have drunk of the wrath of her fornication:
he means here by fornication their insatiable appetite and love of
money, for such is the manner of harlots. For those in the afore-
mentioned city were closely joined to all the nations, and when
they had subdued them, they ordered them to pay tribute. (6)
And their kings, he says, have become accomplices and sharers
in her love of money, and the merchants who traded in her, he
says, have grown rich from her wantonness; that is, because of her
contempt and her loose, gushing, and sloppy lifestyle, they were
able to peddle all kinds of wares in her.

18. Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of
her, my people, so that you may not participate in her sins and conse-
quently share in her plagues, (2) for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities. (3) Render to her as she herself
has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds in the cup in which she
mixed a double draught.28 (4) As she glorified herself and played the

27. Is 13.21–22.
28. Rv 18.6. The accepted text has ejkevrasen keravsate, whereas Oecumenius’s
text omits the imperative verb. Note also that in v.4 NT has ejxevlqate, but Oec
has e[xelqe, as in some manuscripts of Revelation. So, too, Oec reads aujtw`n in
place of NT aujth`~.
 CHAPTER NINE 153

wanton, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning. Since in

her heart she says, ‘A queen I sit, I am no widow, mourning I shall never
see,’ (5) so shall her plagues come in a single day, death and mourning
and famine, and she shall be burned with fire, for mighty is the Lord who
has judged her” (Rv 18.4–8).
19. When the divine angels overthrew the city of the Sod-
omites to execute judgment on those in it and in the neighbor-
ing cities—or rather, as Saint Cyril thought,29 when the Son of
God and the Holy Spirit visited there (“for the Father will not
judge anyone,” as Scripture says, “but has given all judgment to
the Son,”30 of course with the life-giving Spirit being present with
him naturally and substantially)—they then said to blessed Lot,
“Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the re-
gion; take refuge in the hills, lest you be consumed.”31 (2) The
Revelation now gives us the same teaching. Since it is impossible
that in this very great, populous city, Rome, there should fail to
be some slaves of Christ, he says to them, Come out of her, my peo-
ple, so that you may not participate in her sins and consequently share
in her plagues. To participate in her sins is also to share in her
plagues, for the plagues are the result of her sins.
(3) He says, For her sins are heaped high as heaven: as one might
say, she defiled the air between earth and heaven with her sins.
So he says, “God, after being patient for so long, has now woken
up to exact repayment.” (4) That is why he says, Render to her
double for her sins, even though God has enjoined us through
the all-wise Moses, “You shall not take vengeance twice for the
same offense.”32 So why does he himself render double? Double
does not here mean twice as much, but because God is benevo-
lent and good, and punishes much less severely than the offense
merits, he thinks he has rendered double even when he has ren-
dered a part, and not only double, but also sevenfold. Knowing
this, the prophet said, “Render sevenfold into the bosom of our
neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted you, Lord.”33
By this petition for sevenfold he is asking God for a due pun-
ishment of his enemies. (5) He is now saying, “because she has

29. Cyril of Alexandria, De adoratione et cultu in spiritu et veritate 1.

30. Jn 5.22. 31. Gn 19.7.
32. Cf. Dt 32.41; Na 1.9. 33. Ps 78.12.
154 OECUMENIUS

been living in splendor and wantonness in this present life and

has taken no thought for God’s will, Render to her.” For she is say-
ing, “I shall never be deprived of my reign”; for this is the mean-
ing of the widow, she who is bereft of her reign; “nor shall I see
any evil.” Therefore, on account of her boasting all kinds of evil
will fall on her at once. (6) For, he says, God is mighty and will
not be prevented by anyone from bringing judgment and pun-
ishment upon her. (7) May we all be free from this by the grace
of the one who called us to know him and to hope in Christ, to
whom be glory for ever. Amen.
 CHAPTER TEN

he account in the Revelation is still concerned with

Rome. In describing her very great and dramatic change
the account continues to dwell on it. So what does it
say?

2. And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived
in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke
of her burning, (2) as they stand afar off, in fear of her torment, and
say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, Babylon, you mighty city! In one hour
has your judgment come.” (3) And the merchants of the earth are weep-
ing and mourning for her, since no one is buying their merchandise any
more, (4) their gold, silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen, purple,
silk, and scarlet, every kind of scented wood, every article of ivory, ev-
ery article of very costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble, cinnamon, (5)
spice, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and
sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, and human souls. (6) The fruit
for which your soul has longed has gone from you, and all your dainties
and splendor are lost to you, and they will never find her1 again. (7)
The merchants of these things, who gained their wealth from her, will
stand afar off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning and say-
ing, (8) “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen and
purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
(9) In one hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And every shipmas-
ter and all who were sailing on the river,2 sailors and all whose trade is
on the sea, (10) stood far off and cried out as they saw the anguish3 of
her burning, “What city was like the great city?” (11) And they threw
dust on their heads, as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas,

1. Oecumenius reads aujth;n (i. e., Babylon) instead of the usual neuter plural
aujta;.
2. Oecumenius here reads potamo;n (“river”) instead of tovpon (“place”).
3. Oecumenius here reads povnon instead of kapno;n (“smoke”).

155
156 OECUMENIUS

for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth,
for in one hour she has been laid waste” (Rv 18.9–19).
3. How variously and neatly has he woven the lament over her
and the climax of her grief. Since practically everything is clear,
let us simply note what seems to be difficult and go on to the
rest. (2) He says, Horses, chariots, and slaves. The word for chari-
ots is Latin, for since the Romans were ruling, it is not at all un-
reasonable for the blessed evangelist to use Latin. But the text
has turned it into Greek. For redium4 is the Latin for chariot, but
he has put the genitive plural case, and one ought to say redio-
rum according to Latin usage, but when turning it into Greek he
has written a Greek ending, saying redōn [rJedw`n], in order that
the word may be in a proper form. (3) He says, Horses, chariots,
and slaves, meaning chariot-horses are suitable for chariots, and
slaves, that is, steeds meant for riding.

4. Rejoice over her, heaven, saints, apostles, and prophets, for God
has given judgment for you against her! (2) Then an angel 5 took up
a huge stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So
shall Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and shall be
found no more; (3) and the sound of harpists, minstrels, flute-players,
and trumpeters shall be heard in you no more; and no craftsman of any
kind shall be found in you from now on; and the sound of the millstone
shall be heard in you no more; and the light of a lamp shall shine in you
no more; (4) and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall be heard in
you no more; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, and all
the nations were deceived by your sorcery, (5) and in her was found the
blood of all the prophets and saints who have been slain on earth” (Rv
18.20–24).
5. The merchants and the kings of the earth and all who had
an interest in the city while it was standing and prospering will
weep over it, but let the heavens rejoice, that is, the angels in
heaven and the souls of the righteous—the latter because God
has effected vengeance, and the angels as rejoicing together

4. Oecumenius uses a neuter form, redium, whereas the Latin is feminine,

reda or raeda.
5. Oecumenius uses the adjective “mighty” to qualify the stone, not the angel
(ijscuro;n rather than ijscuro;~).
 CHAPTER TEN 157

with those who were avenged. (2) Again, by dwelling on this in

the exposition he emphasizes the suffering of the spiritual Baby-
lon. As all this is clear, there is no need to spend time on what is
generally agreed.

6. After this I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, cry-

ing, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his
judgments are true and just; (2) for he has judged the great harlot who
corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has exacted vengeance
from her hand for the blood of his slaves.” (3) A second time they cried,
“Alleluia! The smoke from her is going up for ever and ever.” (4) And
the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and wor-
shiped God, who is seated on the throne, saying, “Amen, Alleluia!” (5)
And from the throne came a voice crying, “Praise our God, all you his
slaves, you who fear him, small and great” (Rv 19.1–5).
7. He says, I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multi-
tude from heaven. The ranks of the holy angels are innumerable,
as one of the fathers spoke of “the ninety-nine sheep,”6 saying
that those who were being preserved and who did not wander
away were the angels, and that the one who wandered off was
the whole of humanity.7 (2) They were crying, he says, Alleluia.
Alleluia is a Hebrew word; it means “Praise, laud God.” Accord-
ingly, they sing a song of thanksgiving for the righteous judg-
ment of the spiritual Babylon. (3) And a second time they raised
the same hymn, and again they uttered it a little further on: by
this threefold use of Alleluia they were glorifying the holy and
venerable Trinity; for this is God.
(4) He says, The smoke from her is going up for ever and ever. The
hymn Alleluia broke midway through the sequence of the argu-
ment, since this is indeed the logical order: And he has exacted
vengeance from her hand for the blood of his slaves. And the smoke from
her is going up for ever and ever: he means the smoke of the city as
being completely burnt up, for smoke indicates fire. (5) When
the elders and the living creatures said Amen, this shows their
approval of the doxology offered by the holy angels, for when

6. Mt 18.12–13; Lk 15.4, 7.
7. Cf. Epiphanius, In assumptione Christi; Chrysostom, De remissione peccatorum;
Origen, Commentary on Psalms 18.6.
158 OECUMENIUS

Amen is translated from Hebrew to Greek it is rendered, “may it

be so.” (6) He says, Praise our God, small and great; for he calls the
greater ones small, because of their sanctification, and he calls
those who are eminent great.

8. And I heard what seemed to be the sound of a great multitude, like

the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunderpeals,
crying, “Alleluia! For the Lord our God, the sovereign of all, has entered
upon his reign. (2) We rejoice and exult and will give him the glory,8 for
the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready;
it was granted to her to be clothed with fine linen.” (3) These are the
righteous deeds of the saints. (4) And he said to me, “Write: Blessed are
those who have been invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he
said to me, “These are the true words of God” (Rv 19.6–9).
9. When the seraphim in words of the divine prophet Isa-
iah9 said “holy” three times, they ascribed the threefold hymn
of praise to the one lordship, indicating on the one hand that
there were three addressed in the hymns by their peculiar attri-
butes or persons10 (if it is thought proper to say so), but one in
the being11 of the Godhead. So also here after the blessed angels
had previously uttered Alleluia thrice, and had ascribed worship
to each of the three holy beings,12 now they go on to sing Alleluia
to the Holy Trinity, intimating that the holy and glorified Trinity
exists in a single being and Godhead.13
(2) He says, For the Lord our God has entered upon his reign: our
Lord Jesus Christ, even before his saving incarnation, reigned
with the Father and the all-holy Spirit over those in heaven and
on earth, as the only Son and Word of the Father and as the
craftsman of the universe. And after the incarnation he is like-
wise the lord and king of all, since in no way was he limited by
his incarnation as far as concerns his supreme rule and reign.
(3) But since according to the most wise apostle14 we do not yet
see all things subjected to him, in the age to come all things will

8. Oecumenius here reads indicatives instead of the usual subjunctives.

9. Is 6.3. 10. Greek, provswpa.
11. Greek, oujs iva. 12. Greek, uJpostavsei~.
13. Greek, monadikh; oujs iva kai; qeovth~.
14. 1 Cor 15.27–28.
 CHAPTER TEN 159

be subjected, including those who up to now have been haugh-

tily resisting him, so that even death itself will be made subject
to him—for “the last enemy to be destroyed is death”15—for this
reason the blessed angels rightly say, The Lord our God has entered
upon his reign. In so doing they refer their hymn of praise to the
age to come, as then by the subjection of all things Christ will ob-
tain in its highest perfection his reign over all. Some will make
their submission by being punished, others as they come to full
knowledge face to face and no longer as they now see “in a mir-
ror or a blurred image.”16
(4) He says, For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride
has made herself ready: at the present time the marriage of the
Lord to the church is still a courtship and not yet a complete
marriage. The blessed apostle symbolizes this when writing the
second epistle to the Corinthians, in which he says, “I betrothed
you to one man to present you to Christ as a pure virgin.”17 So
this is still a matter of courtship; for “I betrothed” is used of
courtship. And as a symbol of courtship we receive “the earnest
of the Spirit.”18 (5) When, however, the church truly becomes
one spirit with Christ, then the marriage is complete, just as the
man becomes one body with his wife. For when the wise apostle
reflects on physical marriage, he puts it very graphically, saying,
“the two shall become one flesh,” and then adds, “This is a great
mystery, and I take it to refer to Christ and the church.”19 So
when the holy angels say, The marriage of the Lamb has come, they
mean that the marriage consequent on the present courtship
will be consummated. (6) The gospel, too, has clearly taught us
this on two occasions: firstly it tells the story of the marriage of
a king’s son, when many had been invited to the banquet, some
of whom joined in the feast, but others excused themselves from
the supper, and how one who was not wearing “a wedding gar-
ment” was chased away.20 Then also it speaks of the ten virgins,
of whom five, whom it calls “prudent,” went with the bridegroom
into that happy bridal chamber, while the others were shut out,

15. 1 Cor 15.26.

16. 1 Cor 13.12. Oecumenius here reads di j ejsovptou h] aijnivgmati.
17. 2 Cor 11.2. 18. 2 Cor 1.22.
19. Eph 5.31–32. 20. Mt 22.2–14.
160 OECUMENIUS

since they had not filled their lamps with sufficient oil. Nothing
in these events can be understood as referring to the present,
but only to the future. So the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his
bride the church is present, ready to enjoy those ineffable good
things resulting from its union with Christ.
(7) By clothed with linen he means, “having a garment of vir-
tues.” It is linen on account of its brightness and plainness,
bright because of [the church’s] incomprehensible being and
way of life, plain in its teachings and thoughts about God. (8) He
says, And he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those who have been invited
to the marriage-supper of the Lamb,” even though some are destined
to depart. For we know that although many have been invited in
the gospels, some did not attend the spiritual banquet, either by
going away, or by being excluded because they did not have “a
wedding garment,”21 as was made clear a short while back. And
the divine apostle, too, has said, “Many are called, but few are
chosen.”22

10. And I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me,
“Don’t do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who hold
the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy” (Rv 19.10).
11. The accursed and godforsaken Greeks understand that
we have a divine doctrine which states that the holy angels, with
the approval of God, are the guardians of nations and of church-
es and of each one of us.23 Daniel in his great wisdom wrote
about the nations: “And I have come because of your words. And
the prince of the kingdom of the Persians withstood me”;24 and
again, “But I am now returning to make war against the prince
of the Persians; and I went forth, and the prince of the Greeks
came”;25 and again, “There is none who contends by my side for
this [purpose] except Michael, your prince”;26 and again, “At
that time Michael will arise, the great prince, who has charge

21. Mt 22.11–12.
22. Mt 20.14.
23. Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum 4.
24. Dn 10.12–13.
25. Dn 10.20. 26. Dn 10.21.
 CHAPTER TEN 161

over the sons of your people.”27 (2) The present Revelation has
spoken previously about the guardians of the churches, with
which Saint Gregory agrees when he writes of the holy angels, “I
believe that an angel is a guardian of each church, as John teach-
es me through the Revelation.”28 The prophet has spoken about
the angels as guardians of each one, “The angel of the Lord en-
camps around those who fear him, and will deliver them,”29 and
the apostle also writes about the holy angels, “Are they not all
ministering spirits sent forth to serve for the sake of those who
are going to obtain salvation?”30 (3) So when [the Greeks] hear
these things being taught as our belief, they say to us, “Why, you
fellows, since you have the same belief as we have, do you take
offense at our belief which assigns gods as rulers over nations?
Those whom you call angels, we call gods: we disagree only about
the names, and no longer about the facts; and since you also say
ranks of angels are called gods, the difference is not even about
names.” (4) To them we must reply: “You are damned: both in
the worship of the works of your hands, and in having set up as
gods only yesterday or the day before those whom you knew to
be involved in all kinds of disgraceful conduct, you filched away
most of our divine teachings; you took them and mixed them
with your deadly doctrines, but, as you took your reason and not
God as your guide, you were not able to preserve the overall ex-
cellence of our doctrines, but after following them a little way
you were shipwrecked somewhere near the start. Wherefore, we
and you have nothing in common, just as Scripture says, ‘light
has nothing in common with darkness or Christ with Beliar.’31
(5) For when you think of national gods (though really they are
unclean demons), you show yourselves as offering reverence to
them and wishing to worship them as gods; and when you have
deified them, they take no account of God, who has made pro-
vision for the care of humankind, but they govern the nations
by their own will just as they wish. (6) So you allocated to Ares
the fierce and bloodthirsty Scythians and Germans, who had be-

27. Dn 12.1.
28. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes 42.9.
29. Ps 33.8.
30. Heb 1.14. 31. 2 Cor 6.14–15.
162 OECUMENIUS

come such under the rule of murderous Ares, the bane of hu-
man beings; and you assign the Greeks for their intelligence to
Athene, as having obtained their intelligence from her;32 and
you deal similarly with others, assigning the gods to the nations
each according to their own natural propensity.”
(7) But you will understand what we say from the present text.
For when the evangelist wished to worship the divine angel, but
not to worship him as God (for who knew better than John who
is naturally and truly God, and who the angels are, that they are
ministers and slaves and creatures of God?), nevertheless [the
angel] is shown as refusing to accept even the worship due to an
angel, since this is indeed a form of worship, and saying, Don’t do
that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who hold the testimo-
ny of Jesus. (8) “Don’t do that” is not simply a phrase to prevent
an action, but is a positive affirmation. He says that he is himself
a fellow slave of all who confess themselves slaves of Christ and
who testify that God has become incarnate. (9) What, therefore,
must we do, most divine angel, when you refuse to be worshiped?
He says, Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of proph-
ecy, as if he were saying, “Are you trying to worship me, because I
told you beforehand the things that are to come? All those who
witness to the rule and divinity of Christ are full of prophetic
grace, and not I alone. Why, therefore,” he says, “do you worship
one who has been given the same grace as my fellow slaves? Can
the Greeks’ beliefs about those who rule over the nations ever be
the same as what Christians say about the holy angels?”

12. Then I saw heaven opened, and see, a white horse! He who sat
upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and
makes war. (2) His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many di-
adems; and he has a name inscribed which no one but he himself knows.
(3) He is clad in a robe sprinkled 33 with blood, (4) and his name is
called the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine white
linen, followed him on white horses. (5) From his mouth issues a sharp
sword with which to smite the nations, and he will shepherd them with

32. Cf. Homer, Iliad 5.31, 455, 844, 846.

33. Oecumenius reads ejrramevnon (“sprinkled”) instead of bebammevnon
(“dipped”).
 CHAPTER TEN 163

a rod of iron; he himself is treading the wine-press of the wine of God, of

the wrath of God the sovereign Lord. (6) On his robe and on his thigh he
has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords (Rv 19.11–16).
13. This is after the hour of the overthrow of Babylon. It is
clear what is meant by Babylon; and now this, too, is shown to
the evangelist: the fall both of the Antichrist and the serpent,
the originator of evil, and the kind of punishment to which they
are going at the time of the end and their punishment, together
with the overthrow of the kings who will rise at that time against
the slaves of Christ. (2) See what he says: I saw heaven opened, and
see, a white horse! He who sat upon it is faithful and true and just: he
sees the Lord as though he was joining in the war in defense of
the saints and taking the field against their adversaries. So the
vision surrounds him with a general’s equipment, giving him a
horse and sword and the leadership of the armed hosts.
(3) And see, he says, a white horse on which the Lord was rid-
ing, where the symbolism makes it clear that Christ does not rest
upon any except the pure and those unmarked by any stain of
sin. So the Lord has called Paul “the chosen vessel, to bear my
name before the gentiles and kings of the children of Israel.”34
Therefore, note that Christ rests on and mounts upon those such
as Paul describes. (4) He says, He who sat upon it, that is, on the
horse, is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and
makes war: the true one is faithful, as the apostle says of him,
“He remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself,”35 so that he is
Faithful and True, where two epithets have been used about the
same person. (5) That he judges righteously and makes war on be-
half of his slaves against their actual enemies, the prophet bears
witness, saying, “Give the king your judgment, O God, and your
righteousness to the king’s son,”36 that is, Christ; for Christ is a
son of Solomon according to the flesh, to whom the psalm re-
fers, as he goes on to say, “to judge your people with righteous-
ness and your poor with justice.”37 (6) That it is the same one

34. Acts 9.15. Oecumenius omits kai; (“and”) between “kings” and “children
of Israel,” thus reading basilevwn uiJw`n jIsrahvl (the latter two words being
rendered in some English translations as “sons of Israel”).
35. 2 Tm 2.13.
36. Ps 71.1. 37. Ps 71.2.
164 OECUMENIUS

who is also making war he shows by arming him in military fash-

ion, with the words, “Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty
one, in your grace and beauty; exert yourself, and prosper and
reign”; and then he adds, “Your arrows are sharp, O mighty one;
peoples will fall beneath you.”38
(7) He says, His eyes are a flame of fire: the fire of his eyes shows
his fury against the enemy. (8) And on his head, he says, are many
diadems, altogether as many as the regiments in heaven and on
earth over which he reigns. He has a name, he says, inscribed which
no one but he himself knows. (9) In the seventh section of Exodus
God says to blessed Moses, “I, the Lord, appeared to Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob, being their God, but I did not make known
to them my name, ‘the Lord,’”39 as it is clearly greater than any-
thing which can be comprehended by the hearing of a human
being. This is why the Lord told his apostles how those who turn
to the knowledge of God must be baptized, saying, “baptizing
them into the name”; and when he said name he did not use the
title “Lord.” For he was not able to utter their title, “Lord,” but
instead of calling them “Lord” he gave relational and descriptive
names, saying in relational terms, “into the name of the Father
and of the Son,” and then adding the descriptive term “and of
the Holy Spirit.”40 So with great accuracy in the Revelation, too,
he lets the name “Lord” of the only Son be unknown to all and
sundry.
(10) He says, Clad in a robe sprinkled with blood: for even in the
vision the Lord was bearing the marks of his passion, and was
showing his all-holy body all but covered with his precious blood.
(11) And his name is called the Word of God: do you see how after
avoiding the name “Lord” above, the vision has now put a de-
scriptive title instead of it, saying, The Word of God ? (12) And the
armies of heaven, arrayed in fine white linen, followed him on white
horses: for he is the commander-in-chief of the heavenly powers,
and thus the Lord has called himself, bearing the title of “Jesus
son of Nun,”41 saying, “As the commander-in-chief of the power
of the Lord have I now come.”42 (13) The horses are white for

38. Ps 44.4–6. 39. Ex 6.2–3.

40. Mt 28.19. 41. Jos 5.9.
42. Jos 5.14.
 CHAPTER TEN 165

the holy angels, too; for they delight in the pure among human-
kind, since they are naturally pure and unstained by any defile-
ment. The clothing of pure white linen shows this.
(14) And from his mouth, that is, from the commander-in-chief,
issues a sword: the divine prophet places the sword “upon the
thigh”43 of the Lord in the passage cited a little earlier, while the
vision describes it more accurately and places it in his mouth. In
this way it is indicated that by the word of God all things have
their being, and he who transgresses this in anything will not go
unpunished. With which to smite the nations: which nations? Those
who march with the Antichrist under his command against the
slaves of Christ. (16) He says, And he will shepherd them with a rod
of iron: for the Lord, being goodness itself and mercy, wished
to rule these nations, of whom the account speaks, with a shep-
herd’s rod of succor, “to bring them into green pastures and to
nourish them beside the waters of comfort.”44 But since they have
not wanted this, they will be shepherded with a rod of iron, that is,
with one that is harsh and deadly. For those who are not changed
by the Word can expect only punishment. (17) And because the
iron rod indicates harshness and punishment, the prophet, in his
desire to hint at the rule of the Romans, of which Daniel said,45
“Arise, devour much flesh,” spoke in regard to God: “You will
shepherd them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a
potter’s vessel.”46 When the time was favorable, God ruled them
with a shepherd’s rod, but in the last time he will do so with a rod
of iron. (18) And he himself is treading the wine-press of the wine of the
fury of the wrath of God the sovereign Lord of all: the Lord said in the
gospels about his own Father, “The Father judges no one, but has
given all judgment to the Son”;47 therefore, the Revelation has
been very correct in saying that he himself is treading the wine-press
of the fury of the wrath of God, for by means of judgment and the
requital of the wicked he fulfills his Father’s will, and so becomes
the fulfiller of the just wrath of the Father.
(19) On his robe and on his thigh he has [a name] inscribed, King
of kings and Lord of lords: the robe is an allegorical description of

43. Ps 44.4. 44. Ps 22.2.

45. Dn 7.5. 46. Ps 2.9.
47. Jn 5.22.
166 OECUMENIUS

the flesh of the Lord, which has been given life by his mind,48
according to the holy angels speaking in Isaiah: “Why are your
robes red, and your garments like those of one who has come
from a fully trodden wine-press?”49 The thigh clearly indicates
his physical birth; for it is written in Genesis, “All the souls who
entered Egypt with Jacob, those who came from his thighs. . . .”50
(20) The symbolism of the writing on his robe and on his thigh
shows “Emmanuel” to be king over all.51 Although the Word was
hypostatically united to the flesh and underwent a physical birth
from a virgin, he is no less King and Lord of all things in heaven
and upon earth, since his dignity was not diminished by his in-
carnation; for as such he was God, and is God, and will always be
so.

14. Then I saw another angel standing in the sun, and with a loud
voice he cried out to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, (2) “Gather for
the great supper of God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of
captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and
the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.” (3) And I saw
the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make
war against him who sits upon the horse and his army. (4) And the
beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had
worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark
of the beast and those who worshiped its image. The two were thrown
alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone. (5) And the rest
were slain by the sword of him who sits upon the horse, the sword that is-
sued from his mouth; and all the birds were gorged with their flesh (Rv
19.17–21).
15. I think that this holy angel who is now spoken of is a her-
ald of the army of the divine battle-order, and that a charge has
been sounded to all the holy angels in heaven, whom he figura-
tively calls birds because they are on high and traverse the air, to
take part in the killing of the enemies. Of course, even a single
angel was not incapable of destroying the whole battle-order of
the enemies, as an angel clearly showed when in one night he

48. Greek, noerw`~. 49. Is 63.2–3.

50. Gn 46.26. 51. Is 7.14.
 CHAPTER TEN 167

struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians.52

But [all the angels are given the charge] so that all may become
sharers in the rejoicing over the enemy. For I think that they,
too, are saying with the prophet, “Have I not hated them that
hate you, Lord, and do I not pine away over your enemies? I hat-
ed them with a perfect hatred; they have become my enemies.”53
(2) When the charge was sounded to the angels flying in mid-
heaven, he himself stood in mid-heaven and made proclama-
tion. The sun is firmly fixed in the middle of the seven planets,
with three above it and three below it. (3) It either means this,
or that the proclamation was being made in the light as though
in the Spirit, and that he was speaking of the result of the com-
ing slaughter. The Spirit is a spiritual light, as the prophet teach-
es, when referring to God and the Father, saying, “In your light
we shall see light,”54 that is, “We shall see the Son in the Spirit.”
(4) He says, that you may eat the flesh of kings: he calls the joy
over the death of the enemies the food of those whom he men-
tions. In a similar way the Lord, too, talks of joy when he says
to his disciples and apostles, “I have food to eat which you do
not know,”55 describing in this way the gladness of those who
are going to believe. (5) The Devil and the Antichrist, whom
he calls a false prophet of the beastly Devil, together with the
kings who marched with them, made war against the Lord and
his divine angels, but they were defeated more quickly than a
word. What do the divine Scriptures say about them? Isaiah says,
“Let the impious one be done away with, that he may not see the
glory of the Lord,”56 meaning his sudden destruction; and the
apostle says, “whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his
mouth.”57 What could be quicker than breathing and blowing
against the enemies?
(6) He says, The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, and the
rest were slain by the sword: what an excellent display of justice! He
did not consider the guilty protagonists of the war and their as-
sociates to deserve the same punishment. The two, that is, the
Devil and the Antichrist, were condemned to the fire, in which

52. 2 Kgs 19.35. 53. Ps 138.21–22.

54. Ps 35.10. 55. Jn 4.32.
56. Is 26.10. 57. 2 Thes 2.8.
168 OECUMENIUS

they will remain alive forever, for this is symbolized by their be-
ing thrown into the fire alive. But the rest were put to death by
the sword. To be punished by the sword is certainly far quicker
than by fire. (7) Once he has started to mention the kind of
punishment that the Devil will suffer, to maintain the continuity
of the account he goes on to describe what [the Devil] has suf-
fered from the incarnation of the Lord. Keeping a grasp on this
sequence, he has more to say about the Lord’s incarnate pres-
ence, and he says:

16. I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2) And he seized the ser-
pent, the ancient snake, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for
a thousand years, (3) and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed
it over him, that he should no longer deceive the nations, till the thou-
sand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while, to
deceive the nations again (Rv 20.1–3).
17. For this is what he goes on to say. Surely the Revelation is
not telling us about the thousand years of the ungodly Greeks
and the transmigration of souls and the water of Lethe and I do
not know what nonsense and silly talk, when it says that the Devil
will be bound for a thousand years and released again and de-
ceive the nations? Forget about such worthless doctrines which
are fitting for Greek crookedness! (2) What then does he say?
The prophet tells us, “For a thousand years in your sight, Lord,
are like yesterday which is past, and a watch in the night.”58
So, then, the thousand years are reckoned as one day in the
eyes of God. The second epistle of blessed Peter says the same
thing, when he writes, “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand
years as one day.”59 (3) So this is how it is: blessed Isaiah calls the
whole incarnation of the Lord “a day,” saying, “In a time of fa-
vor I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I helped you.”60
Nor is this all: the psalmist, too, calls it a day and an early morn-
ing, saying somewhere, “This is the day that the Lord has made;

58. Ps 89.4. 59. 2 Pt 3.8.

60. Is 49.8.
 CHAPTER TEN 169

let us rejoice and be glad in it”61 with the joy of our salvation;
elsewhere he sings, “in the morning you will hear my voice; in
the morning I will stand by you, and you will see me.”62 For our
prayers have been deemed acceptable and worthy of the vision
of God and the Father. They have become so by the intercession
and atonement of the Lord. And again he says about Jerusalem,
“God will help her in the early morning.”63 (4) The incarnation
of the Lord has become the day and early morning, when “the
sun of righteousness” (as Malachi calls him) shone upon us,64
and brought us “the light of knowledge.”65 Zechariah prophe-
sied about this divine light, saying, “When the rising of the sun
dawned upon us from on high, to shine upon those who sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death.”66 In accord with this the
prophet also said, “The Lord is God, and he has shone upon
us; bind the festal procession together with branches, up to the
horns of the altar.”67
Since all this has already been explained, we must proceed
to the matter in hand. (5) Since I have already said that a day
is reckoned “as a thousand years” by God, and again that the
earthly residence of the Lord has been called “a day,” he says this
day is a thousand years, as though there is no distinction with God
between one day and a thousand years. (6) It was in this period
of the Lord’s incarnation that the Devil was bound, so that he
was unable to oppose the savior’s divine miracles. This was why
the destructive demons recognized these spiritual bonds and
cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of the living God?
Have you come to torment us before the time?”68 The Lord, too,
when talking of stripping off the bonds, said, “Or how can any-
one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless
he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his
house.”69 (7) Since, as was said, we have considered the incarna-
tion of the Lord and his earthly residence to be both one day and

61. Ps 117.24.
62. Ps 5.4. The LXX reads soi . . . ejpovyomai (“I shall look to you”);
Oecumenius reads ejpovyei me (“you will see me”).
63. Ps 45.6. 64. Mal 4.2.
65. Hos 10.12. 66. Lk 1.78–79; cf. Zec 14.6–7.
67. Ps 117.27. 68. Mt 8.29.
69. Mt 12.29.
170 OECUMENIUS

a thousand years, such a number being used indifferently in Holy

Scripture in mystical fashion, see what the Revelation says:
I saw another angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of
the bottomless pit and a chain, and he says, he seized the Devil and
bound him and threw him into the pit. (8) As if in a sketch on a
canvas, the evangelist perceives the spiritual actions of the Lord
against the Devil. Since it was not possible for a human being
such as John to see spiritual events, they are depicted for him
in physical terms—an angel with a chain binding the Devil and
throwing him into the bottomless pit. For this is how the book
of Job, too, expressed in physical terms the Devil’s venture and
God’s consent: it depicted the Devil begging God to give him
[Job], and it depicted God as making a suitable response to his
request and giving him Job, and then went on to write the story.
So you will be right in thinking that I am now doing the same.
(9) He says, That he should no longer deceive the nations, till the
thousand years were ended: for the Lord’s sojourn on earth had
to provide rather more succor and care so that the unclean de-
mons might be prevented from exercising the same influence
on human beings as they had in the time preceding the incarna-
tion. He says, (10) After that he must be loosed for a little while. What
sort of little while does he mean? That between the incarnation of
the Lord and the end of the present age; for this is short, even if
it may seem to be very long, when reckoned and compared with
the past and the future. For if in the “last” hour, even in “the elev-
enth” hour,70 our Lord appeared in bodily form to us, according
to the belief of Holy Scripture, the time until the end has rightly
been called short, after which [the Devil] will be bound again
with an eternal and endless bond. (11) But even now that he has
been released, bind again, Lord, his wiles against us. For you are
our king, and to you is due glory for ever. Amen.

70. Mt 20.6, 9.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN

he revelation continues in the same pattern. For he

says,

2. Then I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was
committed to them; and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded
for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not
worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their
foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years. This is the first resurrection. (2–3) Blessed and holy is
the one who has a share in the first resurrection. Over these souls the sec-
ond death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and they shall reign with him for a thousand years. (4) And when the
thousand years are ended, Satan will be freed from his prison and (5)
will come out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth (Rv
20.4–8).
3. The previous chapter had said that after the vision had once
made mention of the Devil, in order to retain some continuity in
the account, it went on to describe not only what the Devil will
suffer at the end of the present age, but also his spiritual suffer-
ings in the time of the Lord’s incarnation. The vision continues
with this theme and describes in greater detail the Lord’s incar-
nate visit to us; this is now our present concern. (2) For he says,
Then I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was com-
mitted to them: he sees in his vision the holy apostles “seated on
twelve thrones” and “judging the twelve tribes of Israel,”1 accord-
ing to the promise made to them. Although this will be more ful-
ly effected in the age to come, it has already happened in some
way in the time of the incarnation. For those who put their trust
in the Lord and so received a share in countless benefits con-

1. Mt 19.28.

171
172 OECUMENIUS

demned those who refused to hasten to the faith and so, though
taught by the grace given to the apostles, did not attain the true
worship of God, but rather devised a cross and death for him.
(3) He says, And the souls of those who had been beheaded for
their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God: the verb I saw in the
phrase “those seated upon thrones and judging the rest of man-
kind” is to be understood here, too. By those who had been beheaded
he means those who had been killed with an axe.2 He is speak-
ing figuratively about those who had put to death their own bod-
ies because of their faith in Christ, and who endured very much
because of it. For they expelled them from the synagogues, as-
saulted them with countless abuses, and plundered their person-
al possessions, when they put their faith entirely in Christ, as the
wise apostle testifies.3 The Lord also spoke of them, “Blessed are
you when they revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds
of evil against you falsely on my account.”4 (4) If you follow the
sequence of the argument and subject every thought in obedi-
ence to Holy Scripture, you will understand that those who did
not worship the beast and did not receive its mark or its image, are
those who did not agree with the rest of the Jews in their plots
against the Lord, and who refused to obey the propositions of
the abominable and blasphemous Devil. For this is to worship
him and his image. For by the word image he means the imprint
of [the Devil’s] will in the hearts of the Jews. He also means that
this mark includes both control and action. For the head, of
which the forehead is a part, stands for control, and the hand
stands for action.
(5) They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years:
as was said earlier, he again calls the Lord’s domicile on earth a
thousand years, during which they were living their spiritual life,
and reigning together with Christ, as they gave orders to demons,
cured diseases, and worked countless miracles. For it is not simply
by being present with Christ, the king of glory, that a person reigns
together with him.5 So the prophet said of them, “When the

2. “Those who had been beheaded” renders oiJ pepelekivsmenoi, literally,

those who had been “cut off with an axe” (pevleku~).
3. Cf. Heb 10.34.
4. Mt 5.11. 5. Cf. 2 Tm 2.10–12.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN 173

Heavenly One gives the orders, kings will be covered with snow in
Salmon.”6
(6) The rest of the dead did not come to life, he says, until the thou-
sand years were ended: he calls dead those who have persisted in un-
belief, about whom the Lord also said, “Leave the dead to bury
their own dead.”7 So the unbelievers did not come to the spiri-
tual life until the time of the incarnation had ended, which is
the thousand years; for they came to life only after this. How? By
the coming and presence of the Holy Spirit. For by then most
of the Jews had come to faith in Christ, who did not believe in
him when he was physically dwelling and moving among them.
(7) The event was most divinely ordered, beyond the hope of
any human mind. For when the Son8 had been proclaimed and
made known in the old covenant as well as by his incarnation
and his countless divine signs and miracles, the Holy Spirit had
not yet been clearly revealed to human beings. There was only
a report about the Spirit in the old covenant, but there was no
manifest and perceptible work of the kind which specially leads
people to faith, as there was of the Son, even though the Spir-
it was being made known to those who had attained the depth
of vision, because everything which has been done and effected
has been accomplished by the Holy Trinity. (8) The Lord clearly
proves this, saying somewhere, “The Father has told me what I
am to say and what I am to speak,”9 and again, “I can do noth-
ing on my own,”10 referring the events to the Trinity; and again
in John, “The Son of man can do nothing of his own accord,
but only what he sees his Father doing”;11 and elsewhere he as-
serts, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God.”12 (9) But since,
as I have said, there was no perceptible work of the Holy Spirit
available to human beings, it was arranged that almost all people
should receive faith in Christ by the coming and the power of
the Paraclete and of God the Father, in order that it might be
clear to everyone that the Spirit was of the same substance13 as

6. Ps 67.15.
7. Mt 8.22.
8. Some manuscripts read “the Father” (oJ Pathvr).
9. Jn 12.49. 10. Jn 8.28.
11. Jn 5.19. 12. Mt 12.28.
13. Greek, oJmoouvs io~.
174 OECUMENIUS

the Father and the Son, and possessed of the same power. (10)
Of course, in the whole period of the incarnation not more than
“a hundred and twenty” are recorded as having been believers.14
This was the number reckoned by Acts of those assembled in
the upper room. Even if the power of the teaching of Christ had
reached many others, their faith was maintained by the coming
of the Spirit. (11) So one might find that, just as when seed has
been scattered the rain comes down and the sun shines upon
all the seeds that up to this time have been hidden unnoticed in
the earth, and then they spring up and become visible, because
they were wholly stored up in the earth, so, too, the same thing
happens at the coming of the Holy Spirit. All those in whom the
teaching of the Lord had been sown sprang up into faith. So the
Revelation accurately says that the rest of the dead did not come to life
until the thousand years had ended.
(12) He says, This is the first resurrection, that is to say, which
results from faith: the second will be the universal bodily resur-
rection. Therefore, (13) Blessed is the one who has a share in the first
resurrection: for we shall all have a share in the second, whether
we like it or not. (14) But he says that the second death will not
have any power over those who share in the first resurrection, that
is, the faithful. What sort of death is this? It is that quite clearly
which results from sin and is followed by punishment. For just
as he has spoken of the first and the second resurrection, so he
speaks of the first and second death. The first one is the physi-
cal death, which separates the soul and the body, but the second
death is the spiritual death, resulting from sin. The Lord said of
this, “Do not fear those who kill the body; but rather fear him
who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”15 (15) The faithful,
he says, shall be priests of God and of Christ: all the faithful were ap-
pointed priests of the evangelical word, about whom the proph-
et, striking the prophetic lyre, said, “You will make them rulers
over the whole world.”16 And they shall reign with him for a thousand
years, which are the years of the incarnation, as I have said more
than once.
(16) And when, he says, the thousand years are ended, that is,

14. Acts 1.15. 15. Mt 10.28.

16. Ps 44.17.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN 175

when the Lord has completed his course in the flesh and has
gone back into heaven, the Devil will be set free from his spiri-
tual bonds and will again deceive the nations. For it has already
been said that the dwelling of the Lord with human beings nul-
lified the activity of the Devil. But once the Lord has gone up
into heaven, both the Devil himself will carry on his own custom-
ary activity, and human beings on earth in their usual way will
follow their free will. In the face of the Devil’s attempts to de-
ceive everybody, some obey him, while others who refuse to do
so struggle against the evil one. (17) But perhaps someone will
say, “Why in the world was the Devil, whose assault was restrained
and held in check by the bodily presence of the Lord, again set
free to deceive us upon earth? For would it not have been bet-
ter for him to have been bound, and for human beings to con-
tinue undeceived?” (18) To such a one we should reply, “Why
do you not rather say, ‘Why did the Devil come into being at all,
or when he had been created and then transgressed, why was he
not utterly destroyed, to prevent him getting access against hu-
man beings?’ And how, my good fellow, would the contestants
have been trained without any opponent? And how would the
might of athletes have been shown if there were no competitors?
(19) For slothful human beings, giving way to their desires, go
all awry when left to themselves without the presence and provo-
cation of the Devil, whereas the people of God and noble con-
testants would be unfairly treated if they were not able publicly
to display their courage in the face of their sufferings. So it turns
out that whereas the slothful would have no benefit if Satan did
not exist, the noble would suffer great unfairness. For Satan is a
kind of trainer of human beings, providing an opportunity for
the contestants to receive a crown of victory. For those who love
sin, who in the absence of the Devil use their own laziness as a
substitute for the Devil, have not been at all unfairly treated, as
I have said. So in spite of himself he does good to some, and
does no harm, or very little, to others. (20) But on account of
you and me, ‘the slaves of sin,’17 irresponsible and irresolute, in
order that we might suffer little or no further harm from the

17. Rom 6.16.

176 OECUMENIUS

activity of the Devil, you wanted patriarchs and prophets, apos-

tles and evangelists, those who had persevered in their witness to
Christ unto death and had kept loyalty with him, as well as con-
fessors and pastors who had faithfully guided the churches, and
the most steadfast ascetics, and every righteous person perfected
in the faith of Christ, ‘of whom this world was not worthy’18—you
wanted them all to be deprived of glory. The noble contenders
for virtue alleviate the penalty of those sinners who for quite a
short time suffer harm. A single person who acts rightly is more
honored by God than countless others who break faith.”
(21) Both events have been effected in the best and most in-
spired way—the impious assaults of the Devil were checked dur-
ing the bodily presence of the Lord, and after the Lord’s ascen-
sion into heaven the Devil was freed to test human beings. For if
Satan had been allowed to display all his activity when the Lord
was dwelling on earth, he would not have permitted people ei-
ther to hear his divine teachings or to learn who it is who is nat-
urally and truly God, or the nature of the holy worship due to
him, or the difference between evil and goodness. He would also
have prepared the cross for him before the time, even before he
began his teaching. If this had happened, the incarnation of the
Lord and such a wonderfully glorious mystery would have been
incomplete, or rather useless. (22) But after those on earth had
been taught these things while the Devil was in bondage, they
were then able to use their own free will, and to continue the
fight against the adversary on the basis of acknowledged and rec-
ognized ways both of evil and of good. For one who knows the
good and that which is not so good is entirely free to choose
either this or that. But one who does not know what he could
do, is like a man wounded in a night battle who does not realize
that he has been hit, and therefore does not recognize his own
destruction. For the one who knows his adversaries has the op-
portunity to choose what he wishes, but there is no such oppor-
tunity for one who is ignorant.
For God created human beings in the beginning with free
will and controlled by their own reasoning powers. (23) But be-

18. Heb 11.38.

 CHAPTER ELEVEN 177

cause they first needed to know good and evil, so that in this way
there may be room for free will, see what Moses the divine law-
giver says in Deuteronomy to the disobedient people of the Is-
raelites, “See, I have set before your eyes this day life and death,
good and evil,”19 so that the choice may be freely made between
both. Again he says in Exodus, “If you hearken attentively to my
voice and do all that I say to you.”20 And what about Isaiah, who
sets forth the same teaching near the beginning of his prophecy,
saying in the person of God, “If you are willing and listen to me,
you shall eat the good of the land, but if you refuse and do not
listen to me, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth
of the Lord has spoken this”?21
4. So much then for this. After saying earlier that the Devil
will come out to deceive the nations, he now identifies the nations
and their leaders. He says, Gog and Magog gather them for war (Rv
20.8); the war is that against the saints. (2) For after complet-
ing the account of the saving incarnation, he has returned to
the place from where he set out to explain those things to us.
He started with the Devil and the Antichrist, and the defeat and
punishment of the nations which collaborated with them. (3) So
he is now going to supply what was earlier left unsaid. He links
Gog to the rest of the nations who fought with the Antichrist,
saying,

5. And he came out 22 to deceive all the nations which are at the four
corners of the earth, with whom he now includes Gog and Magog, to
gather them for war; their number is like the sand of the sea. (2) And
they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the
saints and the beloved city. But fire came down from God out of heaven
and consumed them, (3) and the Devil, their deceiver, was thrown into
the lake of fiery brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet were, and
they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Rv 20.8–10).
6. The blessed prophet Ezekiel also told us about Gog and
Magog, describing the evil end of evil men. These will be some

19. Dt 30.15. 20. Ex 23.22.

21. Is 1.19–20.
22. Oecumenius reads aorist ejxh`lqe where NT has future ejxeleuvsetai.
178 OECUMENIUS

of the nations and their leaders at the end of the age,23 but they
do not now exist, or they are some of the present nations called
by other names in holy Scripture. So these will be allies of detest-
ed Satan in his fight against the slaves of Christ. (2) And they will
surround the beloved city, that is, the church. But fire from heaven will
destroy them all, and after the end has been reached, Satan, the
origin of all the evil, together with the Devil and the Antichrist,
will be thrown into the lake of fire, that is, Gehenna. (3) For the
reader should recognize that the present Revelation has already
told us of three [adversaries]: one was the dragon, the originator
of the evil, shown in heaven; the second was the beast coming up
out of the sea, which we considered to be second to Satan, but
superior to the rest of the demons; and the third was the Anti-
christ, whom he also calls the false prophet. But it was said shortly
before about the second one, the Devil, and the Antichrist, that
the two of them were thrown into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
But now he is talking about Satan, or the Devil, whom earlier he
called a serpent. (4) He says, And they will be tormented day and night
for ever and ever. So you who read this essay will know that we were
quite right to consider the thousand years during which the Dev-
il was bound and thrown into the bottomless pit and was then
set free again, to refer to the incarnation of the Lord and his
dwelling upon earth, in which the Devil’s activity was for a short
time restricted. For now he has shown that the punishment of
the Devil and of those deceived by him is not for a thousand years,
but for ever and ever, and that there will be no release of the evil
one.

7. Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat upon it,
from whose presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found
for them. (2) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the
throne, and some little scrolls24 were opened. Also another little scroll was
opened, which is the little scroll of life. And the dead were judged by what

23. Cf. Ezek 38–39.

24. See n. 4 in chapter 6 (on Revelation 10.1–4) for the difference between
the three types of scrolls. In the present text on all three occasions the form
biblivon (“little scroll”) is used, but in the comment the text is quoted with bivbloi
(“scrolls”) rather than bibliva.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN 179

was written in the little scrolls according to their works (Rv 20.11–12).
8. He says a white throne, bright and flashing as with lightning.
By the flight of heaven and earth the account symbolizes their
change and transformation. For “the heavens will pass away with
a loud noise,”25 according to blessed Peter and according to the
prophet who says, “In the beginning, Lord, you laid the founda-
tion of your earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a
garment. You will wrap them up like a cloth, and they will be
changed,”26 presumably referring to their passing and destruc-
tion. What these sayings describe as their “change,” the Reve-
lation called “flight,” so that no place was found for them. For
where could they be found when they had been cast down in de-
struction? Although he has here spoken of their change, a little
further on he says that they will be new.27
(2) He says, And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before
the throne: by great he means the righteous, calling them great
not in virtue of their physical size, but because of the glory and
brightness of their goodness, and by small he means the sinners
as being worthless on account of their baseness and meanness.
(3) And scrolls were opened. Also another little scroll was opened, which
is the little scroll of life. The Lord says in the gospels that the way
leading to destruction is broad and spacious, and many travel on
it, while the way that leads to life is narrow and constricted, and
there are few28 not only who walk along it but who even find it.
This is why he saw many scrolls and a single scroll: the many are
those in which all human beings are written, because of the mul-
titude of those involved, but there is one scroll of life, in which
are those chosen from the rest who are blameless in virtue and
travel along the entire length of the steep and rugged path of
virtue.
(4) And all of those written in the scrolls, he says, were judged
in accordance with their own individual works. In the begin-
ning of the sixth chapter he mentioned another little scroll, too,
which he called a miniature scroll. But now he talks of a scroll and
a little scroll of life, so that there are three different scrolls. By a
25. 2 Pt 3.10. 26. Ps 101.26–27.
27. Cf. Rv 21.1, 5. 28. Cf. Mt 7.13–14.
180 OECUMENIUS

miniature scroll he means that in which are the exceedingly im-

pious, as we considered there: the little scroll of life is that in
which are the exceedingly righteous and just, and the scrolls are
those which contain all human beings who are somehow mid-
way between evil and goodness. (5) He is talking about the res-
urrection. For to say, And I saw the dead before the throne receiving
their rewards and being judged according to their works, is to speak
of the resurrection. For he saw the dead rise up and receive their
just recompense, and he goes on to describe how the resurrec-
tion took place.

9. He says, The sea gave up the dead in it, Death and Hades gave
up the dead in them, and all were judged by what they had done. (2)
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire,29 (3) and if
anyone’s name was not found written in the scroll of life, he was thrown
into the lake of fire. (4) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for
the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no
more. (5) And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out
of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rv
20.13–21.2).
10. Those who do not believe in the resurrection of the body
mock us and our teaching that these bodies of ours rise again
from the dead, considering it to be not only implausible but
absolutely impossible. They say that each of our earthly bodies
consists of the four elements: fire, water, earth, air. When dis-
persed by death, our bodies go back to those things of which
they originally consisted. For example, the fiery component in
us proceeds to its corresponding element and becomes entirely
fire, the watery component to water, and the other pair to their
own particular elements. (2) “So when these have once been
mixed up and combined with their own substances, how is it pos-
sible that what has been mixed together to form a compound
be restored as bodies, as you profess, unless you were to say that
things of one kind are raised to become things of another kind?”
(3) In answer to these people one could quote the text of Holy

29. A sentence is here omitted from the quotation, but is duly commented
on. The sentence, occurring in Rv 20.14 in the NT, is as follows: ouJ`to~ oJ qavnato~
oJ deuvterov~ ejstin, hJ livmnh tou` purov~.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN 181

Scripture, O people, “you are wrong, and you do not know the
power of God,”30 by whose will the universe was brought into be-
ing, and whose decree is the only completed work, as was said
earlier. For in what way is it easier to bring beings into existence
from non-being than to separate them again once they have
been brought into being and mixed either in themselves or with
other beings, and to apportion to each its own characteristics?
(4) For in fact we, too, effect this, when we often skillfully sepa-
rate wine which has been mixed with water. The sun, too, draws
off drinkable and sweet water from the sea by means of steams
and vapors, but leaves alone that which is heavy, earthy, briny,
and bitter. But above all it is God alone who is able to do what-
ever he wills. (5) Therefore, if God brought into being things
which are not, why is it not easy for him to separate again what
was completely mixed together with the elements simply by his
own will, and to assign its own identity to each body, even if this
proves impossible for human beings? For just as it is impossible
for you and me to separate the illumination of fire from its burn-
ing, it is possible for God—for Scripture says, “The voice of the
Lord, who cuts into two a flame of fire”31—so it is impossible for
you and me to separate what has been mixed together, but it is
easily possible for God.
(6) The present text of the Revelation now sets before us this
amazing doctrine, saying, The sea gave up the dead in it from the
sea. This is the element of water, signifying all that is made of
water.32 So he means that what is made of water gave up all that
was mixed in it from the watery nature of human bodies. (7) He
says, Death and Hades gave up the dead in them. He calls the earth
death since our bodies are dissolved in it, so that the blessed
prophet by a periphrasis calls death “the dust of death,” saying,
“He brought me down to the dust of death.”33 Accordingly, the
earth also has given up all of our earthy substance in it. (8) In
addition, Hades also gave up the dead in it, calling the air and fire

30. Mt 22.29.
31. Ps 28.7.
32. The punctuation of de Groote has here been slightly altered; see his
edition, p. 264, where he places a period after “water” and links the participial
phrase (“signifying . . .”) to the following sentence.
33. Ps 21.16.
182 OECUMENIUS

Hades from their incorporeal and invisible [nature]. For air is

invisible in its lightness, except when it becomes dense, and fire
lurks invisibly in wood until it is kindled externally. But also the
element of fire is ether, which is invisible to us when obscured by
the covering of much air. Or perhaps he calls fire Hades because
it destroys and disfigures those it attacks, so that many learned
writers call it obscure.34 (9) So the resurrection takes place when
each of the elements has rendered back all of the human com-
position they contained. After this, he says, They were all judged by
what they had done.
(10) He says, Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of
fire, that is, Death was destroyed, together with the formless and
incorporeal existence of the souls in death, once the resurrection
had taken place and each soul had received its own particular
body. He has explained this in a somewhat figurative way and has
symbolized their destruction by saying that Death and Hades had
been thrown into the lake of fire. The prophet Hosea also writes
this, saying, “O Death, where is your justice?35 O Hades, where is
your sting?”36 (11) He says, The lake of fire is the second death; for it
has been said earlier that the first death is physical death, the sep-
aration of the soul and body, but the second is spiritual death, the
punishment and retribution due to those for whom sin is their
mother. (12) But he also says that all who were born in their sins
and who were not considered worthy to be written in the book
of life have suffered the same. Do not be surprised that he said
earlier that those who are “medium sinners” have been thrown
into the lake of fire with the Devil and the Antichrist. For a differ-
ent punishment is meant there, just as there is a different kind of
fiery heat: one is a sort of continuous burning heat, the other is
less so and mild, even though both are called fiery heat. You must
understand me there, too, as meaning this.
(13) He says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the
first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no

34. The text reads a[dhlon, but some manuscripts read ajeivdhlon, which could
be taken to mean “destructive.”
35. The LXX has hJ divkh (“justice”), whereas Paul (1 Cor 15:55) reads to;
ni`ko~ (“victory”).
36. Hos 13.14.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN 183

more: Peter says something like this in the second of his epistles,
saying, “According to his promises we wait for new heavens and
earth.”37 He does not mean that the heaven and the earth and
the sea have been destroyed and have disappeared and that oth-
ers have been created in their place, but that the present ones
have thrown off their decay and have become new, as though
they have taken off an old and squalid garment and the accom-
panying dirt. For everything is called new which was not former-
ly of such a kind, but has now become so. Then creation will
be purified from all decay, which was imprinted on it by human
transgression. (14) The divine apostle is a most trustworthy wit-
ness of these things when writing to the Romans about creation,
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of
the sons of God; for the creation was subject to futility, not of its
own will, but on account of him who subjected it, in hope that
creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and ob-
tain the glorious liberty of the children of God.”38 But not only
he, but the blessed prophet, too, sings about heaven and earth
according to the testimony recently cited, “They will all wear out
like a garment; you will wrap them up like a cloth, and they will
be changed.”39
(15) He says, And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband:
by Jerusalem he symbolizes the blessed lot and dwelling of the
saints. He called this figuratively Jerusalem both here and later,
and he has fittingly adorned it with magnificence, so that from
what is said about the perceptible Jerusalem we may turn our
thoughts to the spiritual blessedness of the saints and their way
of life.

11. And I heard a loud voice from heaven40 saying, “See, the dwelling
of God is with human beings. He will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (2) He will
wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither

37. 2 Pt 3.13. 38. Rom 8.19–21.

39. Ps 101.27.
40. Rv 21.3. Oecumenius here reads oujranov~ (“heaven”) instead of the usual
“the throne” (oJ qrovno~).
184 OECUMENIUS

shall there be any more mourning or crying or pain, for the former things
have passed away.” (3) And he who sat on the throne said, “See, I am
making all things new.” And he said, “Write it down, for these words are
trustworthy and true” (Rv 21.3–5).
12. Was I not right in saying earlier on that the vision figura-
tively calls the lot of the saints and their residence there the spir-
itual Jerusalem? See, it has now disclosed the symbolism, saying,
See, the dwelling of God is with human beings. He will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them as their
God. The apostle made this clearer when he said, “Then we who
are alive, who are left, shall be caught up in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air; and we shall always be with the Lord.”41
(2) He says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Isaiah the
prophet said something like this, saying, “In his might he has
swallowed up death for ever, and God has again removed every
tear from every face.”42 For if, according to the divine apostle,
“pain and grief and sighing have gone away”43 in that blessed life
of the saints, what will be left to cry over, once these have gone?
(3) He says, The former things have passed away: he means that
the suffering of the saints has come to an end. Now they are re-
ceiving the reward of their labors. (4) He says, See, I am making
all things new: for if the heaven and earth and sea are new, hu-
man beings also are new, and their joy and glory are new, now
no longer afflicted by tears or grief or disgrace, since everything
will be new. (5) “Do not think, John,” he says, “that what has
been said and shown to you is imaginary or false because of its
exceedingly wide scope. Everything is trustworthy and true. So
write them down.”

13. And he said to me, “It has been done! I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end. (2) I myself will freely give to the thirsty from
the fountain of the water of life. He who conquers shall have this heritage,
and I will be his God and he shall be my son. (3) But as for the rest,44 the
faithless, the polluted, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all
41. 1 Thes 4.17.
42. Is 25.8.
43. Is 51.11 (not from a Pauline epistle).
44. Oecumenius here reads loipoi`~ (“the rest”) instead of deiloi`~
(“cowardly”), which he has in his later comment in 11.14.6.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN 185

lies, their lot will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which
is the second death” (Rv 21.6–8).
14. He said, It has been done! What has been done? The things
that have been spoken about, in which there is nothing false.
He has written, It has been done, instead of “it will be done.” (2)
He says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end: since he
again resumes what he said earlier, let us also follow in his foot-
steps and pick up again what we said earlier: Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end, indicate the unoriginate and infinite na-
ture of God. For since there is nothing in this life which does not
have an origin, he has used for our benefit the beginning and the
end instead of “unoriginate and infinite.”
(3) He says, I myself will freely give to the thirsty from the fountain
of the water of life: the Lord says in the gospels, “Blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satis-
fied.”45 Accordingly, “to him who has such a thirst I will give life free-
ly.” (4) Why did he say freely, when the saints attain to the future
life by means of countless acts of sweat and toil? Why, then, does
he say that he gives it freely? He says it to indicate that no one
can ever contribute anything worthy of future prosperity, even
by completing innumerable tasks. This is also what the apostle
explained, saying, “I consider that the sufferings of this present
time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be re-
vealed to us.”46
(5) He says, He who conquers the sufferings and the wicked
beast, the Devil, shall have this heritage. (6) This then is the vic-
tor’s lot. But as for the cowardly and the faithless, and so on, their lot
shall be in the lake of fire. He calls cowardly those who are weak in
every good work on account of their voluntary baseness. (7) He
says, and all lies: he did not say “liars,” but “lies,” that is, those
who act contrary to nature and falsify the natural beauty of vir-
tue and turn it to spurious transformed forms of evil. (8) That
the fire is the second death has been mentioned earlier.

15. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the
seven last plagues came and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show

45. Mt 5.6.
46. Rom 8.18.
186 OECUMENIUS

you the wife of the Lamb.” (2) And in the Spirit he carried me away to
a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming
down from heaven from God, (3) having the glory of God. Its radiance
was like a most precious jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. (4) It had a
great, high wall, with fifteen47 gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and
names were written on them which are the names of the twelve tribes of the
sons of Israel; (5) on the east three gates, on the north three gates, and
on the south three gates. (6) And the wall of the city had twelve foun-
dations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb (Rv 21.9–14).48
16. He says, Then one of the seven angels came: what seven are
these? They are those of whom I have had much to say earli-
er on. (2) Come, he says, I will show you the wife of the Lamb: he
means to signify “the church of the first-born who are enrolled
in heaven,”49 which he also calls the heavenly Jerusalem. Paul
spoke about this when writing to the Hebrews, “For you have
not come to a mountain that may be touched, with blazing fire,
and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a
trumpet, and the words of a voice; those who heard it implored
that nothing further should be spoken to them. For they could
not endure the order that was given, ‘If even a beast touches
the mountain, it shall be stoned.’ Indeed, so terrifying was the
sight” that [Moses] said, “‘I am filled with fear and trembling.’
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living
God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in fes-
tal gathering, and to the church of the first-born who are en-
rolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all.”50 (3) By
speaking of the assembly of all the holy people as a unity, name-
ly, the church, and of the heavenly Jerusalem, the text depicts the
blessedness of the saints, and their life which will be in God and
with God, as is meant by describing it in material and grandiose
terms, so leading our mind to consider its spiritual glory and
brightness in this present setting.

47. The later comment has “twelve.”

48. Oecumenius has omitted mention of the gates on the west, which appear
in the New Testament.
49. Heb 12.23.
50. Heb 12.18–23.
 CHAPTER ELEVEN 187

(4) He says, And in the Spirit he carried me away to a high moun-

tain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heav-
en from God, having the glory of God: for it is not without spiritual
grace that the human mind can ever be so exalted as to com-
prehend the glory of the saints. This is naturally the church, as
though the life of the righteous and their situation, both here
and in the future, is a great, high mountain. For there is nothing
on ground-level or abject with them, but everything is high and
lifted up. For Scripture says of them, “The rulers of the earth
who belong to God were highly exalted.”51
(5) He says, Its radiance, that is, Christ, the “sun of righteous-
ness,”52 is like jasper: jasper, as was also said earlier, is green, and so
exhibits the life-giving and quickening gift of Christ, who “opens
his hand and fills every living thing with satisfaction.”53 For green
is the origin of all earthly nourishment. But the jasper was also as
clear as crystal, exhibiting the purity and holiness of Christ, “for he
had committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth,”54
according to the prophecy of Isaiah. (6) Again, Christ is himself
a wall of the saints, that is, of the church, since he is our defense
and shelter and succor.
(7) He says it has twelve gates, symbolizing the divine apostles
who proclaimed to us the entrance into faith in Christ. (8) And
at the gates twelve angels: I am convinced that the divine angels
worked with the holy apostles to bring the world to faith; for if
the law of Moses was spoken by means of angels—as the apostle
says, “For if the message declared by means of angels was valid”55
—surely the preaching of the gospel even more so had the coop-
eration of angels?
(9) He says, And names were written on them which are the names of
the twelve tribes of Israel: historically Israel is those who were born
from Jacob the patriarch, but spiritually it means those who walk
by the faith of our father Abraham. The apostle witnesses to
this when he says, “And he is the father of the circumcised, not
only of those who are circumcised but also of those who follow
in the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham.”56 Israel is

51. Ps 46.10. 52. Mal 4.2.

53. Ps 144.16. 54. Is 53.9.
55. Heb 2.2. 56. Rom 4.12.
188 OECUMENIUS

interpreted as “the mind seeing God,” or being clear-sighted.57

Who rather than the believers have had a vision of God in their
mind or have become clear-sighted by the abundant operation
of the Spirit? So the names of these have been engraved on the
gates of the city. (10) The twelve tribes indicate the full comple-
ment of the faithful. For after calling the believers Israel, he has
mentioned, too, the number of their full complement, by saying
twelve tribes, and he says that they came from the four corners
of the world through three gates [on each side]. For the blessed
apostles have mentioned the whole Trinity, proclaiming to the
nations [the persons of the Godhead] as being of the same sub-
stance,58 and “baptizing them into the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”59
(11) And the wall of the city, he says, had twelve foundations:
for Christ, whom we have considered to be a wall, relies on the
preaching of the apostles, and stands upon them like “a precious
cornerstone,”60 according to Scripture. (12) And on them, that
is, on the foundations, are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of
the Lamb: he has at last revealed the symbolism by clearly saying
that he means the apostles are the gates and foundations of the
holy city, the church. (13) May all of us stand firm in their teach-
ing and “avoid the unhallowed chatter of the falsely called knowl-
edge”61 of the heretics, by the grace of “Christ our master”62 and
“chief shepherd,”63 to whom be the glory for ever. Amen.

57. See n. 15 at 2.5.5. 58. Greek, oJmoouvs io~.

59. Mt 28.19. 60. 1 Pt 2.6; Is 28.16; Eph 2.20.
61. 1 Tm 6.20. 62. Mt 23.10.
63. 1 Pt 5.4.
 CHAPTER TWELVE

he blessed evangelist’s account continues with the

holy, heavenly Jerusalem, describing its size, measure-
ment, decoration, and the rest of its situation. He says,

2. And he who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure

the city and its gates and wall. (2) The city lies foursquare, its length the
same as its breadth, and its height is the same; and he measured the city
with his rod as twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height
are equal. (3) He also measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cu-
bits by a man’s measure, that is, an angel’s. (4) The wall was built of
jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. (5) The foundations
of the wall of the city itself were adorned with every kind of precious stone;
the first foundation was of jasper, the second sapphire, (6) the third chal-
cedony,1 the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the sev-
enth chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase,
the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. (7) And the twelve gates were
twelve pearls, one for each, each of the gates being made from a single
pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, clear as transparent glass.
(8) And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the
sovereign of all, and the Lamb (Rv 21.15–22).
3. The rod, with which he measured the holy city, was for mea-
suring the earth; it was gold because of the worth both of the an-
gel who was doing the measuring and of the city which was be-
ing measured. (2) He says, And the city lies foursquare, its length the
same as its breadth, and its height is the same: the foursquare struc-
ture, as those who know about these things hold, is a cube and is
so named. It is also foursquare at ground level, but since it is also
foursquare and equilateral in all its dimensions, they say that the
cube signifies stability. Stable and immutable are the awards for

1. The text here has karchdwvn, instead of the usual calkhdwvn.

189
190 OECUMENIUS

the saints, whose blessedness cannot be effaced by any kind of

change. (3) He describes the size of the city on a par with the
great honor due to the saints, and shows that even if they were
far fewer than the multitude of the sinners, they were not so few
in number as not to fill so great a city.
(4) He says, He also measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four
cubits by a man’s measure, that is, an angel’s: in many passages ac-
cording to the custom of Holy Scripture, the angels are called
men.2 This is clear from the interpretation of the archangel Ga-
briel as “man of God.” And the prophet said, “Lord, you will save
men and beasts,”3 calling the angels “men,” and men “beasts.”
For compared with the intelligence of the angels, we men are
irrational beasts. For by “men” and “beasts” he did not mean, as
one might think, real men and actual beasts. The apostle said
about the beasts, “Is it for the oxen that God is concerned?”4 So
according to the prophet, men are to be considered as “beasts,”
and angels as “men.” According to Luke, the Lord also called the
angels “men” when he said, “Let your loins be girded and your
lamps burning, and you yourselves be like men who are waiting
for their master’s return from the marriage feast.”5 (5) There-
fore, in many passages angels have been called “men” accord-
ing to the above evidence, and they have their gaze directed to
God. This is why he says, a man’s measure, that is, an angel’s. The
saying symbolizes that although the divine is in every way incom-
prehensible (for we have concluded earlier that Christ is the wall
of the city), yet in the judgment of the majesty of God human
beings become angels. On account of this the wall of the city has
been measured by an angel’s cubit and not a human one. The
hundred and forty-four cubits are a sort of mystical number de-
termined by the wisdom of the angels, by which the exact mea-
surement was made.
(7) He says, The wall was built of jasper: we have already tak-
en jasper to be the quickening and vivifying [power] of Christ.
(8) And the city, he says, was pure gold, like clear glass: gold, be-

2. Greek, a[nqrwpoi, “human beings.”

3. Ps 35.7.
4. 1 Cor 9.9.
5. Lk 12.35–36.
 CHAPTER TWELVE 191

ing put alongside brilliance and transparency, is compared with

the worth and purity of the saints in their works and words. (9)
And the foundations, he says, of the wall of the city itself were adorned
with every kind of precious stone: as for the foundation of the wall,
the Lord is the wall, as has often been said. We spoke earlier
of the holy apostles, as though Christ relied on their teaching
and depended on them according to the promise he gave, in
which he says, “And see, I am with you always, to the close of the
age.”6 These foundations, that is, the apostles, have therefore been
adorned with every virtue—for the precious stones express virtue
—since they have in fact become pure by the preaching of the
gospel, by their struggles on behalf of Christ, and by their love
for him even to death. (10) But if anyone would wish to quibble
about the stones—for one may argue about such a vision—let
us be content to say a little more: according to the law of Moses
the high-priests were clothed in embroidered garments, invested
with a full-length robe, an ephod, a turban, a sash, a girdle, and
other things.7 By their dress they communicated in mystical sym-
bolism awe and dread. They also had the “breast-piece of judg-
ment,”8 which was attached to the ephod by embroidered cords.
(11) The design of the breast-piece was “a doubled piece of
cloth, a span long and square,”9 in which were set twelve stones
with the names of the sons of Israel, in four rows. Some of these
stones were placed here in the foundations of the wall; others
were given another name10 and not included with these. Eight
stones in the breast-piece of judgment were like those in the
foundations here: jasper, sapphire, emerald, carnelian, chryso-
lite, beryl, topaz, and amethyst. Four of the stones in the foun-
dations were not included in the breast-piece of judgment. They
were chalcedony, sardonyx, chrysoprase, and jacinth.
(12) And there were also the gates of the city, which we took
to be the apostles, each formed from a single pearl. The pearl, too,
has now been shown to be new since it was not included with the
stones of the breast-piece, so that one may see those who were

6. Mt 28.20. 7. Ex 29.5–6.
8. Ex 28.15. 9. Ex 28.16.
10. Greek gwniai`oi (literally, “in an angle”) here appears to mean that four
stones had different names in Exodus and Revelation.
192 OECUMENIUS

recently named to be more precious than those set in the breast-

piece in the old covenant, by which the holy apostles are shown
to have had a knowledge of the old covenant and were well ac-
quainted with the injunctions prescribed in it—so the wise apos-
tle could say, “As to righteousness under the law, I am blame-
less”11—and they are well acquainted with the commandments
of the new covenant, too, and have come to a rich understand-
ing of it, which is far clearer and more precious than the knowl-
edge of the old covenant. The requirements of the law were a
kind of shadow, but truth is found in the requirements of the
new covenant. This is symbolized by the mixture of stones of the
old covenant and the new precious stones in the foundations of
the city, which, as was said, represent the apostles. (13) And this
is what the Lord said in the gospels: “Therefore, every teacher of
the Law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is
like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and
old.”12 (14) There were, too, he says, the gates of the city, which
again we took earlier to be the apostles, each formed from a single
pearl, signifying their worth, purity, and brilliance.
(15) He says, And the street of the city was pure gold, like clear glass:
it has already been said that gold and the purity and transpar-
ency of glass suggest the worth and purity of the life of the saints.
(16) He says, And I saw no temple in it, for its temple is the Lord God,
the sovereign of all, and the Lamb: what is the need of a temple
when God is present with the saints and in a way sharing his life
with them, and is seen by them face to face, insofar as he may be
approached? For the divine apostle has called the knowledge of
God in the present life as being “in a mirror” and “dimly,” but
that in the future it will be “face to face.”13 (17) One might rea-
sonably ask, “Why did he mention God the sovereign Lord, and
the Father, the Lord, and the Lamb, the Son of God, without
making mention of the Holy Spirit?” (18) To such a questioner
one must reply, “My good man, by saying the Lord and God he
has named the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit—for this

11. Phil 3.6.

12. Mt 13.52.
13. 1 Cor 13.12.
 CHAPTER TWELVE 193

is God 14—and by saying further, the Lord God, the sovereign of all,
he indicated the Holy Trinity by the three titles.” (19) But one
might go on to ask: “Why, therefore, after mentioning the vener-
able Trinity in the words The Lord God, the sovereign of all, is its tem-
ple, does he separately specify for us the Lamb, who is Christ, so
that we no longer think of the Trinity?” (20) “This is nonsense,”
I would tell him. This is not what we are being taught. By men-
tioning both the Holy Trinity and the Lamb, the account indi-
cates both that the incarnate Son is one person of the Holy Trin-
ity, and that the Son completes the Holy Trinity in his humanity
and is not now apart from his humanity in heaven. He indicated,
somewhat obscurely, the incarnate Son by the word God, who is
the Son, and by the Lamb he again meant the same Christ, incar-
nate and of the same essence as we are, animated by a rational
soul, in the flesh with which the Word is hypostatically united.15

4. And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine upon it,
for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. (2) And by
its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth bring their glo-
ry and honor into it, (3) and its gates shall never be shut by day—and
there shall be no night there (Rv 21.23–25).
5. He says, And the city has no need of the sun: for those who en-
joy the divine and spiritual light have no need of perceptible
light: in their new abode the saints are aware of their spiritu-
al blessings. (2) And by its light, he says, shall the nations walk—
not only the nations, but also the saints from Israel who have
believed. But since those from the nations are much more nu-
merous, his reference to the majority indicated both Jews and
gentiles. (3) And the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor
into it: he calls all the saints kings of the earth, of whom Scripture
says, “When the Heavenly One gives the orders, kings will be
covered with snow in Salmon,”16 as has been mentioned earlier.

14. Greek tau`ta here refers to the three descriptions (ojnomasivai) of God
the sovereign Lord.
15. Greek, hJmi`n oJmoouvs io~ (“of the same substance with us”). The Word
(Lovgo~) is united hypostatically or personally (Greek, kaq j uJpovstasin) with
his human nature.
16. Ps 67.15.
194 OECUMENIUS

Whatever, therefore, these have of glory and honor—by which

he means their virtuous exploits—they will dedicate to that holy
city, as though he said that their virtuous good deeds continue
with the life of the saints.
(4) He says, And its gates shall never be shut by day: there is a
double thought here: either this means that there will be peace
and freedom from fear, so that there will be no need of a guard
over the city and the gates need never be closed or secured by
bars, or that the apostolic teachings (for we have called the apos-
tles “gates”) will not be silent there, and that the apostles will
be there, too, as teachers of new and more divine doctrines to
the saints. For since they are “sons of the day and of light,”17 the
righteous will revel in the divine and illuminating praises and
mysteries since they are constantly wrapped in daylight and the
light of divine brilliance. (5) He says, There shall be no night there:
if the divine brilliance was ever interrupted, it would then also
be night. But if it is impious to suggest this, since the divine light
operates without interruption, how can it ever be night for the
saints?

6. (1–2) They shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the na-
tions. But nothing common shall enter into it, nor anything which
causes18 abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the
Lamb’s book of life. (3) Then he showed me a river of the water of life,
bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (4)
Between the city’s street and the river on either side was a tree of life bear-
ing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, and the leaves
of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (5) There shall be noth-
ing accursed any more, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be
in it, and his slaves shall worship him; they shall see his face, (6) and
his name shall be on their foreheads. (7) And night shall be no more;
they will have no need of light from a lamp or the sun, for the Lord God
will give them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever. Amen (Rv
21.26–22.5).
7. By the glory and honor of the nations, which are brought into

17. 1 Thes 5.5.

18. The text here reads the neuter (pa`n . . . poiou`n bdevlugma) instead of the
usual masculine, “he who practices abomination” ([oJ] poiw`n bdevlugma).
 CHAPTER TWELVE 195

the holy city, he meant metaphorically those from the nations

who had been held in esteem and had accomplished deeds wor-
thy of life; for these will be brought into the heavenly Jerusalem
and will share life in it with the saints. (2) He says, But nothing
common shall enter into it, nor anything which causes abomination, but
only those who are written in the book of life: for “what fellowship has
light with darkness,”19 or a sinner with the righteous people of
God? They are separated by a great chasm, the Lord told us in
the gospels.20 He says, (3) Then he showed me a river of the water of
life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
through the middle of the street of the city. A river of life would
be the rich and abundant graces of Christ, which have unceas-
ingly been shed on the saints and are borne along like a river
and flowing over them.
(4) He says, On either side of the river was a fruitful tree of life
bearing fruit each month: the Lord is the tree of life according to
what the writer of Proverbs says about wisdom; he says, “She is a
tree of life to those who lay hold on her,”21 and wise Paul told us,
“Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”22 He means
that not only are the saints enriched by Christ’s gracious gifts,
but they also have him dwelling in them and with them, which is
the crown of highest bliss. Christ, the tree of life, produces for the
saints continuous and uninterrupted fruit and gifts, so that hon-
or follows on honor and they are never without the divine flow
of gifts. (5) He says, And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the
nations: the leaves of life are those who are dependent on Christ
and hold close to him—patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evange-
lists, martyrs and confessors, those who at the right time per-
form the priestly service of the gospel,23 pastors of the church,
and every righteous soul; all these have now found healing for
their souls, and all good things will be added to the saints.
(6) He says, There shall be nothing accursed any more: for at pres-
ent even though the accursed things are very much in flight, nev-
ertheless we are constantly embroiled in them, as thousands of
occasions [for sin] arise in us, both knowingly and in ignorance;

19. 2 Cor 6.14. 20. Cf. Lk 16.26.

21. Prv 3.18. 22. 1 Cor 1.24.
23. Cf. Rom 15.16.
196 OECUMENIUS

but then the saints will be pure and free from every defilement
of both soul and body. (7) He says, And the kingdom of God will
be in the city: for this is the throne. (8) He says, And the saints shall
worship him with a worship that is not burdensome, but a worship
of pleasure and spiritual joy. This will result from their behold-
ing his face, (9) for, he says, they shall see his face: they shall see him
insofar as he is accessible to human nature. (10) He says, And
his name shall be on their foreheads: the present saying symbolizes
God’s unceasing remembrance of them and communion with
them. For since God is imposed and inscribed on them, he will
always be present with the saints. This is clear, too, from what
Paul said, “And we shall always be with the Lord.”24
(11) He says, And there is no more night, as the saints have no
need of the light of the sun or of a lamp, when the divine light
gives unceasing illumination. (12) And they, that is, the saints,
shall reign for ever: wisest Daniel bears witness to this, saying, “The
saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess it
for ever and ever.”25

8. And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And
the Lord of the spirits of the prophets has sent his angel to show his slaves
what must soon take place. And see, we26 are coming soon.” (2) Blessed
are those who keep the words of the prophecy of this book. (3) It is John27
who is hearing and seeing these things. And when I heard and saw them,
I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.
(4) And he said, “Don’t do that: I am a fellow servant with you and
your brethren and the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this
book. Worship God” (Rv 22.6–9).
9. He said, These words are trustworthy: that is, they are true. And
the Lord of the spirits of the prophets: by the spirits of the prophets he
means the prophetic graces, as wisest Paul says, “And the spir-
its of prophets are subject to the prophets,”28 and as the blessed
prophet Isaiah says, “Because of fear of you, Lord, we have con-

24. 1 Thes 4.17.

25. Dn 7.18.
26. The text here, and in the comment, reads the plural, instead of the usual
“I am coming.”
27. “I” (ejgwv) is omitted in the text.
28. 1 Cor 14.32.
 CHAPTER TWELVE 197

ceived and suffered birth-pangs; we have brought forth the spirit

of your salvation, which you have brought about on earth.”29
(2) He says, To show his slaves what must soon take place: for by
means of John and his writings everyone has learned what he
saw. He was right to say soon, for all time is short (as I said ear-
lier) when compared with the infinite future ages, even though
one might think it excessively long. (3) This is why he added, See,
we are coming soon: blessed are those who keep the [words] of this proph-
ecy: for those who are keeping them through their God-fearing
life are eager to avoid falling into the punishments described.
(4) He says, And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship
at the feet of the angel: this has been interpreted earlier, when we
also showed that the doctrines of the atheistic Greeks concern-
ing the national gods among them had nothing in common with
the purest doctrines of the church.

10. And he said to me, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this
book, for the time is near. (2) Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy
still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.
(3) See, I am coming very soon, bringing my recompense with me, to re-
pay everyone for what he has done. (4) I am Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last, the beginning and the end. (5) Blessed are those who wash
their robes, so that they may have their right to the tree of life and enter the
city by the gates (Rv 22.10–14).
11. He says, Do not seal up these words, that is, do not keep them
to yourself, nor shut them up and guard them in the treasury of
your mind, but reveal them to everyone. (2) He says, For the time
is near: he means something like this: the time when these words
will have to be heard is not very far off, as it once was, but it is
not yet here now; nor is the time suitable for earnest prayer to be
made as a result of them, for what is the use of making prayers
for those who go on striving to act wickedly or virtuously? It is
inopportune to teach by words those who are learning by deeds.
But why does he say it is near? It is not delaying for long, nor is it
already here. (3) He says, Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy
still be filthy. He is not commanding or prescribing the doing of

29. Is 26.18.
198 OECUMENIUS

evil or being filthy, but he means this: a short time is still avail-
able to people; so let all go on doing what they have been accus-
tomed to do, and let them use their own free will as they wish,
either for evil or for good. So he goes on to say, Let the righteous
still do right, and the holy still be holy. (4) See, I am coming soon, bring-
ing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done: I am
coming, says the Lord, in his second coming, bringing with him
what he must render to each, whether it is good or evil.
(5) He says, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and last, the begin-
ning and the end: there has been sufficient comment on this ear-
lier on: so let us pass over it now. (6) He says, Blessed are those who
wash their robes, so that they may have their right to the tree of life: he
calls their bodies robes. Therefore, blessed are those who live well
and keep themselves pure from all filth of sin. For they who have
lived in this way will have the right to attain to the tree of life
and to rest upon it: the Lord is the tree of life, as was said earlier.
(7) And that they may enter the city by the gates: and by means of the
gates, that is, by the apostolic teachings and lessons, they will be-
come partakers of the life and bliss of the saints.

12. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murder-
ers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (2) I,
Jesus, have sent my angel to you to witness to these things in the presence
of the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David; I am the bright
morning star. (3) The bride says, “Come,” 30 and let him who hears say,
“Come.” And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wishes it receive the
water of life as a gift. (4) I witness to everyone who hears the words of
the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to it, God will add on him the
plagues described in this book, (5) and if anyone takes anything away
from the words of the prophecy of this book which have been written in
this book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and of the holy
city (Rv 22.15–19).
13. He says, Outside are the dogs: it is the custom in Holy Scrip-
ture to call those who have prostituted themselves dogs on ac-
count of their shamelessness and impurity. For the law of the
priest Moses in Deuteronomy says, “You shall not bring the hire

30. Oecumenius has omitted “the Spirit and” (to; pneu`ma kaiv) from the NT
text, but he comments on these words in 12.13.8.
 CHAPTER TWELVE 199

of a harlot or the price of a dog into the house of the Lord your
God for any vow of yours,”31 for such people are like dogs in
their shamelessness, as a heathen wise man also testifies, saying,
“Keep far from murder of every kind and a woman’s adulterous
couch, and swearing by the gods, and youths’ shameless beds.”32
Therefore, the dogs, whoever they may be, are outside the holy city
and the life of the righteous. For what do they have in common
with the righteous folk of God?
(2) He says, Everyone who loves and practices falsehood will be out-
side: falsehood means everything which is contrary to nature. Vir-
tue is natural, since from the beginning the Creator has sown in
us the seed of virtue when he formed us, but wickedness is con-
trary to nature. For just as in our bodies good health is natural,
and disease is unnatural, and sight and hearing are natural, but
blindness and deafness are unnatural, so in the soul virtue is nat-
ural and evil is unnatural; health is analogous to virtue, and dis-
ease to evil. (3) Consequently, evil is a lie, because it often falsely
claims to be virtue: brashness is taken to be fortitude, evil-doing
to be prudence, idleness temperance, and meanness justice. All
these are evils, wearing a mask of virtue, and so he casts those
who practice the falsehood of evil outside the holy precincts.
(4) He says, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to you to witness to these
things in the presence of the churches: he means by witness, to attest
solemnly, not in secret, nor in a corner, but in the hearing of the
churches everywhere, so that no one could make an excuse of ig-
norance for being willfully wicked.
(5) He says, I am the root and the offspring of David, but it would
seem to have been more appropriate to say, “I am the branch
which has sprung up from the root of David.” But, on the con-
trary, he has now called himself the root of David, and not only
the root but also the offspring, as was said earlier. A root is also the
origin of everything, including David, so that he is, and is consid-
ered to be, God; but he is also the offspring of David, sprung from
him according to the flesh, insofar as he is, and is considered to
be, a human being. This is who he is. “To say the same things
more than once is not irksome to me, but is safe” for those who

31. Dt 23.18.
32. A literal rendering of two anonymous hexameter verses.
200 OECUMENIUS

read, as the divine apostle says somewhere of his words.33 (6) So

therefore he is “Emmanuel”34 in his divinity and in his human-
ity, each of the two natures being complete according to their
respective qualities, without confusion, without change, immu-
table, unimaginable.35 We believe that after the inexpressible
union there is one person, one hypostasis, and one activity,36
“even if the difference of the natures, from which we say that
the ineffable union has been effected, may not be overlooked,”
as well as the peculiar quality of each nature, according to the
words of our blessed father Cyril.37
(7) He says, I am the morning star: he may mean the sun, since
Malachi has called him “the sun of righteousness,”38 and the
prophet in his psalm says, “Fire fell upon them”—that is, on
the high priests of the Jews—“and they did not see the sun”39—
that is, Christ, “the sun of righteousness.” Or he may mean “the
morning star”: he is called this by Peter in his second epistle,
saying, “Until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your
hearts.”40
(8) He says, The Spirit, that is, the prophetic spirit, and the
bride—the whole church in every place—say, “Come!” We are en-
joined to seek the second coming of the Lord, but also to put
it into prayer. For the one who says, “Your kingdom come,”41 to
God is asking for the kingdom of Christ, which is also the king-
dom of the Father and of the Spirit. (9) He says, And let him who
hears say, “Come”: he means, “let everyone who hears the pres-
ent words, including you, John, utter a prayer for the kingdom
of the coming of Christ.” In saying this he is urging everyone to
follow the works and practice of righteousness. For no one who
is not himself conversant with righteousness could pray for the
coming of Christ, since he will then be required to give an ac-
count of what he has done in his life.

33. Phil 3.1.

34. Is 7.14.
35. The four adverbs re­flect the four adverbs of the Chalcedonian Definition
of Faith, but the last two are different from those in the Definition.
36. Greek: provswpon, uJpovstasi~, ejnevrgeia.
37. Cyril of Alexandria, Ep. ad Iohannem Antioch. 8.
38. Mal 4.2. 39. Ps 57.9.
40. 2 Pt 1.19. 41. Mt 6.10.
 CHAPTER TWELVE 201

(10) He says, And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wishes
it receive the water of life as a gift: “when the time of my coming ar-
rives,” says the Lord, “put your mouth to the spring of life by the
practice of virtue.” “And all of you who have no money, come,
buy, and drink without money and without price,”42 Isaiah en-
joins us, addressing us with the same words as the Lord. It was
said earlier that the acquisition of virtue involves sweat and toil;
but he now says, receive it as a gift, since “the sufferings of this
present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be
revealed to us,”43 according to the words of very wise Paul. (11) I
bear witness, he says, to everyone who hears these present words: that
is, I promise solemnly not to add anything to them, so that he
may not bring upon himself the plagues spoken of herein, nor
take anything away from them, so that he may not be deprived
of his share of the tree of life and of the holy city, both of which are
described in this book. (12) See what the evangelist has then
added to make his account trustworthy and revered:

14. He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon”

(Rv 22.20).
15. The very thing which Paul said—“I am already on the
point of being sacrificed, the time of my departure is at hand”44
—he himself is now saying: “I who am teaching these things,” he
says, “and who solemnly testify to them, am henceforth at the
end of this present life, so that no one should be left with any
suspicion of the truth of the account.” (2) For who would ever
choose, and certainly not the great John, to fabricate words as
coming from God, as though he was not to undergo the death
common to us all and to depart into God’s hands more evidently
than those who are still among the living? Therefore, he says, “I
am writing these things,” all but saying to Christ, who calls me to
be transformed, Yes, I am coming soon.

16. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Rv 22.20).

17. Since, earlier on, the prophetic Spirit said to him, Let him
who hears say to the Lord, “Come,”45 in obedience to his command

42. Is 55.1. 43. Rom 8.18.

44. 2 Tm 4.6. 45. Rv 22.17.
202 OECUMENIUS

he says, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, as if he said, “Yes, master, Christ,

hasten for us the salvation of your second coming.”

18. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen (Rv
22.21).
19. The impure had already been removed from the life of
the saints and admission into the spiritual Jerusalem. How could
the grace of Christ our God come upon the excommunicate? (2)
Christ, grant us to share [in this grace] by your goodness alone.
For it is right for you to be glorified now and for ever. Amen.

20. As for this divine Revelation, some say, wagging their

tongues brashly and ignorantly, that it was not composed by the
divine John the evangelist and theologian. They listen to this tra-
dition as though they have secretly received it. (2) But I think
they say this not from ignorance nor from any secret revelation,
but only from simplicity and, if one may dare to say it, from cow-
ardice and a passionate love for earthly things, showing by their
denials their fear of what is absolutely incontrovertible. For in
the face of the explicit testimony of the blessed and holy fathers,
who is able to contradict their testimony or somehow to reach
the conclusion that this is certainly not the case? (3) For the
great Basil in his writings against Eunomius refutes his godless
blasphemies and nonsense.46 The divine theologian referred to
these in his fourth book, “in which he mentions on the author-
ity of the divinely inspired Scriptures both the problems and so-
lutions to the controversies about the Son” by means of the Old
and New Testaments. He starts by saying, “If the Son is God by
nature, and the Father is also God by nature, the Son is not one
God and the Father another, but they are the same.”47 And later
on,48 “Moses said about the Son, ‘I am has sent me,’49 and John
the evangelist said, ‘In the beginning was the Word,’50 and he
said ‘was’ not once only, but four times, and again elsewhere he
said, ‘he who is from God’51 and ‘he who is in the bosom of the

46. Ps-Basil, Adversus Eunomium 4. 47. Ibid., 4.1.

48. Ibid., 4.2. 49. Ex 3.14.
50. Jn 1.1. 51. Jn 8.47
 CHAPTER TWELVE 203

Father,’52 and elsewhere, ‘he who is in heaven,’53 and in the Rev-

elation, ‘he who is and who was and is to come.’”54 He made no
distinction between authors, but he followed the testimony of
Paul and repeated it. (4) If then this Revelation was composed
by some other John, as the nonsense of the majority has it, the
great Basil also would have written his books on the Revelation
with the name of its author. But after first listing the books of
Moses, and then those of the apostle and theologian, as those,
too, of the apostle Paul, he had no need to refer to anyone else
in addition to these. These then are the incontrovertible words
of the great and holy Basil. (5) The great Gregory, surnamed
“the Theologian,” whom they call “the Organizer,” when he was
making his defense in the presence of the hundred and fifty
bishops,55 clearly and truly wrote, “When will you inherit my holy
mountain?” and he went on to say, “I am convinced that oth-
ers preside over other churches, as John teaches me in Revela-
tion.”56 (6) And Eusebius Pamphyli, in the third book of his Ec-
clesiastical History, says somewhere,57 “This, then, was the situation
of the Jews at that time,” and goes on to say, “It is recorded that
at that time John the apostle and evangelist was still alive, and
was sentenced by Domitian the son of Vespasian to live on the
island of Patmos on account of his witness to the divine word.
Indeed, Irenaeus, when writing about the number of the name
of the Antichrist as given in the book of John called Revelation,
uses these very words in the fifth book of his Against the Heresies,
saying about John: ‘If it seems right at the present time for this
name to be openly announced, it would have been mentioned
by the one who actually saw the Revelation.’”

52. Jn 1.18. 53. Jn 3.13.

54. Rv 1.8.
55. At the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381.
56. Gregory of Nazianzus, Orationes 42.8–9.
57. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.1.1 and 3.18.1–3.
INDICES
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES

Aaron, Moses’ brother, 55 Bethlehem, 112

Abaddon, angel in hell, 90; see also Bethune-Baker, J. F., xii
Apolluon Bezalel, OT master-craftsman, 136
Abel, son of Adam, 55
Abraham, patriarch, 55, 118, 133, Cain, son of Adam, 147
164, 187 Cerinthus, heresiarch, 36
Adam, 57, 60, 67, 70, 97 Chalcedonian Definition, 6–7, 200
Ahab, king of Israel, 42 Christians, 19, 47, 70, 149, 162
Andreas, commentator on Chrysostom, John, bishop of
Revelation, 3–4, 9 Constantinople, 157
Antichrist, servant of the Devil, 80, Clement, Alexandrian theologian, 56
102–4, 107, 110, 113, 118, 123– Colossians, Paul’s correspondents,
25, 128, 130, 135, 140–42, 147, 21, 50
150–51, 163, 165, 167, 177–78, Constantine, Roman emperor, 149
182, 203 Constantinople, First Council (a.d.
Apollinarius, bishop of Laodicea, 7 381), 203
Apolluon, angel in hell, 90; see also Constantinople, Second Council (a.d.
Abaddon 553), 5
Aquila, translator of Hebrew Constantinople, Third Council (a.d.
Scriptures, 131 680), 3
Ares, Greek god of war, 161–62 Corinthians, Paul’s correspondents,
Arethas, commentator on Revelation, 31, 54, 84, 159
3 Crouzel, H., xii
Arianism, the teaching of Arius, Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, 6, 11,
10–11 15, 20, 74, 77, 153, 160, 200
Arians, followers of Arius, 50
Arius, heresiarch, 10–11 Daley, Brian, 5, 12
Assyria, 112 Damascus, 112
Assyrian(s), 90, 167; as symbolizing Daniel, prophet, 16, 25, 32, 43, 55–
Satan, 43 56, 65–66, 96, 125, 138, 149, 160,
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, 20 165, 196
Athene, Greek goddess, 162 David, king of Israel, 32, 45–47, 55,
59, 61–62, 129, 198–99
Babylon, 25, 128–29, 143–46, 151– Decius, Roman emperor, 149
52, 155-57, 163 De Groote, M., vii, ix, xi, 3–5, 15–16,
Balaam, non-Israelite prophet, 40 59, 80, 117, 124, 143, 148, 181
Balak, king of Moab, 40 Devil, 7, 12–14, 38–39, 52, 61, 67–69,
Basil, bishop of Cappadocian 72, 92, 112–15, 117–19, 121–25,
Caesarea, 20, 39, 54, 202–3 128, 135, 141–42, 146–49, 167–72,
Beliar, a demon, 161 175–78, 182, 185; see also Satan
Benediktos, 125 Diekamp, F., 3

207
208 OECUMENIUS
Diobouniotis, C., xii Herod Agrippa I, 56
Dio Cassius, Roman historian, 4 Herod, the Great, 111–12, 116
Diocletian, Roman emperor, 149 Hesiod, Greek poet, 19
Domitian, Roman emperor, 4, 28, 48, Hippolytus, theologian, 20
149, 203 Homer, Greek epic poet, 8, 19, 162
Durousseau, C., xi, 3 Hosea, prophet, 173, 187
Hoskier, H. C., vii, xi, 3–4, 14, 16
Egypt, 92, 100, 103–4, 112, 116, 131,
166 Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, 203
Elijah, prophet, 55, 101–3 Isaac, patriarch, 55, 164
Elisha, prophet, 55 Isaiah, prophet, 14–15, 27–28, 30,
Emmanuel, name of Christ, 6, 21, 29, 45–46, 55, 57, 61–63, 66, 68, 70,
46, 166, 200 72, 75, 88–89, 92, 109, 111–12,
Enoch, patriarch, 55, 102 119–20, 126–27, 131, 135–37,
Ephesians, the people of Ephesus, 140, 152, 158, 166–68, 177, 184,
36–37; Paul’s correspondents, 10 187, 196, 201
Ephesus, 10, 28, 35–36, 38, 49 Israel, 10, 14, 38–40, 46, 56, 60, 64,
Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis, 10– 69, 73, 76, 79, 82, 99–100, 104–5,
11, 157 108–9, 119–21, 126–27, 143, 163,
Ethiopia, 111 171, 177, 186–88, 191, 193
Euphrates, river, 91–92, 141
Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, 4, 28, Jacob, patriarch, 44, 47, 55, 61, 66,
48, 149, 203 115, 126, 164, 166, 187
Eutyches, heresiarch, 6–7, 21, 46, James, brother of John, 56
107 James, son of Joseph, 55
Eutychianists, followers of Eutyches, Jehoshaphat, valley of, 87
46 Jeremiah, prophet, 51, 55, 62, 100
Evagrius Ponticus, monk, 5, 97 Jericho, 72
Ezekiel, prophet, 55, 57, 92, 177 Jerusalem, city of Judaea, 72, 77, 99,
104, 137, 143; as symbol of the
Gabriel, archangel, 47, 93, 190 heavenly city, 46, 48, 100, 133, 169,
Gehenna, 54, 87–88, 148, 178 180, 183–85, 189, 195, 202
Germans, 161 Jesse, father of king David, 62, 135
God-bearer, 8, 131; see also Mary, Jesus, Christ, 5, 11, 14, 15, 20–22,
Mother of God, Virgin 24, 27, 31, 62, 70, 94, 112, 115,
Gog, a mythical figure, 177 129, 131, 132, 136, 146, 147, 158,
Greeks, 27, 70, 160–62, 168, 197 160, 162, 171, 172, 198, 199,
Gregory of Nazianzus, bishop, 20, 31, 201–2; Jesus, successor of Moses,
50, 97, 161, 203 see Joshua
Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, 109 Jews, 4, 38–39, 45, 57, 70, 72, 76–78,
Gregory Thaumaturgus (“the 88, 102, 104, 118, 126, 138, 172–
Wonderworker”), bishop of 73, 193, 200, 203
Neocaesarea, 10 Jezebel, wife of King Ahab, 41–42
Grillmeier, A., xi Job, 55, 92, 111, 118, 121, 170
Joel, prophet, 74, 86, 142
Habakkuk, prophet, 63, 108, 134 John, apostle and evangelist, 4, 19–24,
Haggai, prophet, 143 27–28, 31–33, 55, 56, 93, 95, 99,
Hebrews, Hebrew speakers, 27; Paul’s 104, 112, 118, 161, 162, 170, 173,
correspondents, 186 184, 196, 197, 200–203
Hermas, 44; see also Shepherd Jonah, prophet, 116
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 209
Joseph, foster-father of Jesus, 109, 58, 60, 69, 108, 109, 134–36, 153,
112, 116 164, 177, 186, 187, 191, 198, 202,
Josephus, historian, 40, 70, 76–77, 78 203
Joshua, son of Nun, successor of Mother of God, 107, 109, 110, 112;
Moses, 32, 55, 164 see also God-bearer, Mary, Virgin
Judaea, 76, 112
Judah, tribe, 59, 61–62, 100 Naomi, mother of Ruth, 85
Judas, apostle, 38 Nero, Roman emperor, 14, 48, 149
Jude, 91–92 Nestorians, followers of Nestorius, 46
Jugie, M., xii, 8–9 Nestorius, heresiarch, 6–7, 21, 46
Justinian, Roman emperor, 12 Nicolaitans, followers of Nicolaus, 35,
37, 40–41
Kelly, J. N. D., xi, xii, 12 Nicolaus, heresiarch, 37, 40
Noah, patriarch, 55
Lamb, title of Christ, 62, 64–66, 74–
75, 79–80, 113, 123, 126, 128, 129, Oecumenius, vii, 3–16, 21, 25, 27, 35,
134–35, 148, 150, 158–60, 186, 41, 46, 47, 50, 53, 58, 71, 79, 83,
188–89, 192–95 101, 108, 117, 120, 121, 123, 124,
Lamoreaux, J. C., xi, 3–5, 9 131, 135, 145, 148, 152, 155, 156,
Lampe, G. W. H., xi, 5 158, 159, 162, 163, 169, 183, 186,
Lampetis, 125 198
Laodicea, 28, 49 Origen, theologian, xii, 3, 5, 7–15,
Lebanon, Mount, 30 131, 157
Lot, nephew of Abraham, 153 Origenist, belonging to Origen’s
Luke, evangelist, 121, 190 teachings, 11
Origenists, followers of Origen’s
Magog, a mythical figure, 177 teachings, xii, 12
Malachi, prophet, 64, 101, 108, 169,
200 Patmos, 4, 27, 28, 48, 203
Malaty, T. Y., xii, 7, 9–12, 14 Paul, apostle, 21, 24–25, 31–32, 39,
Manichaeans, 46 44, 52, 54, 56, 77–78, 81, 100, 103,
Mark, evangelist, 26 123, 134, 136, 163, 182, 186, 195–
Mary, Blessed Virgin, 7–8, 13, 29, 96, 201, 203
110; see also God-bearer, Mother of Pelagius, heretic, 7
God, Virgin Pergamum, 28, 39–41, 49
Matthew, evangelist, 45, 56, 69, 75, Persians, 160
86, 89, 148 Peter, apostle, 46, 56, 74, 85, 86, 91,
Megiddo, 141–43 116, 168, 179, 183, 200
Melchisedek, king of Salem, 29, 55, Pharaoh, ruler of Egypt, 115, 125,
121 134, 135
Menas, patriarch of Constantinople, Philadelphia, 28, 45–47, 49
12 Philippians, Paul’s correspondents,
Methodius, bishop of Olympus and 147
Patara, 10, 20 Philo, Jewish exegete, 38
Michael, archangel, 93, 112–13, 138, Pilate, Roman governor of Judaea,
160 24, 70, 72, 82
Midianite women, 40 Plato, Greek philosopher, 10–11
Monaci Castagno, A., xi Prestige, G. L., xi, xii, 10
Moses, reputed author of the Preuschen, E., xii, 9
Pentateuch, 10, 23, 40, 42, 53–55,
210 OECUMENIUS
Raphael, archangel, 93 Sodomites, 153
Robinson, J. A., 10 Solomon, king of Israel, 20, 50, 163
Romans, Paul’s correspondents, 15, Souter, A., 5
25, 85, 183; people of Roman Stephen, deacon and martyr, 55
Empire, 76, 78, 126, 149, 156, 165 Suetonius, Roman writer, 4
Rome, 144–45, 148–49, 151, 153,
155 Theodotion, translator of Hebrew
Scriptures, 16
Salmon, 173, 193 Thessalonians, Paul’s correspondents,
Samaria, 112 83, 103
Samaritan woman, 37 Thyatira, 28, 41, 49
Samuel, Israelite ruler and prophet, Timothy, Paul’s companion, 24
55 Titan, a mythical giant, 125
Sardis, 28, 43–44, 49 Trajan, Roman emperor, 149
Satan, 14, 38–41, 43, 45, 67, 91, 103, Tricca, bishopric in Thessaly, 4–5
107, 110–14, 116, 118, 124, 168, Trigg, J. W., xii, 7, 9, 11–13
171, 175–76, 178; see also Devil Turner, C. H., xii
Schmid, J., xi
Scythians, 161 Uriel, archangel, 93
Sellers, R. V., xii, 6
Severus, bishop of Antioch, 4–5 Valerian, Roman emperor, 149
Severus, Roman emperor, 149 Vespasian, Roman emperor, 203
Shepherd of Hermas, 44 Virgin, Mary, 47, 107–9, 111, 116–
Simeon, who embraced the infant 17, 166; see also God-bearer, Mary,
Jesus, 116 Mother of God
Sinai, Mount, 83 Von Harnack, A., xii
Smyrna, 28, 38, 49
Sodom, symbol of the place of Jesus’s Zechariah, prophet, 55, 72, 102, 169
crucifixion, 90, 103–4 Zion, Mount, 55, 126, 136, 186
 INDEX OF HOLY SCRIPTURE

Old Testament
Genesis Deuteronomy 11.7: 51
1.11–12: 53 4.24: 54 13.3: 60
3.15: 67 23.18: 199 14.1: 81
3.19: 39 30.15: 177 17.9: 137
5.22: 102 32.33: 129 17.11: 26, 131
17.5: 118 32.41: 153 20.13: 127
18.23: 77 21.16: 181
18.27: 114 Joshua 21.23: 114, 117
19.2: 90 1.9: 33 22.2: 165
19.7: 153 5.9: 164 28.7: 87, 181
32.24: 66 5.14: 164 29.10: 128
46.26: 166 30.10: 37
47.9: 115 1 Samuel (LXX) 31.9: 69
49.9: 61 2.5: 58 32.15: 36
49.11: 45 33.8: 161
49.17: 67 2 Kings (LXX) 35.6: 57
19.35: 90, 167 35.7: 190
Exodus 35.10: 167
3.14: 10, 23, 58, 147, Job 43.3: 29
202 1.7: 118, 119 44.3: 29
6.2–3: 164 1.12: 111 44.4: 32, 165
14.15: 109 14.4–5: 135 44.4–6: 164
15.1–2: 135 15.25: 113, 118 44.17: 174
17.1: 73 34.21: 36, 37 44.32: 70
19.16–19: 83 41.25: 92 45.3: 75
23.22: 177 45.3–4: 55
25.9: 136 Psalms (LXX 45.5: 93
28.15: 191 numbering) 45.6: 169
28.16: 191 1.5: 133 46.7: 64
29.5–6: 191 1.6: 42 46.10: 187
31.7–8: 136 2.8–9: 112 48.8: 61
32.32: 60 2.9: 165 54.4: 37
33.12: 42 2.11: 56 54.7–8: 116
33.20: 53 4.7: 77 57.9: 108, 200
35.30: 136 5.4: 60, 169 61.11: 51
6.6: 93 67.15: 173, 193
Leviticus 7.10: 42 67.19: 74
26.11: 121 9.5: 69 67.21: 33
26.12: 36 9.5–6: 69 71.1: 163

211
212 OECUMENIUS
71.2: 163 Proverbs 49.2: 70
71.6: 26 1.7: 128 49.8: 168
72.27: 129, 145 3.18: 195 50.4–5: 28
73.6: 52 8.22: 50 51.11: 184
73.13–14: 111 8.25: 50 52.5: 120
74.9: 129 24.16: 58 53.7: 62
74.11: 63 53.9: 46, 187
75.3: 29 Ecclesiastes 55.1: 201
75.8: 54 4.12: 20 58.3: 38, 57
76.4: 94 59.20–21: 126
77.50: 87 Song of Songs 63.2–3: 45, 62, 75,
78.12: 153 1.3: 31 166
81.8: 65 1.9: 134 63.9: 61
83.11: 47 2.1: 31 66.1: 107
86.3: 100 5.2: 52 66.7: 109
86.5: 100 66.12: 93
89.4: 22, 168 Wisdom 66.24: 88, 89
90.13: 43 1.4: 20
91.11: 111 Jeremiah
92.3: 86 Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 3.9: 42
92.4: 86 15.9: 127 11.19: 62
94.4: 144 22.17: 52
96.1: 144 Isaiah 23.18: 137
96.2: 95 1.19–20: 177 38.31–32 LXX (=RSV
96.5: 144 6.2: 53, 57 31.31–32): 100
101.26–27: 179 6.3: 158
101.27: 183 6.4: 137 Ezekiel
102.20: 137 7.14: 166, 200 10.13: 57
102.21: 24 8.3: 66 10.20: 57
103.4: 56 8.4: 112 28.13: 15
103.14–15: 53 8.18: 117 32.2: 92
103.15: 70 11.1: 62 38–39: 178
103.26: 92 11.2–3: 63
103.30: 88 11.10: 135 Daniel
106.39: 42 13.21–22: 152 5.21: 25
109.3: 50 14.12: 43 7.5: 165
109.4: 29 14.13: 120 7.8: 125
114.5: 130 14.13–14: 68 7.10: 56, 96
117.22: 15, 55, 136 14.14: 120 7.13: 67
117.24: 169 19.1: 131 7.18: 196
117.27: 169 23.2–6: 75 7.22: 43
118.61: 72 25.8: 184 7.27: 43
118.91: 24 26.10: 140, 167 8.17: 33
120.6: 13, 81 26.18: 197 8.23: 150
126.3: 29 27.1: 92, 111 10.11: 33
129.3: 130 28.16: 15, 30, 55, 10.12–13: 160
138.16: 60 136, 188 10.20: 160
138.21–22: 167 37.36: 90 10.21: 160
139.5: 67 40.12: 144 12.1: 138, 161
144.16: 62, 187 41.4: 27
 INDEX OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 213
Hosea Jonah Zechariah
10.12: 169 2.3: 116 4.10: 58
13.14: 182 4.11–14: 102
Nahum 13.6: 72
Joel 1.9: 153 14.6–7: 169
2.31: 74, 86
3.2: 87 Habakkuk Malachi
3.4: 142 3.4: 63 1.10–11: 65
3.8: 134 4.2: 32, 60, 108, 169,
Amos 3.10–11: 108 187, 200
8.9: 88 4.4–5: 101
8.11: 70 Haggai
2.6–7: 143

New Testament
Matthew 22.2–14: 159 10.18: 113
3.12: 133 22.11–12: 160 10.20: 45, 121
4.10: 67 22.29: 181 10.30: 72
5.6: 185 23.10: 188 12.35–36: 190
5.11: 172 23.38: 126 13.6–9: 52
6.10: 200 24.6: 141 13.35: 126
7.13–14: 179 24.6–8: 138 15.4: 157
7.14: 134 24.21: 138 15.7: 157
7.25: 116 24.29: 86 16.19–31: 133
8.22: 39, 173 24.31: 45 16.26: 133, 195
8.29: 76, 169 24.51: 81 19.17: 43, 89
9.37: 132 25.41: 92, 147 19.19: 43, 89
10.22: 39 25.46: 89, 133 22.18: 106
10.28: 148, 174 26.28: 81 23.34: 15, 77
10.32: 45 26.29: 106
10.34–35: 68 27.51: 74 John
11.14: 102 28.19: 164, 188 1.1: 23, 58, 100, 202
12.28: 173 28.20: 191 1.3: 22
12.29: 169 1.9: 32
13.3: 69 Mark 1.18: 53, 203
13.5: 81 3.17: 19 3.13: 203
13.22: 51 13: 136 4.24: 37
13.27: 69 13.25–26: 26 4.32: 167
13.33: 69 14.25: 106 5.19: 173
13.42: 81 14.65: 71 5.22: 153, 165
13.43: 45 5.43: 104
13.50: 81 Luke 7.38: 93
13.52: 192 1.32–33: 47 8.12: 30
16.19: 46 1.35: 108 8.28: 173
18.12–13: 157 1.78–79: 169 8.44: 118
19.28: 56, 171 2.35: 116 8.47: 202
20.6: 101, 170 2.40: 63 12.49: 173
20.9: 101, 170 3.17: 133 13.25: 19
20.14: 160 10.2: 132 14.2: 84, 127
214 OECUMENIUS
14.6: 30 7.14: 67 1 Thessalonians
16.33: 52 9.9: 190 4.16: 83
19.5: 67 10.4: 30, 100 4.17: 79, 84, 184,
20.17: 38 13.12: 159, 192 196
20.25: 62 14.32: 196 5.3: 44
21.24: 22 15.23: 50 5.5: 194
15.26: 159 5.19: 51
Acts 15.27–28: 158
1.9: 26 15.52: 83 2 Thessalonians
1.15: 174 15.55: 182 2.8: 140, 167
2.24: 116 2.9: 103, 123–24
3.15: 116 2 Corinthians
9.15: 163 1.19: 49 1 Timothy
12.2: 56 1.22: 159 1.5: 128
21.20: 77 2.14: 31 2.4: 34
2.15: 31 2.6: 25
Romans 6.14: 195 5.21: 24
2.4: 54 6.14–15: 161 6.13: 24
2.28: 39 6.16: 121 6.17: 51
3.19: 61 8.9: 38 6.20: 188
4.12: 187 11.2: 159
5.19: 61, 71 11.14: 96 2 Timothy
6.3: 81 2.10–12: 172
6.9–10: 25 Galatians 2.12: 82
6.16: 175 6.2: 36 2.13: 163
8.7: 114 3.16: 19
8.17: 52, 82 Ephesians 4.6: 201
8.18: 185, 201 1.1: 10
8.19–21: 183 2.14: 61 Hebrews
8.20–21: 85 2.20: 188 1.14: 90–91, 161
8.33–34: 47 4.8: 74 2.2: 187
11.22: 54 4.14: 68 2.12: 114, 117
11.25–26: 127 5.31–32: 159 2.13: 117
11.33: 41 3.1: 30
12.1: 65, 91 Philippians 4.12: 32
12.11: 50 1.1: 10, 147 5.6: 29
13.14: 15, 136 2.7: 29, 38 5.14: 51, 69
15.16: 195 2.8: 25 7.14: 62
16.20: 43 2.15–16: 29 10.20: 24, 74
3.1: 58, 200 10.34: 172
1 Corinthians 3.6: 192 11.5: 102
1.24: 195 3.19: 126 11.31: 54
2.9: 41, 82, 106 11.38: 176
2.13: 19 Colossians 12.18–23: 186
3.10–11: 31 1.15: 33, 50 12.22: 100
3.12–13: 134 1.16: 21 12.23: 100, 186
3.13: 84 1.18: 21, 24
4.8: 52 1.26–27: 30 James
4.9: 78 1.29: 32 3.2: 40, 135
4.21: 54 2.13: 44
2.14: 25, 61
 INDEX OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 215
1 Peter 4.4–6: 55 13.3: 13
2.6: 188 4.6–8: 57 13.4: 120
3.19–20: 74 4.8: 15, 58 13.4–8: 120
5.4: 188 4.9–11: 59 13.9–10: 121
5.8: 119 5.1–7: 59 13.11: 117, 150
5.8–12: 64 13.11–13: 123
2 Peter 5.13–14: 65 13.14–18: 124
1.19: 200 6.1–4: 66 13.18: 14
2.4: 91, 118 6.5–8: 68 14: 12
2.22: 142 6.9: 15, 71 14.1–5: 126
3.8: 168 6.9–11: 71–72 14.6–7: 128
3.10: 86, 179 6.12–17: 73–74 14.8: 128, 144
3.13: 85, 183 7: 13 14.9–12: 129
7.1–6: 15, 76 14.13: 131
1 John 7.9–17: 79–80 14.14: 13
1.1: 23 7.11: 79 14.14–16: 131
4.1: 36 7.14: 15 14.17–20: 132
7.16: 13 15.1–4: 134
Jude 8.1–2: 81 15.5–16.1: 135–36
6: 91–92, 118 8.3: 83 15.6: 15
8.3–6: 83 16.2–7: 137
Revelation 8.7: 13, 84 16.8–11: 140
1.1: 4 8.8–9: 85 16.12–16: 141
1.1–2: 20–21 8.10–11: 85 16.17–21: 143
1.3: 23 8.12–13: 86 16.19: 143
1.4: 23 9.1–4: 87 17.1–5: 145
1.5: 24 9.5–6: 89 17.6–9: 146–47
1.5–6: 25 9.7–12: 90 17.9–14: 148
1.7: 13, 26 9.13–19: 91 17.15–18: 150–51
1.8: 27, 203 9.20–21: 93 18.1–3: 151
1.9: 4, 27 10.1–4: 95, 178 18.3: 151
1.10: 28 10.5–7: 97 18.4–8: 152–53
1.10–11: 28 10.7: 98 18.6: 152
1.12–16: 28 10.8–11: 98 18.9–19: 155–56
1.17: 27 11.1–2: 99 18.20–24: 156
1.17–19: 32 11.3–6: 101 19.1: 14
1.20: 33 11.7–10: 103 19.1–5: 157
2.1–7: 35 11.11–14: 104 19.6–9: 158
2.8–11: 38 11.15–19: 104–5 19.10: 160
2.12–17: 39–40 11.18: 106 19.11–16: 162–63
2.17: 41 12: 8, 9 19.17–21: 166
2.18–29: 41–42 12.1: 13 20.1–3: 168
3.1–6: 43–44 12.1–2: 107 20.4–8: 171
3.7: 13, 49 12.3: 117 20.8: 177
3.7–13: 45–46 12.3–6: 110 20.8–10: 177
3.8: 15 12.7–9: 112 20.11–12: 178–79
3.14–22: 49 12.10–12: 113 20.13–21.2: 180
4.1: 82 12.13–17: 115 20.14: 180
4.1–3: 52 12.18–13.4: 117 21.1: 179
4.3: 52 13.1–2: 124 21.3: 183
216 OECUMENIUS
21.3–5: 183–84 21.15–22: 189 22.15–19: 198
21.5: 179 21.23–25: 193 22.17: 201
21.6: 7 21.26–22.5: 194 22.20: 201
21.6–8: 184–85 22.6–9: 196 22.21: 202
21.9–14: 185–86 22.10–14: 197