THE APOCALYPSE ( Part Two) by: St Victorinus of Poetovio: Commentary on the Apocalypse ( Translated by Kevin Edgecomb) 3 An eagle flying in the midst of heaven: the Holy Spirit is indicated, testifying by the two prophets to threaten plagues of great wrath, if in any way, even in the final time, anyone may still be saved. a Mt 26.41 b Mt 24.21-22 c Mt 24.31; cf Mk 13.27 d Mic 5.5-6 e Eccl 12.3 f Mt 13.27-30 [Chapter 9 is not covered by Victorinus.] 10 Then what he says, a mighty angel descended from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow upon his head, and his face like the sun, and his feet like columns of fire, and having in his hand an open book, and he placed his feet upon the sea and the earth, signifies our Lord, as we have told above of His face like the sun, that is, of the resurrection; a rainbow upon his head is judgment, which was and will be. And the open book is the Apocalypse which John received. His feet, we also spoke of above, are to be equated with the apostles. For, both the sea and the earth to be trampled by Him signifies everything is put under His feet. He says he is an angel, that is, a messenger of the Father Almighty; for He is called a messenger of great counsel.aTo call out in a great voice: the great voice is of heaven; to announce to men the words of the Almighty God, because after the closing of repentance, there will be no hope afterward. 2 Seven thunders spokes in their voices: the Spirit of sevenfold power (Who) has testified through the prophets all that will be, has by His voice given witness in the world. But because it says he was to be writing what was said by the thunders, that is, whatever was obscurely predicted in the Old Testament, he is prohibited to write, but (is told) to leave and to seal (them). Because he was an apostle, it was not proper to confer the grace of the following degree on a man of the first, because now is the proper time. For the apostles, by powers, by signs, by warnings, by great works, have conquered unbelief. After them, now the churches are strengthened by faith, having been given the comfort of interpreting the writings of the prophets; which interpreters he called prophets. For the Apostle says: And He also placed in the Church first apostles, second prophets, third teachersb and the rest. And in another place he says: Two or three prophets speak, and let others evaluate,c and he says: Every woman praying or prophesying without a veiled head defiles her head.d For when he says: Two or three prophets speak, and let others evaluate, he does not speak of general prophecy, unheard and unknown but now predicted; but let them evaluate whether the interpretation agrees with the witness of the prophetic saying. Therefore, this was certain not to have been necessary for John, armed with superior strength; with the Church being the Body of Christ, adorned with His members, it must answer in His place. 3 For to take the little scroll and to eat it: having been shown to him, it is committed to memory. To be sweet in the mouth is the fruit of the preaching of the speaker, and to the hearers is very sweet, but (also) very bitter to the preacher and to those persevering in the commandments through sufferings. He says, It is necessary to preach again, that is, to prophesy, among peoples, tongues, and nations: this is because, when John saw this, he was in the island of Pathmos, condemned to a mine by Caesar Domitian. Therefore, John is seen to have written the Apocalypse there. And when now old, he thought it possible to return after the suffering. Domitian having been killed, all his judgments were undone and John was released from the mine, and thus afterward he handed over this same Apocalypse which he received from the Lord. This is: It is necessary to preach again. a Isa 9.5 (LXX) b 1Cor 12.28 c 1Cor 14.29 d 1Cor 11.5 11 And to show him a reed like a rod, so that he might measure the temple of God and the altar and those worshipping in it: he speaks of authority, which, having been released, he afterward displayed to the churches. For he also afterward wrote the Gospel. For when Valentinus and Cerinthus and Ebion and others of the school of Satan were spread throughout the world, the bishops of the nearby cities came together and compelled him, so that he might write his own testimony about the Lord. For the measure of faith is commanded by our Lord, to confess the Father Almighty, as we have learned, and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: before the origin of the world spiritually born of the Father; made man and conquered death; received bodily into heaven by the Father; poured forth the Holy Spirit, gift and pledge of immortality. This One was predicted by the Prophets, this One was written of in the Law, this One is the Hand of God, and the Word of the Father Almighty, and Creator of the circle of the whole world. This is the reed and measure of faith, that no one may worship at the holy altar, except who has confessed this: He is Lord and Christ.a 2 And leave out the inner court. A court is called an atrium, an empty place between walls. Those such who are not necessary, he ordered to be thrown out. Which is given to be trampled by the gentiles, that is, for this kind of men to be trampled either by the gentiles or with the gentiles. Then he repeats about the ruin and slaughter of the end time, and says: And they will trample the holy city forty-two months. And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will preach, clothed in sackcloth, for one thousand, 260 days, that is, three years and six months; one thousand, 260 days make 42 months. Therefore, their preaching is for three years and six months, and the reign of Antichrist, is another of such (length). And from the mouths of these prophets goes out fire against their adversaries: he speaks of the power of the Word. All the plagues which are to happen will be sent by the voice of their angels. 3 Many think Elijah to be with Elishah or Moses, but they are both dead. But Jeremiah has not found death. By all our ancients they passed down that it was to be Jeremiah; for even the very word which was made to him testifies, saying: Before I formed you in your mothers belly, I knew you, and before you left the womb I sanctified you, and I made you a prophet to the gentiles.b But he was not a prophet to the gentiles, and thus both (sayings being) by the Divine, that which He promised has also inevitably to show: that he will be a prophet to the gentiles. He spoke of these two lampstands and two olive trees: thus He has reminded that, if reading in another place you have not understood, here you will inderstand. For it is written in Zechariah, one of the Twelve Prophets. 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand in the sight of the Lord of the earth, that is, in Paradise. These, therefore, must be slain by Antichrist, after many plagues have been thrust into the world, of whom he says the beast came up from the abyss. And that he will ascend from the abyss, many witnesses for us are collected in this chapter. For Isaiah says: Behold Asshur, a cypress in Mount Lebanon. Asshur, oppressing, an exceedingly well-branched cyprus, that is, a numerous people; in Mount Lebanon: in the kingdom of kingdoms; beautiful in seeds,c that is, mighty in armies. Water, he says, nourished him, that is, many thousands of men, which will be subject to him. The abyss enlarged him,d that is, it vomited him. For it was said by Ezekiel in nearly the same words. For he was to be in a kingdom of kingdoms, and was to be among the Caesars, Paul also proved by witness. For he says to the Thessalonians: Thus now he holds back who is seen (to do so), until he is removed from the middle; and then he will appear, whose coming is according to the ability (or power) of Satan, with signs and lies.e And so that they knew him to be coming, who was then the Princeps, he adds: The secret of malice now works,f that is, the malice which he will be doing is done secretly, but he is not elevated by his own power or his fathers, but by the command of God. For which reason, therefore, Paul said: Therefore, because they do not take hold of the love of God, He sends to them a spirit of error, so that all might be persuaded by a lie who are not persuaded by the truth.g Isaiah says: In waiting for the light, darkness rose for them.h 5 Therefore, the Apocalypse shows these prophets to be slain by the same, and to rise up the fourth day, so that they are not found equal to God. And Jerusalem is to be called Sodom and Egypt, (because of) the deed accomplished by the people of the persecutor. Therefore, diligently and with all care, it is necessary to follow the prophetic prediction and to understand, because the Holy Spirit predicts scatteredly, and returns and runs through to the end time, repeats back previous times, and because what will happen once is shown as done several times?which unless you understand several sayings, not several happenings, you fall into a great fog?therefore, the interpretation of the sequence of sayings in it will agree, that it might be understood not in order of reading, but of reason. 6 Opened was the temple of God which is in heaven: is the appearance of our Lord. The Temple of God is His Son, as He says: Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it; and the sayings of the Jews: Forty-six years has it been built. The Evangelist says: He said this of the temple of His body.i The ark of the testament: he says the preaching of the Gospel, and the forgiveness of transgressions, and all those things which came with Him, appeared. a Acts 4.26 b Jer 1.5 c Ezk 31.3 d Ezk 31.4 e 2Th 2.7-9 f 2Th 2.7 g 2Th 2.10-11 h Isa 59.9 i Jn 2.19-21 12 And a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, having a crown of twelve stars, giving birth in her pains is the ancient Church of the fathers and prophets and holy apostles, because she bore the sorrow and torment of her desires, until which He was made from her people according to her flesh, as long promised to her: to see Christ take up from the same nation a body. And clothed with the sun signifies the hope of resurrection and the promise of glory. The moon, indeed, is the falling of the bodies of the saints from the debt to death, which never lacks strength. For whenever the life of men is lessened, it will also be increased. Nor is the hope of the sleeping totally extinguished, as some think, but they have a light in the darkness, like the moon. A twelve-starred crown signifies the chorus of fathers according to the birth of the flesh, from whom Christ was to take up flesh. 2 And a red dragon standing waiting, so that when the woman will have borne her son, he might devour him is the devil, namely the fugitive angel, who supposed that the annihilation of all men equally through death was possible. But He who was not born of seed owed nothing to death; because of which nor was he able to devour him, that is, to hold onto Him in death. For indeed He rose up on the third day. Finally also, before He had suffered, he came to tempt Him like a man, but when he found Him not to be who he thought, he went away from Him, it says, until the time.a 3 It says this one was taken up to the throne of God. We read of it in the Acts of the Apostles, how speaking with the disciples He was taken up into heaven. For it is he who will be leading all nations with a rod of iron: the rod of iron is a sword; and all nations are those which battle under the stratagems (?) of Antichrist against the saints still remaining: which also, he says, will fall by the sword. And the color of which he says to be red, that is, scarlet: the fruit of his works gave to him such a color. For from the beginning he has been a murdererb and has oppressed all the human race not only by the debt of death, but moreso through various plagues everywhere. Seven heads, seven kings of Rome from whom also is Antichrist, as we will speak of soon. Ten horns, ten kings in the end time; these are the same we will treat fully there. 4 And the woman flew into the desert with the help of the wings of a great eagle?namely the two prophets?all the Catholic Church, in which will be one hundred forty four thousand believers in the end time, under the Prophet Elijah. Another second people will be found at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, of which the Lord Christ Himself speaks in the Gospel: Then those who are in Judea will be fleeing into the mountains,c that is, however many will have been gathered in Judea, let them go to that place which they have prepared so that they will be nourished there for three years and six months, away from the face of the devil. The wings of a great eagle are the two prophets, Elijah and he who will be the prophet with him. 5 And the water which the serpent sent out of his mouth signifies his command of the army following him. And the earth opened its mouth and devoured the water shows the conquering of the persecutors. Therefore, this might signify the one giving birth, and shows after the birth the fleeing to the heights: these things did not belong to one time. For we know the time to have occurred that Christ was born; however, that she will flee from the face of the serpent, this has not yet happened. 6 Then he says: There was war in heaven: Michael and his messengers fought with the dragon; and the dragon fought, and his messengers; and there was not found for him a place in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown out, the ancient serpent fell to earth. This is the beginning of the coming of Antichrist. Yet before, Elijah must preach and there must be a time of peace, and thus after the end of three years and six months of the preaching of Elijah, he is to be thrown out of heaven, where he had the power of ascending to until this time, and all the fugitive angels. Thus Antichrist is to be raised up from hell; the Apostle Paul also says this: Except first will come the man of sin, the son of perdition, the adversary, who will raise himself above all that is called God or is worshipped.d 7 And it says that The tail of the dragon drew a third part of the stars. This may be taken in two ways. For many think this: he is able os seduce a third part of men to believe him; but, it ought to be better understood that (they are) the angels subject to him when he was still a prince, when he descended from his nature (?). Thus, what we have said above, the Apocalypse says: He stood upon the sand of the sea. a Lk 4.13 b Jn 8.44 c Mt 24.16 d 2Th 2.3-4 13 And I saw rising from the sea a beast like a leopard signifies the kingdom of that time, the kingdom of Antichrist, and the variety of nations and peoples mixed together. His feet like the feet of a bear, of a strong and very impure beast; and his feet speaks of his leaders. and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, that is, armed with teeth for blood. For, the mouth is his command, and his tongue, that which will come out for nothing else except for the shedding of blood. 2 The seven heads are seven mountains, upon which the woman sits, that is, the city of Rome. And there were seven kings: five have fallen, one is, and another has not yet come; and when he comes, his time will be short. And the beast which you saw is of the seven, and is the eighth. Accordingly, it is useful to understand the time in which the Apocalypse was written, because Domitian was Caesar then. And before him was Titus his brother and Vespasian their father, Otho, Vitellius, and Galba. These were five who have fallen; one is, he says, under whom he says the Apocalypse was written, namely Domitian. Another has not yet come: speaks of Nerva, who when he comes, his time will be short: for he did not complete two years. And the beast which you saw, he says, is of the seven: because before these kings Nero reigned. And is the eighth, he says only that when this one comes, count the eighth place. And because in his (reign) will be the end, he adds: He goes to destruction. For ten kings received royal power: when he moves from the East, they will be sent from the city of Rome with their armies. He speaks of these ten horns and ten diadems. And Daniel shows: Three of the former were uprooted,a that is, three of the former leaders of Antichrist are destroyed. The other seven give him glory and honor and a throne and power, of whom he says, they will hate the whore, namely, it speaks of the city, and they will burn her flesh with fire. 3 And one of the heads was slain to death, and his death-stroke was healed: speaks of Nero. For it is certain that when he was followed by the cavalry sent by the Senate, he cut through his own throat. This one raised, therefore, God is to send as a worthy king to those worthy, to the Jews and to the persecutors of Christ, a Christ of such a kind the persecutors and Jews have deserved. And because he will be bearing another name, and also beginning another life, so thus the same will be taken for Christ. For Daniel says: He will not be acquainted with the desire of women, in this he will be very impure, and with no god of their fathers will he be familiar.a For he will not be able to seduce the people of the circumcision unless he becomes a defender of the Law. Finally he will compel the saints to no other thing except to receiving circumcision, if he will be able to seduce them. Thus, he will make the faith of the people to him, so that by them he will be called Christ. For he has risen up from hell, as we also spoke of above in the words of Isaiah: Water, he says, nourishes him, and the abyss enlarges him.b He who must change his name and not change his name when he comes, the Holy Spirit says: His number is 666 (DCLXVI); this number is to be completed by Greek letters. 4 Another great beast from the earth: the false prophet, who made signs and portents and lies before him in the sight of men; of whom he says having horns like a lamb, that is, a kind like that of the Just Man (?), speaking like a dragon: the devil full of malice. For this will happen in the sight of men, so that the dead will be seen to rise, but in the sight of men. And fire will descend from heaven, but in the sight of men, for in the sight of men, the magicians also do this through the fugitive angels, and this one will also make it so that a golden image of Antichrist might be placed in the temple of Jerusalem, and a fugitive angel might enter there; and then he will give forth voices and oracles. And he will make it that slave and free receive a mark on their foreheads or on the right hand, the number of his name, who may not buy or sell, except he who will have the mark. And of this overturning of men, the contemptible thing to God, and desecration, Daniel has spoken: And he will erect, he says, his temple among the mountains of the sea, and the two seas,c that is, Jerusalem; and then he will erect the golden image like king Nebuchadnezzar made. The Lord recalls this for all the churches of the end times; he says: When you see the contemptible thing of overturning, which was spoken of by the Prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place where it is not allowed, let him who reads unserstand.d Contemptible thing is said, when God is provoked that idols are worshipped; for overturning, that unsteady men have been overturned by false signs and portents, and seduced away from salvation. a Dan 7.8 b Ezk 31.4 c Dan 11.45 d Mt 24.15 14 And an angel flying in the midst of heaven which he says he saw, we have also treated above: the same is to be Elijah, who acts before the reign of Antichrist. And another angel following signifies the same prophet, the associate of his preaching. But because, as we have said, his leaders, by making a treaty, will attack this city, great Babylon, its ruin is borne witness to. 2 And he says: Come. I will show you the damnation of the whore who sits upon many waters. And I saw, he says, a woman drunk on the blood of the saints, and on the blood of the witnesses of Jesus Christ. For all the sufferings of the saints are accomplished by decree of its Senate, and she herself, recently having granted (?) a remission, gives decree among all nations against all preaching of the faith. And the woman to sit upon the red beast, the doer of murders, has the image of the devil. Also these heads are there, of which we have reminded and treated. This is also Babylon, it says in the Apocalypse and Isaiah, because of the scattering of the peoples; it was also named Tyre by Ezekiel. Finally also, if you compare what is said of Tyre, and what Isaiah and the Apocalypse said of Babylon, you will find them all to be one. 3 What he also says: Put out your sharpened pruning-hook, for the harvest of the grapes of the vine, speaks of the nations to perish at the coming of the Lord; and he also shows this in many ways, as in the dry harvest; but it will happen once at the coming of the Lord, the end of the kingdom of Antichrist, and the appearance of the kingdom of the saints. 4 What he also says: thrown into the winepress of the wrath of God and trampled outside the city, the trampling of the winepress is the reward of the sinner. And the blood went out up to the bridles of the horses: vengance will go out to the chiefs of the peoples, that is the leaders, either the devil or his angels. In the final battle, the vengance of the shedding of blood will go out, as it was predicted before: In blood have you sinned, and blood will follow you.a For one thousand six hundred stadia, that is, through all four parts of the world. For a foursome is quadrupled, as in the four faces of the fourformed (animals) and the wheels. For four four-hundreds are one thousand six hundred. a Ezk 35.6 15 The same Apocalypse repeats the persecution; it says: Seven angels having plagues, because with these the wrath of God is finished. For the wrath of God always struck a stubborn people with seven plagues, that is perfectly, as it says in Leviticus; (plagues) which will happen in the future, when the Church will have gone out from their midst. [Chapters 16 through 18 are not covered by Victorinus.] 19 And a white horse, and one sitting upon him shows our Lord coming with the heavenly army to reign, at Whose coming all the nations will be gathered, and will fall by the sword. And others who were nobles will serve in the service of the saints; and of these (nobles) also he shows they will be killed in the end time, at the finish of the reign of the saints, before the judgment, after the release of the devil. On these all the prophets likewise agree. 20 And the scarlet devil is imprisoned and all his fugitive angels in the Tartarus of Gehenna at the coming of the Lord; no one is ignorant of this. And after the thousand years he is released, because of the nations which will have served Antichrist: so that they alone might perish, as they deserved. Then is the general judgment. Therefore he says: And they lived, he says, the dead who were written in the book of life, and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection: toward this one the second death has no power. Of this resurrection, he says: And I saw the Lamb standing, and with him 144 thousands, that is, standing with Christ, namely those of the Jews in the last time who become believers through the preaching of Elijah, those who, the Spirit bears witness, are virgins not only in body, but also in language. Therefore, as he reminds above, the 24 elder-aged said: Grace we bring to You, O Lord God who has reigned; and the nations are angry. 2 At this same first resurrection will also appear the City and the splendid things expressed through this Scripture. Of this first resurrection Paul also spoke to the Macedonian church, thus: For as we have thus said to you, he says, by the Word of God, that at the trumpet of God, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven for raising up; and the dead in Christ will stand first, then we who are living, as we will be taken up with Him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will always be with the Lord.a We have heard the trumpet spoken of; it is observed that in another place the Apostle names another trumpet. Therefore he says to the Corinthians: At the last trumpet, the dead will rise, will become immortal, and we will be changed.b He says the dead will be be raised immortal for bearing punishments, but it is shown that we are to be changed and to be covered in glory. Therefore where we hear the last trumpet, we must understand also a first, for these are two resurrections. Therefore, however many were not previously to rise in the first resurrection and to reign with Christ over the world, over all nations, will rise at the last trumpet, after the thousand years, that is, in the last resurrection, among the impious and sinners and perpetrators of various kinds. He rightly adds, saying: Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first anastasis: toward this one the second death has no power. For the second death is being thrown into hell. a 1Th 4.15-17 b 1Cor 15.52 21 Therefore in the kingdom and in the first resurrection appears the holy city, of which he speaks, descending from heaven, foursquare, walled around with stones of different and precious and coloured and various kinds, like fine gold, that is, bright. In crystal, he says, is its street paved; the river of life flowing through the middle, and springs of waters of life; the tree of life around it, making different fruits for every month; no light of the sun is there, because of a greater glory. The Lamb, he says, is its light. 2 Its gates, truly, are each a single pearl, three from each part, not closed, but to be open. Scripture shows many reasons for the gifts of the kings of regions and nations, (kings) who will be servants, being brought there: he speaks of the subjection of the last ones, which we have treated. But the city is not thus understood, as one (?) we have known; for we are not able to testify any further, without a guide, to that which we have heard and seen. Otherwise, the city is spoken of as all those provinces of the Eastern region promissed to the Patriarch Abraham. Look, he says, to the heavens, from the place in which you are now standing,a that is, from the great river Euphrates to the river of Egypt;b all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your seed.c Finally, the Holy Spirit says: It will be ruled from sea to sea, that is, from the Red Sea, which is in Arabia, to the North Sea, which is the Sea of Phoenicia, and to the ends of the earthd: which are the major parts of Syria. Therefore, all these provinces are to be levelled and cleansed at the coming of the Lord and (His) brightness descending from heaven like a cloud, outshining the brightness of the sun, and are shown contained in the circuit (of its walls). 3 For as the Holy Spirit has also testified through Isaiah: Like a smoke of light burning with fire; with all the glory it will be covered;e and in another place he says, Shine, Jerusalem! For your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen for you. For the sun will not illuminate for you by day, nor the moon for you by night; the Lord your God will be for you an eternal light.f And David says: And there will be on the earth a firmament above the peaks of the mountains, and his fruit will be exalted over that of Lebanon, and they of the city will flourish like the grass of the earth.g And Daniel spoke of the stone cut out without hands to strike the statue having four in it, that is, gold and silver, bronze and iron, and clay in the last; and this stone, after it will have reduced the statue to dust, will become a great mountain, filling the whole earth. And he interpreted the dream for the king, and says: You are, he says, the gold head, and your nation. Another kingdom, he says, will rise, lesser than you, and there will be a third kingdom which will rule the whole earth. And the fourth kingdom: very hard and very strong, like iron which subdues everything and cuts down every tree.h And in the end time, he says, like clay mixed with iron will men be mixed, and there will not be treaties nor agreement.i And in those times the Lord God will raise up another kingdom, which kingdom, he says, the saints of the Most High God will take up.j And this kingdom will not be captured by another nation; for God will strike and capture all the kingdoms of the earth, and His will remain forever.k 4 Paul also, speaking to the Corinthians, recalled mention of His kingdom: He must reign until He puts His enemies under His feet.l The saints are spoken of in this kingdom: I have rejoicedm just as we have have heard.n In the same kingdom he will find those serving a perfect faith, of whom he says: they stood upon the sea of glass, having kitharas and bowls, that is, firmly established upon their baptism, and having their confession in their mouth, they are rejoicing there. 5 In this kingdom, He has promised to His servants, saying: Whoever will leave father or mother or brother or sister for the sake of My name will receive the reward of one hundred parts multiplied, both now, and also will in the future possess eternal life.o In this kingdom, those who have been defrauded of their goods because of the name of the Lord, and those many killed for all crimes and in prisons?and indeed before the coming of the Lord the Holy Prophets were stoned, killed, sawn?they will receive their consolation,p that is, heavenly crowns and riches. In this kingdom the Lord Himself has promised He will restore for the years in which the locust and the wingless locust and the corruption ate.q In this, all of creation will be saved and, by the command of God, will give forth the good things hidden in it. Then the saints will receive for bronze, gold, and for iron, silverr and precious stones. In this place, He will send to them the riches of the sea and the excellent things of the nations.s In this kingdom, the priests of the Lord will be called the servants of God,t just as they have been called sacrilegious. In this kingdom, they will drink wine and be anointed with ointmentsu and they will be given to rejoicing. 6 Of this kingdom, the Lord reminded the Apostles before He suffered, saying: I will not drink of this fruit of the vine any more, until when I will drink with you again in the coming kingdom,v which is the hundred parts multiplied, ten times, a thousand times, to greater things and better things. And what he says of the different stones, that they will be shown by kind and by color, this speaks of men; as also it signifies the most precious variety of the faith of each man. For the gates of pearls he shows to be the Apostles. They will not be closed, he says: grace is given through them, and the same is never closed. In this place they will see face to face,w and one will not request of another.x And the names of the Fathers and the Apostles are to be both on the foundations and over the gates: we have already treated of the 24 elders, and of those who are to rule in this kingdom, they will judge the world.y a Gen 13.14 b Gen 15.18 c Gen 13.15 d Ps 71.8 e Isa 4.5 f Isa 60.1, 19, 20 g Ps 71.16 h Dan 2.37-40 i Dan 2.43 j Dan 7.18 k Dan 2.44 l 1Cor 15.25 m Ps 59.8 n Ps 47.9 o Mt 19.29; Mk 10.30 p Mt 5.5 q Joel 2.25 r Isa 60.17 s Isa 60.5 t Isa 61.6 u Isa 25.6, 7 v Mt 26.29 w 1Cor 13.12 x Isa 34.15b-16 (LXX) y 1Cor 6.2 [Victorinus does not cover chapter 22. This is the end of the original work.] Jeromes letter to Anatolius, which is the prologue to his edition of Victorinus commentary: Those crossing over the perilous seas find different dangers. If a storm of winds has become violent, it is a terror; if the moderate air has calmed the back of the elements, lying calm, they fear traps. Thus is seen in this book which you have sent to me, which is seen to contain the explanation of the Apocalypse by Victorinus. Also, it is dangerous, and opens to the barkings of detractors, to judge the short works of eminent men. For even earlier Papias, the bishop of Hierapolis, and Nepos, the bishop of parts of Egypt, perceived of the kingdom of the thousand years just as Victorinus. And because you are in your letters entreating me, I do not want to delay, but nor do I want to scorn praying. I immediately unwound the books of the greats, and what I found in their commentaries about the kingdom of the thousand years, I added to the little work of Victorinus, erasing from there those things which he perceived according to the letter. From the beginning of the book to the sign of the cross, we have corrected things which are the corruptions of inexperience of scribes. Know that from there to the end of the book is added. Now it is yours to judge, and to confirm what pleases. If our life will be made longer and the Lord will give health, for you, our most capable genius will sweat over this book, dearest Anatolius. Jeromes ending to his version of Victorinus commentary, which replaces Victorinus material on chapters 20 and 21 of the Apocalypse: 1 For I have not considered the kingdom of the thousand years to be earthly: for, if it is being perceived thus, at the completion of the thousand years they cease to reign. But I will offer as my capacity for understanding has perceived. The number ten signifies the Decalogue, and one hundred shows the crown of virginity. For he who has preserved entire his resolution for virginity, and faithfully fulfilled the precepts of the Decalogue, and has overcome impure actions and impure thoughts among the chambers of the heart so that they do not rule him, this is truly a priest of Christ and entirely completes the millenary number, believed to rule with Christ, and rightly with Him the devil is bound. He who has been ensnared in the errors and dogmas of the heretics, in him the devil is released. But because he says he will be released at the completion of the thousand years, at the completion of the number of the perfect saints, in the bodies and hearts of whom virginity reigns, with the arrival of the coming of the hating one, many will be overthrown by him, seduced by earthly loves, and will likewise enter the lake with him. And after a little while, the ground returns the bodies of the saints which shortly before were resting: he shows that those receiving, with the eternal King, the immortal kingdom, which is not by virginity of the body alone, but also of language and thought, will rejoice with the Lamb. 2 Truly, the square city of which he speaks, of gold, and precious, shining stones, and a paved road and a river through the middle and the tree of life of either side, bearing twelve fruits throughout the twelve months and the light of the sun will not be there, because the Lamb is its light; and gates each of a single pearl, with three gates from the four sides, and they may not be closed: the square city shows the gathering of the multitude of the saints, among whom now nothing can make faith waver, as was commanded to Noah, that he would make the ark out of squared wood, so that it would be able to bear the force of the flood. Precious stones shows men strong during persecution, who are neither moved by the storm of the persecutors, nor are the forces of their floods able to loosen from the true faith. For this reason they are associated with pure gold, with whom the Great King decorates the city. Indeed, by the road are shown their hearts, cleansed of all stains, where the Lord walks. Truly, the river of life shows grace to flow in spiritual birth. The tree of life of either bank shows the coming of Christ according to the flesh, Who the Law predicted was to come and to suffer, and was shown clearly by the Gospel. Truly, by twelve fruits through each of the months are shown the diverse graces of the Twelve Apostles, which they receive from the single tree of the cross, satiating peoples consumed by hunger with the preaching of the Word of God. And because he says in the city the sun will not be necessary, it plainly shows the immaculate Creator of lights to shine in its midst, Whose splendour no mind is able to contemplate, nor language to describe. He says from the four sides will be three gates, each formed of a single pearl: I think these are the four virtues: wisdom, strength, justice, temperance, which relate each one to another, and when mixed together they complete the number twelve. Indeed, the twelve gates we believe to be the number of the Apostles, which by the four virtues as precious shining pearls are showing the way to the saints, by the light of their doctrines, for making entrance to the city of the saints, so that the chorus of angels might praise their way of life. By the gates may not be closed is plainly shown the doctrine of the Apostles will not be overcome by any storms of criticism, and even if the waves of the nations and the insane superstition of the heretics rage against the true faith; their overcome foam will be dissolved, because Christ is a rock, by Whom and through Whom the Church was founded, Who will not be overcome by any waves of insane men. Therefore, they are not to be listened to who affirm the kingdom of the thousand years is to be earthly, which they believe with the heretic Cerinthus. [ This slanderous desecration of Victorinus Commentary on the Apocalypse of St John is typical of the attempt by Latin Christendom and the Post-Nicene Church to attempt to usurp unjustly and blasphemously the rightful claim of Christ Himself to an earthly Millenial Kingdom in the near future, as prophesied by the ancient prophets, and as universally believed by the Apostles and their earliest disciples. The dire warning stamped in the Apocalypse itself, which curses all who would tamper with the words of this prophecy ( of St John), has obviously not been heeded by the majority of Postmillenial and Amillenial interpreters particularly since the advent of Latin Christianity ( Tertullian, Jerome et al) and the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. It is our sincere hope that the above Commentary devoid of Jeromes desecrations, and as originally penned by Victorinus, would be earnestly studied as a work deserving of great notice and value.]
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 09:17:23 +0000
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