Expositio In Apocalypsim Beati Joanni

EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE OF BLESSED JOHN.

HOMILY I.

[APOC. ch. 1.] In the reading of the revelation of blessed John the apostle, dearest brothers, we have taken note, and with the Lord's bounty we shall take care to explain it according to the anagogical sense, because the revelation of Jesus Christ is opened to our ears so that heavenly mysteries may be made manifest to our hearts. The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to make openly known to his servants, that is, to manifest. What things must come to pass quickly, signifying: that is, showing. To his servant John: John is interpreted as "the grace of God." Writing to the seven Churches which are in Asia. Asia is interpreted as "exaltation," by which the human race is figured. These seven Churches and the seven lampstands—this must be carefully considered—because it is the sevenfold grace which has been given by God through Jesus Christ our Lord to us, the human race, who have believed; for he himself also promised to send us the Spirit, the Paraclete, from heaven, whom he also sent to the Apostles who appeared to be in Asia, that is, in the exalted world, where he also bestowed upon us the sevenfold grace through the seven Churches by his servant John. Grace to you and peace be multiplied from God the Father and from the Son of Man: that is, from Christ. But whether it is the Son of Man, or the seven lampstands, or the seven stars, the Church is understood together with its head, Christ. But what he says, Girded about the breasts with a golden belt: he who was girded figured the Lord Christ.

Understand the two breasts as the two Testaments, which receive from the breast of the Lord Savior as from an everlasting fountain, whence they may nourish the Christian people unto eternal life. But the golden girdle is the choir, or the multitude of the saints. For just as the breast is bound by a girdle, so the multitude of the saints cleaves to Christ, and as it were embraces the two breasts, the two Testaments, so that they may be nourished from them as from holy breasts. His head, he says, and his hairs are like white wool and snow: by the white hairs he means the multitude of those made white, that is, of the newly baptized coming forth from Baptism. He said wool, because they are the sheep of Christ. He said snow, because just as snow descends from heaven of its own accord, so also the grace of Baptism comes with no merits preceding. For those who are baptized are themselves Jerusalem, which daily descends from heaven after the likeness of snow. Jerusalem, that is, the Church, is therefore said to descend from heaven, because grace is from heaven, through which she is both freed from sins and joined to Christ, that is, to her eternal head, the heavenly bridegroom. Just as, on the contrary, the beast is said to ascend from the abyss, that is, the evil people who are born from an evil people. For just as Jerusalem is exalted by descending humbly, so the beast, that is, the proud people, is cast down by ascending arrogantly. His eyes are like a flame of fire: in the eyes he means the precepts of God; as it is written, Your word is a lamp to my feet, O Lord; and, Your eloquence is fiery.

His feet are like burnished bronze from Lebanon, glowing as if in a furnace of fire: by the glowing feet the Church is understood, which on the approaching day of judgment must be tested by the multitude of pressures and examined by fire. And because the foot is the last part of the body, and he said that his feet were glowing, therefore by the feet the Church of the last times is understood, to be tested by many tribulations like gold in a furnace. Whoever considers this well sees it already happening now from the multitude of iniquities. Therefore he signified it by burnished bronze, which is brought to the color of gold from bronze and much fire and treatment: just as the Church is made purer through tribulations and sufferings. In the golden girdle bound about the breast, the spiritual knowledge and pure understanding given to the Church can also be understood. But the sword sharp on both sides proceeding from his mouth signifies Christ himself, who both now brought forth the good things of the Gospel, and previously through Moses the knowledge of the Law, to the whole world: and of whom David likewise says, Once God has spoken, these two things I have heard. These therefore are the two Testaments, which according to the measure of the time are called new or old, his sword sharp on both sides. His voice like the voice of many waters: many waters are understood to be the peoples; in the voice, the preaching of the Apostles. But what he said above, His feet like burnished bronze, as if melted in a furnace; the Apostles can also be understood, who after the passion preached his word.

For by those through whom preaching walks, they are deservedly called feet: as the prophet also said, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace, who preach good things (Isa. 52:7)! And that other passage, We will worship in the place where his feet stood (Ps. 131:7). But when he said, He had in his right hand seven stars, he wished the Church to be understood. For in Christ's right hand is the spiritual Church, to those set at his right hand he says: Come, you blessed of my Father (Matt. 25:34). The seven stars, therefore, are the Church. For we have said that the Spirit of sevenfold power was given to him by the Father, as Peter says to the Jews concerning Christ: Therefore exalted by the right hand of God, he poured out the Spirit received from the Father (Acts 2:33). But the seven churches, which he calls by their names, he does not say this because those alone are the churches; but what he says to one, he says to all. Finally, whether in Asia or in the whole world, all are seven churches, and there is one Catholic Church: as he says to Timothy, How you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15); and in Isaiah, seven women who laid hold of one man (Isa. 4:1), he understands to signify the seven churches, which are also one: we understand the man as Christ; the bread of the women as the Holy Spirit, who nourishes unto eternal life. And so that the things that have been said may be more firmly impressed upon you, we wish to make a brief recapitulation from them.

Therefore the seven churches to which Saint John writes are understood as the one catholic Church, on account of the sevenfold grace. But what he says, Faithful witness, is Christ. The seven lampstands are the catholic Church. In the midst of the lampstands, one like the Son of Man is Christ in the midst of the Church. But what he says, girded about the breasts: the two breasts are understood as the two Testaments, which receive spiritual milk from the breast of Christ, so that they may nourish the Christian people unto eternal life. But the golden sash is the choir or multitude of the saints, who, while they continually persist in reading and prayer, are shown to cling to Christ. Now let these things suffice for your charity. Meditate among yourselves in holy conversation upon what you have heard, until, by the Lord's gift, you are able to hear what remains. May he himself deign to grant this, etc.

HOMILY II.

[Ibid. Rev. 4.] Dearest brothers, in the lampstand, of which you heard when the Apocalypse was being read, the people is understood. But what he says, I will move your lampstand; that is, I will scatter the people for their sins. And I will fight with them by the sword of your mouth: that is, I will set forth my precepts, by which their sins or crimes are reproved. But what he said, His face shines like the sun in its strength (Rev.

and concerning the coming or presence of Christ, because it is by the face that each one is made manifest and known; and this can also be understood of the Church, to which Christ promised that brightness of which he says, Then shall the righteous shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Mt 13:43). The morning star: he means the first resurrection, which is brought about by the grace of Baptism. The morning star puts the night to flight and announces the light, that is, it takes away sin and bestows grace—provided, that is, that good works follow the grace received. For just as it profits a great tree nothing to be green and bear no fruit, so it profits nothing to be called a Christian and not to have Christian works. And therefore he says, I counsel you to buy from me gold tried in the fire (Rev 3:18): that is, strive to suffer something for the name of Christ. And anoint your eyes with eye-salve: so that what you gladly learn through the Scriptures, you may fulfill in deed. An open door in heaven. John, the preacher of the New Testament, saw it. With what eyes did he see? As regards the figurative showing, with the eyes not of the flesh but of the mind. But as regards the truth of the matter itself, which had already been made manifest when the Lord appeared in the flesh, not only did the eye of the flesh see it, but he even handled it with his hands. But what is signified by the door in this place, except Christ Jesus, the mediator between God and men? The Lord himself saying, I am the door (Jn 10:9), and the rest.

By right, therefore, he is seen not as closed but as open, because undoubtedly that same Mediator of ours became known to all the faithful by being born, by dying, since he himself was the redeemer of the world. What is signified by heaven but the Church? As he himself says, Heaven is my throne (Isa. 66:1); or, The soul of the righteous man, as Solomon testifies, is the seat of wisdom. Paul also comes forward saying that Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). It stands beyond doubt that heaven is the Church of the elect, in which the open door is seen; because our Redeemer, having been born and having suffered and having risen again, is preached and believed in her to have ascended to the heavens. But what John, placed in this vision, heard, he makes manifest saying, And the first voice which I heard was as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up hither (Rev. 4:1): when it is shown open, it is made manifest that it was previously closed to men. The throne set, that is the seat of the one judging, upon whom he saw the likeness of jasper and sardius. Jasper has the color of water, and sardius of fire: in these two stones two judgments are understood; one which has already been accomplished by water in the flood, the other which will be by fire at the consummation of the age. In this place the life of the servants of God can also be understood; because after the likeness of water and fire, at one time in this life all the saints have prosperity, at another they suffer adversity. And there was a rainbow round about the throne, like in appearance to an emerald.

So the rainbow is called "iris" in both Greek and Latin, which is seen to appear on a rainy day. And what is designated by this except the reconciliation of the world, which is known to have been made through the dispensation of the incarnate Word? Indeed, if this is carefully examined, the effect of the iris itself seems to indicate it. So the rainbow appears then, when the rain-bearing cloud has been illuminated by the rays of the sun. Therefore, with the sun illuminating the cloud, the iris, that is, the rainbow, appeared: because clearly the Word of the Father, who is the brightness of eternal light and the sun of righteousness, illuminated human nature by taking it up; that very assumption of his humanity, which is indeed called a cloud by the prophet (Isa. 19:1), became the reconciliation of the world. Well is it called rain-bearing, because it is surely full of the utterances of preachings. Fittingly indeed, for the reconciliation of the human race in the New Testament, the rainbow is described as having appeared figuratively; which in the Old Testament too is therefore understood to have been placed in the clouds by the Lord, so that after the inundation of the flood, peace restored to the earth through it might be recognized; namely, so that by the sight of it almighty God, mindful of his covenant, would by no means allow the earth to be destroyed any further by the immensity of waters. And indeed, if one letter is added at the end to this name and it is called "irini," the interpretation seems to sound out this very thing: for in the Greek word, peace is called e. And in the Old Testament indeed the Lord said to Noah, "Behold, I will establish my covenant with you" (Gen. 9:9). And it must be noted how apt is the weaving together of the figures.

For because the lightnings, voices, and thunders are described in the following passages as proceeding from the throne as from a cloud, it is fittingly narrated here that the same throne, with the sun shining forth, gave back the likeness of a rainbow. This rainbow, since it is of various colors and shines chiefly in two, that is, those of water and fire, is designated by the flood, and afterward by fire; yet here it is not undeservedly compared to the emerald vision, so that through it, as we have said, with the world reconciled, the divinity may be shown. For the emerald stone is of the greenest color; and this color, as I have already said in the preceding verse, is not unfittingly adapted to the nature of the divinity. The sea of glass is the gift of Baptism, which is said to be before the throne for this reason, that it is given before the coming of judgment. But what he says after these things, "I have the keys of death and of hell," he says for this reason, that whoever believes and is baptized is freed from death and from hell; and because the Church herself, just as she has the keys of life, so also has those of hell. For to her it was said, "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained" (John 20:23). Wherever in the Apocalypse he places an angel of a man, he signifies the man himself; just as also the Churches and their angels in the same book ought not to be understood as anything other than bishops or prelates of the Churches. To such an extent did he wish the catholic Churches to be understood by the name of angels, that he commands the angels to do penance.

For the angels who are in heaven do not need repentance, but men, who cannot be without sin. For since "angel" is also interpreted as "messenger," whoever frequently speaks of God—whether bishop, presbyter, or even layman—and announces how one may attain to eternal life, is rightly called an angel of God. And yet, because no one can be without sin, it is said to him, that is, to man, that he should do penance; because in truth whoever considers well recognizes that not only laymen but even priests ought not to be without repentance for a single day. For just as there is no day on which a man can be without sin, so there ought to be no day without the remedy of satisfaction. But the seven lampstands and the one lampstand we can understand as the sevenfold Church; and therefore whatever seems to be spoken to the seven Churches is spoken to the one Church spread throughout the whole world, because all fullness consists in the number seven. Therefore he calls the Churches "angels," in whom he shows two parts, that is, of the good and of the evil. And for this reason he not only praises but also rebukes, so that praise may be directed to the good and rebuke to the evil; just as the Lord in the Gospel called the whole body of those in charge one servant, both blessed and wicked, whom the Lord himself, when he comes, will divide. How can it happen that one servant is divided, when one who is divided cannot live? But he calls the whole Christian people one servant; which people, if it were entirely good, would not be divided.

But because it has not only good members but also bad, it must be divided; and the good are to hear, "Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom"; but robbers and adulterers, who have not shown mercy, are to hear, "Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire." Moreover, what is said in the Apocalypse to each of the churches, beloved brothers, applies to each individual person established in the one Church. "These things says he who holds the seven stars in his hand": that is, he who holds and governs you in his hand, that is, in his power. "Who walks in the midst of the golden lampstands": that is, in the midst of you; because those lampstands signify the Christian people. But what he says, "I will move your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent": see that he did not say "he takes it away," but "he moves it"; because the lampstand signifies one Christian people. And he says that the lampstand itself is moved, not taken away; and by this it is understood that in one and the same Church the bad are moved and the good are strengthened; and that by the hidden yet nevertheless just judgment of God, what is taken away from the bad is increased for the good; so that what is written may be fulfilled, "To him who has, it shall be given; but from him who does not have, even what he seems to have shall be taken away" (Matthew 25:14-41). But what he says, "To the one who conquers I will give to eat from the tree of life": that is, from the fruit of the cross. "Which is," he says, "in the paradise of my God": he calls the Church the paradise; for all things were made in its figure.

For what he says, "I know your works, and tribulation and poverty; but you are rich," he says to the whole Church, which is poor in spirit and possesses all things. But what he says, "You shall have tribulation ten days," by "ten days" he has set the whole of time, because the number ten is perfect; in which the Christian people, as the Apostle says, enters the kingdom of heaven through many tribulations (Acts 14:22). For what he says to the angel of the Church of Pergamum, "I know where you dwell, where the entrance of Satan is" (Rev 2:13), he says to the whole Church in the name of one, because Satan dwells everywhere through his body. But the body of Satan is proud and wicked men, just as the body of Christ is humble and good men. "To the one who conquers I will give to eat of the hidden manna": that is, of the bread which came down from heaven. Its figure was the manna in the desert which, as the Lord himself said, many who ate died (John 6:41). But even now whoever eats unworthily eats judgment to himself (1 Cor 11:29). The same bread is also the lowly tree. We can also understand by the manna immortality. "And I will give him a white stone": that is, a body made white by baptism. "And on the stone a new name written": that is, the knowledge of the Son of Man. "Which no one knows except the one who receives it": namely, through revelation; and therefore it is said of the Jews, "For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2:8). But what he says to the angel of the Church of Thyatira.

I have this against you, because you permitted the woman Jezebel; he speaks to the overseers of the churches, who do not impose the severity of ecclesiastical discipline on the luxurious and fornicating and those doing any other evil whatsoever. This can also be understood of the heretics. She who says she is a prophetess: that is, a Christian woman. For now many heresies flatter themselves with this name. And you have not known the depths of Satan: that is, you have not rejected his teaching, as the heresies do. I do not put upon you any other burden: that is, beyond what you are able to bear. But hold fast what you have until I come. To the one who conquers, and who keeps my works until the end, I will give the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and they shall be broken in pieces like a potter's vessel, just as I also received from my Father. In Christ the Church has this power; as the Apostle says, With him he has given us all things (Rom. 8:32). He calls it a rod of iron because of the rigor of justice: and by that same rod the good are corrected, the wicked are broken.

HOMILY 3

[On the same, chapters 3 and 4.] Just now, dearest brothers, we have heard blessed John rebuking a sinful man terribly; and therefore let us consider with immense fear, and with trembling let us fear what was said: I know your works, that you have the name that you live, and you are dead. No one dies except the one who has committed a mortal sin, according to that which was said: The soul that has sinned, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20). What is worse, many are known to carry dead souls in living bodies. Be watchful, and strengthen the rest which were about to die. These things says the holy and true one who has the keys of David: that is, royal power. He opens, and no one shuts for him; he shuts, and no one opens: it is manifest that Christ opens to those who knock, and shuts the door of life to hypocrites, that is, to those feigned in life. Behold, I have given before you an open door: this was said so that no one may say that the door which God opens to the Church in the whole world can be shut by anyone, even in part. Because you have little strength: it is a praise of God, that he opens the door to a Church of little faith. And I will write upon it the name of my God: certainly that by which we are marked as Christians. And the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which has descended from heaven: he calls the heavenly new Jerusalem the Church, which is born from the Lord. But he said new because of the newness of the Christian name, and because from old things we are made new. Neither are you cold nor hot: that is, you are useless.

For it can also be understood of the person of the rich who are barren, who have means and do not make mercies from them. They are not poor, who have means; they are not rich, who do not work from their riches. I give you counsel, that you buy gold for yourself: that is, by doing alms and persisting in good deeds, you yourself may become gold; that is, you may receive understanding from God, and through good conduct merit to suffer martyrdom. And behold, he says, a door was opened in heaven. He calls Christ the opened door, because he is the entrance. He calls the Church heaven, where heavenly things are done; as the Apostle says, to restore all things which are in the heavens and which are on the earth (Eph. 1:10): heaven is understood as the primitive Church from the Jews, but earth from the Gentiles. Come up here, and I will show you: this applies not only to John, but to the Church or to all believers. For whoever has seen the door opened in heaven, that is, has believed that Christ was born, suffered, and rose again, ascends into the height and sees things to come. [By what steps except those of faith and belief? As if it were said openly to any one of the elect, To know the mysteries of Christ and the Church, ascend by faith, reach by belief. For rightly is John invited by the first voice, that he may ascend to the door of heaven and to heaven: because, namely, each one of the elect, so that with the unoffending foot of belief he may reach through the Gospel to the mysteries of the true faith, of the old.

is confirmed by the teaching of the instrument that precedes the new. ] And behold, a throne was set in heaven: that is, in the Church. And the one who sat was like in appearance to the stone jasper or sardius: these comparisons fit the Church. Jasper has the color of water, and sardius of fire: through these, as has already been said, he wishes two judgments to be understood; one through water, which has already been done through the flood; the other which is to come through fire. [What is signified by jasper except the divinity of our Mediator? ] Around the throne I saw twenty-four seats, and upon the seats twenty-four elders sitting. He calls the whole Church the elders, as Isaiah says, When he shall have been glorified in the midst of his elders (Isa. 24:23). But the twenty-four elders are the leaders and the people. Twelve, the Apostles and leaders; and the other twelve, understand the rest of the Church. And from the seat proceeded lightnings and voices: for from the Church proceed heretics, because they went out from us. There is also another sense, that the lightnings and voices are understood as the preaching of the Church. In the voices words are recognized, in the lightning miracles. Before the throne a sea of glass: the sea of glass, the fount of Baptism; he said before the throne, that is, before the judgment. But sometimes understand the holy soul as the throne: as it is written, The soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom (Wis. 7); sometimes the Church, in which God has his seat.

And in the midst of the throne, four living creatures: that is, in the midst of the Church, the Evangelists. Full of eyes before and behind: that is, within and without. The eyes are the commandments of God. Before and behind: that is, seeing things past and future. In the first living creature like a lion, the strength of the Church is shown. In the calf, the passion of Christ. In the third living creature, which is like a man, the humility of the Church is signified: because it flatters itself in nothing so as to be wise in a proud way, although it holds the adoption of sons. The fourth living creature, he said, is the Church, like an eagle: that is, flying and free, and lifted up from the earth on two wings, as it were raised by the guidance of the two Testaments, or of the two commandments. For also John the Evangelist, when he had looked into these living creatures and saw that the fourfold mystery was fulfilled in Christ, and had seen the man being born, the calf suffering, and the lion reigning, then he also saw the eagle returning to heavenly things. And each of them had six wings around about. In the living creatures are shown the twenty-four elders: for six wings in four living creatures are twenty-four wings. For around the throne he saw the living creatures, where he had said he had seen the elders. For how can a living creature with six wings be like an eagle, which has two wings, unless because the four living creatures are one, which have twenty-four wings, in which we understand the twenty-four elders, who are in the Church which he likened to an eagle?

And in another sense, the six wings are the testimonies of the Old Testament. For just as a living creature cannot fly unless it has wings, so neither does the preaching of the New Testament have faith unless it has the foretold testimonies of the Old Testament, by which it is lifted from the earth and flies. For always, what was foretold beforehand as future, and afterward is found to have come to pass, makes faith undoubtable. For unless the things the Prophets foretold had been fulfilled in Christ, their preaching would be empty. The catholic Church holds this: both things foretold beforehand and things fulfilled afterward. Deservedly it flies, and one living creature is lifted from the earth into heaven. And those living creatures had no rest: it is the Church, which has no rest, but always praises God. By the twenty-four elders we can also understand the books of the Old Testament, and the Patriarchs and Apostles; the lightnings and thunders, which are said to come forth from the throne, are the preachings and promises of the New Testament. Casting their crowns before the throne: this is so because whatever dignity the saints have, they ascribe it all to God; just as those in the Gospel spread palms and flowers under his feet (Matt. 21:8), that is, ascribing to him all that they had conquered.

Because you created all things, and by your will they existed, and were created: they existed according to God, by whom all things were possessed before they were made; but they were created so that they might also be seen by us, as Moses says to the Church: Is not this your Father himself, who made you, and possessed you, and created you (Deut. 32:6)? He possessed in foreknowledge, he made in Adam, he created from Adam.

HOMILY IV.

[Tob. 5] And I saw upon the right hand of the one sitting on the throne a book written within and without: understand both Testaments; the Old without, the New within, which lay hidden within the Old. Sealed, he says, with seven seals: that is, obscured by the fullness of all mysteries, which remained sealed until the passion and resurrection of Christ. For just as it is not called a testament except what those about to die make, and it is sealed until the death of the testator, and after his death it is opened: so also after Christ's death all mysteries are revealed. And I saw a strong angel crying with a loud voice: Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose its seals? Why are the seals first loosed, and then the book opened? The reason is clear: because Christ then opened the book when, having accomplished the work of the Father's will, he was conceived and born; then he loosed its seals when he was killed for the human race. And no one was able, neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth: that is, neither angel, nor one living on the earth, nor one dead.

To open the book and not to see it: that is, to contemplate the splendor of the grace of the New Testament. And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book and to see it: the Church was weeping, whose figure John bore, burdened and weighed down by sins, imploring her redemption. And behold, one of the elders: understand one of the elders as the whole body of the Prophets. For the Prophets consoled the Church, announcing Christ from the tribe of Judah, the root of David. Because he himself conquers every sin in us, and if anyone has any good, he has it from him. And I saw, and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a lamb standing as if slain: the throne, the living creatures, the elders, and the lamb as if slain, is the Church with her head, who dies for Christ so that she may live with Christ. The martyrs in the Church can also be understood as the lamb as if slain. Having, he says, seven horns and seven eyes, which are the spirits of God, sent into all the earth: that no one can have the Spirit of God except the Church, is clearly known from this. And he came, and received the book from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne: by the one sitting on the throne we understand both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Lamb therefore received from the right hand of God, that is, from the Son he received the work of the book to be completed, he himself saying, As the Father has sent me, so I also send you (John 20:21): in that he himself completes in them what he gives. Each having harps: that is, strings of praises.

And the golden bowls: these are the vessels in the house of the Lord, in which, because incense had been customarily offered, we therefore rightly understand the prayers of the saints. And they were singing a new song: that is, the New Testament; singing a new song, that is, publicly proclaiming their confession. And truly it is new: that the Son of God became man, and died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven, and gave remission of sins to men. For the cithara, that is, a string stretched on wood, signifies the flesh of Christ joined to His passion; the bowl, however, signifies confession, and the offspring of the new priesthood. The unsealing of the seals is the opening of the Old Testament. And I saw and heard the voice of many angels: he calls men angels, who are also called sons of God. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, etc. He does not say this of God, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom (Col. II, 5), so that He Himself receives: but of the man assumed, and of His body, which is the Church, or of His martyrs, who were slain for His name; because in its head the whole Church receives, as it is written, With Him He has given us all things (Rom. VIII, 32). For the Lamb Himself receives, who says in the Gospel, All power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth (Matt. XXVIII, 18). But according to His humanity, not according to His divinity, did He receive.

All, he says, I heard saying to the one sitting on the throne, that is, to the Father and the Son: and to the Lamb, that is, to the Church with its head. Blessing and honor and glory for ever: to whom is honor and glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY V.

[On the same, vi. As you have just heard while the divine reading was being read, so says blessed John, And behold a white horse, and the one sitting upon it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering: the white horse is the Church, its rider Christ. This horse of the Lord with the bow of war was promised beforehand through Zechariah in this manner, The Lord God will visit his flock, the house of Israel, and will set it as a splendid horse in battle: and from it he will look, and from it he will set in order, and from it the bow in wrath, and from it will go forth every pursuer (Zech. x, 3, 4). The white horse, therefore, we understand as the Prophets and Apostles. The crowned rider holding the bow we recognize as not only Christ, but also the Holy Spirit. For after the Lord ascended into heaven and opened all the mysteries, he sent the Holy Spirit: whose words through the preachers would reach like arrows to the heart of men, and conquer unbelief. But the crown upon the head is to be understood as the promises made through the Holy Spirit. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying: Come and see. And there went out a red horse: and to the one sitting upon it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another, and a great sword was given to him.

Against the victorious and conquering Church went out the red horse, that is, a people sinister and evil, bloodstained from its rider, the devil; although we read according to Zechariah of the red horse of the Lord; but that one was red with his own blood, this one with another's. To him was given a great sword, that he might take peace from the earth; namely, his own peace, that is, worldly peace: for the Church has the eternal peace that Christ left to her. Just as therefore it was said above, he calls the white horse the Church; its rider, Christ or the Holy Spirit. The bow that he held in his hand are his commandments: which throughout the whole world, like sharp arrows of the mighty, have been directed to slay sins and to stir up the hearts of the faithful. The crown on his head is the promise of eternal life. The red horse, an evil people; its rider, the devil: which he therefore called red, because he was ruddy with the blood of many. But that a sharp sword was given to him, and to take peace from the earth, this is, that at the devil's prompting, evil men cease not continually to stir up strifes and discords among themselves even unto death. And in the black horse is understood the sinister people, consenting to the devil. But that he had a balance in his hand, this is because while the evil feign to hold the scales of justice, thus they often deceive. What he said, Do not harm the wine and the oil; in the wine is understood the blood of Christ, in the oil the anointing of chrism. In the three...

...as with the fig or the barley, the whole Church, whether in the great or in the least, or certainly in the leaders and in the peoples; and in the pale horse, evil men are understood, who do not cease to stir up persecutions. These three horses are one, which went out after the white horse and against the white horse; and they have as their rider the devil, who is death. The three horses, then, are understood as famines and wars and pestilence, which the Lord also foretold in His Gospel, things which are already happening and, with the day of judgment imminent, will happen more abundantly. But what he said, that he saw under the altar of God the souls of those slain, the martyrs are understood. But what he says, A great earthquake, is the final persecution. What he says, the sun made black, and the moon blood-red, and the stars fallen from heaven—the sun and the moon and the stars are the Church spread throughout the whole world. But what he says, that they fell—not the whole fell, but the whole is understood from the part. For in every persecution the good persevere, and the evil fall as it were from heaven, that is, from the Church. Then follows, As the fig tree puts forth its green figs when it is shaken by the wind: so the evil fall from the Church, when they have been thrown into confusion by some tribulation. But what he says, the heaven departed as a scroll; the Church is that which is separated from the evil, and like a scroll rolled up, it contains within itself the divine mysteries known to itself.

But what he says, The kings of the earth fled, and hid themselves in the caves of the earth, signifies that the whole world, in the good and the holy, will have refuge in the Church, so that, placed under her protection, it may be able to attain to eternal life, with our Lord Jesus Christ assisting, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY VI.

[Ibid. vi–viii. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun. By the other angel he understands the same Catholic Church: from the rising of the sun, that is, from the passion and resurrection of the Lord, crying out to the four angels of the earth. And he cried out with a great voice, saying to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea: Hurt not the earth, nor the sea. But he receives the sword generally, whether against those whom he kills in this life, or those whom he persuades to strive with one another even unto death over temporal things. Concerning the third seal he says that a black horse went forth, and he who sat upon it had a balance in his hand: A balance, he says, he had in his hand, that is, the weighing of equity; because while he feigns to hold justice, he hurts through pretense. But when it is said in the midst of the living creatures, that is, in the midst of the Church, Hurt not, it is shown that the spiritual wickednesses have no power over the servants of God unless they have received it from God.

Do not harm the wine and the oil: in the wine and the oil he meant the anointing of chrism and the blood of the Lord; in the wheat and barley he meant the Church, whether in great or small Christians, whether in prelates or in the peoples. Concerning the fourth seal, the pale horse. And the one who sat upon it, his name was Death, and hell followed him: and power was given to him over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and death, and by the beasts of the earth. These three horses are one, which went out after the white horse and against the white horse: and they have one rider, the devil, who is death. For that the rider is the devil and his companions, he makes manifest at the sixth sign, when he says that the horses engage in the final battle. Three horses, therefore, are understood as famines and wars and plagues, as is foretold by the Lord in the Gospel. The white horse is the word of preaching throughout the world. In the red horse and its rider are signified the wars that are to come—rather, that are already happening, since nation already rises against nation. By the pale horse and its rider is signified great pestilence and mortality. And hell follows him: that is, it awaits the devouring of many. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw beneath the altar of God the souls of those who had been slain. He calls the altar of God the Church, beneath whose eyes the martyrs have been slain. And although the souls of the saints are in paradise, nevertheless, because the blood of the saints is poured out upon the earth, they are said to cry out beneath the altar: as it is written, The blood of your brother cries out to me from the earth (Gen. 4:10).

And when he had opened the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake: that is, the final persecution. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became all like blood, and the stars fell to the earth. What the sun and moon are, the stars also are, that is, the Church; but a part is understood from the whole. For not the whole Church, but those who are evil in the Church, these fall from heaven. But he said the whole, because the final persecution will be in the whole world. And then those who have been just will remain in the Church as in heaven; but the covetous, the unjust, and the adulterers will consent to sacrifice to the devil. And then those who said in words only that they were Christians will fall like stars from heaven, which is the Church. As a fig tree shaken by a great wind sends down its unripe figs. He compared the shaken tree to the Church; the great wind to persecution; the unripe figs to evil men, who are to be shaken out and to withdraw from the Church. And heaven departed as a rolled-up book. And in this place he calls the Church heaven, which withdraws from the evil, and within herself keeps mysteries known to herself alone, like a rolled-up book, which the wicked neither wish to understand at all, nor can. And every mountain and the islands were moved from their places. What heaven signifies, the mountains and the islands signify; that is, that with the final persecution having come, the whole Church has withdrawn from its place, whether in the good fleeing persecution, or in the evil yielding up the faith.

But this can apply in either direction: for even the good part is moved from its place, fleeing—that is, losing what it has—as in that passage, I will move your lampstand from its place (Rev. 2:5). And the kings of the earth and the magistrates: by kings we understand powerful men. For from every rank and condition they will be converted to Christ. Otherwise, those who will then be kings, apart from the one persecutor, hid themselves in caves and in the rocks of the mountains. All take refuge in the present age in the faith of the Church, and are concealed in the hidden mystery of the Scriptures. And they say, Fall: that is, cover us. And hide us: that is, so that the old man may be hidden from the eyes of God. And otherwise: he who thinks on the future judgment turns to the mountains, that is, to the Church, so that his sins may be hidden through penitence in the present time, lest they be punished in the future. Until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads: he declares the Church; and he says to evil men, that is, to the left-hand part that harms, Do not harm. This is the voice which in the midst of the four living creatures says to the one harming, Do not harm the wine and the oil: in the wine and the oil all who are righteous are understood, whom neither the devil nor evil men will be able to harm, except as often as God has permitted for their testing. Do not harm, he says, the wine and the oil: the Lord commands that all his spiritual earth not be harmed, until all are sealed.

And I heard the number of those sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the children of Israel. The hundred and forty-four thousand are the whole Church, entirely. Afterward I saw, and behold a people, which no one could number, from all nations and peoples and tongues. He did not say, "After these things I saw another people," but, "I saw a people," that is, the same one he had seen in the mystery of the hundred and forty-four thousand; this one he saw as innumerable, from every tribe and tongue and nation, because all the nations have been grafted into the root by believing. The Lord in the Gospel shows the whole Church, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles, in the twelve tribes of Israel, saying: You shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28). Clothed in white robes: by white robes he understands the gift of the Holy Spirit. And all the angels stood round about the throne: by angels he means the Church, because besides it he was describing nothing else. And one of the elders answered me, saying: These who are clothed in white robes, who are they? The one of the elders who answered indicates the office of the priests, because they teach the Church, that is, the people in the Church, what is the reward of the labor of the saints, saying: These are they who have come out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

For not, as some think, are the martyrs alone meant, but the whole people in the Church: because it is not in their own blood that he said they washed their robes, but in the blood of the lamb, that is, in the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord, as it is written, And the blood of his Son has cleansed us (1 John 1:7). And he who sits on the throne will dwell over them: for they themselves are the throne, over whom God dwells forever, that is, in the Church. Neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor heat: as Isaiah says of the Church, He will be in the shadow from the heat (Isa. 25:4). And he shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life: all these things even in the present life happen spiritually to the Church; when our sins have been destroyed we rise again, and stripped of the mournful life of the old man and of our former life, we put on Christ in Baptism, and are filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven: that is, in the Church. As it were for half an hour: in the half hour, he shows the beginning of eternal rest. And I saw seven angels, who stand in the sight of God. The seven angels, he called the Church, who received seven trumpets, that is, perfect preaching: as it is written, Exalt your voice like a trumpet (Isa. 58:1). And another angel came, and stood before the altar: the other angel whom he mentions did not come after those seven, because he is the Lord Jesus Christ. Having a golden censer: which is his holy body.

For the Lord himself became the censer, from which God received an odor of sweetness; and he became propitious to the world, because he offered himself as an odor of sweetness (Ephesians 5:2). And the angel took the censer and filled it from the fire of the altar: Jesus took the body, that is, the Church, and to accomplish the will of the Father, he filled it with the fire of the Holy Spirit. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings and earthquakes: all these are the spiritual preachings and powers of the Church. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound the trumpet: that is, the Church prepared herself to preach. And the first angel sounded the trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood: the wrath of God was made, by which he would bring about the death of many. And it was cast upon the earth, and a third part of the earth was burned up, and a third part of the trees, and all the green grass was burned up: what the earth is, the trees also are, and the grass, that is, men. But by the green grass understand the flesh, bloodthirsty and lustful, according to that saying, All flesh is grass (Isaiah 40:6). And the second angel sounded the trumpet, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and a third part of the sea became blood: the burning mountain is the devil. And what the third part of the earth or of the trees is, this third part of the sea is. And he called the men having souls, the impious: to show that they are alive in the flesh, but spiritually dead.

And they corrupted the third part of the ships: heretics by their teaching have corrupted those who consented to them. And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch: he says that proud and impious men have fallen from the Church. But he called it a great star because it is the persons of the greater ones, and of those having power or riches. And the name of this star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood: the third part of men became like the star which fell upon it. And many men died from the waters, because the waters became bitter. Men died from the waters. This can be understood manifestly in those who are rebaptized. And the fourth angel sounded the trumpet, and the third part of the sun was struck, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars: the sun, the moon, and the stars are the Church, whose third part was struck; in the third part, all the wicked are understood. But it was struck, that is, handed over to its own evils and pleasures: so that, with sins abounding and growing, it might be revealed in its own time. And I saw and heard the voice of one eagle flying in the midst of heaven, and saying, Woe! woe! woe to the inhabitants of the earth! He understands the eagle as the Church flying in the midst of heaven, that is, running about in the midst of its own, and proclaiming with a great voice the plagues of the last time. For when the priest announces the day of judgment, the eagle flies in the midst of heaven.

As therefore was said above, that other angel whom he said had ascended from the rising of the sun is the Church, ascending from the rising of the sun, that is, from the passion or resurrection of the Lord. But what he says, Do not harm the land, nor the sea, the Church cries this daily in preaching to evil men. What he says, Do not harm the wine and the oil: in the wine and the oil are understood all who are righteous in the Church, whom no one will be able to harm unless God has permitted it for their testing. But what he says, that there were a hundred and forty-four thousand who were sealed: the whole Church is understood. Whence also in those of whom he said that he had seen a great people whom no one could number, the same Church was signified. But what he said, that they were clothed in white robes: in the robes the gift of the Holy Spirit is understood; the angels standing around the throne, he called the Church, because besides it he was describing nothing else. The elder who answered and said, Who are these, and whence have they come, indicates the office of the priests, who teach the people in the Church. But what he said, They have washed their robes, he said of the whole Church, not of the martyrs only. Finally he does not say in his own blood, but in the blood of the lamb, which is certainly fulfilled through the sacrament of Baptism. And he who sits upon the throne dwells upon them: for they themselves are the throne upon which God dwells.

Neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor any heat: and he shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life. All these things happen spiritually to the Church even in the present age and in these days, while she is so defended by the grace of God that she is exercised by the persecutions of this world rather than overcome by them. What he says, that a silence was made in heaven for about half an hour, he says of the Church, and it signifies the beginning of eternal rest. And by the seven angels sounding the trumpets, the Church is understood in the angels, and the preaching of the Church in the trumpets. The other angel, whom he said stood before the altar, is Christ the Lord. Having a golden censer: that is, his holy body, through which God the Father received the incense of his passion, an odor of sweetness. But what he says, Voices, lightnings, and thunders were made: these are the spiritual preachings of the Church. The seven angels who prepared themselves to sound are the Church, in which throughout the whole world a spiritual preaching is made against all sins and crimes. But that, when the first angel sounded, a third part of the earth was burned up, signifies proud men given over to pleasures, whom God by his just judgment allowed to be consumed by the fire of luxury or covetousness. But that, when the second angel sounded, a burning mountain fell into the sea: that mountain is understood as the devil, and the sea as this world. The third part of the sea, as has already been said above, is unrighteous and impious men. But that, when the third angel sounded.

the great star fell from heaven: by it are understood great men, because by evil morals and wicked deeds they fall from the Church as from heaven. What he says, Many of men died from the waters, because the waters were made bitter: this can be understood of those who are rebaptized. But what [is said], when the fourth angel sounded, that a third part of the sun, and of the moon, and of the stars was struck: in these the Church is understood, in which daily those who are evil or feigned, with the devil persuading, are struck in the soul by the wounds of sins. But what he says, an Eagle flying in the midst of heaven, and crying, Woe! woe! woe! he wished the Church to be understood, crying in the midst of heaven, that is, in the midst of herself, and by the assiduity of preaching announcing the plagues of the last time. For when the priest in the Church of God announces the day of judgment, the eagle flies in the midst of heaven. May divine piety grant that, while both the priests strive continually to preach, and the peoples faithfully fulfill those things which are preached, they may together deserve to come to the eternal [joys], with the Lord Jesus Christ providing, who lives, etc.

HOMILY VII.

[Rev. IX and X.] Just now, dearest brothers, while the Apocalypse was being read, we heard that when the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, a star fell from heaven onto the earth. One star is the body of many who fall through sins. And there was given to it the key of the pit of the abyss: the star, the abyss, the pit are men. Therefore the star fell from heaven: that is, a sinful people fell from the Church. And it received the key of the pit of the abyss: that is, the power of its own heart, to open its heart, in which the devil, bound, is not restrained from doing his will. And it opened the pit of the abyss: that is, it made manifest its heart without any fear or shame of sinning. And smoke rose from the pit: that is, from the people arose what covers and darkens the Church, so that it is said, And the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. He said the sun was darkened, not that it fell. For the sins of evil and proud men, which are committed everywhere throughout the world, darken the sun, that is, the Church, and sometimes bring darkness upon the saints and the just: because so great is the number of the wicked that at times the good scarcely appear among them. As, he says, the smoke of a great furnace. And from the smoke of the pit there came forth locusts onto the earth, and there was given to them power, as the scorpions of the earth have power; that is, to harm with venom. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any tree, but men. And it was given to them that they should not kill them.

And because there are two parts in the Church, namely of the good and of the evil; one part is thus struck that it may be corrected, the other is left to its own pleasures. The part of the good is handed over to humiliation for the knowledge of the justice of God, and for the remembrance of penitence, as it is written, It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I might learn thy justifications (Ps. 118:17). It was given to them not that they should kill, but that they should torment: and their torments are like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a man: this then happens, when the devil through vices or sins offers poisons. And men shall seek death: but death he called rest. They shall seek death therefore, but by evils, that is by tribulations, that they themselves may rest, while the evil die. Upon their heads, he says, as it were crowns like gold. The Church was described above in the twenty-four elders, who have golden crowns; but these are like gold, they are the heresies, which imitate the Church. And they had hair, as the hair of women: in the hair of women he wished to show not only the effeminate sex, but also both sexes. And they had tails like scorpions, and stings in their tails: by the tails of the heretics he means the prelates, as it is written, The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail (Isa. 9:15); who are false prophets, and these fulfill the cruel commands of kings. Having over them the king, the angel of the abyss: that is, the devil or the king of the world. The abyss is the people.

Whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek Apollyon, in Latin Perdens, that is, Destroyer. One woe is past, and behold two woes come after these things. And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet: here begins the final preaching. And I heard one of the four horns of the golden altar, which is before the sight of God, an angel saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels who are held fast at the great river Euphrates. The altar that is in the sight of God he wishes to be understood as the Church, which in the time of the final persecution dares to despise the words or commands of a most cruel king, and to depart from those who obey him. Loose the four angels at the river Euphrates. He called the sinful people the river Euphrates, in which Satan and their own will are bound. Now the river Euphrates is the river of Babylon, just as Jeremiah in the midst of Babylon casts the book into the Euphrates (Jer. 51:65). And the four angels were loosed, that is, the persecution of the beginning. Prepared for the hour and day and month and year, to kill a third part of men: these are the four seasons of a three-year period, and a part of a season. And the number, he says, of the armies was twice ten thousand times ten thousand, I heard the number of them: but he did not say how many ten thousands. To kill a third part of men: this is the third part of the proud, from which the Church descends. And I saw horses in a vision, and those who sat upon them had breastplates of fire, and of hyacinth, and of sulfur. He calls men horses, but the riders he calls unclean spirits, armed with fire, smoke, and sulfur.

And the heads of the horses were like lions' heads: for raging in persecution. Out of their mouth came smoke, fire, and sulfur: that is, blasphemies against God proceed from their mouth. Their tails were like serpents. We have said the tails are the prelates, the heads the princes of the world. Through these the devil harms, and without these he cannot harm: for either sacrilegious kings harm by commanding evil, or sacrilegious priests harm by teaching evil. And I saw, he says, another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed in a cloud, and a rainbow, that is, an arc, upon his head, and his face was like the sun: clothed in a cloud, the Lord is understood to be clothed in the Church. For we read that the saints are clouds; as Isaiah says, Who are these that fly like clouds (Isa. 60:8)? Understand Christ, therefore, as clothed in a spiritual cloud, that is, in a holy body. And the rainbow upon his head: that is, either the judgment that is and that is to come, or the promise that endures. For he describes the Church in the Lord, saying, And his face was like the sun; that is, concerning the resurrection. For he appeared like the sun when he rose from the dead. And his feet like pillars of fire. He calls the Apostles feet, through whom his teaching ran throughout the whole world: or certainly, since the foot is the lowest part of the body, he means the Church's future glory of the saints after the fire of the final persecution. And he set his right foot upon the sea, but his left upon the earth: that is, to preach across the sea, and in the whole circle of the earth.

And he cried out with a great voice, as a lion roars: that is, he preached boldly. And when he had cried out, the seven thunders spoke their voices, which are also the seven trumpets. And I heard a voice saying from heaven, Seal the things which the seven thunders have spoken, do not write them: for the sake of dulling them, so that the words of God may not lie open indiscriminately to all the impious. Finally, in another place, for the sake of his servants: Seal, he says, the words of this prophecy. And he showed to whom he had commanded them to be sealed, and to whom not: He who perseveres, he says, to do harm, let him do harm still; and he who is in filth, let him be filthy still (Rev 22:10, 11). That is, Therefore I speak to them in parables, so that he who is just may do more just things, and likewise the holy may do more holy things; that is, Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear: for to these the words of the book are not sealed, but to others they are sealed. And that angel swore; that there will be time no longer: but in the days of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound the trumpet: the seventh trumpet is the end of persecution and the coming of the Lord. Therefore the Apostle said that the resurrection takes place at the last trumpet (1 Cor 15:52). But that, as was said above, when the fifth angel sounded the trumpet, he again said that a star had fallen from heaven; this star also is the body of many stars falling from heaven, that is, from the Church, and it signifies a proud and impious people.

But that the key of the abyss was given to him: he was let loose into the power of his own heart, so that he might open his heart to the devil and practice every evil without any reverence. But that the smoke ascended from the pit: that is, from an evil people; and it darkened the sun and the moon. He said the sun was darkened, not that it had died. This is so because the sins of evil and proud men seem to darken the sun, while they bring darkness upon the saints and the just at times through many tribulations. But they cannot extinguish their light, because they do not consent to agree with them in evil. But that he says, Out of the smoke of the pit came locusts, and they received power to harm: and it was given to them that they should not kill them; this is so because there are two parts in the Church, namely of the good and of the evil. One part is so struck that it may be corrected, the other is left to its own pleasures. But that he said, Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a man: this then happens, when the devil, through vices and sins, gives poisoned draughts to luxurious men after the manner of a scorpion. And upon their heads as it were crowns like gold. The twenty-four elders, in whom the Church is described, had golden crowns; but these had crowns like gold, namely heresies which mock the Church. But that they had hair like women's; in hair he wished to show not only the effeminate sex, but also both sexes.

In their tails, which were like scorpions, are understood the leaders or princes of the heretics: as it is written, The prophet who teaches a lie, this one is the tail. They had over them the king of the abyss: that is, the devil. In the abyss the evil people are understood, over whom the devil rules. The altar which he said was in the sight of God, he wishes the Church to be understood, which, like purified gold, in the time of the last persecution dares to despise the commands of the most cruel king, and to depart from those who obey. But that he says four angels bound in the river Euphrates; the river Euphrates signifies the sinful people, in whom Satan and their own will are bound. But the Euphrates is the river of Babylon, which is interpreted Confusion. Whence to that same river belong all who practice things worthy of confusion. But that he says he saw horses, and those who sat upon them had breastplates of fire and hyacinth and sulfur; by horses he means proud men, and their rider the devil and his angels. But that he says the heads of the horses were like lions, this is said on account of the violent persecution of evil men. And from their mouths came out fire, smoke, and sulfur: that is, blasphemies against God proceed from their mouth. In the tails, which were like serpents, as has already been said above, are the leaders and prelates of the heretics, through whom the devil is accustomed to do harm.

For either sacrilegious kings harm by commanding wickedly, or sacrilegious priests harm by teaching wickedly. The angel whom he called clothed with a cloud is the Lord and our Savior, clothed with a cloud, that is, with the Church; because it is written of the saints, Who are these who fly like clouds? And what he said, His face was like the sun, he said on account of the Lord's resurrection: for he appeared like the sun when he rose from the dead. In his feet, which were like columns of fire, the Apostles are figured, through whom his doctrine ran throughout the whole world. And what he said, he set his right foot upon the sea, this signified that his preaching would go even across the sea, and into the whole world. And what he said, he cried out like a roaring lion, this was because he preached powerfully out of his authority. And what he said, The signs which the seven thunders spoke, was said for the sake of dulling them, concerning whom it is said in the Gospel, Do not give what is holy to the dogs (Matthew 7:6): that is, so that the word of God may not lie open indiscriminately to all the impious. Finally, in another place, on account of his servants, he said: Do not seal, he says, the words of this prophecy. And he showed to whom he commanded it to be sealed, and to whom not: He who perseveres, he says, to harm, let him harm: and he who is in filth, let him be filthy still. Behold those to whom the word of God is sealed. Therefore I speak to them in parables, so that he who is just may do more just things, and likewise the holy may do holier things. Behold those to whom it is not sealed.

Let us pray that the Lord in his loving-kindness may deign to fulfill this same thing even in us, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns. Amen.

HOMILY VIII.

[On the same, and XI.] The voice from heaven is the command of God, who anoints the heart of the Church and bids her receive it, because the Church, with the book opened, has preached the peace that is to come. And I went to the angel, that he might give me the book: the Church says this in the person of John, desiring to be fully taught. And then he said to me, Take and eat it: that is, open it in your inmost being, and write it out in the breadth of your heart. And it shall make your belly bitter, but in your mouth it shall be sweet as honey: that is, when you have received it, you will be delighted with the sweetness of the divine utterance, but you will feel bitterness when you begin to preach and to do what you have understood; as it is written, Because of the words of your lips I have kept hard ways (Ps. xvi, 4). And otherwise, he says, It shall be in your mouth sweet as honey, and in your belly bitterness. By the mouth are understood the good and spiritual Christians, by the belly the carnal and lustful. Hence it is that when the word of God is preached, it is sweet to the spiritual; but to the carnal, whose God, according to the Apostle, is their belly (Philipp. III, 19), it seems bitter and harsh. And there was given to me a reed like a rod, saying: Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it. Rise, is the stirring up of the Church. For John was not hearing this while sitting idle.

Measure the temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it: He commands the Church to be counted and made ready for the last time, and those who worship in her. But because not all who appear to be in her do worship, therefore he said, The court which is outside the temple, cast out, and do not measure it. Those are the court who appear to be in the Church and are outside, whether heretics or Catholics who live wickedly. For it has been given to the nations, and they shall trample the holy city for forty-two months. Those who are excluded, and those to whom it is given, both shall trample it. And I will give to my two witnesses: that is, to the two Testaments. And they shall prophesy for a thousand two hundred and sixty days: he has named the number of the final persecution, and of the peace to come, and of the whole time from the Lord's passion; since each period has the same number of days, which will be discussed in its own place. Clothed in sackcloth, that is, in haircloth. That they are established in, that is, in confession, because from a sense of humility he said they were clothed in sackcloth. Then he shows who these two witnesses are, saying, These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, standing in the sight of the Lord of the earth: these are those who stand, not those who shall stand. The two lampstands are the Church, but he said two on account of the number of the Testaments. Just as he called the Church four angels, when there are seven according to the number of the angels of the earth: so from the seven lampstands, if he names one or more according to their places, it is the whole Church. For Zechariah saw one lampstand with seven forms, and these two olive trees (Zech.

(Rev 11:2-3), that is, to pour the oil of the Testaments into the lampstand, that is, into the Church. Just as there are in the same place seven eyes, the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, which are in the Church, looking upon the whole earth. And if anyone wishes to harm or kill them, fire will come out of their mouth and devour their enemies: that is, if anyone wishes either to harm the Church or to trouble her, by the prayers of her mouth he will be consumed by divine fire, either in the present for correction, or in the future age for damnation. These have power to shut heaven with clouds, so that it does not rain in the days of their prophecy. He says "they have," not "they will have"; he says this for the reason that he has signified the time that is now being enacted. But heaven is also shut spiritually, so that it does not rain its shower, that is, so that by the hidden but nevertheless just judgment of God the blessing from the Church does not descend upon the barren earth. And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the abyss will make war with them. He shows openly that all these things happen before the final persecution, when he says, when they have finished their testimony: certainly that testimony which they offer until the revelation of Christ. And it will conquer them, and kill them: it will conquer, in those who have yielded; it will kill, in those who have confessed God. And their body will be cast out in the streets of the great city: he speaks of one body of the two, sometimes bodies, so as both to preserve the number of the Testaments and to show the one body of the Church. In the streets of the great city: that is, in the midst of the Church.

And they see their bodies from peoples and tribes and languages, for three and a half days: that is, three years and six months. For he mingles time, now present, now future: just as the Lord also says, The hour will come in which everyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God (John 16:2). And now it is, and it will come. And they do not allow their bodies to be placed in a tomb. He spoke of their desire for assault: not that they are able to bring it about that the Church is not held in memory, just as also that saying, Neither do you enter, nor do you allow others to enter (Matthew 23:13); although many have entered even while they were assaulting. So therefore they do not allow them to be placed in a tomb. And the inhabitants of the earth rejoice over them, and feast, and send gifts to one another. This has always been done, and now they send gifts to one another, and at the last they will rejoice and feast; for as often as the just are afflicted, the unjust exult and feast. Because these two Prophets tormented them: by the plagues which afflict the human race for contempt of the Testaments of God. Finally, even the very sight of the just weighs upon the unjust, as they themselves say, It is grievous for us even to look upon them (Wisdom 2:15). But they will rejoice everywhere, as if they now had nothing that they bear impatiently, with the just disturbed and killed, and their inheritance possessed. And after three and a half days the spirit of life from God entered into them. It has already been said concerning the days. Up to this point the angel has narrated what is to come, and he brings in as done what he hears is to come.

And they stood upon their feet, and a great fear fell upon those who saw them. And I heard a great voice from heaven saying, Come up hither: and they ascended into heaven in a cloud. This is what the Apostle said, We shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Christ (1 Thess. 4:16). But it is written that this can happen to no one before the coming of the Lord: Christ the firstfruits, then those who are Christ's at his coming (1 Cor. 15:23). Hence every suspicion is excluded of certain people who think that these two witnesses are two men, and that they ascended into heaven in the clouds before the coming of Christ. But how could the inhabitants of the earth rejoice over the death of the two, when they were dying in one city, and send gifts to one another, if there are three days in which, before they rejoice over the death, they will be grieved by the resurrection? Or what kind of feasts or pleasure can there be in the streets of those feasting, when human corpses, serving as banquets, bring sickness with a three-day stench? From which may the Lord deign to deliver us. Amen.

HOMILY IX.

[On the same, chapters XI and XII.] What we have heard, brothers, in the reading that has been recited, that in that hour there was a great earthquake: in that earthquake is understood the persecution which the devil is accustomed to carry out through evil men. And the tenth part, it says, of the city fell, and there were slain in the earthquake the names of men, seven thousand. And the number ten and seven is perfect; for if it were not, it would have to be understood as a part for the whole. For there are two buildings in the Church: one upon rock, the other upon sand; that which is upon sand is said to have fallen. And the rest were afraid, and gave glory to God. Those gave glory who were built upon rock, and who could not fall together with those who were upon sand. But for this reason he said, they were afraid, because the righteous man, seeing the destruction of the sinner, is the more kindled in the observance of the commandments, as it is said, And he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner (Ps. LVII, 11). And the temple of God, it says, was opened in heaven; that is, in the Church the mysteries of Christ's incarnation were made manifest: whence the Church is shown to be heaven. And the ark of his testament was seen in his temple: that is, it was understood that the Church is the ark of the testament. And there were made lightnings and thunders and earthquakes: all these are the powers of preaching and of flashing and of the wars of the Church.

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. He calls her the Church, which has her portion, that is, false and wicked Christians, under her feet. And on her head a crown of twelve stars. These twelve stars can be understood as the twelve Apostles. But being clothed with the sun signifies the hope of the resurrection, on account of that which is written: Then the righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). The great red dragon: he is the devil, seeking to devour the one born of the Church. Having, he says, ten horns and seven heads: the heads are kings, but the horns are kingdoms. For in the seven heads he means all the kings, in the ten horns all the kingdoms of the world. And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: the tail is the wicked prophets, that is, the heretics, who by repeated baptism drag down to the earth the stars of heaven clinging to them; these are under the feet of the woman. Many reckon those men to be the ones whom the devil made his companions by consenting to him; many reckon them to be the angels who were cast down with him when he fell. She travailing is in torment so that she may give birth: throughout all time the Church gives birth daily, in prosperity and in adversity. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she had brought forth her son he might devour him: for the Church always gives birth in torments, Christ through her members, and the dragon always seeks to devour the one being born. And the woman brought forth a male son: that is, Christ.

Then her body, that is the Church, always gives birth to the members of Christ. But he called him male, that is, a conqueror against the devil. And the woman fled into the wilderness: we understand this world, not unfittingly, as the wilderness, where Christ governs and feeds the Church even to the end, in which the Church herself, by the help of Christ, treads down and crushes proud and wicked men like scorpions and vipers, and all the power of Satan. And there was war in heaven: that is, in the Church. Michael and his angels were fighting with the dragon: understand Michael as Christ, and his angels as holy men. And the dragon fought and his angels: that is, the devil and men obedient to his will. For far be it from us to believe that the devil with his angels dared to fight in heaven, when on earth he did not dare to tempt a single Job unless he asked the Lord for permission to harm him. And they did not prevail, nor was their place found any longer in heaven: that is, in holy men, who, believing, no longer receive the devil and his satellites once they have been cast out; as Zechariah said, that once the idols have been exterminated, they no longer receive a place. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, and his angels with him: the devil and all the unclean spirits with their prince have been cast out from the hearts of the saints onto the earth, that is, into men who savor earthly things and place their whole hope on earth.

And I heard a great voice from heaven saying, "Now has salvation and power and the kingdom of our God been accomplished"—that is, the Church. He shows in what heaven these things are said. For with God there was always both the power and the kingdom and the authority of His Son; but in the Church, he says, through the victory accomplished, salvation has been made for Christ, which those of whom the Lord said, "Many righteous men and prophets desired to see the things that you see" (Matthew 13:17), seeing, said, "Now has the salvation of our Lord been accomplished." Because the accuser of our brothers has been cast out, etc. But if, as some think, it is the voice of angels in the higher heaven, and not of the saints in the Church, they would not say "the accuser of our brothers," but "our accuser"; nor "he accuses," but "he was accusing." But if the angels called the righteous placed on earth their brothers, it was not a joy that the devil had been sent onto the earth, whom the saints could experience as more troublesome with them on earth than if, as is said, he were still in heaven. For thus they curse the earth, saying, "Woe to you, earth and sea"—that is, you who are not heaven. "Because the devil has descended to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has a short time." He descended, he says, to preserve the allegory. Otherwise all are in heaven—that is, in the Church, which is rightly called heaven—whence, cast down by the saints, the devil descends into his own, who by earthly love are earth.

But he did not say "cast down from heaven" in such a way as to mean that this happened among men who had already been made heaven, but that they are heaven, not that they were being made heaven. For the saints cannot become heaven unless the devil is shut out. Therefore it was not by the first name but by the second that he called them heaven, in whom no place for the devil is found any longer. From this danger may the Lord deign to deliver us under his protection, who lives, etc.

HOMILY X.

[II. XII and XIII.] Just now, dearest brothers, we have heard that when the dragon saw that he had been cast out of the saints onto the earth—that is, out of heaven into sinners—he persecuted the woman who brought forth the male child. For the more the devil is cast down from the saints, the more he persecutes them. And there were given to the woman—that is, to the Church—two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly into her place in the desert, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent: by "time" is understood both a year and a hundred years. The two great wings are the two Testaments of the Church, which she received, by which she might escape the serpent into the wilderness. He said "into her place," that is, into this world, where serpents and scorpions dwell: because to her it was said, as the Lord says, "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves" (Matt. 10:16); and Ezekiel says, "Son of man, you dwell among scorpions" (Ezek. 2:6). And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water like a river—that is, the violence of persecutors.

And the earth helped the woman, and opened its mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon sent out of his mouth. He calls the earth holy, that is, the saints. For as often as persecutions are inflicted on the Church, by the prayers of the holy earth, that is, by the prayers of all the saints, they are either removed or tempered. For our Lord Jesus Christ, who intercedes for us, also removes these persecutions, since that earth itself sits at the right hand of power. Likewise, in another sense, that the woman flew into the desert, he understands as the Catholic Church herself, in which at the last time the Synagogue is to believe under Elijah. The two wings of the great eagle he wishes to be understood as the two prophets, namely Elijah and the one who is to come with him. The water sent out from the dragon's mouth signifies the army of those persecuting her; the water swallowed up, the vengeance taken on the persecutors. And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her seed: that is, when he had seen that the persecutions which he was accustomed to send through the pagans could not be continued, because they were removed by the mouth of the holy earth, that is, by the prayers of the saints, he stirred up heresies. And he stood upon the sand of the sea: that is, upon the multitude of heretics. And I saw a beast ascending from the sea: that is, from an evil people. He said "ascending," that is, being born. As a flower for a good purpose ascended from the root of Jesse. The beast ascending from the sea he calls the impious, who are the body of the devil.

And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and its feet like a bear's, and its mouth like a lion's mouth. He likened it to a leopard because of the variety of nations, to a bear because of malice and madness, to a lion because of bodily strength and pride of tongue. And because in the times of Antichrist his kingdom will be mingled with a variety of nations and peoples: its feet like a bear's are its leaders; its mouth is its command. And the dragon gave it his own power: just as we see heretics in this age to be powerful, who have the power of the devil. As once the pagans did, so now these lay waste the Church. And I saw one of its heads as if slain to death, and the wound of its death was healed: what he says, "as if slain," refers to the heretics, who pretend to confess Christ; and while they do not believe as the catholic faith holds, they blaspheme; since they even preach him as slain and as risen again: because Satan himself also transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). And otherwise: heresies are slain by catholics, when they are crushed by the testimonies of the Scriptures, but those men nonetheless, as if revived by the devil's wound, carry out the works of Satan, and do not cease to blaspheme and to draw to their own dogma as many as they can. And the whole earth marveled as it followed the beast, and they worshiped the dragon who gave power to the beast: certainly the heretics have power, but especially the Arians. And they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? or who will be able to fight with it?

This is because heretics flatter themselves, thinking that no one believes better than they, and that no one conquers the people of their own who are reckoned under the name of the beast: to whom it was given by the devil himself, and permitted by God, that he should speak great things and blasphemies; as the Apostle says: It is necessary that there be heresies, so that those who are approved may be made manifest among you (1 Cor 11:19). And there was given to him power to act for forty-two months: we understand the time of the final persecution in these forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God: here it is manifest that those are signified who have withdrawn from the Catholic Church; so that those who before seemed secretly within the Church to hold, as it were, the right faith, in persecution with open mouth utter blasphemy against God. And against his tabernacle, and against those who dwell in heaven: that is, against the saints who are contained within the Church, which is called heaven, because they too are the tabernacle of God. And it was given to him to make war with the saints, and to conquer them: by the whole we understand the part, that which can be conquered; for it is not good Christians, but those who are evil, who are conquered. And there was given to him power over every tribe and tongue, and all the inhabitants of the earth shall worship him: he said all, but the inhabitants of the earth, not of heaven. Whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb: he spoke of the devil or his people, his name is not written in the book of life.

Signed from the beginning of the world: because in the presence of God the Church was foreordained and signed. May he himself grant this, etc.

HOMILY XI.

[On the same, XIII and XIV.] In the reading which has just been recited, dearest brothers, we have heard blessed John saying, And I saw another beast ascending from the earth: what is the sea, that is the earth. And it had two horns like a lamb: that is, the two Testaments in the likeness of the Lamb, which is the Church. And it spoke as a dragon: this is that which under the Christian name puts forward a lamb, so that it may secretly infuse the dragon's venom; this is the heretical Church. For it would not imitate the likeness of the Lamb, if it spoke openly: now it feigns Christianity, by which it may more securely deceive the unwary. Therefore the Lord says, Beware of false prophets, etc. (Matt. 7). And it makes the earth and those who are in it worship the former beast, whose deadly wound was healed: and it will perform great signs, so that it makes fire descend from heaven onto the earth: and because heaven is the Church, what is it for fire to descend from heaven, except that heresies fall from the Church? as it is written, They went out from us, but they were not of us (1 John 2:19). For fire descended from heaven when heretics, who withdraw from the Church like fire, persecute the Church herself. The beast, therefore, with two horns, makes the people worship the image of the beast, that is, the invention of the devil.

That he may give them a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead: for he is discussing the mystery of a crime. For the saints who are in the Church receive Christ on their hand and on their forehead; but hypocrites receive the beast under the name of Christ. If any have not worshiped the beast, nor his image, nor have received the inscription on their forehead or on their hand, they will be killed; it is not far from the truth that the beast itself is understood as the impious city, that is, the congregation or conspiracy of all the impious or proud, which is called Babylonia and is interpreted as Confusion; and to it belong all who have wished to practice things worthy of confusion. This is the people of the unbelievers, contrary to the faithful people and the city of God. But his image is a simulation, namely in those men who profess the catholic faith as it were, and live faithlessly; for they feign to be what they are not, and are called Christians not by a true likeness but by a deceptive image: concerning whom the Apostle says, Having indeed the appearance of godliness, but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:5); no small portion of whom is contained in the catholic Church. But the just do not worship the beast, that is, they do not consent, they are not subjected; nor do they receive the inscription, namely the mark of crime, on the forehead because of profession, on the hand because of operation. So then they will act, that no one may be able to buy, unless he has the name or the mark of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom.

Let him who has understanding compute the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: that is, of the Son of man, Christ, whose name the beast has made for itself among heretics. Let us therefore make the number that he spoke of, so that, having received the number, we may find the name and the mark. The number, he says, is six hundred and sixteen. Let us make it according to the Greeks especially, since he is writing to Asia. And I, he says, and and. Six hundred and sixteen are made thus in Greek letters. These letters, when dissolved, are a number; but when reduced into a monogram, they make both a mark and a number and a name. This is understood as the sign of Christ, and the likeness of him is shown, which the Church venerates in truth. The hostility of heretics makes itself like him, who, though they persecute Christ spiritually, nevertheless seem to glory in the sign of Christ's cross. This is so because it was said, The number of the beast is the number of a man. And I saw, and behold the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. He opened up what the mark on the foreheads imitates, when he says that both God and Christ are written on the foreheads of the Church. And I heard a voice from heaven like many waters: that is, of the hundred and forty-four thousand. And like great thunder: and the voice that I heard was like harpists harping on their harps.

But what he said, These are they who have not defiled themselves with women, etc., we should understand as virgins in this place not only those who are chaste in body, but most especially the whole Church, which keeps the faith pure, as the Apostle says: For I have espoused you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2): unpolluted by any adulterous mingling with heretics, nor bound fast in wretched perseverance, without the remedy of repentance, to the evilly flattering and deadly pleasures of this world even to the end of its life. After this he adds, saying: And in their mouth was found no lie. He did not say, there was not; but, was not found. For such as the Lord finds a man when he calls him from here, such he also judges him; for through Baptism or through repentance we can be made virgins in the inner man and without lie. Now again a recapitulation. And I saw, he says, another angel flying in the midst of heaven: that is, the preaching running through the midst of the Church. Having the eternal Gospel; that he might evangelize those who dwell on the earth, saying: Fear the Lord, etc. Some wish the angel flying in the midst of heaven to be understood as Elijah; and the angel who follows him as the companion of Elijah, who will preach at that time. And another angel followed: that is, the preaching of the peace to come.

Saying, Fallen, fallen is that great Babylon: by Babylon he means the ungodly city, as has already been said above, the congregation of the devil, that is, the people consenting to him, and every lust and corruption which he seeks out for the destruction of himself and of the human race. For just as the Church is the city of God and all its conversation is heavenly, so on the contrary the city of the devil is Babylon throughout the whole world, as the Lord says, Behold, I will make Jerusalem a stone to be trodden down among all nations (Zech. 12:3). The Church therefore says, Fallen, fallen is that great Babylon. He speaks as though already perfect of what was still to come, just as that, They divided my garments among them (Ps. 21:19). She who has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication: all nations is the city of the world, that is, all the proud and ungodly, whether outside the Church or established within the Church. And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sitting like the Son of man, that is, Christ. For he describes the Church in its brightness, shining white especially after the flames of persecutions. Having on his head a golden crown: these are the elders with golden crowns. And in his hand a sharp sickle: this sickle separates Catholics from heretics, the saints from sinners, as the Lord says concerning the reapers. But if it is to be thought that Christ himself was specifically seen as the reaper upon the white cloud, who is the vintager, if not the same, but in his body which is the Church?

Perhaps it is not badly understood if we take those three angels who went out to mean the threefold understanding of the Scriptures, according to the historical, the moral, and the spiritual sense; and the sickle to mean disagreement. And he sent into the great winepress of the wrath of God: not into the great winepress, but he sent him into the winepress, that is, every proud man. And the winepress was trodden outside the city: that is, outside the Church. For when dissension has been made, every man of sin goes outside. But the treading of the winepress is the retribution of sinners. And blood came out from the winepress up to the bridles of the horses: vengeance will come out even to the rulers of the peoples. For vengeance for blood shed will come out even to the devil and his angels in the final contest. Through a thousand six hundred stadia: that is, through all four parts of the world. For the quaternity is made fourfold, as it is in the four fourfold and whole faces. For four times four hundred is a thousand six hundred.

HOMILY XII.

[Ibid. 15 and 16.] In the reading that has been recited, dearest brothers, Saint John said that he had seen another sign in heaven, great and wonderful: seven angels: that is, the Church. Having the seven last plagues, because in them the wrath of God is finished: he called them last, because the wrath of God always strikes the rebellious people with seven plagues, that is, perfectly; just as God himself frequently repeats in Leviticus, And I will strike you seven times for your sins (Lev. 26:24). And I saw as it were a sea of glass: that is, the clear fount of Baptism. Mingled with fire: that is, with the Spirit or with temptation. And those victorious over the beast, upon the sea of glass: that is, in Baptism. Having the harps of God: that is, hearts dedicated to God by those who praise him. And singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: that is, both Testaments. Great and wonderful are your works: for these things are in both Testaments, which the aforementioned sing. He repeats what he had set forth, saying: After these things I saw, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. We have already said that the temple is to be understood as the Church; that the angel who came out of the temple and commanded the one sitting upon the cloud is the authority of the Lord, has been stated. For the going forth of a command is [meant], just as the evangelist says, A decree went forth from Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1). Clothed in clean and shining linen, and girded about their breasts with golden belts: he manifestly shows the Church in the seven angels.

For thus he described the beginning concerning Christ: “Having,” he says, “a golden girdle upon his breast.” And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls, full of the wrath of God (Rev 1:13). These are the bowls which the elders and the living creatures, who are the Church, bear with the odor; and they are also the seven angels. And what the aromas are, that the wrath of God is, and that the word of God is. But all these things give life to the good and bring death upon the evil, as is that saying: “To some an odor of life unto life, to others an odor of death unto death” (2 Cor 2:16). For the prayers of the saints, which are the fire proceeding from the mouth of the witnesses, are wrath to the world and to the impious. This is so because it is not enough for the proud and impious that they neither love nor imitate those who are holy, but they also persecute them wherever they can. All these plagues are spiritual and occur in the soul. For at that time every impious people will be unharmed by every plague of the body, because it does not deserve to be scourged in the present age, as one that has received the whole power of raging; but spiritually, that is, voluntary and mortal sins, which are ulcers in their souls, all the impious and proud suffer. The second poured out his bowl into the sea, and the rest. The sea, the rivers, the fountains of waters, the sun, the throne of the beast, the river Euphrates, the air, upon which the angels poured out their bowls, are the earth and men, because it was commanded to all the angels to pour out upon the earth.

But all these plagues must be understood in the opposite sense: for the plague is incurable, and it is a great wrath to receive the power of sinning, especially against the saints, and not to be corrected; still greater is the wrath of God, and the enticements of errors are supplied to injustice. This is the plague of the wrath of God, these are the wounds: that each one is pierced through and rejoices and is pleased with himself in his sins. Thus the prosperity of the wicked are the ulcers of souls, and the adversity of the just are the rewards of eternal joys. But in the third angel and the turning of the waters into blood, understand all the angels of the peoples, that is, the weaker men in spirit, as bloody. The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and men were burned with a great burning: this is still to come in the fire of Gehenna. For the devil, while in the present he slays his lovers in the soul, not only does he not burn them in the body, but as far as he is permitted he glorifies them; and the Holy Spirit has assuaged that glory and joy as plagues and pains. And they blasphemed the name of God, who has power in these plagues, and did not repent. Because they are struck by these plagues by God not in the body but in the spirit, therefore they do not remember the Lord, but advance to worse things, so that on this account they blaspheme, persecuting his saints. The fifth poured out his bowl upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom became dark: the throne of the beast is his own Church, that is, the congregation of the proud, which is blinded by plagues of this kind.

They were eating their tongues from their pains: that is, they were harming themselves by blaspheming out of the wrath of God, because, pierced through, they counted these things joys. And they did not repent: surely hardened by gladness. And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon that great river Euphrates: that is, upon the people. And its water dried up: as he said above, the harvest of the earth dried up, that is, it is prepared for burning. So that the way might be prepared for those who are from the rising of the sun: that is, for Christ; for when these have been perfected, the righteous set out to meet Christ.

Homily XIII.

[On the same, chapters xvi and xvii.] Saint John, dearest brothers, while he was speaking of the bowls or plagues of the seven angels, having passed over the seventh angel in his usual manner, recapitulates briefly from the beginning, saying: And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits in the manner of frogs. He saw one spirit, but according to the number and portion of one body. The dragon, that is, the devil; for both the beast, that is, the body of the devil, and the false prophet, that is, those set over the body of the devil, are one spirit, like frogs. For they are spirits of demons working signs. For frogs, besides their own repulsiveness, are also in an unclean place. Which, since they are seen by the inhabitants and natives of the waters, are not only shunning the waters and impatient of dryness, but even in the waters themselves, in the filth and mud of the water, they wallow.

Thus hypocrites do not live in the water, as they are thought to, but in the filth which believers lay down in the water. Men are like frogs who do not blush to wallow in sins or crimes which others lay down through penitence or Baptism. For when someone turns to God and repents of having been proud, adulterous, drunken, or covetous, yet imitates those very sins which another abandons by confessing them, thinking within himself and saying, "I do what I want, and afterward, just as this man does penance, so will I do it too"—and suddenly, while the last day comes upon him, the confession perishes and damnation remains—such a man, while he wishes to imitate others not for good but for evil, is wrapped and rolled about like a frog in the mud from which another has been freed. These therefore signify the spirits of demons working signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them for the battle of the great day of the Lord. He calls the whole time from the passion of the Lord the great day. But "day" must be understood according to the places: sometimes he calls it the day of judgment, sometimes the final persecution which is to come under Antichrist, sometimes the whole time, as through the prophet Amos: "Woe," he says, "to those who desire the day of the Lord! And why do you want the day of the Lord?" and the rest which follow there.

All these things are in this life, in these days in which the Lord's [days] are darkness—those who long for the day of the Lord, that is, who take delight in this world, to whom it is sweet, who serving pleasure and luxury in it receive profits, who think that gain is religion, to whom it is said, Woe to you who are satisfied (Luke 6:25)! not those to whom it is said, Blessed are those who mourn (Matt. 5:5). He recapitulates again from the same persecution, saying: And there were lightnings and thunders, and a great earthquake was made, such as was not made since men were made; and that great city was made into three parts. This great city is understood as all people everywhere who are under heaven, which will be made into three parts when the Church has been divided, so that the Gentiles are one part, heretics and false Catholics the other, and the catholic Church the third. For what follows shows what the three parts are, saying: The cities of the Gentiles fell, and that great Babylon came into the mind of God to give her the cup of the wine of his wrath, and every island fled, and the mountains were not found. The cities of the Gentiles are the nations; Babylon is the abomination of desolation; the mountains and islands are the Church. In the cities of the Gentiles he says that every stronghold and hope of the Gentiles has fallen. For they do not have different [cities] from the Christians, but cities of the good and the evil are described in men. Therefore Babylon then fell or drank the wrath of God, when it received power against Jerusalem, which is the Church.

The islands were not found, that is, they were not overcome. And great hail like a talent came down from heaven upon men: he calls the hail the wrath of God. He says that all these plagues are figures of spiritual plagues. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since its plague is exceedingly great. He recapitulates again, saying: And one of the seven angels came and said to me, Come, I will show you the condemnation of the great harlot, who sits upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, that is, all the earth-born. And he took me into the wilderness in the spirit, and I saw a woman sitting upon the beast. In the beast is understood all the wicked people; in the woman is shown corruption. He says that the woman sits in the wilderness because she sits among the impious, in souls dead and deserted by God. He said "in the spirit" because such a desolation can be seen only in the spirit. He said she was precious in her adornment, on account of the ornaments of luxury. For the beast upon which she sits, as has already been said, he says is the people, which are the many waters, as he himself explains: The water which you see, where the woman sits, are peoples and crowds and nations and tongues. He says that corruption sits upon the peoples in the wilderness. The harlot, the beast, and the wilderness are one.

The beast, as has already been said, is the body opposed to the Lamb; in this body now the devil, now the head as it were slain—which signifies the heretics, who seem to glory as it were in the death of Christ—is not to be understood as the proud people alone: the whole of this is Babylon. In the three spirits that came forth from the mouth of the dragon like frogs: in one the devil is understood; in another, the false prophets or the leaders of the heretics; in the third, the body of the devil, that is, all the feigned, the proud, or the impious Christians, the greatest number of whom is contained in the Church. Finally, those who are such wallow, in the likeness of frogs, in all the filth of uncleanness and the sordidness of luxury. Men are also like frogs who do not blush to wallow in sins or crimes which others lay aside through penitence or Baptism, saying to themselves: For the present I fulfill my desires; afterward, as these men were converted, I too will turn to God. And with death coming suddenly upon them, the confession perishes, and damnation remains for the condemned. What he says, that men are to be gathered together to the great day—he calls the great day the whole time from the Lord's passion until the end of the world. For this day, to those to whom it is sweet, and who serving pleasure and luxury in it seek gain, is turned into great misery, because that prophetic saying must be fulfilled in them: Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord! For through a false and transitory sweetness they prepare for themselves eternal bitterness.

In this place the great day can be understood as that desolation when Jerusalem was besieged by Titus and Vespasian, where, apart from those who were led into captivity, fifteen hundred thousand are reported to have died. But what he says, He gathered them together in the place Harmagedon, he wished all the enemies of the Church to be understood. Finally it follows, and he says, They surrounded the camps of the saints and the beloved holy city (Rev 20:8): that is, the Church. But what he says, thunders were made, and a great earthquake was made, and the great city was made into three parts; the great city is understood as absolutely every people, where one part is of the pagans, another of the heretics, the third of the Christians, in which there are also hypocrites. When the good have been separated from this third part, then those who are in the Church like that, joined to those two parts, receive the judgment of God: which is even now in this time already fulfilled in some part. For then Babylon falls, when the evil receive power to persecute the good who are of the Church. But what he says, great hail like a talent came down from heaven, in the hail the wrath of God is understood: which even before the day of judgment comes is sent spiritually within, into the soul, upon the impious and the proud. The woman, a harlot, whom he saw in the spirit sitting upon the beast in the wilderness; therefore he says in the wilderness, because she sits in the impious, that is, in souls that are dead and forsaken by God.

He says "in the Spirit," because a desolation of this kind, which takes place inwardly in the soul, can be seen only spiritually. The harlot, the beast, and the wilderness are one, all of which is understood as Babylon. The beast, as has already been said, is the body of the wicked against the Lamb; in this body now the devil, now the head as though slain, which signifies the faithlessness of heretics, who seem to glory as it were in the death of Christ, while nevertheless they continually persecute the Church of Christ. And because not only heretics or pagans, but also wicked Catholics, that is, the proud and impious, persecute those whom they have seen to be gentle and humble in the Church, let us beseech the mercy of God as much as we can, that he may both correct those from such evil deeds to good, and grant to us, by his loving-kindness, a blessed perseverance in good works, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, etc.

HOMILIA XIV.

[Ibid. 17] Just now, dearest brothers, while the divine reading was being read, we heard the blessed John say that he saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, that is, a sinful, bloodstained woman. Full of names of blasphemy, he shows that there are many names in the beast, that is, in the impious people, as we have already said. Having seven heads and ten horns, that is, the kings and the kingdom of the world, with which the devil was seen in heaven. And the woman, that is, the whole multitude of the proud, was surrounded with purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stone, that is, with all the enticements of feigned truth.

Finally, what lies within this beauty he sets forth thus, saying: And having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and the uncleannesses of her fornication. The gold of the uncleannesses is hypocrisy; for outwardly they appear to men as if righteous, but inwardly they are full of all uncleanness (Matthew 23:28). And on her forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of fornications and of the abominations of the earth: there is no superstition that sets a mark upon the forehead except hypocrisy. But the Spirit has reported what is written on the forehead. For who would openly impose such a title? For he said that it is a mystery, which he interpreted as laughing. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus. For it is one body that opposes the Church within and without; that is, within the Church the counterfeit Christians, and outside the Church the heretics or the pagans. Although this body seems separated by place, yet in the persecution of the Church the unity of the Spirit is at work. For it is impossible for a prophet to perish outside Jerusalem, which kills the prophets (Luke 13:33-34); that is, it cannot happen that good Christians suffer any persecution without wicked Christians. Thus the descendants are accused of stoning Zechariah by the consent of their forefathers (Matthew 23), although they themselves did not do it.

And the beast was and is not, and is to come, and is to ascend from the abyss, and will go into the perdition of the wrath of God: that is, it will be born from the people, so that it can be said, a beast from a beast, an abyss from an abyss. What is a beast from a beast, and an abyss from an abyss, but an evil people born from an evil people? This happens when we, as evil sons, imitate our most wicked parents. And it ascends as a survivor, and goes into perdition, just like its own fathers, from whom it ascended. And they are already now, because as some die, others succeed them. And so they are never lacking, whether in few or in many, whether secretly or as it were openly, who from the beginning have always lain in wait for the Church. But what he says, a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast; he meant a sinful and bloodstained people to be understood. But what he says, surrounded with purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stone; he shows the people of proud and impious men to be filled with all the enticements of a feigned truth. But that she had a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and the uncleannesses of her fornication; hypocrites and counterfeit Christians are meant, who outwardly indeed appear as just, but within are full of all uncleanness. But that she had written on her forehead, Babylon the mother of fornications; there is no superstition that gives a sign on the forehead, except hypocrisy, that is, they feign themselves to be good when they are evil.

But in that he said the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, he willed it to be understood as one body of the wicked, which always opposes the Church both within and without: because there are false Christians even within the Church, just as there are heretics or pagans outside the Church. And although at times they are separated in body, nevertheless they are joined in one mind in the persecution of the Church. But in that he says, the beast was, and is not, and is to come, and is to ascend from the abyss; this is to be understood as meaning that from an evil people an evil people is born, so that it can be said, a beast from a beast, an abyss from an abyss. What is a beast from a beast, except an evil people born from an evil people? This happens when evil sons imitate their most wicked parents: and so, as some die and others succeed them, there are never lacking, whether in few or in many, whether secretly or openly, those who from the beginning always lie in wait for the Church. And because in this world we cannot be separated from their company in body, let us pray to the mercy of God that we may be so separated in conduct as not to perish with them in eternal punishment: but rather, when they have heard, Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire; may we deserve to hear, Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom; with our Lord Jesus Christ presiding. Amen.

HOMILY XV.

[On Revelation 17 and 23.] In the passage that has been read, dearest brothers, those kings of whom he said that they follow after Jerusalem are the evil peoples who persecute the Church of God; they are called, as it were, kings because they reign as in a dream. For every evil man who persecutes the good does this as in a dream, because the persecution of all the wicked will not endure, but will vanish like a dream, as Isaiah says, They shall be as one who dreams in sleep of the riches of all the nations (Isa. 29:7). These have one mind: that is, with one soul they persecute the good. Therefore he says, they have; and they shall not have: because the persecution of the wicked will not only be at the coming of the day of judgment, but even in the present it does not cease. And they shall give their power and majesty to the devil: he says this because impious men themselves seem to give power, by whose instigation they do evil. These fight with the Lamb: that is, to the end, until the saints receive every kingdom, they oppose the Church. And the Lamb shall overcome them: that is, certainly, because God does not permit them to be tempted beyond what they are able. Therefore he says, And the Lamb shall overcome them, since he is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with him, called and chosen and faithful: that is, the Church. But he said, called and chosen, because not all are called and chosen: as the Lord says, Many are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 20:16).

And the angel said to me: The waters where the woman sits, which you see, are peoples and crowds, and nations and tongues: and the ten horns which you saw, these hate the harlot: that is, that woman. For the harlot is a life of luxury, which is driven by plunder and pleasures. Therefore he said that they hate the harlot, because luxurious, proud, covetous, and haughty men not only persecute the saints, but also hate themselves. And in another way they hate themselves, in whom is fulfilled what is written, He who loves iniquity hates his own soul (Paul x, 6). And they will make her desolate and naked. For they themselves, through the wrath of God and the just judgment by which they are forsaken by him, make the world desolate, while they are devoted to it and use it unjustly. And they will eat her flesh. This is so because, according to the Apostle, they bite and devour one another (Galatians v, 15). And therefore he added the reason, saying, For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his sentence: that is, he has stirred up the plagues which he decreed to inflict upon the world by right and deservedly. And they will give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled: that is, evil men obey the devil until the Scriptures are fulfilled and the day of judgment comes. After this follows, The woman whom you saw is the great city, which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth: that is, all the evil and impious. So also it was said of the Church, Come, I will show you the woman of the Lamb: and he showed me the city coming down from heaven (Revelation xxi, 9, 10).

Afterward I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was illuminated by his brightness. And he cried out with strength, saying: Fallen, fallen is that great Babylon, and she has become a dwelling place of demons, and a keep of every unclean and defiled bird. Can the ruin of one city contain all unclean spirits, or every unclean bird? Or at the time when that city itself has fallen, will the whole world be forsaken by unclean spirits and birds, and will they dwell in the ruin of one city? There is no city that can contain every unclean soul, except the city of the devil, in which all uncleanness in evil men dwells throughout the whole world. The kings of whom he said that they persecute Jerusalem are evil men, who persecute the Church of God: who lives and reigns, etc.

HOMILY XVI.

[lb. XVIII–XX.] As often as you hear Babylon named, do not understand it as a city made of stones, because Babylon is interpreted as Confusion; but know that proud men, robbers, the luxurious, and the impious persevering in their evils signify its name; just as, on the contrary, as often as you hear the name Jerusalem, which is called the Vision of peace, understand holy men belonging to God. For because Babylon bears the image of evil men, therefore he says of them in what follows: Because all nations have drunk from the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth who have fornicated with her: that is, with one another.

For not all kings can commit fornication with one harlot; but when the lustful, who are members of the harlot, corrupt one another in turn, they are said to commit fornication with the harlot, that is, with a lustful manner of life. After this it follows, saying: And all the merchants of the earth have become rich by the power of her luxury. By this he says they are made rich in sins; for an excess of luxury makes men poor rather than rich. And I heard, he says, another voice from heaven saying: Go out from her, my people, lest you share in her sins; and lest you be harmed by her plagues. In this place he shows that Babylon is divided into two parts: because when, by the inspiration of God, the wicked are converted to good, Babylon is divided; and that part which has departed from it is made Jerusalem. For daily they are transferred from Babylon to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem they are seduced to Babylon; while both the wicked are converted to good, and those who seemed good in hypocrisy are openly revealed as wicked. Finally, the Scripture also says to the good through Isaiah: Go out from the midst of them, and do not touch what is unclean: go out from the midst of them, and be separated, you who bear the vessels of the Lord (Isa. 52:11). The Apostle makes mention of this separation, saying: For the firm foundation of God stands; and the Lord knows those who are his, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity (2 Tim. 2:19). Do not share, he says, in her sins, and lest you be harmed by her plagues.

Since it is written, "Whoever is overtaken by death, being just, shall be in refreshment" (Wisdom 4:7), how can a just man be a partaker in the offense, when the fall of a city has swept him away together with the impious? Unless perhaps when the good depart from the city of the devil, that is, from a luxurious and impious manner of life, if any one of them should wish to remain and take delight in the pleasures of Babylon; if he does this, he will without doubt be a partaker in her plague. But that which he has said so many times, "Come out," understand this not carnally but spiritually. One comes out from the midst of Babylon when a wicked manner of life is forsaken. For even in one house and in one Church and in one city the Babylonians are together with the Jerusalemites; yet as long as the good do not consent to the evil, nor the evil are converted to the good, it is known that they are in the good as Jerusalem, and in the evil as Babylon. They dwell together in body, but they are far divided in heart: because the manner of life of the evil is always on the earth, since they love the earth, and they place all their hope and their whole intention of mind on the earth; but the mind of the good, according to the Apostle, is always in the heavens, because they savor the things that are above (Colossians 3:2). "Come out," he says, "of her, my people," that is, out of Babylon: lest you communicate in her sins, and lest you be harmed by her plagues. For her sins have ascended even to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.

Render to her as she herself has rendered to you, and double the double according to her works; in the cup in which she mixed, mix a double for her; as much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so much give her torment, and her cup of mourning. All these things God says to good Christians, that is, to the Church; for it is from the Church that visible and invisible plagues go out into the world. For in her heart Babylon says—that is, the people of all the wicked or the proud—"I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow, and I shall not see mourning." Therefore in one day her plagues shall come: death and mourning and famine; and she shall be burned with fire. If she dies in one day and is burned, who will mourn the dead over these things, or how great can the famine of one day be? But by "day" he meant the brief time of the present life, in which they are afflicted both spiritually and carnally; for upon all the proud and those given over to pleasures, greater plagues come upon the soul than upon the body. For they are struck by a greater plague when, exalting themselves over their own iniquities, they are permitted by the just judgment of God to do evil in such a way that they do not deserve to be scourged among the sons of God, but that there may be fulfilled in them what is written: "They are not in the labors of men, and they shall not be scourged with men; therefore pride has held them fast" (Psalm 72:5-6). For the Lord God is strong, who will judge her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication with her, shall weep and lament over her. What kings shall mourn her when overthrown, if kings shall overthrow her?

But what the city is, that also the kings are, who will lament her. Not the evil of luxury, because they sin with her, do they lament by doing penance; but because they recognize that the prosperity of the hoe, through which they were serving their pleasures, is perishing: or because those things begin to cease in them, which before were pleasing through luxury, the luxurious will in turn be consumed, like the smoke of impending Gehenna, standing afar off for fear of her punishment: standing afar off not in body, but in mind, while each one fears for himself what he sees another suffer through calumnies and through the power of the proud. Saying, Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city, because in one hour your damnation has come! The Spirit says the name of the city: truly they lament the world, intercepted by a very brief time of punishment, and that all industry, having been weakened, has ceased. And the merchants of horses and chariots and pigs who were enriched by her will stand afar off weeping and saying, Woe, woe, the great city! Wherever the Spirit says people are enriched by her, it signifies the riches of sins. Clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls. Is the city clothed in fine linen or purple, and not men? They therefore lament themselves, while they are despoiled of the things said above. And every governor, and everyone who navigates ships, and the sailors, and as many as work the sea, stood afar off, and cried out seeing the smoke of the fire.

Could every governor and all the sailors, as many as work the sea, have been present to see the burning of one city? But he says that all the lovers of the world and the workers of iniquity fear for themselves, seeing the ruin of their hope. After this he says, And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies: in the beast he signifies the devil; in the kings of the earth and in the army, all his people. They gathered to make war with the one sitting on the horse, and with his army, that is, with Christ and the Church. And I saw another angel descending from heaven: he means the Lord Christ in his first coming. Having the key of the abyss: that is, power over the people; by the abyss he wishes the evil people to be understood. And a great chain in his hand: that is, God gave power into his hand. And he held the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years: in the first coming, certainly, as he himself says, Who can enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his vessels (Matthew 12:29), unless he first bind the strong man? For when he casts the devil out of the people of believers, he sends him into the abyss, that is, into the evil people: which he also showed invisibly, when, casting them out of men, he permitted them to go into the pigs, which were to be submerged in the abyss; a thing especially fulfilled in the heretics.

HOMILY XVII.

[Ibid. XVIII–XX.] What your Charity has now heard from the reading of the Apocalypse, receive with an attentive mind, according to your custom. For the blessed John the evangelist said that he saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and his rider is called Faithful and True, and his eyes as a flame of fire, and upon his head were many diadems: for in him is the multitude of the crowned. He has a name written which no one knows except himself: himself surely, and all the Church that is in him. And he was clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood: the garment of Christ is the Church which he put on; this is the garment varied with the blood of his sufferings. And his name is called the Word of God. The armies that are in heaven were following him on white horses: that is, we, the Church, in bright bodies imitate him, as was said above, These are they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes (Apoc. XIV, 4). Clothed in white fine linen, by which he defined the righteous deeds of the saints. And from his mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword: he is the one by whom the just are defended and the unjust punished. That in it he may strike the nations: and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the wine of the indignation of the wrath of God almighty: he treads it even now, when he permits the wicked to do evil and lets them go in their pleasures; and afterward, outside the city, that is, outside the Church, he will tread it, when he delivers those who have not repented to the fires of hell.

Here he has on his garment and on his thigh the name written, King of kings and Lord of lords: this is the name that none of the proud knows, because the Church, by serving, reigns in Christ and rules over rulers; that is, she conquers vices and sins. The thigh, moreover, is posterity, as in that passage, The prince shall not fail from the thighs of Judah; and Abraham, lest his posterity be mingled with foreigners, calls his servant and his own together to give a sure testimony by the thigh (Gen. 49:10; 24:2–4). And I saw, he says, an angel standing in the sun: that is, a preacher in the Church. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven: by birds or beasts we understand, according to the context, both good and bad, as in that passage, The beasts of the field shall bless me (Isa. 43:20); and, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5). In this place, therefore, the birds flying in the midst of heaven he calls the Churches, which, gathering them into one body, he had called the eagle flying in the midst of heaven. Come, gather yourselves together to the great supper of God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of tribunes and of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all free and slave, small and great: for all the nations, when, believing in Christ, they are incorporated into the Church, are spiritually eaten by the Church. And after these things he says concerning the devil: And he shut him up and set a seal over him, that he should not seduce the nations: until the thousand years are finished.

These are understood as the thousand years that are being enacted since the coming of our Lord. During these years, therefore, the Lord forbade the devil to seduce the nations—but those destined for life, whom he had previously been seducing so that they would not be reconciled to God. After these things he must be loosed for a little time: that is, in the time of the Antichrist, when the man of sin has been revealed, when he has received the whole power of persecuting such as he did not receive from the beginning. He said a thousand years, a part for the whole. Here he wished the remainder of the thousand years—the six hundred, in which the Lord was born and suffered—to be understood. After these things he says: Woe, woe to that great city, in which all those who had ships in the sea were enriched; for in one hour it has been made desolate! Rejoice over her, heaven, and the saints, and the Apostles, and the Prophets. Is it only the city of Babylonia throughout the whole world that persecutes or has persecuted the servants of God, so that when it is destroyed all should be avenged? For in the whole world Babylonia exists in evil men, and in the whole world it persecutes the good. And one angel took a stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be cast down. Therefore he says that Babylonia is cast down like a great millstone, because it grinds all the lovers of the world by the revolutions of time as a millstone does, and sends them round in a circle, of whom it is written, The wicked walk in a circle (Psalm 11:9). Their unhappy occupation always, as it were, begins anew.

And it shall be found no more: and the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters shall be heard in it no more: he says that the gladness of the wicked passes away, and is now no more found. And he added the reason, saying, Because thy merchants were the great ones of the earth: that is, because in thy life thou didst receive thy good things. Because in thy sorceries all nations went astray, and the blood of the Prophets and Saints of all those slain by thee was found upon the earth. Did the same city kill the Apostles, which also killed the Prophets and all the rest of the martyrs? But this is the city of all the proud, which Cain founded by the blood of his brother, and called its name by the name of his son Enoch (Gen. 4:17), that is, of posterity: because all the wicked, in whom is Babylon, succeeding one another, persecute the Church of God even to the end of the world. In the city of Cain, therefore, is shed all the blood of the just, from the blood of Abel the just even to the blood of Zechariah, that is, of the people and the priest; between the temple and the altar (Matt. 23:35), that is, between the people and the priests. This was said for this reason, because not only the people but also the priests conspired unto the death of Zechariah. Between the temple, he says, and the altar: in the altar the priests are understood; in the temple, the peoples were signified: for there was no other reason for naming the place. This is the city which kills the Prophets, and stones those sent to her.

This is the city that is built with blood, as it is written: Woe to him who builds a city in bloodshed, and prepares a city in iniquities (Habakkuk 2:12)! By the white horse, of which it was said above, understand the Church; by its rider, recognize Christ the Lord. But what he said, Having a name written, which no one knows except himself—he himself certainly, and all the Church that is in him. In the garment sprinkled with blood, the martyrs who are in the Church are to be understood. And what follows, the army that is in heaven was following him on white horses—the Church is in white bodies. In the sharp two-edged sword, the power of Christ is understood, by which the just are defended and the unjust punished. In the iron rod, his justice is recognized, by which the humble are instructed, and the proud are broken like a potter's vessel. But what he said, He himself treads the winepress of the wrath of God Almighty: for he treads it even now, when he permits the wicked to persecute the good, and lets them go in their pleasures; but afterward he will repay, when he sends into hell those who have not repented. By the angel standing in the sun, understand preaching in the Church. For the Church is rightly compared to the sun, because it is written of it, Then the just shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). But what follows, he cried out to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven—those birds are understood to be the Church.

But what was said, "Gather yourselves to the great supper, that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of tribunes"—we know this happens in the Church in truth. For when all the nations are incorporated into the Church, they are spiritually eaten; and those who had been devoured by the devil, being the body of the devil, having been received by the Church, are made members of Christ. But what he said concerning the devil, "And he shut and sealed upon him, lest he seduce the nations, until the thousand years be finished"—as was said, these thousand years are reckoned from the passion of the Lord, in which the devil is not permitted to do as much as he wishes; because God does not permit his servants to be tempted beyond what they can bear (1 Cor 10:13). But that afterwards he is to be loosed for a little time designates the time of the Antichrist, in which the devil is to receive greater power for raging. But what is said, "Woe, woe, the great city!" is understood as Babylon. Yet it must be known that Babylon alone does not persecute the saints, so that when it is destroyed all may be avenged. For in the whole world Babylon is in evil men, and in the whole world it persecutes the good. But that the angel cast a great millstone, as it were a mill, into the sea, saying, "Thus shall Babylon be cast"; therefore he calls Babylon as it were a mill, because the revolution of times grinds down and casts into a whirl the lovers of the world, like a mill.

But what was said, "In your sorceries all nations erred, and the blood of the Prophets was found of all who were slain by you upon the earth"—for the Apostles and Prophets or the rest of the Martyrs were not slain in one city; but this is the city of the proud, which persecutes the saints throughout the whole world. It is the city that Cain founded by the blood of his brother, and he called it by the name of his son Enoch, that is, posterity: because all the wicked, in whom Babylon exists, succeeding one another even to the end of the world, persecute the Church of God. From whose persecution may the Lord deign to deliver us through his mercy, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit, etc.

HOMILY XVIII.

[lb. XIX-XXII.] In the lesson which has been read, dearest brothers, the blessed evangelist John says thus: I heard a great voice of a numerous people in heaven, saying Alleluia, Salvation, and glory, and power to our God: for his judgments are true and just, for he has judged that great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. This is the voice of the Church, when the separation has been made, and when all the wicked, to be consumed with eternal fire, have gone out from it. And their smoke ascended for ever and ever. Hear, brothers, and be afraid, and know for certain that Babylon and the harlot, whose smoke ascends for ever and ever, are understood to be none other than covetous, adulterous, and proud men.

And therefore, if you wish to escape these evils, do not commit such grave sins. And their smoke, he says, ascended—for does the smoke of a visible city that has been burned ascend forever and ever, and not rather the smoke of men persisting in pride? It ascended, moreover, and not "it will ascend," for it always goes on even in the present age into perdition. But Babylon is burned in part, just as Jerusalem in those saints who depart from the world passes into paradise, the Lord making this manifest in the poor man and the rich man (Luke 16:19-22). And that a voice was heard as of a great people, and as the sound of many waters, and as the roar of mighty thunders, saying: Alleluia; for the Lord our God almighty has reigned: let us rejoice and exult, and glorify his name; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has prepared herself: the wife of the Lamb is the Church. And it was given to her that she be clothed in fine shining linen, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints: that is, it was given to her to be clothed with her own deeds, as it is written: Let your priests be clothed with righteousness (Psalm 131:9). These, he says, all lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years: that is, in the present age. And rightly he said "all," both the survivors and the souls of the righteous: that is, both those who still live in this world and those who have already departed from this life reign with Christ. He certainly said "they reigned," just as "They divided my garments among themselves" (Psalm 21:19). For he was going to say "they will reign.

But to show that these thousand years are in this life, he says, "This is the first resurrection." For it is that by which we rise again through Baptism, as the Apostle says, "If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above" (Col. 3:2); and again, "As those who are alive from the dead" (Rom. 6:13). For sin is death, as the Apostle said, "When you were dead in your trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1). And just as the first death is in this life through sin, so also the first resurrection is in this life through the forgiveness of sins. "Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection": that is, who has kept what he received when reborn in Baptism. "In this the second death has no power": that is, he will not feel eternal torments. "But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years." The Spirit, when he wrote these things, meant that the Church would reign a thousand years in this world until the end of the world. It is manifest that there should be no doubt concerning the perpetual kingdom, since even in the present world the saints reign. For they are rightly said to reign who, with God's help, govern both themselves and others well even amid the very pressures of the world. And when the thousand years have been completed, Satan shall be loosed from his custody. He said "completed," using the part for the whole. For he shall be loosed in such a way that there remain three years and six months for the times of the final struggle under Antichrist. And he shall go out to seduce the nations that are in the four corners of the earth.

He says "from a part the whole," for not all can be seduced. Only the proud and the impious are seduced, because true and humble Christians are not seduced. For "many are called, few are chosen" (Matthew 20:16). And the devil and his people "went up over the breadth of the earth"—that is, into the elation of pride. And they "surrounded the camps of the saints and of the beloved city"—that is, the Church. This is what he said above, that they were gathered together at Armagedon (Revelation 16:16). For they could not be gathered from the four corners of the earth into one city; but in those same four corners each nation will be gathered for the besieging of the holy city, that is, for the persecution of the Church. And "fire came down from heaven from God"—that is, from the Church. And it "devoured them." Fire in this passage is understood in two ways: for either through the fire of the Holy Spirit they believe in Christ, and are spiritually devoured by the Church, that is, incorporated into the Church; or they are devoured by the fire of their own sins, and perish. And the devil, who seduces them, was cast into the pool of fire and sulfur, where both the beast and the false prophets are: by "false prophets" are understood either heretics or counterfeit Christians. For from the time the Lord suffered, the beast and the false prophets die and are sent into the fire, until the thousand years are completed from the Lord's advent. And they will be punished day and night for ages of ages.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the sight of the throne: and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of each one's life. The books opened he calls the Testaments of God: for the Church will be judged according to each Testament. The book of each one's life he calls the memory of our deeds; not that the knower of hidden things has a book of remembrance. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works: that is, they were judged out of the Testaments, according to whether they did or did not do the precepts of God. And the sea gave up its dead: those whom the day of judgment will find alive here are the dead of the sea; because this world is the sea. Death and hell gave up their dead: that is, those who are to be found in their tombs on the day of judgment. Death and hell were sent into the pool: by death and hell he means the devil and his people. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life: even he who was abandoned to his own pleasures, and through a temporal examination in this world did not deserve to be judged by God while he lived, was sent into the pool of fire. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is now no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, prepared as a bride, and adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice from heaven saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them as their God: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, and mourning shall be no more. All this he said concerning the glory of the Church, such as it will have after the resurrection. And he said, Write; for these words are faithful and true. And he said to me: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who thirsts I will give freely from the fountain of the water of life; that is, to him who desires the remission of sins through the fountain of Baptism. He who overcomes shall possess these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But for the timid and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and sorcerers, and worshippers of idols, and all liars, their part shall be in the pool burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. What was said above, He has judged that great harlot who corrupted the earth in her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand; this is the voice of the Church, when at the day of judgment all the wicked shall have gone out from her, to be consumed by eternal fire. And their smoke ascends for ever and ever. For it is not the smoke of a visible city that ascends for ever and ever, but that of men persisting in pride. But what he says, Because the marriage of the Lamb has come, is to be understood of Christ and of the Church.

But that he says she is covered with fine linen: by the fine linen are understood the righteous works of the saints, with which the righteous are clothed, according to what is said, Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness. But that he says that they reigned a thousand years: the present time is understood, in which the saints are said to reign righteously, because by the help of God they so rule themselves that they cannot be overcome by sins. And that he might show this clearly, he added: This is the first resurrection. For the first resurrection, by which souls rise again from the death of sin to the life of righteousness, is being accomplished now throughout the whole of this time; but the second, by which they return from the dust of the earth to bodily life, is awaited in the future. For it is this same resurrection by which we rise again through Baptism. Because just as the first death is in this life through sin, so also the first resurrection is through the remission of sins. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: that is, he who has kept what he received when reborn in Baptism. But that he says that the Church will reign a thousand years: this is understood in this world even to the end of the world. Hence it is manifest that there should be no doubt concerning the perpetual reign, since even in the present world the saints reign. For they are rightly said to reign who, with the help of God, even amid the very pressures of the world, rule both themselves and others well. But that he says concerning the devil, Because he seduces the nations which are in the four corners of the earth: it is understood from the part to the whole. For only the evil are seduced, according to that saying, Many are called, few are chosen.

But what he says, that the devil and his angels surrounded the camps of the saints, and also of the beloved: for they could not be gathered from the four corners of the earth into one city, but in those same four corners each nation is gathered for the persecution of the Church. But what he says, Fire fell from heaven and devoured them, is understood in two ways: for either through the fire of the Holy Spirit they are spiritually devoured, while they are incorporated into the Church; or, if they were unwilling to be converted to God, they are devoured by the fire of their own sins, and perish. But what he says, that the books were opened, he wished the Testaments of God to be understood. For according to each Testament the Church will be judged. But the book of life of each one, he says, is the memory of our deeds, because on the day of judgment nothing will be hidden, nor will anyone be able to conceal his sins or crimes. What he says, that the sea gave up its dead: he means those whom the coming of Christ will find alive in this world. These are the dead of the sea, because this world is the sea. What he says, Death and hell gave up their dead: those are understood who are to be found in tombs on the day of judgment. And death and hell were sent into the lake of fire. In this place he wished death and hell to be understood as the devil and his people, who, given over to their pleasures, through temporal examination did not deserve to be judged.

After these things, having set forth the glory of the Church, he adds and says, "I will give to him who thirsts from the fountain of the water of life freely": that is, to the one who desires the remission of sins through the fountain of Baptism. "He who overcomes shall possess these things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son": which may he himself deign to grant, who with God the Father, etc.

HOMILY XIX.

[Rev. 21 and 22.] As you have just heard, dearest brothers, the Angel of the Lord spoke to blessed John, saying: "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain: he calls Christ the mountain. "And he showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God." This is the Church, the city set on a mountain, the bride of the Lamb. For that city is then set on the mountain when, on the shoulders of the shepherd, it is called back like a sheep to its own fold (Luke 15:5). For if the Church is one thing and the city coming down from heaven is another, there will be two brides, which can by no means happen. For he called this city the bride of the Lamb. Hence it is manifest that it is the Church itself, which he describes thus, saying: "Having the glory of God. Its light was like the most precious stone." The most precious stone is Christ. "Having a great and high wall, having twelve gates, and over the gates twelve angels." He shows the twelve gates and the twelve angels to be the Apostles and the Prophets: since, as it is written, we have been built up upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets (Eph.

(2:20); just as the Lord also said to Peter: "Upon this rock I will build my Church" (Matthew 16:18). On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, on the west three gates: and because this city that is described is the Church spread over the whole world, therefore through the four parts of the city there are said to be three gates each, because through all four parts of the world the mystery of the Trinity is preached in the Church. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and upon them the twelve names of the Apostles of the Lamb: what the gates are, this the foundations are; what the city is, this the wall is, this the furnishings. And the one who was speaking with me had a golden measuring rod: in the rod he shows the men of the Church, weak indeed in flesh, but founded on golden faith; as the Apostle says, "Having treasure in vessels of clay" (2 Corinthians 4:7). And the furnishings of the wall and the city are pure gold, like clear glass: for the Church is golden, because her faith shines like gold; just as the seven lampstands, and the golden altar, and the golden bowls; all this figured the Church. But the glass he referred to the purity of faith, because what is seen outside is also what is inside, and nothing is feigned, but all is transparent in the saints of the Church. The foundations of the wall of the city are of every precious stone.

The first foundation, jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, hyacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. Therefore he wished to name the diversity of gems in the foundations, so that he might demonstrate the gifts of diverse graces which were given to the Apostles; just as it was said of the Holy Spirit: "Dividing to each one as he wills" (1 Corinthians 12:11). And the twelve pearls, one by one; and each gate was from one pearl. And in these pearls, as has been said, he designated the Apostles, who are therefore called gates because through their teaching they open the door of eternal life. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb: this therefore, because the Church is in God, and God in the Church. The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it, because the Church is not ruled by light or by the elements of the world, but is led by Christ, the eternal sun, through the darkness of the world. For the brightness of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb, as he himself says: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12); and again: "I am the true light, which illuminates every man coming into this world" (John 1:9). The nations will walk in its light, even to the end. And the kings of the earth will bring glory: the kings of the earth, he means the sons of God. And its gates will not be closed by day.