Commentary on the Apocalypse

2. I know your labour, and your works, and your patience.

In the first epistle he speaks thus: I know that you labour and work, I see that you are patient: lest you think that I tarry far from you. And because you cannot bear evil men, and those who say they are Jews and are not, and you have found them liars, and you have patience for my name's sake. All these things look to praise, and no small praise: and such men, and such a rank, and such men of election ought altogether to be admonished, lest, with these good things of God granted to them, they be defrauded. These few things he said he had against them.

4, 5. And you have left your first charity, remember from where you have fallen. He who falls, falls from on high, therefore he said, from where

because even to the last, the works of love must be exercised, which is the chief commandment. Finally, unless it be done, he threatened to move the candlestick from its place, that is, to scatter the people.

6. So also you hate the works of the Nicolaitans. But

because you yourself also hated those holding the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, you await praise. Now to hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which he himself also hated, this looks to praise. The works of the Nicolaitans at that time were counterfeit and pestilential men, who under the name of Nicolas the minister had made for themselves a heresy, so that what had been offered in sacrifice might be exorcised and could be eaten: and that whoever had committed fornication might receive peace on the eighth day; therefore he praises those to whom he writes, to whom, as such and so great men, he promised the tree which is in the paradise of his God. The following epistle reveals the following manner of life and custom of another rank. For he says:

9. I know your tribulation and poverty, but you are rich.

For he knows that for such persons riches are stored up with him, and the slander from the Jews who deny it, saying they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan, because they are gathered by antichrist, to whom he says:

10. Be faithful unto death. That they may persevere in being faithful unto death.

11. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.

That is, he shall not be punished in hell. The third rank of the saints shows that there are men who are strong in faith and do not fear persecution; but because there are also among them those who are prone to unlawful unions, he says:

14, 16. You have there those holding the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat and to commit fornication: so also you have those holding the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, but I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. That is, I will say what I have commanded, and I will compare it with what you have done. For Balaam by his teaching taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the eyes of the children of Israel, to eat what had been offered in sacrifice, and to commit fornication; which is known to have happened of old. For he gave this counsel to the king of the Moabites, and they caused the people to stumble. Thus, he says, among you there are those holding such a doctrine, so that under the pretext of mercy you corrupt others.

17. He who overcomes, I will give him hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone. Hidden manna is immortality, the white gem is adoption as a son of God; the new name written on the stone is Christian. The fourth rank signifies the nobility of the faithful who work daily and do ever greater works. But it also shows that there are among them men who are too ready to grant unlawful peace and to attend to new prophecies, and he rebukes them and forewarns the rest, to whom this is not pleasing, who know the opposing wickedness, upon whose heads these evils seek to bring sufferings and dangers upon the faithful; and therefore he says:

24. I cast upon you no other burden.

That is, I have not given you laws, observances, and loads, which is another burden.

25, 26.

But what you have, hold fast until I come; and he who overcomes I will give him power over all nations. That is, I will appoint him as a judge among the rest of the saints.

28. And I will give him the morning star. Namely the first resurrection; he promised the morning star, which puts night to flight and announces the light

that is, the beginning of day.

The fifth rank, the gathering or manner of life of the saints, declares men who are negligent and who pursue in the world other occupations than they ought, Christians in name only.

And therefore he exhorts them, if by any means returning from negligence they may be saved, and therefore he says:

2. Be watchful and strengthen the rest which were about to die: for I have not found your works full before God. For it is not enough for a tree to live and not bear fruit; just as it is not enough to be called a Christian and to confess Christ, yet not to have him in deed, that is, not to do his commandments. The sixth rank is the manner of life of the best election. The custom of the saints is declared, namely of those who are humble in the world, and simple in the scriptures, and hold the faith immovably, and are not drawn back from the faith by any misfortune or fear whatsoever. Therefore he says to them:

8. I have set before you an open door, and

because you have kept the word of my patience. In such small strength.

10. And I will keep you from the hour of temptation. That such persons may know their own glory: for he does not permit them to be delivered into temptation.

12. He who overcomes shall become a pillar in the temple of God.

For just as a pillar is the ornament of a building, so he who shall have persevered shall attain to honour in the Church.

The seventh gathering of the Church also declares men placed in positions of wealth and dignity, but believing as wealthy men do, among whom the scriptures are indeed treated in the inner chamber, but outwardly they are faithful, and are understood by no one, boasting of themselves, that is, and saying that they know all things, endowed with confidence in learning, but empty in deed, and therefore he says:

15. That they are neither cold nor hot.

That is, neither unbelievers nor faithful: for to all they are all things. And because he who is neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, causes nausea, he says:

16. I will vomit you out of my mouth. Nausea, though it be disagreeable, yet harms no one: so also men of this kind when they have been cast out. But

because it is the time of repentance, he says:

18. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined.

That is, in what manner you will be able to suffer tribulations and passions for the name of the Lord.

And anoint your eyes with eye-salve.

So that what you gladly come to know through scripture, you may also strive to do in deed. And because if in these ways men return from great ruin to great repentance, they are not only useful to themselves but can also profit many; he promised them no small reward, namely to sit on the throne of judgment.

After these things I saw, and behold a door opened in heaven.

A door opened in heaven: the New Testament is proclaimed.

And the first voice which I heard, as of a trumpet speaking with me, saying: Come up here.

When it is shown to be opened, it is manifest that it had previously been closed to men. But it was sufficiently and fully opened when Christ ascended in the body to the Father in the heavens. Moreover the former voice which he had heard, when he says that it had spoken with him, without contradiction refutes those who say that one had spoken in the prophets and another in the Gospel; since rather he himself who came is the same who spoke in the prophets. For John was of the circumcision; and all that people which had heard the proclamation of the Old Testament was edified by that voice.

That same voice, he says, which I had heard, that same said to me: Come up here.

That is, the Spirit, whom a little before he acknowledges that he had seen as the Son of man walking among the golden candlesticks: and now from that point he recalls what had been foretold through the law in figures, and through this writing he joins together all the former prophets, and opens the scriptures. And because after our Lord had invited into heaven all who believe in his name, he straightway poured out the Holy Spirit who was to carry them to heaven, he says:

2. Immediately I was in the Spirit. And since through the Holy Spirit the mind of the faithful is opened, and

that is made manifest to them which was also proclaimed to those before, he says significantly: And behold a throne was set in heaven. A throne set—what is it, but the throne of judgment and of a king?

3. And upon the throne one sitting, like in appearance to a jasper stone and a sardius.

He says he saw above the throne the likeness of jasper and sardius. Jasper is of the colour of water, sardius of fire. That these two judgments are set over the tribunal of God until the consummation of the world is thereby made manifest, of which judgments one has already been accomplished in the flood through water, but the other shall be accomplished through fire.

And there was a rainbow round about the throne.

Now the rainbow around the throne has the same colours. The rainbow is called an arc, concerning which the Lord also spoke to Noah and to his sons, that they should no longer fear a flood in the generation of God, but fire. For thus he says: I will set my bow in the clouds, so that you may no longer fear water, but fire.

6. And before the throne as it were a sea of glass like crystal.

That is, the gift of baptism, which through his Son he poured out in the time of repentance, before he executes judgment. Therefore it is before the throne, that is, before judgment. Moreover when he says a sea of glass like crystal, he shows water that is clean, stable, not stirred by wind, not flowing downhill, but as it were the house of God delivered immovable.

And round about the throne four living creatures.

The four living creatures are the four Gospels.

7-10. The first living creature like a lion, and the second like a calf, and the third having a face like a man, and the fourth like a flying eagle; having six wings each: and round about and within, full of eyes; and they had no rest, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. And the twenty-four elders falling down before the throne worshipped God. The twenty-four elders are the twenty-four books of the prophets and of the law, bearing testimonies of judgment. There are also twenty-four fathers, twelve apostles and twelve patriarchs. The living creatures therefore, in that they differ in countenance, have this reason: the creature like a lion designates Mark, in whom the voice of a lion roaring in the wilderness is heard. The figure of a man strives to set forth Matthew announcing to us the lineage of Mary, from whom Christ took flesh. Therefore while he enumerates from Abraham to David, and to Joseph, he has spoken as it were of a man.

Therefore his proclamation shows the likeness of a man. Luke, narrating the priesthood of Zacharias offering a sacrifice for the people, and the angel appearing to him, by reason of the priesthood and the sacrifice, took by that very writing the image of a calf. John the Evangelist, like an eagle, taking wings and hastening to higher things, discourses of the Word of God. Mark the Evangelist therefore, beginning thus: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, has the likeness of a lion. Matthew however: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham; this is the face of a man. Luke indeed said: There was a priest named Zacharias of the course of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron; this is the image of a calf.

But John when he begins: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; he shows the likeness of a flying eagle. Moreover the four Evangelists express not only their own fourfold likenesses in the openings of their Gospels, but the very Word of God the Father Almighty, who is his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, also bears the same images in the time of his coming. When he preaches to us, he is as a lion and a lion's cub. And when for the salvation of men he was made man, to overcome death and to free all. And because he offered himself as a sacrifice to the Father for us, he is called a calf. And because he overcame death and ascended into the heavens, spreading his wings and protecting his people, he is named a flying eagle. These proclamations therefore, although they are four, are yet one, because they proceeded from one mouth. Just as the river in paradise, though it is one, is divided into four parts.

Moreover that those living creatures have eyes within and without pertains to the proclamation of the New Testament; it shows the spiritual providence which both looks into the secrets of the heart, and sees things to come, which are within and without.

8. Six wings.

These are the testimonies of the books of the Old Testament. Therefore twenty-four make as many as there are elders sitting upon thrones. But just as a living creature cannot fly unless it has wings, so neither does the preaching of the New Testament have credibility unless it has the foretold testimonies of the Old Testament, through which it is lifted from the earth and flies. For always, what was said beforehand and is afterward found to have come to pass, that makes faith undoubted. Again, if wings do not cleave to the living creatures, they have no source from which to draw life. For unless the things which the prophets foretold had been fulfilled in Christ, their preaching was vain. For the Catholic Church holds these things which were both preached beforehand and afterward fulfilled. And indeed the living creature flies and is rightly lifted from the earth. But for heretics who do not make use of prophetic testimony, living creatures are present to them also, but they do not fly, because they are earthly.

For Jews, however, who do not receive the preaching of the New Testament, wings are present, but they do not fly, that is, they bring empty prophecy to men, not comparing deeds with words. Now the books of the Old Testament which are received are twenty-four, which you will find in the Epitomes of Theodore. But also the twenty-four elders (as we have said)—the Patriarchs and Apostles—must judge their own people. For when the Apostles asked and said: We have left all our own things and followed thee, what shall there be for us? Our Lord answered: When the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. But also concerning the fathers who are to judge, the patriarch Jacob says: Dan shall judge his own people among his brethren, as also one tribe in Israel.

5. And from the throne proceeded lightnings and voices and thunders and seven lamps of fire burning. Now the lightnings and voices and thunders proceeding from the throne of God, and the seven burning lamps of fire, signify the proclamations and promises of adoption, and threats. For lightnings signify the coming of the Lord. Voices signify the preachings of the New Testament. Thunders signify that the words are heavenly. The burning lamps of fire signify the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was rendered to the wood of the passion. And when these things came to pass, he says that all the elders fell down and worshipped the Lord, when the living creatures gave glory and honour to him, that is, the evangelical action, namely, and the teaching of the Lord, when it had fulfilled beforehand through them the proclaimed word, they rightly and worthily exult, perceiving that they had ministered the secrets and word of the Lord.

Finally also

because he had come who would dissolve death, and alone was worthy to take the crown of immortality, all had crowns as a certain glory of their best deeds.

10. And they cast their crowns before his feet.

That is, on account of the surpassing glory of Christ's victory, all cast their own victories before his feet. This is what the Holy Spirit supplied in the gospel by showing it. For when our Lord, about to suffer at last, came to Jerusalem, and the people went out to meet him, some strewed the way with branches cut from palm trees, others spread their garments beneath; showing two peoples, namely, one of the patriarchs, another of the prophets—great men, that is—who cast whatever palms of their victories against sin they had before the feet of Christ, the conqueror of all. Now a palm and a crown signify the same thing, which are given only to the victor.

1. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne a book written within and without, sealed with seven seals. This book signifies the Old Testament, which was given into the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ, who received judgment from the Father.

2, 3. And I saw an Angel full of strength, proclaiming with a loud voice: Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no one was found worthy, neither in heaven nor on earth, nor under the earth, to open the book. Now to open the book is to overcome death through a man.

4. No one was found worthy to do this. Neither among the angels from heaven, nor among men on earth, nor among the souls of the saints at rest, except Christ alone the Son of God, whom he says he saw as a lamb standing as though slain, having seven horns. What had not then been proclaimed, and whatever the law had meditated upon him through various offerings and sacrifices, he himself was bound to fulfil. And because he himself was the testator who had overcome death, it was just that he himself be appointed heir of the Lord, so that he might possess the substance of the dying one, that is, the members of humanity.

5. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed, the root of David.

We read in Genesis that this lion of the tribe of Judah prevailed, where the patriarch Jacob says: Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee: thou didst lie down and sleep, and didst rise as a lion, and as a lion's whelp. For to overcome death he was called a lion; but to suffer for men, he was led as a lamb to the slaughter. But because he overcame death and forestalled the executioner's office, he was called as though slain. He therefore opens and unseals the testament which he himself had sealed. Moses the lawgiver, signifying this—that it was necessary for it to be sealed and hidden until the coming of his passion—veiled his face, and so spoke to the people: showing that the words of the proclamation were veiled until the coming of his time.

For he himself also, when he had read to the people, taking scarlet wool, sprinkled the whole people with the blood of a calf and water, saying: This is the blood of his testament, which hath cleansed you. It must therefore be carefully observed that a man proclaims, and that all things cohere together into one. For it does not suffice for that law to be called a law, but it is named a testament. For no law is called a testament, nor is a testament called anything other than what those who are about to die make. And whatever is within the testament is sealed until the day of the testator's death. Therefore it is now rightly sealed through the slain lamb, who as a lion broke death, and fulfilled what had been foretold concerning him, and freed man—that is, the flesh from death—and received possession of the substance of the dying one, that is, of the human members.

So that just as through one body all men had fallen under the debt of their death, so also through one body all believers, reborn, might rise to life.

Rightly therefore is the face of Moses opened and revealed; and therefore the Apocalypse is called a Revelation. For now his book is unsealed, now the offerings of oblation are understood, now the making of the chrism of priests; but also testimonies are openly understood.

8, 9. The twenty-four elders and four living creatures having harps and bowls, and singing a new canticle. The preaching of the Old Testament joined with the new signifies the Christian people singing a new canticle, that is, publicly setting forth their confession. It is new, that the Son of God became man. It is new, that he ascended into the heavens with a body. It is new, that he gives remission of sins to men. It is new, that men are sealed with the Holy Spirit. It is new, to receive the priesthood of sacred observance, and to await the kingdom of immense promise. The harp and the string stretched upon wood signify the flesh of Christ joined to the wood of the passion. The bowl signifies confession, and the offspring of the new priesthood. The praise of the multitude of angels—indeed of all—is the salvation of all, and the testimony of the whole creation rendering thanks to our Lord for the liberation of men from the ruin of death.

The unsealing of the seals, as we have said, is the opening of the Old Testament, and the proclamation of things foretold by the prophets as coming to pass in the last time; which, although the prophetic scripture speaks through each individual seal, nevertheless, with all the seals opened together, the proclamation has its own order.

1, 2. And when the lamb had opened one of the seven seals, I saw and heard one of the four living creatures saying, Come and see. And behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him had a bow. When the first seal was opened, he says he saw a white horse and a crowned rider having a bow. For this was done through him first. For after the Lord ascended into the heavens and opened all things, he sent the Holy Spirit, whose words the preachers sent forth like arrows reaching to the human heart, so that they might overcome unbelief. Now a crown is promised upon the heads of preachers through the Holy Spirit. The other three horses more plainly signify wars, famines, and pestilences proclaimed in the Gospel by our Lord. And therefore he says that one of the living creatures spoke (because all four are one), Come and see. Come is said to one invited to faith. See is said to one who did not see.

Therefore the white horse is the word of preaching sent into the world with the Holy Spirit.

For the Lord says: This Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then shall the end come.

3, 4. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red, and to him that sat thereon it was given a great sword. The red horse and he that sat upon him having a sword signify future wars, as we read in the Gospel: For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be great earthquakes in divers places. This is the rose-coloured horse.

5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come and see. And behold a black horse, and he that sat on him had a balance in his hand. The black horse signifies famine; for the Lord says, there shall be famines in divers places: but the word is properly extended to the times of antichrist, when a great famine is to come, when all shall be harmed. Now the balance in the hand is the scale of examination, in which he would show the merits of each individual, and then he says.

6. See thou hurt not the wine and the oil.

That is, do not strike the spiritual man with blows. This is the black horse.

7, 8. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come and see. And behold a pale horse; and he that sat upon him, his name was Death. Now the pale horse, and he that sat upon him, had the name Death. These same things also among the other calamities the Lord had promised were to come—great pestilences and mortalities—when he says.

And hell followed him.

That is, it awaited the devouring of many impious souls. This is the pale horse.

9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain. He narrates that he saw the souls of the slain under the altar of God, that is, under the earth. For both heaven and earth are called an altar, just as the law, commanding under the imaginary face of truth that two altars be made, one golden within and one of bronze without. But we understand the golden altar to be called heaven, our Lord bearing witness to us; for he says: When thou offerest thy gift at the altar (our offerings are certainly prayers, which we offer) and there rememberest that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar. Certainly prayers ascend to heaven. Therefore heaven is understood as the golden altar which was within: for also the priests who had the chrism entered once a year to the golden altar, the Holy Spirit signifying that Christ would do this once.

Just as the golden altar is recognized as heaven, so also the bronze altar is understood as the earth, beneath which is hell—a region removed from punishments and fires, and the rest of the saints; in which indeed the just are seen and heard by the impious, but they cannot be conveyed thither. He therefore wished us to know that those saints, that is, the souls of the slain, seek vengeance for their blood, that is, for their body, from those dwelling upon the earth: but because in the last time the perpetual recompense of the saints and the damnation of the impious is also to come, it was said to them to wait. And for the consolation of their body, individual white robes were given to them. They received, he says, white robes, that is, the gift of the Holy Spirit.

12. And I saw when he had opened the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake.

In the sixth seal the great earthquake is that same final persecution. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair. The sun becomes as sackcloth, that is, the splendour of doctrine will be darkened for unbelievers. And the whole moon became as blood. The blood-red moon shows the Church of the saints pouring out blood for Christ.

13. And the stars fell unto the earth. The fall of the stars are the faithful who are shaken for Christ's sake. Even as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs. A shaken fig tree loses its unripe figs, when by persecution men are separated from the Church.

14. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. That the heaven is rolled together

that is, the Church will depart from the midst. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Mountains and islands moved out of their places signify that in the last persecution all have withdrawn from their places. That is, the good will be moved, fleeing the persecution.

2. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. He speaks of the prophet Elijah, who is to anticipate the times of Antichrist in order to restore and strengthen the Churches against the great and intolerable persecution. We read that these things were foretold in the opening of the book of the Old and New Testament; for he says through Malachi: Behold, I will send you Elijah the Tishbite, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, to call back the Jews according to the time of the calling to the faith of the people that follows. And therefore he shows, as we have said, the number of those from the Jews who will believe, and from the nations a great multitude which no one could number.

We also read in the Gospel that the prayers of the Church are sent from heaven by an angel, and that they are received against the wrath, and poured out, and that the kingdom of antichrist is reckoned through the holy angels; for he says: Pray that ye enter not into temptation, for there shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world: and unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved. These seven great archangels, therefore, he will send to strike the kingdom of antichrist; for he himself also said: Then the Son of man shall send his messengers, and they shall gather his elect from the four corners of the wind, from the ends of heaven to the ends thereof.

For he also said beforehand through the Prophet: Then shall there be peace in our land, when there shall arise in it seven shepherds and eight principal men, and they shall pursue Assur, that is antichrist, in the trench of Nimrod, that is, in the nation of the devil, by the spirit of the Church. Likewise when the keepers of the house shall be moved. But the Lord himself in a parable to the apostles, when the servants had come to him and said: Lord, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field, whence then hath it tares? He answered them: An enemy hath done this: to whom they said, Wilt thou that we go and root it up? Who said, No, but suffer both to grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, gather the tares and make bundles, and burn them with eternal fire, but gather the wheat into my barns. These reapers and shepherds and servants, therefore, the Apocalypse here shows to be angels.

Now the trumpet is the word of power.

And although he repeats through the bowls, it is not said as though it were done twice: but because what has been decreed by the Lord to come to pass will happen once, it is therefore said twice. What therefore he said less fully in the trumpets, that is here in the bowls. The order of the things said is not to be regarded, because the Holy Spirit often, when he has run through to the end of the last time, returns again to the same times and supplies what he said less fully: nor is order to be sought in the Apocalypse, but the understanding of the things that have been prophesied is to be followed.

The things signified therefore in the trumpets and bowls are either the calamities of plagues sent upon the world, or the madness of antichrist himself, or the defection of peoples, or the diversity of plagues, or the hope in the kingdom of the saints, or the ruin of cities, or the great ruin of Babylon, that is, of the city of Rome.

9. After these things I saw, And behold a great multitude which no man could number, out of every nation, tribe, and peoples and tongues, clothed in white robes. When he says a great multitude out of every tribe, he shows the number of the elect from all believers, who, washed in the blood of the Lamb through baptism, have made their robes white, keeping the grace which they received.

1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. By which the beginning of eternal rest is signified: but he understood a part of it

because with the silence interrupted he repeats it in order. For if it were unbroken silence, the end of the narration would be made here.

13. And I saw one angel flying through the midst of heaven.

By the angel flying through the midst of heaven the Holy Spirit is signified, bearing witness through the two prophets that the great wrath of the plagues is diminishing. So that if anyone, willing to be converted in the last time, might still be able to be saved.

13, 14. And I heard one voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels.

That is, those holding the four corners of the earth with the four winds. Which are bound at the great river Euphrates. By the corners of the earth, or the four winds beyond the river Euphrates, there are four nations, because an angel has been assigned to every nation, as the law says: He appointed them according to the number of the angels of God, until the number of the saints is completed: they do not go beyond their own boundaries, because in the last time they will come with antichrist.

1, 2. I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open, and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth. This mighty angel, whom he says descended from heaven clothed with a cloud, signifies our Lord, as we have explained above. His face as the sun. That is, concerning the resurrection. A rainbow upon his head. It signifies the judgment which has been accomplished through him, or is to come. The open book. The revelation of works in the future judgment, or the Apocalypse which John received. His feet. As we said above, are the apostles. For that both sea and land are trodden by him signifies that all things are subjected to his feet. Moreover he calls him an angel, that is a messenger, namely of the Father: for he is called the Messenger of great counsel.

He also says that he cried with a loud voice. The loud voice is to announce the words of the heavenly almighty God to men, and to bear witness that after repentance is closed there will be no hope thereafter.

5. Seven thunders uttered their voices. The seven thunders that uttered their voices is the Holy Spirit of sevenfold power, who through the prophets bore witness to all things to come, and John bore testimony to his voice in the world: but because he says he was about to write how much the thunders had spoken, that is, whatever had been obscurely foretold in the Old Testament, he is forbidden to write these things: but to leave them sealed, because he is an Apostle, and it was not fitting that the grace of a subsequent rank should be placed in the first. The time, he says, is near. For the apostles by virtues, signs, wonders, and mighty deeds overcame unbelief. After them, when those same Churches had been established, the consolation of the prophetic scriptures to be interpreted afterward was given: after those who interpret the prophets, I say. For the Apostle says: And he set indeed in the Church first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, and the rest.

And in another place he says: Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge.

And he says: Every woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head. But when he says, let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge, he does not speak of catholic prophecy that is unheard and unknown, but of that which has been both proclaimed and is known: but let them judge whether the interpretation agrees with the testimonies of the prophetic utterance. It is established therefore that this was not necessary for John, who was armed with a higher power; since the body of Christ which is the Church, adorned with its own members, ought to respond in its own place.

10. I took the book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up. To receive the book and eat it is to commit to memory what has been shown to oneself.

And it was in my mouth sweet as honey.

That it is sweet in the mouth is the fruit of the one who preaches, most sweet both to hearers, but also most bitter to those who preach and persevere in the commandments through suffering.

11. And he says to me: Thou must prophesy again to peoples, and tongues, and nations, and to many kings.

He says this because when John saw these things, he was on the island of Patmos, condemned to the mines by the Emperor Domitian. There therefore he saw the Apocalypse. And when as an old man he already thought he would receive his reception through suffering, Domitian having been killed, all his sentences were dissolved. And John, released from the mines, thereafter handed on this same Apocalypse which he had received from God. This therefore is what he says: Thou must preach again to all nations: because thou seest the crowds of antichrist rising up, and they are to stand against these, and they are to fall by the sword one against another.

1. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood saying: Rise, and measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that worship therein. The reed shown like unto a rod: this is the very Apocalypse which he afterward presented to the Churches: for he also wrote the Gospel for the cause of our perfect faith and salvation afterward. For when Valentinus and Cerinthus and Ebion and the rest of the school of Satan had been spread throughout the world, all the bishops from the neighboring provinces gathered to him and compelled him to write his own testimony as well.

Now the measure of the temple of God we say is the commandment of our Lord: to confess the Father to be almighty, and his Son Christ begotten before the origin of the world with the Father, made man in a true soul and flesh, having overcome both miseries and death, and received with his body into heaven by the Father, to have poured out the Holy Spirit, the gift and pledge of immortality: that he was foretold through the prophets, written of through the law, that he is the hand of God and the Word of the Father from God, Lord and creator of the world in all things: this is the reed and the measure of faith: and no one worships the holy altar except one who confesses this faith.

2. The court which is within the temple, cast out. The court is called the hall, the empty space between the walls of the altar: such persons as these he commanded to be cast out of the Church as unnecessary.

It is given to be trodden down by the Gentiles. That is, by the men of this world, so that it may be trampled by the Gentiles or together with the Gentiles. Then he repeats concerning the ruin and destruction of the last time, and says:

3. And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months: and I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. That is, three years and six months: these make forty-two months. The preaching of those two is therefore three years and six months, and the kingdom of antichrist is the same length.

5. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies. That fire goes out of the mouth of those prophets against adversaries speaks of the power of the word. For all the plagues, however many are to come, will be sent by their angels at their voice. Many think that along with Elijah it is Elisha, or Moses: but both have died. The death of Elijah, however, is not found, through whom all our ancient writers have handed down that it is Jeremiah. For even the very word that came to him bears witness to him, saying: Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I appointed thee a prophet unto the nations. Now he was not a prophet among the nations: and therefore the true word of God must of necessity fulfil what it promised, that he should be a prophet among the nations.

4. These are the two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the earth. He spoke of these two candlesticks and two olive trees and gave this reminder, so that if reading elsewhere you did not understand, here you may understand. For in Zechariah, one of the twelve prophets, it is written thus: These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks that stand before the Lord of the earth: that is, they are in paradise. Also in another sense. Standing before the Lord of the earth: that is, before antichrist. These therefore must be slain by antichrist.

7. And the beast which ascendeth out of the abyss. After many plagues fulfilled upon the age, he says at the end that the beast ascended out of the abyss. That it is to ascend out of the abyss is confirmed by many testimonies: for Ezekiel says in chapter xxxi: Behold Assur, a cypress in mount Lebanon. Assur the oppressor, a lofty and branching cypress, that is, a great people in mount Lebanon, in the kingdom of kingdoms, that is, of the Romans. That he says beautiful in its shoots, he means strong in its armies. Water, he says, shall nourish it, that is, the many thousands of men who shall be subject to it. And the abyss increased it, that is, belched it forth. For Isaiah also speaks in nearly the same words.

Moreover, that he was in the kingdom of the Romans, and was among the Caesars, the apostle Paul also attests; for he says to the Thessalonians: He who now holdeth, let him hold, until he be taken out of the way; and then shall the wicked one be revealed, he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with signs and lying wonders. And that they might know that he who was then prince would come, he added: The mystery of iniquity doth already work: that is, the wickedness which he is about to do, he worketh secretly, but he is raised up not by his own power, nor by that of his father, but by the command of God, concerning which Paul says to the same persons: Therefore, because they received not the love of God, he will send them a spirit of error that all may be persuaded by a lie, who were not persuaded by the truth. And Isaiah says: While they waited for light, darkness arose for them (Esa. Lix, 9).

The Apocalypse therefore makes manifest that these prophets are slain by the same one, and that they rise on the fourth day, lest anyone be found equal to God.

8. And their bodies shall lie in the streets of the great city which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt. By Sodom and Egypt he means Jerusalem, made into a heap by the persecuting people. Diligently therefore and with the utmost care one must follow the prophetic proclamation, and understand that the Spirit both foretells and sets things out of order from the Father; and when it has run forward to the last things, it again returns to earlier times. And what is to be done once, it shows several times as though already done: which unless you understand sometimes as done, sometimes as yet to come, you will fall into great darkness. Therefore the interpretation of the following words has shown this, so that not the order of the reading but of the discourse may be understood.

19. And the temple of God was opened which is in heaven. The opened temple is the manifestation of our Lord.

For the temple of God is the Son, as he himself says: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And when the Jews said it had taken forty-six years to build that temple; he, says the Evangelist, spoke of the temple of his body.

And the ark of the testament of the Lord was seen in his temple.

The preaching of the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins, and all the gifts whatsoever that came with him, these he says appeared.

1, 2. And a great sign was seen in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars: and having in her womb, crying out, travailing, and suffering torments to bring forth. The woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet, and bearing on her head a crown of twelve stars, and travailing in her pains, is the ancient Church of the fathers and prophets, and of the saints and apostles; which had groaning and the torments of her longing, until she should see the fruit of her people according to the flesh, Christ long promised to her, having taken a body from that very nation. Clothed with the sun, she signifies the hope of resurrection and the glory of the promise. The moon, however, signifies the fall of the bodies of the saints through the debt of death, which can never fail. For just as life diminishes, so also it increases.

Nor is the hope of those who sleep entirely extinguished, as some think, but they have light in the darkness as the moon.

The crown of twelve stars signifies the company of the fathers according to the birth of the flesh, from whom Christ was to take flesh.

3. And another sign was seen in heaven: Behold a red dragon having seven heads. That he says it is of a red color

that is, scarlet, the fruit of its works gave it that color. For from the beginning (as the Lord says) it was a murderer, and oppressed the whole human race not so much by the debt of death as also by various swords and deaths. The seven heads are seven kings of the Romans, of whom antichrist also is one, as we said in the earlier part.

And ten horns.

Ten kings in the last time, these same ones he speaks of, as we shall treat more fully there.

4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. That he says the tail of the dragon drew the third part of the stars of heaven can be understood in two ways; for many think he can seduce a third part of believing men. But what ought more truly to be understood is that when he was still a prince, upon his descent by his own appointment, he seduced a third part of the angels subject to him: therefore what we said above the Apocalypse affirms.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, that when she had brought forth he might devour her son.

The red dragon standing and eagerly desiring that when she had brought forth her son he might devour him, is the devil, namely the apostate Angel, who supposed that the destruction of all men through death was equal: but he who was not born of seed owed nothing to death, on account of which he could not devour him, that is, hold him in death, for he rose on the third day. And indeed even before he suffered, he approached to tempt him as a man: but when he had not found him to be what he supposed, he departed from him until a time; whence it is said here:

5. And she brought forth a son who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. The rod of iron is the sword of persecution.

I saw all depart from their places.

That is, the good will be moved, fleeing persecution. And her son was caught up to God and to his throne. We also read in the Acts of the Apostles that he was caught up to the throne of God, how while speaking with his disciples he was caught up into the heavens.

6. And the woman fled into the wilderness; and there were given to her two wings of a great eagle. The help of the wings of the great eagle, namely the gift of the prophets, speaks of that catholic Church from which in the last time a hundred and forty-four thousand men are to believe at the preaching of Elias; but also that the rest of the people shall be found alive at the coming of the Lord, he says here. And the Lord says in the Gospel: Then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains: that is, as many as shall have been gathered in Judaea, let them go to that place which is prepared for them, and be nourished there for three years and six months from the face of the devil.

14. Two great wings. The two prophets are Elias and whoever shall be prophet with him.

15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by that river. The water which the serpent cast out of his mouth signifies, by his command, the people who persecute her.

16. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. That the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the waters manifests vengeance upon those present. This therefore, though he signifies her as travailing, he afterwards shows fleeing after the birth is accomplished; because both things did not happen at one time: for we know that Christ was born; but that the times intervened, so that she might flee from the face of the serpent, has not yet come to pass. Then he says:

7-9. There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, the old serpent: he was cast into the earth. This is the beginning of Antichrist. Yet first Elias must preach, and there must be times of peace; and afterwards, when the three years and six months of the preaching of Elias are completed, then also he is to be cast from heaven where he had had the power of ascending until that time: and the apostle Paul says that all the apostate angels, and so also Antichrist, are raised from hell: Unless there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition and the adversary, who exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped.

1. And I saw a beast rising from the sea, like a leopard.

This signifies the kingdom of that time of Antichrist, mixed with a variety of nations and peoples.

2. His feet like those of a bear.

Of a strong and most foul beast: his feet are to be understood as his leaders. And his mouth like a lion. That is, his mouth armed for blood; his command is this, and his tongue, which will proceed to nothing else but the shedding of blood.

Xvii, 9. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. That is, the city of Rome.

10. And there are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, and another has not yet come; and when he comes, he will remain for a short time. One must understand the time at which the written Apocalypse was published: for then Caesar Domitian was reigning; but before him had been his brother Titus, and Vespasian, Otho, Vitellius, and Galba. These are the five who have fallen. One stands, under whom the Apocalypse was written, namely Domitian. Another has not yet come—he means Nerva: and when he comes, he will remain for a short time, for he did not complete two years.

11. And the beast which you saw is of the seven.

Because before these kings, Nero reigned. And is the eighth. He says now: when that one shall have come, count the eighth place, because in him is the consummation, he added. And goes into destruction. For he says that ten kings received royal power when he moves from the East: he will be sent from the city of Rome with his armies. And Daniel shows ten horns and ten diadems. And three of the former to be uprooted, that is, three chief leaders to be slain by Antichrist. The remaining seven give him honor, and counsel, and power, of whom he says: These will hate the harlot, namely the city, and will burn her flesh with fire. But one of the heads as though slain unto death, and the wound of his death healed—he means Nero. For it is established that when the cavalry sent by the senate was pursuing him, he cut his own throat.

Him therefore, raised up, God will send as a king worthy—but worthy in the manner that the Jews deserved.

And because he will bear another name, and will also establish another order, so that the Jews may receive him as the Christ, Daniel says: He will not know the desires of women, though he was previously most impure, and he will not acknowledge any god of his fathers. For he will not be able to seduce the people of the circumcision unless he be a judge of the law. Finally, he will not call the saints back to the worship of idols, but to the receiving of circumcision, and such as he can seduce; for thus he will make himself to be called Christ by them. But that he rises from hell, we said above by the word of Isaiah: Water will nourish him, and hell has enlarged him; yet although he comes with name changed and deed changed, the Spirit says:

XIII, 18. His number is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. Just as they have the reckoning from Greek letters, so in many copies TEITAN is found. For TEITAN has this number, which the gentiles call the Sun and Phoebus, and it is reckoned in Greek thus: tau three hundred, epsilon five, iota ten, tau three hundred, alpha one, nu fifty; which added together make six hundred and sixty-six: for as far as the Greek letters are concerned, they complete this number and name.

Which name, if you wish to render it into Latin, is understood by antiphrasis as DICLVX; which letters are reckoned in this manner: D indeed figures five hundred, I one, C one hundred, L fifty,

five, X ten; which with the letters added together likewise makes six hundred and sixty-six

that is, what sounds in Greek as TEITAN, namely what is said in Latin as DICLVX, by which name expressed through antiphrasis we understand Antichrist, who, though cut off from the light above and deprived of it, nevertheless transforms himself into an angel of light, daring to call himself light. Likewise we find in a certain Greek codex ANTEMOS: with these letters reckoned you will find the number as above, alpha one, nu fifty, tau three hundred, epsilon five, mu forty, omicron seventy, sigma two hundred; which together make six hundred and sixty-six according to the Greeks.

Likewise another name of his in Gothic which will be clear of itself

that is GENSERIKOS, which you will reckon in the same way with Greek letters: gamma three, epsilon five, nu fifty, sigma two hundred, eta eight, rho one hundred, iota ten, kappa twenty, omicron seventy, sigma likewise two hundred; which, as said above, make six hundred and sixty-six.

11. And I saw another beast rising from the earth. He speaks of the great and false prophet, who is to perform signs and wonders and lies before him in the sight of men. And he had two horns like a lamb, that is, the appearance inwardly of a man, and he spoke like a dragon. But the devil speaks, full of malice; for he will do these things in the sight of men, so that even the dead may seem to rise again.

13. And he will make fire come down from heaven in the sight of men. But (as I also said) in the sight of men. These things the magicians do through apostate angels even to this day. He will also cause a golden image of Antichrist to be placed in the temple at Jerusalem. And an apostate angel will enter in, and from there give forth voices and oracles: he will also bring it about that servants and free men receive the mark on their foreheads or on their right hands, the number of his name, so that no one may buy or sell. Daniel had foretold beforehand the contempt of God and the provocation. And he will set up, he says, his temple between Samaria, upon the renowned and holy mountain, that is at Jerusalem, an image, as Nebuchadnezzar had done.

Then he substituted this here, but now he recalls here what the Lord, admonishing his Churches concerning the last times and dangers, says: But when you shall see the abomination which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let him who reads understand. It is called contempt when God is provoked, because idols are worshipped in place of God, or when the doctrine of heretics is introduced into the churches. But aversion is when steadfast men, seduced by false signs and wonders, are turned away from salvation.

6. And I saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven. The angel flying through the midst of heaven, whom he says he saw, we have already treated above as being Elijah, who anticipates by his preaching the kingdom of Antichrist.

8. And another angel following him.

He calls the other angel following him a companion likewise of that same preaching, a prophet. But what he says: Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine. He signifies the nations that will perish at the coming of the Lord. And indeed he shows this same thing in many forms, as in dry harvests, and seed at the coming of the Lord, and the consummation of the world, and the kingdom of Christ, and the future appearance of the kingdom of the blessed.

19, 20. And the angel thrust in his sickle, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God: and the winepress was trodden outside the city. What he says, cast into the winepress of the wrath of God, and trodden outside the city—the treading of the winepress is the retribution of the sinner. And blood came out of the winepress up to the horses' bridles. The vengeance of blood shed will go forth, as was foretold before: You have sinned in blood, and blood will pursue you. For a thousand six hundred stadia. That is, through all four parts of the world; for the fourfold is squared fourfold, as in the four faces and the fourfold forms and the square wheels: for four times four hundred is sixteen hundred. The Apocalypse, repeating the same persecution, says this.

1. And I saw another great and wonderful sign, seven angels having the seven last plagues

because in them the wrath of God is completed. For the wrath of God always strikes a stubborn people with seven plagues; that is, perfectly, as he says in Leviticus: which plagues are to come at the last, when the Church shall have gone out from the midst.

2. Standing upon the glassy sea, having harps.

That is, to have stood steadfastly in faith upon their baptism, and having their confession in their mouth, they will exult in the kingdom before God. But let us return to the matters proposed.

1, 6. One of the seven angels who have the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying: Come, I will show you the judgment of that great harlot who sits upon many waters. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs. The decrees of that senate have always been carried out against all, against the preaching of the true faith. And now already, having cast aside indulgence, it has itself also issued a decree against all nations.

3. And I saw the woman herself sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy. But to sit upon the red beast, the author of murders, is the image of the devil, where also concerning his captivity, of which we have treated at length. I recall that this Babylon is called so on account of confusion both in the Apocalypse and in Isaiah; and Ezekiel named it Sodom. Finally, if you compare what was said against Sodom, and what Isaiah says against Babylon, and what the Apocalypse says, you will find all to be one.

11. And I saw heaven opened: and behold a white horse, and he who sat upon him was called Faithful and True. The horse and he who sits upon him shows our Lord coming with the heavenly army to his kingdom. For from the Arabian Sea of the North as far as the Phoenician Sea and to the ends of the earth, these greater parts at the coming of the Lord Jesus will receive commandment, and all the souls of the nations will be gathered to judgment.

1-3. And I saw an angel descending from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years: and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and set a seal upon him, that he should not seduce the nations any more, until the thousand years should be finished. After this he must be loosed for a short time. Those years in which Satan is bound are these: from the first coming of Christ until the end of the age. But they are called a thousand by that manner of speaking whereby a part is signified by the whole, as is that: The word which he commanded for a thousand generations: when they are not a thousand.

But what he says, and cast him into the abyss—this means, he says, that the devil, excluded from the hearts of believers, began to possess the impious, in whose blind hearts day by day he is enclosed as in the deep of an abyss. And he shut, he says, and set a seal upon him, that he should not seduce the nations until the thousand years are finished. He shut upon him is said, that is, he forbade and restrained him, lest he seduce those who belong to Christ. But he set a seal upon him, because it is hidden who belong to the portion of the devil, and who to Christ's. For even those who seem to stand, we do not know whether they will fall; and whether those who lie fallen will rise is uncertain.

But what he says, that he is bound and enclosed, so that he should not seduce the nations—nations signify the Church, of which it itself consists, which he formerly held seduced, until, he says, the thousand years are finished, that is, what remains of the sixth day, namely of the sixth age, which consists of a thousand years. A short time signifies three years and six months, in all of which the devil will avenge himself with full force under Antichrist against the Church. Then afterwards he says that the devil will be loosed, and will seduce the nations throughout the whole world, and will draw war against the Church, whose number of enemies will be as the sand of the sea.

4, 5. And I saw thrones and those sitting upon them, and judgment was given to them: and the souls of those slain for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who had not worshipped the beast nor his image, nor received the mark on their forehead or on their hand, and they reigned with Jesus for a thousand years: the rest of them did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. There are two resurrections: but the first resurrection is now of souls through faith, which does not permit men to pass over to the second death. Of this resurrection the Apostle says: If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above.

6. Blessed and holy is he who has part in this resurrection: over these the second death shall have no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. The reign of a thousand years I do not reckon to be eternal; or if it is to be understood so, then when the thousand years are completed they cease to reign; but as the capacity of the mind perceives the meaning, I will set it forth. The number ten signifies the Decalogue, and the number one hundred points to the crown of virginity: for he who shall have kept the purpose of virginity whole, and shall have faithfully fulfilled the precepts of the Decalogue, and shall have slain within the chamber of his heart the savage impulses or impure thoughts, lest they have dominion over him—this man is the true priest of Christ, and by completing the number of a thousand in its fullness is believed to reign with Christ, and rightly in him is the devil bound.

But he who is ensnared by vices and the doctrines of heretics—in him the devil is loosed.

But because he says that when the thousand years are completed he is loosed, and when the number of the perfect saints is completed, in whom the glory of virginity is present in body and heart, at the coming of the abominable advent of the kingdom that is to come, many, seduced by him through love of earthly things, shall be overthrown, and together with him shall enter the fiery lake.

8-10. And they went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city: and fire came down from heaven from God, and devoured them; and the devil who seduced them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also the beast and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. This now pertains to the last judgment, and after a little while the earth was restored as holy—that earth, namely, in which the virginal bodies had long since rested: with the immortal king they shall behold the eternal kingdom, those who guarded themselves inviolably from wickedness not only as virgins in body, but equally in tongue and thought, whom he shows to remain, destined to exult with the Lamb.

16. And the city is set foursquare. The city which he calls foursquare, gleaming with gold and precious stones, and the holy street, and the river through the midst, and the tree of life on either side bearing twelve fruits through twelve months, and the light of the sun not being there, because the Lamb is its light; and its gates of individual pearls, three gates on each of the four sides, and unable to be shut. The foursquare city, I say, shows the gathered multitude of the saints, in whom faith could in no way waver. Just as Noah is commanded to make the ark of squared timbers, which could bear the force of the flood, so the precious stones which cannot waver in persecution show holy men, who could neither be moved by the storm of persecutors nor dissolved from the true faith by the force of the rain; therefore they are joined with pure gold, from whom the city of the great king is adorned.

Their streets moreover show hearts cleansed of all filth, shining with clear light, so that the Lord may worthily walk among them.

The river of life shows the grace of spiritual teaching running through the minds of the faithful, and that manifold green growths of fragrance have sprung up. The tree of life on either bank shows the coming of Christ according to the flesh; who, as peoples consumed by hunger received life from the one wood of the cross, satisfied them by the preaching of the word of God. And because he says that the sun is not needed in the city, he plainly shows that the Creator, an immaculate light, shines in the midst of it, whose splendor no sense could conceive nor tongue utter. That he says the gates placed on each of the four sides are three, set from individual pearls, I reckon the four virtues to be, namely prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance, which cleave to one another mutually. And while they are mingled with one another, they produce the number twelve.

The twelve gates, moreover, we believe to be the number of the Apostles, who, shining in the four virtues as precious pearls, making manifest the light of their teaching among the saints, cause entry into the heavenly city; so that the choir of angels may rejoice in their manner of life. That the gates cannot be shut is plainly shown to mean that by no storm of those who contradict it is the teaching of the apostles separated from rectitude, even if the waves of the nations and the vain superstitions of heretics have risen against their true faith: overcome, they shall dissolve like foam, because Christ is the rock, by whom and through whom the Church is founded. And therefore it is not overcome by any waves of raging men. Therefore those are not to be heard who affirm that the reign of a thousand years is earthly, who think with Cerinthus the heretic. For the kingdom of Christ is now eternal in the saints, when the glory of the saints shall have been made manifest after the resurrection.