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I am the things that are coming. And he calls God Almighty and Lord of creation, not only of the sensible, but also of the intelligible. I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the afflictions and in the kingdom of patience. He wrote to the faithful who, according to the word and preaching of Christ, had suffered much from those who persecute the pious, wherefore he calls himself a partaker in Jesus, just as of the afflictions and of patience, so also of the kingdom of God, being here for those who bring about afflictions for the sake of the word. 39 I was on the island called Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. For the sake of Jesus, he says; for this is what "in Jesus" means. And for his word and the testimony, which I testified by preaching his Gospel, I was, he says, exiled on Patmos. And Eusebius records in his Chronological Canon that he suffered this under the emperor Domitian. Then he says, while I was on the said island, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. What he said, "I was in the spirit," shows that he saw a vision not perceptible nor seen with fleshly ears or eyes, but with prophetic ones; concerning which spiritual hearing Isaiah said: He gave me in the morning to understand, in the morning he gave me an ear to hear and the instruction of the Lord opens my ears. And I heard a loud voice like a trumpet saying to me: John, what you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. There are more cities in Asia, but he is commanded to write to those that had been taught by him and had already received the faith of Christ. For to those who are unfaithful and who turn away from the saving word, what could one even recommend? And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girded about the breasts with a golden belt. 40 And his head and his hair were like white wool, as snow; and his eyes as a flame of fire; and his feet like fine brass refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters; and he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth a sharp two-edged sword was coming forth; and his countenance was as the sun shines in its strength. The seven lampstands, as he himself explains as he proceeds, are the seven churches to which he has been commanded to write; and he called them lampstands, as bearing in themselves the illumination of the glory of Christ; for he did not call them lamps, but lampstands. Now the lampstand itself does not have the power to give light; but it bears in itself that which is able to give light. And Christ illumines his churches in an intelligible manner. For just as the holy apostle exhorts those who have received the faith: Become as luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life; but a luminary does not have light in and of itself, but is receptive of an external light, so also here the evangelist saw the churches as lampstands and not lamps. For it has been said concerning Christ: you give light wondrously from the eternal mountains—perhaps angelic powers—and again to the Father: Send forth your light and your truth; and again: the light of your face, O Lord. But the partakers of the divine light have been described in some places as luminaries, in others as lampstands. And he says the lampstands are golden because of the preciousness and preeminence of those deemed worthy to receive the divine radiance; and in the midst of the seven lampstands, he says, one like a son of man; For if the Lord himself promises to dwell in and walk among the souls of those who receive him, how would he not be seen in the midst of the lampstands? And he says "son of man," referring to Christ who for our sakes humbled himself to the form of a servant, who became 41 the fruit of the womb according to the divine psalmist; the womb, that is, of the unwed and ever-virgin Mary; for since Mary is a human being and our sister, it is fitting that the God Logos, born of her without seed according to the flesh, is also called son of man.

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ἐπερχόμενα ἐγώ εἰμι. παντοκράτορα δὲ τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Κύριον τῆς κτίσεως καλεῖ, οὐ μόνον τῆς αἰσθητῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς νοητῆς. ἐγὼ Ἰωάννης, ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν καὶ συγκοινωνὸς ἐν ταῖς θλί ψεσιν καὶ ἐν βασιλείᾳ ὑπομονῆ. πιστοῖς ἔγραφεν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν λόγον καὶ τὸ κήρυγμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πολλὰ παθοῦσι παρὰ τῶν διωκόντων τοὺς εὐσεβεῖς, διὸ ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ τῶν θλίψεων καὶ τῆς ὑπομονῆς, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλείας, εἶναι ἐνταῦθα τοῖς ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου προξενοῦσι θλίψεις καλεῖ κοινωνὸν ἐν Ἰησοῦ. 39 ἐγενόμην ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τῇ καλουμένῃ Πάτμῳ διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ἰησοῦ. διὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν φησιν· τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ ἐν Ἰησοῦ. καὶ διὰ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν, ἣν ἐγὼ ἐμαρτύρησα τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον αὐτοῦ κηρύξας, ἐγενόμην φησίν, ἐξόριστος ἐν τῇ Πάτμῳ. τοῦτο δὲ παθεῖν αὐτὸν ὁ Εὐσέβιος ἱστορεῖ ἐν τῷ Χρονικῷ Κανόνι ἐπὶ ∆ομετιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως. εἶτά φησιν, διάγων ἐν τῇ εἰρημένῃ νήσῳ, ἐγενόμην ἐν Πνεύματι ἐν τῇ Κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ. ὃ εἶπεν ἐν πνεύματι ἐγενόμην, δείκνυσιν μὴ αἰσθητὴν μηδὲ σαρκικοῖς ὦσιν ἢ ὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρωμένην ἰδεῖν ὀπτασίαν, ἀλλὰ προφητικοῖς· περὶ ὧν πνευματικῶν ἀκοῶν ἔλεγεν ὁ Ἡσαΐας· προσέθηκέν μοι πρωὶ νοεῖν, πρωὶ προσέθηκέν μοι ὠτίον ἀκούειν καὶ ἡ παιδεία Κυρίου ἀνοίγει μου τὰ ὦτα. Καὶ ἤκουσα φωνῆς μεγάλης ὡς σάλπιγγος λεγούσης μοι· Ἰωάννη, ὁ βλέπεις γράψον εἰς βιβλίον καὶ πέμψον ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαις, εἰς Ἔφεσον, καὶ εἰς Σμύρναν, καὶ εἰς Πέργαμον, καὶ εἰς Θυάτειρα, καὶ εἰς Σάρδεις, καὶ εἰς Φιλα δέλφιαν, καὶ εἰς Λαοδίκειαν. πλείους μέν εἰσι τῆς Ἀσίας πόλεις, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς εἰς τὰς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μαθητευθείσας καὶ ἤδη δεξαμένας τὴν Χριστοῦ πίστιν γράψαι κελεύεται. ταῖς γὰρ ἀπίστοις καὶ ἀφισταμέναις τοῦ σωτηρίου λόγου, τί ἄν τις καὶ παραινέσειεν; καὶ ἐπέστρεψα βλέπειν τὴν φώνην ἥτις ἐλάλει μετ' ἐμοῦ· καὶ ἐπιστρέψας, εἶδον ἑπτὰ λυχνίας χρυσᾶς· καὶ ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἑπτὰ λυχνιῶν, ὅμοιον υἱῷ ἀνθρώπου ἐνδεδυμένον πο δήρη, καὶ περιεζωσμένον ἐν τοῖς μαστοῖς ζώνην χρυσῆν. 40 ἡ δὲ κεφαλὴ αὐτοῦ καὶ αἱ τρίχες ὡς ἔριον λευκόν, ὥσει χίων· καὶ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ ὡς φλὸξ πυρός· καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ ὅμοιοι χαλκολιβάνῳ ἐν καμίνῳ πεπυρωμένῳ, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ αὐτοῦ ὡς φωνὴ ὑδάτων πολλῶν· καὶ ἔχων ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ ἀστέρας ἑπτά· καὶ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, ῥομφαία δίστομος ὀξεῖα ἐκπορευομένη· καὶ ἡ ὄψις αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἥλιος φαίνει τῇ δυνάμει αὐτοῦ. αἱ μὲν ἑπτὰ λυχνίαι ὡς αὐτὸς προιὼν ἑρμηνεύει, αἱ ἑπτὰ ἐκκλησίαι εἰσὶν πρὸς ἃς γράψαι κεκέλευσται· λυχνίας δὲ αὐτὰς ὠνόμασεν, ὡς ἐν αὐταῖς φερούσας τὸν φωτισμὸν τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν αὐτὰς λύχνους, ἀλλὰ λυχνίας. ἡ δὲ λυχνία αὐτὴ μὲν οὐκ ἔχει τὸ φωτίζειν· φέρει δὲ ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὸ φωτίζειν δυνάμενον. φωτίζει δὲ νοητῶς ὁ Χριστὸς τὰς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος παραινεῖ τοῖς τὴν πίστιν δεξαμένοις· γίνεσθε ὡς φωστῆρες ἐν κόσμῳ λόγον ζωῆς ἐπέχοντες· ὁ δέ γε φωστὴρ αὐτὸς μὲν καθ' ἑαυτὸν οὐκ ἔχει φῶς, δεκτικὸς δέ ἐστιν ἐπεισάκτου φωτός, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα λυχνίας καὶ οὐ λύχνους τὰς ἐκκλησίας εἶδεν ὁ ἐυαγγελιστής. εἴρηται μὲν γὰρ περὶ Χριστοῦ φωτίζεις σὺ θαυμαστῶς ἀπὸ ὀρέων αἰωνίωνἀγγελικῶν, ἴσως δυνάμεωνκαὶ πάλιν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα· ἐξαπόστειλον τὸ φῶς σου καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου· καὶ αὖθις ὁ φωτισμὸς τοῦ προσώπου σου, Κύριε. οἱ δέ γε μέτοχοι τοῦ θείου φωτός, πὴ μὲν φωστῆρες, πὴ δὲ λυχνίαι ἀνεγράφησαν. χρυσὰς δέ φησιν τὰς λυχνίας διὰ τὸ τίμιον καὶ ὑπεραῖρον τῶν ἀξιωθέντων δέξασθαι τὸ θεῖον σέλας· καὶ ἐν μέσῳ φησὶν τῶν ἑπτὰ λυχνιῶν, ὅμοιον υἱῷ ἀνθρώπου· εἰ γὰρ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος ἐπαγγέλλεται ἐνοικήσειν καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσειν ταῖς τῶν δεξαμένων αὐτὸν ψυχαῖς, πῶς οὐκ ἂν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν λυχνιῶν ἐθεωρήθη; υἱὸν δέ φησιν ἀνθρώπου, τὸν δι' ἡμᾶς ἄχρι τῆς τοῦ δούλου μορφῆς ἑαυτὸν ταπεινώσαντα Χριστόν, τὸν γενόμενον 41 καρπὸν τῆς γαστρὸς κατὰ τὸν θεσπέσιον μελῳδόν· γαστρὸς δὲ τῆς ἀπειρογάμου καὶ ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἡ Μαρία καὶ ἡμῶν ἀδελφή, εἰκότως ὁ ἐξ αὐτῆς τεχθείσης ἀσπόρως, κατὰ σάρκα Θεὸς λόγος, καὶ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου χρηματίζει.