Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

he healed the bodies. When these things happened, a black horse came forth, and the one sitting on it had a balance in his hand. The black horse is indicative of dejection and mourning, because the deposition of the Devil was intensified by the divine disciplines, and for this reason he mourns his own dissolution, which had resisted for so many ages. But the balance is a symbol of equality and justice. For he who judges justice sat upon a throne; he rebuked the nations of demons and the impious one, their leader, perished. Therefore, the balance is a symbol of the just judgment of the Lord on our behalf; so that we might also say to him with confidence: You have executed 87 my judgment and my cause, so that the nations might know that we are men, and not be dragged and led astray like beasts with bit and bridle by the destructive tyrants. And I heard, he says, a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying: A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. The word and the teaching are figuratively called seed in the divine scripture; for it is written in Matthew: A sower went out to sow; and again, the most loyal of the servants say to their master: Lord, did you not sow good seed in the field? From where then does it have tares? And of the seed, one part is wheat, such as the evangelical preaching, as food fitting for perfect men; and who have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. But what is barley? The teaching according to the Law of Moses, as less valuable than wheat, and past its prime, and food fit for beasts nourishing the infant Israel. Therefore God, who gives the oracle in the midst of the four living creatures, says: A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of barley for a denarius. By which he signifies that there is a famine and a scarcity among the people of that time, both of evangelical teaching from the Lord and of the legal teaching, according to what is written: I will send them not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. Even if, he says, those who despise all teaching and repentance must suffer these and these things, do not harm the oil and the wine; let them be and bring no punishment upon them; there is still mercy for them from me, says God. Since there is hope for them to be gladdened spiritually by the 88 divine proclamations of my only-begotten; for these are the wine, which spiritually gladdens the heart of man. Therefore, he who would prosecute them for their former disobedience would wrong the future mercy from God for them, and the future spiritual gladness in faith. And why do I say only spiritual? For the Lord's teachings also had a perceptible grace; and the prophet is a witness, saying to the Lord, Grace is poured out on your lips, and Josephus, a Jewish man, compelled by the truth, writing about him in the book of the Archaeology of Israel, these things: Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of men for whom the truths were spoken with pleasure; and he drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. This man was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day. The loosening of the fourth seal, and the beginning of the loosening of the sin from the transgression of Adam; for the loosening of this is a manifest reconciliation to God. For if our sins separate us from God, as Isaiah says, the removal of these reconciles us. And what is the loosening? The slaps received by Christ, through which we were set free. For since we were condemned by the pleasure of taste, we were healed by its opposites. 89 But the opposites of pleasure are the slaps, having a painful sensation—Christ having paid for everything on our behalf, through which we were led down to the corruption of death, but he paid through the

ἰάσατο τῶν σωμάτων. ὧν γενομένων, ἵππος ἐξῆλθε μέλας, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ' αὐτοῦ ἔχων ζυγὸν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ. ὁ μὲν ἵππος ὁ μέλας κατηφείας ὑπάρχει καὶ πένθους δεικτικός, ἐπιταθείσης τῆς τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου καθαιρέσεως ταῖς θείαις παιδαγωγίαις, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πενθοῦντος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ λῦσιν, τὴν τοσούτοις ἀντισχοῦσαν χρόνοις. ὁ δέ γε ζυγὸς ἰσότητός ἐστι καὶ δικαιοσύνης αἴνιγμα. ἐκάθησε γὰρ ἐπὶ θρόνου ὁ κρίνων δικαιοσύνην· ἐπετίμησε τοῖς δαιμόνων ἔθνεσι καὶ ἀπώλετο ὁ ἀσεβὴς, ὁ τούτων ἡγούμενος. σύμβολον οὖν τῆς δικαίας κρίσεως τοῦ Κυρίου, τῆς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὁ ζυγός· ὡς καὶ λέγειν ἡμᾶς ἐν παρρησίᾳ πρὸς αὐτόν· ἐποίη 87 σας τὴν κρίσιν μου καὶ τὴν δίκην μου ὅπως γνῶμεν τὰ ἔθνη ὅτι ἄνθρωποί ἐσμεν, καὶ μὴ δίκην κτηνῶν ἐν χαλινῷ καὶ κημῷ διελκώμεθα καὶ ἀποβουκολώμεθα παρὰ τῶν ὀλεθρίων τυράννων. καὶ ἤκουσά φησι φωνὴν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν τεσσάρων ζώων λέγοντος· χοῖνιξ σίτου δηναρίου, καὶ τρεῖς χοίνικες κριθῶν δηναρίου, καὶ τὸ ἔλαιον καὶ τὸν οἶνον μὴ ἀδικήσης. ὁ λόγος καὶ ἡ διδασκαλία, σπέρμα παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ τροπολογεῖται γραφῇ· γέγραπται γὰρ παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ· ἐξῆλθεν ὁ σπείρων τοῦ σπεῖραι· καὶ πάλιν φασὶ πρὸς τὸν κύριον αὐτῶν οἱ τῶν δούλων εὐνούστατοι· κύριε, οὐχὶ καλὸν σπέρμα ἔσπειρας ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ; πόθεν οὖν ἔχει ζιζάνια; τοῦ δέ γε σπέρματος, τὸ μέν ἐστι σῖτος, οἷον τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν κήρυγμα ὡς ἀνδρᾶσι πρέπουσα τροφὴ τελείοις· καὶ τὰ αἰσθητήρια γεγυμνασμένα ἔχουσι πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ. τί δέ ἐστι κριθή; ἡ κατὰ τὸν Μωυσέως νόμον διδασκαλία, ὡς πρεπεστέρα τοῦ σίτου, καὶ ἀκμάσασα, καὶ τροφὴ κτηνοπρεπὴς τὸν νήπιον τρέφουσα Ἰσραήλ. φησὶν οὖν ὁ χρηματίζων ἐν μέσῳ τῶν τεσσάρων ζώων Θεός· χοῖνιξ σίτου δηναρίου, καὶ τρεῖς χοίνικες κριθῆς δηναρίου. δι' ὧν αἰνίττεται λιμὸν εἶναι καὶ σπάνιν παρὰ τοῖς τότε ἀνθρώποις διδασκαλίας εὐαγγελικῆς τε τῆς ἐκ τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ νομικῆς, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· δώσω αὐτοῖς οὐ λιμὸν ἄρτου οὐδὲ δίψαν ὕδατος, ἀλλὰ λιμὸν τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λόγον Κυρίου. εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα οὖν φησι τάδε καὶ τάδε παθεῖν ἔδει τοὺς καταφρονητὰς πάσης διδασκαλίας καὶ ἐπιστροφῆς, τὸ ἔλαιον καὶ τὸν οἶνον μὴ ἀδικήσῃς· ἄφες αὐτοὺς καὶ μηδεμίαν κόλασιν ἐπαγάγῃς· ἔτι ἐστὶν ἐλεημοσύνη αὐτοῖς παρ' ἐμοῦ φησιν ὁ Θεός. ἐπεὶ ἐλπίς ἐστιν αὐτοῖς, νοητῶς εὐφρανθῆναι τοῖς 88 θείοις τοῦ μονογενοῦς μου κηρύγμασιν· ταῦτα γὰρ ὁ οἶνος, ὁ εὐφραίνων νοητῶς καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου. ὁ οὖν ἐπὶ τῆς προτέρας ἀπειθείας ἐπεξιὼν ἀδικήσειεν ἂν τὸν ἐσόμενον αὐτοῖς παρὰ Θεοῦ ἔλεον, καὶ τὴν ἐσομένην ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει νοητὴν εὐφροσύνην. καὶ τὶ λέγω νοητὴν μόνον; αἱ γὰρ τοῦ Κυρίου διδασκαλίαι καὶ αἰσθητὴν εἶχον τὴν χάριν· καὶ μάρτυς ὁ προφήτης ἐξεχύθη ἡ χάρις ἐν χείλεσί σου λέγων πρὸς τὸν Κύριον, καὶ ὁ Ἰώσηππος Ἰουδαῖος ἀνὴρ καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας βιαζόμενος, καὶ γράφων περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐν βίβλῳ Ἰσραὴλ Ἀρχαιολογίας τάδε· γίνεται δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον Ἰησοῦς, σοφὸς ἀνήρ, εἴγε ἄνδρα αὐτὸν λέγειν χρή· ἦν γὰρ παραδόξων ἔργων ποιητής, διδάσκαλος ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἡδονῇ τ' ἀληθῆ λεγομένων· καὶ πολλοὺς μὲν Ἰουδαίους, πολλοὺς δὲ ἐκ τοῦ Ἑλληνικοῦ προσηγάγετο. ὁ Χριστὸς οὗτος ἦν. καὶ αὐτὸν ἐνδείξει τῶν πρώτων ἀνδρῶν παρ' ἡμῖν, σταυρῷ ἐπιτετιμηκότος Πιλάτου, οὐκ ἐπαύσαντο οἱ τὸ πρῶτον ἀγαπήσαντες· ἐφάνη γὰρ αὐτοῖς τρίτην ἔχων ἡμέραν πάλιν ζῶν, τῶν θείων προφητῶν ταῦτα καὶ ἄλλα θαύματα μυρία περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰρηκότων. εἰσέτι τε νῦν τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἀπὸ τοῦδε ὠνομασμένων οὐκ ἐπέλιπεν φῦλον· τετάρτης σφραγῖδος λῦσις, καὶ λοιπῶν ἀρχὴ λύσεως τῆς ἐκ παραβάσεως Ἀδὰμ ἁμαρτίας· ἡ γὰρ ταύτης λῦσις ἐμφανής ἐστι οἰκείωσις πρὸς Θεόν. εἰ γὰρ αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ἡμῶν διϊστῶσιν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὡς φησὶν Ἡσαΐας, αἱ τούτων ἀναιρέσεις προσοικειοῦσι. τίς δὲ ἡ λύσις; τὰ ῥαπίσματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' ὧν ἠλευθερώθημεν. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡδονῇ γεύσεως ἐκατεκρίθημεν, τοῖς ἐναντίοις 89 ἰάθημεν. ἐναντία δὲ τῆς ἡδονῆς τὰ ῥαπίσματα, ἀλγεινὴν ἔχοντα τὴν συναίσθησινπάντα ἐκτίσαντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' ὧν εἰς φθορὰν θανάτου κατήχθημεν, ἐκτίσαντος δὲ διὰ τῶν