Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

to me; these who are clothed in the white robes, who are they and from where did they come? And I said to him, My Lord, you know. And he said to me; These are they who are coming out of the great tribulation and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple; and the one sitting on the throne will dwell among them. They will hunger no more, nor thirst anymore, nor shall the 100 sun fall on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them, and will lead them to springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. The untold myriads of the nations, therefore, who accepted the faith of Christ and have attained a blessed end, have inherited the glorious place, standing before the Lord and His paternal throne as was said before. And their being clothed in white robes is a sign of the purity of their lives. And the palm branches, being a symbol of victory, indicate that they exult in Christ's victory over both the intelligible and the sensible enemies. And they cry out: Salvation to our God and to the Lamb, confessing that salvation is with them, because they saved the sealed servants of God from the total destruction of the world. When this thanksgiving was made, the ministering orders in heaven with the elders responded "Amen," lending their own consent to what was said. Then the divine angels also offer their own praise to God, honoring him with seven honors, which, as was said before, signifies the unceasing nature of the angels' doxology; for the number seven is perfect. But for one of the elders to ask the evangelist who were those from the nations, clothed in white robes, was not from ignorance, but to stir 101 him to know the things concerning them. Therefore he also says, these are they who are coming out of the great tribulation; for the righteous had not a small, but a very great struggle in the reign of the antichrist. And they washed, he says, their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; and yet it would have been logical for robes dyed in blood to turn out crimson rather than white. How then have they become white? Because baptism, being performed into the death of the Lord, as it seems to the most wise Paul, being a cleanser of every stain from sin, renders white and pure those who are baptized in it. But also the partaking of the life-giving blood of Christ bestows this; for the Lord says concerning His own blood that it is shed for many and on behalf of many for the remission of sins. These, therefore, serve God forever; and God dwells in them. And the dwelling of God, one of the saints said, is for His uninterrupted memory to remain in the souls of the saints; reasonably, therefore, God dwells. day and night they serve him. They will hunger no more, nor thirst anymore, for previously those from the nations went through every temptation; but now they will be satisfied with untold goods. Nor shall the sun fall upon them, he says. The sun is in some places tropologically interpreted as temptation in the divine scripture; in one place the prophet saying, the sun will not burn you by day, nor the moon by night, and in another the evangelist writing that when the sun came up it withered the seeds that had sprung up in the rocky places, interpreting the sun as temptation. He says therefore in the present passage that temptation would not harm them from now on; 102 for they have been deemed worthy to be shepherded by Christ and to be nourished by the waters of life. And God, he says, will wipe away every tear from their eyes. For to those who have so lived and struggled, a tear of useless anxiety is not owed, nor the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, but everything good and supernatural. And when he opened the seventh, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who before God

μοι· οὗτοι οἱ περιβεβλημένοι τὰς στολὰς τὰς λευκὰς, τίνες εἰσὶ καὶ πόθεν ἦλθον; καὶ εἴρηκα αὐτῷ, Κύριέ μου, σὺ οἶδας. καὶ εἶπε μοι· οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἐρχόμενοι ἐκ τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης καὶ ἐπλάτυναν τὰς στολὰς αὐτῶν καὶ ἐλεύκαναν αὐτὰς ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ἀρνίου. διὰ τοῦτό εἰσιν ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ λατρεύουσιν αὐτῷ ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς ἐν τῷ ναῷ αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὁ καθή μενος ἐπὶ τῷ θρόνῳ σκηνώσει ἐπ' αὐτούς. οὐ πεινάσουσιν ἔτι, οὔτε μὴν διψήσουσιν, οὐδὲ μὴ πέσῃ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὁ 100 ἥλιος, οὐδὲ πᾶν καῦμα· ὅτι τὸ ἀρνίον τὸ ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ θρόνου ποιμανεῖ αὐτούς, καὶ ὁδηγήσει αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ ζωῆς πηγὰς ὑδάτων, καὶ ἐξαλείψει ὁ Θεὸς πᾶν δάκρυον ἀπὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν. τῶν ἐθνῶν μὲν οὖν αἱ ἀμύθητοι μυριάδες, αἱ τὴν πίστιν δεξάμεναι Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς μακαρίας τετυχηκυῖαι λήξεως, τὸν ἔνδοξον ἐκληρώσαντο χῶρον, ἐνώπιον ἑστῶσαι τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ τοῦ πατρικοῦ αὐτοῦ θρόνου καθὼς πρόσθεν εἴρηται. τὸ δέ γε περιβεβλῆσθαι αὐτοὺς στολὰς λευκὰς δεῖγμα τῆς κατὰ τὸν βίον αὐτῶν ὑπάρχει καθαρότητος. οἱ δέ γε φοίνικες, νίκης ὑπάρχοντες σύμβολον, ἐπαγάλλεσθαι αὐτοὺς τῇ Χριστοῦ νίκῃ τῇ κατά τε τῶν νοητῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ὑπεμφαίνουσι. κράζουσι δέ· ἡ σωτηρία τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν καὶ τῷ ἀρνίῳ, παρ' αὐτοῖς εἶναι τὴν σωτηρίαν ὁμολογοῦντες, ὅτι τῆς τοῦ κόσμου πανωλεθρίας διεσώσαντο τοὺς σφραγισθέντας δούλους τοῦ Θεοῦ. ἧς γενομένης εὐχαριστίας, τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ λειτουργικὰ τάγματα σὺν τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις ὑπήκουσαν τὸ ἀμήν, τοῖς εἰρημένοις τὴν ἑαυτῶν προσχρήσαντες συγκατάθεσιν. εἶτα καὶ ἴδιον οἱ θεῖοι ἄγγελοι προσάγουσιν αἶνον τῷ Θεῷ, ἑπτὰ τιμαῖς αὐτὸν γεραίροντες, ὅπερ, ὡς πρόσθεν εἴρηται, τὸ ἀκατάληκτον αἰνίττεται τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων δοξολογίας· τέλειος γὰρ ὁ ἑπτὰ ἀριθμός. τὸ δὲ ἕνα τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἐρωτᾶν τὸν εὐαγγελιστὴν τίνες εἶεν οἱ ἐξ ἐθνῶν, οἱ τὰς λευκὰς ἠμφιεσμένοι στολάς, οὐκ ἀγνοοῦντος ἦν, ἀλλὰ διερεθίζοντος 101 αὐτὸν γνῶναι τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν. διὸ καί φησιν οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἐρχομένοι ἐκ τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης· οὐ μικρὸν γὰρ οἱ δίκαιοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν μέγαν ἔσχον ἀγῶνα ἐν τῇ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου ἐπικρατείᾳ. καὶ ἔπλυνάν φησι τὰς στολὰς αὐτῶν καὶ ἐλεύκαναν ἐν τῷ αἵματι τοῦ ἀρνίου· καίτοιγε ἀκόλουθον ἦν τὰς ἐν αἵματι βαφείσας στολὰς φοινικὰς μᾶλλον ἤπερ λευκὰς ἀποβῆναι. πῶς οὖν γεγόνασι λευκαί; ὅτι τὸ βάπτισμα εἰς τὸν θάνατον τοῦ Κυρίου τελούμενον, ὡς τῷ σοφωτάτῳ Παύλῳ δοκεῖ, σμηκτικὸν ὑπάρχον ῥύπου παντὸς τοῦ ἐξ ἁμαρτίας, λευκοὺς καὶ καθαροὺς ἀποδίδωσι τοὺς βαπτιζομένους ἐν αὐτῷ. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ μετάληψις τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦτο χαρίζεται· περὶ πολλῶν γὰρ καὶ ὑπὲρ πολλῶν ἐκχέεσθαί φησιν ὁ Κύριος περὶ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν λατρεύουσι τῷ Θεῷ εἰς αἰῶνα· ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἐν αὐτοῖς κατασκηνοῖ. τὴν δέ γε κατασκήνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἔφη τις τῶν ἁγίων, τὸ ἀδιάλειπτον αὐτοῦ μνήμην παραμένειν ταῖς τῶν ἁγίων ψυχαῖς· εἰκότως οὖν κατασκηνοῖ ὁ Θεός. τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς λατρεύουσιν αὐτῷ. οὐ πεινάσουσιν ἔτι οὐδὲ διψήσουσιν ἔτι, πρότερον μὲν γὰρ διὰ παντὸς ἦλθον πειρασμοῦ οἱ ἐξ ἐθνῶν· νῦν δέ γε κορεσθήσονται τῶν ἀμυθήτων ἀγαθῶν. οὐδὲ μὴ πέσῃ φησὶν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὁ ἥλιος. πειρασμὸς ὁ ἥλιος ἔν τισι τροπολογεῖται παρὰ τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ· πῆ μὲν λέγοντος τοῦ προφήτου ἡμέρας ὁ ἥλιος οὐ συγκαύσει σε, οὐδὲ ἡ σελήνη τὴν νύκτα, πῆ δὲ γράφοντος τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ ὡς ἐπιλάμψας ὁ ἥλιος ἐξήρανε τὰ ἐν τοῖς πετρώδεσιν ἐξανατείλαντα σπέρματα, πειρασμὸν τὸν ἥλιον ἑρμηνεύων. φησὶν οὖν ἐν τῷ παρόντι ὅτι πειρασμὸς οὐκ ἂν αὐτοὺς ἀδικήσειε τοῦ λοιποῦ· 102 ἠξίωνται γὰρ ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ποιμαίνεσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ ὑδάτων ζωῆς ἐκτρέφεσθαι. καὶ ἐξαλείψει φησὶν ὁ Θεὸς πᾶν δάκρυον ἐκ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῶν. τοῖς γὰρ οὕτως βεβιωκόσι τε καὶ ἠγωνισμένοις μετὰ μελείας μὲν ἀνωφελοῦς οὐκ ὀφείλεται δάκρυον, οὐτὲ ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων, ἀγαθὸν δὲ ἅπαν καὶ ὑπερφυές. καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν ἑβδόμην, ἐγένετο σιγὴ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὡς ἡμίωρον. καὶ εἶδον τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλους οἳ ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ