Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

of a created splendor, which is indicative of virtues; therefore the splendor of the rainbow is not of a single form, but variegated, 121 showing all the virtues of the angels. But the sun alludes to their natural brilliance. For this reason he was clothed with the rainbow, for virtues are concerned with us; and his face was like the sun, for in us is every natural advantage. And his feet a pillar of fire. The fire signifies the punishment, which he came bringing against the impious. And he says, having in his hand a little book opened. Daniel, mentioning such books, says: before him, the court sat in judgment and books were opened. And it was the little book in which were written both the names and the offenses of the exceedingly impious who were to be punished. For this reason he also called it by the diminutive "little book," since there is a book, that is, a scroll—for both are spoken of in the divine scripture—in which the names of all men are written according to what I have said before, but a little book in which are the names of the exceedingly impious. For may there not be so many idol-worshippers and those branded by murders and sorceries and suffering from the other things he listed, as to fill a whole book. And he says, he placed his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land. This is a sign both of the greatness of the saints; and a sign that he brought the punishments for those who sinned on the land and those on the sea, those who are like pirates, or who have done evil to others. And he cried with a loud voice as a lion roars. And that the holy angel roared like lions is a symbol of the wrath 122 against the impious. And when he cried out, he says, the seven thunders uttered their voices. He calls the seven thunders the seven ministering spirits of which he has made mention before, for which reason it is set with the article: "the seven," he says, "thunders," having reference to those seven spirits. But what does it mean for the seven spirits to cry out? That they too completely concur with the punishments against the sinners, offering a hymn of thanksgiving to God, because all things have been done justly. And at the same time by crying out they also clarified the kinds of punishments. And I was about to write, he says, the things spoken by the seven spirits. And I heard a voice from heaven saying: Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write them. The "seal up" means, as it were, keep the memory impressed upon your mind; but the being prevented from committing it to writing is by divine economy, for a reason which God knows, but perhaps because they happen to be lighter than the punishments that are thought of and worthy of the goodness of the one punishing, they would make them easily despised by men. For what do both the divine Gregory and Evagrius, the great in gnostic matters, say about these things? The one says that for those around Adam punishment becomes philanthropy, for thus I am persuaded God punishes, and in another place, neither is mercy without judgment, nor judgment without mercy; And Evagrius says, let the higher discourse about judgment be hidden from the younger and the worldly; for they do not know the pain, of a rational soul condemned to ignorance. And the angel, whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land, raised his right hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who 123 created heaven and the things in it; and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there would be time no longer; but in the days of the seventh angel when he is about to sound the trumpet; it is spoken according to a figure of ellipsis; for he says, when the seventh angel is about to sound the trumpet, every punishment against the impious, being both different and varied, will be fulfilled. But he does not say this will happen now when he sounds the trumpet in the vision, since neither have the other things happened then, but when he sounds the trumpet at the proper time. When this has happened, he says, the mystery of God will be finished, as he announced to his servants the prophets. For until the judgment and the recompense of the good and the wicked, the prophets prophesied, and after this no longer. Therefore when the seventh angel sounds the trumpet in that age, all will come to an end

λαμπρότητος κτιστῆς, τῆς δι' ἀρετῶν δηλωτική· τοιγαροῦν οὐ μονοειδὴς ἡ τῆς ἴριδος λαμπρότης, ἀλλὰ ποικίλη πάσας τὰς ἀγγέλων ἀρετὰς 121 ἐνδεικνυμένη. ὁ δέ γε ἥλιος τὴν φυσικὴν αὐτῶν αἰνίττεται μαρμαρυγήν. διὸ τὴν μὲν ἴριν περιεβέβλητο, περὶ ἡμᾶς γὰρ αἱ ἀρεταί· τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον ἡλίῳ ἐμφερὲς εἶχεν, ἐν ἡμῖν γὰρ ἅπαν φυσικὸν πλεονέκτημα. καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτοῦ στύλου πυρός. τὸ πῦρ τὴν τιμωρίαν δηλοῖ, ἣν ἦλθε κομίζων κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν. καὶ ἔχων φησὶν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ βιβλιδάριον ἠνεωγμένον. τῶν τοιούτων βιβλίων ὁ ∆ανιὴλ μεμνημένος φησίν· ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ, κριτήριον ἐκάθισεν καὶ βίβλοι ἠνεῴχθησαν. ἦν δὲ τὸ βιβλιδάριον ἐν ᾧ ἦσαν ἐγγεγραμμένα τῶν κολασθησομένων λίαν ἀσεβῶν τά τε ὀνόματα καὶ αἱ πλημμέλειαι. διὸ καὶ ὑποκοριστικῶς βιβλιδάριον αὐτὸ προσεῖπεν, ὡς βίβλου μὲν ὑπαρχούσης, ἤτοι βιβλίουἀμφότερα γὰρ εἴρηται τῇ θειᾷ γραφῇ ἐν αἷς τὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ὀνόματα γέγραπται κατὰ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν εἰρημένα μοι, βιβλιδαρίου δὲ ἐν ᾧ τὰ τῶν λίαν ἀσεβῶν. μὴ γὰρ τοσοῦτοι εἴησαν οἱ τῶν εἰδώλων προσκυνηταὶ καὶ φόνοις καὶ φαρμακείαις στιγματίαι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἃ κατέλεξε νοσοῦντες, ὡς βιβλίον ὅλον πληρῶσαι. καὶ ἔθηκέ φησι τὸν πόδα αὐτοῦ τὸν δεξιὸν ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης, τὸν δὲ εὐώνυμον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. τοῦτο δεῖγμα μὲν καὶ τοῦ μεγέθους τῶν ἁγίων· δεῖγμα δὲ ὅτι τοῖς τε ἐν τῇ γῇ πλημμελήσασι καὶ τοῖς ἐν θαλάσσῃ, τοῖς οἷον καταποντισταῖς, ἢ καὶ ἄλλους κακουργήσασι τὰ τῆς τιμωρίας ἔφερε. καὶ ἔκραζε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ὥσπερ λέων μυκᾶται. καὶ τὸ ἶσα λέουσιν ὠρύσασθαι τὸν ἅγιον ἄγγελον τῆς ὀργῆς ἐστι σύμβολον 122 τῆς κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν. καὶ ὅτε φησὶν ἔκραξεν, ἐλάλησαν αἱ ἑπτὰ βρονταὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν φωνάς. ἑπτὰ λέγει βροντᾶς τὰ ἑπτὰ λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα ὧν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν μνήμην πεποίηται, διὸ μετὰ τοῦ ἄρθρου τέθειται· αἱ ἑπτά φησι βρονταί, πρὸς ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἔχουσαι. τί δὲ τὸ κράξαι τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα βούλεται; τὸ καὶ αὐτὰ πάντως συνεπιψηφίσασθαι ταῖς κατὰ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τιμωρίαις, εὐχάριστον ὕμνον ἀναφέροντα τῷ Θεῷ, ὅτι δίκαια πάντα πέπρακται. ἅμα δὲ καὶ κράξαντα διεσάφησε τὰ τῶν κολάσεων εἴδη. ἤμελλον δέ φησι γράφειν τὰ εἰρημένα τοῖς ἑπτὰ πνεύμασι. καὶ ἤκουσα φωνὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λέγουσαν· σφράγισον ἃ ἐλάλησαν αἱ ἑπτὰ βρονταὶ καὶ μὴ αὐτὰ γράψῃς. τὸ μὲν σφράγισον τὸ οἷον ἔχε τὴν μνήμην ἐντετυπωμένην τῇ διανοίᾳ σου· τὸ δέ γε κωλυθῆναι γραφῇ παραδοῦναι οἰκονομικόν, δι' ἣν μὲν οἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς αἰτίαν, ἴσως δὲ τῶν δοξαζομένων κολάσεων ἐλαφρότεραι τυγχάνουσαι καὶ τῆς ἀγαθότητος τοῦ κολάζοντος ἄξιαι, εὐκαταφρονήτους αὐτὰς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐποίουν. τί γάρ φασι περὶ τούτων Γρηγόριός τε ὁ θεσπέσιος καὶ Εὐάγριος ὁ τὰ γνωστικὰ μέγας; ὁ μὲν καὶ γίνεταί φησι τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἡ τιμωρία φιλανθρωπία, οὕτω γὰρ πείθομαι κολάζειν Θεόν, καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ οὔτε τὸ ἔλεος ἄκριτον, οὔτε ἡ κρίσις ἀνέλεος· Εὐάγριος δὲ λανθανέτω φησὶ τοὺς νεωτέρους καὶ τοὺς κοσμικοὺς ὁ περὶ κρίσεως ὑψηλότερος λόγος· οὐ γὰρ ἴσασιν πόνον, ψυχῆς λογικῆς καταδικασθείσης τὴν ἄγνοιαν. καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος, ὃν εἶδον ἑστῶτα ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἦρε τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ τὴν δεξιὰν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, καὶ ὤμοσεν ἐν τῷ ζῶντι εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ὃς 123 ἔκτισε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ· καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, ὅτι χρόνος οὐκέτι ἔσται· ἀλλ' ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ ἑβδόμου ἀγγέλου ὅταν μέλλῃ σαλπίζειν· κατὰ σχῆμα ἐλλείψεως εἴρηται· φησὶν γὰρ ὅταν μέλλῃ σαλπίζειν ὁ ἕβδομος ἄγγελος πᾶσα πληρωθήσεται ἡ κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν κόλασις διάφορός τε οὖσα καὶ ποικίλη. οὐ νῦν δὲ λέγει τοῦτο ἔσεσθαι ὅταν ἐν τῇ θεωρίᾳ σαλπίσῃ, ἐπεὶ μήτε τὰ ἄλλα τότε προβέβηκεν, ἀλλ' ὅταν ἐν τῷ προσήκοντι σαλπίσῃ καιρῷ. οὗ γενομένου, τέλος λήψεταί φησι τὸ μυστήριον τῷ Θεῷ ὡς εὐηγγέλισεν τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ δούλους τοὺς προφήτας. ἄχρι γὰρ τῆς κρίσεως καὶ τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ φαύλων ἀντιδόσεως, προεφήτευσαν οἱ προφῆται, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο οὐκέτι. σαλπίζοντος οὖν ἐν τῷ τότε αἰῶνι τοῦ ἑβδόμου ἀγγέλου, τέλος λήψεται ἅπαν