Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

of the Spirit; so that the thanksgiving of the elders is offered up to the Holy Trinity. For he says, you have taken from those on earth your great power and your kingdom which you gave to them, and now you alone reign; and when the earthly kingdom was destroyed, the nations were rightly enraged, as having been deposed from their own dominion, speaking of nations as both the legions of demons and of unbelieving men. And your wrath came, he says, and the lot of the nations, to be judged and to give the reward to your servants the prophets and to the saints. Having long been patient with them, he says, since they gained nothing from your goodness, now, that is, on the day of judgment, you brought your wrath against them, and what was allotted and owed to the nations came and is present. And what? These things were to be judged and to give the recompense to the saints who suffered evil things from them, and to destroy by the retribution of punishment those who destroyed the earth, and as it were polluted it with their own sins. And the temple of God was opened, he says, in heaven, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. When these things were said, he says, the hidden good things and, in addition to these, certain new mysteries were seen by the saints; for this is the opening of the ark of the covenant. For that there are good things hidden in the age to come from men now, he who says declares, what eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the 135 heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him. And again, that there are certain mysteries and another knowledge unknown to those now, the Lord declares when he says, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. The saints were counted worthy of these things, but for the sinners there were lightnings and voices and thunders and earthquakes and a great hail, which is the third woe, from things known to us, the word alludes to the punishments coming upon the impious, and the terrors from God. And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and being with child, she cries out, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. The vision wishes to describe to us more perfectly the things concerning the antichrist, of whom it has made brief mention in the preceding parts. But since the incarnation of the Lord, which appropriated and subjected the world, has become the pretext for this one to arise and be appointed by Satan—for on this account the antichrist will be raised up, in order to make the world fall away again from Christ, and to persuade it to desert to Satan in reversion—and since again the beginning of the Lord's incarnation was his conception and birth according to the flesh, the contemplation, bringing into a certain order and connection the things it is about to narrate, has made the beginning of the narrative from Christ's conception according to the flesh, and it portrays for us the Theotokos. For what 136 does it say? "And a sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun; and the moon under her feet." It speaks concerning the mother of our savior, as has been said. And rightly the vision depicts her in heaven and not on the earth, as pure in soul and body, as equal to the angels, as a citizen of heaven, as one who contained and gave flesh to the God who rests in heaven—for "heaven is my throne," he says—and as having nothing in common with the earth and the evils in it, but as wholly exalted, wholly worthy of heaven, even though she was of our and human nature and substance. For the virgin is of one substance with us; for let the unholy dogma of Eutyches, which monstrously claims the virgin is of another substance than us, along with his other docetic dogmas, be banished somewhere outside the divine courts. What does it mean to say she is clothed with the sun, and has the moon under her feet? The divine prophet Habakkuk, prophesying concerning the Lord, says, the sun was lifted up, and the moon stood in its order

Πνεύματος· ὥστε ἡ εὐχαριστία τῶν πρεσβυτέρων εἰς τὴν Ἁγίαν ἀνατίθεται Τρίαδα. ὅτι φησὶν εἴληφας ἐκ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς τὴν δύναμίν σου τὴν μεγάλην καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν σου ἣν ἔδωκας αὐτοῖς, καὶ σὺ νῦν μόνος βασιλεύεις· τῆς δὲ ἐπιγείου ἀπολλυμένης βασιλείας, εἰκότως τὰ ἔθνη ὠργίσθησαν, ὡς καθαιρεθέντα τῆς αὐτῶν δυναστείας, ἔθνη λέγων τά τε τῶν δαιμόνων τά τε τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἀπίστων τάγματα. καὶ ἦλθεν ἡ ὀργή σού φησι καὶ ὁ κλῆρος τῶν ἐθνῶν κριθῆναι καὶ δοῦναι τὸν μισθὸν τοῖς δούλοις σου τοῖς προφήταις καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις. πολλά φησιν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς πάλαι μακροθυμήσας, ἐπεὶ μηδὲν ἀπώναντο τῆς χρηστότητός σου νῦν, τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ τῆς κρίσεως ἡμέρᾳ ἤγαγες κατ' αὐτῶν τὴν ὀργήν σου, ἦλθέ τε καὶ πάρεστι τὰ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀποκεκληρωμένα καὶ ὀφειλόμενα. τί δέ; ταῦτα ἦν τὸ κριθῆναι καὶ δοῦναι τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν τοῖς κακῶς ὑπ' αὐτῶν πεπονθόσιν ἁγίοις, καὶ διαφθαρῆναι τῇ τῆς κολάσεως ἀντιδόσει τοὺς φθείραντας τὴν γῆν, καὶ οἷον μολύναντας ταῖς οἰκείαις ἁμαρτίαις. καὶ ἠνοίχθη φησὶν ὁ ναὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, καὶ ὤφθη ἡ κιβωτὸς τῆς διαθήκης αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ ναῷ αὐτοῦ. τούτων φησὶν εἰρημένων, τὰ ἀποκεκρυμμένα ἀγαθὰ καὶ πρὸς τούτοις καινά τινα μυστήρια ὤφθη τοῖς ἁγίοις· τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ ἀνεωχθῆναι τὴν κιβωτὸν τῆς διαθήκης. ὅτι γὰρ ἀγαθά τέ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι ἀποκεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ τῶν νῦν ἀνθρώπων, δηλοῖ ὁ λέγων ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδε καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε καὶ ἐπὶ 135 καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ἃ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν. καὶ πάλιν ὅτι μυστήριά ἐστί τινα καὶ γνῶσις ἑτέρα τοῖς νῦν ἀγνοουμένη, δηλοῖ ὁ Κύριος εἰπών, οὐ μὴ πίω ἀπ' ἄρτι ἐκ τοῦ γενήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου ταύτης ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης ὅταν αὐτὸ πίνω μεθ' ὑμῶν καινὸν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου. οἱ μὲν ἁγίοι τούτων ἠξιώθησαν, τοῖς δέ γε ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἐγένοντο ἀστραπαὶ καὶ φωναὶ καὶ βρονταὶ καὶ σεισμοὶ καὶ χάλαζα μεγάλη, ἅ ἐστιν ἡ τρίτη οὐαί, ἐκ τῶν ἡμῖν γνωρίμων τὰς ἐπιούσας κολάσεις τοῖς ἀσεβέσι, καὶ τὰ ἐκ Θεοῦ δείματα ὁ λόγος αἰνίττεται. καὶ σημεῖον μέγα ὤφθη ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, γυνὴ περιβεβλημένη τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ἦν ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτῆς στέφανος ἀστέρων δώδεκα· καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχουσα, καὶ κράζει ὠδίνουσα καὶ βασανιζομένη τεκεῖν. τὰ κατὰ τὸν ἀντίχριστον ἡμῖν τελεώτερον ἡ ὀπτασία διαγράψαι βούλεται, οὗ μνήμην βραχείαν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν πεποίηται. ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῦ ἀναστῆναι τοῦτον καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ προχειρισθῆναι πρόφασις γεγένηται ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνανθρώπησις, τὸν κόσμον οἰκειωσαμένη καὶ ὑποτάξασα ταύτης γὰρ χάριν ὁ ἀντίχριστος διεγερθήσεται, ἐφ' ᾧ τε πάλιν τὸν κόσμον ἀποστῆσαι μὲν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, πεῖσαι δὲ πρὸς τὸν Σατανᾶν ἐξ ὑποστροφῆς αὐτομολῆσαικαὶ ἐπειδὴ πάλιν ἀρχὴ τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνανθρωπήσεως ἡ κατὰ σάρκα σύλληψις αὐτοῦ καὶ γέννησις ὑπῆρξεν, εἰς τάξιν τινὰ καὶ εἱρμὸν ἄγουσα ἡ θεωρία τὰ περὶ ὧν μέλλει διηγεῖσθαι, ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατὰ σάρκα συλλήψεως τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ διηγήματος πεποίηται, καὶ τὴν θεοτόκον ἡμῖν ζωγραφεῖ. τί 136 γάρ φησι καὶ σημεῖον ὤφθη ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, γυνὴ περιβεβλημένη τὸν ἥλιον· καὶ ἡ σελήνη ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῆς; περὶ μὲν τῆς μητρὸς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν φησιν, ὡς εἴρηται. εἰκότως δὲ αὐτὴν ἡ ὀπτασία ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῇ γῇ γράφει, ὡς καθαρὰν ψυχὴν καὶ σώματι, ὡς ἰσάγγελον, ὡς οὐρανοπολῖτιν, ὡς τὸν ἐν οὐρανῷ ἐπαναπαυόμενον θεόνὁ οὐρανὸς γάρ μοί φησι θρόνοςχωρήσασαν καὶ σαρκώσασαν, καὶ ὡς μηδὲν κοινὸν πρὸς τὴν γῆν ἔχουσαν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ κακά, ἀλλ' ὅλην ὑψηλήν, ὅλην οὐρανοῦ ἀξίαν εἰ καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας καὶ ἀνθρωπίνης ὑπῆρχε φύσεώς τε καὶ οὐσίας. ὁμοούσιος γὰρ ἡμῖν ἡ παρθένος· τὸ γὰρ Εὐτυχοῦς ἀνόσιον δόγμα τὸ καὶ τὴν παρθένον ἑτερούσιον ἡμῖν τερατευόμενον σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις αὐτοῦ δόγμασι τῆς δοκήσεως ἔξω που τῶν θείων αὐλῶν ἐξοριζέσθω. τί βούλεται τὸ λέγειν αὐτὴν περιβεβλῆσθαι τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ τὴν σελήνην ἔχειν ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῆς; ὁ θεσπέσιος προφήτης Ἀμβακοὺμ περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου προφητεύων φησὶν ἐπήρθη ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ἡ σελήνη ἔστη ἐν τῇ τάξει αὐτῆς