Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

to worship the image of the beast nor to receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand and for this reason were killed; for these, having bound on the crown of martyrdom, will obtain the same lot as the martyrs. And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and on the head one sitting like a son of man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of heaven, crying with a loud voice to the one sitting on the head: send your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he who was sitting on the cloud cast. Since the gospel also says this, which testimony I set forth before, that it is a certain angelic power; for it is written, And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. And he calls the angels a cloud, because of the elevated and high nature of their being and worth; or at least he calls the Theotokos a cloud, upon whom he is borne, honoring 166 also her as his mother according to the flesh; for thus also Isaiah foresees her, saying, Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and will come into Egypt, and the handmade idols of Egypt shall be shaken at his presence. Interpreting this saying, Aquila says the cloud is a light thickness; thickness, I think, because she is human and flesh, but light both because of her purity and blamelessness and not being weighed down by a single sin, and also because of the loftiness and heaven-faring nature of her soul. Thus you will understand the cloud; but white because of the purity and light-form of the things seen. The crown, for its part, signifies the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ; for Christ is king of both intelligibles and sensibles, and the crown is golden, signifying the glory of the kingdom by means of things precious among us. That he has the sickle in his hand shows that the consummation of the age rests in his authority. And what does the angel say to him? send your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe; and, it says, he cast the sickle and the earth was reaped? A great harvest is written of in the Gospels; but the laborers are few; but there the harvest signified the gathering of the faithful, whereas here it signifies the consummation of mankind, so that if anything in them should be chaff-like and unfruitful and worthy of fire, it may be given over to fire. And another angel came out of the temple in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel from the altar, having authority over fire, and he cried out with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle; saying: reap 167 the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe. And the angel cast his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred stadia. The angel having the sickle, who has come out of the heavenly temple, is himself also a minister and a servant of the consummation that is to be. And being heavenly and a minister of God, he is written as having come out of the heavenly temple. And another angel, it says, from the altar, having authority over fire. And understand this one for me as having been set over the punishment of the ungodly. Then it says, send, gather the clusters of the vine of the earth. The previously mentioned harvest, then, described righteous and sinners being consummated together, whose separation of beings the Lord's winnowing fork will make, with which he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor, and he will gather the wheat into the barn, but the chaff with unquenchable fire, according to what is said in the Gospels but the vintage of the grapes signifies the extremely lawless, the vision depicting them by their drunkenness and madness; and it is clear from the fact that the Lord does not deign to make their gathering as he did for the first ones, but one of the angels does, and they are immediately cast outside into the winepress of the wrath of God, not even being deemed worthy of a defense

προσκυνῆσαι τῇ εἰκόνι τοῦ θηρίου μηδὲ λαβεῖν χάραγμα ἐπὶ τοῦ μετώπου καὶ τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀναιρεθέντας· οὗτοι γὰρ τὸν τοῦ μαρτυρίου στέφανον ἀναδησάμενοι, τῆς αὐτῆς τοῖς μάρτυσιν λήξεως ἐπιτύχωσι. καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ νεφέλη λευκή, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς καθή μενον ὅμοιον υἱῷ ἀνθρώπου, ἔχοντα ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ στέφανον χρυσοῦν καὶ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ δρέπανον ὀξύ. καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, κράζων ἐν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ τῷ καθημένῳ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς· πέμψον τὸ δρέπανόν σου καὶ θέρισον, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα τοῦ θερίσαι, ὅτι ἐξηράνθη ὁ θερισμὸς τῆς γῆς. καὶ ἔβαλεν ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τὴν νεφέλην. ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτό φησι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ἥντινα μαρτυρίαν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν παρεθέμην, εἶναι ἀγγελικήν τινα δύναμιν· γέγραπται γὰρ καὶ ἐπέβη ἐπὶ Χερουβὶμ καὶ ἐπετάσθη, ἐπετάσθη ἐπὶ πτερύγων ἀνέμων. νεφέλην δὲ τοὺς ἀγγέλους καλεῖ, διὰ τὸ μετέωρον καὶ ὑψηλὸν τῆς φύσεως αὐτῶν καὶ ἀξίας· ἢ γοῦν νεφέλην καλεῖ τὴν θεοτόκον ἐφ' ᾗ ἐποχεῖται τιμῶν 166 καὶ ταύτην τὴν κατὰ σάρκα μητέρα· οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὴν καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας προορᾷ λέγων ἰδοὺ Κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ νεφέλης κούφης καὶ ἥξει εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ σεισθήσονται τὰ χειροποίητα Αἰγύπτου ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ. τοῦτο τὸ ῥητὸν ἑρμηνεύων ὁ Ἀκύλας φησὶ τὴν νεφέλην πάχος ἐλαφρόν· πάχος μὲν ὡς οἶμαι, διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὴν ἄνθρωπον καὶ σάρκα, ἐλαφρὸν δὲ διά τε τὸ καθαρὸν καὶ ἄμωμον καὶ μηδὲ μιᾷ καταφορτίζεσθαι ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἔτι δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ ὑψηλὸν καὶ οὐρανοπόρον τῆς ψυχῆς. οὕτω μὲν τὴν νεφέλην νοήσεις· λευκὸν δὲ διὰ τὸ καθαρὸν καὶ φωτοειδὲς τῶν θεωρηθέντων. ὁ δέ γε στέφανος τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ βασιλείαν αἰνίττεται· βασιλεὺς γὰρ τῶν τε νοητῶν καὶ αἰσθητῶν ὁ Χριστός, χρυσοῦς δὲ ὁ στέφανος ἐκ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν τιμίων τὸ ἔνδοξον τῆς βασιλείας ὑπογράφων. τὸ δὲ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ δρέπανον ἔχειν αὐτὸν παραδηλοῖ τὸ ἐν τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ καθῆσθαι τὴν τοῦ αἰῶνος συντέλειαν. τί δὲ καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος αὐτῷ φησι πέμψον τὸ δρέπανόν σου καὶ θέρισον ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα θερίσαι, ὅτι ἐξηράνθη ὁ θερισμὸς τῆς γῆς· καὶ ἔβαλέ φησι τὸ δρέπανον καὶ ἐθερίσθη ἡ γῆ; θερισμὸς ἀναγέγραπται πολὺς ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις· οἱ δὲ ἐργάται ὀλίγοι· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖ μὲν τὴν τῶν πιστῶν συλλογὴν ὁ θερισμὸς ἐδήλου, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὴν συντέλειαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἵνα εἴτι μὲν εἴη ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀχυρῶδες καὶ ἀτελεσφόρητον καὶ πυρὸς ἄξιον, πυρὶ παραδοθῇ. καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἔχων καὶ αὐτὸς δρέπανον ὀξύ. καὶ ἄλλος ἄγγελος ἐκ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, ἔχων ἐξουσίαν ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρός, καὶ ἐφώνησε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ τῷ ἔχοντι τὸ δρέπανον τὸ ὀξύ· λέγων· θέρι 167 σον τοὺς βότρυας τῆς ἀμπέλου τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἤκμασαν αἱ σταφυλαὶ αὐτῆς. καὶ ἔβαλεν ὁ ἄγγελος τὸ δρέπανον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ ἐτρύγησε τὴν ἄμπελον τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔβαλεν εἰς τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν μεγάλην. καὶ ἐπατήθη ἡ ληνὸς ἔξωθεν τῆς πόλεως, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν αἷμα ἐκ τῆς ληνοῦ ἄχρι τῶν χαλινῶν τῶν ἵππων ἀπὸ σταδίων χιλίων ἑξακοσίων. ὁ τὸ δρέπανον ἔχων ἄγγελος, ὃς ἐκ τοῦ ἐπουρανίου ἐξελήλυθε ναοῦ, ὑπουργός ἐστι καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ διάκονος τῆς μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι συντελείας. οὐράνιος δὲ ὢν καὶ λειτουργὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκ τοῦ ἐπουρανίου ναοῦ ἐξεληλυθὼς γράφεται. καὶ ἄλλος φησὶν ἄγγελος ἐκ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἔχων ἐξουσίαν ἐπὶ τοῦ πυρός. καὶ τοῦτόν μοι νόει ἐπὶ τῆς κολάσεως τῶν ἀσεβῶν τετάχθαι. εἶτά φησι πέμψον τρύγησον τοὺς βότρυας τῆς ἀμπέλου τῆς γῆς. ὁ μὲν οὖν πρόσθεν εἰρημένος θερισμὸς δικαίους ἔγραφε καὶ ἁμαρτωλοὺς συντελουμένους ἅμα, ὧν τὴν διάκρισιν τῶν ὄντων ποιήσειτὸ πτύον τοῦ Κυρίου ᾧ περικαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν μὲν σῖτον συναγάγῃ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην, τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ κατὰ τὸ ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις εἰρημένονἡ δέ γε τρύγη τῶν σταφυλῶν τοὺς λίαν ἀνόμους αἰνίττεται, ἀπὸ τῆς μέθης αὐτοὺς καὶ τῆς παραφροσύνης τῆς ὀπτασίας ζωγραφούσης· καὶ δῆλον ἐξ ὧν οὔτε ὁ Κύριος αὐτῶν ἀξιοῖ τὴν συλλογὴν ποιήσασθαι ὥσπερ τῶν πρώτων, ἀλλά τις τῶν ἀγγέλων, καὶ ἔξω εἰς τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ εὐθέως βέβληνται, μήτε ἀπολογίας ἀξιωθέντες