Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

calling the saints because of being in Christ and in the intimacy and memory of God. If, then, the saints have being, then the wicked Devil is not now, even if he was before he became stiff-necked against God the Almighty and slipped from his proper rank. And likewise also the impious, although they seem to be as far as hypostasis 187 and substance, yet they are not as far as concerns the vote and memory of God; and that this is so, the book of Genesis does not give a genealogy for those from Cain, as not being, because of their impiety but it says perdition into which he is about to go away. that is, the just punishment against him of Gehenna; for the Lord says that those condemned in it have perished, speaking in Matthew: but fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. And they will wonder, it says, those who dwell on the earth. But not all, but those whose names are in the book of life. And what will they wonder? that the beast was, and is not, and will be present and is perishing; for those who have trusted in him will be astonished at the greatest change in him. For wishing to be ruler of the world and proving himself this, not only will he be deposed from rule, but he will also receive an end worthy of his wickedness. Here, it says, is the mind that has wisdom. Here is, it says, a mind that has been made wise; let him know the riddle of how it was and is not, and is about to ascend from the abyss. For to its proceeding from being to not-being, it seems contrary that it is about to ascend again from the abyss, unless one should understand it thus as has been said. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman is seated. And they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while; and the beast that was and is not, he is an eighth, and is of the seven, and goes to perdition. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom 188, but they receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful. The seven heads, he says, are seven mountains, on which the woman is seated. From this it is especially shown that the things said are about Rome; for this city is recorded to be seven-hilled, and no other city is. And seven kings, he says; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain a little while. He fittingly sees the kings as the heads; for the main point of Roman rule are the kings. Why, when very many had reigned in Rome, did he say there were only seven heads of the beast? Because these seven especially caused the beast, that is the Devil, to lift up his head against the Christians, having stirred up persecutions against the church; of whom the first is Nero, the second Domitian, then Trajan, Severus, after him, Decius, Valerian, Diocletian; for these of those who reigned in Rome relentlessly persecuted the church, as Eusebius says in the Chronicles, of which seven he says the five had fallen by death: Nero, Domitian, Trajan, Severus, Decius; and that one is, that is, Valerian. The other, he says, has not yet come, and when he comes 189 he must remain a little while. And he calls Diocletian the other, after whom the kingdom over Rome ceased and moved to the city named after the pious Constantine, Constantine himself having transferred the royal palace. But all things were reported very accurately to the evangelist, indeed all, but especially those concerning Diocletian, in which it is said *and when he comes, he must remain a little while*, saying to remain in the persecution against the Christians; for although having reigned for twenty years, having begun the persecution in the last two, he laid aside the kingdom. And the beast, it says, that was and is not. He is an eighth and is of the seven, and goes to perdition. And he has set the Devil as the first and last persecutor and of one mind with the seven. For how could it not

καλῶν τοὺς ἁγίους διὰ τὸ ἐν Χριστῷ εἶναι καὶ ἐν οἰκειότητι καὶ μνήμῃ Θεοῦ. εἰ οὖν οἱ ἅγιοι ὄντες εἰσίν, ἄρα ὁ ἀλιτήριος ∆ιάβολος οὐκ ἔστι νῦν, εἰ καὶ ἦν πρὶν ἢ τραχηλιάσας κατὰ Θεοῦ παντοκράτορος ἐξώλισθε τῆς οἰκείας τάξεως. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ οἱ ἀσεβεῖς, εἰ καὶ εἶναι δοκοῦσιν ὅσον εἰς ὑπόστασιν 187 καὶ οὐσίαν, πλὴν οὐκ εἰσὶν ὅσον ἧκεν εἰς ψῆφον καὶ μνήμην Θεοῦ· καὶ ὅτι τοῦτο οὕτως ἐστί, τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ Κάϊν οὐ γενεαλογεῖ ἡ τῆς Γενέσεως βίβλος, ὡς διὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν οὐκ ὄντας ἀπώλειαν δέ φησιν ἐν ᾗ ἀπιέναι μέλλει. τουτέστι τὴν δικαίαν κατ' αὐτοῦ τιμωρίαν τῆς Γεέννης· τοὺς γὰρ ἐν αὐτῇ καταδεδικασμένους ἀπολωλέναι φησὶν ὁ Κύριος παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ λέγων· φοβηθῆτε δὲ τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσαι ἐν Γεέννῃ. καὶ θαυμάσονταί φησιν οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. οὐ πάντες δέ, ἀλλ' ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα ἐν βίβλῳ ζωῆς. τί δὲ θαυμάσονται; ὅτι ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἔστι καὶ παρέσται καὶ ἀπόλλυται τὸ θηρίον· τὴν γὰρ ἐπ' αὐτῷ μεγίστην ἐκπλαγῶσι μεταβολὴν οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ' αὐτῷ. κοσμοκράτωρ γὰρ εἶναι θέλων καὶ τοῦτο ἑαυτὸν ἀποδεικνύς, οὐ μόνον τῆς ἀρχῆς καθαιρεθήσεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τέλος ἄξιον λήψεται τῆς αὐτοῦ μοχθηρίας. ὧδε ὁ νοῦς φησιν ὁ ἔχων σοφίαν. ὧδέ ἐστί φησι νοῦς σεσοφισμένος· γνώτω τὸ αἴνιγμα πῶς ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἔστι, καὶ μέλλει ἀναβαίνειν ἐκ τῆς ἀβύσσου. καὶ γὰρ τῷ ἐκ τοῦ ὄντος χωρῆσαι εἰς τὸ μὴ εἶναι, ἐναντίον εἶναι δοκεῖ τὸ μέλλειν ἀναβαίνειν πάλιν ἐκ τῆς ἀβύσσου, πλὴν εἰ μὴ οὕτως τὶς νοήσοι ὥσπερ καὶ εἴρηται. αἱ ἑπτὰ κεφαλαὶ ἑπτὰ ὄρη εἰσίν, ὅπου ἡ γυνὴ κάθηται ἐπ' αὐτῶν. καὶ βασιλεῖς ἑπτά εἰσιν· οἱ πέντε ἔπεσαν, ὁ εἶς ἔστιν, ὁ ἄλλος οὔπω ἦλθε· καὶ ὅταν ἔλθῃ, ὀλίγον αὐτὸν δεῖ μεῖναι· καὶ τὸ θηρίον ὃ ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἔστι, καὶ αὐτὸς ὄγδοός ἐστι, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά ἐστι, καὶ εἰς ἀπώλειαν ὑπάγει. καὶ τὰ δέκα κέρατα ἃ εἶδες δέκα βασιλεῖς εἰσιν, οἵτινες βασιλείαν 188 οὔπω ἔλαβον, ἀλλ' ἔξουσιν ὡς βασιλεῖς μίαν ὥραν λαμβά νουσι μετὰ τοῦ θηρίου. οὗτοι μίαν γνώμην ἔχουσιν, καὶ τὴν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτῶν τῷ θηρίῳ διδόασιν. οὗτοι μετὰ τοῦ ἀρνίου πολεμήσουσι, καὶ τὸ ἀρνίον νικήσει αὐτούς, ὅτι Κύριος κυρίων ἐστὶ καὶ Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων, καὶ οἱ μετ' αὐτοῦ κλητοὶ καὶ ἐκλεκτοὶ καὶ πιστοί. αἱ ἑπτά φησι κεφαλαὶ ἑπτὰ ὄρη εἰσίν, ὅπου ἡ γυνὴ κάθηται ἐπ' αὐτῶν. ἀπὸ τούτου μάλιστα δείκνυται ὅτι περὶ τῆς Ῥώμης λέγει τὰ εἰρημένα· αὑτὴ γὰρ ἑπτάλοφος εἶναι ἱστόρηται, οὐδὲ μία δὲ ἄλλη πόλις. καὶ βασιλεῖς ἑπτά φησιν· οἱ πέντε ἔπεσαν, ὁ εἷς ἔστιν, ὁ ἄλλος οὔπω ἦλθε, καὶ ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὀλίγον αὐτὸν δεῖ μεῖναι. εἰκότως τοὺς βασιλεῖς εἰς τὰς κεφαλὰς ὁρᾷ· τὸ γὰρ κεφάλαιον τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας οἱ βασιλεῖς εἰσιν. τί δήποτε πλείστων ὅσων ἐν Ῥώμῃ βασιλευσάντων ἑπτὰ μόνους εἶναι ἔφη κεφαλὰς τοῦ θηρίου; ἐπειδὴ οὗτοι μάλιστα οἱ ἑπτὰ τὸ θηρίον, τουτέστι τὸν ∆ιάβολον, διᾶραι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ κεφαλὴν κατὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐποίησαν, διωγμοὺς κατὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας κινήσαντες· ὧν ἐστι πρῶτος Νέρων, δεύτερος ∆ομετιανός, εἶτα Τραϊανός, Σευῆρος, μετ' αὐτόν, ∆έκιος, Οὐαλλεριανός, ∆ιοκλητιανός· οὗτοι γὰρ τῶν ἐν Ῥώμῃ βασιλευσάντων ἀνέδην τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἐδίωξαν, ὥς φησι ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς ὁ Εὐσέβιος, ὧν ἑπτὰ τοὺς πέντε φησὶ θανάτῳ πεπτωκέναι· Νέρωνα, ∆ομετιανόν, Τραϊανόν, Σευῆρον, ∆έκιον· τὸν δὲ ἕνα εἶναι, τουτέστι τὸν Οὐαλλεριανόν. ὁ ἄλλος φησὶν οὔπω ἦλθε, καὶ ὅταν ἔλθῃ 189 ὀλίγον αὐτὸν δεῖ μεῖναι. ἄλλον δέ φησι τὸν ∆ιοκλητιανόν, μεθ' ὃν ἐπαύσατο ἡ ἐπὶ Ῥώμην βασιλέα καὶ μετῆλθεν εἰς τὴν ἐπώνυμον τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς Κωνσταντίνου πόλιν, αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντίνου τὰ βασίλεια μεταγαγόντος. πάνυ δὲ ἀκριβῶς ἀπηγγέλθη τῷ εὐαγγελιστῇ πάντα μέν, μάλιστα δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὸν ∆ιοκλητιανόν, ἐν οἷς εἴρηται καὶ ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὀλίγον αὐτὸν δεῖ μεῖναι, μεῖναι λέγων ἐν τῷ κατὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν διωγμῷ· καίτοι γὰρ εἴκοσι ἔτη βασιλεύσας, τὰ τελευταῖα δύο ἀρξάμενος τοῦ διωγμοῦ, ἀπέθετο τὴν βασιλείαν. καὶ τὸ θηρίον φησὶν ὃ ἦν καὶ οὐκ ἔστι. καὶ αὐτὸ ὄγδοόν ἐστι καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά ἐστι, καὶ εἰς ἀπώλειαν ὑπάγει. καὶ τὸν ∆ιάβολον πρῶτόν τε καὶ ἔσχατον τέταχε διώκτην καὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ ὁμογνώμονα. πῶς γὰρ ἂν οὐκ