Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

with the prince of the Persians; and I was coming forth, and the prince of the Greeks was coming, and again and there is no one who holds with me in these things but Michael your prince, and again and at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; with the present revelation having said this of the churches in the preceding passages, in harmony with which Saint Gregory, writing about the holy angels, says: for I am persuaded that one presides over one church, and another over another, as John teaches me through the revelation; and of each individual, in that which was said by the prophet: the angel of the Lord encamps round about them that fear him, 204 and delivers them, and furthermore, with the apostle writing about the holy angels: are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Since, then, they hear these things being taught as doctrine by us, they say to us: why, holding the same beliefs as us, O you men, do you find fault with our doctrine that sets forth the ethnarchs as gods; for those whom you call angels, we name gods, so that we disagree only about the names, but no longer about the things themselves; not to mention that you also call gods the order called angels, so that there is not even a difference for us concerning the names. To whom it must be said: O you accursed ones, who worship the works of your own hands, and who have set up as gods yesterday and the day before those whom you knew for all shameful things, who, having stolen most of our divine doctrines, brought these and mixed them with your own pernicious doctrines, but using reason as a guide and not God, you were not strong enough to preserve in all respects the nobility of our doctrines, but after following it for a little, somewhere around the first starting-point you were shipwrecked. Therefore we have nothing in common with you, just as light has nothing in common with darkness, or Christ with Belial (sic), according to the scripture. For you, supposing the ethnarchs to be gods, or rather unclean demons, introduce them as assigning reverence to themselves and wishing to be worshipped as gods, and indeed being deified by you and taking no account of the God who appointed them for the care of men, but governing the nations by their own will as they themselves might wish. Therefore to Ares you assigned the Scythians and Germans, the most savage 205 and bloodthirsty, having become such as are governed by the pestilent and murderous Ares, and to Athena the Greeks as intelligent, having received their intelligence from her, and others to another, and each of the gods shaping the nations according to their own passions. But what we say you shall know from what follows. For when the evangelist wished to worship the divine angel, and not to worship him as a god—for who knew better than John who is by nature and truly God, and who are the angels, that they are ministers and servants and creatures of God?—nevertheless he appears to be refusing even the worship due to an angel, since it is worship at all, and saying, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. The word "See" is not simply that of one forbidding, but of one solemnly protesting. And he calls himself a fellowservant of all who confess themselves servants of Christ and testify that He is God incarnate. What then must be done, O most divine angel, since you forbid being worshipped? Worship God, he says: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, as if he said, Do you seek to worship me for this reason, that I have declared to you the things that are to come? All who testify to the lordship and divinity of Christ are full of the prophetic gift and not I alone. Why then, he says, do you worship one who has received an equal gift with my fellowservants? The things believed by the Greeks concerning the ethnarchs are similar to the things said by Christians concerning the holy angels. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and 206 in

μετὰ τοῦ ἄρχοντος Περσῶν· καὶ ἐγὼ ἐξεπορευόμην, καὶ ὁ ἄρχων τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἤρχετο, καὶ πάλιν καὶ οὐκ ἔστι τις ἀντεχόμενός μου ὑπὲρ τούτου ἀλλ' ἢ Μιχαὴλ ὁ ἄρχων ὑμῶν, καὶ πάλιν καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ ἀναστήσεται Μιχαὴλ ὁ ἄρχων ὁ μέγας, ὁ ἑστηκὼς ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ λαοῦ σου· ἐκκλησιῶν δὲ τῆς παρούσης ἀποκαλύψεως ἐν τοῖς φθάσασι τοῦτο εἰπούσης, ᾗ συνῳδὰ γράφων ὁ ἐν ἁγίοις Γρηγόριός φησι περὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων πείθομαι γὰρ ἄλλον ἄλλης προστατεῖν ἐκκλησίας, καθὼς Ἰωάννης με διδάσκει διὰ τῆς ἀποκαλύψεως· τοῦ δὲ καθ' ἕκαστον ἐν τῷ εἰρῆσθαι τῷ προφήτῃ παρεμβαλεῖ ἄγγελος τοῦ Κυρίου κύκλῳ τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν 204 καὶ ῥύσεται αὐτούς, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἀποστόλου γράφοντος περὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων οὐχὶ πάντες εἰσὶ λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν; ἐπεὶ οὖν ταῦτα ἀκούουσι παρ' ἡμῖν δογματιζόμενα, φασὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τί τὰ αὐτὰ ἡμῖν δοξάζοντες, ὦ οὗτοι, καταμέμφεσθε τὸ παρ' ἡμῖν δόγμα τὸ τοὺς ἐθνάρχας θεοὺς παρατιθέμενον· οὓς γὰρ ὑμεῖς ἀγγέλους φατέ, τούτους ἡμεῖς θεοὺς ὀνομάζομεν, ὡς μόνον ἡμᾶς περὶ τὰ ὀνόματα, οὐκέτι δὲ καὶ περὶ τὰ πράγματα διαφωνεῖν· μὴ ὅτι γε καὶ θεοὺς λέγετε τάγμα ἀγγέλων καλούμενον, ὡς μηδὲ περὶ τὰ ὀνόματα εἶναι ἡμῖν τὴν διαφοράν. πρὸς οὓς λεκτέον ὦ κατάρατοι καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν ὑμετέρων προσκυνοῦντες χειρῶν, καὶ θεοὺς στησάμενοι χθὲς καὶ πρώην οὓς ἐπὶ πᾶσι τοῖς αἰσχροῖς ἐγνωρίσατε, οἳ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν θείων δογμάτων ὑφελόμενοι ταῦτα φέροντες τοῖς ὀλεθρίοις ὑμῶν ἐγκατεμίξατε δόγμασιν, ἀλλ' ὡς ὁδηγῷ νῷ καὶ οὐ Θεῷ χρώμενοι οὐκ ἰσχύσατε διασῶσαι τὴν περὶ πάντα τῶν ἡμετέρων δογμάτων εὐγένειαν, μικρὸν δὲ ἀκολουθήσαντες αὐτοῦ που περὶ τὴν πρώτην ἀφετηρίαν ἐναυαγήσατε. διὸ οὐδὲν κοινὸν ἡμῖν καὶ ὑμῖν ὥσπερ οὐδὲ φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος ἢ Χριστῷ καὶ Βελίαρ (σιξ) γραφικῶς. ὑμεῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐθνάρχας ὑποτιθέμενοι θεούς, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀκαθάρτους δαίμονας, ἑαυτοὺς εἰσάγετε τούτοις τὸ σέβας ἀνατιθέντας καὶ προσκυνεῖσθαι βουλομένους ὡς θεούς, καὶ δὴ καὶ παρ' ὑμῶν θειαζομένους καὶ μηδένα λόγον ποιουμένους τοῦ τάξαντος εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων κηδεμονίαν Θεοῦ, ἀλλ' οἰκείᾳ βουλῇ τὰ ἔθνη διοικοῦντας ὡς ἂν ἐθελήσωσιν αὐτοί. διὸ Ἄρεϊ μὲν Σκύθους καὶ Γερμανοὺς ἀπενείματε τοὺς ἀγριωτάτους 205 καὶ αἱμοβόρους, τοιούτους γεγονότας ὡς παρὰ τοῦ βροτολοιγοῦ καὶ μιαιφόνου διοικουμένους Ἄρεως, Ἕλληνας δὲ ὡς συνετοὺς Ἀθηνᾶ, παρ' αὐτῆς λαχόντας τὴν σύνεσιν, καὶ ἄλλῳ ἄλλους, καὶ ἕκαστον τῶν θεῶν πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα πάθη τὰ ἔθνη ῥυθμίζοντα. ἡμεῖς δὲ τί φαμεν ἐκ τῶν παρόντων ἐπιγνώσῃ. βουλομένου γὰρ τὸν θεῖον ἄγγελον προσκυνῆσαι τοῦ εὐαγγελιστοῦ, καὶ οὐχ ὡς θεὸν προσκυνῆσαι τίς γὰρ μᾶλλον ἠπίστατο τοῦ Ἰωάννου τίς τέ ἐστιν ὁ φύσει καὶ ἀληθῶς Θεός, τίνες δέ εἰσιν οἱ ἄγγελοι, ὅτι λειτουργοὶ καὶ δοῦλοι καὶ κτίσματα τυγχάνουσι τοῦ Θεοῦ; ὅμως καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ὡς ἀγγέλου προσκύνησιν φαίνεται παραιτούμενος, ἐπειδὴ ὅλως ἐστὶ προσκύνησις, καὶ λέγων ὅρα μή· σύνδουλός σου εἰμὶ καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου τῶν ἐχόντων τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ἰησοῦ. τὸ ὅρα οὐχ ἁπλῶς κωλύοντος ἀλλὰ διαμαρτυρουμένου ῥῆμα τυγχάνει. λέγει δὲ καὶ σύνδουλον ἑαυτὸν πάντων τῶν ὁμολογούντων ἑαυτοῦς δούλους Χριστοῦ καὶ μαρτυρούντων ὅτι Θεός ἐστι σεσαρκωμένος. τί οὖν ποιητέον, ὦ θειότατε ἄγγελε, σοῦ τὸ προσκυνηθῆναι ἀπαγορεύοντος; τῷ Θεῷ φησι προσκύνησον· ἡ γὰρ μαρτυρία Ἰησοῦ ἐστι τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς προφητείας, ὥσει ἔλεγεν διὰ τοῦτο με ζητεῖς προσκυνῆσαι, ὅτι σοὶ τὰ ἔσεσθαι μέλλοντα προαφηγησάμην; πάντες ὅσοι μαρτυροῦσι τῇ δεσποτείᾳ καὶ τῇ θεότητι τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔμπλεοι τυγχάνουσι προφητικοῦ χαρίσματος καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ μόνος. τί οὖν φησι προσκυνεῖς τὸν ἶσον χάρισμα τοῖς συνδούλοις μου λαχόντα; ὅμοιά γε τὰ Ἕλλησι περὶ τῶν ἐθναρχῶν δοξαζόμενα καὶ τὰ Χριστιανοῖς περὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων λεγόμενα. καὶ εἶδον τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεωγμένον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος λευκός, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ' αὐτοῦ καλούμενος πιστὸς καὶ ἀληθινός, καὶ 206 ἐν