1

 2

 3

 4

 5

 6

 7

 8

 9

 10

 11

 12

 13

 14

 15

 16

 17

 18

 19

 20

 21

 22

 23

 24

 25

 26

 27

 28

 29

 30

 31

 32

 33

 34

 35

 36

 37

 38

 39

 40

 41

 42

 43

 44

 45

 46

 47

 48

 49

 50

 51

 52

 53

 54

 55

 56

 57

 58

 59

 60

 61

 62

 63

 64

 65

 66

 67

 68

 69

 70

 71

 72

 73

 74

 75

 76

 77

 78

 79

 80

 81

 82

 83

 84

 85

 86

 87

 88

 89

69

in righteousness he judges and makes war. and his eyes a flame of fire, and on his head many diadems, having a name written that no one knows but he himself, and clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood, and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. From his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; and he treads the winepress of the wine of God, of the wrath of God the Almighty. And he has on his garment and on his thigh a name written: King of kings, and Lord of lords. After the hour of the destruction of Babylon; and it is clear who is understood by Babylon, this also is shown to the evangelist, the fall of both the antichrist and the primeval evil dragon, and to what punishment they go at the time of the end and of retribution, and also the destruction of the kings who will at that time rise up against the servants of Christ, and see what he says. I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and the rider faithful and true and just. He sees the Lord, so to speak, fighting with and fighting for the saints and warring against the adversaries. Wherefore the vision also invests him with a general's form, entrusting him a horse and a sword and the leadership of armies 207. And behold, he says, a white horse upon which the Lord was riding, the riddle signifying that Christ rests on no others than on those who are pure and stained with no filth of sin. Wherefore also concerning the chosen vessel Paul it was said by the Lord to bear my name before the nations and kings and sons of Israel. See then, on those like Paul Christ rests and is carried. And the one sitting, he says, upon it, that is, the horse, is called faithful and true, and in righteousness he will judge and make war. Faithful is the true one according to the apostle who says concerning him: he remains faithful; he cannot deny himself. Thus, the faithful and true; for it is said of the same one, two appellations being applied to one reality. But that he judges justly and makes war against the perceptible enemies on behalf of his own servants, is witnessed by the prophet who says: O God, give your judgment to the king, and your righteousness to the king's son, that is, to Christ; for Christ according to the flesh is the son of Solomon, to whom the psalm is ascribed then adding: to judge your people in righteousness and your poor in judgment. And that he himself also makes war, he makes clear by arming him in military fashion in saying: Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, in your comeliness and in your beauty, and bend your bow, and prosper and reign, then adding: your arrows are sharpened, O mighty one; peoples will fall under you. And his eyes, he says, a flame of fire. The fire of his eyes shows the wrath against his enemies. And on his head, he says, many diadems, surely as many 208 as the orders of which he is king in heaven and on earth. Having, he says, a name written which no one knows but he himself. God says in the seventh of Exodus to the divine Moses: I, the Lord, appeared to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, being their God; and my proper name I did not declare to them, as it is clearly too great to be comprehended by human hearing. Wherefore also the Lord, in delivering to the apostles how those turning to the knowledge of God must be baptized, said: baptizing them in the name, and having said name, he did not give the proper names; for there was no one strong enough to bear their utterance, but instead of the proper names he gave relative and descriptive ones, relative ones, saying in the name of the Father and of the Son, and adding a descriptive one, and of the Holy Spirit. Whence very safely also in the Apocalypse the proper name of the only-begotten is left unknown to all. Clothed, he says, in a garment sprinkled with blood; for even in the vision the Lord bore the symbols of the passion and the all-holy body

69

δικαιοσύνῃ κρίνει καὶ πολεμεῖ. οἱ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ φλὸξ πυρός, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ διαδήματα πολλά, ἔχων ὄνομα γεγραμμένον ὃ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ αὐτός, καὶ περι βεβλημένος ἱμάτιον ἐρραμμένον αἵματι, καὶ κέκληται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ. καὶ τὰ στρατεύματα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἠκολούθει αὐτῷ ἐφ' ἵπποις λευκοῖς καὶ ἐνδεδυμένοι βύσσινον λευκὸν καθαρόν. ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ἐκπορεύε ται ῥομφαία ὀξεῖα, ἵνα ἐν αὐτῇ πατάξῃ τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ αὐτὸς ποιμανεῖ αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ· καὶ αὐτὸς πατεῖ τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ παντο κράτορος. καὶ ἔχει ἐπὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν μηρὸν αὐτοῦ ὄνομα γεγραμμένον Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων, καὶ Κύριος κυρίων. μετὰ τὴν ὥραν τῆς καταστροφῆς Βαβυλῶνος· δῆλον δὲ τίς νενόηται ἡ Βαβυλών, ἔτι καὶ τοῦτο δείκνυται τῷ εὐαγγελιστῇ, τοῦ τε ἀντιχρίστου καὶ τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου δράκοντος ἡ πτῶσις, καὶ εἰς ποίαν ἀπίασι κόλασιν ἐν τῷ τοῦ τέλους καὶ τῆς ἀντιδόσεως καιρῷ, καὶ τῶν βασιλέων δὲ ἡ καταστροφὴ τῶν ἐπαναστησομένων τὸ τηνικάδε τοῖς Χριστοῦ δούλοις, καὶ ὅρα τί φησιν. εἶδον τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνεωγμένον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος λευκός, καὶ ὁ ἐπιβάτης πιστὸς καὶ ἀληθὴς καὶ δίκαιος. τὸν Κύριον ὁρᾶ μονονουχὶ συμπολεμοῦντα καὶ προπολεμοῦντα τῶν ἁγίων καὶ στρατευόμενον κατὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων. διὸ καὶ στρατηγικὸν αὐτῷ σχῆμα περιτίθησιν ἡ ὀπτασία, ἵππον καὶ ξίφος ἐγχειρίζουσα καὶ τὸ ἐξηγεῖσθαι στρατευμά 207 των. καὶ ἰδού φησιν ἵππος λευκὸς ᾧ ἐποχεῖτο ὁ Κύριος, δηλοῦντος τοῦ αἰνίγματος μὴ ἄλλοις ἐπαναπαύεσθαι Χριστὸν ἢ τοῖς καθαροῖς καὶ μηδενὶ ῥύπῳ ἁμαρτίας κατεστιγμένοις. διὸ καὶ περὶ τοῦ σκεύους τῆς ἐκλογῆς τοῦ Παύλου εἴρηται παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου τοῦ βαστάσαι τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐνώπιον τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ βασιλέων υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ. ὅρα οὖν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν Παῦλον ἐπαναπαύεται καὶ ἐποχεῖται ὁ Χριστός. καὶ ὁ καθήμενός φησιν ἐπ' αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ ἵππου, καλούμενος πιστὸς καὶ ἀληθινός, καὶ ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ κρινεῖ καὶ πολεμεῖ. πιστός ἐστιν ὁ ἀληθὴς κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπόστολον· αὐτὸς πιστὸς μένει· ἀρνήσασθαι ἑαυτὸν οὐ δύναται. ὥστε ὁ πιστὸς καὶ ἀληθινός· κατὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ γὰρ εἴρηται, δύο κειμένων προσηγοριῶν ἐφ' ἑνὶ πράγματι. ὅτι δὲ κρίνει δικαίως καὶ πολεμεῖ κατὰ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑπὲρ τῶν αὐτοῦ δούλων, μάρτυς ὁ λέγων προφήτης ὁ Θεός, τὸ κρῖμα σου τῷ βασιλεῖ δός, καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ βασιλέως, τουτέστι Χριστῷ· υἱὸς γὰρ Σολομῶνος τὸ κατὰ σάρκα Χριστός, εἰς ὃν ὁ ψαλμὸς ἀνατίθεται εἶτα ἐπάγων κρίνειν τὸν λαόν σου ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ τοὺς πτωχούς σου ἐν κρίσει. ὅτι δὲ καὶ πολεμεῖ ὁ αὐτός, δηλοῖ στρατιωτικῶς αὐτὸν ὁπλίζων ἐν τῷ λέγειν περίζωσαι τὴν ῥομφαίαν σου ἐπὶ τὸν μηρόν σου, δυνατέ, τῇ ὡραιότητί σου καὶ τῷ κάλλει σου, καὶ ἔντεινον, καὶ κατευοδοῦ καὶ βασίλευε, εἶτα προστιθεὶς τὰ βέλη σου ἠκονημένα, δυνατέ· λαοὶ ὑποκάτω σου πεσοῦνται. οἱ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ φησι φλὸξ πυρός. τὴν κατὰ τῶν πολεμίων ὀργὴν ἡ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐμφαίνει πύρωσις. καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ φησι διαδήματα πολλά, τοσαῦτα πάντως 208 ὅσων ταγμάτων ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς βασιλεύει. ἔχων φησὶν ὄνομα γεγραμμένον ὃ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν εἰ μὴ αὐτός. φησὶν ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ τῆς ἑβδόμης πρὸς τὸν θεσπέσιον Μωϋσέα· ἐγὼ Κύριος ὤφθην πρὸς Ἁβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ Θεὸς ὢν αὐτῶν· καὶ τὸ ὄνομά μου τὸ κύριον οὐκ ἐδήλωσα αὐτοῖς, ὡς κρεῖττον δῆλον ἢ ἀκοῇ ἀνθρώπου χωρηθῆναι. διὸ καὶ ὅπως βαπτιστέον τοὺς ἐπιστρέφοντας εἰς θεογνωσίαν παραδιδοὺς ὁ Κύριος τοῖς ἀποστόλοις, ἔφη βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, καὶ εἰπὼν ὄνομα οὐ τὰ κύρια παρέδωκεν· οὐ γὰρ ἦν ὁ ὑποστῆναι τὴν ἐκφώνησιν αὐτῶν ἰσχύων, ἀλλὰ ἀντὶ τῶν κυρίων σχετικὰ καὶ προσηγορικὰ παρέδωκεν, σχετικὰ μὲν εἰπὼν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, προσηγορικὸν δὲ ἐπάγων καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος. ὅθεν λίαν ἀσφαλῶς καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀποκαλύψει ἄγνωστον ἐᾶται πᾶσι τὸ κύριον ὄνομα τοῦ μονογενοῦς. περιβεβλημένος φησὶν ἱμάτιον ἐρραμμένον αἵματι· ἔφερε γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ ὀπτασίᾳ τὰ σύμβολα τοῦ πάθους ὁ Κύριος καὶ τὸ πανάγιον σῶμα