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it showed him almost stained with his precious blood. And his name is called The Word of God. Do you see how in the preceding, having avoided the proper name, the vision has now set a descriptive one in its place, saying, The Word of God? And the armies followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean; for the Lord is commander-in-chief of the heavenly powers and has also called himself thus, speaking to Joshua the son of Nun. "I," he says, 209 "commander of the Lord's army, have now come." The horses are also white for the holy angels; for they too rejoice in pure men, since they are also pure by nature and unmixed with any stain. And this the garment of fine linen, white and clean, shows. And out of his mouth, that of the commander-in-chief, clearly, a sword proceeds. Now, the divine prophet places the sword on the thigh of the Lord in the passage cited a little before; but the vision, depicting more accurately, presents it in his mouth. By this it is signified that all things are brought into being by the word of God, and he who transgresses it in any way will not be unpunished that in it he might strike the nations. What nations? Those who campaign with the antichrist against the servants of Christ and are arrayed under him. And he himself, it says, will shepherd them with a rod of iron; for the Lord wished, being goodness itself and mercy, to shepherd with a pastoral and comforting rod these nations of which the word speaks, and to lead them to a place of green pasture and to nourish them by the water of rest. But since they have not wished for this, they will be shepherded with a rod of iron, that is, a severe and death-bearing one. For those whom reason does not reform, punishment surely awaits. And that the iron rod signifies severity and punishment, the prophet, wishing to denote the Roman empire, concerning which Daniel says, "Arise, devour much flesh," said to God, "You will shepherd them with a rod of iron; you will dash them in pieces like a potter's vessels." But when the time was opportune, God shepherded through that one; but in the last time, through this one. And he himself treads the winepress of the 210 wine of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. The Lord in the Gospels said concerning his own Father, "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." Most correctly, therefore, has it been said in the Revelation that he himself treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God; for he himself, through the judgment and retribution of the wicked, fulfills the Father's will and becomes the fulfiller of the just wrath of the Father. And he has on his garment and on his thigh written: King of kings and Lord of lords. The garment is tropologically the flesh of the Lord, intelligently ensouled, according to the holy angels who say in Isaiah: "Why are your garments red, and your clothes like one who has trodden the winepress? full of what has been trodden." The thigh, however, signifies the carnal generation; for it is written in Genesis, "And all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins." This, therefore, the riddle signifies: that on the garment and on the thigh Emmanuel is written as king of all. That the Word, being united to the flesh hypostatically and having undergone a carnal birth from a virgin, is nonetheless established as King and Lord of all things in heaven and on earth, not diminished in worth by the incarnation; for he was even so God and is and will be. And I saw another angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven: "Gather yourselves for the great supper of God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of tribunes, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit 211 on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great." And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs before him, in which

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ἐδείκνυ μονονουχὶ πεφυρμένον τῷ τιμίῳ αὐτοῦ αἵματι. καὶ καλεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ. ὁρᾶς πῶς ἐν τοῖς ἄνω φυγοῦσα τὸ κύριον ὄνομα, ἡ ὀπτασία νῦν προσηγορικὸν ἀντ' αὐτοῦ τέθεικεν, ὁ Λόγος εἰποῦσα τοῦ Θεοῦ; καὶ τὰ στρατεύματα ἠκολούθη αὐτῷ ἐν ἵπποις λευκοῖς, ἐνδεδυμένοι βύσσινον λευκὸν καθαρόν· ἀρχιστράτηγος γὰρ τῶν οὐρανίων δυνάμεών ἐστί τε καὶ ἑαυτὸν οὕτω κέκληκεν ὁ Κύριος, Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Ναυῒ χρηματίζων. ἐγώ φησιν 209 ἀρχιστράτηγος δυνάμεως Κυρίου νῦν παραγέγονα. λευκοὶ δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀγγέλοις οἱ ἵπποι· καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῖς καθαροῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐφήδονται ἐπεὶ καὶ καθαροὶ τὴν φύσιν εἰσὶ καὶ πάσης κηλίδος ἀμιγεῖς. καὶ δείκνυσι τοῦτο τὸ ἐκ βύσσου περίβλημα τῆς λευκῆς καὶ καθαρᾶς. καὶ ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου δηλονότι, ῥομφαία ἐκπορεύεται. ὁ μὲν οὖν θεῖος προφήτης ἐπὶ τῷ μηρῷ τοῦ Κυρίου δίδωσι τὴν ῥομφαίαν ἐν τῇ μικρῷ πρόσθεν παρατεθείσῃ χρήσει· ἡ δὲ ὀπτασία ἀκριβέστερον ὑπογράφουσα ἐν τῷ στόματι παρέχει. δι' οὗ σημαίνεται ὅτι τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ πάντα οὐσιοῦται καὶ ὁ τοῦτον παραβαίνων κατά τι οὐκ ἀτιμώρητος ἔσται ἵνα ἐν αὐτῷ πατάξῃ τὰ ἔθνη. ἔθνη ποῖα; τὰ συστρατευόμενα τῷ ἀντιχρίστῳ κατὰ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ δούλων καὶ ὑπ' αὐτὸν τεταγμένα. καὶ αὐτός φησι ποιμανεῖ αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ· ἤθελε μὲν γὰρ ὁ Κύριος, ὡς αὐτοαγαθότης ὢν καὶ ἐλεημοσύνη, ῥάβδῳ ποιμαντικῇ καὶ παρακλητικῇ ποιμᾶναι ταῦτα τὰ ἔθνη περὶ ὧν ὁ λόγος, ἄγειν τε αὐτὰ εἰς τόπον χλόης καὶ ἐπὶ ὕδατος ἀναπαύσεως ἐκτρέφειν. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ μὴ βεβούληνται τοῦτο, σιδηρᾷ ῥάβδῳ ποιμανθήσονται, τουτέστιν αὐστηρᾷ καὶ θανατηφόρῳ. οὓς γὰρ λόγος οὐ μεταρρυθμίζει, τούτους τιμωρία πάντως ἐκδέχεται. καὶ ὅτι τὴν αὐστηρὰν καὶ τιμωρητικὴν δηλοῖ ἡ ῥάβδος ἡ σιδηρᾶ, τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν ὑποσημᾶναι θέλων ὁ προφήτης περὶ ἧς ὁ ∆ανιήλ φησιν ἀνάστηθι, φάγε κρέα πολλά, ἔφη πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ποιμανεῖς αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ· ὡς σκεύη κεραμέως συντρίψεις αὐτούς. ἀλλ' ὅτε μὲν ἦν καιρὸς εὔκαιρος δι' ἐκείνης ἐποίμανεν ὁ Θεός· ἐν δὲ τῷ καιρῷ τῷ ἐσχάτῳ διὰ ταύτης. καὶ αὐτὸς πατεῖ τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ 210 οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ παντοκράτορος. ὁ Κύριος ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις ἔφη περὶ τοῦ οἰκείου πατρὸς ὁ πατὴρ κρίνει οὐδένα· τὴν δὲ κρίσιν πᾶσαν δέδωκε τῷ υἱῷ. ὀρθότατα οὖν εἴρηται τῇ ἀποκαλύψει ὅτι αὐτὸς πατεῖ τὴν ληνὸν τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ· αὐτὸς γὰρ διὰ τῆς κρίσεως καὶ ἀνταποδόσεως τῶν πονηρῶν τὸ πατρικὸν ἐκπληροῖ θέλημα καὶ τῆς δικαίας ὀργῆς τοῦ Πατρὸς γίνεται πληρωτής. καὶ ἔχει ἐπὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν μηρὸν αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένον· Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων καὶ Κύριος κυρίων. ἱμάτιον μὲν ἡ σὰρξ τοῦ Κυρίου τροπολογεῖται ἡ νοερῶς ἐμψυχωμένη κατὰ τοὺς λέγοντας ἁγίους ἀγγέλους παρὰ τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ· διὰ τί σου ἐρυθρᾶ τὰ ἱμάτια, καὶ τὰ ἐνδύματά σου ὡς ἀπὸ πατητοῦ ληνοῦ; πλήρης καταπεπατημένης. ὁ δέ γε μηρὸς τὴν σαρκικὴν γέννησιν διασημαίνει· γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τῇ Γενέσει πᾶσαι δὲ αἱ ψυχαὶ αἱ εἰσελθοῦσαι μετὰ Ἰακὼβ εἰς Αἴγυπτον, αἱ ἐξελθοῦσαι ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ. τοῦτο οὖν δηλοῖ τὸ αἴνιγμα τὸ ἐν ἱματίῳ καὶ τῷ μηρῷ γεγράφθαι βασιλέα πάντων τὸν Ἐμμανουήλ. ὅτι καὶ σαρκὶ καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἑνωθεὶς ὁ Λόγος καὶ σαρκικὴν ὑπομείνας τὴν ἐκ παρθένου γέννησιν, οὐδὲν ἧττον Βασιλεὺς καὶ Κύριος πάντων καθέστηκε τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς, οὐκ ἐλαττωθεὶς τῆς ἀξίας διὰ τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν· ἦν γὰρ καὶ οὕτω Θεὸς καὶ ἔστι καὶ ἔσται. καὶ εἶδον ἄλλον ἄγγελον ἑστῶτα ἐν τῷ ἡλίῳ, καὶ ἔκραξε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, λέγων πᾶσι τοῖς ὀρνέοις τοῖς πετομένοις ἐν μεσουρανήματι· συνάχθητε εἰς τὸ δεῖπνον τὸ μέγα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα φάγητε σάρκας βασιλέων καὶ σάρκας χιλιάρχων καὶ σάρκας ἰσχυρῶν καὶ σάρκας ἵππων καὶ τῶν καθημένων 211 ἐπ' αὐτῶν, καὶ σάρκας πάντων, ἐλευθέρων τε καὶ δούλων, μι κρῶν τε καὶ μεγάλων. καὶ εἶδον τὸ θηρίον καὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς καὶ τὰ στρατεύματα αὐτῶν συνηγμένα ποιῆσαι πό λεμον μετὰ τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ ἵππου καὶ τοῦ στρατεύ ματος αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἐπιάσθη τὸ θηρίον καὶ μετ' αὐτοῦ ὁ ψευδοπροφήτης ὁ ποιήσας τὰ σημεῖα ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, ἐν οἷς