Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

A thousand years in your eyes, 214 O Lord, are as yesterday which has passed, and a watch in the night. Therefore a thousand years are reckoned as one day in the eyes of God. And the second epistle of the divine Peter says the same thing, as he wrote: But do not forget this one thing, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. So much for that. But the divine Isaiah calls the entire incarnation of the Lord a day, saying, In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. And not only that, but the psalmist also calls it a day and a morning, in one place saying, This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it, the joy of our salvation; and in another place singing, In the morning you will hear my voice; in the morning I will present myself to you, and you will see me; for our prayers are well-pleasing, having been deemed worthy of the sight of God the Father; they have become so by the mediation and reconciliation of the Lord. And again concerning Jerusalem he says: God will help her at early dawn. And the incarnation of the Lord has become a day and a morning, as the sun of righteousness has shone upon us. For so Malachi calls him, who has brought to us the light of knowledge, about which divine light Zechariah prophesied, saying, Whereby the dawn from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; in harmony with which the prophet also said, The Lord is God and has appeared to us; to arrange a festival in the thick boughs 215 up to the horns of the altar. Since these things have been thus recounted beforehand, we must proceed to the matter at hand. Since it has been said that the day is reckoned by God as a thousand years, and conversely the Lord's sojourn on earth is called a day, he calls this day a thousand years, as there is no difference with God between one day and a thousand years; in which, in this incarnation of the Lord, the Devil was bound, being unable to counter the divine signs of the Savior. Whence, being aware of this spiritual bond, the destructive demons cried out, What have we to do with you, son of the living God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? But the Lord also, exposing their bond, said: Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. Since, therefore, as has been said, we have understood the incarnation of the Lord and his sojourn on earth as one day and a thousand years, such a number being indifferently and mystically called so by the divine scripture, see what the apocalypse says. I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a chain, and having seized, he says, the Devil, he bound him and cast him into the abyss. The things spiritually effected by the Lord against the Devil are seen by the evangelist as on a painted tablet. For since it was not possible for John, being a man, to see spiritual things, the events are depicted to him physically, an angel having a chain and binding the Devil and casting him into the abyss; for so also the book of Job, physically representing the attempt of the Devil and 216 the permission of God, made the one demand Job from God, and the other, God, to grant it, and added to the events words appropriate for a request and a giving. Therefore you will do well to understand me thus now also. so that he might not, he says, deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were completed; for the Lord's sojourn on earth had to have some greater measure of assistance and care, so that during it the unclean demons would be prevented from working against men in the same way as in the times before the incarnation. And after this, he says, he must be loosed for a little time. What does he call "little"? The time between the Lord's incarnation and the consummation of the present age; for this time is little, even if it seems very great, when measured and compared with the past and the future. For if our Lord appeared physically in the last hour and in the eleventh, according to the faith of the holy scriptures, it is rightly a little

χίλια ἔτη ἐν ὀφθαλ 214 μοῖς σου, Κύριε, ὡς ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ ἐχθὲς ἥτις διῆλθε καὶ φυλακὴ ἐν νυκτί. τὰ χίλια τοιγαροῦν ἔτη ὡς μία ἡμέρα λογίζεται ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ. τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ καὶ ἡ δευτέρα Πέτρου τοῦ θεσπεσίου ἐπιστολή φησι, γράψαντος· ἓν δὲ τοῦτο μὴ λανθανέτω ὑμᾶς, ἀγαπητοί, ὅτι μία ἡμέρα παρὰ Κυρίῳ ὡς χίλια ἔτη, καὶ χίλια ἔτη ὡς ἡμέρα μία. τοῦτο μὲν οὕτως. ὁ θεσπέσιος δὲ Ἡσαΐας ἡμέραν φησὶ πᾶσαν τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνανθρώπησιν, λέγων καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπήκουσά σου, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σωτηρίας ἐβοήθησα σοι. οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ ψαλμωδὸς ἡμέραν αὐτὴν καλεῖ καὶ πρωΐαν, πῆ μὲν λέγων αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἡμέρα ἣν ἐποίησεν ὁ Κύριος· ἀγαλλιασώμεθα καὶ εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐν αὐτῇ τὴν τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν εὐφροσύνην· πῆ δὲ ψάλλων τὸ πρωῒ εἰσακούσῃ τῆς φωνῆς μου· τὸ πρωῒ παραστήσομαί σοι, καὶ ἐπόψει με· εὐπρόσδεκτοι γὰρ ἡμῶν αἱ δεήσεις τῆς ἐποψίας ἀξιωθεῖσαι τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός· τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου γεγόνασι μεσιτείᾳ καὶ καταλλαγῇ. καὶ αὖθις περὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ φησι· βοηθήσει αὐτῇ ὁ Θεὸς τὸ πρὸς πρωῒ πρωΐ. ἡμέρα δὲ καὶ πρωΐα ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνανθρώπησις γέγονεν, ὡς ἐπιλάμψαντος ἡμῖν τοῦ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἡλίου. οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὸν ὁ Μαλαχίας φησί, καὶ κομίσαντος ἡμῖν τὸ τῆς γνώσεως φῶς, περὶ οὗ θείου φωτὸς ὁ Ζαχαρίας προανεφώνησε, λέγων ἐν οἷς ἐπεσκέψατο ἡμᾶς ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὕψους, ἐπιφάναι τοῖς ἐν σκότει καὶ σκιᾷ θανάτου καθημένοις· ᾧ συνωδὰ καὶ ὁ προφήτης Θεὸς ἔφη Κύριος καὶ ἐπέφανεν ἡμῖν συστήσασθαι ἑορτὴν ἐν τοῖς πυκάζουσιν 215 ἕως τῶν κεράτων τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. τούτων οὕτω προαφηγηθέντων, ἐπὶ τὸ προκείμενον ἰτέον. ἐπειδὴ εἴρηται ὅτι ἡ ἡμέρα ὡς χίλια ἔτη λελόγισται τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ ἀνάπαλιν ἡμέρα κέκληται ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπὶ γῆς ἀναστροφή, ταύτην τὴν ἡμέραν χίλια ἔτη φησίν, ὡς οὐκ οὔσης διαφορᾶς παρὰ Θεῷ ἡμέρας τε μιᾶς καὶ χιλίων ἐτῶν· ἐν ᾗ ταύτῃ, τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνανθρωπήσει, ἐδέθη ὁ ∆ιάβολος, ταῖς τοῦ σωτῆρος θεοσημείαις ἀνταιρεῖν μὴ δυνάμενος. ὅθεν τοῦ νοητοῦ τούτου δεσμοῦ ἐπαισθανόμενοι οἱ ἀλητήριοι δαίμονες ἔκραζον τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί, ὑιὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος; ἦλθες πρὸ καιροῦ βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς; ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Κύριος τούτων παραγυμνῶν τὸν δεσμόν, ἔλεγεν· ἢ πῶς δύναταί τις εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ καὶ τὰ σκεύη αὐτοῦ διαρπάσαι, ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον δήσῃ τὸν ἰσχυρόν; καὶ τότε τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ διαρπάσει. ἐπεὶ οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀναστροφὴν ἡμέραν τε μίαν καὶ χίλια ἔτη νενοήκαμεν, ἀδιαφόρως τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ κεκλημένον μυστικῶς τὸν τοιοῦτον ἀριθμόν, ὅρα τί φησιν ἡ ἀποκάλυψις. εἶδον ἄλλον ἄγγελον καταβαίνοντα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἔχοντα τὴν κλεῖν τῆς ἀβύσσου καὶ ἅλυσιν, καὶ κρατήσας φησὶ τὸν ∆ιάβολον ἔδησε καὶ ἔβαλεν εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον. ὡς ἐν πίνακι ζωγραφίας θεωρεῖται τῷ εὐαγγελιστῇ τὰ νοητῶς ἐνεργηθέντα τῷ Κυρίῳ κατὰ τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὰ νοητὰ οὐκ ἦν ἰδεῖν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα τὸν Ἰωάννην, σωματικῶς αὐτῷ τὰ γεγονότα διαγράφεται, ἄγγελος ἅλυσιν ἔχων καὶ δεσμῶν τὸν ∆ιάβολον καὶ βάλλων εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον· οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἡ βίβλος τοῦ Ἰὼβ ἐγχείρησιν τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου καὶ 216 τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ συγχώρησιν σωματικῶς διαπλάττουσα, τὸν μὲν ἐποίησεν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν Ἰὼβ ἐξαιτούμενον, τὸν δὲ Θεὸν παρέχοντα καὶ λόγους ἐπιτηδείους πρὸς αἴτησιν καὶ δόσιν συμπαρέγραψε τοῖς γενομένοις. οὕτως οὖν καὶ νῦν μοι νοήσεις ὀρθῶς ποιῶν. ἵνα μὴ πλανήσῃ φησὶν ἔτι τὰ ἔθνη ἄχρι τελεσθῇ τὰ χίλια ἔτη· ἔδει γάρ τι πλέον ἔχειν ἀντιλήψεως καὶ κηδεμονίας λόγου τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπὶ γῆς διατριβὴν εἰς τὸ κωλύεσθαι κατὰ ταύτην τὰ ἴσα τοῖς πρὸ τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως χρόνοις ἐνεργεῖν κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοὺς ἀκαθάρτους δαίμονας. καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο δεῖ αὐτόν φησι λυθῆναι μικρὸν χρόνον. ποῖον λέγει μικρόν; τὸν μεταξὺ τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνανθρωπήσεως καὶ τῆς συντελείας τοῦ παρόντος αἰῶνος· μικρὸς γὰρ οὗτος, κἂν μέγιστος εἶναι δοκῇ, πρός τε τὸν παρεληλυθότα καὶ τὸν μέλλοντα μετρούμενός τε καὶ παραβαλλόμενος. εἰ γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ὥρᾳ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἑνδεκάτῃ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν ἐπεφάνη σωματικῶς κατὰ τὴν πίστιν τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων, δικαίως μικρὸς