Oecumenius, Commentary on Apocalypse

we, following in his footsteps, let us take up again what we said before. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, indicates the beginninglessness and endlessness of God; for since there is nothing without a beginning in this life, he used our 'beginning' and 'end' in place of 'without beginning' and 'without end'. He says, 'To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.' The Lord says in the Gospels, 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.' Therefore, to the one who thirsts with such a thirst, 'I will give life without payment.' And how did he say 'without payment,' when the saints attain the future life with countless sweats? Why then does he say he gives without payment? He says this, signifying that a person could never contribute anything worthy of the good things of that time, even if he should labor ten thousand times as much, and the Apostle, declaring this, said: 'For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.' He who conquers, he says, both the passions and the evil beast, the Devil, will inherit these things. Thus indeed the conquerors; but for the cowardly and unbelieving and for these and those, their portion will be in the lake of fire. He calls 'cowardly' those who are weak for every good work on account of voluntary misery. And to all the false, he says. He did not say 'to liars' but 'to the false,' that is, to those who do things contrary to nature and who falsify the natural beauty of virtue into the spurious and distorted masks of vice. And that that fire will be the second death has also been said in what has come before. 236 And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, 'Come, I will show you the wife of the Lamb.' And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, having the glory of God; its radiance was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; having a great and high wall, having fifteen gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel; from the east three gates, and from the north three gates, and from the south three gates; and the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names, of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he came, it says, one of the seven angels—which seven? about whom much was said before. 'Come,' he says, 'I will show you the wife of the Lamb.' He wants to show the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, which he also calls the heavenly Jerusalem; about which 237 Paul said when writing to the Hebrews: 'For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, which those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them; for they could not bear what was commanded: 'If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned;' and so terrifying was the sight, that he said, 'I am exceedingly fearful and trembling;' but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in festal gathering; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all. And through the gathering of all the saints into one, that is, the church, and through the heavenly Jerusalem, the Word depicts the blessedness of the saints, and their future life in God and with God, as has been said, arranging it bodily and magnificently, but leading our mind up to an intelligible glory and splendor. For now from its position. And he carried me away, he says, in the spirit to a high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. For without spiritual grace the human mind could never be so exalted as to come to an understanding of the glory of the saints. And fittingly the church is also like the life of the righteous and their commonwealth; both here and there it was a great and high mountain; for nothing lowly

ἡμεῖς κατ' ἴχνος αὐτῷ ἑπόμενοι ἀναλάβωμεν πάλιν ἃ πρότερον εἴπομεν. τὸ ˉα καὶ τὸ ˉω, ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος, τὸ ἄναρχον τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἀτελεύτητον δηλοῖ· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐδὲν ἄναρχον ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ τῇ παρ' ἡμῖν ἀρχῇ καὶ τῷ τέλει ἀντὶ ἀνάρχου ἐχρήσατο καὶ ἀτελευτήτου. ἐγώ φησι διψῶντι δώσω ἐκ τῆς πηγῆς τοῦ ὕδατος τῆς ζωῆς δωρεάν. φησὶν ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κύριος μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην, ὅτι αὐτοὶ χορτασθήσονται. τῷ τοίνυν τὴν τοιαύτην δίψαν διψῶντι δώσω τὴν ζωὴν δωρεάν. καὶ πῶς ἔφη δωρεάν, ὁπότε μετὰ μυρίων ἱδρώτων ἐπιτυγχανοῦσιν οἱ ἅγιοι τῆς μελλούσης ζωῆς; διὰ τί οὖν φησι διδόναι δωρεάν; τοῦτο λέγει σημαίνων ὅτι οὐδὲν ἀντάξιον τῶν τότε ἀγαθῶν εἰσενέγκοι ποτὲ ἄνθρωπος, κἂν μυρία ὅσα μοχθήσῃ, τοῦτο καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος δηλῶν ἔλεγεν· λογίζομαι γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς. ὁ νικῶν φησι τά τε πάθη καὶ τὸ πονηρὸν θηρίον τὸν ∆ιάβολον, ταῦτα κληρονομήσει. οὕτω μὲν οἱ νικῶντες· τοῖς δέ γε δειλοῖς καὶ ἀπίστοις καὶ τοῖσδε καὶ τοῖσδε ἔσται μερὶς ἐν τῇ τοῦ πυρὸς λίμνῃ. δειλοὺς καλεῖ τοὺς εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἀσθενεῖς διὰ ἑκουσίαν ταλαιπωρίαν. καὶ πᾶσί φησι τοῖς ψευδέσιν. οὐκ εἶπε τοῖς ψεύσταις ἀλλὰ τοῖς ψευδέσι, τουτέστι τοῖς τὰ παρὰ φύσιν πράττουσι καὶ ψευδομένοις τὸ φυσικὸν κάλλος τῆς ἀρετῆς εἰς νόθα καὶ παρηλλαγμένα κακίας προσωπεῖα. ὅτι δὲ τὸ πῦρ ἐκεῖνο ἔσται ὁ δεύτερος θάνατος, καὶ ἐν τοῖς φθάσασιν εἴρηται. 236 καὶ ἦλθεν εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλων τῶν ἐχόντων τὰς ἑπτὰ φιάλας τῶν γεμόντων τῶν ἑπτὰ πληγῶν τῶν ἐσχάτων, καὶ ἐλάλησε μετ' ἐμοῦ λέγων· δεῦρο δείξω σοι τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀρνίου. καὶ ἀπήνεγκέ με ἐν πνεύματι ἐπὶ ὄρος μέγα καὶ ὑψηλόν, καὶ ἔδειξέ μοι τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἁγίαν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καταβαίνουσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἔχουσαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὁ φωστὴρ αὐτῆς ὅμοιος λίθῳ τιμιω τάτῳ, ὡς λίθῳ ἰάσπιδι, κρυσταλίζοντι· ἔχουσα τεῖχος μέγα καὶ ὑψηλόν, ἔχουσα πυλῶνας δεκαπέντε, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς πυ λῶσιν ἀγγέλους δώδεκα, καὶ ὀνόματα ἐπιγεγραμμένα ἅ ἐστι τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν δώδεκα φυλῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ· ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς πυλῶνες τρεῖς, καὶ ἀπὸ βορρᾶ πυλῶνες τρεῖς, καὶ ἀπὸ νότου πυλῶνες τρεῖς· καὶ τὸ τεῖχος τῆς πόλεως ἔχον θεμελίους δώδεκα, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῶν δώδεκα ὀνόματα, τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῦ ἀρνίου. καὶ ἦλθέ φησιν εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλων, ποίων ἑπτά, περὶ ὧν πολὺς γέγονε λόγος ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν. δεῦρό φησι δείξω σοι τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀρνίου. τὴν ἐκκλησίαν δεῖξαι θέλει τῶν πρωτοτόκων τῶν ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς, ἣν καὶ ἐπουράνιόν φησιν Ἱερουσαλήμ· περὶ ἧς ἔλεγεν 237 ὁ Παῦλος Ἑβραίοις ἐπιστέλλων οὐ γὰρ προσεληλύθατε ψηλαφωμένῳ ὄρει κεκαυμένῳ πυρὶ καὶ γνόφῳ καὶ σκότῳ καὶ θυέλλῃ καὶ σάλπιγγος ἠχῷ καὶ φωνῇ ῥημάτων, ἧς οἱ ἀκούσαντες παρῃτήσαντο μὴ προστεθῆναι αὐτοῖς λόγον· οὐκ ἔφερον γὰρ τὸ διαστελλόμενον· κἂν θηρίον θήγῃ τοῦ ὄρους, λιθοβοληθήσεται· καὶ οὕτω φοβερὸν ἦν τὸ φανταζόμενον, ὡς εἰπεῖν ἔμφοβός εἰμι καὶ ἔντρομος· ἀλλὰ προσεληλύθατε Σιὼν ὄρει καὶ πόλει Θεοῦ ζῶντος Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπουρανίῳ, καὶ μυριάσιν ἀγγέλων πανηγύρει· καὶ ἐκκλησίᾳ πρωτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς, καὶ κριτῇ Θεῷ πάντων. διὰ δὲ τῆς τῶν ἁγίων πάντων εἰς ἓν συναγωγῆς ἤτοι ἐκκλησίας καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐπουρανίου Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν μακαριότητα τῶν ἁγίων ὁ λόγος ζωγραφεῖ, καὶ τὴν ἐν Θεῷ καὶ μετὰ Θεοῦ ζωὴν αὐτῶν ἐσομένην, ὡς εἴρηται, σωματικῶς μὲν αὐτὴν καὶ μεγαλοφυῶς διακοσμῶν, εἰς νοητὴν δὲ δόξαν καὶ λαμπρότητα τὸν νοῦν ἡμῶν ἀνάγων. τέως ἐκ τῆς θέσεως αὐτῆς. καὶ ἀπήνεγκέ μέ φησιν ἐν πνεύματι ἐπὶ ὄρος ὑψηλόν, καὶ ἔδειξέ μοι τὴν πόλιν τὴν ἁγίαν Ἱερουσαλὴμ καταβαίνουσαν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἔχουσαν τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ. οὐ γὰρ ἄνευ πνευματικῆς χάριτος ὑψωθῆ ποτε νοῦς ἀνθρώπινος ὥστε ἐν περινοίᾳ γενέσθαι τῆς τῶν ἁγίων δόξης. εἰκότως δὲ ἡ ἐκκλησία καὶ οἷον ἡ ζωὴ τῶν δικαίων καὶ ἡ πολιτεία· ἐνταῦθά τε καὶ ἐκεῖ ὄρος μέγα καὶ ὑψηλὸν ὑπῆρχεν· οὐδὲν γὰρ χθαμαλὸν